History Main / NotBad

* ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1961'': At the end, the UsefulNotes/CardinalRichelieu sends a sign of the hand to the Musketeers as they show up on time at the call to arms, after also receiving the news of the death of both Milady and Rochefort, meaning their scheme to kill the three Musketeers and D'Artagnan has failed. Judging by his body language, that means he grudgingly admits the Musketeers won this time. But now they're being sent on assignment to the siege of La Rochelle, so they're part of other plans of his anyway.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100226 Zeetha has this reaction]] to [[Main/McNinja Violetta]] replacing a hostage [[Main/ImpossibleTheft held by an antagonist]] with [[Main/ReplacedWithReplica a dummy]].

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. Jean gives a "Not bad" to his younger brother Jose while watching Henrietta's performance in the ShootingGallery. While the trope is played straight from Jose's perspective--as he's the AloofBigBrother who regards their cyborgs as tools--it's YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame from Jose's perspective, as he's guilty over how these girls have been turned into brainwashed cyborg killing machines.

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---> '''Tankman:''' Pretty tight bars for a little dude simping for a dumb, boring teenager wearing her mom's clothes!\\

* One of [[TheDragon Hawke's]] win quotes from the ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' series:
--> "You're not bad -- I'm just that good."

[[folder:Web Comics]]

A variant of this is when a character refers to another as "Not Bad For An X", which is usually said by a character who normally looks down on another group except for the other character. This variation is often what a supposed SuperiorSpecies would say to our plucky human hero whose [[YouAreACreditToYourRace proven themselves worthy in their eyes]].

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** In ''Film/TheAvengers'', Captain America ''tries'' to insult Iron Man with the ArmorPiercingQuestion of "Take away your suit, and what are you?" Iron Man gives an ArmorPiercingResponse with ''zero'' hesitation, "A genius billionaire playboy philanthropist." Black Widow, herself no fan of Iron Man, shrugs to Captain America as if to say "he's right, you know."
** In ''Film/AntMan'' when Scott is fighting Falcon, he manages to take down the ''far'' better trained Avenger by using his shrink-tech to land an uncharacteristically well-done wrestling move. Hope, who until now has had nothing but utter ''scorn'' for Scott, is visibly impressed by this one.

This is often used by people whose approval is hard to come by and expressed in terms that don't seem all that approving if you don't know them. {{Deadpan Snarker}}s are the most frequent abusers of this trope, because outright complimenting someone is out of the question for them. It's also a characteristic of TheStoic, TheSpock (because his standards are ''just that high''), people with a StiffUpperLip (a British person saying "not bad" may actually be an expression of unbridled approval), and is of course a subtrope of {{Understatement}}.

---> '''Tankman:''' Pretty good for a blue runt simping for a dumb, ugly teenager running around in her mom's clothes!\\

---> "Pretty good for a blue runt simping for a dumb, ugly teenager running around in her mom's clothes!"

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'', Dean, a junk yard owner who likes to make sculptures out of the junk, gets angry at the Giant for eating some of his art. The Giant, confused, puts together a bunch of half-chewed junk to try to appease Dean. Dean isn't too impressed, at first: "No, don't... that's not... that's... huh, that's not bad."

-->'''Princess Vespa:''' Ah! My hair! [[NoOneTouchesTheHair He shot my hair! Son of a bitch!]] ''[shoots and destroys all their pursuers]''\\

'''Dot Matrix:''' Hey, that was pretty good for ''Rambo''.

-->'''Princess Vespa:''' Ah! My hair! He shot my hair! Son of a bitch! ''[shoots and destroys all their pursuers]''\\
'''Barf:''' Holy sh*t!\\

'''Mako:''' What? I said not bad.

** Shadow says this to Sonic [[spoiler:at the end of ''[[VideoGame/SonicBoom Rise of Lyric]]'', after seeing the titular villain hogtied by the group.]]

* In VideoGame/SabresOfInfinity, If Cazarosta respects you enough to let you command the boarding party in his place, he has this to say: