History Main / ThisLoserIsYou

* The ''WebOriginal/VirginVsChad'' memes revolve around comparisons between a wimpy, loser Virgin and a loud, confident Chad.

** While Franchise/SpiderMan is considered an archetypal [[TheEveryman Everyman]] superhero, he's usually not an example of this trope as he has above-average intelligence and just enough luck with girls to get caught in {{Love Triangle}}s. ''Usually.'' Sometimes [[BornUnlucky the old Parker luck]] hits him a little too hard. The ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' storyline is a prime example, as it infamously tried to make him more appealing to a younger audience by having his marriage magically annulled and [[BasementDweller moving him back into Aunt May's basement]], even though he's no longer the fifteen-year-old he was when he started. Editor Creator/JoeQuesada even said an ideal Spidey story would involve him trying to download porn without Aunt May finding out.

* Ruben Bolling parodies this with the recurring character of "Dinkle, the ''Un''Lovable Loser" strips in his comic, ''ComicStrip/TomTheDancingBug'', wherein Dinkle portrayed as not just a loser, but also a rude, racist, vaguely sociopathic alcoholic and narcotics abuser with extremely bad personal hygiene, and is in addition implied to also be [[AxCrazy violently mentally ill]], a kidnapper, and an arsonist, and his day job is being a yellow journalist who writes for . It is probably for the best that he never wins.

* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' has Winston Smith. His name is a mix of "Winston Churchill" and "John Smith", the latter referencing his role as representing the everyman and the fact that even with all his problems he's what any of us would be like if we lived under the Party.

* Dr Watson of ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' fame. Watson, originally depicted as Doyle's AuthorAvatar, is really quite charming, far more human and likable than Holmes. If anyone's the audience identification figure, it's him. Unfortunately, adaptations (and even, later stories in {{Canon}}) miss the point and make him out to be a [[{{Flanderization}} complete doofus]].

* Mildred Hubble, heroine of ''Literature/TheWorstWitch'', is gangly, funny looking- and no bloody good at anything. Even her cat, the imaginatively named Tabby, is a misfit. One can't help but wonder- if there's an entrance exam to Cackle's Academy, how did she manage to pass?

* A new line of [=DirecTV=] commercials starring Rob Lowe as both himself and some sort of {{Acceptable Target|s}} stereotype go pretty deep into this, as they actually do seem more intended to directly insult customers of the competing companies than to win them over to this brand.

** Takumi Inui from ''[[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Faiz]], a drifting loner who keeps himself away from any relationships as well lacking any confidence or dreams of his own

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'': Mario and Luigi start out [[BasementDweller living with their parents]], are social outcasts, and find themselves out of their depth when it comes to the crunch, traits commonly associated with video game enthusiasts. Fittingly enough, their room is full of posters and memorabilia from other Nintendo franchises, and Mario is shown playing ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' in a NES after storming off from the dinner.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', Mario and Luigi start out [[BasementDweller living with their parents]], are social outcasts and find themselves out of their depth when it comes to the crunch, traits commonly associated with video game enthusiasts. Fittingly enough, their room is full of posters and memorabilia from other Nintendo franchises, and Mario is shown playing ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' in a NES after storming off from the dinner.

* From Steely Dan's "Deacon Blue":

Call me deacon blue.

'''Muttley:''' Snaffacrassin frassin...(Translated: "What do you mean 'nothing'? He's got me, hasn't he?)\\

* Brutus Thornapple, the protagonist of Art Sansom's ''The Born Loser,'' could make Charlie Brown look like a winner, although in some cases Brutus invokes losing on himself. In one strip, his buss sees him in his chair sleeping as a spider slowly descends from a strand of its web toward his open mouth. Boss: "Poetic justice!"

* Brutus Thornapple, the protagonist of Art Sansom's ''The Born Loser,'' could make Charlie Brown look like a winner, although in some cases Brutus invokes losing on himself. In one strip, his buss sees him in his chair sleeping as a spider slowly descends from a strand of its wen toward his open mouth. Boss: "Poetic justice!"

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'''s Al Bundy is a JadedWashout who lives a humdrum life as a working-class slob, still pining for his GloryDays in high school.
* Lead protagonist Doug in the sitcom ''Series/TheKingOfQueens'' is also a classic example of this trope. He is shown to have aversion to reading anything other than cereal boxes, and watches way too much TV. He avoids healthy food like the plague, and makes fun of people for trying to eat healthy and makes fart noises at anyone trying to say remotely intellectual. Also the finer aspects of this trope apply to the character as he has friends and wife who are much more attractive and cool compared to him.
%%* As are Archie and Mike ("Meathead") in ''Series/AllInTheFamily''

* ''Series/ICarly'' is quite fond of making fun of its audience using in-universe AudienceSurrogate characters who are fans of the web-show. Gilbert, the guy in the yellow shirt who yells "SEDDIE!" constantly in "iStart A Fan War" and "iLose My Mind" is a blatant parody of a specific fan who has had some memorable and not always positive interactions with Creator/DanSchneider in the past and was well known for spamming "SEDDIE!" into every WordOfGod blog post.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''
** JD was written as a representation of most single men in Los Angeles, and some of his quirks, such as his inability (and refusal to learn) to understand sports were based off of his actor's own quirks.
** Elliot in the first two seasons. She was very neurotic, and her insecurities and awkwardness made her relatable. Averted in later seasons after she becomes much more confident and hotter, while still keeping a few of her initial quirks.
* ''Series/{{House}}'' goes to great lengths to show that aside from his incredible diagnostic skills, House is even more of a loser than most of us: lives alone, has only one real friend, is a drug addict, his sexual encounters limited to prostitutes and masturbation to Internet porn...
* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
** The lead character is Dave Lister, a crass, uneducated, lazy slob who was the lowest ranking crewman on the ship and whose highest ambition in life was to live in Fiji and own a hotdog stand.
** Ditto his hologram bunkmate Arnold J. Rimmer (BSC, SSC), second lowest ranking crewman, unable to achieve anything higher, no matter how bad he wants it.
* Jim and Pam on ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' spent a large part of the show acting as the audience surrogates, generally snarking about their situation or at the craziness around them. But beginning with season 5 and especially in season 6, they have been getting rather frequent KickTheDog moments. It's telling that their UK Spiritual Predecessors, Tim and Dawn, did not have such moments. Certainly related to [[BritishBrevity their much shorter time of exposure]] but may have a deeper meaning as well.
** May also be the changing premise of the show. The British version treated the office as a CrapsackWorld whereas the American version started out with the audience asking 'why would any sane person work with these people?' but later began to be treated as 'They're [[DysfunctionJunction unbelievably dysfunctional]] but they [[TrueCompanions stick together]] and are a surprisingly successful branch.' What seems like rude but relatable snark in one situation becomes ungrateful, whiny or cruel in the other. And [[FridgeBrilliance with their prank victims becoming the popular and relatable ones instead, it becomes very plausible to the writers and audience that, for example, a character who thinks nothing of sending someone fake letters from the CIA as a prank]] would [[CharacterDevelopment develop]] into someone who lies about getting a promotion to get it.

%%* George Costanza from ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''.
* ''Series/TheInbetweeners'' lives on this trope. Four loser teenagers attempting to lose their virginity and failing spectacularly in the process; ring any alarms for anyone?
** Reinforced by how the one of them who [[KavorkaMan has the far most success with the ladies]], Neil, is generally considered to be the one who is hardest to identify with because he is just a foolish, [[NiceGuy surprisingly nice]] (for a teenage boy) [[TheDitz ditz]] and not lives up to a classical and more realistic teenage stereotype like [[NerdsAreVirgins Will]], [[DoggedNiceGuy Simon]] and [[CasanovaWannabe Jay]] do.

* From ''Series/AlmostLive'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jYn4y4P9K8 This commercial]] for ''Loser'' magazine.
* In the early 1980s ''Series/DoctorWho'' introduced a regular character named Adric, a teenage alien maths prodigy who was meant to be an identification figure for the fanboy audience. (The actor himself was a PromotedFanboy.) Unfortunately the character wasn't written as an idealised cool genius, but as a socially-inept nerd with frequent flashes of whininess, arrogance and sexism. This led to a fan backlash, and when he was killed off in what was meant to be a shocking tragedy, some fans outright celebrated.
* The main cast of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' goes through several hardships throughout the series. When the series started, Rachel had just ended her engagement, got cut off from her dad's money and was employed as a waitress. Before returning to Days of Our Lives, Joey was frequently low on cash, borrowing money from Chandler, and had to work several part-time jobs. Monica had to work at a diner in between chef jobs, Chandler was unemployed before entering advertising and Ross was fired from the museum because of anger issues.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' had many ways of making fun of their audience. One of the biggest examples being Becky Rosen, an avid {{fangirl}} of the in-universe Supernatural novels, an erotic [[YaoiFangirl Sam/Dean author]], and an AbhorrentAdmirer of Sam Winchester. It should come as a surprise to no-one that she was designed as a massive TakeThat to some of the shows more rabid fangirls.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** Lt. Reginald Barclay from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' was created to give the fans someone to relate to. What's he like? Shy, awkward, socially inept, afraid of transporters, and addicted to fantasies (in the form of the holodeck).
** The Ferengi were originally intended to be a reflection of the worst aspects of 20th-century humanity. Once a few of them were introduced as key characters in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' however, a lot more depth was added to them as a race. Quark even discusses this trope at one point and points out its flaws.
-->''"The way I see it, humans used to be a lot like Ferengi: greedy, acquisitive, interested only in profit. We're a constant reminder of a part of your past you'd like to forget. ... You're overlooking something. Humans used to be a lot worse than Ferengi: slavery, concentration camps, interstellar war. We have nothing in our past that approaches that kind of barbarism. You see? We're nothing like you... we're ''better''."''
* Kenny Powers of ''Series/EastboundAndDown''. A washed out former MLB star pitcher with a heaping helping of {{narcissis|t}}m (he constantly listens to the audiobook of his own philosophical/inspirational novel, ''[[CatchPhrase You're Fucking Out]], [[ItsAllAboutMe I'm Fucking In]]'', which he narrates himself), an ego whose size could make any planet feel like Pluto, and is an all-around ignorant bigot who believes himself better, stronger, and sexier than everyone he's ever met, and everyone else, too.

