History Main / IJustWantToBeBadass

* Tedd in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. Especially after he felt weak about something [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-12-22 far worse than a school bully]]. His attempts look [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-09-30 less badass and more adorable than he'd like to.]] But at the same time he tries to circumvent his [[UnSorcerer powerless status]] and back from the {{foreshadowing}} [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-08-24 dream]] we know he can accept becoming more like his apparently EvilOverlord counterpart in AlternateUniverse, if he needs [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-10-07 this]] to fight back.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', Hiccup wants to be acknowledged and respected by his village, as well as his father and the girl he crushes on. He does achieve all of this, but not in the way he expected.
* Po Ping, the title character of ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' has spent most of his life wishing to be a legendary kung fu master like his idols, the Furious Five. That wish ends up being granted inadvertently and he's forced to grow into the role of being a badass, but ultimately succeeds.

** Cloud is at his most badass when he's not trying to be.

* Mocked in a frequently forwarded webcomic stereotyping the three major [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames Seventh-gen console]] users:

* This is a prevalent attitude behind people who are derogatively called a "mall ninja" -- a person who claims to be an expert on weaponry, often to the point of disdaining popular weapons and [[BladeEnthusiast preferring expensive and exotic ones along with equally expensive accessories]]. The mall ninja likes to brag about their supposed expertise, but often exposes their ignorance in discussions, sometimes making improbable claims about their experience or weapon use. Those really flashy-looking swords and exotic-looking weapons that you see in mall stores are a frequent source of such weapons, hence the term "mall ninja". Essentially, the mall ninja wants to make people think they're a weapons expert and/or a badass warrior by talking about weapons, but shows themself to be little more than someone who secretly wants to look cool and nothing else.

-->-- '''Jaune Arc''', ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''

* Pulverizer in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'', he wanted to be a ninja like the turtles, but he stinks at it that he can't even do a descent move right and was too lazy to try training to improve his skills or physique. He managed to join the Foot Clan who use him as CannonFodder, and then he thought he could be like the turtles by dousing himself with mutagen, instead he became a horrible blob monster so in a way he got what he wanted.

* ''Fanfic/InPursuitOfASingleIdeal'': Illya really, ''really'' wants to be a MagicalGirl because she wants to know how it's like to be as powerful as the magical girls she sees on TV. Unfortunately, she's a WrongGenreSavy in a MagicalGirlGenreDeconstruction story, and only starts realizing when [[spoiler:her brother Shirou is torn to pieces and {{Mind Rape}}d by one of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek "monsters of the week"]].]]

* Sokka from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is revealed to be this when, in a season three episode, he admits to feeling incredibly weak and unimportant [[ElementalPowers alongside the others in the group]].
* Rainbow Dash from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is motivated by this, most commonly demonstrated by her desire to join the Wonderbolts, an elite team of fliers. This is despite the fact that she's part of a group that is regularly called upon to save the world, and the filly Scootaloo wants to be just like her when she grows up.

* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': The protagonist Emily really wants to be a powerful witch that fights evil magicians and protects innocents, but as she learns early on, just because she wants that and spends her time fantasizing about being that doesn't mean she's actually all that tough. When she later decides to 'defect' to an evil WizardSchool, she tells herself that her main motive is to undermine the school from within and thus make up for her past failures, but she has to admit she's also hoping the school's TrainingFromHell will help her become strong enough to actually fight villains.

* Several ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' have shown that this is their primary motivation. Often this is simply shown by them wishing to become their very powerful final form. Others have shown they just want to be better.

-->'''Xbox 360 users:''' "[[RatedMForManly I want to be manly, for, in reality, I am not.]]"\\

* Mocked in a frequently forwarded webcomic stereotyping the three major current gen console users:

Denying the fulfillment of this wish (i.e. averting or subverting the trope) can result in WhatMeasureIsANonBadass occurring.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': Mikado definitely qualifies because he wants to change something. [[spoiler: It's what led him to create [[ImageBoards Dollars]]. Later on, you actually see that he has been badass all along.]]

