History Main / BadassDecay

* In ''[[VideoGame/FZero F-Zero GX]]'', Black Shadow gets hit hard with this. His status as feared villain goes right out the window in the first cutscene of the story mode with the arrival of [[BigBad Deathborn]].

** Tenshinhan. He was once one of the most powerful characters in the early part of ''Dragon Ball'' and was one of the few humans who could match Goku in combat. After he lost to Nappa, however, he was sidelined like several other characters.

** In Piccolo's introduction to the series, he easily wipes the floor with Goku while in the weakest state he is ever in. He also nearly manages to take over/destroy the world. By the end of DBZ, he is relegated to teaching small children a magical dance, and later plays the StraightMan in a comic duo (him and Gotenks).

** Even ''Gohan'' suffers this, although not in as direct a path as Vegeta. At the beginning of ''Dragon Ball Z'', he's implied to have great 'hidden power' and this is shown repeatedly throughout the Saiyan and Namek sagas, with him injuring or even fighting evenly with much more powerful opponents for short times. He fades from prominence in the Android and Cell sagas, but all the buildup eventually culminates in him becoming the most powerful character in the series in the Cell Games. By the time the Buu saga rolls around, however, he's a glorified punching bag, and though he eventually makes an attempted return to glory, it lasts about three episodes before he goes back to getting thoroughly destroyed. Kid just could not fill the old man's shoes. Possibly justified in Gohan's case in that he doesn't really ''want'' to be [[IAmNotMyFather like Goku]] and [[IJustWantToBeNormal really just wants to study and be a scholar]] like [[EducationMama Chi-Chi]] [[MommasBoy wanted.]] This is taken to its logical extreme come ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', when he cannot even hold a basic Super Saiyan form due to neglecting his training for so long. [[spoiler:However, after the events of the ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' adaptation, which had Frieza kill Piccolo because of his stagnation forced the Namekian to save his life, Gohan has decided to get back into training, so it seems that this trope might be subverted for him.]]

** Frieza and Cell suffered this in the anime. Though the original manga never featured them again after their deaths, {{filler}} between the Cell and Buu Sagas had both once seemly-unbeatable foes get casually beaten by Goku and Pikkon. Then, in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', they team up to get revenge on Goku and then are both [[CurbStompBattle quickly beaten by him in under five mintues]] -- in his base form while de-aged into a child, no less. Frieza got better in ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' and ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', where he is actually portrayed as competent, but still is nowhere near the menacing threat he was in his own saga.

** First they were [[EvilIsSexy sexy]], intelligent, [[TheBaroness heavily matriarchal]], and AlwaysChaoticEvil insane badasses with a small pantheon. Then we got the hero Drizzt (a fugitive from his culture). Due to the Dungeons and Dragons rules discouraging evil players, some players want to be drow because they're cool... but good-aligned and without the severe social stigma, despite drow being nearly always evil and Drizzt being a considerably-developed unique example of a good-aligned drow. Then we got the good aligned deity Eilistraee, and her entire clutch of (mostly) female drow worshippers who, naturally, danced naked at night. (Their chief priestess, Qilue, has a magic dress of invisibility.

* In ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer1990'', the Silver Surfer gets hit with this in one of the [[ExaggeratedTrope most ludicrous examples ever done]] -- he goes from being a borderline invincible, ultra-powerful cosmic being to a character who dies [[OneHitPointWonder in one hit]] from touching ''anything'', including rubber ducks.

* ''Characters/SilverSurfer'' gets hit with this in one of the [[ExaggeratedTrope most ludicrous examples ever done]], in his infamous UsefulNotes/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES [[VideoGame/SilverSurfer game]]--he goes from being a borderline invincible, ultra powerful cosmic being, to a character who dies [[OneHitPointWonder in one hit]] from touching ''anything'', including rubber ducks.

* Dudley Smith, the AffablyEvil MagnificentBastard from Creator/JamesEllroy's LA Quartet, bedeviled the protagonists of those books with his brilliance and brutality in pursuit of his ultimate goal: gaining complete control of organized crime in Los Angeles with an eye toward systematically narcotizing LA's black population. When he shows up as a VillainProtagonist in Ellroy's second LA Quartet (specifically, the novels ''Literature/{{Perfidia}}'' and ''Literature/ThisStorm''), he's much less impressive -- still a brutal schemer, but frequently high off his gourd on opium and out-maneuvered by his opposition. He even gets a HumiliationConga in the second book. The second Quartet is actually a prequel to the first, so Dudley's not at his peak {{Chessmaster}} powers quite yet.

** Drizzt himself in the 2nd edition had rules written solely to make him more dangerous, such as, despite being in a HitPoint[=/=]CriticalExistenceFailure based combat system, having a flat chance of killing anyone in a single shot. It was a low chance, but he had a better chance of killing someone with a normal attack than he did of scoring a critical hit. In 3rd edition, he is a less than optimal build with very few special rules. This [[CreatorsPet may]] or [[EnsembleDarkhorse may not]] be a good thing.

** Once considered Sonic's equal and the respected guardian of a powerful artifact, Knuckles the Echidna has now devolved into a ButtMonkey who always gets tricked by an outside party and is the embodiment of DumbMuscle. [[DemotedToExtra He's hardly even an important character anymore]], either. The fandom was burnt out on playing multiple characters and wanted to go back to ''just'' Sonic. Tails has gotten better since ''VideoGame/SonicColors''; meanwhile, Knuckles is still a butt monkey, but ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' turns him into the funniest and most likable character, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA1dtqyTRAI seen here]]. Of course, he stills suffers from {{flanderization}} and [[AdaptationalDumbass became]] nothing more than a piece of DumbMuscle.

