They fake being kind and generous in order to take advantage of people. But in the process, they find themselves genuinely invested in their mark's well-being. And ends up becoming a genuinely better in the process.

1). Klaus:
Jesper is sent by his rich father to a far-north island. And told he will be disowned if he does not get the townsfolk there to adopt the postal service. Feigning charity, Jesper gets a local man to donate his toys to any kid that writes a letter asking for one. That way, it seems like the whole town has started using the postal service his father runs.
Jesper makes an offhand comment about only "good children" getting toys. So, the kids start doing good deeds and set off a series of events squashing the town's long-held blood feud. And Jesper ends up genuinely invested in making everyone happy.

2). Mob Psycho 100:
Reigen is a fake psychic. Soon after starting his business, he comes across a kid with genuine psychic powers. Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama is terrified of his own abilities so he leaps at the opportunity to be "mentored." Reigen calls Mob if his clients turn out to be actually haunted. He is paid sub-minimum wage for his time.
But Reigen gives Mob genuinely good advice that keeps the (potentially city-destroying) esper humble and well-adjusted. Unlike of the villains, who try to use their psychic powers to take over the world. He even admits his lies to Mob at the end of the series.

3). All Dogs Go to Heaven:
Charlie takes advantage of an orphan who can talk to different animal species. Mostly to cheat at gambling. But he ends up selflessly sacrificing himself for her.

I understand that these scenes must happen in order for the plot to continue but they still make me angry till today whenever I think about them because of how easy it could've been avoided. I doesn't mean these scenes are necessarily bad written, just hella hard to watch.

The Jerusalem Wall / The Singing Crowd (World War Z): Israel literally anticipated the zombie apocalypse and built a flawless, massive wall that kept everyone 100% safe. It was the ultimate safe haven. But then people inside started celebrating and singing on a microphone so loudly that it triggered a zombie pyramid, they didn't even stop until the first zombies started coming through. They have less survival instinct than an amoeba.

Ephialtes (300): The Spartans had the perfect phalanx formation at the Hot Gates. They were slaughtering the Persian army with minimal casualties and could have held them off for so much longer. Then this guy gets his feelings hurt because he can't lift a shield, throws a tantrum, and tells Xerxes about the secret goat path.

Grandma Jong-gil (Train to Busan): The survivors fought through hell and literal waves of infected to secure a safe train car. Sure, the crowd inside was selfish for locking them out at first, but everyone was finally safe inside. Then this grandma, fueled by grief and spite over her sister, decides to open the door and let the infected flood the entire car, killing everyone.

Just characters with unique reloads. That's it.

Equilibrium: Clerics wrist mags

Various games - Iraqi Reload: A few games have this reload, including Call of Duty and The Finals. I would've put The Finals version here but I couldn't find a gif of it.

Battlefield Hardline - Various reloads: Various guns have a chance for a unique reload, these are two of my favorites.

Battlefield 1 - Double Barrel: The sawed off has a chance to mimic the reload from the Classic Doom double barel reload

When a crossover basically does the exact opposite of what the source material clearly lays out because the creators clearly just don’t care about the source material at all.

Emil - Dead by Daylight

The one that inspired this post. Emil as a character is the most hopeful, optimistic, and kind character in the entire NieR series, maybe in all of Yoko Taro’s games (maybe aside from Yonah). His goal is to help as many people as he possibly can and even when he goes through immense suffering he always comes out the other side ready to keep on helping people.

Then Dead by Daylight adds him as a killer skin, because “he looks creepy.” You know, the aspect of the character that’s his biggest struggle, that causes him to be scared of how people will judge him, and that makes him hate himself. That’s what we’ll base our entire concept on. Genius idea.

Iron Giant - Ready Player One

Technically you could argue that it’s not an example because it’s just a part of the game and Wade is the one misunderstanding the source material. To that I raise you that this is actually an in universe example of the trope, with the game including the Iron Giant as a crossover where you can use him as a weapon, thereby misunderstanding the source material.

Also it’s probably the filmmakers completely misunderstanding the source material/not caring as well.

- In the early 2000s Scooby-Doo movies, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played Daphne, and as such is made to be a lot more of a fighter part as a subversion of Daphne's role as a damsel in distress but also as a nod to Buffy.

