Mook Face Turn: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Well, the heroes just got themselves captured in a spectacular case of [[Cutscene Incompetence]]. Sadly, [[The Guards Must Be Crazy|the guards are competent]] and won't let them leave. What are the heroes to do?

[[Talking Your Way Out|Talk to the guard.]]

 

 

If that doesn't [[Scare'Em Straight|scare 'em straight]], then ask them about their wife and kids, hobbies, or sports team. An ounce of [[Character Development]] will make them a [[Mauve Shirt]] and get them to do a [[Heel Face Turn]] faster than you can say [[Signed Up for the Dental|"No Dental".]]

 

 

Mooks turned allies this way might never graduate to the main cast, but even if they don't do a full [[Heel Face Turn]], the heroes will have made an [[Fighting for Survival|important ally]] for the episode and the mook in question will get all the attendant perks and dangers of being a [[Mauve Shirt]]. This can be especially beneficial to some heroes, as these Mook Face Turners can become a romantic [[Capulet Counterpart]].

** Similarly, in ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', Patrick Zala is killed by his aide Ray Yuuki after he objects to Zala's genocidal plans. Well, he shot Ray first, but he got him back later.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', one of the Enforcers accidentally gets hit by Gedatsu's Swamp Cloud, and Chopper saves him. When Gedatsu denounces him for being weak, the Enforcer decides to help Chopper against him, but is quickly defeated.

 

== Comic Books ==

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', when Sonic and Sally are attacked by a large group of mercenaries, Sally manages to bribe two of them into temporarily working on her side.

* Bob of HYDRA in ''[[Deadpool|Cable/Deadpool]]'' was originally...well, of HYDRA. After Deadpool took him prisoner he slowly slid from being a terrified hostage to outright adoring the merc with a mouth. It's unclear how much Stockholm Syndrome is involved.

 

== Film ==

* The climax of ''[[Four Brothers]]'', in which the brothers bribe Victor Sweet's abused henchmen with the $400,000 they planned on trading with.

* This was actually a ''power'' of the titular child [[The Messiah|messiah]] in ''[[The Golden Child]].''

** Later on he touches a [[Mook]] on the hand, and the [[Mook]] eventually helps Chandler Jarrell rescue him.

* In ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Mr Incredible has been captured and believes his family has been murdered by Syndrome. He is able to snatch Syndrome's right hand lady, Mirage, and threatens to crush her if not released. Syndrome tells him to do it. Mr. Incredible can't bring himself to kill her and lets her go. Although Syndrome claims he knew Incredible was bluffing, Mirage is furious that he gambled with her life, and later aids the Incredible family in escaping the island.

* At the end of ''[[Battleship Potemkin]]'', the mutineers manage to convince the government's battleships not only to not fire on them, but to join them in escaping Russia. It's based on true events, too.

* In ''[[The Wind That Shakes the Barley]]'', an Irish-Scots soldier defects to the IRA, freeing a number of captured rebels in the process, after becoming [[Defector From Decadence|disenchanted with the British occupation]].

* Eddie Valentine and his gang in ''[[The Rocketeer]]'' enjoy working with Neville Sinclair - until they learn he is a Nazi spy, after which they each betray the other.

 

== Literature ==

* The end of ''[[Animorphs]]'' #48. Rachel promises to get the goons more money than David's paying them, then double-crosses them.

* Blaggut in the [[Redwall]] book ''The Bellmaker'' is eventually pushed too far by Captain Slipp {{spoiler|after Slipp kills Mellus. Blaggut snaps and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|strangles Slipp]], then goes back to the Abbey to confess}}.

* Subverted in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', where Ford Prefect gets a Vogon mook interested in art and music... but the Vogon throws Ford and Arthur Dent into the airlock as instructed anyway.

* In the [[World of Warcraft]] novel [[The Shattering Prelude to Cataclysm]], Stormsong leads a band of Grimtotem sent in to assassinate Baine Bloodhoof, but instead slips out and warns Baine about the plot, having believed that his leader Magatha [[Moral Event Horizon|went too far]] by {{spoiler|killing Baine's father, the High Chieftain Cairne, whom Stormsong had respected despite sometimes disagreeing with}}. Stormsong then helps Baine escape and assists him in his quest to oust Magatha. After Baine succeeds, he exiles the Grimtotem except for those who swear loyalty to him, knowing that some of them did so for self-serving reasons and deciding to watch over them.

 

* In the Timetravelling ''[[Blackadder]]'' episode with [[Robin Hood]]'s men - a subversion in that case since the Blackadder convinces them to defect on the basis of Robin Hood's honorable thieving not benefiting them.

