History Characters / Eyeshield21ThePentagram

*** Played with. While Clifford truly ''didn't'' need to fear Agon, effortlessly defeating him every time they Agon tried to take him down, his insulting Agon indirectly led to the [[HopelessBossBattle triple combo of Sena, Agon, and Shin]] that led to him

** In a notable instance, he ''would'' have delivered this to [[TheAce Sena]] ''and'' [[TheGift Agon]] ''at the same time'' if Shin hadn't joined in at the last second.

* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Shin (in a triple combo with Sena and Agon) successfully sacking Clifford is treated like this since it was the first time ''anyone had managed to take him down.'' After it happened, everyone was ''stunned'' and ''even [[TheDreaded Mr. Don]]'' felt a sense of ''genuine despair.''

* EvilVersusEvil: [[TheSociopath Agon]] versus [[TheEvilGenius Clifford]] was essentially this. After Clifford delivered a complete CurbStompBattle to both him and Ikyuu with ease, and after Clifford pressed Agon's BerserkButton by making it clear that he thought that Agon was such a loser that he didn't even need to pay attention to him, Agon spent the rest of the game ''obsessed'' with trying to take Clifford down. Unfortunately for Agon, he never succeeded since Clifford [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter effortlessly trounced]] him every time he challenged him.

* OneManArmy: He's an ace quarterback ''and'' running back. With his overwhelming speed, spectacular passes, vast intelligence, and incredible dodging skills, he can simultaneously curb stomp the likes of ''Agon'', ''Sena'', and ''Ikyuu'', and he pretty much blazes past anyone else who tries to take him down one-on-one. A large number of touchdowns were scored by him simply due to the fact that ''absolutely nobody could stop him.''
* OpposingSportsTeam: Like pretty much every other member of the Pentagram, but taken UpToEleven since he's both an ace quarterback ''and'' an ace running back. It's no wonder that he was widely considered the number one American football player in all of America.

* SeriousBusiness: Gambling is this for him. When he and the rest of the Pentagram saw Gaou and Mr. Don about to fight, Clifford disapproved of the others taking bets on it since [[SkewedPriorities the outcome was so obvious that it made the bet boring]].

* ThePerfectionist: Clifford is ''obsessed'' with being and appearing perfect. He is ''very'' quick to remind people that he's (only potentially, but not that anyone would say it to his face) the #1 American football player in all of America, and he goes out of his way to display his nigh invincible talent. And whenever anything doesn't go his way, he becomes [[NotSoStoic incredibly disgruntled]] and becomes ''[[UpToEleven even crueler]]'' than he usually is.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Unlike Mr. Morgan and some of the other members of his team, Clifford ''never'' displayed any racist tendencies towards anyone. Hell, he even ''viciously berated'' Mr. Morgan, a ''former NFL superstar'', for his jingoistic and racist attitude towards the other world players. While [[SmugSnake Clifford]] does openly deride other players as talentless losers, he does so because of their skills as individuals, and never because of their race.

** Clifford and the rest of the Pentagram didn't even arrive to the drawing ceremony just to show how highly they thought of themselves and how much they're looking down on the rest of the world.

* InsufferableGenius: Oh, [[UpToEleven yes]]. When you spend your time lecturing [[TheStrategist Hiruma]] and looking down on [[TheGift Agon]], you are ''absolutely'' this. Worst thing is, he's [[TheGift completely]] [[TheEvilGenius justified]] in [[SmugSuper acting like this]].

** Occasionally subverted, however. Occasionally, [[OnlySaneMan Panther]] has to play the StraightMan to [[TheEvilGenius Clifford]], where he reacts with the shock a normal person would have whenever the latter performs some of his more audacious feats of arrogance and smugness, such as when Clifford ''directly insulted an NFL superstar to his face.''

* WeakButSkilled: Not quite ''weak'', per se, but he's quite a bit physically weaker than the vast majority of the other football players in America, as well as a large number of players in Japan. That being said, he's ''insanely'' skilled when it comes to ''literally everything else.''

* InsufferableGenius: Oh, [[UpToEleven ''yes'']]. When you spend your time lecturing [[TheStrategist ''Hiruma'']] and looking down on [[TheGift ''Agon'']], you are ''absolutely'' this. Worst thing of all is, he's pretty much [[TheGift completely]] [[TheEvilGenius justified]] in [[SmugSuper acting like this]].

* OneManArmy: He's an ace quarterback ''and'' running back. With his overwhelming speed, spectacular passes, vast intelligence, and incredible dodging skills, he can simultaneously curb stomp the likes of ''Agon'', ''Sena'', and ''Ikyuu'', and he pretty much blazes past anyone else who tries to take him down one-on-one. A large number of the touchdowns were scored by him simply due to the fact that ''absolutely nobody could stop him.''

** Clifford and the rest of the Pentagram didn't even arrive to the drawing ceremony so that they could show just to show how highly they thought of themselves and how much they're looking down on the rest of the world.

