A surprisingly common "super powered evil side" trope I've seen is "the evil side was you the whole time and it was only evil because you treated it like it was evil" which is usually either really good or really bad.
@@nausicaa70Mob Psycho does this really well. The whole series is spent with Mob pretty terrified of his powers (or rather, or hurting people with his powers), so he keeps them bottled up until he explodes. But in season 3 his powers are revealed to have basically gained their own personality that only shows up when he gets overly emotional, and since no one can stop Mob when he’s like that, everyone gets destroyed pretty easily. The only way to beat him was for Mob to accept his powers as part of himself
"John please it's Parent-Teacher interview night, and John Jr. has been failing Math." Evil John: (Takes a mirror and looks at his reflection) "John, what the heck."
Raven from Teen Titans, where her superpowered evil side is so evil and so powerful that it needs to be avoided at all costs even at the risk of losing, and is central to her character arc
@@shikigranbell7608 I’m not really sure what that has to do with what he said? If he’s talking about the animated series, then that’s what he’s talking about, there’s no point to bring up the comics since Red uses all forms of media. Also even in the comics Raven is still host to her evil Trigon dominated side and still can never afford to give herself over to it
@@shikigranbell7608 You're wrong anyway. DC has released a statement outright telling us that it is ALL canon. Multiverse, my dude, every story that happens in all of DC media is canon somewhere in the DC multiverse.
@@shikigranbell7608 OP didn't even specify whether it was the comics or the show that was being discussed and just said "Teen Titans" which can refer to either.
This is a lot like the psychologist Carl Jung’s theory of the shadow. The best I can explain it is that everyone has dark traits that is suppressed due to socialisation. We our dark traits can leak out in hypocritical or antisocial behaviours and we have to try to intergrate our shadow selves to be self repressed and more aware and in control of our selves
I have this weird idea: What about a superpowered good side? Like the main character is a jerk or at least aphathy, they want to stay away from trouble. But their alternate side is the exact opposite with hero complex, getting them both into multiple troubles and injuries sometimes while building up a good reputation (which can also be bad as the villians would want to get rid of them) So they both struggle to take control whenever problems happen as one want to run away and be safe while the other eager to take down any bad guys responsible. Conflicts can happen because some might recognize them but mistaken their good side with their apathy side
or maybe the heroes try to exploit the superpowered good side of the villain and draw it out to reform the villain, but have to deal with the ethical ramifications of trapping them in their own mind and letting a new personality take them over
This seems similar to what the New 52 DC comics did to SHAZAM (or Captain Marvel depending on your principles), where Billy Batson was more jaded and apathetic to human suffering for angst purposes, but his suped-up hero side was more boy scout and paragon. Readers quickly realized this made absolutely no sense, because Billy Batson and SHAZAM are fundamentally the same person with only the outside changed, so it was really jarring for a grown hero to have a childlike perspective and almost innocence that the actual child alter ego didn't even have.
"...he's got like two brain cells, and one of them spends all its time pinging between the receptors for food, fighting and friendship" Best. Line. Ever.
@@theunknownone5990 And then, when you've got your opponent pinned down, instead of finishing them, explain in detail how the move you just used works.
Power Creep is basically climbing a staircase in a white void. Sure, it would look pretty high up... if the stairs behind you didn't keep disappearing and you suddenly feel like you're about 3 feet off the ground again.
it's pretty similar to the chase for success as a whole. achieving the goal isn't where the meaning comes from, the meaning of the story comes from the connections the hero establishes. If you have a story 100% focused on the goal, it'll be boring. that's why the opposite can be viable, fully character driven. one punch man actually does a great job of providing insight into the character who gets this success. and how it can make them feel empty if there's nothing else to strive for. it's also deeply rooted in capitalistic profit in the case of games. how can money be made from new stuff if old stuff works better?
I have played games where there is a lot of powercreep, inevitably it gets boring fairly quickly as enemies become so weak theat they are trivial to kill and stop offering any reward. Books often do it too where a power increase on one side has to be quickly countered by a similar increase on the other to maintain the balance. Eventually they are both incredibly powerful but the writer has lost the plot. Power alone cannot maintain interest.
I've always loved it when some writers give this powerful good point. like "Bitch it's MY body too, do you know what it's like to be locked in this place... sure I can summon things at will, but I need a social life too!" Most of it is for comedy, but it's funny.
That's what they did in O.K. K.O. the MC tried to suppress his evil nature, then tried to constantly divert the evil insurance with a mental play room, and then when he becomes all evil, his evil side misses his good side because it wants to be whole and not ignored
In the Avengers cartoon, Hulk and Bruce Banner make a deal that instead of trying to supress the Hulk, Banner allows him to be out 24/7 and we see Hulk during down time. Part of the deal is however that from time to time, Hulk allows Banner to take over so he can have some peace and quiet.
All I can think of now is the time in Yu-Gi-Oh where main protagonist Yugi set up his Egyptian Pharaoh super powered evil side on a date with his childhood friend to cheer him up after a difficult boss fight led to them both almost dying.
pls talk about "Evil Harems" where every villain ends up having a redemption arc and joining the good guys through the power of friendship until in the last season the ex-villains outnumber the original good guy gang.
The Avatar State is not so much 'evil' as 'lizard brain pragmaticism'. The part that goes "hey maybe we should make sure there isn't collateral damage" goes quiet and the part that goes "THING BAD CRUSH IT NOW CRUSH CRUSH CRUSH" gets very loud. So more 'Captain Planet Hulk' than actually 'Evil'
@@TJTrickster Laughs in bisexual. Also would be better if they did this with any knowledge of real plural systems, most of the time we have different genders, core values, likes, dislikes, sexualities, species etc.
@@stevenmichel7270 Uuhh, that would be amazing. And then starts a love story between the best friend and the evil side, the best friend wants to see the evil side more, rejecting the protagonist. The protagonist then becomes evil because he's not considered anymore and is recluded in his own mind
Another interesting take on this is Aang's Firebending in Avatar: The Last Airbender. When Aang learning firebending is first discussed and explored, it ends up hurting his love interest in a very traumatizing way because he's so impatient and arrogant about his seeming prowess with the element. Because of this, Aang vows to never use firebending again. Think about how often Aang using firebending could've saved a lot of time or effort in a fight or scenario, and how much harder the journey was for it. But then, almost symbolically, best redemption boy Zuko comes along in the latter half of Season 3 and begins training Aang in firebending. But because of the speed bump that is Zuko's flames puttering out, they go to revitalize it in the Sun Temple, and then by the end learn not only the true origin of Firebending, but the beauty and majesty of the element, and how it's *not* just a force of rage, power and evil. In essence, the arc of Firebending in Avatar is both a redemption arc in and of itself *FOR* a superpowered evil side/ability.
That's a really good point actually, and it dovetails really nicely with the the narrative exploration of the regular citizens in the Fire Nation and with Iroh's lessions that have been getting dropped on Zuko and the audience the whole series.
In some ways, the Avatar state itself is an evil alter Ego for Aang. Of course, it's not evil, but right up until the end of ATLA, the Avatar state is at odds with Aangs personal code of non-violence. And thus the drama of him fighting it to regain control is still there.
@@rockyblacksmith The main reason I felt the Avatar State is less of an "evil" side than the element of fire is because throughout most of the series the Firebenders are the main threat and antagonists. Even the very nature of *learning* it was treated as some forbidden, dangerous technique, to the point that Aang is so horrified by it that he refuses to use it for two whole seasons. The Avatar State is also treated with some juxtaposition, but ultimately the Gaang aren't nearly as terrified of it, primarily because their circumstances have conditioned them to be more afraid of shooting flames and lightning at people than hurtling rocks or whipping water at them.
That's such a good example it's curious that Red didn't invoke it, as much as she loves ATLA. Then again, that may be WHY she didn't use it: she recognized it as low-hanging fruit and strove to bring in examples from other franchises.
@@TheBrickMasterB That is why I said "in some ways". The Avatar state is not so much the antagonist from the point of view of other characters, but in terms of Aangs internal conflict. And I'd say one of the core conflicts in the whole series is how Aang is supposed to be protecting others without giving up his own moral code. The overall conflict is just as much external as internal. The Fire Nation presents the external antagonist, but his internal antagonist is most prominently represented by the uncontrolled Avatar state.
Something I'd like to see one day: Have a group of heroes, struggling with a villain. One of them (probably the protag) has a superpowered evil side situation, and that pops up and makes the difference in winning the fight (not necessarily winning it solo). The evil side then turns against the other heroes, and _gets utterly stomped_ because the other heroes know the protag's abilities so well, since they've been fighting together for so long. A different kind of power of friendship to fix the evil side issue.
I would love to see a hero come to after an evil transformation thinking they must have done something terrible and wreaked untold havoc before they could be stopped only to find out they got their ass kicked.
@@IceAokiji303 "But how did you defeat me?" "Uh... It was actually pretty easy dude. Evil you never guards his left side." "What? Seriously? That's all it took?" "Yep."
Concept: The protag is in the throes of their superpowered evil side. Their love interest goes up to them and tearfully tries to pull them out of it, but to no avail. All seems lost. Then their mom walks up, berates them, and sends the superpowered evil side to their room to think about what they did.
Fun fact: the symbiotes take on the personality trait of its hosts. The reason the venom symbiote is so evil is because it’s past hosts before peter were a alien warlord and everyone’s favorite merc with the mouth
@@Dark_Mage what if Deadpool isn't just a memetic hazard, but a contagious one? Everyone who has contact with his mind becomes insane in the same way he is, and therefore people can catch insanity from them. So the symbiote catches Deadpool-ness, and then leaves a trail of Deadpooled ex-hosts as it moves through the population.
In The Owl House, Eda's owl beast mode is basically a superpowered evil side, but i really like how they went about it. It is said to be a curse but is presented as as a chronic illness, whether that be physical or mental. It's actually rarely used in fights but it's still scary as heck, because there's no telling when Eda will turn into an owl beast. Eda herself is shown to be scared of it, but her arc is about her accepting the owl beast as part of herself. It's unfortunate and it's inconvenient, hurtful sometimes, but there's no medicine that can cure it entirely. The one she currently takes only keeps it under control, and once she stops being afraid of the curse, it turns into something manageable.
It's even better once she comes to terms with it, because then she *can* use it as a power up, though she still has to do a bit of negotiating with the owl beast itself for this.
😭 I miss Owl house! who's every ones favorite charecter? mines Hunter and then Willow (i know they're a ship, I don't really care) Hunter because (hey pjo fans!) He's a Nico and Willow because her and I are really similar aka the moms of the group
04:50 "This is Goku we're talking about. He's got, like, two braincells, and one of them spends all time pinging between the three receptors for Food, Fighting and Friendship". There you go, Goku's character neatly summarized.
@@violablaire6499 Read the manga, not DBS, not the dumb early american translation. Goku is a lot master than people seems to remember. it is pretty sad that because of the terrible american version everyone has so much assumtions about this character
@@naproupi as much as I'm inclined to agree and to avoid getting into a mess, Goku was never that good at anything that wasn't fighting, and he constantly did things that reminded us of this even before dbs. Hell, even _when_ he's fighting he'll every so often do something dumb, such as giving Cell a Senzu bean. Goku was never as smart as people like to think he is
Sad i didn't see my childhood intro to this trope: Raven's evil side UNLEASHING on Dr Light in an early teen titans episode, and the subsequent journey through her mind by cyborg and beast boy.
Raven is interesting because while it does seem like she has an evil powerup side, she doesn't use it. The only times it comes out are when she loses control, and then she represses it quickly. She even lost her fight with Terra because she was spending so much effort suppressing her evil side that she couldn't fight as effectively. She basically chose to lose and possibly die rather than give in to it. It's also interesting that she seems to have the somewhat more rare GOOD powerup side.
@@zoro115-s6b It's part of why she's one of my all time favorite characters. Her power is connected to her emotions, but is so volatile that she represses all emotions and she's genuinely terrifying when she loses that control. As a Neuro divergent kid that struggled with repressing negative emotion until it exploded, I related. I didn't realize that until today. It was helpful to have a hero who wasn't all happiness and rainbows, that had a dark side but was still GOOD. Ahem, sorry for the impromptu therapy session. Such a good show. It's fun to have people talk about it!
I would consider the Avatar State from Avatar in this. When Ozai activates it, Aang starts absolutely destroying him, but the conflict begins to be that Aang could kill Ozai, something he specifically avoided. The Avatar state begins to be the villain in the scene by contrasting Aang’s hard morals.
It was only "evil" to Aang because of his strict sense or morality. To someone more flexible in the morals department, like Kyoshi or Roku, it was just a power up.
Yeah, the Avatar state is an interesting superpowered evil side because it's only "evil" to certain people. The only reason it was scary and evil to Aang was because of his moral compass and how he hated getting someone hurt because of his emotional turmoil.
@@legomaniac213 well, if he's around only enemies then yeah it's not evil. Uncontrolled Avatar State is basically a natural disaster, so anyone around is kinda fucked
@@oldcowbb thats true but in aangs case technically it is evil bc ozai was about to be killed, something aang doesnt wanna do. Going crazy, stomping the bad guy, going “too far” id say it checks all the things superpowered evil sides are typically known for lol
I mean, you're not really wrong? The Avatar state lets Aang get in touch with all of his past incarnations, so it really isn't an evil side from a narrative perspective. On the other hand, 99% of the people he is contacting want him to outright kill the guy he is fighting, pacifism be damned, and that is certainly evil from Aang's point of view.
@@justinalicea1590 Yeah, the "evil" in the trope name can also be substituted with "chaotic", or for more of a blank check, call it a "dark side" - it's a version of the character which has the same moral ideals but fewer inhibitions when it comes to method - thus, chaotic.
Yes, I was just reading through the comments to see whether I was alone with that question. :-) I'm not a guy who reads comics, so please excuse my naivity, but why is The Hulk considered evil? Only because Banner needed to get angry for his transformation, right? Anger is the "fuel" to stay Hulk and to power up even more while at the same time losing control hover himself. Anger usually is a negative trait, especially when heroes give into it, which makes The Hulk a tainted persona, but not an outright villain. Over time the emotional distress necessary for the transformation got lost, I feel. Now The Hulk is there and does whatever is needed. He even cooperates with other heroes, follows plans in strategic battles and clearly is in control of his thoughts, which is a far cry from his origins (to crush anything that pisses him of in some way).
