Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,536
edits
m (remove unneccessary quote box template) |
No edit summary |
||
(23 intermediate revisions by 8 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
▲[[File:Orderofthestick_9699.png|link=The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|frame|Approval from a teammate whose evil is measured in "[[Hiroshima As a Unit of Measure|Kilonazis]]".]]
{{quote|''"You know, applause from you makes me wanna shower."''
|'''[[Spider-Man]]''', ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''}}
So our once-spotless protagonist has just performed a bit of [[Dirty Business]]. Or worse, in a moment of weakness, they've done something [[Moral Dissonance|unambiguously wrong]], perhaps even [[Not So Different|lowering themselves to the level of the villain.]] Either way, their [[Fatal Flaw|character flaws]] have just been [[What You Are in
Sometimes the hero in question will be [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|knocked back to their senses]] by [[What the Hell, Hero?|a stern admonishment from people they respect.]] What can be even more shocking, however, is [[Baddie Flattery|when they receive praise from a person they detest]]. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|"Nice one,"]] cackles the evil villain, "and I thought ''I'' was the bad guy, here." At this point, the hero usually realizes that they must have [[My God, What Have I Done?|just done something horrible]] to warrant a compliment from their most hated adversary, though they may just brush the villain off with a [[Shut UP, Hannibal|quick retort.]]▼
▲So our once-spotless protagonist has just performed a bit of [[Dirty Business]]. Or worse, in a moment of weakness, they've done something [[Moral Dissonance|unambiguously wrong]], perhaps even [[Not So Different|lowering themselves to the level of the villain.]] Either way, their [[Fatal Flaw|character flaws]] have just been [[What You Are in The Dark|laid bare.]]
This generally comes in one of two flavors: in one, the villain is [[Arson, Murder, and Admiration|genuinely impressed]] by the the unheroic deed and pays the hero an honest (if unwanted) compliment. This shows up more frequently in comedic works. In other, usually more serious cases, the villain's motive is to [[Deadpan Snarker|sarcastically mock]] the hero's [[Not So Different|claim to the moral high ground]], [[Manipulative Bastard|mess with the hero's head]], [[Flaw Exploitation|goad him]] into taking more actions he'll regret, or even [[Start of Darkness|set him up]] for an [[Moral Event Horizon|irreversible]] [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|fall]] to the [[Face Heel Turn|ways of evil]].▼
▲Sometimes the hero in question will be [[Get a Hold of Yourself Man|knocked back to their senses]] by [[What the Hell Hero|a stern admonishment from people they respect.]] What can be even more shocking, however, is [[Baddie Flattery|when they receive praise from a person they detest]]. [[Nice Job Breaking It Hero|"Nice one,"]] cackles the evil villain, "and I thought ''I'' was the bad guy, here." At this point, the hero usually realizes that they must have [[My God What Have I Done|just done something horrible]] to warrant a compliment from their most hated adversary, though they may just brush the villain off with a [[Shut UP Hannibal|quick retort.]]
Essentially an [[Inverted Trope|inversion]] of [[What the Hell, Hero?]]. Sometimes part of a [[Breaking Lecture]] or a [[Not So Different]] speech. Can occasionally occur solely among protagonists, with an especially dark [[Anti
▲This generally comes in one of two flavors: in one, the villain is [[Arson Murder and Admiration|genuinely impressed]] by the the unheroic deed and pays the hero an honest (if unwanted) compliment. This shows up more frequently in comedic works. In other, usually more serious cases, the villain's motive is to [[Deadpan Snarker|sarcastically mock]] the hero's [[Not So Different|claim to the moral high ground]], [[Manipulative Bastard|mess with the hero's head]], [[Flaw Exploitation|goad him]] into taking more actions he'll regret, or even [[Start of Darkness|set him up]] for an [[Moral Event Horizon|irreversible]] [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|fall]] to the [[Face Heel Turn|ways of evil]].
▲Essentially an [[Inverted Trope|inversion]] of [[What the Hell Hero]]. Sometimes part of a [[Breaking Lecture]] or a [[Not So Different]] speech. Can occasionally occur solely among protagonists, with an especially dark [[Anti Hero]] or [[Sociopathic Hero]] standing in for a villain. When villains compliment one another, it's [[Arson Murder and Admiration]]. There's also the [[Insult Backfire]], where the villain appreciates the qualities the hero accuses them of. Can occur with [[So Proud of You]]. Compare [[Compliment Backfire]] (where the problem is not what is being said (or who is saying it), but ''how''). Also compare [[You Could Have Used Your Powers for Evil]], where a villain notes the hero could have made a good villain. Also compare [[Anti Advice]], where the nature of the advisor causes the advisee to do exactly the opposite.
