Sandbox / Memetic Badass Wick Check

Here I will run a check on Memetic Badass to gauge how much misuse is going on.

Hypotheses:

1. There are enough in-universe examples to split them off from the trivia.
2. There are a ton of ZCEs, predominantly in pothole form.

Wicks checked: 75/68.

Entries checked: 100. YMMV with Context 29%, Good Non-YMMV 2%, ZCE 37%, In-Universe 26%, Unsure 6%.

Conclusion: A bunch of misuse, plus a substantial amount of In-Universe usage that might be worth splitting off into a non-trivia trope. If 26% of the non-sandbox wicks were In-Universe, that would be over 1000 of them.

YMMV with Context: 29, 4 ZCE ( 17 wicks)

1. Headscratchers.My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Season 3: First, yes, he's a prime candidate for a Redemption Demotion. It's even somewhat plausible — once he starts to actually care about what effect his antics have on others, he pretty much by definition can't fling his power around quite as carelessly and freely as he did before. But perhaps more importantly, second, as with the princesses his actual power may have been somewhat exaggerated by the fandom. He may be more powerful than Celestia and Luna (whose own badassery is mostly of the memetic kind in turn), but with the boundaries on magic in the setting not particularly well defined it's hard to say where his upper limits actually are. We've seen him use mainly transmutation effects, teleportation, and his brainwashing trick — all things that, while perhaps on a slightly grander scale than usual, don't really seem all that out of bounds for a hypothetical sufficiently powerful and crazy unicorn wizard...
2. Memes.Among Us: METAFORADO^ExplanationThis one comes from the Brazilian community, from a group of popular YouTubers and streamers playing the game. Said group included Vitor "Metaforando" Santos... a YouTuber who's an expressions expert. Despite his lacking knowledge of the game, Metaforando used his ability to read vocal expressions to correctly deduce out Impostors from seemingly nowhere, leading him to a Memetic Badass status and his name becoming synonymous with "figuring out the Impostor without obvious clues".
3. Memes.Warrior Cats: All hail Purdystar!! ^ExplanationPurdy has become a popular character in the fandom. The "star" name suffix is for given only to leaders of a clan of cats. .
4. Trivia.Terminator 2 Judgment Day: Meme Acknowledgement: Robert Patrick occasionally likes and shares memes on his social media pages about his Memetic Badass status for playing (or rather, being) the T-1000.
5. UnintentionalPeriodPiece.Turn Of The Millennium: Lemon Demon's "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" and its official music video on Newgrounds. While most of the references span from the '80s to the 2000s, there are a couple that stand out as specifically being products of the internet circa 2005. These include the reverence given to Memetic Badass Chuck Norris, Samuel L. Jackson being attacked by snakes, and Eric Bauman being punched in the face by Lowtax.
6. YMMV.Adventure Quest Worlds:
   • Artix. If he wasn't badass enough, this game adds that he's the Champion of Darkness with the power to lay waste to the world.
   • Class-wise, classes that are considered underpowered or outright joke classes such as Rustbucket, No Class, and Hobo Highlord (a variant of No Class) are often praised by the community as being able to beat the top-tier classes (including the likes of Void Highlord and Yami no Ronin).
7. YMMV.Alpha Protocol:
   • There's one or two theories on the official forum that the true architect of AP's plot is none other than... the Gelato Man.
   • On some forums, Alexi Dravic. His nickname helps.
   • Steven Heck seems just as plausible.
8. YMMV.Ar Tonelico II Melody Of Metafalica: After seeing Cloche actually use her sword, several people like to joke that she never becomes a vanguard character because she would make the game too easy!
9. YMMV.Attack On Titan:
   • For some reason involving symbolism and a lack of effort to take it seriously, the walnut from the second ending. ZCE.
   • They didn't build the Walls to protect mankind from the Titans. They built the Walls to protect the Titans from Captain Levi.
10. YMMV.Castlevania Rondo Of Blood: Maria being brokenly stronger than Richter has led to this in Japan. Her casually saying "I'm okay" is spelled "I'm a weapon of mass destruction" to serve as the name of the meme. Theories like Shaft targeting her first for being a far greater threat are par for the course.
11. YMMV.Hells Kitchen:
    • Chef Ramsay. ZCE.
    • Dave, winner of Season 6, also qualifies due to winning the competition single-handed. His status among fans is legendary.
    • Sous Chef Scott. ZCE.
    • In spite of his lacking cooking skills, Season 8's Raj has jokingly become this within the fandom.
    • Jon, who placed third in Season 11, for being the only member of that season's blue team with his head screwed on right and for possibly being one of the best contestants in Hell's Kitchen period, so much so that Gordon outright hired him.
12. YMMV.History Of Power Rangers: Memetic Mutation: Linkara's review of Lightspeed Rescue created the "Carter Grayson is a Badass" meme.
13. YMMV.More Information Than You Require: Teddy Roosevelt originally built the American Museum of Natural History as a kind of lepidopterist's "killing jar". But instead of butterflies, he put dinosaurs inside and starved them UNTIL THEY WERE SKELETONS.
14. YMMV.Mythril Aces: Hobbes. It's been joked that some of his scenes would have to be cut from an animated adaptation.
15. YMMV.Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
    • Homura is a Crazy-Prepared badass packing heat who can still find time to flip her hair while she kicks witch ass.
    • Goddess Madoka. ZCE.
    • Junko Kaname is a Memetic Badass Normal. She's among the few characters (from all media) the fandom assumes can take on Homura on even footing in fanart.
16. YMMV.Pokemon Sword And Shield:
    • Dracovish. As soon as the fandom heard of the sheer power of its signature move, fans started portraying it as on the same level as (if not more powerful than) a legendary. Fanon tends to portray it as a weapon of mass destruction who wants to kill everyone for allowing it to exist in the first place.
    • Leon and his Charizard are extremely ironic examples, with fans sarcastically parroting and mocking the incessant in-game Character Shilling that touts them as "undefeated" and "unbeatable". Some even take this further and joke that the people of Galar literally worship Charizard as a god and the most powerful being in the universe, with Leon being a holy figure serving directly under it.
    • Piers is a straighter example. Despite never using Dynamaxing at all due to his personal disdain of it, he managed to give Raihan a run for his money and while he didn't win, did come extremely close without Dynamaxing. Some fans like to roll with it by saying Piers is the true strongest trainer in Galar and is deliberately holding back to give himself a challenge and has no interest in being Champion because it wouldn't be fair to others.
    • Gloria, as part as the Scottish Gloria meme, is portrayed as a brash Badass Adorable though it sometimes goes hand in hand with turning her into a Memetic Psychopath.
    • Memetic Loser:
      • Fans love to take Leon's infamous in-game terrible sense of direction and crank it up to Wrong Turn at Albuquerque levels. This also overlaps with the "Leon/Charizard religion" Memetic Badass memes; reminding everyone of Leon's awful sense of direction is presented as a tenet of "Galarism", and an in-game quote where Leon claims Charizard helped prevent him from getting lost is allegedly "evidence" that supreme deity Charizard is the only being that Leon ever answers to.
      • Going hand in hand with Gloria's portrayal as a Scottish Memetic Badass, Victor is sometimes portrayed as a meek and timid (English) boy that she pushes around, usually giving them a Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy dynamic.
17. YMMV.Record Of Ragnarok:
    • Thanks to his brief stare with Shiva, the frog-like being who brings Raiden the salt to start his battle has become this for the fandom, with some theorizing him to be some kind of Supreme God above Zeus or directly the strongest character of the manga.
    • Like mentioned above, it didn't take much for Jesus to become one after his debut chapter, with fans often attributing him incredible feats and abilities despite being just an spectator who most likely doesn't possesses any fighting abilities.

