Crouching Moron Hidden Badass - Television Tropes & Idioms

Star Trek 2009. Yes, James T. Kirk is a spoiled brat, a chronic juvenile offender, a wanna-be ladies man, and he seems to excel only at getting beat up. He is also the baddest mother in all of Starfleet, and not even killing his dad or blowing up planets will change that. You may now go to warp.
- Brat, yes; spoiled, no. It's implied in the movie (and expanded upon in the novelization) that part of why Kirk is such a brat is that his stepfather is an asshole (hence the whole stealing and wrecking the car bit).
Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket, when external influences take him to a new level of competence, but before he completes his journey.
Sing, the hapless hero of Kung Fu Hustle, starts off as a complete failure of a small-time street crook. Then he double-crosses the Axe Gang, gets beaten into a bloody pile of meat... and wakes up as an indestructible kung fu god.
Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach had the leader of the academy being kidnapped and held hostage by the Big Bad. He mistakenly thinks it's all a game being put on for the media, and when someone points out that it's not, he rather quickly frees himself without breaking a sweat.
Maxwell Smart likely fits this concept in all forms of media, but the Get Smart movie shows him as being ridiculously skilled and resourceful, an excellent marksman, and really damn lucky. Except for when it's funny for him to be an idiot.
- This troper has the perspective that Max, while skilled, is so desperate to show his talent that he tries things that are still quite above his skill level.
- Meanwhile, this troper considers it to be that he is that good, but unlike most Action Heroes he doesn't always get it done on the first take — rather like in real life.
Loren Visser, the private detective in Blood Simple, comes across as a goofy, loudmouthed, dumbass joke at the start of the movie... until he shoots Julian, the man who hired him. From then on, he's a nigh-unstoppable killer.
In Galaxy Quest, Sir Alexander Dane spends most of his time complaining and being the redundant Deadpan Snarker, hating where he is and what he is doing. But then, after someone who hero worships him dies in his arms, he finally allows himself to get good and mad.
Elle Woods from Legally Blonde DEFINES this trope!
- Only on the first movie. On the second, it's Crouching Ditz (Not So) Hidden Aesop.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story has Gordon Pibb, a bumbling loser whose mail order wife hates and who can't get angry or throw a ball with any force to save his life, making him the weakest link on the Average Joes team. However, that changes during the semi-finals. By himself against almost the entire opposing team, he sees his wife having fun with another guy and gets super pissed, going psycho and single handedly taking out the entire opposing team.
- The scene in question may be a homage to the first version of the film Rollerball. The film climaxes its Over The Top sermon on individuality vs. collective thinking and sports fixing by having the hero's team deliberately killed off all around him, until the quiet rebel in said hero snaps and he brutally destroys the entire opposing team by himself before scoring a goal nice and slow to drive the point home.
Scrat from the Ice Age movies.
In Destry Rides Again, the titular character becomes the deputy of the marshal in a lawless town. At first, he seems to be completely harmless; he doesn't carry a gun, drinks milk at the bar, tells anecdotes to everybody, and makes napkin rings as a hobby. However, he eventually proves to be a very capble gunfighter.
Jack-Jack (not a moron, but a baby) from The Incredibles demonstrates a startling array of powers (which, by most reckonings, are probably more Bad Ass than those of the rest of the cast) when threatened by the Big Bad, Syndrome.
- Or the babysitter. In the fairly amusing short packaged with the DVD of The Incredibles, Jack Jack Attack, Jack-Jack reduces the babysitter to a stress-overloaded wreck by coming out with anti-gravity powers, teleportation, the ability to shoot eye beams, and Human-Torch-esque flame powers. Since the whole The Incredibles seems to be a Homage to The Fantastic Four, he might be a sly reference to the fifth Fantastic: Franklin. The writers, for their part, note that the reason they gave him so many powers he flips through like he's channel surfing is because he's a baby: he hasn't defined himself yet. What this means for the world of The Incredibles as far as power development goes....
The CGI movie The Magic Roundabout, in which the affable stoner rabbit, Dylan, suddenly snaps and opens up a can of Whup Ass.
In the Josie And The Pussycats flick, Melody uses some seriou Kung-Fu on the villainess' henchmen.
Kwan-Yin from the Journey To The West TV film kicked demon ass without breaking her Goddess hand gesture.
And don't forget Mystery Men, where Mr. Furious, when his love interest was threatened, wiped the floor with Casanova Frankenstein.
In the 1986 film Aliens Private Hudson (Bill Paxton) would like to be viewed as a badass but is constantly slapped down by his more-badass companions and spends much of the film whining and complaining — until the chips are down, when he goes into full badass mode and mows down countless aliens before falling.
Oh you want some of this to? Come get it!
Wikas Van De Merwe of District 9 is a sniveling, naive corporate pencil-pusher with a silly mustache - and when the chips are down, he climbs into a suit of alien Powered Armor and proceeds to vaporize the local voodoo gang as well as the psycho PMC troops sent to retrieve him.
Zen from the Thai film Chocolate is a severe autistic, however has the ability to watch a martial-arts fight and absorb the various movements. In a point of awesome, the martial-artist playing Zen really does learn at least a dozen separate fighting styles for the movie, and displays them flawlessly.
Lance, the token white temp in Undercover Brother. NEVER CALL HIM A SISSY!!!
Melvin worked at the Tromaville gym, Ninety pound weakling who got pushed around!
Unleashed stars Jet Li as the slave-enforcer of a British gang boss, raised as something approximate to an attack-dog, leaving him with the mind of a child. In something of a subversion, the character only achieves contenment when he is able to abandon his history of violence and a embrace life of non-badassery.
Tuco, "The Ugly" from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, is a hairy, goofy, slovenly klutz compared to the more mature, soft-spoken and reserved Man With No Name and Angeleyes (not unlike Daffy Duck, actually), but is capable of shooting with incredible speed and accuracy.

