It Amused Me: Difference between revisions

This is the motivation of an amoral character seeking... well, amusement. It's not that they enjoy being good or evil -- they may not know or care about the difference -- but they do whatever they feel like without regard for others. They don't need a motivation or justification for doing anything beyond the amusement of the act itself. As a result they almost inevitably do things that are dickish, maybe even cruel, but generally not ''outright'' evil. This same character will lead you into a trap, fight you to the death... and then stop on the brink of killing you to laugh and say "Are you all right?" They won't kill the hero, because they find their attempts to save the day amusing, or are intrigued by the sheer selflessness of their thinking. They may help the hero, they may help the villain, they may do both at once or screw over both at once. They are rarely if ever a driving force behind a story, but they nonetheless play a significant role. And why do they do all this? Why do they [[Heel Face Revolving Door|switch sides so often]]? Why are they [[The Dragon|working below]] the [[Big Bad]] when they're [[Dragon with an Agenda|just as powerful and intelligent as he is]], [[Hypercompetent Sidekick|if not more?]] Why did they [[Faux Yay|make out with the hero of the same gender]]?

 

 

Please note, this is different from [[For the Evulz]]. While a character who does commits evil acts [[For the Evulz]] does it because they enjoy being evil, if this character does evil things it is only because they shatter the boredom of everyday life -- they're not out to hurt anyone per se, but they don't care (much) if they do. Just how much they care about collateral damage and hurting innocent people (if at all) varies. They usually believe that [[Victory Is Boring]], and if they're a [[Punch Clock Hero]] or a [[Punch Clock Villain]], they're in it primarily for the entertainment value. One of the few ways to really make an [[It Amused Me]] character take things seriously is to [[The Hero Dies|kill off one of their "playthings".]]

* Why Izaya does ''anything'' in ''[[Durarara]]''.

* [[Trickster Mentor|Urahara]] from ''[[Bleach]]'' also has a tendency to screw with people just for the hell of it. When beginning training, he gives Ichigo a helmet and claims that Ichigo needs to yell "Take this! The power of justice! Justice armor! Justice hachimaki! Attack!" When Ichigo does so almost instantly, Urahara mutters, "Wow! I can't believe he actually said that!"

* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', the character Wang Liu Mei is [[The Mole]] during the entire series, pretending to be a valuable ally to the heroes, but then passing information on to the villains (and vice versa). As she expresses several times, she's simply bored and wants to see the world change -- but doesn't care at all whether it is for good or ill.

* The only reason the ''[[Sekirei]]'' plan exists is because someone got the bright idea of a Pokémon-style game.

* Guu of ''[[Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu]]''. She often pretends to deliver [[Aesop|Aesops]] with her actions, but always keeps ignoring them just because she can have more fun that way, and gets Hale another inch closer to a total nervous breakdown.

* Urumi Kanzaki in ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka]]''. While her actual reasons for hating adults is more complicated, she states her class terrorism to be a means of "killing time". Being a child prodigy leaves her often bored with the usual lectures, leading her to spend her class time giving teachers very hard questions, sabotaging their equipment, and other pranks. She eventually stopped coming to school altogether, until brought in by Miyabi to "kill time" with Onizuka.

* {{spoiler|Ronnie Suchiart}} of ''[[Baccano]]'' cites this as the motivation for most of his actions. Very old and very powerful [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] tend to also get very ''bored''.

* Cell from ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' spiced up his [[For the Evulz]] with this. Fat Buu from the same combined it with his creator's [[For the Evulz]]. And, although he's mostly serious about being [[The Cape]] (with no cape), Son Goku himself plays the trope fairly straight (many times to his cost, such as when he [[Idiot Hero|prolonged the fight against Frieza after he turned Super Saiyan]], [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|allowing the latter to destroy Namek]] and to deploy his full power. This enabled Frieza to [[What the Hell, Hero?|waste more of Goku's then-precious time]] because he was momentarily capable to keep him in check, mostly with speed). Also, Gohan in Super Saiyan 2 form, against Cell, and others.

* ''[[Saiyuki]]'' has numerous examples. Heaven is unchanging, and therefore said to be MINDNUMBINGLY DULL, which provides the motivation for the "merciful goddess" Kanzeon to do all sorts of things, from saddling her notoriously dull nephew with the heretic monkey-like Goku in Gaiden, just for the lolz, to forcing Sanzo and his party to take the physical road to India instead of the heavenly one, which would get there infinitely faster. She says the latter is cause they need to grow over the journey, but also admits it's also because it's much more interesting that way.

** While Kanzeon is a bit of a bitch, she's ultimately on the side of the main characters, if only because one is her nephew, but Nii/Kenyuu/Ukoku is a genius who finds everything in life so easy it's deadly dull, so seeks out "eat or be eaten" situations so as to feel alive/find a challenge he can't meet so he can die. He is shocked by Koumyou's comment that since he finds everything boring, he must be a boring person. Koumyou is also a super-genius who in contrast is very lazy, avoids difficult situations, and can find joy in almost anything.

