Beware the Nice Ones

You made me climb Mt. Fuji for this, AND YOU SAY IT'S TOO WARM FOR YOU?!

"There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."

— Kvothe, The Name of the Wind

Sometimes, trying to Break the Cutie has consequences. Sometimes, the nicest person in the story gets pushed to the limit of what they can take... and the results are not pretty.

The sweeter, gentler, more polite, more peaceful, and overall nicer a character is, the worse it will be for whomever is in the vicinity when they're subject to one round too many of Break the Cutie, or Dude, Where's My Respect?, or hitting their Berserk Button or Rage Breaking Point. What was once a sweet and nice individual suddenly snaps and becomes something far worse than the Big Bad could have expected.

Think it's called Unstoppable Rage for nothing?

Although any Nice One can make you wish you were never born, there are certain tropes which act as a sort of force multiplier. Check any of the following tropes to see just what is most likely in store for whomever set off the Nice One: Badass Adorable, Death Glare (which should never be brushed off), Mama Bear (or Team Mom, or Papa Wolf, depending), The Quiet One, The So-Called Coward, Teach Him Anger (a suicidal idea with the Gentle Giant) and Tranquil Fury. Especially bad when dealing with a Technical Pacifist, and even worse when dealing with an Actual Pacifist (for whom this is not an unusual trait). Combine all at once and there may not be a minimum safe distance to escape their wrath. In the case of a Practical Joke, you will be looking at Prank Gone Too Far, at the very least. In addition, this trope can turn any bear character who is Beary Friendly into Bears Are Bad News.

More Truth in Television than you think — deferring gratification with regards to expressing one's anger tends to make the end result... less than pretty. Also, it's generally more frightening when a more mellow person starts acting up because it's so unexpected. Even when it's not scary, it can make a character feel great shame, as it's when they realize they were such a Jerkass, even the nicest person they know couldn't deal with their shit anymore.

Cultures that have a reputation for being polite, non-confrontational, and passive-aggressive usually have a history of being very warlike in the past; think Scandinavia, Canada, England, or Japan. These cultures developed polite, non-confrontational, passive-aggressive characteristics to keep from killing one another off; push them too far, however, and they can and will remember their heritage.

See also Good Is Not Soft, when a normally affable character realizes that nice won't always get things done in a situation. They can coincide, if the realization and the outrage are triggered at the same time. An Actual Pacifist subjected to the same stresses will turn into a Badass Pacifist instead (unless this becomes a Wham Episode in which pacifism is renounced.) The results are quite similar if they Madden Into Misanthropy, the difference being the new misanthrope isn't so much a violent dynamo as a care free Jerkass.

This is not to be confused with a character being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing (or even Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon). While the latter trope's 'nice' image is usually just a facade for their genuinely callous personality, this trope involves a genuinely nice character submitting to a rare act of malice. Repeated subjection of a nice character to this trope, though, may result in Flanderizing them to such a degree that it's impossible to tell the difference.

Can also result from being repeatedly subjected to the losing end of the Misery Poker trope when their combined traumas far outweigh any single problem another character has because of feeling like a Butt-Monkey due to their very real and legitimate problems repeatedly being ignored.

The polar opposite of Is This What Anger Feels Like?.

Comparable tropes include Let's Get Dangerous!; Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass; Minored In Ass Kicking; The So-Called Coward; and Who's Laughing Now?.

Also compare Cornered Rattlesnake, Yandere, Cute and Psycho, Killer Rabbit, Did You Think I Can't Feel?, Badass Santa, and Fighting Irish.

A This Means War! declaration may be delivered as a result of it. For a common aftermath of this trope, see Cruel Mercy.

Compare/contrast Knight Templar. Compare Beware the Quiet Ones if they are known for their silence more than their kindness. Compare Killer Rabbit for when you need to beware the cute ones. Compare Beware the Silly Ones when they're known for clowning around. Compare Silk Hiding Steel, for when you should beware the proper ones. May also act as an emotional power.

noreallife

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Example subpages:

• Anime & Manga
• Comic Books
• Fan Works
• Films — Live-Action
• Literature
• Live-Action TV
• Video Games
• Webcomics
• Web Original
• Western Animation

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Examples from media without their own pages:

