History Main / TooQualifiedToApply

This trope is one of ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest. Compare TallPoppySyndrome, where the skilled person is brought down by active sabotage, instead of just moral condemnation. TheResenter will often be the first person to consider someone else overqualified.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' encodes this in the mechanics for awarding ExperiencePoints: defeating a challenge far below a character's [[CharacterLevel level]] grants no XP, on the grounds that the conflict was too unfairly lopsided for the winner to gain anything from it.

* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': The Gauls tell the Romans that they have every intention of entering the Olympic Games (as Gallo-Romans) and win with their magic potion. The Romans give up on training (which spreads to the other athletes) until they learn such substances are banned, which gets them back into training while the Gauls decide Asterix will only participate in the footrace. However, the Romans don't win a single medal, which leads the Greeks to realize this will hurt their tourist industry, so they create a Roman-only event. As Asterix still can't guarantee a win, the Gauls trick the Romans into drinking tongue-staining magic potion to get them disqualified. However, in the end Asterix gives his medal to the Romans, avoiding Caesar's usual YouHaveFailedMe reaction of getting thrown to the lions.

* In ''Manga/OutlawStar'', Aisha Clan Clan wants to enter the "Strongest Woman in the Universe" contest only to discover that her species, the Ctarl-Ctarl, are banned because they can transform, [[HulkingOut becoming superstrong and unstoppable]], which a previous contestant used to disastrous effect. Aisha joins anyway by kidnapping a costumed competitor and assuming her identity, [[HistoryRepeats which turns into another disaster]] in the finals when her opponent turns out to be another kind of Ctarl-Ctarl (or a different alien with similar transformative powers). They wreck the entire place with their struggle, essentially proving the judges right.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s episode "Stanley's Cup" is an infamous deconstruction of UnderdogsNeverLose, ending with Stanley's pee wee hockey team playing the Detroit Red Wings and, of course, losing horribly. However, the Red Wings [[ComedicSociopathy take it much further than just trying to win]], as they repeatedly [[WouldHurtAChild injure the children]], sometimes seriously, even though they could [[UnnecessaryRoughness clearly win without doing so]].

Everyone loves an underdog story. It's why UnderdogsNeverLose is such a common trope. It's natural that we cheer for the one we don't expect to win. No one wants to watch DavidVersusGoliath where Goliath wins.

But when this leaks out of narrative contexts, or into unrelated narratives, you often get this rather bizarre mutation: the person who won is seen as unethical or even evil ''because they won'' - or just because they entered with the knowledge that they'd have an advantage, which sounds like cheating to some people. Said advantage may be a result of TrainingFromHell or being the PrivilegedRival. There is also an element of ComesGreatResponsibility: people with an obvious advantage in a contest should be responsible enough to know they shouldn't enter it and ruin everyone else's fun. Or at least that's what the condemners think.

* In ''Manga/OutlawStar'', Aisha Clan Clan wants to enter the "Strongest Woman in the Universe" contest only to discover that her species, the Ctarl-Ctarl, are banned because they can transform, [[HulkingOut becoming superstrong and unstoppable]], which a previous contestant used to disastrous effect. Aisha joins anyway by kidnapping a costumed competitor and assuming her identity, [[HistoryRepeats which turns into another disaster]] in the finals when her opponent turns out to be another kind of Ctarl-Ctarl (or a different alien with similar transformative powers. The judges are proven right when Aisha and the Pirate wreck the entire place with their struggle).

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', the protagonist enters a gaming competition and wins entirely fairly, but learns an aesop about how she shouldn't have entered because her motivations were more selfish than those of the guy she beat. She doesn't strictly have an ''advantage'', but the theme of "winning is ungenerous" is the same.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', Spyke enters a skateboarding contest and performs well, but is pressured by the other contestants into forfeiting because of his mutant genes. Spyke insists his mutation doesn't affect his ability to skateboard, but leaves the contest anyway, feeling that when the judges find out he's a mutant, [[FantasticRacism he's not going to stand a chance of winning anyway.]]

In real life, the most common case arises when a given opportunity is "opened" to everyone, yet the winner is someone who would arguably not have needed that opportunity to prove they're good at what they do. A common avoidance is an evil character who could win by playing fair instead deciding to [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat cheat, and losing as a result]]. Other times, it can be unintentionally introduced or openly announced.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': People with superpowers are [[SuperRegistrationAct legally required]] to hide them. Thus, Dash's parents don't let him compete in sports because they don't trust him to restrain his SuperSpeed enough to maintain their cover. By the end of the movie, however, Dash's superheroics leave him feeling accomplished enough to [[SecondPlaceIsForWinners willfully restrain himself to taking second place]].

* When Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast ran an open submission contest for their new world for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the winner was Keith Baker's ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' setting. This attracted accusations of the content being rigged because Baker was a previously published professional author and had worked previously with one of the co-authors of the line.
* Until a rule change in 1986, the Olympic Games were reserved for amateur athletes and professionals were barred from entry.

* ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'': Kirito's reason to change the looks of his avatar during the "Fairy Dance" Arc is because he's gotten such a hard-core reputation as a WorldsBestWarrior OneManArmy (and a "[[{{Munchkin}} Betaer]]") that he fears he would get kicked out of the game or prevented from talking to any guild members out of spite, which would make his search for Asuna incredibly hard, if not flat-out impossible.

* In ''Manga/OutlawStar'', Aisha Clan Clan wants to enter the "Strongest Woman in the Universe" contest only to discover that her species, the Ctarl-Ctarl, are banned because they can transform, [[HulkingOut becoming superstrong and unstoppable]], which a previous contestant used to disastrous effect. Aisha joins anyway by kidnapping a costumed competitor and assuming her identity, [[HistoryRepeats which turns into another disaster]] in the finals when her opponent turns out to be another kind of Ctarl-Ctarl (or a different alien with similar transformative powers).

