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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."''
|'''Desidarius Erasmus,''' Dutch Philosopher (1466-1536)}}
{{quote|''Sure we have abilities and "powers" that set us apart from "normal" Earth humes... But isn't it the height of arrogance t' call ourselves [[Superhero|super heroes]] when all we are is a bunch of lost, outcast or refugee norms from our own worlds?''
|'''Gifford''', [[Magellan]]}}
This trope is a character or other idea that, in their own reality/universe, are fairly normal, if not underpowered. They'd be a [[Red Shirt]] back home, or someone fairly low key. Or maybe back home they're weak because they have to measure up to god-level opponents or [[Eldritch Abominations]]. Whatever the reason, they're not considered strong.
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What about humans? If you have psychic powers, but so does everyone else, then you aren't that special. But what if you were dropped into a world where subterfuge and spy work were the order of the day, but no one could read minds? You're suddenly the biggest VIP on the planet.
This trope is about when [[Power Creep, Power Seep]] ''does not'' come into play. To be a Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond, you don't have to be a [[Mary Sue]], but you must be much more powerful than the locals, without gaining anything you didn't have before - so no [[Realm Exclusive Effect]]. Also, no attempting to Nerf powers.
Compare [[Like a Fish Takes to Water]], where the individuals transplanted have some unique gifts or knowledge, or [[Alternate Realm Boon]], where the individuals transplanted gain some unique gifts or knowledge during or immediately after the transplantation process. This one is just a normal guy or person in his/her universe, but is special in another. [[Fish Out of Water]] goes hand-in-hand with this trope. This is a staple of comic book alien supers. [[Invoked Trope]] for [[Summon Everyman Hero]]. See also [[Those Were Only Their Scouts]]. Contrast [[Outside Context Villain]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* Ginta from ''[[MAR]]'' is a relatively normal boy in his home universe. However, when he comes to MAR, he's considered super strong because of the difference in gravity.
* ''[[Dragonball Z]]''
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{{quote|'''Mihawk:''' You may have a reputation, but you're still just a bunny. [...] You're a little frog, croaking in your puddle. Time you learned how big the world is.}}
** This was called back to after Zoro trained under Mihawk during the timeskip. His first "serious opponent", an octopus drunken swordsman, bragged about being the strongest swordsman in Fishman Island. Zoro kept calling him a frog, until the swordsman was sufficiently incensed, at which point Zoro stated he was bragging like a frog in a well, unaware of the world.
* ''[[Holyland]]'': The unnamed [[Yakuza]] regular at the bar Masaki works at is never stated to be a high-ranking officer of a powerful family or otherwise anyone who matters at the level he usually operates at. To the mostly teen and young adult cast, the mere threat of the full-grown criminals, even if it's just some nobodies, getting involved in their squabbles is a massive problem.
* ''[[Zipang]]'': The ''Mirai'' is just a single ship in the 21st century, and not even the best kind thereof, ultimately replaceable and nothing special. When brought back to World War II, the question isn't whether it by itself can upend the conflict, but whether it is moral to do so and in which side's favour.
* ''[[Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town]]'': As one might have gathered from the title, Lloyd is considered a weakling in his village, which is next to a still-uncleared dungeon with the strongest monsters in the world. Being amongst normal people puts into perspective just how strong he objectively is.
== [[
* [[Booster Gold]] was originally ''less'' than a muggle, he was a total loser: an ex-football player from the 25th disgraced by betting on his own games who ends up as the security guard of a museum. He steals a [[Time Travel|time travel device]] and a [[Robot Buddy]] and transports himself to present day... [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|and has surprisingly become a great hero despite himself]].
* [[The Flash]], of DC Comics fame, is considered a bit of an inversion when DC and Marvel did one of their crossovers. In the Marvel Universe, there's no Speed Force (the source of his super-speed), so he's basically an ordinary man.
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* Inverted at the start of the Planet Hulk storyline, where Hulk [[Catch Phrase|(who is the strongest one there is)]] lands on a planet where he's not all that strong compared to the natives.
* One story in the [[Silver Age]] had Jimmy Olson go to another world, where the low gravity meant he had the equivalent of Superman-level abilities.
* Mr. Mxyzptlk, the imp who occasionally pops over from the Fourth Dimension to bug [[Superman]], was said in his first appearance to be a nobody in his home dimension, where his powers are nothing out the ordinary.
* [[Superman]] himself is an example; he's a completely normal [[Human Aliens|Kryptonian]], but the completely normal ability of Kryptonians to absorb solar energy makes him on Earth, well, [[Superman]].
** Same can be said about [[Martian Manhunter]] - completely normal Martian but compared to humans he is extremely powerful.
