I Just Want to Be Special: Difference between revisions

[[File:superhero_2244superhero 2244.jpg|framethumb|350px|Maybe if you believe really hard, you too can be [[Batman (Franchise)|Batman]] wielding a [[Laser Blade|lightsaber]].]]

{{quote|But somebody''Somebody told me that I was special.<brcould />be

How''were could they have knownnot the dreams Ithey had<br />for me?

They''they saidhad Ino could beidea what I wanted--<br />.''

they had no idea what I wanted.|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}6WHyyr52LMw '''Ookla The Mok''', ''My Secret Origin'']}}

Anyone who is [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]] can expect precious little sympathy from this character. Anyone who is [[Blessed Withwith Suck]] has every right to argue with this character.

If they finally get what they want, they may become the [[Ascended Fanboy]]. Otherwise, they either Ascend and get slammed by the [[Sidekick Glass Ceiling]] or wind up [[Desperately Looking for Aa Purpose In Life]].

Compare [[I Wish It WereWas Real]], [[Changeling Fantasy]], [[The Call Put Me Onon Hold]], [[I Just Want to Be Beautiful]], [[The Team Wannabe]].

* [[Suzumiya Haruhi]]. [[The End of the World Asas We Know It|If ]] [[Wrong Genre Savvy|she only]] [[Locked Out of the Loop|knew...]] [[A God Am I|On the other hand, it's better for us that she doesn't]]{{verify|reason='Haruhi is God' is a fan theory, based on a comment Koizumi made and immediately rejected. Is there any other canon source for this theory?}}

* In ''[[Naru TaruNarutaru]]'', Akira Sakura just wants to be normal, because of the horrifying realities of being bonded with her "shadow dragon". Shiina, on the other hand, can't imagine getting on without Hoshimaru, and has a [[Heroic BSOD]] when she finds out {{spoiler|he was never hers at all}}. Shiina also wanted to become closer to Hoshimaru, and be able to control him as if he were a part of her body, like others who have "dragons"; She never was able to.

* Nami Hito, the incredibly normal girl in ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei-sensei]]''. At first she tried being the truant, but as Chiri [[Lampshade Hanging|pointed out]], [[Informed Ability|she kept showing up]].

** She then tries various other things to try to stand out, but her classmates all had her beat. It culminates with a suicide attempt. Naturally, at THAT EXACT INSTANT, the teacher falls from the roof in an actual suicide attempt. [[Dead Baby Comedy|Hilarious]]?

* A similar example is Momose Kurumi from ''[[Pani Poni Dash!]]''. Like Nami, the word "ordinary" is her [[Berserk Button]].

* Done darkly in ''[[Ghost Hunt (Manga)|Ghost Hunt]]'' - one character's desire for people to notice them winds up creating a poltergeist and injuring several characters.

* Saten from ''[[ToA AruCertain Kagaku no Railgun (Manga)|To Aru Kagaku noScientific Railgun]]''. She moved to Academy City to develop psychic powers, only to be told she had no potential whatsoever. Despite years of hard work, she remains at Level 0, and is unable to assist Misaka (Level 5) and Kuroko (Level 4) in fights. All of this eventually drives her to use the [[Brown Note|"Level Upper"]] to develop powers.

** Kuroko correctly guesses that Misaka thinks that part of the blame for the Level Upper incident falls on espers, in part because they tend to rub their specialness in the normals' faces, and sometimes bullying happens. Misaka isn't one of these, but she tried to impart [[Wisdom Fromfrom the Gutter]], which backfired spectacularly especially with her words "Levels don't matter", which rubbed Saten the wrong way as Mikoto's a Level 5 and Saten's a Level 0.

* Mikado from ''[[Durarara (Literature)|Durarara!!]]'' moves to Ikebukuro for the express reason of making his normal life become interesting. When he meets a mythical headless being and simultaneously discovers there's a laboratory conducting evil experiments, he does everything he can to become involved. However, he is an interesting subversion of I Just Want To Be Special, because {{spoiler|all this time he has been hiding his identity - he is the leader of Dollars}}.

* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', Videl. This trope is the main reason she trains so hard, because she wants to be as powerful as her [[Fake Ultimate Hero|father]] who supposedly defeated Cell and was already strong enough to be asked for help from the police. When she discovers Gohan's secret identity, she stalks him until he teaches her how to fly ( with Goten who by the way surpassed her in a hilarious way) and use her chi like the z warriors. After this she became the second most powerul woman in the series (after 18) .