* It says something when you were more badass as a ''baby'' than you are after hitting puberty, as is the case with Tommy Pickles of ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991''. With a [[BadassCreed declaration of "A baby's got to do what a baby's got to do,"]] even when he was ''aware'' [[TheFool of the danger]] such as dealing with [[TheDreaded "The Junkfood Kid,"]] he never failed to pull out his trusty screwdriver and lead [[TrueCompanions his fellow babies]] to fun and adventure. Then came ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' where he's now just another kid with crippling fears, awkwardness and just being well, [[BroughtDownToNormal normal.]] Of course Tommy is no longer protected by AchievementsInIgnorance and ImprobableInfantSurvival.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Harley-Davidson: [[TheFifties Once]] [[TheSixties upon]] [[TheSeventies a time]] the ultimate symbol of All-American rebellion. Nowadays, it's known just as much for its clothing line and restaurant franchises than its motorcycles, of which you're more likely to find a midlife crisis-having executive perched atop than an actual BadassBiker (many of whom will actually go out of their way to avoid Harley products).
* Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger went from being an [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} awesome]] [[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian action]] [[Film/TotalRecall1990 hero]] to a typically divisive politician, and became slightly out-of-shape in the process, at least at first. [[HumiliationConga It also didn't help when combining the two flaws to claim]] UsefulNotes/BarackObama was a [[Series/SaturdayNightLive "girly-man"]] under that shirt before the famous [[ShirtlessScene beach shot]] when everybody still remembered [[FanDisservice Arnold's black speedo]] and the whole knocking up the nanny scandal that ''killed'' the once-unshakeable loyalty Maria Shriver had in him, making ''her'' [[ExaggeratedTrope even more of American royalty]] and him more talk show fodder.
* Alan Cunningham conquered Ethiopia from the Italians, scoring one of the first great Allied victories in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Guess who his [[UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel next opponent]] was. [[TheWorfEffect Guess what happened]]?
* Spain and Portugal in the 19th and most of 20th Century. Once they were two very powerful and glorious empires that had colonies all around the world. Then they lost most of their colonies, either to independence or to other countries taking over said colonies. As if that wasn't humiliating enough, most of said other countries underwent industrialization before Portugal and Spain in the 19th Century. They underwent further humiliation when said nations became more or less functional democracies by the 1950s, while Spain and Portugal remained backwards quasi-fascist far-right dictatorships until well into TheSeventies! All courtesy of Belgium [[note]]She didn't even exist before gaining independence from the Netherlands[[/note]], Britain, France, Germany [[note]]She wasn't even a unified nation until the 1870s[[/note]], the Netherlands, and the United States [[note]]It had a civil war in the 1860s, and the country didn't have all 48 states for most of the 19th Century[[/note]]. [[ExaggeratedTrope Taken Up to Eleven]] when it even lost to Japan on both fronts. [[note]]She wasn't even European/Caucasian. Instead, she was a secluded Asian country, with a feudal society, and was, in fact, at the verge of being the '''receiving end''' of colonialist takeover, all well into the 1860s. And yes, however dictatorial Japan was before, she did become a democracy decades earlier in 1951 (or 1945-46, depending on how you look at it).[[/note]]
* Creator/MikeTyson used to be the most feared boxer, but then he got clobbered by Buster Douglas and now he's just known for his lisp ([[TheTysonZone and whatever else]]).
* As ScienceMarchesOn and we understand dinosaurs better, the popular image of dinosaurs as badass giant draconic lizards with mighty roars decays in favor of what can be summed up as giant flightless birds. While many of them were still efficient and deadly predators in their own right, somehow, we doubt ''Film/JurassicPark'' would have been as memorable if its Velociraptors were silent animals with average animal intelligence [[GoofyFeatheredDinosaur covered in colorful feathers]].
* The Ottoman Empire's janissaries underwent this as their existence went on. Formerly the elite of the Ottoman Army and one of the most feared fighting forces in Europe, as the Janissaries grew more powerful politically, their quality went down in inverse proportion as their formerly strict entry requirements were relaxed for family, hangers-on, attendants, and people who didn't do the one thing the janissaries were intended for: fighting, all in order to benefit from the greater prestige that came from the role. This, of course, caused the quality of the janissaries to go down, but any Ottoman sultan who decided that the janissaries needed to go often got overthrown and killed by them, until finally Sultan Mahmud II had enough and [[ThePurge disbanded them]] in what was known as the "Auspicious Incident."
* Ancient Sparta got hit by this hard. Once, a super-power that produced ancient world's most fearsome warriors, even managing to beat UsefulNotes/{{Athens}}, another super-power of that time (granted, it took them 27 years and they had to ally with [[UsefulNotes/TheAchaemenidEmpire Persia]] to do so, but the important thing is that they ''did'' it), then it lost its influence after its defeat at the Battle of Leuctra and became a mere shadow of its former glory, so much that even UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat choss to ignore it. During UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire era, it was mostly notable as a tourist attraction. Nowadays, it's a middle-sized town in the Peloponnese, while its old rival is the capital city of modern Greece.
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* [[Characters/BatmanBane Bane]] went through a lot of this. After ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'', he went from defeating Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} to losing to everyone from Azrael to Judomaster's SON. Most significantly, his SuperSerum venom quickly shifted to a WeaksauceWeakness where he was almost instantly disabled without a constant supply. Creator/GailSimone has been reversing most of this in ''ComicBook/SecretSix''.
* [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Jason Todd]]'s character progression goes up and down more times than a roller coaster; he had a rough start both in universe and out. Replacing the vastly more popular [[Characters/NightwingDickGrayson Dick Grayson]] in addition to disobeying and antagonizing Batman caused thousands of fans [[TheScrappy to hate Jason's guts]] to the point where fans eventually voted for him [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily to be killed by the Joker]], though the vote was close and some fans were upset by Jason's demise. DC brought Jason back as the morally unstable [[GunsAkimbo gun toting]] inconstant AntiHero[=/=]AntiVillain serial killing psychopath Red Hood who won over fans with his troubled backstory and the strain fighting him puts on the Bats. Alas when the DCU [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]] again Todd stopped being a violent Punisher-pastiche and rejoined the [[BadassFamily Bat-family]]. He changed his stance on killing criminals and was accepted with open arms despite maintaining his history as a serial killer who has made multiple attempts on his little brothers' lives.

* For the first three decades of publication history, the Characters/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} was a physically unstoppable villain empowered by the deity Cyttorak. Some of the notable feats include withstanding [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor's]] "godforce" unharmed, an attack that was earlier shown capable of severely injuring [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]]. Then during ComicBook/{{Onslaught}} the Juggernaut gets a taste of TheWorfEffect, as he is knocked clean across two states and ends up comatose for several days just to show how badass Onslaught is. [[RedemptionDemotion Things went further downhill as Chuck Austen wrote him as part of the]] Comicbook/XMen. Juggernaut, who before had been capable of going for weeks if not years without air, food, or water, can suddenly drown in Austen's first story featuring him. There was absolutely no explanation for why the Juggernaut was suddenly very stoppable, and later authors have scrambled for a {{Retcon}} to explain that. The latest line comes from ''Comicbook/FearItself: The Worthy'', which says that Juggernaut's power goes "up and down on Cyttorak's whim". That is something that has never happened before, even when the Juggernaut went dimension-hopping with Comicbook/DoctorStrange and tried to kill Cyttorak when coming face to face with him.[[note]]Though in the latter case Cyttorak might've just been [[VillainRespect impressed enough with Juggy having the balls to fight him]] to not punish him with a depower.[[/note]] Or when the Juggernaut screwed up a bet between Cyttorak and other deities in The Eighth Day, he was confirmed to still possess unstoppable strength from Cyttorak's enchantments in the follow-up story The Ninth Day.

* It says something when you were more badass as a ''baby'' than you are after hitting puberty, as is the case with Tommy Pickles of ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991''. With a [[BadassCreed declaration of]] [[CatchPhrase "A baby's got to do what a baby's got to do,"]] even when he was ''aware'' [[TheFool of the danger]] such as dealing with [[TheDreaded "The Junkfood Kid,"]] he never failed to pull out his trusty screwdriver and lead [[TrueCompanions his fellow babies]] to fun and adventure. Then came ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' where he's now just another kid with crippling fears, awkwardness and just being well, [[BroughtDownToNormal normal.]] Of course Tommy is no longer protected by AchievementsInIgnorance and ImprobableInfantSurvival.

* BadassDecay: At his height, defending Flower Fruit Mountain from heaven with his army, Sun Wukong was unstoppable, even in solo battles against many combatants. After spending 500 years under a different mountain, he loses against demons easily and often has to go to heaven for help.

Compare with MenaceDecay, MotiveDecay, VillainDecay, WhatMeasureIsANonBadass, and TheWorfEffect. Compare and contrast BaitTheDog and MoralEventHorizon, where a Badass character loses their cool as a result of [[KickTheDog dog kicking]].