** Also true for many members of ''[[The Legion of Super Heroes]]''. Many of them - including Triplicate Girl, Shrinking Violet, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad, to name just four - are aliens whose powers are shared by their entire species.
* While [[The Mighty Thor|Loki]] is often more of a [[Non-Action Guy|schemer than a fighter]] when dealing with Asgardians, and is supposed to be a weakling compared to fellow giants, it's sometimes acknowledged that he's still way beyond the physical capacity of any human. For instance, in ''[[Hulk Vs]]'', he's shown giving Bruce Banner a weak slap that is strong enough to launch Banner across the room, and as discussed by [https://web.archive.org/web/20120115205431/http://www.reelz.com/movie-news/11947/two-new-the-avengers-images-plus-tom-loki-hiddleston-not-impressed-with-the-team/ Tom Hiddleston], who
** Some of Thor's
* [[Nemesis the Warlock]] is well-respected among his race, but is not
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''[[Thousand Shinji]]'', in a later chapter, {{spoiler|[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Shinji]] unleashes four Chaos Space Marines against NERV special forces. While normal for [[Warhammer 40,000]], a Space Marine against normal humans is a textbook example of this trope.}}
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' fan fiction in general tends to do this, partially because they take so much [[Refuge in Audacity]]. Heck, one of the primary weapons is a gun that shoots [[More Dakka|automatic,]] [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|armor-piercing]], [[BFG|rocket-propelled]] [[Made of Explodium|grenades.]] This is considered one of the tamer weapons in the setting. More exotic guns include ones that fire monomolecular shards of metal, acid, fire, hypersonic projectiles, lasers, sound, horrible energy that strips you down to your core, molecule by molecule, and the power of Hell itself.
* Inverted in ''[[Sleeping with the Girls]]'' as the protagonist finds himself suddenly far more fragile in other universes due to them involving over the top [[Slapstick]] violence with everyone trying to give him a [[Megaton Punch]] and him just being a normal human.
** This trope is played straighter, though, as the protagonist comes from our world, which has no magic. Thusly, when he goes to other worlds that ''do'' have magic, he isn't hurt by magical attacks at all. He can still be hurt or killed by magical side effects, such as the heat of a fireball causing his clothes to burn or to boil water he's drinking.
* This trope applied to humans is the basis of many a "Humanity, Fuck Yeah!" story: See [[Humans Are Warriors]] and [[Humanity Is Superior|related]] [[Humans Are Cthulhu|tropes]].
* ''[[The Thessalonica Legacy]]'': Ramirez's ''Valkyrie'' is a Light 'Mech, bottom of the totem pole, and not even the best of that bottom-dweller pack. Without any other 'Mechs in Equestria to compete with, though, it is the absolute sovereign of the battlefield.
* Pretty much anyone from Remnant once they get to Earth, in the ''[[RWBY]]'' fic ''[[Emergence]]''. Team RWBY and Team JNPR are all promising new students but far from the best at what they do -- and on Earth they are unstoppable juggernauts that are nigh-invulnerable to anything short of anti-tank weapons. Cinder and her people are at least an order of magnitude more dangerous than them. Even Cinder's Faunus mooks -- one gets hit by several fifty-caliber rounds and can still keep going.
* ''[[Kimi no Na Iowa]]'' uses this to put the abyssal threat into perspective and illustrate why the shipgirls are needed. By naval standards, a PT boat is no match for a "true" warship, being reliant on ambush tactics and numbers to prevail. Compared to humans, an abyssal PT Imp mounts heavy weapons that will tear a tree in two, never mind a man, will resist anything less, has the size and agility of an [[Enfant Terrible]] with the speed of a car, and is still deployed in numbers more like infantry than ships. The second-weakest abyssal type, destroyers, all carry multiple artillery cannons and need direct hits from equivalent weapons to sink, and things only get worse for the [[Puny Earthlings]] from there. The same applies to the shipgirls opposing them; it is said in-universe that even a destroyer would easily overpower any wannabe sexual predator no matter what fancy grappling tricks might be employed, and an old battleship like Yamashiro can still pull a train or plow unstoppably through a crowd.
* ''[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/ghost-in-the-city-cyberpunk-gamer-si.1046809/ Ghost in the City]'': By Night City standards, Motoko is middling; while the Gamer system gives her some edges that surprise even more experienced people, there are still plenty who can challenge, stalemate or even defeat her, all of whom would still be easy meat for real Night City top dogs like Adam Smasher. A visit to a less hardcore city like Seattle, where having a knife is enough for gang work and multiple men with guns is considered being "loaded for war", puts into perspective just how terrifying she really is to an objective outsider.
