History Main / TooQuirkyToLose

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Mythology ]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

This trope should be distinguished from PopularityPower, because the person in question usually isn't popular at all. It's also closely related to CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, CrazyAwesome, and TheDeterminator. The term [[EnsembleDarkhorse "dark horse"]] is a more charitable way of referring to a character with these attributes. Such a "dark horse" may win a DarkHorseVictory if two superior competitors ignore him while focusing their efforts on each other.

** In what may forever be his most absurd accomplishment, he became the runner-up of the 2011 ''Royal Rumble'' via a BrickJoke. You see Santino was knocked out early in is run of match and was fortunate enough to fall under the bottom rope to the floor. About 10 minutes later, Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio was celebrating his apparent victory when Santino recovered and hit [[FinishingMove The Cobra]]! Santino started celebrating prematurely allowing Del Rio to recover and reverse Santino's elimination attempt, sending Santino over the top rope. But just imagine how close we were to seeing Santino Marella in the main event of ''Wrestling/{{Wrestlemania}}''!

* An episode of ''InvaderZim'' titled "Top Of The Line" would have involved Gir, Mimi, Chip and other sir units competing to be named the best model of Sir units, after certain circumstances all sirs other than the defective Gir are unable to continue and Gir wins.

* WilliamRegal was once called upon to judge a singing contest on ''Monday Night Raw''. One of the participants was Santino Marella, and Regal found him intolerably irritating. RonSimmons ([[HeyItsThatGuy you know, the "DAMN" guy]]) came out to the arena and beat Marella up, drawing cheers from the audience. Regal was so grateful for this act that he announced Simmons as the winner - even though Simmons hadn't sung one note!
* Come to think of it, Santino Marella himself. He's a diminutive Sicilian wrestler (although actually from Canada) who has spent the better part of the past two years jobbing to more established Superstars on ''Raw''. He tends to be portrayed as pretty pathetic, or at best only semi-competent. Yet he has two Intercontinental Championship reigns to his credit (albeit ones he owed to absurdly fortunate circumstances) and became "Miss [=WrestleMania=]" in 2009 when (in drag) he eliminated former girlfriend BethPhoenix in a Battle Royal!
** In what may forever be his most absurd accomplishment, he became the runner-up of the 2011 ''Royal Rumble'' via a BrickJoke. You see Santino was knocked out early in is run of match and was fortunate enough to fall under the bottom rope to the floor. About 10 minutes later, Alberto Del Rio was celebrating his apparent victory when Santino recovered and hit [[FinishingMove The Cobra]]! Santino started celebrating prematurely allowing Del Rio to recover and reverse Santino's elimination attempt, sending Santino over the top rope. But just imagine how close we were to seeing Santino Marella in the main event of {{Wrestlemania}}!

* An episode of InvaderZim titled "Top Of The Line" would have involved Gir, Mimi, Chip and other sir units competing to be named the best model of Sir units, after certain circumstances all sirs otherthen the defective Gir are unable to continue and Gir wins.

* An [[TooGoodToLast Unfinished]] episode of InvaderZim titled "Top Of The Line" would have involved Gir, Mimi, Chip and other sir units competing to be named the best model of Sir units, after certain circumstances all sirs otherthen the defective Gir are unable to continue and Gir wins.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* A good example is the film ''NapoleonDynamite''. Despite being an outcast the central character has success helping his friend become class president... with his dance skills.

* William Regal was once called upon to judge a singing contest on ''Monday Night Raw''. One of the participants was Santino Marella, and Regal found him intolerably irritating. Ron Simmons ([[HeyItsThatGuy you know, the "DAMN" guy]]) came out to the arena and beat Marella up, drawing cheers from the audience. Regal was so grateful for this act that he announced Simmons as the winner - even though Simmons hadn't sung one note!

