History BewareTheNiceOnes / LiveActionTV

** Before them, ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' had Sen-chan/Deka Green, the resident [[TheSmartGuy Smart Guy]], overall being the calmest and most polite member of the team. But if you do nasty things to innocents in front of him, ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections be damned, ''nothing'' will save you from his wrath. And there's the one time he beat the crap of an Alienizer who was planning to kill Umeko after playing with and making fun of her feelings, and would have ended him if it wasn't because Umeko showed up and did it herself.

*** Quark feels this way about humans, and by proxy the Federation itself, despite bordering on a MarySueTopia particularly in the early series. Sure, as a whole the human race is a pretty decent bunch, but that's only during peace time. Push them too hard and you'll have some of the nastiest hitters in the galaxy. The Federation is about peaceful coexistence, scientific research and exploration, but they explore with heavily-armed vessels that can stand toe-to-toe with the dedicated warships of their contemporaries, and despite outwardly decrying intelligence machinations, they have their Section 31, the Federation's very own Tal Shiar & Obsidian Order. S31 was willing to commit genocide when the Dominion threatened the security of the Alpha Quadrant. When the Federation finally built a dedicated warship, it was a tiny, spartan ''[[PintsizedPowerhouse escort vessel]]'', and it was capable of destroying much larger enemy warships.

** Once, when facing Escape (one of the CoDragons) alone, he ''deliberately'' drove himself into his berserk state to become strong enough to win. That makes him cooler and scarier at once: don't push him, because ''every'' tool he has is on the table, even basically becoming [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk]] in a Ranger suit (with the risk of death if he stays in that mode too long!) [[BloodKnight This makes Escape decide he's interesting and want to fight him again]]; she becomes his personal enemy just because she considers him the only one good enough to be worth fighting.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': Jennifer "JJ" Jareau. [[BadassAdorable Cute.]] [[PintSizedPowerHouse Tiny.]] Blonde. [[TooDumbToLive Will shoot you dead]] if you go after her [[TrueCompanions team]], and [[MamaBear god help you]] if you [[BerserkButton go after her son or husband]].

** Sarah Jane Smith, on both the main series and ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'': a kind, compassionate TechnicalPacifist who will utterly ''destroy'' you if you try to invade her planet, hurt [[TrueCompanions her friends]] or [[BerserkButton mess with her son]].

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Snow White is pretty nice, and a genuinely sweet person. But she's been shown to be [[GirlyBruiser a hell of a fighter]], and ''gods help you'' if you [[MamaBear endanger]] [[BerserkButton Emma]].

** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Teyla tends to be more calm than Sheppard and Ronon, and much more likely to grant mercy to bad guys. That said, don't hit any of her many {{Berserk Button}}s: her fellow Athosians, her team members, and, most importantly, her son, Torren. She did [[spoiler: kick Michael off the central tower of Atlantis, after all.]]

* ''Series/ControlZ'': Lampshaded in 1.06 about Javier's dark past.
--> '''Gibrán:''' Look, Javier plays the good guy and everybody buys it. But deep down he's a bully.

* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'': Monroe is a bookish, awkward watchmaker / clock repairman with a passion for Old Europe, cooking, wine, and the finer things in life... and a werewolf who could -- and sometimes does -- tear people apart. Nick is a genuinely good cop who will leave you alone if you haven't done anything illegal, no matter who or what you are... but he will smash your face with a warhammer if you threaten his friends or family. Juliette, a veterinarian and thus a friend of all living things, but when an ogre breaks into her home she doesn't hesitate to throw a pan of boiling water in his face, and when her friend is being abused by her husband she beats the cr@p out of him using common kitchen utensils ([[spoiler:taken UpToEleven once she becomes a Hexenbiest]]). Indeed, it is hard to think of any of the regulars or semi-regulars who ''don't'' fit this trope to a greater or lesser extent! Even the meek Fuchsbau Rosalee; you do NOT want to mess with her husband, or she'll literally tear your throat out, even if you're a big mean Blutbad.

'''Josh:''' [[RantInducingSlight Raaaaaaaaaaah!]] Come here! Come here, you wanna tussle!

* All of the main cast of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', being a team of {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s, are capable of [[OhCrap surprising any antagonist with their competence]] (especially those who surprise them first), but especially notable is [[BadassAdorable Abby]], the PerkyGoth [[TheLabRat Lab Rat]] who, as a civilian scientist and all-around GenkiGirl, ''seems'' like an easy target... and neatly puts her steel-toed boots to [[WhatAnIdiot almost every villain who's made that unfortunate assumption]].

