Basic Trope: The antagonist of a work is a sympathetic police officer trying to capture the law-breaking criminal protagonist.
- Straight: Inspector Green chases after Gentleman Thief Ted for his thievery while remaining good-natured.
- Exaggerated:
- Ted is a mass-murdering child killer and Green is the nicest guy on the planet.
- Inspector Green is the most affable version of an Inspector Javert that you've ever seen. Ted (he who is standing in for Valjean) may be in the right when he cries that law is strict and unfair and gives men a cruel hand to play when they get out, but the plot also showcases him as a colossal jackass that would have deserved jail time anyway (and still does)--he just happened to be sentenced for a really stupid reason.
- Downplayed: While Green has his moments of chivalry, he decides to Kick the Dog on numerous occasions, making him a firm Anti-Villain.
- Justified: Green believes in upholding the judaical system and will not bring himself to Ted's level.
- Inverted:
- Green is a Villain Protagonist working for an Orwellian Government chasing down Ted for Thought Crime.
- The villain is a somewhat-sympathetic criminal hunted by the cop protagonist.
- Subverted:
- When Green captures Ted, he unleashes some Cold-Blooded Torture on him.
- Green realizes that Ted is actually the good guy and teams up with him.
- Double Subverted:
- ...But it turns out that Green was under the orders of a superior and comes to regret his actions, eventually helping Ted.
- Green only teams up with him to take out a worse threat. After that, it's back to the Stern Chase.
- Parodied: Green is so nice he changes Ted's car tire for him, allowing him to escape.
- Zig Zagged: Green is a nice guy... until he captures Ted, at which point he tries to kill him. However, it turns out that Ted is actually a war criminal who killed his family. However, even when Ted proves that it's a case of mistaken identity, Green still tries to kill him, until he finally realizes Ted is innocent.
- Averted: There is no inspector antagonist.
- Enforced: Green's boss, Inspector Pink, is an even nicer guy who fires anybody who engages in police brutality.
- Lampshaded: "It'd be so much easier to kill him if he wasn't such a Nice Guy!"
- Invoked: Green is selected to hunt Ted thanks to his benevolence, which would prevent him from going to extreme action.
- Exploited: Ted takes advantage of Green's idealism and uses a hostage to escape.
- Defied: Ted is a violent criminal that doesn't takes prisoners, so Green decides he needs to be just as, if not more, brutal to have a chance of catching him.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "The police officer is the nicest guy on the show."
- Implied: A car crash that could endanger lives draws Green's attention away from Ted.
- Deconstructed: Green proves to be too idealistic and naive against Ted, and his refusal to risk his moral code results in Ted escaping into the neighboring state.
- Reconstructed: However, the neighboring state's inspector, Inspector Tangerine, proves to be so brutal that Ted hands himself in to Green just to avoid Tangerine's retribution, and Green's chivalry wins him the support of the people and decreases tensions between the police and civilians, while Tangerine provokes riots and deaths.
- Good Is Not Nice nor is it Dumb. Green's failures help him realize this, and when Ted returns to his old haunts he finds himself unprepared for the nice guy with A Level In Badass.
Back to Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist
