Bullying a Dragon: Difference between revisions
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[[The Fettered]] especially have it bad, because they ''choose'' not to fight back, and often protect their tormentors from the Forces of Evil.
A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[All of the Other Reindeer]], where the character is surrounded by tormentors even though they are ''known'' to have some incredible power conducive to being a [[Person of Mass Destruction]], and most of the time ''because'' of this. This frequently crops up in [[Kids Are Cruel]] (in which case it would be "Kids Are Cruel And Also [[Too Dumb to Live|Freaking Idiots]]"). It's usually a way of getting us to sympathize with the main character, but, really, bullies should be smart enough not to mock the "freak" [[Blessed with Suck]] and [[Super Strength]]. Even when logically—or at least using the basest level of human decency and smallest inkling of self preservation—these bullies should find a weaker target or cut the poor kid some slack. So, in a sense, [[Strawman Political|Strawman Bullies]]. Then, again [[Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb]]
If the [[Break the Cutie|victim snaps]], they ''will'' [[Who's Laughing Now?|turn]] [[Beware the Nice Ones|the]] [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|tables]] (if not [[Chainsaw Good|turn the table into a buzzsaw]], [[Everything's Better with Spinning|set it spinning at hurricane-level speeds]], and shove their tormenters' necks into the blades). Also, don't lie - [[Catharsis Factor|it can be fun]] [[Asshole Victim|when the bullies are killed off]] [[Kick the Son of a Bitch|or else get theirs]]. (And, if they have not done anything remotely objectionable up to this point, this could well be taken as a case of [[Dark Is Not Evil]].) Unfortunately, many of the times a bully attempts to go after someone of this ilk is because they are trying to elicit a response, which in turn, would prove everyone's point about how much of a freak they truly are.
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* In ''[[Durarara!!]]'', people at Shizuo's school (both middle and high school) were not the most intelligent lot. This is evidenced by the fact that they thought picking on ''[[Super Strength|Shizuo]] [[Hair-Trigger Temper|Heiwajima]]'' was anything less than a phenomenally stupid idea. The high school kids can be partially excused due to being manipulated by Izaya. The junior high kids? [[Too Dumb to Live|Not so much]]
** That's no excuse. Even if they were being manipulated by Izaya, picking on a guy that can [[Super Strength|pick up street signs/vending machines/refrigerators (basically anything) and throw them at you]] and [[Nigh Invulnerability|can not only survive getting shot at point blank range but also act so casually about it,]] [[Too Dumb to Live|is a really bad idea.]] [[Nigh Invulnerability|The guy can even get run over by a freaking truck and emerge unharmed]].
* ''[[One Piece]]''
** Nico Robin
** It's usually [[Mugging the Monster]] when it comes to Shanks and Luffy. People rarely appreciate (or even believe) how strong these two are. Two notable examples, however, are Bellamy in the Skypeia arc and Hody Jones after the [[Time Skip]]. Bellamy assumed Luffy was a weakling because Luffy wouldn't fight back over a simple insult (he didn't see it as worth the trouble). Then Bellamy got Luffy's wanted poster, with a bounty more than double his own meager sum. He ignored it, and proceeded to rob Luffy's friends. When Luffy came back to get what he stole, Bellamy still refused to accept the truth. [[Curb Stomp Battle|Cue getting faceplanted]] [[One Hit KO|with just one punch to the face.]] Hody is an even more egregious example, because not only did he know Luffy had beaten Arlong, but knew his exact reputation right down to recent events and still decided to make an enemy of him. While he arguably ''could'' have beaten "Luffy as advertised" instead of "[[Took a Level in Badass]] Luffy", Luffy's mere reputation alone should have made him think twice. He's the only villain in the entire manga to go down ''before'' his crew as a result. That's just how sad a villain he was.
** Special mention goes to Don Krieg, who picks a fight with
*** Of course, in that same arc, Zoro himself (who, in his defense, was much younger and more naive at the time) was little better, openly challenging Mihawk for the title of World's Greatest Swordsman. Mihawk defeated him using a knife that was literally smaller than one he used to cut vegetables, and the only reason here why Zoro wasn't killed was because Mihawk [[The Force Is Strong with This One| was impressed by his determination]]. In many ways, this was [[An Aesop]] of the dangers of misjudging your own abilities, a lesson that would need to be learned by many characters in the history of the show.
** Wow Spandam! It sure was a [[Sarcasm Mode|great idea]] to frame [[Secret Police|CP9]], six of the deadliest assassins in the world, for the Enies Lobby disaster. It's not like they will want to go after your blood when they find out what you did to them! Oh.....
