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Beware The Nice Ones / Webcomics

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Beware the Nice Ones in webcomics.

  • 8-Bit Theater:
    • White Mage:
      • She shows this after rebuilding a city and its inhabitants from destruction at various hands (although mostly Black Mage) only to have the city yet again annihilated at the hands of, apparently, Black Mage. Feeling distressed and angered (also mostly due to Black Mage, although Fighter had an unwitting hand in it), she changes her robes and begins bestowing her mediocre evil upon the world for a couple comics until changing back after a strange talk with Fighter.
      • One guest strip had Black Mage push her over the edge with one too many pickup lines, whereupon she began chasing him with a chainsaw.
    • Fighter, the nicest, friendliest, ditziest character in the comic who will go berserk whenever his friends, especially Black Mage, are threatened.
      • He went into an Unstoppable Rage when Black Mage was killed, fought a fire demon to a standstill after she killed Black Belt, and this comic.
        Fighter: Also, I can block any attack and kill anything that bleeds. Hint.
      • Thief and Red Mage better watch themselves... they almost made that mistake again.
        Thief: Yes, it is a good thing. Leaving him to rot would be wrong.
        Red Mage: So very wrong.
        Fighter (holding up a sword): Kind of chainsaw wrong.
        Thief: Okay, good thing we're all on the same page then!
    • While he is in no way a nice one, a case can be made for Sarda given that he used to be the Onion Kid whose life Black Mage repeatedly ruined and seeks revenge against the Light Warriors for doing nothing to stop Black Mage.
  • Dan. While normally a nice guy with a vague career of adventuring behind him, some events have shown just how dangerous he really is after being pushed over the edge. It's not pretty.
  • It's not as explicit now that element of her character seems to have been phased out, but Lorenda Soulstealer used to eat people who annoyed her, and she still acts enough like a demon to terrorize a group of paparazzi into leaving Jyrras alone even after he gets declared "This Year's Most Eligible Bachelor". Otherwise, though, she's a cheery, good-natured cow whose not offended in the slightest by comments on her chubbiness.
  • People in the Dominic Deegan world get so hung up on Luna's emotional problems that they always forget that she is a master of Black Magic.
  • In DOUBLE K (a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann fan comic), Simon is a sweet little kid who doesn't know what to do without Kamina giving him instructions. Unless you threaten Nia.
    Simon: (talking to Kamina) I-I guess I just forgot how freaked out I was. I mean, I saw poor Nia out there, she was just scared out of her wits, bro, and-and then the suspect started moving in on her, all with that creepy look on his face, and then-then-I dunno, bro, I just-I just knew I had to do something.
  • Just about every one of The Dragon Doctors qualifies for this. Goofball wizard Sarin has a dark criminal past and has immense transformational powers when pressed. Kili the sweet and sensitive shaman can transform into a snarling werewolf due to her recent contraction of lycanthropy. Even their mostly-quiet leader Mori, a magical scientist, has combat options, and has invented a magic beam that can blow your clothes and weapons away.
  • Drive (Dave Kellett): Nosh is usually a happy, Big Eater Omnidisciplinary Scientist. But if you're a Tesskan, and you disrespect his captain (or presumably anyone he considers a friend), he will curbstomp you and nineteen of your buddies.
  • Faen from Drowtales. She's a rather shy, sensitive girl, who also happens to be a powerful Empath with less than perfect control over her powers. Strong fear/anger cause Power Incontinence and since she's a projective Empath, people get hurt.
  • El Goonish Shive:
    • Grace, a super cute pacifist who just wishes people were less uptight about nudity. You can tie her up, torture her, even tell her you are going to use her for a breeding program. Make her believe you have hurt one of her friends though and there is no power on Earth or beyond that can save you. In the author's own words:
      Dan Shive: There is nothing more dangerous in any universe being written by me than a nice character who's been pushed over the edge. And Grace is really, REALLY nice.
    • To not quite as potent an extent, Elliot. He's extremely nice and by default helpful. Of course, mocking Tedd or any of his friends changes things.