** The version of Godzilla from the 1998 American movie was a devastating threat that terrorised a city, then in ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' it came up against the Toho Godzilla and lasted, ooh, a whole 13 seconds before being thrown through the Sydney Opera House and toasted with atomic breath. A deliberate example, since the makers of ''Final Wars'' didn't particularly like the 1998 movie and the scene of its destruction is even called "Pretender to the Throne".

* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'': Megatron started to suffer from this in ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', where he became less of a threat than in [[Film/{{Transformers|2007}} the first movie]] and was shown to be slavishly following orders from [[TheManBehindTheMan The Fallen]]. [[note]]the comics and video game explain this quite well, and have Megatron turn against his master at the end.[[/note]] Also {{invoked|Trope}} in the sequel, ''[[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon Dark of the Moon]]''. Megatron sustains his brutal injuries from the previous film's final battle, resulting in him being in a weakened state (both physically and psychologically). He hardly fights at all (instead commanding his {{Mooks}} and trying to find peace), and when he ''does'' fight, [[spoiler:it's because ''a human girl'' manages to [[BreakThemByTalking strike a blow to his ego]], and while he ''does'' play a part in defeating [[GreaterScopeVillain Sentinel]], [[CurbStompBattle Optimus rips Megs' head out in a matter of seconds]]]]. This is averted in the [[AdaptationDistillation novelizations for both sequels]], where he remains a legitimate threat with his own motives and (in ''DOTM'') [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn a worthwhile ally for Optimus in the final battle]]]].

* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'': Megatron started to suffer from this in ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', where he became less of a threat than in [[Film/{{Transformers}} the first movie]] and was shown to be slavishly following orders from [[TheManBehindTheMan The Fallen]]. [[note]]the comics and video game explain this quite well, and have Megatron turn against his master at the end.[[/note]] Also {{invoked|Trope}} in the sequel, ''[[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon Dark of the Moon]]''. Megatron sustains his brutal injuries from the previous film's final battle, resulting in him being in a weakened state (both physically and psychologically). He hardly fights at all (instead commanding his {{Mooks}} and trying to find peace), and when he ''does'' fight, [[spoiler:it's because ''a human girl'' manages to [[BreakThemByTalking strike a blow to his ego]], and while he ''does'' play a part in defeating [[GreaterScopeVillain Sentinel]], [[CurbStompBattle Optimus rips Megs' head out in a matter of seconds]]]]. This is averted in the [[AdaptationDistillation novelizations for both sequels]], where he remains a legitimate threat with his own motives and (in ''DOTM'') [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn a worthwhile ally for Optimus in the final battle]]]].

Alas, that didn't last long, did it? After losing the title to Wrestling/{{Sting}} (when Nash turned on him), Joe formed the TNA Front Line along with Wrestling/AJStyles to counter Sting's new group: the Main Event Mafia. During that feud, the Front Line lost nearly EVERY SINGLE MATCH against the Mafia, with the exception of Lethal Lockdown. It was also during this feud where Joe became a member of the "Nation of Violence," which saw him torture [[Wrestling/ShawnDaivari Sheik Abdul Bashir]] for no reason whatsoever and threaten to kill Wrestling/ScottSteiner. Again, the fans looked at Joe as a complete psychopath, and not the badass he once was. Then, he turned on the Front Line and became just another lackey for Wrestling/KurtAngle.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' had this happen with Metal Sonic. The "Version 3.0" had started out as something of a big threat. However, in the span of about 75 issues, that threat level disappeared quickly, becoming something of a joke. The fans, Sega and ultimately writer Ian Flynn got tired of that, though.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: [[Characters/WonderWomanAllies Etta Candy]] was hit hard by the death of her creator. Wondy's human pal had started out as a plucky, cheerful take no-nonsense, genuinely excellent fighter and leader who had a great sense of humor that tended to catch others off guard, but writers after Marston slimmed her down, prettied her up and made her generic and helpless. She recovered a little bit in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' where she was reimagined as a member of the Air Force but was rather serious and not nearly as excited about or good at fighting. Her ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'' and other modern takes are generally a fine return to form for the leader of the Holiday Girls.

* Poor Mr. Cash. Not only a total {{badass|Normal}}, but the [[KnightInSourArmor triumphant hero]] of ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell''. Then the ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum Arkham Asylum]]'' video game came along and turned Aaron into little more than a foul mouthed DamselInDistress... Though this mainly because the game focuses on Batman. But since Cash is one of the few survivors of what happened, any of his actions were an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', we first meet Ellie [[ActionGirl holding her own against a horde of Necromorphs]], she protects [[TheLoad Stross]] while Isaac is working on objectives in other areas of the Sprawl, and when Stross loses his mind and ''gouges out her eye with a screwdriver'', her response is to find a length of pipe and bludgeon him. In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3'', [[spoiler:She's the point of a [[RomanticPlotTumor love triangle subplot]], spends the entire game unarmed, and [[HostageForMacGuffin Danik eventually uses her to get the Codex]]]].

* Usually, the Ottoman Empire in ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun''. It starts the game as a Great Power, up there with France, the United States and, of course, UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire. However, the highly illiterate, hidebound and theocratic society has a tendency to not advance forward like Western world does. By the later period of the game's timeframe, they're pushovers. Of course, a player character can avert this, but they're harder to play as than some other nations.
* The Borg and Species 8472 (here called the Undine) had a bouncing effect in terms of Decay in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline''. When they're first brought in, they're shown to be a much greater threat than before. However, a lack of appearance from the Undine neuter their Badassness while PowerCreep forces the Borg into this trope. The Undine later roared back in full force.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLuckyDimeCaper Starring WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'', Donald fought off bosses such as a bear and a lion and was armed with weapons such as [[DropTheHammer a hammer]] and [[DeadlyDisc a disc]]. In the sequel, ''VideoGame/DeepDuckTrouble'', Donald has neither of those weapons, so his basic method of attacking his enemies is kicking blocks at them or [[GoombaStomp jumping on them]]. He also flees from bosses such as a gorilla, a shark, and a falcon instead of directly fighting them.

* It says something when you were more badass as a ''baby'' than you are after hitting puberty, as is the case with Tommy Pickles of ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991''. With a [[BadassCreed declaration of]] [[CatchPhrase "A baby's got to do what a baby's got to do,"]] even when he was ''aware'' [[TheFool of the danger]] such as dealing with [[TheDreaded "The Junkfood Kid,"]] he never failed to pull out his trusty screwdriver and lead [[TrueCompanions his fellow babies]] to fun and adventure. Then came ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' where he's now just another kid with crippling fears, awkwardness and just being well, [[BroughtDownToNormal normal.]] Of course Tommy is no longer protected by AchievementsInIgnorance and ImprobableInfantSurvival.

* Skulker in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' (Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter) is able to take down nearly any ghostly beast--big or small--without any fear. He hunts for sports and Danny Phantom is his only real challenge; otherwise, he's competent. Then by the last season, in one episode, it's spurred away: his motivation to hunt Danny is just to impress his one-time girlfriend (who points out how horrible he does said job despite no evidence of such), and despite handling a giant ghost monster in the same episode, is unable to fight back against a ''regular teeny bird!'' A later episode had him running away from mutant unicorns instead of combating. Other episodes seem to depict him back to his badass self, but they're often minor.

** Joe Swanson has also suffered from this. In the beginning, while the show occasionally made jokes about his disability, he was a competent police officer who could his own in a fight [[HandicappedBadass despite being handicapped]]. After the show was uncancelled, while he still has moments of badassery, he is made fun of for his disability all the time and is often seen as being weak for it, to the point where the show outright said he wore diapers!

** Skinner. Early on his characterization revolves heavily around the fact that he's a veteran. He's seen being the {{Determinator}} NonGivingUpSchoolGuy pursuing Bart. He also intimidates and then beats up two lawyers sent by Disney to close a fair at the school. Modern day Skinner is mostly defined by how he's bossed around by [[MyBelovedSmother his mom]], and his boring outlook on life.

* It says something when you were more badass as a ''baby'' than you are after hitting puberty, as is the case with Tommy Pickles of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''. With a [[BadassCreed declaration of]] [[CatchPhrase "A baby's got to do what a baby's got to do,"]] even when he was ''aware'' [[TheFool of the danger]] such as dealing with [[TheDreaded "The Junkfood Kid,"]] he never failed to pull out his trusty screwdriver and lead [[TrueCompanions his fellow babies]] to fun and adventure. Then came ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' where he's now just another kid with crippling fears, awkwardness and just being well, [[BroughtDownToNormal normal.]] Of course Tommy is no longer protected by AchievementsInIgnorance and ImprobableInfantSurvival.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaV'' when Neptune complains that she went from level 99 all the way [[RestartAtLevelOne back to level one]] ([[BreakingTheFourthWall and yes, she really says it like that]]) while Nepgear, the protagonist of [[VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaMk2 the previous game]], is the CrutchCharacter but still at a low level.

* While calling her badass might be a bit of a stretch, Belle from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' was shown to be a assertive young woman who isn't willing to take shit from JerkAss guys like Gaston. In fact, she's actually the main reason why Beast TookALevelInKindness to begin with. In the [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeastTheEnchantedChristmas direct-to-video]] [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeastBellesMagicalWorld midquels]], however, she's portrayed as an air-headed ExtremeDoormat who has to ''apologize'' for telling Beast that his bad behavior isn't acceptable.

[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The process by which a badass becomes less of a badass.]]

A belief persists among many writers that if the audience takes a liking to a real badass who fears nothing, has infinite confidence and even carries off defeat with panache, it must mean that what they most want to see is that character reveal a vulnerable side and all manner of inner demons.

It is either that belief or the natural result of CharacterDevelopment, where extra dimensions are added to an existing character to flesh them out and keep them fresh. Either way, the character starts out badass, and becomes less so over time.

Most often this happens through EnsembleDarkHorse tendencies, they appear so often and are so popular that any attempt to give them greater depths results in them losing what made them so effective in the first place.

** Once considered Sonic's equal and the respected guardian of a powerful artifact, Knuckles the Echidna has now devolved into a ButtMonkey who always gets tricked by an outside party and is the embodiment of DumbMuscle. [[DemotedToExtra He's hardly even an important character anymore]], either. The FanDumb was getting tired of playing multiple characters and wanted to go back to ''just'' Sonic. Tails has gotten better since ''VideoGame/SonicColors''; meanwhile, Knuckles is still a butt monkey, but ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' turns him into the funniest and most likable character, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA1dtqyTRAI seen here]]. Of course, he stills suffers from {{flanderization}} and [[AdaptationalDumbass became]] nothing more than a piece of DumbMuscle.

** Enel. He's introduced as this god-like being with the power of the Goro Goro no Mi fruit that allows him to control [[ShockAndAwe lightning]]. However, despite how powerful his lightning ability looks, Enel doesn't really accomplish much with his lightning. Luffy turns out to be completely immune to it due to his rubber body, but even more damning was Enel's inability to kill Pagaya, who's just an ordinary Skypiea citizen, with the lightning bolt that was fired down upon Pagaya's location. Overall, it doesn't paint Enel as much of the lightning-wielding badass that he was hyped up to be.

** Before the TimeSkip, Smoker was an [[HopelessBossFight undefeatable]] KnightOfCerebus to Luffy, thanks to his [[SuperSmoke Smoke Smoke Fruit]] powers. Luffy would try to exploit the elemental weakness of [[ElementalPowers Logia]]-type Devil Fruit users, as seen with [[DishingOutDirt Crocodile]] and [[ShockAndAwe Eneru]], but he just couldn't figure out how to defeat Smoker. However, Smoker goes through a HumiliationConga during the Punk Hazard arc after the Time Skip. Punk Hazard itself is a part of the [[DeathWorld New World]], where having [[KiManipulation Haki]] proficiency is ''vital''[[labelnote:*]]Keep in mind that attacks infused with a type of Haki known as "Armament Haki" can bypass Logia users' elemental defenses and actually harm them[[/labelnote]]. He [[{{Jobber}} jobs]] nearly every fight he gets into because his opponents were better at using Haki than him and he relied too much on his [[NighInvulnerability smoke intangibility]]. Strangely enough, Smoker never fights Luffy at all during their time at Punk Hazard, although the latter would definitely hold his own now as [[TookALevelInBadass he also learned to use Haki]].

* ''Manga/{{Nononono}}'': Nono starts as a BadassAdorable KickChick who can throw heavy weights easily, but suddenly she becomes a DamselInDistress who can't defend herself [[AttemptedRape from]] a disgusting man, and a friend has to save her. After him saving her, she runs out and [[SayMyName cries out his name]] again and again rather than helping him taking the creep down while he stabs her friend… even though it's shown early in the series that she's more than capable to do so. Sure she was nude, but there was fabrics hanging around she could've covered herself with… and giving the TrainingFromHell she gave herself, she would've been able to fight the man herself with instincts and reflexes alone.

