Small Name, Big Ego: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Hibiki is a putz 8380.jpg|link=Street Fighter (comics)|frame|The ''Streetest'' Fighter... [[Joke Character|in his head]].]]
{{quote|''"[[Meaningful Name|Cacofonix]], the bard. [[Metaphorically True|Opinion is divided]] as to his musical gifts. Cacofonix thinks he's a genius. [[Giftedly Bad|Everyone else thinks he's unspeakable]]."''
|''[[Asterix]]''}}
A character with a comically over-inflated image of himself. He [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All|thinks he's smarter than everyone else]], [[Casanova Wannabe|thinks he's a real lady's man]], thinks he's cool, [[It's All About Me|it's all about him]], but both his fellow characters and the audience know that this coolness is all in his mind.
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Contrast with the [[Jaded Washout]], who knows only too well how pathetic he is. [[I Thought It Meant|Not to be confused with]] [[The Kirk|the other kind of ego]].
{{noreallife|calling somebody "washed up" [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|isn't particularly polite]].}}
{{examples|Here are but some people whose egos are vastly disproportionate to their accomplishments:}}
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* ''[[Excel Saga (manga)|Excel Saga]]'''s eponymous character Excel is extremely confident about her ability to accomplish ACROSS' goal of world domination (and win the heart of Il Palazzo), but fails to make any progress whatsoever in either of those two goals.
** In fact, she refuses to acknowledge that Il Palazzo actively dislikes her, sending her falling through the trap door every time.
*** In the manga their relationship is considerably complex; Il Palazzo's conflicting personalities seem to alternatively hold strange affection towards Excel, or consider her a nuisance. Excel herself is far from stupid, but has overactive imagination, and a habit of acting before thinking. The introduction of Elgala to the story has brought out Excel's responsible, sometimes even tyrannical side (she doesn't know when to quit), and the most recent{{when}} development has {{spoiler|replaced her with a robotic duplicate who is cool, calm and hypercompetent, yet still somehow manages to convey her personality well enough to keep Hyatt and Elgala fooled for several volumes.}}
* This is probably a driving point behind many of the characters in ''[[Gash Bell]]''. Gash himself somewhat fairly evaluates his own powers, but Kanchomé always brags about how strong he is although he almost never comes through. Most of the early antagonists that Gash faces are like this too, and end up being rudely awakened by Gash and Kiyomaro.
** Late manga spoilers: {{spoiler|This takes an interesting turn later on, when Kanchomé finally unlocks his true potential during a training arc. He gains several new spells and becomes one of the most powerful demons remaining in the battle, even surpassing Gash in one of their mock fights. This later leads him to a very near [[Face Heel Turn]] however, and soon afterward he's sniped down by the current [[Big Bad]] before he can become a real threat.}}
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* The Cut Man Brothers of [[Mega Man NT Warrior]].
==
* Cacofonix, the suggestively named bard from ''[[Asterix]]''. His bravado makes him the perfect unwitting weapon against the Romans, but usually he's just made to shut up with varying degrees of force.
** His moment to shine came when Vitalstatistix's nephew Justforkix was being held by Normans who wanted to learn the meaning of fear. Cacofonix's singing was so bad they became scared for the first times in their lives.
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** Turned on its side, the [[Popularity Power|more popular one is with the Mundanes]], the easier it is to survive. Jack scams his way into making movies about his past adventures and literally makes his own ego come true. He loses all his cash and friends eventually, of course, but now is nearly (nearly) immortal.
* Crackerjack from ''[[Astro City]]'' is a variation. He is both highly skilled and truly heroic, but there is ''no'' amount of skill that can back up all that talk...
* Even before he [[Took a Level In Dumbass]], Roger Fox of ''[[FoxTrot]]'' had a seriously over-inflated self-image. Though obviously out of shape and clumsy, he felt that he was still in perfect health and capable of playing football with his older son; he also fancies himself a capable chess player, when [[Epic Fail|he STILL loses games where he has 15 Queens and the computer has 15 Pawns]]. Later strips exaggerate this to the point where even his younger son kicks his tail in golf.▼
* Rat from ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' has a very high opinion of himself and a low opinion of everyone else. While [[The Ditz|Pig]] follows this rather blindly, the others don't.▼
* Earl Slackmozer from ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'', who thinks having had modules published by Hard 8 makes him the greatest gamemaster in Muncie. His condescension towards to BA is astounding.
