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Sounds like these examples cover a few different things.
The literal devil doing nothing the least bit evil and just wanting to have dates and do fun things sounds like Not Evil, Just Misunderstood.
I think the example with aliens needs a little more context as to whether the aliens are meant to be taken seriously in the first place or not:
- If they really are ruthless world-conquerors but refuse to conquer a world that engages in honest romance, that sounds like Even Evil Has Standards.
- If they call themselves world-conquerors but keep finding excuses to not actually conquer any worlds, that sounds like The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
- If they're just kind of pathetic in general despite supposed world-conquering intentions, they might be a Harmless Villain type.
Legitimately evil villains and Mooks being perfectly friendly with each other could be Evil Is One Big, Happy Family.
Not Evil, Just Misunderstood is the one that fits the most, although these are some great tropes you're showing me. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything also fits with the general idea. Add Non-Malicious Monster to the mix and we got the general vibe. Basically, all I was looking for is the subversion of expectations where the "obviously" bad guy is nothing like that and is, in fact, a very normal person! Also, no, the aliens aren't meant to be taken seriously. The trope I was thinking of works mostly in comedic settings.
Thanks for your response!
Chainsaw Sledgehammer
There's also Affably Evil, which is for people who are unambiguously evil, but are still nice guys. See "Good" Bad Guy here
for some quick examples.
I'd also add Pet the Dog.
It could be a subversion of Obviously Evil or Dark Is Evil. There's also Dark Is Not Evil.
For every low there is a high.
The trope where you'll see the literal devil being a nice, misunderstood guy who gets excited about getting a tinder date with a biblically accurate angel.
The kind where the aliens invading earth will see that a boy has just confessed to his crush and they're blushing from a distance, going "oooooo he confessed!!", thus stopping the invasion because it doesn't feel right.
Where the mafia men are actual bros to each other and care about each other.
Basically, the subversion of expectations based on the stereotypes regarding who is inherently evil or not.
Is there a specific name for that trope? I haven't been able to find such a thing.
Edited by angeltze