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I've seen once
ну ты ваще!
somewhere. Is it related to "вообще" as the redirection to that word in Wiktionary suggests?
In that case, what is the whole thing? Since I feel like it's missing an adjective, does it mean something by itself? I'd expected "ну ты ваще дурак/умный!"
This phrase is an emotional exclamation. You are right, it's related to вообще and it skips the main word. This missing word is usually known from a context and an intonation. It can has either positive or negative meaning.
Examples:
Ну ты ваще дебил! negative exclamation, noun is used. Ну ты ваще молодец! positive exclamation, noun is used. Ну ты ваще красивый! positive (humorous?) exclamation, adjective is used.Ну ты ваще герой! positive (humorous?) exclamation, noun is used.So my answer is: this phrase has no self-explanatory meaning without a context.
Actually this is a synonym for "Ну ты даешь!", wiktionary defines it as an exclamation when someone does something unexpected:
неперех., разг. делать что-то неожиданное ◆ Ну ты даёшь!
For instance, when a man in a typical businessman outfit suddenly makes a somersault a natural reaction would be "Ну ты даешь!".
вообще. – kotlomoy Oct 11 '14 at 19:49