Line #14 Main/HumiliationConga


1	%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1632247945077491500
2	%% Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1552383139090922700
3	%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to discuss a new image
4	%%
5	->''"Do you know what my days used to look like? I just tested. Nobody murdered me... Or put me in a potato... Or fed me to birds... I had a pretty good life. And then ''you'' showed up. You dangerous. Mute. ''Lunatic.''"''
6	-->-- '''[=GLaDOS=]''', ''VideoGame/Portal2''
7
8	It's the end of the episode/StoryArc/series, and a {{villain\|s}} or {{Jerkass}} didn't get what they wanted. Now it's just a matter of dealing with them.
9
10	Sometimes you want [[VillainExitStageLeft them to escape]]. Or have them undergo a [[JerkassRealization Jerkass]] or HeelRealization and, if they're evil, for them [[HeelFaceTurn to become a hero]]. No, not this time, usually because it would make for an unsatisfying ending or would just take up too much time. But there's a problem... you can't kill them off. Maybe [[NeverSayDie the censors won't allow it]]. Maybe they're just [[HarmlessVillain not harmful or evil enough]] or what they did isn't deserving of [[CharacterDeath death]]. Maybe they're [[CompleteImmortality literally unkillable]]. Maybe you just aren't feeling up to bloodshed. Maybe you feel [[CruelMercy death is too good for them]]. [[JokerImmunity Or, of course, they need to survive]] for their next EvilPlan.
11
12	Then how about the [[TitleDrop Humiliation Conga]]?
13
14	Everything the antagonist has built up, piece by piece, comes crashing down in front of them: [[StarCrossedLovers the lovebirds they kept apart]] so they could have a hero(ine) [[VillainousCrush for themselves]] pass by them arm-in-arm in full wedding regalia, [[HappilyMarried discussing their plans for their future together]]. The hotel they spent millions building catches fire and burns down; their former YesMan steps on their foot, the bum they spat on now has a Rolex (probably the exact model ''they'' coveted) and asks them to light his cigar, and the [[KickTheDog dog they kicked]] is now [[VideoGame/DuckHunt laughing at them]] (or [[UrineTrouble worse]]). People ComeToGawk at HowTheMightyHaveFallen, and when [[TheFreelanceShameSquad one starts laughing, everyone joins in]]. And here come the cops; turns out [[EngineeredPublicConfession the mic was on when they declared their foul intentions]].
15
16	Ultimately, they realize they're in ''very'' dire straits. They're still alive, yes, but that's not all for the good.
17
18	This {{trope}} is very popular on kids' shows or a show with a general audience, as it's a way to ensure the antagonist is good and defeated without getting unduly violent. Compare with CherryTapping in VideoGames. Heroes may knowingly tailor one as part of a CruelMercy punishment or maybe a CoolAndUnusualPunishment (or both) for the character.
19
20	It's worth noting this isn't always done because the antagonist can't die or doesn't deserve to; oftentimes, they could be killed, but it just wouldn't be a fitting end for them. As some proponents of CruelMercy would say, sometimes [[CharacterDeath death]] would just be the easy way out and is too good for the villain in question. The audience may be left feeling such an antagonist didn't get nearly what they deserved. Thus, a well-crafted [[TitleDrop Humiliation Conga]] offers a satisfying alternative. The antagonist is defeated, but they didn't get the easy [[CharacterDeath death]]. And naturally, this makes sense; the more we hate the character, the more we want to see them suffer. (Granted, sometimes the antagonist ''is'' killed at the tail end of their [[TitleDrop Humiliation Conga]], apparently on the reasoning their degradation won't be complete until they're a rotting corpse; likely suffering the treatment of LastDisrespects too.)
21
22	Occasionally, this {{trope\|s}} may be quite literal, as the protagonists may find it hard to prevent themselves from literally dancing with glee at the antagonist's downfall. If sex or overly affectionate people are involved, it becomes SexualKarma.
23
24	Because of the nature of this {{trope}}, a full '''{{Spoiler}} Warning''' is probably called for.
25
26	Often the main component of a BreakTheHaughty subplot. If the antagonist is evil, this may cause (or even be the result of) a VillainousBreakdown. But beware -- done too gratuitously or drawn out too long, [[UnintentionallySympathetic it might actually make people feel sorry for the trounced antagonist]], or worse, effectively make the protagonists of the story the ''[[MeetTheNewBoss new]]'' [[HeWhoFightsMonsters baddies]].
27
28	Compare HumblePie (when it's a single, very humiliating event rather than a series of humiliating events), TraumaCongaLine (a far more serious {{trope}} where audiences are meant to feel sympathetic for the victim rather than cheering their downfall), and TheChewToy. May overlap with ShamedByAMob or TheFreelanceShameSquad, depending on who shows up to witness the humiliation.
29
30	Compare and contrast CringeComedy, which similarly humiliates the characters but is intended more to play up the amusement of their embarrassment (or the audience's) than as a consequence of their actions.
