Damned by Faint Praise in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- A Man of Iron: When civil war breaks out in Westeros, Jonos Bracken initially supports Renly, but later clarifies it was only because he was "the best of a bad lot," with the alternatives being Stannis and Joffrey.
- BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant: In Chapter 15, Makoto comments that Noel's normally Lethal Chef cooking skills actually did improve from last time... but only because her cooking didn't actually kill anything.
- Blossomverse Game Show: Upon realizing that the titular show might celebrate the contestants' victories with blaring air horns, Chloe thinks that This Is Gonna Suck, assuming that she'll only be able to get some sleep while Ash is failing... and "also Goh, if he didn't flail around too badly." Indicating that she's not expecting much from Goh's performance...
- Citadel of the Heart: Upon seeing the T.R.E.E.H.E.M.O.T.H., Ultima is impressed enough to remark that it's "Spectacular work for E-Class mortals like yourselves; could use a bit of polish here and there, but it's at the very least functional."
- Fairy May Cry: When Elfman berates Jet and Droy for performing poorly on their latest mission, Mirajane tries defending them by declaring that she thinks both of them have grown stronger recently... "In their own way." Both immediately pick up on the implications.
- Fate/Reach Out: When Yukiko makes her first crack at fixing a boxed lunch, Shirou tells her that he didn't pass out after eating it, declaring "That's a good sign of progress." Yukiko is... less than enthusiastic about this endorsement.
- In Shinobi of the Old Republic, Master Arren Kae tells Naruto that "When I think of how I consider being the one who taught you my greatest achievement, I weep."
- Averted in Thy Good Neighbor: the fact not even Ned, who considers Robert Baratheon his brother in all but blood, can wholeheartedly support the betrothal between him and Lyanna, is presented as a very large red flag for the rest of the Starks.
- Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse:
- When Ranma and his crew first land at Loguetown in chapter 9, Ranma tries to psyche them up by pointing out that, much to his surprise, they've failed to kill each other despite being stuck on a ship with each other for over two months. The others promptly inform him that this is not as uplifting as he seems to think it is.
- In chapter 16, Shampoo tells some of the Crying Willow School martial artists that she's battling that they are, at least, better than her sisters Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung... who are rather clumsy preteens with a penchant for goofy tagteam attacks.
- The Weaver Option: Taylor has been compared positively to both of the former Governers of Nyx. She doesn't consider this to be much of a compliment, given how both were extremely corrupt and self-centered.
- The Stalking Zuko Series: Teo says that sea prunes are not the worst thing he's eaten, and considering that he's had to eat grass as a refugee, this isn't saying much.
- In Bleach: Fan Works, Oshikko says that Jolene Meyers' fanfic is "trying to mimic that shit Twilight." He then says she's successful, but that isn't exactly hard.
- A Certain Droll Hivemind: Misaka-11111 is dragged out clothes shopping by her flatmates. After extensively analyzing the experience, the Network agrees that this was slightly better than fighting Accelerator. Yes, it was bad enough that they had to seriously consider if it was better than being murdered ten thousand times by an invincible enemy.
- My Mirror, Sword and Shield: Suzaku observes that while the couch in Lelouch's bedroom isn't the most comfortable thing, it still beats out some of the streets he slept on while he was homeless.
- An unusual example from the Zootopia fanfic A New Dawn. Gideon Grey is trying to help Dawn Bellwether to reform herself, and at one point he asks her to say something nice. Her response is, "For a fox, you're... not as ugly as Judy's boyfriend," (referring to Nick). It seems like a clear invoking of this trope... except that Nick is slimmer and would normally be considered more traditionally attractive than Gideon. This actually serves as a hint that Dawn is beginning to fall for Gideon, even if she herself has yet to realize it.
- Fate/Desiderantes Affectibus
: Waver Velvet attempts to mourn Kayneth, his old magic teacher, without describing his magic (due to the Masquerade). His teacher was a Smug Snake par excellence and they hated each other, making this rather difficult. Eventually, he settles on "his teachings have had a great impact on my life"—which is Metaphorically True, as Waver entered a deadly magical war solely because he hated Kayneth and his teachings immensely and wanted to prove him wrong. - Fate Extra: Grand Glorious Games: When complimenting Hakuno's choice of starting location, Kirei's phrasing makes clear that he's sincerely surprised that she made such a good, strategical decision. Hakuno Lampshades how his remark isn't as complimentary as it sounds.
- Dalton: When asked what he missed about his old school, Kurt replies that he misses the Glee club... and the freedom to wear whatever clothes he liked. Something that was dictated by public school code, not the school itself. This indicates just how little he cared for the latter, with no intention of ever returning as a student.
