I read the comic because of this comment and they didn't surrender they get their ass beaten because they waiting for him to crack a joke which I found that more hilarious
Every D&D campaign I've ever played in has been marked by the players' inability to perform simple tasks. The party can't so much as buy sandwiches without seducing a goat, killing the mayor, and opening a portal to hell in the town square. Then initiative is rolled and suddenly they're a flawless death squad that could kill God.
Sounds about right, I've had a campaign emd becuase we failed so hard at buying a staff for our wizard thatit turned into a fight. Instead of subduing the shopkeep we killed him with a crit and gaurds got involved and tried to arrest us, we ended up killing half the town before we got put down and kept failing our persuasion checks everytime we tried to surrender or negotiate.
One, time my friends and I played a similar game (can't remember name, we were preteens) and we tried to buy a horse. Somehow, that spiraled into killing half the city's police force, assassinating a general, hijacking a caravan, fighting a god, and then strangling the horse to death.
I'm curious. What should be the minimum frequency of switching between badass and moron for one to be considered a CMHB? Iroh was mostly a jokester and non-combatant in Season 1, a sincere and mentor character in Season 2, and a serious badass in Season 3. His moron badass ratio is different in every season and he doesn't switch very frequently in all 3.
@@yiklongtay6029 it is more the persona he has crafted around himself. Despite him having earned the title of Dragon, which means he supposedly killed a dragon alone, the entire nation sees him as a weak, senile, tea obsessed, old man, not the premier firebender he is. That sounds like a total CMHB to me, of the first flavour that Red mentioned. He likes to chill in his downtime, but puts on his serious pants when needed.
When Zhao tries to backstab Zuko with lightning after Zuko beats him in Agni Kai, it's Iroh who reacts perfectly, grabs Zhao's hand, redirects the lightning harmlessly into the sky, and throws Zhao overboard. This was Book 1 Episode 3. They showed flashes of Hidden Badass in Iroh through the whole series.
@@heuristix77 minor correction: Zhao never did lightning, his was just a backstabbing kick. Azula's first fight with Zuko was the "he pops up and redirects her lightning" bit
It's amazing how Sokka is both the funny idiot and the genius strategist at the same time. A lot of his comedy actually comes from him being the only braincell in the group and constantly getting frustrated with the carelessness of the others, which is really clever. He's a great fighter but his strength lies in his brains, which is surprising for a "moronic" character (I mean, he's had his share of genuinely stupid stuff too, but still). It's a twist on the badass, with his main power being the smart guy, rather than being the awesome warrior.
It is also extremely funny that most times he tries to plan something with Aang (usually something related to other Gaang dynamics going on) their combined efforts concoct plans that are extremely silly and stupid
It’s especially good with his character development. He starts off as a squeaky sexist idiot whose only purpose is to be suspicious and get kicked off a ramp, but by the end he’s a skilled strategist and leader. And he dumps the entire crew of a blimp into the ocean by inviting them to a birthday party
Bongos the only problem (that I have an issue with) was the romance that was kinda rushed (karata and aang). It wasn’t good, so I just try to forget it exists.
@@薇vern It literally built over the entire show, from when Aang first woke up from the ice berg... Seriously, I don't get how some people don't see these romances instantly...
I love the Flash's scene cuz you know that he isn't scared of dying, he's terrified because he knows that dying under these circumstances is the catalyst for turning his friends/idols into the worst versions of themselves. OOF
yeah, I'm guessing he's the only one smart enough to understand the intricacies of the plan. Edit: After watching the series again, I noticed (spoiler) he never intended to be president; he went thru all that to discredit the heroes and "tick off superman". All while putting together a truly frightening plan.
there's a great Jackie Chan outtake where he pops around the corner with a gun and says "CHEESE!" the crew starts giggling and he just "what?" and someone behind the camera says "it's freeze. Not cheese." and jackie laughs "Oh right! Freeze!"
And okuyasu in part 4 is introduced as a badass with the second most powerful ability of that part and then becomes a crouching morin only occasionaly using it again and for full effect at that.
You talked about how it's annoying when CMHBs are constantly underestimated, and I agree with you, but I love when it's the inverse. Where the CMHB is rumored to be extremely powerful, then when met in person they just seem like a goofball with a bad rumor attached to them. Until later in the story when that rumor turns out to be true.
@@amam-hv2xr My first thought was Vash the Stampede, aka the Human Typhoon. Rumoured to wipe out entire towns, yet when anyone meets him, they completely dismiss the idea that he is who he says he is, because he's such an idiotic goofball. (Trigun)
@@dahla1919 Yeah! It's really interesting to think about. I also think this applies to Aang in Avatar the Last Airbender. Everyone thinks as the avatar as this powerful being, but then they see a literal child and think "oh never mind hes a stupid kid." And in some ways he is, but he also defeats the fire lord at the end
I think my personal favorite CMHB is the one and only Captain Jack Sparrow. He pretends to be a bumbling idiot of a pirate when just under the surface he's a simultaneously brilliant and insane master escape artist that can figure out how he can get out of a situation with little more than a glance at a few things that he can use. The idiot act just helps him pull off his escapes from inescapable situations by making everyone else who doesn't know of him already underestimate his affinity for using wacky bullshit to get himself out of trouble.
@@herowither12354 depends on how drunk he is whether it's an act or not. When he's sufficiently drunk he stops being an idiot while he's doing something badass or stops doing badass things while saying/doing idiotic things. When he's fairly sober (for Jack Sparrow) he's doing a mix of both. Which makes it seem like he's either pretending to be an idiot or almost always too drunk to think things through completely.
I don't think he's acting. I think he's eccentric in such a way that he looks stupid on the surface and that leads people to constantly underestimate him.
Kung Fu Panda actually does a pretty decent job of making this archetype the main character, it's not perfect by any stretch, but it's a fine example of CMHB protagonist.
Or, for an example that was actually used, Tobi in Naruto Shippuden: the bumbling barrel-of-laughs minion of the Akatsuki is actually the evil mastermind.
"I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid" is my favorite version. Highly booksmart and awesome but have little to know common sense. Like Sokka in ATLA, Spencer in iCarly, or Shawn in Psych.
I think a really good example of this is Sokka from Avatar. He is primarily comic relief, but then he occasionally has genuinely awesome moments. The best example of this is probably the episode where Sokka trains to be a sword master.
"They're dead. People are dead." - Vash the Stampede Unquestionably one of the most amazing moments of a CMHB I've ever seen. This whole show Vash has been preventing people from being hurt, not just dying, bit if possible, hurt. Now people are dead, and Vash's simple statement of that fact is terrifying.
@@dashvash5440 I think one of the more interesting things about Vash - and also Iroh who's another fave CMHB of mine - is the question of 'why' they choose to be as they are. How much of it is a mask, how much isn't. What forces pushed them into that style of life. Why they hide their badassery, ect. In addition to the above points, this can be a really juicy question to answer. I think it's very notable that when you ask people for their fave Avatar TLA episodes, 'Tales of Ba Sing Sai' tends to come up a lot. Notably Iroh's backstory one. Likewise, Vash's CMHB is awsome, but even more interesting because the show does kinda explore why he is like he is.
In the first few scenes he appeared in I actually thought he was the "useless detective" kind of character who gets all the praise at the end....then suddenly against Lust he was such a freaking badass I was really surprised!
Jackie Chan is definitely not underrated or anything but I still feel like he doesn't get enough credit. He laid a blueprint and filmmakers still refuse to take his advice.
MetalShredMaddNESS and he amazingly has some rather deep philosophical insights into the purpose of kung fu/the Way outside of film; everyday life for everyday people. He’s... awesome.
@@faolan1686 Also, there aren't that many actors willing to break literally EVERY bone in their body at least once over the course of their career and even come back and do stunts while still injured or reattempt the same stunt that almost killed them
I think making comic relief characters as snipers or hackers is to keep them out of the direct line of fire so that they can focus more of their brain on being comedic, instead of being forced to worry about getting out of the way of dying.
This is why the Friendly Sniper trope is a thing. It's quite possible for someone to be the absolute life of the party, and at the same time to be the deadliest sniper of them all. Simo Hayha was actually a nice guy, but also such a lethal sniper that during Finaldn's 1941 war with Russia the Russians came to fear him as The White Death. They were so scared of him, they blasted whole swathes of forest with artillery in hopes of killing him. (They failed.)
that show shouldn't have fucked me up as much as it did back when I watched it probably one of the first things that made me think "hey maybe I need therapy" lol
the whole premise of the show is literally: people who take life way to seriously underestimate this class of kids and their mascot looking teacher and are proven wrong.
been wondering if I should watch it just seemed a little to ridiculous to me. Though hearing this makes me want to give it another try so... I'll come back when I finish season one!!!
@@Devils_Lair_Comics Pretty sure he's just making a joke in reference to how she explains in the video that this is usually an anime GIRL thing whereas anime GUYS are usually the manchild type.
Zenitsu, the guy who's first instinct when facing the demons he's supposed to fight is running away, but once he takes a power nap, turns into the living embodiment of the phrase, "Lightning never strikes twice."
I think Saitama from One Punch Man is my favorite version of this trope. He's badass, COMPLETELY badass. But his badassitude is also the joke. He's so incomprehensibly strong that people assume he's just cheating. He lives in a world where a hero who can throw around cars like frisbees is only considered B-rank. His friend, who consistently loses VERY messily to the point it's almost a joke in and of itself, is an S rank. Saitama is stronger than all of these guys, without even really trying. He's also hilarious. Cuz he just wants to do hero stuff because it's the right thing to do. He only wants money for food and rent, and only goes along with the whole ranking system because of the money it provides that would allow him to not worry about it. He only really starts caring about his rank at all when he finds out C-ranks can get kicked out due to inactivity. And he's only C-rank because, as is typical for shonen heroes, he bombed the written portion. He's also more than willing to call villains out on their bullshit. That "OK..." meme with his face is his response to a villain's monologue carrying on a bit too long. He's a conflict killer, and the audience KNOWS he's a conflict killer. But he does it in such absurd ways that it's funny. Like punching a guy who shrugged off several S-rank heroes and straight up killed or dismembered several lower ranked heroes so hard that the sky clears. Then, when the crowds start thinking "Hey, why do we need heroes if they can't stand up to threats like this?!" he admits he "cheated," and engaged in so his fellow heroes' sacrifices wouldn't be glossed over just because he's so freakishly strong. And all this from the guy who got constantly assaulted by an annoying mosquito that he chased into a huge battle scene.
Im not sure if I would really call Saitama a crouching moron, hidden badass to be honest. While everyone underestimates him, he never at any point hides his power level behind a facade personality(except for that one time with the deep sea king aftermath), and he isnt even exactly all that comedic. If anything, he's more like a "overdog posed as underdog" character type. Basically a character that the audience knows is badass, but the world, or setting of the series refuses to acknowledge that. Soma from Food Wars is a good example, along with Chivalry of a Failed Knight's Ikki.
He's really not "completely badass". He's not really a crouching "moron" either though, more of a "crouching normal dude, hidden badass". Though he has the same effect as a crouching moron. While say his obsession with sales isn't moronic, and just normal with a spice of silly, it's funny regardless exactly because he's so strong. He's so strong that the only things he still cares about are mundane things, and it's funny to see such a powerhouse act like the weekend sale is literally the most important thing ever. It's also made funnier by the fact that he often does these mundane things in the middle of badass situations. He's so damn strong that he doesn't need to care about the fact that the potential destroyer of the planet is standing right in front of him, so he thinks about something mundane instead. That makes it both badass and funny at the same time.
@@jacobnorris8256 this may not be related but it reminded me of an interesting quirk of the mind and how it judges things. so if you have a character and they run from a monster you will think that the monster is much scarier that the person but if you have a person that doesn't bat an eye you will either think they are an idiot or much more of a threat than the monster (basically why lions aren't scared of mice and usually with similar scaling) and for an interesting way to show this is entities listening to them that really shouldn't based on what the audience knows for example why is this mob boss taking orders from this shopkeeper or why does this demon not smash this man to a pile of mush. this leads into the next way to show this off in a subtle way is if a character knows how the utterly terrifying cmhb can be when sufficiently riled and when they sense that it is happening they become agitated but that is what point I may or may not have had
The Flash arc (and really the CHMB) reminds me of an old saying. There are 3 things all wise men fear a storm at sea, a night with no moon and the anger of a gentle man.
