Basic Trope: A not-so-great person is, through the lens of history, remembered as a hero.
- Straight: Bob Editor was the charlatan and womanizer who was politically opposed to the views of Alice Troper. When Alice and Bob: The Motion Picture comes out, he's painted as a valiant, heroic figure who can do no wrong.
- Exaggerated: Bob was a terrible, Ax-Crazy person and regularly kicked puppies for amusement. However, the movie still paints him as a saintly figure.
- Downplayed:
- To be more historically accurate, the remake of the movie shows some of Bob's less moral actions but leaves out his worst excesses, so he's still a sympathetic character.
- Historical Bob was a decent person by all accounts, but the movie exaggerates all his best qualities and accomplishments.
- Historical Bob's contributions made the world a better place, but he was personally brusque, difficult, and often downright rude. The Motion Picture celebrates his achievements but portrays him as a Nice Guy, or at worst an entertaining Deadpan Snarker.
- Justified:
- A major plot point in the movie was that history as we know it today is inaccurate, and Bob Editor, someone whom we know today as a villain, was actually a hero whose enemies defamed him after his death.
- Some things Bob said and did in his life were viewed as right or at least normal during his lifetime, but would kick him straight into Designated Hero territory in the present day.
- Inverted:
- Historical Villain Upgrade
- Bob is a morally upstanding person who is turned into an Anti-Hero.
- Subverted: Bob turns out to be an Unreliable Narrator, and the story then portrays him closer to real life.
- Double Subverted: Except the next perspective character turns out to be just as unreliable.
- Parodied: Two townsfolk in the movie are talking about Bob. One of them rattles of a list of real-life atrocities that Bob committed. The other handwaves it away.
- Zig-Zagged: King Bob starts out doing his best to bring justice to the land. But to stop a nobles' conspiracy from removing him from the throne, he must take certain measures. Later he feels really bad about it and tries to make amends.
- Averted: Bob is portrayed as he actually was.
- Enforced:
- "I like the script, boys, but those moronic viewers can't handle subtle, nuanced characters. Just have Bob pet a few puppies and give him a handsome actor and that'll take care of things."
- The writers of Alice and Bob: The Motion Picture agreed with Bob's political views, so they'd naturally make him look good and her look bad.
- Lampshaded: "Didn't he really commit the Great Puppy-Kicking Atrocity of 1863?" "Oh, that's just crazy talk."
- Invoked: "Our new Obscuretribeist Liberation Movement needs a hero." "Yeah, but he sacked cities and tortured people." "Who cares? We don't have to stress that part, do we?"
- Exploited: Propagandists whitewash history to make the founder of their ruling party, Bob, appear near-mythical. His mass murders are either outright denied or painted as heroic.
- Defied: The writers decide to research the characters and portray him accurately.
- Discussed: "For someone who coined the term 'Maximum Leader', Bob was a pretty progressive guy. Or at least this new biography says so."
- Conversed: "This movie is bull! Bob didn't like mustelids! My grandmother told me stories about how Bob's armies destroyed her uncle's weasel farm! Stupid Paraversal Pictures!"
- Deconstructed: Despite Bob's heroic efforts, he ultimately fails and becomes regarded as a villain.
- Reconstructed: Bob is seen as a villain due to him willingly sacrificing his good name for the greater good.
- Played for Laughs: Bob is depicted as a humorously heroic buffoon when he was an evil Chessmaster.
- Untwisted: Bob seems to be as hated as the historical figure, only for him to be revealed to be a Hero with Bad Publicity who is wrongly despised by the public.
George Armstrong Custer is leading the charge back to the Historical Hero Upgrade page.
