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Lisa:... Dad, you pretty much went berserk when he couldn't remember your name.
Homer: Berserk is RIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHTTT!!!!!... [Mildly] May I have some more French toast, please? - The Simpsons
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 few pounds, or is a little on the short side, or you do something that you think is no big deal in their presence. And the character is instantaneously reduced to screaming, incoherent fury, from which you will be lucky to escape with your life. You have pressed the Berserk Button.
The Berserk Button tends to be a physical feature that the character is insecure or in denial about, like his height or weight. Animals also don't seem to like having their species misidentified. Insisting on pitying a character who says Dont You Dare Pity Me 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.
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.
In Real Life, everyone has at least one subject that is touchy for them, making this Truth In Television. See Single Issue Wonk for the Internet equivalent.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist goes into a berserker rage whenever someone mentions his vertical deficiencies. He usually ends up exaggerating the insult to ridiculous extremes as well.
- Edward also finds himself the victim of Berserk Button whenever he needs to go back to Winry for maintenance and (predominantly) repairs. If there's even so much as one scratch...
- Izumi also seems to have a few of these, and they seem to be set on a hair trigger.
- Choji Akimachi from Naruto is constantly prodded into battle by his allies and enemies who call him fat.
Choji (after one of the Sound Genin calls him fatso): "I'M NOT FAT! IIIII AAAAAAM BIIIIIG BOOOOOOONEEEEEEEED!"
- This exchange from The Movie is pretty self-explanatory:
Naruto: Man, I don't know where you got your taste in men, Sakura, but it stinks. Sakura (furiously): WHAT DID YOU SAY?! Naruto (with Blank White Eyes and a small voice): I'm sorry, what was the question?
- The Choji example is even more amusing considering that, yes, he is fat, his entire family is pretty big, because their family specialty involves various uses for all that extra weight, including burning through all of it in a single fight for extra energy.
- On a more serious note, mentioning Orochimaru in a respectful fashion in front of Naruto is a good way to activate Naruto's Superpowered Evil Side.
- Lina Inverse from Slayers lays the smackdown on anyone who's impolite enough to point out she's rather flat-chested, especially her younger incarnation.
Lina (after a Slayers Next exchange, where Martina says her chance to win against her are smaller than her curves): "That bitch!... She has the nerve to defy me and even brought up my weakest point!
- In the harem comedy manga Ai Kora, Maeda tends to go ballistic on those who ridicule or harm the girls in his
semi-wanted hunted-after harem, especially if they threaten their "perfect features" (like a delinquent who nearly knocked out one of Sakurako's flawless blue eyes, or a salesman pushing dodgy "breast-reduction bras" who made Yukari feel self-conscious about her "bullet-train bustline").
- In the manga Cafe Kichijouji, Jun, a younger effeminate boy, snaps into a violent manner if anyone makes the unfortunate mistake of saying that he looks like a girl.
- Ikuto of Nagasarete Airantou, if told anything is "absolutely impossible", will get it done with twice the speed and four times the effort.
- Josuke of Jojos Bizarre Adventure will go from polite doormat to rampaging berserker if anyone dares insult his hair. This includes his allies.
- In one particularly humorous scene, his opponent (who is currently bedridden from severe racing injuries) plays off of Josuke's moral nature to keep himself from getting attacked... only to end up insulting his pompadour. Josuke gets around beating up the helpless by using his powers to heal the fellow, and then beats the man to a bloody pulp and throws him out a window. He gets better, though.
- In Hayate The Combat Butler, Nagi goes ape when Hayate discovers her self-made manga and calls it a "picture diary". She boots him out of the study, but he mistakes it for her kicking him out of the mansion.
- Kei and Yuri have only one official code name: The Lovely Angels. Calling them the Dirty Pair to their faces - or suggesting that two college-age girls can't be all that dangerous - will earn you a punch in the face.
- Not to mention what they will do if you actually are the individual that they have been hired to bring in.
- Call Allen Walker from D Gray Man 'Moyashi' and watch him boil and explode.
