Smashboards

unironically playing like tekken and then there's a huge upset when THE GREAT GATSBY WITH THE STEEL CHAIR turns up as a legitimate counterpick

What would make them a joke character then?

probably their design, like, adding inspector gadget into mk1 would probably count as a "joke character" even if he had a viable moveset purely because of the dissonance and inherent weirdness of the crossover in that case

The character concept, like if I ever put Bubsy in my platform fighter I would give him a genuinely solid moveset that pays respect to his franchise

According to TVTropes, by definition a “joke character” must be bad or else they are not a joke character. A character that is conceptually or visually silly but functionally good is a “fighting clown.”

I guess it’s debatable if this is the way “joke character” should be defined in the first place, though.