History Main / ChallengeSeeker

* Franchise/SherlockHolmes, in all his various forms. Holmes ''despises'' being idle, resulting in all manner of quirky behaviors like indoor pistol practice, conducting arcane experiments, or just getting wasted on whatever substance he can find (in the [[Film/SherlockHolmes2009 Guy Ritchie movie]] from 2009, Watson catches Holmes ingesting ''embalming fluid''). Furthermore Holmes often rejects cases that don't tease his intellect enough and, conversely, accepts cases that do purely for the sport of it, often turning down material or monetary compensations in the process. Some adaptations suggest this nature is due to his PowerIncontinence that often manifests itself as hyper-senstivity to his surroundings (his infamous SherlockScan can never be shut off, causing him to be constantly distracted by the world around him unless he can focus himself on a mystery and put his ability to notice and derive meaning from the mundane towards a goal).

Often a {{Determinator}}, because the more they get beat down, the more excited and fired up they get. May overlap with HotBlooded. Likely to [[JumpedAtTheCall Jump at the Call]]. Such characters often come across TheAce and find out there's AlwaysSomeoneBetter, but rather than create a bitter rivalry, they tend to be much more friendly about it, which may lead to FoeYay.

* ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable'': Levi the Slasher in ''The Gears of Destiny''. Being the [[TheBigGuy Material of Power]], she loves nothing more than having strong enemies to test her mettle against. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:we see her drooling at the chance of going to Eltria after she learns that it's essentially a DeathWorld filled with powerful monsters to fight and mysterious dungeons to explore. She then proceeds to unintentionally save a lot of villages in Eltria, as she spends her time stopping several monsters threats for her own enjoyment]].

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' series the various playable characters have their reasons for being Vault Hunters, a common one being to seek out a worthwhile challenge:

* The ''[[WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory Dial M for Monkey]]'' episode "Rasslor". [[Wrestling/RandySavage The title character]] comes to Earth and challenges its superheroes to wrestle him. He says, "For eons I have scoured the cosmos searching for the one adversary who could provide me with suitable sport." If none of the heroes can defeat him, he will destroy the planet. All of the superheroes go down to defeat except Monkey, who refuses to give up even after Rasslor beats him up. It is, of course, a ShoutOut to the Champion from Marvel Comics listed above, and Rasslor's praise for Monkey is almost word for word what The Champion said to The Thing.

* Stinkoman from ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''. "Are you asking for a CHALLEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!!!"
* Sixshot, the [[OneManArmy "Solo Transformer Assault Group"]] of ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'' sees the Great War as little more than an opportunity to test himself against other powerful warriors.
* Scrooge [=McDuck=], from ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales|1987}}, and possibly even moreso in its [[WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017 update]], who earned his fortune being "Smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies", is always up for a bit of globe-trotting adventure. Don't let the big mansion and bin full of money fool you. Scrooge is never happier than when he's getting his hands dirty on his latest death-defying adventure.
* {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed in the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "Aim Low"; Eggman falls into a depression after losing to Sonic and friends too many times, and Sonic starts interfering with his friends' hobbies because he has nothing to do with all the free time he's built up.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has Zenos yae Galvus introduced in the ''Stormblood'' expansion as the Viceroy of Ala Mhigo and Doma who's BoredWithVictory who only goes down to put down the rebellion in Ala Mhigo to nip it in the bud, only to get a hiccup in the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]], but turns it into a CurbstompBattle. The second time they fight in Yanxia is slightly better, but still ends up the same way, but now he sees the Warrior as worthy prey to the point he wants them to get stronger so he can relish in killing them. By the end of the main expansion, even after going OneWingedAngel by using his new Resonant powers to possess the Primal Shinryu, he's defeated by the Warrior of Light and commits suicide....only to come back to life. [[spoiler: The stinger of ''Shadowbringers'' has him get back to his main body and kill his father, Emperor Varis, so he can't use the [[DeadlyGas Black Rose]] to spoil his hunt for his first and only "friend," the Warrior of Light, uncaring that he's damning Garlemald into a new civil war.]]