* Nearly the entire cast of ''Anime/YuGiOh'' suffered from this in the transition from manga into the anime.
** In the original seven volumes of the manga, Jonouchi/Joey and Honda/Tristan being former gang members was a lot more obvious and only slightly less so later on, as they delivered quite a few beatings to kids their age and full-grown adults. For example, in the original manga, Jonouchi was an adept fighter, even though he wasn't a great gamer, due to living his early teen years as a gang member that had to fight to survive. He beats Bandit Keith up during Duelist Kingdom for trying to steal his cards. In the anime, Bandit Keith beats HIM up and he usually ends up looking like a wannabe thug. Dark Yugi himself was not someone to mess with, as he previously had a tendency to play Shadow Games with anyone who pissed him off, which usually ended with the loser insane, grievously hurt, or dead, that lasted until the end of Duelist Kingdom. Even Anzu/Téa could throw an BitchSlap once in a while, and not just for dramatic effect, either. Then the anime and real life card game rolled around, and suddenly Yugi and Jonouchi are settling all their problems with Duel Monsters, while Honda and Anzu are reduced to cheerleaders.
** Kaiba was also somewhat reduced in badassery during his transition from manga to anime, where he spends more time standing around being TheStoic. He does have a few [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome good moments]] in the first season and in the occasional anime arcs that focus on him, but even those were a step down from trapping Yugi and his friends in a theme park designed specifically to make them die horrific deaths.
** Mokuba. Again, the franchise from before and after the universe revolved around Duel Monsters can be considered two different series with [[InNameOnly curious name similarities]]. The ''old'' Mokuba was an EnfantTerrible and wanted to kill Yugi, being one of the better villains in the series, being a '''KnightOfCerebus''' in the manga. In the''Duel Monsters anime'', he mostly exists as a MoralityPet to Kaiba.
** Insector Haga (Weevil Underwood) and Dinosaur Ryuzaki (Rex Raptor) were once lauded as regional champions, and to be feared. However, after their defeats at the hands of the protagonists, they became nothing more than comic relief. That is, until they got the superpowered Seal...
** Jun Manjoume in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' suffers from this in Season 3, but gets better in Season 4.
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'':
** The Black Organization can come off as this as of late, due to the revelation that [[spoiler:Bourbon]] is actually a spy. While this advances the character beyond the Evil Henchman role, it ''does'' come off as if majority of the Organization was, and might likely still be, filled with nothing but spies, people who were [[NeverFoundTheBody presumed dead]] and others who aren't as evil as one would think of them, including Vermouth who seems to have a real soft-spot for Conan. The only real threat that still seems to remain in the Organization is Gin, who is getting close to the VillainSue category.
** Jodie was vital in the battle of wits against Vermouth during her arc. Later, when Akai becomes a series regular, Jodie is just another FBI agent who along with the rest of them get fooled by the Black Organization before Conan and Akai clean up their mess.
* ''Manga/FlameOfRecca:'' This possibly happened to Tokiya Mikagami, who was at first a completely ruthless man driven for revenge, and in the Ura Butou Satsujin, he manages to give out many great performances. Come to the latter arcs of the manga, however, although time by time, he did ''awesomely'', he also often became the recipient of DistressBall, turning into him into the DistressedDude TWICE.
* Quite a few members of the ''Manga/IkkiTousen'' cast display this over the period of the third Great Guardians season. Most notably Kan'u Unchou suffers from {{Flanderization}} so badly that it cripples her badass status and she becomes mostly unrecognizable for the first few episodes. See also [[spoiler:Ryofu Housen]]'s display of this through LossOfIdentity. Thankfully they "get better" later in the season.
* A rare "objective" take on this in ''Manga/AngelDensetsu'': Ogisu ''thinks'' he's suffering from this. Essentially he doubts if he is Badass because he keeps being defeated in battle once he transfers into a new school despite being undefeated previously. He ''is'' Badass but Ogisu is simply being OvershadowedByAwesome.
* Joseph Joestar from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', the protagonist of [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Part 2]]. In his late teens he was a fearsome and competent Hamon user, but by the time of [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Part 3]] where he was almost seventy, he was out of practice in Hamon, but had since gained a Stand, Hermit Purple, though it was one of the weakest in the franchise and Joseph didn't use his Hamon much. While Joseph himself was OutOfFocus in combat, he still had some awesome moments to shine, but was generally outclassed physically and in the case of his game with Daniel D'Arby, mentally as well. Ten years later in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Part 4]], he's been reduced to [[ScatterbrainedSenior a senile, absent-minded elder]], though it's been speculated that [[ObfuscatingStupidity he's putting a bit of that on]]. He's simply too old to reclaim his former glory in Part 4, as he's pushing 80 years old. That said, he shows that even when he's worn down by old age, he's still a Joestar and has his badass moments.

* Nanael from ''Anime/QueensBlade'' seems to have gotten this treatment. Ever TheDitz, she one time surprisingly decides to take on three major demons all by herself, easily defeating them. Later she loses all too easily against ''one'' of them in battle. When entering the tournament she was given a bottle of milk by the head angel that would drain her of power if spilled. [[TheDitz She quickly ends up spilling most of it.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
** In the first season of ''{{Anime/Digimon|Adventure}}'', Angemon was easily the most powerful fighter on the hero's side, able to take on enemies who were a level above him in his Champion and Ultimate levels. But in most later Digimon media, Angemon, while still a powerhouse, is only slightly stronger than the average Champion level.
** Zigzagged In Digimon Adventure 02. He makes a brief appearance to one-hit several Champion levels and at the same time showing off to one of the newcomers how far behind his league he was, but afterwards is shown no stronger than the rest of his teammates. Later on when Angemon temporarily Digivolves into his previous Ultimate level, he manages to hold his own against Blackwargreymon until he was forced to De-Digivolve, but later gains a new Ultimate level and became the first to critically injure him in his debut, but further appearances have them both no stronger than the other Ultimates.
** Tailmon/Gatomon. In her first appearance, not only has she managed to convince a bunch of Ultimate Digimon to join Vamdemon/Myotismon’s forces, but she also fights Greymon, Garurumon, Kabuterimon, Togemon and Ikkakumon ''at the same time'', all of whom were larger than her, toying with them and not even breaking a sweat. In later fights however, all of the fights she does in her Champion form are against Digimon relatively the same size as her or slightly taller; Zero Two puts this into full effect where she loses her Tail Ring, decreasing her powers to that of a Rookie level Digimon, and doesn't regain her strength until the very last episode of the series.
** In the first ''Digimon'' movie, Omnimon wipes out an army of Diaboromon. In the second ''Digimon'' movie, Omnimon can't handle a swarm of Kuramon. Not only is Kuramon Diaboromon's weaker, [[EvolutionPowerup unevolved form]], there were fewer Kuramon than there were Diaboromon.
* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'':
** Lina's three allies seem to get progressively weaker in later seasons of the anime, whereas she maintains her relatively powerful SquishyWizard status. Zelgadis is the worst offender, having [[MagicKnight balanced magic and swordplay]] combined with [[StoneWall stone skin]]; he's usually the one [[TheWorfEffect who gets taken down or brushed off first]] later on; earlier he was genuinely threatening. Gourry the swordsman could provide in a pinch before; later on he becomes more or less [[MacGuffin a plot coupon]] because he happens to be wielding a very powerful ForgottenSuperWeapon. The novels avert Gourry's decay by giving him a new sword and maintaining his BadassNormal status, however.
** Amelia was always weaker than her companions, but she went [[TookALevelInBadass the other way]], surprisingly; so did [[TheMedic healer]] Sylphiel.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Kon was introduced as a genuine problem and was actually considered a threat to the main characters. After the end of that storyline, he was quickly reduced to a JokeCharacter ever after.
** Even Ichigo went through this, though it tends to zigzag. He ends the Soul Society arc being able to beat Captains and he blocks Yami's punch by holding up his sword, then slicing clean through his arm. Mere episodes later he can't even defeat a {{mook|s}}. Then he gets better and ends up being able to destroy the strongest Espada. He then manages to only scratch another Espada with his strongest attack. However, Ichigo's case is rather justified because his power fluctuates greatly (it goes to Hero to Zero and back), and it's based on how focused he is and how seriously he's taking the situation.

