History FreudianExcuse / WesternAnimation

->'''Cheryl''': ''[[ThisExplainsSoMuch Kind of a lot, actually]].''

** Other components to his backstory: he had to wear hand-me-''up'' girls' clothing, his mother loved his brother more than him, his father replaced him with a dog named [[IHaveNoSon "Only Son"]], his only friend (a painted balloon) flew away, his artistic masterpiece was destroyed, his girlfriend left him for a whale, and he was raised by ocelots. Yes, ''all of that''.
** In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension'', Doof-2's ''only'' reason he's evil(er) than the original Doof is he lost a toy train once. Doof-1 deconstructs this because he suffered a much more miserable life, yet he turned out less successful. [[spoiler: Once Doof-1 gives Doof-2 the train, Doof-2 decides to stop being evil.]]

** Dan Phantom or Dark Danny, the evil future version of the show's protagonist, is an example of this as well. All of his loved ones (his mom and dad, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam) along with Mr. Lancer were killed in an explosion at the Nasty Burger. Grief stricken, Danny moves in with Vlad, who sympathizes with him. Eventually, Danny can't take the pain anymore, and wants his human emotions removed. Vlad does so, separating Danny's human half and ghost half. Unfortunately, Danny's ghost half decides to separate Vlad's two halves, then fuse with it. The combination became Dan, and he proceeded to go on a rampage, starting by killing his former human half.

** [[FatBastard Cartman]] has a plausible one: [[DisappearedDad he has never had a dad]], his "[[WithFriendsLikeThese friends]]" [[YouAreFat bullied him nonstop about his obesity]], and his mother Liane is a whore who spoils her son to fill the void of not having any real friends. When she starts to discipline Cartman, he shapes up. [[StatusQuoIsGod But it doesn't (usually) last.]]

** In Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E2SkatersCircle Skater's Circle]]" In the song "Make 'Em Pay", Bitsy expresses how she came from an abusive family, as well as not being popular with the other children in her youth.

** The villainous Prince Zuko was raised in a nightmarish, back-stabbing court where his sister was always more successful and favored, his once-renowned war hero uncle breaks down after losing his son in battle only to later lose his place on the throne, his [[MysteriousParent mother]] [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar killed his grandfather the night she disappeared]] in order to keep her husband from killing Zuko, and his [[WellDoneSonGuy father]] not only publicly ridiculed him when giving him his trademark [[GoodScarsEvilScars scar]] and banishment from home, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking but is voiced by Mark Hamill]]. Let the ''Franchise/StarWars'' parallels begin! (Even his voice actor couldn't deny it.) And the key motivation of the outburst that got him burned and banished was [[TheMenFirst caring about the common soldiers]] of his father's army and being morally offended by a [[{{Jerkass}} general]] calling new recruits [[WeHaveReserves fresh meat]]. Show traits that could lead you to be a caring leader someday, experience agonizing pain and lose everything you have. Is there such a thing as a Skinnerian Excuse?

** Played straighter with Peter, that not only that his mother is negligent but his adoptive father was abusive towards him. His sister Karen always abused and picked on him really bad to the point that years later, Peter take his pain out on his only daughter Meg. The worst thing is that Peter's parents didn't do anything to stop Karen from picking on him.

** Even ''[[RealityWarper Discord]]'' has one. Turns out the guy has never had a single friend in his entire life, so he fails to understand the value and even ''[[EvilCannotComprehendGood concept]]'' of friendship and thinks of others as little more than playthings for his own amusement. It's the realization that acting that way will cost him the only friend he's ever had [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn that makes him promise to use his magic only for good.]] [[ReformedButNotTamed Mostly.]] We also found out in Discordant Harmony that he will disappear if he's no longer chaotic.]]

