Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Difference between revisions

[[File:snakesareevil.jpg|frame|Just once, we'd like to see an evil terrorist organization with a [[Fluffy the Terrible|fluffy]] [[Erfworld|hamster motif.]] ]]

 

 

 

 

This trope is generally not applied with equal frequency and intensity to all reptiles. Snakes (especially venomous ones) and [[Never Smile At a Crocodile|crocodiles]] tend to be the reptiles most associated with villains. Meanwhile, [[Turtle Power|turtles]] and various lizards seen as cute and harmless, such as geckos and frilled lizards, are less likely to be associated with villainy. Dinosaurs are also often exempt from this trope. Stereotypically reptilian features such as [[Fangs Are Evil|fangs]], claws, tails, visible scales, and slit pupils may distinguish villainous reptiles from friendly ones.

Despite not even being closely related to them, Amphibians sometimes are portrayed this way too. Toads in particular have become heavily correlated with abhorrence due to their poisonous secretions, association with witches, and the myth that touching one will give you warts. However, there are many favorable depictions of frogs in fiction.

 

 

Sometimes the trope in invoked in-universe. Characters may assume that reptiles are more likely to be evil, whether or not it's justified. In these cases you may have Reptiles Are Abhorrent crossed with [[Fantastic Racism]].

See also [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]], [[Never Smile At a Crocodile]], [[Scaled Up]], and [[Fangs Are Evil]]. Compare [[Cats Are Mean]] and [[You Dirty Rat]]. Contrast with [[Turtle Power]] and [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs]]. This is also closely related to [[Species-Coded for Your Convenience]].

 

 

== Media in General ==

* All of the various [[Attack of the Killer Whatever|killer snake/crocodile/komodo/whatever other reptile]] movies and stories thrive on this trope.

== Anime and Manga ==

* The anime ''[[Queen's Blade]]'' has a snake doing nasty things to one of the main characters.

* In ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', the Earth government refers to its enemies in the war as "Jovian Lizards" because of this trope, even though they only send [[Mecha-Mooks]] into battle so most people don't actually know what they look like. {{spoiler|In fact, they're actually ''humans''.}}

* The ''[[Pokémon]]'' anime features several, but the most prominent is the Ekans (later [[Evolutionary Levels|Arbok]]) owned by [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] Jessie of Team Rocket. And later she comes into ownership of a Seviper, yet another snake Pokémon.

* The ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' anime includes a set of Reptile monsters, but their only major appearance was in [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX|GX]] while being used by Professor Viper. Ganzley, [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] and [[Big Bad]] of [[Five-Bad Band|The Big Five]] uses a Reptile deck that focusses on locking down his opponent's cards. Dinosaurs, however, appear on both sides.

* ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' has the Zokugaku Chameleons, with their linebacker, Habishira, having long arms like a chameleon's tongue. The much tougher, [[Affably Evil]] Hakushuu Dinosaurs are another example.

* It isn't quite clear how ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' feels about this trope. {{spoiler|Machina}}'s alternate form (seems to be) a giant snake, and his first acts include {{spoiler|nearly killing the main character}} and acting like an all-around bad guy. But as of Ch. 255-ish, he starts being more than friendly with the heroes, even (jokingly?) asking Maria to marry him for her (and Sakuya's) hamburger-making skills.

* ''[[Bleach]]'': As if Rukia hadn't made the connection several hundred chapters back, Ichimaru Gin himself gave this little monologue in Chapter 414.

{{quote|[[Animal Motifs|I am a snake.]] [[I Lied|My skin is cold.]] [[Ax Crazy|I have no heart.]] [[Devil in Plain Sight|I slither around,]] [[Affably Evil|seeking prey with my tongue]]. And I swallow my favorites whole.}}

* In ''[[Wild Rock]]'', a giant prehistoric alligator nearly eats Yuuen.

