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.

** However, the three all got their happy ending in ''Best Wishes''. And by "happy ending", [[Took a Level in Badass|they...]]

* Martina, the anime-exclusive [[Guest Star Party Member]] and [[Princess in Rags|fallen princess]] from the second season of the ''[[Slayers]]'' anime, who only knows how to perform minor curses and can't defend herself at all. She spends the first half of the season trying to get revenge on Lina and her friends for destroying her home, and fails every time; after that, she decides to tag along with them. She ''does'' {{spoiler|decide to help Lina out morally during the final battle}}, though.

** Later, in ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'', Bunbee almost exactly duplicated [[Beast Wars|Waspinator's]] history: while introduced as a serious threat, he quickly fell into this, which had the side effect of [[Ensemble Darkhorse|making him popular with the fans]], which saved him from being killed off at the end of the season and led to him getting a happy ending in the final episode. Fortunately for Bunbee, ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'' has no equivalent to ''[[Beast Machines]].''

* ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'' had Jerid Mesa, who ended up becoming the [[Designated Villain|Designated Rival]] for the show's protagonist, got into a vicious cycle of each killing the other's friends and/or lovers in battle, and eventually was {{spoiler|killed when the hero threw his mobile suit into an exploding battleship}}.

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' had Patrick Coulasour, an ace in 'simulated' combat, who quickly develops a one-sided rivalry with the Gundams after being publicly humiliated by them in the first episode, only to be dispatched in a similar fashion when he returns later. As with Jeremiah, fans latched onto him, giving him the nickname "Team Patrick". He eventually latches onto his commanding officer, Kati Mannequin, and goes on to be shot down another 5 or 6 times, even after switching sides.

* Excel in ''[[Excel Saga (manga)|Excel Saga]]'' at times. She really wants to help her Lord Il Palazzo's plans to take over the world, but she fails so badly at every mission given to her. Often subverted though by following a sympathetic moment with doing or saying something disturbing.

*** And succeeding. Even after his father's identity is revealed, it makes him no less [[Badass]], managing to [[Killed Off for Real|kill someone who wouldn't be coming back]] in a series known for [[Death Is Cheap|at least half a dozen ways of reviving the dead.]]

* Emperor Pilaf and his assistants from ''[[Dragon Ball]]''.

* Japoli, Katejin, and Enge, the [[Punch Clock Villain]]s of ''[[Overman King Gainer]]'' who are completely incompetent in their jobs, and are only a threat if they have Overman. They are the main source of comic relief with the Siberian Railroad.

* Feliciano/Italy in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', an odd example of an ineffectual sympathetic villain title character semi-protagonist. He really only gets the title of villain because the manga is set predominantly in the WWII era. [[You Fail History Forever|If further explanation of that is needed...]]

* Lilynette, Stark's [[Token Loli]] fraccion from ''[[Bleach]]''. She's currently fighting Ukitake, who is one of the 5 most powerful shinigami in existence. The fight so far has consisted of {{spoiler|Ukitake telling her that he doesn't want to fight a little girl and simply deflecting or dodging every attack she threw at him. Currently, he's playing keep-away with her Zanpaktou as she cries at him to give it back and threatens over and over again to kill him.}}

** Ukitake even lectures the girl on how her determination is admirable, but she simply lacks the ability to 'fight' him properly (i.e take the sword back). She fires a [[Ki Attack|cero]], he deflects it with his [[Nonchalant Dodge|hand]]. No wonder she was pissed off.

* ''[[One Piece]]'' has had some of the best villains in anime during its long run, but for every great villain like Sir Crocodile and Donquixote Doflamingo, there are sure to be a few lame fools:

** 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.

** Charlotte Daifuku, one of Big Mom’s sons and a high-ranking (for some odd reason) officer in her army, and thus an antagonist during the Whole Cake Island Arc. A man who values physical strength among all else, he has an uncontrollable temper, a trait that made his attack on the Thousand Sunny almost laughable. In his attempt to bring Carrot down after she assumed her [[One-Winged Angel| Sunlong form]], he used his Devil Fruit power to create a giant, sword-wielding genie - who, in its efforts to hit Carrot with its weapon, inadvertently sunk about half of Daifuku’s fleet, never hitting Carrot even once.

