Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Difference between revisions

[[File:sympathetic-ineffectual-villain batman-carpenter 5195.jpg|link=Batman|frame|"No! [[Kryptonite Factor|Metal handcuffs - my only weakness]]!"]]

 

 

A potential villain who is consistently a failure or never gets the respect that he thinks he deserves, and may even be angry that the heroes don't take him seriously.

 

{{examples}}

* Mousse from ''[[Ranma ½]]'' is a loser whose plots against Ranma go only so far before backfiring spectacularly. He's usually played as an unrepentant jerk, although maybe once a season, he'd get a moment of quiet reflection for the audience to sympathize with him—right before going back to his old ways, naturally.

** Both the ineffectual and sympathetic aspects are ironic, because Mousse is the most ruthlessly homicidal of Ranma's regular rivals. Kuno simply wants to humiliate Ranma and get both Akane and "the pig-tailed girl"; his weapon is just a bokken. Ryoga initially enters the series with an apparent intent to kill, but settles down for pretty much just wanting to steal Akane away and be able to claim that he's better than Ranma after the early [[Martial Arts and Crafts|Martial Arts Figure Skating]] story. By contrast, Mousse spends most of the series willing to do just about anything to kill Ranma, routinely using bladed and impaling weapons and attacking with ambushes. He even comments once on being willing to slip poisonous mushrooms into Ranma's food.

** The [[Laughably Evil]] [[Gonk]], Foxy the Silver Fox, particularly in the anime where he gets more screen time. He's relatively [[Weak but Skilled]] and has only built up such a large crew because he won them in games stacked in his favor, but they seem to genuinely enjoy serving under him because of the fun carnival atmosphere of the Davy Back Fights.

** Another [[Laughably Evil]] villain was Wapol, the [[Big Bad]] (the term should be applied loosely) from the Drum Island Arc. While this guy had a cool Devil Fruit power with the potential to make him a threat, he was ''never'' even a small threat to the heroes, he was just... ''there'', and the arc would have gone smoother had he ''not'' been there. His one redeeming trait is that he is ''very'' funny, and became a rather complex and interesting recurring character after [[Redemption Promotion| he ''quit'' being a villain and went into toymaking.]]

** The Fake Straw Hats from the Return to Sabaody Arc. This small group of pirates led by a guy named "Three-Tongued" Demaro Black (the only member deemed dangerous enough to have a bounty) had an idea that seemed good on paper, they’d pretend to be the Straw Hat crew, hoping that group’s reputation would help them recruit a decent crew.<ref>There are indeed stories about [[Real Life]] novice pirates taking the names of well-known ones in order to gain notoriety, as before the invention of photography, few could tell two groups of pirates apart.</ref> On one hand, this worked at first, and they managed to recruit several hundred competent pirates, including the Caribou Pirates. But they ran into trouble very quickly for several reasons. One, they didn’t look like the Straw Hats at all. To put it this way, [https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Demaro_Black this is Black] and [https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Monkey_D._Luffy this is Luffy]; the other fakes were no better. Possibly justified, as they barely knew what the real Straw Hats looked like, failing to recognize members of the real crew at least twice; they even made fools of themselves trying to intimidate the real Nami and Usopp by claiming to be the Straw Hats. Worse, they advertised by placing fliers in public places, making them targets of several dangerous enemies of the Straw Hats, including the hulking Marine enforcer Sentamaru, a group of Pacifistas, several rank and file Marines and bounty hunters, and for that matter, the Caribou Pirates, once they figured out it had been a ruse. Most ironically, the two impersonating Robin and Chopper helped the real ones a great deal; after the fake ones were caught by a group of Marines, the real ones were able to throw off pursuit for a while. Not to mention, they weren’t very good fighters either. While there was ''one'' "hero confronts his imposter" moment in the story, it was lackluster, with Luffy belting Black and his gang into unconsciousness a single Haki, never realizing they were anything more than common muggers.

