Designated Monkey: Difference between revisions
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** Or they may feel they deserve the treatment even if they resent it - but canon makes it clear (possibly by accident) that they feel they'd deserve anything that happens.
** If they are repentant, they'll seek to rectify the situation and regain their "rightful place" in society. They will fail.
* They may become [[The Unfavourite]] not only of a parental figure, but also of over half of the main cast. Either [[Values Dissonance]] or [[Misaimed Fandom]] will be involved when this happens to a
** They may have a killer [[Freudian Excuse]] that the author didn't realize counted.
** They might be a [[Jerkass Woobie]] in disguise.
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* Ross Geller from ''[[Friends]]''.
* The titular character of ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]'' became this trope more and more as the show went on. His wife, Debra, sometimes got this treatment at the hands of Marie, but at least in those cases, the show made it clear that the audience was supposed to side with Debra over Marie. When Ray became the Designated Monkey at ''Debra's'' hands, it was often for very shoddy reasons, yet it seemed like the show wanted the audience to root for Debra (at the very least, the studio audience seemed to be rooting for her, even when she made Ray a [[Butt Monkey]]).
* Colin Mochrie from ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' is an unusual example due to the fact he is absolutely capable of defending himself against the writers, the comedians [[And
* J.D. from ''[[Scrubs]]'' became this in season six. The writers put him through an incredible amount of torment (losing his girlfriend, losing his unborn baby, becoming homeless, getting a DUI on a technicality, and getting a disease that causes him to pass out frequently, which is to say nothing of the innumerable times he's been tormented and abused by people around him) and made it very clear that they had no sympathy for his plight (the storyline ends with him learning to not complain so much to his jerkass friends). This reached breaking point when the season ended with the girlfriend who left him revealing she lied about the miscarriage to escape their relationship and the show playing it entirely on HER side, admonishing J.D. for being rightfully spiteful. Needless to say, this was when a lot of fans, including this troper, abandoned the series.
* From her introduction, Faith in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is this. A seemingly cool character who steals Buffy's friends, tries to take over her role as slayer, [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|and sneaks her food.]] It turns out Faith's life sucks which she covers up through sex and partying, in contrast to Buffy's better upbringing. She correctly feels she never fits in, then tries to kill Angel, thinking he was evil. This causes such a rift that Faith is very much on the outside.
** She then sleeps with Xander, the resident [[Butt Monkey]], and at the time it's [[Played for Laughs]] before Willow finds out and it's [[Played for Drama]]. When Xander tries to help Faith after she accidently kills someone [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)|it]] becomes [[Nightmare Fuel]]. During this time Faith becomes evil, not just evil but frightening. The writers have her commit one evil act after another to portray her as a vicious, sadistic character, foregoing their original plan to have Faith so distraught over what she'd done that she's [[Driven to Suicide]].
** Later on its revealed that Faith's attempt to cross the [[Moral Event Horizon]] was actually an attempt to commit [[Suicide by Cop|Suicide By Slayer (or Angel)]]. Faith is talked out of her suicidal despair by Angel, willingly goes to jail in contrition for her crimes, then this trope is averted in ''[[Angel]]'' season 4 where she returns to save the rest of the cast from Angelus and in general be completely awesome and save the day...
*** ... only to get dumped right back into this trope head-over-heels as soon as that story arc finishes and she transfers back to ''Buffy'' season 7, where despite being one of the most humane and level-headed people in the cast (at least by comparison) everything she does turns out wrong, while Buffy (who is, quite frankly, being a total [[Jerkass]] this season) has everything she does turn up roses, even to the point of 'Hey, let's repeat the exact same plan that went disastrously wrong last time, and that Faith suggested we do the opposite of this time, but have her idea completely flop and my idea unaccountably work!'
* [[Jerkass Woobie|Lucy]] [[Freudian Excuse|Payne]] from ''[[DCI Banks]]'' - possibly [[Invoked Trope|invoked]]. She's far from innocent, as her first appearance shows, {{spoiler|having helped a [[Serial Killer]] kidnapping, torturing and killing children. Her own [[Dark and Troubled Past]] may not yet convince you to find her sympathetic.}} But then there's this moment where {{spoiler|she seems to have a [[Villainous BSOD]] at the end, and you wonder whether she could make a [[Heel Face Turn]]... [[Heel Face Door Slam|NOPE!]]}} In her second - and last - appearance, it gets revealed that, {{spoiler|hardly in jail, she has gone through the worst prisoner abuse, ending in a state of [[And I Must Scream]]... and after her premature discharge (she arguably isn't a threat anymore to anyone, even at her worst wishes),}} she still receives so much hatred that {{spoiler|she gets killed, and [[No Sympathy|nobody seems interested]] in helping the police find the murderer.}} [[What a Senseless Waste of Human Life|Ouch!]]
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
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* In ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' the Dark Angels [[Space Marine]] Chapter are atoning for an ancient sin committed by half their brethren 10,000 years ago. In order to pursue the surviving perpetrators of this crime, they often abandon their main mission and leave other Imperial forces to be destroyed. This is considered highly suspicious behaviour and treated as a serious problem in the background material. However, almost every other Space Marine Chapter treats normal humans with total contempt too and displays signs of deviance and autonomy that are tolerated only because [[The Empire|The Imperium]] aren't in a position to do anything about it. It's not clear what makes the Dark Angels' relatively minor disobedience so awful.
** Could be [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]] in action. The "ancient sin committed by half their brethren" was to betray the Emperor and almost destroy the Legion (not yet separated into Chapters) in their own civil war while the Imperium as a whole was being torn apart by the Horus Heresy. Considering the other Legions that did so were declared heretics with orders to kill on sight, the Dark Angels justifiably fear that if the knowledge of so many of the Legion being traitors was to become widely known, they would suffer the same fate, and so their efforts to eliminate the remnants of those traitors results in erratic, unexplained behavior that makes them appear suspicious; other Space Marines Chapters follow their own agendas, but at least they're relatively open about what they're doing.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Yoshi became this in ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'', because at some points the game requires you to drop him into a [[Bottomless Pit]] (or worse, [[Lava Pit]]) in order to jump off of him and gain enough height to reach the next platform. Also, when the player causes Yoshi to stick out his tongue (in order to eat enemies), it looks like Mario/Luigi is ''whipping'' him.
* In more light-hearted video game genres, bosses whose [[Family-Unfriendly Death|death animations are rather unsettling]] tend to get this response from some players, especially when they are not the game's [[Big Bad]], and when the violence and/or goriness of their death [[Surprise Creepy|stands out in the game]]. Made worse if they don't [[Unexplained Recovery|reappear in a later game]] of the same franchise, suggesting that you've [[Killed Off for Real|killed them off for real]]. Crocomire from [[Super Metroid]] comes to mind, as do some [[Kirby]] bosses.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* Strong Sad from ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' is an odd case of a [[The Woobie|Woobie]] who is also a [[Butt Monkey]]: we do genuinely pity him most of the time, but that doesn't prevent us from laughing at his expense from time to time.
* [[The Nostalgia Critic]]. He ''is'' a git and does deserve what he gets most of the time, but he's an epic [[Jerkass Woobie]] and fans have said that it would be kinda nice if he actually ''won'' for a change.
* In ''[[SuperMarioGlitchy4]]'', the Koopalings may be seen as this. They [[Ensemble Darkhorse|don't appear often in the series]], but when they do, they tend to be [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]]s who get on the receiving end of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. What's worse is that they always have a kind-of legitimate reason to go up against [[Designated Hero]] Mario, who isn't any better himself and often the ''worse'' [[Jerkass]].
** Bowser Jr. also qualifies, to a lesser extent. He has a few more appearances, not all of them being this. (Mario even ''cares'' for him once in ''R64: Son of a Bowser'', from the closely related series ''Retarded 64''.)
** In ''Bowser loses custody of his children'', it is revealed that Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings get routinely neglected by their [[Depending on the Author|(adoptive?) father]] Bowser. He also seems to favor Bowser Jr. over the rest.
** Wendy seems to get the overall harshest treatment. Just
** Melony
*** She [[Throw the Dog a Bone|got better]] since then - in one later sequel she even [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|becomes]] [[A God Am I|a deity]]. No comparison to poor Wendy O. Koopa above, so far.
