Those Two Bad Guys: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:pulp fiction 123.58 de.jpg|link=Pulp Fiction|frame|"This type of work can get a bit...[[Bloody Hilarious|messy]], Mister Rope." "That it can, Mister Liche."]]

 

{{quote|''"But Mister Croup, we hurt people. We don't get hurt."

 

"[[Mister X and Mister Y|Mister Rope]], I believe someone's [[No Fourth Wall|reading our entry]]."

"Do you think we should [[Self-Demonstrating Article|explicate ourselves,]] Mister Rope?"

 

 

"May I continue with the [[Mr. Exposition|expositionizing]], Mister Rope?"

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]''

** Subverted with Wekapipo and Magenta Magenta in "Steel Ball Run". Although they make a good team combat-wise, they personally despise each other and eventually {{spoiler|Wekapipo makes a [[Heel Face Turn]].}}

** In Part 3, we have the Oingo Boingo Brothers and Hol Horse and J. Geil. Hol Horse and Boingo eventually team up after each of their partners is incapacitated.

* Cold-hearted assassin Kieth Baker and inept robber Sam Perkins in the [[Western]] manga ''[[Miriam (manga)|Miriam]]''. While they lack the duo dynamic usually present, and they don't usually work together, they fit the mold in a lot of other ways (like the customary occasional personality clash).

* In the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui", Jet is pursued by two of these guys, who also appear to be based on the Blues Brothers.

* [[Gender Flip|Female version]]: Sailor Aluminium Siren and Sailor Lead Crow in the ''Stars'' season of ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.

* Gatomon (pre-[[Heel Face Turn]]) and Demidevimon from ''[[Digimon Adventure]]''.

* You wouldn't know it from looking at them (or listening to them), at least at first, but {{spoiler|Walker and Erika}} of ''[[Durarara!!]]'' are [[Cold-Blooded Torture|absolutely]] [[Nightmare Fuel|terrifying]]. This is mostly because {{spoiler|their dialogue primarily consists of [[Otaku|anime and manga references]]}}, which would lead most people to think they're just kind of odd. Even better, {{spoiler|their nerdy hobbies}} end up influencing their [[Torture Technician|other hobby]], so there ends up being quite a bit of dissonance between their relatively innocent {{spoiler|love of anime and manga}} and their horrific threats.

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Erika}}:''' We'll torture you {{spoiler|based on the plot to one of these mangas!}}}}

* Christopher Shouldered and Hong Chi-Mei from ''[[Baccano!]]'' are two murderous [[Our Homunculi Are Different|homunculi]] prone to [[Seinfeldian Conversation]]s in between their murderous escapades—Or rather, Christopher is prone to [[Seinfeldian Conversation]]s while Chi plays his [[Straight Man]].

 

* Hazel and Cha-Cha of Gerard Way's ''[[The Umbrella Academy]]''. They like the simple things in life. Candy, cookies, pie. And dismembering innocent people with hack saws while plotting nuclear Armageddon.

* Burt Schlubb (Fat Man) and Douglas Klump (Little Boy) from ''[[Sin City]]'' aren't exactly killers, but still somewhat fit.

* The Satan Brothers in [[The DCU|DC]]'s ''[[Lobo]]''; again a Blues Brothers parody.

* [[Nightwing]] villains and [[Evil Albino]] twins the Pierce brothers, who, despite looking and dressing exactly the same, ''do'' have rather distinct personalities; Barry is a megalomaniac who tends to think only in terms of himself, while Buddy is somewhat dimwitted and easily manipulated.

* Cannon and Saber from the ''[[Vigilante]]'' comic in [[The DCU]]. [[Word of God]] confirms that this pair are gay.

** Cannon later appeared in ''Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink'' with a new partner, Slipknot.

* The ''Harley and Ivy'' miniseries featured Slash and Burn, who were all but directly stated to be, uh, ''close''.

 

* [[Cunning Like a Fox|J. Worthington "Honest John" Foulfellow]] and [[Cats Are Mean|Gideon]] from ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]''. They're a pair of con men who both like to get Pinocchio in trouble (such as performing for Stromboli and going to Pleasure Island). {{spoiler|[[Karma Houdini|And they actually both get away with it!]]}}

* Grem and Acer from ''[[Cars|Cars 2]]''.

** Ichy and Dil in ''IV''

* [[Cunning Like a Fox|Br'er Fox]] and [[Everything's Worse with Bears|Br'er Bear]] from ''[[Song of the South]]''.

