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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 7 | [[quoteright:299:[[Webcomic/VGCats https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/victory_is_boring.jpg]]]] |
| 8 | [[caption-width-right:299:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames Mah boi,]] [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=107 this peace is what all true warriors strive for!]]]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | ->''"When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain,\ |
| 11 | he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer."'' |
| 12 | -->-- Apocryphally attributed to '''Creator/JohnMilton''', speaking about UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat |
| 13 | |
| 14 | So you have a character who has achieved some incredibly difficult or elusive victory that they've been working towards for just about forever. Now that it's finally over and all their efforts have paid off, they've got it made, right? |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Not if Victory Is Boring. If the character is a villain, now that they actually went ahead and pulled off their plan to TakeOverTheWorld, they have to [[DystopiaIsHard actually run it]]. And [[PenPushingPresident fill out all the required paperwork]]. In triplicate. Man, those days when the heroes would [[GeneralFailure foil your latest plot every single week]] only to [[VillainExitStageLeft let you slip away at the last minute]] were so much more entertaining than this! (Wait, is that why the heroes did it in the first place?!!) |
| 17 | |
| 18 | On the other hand, if the character is a hero, then maybe winning and having finally shown up TheRival or won the big tournament or game they've been dreaming of since they were a kid leaves them saying SoWhatDoWeDoNow If the hero is particularly HotBlooded, [[BloodKnight battle addicted]], [[InHarmsWay fond of adventure]] or [[SociopathicHero just plain crazy/sociopathic]], he might [[SequelReset start going out and trying to find/create new challenges that weren't there before]]. If only there was some reliably recurring villain that could keep them occupied... |
| 19 | |
| 20 | The {{Trope Namer|s}} is Mai from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', who proclaims the phrase after catching siblings Sokka and Katara during second season episode "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheChase The Chase]]". |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Before we get into any examples, we should note that every VideoGame will eventually fall into this trope. No matter what, some players will beat everything, get the InfinityPlusOneSword, OneHundredPercentCompletion, etc. and ''even they will still quit eventually''. So please, limit it to in-universe examples. See AWinnerIsYou for games with unsatisfying endings. Compare ItsEasySoItSucks, for when a game is boring even before reaching victory due to its lack of difficulty. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Yet more proof that StatusQuoIsGod and that FailureIsTheOnlyOption, for everyone. May invoke WantingIsBetterThanHaving. Compare with PyrrhicVictory, VengeanceFeelsEmpty, WasItReallyWorthIt, NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction, and LonelyAtTheTop for other times when winning turns out not to be all it's cracked up to be. See also AndThenWhat, RichBoredom, ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest, and ComicallyInvincibleHero, which may overlap. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | !!As this can frequently be an {{Ending Trope|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]]. |
| 27 | ---- |
| 28 | !!Administrivia/InUniverseExamplesOnly: |
| 29 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 30 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 31 | * In ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' the Queen Sayoko arc has Sayoko enter a demonic contract that grants her mind control powers so she can finally defeat Belldandy. At the climax of the arc, Sayoko has reduced Belldandy to an obedient slave only to abruptly cancel the contract. As she explains to Mara, a victory achieved through somebody else's power meant nothing compared to personally crushing her rival. |
| 32 | * The ''New Grapper Baki'' series of ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'' opens with five of the world's greatest martial arts masters, who also all happen to be death row inmates, escaping prison and coming to Japan in the hopes of experiencing defeat for the first time in their lives. [[spoiler:Although most of them [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor turn out to not like defeat or take it very well...]]]] |
| 33 | * In the second season ''Anime/BeybladeBurst'', the series is introduced to Free de la Hoya, the [[WorldsStrongestMan #1 Blader in the world.]] Free is so ridiculously strong, his default expression is an apathetic, bored look. Because of this, he rarely attends any training sessions with his teammates and even feels like having a team is pointless as, quoted from himself, he'll win each and every time. However, what's funny that Free himself stated that although he does get bored of blading sometimes due to his strength, he feels like winning is the only thing that makes him happy. However, character development does kick in when he bonds with Valt whom he sees as someone with potential to give him a good match. Free's first on-screen loss was to fellow Big 5 member Lui Shirosagi where Free, upset at the loss at first, was still [[WorthyOpponent happy to have found someone that was on his level]]. |
| 34 | * At the very beginning of ''Manga/BlackCat'', when the mob accountant they have captured asks the duo if they would do him a favor and let him see his family once more, Train immediately says OK, because catching and taking him right to the cops would be too boring. |
| 35 | * ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': In his backstory, Baraggan Louisenbairn conquered Hueco Mundo to become its God-King but eventually became so bored that he was about to have his own army fight each other to the death before Aizen, Gin, and Tousen showed up to usurp his rule. |
| 36 | * Light, the villain protagonist from ''Manga/DeathNote'' briefly mentioned that it was too easy and no fun just leading the Kira investigation team around after he [[spoiler:offed L]]. Enter Near and Mello to rectify that. [[TimeSkip Eventually]]. |
| 37 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'': |
| 38 | ** In the BadFuture that Future Trunks hails from, it's heavily hinted that this is why Androids 17 and 18 dragged out their fights with Trunks and Future Gohan for so long before ultimately going for the kill. In fact, when Trunks returns to challenge them after the defeat of Cell in the main timeline and Future 18 decides to kill him to blow off steam, Future 17 gives her the okay but nonetheless points out that they'll be throwing away "weeks worth of fun" if she does. |
| 39 | ** From ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' is Universe 12's God of Destruction, [[FishPeople Geene]]. He carries out his job ruthlessly and indiscriminately, leaving his universe with the second-highest quality of life in the multiverse (allowing him to skip the universe-ending Tournament of Power)... and leaving him with almost nothing to do, thus he's grown very bored. |
| 40 | * In the anime of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', when Il Palazzo finally ''does'' conquer F City, his urge to conquer is so shocked at being suppressed that it pulls a SplitPersonalityTakeover. |
| 41 | * Acnologia of ''Manga/FairyTail'' [[BloodKnight happily lived a life of carnage and destruction]] until running into a problem -- he became so ungodly powerful that burning the whole world to the ground and destroying everyone was no longer even a challenge. He ended up lying low and doing almost nothing for centuries, only occasionally reappearing to check on unusually strong people ([[CurbStompBattle and curbstomp them effortlessly]]). |
| 42 | * [[AxeCrazy Doctor]] [[BloodKnight Akabane]] from ''Manga/GetBackers''. [[LightningBruiser Fast, durable, and lethal]], he can kill most opposition so fast that they [[DiagonalCut don't even realize he's moved.]] As a result, he's bored and completely unchallenged until he meets the titular duo. Cue twenty-odd volumes of mind games and battles to the death. [[spoiler: He wins]]. |
| 43 | * In ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'', Erika is obviously the only one who misses romping around and being "beautiful 14-year-old superheroes" at the end. |
| 44 | * In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', Alucard's main motivation is trying to find a [[WorthyOpponent human]] that can [[DeathSeeker kill him]] because he's bored of being practically [[EldritchAbomination a]] [[InvincibleHero god]] to the point of agreeing to reduce his [[PowerLevels power level]] to make fighting more of a challenge. |
| 45 | * [[AcePilot Cunningham]] from ''[[Anime/IGPXImmortalGrandPrix IGPX]]''. He and Team Velshtein achieved the championship quickly, and at a younger age than any previous team. As it turns out, this got boring quick for Cunningham, who desired a real challenge for the title. Enter Takashi and Team Satomi... |
| 46 | * ''Franchise/LupinIII'''s cop, Zenigata, actually manages to capture Lupin. Inevitably, Zenigata begins to realize that without Lupin to chase around, his life is empty and boring, as Lupin was the only criminal that truly challenged him. In one story, Lupin sits in jail for an entire year awaiting his execution. Zenigata spends the year getting more and more depressed and dreading the execution day even more than Lupin. When Lupin escapes at the last minute, Zenigata is overjoyed, and the chase resumes. |
| 47 | * ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': In the canon of ''Fortune Lover'', this is the keynote of [[TheAce Prince Geordo]]'s characterization. Being able to effortlessly succeed at anything he tries has left him incredibly bored with life, going through the motions and deriving most of his pleasures from sadism. Maria is supposed to break him out of this by providing a source of interest and novelty in his life. In the actual show, his engagement to Katarina has allowed him to avoid this, as her antics and eccentricities provide him with a constant stream of new experiences and her essential kindness has helped keep him from turning sadistic. |
| 48 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 49 | ** Done subtly in regard to the world's greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk. While what he was like when he was younger is a mystery, as an adult he seems to have no secondary goals and has become bored with nothing to accomplish, and jaded because so few people can give him a challenge. As a result, he tries to pass the time by doing things such as wiping out Don Krieg's fleet and chasing the survivors halfway across the world (though only because they disturbed his nap). Which seems to do nothing at all to alleviate his boredom. When he meets the main crew's swordsman Zoro, who's aiming for his title, he's impressed by the younger man's determination and encourages him to surpass him. |
| 50 | ** This is also why Gold Roger turned himself in to the World Government in the first place. He had seen everything, done everything, and had nothing left to do. Seeing as he was dying from an incurable disease anyway, he figured he would turn himself in and do one final thing: tell everyone, right before they executed him, that he had hidden all his wealth somewhere, and that whoever claimed it would be rich beyond their wildest dreams -- so long as they could find it. [[MacGuffinTitle And so it began...]] |
| 51 | ** Kaido rose to become one of the contenders for the title of WorldsStrongestMan and is a NighInvulnerable monster regardless. Unfortunately, twenty years on top of the food chain with no one to challenge him have left him a depressed, alcoholic DeathSeeker who's [[BlessedWithSuck so tough that he]] ''[[BlessedWithSuck can't]]'' [[BlessedWithSuck die]], further adding to his depression. [[spoiler: When Luffy comes along and seems likely to kill Kaido upon unlocking [[ToonPhysics Gear 5]], Kaido seems almost ''happy'']]. |
| 52 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': |
| 53 | ** The Orange Islands champion Drake. He was wondering how long it would be before a challenger would defeat him when Ash made his way there. |
| 54 | ** Taken even further by the anime versions of Cynthia and Leon. The former is so strong that she can't find any joy in battles anymore. Cynthia even considered retiring from battling after the World Coronation because she felt that there was no challenge in Pokémon Battles anymore. It wasn't until she ran into Ash who finally manages to defeat her that she regains the joy of battling. On Leon's side, being the WorldsBestWarrior [[AdaptationalBadass he stood way above everyone else, including other Champions.]] It's why he's so desperately seeking out new challenges that can push him to the limit. [[spoiler:And like Cynthia, he gets the opponent he seeks in Ash, who manages to defeat him and become the new world champion]]. |
| 55 | ** Ash ''himself'' eventually admits to feeling this way in [[Anime/PokemonToBeAPokemonMaster the final episode]] [[spoiler:after becoming world monarch, stating that he doesn't really feel like a Champion and how it wasn't his actual goal when it came to wanting ToBeAMaster. He then comes to realize that ItsTheJourneyThatCounts and goes WalkingTheEarth.]] |
| 56 | * In ''Manga/RecordOfRagnarok'' UsefulNotes/LuBu and [[Myth/NorseMythology Thor]] both experienced this, and regarded the other as a WorthyOpponent in their fight as they were the first to provide each other a challenge. Lü Bu was the WorldsStrongestMan in his time, and [[BloodKnight spent his entire life in search of strong opponents]] only to realize that nobody could match him [[DrivenToSuicide and allowed himself to be executed by his rival Cao Cao soon after]]. Meanwhile Thor had similar struggles, as he was disappointed after single-handedly wiping out the Jötunn with minimal effort. |
| 57 | * In ''Manga/SakiShinohayuDawnOfAge'', Kanna was undefeated at games, and as a result, got bored with winning all the time. She then got into mahjong, and while she did fairly well at first, she then lost to Hayari Mizuhara. Judging from [[DontYouDarePityMe her]] [[ClusterFBomb reaction]] [[SoreLoser when she lost]], though, perhaps she was happier when she was undefeated. |
| 58 | * In ''Manga/ShinMazingerZero'', this is the only reason the storyline didn't stop before it could start. [[AdaptationalVillainy Juuzo Kabuto]] used Mazinger Z to easily TakeOverTheWorld...and was so underwhelmed that he had Minerva X [[PeggySue send them back in time]] and sent his research to others so they could give him a challenge. |
| 59 | * Spoofed hard in ''Literature/{{Slayers}}''. One episode features a treacherous prince who plots to murder his older brother in order to become first in line to the throne. [[AndThenWhat Lina asks him what he plans to do once he is king]]. The prince is absolutely dumbfounded by the question and awkwardly says that "Ummm...I was kind of planning to rule and stuff...I guess." |
