There is ... and then there is ...

[angelsrolls]

There's bad ass and f*cking scary, and then there's these guys.

Does this sentence basically mean: "these guys are bad ass and f*cking scary"?

 

[MikeNewYork]

It probably means that they are worse.

 

[Skrej]

Note that you can use this construction to make a comparison between any two extreme examples of something. It shows that the second one is the ultimate example of things in the category described by the first.

"There's hot and dry, and then there's Death Valley."
"There's rich and affluent, and then there's Bill Gates."

 

[Skrej]

I suppose you could use it that way, but I've only heard it used as the first two being characteristics of the same item, at least in AmE.