** Parodied with Doctor Psycho himself. When he was a kid, he always wanted to ride the Ferris wheel but he was too short and his mother told him to be patient and he'll big enough next time. As time goes on, [[DepravedDwarf he still hasn't grown big enough to ride the Ferris wheel]]. Then one day, the Ferris wheel collapses with people still on it and he felt satisfied watching all those people die and it was on that day he decided to hate women. [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse It makes no sense and even Darkseid isn't sure how those two things are supposed to connect]]

** Even ''[[RealityWarper Discord]]'' has one. Turns out the guy has never had a single friend in his entire life, so he fails to understand the value and even ''[[EvilCannotComprehendGood concept]]'' of friendship and thinks of others as little more than playthings for his own amusement. It's the realization that acting that way will cost him the only friend he's ever had [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn that makes him promise to use his magic only for good.]] [[ReformedButNotTamed Mostly.]]]] [[We also found out in Discordant Harmony that he will disappear if he's no longer chaotic.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': Princess Morbucks reason to becoming evil is because The Powerpuff Girls didn't let her become a powerpuff girl. She attempts to pass this off as some kind of villain tragedy, despite the fact that she was rude and insensitive towards everyone before that, and only acted nice towards the Powerpuff Girls so that she could get her way (they noted this and didn't let her join because of her stuck-up attitude). On a more serious note, a case can be made that part of her bad attitude stems from the fact that her parents (her father in particular) don't really seem to care to raise her properly, showering her with money instead and spoiling her rotten.

** Even ''[[RealityWarper Discord]]'' has one. Turns out the guy has never had a single friend in his entire life, so he fails to understand the value and even ''[[EvilCannotComprehendGood concept]]'' of friendship and thinks of others as little more than playthings for his own amusement. It's the realization that acting that way will cost him the only friend he's ever had [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn that makes him promise to use his magic only for good.]] [[ReformedButNotTamed Mostly.]]]]

** Even ''[[RealityWarper Discord]]'' has one. Turns out the guy has never had a single friend in his entire life, so he fails to understand the value and even ''[[EvilCannotComprehendGood concept]]'' of friendship and thinks of others as little more than playthings for his own amusement. It's the realization that acting that way will cost him the only friend he's ever had [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn that makes him promise to use his magic only for good.]] [[ReformedButNotTamed Mostly.]]]]
** Then, there's Starlight Glimmer. The creation of "Our Town" and getting the ponies there to surrender their Cutie Marks to be "equal" was because [[spoiler:as a filly, her best friend Sunburst gained his Cutie Mark, then disappeared for Celestia's school. Because of this, she feared of making any other friends because another Cutie Mark or even another ''difference'' could cause it to be ruined.]]
** The aforementioned Diamond Tiara turns out to have her own issues leading to her being such a jerk. The big one is Spoiled Rich, her [[AbusiveParents unloving, unforgiving tyrant of a mother.]]

* Taken UpToEleven in an episode of WesternAnimation/{{Stripperella}} with the villain Dr. Cesarian who was targeting supermodels.

* The ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'' episode "The Pupple's Court" has Miss Stiffwhiskers try to get Lucky in trouble by taking him to court over matching dogs with their owners without following proper procedure, lying that he was completely unhelpful in assisting her in finding Pugford's perfect person and that he was generally an apathetic slacker. It later turns out that the reason Miss Stiffwhiskers is doing this is because she resents Lucky for failing to match her with her perfect person when she was a puppy.
* WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse has Lynn receiving one in the episode "Middle Men" after [[NiceJobBreakingItHero her advice that Lincoln and Clyde should be as aggressive as possible on their first day of middle school backfires HARD]]. Turns out [[KidsAreCruel her first day of middle school was absolute hell]] and she had to develop the aggressive personality she's infamous for just to survive and despite her desire to turn off "school survival mode", she can't.

** [[MilesGloriosus Trixie]] was revealed to have had her life ruined by the Ursa Minor incident, which left her a laughingstock throughout Equestria and demolished her career (yes, she was a jerk guilty of false advertising, but this is a universe where one can normally WinBackTheCrowd). This drives her to take her {{Revenge}} on those she deems responsible for her suffering (Ponyville, Twilight in particular) and get [[ArtifactOfDoom the Alicorn Amulet]]. [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity It]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds gets]] [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide worse]] [[FromNobodyToNightmare from]] [[EvilIsNotAToy there.]] [[spoiler:After it's removed, [[HeelFaceTurn she regains her sanity and apologizes, leaving on good terms with Twilight.]]]]