    • And now, we learn, Noah. Not only do his girly looks hide inhuman strength and speed, but his particular speech patterns are a deliberate focusing mechanism to keep control of an otherwise short temper.
  • Ennui GO!: You can count the number of genuine Nice Guys and Girls among the main cast on one hand, like Hashim, Tanya, and Sarah. Of course, even they have their moments where they reveal a more nastier and/or violent side to them, mostly in response to either their loved ones getting hurt or if someone is especially annoying.
  • Lemmy in Fanboys is a genuinely nice guy, but woe be unto anybody that says Nintendo is a kiddy system.
    • ANGRY CLOWN MODE.
    • An impact to the head can do it. When running from a crazed feral crab in the Beach Episode, he crashes headfirst into a sign, which triggers the aforementioned Angry Clown Mode, allowing him to handily demolish his tormentor.
  • Rikk, the leader of the Science Fiction Club in Fans!, is as nice, gentle, and forgiving a man as you're ever likely to meet. However, during a storyline in Fans! which sees a bitter ex-boyfriend of Alisin's blackmail her into joining him, while simultaneously attempting to destroy the fan club and replace it with a new, darker version — Rikk is finally pushed too far and beats the ex-boyfriend to a pulp before someone stops him from going too far.
  • Michelle of Forever 16 has this in the storyline where the school's Alpha Bitch tries to break her and Joel apart. Do not make her angry. You wouldn't like her when she's angry...
  • The Freakangels are, in the words of Alice, kind of crap when you get right down to it. All of them have psychokinetic powers and can do some serious damage all by themselves without lifting a finger. Out of the group, Arkady is the most gentle (except possibly Connor), and a Friend to All Living Things. But then Luke tries to Mind Rape some poor girl, and Arkady hits him with a psychic Brown Note that flattens him.
    Arkady: Do you know what that was Luke? That was exactly one second of my overdose experience when we were fifteen. If you ever do something like this again, I am going to give you five minutes of that.
  • Girl Genius:
  • Sydney of Grrl Power is generally agreed to be The Ditz with an occasional motormouth, but try to attack her or offend her in some way...
    • An off-screen incident in her backstory involved someone trying to mug her before she got the orbs that give her powers. Even the ARCHON members that have just met her aren't too surprised that the police report just says, "Oh, the humanity!"
    • She's used the orbs directly as a bludgeon, breaking one person's arm and giving another a Groin Attack.
    • In a sparing session, Sydney demonstrates that avoiding fighting would be simple, by jumping/flying out of the way, then dumping her opponent in the vacuum of space... without a space suit. (Since it's a sparring session, he's brought back, just to watch her showboat about the easy win. Can't catch a break.)
  • Big Ears in Goblins is a genuinely Lawful Good paladin who occasionally strays into Honor Before Reason but avoids Knight Templar and Lawful Stupid. Oh, and he doesn't like it when you throw rocks at his catatonic friend.
  • Homestuck has many examples:
    • Gamzee Makara, generally the Cloudcuckoolander of the trolls, later outright snapped and turned into a psychopath.
    • Don't make Kanaya angry. She will come back from the dead, turn into a rainbow-drinker, and kick you OFF A CLIFF. Or clock you in the jaw. Or, if you were the one who killed her, chainsaw you in half.
    • Dad Egbert goes from constantly baking desserts and writing letters of praise to his son to beating his way out of a prison on Derse and fighting huge monsters without batting an eye when he gets involved in the game. And as the only naturally-born human in the cast, he's also a true Badass Normal in a series where nothing is normal.
    • John totally fails to invoke this trope. Behold John getting angry:
      That is IT. EVERYBODY OUT. You are DEAD SERIOUS.
      • Later on, however...
      • Really, any time his friends are in danger or he finds someone worthy of revenge, he will flip shit and give you what you deserve.
    • Then there's Jade, a near-perpetually chipper Cloud Cuckoolander, who smacked the crap out of her Reality Warper sprite when it was too Wangsty to be any help.
