History EvilIsPetty / WesternAnimation

** [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugLilaRossi Lila Rossi]] is willing to throw her lot in with [[BigBad known domestic terrorist Hawk Moth]] to get {{revenge}} on [[TheHero Ladybug]] for... calling her a liar in front of the boy she liked. ''After'' she'd stolen his book. Even though she actually ''is'' a compulsive liar, she [[NeverMyFault still blames Ladybug for humiliating her]]. Her pettiness isn't limited to Ladybug, though; come Season 3, she's antagonizing Marinette (who is Ladybug, but [[SecretIdentity Lila doesn't know that]]) for no reason aside from Marinette being the only member of the class willing to call her out on her BlatantLies (it probably doesn't help that Marinette's ALSO interested in [[ChickMagnet Adrien]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Dr. Farnsworth's rivalry with his SitcomArchnemesis Wernstrom began when Farnsworth gave Wernstrom's paper an A- for bad penmanship. Wernstrom swore revenge against Farnsworth and has dedicated his life to one-upping him as a result. Though Wernstrom isn't exactly ''evil''; he's just a massive {{Jerkass}}.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania}}'' a lot of the villains are like this, with ironically Dracula being the exception.

** Later on in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Darkseid [[BadBoss vaporizes his right-hand man Desaad]] for mildly sassing him. Given that he's the AnthropomorphicPersonification [[GodOfEvil of tyranny itself]], this was more Desaad being TooDumbToLive.

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''; Darkseid leaves Earth after Superman gets a HeroicSecondWind and Orion arrives with reinforcements from New Genesis. Just as he's leaving, Darkseid decides to get one last dig in at Superman and vaporizes Dan Turpin, for no other reason than the fact Turpin (a {{Muggle}} for all means and purposes) dared stand against Darkseid. More than anything this is the event that seems to have put Superman on the course to make sure Darkseid never gets up should they meet again. When Superman confronts him again in the GrandFinale and gives Darkseid an AndThisIsFor punch, Darkseid has [[ButForMeItWasTuesday no idea who Turpin was]] but comments that if Superman was so broken up about the murder of a single human, [[KickTheDog he would have made sure to kill more]].
** Later on in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Darkseid [[BadBoss vaporizes his right-hand man Desaad]] for mildly sassing him.

** The apple did not fell far from the tree (although how much [[FreudianExcuse Audrey is exactly to blame for Chloé's attitude]] is an exercise that [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse the heroes are not going to even bother to try]]). To supply just one example: "Penalteam", she willingly accepts being Akumatized by Shadow Moth and terrorize her class… because she ''hates'' football, she ''loathes'' playing with the rest of Bustier's class, and [[INeedToGoIronMyDog they saw through her crappy excuses to not play]] and insisted she play with them (obviously they expected it to become a FriendshipMoment. They were wrong).

%%* Most of the villains from ''WesternAnimation/MegaBabies'' fall into this category.

** This trope appears to be the [[Characters/PhineasAndFerbHeinzDoofenshmirtz Heinz Doofenshmirtz 's]] general operating guide. Almost all of his schemes revolve around him taking incredible DisproportionateRetribution against whatever minor issue happens to be bugging him at the moment. This, like everything else in the show, is often {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Doof himself;

** There's also [[Characters/PhineasAndFerbCandaceFlynn Candace Flynn's]] entire motivation. She's not constantly attempting to tell on Phineas and Ferb because she's worried the boys will get hurt or because she thinks what they're doing is dangerous. Her entire motivation is literally just to get them in trouble and be seen as "in charge."

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''
** [[Characters/RickAndMortyRickSanchez Rick Sanchez]]
*** In "Morty's Mind Blowers" we find out Rick removes the most traumatic of Morty's experiences on their many adventures to keep him from going insane, and then stores them in memory vials. However, not only does Rick remove Morty's traumatic experiences and horrifying mistakes but he also removes his own embarrassing moments from Morty's memories just to make himself look better, including incredibly minor incidents like losing a game of checkers, thinking the phrase "taken for granted" was "taken for ''granite''", and hitting a tree on a ski trip.
*** While Rick is always extremely petty, he takes it to the next level in "The Vat of Acid Episode" episode. Rick builds a remote control device that he lets Morty believe will allow him to "reset" to a "save point" as desired (or if he dies) via real-life SaveScumming but really teleports Morty to an alternate timeline by killing the Morty in that timeline and replacing him, just to get back at Morty for making fun of Rick's plan of faking their deaths in a fake vat of acid at the beginning of the episode. Even more specifically, when the FBI and several other disgruntled parties show up in a mob in front of the house when Rick merges the timelines, Rick makes sure that the only way Morty can get out of it is by using the same "faking your death in a fake vat of acid" trick that they used at the beginning of the episode, as payback for Morty being so unimpressed with the ploy. He even forces Morty to say that the vat is good, and makes him kiss it, before jumping in.

