Literal Strawman

Normally, a straw man is "fought" only in a debate. It's fairly easy to defeat a Straw Character with words, after all, but far harder to take a hammer and knock it down. But a Literal Strawman is one who actually enters the field of battle, makes a few weak gestures, and then is killed off in one or two hits.

Please note that the Literal Strawman does not need to actually be made from straw. Perfectly acceptable versions exist with the fundamentalist preacher believing God made the universe in exactly seven 24-hour days, or having some generic scientist tell you that evolution proves that religion can't exist, because, well it can't. Or some equally weak figurehead. Because Might Makes Right, simply defeating them in battle is (of course) enough to completely discredit not only the distorted version of the point used for an attack, but also the real argument. Bonus points if the character in some way actually resembles a straw target dummy.

Contrast Windmill Crusader, in that the character there is the hero, rather than the target. Compare to Straw Feminist, Straw Loser, Straw Hypocrite, Straw Misogynist, and Straw Character. This trope can be any of these things, the difference being that the Literal Strawman resolves them in actual conflict rather than debate. As Tropes Are Not Bad this can be okay, if the author using it very obviously parodies the whole concept, though if poorly handled it can obviously worsen the story. If the Literal Strawman defeats you in battle, by this logic, Straw Man Has a Point.

No real life examples, please; real people are not crafted for a specific purpose.

Examples of Literal Strawman include:

Film

• This happens a great deal in action movies. The hero is fighting people whose views are wrong and defeats them easily, because of course he or she is The Hero.

Video Games

• Most versions of an Author Tract game have the tendency to create overly weak enemies or bosses who represent some point the author wants to argue around.
  • Yu Yevon is a good example of this. His belief system was totally wrong (according to the author), and messed up the lives of millions of people. The only way to actually lose this battle is probably to petrify yourself, and even doing nothing Yu Yevon can defeat himself.
• Earthbound has many stereotypical enemies, like fighting hippies and grumpy middle-aged bachelors. Like most things about the game though, it seems to be intended as a parody.
• In Maple Story there are straw practice dummies as an enemy, which are often fought in large groups by solo parties that are at least 20 levels higher than them. At least, they were, before Big Bang.
• Oracle of Tao has a very obvious man of straw. Using a random number generator he gives a number of very tired political or religious points that would be something presumably representing an opposing view point. He pretty much always attacks, but usually misses or does no damage, and can be killed with one damage.
  • The game itself tries to make actual convincing arguments on both sides, so this enemy is really a parody of the typical Author Tract.