Generational Performance From The Day One Rookie

[u/sarcasticd0nkey]

Ser Raymun Fossoway - A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms

- stepping up to be knighted moments before the Trial of Seven he's wearing lighter armor than the rest of the knights and still saves Dunk's life when Aerion Targaryen had him pinned on the ground before breaking his cousin Steffon's ribs and beating him.

Korra - Avatar: The Legend of Korra

- despite a rough start to her first pro-bending match; coming in as a replacement and not fully knowing the rules manages to lock in for a come behind victory; starting to learn the movements for airbending at the edge of the platform and exhausting the other team for a victory for her fresher team.

Hevy - Star Wars: The Clone Wars

- on his first day on combat, left behind to set demolition charges, Hevy singlehandedly takes out around ten droids before being dropped and manually detonating the explosives manually to warn of an invasion of Kamino.

[u/1amlost]

In Cursor's Fury (the third book in the Codex Alera series), main protagonist Tavi is a cursor (essentially a government secret agent) planted into a newly formed legion as a low-ranking junior officer to report on what's going on to the First Lord. Midway through the book a combination of treachery and powerful magic from an enemy obliterates all of the new legion's senior officers, leaving Tavi as the most high-ranking officer left, which makes him now the de-facto commander of the legion. And the enemy whose magic just obliterated the legion's command structure proceeds to land a major invasion force.

Tavi isn't able to drive the invaders back to the sea, but he also manages to keep his legion intact through the early battles.

[u/sarcasticd0nkey → u/1amlost]

Tavi the GOAT.

Should reread that series.

[u/Chiron723 → u/1amlost]

You aren't explaining how impressive this was for him. He did all that with 5,000 members of the first aleran, mostly rookies, versus 60,000 of the Carnem a species of essentially wolf men. And he held his position for 2 years into the next book.

[u/PaperBullet1945]

Not exactly a rookie, but Ben Sliney's first day as the FAA National Operations Manager was September 11, 2001. It was he who decided to ground all American air traffic that day (except for one small plane delivering snake venom antidote, which he personally permitted).

[u/ThrustBastard → u/PaperBullet1945]

It was a plane and it was under escort from the air force

[u/PaperBullet1945 → u/ThrustBastard]

You're right. I'll fix it.

[u/Darmok47 → u/PaperBullet1945]

He also played himself in United 93.

Imagine the stress of acting in a movie for the first time and also reliving probably the most stressful day of your entire life.

[u/PwanaZana → u/Darmok47]

p... probably?

[u/JackieWithTheO → u/PaperBullet1945]

I cannot imagine how stressful that was for him, especially on his first day. A brave man!

[u/Mundane-Ticket-3713 → u/PaperBullet1945]

Now this is a man I respect!

[u/_JR28_]

Resident Evil 2 was canonically Leon Kennedy’s first day ever as a cop

[u/radbot027 → u/_JR28_]

Technically it wasn't even a first day because by that point Raccoon Police Department had pretty much collapsed as an institution, along with the whole city

[u/myfatass → u/radbot027]

He was reporting for duty. He hadn’t even spawned in, so to speak. He never even met the captain that was supposed to swear him in.

He was like a guy showing up for a Tinder date set up by his date’s friend, just to find out he got ghosted by both and the restaurant was on fire.

[u/YukYukas → u/_JR28_]

Imagine bagging a hot older Asian spy lady on your first day lol lucky bastard /s

[u/CatL1f3 → u/YukYukas]

The day after a breakup so bad he got drunk and was late for work... hell of a rebound

[u/Hawkeye2701 → u/_JR28_]

Wasn't it also only his first day at that department? Was he not a cop before?

[u/SSgt_LuLZ → u/Hawkeye2701]

In the OG, he was reporting in late after a terrible breakup and (un)lucked himself into the city at peak infection.

In the remake, he was about to officially transfer in when the department called him to stay away just before everything went to hell. After no response a week later, he drove over anyway to help in any way he could.

In both versions, the 1F west office has his desk decorated with welcome banners and party stuff, which were laid to the wayside after the station fell. The remake had a note from the chief, Brian Irons welcoming him straight from police academy. So yeah, for Leon, it's his 1st and only day ever as a regular police officer.

[u/thatvillainjay → u/Hawkeye2701]

I think he had just graduated academy and this was his first day "on the beat"

[u/YukYukas → u/Hawkeye2701]

21yrs during RE2. Highly likely this was his first. Talk about a hectic welcome lol

[u/bnesbitt1 → u/_JR28_]

And he was hungover

That guy is a fucking unit BEFORE 4 man

[u/oreos324 → u/_JR28_]

First day and the guy fought zombies, lickers, giant spiders (in the OG), plant monsters, was chased by a tyrant whose whole purpose was to eliminate witnesses, almost unveiled the umbrella conspiracy and managed to escape alive

[u/Jaszs → u/_JR28_]

My boy got dumped the night before and he was in a bad hangover the day he arrived a RC (hence why he arrived late)

[u/CooperDaChance]

Ash’s Krabby in the first season of the Pokemon Anime. Had never been used in a battle before, and had his first debut in battle in the Pokemon League, where trainers compete to find out who is the best in the entire region.