| 60 | * Done interestingly with both ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' and ''Anime/TenchiUniverse'' -- in ''Muyo!'', Tenchi's more than happy to go back to a regular life. The five girls he's shacking up with make that quite impossible. In ''Universe'', Tenchi and the girls go their separate ways at the end, but when Ryoko returns, she points out that the others are coming back to him because they missed the fun. Tenchi's melancholy prior to Ryoko returning makes it clear that he missed it too. |
| 61 | * ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': After Simon defeats Lord Genome, the people build a city and the fighters that won the war are now left to run it. Most of them are quite bored with it, as they're just figureheads without the aptitude or desire to govern. This is averted [[spoiler:the second time around, where Simon chooses to become a wanderer rather than take a leading position in the government]]. |
| 62 | * In ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' Megatron was able to kill Optimus, but afterwards, it had left him empty and bored with his ArchNemesis gone, and spent the next few episodes doing nothing. When Optimus is resurrected, he is back to his old self again. |
| 63 | * Thorkell from the manga ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', defects from the Danish army to align himself with the English because he thinks it would be more fun. Afterwards, he decides to [[spoiler: become the vassal of Prince Canute, the clear underdog in the competition for the Danish throne,]] as if he did not have enough to fight against to begin with. The man is a [[BoisterousBruiser huge]], [[OlderThanTheyLook Older Than He Looks]], man's man of a warrior, so it is almost expected. However, despite being on the strongest side in England with rival factions constantly uprising against them, Thorkell is extremely bored because his worth as an intimidation-based commander means that he has to sit on the sidelines. |
| 64 | * Yusuke Urameshi from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' falls victim to this after [[spoiler: he wins the dark tournament, although he is then punished for his complacency as the next arc starts with him getting kidnapped]]. It then happens AGAIN after [[spoiler: beating Sensui, because being an S-rank demon leaves him as the most powerful fighter in the human world by miles.]] |
| 65 | [[/folder]] |
| 66 | |
| 67 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 68 | * A few AlternateHistory stories have [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] villain Kang The Conqueror actually succeed in his quest to take over the Twenty(first) Century. He quickly finds that administration is not his forte. |
| 69 | * The 'Crime Syndicate' of Creator/DCComics has become the de facto rulers of their own Earth. It's so boring they start their own rebellions against themselves just for the fun of smashing them down. "Thankfully", the Qwardians get their mad on and decide to kill everything and everyone. |
| 70 | * In a ''ComicBook/DuckTales'' comic, Flintheart Glomgold once manages to take over Duckburg while Scrooge is away fighting Magica [=DeSpell=]. When Scrooge returns, he sends Glomgold through a ParanoiaGambit that eventually results in him giving up his ownership of the city so that he can start anew. |
| 71 | ** Another comic (but not ''ComicBook/DuckTales'') has Magica venting over her inability to steal Scrooge's NumberOneDime. When her familiar asks if she really needed Scrooge's dime for her Midas Touch amulet, Magica realizes that ''no, she doesn't.'' She still has the ''other'' dime Scrooge gave her in her first appearance when she was collecting the dimes touched by the world's richest. (She originally wanted Scrooge's Number One for extra power.) Making the amulet, Magica gains the Midas Touch and becomes supremely wealthy -- but is still upset because she never did beat Scrooge. Even flaunting her new fortune doesn't work, as Scrooge is just happy to know she won't bother him anymore. When she destroys his money bin by turning it to gold (making it too soft to contain his cash), he logically decides to ''sell the gold'' to pay for a new one, and then some. This is the last straw, and Magica destroys her amulet, thereby turning the transformed gold back, before Scrooge could do just that. |
| 72 | * In the ''Emperor Doom'' graphic novel, ComicBook/DoctorDoom succeeds in conquering the world by brainwashing everyone. By and large, he's a fairly benevolent monarch and does much to solve many of the world's problems... but in order to maintain this utopia, he has to attend all the meetings and make all the decisions. Unfortunately, he's bored out of his mind, such that when the one unaffected hero manages to break the spell on a few others, he lets the rebellion win. He'd rather be a conqueror than a DeskJockey, indicating his NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist nature. |
| 73 | * ''ComicBook/TheInhumans:'' At the end of ''ComicBook/SilentWar'', Maximus the Mad finally achieves his goal of overthrowing his brother Black Bolt and ruling Attilan. The next time we see him, at the start of ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', Maximus is having to deal with the day to day running of an entire species... and he's bored out of his skull. He can't step aside fast enough when Black Bolt comes back, and behaves for the better part of the next decade's worth of stories. |
| 74 | * ComicBook/TheJoker has often said that he doesn't want to kill Franchise/{{Batman}}, because if he did then it would spoil all their lovely fun. |
| 75 | ** But in ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'', it's revealed that he literally cannot imagine a world without Batman... no matter how hard he tries, despite having gained cosmic power and become the ruler of reality. |
| 76 | ** In the ''Going Sane'' storyline, Joker actually regains his sanity and settles down to live a normal life when he thinks he's killed Batman; after he's beaten Batman, there's no point in being the Joker anymore. |
| 77 | ** The same thing happens in his ''ComicBook/KnightTerrors'' tie-in (though it was actually an accidental death), where the Joker ends up joining Wayne Enterprises to fill the void, initially thinking that he can find some way to take advantage of the company's resources to commit crimes. But later, he starts joining the other employees at parties and gatherings, and when rumors start spreading that Batman is NotQuiteDead, the Joker... [[BecomingTheMask flips through channels in his TV at home]]. According to the story, [[FauxHorrific this is the Joker's greatest fear]]. |
| 78 | ** There is evidence that Batman himself could succumb to this if he would ever "win" his war on crime. He's somewhat uninterested in actually ''keeping'' villains put away, when someone with his intelligence and vast fiscal resources probably could, simply preferring to let others (who really ''suck'' at it) do that for him. Them breaking out defines his purpose and justifies putting on the cape and cowl every night (which is why he has been accused of being as insane as the people he fights). |
| 79 | *** Other stories posit the opposite. He nearly went into a HeroicBSOD in one story when the Joker broke out of Arkham ''three hours'' after Batman captured him, and the Joker left a message taunting Batman about it. Batman's greatest dream is a Gotham that doesn't need a Batman. |
| 80 | * In the ''Marvel: The End'' series, ComicBook/{{Thanos}} succeeds in acquiring the Heart of the Universe and defeats the ''entire'' Celestial Order (Galactus, Infinity, Eternity, Order, Chaos, etc.) and finally ends all existence in the universe other than himself, but finds his efforts to be utterly pointless. He then discovers that a power other than them [[GambitRoulette may have even been manipulating these events to the point that Thanos himself will realize this]], so using the Heart of the Universe, Thanos restores the Universe to the way it was before. |
| 81 | * One of the alternate universes featured in ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'' is a world where the Justice League defeated every villain and created a utopia. As a result, all the [[LegacyCharacter Legacy Characters]] and new heroes have nothing to do, reducing them to vapid celebrities who waste the day away with hedonism and simulations of old battles. |
| 82 | * In Creator/CrossGen's ''Mystic'', the villainous Magus succeeds in casting an immensely powerful spell that turns all his citizens into mindlessly obedient undead master soldiers. With no rebellions or riots to quash, he becomes comically bored. |
| 83 | * ''ComicBook/{{Noob}}'' reveals that Tenshirock, the hacker who wants to drive people away from MMORPG, was hoping for this to happen in the one in which the story is set. One of the three player factions was secretly given an unfair advantage (by someone else than him), so he was hoping that the players of the other significant faction would end up giving up out of frustration and that the third, newer and underpopulated, would be easily beaten, leaving only one faction with very bored players who would end up quitting as well. However, by the time the readers find out about this plan, the unfair advantage has been made public and taken care of, making the faction that used to have it now be the one in a position of weakness. |
| 84 | * Franchise/MarvelUniverse ''ComicBook/SecretWarsII'', issue #3. The Beyonder takes mental control of every living thing on Earth, then gets bored and releases them. |
| 85 | * Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog: |
| 86 | ** ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': |
| 87 | *** There is a dimension where Knuckles the Echidna went mad with power and, in an attempt to "bring order to chaos" as he phrased it, he began to conquer the entire planet. He vanquished all enemies, hero (Sonic, Shadow, Tails, etc.) and villain (Eggman, Ixis Naugus, Snively) alike, making sure to take their souls to form the core of his army for extra insurance. However, upon ruling it, he became extremely bored and allowed a few Freedom Fighters to exist -- despite knowing their location already -- so as to keep himself entertained. Eventually, dark Knuckles, better known as Enerjak, decided to look for other worlds to conquer three decades after this all had transpired, and in turn, sealed his fate. |
| 88 | *** A similar thing occurred after [[spoiler:the first]] Robotnik was finally defeated. Mobius is free, Mobotropolis is reclaimed, everyone is happy... except Sonic, who's completely overwhelmed by the tense political climate, the [[FantasticRacism overwhelming hatred]] of the Robians, and of course, the lack of a single enemy to fight. He goes so far as to wish Robotnik was back, so he'd know what he was fighting. Fortunately, Naugus showed up soon after[[spoiler: followed by the second Robotnik]]. |
| 89 | *** The reason why Dr. Eggman, then Robo-Robotnik, decided to invade Mobius Prime. He succeeded in conquering his own Mobius, wiping out the Freedom Fighters in a massive nuclear attack in the progress, but without any worthy enemy to fight, he got bored with his victory and so arrived in Mobius Prime, claiming the late Dr. Robotnik's empire and began the Second Robotnik War in order to "fill the void". |
| 90 | ** ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'': |
| 91 | *** After Dr. Robotnik's defeat and the fall of his empire in Issue 100, Sonic quickly found himself bored to tears with no enemy to fight. He practically jumped at the chance to investigate an issue on the Flickies' island, on Tails' advice. |
| 92 | *** Around the same time, during the {{EMP}} that caused all of Dr. Robotnik's technology to fail, [[PhlebotinumRebel Shortfuse the Cybernik]] ended up missing everything due to his flight systems having cut out while he was over a volcano, and, upon being found by the other Freedom Fighters, lamented the fact that he could no longer take revenge on Dr. Robotnik for his UnwillingRoboticisation. He found himself unable to hold down regular jobs, but, when the Insectra Empire requested assistance in their war against the Blurrgh, he took the job with gusto. [[spoiler:[[ForeverWar Such a shame that this war had been going on for thousands of years, with neither side really sure what started it anymore.]]]] |
| 93 | * Franchise/{{Superman}}: |
| 94 | ** In a heart-wrenching issue, Superman competes against someone who has similar powers [[spoiler: which his opponent got via a method of rejuvenating himself that would eventually kill him]]. Because of a technicality [[spoiler: (the rejuvenation process is considered cheating)]], Superman wins. Superman then [[spoiler: reveals that he's learned his opponent was not only TheLastOfHisKind, but ''also from the same solar system as Superman'', and [[ManlyTears sorrowfully]]]] asks "when you're Superman, what's one more victory?" |
| 95 | ** A pre-Crisis story had an old pre-[=WW2=] supervillain (despite the fact that this was Earth-1, where Supes himself was supposed to be the first superhuman) give up his life of crime to go star-hopping with his "alien friends". He comes back to Earth to see home again while he can but is a bit peeved that his tales of traveling in space are disbelieved and that he's mostly been forgotten in favor of Superman, so he gets his friends to rejuvenate him temporarily so that he can have one last splash of super-villainy. He fights Superman, who lets him win so that he can die in triumph. |
| 96 | ** In ''Comicbook/DCComicsPresents'' #56, Franchise/{{Superman}} and [[Comicbook/PowerGirl an alternate universe]] Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} fight Maaldor, a villain with godlike powers who challenges them because he's conquered his whole universe... and now he's ''bored''. |
| 97 | * ComicBook/TomStrong is a [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] heroic example. He's outlived his nemesis and [[WorthyOpponent only intellectual equal]] Paul Saveen, and without Paul, he's at a bit of a loose end. When he meets Paul's ghost, he admits that he misses his enemy. |
| 98 | * ''ComicBook/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'': After winning the election to become Cybertron's leader following the end of the Great War, Starscream realizes that he's stuck actually ''running'' the planet, which has been ravaged by millions of years and is suffering from severe resource shortages. And since he's running a democracy rather than a totalian military dictatorship, he's got to [[SlaveToPR maintain an appearance]] of being benevolent and heroic. |
| 99 | * The one-shot ''Franchise/GIJoe: Deviations'' from Creator/IDWPublishing deals with a world where Cobra won...and Cobra Commander finds that ruling the world is just plain ''boring''. Major Bludd agrees, as there's not much use for a mercenary in a world conquered and kept peaceful by Cobra. The whole situation is PlayedForLaughs, much more than other ''Joe'' comics tend to be. |
| 100 | [[/folder]] |
| 101 | |
| 102 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 103 | * ''FanFic/NightsFavoredChild'': Nightmare Moon admits that the thrill of having [[AlternateUniverse defeated Celestia]] and of being worshipped as Empress wore off after a few centuries. |
