History Main / AdaptationalWimp

** When Pre-Crisis ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} battled Luthor for the first time in ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLuthor'', she easily beat his tricks and humiliated him before turning him over to the cops. When her vastly less powerful and more poorly trained Post-Crisis incarnation engages Luthor for the first time in ''ComicBook/GirlPower'', she is easily beaten by his tricks, humiliated and nearly killed off.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}:

** All of the enemies. Instead of actually fighting back, they just sit there and take hits until they die or the time limit elapses. This is an EnforcedTrope, as it's a clicker IdleGame and not a tug-of-war-style TowerDefence.

* ''Franchise/Castlevania'':

* Berserk gets hit with this in ''VideoGame/WildArmsMillionMemories.'' In both the original game and its remake, winning against him in Adlehyde resulted in him [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose mocking you for failing to give him a challenge.]] In this game, your party absolutely trounces him at the same point, and he fares even worse in later fights. This is justified as your party is significantly larger and [[spoiler: he spent the last thousand years {{Taken for Granite}} in the Abyss.]]

* The ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series does this hard to Typhon. In the Greek myths, he was a giant monster that sent most the [[PhysicalGod Olympians]] running in fear at the mere sight of with only [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Zeus]] staying to fight him and nearly losing, and the battle describing as ripping mountains out of the ground and throwing them. When he appears in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', he's demoted to just being one of the [[OurTitansAreDifferent titans]], with little power besides his [[OurGiantsAreBigger size]] and nothing implied to special about compared to the others. Even the way he attacked, blowing air, giving hints of him having [[BlowYouAway wind powers]], falls flat when Chronos in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' is seen doing the same thing, hinting that again only came from his size.

** Shinryu is a recurring BonusBoss in the series, completely optional and the player has to either have maxed out his party or to even stand a chance against it. Nova Dragon, as Shinryu is called in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', is a storyline boss so it is mandatory for the heroes to beat it.

** Tails in ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' is more of a KidHero than he was in other contemporary adaptations but he's still not as much as the game Tails. He is TheChick of the Freedom Fighters and suffers from [[CowardlyLion bouts of cowardice]].

* WebOriginal/{{Ultimate}}: Ultimate wins his fight with Ant-Woman in the scripts. In the Web Novel, he gets stomped so hard that his healing factor has to save him.

* Heracles (better known as Hercules) is arguably the best well known Greek hero and poster boy of inhuman strength. In ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' he is a hero unit from the Heroic age with some pretty mediocre stats, making him worse than heroes like Belerophon, Perseus or Polyphemus.

** The mythological Jason was a warrior who was strong enough to pull two bulls at the same time with the only help he received for the task being a fire-resistance potion from Medea, not a wimp who relies on others for protection. The fact that he was trained by Chiron is still there, but he didn't seem to really get any of his lessons and would have preferred if he had taught him how to deal with landmine-like women like Medea. He's still a Servant worthy of the Throne of Heroes by the usage of analysis and trickery, but compared to his mythological self who also does the physical weigh-lifting in the same time...

* ''[[VideoGame/TheBattleForMiddleEarth War in Middle Earth]]'' despite being at the core a strategy game portrays the Nazgul as surprisingly weak. Even right at the beginning of the game just the four hobbits have a good chance of killing a lone Nazgul, should they encounter one.

* FinalBoss [[TheDragon Adam Smasher]] in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' was an [[TheJuggernaut absolutely lethal force of nature]] in the [[TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} TTRPG]] and [[Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners anime]], being a LightningBruiser ImplacableMan. There was one fundamental rule with him in the tabletop game: [[HopelessBossFight you didn't fight Adam Smasher unless you wanted to die.]] In the game however, he's a lumbering MightyGlacier who manages to be dispatched by a [[YourDaysAreNumbered dying]] [[PlayerCharacter V]] on their last legs.

* ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad2021'': The ''War For Earth-3'' arc saw the Crime Syndicate [[note]]Recurring evil versions of the Justice League from a dark Earth[[/note]] that were perfectly capable in [[ComicBook/CrimeSyndicate2021 their own comic]] taken down by Amanda Waller and C-list heroes/villains in their own turf. The worst member hit by this is Owlman, who goes from a tactically-dangerous cutthroat in the vein of his good counterpart Batman to a tryhard with no back-up plans and an easily-demolished attack jet who (after being effortlessly captured) reveals he doesn't even know how to use a computer.

* ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad2021'': The ''War For Earth-3'' arc saw the Crime Syndicate [[note]]Recurring evil versions of the Justice League from a dark Earth[[/note]] that were perfectly capable in [[ComicBook/CrimeSyndicate2021 their own comic]] taken down by Amanda Waller and C-list heroes/villains in their own turf. The worst member hit by this is Owlman, who goes from a tactically-dangerous cutthroat akin to his good counterpart Batman to a tryhard with no back-up plans and an easily-demolished attack jet who (after being effortlessly captured) reveals he doesn't even know how to use a computer.

