Unfazed Everyman: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

A specific type of [[Token Human]], The Unfazed Everyman is an [[Muggle|ordinary human]] with no special powers, who happens to hang around with aliens, [[Time Travel|time travellers]], espers or wizards, and assorted other weirdos. Unlike [[Innocent Bystander|most of]] [[Muggles|their kind]] for whom such oddbods are [[Invisible to Normals|invisible]], Unfazed Everymen have a great capacity to cope with and ''accept'' the incomprehensible wackiness that surrounds them; in many cases with a wise and rational demeanor.

 

 

Compare [[Badass Normal]], a person whose lack of superpowers doesn't get in the way of kicking evil ass; [[Ordinary High School Student]], who may look like this in the beginning, but eventually is revealed to be another thing; [[Superpower Silly Putty]], who is actively affected in weird ways by the strangeness around him; and [[The Everyman]], who is like this trope but with [[Flat Character|less personality]]. Contrast [[Only Sane Man]], who loudly insists that none of this can possibly be happening. Compare [[Heroic Bystander]], who despite his [[What Measure Is a Non Super|powerlessness]] actually [[Fighting for Survival|manages to help,]] and the [[Action Survivor]].

If they are a protagonist, they tend to be Muggle Weight on the [[Super Weight]] scale. If they join a team, they are [[The Team Normal]].

 

 

* Kyon from ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. He does have one thing that sets him apart from everyone else: {{spoiler|[[Trust Password|He's John Smith]]}}. This fact puts him in [[Badass Normal]] territory, because it allows him to control Haruhi, Yuki's boss, and almost anyone who knows of Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody. It also explains why Haruhi gravitated towards him: {{spoiler|he's the reason she came to North High to begin with (she just doesn't know it yet)}}.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'''s Asakura; she's one of the first girls to discover Negi's magical abilities, yet never gained any sort of magic or kung fu abilities of her own until recently, and even then, it was an emergency situation. Despite that, she was still able to be more or less self-sufficient when she was forced to fend for herself in the Magic World.

** Jonny [[Boss Subtitles|"Blazing Rumbling Trucker"]] Raidein is one in the Magic World arc, being nearly the only non-empowered person in the crew. He helps out Ala Alba purely because he's friends with some of the girls, and takes the whole "saving the world" thing in stride.

* Kaede from [[Ninin ga Shinobuden]]. She apparently spends a good chunk of her free time hanging around a ninja mansion despite being an [[Ordinary High School Student]].

* Ataru Moroboshi of ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]''. Though, this might be subverted as time goes on, as he seems to gain an inhuman level of super-speed (whether running away from trouble or running after a woman) and a comic invulnerability that would make Daffy Duck proud.

* Haruhi Fujioka, from [[Ouran High School Host Club|Ouran]], who starts out utterly weirded out by the bishonen antics of the aforementioned club, but gradually learns to cope, even enjoy herself a bit.

* Naru Osaka, from [[Sailor Moon]], in both senshi and youma knowledge. It rendered her the nickname of [[Fan Nickname|Youma Bait]]; to a lesser extent, Umino fits this trope.

* Kawachi from ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]'' is [[Can't Catch Up|an average guy]] stuck in a world of overly-dramatic bakers who break out [[Crazy Awesome|all sorts of crazy recipes and techniques]] and get entangled in [[Serious Business|life-or-death]] [[Cooking Duel|bread-making contests]].

* Played with in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' when Ed finds himself surrounded by Homunculi and chimeras and humorously realises that he, as the only normal human, is the minority, even though it's hard to consider cybernetic limbs and alchemy as ''normal.''

* Oz from ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'' takes pride in his ability to accept the oddities he encounters and adapt to them. Keep in mind, this manga is one big [[Alice Allusion]] [[Mind Screw]], so having that kind of adaptability deserves some applause.

 

== Comic Books ==

 

== Film ==

* Janine Melnitz from ''[[Ghostbusters]]''. She is surrounded by men who hunt ghosts, half of whom are mad scientists. She even has a ghost in a cage close to where she works that the busters keep as a "pet". Not once has she ever batted an eye at any of this.

** Winston Zeddmore was this in the first film, casually commenting "As long as there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say."

* Kolya Gerasimov ([[Alexei Fomkin]]) in Soviet [[Sci Fi]] classic ''[[Guest From the Future]]'' is an [[Ordinary High School Student]] who one day accidentally winds up 100 years in the future. He does pretty well, given how confused he is.

* Francesco Dellamorte, ''[[Cemetery Man]]'' - for some reason, unbeknownst to both the townsfolk and the audience, all corpses in the Buffalora cemetery reanimate seven days after burial. Despite having no clue as to why this happens, Francesco expresses neither surprise nor concern, and instead dispatches zombies nightly without batting an eyelid. He refuses to inform the authorities of the situation because he does not want the cemetery closed, which would put him out of a job.

* In his time, Agent Phil Coulson of the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]] meets a [[Super Soldier]], a guy in [[Powered Armor]], a [[Norse Mythology|Norse god]], and a [[Hulking Out|green rage monster]] while still remaining a slightly jaded [[Deadpan Snarker]].

** Though he's a bit less blase about the [[Super Soldier]].

 

== Literature ==

** He is also ''very'' good at {{spoiler|making sandwiches}}.

** And he carries a ''very'' useful towel.

** He also actually takes some time to actually come into the "coping and rationality" part of the trope. Heck, in the movie, he actually comes close to ''cracking'' under the weird a few times.

** In the books, he actually decides that he will go mad. And then he does. Although that was due more to loneliness than the weird, the weird still played a major part.

