Jerk with a Heart of Jerk/Playing With
Basic Trope: A jerk character seems like he may have a nice side, but turns out is just a bigger jerk.
- Straight: Bob, the Jerkass, helps Alice win a ton of money, but it turns out he just did it to scam her out of it.
- Exaggerated: Bob seems to have turned soft and helped Alice achieve her wildest dreams, but was just leading her to her death For the Evulz.
- Downplayed: Bob almost does something nice, but it was a practical joke.
- Justified: Bob believes his "kind" acts redeem him, but normal people see through him easily.
- Inverted: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
- Subverted: Turns out Bob's secretly using Alice's money to provide for his elderly mother.
- Double Subverted: His mother's already rich and is in on the scam as well.
- Parodied: Bob's obviously a jerk, but people repeatedly insist he's a good man deep down.
- Deconstructed: Thanks to Bob's asshole attitude, everyone avoids him like a plague lest they get tricked by him. And because of this, no one is here to save him when Bob gets into trouble. Making him die alone.
- Zig Zagged: Bob is usually a douchebag, but he saves Alice from a rampaging tiger. He tells her he only did it to get laid that night. When she turns him down, he decides to buy her a new TV, no strings attached, to make up for his behavior.
- Averted: Bob's good intentions are geniune. Or Bob wasn't a jerk to begin with.
- Enforced: The author starts Bob's Character Development by showing his nicer side, but Executives insist on remaining the Status Quo (band).
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob decides to drop the Jerkass Facade entirely. Whether he becomes a Nice Guy or a grade-asshole is up in the air.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Jerk with a Heart of Jerk, dumbass. Aw, well, maybe that wasn't nice. I'll just call you a dimwit, okay?