History Main / VilLainDeCay

* The ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheUltimateHope'' does an excellent job giving this treatment to [[BigBad Monokuma]] ([[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]]) through an amusing FailureMontage chronicling thier [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain inability to create despair.]]

*** Zigzagged with the Orks. No one in the setting, and very few outside of it, will argue that Ork hordes aren't a serious, ongoing threat to everyone else. The problem is, Orks have kinda been stuck in the status quo area for a while, and the big [[VideoGame/DawnOfWar video]] [[VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine games]] featuring them have them on the bottom of the VillainPedigree.

See also BadassDecay, IneffectualSympatheticVillain, GoldfishPoopGang, HarmlessVillain, LoweredMonsterDifficulty, MotiveDecay, and VileVillainLaughableLackey.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

** Necrons. When first formally introduced, they were supremely enigmatic horrors serving even more horrific beings, known for mysterious harvests of life, unknown plans, and ridiculously advanced technology. Fan perception of them quickly made them {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s to the public eye, and they began to be perceived as a race-wide CreatorsPet. The 5th Edition Codex has resulted in a serious hit to the Necrons' previously unknown and unstoppable nature in favor of shifting the focus towards the Tyranids and Chaos as the greatest threats facing humanity, [[TropesAreNotBad revealing much of their past and giving plenty of]] CharacterDevelopment to the race which as a natural consequence destroyed much of the mystery surrounding them, going from NothingIsScarier {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s to [[Tabletop/WarhammerFantasy the Tomb Kings]] [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]. The [[BrokenBase debate on whether this ruined the faction forever or breathed new life into them still rages to this day]].

** Games Workshop has spent the better part of 2013 trying their hardest to dispel this notion about Abaddon, eventually resorting to retconning eleven of his thirteen Black Crusades.

* The ''VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheUltimateHope'' does an excellent job giving this treatment to [[BigBad Monokuma]] ([[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]]) through an amusing FailureMontage chronicling thier [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain inability to create despair.]]

* ''Fanfic/MyLittleUnicorn'':

* In a stunning and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]] inversion, Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi features Mukrezar. Mukrezar is, and was, a Keeper of dubious competence, given to many Zany schemes (usually involving a RingOfPower). However, [[spoiler:since his resurrection]] he has shown such an assessment is significantly lacking. Apparently his resourcefulness, ability to bounce back from crushing defeat, and, most importantly, willingness to take incredible chances- and then ''turn them into victories even if they failed'' -was his greatest asset. Every appearance has only increased the estimation of his threat, despite being PluckyComicRelief.

* ''FanFic/MyLittleUnicorn'':

** During the ''Gathering Storm'' events, Asdrubael Vect, effective leader of the Dark Eldar, got hit pretty hard with this in one fell swoop, both in-universe and outside. An incident he couldn't have foreseen ([[spoiler:Ynnead destructively picking an avatar]]) caused a giant cataclysm inside Commorragh that he had expected, yet the plans he had to stop it failed, he panicked in front of everyone (which severely undermined his reputation), and whatever improvisations he could come up with weren't enough to keep the situation under control, with other groups he didn't even have a hand in being the ones to save the day. As such, his plans were all shredded to nothing, there is active plotting to overthrow him (which used to be unthinkable), several of his loyal underlings ran off to join the new faction this spawned, and the moment he tried to say this was AllAccordingToPlan everyone smelled the bullshit from the start, ending his ConsummateLiar streak. As a result, within Commorragh his reputation has basically ''inverted'' and his survival is uncertain, and to the fanbase he now just looks like a goon that will probably get [[KlingonPromotion cut down]], his millennia of {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry now lost [[SpannerInTheWorks in a deluge of unexpected plan-wrecking spanners]].

->'''Sideshow Bob''': ''Hello, Bart...''\\
'''Bart''': Oh, it's you, Bob. How' ya doin'?\\
'''Sideshow Bob''': No screams? ... Not even... an "eep"?\\
'''Bart''': Hey, I'm not afraid of you. Every time we tangle you wind up in jail!

See also DegradedBoss. Not to be confused with RedemptionDemotion, where the villain strength decays because of his HeelFaceTurn.

* ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'' does this badly with the Metarex. In the canon ''SonicX'', the Metarex were a nearly unstoppable empire of powerful robots led by even more-powerful robot overlords that gave Super Sonic a run for his money. ''Dark Chaos'' reduces them to a side faction... and by the halfway point of the story, their armies are all but destroyed and their leaders have gone into hiding (with a collective VillainousBreakdown for good measure). It doesn't help that their motivations are also completely different from the canon; in the show, they wanted to exterminate all animal life in the galaxy and replace it with plant life. In ''Dark Chaos'', they're just trying to find a way to kill Tsali and revive their species by [[WellIntentionedExtremist any means necessary]].