I just realized The Lego Movie technically shared two CMHBs: - Vitruvius as The Faker, normally playing up the senile old blind mentor but still able to fight (in the prologue and towards the end: "well June bug, I'd use the term EXPERIENCED"). - UniKitty as The Goku, courtesy aware of her aggressive side that can pummel through robots in a single leap, but generally reserved for her fun and cheery personality (breaks out when Emmet is trapped during the invasion of Bricksburg: "must stay positive....AW FORGET IT"). However, we can also mark it as Superpowered Evil Side as she does gradually remain angry kitty in this film and its sequel. But it does gradually return over time. There's just a good portion of time between both films in which she adapts the aggressive personality over the norm
@@tenhirankei Actually he says it many times. In the clip I was basing it on, he actually says, "Of course, you realize, this means war." I dropped the "of course". ruclips.net/video/4XNr-BQgpd0/видео.html
I think its less of a "lovable idiot that's suddenly badass and serious" and more of a "confident badass that has just realized the situation is much more dire than what he initially thought"
@@thehermit8618 Yeah he's not a crouching moron, hidden badass. He's a straight up confident hero of the people and most people OVERestimate his abilities (considering his injuries have left him weakened). The only example of him being outright underestimated was when the villain alliance overestimated their monster thing that was supposed to defeat him.
@@MrServantRider The crouching moron hidden badass isn't just about being underestimated though. It's about the character being light-hearted even though they are also a badass... which All Might doesn't do. All Might is a stoic bad-ass through and through. There isn't much comic relief at all in Hero-aca. Contrast with, say, One Piece. Luffy is very much a crouching moron hidden badass. The man-child/goku variant. He acts like a kid the entire time, but also happens to be powerful enough to kick some serious butt... He isn't always underestimated, although he is underestimated a lot in the beginning of the show. That isn't to say he becomes a full-on bad-ass later on in the show. He remains a kid pretty much the whole way through. Sure, he has his rare moments where he'll act super-mature, but those moments are shocking even to his own crew who have been with him for countless adventures.
That's more of an Out of Character is Serious Business moment. Now, Mineta completely owning Midnight during the finals was a better example, since up to that point Mineta was presented as nothing more than a whiny perv who probably didn't belong at UA and then he turned around and played a seasoned pro hero like a fiddle. The big distinction is that All Might was always presented as competent, if a bit over the top, while a Crouching Moron needs to be inept in at least one significant area.
@@thehermit8618 not at all. All Might is a perfect example of the lovably goofy badass. Everyone knows he is powerful, he knows it, yet he always acts goofy. In this scene you finally see him act tough rather than just fun
When I started writing my character, Aydyn, I wanted them to be essentially a cross between James Bond and Jackie Chan. They were always more than a little silly, so when they reached the part where they were the best spy to have ever lived (their own words), they purposefully started to take their fights less seriously, just to see how good they had gotten. Why pick up a regular gun, when you can pick up a nailgun instead, which is a lot less useful, but is also funnier when used (in)correctly.
That sounds ... familiar. Very familiar. Now, what famous character is as debonair as James Bond yet as prone to pratfalls and pitfalls as Jackie Chan? (Da da-da DA! Da da-DA! Da da-da DA! Da da-DA da DAAA!!!)
@@enigmace9787 Don't you mean, "I've been abused by narcissists, so I like to point out when others express joy that they are doing it for their own benefit to some degree"
Fullmetal Alchemist does a lot with this trope. You've got Ed himself as the "crouching short kid, hidden badass," Izumi Curtis is the "crouching housewife, hidden badass," Ling's got the market on "crouching foreign hobo, hidden badass," and Pride is the embodiment of "crouching first grader, hidden nightmare fuel." And then you have inversions like Armstrong, who acts as a "crouching badass, hidden sweetheart."
Iroh is he perfect example. In the first couple episodes, he comes off as lazy, but in the third one, he starts acting wisely. He continues acting like a goof with a love for tea for the rest of the series, with plenty of wisdom, and some serious moments.
The trick with him is that there are people who know how much of a bad-ass he is capable of as he was a known bad-ass in his prime. A retired bad-ass who plays up the old gig so people assume he is no-longer capable of the bad-assery of his youth. Also most of the people he is dealing with are to young to have actually witnessed him at his prime so his bad-assery is more legend or story based not something tangible. Until he shows that he still got it.
I also read a few bits where he played up the goofball bit for Zuko. I can’t remember the whole of it, but someone mentioned that he was trying to say ‘it’s ok to be easygoing sometimes. Look at me, a living legend still able to kick ass, really loves tea and pai sho!’ He really loves that boy.
Stone-Cold badass characters blend really well with CMHBs, especially if the setting better fits the CMHB, because the guy who is established as a serious and professional person is now forced to turn a little more fun and light-hearted, often thinking they look stupid the whole time (and sometimes being right).
Late, but, I also find it interesting how the CMHB trope can work on villains. A villain that toys with the heroes, that loudly makes jokes, that makes bond villain errors simply because of how much fun he’s having… and then something goes wrong, and he proceeds to start busting out the most powerful shit in his arsenal. Example is Xykon from Order of the Stick.
@@catbatrat1760 indeed. The example I used, Xykon, is usually hilarious, making jokes and breaking the fourth wall (spoilers for order of the stick ahead) And then, in one of the prequels, he has one of his underlings murder his brother by his own free will just to see if he was willing to. When one of the protagonists gets a massive power up and tries to face him one on one, he listens to his underlings (which he never does), stops playing with them, and wins despite, on paper, being far weaker. And then when said protagonist manages to make him lose his phylactery? He says “I am officially done with this. I’m snuffing out you sickening pouches of warm goo right now.” With no comedy, and then prevents his underling from regrowing his eye just because he failed them. I just love it when seemingly comedic villains get serious, but it becomes terrifying.
@@user-xb5bz4fu9o An even finer line is between an "Anti Hero"(Does evil for the ultimate good) and an "Anti Villain"(Does occasional good but generally for nefarious reasons but not always). They are complete opposites but are often written as the same thing by bad writers. Often the "Anti Villain" in a story becomes a "Noble Demon" instead aka pure evil but still has rules(Often forbidding allies/minions from hurting the innocent) and will turn against others who break them.
But in Black Butler, the best example of this is The Undertaker. NO ONE would take that fool seriously until that ship arc when he beated the protagonist. That is no small stuff. LOL
@@amiaeams7522 Basically it's where a character the audience knows to be strong is soundly defeated by a villain to show just how powerful the villain is. If it happens to a character once that's not a problem but the worf effect is when it happens to the same character repeatedly. It ends up making a character that used to seem tough look like a weakling because they have gotten beaten up by literally everybody.
Well Drax did get swallowed by crazy monsters and put through all other kinds of punishment without really getting a scratch on him. He's also had his fair share of victories too. He's less of a ruthless killer badass, more of an unkillable tank badass. Though I'd still say he's kind of useless, just not fully under the worf effect.
@@maxwellsimon4538 Another sign of a worf, name a character Drax beat in a one-on-one fight. Not a gune, a named character. If not, he's a worf through and through.
Idk why but the line about the zero-confidance-goofball initially dismissing their basassery and then getting super excited seems exceptionally wholesome to me. I think it's a fusion of the feeling of watching a shy person come out of their shell, and seeing somebody being SUPER happy which in my case i tend to get caught up in the happy person's pace. I just like happy.
My wife is pretty much the social embodiment of this. Shes full on ADHD, clumsy, silly, sometimes childish and extremely excitable. She also completely annihilates the competition at her sales-centric job, can make nearly anyone feel like they want whatever she wants them to and can manipulate a conversation in such a way that you not only think that doing what she wants you to do is the best idea but was actually your idea in the first place. She can tell within seconds of seeing a person the perfect way to address them and relate to them on a natural and personal level, getting them to open up and reveal things to her after just minutes that they would not tell their friends of years. It's a good thing she's Chaotic Good and enjoys actually helping people; I'd hate to think what a selfish person could do with her talents.
@@justas423 now I want a sitcom about this. Suburban mom who sells her own organic whatcha ma call it's used to be the big bad duper villain but married the big hero butonly they know it so they have to hide the truth from their friends (other heroes/villains) and their kid that is getting really suspicious and why does Xander have a flamethrower. Damnit Janet!!!
In the first couple of books but by TLO and on he was aware of his powers, he was just Fucking Done™ with the gods and their bullshit and his sass filter started failing
@@jessya775 Let's just be happy Riordan sanitized Greek mythology a bit. I doubt "Chapter 7. I find out my uncle is a serial rapist." would be a terribly enjoyable experience.
@@allyli1718 Fun fact, he probably fucked all the actresses he shoot with, young girls jump at the opportunity to get famous with one movie. Good for him China don't have a me to movement, otherwise his going to get the death sentence for being a "serial rapist".
You know what's funny there is a manga that combine the split personality & the pretender: Samurai deeper Kyo. When we fist met the protag: Mibu Kyoshiro , he has 2 personalities(Kyo the bad-ass & Kyoshiro the dumb-ass). But later on we found out that they're 2 different people: Kyoshiro defeated & seal Kyo soul in his body(because a powerful opponent want to kill Kyo but he's a hot head who would rather die than run away so Kyoshiro seal his soul, hide his body then ran away). They're constanly fighting for control-> as weak a a normal man until one relinquished control to the other
I loved seeing images of Vash in this. Trigun is my favorite anime of all time to the point that it is the only one I re-watch in it's entirety. I even created a Shadowrun character who wore a trench coat filled with derringers inspired by derringer Meryl. I hardly ever see Trigun mentioned or referenced and I appreciate it being acknowledged.
@@gormauslander Honestly I think the reason it works is that the characters goal is tied to wanting a struggle yet he overqualified himself. His overall depression allows him to slip under the radar, which opens up a lot of the jokes, not to mention King's backstory being the epitome of using that fact for a joke. Also, the author juxtaposed him with mumen rider against the sea king perfectly. Saitama became a hero for fun yet he found himself so OP that he can't have any fun and not only that but he's so strong that others dont believe it and flame him. I think the way to pull it off is to make the internal goal actively hurt by the fact that theyre overpowered. I think that's also why early superman worked yet it's so narrow that a lot of remakes fail because they can't give him an internal conflict that cant be solved by being a badass.
She showed the Trigun main character, which also fits this trope. He doesn't give 2 shits and is just trying to do stuff, but is actually a fucking savant at murdering people.
Saitama is also a gag character. His conflict is with his strength; he wants something to come along and challenge him. Any other character with different motives who just effortlessly glassed their opponents without casualties would be boring. Vash almost fits but he cares about casualties.
@@gormauslander It doesn't get old through OPM because while Saitama is the main character of the series, he's almost never the main character of the single episodes and shows up towards the end to clean eventual mess, for instance in Garou's arc the entirety of the focus has been mostly on Garou, Saitama intervening once in a blue moon. Besides, Saitama is a savant, as it's shown that in a multitude of different situations that do not involve combat he's kind of a loser, OPM also does a great job at making you wishing for Saitama to kick some ass, as everyone underestimates him for his unremarkability while Saitama himself does not get offended for it and does not retaliate until he feels like either the situation is escalating, or one of his "triggers" is pulled, namely making fun of his baldness. To name more examples, I'd say Henry Killinger in the Venture Bros can also be valid in this regard. Venture Bros also had perhaps one of the most iconic CMHB characters to ever exist in Henchman 21.
Sokka from Avatar: the last airebender is also a really good example of this (though going more towards the funny in non dangerous situations) He is without a doubt the most strategic and clever person on the team yet he is flawed and have a tendency of messing up and even make light of some pretty serious sitations. Not because he is trying to be silly..but because he is silly and don't always think everything through despite being amazing at coming up with plans. Several times he is actually the reason their plan gets either slightly messed up or end in a complete shitshow. The best example of this is when he is attempting to get off the boiling rock in season 3. The reason the first plan goes completly up in smoke is because he isn't careful enough when he tells the other's about his plan. It is even his fault that Zuko gets caught as well..Zuko...because he takes too long to talk to Suki in the cell. He also didn't have any idea about how to catch the warden after they had already begun their second attempt at getting away. The invasion of the fire kingdom is also an example but that is different. He isn't being silly or taking things likely at that specific time but instead gets provoked into using up previous time (It is such an amazing scene actually! Him first telling everyone that they need to focus on the main mision but then gets provoked by Azula's sharp tongue. It is such a welldone scene! We very rarely see Sokka get that emotional and the fact he is even fully aware of her plan yet still ends up falling into it is bloody amazing! It both shows Azula's amazing manipulation skills and quick thinking but also shows some of Sokka's best sides in the fact he is able to see through her plan before she has to start provoking him.)