* ''[[Farscape]]'' had the [[Capulet Counterpart]] variation with Aeryn Sun. Later done again in "PK Tech Girl" with Gilina. In her case she returned again to save John's hiney when he got captured, but their budding romance was cut short. What? Being a [[Mauve Shirt]] on an [[Anyone Can Die]] show is risky business! (Sad business, too)

** A much later example in the series has a captive [[SG-1]] and Bre'Tac (and a few of their Jaffa fifth column agents) released by a guard after they convince him he's serving a charlatan who would have willingly thrown said guard to the wolves.

* ''[[Nikita (TV series)|Nikita]]'': When Sara, an underperforming Division candidate, is sent on a suicide mission, Nikita intervenes and kidnaps her. When she finally gets Sara to accept that Division planned to have her killed, she is able to convince Sara to go into hiding after deliviring one final blow to her former employers.

 

== Video Games ==

* During one of the battles midway through ''[[Shining Force]] II'', One of the Pegasus Knights in the enemy force inexplicably has an actual name. Sure enough, a few rounds into the battle, he decides to switch sides.

* Happens with alarming regularity in the ''[[Metal Slug]]'' series. Anytime a threat other/greater than [[The Evil Army|General Morden's army]] appears, said army that you were just shooting to pieces last level is fighting alongside you. Not effectively, of course, but enough to partially excuse the final levels' preposterous volumes of enemies and add to the hectic/epic feel of those stages.

* Happens surprisingly often in the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' ''[[Original Generation]]'' games, although the enemy is usually in the protagonists' captivity. Most of the examples wear a [[Mauve Shirt]] if not an [[Ace Pilot]] badge, but Ryoto gets a special mention for being such a low-level grunt that the bad guys decide to blow him up to kill you.

** Happens often in the main ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' games as well, naturally, since they incorporate many [[Anime]] plots that use this trope.

* In ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]] 3'', Mega Man must at one point rise in the "ranks" of the Undernet in order to find a program capable of defeating Bass. He does this by finding certain Navis and challenging them to a battle. One of them however, just gives you his rank, claiming he's tired of the whole thing, and even gives you a hint to find the program you're looking for.

* Commander Saturn, along with the rest of [[Nebulous Evil Organization|Team Galactic]] in ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Pokemon Diamond and Pearl]]'' actually pulls one of these after you defeat their [[Big Bad|boss, Cyrus]]. He says that all they wanted was a better world, but realized that [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Cyrus went too far to achieve it]]. You can also see the beginnings of this if you talk to defeated [[Mook|grunts]] after battling them, where they wonder if they're really fighting on the right side.

* Kasan Moor of ''[[Rogue Squadron]]'' starts out as an elite TIE Interceptor pilot for the Empire, but defects to Rogue Squadron.

* In ''[[Killzone]] 3'', Sev and Rico pull this off in the intro tutorial and at the actual point in the game where they dress up as Helghast soldiers and reveal themselves to the [[Big Bad]] during a ''planet-wide'' broadcast the the '''entire''' Helghan nation.

* In ''[[Mechwarrior]] 2: Mercenaries'', the player is actually given this option on one mission. {{spoiler|When hired to wipe out a group of insurgents, as you head to the insurgent base, you receive a radio transmission "Attention mercenary: whatever the Snakes are paying you, we'll double it. Just turn around and go back to your dropship."}}

* Johnny in the original ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', was just one of the many faceless Genome Soldiers that Solid Snake encountered in Shadow Moses. For some reason, he fell in love with Meryl, the woman who took his clothes and left him naked, and then became one of her subordinates in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]''.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Similarly to the above example, the Nerdlucks in ''[[Space Jam]]''. It only occurs to them, however, after a long while.

* The Guardians manage to recruit a few of Phobos' minions in ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'', starting with a castle guard in the episode "The Rebel Rescue". They tend to his wounds, take him to Earth (where he learns that Earth isn't nearly as bad as Phobos told him it was), and he helps them break into the castle dungeons and rescue dozens of captured rebels.

** Even before Megabyte gets rid of them they tend to help Bob whenever Megabyte isn't available to give orders, like when he turned into the mindless Megatruck or became Gigabyte.

* Scar manages to make the hyenas angry in ''[[The Lion King]]'' by blaming them for Mufasa's death while they were in earshot. Not a good time to subvert the [[Disney Villain Death]].

[[Category:Mooks]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Esoteric Trope Names]]

[[Category:Redemption Tropes]]