History Main / JokeCharacter

Characters, often in the form of {{Easter Egg}}s, deliberately unbalanced in the negative sense. They mainly have a [[ButtMonkey humorous value]] and the fandom often likes them due to their sheer awkwardness or strangeness. This is mainly a trope of fighting games. Joke characters are sometimes used by especially proficient players to beat other players, mainly [[CherryTapping for bragging rights.]]

->'''Master Tang:''' I must apologize for Wimp Lo. He is an idiot. We have purposely trained him wrong, as a joke.\\
'''Wimp Lo:''' If you've got an ass, I'll kick it!
-->-- ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist''

[[folder:Hack and Slash]]

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* Mafuyu in ''LightNovel/StudentCouncilsDiscretion'' compares herself to one of these in an attempt to explain how she doesn't really stand out. Yeah, it's that kind of show.

* ''VideoGame/FightingVipers'' and later ''VideoGame/FightersMegamix'' feature Kumachan and Pandachan, two happy bears that have no connection to anything. Neither have animation frames, so they fight like balloons. Megamix also has two model swaps of them in Mr. Meat and Palmtree - a chunk of meat with a bone through it and the palm tree from AM2's logo, respectively. There's also Deku, a cactus in a mariachi outfit who is easily the game's weakest fighter.

* ''VideoGame/FightingVipers'' and later ''VideoGame/FightersMegamix'' feature Kumachan and Pandachan, two happy bears that have no connection to anything. Neither have animation frames, so they fight like balloons. Megamix also has two model swaps of them in Mr. Meat and Palmtree - a chunk of meat with a bone through it and the palm tree from AM2's logo, respectively.

* ''VideoGame/FightingVipers'' and later ''VideoGame/FightersMegamix'' feature Kumachan and Pandachan, two happy bears that have no connection to anything. Neither have animation frames, so they fight like balloons.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' has Shannam (not to be confused with Shannan), who is loosely based on the above Samto as a guy impersonating an actually skilled warrior. He has completely horrible stats, and he ''accidentally'' teaches Marita how to use Astra... which is a skill that he '''doesn't even have''' in the first place. [[NotCompletelyUseless He does, however, come equipped with the Bargain skill, allowing him to purchase items at half price in the very few shops remaining in the game.]]

* In a similar vein, ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' has an amazing number of cards that have no conceivable use, or that simply don't do their job well. Early sets were crammed with low-stat normal monsters that were irrelevant even at release, but even then, some went above and beyond. Witness Thousand-Eyes Idol, a monster with the lowest stats possible (0 attack and 0 defense) and no effect. (It technically does have the use of being Fusion material for the infamously powerful [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Thousand-Eyes_Restrict Thousand-Eyes Restrict]], but is never actually used as such since any deck that wants to use Restrict - both now and back in the day - has ways of getting it out without having to run an otherwise useless monster.)

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/True_Exodia True Exodia]], like the rest of the Exodia-based monsters, offers an InstantWinCondition. You must have it and the four Forbidden One limbs as the ''only'' monsters on the field to trigger this, and the card has no stats or upsides to offset this. For all that effort, True Exodia gives the victory to... ''its controller's opponent.'' It's clearly designed for laughs and trying to get a proper win with it (by switching its control) is more trouble than it's worth, though that hasn't stopped players from trying.
** Some characters from the anime can fill this role when they're opponents in videogames, particularly characters [[TheLoad who never dueled.]] Tristan and Mokuba tend to favor the aforementioned extremely weak Normal Monsters or suicidally bad strategies, but Dorothy in ''Tag Force'' seems to be an ongoing experiment in making unplayable decks. One of her decks has nothing but Level 5 or higher Normal Monsters, making it impossible for her to play anything. Another is a sixty-card (and therefore hugely inconsistent) deck based on bringing out the weakest Fusion Monsters in the game. Yet another is a deck that's nothing but drawing cards, causing her to deck herself out, and a fourth is a deck of nothing but detrimental cards like [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Burning_Algae Burning Algae]] or [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Fine Fine]]. Some of her decks are actually ''[[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard illegal]]'', by virtue of not complying to the banlist, meaning Dorothy is such a bad Duelist that she ''breaks the game'' to be worse at it. The anime seems to confirm this, as her only onscreen duel was her Summoning [[StoneWall Marshmallon]] in ATK and then ending her turn, promptly costing the game for her partner. In ''Tag Force 3'', though, she's a LethalJokeCharacter when she's partnered with you: her Deck is nothing but Tuners and Synchro-based support cards with a powerful assortment of Synchros, but since Synchros need a Tuner and a non-Tuner, she can't summon any of them... but since you're partnered with her, you can just provide the non-Tuners.

