Memetic Badass

Chuck Norris has power and toughness, but nobody was brave enough to ask for specifics.

"Death had to take him in his sleep, for if he was awake there'd have been a fight."

— Thomas R. Marshall on learning of the death of Theodore Roosevelt

A specific form of Memetic Mutation when the fandom of a series exaggerates a character's capabilities and combat skills to preposterously epic god-like levels. Despite the name, it doesn't necessarily have to be a widely known Internet meme, and is sometimes just an in-joke among the fan-base. In some cases, the writers agree.

While Memetic Badasses can come in all shapes and sizes, there are two recurring flavors:

• The Unironic Badass (a.k.a. The Chuck Norris): An admirable character who in canon has demonstrated enough impressive feats and is a big source of awesome moments, to the point that the fandom stops asking "What else can they do?" and instead wonders: "What else can't they do?" It's at this point that their abilities, if they weren't already hyperbolic to begin with, enter Tall Tale territory in Fanon. Expect to see them pull off feats Beyond the Impossible, inflict Russian Reversals on anyone or anything that messes with them, and embody any noun or concept they damn well wish, all thanks to their sheer awesomeness.
• The Ironic Badass (a.k.a The Shaggy Rogers): An otherwise weak, unimpressive or outright silly character whom Fanon — for the sake of ironic humor — portrays as much, much more awesome than they actually are. Unlike the above, it's not just the absurdity of their exaggerated feats that is played for humor. It's also the idea that this particular character, of all people, could kick ass and be more awesome than they have any right to be, running on the same principle as tropes like the Fighting Clown and the Lethal Joke Character. As such, it is very common to see them humiliate any conventionally "cool" character in a fight. Has a lot of crossover with the Memetic Loser, with some characters managing the dubious honour of having both as highly popular fan characterisations.

Often overlaps with Fan Wank. Fear too the Memetic Psychopath, and especially the Memetic Molester.

In-Universe character reputations belong in Shrouded in Myth, Living Legend, Famed in Story, or The Dreaded.

Upgrading the badassery significantly with a character from a previous work is an Adaptational Badass. When done to a historical character, it's a Historical Badass Upgrade.

Compare Testosterone Poisoning. Contrast Memetic Loser.

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Examples:

• Anime & Manga
• Advertising
• Card Games
• Comic Books
• Fan Works
• Film
• Literature
• Live-Action TV
  • Game of Thrones
• Mythology and Folklore
• Music
• New Media
• Professional Wrestling
• Tabletop Games
• Video Games
  • Capcom
  • Nintendo
  • Square Enix
• Web Original
• Webcomics
• Western Animation
• Real Life

Roleplaying

• Remington Springfield of What Happened In Oregon beat up the original memetic badass, Chuck Norris. And everyone knows Chuck Norris is an Epic.

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