 

 

** Kobra is a terrorist cult who uses a snake motif for their criminal activities. They later appeared as a cult in ''[[Batman Beyond]]''. In their most notorious story, from "Batman Beyond", a few of them transformed themselves into [[Petting Zoo People|snake people]] with the help of [[Lego Genetics|Splicer]] technology and... [[Somewhere a Paleontologist Is Crying|dinosaur]] DNA... And then they were going to throw a "Thermal Bomb" down a volcano (!?) to raise the temperature of the world (they are, of course, "cold blooded"), [[Kill All Humans]], and take over the planet. Yeah.

** The ''Checkmate'' arc plays with this trope. After the Rooks take out a major Kobra base they find a large nest of baby snake people. The Rooks decide to raise them.

** Killer Croc, one of [[Batman]]'s most brutal enemies depending on who's writing for him, is a man with a bizarre skin condition that gives him the appearance and toughness of a crocodile. He has Crocodile-like habits in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' as well. Although there's at least one continuity where he gets to go off and live in peace with [[Swamp Thing]]. Croc also sometimes appoints himself protector of sewer-dwelling homeless and runaways.

*** Later depictions of him have him behaving much more [[Petting Zoo People|beast-like]] than before (he has grown a freakin' tail), due to a virus injected in him by Hush; now he's often engaging in cannibalism.

** Turtle Man is a rare example of a mean ''turtle''. He's "the Slowest Man Alive" and is a minor enemy of [[The Flash]]. He was originally a joke villain, but later became a credible threat when he gained the power to drain speed from other objects, including the Flash himself. (He's still pretty silly, though.)

** The tommy-gun-toting alien alligator-men from the planet Punkus who fought Captain Marvel as part of the Monster Society of Evil. No, seriously.

* The [[Marvel Universe]]:

** In ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'', Curt Connors's experiment to help people with missing limbs, like himself, caused him to transform into The Lizard, a monstrous reptile who [[Kill All Humans|detests all "warm-blooded" life]] (though it probably goes without saying that he doesn't like spiders either). In the well-loved '90s cartoon, he looked a great deal like a giant, very anthropomorphic Anole.

** Played straight with the ''males'' of the Brotherhood of the Badoon. Somehow, though, [[Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism|the females of the race are neither reptilian nor evil]].

* A lot of [[Jungle Princess]] comics have our heroines fighting savage snakes and carnivorous crocodiles.

* The Lizard League, ''[[Invincible]]'''s [[Alternate Company Equivalent]] to the Serpent Society.

 

 

== [[Disney Animated Canon]] Examples ==

** ''[[The Rescuers Down Under]]'' feature a [[Punch Clock Villain]] Goanna who still liked to terrorize smaller animals, as well as a bunch of man-eating crocodiles. The frilled lizard (one of the cute species) is a good guy, however.

** Tellingly, none of the mean reptiles in either of the movies talk. And the crocodilians of both films seem to be rather useful at being the method of a [[Karmic Death]]...

* Kaa in ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' is another funny villain, but some viewers think he had definitely paedophiliac undertones to him ("[[Sssssnaketalk|Trussssst in me / Jussssst in me]]"). Note that in the book, Kaa was one of the main mentors for Mowgli. In the Disney adaptation, he was [[Adaptational Villainy|transformed into a villain]].<ref>There's a whole chapter in the seminal [[Doorstopper]], ''The Illusion of Life'' in which the authors go on and on about how they struggled to make both Kaa and Sir Hiss "cute" so that they ''wouldn't scare the women in the audience''.</ref>

* In Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', Jafar uses of snake motifs throughout the movie, and when he wants to amp up the evil, he [[Scaled Up|turns into a giant snake]].

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* ''[[Snakes on a Plane]]'' had snakes as the designated villains, and in this case they were riled up by a spray of pheromones. It gets to the point that [[Samuel L. Jackson]] has [[Memetic Mutation|had it with these motherfuckin' snakes on this motherfuckin' plane]].

* In the excellently titled ''[[Ssssssss]]'', the [[Mad Scientist]] in the movie didn't mind snakes. As a matter of fact, he turned people into snakes for fun. The people in question didn't share his enthusiasm.