** Somewhat unsurprisingly, [[TheRalphWiggum Ralph Wiggum]] got this treatment once on ''TheSimpsons''. In particular, one thinks of the episode in which he entered "Diorama-Rama" a contest for the second-graders at Springfield Elementary. He didn't even try to make a diorama (mostly because he didn't know what a diorama was), instead simply bringing in a box full of vintage ''StarWars'' figures. Despite the fact that Ralph clearly didn't even qualify, Principal Skinner so enjoyed seeing the vintage action figures that he gave Ralph first prize anyway. Ralph gleefully [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] the trope, chanting: "I beat the smart kids! I beat the smart kids!" - until, that is, he fell on the box of figures and [[AccidentalInnuendo bent his Wookiee]].

* Subverted in the tale of Arachne. Arachne was a {{Jerkass}} weaver who claimed to be able to create more exquisite tapestries than even the goddesses of Olympus could. Unable to tolerate this boasting, the goddess Athena challenged this mortal girl to a weaving contest. Remarkably, despite being only a human, Arachne did outperform Athena at the loom - which even Athena herself had to admit. But, with [[TooDumbToLive fatal foolishness]], Arachne went the extra step of taunting Athena by including in her tapestry design an offensive caricature of her father, Zeus. Athena punished the girl by turning her into a spider - which is why eight-legged arthropods are to this day known as "arachnids."
* Also subverted in the myth of the music contest between Apollo and Pan, only here it was not the winner himself who was punished. Apollo - the very god of ''music'', for goodness sakes! - and Pan asked King Midas of Phrygia (yes, the one with the "golden touch") to judge a contest between the two of them, with Apollo at the lyre and Pan on his flute. Pan was clearly an inferior being to Apollo (being, among other things, only ''half''-divine, as he was the son of the god Hermes and a wood nymph) yet played at least as well on his flute as Apollo did at his instrument, and ended up beating out Apollo for the prize. Midas, however, was too stupid to realize that one must never anger an Olympian god: Apollo, being a classic sore loser, humiliated Midas by giving him the ears of an ass.

* Somewhat unsurprisingly, [[TheRalphWiggum Ralph Wiggum]] got this treatment once on ''TheSimpsons''. In particular, one thinks of the episode in which he entered "Diorama-Rama" a contest for the second-graders at Springfield Elementary. He didn't even try to make a diorama (mostly because he didn't know what a diorama was), instead simply bringing in a box full of vintage ''StarWars'' figures. Despite the fact that Ralph clearly didn't even qualify, Principal Skinner so enjoyed seeing the vintage action figures that he gave Ralph first prize anyway. Ralph gleefully [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] the trope, chanting: "I beat the smart kids! I beat the smart kids!" - until, that is, he fell on the box of figures and [[AccidentalInnuendo bent his Wookiee]].
* In another ''Simpsons'' episode, Bart entered a school science fair with an entry called "Can Hamsters Fly Airplanes?" Even though his "experiment" clearly did not prove or disprove any hypothesis, Principal Skinner [[CutenessProximity was so charmed]] by the sight of a hamster wearing flight goggles and a scarf and sitting in a model airplane that he pronounced Bart the winner.
* TotalDramaIsland was won by Owen. Owen, who wasn't physically fit, wasn't very smart, and often times was the load for his tribe, won the first season.

Ironically, this character does not necessarily have to be TheAce. In fact, he or she is sometimes a total loser (and not always even a CoolLoser) who triumphs through a fluke or dumb luck - or sometimes simply because he or she is simply [[AcheivementsInIgnorance too stupid to realize defeat]].

Ironically, this character does not necessarily have to be TheAce. In fact, he or she is sometimes a total loser (and not always even a CoolLoser) who triumphs through a fluke or dumb luck - or sometimes simply because he or she is simply too stupid to realize defeat.