== [[Film]] ==
* Essentially the premise of ''[[Idiocracy]]'': The soldier who was frozen was chosen specifically for being perfectly average in every way, but humanity evolved to be stupider, so when he [[Human Popsicle|wakes up]], he's the smartest man alive, and the person who was frozen with him is the smartest woman alive.
* In the ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' reboot, Nero's ship Narada goes back in time and defeats a fleet of Klingon Warbirds, yet it's only a simple mining vessel in his day. A comic book prequel series averts the trope by stating that Nero added Borg technology to the Narada before going back in time.
* ''[[The Final Countdown]]'' predates ''[[Zipang]]'' in having a similar premise. The ''Nimitz'' might not be a redshirt ''per se'', but it's hardly an irreplaceable unique superweapon. Brought back to World War II before the attack on Pearl Harbor, though, and the question isn't whether it can by itself thwart the Japanese airstrikes despite six-on-one odds, but whether it should.
== [[Literature]] ==
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** Alan Dean Foster from the ...Who Needs Enemies anthology
* Maxim Kammerer in "Inhabited Island" (Aka "Prisoners of Power") by [[Strugatsky Brothers]]. For Earth, he is ordinary, but on Saraksh, his [[Bullet Time]] capabilities and ability to survive heavy wounds make him very powerful. Even more important however, is that being a non-native, he {{spoiler|is immune to the mind-control beams...}}
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* Inverted in ''[[Loki (TV series)|Loki]]''. One scene shows that the Infinity Stones, which so many people fought and died over in pursuit of godhood in the preceding works of the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]], have no power in the premises of the Time Variance Authority, such that they're treated as harmless paperweights.
* ''[[The Mandalorian]]'': An AT-ST is normally just a scout walker, not much threat to properly-equipped Rebels. To a bunch of primitive villagers, it might as well be [[The Juggernaut]].
== [[Radio]] ==
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* In the ''[[Mega Man (animation)|Mega Man]]'' animated series, there was an episode where [[Continuity Cameo|Mega Man X]] chases Sigma, Vile, et al back in time and meets the original Mega Man and crew. Though X is analogous to Mega Man in terms of strength in his own continuity, in Mega Man's time he is extremely powerful, as are the villains - the Mega Buster can't harm them.
* When you start the first night time levels in Plants Vs Zombies, the amount of Sun available to you is greatly lessened. As a result, you will tend to rely more on the cheap (and weaker) mushroom defences. This trope comes into effect because defences like the Pea Shooter, the first and most basic unit of daytime levels, suddenly becomes an expensive and powerful unit.
* In regular ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* ''[[Honkai Impact 3rd]]'':
** In the Previous Era, there were 1,000 Keys of Domination, so numerous and individually insignificant that they could be handed to expendables for experiments. In the less advanced Current Era, just one alone is so much better than whatever else is available that it's treated as a legendary weapon.
** {{spoiler|Fu Hua}} was the youngest and least experienced of the Previous Era's MANTIS [[Super Soldier]]s. That still leaves her strong enough that in the Current Era, even after multiple incidents that deducted from her maximum power, she remains well above average.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In the ''[[Love and Capes]]''
* In ''[[Bob and George]]'', the title characters are originally from a Superhero-esque webcomic universe, however, once they enter to the Mega Man Universe, they are considered Sue Tier (Bob even lampshades this on one occasion). Also, since time and interuniversal travel are common topics here, we've only seen one "native" (from the Mega Man Universe) big bad invasion {{spoiler|(two if you count the whole "X going rogue" incident)}} and on top of that, he was {{spoiler|the local version of a previous big bad who attacked first.}}
* ''[[Kid Radd]]'': Radd is a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder|Four Hit Point Wonder]] from an 8-bit game, but when he visits a fighter-game universe, it's noted that he gets [[Mercy Invincibility]] when injured. And since the fighter-game characters rely on combo moves...
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* In frontier country a person who would be merely a successful businessman elsewhere could often end up as what amounted to a king because they had organization and capital with them including the ability to get hired guns.
** The more-or-less fondly-remembered Mclaughlin was the chief factor (manager) at Fort Vancouver which was the Oregon station of the Hudson's Bay fur cartel. He had as much power as any Indian chief or pioneer settlement and, though he was economic about the use of [[Gunboat Diplomacy]], could quite easily
* In the colonial era, many European expeditions that would have been inconsequential in battle against the full-sized militaries of their contemporaries nevertheless triumphed over numerically superior natives that only had medieval or Renaissance-era technology.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Combat Tropes]]
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