* Odds are, one of the people mentioned in a given rendition of "I've Got a Little List" from ''Theatre/TheMikado'' will apply to you.
* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE6iAjEv9dQ Online]]" by Brad Paisley is all about this trope. The main protagonist is a geek who delivers pizzas, drives an old Hyundai and still lives with his parents. He's also an asthmatic who stands 5'3" and has "[[SexAsRiteOfPassage never been to 2nd base]]".
* The main protagonist's boyfriend in "He's Sure The Boy I Love" by The Crystals:
--> ''He doesn't look like a movie star\\
He doesn't drive a Cadillac car\\
He sure ain't the boy I've been dreaming of
--> But he's sure the boy I love''
** By the end of the song, we learn the boyfriend's collecting unemployment.
* [[Music/{{Nirvana}} "In Bloom"]] was aimed at all the assholes who bullied Cobain in high school and later became Nirvana fans. The essential message of the song is "you don't even understand what the lyrics mean and just listen to the music, and the joke's on you because this song is about morons like you".
* [[Music/DireStraits "Money for Nothing"]] was made up of quotes that Mark Knopfler overheard from an employee at an appliance store; the racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and otherwise ignorant and loutish statements that the employee was uttering struck Knopfler as being emblematic of everything that he hated about rock fans, and the inclusion of some of the more offensive quotes ("see the little faggot with the earring and the makeup", "look at that mama, she got it stickin' in the camera, man, we could have some fun", "Hawaiian noises", etc.) was intended to hammer home just how much of a boorish loser the man was.
* Music/BluesTraveler does this in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdz5kCaCRFM music video]] for their song "Hook." The protagonist (played by game show host Ken Ober) is a schlubby, overweight, unattractive guy sitting alone in his house watching late-night TV. As he mindlessly flips through the channels, he's shown as easily manipulated by the things he sees, including a beauty pageant and political speaker, and then starts rapidly changing the station in an attempt to feel any sort of emotion. It's fitting, as the song [[TakeThatAudience mocks the listeners of popular songs]] as unthinking drones who will pay money for anything with a catchy tune ("the hook brings you back"). Interestingly, though, the video ends with a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], as the guy realizes the TV (and by extension the song) is trash and starts reading a book instead.

* Former Wrestling/RingOfHonor World Champion Wrestling/NigelMcGuinness invoked this trope, making "acne-riddled fat boy" Wrestling/KevinSteen the audience surrogate en route to Steen's three title shots against [=McGuinness=].

* WWE has also in the past had background characters who were supposed to represent the average wrestling fan, ranging from the irksome Charlie Minn (hyperactive excitable fanboy) to the loathsome Jamison (greasy, repugnant, socially inept nerd)
* After ending Joey Janela's Wrestling/{{CZW}} Wired Championship reign for the second time, Wrestling/LioRush said he doesn't have anything against Janela personally but would be sticking around CZW despite his recently signed ROH contract to prove his superiority to Janela as an extended insult to CZW's fanbase, who he was projecting onto him.

* Shoutan Himei in ''WebAnimation/SailorNothing'', for always complaining about things not limited to just fighting Yamikos.
* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' the New Republic tries to recruit the Blood Gluch Crew to their side during the Chrous Civil War trilogy, believing them to be the "[[MistakenForBadass galaxy's greatest soldiers]]" for having taken down Project Freelancer. After they succeed in recruiting Tucker, Caboose, Grif, and Simmons, General Kimball quickly realizes that they aren't the soldiers she thought they were; they're misfits and oddballs. However, this works out even better, because the New Republic soldiers can relate to them and have a major boost in morale because of it. [[spoiler:It is implied this also happened to the Federal Army after Agent Washington, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez joined their side in the war, and it becomes a plot point when Felix is [[EvilGloating gloating]] that the crew gave the citizens hope, and just made them fight harder and die faster.]]

* Used in ''Webcomic/NotQuiteDailyComic'''s MagicalGirlfriend StoryArc.
* {{Everyman}} Marten Reed from ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' is very likeable but is a chronic under-achiever and self depreciates constantly. Justified in that he started out as author Jeph Jacques' attempt to make fun of himself.
* Trevor from ''Webcomic/{{EVIL|2016}}'' serves as the AudienceSurrogate and is a [[TheSlacker total slacker]] who [[MinionWithAnFInEvil isn't very good at being a villain]].
* Ethan from ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}!'' seems to be shaping up to this. The comic establishes that while he has a moral and up-right character, he's a hopeless nerd trapped in a dead-end job who devotes his life to what's portrayed out as pointless hobbies. When the strip makes it look like he'll pull out of it (by getting a boyfriend, pursuing his dreams) or he has a realization about his life, it's just ignored and he goes on as he always had been. [[spoiler: eventually he gets his happy ending/]]

* The last panel of [[http://www.jaynaylor.com/originallife/archives/2009/06/001.html this]] ''Webcomic/OriginalLife'' strip is apparently the main character. Even ignoring the obvious, the one bit of personalization we can see in his room is a Franchise/{{Halo}} poster, whereas the girls have a map and trophies.

* Done unintentionally in ''Webcomic/CollegeRoomiesFromHell''. Dave was meant to be unsympathetic and [[RedShirt expendable]] but the fandom found him easier to identify with then the rest of the cast. Although he's not nearly as much of a loser as most of the characters he's listed alongside. Kind of a ButtMonkey, but not overwhelmingly terrible or anything.

* Just about every human in ''Webcomic/CthulhuSlippers'' (not to mention some of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s) but Mal in particular fits this trope.

* Creator/BenCroshaw of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' fame takes the this to the extreme with the game concept of ''[[http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/noexpne.htm No Experience Necessary]]''. Where the player character is abducted into a dangerous secret military weapon testing project not because of any special background or skills, but because ''he wouldn't be missed''.

* The somewhat famous [[http://img.izismile.com/img/img5/20120420/640/imagine_a_world_where_640_high_02.jpg "Imagine a world" image]].

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick points out how creepy and seriously un-relatable this trope is in her review of ''Film/TeenWitch''.

* Creator/BenElton has referred to the characters who perform this function in advertisements as "The Farty" or "Farties".

* Creator/VinceOffer: "Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life!"
* Creator/ComedyCentral got in a bit of trouble with the fans with a ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' commercial showing a pair of redneck stereotypes nerding it up over the show, implying that the network saw the whole fanbase as such. They didn't help themselves by opening another commercial about the show's return after a long hiatus by literally saying "Quit your bellyaching!"
* Creator/{{Sony}} obviously feels this way about their customer base, considering their "All I Want For Christmas" marketing campaign. The rap can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_3GEvF8RQ here.]] If you turn on the "translate captions" feature, the first thing he says is, "Uh...[[MoneyDearBoy monies]]." It really helps drive the point home.
* Jack Link's has an advertising campaign entitled "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR-at8V5cvI Messin' With Sasquatch]]," which features a number of Jack Links-loving hikers [[BullyingADragon playing various cruel jokes on Sasquatch]], only to be beaten up by him. Because apparently people who eat Jack Link's Jerky are moronic little twits who take sadistic pleasure in tormenting someone who had done nothing to them, and who get the crap justifiably beaten out of them on a regular basis. Which may be why they've started to switch to "Snacking with Sasquatch", where the Jack Links-eating people are voluntarily sharing said jerky with Sasquatch whilst performing various activities with him (which go awry due to Sasquatch's unusual sense of humor).
* The advertisement for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP5lz2CYNR4 Sakuracon 2009]] caused much controversy amongst anime fans, many of which were offended by the depiction of their fandom. A discussion about the commercial can be read [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/chicks-on-anime/2009-03-24 here.]]

* Hardee's[=/=]Carl's Jr. commercials seem to be pushing the envelope on just how vile, depraved, and wretched they believe their customers are, always depicting some sleazy, unlikable young man in his daily routine, while an incredibly bored voice rambles about something entirely unrelated. Such examples include "having three girlfriends is great...sometimes" while a man paints over the word "cheater" carved into his car, or a group of men watching football until one brings a tray of biscuits into the room, offering them, where they all stare at him as if he had two heads while the voice says "guys don't bake". Perhaps the most alienating, however, has to be "Don't want chili fries with your burger? Too bad, you get them anyway", as a man tries to scrape chili off a counter with his fries. The message seems to be "Are you the slimiest stain on the bottom of society's shoe? So are we. Eat at Hardee's."
%%* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8odkYKT370 The guy in this Lipton commercial]]
* State Farm has been running a series of commercials that is equal parts this and TakeThat to [[BrandX a rival insurance company that claims they'll set you up over a fifteen minute phone call]]. The earlier commercials saw State Farm taking aim at the rival company and [[SideBySideDemonstration claiming their coverage was of lesser quality]], but the recent commercials also stereotype the type of person that would use their rival's service. Most notably, this series of commercials stars a DrivesLikeCrazy fool who tries to weasel his way back into his previous agent's good graces after getting into an over-the-top accident.
* A new line of [=DirecTV=] commercials starring Rob Lowe as both himself and some sort of {{Acceptable Target|s}} stereotype go pretty deep into this, as they actually do seem more intended to directly insult customers of the competing companies than to win them over to this brand.

* The 1990s commercials for Auto Insurance World (a local South Florida company) depicted their target customer as a nerd in a bizarre go-kart who breaks through a police roadblock and somehow [[DrivesLikeCrazy ends up in a tree]]. The accompanying rap just underlined the insult. Presumably they were trying to convey that they would insure anyone, but it didn't come off that way.
-->"He ain't got no problems ... 'xcept with girls."