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Anime & Manga ==▼
* In ''[[Full Metal Panic]]'', Sôsuke gets this way (in a more [[Berserk Button|violent, angry way]]) whenever Gauron starts describing how beautiful, wonderful, or [[Gaussian Girl|saint-like]] Sôsuke is when he nonchalantly kills people. Especially when Gauron refers to him by "Kashim" -- his past alias and what Gauron clarifies as being his "Assassin-Saint" persona. Sôsuke's reactions to this tend to range from angrily yelling that [[That Man Is Dead]] (despite the fact that he still works as and has the personality of a Stoic assassin mercenary) to violently trying to kill Gauron. This [[Your Approval Fills Me With Shame]] reaction tends to only be provoked by Gauron, since Gauron is pretty much the person that disgusts Sôsuke the most in the entire series.▼
* In the ''[[Bleach (Manga)|Bleach]]'' anime, Uryu utters a similar phrase when he gets praised by [[Punch Clock Villain|Nel and her Fraccion]].▼
* [[Inukami]] Keita is disgusted by the genuine respect minor antagonists like underwear theif and Peeping Doctor and can't stand the title they refer to him with: King of Nudity. Although he IS just as perverted as they are, and did such an act in the episode, the title is actually Yohko's fault. ▼
== Comedy ==▼
* Jim Gaffigan has a bit about this. He claims that his skin is so white and pale that strangers will come up to him and tell him racist jokes. "Gee, thanks for reminding me I look like Hitler's wet dream."▼
* Dara O'Briain used to tell a joke about Elton John's homosexuality as part of his act. He defended the joke when a gay rights group called 'Outrage' targeted him with a letter-writing campaign, but a letter of support from a homophobic organisation that congratulated him on "Standing up to the forces of sodomy" persuaded him to remove the joke from the act.▼
** He mentioned this incident in a later show and accompanied it with a fear of the image of him playing golf with Jim Davidson (a British comedian widely despised among his peers for being a lowbrow racist).▼
* Stewart Lee has a routine about [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]], where he mentions that he refuses to make jokes about Islam because he doesn't want the sort of people who find Islamophobic humor funny to be a part of his target audience.▼
▲* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', Sôsuke gets this way (in a more [[Berserk Button|violent, angry way]]) whenever Gauron starts describing how beautiful, wonderful, or [[Gaussian Girl|saint-like]] Sôsuke is when he nonchalantly kills people. Especially when Gauron refers to him by "Kashim"
▲* In the ''[[
▲* [[Inukami!]] Keita is disgusted by the genuine respect minor antagonists like underwear theif and Peeping Doctor and can't stand the title they refer to him with: King of Nudity. Although he IS just as perverted as they are, and did such an act in the episode, the title is actually Yohko's fault.
== Comic Books ==
Line 37 ⟶ 25:
** This trope is pretty common with Magneto, to the point that any direct compliment made to him has a decent chance of being this.
** As mentioned, this trope can occasionally occur among protagonists. In a story of the ''Uncanny X-Men'' in the late eighties, Havok is disturbed at the growing ease he's feeling in killing bad guys to save innocents. After their recent battle, [[Wolverine]] congratulates him for not hesitating to kill, offering to shake his hand. Havok isn't exactly flattered that he is being congratulated by the patron saint of anti-heroes.
* In [[The DCU|DC]]'s [[Elseworld
* In ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'', Jody tells Jesse Custer that he's proud of him. Jesse seems less ashamed and more royally pissed.
== Fan Works ==
* In the ''[[
* At the end of the first day of the trial in ''[[
* According to Rufftoon on [[Deviant ART]], [http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/101/4/c/seal_of_approval_by_rufftoon-d4vvis4.jpg Zhao] [http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2he0wieVQ1rsbbifo1_500.jpg approves] of [[The Legend of Korra
* In ''[[Over the Hedge (Film)|Over the Hedge]]'', the evil bear compliments RJ when he let his friends get captured by Animal Control.▼
==
▲* In ''[[Over the Hedge (
* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in ''[[Aliens]]'', when Burke expresses serious disappointment in Ripley wanting to destroy the Xenomorphs.