** Uh, Spandam. Seriously, while this guy isn't the only reason the viewers will start to wonder if C9 is worthy of their reputation (and what exactly the Marines' guidelines are for recruits), he ''is'' a big reason. He's clumsy (a [[Running Gag]] involved him spilling coffee on himself during moments of excitement), [[Dirty Coward| cowardly]], short tempered, and all too often, just plain dumb. Overlapping with [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]] he could be blamed ultimately for deaths of countless Marines; his cruel abuse of Robin during the Water 7 Saga (breaking a promise to the Straw Hats in the process) made her so enraged that he was the first victim of her dreaded "Clutch" attack (where she uses her Devil Fruit powers to cause her arms to sprout on the victim's body and break his spine.) Ironically, he survived, but [[It Gets Easier|this first time made it far more easier for Robin]] afterwards, and since then, whole armies have perished from her Clutch.

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: SEVENS]]'', it’s much easier to list the members of the [[Mega Corp| Goha Corp]] who ''do not'' deserve this designation than the ones who do, literally: {{spoiler| [[Big Bad Wannabe| Yugo]]}}, [[The Man Behind The Man| Otes]], [[Evil Genius| Nail]], and [[Dark Action Girl| Mimi]] are the only competent members, the rest are, at most, [[Laughably Evil]]. This is especially true during the Team Battle Royale arc where they are unable to discover Otes' identity or location despite him being an employee and the fact that they own the online server than controls the Solid Vision system. (To put this in perspective, in the original anime, KaibaCorp owned the server and Kaiba or one of his employees could locate a duelist within a minute.) Their goal is to abolish the Rush Duel system, which [[Playful Hacker]] protagonist Yuga Ohdo programmed into their computer system, and despite ''dozens'' of engineers and programmers working around the clock, they cannot even find the implanted rootkit, much less deactivate it. Yuga didn’t even create the backdoor system that accepted his program, and their plans to steal the information or trick Yuga out of the codes fail in the most absurd ways. (One seriously has to wonder why a more malevolent hacker has yet to rob them blind with such bad security.) Even worse, most members that try have to use the Rush Duel system themselves, [[I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham| and many start to seriously have a lot of fun doing so.]]

 

* [[Batman]] has a rogue's gallery with some of the best villains in comic history. Sadly, he also has some of the lamest:

*** One issue of ''Batman Adventures'' takes this and runs with it for all it's worth. The Riddler decides to try one last time to beat Batman, vowing that if Batman solves the riddle and defeats him, he'll give up crime forever. The riddle he comes up with really ''is'' good, but Batman's busy with multiple other villains and essentially decides to not spend time on the Riddler, and catch him after the fact if necessary. He catches him anyway, completely by chance, and admits as much to the Riddler when asked how he solved the puzzle. Satisfied that he outwitted Batman, even though he got caught, Riddler sings all the way back to Arkham.

** Similarly, the fact that the Penguin is perfectly sane may have contributed to his mutation into a gray market white-collar criminal who Batman is grudgingly willing to tolerate as a source of information on the criminal underworld.

** The Hate Monger. With his pointed Hood that made him look like a klansman, this villain could cause a [[Hate Plague]] in his victims. Unfortunately, this villain’s gimmick was the secret identity behind his mask, kind of like a darker version of a crook from [[Scooby-Doo]]. When the heroic foursome took him down and removed his mask (revealing him to be a clone of [[Adolf Hitler]] himself) he lost that edge and there was nothing left. Even the [[Red Skull]] (an actual Nazi) called him lame.

** [[Stan Lee]] once claimed in an interview that the one character he may have regretted creating was Diablo. Yep, this was a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] who was purposely designed as a Card-Carrying Villain, hence his name. He was pretty much Marvel's poster boy for the [[Alchemy Is Magic]] trope, but never really accomplished much. In fact, initially it seemed he was [[Only In It For The Money]], selling his alchemical concoctions to make profit, but failed at that because most of his potions wore off in a few weeks at most.

