History Main / BecameTheirOwnAntithesis

** It happened to [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicFluttershy Fluttershy]] and [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPrincessLuna Princess Luna]]] when they failed to (or felt that they failed to) use their special gifts. Cue to the Cutie Mark Failure theory amongst the fandom.

** It happened to [[TheCutie Fluttershy]] and [[DarkIsNotEvil Luna]] when they failed to (or felt that they failed to) use their special gifts. Cue to the Cutie Mark Failure theory amongst the fandom.
** In the two-parter "The Return of Harmony", Discord corrupts all the Mane Six through a combination of verbal trickery and mind control, until they all invert the virtues they formerly embodied. Applejack [[ConsummateLiar lies all the time]]; Rarity becomes [[{{Greed}} greedy]], Fluttershy becomes [[{{Jerkass}} cruel]], Rainbow Dash abandons her friends, and Pinkie Pie alternates between over-seriousness and laughing at other's misfortune. Twilight (who embodies the esoteric "magic", and in this series ''friendship is magic'') loses all faith in her friends and in friendship itself.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': For most of the series, Azula is depicted as a cold and calculating strategist, tactician, and manipulator in contrast to her hotheaded brother Zuko. This is best demonstrated in their first on-screen battle where Azula uses Zuko's insecurities and desperation for their father's love against him. During the finale, [[spoiler: the two have a duel for the Fire Lord crown. However, Zuko has undergone character development that allows him to be more focused in battle while Azula is suffering a mental breakdown after being betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee and her father has refused to allow her to join him on his mission to burn down the Earth Kingdom. This makes her attacks sloppy and predictable. Worse, during the aforementioned first battle, Azula mockingly claimed that the only reason Ozai would bring Zuko back to the Fire Nation was to lock him up where Zuko couldn't embarrass him. By the end of the series, Azula ends up in a mental asylum. ]]

** "Splatty Tomato" has Heidi Turner reflect on her past where she started off as a kind, caring, naive, and healthy girl before becoming a bitter, resentful, bigoted, and fat {{Jerkass}} as her relationship with [[FatBastard Eric Cartman]] continues. This leads to her HeelRealization and eventual decision to break up with Cartman.

* Peridot in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' starts as a cold, calculating force who couldn't care less about anything not in her job description as "technician for an evil empire". Her appearance on Earth was a genuine threat to the Crystal Gems. [[BreakTheHaughty Then she gets stranded on Earth and loses all her tools]], [[CharacterDevelopment forcing her to learn about the world and understand the people around her]]. By the time [[spoiler: she realizes her bosses can be ''wrong'', cutting off her last reason for following orders]], she's become an over-the-top, ConstantlyCurious LargeHam who, at the very least, cares for the Crystal Gems.

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': [[spoiler: [[EvilFormerFriend Cassandra]]]] went from a loyal friend to Rapunzel who wanted nothing more than to [[spoiler: become a royal guard to defend the kingdom]] to a traitor who cared about no one but themselves and [[spoiler: destroyed Corona in a fit of rage]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': Shredder comes to New York when he discovers Yoshi has been training ninjas. He mocks and belittles his rival when he finds out Yoshi himself is now a rat and his ninja clan is a bunch of mutant turtles he considers his adopted sons. Shredder also actively hates and ignores all the FantasyKitchenSink occurrences happening in New York. Flash forward a few seasons, he's replaced all his low-level {{Mooks}} with robots based on Kraang technology and mutated all his high-level apprentices, generals, and adopted daughter. He's become the TokenHuman of the Foot Clan, which has turned into a dark version of Turtle and Kraang [[WeirdnessMagnet weirdness]]-only to eventually use mutagen on himself to hasten his near-death recovery, the consequences of which [[spoiler: result in a giant monster of a mutant named Super Shredder]]. Karai lampshades it, declaring that Shredder has [[YouAreWhatYouHate become everything he hates]].

* [[spoiler:Harry Potter]] in ''FanFic/TheDarknessSeries''.

