Took a Level in Jerkass: Difference between revisions

* 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.

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Power Girl]] with her diet soda processing problem.

* Cyclops in ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', getting more and more obnoxious since Utopia.

* ''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.

* Batman to a ''huge'' extent in ''[[JLA: Act of God]]'', infamously.

* ''[[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.

* Ash of the ''[[Evil Dead]]'' series does this over time. In the first film he's basically a [[Final Girl|Final Guy]], by the second he's a [[Badass]] and in the third he's a full blown [[Jerkass]].

* Sarah Connor in ''[[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator 2]]'' is barely recognizable as the sweet-natured waitress from the first movie. The way she treats people, including her own son, uncomfortably evokes shades of [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] and [[He Who Fights Monsters|She Who Fights Monsters]]. Fortunately, she seems to get better by the end.

* Clopin from ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' is first introduced as the colorful narrator of the film, and the master of ceremonies at the Feast of Fools, where he was very kind to Quasimodo. However, near the end of the movie, he is now the bitter judge (his hand puppet serving as Quasi's defense) presiding over the Court of Miracles, and is now very mean to not only Quasimodo, but also Phoebus as well, and as a result he wanted the two both sentenced to death for being spies of [[Complete Monster|Frollo]] (they were actually working against Frollo, not for him). Had Esmeralda not showed up at the Court of Miracles to stop Clopin and tell him that both Quasi and Phoebus are trying to help them, Clopin would had actually killed them both.

* Rand al'Thor in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' gets harder and colder as the series goes on, a combination of the trials of his position and his traumatic experiences (he's pretty mad as of book 7 and spirals downward into insanity from then on). [[It Got Worse|This gets really bad]] in The Gathering Storm, where he starts alienating even his closest friends and allies {{spoiler|to the point of nearly killing his own father out of misplaced rage and paranoia}}, before finally having a breakthrough while {{spoiler|having a good old therapeutic [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] rant and conversation with the voice in his head upon the site of the death of his last incarnation 3000 years ago}}..

* Onestar from ''[[Warrior Cats]]''. He's a [[Nice Guy]] early on, but after becoming the leader of WindClan, he becomes more of a jerk as he attempts to prove his Clan's independence.

* King Orrin in the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]''. He begins as a somewhat dissolute, but brave and intrepid young man and a vital component of the Varden (Orik even says that the Varden couldn't exist without his hard and dangerous work). However, stress, as well as feeling under-appreciated and overshadowed lead to a drinking problem in between ''Brisingr'' and ''Inheritance'', which leads to his taking a level in jerkass.

 

* Ryan was one of the more likable and sympathetic characters in the first few seasons of ''[[The Office]]'', but his sudden rise to power at Dunder-Mifflin coincided with a massive increase in the size of his ego. His humiliating, highly public fall from grace only seemed to make things worse.

** This also seems to have happened with Pam, albeit to a lesser extent.

* Ross on ''[[Friends]]'' arguably becomes more [[Small Name, Big Ego|egotistical]] and obnoxious, if only to justify his [[Butt Monkey]] role.

* And Malcolm from ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]''.

* Vanessa and Jenny in ''[[Gossip Girl]]''. Jenny gains points for having gone from sweetheart-everyone-adores to being hated by pretty much all of the NJBC.

* Kengo from ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'' disappears after a couple of tragic events, then returns several episodes later [[Took a Level In Badass|with special training]] and a chip on his shoulder, especially regarding Wataru and Nago. Thankfully, [[Unexplained Recovery|he gets better]].

* Phoebe of ''[[Charmed]]'' seemed to take a level in jerkass at the end of her relationship with Cole.

* Admiral Adama drifts this way toward the end of the fourth season of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]''; after the disappointment of the {{spoiler|scorched Earth arc}}, he temporarily regresses from a respected leader into an angry, pathetic drunk.

* Nate from ''[[Six Feet Under]]'', even though the personality changes are very gradual and subtle. His idealistic, free-spirited nature doesn't mesh well with his family responsibilities in season 5.

** Similarly, Rico

** Sebastian Smythe is another example. Sure, he was always a jerk, but mostly in the "lovable rogue" sort of way. Some people even shipped him with Blaine or Kurt or both. Fewer people do now thanks to {{spoiler|him tampering the slushy, causing Blaine to need surgery.}}

** Becky was a sweet kid in Season one but under Sue Sylvester's influence became ean and cruel

** Artie has shown signs of this in Season 3, especially when he's playing director.

** Priya and Raj in season four. For Priya, she basically forbade Leonard and Penny to hang out together due to jealousy, then {{spoiler|she lies to Leonard about not moving back to India. For no adequate reason}}. [[Karma Houdini]] doesn't cover it. For Raj, he begun to have lust for Howard's fiance Bernadette (and when being told a rumor of them breaking up, wanted to date her even though Howard possibly wouldn't let that fly) and then after {{spoiler|[[It Makes Sense in Context|Penny falling asleep before they could have drunken sex]] still acted like an ass that slept with her.}}

* [[Doctor Who|The Doctor]] after losing too many close friends too many times, to the point that he snapped, said "screw history!" and declared himself the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Time Lord Victorious]]. Then [[Heel Realization|someone killed herself]] to save the future and brought him back to Earth.

