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Author: Madrugada

Jul 24th 2010 at 12:42:56 PM

!!!Taking a stab at cleaning up the description:

It's often said that both anonymity and power will corrupt otherwise decent, good people. TwoSidesOfTheSameCoin is when the anonymity or power didn't ''change'' a person; it simply ''revealed'' what was already there, kept in check by fear of what others would think or do in response.

It may not be an "evil" aspect that's revealed; a bloodthirsty, ruthless villain doing something nice or good when he doesn't need to worry about others thinking him soft or weak for it would also fall into this trope.

When it's played for comedy rather than seriously, the person is usually caught in the act, most often by the one person or group they were most worried about finding out their secret.

Type 1: Anonymity
The character is able to reveal their hidden side because some sort of anonymity means that they won't be linked to it.

Type 2: Power
The character is able to express their hidden side because they have sufficient power (of any type) to protect themselves from any negative response.

Related to {{GIFT}} and WhatYouAreInTheDark, Often used in conjunction with JerkWithAHeartOfGold, JerkassFacade, BitchInSheepsClothing.

I'm not even going to touch the examples. Most of them seem to be "This character isn't one-dimensional -- they're complicated."