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Took a Level in Jerkass: Difference between revisions
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Due to unexplained happenings during the [[Time Skip]], Hei of ''[[Darker Than Black]]'' has gone from a ruthless [[Anti-Hero]], to a ''drunk'' ruthless [[Anti-Hero]] with an unwanted [[Morality Pet]]. {{spoiler|Hei had been nicknamed "Chinese Electric [[Batman]]", but unfortunately, he's just "Chinese Batman" since he was [[Brought Down to Badass]].}}
* ''[[Bleach]]'' uses this trope every now and then, such as in the Hueco Mundo arc with Ichigo's infamous scene with his childhood friend Tatsuki demanding to know why their classmate Orihime had suddenly vanished. The dialogue seemed to be setting up for a classic "[[It's Not You, It's My Enemies]]" speech, but instead he coldly told her that it had nothing to do with her. The very next page is him getting his head put through a window. There is also the scene where Yamamoto deems Orihime a traitor shortly after being kidnapped (which is a big reason why some fans deem him a [[Knight Templar]]). While both of those characters received a fairly substantial amount of [[What the Hell, Hero?]] plenty of fans have felt that they could have handled those situations a lot better.
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* Oh Lordy, Nakai from ''[[Bakuman｡]]''. When he's first introduced he was desperate to get a manga serialization despite not succeeding in ten years. Through much perseverance he proves himself to fellow manga artist Aoki and the two do manage to start up a serialization. However, once he gets a taste of success it goes right to his head and he starts acting like an arrogant, womanizing asshole, alienating most of his friends and colleagues, ultimately getting himself canceled and decides to quit manga and go back home. {{spoiler|Recently he's returned to the business, but not only is he working for Nanamine, the first unambiguously "evil" rival in the series, but both his appearance and personality have grown even more slovenly and repulsive during the interim.}}
* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'': This happened in the backstories of both Kyouko and Homura.
* Chiba and Maho from ''[[Wandering Son]]'' have taken this in recent chapters. In Maho's case, it might be because she hit puberty.
* ''[[Naruto]]'': Sakura in the fillers. While she started to genuinely warm up towards Naruto, the fillers seem to ignore the poor girl's [[Character Development]] for the sake of [[Played for Laughs|humor]]. This got to the point where she started taunting Naruto for his misery in the third movie.
** Let's not forget Sasuke.
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* Arguably, Medaka of ''[[Medaka Box]]''. Since [[Bigger Bad|Ajimu]] has introduced five "''normal''" people to her, Medaka no longer views Zenkichi as someone special to her since he couldn't pass the first trial of a test she gave the normals. Then she actively tries to turn him into her enemy by acting cold and offensive just so she can see value in him again. Kind of sad considering it's a combination of her abnormality and her personality that causes her change like this since she can't understand failure or things from a "weak" perspective. She even goes as far as {{spoiler|using an abnormality that makes her weaker than Zenkichi and goes all out in a fight against him. Since Zenkichi isn't really willing to fight her at this point she mops the floor with him. However the abnormality she used is a "perfected version" of Kumagawa's Bookmaker and isn't meant for fighting, but for allowing the person affected to feel the world from the opponents perspective.}}
* Takanashi from ''[[Working]]'' is suddenly a lot gruffer in the second season. [[Justified]] in that dealing with [[Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male|Inami]] will do that to you. Then inverted in that he becomes super-nice to her with even less explanation.
* Chiaki Yoshino from [[Sekaiichi Hatsukoi]] went from [[Innocently Insensitive|bratty but well meaning]] [[Adult Child]] to immature [[Jerkass]]. This might be justified as he's dating his best friend Hatori who is a [[Yandere]] and given that {{spoiler|he was [[Rape as Drama|brutally raped]] and then suddenly forced the two into a relationship based on [[Living Emotional Crutch|co-dependancy]]}} pretty much made him worse as shown when his relationship with his best friend [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|Yanase]] is strained given that he fails to understand Yanase's feelings and not only turns him down multiple times in the worse way possible but constantly rubs salt on the wound. It gets to the point that Yanase does call him out on his attitude...unfortunately, it means nothing in the next episode where Chiaki pulls a huge [[Jerkass]] moment that the fanbase [[Never Live It Down|won't let him live down]] and generally through him into [[The Scrappy]] territory.
== Comic Books ==
* The title character of ''[[Funky Winkerbean]]'' was something of a pessimist as an adult, but still mostly a nice guy. After [[Time Skip]] #2, he became a grumpy, avaricious [[Jerkass]].