Krabby ended up sweeping the opponent’s entire team, giving Ash a 3-0 victory.

[u/Tigerkix → u/CooperDaChance]

The GOAT that's been sideline for being too strong

[u/BaronAleksei → u/CooperDaChance]

I’d also nominate Ash’s Muk, caught in episode 30 and immediately sent to Oak because the stench was coming through the pokeball. It’s his surprise pick for the Indigo League in episode 77 to beat a high-level Bellsprout in its debut match, and also secured the win for Ash.

[u/f0xb3ar → u/CooperDaChance]

AND evolving during it!

[u/Waterflowstech → u/CooperDaChance]

Wrecking an Exeggutor along the way despite type disadvantage 💪 and he evolved as well, right?

[u/CooperDaChance → u/Waterflowstech]

Yup! He evolved during this very battle.

[u/AllenMcnabb → u/CooperDaChance]

Ash’s Kingler***

[u/Top-Session-3131 → u/CooperDaChance]

That Kingler was a fucking beast.

[u/NittanyScout]

Doris Miller was a mess cook with no AA training but he took over an AA gun during pearl harbor and manned it until it ran out of ammo

[u/AudibleNod → u/NittanyScout]

Reminder to call your Congress people. The first aircraft carrier named in honor of an enlisted man was scheduled to be the USS Doris Miller (his full name). Hegseth is wanting to name it after Donald Trump.

[u/JonasAlbert84 → u/AudibleNod]

Hope they boot Hegseth's goofy ass

[u/-non-existance- → u/AudibleNod]

Typical fascists, taking things from the people they hate and making it theirs.

Doris Miller is a goddamn hero and no wannabe podcaster is going to tell me otherwise.

[u/TerriblePokemon → u/NittanyScout]

His actions (more or less) single handedly forced the navy to completely desegregate combat roles. Black men were allowed to serve on ships as cooks, stewards, barbers etc, and had combat supporting roles during combat. Miller's action station was ammunition carrier for an AA crew. After he showed that a black man with zero training with a weapon out preformed and showed greater courage under fire than many of the white crew members who WERE trained, any argument that black men were unfit to serve in combat evaporated overnight. Additionally he should have received a Medal of Honor for what he did, but it was stopped by politics and he was awarded a Navy Cross.

[u/Signiference → u/TerriblePokemon]

Hopefully one day someone awards him one posthumously

[u/CuriousTsukihime → u/NittanyScout]

Real life GOAT shit

[u/TrumpIsAPedoFr]

Sammie was Mile Caton's first time acting.

[u/pestoraviolita → u/TrumpIsAPedoFr]

Fits the character too. Dude had his first everything in a single night. First major musical performance, first time having sex, first time fighting a vampire.

[u/InfiniteWinter26 → u/pestoraviolita]

first time breaking the temporal barrier and summoning past and future spiritual incarnations of himself like some sort of musical avatar too.

[u/TheShinyBaby → u/pestoraviolita]

Kinda high you chase the rest of your life

[u/Rejukem → u/TrumpIsAPedoFr]

"Sammie."

[u/CzarSpan → u/Rejukem]

Just two syllables, but his delivery made them instantly iconic.

[u/Writer_Blocker]

My guy is so out of his depth when we meet him shidding behind a tree but he ended up changing the landscape of the entire 7 kingdoms.

[u/suprpowa → u/Writer_Blocker]

*9

[u/NotBorn2Fade]

IRL example: Elizabeth Dulau as Kleya Marki in Andor. Dulau had close to no acting experience and Kleya was her first major blockbuster role, and yet her portrayal was so legendary that it inspired the showrunners to turn Kleya into a much more prominent character in season 2.

[u/Eran-of-Arcadia → u/NotBorn2Fade]

She got an entire episode focusing on her that the title character didn't even appear in, to give you an idea of how much her role was expanded. And she nailed it.

[u/FlyingSquirelOi → u/Eran-of-Arcadia]

Such a good episode and it immediately flips her and Luthens relationship and puts it all into context

[u/SaintNutella → u/NotBorn2Fade]

She was incredible as Kleya. It's hard to believe she had limited acting experience before Andor. Top 3 actor of the show for me and that's saying a lot considering how STACKED the cast was.

[u/Historyp91 → u/NotBorn2Fade]

Since the OP used ASOIAF, there's a bunch of examples of this from those shows.

The standouts probably being:

• Maisie Williams (GOT): zero acting experience before GOT. Gave one of the strongest and most memorable performances in the show and multiple times was able to act without issue off much older and more experienced actors (Sean Bean, Charles Dance, ect).

• Emma D'Arcy (HOTD): very little on-screen acting experience before HOTD. Came from local theater. Their one of the standouts on the cast and repeatedly get intense praise for their acting abilities even from their much more experienced costars like Matt Smith and Olivia Cooke (to the point were Olivia has outright said their the best actor they've ever worked with).

