Basic Trope: A character has a personal stake in the main conflict or against the villain, rather than just being in it for the money or simply being an Ideal Hero.
- Straight: Villious McVillain killed Bob's parents and now he seeks revenge.
- Exaggerated: Villious McVillain brutally slaughtered Bob's family, his extended family and all of his good friends at work. Now Bob will not stop until he takes down Villious McVillain and everyone associated with him.
- Downplayed: Villious was a school bully who sometimes beat Bob up and took his lunch money and now Bob's determined to at least get one over on him.
- Justified: Bob's not the type who will go after the villain for money or simply because he's a hero. He has to have a personal reason in order to get involved.
- Inverted: Nothing Personal... just business.
- Subverted:
- Villious McVillain never did anything to Bob or his family; turns out Bob was mistakenly fed the line that this was the case.
- Bob has every reason to hold a personal grudge, but the reasons he gives for hunting Villious are impersonal.
- Double Subverted:
- ...but now that Bob's gone after him, Villious has made it personal, leading to a Cycle of Revenge.
- Those are just the reasons he gives; he's still very much personally invested in this fight.
- Parodied: Villious McVillain ate Bob’s sandwich. Now Bob will stop at nothing to get even.
- Zig Zagged: Bob sometimes fights evil because it's the right thing to do, but also engages in some personal fights.
- Averted: Villious McVillain is always very careful to never give anyone a reason to have a personal grudge against him.
- Enforced: The ratings are dropping and the creators think it might be because the conflicts on the show are too impersonal. Time to give the characters a personal stake in the action to up the drama.
- Lampshaded: "Hello. My name is Bob. You Killed My Father. Prepare to Die."
- Invoked: Villious is Yearning for a Nemesis, and he deliberately antagonizes Bob to convince him to fight him.
- Implied: Villious tells Bob "Nothing Personal" as they get ready to fight. It just makes Bob (more) mad.
- Exploited: Adding a personal element is the next step as part of Villious's Xanatos Gambit to ensure his plans succeed.
- Defied: No matter how much he want might want to feel the anger and rage, Bob tamps down his feelings and only fights Villious because he knows it's the right thing to do, not because of the personal drama he keeps throwing at him.
- Discussed: "Alright, Villious! This time it's personal. I Am Your Opponent!" "Fine, come at me, Bob! You Have No Chance to Survive!"
- Conversed: "Hey, Alice, why is it that these villains feel the need to make things personal? Don't they know that it only gives their enemy more motivation?" "Yeah, Joe, but there are some who just get off on those mind games."
- Played For Laughs: Bob routinely scraps fights over created personal slights over things that can't actually be personal - like holding against a grudge against a dog who barks too much or a tree that keeps blocking his light.
- Played For Drama: Villious really makes Bob more pissed when he doesn't seems to understand that hurting his family, poisoning his dog and burning his home to the ground is gonna be seen as personal no matter how pragmatic the reasons to perform such cruelty.
- Played For Horror: Bob justifies the events being personal to do even more horrible things than normal. If it wasn't personal, he wouldn't be cutting Vilious' skin off with a rusty knife, you see.
- Implied: Bob seems to get particularly angry when fighting Villious for unexplained reasons.
- Deconstructed: Bob can't keep in control of his feelings when fighting Villious, leading him to make bad decisions.
- Reconstructed: Bob channels his anger into planning, meaning he always has a rational course of action to deal with Villious.
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