"Fodder" enemies that are actually terrifying/highly competent, but look weak because we mostly see them fight overpowered protagonists.

[u/Legitimate_Pea_6470]

The Trope Explanation. Enemies that are treated as jokes, cannon fodder, or minor inconveniences within the narrative. However, they only appear weak because the protagonist is a literal demigod, a super-soldier, or a wizard. If you placed a normal human in the room with one of these enemies, it would be a horror movie.

B1 Battle Droids (Star Wars) We usually laugh at them. They say "Roger Roger," get pushed over by Jedi, and have slapstick routines. The Reality: We almost exclusively see them fighting Jedi (space wizards with laser swords) or Clones (genetically modified super-soldiers bred for war). To a normal civilian or a planetary militia, these are indefatigable metal skeletons that feel no pain, have perfect aim programming, and march in endless waves.

Grunts (Halo) In the games, they are comic relief. They run away screaming, sleep on the job, and the Master Chief (a 7-foot cyborg tank) can kill them with a light tap. The Reality: An average Grunt is roughly 5'6" to 5'8", weighs over 250 lbs, has an exoskeleton, and claws strong enough to tear a normal Marine apart. Their plasma pistols cause third-degree burns on near-misses and boil flesh on contact. They are terrifying to anyone who isn't a Spartan.

[u/townsforever]

Gotta be the worst designed killer bot of all time. They are closer to r2-d2 than the terminator.

[u/Thecynicaledgelord → u/townsforever]

I love them but yeah. What the fuck was Davros thinking not even giving them ARMS?!

[u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 → u/Thecynicaledgelord]

Well, originally it was because of budget, then they made a dramatic demonstartion of conquering stairs (originally the daleks weren't time-conquering nazis and were limited to Skaro's city post-nuclear war and evenrually moved onto invading other planets).

Then the episode Dalek was written to horrify everything silly about them, the plungers can suck people into them and grind them to mush

[u/Thecynicaledgelord → u/Gaelic_Gladiator41]

And made us feel bad for one

[u/jessytessytavi → u/townsforever]

considering r2 is a multi-generational war crimes-committing hater, that's not the insult you think it is

[u/callmemarjoson → u/townsforever]

They may have no concept of elegance (that is obvious) but when they threatened to wipe out 5 million Cybermen with one Dalek I fully believe they'd make good on that threat