Trope Talk: Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass

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

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.

Luthor’s plan Step 1. Become President Step 2. Kill Flash Step 3. Get killed by Superman Step 4....profit?

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.

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

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!"

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

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.

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

Red: on the opposite end of the spectrum is the man child variant. Me, immediately: Deadpool

"Weapons grade slapstick" is the best term I've ever heard to describe Jackie Chan

The original clip that inspired “Ultra Instinct Shaggy” is a clip of him being awesome and funny at the same time

She said badass 57 times , in case you were wondering.

I like how in most trope talks, Avatar is featured in at least one variant of the trope.

"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.

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 trope is why the Ultra Instinct Shaggy meme works

"People like funny and people like awesome. And I'm people." Can relate.

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."

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.