History Main / CorruptTheCutie

* This happens early on in ''Manga/DeathNote'' to [[VillainProtagonist Light Yagami]] when he goes from a mild-mannered, upstanding star student to a mass-murderer with a [[AGodAmI monster god complex]]. Of course, he stays in the territory of AntiHero for a while after that, then gradually loses the [[JusticeWillPrevail ideals]] that led him to go in that direction in the first place.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shattered_assumptions_theory Shattered assumptions theory]] can be interpreted as this, as it posits that all people inherently see the world as benevolent and meaningful, and that they themselves have worth, until a traumatic event (usually death or physical and psychological abuse such as bullying) causes these assumptions to become broken, thus corrupting the person's view of the world at large.

* The moral corruption of the cutie: They make dabbles and touches towards becoming a badass. Only problem is, they are doing it in a manner that is seen as intolerable or [[IDidWhatIHadToDo their method has negative consequences for people around them]]. They will go on about how the other person deserves this type of treatment, and eventually they buy into their moral corruption.

* ''Fanfic/AllForLuz'': When Luz gained the Quirk All For One it came with the spirit of its previous holder living in her head, wanting her to let loose from her moral ties. [[spoiler:By the end of Summer Camp arc, Luz has 2-digit body count after her RoaringRampageOfRevenge and has become a colder, darker, and more brutal AntiHero that trusts very few people outside her mother, a pastor and [[EvilMentor All For One himself]].]]

* Happens with [[spoiler: Blossom and Buttercup]] in ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ImmortalitySyndrome''. They go from their usual fun-loving selves to {{Straw Nihilist}}s who believe that life is only suffering and therefore it must end.
* ''Fanfic/HerInnerDemons'': When the Shadowbolts ask Sci-Twilight why [[spoiler: she transformed into Midnight Sparkle]] she explains that [[TraumaCongaLine the ridicule and abuse]] she endured over the course of the Friendship Games turned her angry and vengeful, to the point where [[spoiler: she sought power to get back at everyone. As Cinch and the Shadowbolts pressured her into releasing the magic, the vengeful part of her mind was easily able to convince her to give into her rage and her desire for revenge, and become Midnight Sparkle]].
* [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugMarinetteDupainCheng Marinette]], the everyday Ladybug of the class, is already starting to trek into this territory in the beginning of ''Fanfic/JerkInSheepsClothing'' thanks to Lila’s lies. Then along comes her [[DistaffCounterpart male counterpart]], Henri [=LeRoi=], with his sights set directly on her. After [[TheCharmer charming her into a romantic relationship with his good looks and false promises of loyalty]], he wears her down even more, poisoning her mind against her friends, convincing her that they do not truly care for her, all while [[WoundedGazelleGambit faking that he’s being bullied by them]]. Sadly, it’s very effective, as Marinette begins icing out her friends and turning on them for “bullying” her boyfriend, believing that they are bad people and Henri is the only true friend she has.
* ''Fanfic/AnonymoosesMonsterGirlSaga'' has Annie. She was just another sweet little girl living with her mom and dad. Unfortunately, her mother chose to become a succubus and converted her father into an incubus. The monster couple tried turning their own CHILD into a lewd mockery of herself, which is bad enough. Thankfully, she quickly leaves the scene and tries to find the Grand Council. Sadly, things go straight downhill from here. The Council forces Annie to learn spells that can slay even the mightiest of monsters, but beat up her body so much that her blood veins pop and blood gushes out of her eyes. Despite this abuse, she doesn't try to run away because the whole fiasco with her parents has traumatized her to the point where she's just a mindless tool. Laven's naturally disgusted when he meets such a girl.
* This happens to [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]] in ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', an extended retelling of "A Canterlot Wedding". After [[AlternateUniverseFic she herself stops the Changeling invasion]], [[TheUsurper Prince Jewelius]] takes over Equestria by destroying the reputations of the princesses as well as Twilight's brother and friends, banishing them away from Equestria. During the following week, he takes advantage of Twilight's fresh heartache from being rejected by her brother, friends and mentor at the wedding rehearsal, tricking her into thinking they never really cared about her. When Twilight's [[HeroWithBadPublicity dishonored]] loved ones return to Canterlot [[MustMakeAmends with the intention of making amends with her]], she coldly disowns them[[note]]out of a misconception that [[UndyingLoyalty her beloved foalsitter Cadance]] becomes injured because of them[[/note]] and afterwards [[CassandraTruth refuses to listen to their warnings]] regarding [[spoiler:her new mentor and [[LoveInterestTraitor fiancé]] Jewelius]]. She also doesn't much object to [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Jewelius' questionable ruling style]] and even (reluctantly) accepts the PublicExecution of [[spoiler:Celestia]]. Fortunately, for all her anger, she hasn't completely stopped caring about her former loved ones[[note]]she doesn't enjoy watching her brother Shining Armor being flogged, and she starts protesting against Celestia's hanging after the alicorn gives her and everypony else a touching apology speech[[/note]], and she [[JerkassRealization comes fully around]] once she realizes [[spoiler:how evil [[TheSociopath Jewelius]] truly is]].
* Apollo's entire plan for gaining GenderFlip Percy Jackson as his EternalLove in the ''Fanfic/TheyllNameACityAfterUs''. He plans of slowly corrupting Percy and making her more like an Olympian. Given that Percy is half god herself and is quite traumatised from having been a ChildSoldier in a DivineConflict , it is actually working.
* ''Fanfic/AMothToAFlame'' has Marcy going through a brutal corruption arc and [[SanitySlippage descending into madness]] due to The Core's influence. By the time of "True Colors", she has [[TheQuisling become a willing accomplice to Andrias and intends to sell out her own planet in order to stay with her friends and rule it with them]]. She's even willing to fight and hurt them to achieve it, [[FallenHero putting her firmly on the side of evil]]. [[spoiler:Marcy gets even worse as she and The Core have one-to-one "therapy sessions" while she's recovering to make her more corrupted and brutal to become a more ideal vessel, something she agrees to voluntarily once The Core switches its plans for her from DemonicPossession to acting as TheSymbiote.]]
* ''Fanfic/AllForLuz'': When Luz gained the Quirk All For One it came with the spirit of its previous holder living in her head, wanting her to let loose from her moral ties. [[spoiler:By the end of Summer Camp arc, Luz has 2-digit body count after her RoaringRampageOfRevenge and has become a colder, darker, and more brutal AntiHero that trusts very few people outside her mother, a pastor and [[EvilMentor All For One himself]].]]

* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':

* This happens to [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]] in ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', an extended retelling of "A Canterlot Wedding". After [[ForWantOfANail she herself stops the Changeling invasion]], [[TheUsurper Prince Jewelius]] takes over Equestria by destroying the reputations of the princesses as well as Twilight's brother and friends, banishing them away from Equestria. During the following week, he takes advantage of Twilight's fresh heartache from being rejected by her brother, friends and mentor at the wedding rehearsal, tricking her into thinking they never really cared about her. When Twilight's [[HeroWithBadPublicity dishonored]] loved ones return to Canterlot [[MustMakeAmends with the intention of making amends with her]], she coldly disowns them[[note]]out of a misconception that [[UndyingLoyalty her beloved foalsitter Cadance]] becomes injured because of them[[/note]] and afterwards [[CassandraTruth refuses to listen to their warnings]] regarding [[spoiler:her new mentor and [[LoveInterestTraitor fiancé]] Jewelius]]. She also doesn't much object to [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Jewelius' questionable ruling style]] and even (reluctantly) accepts the PublicExecution of [[spoiler:Celestia]]. Fortunately, for all her anger, she hasn't completely stopped caring about her former loved ones[[note]]she doesn't enjoy watching her brother Shining Armor being flogged, and she starts protesting against Celestia's hanging after the alicorn gives her and everypony else a touching apology speech[[/note]], and she [[JerkassRealization comes fully around]] once she realizes [[spoiler:how evil [[TheSociopath Jewelius]] truly is]].

** "Drain You" from ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in which a baby feels it's his duty ''to completely drain'' another baby.

* Deconstructed in ''Film/{{Sirens}}''. Tony, an Edwardian minister, believes in preserving a woman's virtue and purity. However this is shown to have a negative effect on his marriage, his wife Estella struggling to live up to such expectations. When she and another girl called Giddy are 'corrupted' by the free-spirited models, it's shown as a sign of positive character growth.

* The illustrations on the dual-sided card [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=243229 Chosen of Markov/Markov's Servant]] certainly imply this, with the titualar creature going from a cute, [[TheIngenue innocent-looking]] Human to a [[EvilCostumeSwitch very-much-]][[EvilIsSexy not-innocent-looking]] Vampire.

* The lifestyle change. It can go either way; either The Cutie is a really nice yet party-hard maniac or a lovable {{geek}}[=/=]nerd[=/=][[CoolLoser unpopular person]] and wanted to see the other side of the grass. They get persuaded by their friends into the lifestyle switch or notice how cool it is. At first friends and family don't mind, until they start rubbing it on others, and the new personality is way worse than the original. Essentially they have all the aspects of the new life and nothing of their old life.

*** PlayedForLaughs with [[PirateGirl Isabela's]] ongoing quest to corrupt [[TheIngenue Bethany]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Merrill]]. Although not entirely straightforward - when Merrill laments how boring her life was compared to Isabella, [[AnythingThatMoves Isabella]] told her that "You deserve better than what I have" (or something along those lines). On the other hand, Merrill proves [[CovertPervert all too eager to be corrupted a little]].

** It was heavily implied that she had been damaged by rejection before she met the Titans and Slade used that knowledge to manipulate the situation and plant the seeds of doubt in her mind.