@@ssafjee The Hulk has gone through a whole lot of iterations and one of the early ones, was indeed more or less evil. SF Debris has been doing a pretty good video series, covering the history of the character and his evolution
Originally yes the hulk was a super powered evil side. This stems from the inspiration of the character. The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You see the hulk is basically all the anger, resentment, and fury that bruce banner developed due to his alchoholic, dickbag father. And as he got older bruce managed to bury these negative feelings. But, when he became the hulk it was basically all of these feelings pouring out at once. But, unlike dr jekyll who basically created mr hyde so he could go out and give in to his urges and do whatever he wanted the hulk was basically a split personality created by Bruces negative emotions
Every example in this video has corresponded to some version of the Hulk at some point. Different writers will do that. We have even had multiple Hulk personalities fighting for control at the same time before. Smart Hulk, Mr Fixit, Savage Hulk, World Breaker, Maestro, ect..are all effectively different characters, and Banner is seldom if ever in any real control. Funny thing is and this was done to erk Banner this had nothing to do with his Hulk transformation directly, other Hulks get adrenaline rushes some loss of inhibition but nothing as extreme as Banner gets, the split personalities were always there the Hulk just gave them an outlet to shut down Banner for a time.
I was thinking, by comparison, the second season obtaining Excalibur makes the sword into a butter knife as far as effectiveness. But now I want to see King Arthur holding a butter knife as bravely as he held Excalibur
a plottwist where Excalibur's true form is a butter knife but actually slice reality itself like butter as long as Arthur himself view what he cuts as butter
15:54 Friend: "Please stop it! We're friends!" Hero: *keeps punching* Love interest: "Noooooo I love you!" Hero: *snaps out of it* Friend: "Oh am I not good enough for you?"
Let's flip this around: The main character has a crush on some girl, but he doesn't know her well enough, so she can't do crap, but his childhood friend gets the job done. Like Hero: *goes nuts* Crush: "Step aside, I have to -" *gets hurled into the nearest object by rampaging hero* Childhood Friend: "Yeah, you're never getting anywhere with her like that." Hero: *calms down due to hearing the familiar voice*
Actually, hero can return to normal without love interest can happen. One of the way is the villian accidenty say a trigger word or the hero got hit at the head and faint
"But Inuyasha is a romance first and shonen anime second." I mean you're not wrong. You just made me realize I was roped into a romance when I came for demon killing with a huge ass sword. Edit: Yeah I'm still enjoying it lol. I'm almost 200 ep in
Might I suggest the manga Berserk? It has some truly horrendous contents, but if you have the stomach for the worst of the worst humanity can think of, Berserk is one of the greatest manga of all time, and it's about a man killing demons with a huge ass sword.
@@jkosch Eh, he was never nearly as selfish as he pretended to be. His villain act was a very transparent way to cover up how lonely he was, by convincing himself that he didn't need anyone and didn't care about other people. That's even his motivation for wanting to become a full demon, to get rid of all his emotions and uncertainties. Getting more power is very much secondary, even at the start he's already pretty powerful.
I like asura's berserk mode in asura's wrath. Aside from being a reference to the berserker armor from... berserk, the form is accompanied by quiet, sad music in a peaceful style as asura constantly shouts in despair with an echoing filter on his voice. Having a transformation that's basically an ultra panic attack powered by sorrow is such a breath of fresh air, and shows off how scary super strength can be when it's used to ambush people instead of facing them head-on.
It is especially poetic when they come face to face with Vlitra and it looks just like Asura's Berserk mode. Yasha even says "It looks like you when you're angry"
I think a cool Trope Talk to do would be “Show Don’t Tell”, or environmental storytelling. Essentially, a story that doesn’t tell it’s story through dialogue or narration, but just by showing the environment and the people. The story is told indirectly, basically. This type of storytelling is more apparent in video games, like Hyper Light Drifter, or Hollow Knight, or Gris, or Journey, or Shadow of the Colossus, or Dark Souls. It's also very apparent in those animated short films where almost none/none of the characters talk.
Fun fact: in an interview, Akira Toriyama admitted to actually forgetting that Super Saiyan 2 was a thing because of how similar it was - both visually and narratively - to the first Super Saiyan and basically only mattered briefly for Gohan, and never ever again.
Yep. This is why Super Saiyan 3 even exists. On the other hand, that doesn't really say what you seem to think it did about Super Saiyan 2 - that Akira Toriyama forgot something he wrote doesn't actually say much about that thing at all. He's forgotten major plot points, secondary characters, basic worldbuilding he established a few years prior, etc, because he writes by the seat of his pants and pays very little attention along the way. Super Saiyan 2's forgettable, but Toriyama having forgotten it is not evidence of this; there are literally hundreds of millions of people who know more about his series than he does because every major plot thread that moved us emotionally was just something he jotted down in order to pump out another couple of pages on an insane and unsustainable schedule. Toriyama has created decent art that has inspired countless people. It's just that he's not actually talented and cares way less about that art than everyone else.
Ehhh, I'd argue that. SSJ2 vs. SSJ2 (Majin) Vegeta was an absolutely *badass* fight. And Vegito capped out at SSJ2 (at least in DBZ, anyway) b/c Vegeta couldn't go SSJ3.
@@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013 I still love the fact he completly forgot about the fact sayians would have tails. After Gohan and vegeta's defeat I don't believe we EVER saw a tail again. It is kinda hillarious. He even admitted that the reason Gotens and Trunks doesn't have tails is because he completly forgot about that being a thing XD
@@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013 you had me until you said he wasn’t talented. He might not really care all too much but that doesn’t discount all the talent the dude has.
I want to see a story where all of the main characters (heroes AND villains) have superpowered evil sides, but each one has a different type. Alternatively, the main hero has like 8 different superpowered evil sides all vying for control.
some are gonna have to have simular ones also I can kinda see the 8 evil sides of the Mc as his/her past lives trying to come back to return themself to the world of the living but they all had choosen the same reincarnation so they all try to put in as much of their power as possible to be the dominante one when they got the protagonist out of the picture, meaning everytime the Mc goes evil side he/she has the risk of getting their body and soul broken
I've got something a little like that with one dude essentially being able to absorb evil spirits, but that's a REALLY terrible idea, as in my setting a spirit with a defined personality and/or a high power level has those traits because their will and sense of self are strong, so they're not going to just sit there without a fight, and trying to grab one with a stronger will is basically just saying "please possess me." Dude's barely holding it together with three, and that only worked cause the first two hate each other and are more interested in fighting each other than the guy who absorbed them. If they teamed up the dude would go down pretty easily
The main character of the webcomic Twokinds has, well, two super powered evil sides. First, an amnesia-style old-me-was-an-asshole type bent on world domination and uncaring of his current friends (mostly a power-up because he actually remembers how to use his magic effectively). Second, a corruptive type caused by using black magic; interestingly, while like this he still retains his feelings for his friends and loved ones... at least for a while, since if the fight drags on too long he starts caring more about the power he now has access to than the reason he originally needed it.
it literally requires an entirely second character to reign him in from his rampages, and its terrifying to think of what would happen if shierke were not there
I've always thought that Guts was just along for the ride when the Berserker Armour hijacks his body. Not necessarily an "evil side" but moreso a hostage. Let's be honest here, Guts has done a lot of terrible things, but he can't have an "evil" side because everything in Berserk is morally grey. I think that's why people don't recognize this trope in the story so easily.
I actually would like to see a version of the Superpowered evil side where its a separate personality but both sides actually worked together an agreement of sorts where said evil side gets to come out for fights but otherwise is like a fun colorful commentator in our protagonists head
Soul Nomad has this exact premise as it's main gimmick. You host the god of death, Gig, who is, as he puts it "the baddest of the bad, the maddest of the mad, the killer of kings and destroyer of worlds.' And bro lives up to the hype. He wants your body, but he needs you to agree. So, he offers you a deal. He'll sit back, and if you need power, he'll give it..but every time you do, he takes a little more control. To the point that the first bad end of the game is giving in, and unleashing a god tier beat down on one of the final bosses. The entire game is filled with him talking shit too. And occasionally nabbing your body to do shit like shove his favorite food in your mouth.
Honestly I wish that the symbiote had been a more permanent thing. They could have made a whole storyline of Spider-Man teaching it morals, basically being an Uncle Ben to it, but without the dying part.
Then reveal spiderman died in a fight months ago and the symbiote has been impersonating him to do good because of what Peter taught it.... Could be cool
HELP MY!!! My muscles are too big! I am a big tall man and my muscles are even BIGGER! I use them to get views but they HURT so much!!! Because they are heavy. Do you have any advice, dear andrww
@@IeshiAke If it helps, a lot of Boruto fights have tried to go back to that on at least some level. The effectiveness varies, but some of them are really good (Sakura vs Shin Uchiha comes to mind).
*Jujutsu Kaisen readers on the first chapter:* So this guy just got powers because he ate the finger of the king of curses. Flip a coin and see if the king will be helping because of self-preservation or eventual respect and/or friendship with the hero. *Sukuna, the irredeemably, indisputably, genocidally evil King of Curses after murdering his way through several arcs:* LOL
That is one of the things I love about that series. The fact he refused to change even when he was told he would just peris was fucking amazing "Bahh, I am like 3 of my fingers.There are 17 others out there a lose of these 3 doesn't matter!" Then he tries to argue with the curse about working together but when it ignores him he only kills it because it is annoying him. I fucking love that aspect so much. There aren't any self-preservation because it doesn't really matter It is truely an evil overpowered side that REALLY shouldn't be used haha
13:48 The best part about Spiderman's symbiote "evilness" justification is that, when it arrived in Earth, it was actually a fully good being, but it got corrupted after merging with Deadpool, and only after that it found Peter Parker. It is, of course, a retcon, but I love it too much not to mention it
I like the rejection version of it where it did take over his body, but generally did things just as it assumed Peter Parker would like. Then because it was rejected after that it became confused and hurt, its primary motivation is mainly getting back at Spiderman for rejecting it and it personally knowing Spiderman gives it a whole nother dimension that made Venom a menace
@@drewlevy9557 Yeah, I call that the "twitter butthurt" version, I don't like it. Venom became a zoomer, got offended because how dare someone else have a different opinion, and started sending death-threats
Before it bonded with Deadpool, Venom initially bonded with an insane genocidal alien, so even before the Merc With a Mouth got involved, it was already on its path to becoming the stuff of nightmares.
"Just once I want the best friend to come around after the hero comes back to themselves and be annoyed that _their_ heartfelt plee wasn't enough to save them" Red your aroace is showing (says your friendly local sympathetic ace)
But can't people want friendships to matter as much as love/sexual attraction without being aromantic/asexual? (Actually now I'm thinking it would be interesting to see a sexual attraction version of the trope that doesn't pretend it's "love".)
@@AntediluvianRomance There is an example of this. Our old boy Cú Chulainn warp spasm is (and I'm quoting red here) "brought down by the power of boobs".
@@TupocalypseShakur 5 main Hulks, none of which are 100% evil, but variable amounts of arguable evil, and infinite Hulks hiding inside Banner’s brain waiting for their moment.
Super powered evil sides are all about letting your hero win the physical battle while losing the metaphysical battle. That's what makes it engaging (and why I had to fight Anakin's stupid, emotional side so many times).
@@BlackCover95 Exactly. The Dark Side has always been about getting power rapidly but at the cost of morality. As Yoda said, the Dark Side is not stronger, just quicker so many a Jedi are seduced into turning to the Dark Side to use that power. That's why Luke failed in Dagobah. He was impulsive and gave into fear and anger to win and this is exactly why Yoda and I didn't want him to face Vader. And when he did face Vader in Return of the Jedi, he beat him but almost fell to the Dark Side in the process. He almost became the very thing he swore to destroy by killing his dad and becoming Sidious's new apprentice. Luckily, he pulled back at the last second and had that "I am a Jedi like my father before me" epiphany. So by reeling in the Dark Side, he won the metaphysical battle. And his resolve convinced Vader to kill Sidoius, thus winning the physical battle.
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi I think the dark side is more about destruction and sacrifice, rather than about morality, cause vaapad was also toeing the line with it through using emotions, and Mace Windu specialized in it. I think that those who draw on the dark side of the force give up a bit of either their lifeforce, lifespan, mental health, comprehension, comprehension ability, or something else in exchage. Giving up morality is part of the idea of "sacrifice", but the Jedi Order does have some... flaws, for lack of a better word, about the way abilities are classified as either dark or lightside. And while the Sith naturally have destructive abilities classified as dark side, they also have basic ones and many self-harming ones. The Jedi Order, for example, has combustion as "a severe culmination of the art of telekinesis", while the sith variation is close combat and basically is the effect of 'setting you hands on fire, mind the blisters'. However, the Sith have also Crucitorn, which is, in summation, dissociation to endure physical pain. Sacrifice of being mentally aware to gain endurance basically. Both have force push as an ability. Honestly though, the Sith's description of force push? Sounds like an ability used to route animals... it's a "kinetic wave" that can "knock a single enemy off balance or scatter a group in all directions"... I'm just thinking of that exact description being used to scatter a stampede. XD
You know what would be awesome, for a change of pace; whenever the hero uses the Superpowered Evilside they get their personality corrupted darker, but the dark side is also forced to mellow out. Something along the lines of “Dude, you’re buzzing my harsh!”
And in doing so kinda typecasted the concept of Pendulum Summoning for many players, which led to frequent nerfs and neglect of the card type in recent years.
@@fawfulmark2 The few good Pendulum Decks that work like a Pendulum Deck were ridiculous, even before the MR4 Revision, Pend Magicians were insane, it makes sense they've been nerfed
I think Red meant more along the lines of solitaire decks, which burn through 30 cards at once to kill on the first or second turn, while the opponent sits there and everyone's just thinking "Are you done?" You know, the ones that go: "I will summon this which lets me summon this, and I'll play that which lets me summon this this and this, and then I'll fuse/synch/overlay/whatever into this, which then lets me summon this, this, and that, and then I'll play this which makes that and mills these and then lets me summon this and that and overlay _them_ and then I'll play this and that means you lose."
Naruto and the nine tailed fox are another example of: Feral beast side that gets more sentience as the series goes on, even to the point of the fox turning out to be neither a demon, nor evil.
