Line #23 PlayingWith/AntiHero


1	'''Basic Trope''': A heroic character that is flawed, and/or morally ambiguous at worst.
2	* '''Straight''': Alice is a vigilante who wants to make the world a better place by murdering criminals.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** Alice is even worse than the villains she fights.
5	** Alice is an UnscrupulousHero or a NominalHero.
6	** Alice is a ByronicHero.
7	** Alice is the TokenEvilTeammate.
8	** Alice has a very limited amount of good moments that just barely stop her from qualifying as a VillainProtagonist.
9	** Alice is an outright SociopathicHero, [[EvenEvilHasStandards even the villains find her disgusting.]]
10	** [[NinetiesAntiHero Alice]] [[NominalHero is]] {{only in it for the money}}, {{blood\|Knight}}thirsty, {{prag\|matic hero}}[[ShootTheDog matic]], [[PayEvilUntoEvil brutal]], [[KnightInSourArmor cynical]], [[TerrorHero shady]], [[GoodIsNotNice abrasive]], {{sociopathic\|Hero}}, and overall [[DesignatedHero seems nowhere like a hero at all]] [[ALighterShadeOfBlack yet she’s nowhere as bad as the three]] {{Big Bad}}s in the BigBadEnsemble such as EvilOverlord[=,=] [[StupidEvil Emperor]] {{Ev\|il is petty}}ulz, an outright CardCarryingVillain who [[KickTheDog kicks dogs]] [[{{Sadist}} and commits other]] [[MoralEventHorizon reprehensibly evil crimes]] ForTheEvulz, the SerialKiller and OmnicidalManiac [[HateSink Charlie]], and CompleteMonster [[ANaziByAnyOtherName General]] [[NukeEm Bob]].
11	** {{Well Intentioned\|Extremist}} VillainProtagonist.
12	** [[DesignatedHero Alice]] has no seemingly positive traits at all whatsoever and is a completely unsympathetic person despite being on the side of good.
13	* '''Downplayed''':
14	** Alice is a ClassicalAntiHero.
15	** Alice is a KnightInSourArmour.
16	** Alice is a [[MrViceGuy Ms. Vice Girl]].
17	** Alice is [[GoodIsNotNice irritable and sometimes violent]], but not to the point of moral ambiguity.
18	** Alice [[GoodIsNotSoft doesn't have a problem with killing criminals]], but is otherwise the [[BewareTheNiceOnes nicest person you could meet]].
19	** Alice doesn't go [[TechnicalPacifist out of her way to kill people]] but is willing to [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight break the law to do what she thinks is right]].
20	** [[{{Tsundere}} Alice]] is a NiceGirl who has a few {{jerk\|ass}}ish qualities.
21	* '''Justified''':
22	** Alice lives in a CrapsackWorld.
23	** Alice lives in a DeathWorld.
24	** The [[TheEmpire government is evil]], by fighting against them Alice is considered a criminal.
25	** The setting is completely lawless and Alice stands up for the people doing things that would be against the law in our world to help out others.
26	** [[ReformedButNotTamed Alice used to be a villain.]]
27	** [[FreudianExcuse Alice’s former]] {{all loving hero}}ism [[StupidGood lead to]] [[HeroBall the villains]] [[TheFarmerAndTheViper backstabbing her]] and [[KarmaHoudini getting away with their crimes despite being unrepentant about it]]. This lead Alice to resort to [[GrayingMorality drastic measures]] to ensure that the villains will get their [[LaserGuidedKarma well-deserved punishments]] even if it meant [[PayEvilUntoEvil killing them]].
28	* '''Inverted''': Alice is an AntiVillain: a villain that is morally ambiguous.
29	* '''Subverted''':
30	** Alice appears to be killing crooks left and right, but it turns out she [[BrainwashedAndCrazy didn't have control]] of her actions at the time; when she's back to normal, she's TheCape, through and through.
31	** Alice is a [[HerowithBadPublicity heroine with such bad publicity]] that not even the viewer beleves she's really good...until she turns out to actually be an [[IdealHero ideal heroine]]
32	** As we see more and more of Alice , it becomes clear that she [[EvilAllAlong was never a "hero"]] in the first place.
33	* '''Double Subverted''':
34	** Alice is revealed to have been BrainwashedAndCrazy, but underneath that...she's just as brutal.
35	** [[BitchInSheepsClothing It was just an act to gain good publicity.]]
36	*** Alternatively: She [[TookALevelInJerkass takes a level in jerkass]] to the point where she becomes a JerkassHero at best.