 

* Peter Lorre in ''[[M]]''. And again in ''[[Casablanca]]''. And in ''[[The Maltese Falcon]]''. And ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace]]''. In fact, [[Peter Lorre]] in general.

** Exception: he was pretty unsympathetic and effective in ''[[Casino Royale 1954]]''. And as Mister Moto, he's a two-fisted detective hero.

** Further exception: he's [[Playing Against Type|the hero]] in the film of ''The Mask of Dimitrios'' (aka ''[[A Coffin for Dimitrios]]''), and Sydney Greenstreet, who was usually the more competent villain to Lorre's ISV, is the ISV of this film.

* Inspector Clouseau, originally intended as an incompetent version of [[Inspector Javert]] in the original ''[[The Pink Panther]]'', managed to be so much more sympathetic than protagonist Charles "The Phantom" Lytton that he was retooled into the hero of the film's sequels.

** In the following film, ''A Shot in the Dark'', Clouseau transmitted this ISV condition to his boss, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (soon to become the ''former'' Chief Inspector Dreyfus). Dreyfus is actually a good detective who, it's implied, would never have gone [[Ax Crazy]] [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|if it hadn't been for Clouseau.]] After his [[Face Heel Turn]], poor Dreyfus has to look on helplessly as Clouseau survives all of Dreyfus' numerous murder attempts solely due to [[The Fool|the dumbest of dumb luck.]]

* [[Vincent Price]] as Shelby Carpenter in ''Laura.'' This is how his ''own girlfriend'' sums him up:

{{quote|"He's no good, but he's what I want. I'm not a nice person, Laura, and neither is he. He knows I know he's just what he is. He also knows that I don't care. We belong together because we're both weak and can't seem to help it. That's why I know he's capable of murder.<ref>Keep in mind that she says he's ''capable'' of murder. {{spoiler|He doesn't actually do it.}}</ref> He's like me."}}

* Jerry, the [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[Fargo]]''. The main humor of this [[Black Comedy]] movie is how his ludicrous plot to become rich - kidnapping his own wife and making a ransom demand to her rich father - backfires due to his own ineptitude. The thugs he hires to do the job are violent sociopaths who ''seriously'' botch the plan by murdering a state trooper and two witnesses, starting a series of [[Disaster Dominoes]] that results in his wife and her father murdered, and Jerry left with nothing and in prison, the true victim being his ten-year-old son who has lost both his parents as a result. While Jerry does come off as borderline sympathetic, one must remember he caused this tragedy via his own stupidity and has nobody to blame for it all but himself.

 

* Prince (later King) Korin, [[The Dragon]] {{spoiler|(although the [[Big Bad]] dies first)}} of [[Nightrunner|Lynn Flewelling's]] ''Tamír Trilogy''...although, especially towards the end, he ends up less sympathetic than merely pitiful. In real-world history, kings like him tended to end up with the sobriquet of "The Unready".

* While Sloan in the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'' has certainly done some terrible things—killing a man, selling out his village to man-eating [[mook]]s, and bullying the protagonist in his younger years—it's revealed that he did everything out of love for his daughter, and so lies on a fuzzy line between this trope and [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]].

* Chaunzaggaroth is this for the first couple of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' books.

* Jabba the Hutt may have been a dreaded and feared gangster in ''[[Star Wars]]'' continuity, but his father Zorba, who appeared in a few [[Expanded Universe]] stories, was a big joke. Several years after his son's death, he sought revenge against Leia and Han, but he never even got to Han; his attempts on Leia's life were all [[Epic Fail]]s. He came closest the first time, attempting to deal her a [[Karmic Death]] by throwing her to the sarlacc, but that only ended with him humiliated; not only was ''he'' fed to the beast, but it got sick as a result and vomited him out. After barely avoiding starving to death in the Tatooine desert before someone found him, he made other attempts against Leia but they were even worse. He eventually became a recluse, and [[Dying Alone|it's believed he eventually died in isolation.]]