* [[Ant-Man|Hank Pym]] in the [[Marvel Universe]], though this fluctuates [[Depending on the Writer]].
* Although he was already kind of a jerk, [[Iron Man]] during the [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]/SecretInvasion period was borderline approaching villain status. Thankfully, [[Iron Man (film)|the movie]] helped him to get the better of it.
* [[Batman]] has an on-and-off again history of this. ''[[All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder]]'' probably takes the cake though.
* Nearly every incarnation of [[Incredible Hulk|The Hulk]] goes through periods where he goes from [[The Woobie|Woobie]] to [[Jerkass Woobie]] to just plain [[Jerkass]].
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* [[Namor]] with his oxygen-processing problem.
* [[Power Girl]] with her diet soda processing problem.
* Cyclops in ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', getting more and more obnoxious since Utopia.
* In his earlier appearances, Curt Connors of ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' was a reasonably sympathetic character when he wasn't [[Super-Powered Evil Side|the Lizard]], and even as the Lizard retained some protective instincts towards his family. He was [[Retcon|retconned]] into being [[Evil All Along]], and as of ''The Gauntlet'' he {{spoiler|completely lost control of the Lizard persona and ''killed and ate his own son''}}. After that, his more sympathetic characterization likely won't be coming back any time soon.
* ''Everybody'' in Archie Comics' [[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]] during Ian Flynn's run. Sonic was derailed to the point where he dissed Tails' parents in front of him and didn't apologize, and Fiona spontaneously turned evil despite the fact that nothing in the comics' past could have possibly hinted at such a turn. Even '''Tails''', the lovable eight-year-old child genius, was turned into a lovesick, smug, self-aggrandizing show-off.
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* ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'': Gaston starts out as a mostly-harmless [[Handsome Lech]]. When it becomes clear his charms have no effect on Belle, he attempts to blackmail her into marrying him by having her father committed to the insane asylum under false pretenses. And just when you don't think he can sink any lower, he realizes that the Beast is the object of Belle's affection, and rallies a [[Angry Mob Song|lynch mob]] to kill him. And when ''that'' fails he stabs the Beast after the latter decides to spare his life.
* Anakin Skywalker from ''[[Star Wars]]''.
* Harry Osborn in the ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'' franchise. Lashing out at Peter in the second movie and acting like a douche bag for most of his scenes. In the third film he gets better via a little [[Easy Amnesia]], but then reverts to full blown [[Rival Turned Evil]]. Mary Jane also becomes increasingly self centered as the series progresses. She has [[No Sympathy]] for [[The Woobie|Peter despite all the problems he has]], refuses to hear his side of the story as to why he missed her play, and in the third movie she resents Spider-Man's popularity for ''saving people's lives''. Even Peter himself took a level in the third movie. He develops a little [[Acquired Situational Narcissism]] in the beginning and then he got the [[Venom (Comic Book)|Venom]] symbiote. You know the rest.
* ''[[The Wedding Singer]]'': Glenn Guglia morphs from a normal, loving fiance to a caricature of a [[Handsome Lech]].
* ''[[Titanic]]'' has the obnoxious aristocrat Caledon "Cal" Hockley, who starts out as a pompous, misogynistic [[Jerkass]]. He soon graduates to smack his fiancee around, trying to frame Jack for burglary, and when things ''really'' start to go south, kidnapping and attempted murder.
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** In the third game his level in Jerkass manifests itself as a ''[[Super-Powered Evil Side]]''. At this point the Prince realizes how bad he's gotten and [[Character Development]] ensues.
* In ''[[Condemned]]'', Ethan Thomas is a nice enough guy, a gifted investigator, but personality-wise, he was never too impolite, despite clearly being under some MAJOR stress. Come the sequel, Ethan's undergone about a year of alcoholism as well as some [[Jerkass]] power leveling. He curses all the time and is routinely impolite and distrustful towards everyone who tries to help him. This is in fact underlined by the change in his voice actor and character design (he went from an [[Ambiguously Brown]] SCU agent wearing a nondescript police uniform, to a rather less ambiguously Caucasian bum in grunge clothes). The personality change is possibly justified by the year of vagrancy and the events of the first game.