* They aren't reptiles, but while we're on the subject of horror movies that assume we think crawling, <s> scaly,</s> swamp-dwelling animals are inherently scary: ''[[Film/Frogs|Frogs]]''. Yes, ''Frogs''. (And the frogs in question aren't the poisonous or gigantic variety, either.) Funny thing is, the frogs themselves don't do anything. They just stand around being ominous. All of the mayhem and murder is done by alligators, moccasins, snapping turtles, and anoles (the last lock a guy in a greenhouse and cause a chemical reaction that asphyxiates the guy with vapors).

* In his original appearance, [[Godzilla]] was portrayed as a walking nuclear explosion, destroying everything in his path. In subsequent movies, however, he was depicted in a grayer light, and even became a hero at times.

* And in a case of Humans Are Stupid, ''[[Primeval]]'' stars SUV-sized "[[Never Trust a Trailer|Serial killer]]" Gustav, whose large kill record is largely due to idiot fishermen and similarly idiot photographers and big-game hunters. However, it's at least more factually accurate than ''Lake Placid''.

* ''[[Reptilicus]]'' is a giant, man-eating lizard-dragon-thing.

* ''[[Dreamscape]]'' featured a little boy who suffered from nightmares about The Snake Man. The villain of the piece took on the hero by [[Scaled Up|turning himself into The Snake Man]].

* ''Zathura A Space Adventure'' (which is basically ''[[Jumanji]]'' <small>[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]</small>) gives us the villainous Zorgons, reptilian aliens who are attracted to heat sources.

{{quote|"I'm addressing, of course, the vicious, bigoted pattern of lizard-hate in the culture, and in the media.

''[[Star Wars|The Phantom Menace]]'' doesn't just contain one species-ist character, it slurs the entire reptilian phylum." }}

* [[Indiana Jones]] when dumped into a snake-filled pit of doom:

{{quote|"Why did it have to be SNAKES?!"}}

* In a ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' film, the primary antagonist Thulsa Doom is the leader of a snake cult. He can [[Scaled Up|turn into a giant snake]] and even uses one as an arrow.

* ''[[Live and Let Die (film)|Live and Let Die]]'': Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga uses snakes to kill adversaries, either releasing one into their hotel room, or using one in an elaborate voodoo ceremony (pulled from a coffin full of snakes). Then there's his crocodile farm/heroin processing center.

* In ''[[Race with the Devil]]'', the cultists hide a pair of live rattlesnakes inside the heroes' RV.

* Lampshaded in the film version of [[Ray Bradbury]]'s ''[[The Illustrated Man]]'', where Rod Steiger's character crushes a garter snake with a rock and feeds it to his dog. When another character asks why he did it, noting that garter snakes are harmless and good to have around, he angrily responds, "It ain't no good to anyone, it's a damn snake!"

* ''[[Redwall]]''. While the mammals are split between being good or evil, pretty much every single reptile and amphibian is a bad guy. In the first book, a snake is given a demon's name (which it likes to chant for some reason) and likened to a giant, intelligent, evil dragon/monster. In one of the later books, a desert-dwelling character [[Furry Confusion|keeps a pet sand lizard]]; "Get 'em when they're young and they're good likkle critters." This was [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/bargain-book-bin-3.php lampshaded hilariously] by Something Awful, though it was in response more [[Carnivore Confusion|to the mustelids all being evil]].

* ''Ranger Rick'', of all places, used this trope off and on:

** ''Ranger Rick'' magazine also had a series of nonfiction books about animals and of those, one of the most beloved is ''The Unhuggables''. It did all it could to discredit this trope (though it's telling that snakes get their own chapter to themselves) as well as [[Carnivores Are Mean]] and (as you could probably guess from the so-close-to-being-the-[[Trope Namer]]-title) [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]].

* [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s stories invoke the trope only when applied to venomous snakes and crocodiles.

** In "[[The Jungle Book (novel)|Rikki-Tikki-Tavi]]", a pet mongoose defends his masters' home against the deadly snakes that are ''[[Everything Trying to Kill You|everywhere]]''.

* [[Raymond E. Feist]]'s novel ''[[The Riftwar Cycle|A Darkness at Sethanon]]'' introduces the Panthathians, a race of snake-men who worship a race of evil [[Precursors]] that will [[Sealed Evil in a Can|destroy the world if ever freed]]. Naturally they are attempting to do exactly that.