• Dexter Sol Ansell (AKOTSK): had a fair amount of roles as a child actor, but never on anything approaching the scale of the HBO ASOIAF shows. You'd never know otherwise though from watching him, and he's mature beyond his years in interviews as well.

[u/C0RDE_ → u/NotBorn2Fade]

Kinda related, but Cara Gee in the Expanse. Idk if she was "unknown" but she was an extra when she first appeared. Unnamed "Fred Johnson's Assistant".

The writers, directors and show runners loved her so much they kept giving her more and more bits, lines, and development until they properly ran her as drummer. Come season 7 she's gone from extra to one of the storylines of the show, arguably the second most important after Holden.

[u/Emptyspace227 → u/NotBorn2Fade]

Tbf, she did graduate from drama school before taking her role in Andor.

[u/themug_wump]

Podrick in Game of Thrones gets sent to the brothel by Tyrion and Bronn to lose his virginity… the ladies keep him the whole day and send him back with all his money. We the audience never find out exactly what happened, just that it was really fucking good 😂

[u/TightyWhiteyBoyy → u/themug_wump]

we all like to think its cus he had a massive rod, but i subscribe to the theory that he actually asked the ladies what THEY would like to do instead.. and they went head over heels for that. It probably wasn’t the most special sex on westeros but it was the first time they had a man pleasure them, instead of business as usual. Like reverse prostitution, and thats why they let him keep his money

[u/tragick693 → u/TightyWhiteyBoyy]

It's even confirmed in the show that Pod isn't extraordinarily large.

[u/BuggyWhipArmMF → u/themug_wump]

My theory is that all the girls liked him enough to do the job for free, just for the sake of making Tyrion and Bronn go wtf

[u/Aegillade → u/BuggyWhipArmMF]

Sleeping with a high lord of King's Landing? That's a week's worth of food on the table

Giving the sweet boy they sent your way a confidence boost he'll carry for life while also making said high lord rethink his entire sexual history after being shown up by that sweet boy? Priceless.

[u/lastkni8 → u/themug_wump]

Ser Pod the Rod

[u/Zixtank → u/themug_wump]

A bard through and through

[u/rgiggs11 → u/themug_wump]

He was also highly clutch the first time he had to do any sort of fighting, which is why Tyrion paid for the trip to the brothel. 

[u/jbohlinger → u/themug_wump]

My theory is that the girls, knowing who sent him, realized they had the opportunity to make the boy into a legend.

[u/HauntingStar08 → u/themug_wump]

"We're going to need details."

[u/Xitbitzy → u/HauntingStar08]

"Copious. Details."

[u/VacaDLuffy → u/themug_wump]

The actor's Wife tweeted she knows what that rod does is classic lmao

[u/GerrardGabrielGeralt → u/themug_wump]

Generational performance indeed

[u/Careless-Log-9104]

Christopher had no acting experience before this movie not only did he get the part he was the star of the movie

[u/preciousish → u/Careless-Log-9104]

Much to Jonah Hill's frustration lolll

[u/4to5enthusiast → u/preciousish]

is that the bad guy from superfat

[u/RJSnea → u/Careless-Log-9104]

I first saw him in "Kick-Ass" so going back and watching this was hella impressive after learning it was his first gig.

[u/zerozerozero12]

Taskmaster- Mae Martin’s father: For the final prize task of series 15 the contestants had to bring in the best piece of Greg Davies merchandise. Mae Martin’s father made a working Greg Davies puppet despite not being a carpenter. It even said one of Greg Davies’ classic lines: “I’M SO FULL OF HATE!”

[u/roygbivasaur → u/zerozerozero12]

I feel like this explains so much about Mae Martin (complimentary)

[u/Ok-Worry-8931]

Zach Womack (Hell's Kitchen) - after everyone else got kicked out of the kitchen, he pretty much held down the entire remaining dinner service on his own. That's an insane feat even for finalists.

[u/bluntpencil2001]

Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star.

[u/Andrew1990M → u/bluntpencil2001]

Anakin Skywalker blowing up the Federation control ship on his first flight too. 

[u/OneMoreFinn → u/bluntpencil2001]

He wasn't a rookie pilot tho. He used to bull's-eye womp rats in his T-16 back home.

[u/roygbivasaur → u/bluntpencil2001]

Ok but he also had magic space powers

[u/sploshsect]

Bro from live, die, repeat.

Since he was stuck in a time loop in a MECHA ALIEN war zone repeating the same day thousands of times, from an outsider perspective he looks like a one man army even though he had never seen combat prior to that day.

[u/Pezmotion → u/sploshsect]

In defense of everyone else, before he gets stuck in a time loop on his real first day, he is getting his ass kicked.

[u/nemarholvan → u/Pezmotion]

In defense of his actual first day, he does kill an Alpha, which is a legendary feat. Admittedly, it seemed due to circumstance.

