Basic Trope: A Jerkass decides to act nice, but for whatever reason, their jerkassery is needed.
- Straight: Bob is a Grade-A Jerkass, so his friends decide to to turn him nicer to people. However, his friends decide to turn him back to a jerk, because his meaness is needed.
- Exaggerated: Bob's almost pure evil, with zero redeeming qualities. He almost becomes an incorruptible All-Loving Hero overnight, then decides to go back because someone was being mean to him… or because the rest of the cast wants him back to be a monster.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is told by Alice that she liked his insulting comments, so Bob treats her like a jerkass and continues to be nice to others.
- Bob, a Deadpan Snarker with a tendency towards Brutal Honesty, starts worrying what people think of him and tries being "nice". People actually liked his snark, and appreciated his candor, so he settles comfortably back into that role.
- Justified:
- Bob's nice-guy persona was as insufferable as his jackass persona - but at least when someone's a jackass, you can hate him for what he does...
- Similar to the above, Bob's nice-guy persona is insufferable, but for different reasons - like it making Bob completely useless. What good is Bob saying that he's sorry more often if the price is The End of the World as We Know It?
- Bob is a Psycho Sidekick or Token Evil Teammate, but in the episode where he tries being nice, there's someone that Bob's friends really need Bob to be mean to.
- Bob is clearly pretending to be nice, they would rather have him be honest about being an asshole.
- Bob isn't very good at being nice, instead coming off as creepy, useless, or annoying.
- Bob is only being nice to the protagonist(s) for superficial reasons, such as their looks and income.
- Bob may only be acting overly nice due to his own personal guilt for his past jerkass actions and not out of the goodness of his heart.
- Bob tries too hard to get back in people's good graces and it makes him come off as an annoying try-hard.
- Bob was, in his own asshole way, The Heart of the team. He sacrificed team cohesion for inner peace, and he couldn't have done it at a worse time.
- Bob acting nice is so out of character for him that everyone suspects him to be faking. Seeing that he's being treated as a Jerkass anyway, he decides to go back to the way he was.
- Instead of spending time and effort doing therapy and soul-searching, Bob used a scientific or magical means to get rid of his meanness that, as is typical of plots regarding such shortcuts, is now uncontrollably building up towards a massively destructive backfire and the only way to stop it is for Bob to reabsorb his mean side (maybe literally).
- The reason Bob is nice is because he was subjected to Mind Rape, shot with a Mirror Morality Machine, his dog was taken hostage or some other method that was excessive, non-consensual, will probably target the rest of the group soon and most importantly will lead to some kind of spectacularly nasty backfire if/when it happens. The rest of the group agrees that Bob not being a nice guy on his own free will is better than him developing a bigger beef with them by exploiting him in this moment of uncertainty.
- The nice Bob is a doppelgänger of some kind who replaced Bob. And a Preferable Impersonator is still an impersonator.
- Bob was a jerk, but he was still reliable (why else would he stick around? There's just not enough excuses in the world) and the Brutal Honesty was exactly that, honest. His new "nice guy" personality (or the nicer guy the team traded up to and left Bob behind for) are backstabbing liars or at least just unreliable (and still liars).
- Bob is constantly mouthing off to people to show that he isn’t intimidated by his enemies or circumstances. Him not being mouthy means he’s terrified, and with Bob usually being fearless, this means the situation is dire.
- Bob decided to start acting nicer to people after someone called him out on it. However, when people started to take advantage of him, he decided to start acting like a jerk again.
- Inverted:
- Bob's a Nice Guy who becomes a jerk temporarily, then changes back when he decides it's not for him.
- Bob is reviled for being a kind, loyal friend. Then he gets a complete personality makeover that transforms him into a selfish, manipulative, violent, and puppy murdering jackass which makes everybody adore him. However, when Bob's destructive mood swings begin getting out of hand and the puppy body count begins piling up, everybody quickly realizes what they've created, and amends are made.
