History Main / BullyTurnedBuddy

* ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'' features a "villain becomes friend to other villain" variant. "Origins" reveals that Fat Doc and Slim Doc originally had a rocky relationship when they first met in lab school, with the latter constantly tormenting the former for amusement. It isn't until both end up involved in an accident in the teacher's science experiment that they finally become friends.

** TheProtagonist [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]] actively tries to invoke this with Amity Blight--whose first few episodes were largely spent acting haughty and superior to Luz and her new friend Willow--due to Luz trying to emulate her favorite book character, who was able to make friends of all of her enemies. She does, indeed, succeed fairly quickly in [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting]] her (it helps that Amity doesn't actually like being mean to others and feels bad about it, only doing so thanks to her AbusiveParents making her feel like she can never show weakness), to the point that Amity soon [[spoiler: develops a crush on Luz, and they even start dating in Season 2]].
** It's eventually revealed that, in the backstory, Amity was an [[InvertedTrope inverted]] example to Willow, as they were once best friends before Amity broke off their friendship due to Willow not being nearly as powerful of a witch as she was. Or, at least, that's the false reason Amity gave for it. In truth, her aforementioned AbusiveParents forced her to cut Willow off, under threat of ruining Willow's future if she didn't, out of the belief that she wasn't of a high enough social standing to be Amity's friend. It's then played straight again once this comes to light, after which Amity and Willow begin to repair and renew their friendship.

** TheProtagonist [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]] actively tries to invoke this with [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]]--whose first few episodes were largely spent acting haughty and superior to Luz and her new friend Willow--due to Luz trying to emulate her favorite book character, who was able to make friends of all of her enemies. She does, indeed, succeed fairly quickly in [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting]] her (it helps that Amity doesn't actually like being mean to others and feels bad about it, only doing so thanks to her AbusiveParents making her feel like she can never show weakness), to the point that Amity soon [[spoiler: develops a crush on Luz, and they even start dating in Season 2]].

*** ''Fanfic/ArchenemiesToSuperfriends'': Lila explains to Marinette why she started bullying her (Lila saw Marinette as a WorthyOppenent) and the two call a truce. Over time, they start hanging out more and Lila [[spoiler:ends becoming the new wielder of the Fox Miraculous]].

*** In ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'', Chloé is one of the only classmates who ''doesn't'' expect to be EasilyForgiven after learning that Marinette is [[TheUnmasking Ladybug]]. As she explains to Adrien, she only hopes that Marinette will act as an HonestAdvisor to her, calling her out when she's acting [[SpoiledBrat exceptionally bratty]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' has turned several iterations of this into [[FandomSpecificPlot/MiraculousLadybug Fandom-Specific Plots]]:

** In ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'', Chloé is one of the only classmates who ''doesn't'' expect to be EasilyForgiven after learning that Marinette is [[TheUnmasking Ladybug]]. As she explains to Adrien, she only hopes that Marinette will act as an HonestAdvisor to her, calling her out when she's acting [[SpoiledBrat exceptionally bratty]].
** ''[[Fanfic/RaiseYourselvesUp Raise Yourselves Up (We're Done)]]'' places Chloé as Marinette's only friend remaining in their class after Miss Bustier is convinced to ban both girls from participating in their annual class trip. While not her ''OnlyFriend'' by virtue of Marinette having plenty of friends ''outside'' of Bustier's students, to the point that they're able to [[StartMyOwn start up the World Travellers' Club]] as a [[JapaneseSchoolClub school club]], their bond gets the most focus due to the amount of scenes focusing on the class.

** ''Fanfic/{{What Goes Around Comes Around|MiraculousLadybug}}'' has Sabrina join Juleka and Rose in skipping the [[PartySchedulingGambit big trip to Versailles]] in favor of attending Marinette's party and apologizing to her. She's also ''horrified'' upon learning that their "everyday Ladybug" was ''THE Ladybug'' all along, requiring reassurance that she's [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre better than she believes herself to be]]. Especially when she's [[spoiler:chosen as the new Bee Heroine]].