- In Fate/Grand Order, the character of Kriemhild is played by Aoi Koga, who lately had played Kaguya Shinomiya in Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and as such during the Valentine's Day event, where the Servants give something for the protagonist, Kriemhild's segment is instead a Kaguya-sama skit with her panicking wanting to make something for Siegfried while the protagonist plays the role of Hayasaka.

Cripple wolf- a crippled Vietnam veteran who is unaware he's a werewolf goes on a massive passenger plane dedicated to fetishes. He accidentally turns into a feral werewolf that slaughters hundreds of people and fights a superhero with the punching force of a panzer lll and turns multiple people including a baby into werewolf's, he runs people over and other shenanigans. It's a hilarious short story that's worth checking out.

Ass goblins of Auschwitz- ass goblins invade kidland a relatively peaceful planet full of kids. The MCs are conjoined twins who along with other kids are turned into slaves to make food, bicycles, cider and alot more out of dead kids. The conjoined twins are experimented on to become more monstrous in appearance. IMO this book sucks but has a bat shit insane story with the ass goblins wanting to gain childhood since they're all born adults and are jealous of the kids innocents and happiness.

1. PragerU's version of Christopher Columbus has him be a slavery defender and have him say "Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don't see the problem.”

2. In The Greatest Showman, P.T Barnum (Hugh Jackman) is portrayed as a charismatic visionary who cares about outcasts and celebrate diversity, when in reality, he’s a cruel businessman who is also a racist and an ableist.

[Liked Example]: Kano (Mortal Kombat). In the original Mortal Kombat game, Kano was depicted as a bald Japanese-American, lacking most of his well known personality. In the movie, actor Trevor Goodard instead portrayed Kano as a scruffy haired English guy with a cockney accent. After the movie became popular and wildly successful, this version of Kano was put into the game as a scruffy haired Australian with an Australian accent.

[Disliked Example]: Ms. Marvel, the new Mutant.

So back in 2014 when Ms. Marvel was created, the mutants were on a decline. Marvel was trying to use them less, owing to Fox having the movie rights for x-men. In the x-men's place, Marvel made the Inhumans the discount mutant, having their terragenesis mist give people powers, like Moon Girl and Kamala Khan.

The TV show adaptation, owing to neither of these groups having been put into the main mcu, went ahead and made her a mutant. Marvel then wanted to put that into the main MCU, while also keeping the characters history.

In 2022's Amazing Spiderman run (written by Zeb Wells), Kamala Khan is violently murdered, reveals her secret identity to Spider-Man, and dies surrounded by basically strangers. A few months later she's resurrected, where it's revealed that she's been an inhuman mutant hybrid the whole time, leading her to join mutant teams and hang out with mutants.

I dislike this change, because it reduces Kamala's unique identity, and traps her in the background cast of the x-men, where 99% of mutant characters are stuck.

A terrifying alien, monster, etc. is adopted by humans. Despite their incredible destructive power or explicitly violent nature, love conquers all.

1). Superman:
In at least two versions (the 2025 Superman movie and My Adventures with Superman), Kryptonians are conquerors. And even if they weren't, Clark develops near-unstoppable powers. Part of it is his inherent nature, but the values instilled in him by his parents (the Kents) are one of the main reasons he's an incorruptible beacon of good.

2). Dragon Ball:
The Saiyan Kakarot was sent to Earth as a baby to wipe out its dominant life. But thanks to the intervention of Son Gohan (and some handy brain damage), Kakarot was raised as "Son Goku." A slightly-feral but otherwise good natured kid.

3). Lilo & Stitch:
Experiment 626 was designed to be destructive. But thanks to his human family, he learns he can be more.

4). Hellboy:
Hellboy is supposed to be the harbinger of an apocalypse. But he was raised by a professor of the occult and turned out fine.

5). Black Clover:
An unnamed, low-tier devil ended up in the human world. He is briefly adopted by a human woman and showered with love. This motivates Liebe to help the protagonist stop the other devils.

6). Fullmetal Alchemist:
"Pride" was created from the original homunculus, the Dwarf in the Flask. He represents his father's arrogance and does not value human life in the slightest.
After having his foundational bank of human souls depleted, Pride is reduced to a small child. He is raised by a human mother without any of his memories, and by all accounts is an empathetic child.

Aptronyms are characters whose name is heavily symbolic or represent them as a character. Sometimes it is a subtle play on words, sometimes it’s just a clunky transliteration. Either way, it can help characterize a character and provide more allegorical depth. Authors must be careful not to delve into the realm of cliche, though.

1. Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter series) His name means Evil Dragon, and he tries really hard to live up to his name.

[Many commenters have pointed out that Darth Vader is not a true aptronym. I stand corrected .]

1. Darth Vader (Star Wars series) His name means Dark Father, which cleverly conceals one of the biggest reveals in cinema history.

2. Cthulhu (Lovecraft mythos) Cthulhu may just sound like a nonsense syllable, unpronounceable by a human mouth. The name is derived from the word “cthonic” which means a being that lives under the earth or in the underworld, so an ancient and terrible god that lies dreaming in death at the bottom of the ocean would definitely fit the description.

1. Chinatown (1974)

Main character and PI Jake Gittes risks literally everything to help Evelyn escape her abusive father, Noah Cross. Instead, the police shoot Evelyn dead just as she tries to flee, leaving Cross to walk away completley unpunished. Gittes is pulled away, completley defeated "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

1. The great silence (1968)

A western where there's no happy ending. The silence, who's been proven time and time again in the movie to be a total badass, fights to protect a group of desperate outlaws and a grieving widow from a ruthless band of bounty hunters led by Loco. But silence is ambushed, shot through the hands, with his literal dying breath he chooses to still try and save the people instead of running away. Loco stares into his eyes and brutally executes him. His gang to massacre the remaining townspeople and ride away. STILL MY FAVORITE WESTERN.

I wouldn't want every movie to end like this. In fact, these kinds of endings leave me devestated for a time. But when a director has the BALLS to pull these kinds of endings, especially in genres that don't have them (westerns for example) they usually kick ass

Proximity to humanity makes a non-human a better person.

1). Invincible:
Omni-Man finds himself too changed by his time on Earth to continue its conquest.

2). Dragon Ball:
Vegeta goes from someone who wipes out entire civilizations to a dad hanging out with his half-human children.

3). The Good Place:
A demon whose whole purpose is to torture human souls ends up being a good person.

4). Resident Alien:
An alien kills "Harry" and assumes his identity. By the end of the series, he is willing to admit he is fond of the species and a better person.

5). Kubo and the Two Strings:
Humanity is described as having an unstoppable warmth that entices the otherwise emotionless immortals.

6). Homestuck:
Trolls are from an extremely violent planet. A hours of contact with the human protagonists makes them question their own civilization's sense of morality.

7). Ben 10:
In Alien Force, an invading "Highbreed" alien is trapped on a desert planet with Ben. By the end of their trek, he no longer hates Ben.

1 doctor who

2 superman

Now to be clear,i am not one of these "anti-woke" losers that complain some people exist,and i am also not the type to complain about changing somenthing in a new version or adaptation,however there are cases where it did ended up being a bad idea.

-In the anime of Cowboy Bebop there is the character Gren,despite being short lived the character is very memorable specially thanks to his tragic story.Basically his story was that he was a soldier from the titan war who was a great friend with Vicious(the main bad guy)after the war he was emprisioned thanks to Vicious who testified against him and he was forced to take a experimental drug that caused him hormonal problems,giving him a feminine appearence and even breasts.

In the Netflix live action,for some reasons they decided Gren was going to be non-binary,which wouldn't be a problem(some people believe he was gay in the anime)if it wasn't for the fact that they also removed all the nuances and complexities that made the character memorable and interesting,instead of a tragic war veteran that was betrayed and had his body changed against his will,Gren is just kinda there.

-The original Rugrats cartoon had the couple Betty and Howard,Betty was a big and masculine woman while Howard was a smaller and nervous man,it was a genuine interesting relationship that stood out from the other couples who were the standard straight couple.

In the new series however they replaced Howard with a woman named Trish,two things,first off why?What was the problem with having a woman being the stronger in a straight relationship?Second why does Hollywood seem to think that every tomboy or masculine woman is a lesbian?

Overall not the worst thing but it is jarring that they had a gender reverse roled that was progressive and decided that wasn't enough.

-Oh man,this one pisses me off the most so i am gonna have to break it down

So back in the late 80s and 90s there was this anime called Saint Seiya also knows as Knights of the zodiac,it tells the story of knights who fight for the Goddess Athena to protect earth,being divided in the golden,silver and bronze knights,the anime was a huge hit in latin america and Europe and while it floped in the US it still has a loyal fanbase.

