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YMMV / The Bad Guys (2022)

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YMMV tropes for the The Bad Guys (2022) series

Tropes with their own pages:

Examples for the book series go here.
  • Adaptation Displacement: Despite their position on the New York Times' best seller list and the Periphery Demographic that the books have, many people were still surprised to find that the movie was in fact adapted from a book series. This is amped up in France; when the movie came out, the original edition was abandoned and a new edition was launched. This new edition adds color, turns the Bad Guys in their movie colors (Book's Snake becomes yellow, even though he's canonically green), and most notably, modifies Legs to make him closer to his movie counterpart (by renaming him Webs and turning him into a woman).
  • Adorkable:
    • While mostly suave and charismatic, Mr. Wolf has his moments, like whenever his tail starts wagging after doing a good deed, or his excited, almost nerding-out reaction to Diane's secret base.
    • Diane is even more sophisticated than Wolf, though as he bonds with her, she starts leaning into adorable Genki Girl levels of happy energy, especially after The Reveal she is the Crimson Paw.
    • Piranha is so adorably crazy it's ridiculous.
  • Alternate Aesop Interpretation:
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: For those outside of North America, the "push pop" seems odd — but it is an actual type of popsicle (ordinarily made with frozen grape or orange sherbet) that's sold there.
  • Award Snub: It wasn't nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, or Annies.
  • Awesome Ego:
    • "Cocky" doesn't begin to describe Mr. Wolf: he constantly engages in flashy heists, intentionally makes the police chase longer because it's his favorite part of any heist, and always struts around like he owns the place with a smug grin on his muzzle. However, he's so much of a brilliant strategist, Badass Driver, and charismatic Loveable Rogue that you'll find him just as awesome as he finds himself.
    • Diane doesn't act the slightest bit humble about how skilled she is, but good God does she back up all of that cockiness as the Crimson Paw.
  • Awesome Music:
    • "Good Tonight", the song Mr. Piranha sings at the gala, is an amazing, upbeat tune that shows off Anthony Ramos' vocal talent perfectly.
    • "The Old Switcheroo" plays when Mr. Snake reveals how he tricked both the group and Professor Marmalade and it's a grandiose piece that starts relatively calm and builds up into something big just before when we see Marmalade's place blowing up.
  • Base-Breaking Character: Chief Luggins. While she can be entertaining due to her Large Ham tendencies, some also dislike her for being arrogant barfbag who doesn't believe in redemption and solely serves as an Inspector Javert for the Bad Guys' arc. That she is a Canon Foreigner that wasn't in the books also adds to the contention.
  • Captain Obvious Reveal: If you've seen pretty much any animated film from The New '10s, then it should be immediately obvious that Marmalade is the villain. Even if you haven't, his defining character trait as being almost saintly generous, and him making "flower of goodness" comments should spell it out for you. Plus, in his Establishing Character Moment, when a journalist mentions only Mother Theresa may be a bigger philanthropist than him, he somewhat passive-aggressively retorts that they'd tie in in the goodness department, which confirms he's only doing good deeds to look good. According to head of character animation JP Sans, this was on purpose, as despite being a philanthropist, his smarmy, condescending attitude was meant to invoke the "I want to punch him in the face" feeling.
  • Catharsis Factor:
    • On one hand, it's pretty blood-boiling to watch Professor Marmalade manipulate the rightfully angry Mr. Wolf into attacking him so as to make him look awful in the public eye. It's another thing when Professor Marmalade's ultimate fate is to be revealed as the meteor thief, with his mansion blowing up as proof. On top of that, he's handed the same courtesy he gave the Bad Guys: being humiliated and framed for something he didn't do (stealing the diamond which Diane actually stole).
    • On a lesser note, it's also pretty nice to see the shocked expressions on Tiffany Fluffit, Chief Luggins, and the entire police force's faces when Marmalade's mansion blows up. These guys have spent the whole movie treating the Bad Guys as irredeemable monsters and criminals, and when they see for the first time the Bad Guys truly are innocent of the meteor theft and realize that Marmalade was the true thief, it basically serves them all the big ol' slice of humble pie that some viewers will have been waiting for.
  • Cliché Storm: The first half of the movie is very much by the book (No Pun Intended): Villain Protagonist undergoes Heel–Face Turn after realizing Good Feels Good, meets up with The Idealist mentor/reformer who turns out to be Evil All Along, framing them for a heist that forces Wolf to have to Clear Their Name, the old switcheroo in every Caper...
  • Crack Pairing: Diane Foxington x Walter White of all people. Yes, it's a thing.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Chief Luggins, a Canon Foreigner police chief made to be the gang's first antagonist in the film, quickly became popular thanks to her chaotic animation, funny moments, and Alex Borstein's over-the-top voice acting.