** Demalo Black a.k.a Fake Luffy at the start of the second half of the series. The idiot is weak as hell but thinks he can coast by on Luffy's reputation alone to get people to fear him. It manages to attract some high level (and much more dangerous) pirates to him, so that part of the plan went swimmingly. But when he (unknowingly) comes across the real Luffy and tries to threaten him just for simply bumping into him (something Luffy even apologized for), he knocked out flat simply from Luffy's aura. This defeat only makes him even more determined to exact his revenge on Luffy, probably because he's too damn ignorant to realize just what Luffy did to him. Then later during a marine raid he runs straight into Sentomaru, a man who easily handed Luffy his ass two years previous. You can guess how this little encounter ends.
** Inverted, however, with the World Government's bounty on Sanji. His [[Wanted Poster]] specifically states that the bounty is only valid if captured alive, because {{spoiler| Sanji is the son of notorious crimelord Vinsmoke Judge, and while Sanji despises his father, the WG doesn't want to get on insmoke's bad side.}}
** ''Two'' members of [[Murder, Inc.|CP0]] have done this, the "Dragon" in question being Luffy.
*** Blueno has an eccentricity (for lack of a better term) which prevents him from believing anything that he cannot confirm with his own senses, never trusting any sort of third-party information. Thus, during the Enies Lobby Arc, he had been duly warned of Luffy's skills and the gumption the Straw Hat Captain had in intending to declare war on the World Government itself, and nonetheless confronted Luffy alone. Long story short, he quickly ''did'' confirm it with his own senses when Luffy trounced him.
*** His teamate Rob Lucci, on the other hand, has nothing but his oversized ego to blame. During the Egghead Arc (where he is a major antagonist while working with the Marines), he ''defied orders'' for a chance at a rematch with Luffy, picking a fight with him ''twice''. Both times, Lucci was on the recieving end of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]], never managing to lay a glove on Luffy either time.
** Tama is not a Dragon, but Nami and Big Mom certainly are, and both have a [[Mama Bear]] attitude towards anyone who hurts Tama. So when Ulti makes the ''incredibly'' stupid move of hurting poor Tama right in front of both Nami ''and'' Big Mom, it ended ''very'' badly for Ulti.
* In the ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' OVA, at one point, you see [[Small Girl, Big Gun|Presea]] [[Empty Shell|lifelessly]] dragging what used to be a huge tree she chopped down through her village of Ozette as everyone in the village stares at her. All of a sudden, some little kid throws a rock at her and yells "Monster!" Uh, kid? You see that huge tree there? You're a heck of a lot lighter than it is.
* For reasons unknown, people challenge Kenshiro of ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' even after he's just [[Your Head Asplode|exploded someone's head]]. When the first [[Mook]] or batch of mooks provoke him, that could easily be explained as [[Mugging the Monster]]. When the second batch tries, having seen the first wave get turned into [[Ludicrous Gibs|fountains of blood and body parts]], then it slides right into this trope by virtue of them being [[Too Dumb to Live]].
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:** Nicky Cavellla. He wanted to eliminate the Punisher, and thought he could do it by making him clumsy. To do that, Nick dug up the Punisher's family's remains, pissed on them while recording him doing so, and sent the video to the local news. His plan worked, and Frank stopped being as methodical as he normally is, but with the trade-off that Frank went into such an [[Unstoppable Rage]] that he {{spoiler|killed several important figures in Cavella's criminal family in one day. The remaining family ditched Cavella, and the Punisher shot him in the stomach.}}
:* [[Iron Man]]/Tony Stark tends to do this a lot, usually in defense of his teammates, due to being a [[Martyr Without a Cause]].
:* [[Da Editor|J. Jonah Jameson]] has been slinging [[Malicious Slander]] towards Spider-Man almost since day one. The man's career would never have lasted as long as it has if Spidey truly ''was'' the criminal menace he accused him of being.
::* Not just Spider-Man either, he's gotten on [[Norman Osborn]]'s bad side too. The man just doesn't know when to quit.
* Beast Boy of the ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' spent most of his life enduring this kind of bullying, which has had a profoundly negative effect on his self esteem; so much so that he's afraid to let anyone know that he can make multiples of himself.
* A prisoner threatens to kill Rorschach in ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' in the lunch line (and is building up to shank him), confident that in prison, he won't be as tough. Rorschach, being Homicidal, [[Ax Crazy]], and a [[Combat Pragmatist]], throws hot grease in his face before he can even lift a finger, burning him horribly. Right after this, he deliberately invokes the trope.
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** Something similar happened in another crossover one-shot where they invaded [[Judge Dredd]]'s turf. Either these martians are the type who ''really'' love a challenge or they're just plain dumb.
