He gets way meaner throughout college... and beyond.
Sometimes, you can tell from a character's first moments exactly who and what they are. A character appears on-screen and immediately kicks a dog, he's obviously the villain. Another appears and his first act is to help a kindly old lady across the street, he's a good guy.
But wait... that guy wasn't actually kicking the dog, he was stomping on a spider that was about to bite it! And that so-called good guy was only helping the little old lady so he could steal her purse once her guard was down!
This is the Bait-and-Switch Character Intro. It's a form of Establishing Character Moment where the character is initially introduced in a certain way, which is then immediately subverted and shown that the character is actually something entirely different.
Naturally, it can go in multiple different directions. A powerful character might be introduced as a non-combatant in order to establish them as a Humble Hero. A character with a Face of a Thug turns out to be harmless. A villainous character may be introduced doing something nice to establish them as a Villain with Good Publicity, or the opposite used to set up a Hero with Bad Publicity. So on and so forth.
Note, also, that this only counts if it happens as part of the character's original Establishing Character Moment. Simply showing their true colors late in the story doesn't count.
Compare Decoy Protagonist, which can also overlap with this trope. May also overlap with Bait-and-Switch Silhouette and Scary Shadow Fakeout if Emerging from the Shadows is used. Often a type of First-Episode Twist. See also Not What It Looks Like. Is naturally a subtrope of Bait-and-Switch and Establishing Character Moment.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You:
- Naddy is introduced as a stereotypical Eagleland teacher complete with a stripperiffic cowboy outfit, but when she makes a Love Confession to Rentarou, he realizes she's not actually American, since confessions aren't really a thing in the US; in reality, she's a Japanese woman devoted to living up to the freedom she sees in American culture.
- Kishika's introduced as an old-fashioned lady knight errant, only to have it revealed that she mentally regresses to infancy when shown any kind of parental affection.
- Uto is introduced as an eccentric Wandering Minstrel prone to bloviating a lot, but after what Rentarou thinks is a long-term farewell, he runs into her the next morning on the way to school wearing the junior high girls' uniform underneath her minstrel outfit. Turns out Uto isn't a wandering minstrel, she's a Chuunibyou who really wants to be a wandering minstrel.
- A variation on this regards who the next girlfriend will be. Rentarou meets Kusuri's parents in chapter 74, and given the fact that his girlfriends at that point include Hahari and Chiyo, Rentarou fully expects Kusuri's mother to be his next girlfriend... but that turns out not to be the case. But then, Kusuri's grandmother shows up and—ZING!!
- Following on from that, when Rentarou confronts Shizuka's mother in Chapter 134, there's no ZING!!, showing this is a situation where he can't rely on her falling in love with him to resolve things.
- Black Paradox appears to start it's first chapter with the introduction of it's four main characters, Taburo, Piitan, Barrachi and Maruso, only to end with the revelation that three of the four are fake doubles (Taburo is a doppelganger, Piitan is a robot and Barrachi is a sentient reflection from the mirror-world), with the only real human of the quartet, Maruso, escaping with her life and then meeting their three real counterparts.
- Bungo Stray Dogs: Chuuya Nakahara is introduced as a scary Port Mafia executive whose presence unnerves a captive Dazai, who isn't afraid of anyone. However, the situation quickly changes as Dazai reveals he was actually making fun of Chuuya's hat and proceeds to blackmail and humiliate the other man. Played with later on as it turns out that Chuuya really is terrifying and dangerous so long as Dazai isn't around.
- In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Zenitsu is introduced twice, first briefly at the end of the Final Selection arc and properly in the Drum House arc, and both times it is his most negative traits that are brought up first; His extreme self-deprecating nature, cowardly stance and loud whining all serve to make Zenitsu seem like an unpleasant fellow. During the Drum House arc, however, some glimmer of Zenitsu's actual good traits come to light; his kindness, inner bravery and undying loyalty.
- Guildmaster Makarov of Fairy Tail first appears in his giant form, shouting angrily at his rowdy guild like some sort of enraged monster, leading Audience Surrogate Lucy to wonder what she's gotten herself into. Realizing he has a new recruit to deal with, he immediately reverts to his tiny, normal form and takes on a polite demeanor, which serves to weird her out even more.
- Fate/Zero, in the scene we're introduced to Caster, a legendary figure accidentally summoned by Ryunosuke Uryuu, a depraved serial killer. To Uryuu's displeasure, Caster speaks kindly to the child whose family was murdered for the summoning ritual, telling the boy that he's free to go. The boy gets to the door...and is then grabbed and brutally ripped to pieces by ethereal tentacles. Caster then reveals that he just wanted the boy to experience a Hope Spot, as it makes the realization of their death even more satisfying. Naturally, this establishes Caster as an even worse villain than his summoner.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders: Alessi's introduction involves a four year old boy accidentally getting mud on his pants. He speaks kindly to the boy, asking is he's alright, and where his parents are. As soon as he's sure the kid's parents aren't around he changes his tune, starts screaming in the kid's face and hits him, sending the kid running away crying. This establishes him as a Dirty Coward villain who targets children, which fits his power to transform adults into children.
- Early in One Piece, we're introduced to Captain Smoker of the Marines. Every Marine officer introduced so far has been vicious and corrupt, and this stern man chomping two cigars at once looks like he'd fit the bill precisely. When a little girl runs into him on the street and gets her ice cream all over him, and he glowers down at her, his face shadowed, it looks like the perfect setup to show how brutal he is. Instead, he crouches down, pats her on the head, and apologizes for his pants eating her ice cream. He gives her some money and tells her to get five scoops next time, and she goes away happy, showing how, despite his gruffness, Smoker's going to be a very different kind of Marine than his precursors.
- In Oyaji, the first chapters of the series frames the titular man as being ultra-violent, and purposefully makes it seem he is actually a terrible presence in his family, with all the violence that surrounds him; as the series goes that image is drastically disrupted, showing Oyaji as a real caring man who actually wants to shield his loved ones from the terrible influences around them, and actually steer them away from all of that.
- Ranma ½ introduces the title character as one tomboy martial artists who quickly makes friends with another in Akane. It's only at the end of the first chapter that we discover Ranma is a male-identified Sex Shifter, which completely flips around their dynamic into Belligerent Sexual Tension.
- Mama Isabella of The Promised Neverland is first shown as a kind and caring foster mom to all the children at the orphanage. The end of the first issue reveals, however, that she is only taking care of the children to raise them as food for demons.
- Rosario + Vampire: Kahlua Shuzen makes her debut as her little sister Kokoa gets uncharacteristically frightened. With her eyes mysteriously half-closed, she walks down the corridor... then trips over her own dress and sits up with a "Silly Me" Gesture. Kokoa was not frightened for nothing, though; Kahlua may be naïve and childlike, but she is a top assassin who does anything for her employer, as it soon becomes obvious when she innocently reveals her blindfolded and straitjacketed hostage in a wheelchair.
- Most of the title characters of The Seven Deadly Sins are introduced like this. In particular, Meliodas is introduced as some kid who tends a bar and has some unnamed business with the Sins, before revealing his true nature during a fight a little later. He's also seen acting vaguely threatening and like he's about to get into a fight with some of his customers... before it's shown that he was just teasing and is actually a very amiable individual.
- All three of the main meister-weapon groups of Soul Eater are introduced like this in their Debut Queue episodes/chapters.
- The title character, Soul, is the biggest example of it. He's initially introduced as a somewhat shallow young man who insults his partner and talks a lot about being a "cool" guy. It reaches a head a little later when, frustrated at his inability to defeat the not actually a witch Blair, he very despicably and cruelly gives up and switches sides to be with Blair instead of Maka, even dropping Maka in a trash bin and insulting her, saying "anyone would choose someone with a body like Blair's over you and your flat chest." After Maka calls him out for being a bastard, he reveals it was actually just a deception to get Blair to drop her guard and set her up for the kill. After all, cool guys don't cheat on their partners.
- Black☆Star very quietly and skillfully infiltrates the hideout of the Al Capone gang during the middle of a dinner celebration, and gets the drop on them with effortless ease... but instead of quietly assassinating the villains, he gives a boisterous speech about how awesome he is and then declares that his job is done, right before being chased off by gunfire. He then shows no remorse for it when his weapon partner, Tsubaki, calls him out on it, saying that he was the biggest star in the room. This establishes him as the Brilliant, but Lazy, Small Name, Big Ego, Highly-Visible Ninja. It's further established at the end of the episode when he challenges the samurai Mifune and despite having trouble at first (specifically because of his flaws) manages to get serious and effortlessly wins with a single move, showing that he really is as powerful and skilled as he claims he is... when he can manage to get his act together.
- Death the Kid's introduction has him chase down a fleeing villain and corner him, only to get side-tracked because Liz and Patty messed up their Ass Kicking Pose, allowing the villain to escape and establishing his obbsessive tendencies. He gets another one later in the same episode when he finds himself unable to attack the evil super-mummy hiding inside a perfectly symmetrical sarcophagus and is nearly killed before the mummy itself appears in all its asymmetrical Body Horror glory, at which point Kid declares that it makes him feel "violently ill" and utterly destroys it... and the pyramid they're in too.
- Zombie Land Saga introduces the protagonist as a plucky young girl who is excited to try out in an idol competition until mere minutes into the first episode she is killed by a truck. The death metal theme kicks in, further indicating to the audience that the show will not be straightforward.
Films — Animated
- Aladdin: Iago the evil parrot is first introduced by having him spend a few moments repeating things like a normal parrot... and then ask, "Where did you dig this bozo up?", revealing that he can not only talk properly, but he's got a smart mouth.
- In Brave, this happens twice with Wee Dingwall:
- During the initial introduction, we're lead to believe he's a hulking beefcake of a man... until Lord Dingwall pulls the real son from behind him, revealing him to be scrawny and wall-eyed.
- When Lord MacIntosh begins throwing jeers and insults at Lord Dingwall, the latter sics his son on the former... who proceeds to attack with an animalistic ferocity, showing that his father's boasts were far from idle.
- Cats Don't Dance: Darla Dimple is first shown performing a musical number for her newest movie Li'l Ark Angel, playing a literal angel acting all sweet and adoring to the animals getting on the Ark. When Danny's ad-libbing steals the spotlight from her, she loses her temper and screeches at everyone that "I... hate... ANIMALS!!". This cements her as a Tiny Tyrannical Girl who is the opposite of her Animal Lover persona.
- Despicable Me: When Gru is first introduced, he's shown making a balloon dog for a little boy who is crying over his dropped ice cream... and then instantly popping it. This cements him as evil, but only in a petty sort of way.
- In Frankenweenie, when we first see Colossus, one of the undead pets, he's seen with a huge shadow and his footsteps were making loud booming noises. As it turns out, he's only a small hamster; the booming was because he was in an echo-y tomb.
- The Good Dinosaur: The pterodactyls are first seen searching for trapped animals to help after a storm passes through. The leader, Thunderclap, introduces himself to Arlo, seeming a bit odd, but still pretty friendly. After Arlo helps them free a trapped critter, Thunderclap thanks him for his help…and then immediately swallows the cute animal whole, revealing that they are simply scavengers, and setting them up as the film’s closest thing to an actual villain.
- The Great Mouse Detective: Basil of Baker Street's introduction plays out this way. After Dr. Dawson and Olivia Flaversham arrive at Basil's flat and wait for him to return, a large, pale stereotypically-Chinese mouse wielding a gun crazily storms into the flat. When Dawson asks the intruder who he is, the "Chinamouse" removes his Latex Perfection mask and inflatable suit to reveal he's indeed Basil returning home from a case. Justified in that Basil is a Master of Disguise.
- Monsters, Inc.:
- Monsters, Inc.: The Yeti is first introduced with an intimidating silhouette and dramatic music before loudly welcoming Mike and Sulley to the Himalayas.
- Pictured above from Monsters University: When Mike Wazowski meets his new dorm-mate Randall Boggs, he is first seen in the shadows with a squinting look, evoking the shifty and snakelike look audiences are used to him displaying in Monsters, Inc.. He then runs to the front of the dorm room to greet Mike, where we see he wears big glasses and a friendly expression.
- The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: When Ice Cream Cone introduces Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi to Wyldstyle and crew, a podium rises from the center with a minidoll in a pink dress and a gold crown riding a colorful brick-built horse on it. Then, the horse, who reveals herself to be the real queen, asks the minidoll (named Susan) to prepare refreshments for their guests, so she gives the crown back to the queen and rushes into another room to serve drinks.
- Shrek 2: Puss in Boots is introduced in a darkened room, with only his eyes and boots visible, making him look much bigger (but no less fierce) than he turns out to be in daylight.
- Turning Red:
- One of Mei's classmates is a girl named Stacy who is a stereotypical blonde Valley Girl with her own Girl Posse, setting her up to possibly be an Alpha Bitch. When she and her friends come across Mei in red panda form in the bathroom, she doesn't bully her, and even finds her panda form adorable, leading her to inspire the main four to raise money for concert tickets.
- Similarly, from the way Grandma Lee is introduced, it seems she will be the Big Bad or an Anti-Villain. It turns out her intentions to help Mei control her powers are sincere; Ming ends up being the one going on a rampage in the climax, and Grandma Lee keeps a level head and takes charge of the aunts, and is the first to release her panda to help Mei save Ming. She's more of a Greater-Scope Villain ("villain") than Obliviously Evil.
Films — Live-Action
- Army of the Dead: Dieter is introduced as an Insufferable Genius who boasts about his skills to Scott and Maria and waxes soliloquy about safecracking. For the rest of the film, he's shown to be a rather amiable and friendly Bunny-Ears Lawyer who just views safecracking as Serious Business.
- Babe: Pig in the City: When Babe and Esme first arrive at the Flealands Hotel, the Landlady seems like a Jerkass as she rudely tells them to go away. However, it turns out she only did that to avert suspicion from the neighbors, who already suspect her of illegally harboring animals in the hotel, and she politely lets them inside.
- In Call Me Bwana, phony Great White Hunter Matt is introduced in what looks like an African jungle hut, with walls made of straw. Then he opens his window, revealing that he actually lives in an elaborately decorated Manhattan apartment.
- In a rare example of a Biopic pulling this off, the prologue of Man on the Moon has the film's subject, Andy Kaufman, telling the audience in halting, accented English (of his Foreign Man/Latka Gravas persona) that while he's glad you the viewer have come to see the movie about him, he thinks it's terrible and insists that because he cut out everything involving Artistic License it is already over. To prove he's not kidding he proceeds to roll the end credits cast list in its entirety while playing a record of sentimental instrumental music. After two or so minutes of this, he suddenly slams the record player shut and the screen goes to black for roughly fifteen seconds. Then he leans into the frame and reveals, sans accent but with an Excited Kids' Show Host-style cadence, that he's a Trolling Creator:
Wow. You're still here. Oooooooookay! I hope you're not upset. I did that to get rid of the people who just wouldn't understand me, and don't even want to try! Anyway, the movie is really great! It's just filled with colorful characters, like the one I just did, and the one I'm doing now!
- In S.W.A.T. (2003), Brian Gamble intervenes in a Hostage Situation, disobeying orders like your typical movie Cowboy Cop, and his partner Jim Street follows him in. But when he tries to Shoot the Hostage Taker, he hits the hostage by accident. Afterwards, they're both chewed out and demoted off the SWAT Team, and Gamble loses his temper and Rage Quits the police force entirely. Jim Street, who disagreed with disobeying orders but backed up his partner, is the actual hero of the film, while Gamble undergoes a Face–Heel Turn and is the primary villain.
- Captain Shakespeare in Stardust is introduced as a menacing, gruff pirate captain who throws Tristan off his ship to his apparent death and drags Yvaine into his cabin… only to reveal that he had actually only faked killing Tristan with a mannequin, and quickly reveals himself to be a kindhearted and very Camp Gay man who wouldn't hurt a fly.
- Susan and God: Clyde and Leonora are introduced with Clyde nestled up to Leonora on a couch, holding her hand and saying "Why bother with these old meager memories, darling?" Seconds later it's revealed that they are running through lines from a play. This is later subverted however when it's revealed that he actually is in love with her.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit: On the opening cartoon, Baby Herman acts just like an innocent little baby. But when the director yells "Cut!", Herman stands up and, in a gruff, adult voice, bellows out "What the hell was wrong with that take?" While the director chews out Roger for blowing his lines, "Baby" Herman curses under his breath and then storms off to his trailer, flirting with a woman on the way. This establishes him as a Nice Character, Mean Actor and The Prima Donna who is Older Than They Look.