Good non-YMMV Use: 2 ( 2 wicks)

1. Determinator.Advertising: In Brasil there was once a series of advertisements of people getting better in life that always ended with the sentence "...porque (ele/a) é brasileiro/a e não desiste nunca.", or, in English, "...because (he/she) is Brazilian and never gives up.". It became a Memetic Mutation. In other words, the Brazilian government made the citizenry consider themselves Memetic Determinators. Interesting and fitting discussion of audience reaction, but it's a main page.
2. UsefulNotes.Sanada Yukimura: Many people said he only faked death to escape with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's heir so that the Toyotomi may rise once again. Other rumors said he went into hiding to prepare for revenge on the Tokugawa. Word of mouth embellished his heroics in battle, and legends were born about his death. In record time the badass but humble general Sanada Nobushige had transformed into Sanada Yukimura, model samurai, passionate and fearless warrior, loyal unto death, with a heartwrenchingly tragic fate. Unsurprisingly he was especially popular among those who opposed the Tokugawa shogunate (causing some headache to his brother Nobuyuki), but the shogunate also made a point of praising his loyalty and steadfastness. During and after the Meiji Restoration Yukimura gained a more general appeal, getting younger and younger in the process, so in less historically accurate works he's often depicted as a young man. (The real Yukimura died at 49.) A historical audience, but an audience nonetheless! Fabulous other than not being YMMV.

ZCE: 32+4+1=37, 2 IUB ( 28 wicks)