Close Films

Redwall: King Bull Sparra does this really well. Maybe a little too well...
The character of Alfred from The Death Gate Cycle, written by Weis & Hickman, is an over the top example of this trope. He first appears as a stumbling, clumsy butler, but in dire circumstances, at times off-screen, he is the pinnacle of his wizarding tradition and can perform miracles in Functional Magic up to and including resurrecting the dead, the right way, whereas other mages can do so only by draining the life of another being of the same race, somewhere in the multiverse. Of course, a lot of people want to get hold of Alfred for his magical prowess. Problem is, he doesn't remember how he pulls his magic off, pulling a complete black-out, more than often enough accompanied by an undignified fainting. It eventually turns out that he originally just used Obfuscating Stupidity to avoid revealing his powers to the world — but over time, it became so in-grown that he practically forgot how to use his powers at all.
- In the same series, a character named Zifnab appears to be a senile old man who can't remember the color of his own robe. He is later discovered to be one of the oldest living beings in the universe. Although he is afflicted with Alzheimer's, he is questionably the most powerful magician in the series, complete with his own pet dragon.
  - I always thought it was less Alzheimer's and more way too many bad memories from when the world as we knew it was broken asunder and billions died. You go around with that mucking up your head and you would be daffy yourself.
- Then of course there's the absent-minded, bumbling elderly mage Fizban, from Weis & Hickman's Dragonlance series. Though occasionally his spells prove useful, this is mostly by accident. Later you learn the truth: he's actually the God the protagonists are fighting to bring back...
From Maskerade of the Discworld series, there's Walter Plinge, who pulls a double Homage to Michael Crawford by being a bumbling Frank Spencer clone who badasses into the suave Opera Ghost by putting a mask on.
- Another Discworld example comes from Lords And Ladies. When Lancre is under siege by elves, perpetual milquetoast Magrat gets her Hidden Badass moment after she dons the war armor of Queen Ynci the Short-Tempered. She then proceeds to kick elvish ass (including shooting a crossbow through a keyhole) and ride off for a showdown with the Queen of the Elves. Near the end of the novel, we learn that Queen Ynci was a fictional creation of a former Lancre monarch.
Eddie Dean in The Dark Tower is a washed-up cynical junkie loser when he first falls into Midworld, and seemingly dependent upon the Last Gunslinger for basic survival. He reveals himself to be a talented gunfighter when provoked.
The wizard Schmendrick of The Last Unicorn is, at times, capable of awe-inspiring magic...the trouble is, he can hardly ever get it to work, and usually it doesn't do what he expected. But he gets it under control in the end.
In George Macdonald Frasier's McAuslan stories, Private McGlinchy is, in a football game, either completely useless or completely amazing, depending on factors that other characters are trying to figure out.
In Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Cycle, a gibbering, mindless beggar barely capable of feeding himself is later revealed to be the mortal shell of Macros the Black, the most powerful sorcerer in the world. His mind was not in his body, until suddenly it was imperative for him to be present to fight the darkness and chaos.
- And then there's Nakor, a wandering con man and chronic goof-off who just happens to know more about magic, the nature of the multiverse, and beating down evil than anyone else in the series, with the possible exception of Pug.
Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series has JonTom Merryweather, the spellsinger of the title. A modern human in an alternate, medieval-equivalent universe filled with Talking Animals, who is pretty much useless in a fight, at least in the first few books... except for his spellsinging, which is the ultimate wild card and capable of doing anything he can sing about. The only trouble is that 1.) he has to know the right song, 2.) sometimes nothing happens, and 3.) even he's not sure what's going to happen when he starts. It's done everything from switching the entire party's genders, to changing a wizard's apprentice into a phoenix, to summoning a god.
While this editor isn't sure how much this is true of the character in actual mythology, some stories of Ganesha present the jolly Big Eater god as equal in power to his fearsome father Shiva, capable of stopping the sun and destroying the world, but luckily too nice to do so.
The novel Armor by John Steakley follows two storylines set about five years apart, with the earlier one framed by the discovery of the powered armor used by the earlier protagonist on a distant, non-wartorn colony in a crashed escape pod. The armor's owner, Felix, is quite literally an unstoppable killing machine: in a war where no one has survived more than ten major missions, armor notwithstanding, Felix makes it through over twenty before being killed by another human soldier. Meanwhile, in the present-day, a rebellion is brewing right underneath the nose of the colony's drunken, dimwitted owner, Lewis, causing great consternation to the present-day protagonist... especially when it breaks into open war and a nearby space pirate decides to capitalize on the situation. With a military grade dreadnought. Fortunately, Lewis is Felix, lying low and enjoying life. At least, until he decides to save his colony by putting his armor back on, slaughtering an army's worth of pirates, and then takes down the dreadnought with his bare damn hands.
Neville Longbottom of Harry Potter, although he worked hard to achieve the Badass designation from the Moron.
- Notable in that his badassery level only rises with every challenge; it doesn't revert. Ever.
- Culminates in a Crowning Moment Of Awesome. Consider also that the prophesy nominating Harry as "the chosen one" easily applied to Neville as well.
- This series also gives us Vincent Crabbe, who is revealed in the final book to be by far the most competent and most evil of the Slytherin trio.
In the books Operation: Red Jericho and Operation: Typhoon Shore, Posh Charlie has a very minor role and is known for his constant stuttering and nervousness. Put him in a combat situation and he becomes a confident soldier, immediately dropping the stutter. This may possibly be Obfuscating Stupidity due to the knowledge in the latter book that he is actually a very competent researcher.
Percy Blakeney, a.k.a. The Scarlet Pimpernel, is perhaps the ultimate example of this trope, going from useless twit to daring adventurer in mere moments.
- But that's INTENTIONAL. He's not a complete moron with occasional flashes of brilliance; he uses the fop act to hide the fact that he's really the hero. That's completely unlike the trope description which says "They're really like that."
Lovable the raven, from the Firekeeper series, is described as a "bubble head" and has a love for anything shiny. This is in stark contrast to her far more serious mate, Bitter. However, in the fifth book, Wolf Hunting, when Bitter and Lovable are ensnared by magic vines that can kill their victims, Lovable forgoes her shot at escape to stay and keep the vines from getting Bitter completely. She manages this for quite some time until help arrives and is the only reason that help wasn't too late for Bitter.
Ceallio, in Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, is a mute simpleton when he is discovered by the protagonists working in an inn in the marsh town of Kwanitupul. However, it turns out that he's really the famous knight Camaris, who suffered a Heroic BSOD and attempted suicide many years ago. When sorely provoked, he displays incredible strength and fighting skill, first beating up a group of thugs and then defeating a Nabbanai nobleman in a swordfight, but remains in a childlike daze. It is not until he's brought to Prince Josua that he finally recovers his wits.
Orbek Black Knife from Blade of Tyshalle. The above quote comes right after Orbek's Crowning Moment Of Awesome. The irony lies in that Caine originally targeted Orbek first when breaking up Orbek's old gang because he thought the young ogrillo was the gang's weakest point.
The Belgariad and Malloreon have several of these and several subversions. Played straight with Silk who normally plays the thief/rogue member of the cast, but in The Malloreon when Bethra is murdered, he tortures the killer into revealing who hired him and then proceeds to assassinate half the family before being stopped by his companions. Later, when the Dagashi assassin Brill pisses him off at Rak Cthol, he beats the hell out of him and kicks him off the mountain. He then coolly informs Belgarath that Brill was learning how to fly, and not all that successfully. These were, of course, Crowning Moments of Awesome. Also in the same series, when Belgarath gets pissed he has been known to destroy entire mountains and also buries Zedar, who betrayed him and his master, alive for And I Must Scream. He likes to let the world think he is a Dirty Old Man, and he likes to make remarks of his time with the fully female Dryad race and of the very open-minded Marag women. He also tends to become badass when his family is threatened.
Tyrion's squire Podrick Payne in A Song Of Ice And Fire. He's tongue-tied and incompetent most of the time to the extent that Tyrion suspects the boy was inflicted on him as a joke, but when Tyrion is caught on a bridge of wrecked ships on a burning river with Ser Mandon Moore, one of the elite Kingsguard, trying to kill him, Pod somehow manages to kill Mandon and drag the unconscious Tyrion to safety.
Lord Of The Rings: Tom Bombadil.
From L.J. Smith's Night World series, Iliana Dominick spends most of the story as The Load and The Ditz, but when her friends and bodyguards are threatened at the end of the book, she finally unleashes the magic in her blood that she's been denying her entire life.
The Codex Alera series gives us the slave Fade. He's not just a moron, he's obviously severely brain-damaged, and is generally not much good for anything but some minor blacksmithing. Except that he's actually a legendary swordsman believed dead by the rest of the country, and he will miss you up bad if given a reason to do so. He's also much, much smarter than he acts, and the only reason he's acting as a slave is to keep an eye on Tavi.

Close Literature

Dana Scully of The X Files is another borderline case. While she mainly portrayed the buttoned-down, intellectual non-action oriented FBI agent, in one notable episode with a VR Game coming to life and killing the players, someone had to rescue Mulder and the Lone Gunmen. Her sudden evolution into Action Girl in a Big Damn Heroes moment left Mulder and company totally speechless. Until they realized how completely cool her Rambette performance had been, like good fanboys.
- Not really- Scully was ridiculously gun happy and prone to feats of awesome right from the start of the series (check out her rescue of Mulder in "Deep Throat", which is only the second episode).
Played with in Disney's The Suite Life: Apparently London Tipton is quite the athlete (notably in volleyball), but only when she's mad.
In Get Smart, Maxwell Smart may be a bumbling idiot most of the time, but when he realizes the situation is becoming make-or-break, then he buckles down and becomes nearly unstoppable.
R.J., Trickster Mentor of Power Rangers Jungle Fury, seems at first to be nothing more than an overly-mellow pizza restauranteur. Then he steps out of the kitchen and reveals himself by taking down a sqaud of Mooks without breaking stride, and suddenly the guy who seemed like bumbling comic relief a few seconds ago takes on a whole new light. He barely changes at all, busting out the crazy martial arts skills while remaining as calm and carefree as ever.
River from Firefly is a Crouching Crazy Hidden Badass. Most of the time, she tends to be a Cloud Cuckoo Lander with some endearingly whimsical moments mixed in with seriously disturbing fits and a few Ax Crazy moments. But mess with her brother Simon or her friend Kaylee, and she will take you down, whether by gunning down three men with her eyes closed or orchestrating an impressive Batman Gambit. And that's even before the Big Damn Movie.
From Stargate SG-1: Colonel Jack O'Neill. Probably more a case of Obfuscating Stupidity, he acts Book Dumb in everything remotely scientific. He never reads Carter's reports, he refuses to listen to Daniel explain some ancient piece of writing or technology, and acts as if nothing matters except The Simpsons. But... when some dumb Goa'uld or other bad guy threatens his team or the Earth, he gets very serious, and reminds you just why he's leading this team.
- Somewhat Subverted in the season 5 episode Rite of Passage, when Cassandra observes that Jack is smarter than he pretends to be.
How did this trope list get this far without mentioning the original Crouching Moron Hidden Badass... HM "Howling Mad" Murdock from the A-Team? Seemed like just another comic relief moron, right? Wrong. If it's got wings, he's flown it; if it's got wheels, he's driven it. And he worked for the CIA!
Adrian Monk: Socially inept, obsessive-compulsive and afraid of everything. But he manages to solve the most baffling crimes and he can hold his own in a fight — he was a cop once, remember. And if you even so much as insult Trudy, he will hand you your ass.
Otoya Kurenai from Kamen Rider Kiva, who at first blush seems to be nothing more than a foolishly self-absorbed Casanova who doesn't have a serious bone in his body. But then he starts pulling Batman Gambit after Batman Gambit, demonstrating an incredible degree of character judgement, and kicking monster butt with an experimental Powered Armor — typically stolen from its intended user as part of said Batman Gambit. It's no wonder that near the end of the series, the Fangire Queen, normally tasked with killing "race traitors" who fall in love with humans, has herself fallen for Otoya and would go on to bear their child, the show's protagonist Wataru.
Jackie Burkhart serves as both The Ditz and The Pesci on That 70s Show.

