Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Difference between revisions

** The Otherworld Tournament Saga. Almost every foe Goku had faced caused a riot in Hell. Goku and a green dude who we never see after this saga (AKA Paikuhan) go and beat their asses (Freeza and Cell are actually a threat at this point, but much less than they were when they were [[Big Bad]]s).

** Tao Pai Pai, who went from possibly the strongest human fighter on Earth and the first opponent to hand Goku a solid defeat early in the original ''Dragon Ball'' to a below-average enemy only able to defeat the weakest of the supporting cast before being beaten senseless by a mid-level supporting cast member in the Tournament Arc at the end of the series. When he appears again in ''Dragon Ball Z'' (albeit only in the anime), Goku is so out of Tao's league that he's basically a joke villain who spends the episode engaged in whacky hijinks trying (hilariously unsuccessfully) to outsmart Goku. When Tao realises Gohan is Goku's son (after using his signature move which didn't harm Gohan), he quickly flees.

* Kagura from ''[[Inuyasha]]'' nearly kills the eponymous character in her first two fights, but in the 3rd he's got a new ability that gets around her keeping him from using his best attacks, so he stomps her. Just about every other recurring villain in the series, however, also gets stronger as the series goes on, depending on whether they survive long enough for Inuyasha to get a new upgrade for the Tessiaga.

* Fate's minions in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' fall under this pretty badly; in their first appearance, they're perfectly capable of taking on the noncombatants of Ala Alba despite being outnumbered. Unfortunately, the next time Ala Alba shows up, most of the girls have either done additional training or pactio'd and obtained powerful artifacts, leading to an ignominious defeat for the minions, who haven't really improved since last time. Fate himself, while still a legit threat, reveals that the concept of training is quite alien to him. {{spoiler|It shows, too. Every fight he has with Negi has Negi doing slightly better than beforehand until the final fight where Negi is doing a ''lot'' better and obviously has the advantage and WON.}}

** Gillians could also play a straight example. The first one that shows up takes Ichigo and Uryu working together just to wound it bad enough that it runs away. Now the [[Villain Pedigree]] has shot up so many times that when Gillians appear, they're [[Giant Mook]]s and are only considered a threat if they're in large numbers.

* Most of the [[Big Bad]]s in ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' require someone getting a new form that can beat them. The Dark Masters, however, didn't. In their first appearence, they take turns beating the stuffing out of the Digidestineds' Digimon, Piedmon defeating both their Megas with no effort at all. Well the Digidestineds' Digimon ''don't'' get new forms, so they get more experienced and stronger with the ones that do have. They beat MetalSeadramon and Machinedramon of them by wisely using WarGreymon's Dramon Destroyers, which are super effective on Dramon type Digimon. Puppetmon is downed in one hit from MetalGarurumon but Piedmon gets it the worst. Even though MagnaAngemon played a big role in his defeat, the same two Mega Digimon he effortlessly beat down before back him into a corner and force him to pull out his most underhanded trick. Even without them, the Ultimates in the Digidestineds' arsanal still manage to put up a good fight against him and once his trick is no longer of use, he gets his butt kicked. He saved himself for last but didn't bother getting stronger, so the Digidestined were able to catch up.

** Even moreso when it's revealed that {{spoiler|those two Pacifistas are ''the exact same ones'' the Straw Hats faced prior to being separated, and that more advanced models are now available.}}

* Actually averted in a case of the [[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]] anime, during the Diamond and Pearl season. Ash fights Roark twice; the first time he failed in an attempt to show Paul that he was a good trainer too ([[Failure Is the Only Option|but failed]]) and went for a rematch after an incident with the Pokémon fossils in Oreburgh City. This is especially noteworthy because Roark's Cranidos evolved into Rampardos, and when Ash tried to use a similar attack plan in their first match, Roark managed to easily turn it into his favor. Ash still won, but Roark certainly kept him on his toes the whole time.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has the skyships ''Weatherlight'' (the heroes) and ''Predator'' (the villains). When the two battle in Rath, the ''Weatherlight'' is outgunned and the heroes only escape through dumb luck. By the time of the Rathi Overlay in the ''Planeshift'' storyline, however, the ''Weatherlight'' had a more experienced crew and upgraded weaponry, and when the two skyships battled again, the ''Predator'' was thoroughly trounced.

* Can be invoked by good [[Min-Maxing|optimization tactics]] in any tabletop RPG that gives the players control over character creation. ''Will'' be invoked by [[Monty Haul]] gameplay. As such, this trope has the potential to be in most any tabletop RPG.

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Baten Kaitos]] Origins'', you fight [[Recurring Boss|Giacomo]] three times. In the third match, he's no stronger than the second match (only gaining buffing abilities), while you've probably gotten at least two or three levels and new magnus. Extremely satisfying, especially since the first fight is an infuriating [[Early Bird Boss]].

* Barubary in [[Breath of Fire]] inverts this, but then again, the [[Final Boss Preview]] (or rather [[The Dragon]] preview) IS him just picking on a little kid in the prologue. Grown up and come back with a real sword, you stand a much better chance, though it's still possible to die.

 

=== Simulation Game ===