- In Hunting the Unicorn, the only positive thing Kyle can say about his and Blaine's father is that he could be worse.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi
- The Concubine Mo Chronicles: Wei Wuxian expects for the new Grand Chancellor to be more righteous than his predecessors. Since Wen Ruohan murdered the former Emperor before causing a Civil War out of unbridled ambition and Jin Guangshan was an unrepentant lecher who thought bribery was the answer to everything, it's not as hard a condition to fulfill as it seems.
- If You Only Knew Then (The Things I Only Know Now): Yu Ziyuan muses it was easy for Jiang Fengmian to become the most beloved Sect Leader among the civilian populace — the Nie are still reeling from an abrupt leadership change, Wen Ruohan is a complete psychopath, Qingheng-jun would rather ignore the world to stay in seclusion and Jin Guangshan is far too focused on raping and taxing his peasants.
- The Kiss:Harry: Oh man, I forgot all about classes. Excuse me while I go find Neville or Dean and see what I missed. You think Ron will help me with my homework?
Ginny: I thought you wanted to pass? Get the twins to help you, instead.
Mrs. Weasley: Ginny! Show your brother some support. He might not be the student Bill was, or the athlete Charlie was, or a scholar like Percy... at least he's quieter than the twins. - The Odds Were Never In My Favour: Tracy's only positive thoughts about Theodore Nott are that he's smarter than Draco.
- The Peace Not Promised: Lily shows off the domestic spells she's been learning by making lunch. Severus, being the serious and socially awkward fellow that he is, evaluates it as, "You're not a terrible cook," and then immediately realises how that sounds and fumbles for words to patch it up. Lily is a match for him, though, responding that he can be really adorable, "Not in the puppies and kittens way, of course. More like if a Boggart decided to give up its day job and try its hand at being human."
- Rage:Snape: All of your professors have noticed your radical improvement. Many believe that it is your natural talent coming through. I of course informed them that it was more of a result of you obstinate desire to do the exact opposite of what is expected of you and have finally learned the benefit of studying instead of running around like a moron you used to be.
- A Thing of Vikings: This trope is explicitly referenced by Stoick when Jonna (a lesbian) thanks him for not even trying to talk her into sleeping with him as a precondition of service. Stoick accepts the compliment in spirit it was given (honestly complimentary), but is a bit irked at being compared with "one of those men." Of course, Jonna brought it up as a lead-in for her next topic — her need for an heir for her clan. After giving Stoick, ahem, right of first refusal, Stoick does a Spit Take, turns her down, and beats a hasty retreat. Gobber finds the whole thing hysterical.
- The Victors Project: District 2 Victor Ares introduces Haymitch and Chaff by saying, "They ain't bad folk when their sober, which is never."
- In Intercom, the mind repair workers remark that Riley's lucky to have an intercom as broken as it currently is... because if it was any more broken, she'd suffering hallucinations, hearing and seeing things that definitely weren't there.
- Kerny Kermans Journal: Kerny hasn't crashed a Knat once, whereas Jebediah has crashed one... seventeen times.
- The Broken House: By the end of the first chapter, having reviewed all of the circumstances that have left the Louds so broken, the narrator notes that they think Lily got off the easiest. Lily never even got to be born.
- One for All and Eight for the Ninth:
- Discussed when Kaminari finds and reports a peep-hole. Ibara remarks that it's "somewhat admirable" that he's able to keep his perverted side in check, only for Kyouka to deem that an extremely low bar to clear. Setsuna then points out that while that may be true, too many men fail to clear it, which Kyouka concedes to be a point in his favor.
- During Izuku's Quirk Counseling session, Aizawa offers to leave for its first half if his presence is making Izuku too uncomfortable. Izuku is stunned: he's never had a teacher show such consideration for him before! The Vestiges remark that after Aldera, the bar for that is set so low that it's a tripping hazard in Hell.
- Aizawa expresses a similar sentiment when Izuku declares that he's the best teacher he's ever had, as he's well aware that most of Izuku's former teachers are currently behind bars.
- In an awkward conversation with his father, Izuku reassures him that he at least did better than Endeavor. Hisashi notes that he's being damned with faint praise.
- After spending her work studies week with Yoroi Musha, Momo describes the results in this fashion, causing his Hero ranking to drop.
- Witness (Good Neighbors): When trying to think about something positive to say about Endeavor or about his classmate Bakugou, Shoto can only come up with the same thing for both: that they're skilled combatants.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- The Cadanceverse: When Twilight tells Vinyl that she could be good enough at magic to become one of Twilight's students, she means it completely seriously. But Vinyl is deeply insulted — after all, she's a very hard-working pony who's always working on improving her music, her equipment, and her magic... and is also the Element of Magic here, so Twilight's remark strikes her as extremely patronizing.