Zenitsu from Demon Slayer is a great example of the second type. Initially he’s such a coward that he can only use his cool powers when he’s asleep, but later on he learns how to face his fears and becomes stronger because of it.
I still hate the fact it's two different "people". Base Zenitsu's a pretty boring and uninteresting character, he's a womanizer and his jokes don't really land. It contrasts Tanjiro and Inosuke, specifically the latter, who while snarky and comedic, he has a backstory that shows why he acts like that. Zenitsu doesn't have much of a backstory, he has great development, but for the majority of the show, he's just boring. And when he goes into badass mode, he doesn't pull out anything new, he just does the same couple of attacks, which while explained in story, doesn't make it anymore boring. It'd be like if half of Sonic's moveset in Smash was just variations on spin dash. Wait...
@@brandonnguyen6718Which is a shame cuz his backstory is kinda sad and pretty messed up. All we know is he's an orphan and had a tendency to be taken advantage of. A lot of his story is played for laughs but if you sit and think it's legitimately tragic. His inner self was a black void 😮 Also the fact he's a ball of self-hatred who doesn't like the person he is. Plus with what happens to his master and senior. Also the fact I have doubts Insokue or Tanjiro really cares about him. You have a pretty interesting character. But unfortunately that's not what we got 😅
@@brandonnguyen6718 Hes not two people. When he is "sleeping" he is basically meditationg. Its the same character just without being dragged down by his own fear and insecurity. Without spoiling too much: When the eventual "convergence" of the two modes of zenitsu happens, its not some big event. There is no supernatural change. He just starts being a normal badass. Its actually really well done, but sadly way too late.
I think One Punch Man is another good example of comedy and badassery happening simultaneously. Simply due to the fact he is so overpowered he doesn't need to get serious at all to do incredibly badass stuff
ALUCARD it’s because saitama is this because he’s a satire of shonen protagonists which are all basically goku so there is no need to bring up both so you talk about the OG.
Something pointed out by Comics Explained during their X Men Vs Avengers videos, specifically about Spiderman, that can feed into the CMHB Trope is that cracking jokes or not taking a fight seriously can actually mess with opponents. Spiderman doesn't just wisecrack during fights because it's who he is, he does it in part because acting so blasé and casual about fights while the people he's fighting take it so seriously can mess with them on a psychological level.
Yoda, when Luke Skywalker meets him for the first time, is also a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass. His reveal has weight and meaning that stays with you and actually impacts the story as it goes along.
It also fits really well with the theme. Yoda really is weak and frail, but he is still enormously powerful because he has force powers. It doesn't matter if luke could punch way harder than Yoda, because only one of them could lift a huge spaceship out of the bog.
@@dapeach06 as a fan of both series that physically hurt to hear but, i agree , Yoda can be pretty damn stupid at time *cough* palpatine *cough* meanwhile Iroh has a very well developed emotional core that goes far beyond yoda
@@javierpowell4705 Well, Iroh had a whole series to develop, and was a main character, while Yoda originally only had the movies, and while didn't play a role as integral to the plot as Iroh.
I knew Yoda quite well and I don't think this trope applies to him. He was the variation Red spoke of where they initially seem unassuming but retain there awesomeness after it is revealed. You always respect Yoda after he lifts that X-Wing. Anytime we see him afterwords in the prequels and on his death bed we respect both his immense wisdom and power. He never plays the fool again.
Princess Bride also pulls this off well. In fact, the whole movie is basically built on the theme of "being awesome but in a really funny way" - right up until lines like "I want my father back" sucker-punch you at the climax.
Another character that fits the trope is Ty Lee from Avatar the Last Airbender. Goofy and air headed out of combat, extremely dangerous in combat with some light hearted humor on the side.
@@andhikasoehalim3170 It's fun and light hearted humor, right up to the point you realize that that's the shield she holds up to the world to just deal with it. At least that's what I remember from scenes like how Azula convinced her to join her quest. So I agree, she at least started out as a cmhb, only that goofiness turned rather dark rather quickly when you think about it.
According to TVtropes, the gentle giant trope has become prevalent to the point where making a menacing giant could potentially be considered not normal.
One of my favorite examples is Equestria Girls Pinkie Pie. She has the power to cause sugar to explode. This has lead to my favorite scene in any fanfic where she fended off an entire government task force by lobbing them with exploding pastries. Moral of the story is, *don't face off against Pinkie in Sugar Cube Corner*.
Causing sugar to explode isn't a power, ot does that naturally. Also makes for a really good firestarter, & in molten form can do a decent impression of lava.
I’d like to see the split. It makes sense to have the shonen protag be the leader. faker as smart guy? Man-child as heart. Big guy and lancer can be either of the others.
@@user-iz8rr1kt5w much lesser, his funny side doesn't really develop until Heroes of Olympus and most are aware by that point that Percy is extremely dangerous
My favorite example of what you said right before you started about Jackie Chan and that’s the time spiderman lost his voice and all the villains where so scared they surrendered because they knew if spiderman was silent he was serious. They also knew he could hospitalize them when he was not serious so it was very threatening.
I made a d&d character using this trope. So imagine a goblin with spongebob's personality that's also a necromancer that wants friends. The entire party thought my character was just a joke until like the 12th session when I got serious and started raising an army of darkness. But I continued in my spongebob voice and personality.
Yep, that's a very fun way to roleplay, particularly when the dices decide to never get in your favour except for the most silly and unpredictable actions. My aloof and coward sorcerer always was a dead weight in fights but how satisfying it was to get those critical successes on some charisma/bluff/prestidigitation rolls. Sneak past a huge goblin camp? Nah, just make them believe we're a scouting party of the local lord's army and watch them flee in terror B) Oh, and there was that Marvel Heroes RPG one shot in which I played Deadpool which ended with the villain basically being so tired of me he just went "well, you guys are sick, I'm off!" XD
I actually got this trope on my first d&d character by accident. He was a half elf ranger who was pretty charismatic and friendly, but due to a lot of bad rolls in the beginning and to a lesser extent later on he was also rather clumsy at times. Moments like these included not watching where he was walking while foraging and tumbling off of a hill, being unable to climb trees to scout or failing to land properly in the tree after his dwarven friend gave him a boost, and even being dumb enough to eat a plant that almost caused him to go permanently blind. However, whenever combat rolled around, he would absolutely dominate, downing some enemies in one hit, just not caring about enemy AC because of his high modifiers, and even being more effective than the fighter in certain combat encounters thanks to favoured enemy and planar warrior (He's a horizon walker). It's honestly a lot of fun when you get a trope like this on a character without even realising it at first.
@@SorowFame An idiot savant is more accidentally bad-ass; they don't change in response to the situation, the situation just happens to be something they're uniquely equipped to handle. Plus they frequently don't get any agency, a problem is just presented to them one way or the other and they fix it because they can't help themselves, it's just what they do. Finally, an idiot savant always has some kind of mental disorder, just being "quirky" isn't enough.
My favorite version of this trope is a loveable idiot who just wants to live a carefree life indulging in the things that make them happy. Their badassery only appears when someone tries to take one of those things away from them. For example, CMHB is chasing butterflies. A threat appears trying to get them to engage in an epic battle. CMHB takes one whole second to obliterate this threat because THIS IS BUTTERFLY TIME, DAMMIT, WAIT YOUR TURN!
Mine from ascendance of a bookworm is this to some extent. The locals often seem to think of her as a cloud cookoolander or as a bunny-eared lawyer (if they recognize her brilliance) because her real-world memories make her react in ways they don't understand. But she can be kinda dumb when it comes to her main motivators: her family, friends and books as she prioritizes them over what most people there consider common sense. It's funny though that despite being the physically weakest human protagonist I can think of she's actually really dangerous for spoiler reasons i.e. having an overpowering wellspring of magic inside that threatens to kill you can become useful when emotions take over.
Dante from the DMC series is a great example of the manchild approach. When Dante shuts up or stops being funny, you really feel it. And knowing his backstory makes his humour and goofyness just hit completely different.
Saitama is practically the quintuple distilled vodka of this trope, with his moronic lackadaisical personality never stopping, even when other characters have brought out their S rank badassery, and still manages to outclass them by a margin of Superman against Darkseid compared to.... honestly I'm left thinking the Paw Patrol squad.
Even better is the character of King, who’s a perfect reversal of the CMHB. A stone cold badass who’s very presence is unnerving but is actually a pretty useless loser.
@@mrtengu5303 isnt Kings whole reputation because he happened to be nearby, and consequentially looking badass, while Saitama was doing his own shit, before becoming a hero?
Basically yeah, BUT King is one of the most genuinely heroic characters in the series. Honestly only Licenceless Rider really out does him. Yeah he needed a pep-talk first to man up, but after that, he's been great.
Neville? Not really. He genuinely is a moron for the first few books but later grows into a badass. That’s called character growth. Luna, I would agree.
We should not only consider a character's ratio of comedian and badass but the frequency of the change between modes. Nevile was a comedic non-entity between 1 to 4 but a respectable wizard in 5-6 and a badass in the last one. He doesn't flip back and forth between the modes
Most surprising CMHB I've ever seen was Jar Jar Binks, who in one of the comics, deflected blasterfire with a lightsaber as if he was trained his whole life for that moment, and then proceeds to accidentally drop said lightsaber once the fight is over.
I can't remember if this is entirely sure, but I think he was originally intended to be a sith lord, but the audience's hatred of him after the first film he was in made them decide it was best not to do that.
My favorite example of the CMHB trope is Soren from The Dragon Prince, He is fun and goofy and very much a moron sometimes, but he really gets serious, especially in season 3, when it's super important. Definitely one of my faves. I'm surprised I haven't seen many other people mention him
Not sure if Soren fits though. He is introduced as a capable fighter from the start, just not a very smart guy. And his later heroics don't come from being smarter than people thought but having more heart than people thought. We first see him as a classic jock who bullies the more nerdy Callum and takes evil orders without question. And later we do get to see that he actually does have a moral compass when he frees Esrin and when he turns his back on his father after he turns fully evil. I would say Soren more fits the "Are we the baddies?" trope.
@@starfyre59 Don't misunderstand, it WAS a good movie. An excellent comedy. It accomplished exactly what it set out to do. It DID revitalize a stale character. However, all the drama and important character moments for these characters that have been built up over several movies... Absolutely spit upon... For the sake of a laugh. Thor lost his hammer, is hair, his honor, his father, his best friends, his home, and many of his people, an did any of that have any kind of impact on him or the audience? Nope. Because all that emotion was undercut with humor, even when it didn't need to be.
I'm very torn over the movie. I loved its humor, laughed at every joke, and it was what truly made me a fan of Thor, as I was pretty on the fence before. But... When I see everything that happens to the character, and how much great story they sacrificed... It's kinda painful to think about... It's like eating the best hamburger of your life, only to watch them grind up a delicious steak in order to make it...
@@adrienneczerni6516 lot of webcomics but nothing major in mainstream media except the few were villain dies but not before confessing his love for the heroine and saying he did everything for her or lost because of her... This trope sucks in mainstream media.
I really like Rimiru from “That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime” as an example of a moronic badass. They fall under the “Acting stupid to gain an advantage over those who underestimate them” archetype. They often use the fact that they are “just a weak slime” to accomplish this on top of acting dumb as though they don’t understand the gravity of what’s happening most of the time, only breaking character when a villain pushes them too far. They let their opponent know this by literally telling them that they’re getting serious now. This is usually where Rimiru puts down their sword, and start using their actual powers, regrowing limbs, transforming into other creatures, using powerful magic, creating body doubles, kirbying the villain’s allies, etc.
@@timeshark8727 Oh god that Megiddo scene, that was something truly terrifying as thousands of people are getting killed! Though it is funny when the head knight basically came up with the plan to save the king and the bishop, runs out of the tent, and instantly got headshoted. It is funny scene even if it's supposed to invoke terror in us, like it did with the king and bishop.
@@ScooterBug96 Not to mention that we get to see a bunch of greedy morons get their just deserts. And it was funny when the king tried to boss around Rimiru like he had any ounce of power. Of course, I mean that it was funny in a pathetic sort of way.
