Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': Boss is the [[Butt Monkey]], [[Hopeless Suitor]] and [[Comic Relief]] [[Gonk]] character from this series and the sequel ''[[Great Mazinger]]''. He is mocked and ridiculized by his friends and belittled by the villains, and he gets beaten easily in each battle. Still, when he is angry he can get ''scarily'' competent and even [[Badass]]. He is [[Acrofatic]] and perfectly capable of holding his own on a fistfight, and although his [[Humongous Mecha]] is a pile of scrap gets destroyed in every fight, he has blown up some dangerous [[Robeast|Robeasts]] and pulled off several awesome [[Big Damn Heroes]] moments. Also, threatening Kouji -his [[Vitriolic Best Buddies|vitriollic best buddy]]- or Sayaka -his crush- is a bad idea.

* ''[[The Slayers]]'' anime: Gourry Gabriev is a swordsman with extremely poor memory (often forgetting whoever he and his companions fought in the past) and a bumbling idiot who can't grasp onto any explanation, but if he's provoked enough, or if anyone, namely [[Redheaded Hero|Lina]], is in danger, he becomes an utterly badass swordsman and pushes the [[Badass Normal]] creed as far as it can go.

* In ''[[Soul Eater]]'', Black*Star's absolute confidence in himself makes him into one of these. Unless he is truly pushed he is too busy [[Chewing the Scenery|chewing scenery]] to fight well. Death the Kid is a form of inversion; he's normally [[The Stoic|stoic]] and [[Badass]], but if his [[Fatal Flaw|OCD]] gets activated he usually devolves into an ineffectual, sobbing wreck. That said, if his OCD is [[Berserk Button|pushed too far]], it results in Kid's reaction in episode 3: obliterating his asymmetrical target and inadvertently demolishing the pyramid it was in.

** The normally goofy Shinigami can be wonderfully Badass when the need arises. He reacts to Asura's resurrection by calmly inquiring how he is...and pointing out that, unfortunately the Kishin is "going to have to die again". A Shinigami Chop that smashes Asura to the ground from however high up he was is only the start of the ensuring fight.

* Nyu/Lucy in ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' has this in the form of a [[Split Personality]], triggered through trauma or imminent danger. Nyu is [[Cute Mute|cute, affectionate, and utterly harmless]] -- but Lucy [[Ax Crazy|hates all of humanity and cuts people in half with her mind]], {{[[[What the Hell, Hero?]] no matter if those people were just innocent civilians}}.

** Well, that's more of a Crouching [[The Woobie|Woobie]] Hidden [[Complete Monster|Monster]].

** As a humorous example, she's capable of holding her breath underwater longer than her bodyguard Sōsuke realizes, considering her below-average performance in other athletic areas. She has to rescue ''him'' from drowning (and tries to smuggle in a [[Kiss of Life]] under Kaname's jealous eye) when he panics and dives in after her.

* Shinji Ikari from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' has an unique ability to go berserk in his [[Humongous Mecha]] when having received enough mental pain. He transforms then into an enemy-killing war machine, famous all over the universe. When taken out from his mecha, he is usually just a sobbing, depressed wreck of a boy.

* Takato and {{spoiler|Terriermon}} from Daneel Rush's ''[[Tamers Forever Series]]''.

* Wheatley in the ''[[Portal 2]]'' fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6953776/1/Test_Of_Humanity Test Of Humanity]''. He's normally a dim-witted [[Gentle Giant]]. But, push him too far, and he won't hesitate to punch you in the eye. {{spoiler|[[G La DOS]]}} found this out the hard way.

* [[Stealth Pun|Thunderhead]] from ''[[Rise of the Galeforces]]''. [[A Worldwide Punomenon|His name pretty much sums it all up.]]

* Kasumi of all people managed to [[MacGyver]] a fuel-air bomb using the Dojo's oven, flour, spices, and a bottle of cooking spray to knock back a trio of Youma in ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7696140/1/ War in Tokyo]''. She comments that she used too much Cayenne in a complete normal tone of voice. Genma and Soun only stare at her.

* The Autistic Psychic Savant class in Palladium's ''Beyond The Supernatural'' game pretty much has to be this trope. Most of the time, they can barely communicate, but in the presence of supernatural evil they prove to be smarter and more powerful than anyone else.

* Jerry-R-Igg, one of the characters in the ''[[Paranoia]]'' Second Edition sample adventure, is a total coward, constantly freaking out at the slightest thing...while anyone's looking. Truth is, all of that's a front. As soon as he's sure nobody can report it back to the Computer, he becomes Captain X-Cess, standout in Deth Leopard and lover of [[Stuff Blowing Up]] (one of his possessions is a set of explosives disguised as snack food).

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', prior to the release of the ''Wrath of The Lich King'' expansion, a Hunter using the Survival talent tree was an example of this trope. Survival was the least played class/spec combination in the game, at somewhere between 3-7% of the overall playerbase, and was generally ridiculed. During an Expose Weakness, or ten second Deterrence proc, however, things changed. The spec went from a typical DPS output of 400 outside an instance, (barely enough to kill non-elite mobs during questing) during "crouching moron," mode, to 1200 when appropriately raid buffed and proccing EW. The dodge/parry chance during a ten second Deterrence activation also doubled, sometimes reaching a potential maximum of 110%; which meant that Surv could theoretically (and often did, practically) finish tanking 75%+ dead raid bosses after the main Warrior or Paladin tank died.

* ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' has a game play example in Hotaru Futuba. Sure she looks harmless and is usually so personality wise, but in the hands of a competent player, she's an utter monster.

* Arado Balanga of ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Original Generations'' is exactly like this. He's normally a reckless idiot who gets shot down more than not, but if his partner Seolla (who he was trained to work as a perfect partner to) is threatened with death, he'll be there to take it and go down in flames and ''utterly kick ass''.

** In regards to the "philosophical zombie" thing: This may also explain his unusual line when Sora tries to invoke [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]:

{{quote|'''Demyx''': Aww, [[Blatant Lies|we do too have hearts!]] Don't be mad!}}

** And turned right back around for comedic effect in multiplayer, where Johnny's lack of nanomachines robs him of SOP-linking and the benefits it provides; if you try to link while standing still, he does an anime pose, and if you try while running, he does a ''Rainbow Six''-esque hand signal. He also can't do CQC and will flail hilariously if you try. His diarrhea, however, turns him into a ''walking gas grenade'' as it will incapacitate anyone he runs by.

* A less specific example would be RPG characters with a [[Limit Break]]. Your reg'lar everyday [[Designated Hero]] suddenly wipes the floor with every single one of those [[Goddamned Bats]]. The one that springs to mind is Selphie Tilmitt in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', who is essentially a [[The Ditz|young blonde airhead]], but can pull an attack that instantly defeats anything. Yes, anything. Armoured Slimes, [[Goddamned Bats]], [[That One Boss]], the ''[[Big Bad]] of the entire game'' -- you name it, The End kills it. [[Beware the Nice Ones|Suddenly Selphie doesn't seem so innocent...]]

* [[Shrinking Violet|Emil Castagnier]] from ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'' might qualify, as he becomes [[Super-Powered Evil Side|much stronger in battle.]] {{spoiler|At least, in the beginning. As the game progresses, this 'Ratatosk Mode' seems to appear more often, usually when Marta is in trouble.}}

** In this case, Emil seems to take a leaflet out of [[Harry Potter (novel)|Neville's]] book here; over time, Emil loses the coward part of himself, even pulling a few moments of role reversal on Marta when the latter isn't up to her best (the pair [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] this in an [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|aptly named]] skit named "Role Reversal"). {{spoiler|In fact, in the very last chapter of the game, he out and out ''seals away the Ratatosk side of his personality'', and you get to play as ''Emil himself'' in battles from that point onward.}}

** Even more so in the "Super Mario Adventures" comics where, after being kidnapped by Bowser, she easily breaks herself out, finds out Mario has been captured trying to rescue ''her'' and proceeds to break back in and rescue Mario.

** [[Cowardly Lion|Luigi]] is a better known example.

* Cielo in ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]''. Usually a calm and cheery ALBINO BRAZILIAN WITH JAMAICAN ACCENT, untill {{spoiler|a guy from the security eats his comrades in order to get power. Cielo proceeds to make a badass speech}}. There's also the time {{spoiler|that in order to protect Sera and Serph, he destroys two fighter jets by chewing on their pilots and cutting their wings, dying in the explosion.}}

* Karl Blaine in ''[[Just Cause (video game)|Just Cause 2]]''. Even before Rico meets him, he's established as the unreliable, comedy relief contact on the island nation who you have to rescue from a government sting. Later, Blaine's captured and successfully interrogated as years as a drunk in a tropical paradise have left him soft and out of practice as a spy. {{spoiler|Much later, during Rico's assault on the evil president's hideout, Blaine sneaks out of his cell BY HIMSELF, and gets past the [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja|ninja guard]] to suicide bomb the President without any assistance from Rico.}} [[What the Hell, Hero?|This doesn't stop Rico from taunting him for giving into the torture, however.]]

* [[Space Quest|Roger Wilco]] will even admit he's far from the sharpest knife in the drawer. Hell, he's a marginally competent janitor who is prone to taking on-shift naps in the closet. When "it" hits fan, though? Tricks a nasty creature twice his size into blowing itself up. Kills an ''entire ship'' worth of Sariens to prevent them from nuking his home planet. Stops an evil genius from invading his home planet with a clone army (granted, it was an army of insurance salesmen...), rescues two programmers from slavery and beats their [[Bad Boss]] with a [[Humongous Mecha]], destroyed the evil genius in a rematch after the evil genius took over his homeworld, took down the Confederation's shiny flagship with a garbage scow, and stopped another mad scientist from committing [[Grand Theft Me]] on a close friend. Do not piss off the [[Almighty Janitor]]!

* ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' [[Adult Child|isn't particularly smart]], he has a [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|terrible attention span]] and [[The Unintelligible|can't even speak English]] for the most part. He has also consistently beaten the evil schemes of Cortex and any other [[Big Bad]] Wumpa Island has faced for "fifteen flippin' years" now. Oh, and [[Big Brother Instinct|don't hurt his little sister]], especially if you value your throat...