{{quote|
* ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' very nearly plays both versions of the trope at once, in that the Joker, being an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Manipulative Bastard]], gives Batman a likely-honest compliment ''while'' attempting to play mind games with him:
{{quote|
'''The Joker:''' I wanted to see what you'd do. And you didn't disappoint! You let five people die! }}
** That's more of a [[What the Hell, Hero?]]. He's calling Bats out for letting people die, and then he says "Then you let {{spoiler|Dent take your place}}. Even for a guy like me, that's cold."
* At the climax of ''[[Star Wars|Return of the Jedi]]'', the Emperor grabs the [[Villain Ball]] as tightly as he can by congratulating and encouraging Luke each time he lets his anger take control of him, and each time Luke realizes that he is falling into the dark side and stops himself.
** Parodied in ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/462.html here].
* An example of the first variety occurs in the ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|Prince Caspian]]'' film: when Caspian is about to kill Miraz, the latter compliments him on being a "true Telmarine king."
* ''[[Interview
{{quote|
'''Louis:''' ''(runs off, weeping)''
'''Lestat:''' Come back! You are what you are! ''(to himself)'' Merciful Death, how you love your precious guilt. }}
:: To add to the evil there, Lestat was Waltzing with the little girl's long dead [[Incredibly Lame Pun|mummy]]. And enjoying himself.
{{quote|
* Colonel Quaritch in ''[[Avatar (
* At the end of ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]'', Miranda Priestly gives Andy a [[Not So Different]] speech, prompting her to quit the fashion industry.
* In ''[[Return to Oz]]'' the Nome King shows Dorothy that he's wearing the ruby slippers she lost when she went back home. "They just fell out of the sky one day. You were so anxious to get home. They're very powerful. They made it possible for me to conquer The Emerald City. Thank you." Dorothy gives her best [[What Have I Done]] look.
* Played with in ''[[Revolutionary Road]]''. The protagonist couple, after they tell their plans of the husband quitting his job and moving to Paris so that they can have a dream bohemian life with only the wife working to support them, the only person who approves it is the mentally challenged son of his neighbors. Later, they both wonder if it means something that the only one who agrees with them is mentally unstable.
* Near the end of the Vince Vaughn/Reese Witherspoon vehicle, ''Four Christmases'', Vaughn's character Brad tells his misanthropic father (who often belittles him and questions his masculinity) that he just broke up with his girlfriend Kate because she wanted to settle down and have children. The father says, "Good for you! I didn't know you had it in you!" and invites him in for a beer. Brad stops and realizes that he's made a terrible mistake, and later returns to ask for Kate's forgiveness.
== Literature ==
* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'': both our protagonists and their arch villain are in dire straits. Sunny then proposes to set the building they are kept in on fire, despite the hundreds of people still being in it. Their past guardian Olaf then rejoices at Sunny's creativity: "it seems I've been a good educator after all!" Since he's spent the rest of the series killing their relatives, mistreating them and framing them for his own crimes in order to steal their fortune, putting them in that desperate situation in the first place and even allegedly killing their own parents by setting their house on fire... It has to be the most horrifying line of the whole series.
* Early on in the ''[[
* Close to the end of ''[[The Magicians]]'', Quentin meets Emily Greenstreet, another magician who chose to leave magic behind. She congratulates him on doing so, blames everything that went wrong in their lives on
* ''[[Harry Potter (
** In the fifth book, Hermione starts questioning her own idea after Sirius supports it. Sirius is a good guy, but he's known to be dangerously impulsive at times.
** There's a straight version in the same book, involving Percy, who had walked out on his family in favor of supporting the corrupt Ministry. After Ron is made prefect (which he did not even really want in the first place), Percy sends him a letter of congratulations, saying that "I must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what we might call the 'Fred and George' route, rather than following in my footsteps, so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some real responsibility." He then advises Ron to "sever ties with Potter" as "nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternisation with that boy." Ron immediately tears it up, saying "he is -- the world's -- biggest -- git" in a [[Punctuated!