** And for that matter, Buena Festa himself, the [[Dragon-in-Chief]] of ''One Piece: Stampede'', the 14th movie. Driven by jealousy against Roger himself, he planned to end the Age of Piracy by making [[Big Bad|Douglas Bullet]] the King of the Pirates and ruling the world as the power behind the throne. A rather grandiose (if absurd) goal, seeing as [[The Empire|the World Government]] has been trying to quash the trend since Roger’s death. Festa planned to do this by turning the the Pirate Festival into a free-for-all where Bullet would be the last man standing, and shifted into [[Stupid Evil]] territory by broadcasting it to the [[Yakuza|Emperors of the Underworld]], boasting that he planed to have them executed once he assumed control - and is then humiliated when Luffy takes Bullet down. To drive the point home, Luffy’s brother Sabo shows up to give Festa [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]], telling him he’d have done much better had Luffy been his partner in such an endeavor, although he seriously doubts Luffy would have agreed to it.

** Gecko Moria, the captain of the Thriller Bark pirates and [[Arc Villain]] of the arc of the same name. Now, some characters in ''One Piece'' start out with seeming utterly ridiculous, but then after a few episodes, you see them in action and they become truly awesome; Gecko was not this, he started out seeming utterly ridiculous (an [[Ambiguously Human]] vampire-like creature whose crew had sort of a cheesy Comedy-Horror theme) and ''remained'' utterly ridiculous. One of the Seven Warlords, owner of the largest ship in the world with a bounty of 320 million berries, he once slaughtered [[The Dreaded|Kaido]]’s entire crew (badly wounding Kaido himself) and had a potent Devil Fruit power that let him steal and control shadows, granting him remarkable powers of [[Necromancy]] - but unfortunately, it seemed the success had gone to his head, making him overconfident, sluggish, and lazy. Most of his appearances in the arc has him [[Orcus on His Throne|doing nothing but sitting on his fat behind]] sending out his undead minions and three lieutenants ([[Evil Genius| Hogback]], [[Straight Man| Absalom]], and [[Dark Action Girl| Perona]], all of whom were more competent with better developed character than their boss) do all the work. To his credit, when he finally ''does'' decide to get his ass off his throne and fight the heroes, it’s a pretty epic [[Final Boss]] scene, but it only leads to his very epic defeat that wrecks what’s left of his reputation, causing the World Government to revoke his Warlord status [[You Have Failed Me...|and decide to eliminate him]]. He manages to escape, so he ''might'' eventually become a legitimate threat, but until then, he remains this Trope.

* Buaku from ''[[Dominion Tank Police]]'' and his sidekicks, the Puma sisters. They've always been wannabe [[Magnificent Bastard]]s, but they were slightly more competent in the manga. Granted, their failures are rarely their own fault, discounting their lack of foresight.

* King Dedede in ''[[Kirby: Right Back at Ya!]]'' is the kind of guy who wants respect from the Cappies, and just wants to beat up Kirby for the sake of it, which is why he buys Demon Beasts/monsters online from Holy Nightmare/Nightmare Enterprises. Of course, [[The Good Guys Always Win|Kirby always wins the day]], so Dedede never gets the respect he wants. To be fair, Dedede isn't really all that bad, he's just mean, misunderstood, and a completely incompetent half-wit.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]''; Gee, where to start...

** Insector Haga and "Dinosaur" Ryuzaki were probably the most well known examples. You kind of felt sorry for them after awhile. Their worst humiliation came during the KC Grand Prix when they dueled Zigfried two against one, and he beat them both... On his first turn. (Granted, Zigfried is a guy who gave even Kaiba one of the most epic duels of his career, but still...)

** Not that there weren't others. There was Jean-Claude Magnum (a [[Hopeless Suitor]] to Mai, and a [[Miles Gloriosus]]) the unnamed Rare Hunter called "Seeker" by fans (half of Yugi's dialogue during the duel consisted of a [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]) and Gurimo from the [[Filler Arc| DOMA arc]]. (To those who have only seen the dub, that would be the first duelist seen using the Seal of Orichalcos; the dub didn't think he was worth a dub name.) Seriously, Gurimo not only used one [[Artifact of Doom]] (The Seal of Orichalcos, naturally) he [[Too Dumb to Live| was dumb enough]] to combine it with a second one (Obelisk the Tormentor). The only thing that was truly surprising about his loss to Yugi is why all the other characters found it so surprising!

** Starting Season 3, the show took a [[Darker and Edgier]] theme and this sort of villain was rare, but there were still a couple. In Season 4, there was Sorano, another Obelisk snob who saw Judai and didn't see past the red blazer. (Some people just don't learn.) Not only that, his Horus deck seemed like it was copied from a magazine, aside from one part of the strategy that needed an anime-only card. He only became a true threat after he was possessed by Trueman.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds]]'': continued the trend, but not as much. As early as the second episode there was Uryu, a hoodlum who was sent to Satellite for causing trouble, who lost a duel to Yusei because he ''didn't know how his own card worked''. Aki had two opponents that qualified in the Fortune Cup alone, Jill deLauncebeaux, and Kodo Kinomiya (the second one a guy who bordered on [[Stupid Evil]], seeing as he knew he was dueling a powerful [[Reality Warper]] and spent the whole duel flinging insults at her.) In the second season there was the D-Wheel thief Cid (who rigged his [[Death Trap]] so that he wouldn't fall victim to it, only to almost be done in because he rigged it ''badly'') and the [[Loan Shark]] Garome. (Jack Atlas is a guy who grew up on Satellite and would later face the nightmarish metal stress of facing the Earthbound Gods, survived it all with a grin. It's not like common crooks like them are going to intimidate or panic him.)

 

* [[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.

** Humpty-Dumpty, who is so [[Anti-Villain|delightfully inoffensive that even calling him a villain is a big stretch]]. Even when one learns that there's a good reason that he's in Arkham, one kinda feels sorry for him; he has an obsession with fixing things by taking them apart and putting them back together again, because his ''whole life'' has been [[Deus Angst Machina|a string of disasters]], one after another. Unfortunately, his attempts to fix things only make them run ''worse''. His attempts to fix stuff like a subway train, an elevator, and a clock tower have lead to people getting hurt or even ''killed''. And, of course, he murdered his abusive grandmother when he tried to take ''her'' apart and put her together again.

** Condiment King, an absurd parody of gimmick villains, is this trope [[Lampshade Hanging|with a lampshade]]. Originally introduced as an original character for ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' where he wasn't a villain, but a brainwashed pawn of the Joker, he eventually emigrated to mainstream comics as a real one. Just dangerous enough to be worthy of Batman and Robin's attention, he has at least the ''potential'' to be a real threat (think "mustard gas", for just one example). However, in practice, he repeatedly gets defeated in a single page. Because he's an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, he keeps getting parole.

** Jenna Duffy, aka The Carpenter (see trope image), was a member of Tweedledee and Tweedledum's "Wonderland Gang", [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|but had the sense to get out of supervillainy and to work exclusively as...an actual carpenter.]] Her specialty (who do you think ''builds'' all those [[Death Trap|deathtraps]] in Gotham?) can still get her into trouble, however.

*** Amazingly enough, however, Jenna manages to become a [[Not So Harmless Villain]] ''and'' a three-dimensional character in ''[[Batman: Streets of Gotham]]''. When she is double crossed by her employer (a crime boss called the Director) and realizes he never intended to pay her and that his scheme to kill Batman requires ''her'' death as well, she turns against him and his gang, taking them all down in what could best be described as an R-rated version of ''[[Home Alone]]''. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|(And yes, she kills one thug ''with a nail gun''.)]] Batman later advises her to leave Gotham, and she does - for a while.

** Signalman got his start as a crook who figured he needed some gimmick to be successful, so taking inspiration from the Bat-Signal, he embarked on crimes where, like the Riddler, he left clues for the hero. But signals just don't grab a fan's attention as much as riddles do, and his costume looked like some kid scribbled all over it.

** Calendar Man started out as a lame villain. Julian Gregory Day (his name is ''three puns in one'') committed crimes on holidays with an appropriate theme. (For instance, dressing as Uncle Sam on Independence Day and robbing historic museums.) And he made really bad puns doing it. In recent years, however, he's [[Took a Level in Badass|become more serious]] and is seen in darker stories, becoming a ''little'' better and less of a joke.

** Most characters designed by comic legends Bob Kane and Bill Finger would be A-list, but the Penny Plunderer was anything but. Joe Coyne [[Punny Name|(another pun there)]] was a newspaper seller who was fired for stealing pennies, and turned to crime over an obsession for them. But it gets worse. He was the ''original owner of the giant penny'' proudly displayed in the Batcave. DC was [[Old Shame|so embarrassed by this story]], they gave it a [[Retcon]] that attributed the giant penny to one of Two-Face's schemes, banishing the Penny Plunderer from canon.