1. BadassAdorable.Real Life: Badgers in general. They have cute little stripey-faces, stocky bodies, and also have razor-sharp claws and teeth which they can use to defend themselves (Though, normally, they will just try to burrow away. Those claws are mainly for digging, after all). Special mention goes to the Honey Badger, which has become a Memetic Badass due to its fearless nature. In what way?
2. Characters.Twenty Four Bauer Family: Anti-Hero: An Unscrupulous Hero. He's perfectly willing to torture, mutilate, execute allies if necessary and break nearly every law in the book. To his credit, he does intend to stand trial for any laws he breaks, even though this never actually happens (given that this is Jack Bauer we're talking about, perhaps no one is brave enough to try.)
3. Characters.Monday Begins On Saturday:
   • Beware the Nice Ones: In his anger, he can be just as terrifying as his associate Junta.
   • The Dreaded/invokedMemetic Badass: Legends are told about Junta's swashbuckling duelist tendencies, his exploits as the ruthless Grand Inquisitor and Charlemagne's headstrong military advisor, and suchlike. In-Universe.
4. Creator.Harvey Keitel: He also played Gene Hunt in the American version of Life On Mars; much like Philip Glenister in the British original, he was the best thing on the show.
5. DarthWiki.AH Dot Com Eternals: Shout-Out: In-universe, the film characters of Connor MacLeod, Ramirez, The Kurgan and Ramirez's Japanese mentor are revealed to be all broadly based on existing Eternals, though with most of their backstories changed. The Kurgan himself is supposed to be an adaptation of this series' memetic Big Bad, The Blood Knight (over-the-top Evil Gloating included). What makes him a badass?
6. DemonicSpiders.Dark Souls:
   • The large Mushroom People, to the point of exaggeration. After fighting the small ones, who are a joke (they even fall flat on their faces when they try to attack you!), their funny appearance and their laughably slow speed, most people will probably underestimate them and charge right in. The same people will then find out that these things not only have a metric ton of HP, but that their punches hit hard enough to easily kill most characters in one or two hits.
   • Most of the NPC invaders are both this and Boss in Mook Clothing, particularly the NPC invaders in the Lost Crowns DLC thanks to Artificial Brilliance. Jester Thomas from Crown of the Sunken King is probably the most infamous example thanks to his sky-high resistances, insane speed, and Pyromancy spam.
7. Funny.Avatar The Last Airbender Book Three: As someone who's seen this show, what makes his persona a badass?
   • Half that episode is a CMoF, including this:
   School Principal: Thank you so much for coming Mr and Mrs...?
   Sokka: Fire. Wang Fire.
   • The return of WANG FIRE, consulting psychiatrist.
8. Funny.Chuggaaconroy Pikmin: Chugga finding Steve proving his worth.
9. Funny.Godzilla King Of The Monsters 2019: This highly entertaining merchandise for Memetic Badass Kevin Ghidorah.
10. Funny.Proton Jon: The epicness that is Clint.
11. Funny.Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Spirit Of Justice: Phoenix cracking his back so bad he faints for a whole day. Looks like all those years of miraculously surviving serious injuries with nary a scratch finally caught up to him.
12. GoddamnedBoss.RPG: Dark Souls: The Iron Golem isn't terribly hard, but you fight him in a small arena near the top of Sen's Fortress. The biggest hazard of the fight isn't the Iron Golem's attacks, but rather the Bottomless Pit surrounding the arena. It's way too easy to fall off the edge, and while getting back to the fight isn't hard if you found the bonfire at the top of Sen's Fortress, it makes it one of the game's cheaper fights...Unless you bring in Iron TARKUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSS!!!!
13. HilariousInHindsight.Fan Works: Two fanfics by writer TakaiTotem — Send Read Receipts and Peter Parker's Phone Calls — have a chapter or two each revolving around a waterfowl who only seems to exist to create chaos for the protagonists, doing things like stealing objects and delivering one-sided beatdowns to them (keep in mind that all of our main characters are superheroes). Sounds like a Shout-Out to Untitled Goose Game and the Memetic Badass reputation of its titular character...until you realize that the chapters he shows up in were written before the game was even announced. Could do with more elaboration on how the MB status manifests itself in fandom.
14. Main.Bond One Liner: In Fallout: New Vegas, Boone has one if you take him along to kill Caesar.
    "Thumbs down, you son of a bitch."
15. Main.In Universe Game Clock: Every mission in Deus Ex is set at night. Whether it is due to limitations of the game engine for rendering sky, the emphasis on hiding in shadows and general stealth gaming, or JC being such a badass that the Sun is afraid of him, no-one quite knows.
16. Memes.Kid Icarus Uprising: Beam Claws is a Memetic Badass.
17. Narm.Video Games:
    • While the voice acting in GX was improved, (especially if you're comparing Falcon to his Memetic Badass counterpart in Super Smash Bros.), that didn't stop the Narm, considering that Nintendo strove to humanize every character (all of 41 of them)... by giving them post-race interviews, zany movies (that are won by beating Master Class), and a story mode that fluctuates between narm and awesome.
