History Main / InvincibleIncompetent

** Jonouchi's an odd combination of IdiotBall and InformedFlaw. For no explained reason except maybe poverty, his deck is mostly full of [[TheLoad weak cards]]. His [[XanatosSpeedChess quick-thinking]] and [[GameBreaker few strong cards]] make up for his weaker monsters in life-threatening scenarios, he'd be MUCH more effective if he'd try a more effective deck-type.

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Rincewind, from ''{{Discworld}}'', is noted for trying to run away from the plot action, yet invariably winning somehow.

* Craig Shaw Garnder's "Ballad of Wuntvor," satirizes the concept. Within the work he refers to the trope as the "Eternal Apprentice".

* ''GetSmart'': Max Smart, who once disarmed an atomic bomb by getting his tie stuck in the timer.

* ''InspectorGadget'': Gadget thwarts Doctor Claw again and again, almost solely on the strengths of his {{Hyper Competent Sidekick}}s or [[TheFool well timed]] [[SpannerInTheWorks slapstick bumbling]]. On the ''very'' rare occasions [[SanityBall he gets a clue what's going on]] however, he is shown to be [[LetsGetDangerous surprisingly competant]].

* FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes: While Johny and Ben are often reasonable fighters they are a lot more effective against doom by accident in one episode, dodging missiles because they're fighting each other and using a two pronged attack because they couldn't agree on a plan.

* Rufus and Amberley from ''TheDreamstone'', outside a few early episodes, rarely showed any true individual strengths or competence, yet defeated the Urpneys time and time again, due to dumb luck, a stronger ally intervening or the Urpneys basically defeating themselves for them. This is an unusual variation, since the Urpneys themselves are incredibly pitiful {{Harmless Villain}}s and usually something of Villain Protagonists, however the Noops rely so little on their own skills to win against them that the former actually come off as more competent than them the odd time their lucky streak ends.
* ''InspectorGadget'': Gadget thwarts Doctor Claw again and again, almost solely on the strengths of his {{Hyper Competent Sidekick}}s. On the ''very'' rare occasions [[SanityBall he gets a clue what's going on]] however, he is shown to be [[LetsGetDangerous surprisingly competant]].

* ''CiaphasCain'': Has a dark and dramatic take on a protagonist who attempts to run away from the action yet always ends up winning.
* ''LordOfTheRings'': Although most of the hobbits get steadily stronger and tougher throughout, Frodo himself provides an example of this trope -- since all of his energies are spent resisting the corruption of The One Ring, Frodo grows weaker rather than stronger, and is constantly rescued from danger by either stumbling around with the vast power of the ring, or the gifts and actions of others.

* ''LordOfTheRings'': Although most of the hobbits get steadily stronger and tougher throughout, Frodo himself provides an arguable example of this trope -- since all of his energies are spent resisting the corruption of The One Ring, Frodo grows weaker rather than stronger, and is constantly rescued from danger by either stumbling around with the vast power of the ring, or the gifts and actions of others.

* ''InspectorGadget'': Gadget thwarts Doctor Claw again and again, almost solely on the strengths of his {{Hyper Competent Sidekick}}s.

This trope caters to audiences who like to identify with the "weaker" side in any conflict. A downside is VillainDecay; it is hard to present a villain as a credible thread if they repeatedly fail to stop the bumbling hero.

* In the ''IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'' nobody can decide if Justy Ueki Tylor is this or just so good it ''[[ObfuscatingStupidity looks]]'' like it.

* ''HarryPotter'': Harry may be the highest-functioning version of this possible, given his constant victories despite rarely being noted as exceptionally gifted at any type of magic other than the Patronus, and fully half the time defeating the villain either by accident or through the actions of another.

* ''ScoobyDoo'' has this trope in two flavors: 1) Shaggy and Scooby always seem to end up finding the weekly monster despite their cowardice, laziness, and complete lack of investigative skills and 2) despite the inevitable failure of Fred's convoluted traps to catch the monster, the monster usually ends up trapped by the end of the episode anyway.

Heroes, as a rule, almost always face overwhelming odds. Even if your story is about a team-up of {{Superman}}, KungFuJesus, and [[TheUnexpected Big]] [[SesameStreet Bird]], the writers will contrive an even greater force to oppose them, so that when [[ForegoneConclusion they inevitably prevail]], it's dramatic.