* Anther villain - or rather, group of them - who do this via crossovers is the [[Predator]], a race of alien hunters who often woefully chooses the wrong prey. In different comic book crossovers, they have tried to hunt [[Superman]], [[Batman]], [[Tarzan]], and again, [[Judge Dredd]], all with disastrous results for the Predator. The last one is especially ironic because Dredd had a partner for this story - [[Action Girl|Judge Schaefer]], as in the great-great granddaughter of Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]'s character from the original ''[[Predator]]''. Yeah, not the best pair of targets.
* [[Hellboy (comics)|The ''Hellboy'' comics]] subvert this when Liz's powers pop up by themselves one day - she was rushed to the BPRD, and the people taking care of her were afraid to go near her, but only because she couldn't control her power.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
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** Loki tries to scold [[The Incredible Hulk]], claiming that he was a god and the Hulk, along with everyone else should bow before him. {{spoiler|The Hulk merely grabbed him and slammed him around like a rag-doll.}}
{{quote|'''Hulk''': Puny god.}}
:* [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]], in his typical recklessly [[Jerkass]] way, is talking to Bruce Banner about his anger management and gives him a mild electric shock to see how controlled he is. Even though Bruce doesn't seem too bothered by it,
* ''[[Bloody Hell (film)|Bloody Hell]]'': Antagonise the guy who single-handedly killed multiple bank robbers. That will totally end well.
* In ''[[Happy Gilmore]]'', Shooter and obnoxious and petty [[Upper Class Twit]] gets his true comeuppance after repeatedly insulting Larson, a huge, ''hulking'' fellow who can bend a golf club as if it were a pipe cleaner - Shooter isn't all-that smart...
== [[Literature]] ==
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{{quote|"How do you bully a ''God?''"
"Very, very carefully." }}
* The [[Mother Goose|Three Blind Mice]]; you'd think ''any'' mice, let alone blind ones, would know better than to tease the Farmer's Wife. They were lucky she ''only'' cut off their tails with a carving knife.
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Pointing this trope out]] is how Zedd drives off a lynch mob after him in the first book of the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series. The mob is going after him because they believe he has terrible magic powers, so Zedd asks them to list what some of these powers might be, and once they do, Zedd points out how ''brave'' these men must be to come after a [[Person of Mass Destruction]] with nothing but torches and pitchforks. This is enough to make them back down, though Zedd throws in an additional mind game to make them ''really'' sorry.
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* As a villain in a new-series ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode learned, trying to chain up and experiment on a [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Dalek]] is a ''bad idea''. Deciding to capture and torture ''[[Guile Hero|the]] [[The Dreaded|Doctor]]'' is an even worse one.
* Anderson and Donovan on ''[[Sherlock]]'' seemed convinced that Sherlock is a psychopath who will one day commit murder in order to assuage his boredom. This doesn't stop them from endlessly taunting and hassling him, which only leads to him humiliating them by utilizing his [[Sherlock Scan]].
* ''[[The Fiery Priest]]'': A cult in league with the [[Government Conspiracy]] decides to picket Gudam's church, calling Father Kim a child killer. At no point do any of its members seem to consider that if he really is the murderer of children they're accusing him of being, he'd logically have even fewer qualms using lethal force against adults.
== [[Music]] ==
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** Act I Scene II, Ligniere brags about his song, where he expose the persecution of Roxane by De Guiche. Ligniere himself admits De Guiche is a powerful noble who is wedded to the niece of [[Man Behind the Man|Richelieu]].
{{quote|Ho! he must rage at me! The end hit home… Listen!}}
== [[Video Games]] ==
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** Really, regular mercs inexplicably trying to kill Shepard at every possible moment fits this trope, regardless of the origin. Harkin, a corrupt cop from 1 and 2 even taunts Shepard by asking if they think they can get him. There are also several small encounters where someone tries this on Shepard, who can sometimes point out either that a)They are Commander Shepard, aka the galaxy's biggest badass and just what the hell do they think they are trying, or b)They may not know they are dealing with Shepard (or may not believe it), but they can surely see how badass Shepard is, so shut the hell up.
*** As Wrex put it - "Anyone who attacks us is either stupid, or on Saren's payroll. Killing the latter is business - [[Too Dumb to Live|killing the former is a favor to the universe.]]"