 

* The Stillman Sisters from an episode of ''[[Charmed]]'', entitled "The Power of Three Blondes". They are trying to steal the Halliwell sisters' powers and prove that they're more than just dumb blondes, and they come oh-so-close to succeeding at both.

* Dr. Clayton Forrester of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' springs to mind. As his character brief in the show's official Episode Guide puts it, "His passion for depravity far exceeds his aptitude."

** Spike is a mixture of this and [[Draco in Leather Pants]]. It's why he had a sizable fan following even when he was pathetic and laughably useless.

* Halfway through his [[Villain Decay]] and before his (grudging) [[Heel Face Turn]], Crais of ''[[Farscape]]'' became this, having always been a [[Large Ham|little ridiculous]] and also [[Freudian Excuse|rather sad]]. He remains an egomaniac throughout, though.

** That was Season 1. Then [[Character Development]] kicks in. I'm not going to spoil the details, but by Season 4, he's possibly the single most sympathetic (in the sense that "you actually like him because he's a good guy") character on the show.

** Peter becomes sympathetic when one realizes that he is trapped in the system just as much as the other main characters. His delusions are crushed at the end of season 1 and he realizes that being a jerk will not get him anywhere in the firm. He is much more humble after this and stops being a villain.

*** Plus there was Game Face from the [[Sequel Series]], ''[[Power Rangers Dino Super Charge]]'', the episode "Freaky Frightday". Give a storyboard designer ten minutes to design a monster with the personality of a tough gym teacher and an [[I Know Madden Kombat]] theme, the result would be… Much better than this one. He looked like someone took all the equipment a high school PhysEd department was going to throw away and glued it all together in a vaguely humanoid monstrosity. He had a large set of [[Combo-Platter Powers]] set due to an arsenal of equipment, but with no synergy whatsoever, and while he did have hilarious dialogue, he was about as much of a threat as the pile of junk he resembled.

 

* An unintentional case was Retribution, a group who were pivotal to a storyline that may have looked good on paper. In 2020, this group of masked hooligans "invaded" WWE and wrecked everything in their path on a mission to bring the organization down. Or rather, that was the intent. Made up of NXT stars that had been given ''ridiculous'' names and silly costumes, they were far more annoying than they were evil, and were quickly condemned by both fans and critics. Reportedly, most mainstream WWE stars at the time felt sorry for them. WWE tried to salvage the storyline by "revealing" [[Mustafa Ali]] as the group's leader, but to no avail. After seven months, the group disbanded to little fanfair.

 

 

* In ''[[Xenogears]]'', Kahran Ramsus appears as a primary villain early on, and, with his prettyboy features, white hair, and usage of a sword as his weapon, seems destined to be the big bad. {{spoiler|By the end of the game, his [[Beware the Nice Ones|wallflower-like personal assistant]] has turned out to be the real [[Big Bad]], he finds out that he's a failed clone designed to mimic the powers of the main character (who he has repeatedly lost to), and is abandoned by his masters for his repeated failures.}}

* ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'' had Gilgamesh, the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Large Ham|enthusiastic, melodramatic]], and ultimately [[Affably Evil]] [[The Dragon|sidekick]], who, despite being a reasonably tough boss to fight, really talked himself up to be a lot more than he was...and eventually, after deciding that he liked the heroes a lot more than his boss, he {{spoiler|[[Taking You with Me|blew himself up to take out another boss]] that was attacking them - but not without a cheesy and confusing farewell speech.}}

* ''[[Steambot Chronicles]]'' has Dudley, an obnoxious, tough-talking, muscle-brained trotmobile rider who the player runs into on about 4 occasions (3 during the main story and another in an optional encounter). While not necessarily a villain per se, the oaf constantly boasts about his strength and generally acts like a prick (he picks fights with anyone he can, destroys a farm just because "flowers are stupid", and think that a massive zeppelin is hoarding treasure). In the hero ending of the game, he can even be seen during the credits making what appears to be threatening gestures towards Vanilla (who is leaving on a ship for his homeland).

