History Main / HighHopesZeroTalent

* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', Olga Marie Animusphere is a top-class Magus and the heir of the prestigious Chaldea Security Organization. Unfortunately, she has zero ability to become a Master and summon her own Servant, to her great dismay. It's strongly implied her [[{{Jerkass}} treatment]] of the protagonist is due to jealousy over this since the protagonist is a nobody who was recruited into Chaldea who nonetheless has the potential to be the Master that she lacks.

* In the ''[[Fanfic/AfterTheJungleSeries After the Jungle]]''-series by [[Creator/Flowerprincess11 Flower princess11]], Olga Sherman (née Pataki) and Summer Mitchell (the mean girl from the episode "Summer Love") prove to be this when it comes to acting -- and Olga's husband Patrick proves to be this when it comes to becoming a rock star. To go into greater detail:
** Olga -- About five years after graduating college, Olga decided to pursue a career as an actress (specifically for theater), even moving to New York City at one point to audition for Broadway. At some point during this, Olga met Patrick, whom she ended up marrying after only six months of dating. Unfortunately, Patrick fails to make it big as a rock star while Olga fails to make it big as an actress, with the few roles that she is able to get being in (very) off-Broadway style productions. The couple eventually moves back to Olga's old hometown of Hillwood and are forced to find other jobs to help support themselves and their two kids Logan and Lisa -- Olga goes back to working as a schoolteacher (eventually becoming a 5th-grade teacher at P.S. 118) while Patrick has trouble holding down a job and is often switching employment, leaving Olga as the sole breadwinner for their family at times (which she clearly resents). However, even by the time that Olga and Patrick are well into their 40s[[note]]And at this point, Logan and Lisa are both in middle school while Andy and Megan are a 4th-grader and a Kindergartener, respectively, at P.S. 118 while Henry's now a year old[[/note]], they still have "delusions" (as Helga calls it) of becoming an actress and a rock star, respectively.
** Summer -- After graduating high school, she moved out to Los Angeles, California to pursue acting for movies and TV shows. Unfortunately, Summer got rejected from most places and all her "acting career" ends up amounting to is a series of cheesy commercials and the leading role in a horror B-movie that has long since faded into obscurity by the time Summer's in her mid to late-30s. But unlike Olga, Summer has clearly given up any hope to become an actress.

* The monk Kirill in Film/AndreiRublev aspires to be a great icon painter, but lacks artistic ability. When this is pointed out to him, he flies into a rage, curses his fellow monks, and leaves the monastery in a fit.

* Angel in the ''Literature/CharlieParkerSeries'', a thief with enormous technical skills, but lacking the attention to detail to be a good thief. One particularly memorable flashback shows him walking into a room full of valuable - and portable - works of art, and attempting to steal the television. However, his lockpicking skills make him useful to the NYPD, which winds up saving his life and earning him a lifelong friend.

** Homer embraces this trope in one episode where he realizes he's officially passed the halfway point of the average male lifespan, and becomes despondent that he hasn't accomplished anything with his life (directly ignoring, and in one case disregarding, all the things he HAS accomplished over the course of the show, such as his tour with The Smashing Pumpkins, his Grammy win, and his journey into space). After Lisa inspires him to idolize UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison, Homer becomes obsessed with creating just as many inventions as he did, but his "career" is a dismal flop, as his best work ends up being a makeup shotgun (which is used to literally blast women in the face with makeup), a loud, obnoxious "Everything Is Okay" alarm, an electric hammer, and a combination recliner/toilet.
** In another episode, Lisa meets a boy named Lucas who is determined to be a competitive eater. He puts a lot of thought on his persona, but can't master the part of actually eating food quickly.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' has ButtMonkey Neville Longbottom. When it comes to actually casting spells, he's just not very good. However, the skilled-in-other-areas aspect applies to Neville as well, as he's a herbology prodigy and a major {{Determinator}}. In the end, most of his victories turn out to be [[PillarsOfMoralCharacter moral]] or [[CombatPragmatist physical]], making him one of the few people to bring fists to a magic fight and still win.
** However it is shown that he has amazing talent in Defense Against the dark arts. On top of that, he had a hand-me-down wand that was incompatible with him. During the fifth book when Bellatrix Lestrange and several death eaters are on the loose he wants to learn defensive spells and Harry obliges not just him but whomever wants to learn. When the Expelliarmus spell came up only the BrainyBrunette Hermione Granger mastered the spell faster than Neville did.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Penny spends most of the series run as an aspiring actress while working as a waitress as a day job. Problem is, while she's certainly pretty and her acting is shown to be...okay, that's not even close to being enough, and it's been shown several times that she's just one among thousands with the same description. As such, her "career" never amounts to more than a hemorrhoid commercial and a topless shower scene in a low-budget horror movie. She eventually gives up acting and becomes a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company to much greater success, but she admits that the only thing she actually likes about the job is the high pay.