** If the cover of chapter 319 is to be taken seriously, then it looks like Clifford is actually a ''whole head shorter'' than Panther, who is the second shortest member of the Pentagram. To put this into perspective, since a head is roughly nine inches tall and Panther himself is 6'1", this would make Clifford roughly ''5'4"'', easily making him the shortest quarterback in the entire series.

* Troll: He pretended to go along with Bud's grand entrance idea, only to play him for a fool at the very last second for kicks.

* Bishonen: He's slender and toned, and he has a ''very'' pretty face, even with his pointy nose. His fangirls absolutely ''love'' him for it.

* FiveBadBand: These five formed a neat one.

* BigBad: He's TheCaptain of Team USA, and a tremendous problem for Team Japan in the final game. He also led the Pentagram, making him this trope in the FiveBadBand sense.

* AffablyEvil: Bud's a well-mannered guy... and won't hesitate to tell his opponents that he's going to wipe the floor with them.

* TattooedCrook
* TestosteronePoisoning: '''The biggest offender in this series'''.

* WorldsStrongestMan: Explicitly referred to as the strongest lineman in their age group.

Return to [[Characters/{{Eyeshield 21}} Main]].

[[folder:In General]]

* [[spoiler: BreakTheHaughty: The Japan vs USA match did this to them]].
* [[ChickMagnet Chick Magnets]]: Clifford and Bud both had their {{Groupie Brigade}}s. Mr. Don was also frequently shown to be hanging out with ALadyOnEachArm. Justified, since these guys were [[TheAce The Aces]] in just about everything. Panther and Tatanka didn't have as much luck with ladies, though.

* [[spoiler: DefeatMeansFriendship: Well, the Japan vs USA game ended in a '''tie'''. But these five did lose personal battles, and seemed to warm up to Team Japan to varying degree afterwards]].

* [[EvilCounterpart Evil Counterparts]]: Each of these five was this to someone from Team Japan. They were also quite clearly meant to be unpleasant.

* [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Jerks With Hearts of Gold]]: General jerkishness and smug aside, they did have redeeming traits. [[spoiler: Mr. Don was a [[HonorBeforeReason man of honor and refused to cheat]]. Clifford later seemed impressed by Sena and offered him a chance to play football at Notre Dame, during which Tatanka and him helped train Sena together. Lastly, Bud appeared to go on friendly terms with Team Japan and ''offered Taki a chance to become an actor in Hollywood'']].

* [[SmugSnake Smug Snakes]]: Mr. Don, Clifford, and Tatanka. The three just couldn't stop looking down on the other national teams, or talking as though the World Cup was no more than a show in which Team USA decimated the other teams, etc.

* [[spoiler: VillainRespect: Team Japan's [[{{Determinator}} determination]] earned them the respect of these five]].
* YoungerThanTheyLook: They were highschoolers? ''[[SarcasmMode Riiiiiiiiight]]''...

* [[spoiler: CombatPragmatist: The only Pentagram member to advocate cheating]].

* [[spoiler: VillainRespect: Team Japan's [[{{Determinator}} sheer determination]] eventually won them the respect of Mr. Don, who came to discard his better-than-thou attitude]].

* HeroKiller: He's only mentioned in whispers and his face was kept shadowed even after the rest of his team had been revealed. In his first appearance, he destroyed '''Gaou''' and terrified '''Agon'''. During the actual match, he steamrollered over [[MightyGlacier Kurita]], [[TheJuggernaut Gaou]], [[StoneWall Banba]], [[TheGift Agon]], [[ImplacableMan Yamato]], and [[LightningBruiser Shin]] in rapid succession, scared Sena half to death, and worried even '''Hiruma'''.

* EvilCounterpart: A linebacker who has long limbs, is ridiculously tall and idolizes another football player? Kakei, is that you disguised as a native american?

* EvilCounterpart: A linebacker who has long limbs, ridiculous height and absolute respect for a certain football player? Kakei, is that you disguised as a native american?

--> '''Tatanka''' (Sweating heavily; Mr. Don and Clifford were already down): There's no way we will break down! The five men of America's Pentagram... are the strongest players in the world!

* WillfullyWeak: Defied. No matter how weak his opponents are, Mr. Don will go all-out to destroy them as a gesture of respect.

* UnnecessaryRoughness: He's as bad as or worse than ''Gaou'' in this regard. During the Japan vs USA match, he was basically using Gaou as a punching bag. He also called a time out to vow to "kill" Shin in front of the spectators. [[spoiler: He proceeded to do so (figuratively)]].

* LargeHam: Called for a pause mid-game just to "apologize to the American audience for having not wiped the floor with Team Japan yet and giving Team Japan false hope."

* EvilCounterpart: Okay, here's the recipe: Get Gaou, use hair dyes or skin bleach or whatever to turn him into a blonde whitey, inject more [[TestosteronePoisoning excess testosterone]] into him to crank all his tropes UpToEleven, and you will get Mr. Don.

* BeardOfEvil: Which made him look even less human.

** What do you expect? He is Gaou's EvilCounterpart.

* AffablyEvil: Mr. Don was the BigBad and physically '''monstrous''', but these didn't stop him from being a charismatic bastard.
* ALadyOnEachArm: Almost every time he appeared with women, he was doing this.