* Captain Haddock of ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' fame is an overly verbose, recovering alcoholic, amazingly clumsy disaster magnet. ''The Castafiore Emerald'' in particular seems to be Herge running through the many ways he can possibly torment him. More than anything, he represents how everyday people suck- and the readers love him for it. Primarily because he's the only person to ever get away with using the phrase "Ten thousand blistering barnacles in a thundering typhoon!" without looking like a maniac. Much. The good Captain also showed some moments of competence and actually contributed to the action, such as in ''The Red Sea Sharks'' and ''The Crab With the Golden Claws''. Although on the latter occasion he was already drunk off the fumes emanating from some broken wine barrels...
* Since ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis,'' Superboy-Prime has been an unsubtle jab at fanboys and people who hate change, and because of it was a unique villain. His ultimate fate, however, was something of a kick in the balls as he ended up on Earth-Prime (our Earth), reduced to typing angry posts on the Creator/DCComics forums from his parents' basement.

* Despite a persistent false urban legend that the Finnish government [[http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/finland.asp banned him because he doesn't wear pants]], ComicBook/DonaldDuck is actually adored in Finland to the point many children (and adults) distinctly remember learning to read from Creator/CarlBarks' Donald Duck comics, which remains the most read weekly magazine in the country. WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse doesn't get much fandom because of his goody-goodiness, Donald is loved precisely for his utter loser status and for his guts that rarely allow him to give up.
** The same is true in Germany, where Donald's loser status, yet willingness to work hard, hit a positive nerve with the country who were trying to rebuild themselves after World War Two.
* The issue 3 bonus comic of the ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries'' focuses on a character named Hayseed Turnip Truck, a redneck window washer who is in love with Rarity but somehow screws up every time he tries to confess his feelings. He moves to the city and starts a successful business in hopes of impressing her. He is finally going to ask Rarity out, when Spike shows up and tells Hayseed that she's already got a fiancee. Hayseed leaves heartbroken, while Spike takes his discarded flowers and tickets so he can give them to Rarity.

* ComicStrip/{{Nero}}: An egotistical, greedy, dumb, naïve and vain man, yet also noble of heart.
* ComicBook/GastonLagaffe: An employee who is clumsy, naïve, lazy and causes more trouble to his fellow co-workers than any other colleagues, but who always means well.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Luann}}'':
** The title character is depicted as lazy, sloppy, jealous, clingy, angry, vindictive, dimwitted, and horribly insecure on a regular basis.
** Her friend Bernice and older brother Brad are worse. Bernice is relatively unattractive, constantly puts down Luann, looks down her nose at everyone around her, and even got jealous when Luann became too close to her long-lost older brother. Brad used to be lazy and antagonistic towards his sister; he then TookALevelInBadass and became a firefighter, but then became supremely unconfident about his [[UglyGuyHotWife disproportionally attractive girlfriend Toni]] ("Is it me or Santa she's kissing?"). That aspect of his personality has [[CharacterDevelopment been toned down lately, though.]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Cathy}}'' is meant to be relatable to the reader because of how she struggles with workplace frustration, low self image, emotional insecurity, overeating, poor impulse control, an overbearing mom, and a hapless romantic life.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' is stuck in a meaningless, dead-end job for an incompetent and unethical corporation. Also, he's fat and ugly, and women find him dull and disgusting. ''Dilbert'' also has an example where the audience did it to themselves. In the 7th anniversary book, Scott Adams tells about how he considered having Dilbert lose his virginity to his then-girlfriend Liz, and polled the readers of his newsletter for opinions. The female readers almost unanimously wanted it to happen, while most male readers said, in effect, "I don't think Dilbert should get lucky until I do", which made Adams realize they were using Dilbert's love life as a measuring stick for their own. (If you're curious, the storyline [[spoiler:had an AmbiguousEnding so readers could decide for themselves if Dilbert and Liz had done it or not]].)
* Monty Montahue in ''ComicStrip/RobotmanAndMonty'' is a bumbling nerd who is socially awkward and failing in both love and work.
* ''ComicStrip/TheDinetteSet'' depicts the misadventures of a group of vapid, boorish, self-absorbed, materialistic, overweight, middle-aged clods as representative of contemporary suburban Middle America. It's telling that the comic was initially published under the title ''Suburban Torture''.

* ''Film/NoHoldsBarred'' was ostensibly made to appease wrestling fans and create new ones. However, wrestling fans within the film are almost exclusively portrayed as cartoonishly disgusting hicks, degenerates and psychopaths. This also happened in ''Film/ReadyToRumble'', where the two main characters are portrayed as idiotic {{manchild}}ren who believe that wrestling is real (though their hero Jimmy King was legitimately screwed out of his world title and fired).
* ''Film/SaveYourselves'': Su and Jack are meant to be somewhat of a mockery of the film's target audience, being a millennial couple who is addicted to technology and is awkwardly unskilled when it comes to performing various tasks that ''don’t'' involve technology, such as chopping wood.

%%* Creator/AdamSandler's character in ''[[Film/FiftyFirstDates 50 First Dates]]''.
%%* ''Film/PaulBlartMallCop''
%%* Steve Finch in ''Film/DeckTheHalls''.
%%* Nick from ''Film/ThirtyMinutesOrLess''.
%%* Andy from ''Film/{{Taxi}}''.
* The live-action Netflix adaptation of ''Manga/DeathNote'' has protagonist Light [[AdaptationalWimp portrayed this way]]. Yes, [[MagnificentBastard THAT]] [[EvilIsCool Light]]. There's a reason the series has a BrokenBase.
* Gang-du from ''Film/TheHost2006'' is an [[DumbBlond absent-minded]], [[TheKlutz clumsy]] everyman who gets thrown into conflict, practically by accident. What makes him stand out, however, is his tremendous physical strength and unshakeable determination to make sure his life goes back to being ordinary and unremarkable.

* The main character in ''Film/ChaChaRealSmooth'', Andrew, is twenty-two years old and works at two different low-paying jobs, so he still lives with his mother and step-father. He has a habit of over exaggerating certain aspects of himself and thinks he knows more than he actually does, and he also has a mindset of believing he is the one can help people the most, which is why he spends so much time with a divorced mother whom [[LikesOLderWomen he has a crush on]] and her autistic daughter despite the fact that the former has a fiancé.

* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'' contains the {{Trope Maker|s}} of the AlienInvasion story, where Martians attack Earth in order to exploit its resources, including its people, for their own survival. Wells' story is a scathing allegory of imperialism where industrialized nations ravaged foreign lands for their own gain, with their victims usually unable to fight back. The story turns the tables, as despite Britain being the most advanced nation on the world at the time, it is unable to fight back and becomes a victim of Martian imperialism the same way other peoples fell victim to their own empire. The irony is never lost on the Narrator himself, and notes that his people aren't the moral authority on the subject of invasions at all.

* Alan Campbell's ''Literature/ScarNight'': Dill is an angel, but a [[SuperLoser really pathetic angel]] who spends most of the book {{angst}}ing over his own uselessness. [[spoiler:His incompetence even gets him killed. But he comes BackFromTheDead.]]
** An alternative view is that Dill is an idealist who wants to live up to the heroism of his predecessors but is seen as nothing more than a propaganda tool by the church and thus has no training, real world experience or even the freedom to leave his temple, there really is nothing he can do except angst until he's given a chance.
** Averted in the sequels, though, when he [[spoiler:winds up in Hell a second time and [[TookALevelInBadass Takes A Level In Badass]] from Hasp.]]

* Dr Watson of ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' fame. Watson, originally depicted as Doyle's AuthorAvatar, is really quite charming, far more human and likable than Holmes. If anyone's the audience identification figure, it's him. Unfortunately, adaptations (and even, later stories in {{Canon}}) miss the point and make him out to be a [[{{Flanderization}} complete doofus]].
** Spoofed in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=210 this Kate Beaton comic.]]
* Many, many romance/chick-lit novels in the vein of ''[[Literature/BridgetJones Bridget Jones' Diary]]''. Bad at their (dead end) jobs, klutzy, overweight and/or WeightWoe (and cranky about it), [[TheDitz ditzy]], neurotic...All in the name of allowing the audience to identify. When overdone, it just makes the audience wonder what the hell the perfect hero sees in her.
* Bella, from Creator/StephenieMeyer's ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''. The intent was apparently to portray her as someone who thinks of herself as unattractive, uncoordinated and basically less than average (as many teenagers often do), while actually receiving more attention than she herself notices from everyone, including the males in her school. Whether it worked or not is open to much heated debate.
* Mildred Hubble, heroine of ''Literature/TheWorstWitch'', is gangly, funny looking- and no bloody good at anything. Even her cat, the imaginatively named Tabby, is a misfit. One can't help but wonder- if there's an entrance exam to Cackle's Academy, how did she manage to pass?
* OlderThanFeudalism: Creator/{{Aristotle}} wrote that the hero of a comedy should be worse than the average and rise up. The second part is often forgotten now.
* Arthur Dent from ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxyTrilogy'', at least in the earlier books. He spends a good part of the books confused and distressed. Later, however, learns how to fly and even saves the galaxy.
* Five words: ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid''. Readers are clearly supposed to identify with Greg Heffley, who is often the passive victim of the torment and ridicule he receives. On the other hand, Greg's friends Rowley and Fregley are even ''more'' pathetic.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': The Capitol, on a societal level. Many aspects of the Capitol are satire or social commentary on the contemporary United States.
* The first line of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' makes it clear that the story begins "midway through the journey of '''our''' lives," making it clear that the middle-aged protagonist stands in for the audience. And to further show his humanity in the face of his fantastic travels, Dante faints, weeps, kicks the heads of incapacitated shades, and lambastes in the narration things his character self almost immediately does.

* Ruben Bolling parodies this with the recurring character of "Dinkle, the ''Un''Lovable Loser" strips in his comic, ''ComicStrip/TomTheDancingBug'', wherein Dinkle portrayed as not just a loser, but also a rude, racist, vaguely sociopathic alcoholic and narcotics abuser with extremely bad personal hygiene, and is in addition implied to also be [[AxCrazy violently mentally ill]], a kidnapper, and an arsonist. It is probably for the best that he never wins.