** Poka-Dot Man, a guy in a bodysuit covered with multicolored poka-dots. Truthfully, this guy had a lot of pretty cool gadgets, but his ridiculous costume and name made it very hard for ''anyone'' to take him seriously.

** Another time he teamed up with fellow loser the Trapster (see below), had Spidey at their mercy and only didn't kill him due to suddenly getting a call from their boss informing them that their pay would be doubled if Spidey lived. Ever the pragmatist, Shocker accepted though he remarked that if he killed him, he would "save a fortune on therapy bills".

** While the "regular" Shocker has his moments of competence and [[Not So Harmless]], his [[Ultimate Marvel]] counterpart consistently fits this trope.

* Rhino sometimes gets this treatment. Recently, he underwent a [[Heel Face Turn]], but [[Failure Is the Only Option|this is doomed to fail]]

** There was a two issue story about him in a Spider-Man spinoff focusing on the various other characters in Spidey's life, with his idiocy being what makes him so pathetic. However, he ends up becoming super-intelligent via super science and ends up getting the girl and becoming the strongest crime boss in New York, along with figuring out Spider-Man's true identity. He goes back to being dumb, however, when he ends up being miserable by not being able to connect with people anymore.

* Though the rat creatures in the comic ''[[Bone]]'' are quite fearsome in force, the nameless two most commonly seen around the valley where the protagonists live are pretty pathetic on their own. They want to eat the story's protagonist, but they do themselves more harm than anyone else with their bumbling. Their constant bickering over whether to bake the Bones into a quiche is also quite endearing.

** A trilogy of junior novel sequels even have them as two of the chosen ''heroes''. Well, more like [[Token Evil Teammate]]s, really.

* The pirates and Romans in the ''[[Asterix]]'' books.

* ''[[Iznogoud]] the Infamous'', the ever-scheming but hapless Grand Vizier to the Caliph, who merely wants "to become Caliph instead of the Caliph."

*** It was also noted in a comic about one of Marvel's superprisons that since Batroc's abilities all come from a lifetime of training, people like him are the most dangerous in supervillain prisons, as most of the villains either have their powers sealed or their tech taken away. Another name dropped in that vein is the Kangaroo, of all people.

*** Even ''[[Batman]]'' himself commends Batroc on his speed and skills after defeating him (off-panel) in Volume 4 of ''[[JLA-Avengers]]''.

* [http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/8/81/Carface.JPG Carface], who [[Huntress]] [http://media.photobucket.com/image/birds%20of%20prey,%20carface/airhikec001/blog/comics/pages/BoP119_c-carface.jpg made quick work of.]

* Rainbow Raider in ''[[The Flash]]'' became this, once going so far as to attend a villainy motivational seminar in a futile effort to stop losing all the time. Neron once sent him an invitation to his [[Not So Harmless|upgrades-for-souls meeting]] just so the Trickster could steal it from him.

** There was also Asbestos Man, another foe of the Torch. When he appeared a second time - quite a bit later, in ''[[The Fantastic Four|The Fantastic Four Vol. 5 #1]]'' - he also suffers from cancer and has to carry an oxygen tank around with him even as he commits crimes. This ironically makes him more successful, as everyone he tries to rob is terrified at the thought of getting the disease. Despite this, he is miserable, as he now has no purpose (he came out of retirement seeking revenge on the Torch, only to find out he was dead) and thinking that if anyone remembers him at all, it will be as a lame fool who was defeated by his own poor judgment. Fortunately, the Great Lakes Avengers (the heroes who oppose him in this story) are no strangers to being regarded as lame, and promise they will remember him and spread the word about how notorious a villain he is, if he simply turns himself in. He agrees, and passes away soon after.

* Codpiece, from ''[[Doom Patrol]]''. This crook started his criminal career when he was rejected by a girl in high school who said he wasn’t “big enough”. She meant height but he thought she meant [[Teeny Weenie|something else]], and it inspired him to build… [https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Codpiece_(New_Earth) eh, this]. Even worse was the way he was defeated - rookie heroine Coagula was trying to make a name for herself after the Justice League rejected her application, and figured fighting this villain would help, but because she didn’t have a costume yet, she bought a cheap frog mask from a convenience store and took him down in a… [[Groin Attack|rather humiliating manner]]. It did indeed gain Coagula a spot on the Doom Patrol, but Codpiece wasn’t so lucky. He hasn’t been seen since.

