Now on to why the Badass Normal exists and why they are just so hypercompetent; that They might as well be superhuman. The Badass Normal exist to give the presumably normal human audience somebody to identify with. To Inspire them and empower with images of person just like them who stands with powerful beings that may very well be demigods and is treated as an equal. To show normal men and woman facing down foes of overwhelming might. All the while still being within the recognizable human levels of ability.
The hypercompetence of the Badass Normal is game/story balance pure and simple. You see no matter how well trained a normal human was they couldn't go toe to toe with an enemy that was strong enough to throw school buses; the first punch would reduce Mr./Ms. normal to a pulpy red mess. Neither could Mr./Ms. normal serve with a team or group of beings that were superhuman. No matter how skilled Mr./Ms. normal they would simply slow their team down. In order to avoid the logical out of a normal human trying to deal with superhuman beings and situations that require more than human ability. Mr./Ms. normal invariably develops hypercompetence; normal skills and abilities cranked up so high that they really should be considered superpowers.
edited 5th Mar '11 9:39:53 AM by Fomar
" Magic is a method of talking to the universe in words that it cannot ignore."Thanks for not putting this in Just Bugs Me.
Also, hypercompetent. Hypercompetency.
edited 5th Mar '11 7:15:11 AM by Anaheyla
This is still a signature.I don't think you're supposed to identify with the Badass Normal, at least not in the sense you're supposing. You're supposed to think "damn, that guy's Badass, and he's even more Badass because he doesn't need magic to fight!" It's pretty straightforward. It's the same concept as a Disability Superpower expect in this case their disability is simply not being magically empowered.
Indeed sir!
At times characters who we consider Badass Normal isn't exactly normal, especially in works where the multitude of strengths are greatly exaggerated when compared to real life. They're not normal, they just don't possess a superpower fundamentally different from a normal human being. They're human beings Up To Eleven, which is a superpower in itself.
It's like, if you have a character who can crush chunks of metal with his/her bare hands, you can choose to:
1) Provide one tiny detail: the powers come from a spell cast when he/she was young. This way it's an instance of a superpower. 2) Provide no details. Suddenly it's Badass Normal. In practice nothing changed.
The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.That's the problem we have with Captain America being labeled Badass Normal, because people believe a certain "power scale" is somehow what qualifies as normal regardless of how they reached their powers. There are still grey areas where they may not have superhuman strength or speed but still have a superpower of some sort, Black Canary for example as her Canary Cry only supports her normal human-level fighting skills.
Rogers is badass but people think that despite the Super Serum not giving him Hulk-level powers that he is still normal, and calling him Badass Normal somehow makes him better. (Incidently, the same people arguing for Capt as being "normal" also use a storyline, where the Super Serum had to be filtered out of his body and Rogers remains badass, as evidence of Capt's badass normal status. I only wonder how a badass normal can have a Brought Down to Normal storyline.)
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Yeah, that.
Though I don't always consider this trope bad. If a guy is in a situation that can be solved through mundane means or at least one doesn't require beyond human abilities, then I can buy it. You know, as long as the writer/director sells it well enough. Like say, beating a guy who can dodge your bullets by sneaking up on him. It gets annoying however when the "normal" guy is continually more competent, or worse, more successful than his super powered counterparts only for the sake of making him look good.
If the story draws its drama from the fact that our hero has no powers and has to stop someone who does, then fine. I'll even let it slide sometimes if "normal" is obviously a super human in denial or has fancy technology but if he has nothing all to special and is partnered to guy with the strength of an atomic bomb, he should be appropriately disadvantaged or else it should be highlighted that his super powered ally is an idiot, not that mere mortal is just that good.
Modified Ura-nage, Torture RackJust thought I'd drop in to say I QUESTION YOUR SCIENCE.
Striking power is actually a somewhat different thing from lifting power. Lifting (and therefore throwing) power is dependent on the ability to exert a large amount of force over a sustained duration, whereas striking power is dependent on the ability to exert a large amount of force all at once, and ignoring the most extreme cases is generally most effective when that force is exerted over a relatively small area. It would require a different sort of conditioning to perform each. A weightlifter punching you won't hurt you as much as a martial artist punching you, and the weightlifter is actually far less likely to punch you even if he has more muscular strength because his fists take the same damage you do and he's not conditioned for that.
No, lifting muscles are not the same as throwing muscles. No really, shot put, baseball/cricket and powerlifting would have interchangeable athletes if this was true.
Modified Ura-nage, Torture RackIn any case, yeah, this trope has really become annoying, especially when most of the Badass Normals tend to have a fallback (e.g. Batman has monies and enigmatic-technology!) that is pretty much outside the realm of normality.
I am personally surprised that Badass Normal and Weak, but Skilled are two tropes that aren't used together more often.
I only have a problem with Badass Normals when they act all arrogant about it, particularly when they seem to think that, because they beat the supernatural threats the author tailor-made for them to beat, they can defeat any conceivable paranormal nasty. This especially goes for characters who rely on outwitting their opponents; with them I can't help but think, "Gee, it sure is lucky that, despite going up against enemies with every other superpower imaginable, you've never faced anyone who can just read your mind and find out your clever plan as soon as you think of it."
So you're saying that Badass Normals suffer from a case of This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman?
Perhaps there should be a sorting scale of Badass Normalcy. At the Low end of scale you have capable competent normal humans who occasionally achieve extraordinary things. Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson and the squad from Halo:ODST. And at the high end of the scale you have guys like the Goddamn Batman. People so hypercompatent that they are function as though they were superhuman.
" Magic is a method of talking to the universe in words that it cannot ignore."

First off let premises this by saying that in my youth I never really identified with the major Hero Archetypes. Never had any interest in the Cunning Rouge,the Mighty Barbarian,the Noble Warrior. I wanted to be the Wizard. Wizards to me were the interesting ones. They controlled the very forces of nature. forged artifacts in the fires of creation. And rewove the fabric of reality as they saw fit. And even in settings where Wizards aren't overflowing with phenomenal cosmic power, they have rare and valuable knowledge. I Never understood why superhuman abilities are so often treated like a crutch. There are numerous quotes on the Badass Normal page to that effect and they annoy the hell out of me.
You see people with superhuman abilities exist in a story for two main reasons. 1.is to be visually impressive and 2.is to do things that a normal human cannot do easily or do at all. And when you have a normal person that is just so badass that they can face down superhuman threats. It defeats the purpose of having genuine Superhumans. Now I like the Goddamn Batman, in the films that have come out over the last couple of years. I even like what little I remember from Batman Beyond and Batman The Animated Series. However I hate the Batman that can beat Superman in a fight and successfully disable/kill the entire Justice League. To me that Batman seem like a glitch in the narrative system. Since he's just that good why do we even need the rest of the Justice League?
edited 5th Mar '11 9:30:37 AM by Fomar
" Magic is a method of talking to the universe in words that it cannot ignore."