Poke the Poodle: Difference between revisions

Some people just aren't cut out for villainy. The [[Harmless Villain]], those suffering from massive [[Badass Decay]], those who [[Noble Demon|want to be evil]], but can't just get that pesky "no moral compass" part down, and sometimes [[Most Definitely Not a Villain|heroes disguised as villains]] -- God bless 'em -- their idea of evil is harmless behavior like cheating at Solitaire, jaywalking, chewing gum in Singapore, [[Mattress Tag Gag|pulling the "do not remove" tag off of your mattress]], hiding your toothpaste, drinking the milk directly from the carton, and (gasp!) ''not wiping their feet before they come in your house, and'' (maybe) ''refusing to apologize for it afterwards''. [[Evil Laugh|Mwahahaha!]]

So, here's to those villains who should consider a new career -- specifically the moments when they really show how wanting for evil they are. They don't really have it in them to [[Kick the Dog]], so they [[Poke the Poodle]].

* One late ''[[Ranma ½]]'' manga story and OAV story has an "Evil Oni" which gains power by possessing people and making them act on their most evil desires. Inevitably, however, these "evil deeds" turn out to be petty mischief, like doodling on Soun (Genma), attacking Ranma (Kuno--Ranma points out that this is his normal behavior) or attempting to peep on Akane in the bath (Ryoga). The Oni eventually possesses [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] Kasumi, whose idea of "evil" doesn't go much beyond cutting cloth dollies out of the sheets and ordering tons of expensive takeout food early in the morning.

** Many of Ranma's villains have their own [[Poke the Poodle]] moments - putting pantyhose over people's heads, stealing cute things and giving them French names, distributing test scores from a giant balloon...

* Some of [[Our Vampires Are Different|Eva's]] more recent exploits in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' fall into this. Ordering someone looking to be her apprentice to lick her feet ([[Megaton Punch|though it didnt happen]]), being ready to force said apprentice to go on a date with her if he [[Tournament Arc|lost a match to her]]--and when ''she'' lost before they could even fight, she just ordered him onto the date anyway. [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|Everyone else acted like she was pure evil]], [[Noble Demon|but she let him out of it anyway]].

* Prince Rupert in ''[[Enchanted Forest Chronicles|Searching for Dragons]]'' had to do an evil act or get thrown out of the Men's Auxiliary to the Right Honorable [[Wicked Stepmother|Wicked Stepmothers]]' Travelling, Drinking, and Debating Society. So he decided, while regent, [[Evil Uncle|to abandon his nephew the crown prince]] in the Enchanted Forest (it was actually the nephew's idea; he was hoping to have an adventure). But Rupert couldn't find anywhere that he felt sure the boy wouldn't ''really'' come to any harm.

* ''[[Planescape]]'' due to its nature had to deal with [[Character Alignment]] closer. In the end, a planar character's actions are defined more by the faction philosophy than by alignment -- they can have much the same attitude, but expressed differently and maybe stronger or weaker. So you'll end up with [[Chaotic Evil]] [[The Eeyore|Bleakers]] working for charity together with [[Neutral Good]] Bleakers... though probably they tend to insult people who bother them and so on.

** Some fanworks do this to ''Touhou'''s straight-laced judge of the dead, Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, and have her do "naughty" things on her day off like having a convenience store clerk make a lot of change, pushing the button of an alarm slightly (but not enough to set it off), and most [[Egregious|egregiously]], using sleight-of-hand to make [[Perpetual Poverty|Reimu]] think the judge put something into her donation box.

** You can also sabotage computers. However, given that if you do this at somebody's house, they kick you out the second you begin<ref>Presumably not if you have the 'Inappropriate but in a Good Way' reward? Or try it at the library. Take that, public services!</ref>, nowhere near enough time to break their computer. So naturally, this means you can only sabotage your own computer. Muhaha.

** Another example is the first antagonist Garland, who isn't much eviler than White Mage, much to the frustration of the {evil) princess he captured.

** Moustachio the Thinkonium is a member of the Machines Union. So when the Union goes on strike, so too is Moustachio obligated to stop working. However, Moustachio is A) bolted in place, B) very old and set in his ways, and C) quite personable, so his capacity to go on strike from his job as a receptionist and greeter is...limited<ref>PS This trope no longer applies if you manage to break Moustachio and activate his "Evil Mode"</ref>.

* ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' in Chapter 6 has the spirit of the cursed mirror. Possessing {{spoiler|[[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|Nina]], the vampire kid [[Vegetarian Vampire|feeding exclusively on chocolate]]}} was less than fortunate for it -- the result was mostly limited to inane pranks.

** Even though Strong Badman ''was'' building a [[Death Ray]] in his first appearance and seems to fight some genuine villains in [[Easter Egg|Easter Eggs]], most of them time he fights similarly ineffectual villains such as Grossman, Dry Ragamuffin, Hit-Enter-Too-Soon Man, and '''Damp Towel Man''' (!!!).

** And the girls' [[Spear Counterpart|Spear Counterparts]], who are more delinquent and rebellious than evil, spend their time doing graffiti and spitting at planes.

* In ''[[South Park]]'', Butters's [[Harmless Villain]] character Professor Chaos attempts all sorts of genuine evil (like destroying the ozone layer or flooding the planet) but fails because he doesn't quite understand the scope of the task he is trying to undertake. However, there are some plots that are genuinely [[Poke the Poodle]] level of evil, like when he built a machine to suck out the creamy fillings of chocolate candies and replace it with stale mayonnaise. Or when he went into a restaurant and switched two meals and hoped it'd warrant appearing on the news.

* In ''[[My Little Pony|My Little Pony: The Movie]]'', the witch girls Reeka and Draggle tend to do things like this--for example, pulling off the wings of a fly. But then they make the [[Blob Monster|Smooze]].