Basic Trope: A character underestimates or is unaware of a badass' strength.
- Straight: Alice is short and not very muscular, but when Bob attempts to rob her (assuming she's weak), she easily defeats him.
- Exaggerated:
- Downplayed: When Bob attempts to rob Alice (assuming she's weaker), she easily defeats him with karate.
- Justified:
- Muscles Are Meaningless when you have skills.
- Alice is an undercover agent running a sting. Not only is she trained in martial arts she has six big mean cops with billy clubs waiting in the shadows behind her for would-be assailants.
- Alice is a superhero. Probably not a very powerful or blatant one, but Bob is a plain-jane Muggle that doesn't understand you don't survive long in that kind of game without becoming mean.
- Inverted:
- Alice is The Dreaded.
- Bob did not dare to attack a Fake Ultimate Mook as he assumed that he is strong.
- Subverted: Alice was only boasting about her strength. When Bob attempts to rob her, he succeeded.
- Double Subverted: He seemed to succeed, but Alice turned the tables around and defeated Bob in the end.
- Parodied: An Academy of Evil teaches newbie criminals about picking their targets based on their danger level, ranking a sweet little child as more powerful than an Eldritch Abomination.
- Zig Zagged: Alice is more dangerous than she looks and has wiped the floor with Bob and his friends a few times because they keep forgetting it, but Bob has also managed to get the drop on her and exploit his natural advantages as a Strong, but Unskilled fighter a few times, which Alice also keeps forgetting whenever she gloats on the inside about being the better warrior.
- Averted:
- Alice isn't badass at all, and just as weak as she appears.
- Bob refuses to underestimate anyone, regardless of how weak they may appear, including (or especially) Alice.
- Enforced: Alice is the protagonist and an Action Girl. The writer doesn't wants to show her as weak in any way except by some guy's (about-to-be-eaten) word.
- Lampshaded:Bob: Alice looked so weak...but how can she beat me?
- Invoked:
- Alice started learning karate, knowing even seemingly weak people have a chance to win a fight, doubly so if they have the element of surprise.
- One of Alice's allies deliberately downplayed her abilities so that she could exploit the element of surprise.
- Exploited: Alice robbed Bob back for extra pocket money.
- Defied:
- Alice got a muscular boyfriend to protect her instead.
- Bob overestimates Alice's badassery, and brings along all kinds of overkill just in case.
- Discussed: (after Alice beats a low-class, unskilled thug) "He thought I was some easy mark ripe for a mugging. Well, what he didn't know was that I had proper, extensive training in the department of martial arts."
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Alice isn't shown to be badass on-screen, but Bob thought twice before going to the next victim.
Back to Underestimating Badassery.