    • Feferi Peixes is a cute, pink-themed princess who likes to take care of her many pets. She is also strong enough to pull whales through the ocean and acts as a diplomat between trolls and Eldritch Abomination's.
  • Hooky: Dani and Dorian are sweet kids but don’t hurt their loved ones. Dorian seriously contemplates black magic when he sees Dani about to be burned at the stake. Dani goes on a short Roaring Rampage of Revenge when Alex is stabbed.
  • Subverted in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!. Bob is usually remarkably effective at getting things done and defeating enemies, and he hardly ever throws a punch; but it turns out that, idealism aside, part of the reason he isn't a fighter is that he isn't very good at it. (Galatea, on the other hand...)
  • Joe vs. Elan School: As Joe comes to find out, any students or staff acting "nice" and offering to help Joe escape are immediately suspect.
  • Lackadaisy:
  • Lore Olympus:
    • How Hades handles getting payback at the photographer who caught him and Persephone is not unlike something out of a Mafia movie abduction and interrogation scene.
    • When another photographer attempts to know more about her and Hades' relationship, Persephone's eyes start turning red and she wears a rather forced-looking grin as she grips the photographer's arm to the point of starting to hurt him.
    • When Apollo starts accusing Persephone, Eros, all-around cheerful and campy guy, immediately starts peppering him with arrows and, when he still doesn't get the hint, vows to utterly ruin whatever chance at love he might ever have if he doesn't back off. If Greek mythology is anything to go with, he is not bluffing.
    • The normally sweet Persephone and her darker impulses. Particularly, her Act of Wrath, which resulted in her going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge and murdering a ton of people over the deaths of her friends.
  • Magic and Physics has SPDA who seems like a genuinely nice person (being maybe the only one in the strip), but all hints about his back story suggest something that could have easily cost lots of lives.
  • MegaTokyo:
    • Piro is an example, as a group of perverted otaku voyeurs in a restaurant found out. This is more obvious in Piro's online alter-ego Piroko, and associated wallpapers/tshirt with a cute girl carrying a big gun, and the phrase "Ph34r t3h cute ones".
    • Ping is normally sweet, cute, and caring, but get her angry and she proves to have the strength to uproot a street lamp and use it to beat a giant monster into submission. "That was very rude, Mr. Turtle!"
  • MS Paint Masterpieces: "Don't threaten Dr. Light!!" Bears noting that that is one of many instances. Mega Man is the nicest guy you could meet, but if you threaten any innocent people, or worse, actually kill people, he will fuck you up.
  • Guy from Mushroom Go. Guy is a literal shy guy that never speaks, happily dedicated to his work as the crew's nurse, cook, and housekeeper. Though afraid of hurting other people, he's proven himself a decent fighter — with scalpels and chainsaws.
  • Niels: Agent 300 is a suave, gentlemanly, laid-back Agent Peacock who, while not a paragon of morality, is still one of the nicer characters in the comic, especially compared to the title character. He will rain swift and terrible retribution on anyone who dares to try and murder Agent 250.
  • Piffany from Nodwick is so full of diabetes-inducingly sweet virtue that it gives her Reality Warper powers, in addition to D&D cleric spells. It's very rare that she gets angry, but when she does, she's easily the most powerful character in the comic. And that's not counting that one storyline where she got holy Powered Armor...
  • The Order of the Stick:
  • The Oswald Chronicles has the eponymous Oswald, a mild-mannered and polite gentlemouse. He prefers to talk things out instead of resorting to violence. Hurt his friends, however, and...
  • Julie, from Our Little Adventure when an armored Minotaur kills Pauline, a member of her Nakama. Her bubbly, happy personality vanishes and is replaced by something violent and scary, complete with Creepy Monotone and Hidden Eyes. On the next page, we see her rapier embedded in the Minotaur's skull.
  • Pacificators: cute, sweet Daryl Smithson knows how to wrestle note  and Larima Torbern is scary when she's pushed over the edge, complete with a bone-chilling death glare.
  • Max from Precocious is one of the few kids that isn't psychopathic in some way, but he was able to sink the Buddleship using only an unseen piece of junk and the ability to swim.