* Played straight and occasionally subverted in ''[[Harry Potter]]'':

* Played with in the novel ''Chester Cricket's Home'', a sequel to ''[[A Cricket In Times Square]]''. One of the residents of Chester's meadow, a water snake named Walter, realizes that many humans find him horrifying, a fact that he takes an inordinate amount of pride in. However, Walter is actually quite friendly and funny, if a bit of a wise guy at times.

* Subverted by David Eddings' ''[[Belgariad]]'' and ''Mallorean'' series. While the civilization most attuned to and appreciative of snakes, the Nyissans, are usually portrayed as a rather sinister, corrupt, and amoral people, eventually the chief eunuch Sadi becomes a rather amusing hero, and he brings his pet snake Zith, an intelligent, extremely lethal but extremely affectionate and endearing snake with almost cat-like habits. The only member of the party who doesn't take a shine to her is Silk, whose snake-phobia is more comical than rational. Zith's habit of curling up and sleeping in the bosom of Silk's love interest does not help this. Nor does how Silk finds out...

* Similar to the Disney's ''Aladdin'' example, the Queen of Underland in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Silver Chair]]'' turns into a giant snake when she finally runs out of subtler options for killing the heroes. Prince Rillian is glad of this, because it meant he [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|wouldn't have to kill a woman.]]

* Debora Chester's ''[http://www.lucasaliens.com/ Alien Chronicles]'' series has the Viis, who resemble giant frilled lizards. They're a despotic race that has enslaved various mammalian races, with the only other reptilian species being their allies instead. When the mammalian races leave to find a utopia, not even their Viis underclass allies go with them, and what becomes of the turtle-people is never said. The web page for the series even invokes this trope.

* In Taylor Anderson's ''[[Destroyermen]]'' series, a pair of WWII destroyers slip sideways into a [[Alternate History|timeline]] where dinosaurs were never wiped out and humans never evolved. Instead two other intelligent races did, one mammalian, one reptilian. Guess who the bad guys are?

* In his ''[[Pellucidar]]'' series, [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] created two reptilian species: the Snake People Horibs who are villains right out of central casting, and the more nuanced [[Giant Flyer|Mahars]] who are telepathic, parthenogenic pterosaurs who start out ruling Pellucidar but are overthrown by the human hero. {{spoiler|It later turned out that the Mahars -- who are deaf and communicate ''entirely'' by telepathy -- were unaware that humans were sapient.}}

* In Korney Chukovsky's children story ''[[Stolen Sun]]'', a crocodile swallows the sun (just go with it) and it takes a bear to tear him apart and release it.

* ''[[Villain Dot Net|Villain.Net]]'' plays with this one: upon encountering Chameleon, apprentice supervillain Jake Hunter presumes the reptilian shapeshifter to be a fellow evil-doer. He is quickly disabused of that notion. However, over the course of the first book, Chameleon shows himself to have a nasty edge, being perfectly willing to kill, and seeking revenge rather than justice.

{{quote|''The Cimmerian recoiled, remembering tales he had heard -- serpents were sacred to Set, god of Stygia, who men said was himself a serpent. Monsters such as this were kept in the temples of Set, and when they hungered, were allowed to crawl forth into the streets to take what prey they wished. Their ghastly feasts were considered a sacrifice to the scaly god.''}}

* ''[[Dark Heavens]]'': "Some of my best friends are snakes."

{{quote|"Mammals. Why did it have to be mammals?" }}

* Subverted, invoked, ''and'' reconstructed in ''[[Dreamsnake]]'': Someone's violent phobia of snakes is what kicks off the [[Frontier Doctor]] heroine's troubles. And while she views her cobra and rattlesnake (which serve as her medical kit) as both [[Cool Pet|pets]] and essential tools, not even ''she'' can find anything likable about the dangerous, ill-tempered, and downright ugly sand vipers.

* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[Freckles]]'', the [[Friend to All Living Things]] Freckles makes an exception for snakes. Killing one was an important part of [[Face Your Fears]] for him, and the summer where they retreat to the swamp is nasty.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Chakotay has a speech about this in "Scorpion." Wary of Janeway's plan to forge an alliance with the Borg, he tells her a version of the first story listed in the Myth and Legend section, attributing it as ancient legend of his tribe.

** Apart from a bare handful of Cardassians who thought [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]], the only exceptions were some background characters in the movies, revealing that [[The Federation]] ''does'' have turtle-people and lizard-people amongst its citizens; they just don't ''do'' anything. Maybe they need more sunlight?

* ''[[Sesame Street]]'' intentionally avoids the trope, featuring friendly introductions to "scary" animals to assure the kids that [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much|they're not mean]]. There's a song about a friendly snake named Sammy. There is also one about an Alligator king and his seven sons; both song and alligators are pleasant.

* ''[[Farscape]]'':

** More obvious, the snake found in the [[Our Wormholes Are Different|wormhole "wall"]], which [[Kill All Humans|wants to eat just about anyone]] ''from another dimension'' although the ones that had the most encounters with it say [[False Reassurance|it'll just mind its business]].

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'':

** However, there was also the first [[Big Bad]], Apophis, whose Jaffa wore snake-themed armour, and he himself wore golden snake armour.

* In the ''[[CSI]]: Miami'' episode "Identity," a sunbathing woman is killed and swallowed (but for some reason not digested) by a boa constrictor. Once again, this is more a case of Humans are Bastards, as the snake had been illegally imported and died soon thereafter.

* The Sleestak were the worst sentient villains in ''[[Land of the Lost (TV series)|Land of the Lost]]''. And the other villains? Well, they subverted [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs]] by being carnivores who chased the cast... except for Dopey.

* [[Kamen Rider Ryuki]] has Kamen Rider Ohja, which means [[Meaningful Name|King of Snakes]]. And Oh how [[Complete Monster|evil]] [[For the Evulz|he]] [[Blood Knight|is.]]

* A brief scene in the ''[[Davy Crockett]]'' mini-series featured Davy up against a few alligators.

** Blatantly invoked in a recent series, ''[[Fatal Attractions]]'', during an episode about an [[Crazy Cat Lady|animal hoarder]] who owned several Nile monitors and allowed them [[Too Dumb to Live|free reign of his apartment]]. The man died in his apartment and his body was discovered in a heavily decomposed state, with his pet lizards having fed upon the body. The show seemed to go out of its way to demonise the reptiles themselves (as well as the people who own them, painting them as egomaniacs who form no emotional bonds with their pets), with no shortage of re-enactments featuring close-up shots of plotting, shifty-eyed lizards filmed in a sinister monochrome. The show also [[Wild Mass Guessing|hypothesised]] that the monitors [[Evil Plan|deliberatedly envenomated their owner and waited around for him to die]] like Komodo Dragons, a hunting strategy which Komodo Dragons themselves [[Science Marches On|are no longer believed to use]], let alone Nile Monitors. It also [[Did Not Do the Research|perpetuated]] the [http://www.reptilia.org/pdfs/habitarium/HabitariumPrograms-SalmonellaandReptiles.pdf myth] that reptiles spread salmonella.<ref>Reptiles are no more ''specifically'' prone to carrying salmonella than any other animal, and 95% of all reptile-related salmonella infections come from green iguanas and red-eared sliders, (both of which are species unsuited for but commonly kept by novices, and often in unsanitary housing conditions.)</ref> The show also neglected to mention the far more likely possibility that the man simply died and was scavenged upon by his starving pets.

** A season two episode about pet crocodiles seems to have a very black-and-white issue on the subject. Crocodiles are depicted as either mindless cold-blooded killers or as intelligent beloved pets. There is, sadly, no middle ground stating that crocodiles are intelligent predators that should NEVER be kept as pets because of how dangerous they are, but that we shouldn't go about mindlessly killing them just because they're predators.

* In the episode of ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' starring James Coco, Kermit's nephew Robin was too afraid of snakes to go to bed. Kermit tried to show him the better side of snakes by having him envision beautful dancing snakes. It works for Robin but the appearance of the snakes unnerves poor Kermit. Snakes ''are'' major predators of frogs...

