History Main / BadassOnPaper

* Po in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. When he was selected as the Dragon Warrior by Master Oogway, many express their disbelief that a fat, unskilled panda bear could ever become the WorldsBestWarrior and jokingly claim that he "fell out of the sky in a ball of fire" and that "when he walks, the very ground shakes". These jokes eventually reach to [[BigBad Tai Lung]], who took them at the face value and genuinely believes Po to be a warrior from the heavens and a foe worthy to test his mettle. Of course, by the time Tai Lung does confront Po, and is baffled by the fact the Dragon Warrior is a fat panda, Po has been trained long enough to be the warrior Tai Lung envisioned him to be and more.

** This also extends to how the general public views him. To the public and the DEA, Heisenberg's a diabolical mastermind who methodically wipes out all competition in Albuquerque and builds the largest drug empire in history. In actuality, Walt and Jesse can't run a drug business worth jack shit. For most of the series, their "drug empire" is actually just the two of them cooking meth for other people. Everything from distribution to protection is handled by someone else. The first time they try to form their own gang, it fails miserably and forces them to go back to cooking for hire. Their second attempt fares much better, but that's only because they inherit Gus' former henchman and connections. Even then, Walt's empire is actually just a series of partnered groups that answer directly to their respective leaders, not to Walt. A lot of the famous things that Walt is known for are actually done by his partners, like his distribution network (handled by Mike and later Declan), his expansion to Europe (handled by Lydia), and his killing of the prisoners (orchestrated by Jack's gang). Walt is incapable of doing any of that on his own and has to rely on them. As soon as they turn on him, Walt is left completely helpless because he has no henchman of his own to protect his authority. In short, while Walt's empire is undeniably powerful, Walt himself isn't. His partners obey him at first due to his reputation, but as soon as they realize how powerless he really is, they have no problem betraying him.
** Saul Goodman is also an example of this trope. The man is considered to be the top AmoralAttorney in New Mexico with his feats not only include being able to convincingly sway the jury easily, but he got Lalo Salamanca out of jail, managed to talk down [[AxeCrazy Tuco Salamanca]] from killing two hapless scammers and he helped build Walt's meth empire using his connections and criminal tactics. However, most of his accomplishments involved a lot of outside factors and luck, and when Saul is faced up against an actual physical threat to his safety, he's quick to cower and beg for mercy.

* ''Franchise/DragonAge'': Hawke, the [[VideoGame/DragonAge2 second game's main character]], is supposed to be a huge badass. However, [[UnreliableNarrator Varric likes to exaggerate his stories]], meaning that Hawke's actions, while badass, aren't nearly as grandiloquent as [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins the Warden's]] or [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition the Inquisitor's]]. In fact, Hawke lampshaded to the Inquisitor how much of Hawke's actions are exagerated, while even Varric is aware that Hawke themself was mainly irrelevant to the problems originated in Kirkwall, as they're going to happen soon or later, even without Hawke.

--> '''Tai Lung:''' You think I'm a fool? I know you're not the Dragon Warrior. None of you! I heard how he fell from the sky on a ball of fire. That he's a warrior unlike anything the world has ever seen!

* Po in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. When he was selected as the Dragon Warrior by Master Oogway, many express their disbelief that a fat, unskilled panda bear could ever become the WorldsGreatestWarrior and jokingly claim that he "fell out of the sky in a ball of fire" and that "when he walks, the very ground shakes". These jokes eventually reach to [[BigBad Tai Lung]], who took them at the face value and genuinely believes Po to be a warrior from the heavens and a foe worthy to test his mettle. Of course, by the time Tai Lung does confront Po, and is baffled by the fact the Dragon Warrior is a fat panda, Po has been trained long enough to be the warrior Tai Lung envisioned him to be and more.

* Subverted with Po in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. When he was selected as the Dragon Warrior by Master Oogway, many express their disbelief that a fat, unskilled panda bear could ever become the WorldsGreatestWarrior and jokingly claim that he "fell out of the sky in a ball of fire" and that "when he walks, the very ground shakes". These jokes eventually reach to [[BigBad Tai Lung]], who took them at the face value and genuinely believes Po to be a warrior from the heavens and a foe worthy to test his mettle. Of course, by the time Tai Lung does confront Po, and is baffled by the fact the Dragon Warrior is a fat panda, Po has been trained long enough to be the warrior Tai Lung envisioned him to be and more.

* Subverted with Po in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. When he was selected as the Dragon Warrior by Master Oogway, many express their disbelief that a fat, unskilled panda bear could ever become the WorldsGreatestWarrior and jokingly claim that he "fell out of the sky in a ball of fire" and that "when he walks, the very ground shakes". These jokes eventually reach to [[BigBad Tai Lung]], who took them at the face value and genuinely believes Po to be a warrior from the heavens and a foe worthy to test his mettle. Of course, by the time Tai Lung does confront Po, the panda has been trained long enough to live up to the warrior Tai Lung envision him to be.

---> '''Tai Lung:''' You think I'm a fool? I know you're not the Dragon Warrior. None of you! I heard how he fell from the sky on a ball of fire. That he's a warrior unlike anything the world has ever seen!

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': In later arcs [[TheCaptain Kaff Tagon]] gains infamy as a badass who can take down battleplates (warships whose size can be measured in ''kilometers'', originally designed to stop meteorites). The two battleplates he's credited with destroying were in fact destroyed by [[EldritchAbomination Pa'anuri]]: the first time he was just lucky enough to escape alive with the rest of the Toughs [[BeneathNotice on account of having a smaller ship]], which left the Pa'anuri to focus entirely on the Tunguska; the Morokweng, on the other hand, ''did'' suffer a lot of damage after [[AIIsACrapshoot Tagii went insane]] and [[DeathOrGloryAttack unloaded all of her weapons and missiles on her way in and out]] while Morokweng's DeflectorShields were down, which was then made infinitely worse when the Pa'anuri tore its way through Morokweng while trying to catch the Touch-and-Go. While Tagon and the Toughs do have notable accomplishments of their own, they are not as well known.