Weak but Skilled: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* The main character from [[Anatolia Story]] herself, Yuri Suzuki. She's a complete weakling physically speaking and can't do a thing when she's being sexually assaulted, but being from the future has its advantages. She is revered as Ishtar because she rode a horse, something that's common nowadays, but in ancient Turkey was unheard of. She also recognized an iron sword (and used it against [[Complete Monster|Zuwa]]), which is not so valuable today as it was back then.

** Similarly, Carol Reed from [[Oke no Monshou]] has zero fighting skill, but her almost encyclopedic knowledge of [[Ancient Egypt]] comes off ''very'' handy when she needs to get the upper hand in the middle of constant power struggles in Pharaoh Memphis's court.

* ''[[Ookiku Furikabutte]]'' - [[Playing with a Trope|Invoked]] - Momome points out that although Tajima is supernaturally quick, he just doesn't have the build to be a power hitter in baseball.

* Clare from ''[[Claymore]]'', despite being in theory the weakest of all the warriors, has learned every trick and tactic there is to kill Awakened Ones. Normally, she's [[Crippling Overspecialization|cripplingly overspecialized]], but as the series progresses, Awakened Beings start coming out of the woodwork. {{spoiler|And then subverted horribly when she finally meets up with Priscilla after years of searching. Priscilla is by far the strongest character currently in the series and all the skill in the world can't put a scratch on her}}.

** Said Girlfriend is the polar opposite of Yukki, but still manages to fit this trope. She is very strong and skilled, but her Diary is the weakest, only being able to predict one persons actions and her own Dead End.

* ''[[Initial D]]'' gives us Takumi and his AE86 Trueno. Although his Trueno pales in comparison to more powerful cars like the RX-7s and Skylines, his skill with the Trueno is what allows him to, to the shock of those who haven't seen him in action yet, hold his own against such more powerful cars.

* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', [[Dark Magical Girl|Akemi Homura]] is eventually revealed to be a version of this. {{spoiler|Her actual powers are fairly limited; her status as one of the most accomplished warriors in the series comes from her creative applications of them. As well as a ''lot'' of [[More Dakka|Dakka]].}}

 

* [[Batman]]. He's a guy with a funny suit and a bunch of neat toys who runs around with people who can bench-press planets. And, whenever there's a conflict, ''he wins'', because he's the most skilled. It helps he's [[Crazy Prepared]] and keeps Kryptonite on his body at all times in the off chance Superman is a danger. Let alone his other plans...

** [[The Joker]]. He might be a normal, rather fragile human, but he can concoct poisons and create gadgets that regularly overcome metas on a routine basis. Add in the fact that he would pretty much sell his soul for a box of cigars and massacre a kindergarten class on a whim, and you've got a guy whom almost every other DC Supervillain fears.

* [[Doctor Strange]] (yes, really), when up against the [[The End of the World as We Know It|caliber of threat that will get a Sorcerer Supreme involved]], is almost always overpowered and outclassed. He still wins through a combination of luck, knowledge, and the [[Guile Hero|clever use of what he has]].

 

* In ''[[The 13th Warrior]]'', one of the thirteen picks a fight with a younger, bigger, stronger mook and lets him beat him up for a while before hacking his head off to show that the thirteen are stronger than they seem.

* ''[[RoboCop]]'' combines this with [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: The cyborg defeats ED-209 by ''knowing how to climb stairs''.

* Hit Girl of ''[[Kick-Ass]]'' is an 11-year old girl, but is capable of killing multiple adult opponents due to her superior training in martial arts, weapons and firearms [[MST3K Mantra|(just go with it)]]. Notably, in unarmed combat against an opponent who is an equally skilled martial artist, his significant advantage in terms of weight means that she actually has trouble keeping up with him.

 

* Karrin Murphy of ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. While not exactly physically weak, she's a [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse|tiny]] [[Badass Normal]] up against a lot of supernatural creatures who could in theory mop the floor with her. She's just an expert martial artist and marksman, [[Crazy Prepared|makes sure to remember and implement any weaknesses she learns]], and is willing and able to improvise - at one point she takes down a chlorofiend (read: plant monster) with a ''[[Chainsaw Good|chainsaw]]''.

