Friendly Sniper



""Snipin's a good job, mate. It's challenging work, out of doors; I guarantee you'll not go 'ungry.""

- The Sniper, Team Fortress 2

The Friendly Sniper is the polar opposite of the Cold Sniper. He's one of the friendliest people you'll meet: personable, cheerful, and likely to be the social center of his group.

Of course, his light attitude doesn't mean he isn't good at what he does. In battle, he's a Badass who's able to snipe and hit anything courtesy of his Improbable Aiming Skills.

Can often (but not always) overlap with Hitman with a Heart. The Friendly Sniper is closely related to the Boisterous Bruiser, except his strength is in his guns and his terrifyingly precise aim rather than his arm.

Anime & Manga
"Kurz: This is Uruz 6, I'm in firing position. It's time to party!! *snipe, snipe, snipe*"
 * Kurz Weber from Full Metal Panic! is a former fashion model, Lovable Sex Maniac, and generally a sociable and talkative guy who, when temporarily assigned to cover bodyguarding Kaname in Sousuke's place, introduced himself directly to her and her friend, playing Funny Foreigner and getting the girls to take him out for karaoke. True to the trope, he's also an expert sniper who once managed to take out a Humongous Mecha's machine gun by firing into its barrel... from the bed of a speeding pickup truck. The Light Novels eventually reveal that Kurz made a conscious choice to avoid becoming a Cold Sniper following his training with one of them.


 * Quite a few Fanon portrayals of Finland peg him as one of these. Considering he's a mix of Badass Adorable and Boisterous Bruiser as well as how Badass Cold Sniper Simo Häyhä hailed from his land, it's not hard to put two and two together...
 * Nadie in El Cazador de la Bruja is a rather nice and personable girl, who is very very skilled with her pistol and will not hesitate to kill you.
 * As a Captain Ersatz of Kurz, Mobile Suit Gundam 00's Lockon Stratos also qualifies -.
 * Jemmy Jay "JJ" Adams in FAKE is a Crazy Jealous Guy and the precinct's resident Keet. He's also the best shot in the precinct and, with Ryo, serves as the department's sniper whenever one is called for. Ryo is a pretty pleasant guy himself, but a bit too reserved and not outgoing enough to meet the trope description.
 * Awesomely, Watari from Death Note turns out to be one of these.
 * The eponymous lead of Madlax is a formidable sniper and very friendly.
 * Sharnid from Chrome Shelled Regios, who might be another Captain Ersatz of Kurz Weber.
 * Yoko from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 * Vice of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Cheerful, personable, laid-back, and can snipe the head of a running target from a moving helicopter even though there's an ally obscuring his line of sight.
 * Usopp from One Piece is a wacky Gadgeteer Genius more inclined to cower in terror of a fight than to pick one. He's still fully capable of drilling a man between the eyes at 500 meters using only a slingshot.
 * He's commonly one of the trio of most energetic characters on the ship. One of the quartet once Brook joins up.
 * Gain Bijou from Overman King Gainer is a laid-back Casanova who can shoot down any Overman the Siberian Railroad tries to stop the Exodus with. And he does so in an obsolete Silhouette Machine, so he also counts as a Badass Normal.
 * Lynette Bishop of the Strike Witches.
 * Keroro Gunsou has Garuru, who very amiable and friendly, especially towards his baby brother Giroro... in the manga, at least. The anime, however, flanderized him into more of a Cold Sniper and Aloof Big Brother. This partly has to do with timing: the manga introduces him while he's helping the platoon escape when a medical exam causes their mission to almost be canceled, while the anime waited until the Wham Arc of his platoon being sent to replace them.
 * Suou in the second season of Darker than Black becomes a Cold Sniper when her powers initially kick in, but after that, goes back to her normal friendly personality.
 * Gunslinger Girl. The perpetually-cheerful and friendly cyborg girl Rico, though that's partially due to her conditioning which means that killing people doesn't affect her in the slightest.
 * Macross Frontier has Mikhail Blanc (and apparently his older sister Jessica was the same way).
 * Another Century's Episode R somewhat lampshades the concept: when Mikhail introduces himself as Skull Squadron's sniper, Kurz says "I guess that means we're going to be rivals, then" and Mikhail responds "I suppose it does", both of them with smiles on their faces the whole time.
 * Uchuu Senkan Yamato has Susumu Kodai: very friendly, and snipes with the original Wave Motion Gun.