* Ango Natsume from ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'' turns out to be this. Having long entered into writing competitions with no success, he eventually attracted the attention of some crooked editors who knew full well he was no good as a writer but wanted to profit off his being the grandson of a famous writer. Even though he overheard his editors talking about exploiting him, [[AcquiredSituationalNarcissism the success went to his head and he became the Monarch of Vanity]].

* Regina Darkblood from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'': She's an utter failure as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a traditional rampaging demon]]. (Her aunt, Kria Soulstealer, spells out why [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2044.php here]]). And she lacks the self-awareness to actually work on her shortcomings. But it turns out she has a knowledge of fashion and architectural history and lore (anything involving styles, really) that she's practically an urban anthropologist. Which she considers useless, no matter how legitimately impressed people are by her knowledge. And she doesn't actually ''want'' to rampage. Much like Rimmer in the Live-Action TV section, she thinks she has to because of familial expectations and fear of being disowned if she doesn't.[[note]]Sadly, from what we've seen of her parents - both [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] {{jerkass}}es - she's probably right in her fears[[/note]]

* Nigel Planter, the Franchise/HarryPotter {{Expy}} in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', is explicitly mentioned to have practically no magic talent whatsoever despite ''supposedly'' being the orphan of two famous wizards, to the point of being the worst student in the magic school he is enrolled in. It is later discovered that this because his parents were not wizards at all: They were the owners of a famous peanut company (it's in the name) and Lord Moldy Butt (*'''''[[RunningGag CRASH!]]'''''*) was actually an estate broker trying to track him down and pass on his inheritance.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', one of Dale Gribble's dreams is to learn basket weaving and has the opportunity to on a "vocation vacation". He's absolutely horrible at it, which causes him a lot of angst. Things get worse when Hank's handiness and attention to detail put him top of the class, driving Dale into a [[GreenEyedMonster jealous rage.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' - Princess Celestia's fillyhood dream was to be in plays. When Twilight is putting on a play dramatising the first time Celestia raised the sun, she casts the princess to play herself. It turns out that she has approximately zero talent on the stage, despite all the classes she takes to make up for it.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Lisa meets a boy named Lucas who is determined to be a competitive eater. He puts a lot of thought on his persona, but can't master the part of actually eating food quickly.
* Squidward in ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' fashions himself as a great artist and musician. But his art is unremarkable and are merely [[ShrineToSelf images of himself]]. And his music is dreadful and sounds like a dying animal.
* The Pulverizer in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' wants to be a ninja like the turtles, but he is terrible at it, and can't make a simple move right. He decides to let himself get doused in mutagen hoping to be mutant like the turtles; instead, he becomes a shapeless blob monster.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian has ultimately become this in the [[UnCanceled post-cancellation]] episodes (particularly the later ones), wishing desperately to be seen as an intellectual and a talented writer -- but so far, the closest he's ever come to any actual "success" (where he was actually trying to be genuinely artistic) are ''Faster Than the Speed of Love'' (his novel)[[note]]It was universally panned by literary critics and didn't even sell a single copy[[/note]], ''A Passing Fancy'' (his play)[[note]]It was a hit in Quahog but was panned by theater critics and was widely mocked by writers with '''actual''' talent[[/note]], and his run as a staff writer on the InUniverse Creator/DisneyChannel-series ''Parent Boppers''[[note]]It was a very short run and he only got the job because his estranged son Dylan was the lead actor on the show -- Brian was ultimately fired because he kept trying to add subjects that were just too grim and/or "adult" for a kids' show[[/note]]. Most of Brian's work also tends to contain a lot of plagiarism, and even that's typically done ''very'' poorly. Ironically, Brian's characterization in the pre-cancellation episodes (and, to a lesser extent, the early post-cancellation episodes) was pretty much the exact opposite of how he is nowadays -- in those episodes, Brian was a genuinely sophisticated intellectual, an avid reader, ''and'' a talented singer (to name just a few things). But he never had any writing aspirations (at least not to the same extent as he does in the post-cancellation episodes).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Homer embraces this trope in one episode where he realises he's officially passed the halfway point of the average male lifespan, and becomes despondent that he hasn't accomplished anything with his life (directly ignoring, and in one case disregarding, all the things he HAS accomplished over the course of the show, such as his tour with The Smashing Pumpkins, his Grammy win, and his journey into space). After Lisa inspires him to idolize UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison, Homer becomes obsessed with creating just as many inventions as he did, but his "career" is a dismal flop, as his best work ends up being a makeup shotgun (which is used to literally blast women in the face with makeup), a loud, obnoxious "Everything Is Okay" alarm, an electric hammer, and a combination recliner/toilet.

* ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'': Louise [[OverlyLongName Francoise Le Blanc de La Valiere]] "[[MaliciousMisnaming the Zero]]" and everyone else initially thought she was this. Louise desperately desires to become a powerful mage worthy of [[TheMagocracy the noble Valliere family]] and [[TheAce her mother]], but every spell she casts blows up in her face, and she was only saved from expulsion when she summons an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent as her familiar. Eventually subverted when [[spoiler: she is revealed to be a user of a powerful and lost type of magic]], and her success rate with some of the more mundane spells goes up later on.

** [[JerkAss Shinji Matou]] is the latest heir from a long line of mages, but the Matou family magic capacity has been [[GenerationalMagicDecline declining with each generation]] until we reach Shinji, who [[MuggleBornOfMages wasn't born with any magic circuits, and therefore magical ability, at all]]. His wish upon the Holy Grail is to become a capable magus with magic circuits, and his [[TheResenter resentment]] of his [[spoiler: magically potent adopted sister [[StepfordSmiler Sakura]] for being [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor selected heir]] of the [[BodyHorror Matou magecraft]] fuels his horrifically abusive treatment of her]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', Mike Wazowski's dream is to become a scarer and despite being very well-read on the subject is stated to lack natural talent (IE, children find him more funny/cute than scary). While he is unable to be a scarer and his and Sully's antics get them in trouble, the two never lose sight of their goals. By the time of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', they've gone from mail clerks in the business to being the best scaring team through Mike's brains and Sully's talent and fear. [[spoiler: Furthermore, he helps discover that laughter is ten times more powerful than screams and is able to apply his wit and appearance in making kids laugh]].

* In ''Film/CitizenKane'', Susan Alexander, second wife of Charles Foster Kane, gets put out on a huge opera debut by her husband. While her voice may be pleasant for something singing in the shower, she is not cut out for opera in any way[[note]]Specifically she has a lower vocal range but [[VocalRangeExceeded is cast out of her depth in a soprano part]].[[/note]]. Her vocal teacher loudly proclaims she is unteachable and more or less [[FacePalm facepalms]] every time she sings. [[SmallNameBigEgo Kane]] won't listen to Susan, the instructor, or every newspaper critic in America and insists that she keep going on stage.\\
Creator/OrsonWelles later regretted this part of the film, as people assumed she was based on screen actress and William Randolph Hearst's paramour Creator/MarionDavies, who Welles (and many others) felt was actually a fairly talented actress and a nice person. Marion Davies was well-suited to romantic comedies -- unfortunately, Hearst saw her as the second coming of Mary Pickford and kept putting her in lavish, sentimental dramas that didn't take advantage of her talents.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian has ultimately become this in the [[UnCanceled post-cancellation]] episodes (particularly the later ones), wishing desperately to be seen as an intellectual and a talented writer -- but so far, the closest he's ever come to any actual "success" (where he was actually trying to genuinely artistic) are ''Faster Than the Speed of Love'' (his novel)[[note]]It was universally panned by literary critics and didn't even sell a single copy[[/note]], ''A Passing Fancy'' (his play)[[note]]It was a hit in Quahog but was panned by theater critics as well as widely mocked by writers with '''actual''' talent[[/note]], and his run as a staff writer on the InUniverse Creator/DisneyChannel-series ''Parent Boppers''[[note]]It was a very short run and he only got the job because his estranged son Dylan was the lead actor on the show -- Brian was ultimately fired because he kept trying to add subjects that were just too grim and/or "adult" for a kids' show[[/note]]. Most of Brian's work also tends to contain a lot of plagiarism, but even that's typically done ''very'' poorly. Ironically, Brian's characterization in the pre-cancellation episodes (and, to a lesser extent, the early post-cancellation episodes) was pretty much the exact opposite of how he is nowadays -- in those episodes, Brian was a genuinely sophisticated intellectual, an avid reader, ''and'' a talented singer (to name just a few things). But he never had any writing aspirations (at least not to the same extent as he does in the post-cancellation episodes).

