r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Unable-Buyer4087 • 8h ago

Characters "Weak" character goes to a much lower stakes environment, becomes super powered by comparison

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Yamcha - Dragon Ball Super

In dragon ball, Yamcha has it pretty rough. He hasn't won a fight since OG dragon ball, and was outclassed almost as soon as he was introduced. By the buu saga, yamcha had all but given up on being one of the Z-fighters and tried playing baseball instead. But here's the thing: Yamcha still has basically superhuman strength, he just so happens to surround himself with people vastly stronger than him. He uses his martial arts skills and ki control to become a rich and famous baseball star.

Shocker - Spiderman / Ms Marvel

Shocker has become an absolute joke in Spider-Man and tired of being constantly beaten down by the many, MANY superheroes in Nyc, he decided to move to new jersey as it only has one superhero defending it. The inexperienced teenager, Ms Marvel. Due to the fact that shocker actually has quite a good power and literal decades of fighting experience, he actually puts up a very good fight and the only reason he doesn't win is because Ms Marvel is teleported away.

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u/Cazador0 5h ago

Worth noting, Goku fits this trope since he was a low-class saiyan warrior prior to being sent to Earth. For contrast, Vegeta had a power level of over 9000 as a kid.

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u/fromcj 4h ago

Goku was a baby

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u/Blackstone01 3h ago

Adult Goku at the start of DBZ was worth less than a Raditz, who was about equal to a Saibaman.

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u/fromcj 2h ago

That doesn’t change the fact that he wasn’t a low class anything when he was sent to Earth, because he was a baby

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u/Blackstone01 1h ago

A baby from a low-class warrior family. For Saiyan society, Goku and Raditz being born to what were seemingly run-of-the-mill low-class warriors significantly weaker than the likes of Vegeta's family would see them likewise classified as a low-class warrior. Goku is referenced as a low-class warrior by Vegeta several times in the anime.

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u/DanielToast 4h ago

Where is it said that he has a power level of 9000 as a kid? Just curious. I know that he was basically already one of the top two along with King Vegeta when the planet blew up, but I didn't think we ever got an exact number.

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u/Cazador0 3h ago

The '9000' here was just for meme, not as the exact number. However, Baby Broly was clocked in at ~10,000, which was less than King Vegeta, and I know that as a kid under Frieza that Prince Vegeta surpassed his father, so 9000 is easily a lower bound.

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u/JusticeRain5 2h ago

So I don't really watch Dragon Ball, but wasn't a big thing at the beginning that most aliens were under the impression that power levels would always remain around the same for their entire life?

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u/DanielToast 2h ago

I think that's why Saiyans were feared by Frieza, since they get stronger basically automatically just by fighting. Well at least until it was retconned into Beerus telling him to.

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u/JusticeRain5 2h ago

And I thought THAT was because Goku's dad went back in time and beat the shit out of Freeza's grandfather or something

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u/DanielToast 2h ago

Lol, that was the second Bardock special and it isn't exactly canon. But yes if you assume it is then Frieza had some intergenerational trauma mixed in there too I'm sure.

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u/Illustrious-Sky-4631 1h ago

When he was told King Vegeta was killed by freeza he scoffed saying even as a child he was Stronger than his father