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"They do say that the weakest dogs howl the most."
Some characters like to brawl, mock authority and protocol, and will fight eagerly.
This character is just as loud and doesn't like to be ordered around. But contrary to the Boisterous Bruiser… he doesn't really have much to back it up. He is physically (and maybe emotionally) weak but that doesn't stop him from constantly calling out those who glower at him (or so he thinks). Sure he may pick on people weaker than him, but if he happens to realize his opponent can effectively kick his ass, either he will find a lame excuse, or insist and get his ass kicked. Or both. Don't expect that to make him think twice the next time, though: the Boisterous Weakling shows an astounding inability to acknowledge his own impotence. Even if he tries to bite, he has no fangs. Every once in a while, you'll encounter ones who do not back down as long as they have an unfair advantage, usually in the form of weapons or a group of buddies whom they can set loose on their target.
Often Played for Laughs. If the author likes the character enough, he may pull out a Not-So-Harmless Villain/ Let's Get Dangerous moment or even Take A Level In Badass.
Can overlap with Fearless Fool, Miles Gloriosus, Small Name, Big Ego or Super Loser. Compare Fake Ultimate Hero and Feet of Clay, when the character is alleged to be strong by other people. Contrast Gentle Giant and Cowardly Lion. Also contrast the Smug Super, who will usually have very good reasons to be smug, as well as the Awesome Ego.
An intellectual equivalent would be Know-Nothing Know-It-All. Compare Inferiority Superiority Complex.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Fullmetal Alchemist has Envy and Edward Elric. Both of whom are threats to a certain degree to their opponents, but end up being worfed so often that they lose credibility. Edward hasn't won a single fight without a whole lot of luck on his side since he defeated Greed's chimeras and is still a normal martial artist outside of his alchemy use, so it comes to no surprise that homunculi can CurbStomp him often.
- In Envy's case, he may talk a lot of trash, but he can't really back it up particularly when fighting Mustang.
- Vinland Saga has Orman, a rebellious punk who only dreams of the battlefield, gets into arguments for nothing, and is always talking about the "honor of Nordic warriors". But whenever he has to actually use a sword, it's painfully obvious he has no skills whatsoever. When we first see him, he can't even draw his sword properly.
- He becomes less boisterous after he actually kills someone.
- Haruka in the Mai-HiME anime, despite being a totally normal, powerless human and totally overwhelmed by the situation, will not let you forget that she is in command. She doesn't hesitate to face tanks and soldiers and even provoke a HiME while her own body is fading away. In her case, these guts are actually what makes a good part of the fandom like her.
- Mr. Satan in Dragon Ball is actually rather strong for a normal human, but inevitably fails to notice that the monsters he taunts and challenges can disintegrate him effortlessly or destroy planets on a whim. He gets better near the end of the series, though.
- Black☆Star is essentially this at the beginning of Soul Eater, constantly boasting about his strength and announcing his strategies out loud, which then leads to his ass getting kicked.
- The Team Rocket in Pokémon is a trio of this, although Jessie and James use their Pokemon instead of doing the actual fighting themselves.
- The titular character of Naruto was this as a child and at the very beginning of the series. As soon as he learns the Shadow Clone Technique though, he takes levels in badass for breakfast.
- In Daily Lives of High School Boys, Sanada North's Student Council President starts a fight against Sanada East's counterpart Ringo only to get his ass kicked without landing a single punch.
- Impmon from Digimon Tamers.
- Yagi from Holyland shouts a good shout but can't back it up with his fists at all. If he doesn't have a better fighter to cower behind, Yuu or another good guy will usually do him in with a Curb-Stomp Battle.
Comic Books
Films
- A perfect example of this trope is Wimp Lo from Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. He constantly taunts the actual hero, getting beaten up easily and unable to do even the simplest combat move. According to Master Yang, Wimp Lo is "an idiot who was trained wrong on purpose, as a joke". He thinks getting kicked in the crotch is "my crotch to your foot style", as an example.
- 'Ol' Cigaret' in Emperor of the North is always boasting about how he's the toughest hobo riding the rails, but the real veteran 'A-No. 1' has his number right from the start. At the end of the movie, he's so fed up with Cigaret's bragging that he just picks him up and throws him off the train into a lake.
- Ike Clanton in Tombstone is a loudmouth who starts several gunfights, but he's always the first to fall or flee despite his bravado. The obnoxious, bullying casino employee at the beginning, played by Billy-Bob Thornton, is another example.
- When "Happy" Hogan and the Black Widow infiltrate Ivan Vanko's hideout in Iron Man 2, Happy comes off as this in comparison to the more skilled Natasha.
