History Main / PlayingTheVictimCard

* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'': Whenever Drake and Josh do rightfully get back at Megan for all the stuff she puts them through, she'll act like an innocent victim while ignoring the fact that she started it.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Saffron does this to disarm Mal (quite literally) at the end of the episode "Trash". It's strongly implied that she's been carrying that card in her back pocket for a long time--and might even deserve it. Of course, her following actions sort of decrease our sympathy...

** Another example- After making fun of Wendy's breast cancer class report, Cartman went crying to Wendy's parents to keep her from beating the snot out of him. After that [[spoiler:he kept it up and got the snot beaten out of him anyway]].

** Aside from Cartman, the NAMBLA leader does this in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", when he is being arrested in the end, he tries to gain sympathy by claiming that they're just being persecuted because they're different and that they didn't choose to be attracted to young boys. Kyle [[ShutUpHannibal shuts him down with one sentence:]]

* Ratigan does this in ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', lamenting on how, because of Basil, he hasn't had a moment's peace of mind in years. The "insufferable pipsqueak" has ''ruined'' his [[SarcasmMode freedom to commit crimes]]!

* From ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'', [[spoiler:when Agatha Prenderghast gets confronted by Norman, she tries to justify torturing the Puritans as "they had hurt her", though Norman rightfully points out that her actions towards them are [[HeWhoFightsMonsters making her no better than them]] and even [[ShutUpHannibal calls her a bully]] for it]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Renno is not an actual villain but he slips frequently into unacceptable behavior in his attempts to win ComicBook/WonderGirl's affections and always plays the victim when she is unimpressed or angry at him for lying to or trying to otherwise trick her.

-->'''Mills:''' "I'm extorting you because you are ''breaking'' the law. You come to this country, take advantage of the system and think because we are tolerant that we are weak and helpless. Your arrogance offends me. And for that the rate just went up 10%. Do you want to keep negotiating, or do we have a deal?"

* Mikan in ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2'' legitimately thinks that she is a victim, and that nobody will "forgive her existence".[[spoiler: This attitude causes the characters to hesitate in a trial when they start finding out that evidence seems to point to her as the culprit, as she has been kind to them and nursed some of them back to health previously]]. This is a complicated example, as [[spoiler:Mikan ''has'' been the victim of a lifetime of unjustified abuse at the hands of her peers, including in the game itself - ''nobody'' tries to stop Hiyoko from her vicious bullying of Mikan, not even [[TeamMom Mahiru]] or [[TheProtagonist Hajime]]]]; this trope comes into play when [[spoiler:she uses this past to justify murdering two people.]]
** [[spoiler: Kirumi]] in ''VisualNovel/NewDanganRonpaV3'' is a more straightforward example, as when it is revealed they are the culprit, she try to justify it with TheNeedsOfTheMany and accuse Shuichi of having some kind of grudge against her that is making him "warp the narrative" so he can pin the blame on her. [[spoiler: She even goes so far as to suggest that she needs to survive more than the other students because she was Prime Minister and the outside world need her. While some of the more gullible students like Gonta and Tenko are moved by her words, Kaito and Kokichi call her out on how selfish this actually is - the ''only'' time in the game they agree on something, mind you.]]

* Mrs. Norris of ''Literature/MansfieldPark'' constantly preaches about all the hard work she does taking care of everyone and all the sacrifices she makes and, like Willoughby, seems to fully believe she's a kind, generous, caring aunt... when she's actually a stingy, vain, pompous, meddling, insufferable know-it-all who spoils one set of nieces and nephews only to make TheUnfavorite niece feel more horrible.

** This actually becomes a recurring plot point in Season 21. He sees himself as the victim of Heidi's abuse in their relationship, even though its him who is distant, emotionally abusive, and at one point, even tried to get Heidi killed by a witch. By the end of the season, Heidi finally sees this, and calls him out on it.

** Aside from Cartman the NAMBLA leader does this in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", when he is being arrested in the end, he tries to gain sympathy by claiming that they're just being persecuted because they're different and that they didn't choose to be attracted to young boys. Kyle [[ShutUpHannibal shuts him down with one sentence]].

* Used to agitate Medaka in ''Manga/MedakaBox'' by Kumagawa as [[spoiler:after he and Zenkichi appeared to have died after their Student Council battle. However the events that cause their supposed death were due to Zenkichi actions so technically Kumagawa was the victim. Kumagawa made this statement after his powers brought him back though. Also, Zenkicki [[NotQuiteDead was brought back by someone else, though he wasn't dead.]]]]
* Your average ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gundam]]'' antagonist faction (usually spaceborne) absolutely ''loves'' to play this trope. Nine times out of ten they'll claim the local protagonist (Earth) faction is this tyrannical regime that has pushed them to the breaking point[[note]]which is ironically true more often than not[[/note]], and that everything the antagonists do in reprisal (up to and including genocide through nukes, poison gas, [[{{BFG}} colony sized BFGs]], [[CruelAndUnusualDeath remote controlled flying blades and motorcycle battleships]]) is all justified. Also nine times out of ten they'll have a legion of fanboys in RL that will [[RootingForTheEmpire not only agree with all of these claims]], but decry the [[DesignatedVillain heroes]] for "daring" to stand against them. Special mention goes to the Principality of Zeon from the original series for not only claiming that they were fighting a war of conquest (as in it involved an Earthside invasion) in the name of "Independence" from Earth[[note]]which it had held long before said war[[/note]], but for nobody in-series ''ever'' calling them on their BS (much less their invoking this trope) throughout ''Gundam'''s thirty plus year long run.

* [[VillainProtagonist Light]] of ''Manga/DeathNote'' seems to enjoy playing this. Whenever he interacts with L, who rightfully deduces that he's Kira, he acts like a poor kid who's being charged with something he's innocent of. Everyone on the task force does fall for this trick and get mad at L for finding new reasons why he believes that he's Kira. [[spoiler:During the Mello/Near arc, the task force slowly begin to understand why L thought Light was Kira and they try to bring him in.]]

* Cori Falls's renditions of TerribleTrio [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Jessie, James and Meowth]] practically ''live'' on this trope. Even after they "go good" they continually describe themselves as "victims of circumstance" to explain away their former lives of crime.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "[[Recap/ArthurS4E1DWsLibraryCardArthursBigHit Arthur's Big Hit]]", while Arthur did go overboard by [[WouldHitAGirl punching D.W.]], she ignores that she had purposely disobeyed him in not touching his model plane and destroyed it in the process, [[NeverMyFault blaming]] ''[[NeverMyFault him]]'' [[NeverMyFault for the damages]] until he [[RageBreakingPoint completely snapped]]. Her DelayedReaction to getting punched implies she wasn't actually hit that hard and had pulled CrocodileTears to both [[DirtyCoward weasel her way out of trouble]] and [[WoundedGazelleGambit get Arthur grounded]].
-->'''D.W.:''' ''(to Arthur)'' [[MoralMyopia You're bad!]]

* Played for laughs in an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', when Frasier is punched in the face by a man who is later murdered by Niles's ex-wife Maris. Subsequently, whenever Frasier finds himself in trouble for anything he's done, he immediately tries to wriggle out of the blame by melodramatically declaring that he is still suffering the effects of being "punched in the ''face''... ''by a man now '''dead'''!''". Incredibly, this somehow works ''every single time he tries it''.