Close Live Action TV

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure has Jean-Pierre Polnareff, a ladies' man who's normally dumb as a bag of hammers and repeatedly has bad encounters with foreign toilets. However, when the chips are down (like with his fight against Vanilla Ice), he turns badass, accepting his death with a calmness that most would kill for.
In Soul Eater, Black*Star's absolute confidence in himself makes him into one of these. Unless he is truly pushed he is too busy chewing scenery to fight well. Death the Kid is a form of inversion; he's normally stoic and badass, but if his OCD gets activated he usually devolves into an ineffectual, sobbing wreck. That said, if his OCD is pushed too far, it results in Kid's reaction in episode 3: obliterating his asymmetrical target and inadvertently demolishing the pyramid it was in.
- The normally goofy Shinigami can be wonderfully Badass when the need arises. He reacts to Asura's resurrection by calmly enquiring how he is...and pointing out that, unfortunately the Kishin is "going to have to die again". A Shinigami Chop that smashes Asura to the ground from however high up he was is only the start of the ensuring fight.
- Recently, Patti has been revealed to be quite the skilled fighter when not acting as a Weapon for Kid. She takes down numerous opponents in hand-to-hand combat training, and is very...enthusiastic at a firing range.
Yuri in Kyou Kara Maou acts this way whenever his Demon King side gets activated, and although he won't kill his enemies he usually succeeds in scaring the crap out of them.
A wild variation may well be Luche Len-Len from Bastard!!, a sweet but somewhat dim child who can be "unlocked" and turned into the insanely super-powerful evil wizard Dark Schneider.
Gokujou Seitokai's Randou Rino. Her base persona is wet enough to drown Godzilla, but inside her (and manifested by her omni-present hand puppet) is a shrewd, intelligent, ass-kicking master of all she surveys.
Carrot Glace of Sorcerer Hunters is a scruffy, scrawny, lazy, largely single-minded Lovable Sex Maniac... who just happens to be not only basically immune to magic, but absorbs it to power his Involuntary Shapeshifting into various monster forms.
Kenshin Himura of Rurouni Kenshin fame; usually very easy-going, he reverts to a deadly (though Technical Pacifist) swordsman when lives are in danger. And if he's pushed even further than that, he loses all hint of Technical Pacifism and goes into full-on murderous "Battousai" mode.
- This change, unlike many series where a transformation usually comes as a surprise to those who witness it, is understood by the other characters from the start, since he was a legendary and merciless assassin 15 years ago.
- He's not The Fool, it's Obfuscating Stupidity. Most of the time.
Vash the Stampede from Trigun is a glowing example of this, although there are hints that the rest of the time is just Obfuscating Stupidity.
- This is what separates him from the Idiot Hero, though a tap of his Berserk Button can make all the difference in his response, from a casual, accidental-seeming sidestep to Glowy Eyes of Wrath Foreshadowing Vengeance.
Many of the benevolent main characters from Dragonball Z, including Goku, Gohan, etc. have displayed this trait (though they are not technically bumbling).
- This usually happens when a villain kicks a few too many dogs, if not worse.
- Even Mr. Satan/Hercule would be an example. He's an arrogant coward with an inflated ego, but he can be heroic in the right situation. As Piccolo said, he's weak but worthy of the title "world champion".
When Naruto is fighting Zabuza's apprentice, Haku, Sasuke ends up getting beaten. As soon as his friend's life is threatened, Naruto's inner fox Emerges and the previously useless Naruto kicks Haku's ass.
- In fact, most of the Naruto cast has this, to a greater or lesser extent.
  - Kakashi especially. When he first appears he appears to be somewhat slow witted and laid back. Turns out he's one of the most elite ninja the village has and is known by many elite ninja outside of the village.
  - Kakashi fits better under Obfuscating Stupidity; he's eccentric, not a moron.
- Don't even think about eating Chouji's last bite. Of anything. EVER! Because if you do, that nice, chubby and pretty laid back guy is gonna kick your ass. Oh, the same thing happens, when you insult his friends.
Pokémon variant: in earlier seasons, Togepi is generally considered an immature, coddled infant by Misty. Sometimes, however, when it looks like Team Rocket might succeed, it uses Metronome (a move that generates a random attack). Said random attack always blows the bad guys away. No one knows that Togepi does it. Similarly, Misty's Psyduck is often seen as absolutely useless until something sets off its headache and its incredible psychic powers come into play, rendering the normally useless Pokémon nigh unbeatable.
Abel Nightroad (Crusnik 02) from Trinity Blood may be a perfect example of this trope. It's hard to tell if its just an act or not.
Monkey D. Luffy of One Piece.
- Arguably, he is both at the same time, he is always super powerful, and he casually does super human feats, while acting like a moron. Which makes him incredibly badass.
- Give credit where credit is due: there's Luffy's predecessor Shanks, captain of the Red Haired Pirates, who loves nothing more than drinking and partying with his crew. He's an easy-going guy and will even take being beaten and humiliated by a bandit with a self-deprecating laugh. But mess with people he considers friends and you better start writing your will!
Judai of Yu-Gi-Oh GX is one of those few cases where "things went bad."
Wolfgang Grimmer from Monster is a very laid back and friendly journalist, who under pressure or menace snaps into a berserker-like state that he calls "The Magnificent Steiner", after a Hulk-like show he watched when he was a kid. Turns out that he was a victim of a combination of psychological experiments and brutal spy training during his childhood, and he is a bit of a Stepford Smiler about that.
Kid Muscle from UltimateMuscle, a champion wrestler trapped in the body of an abject coward. He's also The Ditz, which doesn't help.
Amano Ginji of Get Backers is normally childish and goofy, and even when fighting can usually enjoy himself... unless the fight becomes a true challenge. Then he goes into "Raitei" mode, and proceeds to show everyone just how he got to be the leader of the most powerful street gang in the Limitless Fortress, and why people nicknamed "Beastmaster" and "The Prince of Battle Terror" would take orders from him.
Rushuna Tendou in Grenadier has a very ditzy, playful personality while being the best marksman in the known world. And did I mention all the Fanservice she's the source of?
Train Heartnet of Black Cat is a fairly easygoing bounty hunter who just wants to eat and have fun... and escape his former life as the strongest of the thirteen deadliest warriors in the world. Much of the action comes from those who want Train to return to his old life.
The Ditz/Cloudcuckoolander Dita proves to be this when she breaks out her Determinator qualities in the first season finale of Vandread.
Having lived through death in his youth due to an accident, Tohno Shiki of Tsukihime appreciates life in general and tries to enjoy it as much as possible. That said, when threatened, he instinctively draws on his Nanaya abilities, which when combined with his Eyes, can turn him into a formidable opponent. He also demonstrates Heroic Resolve quite often, especially in Melty Blood.
- For that matter, a lot of people in Tsukihime show this: Arc speaks and acts like a spoiled child, spends more time smiling and cheering than anything else, and is generally a really pleasant girl to be around (if you don't mind getting into trouble)... but when faced with Apostles she reveals her true nature as the single most badass vampire in the world. Ciel is more the Obfuscating Stupidity type, but it's still significantly upsetting how one can be a pleasant, curry-obsessed high school student by day and a ruthless Church Assassin by night.
When Mic Sounders XIII of Gao Gai Gar was initially introduced, he was a childish, goofy robot who looked like the bastard child of a walkie-talkie and a Speak'n'Spell. However, he had an alternate mode — a rocker who could kick ass and energize teammates with the power of music. This mode was locked to ensure that the AI wouldn't abuse its power — or, more specifically, so that he wouldn't accidentally destroy the world — but came out on its own to protect Mic's friends (and in particular, the sister of the man his AI was based on). Later on, the limiter was released and Mic could change between modes at will.
Ranma ½'s Ryōga Hibiki and Kazuma Kuwabara of Yu Yu Hakusho are the same variant: When going up against the series protagonist, they're basically treated as buttmonkeys. But give them another opponent, and they can unleash a stunning amount of whoopass.
- This troper isn't too familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho, but Ryōga at least is the main characters rival, and as such has to be just slightly weaker than him. Being slightly weaker than the main character pretty much requires that he be stronger than everyone else, he is portrayed as enourmously strong and makes the Made Of Iron characters look to be Made Of Plasticine. Of course, Ryōga IS a bit of an idiot and a rather nice guy when not being overly paranoid, so this might still qualify.
  - It is generally thought by fans that Ryōga is physically stronger than Ranma (though the manga does not explicitly show this, it is possible that Ranma just has better control of his strength than Ryoga does), however Ranma is faster, better trained, and better at working out how to overcome any given opponent.
- Also from Ranma ½, Ranma's father Genma is usually portrayed as bumbling, lazy, cowardly, selfish, petty... you get the idea. However, he's one of the highest-level martial artists in the series, can still hand Ranma his ass in serious combat (that is, outside comedic, slapstick Megaton Punches,) and devised two particular styles, the Yamasenken and Umisenken, that are unusually deadly for the ''Ranma ½' universe. Even the other characters were shocked with disbelief at discovering that the lazy slob had created such powerful schools.
Probably the biggest Crouching Moron Hidden Badass ever, Tsuna Sawada of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. He kicks ultimate ass when in Dying Will Mode.
- Given the series' comedy origins, a lot of the characters have an element of this, especially Takeshi Yamamoto and Ryohei Sasagawa.
  - Also Lambo. Idiot as a kid, still an idiot TYL but badass 20YL.
  - Dino as well. He is extremely clumsy, unless he is around his subordinates.
Hohenheim from Full Metal Alchemist, although it might partly be a case of Obfuscating Stupidity. You can abuse him all you want if you're a certain Edward Elric, but just don't touch his kids, okay? In the anime, he also has a very shady past involving mass murders and the quest for immortality.
- Aside from Hawkeye, Mustang's unit appears to be comprised almost entirely of either idiots or wusses. At least until the chips are down, especially in the manga. Then they demonstrate just why a man looking to change the country would have hand picked them for his central unit and closest bodyguards.
Nyu/Lucy in Elfen Lied has this in the form of a Split Personality, triggered through trauma or imminent danger. Nyu is cute, affectionate, and utterly harmless — but Lucy hates all of humanity and cuts people in half with her mind.
Teletha Testarossa, a Genius Ditz teenage commander from Full Metal Panic, despite usually being clumsy and tripping over her own feet, when her subordinates are put in danger, can even recapture a submarine from a freak terrorist group. Also, her claims about not be able to use guns, turn out to be false at these moments.
- As a humorous example, she's capable of holding her breath underwater longer than her bodyguard Sōsuke realizes, considering her below-average performance in other athletic areas. She has to rescue him from drowning (and tries to smuggle in a Kiss Of Life under Kaname's jealous eye) when he panics and dives in after her.
Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion has an unique ability to go berserk in his Humongous Mecha when having received enough mental pain. He transforms then into an enemy-killing war machine, famous all over the universe. When taken out from his mecha, he is usually just a sobbing, depressed wreck of a boy.
- Though really how much of this is actually Shinji and how much is the Eva itself taking over is somewhat debatable. Certainly the most badass moments (such as Shinji's first battle) are all Yui-sama.
Orihime from Bleach is usually a Cloudcuckoolander and unaggressive, but when someone she cares about is seriously threatened and no one else can do the job she uses her powers to scarily strong effect.
- Pesche and Dondochakka, Nel's "brothers" and former Fraccion. They act ridiculously most of the time, but when Nel needs their help they nearly defeat the 8th Espada Szayel-Aporro to get to her. According to Szayel himself, if they had been fighting him seriously from the beginning, their final technique would have defeated him
- Even a bigger shock turned out to be Wonderweiss Margera, the autistic child that managed to sneak up on and startle Urahara. He came in one of the recent chapters in Karakura Town in, what seemed to be, a moment of Soul Society's victory over Aizen Sousuke. Wonderweiss came through a giantic Garganta (portal between dimentions) with a monster so big that even its toenail was bigger than his master. In one chapter, the beast managed to blow away the fiery prison in which Sousuke Aizen and the other traitors were trapper and Wonderweiss in a split of a second ran behind one of the captains, Jushiro Ukitake, and pierce his chest with his bare hand. This created a diversion good enough for Starrk to point-blank shoot Ukitake's friend Shunsui Kyoraku at his back.
- Isshin is the Bumbling Dad for most of the first half of the series, and reveals he is a Retired Badass Shinigami captain, and kills Arrancar Grand Fisher in one blow, because Grand Fisher killed his wife, Ichigo's mother, making it an Its Personal Crowning Momentof Awesome.
- While Squad 11 may be led by an actual Badass, plenty of Kenpachi's subordinates qualify for this trope. For starters, his lieutenant may goof around with sweets and toys but there is a reason she's a lieutenant. Ikkaku has been concealing his Bankai from his captain and Yumigika regularly fights with a weaker Shikai because his is a Kido Type
The Rockman Zero manga, in a complete change from the actual games, makes Zero a character of this sort. In his normal state, he's a coward with no memory of his past as a hero. Hit the right trigger, however, and the legendary hero returns, with his signature helmet and insane combat prowess. The manga actually calls this version Rockman Zero — which is just the name of the game series, not the character.
Shiro from Deadman Wonderland initially appears to be an unpowered albino Starfire... until she's cornered by a bunch of dangerous guards in a watchtower. The tower explodes, and she rends the guards into many small parts.
Shinkuro from Kure-nai. For 11 episodes he leaves the viewer wondering how on Earth he could have possibly been trained by a family of ex-assassins, who even gave him a sword-like blade placed into his arm; he was tough, but showed no real fighting skill. Then comes the finale, where he suddenly uses insane skills to obliterate the enemy, afterwards revealing that he had never even used his trained abilities because he "regretted having the weapon placed inside him too much." After taking out one of the big bads in under a second with it. Which was awesome.
Martian Successor Nadesico has Yurika Misumaru who is, ninety percent of the time, a hopelessly naive, ditzy Love Freak with some serious denial issues. Put her at the command of a battleship however, and she's a fleet-destroying tactical mastermind...sometimes. Then there's her boyfriend, who's pretty much Shinji (above) except on the appropriate medication.
Nathan Mahler from Blood Plus seems like a putz at first. He spends the vast majority of his time flirting with his comrades and doesn't seem overly concerned about anything (plus, the fact that he dresses like a fashionatta and talks in a stereotypically homosexual voice doesn't help). Then, out of nowhere, he pulls out his scary voice, which can shatter glass and stop twelve foot bat monsters in their tracks. From then on he proceeds to establish himself as one of the show's most formidable bad guys (to the point where even The Dragon / The Man Behind The Man is afraid of him).
The main character of Hades Project Zeorymer, Masato, is mostly just an angsty teenage boy, who's still trying to wrap his head around how he went from being an Ordinary High School Student to piloting a Humongous Mecha. He doesn't want to hurt anybody, not even his enemies — after all, they're still people — and he DEFINITELY doesn't want any innocent bystanders getting hurt. However, when he's actually attacked... he starts grinning like a loon, wielding his mecha like it's an extension of his body, trouncing the opposition without mercy, ignoring "Collateral Damage" completely, and just generally enjoying being the pilot of a walking WMD.
Miku: Masato, we have to lead them towards the forest! Too many civilians are getting hurt!
Masato: To hell with them! Let THEM worry about the civvies and trip themselves up!
- Though like Yugi above, it's actually a Superpowered Evil Side — in his case, the Magnificent Bastard of Zeorymer, Kihara Masaki.
Highly similar to Takashi Kawamura from The Prince Of Tennis, is Ippo Makunouchi from Hajime no Ippo. Generally, he's a shy, awkward, overly-polite mama's boy... but once he steps into the boxing-ring, he becomes an intense and unstoppable fighter with a Dynamite Punch that can shatter bones, and an invincible stamina that allows him to keep coming back no matter how many times he's knocked down. It's not uncommon for people who've seen him in the ring, to completely fail to recognize him outside of it. Several times, this has worked to his advantage, since any opponent who've met him outside the ring is bound to underestimate the level of brutality he can unleash inside of it.
Goku from Saiyuki can turn from kid who only thinks about food and fighting to a rampaging, unstoppable demon when his limiter is broken. Usually breaks if Sanzo is in trouble. Basically, he's Ginji Amano but Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
- It's also been revealed by new sidestory series Ibun that Sanzo's master Koumyou Sanzo was considered this when he was younger.
In World Destruction (which is also a video game and manga), Kyrie is utterly hopeless and useless male protagonist, who pretty much ends up doing nothing useful for almost the entire series. Then, in one magical moment, he activates his Destruct Code powers and begins disintegrating everyone into sand. Oh, and he can fly.
Matsuda of Death Note. Starts out as Kira-supporting comic relief, becomes determined to prove he isn't, and ends up shooting Light in the final episode.
Pai in 3x3 Eyes is The Ditz until things get messy, then her third eye on her forehead opens and her other personality, a magic wielding Badass comes out. In episode 4, though we learn she's not the ditz we thought she was.
Gintoki from Gintama also qualifies. Most of the time, he is a useless lazy bum. However, little do others know that he used to be a fierce warrior capable of knocking out the entire fleet of Amanto in a blink of an eye and still can do so if the people important to him are in danger.
- Gintoki is especially Bad Ass in the serious story arcs, battling everything from alien space pirates, a crazed swordsman possessed by a demonic sword, and an alien crime lord from one of the strongest races in the galaxy, just to name a few.
- Katsura from the same series is similar. Although he now spends more time making a fool out of himself by taking himself too seriously and frequently appearing in public with terrible disguises, he had once been a formidable warrior who kicked major ass when he fought alongside Gintoki, Takasugi, and Sakamoto during the failed uprising against the Amanto aliens. He becomes a complete Bad Ass when it becomes necessary to protect someone that he cares about, as seen when he (in an awesome Big Damn Heroes entrance) saves Ikumatsu (a woman who owns a noodle shop and sheltered him when the police were after him earlier) from being kidnapped by charging through a police blockade on a scooter and taking out her kidnappers using bowls of fried rice, all the while a policeman is shooting at him with a bazooka. In the Benizakura Arc, he specifically says that he is fighting against former schoolmate and brother-in-arms Takasugi and Takasugi's allies because there are too many people whom he cares about in Edo to let the villains carry out their plot.
Very, and I mean VERY sparingly, something (Usually a personal matter) might cause Kogoro of Detective Conan to actually focus all his attention on a case, revealing him to actually be a very capable detective on his own. Granted, since this happens like thrice or so in fifty volumes, it's very easy to forget.
Kinnikuman and his son, Kinniku Mantaro, are both prime examples of this type of hero.
On the Kinda Sorta Maybe Hero side (a.k.a. Gundam Wing), there's Une. Her Alter Ego is even more of a pacifist and stooge of Oz (and her military side) than "Queen" Relena turned out to be, despite being a good enough arguer to seriously talk down the most distrusting of souls. As for the Oz side of Une, this is the woman who cold-bloodedly assassinated Relena's foster father (Ambassador Dorlian) and pushed a no longer useful tool of a man out the back of an airplane, shooting him as he fell. It's no wonder she was semi-suicidal on the integration of those personas, the death of Trieze aside.
The Baka Rangers from Mahou Sensei Negima are probably some of the biggest Badasses in the story, but while they're Book Dumb, the only one that really fits this trope is Badass Normal Makie Sasaki, who can pull off impossible feats with a rhythmic gymnastics ribbon and also somehow managed to maintain some subconscious memory of being under Evangeline's control. The main Ditz of the primary nakama is incredibly powerful, but doesn't qualify due to being The Medic.
- Also Jack Rakan, though he is always badass. I pity the poor fool who thinks that they can can outsmart him easily.
- Arguably, Negi fits the "overuse penalty" version of this trope with his Magia Erbera; lately, he seems darker, moodier, and more inclined to flip out.
Fandom assumes that this is the case with America/Alfred F. Jones, as he is typically an Eaglelander of the Cloudcuckoolander variety. Yet he apparently has super-strength and fanart/fanfiction tends to portray him as exceptionally Badass. (And occasionally kind of crazy, but that's another direction.)
- He also apparently draws up designs for airplanes and can track down hackers. And according to some author's notes, he uses Obfuscating Stupidity.
Nina of Ultra Maniac. In the manga, her cat Leo is attacked by Sayaka and she blasts a huge hole in the ceiling of the gym with her magic.
In Galaxy Angel, Colonel Volcott O. Huey is a usually even-tempered and complacent commander who takes the brunt of much of the show's comic relief slapstick. But tell him his mustache doesn't suit him, and he'll revert to his combat days as the "White Wolf" and proceed to destroy everything in his path to defend his mustache's honor.
Yoh Asakura from Shaman King. He pretty much sits around in his pot leaf t-shirt fondling oranges and listening to Bob C Ds but then turns into a badass when people threaten people he wants to protect.
- Lyserg Diethiel to an extent too except it's more of a case of crouching emo hidden badass. Most of the time he's just a little whiner who sits around saying how he needs strong friends but he actually owns a few people in battle.
Usagi from Sailor Moon. She spends a good portion of the anime bitching about how she doesn't want to be Sailor Moon and shrieking at the top of her lungs whenever confronted with a problem. And acting incredibly stupid. But in the end she still beats Queen Beryl and protects Earth!
- That's because she is the embodiment AND exaggeration of a normal girl's flaws, and also since every time she awakens to her powers fully, Bad Things happen. But still, she's protective enough of those she loves to go charge against her enemies. Lampshaded in the R season, when a depressed Usagi is monologuing in Mamoru's apartment after the other Senshi are captured by Rubeus and she, Chibi-Usa and Mamoru barely escape.
  Usagi: Surely at this rate, I would've already said "I can't do this! I'm scared! I'm sleepy!" (sigh, smiles sadly) How odd. I said it as if I really meant it.
Gate Keepers had that woman who's only job is to provide fanservice. Then she pulls out her bazooka in the final episode.
Queen Horn of Violinist Of Hameln usually acts like a ditzy Cloud Cuckoolander, but when she gets serious, she gets DEAD serious.
A mild example is Holi in Transformers Victory. In the first few episodes, he's portrayed as naüve and childlike, but when the rest of the Rescue Patrol Team arrives, he turns out to be a very competent commander in his own right.
Another example is Kukubara from Defense Devil. Normally portrayed as a complete idiot who couldn't hurt a fly if he wanted, he unleashes his true powers upon proving his client's innocense and generally kills whoever his opponent is in a single attack Admittedly, it is later mentioned that he was once one of the most powerful Devils in their world - but was kicked out for being too kind to innocent people instead of simply dragging them to Hell. His sidekick, Bichiura, is another example of this.
Apachai of Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple is normally a Friend To All Living Things, as well as being The Ditz. He's also known as the "Death God of Muay Thai", and for good reason. He will kill you if you start a fight with him. He accidentally nearly kills Kenichi on multiple occasions during sparring exercises because he never holds back.
Ruby from Pokemon Special, though it may cross to Obfuscating Stupidity. He has an extreme obsession with Contests and beauty, not to mention he crys like a little girl whenever he gets a little dirty. However, if he's forced into a battle or nobody's watching, he turns out to be an extremely skilled battler. The interesting thing is that he used to be full time badass as a child, but he forced it down to become an active moron due to traumitizing events. He somewhat got over his issues by the time the Emerald arc comes around and is now a (somewhat) healthy mix between moron and bad ass.
In Zero No Tsukaima, Louise the Zero is an utter failure at magic. She is unable to use any element of magic and has never successfully cast a spell (all attempts have been disastrous). Later in the first series it is revealed that she's not as incompetent as previously thought, and in fact has the exclusive ability to use the most powerful element of magic of them all; Void magic.
Patrick Colasour from Gundam 00 (in the later part of Season 2).
In Kuroshitsuji all of the Phantomhive's house staff. We have Lethal Chef Bardroy, clumsy Meganekko Maylene, and the optimistic overall sweet Finnian... who will not hesitate to kick your ass if you dare threaten to harm his master. Maylene's not afraid to snipe you down, either, and Bard will simply grab his gattling gun (or some flour and a match). Tanaka might be Bad Ass, too, but it's hard to say if it was implied that he killed the man outside Elizabeth's room or if Maylene shot him.
Age in Heroic Age is ordinarily a curious and kindhearted boy who really wants nothing more than to just be friends with anyone, but when the time comes for him to go into battle on behalf of the Iron Tribe (humans), and especially the Argonaut, he is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Close Manga & Anime

In an early Bloom County strip, Opus serves as the bouncer at a New Years Eve party. Seems pretty stupid, until he drags a particularly large, menacing looking guy down under the bar, then asks for some rope.
Typically, the Crocodiles from Pearls Before Swine are Too Dumb To Live (oftentimes literally so). But on one occassion, Rat in a variation of the Pied Piper, used music to lead stupid people to a lake to drown them. When he attempted to do this to the Crocs, he gloated about this, and in an uncharacteristically angry (but characteristically badly-pronounced) reply, one croc mentioned "We can sweem."

Close Newspaper Comics

WWE worker Festus has this as his entire gimmick. Most of the time, he was little short of catatonic, staring blankly into space with his tongue hanging out as his tag team partner Jesse dragged him around. However, when the ring bell rang, he would wake up and destroy all of his opponents, and would not let up until the bell sounded the end of the match.
- Unfortunately for Festus, several of his opponents (notably Miz and Morrison) have shown themselves to be fairly Genre Savvy in using this against him.
  - Doink the clown (when he started out) was an evil version of this trope.
Pro Wrestling has a long-standing tradition of mental retardation as a gimmick. Interestingly, they always "mark" these wrestlers through behavior or attire.
- The most famous would be turnbuckle eating. George "The Animal" Steele would use this gimmick to show he was crazy, however, he copied it from earlier wrestlers, like Antonio Pugliese.
- Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore would act like Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man, as well as wear two large foam hands.