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: The first time Wonka appears, he seems to be a frail old man, hunched over and walking slowly with a cane. Then he drops the cane and loses his balance, but instead of falling over he does a perfect somersault and gets up with a big grin on his face. This establishes him as both a fun-loving guy and a devious trickster.
Literature
- Kukka Kaalinen: In one book, Kukka starts taking piano lessons. When she arrives for her first lesson, she hears the piano teacher loudly berate someone for playing badly in the next room, making Kukka think he's a Sadist Teacher. But then it turns out he was actually shouting at his piano, showing that he's just a bit eccentric.
- Spellhacker: Aric Silva is introduced holding a magic fireball, seemingly about to attack the protagonists. Instead, he uses the magic to make a sparkling flower for his bow tie, and cheerfully greets them.
- Vigilauntie Justice: When Baz, a trans woman, first meets Madge, Madge begins with, "In my day, men were men and women were women..." Her friends are quick to jump in and explain that Madge isn't transphobic - she just wasn't sure what pronouns to use for Baz since Baz hadn't stated her gender. Madge accepts newcomer Baz into the women's crafting circle and does not do anything else potentially transphobic.
Live-Action TV
- In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Skye later going by Daisy/Quake is introduced as an intimidating hacker in her Hacker Cave, who passionately boasts about how she can't be stopped! Then the rest of the cast break into the beat-up van she's broadcasting from, and she's quickly re-characterised as the New Meat Audience Surrogate.
- From The A-Team two-parter "The Bend in the River", villain El Cajón's introduction does this twice in rapid succession. The episode begins with the natives telling the client of the week Brian Lefcourt all about the myth of the pirate who walks on one leg, and how utterly terrifying he is. They even demand that Brian "give his hand to save us" by which they mean literally cut off his own hand and offer it as a gift in exchange for their lives. El Cajón shows up, chases away the natives, and takes Brian captive, at which point he's revealed to be an illiterate Fat Slob. He also speaks affably with his captive, saying he won't hurt him, he only terrorizes the natives so they'll be too scared to defy him and force him to do something really evil, and he definitely has no intention of cutting off Brian's hand. A moment later, after leaving Brian with his other captives, he goes back to his hut. He finds one of his people there digging through his chest of treasures, at which point he reveals he has a shotgun hidden in his prosthetic leg, and his other followers drag the man away to be killed. This establishes him as a Faux Affably Evil villain who really is a dangerous and cunning individual in spite of his shortcomings.
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The first scene of the pilot is Jake giving a solemn monologue about no longer being able to see line between cops and criminals, making him look like the protagonist in a dark and gritty police drama. Then the camera pulls back to reveal that he's reciting a speech from Donny Brasco into a camera, in an active crime scene. When his partner chides him for goofing around, he reveals that he's already solved the crime. This establishes the light and comedic tone of the show, and Jake as an unserious but competent Bunny-Ears Lawyer.
- The very first scene in the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer shows a young couple—a fresh-faced blonde girl, and a cocky, somewhat arrogant boy—break into the local high school, with the evident intention of "making out"...all while ominous music plays. The girl seems somewhat hesitant ("Are you sure this is a good idea?"), then she says she "heard a noise". The boy assures her they're alone...at which point the girl reveals her Game Face and proceeds to chomp his neck. The "schoolgirl", the vampire Darla, would go on to be a major villain in Buffy (and an important character in its spinoff Angel).
- Cobra Kai:
- The flashback that opens "Nature vs. Nurture" gives the impression that even in the 1960s, John Kreese bullied those beneath him, as seen when a high school jock picks on a diner's busboy, much to the disapproval of his girlfriend. This is reinforced by the way the jock talks about showing an opponent "no mercy", gets offered an opportunity to join the Army and serve in Vietnam, and most importantly, is played by Martin Kove's son Jesse. Then the manager yells at the busboy, "KREESE! Those tables are not gonna bus themselves. Get back to work!"
- The flashbacks to Kreese's service in the Vietnam War initially give the impression that Kreese's squad-mate "Ponytail" is a young Terry Silver because he sports the same ponytail that Silver sports in The Karate Kid Part III and has a similar loudmouth personality. Then the squad gets captured by the Viet Cong on a mission and Ponytail winds up being executed. Silver is then revealed to be Kreese's other squad-mate "Twig", and the ponytail he wears in the present day is his way of remembering his dead comrade.
- In the Doctor Who episode "The Halloween Apocalypse", Dan Lewis is introduced to the audience giving a passionate speech to guests at the Museum of Liverpool about what an amazing city it is, suggesting he's a tour guide. After he's finished, Diane, an actual museum employee, walks up to him to escort him off the premises, and tells him that her boss is going to ban him if he tries a stunt like that again.
- In the first episode of Scrubs, Dr. Kelso gave the (presumably quite intentionally) misleading impression that he was friendly and supportive. This left J.D. concluding that "every story needs a good guy" and that Kelso was it. However the facade soon dropped and J.D. realised that, "he's the jerk".
- Supernatural: Dean, Sam, and Bobby speculate that only the most powerful and sinister of demons could have snatched Dean from Hell and restored his body. An attempt to summon the demon leads to a psychic having her eyes burned out just by looking at the thing, and when the creature Castiel does show up, looking more like a tax accountant than a demon, lights blow out and the wind blows. Yet, Castiel walks past every devil's trap and hex, and he proves immune to being shot and stabbed. He finally reveals to Dean that he is an angel and shows the shadow of his wings to prove it.
Music
- This is the theme of "LDN" by Lily Allen; she's walking round London and seeing people who seem nice on the surface, but realising they aren't, including a smart-looking couple who turn out to be "a pimp and his crack whore", and a guy apparently helping an old woman with her shopping, in order to get close enough to mug her.
Podcasts
- In Welcome to Night Vale, Cecil's first describes Carlos as having a "caramel voice" and appearing to think of him as incredibly suave. When Carlos finally makes a voice appearance on the podcast in episode 16, he has a stereotypically higher nerdy voice as befitting a scientist.
Puppet Shows
- In the Sesame Street song "I Cry", a baby named Rocky is introduced as a normal baby, crying. When his mother and sister leave, however, he bursts into a song about why he cries. This cements him being Prone to Tears, which is typical of a baby, but at the same time, secretly a Brainy Baby.
Video Games
- Bug Fables: Mothiva's first proper meeting with Team Snakemouth has her arrive with Zasp into the Golden Hills entrance when Team Snakemouth installs the big crank that is required to operate the lift into the hole. Initially, she compliments Team Snakemouth, praising them on their hard work...and then starts insisting that they allow her to finish the mission, even trying to bribe them with exposure, and when they refuse, she reveals her disdain for them threatening to overshadow her popularity and initiates a fight. This establishes her as a Glory Hound and a massive jerk beneath the facade she puts on public.
- Crackdown 3: In keeping with their status as Wolf in Sheep's Clothing Villains With Good Publicity, all the bosses of TerraNova are established like this, with cutscenes that start out showing them in the way they're initially seen by the people of New Providence, as brave heroes and saviors... then quickly changes and reveals their tyrannical true nature.
- Wilhelm Berg: First appears as a benevolent gatekeeper, welcoming refugees to New Providence, but soon the gate closes and he reveals himself to be a cruel man who forces newcomers to stay in the outskirts.
- ROXY: The camera zooms in on ROXY's smiling emoji face as it goes past a string of monorail lines... it then cuts to ROXY's face turned into an angry emoji as a nightmare sprawl of twisting, chaotic rail lines spreads out around her. Then shutters close on the trams, saying "Property of TerraNova".
- Alois Quist: Quist stands in his lab surrounded by machinery, watching zeroes and ones scroll past on his screen. The camera pans around and zooms in on his face, where the 0's and 1's are reflected in his glasses as skulls and bones, establishing him as a man who pretends to be a genius obsessed with his work but who is actually a murderous psychopath with dreams of starting a Robot War.
- Reza Khan: Workers walk in orderly lines past mining equipment with signs talking about how safe the operation is, and the health benefits they offer. The camera then zooms through the ground, down into the mines, where Khan stands, sneering over obviously ill workers choking on noxious fumes as equipment literally falls apart around them.
- Djimon Keita: Keita stands looming over the chemical plant, sending glowing green down the pipes. The camera pans down to an impoverished slum as that same glowing green pours from open pipes all over the people, and acid rain falls from the sky.
- Katala Vargas: The camera zooms in on a newspaper talking about Vargas winning the Nobel prize, with a picture of her standing near a machine, proudly. The camera zooms past as the glowing sphere on the machine turns into a globe, with Vargas' face now horribly scarred, and her holding the globe in a death grip as she sneers menacingly.
- Liv Sorensen: Sorenson stands over the city with angelic wings as transport planes and boats head toward a city. The camera pans over and we hear screaming, as it's revealed the transport planes aren't going to save people, but instead are rounding up prisoners at gunpoint.
- Kuli Ngata: Ngata stands among citizens under a banner reading "your security is our priority" as a security robot hands a balloon to a child. The camera zooms in on the balloon... and then it cuts to Ngata standing surrounded by soldiers, with that same robot firing its lasers into a crowd of unarmed protestors and incinerating them.
- Mars: War Logs opens with Innocence Smith being transported to a POW camp while he narrates some of the backstory and how he got drafted and captured. After he arrives, he is attacked in the showers by three other prisoners but is saved by Roy. The game then cuts to Innocence thanking Roy and the player is given a number of responses to choose from, revealing that Roy is actually the protagonist.
- In Palworld, the mon Hangyu is shaped like a noose and after catching it, its Monster Compendium entry states it was used in executions in the past... only for the next sentence to clarify that it performed this task by flaying criminals with its powerful arms.
- In Persona 5, when the Phantom Thieves are infiltrating the Palace of Kunikazu Okumura, they meet an unknown woman standing over them silently. From the ominous posture and the black Persona mask over her face, the Thieves wonder if she's the mysterious "Black Mask" they heard of who was abusing the Metaverse. When she comes down from her vantage point, it's clear that Haru is not the villain the others thought. She's awkwardly trying to follow a script given to her by Morgana (who had a falling out with the thieves at the time) and is a complete sweetheart when interacted with normally.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate:
- For King K. Rool's reveal trailer, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are asleep in their house when they hear stomping outside. They look out a window to see a figure that looks a lot like King K. Rool, only for him to reveal that he's actually King Dedede in disguise, to the shock of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Subverted when the actual K. Rool shows up and slaps Dedede away while Donkey's and Diddy's eyes pop out in shock, shattering the glass in the window
- This gag is repeated for Banjo & Kazooie's reveal trailer, except this time, K. Rool is inside the house, and it's the Duck Hunt Dog & Duck Cosplaying as the Bear & Bird, and when the actual Banjo & Kazooie show up, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and K. Rool all smash the window entirely in joy.
- Undertale: Sans the skeleton first appears menacingly lurking by the entrance to Snowdin Town, stalking the player. He quickly afterwards establishes himself as a joker by pulling "the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick" and speaking in Comic Sans font. Similarly, Flowey the Flower first presents himself as friendly and helpful but almost immediately turns around and tries to kill the player to steal their soul.
Web Animation
- If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device: In Inquisitor Kryptman's first appearance (outside of side story Behemoth), he shows up as the second Only Sane Man of the Inquisition (the first being Amberley Veil) by sharply rebuking the band of Inquisitors in the Warp for slapping everything with the label of heresy, pointing out that if they'd just shown a little more discretion, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in How did they get there? . The Emperor says that he likes Kryptman, but Rogal Dorn immediately says that he was responsible for one of the worst genocides in Imperial history.
"He was exiled. From the Inquisition. For being too cruel."
- Red vs. Blue: Zero: Tiny the mechanic is introduced tinkering under a vehicle. She stands up, towering over the other characters with her hulking figure. Then, after a Beat, reveals her bubbly, girly mannerisms and voice.