** This also applies to [[Overshadowed Byby Awesome|Vegeta]]. While already one ofthe most powerful fighters he has repetedly fallen on this. For example, in the Frieza saga he wanted to be the legendary super saiyan, in Cell saga he wanted to be the best and became Super Vegeta, and in Majin Buu saga he became Majin Vegeta thanks to this desire.

* [[Twentieth20th Century Boys|Friend]]. {{spoiler|The first one}}.

* Ayumu Nishizawa of ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' wanted to be this for a while, and actually accomplished it for a time, being the first girl to have actually confessed to Hayate. Then she learned the [[Aesop]], and happily took a step back to play backup for the other characters.

* In ''[[Medaka Box]]'', {{spoiler|Zenkichi after chapter 116}}. In this case, it's more like {{spoiler|[[I Just Want to Be Special]] ''to Medaka'', and he needs to be special himself after Ajimu removed his "Token Normal" status by introducing five Normal students to Medaka.}}

* Genki from ''[[Monster Rancher (Animeanime)|Monster Rancher]]'' thinks his life is boring. Luckily he gets [[Trapped in Another World]], his favorite video game.

*** They also all got Ben Grimm's curse of [[Blessed Withwith Suck|looking more or less like monsters.]] Well, [[Be Careful What You Wish For|they asked for it.]]

* Early issues of the in-canon ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' have the cast speculate that Dawn being [[Attack of the Fifty 50-Foot Whatever|fifty feet tall]] now wasn't a horrible mistake but a desire to be special. This may be the truth now, there were missed issues, but having a fifty-foot tall ally did help when the zombies invaded. Stupid zombies.

{{quote| '''{{spoiler|Amy}}:''' What else you got?<br />

'''Xander:''' Say it with me now. Fe Fi Fo...<br />

'''Dawn:''' F*** ing Foom! ''[stomps {{spoiler|Amy}} with her giant foot]''<br />

** This is also Alix's own origin; her husband Lance Just Wanted To Be Special (and ironically was involved with Sally Sonic, who Just Wanted To Be Normal) and developed a supersteel smartskin that killed him and was accidentally transferred to her.

* Jerry, the guy who finds the HERO dial in the first issue of ''[[Dial H for Hero (Comic Book)|H-E-R-O]]''. This is a guy who became suicidally depressed at the mere sight of Superman, that's how severe his envy was. What's worse? He soon discovered that even with powers, he was no Superman and that there wasn't any point; his entire storyline is told through his call to a suicide hotline.

* In ''[[Insane Jane]]'', Jane does drugs and exposes herself to dangerous chemicals under the delusion that that sort of thing actually gives you superpowers like it does in the comics she reads. She even {{spoiler|murders everyone she knows in an attempt to invoke [[Death Byby Origin Story]]}}.

* "[[I Just Want to Be Special]]" practically defines [[Lex Luthor]]'s character. He resents and envies people with superpowers in general and [[Superman]] in particular, both for their powers and for receiving the respect and adulation that he believes he's entitled to as a one-in-a-million 12th level intellect genius. Everything he tries to make himself more special than them never works. Being a brilliant inventor and businessman? Didn't work. Trying to kill them? Didn't work. Masquerading as his own son through cloning and starting his own super team? Didn't work. Becoming President? Didn't work. This reached a head in ''[[Fifty Two52]]'' when he started his "Everyman" Program that offered exo-gene treatments to other people who also wanted to be Special. Though his initial goal seemed to be building a superhuman army that he could control (while making real superheroes seem less special in general), [[Villainous Breakdown|Lex gets increasingly frustrated]] when repeated testing confirms that he is incompatible with his own treatment. He goes so far as to {{spoiler|turn off the Everymen's powers on New Year's at midnight while thousands of them are flying in the skies of Metropolis - and promptly start falling to their deaths}}. When it turns out that {{spoiler|he ''was'' compatible all along and that his head scientist Dennis lied about it because Dennis rightfully believed Luthor couldn't be trusted with superpowers}} Lex immediately {{spoiler|gives himself a copy of ''Superman's'' powers}}. When Lex fights {{spoiler|Steel}} in a later issue, he {{spoiler|[[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown|thrashes Steel with the powers of Superman]]}} and is absolutely ''giddy'' about it.