 

* 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."}}

* Muerte ("name for death!") in ''[[Undercover Blues]]''. Muerte's reputation on the streets is hinted at as being formidable, but his utterly humiliating defeat at the hands of Jeff Blue quickly turned him into one of these. Every lost tooth just makes him that much more lovable.

* Sol and Vince, the loser duo of pawnshop crooks who try their hand at the big(ger) leagues, in ''[[Snatch]]''. [[The Chew Toy|It does not go well for them]].

* Gargamel, mostly, comes off as this in ''[[The Smurfs (film)|The Smurfs]]''. Until he gets his hands on Smurf Essence, that is.

* Prince Edward in ''[[Braveheart]]''. He tries so hard to meet his father Longshanks' expectations, but he never does.

* When it comes to [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]], few excel at it better than the [[Predator]] - it is [[Planet of Hats| their “hat” as a species]]. But the Predator in the aptly named movie ''[[Prey]]'' seems to have no plan on what to do should the prey try to beat it at its own game. Sure, it slaughters the French voyageurs who are after Naru and Naru's unfortunate brother, but it seems this is because they make the mistake everyone else does when up against a Predator, trying to fight it directly. As a skilled hunter herself, Naru quickly learns that the only way to survive against a monster like this is to use its own strategy against it, and despite the Predator possessing superior technology (the movie takes place in 1719) and hunting skills common of its people, Naru proves the better hunter, outwitting and outsmarting it until she leads it into her own deadly trap.

* Biff Tannen in ''[[Back to the Future]]''; for all his his sadism and macho posturing, Biff was nothing but a wimp with a glass jaw, his rotten temper often causing him to make mistakes he could have avoided - a lot of fans pointed out that he was ''lucky'' George humiliated him, he might have been doing hard time in prison for rape otherwise. And ''that'' is just the ''first'' movie, in the ''second'', his older self's attempt to change the timeline gets himself [[Ret-Gone]], while the ''third'' shows that his great-grandfather was just as dumb, making his incompetence hereditary.

 

* 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]].

* Antorell the wizard in [[Patricia C. Wrede]]'s ''[[Enchanted Forest Chronicles]]''. His father, Zemenar, is the series' closest thing to a [[Big Bad]] (in the first three books, anyway), and Antorell [["Well Done, Son" Guy|wants to be favored by him]], but he—and pretty much everyone else—sees him as largely inept, to the point that the heroes will often [[Ignored Enemy|talk about him as if he wasn't in the room]]. He's never really presented as a sympathetic character, and he spends much of his time trying to kill the series' main female protagonist (or maybe not...it's sometimes hard to tell if he hates her, likes her, or both), but he's so bad about it that he's hardly ever presented as a threat, he [[Butt Monkey|never catches a break]], and is all in all just so pathetic that it's hard not to feel a little bad for the guy.

* 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."

** That said, the fact that she murders people to drink their blood (she is a vampire, after all) makes her somewhat less sympathetic.

** This finally starts working for her in ''[[Angel]]'', where she ends up being promoted out of the typing pool to Angel's secretary because she's a friendly face, admittedly one last seen trying to feed them to a group of vampires. Even when she betrays them again, Angel doesn't hold it against her, and actually prepared a reference for her so she can get a new job.

** 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.

* Governor Croque in ''[[Jack of All Trades (TV series)|Jack of All Trades]]'' has a role similar to Klink's in ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]''. He's not all that bad a guy, but more to the point, any likely replacement would either be more intelligent (and thus more likely to figure out what Jack and Emilia are up to), more tyrannical (and thus more likely to inflict suffering on the innocent people of Pulau Pulau), or both.

* Crowley in ''[[Supernatural]]'' doesn't ''always '' fit this trope, but he's had his moments. He seems to flip-flop between wanting to be a badass demon overlord and sincerely trying to be a lesser evil, and his success either way is somewhat mixed.

* Much like the Ferengi, the Centauri of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' in general (and Londo in particular) seem at first to be too backstabby to be much of a threat. Of course, then, Londo gets in bed with Morden, and the Centauri start the Second Shadow War; but then, when Londo goes back to Centauri Prime, it proves that the Centauri have been sad little pawns the whole time.

* The ''[[Power Rangers]]'' franchise pretty much perfected the [[Monster of the Week]] formula, with ''hordes'' of [[Evil Is Cool| entertaining examples.]] But it also had quite a few lame ones:

** ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'':

*** Pursehead, from "Two for One". What was Lord Zedd thinking here? Okay, he was thinking to [[Divide and Conquer]] the heroes with two monsters, one made from Kimberly’s purse and another with a lipstick taken ''from'' the purse, but he really could have gone better. Pursehead could take items from the purse that was his head (like a compact mirror and dental floss) and turn them into weapons, but Tommy [[Glass Cannon| flattened him with one kick]] once he got close enough. His partner Lipsyncher was only slightly better, using a proper weapon (a sword) and a sonic attack, but the Rangers didn’t even need the entire Megazord for this one, taking her down with only the Red Dragon Zord.

** ''[[Power Rangers Zeo]]''

*** [[Evil Chef| Mad Mike the Pizza Chef]] from "Trouble By the Slice". Okay, most fans are under a non-verbal agreement ''never'' to speak of this one again, but a brief exception must be made here. [[Mook Maker| Porto]] was “inspired” to create this monster from the mascot of a pizza parlor, but even in a show known for being campy and cheesy, someone who [[Edible Ammunition| used thrown pizzas as weapons]] who tried to bake the heroes into a pizza went a little overboard. Plus his costume was [[Unfortunate Implications| a dumb recreation of the flag of Italy and he spoke with a horrid parody of an Italian accent]]; thankfully he was never seen again.

** Radster from ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]''. In all fairness, this was the first Monster of the Week in Lost Galaxy, making him sort of a [[Warmup Boss]], but he was still sort of lame. He was part scorpion, part lobster, [[Elvis Impersonator| and part Elvis]] (no, [["Not Making This Up" Disclaimer| really]]) and had a bad case of [[Small Name, Big Ego]]. The only reason he gave the Rangers a hard time was because they didn’t have Zords yet, but the Red Galactabeast blew him to fragments with one blast of its fiery breath. Still, Radster may have been a failure as a warrior, but [[Laughably Evil| he sure made the fans laugh]].

** From ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' came Donkeyvac. [[Hybrid Monster]]s are common in this franchise, but this one was created by combining the DNA of [[You Fail Biology Forever| a donkey, a pomegranate, and a vacuum cleaner]]. He did have the ability [[Rapid Aging| to steal the youth from victims]], so if he had a design that made logical sense (and didn’t shoot exploding fruit from his nose) he might have been an efficient and memorable threat, but he did not, and was not.

** Stingerella from ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]''. This scorpion-girl monster came off as terrifying at first from her appearance alone, and to her credit, she appeared in more episodes than most of the monsters listed here (three as the antagonist, plus one cameo). But then she actually launches her assault and shows herself to be a master of… [[Dance Battler|Dance Battle]]. To drive that point home, she trained a battalion of [[Mooks| Rinshi]] in the same “style”. Someone really should have told her that this is something the typical [[Recruit Teenagers with Attitude| Teenagers With Attitude]] can learn like a duck to water. Worse, during the Megazord Battle she breaks out a much more useful power - [[Bee-Bee Gun| a whole swarm of scorpions used as projectiles]], which makes you wonder why she didn’t use that in the first place.

*** 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.

 

 

 

* 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].

* While O'Malley from [[Red vs. Blue]] occasionally has moments of true villainy, far more often, he is completely, thoroughly, and utterly ineffectual throughout the Blood Gulch Chronicles. How much of this is him and how much is actually due to him being in the head of {{spoiler|Doc, the pacifist medic}} is up for debate, but the fact still remains that his evilness generally consists of wacky plots to destroy the universe and illegally downloading music, and his robot army fails miserably because...well, let's just say that when he requested a robot army to take over a base in a day, he didn't expect that it would literally have to take exactly 24 hours for the robots to do it!

 

* 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]]''.

:* Eridan really doesn't [[Zig-Zagging Trope|count as an example]]; it's later revealed that he really doesn't care about killing people, he's just doing it to stay close to his crush.

:* Eridan becomes a full-on subversion when {{spoiler|he loses both the [[Moral Event Horizon|"sympathetic"]] and [[Not So Harmless|"ineffectual"]] parts in Act 5 Act 2. The crush mentioned in the above line? He killed her as he leapt across the [[Moral Event Horizon]].}}

:* Jack Noir ''[[Bait the Dog|starts]]'' as this. Later into the story...he's [[Complete Monster|significantly less ineffectual or sympathetic]].