Comic Books

 * Natalya Zamyatin from Y: The Last Man.
 * Cougar from The Losers fits this trope during the flashback.
 * Captain Soloviev and Sgt. Marvin Sargent from Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja
 * The unnamed IRA sniper in Sin City was Affably Evil, as were the rest of the Irish mercenaries in The Big Fat Kill.

Fan Works

 * Pierre from the fanfilm Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy is a quirky, goodnatured guy who affectionally teases people and spends his time playing Animal Crossing while waiting for marks.
 * Snark from The Life fits the archetype well. Hell, his call sign is Snark in account to the sheer amount of snarkyness that he can pull off. He usually goes into a slightly more professional mode when in combat.

Film

 * Barry Pepper's Southern-Fried Private Daniel Jackson (yes, that's the character's name) from Saving Private Ryan. Jackson is like this to his squadmates, but to the Germans he casually picks off while quoting the Bible, he's a lot colder.
 * Frank Sinatra played a non-heroic Friendly Sniper in Suddenly.
 * Michael McCandles in Big Jake. He won't kill humans or animals, except for food (in the case of the latter) or in self-defense (in the case of the former). He is also polite and respectful to his father, despite the fact that said father walked out on him during his youth.
 * School Boy from the fourth Rambo film.
 * Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon.
 * Anthony Swofford, the protagonist (and autobiographical author) of Jarhead.
 * An extremely friendly sniper ends up saving the day in the comedy My Fellow Americans.
 * In the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, the survivors befriend a gun shop owner who fits this trope stuck on a roof across the street, despite their only method of communication being messages written on dry erase boards. Check out the DVD, which includes his video log.

Literature

 * Wes Janson from the X Wing Series is very friendly. He's very good at playing pranks, acting like a little kid, and hitting anything he aims at. He tends to prefer sidearms to rifles, though.
 * Despite his childlike personality in general, when he is in combat he reverts to a Cold Sniper.
 * Julie Sims of 1632 is a cheerful, friendly, outgoing high-school cheerleader. She is also the single most talented sniper in Europe, with an operational range few 'downtimers' are actually able to grasp. Julie was very upset the first time she killed a "beautiful" deer. Her first time in battle, she kills roughly a dozen soldiers and doesn't really think twice about it. Then again, the deer was cute and not actively trying to kill or rape her. 17th century mercenaries are a different story.
 * Satin, the former whore and steward to Lord Commander Jon Snow of the Night's Watch, evolves into this (with a crossbow) during the attack on the King's Tower in A Song of Ice and Fire.
 * Anthony Swofford, the protagonist (and autobiographical author) of Jarhead.
 * Sally "Eagle" Culpepper, from The Gone-Away World switches from this, to Team Mom to Cold Sniper.
 * Lee Scoresby in His Dark Materials is probably one of the most friendly and laidback characters, but can bring down whole teams of men with a rifle when the situation calls for it.

Live Action TV

 * Jack Hudson in Sue Thomas FB Eye.
 * Pretty much every shooter in The Unit.
 * John Watson in BBC's Sherlock is a friendly, affable doctor. But he's also a Combat Medic who once shot a guy through two windows, in another building. Both with a pistol and with the wrong hand! John was holding the pistol in his right hand, but as Sherlock told us a few scenes earlier, John is left-handed.
 * "Fruity" Rudy Reyes from Generation Kill. Also a Real Life example, as he plays himself.
 * Numb3rs: Agent Ian Edgerton oscilates between a mild version of this and Cold Sniper depending on the episode. It might be done purposely, since we know he likes messing with people's minds. Especially Charlie and the team's.
 * Hagman in Sharpe. He seems to enjoy the company of his unit and breaks into song at every opportunity. And he can take a man down at eight hundred yards with a flintlock rifle.
 * Tetsuya Sakai in Super Robot Red Baron.
 * The female sniper in Flashpoint is played by the actress who played Pink Ranger in the Power Rangers. 'Nuff said.
 * Mick Rawson of Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior. Very good shot, possibly former British Special Forces, and a fairly friendly and well-adjusted guy, albeit with a mild ego.

