History Main / VillainousBreakdown

SuperTrope to VillainousBSOD. SisterTrope to RageBreakingPoint (and can often overlap). Compare the VillainousRROD, which is where physical overexertion causes the bad guy's body to start falling apart.

* VillainousBreakdown/ProWrestling

* VillainousBreakdown/WebComics

Another type of breakdown is when the villain becomes extremely furious when either something happens that isn't part of his plan or his plans end up being ruined, or both. Once pissed off, they may lose their temper and say such phrases as "WhyWontYouDie", "I've had it with you!", "YouMonster", "I should've killed you when I had the chance!", or even "ThisIsUnforgivable". Either way, the villain will scream more and more at the other characters in fury before being bested by them. A string of KickTheDog or BadBoss moments is another subtle way of indicating this, if the villain had previously [[BenevolentBoss displayed parent-like feelings toward their henchmen]].

Another type of breakdown is when the villain becomes extremely furious when either something happens that isn't part of his plan or his plans end up being ruined, or both. Once pissed off, they may lose their temper and say such phrases as "WhyWontYouDie", "I've had it with you!", "YouMonster", or even "ThisIsUnforgivable". Either way, the villain will scream more and more at the other characters in fury before being bested by them. A string of KickTheDog or BadBoss moments is another subtle way of indicating this, if the villain had previously [[BenevolentBoss displayed parent-like feelings toward their henchmen]].

** In [[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS6E6 his review of]] ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', the Critic gives Peter Soulless [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech a heartfelt speech]] on how a series of "simple kids' books" like the Literature/DrSeuss stories are actually more mature than they're given credit for and that people will go on reading the books while the film adaptations of the books, full of "modern" (i.e., soon-to-be-dated) pop culture references, will eventually fade from memory. How does Soulless react to this speech? [[EvilCannotComprehendGood By showing the Critic and Satan's daughter, Evilina, whom the Critic is babysitting, clips of bad Dr. Seuss movies.]]

''(Lightning flashes and footage of bad Dr. Seuss movies are shown, at which the Critic and Evilina cower)''\\

** And while we're on the subject of the Critic, in his [[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS4E38 review of]] ''Film/TheHaunting1999'' he impersonates Creator/JanDeBont as an ignorant idiot who considers himself and his remake superior to Creator/RobertWise and [[Film/TheHaunting1963 his original]]. At the end though, Jan breaks down trying to get people to like his childish and hammy edits to the original ending:

** In ''The Princess Diaries II'' review, Hyper has a breakdown when her plan of kidnapping Critic and making him love her by pretending to like the same things he does doesn't work and he {{tranquil fury}}s that he'll never love her. She's DrivenToSuicide but comes back more deluded than ever.

* ''WebVideo/RealTimeFandub'' has '''multiple''' instances of these with Dr. Eggman in their ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' series, the most notable being the [[MemeticMutation infamous Moon speech,]] all because his [[InstantHumiliationJustAddYouTube nudes were leaked on the Internet]] and his [[InfidelityIndex wife had sexual intercourse with a bunch of talking animals.]]

** Archetypal Machiavellian MagnificentBastard {{Theatre/RichardIII Richard III}} goes through a breakdown just before the play's final battle, hallucinating that the ghosts of everyone whose deaths he's caused are visiting him and telling him to despair, and ultimately realizing that after everything he's done, the entire world (including himself) hates him utterly.

** Archetypal Machiavellian MagnificentBastard Richard III goes through a breakdown just before the play's final battle, hallucinating that the ghosts of everyone whose deaths he's caused are visiting him and telling him to despair, and ultimately realizing that after everything he's done, the entire world (including himself) hates him utterly.

Not to confuse with BrokenHeel, which is a literal application of the term.

The tendency of relatively calm and composed villains to lose their cool over the course of the story. Usually happens to arrogant [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]-type villains (especially if said villain is a SmugSnake), as control of the situation slips from his or her grasp and things come up that they [[DidntSeeThatComing Didn't See Coming]]. Most notable when it happens towards the end of the story to show how pathetic the BigBad is when things are not going exactly as planned ("ThisCannotBe"). Especially apparent if they previously had CreepyMonotone or DissonantSerenity, and [[MoodWhiplash suddenly]] start ChewingTheScenery (when they do this because their plan is ''succeeding'', it's more of a case of DrunkOnTheDarkSide). {{Dirty Coward}}s also suffer from this, especially when they are cornered.

!!Example Subpages:

!!Other Examples:

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eggman_3.png]]]]

SuperTrope to VillainousBSOD. SisterTrope to RageBreakingPoint (and can often overlap).

* VillainousBreakdown/{{Webcomics}}
* VillainousBreakdown/WebOriginal

-->''I'm nearly human,''\\
''pity me, I'm almost a human being.''\\
''Don't touch me, oh,''\\
''I couldn't bear the thought of it..''

!!Examples:

* [[VillainousBreakdown/AnimatedFilms Film — Animated]]
* [[VillainousBreakdown/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]

* VillainousBreakdown/{{Music}}
* VillainousBreakdown/ProfessionalWrestling
* VillainousBreakdown/{{Theatre}}

SuperTrope to VillainousBSOD.

SisterTrope to RageBreakingPoint (and can often overlap).

%% Image moved to the Film subpage per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1401730057054884300
%% If you have an image to suggest, please create a thread for the appropriate subpage rather than this page.

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!!Examples

Note that this isn't necessarily an example of VillainDecay. On the contrary, some villains become much more terrifying and dangerous when their façade of cunning and civility crumbles. They might even end up dishing out a vicious NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to the Hero(es), engage in some ColdBloodedTorture or, [[DownerEnding goodness forbid]], drop the VillainBall and [[CombatPragmatist Just FINISH HIM Already]] instead of playing around. It could even lead them to stop holding back their true nature and assuming their true form as the monster they actually were. Thus, a Villainous Breakdown is frequently a trigger for a OneWingedAngel transformation. AffablyEvil and FauxAffablyEvil villains are prone to becoming far more terrifying and disturbing when they undergo one of these because their fairly ''normal'' personality serve to emphasize their breakdown.

Another type of breakdown is when the villain becomes extremely furious when either something happens that isn't part of his plan or his plans end up being ruined, or both. Once pissed off, he may lose his temper and say such phrases as "WhyWontYouDie", "I've had it with you!", "YouBastard!", or even "ThisIsUnforgivable!". Either way, the villain will scream more and more at the other characters in fury before being bested by them. A string of KickTheDog or BadBoss moments is another subtle way of indicating this, if the villain had previously displayed paternalistic feelings toward his men.

One specific variation appears in some VideoGames where the main villain is able to broadcast messages to the player over the course of the story, and they eventually lose it and start broadcasting more and more desperate pleas/insults/bribes to the player as they get closer to them.

[[caption-width-right:350:And this is one of the more mild cases of this happening with him...]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thats_it.png]]

[[caption-width-right:350:This is one of his NightmareFace and trust me there alot worse then this one]]