37	** She later [[HeelfaceTurn reforms,]] [[ReformedButNotTamed but she’s not tamed.]]
38	* '''Parodied''':
39	** Alice tries to bring about her own brand of harsh justice, but she lives in a SugarBowl society where there's hardly ever even any conflict -- Alice spends most of her time {{angst}}ing that there's nothing to {{Angst}} about.
40	** Alice is a lazy, hedonistic freeloader, but when the push comes to shove, she's a hero who stops bank robbers, [[EvilOverlord evil overlords,]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and]] [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil people who steal content from the internet.]]
41	** Alice likes to think she's a heroic individual, but [[DesignatedHero she's anything but]] and [[TheFriendNobodyLikes her fellow heroes and heroines aren't even convinced that she's good.]]
42	** Alice is a “hero” who is a [[HeroicComedicSociopath mean]], [[SirSwearsALot foul-mouthed]], [[LovableSexManiac sex-driven]], {{h\|air trigger temper}}ot-tempered, and [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero racist]] [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]]
43	* '''Zig Zagged''':
44	** Alice has a very inconsistent attitude towards her crime-fighting; sometimes she's [[ThouShallNotKill unwilling to kill anyone]], sometimes she's killing left and right, and sometimes she's trying to be an ActualPacifist. It's all DependingOnTheWriter.
45	** Alice is a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor and switches between being an AntiHero or an AntiVillain depending on whether or not she is working with the heroes at the moment.
46	* '''Averted''': All the heroes in the story actually act conventionally heroic.
47	* '''Enforced''':
48	** "No one's interested in a flawless hero anymore, let's give this character loads of issues and have her be all morally ambiguous!"
49	** Alternatively; The author is trying to [[AnAesop prove some point]] about the nature of heroism, or else is {{deconstruct\|edTrope}}ing TheHero or TheCape, which requires Alice to do some questionable things in the name of justice.
50	* '''Lampshaded''':
51	** "TheChosenOne seems a tad unheroic."
52	** WhatTheHellHero
53	* '''Invoked''': Alice is a sadist, so she decides to start taking it out on the people who society says deserve it, lowering the crime rate as she does so and leaving the town happier for it.
54	* '''Exploited''': The villain takes steps to make Alice a HeroWithBadPublicity to get her out of the way.
55	* '''Defied''': Alice feels herself slipping into anti-herodom, and works hard to maintain her moral code.
56	* '''Discussed''': "Alice's not exactly a NiceGirl, but she's on the side of good. No, really."
57	* '''Conversed''': "How did this guy not wind up in prison yet?"
58	* '''Deconstructed''':
59	** Alice is rapidly becoming just as brutal as, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters if not WORSE than]] [[EvilVersusEvil her villains]], and when she's killed all of the real threats to society, she's still a dangerously unstable and violent individual.
60	** Alternatively: [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Alice is arrested for killing a criminal because, as it turns out, murder is murder.]]
61	** Alice kills a "criminal", only to find out the real villain's still out there. This leads Alice to question her methods, feel guilty, and wonder if all those lives she's taken away before were really the lives of innocent people.
62	** Alice kills a murderer, only to find out the killer was [[SympatheticMurderer another Anti-hero]] who only killed villains like her.
63	** Alice becomes a HeroWithBadPublicity because of her {{anti hero}}ism.
64	* '''Reconstructed''':
65	** Alice has a [[TheFettered line she will not cross]]; the [[BlackAndGrayMorality villains are much worse than she is]] and she [[TheExtremistWasRight really is making the world a better place through her actions]].
66	** Alice seeks therapy to help her become a more mentally stable individual.
67	** Alice decides to be even more careful not to kill an innocent person again & take time to make sure she has solid evidence against them and that the [[OrgyOfEvidence evidence]] [[FrameUp wasn't]] [[FramingTheGuiltyParty planted]] there against the suspect before killing them.
68	** Alice tries to learn about the villain's motives & make sure the villain(s) isn't really another anti-hero before killing them.
69	** Alternatively, Alice suffers from MoralMyopia.
70	* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': Alice's morally questionable actions makes her a more complex character and are used to analyze what "the qualities of a hero" truly are, and what it is that makes someone "heroic".
71	----
72	Back to the unscrupulous, ruthless, but overall heroic AntiHero.
73	----
74	%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
75	%%
76	%%* '''Implied''': ???
77	%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???

Context PlayingWith / AntiHero