* Regina Darkblood from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'': She's an utter failure as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a traditional rampaging demon]]. (Her aunt, Kria Soulstealer, spells out why [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2044.php here]]). And she lacks the self-awareness to actually work on her shortcomings. But it turns out she has a knowledge of fashion and architectural history and lore (anything involving styles, really) that she's practically an urban anthropologist. Which she considers useless, no matter how legitimately impressed people are by her knowledge. And she doesn't actually ''want'' to rampage. Much like Rimmer in the Live-Action TV section, she thinks she has to because of familial expectations and fear of being disowned if she doesn't.[[note]]Sadly, from what we've seen of her parents - both [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] {{Jerk Ass}}es - she's probably right in her fears[[/note]]

* Regina Darkblood from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'': She's an utter failure as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a traditional rampaging demon]]. (Her aunt, Kria Soulstealer, spells out why [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2044.php here]]). And she lacks the self-awareness to actually work on her shortcomings. But it turns out she has a knowledge of fashion and architectural history and lore (anything involving styles, really) that she's practically an urban anthropologist. Which she considers useless, no matter how legitimately impressed people are by her knowledge. And she doesn't actually ''want'' to rampage. Much like Rimmer in the Live-Action TV section, she thinks she has to because of familial expectations and fear of being disowned if she doesn't.

* Christian Weston Chandler's great dream in life is to be a famous comic book artist who writes and draws his own property for a major publisher like Creator/ArchieComics, Creator/DarkHorseComics, or what have you. Unfortunately, his magnum opus is ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}''.
* Cherry in WebComic/CherrysCure believes this about herself, and so do most other people.

* In ''Manga/EdensZero'', Rebecca's GoalInLife is to hit one million subscribers on B-Cube (the FictionalCounterpart of Website/YouTube), but she lacks the talent and know-how to make anything beyond amateurish documentaries of whatever random thing catches her interest, resulting in her channel being largely overlooked or mocked by more successful B-Cubers. [[spoiler:This becomes subverted when a TimeSkip showed that Rebecca did eventually became a successful B-Cuber.]]

* In ''Manga/EdensZero'', Rebecca's GoalInLife is to hit one million subscribers on B-Cube (the FictionalCounterpart of Website/YouTube), but she lacks the talent and know-how to make anything beyond amateurish documentaries of whatever random thing catches her interest, resulting in her channel being largely overlooked or mocked by more successful B-Cubers.

* In ''ComicBook/UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'', Peter Parker had to deal with an unwanted fangirl in the form of Sally Avril, who was inspired by Spider-Man to try and become a costumed heroine herself. Unfortunately, not only did she not have the right motivation (she was little more than an adrenaline junkie rather than wanting to fight crime for the good of others), she didn't have any powers, and wasn't even good enough to be a BadassNormal; she was a slightly above-average athletic teenager with a smart friend who wasn't intelligent enough to be a GadgeteerGenius making her gear. As a result, her equipment was almost useless, her combat skills laughable, and Peter let her get her ass kicked by a villain just so she'd understand how outclassed she was. To be fair, this did make her give up the mask... only to die in a car crash while trying to emulate Peters other job of taking photos of superhero fights, just so she could keep getting the same rush.

* In ''ComicBook/UntoldTalesOfSpiderMan'', Peter Parker had to deal with an unwanted fangirl in the form of Sally Avril, who was inspired by Spider-Man to try and become a costumed heroine herself. Unfortunately, she simply didn't have the talent for it, and eventually got herself killed when she insisted on continuing despite Spidey's repeated attempts to talk her out of doing it.