** Quite possibly the best example of this in the series is Warden Kuril who attempts to knowingly imprison Shepard, the most [[Badass]] person in the galaxy, and hold him/her for ransom or sell him/her on the black market as a slave. [[Too Dumb to Live|It doesn't end well for him.]] Especially stupid, since you belligerently refuse to surrender your weapons on entering the prison, even threatening Kurill, and he (still fully intent on capturing you, remember) [[What an Idiot!|lets you keep your weapons.]] Even ''more'' stupid if you're playing a class that wouldn't have been significantly less dangerous without weapons. What exactly was his plan for imprisoning a Shepard that could throw him across the room with a mean look?
** In the ''Mass Effect: Redemption'' comic, some shuttle pilots try to get additional "[[Attempted Rape|docking fees]]" from [[Hot Scientist|Liara T'Soni]]. Liara, as it turns out, is a powerful asari biotic who works with Commander Shepard.
** After a "fight" with
* In ''[[Tales of Rebirth]]'', Hilda, a "Half" (Half-Huma[n] half-Gajuma) was always despised when she was a kid (and still is). Which wouldn't make much difference, except that Halfs, despite having a weaker body, have much stronger and harder-to-control magic than both Humas and Gajumas. (Un)Fortunately, she never fought back.
* A literal example in ''[[Breath of Fire]] IV''. [[The Empire]] keeps messing with both Ryu and [[Big Bad|Fou-Lu]] even though they are quite aware of what they are. Needless to say, neither ends well.
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** Despite being well known as the Champion of Kirkwall by Act III, the amount of people who try to murder the person who defeated {{spoiler|the Arishok}} ''in single-combat'' is particularly baffling, [[Curb Stomp Battle|especially if Hawke is a Mage.]]
*** Being fair, every person who comes at you in Phase III either has no idea who you are, is already backed into a corner with no way out, is insane, is a fanatic, or is an insane fanatic. The game actually is good about having people stop attacking you for motives of rational self-interest sometime late in Phase II.
* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon]]'': When she was five years old,
* This happens a lot in ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]]'' (and ''[[Fallout 3]]'', for that matter):
*
** In ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', if you have bad standing with Caesar's Legion, you will attract assassin squads. Said four-man squad (who admittedly tend to be well-equipped for the task) will run up to you and proclaim that Caesar has ordained your death for your crimes against the Legion, before attacking. Said crimes can include killing [[The Spymaster|Vulpes Inculta]], singlehandedly wiping out Cottonwood Cove, Nelson or the Fort, not to mention killing the ''previous'' assassin squads.
** The NCR isn't much better, however. Not only do they also send [[Ranger]]s after you, if at the ending you decide to pull a fast one on them, [[General Failure|General Oliver]] will state that were he in your shoes, he'd have you hung. [[Too Dumb to Live|While he's surrounded by securitrons armed to the teeth who will do anything you say]], though to be fair he's surrounded by his own Elite Mooks and at that point you have the option of getting Yes Man to punch him off of the Hoover Dam.
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* In ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' during the first mission with Landon Ricketts John Marston is greeted by a trio of Mexican thugs who are hassling him for being an American interfering in the affairs of Mexico. John says that he has no problem with them personally and he is just here in Mexico on official business, he then asks them politely to leave him alone and they can all go home to their families. The trio then continues to harass John and even steals his hat. John then having had enough of their tomfoolery shoots all 3 of them casually and takes his hat back. John by now has killed hundreds of bandits that decided to get in his way so those 3 didn't have any clue who they were messing with. Landon Ricketts lampshades the killings of those 3 idiots and tells John that he becomes like a peasant when he kills peasants and that he isn't exactly endearing himself to the people of Mexico by casually killing men like that. A dragon killing casually when it doesn't need to is just showing off.
* In the beginning of ''[[Baten Kaitos]] Origins'', some low-ranking Dark Servicemen start taunting Sagi after he's overheard musing over the morality of the assignment. They apparently forgot that Sagi is both a spiriter and a talented swordsman. For extra [[What an Idiot!]] points, two of the servicemen start ''another'' fight with him ten minutes later - while [[Badass Automaton|Guillo]] is backing him up.
▲* After a "fight" with [[Mass Effect|Commander Shepard]] which primarily consists of him running away and calling in close air support from a gunship, biotic ninja Kai Leng decides to taunt the man/woman who has killed multiple [[Eldritch Abomination|Reapers]] via email, even [[Complete Monster|mocking Thessia's destruction]]. [[Too Dumb to Live|He lasts about as long as you would expect.]]
* [[The Dragon|Araman]] chasing you down after the {{spoiler|battle on the Fugue Plane}} in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]: Mask of the Betrayer''. [[Sarcasm Mode|Sure! Singlehandedly attacking a party of four probably-30th-level characters is a]] ''[[Sarcasm Mode|wonderful]]'' [[Sarcasm Mode|idea!]]