Close Pro Wrestling

Miss Piggy in The Muppet Movie seems like a ditzy wannabe actress... until Kermit gets threatened, upon which she goes berserk on a pack of Doc Hopper's goons. Of course, fans of The Muppet Show would know that Piggy has a bit of a temper (and knows karate), and is quite dangerous when provoked.

Close Puppet Shows

The Autistic Psychic Savant class in Palladium's Beyond The Supernatural game pretty much has to be this trope. Most of the time, they can barely communicate, but in the presence of supernatural evil they prove to be smarter and more powerful than anyone else.

Close Tabletop Games

Leaf Coneybear from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is an airhead until he is asked to spell a word, at which point he turns into a scary blinking robot and gives the right answer.

Close Theater

In Disgaea 2, Rozalin shows off a particularly fearsome variant of this. Having spent her entire, pampered life in a palace, surrounded by servants waiting on her every whim, she's a complete novice when it comes to fighting (thus giving the hero, Adell, an excellent opportunity to explain the combat-system to her...) It's up to the player how much he wants to level her, but she'll probably still only be around level 50 when you first encounter, and are soundly defeated by, a level 1200 Overlord. At which point a seal is broken, and she suddenly jumps to level 1700, learns a world-destroying special move, and kicks seven different shades of ass. Afterwards, when she snaps out of it, she's got no idea what happened.
King Of Fighters has a game play example in Hotaru Futuba. Sure she looks harmless and is usually so personality wise, but in the hands of a competent player, she's an utter monster.
Arado Balanga of Super Robot Wars Original Generations is exactly like this. He's normally a reckless idiot who gets shot down more than not, but if his partner Seolla (who he was trained to work as a perfect partner to) is threatened with death, he'll be there to take it and go down in flames or utterly kick ass.
Demyx from Kingdom Hearts II is the villainous embodiment of this trope. His clumsy, cowardly, scatterbrained personality was stressed so much that even Jiminy's Journal called him "a poor fighter". He isn't. It should be noted, however, that because he is a philosophical zombie, technically any personality he takes on is fabricated.
- Or is it? Considering the massive Mind Screw the KH universe has going on, not to mention the Ret Cons which are All There In The Manual and more canon then the games, as Word Of God stated, it may or may not be.
- 358/2 Days shows that he's not a coward, he's lazy.
In Metal Gear Solid 4, we are introduced once more to Johnny Sasaki, who had spent a majority of the earlier games on the toilet. This time around, however, his cowardice proves to be a hidden strength, as his fear of needles leaves him without nanomachines, making him immune to the Big Bad's trump card. Along with The Power Of Love, this leads him to develop amazing Gun Fu and sniping skills.
- And turned right back around for comedic effect in multiplayer, where Johnny's lack of nanomachines robs him of SOP-linking and the benefits it provides; if you try to link while standing still, he does an anime pose, and if you try while running, he does a Rainbow Six-esque hand signal. He also can't do CQC and will flail hilariously if you try. His diarrhea, however, turns him into a walking gas grenade as it will incapacitate anyone he runs by.
A less specific example would be RPG characters with a Limit Break. Your reg'lar everyday Designated Hero suddenly wipes the floor with every single one of those Goddamned Bats. The one that springs to mind is Selphie Tilmitt in Final Fantasy VIII, who is essentially a young blonde airhead, but can pull an attack that instantly defeats anything. Yes, anything. Armoured Slimes, Goddamned Bats, That One Boss, the Big Bad of the entire game — you name it, The End kills it. Suddenly Selphie doesn't seem so innocent...
- What's more is that the attack (like her personality) seems pretty innocent. How you say? It's a beautiful field of flowers that appears on screen, that's it.
  - This troper didn't really ever see Selphie as too innocent considering she wanted to "blow the car to smithereens!!!" once they were done with the plan to switch the train cars so they could take down the President...
In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness, Wigglytuff seems to be nothing more than a simple, Perfect Apple-loving, uber-happy goof of a Pokemon. But if he gets upset, you'll find out exactly why Chatot seems to fear his temper.
King Trode from Dragon Quest VIII would be a great example. He spends most of the game just sitting in the wagon and generally complaining about various things like his curse or how you haven't found Dhoulmagus yet. But in the ending? He can be seen beating up several Argonian guards. His weapon of choice? A twig. You heard me. He beats up men twice his size, who are reportedly tough enough to kill Argon lizards, and he does it with a 2-inch piece of tree wood.
The latest generation of the Pokemon games has this (in a manner of speaking) with Bibarel. The evolution of that generation's version of Goddamned Bats — rendered slightly more annoying due to its higher HP stat, when toyed around with one will find that they can get an ability called "Simple" that DOUBLES the effects of any stat-changing skills used on it. Couple that with the most famous Buffer of the previous generation (Ninjask), a few turns of Swords Dance (and Ninjask's accompanying Speed Boost ability), and a Baton Pass to Bibarel and you have a complete and utter monster that your opponent will be in a BIG hurry to kill.
Grit from Advance Wars is a top-notch distance weapons specialist, but he hardly ever shows it due to his incredibly laid-back, agreeable demeanor.
Touhou Project is positively brimming with examples of this trope. Shall we start with Yukari Yakumo herself, wielder of powers far beyond godly who nonetheless prefers to spend her time goofing around, bothering Reimu, and generally acting like a little trickster imp? Or Yuyuko Saigyouji, who is genuinely amiable and nice and enjoys a good meal and sake under the cherry blossoms far more than anything else in the world, but who has been heavily implied by the author to know a lot more than she lets on, being able to keep up with aforementioned Yukari? (not to mention her power is to cause the death in anything that can die). Maybe Komachi Onozuka, who is a God of Death and the Ferryman of the Dead — and also a complete slacker who runs low on her quota of souls ferried because she prefers to lay down near the Styx and catch a shuteye or twenty? Or Suika Ibuki, a little girl who looks like a perpetually-tanked seven year old with horns and an unquenchable thirst for parties — and can also bench-press a mountain? All in all, when you're in Gensokyo it certainly pays to not underestimate whatever little girls you may find.
- Conversely, Rumia, the youkai of Darkness. She consistantly walks into trees (the powers of Darkness rendering her blind), is nearly harmless, and is sought out by people hoping to evade the sun on hot summer days.
The Black Baron of Mad World. An Uncle Tomfoolery who is constantly killed by his own deathtraps and girlfriend, it's hard to believe he poses any real threat, even when he turns out to be the final boss. Most players saw an easy fight...and then he goes Super Saiyan, kicks at you with lightning and punches you with a black hole. Sadly, when he meets his final end, he's reverted back to his moron stage.
In one instance of Lord Of The Rings Online, Radagast the Brown walks through a wight-infested swamp talking to little animals while the players have to fight all around him. In the end, he incapacitates who seems to be the endboss with a single hit, saving the players.
Emil Castagnier from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World might qualify, as he becomes much stronger in battle. At least, in the beginning. As the game progresses, this 'Ratatosk Mode' seems to appear more often, usually when Marta is in trouble.
How can the titular Ottsel from Jak and Daxter not be on this list? He usually avoids violent confrontations like the plague, at least when he's directly in the line of fire. But when push comes to shove, he'll put his life on the line to do what needs to be done (especially in Jak 3), his racing skills and marksmanship rival Jak's (when Jak's riding a Zoomer, Daxter wields the gun), and hell, he's got his own game.
Princess Peach from Super Mario Bros, when she decides to fight. Especially her Super Smash Bros Brawl incarnation.
Dan Hibiki ... sort of. In canon, he's a horrible fighter who's way too full of himself for his own good. In-game, however, he's a Lethal Joke Character (or, in the case of Street Fighter IV, just plain lethal.)

Close Video Games

In Red Vs Blue Caboose is usually a complete idiot who loads his gun with crayons and keeps killing his teammates, however in episode 40 Caboose thought about everything that made him angry (spiky kittens, Red bull and Babies) and was able to kill every single one of the flag obsessed zealots in about 10 seconds.
Homestar Runner is one of the most idiotic characters to hit the internet. In The Strongest Man in the World, he bicycle kicks the Cheat, while upside down, into the far horizon
- In 4 Branches, it's mentioned that Homestar's stupidity occasionally reaches such heights that it "flips back to start", and shows him answering the calculation "2 + 2" by defining Coulomb's law. When this is pointed out, he reverts to normal, revising his answer as "22".

