History Main / JadedWashout

[[caption-width-right:250:Al Bundy at work. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Al_Bundy_230.png It gets worse for him.]] And this isn’t even his main job.]]

* At the start of ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'' Tim seemed to be on the path to becoming this despite only being 21; he gave up on his dream of being a Pokémon Trainer after the death of his mother, worked a menial job as an insurance salesman, and was implied to still live with his grandmother while all of his friends left town to become Trainers. [[spoiler: By the end of the film he's found his calling and decided to follow in his father's footsteps as a detective.]]

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': Mical from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' is a {{Downplayed}} example. When the Exile meets him, he's doing a little "light" reading in some creature-infested ruins. He introduces himself as a historian working for the Republic Navy. This is only ''partly'' true since it's obvious he knows ''way'' too much about Jedi, even for a historian. He was once a promising Jedi apprentice, but when the Mandalorian Wars hit, many of the younger Knights (including Exile) left to fight, meaning he had no one to train him and came of age without reaching Padawan rank, meaning he was kicked out and left to fend for himself. [[spoiler:He's really a Republic Intelligence agent Carth (or Cede) has employed as a spy on the Exile's vessel. Depending on the Exile's path, and if Exile chooses to train him as a Jedi, he ends up as a Grandmaster of the rebuilt Jedi Order or a Republic Senator.]]

--> '''Godzilla''': I don't know. ''Look'' at me...I used to be ''the king''. Now I'm a fat, old, fat ''joke''. When I was young, I could have won this fight easily.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':

* A villainous example appears in ''{{Series/Peacemaker}}'', Peacemaker's father, Auggie Smith, is a former supervillain and white supremacist known as the White Dragon. It's stated multiple times that in his prime, the White Dragon was a trained killer and a feared supervillain. By the time of the series though, he's well past his prime and spends most of his time watching right wing talk shows. When he decides to get back in the game, he's quickly disposed of once his armor is disabled and his henchmen killed off.

%%* Monica Rambeau/Captain Marvel of ''ComicBook/{{Nextwave}}''. Did you know she used to lead ComicBook/TheAvengers?
* To some extent Peter Parker, Franchise/SpiderMan falls into this. He has great skills and ambitions but he is not able to apply himself out of his responsibility as a superhero, as a family man and is often regarded skeptically by his friends for not always being there. He's one of the top scientific minds on the planet, yet even as an adult he normally ekes out a living from selling photos to Jameson instead of pursuing a career that puts his genius to use.

* The future Marty [=McFly=] in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' is very miserable, having given up on his rock'n'roll dreams [[CareerEndingInjury after injuring his hand]] in a serious auto accident in 1985 [[NobodyCallsMeChicken because he got called "chicken"]], and is in an unhappy marriage to his girlfriend Jennifer working a menial job, which he gets fired from after trying to show Needles he's no chicken by running his credit card on an insider trading scam which fails. In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Marty avoids getting into the auto accident and learns to better control his temper, thereby erasing this BadFuture and putting a better future in play.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** ''Luke Skywalker himself'' has become this by the time of ''Film/TheLastJedi'', after, [[spoiler:in a moment of weakness upon sensing the growing darkness in his nephew, Ben Solo, he comes dangerously close to killing him, at his new Jedi academy, causing Ben to protect himself, [[StartOfDarkness destroy the academy, slaughter his fellow students]] and become Kylo Ren]]. This incident, combined with learning of the Jedi Order's most unsavoury actions during The Clone Wars and Luke's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone own guilt and regret about nearly murdering his beloved nephew]] left Luke so utterly furious and disappointed at the Jedi, not unlike his late father, that he decided to willingly cut himself from The Force and leave the Galaxy on a self-imposed exile on the oceanic planet of Ahch-To, where he spends his day pathetically waiting for his death, drinking [[WeirdWorldWeirdFood Thala-Siren milk and eating the fishes of the planet's sea]] under the missguided belief that the definite extinction of the Jedi is for the greater good of the Galaxy. It ultimately [[spoiler:takes the visit of a [[Characters/StarWarsYoda certain short, green, elderly and pointy-eared Force ghost]] to convince Luke that, while the Jedi may have committed many mistakes that led to their downfall, perhaps a whole new generation can finally set things straight]].

* Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses:

* Mike Posner's "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" has the singer [[SelfDeprecation present himself]] as feeling unfulfilled with his life since his career as a pop singer crashed and burned after only one hit song six years prior (ironically, this song would become his second hit.) The song's title refers to a time when Posner did ecstasy at a party to impress Music/{{Avicii}}, who only got famous in the years after Posner's career flopped. Posner still found modest success as a songwriter for other artists, but admits in the song that the money, women, and fancy cars can't make up for what he feels he lost.

* Bob Parr from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', post SuperRegistrationAct. His job at an insurance company isn't just soul-crushingly monotonous, but he's expected to deny the claims of policyholders in order to save the company money, even if they are entitled to money. No wonder he [[JumpedAtTheCall Jumps at the Call]]. His family life, while a bit shaky, is stable compared to the other examples of this trope.
* Peter B. Parker from ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse''. Middle age and his split from MJ have not been kind to him, and his morale, physique, and career as a superhero are on the ropes. He's even described in-universe, and not inaccurately, as "the janky, old, broke Hobo-Spider-Man". Ouch.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Meg is one of the few female examples of this trope. How many redeeming moments has she ever had throughout the series? Very, ''very'' few. And when things start to look up for her, chances are, [[StatusQuoIsGod they're gonna fall apart by the end of the episode.]] [[ThrowTheDogABone Though this is changing.]]
%%** Peter Griffin.
%%** Also Stewie in the future segment of ''Recap/StewieGriffinTheUntoldStory''.

* Walter White at the beginning of ''Series/BreakingBad''. A brilliant chemist who once had a bright future ahead of him, he sold his shares in a company that would've made him millions, resulting in him watching his former best friend and college girlfriend become wealthy and successful while he's stuck as a disrespected high school teacher and part-time car washer, struggling to support his wife and disabled son.

* In ''Literature/LucifersStar'' by Creator/CTPhipps, Cassius Mass used to be an AcePilot and TheWhitePrince but a TraumaCongaLine resulted in him becoming this. Notably, Cassius isn't actually that upset about it as he believes he deserves obscurity after serving as a soldier for TheEmpire and getting so many of his friends killed.

* ''Creator/EricFlint'''s ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' had a younger version of this: Chip. A football star in high school, dating the head cheerleader (Julie Sims), after high school he was outraged that his girlfriend actually became interested in someone else, and began to fight him with a pool cue. Unfortunately, the "someone else" was an excellent swordsman and a blooded soldier who promptly initiated a saber duel, fully intending to kill Chip. Eventually the duel was called off, and Chip's friends roundly criticized him, telling him to grow up, and specifically invoking this trope ("you'll be flipping burgers the rest of your life").

* In some episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer exhibits this trope -- particularly in the spoof of the 49up series of documentaries, in which Homer was dissatisfied with his life in general. At other times, of course, Homer seems to invert this trope. This is occasionally played semi-sympathetically, as when flashbacks reveal Homer to have been an accomplished gymnast in high school and such, but that [[WellDoneSonGuy his father's cynical comments about him destroyed his confidence]]. Homer has plenty to regret in life but is usually just too lighthearted to let it get him down. He always admits at the end that he also has a lot to be proud of.

* Mister Herkabe from ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' is an academic version of this. He's a former ChildProdigy who gained advanced degrees from Princeton and Harvard and became a self-made millionaire, then lost everything in the Dot Com crash, and was forced to take a low status job teaching at his old middle school. His only remaining achievemnt is an award for highest ever GPA in the history of his high school, and his only joy in life is tormenting his students.

* ''Film/SkyHigh2005'': Coach Boomer. He, as the Commander puts it, "never made the big time" as a superhero, so now he works as a coach at the titular superhero school, passing judgment on the kids of other heroes by arbitrarily deciding if they are "hero" or "sidekick" material after a brief demonstration of their powers, and [[MakeMeWannaShout giving an earful to those who object]].

* Simon Trent, the typecast actor who played the Gray Ghost, years after the show was cancelled, in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. It's a more sympathetic portrayal than most, however, and he eventually does get out of his slump.