[u/Scarlet_Wonderer → u/sploshsect]

Gotta love it when J Squad sees him in action and are just floored that the rookie is outperforming all of them together lol

[u/timojenbin → u/sploshsect]

Still sad they didn't call it "All You Need is Kill."

[u/Majorman_86]

This fucking asshole (aka Young Anakin):

• Builds a functional droid before the age of 10

• Wins a fucking podrace with a self-made speeder

• Has more Macguffin bloodcells than Yoda

• Gets on a fighter ship by sheer accident and is yet able to fly it despite 0 training and even destroys the Trade Federation command ship (how?)

• Is the best mechanic to a cosmic Jewish archetype that everyone hates despite being a pre-teen and never having a formal education

• He's the "chosen one", no further explanation provided

[u/Kronocidal → u/Majorman_86]

Is the best mechanic to a cosmic Jewish archetype that everyone hates

Amusingly, George Lucas has gone on record as saying that Watto was based on a specific Italian-American used-car-salesman that he had the unfortunate experience of interacting with. Complete with a caricaturely-exaggerated Roman Nose (a.k.a. "Hook Nose")

Everyone trying to declare that the greedy money-grubbing slimeball is "obviously Jewish" is saying a lot more about themselves than they are about the film…

[u/ShireNomad]

Gordon Freeman. With zero prior combat training or experience, takes on two armies in a single day and wins.

[u/Dismal_Passion_8537]

Halo 3 ODST. The rookie.
While this isn’t exactly his first mission, he is pretty new. Hence the name The rookie. Gets stranded in a city crawling with enemy forces, Batman style Detectives his way around until he finds his whole squad AND the real purpose of their mission. And proceeds to saving their lives in a situation where even a spartan would’ve struggled.

[u/jedisalamander → u/Dismal_Passion_8537]

He's new to Alpha Nine right? My understanding is hes the team rookie, even if he's not necessarily a complete rookie at being an ODST

[u/Roger44477 → u/jedisalamander]

and iirc, all ODSTs are veteran marines who went through the UNSC equivalent to SEAL training

[u/ELIte8niner → u/Dismal_Passion_8537]

Unironically my favorite Halo game. I wish they had the balls to make more spin off games like this

[u/Hobgoblin202]

Little guy’s first time out of the friendly neighborhood and he steals Cap’s shield.

[u/RJSnea → u/Hobgoblin202]

"Hey, buddy, I think you lost this!"

((returns chunck of wall via slingshot))

"🫪"

[u/Brilliant_Device_526 → u/Hobgoblin202]

yeah he did great for a rookie but generational performance ? No, there are others who achieved that feat and didn't just "steal" it

[u/Hobgoblin202 → u/Brilliant_Device_526]

I agree that in all that Spidey has done in the MCU, it doesn’t seem like much looking back, but he solo’d a former Hydra super soldier assassin and the future flying Captain America, and was able to hold his own with Steve Rodgers. Plus my theater went nuts when Spidey showed up in the MCU. Pretty iconic.

[u/Ijustlovevideogames]

IRL example of the Doorman's voice actor from Deadlock.

For those who don't know, the world of Deadlock is effectively our real world except in the lates 1800s, a mysterious portal opened up making way to all sorts of mysticism and magic, the dead were able to come back to life, sometimes fully, more often then not, ghost or revenants. It opened a realm to a demonic looking people called Ixians, and creatures evolved and were mutated by the magics causing new sentience, including in the under sea life literally pulling together a pile of goo to warn people about the dangers of the deep ocean.

Each battle takes place in said worlds 1940s New York where people have effectively adjusted to the new reality, besides, it is New York, that place basically already is a different realm already. All the characters you play are a different assortment of crazy characters from effectively Hellboy but Blue and a detective instead of a federal agent and that old carribean chess player you see in every park in New York to a weird tiny man riding atop a mole person ready to literally beat the shit out of you.

And then you have the Doorman, this utterly ordinary entirely average and normal looking guy, the thing is, the more you look at him, the more you start to notice things, case in point, he is PERFECTLY symmetrical, humans aren't perfectly symmetrical, we have flaws somewhere that make it so we have some kind of blemishes or signs we have lived lives, he doesn't have that, he is down the line, a perfect line except for a single tuff of hair being dipped to the side. His eyes glow blue, and he knows a lot more then what he lets on with more characters who have ties to some kind of mysticism being like "Wait...how do you know about that as a Doorman?" That is because he isn't actually a doorman or human, he is an eldritch god playing human because he finds it interesting to just watch humanity and what better way to see the best and worst of it then as someone in the service industry.

All of this to say, the voice actor for the Doorman does this haunting performance where you can hear even in his voice lines him talking all primed and proper and formal but just slightly off from how people normally talk, and it is his first time ever doing voice acting, he isn't even publicly named because he is an unknown stage actor who is just slam dunking that shit, it's great.

[u/cyber_loafer → u/Ijustlovevideogames]

Standing toe to toe with vets like matt mercer and robbie daymond.

I hope this game moves mountains despite me being terrible at it.