* In the VideoGame/{{Borderlands}} series the various playable characters have their reasons for being Vault Hunters, a common one being to seek out a worthwhile challenge:

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', part of the reason he fights [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] is that he's always seeking thrills and challenges.

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'': [=Zer0=] seeks a challenge above all else, with his personal ECHO entry telling one of his targets to make him work for it. He becomes a Vault Hunter because he sees it as the ultimate challenge. Unfortunately, he sometimes takes this a bit too far as he'll assume that the "challenge" of shutting up an idiot means that he can chop someone's head off. Axton and Salvador have similar motivations, though they also really want the fame and loot (respectively).
--> "This is intriguing. / The Vault, my masterpiece? / Challenge accepted."

* In the Videogame/{{Borderlands}} series the various playable characters have their reasons for being Vault Hunters, a common one being to seek out a worthwhile challenge. Most notably, Amara left her planet primarily because her crimefighting exploits meant that no bad guys would fight her and decided that [[DeathWorld Pandora]] was bound to have something that wouldn't run from her.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'': Part of the reason he fights [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] is that he's always seeking thrills and challenges. This is {{deconstruct|ion}}ed in the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "Aim Low"; Eggman falls into a depression after losing to Sonic and friends too many times, and Sonic starts interfering with his friends' hobbies because he has nothing to do with all the free time he's built up.

* Wulfrik the Wanderer of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' once drunkenly boasted that he could defeat any foe in this world or any other. When he awoke the next morning, he found himself able to speak any language and cursed to hunt down all possible challengers (the gift of tongues was so that he could issue a challenge they could not refuse). He's greatly enjoyed himself ever since.

* Despite having ulterior goals, [[TheChessmaster Augustus]] from ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' treats his striving for power like a game. He hates the people who are born into power but do nothing with it, but respects those who claw their way to it, such as the fallen hero, Felgorn.

* Minamoto no Hiromasa from ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'' is this in spades. When he's first introduced, he [[EstablishingCharacterMoment instantly challenges the protagonist to a duel]] thinking him a WorthyOpponent ''before he even knows his name''. Since then, Hiromasa has always displayed a desire to fight powerful enemies, at one point even severely injuring himself.
* Vyse fits certainly the bill. In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', he repeatedly tackles challenges others deem impossible: such as escaping the Grand Fortress and crossing the Dark Rift. He even has a special ability called "challenge lover" in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles''. Vyse is not only made of this Trope, he eats it for breakfast.

* Link in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames'', judging by his first lines in the Faces of Evil.
* Othello, from ''VideoGame/UnrealTournamentIII''. From his [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]]:
--> ''Othello was born into a family of means, and never had to work to support himself. Instead, he challenged himself with the most deadly jobs and in adrenaline-fueling adventures around the galaxy - climbing the ice floes of Mt. Karanish, participation in the Liandri Grand Tournament, even mercenary work in against-all-odds military conflicts.''
* [=Zer0=] of ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' seeks a challenge above all else, with his personal ECHO entry telling one of his targets to make him work for it. He becomes a Vault Hunter because he sees it as the ultimate challenge. Unfortunately, he sometimes takes this a bit too far as he'll assume that the "challenge" of shutting up an idiot means that he can chop someone's head off. Axton and Salvador have similar motivations, though they also really want the fame and loot (respectively).

