History Main / FlawedPrototype

* When doing ''anything'' for the first time, it generally takes a few tries or some time to work out the kinks and bugs and what-not.

* Surprisingly the SuperPrototype 4th generation Byakkushiki from ''InfiniteStratos'' counts as this since as stated by [[TheAce Chifuyu]] it has a very powerful weapon, but it doesn't have enough energy to sustain it. Not to mention so far that all of [[TheHero Ichika's]] battles consists of GunsVsSwords.

* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has Lore, the prototype for [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Data]], possessing the same strength, speed, endurance and physical design. But unlike Data, who only gained emotions later in life, Lore was created with them from the start, which led to him being [[EvilTwin amoral and mentally unstable]]. Lore initially claimed, and believed, that he was "too perfect" and that Data was created as an inferior model, though their creator later explained that they're perfectly equal and that the colonists weren't jealous of Lore's abilities, but terrified of his outbursts. It's later revealed that Data and Lore were just the last and most successful of a string of prototype androids, with one of them, the childlike B-4, showing up in ''StarTrekNemesis''.

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* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has Lore, the prototype for [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Data]], possessing the same strength, speed, endurance and physical design. But unlike Data, who only gained emotions later in life, Lore was created with them from the start, which led to him being amoral and mentally unstable. Lore initially claimed, and believed, that he was "too perfect" for the colonists and that Data was created as an inferior model, though their creator later explained that they're perfectly equal and that the colonists weren't jealous of Lore's abilities, but terrified of his outbursts. It's later revealed that Data and Lore were just the last and most successful of a string of prototype androids, with one of them, the childlike B-4, showing up in ''StarTrekNemesis''.

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* ''{{Bionicle}}'': Mata Nui resurrected his old broken prototype on Bara Magna to fight his evil brother, Makuta, who had taken over his body. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy~=]'', in all its various incarnations: Marvin the [[strike:Paranoid Android]] [[TheEeyore perpetually depressed]] android.
--> '''Marvin:''' "Let's build robots with Genuine People Personalities," they said. So they tried it out with me. I'm a personality prototype. You can tell, can't you?

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* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has Lore, the prototype for Data, possessing the same strength, endurance and design, but with added emotions (which were apparently flawed enough to lead to him going insane and turning bad).
** Lore initially lied to Data claiming that he was the second brother - created because Data's lack of emotion made ''him'' imperfect.
** There was also [[StarTrekNemesis B-4]], a primitive android with a child-like personality.

The Flawed Prototype may be a protagonist, antagonist or supporting character. A protagonist who is a Flawed Prototype may be a PhlebotinumRebel with the unenviable task of taking out his better made brothers, usually MyHeroZero will get the job done because he's WeakButSkilled. An antagonistic Flawed Prototype is usually a BetaTestBaddie who is jealous of the "perfect" hero, or is a PsychoPrototype who [[ForTheEvulz just wants to kill him for the lulz.]] Most commonly seen as a supporting character, the Flawed Prototype will usually act as a BigBrotherMentor for the hero, helping bail them out while they're learning how to use their abilities but (usually) [[MentorOccupationalHazard being unable to help beat]] the BigBad. For these reasons, the supporting flawed prototype is usually an EnsembleDarkhorse among fans, as Protoman on the left effortlessly demonstrates.

* BobAndGeorge: Dr. Light explains the previous robots as this: they ran off to fight evil instead of helping him about the lab.

* On ''{{Phineas and Ferb}}'', one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's plans involves making several clones of Perry [[ClearMyName to frame him]]. The very first one out is Jerry the Platypus, a dumb, imperfect version that [[PetTheDog Doofenshmirtz can't bear to throw out]].

** The Laevatein itself is an example, as it is basically a heavily stripped-down Arbalest focused entirely on direct combat, lacking standard Arm Slave features like the ECM stealth cloak. Furthermore, due to the energy requirements of its muscle packages, has an operating time just shy of 30 hours, about a third that of standard Arm Slaves, the only reason the thing is even functional is because [=AL=] is supporting the OS, telling sousuke that if he 'tore him out' the laevatein would be a real piece of junk, and in the penultimate novel we learn that its systems are rapidly decaying and it can only operate for a two or three battles before it breaks down completely.

* the ZZGundam, enormous power requirements for its weapons aside, due to its transformation/combination gimmick the mobile suit is structually very weak, the full armour add-on was partially to make it structually sound enough so it wouldn't break apart if hit in the right spot.

[[Game/MegaMan http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Protoman.jpg]]
[[caption-width:256:Game/MegaMan's predecessor, cursed with an unstable core.]]

* ''{{Batman the Brave and the Bold}}'': In the episode "The Plague of the Prototypes!" Batman must use his bumbling beta-test robot "Proto" to combat his Bat-Robots that have been taken over by Black Mask.

** The Laevatein itself is an example, as it is basically a heavily stripped-down Arbalest focused entirely on direct combat, lacking standard Arm Slave features like the ECM stealth cloak. Furthermore, due to the energy requirements of its muscle packages, has an operating time just shy of 30 hours, about a third that of standard Arm Slaves, and in the penultimate novel we learn that its systems are rapidly decaying and it can only operate for a two or three battles before it breaks down completely.

[[MegaMan http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Protoman.jpg]]
[[caption-width:256:Megaman's predecessor, cursed with an unstable core.]]

* [[MegaMan Proto Man]] is a good fighter, and certainly [[BadAss stylish]], but a flaw in his power systems will someday kill him.

* Both the "Alt Eisen" and "Weiss Ritter" of ''SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' were exceptionally expensive to mass-produce as the next-generation line of mecha for TheFederation, the former practically being unpilotable, due to it being too heavy and deemed clumsy because of its weaponry. Both are rejected; fortunately, the mechanical designer found two pilots able to use the Alt and Weiss to capable, if not, BadassAbnormal levels that it ultimately subverts this trope by turning the mecha into {{Ace Custom}}s.

* [[FullMetalPanic Leonard Testarossa]]'s Personal Arm Slave the Plann 1055 Belial is considered the most powerful Arm Slave ever made, howeever it has one major flaw, it has no weapons on it to speak of as it relies entirely on its lambda driver for offense and defence, which ends up spelling disaster when the Arbalests successor the [=ARX-8=] Laevatein has a device on it that disables lambda drivers.
** the Laevatein also has its own critical flaws, namely that to maximise its performance and remove excess weight it has no Electronic Countermeasures at all, and due to the energy requirements of its muscle packages, has an operating time just shy of 30 hours (by comparision the [=M9E=], Codarl, Savage and Arbalest have operating times of about 90-100 hours)

* The ''Defiant'' from ''[[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]].''
** The flaw being?
*** Sarcasm notwithstanding, the Defiant was ''extremely'' overpowered, engine-wise, to the point where it nearly tore itself to pieces on its shakedown cruise. It took the better part of a season and [[MrFixIt O'Brien]] replacing just about everything to make the blasted machine work as it was expected to.