| 104 | * ''FanFic/MyHostageNotYours'': In the third story, Gaz starts expressing this attitude after she and Zim succeed in conquering Earth. |
| 105 | * In the [[BadFuture Dark World]] arc of the ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', [[BigBad Discord]] starts exhibiting signs of this after a thousand years of ruling Equestria unchecked. It gets to the point that TheVoice gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about it, saying that since he gets bored with ''everything'' eventually, he'll soon trap himself in a FateWorseThanDeath of his own making. [[BigShutUp Discord doesn't]] [[VillainousBreakdown take this well]]. |
| 106 | ** He actually seems ''excited'' when Twilight has a HeelFaceTurn and starts a rebellion against him because it gives him something to do. |
| 107 | ** As it turns out [[spoiler:TheVoice is actually Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox, Twilight's [[FutureMeScaresMe potential future]] SuperPoweredEvilSide who invoked this trope to turn the Dark World into Discord's IronicHell by trapping him in a GroundhogDayLoop where his defeats are always undone with each loop, meaning he's been ruling Equestria for several ''hundred'' million years. The sheer boredom of this, combined with the fact he's had a HeelRealization she won't ''let'' him act on has turned his victory into an AndIMustScream fate.]] |
| 108 | * [[Manga/DeathNote Light]] has this attitude in ''{{Fanfic/Seigikan}}'': |
| 109 | -->'''Light:''' This was all fun and games, but even I was growing tired at how easy it was to have the great detective L in the palm of my hand. Seeing him powerless to stop me was a thrill; but like all thrills, it was losing its edge. Even having his name, the name I wanted so badly to know -- was all nothing now that I knew it. I felt like it was game over. It was the same thing as beating the final boss in a video game and seeing the end cut scenes. It was not satisfying once the task was actually completed. Was the hunt truly over? I wanted to win, but did it have to be so quickly? I was hoping to play a tad longer. |
| 110 | * In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4196232/1/A-Friend-Named-Voldemort A Friend Named Voldemort]]'', [[Franchise/HarryPotter Voldemort]] bemoans his easy victory over the rewarding world: |
| 111 | -->'''Voldemort:''' This is what I envisioned, but not what I truly wanted. I feel as if I am a child on Christmas morning. All of the presents have been opened and now I feel only disappointment that the excitement is over and done. Don't you see Lucius, for one such as I, it is not the crown or the glory of victory, but the blood and the battle. I am not like you, I cannot find satisfaction in being king. |
| 112 | * Subverted in the Animaniacs/Lion King fanfic ''TheTigerPrince.'' Once Pinky and the Brain take over the grasslands, the Brain happily immerses himself in the minutiae and paperwork of government (and does a fine job of it), while Pinky, of course, can amuse himself for hours with a ball of lint. |
| 113 | * The eventual fate of [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Father]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7508725/1/Solutions-to-a-Hollow-Victory Solutions to a Hollow Victory]]. After his lifelong plan to become [[PhysicalGod God]] succeeds, he finds he has nothing else to do. [[spoiler:After a year of ennui, he snaps and [[PaterFamilicide kills his remaining children]] because they're more entertaining to him [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness dead than alive]].]] |
| 114 | * In Fanfic/TheLittlePonyLegend, this tends to crop up a few times. While neither Korra nor the ponies ever think life is boring, they do sometimes hit ruts in their lives. Such as when Korra managed to fix the spirit vines in book 3. Or the beginning of Shadow of Ronin. Even after getting her own palace, marrying, having a daughter, and establishing peace, Korra still missed the adventures and drama of saving the world some. |
| 115 | * In ''[[Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}} These Are the Damned]]'', Jake says that he felt like the war was easier in some ways because he only had to focus on survival everyday, whereas now he has loads of problems to deal with. |
| 116 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7798790/12/Promises-of-a-Wandering-Hero Promises of a Wandering Hero]]'', [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Shirou]] admits that he gave up archery because he had perfect precision and accuracy. He'd hit exactly where he aimed every time and as a result, there was no more room for improvement. He didn't see the point in continuing when he'd always win. |
| 117 | * ''Fanfic/ThroughHerEyes'': Pyrrha's lack of opponents that could give her any real challenge in her arena days has given her this attitude. When she learns that Ruby beat her to second place in the first test rankings (Weiss being first) by a three-point difference in their History test, she's ''excited'' at having too put in the extra effort, with a feral smile. She also asks Ruby to train with her and teach her how to wield a scythe, a weapon acknowledged InUniverse to be very hard to master. [[spoiler: This is also why she enjoys the fight against the berserk Ruby in the original story so much, it was more challenging than any fight she'd had before]]. |
| 118 | [[/folder]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 121 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoBatmanMovie'': Batman celebrates his latest victory against the Joker and his henchmen by [[EatingLunchAlone eating lobster thermidor]], practicing his guitar, and looking at his family portraits, [[LonelyAtTheTop all by himself]]. |
| 122 | * In the first ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar1'' movie, the Penguins are trying to get to Antarctica, and eventually succeed when they hijack the freighter that the rest of the zoo animals are on. When they reach Antarctica, they find it to be a complete frozen wasteland with nothing to do but stare at an iceberg, so they use the freighter to go to Madagascar, where Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria all wound up. |
| 123 | -->'''Private:''' [{{Beat}}] Well, this sucks. |
| 124 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'': |
| 125 | ** Once the title character defeats the hero, he realizes that playing the supervillain whose plans are always foiled was more enjoyable than actually conquering the city, and even winds up trying to create a new hero for him to fight. |
| 126 | ** Also applies to the hero himself, Metro Man, who was [[spoiler:FakingTheDead as he had gotten tired of defeating Megamind over and over and finally [[ILetYouWin lets Megamind win]] for once to pursue a career in music.]] |
| 127 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' has the protagonist Jack Skellington depressed and burnt out from spending Halloween every year at being the best at scaring, his popularity, and his lack of anything relatively close to competition. As a result of this, he ends up discovering Christmas Town. After gaining an interest in the holidays and a disastrous sleigh ride, Jack rediscovers his enthusiasm for scaring. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 131 | * The final scene from ''Film/BlazingSaddles'': |
| 132 | -->"My work here is done. I'm needed elsewhere now. I'm needed wherever outlaws rule the West, wherever innocent women and children are afraid to walk the streets, wherever a man cannot live in simple dignity, wherever a people cry out for justice."\ |
| 133 | "Bullshit!"\ |
| 134 | "All right, you caught me. To speak the plain truth it's getting pretty darn dull around here." |
| 135 | * In the film version of ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}'', the idea that evil people will never be satisfied, even in victory, is spelled out to Mordred by Arthur. |
| 136 | -->[[MeaninglessVillainVictory Evil cannot be happy. Triumphant, perhaps, but never happy.]] |
| 137 | * ''Film/Conspiracy2001'': After Reinhard Heydrich blackmails the conflicted Wilhelm Kritzinger at the conference to cooperate in the Holocaust, Kritzinger warns him where this genocide will lead by [[LetMeTellYouAStory telling Heydrich a story]] about a man he knew whose life was rendered meaningless when his father, whom he fiercely hated, died. Heydrich later reflects on this and the Nazis wonder what they would do with an ideology built around hate if all the Jews in the world were gone. Heydrich [[IgnoredEpiphany promptly ignores it]] and heads back to his HQ in Prague. |
| 138 | * ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'': |
| 139 | ** The Joker expresses this in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': |
| 140 | --->'''The Joker:''' I'm like a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I ''caught'' it. |
| 141 | ** Also his revelation why he doesn't want to kill Batman. |
| 142 | --->'''Batman:''' Then why do you want to kill me?\ |
| 143 | '''The Joker:''' ''(laughs)'' I don't wanna ''kill'' you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no. No. No, you... ''you complete me''. |
| 144 | ** While at the beginning of the movie the Joker blackmails Batman to try to get him to unmask, later he changes his mind and calls into a talk show where Coleman Reese is about to expose Batman's identity. |
| 145 | --->'''The Joker:''' I had a vision, of a world without Batman. The mob ground out a little profit and the police tried to shut them down, one block at a time. And it was so... ''boring''. I've had a change of heart. I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything, but why should I have all the fun? Let's give someone else a chance. If Coleman Reese isn't dead in sixty minutes then I blow up a hospital. |
| 146 | ** This all comes back in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. With the Joker defeated and new laws in place shutting down nearly all organized crime, plus with Gordon running a cleaner, more efficient police force there's simply no reason for Bruce Wayne to don the Batman suit. However, he's unable to readjust to normal society and becomes an antisocial shut-in. This comes back to bite him hard when Bane arrives... while at one point Batman would have been able to fight him off, years of inaction have dulled his senses enough for Bane to physically dominate him. |
| 147 | * In ''Film/DieHard'', Hans Gruber quotes the line about Alexander after taking over the Nakatomi building, implying that was his favourite part of the plan. |
| 148 | * Mr. Nick of ''Film/TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus'' has always known this, which is why he usually tends to [[spoiler:give the doctor another chance, so that they can resume their perpetual game]]. Parnassus himself is genuinely surprised to discover this, considering he always believed that Nick simply enjoyed watching him [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor suffer by winning.]] |
| 149 | * In ''Film/{{Maverick}}'', after Bret and his dad have successfully pulled off their scheme and are now living the pampered high life, Bret intentionally leaves a large portion of the money they won in a position to be stolen by Annabelle Bransford "because it's going to be a whole lot of fun getting it back!" |
| 150 | * In ''Film/MysteryMen'', Captain Amazing is bored because he has managed to put away every supervillain in Champion City, leaving only thugs. His solution is to use his influence to get his arch-nemesis Casanova Frankenstein out of the mental asylum. It doesn't end well for him. It is left somewhat vague just how much it is this and how much it is a desire to keep his sponsorship money (his agent suggests that Amazing's fights being boring to the public is at least a partial reason for him losing sponsors), but given that the scene that culminates in him coming up with the solution starts off with him ranting about the bad quality of the fight, it is at least partly this. |
| 151 | * Inigo Montoya of ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', after defeating the Six-Fingered Man: "Is very strange. I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it's over, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life." Luckily, Westley ''wants'' to return to a "normal" life with Buttercup. |
| 152 | -->'''Westley:''' Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful ''Dread Pirate Roberts''! |
| 153 | * In ''Film/RockyBalboa'', Dixon agrees to fight the aging Rocky because no current boxer can touch him. The fans also seem to agree with this trope. Dixon dominates his opponents so easily he's become a boring InvincibleHero, and people are quickly losing interest in watching him. |
| 154 | * In ''Film/SupermanII'', there's a scene showing the complete boredom of the three Kryptonian supervillains after they conquer the world. (And before Lex Luthor arrives to get things moving again). |
| 155 | -->''(Zod plays with a [[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Newtons_cradle Newton's Cradle]])''\ |
| 156 | '''Ursa:''' You're master of all you survey.\ |
| 157 | '''Zod:''' And so I was yesterday and the day before. |
| 158 | * Tromaville in ''Film/TheToxicAvenger'' was originally a corrupt little New Jersey town filled with cartoonishly over the top street thugs that seem to get away with terrorizing the innocent populous due to the machinations of the corrupt mayor and the Nazi police chief. After a "harmless" prank led to innocent nobody Melvin Junko to fall into a vat of chemical waste, he turned into Jersey's first [[InsistentTerminology hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength]] - later referred to as "the Monster Hero" and officially "the Toxic Avenger" - and would go on to reform Tromaville [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner one brutal criminal massacre at a time]]. By the time the [[Film/TheToxicAvengerPartII first sequel]] starts, Tromaville has [[HeelFaceTown become]] ''[[HeelFaceTown so]]'' [[HeelFaceTown rid of crime]] that Toxie ends up feeling useless without any evil to fight. |
| 159 | * In ''Film/WallStreet'', Gordon complains about how difficult it has been to turn around Teldar even after he's fired most of the management. For that reason, he initially rebuffs Bud's suggestion that he buy and turn around the airline his father works for. |
| 160 | [[/folder]] |
| 161 | |
| 162 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 163 | * ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': After [[LongRunners 54 books]] (and 4 Megamorphs books)[[note]]though only the first one of those had any real bearing on the overall plot[[/note]], the Animorphs FINALLY defeat the Yeerks, and prevent [[spoiler:the Andalites from bombing Earth to oblivion to defeat the Yeerk Empire]], though at the cost of [[spoiler:Rachel and Tom]] dying in the final battle. Jake (and all of the surviving Animorphs to some extent) suffers from PTSD and guilt, while Marco and Cassie are the only ones who truly manage to recover (and behind all his celebrity status, Marco is still secretly bored to tears, which is probably why he's willing to [[spoiler:join Jake and Tobias on a possible suicide mission to rescue Ax from the One]]). |