* A particularly odd case of this would be Yamcha of ''Manga/DragonBall'' fame as revisionist history seems to paint him as some kind of womanizer in recent video games and such. Despite being a rather badass desert bandit (who rapidly underwent BadassDecay), he was a ShrinkingViolet any time he was near a woman. Early on he got together with Bulma, a ClingyJealousGirl who always accused Yamcha of cheating ''any time another girl even looked at him'' ([[{{Bishonen}} which was admittedly, often]]), despite him not looking back at them. (Eventually, Bulma ended up with Vegeta, with their son Trunks describing the version of events he was told as Yamcha cheating first before she ended up with his father.)

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSouthernRaiders The Southern Raiders]]", Katara goes traveling with [[spoiler: the team's [[HeelFaceTurn new ally, Zuko]], whom she already has issues with, to find her mother's killer and let out her bitter feelings]]. Having already snapped at her friends and brother, she continues down a surprisingly dark path by [[spoiler:[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge being particularly vengeful in her search, bloodbending another man she initially believes to be the killer without any warning at all, and nearly murdering the actual killer]]. It's at this point when she discovers the pathetic life the man has been living since the last encounter, so she simply [[CruelMercy leaves him to continue living it]] and, at Zuko's advice, chooses to let go of her hatred before it's too late]].

* In the two-part season 2 premiere of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', five of the six main characters are corrupted by [[ManipulativeBastard Discord]] into inverse versions of the Elements of Harmony they embody: [[WillNotTellALie Applejack]] becomes a [[BadLiar chronic liar]], [[GenkiGirl Pinkie Pie]] becomes a laughter-hating grump, [[GreaterNeedThanMine Rarity]] becomes a [[{{Greed}} self-absorbed hoarder]], {{F|riendToAllLivingThings}}luttershy (who Discord has to straight-up brainwash since [[IncorruptiblePurePureness she's far too sweet and kind to submit to his mind games]]) becomes a [[{{Jerkass}} cruel brute]], and [[UndyingLoyalty Rainbow Dash]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere abandons everyone]]. Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, mostly just {{break|TheCutie}}s rather than being corrupted, because [[WeUsedToBeFriends her former best friends are now treating her like dirt]].
** In "Putting Your Hoof Down," Iron Will inadvertently accomplishes what Discord could not: give Fluttershy the JerkassBall through words alone. After attending an [[TeachHimAnger assertiveness seminar]] when her friends point out how much of a pushover she is, the self-titled "New Fluttershy" starts resorting to physical confrontations with pretty much everyone she sees, including Pinkie Pie and Rarity, who she thinks want her to go back to being a pushover when they really just want her to stop abusing people. It's only after she sends the two running away in tears with a scathing TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that [[WhatHaveIBecome she realizes what a monster she's become]], so she finds much kinder yet still effective ways of asserting herself.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSouthernRaiders The Southern Raiders]]", Katara goes traveling with [[spoiler: the team's [[HeelFaceTurn new ally, Zuko]], whom she already has issues with, to find her mother's killer and let out her bitter feelings]]. This leads to her snapping at her friends and brother, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge being particularly vengeful in her search, bloodbending another man she initially believes to be the killer without any warning at all, and nearly murdering the ''actual'' killer. It's at this point when she discovers the pathetic life the man has been living since the last encounter, so she simply [[CruelMercy lets him continue living it]] and, at Zuko's advice, chooses to let go of her hatred before it's too late]].

* Katara of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' heads down this path when she [[spoiler: has issues with the team's [[HeelFaceTurn new ally]] and goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to find her mother's killer with him to let out her bitter feelings]]. Thankfully, she gets better. But not before snapping at her friends and brother and nearly [[ThouShaltNotKill murdering her target]]. She also [[spoiler: bloodbends another man she initially believes to be the killer, without any warning at all]]. This is a show rated TV-Y7, by the way...

* In the two-part season 2 premiere of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', five of the six main characters are corrupted by [[ManipulativeBastard Discord]] into inverse versions of the Elements of Harmony they embody: [[WillNotTellALie Applejack]] becomes a [[BadLiar chronic liar]], [[GenkiGirl Pinkie Pie]] becomes a laughter-hating grump, [[GreaterNeedThanMine Rarity]] becomes a [[{{Greed}} self-absorbed hoarder]], {{F|riendToAllLivingThings}}luttershy (who Discord has to straight-up brainwash since [[IncorruptiblePurePureness she's far too sweet and kind to submit to his mind games]]) becomes a [[{{Jerkass}} cruel brute]], and [[UndyingLoyalty Rainbow Dash]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere abandons everyone]]. Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, mostly just {{break|TheCutie}}s rather than being corrupted, because her best friends are now treating her like dirt.

* Apollo's entire plan for gaining GenderFlip Percy Jackson as his EternalLove in the ''Fanfic/TheyllNameACityAfterUs''. He plans of slowly corrupting Percy and making her more like an Olympian. Given that Percy is half god herself and is quite traumatised from having been a ChildSolder in a DivineConflict , it is actually working.