History Main / JustToyingWithThem

SuperTrope to ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask. For obvious reasons, tends to be a DavidVersusGoliath situation. Other tropes that may come up include HeroicSecondWind and NearVillainVictory. Compare WillfullyWeak, ComplexityAddiction, EvilGloating, and MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever, which all resemble this in different ways. A NoNonsenseNemesis will ''not'' be caught doing this. In a fight, CurbStompBattle is likely what would happen if the stronger character didn't hold back... and it might anyway.

** Freeza pretty much lived this trope. After going through many fights against the heroes and reaching his final form, he reveals to Goku he's only been using a fraction of his total power (''1%'' in the dub) and proceeds to start using one third. This is more than enough to beat Goku silly, and at one point briefly decides to give Goku a fighting chance by not using his hands. Once Goku goes Super Saiyan, however, Freeza stops playing around and convinces Goku to allow him to fight at full power. Unfortunately for him, his window of opportunity has already flown out the window.
*** Goku even [[LampshadeHanging points out to Freeza why he's going to end up losing]]: having done nothing but toy with weaker opponents for nearly his entire life, when he actually goes all-out to fight Super Saiyan Goku, he's got little-to-no practice fighting an equal or superior opponent, and has such terrible endurance (especially by this point) that after only a short time at full power, he starts getting rapidly weaker.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Barragan Louisenbairn of the Espada did this with Suì-Fēng and Marechiyo Ōmaeda. He is a TimeMaster that can dilate time around himself so that an opponent's incoming attack slows down, allowing him to counter accordingly. Since he controls [[RapidAging senescence]], anything he touches ages to the point of decay. He demonstrates this by ''[[NoIAmBehindYou suddenly appearing]]'' next to Suì-Fēng (without her even noticing at first, [[OhCrap to her shock]]) and taps her left shoulder, causing the shoulder's bones to become so brittle that they broke immediately. It's taken UpToEleven after he uses his [[OneWingedAngel Resurrección]], where he gains the ability to release [[DeadlyGas Respira, a fatal miasma that instantly rots anything it touches]]. Even in this transformed state, he ''still'' toys around with his opponents. Ultimately, he ends up getting killed ([[HoistByHisOwnPetard by Respira, to boot!]]), because he was so ridiculously arrogant. Fittingly enough, his zanpakutō is named "Arrogante".

SuperTrope to ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask. For obvious reasons, tends to be a DavidVersusGoliath situation. Other tropes that may come up include HeroicSecondWind and NearVillainVictory. Compare WillfullyWeak, ComplexityAddiction, EvilGloating, and MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever, which all resemble this in different ways. In a fight, CurbStompBattle is likely what would happen if the stronger character didn't hold back... and it might anyway.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Mihawk does this to Zoro during their sword duel, opting to use his dagger instead, lamenting it's the smallest blade he has. Interestingly, he'd actually made his point by more or less, defeating him with it, but he admired Zoro's sheer FightingSpirit so much, he decided he was worthy of the [[{{BFS}} Kokutou Yoru]], and quickly defeated him with it.

* In SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' BigBad Amon makes a show out of tying up [[ElementalPowers bending]] members of a crime syndicate (and one of the heroes who got mixed up with them) and [[spoiler: permanently removing their powers]] in front of a huge crowd of [[AntimagicalFaction Equalist]] sympathizers. This trope comes into play when, as part of his show, Amon lets the crime boss loose and offers him the chance to fight to protect himself. It's all the more impressive when Amon wins. [[CurbStompBattle Rather easily]], in fact.

* ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Outcast]]'': At the end of the second level, before [[PlayerCharacter Kyle Katarn]] has regained his Force powers, Desann deliberately challenges him to defeat him without them. Mostly, he'll just stand there and deflect whatever attacks the player throws at him. It's all part of a BatmanGambit to make Kyle look to regain his powers.