** [[spoiler: The show’s version of Death is a petty and spiteful skeleton bastard who indulges in insults and name calling towards his enemies like a school yard bully. Just see his declaration towards Trevor for being a human being daring to oppose him: “I’m going to eat your soul, shit it out and use it to smother your fucking girlfriend to death”.]]

** This trope appears to be the [[Characters/PhineasAndFerbHeinzDoofenshmirtz Heinz Doofenshmirtz 's]]general operating guide. Almost all of his schemes revolve around him taking incredible DisproportionateRetribution against whatever minor issue happens to be bugging him at the moment. This, like everything else in the show, is often {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Doof himself;

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''; Darkseid leaves Earth after Superman gets a HeroicSecondWind and Orion arrives with reinforcements from New Genesis. Just as he's leaving, Darkseid decides to get one last dig in at Superman and vaporizes Dan Turpin, for no other reason than the fact Turpin (a {{Muggle}} for all means and purposes) dared stand against Darkseid. More than anything this is the event that seems to have put Superman on the course to make sure Darkseid never gets up should they meet again. When Superman confronts him again in the GrandFinale and gives Darkseid an AndThisIsFor punch, Darkseid ask [[ButForMeItWasTuesday who Turpin was]] and comments that if Superman was so broken up about him killing one man, [[KickTheDog he would have killed more]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''; Darkseid leaves Earth after Superman gets a HeroicSecondWind and Orion arrives with reinforcements from New Genesis. Just as he's leaving, Darkseid decides to get one last dig in at Superman and vaporizes Dan Turpin, for no other reason than the fact Turpin (a {{Muggle}} for all means and purposes) dared stand against Darkseid. When Superman confronts him again in the GrandFinale and gives Darkseid an AndThisIsFor punch, Darkseid ask [[ButForMeItWasTuesday who Turpin was]] and comments that if Superman was so broken up about him killing one man, [[KickTheDog he would have killed more]].

** Mr. Krabs comes off like this in part due to his MoneyFetish, he is willing to go to extreme lengths to get or save as much as a single penny. He will rip a man's arm off for one, sell his fry cook's soul for less than a dollar, and in "Plankton's Regular," he becomes obsessed with taking away Plankton's first (and only) customer simply because he "just can't afford" letting Plankton have any business, legitimate or otherwise, despite this meaning he wouldn't have to worry about the safety of the Krabby Patty formula anymore.
** In "Naughty Nautical Neighbors", Squidward becomes antagonistic simply for being annoyed by the duo's antics behind his house, even though they otherwise weren't bothering Squidward at the time.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has Yellow Diamond, who in her first official appearance reveals herself to be arrogant and petty despite one of her underlings, Peridot, describing her as highly logical. [[spoiler:She makes it clear she wants to destroy the Earth in spite because of the rebellion despite Peridot pointing out it's more useful keeping it alive, then after Peridot insults her she attempts to kill her by detonating her communicator immediately after she cuts off communication. Though with the revelation that [[BigGood Rose Quartz]] apparently shattered Pink Diamond during the rebellion, Yellow Diamond's motivation is more justified, albeit still pretty petty.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': Shredder had created a fully functional and prosperous Ninja Clan for years, but the moment he finds out that Hamato Yoshi is in New York, he packs his bags and devotes most of his efforts to having better men just to destroy Yoshi. Literally ''everything'' he does is because he's pissed that [[LoveMakesYouEvil Tang Shen chose Yoshi/Splinter over him]], and [[LaserGuidedKarma almost every loss he ever has in the series is due to prolonging the feud just so he can twist the knife further]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': When Mal isn't [[MagnificentBastard manipulating the entire island, causing eliminations, and harming his other personalities]], he's usually [[KickTheDog breaking the other contestants' things]]. Special mention goes to the fact that the whole time the season is going on, he's ''literally'' destroying the alters' dreams so they're forced to have nothing but nightmares.

