Basic Trope: An old character is far more
Badass than younger characters.
- Straight: Master Wong is in his 70s but can easily beat up a robber.
- Exaggerated: Master Wong is an arthritic 90 year-old who can cut down whole gangs.
- Downplayed: Master Wong is Weak, but Skilled, so he might be able to beat up a robber if he got lucky, but he wouldn't be in good shape afterwards.
- Justified:
- Master Wong works out every day and has been proficient in the use of his weapon since childhood, while the mugger is very out of shape and has never been in a fight before.
- Master Wong has Super Strength and a Healing Factor.
- Master Wong is a mage in a tradition where power directly grows with age, so being old literally gives him more power than a youngster.
- Inverted:
- Subverted: Wong turns out to be Mistaken for Badass.
- Double Subverted: Or so he'd have his enemies believe, as he can be a more effective fighter if his opponent underestimates him.
- Parodied: Master Wong is hooked up to an oxygen tank and can only move with the aid of a walker, both of which he uses to beat a mugger over the head. Then he shuffles away very slowly.
- Zig Zagged: Master Wong's combat ability depends on his health that day—when he's doing well, he can beat a small army, but if his back is acting up, he can barely move and is an easy target.
- Averted: The old characters are not much better than younger ones, if at all.
- Enforced: "The old guy hasn't done anything onscreen. I want to show why the Kid Hero is so eager to learn from him, but doing it in a flashback would be hokey."
- Lampshaded: "Something tells me that cane's not there to help him walk..."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Master Wong's age makes him a frail Glass Cannon; though he can defeat younger punks in a straight fight, any good blow is a Game Breaking Injury. The youngsters resort to dirty tricks and sneak attacks to even the odds.
- Master Wong is afraid of becoming soft in his old age, and constantly puts himself through Training from Hell. One way or another, he will be a fighter until the day his body breaks, but he runs a very real risk of breaking it himself!
- Reconstructed: Master Wong makes up for the frailties of age with experience; he's seen all the tricks already, so he's good at seeing them coming, and years of experience make him better at fighting dirty than most of his younger opponents.
Back to
Old Master's main page. Don't be fooled into thinking its age makes it a pushover!
