History Main / LethalJokeCharacter

** Rotom was an AwesomeButImpractical levitating Electric/Ghost type with an awesome movepool/typing but no stats introduced in Diamond and Pearl... which, in Platinum, gained the ability to transform into a handful of ridiculous yet incredibly badass alternate forms, such as a washing machine, toaster oven, lawn mower, handheld fan, and refridgerator. [[AwesomeYetPractical Now, these frankly ridiculous variants? They have excellent defensive stats, special moves that give them great coverage, and very nice Special Attack. One of the best Pokemon in the game... is a washing machine.]] Of course, anyone who actually looks at it stats will notice right away that Rotom's appliance forms are no joke, but if you just have this kinda useless Pokémon that suddenly transforms into an appliance...

** The Toyota Celsior and Aristo (Lexus LS and GS, respectively) are cars that, while high-powered, are more designed for luxury than performance. As such their racing ability is questionable, and their in-game performance reflects it...unless you play VS mode. As the heaviest cars in the game, they are the hardest to push around, making it easy to knock away higher-tier cars into traffic or even walls.

** In ''VideoGame/SNKVsCapcomSVCChaos'' he's got even more buffs. Suffice it to say that if you approach him with the same mentality as in the Marvel series, you're going to get trampled. Possibly literally. Let's see: Gadoshokoken that piffles out after a few feet, but covers the same area as a Haohshokoken, which means that it'll catch you in a jump ''every'' time, and it's a special. Stupid showy power punch that has a hideous recovery time if it connects, but does a LOT of damage, and also sends you flying across the screen, meaning that unless you land in the corner you ''can't'' punish it... and it's also a special. Same 'ol dumb Dankukyaku that hits high, it's a lot ''faster'' than before and can easily punish fireballs. And of course, the Otoko Michi, his [[DesperationAttack Exceed]], takes off about half your life and does NO damage to him.

** There's also the [[MascotMook Metool]] from ''MegaManX''. It takes twice the damage from any attack, hence dying twice as fast as a regular character. However, it's tiny and very hard to normally damage, it can juggle opponents with its SpreadShot, has access to its signature helmet guard which makes it invulnerable to ANYTHING, an unblockable super where a bunch of metools rush the enemy for a third of their health, and finally, its ultimate attack drops the Metool Daddy from ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' on the enemy for a OneHitKill.

* MegaManPoweredUp has Oil Man. His gimmick is he can shoot a single blob of oil on to the ground, which he then either has to ride or let an enemy walk into. And it's incredibly weak. [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway What kind of character is that?]] To a player who knows how to use him, one of the best ones in the game. As his Oil Surfboard does boatloads of damage, knocks off enemy shields, gives him a double-jump worthy of the gods, incredible speed, the ability to glide across water and a near-complete negation to enemy knockback. Same goes for Mega, which is essentially Mega Man if he never became a [[MemeticMutation Super Fighting Robot]]. All he has is a dinky little kick, which doesn't even have the length of Roll's broom. Useless, right? Well no. It's actually one of the most powerful attacks in the game, can break most enemy shields and even causes Wily's first form to temporarily be stunned.

*** Dan's quite unusual in this respect. As acknowledged by [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIpdgmN9WV8 this video]], SSF4 Dan doesn't really have the complex, high-risk-high-reward capabilities of most Lethal Joke Characters, and were his moveset given to someone else, they'd likely be dismissed as merely below-average. Dan's main strength is in [[BatmanGambit mind games:]] being such an infamous joke, few bother to train against Dan, and when he's selected, they tend to assume their opponent is CherryTapping. They are then blindsided by the fact that the gap between Dan and most top-tier characters isn't THAT wide, and when they start taking damage, they quickly lose focus out of fear of losing to Dan. That Dan happens to be very good at cheap shots is just the icing on the cake.

** ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter'' [[CapcomvsWhatever and]] ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'' turned his near useless Otoko Michi super from an amusing way to kill yourself into [[OneHitKill the single most damaging move in the game]]. It still reduces Dan to exactly a pixel of health when it hits, but losing Dan to take out one member of the opposing team is very much a victory for Dan's team. More amusingly, it has priority over Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu (The move which Otoko Michi is a parody of); if Akuma and Dan both use their respective supers at each other, [[HilarityEnsues Dan will come out on top]]. His Punch and Launch throw was especially nasty in this game leading to nasty loops and mind games when used well, he had good pokes, with the right partners he could actually be very effective, and most people either dismissed him or didn't know how to handle him, making him viable for once in his existence.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' has had Jigglypuff since the start. Low weight, weak moves on several of her buttons, and rather close range attacks, virtually everything about Jigglypuff screams low-mid tier or lower. She also has Rest, which can guarantee a kill pretty much once one figures out its hit box location. Her many flaws and her one plus got balanced out in Brawl. She became much more effective at recovery, and she's a monster in air combat, but her Rest is far from dangerous.
** Chain her down-a drill kick with down-b rest and it becomes nigh unstoppable. The first attack immobilizes anyone underneath and lines up the hitbox for rest 95% of the time. Considering how far Jiggly can fly, it's pretty easy to repeatedly spam the combo to kill anyone who isn't expecting it. The only effective counter is using Captain Falcon to FALCOOOOOON PUUUUNCH! while she's sleeping.
** In ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', Jigglypuff is actually one of the best characters in the game, even in the hands of an amateur, and is even in the highest tier in the current metagame. She has an amazing recover with her multiple jumps and pound, unbeatable air maneuverability, amazing gimping ability, disjointed hitboxes, strong priority on most of her moves, and strong or easily combo-able attacks overall. It's true that she is a joke character, but nothing about her abilities and stats makes her a joke.
** ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' did this to Toon Link. Essentially, he is faster than Link, but only about half as powerful. In the hands of someone who really knows how to use him, however, he can become a one-man army.
** And speaking of Toon Link, Young Link from Melee. Not powerful in the slightest, and his strategy seems to rely solely on spamming of bombs. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8twwXHDIVBc Didn't stop Armada as Young Link from taking down HungryBox as Jigglypuff 2-0 in tournament play.]]
** Even Pichu can become this. Yes, Pichu, the Pokémon character who hurts himself every time he uses an attack. Thing is, his attacks are actually stronger than Pikachu's, so in the hands of an agile dodger, he can become a GlassCannon fighter.
** In the original game, Luigi feels like a watered-down Mario to intermediate players, except for his Up Special. If Luigi and his opponent are on the ground right next to each other, the Up Special will launch the opponent into the air with the sound of a home run hit and can [=KO=] some characters before 50%. It's much like Jigglypuff's Rest, only not quite as powerful, but only makes Luigi jump instead of putting him to sleep. Not very useful in one-on-one, but devastating in free-for-alls against players who aren't watching him.
*** This is made more obvious in ''Brawl'' with Luigi's Final Smash. Most Final Smashes are devastatingly powerful attacks that can OneHitKO careless players, but Luigi creates a distorted area that does a small amount of constant damage to anyone else inside it. The lethal part is that it also stuns, dizzies or puts to sleep opponents, while making them impossibly easy to launch, allowing Luigi to mop up everyone on the stage in a few simple hits.

* One of ''VideoGame/Dota2'' 's strangest heroes, Meepo, comes of as this. He has terrible stats, and his first three abilities aren't really anything special either. But his ultimate is what makes him so unique. It passively creates a permanent replica of Meepo for each level + one more if he buys Aghanim's Scepter. Each Meepo clone can attack, use abilities, boots, and some bonus stats, meaning that at level six he turns from one terrible hero to two terrible heroes, and then to three and four and then finally five terrible heroes all bashing you in the face at once.

* [[CallOfCthulhu Old Man Henderson]], as described [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Old_Man_Henderson here]], is a CoolOldGuy who got drunk, sold away his garden gnomes, forgot that part, and proceeded to blame the cultists as a result. He ended up [[DyingMomentOfAwesome murdering]] '''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Hastur]]'''.

** Tarmogoyf was originally printed as "pre-print" (a foreshadowing of cards to come, one of the gimmicks of the ''Future Sight'' set) solely so that its reminder text could reference two card types that didn't yet exist in the game (Planeswalker and the rarely used Tribal). However, it wound up being such an efficient win condition that it is the second-most expensive card printed in the past ten years (and the other is banned in everything but the Eternal formats).