Who are you kidding? Rimuru is the perfect definition of Gary Stu/Mary Sue. There’s absolutely no tension in that story due to how overpowered he is. It’s super boring.
This is why Archer is one of my favorite characters of all time, he’s a complete man-child, but he is *actually* one of the best spies in the world. He compromises missions because he’s an idiot, but he has incredible skills and has a ridiculous amount of encyclopedic knowledge. It’s a perfect dichotomy.
I submit Percy Jackson as the gold standard for a CMHB. Generally, he's mostly just funny and goofy but about 4-5 times per book he gets a total badass moment that reminds the reader why he's so important. Hell, sometimes both at once like when he convinced a bunch of dophin pirates to flee by bluffing that Bacchus was going to attack them. Or when he defeated the Sow by getting a pair of lions and Thomas Jefferson to kill it for him.
I didnt read all the books but he doesnt sound like a badass in your comment just like a dude who outsmarted stupid people He doesnt even seem a little cool
I really enjoy the faker CMHB because when the mask falls they can fall into the magnificent bastard character in a really compelling way. Especially if it's a twist villain. "It was a tactical advantage to be underestimated my 'friends'. I gained both an easier battle against my enemies and protection from you. Heroes who assumed I needed it and wanted me to stay safe because I was so gosh darn lovable. Now your friendship and protection are holding me back so I'm afraid you are no longer needed."
Gojou and Todou from JJK are perfect examples of this, specifically the manchild variant. Both of them provide comic relief and badass moments, often at the same time without it ever feeling obtuse.
One of my favorite JLU moments is when Superman is an inch away from going psycho on Cadmus, and Flash isn't amused in the slightest. In not so many words, he basically calls Supes out for letting his emotions interfere with his reason, and he's cognizant enough to realize that ripping Cadmus out root and stem wouldn't help the League's reputation or even necessarily solve the problem that Cadmus presents in the first place.
I love when the closer to earth heroes call out the big guns on stuff like this. anytime Ollie did it, Flash 'trying to speak for Superman', it really made me critically engage with the media i was consuming, the stories i was being told, and the lessons inherent to them
Never forget the time spider man lost his voice from a cold and all the villains surrendered cuz they were afraid of how silent he was
I need a link t o that comic. I have ben thinking about it and I can't find it online
What issue?
The Amazing Spider-Man Annual (2014).
I read the comic because of this comment and they didn't surrender they get their ass beaten because they waiting for him to crack a joke which I found that more hilarious
@@mariazapata1606
That IS hilarious.
Every D&D campaign I've ever played in has been marked by the players' inability to perform simple tasks. The party can't so much as buy sandwiches without seducing a goat, killing the mayor, and opening a portal to hell in the town square.
Then initiative is rolled and suddenly they're a flawless death squad that could kill God.
Sounds about right, I've had a campaign emd becuase we failed so hard at buying a staff for our wizard thatit turned into a fight. Instead of subduing the shopkeep we killed him with a crit and gaurds got involved and tried to arrest us, we ended up killing half the town before we got put down and kept failing our persuasion checks everytime we tried to surrender or negotiate.
One, time my friends and I played a similar game (can't remember name, we were preteens) and we tried to buy a horse. Somehow, that spiraled into killing half the city's police force, assassinating a general, hijacking a caravan, fighting a god, and then strangling the horse to death.
"The party can't so much as buy sandwiches without seducing a goat [...]"
*WHAT*
clearly, you don't play dnd
@@MarlonMacielBrando This is standard DnD stuff
I love iroh, his “moron” side is constantly doing wacky stuff, that on later thought turns out to be calculated and helpful. He’s just wonderful
Uncle Iroh is the real Avatar in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I'm curious. What should be the minimum frequency of switching between badass and moron for one to be considered a CMHB? Iroh was mostly a jokester and non-combatant in Season 1, a sincere and mentor character in Season 2, and a serious badass in Season 3. His moron badass ratio is different in every season and he doesn't switch very frequently in all 3.
@@yiklongtay6029 it is more the persona he has crafted around himself. Despite him having earned the title of Dragon, which means he supposedly killed a dragon alone, the entire nation sees him as a weak, senile, tea obsessed, old man, not the premier firebender he is. That sounds like a total CMHB to me, of the first flavour that Red mentioned. He likes to chill in his downtime, but puts on his serious pants when needed.
When Zhao tries to backstab Zuko with lightning after Zuko beats him in Agni Kai, it's Iroh who reacts perfectly, grabs Zhao's hand, redirects the lightning harmlessly into the sky, and throws Zhao overboard.
This was Book 1 Episode 3. They showed flashes of Hidden Badass in Iroh through the whole series.
@@heuristix77 minor correction: Zhao never did lightning, his was just a backstabbing kick. Azula's first fight with Zuko was the "he pops up and redirects her lightning" bit
It's amazing how Sokka is both the funny idiot and the genius strategist at the same time. A lot of his comedy actually comes from him being the only braincell in the group and constantly getting frustrated with the carelessness of the others, which is really clever.
He's a great fighter but his strength lies in his brains, which is surprising for a "moronic" character (I mean, he's had his share of genuinely stupid stuff too, but still). It's a twist on the badass, with his main power being the smart guy, rather than being the awesome warrior.
It is also extremely funny that most times he tries to plan something with Aang (usually something related to other Gaang dynamics going on) their combined efforts concoct plans that are extremely silly and stupid
@@fulviopontarollo2952like when he tries to trick katara with a fake apology letter from toph
@@fulviopontarollo2952whenever sokka gets in a duo with aang all of the brain cells go down the drain
God I love this show
It’s especially good with his character development. He starts off as a squeaky sexist idiot whose only purpose is to be suspicious and get kicked off a ramp, but by the end he’s a skilled strategist and leader. And he dumps the entire crew of a blimp into the ocean by inviting them to a birthday party
Red: on the opposite end of the spectrum is the man child variant.
Me, immediately: Deadpool
Also shout-out to my boi Sokka for being a really well-written CMHB.
Virginia Mooney I mean he only became badass after a LOooooong wait, but yes
*Dante
Me, immediately: Josephu Joestar!
Virginia Mooney
Oh yeah, you nailed it
"People like funny and people like awesome.
And I'm people."
Can relate.
Am 'people'.
Yes am people
So many people
People don't like stupid though you know. People also don't like kirito.
@@ohboi2119
Depends if it's funny stupid, or annoying stupid.
I like how in most trope talks, Avatar is featured in at least one variant of the trope.
Thats because Avatar: The Last Airbender is perfection in every way.
@@hippiehippo9030 or at least approaching perfection. I wouldn't not want an even better Avatar spinoff.
Bongos the only problem (that I have an issue with) was the romance that was kinda rushed (karata and aang). It wasn’t good, so I just try to forget it exists.
@@hippiehippo9030 lol no it fucking isn't
@@薇vern It literally built over the entire show, from when Aang first woke up from the ice berg...
Seriously, I don't get how some people don't see these romances instantly...
I love the Flash's scene cuz you know that he isn't scared of dying, he's terrified because he knows that dying under these circumstances is the catalyst for turning his friends/idols into the worst versions of themselves. OOF
Yo, that's a really good point! "OOF" indeed.
I would like to think I’m a crouching moron, hidden badass but in reality I’m more of a crouching moron, hidden even more of a moron
This is when the straight-man says "I don't think it was very well hidden to begin with"
I'm so brutally moronic it comes so out of left field for my enemies it works, 'til they get used to it.
SAME LMAO
holy shit lmao
I’m a crouching moron, hidden hot mess
This trope is why the Ultra Instinct Shaggy meme works
... i-... it is...
It just works.
holy shit
A Mailman with a Gun is that a mojo reference
Too bad Shaggy gets easily stepped on by General Grievous...
She said badass *57 times* , in case you were wondering.
I wasn't, but I'm glad to know
Huh.... Neat
I fucking went over the video and tallied it up.
I was about to comment 'thats a lot of badasses' lol thx for actually counting them
Thank you, that was weighing on my mind
Luthor’s plan
Step 1. Become President
Step 2. Kill Flash
Step 3. Get killed by Superman
Step 4....profit?
yeah, I'm guessing he's the only one smart enough to understand the intricacies of the plan. Edit: After watching the series again, I noticed (spoiler) he never intended to be president; he went thru all that to discredit the heroes and "tick off superman". All while putting together a truly frightening plan.
Like the Gru plan meme lol
there's a great Jackie Chan outtake where he pops around the corner with a gun and says "CHEESE!"
the crew starts giggling and he just "what?" and someone behind the camera says "it's freeze. Not cheese." and jackie laughs "Oh right! Freeze!"
He totally cheesed that line
And they didn't throw that scene in? Lame!
A man child is literally Joseph jostar the guy who manages to simultaneously be the smartest guy in the room and the stupidest
And okuyasu in part 4 is introduced as a badass with the second most powerful ability of that part and then becomes a crouching morin only occasionaly using it again and for full effect at that.
When you are the strongest, as a default, you don't have to be smart at all.
@@DocWolph unless there is a flower pot
@thespooksterman I'm not sure if they count, Diavolo always has one hand on the wheel. It's less cmhb and more a sentient oblivious mask
@@leonader9465 Okuyasu is reversed hmcb XDDDD. At the beginning he was badass, later he is dumbass.
You talked about how it's annoying when CMHBs are constantly underestimated, and I agree with you, but I love when it's the inverse. Where the CMHB is rumored to be extremely powerful, then when met in person they just seem like a goofball with a bad rumor attached to them. Until later in the story when that rumor turns out to be true.
It is actually similar to Yoda's introduction in Star Wars, he is one of the examples that jumped into my head now
@@amam-hv2xr My first thought was Vash the Stampede, aka the Human Typhoon. Rumoured to wipe out entire towns, yet when anyone meets him, they completely dismiss the idea that he is who he says he is, because he's such an idiotic goofball. (Trigun)
Harry Potter... lowkey
@@booplesnoot1353 my god you're right
@@dahla1919 Yeah! It's really interesting to think about. I also think this applies to Aang in Avatar the Last Airbender. Everyone thinks as the avatar as this powerful being, but then they see a literal child and think "oh never mind hes a stupid kid." And in some ways he is, but he also defeats the fire lord at the end
I think my personal favorite CMHB is the one and only Captain Jack Sparrow. He pretends to be a bumbling idiot of a pirate when just under the surface he's a simultaneously brilliant and insane master escape artist that can figure out how he can get out of a situation with little more than a glance at a few things that he can use. The idiot act just helps him pull off his escapes from inescapable situations by making everyone else who doesn't know of him already underestimate his affinity for using wacky bullshit to get himself out of trouble.
..pretends?
@@herowither12354 depends on how drunk he is whether it's an act or not. When he's sufficiently drunk he stops being an idiot while he's doing something badass or stops doing badass things while saying/doing idiotic things. When he's fairly sober (for Jack Sparrow) he's doing a mix of both. Which makes it seem like he's either pretending to be an idiot or almost always too drunk to think things through completely.
I don't think he's acting. I think he's eccentric in such a way that he looks stupid on the surface and that leads people to constantly underestimate him.
@@yesmansam6686 rewatch the first movie then. it’s really very obvious he’s putting on an act. the rest of the movies it’s harder to tell
@@tonoornottono
Gladly, I love pirates of the Caribbean.
“People like this and I am people”
-Red 2019
Ohhh.. She thinks she's people.
She's a Goddess.
Kung Fu Panda actually does a pretty decent job of making this archetype the main character, it's not perfect by any stretch, but it's a fine example of CMHB protagonist.
in the discussion of the zero-confidence goofball variant Po is up on the screen for a few seconds so Red is aware of him.
Skadoosh!
Well, yeah, but he still acts pretty goofy when beatin' people up. But then again, it is a kids movie.
Even funnier since there’s that phrase “crouching tiger hidden dragon” or something similar
I would disagree, he was only a badass after training, not before. He worked his way to that level I feel.
This is like Jar Jar Binks acting clumsy to hide the fact that he’s a Sith Lord
That not hidden badass it's hidden villain
Or Ron the Death Eater.
@@Silverwind87 nah, do you have any clues to that? For Jar Jar there are tonns of clues
@@SingingSealRiana You're right. Yousa no underestimate the bombad power of the Dark Side.
Or, for an example that was actually used, Tobi in Naruto Shippuden: the bumbling barrel-of-laughs minion of the Akatsuki is actually the evil mastermind.