* ''Fanfic/FlowingStar'': Assuming Lincoln's story is similar to his canon self from Season 1, he used to be a cheerful, idealistic, generous yet selfish boy who always did plans that backfired on him but always tried to make up for, but he did [[NoodleIncident something]] that resulted in him becoming an apathetic, cynical closed but selfless boy who is despised by other people in the town.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': For years, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross viewed the Hulk as a menace and relentlessly pursued him despite that the Hulk's only desire was to be left alone. When the Intelligencia offered Ross the chance to resurrect his daughter Betty and help him "save" America, Ross becomes the ComicBook/RedHulk who was easily a more active threat to America and the rest of the world than the green Hulk. Ross ultimately ended up being pursued across the U.S just as he did Banner and is viewed as the menace he always insisted the Hulk was.

* ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'': Before the L'Manburg Elections, Quackity believed that [[RousseauWasRight there was good in everyone]] and many of his actions were driven by a desire for justice and fairness. This ends up being a stark contrast to him while in his "Las Nevadas" arc, where his TraumaCongaLine drove him to become "The House That Always Wins" who doesn't fight fairly to get ahead, and "[[AccentuateTheNegative stopped seeing the good in people]]" altogether.

* Wrestling/{{Carl|itoColon}}y had no interest in the pro wrestling business and only worked as a cameraman in the Puerto Rican version of the World Wrestling Council to help his dad through a tough time in business. Unfortunately for him, Ray González was out to destroy his father and the company, and learning Carly was a son of a founder, decided to beat him up to make a point. This led Carly to train in pro wrestling in order to defeat González and rid WWC of La Familia Mileno. Come 2015, Ray González has ([[TenMinuteRetirement supposedly]]) retired from pro wrestling and opened a mini market that his son helps out with. Carly, not done with González, storms into the store and attacks Ray González Jr, causing Jr to train in pro wrestling to avenge himself and his father against Carly and La Revolucion he had allied with.[[/folder]]

* Alya provides contrasting examples in both versions of ''FanFic/MarinetteDupainChengsSpitePlaylist'':

** The First Order to the Galactic Empire that preceded it in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': while believing they carry on the legacy of Emperor Palpatine, in reality, they are being terrorists that struggle against the established government to restore the regime that preceded it, which is what the Empire had called the Rebel Alliance. Even better, ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' reveals that the First Order ends up becoming what they accused the New Republic to be; a weak illegitimate government unable to truly control the galaxy [[spoiler: whose reign came to a quick end when their only source of power, a cherished Starfleet, is destroyed in a single strike from the fully revitalized Resistance (which regained much of their decimated strength in less than a year)]].

* A meta-example: This can be a major problem for bands, artists, and even the musical movements they may be tied to that promote authenticity and an anti-establishment ethos, if they gain immense success further down the road. Some artists known for their anti-establishment attitude have gotten flak for participating in things like advertisements, such as Music/JohnLydon of the Music/SexPistols doing a commercial for Country Life Butter in 2008, despite him blatantly having [[OnlyInItForTheMoney did it for the money]].

* This is the entire point of Music/MarinaDiamandis' Electra Heart album.

* Chapter 123 of ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' makes it clear that this has happened to [[spoiler:Eren Jaegar. He joined the Survey Corps so that he could stop the Titans from killing everybody. Now, one four-year TimeSkip and a good deal of SanitySlippage later, he's controlling the Titans to kill everybody]].

* In Franchise/StarWarsLegends, it is downplayed with [[spoiler: Jacen Solo]], a compassionate and self-doubting young Jedi who seemed to be very generous to his family, was turned into a Sith because he thought he could use the power of the Sith without corruption. When his extremism got the better of him, he became a ruthless and inflexible Sith Lord who killed his aunt, and he only began to regain his previous characteristics when he feared for his daughter and questioned his lack of empathy, self-centered behavior, and uncontrolled outbursts of anger.

* 'WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}' TieInNovel ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'' plays this straight with [[spoiler:Prince Hans. Growing up with an abusive family headed by an EvilOverlord king, he dreamed of becoming a [[EvenEvilHasStandards more benevolent ruler than his father]]. By the end of the book, though, he's become the villain seen in the film, the kind of person he hated, being willing to manipulate and almost kill innocent people who could have helped him]].

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1415376328064773200&page=1#20
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.

* Chapter 123 of ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' makes it clear that this has happened to [[spoiler: Eren Jaegar. He joined the Survey Corps so that he could stop the Titans from killing everybody. Now, one four-year TimeSkip and a good deal of SanitySlippage later, he's controlling the Titans to kill everybody]].