** ''Fanfic/{{The Wolves in the Woods|MiraculousLadybug}}'' paints Alya as a greater ToxicFriendInfluence than Lila, having latched onto Lila's MaliciousSlander in order to turn the whole class against Marinette [[GreenEyedMonster out of envy]] over [[TallPoppySyndrome her "bestie's" recent accomplishments]]. Lila has a HeelRealization early on, tries to distract their classmates from mobbing Marinette, and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone grapples with the guilt]] of what she unintentionally set into motion.

** ''Fanfic/{{The Wolves in the Woods|MiraculousLadybug}}'' paints Alya as a greater ToxicFriendInfluence than Lila, having latched onto Lila's MaliciousSlander in order to turn the whole class against Marinette [[GreenEyedMonster out of envy]] over [[TallPoppySyndrome her "bestie's" recent accomplishments]].

* ''Literature/HarryPotter''
** Downplayed with Hermione Granger. While not a 'bully' ''per se'', she does antagonize Ron and Harry a few times through being a stickler for the rules and an InsufferableGenius; she and Ron in particular are initially rather abrasive toward each other. But when a mountain troll puts Hermione in danger, Ron and Harry help her fight it off, marking the beginning of their friendship. Through the rest of the series, Hermione is a member of the team, and [[spoiler:ends up marrying Ron at series' end.]]

* In ''Literature/TheFootfallsOfChessHorses'' by Vladislav Krapivin, Vashek, along with the rest of his class, plagues the life of BullyMagnet Tyupa (an awkward, fat boy from a dysfunctional family who barely scrapes enough grades to stay at school at all). But then, as Vashek gets a little brother by adoption (with serious physical and mental health problems) and goes through serious CharacterDevelopment, he also begins to protect Tyupa and slowly ends up one of his best friends.
* ''Literature/OperatonDoOver'': Mason is constantly bullied by two football players named Dominic and Miggy. After Mason joins the football team and displays impressive determination, stamina, good humor, and team spirit, Miggy starts to accept Mason and shows a nicer side. Dominic remains a cruel and sour JerkJock who hates Mason's presence, [[spoiler: but improves after the TimeSkip in the final chapters when Mason's mind gets sent back to his older body in an altered timeline. By that point, Dominic is willing to give him a friendly high-five after a football game.]]
* ''Literature/SpecialOperations'': Ned Grimmo treats Finn pretty badly but bonds with him more once they realize that they're both anti-Nazi.
* ''Literature/UnbelievablyBoringBart'': [[spoiler:Nick "The Mimic"]] starts acting like Bart's friend after Bart [[spoiler:beats the Lerkians at [=ChickenHead=] [=LavaLamp=]'s live stream event at the school]].
* ''Literature/AngelChildDragonChild'': At first, Raymond is a mean young boy who bullies Ut and her sisters. When they get into a fight, the principal punishes them by making them talk to each other. They come to an understanding, and Ut tells Raymond about how she and her family came to America, but her mother had to stay behind. He comes up with the idea of holding a Vietnamese fair to raise enough money so Ut's mother can make the trip to America.

* In ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' Allan has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment after he nearly kills Bill by putting peanuts in his food (which Bill is severely allergic to), and visits him in the hospital where he confesses to Bill that he antagonized him and his friends because he himself had many things in common; Bill, in turn, invites him to a Sci-Fi convention he's going to with Neal, Sam, and Gordon. Allan ultimately backs out of going with them to the convention, but stops antagonizing the Geeks in subsequent episodes (and even goes as far as saying that Bill's "the man" when he talks back to Coach Fredericks).