- Ash Williams plays this part throughout much of Evil Dead 2 and some of Army of Darkness, but by the end of each film, he's become the catchphrase-tossing, boomstick-toting badass we all know and love.
- Captain America: The First Avenger's Steve Rogers before he gets the super soldier serum. Even as a 98 pound weakling, Steve never backs down from bullies which is part of why he gets picked for the serum.
Live Action TV
- For a while in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this was Xander's role, thanks largely to his becoming Overshadowed by Awesome but still insisting on joining in the battles.
- An even better Buffy example might be Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, at least before he Took a Level in Badass in the Spin-Off Angel. Even there, it took some time for him to become as formidable as he initially thought he was.
- In Lie to Me, Cal Lightman is thwarted at any bit of assault toward him. He is occasionally battered.
Real Life
- There is a joke about a small animal (told in Russia about a hedgehog) standing and shouting "I am strong! I am strong". A passing bear gives it a kick. The hedgehog flies a few meters, stands up, brushes itself off and shouts "I am light, but strong!"
- In professional wrestling, this is thrown around a lot with heel characters. While how pathetic they actually are varies, almost all heels are cowards to some extent and tend to suffer some mild Badass Decay when they make a Face Heel Turn. A very common running concept is for a heel to mouth off and boast at a face about how he is going to kick the latter's ass, only to be quickly knocked down or sent running when the face decides they've heard enough. Chris Jericho and The Miz are key modern examples (even if they prove to be more than all talk on occasion).
- Small dogs fit this trope.
- Vets call it BDLDLDL: Big Dog, Little Dog, Little Dog Lost.
- Christian Weston Chandler, creator of Sonichu, often tries to pick fights. However, given that he has no fighting skill and the muscle content of a toddler, he obviously can't back up his threats.
Theater
- Sir Andrew Aguecheek from William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. According to Maria, he loves arguing so much that the only thing saving him from an early grave is the fact that he's a coward. Sir Toby gets a kick out of urging him to write a highly insulting challenge for a duel, then feeding him false information to the effect that his opponent is a skilled and ruthless swordsman. (In reality, his opponent is the local Sweet Polly Oliver, and Toby is intentionally setting up a Wimp Fight for his own amusement.)
Video Games
- Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter likes to boast about how strong he is and invites people to learn martial arts from him. While he may be a skilled fighter to a normal person, he is very weak when compared to the rest of the cast.
- Sir Prancelott of Scufflewick in Drakensang always talks about his wondrous deeds.... except that he's the biggest egotist in Aventuria, his sword skills are useless, he can barely hold his own against a wolf and runs away from some goblins (later claiming that he was taking their attention away from you) and the only time he tries to take on a Linnworm (huge multi-legged reptile), he's knocked unconscious by the beast's breath.
- Von Kaiser in both of his appearances in the Punch-Out!! series.
- In Mother 3, the Mole Crickets are an entire species of this, at least until their champion is defeated with ease by the protagonist.
- Naoe Kanetsugu the INVINCIBLE from Sengoku Basara. He's the games' official Chew Toy Joke Character who is about as endurable as your average mook, but that doesn't stop his boasting.
- Qing China from Victoria An Empire Under The Sun. Huge population and equally enormous armies to draw on, as well as a huge territory to conquer, but they're technologically backwards with a mostly agrarian economy, and their government is quite poor as well. So, in any actual war, an equivalently-sized industrial superpower like the United States or The British Empire will roll them rather easily. Which isn't too far from what happened in real life, when the latter and China did actually go to blows.
Visual Novels
- Lucifer in Umineko no Naku Koro ni is acting like the boss of the Seven Sisters Of Purgatory and often scolding them (as the eldest sister), but she is actually the weakest among them and is painfully aware of it. Leviathan outright calls her a "blusterous weakling" after she loses against Kanon.
Web Original
Western Animation
- One of the reasons Scrappy-Doo is the trope namer for The Scrappy is his habit of picking a fight with vilains obviously stronger than him.
- Eric Cartman talks a big game, but when it comes to actual combat, he usually can't follow through. In one notable example, one mild slap from Kyle sends him crying to his mom.
- Daffy Duck, despite being a self proclaimed "craven little coward", has a tendency for flapping his big beak about his bravado and smarts and trying to place himself in the role of The Ace, usually literally getting in the face of someone way out of his league.
- Dermott in The Venture Brothers talks about fighting much more often than he actually fights, but it's been demonstrated that when actually challenged, he has no hand-to-hand capabilities whatsoever. Even Dean can beat him.
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