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

[[AC: {{Mythology}}]]

[[AC: ProfessionalWrestling]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

[[AC: RealLife]]

----

This trope should be distinguished from PopularityPower, because the person in question usually isn't popular at all. It's also closely related to CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, CrazyAwesome, and TheDeterminator. The term [[EnsembleDarkhorse "dark horse"]] is a more charitable way of referring to a character with these attributes. A DarkHorseVictory may result when two superior competitors fall by the wayside, perhaps by neutralizing each other and creating an opening for an otherwise hopeless bid.

This trope should be distinguished from PopularityPower, because the person in question usually isn't popular at all. It's also closely related to CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, CrazyAwesome, and TheDeterminator. The term [[EnsembleDarkhorse "dark horse"]] is a more charitable way of referring to a character with these attributes.

* TotalDramaIsland was won by Owen. Owen, who wasn't physically fit, wasn't very smart, and often times was the load for her tribe, won the first season.

** Arakhne represented the gods in the guise of animals chasing after mortal girls (which was pretty much what they did shameless) and she was also jealous at Arachne's skill. Athena first beat the girl with her shuttle, driving Arakhne to hang herself in despair and then turn her into a spider. A clear case of [[JerkassGod Jerkass God]].
*** I don't know that I'd agree with that. Arachne was guilty of hubris, loudly [[BlasphemousBoast boasting]] to anybody who'd listen that she was a superior weaver to Athena (the patroness of weavers). Nonetheless, Athena gave Arachne the chance to redeem herself, visiting the mortal disguised as an old woman and warning her against insulting the gods. Arachne ignored the warning, challenged Athena to a contest and then proceeded to weave an offensive tapestry depicting the gods as immoral and lascivious. Her disrespect makes Athena's rage and her subsequent punishment justified - even if Athena was partially motivated by envy. And despite all this, the punishment meted out by Athena was comparatively tame - even merciful, one might argue. The goddess spared Arachne from death, preventing her suicide, and preserved the woman's talent by turning her into a creature that weaves intricate webs. Less a case of JerkassGod, more a case of Idiot Mortal.

* In the 2006 reality-TV competition ''Skating With Celebrities'', actress [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Kristy Swanson]] really wasn't as good an ice-skater as her chief rival, TV reporter Jillian Barberie. But the judges on that show were so impressed by the heroic effort put forth by Swanson and her partner (and future husband) Lloyd Eisler that in the end they awarded her the trophy anyway. (Of course, it helped that Barberie suffered a groin injury fairly early in the competition, which noticeably limited her ability to perform her most dazzling stunts.)

* ''ForrestGump''. Just....''ForrestGump''.

** Arakhne represented the gods in the guise of animals chasing after mortal girls (which was pretty much what they did shameless) and she was also jealous at Arachne's skill. Athena first beat the girl with her shuttle, driving Arakhne to hang herself in despair and then turn her into a spider. A clear case of [[JerkassGod Jerkass God]].

** Arakhne represented the gods in the guise of animals chasing after mortal girls (which was pretty much what they did shameless). Athena first beat the girl with her shuttle, driving Arakhne to hang herself in despair and then turn her into a spider. A clear case of [[JerkassGod Jerkass God]].

** Actually Athena was in the guise of an old mortal woman. So she didn't know that it was Athena. Arakhne represented the gods in the guise of animals chasing after mortal girls (which was pretty much what they did shameless). Athena first beat the girl with her shuttle, driving Arakhne to hang herself in despair and then turn her into a spider. A clear case of [[JerkassGod Jerkass God]].

** Arakhne represented the gods in the guise of animals chasing after mortal girls (which was pretty much what they did shameless). Athena first beat the girl with her shuttle, driving Arakhne to hang herself in despair and then turn her into a spider. A clear case of [[JerkassGod Jerkass God]].

* In another ''Simpsons'' episode, Bart entered a school science fair with an entry called "Can Hamsters Fly Airplanes?" Even though his "experiment" clearly did not prove or disprove any hypothesis, Principal Skinner was so charmed by the "cute" sight of a hamster wearing flight goggles and a scarf and sitting in a model airplane that he pronounced Bart the winner.