Ridiculously Average Guy: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The '''Ridiculously Average Guy''' is pretty much middle-of-the-road in all things. He's not ugly, but he's not particularly handsome (or pretty) either. He's not a moron, but he's not one of the best in his class either. (He will probably tend towards the low end on grades, possibly even failing his entrance exams, but he's not portrayed as aggressively stupid, either.) He has no special powers, even if the rest of the cast does pretty much as a rule. He's not a complete weakling, but nor does he excel in any physical ways.

Well, obviously, it's because the writers intend the audience to find him easy to relate to. Of course, considering that he winds up completely and totally overshadowed in almost all things by everyone around him, this fairly easily winds up turning into [[This Loser Is You]]. Pretty much everyone around him will constantly be telling him just what a loser he is, and the Ridiculously Average Guy usually has very little, if anything, to say in his defense- [[Sanity Has Advantages|unless he is]] the [[Only Sane Man]] of the group, and even then...

 

 

This trope is most noticeable (and confusing) for how he winds up with these girls, this fate, or those victories. The girls especially... sure, he's a decent guy and all, but often the only explanation seems to be that girls, when offered chances to be with the most handsome, richest, most famous, and in all other ways exceptional guys, actually prefer the dude who's going to give them a life with the absolute fewest surprises and least excitement possible. Can be (and probably has been) an example of [[Wish Fulfillment]] on the part of the writer. Or alternatively done so for the [[Audience Surrogate|male audience]].

** He ''does'' get {{spoiler|Ghoul powers}} later on in the manga, and once he controls it, he [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|swiftly kicks ass with them]]. Of course, since it's a highly dangerous (to him) [[Super-Powered Evil Side]], he stops using it voluntarily and goes back to Rosario removing.

** Even apart from that, it does help that [[Shrouded in Myth|his reputation is much better than truly warranted]] before too long.

* The character Nami Hito from ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' is the most average person in the entire show. She hates this and hates when people call her average, but the fact is, even her ''name'' means "run of the mill."

** In addition to that, she was supposed to be the main character when the comic was first forming. Later it became the teacher, but being surrounded by weird classmates still fits the trope.

* Keitaro from ''[[Love Hina]]''. Struggling to squeak by on his grades, average as far as looks go, and for most of the series his only exceptional physical trait is his ability to survive the horrendous amounts of abuse Naru, Motoko, and Kaolla heap on him. But practically every girl in Hinatasou (and a few without) wind up falling head-over-heels for him, and in the end he gets to marry his chosen one, while several of the others are left quietly pining over him.

* Rock from ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' was a well-educated but otherwise dead-average working stiff until he crossed paths with the Lagoon Company. Of course, once he meets up with them he shows that he can [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|pull some amazing stunts out of his ass]], but still most of his character centers around the idea of tossing your average Japanese [[Salaryman]] into over-the-top situations, and often having some of the most interesting (and most psychotic) people on the planet find him utterly fascinating.

 

 

* ''[[Normalman]]'' himself is so unremarkable that ''his name is never capitalized''. In fact, you may know that in comics, ''every'' letter in ''every'' word is usually capitalized, but ''none'' of the letters in norm's name ever are. ''Damn''. Of course, that's mainly because he's the only guy without powers on the planet Levram, where being completely mundane makes him incredibly important to several key figures, from the Ultra-Conservative, who wants to give him powers so he won't disrupt the status quo to Sophisticated Lady, who finds his scrawny figure and utter helplessness maddeningly attractive.

* Recurring ''[[Spider-Man]]'' side character Joe Smith, better known as "Just A Guy Named Joe". Somewhat ironically, he's had an incredibly eventful life from certain perspectives; Boxer, wrestler, movie star, tv star, [[Super Villain]], [[Superhero]]... it's too bad he's a born loser and failed at each of those professions.

** Joe's spiritual counterpart Guy Jones, "Just A Joe Named Guy", as well.

* There is a [[Donald Duck]] short comic spoofing the story "Null-P" mentioned below: Donald is selected by a computer to be completely average, which makes him an instant celebrity. However, he does not get to enjoy it much, and in the end is saved by a ''literal'' computer bug.

 

* ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'': Out of all the Gokaigers, Don "Doc" Dogoier, aka Gokai Green, is the only one without a [[Backstory]] or known past. [[What Could Have Been|Initially]], [http://www.jefusion.com/2011/09/don-dogoiers-backstory-revealed.html he was planned to have a back-story as the son of a scientist who was murdered at the hands of the Zangyack forces.] However, Naruhisa Arakawa, the show's head writer, discovered that he preferred to leave Don without a back-story.

* On ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' and ''[[The Daily Show]]'', there is a [[Running Gag]] that Mitt Romney is an extremely bland guy. For example, a joke on ''The Colbert Report'' was that he got indigestion from a "particularly spicy Wheat Thin".