Films — Animated

• Brave: Elinor is a perfect queen — polite, genteel, formal, a diplomat who abhors weapons and violence, always seeking to unite the clans and bring peace and prosperity to Scotland. If you threaten her daughter... you get crushed flat.
• Coco:
  • Jerkish moments aside, Héctor is an all around nice guy who avoids conflict when possible, but when he learns that he was actually murdered by his own friend Ernesto, he completely loses his cool and tackles him.
  • Mamá Imelda may be a noble woman with a soft heart, but you'd do well not to make her angry.
  • Papá Julio is very timid and gentle, yet can take down trained security guards with one swift kick and isn't afraid to charge headlong into danger to protect his family.
• Dot and the Kangaroo:
  • Dot is a Friend to All Living Things and is all-in-all a sweet-natured and kind-hearted little girl, but as the sequels show, threatening and/or harming anyone she cares about is a good way to get on her bad side, especially if you're in her presence.
  • There's also the Kangaroo, who is the friendliest of all the bush animals Dot meets, but she's also willing to protect Dot as if she were her own joey. In the original, she battles a dingo that was chasing them and indirectly sends it falling to his death, and in the sequel Dot and Keeto, while insect-sized, she battles a spider to save the titular duo.
• Dumbo: Mrs. Jumbo is usually mild-mannered, but NEVER ever tease or harass Dumbo when she's around, because if you do, Mrs. Jumbo will make you regret it.
• The Emperor's New Groove: Pacha is a Gentle Giant and an EXTREMELY patient and forgiving person. He thinks that there's some good in everyone. But being around Kuzco tests his patience, and when he discovers that Kuzco tricked him in order to get him to take him back to the palace, he's ENRAGED.
• Finding Nemo: Dory. Unfailingly cheerful and friendly, except when she goes Jack Bauer on an uncooperative crab.
• The Incredibles:
  • At first glance, Bob Parr is a bumbling Action Dad and your everyday sitcom family man - kind, helpful, loves his kids, sucks at his job (in his boss' eyes). But threaten his family, however, he will show you that he's actually an extremely protective father that will go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge to annihilate you in the worst way possible if you ever do so, as an unfortunate Syndrome finds out. It also applies to when he threw his boss through several walls for not letting him help a guy getting mugged outside.
  • While Jack-Jack’s still a friendly, fun loving baby, it's not a good idea to make him angry. You DO NOT want the Demon loose.
• The Iron Giant:
  • The eponymous character is a Gentle Giant that lost his memories when he crashlanded on earth and befriends a local boy. But when he thinks that the boy is killed during an attack by the army he turns into a literal killing machine armed with Wave-Motion Gun, Chest Blaster, and Frickin' Laser Beams and destroys, no, annihilates the army with terrifying ease.
  • It's pointed out in the film that the Iron Giant was actually intended to be a ludicrously powerful defensive device. It's your best friend so long as you don't point something identifiable as a weapon at it or its friends. Once you do that though, the only thing that will save your puny, pitiful life is The Power of Friendship
• The LEGO Movie: Princess Uni-Kitty, a pink kitty Lego figurine with a unicorn horn, and princess of Cloud Cuckoo Land. She's Sickeningly Sweet, silly and optimistic, something she barely manages to maintain after her kingdom is destroyed by Lord Business. So how far do you have to push her before she snaps? Are you stupid enough to try to find out?
• The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: Everyone looks down at Emmett because he tries to be nice and sweet, even in the post-apocalyptic world, and they want him to be grim and gritty like they are. They get what they think they want; his "grim and gritty" self is Rex Dangervest, who comes close to destroying the entire LEGO world.
• The Lion King (1994): Pumbaa, Simba, Nala, and Rafiki all show shades of this, especially during the Battle of Pride Rock. Screaming Mandrill Fu, anyone?
  • Don't forget Mufasa, who's a benevolent ruler and a loving father, but won't let you forget that he's in charge. And don't even think about harming his son.
• In The Nightmare Before Christmas:
  • Jack is extremely genial and friendly but even Oogie Boogie is frightened of him when Jack gets angry.
  • Santa Claus himself, the ultimate personification of goodwill and holiday cheer. After being kidnapped and threatened with torture and murder for a good portion of the movie, it's fairly startling to see Santa stepping on what remains of Oogie Boogie under his boot. Then, he gives Jack a harsh dressing down - again, Jack is The Dreaded in Halloween Town.
• Rise of the Guardians:
  • The titular Guardians are pretty nice, but if you threaten the children under their care, like Pitch and his nightmares, they pull out all the stops, like North's Blitzen Blades and Bunny's Egg-sploders.
  • Sandman is arguably the nicest one of all of them, but deliberately giving kids traumatic nightmares will have him beat the crap out of you with no hesitation and a fraction of the theatrics or even effort the other guardians use.
• Robin Hood (1973): Friar Tuck. A jolly and compassionate fat friar, but when the Sheriff takes the last farthing from the poor box at the church for Prince John, and says that Tuck is likely to preach himself into a hangman's noose…
  Friar Tuck: GET OUTTA MY CHURCH! (belly bumps him out the door, and begins beating him with a pole) YOU WANT TAXES?! I'LL GIVE YOU TAXES!
• Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School:
  • Sibella, Dracula's polite, friendly and supportive daughter, is able to nearly fight off the spider-bats when the others couldn't.
  • Tanis, the Mummy's daughter. She's the youngest of the girls (at most six years old), sweet and insecure...and during the final confrontation, it's her who casually and fearlessly deprives Revolta of her power ("I want that wand, Revolta!!").
• The Secret Life of Pets: Gidget, an adorably fluffy Pomeranian, turns into a real Determinator when Max disappears.
• Shrek:
  • Donkey. As annoying he can be at times (well, most of the time), he is unfailingly friendly and optimistic, except when he sics the Dragon on an unsuspecting Lord Farquaad and threatens to do the same to his knights if they don't back away from Shrek and Fiona.
  Donkey: All right, nobody move! I've got a dragon and I'm not afraid to use it! I'm a donkey on the edge!
  • Princess Fiona is no slouch, either. As an Expy of the Disney Princesses, she is a kind, compassionate and loving young woman, but you'd be wrong if you think she's nothing more than a Damsel in Distress, as she knows kung-fu, as Robin Hood and his Merry Men find out when they attempt to murder Shrek.
• Superman turns into this in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies when Batman sacrifices himself to manually steer a rocket into a kryptonite asteroid (but not really). Superman utters the line "That's my best friend, and you just killed him." before tearing into Lex. Judging by the look on Luthor's face after the monologue, it's reasonable to believe that he just planted the last of his bravery in his underwear.
• Princess Poppy, the main protagonist of Trolls, is an optimistic and friendly Badass Pacifist who believes that everybody, even the Bergens (who believe that eating her species is the only way to make them happy), has inner happiness and goodness inside them. Once it turns out that Creek is selling her, her friends, and the entire Troll Tribe out in order to save himself from the Royal Chef, Poppy immediately attempts to strangle him with her Prehensile Hair. Her friends had to drag her away from the cage bars to prevent her from outright killing him.