- Souichi Tatsumi from Challengers and The Tyrant Falls In Love may be antisocial, but he's pretty normal otherwise... until a reference to homosexuality is made, upon which he burns with a desire to bash all homosexuals' skulls in, especially the one courting his little brother. He even becomes The Pesci to Morinaga after the latter drives home the point that he's a homosexual with a crush on him, interpreting every offer from Morinaga as an attempt to get into his pants (sometimes it's actually true, sometimes it isn't). And NO, he himself ISN'T a homo; he's just sleeping with one!
- Oniwakamaru, from the second episode of Samurai Champloo, kills anyone who calls him a monster (usually based on his physical appearance).
- Chrono Crusade has a more serious example (that's particularly noticeable in the manga version): Chrono is known (depending on the translation and whether it's the manga or the anime) as "the Slayer of 100/1000/100 million". How'd he get that name? Well, in the manga, he tried to rescue some of his fellow Sinners and found them killed by enemy demons. He picked up the body of a small child, staring in horror, then snapped, killing the number of demons he was said to have killed in one short, bloody, rage-filled battle. This happens at least a few other times, particularly in the manga: basically, if he's threatened or someone he cares about (PARTICULARLY Rosette) is hurt, his demonic nature takes over and things get very violent, VERY quickly.
- Bleach: Captain Hitsugaya Toushirou is usually an apathetic, grumpy captain. But he has sworn that should anyone ever try to make his adoptive sister Lieutenant Hinamori Momo bleed just one drop, he had no qualms about going batshit to kill the one who makes her bleed. Unfortunately, the only time he really wants to go batshit, he's up against someone so broken that it's justified he'd lose that instant.
- He also gets pretty pissed when someone makes fun of his hair, but he's never tried to kill anyone in that instance (that we know of).
- Or when he gets called anything else but "Captain Hitsugaya". Momo is the only one who can call him "Hitsugaya-kun" without getting him to growl. But not even she can call him "Shiro-chan" without him going "... stfu, Bed-Wetter Momo!"
- Let's not forget Ikkaku Madarame, who threatens to kill anyone who mentions his lack of hair.
- In Slam Dunk, Shohoku ace Rukawa shall NOT be interrupted when he's sleeping. Expect physical damage if you do.
Rukawa (to Norio Honda): My name is Rukawa Kaede, I'm a first grader, and I will NOT forgive the idiots who wake me up when I'm sleeping. *beats the crap out of Honda*
- Also earlier in the series, if you ever say 'Basket' or something that sounds like that in the vicinity of Sakuragi, expect yourself to pass out after he headbutts you.
- Don't forget their captain and leader, Takenori Akagi. Insult basketball in front of this Genius Bruiser and you'll see exactly how much of a Serious Business the sport is for the guy.
- Takeru aka TK is generally a Cheerful Child in Digimon Adventure 02. But because of seeing Angemon die in the first season, he can get very angry at anything that threatens the safety of his friends.
- In episode 2 of the Pretty Sammy OAV, Tenchi mentions to Bif Standard that his software is slow. At that comment, Bif goes into a lengthy rant, feeling that he had insulted his software, and Tenchi, Sasami, and Misao quietly escape while he is still ranting.
- One of the baddies taunted Cure Black about how easily he separated her from her partner and went on to explain how doomed they were (etc etc). Black then proceeded to blow up the subway car they were riding with her Battle Aura.
- Daigo Ikari of Eyeshield 21 has a Berserk Button that goes off whenever someone insults one of his teammates, regardless of whether the insulting party was joking or not, or if he could get injured in the process (for example, he at one point dives off the stands to attack Onihei after he had called Otawara an idiot). The result is often that his own teammates have to restrain him with chains because he'll break free if they use rope!
- Despite his cold demeanor, Mikagami Tokiya from Flame Of Recca HAS one Berserk Button: Call him a girl, a she-man, or whatever Gender Bender insult to him and the best thing you can hope for is a death cold stare from him (which thankfully what he usually did, thus far...)
- Monkey D. Luffy of One Piece. He has two; run far, far away if you damage his hat, or hurt one of his nakama.
- The entire plot of One Piece seems to be based around this. If you fight Luffy without having hurt one of his friends, you at least have the possibility of victory. If you hurt one of his nakama...not so much.
- Massively subverted in one fight with Kuma. The man made the Straw Hat pirates vanish one by one, and Luffy couldn't do anything about it.
- Also, Buggy the Clown. If you insult his clown nose, he will freak out, and given the chance, he will shoot you with a cannonball capable of destroying several city blocks. When you account for the fact that he tends to mishear things and assume they were insults to his nose...
- Even though she is sadistic and brutal, Suigintou rarely drops her cool and composed manner, antagonizing Shinku with an alluring, self-confident voice occasionally interspersed with a soft evil laugh. This goes away when Shinku calls her 'junk', whereupon Suigintou completely loses her cool and starts screaming "I AM NOT JUNK!!!!". Her power does significantly increase, but that's not doing her good most of the time.
- Most of the characters on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha are generally well-mannered. However... don't touch Vita's hat. Just don't. You'll live longer.
- The third season adds more cases: Don't hurt Vita's friends either; abducting Subaru's sister or Nanoha's adopted daughter, and destroying Caro's home or threatening to do so is a bad idea as well, as all of those have led to an unstoppable rage.
- Do NOT refer to Faust VII's wife and partner spirit Eliza as a "puppet" or a "doll". He's usually calm and arrogant to an unhuman point, but the moment you insult her, he will KILL YOU.
- Lelouch Lamperouge's Berserk Button is people threatening or harming his little sister or his friends. Not a problem in and of itself, but he has... trouble with restraint once the button's been pressed.
- "You've hurt my brother. That, I WILL NOT FORGIVE!"
Comic Books
- Johnny The Homicidal Maniac is not wacky, and anyone who tells him otherwise is in for a world of hurt.
- Then again, he'll also go off on one for someone accusing him of being a killer (which, as the name would suggest...), looking at him funny, believing in God (or anything remotely hopeful) or trying to avoid dying. So...
- Still another berserk button is incorrectly assuming what he does with the blood he drains from his victims. He DOES NOT drink it, he paints his wall, and if you say otherwise, he will get upset. With daggers.
- Death's Head from the Transformers and Marvel comics hates it when people call him a bounty hunter. He prefers "Freelance Peacekeeping Agent", yes?
- Never call Obelix from Asterix "fat". His chest's just slipped a bit, is all.
- Tintin's Professor Calculus ("Tournesol" in the original French) does this when someone suggests he is "playing the goat." Given the professor's notoriously poor hearing, he is likely to blow up if he hears the phrase "playing the goat" - or anything that sounds remotely similar - used in any context.
- The Incredible Hulk is generally a Berserker anyway, but anything or anyone that reminds him of his father is definitely in for a world of hurt.
- Apollo and The Midnighter, members of The Authority, are upstanding heroes (possibly Anti Hero in the latter case, but still...) dedicated to making a better world and raising their adopted daughter Jenny, and they're openly homosexual, not to mention having a very stable and loving relationship. Anyone who calls them 'poofters', though, is in for a great heaping of suffering.
- When talking to Snow White, Don't Mention The Dwarfs. Ever.
Film
- Bugsy: "Don't call me that!" (Truth in Television; the nickname "Bugsy" was Benjamin Siegel's Berserk Button.)
- O Brother Where Art Thou? applies the same thing to George "Babyface" Nelson. This, too, is historically justified, as the real Nelson hated the nickname.
- The Cotton Club: Dutch Schultz appears to have made a grudging peace with a rival gangster, but the rival won't stop needling him, casually remarking while grazing the buffet, "Aw, what's a Jew but a nigger turned inside out, anyway?" Schultz goes berserk and stabs him to death. Then again, it was never difficult to rile Schultz, in film or real life.
- Kill Bill: Do not disparage the American or the Chinese side of O-Ren Ishii's heritage if you are attached to your head and wish to remain so.
- Marty McFly from the Back To The Future films: "Nobody... calls me... chicken!" This is a rare instance in which getting over the Berserk Button is part of the Character Development, or where the Berserk Button is even treated as a bad thing to have.
- Also, Buford Tannen, who was berserk to begin with, completely loses it when called by his nickname, "Mad Dog," which he earned due to his viciousness and tendency to drool.
- The meek Token White guy Lance in Undercover Brother. When he's called a "sissy", he pulls a man's heart out of his chest, rips another guy's head and spinal column clean out of his body (ā la the title creature in Predator 2), and squashes the speaker's head between his hands.
- Subversion: In Wes Craven's movie Red Eye, the villain, whose name is Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy) explains early on that he doesn't like being called Jack, because then his name sounds too much like Jack the Ripper. Towards the end, the heroine tries to activate his berserk button by calling him 'Jack', with no real effect. He's already chasing her with a knife, so he doesn't seem to take much offense.
- Ironically, mispronouncing Cillian Murphy's real name reportedly has this effect. One kid too many must have called him "Silly 'un" at school.
- In the 1982 Film Noir parody Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid the protagonist Rigby Reardon (played by Steve Martin) goes into a homicidal rage every time someone mentions "cleaning woman". This is later used by the female protagonist to save them from the Bad Guys by tricking the main villain into saying the words and thus triggering a Bad Guy-killing frenzy.
- In Space Jam, Lola Bunny goes into a basket-busting frenzy whenever anyone calls her "Doll".
- Serenity. Who knew that a commercial about Fruity Oaty Bars could result in this much carnage?
- This is less of a triggering of out-and-out rage than a Manchurian Agent style activation of River's deadly assassin abilities.
- On the other hand, when Simon gets shot by the Reavers at the film's climax, she gets very angry, very calmly.
- Mal and Zoe also have a Berserk Button in regards to Serenity Valley. When Jayne, in the middle of ripping Mal's leadership abilities, accuses him of getting everyone on his side killed in that battle, Zoe, the other major survivor of the battle, gives him a high-quality Death Glare and asks him very calmly if he wants to leave the room. Jayne gets the hint and backs off.
- Simon has a general Berserk Button as well in regards to River being put in danger. After the first job Mal takes her on during the movie, a job which almost gets everyone on the job eaten by Reavers, Simon hauls off and decks Mal when he and the others make it back to Serenity.
- In the movie The Quick And The Dead, outlaw Dog Kelly is so named because of an incident in his Back Story where he was forced to eat his own dog or face starvation. Being as he loved the dog in question, any mention of his nickname or the incident is a good way to seriously piss him off, as evidenced in the deleted scene when Ellen, the heroine, teases him about it.
- In Tim Burton's Ed Wood, Bela Lugosi is having a good day on set, until a well meaning prop guy compliments him for playing "Boris Karloff's sidekick." Profanity ensues.
- Subverted in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. In a fight with a crazed Wachootoo tribesman, the tribesman grabs Ace and rearranges his hair into horns, mocking Ace's reputation as the "White Devil". Ace gets up and says that this has gone far enough, "Nobody... messes.. with the DO!" and then proceeds to get further pummeled by the tribesman.
- Similar to the Discworld example, as revealed in Escape from the Planet Of The Apes, the Apes get angry and defensive when called "monkeys". (Even though the title of the original book was La plančte des singes, and singe is the French word for both "monkey" and "ape")
- In Meet The Feebles, Heidi's berserk button is Samantha, Bletch's secret mistress. During their first encounter, after Samatha insults her and says Bletch doesn't love her, she calls Samantha a pussy (she is a cat, after all), and throws her in a box. In their second encounter, while Heidi is trying to commit suicide by machine gun, Samantha basically tells her Not With The Safety On You Wont, and begins to leave. Heidi turns the gun on Samatha and kills her, starting Heidi on a murderous massacre.
- Hocus Pocus: The generally practical Winnifred Sanderson only fully unleashes her wrath on anyone who dares to call her "ugly," and tortures or pursues the offenders single-mindedly. This eventually leads to her own demise, and that of her sisters.
- The little-known The Great Mouse Detective features Ratigan (Vincent Price). Ratigan can be quite Affably Evil, but he absolutely flips out when called a rat. (He actually IS one, the only one depicted in the film, though all the rest of the characters are various mice and lizards.) A drunken mouse slips and calls him a rat during his Villain Song. His reaction is all the more effective in that after an initial moment of fury, he calms down... instead, he goes extremely quiet, and cooly, calmly, even lovingly, feeds poor Bartholomew to his Right Hand Cat.