    • Teisel is actually sort of a Memetic Badass for his Narm. At times, Tron and her Servbots (especially the Servbots) can be pretty narmy. Mostly it's just Teisel, though.
18. NightmareFuel.Ant Man 1: We get to see how truly scary Ant-Man is, especially during the flashback scenes. Imagine this. You're a HYDRA soldier in Berlin, when the alarms ring, meaning there's an intruder. You ready your submachine gun, and with your comrades, look around for the intruder... until the guy next to you is smashed into a wall by something... invisible. You look on in terror as more and more of your friends are smashed into concrete by this invisible intruder, who is somehow knocking them out with a single punch or kick. Then, as fresh soldiers pour in, the machine gun nest in the room fires on its own◊ at you. The battalions are instantly chopped down by the high-powered rifle rounds as the machine gun turns by itself, fires by itself and aims by itself. Now, shaking and horrified, you rush outside to find help. You sigh with relief as the tanks roll in — but the invisible attacker, within seconds, turns the place into a war zone. Tanks blow up and set vehicles aflame. Burning men run screaming, rolling on the ground to escape the pain. The explosions from the sizzling fuel tanks wipe out men like mortar assaults. Again, forgetting your training, the fact you have a gun in your hand, forgetting that you are a soldier serving the most advanced and powerful 'peacekeeping' organization on the planet, you run, up until the invisible attacker finally reaches up with you and slams you into the ground, over and over. In your panic-stricken mind, while begging your attacker to just leave you alone, you wonder who the hell this thing is. Is it The Invisible Man? Is it a poltergeist? Has the goddamn Winter Soldier turned invisible and gone mad? WHO IS THIS ABOMINATION?
19. NoodleIncident.Fan Works: Speaking of odd were-beasts, in Shadowchasers: Tournament of Shadows Sonya recounts to Nicole an incident where encountered a "very confused wererat" who claimed he was a were-Tasmanian devil (marsupial lycanthropes don't exist) and another incident where she "met" Terra Ironhoof, but won't give the details.
20. Quotes.The Voiceless: "..."
    — Anything Red says, Pokémon
21. RetiredBadass.Video Games:
    • In the Kingdom Hearts series, Yen Sid used to be a Keyblade master on par with Eraqus and Xehanort. But he retired and passed his knowledge onto Mickey, which turned out well.
    • Deconstructed with Cassius Bright in The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. Considered a One-Man Army and in-universe Memetic Badass, he leaves the army due to grief over his wife's death. The void he leaves behind is considerable, and several higher-ups in the army believe the country is defenceless without him. This leads to his protege staging a coup and trying to uncover an ancient superweapon. Cassius is eventually forced out of retirement to clear up this mess. In-Universe.
22. Roleplay.Great Interstellar War: Curb-Stomp Battle: Shan's spaceborne landings in the mountains on Taiga-Zhai become this, as the initial Wester invasion utterly steamrolls the Red defenses and scatters them to the wind due to their opponents being complete rookies. Remarkable in that none of the characters involved were used to fighting a battle that easy. Minus the Ice Worms.
23. Series.Power Rangers Dino Thunder:
    • The really, really good news is that the new bio teacher is none other than Dr. Thomas James Oliver, known to his friends as "Tommy", and a man with a little experience with these matters.
    • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A jock, a nerd, a rocker, an artist, and their Memetic Badass teacher.
24. SugarWiki.Gushing About Characters You Like: Carl Copenhagan from Demo Reel. Sexy-accented Memetic Badass with a Dark and Troubled Past and a hidden soft side. You were taken from the internet too soon, sir. What makes him a badass?
25. TalkingToHimself.Video Games: Mark Meer, the voice of a male Commander Shepard also does voices for some of the alien NPC's, including the vorcha, Hanar and a few volus, which are regarded as the joke races. It makes the encounter with Niftu Cal (the BIOTIC GOD!) even more hilarious if Shepard is a biotic himself. Tali also brings up the vorcha similarities in the third game when she gets drunk.
26. UsefulNotes.Modern Battlefield Weapons: The AK-47 (or, officially, the Avtomat Kalashnikova or "Kalashnikov automatic") and all its descendants. Memetically tough and nigh-indestructible, this weapon family entered mass production around 1948 and is widespread around the world and has more licensed copies / unlicensed knock-offs than can be easily recounted, including some in use by Western-aligned nations (designs based on it but not outright copies have been manufactured in Israel, Finland, and South Africa, among other countries).
27. WMG.Portal: The only reason Chell didn't get killed when she followed his suggestions is because Chell is Chell, she eats bullets and isn't afraid of anything. This of course technically makes Wheatley the smartest AI in the whole facility, but his genius is directed into coming up with terrible plans rather than workable ones. Who says that about her?
28. VideoGame.Asherons Call: Drunken Master: Memetic Badass Ulgrim.