* ''Triple'' subverted in the ''Bad Feng Shui'' episode of ''[[The Haunting Hour the Series]]'' which discusses this trope, and how it doesn't apply with Chinese folklore. However it ends up with a snakelike villain anyway. {{spoiler|Until it's revealed he's more of a misguided [[Literal Genie]], who thinks he's helping the protagonist.}}

 

 

== Music ==

* There's a [[Playground Song]] based upon a [[Shel Silverstein]] poem called "I'm Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor", which exploits the fear of a snake being able to eat a person.

{{quote|''Oh, heck! He's up to my neck!''

* "Ah don't like spiduhs an' snakes..."

* The Church's unfair but rocking "Reptile" makes use of explicit [[The Bible|Biblical]] symbolism.

* ''Many'' heavy metal bands ranging from Alice Cooper to Soundgarden to Symphony X use snakes as symbols of fear, and this translates to heavier music.

* [[Paula Abdul]]: HE'S A COLD HEARTED SNAKE! Look into his eyes, he's been tellin' lies.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game has several sets of Reptile-type monsters that either affirm or subvert this; the Venoms (evil corrupting snakes with [[Naga]]-like "gods"), Aliens (patterned off of the reptilian humanoid and Roswell Gray alien theories, but no official word on their allegiance), the Gagagigos (flip-flopped between evil and good, but now officially evil), and the Worms ([[Light Is Not Good|Light-Attribute, but horrendously ugly, and the enemies of the]] [[Dark Is Not Evil|Dark-Attribute Ally of Justice monsters]].

* One of the fictional series in ''[[Cartoon Action Hour]]'', "Warriors of the Cosmos," has a evil snake-human in the form Serpentina, but of course, that tabletop kisses the mouth of 1980s cartoons very hard.

* The ''[[Champions]]'' superhero RPG had the ubiquitous VIPER criminal organization as well as reptile-themed villains. One was King Cobra (formerly Dr. Timothy Blank), a Mad Scientist who discovered the Coil Gene, which mutates humans into super-powered reptilian creatures. He was his own first subject, of course. His goal is to turn every human in the world into reptiles... totally loyal to him, naturally. He's been a master villain in ''[[Champions]]'' for at least the last three editions of the game, probably longer.

* In the Ani-Earth [[Animal Superheroes]] setting for ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'', it is specifically stated that reptiles tend to be villains, with snakes as evil masterminds, lizards as mid-level bad guys and crocodilians as dumb mooks. Freedom City's [[Big Bad]], Overshadow, becomes Cobrashadow.

 

== Toys ==

* In the ''[[Beast Wars]]'' toys played the trope straight, usually. Dinosaurs, reptiles and arthropods where villainous Predacons. Interestingly fish, manta rays, sharks, and squid were Maximals. The main non-evil dinosaur was Dinobot, who abandoned the Predacons because he considered their leader incompetent, and ended up with the Maximals. He remained an only half-trusted anti-hero for much of the show, {{spoiler|but got a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] towards the end.}}

 

** Ridley, a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|giant pterodactyl cyborg]], and Kraid, a [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|humongous lizard]] with [[Made of Iron|optical shield-tough skin]], occupy the top of the Space Pirates chain of command ([[The Dragon|directly under]] [[Big Bad|Mother Brain]]). They're arch nemeses of [[The Hero|Samus Aran]] (Ridley in particular, given the series' backstory).

** The Reptilicus/Old Bryyonians in ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption'', who'll attack you on sight. To be fair, though, the lore entries that you can scan on Bryyo imply that they were fairly nice guys at one point, but more or less turned "evil" after a schism broke out between the "primal" ways of magic and the "new ways" of [[Science Is Bad|science]].

* In ''[[Ty the Tasmanian Tiger]]'', the main [[Mooks]] are frilled lizards. In the second game, however, a frilled lizard is the cook for Bush Rescue, and responds to Ty's surprise at seeing him with "Not all lizards are bad, you know!"