** Anastasia Luccio, the Captain of the Wardens, is this by necessity, due to a [[Grand Theft Me|body swapping incident]] with a necromancer. Her new body just doesn't have the same magical talent her old one did, forcing her to constantly conserve her energy with her spells. That being said she can use the same fire spells as Harry as needle-thin beams of exteremely precise and intense heat and cast mass-concealing veils to hide people. Harry says that even with the decrease in power he wouldn't want to fight her.

** In ''Ghost Story'' Harry's apprentice Molly has gotten in on the act—again, she doesn't have nearly Harry's raw destructive power, but she's gained ''enormous'' skill in illusions that let her evade and fool multiple attackers at once, sometimes tricking them into killing each other.

* In ''[[Ender's Game]]'', Ender Wiggin killed several larger opponents in hand-to-hand combat.

** In "The Sea And Little Fishes" Mrs Earwig, saying Granny Weatherwax shouldn't enter the Witch Trials because she always wins, suggests Granny should be grateful for her [[The Gift|natural talent]]. Nanny Ogg quickly replies, "I'm the one with natural talent, Esme just works bloody hard."

* One of the 'viewpoint' protagonists in the light novel series ''[[Fate/Zero]]'', Emiya Kiritsugu, is presented as this. While he is an [[Cold Sniper|expert marksman]], most of his successes come from [[Combat Pragmatist|exploiting]] [[Shoot the Hostage|his targets' weaknesses]] and [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|generally fighting very methodically]]. Whenever he is in a direct confrontation, he will ''always'' be the one running away, while waiting for the best time to put his plans into action.

* Tavi from ''[[Codex Alera]]'' has no access to fury power, while everyone else in Aleran society does. It forces him to become very skilled at kicking people's butts all on his own power. The teacher even has him deliberately pretend to be horrible at it so he can serve as a counterexample for the other students in fight training. {{spoiler|''Then'' he starts developing his furycraft powers...}}

 

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' The Doctor, aside from a handy [[Applied Phlebotinum|screwdriver]] and a parlor trick regarding [[Death Is Cheap|kinda-sorta-not-really dying]], is for all intents and purposes, a mortal being no more powerful than any other sharp-witted human male. And yet, he has engineered the downfall of entire races by being merely ''smarter than them.''

* [[MacGyver]] lived and breathed this trope. He generally loses straight-up fistfights with larger or stronger opponents. He always needed to attack from advantage, throw sand, or use some gadget to win. What keeps him from being a [[Combat Pragmatist]] is that he [[Doesn't Like Guns]] and never uses them.

* A curious example of this pops up in the form of [[Robot Girl|Cameron]] in ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]''. While she's [[Cute Bruiser|far from the weakest member]] of the main cast, she's still much physically weaker than other machines, being very small and lightweight. In a straight slugging match, she tends to lose. However, Cameron is intelligent and adaptable, making use of her surroundings, [[Improvised Weapon]]s, and outmaneuvering opponents to defeat them.

 

* Rogues in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' are practically the patron saints of this trope. Not only can they apply their dexterity to weapon skill instead of strength like most classes, but they also learn much more quickly than their counterparts. Even low intelligence rogues will have a healthy set of skills, while a high intelligence human rogue will quickly become the team's ninja historian animal taming demolitions expert.

** The rogue's signature sneak attack ability was also changed from a damage multiplier in 2.0 to deal consistent bonus regardless of the rogue's strength or size of his or her weapon in 3.0 so that rogues do not particularly suffer from low strength or lightweight weapons.

* The [[Light'Em Up|Haos]] attribute from [[Bakugan]] absolutely thrives on having lower power levels by having cards that give the weaker Bakugan a tremendous advantage (The wider the margin, the better). Probably the only game where people get into arguments over who has the ''weakest'' of something.

 

* The player deliberately invokes this in any [[Low-Level Run]].