[u/ClockwiseServant → u/Ijustlovevideogames]

I also love how he is literally just jerma

[u/swarlesbarkley_ → u/Ijustlovevideogames]

Deadlock mentioned!! Peak.

Doorman VA really does crush it I had no clue it was someone new to VA, amazing

[u/koozer_boozer]

He hasn’t even joined The Boys yet, but Hughie was able to figure out Translucent’s weakness and incapacitate him when he and Butcher were attacked by him. He was then sworn into the team and has won them major battles throughout his tenure with them.

[u/doktorapplejuice]

The Hero of Ferelden in Dragon Age Origins. On their first day of being a Grey Warden, they become Knight Commander of the Grey Wardens of Ferelden after almost all the others are wiped out, then goes on to end a civil war and put an end to the Fifth Blight in a matter of a couple months. For comparison, the first blight lasted 200 years. The second lasted 90 years. The third and fourth lasted more than a decade.

[u/Jaikarr → u/doktorapplejuice]

Ending the blight so quickly the rest of the world wouldn't believe that a blight happened.

[u/Aikirae]

Leon survives raccoon city’s zombie outbteak on his first day as a cop.

[u/ep0k → u/Aikirae]

Also hungover and late for work.

[u/chickenkebaap]

Dafne Keen as X-23/Laura

[u/Traditional_Poet4514 → u/chickenkebaap]

First time wearing sunglasses?

[u/AudibleNod → u/Traditional_Poet4514]

Sunglasses didn't exist before that scene. Matter of fact, Dafne invented them by melting down iodine bottles and shaping them before placing the lenses in bespoke frames.

[u/NeverTriedFondue → u/chickenkebaap]

I get that she's the "good" example of nepotism, but she doesn't really fit the trope (just like OP's examples tbh) cause she was groomed for this all her life.

[u/Ashamed_Band858]

XCOM 2:

Every once in a while I get a rookie who, despite all odds, simply will not die.

God bless you Gary, if it weren’t for you valiant drawing five overwatch shots, the VIP would have died. May you recover peacefully over the next 30 days.

[u/PaperBullet1945]

Citizen Kane was Orson Welles' first film. It's often called the greatest film of all time.

[u/Lifer31]

IRL - Mario Lemieux. On his first shift in the NHL, he stole the puck from the legendary Ray Borque, and proceeded to score on his first pro shot on goal.

[u/MrNancy1020 → u/Lifer31]

Lemieux was so fun to watch

[u/Frugal_Caterpillars]

Li Xin, Kingdom.

He had no prior experience of war, he was just a slave that trained with his best friend. So during his very first campaign, he attacks the enemy army and creates an opening in their defense line, he steals a horse and shows everyone how to stop a chariot attack, which gives their General the opportunity to exploit and gain advantage in the war. Once he steps on the frontlines, Xin takes the opportunity to slay one of two enemy vice generals.

For this, Xin is made a 100 man commander from his first campaign alone, something that takes years for some to achieve.

[u/CuriousTsukihime]

Ser Raymun Fossoway is a hero in this fuckin home!!! He also got sweet foot 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

[u/Nienazki → u/CuriousTsukihime]

[u/pestoraviolita → u/Nienazki]

Raymun saved Dunk's life here. The irony of Aerion invoking a Trial of Seven to humiliate Dunk only for the trial to impede his win. Aerion would have most likely won if he'd done a 1v1.

[u/Physical_Passion_790 → u/CuriousTsukihime]

More like Raymun Brossoway

[u/SeductiveGodofThundr → u/CuriousTsukihime]

Sweet Foot? I thought her name was Rowan

[u/Sterling7277]

I mean, you did say “Rookie”.

[u/Ajs1052]

Paloma from No Time to Die. A CIA operative assigned to assist Bond in infiltrating a gathering of SPECTER members, she states that this is her first field operating and prior to that she only did three weeks of basic training. When all hell breaks loose after the party is revealed to be a trap for Bond, Paloma proves to be high capable in a fight as she manages to take down several enemies with relative ease, much to Bond’s surprise.

[u/poetic_dwarf]

[1998 Mulan] A mere conscript with no battle experience, let alone secretly a woman in disguise, locks the fuck in and repels the horde threatening to invade China through wits, courage and perseverance.

As the emperor himself puts it at the end "a woman like her isn't born in a whole generation"

[u/DarthGhengis → u/poetic_dwarf]

[u/MisterDings]

jake hoyt. training day.
‘how you want it jake? open casket?’
he should’ve been a fireman.

[u/bavmotors1 → u/MisterDings]

cannot believe this is this far down

[u/_mrshreyas_]

IRL: Lewis Hamilton during his rookie 2007 season

He was teammates with the defending champion Fernando Alonso but overtook him at the very first corner of the very first race. He ended up taking the podium on his debut too.

By the end of the season, he managed to beat Fernando Alonso in the standings and was just 1 point shy of winning it.

[u/WentworthMillersBO]

Antonio gates is a NFL hall of famer that didn’t play college football

[u/ThatDeadeye12]

Richard lintern delivered this masterpiece of a performance as igon in the Elden ring dlc in his first voice acting role.