Close Web Animation

Gabe, from Penny Arcade while occasionally homicidal on his own, ups this to eleven when in possession of a certain cardboard tube.
Zap Vexler from Zap! is a prime example. Huge Psychic Powers are usually triggered by threats towards his crush, Reona. The first example is here. Don't make fun of his hair, either. Recently revealed to suffer from Amnesiac Dissonance, with his former self being a powerful psychic out to Take Over The World.
Trace from TwoKinds is basically the same, only substituting Functional Magic for Psychic Powers. His powers mostly makes an appearance when he needs to protect Flora, his Cat Girl girlfriend. Had a full-blown Amnesiac Dissonance meets Superpowered Evil Side episode, but is currently tending towards The Messiah.
Arguably Liquid Snake of The Last Days Of Foxhound also applies, considering it's been implied that despite his borderline idiotic behavior he is in reality a killing machine, but has lost the majority of his skills due to an accident caused by his overly aggressive behavior. He gets more intelligent as the comic moves closer to the events of the Shadow Moses rebellion of Metal Gear Solid.
Vashiel from Misfile is an interesting variant. He's not so much stupid as a complete innocent, to the point where he's physically incapable of lying and gets a Nosebleed if he as much as has an impure thought. However, when his brother or Ash are threatened, you're suddenly reminded that his job description reads "Avenging Angel". Also a prime example of instantly snapping back to his ordinary, chivalrous personality afterwards.
- Rumisiel, Vashiel's pot smoking brother, is also one of these. Normally a slacker to the point where his goal in life is to sit on a couch drinking beer all day, as soon as someone's life is on the line, he suddenly becomes competent and, due to limiters placed on his brother, the stronger of the two when it comes to dealing with the supernatural. And as this comic shows, it is important to remember that ALL angels in this series are ancient supernatural beings.
Both Joyce and Walky from It's Walky! fall under this. Joyce in particular is ordinarily a complete innocent, with a passion for puppies, stuffed animals, and all things pink and frilly. However, if you push her just far enough... whoops, maybe that was a bit too far.
Big Boss: How's Joyce doing? Why has she made no progress?
Professor Doc: Big Boss, we can't afford to fix her! Do you know how many times she's saved the world's collective ass with her psychotic outbursts?
Big Boss: Three.
Professor Doc: Well, I'm holding out for five.
- Walky, meanwhile, is an excellent example that the trigger doesn't have to involve an immediate threat to yourself or your loved ones. This, for example, is what happens if you mess with his favorite snack food...
- Though for Walky you may as well have killed his mom if you mess with his Nachitos, sometimes loved ones come in the form of delicious snack foods.
Ping from Megatokyo is a dating-sim accessory who is just a regular Ridiculously Human Robot girl... whose way of dealing with rejection involves throwing buses and uprooting telephone poles to use as clubs (Largo once used this to save the city of Tokyo from a drunken, rampaging, giant turtle).
Grace from El Goonish Shive can best be described as a bubbly, naive girl, which would almost make you forget she's a genetically engineered Super Soldier who, the one time she actually got angry, proceeded to toss megalomaniac arch-villain Damien around like a rag doll, only to turn around at the last moment and ask him to forgive her.
Mega Man in Bob and George. Ordinarily he's a complete buffoon. But when he goes into battle, particularly against the Robot Masters, he becomes Badass, often coming up with clever ways to defeat them. The fans figured out a reason for this, and the author said "Sure Why Not": In one of the early comics, the punchline is that Mega Man was accidentally programmed first to defeat evil robots, and second to be an idiot. He later retconned that this was the reason Mega Man was a default moron whenever there wasn't evil around, but when a bad guy shows up, he becomes an instant badass for the duration of the crisis.
Lemmy in F@nboy$. Normally he's a timid, goofy Nintendo fanatic. However, should anyone ever accuse Nintendo of being "kiddy" within his vicinity, he literally phases out into a trance and turns into a rampaging lunatic, with little to no memory of what he has done afterwards. This may also be triggered by getting hit in the head, or more precisely, accidentally hitting other things with his face.
Fighter of 8-Bit Theater is a childish dimwit who is blind to the obvious (for the most part at least) but is also a highly proficient swordmaster who can wield the Sword-Chucks (yo!) with enough proficiency to fight a six-armed demon of fire. Oh and if you're an enemy, watch yourself if you kill Black Mage...
Fighter: Cool. Because friends look out for one another and we're friends, but Black Mage is my best friend. Also, I can block any attack and kill anything that bleeds. Hint.
- He once used his swords as chainsaws to destroy an entire flight of unstoppable dragons just because Red Mage convinced him that he could.
Smoke from WTF Comics, starting as a little pocket Monk with seemingly no real battle capabilities besides dodging things, until Nikisha stabs Anna in front of him, and make him go "all out" in rage with annihilating an entire bridge of Mooks along with the bridge itself under them, nearly killing her too in the process.
- Oh, and did we mention that he can also teleport, modify his own perception of time, resurrect the dead, and see the very fabric of the Timespace around him?
In a couple of Ctrl Alt Del comics starring the "players" (homicidal gamers with the tendency to carry out in-game vendettas in real life), Player 3 makes an appearance. He's normally laid-back and "normal", but can turn homicidal if threatened...
- While lacking the Crouching Moron element, Lilah is notable for having insanely good game playing skills whenever she's really angry with Ethan.
The Order of the Stick. Xykon's Monster in the Darkness is this trope, acting childish all the time, but when he does show his power (often completely accidentally), he causes massive destruction.
- Also, Elan. He may have literally taken a level in badass, but he's still The Ditz most of the time.
In The KAMics, Gertrude and Brunhilda are normally comic bumblers, but when their sister was in trouble, glowing eyes and dead Mooks followed.
Torg from Sluggy Freelance, despite taking a few levels in badass over the years, is still mostly just a goofy, not-to-bright guy that everyone treats as pretty harmless. Probably best exemplified in this strip:
Riff: Dude! When did you learn to kick ass?
Torg: I've been taking an Internet college correspondence course in kickass.
Riff: You have not.
Torg: But I so want to teach one!
Daniel "Dan" Ti'Fiona of Dan and Mabs Furry Adventures is technically a hero — graduated from Adventuring School and with titles to match. His friends, however, doesn't really take it seriously, what with him usually being bungling, lazy, caught up in romantic mishaps, and getting transformed into a woman. However, when faced with old enemies, he'll usually loose his shirt, narrow his eyes, and demonstrate that he IS, in fact, worthy of those titles. With the later addition of Cubi powers, this transformation has reached the level of 'make a demon piss her pants and run like hell'.
Subverted in The Adventures of Dr. McNinja as he is more of a Crouching Badass Hidden Moron.
Hod from Brat-halla is one of these after he Took A Level In Badass. His brothers have a thing for it as well tough. And his father. And his mother. And his back-up dad...
Stanley the Tool from Erfworld, who on first appearance seems more concerned with the fact his MacGuffin turns walnuts into pigeons when cracked than the impending destruction of his forces. Then he decks Chief Warlord Caeser in one hit.
Diva Beelze from Evil Diva is kind of a little... silly but she's pretty bad ass in the latest chapter in that she beats the crap out of the devil thugs without hardly doing anything. She has the super special wand but... so did Sailor Moon!
Sir Muir, a scarred old Darsai knight from the webcomic Harkovast appears to be a prattling, senile goofball when nothing exciting is happening. However he proves that he's quite a competent (though distractable) fighter when the situation calls for it.
Kharla'ggen from Drow Tales plays with rubber duckies and rarely, if ever, utters a complete sentence. Her guards barely care about their job. But she's the leader of one of the major clans in the setting and her laissez-faire rule is undisputed because she also likes to play with dolls. Her power is such that in a side-story she was able to 'play' with a greater demon, made of a composite of lesser demons, who collectively barely escaped with their lives.
Buwaro from Slightly Damned is like this without his star pendent.

Close Web Comics

Doctor Horrible.
Subverted with Arthur Williams in Survival of the Fittest, who shoves aside his shyness and fear, charging an armed player in order to save a hostage, and gets shot in the face for his trouble. Paul Smith, also from Survival of the Fittest is usually a Chivalrous Pervert, pretty goofy and laid back — very much a comic relief character. However, from time to time, he almost seems to "switch on" and become one hell of a lot more dangerous. And try lethally dangerous.
Essentially the entire core cast of Mega64, but special mention should go to Sean and Horatio. Do not make them mad.

