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I Just Want to Be Badass: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''Hey, Stinkoman! Everybody says you're the guy, but I wanna be the guy, too!''
|'''1-Up''', ''[[Homestar Runner]]''}}
{{quote|''"If only I had more power!"''
|[[Stock Phrase|Too many characters to list]].}}
Like [[I Just Want to Be Special]] , [[I Just Want to Have Friends]] and [[I Just Want to Be Normal]],
In order to fulfill this wish of their audience, the creator of a work will usually create a viewpoint character and, over the course of the story, make said character [[Badass]]. This allows the audience to identify with the viewpoint character and as such experience badassery by proxy. Another way by which the author can fulfill this wish of the audience is to take a character that has already established his badassery and give said character a trait which the intended audience will identify with. Additionally, a writer can take a characterization with already-established [[Badass]] credentials and [[Flanderization|remove non-badass elements from said characterization in order to highlight the badassery]].
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This trope is very prone to being [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]]. A possible reason for this is that producers of media are usually not particularly [[Badass]] and as such may regard this particular wish of the audience as immature or naive. This, of course, is merely a speculation. However, whole industries are built on playing this trope straight and allowing the audience to fulfill its badassery fantasies by proxy.
This can be akin to hanging a sign on your head saying, "Am looking for [[Deal with the Devil]], apply within." Or an invitation for [[Training
Arguably, video games in general have a strong element of this as their appeal. Many FPS games do at least in part avert or subvert this however. During some action games, there is a level where the game radically changes pace and becomes [[Unexpected Gameplay Change|something different]]. For instance, an action game will toss in a stealth level where the player character is stripped of all their weapons. These levels are [[
This trope applies in two circumstances. The first is that a ''character in the work is motivated by the trope'' ('''the in-universe version'''). The other is that ''the work engages with (fulfilling, parodying, or being to some extent motivated and/or changed by) its viewers Wanting To Be Badass'' ('''the meta-version'''). There is often considerable overlap between the two types; if this wish was not prevalent in viewers, said viewers would probably react differently to characters motivated by the wish. The later is so common-place that only examples of playing with or subverting this expectation should be listed.
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Again, please remember that neither [[Wish Fulfillment]] nor the fulfillment of any specific wish (including this one) [[Tropes Are Not Bad|is a bad thing]]. If reality matched our fantasies, we would not need to create fiction.
{{examples|Examples of a character with this trait, or of the work playing with this expectation of the audience}}▼
▲{{examples|Examples of a character with this trait, or of the work playing with this expectation of the audience}}
== Anime
* Isidro in ''[[Berserk]]'' could be considered an example of this: even though he works a lot better as a [[Fragile Speedster]] with short blades and throwing rocks, he idolizes Guts (a [[Lightning Bruiser]]) and his [[BFS]]. This leads to problems, as he always insists on fighting like Guts instead of focusing on his true strengths (which involve throwing). Because his wish to be badass causes problems, there is at least a certain element of [[Deconstruction]] at work here.
** Guts himself is possibly the most badass character in all of fiction, but it's a shure bet that no one who followed the series [[Trauma Conga Line|actually wants to be him]].
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* Impmon from [[Digimon Tamers]] does NOT enjoy being a [[Harmless Villain]].
* Kosuna of ''[[Desert Punk (manga)|Desert Punk]]'' just wants to be the #1 [[Action Girl]] in the Great Kanto Desert, and becomes an apprentice handyman to Kanta to do so. She then spends the rest of the series learning that survival in the desert involves a lot of grunt work, trickery, and that doing your job right means using your gun as ''little'' as possible.
* [[Mahou Sensei Negima|Negi Springfield]] definitely qualifies. Already a [[Determinator|hard-working]] prodigal mage at the age of 10, his quest for power increases after many of his students become his [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|mischievous]] [[True Companions|followers]], making him constantly worried for their safety. It doesn't help that he's [[Overshadowed by Awesome|surrounded by a lot of
* [[Durarara!!|Mikado]] definitely qualifies because he wants to change something. {{spoiler|It's what led him to create [[Image Board|Dollars]]. Of course, later on you actually see that he has been [[Badass]] all along.}}
* [[Mafia Princess|Asago]] from ''[[Tokyo Crazy Paradise]]'' so very desperately wants to be a badass to match Ryuji, her husband-to-be, but she is always overshadowed by [[Sweet Polly Oliver|Tsukasa]] or runs into inhuman monsters. She [[Took a Level
* The ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' series has a few examples.
** Teana Lanster during ''StrikerS'' was a deconstruction of this. She was so desperate at being a badass as quickly as possible that her reckless actions placed both her and her teammates at risk. While she did eventually [[Take a Level In Badass]], she didn't do so until she let go of this mindset and concentrated on refining the skills and talents she had at a more sensible pace.