** The [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=12394 Nim Lasher]]. A 1/1 for 3 mana might not look like that good a card... but couple it with an artifact-heavy deck and the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=46158 Surestrike Trident]], and it's entirely possible that you'll be able to kill your opponent without engaging his forces.

** [[AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]] is quite possibly the most complicated, useless character in the hands of the wrong person. As his power stacks with his legal defense, players have to switch between three[[note]](two standard, one unlocked with evidence)[[/note]] attack modes while collecting relevant evidence to build a case; additionally, there are five different evidence pieces which all carry different special moves if used as attacks. Despite all these complications, however, collecting three pieces of evidence allow for [[SuperMode turnabout mode]], which has an exponential damage boost, allows super move variants, and can activate "Ace Attorney", one of the most damaging moves in the whole game (that cannot miss).
*** Phoenix Wright's damage and speed boost when activating X-Factor is staggeringly high when he is the last man on his team. One bad move and Phoenix Wright can turn the entire game around.

** Even Pichu can become this. Yes, Pichu, the Pokemon character who hurts himself every time he uses an attack. Things is, his attacks are actually stronger than Pikachu's, so in the hands of an agile dodger, he can become a GlassCannon fighter.

* MegaManPoweredUp has Oil Man. His gimmick is he can shoot a single blob of oil on the ground, which is then either has to ride or let an enemy walk into. And it's incredibly weak. [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway What kind of character is that?]] To fans who knows how to use him, one of the best characters in the game. As his Oil Surfboard does boatloads of damage, and can give him a double-jump worthy of the gods, incredible speed, glide across water and a near-complete negation to enemy knockback. Same goes for Mega, which is essentially Mega Man if he never became a [[MemeticMutation Super Fighting Robot]]. All he has is a dinky little kick, which doesn't even have the length of Roll's broom. Useless, right? Well no. It's actually one of the most powerful attacks in the game, can break most enemy shields and even causes Wily's first form to temporarily be stunned.

* MegaManPoweredUp has Oil Man. His gimmick is he can shoot a blob of oil on the ground, which is then either has to ride or let an enemy walk into. And it's incredibly weak.[[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway What kind of power is that?]] To fans who knows how to use him, one of the best characters in the game. As his Oil Surfboard does boatloads of damage, and can give him a double-jump worthy of the gods, incredible speed, glide across water and a near-complete negation to enemy knockback. Same goes for Mega, which is essentially Mega Man if he never became a [[MemeticMutation Super Fighting Robot]]. All he has is a dinky little kick, which doesn't even have the length of Roll's broom. Useless, right? Well no. It's actually one of the most powerful attacks in the game, can break most enemy shields and even causes Wily's first form to temporarily be stunned.

** Smeargle has astoundingly horrible stats, but it's still popular due to the fact that it can use almost any move in the game. This leads to a very effective moveset where Smeargle can Baton Pass the Ingrain effect, making the next Pokemon immune to Whirlwind and Roar (switching out without Baton Pass forfeits all stat boosts and other similar temporary statuses) and being able to recover an additional 1/16th of max HP each turn. There's also the Endure/Spore/Endeavor/Dragon Rage w/Salac berry combo, a variant of the FEAR strategy below. Speed is the only decent stat Smeargle gets, and it's the only stat it needs.

*** Shedinja will still be [=OHKOd=] by any kind of indirect damage though, such as the weather effects Hail and Sandstorm

** Diggersby is a goofy-looking [[ComMons early-game rabbit]] that has decent HP and defenses, but little else to note... Unless it has its Hidden Ability of ''[[SuperStrength Huge Power]]'', which doubles its Attack. Those Earthquakes will really hurt. To put it in perspective: at maximum stats, Diggersby hits harder than ''Groudon'', and nearly as hard as ''Mega Tyranitar.''

Compare EliteTweak. See also DifficultButAwesome, whose deadly potential is more obvious, but still requires effort to unleash. Unlike a MagikarpPower, the Lethal Joke Character always had this ability to kick ass; it just requires a lot of skill to use him. Take a look at LethalJokeItem for useless inventory and skills that eventually become overpowered. HeartIsAnAwesomePower is the non-gameplay version. Not to be confused with FightingClown, which is a silly character whose advantages are obvious while here they aren't.