* Roger of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' is a self-proclaimed sociopath and as such takes this trope to its most extreme, victimizing or destroying others either for some [[DisproportionateRetribution minor slight]] or [[ItAmusedMe sheer curiosity or boredom]]. He once convinced Steve he was adopted for stealing his cookie, for example, going so far as to burn all of Steve's baby pictures, and another point tried to ''blow up the Earth'' because Stan insulted him (which itself was provoked by Roger being his usual apathetic self). He also once hunted down and killed five teenagers one by one, slasher-style, for not paying him the $20 tip he earned by driving them to the prom on a limo (collateral damage was extensive, including ''bringing down a passenger jet''), and he casually mentioned at some point nearing the end of his rampage that the week before he killed six over ''$19''. There is some slight justification as his species are in fact MadeOfEvil, and if they don't let out their "bitchiness" on a frequent basis it takes the form of poisonous bile that kills them. Since he has [[LackOfEmpathy little to no problem]] with this behavior, however, it still counts.

** Ozai is a twisted psychopath who tried to set half the world on fire and mutilated his son for speaking out of turn and is jealous of his brother.
** Azula's primary motivations are [[WellDoneSonGuy getting approval from Daddy]] and destroying her brother because he was Mummy's favorite. On the other side of things, apart from trying to murder children, she also spends a vacation literally kicking over little kids' sandcastles.

*** Kuvira, the BigBad of Book 4. Much like Unalaq, she has large-scale goals and ambitions, but she has a habit of doing petty and unnecessary things to people she's already screwed over often just to prove she can such as forcing the Governor of Yi to [[KneelBeforeZod pledge his loyalty to her]] ''after'' she forced him to sign an unfair contract reducing him to a mere figurehead or using her authority to get Prince Wu booted out of the Presidential Suite and then smugly telling him that she always gets what she wants. Unlike Unalaq, however, she's crafty enough to only do so when she knows she can get away with it.

* On ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', [[VillainProtagonist Zim]] tends to fall into this a lot. Once, [[WordOfGod in an interview]], Creator/JhonenVasquez commented that Zim wasn't really stupid; he just had a horrible sense of priorities -- he took the episode "Megadoomer" as an example, where Zim gets a HumongousMecha and immediately decides that "beating up [[HeroAntagonist Dib]]" is its best possible use (to the exclusion of taking any time to devise a practical power source for it).

* Aku, the main antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack,'' cannot resist committing [[KickTheDog unnecessarily cruel and petty acts]] to people he's already screwed over, often to prove he can or just for a sick kick at their expense. He ends up taking it to StupidEvil levels as he ''always'' backstabs anyone he makes a deal with, just to laugh at their misfortune.

* Invoked in ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' by the Flash, who is inhabiting Lex Luthor's body at the time and trying to avoid discovery, as per the page quote above. Of course, this humorous pettiness goes unquestioned, because it's supported by Luthor's actual example in the previous season. His entire presidential campaign in the second season had nothing to do with his real EvilPlan [[spoiler:uploading his mind into an Amazo android]]. Luthor ran for President just to, in his own words, "tick Superman off", and he's quite successful at doing so. He even based a ''side'' plan around this, via BriarPatching ComicBook/AmandaWaller and Project Cadmus, attempting to provoke the heroes to rash behavior so the world will lose faith in them.

** Often invoked by Hawk Moth; in his civilian identity, he'll set up a lot of petty annoyances like firing someone for a stupid reason. [[BatmanGambit This increases the person's negative emotions, allowing Hawk Moth to akumatize them into a supervillain]]. His pragmatic reasons aside, he pretty clearly enjoys his meaningless acts of evil more than he should.

** [[ConsummateLiar Lila Rossi]] is willing to throw her lot in with [[BigBad known domestic terrorist Hawk Moth]] to get {{revenge}} on [[TheHero Ladybug]] for... calling her a liar in front of the boy she liked. ''After'' she'd stolen his book. Even though she actually ''is'' a compulsive liar, she [[NeverMyFault still blames Ladybug for humiliating her]]. Her pettiness isn't limited to Ladybug, though; come Season 3, she's antagonizing Marinette (who is Ladybug, but [[SecretIdentity Lila doesn't know that]]) for no reason aside from Marinette being the only member of the class willing to call her out on her BlatantLies (it probably doesn't help that Marinette's ALSO interested in [[ChickMagnet Adrien]]).
** Félix, Adrien's cousin, is in on his mother's mission to steal back Gabriel and Emilie's wedding rings. However, posing as Adrien to send all of the latter's friends an insulting video message does not in any way relate to his goal. Later, he tries to get Hawk Moth to help him steal back the rings ([[DramaticIrony despite the fact that]] [[spoiler:Hawk Moth is secretly Gabriel, and would not help him anyway]]). In the end, his reaction to Adrien forgiving him is to [[spoiler:steal Gabriel's ring anyway]].