* Dr. Kinesis in [https://web.archive.org/web/20191021162347/http://evilplan.thewebcomic.com/ Evil Plan]. His technology gets stolen, the other villains laugh at him, and on his minions' first mission, they bump into a brand new superhero.

** 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]].

* On a less mass-homicidal note, [[The Nostalgia Critic]]. He's pretty just a damaged little boy with a gun and temper tantrums at his disposal.

* 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.

 

** 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.

** 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.

* Grizzle of ''[[Care Bears|Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot]]''.

** Of the primary villains of the earlier series, No-Heart and his niece Shreeky don't count. No-Heart was a legitimately powerful and evil sorcerer who had a habit of blasting Beastly with lightning bolts whenever he screwed up; and while Shreeky never actually did anything evil, she was a [[Spoiled Brat]] with a voice so loud that she made ''No-Heart'' wince. Mr. Beastly, No-Heart's primary lacky, definately fits somewhere between here and [[Butt Monkey]]. In the one episode that Beastly had, with him in the spotlight, him infuriates No-Heart by breaking No-Heart's crystal amulet (which is the source of his shapechanging spells), then breaks No-Heart's throne (something he ''knows'' No-Heart will be livid about), get turned into a horrific mishmash of animals while using No-Heart's broken amulet to catch some of the Care Bears, then be blackmailed into letting the Care Bears go after they tape-record him chanting a litany of "I care" to break the broken spell and be turned back to normal, and then, when No-Heart arrives, having calmed down due to finding an even more powerful crystal, he sits on his crudely repaired throne...and it breaks to pieces. Meaning more electroshocking for Beastly.

** 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]].

* Voltar and the ''[[League of Super Evil]]''. Guy is just so very motivated and happy about every plan or scheme he thinks up, no matter how trivial, that you just have to root for him. I mean, how many villains are ecstatic about throwing an 'EVIL' barbeque and not inviting their uncaring neighbors?

** One of the episodes involves a highly convoluted plot by the League...to make the pizza delivery boy late so that their food will be free!

** {{spoiler|Nope, he was still going to retain this role. [[Word of God|In one interview with screen-writer Ben Hurst]] regarding the third season that never arrived, it was revealed that Snively was going to take a shot at becoming the new [[Big Bad]], only to be shortly upstaged by Ixis Naugus, and would later make a [[Heel Face Turn]] and join the Freedom Fighters.}}

* Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his henchmen from ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]''. While Robotnik often tries to do something rrrroten, he ALWAYS fails horribly, and Sonic torments the doctor so sadistically, that it becomes hard to sympathize with the heroes.

** Even more so are his minions, Scratch and Grounder. While Robotnik could at least genuinely cook up a malicious plan every now and then, his duncebot's Wile E Coyote-esque traps hardly ever worked on anyone but themselves.

* Jack W. Tweeg and his sidekick L.B. from ''[[The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin]]''.

* [[Phineas and Ferb|Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz]] could count as one of these. Sure, his plans are really not well thought out at all (which inexplicably cause their failure), but he had a terrible childhood, never wins any of his fights, is deprived of any chance at happiness he may receive, and, on top of all that, he can't even win a fight against a potted plant...You've got to feel sorry for the guy. Though perhaps he wouldn't be considered ineffectual, as he does serve to be a threat, if not for being thwarted at the hands of his platypus nemesis every time. Still, that episode where he is no longer considered a threat and Agent P is relocated to a different nemesis might show that he is, indeed, one of these.

** However, he did get a major [[Not So Harmless]] moment in a [[Bad Future]].

* 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.

* Downplayed with Boogey from ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy]]''. He has indeed done quite a few evil things that had long-lasting repercussions for members of the cast, mostly due to his petty grudge against Grim. However, when you take his true goal - wanting to be the scariest of all monsters - into consideration, he’s a failure, because well, he’s just not scary. Grim claims butterflies are scarier than he is, Mandy claims marshmallows are scarier, and even his henchman [[The Dragon|Mr. Creeper]] isn’t afraid to tell him he can't think of a monster that is ''less'' scary than Boogey is. In fact, in the movie (where the [[MacGuffin|Horror’s Hand]] puts the cast through an [[I Know What You Fear]] scenario) it is revealed that Boogey’s greatest fear is realizing he isn’t scary.

* 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?

 

*** "''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.