History Main / OutOfCharacterMoment

* Played for laughs with [[HairTriggerTemper Toby]] [[GrumpyBear Ziegler]] in the ''TheWestWing'' episode "Six Meetings Before Lunch": when Toby, who spends the vast majority of his time sulking, complaining, growling, snapping, snarking, and yelling at everyone around him manages to get a Supreme Court nominee confirmed and is subsequently blissed-out enough to say things like "turn that frown upside down" and "let a smile be your unbrella", Margaret backs away from him in fright with the line "Now you're scaring the crap out of me." [[CrowningMomentOfFunny He then proceeds to amble down the hall humming "Put On a Happy Face" while cheerily greeting other staffers, who stop and stare at him as though he just sprouted antlers.]]

* In at least two episodes of {{KingoftheHill}} Hank acts very out of character like in "Strangness on a Train" upon seeing that Peggy's birthday party isn't going well he takes her into the bathroom and they have sex, now Hank is pretty uptight and embarrassed about that sort of thing and certainly would've never done that in a public place in earlier seasons, and in "Master of Puppets" Hank gives into Bobby's demands, buys him gifts, and coddles him after accidentally forgetting to pick him up one night, now Hank would never give into Bobby's demands unless he was doing something he felt was honest or worthwhile like a job or a sport but Bobby was being selfish and bratty, the Hank of the earlier seasons would've probably give him advice on how life isn't always fair and tell him to get over it.

** In a presumably less intentional example, in the episode "Fool for Love", when Riley is prowling the cemetery for vampires while Buffy is injured, he brings along Willow, Xander, and Anya, who instead of using their long experience to help him, chatter, crunch on chips loudly, don't take cover, and generally act like stupid muggle amateurs. [[WallBanger Even though they are people who not only saved the slayer's ass numerous times and dealt with vampires for five years, but actually once ''hunted them without Buffy for an entire summer'', with a 60% success rate.]] They never had and never would act like that again, and presumably were only played that way to make Riley, who many fans consider a {{Scrappy}}, look good.

* {{Don Quixote}}: Played Straight, even lampshaded: In the first part, it's very clear that Sancho Panza is a naive simpleton. In the second part, Sancho suddenly says very subtle, intelligent things to his wife. [[{{LiteraryAgentHypothesis}} One of the narrators]] of this tale, seeing this inconsistence, decides to [[{{LampshadeHanging}} warn the reader: ]]: ''The translator of this history, when he comes to write this fifth chapter, says that he considers it apocryphal, because in it Sancho Panza speaks in a style unlike that which might have been expected from his limited intelligence, and says things so subtle that he does not think it possible he could have conceived them; however, desirous of doing what his task imposed upon him, he was unwilling to leave it untranslated, and therefore he went on to say:'' This could be considered the beginning of Sancho's slow transformation into a [[{{CommonSense}} discreet person]].

** Drek'Thar was never a gentle old orc; at his tamest he was a grumpy old man. While he and the Frostwolf clan was repentful for the orc's decent into evil, they were still {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s through and through. Drek'thar was actually noted as being pissed about being held back from battle in earlier novels due to his value as a healer; he alwas liked to fight. In Alterac Valley, he just comes off as bloodthirsty because, from his perspective, the dwarves are invading his adoptive homeland to tear it up looking for junk, and drive his people out in the process.

** Another one that might be excused by the RuleOfFunny, in "Rosebud", Homer and Bart are gloating that they can demand any price for returning Bobo to Mr Burns, and Marge replies "Now I'm sure he'll offer a fair reward ... And then we'll make him double it!" When the rest of the family stare at her, she adds "Why can't I be greedy every once in a while?"

* Most of the entire first episode of ''{{Pokemon}}'' is this in Pikachu's case. It acts like a JerkAss the entire episode, up until Ash's HeroicSacrifice gains him Ash's respect. The rest of the series Pikachu, while having mischievous tendencies here and there, is kind hearted and helpful.

* An episode of ''FamilyGuy'' had Brian sending [[ItMakesSenseInContext the temporarly gay Peter]] to a Christian anti-gay camp to turn him straight. Brain admits it goes against everything he stands for, but he does it to make Lois happy.

* In ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' when they first met, Galatea unintentionally pushed Molly's buttons very badly, at first just driving her to unusual [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080311.html anger,]] and finally getting Molly to [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080412.html slap her]]—which reduced the very gentle-hearted Molly to tears afterward. "I've never ''hit'' anybody before! I... I ''don't like'' you!! I'm ''sorry!!"''

*** Drek'Thar was never a gentle old orc; at his tamest he was a grumpy old man. While he and the Frostwolf clan was repentful for the orc's decent into evil, they were still {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s through and through. Drek'thar was actually noted as being pissed about being held back from battle in earlier novels due to his value as a healer; he alwas liked to fight. In Alterac Valley, he just comes off as bloodthirsty because, from his perspective, the dwarves are invading his adoptive homeland to tear it up looking for junk, and drive his people out in the process.

*** Saurfang, and Muradin are shown throughout Wrath of the Lich King to oppose the war between Horde and Alliance. Yet in the Gunship encounter, they jump at the chance to fight each other.