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'': Kars, in a physical rather than a moral sense. At the start of part 2, he's a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Pillar Man]] whose only weaknesses are sunlight and [[KiManipulation Hamon]]. [[spoiler: By the end, not only is he immune to sunlight, but he's immune to Hamon and can use it himself, with far more power than any human wielder, thanks to becoming the UltimateLifeForm.]]
* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'': Ken Kaneki starts out as a kind, gentle young man and an ExtremeDoormat who doesn't like to hurt others. The hardships he suffers as a result of becoming half-Ghoul, along with his [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil ordeal]] at [[TortureTechnician Yamori's]] hands, cause him to become a brutal, ruthless AntiHero with a PayEvilUntoEvil mentality.
* In ''Anime/EurekaSevenAo'', it happened to the former protagonists Renton and Eureka, as both saviors of the world who supported the Scub Coral are no longer on good terms with it and planned to destroy the Scub due to the disaster the Scub causes to humanity via attracting Secrets and on a personal level, [[spoiler: the loss of their infant daughter due to high levels of Trapar emitted by Scub Coral, and endangering Ao's survival if leaving the Scub to keep time travelling to his world]].

** [[spoiler: [[BigBad Obito]],]] a.k.a. [[spoiler:[[CloudCuckoolander Tobi]].]] That's why his identity is such a shock to Kakashi; the young, kind-hearted, idealistic [[spoiler: Obito]] develops into somebody who is apparently perfectly willing to kill thousands to maintain those ideals through rewriting a CrapsackWorld reality. Naruto eventually makes him [[HeelRealization understand this]] and change for the better.

* ''Literature/AiNoKusabi'' has [[spoiler:Riki]] pretty much doing a complete 180 in personality by the end after trying so hard to [[BeYourself remain the same]].
* Jeremy and Ian from ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'': Jeremy believes love is only anger, much like [[ArchnemesisDad his stepfather, Greg]] and [[MindRape all the things]] Greg [[RapeAsBackStory did to him]]. Ian realizes that, like his father, he likes to see Jeremy in pain, even though he doesn't want him to be hurt. Both are also examples of HeWhoFightsMonsters.
* Precia Testarossa of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' is shown in flashbacks to be a DotingParent to her daughter. This is in contrast to the current Precia, who is an AbusiveParent that literally whips her daughter at the slightest provocation. This is one of the reasons why Fate still loves her despite all the suffering she receives, as she remembers a time when she used to be kind. Unfortunately for Fate, the reason for this change is because [[spoiler:[[ReplacementGoldfish Fate is a failed attempt to revive Precia's dead daughter]], and she's unwilling to [[CloningBlues treat a clone like Fate as a second daughter]]]].
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul: Re'', this happens to [[spoiler: Seidou Takizawa]] as a result of a FaceMonsterTurn. He goes from an idealistic young [[HunterOfMonsters Investigator]], to an AxCrazy Ghoul that gleefully slaughters humans without a second thought. He explains to a pair of {{Red Shirt}}s that if you become a monster, you don't have to be afraid of them anymore.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', this is what ends up coloring Shinn Asuka's later characterization. He wants to become strong enough to prevent tragedies like the one that took his family. However, between being manipulated by his teammate Rey and ZAFT Chairman Durandal, his inability to temper his rage and various failures ends up transforming him into the type of person that caused the types of incidents in the first place. He... doesn't take it well when he's told this.
* Oz Vessalius of ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' begins the series as a [[TheCynic depressed cynic]] StepfordSmiler whose abuse victim past left him unwilling to have sincere faith in anything [[HopeIsScary for fear of suffering more emotional damage at perceived inevitable letdowns]], causing everyone who loves him deep stress and worry for his wellbeing. By the end of the series, Oz is acknowledged as having become someone who ''embodies'' hope and faith and is the leader of the faction counteracting Oswald's and [[spoiler: Jack's]] efforts to write off the present world as a worthless one that should rightfully end or be [[RetGone Ret Gone'd]] out of existence. [[spoiler: For double points, Oz was created to be the [[SympatheticSentientWeapon tool]] that would ''end'' that world.]]
* PlayedForLaughs and {{downplayed|Trope}} in ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor''. As the series progresses and Yuko grows into her role as a demon, her attitudes slowly shift and she starts to warm to things she would have never considered before her awakening. Many of the aspects of Yuko's demonic awakening really bothered her at first—over time she either stopped caring about them, or even embraced them and ran with it, but she's far from becoming truly villainous.
** When her mother told Yuko it would be up to her to master her powers of darkness to break the curse on their family, she felt weirded out enough to exclaim, [[HeelRealization "But doesn't that make me the bad guy?"]] While she reluctantly starts down the dark path out of a desire to help her family ([[OneTrackMindedHunger and not being hungry all the time]]), it's not long before Yuko is proudly calling herself a villain without reservations. However, deep down she's still a good person at heart. Mostly. [[spoiler: But she'll never admit it.]]
** Her official demon name "Shadow Mistress Yuko" and the nickname it spawned, Shamiko; at first she thought the former was corny, and the latter was a BerserkButton. Now she even signs her schoolwork with the former, and practically everyone calls her by the latter. It's gotten to the point where she barely even recognizes her original name.
** When her little sister Ryoko praised Yuko for taking initiative towards becoming the ruler of the forces of darkness by training to fight MagicalGirl Momo, Yuko questioned that she'd ever be a leader of anything. [[spoiler: By volume 4, she's calling herself the "Queen of Darkness," demonstrates an impressive feat of leadership skill by coordinating her entire network of friends and associates into action on short notice, and is looking for anyone else with useful skills, talents, or connections to bring into her circle.]]
** Her Crisis Management form and the {{Stripperiffic}} outfit that comes with it initially embarrassed her to no end and she refused to use it in public unless it was a life-or-death matter. [[spoiler: By volume 5, Yuko's using her transformation practically anytime it might be helpful: in gym class, while taking tests, climbing multiple flights of stairs, and so on. It still embarrasses her, but not enough to deter her from using it around other people, and she no longer cares much if anyone sees her in it.]]
* In ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'', Saejima is one of the toughest, baddest delinquents around, often fighting with cops. In the sequel ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'', he's ''become'' a cop. Downplayed though, since he's very much a CorruptCop and mostly cares about the power his position brings him.