* The above happens to the Koopalings in other fan works, too. For example, ''[[ericfortesTV]]'' has an episode called ''Bowser's beach vacation'' where Bowser, Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings are having fun at the beach of a remote island while Bowser is planning to destroy that beach later in order to build a port for his new [[The Empire|Empire]]. In the middle of it, Mario suddenly appears, destroys Bowser's airships and then attacks him and his family, although [[Designated Villain|they haven't done anything wrong]] ''yet''. While trying to defeat Mario, the Koopalings accidentally knock each other over, and when Mario receives a Mega Mushroom by chance, they are finally ripe for a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. After defeating the whole Koopa family, Mario relaxes on the beach, saying "That was a lot of fun!". This episode got many comments about [[Designated Hero|"Mario being such a jerk"]] because the Koopalings "haven't done anything yet". Especially [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|Larry]] quickly became [[The Woobie]] because he didn't do anything except building sand castles that got destroyed again and again.
** Interestingly, these responses seem to have sparked several later episodes where the Koopalings are major characters, including ''The Larry Network'', where Larry becomes a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]], and a scene of [[Revenge Fic]] where Bowser ruins Mario's and Luigi's holidays.
* ''[[Darwin Awards]]'': All publicly announced winners and almost-winners may be considered [[Real Life]] examples of the Designated Monkey. (With some possible exceptions, depending on your viewpoint.) After all, they have made [[What an Idiot!|a few grotesque misjudgements]] which have led to their death or (self-)mutilation, and then they get framed in public as being a general waste of life. Although it's humorous, one can be certain that [[Poe's Law|not everybody involved will understand it this way]]. Most "winners" are dead, so they naturally can no longer defend against [[Clear My Name|a bad reputation]], and those who are still alive are often crippled as a consequence of their [[Idiot Ball]], and ridiculing them in public is basically [[Kick Them While They Are Down]]. There is even more [[Fridge Horror]] when you think about mourning friends and relatives who [[Actually Pretty Funny|may or]] [[Dude, Not Funny|may not]] find this funny, and how the organizers behind the website want to rule out mental illness in their "candidates". (In theory, serious mental illness at the time of the incident is a disqualifier, but in some cases this is hard to prove or disprove.)
** There is a heavy dose of [[Your Mileage May Vary]] in this example.
** Not to forget, there are actually a few people who [[No Such Thing as Bad Publicity|strive for getting a DA]]. Possible that some survivors have ''nominated themselves''. In this case, it becomes hard to really pity them. (Although it could be argued that this would be ''the ultimate'' act of stupidity.)
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* [[Donald Duck]] is often portrayed as a [[Jerkass]] who deserves his bad luck, but
** Which is why the Italians created his vindicator/superhero secret identity: Paperinik.
* Similarly, Daffy Duck of ''[[Looney Tunes]]''; for the most part, Daffy does deserve what he gets, because of his jealousy and his [[Screwy Squirrel|undiscriminating screwyness]]. It is still very much played for laughs, though, and in some cases, it definitely seems like he's being unjustly punished (as in ''Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century'' or ''My Little Duckeroo'', where he was actually on the losing end against a villain).
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** He and Squidward both, ever since [[The Movie]]. At first they were [[Jerkass]]es that often [[Laser-Guided Karma|brought their bad luck on themselves]], now it seems that [[Comedic Sociopathy|the world is genuinely out to get them]].
* Pete in ''[[Goof Troop]]''. His character has always been a villain or an antagonist, but the more "mundane" setting of the show means that he's more of a petty [[Jerkass]] than truly evil, which makes the usually over-the-top abuse he receives seem a little out of proportion a lot of the time. And then there are the times when he ''[[Chew Toy|didn't do anything]]''.
* Ezekiel from ''[[Total Drama World Tour]].'' Apparently, [[Ambition Is Evil|being really determined to win]] qualifies him to devolve into [[The Lord of the Rings|Gollum]].
* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|Fifi]] [[Ensemble Darkhorse|LaFume]] from ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', who usually gets abused for no reason and is usually ignored by all of the other characters. Just look at how she gets treated in [[Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation|the movie]]!
* Scrat from the ''[[Ice Age]]'' movies. He's an intentional [[Butt Monkey]], but sometimes his [[Comedic Sociopathy|endless bad luck]] is outright painful, given that all he wants is a few hazelnuts and a safe place to bury them.
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