In-Universe: 24+2=26, 1 ZCE, 1 O ( 23 wicks)

1. Characters.The Boondocks Recurring Characters: In-Universe, his reputation is greatly exaggerated. He's still quite possibly the best fighter on the show. He's also one of two notable characters in the whole show to have fought in the Kumite (HU-CHYA!).
2. Characters.Fallout New Vegas Courier And Companions: In-Universe. After a while, you have to simply mention you're "The Courier" for the enemy to get nervous.
3. Characters.Rusty And Co: In-Universe, even. The Doogans scoff at the idea that Mimic is an actual adventurer, but when they learn he's worked with "Gelly-C", they're actually a bit intimidated.
4. Characters.A Song Of Ice And Fire Jaime Lannister:
   • Master Swordsman: He serves as the Memetic Badass of his generation, and only four people have ever defeated him in tourneys or combat—Sandor Clegane at the tourney for the Hand of the King, Loras Tyrell in another tourney, Jorah Mormont at the Lannisport Tourney, Robb Stark and several northern knights at the Battle of the Whispering Wood, and Brienne of Tarth, who while no slouch in battle herself had a number of unfair advantages in the fight. Important to note is the fact that in most of those case, Jaime lost in a joust, not a duel. Only in the latter two, massively outnumbered, and chained, underfed and still almost won, did he actually lose a fight involving swords. Not sure if that judgement is in-universe or out.
   • In-universe. He was such a good fighter that after he killed King Aerys, King Robert still wanted him for the Kingsguard. (The side helping of Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work didn't hurt.)
5. Characters.Star Trek The Original Series James Tiberius Kirk: In-Universe example. Kirk serves as one for all of Starfleet. When given with the chance of meeting him, Picard and Sisko both positively Squee. Considering that both Picard and Sisko are also examples of this within the Trekverse, that says something.
6. Characters.What If They Were In Smash 81 To 90: invoked: Referenced in their pre-debut title card as "This Powerful Entity", as a nod to their Game-Breakerinvoked status in the few Sonic games she's a part of. Conscious choice in-work?
7. ComicBook.Spider Man Loves Mary Jane: In-universe, Limo Girl. Could use more context but the keyword is there.
8. DeconstructedCharacterArchetype.Video Games: Cassius Bright from The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky deconstructs One-Man Army, Memetic Badass and Retired Badass. Cassius almost single-handedly saved Liberl from Erebonia's invasion in the 100 Days War, and his achievements as a Bracer are so great he's treated like an in-universe God-Mode Sue. The main plot of the first Sky game hinges on one question: what happens when someone like that retires? In short, the game's antagonist is a former protege of Cassius who saw him as the one thing holding the country together. When he left the army, he felt Liberl was defenceless against foreign powers. So he became a Well-Intentioned Extremist, starting a coup d'etat and making deals with a shady secret society to obtain a piece of dangerous ancient technology. When Cassius returns, he literally beats it into his former student that, for all his achievements, he's just one man, and treating him like the one thing that held the army together is incredibly dangerous for the country's future. Cassius is forced out of retirement in order to clear up this mess.
9. DinoAttackRPG.Tropes M To R: Not So Invincible After All: Played with in the case of the Grendelwulf brothers. Despite being intentionally portrayed as invokedMemetic Badasses, they were both killed fairly mundanely — at least in comparison to many of the situations they survived — and more or less due to twists of bad luck.
10. Fanfic.Mythos Effect: In-Universe it's suggested that the reason Admiral Slade is Older Than He Looks is because time is afraid to age him.
11. Funny.Achievement Hunter Go Series: The entire premise of the Go plays up Ray's Memetic Badass status among the group, putting him in a 4-on-1 match in a game of his choosing. Ray wins 20 to 8 in Call of Duty Black Ops 2.
12. Literature.Hand Of Thrawn: In-Universe example. Thrawn is perhaps the most terrifying (non-Force-sensitive) figure the galaxy has ever seen, so even his impersonator's appearance freaks out Lando and others who see him. It takes Pellaeon, who knew Thrawn best and is not threatened by him, to ferret him out.
13. Literature.Monster Hunter International: In-universe, Franks is seen as one. Justifiably so. Could use more context but the keyword is there.
