Basic Trope: The Mole starts to like the surroundings he's infiltrated.
- Straight: Melvin infiltrates the Five-Man Band and pretends to join them. During his time with them, he starts to legitimately enjoy their company and the way they do things.
- Exaggerated:
- Melvin pretends to join the Five-Man Band and immediately starts enjoying their company.
- Melvin is the Big Bad.
- Melvin goes from near-Complete Monster to an Ideal Hero the moment he decides to infliltrate the Five-Man Band
- Downplayed: Melvin infiltrates the Five-Man Band to betray them, but decides they don't deserve it and just leaves instead.
- Justified:
- Melvin really didn't like his life beforehand. The good guys show him that life is worth living.
- Alternately, Melvin genuinely wanted to join the good guys to begin with, and his job as The Mole was just an excuse to get out from under his evil employers.
- Melvin was a Well-Intentioned Extremist who truly believed in the villains' cause. The Five-Man Band has proven him wrong.
- Melvin finds he just enjoys being around the Five-Man Band and doing what they do more than being with the villains.
- Inverted: Melvin questions himself and is on the verge of doing a Heel–Face Turn, but after infiltrating the Five-Man Band and hating them he realises that he was right all along and becomes much more comfortable with his betrayal.
- Subverted: Melvin didn't really start to enjoy things...his act was so complete that he was even able to fake a growing sense of camaraderie with his victims.
- Double Subverted: At least, that's the excuse he gives when he has to go through with his betrayal...
- Parodied:
- The Five-Man Band makes Melvin do all their laundry and cleaning, and treat him with barely-disguised contempt, he still insists he loves it.
- ... Because hey, it's still better than how he was being treated before.
- Zig Zagged: There are certain aspects of that life Melvin missed, but overall, he doesn't seem too broken up about it.
- Averted:
- Melvin keeps his distance while with the Five-Man Band.
- Melvin's is devoted enough to Emperor Evulz that anytime the Five-Man Band talks badly about him, he is secretly offended and doubles down on his mission to destroy them, no matter how nice they are to him personally.
- Enforced: "Alright, let's have the bad guy who's infiltrating the good guys start to like their way of life!"
- Lampshaded: "You know, I could get used to this." "What was that?" "I said...I should...let you do this!"
- Invoked: When Rachel, herself a mole in the villain organisation, finds herself in a position to hand out assignments to Melvin, she sends him to infiltrate the Five-Man Band because she believes they can convert him to their side.
- Exploited: When Melvin confesses, Henry convinces him to pretend to be still working for the enemy in order to feed them faulty intelligence.
- Defied: "They may seem like nice people, but they're still my enemies. My mission remains unchanged."
- Discussed: "Your true face... What kind of... face is it? I wonder... The face under the mask... Is that... your true face?"
- Conversed: "That show was so sad, how that Melvin guy betrayed the team!"
- Implied: While Melvin is still a Mole, you can start to see him pick up some of the characteristics of the Five-Man Band.
- Deconstructed:
- Melvin is forced to go through with his betrayal. Since he had started legitimately enjoying their companionship, this tears him up inside.
- Melvin starts suffering from a severe identity crisis as he begins to question who is the real him.
- Melvin felt bitter over the fact he will one day have to leave the band any time soon and wished he could have turned his life around for the better earlier.
- Reconstructed:
- Melvin decides to make a Heel–Face Turn and becomes the Sixth Ranger.
- Melvin decides that there is no "real him", and strives in being his own person, culminating in his Heel–Face Turn.
- Played For Laughs: Melvin goes in as The Mole to take out the Five-Man Band from the inside. One party later, and he had so much fun, even his bosses want to join the Five-Man Band.
Go back to Becoming the Mask, but make sure not to grow too attached...