* From ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'', [[spoiler:when Agatha Prenderghast gets confronted by Norman, she tries to justify torturing the Puritans since "they had hurt her", though Norman rightfully points out that her actions towards them are [[HeWhoFightsMonsters making her no better than them]] and even [[ShutUpHannibal calls her a bully]] for it]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "[[Recap/ArthurS4E1DWsLibraryCardArthursBigHit Arthur's Big Hit]]", while Arthur did go overboard by [[WouldHitAGirl punching D.W.]], she ignores that she had purposely disobeyed him in not touching his model plane and destroyed it in the process, [[NeverMyFault blaming]] ''[[NeverMyFault him]]'' [[NeverMyFault for the damages]] until he completely snapped. Her DelayedReaction to getting punched implies she wasn't actually hit that hard and had pulled CrocodileTears to both [[DirtyCoward weasel her way out of trouble]] and [[WoundedGazelleGambit get Arthur grounded]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': While Arthur did go overboard by punching D.W., she ignores that she had purposely disobeyed him in not touching his model plane and destroyed it in the process, [[NeverMyFault blaming]] ''[[NeverMyFault him]]'' [[NeverMyFault for the damages]] until he completely snapped. Her DelayedReaction to getting punched implies she wasn't actually hit that hard and had pulled CrocodileTears to both [[DirtyCoward weasel her way out of trouble]] and [[WoundedGazelleGambit get Arthur grounded]].

* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' does this to Mr. Incredible by claiming he was hurt after his rejection from him as a kid. He completely ignores that he had been nothing but an inconvenience towards Mr. Incredible that night and caused a lot of havoc in the process. Mr. Incredible was also too busy with Bomb Voyage for Buddy's "assistance". For bonus points, in a SelfServingMemory of Syndrome, Bomb Voyage is completely absent.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': While Arthur did go overboard by punching D.W., she ignores that she had purposely disobeyed him in not touching his model plane and destroyed it in the process, [[NeverMyFault blaming]] ''[[NeverMyFault him]]'' [[NeverMyFault for the damages]] until he completely snapped. Her DelayedReaction to getting punched implies she wasn't actually hit that hard and had pulled CrocodileTears to both [[WoundedGazelleGambit weasel her way out of trouble]] and get Arthur grounded.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': While Arthur did go overboard by ''punching'' D.W., she ignores that she had purposely disobeyed him in not touching his model plane and destroying it in the process, blaming ''him'' for the damages until he completely snaps. Her DelayedReaction to getting punched implies she wasn't actually hit that hard and had pulled CrocodileTears to get Arthur grounded.

* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' does this to Mr. Incredible after claiming he was hurt after his rejection from him as a kid. He completely ignores that he had been nothing but an inconvenience towards Mr. Incredible that night and caused a lot of havoc in the process. Mr. Incredible was also too busy with Bomb Voyage for Buddy's "assistance". In a SelfServingMemory of Syndrome, Bomb Voyage is completely absent.

Very often TruthInTelevision, sadly. [[noreallife]]

* Creator/CoriFalls's renditions of TerribleTrio [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Jessie, James and Meowth]] practically ''live'' on this trope. Even after they "go good" they continually describe themselves as "victims of circumstance" to explain away their former lives of crime.

* Dr. Wily at the end of most ''[[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]]'' games.
** Often [[VideoGame/MegaManX genocidal]] [[VideoGame/MegaManZero mavericks]].

*** [[spoiler: Kirumi]] in ''VisualNovel/NewDanganRonpaV3'' is a more straightforward example, as when it is revealed they are the culprit, she try to justify it with TheNeedsOfTheMany and accuse Shuichi of having some kind of grudge against her that is making him "warp the narrative" so he can pin the blame on her. [[spoiler: She even goes so far as to suggest that she needs to survive more than the other students because she was Prime Minister and the outside world need her. While some of the more gullible students like Gonta and Tenko are moved by her words, Kaito and Kokichi call her out on how selfish this actually is - the ''only'' time in the game they agree on something, mind you.]]

* ''WebAnimation/FreedomToons'': Dr. Mac treats an actual jihadist as a horrible victim because of tweets critical of islam, while denouncing an actual survivor of a terrorist massacre as a horrible islamophobic bigot for suggesting a link between religious scripture and acts of violence perpetrated against non-Muslims.