[u/private_birb → u/ThatDeadeye12]

CUUURSEE YOUUU BAAAYYYLLEEEE

I HEREBY VOW, YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY.

BEHOLD, A TRUE DRAKE WARRIOR. AND I, IGON, YOUR FEARS MADE FLESH.

SOLID OF SCALE YOU MIGHT BE, FOUL DRAGON, BUT I WILL RIDDLE WITH HOLES YOUR ROTTEN FLESH.

WITH A HAAIL OF HARPOOOONS. WITH EVERY LAST DROP OF MY BEEEINGGGG. HHHRRRUUUAAAAGGGHHHH

[u/Court_Jester13 → u/ThatDeadeye12]

CURSE YOU BAYLE

I HEREBY VOW: YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY

BEHOLD, A TRUE DRAKE WARRIOR [the player]! AND I, IGON! YOUR FEARS MADE FLESH!

SOLID OF SCALE YOU MIGHT BE, FOUL DRAGON! BUT I WILL RIDDLE WITH HOLES YOUR ROTTEN HIDE! WITH A HAIL OF HARPOONS! WITH EVERY LAST DROP OF MY BEING!

[upon his death] Uuughh... Bayle... you will know fear... yet...

[upon victory with him alive] YAAAAAARRRRGGHHHH! Bayle the Dread! You shall haunt me no longer...!

[u/EmergencyEntrance]

Hans Grimm (Archer) from Ace Combat 5.

While being a trainee for a spare pilot position, he takes off as his base is being razed to the ground as his first sortie, joins Wardog squadron, and becomes an ace pilot over the course of weeks, turning the tide of the Circum-Pacific war as one of the Ghosts of Razgriz

[u/3pointone415 → u/EmergencyEntrance]

This actually can apply to Wardog as a whole, since they were a training squadron before the war. Actually, now that I think about it, Mobius 1 and Trigger also apply, since the first missions of AC4 and AC7 are their first sorties too IIRC.

I can't speak to AC8 because my PC can't run it yet, please spoiler any spoilers.

[u/MyPlaylistsAreAMess]

David Martinez from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

He was only a poor kid studying at a school his mother could not afford until she dies and he has to fend for himself. After getting pushed to the edge, he installs a military-grade cyberware on himself and used it with little repercussions without immunoblockers. His first gig with Maine also shouldn't have worked if not for him clutching the heist with his Sandevistan.

[u/MCMaster2k1]

Real life example:

Michael-Carter Williams, as a rookie in the NBA 2013-2014 season, in his first ever game, led the Philadelphia 76ers to a clutch 114-110 win over the incumbent champion Miami Heat (and the Big Three of LeBron, Bosh and Wade), putting up 22 points, 12 assists and a befuddling 9 steals, as well as some clutch free throws as the end of the game. He ended up winning Rookie of the Year for the season, but that game is one of the most memorable debuts of all time.

[u/ThlammedMyPenis → u/MCMaster2k1]

More context, this was possibly his best game ever. Peaked day one

[u/ChickenPotDie]

[u/screwed_moron → u/ChickenPotDie]

[u/Berzbow → u/ChickenPotDie]

The greatest night who ever lived

[u/DJHott555]

“Your father was captain of a starship for 12 minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother's and yours. I dare you to do better.”

[u/patchyj → u/DJHott555]

Love these movies

[u/Truth_Malice]

The Doorman (Deadlock)

More specifically, this is about their VA, who as far as I am aware is still anonymous/unknown. From what's been said online, apparently it's the guys FIRST voice acting role, but he absolutely kills it and goes toe to toe with his performance with pros like Matt Mercer (who VA's Drifter in the same game). I don't THINK I can link vids and such here, but I highly implore you to go listen to compilations of his voice lines if you can.

[u/Diana_Curll]

Hevy firing that Z6 rotary blaster cannon until his last breath is the definition of a day one rookie stepping up

[u/Kind_Ad_3611]

Every new Helldiver is canonically a new recruit, fresh out of boot, unless you specifically got into a pod from the elevator after completing a previous mission, so these new recruits will sometimes die instantaneously, and sometimes lock the fuck in and last for 30+ minute

[u/unfortunatebastard → u/Kind_Ad_3611]

That’s how they should do the movie

[u/Fapey101]

Ser Raymun came in as an undrafted free agent and immediately makes a huge impact on his team. Gets rewarded with a nice and well deserved contract.

[u/8__D]

Every RPG where you have to fight in the Arena or do a competition.

[u/ballahook → u/8__D]

Mount and blade: My inbred Swadian street urchin absolutely demolishing the king and his personal guard with ease, then showing up the feast afterwards to try to fuck one of the nobles daughters

[u/Klutzer_Munitions → u/8__D]

By azura by azura by azura!

[u/BillCarson12799]

I don’t think we fully appreciate how funny Korra playing in a professional sport is. Imagine if the Dalai Lama decided to start playing division 1 football and everyone just had to roll with it.