* Throughout the third series of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Nico Minoru, who had previously fought to avoid turning out like her dark-magician parents, increasingly embraces her heritage as a dark-magic user to make her life easier. After she employs MindRape on Klara in the final arc, Molly, whose own parents were enthusiastic mind-rapists, accuses Nico of acting like one of the Pride.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanVampire'': By the final book, ''Crimson Mist'', Batman has succumbed to his vampire nature, going from a noble hero and a ''major'' practitioner of ThouShaltNotKill to a monster who eagerly kills his RoguesGallery for their blood. Gordon even acknowledges it, citing it to Alfred as proof that [[ThatManIsDead the Batman they knew is gone]].
* Regular Batman stories deal with this trope when Batman is faced with a much deadlier enemy, usually the Joker, whose very existence is proving to be too chaotic. Batman refuses to cross any lines out of fear of becoming this trope, knowing that his crusade will effectively go up in smoke the moment he takes a life.

* In ''ComicBook/DastardlyAndMuttley'', by-the-book hero pilot Dick Atcherly slowly degrades into literal mustache-twirling CartoonishSupervillainy and the competent, stoic [[TheLadette Ladette]] Zabarnowski into a cowardly ScreamingWoman after exposure to Unstabilium 239, [[spoiler: or putting in another way, they become Dastardly and Zilly from ''WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'']]. Basically, a normal Air Force squad turns into literal caricatures of themselves.
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' For years, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross viewed the Hulk as a menace and relentlessly pursued him despite that the Hulk's only desire was to be left alone. When the Intelligencia offered Ross the chance to resurrect his daughter Betty and help him "save" America, Ross becomes the ComicBook/RedHulk who was easily a more active threat to America and the rest of the world than the green Hulk. Ross ultimately ended up being pursued across the U.S just as he did Banner and is viewed as the menace he always insisted the Hulk was.