- In The Boondock Saints, Willem Dafoe's character gets really angry and annoyed when someone uses the not-quite-word "symbology":
"Symbology? Well, Now that Duffy has relinquished his king bonehead crown, I see we have an heir to the throne. I'm sure the word you were looking for was 'symbolism.' What is the sssssymbolism there?"
- Hancock. Call him an asshole. One. More. Time.
- Mary also has one. She doesn't like it when someone calls her crazy.
- Office Space. Excuse me, I believe you have my Red Stapler.
- Darryl Revok does not sound like Dr. Ruth. He sounds like Revok. Darryl. Revok.
- Subverted in Straw Dogs: Dustin Hoffman does go completely homicidal when the lads try to break into his house, but he remains entirely calm throughout.
- Repo! The Genetic Opera: Do not mess with the Repo Man's daughter.
- Duck Soup: President Rufus T. Firefly is prepared to go to war over Ambassador Trentino calling him an "upstart." Later Firefly has calmed down and he and Trentino patch things up, realizing that neither of them can remember the word that set things off. Trentino jokingly tries several possibilities, and unfortunately hits on the right one, which starts the war all over again.
- Forrest Gump: Lieutenant Dan took great offense at Cunning Carla when she asked if Forrest was "stupid or something". Also, Forrest himself unleashed hell on several occasions when he saw someone mistreating his beloved Jenny.
Literature
- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we discover that Molly Weasley also has a Berserk Button. The gentle housewife becomes an enraged witch when you threaten her children, as Dark Action Girl Bellatrix Lestrange learned the hard way. Hence one of the favorite quotes among some fans: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
- And never insult The Dumbledore within earshot of Hagrid. That will show you what a Bad Idea is to piss off a Gentle Giant.
- "WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?" Yep, never leave Harry blind to what's going on. He hates to be left out.
- Terry Pratchett's Librarian is Discworld-famous for his hatred of being called a monkey. (He's an orangutan, and orangutans are apes, not monkeys.)
- Also, in Night Watch, Carcer — also a villain — becomes inordinately angry when his rank of Sergeant is abbreviated to "Sarge".
- Subverted in Hogfather, in which the villain Jonathan Teatime (who will usually kill people for no reason at all) gets very mildly annoyed when people mispronounce his name (it's pronounced 'teh-ah-tim-eh'), at one point tiredly commenting "Please don't try to distract me".
- The monk Marco Soto in Thief of Time has a very un-monk-like mass of long black hair. He is a calm, tranquil person... unless you try to touch it.
- In the same book Pratchett actually refers to this trope, although by another name. As he puts it "everyone has their own private exemption clause. "But not on a Sunday", "Only if I feel like it" or in this case "Not the hair. Nobody touches the hair okay?"
- Due to hideous mistreatment on his part, the title character of White Fang goes insane when laughed at for much of the book.
- Cyrano's nose in Cyrano De Bergerac.
- Possibly a bit of a subversion, as well. In the movie, at least, bringing up Cyrano's nose isn't enough to make him fight you. He'll just make fun of you, your taste, your ancestry, your (lack of) wits...very, very eloquently. Of course, if you get angry enough to attack him over that, he's perfectly capable of handing you your ass.
- Anne Shirley's hair, especially if you compare it to carrots.
- Harm anyone Honor Harrington considers to be under her protection, and nothing will save you.
- The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Last Battle: The chapter "The Rashness of the King" refers to King Tirian going berserk and chopping off a few heads when he sees Calormenes chopping down dryads' trees and harnessing and whipping a Talking Horse. He blows his party's cover later when the Calormenes threaten a Talking Boar. Do not mess with King Tirian's subjects!
- The Bible: Do not transform the sacred temple of God into a marketplace. Jesus will be so "eaten with zeal," he'll literally whip your ass out of there.
- Rugaard from E. E. Knight's Age of Fire series hates being called by any derogatory nickname, and finally snaps when called "Batty" to his face by one of his fellow trainees in the Drakwatch, turning what started off as an ordinary brawl into an Unstoppable Rage as he takes on all three of his bunk-mates at once. Then again, it's understandable when you consider the fact he was without a name as a hatchling and as The Unfavourite was flat out told by his father he didn't need or deserve one.
Live Action TV
- Ray J. Johnson, a character on The Redd Foxx Show, employed a variation on this as his signature trope; whenever addressed as "Mister Johnson", he would angrily rattle off a list of other things he would prefer to be called.
- This is Older Than Television. In 1944, both The Three Stooges and Abbott And Costello made use of an even older vaudeville routine (allegedly created by Joey Faye) in which the words "Niagara Falls" serve as a trigger for a violent outburst by one of the characters.
- A variation of the same routine (the keyword was "Martha") showed up in an episode of I Love Lucy, too.
- The Golden Age of Ballooning sketch on one episode of Monty Pythons Flying Circus starred Ferdinand von Zeppelin, creator of the zeppelin airship, taking a trip in one of his zeppelins. Several people came up to him to congratulate him on his marvellous "balloon", to which he screams in a terrible German accent, "IT'S AN AIRSHIP!" and throws the offender out the window.
- In the episode of The King Of Queens "Bun Dummy", Carrie would get very defensive if someone (usually Doug) made even a passing comment about her wearing her hair in a bun (Indeed, Carrie was taking her bun-wearing pretty seriously). It was only when she saw a picture of Doug's old high school librarian (emphasis on "old") with her hair in a bun that she realized they were right all along. To be fair, it was just in that episode, so it could also be considered a Compressed Vice.
- In an episode of Without A Trace, Jack and Samantha catch a serial killer (who was posing as his twin brother) by using his Berserk Button: He hated his childhood nickname, "Mouse". The resulting violence was then cut short by the above agents immediately pointing their guns at him.
- In The Catherine Tate Show, the comedy in the "Derek" sketches comes almost exclusively from his reaction when Mistaken For Gay.
- Scotty of Star Trek The Original Series has a very logical Berserk Button for a chief engineer. Insult The Federation? Fine. Insult Captain Kirk? Fine. Insult the Enterprise? Prepare for a Bar Brawl.
- Don't call Worf a coward. Just don't.
- Kaylee of Firefly behaves similarly, and is ready to fight a garrison of Feds for insulting Serenity.
- Also, whatever you do, do not threaten or turn on any member of Mal's crew. If you're lucky, he'll just shoot you. But if you aren't, he's more than willing to throw you out the airlock or worse.
- Zoe's is rather obvious, although rarely triggered: Wash.
- Simon has River. River has The Oatie Bar.
- When in Rome, don't talk ill of the XII Legion. Just don't
 .
- In the '70s live-action Saturday morning show The Kids from C.A.P.E.R., Bugs went berzerk (fairly literally) whenever he heard the word "bananas," for no apparent reason.
- Cameron does not like it when someone lies to her. However, being somewhat lacking in emotions, her anger tends to be very cold.
- The Big Bad of third season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Mayor Wilkins, tended to lean toward the Affably Evil end of things; insisting on good hygiene from his minions, reading newspaper funny pages,and giving Buffy and Angel seemingly genuinely well-meant relationship advice. Then his enforcer, Faith, was put in a coma. He actually tried to smother Buffy right in the middle of the hospital. In front of a nurse. And he was the only villain who actually wanted to keep all the fighting and death a secret.
- Don't forget in the same season when the Mayor interrupts the Scoobies meeting in the library! He threatens Buffy and before you can say, "Who's your Watcher?" Giles has pulled a motherfucking sword on him. If you want to fuck with Buffy, you're going to have to fuck with her badass, daddy figure of a Watcher.
- While playing himself in Father Ted, Richard Wilson is portrayed as reacting violently whenever someone repeats his catchphrase as Victor Meldrew to him. The actor himself admits that this (much like anyone else haunted by a well-known catchphrase) is something that spills over to real life.
- In Doctor Who, you do NOT call Ace small.
- There's an engineered instance in Torchwood; the guy Suzie has been messing with will go into a ten-second Unstoppable Rage when the titular organization is mentioned.
Professional Wrestling
- Tag team member, Festus, is a Gentle Giant until the bell rings, thus triggering his Berserk Button.
- This somewhat works in reverse, for when that bell rings again, usually after a victory, Festus visibly reverts to his gentle self.
- A sure way to bring out a certain wrestler to interrupt a promo is to say something that plays on his Catch Phrase. This contributor feels that the cleverest use of this was when Booker T said his own Catch Phrase, "Don't hate the playah, hate the game" to HHH who is also sometimes known as the Game.
Tabletop Games
- Taken almost-literally by the Arco-Flagellants in Warhammer 40000, which are designed specifically to turn into berserk killing machines with the proper command. Don't examine them too closely, either... they're Nightmare Fuel Unleaded.
- The "Consumer On the Brink" archetype from the Feng Shui supplement "Seed of the New Flesh" is not very powerful in terms of skills. But attack him or put him in close proximity to his irritant, which is a Berserk Button or something else that pisses him off to no end, and his combat Action Values will go up to asskicking levels.
Theater
- Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing goes berserk upon being called an ass.
- And then he tells everyone not to forget it.
Videogames
- Jin Saotome from Cyberbots (& Marvel vs. Capcom) goes into a rage if his opponents mention his dead father.
- Flonne from Disgaea, while usually the Love Freak, is unusually loud when someone points out that she's flat. This is true of Etna, too, but she can be loud without a Berserk Button.
- That being said, when Etna's assets (or rather, her lack of them) are pointed out, she tends to go right past "loud" and straight to "murderously violent". Rozalin got to learn this the hard way.
- Raine from Tales Of Symphonia, despite her normally rather cynical and sensible behaviour, has archaeological mania. Woe betide anyone who disparages or harms any ruins in her presence.
- Locke from Final Fantasy VI goes nuts whenever someone calls him a thief. He prefers to be known as a "treasure hunter."
- Appearently, in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time/Darkness, if the generally friendly and easy-going Guildmaster Wigglytuff doesn't have any Perfect Apples to eat, the entire room begins to shake violently as if something VERY bad is about to happen. It doesn't happen, however, because another exploration team comes in with a Perfect Apple for Wigglytuff.
- Wasn't that a running gag as well as his entire personality. One of the funniest moments in the game is when Team Skull kidnaps him. Maybe they just put him in there for comic relief so they could hide the nightmare fuel unleaded and edginess.
- Kornell goes nuts and breaks out of a trap in Grandia III when Miranda calls him a "muscle-bound peabrain."
- CJ from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas reacts very badly to being called a 'bustah'. Badly enough that the game goes to pot whenever someone does...
- Say 'Daisukenojo Bito' in front of Beat. I dare you.
- Okay! DAISUKENOJO BITO!
- The above troper was beaten to death with a skateboard.
- Don't touch Boo.
- The whole point of Postal 2 is that the protagonist, an average, down-on-his-luck citizen of a simple little town can go on a mass-murdering rampage while performing boring, menial tasks that try their hardest to frustrate him. The catch is that the player can choose to do so or not.
- In Super Smash Bros Brawl's Subspace Emissary Adventure Mode, the plot diverges slightly based on player action in the first stage, which determines which of the game's two resident princesses is initially captured by the baddies. The one who escapes is later believed by her corresponding hero to have been assaulted by allies. The batshit rage which results from this erroneous belief indicates that for Mario, endangering Princess Peach presses his Berserk Button; to press Link's, endanger Princess Zelda.
- Barbatos Goetia in Tales Of Destiny 2 is already batshit insane from the start, but there are some ways to make him even crazier... Cast a spell in front of him? No, not that, he may counter immediately with a spell, but he still keeps his tone to usual... but use an item in front of him, and he'll approach you ASAP, grab you, slam you, stomp you and slash you with all his spectacularly Badass scream: "NO, ITEMS, EVEEEERRRRR!!!!!". Even more in the Japanese version, since he got Norio Wakamoto as his seiyuu.
- The Witch in Left 4 Dead is the most passive enemy in the game, not attacking until you shine a flashlight on her, bump into her or do anything to disturb the woman. She then promptly stands up, annihilates the person responsible, before bursting into tears and shrieking as she runs away from the survivors.
Webcomics
- In this strip from El Goonish Shive, we seen Nanase push her own Berserk Button.