* [[Tales of Graces|Hubert Ozwell]] is regarded to be the king of this trope, and one of the biggest in-series trolls, in the ''Tales'' fandom. For those not in the know, he starts off as a weak, and easily-terrified little boy, but seven years down the line [[Took a Level In Badass|he takes about a million levels in badass]] due to {{spoiler|being adopted into the military-based Ozwell family}}. When he reunites with his older brother, Hubert reveals that {{spoiler|part of the alliance his new nation has with Windol is that they get Lhant, the brothers' homeland, and then Hubert proceeds to [[Limit Break|Blast Caliber]] Asbel into next week, exile him from Lhant, blow their mother off when she tries to intervene, and then sets himself up as the one running the shots}}. Yeah... Hubert becomes kind of a douche.
* Saïx from ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2|Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days]]'' goes from being the emotionless bastard we all know and love to smack around in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' to having his behavior borderline [[Complete Monster]] proportions in regards to Xion. Many were happy to learn that you get to fight him again near the end of the game. His beat down was much deserved. That's what happens when you talk smack about Xion like that. That's right, Roxas kicks your ass. This is especially true because Isa was a pretty decent guy in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Birth By Sleep]]''. The rest of the Org. doesn't really suffer any drastic personality changes beyond losing the ability to truly care about others, yet Isa goes from a stoic but reasonably friendly boy to the borderline [[Complete Monster]], cold-blooded Jerkass Saïx.
** Some fans have suggested from certain changes in Saix's appearance (the pointed ears, lightened hair color, and perhaps most ominously, yellow eyes) that Isa may have been corrupted by darkness ''before'' he turned into a Nobody, which would certainly explain a lot...
* Eric Sparrow from ''[[Tony Hawks Under Ground]]'' went from the Player's friend to the game's antagonist who was taking credit for everything you did.
** Ironically, between ''THUG'' and ''THUG 2'' he [[Took a Level In Dumbass]] and is treated as an incompetent loser in the latter.
* Peter Venkman in ''[[Ghostbusters the Video Game]]'' is a huge jerk compared to his occasional niceness in [[Ghostbusters|the movies]].
** [[Word of God]] is that this was partly intentional: he and Dana were having relationship difficulties and were apart at the moment, causing him to be a little... grumpy.
* ''[[Warcraft]]'': Garrosh Hellscream went from being an obscure emo kid trying to find his purpose in life to being a disrespectful, belligerent, loudmouthed [[Jerkass]].
** He suffers it again in Cataclysm, and randomly becomes racist. Despite not discriminating and even being friendly with the player in Nagrand. In short he's a walking [[Conflict Ball]].
** At the same time, he also seems to get rid of a few Jerkass elements too, ironically. For instance, while he is one of the major reasons as to why the war between the Alliance and Horde has reemerged, there are things he simply won't stand for. First off, he specifically does ''not'' approve of Sylvanas raising the newly dead on the battlefield to replenish the ranks of the Forsaken. He also gets really pissed off when he finds out that one of his commanders has been attacking night elf settlements to kill civilians. He is also the one who drives the Grimtotems out of the Horde when he finds out that they were responsible for]] {{spoiler|Cairne's death.}}
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* Before the [[Full Motion Video|FMV]] games, Admiral Tolwyn, from the ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' games and novels, was a gruff but overall fair person. Starting with WC3, though, he became Admiral Asshole (possibly due to [[Typecasting]] of [[Malcolm McDowell]], the actor that played him), and continued on to [[Recycled in Space|Space]] [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazi]] in WC4. William Forstchen's [[Novelization|novelizations]] of those two games tried to lessen that a bit, but was limited by the game scripts he was writing from.
* Nathan Spencer in the 2009 ''[[Bionic Commando]]'' sequel.
* [[Soul Series|Taki]] takes one between ''Soul Calibur III'' and ''IV''. She goes from hunting demons and fighting those like Cervantes who want the power of Soul Edge to hunting demons and fighting those affiliated with Soul Edge, fighting ex-villains and people affiliated with Soul Calibur, and fighting good guys or neutral parties who ''might'' become affiliated with one of the swords. Nearly every character's story path involves Taki trying to kill them at one point. It's certainly not helped that while she does this she accuses ''everyone'' but herself of being evil and delusional and makes some verbal [[Kick the Dog|low blows]] against [[The Atoner|Siegfried and Ivy]].
** Within ''Soul Calibur III'''s [[Unexpected Gameplay Change|Chronicles of the Sword]] mode, Abelia, your friendly rival at the start of the story and, slightly later, useful ally, turns full tilt into a [[Knight Templar]] halfway through, complete with a costume change and deeper, more aggressive voice bank.
