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"Don't tell me to calm down. Calm was killing me."
Sometimes characters have every reason to be angry, but they try to hold it back for various reasons. Sometimes, the reasons are selfish; sometimes, they are because they know it would be wrong to get angry or that blowing their top would have bad consequences (such as losing their job or getting killed); and sometimes, the reason is just for the sake of appearances.
Eventually, there will be a last straw. It could range from a minor thing, to out-and-out hitting the character's Berserk Button. But, now, the flood of anger comes pouring out like water from a burst dam. It usually involves Unstoppable Rage, but in some cases, it can even be Tranquil Fury. Some stories might even have this trigger a Heroic Second Wind. Also, if the character's Berserk Button is hit, this character might even be twice as berserk as usual.
A Sub Trope of You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry.
A Super Trope to Rant Inducing Slight (in that the trigger is very minor). Suddenly Shouting often goes hand-in-hand with this.
Compare Trying Not To Cry, Not So Stoic, Teach Him Anger, Break the Cutie, Beware the Nice Ones, Sudden Principled Stand (principle is handled similarly), and Moment of Weakness (which the Rage Breaking Point can provoke).
Contrast Hair-Trigger Temper, The Stoic.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Minoru Shiraishi from Lucky Star. His moment was even made the page image for Beware the Nice Ones.
- When Naruto learned of the harm he caused by using the Nine-Tail's power to the point where he can't even control himself, he restrains his anger to avoid transforming again. After what seems like a month or so, his beloved mentor Jiraiya is killed, his village is destroyed while he is away, and his teacher Kakashi has died from overuse of chakra. All have been caused by one guy, Pain. Naruto goes to defeat Pain with his new power, but is quickly brought down. Of all times, Hinata decides try to be brave enough to attack Pain, but she is thrown around and then stabbed. Naruto, now an over-pressured boiler filled with rage, gives himself to the very power that harmed his comrades before... but it also, for the first time, scared Pain because he suddenly found that even his vaunted power was No Sell against the power of Nine-Tails. By the time Naruto finally came back out of it, Pain was not as confident as before.
- Bleach: Having been in a state of Tranquil Fury for many chapters ever since his Number Two Choujirou Sasakibe was killed, Yamamoto finally hits his Rage Breaking Point in Chapters 503-505. In the story's most epic It's Personal Berserk Button moment to date, the entire shinigami city feels his rage explode like a volcano triggering an Heroic Second Wind in the captains that had been struggling until that point.
- Possibly the most tear jerking example happens to Gohan in Dragon Ball Z. First off, he and all his friends (and family) are fighting against the super powerful Cell, and one after another, they all fall. Eventually, Android #16 decides to try and perform a Taking You with Me Attack that doesn't work, because the bomb inside him was removed by Dr. Briefs. Cell then completely destroys him, save for his still-alive head, which Mr Satan tosses to Gohan. #16 then proceeds to tell Gohan to unleash his rage, as it's for the greater good. Then Cell crushes his head. Let's just say things didn't go well for Cell.
Fan Works
- In the Arcos special Chapter of Honor Trip, Kaji's story begins with a flashback to another soldier egging him on and insulting him. He wouldn't have succeeded in getting to Kaji, if he hadn't first implied that Kaji didn't deserve his rank, and then attacked his weak points. Also, Kaji probably wouldn't have beaten him to death.
- In the Pony POV Series, Dark World!Derpy's life has basically been a living hell not including the last thousand years she's lived in a Dystopia. But she's still a cheerful ditz most of the time (despite being the new Element of Loyalty and one of the group's main fighters). Then the Valeyard decides to basically tap-dance on her Berserk Buttons as he tries to painfully kill the group. She finally takes her entire life out on him in a moment of Tranquil Fury, beating him to death after his regeneration template is destroyed, killing the Valeyard incarnation of the Doctor for good.
- Shinji in TheSecondTry. Having been sent back in time, Shinji has been suppressing rage at his asshole father and SEELE for the stuff that went down in End of Evangelion. He also keeps calm even though him and Asuka resolved their issues, got married and had a child after Third Impact but lost that when both went back in time. Shinji then watches Eva-02 (piloted by Asuka, again) blow up. Shinji becomes Death incarnate and mows down an army of Evas before almost causing Third Impact.
Film
Literature
Live Action Television
- One episode of Malcolm in the Middle had Malcolm deciding to keep his opinions to himself. However throughout the episode he constantly gets annoyed by his family and the idiocy of his basketball team that we hear his rage in his thoughts which gets more and more distorted. Eventually he holds it in so much that he gets sick with a peptic ulcer and has to be taken to the hospital. His mother demands to know what he's so stressed about at his age. Malcolm decides to just let loose right then and there.
- A rather scary example occurs in season four of Merlin, when Arthur confronts Gwen about kissing Lancelot on the night before their wedding. He starts out speaking quietly and calmly, listing reasons for her behavior. When she doesn't agree with any of them he completely loses it, starts yelling, and grabs her by the shoulders. Almost immediately, though, the rage subsides and he apologizes.
Webcomics
- In this
 strip of Hanna is Not a Boys Name, Lamont tries to shake hands with a ridiculously stressed out Conrad. It does not go down well.
