Kick the Morality Pet: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''[[The Flash]]:''' Can't do it, can you? [[The Heart|I'm the last piece of your conscience]]. That's the one thing you'll never do.<br />

'''[[Knight Templar|Lord]] [[Superman]]:''' I've done a lot of things I thought I'd never do these last two years. [[Ignored Epiphany|One more won't hurt.]]|''[[Justice League]] -- "A Better World (part 2)"''}}

On the way, their friends will try to stop them, but the hero will ignore them because they're enjoying themselves too much. They're ''this close'' to [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope]] thanks to [[Evil Feels Good]] and assorted perks to lapsing their morality, and just when it looks like they're about to [[Kick the Son of Aa Bitch]] and give him what's coming to him, they either miss the intended target and hurt an ally by accident, or abruptly realize they're being an abject [[Jerkass]] and attacking someone who's trying to help them for no good reason.

They've just hit the nadir of this downward spiral and the start of their return to the straight and narrow. By hurting their friend, possibly the [[Morality Pet]], [[Love Interest]], or [[The Chick]] for extra oomph, they do the one thing capable of prompting a [[Heel Realization]] before they do a full [[Face Heel Turn]] (or cement the turn, at least). Cue cries of "[[My God, What Have I Done?]]?!" and "[[What Have I Become?]]!?" while shedding [[Tears of Remorse]] and [[Cradling Their Kill]], they'll say they're sorry and try their hardest to [[Must Make Amends|resuscitate the dog]] they've [[Kick the Dog|just kicked]].

If they weren't evil beforehand, whoever was inducing them to this behavior will quickly prove it [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|by not turning back]] like the hero just has. They'll likely scold the hero for chickening out, and remark that evil does not spend its time [[Pet the Dog|petting bunnies]] ([[Villains Out Shopping|well, not during weekdays anyway]]). If powers are involved, expect them to go [[Drunk Onon the Dark Side]] and/or [[One-Winged Angel]].

Compare [[Villainous BSOD]]. Also, some may be too far gone for this trope to pull them back to their senses, which will result in either an [[Ignored Epiphany]] or the character displacing the guilt onto someone else. See also [[Minor Insult Meltdown]] and [[Moment of Weakness]]. Not to be confused with [[The Dog Bites Back|kicking a dog that was too dangerous to kick]], or [[Kick the Son of Aa Bitch|kicking the son of a bitch.]]

== [[Anime]]/ and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Mangamanga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'':

** Chapter 95 of : {{spoiler|Roy is taking brutal revenge on Envy when Ed, Scar, and Riza step in to stop him. Roy asks Riza what she plans to do after she shoots him. The answer? ''Kill herself.'' He backs down immediately.}}

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Negi goes on a [[Black Magic]] fueled rage, he indiscriminately attacked everyone around him. It was only after he came [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v32/c286/9.html within inches of killing one of his own (defenseless) students] that he snapped out of it.

* Happens to Agnes in ''[[ZeroThe noFamiliar Tsukaimaof (Light Novel)|Zero no Tsukaima]]'' (at least in the novels), when Saito, Louise and everyone is fleeing the country to save Tabatha who is about to meet a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] at the hands of her uncle, the King of Galia. Anies had orders to only arrest the group and no intention of harming them, but as soon as she sees her lifelong nemesis {{spoiler|Colbert}} responsible for her [[Doomed Hometown]], whom she thought was dead, she [[Unstoppable Rage|snaps and opens fire]]. The shock from the realization [[My God, What Have I Done?|she nearly killed Saito in the process]], whom she trained and considered as a friend, has her realize that [[Epiphany Therapy|even if she killed her nemesis, other people would hate her in turn, so hatred and revenge are meaningless and that someone has to take it on himself to end the hatred here and now.]] She didn't forgive him, but is at least able, now, to look at his face without feeling murderous urges.

* In ''[[Gun X Sword]]'', Michael, who has become a loyal minion of the Claw meets up with his sister, Wendy, one of the heroes. Wendy ends up shooting him in the arm to try and stop him, and he starts strangling her. Then, her pet turtle bites his finger and he snaps out of it, realizes what he's doing, and saves Wendy when the lair starts to collapse. While the series implies a [[HeelDeadly Face Door SlamChange-of-Heart]] for Michael and his lover Fasalina, who likewise snapped out of her loyalty to the Claw {{spoiler|both appear to be crushed under rocks and averting [[Just a Flesh Wound]], Wendy's shot is implied to be fatal}}, supplemental materials go for [[Redemption Earns Life]].