* Liara acts cold and distant in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', even if you were lovers by the end of the first game. She also has developed a ruthless streak, and both threatens people with violence and casually has her enemies murdered. If you persist, help her out, and make effort to get her come out of her shell, [[Jerkass Facade|she eventually reveals that most of her current behavior is a mask,]] [[Survivor Guilt|resulting from losing Shepard in the beginning of the game.]]
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== Western Animation ==
* Bloo from ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends|Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' is shown as the perfect [[Imaginary Friend]] in the pilot/TV movie, but just one episode later he has become a self-absorbed jerk who verbally and physically abuses Mac [[Once Per Episode]].
** Living in an [[Orphanage of Love]] might ironically have something to do with it. He wasn't used to having so much freedom before moving into Foster's, so it probably inflated his ego.
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* [[Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight|Krusty the Clown]] from ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' went from being a slightly weary and cynical old showbiz figure, to a greedy, shameless sellout who doesn't care the slightest if his licensing products are crappy, or even downright dangerous.
** A large amount of the cast have evolved this way as the show has leaned into zanier more satirical territory. Even Marge and Lisa act rather mean spirited or outright unstable at times.
* Geoff from ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' undergoes this in season two when, as the host of the aftermath show, he let fame go to his head, to the point where he tried to drop an anvil on his former friend DJ and feed Gwen to a [[Piranha Problem]].
** The case can also be made for Courtney after her return to the show in season two. She went from being a slightly stuck-up and haughty girl who was still civil enough to be the [[Team Mom]], to a scheming, spoiled princess who uses her lawyers to cheat her way to numerous advantage on the show. She basically transformed from a significantly more good version of [[Rich Bitch|Heather]] to a straight up [[Expy]].
*** In ''World Tour'', both Geoff and Courtney (the latter at least in the first half of the season) are back to form, only for Cody, Gwen, and Duncan to get jerkier.
* [[Family Guy|Peter Griffin]], after his show was [[Uncanceled]], goes from being a basically-good [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] to more of a full-on, often malevolent [[Jerkass]]. Likewise, his son, Chris Griffin, seems to be [[Took a Level in Jerkass|taking a level in jerkass]] as of late.
** Cleveland has had some Jerkass moments since he got [[The Cleveland Show|his own show]].
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* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' does this with the title character, and Mister Krabs. While Squidward is a [[Jerkass]] he's pretty much been one from the start.
** A good example of SpongeBob being more of a jerk comes in "A Pal for Gary". He gets some freakish pet, which constantly ruins Gary's life. And [[Jerk with a Heart of Jerk|SpongeBob]] constantly punishes the poor snail. Even after said snail saved him from the pet's horrific attempt to eat them.
** Patrick even more so. The prime example? The episode "Rule Of Dumb".
*** There's an episode "Yours, Mine, and Mine", where Patrick 'borrows' money from SpongeBob to 'share' a Krabby-meal together. He of course eats the whole thing himself. Mr. Krabs then makes Sponge pay ''extra'' for the toy (which is really just a Krabby Patty that Krabs dressed up as a doll. ''[[Took a Level in Jerkass|Score one Jerkass point for Mr. K!]]'') Patrick then claims that since he and Spongebob are still 'sharing' that he gets to play with it. Long story short, Pat eventually never lets SpongeBob play with the 'toy' (that he paid for!) and Pat inevitably ''eats it'' just so he can't have it. ...After the two eventually make-up, Pat offers to pay for some new toys, '''by using SpongeBob's wallet!.'''
** Mr Krabs can border into [[Faux Affably Evil]] territory in some episodes.
** "The Card", revolves around SpongeBob getting a rare Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy card, and lending it to Patrick for a while. However, Patrick abuses the card in so many ways (using it as a lockpick, grilling it and eating it in a Krabby Patty, scratching his back with it) you'd think he's actually doing this all just to torture SpongeBob, who gets increasingly stressed and worried about the card. [[Sarcasm Mode|Surprisingly enough]], after doing much more dangerous things with it (such as potentially smashing it or setting it on fire), when [[SpongeBob]] warns him, Patrick just says, "[[Took a Level in Jerkass|You can't expect my usual brand of stupidity, SpongeBob. I like to mix it up. Keep you on your toes]]." And Patrick flimsily makes it up to the [[Too Dumb to Live]] [[SpongeBob]] by just giving him new cards. Most people would have ''at least'' demanded forgiveness for how he freaked out his friend.