** A riff on Creator/{{DC|Comics}}'s Franchise/{{Superman}} called ComicBook/TheSentry (with the Power of a Million Exploding Suns!), despite [[InformedAbility apparently]] being the most powerful man on the planet, is pretty much incapable of doing ''anything'' without sitting in a corner rambling incoherently for at least 4 issues first.

* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' by H.G Wells contains the TropeMaker of the AlienInvasion story, where Martians attack Earth in order to exploit its resources, including its people, for their own survival. Wells' story is a scathing allegory of imperialism where industrialized nations ravaged foreign lands for their own gain, with their victims usually unable to fight back. The story turns the tables, as despite Britain being the most advanced nation on the world at the time, it is unable to fight back and becomes a victim of Martian imperialism the same way other peoples fell victim to their own empire. The irony is never lost on the Narrator himself, and notes that his people aren't the moral authority on the subject of invasions at all.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Gumball Watterson is lazy, irresponsible, unathletic, and BookDumb to a sometimes dangerous degree, and this is made even worse by the fact that, unlike his father, he's not ''enough'' of a deadbeat loser to make it so that things [[TheFool somehow work around to his advantage anyway.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' had its share of This Loser Is You moments. Jake's annoying JiveTurkey talk didn't help either. Many episodes actually featured problems that were a direct result of (or related to) Jake (or on occasion Spud or Trixie) being sucky teenagers.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': Carl.
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead''. Creator/MikeJudge's seminal series was a particularly ruthless deconstruction of the lifestyle of its own target audience.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', Riley Freeman is the author's go-to example for lampooning everything he hates about "gangsta" culture. Throughout the series, Riley is shown to be a willfully ignorant, foul-mouthed, sexist troublemaker who is squandering his potential to admire brainless criminals, often making himself look incredibly stupid in the process.
* One common complaint about ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}'' is that Wheeler, the token American on the MultinationalTeam, is portrayed as being hotheaded and less knowledgeable than the rest of the team, with the show [[InformedFlaw acting like he's the bad guy]] [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong even when he's right]]. However, this didn't stop him from being the most popular character (possibly a case of MisaimedFandom), in part because he's the only character who seems flawed and grows over the course of the series. It's also worth noting that while every other Planeteer's RingOfPower had a variety of uses, Wheeler's was only good for setting things on fire or blowing them up.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'': Though film critic Jay Sherman hosts a [[SelfDeprecation critically acclaimed though commercially unsuccessful TV series]], has won multiple prestigious awards (including two Pulitzer Prizes for criticism, a People's Choice Award, five Golden Globes, an Emmy Award, a [=PhD=] in film, and a B'nai B'rith Award), was adopted by upper-class East Coast socialites, and can afford to send his son Martin to the exclusive United Nations International School, his achievements are eventually all irrelevant as he is treated like scum by his coworkers, family, and significant others, and despite his high intelligence, is unexpectedly comparable to Homer Simpson due to his gluttony and overall slobbish mannerisms.
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': Danny, in order to [[IdiotBall move the plot]]. Almost all the time prior to learning his Aesop at the end of an episode ([[AesopAmnesia only to forget it by the next]]), he serves to show how much [[TotallyRadical teenagers]] suck, i.e. blowing off his homework, stuffing his face with corndogs, calling everything lame or crud, playing mindless video games, acting like a jerk, wanting to make-out with the RomanticFalseLead, perpetually being a C-student, etc. [[CharacterDevelopment He gets better though]].
* Creator/ChuckJones explained many times his interpretation of WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck defined human characteristics, especially selfishness. Many of his later shorts involved the character being placed in a "hero" role and being pitted against a villain (usually one WesternAnimation/BugsBunny [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain defeated several times over without even trying]]) and getting the stuffing beaten out of him, largely due to the fact he was a [[SmallNameBigEgo pompous]], [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] [[ButtMonkey bumbler]] with [[{{Jerkass}} few redeeming aspects]], at which point a much more competent true protagonist would take his place. It is worth noting in his autobiography ''Chuck Amuck'', Jones explained the use of perspective and one person's incompetence being obscured by another even more bumbling adversary (this would certainly explain Porky's near opposite role in his [[HyperCompetentSidekick pairings with Daffy]] to [[TheLoad those]] with Sylvester during that same period or the two largely different versions of Nasty Canasta used against both Bugs and Daffy). Daffy sucked so much he made other [[ButtMonkey hapless fools]] [[StrawLoser look extremely competent]].\\\
This obviously varied [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on how other directors interpreted Daffy]]: Friz Freleng and Robert [=McKimson=] often interchanged between Jones' version and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} the earlier interpretation]] famed by the likes of Creator/BobClampett, or placed him as an anti-hero or outright hero or villain. [=McKimson's=] "Ducking the Devil" can almost be considered a subversion of his Chuck Jones role, with Daffy cowering before the Tazmanian Devil, [[BerserkButton until money is brought into the situation]].
-->'''Daffy:''' ''[leaving a beat-up Taz heaped in the corner]'' I may be a coward, but I'm a ''greedy'' little coward!
:: It should be noted that in contrast Jones put heroic, or at least positive, characteristics in Bugs Bunny ("Bugs is what I wish I was; Daffy is what I fear I am.") It's also worth noting that Daffy's frequently portrayed sympathetically, and unlike Bugs, can actually lose. Daffy may be emblematic of neuroses about failure, but a lot of people find him funnier than Bugs for just that reason. Amusingly during the odd occasions Bugs lost, his character was inexplicably converted to this, quickly losing all his composure at the premise of someone actually managing to outdo him (perhaps most evident in his rivalry against Cecil Turtle) where HE was the VillainProtagonist. Daffy was the more consistent loser, but at least that meant he was slightly more accustomed to it than Bugs, [[SoreLoser who couldn't take it back at all]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'':
** In a similar premise, the Urpneys are a result of giving the villains SympatheticPOV to convey them as fairly normal (but exaggeratedly luckless and incompetent) people who like so many, are just doing a dead end job that they regularly despise, leading them to come off as far more rootable characters compared to the heroes of the privileged, utopian Land Of Dreams.
** Out of the hero squad, Rufus probably qualifies too, being the most incompetent of the team, [[{{Muggles}} having no defining powers]] and most likely to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero do something stupid that causes trouble or gets the stone stolen]]. The key reason he doesn't look too pathetic is because his enemies are [[CosmicPlaything designated to be even worse]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy Turner. However, sucking does not prevent him from defeating multiple enemies with or without FunctionalMagic.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** Peter Griffin, in the same vein as Homer Simpson, albeit dumber, fatter, and less sympathetic.
** It sometimes looks as though [[{{Flanderization}} post-renewal]] [[ButtMonkey Meg]] is this in regards to her [[UnpopularPopularCharacter fanbase of actual teen girls]] that she got back when she was, y'know, just a normal teen girl.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Philip J. Fry. One of the main cornerstones of the series is for Fry to be a loser and either never succeed in anything he attempts or, if he does, for something to go horribly wrong to set things back to normal by the episode's end (or else [[NegativeContinuity there will be little or no mention of it ever again]], Roswell excepted). Whether relationships, money (he was a '''[[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted billionaire]]''' [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted for exactly one episode before he lost it all]] by revealing his secret PIN), or anything else, Fry will invariably screw up. He also TookALevelInDumbass as the series went on, and absolutely will ''not'' get better permanently unless the series is ending (and will be just as quickly undone if it is renewed).
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': Helga Pataki is ugly, scrawny, socially inept, rude, sarcastic and violent-tempered. But there's a reason why she's the most popular character on the show. She lives with two emotionally abusive parents and a StepfordSmiler sister, possesses near-genius level intelligence and a knack for poetry and literature and has a secret crush on Arnold that she keeps to herself out of fear of rejection, making her easily relatable to anyone who has ever had AbusiveParents, an unrequited crush or been too afraid to be true to themselves (the latter two apply to almost everyone in the world at some point).
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Ron Stoppable is pretty much this in various actions including fighting, picking up girly signals from girls who actually like him, his schoolwork, his parents. The times he isn't sucky usually ends up with him having to give up whatever he doesn't suck at (e.g. his job at Bueno Nacho). The titular Miss Possible is occasionally this, usually in relation to boys, and dating.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' largely subverts this. Hank has his flaws, but is a decent, hard-working human being and the OnlySaneMan. However, there was an episode where Peggy, Mihn, and Dale decided to play the stock market, and who did they research to find out what the American public wanted? Bill. Fat, bald, ugly, lonely, unlovable Bill, with the overall implication that the things that Bill likes are the things the American populace overall would want. It's an... interesting choice on their part.
* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'':
** Although he has a giant robot car and kicks butt with it, Coop lives in his mom's basement watching wrestling and playing video games.
** And if Coop is not This Loser Is You enough for you, you have Jamie, who is the ultimate slacker, lacking even the limited ambition and drive Coop is shown to have, he is shown to have no talent at anything and to be nothing but an opportunistic waste of space.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': Dethklok's "Fan Song" is a massive, scathing criticism directed to their very fans. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, considering how hardcore their fans are), ''they loved it''.
** Music/{{GWAR}} had a similar song, "Bohab". In fact, 'bohab' is an insult the band invented to describe stereotypical basement dwelling, unhygienic metal fans. (The word comes from a guy named Bob who allegedly pronounced his name that way).
* ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey'': Adam Lyon. An ordinary kid hopelessly trapped in [[SuckySchool an insane school]] and never to get what he desires without some terrible consequence.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': The episode "Collect Her" had a fat, bald nerd obsessed with the Powerpuff girls as the villain, who captures the girls because he's obsessed with his collection. He is defeated when [[spoiler: the citizens of Townsville start getting all his toys out of the packages]].
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'': In the Season 9 finale, the nerd volunteers to perform a death-defying stunt to save the show from cancellation since he best represents their target demographic.
-->'''Nerd''' ([[AsideGlance to the camera]]): It's true. You should- you should stop lying to yourself.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Pictured above is Homer Simpson. And while he ''is'' fat, ugly, lazy and stupid, there's enough of a good human being in there for him to get some successes over time, and for him to be sympathetic and identifiable.
** Frank Grimes was intended to be an 'ordinary person' in order to demonstrate that an ordinary person would be unable to survive in ''The Simpsons'' universe and befriend the likes of Homer Simpson without going crazy. It's also a subtle satire and "screw you" to fans who complain about the show's general lack of realism.
** Comic Book Guy represents the hyper-critical fan that obsesses about continuity or whines about when shows [[JumpingTheShark jumped the shark]]. He’s ''also'' [[SelfDeprecation Matt Groening's]] AuthorAvatar.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Randy Marsh, the main adult character, is a merciless evisceration of its older PeripheryDemographic of middle-aged, white collar males.
* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': Given how amazingly prevalent it is in children's entertainment, it's worth noting that this is averted. Virgil was generally portrayed as intelligent and a good student -- one relatively early episode involved him getting into a program for gifted students, and it wasn't in the "Main Character is the {{Dark Horse|Victory}}" way -- while his friend Richie eventually gains ''super-intelligence'' as a superpower. Even despite still being an open comic book geek, Virgil almost virtually never acted the way a stereotypical geek would, instead expressing an impressive amount of street smarts on a regular basis. In one episode he was mocked by Sharon because a speech he had prepared was too tedious and morose. In [[ComicBook/{{Static}} the comic book predecessor]], Richie's even more of a subversion -- he's not only all of the above, he's also bitterly [[spoiler: either in a TransparentCloset or in denial about being gay.]] Sure, the bad guys got Anvilicious, but Richie acts like any high schooler with an obvious "secret" he's uncomfortable about, without the attendant Aesop.
* The titular Tom from the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons. Not everyone has rooted for Jerry anyway.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': Sierra largely exists to be a TakeThat at the fanbase, Cody fangirls in particular. The ''Action'' special established her as being an obsessive StrawFan, while the entirety of ''World Tour'' generally has her as a crazed StalkerWithACrush to Cody.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'': Will Vandom is often shown getting terrible grades. To make matters worse, the first season of the television series actually had her lack the energy powers she had [[ComicBook/{{WITCH}} in the comics]], just to add to her insecurity and self-esteem issues.
[[/folder]]