** Discord has godlike powers and is overall one of the most powerful characters in the show, meaning he could momentarily get rid of all his opponents if he wanted to. He prefers to play games with them instead, either ForTheEvulz or [[ItAmusedMe because it amuses him]]. After his HeelFaceTurn he sometimes tries on the role of the TricksterMentor and still engages in needlessly cruel acts, like making Twilight fight a giant worm or befriending Mane 5 just to make her feel jealous and paranoid.
** In "A Canterlot Wedding", a fake Princess Cadance is mostly cold towards everyone, insists on being addressed formally, and is demanding and critical about everything that will be part of the wedding, including refusing to let the groom wear something that belonged to his favorite uncle because she just doesn't like it -- even though it's actually Queen Chrysalis the shapeshifting impostor who only cares about it all as emphasizing her triumph for some reason, who is supposed to be masquerading as a pony whose normal behavior is the exact opposite. Most characters put this down to stress, but it's a big part of why Twilight Sparkle comes to suspect her of "being evil". Makes it a case of the VillainBall, really, which ball she continues to carry in the next stage of the plot.
** While Starlight Glimmer, in her evil days, didn't exactly waste time on petty [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] and preferred to go big (after all, her ultimate goal was to make ''everypony'' equal), the very reason that had turned her into a WellIntentionedExtremist was [[spoiler:simply losing a childhood friend, Sunburst, after he got his cutie mark before she did]]. Plus, though her main motivation to travel back in time was to make sure her enemies never meet each other and form a friendship, she also did it because she simply wanted to take Twilight's friends away as Twilight did to her.

** This trope appears to be the Doctor's general operating guide. Almost all of his schemes revolve around him taking incredible DisproportionateRetribution against whatever minor issue happens to be bugging him at the moment. This, like everything else in the show, is often {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Doof himself;

** There's also Candace's entire motivation. She's not constantly attempting to tell on Phineas and Ferb because she's worried the boys will get hurt or because she thinks what they're doing is dangerous. Her entire motivation is literally just to get them in trouble and be seen as "in charge."

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'':
** In "Morty's Mind Blowers" we find out Rick removes the most traumatic of Morty's experiences on their many adventures to keep him from going insane, and then stores them in memory vials. However, not only does Rick remove Morty's traumatic experiences and horrifying mistakes but he also removes his own embarrassing moments from Morty's memories just to make himself look better, including incredibly minor incidents like losing a game of checkers, thinking the phrase "taken for granted" was "taken for ''granite''", and hitting a tree on a ski trip.
** While Rick is always extremely petty, he takes it to the next level in "The Vat of Acid Episode" episode. Rick builds a remote control device that he lets Morty believe will allow him to "reset" to a "save point" as desired (or if he dies) via real-life SaveScumming but really teleports Morty to an alternate timeline by killing the Morty in that timeline and replacing him, just to get back at Morty for making fun of Rick's plan of faking their deaths in a fake vat of acid at the beginning of the episode. Even more specifically, when the FBI and several other disgruntled parties show up in a mob in front of the house when Rick merges the timelines, Rick makes sure that the only way Morty can get out of it is by using the same "faking your death in a fake vat of acid" trick that they used at the beginning of the episode, as payback for Morty being so unimpressed with the ploy. He even forces Morty to say that the vat is good, and makes him kiss it, before jumping in.

* Eric Cartman from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' is this trope personified. Cartman has shown that his ruthless intellect could propel him to the top as a CorruptCorporateExecutive, but he frequently sabotages his own efforts when they don't cause suffering to his designated targets. When not causing mass murder, inciting riots, trying to start another Holocaust, giving Kyle AIDS, engaging in piracy, or manipulating Cthulhu to do his bidding, etc., he will do things like toilet papering a teacher's house or giving Butters a Dirty Sanchez in his sleep. His MoralEventHorizon was murdering Scott Tenorman's parents and sticking their corpses in Scott's stew, simply to get back at Scott for cheating him out of $16.12 and to literally lick Scott's tears off his face.

