History Main / TheGunfighterWannabe

* ''Sackett'' by LouisLAmour has one of the hanger-on type of gunfighter wannabe.

* You fight a number 1 in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' as part of a sidequest. It serves as a TakeThat against 50s-style movie cowboys.

* In {{Arcanum}}, the training master for the guns skill deliberately mutilated his hand after he killed a GunfighterWannabe in a completely one-sided gunfight.

* Played with in ''FistOfTheNorthStar'', where a mook who thinks himself a master of the Hokuto Shinken tries to use his "Instant Kill" technique on Kenshiro, the principal {{Badass}} and real master of the style in the series, and dies hilariously.

* The short story "The Conqueror" by RichardMatheson plays with this. [[spoiler: It starts as Type 3, only the kid is just plain ambushed by the friends of the men he killed and shot to pieces. And then we find out that he may just have been a PsychopathicManchild who was planning to kill his way across the plains as the baddest gunfighter ever.]]

In a rarer scenario, TheGunfighterWannabe challenges someone who he thinks is TheGunslinger but isn't. So the Wannabe ends up killing some {{Cowboy}} or CitySlicker, and is promptly branded an {{Outlaw}} -- but discovers that he lacks the ''cojones'' for banditry. This usually ends with the other bandits killing or abandoning him. Occasionally this results in a HeelFaceTurn, but since RedemptionEqualsDeath, it usually doesn't end well.

In a rarer scenario, TheGunfighterWannabe challenges someone who he thinks is TheGunslinger but isn't. So the Wannabe ends up killing some {{Cowboy}} or CitySlicker, and is branded an {{Outlaw}} -- but discovers he lacks the ''cojones'' for banditry -- usually ends with the other bandits killing or abandoning him. Occasionally this results in a HeelFaceTurn, but since RedemptionEqualsDeath, it usually doesn't end well.

In a rarer scenario, TheGunfighterWannabe challenges someone who he thinks is TheGunslinger but isn't. So the Wannabe ends up killing some {{Cowboy}} or CitySlicker, and is promptly branded an {{Outlaw}} -- but discovers he lacks the cojones for banditry -- usually ends with the other bandits killing or abandoning him. Occasionally this results in a HeelFaceTurn, but since RedemptionEqualsDeath, it usually doesn't end well.

* Many a mook in ''Anime/BlackLagoon'' falls under this trope, with fatal consequences for them. Most notable is [[TooDumbToLive Chaka]]. He's obsessed with how awesome [[RevolversAreJustBetter his revolver is]] and immediately tries talking tough to [[ActionGirl Revee]] as soon as he meets her. He doesn't get better.

-->--''Film/TheMagnificentSeven''

-->''Film/TheMagnificentSeven''

* An iconic example in Western television--the genre ''and'' the hemisphere--comes from ''TheTwilightZone.'' In the episode "Mr. Denton on Doomsday," the washed-up drunkard [[RetiredGunfighter Mr. Denton]] is challenged by a young gunslinger eager to make a name for himself. Thanks to a peddler of [[SnakeOilSalesman remedies and cures of all sorts]], the showdown [[TwilightZoneTwist doesn't play out quite as expected]].

* The parody song ''The Ballad of Irving'' (the 142nd-fastest Gun in the West), by Frank Gallop (listen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD8EtvWW8nw here]]). Popularized by repeated airings on the DrDemento show.
* "Don't Take Your Guns To Town" by JohnnyCash.

This character has the IJustWantToBeSpecial attitude, but the kind of "special" he wants to be is a gunfighter. What distinguishes the Wannabe from the YoungGun is that the latter usually just needs some training/experience/maturity to get up to speed, whereas the Wannabe lacks the talent or temperament to succeed as TheGunslinger.

* Parodied in one FarSide cartoon, where the defeated reads out outcome #3 nearly word-for-word. Except that this was a ''PingPong match.''

* Many a mook in ''Anime/BlackLagoon'' falls under this trope, with fatal consequences for them. Most notable is [[TooDumbToLive Chaka]]. He doesn't get better.

* Ron Howard's character in ''TheShootist'' is type 1.
* Dealing with Wannabes is a major theme of ''TheGunfighter''. [[spoiler:It starts with scenario 2, then has scenario 1, and finishes with number 3.]]

* "Irving: The 142nd Fastest Gun in the West" of DrDemento fame.

* Many a mook in ''BlackLagoon'' falls under this trope, with fatal consequences for them. Most notable is [[JerkAss Chaka]]. He doesn't get better.

* Ocelot in ''MetalGearSolid3'' is a rare example of a Wannabe who grows up into a formidable fighter.
** Hardly. Ocelot is a 20-year-old MAJOR in charge of his own unit who can [[ImprobableAimingSkills easily kill people with ricochet shots]]. He was far above a Wannabe, it's just that Snake was that much farther above ''him''.

This character has the IJustWantToBeSpecial attitude, but the kind of "special" he wants to be is a gunfighter. What distinguishes the Wannabe from the YoungGun is that the latter usually just needs some training/experience/maturity to get up to speed, whereas the Wannabe lacks the talent or temperament to succeed as TheGunslinger.

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* ''Irving: The 142nd Fastest Gun in the West'' of DrDemento fame.
* ''Don't Take Your Guns To Town'' by Johnny Cash.

* In Arcanum, the training master for the guns skill deliberately mutilated his hand after he killed a GunfighterWannabe in a completely one-sided gunfight.