Conrad: Stop. Just Stop. I ran all the way here and I had to do it completely by memory because it's not like this dingy place has a f#cking listing. I got lost and a hooker tried to kiss me and you're damn lucky I no longer run out of breath. And I finally find this hack's hole in the wall that somehow passes off as a clinic, and whoa! Lucky me! Some shady greasy guy is dropping off organs like it's goddamn takeout. No I do not want to meet you. NO, I do not want to shake your hand.
- Bittersweet Candy Bowl sees Mike eventually reach this point when he thinks Lucy is passive-aggressively Playing the Victim Card and trying to guilt him into feeling bad that his long distance girlfriend Sandy is visiting over winter holiday. Instead of lashing out physically, he lays out a devastating "The Reason You Suck" Speech, which takes her to task for ten years of abuse. Made all the more painful by the fact this calling-out comes while she's trying to improve and stop being such a hot-headed Tsundere.
- Happened in Gunnerkrigg Court twice, to Antimony, who is usually nice and calm to the point of seeming emotionless. The second time was very unhealthy and prompted her to jump on the first proposal of teaching her some self-control.
- Piro from the webcomic MegaTokyo. Normally the nicest guy you could ask for, wouldn't hurt a fly. But he's been shown to have a violent temper, so push him over the edge at your peril. See also Beware the Quiet Ones.
- Aranea Serket from Homestuck is one of the most patient characters in the comic, dedicated to spreading knowledge to an almost unhealthy extent, but if you abridge something complicated down to one sentence or throw a gathering she's arranged into chaos for no reason, she will flip out - nonviolently, but spectacularly.
- Jane is a cheerful kid, but when Jake talks about his dating life once too often having lost track of the time until her birthday, she completely loses it, delivers a massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Jake (who still remains a clue-free zone), revokes his invitation, tramples her computer headset into a thin film on the ground, and throws a table off a roof.
Web Original
- Played for Laughs when Brows Held High reviewed A Serbian Film.
- Eventually cause Arthéon to lose it in the season 4 finale of Noob.
- In To Boldly Flee, 8-Bit Mickey has been abducted (again) by The Nostalgia Critic and roped into yet another wacky adventure. However, it isn't until a minor villain, Lame R. Prick, starts making short jokes that Mickey snaps and shoves Prick's head into a weed wacker.
- Speaking of The Nostalgia Critic, the title character can get very annoyed by a movie and it will usually be a stupid line or action that sets him off on one of his trademark tirades.
- Fred Clark, the author of the Slacktivist blog, has a distinct tendency to get pissed off when the Left Behind "books" trumpet their fidelity to Biblical literalism. Sixty pages into Tribulation Force, for example, there is actually a picture of a page of that novel torn out, screwed up and unfolded so you can see what it is, accompanied by a rant.
- Brain Scratch Commentaries: Part 5 of Johnny's Sonic Genesis playthrough. After spending hours suffering through the game's sporadic slowdown and horrendous collision detection, a surprise death on the last boss finally sets him off. The part is even titled "And now, RAGE."
Western Animation
- In the American Dad episode "Bullocks to Stan", Stan's boss has been mistreating him all through the episode, making him do lots of menial tasks, all to get his promotion. The also includes being quiet about sleeping with his grown daughter. But then after the two break up, Bullock calls her a slut. Stan goes berserk, with a few And This Is for... punches.
- Invoked in Avatar The Last Airbender when an Earth Kingdom general wants to utilize Aang's Avatar State. Aang doesn't want to do it, since it's so devastating. The general threatens his friends to make it happen, but sees what Aang meant when he finally got him to lose control.
- In Sequel Series The Legend of Korra, whenever Korra gets frustrated with her Airbending training, out come the fireballs at whatever object incurs her wrath.
- In the Samurai Jack episode, "Jack Vs Mad Jack," Jack has just fought off a small army of bounty hunters single-handed, but he manages to calm himself down... then his sandal strap breaks...
- In the The Simpsons episode 'Hurricane Neddy', the Flanders' house got destroyed by a hurricane, and isn't impressed with the rather shoddy result of the rest of the townspeoples' efforts to rebuild it for him. He tried to be nice as usual, but, when his glasses broke as he tried to clean them, that was the last straw: he snapped and went on a tirade, delivering a mass "The Reason You Suck" Speech to everyone present. Particularly notable in this case, because he'd been building up his rage for decades. Hell, it's the reason he has his Verbal Tic.
- "Homer Alone" has Marge going through a very particular hectic say. She had to drop Bart and Lisa to school after they missed the bus, had to get Homer's bowling ball fixed and is annoyed by the radio station playing a cruel joke. What sets her off is Maggie spilling milk all over Homer's newly-cleaned outfit.
- Lois has one in a Christmas episode of Family Guy, after Peter lost all of the gifts, the house was severely damaged in a fire, and she says that everything's going to be all right. She tells Meg to get paper towels to clean up while she continues trying to calm the rest of the family, and:
- In "Road to Rupert", Meg is driving Peter and his drunk friends, who proceed to annoy her, set her hair on fire and make her crash into the car in front of her. When the driver comes out and yells at her, she finally loses it and beats the ever-loving crap out of him.
- In the hurricane episode where the family has to stay inside, Peter makes lots of annoying sounds that greatly bother Meg, but she says nothing about it. However, the minute she makes a sound, Peter scolds her for it, causing her to snap and spill out all the pent up anger she held back from her family for years by giving them the biggest "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
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