* ''[[Halo]]'' has the Unggoy/Grunts, the main cannon fodder for the Covenant. Small (by Covenant standards), requiring gas masks to breathe in non-methane atmosphere, mistreated by the other races, they're slaves who come across as cowards. In large part because, fearing an uprising, the Covenant doesn't want to give them any actual combat training. Half the fandom feels sorry for them. The other half [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|loves to slaughter them]]. Averted in ''Halo3'' and ''Halo3: ODST'': there, they take [[Took a Level in Badass|so many levels in badassery]].

** Arvel the Swift, the first bad guy most players come across. The quest involving him requires you to find him and get the Golden Claw he stole. When you find the infamous thief, he’s been caught by a [[Giant Spider]], and you have to rescue him. However, once you cut him down he calls you a fool and makes a run for it; unfortunately for him, he’s actually not very swift, and barring a hideous streak of bad luck, he’s easy to catch. In fact, if you DO have a hideous streak of bad luck, the guy doesn’t realize he’s about to charge into a crypt full of [[Our Zombies Are Different| hungry Draugr]], and even if he gets past them (which he won’t) he’d run into a hallway full of deadly traps and… Long story short, he’s a stupid bandit.

** Ulfr the Blind, the bandit who "watches" the entrance to White River Watch. Already, this is clearly a bunch of [[Stupid Crooks| Stupid Bandits]], putting their hideout so close to Whiterun, but they have a ‘’blind’’ man guarding the entrance. Even worse, it’s pretty easy for you to convince him you’re another bandit, unless you actually attack him, and if you DO that, he suddenly seems perfectly able to see. So either he’s not blind, and is simply lazy, or he’s the skilled at blind-fighting, but a terrible guard.

** The dumbass Bandit by the log bridge south of Hillborne's Tomb. This jerk insults and challenges everyone he comes across, including you and the Ancestor Trolls that are nearby. The bridge isn't exactly the safest place to fight on, and the only threat he poses comes if you act like a bigger jerk and follow him onto it, but otherwise, he won't last long.

** Captain Valmir, {{spoiler|an undercover Thalmor agent disguised as a Stormcloak captain or an Imperial Legion soldier (whichever side ''you'' are on) who tells you to fetch the Dragon Priest Mask from Forelhost. Why? Well, according to his orders (which he carries) he's supposed to get it, but is too lazy and/or cowardly to do it, so he dresses as a member of your faction and tells ''you'' to. If you agree (which is worth it, as the Mask is a pretty decent magic item) you have to fight a bunch of ghosts, cultists, and Rahgot himself (a far more competent villain) and take the Mask, and when you come out, Valamir, who clearly wasn't too convinced of your success, if trying to pull this con on ''another'' adventurer. Which is ''very'' bad for him, because now he's got ''two'' adventurers angry at him. He won't last long after that.}}

* The Panther King from ''[[Conker's Bad Fur Day]]'' is stupid to the point of absurd, not to mention gullible. His sole motivation for opposing Conker stems from his obsession with fixing the table next to his throne and [[The Dragon|Professor von Kripplespac's]] claim that red squirrels make good table legs. Despite this suggestion making no sense whatsoever, he's willing to commit acts like kidnapping and murder to obtain a red squirrel, which Conker actually ''isn't''. {{spoiler|Little wonder that Kripplespac succeeded in [[The Starscream |his plan to assassinate him]].}}

* [[Mega Corp|Majestic]], from ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]''. What does it say in a game with a name like ''that'' when the genocidal alien looks more competent and more ethical than his human foes? Majestic is a large international organization dedicated to defeating the Furons, while secretly plotting their own goals of [[Take Over the World| world domination.]] Thing is, the Furon invasionary force consists of… [[Easy Logistics| one guy, the protagonist, Crypto]]. For all their highly-trained agents and cutting edge technology, Majestic - A [[Non-Indicative Name]] if there ever was one - can’t capture or defeat this one alien. Seriously.