  • Estrogen Brigade: Mr. Wolf is slowly starting to get one. Blame the movie itself for that. He gets Adaptational Attractiveness, going from a scruffy and googly-eyed wolf into a well-dressed, charming and charismatic Lovable Rogue with a tall and slim figure.
  • Evil Is Cool: While the movie is premised on the Bad Guys trying to be good, a huge number of fans — mostly seen in fanarts — enjoy them being criminals, which is something not usually seen from protagonists in children's animated movies. The gang is loved for their charming yet adorable flair, and have a good dosage of Adaptational Badass, which helps their Anti-Hero status. The fact that the movie is a take on the heist/crime genre helps.
  • Fanfic Fuel: What if the Bad Guys succeeded in stealing the Golden Dolphin?
  • Friendly Fandoms:
    • In addition to the usual furry fandom overlap that comes with high-profile movies focused on animals, many Lupin III fans adore this movie. Mr. Wolf and Chief Luggins are dead ringers for Lupin and Inspector Zenigata, and the story plays out like one of Lupin's more manic adventures. It helps that Lupin III: The First, another movie praised for faithfully adapting 2D animation aesthetics into 3D CGI, came out just three years before The Bad Guys.
    • With Turning Red, as both movies came out in 2022, focus on anthromorphic animals and have similarly stylized, colorful animation.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • The gang very nearly succeeding in the Golden Dolphin heist becomes this later on, once Diane is revealed to be a Reformed Criminal trying to turn her life around for the better. The Good Samaritan Awards was one of her first big events as governor, meaning that the gang succeeding would have been devastating to her political career, taking away her opportunity to atone for her past. Her horrified reaction to the missing trophy and her desperate pleas to the audience not to panic become harder to bear on second viewings..
    • It gets worse factoring Marmalade's plan instead, which would have instead applied the theft of the Love Crater Meteorite, and countless charities for schools and hospitals getting robbed of their funds. Adding onto that Marmalade was smart enough to figure out Diane was the Crimson Paw, and the Word of God confirmation that Wolf was her first and only confidant since her Heel–Face Turn that Marmalade tried to play off as a rabid phony, Diane's entire life could have been destroyed had Marmalade won.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Mr. Wolf describing himself as The Big Bad Wolf but somewhat resenting that reputation became this when the very next DreamWorks movie, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, would feature a very intimidating instance of said trope as one of its primary villains.
    • In this film, Marc Maron plays Mr. Snake, who desires to devour the Guinea pig antagonist. A few months later, Maron would provide the voice for Lex Luthor in DC League of Super-Pets, where he is responsible for the creation of that film's Guinea pig villain.
    • In the Swedish dub, Björn Bengtsson voices Mr. Wolf, and Bengtsson would not only go on to voice in the next Dreamworks movie, he would be voicing another wolf.
    • The movie has Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula befriending a Diane Foxington, a fox. Two years later, in Kung Fu Panda 4, she herself becomes a fox.
  • Ho Yay:
    • Wolf and Snake, per the books.
      • In the cafe scene, when Mr. Wolf calls out for the check, Mr. Snake looks at him like he's in love with him. They actually both spend a good deal of their time looking at one another this way.
      • A lot of the emotional tension is focused on them, culminating in Wolf being the only one Snake says he loves out loud and hugging each other when it looks like they're about to fall to their deaths. As they do, Snake nuzzles his shoulder. explanation
    • Ms. Tarantula, aka Webs, and Diane Foxington have some hints of subtext between them. Webs admits that she voted for Foxington, gives a very excited "Uh, yes?!?!" to Diane asking her on a "girl's trip" (riding a motorbike and hacking a bunch of cars), and, upon being asked where she learned to hack, does an obvious attempt at waving it off and acting cool, before admitting that it was mostly YouTube.
  • Inferred Holocaust: A rather large amount of guinea pigs fall to their death near the end of the movie, and presumably even more die when Mr. Snake mind-controls them into blowing up the meteor. No attention is called to it. Though, in fairness, they've been shown to be Made of Iron up to that point, getting hit by cars and getting used as a literal wave at one point and seemingly taking no significant damage, so there's a solid chance they're all fine.
  • LGBT Fanbase: The film already had a pretty sizeable queer following, but Mr. Wolf in particular is especially popular among bi viewers due to the Ship Tease he has with Diane as well as the Ho Yay between him and Mr. Snake.
  • Magnificent Bastard:
    • Mr. Wolf, leader of the Bad Guys, exploits society's negative reputation of him and his friends to commit heists. A dedicated planner who masterminds the heists, while making sure they're as frantic as possible in order to make them more fun, when the plan to steal the Golden Dolphin lands him and his friends in jail, Wolf makes a deal with Professor Marmalade to become good in order to gain society's trust before resuming his gang's thefts. Growing to enjoy being good despite his friends' wishes, upon being betrayed and framed by Marmalade for stealing a prized meteorite, Wolf writes up notes for Diane Foxington to steal everything in his base save for one push-pop, knowing that it will get the cynical Mr. Snake to turn good and help him defeat Marmalade. Saving his friends from death, while also ensuring Diane's past as the Crimson Paw remains a secret, Wolf turns himself and his friends in afterwards, having successfully reformed as good guys.