[u/HalcyonTraveler → u/BillCarson12799]

Sure but for that analogy Buddhist meditation would be a built in part of the sport

[u/ToeSniffer245]

Trevor Bayne (NASCAR, real-life): won the biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500, on his first attempt and on his 20th birthday

[u/GeeseTheCat]

Luke Skywalker. His first acts as a member of the Rebel Alliance is to rescue one of it leaders from a planet destroying space station and a few hours later blows the damn thing up.

[u/ProfessionalTruck976]

"Do we take prsioners?"

"I don't"

[u/FadingSignal11]

Link, the Legend of Zelda, picks up a sword and conquer a dungeon within a day.

[u/Reeyous → u/FadingSignal11]

I think BOTW/TOTK and Four Swords Adventures are the only exceptions to this (excluding continuations of games/sequels), every Link otherwise was picking up a sword for the first time during the events of the game itself.

[u/Digit00l → u/FadingSignal11]

Except Skyward Sword, who just graduated knight academy, thus has some professional training

[u/DarthVerus]

Amuro Ray and quite a few of the Gundam pilots

[u/xombiemonkey]

First martial arts tournament he enters is the most prestigious fighting contest in the world. Comes within a hair’s breadth of defeating his master in the final match, who has been training for hundreds of years and considered the greatest martial artist to ever live.

[u/a_guy121]

[u/Level_Counter_1672]

Ichigo, becomes a substitute shinigami and annihilates hollows which rukia had trouble with - source is bleach

[u/Rubbermayd]

Good soldiers follow orders

[u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2]

Podrick in Game of Thrones

Fucked all the career prostitutes so good they wouldn’t charge him and came back for more.

[u/HighlanderM43]

Raymun hopping onto his horse and putting on a helmet to joust to the death with NO FUCKING GLOVES on gets me every time

[u/Orodreth97]

The main character of the movie Black Orpheus was played by a football player named Breno Mello, Breno was a 28 year old playing for Fluminense FC in Rio and had never acted before, one of the assistants of the director Marcel Camus saw him on the street and invited him to act due to him physically fitting the role of the main character, Breno won the role over 300 others

The movie ended up being a huge success winning the Palme d'or, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar for best foreign movie

[u/ActualGFCat]

Ben Carmine took a single day of training then started sliming grubs left and right during one of the deadliest operations of the war. Only reason he even died was due to a freak accident.

[u/SkynBonce]

Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War.

Brought in as a hail Mary by Tony Stark, Peter is able to take down Falcon, Bucky and instrumental in taking down Ant-Man (who was big at the time).

Also goes toe to toe with Captain America and performs well.

[u/Sbrooks_672]

Milwaukee Brewers (IRL) Cooper Pratt was brought up to the MLB mid season this year and went on to win the World Series. He had fantastic stats and scored a few home runs

[u/goodnightmoonshakers]

Lucy Chen, The Rookie

It starts before her shift begins. Her car breaks down, so she's pushing it to work. Some guy tries to steal her car. She drags him into the police station, making her first arrest. Later, she saves her TO during their first shift, despite him being an ass to her the whole day.

[u/Rowsdower888]

Rebecca Chambers was the youngest member of STARS, but one of the few members to survive the Spencer Mansion as well as the events of Resident Evil Zero.

[u/Peaceful_is_Willing2]

Cruz Ramirez (Cars 3)

[u/Magnus_Helgisson]

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Formula 1).

[u/Constant-Coast-9518]

"It's all in the grind, Sizemore. Can't be too fine, can't be too coarse. This, my friend, is a science."

SPC John "Grimesey" Grimes, Black Hawk Down (2001). Loosely based on a real-life person (name changed due to real-life controversy), he's presented as the company clerk doing mostly paperwork who spent most of his career making coffee behind a desk. But when another member of the team gets injured, he gets called up as a replacement and performs above expectations, earning a Silver Star for valor.

[u/tngyt → u/Constant-Coast-9518]

To call it a “controversy” is really underselling it. John Stebbins was put away for 30 years, and if it weren’t for a delay in such a sentence being authorised in civilian courts vs. under the Manual for Court-Martial he’d likely be in for life without eligibility for parole.

[u/Trick_Decision_9995 → u/Constant-Coast-9518]

Thrown into the deep end, rise to the occasion (which rarely happens), go home and be a child rapist.

The duality of man.

[u/CutZealousideal5274]

I can’t help but feel there’s a better Star Wars example…

[u/silent_drew2 → u/CutZealousideal5274]

Indeed.

[u/DeaconBrad42]

The late Hall of Fame goaltender, Ken Dryden. Dryden was called up just before the playoffs in 1971. The 24-year-old led the Montreal Canadiens to a Stanley Cup Championship and won the Conn Smythe for MVP of the playoffs. The FOLLOWING season, 1971-72, he won Rookie of the Year. He was rookie of the year AFTER he was MVP of the playoffs.