 

** Despite that, Taps Man {{spoiler|managed to kill Burnt Face Man's rival, Slightly Bruised Man, with a spray of scalding water, followed with tepid water with lead piping and a faulty boiler.}}

* [[Homestar Runner|Strong Bad]], most of the time. On the rare occasion the mischief he gets up to is more serious than [[Poke the Poodle|Poodle Poking]], he's likely to fail pretty miserably at it. It's just as well, though, as the local approach to law enforcement is [https://web.archive.org/web/20150316030334/http://www.homestarrunner.com/jailcartoon.html just as pathetic].

* Verosika Mayday, Blitzo's ex-girlfriend and now rival from ''[[Helluva Boss]]''. [[Breakout Character]], maybe, but as a [[Horny Devil]], not very competent. A leader of a group of other succubi and incubi, Verisika figures a group of hormone-crazed college students on spring break are easy prey. She's right, and easily tempts them into an orgy of bestial lust, but makes the mistake of doing it ''on a public beach''. The end of the episode sees Blitzo's crew - who were very careful to leave no witnesses to ''their'' evil deeds - fleeing back to Hell while the police surround Verosika and her group, likely leaving a ''lot'' for her to explain to whatever Overlord she's working for.

 

* About half the [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]] in ''[[Antihero for Hire]]'' fit this trope. (The rest, of course, are anywhere on the scale between [[Affably Evil]] and [[Complete Monster]].)

* Waldo and Steve in the [[Web Comic]] ''[[CRFH]]'', though they are [[Gonk|far too ugly]] both physically and socially to ever be truly sympathetic.

* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20110128104159/http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=081023 Minion Master] from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''.

** In an alternative universe, [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20090910 he's] [[Not So Harmless]].

** Pretty much, [[Everything Trying to Kill You|everything]] in [[Crapsack World|the universe]] has [[Butt Monkey|two purposes]]: to hurt [[Heroic Sociopath|Black]] [[Complete Monster|Mage]] and humiliate Drizz'l.

* The Flaming Prince from ''[[Van Von Hunter]]''.

** He's mostly out of his depth and as he tries to grasp any straw, "bloody list of things to atone for keeps getting bigger".

 

* Dr. Horrible of ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]'', portrayed as a decent fellow with evil ambitions and a crush on a girl from his laundromat, while also being bullied around by [[Jerk Jock]] superhero Captain Hammer.

** He even qualifies as a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]; he thinks [[Utopia Justifies the Means]] and a benevolent dictatorship would do that. Kind of like [[Pinky and The Brain|the Brain]].

* While she worms her way out of trouble much more successfully than the Critic and could dominate the world if she got her mind fixed, [[The Nostalgia Chick]] is still just a shut-in alcoholic who'll never make anything of her life.

* Kami Steele of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' [[Spin-Off]] ''The Program'' seems to fit on and off, depending on the thread. Her first appearance had her pointing a gun [[Gangsta Style]] at a girl with the intent to kill her, but ran away over being ''yelled at'' by said girl, who had started to poke holes in her plans. She has since started a [[Not So Harmless|body count]], but still has her moments of incompetence. One could also make a case for Version 4's Jimmy Brennan, [[Not So Harmless|up until he]] {{spoiler|beat Philip Ward to death with a branch}}. Prior to that, though, he definitely qualified due to his [[Small Name, Big Ego|attitude]].

 

** Except in the episode "Secrets of My Excess", however this time, Spike is transformed into a gargantuan rampaging beast that almost completely demolishes Ponyville. ''Even then'' he may lean into this since it's all for the sake of [[Poke the Poodle|hoarding "gifts"]].