  • Surprisingly, Hannelore, Questionable Content's resident Woobie. Not to mention her dreams.
  • Realmwalker has quite a lot of this with Sigrun and Ingrid- and to a lesser extent, Thor. All of them are friendly and amiable, but when angered, they go full berserker.
  • Romantically Apocalyptic: Snippy is fairly nice if caustic and cynical, but he gets downright vicious whenever someone tries to kill him and his friends. He nearly murders Bell in a fit of rage for seemingly killing Pilot and he makes sure to leave La Macabre in an And I Must Scream situation for trying to murder him.
  • Sam has a moment of this when blackmailing a ninja in this this Sam & Fuzzy strip.
  • Don't make the cute Sandra from Sandra and Woo your enemy. When Woo is replaced by Tom the Talking Toast, she first eats him and then makes the "Hand of God" an offer it cannot refuse. She also sent Tanya Dean's family to a bad neighborhood in Detroid.
  • Scandinavia and the World:
    • Iceland. This explains it all.
    • As well as Åland, Sweden's boyfriend. Friendly, gentle, metrosexual... until Russia tries to invade and Åland lets loose all hell on Russia, hunting him down and even shooting out Russia's white flag of surrender. The comic being what it is, this is fully based on historical events.
  • The Coffee Shop Lady from Sinfest is the nicest, sweetest granny archetype you could imagine, dispensing kindness, coffee, and donuts to all, even distraught Devil Girls but don't try to push her around. Also counts of course as a case of Never Mess with Granny.
  • Kieri Suizahn, an angel from Slightly Damned, is usually very shy and soft-spoken. A history of being abused by her parents and peers does make her rather sensitive to bullying, even from other angels. It gets worse here.
  • In Bun-Bun's continuing feud with Santa Claus in Sluggy Freelance, Mrs. Claus is the one pushing for the two of them to just let it go, but she's also the more dangerous Claus when she has to be. Bun-Bun acknowledges her as a better shot than Santa, and it's her who stops Bun-Bun from taking over the world.
  • Stand Still, Stay Silent:
    • Tuuri is usually The Cutie, but mention her weight and she'll make you pay, even if you are a child. She also gets a manipulative younger sibling side identified by Mikkel when she directs it towards him.
    • Pastor Anne is a ghost note  who has managed to not only maintain her sanity in the face of The Corruption but created a safe haven in the Dead World that exists in both the spiritual and physical worlds through sheer force of will alone, something which the mages of the setting consider to be the magical equivalent of eating the moon. She reacts to having her corner of the spirit realm invaded by Onni and Reynir (something most mages consider a supremely hostile act) by conjuring coffee and cake. She also manages to take down Sleipnope with a simple three-word Armor-Piercing Question.
  • Suitor Armor: Lucia is protected by (and developing feelings for) Modeus, a suit of Animated Armor. He's normally a Gentle Giant but turns very dangerous if she's threatened.
  • Tales of the Questor:
    • Quentyn gets his sword stolen, and in the course of retrieving it gets arrested multiple times, mugged, shot at, dropped through a roof, stripped naked in front of a crowd of toffs (and his childhood crush), and then violently beaten and tossed in a dumpster. He promptly girds up his loins and proceeds to utterly wreck not one, but TWO street gangs singlehandedly and literally pull an entire building down around their ears... and would have REALLY torn them a new one had the city guard not intervened.
    • The Raccoonan nation topped that in the companion strip, Quentyn Quinn, Space Ranger. In there, the horrific cannibal species, the Kvrk-Chk, made a public show of what they would do the Raccoonan race when they ate a number of them on camera, The Raccoonans retaliated the next day by destroying one of the heavier populated Kvrk-Chk solar systems and gave the race a very good reason to fear the Raccoonan people.
  • Liza from Tonja Steele is a good example, as she's usually a sweet-natured schoolteacher. Some of it is explained when we meet her parents◊.
