This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Even though he's the trope namer, I'd actually disagree with Dennis the Menace as an example of this effect. Dennis's non-menacingness is somewhat tied to changing standards of what makes a bad kid, but if you go back and read the early strips, he still feels genuinely a lot more menacing in his early years.
- In one episode of South Park, Eric Cartman meets an Expy Bart Simpson, and they compare their evil deeds. Bart brags that he once sawed the head off a statue (but felt bad about it afterward.) Cartman, on the other hand, killed Scott Tenorman's parents, ground them into chili, and fed them to him.
once. —Document N
Arivne: I deleted the repeated mention of Dennis The Menace in the 2nd example.