14. WebVideo.Freemans Mind: In Universe, Gordon believes himself to be this.
    Gordon:That's why the dinosaurs went extinct: ME!!
15. Main.Awakening The Sleeping Giant: The entire Dominion War itself could be considered this from the Dominion's perspective, as they severely underestimated Federation technical prowess and industrial capacity, to the point that Federation engineers became an entire army of Memetic Badasses in the eyes of the Dominion, who witnessed the Federation turn just about anything they could get their hands on into a starship and cranking their industrial base up a notch, to the point that one Vorta claimed a Federation engineer could "turn rocks into replicators". Not to mention the original Dominion contingent had no idea how warlike humanity could become when the need arose. (Their Cardassian allies were considerably smarter in this regard, however).
16. Merlin.Tropes I To P: Merlin (Emrys) is this to the Druids. invoked
17. NostalgiaChick.Tropes M To R: In-Universe. Every time she says James Cameron, a choir pops up.
18. OneManArmy.Literature:
    • The Dresden Files: Harry himself is no slouch especially not now that he's the Winter Knight. To whit: He has done everything from summoning a zombie T-Rex, to taking the force of gravity from a quarter mile radius and condensing it all down into a range about 200m across, to setting an entire mansion on fire at once, and so on and so forth. There is a reason that now that Morgan's dead he is the most infamous warden in the world. Now that he's the Winter Knight, it's even better. When he really cuts loose, he can jump 50m with a few step start, form ice claws sharper than steel and use them faster than Sidhe can react, and bench press in the realm of 400 Kilos. He's also enough of a Memetic Badass that a group of Wardens, all of whom were more skilled and experienced than him, hesitate to take him on.
    • The Star Wars Expanded Universe gives us a few Jedi who count as this (mostly of the Solo/Skywalker clan), but special mention has to go to Grand Master Luke Skywalker, who has the Force potential of his father, the stubbornness of his mother, and combat skills roughly equivalent to those of Mace Windu. Maybe more of a ZCE than In-Universe, barring more elaboration?
    • War of the Dreaming's Peter Waylock, especially after he gets his hands on an Empathic Weapon. It gets better when we find out that Peter Augustus Waylock is an in-universe Memetic Badass.
    Van Dam: "At this point, we think he was giving false orders over the radio. Once we found out, he ordered a radio silence."
    Wentworth: "He ordered?"
    Van Dam: "Yes, sir. We think that's what caused the shoot-out at the cross corridor."
19. Quotes.Space Friction: "This, recruits, is a 20-kilo ferrous slug. Feel the weight! Every five seconds, the main gun of an Everest-class Dreadnought accelerates one to 1.3 percent of light speed. It impacts with the force of a 38-kiloton bomb. That is three times the yield of the city buster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth. That means: Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space! (...) I dare to assume you ignorant jackasses know that space is empty! Once you fire this hunk of metal, it keeps going 'till it hits something! That can be a ship, or the planet behind that ship. It might go off into deep space and hit somebody else in ten thousand years. If you pull the trigger on this, you are ruining someone's day, somewhere and sometime!"
20. ScaryBlackMan.Video Games: Played with in regards to Benny in Fire Emblem Fates: he's a Mighty Glacier in black armor, has a personal ability that suggests that he strikes fear into the heart of enemies, and is kind of a Memetic Badass in-story thanks to tales about him being a One-Man Army... but in reality, he's a very soft-spoken and timid Gentle Giant off the battlefield, and he's very bothered by how few people can see through his Face of a Thug case.
21. Series.Better Off Ted: Leeroy Jenkins: Potentially referenced in "Beating a Dead Workforce" as a Memetic Badass. In-universe pop culture reference?
22. Website.The Duffel Blog: General James Mattis of the Marine Corps is shaping up to be one In-Universe.
23. WebVideo.Yu Gi Oh ARCV The Abridged Series: In-Universe example seems to be Mr. Security man; the three LDS kids love him, saying he's awesome and Reiji questions his mother about how she got a trading card of him. Turns out to be a case of Informed Attribute out universe, as he's quickly worfed by Shun, offscreen.

