Berserk Button - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Berzerk Button

For the love of God, don't press it!!!!

"You're making me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry."

—Bruce Banner. Ignore his warnings at your peril.

So you're dealing with a character who seems perfectly normal. He's friendly, sociable, and well-adjusted, saving stray kittens and helping old ladies cross the street on the way to his day job of working at a soup kitchen.

But then you make a mistake. You happen to mention in passing what you think is a fairly innocuous observation, maybe pointing out that the character could stand to lose a little weight, or is a little on the short side, or you do something that you think is no big deal in their presence, like question Who Names Their Kid Dude. And then the character is instantaneously reduced to screaming, incoherent fury, from which you will be lucky to escape with your life.

You have just pressed the Berserk Button.

In comedic works, the Berserk Button tends to be a physical feature that the character is insecure or in denial about, like his height or weight (or an Embarrassing Nickname based on one of these attributes.). Animals also don't seem to like having their species misidentified. Comedic Berserk Buttons are often used to make an otherwise unflappable character lose his or her cool and go off on a hilarious rant. In cartoons, you can usually tell when a Berserk Button has been hit when the character who has it turns bright red and steam starts shooting out their ears.

In dramatic works, the Berserk Button is often tied to something important about a character (such as his or her family or Nakama), or something that truly pisses a character off (such as a particularly hated enemy, a particularly painful failure, or a certain act that he or she will not stand for). Insulting the memory of a long-lost father or a Dead Little Sister, or insisting on pitying a character who says Dont You Dare Pity Me, for example, can bring it on. Many characters, particularly heroes, have a Berserk Button over someone messing with or threatening people they care about (or mentioning killing them), and when that happens, the result is usually a supreme asskicking.

Sometimes a character's Berserk Button is really more like a Berserk Keyboard, in which case you are probably dealing with The Pesci.

If a particular character's Berserk Button is pushed when their children are threatened, you're dealing with a Mama Bear or Papa Wolf. If it's a younger sibling who is threatened then you're dealing with the Big Brother Instinct.

See also Beware The Nice Ones. Often overlaps with Lets Get Dangerous, Crouching Moron Hidden Badass or The Law Of Disproportionate Response. Contrast Death Glare.

Although lots of people in Real Life are touchy about a few issues, very few people can pull off the terrifying (and often lightshow-accompanied) crazy of a Trope-ified berserker. The Internet is different. See Single Issue Wonk for the Internet equivalent.