• In Turning Red, Mei is generally, a genial, friendly kid, but she can be a real firebrand when she's angry. Even before the red panda enters the picture, she doesn't hesitate to go after three punks who are spraying graffiti on the outer wall of the family temple. With the red panda she can be downright terrifying.
• Wreck-It Ralph: Felix finally grows a spine when Ralph comes to rescue him from jail, getting very cross with Ralph for "Going Turbo".

Music

• The Gorillaz cast all have their moments, excluding resident Jerkass Murdoc. Noodle once fought off an entire zombie army alone with nothing but her Waif-Fu, and the usually cool-headed Only Sane Man Russel knocked Murdoc out cold with one blow when he tried to kill 2D. Even Extreme Doormat 2D has a limit: he lashed out at Murdoc in a recent interview after a few minutes of insult and humiliation.
• Kenny Rogers' classic "Coward of the County". A man who'd turned his back on fighting all his life beats three men to a pulp after they rape his wife.
  • His father had died in prison when he was but ten years old, and had implored him "not to do the things I've done." Fair enough, but following this to the letter, always, made a doormat of the boy. At the very end, as the last of his wife's rapists hits the floor unconscious (possibly even dead), he echoes these words but twists them around: "Sometimes you've got to fight when you're a man."
  • Worse for the three, they (and everyone else present) realise what fury they've unleashed on themselves when he turns about... and locks the doors, preventing their escape. Then he lets rip with twenty years of bottled rage.
• Lemon Demon's "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" brings together absolutely everyone in a Climactic Battle Resurrection, from Batman to Godzilla to Chuck Norris. The winner? Kindly old Mr. Rogers "in a bloodstained sweater".
• Pearl Jam's song "Jeremy" from Ten is about this, to an extent. A quiet, drab kid with uncaring parents suddenly snaps and goes berserk, punching the narrator in the jaw and biting the recess lady's breast. Before eating a Magnum in front of everyone - not the chocolate-covered ice-cream.
• Vocaloid Kaito ga Uninstall
• Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" is about someone a guy who does nice things for people, but no one wants to befriend him or just be around him, which prompts him to be upset and get turned mean. It is Played for Laughs, though.
• "Sister Mary Elephant," a 1974 comedy recording by Cheech & Chong. Although the title character, a substitute teacher overseeing an unruly class, is very nice, her frustration boils over several times throughout the song as she tries to call the clearly uninterested students to order ("Class? Class? SHUDD-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!" "Wow, far out man.").
• "Tai Kwan Leap," a comedy recording by the Frantics. The main character starts out preaching peace, enlightenment and how Tai Kwan Leap is strictly for self-defense - then when a mouthy student gets a little aggressive with him it's "Boot to the head."
• "Weird Al" Yankovic's "The Night Santa Went Crazy", has the legendary jolly fat man flip his lid and go on a murdering spree, the song hinting that years of delivering gifts to kids and only getting milk and cookies for his thanks was just too much for him to handle anymore.
• The Rolling Stones' mild-mannered, quiet and laid-back drummer Charlie Watts was often to be found in his hotel room quietly reading a book whilst Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman (and, later, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood) were living the rock-excess lifestyle. At one drunken after-gig party, Mick imperiously called Watts' hotel room, asking "Where's my drummer? I want my drummer! Bring my drummer to me!". When these words were relayed to him, Watts nodded, put down his book, showered, shaved, got dressed, and left his hotel room, saying nothing. As Jagger brayed "Ah, my drummer's here at last!", the irritated Watts laid him cold with one punch. Dragging Mick up by the lapels and eyeballing him, Watts said, simply "I'm not your fucking drummer. You are my lead singer. Right?". He then turned on his heel, went back to his room, and carried on where he's left off. He'd even thought to insert a bookmark.
• The third English verse of New Zealand's national anthem God Defend New Zealand invokes this trope, with a declaration of striving for peace while also calling on God to make them a "mighty host" if they are invaded.
• The Killer Inside Me by MC 900ft Jesus is about a serial killer who pretends to be a sweet, talkative, mentally disabled person to both lure people into lowering their defenses and to keep suspicion off of himself.
• This quote from Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine sums her up pretty well:
  I’m not a very angry person in life. I’m not a very confrontational or aggressive person, I—I’m very gentle, and…and yet sometimes my music is so ferocious, and I wonder what part of myself, perhaps, I suppress in daily life that comes out in my songs that even I find scary.
• Skinless: The music video for their song "Skull Session" focuses in on the daily life of a New-Age Retro Hippie referred to officially as "The Hippie" (the fandom nicknamed him "Hippie Jim" in tribute to the actor who played him; the band later embraced the nickname on social media). Or rather, it focuses in on that life slowly being destroyed by the band, who insist on endless, overloud rehearsals that constantly distract him at inopportune moments, causing calamity to ensue. Eventually, after a second date with a woman who had already lost her eye to one of these distractions ends badly, The Hippie goes off the deep end and pulls out an old chest from his closet. Turns out he was a late arrival to the counterculture, having first spent time fighting in Vietnam. The chest contains a variety of "momentos" from that service, including several grenades and a canister of Agent Orange. He uses the contents of the chest to attack and incapacitate the band, drags them to his garage, loads them one by one into a guillotine he built himself, and and starts pulling the switch. Too bad the Agent Orange contaminated their bloodstreams, allowing their severed heads and headless bodies alike to revive and continue the rehearsal. Seeing this, The Hippie decides to simply load himself in the guillotine and drop the blade on himself.
• In Dean Brody's song, "Cattleman's Gun", the sheepskin-cloaked preacher of the town initially takes a pacifistic stance against the titlular Cattleman, who has been terrorizing the town as part of a bid to hold his claim on the surrounding land for grazing his cattle. The preacher even flat-out tells the townsfolk (via the chorus) that they don't stand a single chance against the Cattleman, whose undefeated skills as a gunfighter are described as a "rattlesnake on the trigger". All that changes one day when the Cattleman guns down a young farmer in front of his two sons just because the farmer publicly confronted the Cattleman over his sabotaging the man's farm, then taunts the boys as they're crying over their father's body...at which point the preacher emerges from the church and proves to everyone that he is not at all what he seems:
  [The Farmer's] boys ran out from behind the crowd and watched their daddy die,
  The [Cattleman] laughed and said "Now look at that, anybody else wanna give it a try?"
  Well the church doors opened with that black cloak flowin' behind the preacher's fiery eyes,
  He said, "Your ticket to hell is a comin' to you, and I got a hollow point to give you the ride!"
  
  And the only thing faster than the Cattleman's Gun was the preacher man's hand and finger,
  He pulled iron from his side and let that bullet fly, beat the rattlesnake to the hammer!
  Why the preacher embraced forgiveness, oh, they finally understood,
  Under that sheepskin cloak of his was a history of blood...
• Doppo Kannonzaka from Hypnosis Mic is generally a pretty nice, sort of meek salaryman that Apologizes a Lot, but push him too far or hurt his friends and there will be hell to pay. His special ability Berserker even centers around this trope. It allows him to unleash a powerful move capable of one-hit killing his opponents, but at great cost to his stamina and (in the manga at least) fainting.

Myths & Religion

• Norse Mythology's Vanir were a race of fertility gods, who spent their days making the world flourish with plants and children... Oh, and they almost destroyed the Aesir.
• Nymphs were usually kind and flirtatious, but piss one off and you're likely to be drowned and gutted. Or, saddled with a curse so horrible that you'll wish you were drowned and gutted.
• Most people seem to think of Demeter as peaceful and calm, the goddess of the harvest and growth. One of the lesser known myths shows us just how awesome she can be: a king cut down her favorite tree. So she got one of her handmaidens to fetch Hunger and sicced her on the king, until he ate everything in his city, spent and sold everything he had— even his own daughter— on food that didn't fill him, and then ate himself. Not to mention the whole "If I don't get my child back, I can and will kill everything on this planet" thing.
• There is also the fact that Hephaestus, the smith of the Gods, while nicer than the rest, is best not to anger him. More known examples include the Golden Throne incident (trapped Hera due to her throwing him out of Olympus) and the Golden Net scandal (caught Ares and Aphrodite having sex -in Hephaestus' and Aphrodite's marriage bed, no less).
• Also among the Greeks, Dionysus was ubiquitously known as The Hedonist of the pantheon and the god of alcohol. Usually he was the Pretty Boy who spent most of his time throwing wild parties and getting into Wacky Fratboy Hijinx—but he embodied both the good AND bad sides of alcohol, and he got pretty damn vicious if you pushed him.
• In Chinese mythology there was a guy named Yang Zhi who was trying to sell his sword. A thug named Niu Er had him describe three tests (Cutting coins without damaging the blade, cutting hair by placing the hair on the sword and blowing on it, and killing a person without staining the blade with blood). Yang Zhi carried out the first two easily and refused to do the third. Niu Er then began beating him up and calling him a liar. Yang Zhi attempted to dodge, but Niu Er was quick and strong and he rained blows on Yang Zhi. Eventually, Yang Zhi lost his temper, shouted to the crowd that Niu Er had backed him into a corner, drew his sword and cut at Niu Er once, killing him instantly. The blade had no bloodstains on it, fulfilling the third test.
• The Bible:
  • Jesus and "the cleansing of the temple". This is a guy who was literally the poster boy for patience and forgiveness. But everybody has at least one thing that really burns them up and makes them want to break something/someone; for Jesus, it seems, it was taking advantage of poor and ignorant people in the name of God. When he saw what was going on, he just stood there, looking around and emanating so much anger that he didn't even have to raise his voice for everybody in the temple to know that some serious shit was about to go down if they didn't get out of there. He flipped over a money-changer's table, and the priests and merchants ran like hell. Some variations state that he busted out a riding crop and went to town on all the tables and stuff sold there.
    • God the Father seems to have the same Berserk Button of taking advantage of people in his name - as the only one of the Ten Commandments that openly states something along the lines of "if you do this, even God will not forgive you" is the one forbidding exactly that misuse of God's name for purposes God did not sign up for. Doing evil in God's name is a surefire way to really piss him off - so since Christianity holds that Jesus is God in Human Form, this was completely foreseeable.
  • This temple tossing was preceded by cursing a fig tree that was out of season and didn't give our Savior fruit to eat... and by the time he passed by that spot again, the tree was dead.
  • And then there's the prophesied Second Coming. The first time Jesus came, he was generally peaceful. The second time? Not so much. There's a reason he's called both the "Lamb of God" and the "Lion of Judah".
  • Many verses, especially Nahum 1:3, gives us the description that God is "slow to anger", but when evil strikes, He will stop at nothing to punish the evildoers.
  • Moses has been described as "the meekest of men". However, as many theologians have pointed out, "meek" does not mean "pushover", and when he did get angry...
• In Hinduism Durga, the benevolent goddess of motherhood, is also portrayed as a fierce fighter and quite the Mama Bear. Kali was one of her forms, pulled out to defeat the undefeatable.
  • Ganesha is also a generally friendly god who likes scholarship and sweet foods. However, he is the son of the mentioned Durga and Shiva, the god of Destruction, and the only thing that stops him from ripping the entirety of Creation to shreds is his amiable and easygoing nature.

Pro Wrestling

• Prior to his 1987 heel turn, André the Giant very much fit this trope, with many announcers referring to the big guy as a gentle giant. Whenever a heel crossed his path and used devious means to try to take him out, Andre became brutal and used his aggression to make the bad guys regret their moves. Famous examples came with Killer Khan, who was thoroughly beaten in a legendary stretcher match (the objective being to injure the opponent so severely they need to be taken out on a stretcher) at the Philadelphia Spectrum; and Big John Studd and Ken Patera (after the two knocked Andre out and cut his hair).
  • As part of the Andre-Studd feud, Andre once appeared on the WWF's Tuesday Night Titans (a takeoff of The Tonight Show) to discuss his feud with Vince McMahon. When McMahon persisted with questioning about Andre putting his career on the line vs. Studd's $15,000 at the first WrestleMania, a clearly annoyed Andre (who did his best to keep his temper and smile) grabbed McMahon by the necktie and told him he would fight the WrestleMania match on his terms before walking off the set.
  • Andre was also a Real Life example as well. He was a nice guy outside the ring, but some guys decided to try a round of Bullying a Dragon with him. Cue them being chased out of the bar and having their car flipped over with them still in it.
• Big John Studd was another example. Heenan himself said that Studd was a guy who was "too nice for this business."
• Often used for a Face–Heel Turn:
  • When Bob Backlund made his early '90s return to WWE, he was portrayed as a nice older guy who loved to compete and served as a mentor to the younger wrestlers on the roster — right up until he snapped, putting Bret Hart in the crossface chicken-wing out of jealousy, and becoming an uber-reactionary psychopath. Incidentally, if a heel wrestler got Backlund angry enough, he showed that he could be perfectly willing to throw out the rulebook to teach him a lesson.
  • WWE owner Vince McMahon's evolution from goofy good-guy announcer to maniacally lecherous and evilly manipulative corporate boss following the Montreal Screwjob (see Dropped a Bridge on Him) is another good example, also an example of Real Life Writes the Plot.
  • Though sometimes the face doesn't turn heel, they just reveal that they Took a Level in Badass. The Undertaker is particularly adept at this.
• Mankind, especially post-Socko was a loveable underdog who would shower you with gifts as a friend and as an enemy would at least give a stern talking to before beating you up. However when Mick Foley is pushed too far to fight as Mankind (as Triple H soon found out, twice), he'll switch from Mrs. Foley's baby boy to The King of the Deathmatch, Cactus Jack. Since his semi-retirement, Mick Foley has generally been a goofball cracking lame jokes. The few people who have truly pushed him, though, are reminded just why he's called the Hardcore Legend.
• John Cena can typically be counted on to be a guy who's pretty calm and relaxed and willing to joke around and playfully mock his opponents, and when competing in fair fights will still find plenty of time to have fun. Piss him off a little too much, though, and he'll start doing things like throwing around 500-pound men, ripping pipes out of the machinery and taking them to someone's face, and trying to run people down with forklifts. He also once dropped 25 CHAIRS on (a table covering) Wade Barrett. And that's just physical harm. When he's given a Hannibal Lecture by The Miz and R-Truth, what does he do? Nothing except turn it against them into a "The Reason You Suck" Speech that's so powerful, it made them fight one another.
• Kofi Kingston is a pretty level-headed guy who is often seen with a smile, but if you push him over the edge, he'll hit back hard. On the 10/26/2009 edition of Raw, after losing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in an Iron Man match to John Cena the previous night at Bragging Rights, a livid Randy Orton ambushed Kofi, claiming he was the reason he lost, with Kofi clearing Orton's Legacy teammates out of the ring, after getting blamed by them for costing team Raw the 7-on-7 tag team match. A little later, Orton's Legacy teammates, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr., tried to calm him down with a custom NASCAR car. Soon after that, while Legacy was in the ring, Kofi broadcasted himself on the titantron as he defaced Orton's car, his face alternating from mischievous glee to uncharacteristic anger. It got worse in the following weeks. Ted Dibiase wouldn't learn from this and let history repeat, as did Dolph Ziggler.
• Jimmy Jacobs. Who would have thought the same person who wore furry boots and played a giant for laughs would turn out to be a complete psychopath who would hang a bleeding Jay Briscoe from the ceiling and shower in his blood?
• Melina Perez (fits it more as a Face than when she's heel) walks down the ramp smiling and waving to the fans, but when the bell rings she is an aggressive screamer who goes to the limit.
• For a good face example, look at Eve Torres. Sweet, happy girl who looks so much like Wonder Woman◊ it's a surprise DC didn't threatened a lawsuit. However, if you push her one inch too far, she will put her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training to good use and will snap you into several little pieces. Check out her "The Reason You Suck" Speech to The Miz and her attempts to climb over Michael Cole's "Cole Mine" after he dumps on her matches a little too much. Similar things could be said of Natalya, Beth Phoenix, and Gail Kim.
• While still serving as a color commentator, Daffney gave this ominous warning regarding Su Yung. Unfortunately, what some people take as a "warning", Sweet Saraya took as an invitation and deliberately pushed Yung over the edge, the result being the Undead Brideswoman she became.
• A.J. Lee. Where other divas take home victories with schoolgirl roll-ups she breaks out the Shining Wizards or Sliced Bread #2. From a 100 pound girl, that is pretty unusual. And because Daniel Bryan couldn't appreciate her love for him and continued to demean her and blame her for his loss at WrestleMania, she's now the proverbial crazy chick. She has no problem putting her love interests through tables (just ask CM Punk and Daniel Bryan) or knocking them off ladders (ask John Cena). If you make AJ mad at you, prepare to suffer.
• Over on NXT, Johnny Gargano is one of the swellest guys you can meet, being a very hardened Determinator and a loving husband. However, as his early 2018 TakeOver matches against former friend and tag-team partner Tommaso Ciampa have shown, even NXT's biggest babyface has his limits. After losing a Loser Leaves NXT match against Andrade "Cien" Almas thanks to interference by Ciampa, Johnny spent the weeks leading up to NXT TakeOver: New Orleans stalking his old friend, attacking him at any given opportunity and requiring officials to restrain him. It came to a head during their Street Fight at NXT TakeOver: Chicago (almost a year removed from Ciampa's betrayal of Gargano and in the same arena) when Gargano delivered a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown at several opportunities, including slamming him through two tables after Ciampa removed Gargano's wedding ring AND spat on it, as well as handcuffing his opponent and delivering several superkicks to Ciampa. This kind of behavior would be unheard of for a normally clean babyface, but after everything the guy has been through, can you really blame him?
• When Alexa Bliss started off in NXT, it was as an always smiling cheerleader/fairy character that blew glitter around. After being taken for granted and continually overlooked because of her short stature (5'0'') and relative inexperience in the ring, she snapped and unleashed her inner demons. Four years later, she's a five time champion and the undisputed master manipulator of WWE's women roster. She WILL find your weakness and she WILL exploit it.
• Rey Mysterio Jr. is a hero to the core and a Friend to All Children, but hurting his family is one way for him to unleash his aggressive side. CM Punk and Brock Lesnar has learned this the hard way. His feud with his son Dominik didn't become personal until after his son began mouthing off to his mom, and Rey's wife, Angie. Rey decides to finally deck Dominik and screams that his son made him hit the boy.
• Matt Riddle, a normally chilled out surfer bro who loves weed got pushed over the edge in his feud with Seth Rollins leading to Clash at the Castle. On the August 29th, 2022 episode of Raw, after a video call between both men were scheduled to end... Seth Rollins ask Riddle if he was still on the line before insulting his lack of family due to Riddle's wife divorcing him This causes Riddle to get insanely angry and proclaim that he wasn't just going to beat him up and that he was going to fuck him up

Puppet Shows

• Fraggle Rock: While Mokey is usually kind and gentle, she can become angry if pushed too far, as shown in "The Thirty-Minute Work Week", when she and Wembley are gathering radishes from the Gorgs' garden and are seen by Junior Gorg.
  [Junior swings his club at the Fraggles, just missing them.]
  Junior: Oh, you... you Fraggles! [He leaps onto his stomach, with his face inches away from Mokey's.]
  Mokey: Oh. You almost hit Wembley! [She bops him on the nose with the radish she's holding.]
  Junior: Ooh!
  Mokey: Come on, Wembley, let's leave.
  Wembley: Ohhh, gladly!
  [The Fraggles run off, with Junior staring after them in astonishment.]
  Junior: That Fraggle hit me!

Tabletop Games

• Exalted:
  • Everyone has a trait called "Compassion". People with high compassion are compassionate and caring. Solar Exalted, those with the most extremes related to virtues, may snap and undergo the Limit Break "Red Rage of Compassion." It's angrier than the Limit Break "Berserk Anger."
  • This can also happen with Infernals who take Kimbery Charms. They can be hugely naive and unable to believe anything bad about their loved ones, but as soon as they personally witness their treachery or succumb to Kimbery's Torment, they will add that person's name to a potentially infinite list of "people who need to die slowly"...then do it. Kimbery herself doesn't really qualify, though, since her unique madness makes her a Mood-Swinger mixed with My Beloved Smother rather than this trope.
• Forgotten Realms: Iilmater, the god of martyrdom and patron of the poor and the oppressed, is one of the nicest and most wholesome deities of the entire setting. His physical avatar was also statted in third edition D&D to have 20 levels in both Monk and Paladin.
• In Nomine: Blandine is one of the kindest, most gentle archangels, and a staunch member of the Peace Faction. She's also well versed in protecting the Marches from those who would exploit them, and meets predators of human dreams with unrelenting ferocity.
• Legend of the Five Rings : The Phoenix Clan is largely pacifistic, values life, and is generally more compassionate in regards to their peasantry and one another (some arrogance about their magical prowess aside) than the other samurai clans. They're also a clan with an enormous number of powerful shugenja of every element, and their disdain for war means that in those few cases where they're forced to fight one, they don't bother with the posturing that other clans do, instead simply opting to try and end the fighting as soon as possible. This can range from putting on a large-scale Mook Horror Show with massive walls of flame and a nigh-endless stream of illusionary reinforcements (and other terrifying but largely harmless things besides), assassinating the enemy commanders (and ideally leaving everyone else untouched), or reshaping the battlefield to prevent the battle from occurring in the first place. If they're really pushed, it's worth remembering that a Mook Horror Show is what happens when they're holding back and still care about their enemies' lives. The Phoenix generally don't declare offensive wars, but the above tends to make the Lion Clan — the most war-happy of the clans — rather uncomfortable about fighting the Phoenix.
• Magic: The Gathering:
  • The color Blue usually starts slow, but if it makes it to mid-game, your opponent is in VERY dire straits as he begins seeing his spells coming out wrong, his cards being discarded, his creatures taken control of, and his entire game plan obliterated.
  • White, the colour of Law and Order, of healing and protection. And of 'Wrath of God' and 'Day of Judgement', which are the magical equivalents to a scorched-earth policy against anyone stupid enough to be a credible threat....
    • Of course, if you want a literal scorched-earth policy in White, there's always Armageddon — "Destroy all lands." See, White is all about equality — and that includes, for instance, equalizing the battlefield by destroying all of its own things and all of yours, no matter how many "all" was for you and how many "all" was for it.
• Old World of Darkness:
  • Demon: The Fallen has traces of this. The Fallen were angels once, after all, with all the inherent goodness that usually implies. Even before the Abyss turned them evil, the Fall and the War of Wrath made even the gentlest among them into engines of destruction.
  • Promethean: The Created gives us any Promethean, potentially. They can follow several different Refinements, paths that guide them in their quest to Become a Real Boy. Usually, it takes months to go from one of these paths to another... except for Stannum, the Refinement of Tin. Stannum focuses on taking revenge on the world around you and on those who have wronged you, and it can be taken on instantly (though it takes twice as long to leave it). And most commonly, a Promethean enters it when they tell themselves, "Enough." And then the lightning bolts start flying.
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse:
    • The Children of Gaia are the gentlest tribe — but holding in that Rage all the time makes it that much worse when they finally lose it.
    • The Gurahl werebears are a nation of gentle healers, and far slower to anger than werewolves, not getting worked up about petty personal slights. And then you finally manage to get them truly mad, and you'll find out firsthand that Bears Are Bad News.
• Ravenloft: Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove, from the Arthaus product line, is the more ladylike, gracious, refined, and patient of the W-F twins. She also has a kickass moment in Van Richten's Guide to the Mists, not to mention she's probably an unwitting werewolf.
• Traveller: The original rules have a humanoid alien race, the Darrians, who are an easygoing, peaceful, slightly hedonistic culture. The neighboring, more violent, races generally leave the Darrians alone. This is because the Darrians stumbled upon an important discovery: how to make an ordinary sun go pseudo-nova. No one messes with the one who holds the Star Trigger.
• Warhammer 40,000:
  • In the fluff, the Salamanders, Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and Raven Guard chapters of Space Marines are renowned for actually giving two-flips about civilians and their safety, and will ensure to avoid inflicting "collateral damage" unless they genuinely have no other choice. They are, in turn, hulking armies of nine foot tall flame enthusiasts, Space Romans, Space Vikings, Space Psychos and Space Commandos, respectively, who can and will ruin your day with all sorts of mayhem if you piss them off.
    • The Salamanders have loved ones (they still keep ties with their families on Nocturne, darn near unique among the canon Space Marine chapters), and they are all quite handily proficient as artisans and craftsmen, which qualifies for "art, culture, and hobbies." Whether they satisfy the textbook definition of "nice" is really a YMMV to be sure, though. Their Primarch, Vulkan, did qualify handily however; he was the warmest and most approachable and compassionate of all the Primarchs, and also an engine of physical and fiery destruction even more fearsome than some of his brothers due to his raw physical abilities (such as wielding a hammer that took an entire squad of Terminators to lift and keeping up with Dark Eldar vehicles on foot) and absolute refusal to remain dead no matter how thoroughly he was killed. He was hard to piss off, but any that did regretted it.
    • Blood Angels actually paint, and seek artistry as a form to express themselves, such was Sanguinius's view of life that a Blood Angel should always seek self improvement, which is one of the core beliefs of the chapter, to bring a better life to mankind. Sanguinius himself also once responded to an I Surrender, Suckers gambit that killed 132 of his Blood Angels by ordering that the empire in question should face a near-genocidal reckoning, culminating in the few civilian survivors being taken as serfs as a humane alternative to leaving them in the phosphex-scarred, irradiated, somewhat nuked ruins of their worlds.
    • Some members of the Ultramarines Second Company actually befriended the rest of the human forces of Damnos. Though they do not keep contact with them, those families that have one member inside the Ultramarines chapter actually are elevated in status.
    • Space Wolves almost went to war with the Administratum for their actions after the First War of Armaggedon, where they decided to kill the entire human population of the planet because they had had contact with demons (despite fighting AGAINST them). Not only that, but Logan Grimnar from time to time launches relief crusades that seek to protect Imperial citizens from the Imperium itself.
  • Not just humans, either. The Tau are an example. In stark contrast to the extremist Blood Knights you find so often in the setting, the average Fire Warrior enters battle in a state of serene calm and most of them are Apologetic Attackers. But if you kill an Ethereal, they either go into a state of Heroic BSoD or they become this trope. One depiction of an enraged Tau cadre tells of them walking slowly towards the enemy army, burying them under an ever-increasing torrent of plasma fire.
    • The Tau collectively as a civilisation have defeated many enemies that should by all rights have annihilated them. First, their homeworld is stuck in a sector of space full of Ork-held worlds, so they've had to deal with numerous Ork WAAAGH!s throughout their history. Then the Imperium launched a huge crusade to exterminate them, only for the Tau to fight them to a standstill at Dal'yth and force a crease-fire. Then Hive Fleet Gorgon hit the Tau Empire and they subsequently destroyed it as well. And then they defeated an even bigger Ork invasion fleet that threatened the survival of their entire empire. They've even held back daemonic incursions and killed a Daemon Prince, despite suffering from a complete lack of the special anti-daemon weapons needed to fight them effectively. This is coming from a small, relatively peaceful, and racially tolerant empire of only a few hundred worlds (compared to the Imperium, which has millions of worlds), populated by aliens who have even worse physical strength and senses than humans. For the Greater Good, indeed.
  • The Craftworld Eldar. In peace, they're gentle, stoic, and logical. In war, they literally change personalities, lose their former identities, take up arms, and are replaced by furious warriors and killing machines with the single-minded wish to utterly annihilate the enemy. Observe. Oh, and don't hoard — or worse, break — any of their soulstones. They don't like that.