** ''[=WMMT3=]'' has another code to select a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_cars kei car]]. It begins with 64 stock horsepower, and after one tuning step it, like other cars, jumps straight to 300 horsepower. In other words: adding a turbo to the car ''adds 236 horsepower''.

** Sakuya may have been a GameBreaker in ''Perfect Cherry Blossom'', but the nerf she got for ''Imperishable Night'' is ridiculously excessive. Very weak firepower even at maximum, encouraging the player to get close to the bosses in a ''bullet hell'' just to deal decent damage - and even then, only Alice and Reimu have less firepower[[note]]Alice's shot doesn't spread, making shotgunning pointless for her. Reimu is a homing type in a game where hitting the boss is difficult.[[/note]]. Her focused speed is the fastest in the game and her unfocused speed is the slowest, when the ideal is the reverse. Her only redeeming quality is her ability to cover a wide area... except that Yuyuko can do the exact same thing without any of the above drawbacks. And unless you're playing extra, Yuyuko gets more bombs than Sakuya, just to rub it in further.

* ''VideoGame/EvolveIdle'' has two, both of which are the focus of [[ChallengeRuns challenges]]:

** The Rider-class servant Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard - considering he's the most famous pirate in history, you'd expect him to be at least a 4-star story locked servant[[note]]like Nero, Thomas Alva Edison, or Tristan[[/note]]... instead, he's a two star you can summon from the friend point gacha. Admittedly, it's worth noting that stars alone do not determine how good a servant is, but stat-wise, he's an extremely watered down version of Francis Drake, being the same class and having a similar [[LimitBreak Noble Phantasm]], but he's ''so'' watered down that he doesn't even get the distinction of being seen as a budget version of her (like Lu Bu to Heracles)[[labelnote:explanation]]in ''[=Fate/Grand Order=]'', you can use 5 servants and 1 support servant, with the limit to what servants you use being mana points; 1 stars cost 3 mana points, 2 stars cost 4, 3 stars cost 7, 4 stars cost 12, and 5 stars cost 16; "budget" servants are lower-cost versions of more expensive servants, both in terms of mana point cost and in terms of saint quartz cost, as it's easier to roll a 1-3 star than it is to roll a 4 or 5 star; additionally, ''budget'' servants usually allow for costlier Craft Essences to be equipped[[/labelnote]]. The game's story and events lampshade this, having him be a ButtMonkey in many scenes (his interlude has him searching for ''doujins'' of the aforementioned Francis Drake; during Saber Wars, his crotch is on the receiving end of Saber Lily's Caliburn).