** One troper reported Araman getting blown away on the first round of the fight.
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* Ubiquitous to MMOs, where no matter how high your level, how ridiculous your gear, or how far your progression in the story quest you will still aggro every random mob in the wilderness just like a level 1 scrub will. Particularly amusing in ''Guild Wars 2'' because completing the Path of Fire expansion pack means that your character has successfully '''slain Balthazar, the human God of War, in single combat''' and yet random pirates and bandits will still leap out of the bush at you screaming 'stand and deliver!'.
** Admittedly by this point you're already famous for those multiple Elder Dragon kills, but at least you brought an army along for those. Its just ''possible'' that said random mobs could be thinking that you're largely famous as a commander and that if caught alone, they can take you. But every civilized race on the continent knows that you cut up Balthazar ''by yourself'', the fight had multiple witnesses. And people still voluntarily attack you?
* In the first ''[[Bayonetta]]'', Luka is an [[Inspector Javert]] type who thinks Bayonetta is a wicked seducer who killed his father; he continually stalks the anti-heroine, hoping to expose her and is not afraid to make these accusations to her face. Obviously Bayonetta could break him in half any time she wanted to, but she is ''not'' the monster he assumes - and finds his rants amusing.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* In ''[[My Life as a Teenage Robot]]'', the [[Alpha Bitch|Kruft cousins]] take every opportunity to torment and belittle XJ-9 socially, attempting to guarantee that Jenny never, ever becomes anything close to popular. XJ-9, a.k.a. Jenny, is a cheerful, sweet-natured girl who also happens to be a walking, talking, sapient weapons system capable of destroying entire alien battle fleets single-handed. In one episode, with the aid of a more aggressive friend, Jenny finally shows them exactly what she can do to make their lives miserable. Even after she drives them into a breakdown, they don't learn from the experience.
* The 1939 [[Tex Avery]] short "A Day at the Zoo" has a [[Running Gag|recurring gag]] with Egghead (Elmer Fudd's prototype) teasing a lion, despite constant scolding from the narrator. The short ends with the lion sleeping peacefully, leading the narrator to the conclusion that Egghead finally went home - but it turns out that the lion actually ate him alive.
* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'':
** In the first episode
{{quote|'''Terry''': Lay off him, Nash.
'''Nelson''': You think I'm afraid of you, McGinnis?
'''Terry''': [[Badass Normal|I dunno.]] ''(lifts an eyebrow)'' Are you?
'''Nelson''': ''(pushes Willy out of the way)'' He's not worth it. But you are... some day. ''(gets in his car and drives off)'' }}
* This happens to Lucius on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''. As a child, he was bullied by his teacher, despite knowing full well that he was the future ruler of Miseryville and that he'd have the resources to fight back one day. Even nowadays [[Wicked Weasel|the weavils]] and the Rodeo Clowns love to pick fights with him despite having an entire army at his beck and call. Even [[Mad Scientist|Heloise]] is guilty of this at times.
*
* ''[[South Park]]'':
** In one episode
** Another example comes after Stan, Kyle and Kenny have watched Cartman take some rather extreme revenge. They decide it would be a good idea if they never pissed Eric Cartman off again. Cartman is not superpowered though, just sociopathic.
* A literal example occurs in the ''[[Gumby]]'' episode "The Elephant and the Dragon". Both creatures work for a storybook king (the Elephant as manual labor, the Dragon as a castle guard), but the Elephant keeps picking arguments with the Dragon. This pisses off the Dragon, who torches people's houses with his his breath. To stop their arguing, Gumby uses a back-hoe to do the Elephant's job just as efficiently and without arguing with the Dragon (and without torched houses). The Elephant takes the hint and apologizes for causing so much trouble.
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* Sadlygrove from ''[[Wakfu]]'' has a bad habit of doing this. The worst example of this was when he taunted Rushu, the king of the demonic Shushus and one of the most powerful and omnicidal beings in the setting. Fortunately Rubilax invokes the [[Zerg Rush|Rush]] right before Rushu is about to incinerate Sadlygrove for his impudence.
* On one episode of the animated series of ''[[Street Fighter (animation)|Street Fighter]]'', as Guile and Blanka are in Iraq, some of the people there call him a monster and throw rocks at him. Yes, that's ''[[Sarcasm Mode|exactly]]'' what you want to do to a big green creature with electrical powers and anger issues!
* ''[[Family Guy]]'':
**
** "Dial Meg for Murder". [[What an Idiot!/Western Animation|Properly described here.]]
* Pops up occasionally in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. When most of the cast are powerful [[Kung Fu Wizard]]s, it's only a matter of time.
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