  • Lero-Ro and Knag Horyang from Tower of God. One is always sublimely cheerful, righteous and nice, he is Ranker and therefore one of the most dangerous people of the Tower and sometimes demonstrates that. The other is a soft-spoken man of little words, but he too is incredibly righteous, and while he wishes wrongdoers the best of luck to survive him, he doesn't hold back.
  • TwoKinds:
    • Raine Silverlock. She is undoubtedly one of the nicest, most heartwarming people in the entire cast. She is an Iron Woobie owing to her childhood, and her Keidran-Human shapeshifting causing complications between her friends and family. She's also one of the few humans (At least most of the time) who tries to act decent towards the anthropomorphic Keidran of the setting, and is, by her own admission, a little naive (continuing the series tradition of sparing someone who's just tried to kill you, in this case, Zen), though not to an extreme degree. She is also the daughter of the former Grand Templar (the head of the order of mages in the comic's setting) and an extremely powerful shapeshifting Keidran Mage (who is responsible for her own shapeshifting ability). If her friends are in danger or harmed, God help you. Because she will SNAP. Case in point: After Carver seemingly killed the group's squirrel companion Mrs Nibbly, having threatened their lives beforehand, she undergoes a magic surge that she uses to PUSH the teleporting mage hundreds of kilometres away, to the BASITIN ISLANDS.
      Red-headed Guy: Jeez, you straight-up Disintegrated that guy! That was Awesome!
      Raine: Ow...I didn't disintegrate him! Urgh...I couldn't stop him teleporting, so instead I gave him a little push...with all my magic. I don't think he's going to end up where he intended.
      Red-headed Guy: So where is he going to end up?
      Raine: Somewhere a lot further than ten metres this time.
    • Main character Trace Legacy is an Amnesiac Hero and incredibly friendly and kind. He spends most of his time helping others and is unfailingly trusting and self-sacrificing. He also has two Super-Powered Evil Sides and is implied to be the second strongest magic user in the setting. Don't hurt Flora. It doesn't matter if he can't see it. It doesn't matter if he's been drugged into unconsciousness. He will know. And he will be... displeased.
      Dark!Trace (covered in blood): Which one of you is hurting Flora? No matter... I'll just kill all of you and sort it out later.
  • unOrdinary: John is one of the more polite, mild-mannered characters, but he can hold his own in a fight pretty well despite having no abilities and has a surprisingly nasty temper when provoked enough. This is because he's hiding his true personality and history out of a combination of self-hatred, fear of the Authorities, and PTSD, he's got a huge violent streak and a very powerful ability, he's basing his personality on his father who actually is a powerless "cripple".
  • Isaac of Val and Isaac is a friendly dude who likes crochet and is rarely violent. When Space Dread inspires him to start trying in a wizardball game, though, he takes apart the opposing team by doing things like tricking their captain into shaking hands with a fear goblin.
  • In retrospect, this covers Mirth from Voodoo Walrus as her first appearance involves her erupting from the belly of a Hobo Jesus and then summoning a flock of fingerbats to murder his hobo zombie followers.
  • Nice people in the Walkyverse usually get this. Joyce is a prime example. So is Walky himself, for that matter. Not to mention Amber... this list could go on for a bit.
    Joyce: "This is for the thousands of little comments that are hammered into me every day! "Stop giggling, Joyce!" "Put down your dumb toys, Joyce!" You can only take so much... Until you snap."
  • Jake from Weak Hero is presented as the Token Good Teammate for the Yeongdeungpo Union, being a kind, loyal, and pacifistic boy with few of the negative traits associated with his fellow heads. However, when his brother is crippled by the Manwol Gang, Jake becomes hellbent on revenge. When he gets up to their leader, he tells him with a demonic-looking face that he'll never be heard from again.
  • Plant Woman from In Wily's Defense. It's one thing if you've only built *two* machines of death and destruction. The first law of robotics is thrown out the window completely when you announce the third.
  • Ashton in Winters In Lavelle spends half of the comic looking like a scared, lost puppy. However, when people start threatening him (or Kari), he manages to fight a random Gard, Xan, and Prince Edric.

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