* [[Jackie Chan]] fights two villains who fit the trope, first one at a time, and then both at once in the finale of ''[[Who Am I]]?''

* Jules and Vincent (pictured, played by [[Samuel L. Jackson]] and [[John Travolta]] respectively) from ''[[Pulp Fiction]]''.

* Possible Real Life example: Burke and Hare. Their cinematic versions in 1960's ''The Flesh and the Fiends'' definitely fit (and Donald Pleasance is particularly [[Evilly Affable]] as Hare).

* The Wet Bandits in ''[[Home Alone]]''.

* Jacko and Dwayne, the bumbling escaped convicts in the incredibly lame and Narm-riddled ''[[The Legend Of Wolf Mountain]]''.

* Spike and Iggy in ''[[Super Mario Bros. (film)|Super Mario Bros]]:'' ''[[The Movie]]''.

* ''[[Snatch]]'': Bricktop has a pair of thugs, Errol and John, who function like this.

* Agent Johnson and Agent Johnson, from ''[[Die Hard]]'', count, even if they're not technically bad guys.

* The [[Joss Whedon]] / Drew Goddard film ''[[The Cabin in the Woods]]'' has Hadley and Sitterson, who provide much of the film's humor as well as its most interesting characters.

 

* Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, the Old Firm, from [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Neverwhere]]''. "Obstacles obliterated, nuisances eradicated, bothersome limbs removed, and tutelary dentistry." Interestingly it [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] the [[Brains and Brawn]] nature of the pair by referring to them as [[Animal Stereotypes|"the fox and the wolf"]] at several points. One theory on that point is that they're actually [[Our Werewolves Are Different|different werewolves.]]

* The demons (Dukes of Hell) Hastur and Ligur in ''[[Good Omens]]'' also fit pretty well.

* Finney and Mudd from Tad Williams' Otherland series fit this trope extremely well... and their copies inside the Otherland network practically define it, since the network is essentially constructed out of story tropes.

* ''[[Discworld]]''

* Robert Asprin's ''[[Myth Adventures]]'' series has Guido and Nunzio, who work for the main character Skeeve as part of his new connection to the Mafia. It ends up neither one is that bad, and Guido has a history in the theater. And a degree in business administration. Also, Nunzio worked as an elementary school (primary school, for our royal cousins) teacher in the past. Also, oddly, as an [[Renaissance Man|animal trainer.]]

* Hawker and Boon, the schoolboy-suited Prefects from Jonathan Barnes' ''[[The Somnambulist]]''. They are called into service by a [[Black and Grey Morality|greyish]] protagonist, but they really are [[Complete Monster|not nice people]].

* In ''[[Warbreaker]]'', {{spoiler|Denth and Tonk Fah may qualify, though Denth is such an [[Affably Evil]] [[Magnificent Bastard]] that we don't know that they're bad guys for about half the book.}}

* Flingler and Dr. Roboy in ''[[The Yiddish Policemen's Union|The Yiddish Policemens Union]]''.

* Agents Myers & Franks from ''[[Monster Hunter International]]''. Myers is the polite, educated one, and Franks is the quiet, brutal one who's quite capable of curb-stomping the hero, Owen Pitt. (Owen managed to kill a rampaging werewolf with his bare hands in the opening chapter, so that should tell you just what a badass Franks is...) Both are full-blown [[Knights Templar]].

* Goss and Subby from [[China Mieville]]'s novel ''[[Kraken (novel)|Kraken]]''. With a twist. In fact, Miéville referenced this page in [http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/unsolving-city-interview-with-china.html an interview].

* In his days working for the Mafia-like Jhereg, Vlad Taltos had a pair of thugs working for him called Sticks and Shoen (basically "Sticks and Stone(s)"). [[The Napoleon|Shoen is short for his species and more of a brute]], whereas Sticks is very tall and is personable off the job.

 

* Mr. Breughel and Mr. Mahler from the US ''[[Max Headroom]]'' series. In a later episode it was revealed that Mr. Breughel had had to (ahem) replace Mr. Mahler with a new one.

* The two agents from the first episode of the second series of ''[[Spaced]]''.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' uses this trope occasionally, one example being Dibber and Sabalom Glitz in The Mysterious Planet.

* The Driscoll Brothers in ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' and ''[[The Green Green Grass]]''.