* After ending Joey Janela's Wrestling/{{CZW}} Wired Championship reign for the second time, Wrestling/LioRush said he doesn't have anything against Janela personally but would be sticking around CZW despite his recently signed ROH contract to prove his superiority to Janela as an extended insult to CZW's fanbase, who he was projecting onto him.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Possibly the oldest examples of this in video gaming are [[VideoGame/SpaceQuest Roger Wilco]] and [[VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry Larry Laffer]].
* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': Captain Blubber can be viewed as this. For one thing, he cries because when he loses his gold in the first game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'': Pretty much the whole point of Vincent, the weak-willed, cheating protagonist.[[note]] Technically he isn't sure if he cheated due to alcohol, but is so skittish that he never works up the courage to properly talk to the woman he may have committed the act with and figure out what happened.[[/note]]
* In the MMO ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'', one mission you can get is to kidnap a snitch named Joshua who saw you committing a crime from his apartment while he was "staying up late playing [=dOs=]". The Joshua NPC character model is fat, balding, frumpily dressed, and has a decidedly unintelligent-looking face.
** And to add injury to insult, his pathfinding sucks, which not only makes him really annoying during the mission, but making him look extra idiotic as every twenty feet you have to go back for him and find him standing there staring around as if he had no clue where you went.
* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'': In this point-and-click adventure game, you play as an amnesiac alcoholic homeless cop.
* ''VideoGame/{{Divekick}}'': Stream is a goofy-looking, hate-filled demon in a straight jacket who spends all of his time on the Internet and only derives pleasure from trolling people. He is meant to mock the typical viewer of fighting game streams, known as a stream monster.
* ''VideoGame/DivineDivinity'': Your diary contains some observations on your stats, which were uniformly insulting until you got them fairly high, which took grinding and focusing on only a few. As a starting character, even though you look and act like an average person, your diary paints a portrait of a crippled, bumbling simpleton who gets winded from getting out of bed and has trouble forming sentences longer than three words. Made worse when you realize it's your own diary, meaning the person who wrote those horrible things was ''you''.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' starred Cloud, who started tough and independent but turned out to be the exact opposite of what you thought you were getting. When he was younger, he picked fights with the other kids to hide his insecurities and decided he would join [[SuperSoldier SOLDIER]] in order to impress the girl he'd had a crush on for years but never had the courage to ask out. When this attempt failed due to his stated insecurities and mental fragility, followed by his hometown being burned down by the man he idolized, followed by his best friend in the world -- an actual member of SOLDIER -- being gunned down before his eyes, he lost his mind and believed he ''was'' that best friend, with all his memories and triumphs. The Cloud we play as for most of the game is a shell of a man who believes he is a great hero because that's the only thing keeping his mind intact at all. [[MisaimedFandom Many people missed the point of this]].
** The same people forget that Cloud pretty much ''[[SeinfeldIsUnfunny started]]'' [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny the stereotype of the angsty brooding hero]] in [[EasternRPG JRPGs.]]
** Even though he was hardly angsty or brooding during the game. He was just really serious, even though he did plenty of goofy things during the game, such as cross dressing (albeit unwillingly).
** He does face his problems eventually and become the supreme AscendedFanboy, capable of taking Sephiroth one-on-one. It's a positive message overall. It's about admitting you suck and overcoming it to be awesome.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'': Lose enough units to get enough [[https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Replacement_character replacement characters]], and eventually you'll get ones with insulting names. Note that to get the best secret characters, you ''have'' to keep your army small, and there will be some times where picking up replacement characters (which happens automatically) will put you ''over'' the desired army size.
* ''VideoGame/ForumWarz'' [[ZigZaggingTrope can't quite make up its mind]]. On the one hand, you're fat and living in a basement, and you spend most of your time either {{Troll}}ing message boards or masturbating to bizarre pornography. On the other hand, you're the OnlySaneMan in a [[CrapsackWorld spectacularly messed-up world]].
* ''VideoGame/FreedomWars'': Your PlayerCharacter is treated like this, due to your being a prisoner in the [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian]] Panopticon. You get no shortage of flack for being so selfish as to be born, lose your memory, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking take more than five steps in your own cell]].
%%* In ''VideoGame/GitarooMan'', This Loser Is U-1.
* Taken literally with the nameable protagonist of the VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/GoGoNippon'', a dorky, socially awkward OccidentalOtaku ManChild who goes to Japan without knowing anything about it, thus implying that his only learning materials were manga, anime and games. Because the game was made with a foreign audience in mind (an unusual case in the mostly Japan-only world of [=VNs=]), and the FeaturelessProtagonist is supposed to be an avatar for the player, This Loser Is literally ''You'', the player! He still gets the girl in the end, though.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Trevor, one of the main playable characters is psychotic, brutally violent, a sexual deviant, and constantly threatens his friends with sexual and violent acts if they keep pissing him off. He's (supposedly) a representation on how a typical GTA player acts in the game. On a similar note, Jimmy, who is the son of Michael, is a young adult in his early twenties that refuses to get a job, mooches off of his parents, smokes weed all the time, [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbates constantly]], and plays video games all day while [[InternetJerk telling other players that they're gay and how he'll rape them and their mothers]].
* ''VideoGame/HuniePop'': Nikki is a stereotypical GamerGirl and not even a particularly flattering one at that. She is a misanthropic {{NEET}} who works part-time as a barista (and is rude to her customers) and spends her days playing video games and eating junk food. Yet she is a firm fan favourite, and even major streamers like [[Creator/TheCynicalBrit TotalBiscuit]] found her the most endearing heroine.
* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'': Normally, most people from SNK don't fit this trope. Unless you're Iori Yagami. If being possessed by [[DemonicPossession Orochi]], failing to beat his rival Kyo, and [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment being forced to turn into a girl]] isn't enough proof, go play a challenge of Iori vs [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer]] in ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}''. Homer will sum Iori up in 9 words.
-->'''Homer''': ''(after seeing Iori fall on his back from laughing too hard)'' Do you know how stupid you look right now?
* Despite being a HeroicMime, Link semi-qualifies in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' due to how the games cutscene-humor tends to abuse him (at least until he gets badass later on). It is very easy to picture him scoring 10% on a math test, despite being able to take on the most complicated dungeons and puzzles known to man. His often very, very clueless expressions really don't help. To quote King of Red Lions: "You are... surprisingly dull witted..."
** The interesting thing about this example in ''Wind Waker'' is that the game repeatedly shoves in the player's face that this Link ''IS NOT THE HERO OF TIME NOR HIS REINCARNATION''....that's right, you're effectively some nobody kid dressed up in garb in remembrance of the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Hero of Time]], but nothing more... no dreams about you kicking evil dark lord ass, no prophecy about how you'll save the land, ''nothing''. And after all that, this Link... goes on to meet his own destiny, not as a prophesied hero, but the Hero of Winds through sheer will and perseverence alone.
* ''VideoGame/LesterTheUnlikely'' is the embodiment of this trope. He's an overwhelmingly {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed, mid-20th century nerd stereotype who takes [[MadeOfPlasticine damage from falling off a small distance off a cliff]] and [[ArtificialInsolence runs away scared from every new creature he encounters, even a turtle]]! Undoubtedly, gamers either saw too much of themselves in him, or saw [[ExpectationLowerer too little]], which is probably why the game has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZj-MjOakZY so much hate]], as WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd [[http://cinemassacre.com/2010/11/03/avgn-lester-the-unlikely/ pointed out:]]
--> "Who wants to play as a weak, pathetic character like this? Wouldn't you rather be a tough guy? Isn't that the whole point of playing a game? To feel empowered? To be someone you're not? I mean, I get it. He's supposed to be a nerd. Well, this nerd makes me look like Creator/CharlesBronson. [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]] could beat the shit out of this guy!"
** Then again, [[CharacterDevelopment he slowly evolved into a tough hero]] towards the end of the game, losing his awkward stance, his fear of creatures, and he even got to use a sword! He even [[spoiler:gets the girl in the end. ''Two'' of them, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wtqRtYctdk in fact.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'''s Raiden. While he is beautiful rather than ugly, this is a side-effect of him being made deliberately androgynous so that [[MultipleDemographicAppeal both sexes identify with him]]. While he is fairly book-smart, he lacks common sense and does everything extremely by-the-book. He is routinely humiliated, [[ButtMonkey mocked]], and has a great sense of smallness and lack of control against the huge GovernmentConspiracy plot. The [[OlderAndWiser coolest man on the planet]] develops a liking for him, but, even so, [[YouDidntAsk hides information from him]] and says things deliberately to rile him up and humiliate him. His [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection CO]] patronises him, his girlfriend nags him, and he experiences all manner of humiliating circumstance, such as slipping on bird droppings or getting urinated on by a guard. WordOfGod has it that all this was designed to make the player identify more with him. Naturally, [[TheScrappy everyone hated him]] (though he did get [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap a better reputation later on]]). One blogger even went so far as to call him [[http://users.livejournal.com/_dahne_/104748.html Robo-Shinji]].
** It's [[spoiler:an actual plot point in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'']] that Raiden did ''everything'' Snake did with more emotional baggage. He also had to go through more crap, from being pissed on to [[spoiler:watching a young girl die, finding out his enemy is his godfather, discovering his dark past that haunts his PTSD-fueled nightmares, discovering his support team were all AI, he was being manipulated all along, his girlfriend may be faking her love for him, and it very well could be that nothing he knows is real. He and the player both end up on the receiving end of an epic MindScrew]]. They even spell it out for you at the end, when [[spoiler:Raiden looks at the dog tags he was wearing for the whole game, notices that they have ''the player's name'' on them, and throws them away after saying he has no idea who the name belongs to]].
** Also from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' is Otacon, who, well... [[http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3168048 1up.com says it better than us]]:
--->''Otacon was named after the nutty computer in ''2001''. He was seduced by his stepmother, which made his father kill himself. He [[ForScience accidentally designed Metal Gear Rex]] as a tool of the apocalypse. His stepsister died hating him. He named himself after an anime convention. He peed himself in terror when he first met Snake. He wondered aloud if love could bloom on the battlefield. Worst of all, Creator/HideoKojima designed Otacon as someone that you, the player, could relate to. You are the real loser.''
%%* ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 "It's official: you suck!"]]''
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': Travis Touchdown is... well... every negative stereotype of an {{otaku}} there is. Creator/Suda51 is not subtle. And then ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'' has him ''undoing'' all of that, becoming a character worthy of actual respect... or at least approaching it. And even then he's still way more of an otaku than most.
** And yet, he calls the player out on their perverted love of violence in video games in the opening to the sequel. And then again [[spoiler:after finishing off Alice,]] he calls them out again. The second time [[spoiler: comes after some much-needed character development, where he starts to realize he's getting sick and tired of mindless killing]].
** The gameplay itself is considered to be an allusion to the (stereotypical) player. From the [[Headscratchers/NoMoreHeroes Headscratchers]]:
--->No More Heroes is a satire of the outlook one who collects video games would have. Travis represents a gamer, and the assassination missions, with their stylized, hyperviolent nature, represent videogames. The rest of the world, on the other hand, is monotonous and contains dull jobs which Travis is motivated to do only so he can get back to the missions. In other words, it is a satire of the sort of otaku whose only interaction with the outside world are purely for the purpose of acquiring more videogames/anime/etc or more money as to buy more videogames/anime/etc.
* ''VideoGame/PokerNight2'': Most of [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} GLaDOS]]' dialogue directed at [[FeaturelessProtagonist The Player]] indicate this, but then again, so does her dialogue with just about ALL of the characters.
-->[[AC:I wouldn't be ashamed about losing. You have plenty of other things to be ashamed about.]]
* ''The Secret of VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' has the pathetic Guybrush Threepwood. He knows about piracy about as much as you do, but he does know that he wants to ''be'' a pirate. Continued to some extent in ''Lechuck's Revenge'', where Guybrush is apparently a realised pirate, he just doesn't get any respect and is on his way to discover the Big Whoop, an alleged immense treasure to fix that problem.
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'': [[TheHero The protagonist]], Vyse, can become this if you get a low [[ButThouMust Swashbuckler Rating]]. The complete embodiment of this trope is having between zero to five points (and it ''does'' take some effort to sink that low) thus earning you the title "Vyse the Ninny." The result of this will be ridicule from [=NPCs=], higher store prices, and the inability to access certain features, such as crew members (one of them needs a high rating to get).
** The absolute lowest is actually implied to be "Vyse the Fallen Pirate," but this is only triggered in the [[VideoGameRemake remake]] via an in-game event and doesn't affect you in the same way the regular ratings do. When you defeat three particular enemies, your rating skyrockets.
* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': The actions you commit are basically one long string of the game saying, "You suck for buying\renting this game, you suck for playing it, you suck for liking it, you suck for buying\renting other shooter games, you suck for playing them, you suck for liking them..." This is best summarized with a line that is LeaningOnTheFourthWall.
-->'''Konrad''': The truth, Walker, is that you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not - ''[[HeroicWannabe a hero]]''.
** Captain Martin Walker is a ruggedly handsome, physically imposing US officer in Delta Force, exactly the kind of character who is normally a projection of a usually male power fantasy. The game uses this trope in a meta way, as Walker's desire to be a hero and quasi-fourth wall breaking certainty that the events going on around him are a [[TheHerosJourney Hero's Journey]] just waiting for him to go through it proves to be his -- and the player's -- undoing. WordOfGod is the only way to "win" is to not play at all.
* ''VideoGame/TheSpellcastingSeries'': Ernie Eaglebeak is a scrawny geek in NerdGlasses who is obsessed with sorcery and sex.
* ''VideoGame/SplinterCellConviction'': Part of the JustifiedTutorial involves the protagonist giving explanations to his young daughter about light and shadow and why the latter isn't as scary as she thinks. The guys at ''WebVideo/{{Unskippable}}'' [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unskippable/1699-Splinter-Cell-Conviction point out the implications]]:
-->'''Paul:''' It is refreshing, though. This is the game ''literally'' explaining the combat mechanics to you as if you were a child.
%%* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'': Moneybags was never treated with respect in the third game.
* ''VideoGame/TakeshisChallenge'' is a game which involves making a {{Salaryman}} get drunk, divorce his wife and quit his job. The game even makes fun of you for actually trying to beat the game pointing out that you have just wasted your time getting trolled.
* ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew'': Arthur Hastings is a skinny and meek office worker who constantly sounds like he's on the verge of a panic attack. Even when he is ([[DefectorFromDecadence seemingly, in the case of his peers]]) on the [[FantasticDrug Joy]], his "friends" dominate him. Unlike [[MamaBear Sally]] and [[ViolentGlaswegian Ollie]], Arthur is clearly out of his depth. Later, Arthur's cowardly streak is shown in a much darker light: [[spoiler:when the Nazis were rounding up the children of Wellington Wells, he tricked his brother Percy into coming to the station with him and then switched their identification cards, so Percy got dragged off in his place.]]
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' introduced a new quest in the Cataclysm Expansion that consists of the player hopping on an NPC's horse and becoming an actual questgiver while 3 [[ItMakesSenseInContext NPC PCs]] approach to accept a quest. The first is named Dumass and is a perpetual moron who speaks in all caps and behaves like the players everybody loves to make fun of. The second is Kingslayer Orkus, who is a fully decked out, high-end raiding warrior who comes looking for stuff to do, and despite being geared to the high heavens, balks at even the ''slightest'' bit of danger. and the third is Johnny Awesome, who is that one pompous dirtbag in [[NewGamePlus heirloom gear]] with a real money mount who brags of his awesomeness, everyone wishes would shut up, and [[BreakTheFourthWall leans on and occasionally punches holes in the fourth wall]]. Bonus points for Johnny Awesome actually referencing TwentyBearAsses.
** [[PlayingWithATrope Inverted and played straight]] by the quests Mystery of the Infinite and Mystery of the Infinite Redux. The former includes a Future You NPC, and latter a Past You NPC. Both state they are kind of ashamed of you... while looking exactly like you, implying you don't improve at all, and goes about combat in a way that would pretty much be very incompetent if a player actually did that (as in they just run up and hit stuff).
** The Legion expansion has a quest where you [[RoleReversalBoss play as Illidan Stormrage defending the Black Temple]]. The developers made a raid of characters (including Johnny Awesome) who are well... as bad as most players in 2007 actually were, but a lot worse than anyone wants to admit they ever were. Also, you have to lose to these schmucks, because the plot says so. To make matters worse, they take your [[CoolSword cool warglaives]], the bastards.
* This is a selling point for ''VideoGame/ZettaiHeroProject'': You (as in, you the player) are the most pathetically weak protagonist of all time, and the world's greatest hero has just died and passed on his mantle to you. Better start grinding.
** Subverted in the WHAMEpisode that reveals that the HeroicMime actually has a past, and at least one [[{{Determinator}} personality trait]], upgrading him to IronWoobie status. [[spoiler: His entire family has hated him for his weakness for the past eight years thanks to an incident where, unbeknownst to them, he saved his sister from a cannibal by letting himself get beat up over and over again.]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Along with TheEveryman, the HaremGenre has plenty of these, the [[IntendedAudienceReaction intention being]] to provide a character that [[LowestCommonDenominator a wide audience]] can [[AudienceSurrogate easily relate to and project themselves onto]].
* ''Manga/{{Aria}}'''s protagonist, Akari Mizunashi, feels this way about herself, but she's actually very skilled and personable and suffering from a lack of self-confidence. CharacterDevelopment and lots of training and practice with her friends snap her out of it by the end.
%%* ''LightNovel/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'': Akihisa Yoshii.
* In ''Anime/CardfightVanguard'', Aichi has actually lost more matches than he has won. However, this trope has officially come into effect as of episode 32. Not only does Team Q4 [[spoiler:get knocked out of the nationals]], but Team [=AL4=]'s leader Ren Sugimori proceeds to rub it in his face (and possibly starting him on the path to {{Wangst}}). Then in the next episode, Team Q4 has to watch as Team [=AL4=] completely devastates the other Teams...
* ''VisualNovel/ChaosHead'': The main protagonist is a senior high school student who lives in a giant storage crate and is an Otaku who collects female Anime dolls and pretends to have real romantic relationships with them, because he doesn't trust "3D" (real) girls. It's so bad that the whole Anime is based on rather what he sees is real, or part of his disillusions.
* ''Manga/ChoujinSensen'': Tomobiki Rinji represents frustrated youths in all of Japan, if not the whole world: He couldn't get into university, he's stuck with a dead end part-time job, he has an unrequited love interest, and he feels like just about anything pisses him off (including his nonchalant family).
* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'': This is the point of the series. Doraemon is sent back in time to change Nobita's life -- namely, he turns out to be such a loser that his entire family tree is ruined because of it. Contrast with his good friend Shizuka, who is a smart and kind young girl, Gian who is strong and good at sports, and Suneo, who is a genuinely talented artist and designer, as well as being fairly good at science. And then there's Dekisugi, who is the best student in the school and TheAce at everything. It must be noted that while the nature of the "future" depicted changed from time to time, most often Nobita becomes a responsible salaryman, devoted husband, and cool dad. He also manages to bag Shizuka somewhere along the line.
* Mayo Sakaki of the ''Manga/FushigiYuugi: Eikoden'' OVA. She was intended as a surrogate for fans who wanted to go into the Universe of the Four Gods, and therefore was designed as an ordinary girl with human weaknesses. Instead she became one of the most widely [[TheScrappy reviled]] characters in the FY universe, probably because she went way the hell beyond "human weaknesses," crossed the MoralEventHorizon, and went straight into unintended VillainProtagonist territory. To the further fury of the fans, [[spoiler:she pretty much [[KarmaHoudini got away with it]] all because all the other characters felt sorry for her.]]
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'':
** Shimura Shinpachi is designed to look like a [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy Ridiculously average japanese teenager]] (even the pattern of his kimono evokes a jersey), and other characters will often joke about how his glasses are his only defining characteristic. And he is the one to act the most often as the AudienceSurrogate and OnlySaneMan.
** Even Gintoki Himself, when he is not [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass being badass]]. He is a lazy and [[{{Manchild}} childish]] twenty-something guy living on odd-jobs for cash who [[PerpetualPoverty can never]] pay his rent...and an avid reader of ''Magazine/ShonenJump'', the very magazine in which ''Gintama'' is published.
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket'' ends on a very famous quote that can easily come across as the director complaining that fans enjoy the robot fights in the series' tragic war dramas ''too much'' for him.
** Saji Crossroad during Season 1 of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' only cares about getting a happy life of his own, ignorant of the large causes of the world - [[spoiler:hell! He even blindly hates the Gundams after first [[CuteAndPsycho Nena Trinity]] blasted an arm out of his girlfriend, and then [[IntrepidReporter his sister Kinue]], in her quest for getting info about Gundam, was killed by Ali Al-Saachez. It is not until Tieria Erde delivers him a BrightSlap in Season 2 does he gets better]].
* ''LightNovel/HarukaNogizakasSecret'': Yuuto is an average everyday dude with average aspects and almost zero personality, till he meets cute Otaku Haruka...
* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' features personified countries, and most of these countries are made fun of a lot, so it could count as this to anyone from any of the featured countries.
%%* Hatsumi of ''Manga/HotGimmick''.
%%** And by extension, Yura of ''Manga/HoneyHunt'', though to a lesser degree.
* ''Anime/InfiniteRyvius'': Kouji Aiba, who despite having two LoveInterests, never does anything important, gets constantly beat up by his [[AloofOlderBrother Aloof Younger Brother]] Youki or others, and doesn't seem to be particularly skilled and is constantly in the shadow of his younger brother TheAce.
* ''Manga/InitialD'''s Itsuki, not the protagonist but his tolerated sidekick, is an uncontrollably emotional, self-aggrandizing, insecure, lustful, [[{{Gonk}} remarkably ugly]] Everyteen.
* ''Manga/{{Kaiji}}'''s title character is an unemployed bum who spends his time drinking cheap beer, losing cheap gambling games, crying over the fact that he doesn't have any money, and slashing other people's tires and stealing car ornaments. To his credit, [[TookALevelInBadass he gets it together once the events of the series kick him into action.]]
* ''Manga/KamichamaKarin'': Karin's ''only'' good feature is her fairly-cute looks. She's ''terrible'' academically, routinely scoring a flat 0 on tests, and celebrating wildly when she got through a test as the 30th-worst in the school (after weeks of [[TrainingFromHell Studying From Hell]]). She's also terrible at athletics, including combat-training. And yes, even when she summons ''the unlimited power of the Goddess Athena'', she continues to [[HowDoIShotWeb suck at using it]]. She's not even good at making friends - before the story started, her only friend was her ''cat''. Arguably, the only reason why she's the central character is that the antagonists wants a Goddess Ring, and she's by far the easiest target. Even towards the end, she never really recovers from her suckitude - she wields ThePowerOfLove, but WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway
* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'' begins as this trope, being the proverbial "97 lb weakling," but becomes an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] thanks to [[TrainingFromHell hard work]], {{determinat|or}}ion, and [[TheHero strong]] [[MartialPacifist ideals]] begins this series' crash course in CharlesAtlasSuperpower. [[TheHero Kenichi]] and the reader are ''repeatedly'' told that he has zero natural talent for martial arts, [[TookALevelInBadass but he doesn't stay this way for long]].
* ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'': Kinnikuman and his son Mantaro Kinniku are extreme examples of this; at the beginning of their respective adventures, they are both impossibly stupid, hideous and pathetic in almost every way, only ever succeeding through dumb luck. However, due to CerebusSyndrome, this is slowly peeled away to reveal competent, yet silly, characters.
* ''Manga/LoveHina'': While Keitaro is, as mentioned above, undeniably of the "loser everyman protagonist" type, it's pretty evident from day one that everyone else at the Hinata Inn is a mess of problems, and the series is as about much their CharacterDevelopment as it is Keitaro's.
* ''Manga/LuckyStar'': Though obviously not created for an American audience, Patricia is possibly one for American viewers. She is an American exchange student who only understands Japanese culture [[OccidentalOtaku through what she saw in anime.]]
* ''Manga/MarchenAwakensRomance'': Ginta at the beginning but quickly grows out of it around episode 10 (volume 3 of the manga).
* ''LightNovel/MariaWatchesOverUs'': Yumi is described as being a plain, non-athletic girl of average intelligence, who berates herself constantly for being insignificant. Still, she has one of the most popular girls of her school chase after her and drag her into the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil. She befriends most ''everyone'' there, which even culminates in a declaration of love of sorts from one of the coolest persons in the series. Later she is shown to have pretty good people skills, but that still doesn't convincingly explain why everybody chases her.
* Jiro "Roji" Kusano, half of the titular ''Manga/MuhyoAndRoji'', despite being assistant to genius executor Muhyo, starts out as a Second Clerk who failed his application exams to the Magical Law School, and is often unable to understand basic texts on Magical Law (he did not even know the difference between Magical Law and Magic). However, he has a large amount of tempering, and as time goes on, becomes very good at using magical seals in desperate situations.
** Also, Muhyo chose Roji because Roji actually cared about spirits, as opposed to other candidates who saw the assistant position as a way to improve their resume.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** Naruto starts off as overconfident in his abilities, obnoxious, a poor student and having few usable jutsus. He gradually matures, broadens his arsenal and becomes able to use his abilities better.
** [[TheMedic Sakura]] and [[BadassNormal Rock Lee]] are rare non-main character examples, as WordOfGod even stated that they were suppose to embody human weakness (at least pre-TimeSkip). Oddly enough, Rock Lee is arguably a ''successful'' example, as he manages to be [[EnsembleDarkhorse quite popular]] despite his [[TheWorfEffect general lack of success]], while Sakura manages to be [[TheScrappy decidedly unpopular]] in many circles, no matter how often Creator/MasashiKishimoto tried to fix that.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'''s protagonist Shinji Ikari, believed by many to be a critique of the {{Otaku}} culture, is a fearful, frail, young boy with quite a few social phobias who hates getting involved in conflicts and, rather than facing his problems, prefers to isolate himself and [[HeadphonesEqualIsolation drown out the world with his SDAT]]. [[ClassicalAntiHero And yet he is tasked with saving the world]].
* ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'': Fan reactions seem to point this way towards Tomoko Kuroki, the main protagonist. Interestingly enough, it seems the majority of these feelings come from the [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff western fans]]. However, this changes as the series goes on, as she makes a healthy social circle filled with all types of girls and even manages to mature out of some of her worst flaws, while still remaining a perverted and awkward girl.
* ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'': Doremi gets terrible grades, constantly screws up spells, is an athletic failure, is greedy and self-centered, and just is an all-around [[TheDitz Ditz]]. So naturally the Queen entrusts her with ''the newborn next heir to the witch kingdom''. In contrast, her five-year-old sister is [[WiseBeyondTheirYears prodigiously competent and mature]], and her friends include a lovable, [[{{Ojou}} rich]] genius, an athletic prodigy, and an IdolSinger. It gets better as the series goes on with Doremi learning to be more mature with both her magic and personal life.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Usopp. How can a shounen fan who joins a shounen team survive against his enemies? [[CombatPragmatist By using random weapons, tricking his enemies and hiding during the battles,]] [[{{Reconstruction}} of course]].
* ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' has the titular character and his 5 brothers. Like their young adult audience, they're twenty-somethings worried about adult life, and each has an interest that might resonate with them (Choromatsu's being into idols, Ichimatsu's unenthusiasm and love of cats, etc.). They're also petty, selfish, egotistical, perpetially horny, and lonely, to the point that it's repeatedly shown that neither of them would find success if they struck out on their own. They deliberately stay at home with their parents to mooch off of them instead of helping them out, and when one of them does try to find a way out of their rut, their plan is either to use slimy tactics to raise themself up (while keeping the others from repeating the same success) or drag everyone else down with them, only looking less bad by comparison.
** Season 2 adds a further dig at both them and their out-of-universe EstrogenBrigade. On one hand, the boys are protrayed as gross, hedonistic jerks who would abuse their fame the second they find out they have fans, making the audience wonder who would ever give them that attention in the first place. On the other hand, the fangirls are portrayed as those exact kind of people, who are either oblivious to how disgusting and exploitative the brothers are or deliberately ignoring those qualities out of manic obsession and brand loyalty.
* ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'': Played depressingly [[YouBastard straight]] with the unnamed {{Otaku}}.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** [[IdiotHero Ash Ketchum]]. Initially, he's completely incompetent in basically every way, with most of his "victories" being the result of either dumb luck or his opponents having pity on him. Ash gets better ''eventually''; now his wins (occasional DeusExMachina notwithstanding) are almost always legitimate (especially if there's [[StrawmanBall another character to screw up instead]]) and sometimes even the result of pretty clever tactics on his part. Though he's fortunately nowhere near as bad as when he started out, it's still noticeable when Ash gets beaten by novice trainers. [[BagOfSpilling Leaving all of his old Pokemon behind except Pikachu]] [[JustifiedTrope partially justifies]] this. Then, there's the fact that [[spoiler:before his big win in Alola]] he's never won a single League (that was canonical to the games, as he ''did'' win the Orange League, ''and'' completed the Battle Frontier, which isn't a League, but is canonical to the games), making him come off as a FailureHero.
** [[CreatorsPet While not actually treated that way by the plot]], Paul from the Diamond and Pearl series comes off of this, as his [[TrainingFromHell cruel and overworking treatment and objectification of his Pokemon]] mirrors the [[StopHavingFunGuys often over-the-top]] competitive and power-oriented teambuilding strategy in the games, since "caring" and "loving" your Pokemon is impossible except in [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY two]] [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon generations]].
* ''Anime/PrettyCure'':
** PlayedWith; While most pink-type ''Anime/PrettyCure'' leads after her tend to fall into this, [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure Tsubomi Hanasaki]] really took the cake at first. Shy, introverted, not much of an energetic person, and having her first battle (against a Desertian no less) end in a loss on her end, both [[NonHumanSidekick Chypre & Coffret]] had decried her as "The Weakest Pretty Cure In History"...which is admittedly true in Episodes 2 to 4, [[InformedFlaw only for that title to be ironically misleading starting in Episode 5 where her victories outweigh her defeats by a far greater number throughout the series (even before Yuri joins the Pretty Cure team in Episode 34)]]. Aside from the series showing Tsubomi's evolution into a much more stronger person, when we see her in ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars DX 3'', she's busy helping RookieRedRanger [[Anime/SuitePrettyCure Hibiki]] when the teams are scattered.
* ''Manga/Reborn2004'':
** Tsuna Sawada, the main protagonist, is regularly mocked by his peers for being a loser in just about every endeavor. He does get several moments of awesomeness, but only when he gets "touched" by Reborn's MagicBullets. And then things begin to get ''weird''. Of course, as the series goes on, he becomes less of a living incarnation of This Loser Is You and more of a typical optimistic, naive {{Shonen}} hero. Though, he still shows signs of this trope at times.
** Kozato Enma, the leader of the Simon family. Appropriately enough he's basically Tsuna's counterpart, being the same age, nationality, and within the same position in the mafia. They also become great friends.
* ''LightNovel/ReZero'': Deconstructed to the nth degree with Subaru Natsuki, who embodies all the core traits of this. And with his eventual GroundhogDayLoop levels of suffering, eventually shows how such a person would actually work in real life, culminating into one hell of a [[TearJerker tearjerking]] Self inflicted TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in Episode 18. [[spoiler: All the suffering he goes through up till then has been, to his self-loathing and realization, to be the result of his rotten character, a person who has done absolutely nothing productive his whole life, in spite of having all the time in the world, foolishly thinking that all the knowledge he gained from doing nothing but gaming and bingeing on anime, manga and Light Novels, that it could get him a better life in another world simply by being teleported there, only to find this to be not at all what happens. He states multiple times at that point that he hates himself for it.]] Case in point:
--> '''Subaru''': Before I got into the situation that led me to all of you, do you have any idea what I did? I did nothing. I've never done a single thing. I had all that time, all that freedom... I could have done ''anything'', but I never did a ''thing!'' And this is the result! What I am now is the result! All of my powerlessness, all of my incompetence, is the product of my rotten character. That's right. I have no character. Even when I thought I could live here, nothing changed. At heart, I'm just a small, cowardly, filthy piece of trash, who's always worried about how others see me. And nothing... '''Nothing about me has changed!''' ...I absolutely hate myself...
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': Usagi Tsukino is a gentle, compassionate, selfless and friendly teenage girl. She's also clumsy, lazy, childish and spoiled. And her friends and love interest, much as they love her, aren't shy about [[LampshadeHanging lampshading the trope]] frequently. Of course, with her being an AuthorAvatar, Naoko Takeuchi might actually be saying "This loser is ''me''."
* ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' occasionally makes potshots at society and its readers often making an example out of a one-shot character or someone from the existing cast using their negative traits to describe something you potentially have done.[[note]]Example: Meru Otonashi represents Internet trolls: You may be polite and innocent in person but you are probably a malicious {{Jerkass}} online.[[/note]]
%%* ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'': Makoto.
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': With his obsession with Gundam models and [[ManChild bouts of childishness]], it's not hard to argue that Keroro is a parody of {{otaku}}.
* ''Manga/StrawberryOneHundredPercent'': Manaka Junpei seems to be good for nothing. Low grades, not that athletic and he even fails at moviemaking once (which is his one passion). On the other hand, he is good at making girls fall for him. Panties first.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': Simon is a mild example of this. Having lost his parents (seeing them be crushed when he was seven,) he's pretty meek and doesn't believe in himself. However, he has Kamina to inspire him and it's revealed he has amazing potential. He overcomes adversity and grief to become a very strong and kind young man. Rossiu is pretty close to this before the time skip as well.
* ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'''s protagonist Tatsuhiro Sato is a nerdy social outcast and unemployed college dropout, who spends almost all of his time inside his cramped apartment, with nothing better to do than watching anime and porn all day long. Probably meant as a satirical representation of certain viewers who may be nerdy losers like him.
[[/folder]]

