Four-Star Badass: Difference between revisions

[[File:GeneralPatton.jpg|frame|link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton|[[Truth in Television]].]]

 

 

{{quote|'''Soldier:''' "Where ya goin', General?"

 

 

The [[Colonel Badass]] page explains that a Colonel is usually more [[Badass]] than a General because although a General has the higher rank (and may even be a certifiable [[Badass]] himself) they're usually relegated to desk duty and administrative tasks. This is also the reason why [[The Captain]] will always be the star of the show even if they don't have the same clout as a Commodore or Admiral.

 

 

 

 

Many examples of this trope will probably turn out to be [[Badass Grandpa|Badass Grandpas and Grandmas]], and sometimes [[Cool Old Guy]]s and [[Cool Old Lady|Cool Old Ladies]]. Often a contemporary of the [[Old Soldier]].

Contrast [[General Ripper]]<ref>Though sometimes this guy may be badass enough to qualify, especially if his obsession came from leading the fight from the front and snapped after seeing the Enemy's atrocities firsthand.</ref> and [[General Failure]]. May have a [[Chest of Medals]].

 

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'''s Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong, who once single-handedly took on the superhuman [[Our Homunculi Are Different|Sloth]] armed only with a broad sword.

** Solarians with few exceptions are extremely bereft in the badassery department. That is because they have not fought a war for ages and are really mainly good at bureaucratic infighting. That would be the case if the Solarians were a more-or-less honestly run service and given how big a pork-barrel a military-industrial complex can be without the encouragement [[HAD to Be Sharp|of an outside enemy]] (not to mention governments that value bootlicking more then efficiency), honesty is something you grade on a curve anyway. But the Solarian armed forces are not subject just to ordinary peacetime rot but like everything else in their government tend to be suborned by outright criminals. Moreover their technology and tactics are way behind the times, almost as much as the Chinese in the Opium war. However, so far Solarian admirals have not displayed cowardice at least. That just got their people killed in greater numbers. In other words the Solarian admirals are not badasses, they are targets.

* Patrick McLanahan from the books of [[Dale Brown]]. Various other characters get promoted to stars without much loss in badassery too. To be honest, though, while he is still a good bomber crew member and [[Powered Armor|Tin Man]] user if needs must, he now spends more time as [[Mission Control]] and fighting off politicians or other generals so that the lower ranks can do their job.

* General Serpilin from Konstantin Simonov's WWII epic ''The Living and The Dead'', especially in the first book, when his troops escape being surrounded by Nazis.

* While the command structure in ''[[Starship Troopers (novel)|Starship Troopers]]'' can be defined as [[Authority Equals Asskicking]], the Sky Marshals take the cake. In order to get that promotion, one needs to go through the command structures of both the Navy and the Mobile Infantry, starting from the bottom. Also note that the Sky Marshal leads from the front. In the book, the Sky Marshal who planned the disastrous Battle of Klendathu died on Klendathu. In the movie, it just had them resign, being a REMF (Rear Echelon Mother Fucker).

 

 

* From ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'':

** Captain Kaff Tagon and his father, General Karl Tagon. The former has his own mercenary company, which has played a pivotal role in almost every modern (for the comic) conflict. The latter is retired, pushing 70, and still remains in fighting condition, even when reduced to a head in a jar.

* [[Magnificent Bastard|General Tarquin]] from ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' - when he first arrived on the Western Continent, he conquered eleven different nations over the course of eight months, and was only deposed through the combined efforts of ''twenty-six'' others. And if [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0851.html this page] is anything to go by, he's still got it even in his later years.

* The Jager Generals in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' each qualify. And there are currently seven. An "average" Jägermonster is a [[Super Soldier]] who [[Blood Knight|likes to fight]] enough to subscribe for indefinite military service despite knowing that the transformation is more likely to kill him immediately instead, is not just confident, but showy about it, and was good enough [[Old Soldier|to actually survive for]] ''centuries'' like this. Generals apparently are not only "schmott vuns" who "knows pipple" (they do), but stood out far enough for long enough in this company.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Meaningful Titles]]

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:Badass]]

[[Category:Badass in Charge]]