* Lampshaded in ''Anime/JubeiChan'' season 2, with [[spoiler:Shiro]] pointing out that in the first season that he could hold his own again jiyu's enemies to some new ones, who promptly mop the floor with him
* ''Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce'' does this rather early on to LadyOfWar Signum, regarded as one of the more badass characters in the series. Cypha of Huckebein became the first to decisively defeat her, and gave a rather brutal finishing to boot. It's a bit early to say whether this trope is really in effect currently as Signum has not really been seen since and the incident could be a sort of DarkerAndEdgier version of Nanoha and Fate being defeated (and having their Linker Cores stolen) in A's. Signum has finally shown up again waking up at the hospital with Hayate, Rein, and Agito worried about her and generally [[{{Moe}} having a sweet reunion with Hayate telling Signum that it's too early to join Reinforce Eins in heaven]]. While it's not the badass reappearance that many fans probably wanted, Signum still retains her credentials as she completely thrashed Cypha before she [[StoryBreakerPower "Reacted"]] and the rest of the cast was defeated far worse (Nanoha and Fate were largely unscathed but poor Hayate was impaled completely out of nowhere by Huckebein's leader, who hadn't been seen until then, before she one-shotted Erio and Vita). It seems like a case of this for the main cast combined with absurdly broken villains and faulty new weapons...though there are now hints of a conspiracy involving the company that made those weapons so things are likely more than they seem for now.
* In-Universe example: The center theme of one episode of ''Anime/GundamEvolve'' is [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Char Aznable]], after having used his "Quattro Bajeena" alias for a while, beginning to realize he's lost his edge. He has this realization during a training mission where his top-of-the-line, fully loaded Rick Dias is defeated handily by combat data of his old self in a Zaku II armed with ''just a Heat Hawk''. This episode addresses the fact that Quattro in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' isn't pulling off insane tricks and inducing pants-wetting at the mere mention of his name like he did in the original series. Probably has something to do with RedemptionDemotion.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Monster Chopper gets an aesthetic downgrade in badassery, because Chopper learned how to control this form. This means that instead of a rampaging murderous beast, you still have the adorable Chopper (in terms of personality, not appearance). Usopp even mentions how awkward this is.
** Before the TimeSkip, Smoker was an [[HopelessBossFight undefeatable]] KnightOfCerebus to Luffy, thanks to his [[SuperSmoke Smoke Smoke Fruit]] powers. Luffy would try to exploit the elemental weakness of [[ElementalPowers Logia]]-type Devil Fruit users, as seen with [[DishingOutDirt Crocodile]] and [[ShockAndAwe Eneru]], but he just couldn't figure out how to defeat Smoker. However, Smoker goes through a HumiliationConga during the Punk Hazard arc after the Time Skip. Punk Hazard itself is a part of the [[DeathWorld New World]], where having [[KiManipulation Haki]] proficiency is ''vital''[[labelnote:*]]Keep in mind that attacks infused with a type of Haki known as "Armament Haki" can bypass Logia users' elemental defenses and actually harm them[[/labelnote]]. He [[{{Jobber}} jobs]] nearly every fight he gets into because his opponents were better at using Haki than him and he relied too much on his [[NighInvulnerability smoke intangibility]]. Strangely enough, Smoker never fights Luffy at all during their time at Punk Hazard, although the latter would definitely hold his own now as [[TookALevelInBadass he also learned to use Haki]].
** Many Logia users in general are this after the Time Skip, because they tend to rely heavily on their respective elemental defenses. They were once seen as nearly invincible, but now, they come across as [[SquishyWizard Squishy Wizards]] in the face of ''novice'' Haki users. However, Logia users such as [[AnIcePerson Kuzan]] (AKA [[spoiler:former]] Admiral Aokiji), [[MagmaMan Fleet Admiral Akainu]], and [[CastingAShadow Blackbeard]] avert this trope, as they are each viewed as TheDreaded.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
** Minerva is usually accused to have suffered from this by the time of her reintroduction during the ''Sun Village'' arc. What started off as a fun, despicable, {{Jerkass}} AntiHero during the ''Grand Magic Games'' arc, has resorted to joining a Dark Guild for, among other things, the purpose of getting revenge on Erza for humiliating her during their tournament duel. The humiliation was bad enough, but by joining a Dark Guild with vague motivations at best, it ended up destroying what previously made her an interesting character. In addition, Chapter 388 possibly made this worse. [[spoiler: Fans (for the most part) seem fine with Minerva's past, but think that her character wasn't explored enough to make her sudden change from revenge obsessed to self-loathing for being weak enough to fall to darkness convincing. As a result fans seem to think the character lost everything that made her interesting as a character to begin with.]]
** Name almost any character from a Dark Guild and you'll have people making this claim about them due to never living up to the badass hype Mashima develops for them at the start of their story arcs.

* In ''Anime/Danganronpa3'', a lot of people complain about this towards the BigBad of the franchise who was supposed to be portrayed as a ManipulativeBastard and a DarkMessiah. However, after it was revealed that [[spoiler:the Remnants of Despair fell into despair via brainwashing]], a lot of people went on to believe this. [[spoiler:She makes up for it slightly by talking Juzo down and leading Nanami and Class 77 - B into inescapable traps, but she still uses the brainwashing in the Class' case.]]
* ''Anime/KillLaKill'': Tsumugu was a BadassNormal in his first appearance, being able to defeat and subdue the Life Fiber-empowered Ryuko mostly through strategy. In the following episodes he became more and more useless, not being able to defeat anybody even with the use of superior technology, until he barely had any screen time or lines in the final episodes.

* For the first three decades of publication history, the ComicBook/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} was a physically unstoppable villain empowered by the deity Cyttorak. Some of the notable feats include withstanding [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor's]] "godforce" unharmed, an attack that was earlier shown capable of severely injuring [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]]. Then during ComicBook/{{Onslaught}} the Juggernaut gets a taste of TheWorfEffect, as he is knocked clean across two states and ends up comatose for several days just to show how badass Onslaught is. [[RedemptionDemotion Things went further downhill as Chuck Austen wrote him as part of the]] Comicbook/XMen. Juggernaut, who before had been capable of going for weeks if not years without air, food, or water, can suddenly drown in Austen's first story featuring him. There was absolutely no explanation for why the Juggernaut was suddenly very stoppable, and later authors have scrambled for a {{Retcon}} to explain that. The latest line comes from ''Comicbook/FearItself: The Worthy'', which says that Juggernaut's power goes "up and down on Cyttorak's whim". That is something that has never happened before, even when the Juggernaut went dimension-hopping with Comicbook/DoctorStrange and tried to kill Cyttorak when coming face to face with him.[[note]]Though in the latter case Cyttorak might've just been [[VillainRespect impressed enough with Juggy having the balls to fight him]] to not punish him with a depower.[[/note]] Or when the Juggernaut screwed up a bet between Cyttorak and other deities in The Eighth Day, he was confirmed to still possess unstoppable strength from Cyttorak's enchantments in the follow-up story The Ninth Day.

* Happens on the cosmic scale as well, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] and the Celestials have lost A LOT of their aura of invincibility over the decades. Galactus gets trussed up like a turkey and used as fuel for a bomb in ComicBook/{{Annihilation}} and in ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' was not only killed by the story's BigBad but ''hollowed out and used as the Big Bad's fortress''. Meanwhile Celestials have died from being eaten from the inside out by Many-Angled Ones during Annihilation and space bugs in the ComicBook/TheAvengers 2018 edition, Celestials have also died from a single chop done by Thor's [[ComicBook/UncannyAvengers cursed axe]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]] was even allowed to kill one OFFSCREEN. The cosmic hero [[Characters/{{Warlock}} Adam Warlock]] has degenerated from the Marvel U's [[MessianicArchetype version of Jesus]] to just another space guy with a SuperpoweredEvilSide, and [[Franchise/XMen Gladiator]] has fallen from the preeminent SupermanSubstitute of Marvel to one of the patron saints of TheWorfEffect.

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' in a lot of crossovers or being a RoguesGalleryTransplant partly for publicity but also his villains fell from grace a while ago. Notable during the Daniel Way run where Deadpool took care of almost all of them without healing factor with ridiculous ease (particularly Slayback and T-Ray, the former giving Deadpool a mental breakdown when he saw him and the latter being his nemesis for a long time, being blown up despite healing factors as good as Deadpool's).