** Most of the [[Rogues Gallery]] for the show act as this or mere petty bullies. The foes used in the two part specials are the only notable exceptions, and even then their [[Smug Snake|detrmimental arrogance]] and the often humiliating manner they are taken out almost makes you pity them.

{{quote|''[[Lex Luthor]]'': [[Trivially Obvious|Scarecrow, you...you're made of STRAW!]]}}

* The Amoeba Boys in ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''. While the Powerpuff Girls are out beating up real criminals, the poor Amoeba Boys can't get the girls' attention, despite committing [[Sarcasm Mode|heinous]] acts such as [[Poke the Poodle|littering, jaywalking, and disobeying a "Keep off the grass" sign.]]

** Killface is so sympathetic, especially when compared to [[Jerkass]] [[Designated Hero]] Xander Crews, that it's easy to forget that he brutally killed two people in the pilot and has added to his body count throughout the series. It helps that some of the other members of the cast have committed similar misdeeds and/or are [[Asshole Victim]]s.

* ''[[Invader Zim]]'' qualifies for this trope most of the time; more often than not, his schemes are thwarted by the Ditz portion of his [[Genius Ditz]] personality, rather than by his arch-nemesis or his [[Cloudcuckoolander]] robot. Of particular note is the episode where he survives a [[Training from Hell]] in order to receive some [[Humongous Mecha]]s from his leaders, only to be shot into a sun for his troubles.

* Dr. Drakken from ''[[Kim Possible]]'' never gets the respect he thinks he should have; he always fails his capers, sometimes even without the help of Team Possible. Maybe he had the ''potential'' to be a great villain, but he never acted on it. He often gets mistaken for the more respected Dementor and, at the end of the series, he is outright told how much of a failure of a villain he has been (despite having come closer to [[Take Over the World|taking over the world]] than any of his peers, and ending up with {{spoiler|much of the credit for saving the world from the [[Alien Invasion]])}}. If it wasn't for his [[The Dragon|Dragon]], Shego, he wouldn't be a villain at all.

** Arguably, every villain in ''[[Kim Possible]]'' is like this, aside from Shego, who's the only one with any amount of competence or fighting ability.

** Of course, he was never anything but effective and unsympathetic in the comics, where, among other things, he ''killed his own son''. Oh, and he used to be a ''[[Honest John's Dealership|used car salesman]]'', [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|the]] ''[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|fiend]]''!

*** He does get the ineffectual part still - sometimes as part of a [[Plan]], sometimes because it's an imposter performing poorly. And sometimes, Destro just plain doesn't like him, and is willing to take the loss just to make him look bad, mostly because of his 'thing' for the Baroness.

* The Box Ghost of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' draws the line between this and [[Harmless Villain]]. He has the potential to be a great baddie (if one episode and his {{spoiler|[[Future Badass|badass future self]]}} is any indications), but he just never makes it. Out of all the ghosts Danny has fought, Box Ghost is strictly in the "Who Cares" category, but he tries, he oh so tries.

** And his love of boxes is reminiscent of [[Kids Prefer Boxes|a small child who prefers the box to the toy that came in it.]]

** Just drive, you moron! Your car is so fast that you can build elaborate booby traps in the time it takes the other racers to catch up! [[Fridge Logic|If you'd just forget about them and keep driving, you'd win every race hands down!]]

*** It wasn't for nothing that he had a whole trope [[Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat|named after him]].

* Tom, from [[Tom and Jerry]], was so ineffectual and sympathetic that, in many cartoons, one failed to see how Jerry was even a victim. Particularly [[Egregious]] examples, in fact, would cite that he wanted nothing more than to leave Jerry in peace, and Jerry could not stop [[Designated Hero|antagonizing him and trying to ruin his life.]] Often, the shows started with Jerry trying to steal Tom's milk, break into a safe/refrigerator/ship that Tom was guarding or just being a [[Jerkass|dick in general]]. Granted, sometimes Tom's methods can get [[Disproportionate Retribution|a bit extreme]], he's just trying to protect his property or [[Punch Clock Villain|doing his job]].