"Weapons grade slapstick" is the best term I've ever heard to describe Jackie Chan
-Noo you can just be badass and funny at the same time
-Jackie Chan and Bollywood action scenes: observe
What about Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill?
"Who decided that?"
Nothing for more laughs and more fuck yeah from then the catapulted phalanx from bollywood
Jackie Chan 4Ever 👊
Arnold Schwartzanegger be like
"I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid" is my favorite version.
Highly booksmart and awesome but have little to know common sense. Like Sokka in ATLA, Spencer in iCarly, or Shawn in Psych.
That line sums me up in a single sentence.
Little to know
he he Shawn's great
High Intelligence!
Low Wisdom…
I think a really good example of this is Sokka from Avatar. He is primarily comic relief, but then he occasionally has genuinely awesome moments. The best example of this is probably the episode where Sokka trains to be a sword master.
Avatar: the Last Airbender has a lot of CMHB's: Sokka, Iroh, Bumi, Aang in season 1, etc. Boy; that show is good.
My favorite examples is when the are fighting that one Hitman at the air temple and the can't attack him, then sokka just cranks him with a boomerang
He was also in charge of strategy and a special OP during the final fight that destroyed the Fire Nation's air force!
I kept thinking, aang
Best example is in the last fight he single-handed defeat four comet-buffed elite guards with a boomerang throw and goes all yyyeeyyy
"They're dead. People are dead."
- Vash the Stampede
Unquestionably one of the most amazing moments of a CMHB I've ever seen. This whole show Vash has been preventing people from being hurt, not just dying, bit if possible, hurt. Now people are dead, and Vash's simple statement of that fact is terrifying.
Yeah I wish she mentioned vash
@drag b vash was the first image shown. Though I wish she talked about him more. He's one of my all time favorite characters.
@@dashvash5440 I think one of the more interesting things about Vash - and also Iroh who's another fave CMHB of mine - is the question of 'why' they choose to be as they are. How much of it is a mask, how much isn't. What forces pushed them into that style of life. Why they hide their badassery, ect. In addition to the above points, this can be a really juicy question to answer. I think it's very notable that when you ask people for their fave Avatar TLA episodes, 'Tales of Ba Sing Sai' tends to come up a lot. Notably Iroh's backstory one. Likewise, Vash's CMHB is awsome, but even more interesting because the show does kinda explore why he is like he is.
so many good episodes. happy to see the new "Stampede" show.
I love stampede
Roy Mustang: Crouching badass, hidden moron (also don't get him wet)
Laughed at this. Lmao, it's true though.
Well it was a terrible day for rain, right?
Maes Hughes wrote the book though
lol
In the first few scenes he appeared in I actually thought he was the "useless detective" kind of character who gets all the praise at the end....then suddenly against Lust he was such a freaking badass I was really surprised!
"People like funnies and people like awesome, and I'm people"
Preach
looks at myself: wait........
That was funny to me too hit an inside kidney one of the 12
I died XD
Jackie Chan is definitely not underrated or anything but I still feel like he doesn't get enough credit. He laid a blueprint and filmmakers still refuse to take his advice.
MetalShredMaddNESS and he amazingly has some rather deep philosophical insights into the purpose of kung fu/the Way outside of film; everyday life for everyday people. He’s... awesome.
Did anyone else forget to pay attention to Red when he came on?
It's hard tp replicate him. How many actors are there training in dramatic action, physical comedy (he is trained as a clown) and martial arts?
Unfortunately hes become a brainwashed puppet of the Chinese Communist Party
@@faolan1686 Also, there aren't that many actors willing to break literally EVERY bone in their body at least once over the course of their career and even come back and do stunts while still injured or reattempt the same stunt that almost killed them
I think making comic relief characters as snipers or hackers is to keep them out of the direct line of fire so that they can focus more of their brain on being comedic, instead of being forced to worry about getting out of the way of dying.
Hacker also makes sense, since the whacky chaotic guy can come up with some "unpredictable genius code" that no normal guy could have conceived off.
This is why the Friendly Sniper trope is a thing. It's quite possible for someone to be the absolute life of the party, and at the same time to be the deadliest sniper of them all. Simo Hayha was actually a nice guy, but also such a lethal sniper that during Finaldn's 1941 war with Russia the Russians came to fear him as The White Death. They were so scared of him, they blasted whole swathes of forest with artillery in hopes of killing him. (They failed.)
“My name is Michael J. Caboose, and I! Hate! Taxes!”
“It’s Texas, you idiot!”
“That too!”
RvB season 10
Your Toast has been burnt...and no amount of scrapping will remove the black spot!
Based af
YES!!!!
What is that series cause my brain went with "Red vs Blue s10" and now I need it
@@jessya775 yes, red vs blue
The entirety of Assassination Classroom is filled with these character archetypes and its super entertaining
ESPECIALLY nagisa
ABSOLUTELY
that show shouldn't have fucked me up as much as it did back when I watched it
probably one of the first things that made me think "hey maybe I need therapy" lol
the whole premise of the show is literally: people who take life way to seriously underestimate this class of kids and their mascot looking teacher and are proven wrong.
been wondering if I should watch it just seemed a little to ridiculous to me. Though hearing this makes me want to give it another try so... I'll come back when I finish season one!!!
Zenitsu from Demon Slayer: Braindamaged anime girl with amnesia who's only useful once he faints from pure fear.
Yes!!!
Isn't Zennitsu a dude?
@@Devils_Lair_Comics Pretty sure he's just making a joke in reference to how she explains in the video that this is usually an anime GIRL thing whereas anime GUYS are usually the manchild type.
More anime, I think saitama sort of fits this but he's not actually a moron, he's super powerful and competent but everyone just assumed he's an idiot
Zenitsu was conscious for his most useful moment: protecting the box.
Zenitsu, the guy who's first instinct when facing the demons he's supposed to fight is running away, but once he takes a power nap, turns into the living embodiment of the phrase, "Lightning never strikes twice."
okay what the fuck? How did i never make the connection to that saying?
Ill just see myself out
Too bad Zenitsu is fucking insufferable for a good 75% of the show. Man just won’t stop screaming like dude shut uuuuuup
Lightning never strikes twice.
Because, when wielded by Zenitsu, it only needs to strike once.
Lightning rods exist entirely to make lightning strike many times in the same place.
@@kyrasoze516 thats why its a phrase and not a fact
I think the opposite is much funnier.
"Oh no it's the amazing, powerful, puppy OF DOOM."
"Bork"
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES"
I want to see a DnD character with garbage stats but has put everything into intimidation so everyone thinks they're powerful.
It is the rabbit,
Ever heard of King from One Punch Man?
@@justas423 Check out the story of "Brolaire"
@@onomayonnaise dude I _love_ King
When he was very first introduced/mentioned, I honestly wasn't expecting him to be such a wuss. It's great
I think Saitama from One Punch Man is my favorite version of this trope.
He's badass, COMPLETELY badass. But his badassitude is also the joke. He's so incomprehensibly strong that people assume he's just cheating. He lives in a world where a hero who can throw around cars like frisbees is only considered B-rank. His friend, who consistently loses VERY messily to the point it's almost a joke in and of itself, is an S rank.
Saitama is stronger than all of these guys, without even really trying. He's also hilarious. Cuz he just wants to do hero stuff because it's the right thing to do.
He only wants money for food and rent, and only goes along with the whole ranking system because of the money it provides that would allow him to not worry about it. He only really starts caring about his rank at all when he finds out C-ranks can get kicked out due to inactivity. And he's only C-rank because, as is typical for shonen heroes, he bombed the written portion.
He's also more than willing to call villains out on their bullshit. That "OK..." meme with his face is his response to a villain's monologue carrying on a bit too long.
He's a conflict killer, and the audience KNOWS he's a conflict killer. But he does it in such absurd ways that it's funny. Like punching a guy who shrugged off several S-rank heroes and straight up killed or dismembered several lower ranked heroes so hard that the sky clears. Then, when the crowds start thinking "Hey, why do we need heroes if they can't stand up to threats like this?!" he admits he "cheated," and engaged in so his fellow heroes' sacrifices wouldn't be glossed over just because he's so freakishly strong.
And all this from the guy who got constantly assaulted by an annoying mosquito that he chased into a huge battle scene.
Yes. Saitama is just funny.
And yh it's so ironic about his cyborg's "disciple" 's rank.
Im not sure if I would really call Saitama a crouching moron, hidden badass to be honest. While everyone underestimates him, he never at any point hides his power level behind a facade personality(except for that one time with the deep sea king aftermath), and he isnt even exactly all that comedic. If anything, he's more like a "overdog posed as underdog" character type. Basically a character that the audience knows is badass, but the world, or setting of the series refuses to acknowledge that. Soma from Food Wars is a good example, along with Chivalry of a Failed Knight's Ikki.
He's really not "completely badass". He's not really a crouching "moron" either though, more of a "crouching normal dude, hidden badass". Though he has the same effect as a crouching moron.
While say his obsession with sales isn't moronic, and just normal with a spice of silly, it's funny regardless exactly because he's so strong. He's so strong that the only things he still cares about are mundane things, and it's funny to see such a powerhouse act like the weekend sale is literally the most important thing ever. It's also made funnier by the fact that he often does these mundane things in the middle of badass situations. He's so damn strong that he doesn't need to care about the fact that the potential destroyer of the planet is standing right in front of him, so he thinks about something mundane instead. That makes it both badass and funny at the same time.
@@jacobnorris8256 badass normal
@@jacobnorris8256 this may not be related but it reminded me of an interesting quirk of the mind and how it judges things. so if you have a character and they run from a monster you will think that the monster is much scarier that the person but if you have a person that doesn't bat an eye you will either think they are an idiot or much more of a threat than the monster (basically why lions aren't scared of mice and usually with similar scaling) and for an interesting way to show this is entities listening to them that really shouldn't based on what the audience knows for example why is this mob boss taking orders from this shopkeeper or why does this demon not smash this man to a pile of mush. this leads into the next way to show this off in a subtle way is if a character knows how the utterly terrifying cmhb can be when sufficiently riled and when they sense that it is happening they become agitated but that is what point I may or may not have had
The Flash arc (and really the CHMB) reminds me of an old saying.
There are 3 things all wise men fear a storm at sea, a night with no moon and the anger of a gentle man.
Eyyyy, another Name of the Wind fan!
That’s not an old saying 😂
But awesome quote I love that book series
@Revan Ji maybe in another decade 😭
"Demons run when a good man goes to war"
Wise words from wise people, not surprising
I just realized The Lego Movie technically shared two CMHBs:
- Vitruvius as The Faker, normally playing up the senile old blind mentor but still able to fight (in the prologue and towards the end: "well June bug, I'd use the term EXPERIENCED").
- UniKitty as The Goku, courtesy aware of her aggressive side that can pummel through robots in a single leap, but generally reserved for her fun and cheery personality (breaks out when Emmet is trapped during the invasion of Bricksburg: "must stay positive....AW FORGET IT"). However, we can also mark it as Superpowered Evil Side as she does gradually remain angry kitty in this film and its sequel. But it does gradually return over time. There's just a good portion of time between both films in which she adapts the aggressive personality over the norm
The original clip that inspired “Ultra Instinct Shaggy” is a clip of him being awesome and funny at the same time
It's basically a Jackie Chan fight scene, in all the best ways.
Bugs Bunny - definitely underestimated by anyone who tangled with him. "You realize, this means war".
I can't tell you how grateful I am for this comment.
No, it's "you do realize, this means war."
@@tenhirankei Actually he says it many times. In the clip I was basing it on, he actually says, "Of course, you realize, this means war." I dropped the "of course".
ruclips.net/video/4XNr-BQgpd0/видео.html
Bugs Bunny is my favorite drag queen
Yes
So that's why that line from Heroaca was so great
"All Might had arrived...and he was not smiling"
Like that shit hit like a truck
I think its less of a "lovable idiot that's suddenly badass and serious" and more of a "confident badass that has just realized the situation is much more dire than what he initially thought"
@@thehermit8618 Yeah he's not a crouching moron, hidden badass. He's a straight up confident hero of the people and most people OVERestimate his abilities (considering his injuries have left him weakened). The only example of him being outright underestimated was when the villain alliance overestimated their monster thing that was supposed to defeat him.
@@MrServantRider The crouching moron hidden badass isn't just about being underestimated though. It's about the character being light-hearted even though they are also a badass... which All Might doesn't do. All Might is a stoic bad-ass through and through. There isn't much comic relief at all in Hero-aca.