** It's a pretty bad idea to insult Sherlock in front of John. Just ask [[WhatAnIdiot the Chief Superintendent of Scotland Yard]]. You will wind up with a bloody nose, though at least you'll get it fixed. That is, ''if'' he chooses to. But piss him off ''so much'' by messing with his friend, and he'll calmly, coldly KILL YOU.

** Molly is generally TheQuietOne, but she called Sherlock out on his rude behavior and calls him out on his [[WhatAnIdiot stupidity for his doing drugs. Again.]] which leads to (you guessed it) ''everyone'' being annoyed. Including John!

*** Billy Cranston. Most of the time, he's an adorable HollywoodNerd. In one episode after the MonsterOfTheWeek attacks his new alien friend, however, he ''snaps and shoots the MOTW without warning''.

*** Or with Sylar. [[spoiler: Locking him in a prison within his own mind, an empty world where ''years'' pass for every hour of real time, and then sealing his body behind a brick wall]] should do the trick. [[spoiler: For two episodes, anyway]]. Mind you, Sylar borrowed Claire's HealingFactor and used his newfound shape-shifting ability to ''move'' the part of the brain that can be attacked to disable it, so it's not like [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim a bullet]] will bother him. That's the thing about some MoralDissonance in ''Series/{{Heroes}}:'' some of these villains are so powerful that you ''have'' to get creative to be ''sure'' they won't be back to relieve you of your gray matter someday. Notice that ''even these things almost never work!''

* Frank Black from ''Series/{{Millennium}}'' is mild-mannered, law-abiding, honorable, and dearly loves his family. It's also heavily implied through the first season that the reason he is so gifted in understanding the minds of serial killers is that he has the traits of a killer himself ("I become the capability, I become the horror, what we know we can become in our heart of darkness") [[spoiler: culminating in him brutally butchering the man who kidnapped his wife.]]

** Kimberly. A tiny wisp of a creature who doesn't appear to weigh 100 pounds, she acts like an '80s ValleyGirl more times than not, but when threatened she becomes one of the toughest rangers ever. Made even more obvious with her weapon, The Power Bow. Her arrows have been shown to be able to turn corners and navigate through trees, meaning she has what amounts to a portable rocket launcher at her disposal. Anyone watching the first season quickly rediscovers a season-long running theme. Whenever Kimberly shows up looking angry, the monster ''dies''. In one example, Kimberly arrives to find the other five Rangers incapacitated. So she single-handedly annihilates an entire army of putties ''by shooting them one-by-one with her bow'', then takes out the monster seconds later.
** From Mighty Morphin' the original Blue Ranger, Billy Cranston. Most of the time, he's an adorable HollywoodNerd. In one episode after the MonsterOfTheWeek attacks his new alien friend, however, he ''snaps and shoots the MOTW without warning''.

** Quiet, stuttering, somewhat bumbling Giles efficiently beats the crap out of [[spoiler:Ethan Rayne]], then kicks him to get information. He goes after [[spoiler:Angel]] with a flaming bat. He stabs [[spoiler:the mayor]] in the chest with a sword. He delays Buffy so [[spoiler:Principal Wood]] can beat [[spoiler:Spike]] to death with his bare hands. He physically and professionally threatened Principal Snyder into readmitting Buffy back into Sunnydale High. He really proves it in Season 5. First, when a recalcitrant servant of the BigBad refuses to talk, he tells the girls to get some rope; the camera follows them and we hear a noise; whip pan back to a now very talkative demon. He manhandled Spike while ordering him to get over his obsession with Buffy and move on. In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E22TheGift The Gift]]", he [[spoiler:suffocates innocent and long-suffering Ben]] in order to kill Glory. After all, Giles used to go by the name Ripper.

*** In a number of episodes, the Doctor has at least attempted to simply announce who he is, expecting the villains to run away simply based on his reputation. It's even worked.

** Rose Tyler is a very nice, very normal 19-year-old Londoner. She also happens to be in love with the Doctor. When the Doctor is facing the Dalek fleet and tries to save Rose by sending her and the TARDIS back to 2005, she loses it and attempts to break into the TARDIS' central console. When she eventually does, she [[spoiler: absorbs the entire Time Vortex to become the living embodiment of the TARDIS and travels to the future to destroy the Dalek fleet and resurrect Jack.]] Later, she even brags about it to some other Daleks.