* In the ''ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool'' holiday special, a Deadpool imitation contest is done for charity. Deadpool enters, but Squirrel Girl says he can't win, as he ''is'' Deadpool.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s episode "Stanley's Cup" is an infamous deconstruction of UnderdogsNeverLose, ending with Stanley's pee wee hockey team playing the Detroit Red Wings and, of course, losing horribly. However, the Red Wings repeatedly [[WouldHurtAChild injure the children]], sometimes seriously, even though they could [[UnnecessaryRoughness clearly win without doing so]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s episode "Stanley's Cup" is an infamous deconstruction of UnderdogsNeverLose, ending with Stanley's pee wee hockey team playing the Detroit Red Wings and, of course, losing horribly. However, the Red Wings are also implied to be villains via being shown repeatedly [[WouldHurtAChild injuring the children]], sometimes seriously, even though they could clearly win without doing so.

* ''VideoGame/BlazblueChronophantasma'': This happens with Kokonoe, who has unparalleled zoning ability, easy unblockable setups and her special ability of locking down opponents with her gravity devices; she gets banned from online fights before long. The next game tones her down to bearable, but still strong, levels.

* During the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' days, the earlier versions of Akuma were banned to use in tournaments because he's too OP. Subsequent games [[{{Nerfing}} tone him down]] to avert this.
* A meta-example (fittingly enough) comes from the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' MetaGame, in which Meta-Knight, one of the most infamous {{Tier Induced Scrapp|y}}ies in the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity, was banned from official tournaments. This was referenced in a ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' strip, which revealed that [[spoiler: VideoGame/{{Kirby}} masterminded his banning.]]

In real life, the most common case arises when a given opportunity is "opened" to everyone, yet the winner is someone who would arguably not have needed that opportunity to prove they're good at what they do. In fiction, it's usually avoided by careful writing. A common avoidance is an evil character who could win by playing fair instead deciding to [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat cheat, and losing as a result]]. Other times, it can be unintentionally introduced or openly announced.

This trope is one of ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest. Compare TallPoppySyndrome, where the skilled person is brought down by active sabotage, instead of just moral condemnation. TheResenter will often be the first person to consider someone else overqualified. A videogame application of this trope is banning overpowered characters from tournaments, particularly in [[FightingGame fighting games]].

* In ''Manga/OutlawStar'', Aisha Clan Clan wants to enter the "Strongest Woman in the Universe" contest only to discover that her species, the Ctarl-Ctarl, are banned because they can transform, [[HulkingOut becoming superstrong and unstoppable]]. She finds a way to join and fight anyway.

* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' ExpandedUniverse novel ''The Great Starship Race'', the U.S.S. Enterprise participates in the title race. Because it's much faster than any of the other ships, it would automatically win the race. Instead of simply ordering the Enterprise to keep below some arbitrary speed limit (and check the log tapes to verify it if there's a dispute), the race's organizers require that the Enterprise's engines have restrictors put on them to physically prevent it from going above a certain speed, even in the event of an emergency. [[ChekhovsGun Naturally this causes problems later in the story]].

* One non-canon story in ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' has Archie suffer a horrific accident that requires reconstructive surgery resulting in Archie becoming a cyborg, roughly parallel to ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan''. Archie joins the Riverdale football team, and becomes an unstoppabe juggernaut, until an official cites a rule that forbids fielding any "animal, monster, alien or cyborg." Though banned from football itself, there's no such rule about the cheerleading squad. Archie can lift the entire squad overhead by himself.

* In a rare SmugSuper moment, ComicBook/{{Superman}} once played basketball against a bunch of {{Muggles}}. After promising not to use "flyin' or anything like that" because they consider that "just weak", he uses SuperSpeed to win.

** The Fairy Dance arc has similar angst with Kirito entering another [=VR-MMORPG=] in order to find his missing girlfriend... and it turns out that enough of its code was stolen from Sword Art Online that some of his previous avatar data is ported over like a type of OldSaveBonus. The problem is that as an [=SAO=] survivor he's been connected to the same kind of neural interface [=24/7=] for the last ''two years'' - as a result his brain has adapted to it, letting him control his avatar with greater speed and fluidity than any normal player. Thus he angsts about how he'll probably be banned on sight from any kind of gameplay because he's pretty much the definition of "overpowered", and how this will be bad for his chances of finding out where Asuna is.

** In the short story "The Sea and Little Fishes", the infamous Granny Weatherwax enters and wins every annual contest of witchcraft. When a middle-rate busybody accuses her of being unfair, Granny's friend Nanny Ogg muses that people who expect witches to play nice and go by the rules have a thoroughly inadequate understanding of what it means to be a witch.
---> '''Letice:''' Don't you think it's unfair to other people that you win every year?
---> '''Granny:''' No. I'm better'n them.
** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by Tiffany Aching, who doesn't participate in the annual cheese-making contests: even though she makes them like anyone else, people would assume that as a witch, she used magic to make them better.

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This trope is one of ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest. Compare TallPoppySyndrome, where the skilled person is brought down by active sabotage, instead of just moral condemnation. A videogame application of this trope is banning overpowered characters from tournaments, particularly in [[FightingGame fighting games]].

* Andrew from ''Series/MySecretIdentity'' once tried out for the school's track team despite his super powers giving him an unfair advantage. He has a discussion with Dr. Jeffcoate who asks if he's the one winning the races or his alter ego. This causes Andrew to intentionally lose his next race.