Being a fan myself i can't recommend it enough,now granted the story does have a fair share of flaws,and that's because the author was honestly just making stuff up as he went along(also a lot of side characters are poorly used or even forgotten about)still it is a great story you should check out

But then a couple of years back Netflix got the rights and decided to a 3D reboot,in this reboot they decided to make the story more "american" to try to bring more american viewers,now i could go on and on a big rant about how that was a bad idea and the execution was so terrible that it made me want to strangle someone but this post is about one specific change.

So Saint Seiya has five main characters,those are Pegasus Seiya,Dragon Shiryu,Cygnus Hyoga,Phoenix Ikki and finally Andromeda Shun.

While the other four characters were the standard masculine and brute male characters who were always ready to throw punches,Shun was smaller,more sensitive and even feminine looking,a pacifist who didn't liked fighting,but don't mistake that for weakness because Shun was loyal to his friends and was extremely powerful.

Then Netflix decided to change Shun into a girl named Shaun.

So wait,you have a male character who goes against every male stereotype and you turn him into just another generic female character?

When asked about it,the showrunner Eugene Son said he made that change because there was no girl in the group and having a all boys group wouldn't be acceptable nowadays

First off that's not true because Athena was also part of the main cast,yeah she wasn't the fighting type but she still helped quite a lot in the story even saving the knights on several occasions,second if you wanted to add a girl to the main group why not use Marin or Shaina?Hell,if you were going to change the story anyway why not turn Seiya sister into a knight?

Thankfully this monstrosity was cancelled(so much for trying to bring more fans)

There's nothing I love more than being in a comedy, and you get that one moment, usually a single look from a character, and all of the sudden we stop joking around. Whatever's going on from this point forward is played completely straight in stark contrast to everything that came before.

1). A moment from the comedy show Scrubs. Our man Dr. Cox is exchanging jokes with his best friend when he is asked "Where do you think we are?" Suddenly it is revealed Cox's best friend isn't actually there, and they are at his funeral.

2). An dark comedy called Haunted Hotel. The whole show specializes in dark humor with ghosts, demons, and plenty of death. But when near the end of season 1, it is revealed that always happy go lucky ghost Nathan died from suicide, everything slows way down. Suddenly the whole show gains this tiny bit of underlying seriousness they never joke about.

3). From an anime called Gintama. One two episode story arc involves an old alien dog that wants to conquer the earth now that his old owner is hospitalized. Near the end, suddenly all jokes are off as the two old timers struggle to avoid dying of old age as neither wants the other to feel lonely.

Io Fleming from Gundam thunderbolt: lives completely up to the title white devil. As he tears apart this poor zeon pilot.

Kratos God of war: kratos brutalizing Poseidon.

1. In Zoolander when Hansel and Derek are in disguise, they are played by other actors. Derek removes his face makeup off screen so Ben Stiller is never seen in blackface except for his neck and ears

2. In The Neighbors the Weaver family is picking a Halloween costume. During the montage of them trying on options the parents and both daughters are wearing semi formal clothing (business suit, pantsuits etc) looking in the mirror looking disappointed, while Max is dressed as a dog. After a beat one of them says “No one is going to be able to tell we’re the Obamas”. The youngest daughter innocently suggests painting their faces and the parents immediately tell her no. (I hate that I couldn’t find a clip or a picture of this)

3. One episode of Ellsbeth included a plot point about a model being blackmailed with the negatives from a “cultures around the world” photoshoot where she was in makeup to portray multiple races. The photos are discussed but never seen.

4. In an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show, Rob and Laura accidentally dye their hands black the morning before attending a gala for “The Committee for Interracial Understanding”. They wear fancy gloves to hide it but then reveal their predicament when Rob is giving a speech.

5. Similar to Zoolander, in Master of Disguise when Fabbrizzio is disguised as Michael Johnson, he is played by Michael Johnson & his exit from the disguise is covered in a camera flash as he holds up the constitution he just stole.

Major glory (dexter's lab)

Captain underpants (read previous text)

Don't watch these at Sunday School

1) While a more sympathetic example than the below, Lucifer's tirle character still retains the CW bait (yes I know it's a Fox/Netflix show) crowd as he's busy solving crimes.

2) Mystery of the Kingdom of God was a 2021 Christian kids film that would've fallen into obscurity beyond fudnamentalist audiences if it wasn't for folks picking up on the Tumblr sexyman vibes of the film's devil.

3) The CEO of Hell Lucifer (or 'Lucy') is an intimidating persona also reflecting the creator's preference for women in business suits.