Contrast with, say, One Piece. Luffy is very much a crouching moron hidden badass. The man-child/goku variant. He acts like a kid the entire time, but also happens to be powerful enough to kick some serious butt... He isn't always underestimated, although he is underestimated a lot in the beginning of the show. That isn't to say he becomes a full-on bad-ass later on in the show. He remains a kid pretty much the whole way through. Sure, he has his rare moments where he'll act super-mature, but those moments are shocking even to his own crew who have been with him for countless adventures.
That's more of an Out of Character is Serious Business moment. Now, Mineta completely owning Midnight during the finals was a better example, since up to that point Mineta was presented as nothing more than a whiny perv who probably didn't belong at UA and then he turned around and played a seasoned pro hero like a fiddle. The big distinction is that All Might was always presented as competent, if a bit over the top, while a Crouching Moron needs to be inept in at least one significant area.
@@thehermit8618 not at all. All Might is a perfect example of the lovably goofy badass. Everyone knows he is powerful, he knows it, yet he always acts goofy. In this scene you finally see him act tough rather than just fun
When I started writing my character, Aydyn, I wanted them to be essentially a cross between James Bond and Jackie Chan.
They were always more than a little silly, so when they reached the part where they were the best spy to have ever lived (their own words), they purposefully started to take their fights less seriously, just to see how good they had gotten.
Why pick up a regular gun, when you can pick up a nailgun instead, which is a lot less useful, but is also funnier when used (in)correctly.
That sounds awesome. What's the plot?
That sounds ... familiar. Very familiar. Now, what famous character is as debonair as James Bond yet as prone to pratfalls and pitfalls as Jackie Chan? (Da da-da DA! Da da-DA! Da da-da DA! Da da-DA da DAAA!!!)
@seanbigay1042 makes me thing of Johnny English in the second movie lol
"weapons grade slapstick" when talking about Jackie Chan.
Best quote of the whole video.
Don't you mean "people like funny and people like awesome, and I'm people"?
@@enigmace9787 Don't you mean, "I've been abused by narcissists, so I like to point out when others express joy that they are doing it for their own benefit to some degree"
@@enigmace9787 Don't you mean **insert the video's entire script**
Fullmetal Alchemist does a lot with this trope. You've got Ed himself as the "crouching short kid, hidden badass," Izumi Curtis is the "crouching housewife, hidden badass," Ling's got the market on "crouching foreign hobo, hidden badass," and Pride is the embodiment of "crouching first grader, hidden nightmare fuel."
And then you have inversions like Armstrong, who acts as a "crouching badass, hidden sweetheart."
Also Maes Hughs who plays up his obsession with his daughter to fool people into underestimating him.
this is maes hughes erasure
Don’t call him short
@@adrianjas284 Oh no. . . No no no, don't mention Hughs. . . I didn't want today to be rainy. . .
Roy also very deliberately plays up the whole "Playboy" thing so people underestimate him
I just realized.
This is Sans Undertale.
Y E S
First name: Sans
Last name: Undertale
hello Man on the internet's wife,
how is the going
@@jimboanimations4041 I'm sorry what now?? XD
@@cellochicita R/woooosh with the crimge normy
"Demons run when a good man goes to war"
And simply captain jack sparrow are also good cases of cmhbs
Dear Red: Can we get a mug/t-shirt that's says "I'm Magic, Ishtar loves me, and even the Queen of Hell thinks I'm hot."?
YES! I want one!
Pretty sure they already have both of those. They showed them off on Twitter a few weeks ago.
Yeah, they do have that design for their T-Shirts, although I don't know if there is a mug to that same effect.
I need one now
Oh gosh it's true! It does already exist!
www.cafepress.com/overlysarcasticproducts.410900101
"And guess what, people like funny and people like awesome, and I'm people"
-Red 2019
Iroh is he perfect example. In the first couple episodes, he comes off as lazy, but in the third one, he starts acting wisely. He continues acting like a goof with a love for tea for the rest of the series, with plenty of wisdom, and some serious moments.
Have I ever told you why they call me the dragon of the west
The trick with him is that there are people who know how much of a bad-ass he is capable of as he was a known bad-ass in his prime. A retired bad-ass who plays up the old gig so people assume he is no-longer capable of the bad-assery of his youth. Also most of the people he is dealing with are to young to have actually witnessed him at his prime so his bad-assery is more legend or story based not something tangible. Until he shows that he still got it.
I also read a few bits where he played up the goofball bit for Zuko. I can’t remember the whole of it, but someone mentioned that he was trying to say ‘it’s ok to be easygoing sometimes. Look at me, a living legend still able to kick ass, really loves tea and pai sho!’
He really loves that boy.
I'm not interested in another fuddy-duddy story, Uncle
Delicious tea? Or D E A D L Y P O I S O N?
Stone-Cold badass characters blend really well with CMHBs, especially if the setting better fits the CMHB, because the guy who is established as a serious and professional person is now forced to turn a little more fun and light-hearted, often thinking they look stupid the whole time (and sometimes being right).
This is Trevor and Alucard in the Castlevania show
*notices the missing illustration in the Venn diagram* : oh I wonder what that's gonna be
*5 minutes later* : it's Jackie Chan
I’d really be interested in seeing a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass as an antagonist
rat rumors
kefka is an example but there are other better ones honestly
Slayers' Xellos in some situations works as an antagonist. But he constantly changes sides tho
Does King Dedede count?
Buu?
I think Marvel's Loki could count.
I thought the title said “Crouching Mormon” and I was really confused
Crouching mormon, hidden atheist
Sierrah SAME
Lets make a mobie called Kungfu Mormons
I was worried this was some kind of call-out video about my church lol.
same
Late, but, I also find it interesting how the CMHB trope can work on villains. A villain that toys with the heroes, that loudly makes jokes, that makes bond villain errors simply because of how much fun he’s having… and then something goes wrong, and he proceeds to start busting out the most powerful shit in his arsenal. Example is Xykon from Order of the Stick.
Funny villains are the best. They can make you laugh, AND they can give you goosebumps! What's not to love?
@@catbatrat1760 indeed. The example I used, Xykon, is usually hilarious, making jokes and breaking the fourth wall
(spoilers for order of the stick ahead)
And then, in one of the prequels, he has one of his underlings murder his brother by his own free will just to see if he was willing to.
When one of the protagonists gets a massive power up and tries to face him one on one, he listens to his underlings (which he never does), stops playing with them, and wins despite, on paper, being far weaker.
And then when said protagonist manages to make him lose his phylactery? He says “I am officially done with this. I’m snuffing out you sickening pouches of warm goo right now.” With no comedy, and then prevents his underling from regrowing his eye just because he failed them.
I just love it when seemingly comedic villains get serious, but it becomes terrifying.
Also, people should remember the difference between a character who is dumb and a character who is goofy.
Another one is to remember the difference between badboy and bastard abuser
The difference between anti hero to and just bad guy with a sad backstory is a fine line as well
that unfortunately wasn't realized when they wrote ratraps character in beast machines
@@user-xb5bz4fu9o An even finer line is between an "Anti Hero"(Does evil for the ultimate good) and an "Anti Villain"(Does occasional good but generally for nefarious reasons but not always).
They are complete opposites but are often written as the same thing by bad writers. Often the "Anti Villain" in a story becomes a "Noble Demon" instead aka pure evil but still has rules(Often forbidding allies/minions from hurting the innocent) and will turn against others who break them.
@@Warcrafter4
Does good for the greater evil, I want to see this happen.
Ah yes, that one episode of black butler where we learn the background of the cook, maid, and gardener.
You know shit’s gotten real when you can actually see the maid’s eyes.
Shit always gets real when you finally see an anime character’s eyes
But in Black Butler, the best example of this is The Undertaker. NO ONE would take that fool seriously until that ship arc when he beated the protagonist. That is no small stuff. LOL
Bard may-rin and finian
I feel like Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy is a reverse CMHB. In normal situations he's overly serious, but in combat he's actually kinda useless.
I feel like Drax is another one of those unintended victims of the Worf Effect
@@whoknows7968 what is the worf affect
@@amiaeams7522 Basically it's where a character the audience knows to be strong is soundly defeated by a villain to show just how powerful the villain is. If it happens to a character once that's not a problem but the worf effect is when it happens to the same character repeatedly. It ends up making a character that used to seem tough look like a weakling because they have gotten beaten up by literally everybody.
Well Drax did get swallowed by crazy monsters and put through all other kinds of punishment without really getting a scratch on him. He's also had his fair share of victories too. He's less of a ruthless killer badass, more of an unkillable tank badass. Though I'd still say he's kind of useless, just not fully under the worf effect.
@@maxwellsimon4538 Another sign of a worf, name a character Drax beat in a one-on-one fight. Not a gune, a named character. If not, he's a worf through and through.
Idk why but the line about the zero-confidance-goofball initially dismissing their basassery and then getting super excited seems exceptionally wholesome to me. I think it's a fusion of the feeling of watching a shy person come out of their shell, and seeing somebody being SUPER happy which in my case i tend to get caught up in the happy person's pace. I just like happy.
My wife is pretty much the social embodiment of this.
Shes full on ADHD, clumsy, silly, sometimes childish and extremely excitable.
She also completely annihilates the competition at her sales-centric job, can make nearly anyone feel like they want whatever she wants them to and can manipulate a conversation in such a way that you not only think that doing what she wants you to do is the best idea but was actually your idea in the first place. She can tell within seconds of seeing a person the perfect way to address them and relate to them on a natural and personal level, getting them to open up and reveal things to her after just minutes that they would not tell their friends of years.
It's a good thing she's Chaotic Good and enjoys actually helping people; I'd hate to think what a selfish person could do with her talents.
KellithV
What if she’s only making you think she’s chaotic good?
Clearly she maxed out her Charisma scores.
I think your wife was super villain
@@justas423 now I want a sitcom about this. Suburban mom who sells her own organic whatcha ma call it's used to be the big bad duper villain but married the big hero butonly they know it so they have to hide the truth from their friends (other heroes/villains) and their kid that is getting really suspicious and why does Xander have a flamethrower. Damnit Janet!!!
@@bellringer53 omg yes please.
Percy Jackson kind of fits into the 0 confidence goofball.
In the first couple of books but by TLO and on he was aware of his powers, he was just Fucking Done™ with the gods and their bullshit and his sass filter started failing
@@arianamaria_ good thing he was still funny in his head
@@jessya775 Let's just be happy Riordan sanitized Greek mythology a bit. I doubt "Chapter 7. I find out my uncle is a serial rapist." would be a terribly enjoyable experience.
@@arianamaria_ My favorite part is when he sees he is carrying Hera on a dream and just DROPS her
@@Pyranders Or "I find out my dad is a serial rapist". Yeah, Greek mythology, pretty on the outside, all kinds of f**ked up underneath.
You need to a trope talk about the very common trope of “magical mentor is hiding secrets from the protagonist” god this happens so much
Does it count as a trope if there are zero times when it's *not* done?
tosety I think that's like making a trope out of characters sitting on chairs.
Don't forget almost saying something important before dying.
Just because something happens doesn't mean it's bad. You might as well argue about there being conflict imo.
*cough* Jiraiya *cough* fucking hate that trope
"walking talking force of nature that thinks marriage is a thing you eat" honestly sounds like how a lot of people play barbarians in D&D
You forgot the all powerful Crouching Cinnamon Roll, Hidden Monster.
NATSUKI
SAYORI
DEKU
OLAF
Nezuko?
So what I learned from this:
>Be Jackie Chan
>???
>Profit.
basically, yes
Fun fact, he started in porn.
@@peiranzhang4283 why you gotta do me like that?
@@allyli1718 Fun fact, he probably fucked all the actresses he shoot with, young girls jump at the opportunity to get famous with one movie.
Good for him China don't have a me to movement, otherwise his going to get the death sentence for being a "serial rapist".
"This walking, talking force of nature thinks marriage is something you eat" describes one of my characters so well it HURTS.
Goku. Fucking Goku, man.
You know what's funny there is a manga that combine the split personality & the pretender: Samurai deeper Kyo. When we fist met the protag: Mibu Kyoshiro
, he has 2 personalities(Kyo the bad-ass & Kyoshiro the dumb-ass). But later on we found out that they're 2 different people: Kyoshiro defeated & seal Kyo soul in his body(because a powerful opponent want to kill Kyo but he's a hot head who would rather die than run away so Kyoshiro seal his soul, hide his body then ran away). They're constanly fighting for control-> as weak a a normal man until one relinquished control to the other
Incredible, tell your character I love them
“My name is Micheal J. Caboose, and I hate taxes!!!”