* In the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]] book ''Day of the Vipers'' (part of the ''[[Terok Nor]]'' trilogy), Cleric Hadlo has a little of this. He proves willing to make a deal that involves sacrificing breakaway sects of his faith as scapegoats, to secure the safety of the mainstream religion. The fact that he's getting rid of troublesome elements to his church in the process, thus strengthening his position further, is praised by another character. She decides that maybe he ''is'' a modern Cardassian after all, despite his clinging to the [[Good Old Ways]].
* ''[[
** In ''Ghost Story'', Harry and his Godmother have a conversation about what happened at the end of ''Changes''.
{{quote|
'''Leanansidhe:''' Spoken as someone worthy to wield power.
'''Harry:''' Coming from you, that's... a bit unsettling, actually.
'''Leanansidhe:''' [[Insult Backfire|How sweet of you to say so.]] }}
* [[The Dark Tower
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[
*In the ''[[1632|Ring of Fire]]'' novel ''The Austro-Hungarian Connection'', there is almost an [[Inverted Trope|Inversion]] -- something more like "Your Disapproval Fills Me with Admiration". Janos Drugeth, a Hungarian [[Cavalry Officer]] with an code of honor appropriate to a [[Knight in Shining Armor|Christian warrior]] of the type that rarely appears outside [[Chivalric Romance]] is given the strange duty of escorting some up-time traitors to Vienna. An American girl comes across them and has to be [[He Knows Too Much|held prisoner]] until they are safe. At one time the traitors almost [[The Mutiny|Mutiny]] and Janos is forced to kill one. The Mutineers then thank Janos for not killing another who is so weak he could not possibly ''imagine'' killing and Janos is embarrassed and perplexed. Later the American captive, when they get a chance to rest, asks Janos why he ''did'' kill the man he did kill at which the response was that he was in a hurry to quell [[The Mutiny]], and he didn't like it much himself. That was about when he started to [[Love Across Battlelines|fall in love]] with her.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Ally McBeal]]'': Ally is horrified that Nelle joins Cage&Fish because of Ally's description of the law firm. Later, Ally is seen as wonderful by Ling, something that upsets her.
* ''[[Frasier]]''. This happens every time Bulldog [[So Proud of You|expresses pride]] in any one of Frasier's embarrassing public sex scandals.
** In "The Adventures of Bad Boy and Dirty Girl", Frasier has just had sex live on the air, making the papers ("I Won't Fink Says Kinky Shrink").
{{quote|
'''Frasier:''' Go ahead, take your best shot.
'''Bulldog:''' ''(admiration)'' I am so proud of you, man.
''(Bulldog hugs Frasier warmly)''
'''Frasier:''' ''(dripping with sarcasm)'' Well, doesn't that just put the cherry on the parfait. }}
** In "The Harrassed":
{{quote|
'''Frasier:''' Oh, Roz... come on, you know it was just a mistake. What do you think I am, some kind of disgusting Lothario?
'''Bulldog:''' Hey, there's my man!
''(Frasier has a priceless look of despair on his face)'' }}
* In the pilot of ''''[[
* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', Alastair tells Dean that he was brilliant -- at torturing souls in Hell. Dean is disgusted and ashamed by what he did down there, and Alastair makes it even worse.
* ''[[
** An interesting example where the approving party wasn't a villain, or even evil.
{{quote|
''(Zhaan looks like she is about to burst into tears and walks away)''
'''Aeryn:''' What is the matter with her?
'''D'Argo:''' You called her a warrior. You could not have cut her more deeply. }}
** The later episode "Liars, Guns, and Money" features Bekhesh, who had previously found religion and quit being a mercenary, only to be dragged back in by Crichton, leaving with the words, "Farewell, my friends! Thank you for teaching me to kill again!" The look on Zhaan's face is [[Comedic Sociopathy|priceless]].
* In the ''[[
{{quote|
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''
** In one episode, Doctor Bashir ends up trapped in his mind. It turns out the monster that is stalking him has taken the form of Garak. At the end, Garak congratulates him on casting him as the villain, despite [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfZQLksfbVk all the lunches they've had together.]
** There's also "In The Pale Moonlight", which does this twice: once with Garak, who congratulates Sisko on being willing to {{spoiler|tricking the Romulans to turn against the Dominion}} and later, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-YyL7X4CWw Sisko congratulating himself.]
** Thrice, in fact. When Sisko bribes Quark to keep him from pressing charges against the man Sisko needs to {{spoiler|fabricate damning evidence of a Dominion plan to betray the Romulans}}, Quark thanks him for reaffirming his faith in the 98th Rule of Acquisition: [[Every Man Has His Price]]. Sisko subsequently looks like he feels the need to shower.
* ''[[Wings (TV series)|Wings]]''
** The episode "Ex, Lies, and Videotape" involves Brian going on a talk show and being depicted as a sexist, chauvinist pig. When he returns to the airport following the broadcast, Fay gives him a bunch of phone messages he received: "You got three death threats, ten calls from women who think they can change you, and an 'Atta Boy' from Andrew Dice Clay." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqOYIy3kbXU\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPr8YXkeVkE\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdWi6KVO43w\]
** A humorous version of this trope is used in the episode “My Brother’s Keeper”. When Brian starts dating Mimsy Borogroves, an older woman who decides to invest millions of dollars in Nantucket, all of the main characters are delighted except his brother Joe. Joe’s shame vanishes after Borogroves offers to give him money for a new airplane. However, when Brian tells Joe that he has taken Joe’s advice and ended the relationship, [[We Want Our Jerk Back|everybody loses]] as Mimsy then refuses to invest her money and leaves the island. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZuAgFocuF8\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az_yUt192dY\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBmMhi5csIA\], [
* On ''[[
* A few minor cases on ''[[The West Wing]]'', such as the early episode where the president's personal aide's decision to pass on the option of screening an intentionally [[Obligatory Swearing|gratuitously]] [[Interplay of Sex and Violence|sexual and violent]] new film at the White House is praised by the right-wing Christian [[Moral Guardians]] who are normally their worst political enemies. Before he even knows the reason for the praise, Sam says, "I don't like who we're being congratulated by."
* ''[[Leverage]]''
** Nate rigs a table to give out an electric shock to help convince a [[Phony Psychic]] that Tara has real [[Psychic Powers]]. Parker approves of this, but Eliot points out that Parker approving is not a good thing, especially since Parker demanded that [[Murder Is the Best Solution|they kill the mark and chop him into pieces]] only a few minutes earlier. To be fair, Parker isn't usually like that. Said psychic has [[Manipulative Bastard|fake-psychiced out the fact that she watched her little brother die and blames herself for it]], leaving her curled up in fetal position in the Leverage HQ, crying.
** A better example might be the praise that Nate receives from his father. It's not stated that it fills him with shame, but give their relationship and what's said, it seems likely.
{{quote|
* In the 7th season of ''[[
* In ''Jake and the Fatman'', after McCabe wins gangster's trial, said gangster's lawyer congratulates him and calls his inspiration.
{{quote|
'''McCabe:''' That's not a compliment. That's an ''insult''! }}
* A running joke on ''[[
* Played for laughs on ''[[The Red Green Show]]''. On the rare occasions when Red does something that his nephew Harold is proud of him for, he's typically even more ashamed than he was in the first place.
* On an episode of ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Ivanova is trying to persuade a race of [[Social Darwinist
* On the PETA episode of ''[[Penn
* Invoked in ''[[Parker Lewis Can't Lose]]'' when Parker is running for [[Student Council President]]. After he notices his opponent would actually be a better president than him, he makes it look like [[Dean Bitterman|Ms. Musso]] endorses him.
* When [[Boston Legal|Alan]] fears that he is sexist, Denny's deeply chauvanistic attempt at reassurance does not help one bit.
* In the June 5th 2002 episode of ''[[Coronation Street]]'' Roy apologizes to Fred, noting that he has done so in large part because their tiff earns him the approval of Les Battersby.