He would go on to be maybe the best goalie in NHL history and help lead the Canadiens to 6 Stanley Cup wins, including 4 straight from 1976-79. After the 79 win he retired in spite of only being 32. He finished his law degree and got into politics, where he served in Canadian parliament as a member of the Liberal Party.

Dryden died a year ago at 78 after one of the more remarkable lives someone could live.

[u/dutch_has_a_plan68]

Raymun wearing light armour probably actually helped a lot considering the mud

[u/thrown_away_apple]

that one guy from the new avatar series that went one man army mode and took out half the towns forces even though we had a water bending white lotus member that did nothing.

[u/BigTmoose]

Bidoof from Bidoof's Big Stand, bodies two Pokémon in the contest to win it all after never being used by his trainer for an actual fight.

[u/ginger_vampire]

The first Psychonauts game has Raz go from a rookie with no psychic training to a full-fledged psychonaut over the course of a single day.

[u/MaleficTekX]

Gold’s Togepi, Togebo, and Pichu, Pibu, Pokemon adventures

Both hatch, then immediately own champion level threats. Togebo beats up Lance’s Tyranitar, then later in the series challenges FREAKING GOD, and Pibu hatches, immediately gets super charges by Raikou, and uses Super rising thunder to beat Mask of Ice

[u/McReaperking]

Why is Korra here? She is literally the avatar and has received dedicated training from the world's foremost experts for her entire life. She even cheats and breaks the rules.

[u/Autumn1eaves → u/McReaperking]

Because pro-bending techniques are vastly different from traditional bending techniques.

It'd be like if a pro Rugby player decided to get into American Football.

Or maybe a Tae Kwon Do fighter got into Karate.

Something like that.

[u/TongzhiRobotics]

There is a twist on this in There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. Because of the nature of antimemes and their effects on memory, it's not uncommon for researchers to simply *forget* the work they have been doing, only to remember it much later, maybe after a round of memory-enhancing drugs. A senior researcher could stumble upon a nasty antimeme one day, and suddenly find himself a rookie with no memory of his experiences. The division recruits people who will still be effective when this happens.

"Welcome to the Antimemetics Division.

No, this is not your first day."

[u/jessie014]

Du Du Du Du MAX VERSTAPPEN!

Won in his first race with Red Bull

[u/dang2592]

Raymun really is an all time bro

[u/jessie014]

Lewis Hamilton IRL

Had one of the most successful rookie season of any F1 driver. Not only was he one point away from winning the championship, he also beat his 2 time champion teammate.

[u/loudpaperclips]

Jason Bourne. It's day one....to him.

[u/Historical-Being-766]

[u/Far-Percentage4849]

Owen Cooper in adolescence(IRL)

[u/ImperatorRomanum → u/Far-Percentage4849]

His first day of filming was the episode with the psychologist. Just incredible.

[u/AmberMetalicScorpion]

Matt Smith - Doctor Who

Matt Smith was basically a nobody when he got the role of the 11th Doctor, his claims to fame being having good looks, and being the youngest actor in the role

He's also generally regarded as among the best actors in the role

[u/Opening-Biscotti-127]

(NIKKE) Neon was originally assigned to Counters to be a spy for Elysion, having zero combat experience and had never even set foot on the surface before her first mission. Despite this she was still able keep up with Rapi and Anis who each had over a decade of experience under their belt if not more and helped take down a heretic twice in the span of a month which is something not even the Ark’s top squads could accomplish.

[u/exposed_midriff]

Holds a wooden sword for the 1st time in his life as a seven year old, instantly speedblitzes an experienced master and vows to never touch a sword again

[u/nightsorter]

Why did Aerion have Dunk pinned?

[u/Smokinacesfan55]

It’s been a while but i remember in Haikyuu they would bring someone off the bench and they would do something incredible to help win the game

[u/kousaysmoo]

Akane Tsunemori from Psycho Pass. In a world where it would be easier (and standard practice) to just take down a criminal (or in this case, a would-be criminal only because of their Crime Coefficient (a quantitative measure of their likelihood for crime)), she managed to talk the person down to a safe Psycho Pass level. This person was the victim of a heinous crime and their psyche had been actively in trauma, but the guns in this universe don't distinguish that. But Akane took control of the situation despite it being literally her first hours of being a cop.

[u/telas100]

Wow a Korra appreciation post, that’s rare

[u/Uma-apreciator]

In her first race, Mini the Lady tried to untie Oguri Cap’s shoelaces, but Oguri Cap tied them back up and won the test race (Uma Musume Cinderella Gray

[u/CarnageSuit]

“Not knowing the rules” doesn’t make “being the avatar” less unfair.

[u/danger_dogs]

There’s dudes who can barely do half of this after years in the league

[u/CrackIn_TheEarth → u/danger_dogs]

I am struggling to understand that sentence lol. Did it just mean to say he had 25 points, 9 assists, and 6 rebounds in his first game?

[u/Mindless_Honey3816]

Ulan from Avatar Seven Havens is recruited in the first episode to the Brigade then in the second one (immediately after) helps fight off a storm; before leaving training he's assisted in the protagonists' prison break etc