** The Assassin Mata Hari has ''abysmal'' stats for a 1-star, no passive skills, and her active skills aren't very good. She even seems aware of this, since she's given up on having her wish granted by the Holy Grail. [[LethalJokeCharacter On the other hand]], she's actually one of the best choices against the ''final boss'' of the first story arc due to the fact that, as an Assassin, she deals bonus damage[[note]]the boss, Goetia, takes extra damage from and deals regular damage to Casters, Riders, Assassins, and Berserkers, but takes regular damage from and deals extra damage to Sabers, Lancers, and Archers[[/note]], and her third skill can seal the buffs that the boss gives himself.
** Rider-class servant Boudica does slightly better than the other 3 examples from this game, due to having the mildly useful Battle Continuation skill and high HP...the problem is that she has very poor attack (it's higher than Edward Teach's by 100 points), her first skill is pretty much useless out side of the singularity she debuts in[[note]]said skill is only effective against enemies with the Roman attribute, and enemies with said attribute only really appearing in the Septem Singularity...where she debuts; this wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that, as a Rider, she doesn't get a class advantage against them; while Siegfried faces a similar problem with Dragon trait servants (the majority of whom are Rider class), he's very useful against the handful of Lancer-class enemies with the Dragon attribute as a Saber, and St. Georgios can give any enemy the dragon attribute for a few turns with his NP, thus saving him from this fate[[/note]], and while her NP would point to her being a good StoneWall, the problem is that it's essentially a watered down version of Mash's -- who not only is the first servant you get in the game, but she costs ''0 MP'' to use. As a result, she's often considered one of the worst servants in the game, to the point where some fans have been asking for another version of her in a different class to make up for her in this class. However, with the release of Romulus-Quirinus, a Servant with the ability to induce the "Roman" attribute as a Status Effect, Boudica would later find a niche as a support for that one single character (who ironically enough [[spoiler:is the deified founder of Rome itself]]).

* There is a Cat unit in ''VideoGame/TheBattleCats'' named Killer Cat who is just as strong as the very first cat you get[[note]] said cat unit, simply named [[ADogNamedDog Cat]], even in his [[TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential True Form]], is quite weak in comparison to the other, much more powerful cats with his only use upon leaving early game is [[ZergRush being spammed as a meatshield]] thanks to his low cost and quick recharge rate [[/note]], except he costs $7500 to spawn in battle (in a game where, if you fully upgrade your [[WorkerUnit Worker Cat]] in battle, get wallet upgrades through the Cat Capsule and get all the treasures which increases your max wallet capacity, the maximum capacity of your wallet is $16500) making him a huge waste of cash should you try to use him in a battle. However, its True Form, Radical Cat, is [[MagikarpPower a massive improvement]] and pulls it out of this status.

* Most Creator/FromSoftware games that allow character customization have at least one option that is designed for challenge runs. The name depends on the game (in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', it's the "Waste of Skin; in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', it's the "Deprived"), but the basic elements are the same - it starts with pathetic stats, no armor, and the weakest available weapon. The challenge option's one saving grace is its lower level, allowing it to gain a few levels cheaper than the other options... and even this is a joke, because its stats are so weak that you'll use up those "free" levels ''catching up'' to the other choices, ''and'' it starts with a lower amount of the game's currency, meaning you'll have to work just to get to where everyone else starts.

** Luvdisc has a Base Stat Total of 330, the sixth-lowest in the game of any fully evolved Pokémon, and [[FragileSpeedster most of that is in Speed]]. When you're fully evolved and your only stat that's better than a Bulbasaur is Speed, something is going dreadfully wrong. The only final-stage Pokémon with lower base stats have gimmicks that make up for them - the closest thing Luvdisc has to a gimmick is that it's a comparatively easy source of rare Heart Scales, and even then, there are often other ways to obtain them. Other than that, its typing, movepool, and abilities are some of the most generic in the game. In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY X and Y]]'', an NPC at a Pokémon Center will also trade a ''freaking Steelix'' for a Luvdisc. A ''powerful giant steel snake for a heart-shaped fish.'' Luvdisc got its rawest deal yet in ''[[VideoGamePokemonScarletAndViolet Scarlet and Violet]]'' where Heart Scales don't even appear (and wouldn't be useful except as low-grade ShopFodder even if they did), taking away its one gimmick and making it more or less entirely useless in that game aside from taking up a Pokédex slot.\\