Theatre

• Which Witch The Musical: When Daniel ends the relationship with Maria, she becomes pissed and tells him she wishes he had died instead.

Visual Novels

• Ace Attorney:
  • Mia Fey is a sweet, caring mentor, always there to give a comforting word and invaluable legal advice to her former student Phoenix Wright and her little sister Maya Fey—or, if your name is Dahlia Hawthorne, there to literally kick your ass all the way back to hell by reminding you of how much of an utter failure you are. Did we mention that Mia's been dead since the first game?
  • Phoenix Wright is pretty personable and empathetic, even when he's being a Deadpan Snarker, but there's a reason why he's known far and wide as arguably the best defense attorney there ever was. Formerly unbeatable prosecutors bested, fearsome murderers brought down, brutal physical injury and attack easily shrugged off. The man is devoted to justice and bringing down criminals, and once he unravels your web of lies and pins you as the culprit, you are absolutely screwed.
  • Edgeworth is a downplayed example following his Heel–Face Turn. He firmly believes that Being Personal Isn't Professional (even though he often becomes friends and allies with those he works with during cases, but good luck getting him to admit it in so many words) and although he's a (mostly) tactless Deadpan Snarker, he always has good intentions and will do what's right in the end. But when he actually does get angry and he has you in his sights, determined to expose your crimes, the only way you're leaving his presence is in handcuffs.
  • Athena. She's very empathetic and understanding, but if you push her too far or threaten her friends, she will snap, and there will be no mercy. Gaspen Payne and Aristotle Means learned this the hard way.
• In Aya's epilogue for Akatsuki no Goei, her father finally finds out about her relationship with Kaito and tries to fire him. She instantly grabs his arm and nearly breaks it before he agrees to hold off on a decision temporarily. Further, the robot Yuuki is the most easygoing of the bodyguard class, but he's still a robot. Even Tominori quickly caves in when he makes Yuuki mad. Notably, Yuuki is the one person Kaito quite possibly could not beat in a fight.
• Danganronpa:
  • Original protagonist Makoto Naegi is an utter sweetheart who can get along with anyone, but he's also the one who takes the lead in most class investigations, and his Magnetic Hero powers are not to be underestimated. In Danganronpa 3's Future Arc, he also manages to outmaneuver someone attacking him with a sword and trap the guy in a room.
  • Aoi Asahina is a cheerful Nice Girl who trusts her classmates and tries to keep everyone's mood up. Then her best friend Sakura is accused of being the mole, and Aoi starts getting outright violent to defend her. When she's deceived into thinking the other students drove Sakura to suicide (Sakura really killed herself to stop the fighting over her), she nearly succeeds at framing herself for Sakura's death and getting everyone there killed in revenge.
  • Sakura Ogami herself is the Ultimate Martial Artist with a Face of a Thug, but she's quite possibly the kindest character in the game. Doesn't stop her from being an unstoppable force when she wants something done. She ends up being the one to break Monokuma's game with her suicide.
  • Sweet Princess Classic Sonia Nevermind has military training; she'd never hurt anyone who didn't force her hand, but she can handle military hardware up to and including tanks.
  • Kaede Akamatsu is an All-Loving Hero whose sole desire is to break the killing game, but is the only protagonist to actually attempt murder even if she didn't succeed.
• In Echo, the lynx TJ is The Baby of the Bunch even as a young adult: friendly and easily excitable, religiously pious but open-minded and very sensitive. To give an idea of how much of an innocent cinnamon roll he is, most of his friends still avoid saying cuss words around him! However, he gets uncharacteristically determined and assertive on his route when he and the others embark on a posthumous treasure hunt organized by their late childhood friend Sydney ( as far as we know...), even dropping his one swear word in any route (it's a tame "ass", but still!) and when Carl is framed by Chase and it looks like the whole hunt was a prank by him, TJ goes feral, charges at the poor ram and claws at him, making him trip and break his leg! Of course, his uncharacteristic aggressiveness throughout the route makes sense once you find out why Sydney's final treasure hunt was so important for him.
• Far Beyond the World features more than one example, since in the political treachery and Darwinism of wolven tribes, even the nicest members need to know how to fend for themselves:
  • Ranok is the main reason the protagonist Caelan is even alive in the VN. He is kind, if a bit too easy-going for someone who's fated to lead the tribe, and plans to open up the tribe to better external relations with the other races once he's chief. However, he still has the temper of a beast if someone threatens his loved ones, has the brute strength to back it up and that huge sword he carries with him isn't just for show: ask the mercenaries he had to face in battle to save Regara...except you can't, since decapitated heads don't talk.
  • Verissa, the village shaman, isn't as outwardly friendly as Ranok, nor is she as inclined to smile. However, she is also the village healer as well as the kind of person to put everything on the line to save some random human she just met just because it's the right thing to do. Does this mean you can walk all over her? She's not afraid to threaten to beat Vulgor (the strongest and most vicious wolf in the tribe) over a sexist joke, so obviously you should not.
  • Cora may very well be the nicest character in the whole VN, as she always has a warm smile on her face, is eager to help, is great with kids and has a good sense of humour. The fact not even she can stand Elders Aldris and Dran says less about her and more about them. Still, it is shocking (In-Universe and out) to see the nicest girl in the village pull out a knife at them when they threaten Caelan. A wolf is a wolf, apparently!
• Hatoful Boyfriend: The gentle narcoleptic teacher Nanaki Kazuaki turns out to be Cute But Psycho in the "Bad Boys Love" route, as well as an identity thief who betrayed and murdered the original Kazuaki, as part of his plot to get revenge for his dead brother Nageki. During BBL, he pulls a gun on the characters, then tries to murder Ryouta for his liver. Possibly an inversion, since it seems the "kindly teacher" persona is a facade.
  • In the sequel Holiday Star we learn that the original Kazuaki is not immune... not since he became The King.
  • Yuuya is no slouch in the original game, either. Initially seen as a friendly, harmless, Chivalrous Pervert, he reveals in "Bad Boys Love" that he's perfectly willing to kill, he dismembered Hiyoko, and in his backstory, he crushed his half brother's egg in order to replace it with his full brother's, which is basically infanticide.
• The House in Fata Morgana: Although Georges can be insensitive and thoughtless, he's nevertheless almost always nice, affable and forgiving to those around him. Then when he found out his wife was poisoning him in a side-story in A Requiem for Innocence, he accepted his fate as he felt he was deserving of it... and returned the favor, feigning ignorance and murdered his wife in revenge using the paint he used in his final painting.
• Hanako Ikezawa from Katawa Shoujo is an extreme Shrinking Violet due to the physical and psychological trauma she's suffered in the past, but generally she's just as kind and polite as her best friend Lilly, and never looks like she could hurt a fly. Unless you reach her Bad Ending, in which case she grows tired of Hisao and Lilly whiteknighting her and snaps. It's one of the most terrifying scenes in the entire game... and it's even worse in the scrapped beta.
• Zachary is one of the friendliest characters in The Letter, but if he enters a relationship with Hannah, he won't hesitate to punch her husband Luke when Luke threatens the group with a knife in desperation.
• Sayuri from My Harem Heaven is Yandere Hell is sweet, motherly and helpful. However, when she goes Yandere, she's revealed to be violent, possessive, and delusional.
• Happens a lot with Nasuverse characters.
  • Tsukihime:
    • The ever happy Kohaku is completely insane.
    • Even Arcueid has her moments of this.
  • In Fate/stay night, the "Heaven's Feel" scenario branch culminates in shy and gentle Sakura finally snapping after several years of rape, pain and abuse... and metamorphosing into a soul-devouring threat.
    • On that note, Shirou Emiya. He's basically the nicest magecraft practitioner you'll ever met. His only inhuman characteristic is his compulsive need to save people. (in fact, he can only get pleasure from that particular act) However, by the end of each scenario, Shirou shows that just like most magecraft practitioner, he isn't averse to killing. Ask Kirei. Ask Gil-kun. Ask Saber Alter.
  • Ritsuka Fujimaru, the player character of Fate/Grand Order is a happy-go-lucky idealist fond of giant robot anime and just wants to be friends with everyone they meet. Any threat to humanity encountered by them is first offered peaceful resolution, and then mutual understanding and respect through battle. Refuse either, or do anything to hurt Mash, and Ritsuka will personally beat you to death, as they canonly did to Goetia (albeit with some help).
• Beware all the nice ones in Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. In particular, hurt either of the affable and helpfully sharp Brother–Sister Team of Snake and Clover and the other will rip you to a ragged pile of shreds on the spot; bumbling Big Guy Seven is a former highly successful Cowboy Cop detective and rescued the players of the first Nonary Game singlehandedly; soft-spoken, peaceful, cute-as-a-button Love Interest June is in fact Zero and the game's chessmaster; and even jokester everyman protagonist Junpei is quite an expert Guile Hero when he needs to be.
  • Taken to logical, if slightly terrifying extremes in the third game in the series Zero Time Dilemma. Akane, though still much smarter than she lets on, is no longer quite the all-knowing chessmaster of the first game. Having used Mental Time Travel to go back several decades, enacting the final part of her grand scheme to save the world means her no longer knowing everything that will happen in the game's timeline, causing her to be far more on edge than usual. As well as this, in the years spanning between the first and second game she realised that her life trying to obtain the greater good was quite miserable and lonely, and promises that after going back in time she will keep Childhood Sweetheart Junpei alive and happy. Despite keeping up a cute, Yamato Nadeshiko-esque act during the Decision Game, if Akane catches Carlos in the act of killing her now Living Emotional Crutch Junpei, or suspects him of doing so, she will either beat him to a horrifically ironic death with a fire extinguisher or turn off all the electricity in the bunker and attack him with a chainsaw. Beware the nice ones indeed.
• Princess Evangile: Masaya Okonogi, is established to be a pretty Nice Guy despite his hardships in life, and is willing to help and/or save complete strangers and people he only just met from harm. Threaten him, his friends, or loved ones in front of him, and he will make it a point to fight back, really hard. Just as the Yakuza goons...
• Accel in SC2VN is the nicest and most caring player that you meet. But when his coach blames him for his team's loss, he willfully abandons his team mid-contract, knowing full well how much drama this will cause.
• D-Man from Spirit Hunter: NG is very well-mannered and non-confrontational when he approaches Akira, especially considering that he's a spirit. However, he'll still kill Akira and cause a Game Over if the wrong answer is picked for Crisis Choice.
• Yo-Jin-Bo could arguably apply this trope to all the guys except Ittosai. However, special mention must be given to both Bo, the highly chivalrous Bishounen fond of kissing your hand, and Mon-Mon, the goofy monk. Bo cuts Nobumasa in half vertically and Mon-Mon punches through his chest and crushes his spine. Ouch.
• When Aeka told Antoinette to kill her in Yume Miru Kusuri to just get it over with and kill her already instead of needling her, it wasn't her being suicidal. It was a warning that if she keeps pushing her she's eventually simply going to snap. The route ends with Kouhei taking down the gang trying to rape Aeka single handed before he starts strangling Antoinette. Aeka tells him to stop... so that she can do it. They throttle her together until she shits herself at the verge of death, both unwilling to take more abuse from her and wanting to end it here.

Web Animation

• Cancer from AstroLOLogy is ordinarily sweet as can be, but at the drop of a hat becomes enraged and ready to take vengeance on anyone who wrongs her or her friends.
• Steve the Piranha Plant in The Movie of Bowser's Kingdom. After Hal insulted him one too many times, Steve told Bowser they had betrayed him, setting the events of the movie in action.
• Catbug is adorable, innocent and loves to play with anyone and everyone. He also shaved Danny's eyebrows (and possibly Chris' hair, too) upon acquiring an electric razor in "Browser Fail", and was revealed to have killed Jelly Kid upon their first meeting in "Jelly Kid Forever". (To be fair, he *is* part-cat, and happily justified his actions as being a present for Danny...like any cat would.)
  • Oh, and he's also an Evil Overlord in more than one Alternate Universe. Yet somehow still adorable.
• Shandala in Broken Saints. Can you say terrifying, kiddies?
• Yumeria in Card Players. There's obviously a reason she carries a gun everywhere she goes.
• Discussed in the Danplan video "By the way, Can You Survive MAFIA?". Stephen and Hosuh are the newcomers in town, and the killing only started when they arrived, so the townsfolk are suspicious of them. When the other townsfolk start to suspect Stephen for his creepy actions, Jamie pitches in his advice, which unfortunately turns out to be a case of Wrong Genre Savvy.

Shai: I think it's the newcomers. Especially that guy who keeps telling people they'd look nice dead.

Dan: Jamie, what do you think?

Jamie: It's always the new guy, but it's always the saner one.

Hosuh: Me?!