* Pretty much everyone in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', but Dee is probably the most serial offender in terms of her desire to be a big star while never showing an inkling of the talent. One ImagineSpot had her going into witness protection and so flawlessly playing the part of a butler that she got to play herself in a TV series about her own witness protection period, and she spun that into being the star of an action film that grossed 900 million in presales alone. In reality, her biggest casting call was when she was an extra, playing a dead body - and she ''still'' managed to ruin multiple takes and got fired due to overacting and being a PrimaDonna.

->"I'm bad, but at least I like it...!"

--->'''Saten''': I was so tired of not having any power. And finally it didn’t matter anymore what lengths I had to go to to get it.

** Index mentions that [[FunctionalMagic magic]] was developed in the distant past by those who wanted to defy this trope and [[IJustWantToBeSpecial have powers like those whom naturally had them]], such as Gemstones (espers who've had their abilities from birth) and Saints (those naturally closer in nature to God).
* In ''Anime/AngelBeats'', Yui is this in all of her pursuits. She hopes to replace Iwasawa as the guitarist for the band Girls Dead Monster, but can't sing or play nearly as well as Iwasawa, especially when she tries to do both at once. When she tries to do a German suplex, she's only able to succeed after a lot of coaching and with the target's cooperation. She only manages to dribble a soccer ball past five people and score a goal by cheating and receiving help from Otonashi and Angel. Even after hours of hitting balls, she's unable to hit a single home run, but decides that spending all that time trying was worthwhile.

* In ''Anime/RuneSoldierLouie'', the eponymous character a mage in training, who longs for adventure. The problem is, he sucks at spellcasting because [[BookDumb he doesn't keep up with his studies]]; preferring to solve his problems [[GoodOldFisticuffs with his fists]] instead. Except he's not very good at that either, since he hasn't had any formal training and usually [[LeeroyJenkins just rushes in without thinking.]] Which is what creates the friction between him and [[StopHavingFunGuys Jeanie.]]

** Roger is even worse, as any hobbies he takes up will end in an EpicFail. This best shown in his love of golf and chess where loses every time (in one strip before he'd even set up the board due to Jason stating every move Roger would make).
-->'''Roger:''' Methinks my chess game has gotten a little too predictable.

* In ''Fanfic/WhereTalentGoesToDie'', the protagonist, Kaori Miura, had once hoped to become an author like her idol, Sae Edogawa, but was told to give up on it and focus on her studies since she didn't have the talent necessary. Edogawa also had a friend who wanted to be an author just like her, but after being told one too many times that she wasn't quite good enough, [[CantTakeCriticism her friend snapped]] and the two parted on bad terms.
* In the ''[[Fanfic/AfterTheJungleSeries After the Jungle]]''-series by [[Creator/Flowerprincess11 Flower princess11]], Olga Sherman (née Pataki) and Summer Mitchell (the mean girl from the episode, "Summer Love") prove to be this when it comes to acting--and Olga's husband, Patrick, proves to be this when it comes to becoming a rock star. To go into greater detail:
** Olga -- About five years after graduating college, Olga decided to pursue a career as actress (specifically for theater), even moving to New York City at one point to audition for Broadway. At some point during this, Olga met Patrick, whom she ended up marrying after only six months of dating. Unfortunately, Patrick fails to make it big as a rock star while Olga fails to make it big as an actress, with the few roles that she is able to get being in (very) off-Broadway style productions. The couple eventually moves back to Olga's old hometown of Hillwood and are forced to find other jobs to help support themselves and their two kids, Logan and Lisa--Olga goes back to working as a schoolteacher (eventually becoming a 5th-grade teacher at P.S. 118) while Patrick has trouble holding down a job and is often switching employment, leaving Olga as the sole breadwinner for their family at times (which she clearly resents). However, even by the time that Olga and Patrick are well into their 40s[[note]]And at this point, Logan and Lisa are both in middle school while Andy and Megan are a 4th-grader and a Kindergartener, respectively, at P.S. 118 while Henry's now a year old[[/note]], they still have "delusions" (as Helga calls it) of becoming an actress and a rock star, respectively.
** Summer -- After graduating high school, she moved out to Los Angeles, California to pursue acting for movies and TV-shows. Unfortunately, Summer got rejected from most places and all her "acting career" ends up amounting to is a series of cheesy commercials and the leading role in a horror B-movie that has long since faded into obscurity by the time Summer's in her mid to late-30s. But unlike Olga, Summer has clearly given up any hope to become an actress.