Video Games
""Feelings? Know who has a lot of feelings? Blokes who bludgeon the wife to death with a golf trophy. Professionals have STANDARDS. Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.""
 * Though not the only character in Mass Effect with skills as a sniper, Garrus Vakarian is the one best-remembered for being a crack shot and also the most friendly and personable, especially in the first game. Legion also deserves a mention for being - although not what you'd call outgoing or prone to displays of emotion - surprisingly nice to the point of being Moe.
 * Paragon Shepard definitely counts, whether an Infiltrator, Soldier or taking sniper rifles as a bonus talent.
 * Grit from Advance Wars falls into this category, being the more friendly and laid back foil to his superior Olaf. Of course he never actually shoots anybody, being a CO and all, but his specialty (long range weaponry) gives him the proper qualifications for this trope.
 * Excellen Browning of Super Robot Wars, Cool Big Sis, Bottle Fairy, and rather goofy person all around. She also can shoot down a nuke without blowing it up.
 * Irvine Kinneas in Final Fantasy VIII initially talks a pretty good game about "the loneliness of the sharpshooter"... when he's not hitting on all of the girls one right after the other. Once he's integrated himself properly into the party, he proves to be The Heart of the team.
 * Any of the snipers from the Freedom faction from STALKER. Freedom has a much larger amount of snipers than their rival faction; Duty (who don't have any at all, preferring to wade into combat headfirst with a 25 kg Exoskeleton and 9 kg light machine gun), as they prefer to attack guerrilla-style, but when they aren't fighting for free access to the Zone they're the most easygoing and cheerful guys in the entire game series.
 * The Team Fortress 2 Sniper is an odd case; on your team, he's this. On the other team, he's the Cold Sniper, in much the same way that the Heavy is The Big Guy while on your team but The Brute while on the other team. This is exemplified by the fact that he is given the page quote both above and and on the Cold Sniper page.


 * Cathari from Suikoden V.
 * The Dwarven Sniper from Defense of the Ancients is pretty chipper in his soundbites.
 * Clive in Wild ARMs 3 is quite a friendly, good natured guy. He even has a lovely wife and cute little daughter back at home.
 * Sheila "Scope" Sterling from Jagged Alliance 2. While the game doesn't explicitly call her a sniper, her marksmanship starts maxed out and she's easily one of the most upbeat and cheerful of all the mercenaries.
 * Catherine O'Hara (no, not that one) in Valkyria Chronicles.
 * The Bielert brothers also qualify.
 * Xigbar from Kingdom Hearts II would probably count. He's not friendly, per se, but he is much more relaxed and outgoing than most of his associates. And when you engage him in battle, he makes Xaldin look like a freaking pansy.
 * "You clever little sneak!"
 * Mordecai from Borderlands is hardly unfriendly. Unless you're a target, that is.
 * Although he's got a bit of an attitude, your squad's sniper in Halo 3: ODST, Kojo Agu, is nicknamed Romeo for, evidently, being quite a ladies' man outside of battle.
 * In Halo: Reach, though all the SPARTAN-IIIs are at least a little unhinged so your call on whether or not he's "friendly", Jun is the most talkative member of Noble Team who isn't totally Ax Crazy.
 * Though she obsesses over her targets and will only think about them until she's taken them out, Sniper Wolf is by far the nicest member of FOXHOUND, making friends with Otacon before the Shadow Moses Revolt and adoring wolves and dogs.
 * Rho from Ground Control 2 is this. He's the protagonist's best friend and a pretty sociable guy with a habit of collecting battlefield souvenirs and playing cards. Doesn't change the fact that he's a pretty good sniper at the same time.
 * Cpt. McMillan from Modern Warfare comes across as a very friendly, even easy-going guy and proves himself as a very deadly sniper.
 * Wil from Elibe Fire Emblem who can promote to a sniper, is a very social and cheery young man. Sain thinks he is a miser though, because he will not lend him any gold. Likewise, Rebecca, another possible sniper, is a friendly and bright youth.
 * Dragon Age 2 has Varric Tethras, whose friendliness more often then not sends him into Team Mom territory, as many in-game dialogues imply that he becomes responsible for the other team-mates well being, even at his own expense. Sebastian Vael also falls into this, for generally being unrelentingly nice
 * In Fallout: New Vegas most members of 1st Recon tend towards this, being generally approachable people at the least. Boone, Betsy and Bitter-Root however are an exception, though you can't exactly blame them.
 * You could play that way. High enough Charisma, speech and guns/EnergyWeapon skill, and grabbing effective long ranged weapons make you a friendly sniper.
 * Gabriel Monsigny from The 3rd Birthday, to the point she became Aya's big sister figure.
 * The main character from the Japanese flash game Material Sniper.
 * Samurai Warriors has Saiga Magoichi. While he has a burning hatred towards his target, Oda Nobunaga, he cracks smart remarks, helps innocents and defeated allies escape battlefields, fights with the underdogs and makes friends with fellow wandering warrior Keiji Maeda. That's when he's not chasing kimonos, of course.
 * Kazu of Danball Senki stands out in a series where most LBX (functioning gunpla) players prefer melee models. He's nice and generally less of a trouble seeker than his friends but given what LBX can do in this series, it's unwise to underestimate him.