* While most incarnations of [[Batman|the Joker]] are a [[For the Evulz]] [[Monster Clown]], some versions of the character (particularly Golden/Silver Age ones) fall into this category. Most notably is Joker's wild manner as portrayed in the animated show "The Batman" where he (although still wishing to either destroy Gotham or turn it into madness) will do things "...just for laughs..."

{{quote|'''[[The Joker|Joker]]''': Kid, I don't kill people for no reason. I only kill people when it's ''funny''.}}

* Are you freaking ''kidding'' me! This trope is, like, [[Deadpool|my]] prime motivation! That and money, so I can pay my phone bills. For example; I once fought Bullseye in a meatsuit for this very reason... That's to say, I wasn't fighting Bullseye wearing a meatsuit, but rather I was wearing a meatsuit while fighting Bullseye... Yeah, and it was also the reason behind me [[Disguised in Drag|wearing a lolita dress]] [[Faux Yay|and wailing]] [[Ho Yay|"save me Spider-Man!"]] Heheh, that was hella funny... Oh, oh! And that time I wore [[X-Men|Jean Grey's uniform]] and... you know what, if we listed all the times I've done this, we'll be here all day... so yeah, [[Motor Mouth|anyway, as I was saying]], I wore Jean Grey's uniform and [[Blah Blah Blah]] exciting-story-of-my-life [[Shameless Self Promoter|buy all of my comics for more information about that]].

{{quote|'''Me:''' I don't even like chimichangas. [[Inherently Funny Words|I just like saying it.]] }}

* This is arguably Samuel Westing's reason for the entire plot of ''[[The Westing Game]]'', or at least the form in which the events take.

* [[Sherlock Holmes]] often accepts cases simply because he finds them intriguing, although he still has an altruistic side and a strong desire for justice.

* Lord Henry decided to turn the title character of ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'' into a hedonism-obsessed monster just because he could.

* Apparently played straight in ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'' when Francisco d'Anconia builds a worthless copper mine, just to have a laugh when a socialist government loots it to provide a [[Blatant Lies|"higher standard of living for the people"]], only to find it worthless. He tells reporters shortly before the story breaks that he came to New York to "witness the farce" (everybody thought he was referring to a sleazy divorce scandal). Shortly afterwards, we find him telling Dagny how amused he was at the prospect of the collapse of Wyatt Oil and all of the world's great industries that he would destroy with more apparent pranks. Later subverted when we find out that he is one of the "destroyers" (or strikers) who is destroying industry so the looters will gain nothing of value and capitalism can start anew after their downfall.

* On the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode “Shindig”, Mal stands victorious over Atherton Wing whom he has just, through fortunate happenstance, defeated in a duel. Upon being told he must kill him rather than allow him to lie there in defeat, he replies, ”Mercy is the mark of a great man,” then lightly stabs Wing in the abdomen. “Guess I'm just a good man.” He then stabs him again and finishes with, “Well, I'm all right.“ Upon being chastised with, “You didn't have to wound that man.”, Mal quips back, “Yeah, I know, it was just funny.”

** River seems to make commentary designed to deliberately anger or annoy Jayne just because it is amusing to her. Particularly when she insinuated that he has a "girl's name" and solemnly warns him that "I can kill you with my brain."

{{quote|'''Alan:''' Why do you keep doing that?

'''Charlie:''' Haven't we covered this before? It amuses me! }}

'''The Gang''': Why?

'''{{spoiler|Frank}}''': Because poop is funny. }}

{{quote|'''Rick Gervais''': "There's nothing funnier than Karl in a corner, being poked by a stick. I am that stick.” }}

* In [[Dead Ringers]] , Gandalf's explanation for sending Frodo on his epic quests: "Because I am a bastard."

* Xom of ''[[Dungeon Crawl]]'', who likes to give you really nice weapons that you have no skill in, give you armor while you're wearing (unremovable) cursed armor, watch you eat poisonous food, and so on.

** And that's when he's being "nice". When he's feeling mean towards you or, heaven forbid, you begin to ''bore'' him, he'll summon demons at you, give you potentially horrid mutations, enchant your enemies' weapons, or get really creative and make all stairs to leave the current level move around and slide away from you when you try to flee. Also, throwing a bolt of divine lightning at you is considered a "good" effect, and he has a ''chance'' of sheilding you from it (it's "good" because your enemies get zapped too... assuming you were fighting something that was more of a threat than a bolt of lightning).

* The Umgah of ''[[Star Control]] II'' are essentially intergalactic pranksters. Their favorite targets are the [[Lovable Coward]] Spathi, whom they like to scare the pants off of, but they also trick the Ilwrath into fighting a civil war and another race, and declaring the main character a "Great Enemy" [[For the Lulz]] after he releases them from mind control (although they do give him rewards first).

** [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Though their idea of "for the lulz" is awfully reminiscent of unconventional warfare. Dropping a moon in someone's ocean is hardly a "prank."]]

 

== Real Life ==

*** Escaping the tank by ''juggling the crabs''? That must be one heck of a plan.

**** "Release me or the herms get it!"

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