History Main / TookALevelInBadAss

So you're flipping channels looking for something to watch and you come across a battle scene in a familiar show. One character in particular is making a very good showing, doing at least as much as the main character to save the day. But who is this mysterious person in the BadassLongcoat? Did you miss the episode where he was introduced? Why the nagging feeling of familiarity? And then it hits -- you ''know'' this kid. It's just that last time you saw this person, he was a nebbishy wisecracker with the constitution of a glass-jawed squirrel. What happened to transform him so completely? Simple: last time he [[LevelUp leveled up]], he [[TitleDrop took a level in badass]].

[[caption-width-right:250:Susan Richards, before and after 40 years of CharacterDevelopment and the Women's Rights Movement.]]

->''"If you told me five years ago that [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Raiden]] was going to be [[Videogame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance cooler]] [[Videogame/DmCDevilMayCry than]] [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]], I'd have told you to just shut up and let me punch you."''

Compare ObfuscatingStupidity, LetsGetDangerous, CowardlyLion, and NotSoHarmlessVillain, where actually competent characters who have been hiding their powers finally reveal their abilities. {{Xenafication}} is when this happens to TheChick. MagikarpPower is when this is achieved through lots of LevelGrinding.

->''"If you told me five years ago that [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Raiden]] was going to be cooler than [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]], I'd have told you to just shut up and let me punch you."''

-->-- '''Matt''', ''WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay'': ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale''

-->-- '''Matt''', ''WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay'': ''PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale''

* TookALevelInBadass/{{Film}}

Compare ObfuscatingStupidity, LetsGetDangerous, CowardlyLion, and NotSoHarmlessVillain, where actually competent characters who have been hiding their powers finally reveal their abilities. {{Xenafication}} is when this happens to TheChick. MagikarpPower is when this is achieved through lots of LevelGrinding. Contrast BadassDecay, when a previously badass character ends up losing this level.

Compare ObfuscatingStupidity, LetsGetDangerous, CowardlyLion, and NotSoHarmlessVillain, where actually competent characters who have been hiding their powers finally reveal their abilities. {{Xenafication}} is when this happens to TheChick. Contrast BadassDecay, when a previously badass character ends up losing this level.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1294849586022157100
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[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/invisible_woman.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Susan Richards, before and after 40 years of CharacterDevelopment and the Women's Rights Movement.]]

[[caption-width-right:250:Susan Richards, before and after 40 years of CharacterDevelopment, {{Xenafication}} and the Women's Rights Movement.]]

[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/invisible_woman_vertical_1439.jpg]]]]

The reference comes from roleplaying, where it's sometimes possible to "take a level" in a completely different class. For instance: a level ten Fighter ''could'' take a level in Wizard, therefore being both a level ten Fighter and a level one Wizard. The joke is presumably that if BadAss was a class and you could take a level in it, you would thereby become BadAss where you weren't before. Actual RPG classes are, of course, supposed to be balanced so that literally taking one level in something doesn't normally make you greatly more powerful. Blending this with modern gaming, however, one can achieve what is known as "badass grinding", where one takes ''[[SerialEscalation multiple]]'' levels in badass.

If they were already Badass to begin with and notched it UpToEleven by imbuing the previously unpowered character with superpowers, it's EmpoweredBadassNormal.

->''"If you told me five years ago that [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2 Raiden]] was going to be cooler than [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]], I'd have told you to just shut up and let me punch you."''

->''"If you told me five years ago that [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2 Raiden]] was going to be cooler than [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]], I'd have told you to shut the fuck up."''

[[caption-width-right:250:Susan Richards, before and after 40 years of CharacterDevelopment and {{Xenafication}}.]]

-->-- '''Matt''', ''WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay'': PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale''

-->-- '''Matt''', ''WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay'': ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''

[[caption-width-right:250:Susan Richards, before and after 40 years of CharacterDevelopment, {{Xenafication}} and the Women's Rights Movement.]]

->''"If you told me five years ago that [[TheScrappy Raiden]] was going to be cooler than [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dan]][[MemeticBadass te]], I'd have told you to shut the fuck up."''

[[caption-width-right:250:Susan Richards, before and after 40 years of CharacterDevelopment and the Women's Rights Movement.]]

-->-- 'WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay'': ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''

->''"Congratulations, you're officially a badass."''
-->-- '''[[DeadpanSnarker Alice]]''', ''[[Film/ResidentEvilRetribution Resident Evil: Retribution]]''

-->-- '''[[DeadpanSnarker Alice]]''', ''Film/ResidentEvilRetribution''

->''"Well, it seems like [[TheSmartGuy Garrus]] has finally worked that stick out of his butt, but now he's trying to beat guys to death with it."''
-->-- '''[[DeadpanSnarker Joker]]''', ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''

If they were already Badass to begin with and notched it UpToEleven by imbuing the previously unpowered character with superpowers, it's BadassAbnormal.

->''"Why aren't you a joke anymore?"''
-->-- '''Spider-Man''' to second-string villain Hammerhead after just getting beat up by him,''[[ComicBook/{{Spider-Man}} The Amazing Spider-Man]]''