Bad Powers, Good People/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character with bad powers, but is a hero.
 * Straight: Eric is a Nice Guy who can shoot Agony Beams and Death Rays from his eyes.
 * Exaggerated: Anytime Eric is mildly annoyed, anyone and anything he looks at is disintegrated, so he has to always keep his eyes closed. This annoys him, and since he doesn't want to cause massive property damage he can't ever open them.
 * Downplayed: Since Eric's Eye Beams are voluntary, and he can lower their intensity, he's really no more dangerous than a well trained and ethical police officer.
 * Justified:
 * Sally the Super Empowering fairy only gives the really nasty powers to people who can be trusted to use them responsibly.
 * Alternately, Personality Powers is not in effect, and if it is, Eric has since grown horrified at his potential for evil and resolved to be good.
 * Inverted:
 * Good Powers, Bad People.
 * Eric is a murderous fiend who uses his Fertile Feet to spread higly toxic and man eating plants all over the city.
 * Subverted:
 * Bad Powers, Bad People. This trope is a subversion of that one, so subverting this trope means playing Bad Powers, Bad People straight.
 * When Harold the Hater hits Eric with a Hate Wave, he inadvertently kills Harold... and likes it. Eric uses his evil powers for evil.
 * Erics Eye Beams cause Heel Face Turns and heal puppies.
 * Double Subverted:
 * ... Until his boyfriend Eddie gives him a Cooldown Hug and The Power of Love puts him firmly back in heroland.
 * Said Heel Face Turn is actually brainwashing (and not for the greater good) and all those hit go psycho eventually. Also? The puppies all got inoperable tumors.
 * Parodied: Eric has won the evil Superpower Lottery. He is deadly Walking Wasteland. He is also The Pollyanna and refuses to be anything but nice, happy and optimistic.
 * Deconstruction: See Exaggerated.
 * Reconstruction: Eric learns that his eyebeams can also be controlled by wearing eyeglasses. He starts wearing them.
 * Zig Zagged: Eric is good and refuses to use his evil powers for evil. Except he's actually really trying to con the heroes. Only his power isn't actually evil. And he's pulling a double spy type deal to fool the villains into thinking he's secretly a villain when he isn't.
 * Averted: Eric is evil and he uses his evil powers for evil. Evil!
 * Enforced: The show is about Grey and Grey Morality, so the existence of Eric is necessary to confuse the protagonisits.
 * Lampshaded: "Whoever gives out superpowers must have a sense of humor, giving a literal Death Glare to someone who will never use it."
 * Invoked: Eric wants to avoid the persecution and raw end of a Super Registration Act, so he founds a support and advocacy group of moral Differently Powered Individuals with bad powers.
 * Exploited: Eric knows that good people with bad powers exist, so he pretends to be one to avoid scrutiny.
 * Defied: Eric revels in using his evil powers for evil, and goes on a gloating spiel about how he's much more evil for knowing he could do differently.
 * Discussed: "People like Eric really have it rough, if they don't prove they have Mind Over Manners every day they'll be branded as villains."
 * Conversed: "Of course that character Eric isn't evil, as the Sixth Ranger he has to provide dark power for the team's Yin Yang Bomb without actually being evil."

Back to Bad Powers Good People