History Main / TheLoad

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': In early editions, amongst the many scrappy mechanics, a big one was how experience points were allotted. Besides completing the quest or dungeon, the vast majority of your experience came from being conscious in a fight. That's it... there is no bonus or penalty to whether you do anything in a battle. This leads to some players becoming the Load. They would go picking their butts or jerking off in a safe corner and earn thousands of XP, while someone who fights in 90% of the battle but is unlucky enough to get knocked out will get 0 xp. To top it off, there was an experience reward earned from finding loot too so the Load would get that as well while the unconscious participant might not if the party doesn't give them a share while they're still knocked out.

* [=TCNick3=] of the LetsPlay/PartyCrashers easily has the lowest skill level of the group, so as such he tends to be extremely unhelpful in team minigames, almost always being the first one to be eliminated in 1-vs-3 minigames and getting carried by his teammates as a result. Even in other games he's still of no assistance, as he does nothing but sit back and let his teammate do all the work, such as the ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QHBXSjCqsA 2-vs-2 video]] and their fourth ''Sporcle'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK-AFAl1mSI video]].

* LetsPlay/PartyCrashers: Nick easily has the lowest skill level of the group, so as such he tends to be extremely unhelpful in team minigames, almost always being the first one to be eliminated in 1-vs-3 minigames and getting carried by his teammates as a result. Even in other games he's still of no assistance, as he does nothing but sit back and let his teammate do all the work, such as the ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QHBXSjCqsA 2-vs-2 video]] and their fourth ''Sporcle'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK-AFAl1mSI video]].

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': In early editions, amongst the many scrappy mechanics, a big one was how experience points were allotted. Besides completing the quest or dungeon, the vast majority of your experience came from being conscious in a fight. That's it... there is no bonus or penalty to whether you do anything in a battle. This leads to some players becoming the Load. They would go picking their butts or jerking off in a safe corner and earn thousands of XP, while someone who fights in 90% of the battle but is unlucky enough to get knocked out will get 0 xp. To top it off, there was an experience reward earned from finding loot too so the Load would get that as well while the unconscious participant might not if the party doesn't give him or her a share while they're still knocked out.

* ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'': While the cast in season 3 stands out for being much more skilled at puzzles then their predecessors, exceptions are Roi and Teala. Roi can be excused since he's an IronButtMonkey who's always taken out before he can be of any actual help. Teala is the example played straight. She is indesicive, quickly panics and not ONCE does anything useful to the team. [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Needless to say, it hasn't made Teala very popular with the cast or]][[TheScrappy fans.]]

* ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'' has some contestants who contribute less then others.
** In season one, [[RichBitch Sierra]] does little more then whine and complain to the point where her closest allies are the ones who stab her in the back. Matt starts out as TheSmartGuy, but his {{Jerkass}} and DirtyCoward tendencies make him this in his last episodes.
** Season two has Lauren, who’s [[AwesomeButImpractical dress]] causes her to slow the team down several times.
** Season three has the biggest example yet, [[TheMillstone Teala.]] She contributes nothing to the teams efforts and only slows the group down, yet she manages to outlast JC and Roi(who are far more useful then her) due to [[BornLucky dumb luck.]] After Teala dies, the group is having a much easier time solving puzzles and becomes a BadassCrew as a result.

* Rolly in ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' is constantly nearly getting the puppies caught - he can't squeeze through the hole without help because he's fat, yelps when Mr. Tibbs grabs his tail and alerts Horace and slips on the ice, nearly sliding into the torchlight beam. He also constantly reminds everyone how hungry he is while they're trying to get home.
* One could interpret the Squeeze Toy Aliens in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' in this role, as they exist either as superlatives or hindrances to the toys escaping from Sunnyside. From almost alerting [[TheDragon Big Baby]] to getting stuck in the dumpster and (indirectly) causing the toys to get sent to the dump. [[spoiler:{{Inverted}} in the incinerator scene, in which the Aliens save all of the toys via ''the claw''.]]

The Load must be played carefully, lest they become TheScrappy - though, it is worth mentioning that often, even Scrappies have their usefulness, perhaps even being able to fend for themselves or put up a good fight when required, whereas The Load seemingly has absolutely none. If they must be protected, or come along despite lacking any useful skill, there should be a good reason for it, and not just as interaction, or perhaps they were not invited to the battle but brought themselves along. If a character who was once clearly the Load starts upstaging the characters who are competent or powerful, they are even more likely to be hated.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'': Nautilator. In theory, transforming into a lobster monster should make him an oceanborne killing machine, what with the giant claws and a gun that crushes enemies to death. It also means he should be highly efficient in his function of performing undersea excavations. In practice, he's a bungling dolt and career loser who can't even swim properly. Inexplicably for a member of the Decepticons' underwater strike force, he has SuperDrowningSkills and NoSenseOfDirection. He's been defeated by the undertow of all things. He also [[NeverMyFault never owns up to his mistakes]] and his team sorely wishes they could just be rid of him -- a sentiment that is apparently shared by the rest of the Decepticons. He's so bad that when they [[CombiningMecha combine to form Piranacon]], the Seacons discovered that they're much less effective when they let him form a limb rather than force him to transform into the team's gun. If he didn't somehow have a knack for bringing back useful salvage to Decepticon HQ when they have to fish him back from the bottom of the ocean, they probably would have left him to rust ages ago.