Well very early on it’s actually more of a “super rage / lowers inhibitions” thing, in the Land of Waves arc. Then we see Naruto learning how to draw out the power on purpose, and he’s mostly in control of it, but that’s when we first see the proper Nine Tails Cloak and it starts having physical drawbacks, and he’s still kinda unhinged a little. Then after the time skip we see that drawing the Nine Tails’ chakra out on purpose over the course of the previous series actually weakened the seal and now he has a much harder time controlling himself with the Cloak up, so it evolves into a “feral” type Superpowered Evil Side, and now instead of trying to learn to control it he’s trying to learn to resist it. Then after that, we have the 4th Great Shinobi War, and Naruto manages to separate a part of the Nine Tails’ chakra off from it’s malice to use as a non-evil power up, and that’s the start of the Nine Tails’s character arc, so it’s never really used for evil again.
Yes! Exactly my thoughts. But also, initially the Kyuubi/Nine Tails is full of hate which ...I'm guessing as life-force (chakra)/ a spirit, hits harder. 🤔😅 And I think initially did the inhibition thing; waaaaay more aggressive than Naruto imo.
@@nviz47 well, that’s part of what I meant about the Kyuubi’s character arc. Up until the 4th Shinobi War arc we never really get any insight into the Kyuubi as a character; he basically functions as a plot device. Maliciously intelligent and wrathful, but unable to influence anything other than Naruto himself, and I already covered how that worked. Then once Kyuubi and Naruto had their battle in the centre of the mind, that was the start of Naruto actually getting a feel for the Kyuubi as a person rather than as a monster.
@@nviz47 you can definitely tell the author did not have the full arc of what Tailed Beasts were in the universe back when it was still just some demon inside the protagonist. You can see the transition into a full character beyond a simple animal
Easily one of my favorite tropes out there. Although, I think my favorite take on it is “the character’s Super-Powered Evil Side was not only always there, it’s their default state”. Like, the entire concept of *not* forcing their will upon others through raw power was something the character had to work at for a very long time, and the temptation to just give up and switch back to “easy mode” is always there in the back of their mind.
Something like "fear the wrath of a gentle man". Just because someone desperately wants to be peaceful, upstanding, and just does NOT mean they are adept at any of those things naturally.
16:21 Basically: Noble antagonist: hey I’m here to fight you- woah, jeez seems you aren’t your self Super powered evil side: was that a threat Noble antagonist: aw I can’t kill this, it doesn’t really count as the protagonist so I guess I’ll just beat their evil side out of them. ( one epic fight scene later and the hero passed out but back to normal) Hero’s buddy: thank for saving our frie- wait where you going Noble antagonist: just because I did this does not convince me, to join your party! Side party member: why? Noble antagonist: cause I don’t know if I’m gonna have to deal with that on a daily basis.
I like how Jujutsu Kaisen managed to make a superpowered evil "side" that stays superpowered and evil throughout, and it doesn't look to be changing any time soon
If you're Greed from FMAB you have a superpowered good side Also, I just realized that SNK has this trope too and that it subverts the true love breaks the evil side thing when Armin snaps Eren out of his crazy mode in the battle for Trost instead of Mikasa
Probably because it’s highly debatable as to whether Eren actually loves Mikasa. The trope technically only works if the corrupted protagonist actually has feelings for their LI (whether they themselves are aware of them or not).
Who wants Red to do a Trope Talk on the “Orphans” Trope, the “Hidden Message” Trope, the “Sympathetic Villain” Trope or the “Next Generation” Trope (just to unbrainwash the people who think the trope is makes NG characters clones of their parent/parents)
This was amazing in Kim possible. when Ron a dude who always loses turned evil ,and everyone in the series agrees that evil Ron is the most deadly person in the show.
Seriously, I loved those episodes. Monkey style martial arts and Ron’s intelligence without the doubts and morels that hold him back really made Ron a much bigger threat than any other villains that they tangle with. Maybe even worse than those aliens. And the second time it happened, not only did he walk all over a team of more experienced heroes turned bad, he immediately went to use the helmet on Kim. Now that would’ve been something to see.
A cool play on this would be a character pretending to have an evil alter ego so they can get away with stuff the rest of their hero group isn't ok with.
And when this becomes the norm, we can put another spin on it: Everyone knows it's an act, but they think that the character thinks they have an evil side.
Alternatively, a chuunibyo makes up an evil alter ego to seem cooler (and then blames their petty misdeeds on said ego. "I didn't eat the Halloween candy, it was my dark spectre!" _munch munch_
@@timothymclean And then the evil side actually manifests, like in that South Park episode where Cartman faked tourette to insult Jews without consequences.
I really like JJK's use of this trope, with Sukuna. He's blatantly evil, obviously has his own goals, and the three times he is shown being used are shown to be 1) him being established as "the strongest curse" and then losing to Gojo to establish Gojo as "the strongest sorcerer" 2) to have him brutally assault the deuteragonist, assess his combat ability, and openly state that he wants to use said deuteragonist for his own means. 3) Brutally murdering the 2nd strongest curse that had been revealed until then, saving the deuteragonist from his self sacrifice by defeating the insanely strong monster he summoned (to establish how insanely strong he is) and then killing 200,000 people (to cement how evil he is) It is hammered into the heads of the manga readers just how strong he is and also how evil he is.
Making your superpowered evil side a completely different character can be fun, because this lets you put your protagonist and antagonist in close proximity for the entire story. But they're also limiting, because your protagonist has an antagonist in close proximity for the entire story. (Also, tension can be negatively affected if the audience thinks any major problem could be solved by just negotiating with the super-strong alter ego.)
I like the idea of both being able to talk and eventually reach a mutual agreement or are even just able to cooperate temporarily. It could even be something as simple as both having a mutual need to not die. Closest thing I can think of is ling and greed.
@@an8strengthkobold360 I was specifically thinking of Jujutsu Kaisen, where the protagonist ate part of the setting's biggest bad. Said bad serves as a superpowered evil side, formed a mouth on the protagonist's hand once or twice to talk, and has bargained or tried to bargain with the protagonist a couple of times. (I'm not sure how much the series uses this concept-the anime's fourth episode isn't out just yet and I'm only about 20-25% of the way through the manga-but it stood out to me.)
@Mako Cat Bad habits are more of a character flaw than a superpowered evil side. Also, just because a SES can be one thing doesn't mean it can't be another.
I have an antagonist that is just a super powered evil side (think like bad millennium puzzle) that built a cult around preserving this object, then more or less bound themselves to it and even though they "died", they are still around because they are inside said object. this gives the evil side to whomever is in possession of the object. the benefit is that it provides steady and reliable use of hydromancy (water magic) after the source of most magic has been locked away. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad Idea for an antagonist.
I see what you mean about the negotiation having the potential to reduce tension, but I think that has the tradeoff of opening up a lot of complexity with the character. Digging into which morals the hero is willing to compromise on to win, what cost they're willing to pay for power, it can be a very interesting direction to go. It might make the fight less externally tense in the sense of knowing there's still a reserve superpower that can turn the tide, but instead you can create internal tension with what using it would mean for the character.
I really wish you would talk about "Enemy of my enemy" trope Where two opposing character/factions join together to fight a character/faction that is way more evil and bigger then former
and then instantly turn on each other or the "3 kingdoms" variant, where the 2nd and 3rd will gang up on the 1st; but once the 1st is down "enough", the 2nd will become the new 1st, and then the 3rd and the weakened 1st will gang up on the 2nd..
I think a good play on the love interest snaps them out of evil trope would be where the love interest DOESN'T actually like them back like that. Like, okay, say the best friend tries to get them back, but it doesn't work. The best friend realizes that since the protagonist likes another character, tells that character, and now that character has to be put in this awkward situation where they have to pretend they like the protagonist back. Fearing if they say their true feelings the protagonist will go evil again. The love interest snaps them out of evil the first few times, but each time they feel like they are lying, and don't want to do that to a friend. CHARACTER DRAMA. LOVE IT. Some benefits I see coming from this include a love interest that DOESN'T like them back, seeing our hero struggle with rejection, awkward interactions afterwards as they try to resume a normal friendship, and whenever they seem to be back to normal, it is only the hero's lingering feelings that snap them out of evil. Making it feel more human, recognizing that someone you like doesn't have to like you back. And this could give the love interest some character development, say, they feel like they are manipulating the protagonist every time they have to snap them out of evil. Or, they could actually develop feelings, but question if it is because they have been pretending this whole time vs it being genuine affection.
A good example of power creep is the Assassins Creed Franchise. It started out as a guy walking around a city and assassinating people while completing tasks, and the final boss was just a normal dude with a magic stick. And now in the recent games, you fight literal mythical creatures and gods, while having a huge map to explore. It’s insane.
"Superpoweredevilside" is juuust enough syllables to be awkward and funny every time it's repeated but not enough to just be abbreviated like the CMHB video and I love it
Mechanically, Nezuko functions similarly to this trope in Demon Slayer. She stays in main character Tanjiro's backpack until there's absolutely no other option. Since she's a demon, she is constantly at risk of tasting human blood and going berserk, so most of the time Tanjiro wants her to stay out of the way for her own good, but it's also because he doesn't want her to get hurt. Nezuko is trying very hard to not murder and eat everyone around her, so she isn't "evil", but she's too close for everyone's comfort so she falls into the same trope.
My favorite way to fix power creep, specifically item power creep, is item _combos._ Excalibur is a great sword, but this new bad guy is faster than you are and kicks your ass before you can swing it. However, there's this legendary shield out there you can use to block that first attack, which otherwise has a long recharge, so you can get your hits in. A shield on its own doesn't replace a sword. And having it now doesn't make getting the sword first less important. The second item either just boosts the power of the first one, adds a separate aspect that improves the general function of having it, or adds some secondary effect that's really situational. This whetstone sharpens Excalibur to a beyond divine edge. This bone scabbard allows Excalibur to command the undead- which has never been a needed function until this specific arc against the necromancer. And the shield thing. None of these are better than Excalibur, and they all require Excalibur to produce the power up, so you still need to have gotten Excalibur 3 seasons ago. But having them also explicitly makes Excalibur much more powerful.
What about another way ? You use Excalibur against the bad guy but to be able to kill him, you have to destroy Excalibur (which causes a large release of magic). So the next bad guy shows up, he is less powerful than the precedent but now that you don't have Excalibur, this guy is a serious threat. So you have to find another magical object to help you but this object is weaker than Excalibur. The first quest for Excalibur seems worth it because your team headed directly for the most powerful items but you need another one because you destroy it.
Another one I heard is along the lines of ‘Excalibur is the only thing that can beat bad guy 1, but it’s useless against bg2 because different rules. You need a different weapon because Excalibur wasn’t built for this guy. Can’t play chess the same way you play charades. And now he’s onto you and upping his game since you killed bg1.’
@@LoneSilverW0lf That still runs into similar issues, especially if Excalibur is talked up as all that in S1 and now the S2 BBEG just no-selled it in the first episode or two. “It only works once” is generally a bad play unless it was revealed ahead of time, since otherwise the audience is still going to feel somewhat cheated on their original investment
@@willieoelkers5568 I was thinking more along the lines of ‘one key per lock’ kind of deal. Baldur could only be felled by mistletoe, Achilles had his heel, one East Asian story had a guy with a leaf on his back as his only weak spot, and so on.
Are there examples where said "superpowered evil side" is actually the real owner of the body striking out to protect it, but also to get back into control while optionally heroic protagonist of the series/show/book is actually a hitchhiker that stole the ride to get revenge or save someone or to keep promise?
This idea is actually very intriguing, I would think something like spiritual possession would work for it. Like a man gets murdered and when he comes back as a vengeful spirit he takes over the body of murderers henchman that came to check if he was dead
@@hadeskingoftheunderworld7010 pretty much. In your case superpowered part coming from the fact that the original owner is a professional soldier with no remorse, whom you don't want to get anywhere near the people you're trying to protect. Like for example hijacking a hitman sent to kill you and your family, but having enough time to at least stop him from going after said family. Now you're stuck with guy, whom is trying to kill them if he gets in control, as your only tool to save them.
@@TheArklyte very interesting idea, I like it but I haven't heard many stories like it. Maybe ghost rider a little but its still his body but his soul is bonded with the spirit of vengeance
Mob Psycho 100 does this in a way. The titular character of Mob has incredible psychic powers that are linked to his emotions. So whenever hes under sufficient emotional stress he has a meltdown which depending on the emotion is a "Superpowered evil side" Spoiler alert It turns out at the end of the series the mysterious ????% that shows up occasionally as a traditional superpowered evil side is actually Mob's true self that hes suppressed
I know Yugioh Arc-V has something similar, the protagonist is a portion of the series villain, and his superpowered evil side is actually the original being manifesting himself
Jujutsu Kaisen does this trope by giving the "Evil" in "Super Powered Evil Side" thirteen asterisks and an underline for extra emphasis. When Sukuna comes out, there *is* the temporary "wow, the villain is dead, yay!" factor, but Sukuna also makes sure to be as evil as possible before he can be circumvented. The powers granted by Sukuna always come with more downsides than upsides and i LOVE jjk for it
A way to handle this trope that I wish was done more often is when the hero becomes the antagonist for a while, forcing the rest of the characters to deal with not having the hero and having to work smarter to defeat them
It only lasted for one fight, but Spoilers..... in Slayers the writers wanted to show how powerful Gourry was next to all the mages in his party so they had him mind controlled and fight against them. He went 5V1 and kicked ass, even tanking through their most powerful spells.
Kind of reminds of jujutsu kaisen in a way. The MC superpowered evil side is a separate entity not unlike the ninetails from naruto however sukuna couldn't careless about the MC will try to screw him over while he is active. Spoilers For example the second time sukuna comes out he tries to recruit the monster the MC was fighting to kill his friends before he gets switch out. Sukuna is wholeheartedly evil and uses his power on his terms only and his later actions make it clear that the MC will never make friends with him.
the whole thing about Venom is that the symbiote doesn't want to be alone. They will do anything to not be alone. As in, crafted memories in Eddie's brain to make him more reliant on them
Well, yeah. That's how his species survives. That's what a symbiote is, a creature that cannot survive without a host. He may not want to be alone, but it's mostly because he doesn't want to die.