* [[EnfanteTerrible Louise]] isn't nearly as courageous in ''WesternAnimation/TheBobsBurgersMovie'' as she is in [[WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers the show]], with an entire arc about needing to face her fears and become braver. When Chloe calls her a baby, Louise's response is to mope about it, when the Louise from the earlier seasons would have likely concocted an elaborate revenge plan (such as in "Ear-sy Rider", where she tried to have a biker gang cut off Logan Bush's ears after the latter stole her hat).

* This happens to the hitman Vincent in ''Film/{{Collateral}}''. He goes through most of the movie as a cold blooded killer who shoots down enemies in seconds. When it comes time for the climax, [[spoiler:he is gunned down by the cabbie hero who had never picked up a gun in his life]]. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d after a fashion and probably justified: [[spoiler:His last words are [[TemptingFate to taunt the hero with how much better at this stuff he is]].]]

** Miles "Tails" Prower, Sonic's right-hand man. In the Classic games he was a standard TagalongKid {{Sidekick}} but he could definitely keep up with Sonic and was just as capable as him taking on Eggman. In the [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Adventure]] [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 series]] he undergoes major CharacterDevelopment to stop relying on Sonic to always have his back and the result is him beating Eggman and saving Station Square by himself, and then going on to come up with a clever plan to disable one of the most dangerous superweapons in the Sonic universe. Nowadays he hardly fights and is more than content with just standing on the sidelines while Sonic handles all of the work; tellingly he's easily frightened by some Nightmares in ''Unleashed'' when he's done far greater feats in the past. What's more, in ''Sonic Adventure'' he's fully capable of defeating the dark god Chaos after it's already absorbed four Chaos Emeralds, but in ''Sonic Forces'', he is utterly terrified of its most basic form. This actually discussed in ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' as [[spoiler:Tails comes to realize that being in Sonic's shadow negated those awesome moments and caused him to regress and he vows to step out and become a stronger person]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** An InUniverse example occurs in one episode where a TV character who Homer shares his name with is downgraded from competent badass to blithering idiot, much to Homer's dismay.
** Skinner. Early on his characterization revolves heavily around the fact that he's a veteran. He's seen being the {{Determinator}} NonGivingUpSchoolGuy pursuing Bart. He also intimidates and then beats up two lawyers sent by Disney to close a fair at the school. Modern day Skinner is mostly defined by how he's bossed around by [[MyBelovedSmother his mom]], and his boring outlook on life.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** Stewie started the series [[EnfantTerrible as an aggressive, psychotic, evil genius plotting to take over the world and kill his mother]], but [[UnCanceled by the fourth season]], he became much more [[AmbiguouslyGay effeminate]], petty, [[PingPongNaivete occasionally overly naive]], and immature, seemingly abandoning his evil ways. Now his evil-ness is only occasionally mentioned, usually for a quick joke. Though this is unlike most examples, as this was probably because they didn't think it would be funny for much longer (on the other hand, many fans think that reducing him to a walking gay joke is even ''less'' funny.) The two-parter "Stewie Kills Lois"/"Lois Kills Stewie" addresses this FailureIsTheOnlyOption issue. The ending reveals most of it was [[spoiler:a virtual reality simulation he was viewing to see what things would be like if he ''did'' decide to commit himself to his ambitions right now. It turns out that though he ''could'' pull off world domination, in the end he'd be killed]]. (There's some funny LampshadeHanging with Brian's comments on this story thus being a big tease.)
** Joe Swanson has also suffered from this. In the beginning, while the show occasionally made jokes about his disability, he was a competent police officer who could his own in a fight [[HandicappedBadass despite being handicapped]]. After the show was uncancelled, while he still has moments of badassery, he is made fun of for his disability all the time and is often seen as being weak for it, to the point where the show outright said he wore diapers!
* Gorgonzola from ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}''. At the beginning, he was more sarcastic and intimidating (to Chowder at least). Now he's a bit of a punching bag for the other characters, frequently getting his ass handed to him. People have said this happened when his master, Stilton, was introduced. To be fair, he wasn't seen in many episodes before that point.
* Hoss Delgado and Grim from ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' fit this trope. Grim's first appearance in the first episode shows him as a terrifying spirit that collects people when it's their time to die. Starting in his very next appearance, he obeys the every command of Billy and Mandy, and things only get worse from then on. Hoss is more or less a competent badass in his first appearance, but in the TV spin-off ''Underfist'', he lives with his mom in a trailer, is forced to work with several monsters just because Mandy says so, and he also gets beaten up possibly more than any other character in the story. He even admits that he has been wetting his bed for the last thirty years and a marshmallow bunny is the reason he hates monsters so much. A far cry from what he once was.
* The animated incarnation of WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}} goes through this something awful. In the Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer cartoons, he's truly [[NighInvulnerability Nigh-Invulnerable]] like his comic strip counterpart, to the point where bullets will ''bounce off him'' (''without having eaten spinach first''). By the time Creator/FamousStudios starts making the cartoons, Popeye requires spinach to perform even the most mundane feats of strength.
* Skeletor from ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', a classic two-dimensional villain with no previous redeeming qualities whatsoever, abruptly turns good for no apparent reason other than "the Spirit of Christmas" in the ''He-Man and [[WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower She-Ra]] Holiday Special''. This had no bearing on later evil; it was just something the eighties did, apparently. Three words: Staff Child Psychologist.

* Valtor (or Baltor, depending on the version you get), from season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', was a magnitude better BigBad than his ridiculous predecessor Lord Darkar. Suave, fascinating, cool, powerful, and when he didn't use MindControl for his deeds, he fought the heroines in first person (also since the Trix were [[VillainDecay quite ineffective]]). He blinded Layla, transformed Faragonda into a tree, made Tecna disappear in a black hole - even if all these events were resolved after a few episodes, they showed he was serious menace. At some point, the authors must have realized he was ''too'' powerful, and the fairies had to defeat him sooner or later; so, in the last episodes he became an increasingly stupid cardboard villain and, finally, his handsome appearance was revealed to be the disguise of his true form, a big ugly demon. One of the many [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot wasted opportunities]] of season 3.
* Skulker in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' (Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter) is able to take down nearly any ghostly beast--big or small--without any fear. He hunts for sports and Danny Phantom is his only real challenge; otherwise, he's competent. Then by the last season, in one episode, it's spurred away: his motivation to hunt Danny is just to impress his one-time girlfriend (who points out how horrible he does said job despite no evidence of such), and despite handling a giant ghost monster in the same episode, is unable to fight back against a ''regular teeny bird!'' A later episode had him running away from mutant unicorns instead of combating. Other episodes seem to depict him back to his badass self, but they're often minor.
* Brother Blood of ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'' is introduced as the suave, charismatic headmaster of the HIVE ([[AcademyOfEvil a supervillain training center]]) using a combination of MindControl and force of personality to make his "students" fanatically loyal and takes his defeat in stride. In his next appearance, he's making sloppy mistakes, cornball puns, and goes into petulant rages at the top of a hat- and now it seems he's also so cruel that no one would willingly work for him ''without'' MindControl. Oddly, he also got to show off new powers and his amazing martial arts skills, so his fighting ability went ''up'' even as his competence and cool factor went ''down''.

