History Main / ButNotTooEvil

* Parodied by ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' in the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "being mean", where Strong Bad makes fun of an e-mailer known as "Nice Dad" who scolds him for "being mean" and tries to convince him to "point out why being mean isn't always the best choice". Strong Bad then shows a "high school drama club" production by "Coach Z's Nicetown Players", in which Head Male Cheerleader (Coach Z) and Marzipan's character are at a party making ([[PokeThePoodle rather defanged]]) jibes at [[BullyingADragon Strong Mad]] in the role of a stupid nerd. After the fun is made, the party's going great...until suddenly the gigantic muscular nerd comes back to bash Head Male Cheerleader with a bat full of nails.

** Made especially jarring considering that the rangers' response to any monsters' crime is to [[AllCrimesAreEqual blow them up (twice!)]]. Heck, most monsters don't even get to commit a crime before being [[NeverSayDie destroyed.]]

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': In the original book, Gilead was racist, sexist, militarist and generally they fulfilled every possible negative stereotype of the RightWingMilitiaFanatic to the maximum extent. This adaptation actually ''amplifies'' the regime's misogyny, or at least the attention it receives, but seemingly omits the racism, even showing the system actively promoting higher black birthrates. Unlike the above examples (with ''The Handmaid's Tale'' being a million miles from kid friendly in the first place) this change was made for pragmatic reasons, as the makers reasoned that a society built around plummeting birth rates could ill afford to deport fertile women based on racial grounds. They also have black people in their ranks, and are also fine with interracial marriage (this is also practical in that it allows the show to avoid MonochromeCasting). Still, a disproportionate number of black people are in low ranking positions and almost all Commanders are white. Remember this is in Boston, a city which is about 25% black. It indicates that black members of the regime are in a secondary position overall. The only explicit racism is one white Commander and Wife who refuse to have Handmaids of color though.

* According to Creator/MattGroening, [[Franchise/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]] was created out of his frustration with this trope; as he put it, the traditional brat in television was usually just a decently mannered kid who spoke too loud, in contrast to Bart's genuinely disruptive and anti-authority behavior.
** Of course, back in the day Matt got what he wanted and more: when ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' first began airing (and particularly during the first two seasons) Bart's behavior set off a firestorm of protests from angry parents' groups saying Bart was a terrible role model. Unlike many examples on this page, though, all this complaining was roundly ignored by the show's writers, who refused to change a thing. In fact, it inspired [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E9ItchyAndScratchyAndMarge an episode where Marge stages a censorship campaign against Itchy and Scratchy]]. The campaign works, and I&S becomes incredibly bland and boring as a result.

The result of this sort of thinking (if the writers don't tell the MoralGuardians to fuck off) is typically VillainDecay or a HarmlessVillain or FriendlyEnemy who [[OffstageVillainy isn't actually shown doing bad things]]. Any attempt by the villains to do bad things will get foiled by the heroes [[InvincibleHero with a minimum of fuss]].

* The outrage over the goosestepping hyenas in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''. Apparently, this happens to Disney a ''lot''.

* ''Film/Pinocchio2022Disney'': The Coachman’s song has received criticism for promoting toxic masculinity, sexism, and heteronormativity, discussed [[https://mashable.com/article/pinocchio-song-real-boys-girls here]] with the line "Real boys always want more / And real girls always like the real boys more."

* Creator/JKRowling was attacked by some of the aforementioned fringe groups for having the recently-revealed ''villain'' [[spoiler:Quirrell]] (or in the FilmOfTheBook ''Voldemort himself'') say [[WhatIsEvil "There is no such thing as good and evil, only power and those too weak to seek it."]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''. This is despite the line being included purely to show how evil Voldemort is.

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUQYrdgIJuI has been attacked]] for using adoption as an insult when both users of the attack are the antagonists, and their inability to come up with truly effective insults is part of the joke.

* Freddy Krueger from ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' was initially written as a [[PaedoHunt child molester]] but this was changed to him "only" killing children to avoid controversies.

When this trope involve censoring of [[ThoseWackyNazi Nazis]] it will often cross path with NoSwastikas. See also DoNotDoThisCoolThing, VillainyFreeVillain, and ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything. When this is done to a HistoricalDomainCharacter, see HistoricalVillainDowngrade.

See also DoNotDoThisCoolThing, VillainyFreeVillain, and ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything. When this is done to a HistoricalDomainCharacter, see HistoricalVillainDowngrade.

* Given that, outside of amateur white supremacist video games, Nazis are [[VillainByDefault universally portrayed as villains]] in video games, NoSwastikas could almost be a subtrope of this.