* One of [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]]'s most defining traits is his hatred for Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} on account of Superman being an alien and sees himself as being a human underdog against a god-like alien. But as the years went by, Luthor's hatred of Superman and his own egotism have reached the irrational point where he's not against empowering himself with god-like alien abilities, including become an Orange Lantern, attaining the Zone Child's power, and being transformed by Perpetua into Apex Lex. Rather glaringly during the ''Justice/Doom War'' where he's engaged in a brawl with Superman and declares that Superman doesn't understand humanity because he's not even human, Apex Lex's very DNA and biology had been so altered that he no longer looked human himself.
* ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'': The team was formed with the premise of tackling issues that other superhero teams like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four wouldn't touch. In issue #51 of the original series, Night Thrasher expresses concern that the Warriors are following in the footsteps of the various teams they were supposed to be different from.
-->"Lots of members, diverse powers, fancy headquarters, unlimited budget... Are we becoming like them in other ways as well? So busy talking about what they should do to help the world instead of acting on it? Are going to become a part of the very system we always said we were going to fight to change?

* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37458109/ A Country of Wolves]]" is a Western AU of ''Franchise/{{Frozen}}'' where Elsie Maddox was part of a gang with Hank van der Meer, who always styled himself as rebelling against the upper class by stealing from the rich. However, after Elsie is left for dead during a train robbery, when she tracks Hank down she finds that he has set himself up as mayor of a mining town and acts as though he liberated them from corrupt landowners and is their new benevolent ruler, when in reality he's just as bad as the people he drove out and kills anyone who objects to his policies.
* [[spoiler: Harry Potter]] in ''FanFic/TheDarknessSeries''.

* ''FanFic/{{Fade}}'':

* ''FanFic/TMNTSecretsOfTheSewers'': As revealed in chapter 23, Oroku Saki began as an honorable NiceGuy [[spoiler:who defied orders during a mission to rescue Tang Shen from a yakuza group, stating that he can't let innocent people suffer and is disgusted by the yakuza treating human life as "something to be bartered and sold."]] Come the present day, [[spoiler:as the Shredder, Saki's become everything he's hated about the yakuza and more, allowing Stockman to perform inhumane experiments on humans and mutants alike, including children, to amass an army for himself]].

* On the topic of Disney films, ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', the queen is extremely vain, with a fair voice and decent looks. In her jealousy of Snow White, though, she ultimately brews a potion that turns her into an old hag with a croaky voice, and she never returns to her original form before dying.
* An alternate variation of this was created for ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart'' for Rex Dangervest, otherwise known as [[spoiler: an alternate version of [[TheHero Emmett Brickowski]] himself]]. The [[spoiler: Emmett we all known and love was a sweet, naive, and otherwise sensitive guy who always looked on the bright side of things, even when life was at its worst, but tended to get picked on by the residents of Bricksburg/Apocalypseburg for not toughening up]]. Unfortunately for them, [[spoiler: after he gets stuck under the dryer trying to rescue his kidnapped friends, he [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor does just that]], becoming a hardened and tough criminal mastermind who nearly destroys all of reality by manipulating his younger self into causing "Ourmomageddon"]].

* ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': The once effervescent and idealistic Xavier we saw in ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' has crumbled into a heap of melancholia and cynicism after 1963. His telepathy, which he had been at ease with since he was 12 years old, has suddenly become a heavy burden that he avoids using at all costs. Charles' social drinking has deteriorated into alcoholism, and he gives up on other activities that he used to enjoy, such as teaching, scientific research, and womanizing, in favour of a self-imposed exile from everything that exists beyond his mansion. Xavier has more or less reduced himself into a ManChild who is completely dependent on Hank when in the other movies, various mutants rely on the paternal telepath for emotional support. Even the way he dresses has changed dramatically; the impeccable suits that define Professor X's style have been replaced by a gaudy paisley shirt paired with a brown leather jacket, or if he's feeling especially lazy, just an undershirt with jeans. Charles has also neglected his grooming, which makes him look like a confused hippie or a hobo instead of a well-adjusted, upper-class academic.
* ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' has [[spoiler: Theodora]]'s CharacterDevelopment as one of the main points of the movie and its attacks on Oz's selfishness. Due to his actions, poor Theodora ends up going from TheCutie to a disappointed and resentful NaiveEverygirl to (briefly) a bitter WomanScorned who is a bit too focused on her problems to [[spoiler: The Wicked Witch Of The West]].