- Codex Equus:
- Moon Ray Vaughoof's reasoning for buying the highly controversial Cosmic Cataclysm comic was "Ah like the art". Notably, it was the only compliment he gave due to being an artist himself, despite taking issue with the comic's flanderized portrayal of him and his friends/family as incompetent idiots horrifically killed off by Cosmos for the sake of plot.
- This happened in one notable occasion when Prince Blueblood was tasked with overseeing his birth parents' funerals — he couldn't be openly honest about his parents because funerals required proper decorum, so he made adoring and reverent speeches for each parent that ironically exposed their worst flaws. Those who caught on were greatly amused to the point where a few, like Luna, quickly collapsed laughing.
- Moon Ray Vaughoof's reasoning
- Sharing the Night: In Chapter 5, after some flight training, Twilight's flying is described as having "the Rainbow Dash seal of yeah-you-can-probably-make-it-home".
- The Twilight Child: Twilight's thoughts on the sixth Daring Do book are simply that "It's readable."
- The Second Try: Rei resorts to this to critique a drawing of her. It works because the artist is only three."How you like it?" she eventually ended Rei's wondering.
Taken aback, the teen didn't answer immediately. Being honest was likely to hurt the girl's feelings, and Rei didn't want that. But wouldn't she also do the same by lying to her?
"The... shade of blue is well chosen," she eventually settled for.
- Supernova: Before engaging Ace, Smoker takes the time to clear out the area so that others aren't caught in the crossfire. Ace remarks that this has increased his opinion of the Marine... all the way up to zero.
- Everybody's Gotta Leave Sometime: As the gang is saying their goodbyes to Charlie Brown, Violet praises Charlie by saying that, all things considered, he is kind of a nice guy.Violet: Yeah. For a round-headed kid with no potential at all, you're kind of a nice guy. Kind of, I mean.
Charlie Brown: (awed) Gee, girls, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.
- Hope of the Shield Hero: When Itsuki is hit by the enormity of his mistakes, Ren attempts to console him by remarking that hey, at least he's not as bad as Motoyasu, right? He then notes that he's not very good at comforting others.
- Professor Arc II: Headmaster Arc: After Blake lies about being in a relationship with Jaune, Ghira remarks that he'd prefer Jaune over Adam. Jaune observes that being considered preferable to a mass-murdering psychopath is hardly high praise.
- Service with a Smile:
- Inverted by Weiss, who calls Jaune's coffee "acceptable" — as Ruby notes, Weiss pretty much never calls anything acceptable, making it a note of praise.
- Weiss' sister Winter is even worse about this. Her idea of complimenting his coffee is noting that it meets all of the health and safety standards.
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong
- SV Wishes: When reflecting upon his relationship with Yue Qingyuan, Shen Qingqiu notes that if nothing else, he's not abusive or a rapist. Nor does he have other spouses who are incredibly jealous or abusive themselves.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
- Catra and Glimmer - Queens of the Horde: Out of all the children that Shadow Weaver decided to manipulate, she deems Glimmer to be "the least disappointing one".
- The Bloods of Bolton: Despite her deep hatred of bastards due to her experiences with Ramsey, Drucilla deems Jon Snow to be "harmless" by comparison.
- The King Nobody Wanted: Two of Ingraboda Sunderly's sons describe her as the most beautiful woman in the Iron Isles. One of them gets laughed at for it and the other points out himself that to most Westerosi this sounds like an Overly Narrow Superlative.
- knight of the dreadfort (the ballad of the red king): While criticizing Robb Stark, Robbie declares that Domeric would be a better king than him, as Robbie wouldn't have trusted Theon. Domeric dryly notes that "Robb Stark is the only man in Westeros that trusts Theon Greyjoy. I'm nothing special, Robbie."
- Let the Galaxy Burn: Compared to the likes of Ser Philip Rosekeeper and Ser Dorian Cypress, Asha considers Samwell to be... "acceptable".
- Robb Returns: Tywin considers Tyrion to be "the best of a bad lot", as Jaime is more concerned with thinking up snarky quips while Cersei is a Smug Snake who thinks that she's far smarter and savvier than she actually is.
- Horde Champion: Anevay frequently remarks that Sylvanas was the only member of the Horde that showed any compassion to her. This is less a matter of praising Sylvanas so much as discreetly calling out the rest of the Horde.
- My Dark King: Inverted; Supreme King Judai claims to be "a fair bit weaker" than the Crimson Dragon. The Crimson Dragon is a 5,000-year-old Mesoamerican deity that regularly matches and exceeds entities of world-destroying power, so the fact that Judai is even comparable is practically a Badass Boast.