That's not this trope. This is for heroes who go above and beyond, defeating powerful opponents, despite very little skill or ability (and, in severe cases, not even a lot of smarts or determination, though that characteristic varies much more) of their own. Frequently, they keep this up for years, heroically gaining almost no power as they progress, so as to make their constant victories even more impressive.

The method by which they do so differs. Some win on sheer, blind luck. Others know exactly when to say LetsGetDangerous, intelligently exploit a major weakness of their enemy (though still without gaining any more raw power, talent, or general advantages) before returning to their previous state. Many get by on the efforts of mentors and other side characters. However they do it, it makes them effectively invincible, despite being largely incompetent.

This happens, of course, when writers take the principle that audiences like to identify with the "weaker" side in any conflict to an extreme, and for the exact same reasons that is true, [[TropesAreTools lots of people can really enjoy it]]. On the other hand, it certainly provides a vast well of VillainDecay when a supposedly godlike sorcerer who casts down master wizards on a regular basis is consistently unable to stop those same masters' half-trained apprentice.

Despite the clear comedic applications of this trope, it is just as often played for (relatively idealistic) drama, with the audience expected to root and identify much more with an outclassed hero, and the logical outgrowths of that plot over time.

See also: UnderdogsAlwaysWin, which is this trope on a meta level and primarily applied to sports stories, TheFool and the IdiotHero, who often use this (and which other heroes risk turning into by relying upon this trope). Sometimes called the "Eternal Apprentice," from Craig Shaw Garnder's "Ballad of Wuntvor," where he satirized the concept.

'''NOTE:''' As noted above, this trope has some overlap with several others. For clarity, this is about a character who '''remains far outclassed by their enemies''' (in severe cases, never getting more skilled at all), despite '''many victories''' or other brushes with danger, and '''invariably triumphs through acciden'''t or through the actions of others which this character knew nothing about. Further, this character, specifically, is '''treated as the hero''' for their victories.

InspectorOblivious is a subtrope.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) from ''YuGiOh'' perpetually comes from behind to win. Granted, everyone does this, but Joey never seems to be picked as a favorite to win anything, despite several finals showings.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Many people were not amused when ''ThePhantomMenace'' turned Darth Freakin' Vader into one of these.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* HarryPotter may be the highest-functioning version of this possible, given his constant victories despite rarely being noted as exceptionally gifted at any type of magic other than the Patronus, and fully half the time defeating the villain either by accident or through the actions of another.

** A similar concept is played much, much more darkly and dramatically in ''CiaphasCain, Hero of the Imperium''.
* Although most of the hobbits get steadily stronger and tougher throughout ''LordOfTheRings'', Frodo himself provides an arguable example of this trope - since all of his energies are spent resisting the corruption of The One Ring, Frodo grows weaker rather than stronger, and is constantly rescued from danger by either stumbling around with the vast power of the ring, or the gifts and actions of others.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* [[GetSmart Max Smart]], who once disarmed an atomic bomb by getting his tie stuck in the timer.
* A great deal of the controversy over ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' seasons two and three came from the accusation that the show was surreally writing near-godlike super heroes into this trope, using repeated rounds of Easy Amnesia, the Idiot and Conflict Balls, and a ton of Poor Communication Kills to make the heroes win by contrived, last-minute reversals, when they should have been able to crush their foes effortlessly.
* Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch went seven years without ever learning even one or two simple spells she could reliably not mess up. Notable in that there usually was no villain except for her mastery of this trope alternately causing and fixing problems.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* Fry from ''{{Futurama}}'' is a very comedic example ([[TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] would be, except that his plots seldom involve any actual "victory").

* InspectorGadget thwarts Doctor Claw again and again, almost solely on the strengths of his {{Hyper Competent Sidekick}}s.
* Similarly, JonnyQuest is pretty powerless through the show's whole run, and is constantly being plucked from danger by his father and Race.
----

* Rufus and Amberley from ''TheDreamstone'', outside a few early episodes, rarely showed any true individual strengths or competance, yet defeated the Urpneys time and time again, due to dumb luck, a stronger ally intervening or the Urpneys basically defeating themselves for them. This is an unusual variation, since the Urpneys themselves are incredibly pitiful Harmless Villains and usually something of Villain Protagonists, however the Noops rely so little on their own skills to win against them that the former actually come off as more competant than them the odd time their lucky streak ends.