* For the first half of ''VideoGame/ConcreteGenie,'' protagonist Ash is being relentlessly bullied by four other kids. By the end of the game, he's accidentally uncovered their personal traumas and saved their lives, and they've helped him drive the Darkness out of Denska. The end credits show them gradually becoming closer to each other, and Ash's final diary entry states that all along, he needed friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Diamond Tiara used to bully the Cutie Mark Crusaders for their lack of a Cutie Mark and showed little mercy to the other classmates too. [[spoiler:As of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", however, her cruel tendencies are revealed to have been born of her mother's emotional abuse. The Crusaders reach out to her after seeing what she goes through on a daily basis, and by the end of the episode, Diamond Tiara breaks out of her shell and openly considers the Crusaders to be her friends.]]
** [[Literature/TheBadSeed Babs]] [[MeaningfulName Seed]] starts off as a bully to the Crusaders too, latching onto Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and joining in their torment. By the end of her episode, however, she reconciles with them after they learn she was bullied at her old school for not having a Cutie Mark either.
* Buford from ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' began initially as a bully to [[BollywoodNerd Baljeet]], but mutual help and respect came along, such as rescuing Buford's goldfish, and now Buford has a {{Frenemy}} relationship with Baljeet.
* Nelson in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' started out as a bully and antagonist to Bart and Lisa, but in later seasons he befriended Bart and even dated Lisa. However, it [[DependingOnTheWriter also depends on the episode]], where Nelson can revert to being an antagonist, although it's rarely the main focus of the plot and if it's used as more than a simple gag, there's generally another reason behind it (being paid to do something questionable, doing it to uphold his tough-guy image, peer pressure, etc.)

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLastKidsOnEarth'': before the apocalypse, Dirk was the school bully, who liked to target Jack and Quint. After becoming one of only 4 human survivors left in town, and spending some time all alone, he joins his former victims and June to stand a chance against the monsters and zombies. Eventually, the four become a close group of friends, though Dirk still likes to mock Jack and Quint if they act too nerdy.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In the present day, Hayley is the one member of the Smith family whom Klaus consistently gets along with. But when Hayley mentally regressed into a six-year-old in "Hayley Smith, SEAL Team Six", she began bullying Klaus, and judging by his reaction, this was commonplace when she was younger.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In seasons 2-4, Pretty was an AlphaBitch who often bullied Kaeloo, Stumpy, and Quack-Quack, and was an AbhorrentAdmirer to Mr. Cat who kept violating his boundaries. In season 5, Pretty is revealed to have undergone an offscreen HeelFaceTurn and befriended them all after becoming a nicer person.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' has [[JerkJock Flash Thompson]] as a famous example. While Flash was Peter's high school bully, he mellowed out considerably in college and especially when he returned from enlistment, gradually becoming one of Peter's closest friends such as when they taught at their old high school. [[spoiler: Peter himself mourns him when Flash, as Agent Anti-Venom, gives his life to save Peter in ''ComicBook/GoDownSwinging'' and he calls Flash his hero.]]

* Several ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fics have Chloé becoming friends with Marinette [[BefriendingTheBullied during Lila's bullying campaign against Marinette]].

* Sunset Shimmer of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' starts off as an AlphaBitch par excellence, ruling Canterlot High with an iron fist and bullying the Humane Five. One PainfulTransformation and subsequent HeartBeatDown later, Sunset Shimmer pulls a HeelFaceTurn and befriends the Humane Five, becoming their equivalent to Twilight Sparkle.

-->'''Sam:''' "A bully made friend is a friend 'til the end."
* ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': Tyler Nguyen-Baker spends much of the film insulting and harassing Mei and her friends. [[spoiler: During the 4*Town concert, when Mei and her friends discover he's also a fan of the group, they hug and welcome him into the "sisterhood". After the climax, it's revealed that he's now a ReformedBully who hangs out with Mei and her friends, and he even wears a friendship bracelet that matches theirs.]]
* Lance and Whitey from ''WesternAnimation/ChickenhareAndTheHamsterOfDarkness''. They evolve from pushing Chickenhare around in school to joining his posse when he battles the BigBad's forces at the climax.

* ''Film/ThirteenGoingOnThirty'': Seventeen years into the future, Jenna learns that former AlphaBitch of her school (who played a mean prank on her just recently) Lucy is now her best friend. [[spoiler:However, Jenna has become a jerk over the years, and it's later revealed that both she and Lucy have been working against the fashion company they've been working for]].