{{quote| '''Lex:''' No pain! NO PAIN! [[Evil Laugh|HAHAHAHA!]]<br />

* Kid Devil wanted to be a special so badly that he built himself a power suit and high tech trident when he was 12, and then made a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]] when he was a teenager to become a real devil. The motivation for his actions stems from being inspired by his friend and idol [[Blue Devil]], and from parental neglect. This is counter to his friend and teammate [[Blue Beetle]], who [[I Just Want to Be Normal|just wants to be normal]].

* ''[[The Umbrella Academy]]'' has Vanya, who really wishes that she superpowers beyond [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|playing the violin really well.]] This is largely because her father figure and some of her adoptive siblings at the titular academy frequently put her down for it. {{spoiler|It turns out that the abuse was her father figure's attempt to hide the fact that Vanya had enourmous potential as a [[Musical Assassin]], potential so great she could destroy the world if she tried. [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|She does try.]]}}

* College student Leonardo d'Aq (in one of the ''[[Paperinik New Adventures|Paperinik]]'' continuities) wants to be a superhero, and desperately tries to have an "origin" - [[The Hulk|standing too close to an experimental nuclear explosion]], [[Spider -Man|being bitten by a radioactive bug]], touching a strange meteorite - but fails. He ''does'' succeed [[Ascended Fanboy|in becoming the sidekick of a Superman expy]], but that is when he simply acts with everyday heroism and helps the hero, instead of trying foolish stunts to gain glory. The hero points out that he is a potential [[Badass Normal]], but ignored it dreaming of superpowers.

* The main character of ''[[Grounded]]'' is a comic book nerd who has always wanted to be a superhero, to the point that he once broke his leg trying to fly off the roof of his house. By the end of the story, both he and his like-minded girlfriend are attending an actual [[Super -Hero School]] - where they're the only students who actually want to be heroes.

* This is part of the reason for the superhero movement in ''[[Kick -Ass]]''. In the second series, Kick-Ass meets Dr. Gravity, who claims to be a genius physicist wielding a device that can increase or decrease the weight of an object. Kick-Ass expresses disbelief, and Dr. Gravity comes clean - he's an English major at a local university and the gravity rod is a baseball bat covered in tin foil. He isn't ashamed, though. As far as he's concerned, being a superhero is primarily about living your fantasy life.

* In ''[[All Fall Down (Comic Book)|All Fall Down]]'', virtually everyone that lost their powers wants them back.

* Paul goes through several chapters of this in ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]'', when the other three all get magic dumped on them, but he doesn't get any. Not one to sit around waiting, he attempts to learn how to cast spells, but even the easiest spell is too strenuous for him, and Grunnel won't teach him any more because more powerful spells would kill him. Eventually, though, he does get his magic... and as a bonus, he's now hardy enough to cast spells!

* Syndrome from ''[[The Incredibles (Animation)|The Incredibles]]'' had this as his [[Start of Darkness]].

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]].'' Po is constantly dreaming and fantasizing about becoming a kung fu warrior, something which his adopted father simply cannot understand, and he is more than eager to toss aside his noodle cart (though that may have more to do with the [[Running Gag|ridiculously high stairs to the Jade Palace]]) to go see his heroes perform and imagine he's part of their team. Of course he never dreamed he actually would ''get'' chosen, especially as the Dragon Warrior...

** The movie actually flipflops between this and [[Refusal of the Call]]. Po weathers the [[Training Fromfrom Hell]] all because he wants to be special, to prove to himself he can be more than just a fat, lazy panda. Then he flees when he learns he must face Tai Lung. He becomes bound and determined after Shifu's pep talk to train and be a true master, then gives up again when there seems to be no secret to the Dragon Scroll. In the end he finally does see that he is already special and uses that to achieve victory. The surprisingly realistic moral of the story seems to be that while many say they would love the chance to answer the call, when it finally comes they may find out [[Be Careful What You Wish For|it's not all it cracked up to be]], and things are neither as fun or easy as they expected. But that doesn't mean the call shouldn't be heeded.

* In the movie ''[[Beetlejuice (Film)|Beetlejuice]]'', Lydia wants to be dead (and become a ghost) like her friends the Maitlands.

* ''[[A KnightsKnight's Tale]]'' has William who wants to "change his stars" to become a knight even though he's only a peasant.

