Basic Trope: A villain applauds a hero for an unheroic action, either mockingly or genuinely impressed, which makes the hero mortified and ashamed.
- Straight: Griever applauds Derek for leaving his friends behind on his quest. Derek feels instant shame.
- Exaggerated:
- Griever applauds Derek for accidentally causing a nuclear war, killing the president of The United States, and uploading porn into a planetwide network. Derek is immediately devastated by utter shame.
- Griever welcomes Derek into the Litterbug Society of America. In his shame at this Derek runs off and joins the Foreign Legion.
- Downplayed:
- Griever applauds Derek for being short with his friends in a tense moment. Derek says sorry to them later.
- Ruthless Pragmatic Hero Griever applauds The Cape Derek for roughing up a criminal; Derek makes sure not to do it again.
- Griever applauds Derek for a deed that's neither villainous nor heroic, but for whatever reason the act goes against Derek's personal code and he feels shameful because of it.
- Justified:
- Griever knows Derek's allies are the most valuable resource to him and without their support, he can destroy him completely in no time.
- Derek used to be a Villain Cred-laden villain himself before his Heel–Face Turn. Griever hasn't gotten the memo that they're no longer on the same team, and is complimenting Derek in earnest on a crime that Derek now regrets, but would have boasted about himself two months earlier.
- Griever thinks Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad and thus is excited to see potential in Derek.
- Derek realizes he is like Griever, and doesn't like behaving like him.
- When the murderous, conniving maniac who conquered the planet by slaughtering half of it says that your actions remind him of his, you have to accept you did something awful.
- Inverted:
- Derek praises Griever for an unintended good deed, which makes Griever shiver in shame.
- Griever applauds Derek for leaving his friends behind on his quest. Derek agrees it was the right thing.
- During an Enemy Mine situation Griever gets into an argument with Captain Righteous about the best way to defeat Emperor Evulz. Captain Righteous is horrified to realize that he fully agrees with Griever's position.
- Griever criticizes Derek for doing something good, and Derek thanks him.
- Griever is utterly disgusted with Derek for abandoning his friends and gives him What The Hell Hero Speech.
- Subverted:
- Griever praises Derek for a bad deed, and Darek pretends to be appalled. In truth, he isn't ashamed in the least.
- "Abandoning" his allies was a ruse to put Griever off guard, and Derek's shame is faked.
- Derek's actions had a perfectly valid reason. Griever is just forced to admit that Hero Has A Point.
- Double Subverted:
- At least at first—he cracks after a moment.
- Griever knows about Derek's ruse and has deceived his allies into thinking Derek really did abandon them which horrifies Derek at how his ruse as Gone Horribly Right.
- Parodied: Griever applauds Derek for peeping into a woman's bathroom.
- Zig Zagged: Griever applauds Derek for leaving his friends behind on his quest. Derek agrees it was the right thing. However, leaving his allies behind was a ruse that Derek and Alex came up with together, but Griever knows all about it. Just when Derek's allies are meant to show up, they don't, and now Derek feels abandoned. Then just as Griever's got him convinced that he really did let them down, Alex bursts in with reinforcements.
- Averted:
- Griever never brings it up.
- Derek just chooses to casually go on like he didn't hear what Griever said.
- Enforced:
- In an earlier episode, Derek did something that got the Moral Guardians' backs up, so the producers insist that Griever calls him out on it so Derek can express shame.
- Lampshaded:Derek: "I hate it when the bad guy approves of something I did."
- Invoked:
- Griever attempts to trick Derek into doing something he's sure the latter will be ashamed of to get the pesky hero off his back.
- Griever seeks out discriminating or discrediting information about Derek.
- Griever is appalled at what Derek has done, but fakes approval, knowing that Derek would misconstrue his appalment as meaning that he did good.
- Exploited:
- Griever wants Derek to let his guard down for a split second, so he taunts him with the information he's learned.
- Griever praises Derek whenever he makes some tough decision, in hopes that shame will push him into the Stupid Good teritory.
- Defied:
- Refusing to give in to shame, Derek says, "You're right and I thank you for telling how I can do better. Unfortunately that doesn't prevent me from stopping you."
- Before Griever has time to fling rhetoric at Derek, the latter calmly states he's aware of what he's done and that he simply had higher priorities at the moment.
- Discussed:Alex: "He'll be back. Griever will applaud him for leaving us behind, and he'll be ashamed of himself."
Betty: "Then we shall commence the Group Hug!" - Conversed:Alice and Bob are watching Derek and company on the Show Within a Show.
Alice: "Doesn't he realize what a jerk he's being?"
Bob: "Don't worry, he'll figure it out when the bad guy congratulates him."
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