Bait the Dog: Difference between revisions

* Actually invoked in [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]] when the writers thought that the recurring villain {{spoiler|Dukat}} who, despite his charming demeanor and the fact that he somewhat cared for his illegitimate daugther was a hypocritical, crazed, sexually voracious dictator who [[A Million Is a Statistic|sent millions of people to die in labor camps]] and didn't hesitate to sell his own people to [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Dominion]] which directly lead to {{spoiler|his home planet winding up thoroughly demolished by the end of the show}}, was getting too popular with the audience - the episode "Waltz" pretty much exists for the sake of showing the audience that, charm or no charm, this man is a [[Complete Monster|monster.]]

* ''[[Firefly]]'' had a good example with [[Bounty Hunter]] Jubal Early. It's clear that Whedon assumed that viewers would react to him with similar good will as was shown towards Boba Fett in [[Star Wars]], and when he first appears, he is an erudite and funny [[Badass]]. [[Complete Monster|Then he starts threatening to rape Kaylee and admitting to his love of torturing animals as a child.]]

* ''[[Lost]]'' has Locke's father, Anthony Cooper. At first, he seems happy to finally meet Locke and starts giving him the family life he never had. Then it turns out all that was a con to steal Locke's kidney, after which he wants nothing more to do with his son. {{spoiler|Later, he [[Moral Event Horizon|tries to kill Locke by pushing him out a window]], which led to Locke ending up in a wheelchair.}}

* Happens a few times on the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]. First there's Cavil/#1, who's introduced as a [[Deadpan Snarker]] type and even seems to be one of the more sympathetic Cylons. As the story develops, we get to know Cavil for [[Complete Monster|what he]] [[Big Bad|really is.]] Then there's Tory, who {{spoiler|learns she's a Cylon, but manages to keep it together at first. When Cally has a breakdown upon realizing her husband Tyrol is a Cylon, she takes her infant son and prepares to toss herself and him out of an airlock. Tory shows up, talks Cally down-and then takes Cally's son before [[Moral Event Horizon|ejecting her into space anyway.]]}}

* (Aside from his flashback appearance) Kefka from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is introduced in the story as a quirky and colorful [[Villainous Harlequin]] like character, humorously demanding that his shoes be emptied of sand ''in the middle of a desert'' and generally acting like a goofy manchild. He later reveals himself as a [[Psycho for Hire|sociopathic]] [[Complete Monster]] whose idea of fun generally revolves around [[Omnicidal Maniac|mass genocide]].

* Subverted with Slayer in ''[[Guilty Gear]] XX''. One of his intro sequences features him with an attractive woman clinging to him... who he then drains of blood until she's nothing but an empty husk. This ''seems'' like a straight application of the trope... until you get into the series story. The woman in question is his wife, who has the special ability that she simply ''can't die'', period. She kills parasites and disease-causing organisms just by being ''near'' them—to the point Eddie (a [[Grand Theft Me|body-stealing]] bioweapon) tries to possess her in one of his endings and ''melts''—and being drained like this is, at worst, a minor inconvenience for her. Slayer ''is'' a villain by some readings (he's not just an assassin, he's the founder and former head of the guild), but his relationship with his wife is one of his better aspects.

** However, he isn't a [[Complete Monster]] as the trope would imply, and even {{spoiler|aspires to become like Litchi in his story mode ending in Continuum Shift.}}

** Which is, kind of subverted later, {{spoiler|when people are introduced to Litchi, she displayed herself as a kind hearted woman who cared about everyone and would even sacrifice herself to save someone unknown as Carl at that time. Time by time, we are also told that she was trying to save her lover. Come Continuum Shift, however, said emotion became a catalyst for her to do a [[Face Heel Turn]], joining in Carl's [[Complete Monster]] of a father for a chance to save her lover, maybe to establish that she is not meant to be the sensible [[Love You and Everybody]] [[Messianic Archetype]], but a desperate lover to the level of near-obsession. No, she's not a [[Complete Monster]] level yet and somehow she still retained her kind self, but it was probably a type of baiting provided by Arc System Works.}}