* General Miller's acceptance of defeat in ''Film/InTheLoop'', even though he is never a particularly likable character, is still a tearjerker moment, when, after taking on the most vicious spin doctors and politicians for months, [[spoiler: he must finally support the very war he has been fighting to prevent]]. ("Go f*ck yourself, Frodo.")
* Sarah Connor nearly does this in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', when she [[spoiler: ruthlessly attempts to assassinate Miles Dyson, the man most directly responsible for the creation of Skynet, to the point of marching into his house in a manner very reminiscent of the Terminators themselves; if it hadn't been for the chance involvement of Dyson's son drawing his attention at the moment Sarah fired, she would have killed an innocent man who wasn't deliberately guilty of anything]].
* ''I Am Michael'' is a biopic about the openly gay and antireligious activist Michael Glatze who later became a straight Christian pastor that advocates for [[HeteronormativeCrusader gays to change their ways]].

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** [[Characters/MarvelComicsLoki Loki]] attempted to murder all Jotunns and take over the Earth, craved the Asgardian throne and power granted by the Tesseract, tried to kill [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]] twice, [[NeverMyFault refused to admit he did anything wrong]], rejected Odin as his father, and [[KnowWhenToFoldEm gave in to the Avengers when he realized he was losing]]. The same person [[spoiler: helped rescue the citizens of Asgard from [[Characters/TheMightyThorGiants Hela]], stopped caring about the Asgardian throne, tossed the Tesseract aside as if it was nothing, tried to save Thor thrice, publicly apologized for past misdeeds in a play he wrote, proudly called himself Odinson, and attacked [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] knowing that he hardly stood a chance]].
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', the Pro-Regulation team supported government supervision to prevent collateral damage, yet [[spoiler: War Machine]] was accidentally hit by their own fellow Pro-Reg teammate, due to said teammate being distracted by their emotions, the same reason Captain America wasn't able to properly defuse Crossbones in the beginning. Not to mention the Pro-Reg team causing a bit of collateral damage when trying to contain the Anti-Reg team in the airport.
** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Bruce Banner wears the Hulkbuster armor, an armor that was specifically designed to take him down in his Hulk form (albeit because he wants to contribute to the current fight and for various reasons the Hulk isn't coming out right now).
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': In the first three films, Optimus Prime is the Autobot who argues most strongly for humankind's potential and chastises Ironhide for even suggesting that the Autobots be allowed to kill humans. Optimus was even willing to leave Bumblebee in Sector-7's custody because staging a rescue could potentially harm humans. However, by ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction'', the Autobots are being hunted by a rogue CIA faction named Cemetery Wind who are killing Transformers and selling their parts for money. This results in Optimus becoming incredibly cynical towards humans, swearing to kill the man in charge of this corrupt operation ([[spoiler: which he does]]) and even contemplated leaving Earth to let humanity fend for themselves. In the end, Optimus does regain some faith in humans after his new human allies risk their lives to save him.

* Ian Malcolm in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' was willing to risk his life to save the Bull Tyrannosaurus from being gunned down in San Diego despite his own disapproval of John Hammond and [=InGen=] cloning the dinosaurs in the first place in ''Film/JurassicPark''. However by the events of ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'' he is now uncaring towards the dinosaurs plight and is advocating against rescuing the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar from an erupting volcano.
* ''Film/CitizenKane'': Kane begins with a declaration of principles, championing the Inquirer and himself as a tireless seeker of truth and justice and the defender of "the common man", until he slowly becomes a power-hungry controller of information who wants the common man to love him but who has none to give back, exemplified when he loudly proclaims that the people will think "what I tell them to think."

** In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', it happens to a Sim resurrected with the Resurrection machine with a sum of between 4128 § and 8512 §. You know this [[SuperOCD controlled]], [[ShrinkingViolet shy]], [[TheCutie kind]], [[{{determinator}} energetic]] and [[TheComicallySerious serious]] TeenGenius? Meet the [[{{Narcissist}} confident]], ObviouslyEvil [[FunPersonified party animal]] who demonstrates as much [[LazyBum laziness]] as a human being and a sloth ''combined'' normally could show in their life HighSchoolHustler version of him.

