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I Coulda Been a Contender: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.ICouldaBeenAContender 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.ICouldaBeenAContender, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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'''Terry:''' You don't understand. I coulda had class. [[Trope Namer|I coulda been a contender]]. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am. Let's face it. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0waNRaz6wU It was you, Charley.] |'''''[[On the Waterfront]]'''''}}
[[Retirony]] is especially cruel when it strikes down a character in their prime just as they begin embarking on success and glory. At least the old soldiers in combat made something out of their lives, even if they found no peace afterwards. These young souls don't even have the opportunity to become somebodies -- they get just a little taste of it before suffering a [[Career
Years long after, the disillusioned nobodies still can't get the taste of what could have been out of their mouths. This may lead to them taking their pent-up frustration out on the youths who look to be fast becoming the kind of people Fate prevented them from joining.
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A [[Super Trope]] to [[The Pete Best]] (where they got forced out by others rather than fate).
Compare [[Sorry, Billy,
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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== [[Comics]] ==
* In the 'Club of Heroes' arc in [[Grant Morrison]]'s [[Grant Morrisons Batman|run on]] ''[[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]]'', several of the Batmen of All Nations have fallen prey to this, since the team-up which could have propelled them to international prominence and fame ended up sputtering out after two meetings, one of which Batman himself didn't even bother to show up for. {{spoiler|Wingman}}, however, suffers most of all, since his bitterness at being denied what he sees as his chance to be in the big leagues ends up prompting his [[Face Heel Turn]] in that arc. Batman, naturally, is pretty scathing:
{{quote| '''Batman''': [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|You don't understand]]. [[Honor Before Reason|We don't do what we do for]] ''[[Honor Before Reason|fame]]''. [[Hannibal Lecture|How much were you paid to throw away your]] ''[[Hannibal Lecture|morals]]''?}}
== [[Film]] ==
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'''Charles Foster Kane:''' I think I did pretty well under the circumstances.<br />
'''[[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Thatcher:]]''' What would you like to have been? <br />
'''Charles Foster Kane:''' [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|Everything you hate.]] }}
* Double Subverted in the film version of ''[[Daredevil]]''. Matt Murdock's father used to be a boxer, and ended up working as an enforcer for the mob. After Matt gets blinded, his father decides to clean up his act and become a boxer again. He does very well for himself. {{spoiler|Then, as he's preparing for a fairly major fight, he finds out that the mob's been behind all his victories, paying his opponents to throw fights}}.
* Deconstructed in the film ''[[The Fan]]''. [[Robert De Niro]]'s character is convinced that he could have been a major league baseball player, and latches onto [[Wesley Snipes]]' character as someone to live vicariously through. Things go downhill fast. {{spoiler|Near the end of the movie, it turns out that De Niro's character had never played ball beyond ''little league''}}.
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* The book ''Ethan Frome'' features a young man's frustration over being unable to pursue his scientific interests because of being tied to his small hometown with the illnesses of his parents and wife.
* Bran in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' is, like so many things in that series, a particularly young example. {{spoiler|He does have the whole wolf possession thing going for him later on, though.}}
* In ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'', Jesse Custer becomes the sheriff of Salvation. His key officer is a woman who was going to join the army, but her mother fell ill and she stayed to look after her.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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* Dave Mustaine was kicked out of [[Metallica (Music)|Metallica]] shortly before they became famous. Although [[Megadeth (Music)|Megadeth]] is still a respected and fairly well-known band, it's nowhere near as popular as Metallica.
* In the mid-90s, people thought that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dayton_Family the Dayton Family] was going to be the next big [[Gangsta Rap]] group. However, they were derailed by legal troubles and never made it out of their underground fanbase in Flint, Michigan.
* R&B singer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Jones Miss Jones] had a lot of buzz in the mid-90s after her guest appearance on Nas' ''Sugar Hill''. Especially since she was a singer's singer. However, a lot of set backs (as well as a reportedly [[Small Name, Big Ego|bad attitude]]) derailed her music career. She went into DJing after that, hosting the morning show on the [[New York City]] rap station Hot 97, before controversy got her kicked off of that station (look up "Hot 97 tsunami song" for a particularly noteworthy sample of her antics). She's now a DJ for a [[Useful Notes/Philadelphia|Philadelphia]] radio station.
* The show ''Unsung'' on the channel TV One is about black R&B, soul, and gospel artists who didn't manage to make it big.
* New Jersey band [[The Gaslight Anthem]] have a song entitled "I Coul'da Been a Contender" which appears to follow the themes of messed up chances and regret; "You were gonna be my [[Judy Garland]], we were gonna share your tinman heart."
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* {{spoiler|Yata/Wiseman}} in [[.hack]] G.U. was once quoted as having a tremendous enthusiasm for football. His career ended up after he got a career-ending injury, ending his hopes of going pro. He's now one of the shareholders of CC Corp at ''seventeen'', yet he's still [[Desperately Looking for A Purpose In Life]]
* The title character in the [[Sierra]] game ''[[The Adventures of Willy Beamish]]'' uses this line in one of the game's many [[
* While he doesn't seem bitter about it, [[Left 4 Dead]] 2's Coach used to be a potential star football player in his youth - before a knee injury meant he had to be content with being a high school coach.
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