** [[Depending on the Writer|Though there were just as many examples were he was not sympathetic at all]].

** Usual, given that this is the reason why they're so popular, with people playing up the ineffectual sympathetic part, and ignoring the vilain part.

* Zordrak's minions, the Urpneys (and sometimes even his former self) of ''[[The Dreamstone]]'', are a mix of this alongside the [[Minion with an F In Evil]] category. The fact that their overall goal usually amounted to little more than [[Poke the Poodle|giving people scary dreams]] didn't help much. Granted since Rufus and Amberley are often [[The Meddling Kids Are Useless|Ineffectual Sympathetic Heroes]] they do at least briefly get the upper hand every now and then.

* [[Big Bad|General Specific]] from ''[[Sheep in The Big City]]''. To put it bluntly, how hard could it be to catch one sheep in a city where nobody likes sheep? Well, this guy spends the whole series trying and failing to do so.

* The Ape Man from the original ''[[Scooby-Doo (animation)|Scooby-Doo Where Are You?]]''. One of the biggest strengths of this cartoon was the creativity of the bad guys, but this was… just a gorilla. Naturally, it was in fact [[Scooby-Doo Hoax|a crook dressed like a gorilla]], but he did the dumbest thing any villain did in this show, remove his mask when he thought nobody was looking! This let Shaggy take his picture, leading to the others easily identifying him, made even easier by the fact that he was the only bald guy in the episode. Plus there was his incredibly pathetic motive, revenge against a movie director for not giving him the lead role in a movie. It was a low budget horror B-movie! How petty can you get?

* [[Prince Charmless| Prince Charming]] from ''[[Shrek the Third]]''. He was an okay - if [[Flat Character| a little flat]] - character when he was his mother’s crony in [[Shrek 2| the second movie]], but as the main antagonist in the third, he went from flat to lame. First of all, everyone in the film sees him as the butt of a bad joke - when even Pinocchio is trolling you, it kind of underscores the idea that you could ever be a threat to anyone. And he isn’t. His [[Evil Plan]] isn’t exactly well thought out - putting on a play where he heroically slays Shrek at the end, an action he assumes will forever cement him as the hero and Shrek as the villain. Sure, he gains points for creativity, but the flaw in this plan is obvious from the start - by this point in the franchise, Shrek has established himself as a beloved hero, while everyone despises Charming. More than likely, Prince Charming is a lesson for any villain’s goofy sidekick with thoughts of becoming a [[Dragon Ascendant]] - sometimes it’s better to stick to what you’re good at.

 

*** "''Good soldiers, bad officers''" is how Rommel described the Italians, and as for how ineffectual they were, one of his other quotes was "''The German soldier has impressed the world, however the Italian Bersagliere soldier has impressed the German soldier''".

**** Of course, seeing that an army's capacity to organize, plan, and cause its various elements to cooperate efficiently is more important than individual competance, it's still not the makings of a very good military, as Italy's entire post Roman military history shows.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091230053507/http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/hostage-post-office-gunman-was-angry-at-government-146816.html Warren Taylor] seems to have found a way to combine this trope with [[Terrorists Without a Cause]]. He stormed into a small-town post office, placed what appeared to be a bomb on the counter, and took three people hostage. At that point, he didn't seem to know quite what to do. Over the following eight hours, he issued two demands: a pizza to share with his hostages, and a pack of cigarettes for a hostage who smoked. In the end, he made his way outside and surrendered peacefully, eventually apologizing during his arraignment for getting everybody out on Christmas.

* [[wikipedia:Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf|Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf]], better known as Baghdad Bob and Comical Ali (the latter being a reference to "Chemical Ali", the nickname of the much more effectively evil former Iraqi Defence Minister Ali Hassan al-Majid) gained fame and memetic status during the second Iraq War on account of his hilarious [[Blatant Lies]] about American forces, which were generally contradicted by things visible directly behind him.