• In DEATH BATTLE!, between two combatants, if one of them is nice and the other pretty much isn't, the nice one usually ends up winning.
  • Rainbow Dash only attacks Starscream when he threatens to kill her, then delivers a thorough beating. Then, she eats his Spark!
  • Yoshi is described in the intro as a "cute, happy dinosaur". His fight with Riptor ends with him throwing the ferocious fighter over a cliff, after drenching the latter's face in his own acid.
    • This one is particularly notable as for most of the fight, Yoshi just stands there getting beat up.
  • Princess Peach, the somewhat ditsy, happy-go-lucky girl who can't take ten steps without getting kidnapped, kicks Zelda's face so hard her head explodes.
  • And then there's the loud-mouthed, fun-loving Spider-Man slingshot-kicking Batman's torso off.
  • Goku vs. Superman:
    • Goku vs. Superman is a battle between two incredibly friendly and kind, not to mention incredibly powerful beings. Goku is noted as being a family man outside his fights, and Superman is... well, Superman. Their clash results in the utter destruction of the Earth, and it's implied Superman was still holding back tremendously.
    • Round 2: Superman asks Goku to stand down, pointedly saying he'd rather they didn't destroy the Earth again. Goku won't, so Supes deep-fries his brain via heat vision. Yikes.
  • Yang Xiao Long is, Blood Knight tendencies aside, a laid-back teenage girl who's fond of puns and a joy to hang out with. She also brutally kills Tifa via Recoil Boosted Neck Snap after Tifa cut her head and worse rips a lock out of her prized blonde mane.
  • The Doctor not only attempts to de-escalate the situation after Rick Sanchez' space cruiser rear-ends the TARDIS, but actively tries to stay on the defensive the entire fight. As Rick finds out the hard way, the Doctor is capable of outsmarting him when pushed, first tricking Rick into getting attacked by Weeping Angels, and then using a portal Rick placed on his back to redirect a shot from the De-Mat gun that Rick was holding, erasing Rick from existence.
• Dreamscape: Ahjeen is an All-Loving Hero who wants to make friends with everybody, but like most characters of his type, harming his friends is a good way to piss him off.
• Etra chan saw it!: Yuri in certain episodes can snap if pushed too far. So can Katsura. Both can be pretty scary in their own ways when they snap.
• Flippy of Happy Tree Friends. Dear God. Flippy is arguably, the nicest character in the series, but he's also a former soldier who is so deeply broken by his experience that even the slightest hint of something that reminds him of war and/or violence causes him to turn into Fliqpy, an Omnicidal Maniac of a character whose only goal is to kill everyone else in the episode, usually in graphic and incredibly violent ways.
• Shao Kahn of Morty Kombat is a rare villainous example, with a very nice exterior, and a very mean, dark side.
• Trisha Cappelletti from The Most Popular Girls in School, is normally sweet, but if you hurt her friends, prepare for shit to go down. Poor Ashley Katchadourian and Shay van Buren learned this the hard way.
• Red vs. Blue:
  • Sheila is pretty nice and even-tempered, especially in comparison to the rest of the cast. She's also the installed AI in a tank.
  • Another AI example is Delta. Mostly emotionless, he's nonetheless shown subtle and very touching dedication to his partner York, even insisting on staying beside him into death. He's later revived, and partnered with South Dakota, who proceeds to try using him as bait to let herself escape. When South is captured, it's Delta that recommends that she not be given further opportunity for betrayals.
  • Caboose is another example. He starts out as an idiot and only gets dumber. However, he is by far the nicest member of the main cast; he cares more about making friends than fighting (unfortunately, when he does fight, generally he's a danger to his allies). However, when he works himself up into a fury, aside from launching into a series of nonsensical one-liners ("Your toast has been burnt and no amount of scraping will remove the black parts!"), he defeats two armies of flag-obsessed zealots. And later quite a number of Texbots all on his own. His nonsensical one-liners are actually helping him fight, because he's saying things that make him angry, prolonging his Unstoppable Rage. You Fight Like a Cow probably makes the slaughter easier for him.
  • Donut is one of the sweetest of the Blood Gulch Crew, flamboyant fruitiness aside. He also kills Tex with an expertly thrown grenade early in the series.
  • Doc is also a case while he's stuck with O'Malley. After spending most of Seasons 11 through 13 in an alternate dimension, he develops a split personality manifesting as O'Malley again. During their final stand against Charon soldiers he responds to Donut by saying "Aww, that's so sweet" followed swiftly by "Now let us strike fear into the hearts of our enemies!" and an evil laugh.
  • The flashback subplot in Seasons 9 and 10 shows that Washington was pretty meek for a Freelancer, contrasting with his later personality and actions.
  • Add North Dakota to the list as well. He's easily the nicest and friendliest of the Freelancers, to the point where he got the AI he did specifically because he has a nurturing personality and is the Team Mom. But he's still one of the top Freelancers, capable of mowing down an army of Mooks and expertly dual-wielding sniper rifles.
  • Agent Florida, despite his kind and joyful tone, is still a Freelancer. Season 14 shows that he was more than willing to choose sim trainers as Cannon Fodder and took exceptional glee when Sarge and another murdered all of the Red Team Leader candidates.
• Jaune Arc from RWBY might be ditzy, klutzy, and socially awkward, but even he has his limits. He's shown to have an explosive temper and it's not against teaching someone a lesson if he thinks they deserve it. He particularly dislikes people being jerks to his friends. Push his buttons, and he can get quite violent. Cinder Fall discovers this during the Battle of Haven when Jaune goes from cautiously defensive to accusing her of being broken inside and charging her to avenge Pyrrha Nikos. This shocks his companions and sets off the fight for everyone. This becomes an issue in later Volumes, as his rage can manifest in extremely cruel ways, such as him flying off into accusations against Oscar when he finds out the truth about Ozpin, or in the Ever After where, after decades of festering on his trauma, he ends up taking out his feelings of helplessness and anger out on an equally broken Ruby.
  • Ruby herself is the poster girl for this. She's just as socially awkward as Jaune and generally is a cheerful girl who cares deeply for her loved ones. However, it's also easy to forget that she's a highly skilled scythe wielder who carves her way through Grimm like a blender, and has a ruthless streak when something she cares for is threatened. It only takes her Uncle Qrow being poisoned for her to cut off the tail of his assailant, Tyrian in Volume 4. In Volume 6, she opens a firing shot against the Atlesian military leader Cordovin after the latter opposes them getting to Atlas with her Humongous Mecha, with a strong implication that if it weren't for the latter having a thick plate of glass in front of her, she would have been very dead.
• In Starshine Carly, Dave is a very nice stick figure, he help everyone in Dave Helps Everyone. But, when Apple Blossom and Paddy where fighting over a game of a staring contest, he completely snaps!
• Guardian: Derpy Hooves is usually depicted as kind and helpful, if a little ditzy at times. But this video shows her daughters in mortal peril during A Canterlot Wedding, Part 2, and she goes all Mama Bear with several attacking Changelings getting lethal-looking beatdowns.
• Minilife TV: Emery Rose is usually nice to everyone despite having no memories of her past, but in "The Rose", she lashes out at Monty for ruining Snowball's podcast and destroys Dry Ratzer for ruining her relaxation.
• Wolf Song: The Movie: Damien is often reserved and is a pretty reasonable father, but he is also a wolf and the leader of the pack, and unless a situation renders him unfit to do so, he will face off against any opponent who dare try to hurt anyone he cares about
  • ditto for his daughter Kara. She might be troubled at times but her heart is in the right place she is the pure of heart after all, but anyone who dare kill or cause harm to those she cares about, even if they do survive her fury, they won’t make it out without grievous injuries.

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