    • Mr. Snake, Wolf's best friend and expert safe cracker, is a selfish cynic who eventually shows how cunning he can really be. Pretending to betray his friends and work for Professor Marmalade in his plan to mind control guinea pigs into stealing $1 billion worth of charity money, Snake gets Marmalade to hand him his mind control helmet, using it to quickly control the guinea pigs into swapping the stolen meteorite with Marmalade's lamp replica, later having it explode inside the professor's mansion and getting him convicted of theft.
    • Ms. Tarantula, aka "Webs", is a skilled hacker able to crack into anything. Having been taught through experience and YouTube videos, Tarantula uses her skills to assist Wolf in his heists, from changing traffic lights to red to destroy pursuing police cars, to breaking through a security system designed specifically to block her from hacking it.
    • Diane Foxington, well-respected governor of Los Angeles, is actually the Crimson Paw, a legendary thief who previously stole the Zumpago Diamond twice out of boredom. Turning good as a way to atone for her life of crime, while keeping her past a secret, Diane shows she's still got it when she helps the Bad Guys escape prison by beating up several guards, and even assists them in their plan to stop Professor Marmalade with a variety of gadgets and gizmos. Ultimately helping the Bad Guys reform, Diane joins them in whatever caper they've got next.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • The main character being a suave, attractive looking wolf-man caused the internet to waste no time making jokes about the film being a trap to lure in furries, with many members of the fandom even going along with it.
    • The furries killed the Wizarding World. explanation
    • Using screen captures of the film as a base to draw characters over has become a common trend in the Furry Fandom, with the opening chase sequence and Mr. Wolf dancing with Diane being the two most common sequences to choose images from.
    • The Bad Guys 621. explanation
    • Lois is a police officer. explanation
    • Diane Foxington from the bad guys is like Spamton from deltarune chapter 2 Explanation
  • Moral Event Horizon: While the theft of the charity money (with the added possibility of casualties) is already a heinous act, Professor Marmalade finally crosses it when he threatens to kick Mr. Snake off of his helicopter if the Bad Guys don't give up the meteorite. Even when the gang agrees to give him the meteorite, the guinea pig still kicks Snake off.
  • One True Threesome: Mr. Wolf/Mr. Snake/Diane is popular for those who enjoy the dynamic Mr. Wolf has with both characters enough that they can't pick just one to ship him with.
  • Popular with Furries: Despite the popularity of the book series, it took until the movie's first trailer for a huge boom of furry fandom to gain interest in the series. Notable characters of interest include Mr. Wolf, Diane Foxington, Mr. Snake, and Mr. Shark, with some sapphic fans also taking a liking to Webs. Helping matters is a trailer scene where the main cast wear kigu, which are featured fairly prominently in the film itself.
  • Ship Mates: Diane/Ms. Tarantula is somewhat popular among those who ship Mr. Wolf/Mr. Snake.
  • Signature Scene:
    • The entire opening sequence, starting with The Oner at the diner (a Shout-Out to Pulp Fiction) and followed by the car chase.
    • Mr. Wolf saving the cat from the tree.
    • Mr. Wolf and Diane's dance scene at the charity gala.
  • Spiritual Adaptation:
    • Take the zany heist scenes, the designs of the humans, and render them in 2D black-and-white, and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's for a new installment of Lupin III. Officer Luggin's status as a dedicated member of the law constantly coming close to but always failing to apprehend her suave and crafty lupine nemesis directly brings to mind Zenigata.
    • This is the closest we'll ever get to a Sly Cooper movie. Mr. Wolf is the suave Lovable Rogue protagonist standing in for Sly, while Diane Foxington and Chief Luggins feel like a Decomposite Character of Carmelita Fox (the former being the Foxy Vixen love interest, and the latter the police officer obsessed with catching Mr. Wolf / Cooper).
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: The film's character design and animation style is a common point of praise by fans. Some have compared it favorably to Akira Toriyama and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
  • Win Back the Crowd:
    • Most DreamWorks fans were disappointed with the studio's subpar output in 2021, only to be blown away by this film's endearing and well-developed characters, stunning animation, and witty (if not entirely original) writing. It's a critical darling as well, with a Rotten Tomatoes rating and Metascore of 88% and 64, respectively.
    • The first Italian trailer was met with skepticism because of the dubbing for Mr. Wolf and Diane, played by two actors with no prior experience in the field, being perceived as amateurish. However, the response to the film was ultimately positive, and the dubbing, despite having some Gratuitous English, was reevaluated for the better.

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