* [[Formula One|In the 2010 German GP]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_German_Grand_Prix#Team_orders Felipe Massa was not-so-subtly told to give the victory to his team mate Fernando Alonso], who was better placed in the drivers' championship. Such blatant "team orders" are banned because they're a bit dickish. Under a barrage of criticism, Ferrari found a defender -- none other than Michael Schumacher, their legendary former driver. But he's famous for two things: winning lots and lots of races -- and playing very dirty to do so. In fact, this instance drew parallels to the 2002 Austrian GP, when Rubens Barrichello was ordered to let Schumacher past for the win.<ref>This is the incident that led to the team order ban in the first place.</ref> Congratulations, you have the blessing of the anthropomorphic personalization of "the ends justify the means".<br />However, [[Laser Guided Karma|karma was not]] [[It Got Worse|finished with Ferrari]]. They got the backing of one of two people in the known universe who could make this worse -- Nelsinho Piquet, Renault's ex-driver. He is ''considered unemployable'' because he [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Formula_One_crash_controversy intentionally crashed his car during the 2008 Singapore GP], to benefit (wait for it...) Fernando Alonso, his teammate at the time. ''It's OK guys, you can [[Stop Helping Me|stop helping now...]]''<br />What makes that second one even worse was that the Singapore crash had taken the race's leader at the time all the way down to a 13th place finish, who ended up losing the overall world championships that year by ''one point''. Said screwed leader? Wait for it…''Felipe Massa''. So, the guy who screwed Massa for Alonso the first time '''congratulated Massa's own team on feeling the need to do it too.'''▼
== Recorded and Stand-up Comedy ==
▲* Jim Gaffigan has a bit about this. He claims that his skin is so white and pale that strangers will come up to him and tell him racist jokes. "Gee, thanks for reminding me I look like Hitler's wet dream."
▲* Dara O'Briain used to tell a joke about Elton John's homosexuality as part of his act. He defended the joke when a gay rights group called 'Outrage' targeted him with a letter-writing campaign, but a letter of support from a homophobic organisation that congratulated him on "Standing up to the forces of sodomy" persuaded him to remove the joke from the act.
▲** He mentioned this incident in a later show and accompanied it with a fear of the image of him playing golf with Jim Davidson (a British comedian widely despised among his peers for being a lowbrow racist).
▲* Stewart Lee has a routine about [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]], where he mentions that he refuses to make jokes about Islam because he doesn't want the sort of people who find Islamophobic humor funny to be a part of his target audience.
== Video Games ==
* Compliments from HK-47 in the ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (
* In the "Mind of Steel" [[Nonstandard Game Over|Bad End]] to ''[[Fate/stay
* ''[[
** Appears if you take a more trigger-happy approach to the early missions. Wiping out the terrorists in Castle Clinton or executing a surrendering terrorist leader will earn you the approval of Anna Navarre, your near-psychotic trigger-happy partner and the foot soldiers of UNATCO.
** Later, in Paris, if you break into a stranger's apartment to steal weapons, Icarus says "Observe your motivations for breaking the arbitrary laws of the current government. Do not miss your chance to be one of us and create the new world order."
* In the later half of Part 3 in ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius
* Though it's impossible to speak of the reactions of a practically [[Heroic Mime]] [[Player Character]], something like this is clearly aimed at in the Death Knight starting quests in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', trying to give the PC something approaching [[Character Development]] justifying their later [[Heel Face Turn]]. Once a hero, the Death Knight character now must ([[But Thou Must!|really must]]) bow to the will of the [[Big Bad|Lich King]] and slaughter innocents. However, they are presumably shocked into remembering who they once were when they are asked to [[Kick the Wrong Dog|execute a prisoner who turns out to be someone they knew back in life]]. After this, their superior compliments them for their blood lust. It can be safely said this compliment is not meant to be taken as positively as it is given.
* In ''[[Ultima VII]]'', the [[Big Bad|Guardian]] will congratulate you heartily if you kill [[Big Good|Lord British]].
** If you do it with the [[Infinity
* In the video game for ''[[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream]]'', [[Big Bad|A]][[
* If you ever see the text "[[Token Evil Teammate|Morrigan/Zevran]] approves" in ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'' without having given them something shiny or flattered them in conversation, odds are good you just did something evil or immoral. There are some exceptions, but at a whole approval for these characters = evil. [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath|Shale]] and [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Sten]] hold this true to a lesser degree.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Warcraft III]]: Frozen Throne,'' Varimathras compliments Sylvanas on her plan to form an [[Enemy Mine]] alliance with a human warlord, then [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|stab him in the back once she controls the city of Lordaeron,]] telling her she has cunning that would rival a dreadlord. Sylvanas is not impressed.
==
* ''[[
** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0171.html Here] we find the comedic
** It appears again [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0405.html here], with Belkar earnestly complimenting [[The Chessmaster|Lord]] [[Obfuscating Stupidity|Shojo]] on the latter's {{spoiler|use of degrading tasks to manipulate the paladins under his command}}.