* Basically the whole basis for quite a few characters in ''[[Kick -Ass (Filmfilm)|Kick Ass]]''.

* [[Perky Goth]] Abby Normal wants to be a vampire in [[Christopher Moore]]'s novel ''[[Bloodsucking Fiends (Literature)|Bloodsucking Fiends]]''.

* The protagonist from the ''[[Twilight (Literaturenovel)|Twilight]]'' novels desperately wants to become a vampire before she gets too old for her boyfriend, who became a vampire when he was 17.

* When we see [[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Voldemort's]] [[Start of Darkness]], we find that as a child he hated everything he considered "common" about himself (especially his name "Tom"). Ultimately, wanting to be special was what motivated everything he did, since even after finding out he was a wizard he wasn't satisfied, since he wanted to be "special" by ''their'' standards as well.

* Tavi in the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' starts out like this, since he's [[The Call Put Me Onon Hold|the]] ''[[The Call Put Me Onon Hold|one]]'' [[The Call Put Me Onon Hold|normal person]] in a setting where everyone has [[Elemental Powers]]. He eventually gets over it and resigns himself to putting the "[[Badass]]" back in [[Badass Normal]]. {{spoiler|[[Irony|Of course]], his powers start coming in shortly afterward.}}

* In the novel ''The Lollipop Shoes'' (the sequel to the novel ''[[Chocolat]]'') the character Zozie wonders why Vianne Rocher, who [[Magic Realism|may or may not be a witch]], spends all her time [[Can't Stay Normal|trying]] [[I Just Want to Be Normal|to fit in]] when Zozie's own mother [[I Just Want to Be Special|"spent her whole life trying to be special"]].

* There was an episode of ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' where a kid wanted to be an android like Data.

** That had more to do with the kid being traumatized (he was the only survivor of a starship) and not wanting to deal with his emotions. So when he heard Data had no feelings, he went into full on copycat mode.

* [[Heroes (TV series)|Sylar]]. (Although Sylar takes a more proactive approach than most other examples of this trope.) Interestingly, he actually ''was'' special and just didn't know it because his power was so low-key. Then he decided to use it to become more special. And there was a lot of blood.

** Claire was [[I Just Want to Be Normal|the reverse of this]] at one point but now seems resigned to the fact she'll never be normal so wants to test the limits of her powers and be more proactive.

** Another dark example, Linda Tarvara from the Graphic Novels. Almost a female Sylar she was isolated by her parents so much that when she discovered she could absorb the life force of living things she became addicted to doing so. Which lead to her crossing the [[Moral Event Horizon]] at sixteen by EATING AN OLD WOMAN'S SOUL.

* ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'': Before the island, Locke lived a life that varied between uneventful and tragic. His desire to be special (and to believe his mother when she claimed he ''was'' special) made him vulnerable to a horrendously cruel con job committed by ''his parents''. And incidentally vulnerable to manipulation by anyone who claims he is special and has a destiny they wish to further. It rapidly gets sad, though it turns out he really may be quite special all the same.

* [[House (TV series)|House]], in the episode "Lines in the Sand" explains how he envies his autistic patient for being accepted as abnormal. Wilson mentions at the end of the episode that House wishes he had an autism spectrum disorder.

* In ''[[Misfits]]'', when Nathan is the only main character not to develop superpowers, he gets jealous of the others (even though most of them are royally [[Blessed Withwith Suck]]) and often whines about it. He's not even cool, clever or efficient enough to be considered [[Badass Normal]] - although if there were a prize for ''Jerkass'' Normal he'd probably win it. He goes to increasingly troubling lengths to find out what his power could be - dunking his head repeatedly in a bucket of water to see if he's Aquaman ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12cRmvvuPjk as this clip shows]}), launching himself into walls in an attempt to pass through solid matter, and throwing himself from heights in the hope that he can fly. <ref> He can't.</ref>

* Danny Farrell, Shawn's younger brother in ''[[The 4400]]''. After his older brother gets healing powers, he gets jealous. Eventually, in later seasons, he's one of the first main characters to {{spoiler|take the superpower-granting drug that has a 50% fatality rate. He's given the power to... [[Blessed Withwith Suck|kill anyone who comes within an ever-expanding radius of him]] and [[Power Incontinence|he can't control it]].}} [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]. {{spoiler|Shawn has to reverse his healing powers and [[Mercy Kill]] him after Danny accidentally kills their mother and several other people and can't stop it.}} So there's that.

