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Basic Trope: A composed character is angered past their usual level of reserve and enters Unstoppable Rage or Tranquil Fury.

  • Straight: Overlord Ophidian tries to taunt Claire the Stoic. Nothing works until he says how little he cared when he slaughtered her family. Claire finally freaks out.
  • Exaggerated: Claire has suffered a particularly long and nasty Trauma Conga Line, barely keeping her cool. Ophidian's taunt causes her to lose all semblance of sanity and bull-rush Ophidian with intent to beat him into a bloody paste.
  • Downplayed: Ophidian's taunts finally gets Claire to simply flip him off.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted: Claire is trying to stay angry so hard, but when Bob the wise compliments her dress, she just loses her rage.
    • Claire's rage becomes so intense that she pops a blood vessel in her brain and dies.
  • Subverted: Ophidian attempts to invoke the trope, Clair looks like she'll snap, but she just walks away.
  • Double Subverted: This way she can get a good running start to tackle him to the ground and then pummel his face in.
  • Parodied: Claire only snaps after (and seems to only focus on) the "Jaywalking" part of an Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking scenario.
  • Zig Zagged: Claire finds out that Ophidian killed her mother, father, sister and dog to piss her off. Claire manages to calm down and swears she will bring him to justice after wrecking a nearby table with her bare hands. Then Ophidian reveals that he's responsible for killing her fiancee and giving her a bad credit rating. Claire breaks her umbrella on Ophidian's face but follows up by popping a few calm pills and insisting that she will bring him to justice. Then Ophidian reveals that he's the reason she's had diarrhea for the past two weeks. Claire coldly executes him and all of his goons.
  • Averted: Claire doesn't let it faze her, and carries on being composed.
  • Enforced: "Claire is the hero. We can have her kill Lord Ophidian, but not unless he's earned it."
  • Lampshaded: "Eh, let's not push her over the deep end again. Let's not forget what happened last time."
  • Invoked: Ophidian likes to prove (smartly or stupidly) he can manipulate his foes, not by merely making them angry, but also making their anger build before being let out.
  • Exploited: Claire's player character class gets a lot of bonuses from being angry, and they compound themselves if she manages to let the anger pile up. She is going to get such massive damage when she finally blows.
  • Implied: "I'm starting to feel angry, you don't want to see me angry… not at all."
  • Defied: Claire decides to not keep her anger bottled up until it can become dangerous, and thus stops being The Stoic.
  • Discussed: "Watch out for her." "Claire? Why?" "My dad told me once, "Beware the Quiet Ones". Claire's the quietest, coolest woman I have ever met... I don't really think I wanna know how it'll look once something sets her off."
  • Conversed: "I know I must look to you like the calmest woman who has ever lived, but I can feel anger too."
  • Deconstructed:
  • Reconstructed: They warm back up to her when it becomes apparent that such an outburst is still going to be a rarity, meaning they only have to be cautious around her near what it was that set her off in the first place.
  • Played For Laughs: The Rage Breaking Point is absurdly petty (not even worthy of invoking the Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking trope or even a rant-inducing slight) and/or Claire's response to it (other than the obvious moment when you see her snap) is equally underwhelming (like writing her idea of a Strongly Worded Letter.... which isn't even that strongly-worded).
  • Played For Drama: Similar to Deconstructed, exposing just how nasty Claire can get if she loses control of her temper makes everybody afraid of her, and Claire understandably asks herself "My God, What Have I Done?" and breaks down, seeking forgiveness and a way to obtain more control.
  • Played For Horror: Claire's raging rampage only ends until she's completely annihilated everything that ever made her angry — which means friends, family, neighbors, her boss, Evulz, that dog that pissed on her lawn nine months ago, and that officer that gave her a ticket when she was eighteen.

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