Future Badass: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|'''Ron:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|Why is everyone in the future so ripped?]]

 

{{quote|''So never [[Kick the Dog|kick a dog]], because it's just a pup --''

 

The [[Bad Future]] has happened, meaning the [[Evil Overlord]] has won, it's [[The End of the World as We Know It]] and ''they'' [[Villain World|are unquestionably in charge]] and making [[Space Clothes|questionable fashion choices.]] There is hope in this bleak [[Dystopia]] however; some brave people have formed [[La Résistance]].

Notably, these include most of the former [[Sidekick]]s, the [[Plucky Comic Relief]], and even [[The Scrappy]], with an occasional "main" character survivor; basically everyone you'd expect to be a [[Future Loser|loser in the future]]. But they're not the same characters we knew and loved [[Creator's Pet|(or hated)]], they're [[Darker and Edgier]].

 

 

Even the [[Shrinking Violet|mousiest]], [[The Ditz|ditzyiest]], flabbiest, [[The Stoner|slacker-iest]] characters straighten out and become [[The Hunter|deadly serious professionals.]] Even if we grow to like these new interpretations of the same characters more than the originals, [[Status Quo Is God|the status quo]] and [[We Want Our Jerk Back|attachment]] for the originals is sure to undo this harsh future.

See also [[Future Me Scares Me]], [[Bad Future]] and [[Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome]]. Compare with [[Ridiculously Successful Future Self]].

 

 

{{examples}}

* In [[Psyren]], the {{spoiler|Elmore Wood kids, after dying repeatedly in the future}}, come back with a vengeance, all kicking ass and taking names.

** {{spoiler|Kyle}} didn't take names.

** And Yoshitsune goes from a timid, ineffectual [[Woobie]] to a competent resistance leader, though he's still plagued with self-doubt and his major character development is learning his own worth.

** Actually EVERYONE becomes a future badass, good or bad - Kenji started out as a loser who run a store, and by the epilogue, he had became a symbol for hope, a rock star, and ultimately Messiah.

 

 

* In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] [[Fanfic]] ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4633912/1/Love_Ignites_the_Galaxy_Star_by_Star Love Ignites the Galaxy: Star by Star]'' by polgarawolf, the Tahiri Veila from [[Legacy of the Force]] uses Darth ''Caedus' '' [[Time Travel|flow-walking]] technique to travel back to the events of ''[[New Jedi Order|Star by Star]]'' and [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|save the Jedi strike force from the disaster ahead]]. She proceeds to rig the Yuuzhan Vong's voxyn grove to explode, get the drop on the entire Myrkr strike force, neutralize Lomi Plo and Welk, all the while evading the Yuuzhan Vong, and generally makes it clear that she's seen [[Bad Future|the future of this timeline]], and '''[[Determinator|nothing]]''' [[Determinator|is going to stop her]] from insuring [[Bad Future|that future]] [[Nation|Does. Not. Happen]].

* In the Star Fox fanfiction ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1287617/1/Star_Fox_Adventures_Krazoa_Legends Krazoa Legends]'' by Wolf E. Urameshi, more than one character is an example of this: {{spoiler|Falco Lombardi's life is shown when he has to escape with his sister after his parents are killed. '''Both of them.'''}} {{spoiler|Also, Wolf O'Donnell goes through the same thing, though his story is more [[Momma's Boy|mommy dearest]] fare. But the original character Janus is probably the most accurate example of this. I mean, the guy starts his life abandoned by his own father, General Scales because he was apparently not muscled enough in the non-literal sense. The events that followed traumatized him- plus Scales killed Janus's mom a year after the latter was born.}} {{spoiler|He was rescued by an obligatory [[The Smart Guy|smart guy]], turned into a [[The Smart Guy|genius]] [[badass]] [[Nice Guy]], and is even a [[Heroic Build|hot, muscled Sharpclaw]] with a [[Sculpted Physique|toned bod]], avenges his family and guards ancient ruins with just a spear. He even scores. Yeah.}}

* ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'' has Servant Archer, who is nominally of the Archer Class and focused on ranged attacks, but is also very good at swordsmanship, and has the power to summon any sword he can think of, with his ultimate attack being a Reality Marble by the name of "Unlimited Blade Works." {{spoiler|He is the future incarnation of Emiya Shirou, the protagonist of the series, who also has the ability to summon swords. Archer, however, is nowhere near the idealist that Shirou is, and his reason for coming to Shirou's time is to kill him}}.

* Edward, yes ''[[Spoony Bard|that]]'' Edward, in ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]''.