* In ''[[Archie Comics]]'' this is Reggie Mantle's most identifiable trait. Stories revolving around him usually involve his vanity and narcissism.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]'' has Hank Ishtar, who ''thinks'' he is "The finest human being in the world".▼
== Film ==
* [[Will Ferrell]] [[Typecasting|often plays]] this type of character in nearly all his movies; Ferrell has described three recent{{when}} films of his as the "morons with unreasonable confidence" trilogy. Whether they're full-on Small Name, Big Ego characters is arguable, though: despite their idiocy, most people accept them as very good at what they do, outside of the occasional antagonist or "reality check" character—and indeed they are very good within a limited range. Just be ready for the [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]].
** To the point where Ron Burgundy's dog in ''[[Anchorman]]'' is named Baxter.
*** Another co-star, [[Steve Carell]], would go on to play an ''Evan'' Baxter in ''[[Bruce Almighty]]'' and ''[[Evan Almighty]]''.
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** This is the same ancient evil who cannot rise from his coffin without banging his head on the chandelier.
*** He did at least acknowledge he should move the coffin. ... Or the chandelier.
* Ted Knight himself [[Actor Allusion|pretty much
* [[Peter Jackson]]'s version of ''[[King Kong]]'' features the appropriately named Bruce Baxter.
** He's a mild subversion, in fact. Although he does talk himself up incessantly, {{spoiler|he ''does'' lead a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|whilst swinging from a vine, shooting a machine gun]].}}
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* [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant|Weebo]] from [[Flubber]].
* [[Gran Torino]]: As a lot of [[Racist Grandma|Racist Grandpas]] in [[Real Life]], Walt regards himself as a man who knows plenty about life and death, and who is abused by those (other races) surrounding him. Everyone else thinks he's a [[Grumpy Old Man]], a [[Jaded Washout]] and a [[Cranky Neighbor]]. The movie shows his [[Character Development]] from this to [[Be Yourself|a realistic assessment of his qualities and weakness]].
* Mugatu, the [[Big Bad]] (the term should be used loosely) from ''[[Zoolander]]''. His claim to fame (again, the term should be used loosely) is inventing the piano key necktie, and he'll ''never'' let anyone forget it, if he can help it. Of course, as a fashion designer, most of his ideas are flops, as are his villainous ambitions.
== Literature ==
* Gilderoy Lockhart in ''[[
** However, the one thing Lockhart ''is'' good at, [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|Memory Charms]], is something he is ''very'' good at. He's also pretty good at locating people with stories of interesting magical exploits. He's just not good at any of the things he actually ''claims'' to be good at.
** {{spoiler|[[Hoist by His Own Petard|And the one thing he's good at becomes his karmic retribution]].}}
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*** Remember that this was in a fake universe which was created specifically with him in mind, so in there he ''was'' the most important person in the universe.
* ''[[Diary of a Madman]]'''s Poprishchin, the eponymous madman, believes himself to be an important person, that his holding an unimportant position at age 40 is non-indicative of his career, and those trying to dissuade him from pursuing the director's daughter are just envious.
* [[Jane Austen]]
* [[Adrian Mole]] believes he is a gifted author and celebrity chef. In reality his unpublished work is terrible, his only published book was written in his name by his mother, and he was once the presenter of a low-budget cable show about how to cook offal. All of this goes right over his head as he tries to use his "celebrity" status to his advantage; and frequently writes to people who are ''actually'' famous to ask for favours (such as to speak for free at the Christmas dinner for his book club), ask for his own show on radio, or to offer insulting suggestions about their lifestyles.
* ''[[The Magic School Bus]] In The Ocean'' features a character named Lenny the Lifeguard, a good-natured but somewhat arrogant lifeguard at the beach, who is first seen showing other beach goers pictures from his 'daring rescues' (Which, judging from the pics, weren't that daring). He ends up [[The Drag Along]] when he sees Ms. Frizzle drive her bus into the ocean, getting swept up in the class' latest field trip. Throughout the story, he tries to maintain an air of authority, despite being pretty much redundant. Once the madness ends, he is elated to have 'saved a whole class'.
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*** In Bluestar's prophecy Thistleclaw and Oakheart are both said to be arrogant pricks.