Webcomics

 * The End is portrayed this way in The Cobra Days - he's an amiable old guy, relatively sane by Quirky Miniboss Squad standards, and one of the few people not to make The Sorrow's existence miserable as a newcomer.
 * In Marilith, Kimiko becomes one after Marilith trains her to be an assassin.
 * Sniper Wolf and Desert Vulture (especially the latter) in The Last Days of Foxhound.

Web Original

 * Morgan from The Return is a very friendly sniper, of course she is a succubus so that helps.
 * Ruby Rose from RWBY. Theoretically, at least -- as of 2023, the only time she's ever seen actually being a sniper is in the comedy spin-off series RWBY Chibi

Western Animation
""Logan, buddy! It's me, Deadpool! I shot you!""
 * Finn from Storm Hawks is the team sniper, and also the team clown.
 * Deadpool is this in Hulk Vs. His introductory scene involves him sniping Wolverine with tranquilizers, and then lightheartedly (though ironically) greeting him as Logan passes out.


 * Maggie Simpson in The Simpsons. No, really!

Real Life
""Hell, anybody would be crazy to like to go out and kill folks. I like shooting, and I love hunting. But I never did enjoy killing anybody. It's my job. If I don't get those bastards, then they're gonna kill a lot of these kids we got dressed up like Marines. That's just the way I see it.""
 * One of the best snipers from the United States, Vietnam War veteran Carlos "White Feather" Hathcock. He's credited with almost a hundred kills (as well as a Real Life Scope Snipe on an enemy sniper) before his tour was cut short when a vehicle he was riding was struck by an anti-tank mine. Despite wearing a white feather strapped to his bush hat and having a battalion of Vietnamese snipers sent with orders to find and kill him, they never succeeded--and that includes having a searching Vietnamese soldier nearly step on him without noticing either him or his white feather. He often referred to his targets as "hamburger". You'd expect a guy like this to be a Cold Sniper through and through, but this is what he had to say about himself after the war:


 * This is not uncommon in Real Life; many trained snipers feel the need to balance what they do on the job with friendly interaction off of it. And real armies tend to want someone with good mental health in this role.
 * Snipers who are extroverts are often considered better adjusted than the traditional cold sniper though ideally a sniper is a mix: cold enough to carry out orders without hesitation or fear, yet emotional enough to not become a sociopath.
 * Simo Hayha, the greatest sniper in history, was very friendly off the battlefield.
 * Roza Shanina, "the unseen terror of East Prussia", the first female Soviet sniper to be awarded the Order Of Glory, was described by war correspondent Pyotr Molchanov, as "a person of unusual will with a genuine, bright nature.
 * Alvin York combined this with Badass Pacifist.