| 164 | ** K.A. Applegate, in her DearNegativeReader [[https://web.archive.org/web/20010807200502/www.morphz.com/posts/1061001.htm letter]], explained that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome in real wars, there is no triumphant final battle, that sometimes good people die and bad people live, and even the people who survive are permanently changed]]. |
| 165 | * Hero's version: about midway through ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'', Corwin starts realizing that he doesn't have any real interest in holding the throne, and that superficial ambition and spite towards one of his brothers was the only reason he was trying to claim it in the first place. Even before someone else is picked to be King, he announces his intention to abdicate. |
| 166 | * At the end of the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, the First Lord [[spoiler:Octavian a.k.a. Tavi]] implies this, as the normal day-to-day task of running Alera seems a bit boring compared to the wars that have just concluded. |
| 167 | * In the ''Literature/{{Deathstalker}}'' series, after the Empress is finally overthrown, many of the main characters react to their new lives with almost uncharacteristic ennui. Jack Random, in particular, crawls into a bottle, and Ruby Journey joins him whenever she's not contracted to take down another foe well below her skillset. This being the [[BlackAndGreyMorality Deathstalker universe]], though, the peace doesn't really last. |
| 168 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 169 | ** This is the impetus for the book ''Literature/TheLastHero'': Cohen the Barbarian is bored stiff as the Emperor of the Agatean Empire. He decides that being Emperor is no fun...but more than that, neither is getting old or living past the age of barbarian hero. He and his Silver Horde (of seven other veteran barbarian warriors, all septuagenarians at the youngest) go out to destroy the gods for allowing this to happen. |
| 170 | ** There's also references to a ''Discworld'' parallel of Alexander, named Carelinus, who apparently conquered the entire world, save for Fourecks and the Counterweight Continent ([[FantasyCounterpartCulture Fantasy Counterpart Cultures]] of Australia and China respectively). Cohen observes that it's no wonder, since one's all dried up, and you can't get a decent beer in the other. The minstrel they've captured (long story) tells Cohen the line "and Carelinus wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer." He explains that seeing Cohen looking down at the Disc ("bin there... bin there too... bin there twice, I think... bin everywhere I can see") reminds him of this. Cohen appreciates the comparison: "Yeah, maybe a bit like him. 'cept without the sissy crying, of course..." At another point, it's inverted to reflect the actual quote (see RealLife below) -- that some scholar told Carelinus that every star out there might be another world, and he cried because he realized he couldn't conquer them all in one lifetime. That becomes Cohen's real grievance -- that there's so much to do no one, no matter how dedicated, could get it all done in one life. |
| 171 | ** [[Literature/WyrdSisters Duke Felmet]] (a Theatre/{{Macbeth}} {{Expy}}) experienced a variant of this when the people of Lancre ''didn't'' rise up and rebel against him after he killed his cousin and seized the throne. ([[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch They figured that being assassinated counts as "natural causes" for a King]]). His frustration about the fact is summed up in this quote: |
| 172 | --->You couldn't oppress a people like that any more than you could oppress a mattress. |
| 173 | ** At the start of ''Literature/MakingMoney'' Moist is fueled by complete boredom with running the Post Office --[[AllergicToRoutine he made it work so well that it wasn't fun anymore.]] Luckily Vetinari has a new project for him... |
| 174 | * In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', Dante encounters the ghost of Ulysses (Odysseus). Ulysses explains that he died after leaving Ithaca and sailing out into the Atlantic Ocean ''after'' the whole taking-twenty-years-to-make-it-home-from-the-last-adventure thing. Yeah, it was just too boring being king of a great land and having a queen who adores you. |
| 175 | ** Ithaca in real life was thought to be a small island kingdom with a few shepherds and a small city (there are about a dozen places claiming to be Ithaca, all pretty similar). You really can see the crafty genius of the Trojan war getting bored from that. |
| 176 | * In ''Creator/RobertHeinlein''' ''Literature/GloryRoad'', the protagonist Oscar Gordon was carefully and secretly groomed to be a hero and save [[MacGuffin The Egg of the Phoenix]]. As a reward, he [[spoiler:marries the Empress of the Twenty Universes (more of "The Advisor of the Twenty Universes Whose Advice is Treated as Absolute") and is offered literally anything he asks for, to the point of skyscrapers being torn down because he wanted a view. In the end, when asked, his wife tearfully tells him that her advice is he must leave to follow his calling, as he can never be happy otherwise.]] |
| 177 | * Played straight in the ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' Flinx books, in which the protagonist's last words, having saved the galaxy from inexorable doom after spending years scouring it for a solution, are: "I'm bored". |
| 178 | * In ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'' this is part of the premise. The evil machine intelligence AM already succeeded in its war against humanity over a century ago, and so its only purpose now is to torture the last five human survivors endlessly as a means to cope with the sheer boredom of its eternal hate-filled existence. |
| 179 | * Taken to the extreme in one of ''The Lost Books of the Odyssey.'' Achilles abandons the Trojan War on Odysseus' suggestion and goes to faraway lands, and defeats the strongest warriors here and there until there is no doubt that he is the strongest man in the entire world. Then, desperate to be rid of him, an emperor gives him the key to heaven, where Achilles ascends, killing demigods and demons until he finally kills {{God}} himself -- and is left, sitting on God's throne, wishing he had never been born. |
| 180 | * Hemulen of ''Literature/TheMoomins'' ([[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep that is to say, the particular Hemulen who lives with the Moomins]]) is initially obsessed with collecting stamps, but in ''The Finn Family Moomintroll'', he finally has "all of them". As this means there's no collecting left to do, it causes him a life crisis. Subsequently, he finds a new purpose in collecting plants. |
| 181 | * In ''Literature/SonicTheHedgehogInTheFourthDimension'' Sonic manages to go back in time to prevent the accident that transformed the friendly Dr. Kintobor into the evil [[SdrawkcabAlias Dr. Robotnik]]. All of his animal friends don't treat him like a hero, because he never became a hero, and the only practical use of his abilities is searching for the final Chaos Emerald; neither of which our hero is enjoying. |
| 182 | * In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', King Robert suffered badly from this. A conquering king who saw [[TheDulcineaEffect the girl he fought the war for]] die and was forced into a loveless political marriage afterward, he's grown fat and keeps talking to his old friend Ned of abandoning the throne and becoming a sellsword. The only joy he seems to find is in the occasional tournament... though it's soon pointed out to him that ''no one'' in their right mind is going to strike the king in a melee. |
| 183 | * ''Literature/TimeScout'': Skeeter's life post HeelFaceTurn is rather disappointing. It comes to a head: You just beat up a knife-wielding thug and handed him to the cops! You just carried the woman he was beating to the hospital, receiving warm congratulations! You just handed a truant kid over to the cops and felt a connection with a formerly antagonistic cop! You just got to stand up to a bigot! You... just got fired. Now what? |
| 184 | * In the ''Literature/VillageTales'' novels, it's an InUniverse RunningGag that a bored Duke of Taunton is a danger to the village ... and that he gets bored after he pulls off yet another GambitPileup and XanatosSpeedChess match. Wherefore he goes looking for another crisis to solve, and, for their own sakes, his neighbors help him find one, to keep him occupied and out of their hair. |
| 185 | * ''Literature/VillainsDontDateHeroes'': Night Terror starts the book bored out of her skull because she has the entire city completely cowed. The villains all obey her rules and pay her a percentage, the heroes largely avoid her, and the police only make the most token of attempts to stop her; she's even on a first-name basis with the commissioner. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Then Fialux shows up and beats her to hell and back]]. |
| 186 | * In "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" by Creator/RoaldDahl, Henry Sugar spends a year in meditation and training to gain XRayVision through EnlightenmentSuperpowers for the rather non-enlightened goal of winning big at card games. The first night out he does this, he quickly becomes disenchanted due to how easy it was (it's also implied the training itself had changed him and made him less materialistic). He grows so disgusted with his winnings that he throws all of the money out into the street the next day. One cop is not amused by Henry causing a ruckus and wasting money this way. He's especially angry that Henry is being so wasteful when he could be putting that money to better use, such as funding orphanages (the cop was raised in one). Henry ends up thinking that's a really good idea and spends the rest of his life using his new powers to win money from casinos so he can support orphanages. |
| 187 | * ''Literature/TheWormOuroboros'': [[spoiler:The protagonists win, but find nothing else interesting for them to do after their victory. They wish for the conflict to happen all over again, causing their enemies to resurrect and send the same ultimatum that started the original war. [[{{Foreshadowing}} This is the purpose of the title]], as the Ouroboros is a symbol of a snake or dragon eating its own tail, symbolizing cyclicality.]] |
| 188 | [[/folder]] |
| 189 | |
| 190 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 191 | * On ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Jack Donaghy finds himself working for a BrandX version of Comcast which doesn't do anything but take in money from its affiliates; he is informed it's the "perfect business" since they can essentially just sit back and let the money make itself. A natural innovator, he is aghast and quotes the "Alexander" line at the top of the page, attributing it to ''Film/DieHard''. He's also depressed in the final season when he successfully completes the goal he's been working towards the entire series and becomes a CEO. The final episode has him [[spoiler:quitting NBC and going back to GE, allowing him to work his way back up.]] |
| 192 | * In the ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy'' episode "The Road to Hell", Superboy ends up in an alternate universe where its adult Superman has turned Earth into a utopia and Lex Luthor reformed and became a doctor. Superman admits that although he is proud of his accomplishments and he is loved by everyone, he is a bit bored that he has no bad guys to fight and nobody needs saving. He ends up finding a new purpose in helping to raise another alternate universe version of himself whose ship landed in the jungle, making him a WildChild. |
| 193 | * The evil law firm Wolfram & Hart from ''Series/{{Angel}}'' takes the trope to heart. "We're not interested in anything as prosaic as winning". They just want to throw evil spanners in the works. |
| 194 | * The last episode of ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' examines this trope. With the war effectively over in Europe, the rest of Easy Company have nothing to do. Those that don't have enough points to go home have to wait around in Austria not doing a whole lot -- waiting until the war either ends or they're called to Japan to fight. Thankfully the former happens. It seems to be subverted in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue which reveals the post-war fates of the men -- as only Ronald Speirs remained in the army. |
| 195 | * This trope is the focus of the ''Series/BreakingBad'' episode "Gliding Over All": Everybody who could pose a threat to Walt is now dead, he has more money than he could possibly hope to launder or even spend in a lifetime and thanks to his new deal with Lydia, his "empire" has basically become an average 9 to 5 job. Walt even decides to quit only for things to get complicated again due to [[spoiler:Hank discovering Walt's secret.]] |
| 196 | * After the school bully stops being a bully in an episode of ''Series/EverybodyHatesChris'', Chris spends a long amount of time telling his friend how miserable Superman, Batman, and other superheroes would be without their archenemies. |
| 197 | * Zoom in Season 2 of ''Series/TheFlash2014''. He spends the first two-thirds of the season scheming to steal Barry's speed so he can cure [[YouSeeImDying his own drug-induced speed disease]]. Eventually, he succeeds... and promptly tries to [[TakeOverTheWorld take over Earth-1]] and then [[OmnicidalManiac destroy the multiverse]]. Why? No particular reason other than that he's bored ruling his own earth. |
| 198 | * Robert Baratheon of ''Series/GameOfThrones''. He lived for combat and the challenge of conquest. Once he wins and becomes King, he quickly becomes tediously bored with the only things that remain in his life: luxury, drinking, hunting, and sex. The man himself perfectly sums up this trope: "I was never so alive as when I was winning this throne, or so dead as now that I've won it." |
| 199 | * ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': After four seasons of trying, Shawn has finally won in [[spoiler:convincing the Judge to reboot the Earth]] and the Soul Squad are out of ideas. After about a minute of EvilGloating to try and encourage Michael to come up with another plan, he admits that being their enemy is the most fun he's had in a long time and agrees to help them save the Earth. [[spoiler:He later makes a full HeelFaceTurn along with the other demons and finds a new purpose in designing the tests for the afterlife.]] |
| 200 | * Urquhart spends the second and third seasons of ''Series/HouseOfCardsUK'' constantly feeling the need to stir up trouble just so he can have something to do. |
| 201 | * This happens in the first episode of Series/{{Leverage}} as the team makes a multi-million dollar payout and are all mentioning how they could retire. Instead, they continue working together [[JustLikeRobinHood using their skills for good]]. |
| 202 | * Happens twice to Morgana in ''{{Series/Merlin 2008}}''. Twice she ends up conquering Camelot but it's established that she spends so long scheming and planning to get on the throne, she has no idea what to do once she actually has it. Notable is the Season 4 finale where she has to resort to having the knights spar with each other in the great hall, which serves to kill time until the protagonists arrive to save the day. |
| 203 | * Discussed in a ''Series/NoReservations'' episode where Anthony and a chef discusses the success of another chef whose signature dish was sauteed Brussels sprouts. The chef in question had to take it off the menu because he lamented "I'd be in the damn Brussels sprouts business." |