== Live
* Ted Baxter, a character on ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]''. Baxter was a newscaster who considered himself incredibly popular, while everyone else in the newsroom thought he was an incredible ''bore'' and something of a [[The Ditz|Ditz]] to boot, but were too polite to tell him to his face.
** Randomly selected from his many blunders: When a broadcast runs short, Ted stands silently in front of the camera until someone hands him a fluff story which he presents as an important news bulletin—and even repeats ''[[Large Ham|in the same tone of voice]].''
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** Whenever Quark gets his [[A Day in the Limelight|own episode]], he routinely pulls off [[Zany Scheme|quite impressive cons]]. These often involved his own acknowledgment that he lacked traditional heroic traits. One of his most memorable was [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|winning a fight]] [[Batman Gambit|by throwing away his weapon]]. He has even gone into long boasts about his more successful (and generally shady) business negotiations.
*** If the Klingon Chancellor refers to you as "a brave Ferengi," you're doing something right.
** This is lampshaded in "Civil Defense". When Quark and Odo (who consider each other [[Worthy Opponent]]s at the best of times, and nuisances at all times) are trapped in Odo's office while the station is about to self-destruct, Odo (who later says he was just trying to be nice since he thought they were going to die) calls Quark "the most devious Ferengi I've ever met" - a compliment. After the danger has passed, Quark is outraged to find that Odo's ''real'' opinion of him is "a self-important con artist who's nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is."
* [[Spell My Name with a "The"|The Todd]], from ''[[Scrubs]]''. He's actually a very competent surgeon, with Turk even jealous when the Todd actually outdoes him. And to his credit, the Todd gave Turk his full support over being Chief Surgeon. His ego instead stems from his sex drive. He thinks he's a sex god, but he's more of an idiot and a pig.
* Several characters in the US adaptation of ''[[The Office]]'': Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute, and possibly Andy Bernard (though the latter ''did'' apparently go to Cornell).
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* Barney Stinson in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' thinks his exploits are legen—wait for it—dary! However, this [[Handsome Lech|womanizing ladies' man]] has been repeatedly been shown as lame during several episodes in the series.
* ''[[The IT Crowd]]'' mercilessly mocks this in the person of Denholm Reynholm.
{{quote|'''Reynholm''': "I hope it doesn't sound arrogant when I say that [[
** His son Douglas is ''even worse'', as demonstrated at [[The Fun in Funeral|his father's funeral.]]
{{quote|'''Douglas''': "UNHAND ME, PRIEST! Where is your god? WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW? [[Large Ham|FAAAAATHEEEER]]!!!"
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== Music ==
* The theme of [[Ben Folds]] song "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You":
{{quote|''...and you won't
''Even know
''that they're not sizing you up
''They know your mom fucked you up
''Or maybe let you watch too much TV }}
* There's a song called "I'm Awesome" by Spose. It's completely counterpoint to the title because the guy is describing how much of a loser he is and yet still thinks he's the greatest human being alive.
* "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" by [[The Offspring]] describes a classic example of this phenomenon.
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''But you can't be like this'' }}
== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* Even before he [[Took a Level In Dumbass]], Roger Fox of ''[[FoxTrot]]'' had a seriously over-inflated self-image. Though obviously out of shape and clumsy, he felt that he was still in perfect health and capable of playing football with his older son; he also fancies himself a capable chess player, when [[Epic Fail|he STILL loses games where he has 15 Queens and the computer has 15 Pawns]]. Later strips exaggerate this to the point where even his younger son kicks his tail in golf.
▲* Rat from ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' has a very high opinion of himself and a low opinion of everyone else. While [[The Ditz|Pig]] follows this rather blindly, the others don't.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
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== Web Animation ==
* While Strong Bad from ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' is actually one of the more rational and intelligent ones in the cast, this doesn't say much - he falls squarely into this trope. He is convinced he is cool, handsome and painfully seductive, although his actual track record makes it fairly clear he is somewhat chubby and not very attractive.
▲* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]'' has Hank Ishtar, who ''thinks'' he is "The finest human being in the world".
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* Guy from ''[[Two Guys and Guy]]''.
* Eridan Ampora from ''[[Homestuck]]'' is an [[Jerkass|arrogant snob]] who feels entitled to [[Casanova Wannabe|love]] and [[It's All About Me|reverence]], yet most of his peers view him with opinions ranging from pity (platonic, of course) to outright loathing.