@@assassintwinat8 I know ;) I found the volume where they broke up was such a Greek tragedy. It was glorious. But besides the need to feed on human brains to survive, there is something oddly tragic about the symbiotes as a species. Kept Knull and Carnage they're dicks
The venom symbiote is at it's best when he is written as a metaphor for obsessive, dangerous, teenage exes. Otherwise he's just kind of Edgey Anti-Spiderman.
@@lamcb.9476 lmao that's oddly fitting considering how many figures in Greek myths killed themselves after they were dumped or thought their lovers were dead
This is probably going to be pretty useful to me, as I’m intending to make a character that ... kind of fits these rules. Basically, there’s this guy who doesn’t like fighting because it scares his little sister, who he would do anything to protect. The first time it becomes necessary for him to fight, he stops it pretty early because he sees how horrified she is. The second time, however, she isn’t there to bring him back and the only reason why he comes back to his normal semi-pacifism is because he sees all the damage he’s done and realizes how awful it is on his own. The reason why I said kind of is because he doesn’t technically have superpowers, he’s just freakishly good at fighting and normally doesn’t do it. So thanks Red, you are helping an aspiring writer make more interesting characters/plot points!
I like when the evil side starts showing some personality of itself, and later on becomes the focus of an whole arc, where they have to either remove it from the character to help them, or separate from the character.
Really I actually kinda dislike those arcs. I think it's more interesting if it's an actual repressed part of their personality that they have to learn to cope with. Having it be it's own seperate entity that has to be removed, usually ends up with character not being held truly accountable for their actions in that state and extra ramifications are brushed aside.
Subversion idea: a character that had studied too far into dark magic too quickly ends up once a calendar month being possessed by a dark entity that usually is removed by either a battle of the mind or exorcism as for why it's there the character normally in control has sustained brain damage preventing him/her from using a battle in the mind and even worse the entity is too powerful to be removed by an expert team of exorcists. To add even more problems the entity slowly grows in power over time.
@@TJTrickster tbh i kinda want to see that but there's this thing i also think can basically make that arc turn the story the other way around, the bastardization arc, when the evil side is not in use and a character is just straight up a jackass or a villian, usually done with bestie characters or main character alter egos, honestly both arc ideas work and the cycle thing actually adds problems like them hvaing to get on a schedule and the villains fucking it up enough to where the evil side is now loose why the villains do their shit.
Suggestion for a trope talk that might be up your alley! The "Sealed Power"-trope. A personal favourite of mine. From power limiters like Zaraki Kenpachi or Gatomon to Sealed Away evil or even heroes like the Pillar Men, Demon King Piccolo, even Excalibur and the like. It's always fun and so versatile.
As much as I love Ninjago, what bothers me is that they often forget about the cool power they spent a long time learning. First power that I can remember is the Tornado of creation. I am pretty sure it was only ever used twice despite being really useful. Then the other power up was the "True potential" and it was only ever used once except for Zane who used it twice. With such a dramatic name you would think they would use it more often. But no they don't and they do this all the time. I still love that show no matter how shitty and inconsistent it is.
I mean, they do use their true potential, and all the time too. It's literally just their innate elemental powers, their use of them just isn't as... _explosive_ as it was when it was first used.
Cole actually used it once or twice as well. I specifically remember that he used it to break down the door when Kai locked himself in a room with Lord Garmadon. That said tho, I do agree with you.
Imagin a evil side that only allows itself to be contained by one friend/love interest to slowly cause a divide between the protagonist and a different friend as that friend starts to feel they mean less to the protagonist since they never are “connected enough” with them to pull them out of their bad side, leading to them eventually stating these feelings and leaving and this emotional hit tips the scale so the evil side can get a solid grip on control.
Actually pretty interesting. Now I never come up with cool stuff on my own, but what if that causes the dissociated friend to become an anti-hero/villain who has to fight the evil side legitimately? Would there be a cool dynamic between them? I don't know, but your original idea is very very cool
Isn't that what happened in futurama with the werecar? Bender as the werecar tried to kill Lela and not Fry which fry took offence to cause they were told that Bender would be doomed to kill his closest friend in time which caused Fry to belive Bender saw Lela as his closest friend and not himself.
They _almost_ had this in the "Dark Inside" books, where one of the characters has a dark alter ego that's almost as scary powerful as the more feral Baggers (basically a blend of vampire and zombie without actually consuming their victims and no immortality), and the only character who comes close to taming that side of him is his love interest... But then this new character that we don't even meet until the final book just wacks him on the head to "get him back to normal" and it hilariously works.
Goku didn't become evil when he turned Super Saiyan, even in the abridged. He was just livid that Frieza killed Krillin, and thus fought more violently. He still had his morals, as shown when he told Gohan to run and even saved him when Frieza tried to hit him. He even started calming down as the fight progressed. If anyone in Dragon Ball felt "evil" after transforming, it was Gohan when he first went SSJ2. He was violent and creepily confident, playing with Cell instead of killing him right away.
@@esteban8471 the super saiyan power ups make you progressively more and more uncontrollable until you get used to them, basically degrading your impulse control, so in a way it's a super powered evil side
I love that feeling when Red’s talking about a trope and the little light goes off in your head that says “Oh Yeah. It’s *that thing* from *that show*! Example “it later became super common that the villain would have an innocent alter ego that didn’t know about their own supervilliany” ...Does anyone else hear a phone ringing?
There's actually a fun subversion of the "love interest snaps protagonist out of evilness after the best friend fails" in Attack on Titan where it's Armin (the best friend character) who snaps Eren out of his evilness (Titan form) after Mikasa (the love interest) fails to. Hell if you want to take it a step further you could argue it may have been Mikasa herself who made him slip into an uncontrollable state, but that's just speculation on my part.
Oh you know what would have been cool? Telling this trope talk but like. From Red's evil power up alter ego. Named like Crimson or Maroon or something. Yeah.
I'm team 'treat the superpowered evil side as a fully fledged character' in its own right. That way, it's about character development, and relationship development between the two 'sides,' not the overpowered-ness. Winning the fight isn't necessary the point anymore, and power creep isn't as much of a problem. I'm not a fan of Naruto, but when the show did this well, it was actually kind of interesting! I didn't care about the outcome of the fight, the drama of the 'fox' inside / learning about him, etc. was interesting until the series jumped the shark with it.
Yes, also, Please talk to plural systems before writing this stuff, Instead of just being evil, be a protector or something, or eventually have healthy switching or a headspace, maybe other head mates.
I do like when this works out, but I tend to be more of a fan of the "evil side" being closer to a feral and violent side that the MC has to try to keep under control. Also adds a bit of flavor if the MC is already just a little bit unstable as it is say due to past trauma. Of course, this can be overplayed, but a bit of subtlety and especially plenty of "show, dont tell" can make it work fairly well.
Not often do I praise Naruto for its writing, but they definitely nailed the Super powered evil side. It doesn’t fall off, it has extreme consequences, but also it’s uses in a few scenes, and I love how Naruto grows with it till eventually hones and masters it.
In avatar the last air bender, the final battle, when aang is forced in to the avatar state he becomes this ruthless angry force of nature, and the power balance shifts and ozai is the one voiding and evading, and you can feel his desperation when he is no longer figting a boy, and its when aang gets control back he spares him. so i would call that an " evil powerup
This trope is a little iffy in my mind, but I do love the “fight in the center of the mind.” By far my favourite use of this is when George and Harold start to lose their humour in the Captain Underpants. Oh, I love that scene.
My favorite version of the Superpowered Evil Side is when it's just a personality shift, not a completely different personality. Like when Roy went hard on Envy to avenge Hughes, or the mentioned instances of Goku being uncharacteristically serious and Gohan being uncharacteristically bloodthirsty, or any time Kenshin goes Battousai. I think it's more compelling when the "Evil Side" really is an integrated part of who the character is, rather than a Hyde-like alter-ego or some other kind of distinct entity. Because you can't really fight against your Evil Side when the Evil Side is just you. As someone who's spent his life keeping violent impulses and an explosive temper in check and who always tries to be as nice and as kind to others as possible, I find it very relatable when the Superpowered Evil Side is treated as a truly internal problem that can't just be disentangled from the character suffering from it. It's also really cool when the "Superpowered" part isn't actually a power-up at all, but just the character not holding themselves back anymore, because it means that they could use that kind of monstrous asskicking ability any time someone pisses them off, but they choose not to. True power is knowing when not to use it, after all.
@@skazwolfman8622 a couple of my characters have a super powered evil side that is literally just the darkest parts of them personified. It doesn't even take over, just convinces them to give into their impulses. It's pretty fun to play with in writing and gets sooooo many good dynamics.
@@skazwolfman8622 another example would be ATLA has that with Katara and bloodbending. Characters where they could be doing something, it was in their abilities all along, but their personality keeps them from doing that, either because it's unethical/ immoral to them, or because they try to hide that they can do it/ just don't like that application are a generally neat use of the trope. Where something pushes them too far, or the stress/ stakes are high enough they snap, and it's not a different person, just the same person except they're allowing themselves to be ruthless.
@@snowboundwhale6860 Another example would be when Killua in Hunter X Hunter taps into his assassin training. It's subtle, but he stops trying to be a normal kid and reverts to being a remorseless killer.
"Anyone and their six year old can turn Super Saiyan." The amount of truth in that sentence is hilarious.
wElL aCtUaLlY gOtEn AnD tRuNkS wErE pRoBaBlY aRoUnD 7 wHiCh MaKeS iT tOtAlLy DiFfErEnT
@@user-me5fh3yu1j da fuk
Hey, just Saiyan.
Super Saiyan bargain sale
@@thatguy2756 legendary line lol
"Who are you!?"
"I'm you, but black and red..."
"Yay he's back to normal!"
"How can you tell?"
"He has a brighter color scheme again!"
Shadow the Hedgehog
Fate/Apochrypa in a nutshell.
@@sociallyacceptablepi7449 how?
Evil Ryu.
There's another way for the Split Personality variant to be unusable in a fight: it can just say "No" when the character tries to call upon them.
Sakuna be like
Infinity war hulk be like
shoot, I think red saw this before she wrote chapter sixteen for Aurora
Lmaoooo Naruto be like
The Owl Beast in Eclipse Lake
A surprisingly common "super powered evil side" trope I've seen is "the evil side was you the whole time and it was only evil because you treated it like it was evil" which is usually either really good or really bad.
can you share examples? I know Naruto does it but maybe you have other recs? :)
@@nausicaa70 Closest I can think of is Layton Brothers: Mystery Room which I enjoyed personally but might not be for everyone
@@nausicaa70Mob Psycho does this really well. The whole series is spent with Mob pretty terrified of his powers (or rather, or hurting people with his powers), so he keeps them bottled up until he explodes. But in season 3 his powers are revealed to have basically gained their own personality that only shows up when he gets overly emotional, and since no one can stop Mob when he’s like that, everyone gets destroyed pretty easily. The only way to beat him was for Mob to accept his powers as part of himself
I think of Badeline from Celeste in that regard, though she's more of a separate persona.
White from bleach
"Who are you?"
"I am you, but stronger and edgier"
Oh hi there, suprise you didnt comment 2 days ago
Or "I am you, but the writer left their 14 year old alone with the script."
Basically calliburn to excalibur
Nice pfp
Ah the exact description of shadow the hedgehog
"Aaaah! I'm turning evil"
"John this is the 15th time this week, and it's Tuesday."
Tuesday morning.
ah an unordinary reference? (just guessing cuz of the tuesday)
"John please it's Parent-Teacher interview night, and John Jr. has been failing Math."
Evil John: (Takes a mirror and looks at his reflection) "John, what the heck."
"John, eat a Snickers. You're not yourself when you're hungry."
@@korok1649 yeeeessssss so glad to see another Unordinary fan! Hope you're enjoying the current season as much as I am lol
Raven from Teen Titans, where her superpowered evil side is so evil and so powerful that it needs to be avoided at all costs even at the risk of losing, and is central to her character arc
Sean Harris except the comics is the canon material and not the animated series like teen titans.
@@shikigranbell7608
I’m not really sure what that has to do with what he said? If he’s talking about the animated series, then that’s what he’s talking about, there’s no point to bring up the comics since Red uses all forms of media.
Also even in the comics Raven is still host to her evil Trigon dominated side and still can never afford to give herself over to it
@@shikigranbell7608 You're wrong anyway.
DC has released a statement outright telling us that it is ALL canon.
Multiverse, my dude, every story that happens in all of DC media is canon somewhere in the DC multiverse.
@@shikigranbell7608 OP didn't even specify whether it was the comics or the show that was being discussed and just said "Teen Titans" which can refer to either.
This is a lot like the psychologist Carl Jung’s theory of the shadow. The best I can explain it is that everyone has dark traits that is suppressed due to socialisation. We our dark traits can leak out in hypocritical or antisocial behaviours and we have to try to intergrate our shadow selves to be self repressed and more aware and in control of our selves
I have this weird idea:
What about a superpowered good side?
Like the main character is a jerk or at least aphathy, they want to stay away from trouble. But their alternate side is the exact opposite with hero complex, getting them both into multiple troubles and injuries sometimes while building up a good reputation (which can also be bad as the villians would want to get rid of them)
So they both struggle to take control whenever problems happen as one want to run away and be safe while the other eager to take down any bad guys responsible. Conflicts can happen because some might recognize them but mistaken their good side with their apathy side
Interesting
or maybe the heroes try to exploit the superpowered good side of the villain and draw it out to reform the villain, but have to deal with the ethical ramifications of trapping them in their own mind and letting a new personality take them over
@@flamingpi2245 Mr. Tinker?
@@wildfire9280
Idk what that is
Oh it’s a sonic thing
Yeah I guess like that, though less amnesia, more insidiously growing viral alter ego
This seems similar to what the New 52 DC comics did to SHAZAM (or Captain Marvel depending on your principles), where Billy Batson was more jaded and apathetic to human suffering for angst purposes, but his suped-up hero side was more boy scout and paragon. Readers quickly realized this made absolutely no sense, because Billy Batson and SHAZAM are fundamentally the same person with only the outside changed, so it was really jarring for a grown hero to have a childlike perspective and almost innocence that the actual child alter ego didn't even have.
"...he's got like two brain cells, and one of them spends all its time pinging between the receptors for food, fighting and friendship"
Best.
Line.
Ever.
The other one just lives at fighting permanently.
