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Basic Trope: A character's abilities are explicitly average for the setting.

  • Straight: Jack is fast but not the fastest, strong but not the strongest and tough but not the toughest.
  • Exaggerated: The Jack holds the exact middle between "good" and "bad" for every skill, weapon, ability, strategy, and technique in the entire universe.
  • Downplayed: Jack leans a little bit toward either the Master of None or the Lightning Bruiser extremes.
  • Justified: Jack wanted to be prepared for anything, so he had to train in everything. This had the effect of him being mediocre in all areas, as he never had the time to be an expert at anything.
  • Inverted: Jack is a specialist.
  • Subverted: Jack appears to be mediocre at everything, but then reveals that he was holding back, trying to appear weak. He unleashes his true power, becoming a true Lightning Bruiser...
  • Double Subverted: which is really just a temporary Super Mode. It turns out that at the core, Jack really is average at everything.
  • Parodied:
    • Jack can't do anything, living in a world where everything requires a specialist.
    • "Aah, Jack. Strength: no weaknesses, weakness: no strengths."
  • Zig Zagged: Jack appears to be average, but gains a few pounds in Super Weight, becoming a Lightning Bruiser. However, that's by Earth's standards. When aliens invade, he finds himself a Jack of all stats when compared to the extremely powerful aliens. Then his source of power runs out, rendering him a Master of None. But he still has his super mode...
  • Averted: Jack is any character build but a Jack of all stats.
  • Enforced: "We need a guy who doesn't rely on When All You Have Is a Hammer… to solve all their problems."
  • Lampshaded: "Let's put it this way. Your performance chart is a straight line."
  • Invoked: Jack realizes he lives in a world where all specialists suffer from Crippling Overspecialization, and becomes a generalist to avert that flaw.
  • Exploited: The boss correctly guess that jack is universally average, and puts him with a group of specialists so he can compensate for their roles if one of them is knocked out.
  • Defied: Jack realizes he lives in a world where generalists are helpless as they aren't skilled in any one area enough to do anything, and trains hard in one area so he'll at least be somewhat useful.
  • Discussed:
  • Conversed: ???
  • Implied: When looking at the records of the government agents trying to kill him, Bob finds a file that says Jack is "Competent, but not notable in any particular field."
  • Deconstructed:
    • Jack is confident that his mediocre skill in firearms, average ability in martial arts, standard capabilities of stealth, and his so-so powers of magic will defeat Mr. Martial Arts Master, whom he believes suffers from Crippling Overspecialization. When the fight starts, Mr. Martial Arts Master simply rushes in and easily neutralizes Jack with an expert takedown, which Jack couldn't counter because his "okay" martial arts skills weren't enough.
    • Jack's abilities being so unremarkable when he hangs around far more talented men and women makes him get a case of Green-Eyed Monster towards them.
    • Due to only being average at everything he does, Jack is often seen as The Load of his team and is overshadowed by other members who do what he does and do it better, and so he rarely gets his chance to shine.
  • Reconstructed:
    • Jack goes for a rematch with Mr. Martial Arts Master. When MMAM tries to rush in for an expert takedown (since that's one of the few ways he can fight, being a specialist), Jack just simply shoots him. Sure he missed his first few shots (being average), but that's why semi-automatic weapons were invented.
    • Jack's teammates suffer from Crippling Overspecialization in several scenarios, and in practice it turns out he's the only member of the team who is never The Load due to his general expertise.
  • Untwisted: Jack is a member of a superhero team that is expected to specialise in a certain type of heroics to give each character a chance to shine. His broad skills allow him to assist the main character of the episode most of the time, though he only takes centre stage against enemies with similarly broad repertoires.

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