* The short film ''WesternAnimation/{{Fuelled}}'' is about a {{Crusading Widow|er}} so desperate to hunt down the robber that killed her husband that, when her car runs out of gas while tracking him down, she tries robbing a gas station, accidentally setting the place on fire and killing an attendant in the process.

** Original: Thanks to Lila's [[PoisonousFriend toxic influence]], she goes from being Marinette's confident, driven and outspoken BestFriend to Lila's UnwittingPawn and BetaBitch, paralleling Sabrina's relationship with [[SpoiledBrat Chloé]]. This is best exmplified when the IntrepidReporter [[spoiler:deletes her Ladyblog]] at Lila's urging, having been manipulated into believing that Ladybug is a BitchInSheepsClothing.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': Harry starts as a [[TheHeart relatively]] [[NaiveNewcomer innocent]], calm but [[TheCutie warm-hearted]], and impulsive AllLovingHero who [[PowerOfTrust trusts his friends]] without second thought. While he's not without realism or snark at his often bizarre circumstances, he's a relatively open book and a gentle person. After the [[TraumaCongaLine first arc]] of the sequel, he's cautious, temperamental and coldly stoic, and much more opaque, being secretive and manipulative, and [[MasterActor a fantastic]] ConsummateLiar, a [[DissonantSerenity dissonantly]] [[ [[GoodIsNotNice bitter]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold cynic]], a KnightInSourArmor who's ResignedToTheCall and ''deeply'' [[ShellShockedVeteran traumatised]]. It's more than once lamented, including by Harry himself, that he used to be as sweet and innocent as [[NiceGuy Clark Kent]] himself. While he mellows out with time and therapy, he matures into a philosophical KnightOfFaith and nuanced KnightInShiningArmor, a textbook FieryStoic, he remains a calculating, secretive, and ruthless figure who's lost much of his effortless trust and tends to do what is necessary rather than what is strictly right.