Close Web Original

Popeye.
The Flash, in Justice League Unlimited appears to fall into this catagory. For the most part he's a goofy dope who doesn't take much seriously and is always the one to crack a joke at the expense of drama and badass-ism. However his role is not to be underestimated (in one universe his death motivated the League to turn into a totalitariam dictatorship). Many people found it surprising to discover he's a forensic scientist in his normal identity. His big transforming moment, however, came during his Crowning Moment Of Awesome in the episode "Divided We Fall" where he taps into the Speed Force and circumnavigates the entire globe several times in a matter of seconds in order to defeat Luthor-Brainiac when the rest of the League had failed. All of a sudden he went from comic relief to downright dangerous. This Troper will never mistake him for a goofball ever again.
- Back in Justice League, when the team split up for an episode, Flash is attempting to interrogate a mook who insults his technique — "You're no Batman." Flash drops him off a building, races down and catches him at the bottom. He got the info.
- Lets not forget what happened when Lex Luthor got ahold of his powers once. He almost took out the entire Watchtower single-handidly effectively proving that Flash is far more powerful than most people realise.
Maggie from The Simpsons has her moments, too.
- Though this troper only knows when she saved Homer and Bart's lives in the movie, that was pretty awesome.
  - Maggie has shot people on two occasions — the first appeared to be an accident, but the second portrays her as a full-blown sniper.
- Or Homer himself, normally an idiot an a jerkass, he will frequently slip into a state of hypercompetency to solve the situation at hand.
  - "Lisa! In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics"
  - What about the fact that Homer is actually an (almost) accomplished gymnast AND a Grammy-award-winning singer-songwriter? AND a locally famous voice actor? (never mind the fact that Poochie was the most hated cartoon character in Springfield as a result)
  - Homer did his best to salvage Poochie. The hatred towards his character was solely as a result of poor writing and character design.
- Marge Simpson also has her moments. Like mwhen she, um, rescued Lisa from an erupting volcano.
  - The entire Simspson family, and most of the secondary characters, have this trait. It's the rule of funny.
  - Marge was also a supercop who only quit because of the corruption on the police force, plus she beat up EVERYBODY in Moe's Tavern while she was a 'roided-up bodybuilder. Do NOT underestimate her, especially when you hit the Mama Bear's Berserk Button.
Droopy falls under this in several of his animated shorts. Repeatedly humiliated by his adversary, he never reacts... until it looks like he's about to lose "The Dame". Then he responds, in the same monotone as always, "You know what? That makes me mad." and can suddenly fling his enemy across the room with ease.
Ron from Kim Possible seems useless much of the time. His primary contribution to most missions appears to be serving as a distraction, and even after he's exposed to the Mystical Monkey Power, he admits that his skill at monkey kung fu "comes and goes." But when necessary (i.e. when Kim is busy, incapacitated, or not present), Ron displays extraordinary skill in both martial arts and general resourcefulness.
- His Mystical Monkey Kung Fu is shown three times, especially in the Grand Finale where Ron suddenly becomes Bad Ass enough to get a Chunky Updraft Battle Aura that Kim, Rufus and even Shego just stared at him while he beat those Aliens' asses.
Dr. Drakken: What happened?
Shego: I think the sidekick just stepped up... monkey-style!
Darkwing Duck. The change from incompetence to determination was usually signified by the Catch Phrase "Let's Get Dangerous!"
- From the same show, Comet Guy also fits this trope. With as much power as Superman and fewer brain cells than Bizarro, this bumbling, moronic superhero manages to get his act together when Steelbeak threatens St-Canard with his remote controlled rubber wrecking ball.
Aang from Avatar The Last Airbender was an example of this trope in the first episodes whenever he tapped into the Avatar State. Character Development, a showcase of the fact that he is a master airbender, and the realization of how scary he is in the Avatar State contributes to the lessening of this carefree nature.
Inspector Gadget, of all people, occasionally demonstrated this. When Penny and Brain were in real danger from Dr. Claw's traps in one or two episodes, the normally Too Dumb To Live Inspector would skilfully use his gadgets to save them.
On South Park, Pip becomes a super dodgeball player after being repeatedly insulted.
Captain Fanzone of Transformers Animated is often portrayed as the bumbling, technologically inept Comic Relief — although he's hardly Plucky. However... when it comes down to it, he shows remarkable resourcefulness and fairly good combat skills — in the episode "Survival of the Fittest", he manages to knock a monster twice his size to the floor with one punch.
Dean Venture snaps and beats the crap out of Dermot, a kid twice his size, after Dermot insults Triana.
Odd Della Robia in Code Lyoko is often shown to be an impatient slacker, far more interested in his various dates and lunch than studying for classes or saving the world. His crappy grades and his many, many failed plans showcase just how stupid he appears to be, and he isn't faking this: he is pretty Book Dumb. However, his slacker attitude hides his rather impressive abilities, both physical and mental. He has no combat-related "powers" on Lyoko, but he doesn't need them to do well.
- Jim Moralès also qualifies. Although he's the comic relief of the show most of the time, whenever the children are threatened he can prove to be entirely fearless and a nasty fighter. Most notably in "False Start", where he single-handedly destroyed a dozen Kankrelats and kept taunting them at the brink of death.
Brittany Taylor in Daria is ditzy, airheaded, shallow, dimwitted and basically incapable of doing anything right. It's probably not unfair to presume that inside her skull there are a handful of neurons that swim around aimlessly in the otherwise empty void, never coming across each other. And yet, if she is put in a combat situation, she suddenly becomes a gifted tactician and charismatic infantry commander.
Harold in Total Drama Island is real dork but he does have a hidden badass somewhere.
Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls. While technically the whole concept and style of the show has echoes of Grotesque Cute, Bubbles is the cute and ditzy "sugar" in "sugar, spice [Buttercup] and everything nice [Blossom]" and occasionally gets to go berzerk.
The Fairly OddParents gave Cosmo this role in an episode when Timmy ended up in a best-of-three contest with another child, with the loser forfeting their fairy godparents. Cosmo wins the first contest by accident when the bananas he conjures distract the giant gorilla he needed to rescue Timmy from, and in the final round his teasing causes the opposing fairy to mess up and zap Timmy instead of his own godchild, causing Timmy to win the contest.
In one episode of GI Joe, three Cobra Mooks dogpile on the simpleton Bazooka, which causes him to exclaim, "Darn it, swallowed my gum!" and knock them all out with one punch each.
Beast Boy in Teen Titans is usually portrayed as, while not an actual moron, certainly far less combat-effective than Robin, Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire, primarily due to his habit of choosing an Awesome But Impractical T-rex form that falls through weak surfaces, gets stuck under low bridges, and generally achieves very little. However, when sufficiently riled up, he turns (metaphorically) into an unstoppable engine of destruction, capable of annihilating pretty much whatever takes his fancy.
GIR of Invader Zim is arguably more inept than Zim himself. His brain is made of chewing gum, coins and a paper clip and he seems to have both feet firmly planted in space and his mind on waffles or tacos. However, when issued a command, his eyes turn from a bright blue to a glowing red and he acknowledges the order like a perfect Irken SIR unit. Of course, he ususally forgets the order or becomes distracted by something else within seconds, but occasionally, he carries out whatever task he's been given effectively.
- This trope is brought into full effect in the episode "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff" where Zim locks GIR into the competent "duty mode". However, as a result, GIR becomes too competent and realizes that Zim is a threat to the mission and must be stopped.
Duck Dodgers himself has moments such as these. Even despite being incompetent 95% of the time with his successes mostly due to his Cadet, he can manage some pretty amazing feats, such as saving the entire Green Lantern Corps after Sinestro captures them all single-handedly.
- Or single-handedly defeating the Martian Queen in order to save The Cadet, with a Star Trek II homage, to boot. While played as if he really didn't know what he was doing, some of his tricks (most of the ones involving the Evaporator, for example) were actually quite cunning.
Chester. Spike's yappy little sidekick from Looney Tunes. Much, MUCH stronger than he looks.
Michaelango in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles displays this several times throughout the series. While normally he is the most irresponsible, laid back, undiciplined turtle, on occasion when fighting enemies that have incapicated or captured his brothers, he displays ninjitsu prowess, agility, and technique rivaling that of Leonardo, who trains constantly, whupping hordes of monsters (or single big bads) that had previously defeated his other 3 brothers. Displayed most prominently in the episode "Grudge Match." However, this seems to be somewhat random: while there are times when Mike steps up when the team's back is to the wall, there are other times when he just gets knocked out cold with the rest of them, so I guess it depends on the needs of the story.
Family Guy actually has a few. Peter Griffin is legally retarded, but when drunk, he becomes a piano savant. Glenn Quagmeyer is a sexual predator, but an absolutely ace pilot (it's "Hidden Badass" because it's so rarely we actually get to see him do his piloting job). Plus, it turns out Adam West was a KGB sleeper agent who managed to single-handedly beat the crap out of Brian, Stewie, Dan Aykroyd AND Chevy Chase all at once when accidentally activated.

Close Western Animation

As of the 3rd November 2009, Boris Johnson. Normally poked fun at for always saying and doing the wrong things, the London mayor took a level in badass when he saw a woman on the street under attack by a gang of teenage girls; charging in to intervene, he picked up an iron bar one of the girls had dropped and chased them down the street on his bike.

Close Real Life

Main Tropes Index

Troperville

Editing Help

Tools

Toys

Examples: