From Total Badass to Punk *****.

[twistedmic]

What characters (game/book/movie/etc), in your opinion, started out as the epitome of badassery but has now, one way or another, become a pathetic punk-ass *****?
The first one that comes to mind for me is Darth Vader. In the original trilogy he was just badass and intimidating. Just the sight of him could turn the tide of a battle. Then the new trilogy comes out and Vader has been demoted to a whinny, pathetic punk-ass *****. More joke than man.

 

[Space Spoons]

Captain Barbossa, as well as the crew of the Black Pearl in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. In Curse of the Black Pearl, they were dangerous rogues who would do just about anything to get what they wanted, up to and including bending or breaking the bylaws set down by the Pirate Code. To put it bluntly, they were scary dudes who weren't to be trifled with.

In Deadman's Chest and At World's End, they're demoted to sidekick status. I understand the need to clear the stage for Lord Cuttler Beckett and Davy Jones as the new antagonists, but there was no need to strip Barbossa and his crew of all dignity in the process. They can be scary pirates and protagonists; there's no need to relegate them to the demeaning role of comedic relief.

 

[Dr. wonderful]

I'll say Tim drake, but not a Punk ***** but more of a "what going to happen now, since your adopted father biological son stole your hard earn job."

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

Vilgax from Ben 10. In the first show, the original Ben 10. He was simply a badass mofo. You never really got to see much of him, Max always spoke about him gravely, he did some pretty horrible things without any regards for morals or ethics and had a real Cthulhu look going for him.

In Alien Force, he's nothing more than a fugly beserker who goes by some code. What the Hell, Man of Action?

 

[Vault101]

What characters (game/book/movie/etc), in your opinion, started out as the epitome of badassery but has now, one way or another, become a pathetic punk-ass *****?
The first one that comes to mind for me is Darth Vader. In the original trilogy he was just badass and intimidating. Just the sight of him could turn the tide of a battle. Then the new trilogy comes out and Vader has been demoted to a whinny, pathetic punk-ass *****. More joke than man.

well technically He he ends up a badass in the end chronologically speaking so thats not so bad

for me Its lechuck from monkey island, He's demoted to second place by an old Australian guy? ok thats jsut stupid and whats the joke? I don't get it are we australians funny or somthing? (ok I get it now its suposed to be rupert murdoch i think)

but that said This kind of thing might be jsut a part of the story

 

[Gasaraki]

Inb4 Dante!

OT: Dante, I guess. Although I don't mind his new look it's still nowhere near as badass as his old one :/
Hopefully he'll look normal again by the end of the new game...

 

[MEEBO17]

Quint from the movie Jaws I watched it again last night, and i noticed that he's all ready to kill the shark, but dies really fast when he finally meets it. No epic fight, he just falls into the shark's mouth.

 

[Nouw]

Quint from the movie Jaws I watched it again last night, and i noticed that he's all ready to kill the shark, but dies really fast when he finally meets it. No epic fight, he just falls into the shark's mouth.

Reminds me of that Cracked article in which it showed 7 badasses who completely failed to live up.

I'm going to say it guys, BOBA FETT! And Robert Muldoon sadly...

 

[Radoh]

Anyone remember the first three or so episodes of Pokemon? Jesse, James, and Meowth were some of the best bad asses in those, right before they began cross-dressing and became the bumbling morons they are today.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

No General Grievous?

In his first appearance, the guy tore apart a whole squad of Jedi alone. In the movie and the new TV series, he's a fucking moron.

 

[sageoftruth]

Lots of people probably got that impression from Dante with his new look in the new upcoming Devil May Cry 5. Still, we'll see how it goes when the game comes round.

Cloud Strife is another example. FF7 made such a splash and he came across as a BFS wielding badass. However, once his archetype became a norm in the gaming industry, people got tired of the mopy attitude and now he's only noted for being emo.

 

[Double A]

Captain Barbossa, as well as the crew of the Black Pearl in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. In Curse of the Black Pearl, they were dangerous rogues who would do just about anything to get what they wanted, up to and including bending or breaking the bylaws set down by the Pirate Code. To put it bluntly, they were scary dudes who weren't to be trifled with.

In Deadman's Chest and At World's End, they're demoted to sidekick status. I understand the need to clear the stage for Lord Cuttler Beckett and Davy Jones as the new antagonists, but there was no need to strip Barbossa and his crew of all dignity in the process. They can be scary pirates and protagonists; there's no need to relegate them to the demeaning role of comedic relief.

True, and there were already two comic relief pirates from the Pearl. Disney shouldn't have made the entire crew a bunch of lackwits.

 

[Prolific]

Spider-Man was really degraded in the the third film. He's host of a Symbiote suit that inflicts drastic personality changes.

Is this punk ***** enough for you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4tDbEuMxys

 

[ReservoirAngel]

The trope namer for the original name of the Badass Decay trope, Spike (from BTVS). He started out a psychopathic vampire who was completely obsessed with killing Buffy and ended up, well...

I think Spike's the exception that proves the rule, kind of. He may have turned into a 'good guy' but he never lost that natural badass quality.

 

[TenaciousTom]

Alex Mercer, he was badass in the first 2 or 3 missions, after that he only was bitching and whining about his -in a way- awesome powers. I don't know, but if I could crash helicopters and tanks with my giant blade arm I wouldn't be whining about it...

 

[Vrex360]

VENOM!!

Seriously, Venom was like the master of monstrous villainy in the Spiderman lore. Seven feet of monstrousc muscle and drooling terror with massive inhuman fangs, he was an alien symbiotic lifeform that was the most inhuman of all the villains and yet he learns ideals of honor and respect and dignity and ends up almost becoming a hero.

When I heard Venom was going to be among the villains in the new Spiderman I was insane with excitement.... and then I actually watch the movie and well, he gets twenty minutes of air time and even though he makes monster noises from time to time, his face is almost always peeled back for Topher Grace, and he's been reduced from the greatest powerful monster super villain into like a snarky cocky jerk who's angry at Spiderman for humiliating him for exposing his photoshopped picture as a fake.
And so his whole scheme against Peter Parker is basically just the angry lashing out of a disgruntled spoiled petulant child..... pathetic.