“It’s Texas you idiot!”
“Those too!”
@@seanwaddell2659 I was thinking Tucker for this trope, but honestly all of the Reds and Blues fit. It's like an entire series of CMHB.
I loved seeing images of Vash in this. Trigun is my favorite anime of all time to the point that it is the only one I re-watch in it's entirety. I even created a Shadowrun character who wore a trench coat filled with derringers inspired by derringer Meryl. I hardly ever see Trigun mentioned or referenced and I appreciate it being acknowledged.
There is another version: the saitama. He is so badass he just doesn’t need to care and as such he is a frequent source of comedy.
This is very difficult to pull off without getting old, and I haven't seen it done outside one punch
@@gormauslander Honestly I think the reason it works is that the characters goal is tied to wanting a struggle yet he overqualified himself. His overall depression allows him to slip under the radar, which opens up a lot of the jokes, not to mention King's backstory being the epitome of using that fact for a joke. Also, the author juxtaposed him with mumen rider against the sea king perfectly. Saitama became a hero for fun yet he found himself so OP that he can't have any fun and not only that but he's so strong that others dont believe it and flame him. I think the way to pull it off is to make the internal goal actively hurt by the fact that theyre overpowered. I think that's also why early superman worked yet it's so narrow that a lot of remakes fail because they can't give him an internal conflict that cant be solved by being a badass.
She showed the Trigun main character, which also fits this trope. He doesn't give 2 shits and is just trying to do stuff, but is actually a fucking savant at murdering people.
Saitama is also a gag character. His conflict is with his strength; he wants something to come along and challenge him. Any other character with different motives who just effortlessly glassed their opponents without casualties would be boring.
Vash almost fits but he cares about casualties.
@@gormauslander It doesn't get old through OPM because while Saitama is the main character of the series, he's almost never the main character of the single episodes and shows up towards the end to clean eventual mess, for instance in Garou's arc the entirety of the focus has been mostly on Garou, Saitama intervening once in a blue moon. Besides, Saitama is a savant, as it's shown that in a multitude of different situations that do not involve combat he's kind of a loser, OPM also does a great job at making you wishing for Saitama to kick some ass, as everyone underestimates him for his unremarkability while Saitama himself does not get offended for it and does not retaliate until he feels like either the situation is escalating, or one of his "triggers" is pulled, namely making fun of his baldness. To name more examples, I'd say Henry Killinger in the Venture Bros can also be valid in this regard. Venture Bros also had perhaps one of the most iconic CMHB characters to ever exist in Henchman 21.
Sokka from Avatar: the last airebender is also a really good example of this (though going more towards the funny in non dangerous situations)
He is without a doubt the most strategic and clever person on the team yet he is flawed and have a tendency of messing up and even make light of some pretty serious sitations.
Not because he is trying to be silly..but because he is silly and don't always think everything through despite being amazing at coming up with plans.
Several times he is actually the reason their plan gets either slightly messed up or end in a complete shitshow.
The best example of this is when he is attempting to get off the boiling rock in season 3.
The reason the first plan goes completly up in smoke is because he isn't careful enough when he tells the other's about his plan. It is even his fault that Zuko gets caught as well..Zuko...because he takes too long to talk to Suki in the cell.
He also didn't have any idea about how to catch the warden after they had already begun their second attempt at getting away.
The invasion of the fire kingdom is also an example but that is different. He isn't being silly or taking things likely at that specific time but instead gets provoked into using up previous time (It is such an amazing scene actually! Him first telling everyone that they need to focus on the main mision but then gets provoked by Azula's sharp tongue. It is such a welldone scene! We very rarely see Sokka get that emotional and the fact he is even fully aware of her plan yet still ends up falling into it is bloody amazing! It both shows Azula's amazing manipulation skills and quick thinking but also shows some of Sokka's best sides in the fact he is able to see through her plan before she has to start provoking him.)
Agreed. Also Aang himself could be included.
Sokka is so well written that he's one of my favorite characters aside from maybe Zuko or Iroh
It’s fire nation. Not fire kingdom. But I still like it
It seems like his spiritual successor Callum, from the Dragon Prince, is also a CMHB.
Zuko: Crouching Badass, Hidden Moron
I CAN NOT believe you haven't used King Bumi even once as an example!
Heh heh heh, _Wrong Choice!_
We do nothing
What the frick, yes
Cackles while rolling around in a metal coffin.
To be fair, there are *a lot* of good examples, but Red could only choose a few so her explanation could be concise
Zenitsu from Demon Slayer is a great example of the second type. Initially he’s such a coward that he can only use his cool powers when he’s asleep, but later on he learns how to face his fears and becomes stronger because of it.
I still hate the fact it's two different "people". Base Zenitsu's a pretty boring and uninteresting character, he's a womanizer and his jokes don't really land. It contrasts Tanjiro and Inosuke, specifically the latter, who while snarky and comedic, he has a backstory that shows why he acts like that.
Zenitsu doesn't have much of a backstory, he has great development, but for the majority of the show, he's just boring. And when he goes into badass mode, he doesn't pull out anything new, he just does the same couple of attacks, which while explained in story, doesn't make it anymore boring. It'd be like if half of Sonic's moveset in Smash was just variations on spin dash. Wait...
@@brandonnguyen6718Which is a shame cuz his backstory is kinda sad and pretty messed up.
All we know is he's an orphan and had a tendency to be taken advantage of. A lot of his story is played for laughs but if you sit and think it's legitimately tragic.
His inner self was a black void 😮
Also the fact he's a ball of self-hatred who doesn't like the person he is. Plus with what happens to his master and senior. Also the fact I have doubts Insokue or Tanjiro really cares about him. You have a pretty interesting character.
But unfortunately that's not what we got 😅
He fails the “not annoying funny” part of the cmhb test
@@brandonnguyen6718 Hes not two people. When he is "sleeping" he is basically meditationg. Its the same character just without being dragged down by his own fear and insecurity. Without spoiling too much: When the eventual "convergence" of the two modes of zenitsu happens, its not some big event. There is no supernatural change. He just starts being a normal badass. Its actually really well done, but sadly way too late.
When she mentioned" Food, Fighting, and Friendship," I immediately thought " Welp, that's the entire plot of fairy tail .
I was thinking One Piece 😂
@@batyalivni3577 nah
Facts
@@steveempiremantra2120 ok, how so
Shonen anime at its core.
I think One Punch Man is another good example of comedy and badassery happening simultaneously. Simply due to the fact he is so overpowered he doesn't need to get serious at all to do incredibly badass stuff
I was thinking about saitama the entire video, just waiting for red to mention him.
I was disappointed.
ALUCARD it’s because saitama is this because he’s a satire of shonen protagonists which are all basically goku so there is no need to bring up both so you talk about the OG.
I don't think Saitama fits the trope that well: sure he is funny, but usually he is not the one producing the comedy by his morroness.
Saitama is a parody character
@@anneaunyme The scene where he punches out a guy while freaking out about a sale window he missed comes to mind.
I've got friends that more accurately represent this trope than the trope does.
they're great friends.
Something pointed out by Comics Explained during their X Men Vs Avengers videos, specifically about Spiderman, that can feed into the CMHB Trope is that cracking jokes or not taking a fight seriously can actually mess with opponents. Spiderman doesn't just wisecrack during fights because it's who he is, he does it in part because acting so blasé and casual about fights while the people he's fighting take it so seriously can mess with them on a psychological level.
Yoda, when Luke Skywalker meets him for the first time, is also a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass. His reveal has weight and meaning that stays with you and actually impacts the story as it goes along.
It also fits really well with the theme. Yoda really is weak and frail, but he is still enormously powerful because he has force powers. It doesn't matter if luke could punch way harder than Yoda, because only one of them could lift a huge spaceship out of the bog.
Yeah, but she already showed Iroh, and Iroh is basically a better version of Yoda
@@dapeach06 as a fan of both series that physically hurt to hear but, i agree , Yoda can be pretty damn stupid at time *cough* palpatine *cough* meanwhile Iroh has a very well developed emotional core that goes far beyond yoda
@@javierpowell4705 Well, Iroh had a whole series to develop, and was a main character, while Yoda originally only had the movies, and while didn't play a role as integral to the plot as Iroh.
I knew Yoda quite well and I don't think this trope applies to him. He was the variation Red spoke of where they initially seem unassuming but retain there awesomeness after it is revealed. You always respect Yoda after he lifts that X-Wing. Anytime we see him afterwords in the prequels and on his death bed we respect both his immense wisdom and power. He never plays the fool again.
Princess Bride also pulls this off well. In fact, the whole movie is basically built on the theme of "being awesome but in a really funny way" - right up until lines like "I want my father back" sucker-punch you at the climax.
yeah now that i think about it you’ve got a point, i mean, i haven’t watched it in a while but yeah, you’re right
That's a bit different... The characters in Princess Bride can be funny during the fights, but none of them are really morons. Except Vizzini...
Another character that fits the trope is Ty Lee from Avatar the Last Airbender. Goofy and air headed out of combat, extremely dangerous in combat with some light hearted humor on the side.
@@andhikasoehalim3170 It's fun and light hearted humor, right up to the point you realize that that's the shield she holds up to the world to just deal with it. At least that's what I remember from scenes like how Azula convinced her to join her quest.
So I agree, she at least started out as a cmhb, only that goofiness turned rather dark rather quickly when you think about it.
@@pieniaurinko most of the time it does. Badasses either turn full goofball, jaded emo, or evil due to trama.
Red, you should do a trope talk on gentle giants! They usually fit into the man-child type of category, but they still deserve their own slot!!!!
Hodor
According to TVtropes, the gentle giant trope has become prevalent to the point where making a menacing giant could potentially be considered not normal.
One of my favourite tropes tbh, probably because of the Iron Giant :’’)
Don't mind me Just passing through As well as their polar opposite, the pint-sized badass.
That will be a good one!
One of my favorite examples is Equestria Girls Pinkie Pie. She has the power to cause sugar to explode. This has lead to my favorite scene in any fanfic where she fended off an entire government task force by lobbing them with exploding pastries.
Moral of the story is, *don't face off against Pinkie in Sugar Cube Corner*.
MLP fanfics really are absolutely ridiculous are they?
This isn't cannon?!
Causing sugar to explode isn't a power, ot does that naturally. Also makes for a really good firestarter, & in molten form can do a decent impression of lava.
Ah yes I’ll never forget that glorious moment where the flash showed Luther the terror of a man who can process and react in attoseconds.
I understand heroes can’t kill people. But you’d think by now they would have accidentally killed someone.
@@restreven4455 Its probably a good thing hero's give themselves a high moral code, I certainly wouldn't be the same
@@restreven4455 Maybe the reason they have secret identities is so they don't have to deal with all the lawsuits.
@@saucevc8353 lol right. Also Bad Boys on Amazon answered my question.
@@restreven4455 The Boys, not Bad Boys.
Now I want a five man band of all CMHB of the first five subtypes.
That would be the worst group ever and I *NEED* to see it now
@@coolgreenbug7551 Konosuba?
It would be but aqua is entirely useless
I’d like to see the split. It makes sense to have the shonen protag be the leader. faker as smart guy? Man-child as heart. Big guy and lancer can be either of the others.
I watched this right after reading The Heroes of Olympus and this is totally Leo
Yes yes he is.
He's also depressed
Also Percy, to a lesser extent
@@user-iz8rr1kt5w much lesser, his funny side doesn't really develop until Heroes of Olympus and most are aware by that point that Percy is extremely dangerous
@@michaelfort143 what do you mean? Percy has always been a joker and a smart ass
My favorite example of what you said right before you started about Jackie Chan and that’s the time spiderman lost his voice and all the villains where so scared they surrendered because they knew if spiderman was silent he was serious. They also knew he could hospitalize them when he was not serious so it was very threatening.
I made a d&d character using this trope. So imagine a goblin with spongebob's personality that's also a necromancer that wants friends. The entire party thought my character was just a joke until like the 12th session when I got serious and started raising an army of darkness. But I continued in my spongebob voice and personality.
Cool!
