History HypercompetentSidekick / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Ironically, while [[Characters/AmphibiaTheCore The Core]] frequently degrades and mocks him for being weak and useless, the vast majority of the villains' successes are a result of [[Characters/AmphibiaKingAndrias King Andrias]] actions and not the Core's:

* To a degree [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]] of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderFireLordOzai Fire Lord Ozai]] does have the edge in personal bending power and is repeatedly shown to be plenty intelligent/manipulative himself,but he is an OrcusOnHisThrone for most of the show while young Azula does most of the actual legwork, showing a level of [[MagnificentBastard cunning]] Ozai himself never opproaches. That being said, the GrandFinale shows that Azula isn't nearly as qualified to actually be an EvilOverlord compared to her father, as she's too quickly overcome by stress and paranoia as opposed to her father's composed,rigid and truly heartless disposition. Because for all her superior cunning, guile and manipulation, Azula is deep down a very screwed up individual who believes her mother did not love her while she feels compelled to make her father proud, and Ozai ''knows'' this. After she's more or less discarded by Ozai (and betrayed by her friends when they no longer fear her in a previous episode,) [[VillainousBreakdown she spirals down very quickly (especially as new responsabilities get to her)]] and [[BrokenTears left a broken and unstable individual.]]
** Also, Ty Lee for Azula. Ty Lee has the highest KO count in the series, because her fighting style is largely nonlethal and her victims recover pretty quickly. The other two-thirds of the QuirkyMinibossSquad, Azula and Mai, can't take anyone out without burning/electrocuting/stabbing them, which they really can't show on [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids what is nominally a kids' show.]]
** Iroh serves as this for Zuko in Season 1. He's arguably one of the most formidable characters in the series, but is content to sip tea. Granted, he does see his real duty of ridding his nephew of Ozai's toxic teachings.

* Zhu Li from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' gets shades of this towards her boss Varrick. While he's a genius inventor and a master manipulator, he's physically weak and constantly needs her assistance and services as lab assistant, bodyguard, personal cleaner and other degrading jobs. And she's being doing the job long enough that she automatically knows Varrick means by "[[CatchPhrase Do the thing!]]" and always reacts accordingly. Despite occasionally showing frustration over his lack of respect towards her and [[spoiler:even apparently stabbing him in the back during season 4]], she remains consistently by his side for much of the whole series out of a deep respect towards him and [[spoiler:for the rest of her life, as they realize their feelings for each other and get married in TheFinale.]]

* Shego from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''. She fights all the battles for [[HarmlessVillain Dr. Drakken]], she ''tries'' to keep his {{evil plan}}s in line, she even provides Drakken with the {{Unobtainium}} / AppliedPhlebotinum needed for his capers (either by stealing them, or actually buying them). Add her being very cunning to the list, and one wonders why she doesn't do anything on her own. However, it's shown that she has a clear [[BrilliantButLazy lack of ambition]]. [[TheSlacker She's content to just kick back, lounge and read magazines while enjoying the occasional fight with Kim while following a more driven and motivated partner,]] much like fellow sidekick Ron Stoppable. Additionally, beyond the fact that she's ''not'' a MadScientist, it's implied she suffers from CreativeSterility (heck, when she partnered with Senor Senior Junior, ''he's'' the one who came up with the plans because she really couldn't.) Shego is by far the best example of this on the show, particularly later on as Drakken became more and more silly and she became more clearly the only reason he gets anything done at all.
** The one time she acted on her own, during ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]'', she actually succeeded in taking over the world. But even then, she had to be talked into it by her '''future self.'''
** TeamPet Rufus is often this to Ron, sometimes appearing to be smarter than his owner and much more mechanically adept. Many times has the day been saved by Rufus running off and interfering on his own while Kim and Ron keep the villains busy. Lampshaded in "The Ron Factor."
** Depending on the episode Ron himself may occasionally approach this, though as KP is barely ever inept and his moments tend to be one-offs he never actually makes it. "Roachie" is a fairly decent example.

* Zhu Li from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' gets shades of this towards her boss Varrick. While he's a genius inventor and a master manipulator, he's physically weak and constantly needs her assistance and services as lab assistant, bodyguard, personal cleaner and other degrading jobs. Also, unlike Bolin, she actually knows what Varrick means by "[[CatchPhrase Do the thing!]]" and always reacts accordingly. Despite occasionally showing frustration over his lack of respect towards her and [[spoiler:even apparently stabbing him in the back during season 4,]] she remains consistently by his side for much of the whole series out of a deep respect towards him and [[spoiler: for the rest of her life, as they realize their feelings for each other and get married in TheFinale.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':

* Gromit from ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit''. Wallace is prone to making poor decision and often seeks the [[AwesomeButImpractical least practical]] solution to their problems, often leaving Gromit to clean up the mess.