Designated Monkey: Difference between revisions

Line 2:

The [[Designated Monkey]] is an unintentional [[Butt Monkey]]. They [[Loser Archetype|constantly find themselves in horrible situations]]; the author appears to [[Call It Karma|intend this to be karmic punishment]], but the audience (or a significant subgroup of it) thinks that it's out of proportion and will treat them as [[The Woobie]]. This can create [[Moral Dissonance]] or [[Values Dissonance]] in the work, or it could mean that the fandom is [[Misaimed Fandom|misaimed]]. The audience may even begin to wonder [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|whether the author is]] [[Better Than Canon|deliberately misrepresenting this character]] to prevent us from sympathizing with them. Or write [[Revenge Fic|Revenge Fics]] on their behalf.

A variant of this can happen to an intentional [[Butt Monkey]] or [[Cosmic Plaything]] if the rules of the universe are rewritten to punish them.

Common traits of such characters:

Line 82:

*** Robox is totally awesome though. Everyone loves having him around.

* [http://www.drowtales.com/~wiki/index.php/Yafein_Val%27Sullisin%27rune Yafien] from ''[[Drowtales]]'', who is a [[Nerd]] in a world where everyone else is a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]], does what any sane, unarmed person would do when three knife-wielding, demon-possessed people go after the girl you met three seconds ago: run away. He is also one of the ''few'' characters in his [[Dystopia|dystopian]] world who has never killed, raped, robbed, etc., and is viewed in-story as a treacherous coward due to [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]].

** [http://www.drowtales.com/~wiki/index.php/Syphile Syphile] had a terrible childhood where she was put down, abused, and beaten pretty much constantly, and is guilty of abusing [http://www.drowtales.com/~wiki/index.php/Ariel_Val%27Sarghress Ariel] and killing her kitten in a fit of rage. She was forcing Ariel to memorize a dictionary, and basically had no idea how to teach, and took out the problems on the child, who unsurprisingly grew to hate her. She does get a pretty killer [[Hannibal Lecture]], pointing this out, and Ariel simply refuses to listen. Also, she gets to give one to her own mother. {{spoiler|And promptly die, but it may have influenced said mother...}}

* There's plenty of them in ''[[Something Positive]]'', but Kharisma, in particular, represents this. A horribly shallow, self absorbed character who has received so damn much punishment (her face being set on fire, being sent to prison for a crime she [technically] didn't commit), it is getting harder and harder to feel schadenfreude at her.

** Before his [[Character Development]] lead to him becoming a better person, Mike was treated like crap by the main cast. The fact that he was the walking incarnation of [[Fan Dumb]] often paled in comparison to the [[Comedic Sociopathy]] of the main cast, but they were inevitably [[Designated Hero|forgiven]] and he was shunned.

== [[Web Original]] ==

Line 104:

*** It should be noted that Quagmire's [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] was the only time he has antagonized Brian for [[Take That Scrappy|valid, stated reasons]], rather than something formed from [[Kafka Komedy]] or [[Comedic Sociopathy]] (eg. his disturbingly graphic [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] for accidentally sleeping with his male-to-female transsexual father). Brain's treatment from the other characters is on similar grounds, especially since, even with his own flaws considered, they are far more [[Jerkass|callous characters]] than he is ([[Karma Houdini|and get away with it]] [[Jerk Sue|much more in addition]]). Similar to Meg's [[Butt Monkey]] treatment, after being considered a boring character, writers can't seem to make a character sympathetic without [[Took a Level in Jerkass|making another unlikeable in the process]].

*** However, in the recent season 9 episodes, Brian pretty much [[Took a Level in Jerkass]], and not in a [[Jerk Sue]] way (other characters (besides Quagmire) [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] how irritating and annoying Brian can be), so at this point, what the writers want to do with Brian is pretty much a mystery.

* Tommy Pickles from [[All Grown Up]] becomes this in his preteen years, whenever his friends make him the scapegoat of their fury, whenever they're in a tight situation. This is done episodes like "Truth or Consequences", "Dude, Where's My Horse?", "All Broke Up", and "Brothers Grimm"

* Tommy Pickles from [[All Grown Up!]] becomes this in his preteen years, whenever his friends make him the scapegoat of their fury, whenever they're in a tight situation. This is done episodes like "Truth or Consequences", "Dude, Where's My Horse?", "All Broke Up", and "Brothers Grimm"

** In "All Broke Up", Tommy especially gets the bitter end of this where not only are his friends mad at him for lying to them, but when both Rachel (his girlfriend who had just moved away) and Anita (a girl who Tommy met a few days ago) shows at the same time, both of them reject Tommy, publicly humiliating him in front of everyone and breaking his heart.

* Henry of ''[[Ka Blam!|Ka Blam]]!'' fits this trope to a T. He's often getting hurt for no apparent reason, though only two people in the show seem to care about him (his over-doting mom and his best friend/secret admirer June on some occasions).