* In ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]]'', {{spoiler|all-powerful [[Big Bad]] Kessler is revealed at the end to be an [[Alternate Universe]] version of Cole who traveled back in time to prepare his past self to deal with a [[Complete Monster]] destined to destroy the world. Depending on the [[Karma Meter]], he either succeeds or he becomes something worse.}}

* There's an interesting variation in the second ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' game: {{spoiler|Our gun-toting [[Anti-Hero]] Jak meets his adorable [[Chekhov's Gunman|younger self]] in the future before [[Stable Time Loop|he's sent back into the past to grow up safe from harm]].}}

* Not a story-based example, but ''[[Strange Journey]]'' has an example in an early bonus mission, where you're tasked by [[Norse Mythology|three Dises to calm down the raging Yggdrassil]]. This doesn't turn out so well, as not only does he outstrip your team at that point stat-wise, he can also stop time. Before he can kill you, though, the hero blacks out and is saved by a mysterious figure. {{spoiler|A few Sectors later, it turns out that figure was him.}}

* In the fan created game ''[[Touhou]] [[MOTHER]]'', {{spoiler|Cirno is [[Goldfish Poop Gang|a laughably easy recurring boss]] for the first half of the game. Then you're sent forward in time and you encounter her again, and she puts up one heck of a fight.}}

** In the same game, there's Eoleo, who is the son of the famous pirate, Briggs. In the previous game, he was just a baby with some powers. 30 years later? He's now pirate like his dad before him with a mastery of [[Kill It with Fire|Fire Pysnergy]] {{spoiler|and he joins your party later on!}}

* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' one similar to the Jak And Daxter example: {{spoiler|Cereza turns out to be Bayonetta as a child who by the end is sent back in time.}}

* In [[World of Warcraft]] there is a quest you can get at level 72 in which you have to protect a magical hourglass from the Infinite Dragonflight. Before they attack you find yourself with "Future You" who is level 80 and will assist you in the battle. When you hit Level 80 you can take the next quest in which you have to protect "Past You" in the same battle.

* The [[Made for TV Movie]] of ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'', ''Ego Trip''. In the dystopian future version of himself, he comes to resemble his hero Action Hank: big, brawny, and [[Badass Beard|bearded]] (and unlike Hank, [[Bald of Awesome|he goes bald]]), and his [[Mad Scientist]] pseudo-Germanic accent is replaced by an Arnold impression.

** This trope is also averted in Dexter's other two future versions, a wimpy office drone and a hilarious old man.

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'''s three-parter "A Sitch in Time": When {{spoiler|Shego}} uses the ''Tempus Simia'' (Time Monkey) to take over the world, Kim's little brothers, Wade, Monique, and a gaggle of ripped Rufus clones, become buff freedom fighters and Doctor Drakken becomes a huge musclebound hulk. Ron even [[Lampshade Hanging|references the trope]] throughout the episode.

* ''[[ReBoot]]'' had this happen twice to Enzo. First in the episode where Dot is given a "[[It's a Wonderful Life]]" vision of what the future would be like without her, and Enzo is a bitter, scarred, leather-wearing teen badass; and then later in season 3 when the show went [[Darker and Edgier]], they had Enzo develop into the fully grown, bitter, scarred, leather-wearing badass Matrix.

** ''[[ReBoot]]'' also put this trope wonderfully in its place when they brought Young Enzo back to exist alongside Matrix (the system got rebooted, okay?) -- at first Enzo is extremely envious of his older self, who is indeed a leather wearing badass with a hot girlfriend. He tries to act more like Matrix, only to discover that the horrors Matrix went through that drove him to become that way have left him emotionally wrecked and fairly miserable. The episode ends not only with Enzo resolving to just stick with being a happy-go-lucky innocent, but with ''Matrix'' deciding that he needs to be more like ''Enzo''.

* An episode of ''[[Godzilla: The Series|Godzilla: The (Animated) Series]]'' had the protagonist travel to the doomed future, meeting (among others) a [[Badass]] Mendel and his war-N.I.G.E.L.

* An episode of ''[[Ben 10]]'' has Ben and Gwen meet their future, adult selves. In the future, Ben has mastered the [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum|Omnitrix]] and become a [[Jerkass]] who dislikes receiving help from others (well, moreso), and Gwen has become proficient in magic spells.

* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' applied this trope in the episode "Future Tense," with Brooklyn and Alexander "Fox" Xanatos as the Future Badasses (Brooklyn even managed to hook up with Demona), and {{spoiler|Lexington}} as the secret [[Big Bad]].

** Then it turns out it was {{spoiler|[[All Just a Dream]], induced to con Goliath out of a time-travelling device}}.

* Like the ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'' example above, the Timeline-based ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' TV movie has several Future Badasses. The biggest is [[Psycho for Hire|Dark Danny]], who is now the most powerful ghost on the planet or as Sam puts it "...okay, you're ''really'' a [[Understatement|jerk]]." Well, that is certainly a mild way to put it; he becomes a rampaging [[Psycho for Hire|Sociopath]] who kills people and destroys things [[For the Evulz|apparently just for kicks]]. The episode in which Danny sees what he [[Bad Future|would become]] and is [[Future Me Scares Me|extremely horrified]] is one of the darkest, yet most highly acclaimed episodes of the series.

** ''[[Harmless Villain|The Box Ghost]]'', who can now generate powerful boxes of energy to throw at people.

{{quote|''[[Oh Crap|Beware...]]''}}

** The ''Bleedman'' fan-comic beautifully applies this trope to Mandy(not that she really needed to be anymore bad-ass).

* In ''[[Megas XLR]]'', when Coop visits an alternate future he's become an evil overlord, lost his gut and become ripped, Kiva is his emotionless cybernetic [[The Dragon|lieutenant]], and Jamie is a [[Badass]] leader of [[La Résistance]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Time Travel Tropes]]

[[Category:We Will Use An Index In The Future]]

[[Category:Badass]]