Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Difference between revisions

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** 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]]''.

* The Zigerians from ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' are "the most ambitious, least successful con artists in the galaxy" according to Rick, and it's easy to see why. Their typical MO is to abduct a would-be victim and place him in a simulator, but said simulator is always flawed. For instance, their Earth simulation has a vendor selling a bun held by two hot dogs, a lady walking a cat on a leash, and [[Clue, Evidence, and a Smoking Gun| a walking Pop Tart with a hat living inside a toaster the size of a house and driving a car shaped like a smaller toaster]]. One way they attempt to fool Rick is with an ambulance that [[Bad Liar| they claim has the President of the United States inside.]] The entire species also has irrational ''gymnophobia'' (fear of nudity) making them easy to outwit.

* [[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]].

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* ''[[Adventure Time]]'''s [[An Ice Person|Ice King]] plays this as a [[Deconstruction]] / [[Zig-Zagging Trope]]: he wants to force a [[Everything's Better with Princesses]] into [[And Now You Must Marry Me|marrying him]], but he comes across as sincerely lonely and desperate for love. At some points, however, he'll wind up saying or doing something ''really'' messed up, [[Double Subversion|cluing the viewer in that he's really just a sociopath]].

* 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.

== Real Life ==