* Ernie Eaglebeak of ''VideoGame/TheSpellcastingSeries''; a scrawny geek in NerdGlasses who is obsessed with sorcery and sex.

* In the point-and-click adventure game ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' you play as an amnesiac alcoholic homeless cop.

** The interesting thing about this example in ''Wind Waker'' is that the game repeatedly shoves in the player's face that this Link ''IS NOT THE HERO OF TIME NOR HIS REINCARNATION''....that's right, you're effectively some nobody kid dressed up in garb in remembrance of the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Hero of Time]], but nothing more...no dreams about you kicking evil dark lord ass, no prophecy about how you'll save the land, ''nothing''. And after all that, this Link...goes on to meet his own destiny, not as a prophesied hero, but the Hero of Winds through sheer will and perseverence alone.

* In ''VideoGame/PokerNight2'', most of [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} GLaDOS]]' dialogue directed at [[FeaturelessProtagonist The Player]] indicate this, but then again, so does her dialogue with just about ALL of the characters.

* Possibly the oldest examples of this in video gaming are [[VideoGame/SpaceQuest Roger Wilco]] and [[VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry Larry Laffer]].

* Normally, [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters most people from SNK]] don't fit this trope. Unless you're Iori Yagami. If being possessed by [[DemonicPossession Orochi]], failing to beat his rival Kyo, and [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment being forced to turn into a girl]] isn't enough proof, go play a challenge of Iori vs [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer]] in ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}''. Homer will sum Iori up in 9 words.
-->'''Homer''': ''(after seeing Iori fall on his back from laughing too hard)'' Do you know how stupid you look right now?

** Captain Martin Walker is a ruggedly handsome, physically imposing US officer in Delta Force, exactly the kind of character who is normally a projection of a usually male power fantasy. The game uses this trope in a meta way, as Walker's desire to be a hero and quasi-fourth wall breaking certainty that the events going on around him are a [[TheHerosJourney Hero's Journey]] just waiting for him to go through it proves to be his - and the player's - undoing. WordOfGod is the only way to "win" is to not play at all.

%%* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'': Moneybags. He was never treated with respect in the third game.

* Arthur Hastings of ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew'' is a skinny and meek office worker who constantly sounds like he's on the verge of a panic attack. Even when he is ([[DefectorFromDecadence seemingly, in the case of his peers]]) on the [[FantasticDrug Joy]], his "friends" dominate him. Unlike [[MamaBear Sally]] and [[ViolentGlaswegian Ollie]], Arthur is clearly out of his depth. Later, Arthur's cowardly streak is shown in a much darker light: [[spoiler:when the Nazis were rounding up the children of Wellington Wells, he tricked his brother Percy into coming to the station with him and then switched their identification cards, so Percy got dragged off in his place.]]