History Main / PerfectionIsStatic

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': This trope plays a role in the character arcs of [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugAdrienAgreste Adrien Agreste]] and Kagami Tsurugi. Their respective parents raised both to be perfect models and athletes with good looks and comprehensive educations. As the series goes on, both of them struggle with how this striving for "perfection" has left them ill-prepared to navigate setbacks in their lives, like relationships (and the attending break-ups) and the growing realization that they both desperately need to get some distance from their respective AbusiveParents.

* ''Anime/CardfightVanguardOverdress'': Gui is an AI that believes it can teach players how to play the game perfectly at the cost of their individuality. When Gui is defeated by main protagonist Yu-yu, he realizes that his methods were not as perfect as he thought.

* In the song "Stars and the Moon" from the musical "Songs for a New World", the (female) narrator relates turning down a proposal from a man who wanted to help her grow and an offer of adventure from another man to marry a wealthy man who gave her the luxurious life and material goods she had always dreamed of, and has come to realize "that it [her life] never changed and it never grew."

->'''[[spoiler:[[WellIntentionedExtremist Merlina]]]]:''' This was to be our ideal world. But it will not last... King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table will end in ruin. The King Arthur [[spoiler:my grandfather]] Merlin created led to nothing but mistakes... but I can succeed with the power of the scabbard, [[LotusEaterMachine creating a kingdom that never ends.]]\\

* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'': The Gliders are an ancient society of Elves that have lived in seclusion for eons, seeking to reclaim the legacy of their High One ancestors. Their kingdom within the bowels of Blue Mountain has been perfected through their mastery of rock-shaping magic, creating a beautiful but ultimately static realm dominated with cold blues and greys. They live a peaceful and secure existence, but have become emotionally dulled and unable to have children. Even worse, the complete safety and static nature of their society caused [[BigBad Winnowill]] to slowly go insane as she realized her healing magic was no longer needed, creating the franchise's most twisted and dangerous villain.

* This trope is OlderThanFeudalism, appearing in Western philosophy as early as [[Creator/{{Plato}} Plato's]] arguments for the Forms and [[Creator/{{Aristotle}} Aristotle's]] arguments about essences, with hints in some of the surviving exerpts of the Pre-Socratics (if it predates ''them'', it might be older still). Mutability being imperfection and immutability being perfection is frequently found in medieval proofs of the existence of a perfect, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God. In all cases, the arguments hold that because change is proof of imperfection, it is because the subject being discussed is perfect, it does not change (whether perfection or immutability is arrived at first varies, the upshot is the same). In medieval philosophy, it is best known in the works of [[Creator/ThomasAquinas Aquinas]], but is also found in the works of other medieval philosophers -- Christian, Jewish, and Muslim alike -- running straight into the Renaissance.

* ''Webcomic/NuzlockeComicsFanWorks'': In ''Goddamn Critical Hits'', Hermes was the fastest Taillow in Petalburg Woods, so fast he easily evaded any Trainer who wanted to catch him. His friends and family were slower, and were all eventually caught by Trainers. From time to time, they would visit, and would tell him about their adventures and experiences; some had even evolved into Swellow. Hermes realized that even though he was the fastest, he had never changed or grown, while the other Taillow had. He decided to allow himself to be caught by a passing Trainer, Thomas, so he could have adventures and change, too.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': Zane Truesdale is ThePerfectionist, being the top student of Duel Academy who duels his opponents with respect and has never lost a duel cleanly in the first season. In the Japanese script of Episode 52 - "VS Kaiser (Second Part) - Final Fusion", Jaden calls Zane's strategy perfect, complimenting him as he's about to be defeated. Zane rebuffs Jaden's compliment, acknowledging that his perfection also means that he has reached his limits as a duelist, contrasting himself with Jaden, saying his potential is limitless. Jaden thanks Zane for the compliment, and then uses a trap card that inflicts damage equal to both monsters on their field to both duelists, ending the duel in a tie. [[spoiler:While Zane has a solid start in his pro dueling career after graduation in Season 2, Zane's [[CantCatchUp inability to grow]] is PlayedForDrama after [[TheWorfEffect his loss to Aster Phoenix]]. He ends up in a rut, going on a huge losing streak that affects his morale as his reputation and his mindset of being perfect make him unable to properly handle losing. Once Zane changes his dueling style, he starts gathering victories at the cost of throwing both his restraints and morals out the window.]]

--->'''Twilight''': ?! ... That's not perfection! A truly Perfect Being would either be able to adapt instantly to any situation or not need to!
--->'''Valeyard''': Please. Perfectionism's right up there with "logicality"; oversized weaknesses I don't chain myself down with. Logic is just being able to be wrong with authority. That's why the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buridan%27s_ass perfectly logical donkey]] always starves to death when faced with two equal sets of hay.
--->'''Twilight''': THAT'S NOT LOGIC! The logical thing to do is PICK ONE because starving to death with food right in front of you's the most illogical thing EVER!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'': Lord Business wants the LEGO world to be perfect, and to do that he will use the superweapon KRAGL (i.e. Krazy-Glu) to freeze everything in the perfect pose. [[spoiler: This is analogous to The Man Upstairs, who considers doing the same to his LEGO sets so his son won't play and mess up the carefully created world he made]].

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'': Late in ''Film/TheMatrix,'' [[BigBad Agent Smith]] claims that the eponymous MindPrison was originally designed to be a perfect place where nobody could suffer, but it ultimately failed because none of the human minds plugged into it would accept the program. Some Machines believe this is because PerfectionIsImpossible for their programming language to capture, while Smith firmly believes it's because humans define their existence through suffering. However, in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded,'' [[spoiler: the [[GreaterScopeVillain Architect]] reveals that his idea of a perfect world ultimately failed because he didn't give any of its prisoners any choice but to live in his perfect, static world, making it inherently undesirable. After the Matrix was made into its most recognizable format, a static late-[=90s=] "golden age", the [[BigGood Oracle]] was eventually able to devise a solution in which humans were allowed to rebel within limits, giving them the illusion of being able to change their static reality for the better... hence how the Ones were first created.]]

* ''Literature/TheMagicians'': In the ''Fillory And Further'' novels, the [[TimeMaster Watcherwoman]]'s goal is to freeze time throughout Fillory and leave it frozen "at five o'clock on a particularly dreary, drizzly afternoon in late September" - naturally portrayed as perfect and desirable to nobody except for the Watcherwoman. After graduating from Brakebills, Quentin discovers that Fillory is real after all, and over the course of his adventures there, realizes that there's a hidden twist to the Watcherwoman's plan: [[spoiler: namely, that it was misunderstood by [[KidHero the Chatwin children]], and further muddled by artistic license on the part of the author they told their story to. The real goal of [[GoodAllAlong the Watcherwoman]]'s time magic experiment was to turn back time so she could stop her brother from turning into [[BigBad The Beast]].]]

* ''Series/AvataroSentaiDonbrothers'': Momoi Taro is TheAce in almost every sense of the word: He's the best fighter, he's the quickest learner, he's TheLeader, he's TheHero and he ''knows it.'' However, so does everyone else. His insane talent is presented as more of a curse than a blessing early on - Being so perfect at everything means he (intentionally or otherwise) overshadows everyone he gets to know. While he isn't unaware of this social handicap, his motivation to do something about it is non-existent and the communication issues his antics cause prevent people from really getting through to him. Not even [[spoiler:a blunter Saruhara from an AlternateTimeline calling him out]] is enough to crack his shell and he eventually decides none of that matters at all.

** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'': Having been driven insane by an existential crisis, [[EldritchAbomination the Weaver]]'s goal is to calcify the universe in a state of stasis where [[DestroyerDeity the Wyrm]] can no longer destroy her creations and [[PrimordialChaos the Wyld]] can no longer change them - for she believes that she's already developed perfection, and any change is a backslide into ''im''perfection. As such, [[TheBadGuyWins if the Weaver achieves victory]] in ''Apocalypse'', the end result is a universe reduced to a static, clockwork WorldOfSilence with [[TheMagicGoesAway no magic]], [[CreativeSterility no creativity]], [[CannotDream no dreams]], no emotions, no thought beyond what's strictly necessary, and no drive to change ''anything.'' Only the ''Wyrm's'' [[VillainWorld victory]] can remotely be described as a worse ending.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': [[spoiler: The true BigBad of the series, [[Characters/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPowerHordePrime Horde Prime]], is an egotistical, immortal, sociopathic and all-powerful GalacticConqueror who seeks to "bring light to the universe" by pretty much wiping out every life form that isn't him and his clone army. He remains unchanging over the course of centuries, viewing himself as the ultimate lifeform and all other life as below him. In comparison, Hordak is one of his rogue clones, and while not a nice guy himself (i.e., he's the BigBad for most of the series until Horde Prime shows up and makes him look like a chump), he has the capacity for independent thought and growth, displays small moments of kindness and affection, and eventually shows a willingness to become a better person than he was before. This is used as a point of comparison between them; when Horde Prime arrives on Etheria, Hordak hopes that his creator will be proud of what he has built, but Horde Prime is only angry that one of his clones dared to become anything more than what he was meant to be. When he wipes Hordak's mind and reduces him to another brainless clone among hundreds (with the other clones chanting, "Cast out the shadows! All beings must suffer to become pure!"), it isn't satisfying; it's ''horrifying''.]]

** [[Characters/StevenUniverseWhiteDiamond White Diamond]] is the show's GreaterScopeVillain, and when we finally meet her in the "Change Your Mind" arc, we discover that this trope is why. White views herself as utterly flawless, which in turn has made her develop a terrifying InsaneTrollLogic: any idea she has must also be perfect solely because she came up with it. It was this philosophy that created the FantasticCasteSystem of Homeworld, which led to millennia of conquest (so even more planets can either experience White's perfection or have their resources drained to create more Gems), CreativeSterility among the entire Gem race, and an overall culture that fears and despises change. White Diamond also has a way of bringing any Gem that rebels against her to heel--namely, by [[MindRape seizing control of their minds]] and making them colorless, [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul perpetually-smiling]] [[HiveMind extensions of herself]] that speak in her voice. [[spoiler: Steven and Connie eventually defeat White by forcing her to realize that she ''isn't'' perfect, which in turn breaks her worldview and leads to massive reform across Homeworld.]]

* In ComicBook/ElfQuest, the Gliders are an ancient society of Elves that have lived in seclusion for eons, seeking to reclaim the legacy of their High One ancestors. Their kingdom within the bowels of Blue Mountain has been perfected through their mastery of rock-shaping magic, creating a beautiful but ultimately static realm dominated with cold blues and greys. They live a peaceful and secure existence, but have become emotionally dulled and unable to have children. Even worse, the complete safety and static nature of their society caused [[BigBad Winnowill]] to slowly go insane as she realized her healing magic was no longer needed, creating the franchise's most twisted and dangerous villain.