** Garrosh will be taking this trope to its logical conclusion in ''Mists of Pandaria''. {{spoiler|The final raid dungeon is going to be a siege on Orgrimmar itself by both Alliance and Horde, because apparently at some point in the expansion Garrosh does something [[Moral Event Horizon|''so horrible'' that it disgusts ''everybody'']].}}

* Palom was an overeager, boastful, and sort of annoying character in the original ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', but that was probably excusable on account of him being five years old. In ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]'', though, he's kind of a dick for no readily apparent reason before softening up some.

* 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]].

** The third game sees the Asari and Salarian Councilors take a few levels in Jerkass (contrast to [[Took a Level In Kindness|the Turian Councilor]]). They, however, are beaten out by Quarian Admiral Han'Gerrel, who ''power-levels'' in Jerkass to the point of [[General Ripper|doing positively insane things]] in his attempt to wipe out the Geth, including firing on a Geth Dreadnaught ''while Shepard and Tali are still inside it''. {{spoiler|If you fail to broker peace between the Quarians and Geth, he [[Leeroy Jenkins|has his ships bullrush the upgraded Geth fleet and gets them all - and himself -massacred]], while he is positively furious if you manage to get the two species to make peace}}.

* Maggie's father in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]''. When you first meet him, he's a pitiable pauper who is distraught over his daughter being kidnapped. But when Maggie comes back with a massive fortune in Skull Necklaces, he turns into a selfishly greedy bastard who won't even let Maggie get letters from her (sort of) love interest.

** There's also Ingo from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]]''. While he was never the friendliest person in the game, he was nothing more than a disgruntled employee who complained about Talon's laziness when Link was a kid. After Ganondorf comes to power, he uses the Evil King's "good" graces to take the ranch for himself, exile Talon to Kakariko Village, and proceeds to generally make life miserable for Malon until Link returns and intervenes.

* Yukari in ''[[Persona 3]]''. She was genuinely [[The Cutie]] until FES' "The Answer", where she seems to have gained a [[Knight in Sour Armor|sour coating]] over her usual sugary sweet self. Though given the events of "The Journey", [[Your Mileage May Vary|some would see her as more of a]] [[Jerkass Woobie]], though later on [[It Gets Better|she gets better.]]

** 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.

** Cleveland has had some Jerkass moments since he got [[The Cleveland Show|his own show]].

** Connie went from being the standard [[Alpha Bitch]] to a downright bitch, which was best demonstrated when she made fun of Meg shortly after the latter returned to school from being in prison for three months (to compensate [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|she pays for this]], and a lot of her Jerkass moments, to dire extremes).

** Timmy himself has become more of a heartless asswipe each season. But thankfully not as awful as Norm the Genie's clone Timmy, whose extreme jerkiness causes his fairy god parents to quit their jobs.

* Johnny Canmore from ''[[Gargoyles]]'' is the youngest and most innocent of the Canmore siblings, and the least inclined to take up his family's ancient feud against the Demon and her kind. As the events of "Hunter's Moon" transpire, he becomes a Jerkass and decides to take up the hunt even as his older brother and sister decide to give up on it.

** And [[What Could Have Been|if the show had gotten a fourth season]], he apparently would've gotten even ''worse'': {{spoiler|taking over after Ultra Magnus dies, becoming a [[Knight Templar]] with an authoritarian regime...}} Sheesh!

* ''[[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".

** Mr Krabs can border into [[Faux Affably Evil]] territory in some episodes.

*** 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.

{{quote|'''Mr.Whiskers:''' I don't want any more of your stupid food! I don't want any more of your worthless cures! If you can't help me, I don't ever wanna see your ugly face ever again. I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!

'''Ed:''' [[The Woobie|Gee, if that's the way you *sniff* I mean if uh, all right then....]] }}

* This is the major problem [[Shrinking Violet|Fluttershy]] undergoes in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "Putting Your Hoof Down." [[Status Quo Is God|She got better]] after realizing, with a little help from Pinkie Pie and Rarity, that there are other ways of being assertive WITHOUT being nasty and mean.

** In the same episode, Angel the Bunny, always a little bit of a brat, has become violently abusive and borderline sociopathic, making unreasonable demands regarding his breakfast, and then throwing Fluttershy's best effort away for being short one cherry and kicking her out of the house. The closest he comes to any kind of apology is an expression of gratitude after he realises [[I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham|he enjoys Fluttershy's cucumber slices]], but then, it was only because of [[Death Glare|the Stare]] that he was willing to try them in the first place.

*** Angel [[Took a Level In Kindness]] in a later episode, so it kind of evens out.

*** There is a consistent fan theory that this is a ''prequel'' episode, showing an incident that occurred back before Twilight Sparkle arrived in Ponyville and before the cast had had any of their character development. Evidence in support of this theory: Twilight appears nowhere in the episode, the only Mane Cast members in the episode are those who were confirmed as already being friends or acquaintances with each other even back before the pilot episode, nothing they do is inconsistent with their season 1, episode 1 characterizations despite them all having substantially diverged or progressed from them since then, and [[Word of God]] is that some episodes are shown in achronic order.

** This tendency is common with most of the characters in the show, due to its tendency to deconstruct the character's flaws as part of the episode's Aesop. Usually one of the characters will become highly egotistical, neurotic or vindictive (or in some exaggerated cases, [[Sanity Slippage|borderline insane]]) for a brief point [[Once Per Episode]] before learning their lesson and reverting back. Rainbow Dash may be a slightly more consistent example, if only because she has gotten the lion's share of Aesops in recent episodes and thus required more frequently to act up.