That's not this trope.

This is for heroes who go above and beyond, defeating powerful opponents, despite very little skill or ability (and, in severe cases, not even a lot of smarts or determination, though that characteristic varies much more) of their own. Frequently, they keep this up for years, heroically gaining almost no power as they progress, so as to make their constant victories even more impressive.

Heroes, as a rule, almost always face overwhelming odds. Even if your story is about a team-up of {{Superman}}, KungFuJesus, and [[TheUnexpected Big]] [[SeasameStreet Bird]], the writers will contrive an even greater force to oppose them, so that when [[ForegoneConclusion they inevitably prevail]], it's dramatic.

* Fry from ''{{Futurama}}'' is a very comedic example ([[TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] would be, except that his plots seldom involve any actual "victory").
* [[GetSmart Max Smart]], who once disarmed an atomic bomb by getting his tie stuck in the timer.

* Many people were not amused when ''ThePhantomMenace'' turned Darth Freakin' Vader into one of these.

* Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) from ''YuGiOh'' perpetually comes from behind to win. Granted, everyone does this, but Joey never seems to be picked as a favorite to win anything, despite several finals showings.

* A great deal of the controversy over ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' seasons two and three came from the accusation that the show was surreally writing near-godlike super heroes into this trope, using repeated rounds of Easy Amnesia, the Idiot and Conflict Balls, and a ton of Poor Communication Kills to make the heroes win by contrived, last-minute reversals, when they should have been able to crush their foes effortlessly.
* SabrinaTheTeenageWitch went seven years without ever learning even one or two simple spells she could reliably not mess up. Notable in that there usually was no villain except for her mastery of this trope alternately causing and fixing problems.

* Rincewind, from {{Discworld}}, noted for trying to run away from the plot action, yet invariably winning somehow.
** A similar concept is played much, much more darkly and dramatically in Caiphas Cain, Hero Of The Imperium.
* Fry from {{Futurama}} is a very comedic example ([[TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] would be, except that his plots seldom involve any actual "victory").

* Although most of the hobbits get steadily stronger and tougher throughout LordOfTheRings, Frodo himself provides an arguable example of this trope - since all of his energies are spent resisting the corruption of The One Ring, he grows weaker rather than stronger, and is constantly rescued from danger by either stumbling around with the vast power of the ring, or the gifts and actions of others.
* Many people were not amused when The Phantom Menace turned Darth Freakin' Vader into one of these.
* ScoobyDoo has this trope in two flavors: 1) Shaggy and Scooby always seem to end up finding the weekly monster despite their cowardice, laziness, and complete lack of investigative skills and 2) despite the inevitable failure of Fred's convoluted traps to catch the monster, the monster usually ends up trapped by the end of the episode anyway.
* Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) from Yu-Gi-Oh!, who perpetually comes from behind to win. Granted, everyone does this, but Joey never seems to be picked as a favorite to win anything, despite several finals showings.
* Rufus and Amberley from TheDreamstone, outside a few early episodes, rarely showed any true individual strengths or competance, yet defeated the Urpneys time and time again, either due to dumb luck, a stronger ally intervening or the Urpneys basically defeating themselves for them. This is an unusual variation, since the Urpneys themselves are incredibly pitiful Harmless Villains and usually something of Villain Protagonists, however the Noops rely so little on their own skills to win against them that the former actually come off as more competant than them the odd time their lucky streak ends.

* Similarly, JohnnyQuest is pretty powerless through the show's whole run, and is constantly being plucked from danger by his father and Race.
* A great deal of the controversy over {{Heroes}} seasons two and three came from the accusation that the show was surreally writing near-godlike super heroes into this trope, using repeated rounds of Easy Amnesia, the Idiot and Conflict Balls, and a ton of Poor Communication Kills to make the heroes win by contrived, last-minute reversals, when they should have been able to crush their foes effortlessly.

Examples:

* SabrinaTheTeenageWitch went seven years without ever learning even one or two simple spells she could reliably not mess up. Notable in that there usually was no villain except for her mastery of this trope alternately causing and fixing problems.