* ''LightNovel/AiNoKusabi'' has [[spoiler:Riki]] pretty much doing a complete 180 in personality by the end after trying so hard to [[BeYourself remain the same]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The concept of ShadowArchetype itself is an interesting take on what someone rejects as foreign despite the fact that it is very much a part of one's possibilities and could manifest in one's behavior despite denial. This seems to cause the belief that people suffering DID have an alternate personality which is contrary to the principal one.
* The popular conception translated in InVinoVeritas. Supposedly it happens when someone completely represses a great part of their natural personality and drinks too much. That, or alcohol just makes you act goofy for no reason.
* This trope is frequently invoked in RealLife in cases involving extreme social pressure to avoid some behaviors and opinions and some ill-considered secret or denied traits being suddenly uncovered. Someone tries to hide one's opinions, one's religious beliefs, or one's sexual orientation, covering up what could indicate its existence and vehemently denying it (sometimes even to oneself), until it suddenly appears and generates either InternalizedCategorism (and actual changes) or demonization from their peers, giving birth to tropes such as YouAreWhatYouHate.
** When the inability to hide something stems from trauma, the deduction is often that the trauma ''caused'' the change. This is how a [[TheSociopath Sociopath]], a {{Narcissist}}, or a [[ConMan Con Artist]] can be spotted in periods of stress after lapses in judgement, lack of planning, and sudden and ill-advised outbursts of rage.
*** When an officer is about to be promoted in the Finnish Armed Forces, their colleagues will drink with them until they are blind drunk. A sociopath can be detected this way -- their behaviour will get really strange. The promotion will ensue only if the candidate is not found to be a sociopath. While sociopaths are completely without any empathy and often intelligent, they are a liability in the armed forces because they are both inept at long-term management and completely unpredictable. They have a knack for deceiving their own allies, committing treason, or [[DirtyCoward running away at the first sign of danger]], endangering the whole unit as a result.
* It is not unheard of for teenage girls who get in with [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys the wrong boy]] or vice versa [[LoveMakesYouEvil to turn out this way]] in regards to how they behave around parents and friends. On at least one episode of Creator/InvestigationDiscovery's ''Deadly Women'', a sweet-hearted teenage girl started dating a warlock-wannabe who was a few years older. She quickly turned cruel and manipulative, and in the end, became a cold-blooded killer.
* In a lot of weight-loss stories, it's often the formerly obese who become the most health- and exercise-conscious after they lose the weight. Part of it is simply AddictionDisplacement, part of it is the potential fear of falling back into old habits and gaining the weight back.
* There's a general observation to be made that when people afflicted with BlackAndWhiteInsanity in religion or politics realize that their position has something substantially wrong with it, instead of revising their views to something more sane and moderate, they often conclude "Everything I've ever believed is a lie!", and assume by extension that the "other guys" they've been rabidly opposing must by extension be absolutely right, and proceed to overzealously campaign in favor of whatever they see as the opposite of what they'd previously thought.
* It has been supported by believers in the pseudoscientific UsefulNotes/MyersBriggs personality test's that, whenever an unstable person with a given MBTI type is confronted to extreme stress, she adopts behaviors of the "shadow" type, giving in to her own "shadow", and therefore using their cognitive function in reverse order of importance if not even using the cognitive functions they are not supposed to use naturally.
** Studies led by "enlightened" amateurs on message boards suppose that this stereotypically tends to involve someone with a type that is supposed to demand a lot of conscious effort to uphold his way of life lapsing into a more instinctive behavior that betrays one's values. The most commonly reported example is a [[IncorruptiblePurePureness stereotypical INFP]] (Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving) personality type (referred to as "an INFP") becoming an [[StrawmanPolitical "evil" ESTJ]] (Extroverted Sensing Thinking Judging). Other common examples include a [[TrueCompanions stereotypical ISFP]] (Introverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving) becoming an [[EvilOverlord "evil" ENTJ]] (Extroverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging), and a [[SpiritedYoungLady stereotypical INFJ]] (Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging) becoming an [[AlphaBitch "evil" ESTP]] (Extroverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving), which sounds very puzzling, at least to people who haven't been exposed to the MBTI stereotypes. Rather strange discussions on the otherwise perfectly understandable [[http://personalitycafe.com/ PersonalityCafe site]] center on this, enlightening both the irrational reaction provoked by people who identify with a shadow type of the type with which one identifies, and the deep emotional reaction ''this trope'' provokes. This is ''losing oneself'' par excellence, after all.
* Some "indie" producers have actually wound up ''becoming'' the big business they fought against in their early years.
* [[SinisterMinister Fred Phelps]], the late pastor of [[ActivistFundamentalistAntics the Westboro Baptist Church]] and infamous homophobe, was [[FallenHero originally a civil rights attorney]] back in TheSeventies. Why he changed is a mystery, but had he died way back then, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen he likely would be regarded as a hero today.]] His estranged son stated he did it [[OnlyInItForTheMoney simply for money as a lawyer though]], not any conviction. Phelps was disbarred for a blatant FrivolousLawsuit against a court clerk who he felt had wronged him. Generally, Phelps was a contrarian by heart and always wanted to get everyone mad at him... whenever it was being a Civil Rights lawyer in a heavily-racist DeepSouth or a homophobic cult leader in an era where the LGBTQ are becoming accepted. The Phelps clan also held very harrassing protests at the funerals of slain soldiers, too.
* Another cult leader, UsefulNotes/JimJones of The Peoples Temple (and the famous mass-murder / suicides in his settlement, Jonestown, Guyana) basically became like this. Jones and his organization had an integrated but predominantly black following and preached and worked for social justice and social equality... yet Jones, a white man, ran the whole thing like a despot and ran Jonestown like a slave plantation.
* People who go into a career path such as politics or business may start out idealistic but will usually be pressured into compromising their beliefs in order to advance (e.g. a left-leaning politician distancing themselves from costly public works in order to avoid alarming conservatives), often ending up the same kind of self-interested CorruptPolitician or CorruptCorporateExecutive they intended to fight against. This is especially likely in industries that habitually tolerate or fail to prosecute lapses, as this has a way of normalising bad behaviour.
* When she was growing up, UsefulNotes/LizTruss, the incoming Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was an outspoken Liberal Democrat, serving as president of Oxford University's Liberal Democrats. During a 1994 conference, she went as far as arguing in favor of abolishing the British monarchy. Since her graduation in 1996, however, she's served as a diehard Tory with firmly right-wing views.
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