* From the ''[[Soul Calibur]]'' games:

** Throughout the game, players also encounter winged snakes called wind serpents. These serpents are almost always hostile to the player.

** The most obviously evil wind serpent is the father of them all, Hakkar the Soulflayer. Hakkar is either an offspring of or manifestation of the will of the [[Cosmic Horror|Old Gods]] and corrupted the entire jungle troll nation and damn near destroyed it completely. His hobbies included eating the souls and drinking the blood of those captured by his troll followers or, baring that, his followers themselves.

** There're even more nasty snakes in the expanded universe.

** The snake loa was never given the opportunity to do anything bad given what we see. The wind serpent loa is a rather nasty fellow, but not completely unjustified. He/she decides to spend his/her eternity as a now-incorporeal being torturing and murdering those who betrayed him over and over for shiggles. Then again, it does help you out, and they do sort of deserve it.

** Komodo Joe was said to run an illegal Cubic Zirconia fraud business, and the concepts released by the ''Crash Twinsanity'' developers showed that he would cheat Crash and Cortex out of Power Crystals while they ended up driving around a course in a car with no brakes.

** In the same game, Dingodile ends up hearing about the alleged treasure of the Evil Twins from Crash and Cortex, secretly follows them, makes base in the boiler rooms of the Academy of Evil, and ends up blasting Cortex out of said rooms when Cortex won't reveal where the treasure is to him (which is more a case of Cortex not understanding what he's asking for, anyway). He does appear in the handheld versions as a lackey of Cortex in Crash of the Titans, but it does seem that Cortex trusts him a lot less.

* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]''

** Played straight in the original ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', in which the [[Big Bad]] turns out to be the queen of a race of lizardmen hiding in a glorified magical bomb shelter.

*** In ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' Vaan's adoptive father figure Migelo is a Bangaa. But, then you have Ba'gam'nan's all-Bangaa hit-squad after you. Tellingly they are common enemies while the [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|cuter tribes]] Viera, Moogle, and Nu mou are not.

*** Bangaas are the race best integrated within the humes, hence why they're so common in the game. Contrast with the [[Pig Man|Seeqs]] who also appear as enemies and are treated like second-rate citizens.

*** The Lamiae are snake-women hybrids that routinely slay people and then raise the corpses to make an undead army.

*** The Mamool Ja are lizardmen who had once paid tribute to [[The Empire]] of Aht Urhgan, but have since tried to destroy it.

*** Poroggos are frogs that were able to walk due to [[A Wizard Did It|magic]], and actually were nice to the Tarutaru, thinking they were on good terms with the main races... too bad Windurst got scared of talking, magic-casting frogs and tried to kill them all. Now the Poroggos go around and hit adventurers with party-wiping magic.

*** Quadav are [[Turtle Power|turtle]] beastmen who actually had a nice life and weren't very nasty. This, of course, all went to hell when Bastok started taking and destroying the Quadav's homes so that the Republic could get more resources. Now the Quadav attack pretty much anyone they see, defending their homes with extreme prejudice.

* Far more often than not, when they're not player-controlled, the [[Lizard Folk|Sakkra]] are usually quite ready to attack others, in the ''[[Master of Orion]]'' series. Not helped any by their tendency to have the "Repulsive" racial trait, which severely limits communication and gives a negative modifier to diplomatic relations. Basically, you can't live with them, and if you slacked off on building a big fleet you can't kill them.

* In ''[[Contra]] [[Rebirth]]'' your enemies this time are the Neo Salamander Army trying to take over the Earth in the past and wipe out the Contra forces retroactively, but it's also subverted with Plissken, one of the unlockable allies in your game who's a blue Salamander and {{spoiler|is also Colonel Salamander, the leader of the entire army who changed his evil ways and joined Contra to do good, or for revenge.}}

* ''[[City of Villains]]'':

** This game features an enemy group called the Snakes, based in Mercy Island. Unlike most enemy groups (which are at least humanoid), the Snakes are literally anthropomorphic snakes who worship a deity called Stheno and wish to reclaim Mercy Island for themselves. Arachnos ends up using them as a test for new Destined Ones to see if they really have what it takes to be a supervillain. They tend to view these Snakes more as pests than anything else...