* ''Film/TheLittleMermaid2023'': The film version of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" removes the verse about body language and women staying quiet to find a man, apparently because the song had been criticized by some parents for sending a bad message, despite the fact it was sung by the villain who was manipulating Ariel and was never presented as a legitimate moral.

* It's a long-accepted fact for both the Franchise/MarvelUniverse and Franchise/TheDCU that [[PopularityPower sufficiently popular]] villains will often be subjected to this in the name of trying to [[HeelFaceTurn shift them into good guys]], regardless of how monstrously evil they were portrayed as before. Some infamous semi-successful examples include ComicBook/{{Venom}} and ComicBook/HarleyQuinn (the latter in particular notoriously being depicted as a spree-killing lunatic who had no issue murdering children to please SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker mere issues before making a switch to hero that received big push from DC). Infamous failed examples include [[ComicBook/XMen Sabretooth]] and [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Clayface]].

'''This trope is not about villains whose villany is toned-down to make them more sympathetic to the audience''' but about cases where it is toned-down to avoid being controversial or shocking. If you are looking for the former trope see PetTheDog, EvenEvilHasStandards or ALighterShadeOfBlack.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Medic is a German near-sociopathic mad doctor who considers healing people a mere side effect of curing his own morbid curiosity, and the game's time period makes it clear he would've been around during the World Wars. However, the game's writers have gone out of their way to confirm that he's not nor has ever been a Nazi. In this case, the reasoning for it is less to do with avoiding controversy, and more because making him a Nazi would have been "too easy, and too boring." It also avoids the natural FridgeLogic that would arise from a Nazi serving on a team with a black man and a Russian (the latter of which he also happens to be a close friend with).

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' the Medic is a German near-sociopathic mad doctor who considers healing people a mere side effect of curing his own morbid curiosity. But he's not a Nazi. In this case, the reasoning for it is less to do with avoiding controversy, and more because making him a Nazi would have been "[[WordOfGod too easy, and too boring.]]" It also avoids the natural FridgeLogic that would arise from a Nazi serving on a team with a black man and a Russian (the latter of which he also happens to be a close friend with).

* Creator/JKRowling was attacked by some of the aforementioned fringe groups for having the recently-revealed ''villain'' [[spoiler:Quirrell]] (or in the FilmOfTheBook ''Voldemort himself'') say [[WhatIsEvil "There is no such thing as good and evil, only power and those too weak to seek it."]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' the Medic is a German near-sociopathic mad doctor who considers healing people a mere side effect of curing his own morbid curiosity. But he's not a Nazi.
** Less to do with avoiding controversy, and more because making him a Nazi would have been "[[WordOfGod too easy, and too boring.]]" It might've also been to avoid the natural FridgeLogic that would arise from a Nazi serving on a team with a black man and a Russian (the latter of which he also happens to be a close friend with).

** Ironically, either through shifting culture or VillainDecay (probably a little of both), Bart can now be reasonably accurately described as a "decently mannered kid who speaks too loud".

* ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' drew quite a bit of controversy among some MoralGuardians for depicting UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler as too sympathetic. It follows his last days as the Red Army closes in on Berlin, and largely Hitler is something of an old ship captain trying to retain some dignity and grace in a hopeless situation, a man capable of showing genuine kindness and charm around people and things he likes, but also cruel, petty, ineffectual and paranoid. Before you start feeling too sorry for him, there's a notable scene where he reminds you that he's Adolf Hitler by giving a big speech where he expresses pride in killing millions of people and hopes that the entire German people get wiped out for failing him.

* Illumination Entertainment did this earlier for the WesternAnimation/{{Minions}} in their solo movie. The little yellow creatures' stated motivation is to locate and loyally serve the most evil person currently alive at that time, but fall into a collective depression and exile themselves to the Arctic after accidentally killing UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, and only emerge from hibernation in the yea 1968. The entire internet has [[MemeticMutation gleefully pounced on the assumption]] that the only reason this plot point was included was to avoid a scenario where Minions might still be actively searching for a master in the 1940s and thus end up [[CrossesTheLineTwice working for Adolf Hitler.]]

The result of this sort of thinking (if the writers don't tell the MoralGuardians to shove off) is typically VillainDecay or a HarmlessVillain or FriendlyEnemy who [[OffstageVillainy isn't actually shown doing bad things]]. Any attempt by the villains to do bad things will get foiled by the heroes [[InvincibleHero with a minimum of fuss]].