So there is this character, strong, independent, intelligent and resourceful. They are a valued member of any team and more than contributes their fair share to the team. They might not have been a true bonafide badass, but at the very least they were capable of standing on their own. Then the work was remade by new writers and everything changed. The once awesome ActionGirl [[{{Chickification}} is now a]] DamselInDistress. The BadassBookworm is now just a plain old {{Nerd}}. The ActionSurvivor is now just TheDragAlong, [[TheLoad or worse]].

* ''Machinima/DarkSecretsOfGarrysMod'': [[Videogame/HalfLife1 G-Man]]'s [[RealityWarper control over spacetime]] is simply nonexistent in this series and has the same abilities as regular human.
* ''Machinima/GamingAllStars'':

* ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'': Bowser from the games is a rage-fuelled OneManArmy that even the Mario Bros. have trouble with. The Bowser in this series is easily pummeled and restrained and much more prone to collapsing into a sobbing heap when things go wrong.

* ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'' inflicts this on [[EldritchAbomination The Skull Reaper]], the titular game's 75th boss. Its [[LightNovel/SwordArtOnline original counterpart]] puts up [[ThatOneBoss a brutal fight]] with its [[LightningBruiser speed]] and OneHitKill attacks before it's finally destroyed by the entire raid party. In the abridged series, Skull Reaper only gets a short amount of time to show that it was probably ''intended'' to be just as bad as canon (as it one-shots the party tanks) before it [[ZeroEffortBoss glitches out and self-destructs]]. Of course, its abrupt death [[GameBreakingBug didn't open the exit door]], leaving the raid party stranded.

** In the book, Hathi is a formidable fighter, who has razed human villages and whom everyone minds their pleases and thank yous around. In the film, he is a bumbling, semi-senile old fart.

* The NES video game of ''ComicBook/BuckyOHareAndTheToadWars'' did this with Toadborg. While TheDragon in the TV show, here he is the boss of the Green Planet, which is arguably the easiest of the four worlds you can choose from. Add to that his attack pattern is easily predictable and his attacks are easy to avoid. A far cry from the KnightOfCerebus who delivered the heroes' first [[CurbStompBattle defeat]].

Contrast AdaptationalBadass and AdaptationalSkill. Compare BadassDecay, {{Chickification}}, and TookALevelInDumbass, for when the character becomes a wimp within the original work. Often happens in the case of a character who isn't fully understood by the new writers. Not to be confused with {{Ukefication}}, which is a fanfiction specific variant of this often occurring in HurtComfortFic, most often in {{Slash Fic}}s (and usually affecting more on an emotional level). Particularly awful cases of this have been known to cause an AudienceColoringAdaptation.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'':
** Subverted with Carmilla and Death. They've both lost their signature powers (the giant floating skull that weeps acid blood for Carmilla and millions of sickles for Death) but have new powers making them equal to their counterparts (lightning for Carmilla, and Death is a powerful necromancer who can control who lives and who dies across the world).
** Justified in the case of Dracula, [[spoiler:since this story takes place before he becomes a vampire. By the end of the two DLC chapters he has gained power equal to what he's supposed to have]].
** Played straight with Brauner. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' he had the ability to create {{Portal Picture}}s and even [[ArtInitiatesLife bring his paintings to life]], and he was so powerful that he almost managed to steal Dracula's Castle away from him. Like Carmilla and Death he loses his original powers, but unlike them his new powers are nowhere close to equal to what he had before.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowMirrorOfFate'': Sypha Belnades in the original timeline was a powerful sorceress that went on blasting the forces of evil with her magic, aiding Trevor Belmont and eventually marrying him, whereas her magic-inclined genes were passed on to the Belmont clan, augmenting it with magic powers and also occasionally has a branch family tree that aided the Belmont clan. In this new continuity, all that remained was Sypha's marriage with Trevor, she's otherwise a normal woman that gave birth to Simon and easily got killed by Dracula's forces in the beginning of the game, becoming a MissingMom.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2'': While the game fully averts this trope with Death this time around by returning his trademark scythe to him, it instead plays it straight with Abaddon. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' Abaddon was a locust demon with the ability to [[MookMaker summon swarms of insects against you]]. Even a single rush of his swarm could stun-lock and potentially kill you. ''Lords Of Shadow 2'''s version was just a generic demon. He was a very ''big'' generic demon, mind you, but not really special.

** Meanwhile, the Mighty Garuda who's the strongest of his brothers and a dangerous enemy in the novels is a FragileSPeedster MiniBoss.