31
32	Not to be confused with TheMasochismTango.
33
34	[[noreallife]]
35
36	----
37	!!Example subpages:
38
39	[[index]]
40	* HumiliationConga/AnimeAndManga
41	* HumiliationConga/ComicBooks
42	* HumiliationConga/FanWorks
43	* [[HumiliationConga/AnimatedFilms Films — Animation]]
44	* [[HumiliationConga/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
45	* HumiliationConga/{{Literature}}
46	* HumiliationConga/LiveActionTV
47	* [[HumiliationConga/ProWrestling Professional Wrestling]]
48	* HumiliationConga/{{Theatre}}
49	* HumiliationConga/VideoGames
50	* HumiliationConga/WebOriginal
51	** ''HumiliationConga/AttackOnMika''
52	** ''HumiliationConga/EtraChanSawIt''
53	** ''HumiliationConga/MangaSoprano''
54	** ''HumiliationConga/MangaWaido''
55	** ''HumiliationConga/MoniRobo''
56	** ''HumiliationConga/RefreshingStories''
57	** ''HumiliationConga/RevengeFilms''
58	** ''HumiliationConga/TroubleBusters''
59	* HumiliationConga/{{Webcomics}}
60	* HumiliationConga/WesternAnimation
61	[[/index]]
62
63	!!Other examples:
64	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
65	* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': At the beginning of Season 8 episode 36, Big M. goes through a short one where he gets his foot caught in a bear trap, [[HurtFootHop hops in pain]] over the edge of a cliff, and then, once he's on the ground below the ''very'' short "cliff", he loses his coin and chases it into the wishing well.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Manhwa]]
69	* In ''Manhwa/HesDedicatedToRoses'', Mi-Mi gets a positively ''epic'' one. [[spoiler:The girl she's bullied, used, outed, and pretty much been a bitch to the whole series? I-Da realizes that she can't just let others push her aside, undergoes a physical and mental transformation and announces that she's not going to take any of that crap anymore, and she'll beat up anybody who tries. The boyfriend she's been manipulating the whole time and got sent to juvenile hall? Hak-Yoon breaks out, tells everybody that Mi-Mi was the one responsible for his AttemptedRape of I-Da, burns M-Mi's forehead, and tells her he'll be looking for her once he's out of juvie. This leads to everyone the the class hating her and spitting on her, and I-Da not punching her because she feels it wouldn't be worth it. She goes home, ready to tell her parents everything and getting I-Da's parents sent to jail, just in time to see her father being arrested for shady business practices, realizing that her uncle has told the police everything about them, and that they've lost all their money. And the boy she fell in love with, the reason she pulled all this crap? Na-Ru has fallen in love with I-Da. Mi-Mi pretty much breaks after all this, and ends up being a shut-in in her uncle's house, not seeing or talking to anyone]].
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Music]]
73	* The music video for ''Music/CatHairballs'' might as well be retitled "[[WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy Stimpy's]] Humiliation Conga." For starters, the video is about Ren forcing Stimpy to lick and hwarf up hairballs onto a conveyor belt so that the former can make stuff out of them. Outside of that, Stimpy gets: forcibly squeezed like a tube of toothpaste, then shot off like a rocket, smacked around, and slapped really hard. By the latter half of the video, Stimpy is running out of body parts to lick, can barely hwarf, and is desperately gasping for breath, yet they are still being forced to keep going. Eventually, Stimpy is completely licked clean of hair and, after a lick that turns up nothing, and an all-or-nothing hwarf, passes out on the conveyor belt. Then Ren violently [[PainToTheAss stamps Stimpy's ass]] which makes a tortured ''hluarf'' sound upon impact, and the video ends on an unconscious Stimpy, whose ass is sporting a new brand smashed into their cheeks.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
77	* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
78	** In the last case of the second game, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll Justice For All]]'', it is revealed [[spoiler:your client, Matt Engarde, is indirectly guilty of the murder; he hired a hitman to do it for him]]. After proving his guilt, the player (Phoenix) gets to decide the guilty man's fate. Have him declared "Guilty" where he will go to jail, or let him be "Not Guilty" where he will immediately be targeted by the hitman that he tried to use as a scapegoat. It's such a lose-lose situation for him that if you choose "Not Guilty," he'll beg and scream and confess to ''everything'' just to get the extra buffer of prison security between him and the hitman.
79	** In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Trials and Tribulations]]'': [[spoiler:Dahlia believes that being dead makes her beyond punishment by the living. But when Phoenix reveals that the target of her revenge, missing and presumed dead, is in fact the medium whose body she is currently inhabiting, he and Mia explain in detail how each of her crimes failed in some way, and that she has doomed herself to the "ultimate punishment": spending all eternity as a "miserable, pathetic, weak creature who can never win at anything". In hell]].
80	** Happens to the killer of Case 2 of ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]''. [[spoiler:Florent L'Belle, after his VillainousBreakdown leads to him losing his hair dye and make-up, is revealed he looks like a haggard middle-aged man. He then answers a series of calls on his [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes cell-phone epaulets]], learning that his sponsors are leaving him, he's being fired as the mayor's aide, a vague project (possibly his personal beauty product brand) is being cancelled, and he is being sued for 100 million dollars for damaging the stratosphere with his products]].
81	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HumiliationConga