Misused: Lethal Joke Character

Where's the Wick Check, ~Larkmarn? It was requested in post #19. Thread seems stalled without perspective of misuse.

Tried doing a wick check. Not a good start, to be honest.

• Ace Combat: ZCE
• Ace Attorney: ZCE
• Agent Peacock: Not a video game character.
• Age of Empires II: Correct.
• A.I. Breaker: Contextless pothole.
• Air Gear: Kogarasumaru: Not a video game character.
• Akuma no Riddle: Not a video game character.
• Alter A.I.L.A.: ZCE. Shares an entry with Glass Cannon and apparently Game-Breaker, none with appropriate context.
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 2: Might be correct. Apparently she's a counterpart to a known Joke Character who "doesn't suck as badly".
• Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Editions Party Members: Possibly correct. The write-up seem more like Magikarp Power though (character only becomes useful after grinding).
• Battle for Wesnoth: Correct.
• Be the Sea Dweller Lowblood: Not a video game character.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Misuse.
• Both Syllables: Not a video game character.
• Breath of Fire II: Correct.
• Burnout Paradise: Unclear. No indication how the "characters" in question would seem like a Joke Character to begin with.
• Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion: Unclear. One seem to be correct, but the other reads more like Fighting Clown.
• Castlevania: Misuse.
• Catharsis Factor: Contextless pothole.
• Choice of Games: Dubious. A stat isn't a character.
• Common Place Rare: Contextless pothole.
• Crystal Towers 2: Misuse. The trope doesn't apply to enemies.
• DanceDanceRevolution: Misuse.
• Daytona USA: Misuse.
• Dead or Alive 5: Contextless pothole.
• Death Battle Equestria: Not a video game character.
• Demon Blade: Not a video game character. Probably closer to Improbable Weapon User.
• .hack//G.U.: Unclear. The character has low level but can produce more damage than higher-level characters with a proper equipment.
• Escaped from the Lab: Contextless pothole.
• Etrian Odyssey: Correct.
• Exit Fate: Incorrect. Closer to Magikarp Power.
• Fate/Apocrypha: Correct.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Contextless pothole.
• That One Boss/Fighting: ZCE.
• Final Fantasy V: Misuse. The trope doesn't apply to enemies.
• Freedom City Play By Post: Not a video game character.
• Gameplay Tropes: Unclear. Some examples might be correct.
• Grand Chase: ZCE.
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Misuse.
• Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: Contextless pothole.
• Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Correct.
• Hyrule Warriors: Contextless pothole.
• Iron Chef: Incorrect. Used to refer to a real life person.
• Jay's Journey: Incorrect. Magikarp Power.
• Kingdom Hearts: Organization XIII: ZCE.
• Monster Hunter Frontier Monsters: Misuse. The trope doesn't apply to enemies.
• Namco × Capcom: Misuse.
• Ni no Kuni: ZCE.

I don't have time to go through the later entries, but it's a start.

edited 15th Feb '17 5:50:41 AM by Adept

About A.I. Breaker, the pothole does have context (in fact, the example goes to great extent to explain how Phoenix Wright works in a fighting game when he's a non-action hero in his origin game). I'd give it the benefit of the doubt and say the pothole is not out of place.

48 wicks checked, at least 20 of them are clear misuse/incorrect (I included "not a video game character" in the count).

edited 15th Feb '17 4:42:41 AM by Gosicrystal

TBH, I find that A.I. Breaker entry is so meandering that I had difficulty understanding what it's actually trying to say. But the fact that he's a character from a non-fighting game exported to a fighting game doesn't automatically make him a "Joke Character with powerful gimmicks", which is what this trope is about. It does seem that he have unique skills that allows him to get around some of the game's mechanics, but the write-up itself doesn't really explain how he was set up as a useless character in the first place.

Extra note: Lethal Joke Character is a gameplay-specific trope, and non-video game examples should go to Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.

edited 15th Feb '17 6:06:01 AM by Adept

To explain the Ace Attorney one, Phoenix Wright is actually considered low tier in many Marvel Vs Capcom 3 discussions. Very limited options, not enough mobility, and too reliant on his gimmick to work. That said, that very gimmick turns him deadly.

So maybe that's how Lethal Joke Character applied to him? An otherwise poor character who relied on a specific gimmick to be surprisingly powerful?

Yes, that is indeed the very definition of Lethal Joke Character. Ideally, a good write-up for the example and wicks would explain how the character is set up as low-tier (e.g. has poor stats, useless spells, etc.), and then describe their special feature/move that makes them very powerful.

A lot of examples isn't written that way though.

edited 15th Mar '17 6:08:38 PM by Adept

People really should understand what Joke Character truly means before they start writing Lethal Joke Character examples.

Even Joke Character gets misused. I'm reading through the examples, and most of them are just "this character is terrible", not "this character is purposely made terrible as a joke".

Stale; closing.