History Main / FragileSpeedster

** SquishyWizard Sigilyph also counts, with an above-average speed of 97. And if you run into a Sigilyph with a speed of [[hottip:322:Sigilyph's maxinum speed]], it can [[BeamSpam use devastating laser beams]], but its HP is lackluster, and its Defenses are both at 80. However...

When targeted by enemy fire, most pilots begin to manuever, twist and turn, and launch a volley of countermeasures to avoid the incoming projectiles; the Blackbird pilots instead responded by simply accelearting to a point that no aircraft could catch them, no shell could strike them, and no missile could go fast enough to challenge them. Having an especially low (for the time) radar cross section was just overkill. Of course, being an unarmed strategic scout that was not weighed down by weapons helped--it was built to do nothing but fly fast and take pictures[[hottip:*: The SR-71 was originally designed to launch ''drones'', serving as a launch platform for early [=UAVs=], until it was realized that the SR-71 could go ''higher'' than the drones, fly ''faster'', and were much easier to recover.]], which meant it could specialize in its roles quite well.

* Grant Danasty from ''[[{{Castlevania}} Castlevania III]]'' fits this category fairly well; he's fast and can cling to surfaces, but also has a very weak weapon and takes more damage from enemy attacks than the main character.
** Richter Belmont in ''Symphony of the Night'' has special moves that allow him to move extremely fast and [[SequenceBreaking Sequence Break]] like a mofo; a dextrous Richter player can beat the game in ''less than ten minutes'', and this is without glitches. However, he has as much health and defense as a classical Castlevania character (i.e. Simon, Trevor, and his ''Rondo of Blood'' self).
** Similarly, Maria Renard, also from ''Rondo''. She moves faster than the [[FanNickname pimp-walking]] Richter, has a slide attack that allows her to [[GameBreaker tear right through the bridge part of Stage 7]], but she has even less defense than Richter, both in ''Rondo'' and ''Symphony''.
** Naturally, Grant fills this role in ''Judgment'', as do Carmilla and Death (!).
** Maxim from ''HarmonyOfDissonance''. Juste himself is already pretty damn fast, but Maxim is even faster still, but has much less defense, and speed based attacks. He does have a healing spell, but it causes loads of hearts and the button combination is awkward.

* Skate/Sammy from ''[[StreetsOfRage Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckles]]''

* Lightweights in VideoGame/MarioKart were more or less like this. They could accelerate quickly, and were excellent off-road, but are really easily knocked around by the heavier classes. If the player slows down for even a second (Red/Spiny Shells, anyone?), expect someone from behind to drive into them, sending them careening off a ledge.

* Faith of ''MirrorsEdge'' is a prime example. She can't take too much in the way of subautomatic fire. Good thing she can cross a hallway, shimmy up the wall, and scoot down an airvent in the time it takes some of the enemies to turn and get a bead on her.
* Talon, the ''[[StockDinosaurs Deinonychus]]'' from ''PrimalRage''.
* Sasha from ''RondoOfSwords'' is a typical example. Great movement, terrible defense.

* [[http://mistiryshak.tumblr.com/post/56621840245/hello-friends-i-am-in-erie-now-on-the-car-ride Sonic Fandom]] from the Fandomstuck RPG.

* [http://mistiryshak.tumblr.com/post/56621840245/hello-friends-i-am-in-erie-now-on-the-car-ride/ Sonic Fandom] from the Fandomstuck RPG.

* The ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' games are full of these. M5 class ships (scouts) go extremely fast but die with a couple blasts from a heavy fighter's cannon, and ships made by the Boron move fast but have weak shields. Ships made by the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Split]] are very fast and have pathetic shielding, though they have more firepower.

* In the ''MonsterRancher'' games, the Rabbit and Pixie characters are extremely high dodge and quick movement. However they have low defense. Often fights against heavy defense enemies (like golems and knights) will run time out as the heavy can't hit the speedster, and the speedster can only deal minimal damage. This means the speedster is more likely to win, but it's a gamble, as chances are one hit will completely KO her.