Hey, those are all f words, I wonder if there's another f word that could occupy his time.
*Chichi yandere senses activate*
@@Midsomnyx Pretty sure there is not.
@@zoro115-s6b - Remember kids, “marriage” is something you eat!
You should watch dbza goku has even less
*"Most Shonen anime fight are basically mashing two action figures together until one buckles."*
Yeah that's pretty much it.
Don't forget all the shouting.
Calling out the names of your moves so the other guy has a chance to counter
@@theunknownone5990 And then, when you've got your opponent pinned down, instead of finishing them, explain in detail how the move you just used works.
Even the part where it stops when someone loses a limb :o
And I love it
Power Creep is basically climbing a staircase in a white void. Sure, it would look pretty high up... if the stairs behind you didn't keep disappearing and you suddenly feel like you're about 3 feet off the ground again.
it's pretty similar to the chase for success as a whole. achieving the goal isn't where the meaning comes from, the meaning of the story comes from the connections the hero establishes. If you have a story 100% focused on the goal, it'll be boring. that's why the opposite can be viable, fully character driven. one punch man actually does a great job of providing insight into the character who gets this success. and how it can make them feel empty if there's nothing else to strive for.
it's also deeply rooted in capitalistic profit in the case of games. how can money be made from new stuff if old stuff works better?
@@Author-In-Denial That's how all capitalism works. Unfortunately.
This visualization is scary as hell to me.
Mario staircase loop
I have played games where there is a lot of powercreep, inevitably it gets boring fairly quickly as enemies become so weak theat they are trivial to kill and stop offering any reward.
Books often do it too where a power increase on one side has to be quickly countered by a similar increase on the other to maintain the balance. Eventually they are both incredibly powerful but the writer has lost the plot. Power alone cannot maintain interest.
I've always loved it when some writers give this powerful good point. like "Bitch it's MY body too, do you know what it's like to be locked in this place... sure I can summon things at will, but I need a social life too!"
Most of it is for comedy, but it's funny.
This just makes me think of the scene before Piccolo and Kami fuze (specifically in the Dragon Ball Z *Abridged*)
Anyone else?
@Russell March
“Maybe I’d rather it be destroyed than ever be a part of YOU again!”
“Mom, Dad, please stop fighting.”
That's what they did in O.K. K.O. the MC tried to suppress his evil nature, then tried to constantly divert the evil insurance with a mental play room, and then when he becomes all evil, his evil side misses his good side because it wants to be whole and not ignored
In the Avengers cartoon, Hulk and Bruce Banner make a deal that instead of trying to supress the Hulk, Banner allows him to be out 24/7 and we see Hulk during down time. Part of the deal is however that from time to time, Hulk allows Banner to take over so he can have some peace and quiet.
All I can think of now is the time in Yu-Gi-Oh where main protagonist Yugi set up his Egyptian Pharaoh super powered evil side on a date with his childhood friend to cheer him up after a difficult boss fight led to them both almost dying.
pls talk about "Evil Harems" where every villain ends up having a redemption arc and joining the good guys through the power of friendship until in the last season the ex-villains outnumber the original good guy gang.
*cough* fairytale *cough*
I think she talked about it in her reformed villains video
Did someone say Steven Universe?
I hear DiU in the distance
@@dysfunctionalcaterpillar790 Does anyone think they are a main character!
* Everyone raises hand *
I didn’t know why I thought that would work.
I just realized that for the first 2 seasons of the avatar, the avatar state was basically a superpowered evil side.
The Avatar State is not so much 'evil' as 'lizard brain pragmaticism'. The part that goes "hey maybe we should make sure there isn't collateral damage" goes quiet and the part that goes "THING BAD CRUSH IT NOW CRUSH CRUSH CRUSH" gets very loud.
So more 'Captain Planet Hulk' than actually 'Evil'
Superpowered Evil Side doesn't actually need to be "Evil." It could just be the powerup that is relys on the persons instincts.
It does when Kyoshi takes over.
@@johnnychopsocky wonderfully accurate description
More lawful neutral but i get where you're coming from.
Plot twist: this vid was made by Red's Evil side without Red knowing
But isn’t she Blue’s Super Powered Evil side?
@@InquisitorThomas be interesting to have an evil side be a different gender than the main person so a love interest cant really snap them out of it.
@@TJTrickster the best friend could suddenly become the love interest of the evil side
that could have an interesting outcome
@@TJTrickster Laughs in bisexual. Also would be better if they did this with any knowledge of real plural systems, most of the time we have different genders, core values, likes, dislikes, sexualities, species etc.
@@stevenmichel7270 Uuhh, that would be amazing. And then starts a love story between the best friend and the evil side, the best friend wants to see the evil side more, rejecting the protagonist. The protagonist then becomes evil because he's not considered anymore and is recluded in his own mind
This trope is a dirty pleasure of mine. Jacks "ripper mode" in metal gear rising is so hilarious and over the top, it makes me laugh all the time xD
Metal gear rising is, *mwah*, chefs kiss for over the topness.
TURN OFF MY TROPE INHIBITORS
Im sorry they did NOT name it that. They fucking did not I will not believe it
@@plazma0325 they did
@@moongirl-d9h like he's actually jack the ripper? I see, I thought the character was just named Jack and the devs thought it would be funny lol
“Who are you?”
“I’m you but when *my* mum died I went with a black colour scheme
Light mode meets dark mode
Black and white:Who are you?
Gray:I'm you guys but better
I am zangetsu
Just once I'd like to see "I'm not you, we're 2 people and I just want you to stop locking me away to deal with all the trauma."
Another interesting take on this is Aang's Firebending in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
When Aang learning firebending is first discussed and explored, it ends up hurting his love interest in a very traumatizing way because he's so impatient and arrogant about his seeming prowess with the element. Because of this, Aang vows to never use firebending again.
Think about how often Aang using firebending could've saved a lot of time or effort in a fight or scenario, and how much harder the journey was for it.
But then, almost symbolically, best redemption boy Zuko comes along in the latter half of Season 3 and begins training Aang in firebending. But because of the speed bump that is Zuko's flames puttering out, they go to revitalize it in the Sun Temple, and then by the end learn not only the true origin of Firebending, but the beauty and majesty of the element, and how it's *not* just a force of rage, power and evil.
In essence, the arc of Firebending in Avatar is both a redemption arc in and of itself *FOR* a superpowered evil side/ability.
That's a really good point actually, and it dovetails really nicely with the the narrative exploration of the regular citizens in the Fire Nation and with Iroh's lessions that have been getting dropped on Zuko and the audience the whole series.
In some ways, the Avatar state itself is an evil alter Ego for Aang.
Of course, it's not evil, but right up until the end of ATLA, the Avatar state is at odds with Aangs personal code of non-violence.
And thus the drama of him fighting it to regain control is still there.
@@rockyblacksmith The main reason I felt the Avatar State is less of an "evil" side than the element of fire is because throughout most of the series the Firebenders are the main threat and antagonists.
Even the very nature of *learning* it was treated as some forbidden, dangerous technique, to the point that Aang is so horrified by it that he refuses to use it for two whole seasons.
The Avatar State is also treated with some juxtaposition, but ultimately the Gaang aren't nearly as terrified of it, primarily because their circumstances have conditioned them to be more afraid of shooting flames and lightning at people than hurtling rocks or whipping water at them.
That's such a good example it's curious that Red didn't invoke it, as much as she loves ATLA. Then again, that may be WHY she didn't use it: she recognized it as low-hanging fruit and strove to bring in examples from other franchises.
@@TheBrickMasterB That is why I said "in some ways". The Avatar state is not so much the antagonist from the point of view of other characters, but in terms of Aangs internal conflict.
And I'd say one of the core conflicts in the whole series is how Aang is supposed to be protecting others without giving up his own moral code.
The overall conflict is just as much external as internal.
The Fire Nation presents the external antagonist, but his internal antagonist is most prominently represented by the uncontrolled Avatar state.
Something I'd like to see one day:
Have a group of heroes, struggling with a villain. One of them (probably the protag) has a superpowered evil side situation, and that pops up and makes the difference in winning the fight (not necessarily winning it solo). The evil side then turns against the other heroes, and _gets utterly stomped_ because the other heroes know the protag's abilities so well, since they've been fighting together for so long. A different kind of power of friendship to fix the evil side issue.
I would love to see a hero come to after an evil transformation thinking they must have done something terrible and wreaked untold havoc before they could be stopped only to find out they got their ass kicked.
@@zoro115-s6b Just wakes up in a (hospital?) bed all bandaged up.
"Sorry man we didn't know how else to stop you"
@@IceAokiji303 "But how did you defeat me?"
"Uh... It was actually pretty easy dude. Evil you never guards his left side."
"What? Seriously? That's all it took?"
"Yep."
Alternatively, the hero asks a smart ally to come up with a failsafe to stop their evil side should it go rogue.
@@umapessoa240 Hulkbuster?
Concept: The protag is in the throes of their superpowered evil side. Their love interest goes up to them and tearfully tries to pull them out of it, but to no avail. All seems lost.
Then their mom walks up, berates them, and sends the superpowered evil side to their room to think about what they did.
The Protag's mum, or the Evil Side's mum.
isn't that just O.k.k.o the first time Turbo shows up?
@@lisabilby2006 It's been a long time since I watched that, but I don't remember KO's mom getting involved with TKO the first time.
You say that as if the protag's mom is alive
Bonus points if it's a Hispanic/Asian mom coming into the room with a chancla/shoe
Or the dreaded Southeast Asian rattan stick 😨
Goku: "I'm gonna break you... like a Kit Kat bar."
What?
@@srjnorth dragon ball z abridged by team 4 star
@@andrewgrayson2007 trust I know, I was finishing the quote 😂
@Waffie The Dweeb but Freeza didn't say Nani
@@srjnorth _What?!?!_
Fun fact: the symbiotes take on the personality trait of its hosts. The reason the venom symbiote is so evil is because it’s past hosts before peter were a alien warlord and everyone’s favorite merc with the mouth
Yeah anyone would go crazy after reading Deadpool‘s mind
@@Dark_Mage what if Deadpool isn't just a memetic hazard, but a contagious one? Everyone who has contact with his mind becomes insane in the same way he is, and therefore people can catch insanity from them. So the symbiote catches Deadpool-ness, and then leaves a trail of Deadpooled ex-hosts as it moves through the population.
@@diablominero So Deadpool is an SCP
@@Dark_Mage oh god
@@terrace15 Dr Bright and Deadpool
Ah, Trope Talk. The best way to start the morning.
Confused me for a second before I realized my country isn't the world.
@@joevenespineli6389 Same, it's 18 p.m. here 😂
It’s 05:30 pm
@@akashijamoka 17pm here in Germany,
Where are you?
Nothing makes a morning better than hot tropes in your cup.
In The Owl House, Eda's owl beast mode is basically a superpowered evil side, but i really like how they went about it. It is said to be a curse but is presented as as a chronic illness, whether that be physical or mental. It's actually rarely used in fights but it's still scary as heck, because there's no telling when Eda will turn into an owl beast. Eda herself is shown to be scared of it, but her arc is about her accepting the owl beast as part of herself. It's unfortunate and it's inconvenient, hurtful sometimes, but there's no medicine that can cure it entirely. The one she currently takes only keeps it under control, and once she stops being afraid of the curse, it turns into something manageable.
Yeah that was so cool! God i love that show
Very symbolic too Diane intend if I recall for it no cure
It's even better once she comes to terms with it, because then she *can* use it as a power up, though she still has to do a bit of negotiating with the owl beast itself for this.
😭 I miss Owl house! who's every ones favorite charecter? mines Hunter and then Willow (i know they're a ship, I don't really care) Hunter because (hey pjo fans!) He's a Nico and Willow because her and I are really similar aka the moms of the group
The most suspense Dragon ball has these days is trying to guess the color of the next last minute transformation.
THE TRUTH BURNS MY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES "HHHIIIIIISSSSSSSSS"
Hahahahha
The pain... It hurts....
Or what bullshit power level the characters will achieve after just screaming.
And the name, don’t forget the names
04:50 "This is Goku we're talking about. He's got, like, two braincells, and one of them spends all time pinging between the three receptors for Food, Fighting and Friendship".
There you go, Goku's character neatly summarized.
Ah yes the three F's -fur feathers fat- Food, Fighting, Friendship
nah I refuse to believe he's got more than 1
@@violablaire6499 Read the manga, not DBS, not the dumb early american translation.
Goku is a lot master than people seems to remember.
it is pretty sad that because of the terrible american version everyone has so much assumtions about this character
@@naproupi no.
@@naproupi as much as I'm inclined to agree and to avoid getting into a mess, Goku was never that good at anything that wasn't fighting, and he constantly did things that reminded us of this even before dbs. Hell, even _when_ he's fighting he'll every so often do something dumb, such as giving Cell a Senzu bean. Goku was never as smart as people like to think he is
Sad i didn't see my childhood intro to this trope: Raven's evil side UNLEASHING on Dr Light in an early teen titans episode, and the subsequent journey through her mind by cyborg and beast boy.
That one was more original because it involved BB and Cyborg instead of Raven alone
Raven's more an example of Bad Powers Good Person
Raven is interesting because while it does seem like she has an evil powerup side, she doesn't use it. The only times it comes out are when she loses control, and then she represses it quickly. She even lost her fight with Terra because she was spending so much effort suppressing her evil side that she couldn't fight as effectively. She basically chose to lose and possibly die rather than give in to it.
It's also interesting that she seems to have the somewhat more rare GOOD powerup side.
@@zoro115-s6b It's part of why she's one of my all time favorite characters. Her power is connected to her emotions, but is so volatile that she represses all emotions and she's genuinely terrifying when she loses that control.
As a Neuro divergent kid that struggled with repressing negative emotion until it exploded, I related. I didn't realize that until today. It was helpful to have a hero who wasn't all happiness and rainbows, that had a dark side but was still GOOD.
Ahem, sorry for the impromptu therapy session. Such a good show. It's fun to have people talk about it!
That freaking terrified me when I saw it
Also, doesn’t she also have a light side?
I would consider the Avatar State from Avatar in this. When Ozai activates it, Aang starts absolutely destroying him, but the conflict begins to be that Aang could kill Ozai, something he specifically avoided. The Avatar state begins to be the villain in the scene by contrasting Aang’s hard morals.