* The TropeCodifier is Rincewind of the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series. Rincewind does have many actual skills (he's something of an {{Omniglot}}, for starters; he can scream for mercy in nineteen languages, and just scream in another forty-four) and he seems to be a reasonably competent librarian (a job one would think would be ideal for someone as [[DirtyCoward risk-adverse]] as Rincewind), but he dreams of being a real wizard. Unfortunately for him, he is [[ThisLoserIsYou "a natural wizard in the same way fish are natural mountaineers."]] He does have most of the traits of a wizard, including ones that are, well, magical (like seeing the Eighth Colour). The only ones he doesn't seem to have are the ability to ''do'' magic, and knowledge of when he is to die (and even ''Death'' doesn't know when Rincewind is to die, so that might not be a failure on his wizardiness per se). Usually wizards (and witches) learn when they're going to die a week or so in advance (barring accidents). But Rincewind ''assumes'' he's going to die on a daily basis, so the actual ''knowledge'' probably wouldn't register as anything different.

** However it is shown that he has amazing talent in Defense Against the dark arts. On top of that he had a hand me down wand that was incompatible with him. During the fifth book when Bellatrix Lestrange and several death eaters are on the loose he wants to learn defensive spells and Harry obliges not just him but whomever wants to learn. When the Expelliarmus spell came up only the BrainyBrunette Hermione Granger mastered the spell faster than Neville did.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Penny spends most of the series run as an aspiring actress while working as a waitress as a day-job. Problem is, while she's certainly pretty and her acting is shown to be...okay, that's not even close to being enough, and it's been shown several times that she's just one among thousands with the same description. As such, her "career" never amounts to more than a hemorroid commercial and a topless shower scene in a low-budget horror movie. She eventually gives up acting and becomes a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company to much greater success, but she admits that the only thing she actually likes about the job is the high pay.

* Ango Natsume from ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'' turns out to be this. Having long entered into writing competitions with no success, he eventually attracted the attention of some crooked editors who knew full well he was no good as a writer, but wanted to profit off his being the grandson of a famous writer. Even though he overheard his editors talking about exploiting him, [[AcquiredSituationalNarcissism the success went to his head and he became the Monarch of Vanity]].

* Regina Darkblood from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'': She's an utter failure as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a traditional rampaging demon]]. (Her aunt, Kria Soulstealer, spells out why [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2044.php here]]). And she lacks the self-awareness to actually work on her shortcomings. But it turns out she has a knowledge of fashion and architectural history and lore (anything involving styles, really) that she's practically an urban anthropologist. Which she considers useless, no matter how legitimately impressed people are by her knowledge. And she doesn't actually ''want'' to rampage. Much like Rimmer in the Live Action TV secion, she thinks she has to because of familial expectations and fear of being disowned if she doesn't.

* Squidward in ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' fashions himself as great artist and musician. But his art is unremarkable and are merely [[ShrineToSelf images of himself]]. And his music is dreadful and sounds like a dying animal.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian has ultimately become this in the [[UnCanceled post-cancellation]] episodes (particularly the later ones), wishing desperately to be seen as an intellectual and a talented writer -- but so far, the closest he's ever come to any actual "success" (where he was actually trying to genuinely artistic) are ''Faster Than the Speed of Love'' (his novel)[[note]]It was universally panned by literary critics and didn't even sell a single copy[[/note]], ''A Passing Fancy'' (his play)[[note]]It was a hit in Quahog but was panned by theater critics as well as widely mocked by writers with '''actual''' talent[[/note]] and his run as a staff writer on the InUniverse Creator/DisneyChannel-series, ''Parent Boppers''[[note]]It was a very short run and he only got the job because his estranged son, Dylan, was the lead actor on the show--Brian was ultimately fired because he kept trying to add subjects that were just too grim and/or "adult" for a kids' show[[/note]]. Most of Brian's work also tends to contain a lot of plagiarism, but even that's typically done ''very'' poorly. Ironically, Brian's characterization in the pre-cancellation episodes (and, to a lesser extent, the early post-cancellation episodes) was pretty much the exact opposite of how he is nowadays--in those episode, Brian was a genuinely sophisticated intellectual, an avid reader ''and'' a talented singer (to name just a few things). But he never had any writing aspirations (at least not to the same extent as he does in the post-cancellation episodes).