For obvious reasons, tends to be a DavidVersusGoliath situation. Other tropes that may come up include HeroicSecondWind and NearVillainVictory. Compare WillfullyWeak, ComplexityAddiction, EvilGloating, and MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever, which all resemble this in different ways. In a fight, CurbStompBattle is likely what would happen if the stronger character didn't hold back... and it might anyway.

** Kakashi pulls the same thing off in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. For bonus points, it's {{Ecchi}}.
*** The reason why he was doing this is because he was being a StealthMentor to Team 7 and it was actually a SecretTestOfCharacter. They were never supposed to get the bells off him directly: They were supposed to work as a team and try to.

* [[GreatGazoo Mr. Mxyzptlk]] [[TheOmnipotent can do basically anything]] [[RealityWarper at will]], so he likes to toy with ''{{Superman}}'' like this, usually until Superman fools him to say his own name backwards so that he gets sent back into his own dimension. His powers are on such a level that it's quite a horrifying thought if [[WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow he decided to become properly evil]], and doubly so when SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker gained his powers in "Emperor Joker". The last, incidentally, fits this trope as well, and [[spoiler: the Joker is defeated because he ''can't'' stop toying with [[ArchEnemy Batman]] and just kill him.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Discord, an evilly mischievous RealityWarper who displays the power to easily destroy the main characters, challenges the ponies to play a game to regain the Elements of Harmony, the only thing capable of defeating him. During play, he approaches each of them and manipulates them into abandoning the Element each of them represents before magically hypnotizing them into a bizarro version of themselves -- if his attempt fails, he simply brainwashes his victim with brute force, and even "wins" by brainwashing one character to break the rules. The result of this is that [[spoiler: he can just hand them the Elements, so he can watch and laugh as they prove powerless, and breaks the heroines' hope entirely. Unsurprisingly, this arrogance leads to his undoing later.]]
** Ironically, Discord [[WhatTheHellHero implicitly criticizes]] BigGood Celestia for sealing him in stone at one point. Her [[GoodIsNotSoft decisiveness]] in dealing with her enemies brings to mind Creator/TerryPratchett's quote about how it's better to be at the mercy of an evil man, as he wants his enemies to know they have lost.

** [[MadGod Nightmare Moon]] also did so way back in Season 1, sending the main characters through a series of trials despite technically being able to kill them at any point...and then realises too late they have, by her actions, become FireForgedFriends. ContractualGenreBlindness at its best.

* DragonBallZ: Standard practice for most villains (and some heroes) when their power significantly eclipses that of their opponent. This often leads to their undoing, but not always.

* ''FinalFantasyVII: AdventChildren'' (though each of these relies on interpretation of things not made explicit):

** This is also a likely way of interpreting the final battle between Cloud and Sephiroth. Sephiroth, whose motivation at this point is largely payback for being defeated in [[FinalFantasyVII the game]], drives Cloud to his highest limits without even so much as getting winded himself, and then tries to finish him off after some suitable EvilGloating.

** Kakashi pulls the same thing off in ''{{Naruto}}''. For bonus points, it's {{Ecchi}}.

** Later on Crocodile does the same to Luffy, standing by idly for a couple of minutes while Luffy futilely trys to hurt him. Croc eventually does win (easily), but unfortunately for him Luffy survives and manages to defeat Croc during a later rematch.
* YuYuHakusho: Young Toguro, the antagonist of the second season (the Dark Tournament), feigned defeat the first time he met Yusuke in order for his employer to win a bet. However, he later went back gave Yusuke a demonstration of his real power by demolishing a building. He plays this trope by explicitly telling others what percent of his power he's using. The only exception is during his final fight with Yusuke when he revealed he'd only been using 85% of his power instead of 100%

* [[GreatGazoo Mr. Mxyzptlk]] [[TheOmnipotent can do basically anything]] [[RealityWarper at will]], so he likes to toy with ''{{Superman}}'' like this, usually until Superman fools him to say his own name backwards so that he gets sent back into his own dimension. His powers are on such a level that it's quite a horrifying thought if [[WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow he decided to become properly evil]], and doubly so when TheJoker gained his powers in "Emperor Joker". The last, incidentally, fits this trope as well, and [[spoiler: the Joker is defeated because he ''can't'' stop toying with [[ArchEnemy Batman]] and just kill him.]]

* ''SluggyFreelance''

For obvious reasons, tends to be a DavidVersusGoliath situation. Other tropes that may come up include HeroicSecondWind and NearVillainVictory. Compare WillfullyWeak, CopmlexityAddiction, EvilGloating, and MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever, which all resemble this in different ways. In a fight, CurbStompBattle is likely what would happen if the stronger character didn't hold back... and it might anyway.

For obvious reasons, tends to be a DavidVersusGoliath situation. Other tropes that may come up include HeroicSecondWind and NearVillainVictory. Compare WillfullyWeak, EvilIsStylish, EvilGloating, and MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever, which all resemble this in different ways. In a fight, CurbStompBattle is likely what would happen if the stronger character didn't hold back... and it might anyway.

** Vegito toying with Super Gohan Buu. This was actually [[BatmanGambit part of his strategy]] rather than an act of arrogance, though.
** Frieza pretty much lived this trope. After going through many fights against the heroes and reaching his final form, he reveals to Goku he's only been using a fraction of his total power (''1%'' in the dub) and proceeds to start using one third. This is more than enough to beat Goku silly, and at one point briefly decides to give Goku a fighting chance by not using his hands. Once Goku goes Super Saiyan, however, Frieza stops playing around and convinces Goku to allow him to fight at full power. Unfortunately for him, his window of opportunity has already flown out the window.
*** Goku even [[LampshadeHanging points out to Frieza why he's going to end up losing]]: having done nothing but toy with weaker opponents for nearly his entire life, when he actually goes all-out to fight Super Saiyan Goku, he's got little-to-no practice fighting an equal or superior opponent, and has such terrible endurance (especially by this point) that after only a short time at full power, he starts getting rapidly weaker.

* In ''[[Manga/OnePiece One Piece]]'', Mihawk does this to Zoro during their sword duel, opting to use his dagger instead, lamenting it's the smallest blade he has. Interestingly, he'd actually made his point by more or less, defeating him with it, but he admired Zoro's sheer FightingSpirit so much, he decided he was worthy of the [[{{BFS}} Kokutou Yoru]], and quickly defeated him with it.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

* One ''{{Discworld}}'' novel posits that it's actually ''preferable'' to be at the mercy of an evil person because he/she will indulge in this trope, giving their victims more time to turn the tides. [[GoodIsNotSoft Good people finish off their enemies without a word.]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]

[[folder: VideoGames]]

** In a side quest, Firkraag, a powerful red dragon with a grudge against the {{Player Character}}'s dead mentor Gorion, takes the guise of a human to lure the characters to his lands to perform what sounds like standard heroic mercenary work. Then he sets them to kill some paladins (through an illusion that makes each party see the other as monsters) to ruin their reputation. Once the party has fought its way down through his lair, he appears in his true form and explains that he just wanted to torture Gorion's spirit, and can't be bothered to kill the protagonist just then, unless they really insist on it, recommending that they just be on their way. He's powerful enough in a fight that this arrogance isn't entirely unwarranted.

* The'Galin from ''VideoGame/{{AdventureQuest}}'' is a plot-guided HopelessBossFight for most players and a BonusBoss for high-end players. He is also the God of Uncreation and intentionally allows the player to futilely attack him as he toys back and inevitably defeats the player.

** Ironically, Discord [[WhatTheHellHero implicitly criticizes]] BigGood Celestia for sealing him in stone at one point. Her [[GoodIsNotSoft decisiveness]] in dealing with her enemies brings to mind TerryPratchett's quote about how it's better to be at the mercy of an evil man, as he wants his enemies to know they have lost.

[[folder:RealLife]]

** Q also picks a fight with Capt. Sisko of ''DeepSpaceNine'', provoking Sisko to punch him and knock him down. Again, Q seems to be pulling his punches, given what he can do.