Basic Trope: A character who once was a school bully is reformed.
- Straight: Nick was a bully during his days in school, but is now a really Nice Guy.
- Exaggerated: Nick used to be a Barbaric Bully who terrorized the kids and adults alike, but he's now an All-Loving Hero.
- Downplayed:
- While Nick still isn't a nice person, he is less of a bully as an adult.
- While he made amends with his old victims, Nick is still a Jerkass to everyone else.
- Nick became an Affably Evil Noble Demon criminal, who feels remorseful for his old bullying.
- Justified:
- Nick's victims stood up to him and gave him his just desserts; thus, he had an epiphany.
- Nick realizes that his bullying nature hasn't given him any satisfaction during his childhood.
- Nick had a really lousy childhood and took it out on his classmates as a kid. As he matured, he found healthier ways to cope with his issues, and realized that having a bad home life doesn't give him the right to make everyone else miserable. He's now a well-adjusted and remorseful adult.
- Inverted:
- Nick was a Lovable Jock in high school, but as he became an adult, he's a vicious bully to everyone.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid
- Nick was a bully in high school... and is now the tyrannical Emperor Evulz.
- Subverted: Nick meets up with his old classmates in a high school reunion and has a conversation with his former victims about how he's changed...until he starts treating them like he did in the old days...
- Double Subverted: ...as an act, they then laugh it off as if it was a hilarious joke.
- Parodied: Ironically, Nick's bullied victims hate him more than ever because either he's too nice or is Innocently Insensitive and delivering Condescending Compassion to his former victims. It got too the point where all of his former victims prefer Nick when was bullied them.
- Zig Zagged: Nick alternates between being repentant and continuing to bully people as an adult.
- Averted: Nick is still a bully.
- Enforced: The author, who is a former bully, wants to prove to the viewers that bullies can change.
- Lampshaded:
- "Gee, I wonder what caused Nick to turn over a new leaf? He's like a whole new person now."
- "Guys, please give me a chance, you can stuff me back in the locker or beat me to a pulp like I used to do to you as proof!"
- Invoked: "Perhaps if I befriend Nick, maybe he'll stop being a bully."
- Exploited: Case workers knew that despite Nick's bullying, that there's still good him, and guides him into the right path.
- Defied:
- "Screw you morons! I'm not gonna give up this life of pounding you losers!"
- "Bullies never change! They're never sorry for what they've done."
- Discussed: "How do we know that Nick has really changed and not pretending to be one before he stabs us in the back?"
- Conversed: "If they keep up this idea of Nick being nice to everyone, then he might be redeemed in my eyes."
- Deconstructed: Nick has reformed, but his bullied victims refuse to trust let alone forgive him, even going as far to reject his tries at making up for his past bullying.
- Reconstructed:
- Understanding that they won't forgive him, Nick continues to atone for his past bullying, and they eventually forgive him after all. Not before being called out of course.
- Nick's former victims will never let him forget what an abusive jerk he used to be. And if that's what it takes to keep him from going back, then that's exactly what he wants.
- Played For Laughs: Nick is now a Nice Guy...too nice, and this cause Nick's former victims to force him back to his bullying ways.
- Played For Drama:
- Because Nick's bullied victims refused to forgive him, Nick reverted back to his old ways, and even became a worse bully then before.
- Alternatively, Nick falls into an Angst Coma.
- Implied: Nick is a friendly Nice Guy, but everyone is afraid of him at his high school reunion for some reason.
Remember that main page who used to stuff us inside our lockers back in high school? He's a nice guy now.