| 204 | * In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', it's shown in "Welcome to Storybrooke" that when Regina "won" by casting the curse, she took a day to really ''relish'' it. But she quickly realizes that the town that the curse created is so unchanging that it's the next best thing to a GroundhogDayLoop. It takes her three days to get bored. It's hard to enjoy a victory over people when they don't even know they were fighting, let alone that they lost. |
| 205 | ** Case in point, |
| 206 | --->'''Dr. Hopper:''' Beautiful day, isn't it?\ |
| 207 | '''Regina:''' ''(Grinning)'' Yes... Yes, it is. |
| 208 | ** Day three. |
| 209 | --->'''Dr. Hopper:''' Beautiful day, isn't it?\ |
| 210 | '''Regina:''' Save it. |
| 211 | * ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': |
| 212 | ** The adversarial relationship between [[TheLastDJ Dr. Cox]] and his boss [[ManipulativeBastard Dr. Kelso]] is established very quickly in Season 1. So you'd think that when Cox winds up destroying everyone's fear of Kelso, (which makes even ''Ted'', a combination of ButtMonkey and TheEeyore willing to stand up to Kelso) and leaves Kelso a broken man, Cox would be rejoicing. Instead, he complains that the game is no fun unless Kelso is playing it too, and quickly irritates and humiliates Kelso into returning to form. |
| 213 | ** That's how JD and Elliot's relationships work. As JD himself said, when he got something, he doesn't want it anymore. This changes by Season 8. |
| 214 | * ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' ends up having this in the conflict between Jim Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes. In "[[Recap/SherlockS02E03TheReichenbachFall The Reichenbach Fall]]", when it looks like he's defeated Sherlock, Moriarty starts whining about how he doesn't have any challenges anymore, and has to go back to "playing with the ordinary people." [[spoiler: He solves the problem by [[AteHisGun eating his gun]].]] |
| 215 | * Although it's not exactly the same as "victory" would really be getting home, ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' sort of had this trope in the episode "Night". After having four years of endless attacks, death and mayhem you think that travelling through an area where they're more or less safe might be better. But even Janeway says "Strange as it sounds, I almost long for the days when we were under constant attack. No time to stop and think about how we got stranded in the Delta quadrant." |
| 216 | * One episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' quotes a snippet of a Klingon epic poem illustrating this trope: |
| 217 | -->So honor the valiant who die 'neath your sword /\ |
| 218 | But pity the warrior who slays all his foes. |
| 219 | * ''Series/{{Succession}}'': Matsson, a self-made tech billionaire, has become bored with simply making money, saying, "Success is boring. Analysis plus capital plus execution. Anyone can do it." He's become more interested in failure, studying and exploiting people's weaknesses. |
| 220 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Lucifer goes through one of these when he finally wins out and ascends to Heaven, essentially taking over and running both Heaven ''and'' Hell. It turns out he's so bored he can't even be bothered to sit on the throne and be worshipped. He finds interacting with the angels (who are so reduced in number and without purpose that they're constantly seeking direction) unbelievably annoying, hates answering prayers because they're all so mundane, and hates the demons (which he created) even more. |
| 221 | * ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': |
| 222 | ** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E28ANicePlaceToVisit A Nice Place to Visit]]", a deceased crook having been mistakenly sent to heaven soon becomes bored and restless from getting everything just handed to him, feeling that he is getting everything too easily for him to really appreciate it, so much so he asks to go to "the other place." [[spoiler:Of course, [[ThisIsntHeaven he's already there]].]] |
| 223 | ** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S4E14OfLateIThinkOfCliffordville Of Late I Think of Cliffordville]]" an evil bastard CEO quotes the Alexander line when he finds himself bored with his success. He ends up making a DealWithTheDevil to go back in time to when he was a young man so that he can have the fun of re-conquering the world. (Hilariously, he has to pay the devil in cash because the devil ''already'' has his soul.) This being ''The Twilight Zone'', things [[ReadTheFinePrint don't end well]] for him. |
| 224 | --->'''Rod Serling:''' Some people should quit when they're ahead. |
| 225 | * In ''Series/{{Westworld}}'', this is the Man in Black's dark motive: after thirty years of being able to rape, murder, and torture the Hosts of the park, he's become bored and seeks the Maze to find the ultimate rival, a Host that can properly fight back. [[spoiler:When the Hosts gain sentience and begin their massacre of the park's guests, his response is to grin gleefully.]] |
| 226 | [[/folder]] |
| 227 | |
| 228 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 229 | * The main characters from Music/DavidBowie's "Running Gun Blues" and "Saviour Machine". Both are intended to bring peace (the former a soldier, the latter a machine designed to stop war, hunger, disease, etc.), but once their objectives are met, they eventually become bored and partake in the destruction they were meant to stop. |
| 230 | * "Everything Falls Apart" By DogsEyeView invokes this trope |
| 231 | -->"I've got what I wanted, now I don't want anything, I got what I wanted and now my life is just boring" |
| 232 | * "Falling For the First Time" by Music/BarenakedLadies is about someone who succeeds at everything he does...until the song takes place. After that, he's actually happy at no longer being perfect. |
| 233 | * "It's So Easy" by Music/GunsNRoses is pretty much this trope in song form. |
| 234 | -->''Ya get nothin' for nothin' if that's what you do\ |
| 235 | Turn around bitch I got a use for you\ |
| 236 | Besides, you ain't got nothin' better to do,\ |
| 237 | And I'm bored!'' |
| 238 | * "Level Clear!" by Creator/TomCardy centers around [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros a hero]] who finishes his quest and finds that everything he does after is [[GroundhogDayLoop impermanent]] and unsatisfying. |
| 239 | [[/folder]] |
| 240 | |
| 241 | [[folder:Mythology]] |
| 242 | * Probably the most ancient example: ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' as an old king rides out against a dragon, even knowing he can't survive, simply from a desire to die fighting. There's a bit of logic here: according to Norse beliefs, if you died of old age, you'd be denied entrance to Valhalla, in which only heroes who die in battle are welcome. |
| 243 | * A lot of ancient [[Myth/GreekMythology Greek]] heroes seem to have this. Most of the time, it translates into hubris. |
| 244 | ** Bellerophon wasn't satisfied with getting everything he wanted, defeating every monster he fought, and being hero-worshipped and having a freakin' flying horse. Nope. He decided he wanted to be a god. That didn't end well for him. |
| 245 | ** With others, like Achilles, it's not so much Victory is Boring as Having the Perfect Life is Boring. They could refrain from heroics or fighting and be the happiest man in the world, but it would mean that their name would not go down in history. And Greek heroes [[GlorySeeker would rather die than let that happen]]. Though he does consider it seriously after Patroclus' death. Before realising that going back now means he wouldn't be able to avenge himself on Hector. |
| 246 | ** Then there's Zeus, king of the gods himself. He has to resort to trickery to get his sister Hera to marry him; then after their wedding, he quickly tires of her nagging dislike of him and goes out to trick a gazillion mortal girls into sleeping with him. |
| 247 | [[/folder]] |
| 248 | |
| 249 | [[folder:Newspaper Comics]] |
| 250 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': Dogbert once conquered the world in minutes using MindControl. He didn't actually do much with his power other than force people to hold signs praising him while wearing brassieres. In the end, he told everyone he was retiring to go sit on a soft pillow. |
| 251 | -->'''Dogbert:''' No matter what I do, it always feels better when I stop doing it. |
| 252 | * Parodied in a ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip: |
| 253 | -->'''Jon:''' ''(Panicking)'' Robots have conquered the world!!\ |
| 254 | ''(A robot walks in as Garfield leans against the table, nonchalantly. It looks around.)''\ |
| 255 | '''Robot:''' Is this all there is?\ |
| 256 | '''Garfield:''' Sorry. |
| 257 | * One week of strips in ''ComicStrip/MadamAndEve'' began with Mother Anderson successfully driving away the neighborhood Meilie Lady[[note]]a loud street vendor who sells ears of corn[[/note]] with her incessant slingshot attacks. After a brief cheer of victory, she falls into a deep funk due to having nothing to challenge her. When the Meilie Lady returns at the end of the week, they exchange warm hugs, then Mother grabs her slingshot and gives chase once again. |
| 258 | [[/folder]] |
| 259 | |
| 260 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 261 | * The Dalek comes to this realization in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' audio drama "Jubilee". |
| 262 | [[/folder]] |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[folder:Sports]] |
| 265 | * In the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague, the New England Patriots of the 21st century embody this trope. As of 2018, they have won their division in 16 out of the last 18 seasons, reached 13 AFC championship games, advanced to nine UsefulNotes/{{Super Bowl}}s and won six of them, tying the Pittsburgh Steelers for most Super Bowl victories. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have cemented their places as Hall of Famers and contenders for the titles of the greatest coach and greatest quarterback, respectively, in NFL history. While the team has formed a dynasty of historic proportions that will likely never be equaled, it's safe to say that NFL fans have become numb to their perennial excellence, as their most recent appearance, Super Bowl LIII, had the lowest ratings of any Super Bowl in a decade. Not only was it their third straight appearance, but it was also their fourth in five years. It was bad enough that when they finally fell out of playoff contention in 2020 (following the departure of Tom Brady), it was met with ''celebration''. |
| 266 | * This was the case with UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan during the Chicago Bulls Dynasty. After winning 3 straight [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA titles]] and 3 Finals MVP awards, Jordan decided to leave basektball and challenge himself by trying to become an elite baseball player. This didn't go well to put it lightly, and he came back to basketball, where he picked up right where he left off, leading his team to 3 more NBA titles and MVP awards. The good news was that these championship victories were harder to earn, so Jordan was no longer bored in earning them. |
| 267 | * On February 14, 1986, the right-handed Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics decided to play primarily using his left-hand against the Portland Trail Blazers just because he was bored and wanted something to motivate him. He still managed to dominate the game by scoring 47 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists, a steal, 2 blocks, and going 7 for 7 from the free throw line. The Celtics beat the Trail Blazers 120-119 in overtime. |
| 268 | [[/folder]] |
| 269 | |
| 270 | [[folder:TabletopGames]] |
| 271 | * Averting this trope is why TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed in so many settings. |
| 272 | ** Paizo, the company behind ''{{TableTopGame/Pathfinder}}'', said something along the lines of, "Gee, it's almost like we want a world that needs a bunch of heroes to step up and save it." |
| 273 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 274 | ** The main reason Chaos will never truly win is that none of the four gods really ''want'' to win, as this would mean nothing left to do for all eternity (and if one of them ever appears on the verge of ultimate victory, two will put aside their hatred of each other and distaste for the third and gang up on the current leader). Tzeentch's plans, in particular, are famously prone to backfiring (to his followers' dismay) because it would prevent another plan from working, while Khorne's followers are just as happy to kill their enemies, their allies or ''themselves'' if it means more Skulls for the Skull Throne. |
| 275 | --->Khorne cares not from where the blood flows, only that it flows. |
| 276 | ** Orks are genetically made for war, to the point where not fighting makes them grow weak and flabby. In their case they could conceivably win against everything else in the galaxy and could keep fighting each other afterwards, it's just that 'umiez are so much more fun to kill and steal from. |
| 277 | ** Jaghatai Khan, Primarch of the White Scars, firmly believed in a version of this, believing that peace would cause him and his brothers to grow fat and weak from not having any enemies to fight. It says something that he was totally unbothered by the fact that, after conquering his homeworld and uniting all the tribes of Chogoris, those same tribes went back to fighting each other after he left. It actually hinted that he ''counted'' on this happening, so that Chogoris would produce strong candidates for his legion. |
| 278 | * ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' ended with the Chaos powers taking over the world through their human agents, every other faction destroyed (or in the case of the Lizardmen, lifting off into space). This resulted, not in peace, but a general lack of challenge where warriors grew fat and weak. Khornates were ecstatic when the ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' rolled around, as it [[WorthyOpponent finally meant a good fight]]. |
| 279 | [[/folder]] |
| 280 | |
| 281 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 282 | * {{Exaggerated|Trope}} to ridiculous extremes in the remake of "Alfredo" from ''VideoGame/Action52Owns''. [[spoiler:The final boss is actually the character from the original game who hijacked the remake and attempts to prevent it from being made, explaining that the end of a game is a FateWorseThanDeath for a video game character. It turns out he's right, too. Once you beat the game you become trapped on a blank screen with no escape and nothing to do.]] |
| 283 | * In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' you find a book about Jergal, once-god of the end of everything; as the god of strife, death and the dead he was immensely powerful and fell into despondency as he realised that having absolute power and absolute impotency was practically the same. As such he practically jumped at the chance of being ousted by Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul and even prevented them from killing each other over his power. |