--> -- '''[[{{God}} Frith]]''' to '''[[GuileHero El-ahrairah]]''', ''WatershipDown''

** Also from ''Frontier'', Koji's evolutions are this bordering on lightning bruiser.

* A few {{Kamen Rider}}s who use [[MultiformBalance multiple forms]] have forms emphasize speed over strength and defense.
** ''[[KamenRiderBlackRX Black RX]]'': '''Bio Rider'''
** ''[[KamenRiderKuuga Kuuga]]'': '''Dragon Form''' and '''Rising Dragon Form'''.
** ''[[KamenRiderAgito Agito]]'': '''Storm Form'''
** ''[[{{KamenRiderDen-O}} Den-O]]'': '''Liner Form'''
** ''[[KamenRiderKiva Kiva]]'': '''Garulu Form'''
** ''[[KamenRiderDouble Double]]'': '''Kamen Rider Accel Trial'''
** ''[[KamenRiderOOO OOO]]'': '''[=LaToraTah=] Combo'''
** ''[[KamenRiderFourze Fourze]]'': '''Rocket States'''
** ''[[KamenRiderWizard Wizard]]'': '''Hurricane Style'''
*** ''[[TheLancer Beast]]'': '''Falco Mantle'''

** His ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork Battle Network]]'' counterpart, however, subverts it, instead going for a LightningBruiser approach. Just ask anyone after their [[WakeUpCallBoss first encounter]] with him.

* Every ''{{Homeworld}}'' game starts you up with scout fighters that are ridiculously fast, but start popping like balloons as soon as someone directs an anti-fighter weapon in their general direction.

* {{Quicksilver}} (Pietro Maximoff) from ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' and ''{{X-Men Evolution}}'', and the list goes on. He may be able to break the sound barrier and deliver punches at the speed of light, but if a Tank ''does'' manage to land a hit, he's usually out and down. Depending on the writer, he might be presented as more of a LightningBruiser having taken some serious damage on multiple occasions.

* Most flying insects don't have any real offensive weaponary, but are capable at flying at high speeds that make them nearly impossible to hit. Case in point, the fly.

* In ''GuildWars2'', Thieves are often forced into combat-heavy situations with less-than-adequate defense, and very few defensive skills at their disposal. Instead, they rely on an awful lot of dodge-rolling, turning invisible, [[FlashStep Shadow Stepping]], crippling their enemy while using speed boosts, and just generally being a pain in the ass. With some builds that emphasize offense in addition to their ability to ''BackStab'' ''ForMassiveDamage'', they often straddle the line between this trope and ''GlassCannon'' territory.

* In ''GuildWars2'', Thieves are often forced into combat-heavy situations with less-than-adequate defense, and very few defensive skills at their disposal. Instead, they rely on an awful lot of dodge-rolling, turning invisible, [[FlashStep Shadow Stepping]], crippling their enemy while using speed boosts, and just generally being a pain in the ass. With some builds that emphasize offense in addition to their ability to [[BackStab]] [[ForMassiveDamage]], they often straddle the line between this trope and [[GlassCannon]] territory.

* Kid Flash in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. He seems to have a hard time stopping and ends up running into things a lot of the time. This is [[LampshadedHanging lampshaded]] in an early episode, and as revealed there and in the tie-in comic, is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], he got his powers by recreating the accident that gave the current Flash his powers, but he had less of the chemicals that caused it, so his powers are weaker. This is shown when Impulse comes back from the future and shows that he is faster than Kid Flash, even though he's younger (according to WordOfGod, Wally doesn't have a connection to the speed force like Flash and Impulse).

** A [[BeavisAndButthead certain duo]] once had a run in with a fly[[labelnote:*]]in the episode "Die Fly, Die!"[[/labelnote]]. They used fists, hammers, shovels, [[ChainsawGood chainsaws]] & baseball bats to kill it...& they end up taking all of the heat.

** ''XMenVsStreetFighter'' adopted ''StreetFighter'' speedsters like Chun-Li and Cammy.

A Fragile Speedster often relies on HitAndRunTactics or ConfusionFu to gain an advantage over slower foes. If the character has little offensive power and uses speed as a way of evading attacks, he may resemble a StoneWall. If a Fragile Speedster has lots of offensive power, this trope can overlap with the GlassCannon.

Still, being fast has its downsides -- what you gain in mobility, you lose in durability. After all, it's hard to keep up that kind of speed when a heavy suit of armor is weighing you down. As a result, the FragileSpeedster is often forced to rely on dodging abilities to avoid getting struck in the first place, and if he does take a hit, down he goes. The racing variant tends give lighter vehicles high acceleration and maneuverability but low top speed.

A FragileSpeedster often relies on HitAndRunTactics or ConfusionFu to gain an advantage over slower foes. If the character has little offensive power and uses speed as a way of evading attacks, he may resemble a StoneWall. If a FragileSpeedster has lots of offensive power, this trope can overlap with the GlassCannon.

* The main character of ''WhipIt'' was the roller-derby version of a FragileSpeedster. Very fast and good at scoring points, but very tiny and easily knocked down if her opponent could catch her.

* The title character from StanLee's ''Lightspeed''. Unlike most, this speedster shows ''actual'' negative effects from his power, ranging from windburn to problems with his metabolism and heart.