** ...Until you get to Operative Grillo's story arc in Grandville. You know those low level Snakes you stomped on as a newbie? {{spoiler|Snakes not only have a racial name (The S'lisur,) they're also descended from an Incarnate, which makes ''every single S'lisur'' partially an Incarnate. As in "Physical Embodiment of a ''God''" incarnate. And that Incarnate is ''still alive''. And she's ''PISSED'' that you've been killing her kids.}}

** Stheno is named after one of Medusa's unpleasant sisters in [[Greek Mythology]].

* ''[[Age of Wonders]]'' has the Lizard Men and the [[Our Dragons Are Different|Draconians]]. Both are portrayed as savage and believing in survival of the fittest, but their morality is neutral rather than evil.

* While the Gorn in [[Star Trek]] doesn't play this Trope straight, the ones in [[Star Trek Online]] sure do, though it probably doesn't help that they've been conquered by the [[Proud Warrior Race|Klingons]].

 

== Webcomics ==

* In one arc of ''[[The Wotch]]'', Anne and Robin turn into a snake and dragon respectively through changing [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2005-03-25 the dimension they're in].

* ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' has twin lizard boy bullies. And a nice girl Brooke Lynn who as a Melusine is sometimes considered scary by other students. She [http://www.eeriecuties.com/d/20090930.html uses] this intentionally [[Bully Hunter|on said bullies]], but is mostly shy about it.

* The horror story ''[http://everything2.com/user/grundoon/writeups/We+don%2527t+make+good+wives?author=grundoon We don't make good wives]'' explains why one should never [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock|Mode Lock]] a shapeshifting snake woman, no matter how much of a [[Cute Monster Girl]] you think she is.

* The ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' has not one, not two, not three, but ''four'' serpent-themed villain groups: the Serpent Society, the Viper Squad, the Venom Brotherhood, and finally the Cthonians, an ancient race of [[Snake People]] who predate humanity and want to bring back the rule of [[Eldritch Abomination|the Old Ones]].

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* '''Extremely''' evident in ''[[The Get Along Gang]]''. Some episodes had a turtle (of course) joining the Gang. The Cartoon Over-Analizations blog described him as "the Furry equivalent of a [[Token Minority]]".

* ''[[Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars|Bucky O Hare and The Toad Wars]]'' concerns an interplanetary war between the Toads and various mammalian species ([[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|of course]]). In one episode, a guy named Al Negator tries to get a job on Bucky's ship. As he's a shifty-looking reptile, the crew is generally suspicious. But Captain Bucky O'Hare hires him on anyway, making a big point of mentioning how he trusted the gunner Deadeye Duck, despite him being a pirate with somewhat questionable morals (and of course [[Morally-Ambiguous Ducktorate|a duck]]). So it looks like a "beauty is on the inside" or "different doesn't mean bad" kind of Aesop... until ''Al betrays them'', steals classified info, and sabotages the ship! So is the [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|message]] "[[Beauty Equals Goodness|if they look evil, they are evil]]"?

* ''[[The Swan Princess]]'' had evil alligators, and a heroic turtle.

** Anthro alligator Leatherhead is a villain in the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987|first cartoon]]; all other versions of the canon play him much more sympathetically, but he does tend to have a [[Unstoppable Rage|nasty temper control problem]] that can make him a threat even to his friends.

** And obviously, TMNT makes exceptions for certain "cute" reptiles, given the nature of its titular characters. Reptilian anthros are mostly good guys. The cartoon is a bit shakier about this as noted above. Then again, Leatherhead the alligator may be more a case of [[Carnivores Are Mean]]; not to get too graphic but a turtle's shell doesn't work so well against those jaws...

* Baron Silas [[Meaningful Name|Greenback]], [[Arch Enemy]] of ''[[Danger Mouse]]'', is a toad with a penchant for [[Greed]].

* ''[[Tuff Puppy]]'' has Francisco the crocodile, a member of [[Fun with Acronyms|DOOM]], and [[Shape Shifter|The Chameleon]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Reptile and Amphibian Tropes]]

[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]

[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]