TheMisterManGuy
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- Oct 23, 2014
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If you haven't seen Cartoon Network's Codename: Kids Next Door, when an operative, or agent of the titular organization turns 13 years old, they are decommissioned from duty. A process that involves deleting all memories of KND from their brains using toilet plungers (don't ask...) and are released into the wild to live as teenagers, and eventually adults, hopefully not turning into more villains for the KND to fight.
Obviously anybody High School age or older is a potential threat to KND, but where it gets a bit tricky is with middle school or junior high school age, which is 11-14 years old in the US (6-8th grade), so there a bit of overlap between when one can be a KND (11-12) and when one can't (13-14). We've seen the Kids Next Door take on middle schoolers before such as in Operation L.E.A.D.E.R. and Operation E.L.E.C.T.I.O.N.S., but I don't think the show ever dived deeper into the specifics of how they deal with Junior High kids.
For starters, Middle Schoolers mature at wildly different rates. Some kids being more like teens, others being more like younger children, and everything in between. So what happens to the 11-12 year old preteens who decided they have more in common with teenagers than little kids? Do they request an early decommission, or are they forced to be KND until they are of age? I would imagine early retires of KND would be frowned upon as cowards by other opprotives, but the show never established whether such a practice was legal or not, so who knows.
Of course, there are also KND agents in middle who are willing to stay to the very end. In which case, it wouldn't surprise me if the KND had plenty of 6th Grade S.P.I.E.S. (Sixth graders Precociously Infiltrating Enemy Spaces) on their payroll, who's job is to infiltrate and study the teenage culture of the older students, allowing the KND to use that knowledge in their battles with the teens.
And what about the kids in middle school who don't fit in with either the little kids or the teenagers? Do they defect and form their own org to take on KND, older teens, AND adults? (Tweens Next Door?...)
Obviously the show didn't necessarily need to answer this question. It's a kids show, it didn't need to be more complicated than "Awesome kids battle evil adults!" Still, it would've been interesting if the show explored this dynamic during its original run.
Obviously anybody High School age or older is a potential threat to KND, but where it gets a bit tricky is with middle school or junior high school age, which is 11-14 years old in the US (6-8th grade), so there a bit of overlap between when one can be a KND (11-12) and when one can't (13-14). We've seen the Kids Next Door take on middle schoolers before such as in Operation L.E.A.D.E.R. and Operation E.L.E.C.T.I.O.N.S., but I don't think the show ever dived deeper into the specifics of how they deal with Junior High kids.
For starters, Middle Schoolers mature at wildly different rates. Some kids being more like teens, others being more like younger children, and everything in between. So what happens to the 11-12 year old preteens who decided they have more in common with teenagers than little kids? Do they request an early decommission, or are they forced to be KND until they are of age? I would imagine early retires of KND would be frowned upon as cowards by other opprotives, but the show never established whether such a practice was legal or not, so who knows.
Of course, there are also KND agents in middle who are willing to stay to the very end. In which case, it wouldn't surprise me if the KND had plenty of 6th Grade S.P.I.E.S. (Sixth graders Precociously Infiltrating Enemy Spaces) on their payroll, who's job is to infiltrate and study the teenage culture of the older students, allowing the KND to use that knowledge in their battles with the teens.
And what about the kids in middle school who don't fit in with either the little kids or the teenagers? Do they defect and form their own org to take on KND, older teens, AND adults? (Tweens Next Door?...)
Obviously the show didn't necessarily need to answer this question. It's a kids show, it didn't need to be more complicated than "Awesome kids battle evil adults!" Still, it would've been interesting if the show explored this dynamic during its original run.
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