* Adam Taurus of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' started off as a charismatic leader of the Vale chapter of the White Fang and a dangerous fighter who was able to beat Blake Belladonna physically and psychologically, and who was able to stop Yang Xiao Long in her tracks when she came to Blake's defense by cutting her arm off at the elbow, putting her out of commission for nearly an entire season. Come Volume 5, however, as his ambitions grow {{spoiler:to the point of killing the leader of the entire White Fang, Sienna Khan, then taking her place}}, he begins to make increasingly illogical decisions, such as ordering the assassination of Ghira and Kali Belladonna purely to spite Blake, despite the fact that this did not align with the organization's goals and the fact that it would only turn Ghira into a martyr and turn the people of Menagerie against Adam. Sure enough, [[spoiler:the plan fails and Blake is able to rally support to put a stop to Adam's plan to do to Haven Academy what he did to Beacon with the assistance of a shadowy organization.]] When Blake and her allies arrive at Haven, they quickly derail Adam's plan to blow up the school by alerting the Mistral Police. When Adam attempts to blow up the school anyway so that "it's over for everyone ([[BadBoss his men included]])", it's revealed that the explosives were disabled by former White Fang member Ilia Amitola, and he ends up losing the support of his men in the ensuing battle. When Adam attempts to break Blake, saying that she's still too afraid to face him without the support of her teammates, Blake shows how much she's gotten over her fear of Adam by claiming that she's "got more important things to deal with". This drives Adam over the edge, and though he puts up a bit of a fight against Blake and her friend, Sun Wukong, he ends up running away to avoid arrest and to lure Blake and Sun into a trap so that he can pick them off one by one, which Blake easily sees through. Ultimately, his actions end up turning those who once followed him against him, making his plans AllForNothing.

* Adam Taurus of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' started off as a charismatic leader of the Vale chapter of the White Fang and a dangerous fighter who was able to beat Blake Belladonna physically and psychologically, and who was able to stop Yang Xiao Long in her tracks when she came to Blake's defense by cutting her arm off at the elbow, putting her out of commission for nearly an entire season. Come Volume 5, however, as his ambitions grow {{spoiler:to the point of killing the leader of the entire White Fang, Sienna Khan, then taking her place}}, he begins to make increasingly illogical decisions, such as ordering the assassination of Ghira and Kali Belladonna purely to spite Blake, despite the fact that this did not align with the organization's goals and the fact that it would only turn Ghira into a martyr and turn the people of Menagerie against Adam. Sure enough, {{spoiler:the plan fails and Blake is able to rally support to put a stop to Adam's plan to do to Haven Academy what he did to Beacon with the assistance of a shadowy organization.}} When Blake and her allies arrive at Haven, they quickly derail Adam's plan to blow up the school by alerting the Mistral Police. When Adam attempts to blow up the school anyway so that "it's over for everyone ([[BadBoss his men included]])", it's revealed that the explosives were disabled by former White Fang member Ilia Amitola, and he ends up losing the support of his men in the ensuing battle. When Adam attempts to break Blake, saying that she's still too afraid to face him without the support of her teammates, Blake shows how much she's gotten over her fear of Adam by claiming that she's "got more important things to deal with". This drives Adam over the edge, and though he puts up a bit of a fight against Blake and her friend, Sun Wukong, he ends up running away to avoid arrest and to lure Blake and Sun into a trap so that he can pick them off one by one, which Blake easily sees through. Ultimately, his actions end up turning those who once followed him against him, making his plans AllForNothing.

* Adam Taurus of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' started off as a charismatic leader of the Vale chapter of the White Fang and a dangerous fighter who was able to beat Blake Belladonna physically and psychologically, and who was able to stop Yang Xiao Long in her tracks when she came to Blake's defense by cutting her arm off at the elbow, putting her out of commission for nearly an entire season. Come Volume 5, however, as his ambitions grow {{spoiler:to the point of killing the leader of the entire White Fang, Sienna Khan, then taking her place}}, he begins to make increasingly illogical decisions, such as ordering the assassination of Ghira and Kali Belladonna purely to spite Blake, despite the fact that this did not align with the organization's goals and the fact that it would only turn Ghira into a martyr and turn the people of Menagerie against Adam. Sure enough, {{spoiler: the plan fails and Blake is able to rally support to put a stop to Adam's plan to do to Haven Academy what he did to Beacon with the assistance of a shadowy organization.}} When Blake and her allies arrive at Haven, they quickly derail Adam's plan to blow up the school by alerting the Mistral Police. When Adam attempts to blow up the school anyway so that "it's over for all of [them]", it's revealed that the explosives were disabled by former White Fang member Ilia Amitola, and he ends up losing the support of his men in the ensuing battle. When Adam attempts to break Blake, saying that she's still too afraid to face him without the support of her teammates, Blake shows how much she's gotten over her fear of Adam by claiming that she's "got more important things to deal with". This drives Adam over the edge, and though he puts up a bit of a fight against Blake and her friend, Sun Wukong, he ends up running away to avoid arrest and to lure Blake and Sun into a trap so that he can pick them off one by one, which Blake easily sees through. Ultimately, his actions end up turning those who once followed him against him, making his plans AllForNothing.