** It's especially bad when you compare him to previous iterations of the Shredder. While the likes of the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 '87 Shredder]], [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 Shredder]], and the [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles '90s Live-Action Shredder]] all had a hatred for Splinter and were willing to wipe out the Hamato Clan, they also had [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitions of conquest and forging an empire]]. [[CharacterExaggeration All]] ''[[CharacterExaggeration this]]'' [[CharacterExaggeration Shredder cares about is his revenge]]. Even when Karai brings the Kraang to his attention and insists that there is a bigger picture to consider, Shredder completely ignores the fact that there are alien invaders in New York because he deemed it irrelevant to his vengeance... until it's revealed that they have a common enemy in the Turtles, upon which he's perfectly willing to help the Kraang.

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''; Darkseid leaves Earth after Superman gets a HeroicSecondWind and Orion arrives with reinforcements from New Genesis. Just as he's leaving, Darkseid decides to get one last dig in at Superman and vaporizes Dan Turpin,mfor no other reason than the fact Turpin (a {{Muggle}} for all means and purposes) dared stand against Darkseid. When Superman confronts him again in the GrandFinale and gives Darkseid an AndThisIsFor punch, Darkseid ask [[ButForMeItWasTuesday who Turpin was]] and comments that if Superman was so broken up about him killing one man, [[KickTheDog he would have killed more]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''; Darkseid leaves Earth after Superman gets a HeroicSecondWind and Orion arrives with reinforcements from New Genesis. Just as he's leaving, Darkseid decides to get one last dig in at Superman and vaporizes Dan Turpin, for no other reason than it would piss Superman off and he would be able to get away with it. When Superman confronts him again in the GrandFinale and gives Darkseid an AndThisIsFor punch, Darkseid ask [[ButForMeItWasTuesday who Turpin was]] and comments that if Superman was so broken up about him killing one man, [[KickTheDog he would have killed more]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MastersOfTheUniverseRevelation'': Skeletor finally accomplishes his goal in life, to obtain all of the Power of Castle Greyskull, and with it the capacity to bend reality on a whim, and all he wants to do with it is kill He-Man. That is literally it. And not even through some fancy way a RealityWarper would use (see ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'' as an example -- rather appropriate with this Skeletor being portrayed by Mark Hamill), but rather just get a really shiny new sword to drive through He-Man's gut. [[spoiler:It is this lack of drive that is one of the big stressors to Evil-Lyn's RageBreakingPoint, and her subsequent decision to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy all of reality]].]]

** Often invoked by Hawk Moth; in his civilian identity, he'll set up a lot of petty annoyances like firing someone for a stupid reason. This increases the person's negative emotions, allowing Hawk Moth to akumatize them into a supervillain. His pragmatic reasons aside, he pretty clearly enjoys his meaningless acts of evil more than he should.

** Many of Sideshow Bob's plots have him attempting murder and engaging in terrorist acts to satisfy his grudges, but when he manages to rig an election and become mayor of Springfield in "Sideshow Bob Roberts," he just uses his power to make life as difficult for the Simpsons as possible, [[RailroadPlot directing a new highway construction straight through their house]] and getting Bart's school to bump him down from fourth grade to kindergarten ([[{{Unishment}} which Bart actually enjoys]]).

** In "Brother From Another Series", Bob's brother, Cecil, proves willing to flood Springfield simply because Bob got a job as Krusty's sidekick, a job he hadn't actually wanted and outright ''hated'', instead of Cecil. And he plans to frame Bob in the process.

*** The episode "And Maggie Makes Three" showcases that Burns has a special door in his office for those [[CrossingTheBurntBridge coming back begging to get their jobs back]]: it is labeled "Supplicants" and it's a tiny tunnel that forces people to literally come crawling to him, covered in dirt and spider-webs. And if Burns gives them their job back, he then has it as company policy to install a plaque saying "DON'T FORGET, YOU'RE HERE FOREVER" to break what's left of their spirit.

** In one episode Marge enters a baking contest and all of the other contestants try to [[AffablyEvil blatantly sabotage her food]] (with one of them even destroying her meal, forcing her to start all over again and almost getting disqualified for running out of time). Why do they do this? because they found her entry, the dessert dogs, a threat to their own entries. Talk about petty losers... and [[WhosLaughingNow Marge eventually gets back at them]] [[LaserGuidedKarma by sabotaging their meals when nobody's looking]].

** Bob's brother, Cecil, proves willing to flood Springfield simply because Bob got a job as Krusty's sidekick, a job he hadn't actually wanted and outright ''hated'', instead of Cecil. And he plans to frame Bob in the process.