* Jim in ''Skunk Works''

* Kit's older sister Carmela in the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series, though she's a secondary character who doesn't get much "screen time" until the later books.

** {{spoiler|And then she jumps over to [[Badass Normal]] with a mail-order death ray.}}

* Richard Mayhew in ''[[Neverwhere]]''

** Though he does eventually crack and end up a broken misanthrope after being rejected by the passionless horse-people in book four, who he [[Unreliable Narrator|looks up to despite their coldness and talk of genocide]].

** She also manages to [[Weirdness Magnet|bump into countless other vampires and werewolves, just because]].

** And now, none other than the former trope namer's actor (Martin Freeman, not Simon Jones) is going to play him in Peter Jackson's upcoming film adaptation.

** Not forgetting that his version of [[The Watson]] in the recent ''[[Sherlock]]'' series is pretty much this anyway. Sure, every now and again his medical skills and gun-toting habits are slightly useful, but really he just is an ordinary man dragged along for the ride.

* Waldo Butters, in ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. Well, he's a [[Muggle]] who accepts the supernatural easily and hangs around with a powerful wizard who's always getting him into danger... his freakish love for polka might discount him from being considered "normal", exactly.

** A case could also be made for Karrin Murphy. Her life was fine and dandy until she tried choking a literal troll to death, and met Harry. You could also make an argument that it's a [[Deconstruction]], as she nearly gets killed several times before Harry realizes that she ''needs'' to get clued into the supernatural if she's going to survive.

** Although it is worth keeping in mind that he ''is'' a wizard, and can still, for example, see Octarine (he does not know the time of his death, but that is because his timeline is so screwed up that even ''Death'' doesn't know, rather than any incompetence or tendence towards muggledom).

* Daniel in ''[[Lonely Werewolf Girl]]''. Whether it is an angry werewolf, or an upset fire demon he can be relied upon to have one constant response. [[Spot of Tea]]?

* The protagonist of [[The Subject Steve]] pulls this off, despite a lack of supernatural elements in the book.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** It has been lampshaded (in a rather dark way) that being one of The Doctor's companions turns you into a [[Badass Normal]].

** One of the stand-out moments being in "Delta and the Bannermen". After an initial shriek of fright, Mel is seen nonchalantly sharing her room with Delta and her newly-hatched green alien baby.

* John Watson from ''[[Sherlock]]''. Yeah, every now and again his military and medical expertise come in handy, but he's usually just an ordinary doctor being dragged along on crazy cases by Sherlock.

* Marilyn in ''[[The Munsters]]''

* Xander in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''

** Oz also had the potential for this before going all wolfie. Note his reaction to discovering the existence of the supernatural (though he did pretty much react like that to everything...).

'''Oz''': Actually, it explains a ''lot''. }}

** He has more of a reaction to Willow being with Xander than he does to:

Buffy can read his thoughts. }}

* Jerry Seinfeld in ''[[Seinfeld]]'', who inexplicably surrounds himself with [[The Chew Toy|George]], [[Tsundere|Elaine]], and [[Cloudcuckoolander|Kramer]] for the majority of his waking hours and rarely does more than than [[Deadpan Snarker|snark]] in reaction to them. Only [[Evilly Affable|New]][[Arch Enemy|man]] fazes him.

** HRG's wife and Claire's adoptive mother, Sandra Bennett, seems to have adapted to her daughter having superpowers and her husband being an all-purpose spook rather well, all things considered.

* Kaoru from ''[[Garo]]''.

* Sheriff Carter from ''[[Eureka]]'' qualifies for this trope most of the time, though he generally has to rise to [[Badass]] level by the climax of the episode.

* Frank Lapidus on ''[[Lost]]'', a recurring character introduced in season four (and later made a regular for season six). He doesn't have any connection to the story or mythology, and his only personal problem (being a drunk) was dealt with before he arrived. He's possibly the only normal, well-adjusted person to ever set foot on the Island...and also accepts all the weird crap that happens on it without question.

* Joel from ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''.

 

 

== Web Comics ==

** Although now he has {{spoiler|become one of Earth's four [[Physical God|Gods]] }}, without even knowing what he was getting into.

** Justin could also qualify. In fact, a lot of humor during his early appearances was how he reacted to the weirdness around him.

** Then again, the recent story comics have Justin as more of a [[Ordinary High School Student]] who has just been revealed as a [[Badass]].

** In fact, this is practically Digger's racial superpower. Wombats are so sensible and tied to realism rather than faith or magic that they gain a mild immunity from divine/magical/prophetic dealings.

'''Fuzzy''': Here's our card! }}

* Red from '''[[Girls in Space]]''' is a normal human, traveling the universe, surrounded by aliens.

* Dave in ''[[Narbonic]]''. {{spoiler|At least until he goes mad at the end.}}

 

== Western Animation ==

** However, the fleshies of [[Transformers Prime]] seem to hold up quite well next to their co-stars, as each has perpetrated his/her fair share of [[Badass Normal|badassery]].

* This is how Stan manages to cope living in ''[[South Park]]''. The entire town is a [[Weirdness Magnet]] and his father is pehaps the most insane in a town of people with multiple personalities, illiterates, [[Knight Templar Parent]], the son of the devil, a [[Depraved Bisexual]] teacher and Eric Cartman. Despite all this, he usually watches on unfazed by what is happening this week other than to [[Face Palm|hold the bridge of his nose]].

* Mark from ''[[Ugly Americans]]'' could probably out-Unfaze Everyman Arthur Dent.

* Sokka from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' is this being the only non-bender in the group (before [[Action Girl|Suki]] joined mid-season 3) and actually coped quite well thanks to meat and sarcasm.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Normal People]]

[[Category:Urban Fantasy Tropes]]