** Some fans feel that both Zuko and Katara were written out of character in "The Southern Raiders" in order to serve as tools for a [[Anvilicious heavy-handed moral lecture]] on how violence is never the answer: Katara develops a sudden and unquenchable thirst for the blood of her mother's killer, to the point that she even accuses Sokka of not loving their mother because he sides with Aang, and Zuko becomes sarcastic and derisive, dismissing the notion of forgiveness as worthless, despite owing his membership in the Gaang to everyone forgiving his own past misdeeds.

** At the end of season two, Marian has an OutOfCharacterMoment that not only leads to her death but the show's demise. After spending two seasons as an incredibly careful and discreet spy, not to mention the voice of reason and compassion, Marian suddenly decides to kill the Sheriff of Nottinghamham. Repeat: she decides to '''assassinate''' a man by '''stabbing him in the back''' based on a '''rumour''' floating around the castle that the Sheriff was going to try and kill King Richard, '''despite the fact''' that she knows Prince John has placed a life insurance on the Sheriff's head that stipulates Nottingham will be destroyed if anything happens to him. She sneaks into his room with a sword and is instantly caught in the act of trying to '''murder''' him. Possibly the worst case of CharacterDerailment in television history.

* Allan-a-Dale from ''Series/RobinHood'' was a con-artist, thief, pick-pocket and liar extraordinaire. Then in Season 3 he walks in on [[DamselScrappy Kate]] getting molested by a man that the outlaws are trying to get information out of and on whom Kate is pulling a DirtyHarriet. Instead of simply clocking the guy or pretending to be an overprotective brother or tavern worker, Allan inexplicably yells: "this isn't part of the plan!" Instantly the man is aware that he's been set up. It doesn't really serve any purpose in the plot except as a lame attempt by the writers to make the loathed Kate [[ShillingTheWesley look good in comparison to Allan]] (she's the one that gets to salvage the situation).
** There is also an earlier episode in which our professional thief acts ridiculously clumsy when breaking into a castle bedroom, presumably so the show's ''other'' [[TheWesley Wesley]] Tuck can roll his eyes at him.

* It happens to Kaiba in a filler episode of ''YuGiOh!'' Kaiba is just getting ready to fire some of his business associates for ''trying to kill him'' when they tell him that he should test out their new virtual simulator. Kaiba agrees and says he'll fire them AFTER testing out the trap... er, I mean, game. You can guess what happens.

* In the ''FullmetalAlchemist'' manga (and in Brotherhood), Alphonse is shown to be a level-headed, mature, and kindhearted young man. However, after receiving a HannibalLecture from [[AxCrazy Barry the Chopper]], Alphonse actually [[VillainsNeverLie believes]] [[IdiotBall him]] and starts to doubt his own existence, causing him to FreakOut and [[ConflictBall have a fight]] with his brother Edward. There had been no indication before then that Alphonse would react this way to ''anything'', and no foreshadowing that showed his existence being in question in the first place. It pretty much takes a heartfelt speech [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan with help from a monkey wrench]] from Winry to turn Alphonse right back into his previous characterization, never behaving that way again.

[quoteright:350:[[TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/OOCmoment.jpg]]]]

[[TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/OOCmoment.jpg]]
[[caption-width:476:''So, on a day in DarkestAfrica, Scrooge [=McDuck=] committed the only dishonest deed of his entire life. One that would haunt him for years to come!'']]

** [[YourMileageMayVary Or Zelda loves Sabrina and [[spolier:would rather be a child than let Sabrina 'live' the rest of her 'life' as a statue]]

** Does an entire season count as a OOCM? Because if so, Willow during season six of BuffyTheVampireSlayer would qualify.
*** No, because Willow had already been shown multiple time to have a very prone-to-addiction personality, and of using magic to solve her problem. See her relationship with Oz, for example.
*** Perhaps it's because the character flaws that were set up in that time were handled so badly writing-wise in season six that Willow seems more OOC than she really is.
*** Season six seemed to be more about natural character development than OOC. YourMileageMayVary.

* [[TheFairlyOddparents Trixie Tang]] in "Wishology". Seriously, [[Tropers/FroggoFan64 this troper]] can't be the only person who believes that her sudden love for Timmy, whom she clearly hated previously, went completely against the AsianAirhead's character. Come to think of it, [[{{Meganekko}} Tootie]] [[AssPull suddenly being a]] DesignatedVillain [[WallBanger in "Dread and Breakfast"]] also qualifies.

** It's not at all out of character - Brian is always selling out his beliefs.
*** I particularly like the fact that Brian is an AuthorAvatar for Seth [=McFarlane=].

* [[TheFairlyOddparents Trixie Tang]] in "Wishology". Seriously, [[FroggoFan64 this troper]] can't be the only person who believes that her sudden love for Timmy, whom she clearly hated previously, went completely against the AsianAirhead's character. Come to think of it, [[{{Meganekko}} Tootie]] [[AssPull suddenly being a]] DesignatedVillain [[WallBanger in "Dread and Breakfast"]] also qualifies.