Informed Flaw: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* The [[4Kids! Entertainment|4Kids]] dub of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'' gives Yusei a phobia of bugs for apparently no other reason than to add an element of fear to his episode 2 duel against an Insect duelist - despite the fact that his character shows no outward signs of being afraid of bugs at all.

* In ''[[Sonic X]]'', in a rather shabby attempt to make Chris Thorndyke likable, he often complains about being rich meaning he doesn't have any real friends, and his parents never being home. While at first this seems almost true, over the course of the show he is shown to have more human friends, more guardians, and his parents repeatedly manage to show up for special occasions. Being obscenely wealthy is certainly never played as a disadvantage.

* In one of the episodes of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', Usagi lists a bunch of her faults, one of them is flat-chested. Have the writers actually seen any art of the show?!

** Then there's a later episode where the [[Monster of the Week]] and Chibi-Usa both agree that she's fat. In reality, her proportions are more exaggeratedly thin than Barbie's even though she's constantly portrayed as a lazy [[Big Eater]].

* In ''[[Elfen Lied]]'', we're told Lucy's [[Combat Tentacles|vectors]] only have a range of two meters, but judging from visual estimates, she often extends them a good few meters further. This can be explained as Lucy holding back, or it could just be a [[Artists Are Not Architects|mistake]].

** The two meters was used as a plot point, in that she's unable to reach people who stand beyond that (though, when this happens, she just throws things so it's pretty pointless). She wouldn't be holding back, it's just an artist error.

* Nami of ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' is something indicated to be kind of plain, on account of being [[The Generic Guy|the normal girl]]. However, outside of clearly [[Gonk]] characters in the series, [[Generic Cuteness]] applies for everyone, Nami included, and [[Only Six Faces|and there's nothing that really distinguishes her features from everyone else's]]. Of course, she really ''is'' the most normal compared to [[Dysfunction Junction|the other main girls]], which makes her unique in and of itself. Also, she loudly objects whenever someone brings this up.

* In ''[[Beelzebub]]'', Furuichi is revealed to have the highest standardized test score at Ishiyama High (where studying is hated "180 percent!")...a '''59''' (though Oga pointed out no one knows what it was out of, it's assumed 100). Furuichi himself is often shown to be smarter (as are other characters like Himekawa and Natsume), and none of the class mentioned any grade trouble one moving to Ishiyama Academy (though they might not have been graded, it was a temp thing...and the teachers were terrified of them...).

** Most chalk the episode up to [[Rule of Funny]], which the series usually runs on.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Trafalgar Law was stated to be a coldly cruel pirate and even Kidd was wary of the rumours surrounding him. From what we have seen, he appears to have a friendly relationship with his crew, took pity on an enslaved pirate captain and risked his life to save Luffy for no particular reason. {{spoiler|Then post-timeskip, we find out his "resume" to join the Shichibukai - extracting and delivering 100 pirate hearts.}}

* Musashi's kicks in ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' are supposedly powerful with the drawback that he isn't entirely accurate. Yet he never missed a single kick in the series (apart from a flashback where Shin had directly blocked it). Even his rival Kotaro who is known for his 100% accuracy instead of power misses a pivotal kick.

 

* When "he" first appears in ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|New Avengers]]'' a sharp-eyed reader might notice that the mysterious character Ronin seems to be ignoring Spider-Man and Iron Man. This makes sense when it's revealed that Ronin is actually Echo - a deaf woman - who can't lip-read someone whose mask/helmet covers their mouth ... unfortunately, once that's revealed, Echo's deafness seems to go away; she even replies to comments made by people facing away from her.

* In ''[[The Umbrella Academy]]'', Alison, The Rumor, is described as being narcissistic. Now, we have never seen her being narcissistic on her adult ages, nor on her younger years. That she lost her narcissism growing up, could be acceptable.

* An early ''[[Superman]]'' Christmas story shows us an older boy who's supposed to be spoiled and unappreciative of his wealth, but the actual writing shows him as no worse than sheltered, and far from being unappreciative of his many toys, he's surfeited, and wants to move on to real things, which is perfectly normal and reasonable for a twelve year old.

 

* Seems to happen a ''lot'' with original characters in fan fiction. When beginning writers hear the ubiquitous advice that "a balanced character needs flaws", they typically either default to "safe" flaws like being unable to sing, or introduce a flaw that should have devastating consequences but is only ever used as a virtue, such as having a bad temper.

* [[Harry Potter|Snap and Loopin]] in the infamous ''[[My Immortal]]'' story. Apparently, they are [[Ron the Death Eater|pedophiles]]. Ebony is of legal age. Also, they are apparently very dangerous. The only thing they do that presents a direct danger to anyone at all is when Snap {{spoiler|tries to rape Draco, twice.}} But Loopin doesn't do anything, and is actually somewhat polite with <s>Ebony</s> Enoby.

* The ''[[Naruto]]'' fanfic ''[[For Your Eyes Only (fanfic)|For Your Eyes Only]]'' describes Sakura as being the type who [[Really Gets Around]], which isn't really even much of a flaw in the first place but is treated like one. She violently rejects the only male to speak with her onscreen, only ever flirts with one male off-screen and [[Die for Our Ship|is killed for it]]. We never even hear her point of view on this, as she doesn't get so much as a word of dialogue.

 

* In ''[[Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever]]'', Jeremiah Ecks is introduced as an alcoholic that spent the previous couple years getting sloshed in bars. Apparently, not only did it not reduce his physical prowess at all, but he didn't even need any time to sober up.

* The Russian animated movie ''Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber'' draws attention to Ilya's superstitiousness for about its first half, and then it's forgotten and has no effect on the plot when the characters get to Constantinople.

* The protagonist in the pro-life film ''[[October Baby]]'' is a survivor of a botched abortion, and is said to have depression, epilepsy, asthma, and a childhood full of hip surgeries. Throughout the film she never exhibits any symptoms of the first two, never uses the inhaler after a couple of scenes in the opening act, and doesn't walk with any sign of a limp (and in fact spends hours dragging around a heavy suitcase).

 

* Tom and John's father in ''[[The Great Brain]]'' books has a reputation for buying new inventions that turn out to be worthless, but it never happens in any of the stories. He orders a flush toilet in the first book that works, to everyone's surprise, and gives John a basketball and backboard that make him the most popular kid in town.

* In the ''[[Pellucidar]]'' novels of [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] there are a race of gorilla-like humanoids called Sagoths. In the book it is stated a few times that Sagoths are inferior to humans in intelligence. However, none of the Sagoth characters appear to be particularly stupid, the Sagoth guard captain in the second book is able to see through a human's ruses and the Sagoth that Tarzan befriends in the fourth book seems to be of at least average intelligence.

* The ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series supposedly has Richard behave as something of a [[Deadpan Snarker]], whose mouth sometimes writes checks his ass can't cash. Most often this flaw is mentioned only in its absence, where the author states that Richard was '''tempted''' to say something snarky, but managed to keep it under control. You can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of times in the entire series where Richard actually spits out some quip that he ends up regretting.

* For a guy who claims he was far too squeamish to finish medical school, Escott from ''[[The Vampire Files]]'' seems awfully at-ease with collecting bottles full of cow blood for Jack every couple of books {{spoiler|or even letting Jack bite his wrist when he's ''really'' horrifically injured}}.

** Of course, Vimes is also a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]], so it would make sense if he only ''acted'' that way.

** According to Pratchett, Vimes ''thinks'' he is a much worse person than he is, because he's aware of all the impulses he tries to curb... much like everyone else.

* ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'': Annabeth's fatal flaw is said to be hubris, but she gets in more trouble from complex abandonment issues that result in irrational distrust of people who have done nothing to deserve it (particularly Percy and her father) and exaggerated devotion to distant parental figures who treat her like crap (particularly her mother and {{spoiler|Luke.}} Percy's fatal flaw is said to be personal loyalty, but he gets in a lot more trouble from his big mouth and [[Leeroy Jenkins|recklessness.]] Bianca, as a child of Hades, is said to have a fatal flaw of holding grudges, but it never really shows up, though the book doesn't have much of a chance to show it before {{spoiler|her death.}}

 

* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', for all of Volume 3's talk about Sylar's uncontrollable "hunger", he seems perfectly capable of hanging around and interacting with other supers without popping open their brains to see what makes them tick. This seems to be the case even after he turns back fully to the side of evil (he never chows down on Luke, for example, despite on multiple occasions being given a good reason to do so. Ditto for Doyle, who he must have been lugging around for more than a day). Peter Petrelli, on the other hand, pretty much chops open the head of ''every single person'' he meets after acquiring Sylar's ability, despite (unlike Sylar) receiving no apparent tangible benefit from doing so. This becomes even more baffling when Sylar learns how to take powers without killing but ''decides'' to do so anyway (it's fun for him), leading one to assume the hunger talk was nonsense and Peter is so thick he felt the compulsion because he thought he would.

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' has an episode about these. The informedness of each character'sflaws is handwaved by the fact that the theme of the episode was that you often don't notice them until they're pointed out, and eventually learn to love them despite their flaws. Plus, some of the flaws are exaggerations of past behavior of characters, thus not as informed as some examples, other than Lily's, whose flaw of "loud chewing" is never experienced before or after.