** Finally, in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0596.html a more recent strip], Elan deliberately [[Invoked Trope|invokes]] the trope in the same manner, using an illusion of Belkar to sarcastically [[What the Hell, Hero?|call out]] Vaarsuvius {{spoiler|over the arbitrary killing of [[Smug Snake|Kubota]]}}.
** And [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0645.html here].
** Also, [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0190.html an inversion] happens when [[The Dragon|Redcloak]] is about to go scout a dangerous path and [[Minion
* In the [[Yet Another Christmas Carol]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20101229160145/http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=953 arc] of ''[[Brawl in
{{quote|
* In an early [[Info Dump]] of ''[[
** [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01698.htm Later]
** [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03056.htm Later still], Max Post says that he agrees with Sam, thus one of them should be worried.
* Marten tries to invoke this on Steve in ''[[Questionable Content]]''. It doesn't work.
{{quote|
'''Steve:''' Pintsize is a chill bro. }}
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' had a scene with Gil and Martellus throwing the same barb at Tarvek [[Finish Dialogue in Unison|in a choir]]. «Well, ''that'' takes all the ''fun'' out of it.»
== Web Original ==
* ''Shamus Plays [[World of Warcraft]]'' is told from the perspective of a [[Chaotic Evil]] demon who got suckered into becoming the familiar of a warlock who tries to be [[Lawful Good]]. After he admits that he fulfilled the requirement of becoming a warlock ("kill a virgin") by bringing a virgin sheep to a butcher to be slaughtered, the demon compliments him for being "a devious cheat". [https://web.archive.org/web/20101114130413/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/shamusplays/8304-Shamus-Plays-Into-the-Bandits-Den.4 This trope is invoked].
* The entire concept behind ''[
== Western Animation ==
* In the ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' episode "For Your Ed Only", where the Eds take Sarah's diary, Edd suggests they plant the diary back in Sarah's room while she's not looking and play innocent to avoid her wrath. Eddy compliments him on how underhanded that sounds.
* In the ''[[
* ''[[Transformers]]''
** Happens in ''[[Transformers Animated]].'' If Starscream compliments you, you know you're doing something wrong. (Of course, it turns out that that was his sycophantic clone, but when it's your ruthlessness that he's approving of, still...).
** And it's similar to a scene in ''[[
* The Monarch pulls this one intentionally in ''[[The Venture Bros]]'' to keep Dean from reporting his break-in. He hastily acted as if the act of tattling would put Dean down the path to evil, just he wanted.
* After Spidey gets rid of a bomb that was going to blow up Tombstone's party in ''[[The Spectacular Spider
* From ''[[
{{quote|
'''Stan:''' '''NO!''' }}
* ''[[
** Jimbo and Ned have doubts about their reluctance to change the town's official flag when the KKK show their support. Rather than change their minds, though, they try to convince the Klan to show support for Chef's bid to change the flag.
** When Stan and the boys barricade themselves inside a room with a load of veal calves they're trying to save from slaughter, Cartman is appalled to learn that their efforts have attracted the support of group of hippies.
* In the ''[[
* [[Inverted]] on ''[[Futurama]]:''
{{quote|
== Real Life ==
* Phocion, regarded as the most honest politician in Athens at about the time of Alexander the Great, was making a speech. When the listeners cheered, he supposedly paused and asked a friend, "Have I inadvertently said something evil?"
* After a [http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Compton-Cookout-Creates-Campus-Uproar-84648212.html racist-themed party was thrown] by a fraternity of the University of California at San Diego, mocking black history month, opportunity has been seized by ''Jiggaboo Jones'', self-proclaimed [[N
* After Swedish pastor Åke Green was accused of homophobic hate speech and later acquitted, the Westboro Baptist Church proclaimed him a martyr and erected a monument to him. Green found it appalling, which led the WBC to deem him unworthy and take the monument down.
* Mary Whitehouse, patron saint of [[Moral Guardians]], wrote to the BBC praising ''[[
* As a general rule of thumb, liberals that agree with a conservative pundit or conservatives that agree with a liberal pundit will have a case of this. [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|That's all that needs to be said on the matter]].
* During most election cycles, controversial organizations and individuals will endorse mainstream candidates. It's usually a case of [[Enemy Mine]], but it still causes headaches for said candidates and their PR teams.
▲* [[Formula One|In the 2010 German GP]], [
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:Admiration Tropes]]
[[Category:Your Approval Fills Me
[[Category:
|