| 284 | * After the events of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' the crime rate in Gotham reaches an all-time low, with Batman spending most of his time building tools and gadgets he rarely uses. Upon seeing the modified Batmobile the Arkham Knight comments on how bored he must have been. |
| 285 | * The final boss Ouroboros in ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' wants to fill the universe with strife and destruction because peace is boring and conflict is exciting. |
| 286 | * ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'': Richter Belmont banished {{Dracula}} in 1792. Four years later he summoned the castle in an effort to destroy it and become a hero yet again. (Or, more specifically, he was [[MindControl mind controlled with that alibi.]]) |
| 287 | * ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': [[spoiler:In the world outside the killing game, they've solved most if not all of the big societal problems and there's no longer any war or conflict of any kind. Humans, [[HumansAreWarriors bloodthirsty]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters savages]] that they are, have all been left quite bored due to the lack of stimulation in their lives. So they decided to adapt a [[Franchise/{{Danganronpa}} popular series of murder mystery visual novels]] into a reality TV show, where teenagers willingly sign up to become brainwashed with the identities of ''Danganronpa'' characters and kill each other for real on live TV for the world's entertainment. When the characters discover this, they are horrified, [[AmnesiacDissonance especially]] when they see the tapes of [[NiceCharacterMeanActor what their unbrainwashed selves were like]]]]. |
| 288 | * ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'' gives us a truly twisted take in its BigBad; [[spoiler: Super Hero Aurum, after defeating Mao's father, the Overlord, became depressed that there were no more villains to fight. To fix that, he becomes Geoffry the butler and raises Mao to be the strongest Overlord.]] |
| 289 | * In ''VideoGame/Dota2'', this is the backstory for Bradwarden the Centaur Warrunner; having bested all worthy opponents in the gladiatorial arena, he grew bored, and set off into the world to find greater challenges. |
| 290 | * In ''VideoGame/DragonWars'', it's eventually revealed that Namtar has become bored with his success. When you encounter him for the first time, he briefly rants about the amount of administration work he's had to do in order to run the empire and reveals that he's only sparing your little band of heroes because your efforts to oppose him thus far have been the most entertainment he's had in a long time. |
| 291 | * In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', we have The Ebony Warrior, an incredibly powerful foe that can only be battled when the Dragonborn has reached level 80 or over. The Ebony Warrior explains that he has done so many legendary deeds and has grown so mighty that nothing is able to pose a worthy challenge to him (the Dragonborn themselves will most likely feel the same way by level 80). He sees the Dragonborn as his last remaining WorthyOpponent and the only one who can give him the honorable death in battle he needs to enter Sovngarde. |
| 292 | * Midway through ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', [[spoiler:Kefka succeeds in murdering Emperor Gestahl, draining the power of the Warring Triad, and effectively becoming a god, and the source of magic]]. However, upon obtaining such power, he discovers that there's nothing meaningful to ''do'' with it. One year later, this line of thinking has fueled his rapid descent into nihilism. |
| 293 | * In the Stormblood arc in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', [[BigBad Zenos]] is already established as the conqueror of both Ala Mhigo and Doma. Despite his victories, he's extremely bored with no one strong enough to oppose him. Upon hearing about the Warrior of Light's feats in beating TheEmpire and other adversaries, he grows quite interested in them. Zenos even starts subtly pushing for the rebellions to happen just so that he can have someone worthy to fight. While he does beat the Warrior of Light twice, he's very intrigued by their strength and encourages them to grow even stronger. |
| 294 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' |
| 295 | ** Cody in ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' saved Metro City, got the mayor's daughter, and is the baddest street fighter in all of Metro City. What does he do? Start [[BloodKnight picking fights]] until he gets thrown in jail. He escapes from jail just in time for ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha.'' To quote the guy: "I saved the city, saved the girl, but couldn't save myself..." |
| 296 | ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFightStreetwise'', it gets worse -- he's so addicted to battle that [[spoiler:he lets Belger's younger brother Father Bella turn him into a horrid monster just to keep raising the ante. He and Father Bella are the final DualBoss.]] |
| 297 | * The train of logic behind Lord Dominion's actions in ''VideoGame/FreedomForce.'' He's already conquered every other dimension, and rather than just steamroll over the InsignificantLittleBluePlanet, he decides to give evil humans [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum Energy X]] and let them tear the planet apart for his own amusement. |
| 298 | * Dracon in ''Videogame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' ''III'' dedicated his life to becoming the greatest Dragonslayer ever. In particular, he dreams of slaying an Azure Dragon, the mightiest of all dragons. In the final mission of his campaign, he does just that. The ending cinematic depicts Dracon sitting on his fallen foe's body, dissatisfied with his victory. He realizes that he had wrongly built up the moment of victory as the key to contentment and validation and he wonders what he will do next. |
| 299 | * In ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', this happens in Bane and Catwoman's arcade mode endings. Bane incites a convict uprising but eventually finds himself without any heroes or law enforcement to fight, and doesn't know what to do with himself at that point. In Catwoman's ending, Selina fully commits to a [[DatingCatwoman relationship with Bruce Wayne]], but realizes it was only exciting when it was [[ForbiddenFruit forbidden]], and being a billionaire's girlfriend means [[CutLexLuthorACheck never having to steal again]]. She leaves him to return to her old life. |
| 300 | * Nearly every game after ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' has Link start another journey after or during the credits. |
| 301 | * The beginning of the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Faces of Evil]]'' has Link saying "Gee, it sure is boring around here!" to which the King gives us the (in)famous line, "[[YoutubePoop Mah boi]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames this peace is what]] [[MemeticMutation all true warriors strive for!]]" |
| 302 | * In the BadEnd of ''VideoGame/LEGOIsland'', the Brickster celebrates his victory over the ruins of Lego island (where only building was left standing and the populace is all in tears), declaring that the island is now "Mine!" Then he looks around at the wreck he is left to rule, saying in a concerned voice, "Mine?" |
| 303 | * The flash game ''VideoGame/MastermindWorldConqueror'', in which you control a DiabolicalMastermind trying to conquer the world, ends like this. [[spoiler:He destroys the planet (same as conquering, he looked it up), and escapes in a one-man shuttle with nothing to do but [[EvilGloating gloat]] and reflect]]. "I guess I didn't think this through". Still, he decides that it's totally worth it just to flip off the floating debris that was once Earth and the worst thing to him was the fact that he didn't bring any cheese snacks. |
| 304 | * In ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'', Shao Kahn's ending reveals him to have finally achieved his goal of conquering all the realms... and going insane with boredom as a result. |
| 305 | * In the ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' Arcade Mode ending for Kano, he initially starts off doing the kind of perverted things one would expect of him, but he eventually got bored of godhood. So he rewrote time to create a reality where things could challenge him, accepting some losses in the process, yet he would still win in the end when it mattered. He even snagged Shinnok's amulet for himself. |
| 306 | * In the first ''VideoGame/{{Persona|1}}'' game, [[spoiler:this is what the BigBad Kandori feels by the time you reach him. After basically achieving godhood, that there's nothing else to conquer, nothing else to do, and no one else to oppose him, and is so depressed by this revelation that, by the time the heroes show up, he willingly surrenders himself. Then, he is insulted by [[TheSmartGuy Nanjo]], who taunts and mocks [[BullyingADragon the god-like being]] for his failures. Naturally, this pisses him off and he fights you.]] |
| 307 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 308 | ** [[TheVoiceless Implied to be the case]] with [[PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo Red]] in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''. After completing the Kanto [[MonsterCompendium Pokédex]] and becoming the Indigo League Champion & [[CrypticBackgroundReference presumably a Pokémon Master]], he withdrew from society entirely and [[CallingOutForNotCalling hadn't even contacted his mother in years]], spending all his time training at Mt. Silver. It isn't until he's defeated by the player that he returns to public life, joining the World Tournament in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''. |
| 309 | ** The eighth Gym Leader in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', Volkner, has an apathetic attitude to you challenging him because he's won every challenge he's ever had and spends all of his time renovating the Gym out of boredom. You snap him out of it when you beat him and he breaks into laughter. |
| 310 | * ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' starts out this way; the titular heroes have saved the world and been through the cycle of praise and fame, and now they've got nothing to do. Fortunately, it ''is'' the start of a sequel...They get significantly better about their downtime later in their careers. |
| 311 | ** In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankRiftApart'', Ratchet is feeling this way again. At the beginning of the game, he says that he's not even sure if he still counts as a hero since it's been at least [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2016 five years]] since he's done anything heroic. Later, this is realized by [[spoiler: Emperor Nefarious, the more successful AlternateUniverse version of recurring villain Dr. Nefarious. After achieving what he thinks is total victory, he cuts his own celebration short because he doesn't feel any different. [[IgnoredEpiphany Of course, rather than learn anything from this or Dr. Nefarious pointing out his problem directly,]] Emperor Nefarious decides the reason he isn't happy is because he hasn't completely won by conquering the multiverse.]] |
| 312 | * ''VideoGame/RivalSchools''' ending for Hyo Imawano, the main boss of the game -- he wins and has everyone under mind control but realizes that no one truly loves him. |
| 313 | * VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog is prone to this. For instance, in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', he plans to take another vacation after his quest ends and ends up running off at the end of the game. |
| 314 | * ''Franchise/StarFox'': Falco seems to feel this way. The [[AllThereInTheManual manual for Star Fox Adventures]] notes that after ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', he struggled with feelings of boredom and purposelessness for years after, and in one of the endings for ''VideoGame/StarFoxCommand'' everyone is celebrating after beating the [[BigBad Anglar Emperor]], but he just says it's only a matter of time until the boredom sets in. |
| 315 | * The second episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'': ''Strong Badia the Free'' follows this trope, [[spoiler: with both Strong Bad and The King of Town taking turns at this.]] |
| 316 | ** [[spoiler: After The KOT levies a new email tax and places Strong Bad under house arrest, Strong Bad launches a coup to dethrone The KOT. After rallying the people of Free Country USA to his cause and succeeding in said dethroning, Strong Bad realizes [[GoneHorriblyRight he is now stuck in the King of Town's castle with responsibilities, subjects, and food he does not want]]. Ultimately he decides to goad the KOT to retake his throne.]] |
| 317 | ** [[spoiler: On the flip-side, the whole plot of the episode was started by the King of Town getting tired of running the town and living in his castle. [[BatmanGambit To the point where he sneakily provokes Strong Bad into launching his coup against him through an anonymously coup-encouraging email right before he comes by to enforce his tax.]] By the time Strong Bad reaches the castle, the KOT leaves without a fight and goes to Strong Bad's house to relax and gorge himself on Swiss Cake Rolls. Of course, he is spurred back into action when Strong Bad [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame levies a tax of his own on Swiss Cake Rolls]]. By the end of the episode, after he retakes his castle again from Strong Bad, he glumly realizes he's right back where he started.]] |
| 318 | * This is Yoshihiro [[BloodKnight Shimazu's]] entire reason for joining the 'losing' side in every ''Warriors'' game he's in. He finds being on the side of the stronger guy and having victory be all but assured boring, and would rather go against long odds. Especially prominent in ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi 3'' where he defects from Orochi's army by basically invoking the trope on the spot. |
| 319 | * In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Maiev Shadowsong has spent most of the last 10 000 years either acting as [[AntiHero Illidan]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist Stormrage's]] jailor or chasing him. When she finally defeats him with the aid of the players, Illidan says that "The Huntress is nothing without the hunt." Maiev regretfully agrees. |
| 320 | [[/folder]] |
| 321 | |
| 322 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 323 | * ''WebAnimation/DragonShortZ'': |
| 324 | ** In "[[Recap/DragonShortZE4 Yamcha Strikes Out]]", Yamcha is released from his baseball team after hitting his 500th ''consecutive'' home run. Why? Because the fans have stopped coming to his team's games since all they do is win. But at least he doesn't go away empty-handed: after signing a no-compete agreement with his release, the owner of the team [[ThrowTheDogABone gives Yamcha]] ''[[KarmicJackpot 20 billion zeni]].'' |
| 325 | ** In "[[Recap/DragonShortZE5 DTF]]", Vegeta is going stir crazy since there are no bad guys to fight, and none of the ones that could give him even a remote challenge will fight him, either because they don't like fighting (Gohan), hate him (Piccolo, Android 18, possibly Tien), or he can't find them (definitlely Tien). |
