Basic Trope: A character joins the side of good while still keeping his villainous traits.
- Straight: Dracone, who initially serves as The Dragon to Emperor Evulz, defects to the good guys, but remains a ruthless and implacable Blood Knight who doesn't hesitate to eliminate anyone that stands in his way.
- Exaggerated: Dracone transitioned from a sadistic villain who daily crosses the Moral Event Horizon to a sadistic hero who delights in torturing and murdering villains in cold blood. All things considered, he's way worse than the people he kills, but at least he fights for the "right" side.
- Downplayed:
- Dracone was a Jerkass, but graduates into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Dracone goes from a vicious Anti-Hero to a Good Is Not Nice hero.
- Justified:
- Dracone is just inherently violent and got bored of serving Emperor Evulz.
- Dracone doesn't see eye to eye with the heroes, especially Bob whom he has a grudge against, but he only joined them because they share the same goals.
- Dracone doesn't agree with the heroes' moral standards, but it's not like he had a choice.
- Dracone isn't completely sorry for the actions he has caused and the cold treatment from the heroes makes it impossible for him to be that way.
- Dracone previously had a Face–Heel Turn, but when he returns to the side of good, the effects of being evil remains.
- Dracone had a Freudian Excuse which he barely has gotten over it.
- Joining the heroes did not change Dracone's personality. He's still very unpleasant to be around.
- Dracone is someone with severe and genuine mental problems. He hates that he does, but he can't always overcome them.
- Inverted:
- Dracone joins the side of evil, but retains some of his heroic qualities.
- Dracone has always been ruthless, but he becomes more ruthless once he aligns with the good guys.
- Dracone goes from hero to villain while still retaining his brutal and callous personality.
- Dracone appears to be mellowed out and on the heroes side. However he is still evil but working through subtler means.
- Subverted:
- Dracone still behaves like a villain, but after being around with Alice, he becomes more nicer and completely tamed.
- Dracone still behaves like a villain because he still is a villain; he's just really bad at hiding it.
- Dracone's didn't reform. He pretended to change sides to serve as Evulz's mole for the Heroes. He has a hard time changing his behavior, so he gives off the impression to get away with them without getting the heroes suspicious.
- Double Subverted: ...but eventually, he sees Bob and other members and picks a fight with them for no reason. Other than that, he's still does good to others.
- Parodied: Dracone was a school bully who gives every classmate painful wedgies. When he turned good, he still gives his newfound friends wedgies while showing respect for adults.
- Zig Zagged: Dracone remains a vicious individual while changing his alignment, but Alice's sweet-nature made him a gentle human being, that's until his Berserk Button was unintentionally pressed by one of his teammates, so he returns to his ruthless nature until the others calm him down. He barely calms down while others suggest that he should take anger management classes.
- Averted:
- Dracone joins the side of good with no villainous traits in sight.
- Dracone remains an unrepentant villain.
- Enforced: Dracone is a huge Ensemble Dark Horse because of his darker traits, so when sending him over to the good guys, dropping them isn't an option.
- Lampshaded: "I may be on your side now, but don't think I'll lose my edge!"
- Invoked: The protagonists can see the use of having a Token Evil Teammate to threaten people with, and so consciously don't go out of their way to do anything but point Dracone in the direction of people who need to be destroyed.
- Exploited: A Manipulative Bastard villain takes advantage of Dracone's viciousness to paint the rest of his teams in a darker light.
- Defied:
- Dracone, who has a case of Blue-and-Orange Morality, states that he really is reformed. This is how he shows it.
- Dracone decides not to join the heroes if his behavior remains the same, so he stays true to himself as a villain.
- "You really don't wanna know what we're going to do to you if you keep acting evil."
- Discussed: "I guess not all people can turn over a new leaf that easily."
- Conversed: "I thought this guy was a changed man. Why does the writer make him continue killing people?"
- Implied: Dracone is a brutal Anti-Hero who Emperor Evulz seems strangely familiar with.
- Deconstructed:
- Dracone's habitually violent nature become gradually worse as he delights in killing not only criminals, but also innocents. This proves that he's worse than what he previously was when he worked with Emperor Evulz'. The heroes expel him from the team, knowing that they can't completely tame his unstable behavior.
- Dracone does not need to be directly aligned with the villains in order to be a negative or outright corruptive influence in peoples' lives. His bloodthirsty and cruel nature drives innocents around him over the edge as they prioritize their grudges against him over helping the heroes' quest, and the heroes themselves suffer in reputation for enabling him.
- Reconstructed: Dracone realizes that he's gone too far, and for the first time in his life, he made a genuine Heel–Face Turn. Although he still has his flaws, Dracone will try his hardest to morally improve himself for the betterment of others, channeling his violent tendencies into righteous and/or constructive activities. (ie. Inflicting violent retribution only upon truly irredeemable threads, and/or using his anger to create artwork inspired by his intense emotion)
- Played For Laughs: The "reformed" Dracone acts exactly the same, robbing, killing civilians, and ding dong ditching - only his costume changes from black and red to blue and white.. Everyone insists that things are so much better.
- Played For Drama: Dracone worries he might slip back into evil.
- Played for Horror: Dracone becomes the team's Psycho Sidekick, believing that as long as he's doing it for "good" then it's okay for him to remain a monster.
Back to Reformed, but Not Tamed
