Line #59 Main/SnarkBall


1	Alice is stupid. There's no ObfuscatingStupidity either: her inability to grasp basic logic is one of the main driving forces behind the [[IdiotPlot main plot]]. Except, outside the main plot she regularly plays DeadpanSnarker or OnlySaneMan to smarter characters.
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3	That means she just caught a Snark Ball: an imaginary device that makes a character consistently show more wit than he actually has.
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5	May lead to fan theories that the character is secretly ObfuscatingStupidity. It's also prevalent in cartoons of "wacky" variety, where absurdity of actions becomes funnier if the characters themselves comment on that.
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7	Compare SmartBall, where a stupid character does a smart thing because the plot says so, and DumbassHasAPoint, where a stupid character says something stupid that still makes sense. A {{Cuckoosnarker}} is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} character who juggles the Snark Ball.
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9	----
10	!!Examples:
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13	%%[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
14	%%* Oga from ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}''
15	%%[[/folder]]
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17	[[folder:{{Film}}]]
18	* In ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', Mongo (having just been used to give Rock Ridge one heck of a load of exposition) looks right at the screen and intones solemnly, [[spoiler:"Mongo only pawn, in game of life."]]
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21	[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
22	* [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster]], despite being described as "mentally negligible", can be quite witty especially in the narration.
23	[[/folder]]
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25	[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
26	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
27	** Susan Foreman is usually TheIngenue and the sweetest and most empathetic of the main cast, but Creator/TerryNation would give her snarky lines (in accordance with his [[WorldOfSnark own tastes]]), particularly in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]".
28	** The Second Doctor, who is usually compassionate, easy-going and as modest as the Doctor ever gets, has one stuffed down his throat by Creator/RobertHolmes during "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E4TheKrotons The Krotons]]" and spends most of the serial playing InsufferableGenius, subtly mocking the Krotons and Jamie and bickering with Zoe over whether he knows how to do everything or not. This has the effect of moving his characterisation to be quite close to the Fourth Doctor's, a character Robert Holmes was pivotal in creating.
29	** Tends to happen during Creator/StevenMoffat's episodes - Moffat has an undeniable knack for coming up with snarky dialogue, so all of his original characters (Amy, Rory, River, Clara...) have the fact that they communicate exclusively in snark built into their characterisation, and when he didn't create them, he'll feed them snarky lines anyway - observe the far wittier way the Ninth Doctor communicates in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild The Empty Child]] / [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances The Doctor Dances]]", Rose's sudden increase in sarcasm in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace The Girl in the Fireplace]]", and how abrasive and snippy the Fifth Doctor is in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CiNSTimeCrash Time Crash]]" compared to usual. This is even inverted in the case of Captain Jack, a Moffat-created character who couldn't get through a single line without a snarky gag in "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", but who soon found himself heading ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' with a much more sombre dialogue style.
30	* Kelly Bundy from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. She's barely literate, [[{{Malaproper}} speaks almost entirely in malapropisms]] and nearly always [[ComicallyMissingThePoint misses the point]] of what's going on around her. She's one of the best examples of both a BrainlessBeauty and a DumbBlonde... yet she also very frequently delivered witty and inventive comebacks and snark, especially when it came to [[SiblingRivalry fighting with her brother]].
31	* Joey from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' is usually [[BrainlessBeauty the dumb]] [[TheDitz one]], but most of his DumbassHasAPoint moments are in the form of sarcastic quips. Being the roommate of [[DeadpanSnarker Chandler]] seems to have that sort of effect.
32	-->''[Rachel's job résumés have many [[RougeAnglesOfSatin spelling errors]]]''\
33	'''Rachel:''' Oh, my God! Oh! Do you think it's on all of them?\
34	'''Joey:''' Oh, no, I'm sure the Xerox machine caught a few of them.\
35	''[Ross wants to propose to Rachel after they have a baby, but hasn't]''\
36	'''Ross:''' Hey, I'm not gonna rush into anything.\
37	'''Joey:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh yeah, dude, I totally understand.]] Usually after I have a baby with a woman I like to slow things down!\
38	''[Joey and Phoebe are starving while waiting for the others who are late and haven't informed anything, when Ross and Rachel finally arrive]''\
39	'''Phoebe:''' You guys are over an hour late! What happened to you two?\
40	'''Ross:''' So sorry!\
41	'''Rachel:''' We got locked out of the apartment—\
42	'''Joey:''' That's a great story. Can I eat it?
43	[[/folder]]
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45	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
46	* In the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' series, whoever is the currently playable character immediately becomes a FirstPersonSmartass similar to Phoenix in the original trilogy. This is most obvious with Phoenix himself in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', where he acts like TheMentor when playing as Athena or Apollo but reverts back to his goofy old-school persona when playing as him. A side effect is that your co-councel usually gets the SmartBall as well, given that they have to act as the game's HintSystem.
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49	[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]
50	* Monette and Kharisma from ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive''. Both of them started as extremely stupid characters, and eventually developed into the same {{Deadpan Snarker}}s that the rest of the cast are. Some of this is character development, but they nonetheless behave with a level of intellect far higher than their original characterizations.
51	* In ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', Fighter is a KindheartedSimpleton, who usually takes everything at face value and genuinely believes his companions are as competent as they claim. Then there are moments like [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2007/01/04/episode-791-happy-landings/ this]]:
52	-->'''Fighter''': ''(after he and Thief have both survived being fired from a cannon by different methods)'' Here comes Red Mage. Wonder what he'll do.\
53	'''Thief''': If he's smart, he'll just mime my jump.\
54	'''Fighter''': Yeah. I wonder what he'll do.\
55	''(Red Mage slams into the ground painfully)''\
56	'''Fighter''': I wasn't surprised. Were you surprised, Thief?
57	[[/folder]]
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59	[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
60	* Cosmo from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' tends to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] his holding this, such as in one episode where he comments that "I know I'm not usually one to inject logic into a situation -- whatever a situation is -- but..."
61	* WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo. Never lets go of the IdiotBall when it comes to plot. However, he's perfectly capable of delivering very clever puns and commenting on other characters' actions in a snarky fashion.
62	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons:''
63	** "Simpson Tide": Ralph, who normally only appears to make bizarre {{Non Sequitur}}s. When Bart tries to show how cool he is by [[MythologyGag doing the Bartman]], Ralph comments "That is so 1991"; compared to Milhouse, who has earrings that everyone likes, Bart is so lame that even Ralph can tell how uncool he's acting.
64	%%** Each of the family has had the Snark Ball at one point or another, most easily seen with Homer and Marge.
65	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
66	** Who would've thought that [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} SpongeBob]], of all people, could be capable of delivering snarky remarks? It's especially interesting considering how often he's SarcasmBlind.
67	** Patrick's sometimes made witty remarks in spite of his idiocy.
68	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / SnarkBall