'''Danny Driscoll:''' [[The Mafiya|Consortium]]. }}

 

* In the prologue to the ''[[Scion]]'' sourcebook ''Hero'', Hugin and Munin, Odin's two talking ravens, behave this way. Although they're not so much "bad" as they are not very nice at all.

 

* The Fox and the Cat in the opera ''The Adventures of [[Pinocchio]]'' definitely qualify. Although a bit bumbling, and definitely comedic, their scenes can be ''intensely'' creepy. [[Ho Yay|And also a bit something else.]] They might not ''kill'' anyone outright, as they're rather poor at their jobs and more tricksters than assassins, but they certainly make a good try at it. (Such as ''trying to lynch Pinocchio for the five gold coins he got out of sympathy from the puppet show owner''.)

* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of ''[[Hamlet]]'' and ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]'' fame counted—they might not be straight up villains in ''[[Hamlet]]'' but they definitely qualify.

* The trio of nameless villains in the Kurt Weill opera ''Die Bürgschaft'', who take dirty work where they find it.

 

* A bit of a subversion, but [[Punny Name|Tenta and Tickles]] from ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' count as this. They are actually only tentacles, given voice by the squid [[Punny Name|Khalamari]].

* Kariya and Uzuki from ''[[The World Ends With You]]''. For their appropriate definition of "death", anyway.

* Jasper and Frank from ''[[Echo Bazaar]]''.

* [[Ars Goetia|Belial and Nebiros]] from ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]''. They play the role of [[Papa Wolf|Papa Wolves]] to [[Creepy Child|their]] [[Came Back Wrong|beloved]] [[Dark Magical Girl|adopted daughter]] [[Alice Allusion|Alice]].

* The Twinrova witches Kotake and Koume in several ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' games.

 

* Dom and Ed from ''[[Megatokyo]]'', though they are enemies.

* The Caterers of Calumny, Texto Porfiria and Zuzux Uzbochs, in ''[[Unicorn Jelly]]''. Their favorite modus operandi is rather unusual—they pose as caterers and serve poisoned food.

* The [[Lizard Folk|reptilian]] [[Bounty Hunter|bounty hunters]] Gannji and Enor from ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''.

* The two robbers in one of the earlier ''[[Girly]]'' arcs. Arguably, the two-headed turtle may fit in this category as well.

 

* ''[[Broken Saints]]'' has two pairs: [[Sociopathic Soldier]]s Lt. Charles and Lt. Bravado, and strip club bouncers Phobos and Deimos. Also, all four of them could qualify as [[Giant Mook]]s.

* From the point of view of the [[Mary Sue]] victims, most [[PPC]] agent pairs are this. The agents' opinions may vary.

* ''[[Bowser's Kingdom]]'' has Hal and Jeff.

 

* Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' (a homage to [[Diamonds Are Forever|Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd]]).

* ''[[Static Shock]]''

** Puff and Onyx, too, a little.

* In ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'': Mr. Touch and Mr. Go.

* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''

** Watch and Ward, who are constanly bickering and trip each other up at every turn. Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch might qualify, too.

** Kevin and Tim-Tom, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch's Murderous Moppets, definitely fit all known qualifications for this trope.

** A [[Lampshade Hanging]]:

'''The Monarch:''' Right, right, right, the one that sounds like Ray Romano. I like him. }}

** Just any duo voiced by Hammer and Publick might qualify for this.

* [[Dumb Muscle]] Korg and his secretly [[Not So Harmless]] [[Butt Monkey]] Zet in ''[[Magi Nation]]''.

* Gila and Diesel from ''[[Night Hood]]''.

* Gutsman and Cutman in the Ruby-Spears ''[[Mega Man (animation)|Mega Man]]'' production. [[Dumb Muscle|Shame about their IQs.]] Elecman and Bombman are a less frequent but definite evil duo.

** Though more [[jerkass]]es than true bad guys, Tad and Chad fit this role.

** HP and Sanderson.

* ''[[Invader Zim]]'': Almighty Tallest Red and Purple. An interesting example, because they're technically the [[Big Bad Duumvirate]], but since Zim is the main villain trying to take over the Earth they mostly just act as [[MacGuffin|Mac Guffins]], exposition or comic relief.

* Skulk and Sammy from ''[[The Little Flying Bears]]''.

* Dick Dastardly and Muttley were popular enough on [[Wacky Races]] to [[Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines|get their own show the following season.]]

* Boris and Natasha from ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]''.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Foil]]

[[Category:Hired Guns]]

[[Category:Ensembles]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]