History Fridge / TheBadGuys2022

** Additionally, much like [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda a previous Dreamworks film]], there is implication each person has to be taught in a different way that appeals to their personality. Each villain has different redeeming qualities that set off their HeelFaceTurn rather than a simple amorphous drive to be good. Diane turned after realising what she was becoming in the mirror, appealing to her self-reflection, Wolf turned after realising staying bad would hurt his friends (either by betraying Diane and (supposedly) Marmalade after they supported him, or screwing up his allies' one chance at turning their lives around), appealing to his loyalty, the other Bad Guys turn after witnessing Wolf turn good and Snake doing something nice on spur of the moment and putting two and two together, appealing to their camaradarie. Marmalade from what is shown, has ''no'' redeeming qualities, freely admitting he fakes it all and only cares about himself. He understands manipulating the "tingle" which sparks Wolf's earliest drives (manipulation ''is'' Marmalade's character strength, if not a benevolent one), but other events do the rest of the work.

* Both Diane and Marmalade also make the same mistake of not-so-inconspicuously gloating about their talent as criminals under their public personas, particularly by demeaning and criticising their peers in a suspiciously overanalytic way. When Marmalade is interviewed about the Bad Guya' theft of the meteorite, he betrays character to smugly brag about "their" method of doing so. No wonder Diane catches onto him since he's pulling the same crap that nearly ruined ''her'' earlier.

* Considering that Snakes [[spoiler: plan to switch the meteorite with the fake one involved convincing the Bad Guys that he'd made a FaceHeelTurn, it means that Snake was possibly perfectly okay with the rest of the guys returning the fake meteorite and appearing to be the heroes, as he didn't expect them to come back and try to convince him to come back. This also means that, in this scenario, no one would have ever found out that Snake didn't actually betray them. So Snake was willing to risk his relationship with his best friends for their own wellbeing and potentially get killed by Marmalade in the process.]]

* Another "never happened but what if it did" scenario. If Wolf turned out the lights out and let the others steal the golden dolphin and escape, The Bad Guys would still being framed for stealing the metorite. Because in the exact moment Wolf turns out the lights, Marmalade would've use it to steal it even after reciving the golden dolphin. Wolf would've feel depressed for wasting his second chance of redemtion, while his friends would've been confused of being framed and arrested for a crime they didn't comite.

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* Another "never happened but what if it did" scenario. If Wolf turned out the lights out and let the others steal the golden dolphin and escape, The Bad Guys would still being framed for stealing the metorite. Because in the exact moment Wolf turns out the lights, Marmalade would've use it to steal it even after reciving the golden dolphin. Wolf would've feel depressed for wasting his second chance of redemtion, while his friends would've been confused of being framed and arrested for a crime they didn't comite.

* Diane also seems to have an easier time making herself a popular figure and climbing the ladder of authority than the Bad Guys, despite her past being ostracised as a "tricky fox". However, compared to the Bad Guys' species, foxes have always had a double sided reputation with humans, being treated as sneaky {[Jerkass}} predators in some works, or elegant, and even "cute" creatures in others. Diane was likely able to appeal enough to the latter image by charisma.

* Despite buffing up her PositiveFriendInfluence role a fair bit, Diane is noticably more flawed than her counterpart in the books, and is put on the spot over it several times. Self improvement and rehabiliation involves accepting when you are wrong and need to change your course, and often that the change won't happen overnight. It also furthers Diane as a foil for Marmalade as a role model for the Bad Guys' HeelFaceTurn, Diane represents a healthy and ultimately ongoing rehabilitation, compared to Marmalade's superficial, self serving and completely fake one.

* Despite buffing up her PositiveFriendInfluence role a fair bit, Diane is noticably more flawed than her counterpart in the books, and is put on the spot over it several times. Self improvement and rehabiliation involves accepting when you are wrong and need to change your course. It also furthers Diane as a foil for Marmalade as a role model for the Bad Guys' HeelFaceTurn, Diane represents a healthy and ultimately ongoing rehabilitation, compared to Marmalade's superficial, self serving and completely fake one.

** This is also more evident with Webs and Diane, who are expert hackers and have such elaborate prowess they could likely rob countless accounts and businesses dry, yet mostly only use their ability for heists and distractions. This makes sense considering that, only are they not ''that'' low, but hacking scams would obviously require anonymous identities and trails. They want people to ''know'' who robbed them.

* While the other Bad Guys' rather rapid HeelFaceTurn is heartwarming, it also reeks of FridgeSadness. Throughout the whole film beforehand they were the definition of EvilCannotComprehendGood, making none of the same steps in rehabilitating that Wolf did and believing his own turn was an act of treachery, effectively being LockedOutOfTheLoop in terms of GoodFeelsGood. All it took was ''one'' moment of doing something good (or in the others' case, just ''Snake'' doing something good) to get the "tingle" and instantly defect. In other words, to only understand that now, they seemingly had ''never'' experienced being made to feel like a good person their whole life beforehand. It's especially sad in Shark and Webs' case, as they were clearly emotionally intelligent enough to understand the ''very first instant'' it happened.

* While the other Bad Guys' rather rapid HeelFaceTurn is heartwarming, it also reeks of FridgeSadness. Throughout the whole film beforehand they were the definition of EvilCannotComprehendGood, making none of the same steps in rehabilitating that Wolf did and believing his own turn was an act of treachery, effectively being LockedOutOfTheLoop in terms of GoodFeelsGood. All it took was ''one'' moment of doing something good (or in the others' case, just ''Snake'' doing something good) to get the "tingle" and instantly defect. In other words, to only understand that now, they seemingly had ''never'' experienced being made to feel like a good person their whole life beforehand. It's especially sad in Shark and Webs' case, as they were clearly emotionally intelligent enough to understand the ''very first instant'' it happened.

** Another is that Marmalade has no respect even for ''other'' villains, [[EvilerThanThou mocking and backstabbing them]] or, in Diane's case, giving them a sarcastic compliment at best (Diane herself admitedly has the same attitude, though learns better). The Bad Guys, while just as arrogant of their VillainCred, are implied to have respect for others in their field and talk about them like they are their peers, even fanboying over the Crimson Paw. This itself has Fridge Brilliance since all five are very different species and criminals that merge their contrasting talents beautifully. Of course they can appreciate other people's skills.

** Another is that Marmalade has no respect even for ''other'' villains, [[EvillerThanThou mocking and backstabbing them]] or, in Diane's case, giving them a sarcastic compliment at best (Diane herself admitedly has the same attitude, though learns better). The Bad Guys, while just as arrogant of their VillainCred, are implied to have respect for others in their field and talk about them like they are their peers, even fanboying over the Crimson Paw. This itself has Fridge Brilliance since all five are very different species and criminals that merge their contrasting talents beautifully. Of course they can appreciate other people's skills.

** It also adds a rather wistful undertone to Diane's line "Don't do it for "them", do it for ''you''". While this is genuinely valid advise, it becomes apparent through the aforementioned points that it's likely the only motivation Diane had throughout her own HeelFaceTurn. It does lead to FridgeHeartwarming however, since ultimately Wolf doesn't do it for "them" ''or'' himself, he fully {{Heel Face Turn}}s for ''Diane''.