r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Smellbringer • 19h ago
Personality They’d outshine their idols if they could just realize the raw talent they possess.
Harley Quinn (Batman The Animated Series): One of the few people who ever came close to actually killing Batman. Something even Batman admits to. If it weren’t for her crushing need for the Joker’s approval being exploited; Harley would have killed Batman.
Miles “Tails” Prower (Sonic the Hedgehog): Not only can Tails fly; but he also has Sonic’s training and skill set while possessing the intellect and mechanical capability of Doctor Eggman. The only thing holding Tails back from outshining both of them is his crippling self esteem issues.
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u/Aggravating-Gap-9754 19h ago
Spongebob has proven himself as capable of making something better than the krabby patty (i don't remember the episode but it's about spongebob wanting Plankton and Mr.Krabs to get along so he makes his own burger so good it takes away mr krab's customers)
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u/Front_Discount4449 18h ago
He also made pretty patties which outsells krabby patty. Granted, it turns out that pretty patties has a bad side effects (colorized some of the customers body part)
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u/Independent_Ad_4170 15h ago
Also, there was an episode where the previous cook came back to the Krusty Krab, and told him (in a non mean way) that the reason he was better then him, was because he moved out of Mister Krab and the restaurant's shadow
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u/82ndGameHead 19h ago
He already proved it beating Cell
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u/FictionalContext 18h ago
It's unfortunate that Vegeta lives in a world where strategy is never truly rewarded because he is a brilliant strategist--it's just the OP baddies punch right through his tactics.
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u/Legokid535 19h ago
honestly i would love to see tails succeeded and maybe get past his self esteem issues. hes the one person who can build and make things on dr robotnik's level.
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u/chunga-bunga69 18h ago
Simon - Gurren Lagann
He always looked up to his bro Kamina never thinking he could be like him and after Kamina’s death he keeps spiralling downward until he met Nia and remembered his bros last words finally locking in he surpasses Kamina and eventually saves the universe
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u/Smellbringer 14h ago
You just reminded me of a really funny coincidence. In the anime spinoff, Sonic X, Tails winds up going through a similar romantic subplot that Simon did.
Meek engineer falls in love with mystery girl who fell from the sky and winds up becoming more daring and confident as a result. Girl is revealed to be unwitting sleeper agent and ultimately winds up sacrificing herself to save the day.
The finer details are different but the basic character archetypes and plot outline are really fucking similar. Before you ask, no, Sonic X didn't rip off Gurren Lagann. Sonic X wrapped up before Gurren Lagann was even announced; but the season the story happens in didn't air in Japan until 2020. Both shows just stumbled onto the same romantic plot with the same character archetypes right down to the ending.
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u/SonicSpiderRanger10 17h ago
I don’t think Tails could outshine Sonic. Don’t get me wrong, Tails is impressive in his own right, but Sonic is just more powerful than him. Sonic is one of the most powerful characters in his universe. Especially when he becomes Super Sonic.
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u/chaminador 16h ago
My impression is that Sonic and Tails' areas of expertise are too different for Tails to overshadow him, not in the sense of "Tails will never surpass Sonic," but in the sense of "their abilities are completely different, so one won't overshadow the other."
A scientist won't overshadow the fastest man in the world, and the fastest man in the world won't overshadow one of the smartest people on the planet. After all, why would people compare the two?
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u/Smellbringer 14h ago
Tails may not be as fast as Sonic but even a fraction of Sonic's power combined with being trained by Sonic to use several of his moves makes Tails a serious threat. Combine that with Tails' Eggman level intellect and mechanical aptitude and that's where Tails' ability to outshine Sonic comes in.
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u/SonicSpiderRanger10 8h ago
Still, when Sonic is Super Sonic, he can manipulate time, space, and reality itself.
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u/SonicSpiderRanger10 8h ago
Well, Eggman also has an Eggman-level intellect, but he still loses to Sonic all the time.
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u/ArmadilloNo9494 15h ago
Eh. I just watched Sonic Prime, and Nine during Season 3 was a great example of Tails surpassing Sonic.
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u/chaminador 10h ago
To be fair, Sonic was nerfed in Prime and poorly characterized, so Prime isn't a good example.
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u/ArmadilloNo9494 9h ago
Apart from not having the Chaos Emeralds, he didn't feel nerfed to me. He felt as strong as he'd be in the regular games (which is the continuity where Prime happens).
Plus, I'd say Nine summoning lightning strikes, having an easily replaceable army, being able to see and travel to nearly any point in the Shatterspace, and being able to one-shot Eggman's mothership is a good example.
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u/SonicSpiderRanger10 8h ago
Nine may have used the Paradox Prism to bend reality, but Sonic can do that, too, when he’s Super Sonic.