*** Actually, it was Patrick who got the card. SpongeBob had been tearing through pack after pack but eventually ran out of money. Patrick bought the last pack, and voila, he got the card. Patrick said he could have it later, but destroys it before SpongeBob can get it. Then Patrick gives him the four OTHER identical cards that he got in the same pack. Still, this doesn't change much. Patrick still knew how important that card was to SpongeBob. Yet he didn't care and deliberately tried to destroy it, as mentioned above. Stupid episode is stupid.
** Conversely, Squidward and Plankton have become more sympathetic characters as the characters [[Designated Hero|we're (apparently) supposed to like]] have taken copious levels in jerkass.
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* It's very easy to forget that [[King of the Hill|Peggy Hill]] was actually nice at the beginning of the show. She didn't start showing her egotism until season 3 and wasn't even a jerk about it until season 4.
* ''[[Ka Blam!|Ka Blam]]'': June started out as a prankster with an enormous heart, but season three-ish, she became more of a [[Jerkass]]. Season four ended this.
* Velma on ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated|Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated]]'' has been noted to have taken on Jerk Ass traits, but only because she can't get time with Shaggy to herself due to Scooby Doo himself. She'll be [[Jerkass]] to start then sadly wistful (to her mom: "Am I radioactive?"). In the heat of the "love triangle", Scooby had taken on the [[Jerkass]] label as well, being as pushy as Velma in forcing him to "choose". Currently, now that Shaggy chose him, Scooby's remorseful at how sad Velma is over it and is trying to make up, but conversely, Velma's [[Jerkass]] level has risen with the rejection, making a reconciliation difficult.
** Episode 15 shows that she might be getting over herself a little; she resents Scooby but she draws the line at his getting hurt.
** Daphne had one temporarily in Episode 6, becoming a Hex Girl and stating that her new name was Crush. She reverts back to normal at the end.
** {{spoiler|Also, it's speculated that she might go into this against Velma, due to Velma having not told them a ''very'' important secret that was partially the reason why the gang split up.}}
* Pietro Maximoff on ''[[X-Men: Evolution|X-Men Evolution]]'' started as a minor antagonist/rival with some [[Jerkass]] traits; when season two hit, he was the only one who doesn't become sympathetic & by the end of the series he takes a level in Jerkass by revealing that Mystique had been impersonating the Professor so she could blow up the mansion, something Pietro and the other Brotherhood members not only knew, but likely helped. Then he fucks EVERYONE over by joining the Acolytes, Magneto's new team, since he had been [[The Mole]] the whole time. Then when Magneto lets the Brotherhood join him he puts Pietro in charge, who has Toad work as a ''TV antenna'', and Blob make him thousands of sandwiches, each time throwing them back in his face for the tiniest detail until Blob ''cries''.
** Next season, Pietro taunts his sister [[Scarlet Witch|Wanda]] until she accidentally derails a train, which unintentionally ends up painting them as heroes to the public & rewarded with cash; he then stages several accidents so they can cash in, ultimately framing the X-Men when they catch on of misusing their powers on a rampage, before deciding to derail another train to send it all home. When he finds out that this time many more people are in danger, he decides to leave quickly out of fear and selfishness, knowing full well that ''many people are going to die'' because of his own selfishness. And this is ''after'' he was an accomplice in his own sister's [[Mind Rape]] and persuaded Toad not to reveal the truth to her.
** Irony is he's a [[Draco in Leather Pants/Western Animation|Draco in Leather Pants]], so the fangirls who actually build up the ''X-Men Evolution'''s [[Fan Dumb]], interprets ''him'' as the only good member of the Brotherhood, despite the fact that, arguably, he's the most self-centred character the series. Apocalypse is a [[Knight Templar]] who wishes for the world to become a Mutant utopia, [[Magneto]] is a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] who wants to avoid another Holocaust, every other Brotherhood member has redeeming qualities (especially Avalanche), Colossus is an [[Anti-Villain]] under [[Blackmail]], Gambit is a hired Merc/thief who had some [[Pet the Dog]] Moments, Sabertooth and Pyro are just plain crazy... but Pietro is a calculating, selfish dick who serves only himself (and his father isn't a sufficient excuse for some of the shit he pulls).
* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Dr. Scientist was more-or-less neutral in the first season. However, in "Heads Will Roll" he becomes a full blown villain, tormenting Heloise. This could just be the result of not having a major role before then.
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[[Category:Took a Level In Jerkass]]
[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]
[[Category:The Jerk Index]]
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