* In the ''[[World Destruction]]'' manga, [[Lady of War|Mo]][[Cute and Psycho|rte]] finished her job in a city where the beastmen were eating humans. After berating [[The Heart|Ky]][[The Messiah|rie]] of doing something reckless, she blows up the entire city that they just saved for [[For the Lulz|the fun of it.]] This action [[Beware the Nice Ones|causes Kyrie to snap at her]] and he leaves the group which causes the group to split up (with [[Everything Is Worse With Bears|Toppi]] and [[Noble Demon|Naja]] going with him and [[Only Sane Man|Agan]] staying with Morte.) When he comes back, he throws the gun that she gave him to defend himself on the ground telling her that he doesn't need it anymore since he's not coming back. Cue, [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|she snaps]] and attacks him proving Kyrie's point why he can't stay with her. Thankfully Toppi and Naja stopped her attack.

* Happens in ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'' when [[Morality Pet|Gau]] throws himself in front of Raikou's attack to stop him from [[Moral Event Horizon|killing his own little sister, Raimei]]. Complete with Raikou [[Cradling Their Kill|cradling Gau]] and [[What Have I Done|crying]]. {{spoiler|They both get better.}}

* {{spoiler|Subverted}} in [[Durarara!!]]. Everyone assumes that Izaya did this to Shinra in middle school for no reason whatsoever. {{spoiler|Turns out, he told Shinra to tell [[Silent Scapegoat|everyone that he stabbed him]] so he can use this opportunity to ruin Nakura who even dare hurt his only friend. Naturally, it's implied that Izaya also did this so no one will find that how close he is with Shinra.}}

** Except in that [[Lost in Imitation|long forgotten original comic storyline]], where the suit ''didn't'' turn him evil at all ever, it just kept him up nights to act out more [[In Harm's Way|thrilling heroics]]. The evil only ''started'' when the symbiote got dumped and [[Psycho Ex -Girlfriend|reacted poorly]].

* Parodied in both ''[[Ace Ventura]]'' and ''[[The Naked Gun (Film)|The Naked Gun]]'': The protagonist is trying to convince the others that the [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] is actually a villain in disguise and [[Crosses the Line Twice]] while trying to prove it. {{spoiler|In the case of [[Ace Ventura]], he's actually ''right''.}}

* ''[[X -Men: First Class (Film)|X Men First Class]]'' includes a dramatic confrontation where Magneto is deflecting bullets from a CIA agent trying to stop him from destroying the US and Soviet fleets. One of the bullets flies off and hits Charles in the spine. For a moment there's a look of pure horror and guilt on Eric's face, then he decides it was the CIA agent's fault (Xavier vocally disagrees and talks him down for the moment by playing on his guilt).

* This is {{spoiler|Dumbledore}}'s backstory in ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Franchisenovel)/|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Harry Potter]]''. He was dangerously close to joining with Grindelwald and becoming a [[Big Bad]] when his sister was accidently killed during an argument. At that point he came to his senses and instead became the [[Big Good]] that he is known as.

** And {{spoiler|Snape's}}. When he found out the information he provided would lead directly to {{spoiler|Lily Potter's}} death, he switched sides. {{spoiler|Pity she died anyway...}}

* In ''[[Gone (novel)|Gone]]'', [[Big Bad|Caine's]] love/obsession for [[Dark Chick|Diana]] was his one redeeming quality. But, in book four, {{spoiler|[[Jerkass|he lies to her, uses her for sex, and brags about this to]] ''[[Jerkass|the entire town]]''}}. [[Jerkass Dissonance|This upset the fangirls more than when he sicced coyotes on preschoolers.]]

* ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' does this (sorta) with Gunn and Wesley [[Triang Relations|fighting over Fred]], but when Gunn goes to hit Wesley, he accidentally hits Fred instead. Whoops!