4) Le génie du mal ('The Spirit of Evil', sculpture on the right) was a sculpture by Guillame Geefs in 1848, meant to replace the sculpture on the left by his brother Joseph, criticised for its distracting beauty and 'unhealthy allure'. He didn't do a good job (or did a VERY good one) taking that into account.

Brencis (Blood of Dawnwalker) he was aware he might lose to Coen… so in order to gain the last laugh, he turned his sister Lunka into a feral vampire. And so far in the story, there is no cure to her condition.

Safin (No time to Die) During his final confrontation with James Bond, Safin infects him with DNA-targeting nanobots designed to kill Madeleine and Mathilde, Bond's family.
Bond kills Safin, but the damage is already done. Bond can never safely reunite with the people he loves, and ultimately chooses to die in the missile strike.

John Kramer (Jigsaw) Kramer arranged for Lynn Denlon to wear an explosive collar connected to his heart monitor. If someone killed Kramer, Lynn would die too. When Jeff finally kills Kramer, he unwittingly triggers the device that kills his own wife. Even worse, Kramer leaves behind a recording revealing that their daughter has also been kidnapped.

even worse if the reason is for being butthurt

-Program Exchange (along with some few 90s cartoons like Tiny Toons Adventures): basically the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got the "this thing ruins young generations" treatment or being seen as something that gonna pass out quickly for being "a stupid concept" (Basically "Boomers Cartoonish we're baffled kids would rather watch Pokemon over Goodfeathers), one of the funniest examples is the Program Exchange promo (with Woody only being a public icon in Brazil, Fred being only a cereal and vitamin mascot, and Dennis being dead and most of the niche of public prefer the British version)

-Family Guy: the infamous "joke" of Quagmire being over Marge and killing the Simpson family, probably just as a respond to the "plagiarismo di plagiarismo" joke of the Simpsons

-Midtopia I mean Chimptopia: (EDIT) promoting their new show by throwing trash at Gameoverse like an attemp of "console wars of SEGA vs Nintendo" type (and with some things revealing about the author like being rejected of a gartic phone with RubberRoss, makes the situation more lame at that time)

-The Red Ape Family: basically the authors being butthurt for the most logic arguments of the NFT being a scam and critics about their "show" and putting most of the critics as a bunch of babies, some of them being saberspark

-Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest: between all the war of consoles, in the "Cranky's Videogame Heroes", there's a trash can with Sonic's Shoes and Earthworm Jim's pistol with the sign of "No Hoppers"

Marge (The Simpsons) In modern episodes, I genuinely feel bad for her voice actress Julie Kavner, she is 74 doing Marge’s scratchy voice and you can hear that it’s it sounds different and squeaky.

Spongebob (Spongebob Squarepants) in modern episodes of SpongeBob, you can notice that his voice sounds a bit deeper and not the same, Tom Kenny is 64 today he has stated that he wants to voice SpongeBob for as long as he still have a voice, he’s a legend

Goku (Dragon Ball Z) the original Japanese voice for Goku, Masako Nozawa is 89 years old and she still voices Goku to this day. You can definitely hear more age in her Goku voice but she can still deliver a “Kamehameha” like a legend.

Danse - Jem and the Holograms: Danse Time

After Danse injures her leg trying to ice skate during recording a music video for Jem and the Holograms to try to win a contest, Danse is deep in depression and gives up on walking after the doctor states that she may not be able to dance again for a while.

It isn't until a blind man named Cisco accidentally falls into a pool that forces Danse to get out of her wheelchair to save him and push herself to finally put effort into her physical therapy.

Vinnie Stoker - Gravedale High: Fear of Flying

After Vinnie accidentally gets struck by lightning trying to retrieve his friend Reggie's science project (a jetpack with a pair of wings that can help you fly) he's suddenly developed a fear of flying and can't fly without falling and hurting himself, the others try to help him get back into the sky but nothing seems to work.

It isn't until Reggie almost falls to his death after trying out his science project to defend Vinnie from a bully during a bet that Vinnie finally snaps out of it and flies to the rescue to save him.

Molly Washington - Horseland: Back in the Saddle Again

After Molly accidentally falls off her horse during practice and gets knocked unconscious, she keeps making excuses to avoid riding again, it isn't until Sarah's horse falls ill and collapses far away from help that Molly is forced back into the saddle to go get help.