* [[Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin]] occasionally laments the fact that, as a human, he doesn't have any of the cool traits many animals do, like retractable claws, fangs, opposable toes, wings, the ability to light up his behind the way fireflies do, etc.

* The premise behind the ''[[Purr Tenders|Purr-Tenders]]'' was that nobody who visited the Pick-a-Dilly Pet Shop saw cats as special, even when they had pink or purple or blue fur or could talk. So they make ear headbands and muzzle masks to pass themselves off as more 'special' types of pets, like parrots or ducks or mice or dogs.

* In ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|In Famous]]'', Zeke keeps asking you to find a way to get him some powers, especially after he finds out that {{spoiler|your powers weren't random}}. It starts as early as when you jump off of a building and Zeke says "I wish I could do something like that." {{spoiler|It eventually prompts his [[Face Heel Turn]].}}

* In ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' though everyone [[I Just Want to Be Normal|just wants to be normal]], one of the bosses became a l'Cie for the power, though he later lamented that he while he had all the power he wanted he was just a puppet.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' has Riku, who's spent his entire life -- literallylife—literally ever since he was a toddler -- dreamingtoddler—dreaming of adventure and power, utterly convinced his destiny absolutely ''must'' lie beyond his little island town. When his best friend, Sora, turns out to be the hero instead, it gives Riku his [[Start of Darkness]].

* Miou in ''[[A Profile (Visual Novel)|A Profile]]'' is mercilessly teased for being so normal. {{spoiler|This may have been part of what led her into prostitution and, it is implied, to take drugs. It's not like she needed the money.}}

== WebcomicsWeb Comics ==

* ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcdxkcd]]'' [http://xkcd.com/308/ wants to] live in interesting times.

* Sol in ''[http://www.revenant-braves.schala.net [Circumstances of the Revenant Braves]]'' initially befriends Kei simply because he wants to know how he can get special powers. {{spoiler|Later subverted when he actually gets similar powers}}.

* Sarah of ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' has a bit of this, considering that her friends consist of several magic users, an alien shapeshifter, and a [[Mad Scientist]], though she is mature enough not to whine about it constantly. However, it was hinted at several times before being admitted outright [http://egscomics.com/?date=2010-04-30 here.]

** ApparentlyLater when Tedd experimented with [[Magitek]] she volunteered as a guinea pig/assistant. And apparently, Grace was [[Incredibly Lame Pun|graceful]] and [[Incredibly Lame Pun|gracious]] enough to [[Rule of Three|grace]] her with these possibilities, via getting Tedd to make her some magic-powered stuff she could use. Maybe the kind that would give her powers itself?

* Robin also gets a bit of this trope in season 1 of ''[[The Wotch (Webcomic)|The Wotch]]''. The result? [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nearly destroying the town]].

* In ''[[Sinfest (Webcomic)|Sinfest]]'', the [[Fan Girl]] wants to be cool because Monique is. [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209162746/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4120 Monique handles it nicely.]

* Sokka feels this way sometimes in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', most noticeably in the episode "Sokka's Master". It doesn't help that ''everyone'' else in his party, including his sister, is an elemental mage of some sort.

* ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'' episode "Shaggy Frog": Spud would like to have dragon powers just like Jake. But instead has to settle for frog powers instead, which is just fine with him. [[Snap Back]] when he realizes he [[Fantastic Aesop|doesn't need powers]] [[Anvilicious|to be special]]

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' had a case of this after becoming "normal" in one episode.

* Happens in ''[[The Mask (Animationanimation)|The Mask]]'' animated series. Two comic obsessed kids decide to infect themselves with radiation hoping it would give them superpowers. Due to some events, they did mutate into inhuman creatures. Sadly, one of the kids turned into a Fish Guy thats not even able to swim. Whenever Fish Guy sees someone doing something extraordinary, he starts complaining about wanting to have superpowers too.

* The defining characteristic of Alice in ''[[The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (Film)|The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland]]''.

* This is a common desire in [[Real Life]] (especially in little kids), frequently resulting in the creation of [[Escapist Character|Escapist Characters]]s in [[Fan Fiction]]. The unfortunate result, if handled poorly, is [[Mary Sue]].

* [[The Singularity|Transhumanism]].

[[Category:IDepressing Just Want To Be SpecialTropes]]

[[Category:Trope{{PAGENAME}}]]