* Levi the Slasher in ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable: The Gears of Destiny''. Being the [[TheBigGuy Material of Power]], she loves nothing more than having strong enemies to test her mettle against. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:we see her drooling at the chance of going to Eltria after she learns that it's essentially a DeathWorld filled with powerful monsters to fight and mysterious dungeons to explore. She then proceeds to unintentionally save a lot of villages in Eltria, as she spends her time stopping several monsters threats for her own enjoyment]].
* One of the reasons that VideoGame/SlyCooper and his gang steal from criminals is that they believe that stealing from ordinary people is boring and the true challenge comes from beating criminals at their own game.
* Franchise/CarmenSandiego is this to the core. She originally worked to catch criminals, but eventually decided that [[FaceHeelTurn becoming one herself]] would be more challenging, and thus the [[ImpossibleTheft world's]] [[MonumentalTheft greatest]] [[IntangibleTheft thief]] was born.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog''. Part of the reason he fights [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] is that he's always seeking thrills and challenges. This is {{deconstruct|ion}}ed in the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "Aim Low"; Eggman falls into a depression after losing to Sonic and friends too many times, and Sonic starts interfering with his friends' hobbies because he has nothing to do with all the free time he's built up.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': The [[ProudWarriorRace Mandalorians]] build much of their culture and morality around this. They seek a good fight and worthy challenges, wanting to test themselves against the toughest opponents in the galaxy, whether it be [[BountyHunter hunting dangerous criminals for bounties]], building their homes in a predator-infested jungle, or declaring war on the biggest, toughest faction they can find. This often means that they're fighting against the Jedi and the Republic, but it's ''because'' the Mandalorians consider them honorable, {{Worthy Opponent}}s and the best the galaxy offers, which is a StealthInsult on their part against the Empire and the Sith.

** [[ProudWarriorRace Saiyans]] in general tend to be this and [[WarriorPrince Vegeta]] is just as bad if not worse than Goku in this aspect. He allowed 17 and 18 to be re-activated because he found the fight with Androids 19 and 20 to be boring and he also allowed Cell to reach perfection because he was bored by how easily he was beating Cell's semi-perfect form.
** Then there's Cell himself, who deliberately spares the protagonists and sets up the Cell Games tournament just because he wants to have fun by testing his powers. He admits its probably due to the Saiyan DNA within him.

* A wee bit of {{deconstruction}} in ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'': Amara the Siren has earned a reputation as a one-woman vigilante squad, nicknamed the [[RedBaron Tiger of Partali]], for cleaning up messes the police wouldn't, or couldn't, deal with on their own. As her intro trailer reveals, however, this eventually meant she had to leave her homeworld, because the criminals there knew who she was and what she could do, and would rather run like [[AnimalisticAbomination the Warrior]] was after them or turn themselves in to the police than fight her. Luckily for her, there's [[{{Cult}} the Children of the Vault]]...
-->''"I'm always looking for a fight. But sometimes, if I'm lucky... the fight finds me."''

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''. Part of the reason he fights [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] is that he's always seeking thrills and challenges. This is {{deconstruct|ion}}ed in the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "Aim Low"; Eggman falls into a depression after losing to Sonic and friends too many times, and Sonic starts interfering with his friends' hobbies because he has nothing to do with all the free time he's built up.

** This is {{Deconstructed}} with Goku & Vegeta; they seek a good challenge above any and all else, even the protection of their family and friends most of the time. One glaring example is the movie Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF. Frieza returns stronger than ever to challenge Goku for revenge. Goku & Vegeta, for their part, are mostly concerned with the challenge of fighting him one on one and absolutely refuse to do the sensible thing of teaming up against. [[spoiler: Frieza nearly kills Goku through a sneak attack, and successfully blows up the Earth because Vegeta wasted too much time in finishing him off. If not for a DeusExMachina, it would have been a pretty depressing ending.]]

* One of the reasons that ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' and his gang steal from criminals is that they believe that stealing from ordinary people is boring and the true challenge comes from beating criminals at their own game.

* According to ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanNamedFujikoMine'', this is the reason why ''Franchise/LupinIII'' got into the habit of warning his victims before robbing them: if they weren't ready for him when he arrived, then the theft would be too easy. It's also why he so ardently pursues Fujiko: he chases her not despite the fact that he could get practically any other pretty woman in the world into his bed with less effort, but ''because'' of it.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Kenpachi Zaraki, of the CrazyAwesome BloodKnight variety.

* According to ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanNamedMineFujiko'', this is the reason why ''Franchise/LupinIII'' got into the habit of warning his victims before robbing them: if they weren't ready for him when he arrived, then the theft would be too easy. It's also why he so ardently pursues Fujiko: he chases her not despite the fact that he could get practically any other pretty woman in the world into his bed with less effort, but ''because'' of it.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''. Part of the reason he fights [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] is that he's always seeking thrills and challenges.