* In ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', Sadness is a whiny brat with a tendency to wander off and do useless things. Joy, being an AllLovingHero, doesn't want to leave Sadness behind but believes that her ability to permanently color any memory that she touches is unhelpful. Of course, it turns out to be actually important in the end.

** In social encounters (or actually any encounters that [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0157.html require something other than wanton violence and destruction]]), Belkar takes over the role of The Load from Elan, as less useful than rocks when it comes to negotiating.

* In ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', Sadness is a whiny brat with a tendency to wander off and do useless things. Of course, she turns out to be actually important in the end.

* LetsPlay/SimonLane, while hardly useless in the ''Jaffa Factory'' series (part of the ''WebVideo/YogscastMinecraftSeries''), does less work than LetsPlay/LewisBrindley or LetsPlay/DuncanJones and spends a lot of his time easily distracted, forcing them to get him back on track.

* Rolly in ''''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' is constantly nearly getting the puppies caught - he can't squeeze through the hole without help because he's fat, yelps when Mr. Tibbs grabs his tail and alerts Horace and slips on the ice, nearly sliding into the torchlight beam. He also constantly reminds everyone how hungry he is while they're trying to get home.

** Elan the bard. Once he's separated from the party (and stuck in a prison cell, no less), he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in Dashing Swordsman]].

* ''WebOriginal/ShadowrunStorytime'' has Trout, the team's first infiltrator. Despite [[InformedAttribute supposedly]] being a self-proclaimed ninja badass and master gunfighter, he flatly refuses to infiltrate (despite that being his job) on the grounds of it being "too dangerous," and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder constantly defaults to trying to sell out the team]] at [[DirtyCoward the first sign of a threat to himself, even if that threat is one he could kill in seconds]]. Capping it all off is his [[TheMostWanted massive bounty and Criminal SIN]], which constantly broadcast his name and location to every cop within several blocks. Overall, this makes him a massive albatross around the team's collective neck during their early 'runs.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

** Such as Franchise/{{Superman}}'s pal ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'s Snapper Carr, and the [[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]]'s Johnny Thunder.

* Russell in ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'' at first seems to fit this category: he loses his Wilderness Explorer GPS, literally acts as a deadweight while Carl is towing the house, cannot put up his tent, and reveals to Muntz that he and Carl have met "the Monster of Paradise Falls" (i.e. Kevin the Bird), although to be fair, Carl hero-worshipped Muntz and only realised he was a bad guy just at that moment while Russell, being a kid, totally missed the implications of what was going on. Probably meant to be an inversion of how in many films where a crotchety old man is paired up with a spunky kid, it's the adult who's portrayed as inept and in need of rescue. Plus, Russell has the excuse that he has no real way of getting home under his own power. If Carl doesn't do it, the poor kid is toast. However, he eventually [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]].

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In ''Great War in the Bizarre World'', Jolly's so-called knowledge is supposed to help the goats find the Luminous Ray, but he's a KnowNothingKnowItAll whose guidance proves more of a hindrance during the search for said item, slowing them down more than anything.

* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': Haara's mother, protagonist of the prequel story, is completely useless in a fight, making her particularly ill-suited for the hack-and-slash campaign she's found herself in. She spends most of her adventure [[DistractedByTheSexy distracting guards]] or simply taking hits that might have targeted more useful party members. In the end, this is the main reason [[spoiler:the orcs let her live after massacring everyone else.]]

The Load must be played carefully, lest they become TheScrappy - though, it is worth mentioning that often, even Scrappies have their usefulness, perhaps even being able to fend for themselves or put up a good fight when required, whereas The Load often has absolutely none. If they must be protected, or come along despite lacking any useful skill, there should be a good reason for it, and not just as interaction, or perhaps they were not invited to the battle but brought themselves along. If a character who was once clearly the Load starts upstaging the characters who are competent or powerful, they are even more likely to be hated.

The Load must be played carefully, lest they become TheScrappy. If they must be protected, or come along despite lacking any useful skill, there should be a good reason for it, and not just as interaction, or perhaps they were not invited to the battle but brought themselves along. If a character who was once clearly the Load starts upstaging the characters who are competent or powerful, they are even more likely to be hated.

* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': As Link is fighting a group of monsters off, The Boy cheers Link on by pounding the head of one the statues that pour into the fountain. This triggers the Swamp Palace in the Dark World to get flooded, washing away the monsters and Link. Subverted in that the flooding water helps him defeat the two enemies he was fighting and get him to a high hole in the wall.