- Bob, normally a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who will do the right thing in spite of his brooding and sarcastic nature, becomes a smiling but superficial Jerk with a Heart of Jerk.
- Subverted: Alice comments that she missed the nicer Bob.
- Double Subverted: Carol reminds Alice of how annoying Bob was when he turned nice.
- Parodied:
- Bob becomes incredibly nice, doing such things as lavishing people with incredible gifts "just because". Still, people can't wait until he becomes a jerk again.
- Bob swears off some negative behavior, ranging from sporadically punching people in the face to stealing gum from the checkout line. This causes everyone to neglect him and Wangst about his Death of Personality and how they want the "real" Bob back.
- Zig Zagged: Alice misses the nicer Bob until she remembers how annoying he was. But a Flashback tells us she remembered wrong.
- Bob is trying to act nicer to others, but continuously flip-flops during the narrative as to whether he wants to be nice or just doesn't care.
- Averted:
- Bob doesn't become nice again.
- Or Bob turns nice, and everyone is happy with the "new" Bob.
- Bob is actively under Mind Control to act nicer because his acquaintances actively hate his jerkass behavior.
- Bob becomes worse and acts like the biggest jerk he can out of spite
- Enforced: "Ah, geez, our writers are tired of writing lines for Bob now that he's nice! Can't we make him a jerk again?"
- Lampshaded: "I miss you when you insulted my appearance and gave me a look of contempt. Why can't we have that Bob back?"
- Invoked: Alice decides to set in motion a chain of events that reminds Bob how much fun he had being rude to people.
- Exploited: Alice wants to ensure that Bob's reputation remains degraded. She teaches him how to be "nice", but in a way that annoys everyone who knew him, such that Bob decides being nice will never be worth it and becomes more of a jerk than before.
- Defied:
- Bob decides that he's just staying nice - whether people like it or not.
- Carol, not wanting Bob back to his old ways, punches out Alice for suggesting a plan to make him a Jerkass again.
"You listen to me, you son-of-a-bitch, now that we know how good it feels to be with you when you're nice, you're going to stay nice, or I swear that nobody will ever find your fucking body when I'm done venting all of that pent-up rage that I have built up from all of those insults you said you were sorry about before she (points at Alice) started to whine about how 'I liked you better when you were a jerk'!"- Defying the inverse: "There is a bomb in your skull, and it is programmed to go off automatically if you ever exhibit jerk behavior. As a matter of fact, that headache you're feeling right now that you're getting angry at what I revealed? It's not your blood running hot. You will need to find paperwork fun from now on."
- Discussed:
- "Don't worry, they'll be beggin' for you to change back to your Jerkass ways any minute now!"
- "It isn't the same around here when Bob's like that."
- "I'm sorry, but Let Me Get This Straight... We are discussing about how much we need to place the trauma of being framed for sexual assault and tortured by the law and the court of public opinion back into one of our friends? Because we think him being a happy, respectful, and functional human being… is somehow creepy? Am I hearing you correctly?"
- Conversed: "Five bucks says Bob will be back to his normal Jerkass self by the end of the episode." "Considering how much of a Stepford Smiler he's being, I hope so."
- Deconstructed:
- Bob is distraught that his genuine attempt to change didn't take, and it causes him mental anguish.
- Bob realizes that his friends trying to get him to change back are no good for him; after all, what kind of true friends would want you to go back to being The Alcoholic Jerkass if it ruined any relationship outside of this circle of friends? Bob calls them out and then abandons them. Bob moves on to a better life while still they're wasting their lives and repulsing bystanders with their immaturity.
- Bob realizes that his friends only wanted him to be a nice person despite the fact that they themselves aren't nice people either. This meant that Bob's jerkass behavior was justified all along.
