Discussion Main / GoodIsNotnice

I think a good alternative title for this trope should be “Rough Diamond” considering that a Rough Diamond means “A person who is generally of good character but lacks manners, education, or style.” according to Google’s definition of it. Which is exactly what this trope’s about. So can there please be a redirect?

Edited by Retrobudz

Shouldn't these tropes just be combined? Is there really that much of a difference? Good Is Not Nice and Good Is Not Soft

Would a trickster mentor count as Good is Not Nice because of the fact that they mess with others to teach them lessons?

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Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Minor Example, I think minor renaming is in order., started by WeirdRaptor on Nov 17th 2010 at 8:30:14 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: One trope, or two or more?, started by neoYTPism on Jun 11th 2011 at 12:13:31 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Just to let everyone in this site know, I sort of have a love/hate opinion on this trope. On the negative note, it does make any person/character from any type of media come across as jerkish. On the positive note, it does give any other type of character some motivations as to why they act like that. Thats all I have to say.

Edited by Addicted94

Title of trope reminds me of this from (the musical) "Into the Woods" - "Nice is different than good"...

(Actually, who needs love when one has music?...) Hide / Show Replies

Literature example: Belisarius as portrayed in Eric Flint's Belisarius Series. In vol 2, Into the Heart of Darkness, the villains, the Malwa, have decided to test his intentions of betraying Rome (Constantinople) by seeing if he will commit atrocities against some hostages they've captured.

"He knew the nature of the test, then, even before Venandakatra spoke. A new fury threatened to overwhelm him, but he crushed it at once. The only sign of his rage was that the next words he spoke to Garmat were spoken in Arabic instead of Ge'ez. "Why is it, I wonder, that cruel people always think they have a monopoly on ruthlessness?" "

Edited by SDN

Can a Knight Templar be considered Good is Not Nice?

Edited by Icarael "Stealing is a crime and drugs is a crime too BUT if you steal drugs the two crimes cancel out and it’s like basically doing a good." Hide / Show Replies

I found this in the Video Game Folder:

• Fallout: New Vegas

"In the Honest Hearts DLC, we have Joshua Graham, the former Malpais Legate (now a good guy again). While he truly cares for the tribals he's sworn to defend, he is a completely over-the-top Papa Wolf who will (and has) gone to great lengths to prove that fucking with those under his protection will result in the Wrath Of God killing the hell out of you. However, depending on how things play out, you can either encourage him to take this to it's logical, ultraviolent conclusion, or help him temper his ultraviolence for a good cause with a little mercy."

Isn't this more a case of Good Is Not Soft? Joshua is a very nice person as long his Berserk Button isn't switched on.

Edited by 109.169.104.168 Srg. Dornan: Troper, what are you doing here?! Get back to your post!!!

Okay, so how many of these characters really fit Good Is Not Soft more than Good is Not Nice? Dr. Tenma from Monster is listed on both pages, and I think he may fit the former better rather than latter. The one about Takeru/T.K. from Digimon Adventure 02 may also belong there instead of on here as well (or maybe even in Beware the Nice Ones instead).

Edited by Angewomon Talk to the hand.

I'd like to add this example, as I think it fits the trope perfectly, but I'm worried about Flame Bait. What do you think?

God, especially in the Old Testament. If God is a loving parent, Old Testament God was definitely of the "spare the rod and spoil the child" school of child-rearing.

Captain Hammer lacks the "unwilling to kill people part of the description. Should we put it someone else?

The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.

Should not one of the numbers be that he wants them to learn for themselves?

I will laugh when you are in trouble! When they cry for help, I will not answer. -Jesus rebuttal to fools found in proverbs 1:26-28?

Would DiZ/Ansem the Wise from Kingdom Hearts count? Yes, he's definitely a good guy, but he's also a bit of an asshole, especially to Riku, Roxas and Namine.

Shamelessly plugging my comics, Oh yes.

Remove to Lelouch and Suzaku, Really are examples of Affably Evil.

What I first thought when I heard this subject name is the (powerfully true and completely neglected in our culture) idea expressed succinctly in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when one of the children asks if Aslan is safe.

"Safe, who said anything about safe? Of course he's not safe . . . but he's good." (From memory)

That is, that which is truly good is not necessarily gentle and sweet. A good parent must sometimes punish their child. A good government (with limited resources) must sometimes deny perfectly valid requests.

But this doesn't seem to be quite what this is talking about. To refer to my example, Aslan is not anti-social, but neither is merely nice or safe.

Is there a named trope that directly refers to this? What do you think about this idea?

Deleted the Real Life section. One of the keys to this trope is a lack of moral ambiguity. Since that's nearly impossible to establish in real life, I believe this section should be left out.

Video Game Census. Please contribute.

House: would he even count as "good"? It's more like his neurotic and obsessive hobby has the nice side effect of saving lives. Most of his actions are either amoral or downright immoral. After all, we're talking about the man who kills babies and destroys families to solve his puzzles.