* ''LightNovel/DemonKingDaimao'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8514012/1/Keena-the-Defendants-of-Constan-Magic-Academy Keena & the Defendants of Constan Academy]]'' has this happen to usual DamselInDistress Keena, who not only wants friends (due to the remaining characters being PutOnABus) but also wants to find herself useful in combat. Turns out [[spoiler: she actually ''is'' skilled in combat. Chapter 6 reveals that she actually has trained and learned to fight but never got the opportunity to do so]].

In order to fulfill this wish of their audience, the creator of a work will usually create a viewpoint character and, over the course of the story, make the character badass. This allows the audience to identify with the viewpoint character and as such experience badassery by proxy. Another way by which the author can fulfill this wish of the audience is to take a character that has already established his badassery and give the character a trait which the intended audience will identify with. Additionally, a writer can take a characterization with already-established badass credentials and [[{{Flanderization}} remove non-badass elements in order to highlight the badassery]].

This trope is very prone to being {{deconstruct|ion}}ed. A possible reason for this is that producers of media are usually not particularly badass and as such may regard this particular wish of the audience as immature or naive. This, of course, is merely a speculation. However, whole industries are built on playing this trope straight and allowing the audience to fulfill its badassery fantasies by proxy.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' has Reyson, one of the [[{{Bishonen}} very beautiful]] and very frail princes of the [[{{Animorphism}} heron tribe]]. In his support conversations with the protagonist Ike, Reyson reveals that he at times ''despised'' himself for his inability to fight after the human nation Begnion massacred the heron tribe and all but destroyed their home, Serenes Forest. He was jealous of his caretaker, the [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority immensely powerful king]] of the Hawk laguz tribe, Tibarn, and tried to toughen himself up by force so that [[PayEvilUntoEvil he'd be able to one day take revenge on humans]]...only to make himself sick in the process. He mostly came to terms with his status as a NonActionGuy, seeing as he is able to [[SupportPartyMember help out through singing]] his magical galdrs, which do things like heal allies, cure them of harmful conditions, and grant them {{Extra Turn}}s.

* You, me and everyone else wants to become a badass too.
** Unless you truly ''are'' badass.
* Military recruiters have a tendency to use this to their advantage.
* Anyone who has ever dreamed of, let alone, tried, skydiving. ''Ever''.
* This came up A LOT when commentators were trying to interpret George Zimmerman's motivations after he killed Trayvon Martin.

* Cyril, the bellringer mouse from the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' fic ''Fanfic/TheUrthbloodSaga'' has as his life's ambition to become a warrior someday, resenting his status as a lowly abbey novice and feeling as if his elders will [[AdultsAreUseless always treat him like a child]]. While he becomes somewhat less enthusiastic about the idea and more accepting of his place after his younger brother Cyrus [[spoiler: just barely survives being wounded by a visiting soldier]], he still has it as his ultimate goal.

* ''Fanfic/{{Boldores and Boomsticks}}'': Casey is awed by Team RWBY's physical feats and asks them to train her to be like them.

* Saitama of ''Anime/OnePunchMan'' was originally a straight example. He is currently an aversion - he doesn't want to be this trope because he's the most badass in his series and it's ''boring''. Genos is also this but a straight example all the way (including getting the aforementioned Saitama to be his teacher) for the sake of getting revenge on a rival cyborg.

This trope applies in two circumstances. The first is that a ''character in the work is motivated by the trope'' ('''the in-universe version'''). The other is that ''the work engages with (fulfilling, parodying, or being to some extent motivated and/or changed by) its viewers Wanting To Be Badass'' ('''the meta-version'''). There is often considerable overlap between the two types; if this wish was not prevalent in viewers, they would probably react differently to characters motivated by the wish. The later is so common-place that only examples of playing with or subverting this expectation should be listed.