** [[ImpliedTrope Implied]] in the comic "Operation F.O.R.G.E.T.". After Numbuh Eighty Six/Fanny Fulbright accidentally gets decommissioned, she's shown to be a boy-loving maniac. This hints that her StrawFeminist attitude was caused by a particular NoodleIncident.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Apple Bloom's cousin [[TheBully Babs Seed]] was apparently bullied herself, and only became a bully to avoid ridicule from [[AlphaBitch Diamond Tiara]] and [[BetaBitch Silver Spoon]]. Luckily, she [[HeelRealization realized that]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters she's no]] [[NotSoDifferent different]] from the bullies from Manehattan, and [[HeelFaceTurn stopped.]]
** [[MilesGloriosus Trixie]] was revealed to have had her life ruined by the Ursa Minor incident, which left her a laughingstock throughout Equestria and demolished her career (yes, she was a jerk guilty of false advertising, but this is a universe where one can normally WinBackTheCrowd). This drives her to take her {{Revenge}} on those she deems responsible for her suffering (Ponyville, Twilight in particular) and get [[ArtifactOfDoom the Alicorn Amulet]]. [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity It]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds gets]] [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide worse]] [[FromNobodyToNightmare from]] [[EvilIsNotAToy there.]] [[spoiler:After it's removed, [[HeelFaceTurn she regains her sanity and apologizes, leaving on good terms with Twilight.]]]]
** Even ''[[RealityWarper Discord]]'' has one. Turns out the guy has never had a single friend in his entire life, so he fails to understand the value and even ''[[EvilCannotComprehendGood concept]]'' of friendship and thinks of others as little more than playthings for his own amusement. It's the realization that acting that way will cost him the only friend he's ever had [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn that makes him promise to use his magic only for good.]] [[ReformedButNotTamed Mostly.]]]]
** Then, there's Starlight Glimmer. The creation of "Our Town" and getting the ponies there to surrender their Cutie Marks to be "equal" was because [[spoiler:as a filly, her best friend Sunburst gained his Cutie Mark, then disappeared for Celestia's school. Because of this, she feared of making any other friends because another Cutie Mark or even another ''difference'' could cause it to be ruined.]]
** The aforementioned Diamond Tiara turns out to have her own issues leading to her being such a jerk. The big one is Spoiled Rich, her [[AbusiveParents unloving, unforgiving tyrant of a mother.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Roger reveals that the reason he's such as selfish {{Jerkass}} is because it would literally kill his people to be nice: if they don't "let their bitchiness out" on a regular basis, it will turn into bile and poison them to death. Despite this, the Smith family does not seem to believe him on this as at that time, they were trying to reform him and to add insult to injury, Roger still gets chewed out for his behavior even though such behavior is necessary for him to survive. Of course, this still doesn't absolve Roger of the numerous crimes and atrocities he's committed. There's a fine line between being rude and bitchy and being an amoral sociopath, and Roger's crossed that line numerous times. His "Ricky Spanish" persona alone has done such things as defecating in the chest of a person undergoing open heart surgery to stabbing Avery Bullock's wife to death, all ForTheEvulz
*** Roger develops another one of these excuses when he finds out that he was sent to Earth as a crash test dummy, which devastates him for a month. It turns out that his own race lied to him about why he was being sent to Earth by telling him that he was "The Decider" and that he was to decide the fate of Earth. It's unknown why Roger deserved any of this but it's implied in a later episode that Emperor Zing did this to Roger in revenge for having an affair.
** Stan Smith is frequently {{abusive|Dad}} towards his son Steve, in hopes of toughening him up because of his own history as an unpopular kid, and in "Bully for Steve", a victim of a cruel bully himself. It's also revealed that part of the reason he does such a terrible job helping his son through any ComingOfAge moments is that his own father was never there to do it for him so he literally has no idea how to handle it. He also had to deal with his mother's antics during his childhood as well
*** The last one isn't so much of a FreudianExcuse as it is Stan's own ignorance

* The Ice King from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has one revealed for all of his obsessive princess-kidnapping in the episode "Holly Jolly Secrets". [[spoiler: He obsessively kidnaps princesses in order to replace the "princess" he lost to his sanity degraded by an ArtifactOfDoom, his fiancée Betty, when he used to live in the pre-apocalypse world as Simon Petrikov.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' shows that the villainous Prince Zuko was raised in a nightmarish, back-stabbing court where his sister was always more successful and favored, his once-renowned war hero uncle breaks down after losing his son in battle only to later lose his place on the throne, his [[MysteriousParent mother]] [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar killed his grandfather the night she disappeared]] in order to keep her husband from killing Zuko, and his [[WellDoneSonGuy father]] not only publicly ridiculed him when giving him his trademark [[GoodScarsEvilScars scar]] and banishment from home, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking but is voiced by Mark Hamill]]. Let the ''Franchise/StarWars'' parallels begin! (Even his voice actor couldn't deny it.)
** And the key motivation of the outburst that got him burned and banished was [[TheMenFirst caring about the common soldiers]] of his father's army and being morally offended by a [[{{Jerkass}} general]] calling new recruits [[WeHaveReserves fresh meat]]. Show traits that could lead you to be a caring leader someday, experience agonizing pain and lose everything you have. Is there such a thing as a Skinnerian Excuse?