* Bob Parr from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', post SuperRegistrationAct. His job at an insurance company isn't just soul-crushingly monotonous, but he's expected to deny the claims of policyholders in order to save the company money, even if they are entitled to money. No wonder he [[JumpedAtTheCall Jumps at the Call]]. His family life, while a bit shaky, is stable compared to the other examples of this trope.

* Al Bundy from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' was the former TropeNamer. Once Polk High's most notable football player ("[[MemeticMutation ...scored four touchdowns in one game]]"), now a pathetic shoe salesman married to another Jaded Washout--former [[AlphaBitch mean girl]] and [[ReallyGetsAround high school bicycle]] Peggy Wanker--with two hell-raising children and a shiftless dog. Much of the humor and popularity of the show came from the [[StepfordSuburbia depression of suburban life]], as anyone who worked in a degrading, low-paying, miserable, [[OverlyLongGag menial]], service-industry job may find him less of an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist than others (work a job where you are regularly [[UnsatisfiableCustomer abused by customers]] for a few years and Al Bundy will be your patron saint). Although a chauvinist, a loud mouth and a loser, Al Bundy himself isn't without his virtues. [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther He genuinely loves his wife and family]] though [[{{Tsundere}} he won't admit it outright]], [[AllTakeAndNoGive regularly sacrificed for his children and his wife]], [[OverprotectiveDad is quick to protect his kids]], and would never cheat on his lazy, bonbon-eating, whiny, sex-starved wife Peg (though he does go to the nudie bar and reads porno mags like ''Playboy'' and ''Big Uns'').

* Blanche Dubois from ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'', mostly because she is insecure about her ChristmasCake status.

** ''Luke Skywalker himself'' has become this by the time of ''Film/TheLastJedi'', after, [[spoiler:in a moment of weakness upon sensing the growing darkness in his nephew, Ben Solo, he comes dangerously close to killing him, at his new Jedi academy, causing Ben to protect himself, [[StartOfDarkness destroy the academy, slaughter his fellow students]] and become Kylo Ren]]. This incident, combined with learning of the Jedi Order's most unsavoury actions during The Clone Wars and Luke's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone own guilt and regret about nearly murdering his beloved nephew]] left Luke so utterly furious and disappointed at the Jedi, not unlike his late father, that he decided to willingly cut himself from The Force and leave the Galaxy on a self-imposed exile on the oceanic planet of Ahch-To, where he spends his day pathetically waiting for his death, drinking [[AlienLunch Thala-Siren milk and eating the fishes of the planet's sea]] under the missguided belief that the definite extinction of the Jedi is for the greater good of the Galaxy. It ultimately [[spoiler:takes the visit of a [[Characters/StarWarsYoda certain short, green, elderly and pointy-eared Force ghost]] to convince Luke that, while the Jedi may have committed many mistakes that led to their downfall, perhaps a whole new generation can finally set things straight]].

May often be heard complaining about not getting justly rewarded for all their effort, though closer inspection will show them to be a profoundly uninspired if not outright lazy worker and angrily resentful of those who've matured beyond them.

* Bob Parr from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', post SuperRegistrationAct. No wonder he [[JumpedAtTheCall Jumps at the Call]]. His family life, while a bit shaky, is stable compared to the other examples of this trope.

** Tohru Adachi of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' is an uncharacteristically young version of this trope. Throughout his S. Link in ''Persona 4 Golden'', he confides in the main character that life didn't turn out as well for him as he once imagined it would. At one time, he was at the top of his graduating class at the police academy but got stuck in the boonies, where he struggles to prove himself. He talks about how lonely he is, having early on sacrificed personal relationships for the betterment of his career. Because of his early successes in life, [[spoiler: he comes to believe he is owed things from society; namely, love. Later on, this entitlement complex becomes a motivating factor towards him kidnapping (and murdering) Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi]].
** A downplayed example is Sae Niijima from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}''. While she initially possessed a strong sense of justice, she has been worn down by being PromotedToParent in the wake of her father's death and being overshadowed by her male colleagues at the prosecutor's office; by the time of the game's beginning, she's nothing but a cynical, bitter, borderline AmoralAttorney who only cares about winning cases no matter what, and resents her younger sister Makoto, viewing her [[ResentfulGuardian as a burden]] and being jealous that Makoto has the freedom to choose what to do with her life while Sae herself is stuck in a dead-end job where she's constantly overshadowed by her male colleagues. [[spoiler:She grows out of it thanks to CharacterDevelopment, rediscovering said sense of justice and deciding to become a defense attorney.]][[note]]It's worth noting that the negative traits are amplified only when Sae is under stress, and she has excellent motivations for the negative traits: she wants to win because she's trying to get ahead so she can provide a better life for Makoto; she resents that Makoto has the freedom to choose her own life, but works hard to ''give'' Makoto that freedom because she wants her sister to have the choices she didn't; while there are implications that Sae would ''consider'' fabricating evidence or a confession, she never actually does it, and in fact her methods of interrogating Joker are nothing but reasonable throughout. She only starts to lose her grip when she comes under extreme pressure to catch the Phantom Thieves. Her boss threatens her by saying that failure will result in her termination, which she can't afford. [[spoiler:She's also never actually subjected to a change of heart, which means she wasn't anywhere near the point of villainy like the other Phantom Thieves targets.]][[/note]]

** Tohru Adachi of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' is an uncharacteristically young version of this trope. Throughout his S. Link in Persona 4 Golden, he confides in the main character that life didn't turn out as well for him as he once imagined it would. At one time, he was at the top of his graduating class at the police academy but got stuck in the boonies, where he struggles to prove himself. He talks about how lonely he is, having early on sacrificed personal relationships for the betterment of his career. Because of his early successes in life, [[spoiler: he comes to believe he is owed things from society; namely, love. Later on, this entitlement complex becomes a motivating factor towards him kidnapping (and murdering) Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi]].
** A downplayed example is Sae Niijima from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}''. While she initially possessed a strong sense of justice, she has been worn down by being PromotedToParent in the wake of her father's death and being overshadowed by her male colleagues at the prosecutor's office; by the time of the game's beginning, she's nothing but a cynical, bitter, borderline AmoralAttorney who only cares about winning cases no matter what, and resents her younger sister Makoto, viewing her [[ResentfulGuardian as a burden]] and being jealous that Makoto has the freedom to choose what to do with her life while Sae herself is stuck in a dead-end job where she's constantly overshadowed by her male colleagues. [[spoiler:She grows out of it thanks to CharacterDevelopment, rediscovering said sense of justice and deciding to become a defense attorney.]][[note]]It's worth noting that the negative traits are amplified only when Sae is under stress, and she has excellent motivations for the negative traits: she wants to win because she's trying to get ahead so she can provide a better life for Makoto; she resents that Makoto has the freedom to choose her own life, but works hard to ''give'' Makoto that freedom because she wants her sister to have the choices she didn't; while there are implications that Sae would ''consider'' fabricating evidence or a confession, she never actually does it, and in fact her methods of interrogating Joker are nothing but reasonable throughout. She only starts to lose her grip when she comes under extreme pressure to catch the Phantom Thieves. Her boss threatens her by saying that failure will result in her termination, which she can't afford. [[spoiler: She's also never actually subjected to a change of heart, which means she wasn't anywhere near the point of villainy like the other Phantom Thieves targets.]][[/note]]

** Rusty Venture was a FormerChildStar, these days he's a bitter, cynical, pill-addicted has-been -- thanks in no small part to his amazingly-traumatic childhood.
*** Rusty's attempts to emulate his father have led to his son, Dean, well on his way to this end. Ironically, son Hank also endured that upbringing, and is quite happy with his life.

Compare with UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist; ThisLoserIsYou; ICouldaBeenAContender; FutureLoser; HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight; LoserProtagonist; WhiteDwarfStarlet; FormerChildStar. Contrast BestYearsOfYourLife, JadedProfessional and SmallNameBigEgo.

[[caption-width-right:250:Al Bundy at work. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Al_Bundy_230.png It gets worse for him.]]]]

* Charles Billinglsey in ''Film/FridayNightLights''. Once a star player in high school days, he is now a violent alcoholic angry at life and himself for not living up to his potential, taking his self-hatred out on his son Don.