Unsure: 5+1= 6 ( 5 wicks)

1. Characters.Doctor Who Classic Series Companions: Quickly became a Memetic Badass for how determined she was in defeating monsters with whatever tools she had available. Not sure if that judgement is in-universe or out.
2. Characters.Oney Plays: The most powerful person on the face of the Earth, with copious superpowers and a lust for blood. Not sure if that judgement is in-universe or out.
3. Funny.Final Fantasy XIV Gentleman Inspector Hildibrand: Once it's discovered there's a dewprism (a drug that can mind control the consumer) dealing scandal underneath the sword case, the group pursue Akebono for his arrest. However, Akebono has an ace up his sleeve, which the group has to deal with...a mind-controlled Godbert! And since Godbert is known for being a Memetic Badass, pretty much everyone at the front of the party gets curb-stomped in seconds flat, with the player escaping only because he's closer to the back. Not sure if that judgement is in-universe or out.
4. Quotes.Double K: "Who am I? WHO AM I?! Well, just clean out those ears, gramps, and I'll tell ya! Voted "Loosest Cannon" upon graduating the academy...holder of the entire police force's highest arrest record...wrongful or otherwise...and the only officer in the history of the department who's ever caused more collateral damage than out budget could cover...the legendary lieutenant detective of the GDP's celebrated Vice Division, THE INCOMPARABLE SUPERCOP, KAMINA!! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!" Not sure if that judgement is in-universe, out, or just according to this dude himself.
5. Theatre.Puffs The Play: The lineup for Nineteen-ish Years After doesn't include Zac Moon (Wayne), and Matt Cox points out that there's no way he could possibly be in the show because of Wayne's death at the end of Puffs. This is a lie; Moon does make an appearance as an alternate-universe Wayne, referred to as Badass!Wayne, who basically takes Harry's place as the savior of the wizarding world. Not sure if that judgement is in-universe or out.