** Samantha Carter is a good-natured, genial nerdy type, but she's also career military and can kick your ass in a second flat. [[FanNickname RepliCarter]], Sam's evil galaxy conquering replicator double, shows that we should consider ourselves fortunate to have Sam on our side. After all, [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun she blows up suns]].

* Eric Foreman in ''Series/That70sShow''. Frequently mocked for his lack of physical strength, one episode shows him [[CurbStompBattle kicking the shit out of a football fan]] who'd been harassing him throughout the game.

*** Quark feels this way about humans, and by proxy the Federation itself, despite bordering on a MarySueTopia particularly in the early series. Sure, as a whole the human race is a pretty decent bunch, but that's only during peace time. Push them too hard and you'll have some of the nastiest hitters in the galaxy. The Federation is about peaceful coexistence, scientific research and exploration, but they explore with heavily-armed vessels that can stand toe-to-toe with the dedicated warships of their contemporaries, and despite outwardly decrying intelligence machinations, they have their Section 31, the Federation's very own Tal Shiar & Obsidian Order. S31 was willing to commit genocide when the Dominion threatened the security of the Alpha Quadrant. When the Federation finally built a dedicated warships, it was a tiny, spartan, ''[[PintsizedPowerhouse Escort Vessel]]'', and it was capable of destroying much larger enemy warships.

---->'''Nog''': I feel sorry for the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Jem']][[SuperSoldier Hadar]]

*** Sisko should have objected. O'Brien was a warrant officer, not an officer, and wasn't command qualified. (Forget Crusher being in charge; that's even more absurd.)
*** Garak is uncompromisingly polite, highly cultured, an erudite speaker but does not exude the military braggadocio that many of the Starfleet, Cardassian and Klingon officers we see on the series do. However, Garak is an expert intelligence agent, willing to go well beyond what the military types see as acceptable conduct in order to fulfill his missions & goals. Garak is noted as an immensely skilled interrogator who doesn't need to rely on physical torture & assaults to unlock the secrets he desires. He is no slouch in combat, however. He once held up against Worf in hand-to-hand combat, and when required he will not hesitate to kill anyone who stands in his path, in the most efficient manner possible.

** In "Scientific Method", there's a group of aliens that have invaded the ship unbeknown to the crew and are using them to experiment on for new advances in medical science. Janeway though is treated to headaches so painful it's like having needles boring into her brain, which there are for her. The aliens wanted to see the result of making the sweet and controlled captain, snap. The result - her taking control of the entire ship and driving it through a star to destroy the ship with the aliens on it, forcing them to leave. The crew survives, though.

** Elena. She is nice, but don't harm anyone she cares about.

* In ''Series/{{Stargirl|2020}}'', Pat Dugan seems to be a friendly neighborhood mechanic. Sure, he used to be a superhero's sidekick back in the day (and served in the army before that), but he was never truly a part of the team, just the team's mechanic. But if you're a bully who likes to pick on those weaker than you... well, it won't be pretty, as Rick's uncle learns when he refuses to drop the charges against his nephew out of spite. Oh, and you definitely don't threaten or insult his family, ever. When his stepdaughter's biological dad showed how much of a deadbeat he really was, Pat decked him on the spot and told him to never show his face in town again.

* In ''Series/{{Stargirl|2020}}'', Pat Dugan seems to be a friendly neighborhood mechanic. Sure, he used to be a superhero's sidekick back in the day (and served in the army before that), but he was never truly a part of the team, just the team's mechanic. But if you're a bully who likes to pick on those weaker than you... well, it won't be pretty, as Rick's uncle learns when he refuses to drop the charges against his nephew out of spite.

* All of ''Series/TheMusketeers'' are arguably this as though they range in [[TheStoic levels of]] [[NiceGuy friendliness]] [[AnOfficerAndAGentleman they are all polite and honourable men]] who care about others. Mess with France, an innocent or one of their loved ones and you’ll quickly find out why their [[BadassCrew regiment is so elite]] [[MasterSwordsman and why they’re feared and]] [[LivingLegend respected as the best of the best.]]

** River's brother, Simon, is generally meek, polite (if [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]]) and occasionally clumsy guy who apparently wouldn't hurt a fly... mess with his sister though and you'll find that he not only throws a mean punch but can also get [[DeadlyDoctor devilishly creative with his medical inventory.]]