- Bob has a bad feeling that his so-called "friends" are trying to get him back to "normal", so he decided to refuse and moved on. Unlike other people, they didn't respect Bob's decision at all and instead, they chose to relentlessly stalk and harass Bob. When they go too far in trying to make Bob go back to being a jerk, Bob is beyond fed up with his "former friends", as they did inexcusable things, such as crossing the line by intentionally threatening to murder, rape, or terrorize his family and true friends. And so, Bob called the police. They now suffered for all of their trouble by being convicted, and are now known as "Bob's false friends", as he is truly and well done with them, now having realized they are friends In Name Only, and only when Bob moved on being permanently better that they have shown their true selves, never once cared about his changes for the better nor his well-being.
- Bob does turn back into a jerk, only for him to become even worse.
- Nobody wants Bob to become a Jerkass again because he's a better person this way. It wouldn't make sense that his friends want the old Bob back since he was a selfish jerk.
- Bob has a pretty awful Freudian Excuse to be a jerk and him reverting to acting like a jerk would surely be a sign that he refuses to let go of his pain. Or worse yet, in order to turn him into a jerk again it would take making him suffer that trauma again. Only a monstrous asshole would think that making Bob a jerk again under those circumstances, let alone because they think that Bob is "better" as a jerk, is a good idea.
- It's Bob's friends that are the ones with the problem; Being self-loathers and defeatist about themselves, they thought having a violent, intolerant prick of a friend was what they "deserved", so they enabled his terrible behavior to justify their own low opinions. Bob treating them like people for once throws them for a loop.
- Alice whining about Bob suffering Death of Personality and going through the motions to bring the jerk back say more about her than him: namely, that she is a Love Martyr and/or he is her Fetishized Abuser.
- Alice and Charlie are effectively co-dependent on Bob, being just as bad as he is (if not worse), but refusing to admit it and using Bob's open jerkassery to make themselves feel better about their own lives. When Bob realises how awful he's been and starts making steps to better himself, they try to break his spirit and drag him back down, lest they be forced to take responsibility for their behaviour.
- Bob becoming a jerk again winds up costing him everything he worked for while he was being nice, leading him to question if releasing his anger was worth losing his second chance.
- Bob decided to become a jerk again because people were taking advantage of his generosity. To those who actually needed his generosity, it feels like someone yanked their chain. They obviously call out all of the assholes of the cast (and the world) for deciding Bob’s attempt at redemption made him easy pickings, and call out Bob for going back on his old ways because the ones who actually needed his generosity had their chains yanked.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob remembers how much fun he had while being a jerk, and starts to enjoy it again.
- But then Bob relents on how being a jerk is the cornerstone of his friendship with others, so they all reconcile.
- Bob also realizes that his friends also didn't take things as far as he did, and their behavior was as justified as his own. Now he has a better understanding towards them.
- Bob eventually admits things just aren't the same without them, and bails them out of what's left of their sentences because that's just the sort of thing he does now, and they were already able to learn a few things during the time they served. It kind of makes them all wonder which of them was the jerk that the other needed.
- Bob's worse behavior stems from him being upset that he couldn't be a better person like he wanted to, and that being his old self seems like the only way he can stand up to others. He just wants to make sure with the others that they really are friends. even when it doesn't look like it.
- Bob only starts acting like a jerk again for understandable reasons, and he still isn't as bad as he used to be. After all, it's not like he wanted to go back to his old self either.
- Bob pretends to go back to "normal" to convince Alice to seek help and they eventually become lovers with a pretty obvious fetish.
- Played For Laughs: Bob says a single nice sentence that Alice points out is something he would never do and starts going about the standard steps to try to bring back the asshole. Even Bob feels there's something wrong with her.
- Played For Drama:
- Bob becomes an Extreme Doormat. Alice doesn't wants him to be an utter asshole, but she is right that living like that is only going to bring him misery.
- Jim is (probably secretly) despairing that Bob is being nice to him for once in their lives and Alice's scheme is going to destroy this friendship and turn Jim into a bullying target again.
- Played For Horror:
- Alice kidnaps Bob and literally tortures the nice out of him.
- Bob being nice is a sign that he Came Back Wrong. Alice is just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Back to We Want Our Jerk Back!