* Regina Darkblood from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'': She's an utter failure as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a traditional rampaging demon]]. (Her aunt, Kria Soulstealer, spells out why [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2044.php here]]). And she lacks the self-awareness to actually work on her shortcomings. But it turns out she has a knowledge of fashion and architectural history and lore (anything involving styles, really) that she's practically an urban anthropologist. Which she considers useless, no matter how legitimately impressed people are by her knowledge. And she doesn't actually ''want'' to rampage. She thinks she has because of familial expectations and fear of being disowned if she doesn't.

Bob finds himself among the candidates for his dream occupation. This is something he's wanted his entire life and dreams of becoming the best. Once he starts training at said job, it becomes quickly apparent that Bob... has zero talent for the job.

* A PlayedForDrama example om ''[[Fanfic/AfterTheJungleSeries After the Jungle]]'': Helga's older sister, Olga, tried pursuing a career as an actress about five years after graduating at the top of her class at Bennington College (this was around the time of Helga's freshman or sophomore year of high school)--Olga even quit her job as a teacher in order to do so. However, Olga ultimately fails to make it big as an actress and, after eventually moving back to Hillwood, is forced to go back to working as a teacher to help support her family (like Helga, Olga eventually got married and had children)--she ultimately becomes a 5th-grade teacher at P.S. 118.
** However, even by the time Olga's kids are in middle school[[note]]And at this point in life, Olga's well into her 40s while Helga's in her mid-30s and Helga's two oldest children are both students at the elementary school where Olga teaches at (Andy, Helga's oldest son/child, is a 4th-grader while Megan, Helga's middle child/only daughter, is a Kindergartener).[[/note]], she absolutely refuses to give up on her dream on being an actress, convinced that she's a star just waiting to be discovering--she even makes her family take periodic trips to New York City so she can audition for roles on Broadway. However, it's obvious to everyone around her that Olga will never achieve her dream of an actress, and it's clear that her "determination" has taken it's toll on not just her, but her family as well (particularly Olga's parents, Olga's husband and Olga's children).

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', Mike Wazowski's dream is to become a scarer and despite being very well-read on the subject is stated to lack natural talent (IE, children find him more funny/cute than scary). While he is unable to be a scarer and his and Sully's antics get them in trouble, the two never lose sight of their goals. By the time of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc', they've gone from mail clerks in the business to being the best scaring team through Mike's brains and Sully's talent and fear. [[spoiler: Furthermore, he helps discover that laughter is ten times more powerful than screams and is able to apply his wit and appearance in making kids laugh]].

* Regina Darkblood from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'': She's an utter failure as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a traditional rampaging demon]]. (Her aunt, Kria Soulstealer, spells out why [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2044.php here]]). And she lacks the self-awareness to actually work on her shortcomings. But it turns out she has a knowledge of fashion and architectural history and lore (anything involving styles, really) that she's practically an urban anthropologist. Which she considers useless, no matter how legitimately impressed people are by her knowledge. And she doesn't actually ''want'' to rampage. She thinks she has to to be considered an adult demon.

* Regina Darkblood from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'': She's an utter failure as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a traditional rampaging demon]]. (Her aunt, Kria Darkblood, spells out why [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2044.php here]]). And she lacks the self-awareness to actually work on her shortcomings. But it turns out she has a knowledge of fashion and architectural history and lore (anything involving styles, really) that she's practically an urban anthropologist. Which she considers useless, no matter how legitimately impressed people are by her knowledge.

* Regina Darkblood from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventure'': She's an utter failure as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a traditional rampaging demon]]. (Her aunt, Kria Darkblood, spells out why [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2044.php here]]). And she lacks the self-awareness to actually work on her shortcomings. But it turns out she has a knowledge of fashion and architectural history and lore (anything involving styles, really) that she's practically an urban anthropologist. Which she considers useless, no matter how legitimately impressed people are by her knowledge.