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Screwy Squirrel: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Now '''that's''' comedy!"''|'''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Slappy Squirrel]]''', [[Catch Phrase|usually after a particularly nasty act of violence]].}}
A protagonist who mercilessly pranks characters primarily for his own (and the audience's) amusement. This is sometimes over a minor slight where the character is annoyed that the perpetrator doesn't even acknowledge it. Often the product of a disturbed animator, the character's pranks are sometimes of the [[Dude, Not Funny]] category.
Many writers of original animated shorts felt it was more [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist|difficult to sympathize]] with an obviously clever lead doing this kind of thing too often. A famous comparison is the early "[[Tex Avery]] style" [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]], who was zany on sheer principle (or better yet, [[Bob Clampett]]'s take on Bugs, which portrayed him as a manic, short tempered egotist who breaks down when met with someone of his own wile). [[Chuck Jones]] turned Bugs into a [[Karmic Trickster]]. He was paired with bombastic or life-threatening antagonists who deliberately threaten or mistreat him without provocation. Given that he responds only in retaliation or in self-defence, Bugs was more easily excused for his behavior, and even then he tended to play on the stupidity of his enemies rather than outright aggression. A problem with this moral logic of the encounter was that it is always incredibly one-sided, since Bugs is obviously almost never at any real risk. It shades into [[Why Did You Make Me Hit You?]].
On the bright side, this kind of character will rarely, if ever, cause any permanent or serious damage to their victims, mainly due to the downtoning of this trope. Modern examples of this trope will usually result in a [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]], who, while causing other characters a lot of annoyance, at least can manage to notice when they have gone too far even for them. They are trying to amuse themselves, after all, and some levels can flat out be disturbing even to them. Writers also frequently took pleasure in showing the odd occasion where such pranksters to [[Hypocritical Humor|have absolutely no sense of humor]] when it is [[
If the [[Screwy Squirrel]] is an otherworldly being, the character may also be an [[Amusing Alien]] or a [[Great Gazoo]].
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Not to be confused with [[Crazy Awesome]] or [[Nutty Squirrel]] (for actual squirrels).
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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* [[Hayate Cross Blade|Amachi]] [[Large Ham|Hitsugi]], being the head of an [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]], often uses her powers to amuse herself, usually at the expense of others.
* [[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Tomo]] may be an unintentional version of this trope, strangely enough. She is a good example of what a [[Jerkass]] with [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|ADHD]] can become when she tries a bit too hard to be a [[Genki Girl]].
* [[Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu|Guu]] is a [[Deadpan Snarker]] who spends most of her time pulling various pranks on Hale using her [[Reality Warper|seemingly unlimited powers]]. Of course, with Hare + Guu being a [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs?|rather]] [[Widget Series|screwy]] anime in the first place, the fact that one of the main characters is a [[Screwy Squirrel]] is to be expected.
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** ...and he's now a ''[[Marvel Universe|supervillain]].'' Interesting.
** Or a [[Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok|pint-sized detective]], depending on who you believe.
*** [[Discworld (Literature)|It could]] [[
** I prefer to believe he's currently [[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki|animating a stuffed animal,]]
** Hell no, he's planning {{spoiler|to sacrifice dozen of other gods to reclaim his own divinity with his old pal}}, er, [[American Gods (Literature)|nowhere to be found]].
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** The Warners were a less-lampshaded but more prominent example. They typically act as hyperactive [[Constantly Curious]] children who ask questions, glomp and kiss every [[Hello Nurse]] in sight, and perform gags whenever it strikes them, But otherwise, they're generally harmless until someone acts like a real [[Jerkass]], at which point they label him their "Special Friend", and turn into Karmic Tricksters.
*** One episode depicted them being forced to contend with an overly nice Maria Von Trapp-type character. They realized that they couldn't justify tormenting her when she hadn't been cruel to them like most of their foes, making them more Bugs Bunnies than Screwy Squirrels. Their solution? Summon Slappy, who of course had no problem with violently dealing with ''anyone''.
*** In another episode they tormented a television anchorman who refused to tip them for delivering his food. The episode established the anchorman as a supreme [[Jerkass]] before the Warners appeared but he only didn't tip the Warners because they arrived late, got the order wrong and then ate the food anyway. It came across as [[Laser
**** They had probably [[No Fourth Wall|been watching the episode before they appeared.]]
** Slappy probably gets away with it because [[Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!|she's at Social Security age]].
*** Sometimes we see clips of her old cartoons. Aside from being a sprightly young [[Artistic Age|probably twenty-something]], the only real difference is that she's ''cheery'' about it.
* Quite a few of the early ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'' shorts portray have Jerry going after Tom with little to no reason--yet the poor cat still gets the shit end of the stick.
** Not always, most of the time when Jerry goes from protecting himself to being a [[Jerkass]], [[Karmic Retribution|Tom pulls out with the win]], [[Karma Houdini|but not always]]. Similarly there were a lot of times Tom was less intent on catching Jerry and [[For the Lulz|just tormenting him for kicks]].
*** [[Depending On the Writer|Until Chuck Jones came anyway.]]
* One of these turned up on ''[[Clone High]]''. "Try and catch me, [[This Is
* [[The Simpsons (Animation)|Itchy and Scratchy]]. The entirety of the Simpsons' [[Show Within a Show|show within a show within a show]]'s purpose was to take this trope to the nth+ 1 degree, where Itchy is a violently psychopathic mouse that revels in repeatedly murdering Scratchy the cat in unbelievably graphic and gory ways. Interestingly, the supposed wrongs that Itchy is paying back are never shown or implied in the slightest. Itchy is merely portrayed as being an unrepentant psycho.
** Likewise, virtually all of the ''Simpsons'' characters react to Itchy's horrific cartoon sadism, by screaming with laughter.
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