* In the first ''[[Half Life]]'' game, the player character Gordon Freeman is a scientist who theoretically isn't cut out for the kind of mayhem caused by the resonance cascade. He has to make do without any firearms at first, and, given a skilled player controlling him, could be said to either take a quick, practical [[Took a Level in Badass|level in badass]] or just discover that he's naturally skilled as a fighter.

* You, in ''[[Deus Ex]]''. Even when you get the laser sword, super speed and inhuman damage soaking. You'll still get taken down by most enemies if you don't think carefully.

* In ''[[Okami]]'', Waka fights Amaterasu twice, and though he loses he urges her to get stronger. It's clear that he's far stronger than Ammy through most of the game's beginning and middle because he {{spoiler|shows up to help in the very final fight, and manages to block a full strength blast from Yami long enough to deliver a [[Final Speech]]. It helps he's been awake and active for 100 years while Amaterasu was weakened [[Sealed Good in a Can]], but he's still just a mortal and survives fighting gods.}}

* In the ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' games where he is playable, Proto Man is an example of this. {{spoiler|Due to a defect in his power system, he is in constant pain, and}} ingame tends to take fewer hits because of it. Avoiding hits and fighting smart is his only option to take on enemies.

** Mega Man, himself, at least to begin within his games. His arm cannon (and later Mega Buster) is vastly inferior in terms of power to his opponents. Only by the end of the game, when he's a walking arsenal of doom, does he go to the other side...and then ''still'' require skill, because he's still just a small robot facing huge massive weapons of destruction.

* ''[[Armored Core]] Verdict Day'' has the player fight {{spoiler|a flawed imitation of a Next from the fast paced and higher powered Armored Core 4 and For Answer that flies, has a radioactive kill field, and fires loads of missiles at you}} while the player uses a standard AC. Good luck!

 

* While Bun-Bun from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is hardly weak, he ''is'' still a mini-lop rabbit, and relies on this trope when taking on particularly tough opponents like [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=11#1999-04-04 Mecha Easter Bunny], [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=30#2002-06-30 evil Aylee], [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=39#2003-12-21 Alien Santa Claus], or [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=48#2006-01-12 the] [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=48#2006-01-13 dread] [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=48#2006-01-15 pirate] [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=48#2006-01-18 Black] [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=48#2006-01-19 Soul].

* Grace in [[El Goonish Shive]] is not very skilled, but is able to beat the massively powerful Damien partly because Damien has even ''less'' skill. Elliot observes that because of his raw power, Damien hadn't needed to learn to fight properly before.

* ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'': Ten Winds (an [[Exalted|air-aspect Terrestrial]])is, in terms of raw power (or in Secret's case, potential power), the weakest of the [[Five-Man Band]]. But he's also a former member of what's essentially an Exalted Seal Team 6; an extremely skilled fighter, frequently shown taking on Exalted who should (in theory) be able to steamroll him.

 

* Sensei Ito, the aikido instructor at Whateley Academy in the [[Whateley Universe]]. He ''is'' this trope. He's a little old man with NO superpowers who starts each term by demonstrating this point. By picking the most powerful mutant in the class and then ''beating the crap out of him'' in front of everyone.

 

* Bruce Wayne in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' is like this at a few points, considering that he's older and more physically frail.

** Terry might fit this category too. The batsuit might enhance his strength compared to a normal human, but considering the sort of opponents he tends to go toe-to-toe with, he still is usually outmatched in terms of sheer physical force.

* Contrary to traditional, mostly-equal power levels, the Autobots of [[Transformers Animated]] are almost universally weaker than all but the lowliest Decepticon. They manage to get around this through a combination of team-based tactics and resource management that, while not entirely closing the gap, grant them some measure of advantage over their better-armed-but-less-organized counterparts.

 

* Increased efficiency is sort of the point of martial arts.

* The Gracie family used this principle to win several of the early UFC and other NHB tournaments despite being generally smaller, lighter and weaker than many of their muscular powerhouse opponents through proper application of techniques with which the other fighters were unfamiliar, and in fact Royce Gracie was chosen to represent the family in the early UFC for this reason (as opposed to a larger relative). When the rest of the world became familiar with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu the advantage disappeared.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Hidden Badass]]

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]