** Luvdisc has a Base Stat Total of 330, the sixth-lowest in the game of any fully evolved Pokémon, and [[FragileSpeedster most of that is in Speed]]. When you're fully evolved and your only stat that's better than a Bulbasaur is Speed, something is going dreadfully wrong. The only final-stage Pokémon with lower base stats have gimmicks that make up for them - the closest thing Luvdisc has to a gimmick is that it's a comparatively easy source of rare Heart Scales, and even then, there are often other ways to obtain them. Other than that, its typing, movepool, and abilities are some of the most generic in the game. In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY X and Y]]'', an NPC at a Pokémon Center will also trade a ''freaking Steelix'' for a Luvdisc. A ''powerful giant steel snake for a heart-shaped fish.''\\

** Delcatty has one thing going for it: the ability to paralyze Ground-types using Thunder Wave, and that's where any use it has ends. Other than that, it has dreadful stats ([[FragileSpeedster with Speed being the only one above 70]]), a less-than-desirable movepool, and an ability that turns all of its move into Normal-type moves, rendering it [[NoSell utterly useless]] against Ghost-types.

** In the first generation, Ditto was considered literally useless, as it took a full turn to use Transform (its only move). As [[MasterOfNone it had horrible stats all-around]], it was very likely that it would die before it even got a move off, and once it had, you were basically now a copy of your opponent but with terrible HP (between Ditto's own terrible HP and no doubt taking a hit already). A [[SelfImposedChallenge solo run]] with Ditto was considered effectively impossible. On top of that, Mew received Transform as well, so Ditto wasn't even unique in that niche. The second generation made it NotCompletelyUseless by giving it odd breeding properties, and the fifth buffed it into a LethalJokeCharacter by giving it the Imposter ability.

** [[spoiler:The Keeper]] swaps out the standard health system for coins, which can be replenished with money pickups instead of hearts. However, each coin heart is lost in one hit no matter what, he can't use soul hearts at all, and he can't gain more than his starting two. They also still count as red hearts, so he doesn't even get the side benefits the other two have with items that require you to have no red hearts. He's also slow and has triple tear shots with a long delay, making surviving harder for him. To add salt to the wound, the majority of the unlocks are only minor buffs to him instead of items - for beating the brutally hard BulletHell BonusBoss Hush, he starts with [[DudeWheresMyReward one freaking penny]]. The one upside to him is that once you unlock the Wooden Penny as a starting item, he can function as a decent ItemCaddy.

** In the original ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperHeroes Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' and [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 its sequel]], [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Roll]] is the Joke Character. Based on a character who's normally a DistressedDamsel or NeutralFemale at most, Roll [[MovesetClone basically plays like Mega Man]] (who's already nothing special) but worse in just about every single way. Pitiful damage, low health, laggy attacks... her only advantage is being fairly small, which can help her avoid attacks (especially [[NotCompletelyUseless against certain bosses]]). Most tier listings give her a special ranking, with "Roll Tier" being a common term in the fighting game community for extremely bad characters.

* There is a Cat unit in ''VideoGame/TheBattleCats'' named Killer Cat who is just as strong as the very first cat you get[[note]] said cat unit, simply named [[Main/ADogNamedDog Cat]], even in his [[Main/TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential True Form]], is quite weak in comparison to the other, much more powerful cats with his only use upon leaving early game is [[Main/ZergRush being spammed as a meatshield]] thanks to his low cost and quick recharge rate [[/note]], except he costs $7500 to spawn in battle (in a game where, if you fully upgrade your [[Main/WorkerUnit Worker Cat]] in battle, get wallet upgrades through the Cat Capsule and get all the treasures which increases your max wallet capacity, the maximum capacity of your wallet is $16500) making him a huge waste of cash should you try to use him in a battle. However, its True Form, Radical Cat, is [[MagikarpPower a massive improvement]] and pulls it out of this status.

* There is a Cat unit in VideoGame/TheBattleCats named Killer Cat who is just as strong as the very first cat you get[[note]] said cat unit, simply named [[Main/ADogNamedDog Cat]], even in his [[Main/TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential True Form]], is quite weak in comparison to the other, much more powerful cats with his only use upon leaving early game is [[Main/ZergRush being spammed as a meatshield]] thanks to his low cost and quick recharge rate [[/note]], except he costs $7500 to spawn in battle (in a game where, if you fully upgrade your [[Main/WorkerUnit Worker Cat]] in battle, get wallet upgrades through the Cat Capsule and get all the treasures which increases your max wallet capacity, the maximum capacity of your wallet is $16500) making him a huge waste of cash should you try to use him in a battle.

** Regigigas is infamous for having titanic stats befitting of a Legendary and the leader of the [[{{Golem}} Legendary Titans]], yet being competitively unviable due to its Slow Start ability halving its Attack and Speed unless it stays on the field for five turns, by the time which the opponent would most likely have run circles around you. What elevates this from merely being FakeBalance is that Game Freak seems intent on keeping it bad, as in ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'', a game where Abilities were removed for every other Pokémon, they specifically bent the programming rules just to keep Slow Start on Regigigas.

* The {{nerd}} in ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}: The Third Encounter'' has absolutely pathetic Strength and Missile stats, and only a lower-end-of-decent Speed stat. Makes sense, considering what sort of game it is.

* Jeff from ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion''. He's a surfer dude who, like the main hero Dave, he has no way of getting past Purple Tentacle at the endgame. His only special skill is to fix the phone, which can also be done by the much more useful [[{{Nerd}} Bernard]].

Part of CompetitiveBalance. See also JokeItem and FakeSpecialAttack (which they are likely to use). Contrast with PurposelyOverpowered and MasterOfAll, which are the opposites. Compare and contrast with the low-tier TierInducedScrappy, who are also negatively unbalanced but usually unintentionally.

* ''Videogame/ForzaMotorsport 4'' features several cars which have absolutely no reason to be in a racing game, like the [[GreenAesop Toyota Prius, Nissan Leaf, and Chevrolet Volt]], [[EveryCarIsAPinto Ford Pinto]], and AMC Pacer. Most are incapable of being competitive even with the game's [[DesignItYourselfEquipment extensive customization system]]. On the other hand, a few become {{Lethal Joke Character}}s with careful upgrade choices, such as the Pinto becoming a [[TierInducedScrappy Leaderboard car]].

** Nearly every Joke Character in ''Pokémon'' has some sort of strange gimmick. Chatot interacts with the DS microphone with its move Chatter by copying anything the player says (or at least used to, that feature was dropped since Gen VI in exchange for a much deserved buff), Smeargle [[PowerCopying can learn any move in the game through Sketch]], Plusle and Minun have an interaction in double battles, etc. Sometimes a gimmick allows one of these to be a LethalJokeCharacter; most of the time, they are stuck being the TierInducedScrappy.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', one Alchemist archetype, Blazing Torchbearer, trades three very useful class features (crafting potions, using poisons, and one Discovery) for the incredible ability to... make torches last forever (where the loosest of change would buy you a supply to last the entire game), increase the lighting radius of torches (at a level where you'll have better light sources anyway), produce a flash which turns everyone around him blind (including the one who produced the flash in the first place) once per day, and make melee attacks which inflict less damage than he would do with a bomb -- which as an alchemist he has a large supply of and can use them at range. {{Justified|Trope}} in that the manual does specify that this archetype is meant for torchbearing [[NonPlayerCharacter Non-Player Characters]], who don't even see much combat to begin with.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', the Blazing Torchbearer Archetype (Class Variation) trades three very useful Alchemist abilities (Crafting potions, using poisons and one discovery) for the incredible abilities of...making torches last forever (where the loosest of change would buy you a supply to last the entire game), increasing the lighting radius of torches (at a level where you'll have better light sources anyway), producing a flash which turns everyone around him blind (including himself) once per day, and making melee attacks which inflict less damage than he would do with a bomb, which as an alchemist he has a large supply of and can use them at range. The manual does specify that this archetype is meant for torchbearer {{Non Player Character}}s which don't even see much combat to begin with.

* The ''VideoGame/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' game allows you to unlock the generic {{Mook}} characters you've been beating up throughout the game. When used, they only have a couple (laughably weak) basic attacks and can't pick up items or other characters.

