Basic Trope: The Jerkass has hidden depths revealing that they're really a Nice Guy after all.
- Straight: Alex is mean to everyone on the outside, but is hiding that deep down, he really is a nice person.
- Exaggerated:
- Alex is a Jerkass in name only, and is really a very sensitive soul who will shed a tear over a lost puppy.
- Alex is a habitual Troll to everyone, but in fact he is Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
- Good Is Not Nice.
- Face of a Thug.
- Good All Along: when this trope is applied to an outright evil character.
- Anti-Hero.
- Or exaggerated differently: Noble Demon, Minion with an F in Evil, Punch-Clock Villain, Anti-Villain, Well-Intentioned Extremist, Hero with an F in Good, and Affably Evil.
- Alex appears to be evil, but in reality, he's anything but.
- Alex is a villain but has rather unconvincing Pet the Dog moments.
- Alex is an asshole towards almost everyone but would be willing to make a Heroic Sacrifice to save a stranger in a heartbeat.
- Nominal Villain
- Downplayed:
- Alex is usually a Nice Guy, and his good qualities are somewhat obvious to those who know him, but he has a temper, or a massive ego or other such flaws that keep him from being a clean-cut nice guy.
- Alex is a straight-up Jerkass who is only occasionally friendly.
- Alex is a straight-up Jerkass. He just gets hit by the Kindness Ball more other than other characters.
- Alex is The Gadfly, but he still is a decent person occasionally.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality
- Justified:
- Alex is usually a Nice Guy but gets annoyed somewhat easily.
- Alex acts like a jerk because he's been hurt in the past, and doesn't want to show his soft side because he thinks it's a sign of weakness.
- Alex does care for others, but he's frequently shown to have a very good reason to act angry or annoyed, particularly if he's Surrounded by Idiots.
- Alex comes across as a jerk, but it appears that he's too thick-headed to realize he is one.
- Alex does care for others but is too egotistical to express it.
- Alex cares for others, but he thinks the best way to show it is by Tough Love and being Cruel to Be Kind.
- Inverted:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- Affably Evil.
- Bait the Dog.
- Stepford Smiler.
- Beware the Nice Ones.
- Good Is Not Soft.
- Punch-Clock Hero
- Alex is the Nice Guy who gets hit with the Jerkass Ball more than most characters do. (Nice guy with a heart of black?)
- Subverted:
- Double Subverted:
- Alex is a jerk who appears to have a hidden nice side, but who turns out to be just a jerk, except for that deep down, he really feels bad about being a jerk and does want to be a nice guy.
- Alex was just pissed off that day.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk with a Hidden Heart of Gold.
- Parodied:
- Alex makes fun of the heroes, puts everyone down, and steals lunch money, but whenever a kitten comes his way, he cannot help but hug it and sing to it.
- Alex is clearly set up as a Jerk up until a point where he does a Sickeningly Sweet musical number where he sings about how much he loves kittens.
- The narrator outright tells us that Alex "seems to mean, but has a soft side!" for every heinous act he commits, which includes theft, murder, and harassment. He has no soft side.
- Zig Zagged:
- Alex is a jerk but has a hidden nice side, which he only shows occasionally, and later goes back and forth between acting like a jerk and being nice.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk with a Hidden Heart of Gold which hides a Soul of Jerk but then he becomes the mask - twice over, so Alex is now a regular Jerk with a Heart of Jerk - but is he...? As it turns out, yep. Wait, maybe not! Nah, he's a jerk. Or is he? Then the world explodes.
- Averted:
- Alex's just a jerk through and through, and everyone knows it.
- Alex is your average Nice Guy without a hint of jerkiness.
- Enforced: Alex is the most popular character on the show, and so it's revealed that he has a hidden heart of gold because that's how the audience prefers to see him.
- Lampshaded: "Well, it looks like he's not such a jerk after all!"
- Invoked:
- "I know you think I'm a jerk, Belle, but I have a Hidden Heart of Gold. You just can't see it!"
- Alex tries to prove to others that he has a genuine nice side.
- Defied:
- "No, I don't have a 'nicer side' in me, Belle."
- Alex doesn't at least retain the nice side of him and becomes a straight-up jerkass.
- "I don't care what people tell me! You've been nothing but a jerk to me for years on end, so as far as I care, you're nothing but a jerk!"
- Alex recognizes that his jerk side will put people off, so he decides to be as openly nice as possible.
- "Oh, Alex, you're not so bad after all and you want me to like you? Then you shouldn't have been such a dick to me!"
- Exploited: Alex tells everyone about how he's a nice person deep down so people can give him free passes for his bad behavior.
- Implied: Alex may spend all of his time being a snarking asshole, but he turns out to be the only member of the cast who bothered to remember Alice's birthday.
- Discussed: "You may think he's a jerk now, but most people who act like that are merely using it as a facade because they're insecure."
- Conversed: "I really wish I could be swept off my feet by the kind of dashing bad boy who you see in the movies. Oh, he'll appear rough and uncouth at first, but deep down, he's perfectly sweet."
- Deconstructed:
- Alex acts like a jerk because he's been hurt in the past and doesn't want to show his hidden soft side. Because of this, everyone hates him and he ends up completely alone, becoming an even more hardened Jerkass as a result.
- Alex acts like a jerk to people on the surface, but although he genuinely does have a Hidden Heart of Gold, his jerkass behavior makes those around him too put-off to discover it. As a result, Alex almost never makes friends.
- Alex is mean to everyone he meets and can't at least waste a kind word on his "friends" (even if he values them privately). Whatever's going on "deep down", goodness is as good does, so Alex is still a jerk in society.
- Reconstructed:
- Alex acts like a jerk because he's been hurt in the past and doesn't want to show his hidden soft side. Because of this, everyone hates him and he ends up completely alone, until his hidden Heart of Gold is revealed and he and the people around him learn not to judge others by their appearances.
- While some find it hard to tolerate Alex's mean behavior, there are others (especially his friends) who are willing to outweigh his bad qualities with his good.
- Alex may be a jerk in society, but he still performs heartwarming actions when he thinks no one is looking.
Get the hell outta here, and go back to Jerk with a Heart of Gold with you! Because you don't belong here. You need to go somewhere better.
