Board 8 > Best of the Trope Season 2: Day 163 - Magikarp Power

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Best of the Trope!

Here are the rules. Each day, I will post a trope from TV Tropes, and each poster can name up to three examples of that trope. Whichever nomination gets the most mentions wins! Posters may also name as many Honourable Mentions as they like, but they are purely optional and will not count towards the running score. You may look at the TV Tropes page for that day's trope for examples, but you do not have to pick all your examples from the page. You can nominate whatever examples you like, as long as they qualify for the trope. Each trope will last around 24 hours before the next one goes up.

Posters may also nominate any tropes they wish to see come up during the series. This is optional, and you don't have to do it every day, or at all. Tropes will be randomly selected from the list each day, except for some occasions where I will pick a thematically appropriate trope that may or may not be on the list.

Here's the list of previous tropes, so if you wish to nominate some tropes, check on here that it wasn't previously done. http://board8.wikia.com/wiki/Best_of_the_Trope

Trope List:
Launcher of a Thousand Ships
Even the Girls Want Her
Even the Guys Want Him
One True Love
Disc-One Nuke
Beef Gate
Stupid Statement Dance Mix
Joke Character
Lethal Joke Character
Difficult, but Awesome
Tier-Induced Scrappy
Glass Cannon
Breather Boss
That One Level
Breather Level
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere
Game-Breaker
Broken Base
Roaring Rampage of Revenge
Cliffhanger
Cruel and Unusual Death
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome
Evil Cripple
Torch the Franchise and Run
Lights Off, Somebody Dies
Grand Finale

The winner of yesterday's trope, One Scene Wonder, was The Black Knight (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), who got 6 votes. None shall pass - his score that is!

Previous winners: Day 131 onwards
Redemption Equals Death - Darth Vader (Star Wars) / Theon Greyjoy (Game of Thrones) / Doctor Octopus (Spider-Man 2)
Godzilla Threshold - Operation Zero Dawn (Horizon Zero Dawn) / Crossing the streams (Ghostbusters)
One Winged Angel - Safer Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)
11th-Hour Ranger - Sonic the Hedgehog (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
Informed Poverty - The Simpsons
Post-Climax Confrontation - The Scouring of the Shire (The Lord of the Rings)
Death by Childbirth - Padme (Star Wars)
Defeat Means Friendship - Dragon Ball in general / Scotsman (Samurai Jack)
Elegant Gothic Lolita - Celeste Ludenberg (Danganronpa)
The Turret Master - Engineer (Team Fortress 2)
Shear Menace - Scissorsman (Clock Tower)
Infinity +1 Sword - Ultima Weapon (Kingdom Hearts)
Infinity -1 Sword - Fully Evolved Starters (Pokemon)
Poisonous Person - Poison Ivy (DC Comics)
Too Good for this Sinful Earth - Chiaki Nanami (Danganronpa 2)
That One Boss - Ultra Necrozma (Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon)
B***h in Sheep's Clothing - Matt Engarde and Dahlia Hawthorne (Ace Attorney)
Blue-Collar Warlock - John Constantine (Constantine)
Despair Event Horizon - John Wick's dog is killed (John Wick)
A**hole Victim - Joffrey Baratheon (Game of Thrones)
Crutch Character - Marcus (Fire Emblem 7)
Your Soul is Mine - Maximillian Pegasus (Yu-Gi-Oh!) / Shang Tsung (Mortal Kombat) / Dementor's Kiss (Harry Potter)
Pop-Cultured Badass - Deadpool
Acquitted Too Late - Tom Robinson (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Lightning Bruiser - The Flash (DC Comics) / Bob Barker (Happy Gilmore)
Me's a Crowd - Naruto / Multiple Man (X-Men)
A Taste of Power - Samus (Metroid Series)
Shrinking Violet - Violet (The Incredibles)
Stone Wall - Shuckle (Pokemon)

Today's trope is Magikarp Power. Here is the link: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagikarpPower

A character, ability, or piece of equipment that seems completely useless at first, but with repeated use and patience can be highly effective later. This can be an item/weapon you need to explicitly power up or even an entire low-level character who gets some really awesome techniques later. Choosing the character usually involves taking the Path of Most Resistance so you can Earn Your Fun.

Leaked Experience can be very helpful in getting this to the appropriate point without weakening the party or putting the Magikarp Power in danger. Rare Candy may also be a great help. Related to Level Grinding in that the player is forced to drag an entirely useless item or NPC around for level after level, until it becomes useful.

TL,DR: Something that starts out very weak, but becomes much stronger if you persevere with it.

Nominations:
Magikarp (Pokemon) - Trope namer privileges!
Maha Vailo (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
Shujinko (Mortal Kombat Deception)

Magikarp
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Cosmog (Pokemon), who has managed to out-Magikarp Magikarp.
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Wooden Sword into Unlabored Flawlessness (Ninja Gaiden)
The Pawn (Chess)
The Page (Homestuck)
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Cosmog (Pokemon)
The Pawn (Chess)
Domingo (Shining Force)
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Cosmog
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Magikarp
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Magikarp
Phoenix Wright (Marvel vs. Capcom 3)
The Pawn (Chess)
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Magikarp
Pawn
A baby whose parents are sumo wrestling fans (real life)
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The Pawn (Chess)
Phoenix (Marvel vs. Capcom 3) (not Wright, I mean Jean Grey)
Handgun (Resident Evil 4)
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Magikarp
Rickie Lukens (Grand Theft Auto V)
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Cosmog > Magikarp.

Cosmog it is.
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The Pawn (Chess)
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GavsEvans123 posted...

Magikarp (Pokemon)

Pirateking2000 posted...

The Pawn (Chess)

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Magikarp
Thievery (FF9)
Everyones Grudge (FF7)

I'll replace Shujinko with Pawn.

On that note, rankings so far:
Magikarp (Pokemon) - 8 votes
The Pawn (Chess) - 8 votes
Cosmog (Pokemon) - 4 votes
Maha Vailo (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
Wooden Sword into Unlabored Flawlessness (Ninja Gaiden)
The Page (Homestuck)
Domingo (Shining Force)
Phoenix Wright (Marvel vs. Capcom 3)
A baby whose parents are sumo wrestling fans (real life)
Phoenix / Jean Grey (Marvel vs. Capcom 3)
Handgun (Resident Evil 4)
Thievery (FF9)
Everyones Grudge (FF7)
Rickie Lukens (Grand Theft Auto V)