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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
{{examples}}▼
▲{{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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** The concept is also consistently used for training; characters will train in harsh, high-gravity environments so that they'll be even stronger under normal conditions.
* This comes up several times in [[One Piece]], where characters, usually oneshot, are hyped up as the strongest in whatever nation or island the story is taking place in at the time, only to be [[Worf Effect|Worfed]] by a more worldly, and therefore more powerful, fighter. Zoro had this happen to himself in his "[[Curb Stomp Battle|epic duel]]" with Mihawk at the Baratie;
{{quote|
** 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
* [[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.
* Inverted in [http://swords-and-veeblefetzers.blogspot.com/2010/11/monster-menace-1-terror-of-tim-boo-ba.html Tim Boo Ba,] a pre-FF Monster story from Stan Lee & Steve Ditko. TBB is the absolute monarch of his world, brought down by a drop of water spilled by a preteen boy on the model world he lives on.
* 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
* 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
* ''[[Warhammer 40
* Inverted in ''[[Sleeping
** 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]].
* ''[[
* 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 (
* ''[[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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** It's also mentioned that channelers are born weaker and in lower numbers with each generation following the Age of Legends, believed to be a result of those that ''are'' born failing to breed (because the men go insane and either kill themselves or get hunted down, and the women get whisked away to the all-female Aes Sedai and don't have kids). Lost knowledge aside, an Aes Sedai who is exceptionally powerful in the modern world would have been average at best when the Forsaken were born, though some exceptional modern channelers like Nynaeve stand out because they actually ''can'' go toe-to-toe with some of the Forsaken in sheer raw power.
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s "Azazel" stories, it is implied that the title character, a demon, is comparatively weak and unimportant in his own plane of existence, which is why he likes to entertain himself by granting wishes for people on Earth.
** It's also suggested that the way one becomes more important and powerful in his plane is by helping
* An example that appears to make this [[Older Than Radio]]: in ''[[John Carter of Mars]]'', the main character is a random American soldier... who ends up one of the strongest guys around on Mars because of that planet's lower gravity. (Thoroughly confused in one of the later books where he visits Jupiter and doesn't seem to have a problem walking there...)
* The protagonist of the first three books of the Spellsong Cycle is an opera singer [[Trapped in Another World]] in which music is literally magic - sing something, and it happens. Because being a musician in that world makes you a [[Person of Mass Destruction]], knowledge of music ''theory'' never got very far and much of the world is locked in [[Medieval Stasis]]. Her [[Giving Radio to
* Dragonlance: {{spoiler|The Dragon Overlords of the War of Souls trilogy, dragons hundreds of feet in length, came from a world near where [[It Makes Sense in Context|Takhisis moved Krynn to so she could be the dominant goddess.]] They came to Krynn because they were weaklings on their planet of dragons. Scary place.}}
* In [[
* There is a similar story titled "Gift of a worthless man" (don't know the author) where a low criminal crashlands on a planet inhabited by sentient roach-like creatures stuck in Ancient Ages. He teaches them agriculture and basic craftsmanship and essentially uplifts their society, so that 100 years later, they are already have industry.
** 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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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Necromunda]]'' of the ''[[Warhammer
** Going across different game systems can do this to the players themselves. In 40k, most models can only move 6 inches, with a select few allowed to move 12 inches, and a very small amount of them being able to charge an additional 12 inches (for a total of 24 inch threat radius). In fantasy, a 6 inch movement is one of the fastest base movements a foot model can have without being a horse (and even then, it's only a modest increase). This is because most models only have an average movement rate of 3-4 inches per turn, which in turn is hampered by certain equipment (especially horses, where barding trades speed for protection). Similarly, the Bolter's stats would be considered wildly powerful within fantasy, mainly because there are so few actual ranged weapons to compete with it (not to mention with the game's rules, it will completely obliterate most armors in the game).
* Sealed events in [[Magic:
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In the ''[[Mega Man (
* 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...
** His girlfriend is an NPC (at least initially) meaning that she doesn't have a health bar to be taken away from, so she is effectively invulnerable to any attacks.
** Also, Radd has a [[Charged Attack]] that's only limited by the word size of the system he's in. In his original 8-bit game, he is able to do a max of [[Powers of Two Minus One|255 damage]], a 16-bit video game allows him to do 65,536 damage, and in the 32-bit Internet he's able to cause [[The End of the World
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120508132133/http://magellanverse.com/?p=669 Discussed] in ''[[Magellan]]'' during a support group for extra-terrestrial and extra-dimensional students.
* ''[[Three Panel Soul]]'' pokes fun at the concept in [http://threepanelsoul.com/2012/05/01/on-remote-tasting/ this strip].
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Inverted for Orco in ''[[He
** And he lost his wand.
* Certain episodes of [[The Simpsons]] imply that Lisa is this. She's a smart kid, but only brilliant by comparison with Springfield's stupid children and horrible school system. Upon attending Waverly Hills school, she finds out that she's really only a B student, which traumatizes her.
** In another episode, she gets to skip to the third grade early, but finds it difficult (made more embarrassing for her because Bart was demoted a grade and found it easy):
{{quote|
'''Lisa:''' Big fish! Big fish! }}
== [[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 use it.
* 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.
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[[Category:Combat Tropes]]
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