* The VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa}} fanfic ''Fanfic/TheUltimateHope'' does an excellent job giving this treatment to [[BigBad Monokuma]] ([[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]]) through an amusing FailureMontage chronicling thier [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain inability to create despair.]]

* The VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa}} fanfic ''Fanfic/TheUltimateHope'' does an excellent job giving this treatment to [[BigBad Monokuma]]([[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]]) through an amusing FailureMontage chronicling thier [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain inability to create despair.]]

* The VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa}} fanfic ''Fanfic/TheUltimateHope'' does an excellent job giving this treatment to Junko Enoshima through an amusing FailureMontage chronicling her inability create despair.

# They can become a ButtMonkey or source of cheap comedy. This has largely happened to ''Series/DoctorWho'''s Daleks, who used to be TheDreaded, but now appear on game shows, at comic cons, and children's birthday parties.

* In a stunning and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]] inversion, Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi features Mukrezar. Mukrezar is, and was, a Keeper of dubious competence, given to many Zany schemes (usually involving a RingOfPower). However, [[spoiler: since his resurrection]] he has shown such an assessment is significantly lacking. Apparently his resourcefulness, ability to bounce back from crushing defeat, and, most importantly, willingness to take incredible chances- and then ''turn them into victories even if they failed'' -was his greatest asset. Every appearance has only increased the estimation of his threat, despite being PluckyComicRelief.

* For the first two thirds of the 2009 storyline of Toys/{{Bionicle}}, [[BigBad Tuma]] is built up as a [[TheChessmaster Machiavellian badass]], and his Skrall warriors as [[BossInMookClothing each able to curb-stomp even the best Glatorian]] and using advanced militaristic tactics. The Legend Reborn presents Tuma as the DumbMuscle, who throws away any menace he had by holding onto the VillainBall with both hands, and serves merely as TheDragon to [[spoiler: [[TheMole Metus]]]]. The rest of the Skrall fare even worse, being tossed around effortlessly by the Glatorian they were supposedly more than a match for, while their tactics amount to {{Zerg Rush}}ing their opponents.

Compare and contrast FailureHero. Same concept--repeated failures [[InformedAbility ruins their credibility]]--different role.

This tends to happen as a result of the following process:-

1. An old or well-known series (particularly science fiction) has a famous signature villain that the fanbase loves.

2. The hero beats said villain(s) in their traditional form several times.

3. The writers become worried that fans will get bored with the villains unless they give said villains new strategies, or new forms of attack to use against the hero.

4. As a result, a steadily larger amount of knowledge about the villains becomes accumulated, which violates the NothingIsScarier rule. Villains are much more intimidating if we hardly know anything about them, and they come across as just being single-minded forces of nature with no real motivation other than [[ForTheEvulz to destroy things for the sake of it]]. Once writers start psychoanalyzing them and giving them definite reasons for what they do, they lose their menace.

1. They can begin the transition to AntiHero or VillainProtagonist, as did Warcraft's Orcs, and Star Trek's Borg ultimately did in isolated examples.

2. They can become a ButtMonkey or source of cheap comedy. This has largely happened to ''Series/DoctorWho'''s Daleks, who used to be TheDreaded, but now appear on game shows, at comic cons, and children's birthday parties.

3. They can be [[PutOnABus retired from use completely]].

* Prince Charming, already a fairly ineffectual villain in the ''Film/{{Shrek}}'' movies, gets decayed further to a minor protagonist in the ''Pinball/{{Shrek}}'' pinball game.

2. They can become a ButtMonkey or source of cheap comedy. This has largely happened to DoctorWho's Daleks, who used to be TheDreaded, but now appear on game shows, at comic cons, and children's birthday parties.

1. They can begin the transition to AntiHero or VillainProtagonist, as did Blizzard's Orcs, and Star Trek's Borg ultimately did in isolated examples.