** Just like in ''VideoGame/FinalFight''. Guy is an FragileSpeedster.

** ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'' brought in SpiderMan with his web-slinging, although he started out with [[GlassCannon high damage]] in this game.

*** Actually Getter varies on what from it's in. Getter-1 is a GlassCannon, Getter-2 is a FragileSpeedster, and Getter-3 is [[CripplingOverspecialization an aquatic specialist.]]

*** However, for the most part, the strategy would be let Getter-1 do all the work , with adapters if necessary -- no one gives a shit about the other form. This is caused by several problem. While Getter-2 is a FragileSpeedster, it has crappy damage output and has CripplingOverspecialization in form of being unable to attack flying units. Getter-3 is extremely useful in some games that has water parts, has powerful ammo long range attack, and an attack that is usually as strong as Getter-1's second strongest attack actualy with much cheaper Energy cost. On the other hand Getter-1 is a GlassCannon of a JackOfAllStats kind. It did not have the armor and evasion of the other form, but it has decent evasion and armor as it is, and with Open Get, it can survive in a more evasive ways. Getter-1, being the main form, also gets all the new attack upgrades that has the best damage output in the game.

** OG also gives us the Fairlion twins piloted by Latooni Subota and Princess Shine Hausen, who are probably the best examples of the FragileSpeedster. The Fairlions by themselves are very dodgy real robots with decent evasion stats and the "[[DopplegangerSpin Double Image]]" ability, but sticking Latooni and Shine in them makes them virtually untouchable, especially once Shine hits 130 Will and her Prophecy ability activates. Arm them with some long-range weapons and keep them near each other so they can use their CombinationAttack, and they can slaughter entire ''waves'' of mooks and emerge unscathed.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' actually has a FragileSpeedster as a ''Boss'': [[spoiler:Jeane]] has remarkably low health for a boss, but can counter your grabs, dodge pretty much all of your attacks, and moves incredibly fast.

** The problems inherent in being a FragileSpeedster cause it to get utterly [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] by the Collectors at the beginning of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. When Cerberus designed the ''Normandy SR-2'', they attempted to refine the specifications to let it withstand more of a punch. Shepard can find further upgrades to allow it to shift into LightningBruiser territory.

* ''[[JakAndDaxter Jak X]]'': about half the available cars are built for speed over durability, but the ones that most exemplify the FragileSpeedster approach to combat racing are the [[strike:Mayfly]] Firebat and the Havoc [[strike:A4]] V12. While going really fast in a racing game would usually be a good thing, there are plenty of weapons dotted around the tracks and you can be killed by brushing against a wall, meaning that a high velocity often only serves to put you in front of someone's machine guns.

* ''{{Vindictus}}'' character Lann is a fast [[DualWield dual-wielder]] with almost no armour, who relies on his dodge skill to avoid attacks; starting out well into the GlassCannon end of the spectrum, and easily the most fragile character at low levels. He can develop the ability to wear heavier armour at higher levels; but his low [=HP=] and defense keep him a FragileSpeedster, although still more resiliant than [[SquishyWizard the mage Evie]]. With the right skill build, he can become a LightningBruiser at very high levels.

** Aang. In general, airbending is the FragileSpeedster to earthbendings MightyGlacier, focusing on agility and tactic rather than brute force. Judging from the flashbacks, the airbenders usually are less bulky in their stature. However, as they are martial artist, it's not determined how "fragile" they are.

** Of course, they're still no match for the more heavily-built types of antelope, so their prey usually consists of FragileSpeedster ''herbivores'' like gazelles.

* Ferns are the [[FragileSpeedster Fragile Speedsters]] of the plant world. They are nearly always the first plants to reappear after a large land-clearing fire, but can't compete with grasses, shrubs, and trees in the long term.

* Cruiserweights are usually a fair bit smaller than heavyweights and capable of many faster and more acrobatic stunts and moves. However, most of them will be beaten with just a couple of power moves by a big guy. Subverted (mostly) by ReyMysterioJr, who is the smallest and arguably quickest member of the main eventers, and JeffHardy, who does a lot of running and flying around. Both are able to absorb horrific amounts of abuse from larger opponents and keep fighting on... more or less playing real life [[CherryTapping Cherry Tappers]].
* The face Divas of the WWE that have smaller body types like KellyKelly, EveTorres, AJ and AliciaFox tend to use fast paced WaifFu type tactics with a lot of handsprings and gymnastics. Former Diva Lita was the first in WWE to employ this style.
* Over in TNA Sarita and Rosita both wrestle with fast paced lucha libre style moves.