- In Fanboys Lemmy goes into a berserker rage (complete with Glowing Eyes Of Doom) whenever someone says that "Nintendo is kiddy"; his roommate Paul has used this as a Manchurian Candidate-style trigger on more than one occasion.
- In Exterminatus Now, Lothar - who's pretty damn Bad Ass to begin with - goes into berserk mode when his hat is destroyed. Trying to take his coffee away from him gets a similar reaction from Eastwood.
- Everyday Heroes has a receptionist who is sensitive about the size of her nose. If one bumps her into it, she undertakes a transformation parodying The Incredible Hulk only in reverse. She shrinks down from 7' to 4' and goes violent until someone can bring her candy to binge on. This returns her to her normal state but is dangerous, because she's diabetic and could die from the sugar rush.
- The Jägers of Girl Genius are all very, very fond of their hats (a common Jäger remark is "Hey, nice hat!") and, apparently, take it badly if the hat is mistreated. When Agatha knocks off Maxim's hat (because he was being rude) he's very much about to flip out... except Agatha is currently in her mad-girl mindset and promptly puts him in his place. (It helps that they're all conditioned to obey her bloodline.)
- When around Fighter of 8-Bit Theater, even if you're a teammate, under no circumstances are you to threaten or even imply that you will, either through action or inaction, bring harm to Black Mage. That would be wrong. Kind of chainsaw wrong.
- Referred to in the Narbonic fanfic "A Brief Moment of Culture":
There are some things you can't say to people around here without having them come completely unglued. With Helen, it's, "Well, it looks like those fools at the institute were right after all!" All it takes with Dave is, "Bad news, all they had left was menthol." And Mell? Well, of course... "Your weapons are useless against it!"
- Naturally, Artie doesn't tell us what, if anything, is his own Berserk Button. After all, he is superintelligent.
- Oasis from Sluggy Freelance has two of these. Identify yourself as a Hereti Corp employee or the object of Torg's love, and she will kill you painfully. The first is the result of extensive brainwashing, but the second is pure jealousy.
- In The Last Days Of Foxhound, whilst Raven's Not Compensating For Anything, claiming he is will often earn you a one way ticket to a world of pain...
- Order Of The Stick: "YOU! BROKE! MY! SWORD!"
Web Original
- A few characters have at least one in Survival Of The Fittest. For example, in v3, Darnell Butler has his protectiveness towards women extend towards being compelled to violently attack anyone he sees severely mistreating one, and Bobby Jacks becomes uncontrollable when called a murderer, causing a fight at the senior year's bonfire and, eventually, driving him to murder Tyson Neills. Especially notable since this seems to be the only thing that can make Bobby actually snap or get angry at all.
- A number of characters have one of these in The Mad Scientist Wars, most noticibly Andrew Tinker. No matter how tempted you are, or how true it is, do not call him 'girly' or refer to him as female. The last guy got pinned to a wall by his neck.
- In Protectors Of The Plot Continuum, making pickled pepper jokes around Agent Peter Piper does not do wonders for one's life expectancy.
- Jeff, the hero of Ewen Cluney's anime-inspired story "Interesting Times," is a basically nice guy, if something of a Weirdness Magnet. But that comic collection that he maintains? Don't mess with it. You will not like him if you mess with it.
- Mackenzie Blaise of Tales Of MU has one in her "little sister", the golem girl Two. Even joke about hurting her, and you got a very angry demon girl after you. A lot of the readers feel the same way.
- Unassuming little Hazel Callaway breaks bones whenever somebody speaks ill of her mum.
Western Animation
Other
- On a certain famous Image Board, there exist "rage inducing threads", whose sole purpose is to hit the Berserk Button of as many posters as possible.
- Those who make them are known as Trolls, and the activity known as trolling.
- Ahem, that lesson in basic internet aside, on said image board this is actually more of a specific activity, approaching that of a game. The thread is even traditionally started out with the phrase "You get filled with rage, you lose." The starting image is usually a recent piece of Dis Continuity or Wall Banger or somesuch.
- Mods that add clocking functionality are a berserk button issue for the entire Freelancer community. Merely mentioning it is a ban-worthy offense on most Freelancer forums.
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