Yamcha, an example of an Heroic Benchmark character from Dragon Ball.
Heroic Benchmark characters are under Rank 4 +. These characters are heroes who have done good acts within their setting but they are not admirable enough within their story . These characters may also have multiple corrupting qualities that can detract from their heroism.
Despite failing to stand out among other characters in their setting, these characters don’t fail the general baseline and are above standard heroism.
These characters are capable of being exceptionally noble and virtuous in their story even if they fail to fully stand out.
Heroic Benchmark comes in four classes:
- Class A: The character only fails the in-story standard slightly, but they have too many corrupting qualities. While they’re still among the most admirable in their work, they fail to fully stand out and have traits that detract from their heroism than can range from just being extremely rude to having committed immoral acts and even becoming falle heroes. They would count as Near Pure Good if they lacked their corrupting factors. Examples are Squidward Tantacles from SpongeBob Squarepants and Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly Oddparents.
- Class B: The character is extremely admirable but comes from a work with an high admirable standard where their actions are common. Despite having no corrupting qualities, these characters fail to other characters in the story and in general. These characters would be admirable enough to be Pure Good in a different work. Examples are Tsuyu Asui from My Hero Academia and Ji-Yeong from Squid Game.
- Class C: A combination of the classes above, where the character fails to stand out due to the work having extremely high admirable standards but wouldn’t qualify as a Pure Good or Near Pure Good even if it didn’t due to having severe preventions. Examples are Queen Bee from Miraculous Ladybug and Bowser Jr. from Super Mario Bros.
- Class D: The character commits an act that allows them to pass the in-general baseline, but fails the in-series baseline due to other characters who do better. This is because even disregarding resources, an her who easily passes the baseline would overshadow an hero who only barely passes it, as the gap in admirableness is too big for the character to stand out. It is the least an hero can get to not be bog-standard. Examples are John Silver from Treasure Planet and Harumi from Ninjago.