== Web Original ==
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* [[Psycho Ex-Girlfriend|Shannon]] from ''[[Echo Chamber]]''.
{{quote|"When will they see that their crappy little show would be so much better if I were acting in it? And writing it? And directing it?"}}
* JC The Hyena, the creator of ''[[sonic.exe]]'', ''really'' holds his story in high regard in spite of its limited influence, and [http://c0rps3.deviantart.com/art/A-rant-from-The-Author-of-Sonic-exe-508262184 threw a conniption fit] when he found out that it was taken off of Creepypasta Wiki and moved to Trollpasta Wiki, [[mh:trollpastawiki:Sonic.exe|available here]].
== Western Animation ==
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'''Edd:''' Unfortunately, yes. }}
** In [[The Movie]], it's revealed that {{spoiler|his behavior is all a [[Jerkass Facade]] due to him believing that if he acted more like his brother (who is an even bigger [[Jerkass]]), he'd be more popular.}}
*** Not to mention when he {{spoiler|breaks down and admits that he's nothing but a failure and that he doesn't deserve such loyal friends as Ed and Double-D.}} It's a
* Finn from ''[[Storm Hawks]]'', whilst a talented sniper, is nowhere near the ladies man he thinks he is.
* Number 2 in ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''. Downplayed in that he is very competent, most of the time, but tends to overestimate even that. More than anything though, he thinks he's funnier than he actually is. He also has some [[Casanova Wannabe]] tendencies. It should be noted that he's [[Adorkable|more]] [[Nice Guy|likable]] than other examples.
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* Cartman from ''[[South Park]]'', though he displays a number of tropes at a number of different times.
* Kent Powers from ''[[Quack Pack]]'' was presumably based on the original Ted Baxter.
* [[Kent Brockman News|Kent Brockman]] of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' is an intentional copy of Ted Baxter.
** In the episode where Marge stars in ''"[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]"'' musical, the director, while competent, sees himself as this supreme director even though the only play he ever mentions directing was a school play.
*** He prides himself on it though, by carrying the review around and quoting it.
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* [[Inspector Gadget]], far more so than in the film version. This actually is a major element which [[Status Quo Is God|preserves the status quo]]. Most notably, he is convinced that Dr. Claw is so terrified of him that MAD packs up and leaves as soon as Gadget is assigned to a case. This may be the main reason he canonically can't catch Dr. Claw, despite the number of times they've been physically close: Gadget ''cannot believe'' Dr. Claw would dare go near him, and thus cannot recognize him. To some extent, this is also why Inspector Gadget tends to not notice MAD agents trying to kill him or recognize the MAD logo.
* Control Freak on ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' He’s actually fairly competent as villains go, but the Titans still don’t take him seriously. He wasn’t even mentioned on the list of “Villains to watch out for” the Titans East got when they were housesitting the tower!
* Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel in ''[[Lilo
* ''[[Regular Show]]'': Park Avenue, graffiti artist from "Under the hood".
{{quote|'''Park Avenue:''' ''Yes, I am the one who did it! I am the graffiti artist! I fill the world with knowledge! I paint the truth! I paint rebellion! I.."
'''Benson''' ''[[Crowning Moment of Indifference|I am calling the cops]]'' }}
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' has [[Third Person Person|The Great and Powerful Trixie]] who boasts being capable of doing everything better than everyone. Rainbow Dash is a milder case, given that she can (usually) back up her claims.
* [[Robin]] (Damien Wayne) in ''[[Harley Quinn (TV series)|Harley Quinn]]''. This kid is only 12, still a rookie among the heroes, but thinks he can handle ''anything'', getting involved with Harley simply because he feels he deserves an arch-foe nemesis and believes Harley could be his "Joker". He even goes on a talk show to emphasize his imagined rivalry with Harley (she's watching, she isn't pleased) and calls the viewers "rubes" when the camera turns off. In truth, he's ''not'' a very competent crimefighter, and his headstrong impulsiveness causes him to go [[Leeroy Jenkins]] and almost gets him eaten by King Shark; Batman manages to save him, but Damien still has to sit through a pretty stern lecture over his rashness.
▲== Real Life ==
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Character Flaw Index]]
[[Category:Ego Tropes]]
[[Category:
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