---> '''Azula''': "My own mother... thought I was a monster." [perks up] "She was right, of course, but it still hurt!"

** In SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[BigBad Amon's]] [[UnreliableNarrator Alleged]] BackStory is one of these. According to him, he was once a simple FarmBoy in a family of non-benders who were bullied and extorted by local firebending criminals, who killed his parents and permanently burned Amon's face after his father tried to stand up to the firebenders.
*** Then there's [[spoiler:Hiroshi Sato, whose wife was murdered by a firebender. He truly believes that the world would be better off without benders and therefore follows Amon.]]
*** [[spoiler:Amon is revealed to be lying. However, he and his brother, Tarrlock, still have a genuine one, having been raised by a crazed father who sought to use them as {{Tykebomb}}s against the city that once imprisoned him.]]

* Clay of ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' had a very complex abusive relationship with his father after he [[spoiler: accidentally killed his mother]], and he's only an alcoholic in a failing marriage because [[spoiler: Bloberta convinced the once-sober Clay to get drunk and tricked him into marriage]]. After watching these events unfold, it's actually quite difficult to blame Clay for much of his behavior.

** All of Vlad's evil tendencies were blamed on the pivotal portal experiment in college. But in spite of disfiguring his face, the positives started to pile up after a while. Vlad's [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney insanely rich]], and has super powers. What more could you want? The answer: love. Vlad lost the woman he loved to the one who accidentally caused the accident to start with, and Vlad's been bitter and lonely ever since.
*** {{Deconstruction}} as the excuse is demolished when Danny goes back in time to try and stop the accident. However, circumstances are changed to where ''Jack'' is the victim of the accident. Vlad is married to Maddie and seems to be pretty stable. We later discover that he forbade Maddie from doing ghost-catching and he kept Jack and Maddie from communicating. Ultimately, it shows Jack and Maddie were meant to be together and that Vlad was doomed from his own bitterness.
** Freakshow uses this troop to give an excuse to all the bad things he does. Everyone in his life, including himself, likes ghosts more than him. Being upstaged by ghosts his whole life messed him up but then again he might very well just be insane. Maybe a bit of both.
*** Jazz certainly thinks so, pointing out he has Ghost Envy. Danny exploits this when Freakshow has the 'Reality Gauntlet', causing Freakshow to turn himself into a powerful ghost... and making himself vulnerable to the Fenton Thermos.

* Most, if not all, of [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Bat]][[WesternAnimation/TheBatman man's]] rogues gallery, as well as [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Terry's]]. The only two of Terry's that spring to mind is the "skeleton Joker Gang" guy who attacked Max because she scored higher then him on an SAT, making his ice-queen mom very disappointed in him. There's also the geeky technopath student whose JerkJock dad didn't care either way about him, even after he stole his construction equipment and later buffed up in prison, although his ''particular'' hang-up was over a girl who naturally didn't care about him either.

* Mr. Burns from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has one: Despite being an evil, cruel and heartless businessman who has done a lot of evil things, we find out that in his childhood he was a [[CheerfulChild light-hearted and pleasant child]], who was even nicknamed "Happy" because of his pleasant nature and had very loving parents. But his own grandfather, a twisted and heartless millionaire, lured him away from his loving parents and forcibly adopted Burns. His grandfather was a coldhearted businessman who cared only about greed and power, and is directly responsible for transforming Burns from a carefree and pleasant boy to a miserable evil old man.
** There's also the loss of his teddy bear, Bobo, but that may or may not have actually contributed to it. He ''did'' resolve to change his evil ways once the bear was returned to him, but unfortunately couldn't take note of it since he didn't have a pen handy.

** Homer's mother abandoned him because she was wanted for the law, while his father told him he would never amount to anything.