It was only "evil" to Aang because of his strict sense or morality. To someone more flexible in the morals department, like Kyoshi or Roku, it was just a power up.
Yeah, the Avatar state is an interesting superpowered evil side because it's only "evil" to certain people. The only reason it was scary and evil to Aang was because of his moral compass and how he hated getting someone hurt because of his emotional turmoil.
@@legomaniac213 well, if he's around only enemies then yeah it's not evil. Uncontrolled Avatar State is basically a natural disaster, so anyone around is kinda fucked
Let’s be real here, it’s mostly probably Kyoshi’s murder happy attitude clashing with Aang’s morals.
Also The Incredible Hulk in the animated movie Ultimate Avengers is essentially Dr. Banner’s superpowered evil side
I just realized that "the Avatar state" is basically a superpowered evil side
Nothing evil about that
@@oldcowbb thats true but in aangs case technically it is evil bc ozai was about to be killed, something aang doesnt wanna do. Going crazy, stomping the bad guy, going “too far” id say it checks all the things superpowered evil sides are typically known for lol
@@oldcowbb umm nope thats considered evil
I mean, you're not really wrong? The Avatar state lets Aang get in touch with all of his past incarnations, so it really isn't an evil side from a narrative perspective. On the other hand, 99% of the people he is contacting want him to outright kill the guy he is fighting, pacifism be damned, and that is certainly evil from Aang's point of view.
@@justinalicea1590 Yeah, the "evil" in the trope name can also be substituted with "chaotic", or for more of a blank check, call it a "dark side" - it's a version of the character which has the same moral ideals but fewer inhibitions when it comes to method - thus, chaotic.
"underaged girls with quintuple sized G cups"
Alright everyone, pack it up, this is Red's best quote.
Eh fair point
Ah yes, One Piece
@@Kronecraft I love One Piece but those girls’ chests are ridiculous. There’s no spectrum from flat to “wow, that looks uncomfortable”
@@beeflymay Really doesn't help that they generally look like stick figures with skin.
@@Kronecraft i remember when oda used to draw somewhat realistic chests now theyre just enormous
What about the Hulk?
He is basically a character who IS the super power evil side.
Yes, I was just reading through the comments to see whether I was alone with that question. :-)
I'm not a guy who reads comics, so please excuse my naivity, but why is The Hulk considered evil? Only because Banner needed to get angry for his transformation, right? Anger is the "fuel" to stay Hulk and to power up even more while at the same time losing control hover himself. Anger usually is a negative trait, especially when heroes give into it, which makes The Hulk a tainted persona, but not an outright villain. Over time the emotional distress necessary for the transformation got lost, I feel. Now The Hulk is there and does whatever is needed. He even cooperates with other heroes, follows plans in strategic battles and clearly is in control of his thoughts, which is a far cry from his origins (to crush anything that pisses him of in some way).
@@ssafjee The Hulk has gone through a whole lot of iterations and one of the early ones, was indeed more or less evil. SF Debris has been doing a pretty good video series, covering the history of the character and his evolution
Originally yes the hulk was a super powered evil side. This stems from the inspiration of the character. The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You see the hulk is basically all the anger, resentment, and fury that bruce banner developed due to his alchoholic, dickbag father. And as he got older bruce managed to bury these negative feelings. But, when he became the hulk it was basically all of these feelings pouring out at once. But, unlike dr jekyll who basically created mr hyde so he could go out and give in to his urges and do whatever he wanted the hulk was basically a split personality created by Bruces negative emotions
Hulk is his own person seperate from banner, they have DID, and as a plural system we hate how poorly all media does this.
Every example in this video has corresponded to some version of the Hulk at some point. Different writers will do that. We have even had multiple Hulk personalities fighting for control at the same time before. Smart Hulk, Mr Fixit, Savage Hulk, World Breaker, Maestro, ect..are all effectively different characters, and Banner is seldom if ever in any real control. Funny thing is and this was done to erk Banner this had nothing to do with his Hulk transformation directly, other Hulks get adrenaline rushes some loss of inhibition but nothing as extreme as Banner gets, the split personalities were always there the Hulk just gave them an outlet to shut down Banner for a time.
I was thinking, by comparison, the second season obtaining Excalibur makes the sword into a butter knife as far as effectiveness. But now I want to see King Arthur holding a butter knife as bravely as he held Excalibur
a plottwist where Excalibur's true form is a butter knife but actually slice reality itself like butter as long as Arthur himself view what he cuts as butter
That kind of confidence is the mark of true king
when you're so wildly op reality is scared to see you pick up a butterknife. XD
@@yep1486 tbh i could see this happening in a doom patrol comic and it wouldnt feel out of place
169 nice.
Also, apparently the effectiveness of a sword in the 300s was alike a butter knife (or worse)
15:54
Friend: "Please stop it! We're friends!"
Hero: *keeps punching*
Love interest: "Noooooo I love you!"
Hero: *snaps out of it*
Friend: "Oh am I not good enough for you?"
Hero: I could bring him back, you know.
Let's flip this around: The main character has a crush on some girl, but he doesn't know her well enough, so she can't do crap, but his childhood friend gets the job done. Like
Hero: *goes nuts*
Crush: "Step aside, I have to -" *gets hurled into the nearest object by rampaging hero*
Childhood Friend: "Yeah, you're never getting anywhere with her like that."
Hero: *calms down due to hearing the familiar voice*
The power of boners is stronger than the power of love
One bro talking his homie down from a murderous rampage, five feet away because they're not gay.
Actually, hero can return to normal without love interest can happen. One of the way is the villian accidenty say a trigger word or the hero got hit at the head and faint
"But Inuyasha is a romance first and shonen anime second." I mean you're not wrong. You just made me realize I was roped into a romance when I came for demon killing with a huge ass sword.
Edit: Yeah I'm still enjoying it lol. I'm almost 200 ep in
Might I suggest the manga Berserk? It has some truly horrendous contents, but if you have the stomach for the worst of the worst humanity can think of, Berserk is one of the greatest manga of all time, and it's about a man killing demons with a huge ass sword.
I'm pretty sure Inuyasha feels exactly the same way about the whole thing.
@@jkosch You misunderstand me. I'm saying Inuyasha came for demon killing and was roped into a romance.
@@jkosch Eh, he was never nearly as selfish as he pretended to be. His villain act was a very transparent way to cover up how lonely he was, by convincing himself that he didn't need anyone and didn't care about other people. That's even his motivation for wanting to become a full demon, to get rid of all his emotions and uncertainties. Getting more power is very much secondary, even at the start he's already pretty powerful.
Griffith is probably my favorite villain in any story ever.
Red: "And they never let Gohan do anything cool again"
Why must you hurt me in this way?
This.... this hurts...
Piccolo: You peaked.
@@jouheikisaragi6075 You're kidding! After all that?!
@@arutka2000 Yup.
@@lewisirwin5363 But...but...but, I get stronger right?
I like asura's berserk mode in asura's wrath. Aside from being a reference to the berserker armor from... berserk, the form is accompanied by quiet, sad music in a peaceful style as asura constantly shouts in despair with an echoing filter on his voice.
Having a transformation that's basically an ultra panic attack powered by sorrow is such a breath of fresh air, and shows off how scary super strength can be when it's used to ambush people instead of facing them head-on.
It is especially poetic when they come face to face with Vlitra and it looks just like Asura's Berserk mode. Yasha even says "It looks like you when you're angry"
Ok, but we all know that the best superpowered evil side is Josuke when someone insults his hair.
This comment needs more likes
True
Yes
Dude straight up couldn't be affected by Heaven's Door because he didn't care about anything but what Rohan said about his hair.
@@jacktheripper7735 literally blinded by rage.
I think a cool Trope Talk to do would be “Show Don’t Tell”, or environmental storytelling. Essentially, a story that doesn’t tell it’s story through dialogue or narration, but just by showing the environment and the people. The story is told indirectly, basically. This type of storytelling is more apparent in video games, like Hyper Light Drifter, or Hollow Knight, or Gris, or Journey, or Shadow of the Colossus, or Dark Souls. It's also very apparent in those animated short films where almost none/none of the characters talk.
I’m surprised she hasn’t done it yet.
Aaaaany day now…
That would actually be really cool. Plus it will give Red another opportunity to talk about Avatar the Last Airbender, again.
Out of all video games, you mentioned gris and not Dark Souls?
The scene from Arrival when they trow the lightstick up is another good one. It's the one that made me realise the power of this trope.
A fantastic show that does this is Samurai Jack.
Fun fact: in an interview, Akira Toriyama admitted to actually forgetting that Super Saiyan 2 was a thing because of how similar it was - both visually and narratively - to the first Super Saiyan and basically only mattered briefly for Gohan, and never ever again.
Yep. This is why Super Saiyan 3 even exists. On the other hand, that doesn't really say what you seem to think it did about Super Saiyan 2 - that Akira Toriyama forgot something he wrote doesn't actually say much about that thing at all. He's forgotten major plot points, secondary characters, basic worldbuilding he established a few years prior, etc, because he writes by the seat of his pants and pays very little attention along the way. Super Saiyan 2's forgettable, but Toriyama having forgotten it is not evidence of this; there are literally hundreds of millions of people who know more about his series than he does because every major plot thread that moved us emotionally was just something he jotted down in order to pump out another couple of pages on an insane and unsustainable schedule.
Toriyama has created decent art that has inspired countless people. It's just that he's not actually talented and cares way less about that art than everyone else.
Ehhh, I'd argue that. SSJ2 vs. SSJ2 (Majin) Vegeta was an absolutely *badass* fight. And Vegito capped out at SSJ2 (at least in DBZ, anyway) b/c Vegeta couldn't go SSJ3.
@@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013 I still love the fact he completly forgot about the fact sayians would have tails.
After Gohan and vegeta's defeat I don't believe we EVER saw a tail again. It is kinda hillarious. He even admitted that the reason Gotens and Trunks doesn't have tails is because he completly forgot about that being a thing XD
69. Nice.
@@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013 you had me until you said he wasn’t talented. He might not really care all too much but that doesn’t discount all the talent the dude has.
I want to see a story where all of the main characters (heroes AND villains) have superpowered evil sides, but each one has a different type.
Alternatively, the main hero has like 8 different superpowered evil sides all vying for control.
some are gonna have to have simular ones
also I can kinda see the 8 evil sides of the Mc as his/her past lives trying to come back to return themself to the world of the living but they all had choosen the same reincarnation so they all try to put in as much of their power as possible to be the dominante one when they got the protagonist out of the picture, meaning everytime the Mc goes evil side he/she has the risk of getting their body and soul broken
@@yep1486 thats actually a great idea
I've got something a little like that with one dude essentially being able to absorb evil spirits, but that's a REALLY terrible idea, as in my setting a spirit with a defined personality and/or a high power level has those traits because their will and sense of self are strong, so they're not going to just sit there without a fight, and trying to grab one with a stronger will is basically just saying "please possess me." Dude's barely holding it together with three, and that only worked cause the first two hate each other and are more interested in fighting each other than the guy who absorbed them. If they teamed up the dude would go down pretty easily
The main character of the webcomic Twokinds has, well, two super powered evil sides. First, an amnesia-style old-me-was-an-asshole type bent on world domination and uncaring of his current friends (mostly a power-up because he actually remembers how to use his magic effectively). Second, a corruptive type caused by using black magic; interestingly, while like this he still retains his feelings for his friends and loved ones... at least for a while, since if the fight drags on too long he starts caring more about the power he now has access to than the reason he originally needed it.
The last one is just Bruce Banner. The man needs help. And a therapist.
"the character's not home rn, can their primal instincts take a message?" XD
"I'm going to break you."
"What!?"
"Like a Kit-Kat Bar."
......What?!
Wait if you let me power up I'll give you a pizza
@@estefanolivares4159
"That trick won't work,you killed my best frie-"
*"TWO PIZZAS"*
Thank god I found this comment here I was getting a little bit worried lol😂😂
@@potatobread5854 stuff crust king kai. U can eat it in reverse
One word: Berserk
Guts’ Berserker Armor is very much this. Very much “He who fights monsters”.
Forces?
Something this has made me realise is how many tropes berserk has but they're so well done that you don't even realise them
it literally requires an entirely second character to reign him in from his rampages, and its terrifying to think of what would happen if shierke were not there
I've always thought that Guts was just along for the ride when the Berserker Armour hijacks his body. Not necessarily an "evil side" but moreso a hostage. Let's be honest here, Guts has done a lot of terrible things, but he can't have an "evil" side because everything in Berserk is morally grey. I think that's why people don't recognize this trope in the story so easily.
@@VulpesHilarianus The trolls are morally gray?!
I actually would like to see a version of the Superpowered evil side where its a separate personality but both sides actually worked together an agreement of sorts where said evil side gets to come out for fights but otherwise is like a fun colorful commentator in our protagonists head
So the Venom movies basically
@@chocochipjewel ya
There’s a lot of Bleach and Naruto fix-it fanfics about Exactly This!
Soul Nomad has this exact premise as it's main gimmick.
You host the god of death, Gig, who is, as he puts it "the baddest of the bad, the maddest of the mad, the killer of kings and destroyer of worlds.'
And bro lives up to the hype. He wants your body, but he needs you to agree. So, he offers you a deal. He'll sit back, and if you need power, he'll give it..but every time you do, he takes a little more control.
To the point that the first bad end of the game is giving in, and unleashing a god tier beat down on one of the final bosses.
The entire game is filled with him talking shit too. And occasionally nabbing your body to do shit like shove his favorite food in your mouth.
undertale
Honestly I wish that the symbiote had been a more permanent thing. They could have made a whole storyline of Spider-Man teaching it morals, basically being an Uncle Ben to it, but without the dying part.
Sounds like we need a new addition to the Spider-Verse.
Patrick Mulligan and Venom’s grandson: Toxin
Or maybe WITH the dying part, and Venom becomes spider-man for a while.
That's probably done already, but hey, it's an idea.
Remember it’s also insane because of Deadpool
Then reveal spiderman died in a fight months ago and the symbiote has been impersonating him to do good because of what Peter taught it.... Could be cool
"Loud glowy auras and a lot more environmental damage"
Most Naruto and DBZ fights in a nutshell.
I’d say most shonen in general really
HELP MY!!! My muscles are too big! I am a big tall man and my muscles are even BIGGER! I use them to get views but they HURT so much!!! Because they are heavy. Do you have any advice, dear andrww
Naruto, loosing a fight: "yo nine-tails"
I miss the days when Naruto fights were small scale and tactical =(
@@IeshiAke If it helps, a lot of Boruto fights have tried to go back to that on at least some level. The effectiveness varies, but some of them are really good (Sakura vs Shin Uchiha comes to mind).
*Jujutsu Kaisen readers on the first chapter:* So this guy just got powers because he ate the finger of the king of curses. Flip a coin and see if the king will be helping because of self-preservation or eventual respect and/or friendship with the hero.
*Sukuna, the irredeemably, indisputably, genocidally evil King of Curses after murdering his way through several arcs:* LOL
Yup. With the exception of one guy, Sukuna spares no one.
@@andrewpenn1145 And that one guy has the words "Spare... for now" tattoo-ed on his forehead.
ah, i knew the comments would have mention of jjk someplace lol
That is one of the things I love about that series.
The fact he refused to change even when he was told he would just peris was fucking amazing "Bahh, I am like 3 of my fingers.There are 17 others out there a lose of these 3 doesn't matter!"
Then he tries to argue with the curse about working together but when it ignores him he only kills it because it is annoying him. I fucking love that aspect so much. There aren't any self-preservation because it doesn't really matter It is truely an evil overpowered side that REALLY shouldn't be used haha
🤣🤣🤣🤣
13:48 The best part about Spiderman's symbiote "evilness" justification is that, when it arrived in Earth, it was actually a fully good being, but it got corrupted after merging with Deadpool, and only after that it found Peter Parker. It is, of course, a retcon, but I love it too much not to mention it
I like the rejection version of it where it did take over his body, but generally did things just as it assumed Peter Parker would like. Then because it was rejected after that it became confused and hurt, its primary motivation is mainly getting back at Spiderman for rejecting it and it personally knowing Spiderman gives it a whole nother dimension that made Venom a menace
@@drewlevy9557 Yeah, I call that the "twitter butthurt" version, I don't like it. Venom became a zoomer, got offended because how dare someone else have a different opinion, and started sending death-threats
@@AnyMEmdq I thought it was more like Syndrome
@@drewlevy9557 And Syndrome does fit what I just described perfectly xD
Before it bonded with Deadpool, Venom initially bonded with an insane genocidal alien, so even before the Merc With a Mouth got involved, it was already on its path to becoming the stuff of nightmares.
"Just once I want the best friend to come around after the hero comes back to themselves and be annoyed that _their_ heartfelt plee wasn't enough to save them" Red your aroace is showing (says your friendly local sympathetic ace)
But can't people want friendships to matter as much as love/sexual attraction without being aromantic/asexual? (Actually now I'm thinking it would be interesting to see a sexual attraction version of the trope that doesn't pretend it's "love".)
@@AntediluvianRomance Lol are you suggesting a "snap out of the evil side because you're horny" scene? Yeah. That could work.
@@Rhaifha We must embrace the power of horniness! :D
@@AntediluvianRomance I'm not saying they can't, it's just a joke because Red is otherwise confirmed to be ace :/
@@AntediluvianRomance There is an example of this. Our old boy Cú Chulainn warp spasm is (and I'm quoting red here) "brought down by the power of boobs".
When she mentioned marvel, I thought she was about to talk about the Hulk. His whole thing is he has a super-powered evil side.
Ghost Rider, Dark Phoenix, Sentry/Void...
@@CaptainFrost32 Dark Phoenix was shown
@@tedwards1025 That is why she was on the list... it was inclusive but incomplete.
"Sides" there a lot of evil Hulk personalities
@@TupocalypseShakur 5 main Hulks, none of which are 100% evil, but variable amounts of arguable evil, and infinite Hulks hiding inside Banner’s brain waiting for their moment.
Super powered evil sides are all about letting your hero win the physical battle while losing the metaphysical battle. That's what makes it engaging (and why I had to fight Anakin's stupid, emotional side so many times).
So, that’s what that test Luke had in the cave in Dagobah was about?
I never fully understood it.
@@BlackCover95 basically the test is to see if Luke has the potential to become a second Vader (the fact he failed proves that he has potential)
Does Anakin have a non stupid side?
@@BlackCover95 Exactly. The Dark Side has always been about getting power rapidly but at the cost of morality. As Yoda said, the Dark Side is not stronger, just quicker so many a Jedi are seduced into turning to the Dark Side to use that power.
That's why Luke failed in Dagobah. He was impulsive and gave into fear and anger to win and this is exactly why Yoda and I didn't want him to face Vader. And when he did face Vader in Return of the Jedi, he beat him but almost fell to the Dark Side in the process. He almost became the very thing he swore to destroy by killing his dad and becoming Sidious's new apprentice.
Luckily, he pulled back at the last second and had that "I am a Jedi like my father before me" epiphany. So by reeling in the Dark Side, he won the metaphysical battle. And his resolve convinced Vader to kill Sidoius, thus winning the physical battle.
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi I think the dark side is more about destruction and sacrifice, rather than about morality, cause vaapad was also toeing the line with it through using emotions, and Mace Windu specialized in it. I think that those who draw on the dark side of the force give up a bit of either their lifeforce, lifespan, mental health, comprehension, comprehension ability, or something else in exchage. Giving up morality is part of the idea of "sacrifice", but the Jedi Order does have some... flaws, for lack of a better word, about the way abilities are classified as either dark or lightside. And while the Sith naturally have destructive abilities classified as dark side, they also have basic ones and many self-harming ones. The Jedi Order, for example, has combustion as "a severe culmination of the art of telekinesis", while the sith variation is close combat and basically is the effect of 'setting you hands on fire, mind the blisters'. However, the Sith have also Crucitorn, which is, in summation, dissociation to endure physical pain. Sacrifice of being mentally aware to gain endurance basically. Both have force push as an ability. Honestly though, the Sith's description of force push? Sounds like an ability used to route animals... it's a "kinetic wave" that can "knock a single enemy off balance or scatter a group in all directions"... I'm just thinking of that exact description being used to scatter a stampede. XD
You know what would be awesome, for a change of pace; whenever the hero uses the Superpowered Evilside they get their personality corrupted darker, but the dark side is also forced to mellow out. Something along the lines of
“Dude, you’re buzzing my harsh!”
so eventually they just switch places?
@@flamingpi2245 no more like they even out.
@@christopherfleetwood5252 or more accurately, merge
"I'm pretty sure that turn 1 win never made it into the anime of YuGiOh"
Arc-V literally opens with the MC doing that in the first duel lol
Gx also had a turn 0 win.
And in doing so kinda typecasted the concept of Pendulum Summoning for many players, which led to frequent nerfs and neglect of the card type in recent years.
@@fawfulmark2 The few good Pendulum Decks that work like a Pendulum Deck were ridiculous, even before the MR4 Revision, Pend Magicians were insane, it makes sense they've been nerfed
I believe Seto Kaiba made a turn 1 win just to show off his Obelisk the Tormentor. But that's from what I know
I think Red meant more along the lines of solitaire decks, which burn through 30 cards at once to kill on the first or second turn, while the opponent sits there and everyone's just thinking "Are you done?"
You know, the ones that go: "I will summon this which lets me summon this, and I'll play that which lets me summon this this and this, and then I'll fuse/synch/overlay/whatever into this, which then lets me summon this, this, and that, and then I'll play this which makes that and mills these and then lets me summon this and that and overlay _them_ and then I'll play this and that means you lose."
Naruto and the nine tailed fox are another example of: Feral beast side that gets more sentience as the series goes on, even to the point of the fox turning out to be neither a demon, nor evil.
Like Savage Hulk?
Well very early on it’s actually more of a “super rage / lowers inhibitions” thing, in the Land of Waves arc. Then we see Naruto learning how to draw out the power on purpose, and he’s mostly in control of it, but that’s when we first see the proper Nine Tails Cloak and it starts having physical drawbacks, and he’s still kinda unhinged a little. Then after the time skip we see that drawing the Nine Tails’ chakra out on purpose over the course of the previous series actually weakened the seal and now he has a much harder time controlling himself with the Cloak up, so it evolves into a “feral” type Superpowered Evil Side, and now instead of trying to learn to control it he’s trying to learn to resist it. Then after that, we have the 4th Great Shinobi War, and Naruto manages to separate a part of the Nine Tails’ chakra off from it’s malice to use as a non-evil power up, and that’s the start of the Nine Tails’s character arc, so it’s never really used for evil again.
Yes! Exactly my thoughts. But also, initially the Kyuubi/Nine Tails is full of hate which ...I'm guessing as life-force (chakra)/ a spirit, hits harder. 🤔😅 And I think initially did the inhibition thing; waaaaay more aggressive than Naruto imo.
@@nviz47 well, that’s part of what I meant about the Kyuubi’s character arc. Up until the 4th Shinobi War arc we never really get any insight into the Kyuubi as a character; he basically functions as a plot device. Maliciously intelligent and wrathful, but unable to influence anything other than Naruto himself, and I already covered how that worked. Then once Kyuubi and Naruto had their battle in the centre of the mind, that was the start of Naruto actually getting a feel for the Kyuubi as a person rather than as a monster.
@@nviz47 you can definitely tell the author did not have the full arc of what Tailed Beasts were in the universe back when it was still just some demon inside the protagonist. You can see the transition into a full character beyond a simple animal
Easily one of my favorite tropes out there. Although, I think my favorite take on it is “the character’s Super-Powered Evil Side was not only always there, it’s their default state”. Like, the entire concept of *not* forcing their will upon others through raw power was something the character had to work at for a very long time, and the temptation to just give up and switch back to “easy mode” is always there in the back of their mind.
Not exactly a Superpowered Evil Side, but that applies to a certain character in Kengan Asura.
Please read Kengan Asura.
Something like "fear the wrath of a gentle man". Just because someone desperately wants to be peaceful, upstanding, and just does NOT mean they are adept at any of those things naturally.
Spidey when he actually gets pissed off.
that's raiden in metal gear rising
@someone who doesnt make videos Yeah, but it sort of became who he was
16:21
Basically:
Noble antagonist: hey I’m here to fight you- woah, jeez seems you aren’t your self
Super powered evil side: was that a threat
Noble antagonist: aw I can’t kill this, it doesn’t really count as the protagonist so I guess I’ll just beat their evil side out of them.
( one epic fight scene later and the hero passed out but back to normal)
Hero’s buddy: thank for saving our frie- wait where you going
Noble antagonist: just because I did this does not convince me, to join your party!
Side party member: why?
Noble antagonist: cause I don’t know if I’m gonna have to deal with that on a daily basis.
I like how Jujutsu Kaisen managed to make a superpowered evil "side" that stays superpowered and evil throughout, and it doesn't look to be changing any time soon
If you're Greed from FMAB you have a superpowered good side
Also,
I just realized that SNK has this trope too and that it subverts the true love breaks the evil side thing when Armin snaps Eren out of his crazy mode in the battle for Trost instead of Mikasa
Greeling is one of the best things in that show
Probably because it’s highly debatable as to whether Eren actually loves Mikasa. The trope technically only works if the corrupted protagonist actually has feelings for their LI (whether they themselves are aware of them or not).
The superpowered good side that pretends to be evil.
Who wants Red to do a Trope Talk on the “Orphans” Trope, the “Hidden Message” Trope, the “Sympathetic Villain” Trope or the “Next Generation” Trope (just to unbrainwash the people who think the trope is makes NG characters clones of their parent/parents)
She already covered Next Generation in her “Sequels” video.
@@BlackCover95 thanks for reminding me
I would also like to see a "Revenge" Trope.
I really want her to do the "Thou Shalt Not Kill" trope
Death Traps is what I want to see, personally.
This was amazing in Kim possible. when Ron a dude who always loses turned evil ,and everyone in the series agrees that evil Ron is the most deadly person in the show.
Seriously, I loved those episodes. Monkey style martial arts and Ron’s intelligence without the doubts and morels that hold him back really made Ron a much bigger threat than any other villains that they tangle with. Maybe even worse than those aliens. And the second time it happened, not only did he walk all over a team of more experienced heroes turned bad, he immediately went to use the helmet on Kim. Now that would’ve been something to see.
“The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be . . . unnatural.”
It's core resource?
*SAND*
Is it possible to learn this power?
@@whafflete6721 Yeah, but not from a Jedi.
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi It's not nearly as strong as the high ground though.
Except the Dark Side actually seems to make people weaker‚ hilariously
A cool play on this would be a character pretending to have an evil alter ego so they can get away with stuff the rest of their hero group isn't ok with.
And when this becomes the norm, we can put another spin on it: Everyone knows it's an act, but they think that the character thinks they have an evil side.
Alternatively, a chuunibyo makes up an evil alter ego to seem cooler (and then blames their petty misdeeds on said ego. "I didn't eat the Halloween candy, it was my dark spectre!" _munch munch_
So...Jekyll and Hyde?
@@timothymclean And then the evil side actually manifests, like in that South Park episode where Cartman faked tourette to insult Jews without consequences.
Someone already replied with Jekyll and Hyde
I can't wait until she makes a video about trope subversion and ends it with "So, no."
That would be awesome lol
I really like JJK's use of this trope, with Sukuna. He's blatantly evil, obviously has his own goals, and the three times he is shown being used are shown to be
1) him being established as "the strongest curse" and then losing to Gojo to establish Gojo as "the strongest sorcerer"
2) to have him brutally assault the deuteragonist, assess his combat ability, and openly state that he wants to use said deuteragonist for his own means.
3) Brutally murdering the 2nd strongest curse that had been revealed until then, saving the deuteragonist from his self sacrifice by defeating the insanely strong monster he summoned (to establish how insanely strong he is) and then killing 200,000 people (to cement how evil he is)
It is hammered into the heads of the manga readers just how strong he is and also how evil he is.
Making your superpowered evil side a completely different character can be fun, because this lets you put your protagonist and antagonist in close proximity for the entire story. But they're also limiting, because your protagonist has an antagonist in close proximity for the entire story.
(Also, tension can be negatively affected if the audience thinks any major problem could be solved by just negotiating with the super-strong alter ego.)
I like the idea of both being able to talk and eventually reach a mutual agreement or are even just able to cooperate temporarily.