* Whilst elsewhere in the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffyverse]], Willow's downward spiral of magic addiction is brought to a halt when she crashes her car [[Break the Cutie|with Dawn in the passenger seat]] while under the influence.<ref>yes, of magic. Just go with it.</ref>. Her manipulative friend Amy, who has been encouraging her magic abuse, is hurt by Willow's decision to quit magic {{spoiler|and eventually becomes a [[Big Bad]] in the Season 8 comics.}}

* In the [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]] series finale of [[Stargate SG -1]], Daniel, having gotten fed up with what he thinks are Vala's intentionally shallow attempts at flirting and seducing him, lashes out with a nearly minute-long rant about her shortcomings that reduces Vala, who actually ''is'' genuinely attracted to him, to tears. It's especially shocking coming from '''Daniel''' of all people, but a close listen as his rant goes on reveals that he shifts from disparaging her actions to voicing his own insecurities and hesitancy about them having a relationship. And when a disturbed Daniel realizes both this and how badly he's hurt her, he quickly lets Vala know that he ''does'' return her feelings. They then decide to see if they can sustain a relationship, and [[Sexy Discretion Shot|you can guess what happens next]]. And considering that except for {{spoiler|[[Word of God|Vala's having a miscarriage]] }}, they [[Nobody Thinks It Will Work|spend the next fifty years together with no problems]] before Sam [[Reset Button|reverses time]], apparently they work out any remaining issues.

* In the ''[[Saved Byby the Bell]]'' precursor show, ''Good Morning, Miss Bliss'', one episode features Zack trying to join a club of popular jerks called the Rigmas. They tell him to start bullying his friends as part of his initiation. The biggest Kick the Morality Pet moment comes when he yells at Screech "Why would I want to be seen with a nothing like you?!" Thankfully, Zack later realized the error of his ways, and his friends forgave him. They together spend the last few minutes of the episode remarking on how stupid people often act in order to fit in with various groups. The episode ends with Zack symbolically dumping the bullies club membership jacket in the garbage while his friends give him the thumbs up.

* ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'': {{spoiler|On the "bad" ending, [[Replacement Scrappy|Emil]] fakes his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] like he does on the other endings, but goes too far in his fight with [[Rogue Protagonist|Lloyd]] and [[Love Interest|Marta]], and wins the fight, killing Marta. Raine rushes over to heal Marta. Emil promptly admits it was all an act, and in an act to redeem himself, he [[Redemption Equals Death|kills himself]]. [[Nonstandard Game Over|Oops]].}}

* Experienced at least twice by [[God of War (Video Gameseries)|Kratos]], when he {{spoiler|murders his wife and child prior to the start of the series, and kills Athena while fighting Zeus at the climax of God of War 2.}} Kratos isn't heroic enough to truly experience the moment of redemption, however.

* [[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]] has {{spoiler|Terra experience this after nearly killing Master Eraqus while trying to protect Ven. Not at all helped by Master Xehanort finishing off the weakened Master Eraqus, who was also in the midst of a [[Heroic BSOD]] for raising his Keyblade against his students.}}

* ''[[Drow TalesDrowtales]]:'' Ariel was heading toward the [[Anti-Hero]]/[[Anti-Villain]] grey area, but after accidentally killing a slave she became more of an [[Emotionless Girl]], and more recently more of a [[Plucky Girl]] type. Because of this she ended up sparing an enemy and avoided directly killing someone else, though given the [[Crapsack World]] of the setting both of those choices may come back to bite her.

* Happens in the Webcomic ''[[Zap (Webcomic)|Zap]]'', with the protagonist learning to use his [[Amnesia Danger|forgotten]] [[Psychic Powers]] to [[Mind Control|control people]].

* In the ''Secretary'' arc in ''[[Nature of NaturesNature's Art]]'', {{spoiler|XZ "breaks up" with SV by quitting the college, and he goes into an [[Unstoppable Rage]] and kills her. Whether he did a [[Heel Face Turn]] before he also died is up for debate.}}

* Aang has a similar experience in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. When Aang starts learning Firebending he proves his immense talent by turning a smoldering leaf into a ''[[Sphere of Power|ring of fire]].'' Katara's hands get burned badly in the resulting blast, Sokka gets ''immensely'' pissed off at Aang for hurting his sister, and Aang, in shock, says he's sorry. Fortunately this is when Katara discovers she has ([[Heal Thyself|self]]) [[Healing Hands]], but Aang ends up jumping to the conclusion that Firebending is strictly [[Bad Powers, Bad People]], and resolves not to learn it. It would take two seasons for the cast to realize Firebending is ''not'' evil, and in fact life-affirming.