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' with Stewie Griffin, whose Freudian excuse is that he was trapped in a prison for the first several months of his life. The name of the prison? "The Womb".
** Simultaneously subverted; he was implied to be already evil as a ''sapient sperm cell!''

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Crocker wants to destroy all fairies due to losing his own fairies as a child. And do you know who was responsible for this? [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Timmy Turner]]. To be fair, though, he tried to prevent it from happening, which failed miserably.
** May or may not be an example of StableTimeLoop. Timmy went back in time to prevent it, but ended up causing it anyway (the original circumstances were hinted to be Cosmo's stupidity.) However, Crocker ended up gaining his obsessions with fairies and a working scanner with fairy DNA (which he lacked in the present timeline, meaning that the past was changed, albeit only the circumstances, with the outcome being the same.))

* [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold Ms. Helga G. Pataki]], ooh boy. Ever since she was a little girl, she has always lived in her older sister's shadow and hardly got any attention from her parents. One day, because her parents were too busy listening to Olga play the piano, she walked herself to and from preschool, had her lunchbox stolen by a dog and fell in a mud puddle. The only one nice to her on that day? [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe Arnold, who complimented her bow and held out his umbrella for her]]. The next day, after Harold stole her crackers, he gave her his. Then all the kids started laughing at her when she fawned over him. Then she snapped and became the brash person she was in the present. She had a whole episode dedicated to explaining her character, which was generous of the writers to do.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' has several -- and there's more than a hint that these continued piling up even during his adulthood. To start, there were his [[AbusiveParents parents]], who [[ResentfulGuardian resented him for the simple reason of being alive]] as they were [[ShotgunWedding forced to marry each other because of it]], with his mother, Beatrice, creating his InferioritySuperiorityComplex by giving him no intrinsical value other than to compensate for what he had done. There's also the way [[ALessonLearnedTooWell he took at heart the advice given to him]] by [[BrokenAce Secre]][[StepfordSmiler tariat.]] Still, he was able to grow up into a semi-normal horse.....who slowly lost his shit in between [[TheChainsOfCommanding the constant rehearsals of his show]], his [[WellDoneSonGuy still]] [[DesperatelyCravesAffection underlying]] [[LoveHungry issues]] accentuated by [[StageMom his mother still hanging up on his every word]], and last but not least, [[CorruptTheCutie his increasing corruption]], caused by [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll drifting around Hollywoo(d)]] and his overall [[TheCorruptible vulnerable, addictive]] nature. Most telling is his guilt at having [[EtTuBrute betrayed his friend and mentor, Herb Kazzaz]], for the sake of his career and [[TheShowMustGoOn keeping his and Herb's show ''Horsin' Around'' going]] and his [[TheOneThatGotAway unconfessed love towards Charlotte]]. By the end, the complications and inability to navigate through life, as well as [[JadeColouredGlasses his disillusion at achieving happiness on his own in any form]] has led [=BoJack=] to his [[TheEeyore current style of living]], all while being [[InternalizedCategorism convinced that he can't change at all]], [[SelfFulfillingProphecy which]] [[TragicHero only dooms him to wreak havoc on his few remains of humanity]]. This is ultimately gets {{Deconstructed|Trope}} by [[DumbassHasAPoint Todd]] in season 3, after [[spoiler:finding out [=BoJack=] had sex with his girlfriend Emily]] and Bojack attempts to justify it by being drunk.

** There's also Sarah Lynn within the same show. She had a [[StageMom manipulative, dream-crushing mom]] who insisted she continue down the [[FormerChildStar child star]] path as opposed to becoming [[ICouldaBeenAContender an architect]], a dream that would carry on even into her adult years, because [[CastingCouch "Mommy didn't do what she did to that Star Search producer for [Sarah Lynn] to be an architect"]]. It's heavily implied that her stepdad was [[PaedoHunt sexually abusive.]] From the more mild telling to Joelle that she didn't have any friends her age because she was homeschooled by her stepfather "...[who was] a photographer.," to the more telling offhanded comment about being able to [[ItMakesSenseInContext distinguish the taste of bear fur]] because "[her] stepdad was a bear", to the most telling design the artists gave him – one that imitated Terry Richardson. That being said, she had an unexplained DisappearedDad and looked up to [=BoJack=] as a [[ParentalSubstitute surrogate father]], even though he would use her in about a decade and a half to come. All of this has given an explanation for her extreme [[AddledAddict drug abuse]], AnythingThatMoves attitude, slight ElectraComplex, and ultimately for being [=BoJack=] if he were a human female about two decades younger... who was actually successful in years following Horsin' Around.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In the second season, it's revealed that [[AlphaBitch Chloé]] largely acts like a jerk out of a desire to impress her mother, who [[MissingMom left when Chloé was little]] to focus on her career. Of course, when Audrey comes back to Paris, she [[AbusiveParents constantly belittles Chloé]] - even doing so ''on live television'' - and doesn't even [[MaliciousMisnaming get her name right]] until Chloé brags about what a jerk she is. It doesn't help that [[DotingParent her father]] constantly [[SpoiledBrat spoils]] her, implicitly in an attempt to fill the void caused by Audrey's absence.