Yep, that's a very fun way to roleplay, particularly when the dices decide to never get in your favour except for the most silly and unpredictable actions. My aloof and coward sorcerer always was a dead weight in fights but how satisfying it was to get those critical successes on some charisma/bluff/prestidigitation rolls. Sneak past a huge goblin camp? Nah, just make them believe we're a scouting party of the local lord's army and watch them flee in terror B)
Oh, and there was that Marvel Heroes RPG one shot in which I played Deadpool which ended with the villain basically being so tired of me he just went "well, you guys are sick, I'm off!" XD
I actually got this trope on my first d&d character by accident. He was a half elf ranger who was pretty charismatic and friendly, but due to a lot of bad rolls in the beginning and to a lesser extent later on he was also rather clumsy at times. Moments like these included not watching where he was walking while foraging and tumbling off of a hill, being unable to climb trees to scout or failing to land properly in the tree after his dwarven friend gave him a boost, and even being dumb enough to eat a plant that almost caused him to go permanently blind. However, whenever combat rolled around, he would absolutely dominate, downing some enemies in one hit, just not caring about enemy AC because of his high modifiers, and even being more effective than the fighter in certain combat encounters thanks to favoured enemy and planar warrior (He's a horizon walker). It's honestly a lot of fun when you get a trope like this on a character without even realising it at first.
Ah so you went for the type she warned against, nice
@@georgewl I think she just warned against the split personality type (when the one half doesn't have memory/isn't in control of the other)
Someone: Idiot Savant
Me, an intellectual: *Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass*
souns-bout'-right-t'-me
Lee R This comment has 333 likes.
I think those are different tropes, I don't know the difference but I think there is one.
@@SorowFame An idiot savant is more accidentally bad-ass; they don't change in response to the situation, the situation just happens to be something they're uniquely equipped to handle. Plus they frequently don't get any agency, a problem is just presented to them one way or the other and they fix it because they can't help themselves, it's just what they do. Finally, an idiot savant always has some kind of mental disorder, just being "quirky" isn't enough.
My favorite version of this trope is a loveable idiot who just wants to live a carefree life indulging in the things that make them happy. Their badassery only appears when someone tries to take one of those things away from them.
For example, CMHB is chasing butterflies. A threat appears trying to get them to engage in an epic battle. CMHB takes one whole second to obliterate this threat because THIS IS BUTTERFLY TIME, DAMMIT, WAIT YOUR TURN!
Honestly reminds me of One Punch Man
Mine from ascendance of a bookworm is this to some extent. The locals often seem to think of her as a cloud cookoolander or as a bunny-eared lawyer (if they recognize her brilliance) because her real-world memories make her react in ways they don't understand. But she can be kinda dumb when it comes to her main motivators: her family, friends and books as she prioritizes them over what most people there consider common sense. It's funny though that despite being the physically weakest human protagonist I can think of she's actually really dangerous for spoiler reasons i.e. having an overpowering wellspring of magic inside that threatens to kill you can become useful when emotions take over.
Someone give me examples of this. I love it but never know where to find it.
@@neroquin I think Joseph Joestar and Josuke Higashikata from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fit this trope. Can someone else confirm?
Kirby
Dante from the DMC series is a great example of the manchild approach. When Dante shuts up or stops being funny, you really feel it. And knowing his backstory makes his humour and goofyness just hit completely different.
Wow 😮😲 really. You really think so ?!
One Punch Man has many examples of scenes that are both funny and awesome
Saitama is practically the quintuple distilled vodka of this trope, with his moronic lackadaisical personality never stopping, even when other characters have brought out their S rank badassery, and still manages to outclass them by a margin of Superman against Darkseid compared to.... honestly I'm left thinking the Paw Patrol squad.
BaRgAiN dAY At tHe SuPErMaRkEeEeEEeeT!!!
Even better is the character of King, who’s a perfect reversal of the CMHB. A stone cold badass who’s very presence is unnerving but is actually a pretty useless loser.
@@mrtengu5303 isnt Kings whole reputation because he happened to be nearby, and consequentially looking badass, while Saitama was doing his own shit, before becoming a hero?
Basically yeah, BUT King is one of the most genuinely heroic characters in the series. Honestly only Licenceless Rider really out does him. Yeah he needed a pep-talk first to man up, but after that, he's been great.
I just realised that Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood can be grouped into CMHB!
Neville? Not really. He genuinely is a moron for the first few books but later grows into a badass. That’s called character growth. Luna, I would agree.
We should not only consider a character's ratio of comedian and badass but the frequency of the change between modes. Nevile was a comedic non-entity between 1 to 4 but a respectable wizard in 5-6 and a badass in the last one. He doesn't flip back and forth between the modes
the weasley twins much?
Most surprising CMHB I've ever seen was Jar Jar Binks, who in one of the comics, deflected blasterfire with a lightsaber as if he was trained his whole life for that moment, and then proceeds to accidentally drop said lightsaber once the fight is over.
Ah yes. Darth Jar Jar
Crouching moron, hidden sith lord
@@thechh8297 [dun dun dun, dun, dudun. Dun dun dun dun dada da dada]
epitome of drunk wushu
I can't remember if this is entirely sure, but I think he was originally intended to be a sith lord, but the audience's hatred of him after the first film he was in made them decide it was best not to do that.
My favorite example of the CMHB trope is Soren from The Dragon Prince, He is fun and goofy and very much a moron sometimes, but he really gets serious, especially in season 3, when it's super important. Definitely one of my faves. I'm surprised I haven't seen many other people mention him
Not sure if Soren fits though. He is introduced as a capable fighter from the start, just not a very smart guy. And his later heroics don't come from being smarter than people thought but having more heart than people thought. We first see him as a classic jock who bullies the more nerdy Callum and takes evil orders without question. And later we do get to see that he actually does have a moral compass when he frees Esrin and when he turns his back on his father after he turns fully evil.
I would say Soren more fits the "Are we the baddies?" trope.
I'll always love Kung Fu Panda for nailing a final fight that felt funny, tense and awesome.
The crouching moron hidden badass trop saved Thor's character. Thank you Ragnorok.
Unfortunately, it also ruined the story of that movie... But at least it was good for a laugh...
I respectfully disagree. I loved the movie@@toatahu2003
@@toatahu2003 pretty much yeah
@@starfyre59 Don't misunderstand, it WAS a good movie. An excellent comedy. It accomplished exactly what it set out to do. It DID revitalize a stale character. However, all the drama and important character moments for these characters that have been built up over several movies... Absolutely spit upon... For the sake of a laugh. Thor lost his hammer, is hair, his honor, his father, his best friends, his home, and many of his people, an did any of that have any kind of impact on him or the audience? Nope. Because all that emotion was undercut with humor, even when it didn't need to be.
I'm very torn over the movie. I loved its humor, laughed at every joke, and it was what truly made me a fan of Thor, as I was pretty on the fence before. But... When I see everything that happens to the character, and how much great story they sacrificed... It's kinda painful to think about...
It's like eating the best hamburger of your life, only to watch them grind up a delicious steak in order to make it...
I'd like to hear you talk about the "Villainous Crush" trope. You know, where a villain has (one-sided) feelings for a hero.
CSG
is there one where the hero has one sided feelings for the villain
Shout-out to Frodo from Notre Dame
@@adrienneczerni6516 lot of webcomics but nothing major in mainstream media except the few were villain dies but not before confessing his love for the heroine and saying he did everything for her or lost because of her...
This trope sucks in mainstream media.
@@LowReedExpert1 You mean Frollo. Frodo is from another work and, as far as I know, has no villainous crushes.
@@animeotaku307 Yep, that's it. Never seen the name written, just memories of the sound
I really like Rimiru from “That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime” as an example of a moronic badass. They fall under the “Acting stupid to gain an advantage over those who underestimate them” archetype. They often use the fact that they are “just a weak slime” to accomplish this on top of acting dumb as though they don’t understand the gravity of what’s happening most of the time, only breaking character when a villain pushes them too far. They let their opponent know this by literally telling them that they’re getting serious now. This is usually where Rimiru puts down their sword, and start using their actual powers, regrowing limbs, transforming into other creatures, using powerful magic, creating body doubles, kirbying the villain’s allies, etc.
Sounds about right. Lovable slime till that line is crossed, then he's either dissolving the opponent or "Megiddo"...
@@timeshark8727 Oh god that Megiddo scene, that was something truly terrifying as thousands of people are getting killed! Though it is funny when the head knight basically came up with the plan to save the king and the bishop, runs out of the tent, and instantly got headshoted. It is funny scene even if it's supposed to invoke terror in us, like it did with the king and bishop.
@@cameronjensen9397 Ah yes Megiddo, simultaneously terrifying and hilarious.
@@ScooterBug96 Not to mention that we get to see a bunch of greedy morons get their just deserts. And it was funny when the king tried to boss around Rimiru like he had any ounce of power. Of course, I mean that it was funny in a pathetic sort of way.
Who are you kidding? Rimuru is the perfect definition of Gary Stu/Mary Sue. There’s absolutely no tension in that story due to how overpowered he is. It’s super boring.
This is why Archer is one of my favorite characters of all time, he’s a complete man-child, but he is *actually* one of the best spies in the world. He compromises missions because he’s an idiot, but he has incredible skills and has a ridiculous amount of encyclopedic knowledge. It’s a perfect dichotomy.
Yes he is such a perfect example
Perfect example of man-child IMO !
Do you mean: Actually Satan?
YES ARCHER IS AMAZING
@@seanwaddell2659 different archer
Watching this 10 minutes after i rewatched Kung fu panda ... food, fighting and friendship fits pretty well
Funny. For me, I just discovered Brooklyn 99 least than a month ago, so seeing Red talk about the show was fun!
I submit Percy Jackson as the gold standard for a CMHB. Generally, he's mostly just funny and goofy but about 4-5 times per book he gets a total badass moment that reminds the reader why he's so important. Hell, sometimes both at once like when he convinced a bunch of dophin pirates to flee by bluffing that Bacchus was going to attack them. Or when he defeated the Sow by getting a pair of lions and Thomas Jefferson to kill it for him.
Exactly
Out of context the last sentence is gold
@@frostykittens I feel like it's at least silver in context lol
@@chasedalton6579 I have no idea what the context is and that entire paragraph is hilarious
I didnt read all the books but he doesnt sound like a badass in your comment just like a dude who outsmarted stupid people
He doesnt even seem a little cool
I really enjoy the faker CMHB because when the mask falls they can fall into the magnificent bastard character in a really compelling way. Especially if it's a twist villain. "It was a tactical advantage to be underestimated my 'friends'. I gained both an easier battle against my enemies and protection from you. Heroes who assumed I needed it and wanted me to stay safe because I was so gosh darn lovable. Now your friendship and protection are holding me back so I'm afraid you are no longer needed."
Gojou and Todou from JJK are perfect examples of this, specifically the manchild variant. Both of them provide comic relief and badass moments, often at the same time without it ever feeling obtuse.
Weebs approve this example 👍👍
Satorou is so terrifyingly powerful and silly it's great. Favorite character.
Yuuji himself kinda is one too
How about Zenitsu from KNY?
@@jans.g6033 Yes that would be a version of the "split" variant.
This trope has Dante written all over its face. I'm surprised she didn't even mentioned him once
Dante the author or Dante the half demon.
@@akumasstorytime3910 Why not both?
That's exactly what I was thinking!
@@darkagedrifter ah Dante the half-demon author.
@@akumasstorytime3910 "Sorry Nero, but I gotta finish this book. Break a leg, kid."
Food fighting and friendship
Leo Valdez: wHo SuMmOnD mE
my MAN. this guy was AWESOME
@McKayla Marille I now have a sudden craving, thank you. (No but seriously that sounds delicious and I now know what I'm making for dinnen)
Did not expect a Leo reference. I need to reread that series, but I especially remember the dynamic between him and Calypso
All da lady's love leo
Clay: “Hey, wait for me!”
One of my favorite JLU moments is when Superman is an inch away from going psycho on Cadmus, and Flash isn't amused in the slightest. In not so many words, he basically calls Supes out for letting his emotions interfere with his reason, and he's cognizant enough to realize that ripping Cadmus out root and stem wouldn't help the League's reputation or even necessarily solve the problem that Cadmus presents in the first place.
I love when the closer to earth heroes call out the big guns on stuff like this. anytime Ollie did it, Flash 'trying to speak for Superman', it really made me critically engage with the media i was consuming, the stories i was being told, and the lessons inherent to them
I think I know that scene. "Grammy flash used to say 'the problem with an eye for an eye is everybody ends up blind' "