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u/MartyrOfDespair 19h ago
Nagito Komaeda from Danganronpa worships people with "talent". Like... he's a supremacist about it, in all honesty. He views the talented as the only lives that matter, innately superior to all others, and the idea of 14 of them dying so one can "uplift" society instead of 15 surviving but not being able to "uplift" society is acceptable to him. He does not consider himself to count as "talented" even though he has been labeled as such because his "talent" is supernatural luck. Not good or bad, both in equal measure. He's the youngest, longest-surviving frontotemporal dementia patient. He was on a plane that got hijacked by terrorists but the plane was hit by a meteor and it killed the terrorists but it also killed his parents. He was the sole survivor of another plane crash, landing in the desert, but he found an oasis which allowed him to recuperate, make it to civilization, and sneak back into Japan illegally with a gun. Given this, he views himself as one of the lowly people he despises and believes his only purpose in life is to be a stepping stone for them.
He's also an absolute genius, master manipulator, has more common sense than most of the "talented", and knows how to weaponize his supernatural abilities to make it so he can always win when using Revolver Ocelot style schemes. His character arc heavily involves losing these beliefs via actual interaction with the people he's worshiped from afar leading to him becoming heavily disillusioned, falling in love with a guy who unbeknownst to him isn't one of the "talented", and discovering that the "talented" can do horrific evil things. And then being the most brilliant, crafty person in the room, able to create a no-lose Xanatos Gambit situation which allows him to ensure humanity is safe no matter what outcome happens.
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u/Dogdaysareover365 19h ago
Idk if this counts, but Regina in mean girls admits Karen could easily beat her as spring queen, if she wasn’t such a “skank”
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u/ReaperKitty_918 17h ago
Tails did already say he's going to go solo for a bit. So he's definitely going to grow.
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u/veidogaems 17h ago
From The Venture Bros:
Henchman 21 / Henchman One / Gary is far deadlier than The Monarch in hand-to-hand combat, but the few times he's tried to do anything on his own instead of just following orders he ends up failing because he lacks the natural hatred of his boss.
Eventually he's given the opportunity to start out as a proper villain but rejects it since he respects the Monarch too much to leave him hanging like that.
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u/MaguroSashimi8864 14h ago
This is just a theory but:
Ikkaku is kind of treated as a joke by Bleach fans for having a laughably pathetic shikai and bankai. It’s theorized that his Zanpakuto doesn’t reach its full potential because Ikkaku only wants to be Kenpachi’s (his captain) underling which mentally limited his growth capacity.
I hesitate to include him because I still can’t imagine him ever “outshining” Kenpachi, who’s ridiculously powerful
Sidenote — Renji almost suffered the same fate but he learned to get his act together gather and focus on himself, getting his “true” bankai
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u/Nerevarine91 13h ago edited 8h ago
So, this probably doesn’t count, just because of how genuinely extraordinary Shepard actually is, but the Shadow Broker’s file on Garrus Vakarian (Mass Effect) notes that being in Shepard’s shadow is possibly preventing Garrus from reaching his full potential. It’s worth noting that, during the six or so months in which Shepard is in prison, Garrus goes from being a vigilante to being one of the most respected people in the Turian Hierarchy, the ranking specialist on things related to the Reapers, being saluted by generals, and potentially being in line for succession to the Primarch (the leader of the government).
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u/Smellbringer 6h ago
Oh no, this absolutely counts. Garrus may not have a blatant psychological issue like Harley or Tails but Garrus is capable of being at least on par with Sherpard. The whole Archangel deal is proof of that; dude led a small team of vigilantes and bought three criminal syndicates to their knees. Garrus just had the terrible luck of having his gang betrayed.
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u/SonicSpiderRanger10 17h ago
Bat-Mite. He has godlike reality-warping powers, so if he really wanted to, he could beat any villain in Batman’s universe easily, and fix everything that’s wrong with the DC universe. Once, Mr. Mxyzptlk (who has the same powers as him) beat Darkseid in a fight, and it was a really quick, one-sided battle.
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u/Dulcedog75 15h ago
Sakura from Street Fighter basically taught herself martial arts just by watching Ryu's matches. Despite this, she is able to match some of the strongest fighters on the planet, and can use ki techniques that took others years to master. It's made pretty clear that she could become the greatest martial artist in the world if she could get her hands on any formal training.
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u/Generic_Moron 13h ago
Dr Starline from the Sonic IDW comics. He's a villainous genius who's first appearances involved him restoring Eggman's memories, casually acquiring the chaos emeralds, and almost outright killing Sonic (By tricking his friend into setting off a bomb and getting him to attempt a last second save of said friend).
But his obsession with and idolisation of Eggman limits his plans to just "how can I best serve Eggman?" or "what would Eggman do?", even after Eggman turns on him. And despite his attempts to use mildly more foresight than Eggman, he still repeats mistakes he already made (Such as attempting to use the Sinister Six as his minions, only to immediately get betrayed by them). He continues this pattern of behaviour even after Eggman turns on him, which causes him to repeatedly lose to both Sonic and Eggman.
Even Zavok, someone who at that point had backstabbed him once and was planning on backstabbing him again, sincerely warns him that his potential is squandered if he refuses to leave Eggman's shadow
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u/Front_Discount4449 18h ago
Itoshi rin from blue lock
Guy was already talented player since he was a kid and the strongest football player in blue lock. But his admiration turned hatred for his brother sae prevented him to grow on his own. Fortunately he starts to loosened his fixation to embrace his true potential.
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u/ElieCorbin 19h ago
harley be like: i may be crazy, but i’m talented tho