** While [[TheLancer Adrien]] isn't a bad person overall, he's shown a [[EntitledToHaveYou nasty possessive streak toward Ladybug]] and [[ExtremeDoormat an inability to assert himself socially]], both of which stem from his upbringing. Adrien's father, wealthy fashion mogul [[AbusiveParents Gabriel Agreste]], obsessively [[ControlFreak micromanaged his upbringing]] while at the same time [[ParentalNeglect utterly failing to spend any time with his son]] (and it doesn't help that his own love for his wife Emilie is not overly healthy, as [[spoiler:his reaction to her going comatose was to become [[BigBad Hawk Moth]]). Not helping matters is that Adrien, due to his father's controlling nature, was unable to make any friends other than Chloé, who as mentioned above has her own issues [[note]]The episode "Gorizilla" implies that Adrien's mother had a professional association with the Bourgeious family, indicating that might be the reason Gabriel tolerated Chloé[[/note]]. The result? By the time the show begins, Adrien is fairly weak-willed and has some incredibly unhealthy views on love. That being said, being around more positive influences like Nino and Marinette is helping him grow past these flaws.

* In previous ''ScoobyDoo'' incarnations, the villains in the monster costumes had viable reasons for donning their disguises. However, in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', any time excuses are given, they are usually always lame and pitiful, which actually makes them more villainous, especially since they are more dangerous.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Apple Bloom's cousin [[TheBully Babs Seed]] was apparently bullied herself, and only became a bully to avoid ridicule from [[AlphaBitch Diamond Tiara]] and [[BetaBitch Silver Spoon]]. Luckily, she [[HeelRealization realized that]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters she's no]] [[NotSoDifferent different]] from the bullies from Manehattan, and [[HeelFaceTurn stopped.]]
** [[MilesGloriosus Trixie]] was revealed to have had her life ruined by the Ursa Minor incident, which left her a laughingstock throughout Equestria and demolished her career (yes, she was a jerk guilty of false advertising, but this is a universe where one can normally WinBackTheCrowd). This drives her to take her {{Revenge}} on those she deems responsible for her suffering (Ponyville, Twilight in particular) and get [[ArtifactOfDoom the Alicorn Amulet]]. [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity It]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds gets]] [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide worse]] [[FromNobodyToNightmare from]] [[EvilIsNotAToy there.]] [[spoiler:After it's removed, [[HeelFaceTurn she regains her sanity and apologizes, leaving on good terms with Twilight.]]]]
** Even ''[[RealityWarper Discord]]'' has one. Turns out the guy has never had a single friend in his entire life, so he fails to understand the value and even ''[[EvilCannotComprehendGood concept]]'' of friendship and thinks of others as little more than playthings for his own amusement. It's the realization that acting that way will cost him the only friend he's ever had [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn that makes him promise to use his magic only for good.]] [[ReformedButNotTamed Mostly.]]]]
** Then, there's Starlight Glimmer. The creation of "Our Town" and getting the ponies there to surrender their Cutie Marks to be "equal" was because [[spoiler:as a filly, her best friend Sunburst gained his Cutie Mark, then disappeared for Celestia's school. Because of this, she feared of making any other friends because another Cutie Mark or even another ''difference'' could cause it to be ruined.]]
** The aforementioned Diamond Tiara turns out to have her own issues leading to her being such a jerk. The big one is Spoiled Rich, her [[AbusiveParents unloving, unforgiving tyrant of a mother.]]