| 326 | * ''WebAnimation/{{Mappy}}'': Decades after getting away with an art heist in the 80s, Goro hires his nemesis Mappy to work at his company so he can try to foil the crime that he's planning. Why? Goro misses him. |
| 327 | * Discussed in ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' by Grif and Simmons with an iconic conversation. They are in a boxed canyon, and if they were to suddenly win against the Blues, whether that be killing them all or forcing them to surrender, the only prize they would get would be having the honor of saying that they have ''two bases'' in the middle of a boxed canyon. |
| 328 | ** Deconstructed when it comes to the character of Sarge from this series. This is perhaps possibly his greatest fear as fighting the Blues, and to an extent actual bad guys, is what gives his life meaning and purpose. When Grif points out in Recreation that they might just never fight anymore Blue soldiers Sarge ends up deciding to undo his ''victory'' of erasing the Blues so that they can get back to the status quo of fighting Blue soldiers. This fear remains consistent from this point forward and is finally admitted directly in Season 15. |
| 329 | --->'''Sarge:''' Simmons! I know this sounds crazy. But either I'm right, or I'm just an old man who's lost his marbles because he can't adjust to life outside the military chain of command, and continues to have increasingly absurd things to declare war on as a subconscious way of avoiding the sad truth that he no longer really knows who he is! |
| 330 | * Among the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' community, there are a lot of complaints about fans of the Ultramarines RunningTheAsylum, causing the official lore to constantly show the Ultramarines doing almost everything important, and being wildly successful at everything. ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'' plays with this, as the Ultramarines are all portrayed as somewhere between TheAce and MarySue... except their commander Calgar. He is strongly hinted to have made a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with the Chaos Gods]] to make the chapter always successful, and he is permanently frustrated with the effortless success his chapter has on even blatantly impossible missions, not to mention his underlings' resulting egos. |
| 331 | -->'''Calgar:''' [[InelegantBlubbering (Ultra-fuckn'-crying)]] Holy Emperor... This is shameful... Nothing is satisfying anymore! |
| 332 | [[/folder]] |
| 333 | |
| 334 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 335 | * On multiple occasions, segments of "Ask Webcomic/AxeCop" end with the complete destruction of all the bad guys. [[http://axecop.com/comic/ask-axe-cop-10/ Axe Cop finds this]] [[http://axecop.com/comic/ask-axe-cop-24/ incredibly boring.]] |
| 336 | * MadScientist Klaus Wulfenbach of Webcomic/GirlGenius suffers from the inversion of this: he took over most of Europe by sheer necessity, in order to stop what was basically a continent-wide war, and he successfully imposed peace. But he hates it, not because victory is boring, but because it's anything but. Being the dictator of an empire, he's constantly forced to deal with politics, tasks of state, petty rebellions, etc., whereas he would much rather be left alone in his lab to pursue his research. |
| 337 | * After acquiring RealityWarper powers that allow him to curb stomp just about anyone, Jack Noir from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005452 feels this way.]] He also realizes he needs to dial down his OmnicidalManiac nature or else he'll be left alone in creation with no one to kill. |
| 338 | * This is the reason for the main arc's launch in Webcomic/KidRadd -- the player of the main character's game has beaten it and put it to rest. |
| 339 | * ''Webcomic/LeagueOfSuperRedundantHeroes'' has Mayor Kurgh of Shitropolis. He was originally an alien conqueror who attacked the city, only instead of resisting, [[http://superredundant.com/?comic=124-politics the then-mayor happily surrendered.]] Now Kurgh is stuck with the monotonous, thankless job of making sure a CityOfAdventure, where two-thirds of the population are either superheroes or villains, actually functions. |
| 340 | ** And then there is Josie Perkins, The "Desperate Housewitch". She's essentially the AlphaBitch who grew up and ''didn't'' become a FutureLoser; She's married to a handsome and successful lawyer, and when she first appears she's expecting their first child. However, she finds her responsibilities incredibly stifling, and [[http://superredundant.com/?comic=233-confessions envies]] her former classmate Eva / Buckeress for still having a "youthful" lifestyle. So she turns to witchcraft for both revenge and to spice up her life. |
| 341 | * Webcomic/{{Mulberry}} helps a robot run for President of the United States in one of her comics. After he wins, she cheers, then nonchalantly gets up and walks away, giving one of her friends a turn at the robot's controls. |
| 342 | * A huge part of the plot of ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan''. |
| 343 | ** Saitama is the most powerful superhero on the planet ([[NoRespectGuy for all it gets him]]) and never loses a fight '''ever''', as he obliterates almost everything he fights [[OneHitKill with one hit]]. However, this strength has made him completely apathetic, as there's [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction no challenge to any fight he's in, making it all rather boring and tedious]]. Throughout the series, he's ''never'' had to fight seriously, because he's just too strong, and even during the rare few fights he's had to do more than just provide his version of a love-tap to win, his expression almost never changes even as his foes unleash ''planet-busting'' attacks that he counters with semi-serious punches. |
| 344 | ** The first [[KnightOfCerebus really serious villain]], Boros, is a [[EvilCounterpart dark mirror of Saitama]], being a super-powerful alien invader who's aimless and depressed with his life because he's become so strong and so good at conquering that it's not any fun for him anymore, as he never is at any risk of losing. Then a seer told him there is a mighty warrior on Earth -- Saitama -- who can give him the challenge he seeks. [[spoiler:[[CurbStompBattle He gets it, all right]], as Saitama gives him his first and only taste of what it's like to be the underdog before utterly and fatally pulverizing him.]] |
| 345 | * Belkar in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. After beating his nemesis, Miko, unconscious, he realizes that the battle is over, leaving him with nothing to do. So, he wakes her up just to continue the fight. |
| 346 | * The Website/PlatypusComix story "Raiders of the Lost Arc" has a reincarnated UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc fight UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden in the Middle East. After she defeats him, all the terrorists of the world surrender, which in turn leads to the disbandment of the US Army. The comic ends with Joan apparently unable to find anything to do with her free time other than mundane chores. |
| 347 | * The ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fan comic ''Webcomic/LilFormers'' illustrates this [[http://www.mattmoylan.com/portfolio/comic/2008-03-24/ here]]... which isn't too far from what actually happens in the storyline it's making a parody of. |
| 348 | * ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has this happening to Website/{{Google}} in [[http://xkcd.com/792/ this strip,]] when they realize that they don't have anything evil they can do since they already have everyone's information |
| 349 | [[/folder]] |
| 350 | |
| 351 | [[folder:Web Originals]] |
| 352 | * This is partially why Creator/GavinFree tends to mess up a lot in Creator/AchievementHunter's LetsPlay videos. He feels that if he wins too much, the videos become boring. An JustForFun/{{egregious}} example was one episode of the group's ''[[LetsPlay/AchievementHunterGrandTheftAutoSeries Let's Play Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' series where he purposefully made Team Lads lose to Team Gents several times in Cops n' Crooks because the Lads were winning too often. Lads' leader Creator/MichaelJones was not pleased with this revelation and temporarily threw Gavin off of Team Lads until he was officially reinstated after winning Lava Wall in ''[[LetsPlay/AchievementHunterMinecraftSeries Let's Play Minecraft]]''. |
| 353 | * In his 100th episode, WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd came to the realization that his purpose as The Nerd is meaningless without bad video games. In the beginning, he was wishing that his game room wouldn't be cluttered with so many bad games. But when ROB the Robot removed them from existence (for its own purpose), that victory felt hollow. |
| 354 | -->'''Nerd:''' ''(bleeding out, on the verge of death)'' No more shitty games. ... No more ''[[Film/TheKarateKid Karate Kid]]''? ... No more ''Film/TopGun''? ... No more ''VideoGame/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}''? ... No more ''[[Series/TheAddamsFamily Fester's Quest]]''? ... No more Platform/VirtualBoy? ... No more ''Film/DickTracy''? ... No more ''[[Literature/LittleRedRidingHood Little Red]] [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct Hood]]''? ... No more ''[[VideoGame/DrJekyllAndMrHydeNES Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]''? ... I won't fucking '''''HAVE IT!''''' ''(gets HeroicSecondWind)'' |
| 355 | * ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' |
| 356 | ** After successfully wiping country music off the face of the globe and terrorizing humanity for 10+ years, Future 17 realizes that running around killing people and blowing up cities for kicks is actually pretty boring and that he's going to quit to become a park ranger ...and then [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Gohan kicks him through a building]] and [[IgnoredEpiphany 17 decides he's going to wipe out all of humanity purely out of spite]], and ''then'' ranger the shit out of some parks. |
| 357 | * ''WebAnimation/EpithetErased''[==]'s second ArcVillain won the SuperpowerLottery, which leaves her pretty frustrated. |
| 358 | -->'''Zora:''' A single hit from one of these [RapidAging bullets] and you're done! [[WheresTheFunInThat And that's just no fun at all, is it?]] That's why I joined Bliss Ocean in the first place, y'know? Truth is, I hate epithets. I guess that I'm a bit of a romantic at heart, I like the idea of true competition. Duels at dawn! Battles of destiny! just two warriors giving it their all where the only decidin' factor is pure, old-fashioned skill! [...] But these days, skill don't matter anymore. You could train your whole life and be the best you that you can be, just to get beat by some schmoe born with a superpower. That's why I wanna get rid of these things. You shouldn't get to be strong just 'cause you're lucky. |
| 359 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pVMVPJVVV4 This meta video]] about the Demoman from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' being a character in a fantasy game ends with the character winning and the narration going as such : |
| 360 | -->[[IntentionalEngrishForFunny CONGRADULATION]]. [[AWinnerIsYou YOU KILLED ALL THE BAD GUYS]]. [[spoiler: '''NOW YOU HAVE TO GET A REAL JOB''']]\ |
| 361 | '''Demoman:''' Crap!\ |
| 362 | ''Cue Demoman crying over [[spoiler: having to work as a cook]].'' |
| 363 | * ''Literature/TheTimTebowCFLChronicles:'' In the utopia of Greenland City, human advancement has reached its end state. There's nothing left for their scientists to discover or invent, and they've even plumbed all possibilities of human culture (for example, they have Season 65 of ''The Wire'' already). It's boring to already know everything, so they've all become sports fans -- because athletic competitions are the only remaining unknowns. |
| 364 | * In the episode of ''WebVideo/TheAnnoyingOrange'' where Orange and Pear go to England and (predictably) meet an expy of Sherlock Holmes, the culprit turns out to be Watson all along. He was trying to help Holmes relive the thrill of the chase by pretending to be a criminal. The world of Annoying Orange being what it is, both Holmes and Watson become supervillains by the end of the episode and promptly begin to turn London into a smoldering wasteland using a death ray. |
| 365 | [[/folder]] |
| 366 | |
| 367 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 368 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', [[EmotionlessGirl Mai]] proclaims victory to be boring after she and [[GenkiGirl Ty Lee]] easily lay a smackdown on [[TeamMom Katara]] and [[BadassNormal Sokka]] in Season 2. Their victory is short-lived, as [[TeamPet Appa]] shows up and knocks them into the nearby river. |
| 369 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/AxeCop'' episode "No More Bad Guys", Axe Cop is bored because he has killed every bad guy on Earth. In the end, he wishes for every alien in the universe to be evil just so he'll have something to fight again. |
| 370 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE51TheManWhoKilledBatman The Man Who Killed Batman]]", [[Characters/DCAUJoker The Joker]] is clearly unconvinced of his nemesis' demise and goes about robbing a diamond store to force Batman to come thwart him. After a standoff several hours long, he grudgingly admits his greatest foe is gone and that [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction crime is no more fun]] [[AntagonistInMourning without him.]] He orders his gang to take nothing and leaves empty-handed. |
| 371 | * ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': [[AlmightyJanitor Bezel]] is the most powerful wizard in the universe, which is exactly why he hates magic. He can make anything happen with his powers, meaning life is no fun for him if he uses them for everything. He prefers using stage magic instead, because that still has limits to what it can do. He only reluctantly uses magic when it becomes clear that Ben, Kevin, and Rook have no means of reaching Charmcaster, and could have easily taken her out by himself, but chose to let her capture him to he could watch Ben and Gwen figure out how to stop her. |
| 372 | * ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': In a BadFuture episode where Gosalyn disappeared and Darkwing became Darkwarrior Duck and managed to capture every villain and take over the city, he's shown to have nothing to do. When two villains from the present come to the future, he's thrilled to have a good old-fashioned battle with them, only to be disappointed when it turns out that his security robots made short work of them too. |
| 373 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Dee Dee and the Man," Dexter finally gets Dee Dee out of his lab for good by firing her in her role as his sister. However, without Dee Dee sneaking into his lab anymore and causing havoc for him to stop, Dexter quickly finds himself growing from elated and happy to depressed and bored, and by the end of the episode, Dee Dee has her rightful place restored. |
| 374 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' had [[ShowWithinAShow the Crimson Chin]] getting distracted by a RomanticPlotTumor. This left the villains free to do as they wish. This ended up boring [[ArchEnemy the Bronze Kneecap]] so much that he'd burst into the Chin Cave with stolen money, daring the Chin to try and stop him. When he didn't, he commented on how everything was no fun anymore. |