* Rampage of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', who starts out as a psychotic MightyGlacier who Megatron barely keeps under control, due to being (among other things) unkillable. He is progressively nerfed after this, becoming one of the Predacon troops (if still psychotic) and gets knocked around by [[TheLancer Depth Charge]]. He even loses his invincibility in the last episode for no apparent reason. That could have something to do with the Energon blades/spikes they were using still being in their raw, unstable state.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Brock Samson's love interest accuses him of going through this when he displays uncharacteristic interest in taking care of the kids rather than just guarding them. He is, however, still plenty badass.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** Duncan started out as a bad boy {{jerkass}} from juvie who was able to intimidate most of the other campers. Come the next two seasons, possibly due to a RelationshipUpgrade with [[spoiler:Courtney]], he starts to lose the intimidating aspect of him and occasionally gets his ass handed to him by some of the other campers. Two of which happen to Harold and Cody, the two nerdiest characters in the show. Although Duncan does get some of his badassery back late Season 3, when he teams up with [[BigBad Alejandro]] and starts acting like a ManipulativeBastard...but he fails at even that in the end. Season 5 builds an entire subplot around Duncan's badass decay. After being placed on the Heroic Hamsters team, he gradually gets "sucked into their niceness" and becomes a huge sweetheart, to his horror and everyone else's amusement. His desperation to prove that he is still bad leads to him [[spoiler:blowing up Chris' cottage, resulting in his subsequent arrest and removal from the competition]]. At least his badass nature has been restored.
** Scott started off as a devious, street-smart badass who [[LackofEmpathy viewed all of the contestants as objects]] to the point that he seemed like a genuine [[TheSociopath sociopath]]. A few episodes into season five, his tendency to be BookDumb was Flanderized into [[TooDumbToLive full-blown idiocy]], with all of his evil traits totally forgotten. Oddly enough, like Duncan, none of this happened until [[spoiler:he got a crush on]] Courtney.
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'':
** General Grievous went from being the [[TheJuggernaut unstoppably]] badass [[HeroKiller Jedi killer]] introduced in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' to the moderately badass DirtyCoward he was in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. He tries to make up for it with becoming a CombatPragmatist instead, with more-or-less success.
** Savage Opress. During the Nightsisters and Brothers arc, he is initially capable of fighting Obi-Wan and Anakin at the same time, and even choking Dooku and Ventress in a moment of blind rage. In his subsequent appearances, Savage is usually no match for Obi-Wan or Maul, he is even humiliated by Obi-Wan despite having the help of his brother.
* Plankton from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' went from a menacing threat that always came close to getting the Krabby Patty formula (and actually succeeds in TheMovie) to an IneffectualSympatheticVillain in the later seasons. At least part of this however is PlayedForLaughs as a result of amping up the negative qualities of the "heroes", especially his ArchEnemy Mr. Krabs, often conveying them as EvilerThanThou (or at least more insufferable) to the point Plankton himself seems placid and down to earth.

* Starscream of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', so very, very much. In the pilot, he was a genuinely frightening, comparatively cool-headed bastardly second in command unrivaled by any other Starscream to date [[spoiler:as Cliffjumper found out]]. Later episodes have seen him as a [[DirtyCoward sniveling coward]] whose fighting style is roughly 90% cheap shots and beating up badly weakened opponents, when he's not getting his ass kicked. Also, he's consistently upstaged and humiliated by Airachnid, and ruined in "Rock Bottom". Though to be fair [[spoiler:he does pretty well in the second half of "Partners," the episode detailing his desertion. He plays Arcee so she doesn't consider him a threat before beating the scrap out of her. Too bad for him she got a HeroicSecondWind.]] Cementing his downfall, seasons 2 and 3 rather consistently portray him as bumbling comic relief. Although he does get very brief moments to shine, when RuleOfCool calls for it, these happen rarely and he tends to get outdone quickly. In one episode, even his own men call him out briefly on his cowardly attitude.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': The seventy-year gap between its predecessor ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and ''Korra'''s present-day has seen [[TheOrder The Order of the White Lotus]] change from a tight-knit elite group of {{Old Master}}s to a much more diluted HeroSecretService charged with protecting Avatar Korra, who spends much of her time chafing under their limits and conspiring ways to DitchTheBodyguards, often [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy successfully]]. It ''is'', however, justified in that those {{Old Master}}s are implied to be dead and that Korra is getting assistance in evading them from {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s Katara and Tenzin. Plus, the guys from the original series were the leaders of the White Lotus, while in ''Korra'' we mostly see the lower-tier members. This is even acknowledged in Book 3 by the villains.
* It says something when you were more badass as a ''baby'' than you are after hitting puberty, as is the case with Tommy Pickles of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''. With a [[BadassCreed declaration of]] [[CatchPhrase "A baby's got to do what a baby's got to do,"]] even when he was ''aware'' [[TheFool of the danger]] such as dealing with [[TheDreaded "The Junkfood Kid,"]] he never failed to pull out his trusty screwdriver and lead [[TrueCompanions his fellow babies]] to fun and adventure. Then came ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' where he's now just another kid with crippling fears, awkwardness and just being well, [[BroughtDownToNormal normal.]] Of course Tommy is no longer protected by AchievementsInIgnorance and ImprobableInfantSurvival.

* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': The title character started out with about average intelligence, and was a skilled enough martial artist to subdue a crocodile with his bare hands. While he was overconfident, reckless and socially inept, he was far from a complete punching bag. But in later seasons, he degenerated into a stupid, sexist, immature loser meathead who got repeatedly humiliated by six year olds. The final season, however, would make efforts to return him to his earlier characterization, undoing some of the decay he suffered.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'':
** Scrooge [=McDuck=] was once the poster child for CoolOldGuy, a worldwide adventerer who tackled any danger in both the [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse original comics]] and the [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 first cartoon]]. Even in the reboot series in the pilot he notably outsmarted a ghost, singlehandedly took on a dragon and led the family through Atlantis. After that, thanks to a combination of the show's DenserAndWackier tone and the focus shifting to the children characters, he's mainly relegated to either sitting out while everyone else handles the adventure or constantly [[DistressedDude needing to be rescued]] by the kids. Occasionally a moment comes up that shows he still has his old skills, but they occur much more sparingly here.
** In the original show, [[AcePilot Launchpad McQuack]] is one of the most dangerous members of the cast besides Scrooge himself. During the first season alone, he saves the triplets from hostile aliens, pulls off a [[BeyondTheImpossible supposedly impossible]] manuever to rescue Scrooge during an aerial battle with the Beagle Boys, and successfully substitutes for a spy. The reboot version gets sidelined or becomes useless in a fight quite a bit more frequently, especially because he's also much ditzier.
* Nala in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'', probably in order to make the protagonists look better. She fought off a group of hyenas easily in the first film, but needed her son Kion to save her from three hyenas in the show.
* ''WesternAnimation/DogCity'': Rosie O'Gravy, dedicated cop and a true badass in her own right, suffered from this horribly as she got downsized into starring in segments featuring her niece Dot, cutting her out of the major stories.

* As ScienceMarchesOn and we understand dinosaurs better, the popular image of dinosaurs as badass giant draconic lizards with mighty roars decays in favor of what can be summed up as giant flightless birds. While many of them were still efficient and deadly predators in their own right, somehow, we doubt ''Film/JurassicPark'' would have been as memorable if its Velociraptors were silent animals with average animal intelligence covered in colorful feathers.