* Martin on ''[[Frasier]]'' suffers from a bit of this. While he is often described as being cranky and intolerable before moving in with Frasier, flashback episodes generally portray him with the same pleasant, easy-going personality he always has. Likewise, as an active and energetic man for his age, he rarely comes off as crippled enough to justify having a full-time, live-in medical assistant. This was [[lampshade]]d to a degree in the episode "Dial M For Martin," where the plot centers around the question of whether Daphne's services are still needed (with a predictably belaboured [[Reset Button]] ending).

** Similarly, Lilith is usually spoken of as if she is the devil herself. Yet while she is portrayed as a bit emotionless and overly rational, there are no signs of malign intent or immorality that would justify this reputation.

* James Berluti on ''[[The Practice]]'' is supposed to be a less-good lawyer than the other employees at McDonnel-Young. In fact, Bobby pointedly makes everyone ''except'' James partner in one day. But while he may lack polish, James seems to have a similar win-loss record as everyone else, and is shown winning cases through sheer relentlessness the partners couldn't match.

* ''[[Mike and Molly]]'' has Mike buying a [[Cool Car|1957 Chevrolet Bel Air]], driving it for several days, showing it off, and then [[The Alleged Car|flaws]] that existed before he bought it -- like poor transmission performance, no heat and an exhaust leak -- show up that no one could have missed in the time he owned it.

* Frank Burns of ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'' is stated to be a terrible surgeon despite being one of the camp's only four doctors and the camp having a 97% survival rate. Other than Burns occasionally breaking down under pressure and making human mistakes, we don't see him actually kill every single patient he's given, and handles about the same number of wounded as any other doctor.

* In ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', Morgana speaks of Guinevere's hands, saying "her fingers are worn, her nails are broken." In a later episode, a villain identifies Gwen (disguised as Morgana) as an impostor because she has "the hands of a servant." Yet whenever we get a close-up of actress [[Angel Coulby|Angel Coulby's]] hands, the audience can see she has smooth skin and beautifully manicured nails.

* Season four of ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'' makes a big deal out of the club's racism, and what the Sons would do to their secretly half-black member if they found out about it. This is despite the club having at least two Hispanic members, one Jewish member, the president having a Jewish wife and another member having had a black wife, and generally having no more problems working with [[Gang-Bangers|black]], [[The Triads and the Tongs|Asian]] or [[The Cartel|Hispanics]] criminals than they have with [[The Mafiya|Russians]] or [[The Troubles|Irish]]. They also fight two [[Those Wacky Nazis|white supremacist skinhead groups]], who see the club as traitors to their race. This is because real life outlaw biker groups are often racially segregated, even if the members themselves are not really racist, but a little explanation before would have been nice.

* Liz Lemon of ''[[30 Rock]]'' is often described as, at best, homely, despite the fact that Tina Fey is arguably twice as hot as Jane Krakowski, who plays Liz's hot actress friend. It's explained in universe/by breaking the 4th wall when Liz steps in front of an High Definition camera, which reveals that her face looks like it belongs to the Wicked Witch of the West.

 

* Devo's "Mongoloid" is about someone with Down Syndrome who is "happier than you and me" but otherwise lives a perfectly normal life, with no one aware he is different. The song initially seems to be praising this guy's ability to fit in with society. However Devo are actually saying that society has devolved to the point where it's impossible to tell a mentally handicapped person from someone who isn't.

 

** He ''is'' still drawn as rounder than many other cats in the strip, who can often be described as tubes with heads and legs.

 

* Another way is accuse the [[You Bastard|fans of something]]. Chris Jericho once showed video evidence to prove the fans were hateful toward men like him because they hated values, but the video showed the audience clapping for him.

 

** Likewise, the official Nintendo strategy guide for ''The Lost Age'' directly describes [[The Brute|Agatio]] as "... [[Dumb Muscle|[lacking] substance between the ears]]". This is the guy who outwits [[The Chessmaster|Alex]] to his face, and later [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|sabotages Isaac's party]] because [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|he knows he won't win a fair fight with them]]. Lacking substance ''he ain't''.

 

* ''[[8-Bit Theater]]'': Red Mage [[Munchkin|abuses this]] as much as possible to [[Min-Maxing|max out]] his "character sheet".

* As does Pete in ''[[Darths and Droids]]''. He took Lactose Intolerance as a flaw...for [[Star Wars|R2-D2]].

* Ackar from ''[[Bionicle]]: The Legend Reborn'' is said to be an old warrior way past his prime, and as such, his people are growing tired of him. Doesn't stop him from performing impossible multi-somersaults and wiping away a gang of marauding Bone Hunters and their dinosaur steeds with ease.

* Lana Kane from ''[[Archer]]'' is constantly made fun of by other characters for having big hands, even though her character is drawn in proportion with normal sized hands.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Informed Attribute]]

[[Category:Character Flaw Index]]

[[Category:Show, Don't Tell]]