| 375 | * This is the entire gag in the Huntsman segment of ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' Crime always seems to be in a lull, so Hunstman finds out that being a superhero is boring when there's nothing around to beat up. Instead, he does mundane things with his time like visit his brother or go to the aquarium. Extra comedic effect when contrasted with the intro to the segment, which is much more action-packed (and longer) than the actual segment itself. |
| 376 | -->'''Police Chief:''' What can I say, Huntsman? Crime is still down. ''I'm'' lucky to have a job! |
| 377 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': |
| 378 | ** This happens on one of the episodes of the ShowWithinAShow ''Series/{{The|TwilightZone1959}} [[Series/TheOuterLimits1963 Scary]] [[Series/TalesFromTheDarkSide Door]]'', where a man is hit by a car and then wakes up in a casino. |
| 379 | --->'''Man:''' ''(plays a slot machine and wins the jackpot)'' A casino where I'm winning? That car must have killed me. I must be in Heaven! ''(wins another jackpot)'' A casino where I ''always'' win? That's boring! [[ThisIsntHeaven I must]] ''[[ThisIsntHeaven really]]'' [[ThisIsntHeaven be...]] ''[[IronicHell IN HELL]]''! |
| 380 | ** In another episode, a non-canon segment features Professor Farnsworth having answered the last scientific question ever, and soon grows dreadful of his seemingly eternal victory. Then Fry inspires him to try to find out why the universe exists in the state that it does instead of some other way, and he and the Planet Express crew celebrate. |
| 381 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatNorth'', Season 1 "[[Recap/TheGreatNorthS1E2FeastOfNotPeopleAdventure Feast of Not People Adventure]]", after winning the Daver Dash multiple times with his brother in previous festivals, Beef decides to skip this year's race because he lost the thrill of it but decides to compete again when Wolf wants to do it with him. After seeing Wolf's setbacks before the race and still pushing through it, Beef is happy to have the thrill of the race he was missing and doesn't mind that they won't win this year because he's proud of Wolf's determination. |
| 382 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', Billy begs Grim to give him yogurt-based superpowers after getting excited about the superhero mascot on a yogurt commercial. He flies to a deserted alien planet populated only by a derpy little alien. He becomes so bored and depressed and desperate for action that he declares all of the microbes on the planet an evil microscopic empire and literally drowns the entire planet in yogurt. |
| 383 | * In ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'' [[spoiler: ComicBook/TheJoker manages to take control of Gotham City and turns it into a nightmarish dystopia, but gets bored with it after a week. He doesn't even have fun torturing Franchise/{{Batman}} anymore, and it gets even worse for him after ComicBook/TheScarecrow unmasks him.]] |
| 384 | * ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'': |
| 385 | ** In the episode "Hereafter", Vandal Savage (an [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortal]], [[GoodThingYouCanHeal fast-healing]], superintelligent human conquerer and former caveman) is enduring the solitude and loneliness of having destroyed humanity in stoic fashion when Superman is transported forward in time by Toyman. Upon Superman's arrival, he receives his former enemy with friendship and sends Superman [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong back into the past to stop him]], having decided that his former plans for domination were meaningless. |
| 386 | ** "Kid Stuff" has Mordred succeed in taking over the world by simply exiling anyone older than him to another dimension. Cut to him, sitting on his throne ruling over his kingdom, bored right out of his little skull with nothing to do but fulfill the requests of his child subjects. When the Justice League shows up to fight him, he's utterly overjoyed at not only having something to do but also getting to see them as children. |
| 387 | ** In "A Better World", the [[MirrorUniverse Justice Lords]] are rather bored, sitting in the watchtower, since they have conquered the world, and the best crime they have to fight is the occasional college protest. You can even see how eager Martian Manhunter was when he heard of a storm and questioned if they needed assistance in evacuating, only to quickly become depressed when it was stated the area was already evacuated. It is actually because of this that the Justice Lords decided to invade the Justice League Universe to help "fix" it. |
| 388 | * Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': When [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicDiscord Discord]] [[WeUsedToBeFriends breaks the friendship between the mane cast]] and finally demoralizes Twilight Sparkle so much that [[DespairEventHorizon she gives up]], at first it looks like he's not having any fun without opposition. But then he once again displays [[FortheEvulz just how sadistic he is]] when he reveals his ''elation'' at Twilight's misery, and immediately goes back to [[WorldGoneMad raining]] [[RealityIsOutToLunch chaos]] (and [[MemeticMutation chocolate rain]]) [[SugarApocalypse upon Equestria]]. |
| 389 | * ''WesternAnimation/OscarsOrchestra'': In the episode “World Tour”, when Thadius is under the impression that Oscar and his orchestra have been dealt with by Lucius, he gets very bored and starts taking out his boredom and anger on his henchmen and any random people who happens to cross his path. |
| 390 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': |
| 391 | ** The episode "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted" has [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Candace actually getting Mom to see the boys' antics]], which results in them being sent to a hellish reform school. However, upon seeing what the reform school is doing to the boys, Candace realizes how much she truly loves and misses her brothers, and embarks on a mission to rescue them. (In the end, though, [[spoiler:the episode turns out to be a DreamWithinADream...of Perry!]]) |
| 392 | ** In the SeriesFinale, after 104 days initiating his not-so-evil plans to take over the Tri-State Area that invariably fail, the show's {{Big Bad}} Dr. Doofenshmirtz finally formulates a really brilliant one by creating a political position known as Tri-State Governor and successfully getting himself elected for the office. To do so, Doof sets up 30 traps to keep Perry busy, and after winning the election, he takes the opportunity to sign a law forbidding any agent from thwarting him until his term is over, leaving Perry depressed. However, his daughter Vanessa points out that similar to Doof's HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood, Doof's victory didn't bring him any happiness at all. Realizing now that [[BeingEvilSucks it's not worth it]], Doof [[HeelFaceTurn decides to retire from evil]]. |
| 393 | * ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': |
| 394 | ** The Brain once succeeded in taking over the world by building a full-size replica of the Earth out of papier-mache and luring the population there with free T-shirts. Unfortunately, that left him as [[MayorOfAGhostTown the ruler of an empty planet.]] A comet then destroys the real Earth, leaving Brain and Pinky stranded in the fake Earth, where their plans start anew (much to Brain's relief, one may imagine). |
| 395 | ** In another example, as an accidental result of a time-travel scheme, in the present day, all the citizens are replaced with Pinky-like morons. This technically means the Brain has ''won'', since he can easily rule the world with citizens like ''that''. But Brain is horrified, since as he explains to Pinky, while this makes it easy to rule the world, who would ''want'' to? He immediately goes back in time to try to change things back. |
| 396 | * Mojo Jojo from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' actually managed to succeed in [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]] in the [=10th=] anniversary special "The Powerpuff Girls Rule!". Surprising everyone, he proves to be an extremely ''benevolent'' ruler who makes the world a much better place to live. However, after fixing all of the world's problems, he has nothing left to do but just sit at a desk all day in total silence. Finding this far too boring, he promptly returns to his usual villainy. |
| 397 | * In ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', Hexadecimal, an insane virus who describes herself as the "Queen of Chaos", infects Mainframe with the Medusa Bug, turning it to stone. All of its inhabitants are petrified. She won. Nobody could do anything about it, except for Bob, who [[BatmanGambit thanks Hex for making Mainframe so peaceful and predictable]]. After thinking about this for a few seconds, Hex realizes she doesn't want peace and order, so she returns Mainframe to normal by [[ResetButton literally snapping her fingers.]] Though it was less "Victory Is Boring" and more "That particular victory would be boring" since Hex wants chaos and upheaval above anything else. |
| 398 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', after the gang retakes the fort they built from Lawson, they realize that the struggle was much more fun than just hanging around, so they dare him and his friends to try and take it back. |
| 399 | * In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', it's revealed that some of the [[LivingDinosaurs dinosaurs survived]], became {{ultraterrestrials}}, and they [[HumansAreNotTheDominantSpecies reclaim the planet]], turning it into a {{utopia}}n VichyEarth. However, with all the world's problems solved and nothing left to do in a post-scarcity society where they don't even need to work, everyone is bored out of their minds except ButtMonkey Jerry whose unemployment had basically made this his default state of existence. |
| 400 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 401 | ** Sideshow Bob spares Bart at the end of the episode "The Great Louse Detective" because he feels he'll end up this way if he kills him, as he explains by singing [[VillainSong "The Very Reason That I Live"]]. |
| 402 | ** The same thing happens again in the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS27E5TreehouseOfHorrorXXVI Treehouse of Horror XXVI]]" segment "Wanted: Dead, Then Alive", when Bob finally kills Bart, but then quickly realizes that life is boring without Bart around and that the only thing that brought joy into his life was killing his ArchEnemy. Bob then creates a Reanimator machine that brings his ArchEnemy BackFromTheDead, then proceeds to start killing him and bringing him back to life over and over again. |
| 403 | ** Similar to the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' example above, Lisa and Bart build a fort out of packages and end up in a huge, ''Lord of the Rings''-style war against the delivery men. Upon winning the war, they get bored and wonder what to do now. They choose to use a hose to soak the fort into a pile of mushy cardboard. |
| 404 | * ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': |
| 405 | ** In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode "The Last Resort," Robotnik claims to have retired, and Sonic slowly goes crazy from the lack of evil plots to foil. |
| 406 | ** Same thing happens in ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' with Sonic trying to convince Eggman (who is depressed) into trying to take over the world again. |
| 407 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 408 | ** Turns out in the episode "Smug Alert" that without Kyle to rip on, [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]] gets pretty bored. |
| 409 | *** Averted in "Cartmanland," however. When Cartman gets what he's always wanted his whole life, a theme park all to himself, Kyle figures Cartman will bore of it before long. Kyle turns out to be wrong, however, as Cartman's ecstatic joy never ever slows down, though in part because he knows he succeeded where Kyle did not, and he derives literally endless joy in feeling that way. |
| 410 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': After saving Mewni in the Season 3 premiere, [[Characters/StarVsTheForcesOfEvilMarcoDiaz Marco Diaz]] gets honorary knighthood and everything, but once he returns home, Marco can't quite celebrate his achievements back there, and feels life on Earth is just too limiting. |
| 411 | * In the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', after the gang [[spoiler:solves the mystery of Crystal Cove and cause the whole town to reset, turning it into a peaceful community where everyone is happy and the tragedies they suffered never happened]], they quickly find themselves bored with no more mysteries to solve. Luckily for them, [[AndTheAdventureContinues they are given a chance to travel the country solving more mysteries along the way]]. |
| 412 | * An episode of the original ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon had the turtles dream about [[ItsAWonderfulPlot what would happen if they had never existed]]. Shredder is now king of a ruined world and is so bored and fed up with running the place that when the turtles encounter him and mention a world where he doesn't rule, Shredder ''begs'' them to take him along. |
| 413 | * The 2012 version of ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' has this happen in the final story arc. With Shredder and the Foot Clan defeated, the turtles are bored out of their minds and left with no meaningful reason to protect New York City aside from regular crime. |
| 414 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' episode "Super Robin", Robin [[EmpoweredBadassNormal gains a bunch of superpowers]] and solves all the world's problems in three seconds. With no crime to fight, the Teen Titans disband because they no longer have a purpose. |
| 415 | * In ''{{WesternAnimation/Tigtone}}'' episode "Tigtone vs. Nothing", Helpy uses an Artifact to stop all crises and dangers in Propecia, leaving Tigtone without any quests. By the end of the episode, Tigtone has declared that peace is for the weak and uses the same artifact to flood the kingdom with monsters so that quests return. |
| 416 | [[/folder]] |
| 417 | |
| 418 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 419 | * Taliban members explain this in a March 17, 2023 article in TIME entitled "Taliban Militants Fed Up With Office Culture, Ready to Quiet Quit" They complain about the 9 to 5 schedule and the commute in inconvenient traffic, among other things they have to contend with now that they are actually governing Afghanistan. Jihad life may have involved occasionally risking life and limb, but at least they got to make their own schedule most of the time as long as they were "hurrying up and waiting" for any enemies to happen along. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20230318101840/https://time.com/6263906/taliban-afghanistan-office-work-quiet-quit/]] [[https://youtu.be/4DHye6-RNy0]] |
| 420 | [[/folder]] |
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