* The Imakuni? cards in ''TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}}''. They have effects ranging from confusing your own Pokémon to forcing both players to sing as loud as they can. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, really.]

* The Imakuni? cards in ''TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}}''. They have effects ranging from confusing your own Pokémon to forcing both players to sing as loud as they can. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, really.]]
* ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' tries to feature at least one hilariously awful card per set, usually invoking AwesomeButImpractical to the point of being useless. The Hearthstone wiki even has [[https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Worst_cards a page dedicated to listing them]].
** Magma Rager. It's a 3 mana 5/1 with MemeticLoser status among the playerbase. Despite his impressive base attack, he simply dies. To everything. Your opponent can counter your entire turn three play with just a Hero Power and still have some leftover mana. The card is so bad, [[https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Rager a whole group of cards]] exist purely to make fun of it, and most of them still suck despite being strictly better than Magma Rager.
** Majordomo Executus is a 9 mana 9/7 that transforms your Hero into Ragnaros the Firelord on death. Ragnaros has a powerful Hero Power and is [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ragnaros]], but has only [[GlassCannon 8 health]]! Most players will just kill Majordomo then one-shot Ragnaros before you have a chance to even use his power. Majordomo is the only card in the entire game who can instantly make you lose from any position in the game. His uselessness seems to be a riff on Ragnaros's iconic "Too soon! You have awakened me too soon, Executus!" quote, which he announces upon transformation in this game. It's quite telling that the most common use for Executus by far is to cheese adventure bosses by giving him to the boss and then turning the boss into Ragnaros.
** Yogg-Saron was supposed to be another useless but cool card. That... didn't work out so well. See his entry on LethalJokeCharacter.
** [[https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/The_Boogeymonster The Boogeymonster]] is generally considered the worst card in Hearthstone. Even Majordomo can be given to your opponent or combined with cards that increase your hero's health, but Boogeymonster has no such use. He has bad stats (6/7 for 8 mana) and the sole effect of gaining +2/+2 after successfully attacking and killing an enemy minion. That means he needs to stay alive for multiple turns and keep killing enemy minions ''without dying'' in order to become a big vanilla beatstick. For comparison, Gruul is a card that starts at a 7/7 for 8 and gains +1/+1 every turn passively. That means he's an 8/8 to your opponent and a 9/9 when it's your turn, ready to attack, and keeps growing. And even Gruul is considered bad.
** Mayor Noggenfogger is a 9 mana 5/4 that makes ALL targeted abilities random. That means any attack can be sent anywhere, as long as the target is legal (friendly minions can't hit each other, but most spells could go anywhere). His stats are terrible, his effect is symmetrical, and he isn't likely to save you. Hot damn if he isn't hilarious, though.
** The classic Angry Chicken. On the one hand, if it takes damage and survives it gains +5 Attack, which is really nice for a 1-mana minion... or would be if it had more than 1 health, meaning that any amount of damage will kill it immediately. You could simply buff the Angry Chicken's health and then ping it for a single point of damage before unleashing it on your opponent, but with the resources you spent buffing the chicken, you could've just played a better minion to begin with.
** As if the Angry Chicken wasn't bad enough, we also got the Gurubashi Chicken. At least Angry Chicken only requires you to buff its health and make it take damage; Gurubashi Chicken requires you to buff its health ''and'' its attack, and then ''overkill an enemy minion and survive''. And only ''on the next turn after that'' can you start making use of the attack buff. If this actually works in a game, you're probably winning by a mile and just rubbing salt in the wound at that point.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Chaotic}}'', while there are some creatures that generally aren't good, Fivarth is probably the one most clearly designed to be terrible. He has an utterly pathetic ''15'' in every stat and no elements, meaning he dies in combat if the opponent looks at him too hard and most of the attacks in the game are completely useless on him, and his only remotely useful ability is reducing your Warbeasts' Recklessness damage by 5... which doesn't do much considering that Warbeast Recklessness starts at 10 and often reaches 20 or more, not to mention the other Conjurors that are much better at dealing with Recklessness. His only saving graces are his 2 Mugic counters (which, again, most Conjurors also have) and being untargetable by Mugic and abilities, which doesn't mean much when he does absolutely nothing on his own.