-->-- '''Daniel Handler'''

MoralGuardians often get into a tizzy over any sort of naughty, nasty, or even questionable business portrayed in the media. After all, in their minds those kids will [[DontTryThisAtHome imitate anything they see on the screen]] ([[MurderSimulator And they would do in the real world]]). This tends to result in a [[BlackAndWhiteMorality world of clear-cut heroes and villains]] in media marketed as being "kid-friendly".

But villains are supposed to be evil, right? They can get away with doing all sorts of [[KickTheDog nasty things]] the moral guardians wouldn't approve of because they inevitably get [[KarmicDeath what's coming to them]] in [[HappilyEverAfter the end]]. But sometimes the guardians complain anyway, as if the viewers are too dumb to tell who's right and who's wrong (or the guardians might be afraid that EvilIsCool, in the mind of kids who like acting someone cool). It's like they don't ''want'' the bad guys to be evil...and, of course, since most of these moralists believe in BlackAndWhiteMorality, this attitude steers them dangerously close to LogicBomb territory.

To be fair, one of the oldest ways of GettingCrapPastTheRadar is to create a MagnificentBastard who outsmarts everyone, is [[EvilIsCool much cooler than the heroes]], and lives a life of (vividly described) debauchery, but gets killed in the last five minutes. Then the creators appease the Moral Guardians by saying, "Hey, he loses. That proves that all the debauchery and lying we showed isn't something you root for." (Goes at least as far back as ''Don Giovanni''.) After Moral Guardians realize they've been hoaxed this way, they become paranoid and assume that any villain who succeeds at all is a case of GettingCrapPastTheRadar.

Despite the snarky tone we're taking here, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this trope is not necessarily a bad thing.]] No matter how clear a series makes it that the villain is not to be admired, [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence some evil acts genuinely aren't appropriate for all audiences.]] This is why fairly light kids' shows like ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' have their villains committing the more mundane crimes (theft, fraud, etc.) rather than the more disturbing ones (rape, graphic torture, etc.)

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** Daniel Handler eventually stated in an interview that he was deliberately trying to provoke this kind of thing, and was actually disappointed that he got so little attention compared to ''Literature/HarryPotter''. His one real "victory" was the series being banned from a Georgia school due to Olaf trying to marry his own relative in the first book. After jokingly hinting at why Southerners in particular would object to that plot point, he went on, "I'm at a loss for how to write a villain who doesn't do villainous things."
** There was also some amount of scandal involved with the book when several Christian groups found out Daniel Handler was an atheist, and [[InsaneTrollLogic claimed that the book series would turn children into atheists.]]

* Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless: The Supervillain without [=MercyTM=] in ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'' is the VillainProtagonist of the series. However, its repeatedly brought up he's not nearly as evil as its required to be one in [[WretchedHive Falconcest City]]. As such, he mostly restricts himself to robbing the super-rich and PokeThePoodle pranks.
* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': The villains never do much that's ''really'' bad (mostly killing to save the world or in self-defense, while Arcie's thefts never cause harm). Valerie is the worst, who [[KickTheDog kills some dolphins]] [[ForTheEvulz just for fun]]. The most evil thing the others are shown doing is dropping a tree on a village full of Smurf expies, which is {{played for laughs}}.

'''This trope is not about villains whose villany is toned-down to make them more sympathetic to the audience''' but about cases where it is toned-down to avoid being controversial or shocking. If you are looking for the former trope, see PetTheDog, EvenEvilHasStandards or ALighterShadeOfBlack.

'''This trope is not about villains whose villany is toned-down to make them more sympathetic to the audience''' but about cases where it is toned-down to avoid being controversial or shocking. If you are looking for the former trope, see PetTheDog or ALighterShadeOfBlack.

See also DoNotDoThisCoolThing, VillainyFreeVillain, and ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything. When this is done to a HistoricalDomainCharacter, see HistoricalVillainDowngrade. Not related to EvenEvilHasStandards and ALighterShadeOfBlack, which is when a villainous character can't be as villainous as another one, in-story.

'''This trope is not about villains whose villany is toned-down to make them more sympathetic to the audience'' but about cases where it is toned-down to avoid being controversial or shocking. If you are looking for the former trope, see PetTheDog or ALighterShadeOfBlack.

Villain who fall into this trope have a very high chance of being regarded as DracoInLeatherPants by fans.

* The [[MoralGuardians Child Care Action Project]] will count points against a movie using its [[FunWithAcronyms WISDOM score system]] regardless of which characters perpetrate the wrongdoing, even or especially if it's the villain, and even if said villain is some unlikeable loser like Prince John from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', who no child would want to emulate anyway.