** Einhart Stratos in ''Vivid'' is a straighter example. Driven by the [[Genetic Memory]] of [[Reincarnation|her ancestor]], she is in a constant quest to become strong enough to protect everyone she cares about. This drive of hers only became more intense when she met and trained with the old cast of Nanoha, as she realized just how far she still has to go before she could reach their level.
* [[Baki the Grappler|"If one is born as a male, at least once in his life he will dream of becoming the strongest man alive. Grappler is the martial artist who aims to become the strongest in the world!"]]
* In ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', this was one of the major motivations of Joshua, an [[Ill Boy]] whose [[Blessed with Suck]] [[Healing Hands]] powers confined him to his bed. After being disappointed by a suggestion from [[The Mentor|Father Remington]] to go through [[Training
* After the death of his mother, the titular protagonist of ''[[Chirin no Suzu]]'' decides he wants to be a wolf. The problem? He's a lamb. Chirin thought that being a sheep is boring and that sheep are just a bunch of cowards - he wanted to be tough and powerful like a wolf. {{spoiler|In the end Chirin does become extremely strong however he lost everything in his quest to become powerful. He's not accepted by other sheep, he took revenge on his mentor, and he's not a wolf}}.
== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Kick-Ass]]'', two characters become superheroes: the title character because he wants to help people... and in a straighter version of this trope, {{spoiler|Big Daddy because he was frustrated with his marriage and thought his life was boring. He even creates a fake [[Backstory]] to enhance his new identity.}}
* This is pretty much the basic idea of ''[[Wanted (Comic Book)|Wanted]]'', both the original comic and the movie adaptation. The protagonist is a loser guy who becomes a [[Badass]] when he finds out he has a badass gene inherited from a father he never knew. The comic book (but not the movie) also {{spoiler|attempts to deconstruct this trope by scolding the reader for identifying with the main character, who's essentially a violent sociopath}}. Perhaps not coincidentally, ''Wanted'' was written by [[Mark Millar]], the same guy who also wrote ''Kick-Ass''.
== Fan
* Cyril, the bellringer mouse from the ''[[Redwall]]'' fic ''[[The Urthblood Saga]]'' has as his life's ambition to become a warrior someday, resenting his status as a lowly abbey novice and feeling as if his elders will [[Adults Are Useless|always treat him like a child.]] While he becomes somewhat less enthusastic about the idea and more accepting of his place after his younger brother Cyrus {{spoiler|just barely survives being wounded by a visiting soldier}}, he still has it as his ultimate goal.
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== Literature ==
* Paul in ''[[Duumvirate]]''. His best friends are [[Transhuman]] badasses, and he desperately wants to keep up.
* Nevere Burvelle, the protagonist of ''[[The Soldier Son]]'' by [[Robin Hobb]], is this. He's raised to be an [[Officer and a Gentleman]], goes through [[Training
** Nevare never had much of a choice. As the second son, he was (by religious doctrine) always meant to be the soldier of the family. The ending of the first book, however, shows that he was well on his way to being badass and the potential was solidified even more throughout the rest of the series, thanks to his Trainer From Hell.
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== Video Games ==
* [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]] with Solid Snake in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]''. Snake is badass all right, but at tremendous cost to his own life. He is cynical, bitter, jaded, [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|has a massive case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder]], is so level-headed that many would consider him inhumanly emotionless, is controlled and manipulated by his superiors, and basically exists as a puppet. Even his free will is brought into question, with Liquid alleging he is controlled by his genes. Unfortunately, this trope is so pervasive that many people who played [[Metal Gear Solid]] [[Misaimed Fandom|completely missed the point]] and saw Solid Snake as the ultimate action hero badass and desperately wanted to be him... which resulted in...
* ...Raiden in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', an even more savage [[Deconstruction]] of this trope than Solid Snake. As an audience proxy character whom the player is encouraged to identify with, he essentially the audience for wanting to be badass by, at the start of his portion of the game, first failing miserably at being badass and then being harassed by his girlfriend because of his emotional distance (a common trait of badassery). Then, in the later portion of the game, it is revealed that he is exceptionally badass. Unfortunately the circumstances through which his badassery was generated [[Training
* Cloud Strife in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' is a [[Deconstruction]] of this trope as well (in addition to attacking the audience for having this wish in the first place). Cloud so wanted to be badass that [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|he deluded himself into living in a fantasy world where he was an elite super-soldier]], all to impress the ladies, of course. [[Go Mad
* Mocked in a frequently forwarded webcomic stereotyping the three major current gen console users:
{{quote|'''Xbox 360 users:''' "[[Rated "M" for Manly|I want to be manly, for in reality I am not.]]"
'''Playstation 3 users:''' "[[Bishounen|I want to be pretty, for in reality I am not.]]"
'''Wii users:''' "[[Growing Up Sucks|I never want to grow up!]]" }}
* ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]''
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[[Category:Motivation Index]]
[[Category:Badass]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Aspiring Index]]
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