* In the ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' {{Sourcebook}} ''Bloodlines: The Legendary'', there is a Mekhet bloodline called the Players. They're essentially one giant TakeThat at vampire groupies - their origins lie with a vampire who was obsessed with Hollywood. Their weakness is monstrously crippling - it's much easier for them to get dramatic failures on mental-based Disciplines (of which all but ''four'' qualify), and if they do, the target is ''permanently'' immune. On top of that, their Viniculums, eternal blood slave bonds, last a ridiculously short time. They're such jokes, in fact, that other vampires are mildly ''scared'' of them - something that weak and laughable could not be an accident...

* In ''TabletopGame/BleakWorld'' you have the Werefish. It has all the weaknesses of a standard frog, and none of the advantages. To date, their weaknesses include: Not being able to change into human form, not being able to breathe underwater, having to spend 12 hours a day in water, and only being able to mate with human women. Their available skills? [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards Strength]], [[UselessUsefulSpell Magic]], and [[ScrappyMechanic Poison]].
* The ''Franchise/{{Warhammer}}'' franchise has the Chaos Spawn; humans that devolved into beasts which are used as cannon fodder or kept as pets. Due to being insane, they [[LuckBasedMission move randomly]], wandering around the map at various (mostly slow) speeds until they hopefully stumble into enemy units... and on top of that, they have a high point cost, lowish stats, and aren't particularly good in melee, so even if they do manage to engage the opponent, they usually suck against them. Indeed, it was calculated that the only unit a Chaos Spawn could make up its point cost against through melee combat are ''[[GlassCannon Fire Warriors]]'', and even then, not always. They did get a major buff in the 6th edition of ''40K'', making them a LethalJokeCharacter.
* In the Creator/GamesWorkshop ''[[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Middle-Earth]]'' strategy game, this role falls to Sharkey's Rogues. They have some of the worst stats of any infantry in the game, terrible morale, and really lackluster options in general; their only advantage is being cheap, and other factions can pull off a ZergRush far better. Sharkey himself is [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen rather far gone from his glory days]], and is on par with generic orc shamans as a caster--and he comes as a package deal with Worm, who is a terrible fighter and has a sizeable chance of ''[[TheDogBitesBack turning on Sharkey and backstabbing him]]'' if Sharkey is wounded. It being Impossible Allies with all other evil factions also means that it's unusually difficult to shore up on its weak points. Considering that the army was routed in its only known engagement by an impromptu muster of hobbits, this is all pretty clearly intentional.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'' allows players to build their own 'mechs, giving you a near infinite leeway to build your very own joke 'mechs. Still, there are also a few stock 'mechs that go beyond the simply 'subpar'.
** The 30-tonne ''Urbanmech'' is the most well-known example of this trope in the fandom, even if it technically is more of a SituationalSword than outright worthless. It is a light 'mech that inverts the classic role of a light 'mech, being extremely slow and (relatively) well-armoured and armed for its weight. Sadly, its complete lack of speed, [[InventionalWisdom subpar usage of its available space]] and weapon selection makes it practically worthless outside of UrbanWarfare. At least the ''Urbanmech'' has the advantage [[PointBuildSystem of being fairly cheap Battle Value-wise]].
** The 80-tonne ''Charger'' is described InUniverse as "an abject failure of 'mech design" and it's not hard to see why. A {{foil}} to the aforementioned ''Urbanmech'', the ''Charger'' is an assault 'mech that uses two thirds of its weight to mount an oversized engine and the rest on armour, giving it impressive ground speed and armour but an armament of five small lasers (the smallest, weakest weapon in the game). The ''Charger'' is little more than an oversized paperweight, and completely worthless outside of melee combat.