- The first Spooky Month video begins with a silhouetted figure in a chair slowly turning after the clock strikes midnight, October 1st. We are then shown them creepily smiling into nothing, before the light flicks on to reveal a small child in a skeleton costume (Skid) who then happily exclaims "It is the spooky month!".
Webcomics
- In El Goonish Shive, Heka is initially shown
as an imposing silhouetted giant with glowing eyes and snakes coiled on his arms. The next strip has him shrink down to human size, lose the snakes and otherwise take the appearance of an ordinary Egyptian man.
- Narbonic: ANTONIO SMITH, FORENSIC LINGUIST is introduced as a shy, mild-mannered professor. Then he dons his fedora and starts dramatically declaring Helen will pay for the numerous grammatical errors in her manifesto, and starts scaling a building with nothing but his bare hands.
- Sluggy Freelance: Dr. Dastarde in "Anima — Relevation" is set up as potentially being the unknown villain behind the scenes, and his seemingly Faux Affably Evil first line, while Finger-Tenting in a typical Diabolical Mastermind setup, is "We meet at last, Zoë! A Seer I've heard oh-so-much about! I am oh-so-happy for you to join us!" Also, he appears to have no anima hovering next to him — in this world, that would presumably mean being The Soulless. However, the next strip reveals he talks like that because he's really that childishly friendly, and his anima was just hiding in reflection of his own shyness.
Western Animation
- Beast Wars: Dinobot initially appears to be a power-hungry The Starscream, having the Brass Balls to insult Megatron to his face and challenge him to a duel for leadership. He later challenges Optimus to lead the Maximals, until he saves Optimus from falling to his death during their Duel to the Death; because allowing it to happen would be dishonorable. This firmly establishes him as an anti-heroic Proud Warrior Race Guy, who has a case of Honor Before Reason.
- BoJack Horseman: The first time we see the titular character is a clip of his old sitcom Horsin' Around where he shows concern for his adoptive daughter and makes her laugh when he gets excited about hay. This makes him appear friendly and fatherly, and subsequent clips of him smiling on magazine covers explain how he was so successful because of this role. Then we cut to an interview with Charlie Rose, where modern-day BoJack appears, and he immediately starts talking about how drunk he is and how he parked his car in a handicapped space, and it becomes clear that he's nowhere near as successful as he used to be.
- Dave the Barbarian: The first few scenes of the theme song feature Dave standing dramatically and swinging his sword around, looking much like He-Man. As the lyrics then point out, he's "huge, but a wimp", punctuated by him running in fear from a mouse.
- Juro Que Vi: When the disguised boto first enters the party by the riverside in "The Boto", only his shadow is seen at first, which with the tense music and the reaction of the people, makes the man look like a big and menacing outsider; then, the camera goes down to reveal a comical and pretty short man who starts to happily play a triangle.
- Phineas and Ferb: The first time we see Perry the platypus in "Rollercoaster," he's just lying next to Phineas and Ferb with a dopey expression, and Phineas remarks that, "He's a platypus. They don't do much." A few scenes later, we watch Perry hide behind the house, stand up, put on a fedora, and disappear into a secret lair beneath the house. This is when we learn Perry is Agent P, a crime-fighting secret agent who only pretends to be a simple platypus around his family to keep his identity safe.
- When we first see Scorpia in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, she appears stoic and menacing. One second later, she excitedly shouts "Kitty!" upon seeing Catra and hugs her, much to the latter's dismay.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil: In "Baby", Baby is first introduced as a cloud of ominous dark smoke, fitting her role as The Dreaded; but once the smoke clears, she resembles nothing more than a Cute Kitten with fairy wings.
- Teen Titans (2003): In "Betrothed", Starfire is summoned to an Arranged Marriage on her home planet of Tamaran. She is presented with a hot, shirtless Tamaranean warrior...who moves aside to reveal that her actual betrothed is a hideous green blob-like creature.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012): When the titular character in “The Pulverizer” makes his first appearance attempting to stop the Purple Dragon's robbery, he gives a pretty good Badass Boast that impresses the turtles and seems ready to give the former a good fight... only to stand in place and throw out some ineffectual punches and kicks, allowing the Purple Dragons to easily overpower him, revealing that he's actually a Heroic Wannabe that's in over his head and has no real combat training.