It could even be something as simple as both having a mutual need to not die.
Closest thing I can think of is ling and greed.
@@an8strengthkobold360 I was specifically thinking of Jujutsu Kaisen, where the protagonist ate part of the setting's biggest bad. Said bad serves as a superpowered evil side, formed a mouth on the protagonist's hand once or twice to talk, and has bargained or tried to bargain with the protagonist a couple of times. (I'm not sure how much the series uses this concept-the anime's fourth episode isn't out just yet and I'm only about 20-25% of the way through the manga-but it stood out to me.)
@Mako Cat Bad habits are more of a character flaw than a superpowered evil side.
Also, just because a SES can be one thing doesn't mean it can't be another.
I have an antagonist that is just a super powered evil side (think like bad millennium puzzle) that built a cult around preserving this object, then more or less bound themselves to it and even though they "died", they are still around because they are inside said object. this gives the evil side to whomever is in possession of the object. the benefit is that it provides steady and reliable use of hydromancy (water magic) after the source of most magic has been locked away. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad Idea for an antagonist.
I see what you mean about the negotiation having the potential to reduce tension, but I think that has the tradeoff of opening up a lot of complexity with the character. Digging into which morals the hero is willing to compromise on to win, what cost they're willing to pay for power, it can be a very interesting direction to go. It might make the fight less externally tense in the sense of knowing there's still a reserve superpower that can turn the tide, but instead you can create internal tension with what using it would mean for the character.
I really wish you would talk about
"Enemy of my enemy" trope
Where two opposing character/factions join together to fight a character/faction that is way more evil and bigger then former
Star Fox Assault.
"Fool! You cannot hope to defeat pure evil!"
"I'm not such a nice guy myself."
Yes!
and then instantly turn on each other
or the "3 kingdoms" variant, where the 2nd and 3rd will gang up on the 1st; but once the 1st is down "enough", the 2nd will become the new 1st, and then the 3rd and the weakened 1st will gang up on the 2nd..
I think a good play on the love interest snaps them out of evil trope would be where the love interest DOESN'T actually like them back like that. Like, okay, say the best friend tries to get them back, but it doesn't work. The best friend realizes that since the protagonist likes another character, tells that character, and now that character has to be put in this awkward situation where they have to pretend they like the protagonist back. Fearing if they say their true feelings the protagonist will go evil again. The love interest snaps them out of evil the first few times, but each time they feel like they are lying, and don't want to do that to a friend. CHARACTER DRAMA. LOVE IT.
Some benefits I see coming from this include a love interest that DOESN'T like them back, seeing our hero struggle with rejection, awkward interactions afterwards as they try to resume a normal friendship, and whenever they seem to be back to normal, it is only the hero's lingering feelings that snap them out of evil. Making it feel more human, recognizing that someone you like doesn't have to like you back. And this could give the love interest some character development, say, they feel like they are manipulating the protagonist every time they have to snap them out of evil. Or, they could actually develop feelings, but question if it is because they have been pretending this whole time vs it being genuine affection.
didnt they do that with naruto
That does sound interesting.
@@Maethendias not really, Sakura try that but Naruto just smack her
@@zuzuzuko3947 i didnt say it worked
“I really do like you... I’m just not attracted to your gender, so, uh.... yeah...”
A good example of power creep is the Assassins Creed Franchise. It started out as a guy walking around a city and assassinating people while completing tasks, and the final boss was just a normal dude with a magic stick. And now in the recent games, you fight literal mythical creatures and gods, while having a huge map to explore. It’s insane.
"Superpoweredevilside" is juuust enough syllables to be awkward and funny every time it's repeated but not enough to just be abbreviated like the CMHB video and I love it
It's a very convoluted way to say "dark side power up"
Mechanically, Nezuko functions similarly to this trope in Demon Slayer. She stays in main character Tanjiro's backpack until there's absolutely no other option. Since she's a demon, she is constantly at risk of tasting human blood and going berserk, so most of the time Tanjiro wants her to stay out of the way for her own good, but it's also because he doesn't want her to get hurt. Nezuko is trying very hard to not murder and eat everyone around her, so she isn't "evil", but she's too close for everyone's comfort so she falls into the same trope.
I was gonna say when you don't have a depowered good side, but nezuko is the good side and I will break the shins of anyone who says otherwise
Personally what comes to my mind for this trope is the Beast of darkness and berserker armor from Berserk.
@@johnwilliamson4748 Probably one of the more direct examples tbh
I kinda like her because she's not that strong either. so it's more of a switch player than a "oh shit".
But... she wasn't? Wasn't she involved in literally every fight? (Anime only here no spoilers)
My favorite way to fix power creep, specifically item power creep, is item _combos._ Excalibur is a great sword, but this new bad guy is faster than you are and kicks your ass before you can swing it. However, there's this legendary shield out there you can use to block that first attack, which otherwise has a long recharge, so you can get your hits in. A shield on its own doesn't replace a sword. And having it now doesn't make getting the sword first less important. The second item either just boosts the power of the first one, adds a separate aspect that improves the general function of having it, or adds some secondary effect that's really situational. This whetstone sharpens Excalibur to a beyond divine edge. This bone scabbard allows Excalibur to command the undead- which has never been a needed function until this specific arc against the necromancer. And the shield thing. None of these are better than Excalibur, and they all require Excalibur to produce the power up, so you still need to have gotten Excalibur 3 seasons ago. But having them also explicitly makes Excalibur much more powerful.
What about another way ?
You use Excalibur against the bad guy but to be able to kill him, you have to destroy Excalibur (which causes a large release of magic). So the next bad guy shows up, he is less powerful than the precedent but now that you don't have Excalibur, this guy is a serious threat. So you have to find another magical object to help you but this object is weaker than Excalibur.
The first quest for Excalibur seems worth it because your team headed directly for the most powerful items but you need another one because you destroy it.
Another one I heard is along the lines of ‘Excalibur is the only thing that can beat bad guy 1, but it’s useless against bg2 because different rules. You need a different weapon because Excalibur wasn’t built for this guy. Can’t play chess the same way you play charades. And now he’s onto you and upping his game since you killed bg1.’
@@LoneSilverW0lf That still runs into similar issues, especially if Excalibur is talked up as all that in S1 and now the S2 BBEG just no-selled it in the first episode or two. “It only works once” is generally a bad play unless it was revealed ahead of time, since otherwise the audience is still going to feel somewhat cheated on their original investment
@@willieoelkers5568 I was thinking more along the lines of ‘one key per lock’ kind of deal. Baldur could only be felled by mistletoe, Achilles had his heel, one East Asian story had a guy with a leaf on his back as his only weak spot, and so on.
@@LoneSilverW0lf That's a kryptonite factor, which is a completely separate deal.
The Ice King is a good example of someone who fell to their super powered evil side and didn't get saved for a very long time
Naruto gave their superpowered evil side a tsundere complex and is still my favourite one
Lol
Because he is his own person fundamentally.
He also got some advice from Killer B who was actually friends with his tailed beast.
The dislike is from Underly Sarcastic Productions, a channel with 4 million subs hosted by Crimson and Navy.
With garterbelt
Hmmm...
Why do I feel like I know those names...
Are there examples where said "superpowered evil side" is actually the real owner of the body striking out to protect it, but also to get back into control while optionally heroic protagonist of the series/show/book is actually a hitchhiker that stole the ride to get revenge or save someone or to keep promise?
This idea is actually very intriguing, I would think something like spiritual possession would work for it. Like a man gets murdered and when he comes back as a vengeful spirit he takes over the body of murderers henchman that came to check if he was dead
@@hadeskingoftheunderworld7010 pretty much. In your case superpowered part coming from the fact that the original owner is a professional soldier with no remorse, whom you don't want to get anywhere near the people you're trying to protect. Like for example hijacking a hitman sent to kill you and your family, but having enough time to at least stop him from going after said family. Now you're stuck with guy, whom is trying to kill them if he gets in control, as your only tool to save them.
@@TheArklyte very interesting idea, I like it but I haven't heard many stories like it. Maybe ghost rider a little but its still his body but his soul is bonded with the spirit of vengeance
Mob Psycho 100 does this in a way. The titular character of Mob has incredible psychic powers that are linked to his emotions. So whenever hes under sufficient emotional stress he has a meltdown which depending on the emotion is a "Superpowered evil side"
Spoiler alert
It turns out at the end of the series the mysterious ????% that shows up occasionally as a traditional superpowered evil side is actually Mob's true self that hes suppressed
I know Yugioh Arc-V has something similar, the protagonist is a portion of the series villain, and his superpowered evil side is actually the original being manifesting himself
Jujutsu Kaisen does this trope by giving the "Evil" in "Super Powered Evil Side" thirteen asterisks and an underline for extra emphasis. When Sukuna comes out, there *is* the temporary "wow, the villain is dead, yay!" factor, but Sukuna also makes sure to be as evil as possible before he can be circumvented. The powers granted by Sukuna always come with more downsides than upsides and i LOVE jjk for it
A way to handle this trope that I wish was done more often is when the hero becomes the antagonist for a while, forcing the rest of the characters to deal with not having the hero and having to work smarter to defeat them
It only lasted for one fight, but Spoilers.....
in Slayers the writers wanted to show how powerful Gourry was next to all the mages in his party so they had him mind controlled and fight against them. He went 5V1 and kicked ass, even tanking through their most powerful spells.
Kind of reminds of jujutsu kaisen in a way. The MC superpowered evil side is a separate entity not unlike the ninetails from naruto however sukuna couldn't careless about the MC will try to screw him over while he is active. Spoilers
For example the second time sukuna comes out he tries to recruit the monster the MC was fighting to kill his friends before he gets switch out. Sukuna is wholeheartedly evil and uses his power on his terms only and his later actions make it clear that the MC will never make friends with him.
Yu-gi-oh GX, Season 3
Cough cough watch tales of arcadia on netflix...
_Thanks for covering all Shōnen anime protagonist fight in a couple minutes_
the whole thing about Venom is that the symbiote doesn't want to be alone. They will do anything to not be alone. As in, crafted memories in Eddie's brain to make him more reliant on them
Well, yeah. That's how his species survives. That's what a symbiote is, a creature that cannot survive without a host. He may not want to be alone, but it's mostly because he doesn't want to die.
@@assassintwinat8 I know ;) I found the volume where they broke up was such a Greek tragedy. It was glorious. But besides the need to feed on human brains to survive, there is something oddly tragic about the symbiotes as a species. Kept Knull and Carnage they're dicks
@@lamcb.9476 fully agree
The venom symbiote is at it's best when he is written as a metaphor for obsessive, dangerous, teenage exes. Otherwise he's just kind of Edgey Anti-Spiderman.
@@lamcb.9476 lmao that's oddly fitting considering how many figures in Greek myths killed themselves after they were dumped or thought their lovers were dead
This is probably going to be pretty useful to me, as I’m intending to make a character that ... kind of fits these rules.
Basically, there’s this guy who doesn’t like fighting because it scares his little sister, who he would do anything to protect. The first time it becomes necessary for him to fight, he stops it pretty early because he sees how horrified she is. The second time, however, she isn’t there to bring him back and the only reason why he comes back to his normal semi-pacifism is because he sees all the damage he’s done and realizes how awful it is on his own.
The reason why I said kind of is because he doesn’t technically have superpowers, he’s just freakishly good at fighting and normally doesn’t do it. So thanks Red, you are helping an aspiring writer make more interesting characters/plot points!
That sounds interesting, you might want to check out mob from mob psycho or metal bat from one punch man if you need some inspiration.
I like when the evil side starts showing some personality of itself, and later on becomes the focus of an whole arc, where they have to either remove it from the character to help them, or separate from the character.
Really I actually kinda dislike those arcs. I think it's more interesting if it's an actual repressed part of their personality that they have to learn to cope with. Having it be it's own seperate entity that has to be removed, usually ends up with character not being held truly accountable for their actions in that state and extra ramifications are brushed aside.
Subversion idea: a character that had studied too far into dark magic too quickly ends up once a calendar month being possessed by a dark entity that usually is removed by either a battle of the mind or exorcism as for why it's there the character normally in control has sustained brain damage preventing him/her from using a battle in the mind and even worse the entity is too powerful to be removed by an expert team of exorcists. To add even more problems the entity slowly grows in power over time.
@@TJTrickster tbh i kinda want to see that but there's this thing i also think can basically make that arc turn the story the other way around, the bastardization arc, when the evil side is not in use and a character is just straight up a jackass or a villian, usually done with bestie characters or main character alter egos, honestly both arc ideas work and the cycle thing actually adds problems like them hvaing to get on a schedule and the villains fucking it up enough to where the evil side is now loose why the villains do their shit.
Superpowered evil sides: exists
Every edgy 14 year old's oc: "Is for me?"
Suggestion for a trope talk that might be up your alley! The "Sealed Power"-trope. A personal favourite of mine. From power limiters like Zaraki Kenpachi or Gatomon to Sealed Away evil or even heroes like the Pillar Men, Demon King Piccolo, even Excalibur and the like. It's always fun and so versatile.
“I was fighting you with only one hand this whole time”
@@a_Lemming "I'm not left-handed."
"ThiS Isn'T EvEn mY FiNAl FoRm!"
AYAYAYA
@@auroragamer1 "There´s something I have to tell you. ... I´m not left-handed either."
As much as I love Ninjago, what bothers me is that they often forget about the cool power they spent a long time learning. First power that I can remember is the Tornado of creation. I am pretty sure it was only ever used twice despite being really useful. Then the other power up was the "True potential" and it was only ever used once except for Zane who used it twice. With such a dramatic name you would think they would use it more often. But no they don't and they do this all the time. I still love that show no matter how shitty and inconsistent it is.
I mean, they do use their true potential, and all the time too. It's literally just their innate elemental powers, their use of them just isn't as... _explosive_ as it was when it was first used.
Cole actually used it once or twice as well. I specifically remember that he used it to break down the door when Kai locked himself in a room with Lord Garmadon.
That said tho, I do agree with you.
Imagin a evil side that only allows itself to be contained by one friend/love interest to slowly cause a divide between the protagonist and a different friend as that friend starts to feel they mean less to the protagonist since they never are “connected enough” with them to pull them out of their bad side, leading to them eventually stating these feelings and leaving and this emotional hit tips the scale so the evil side can get a solid grip on control.
Actually pretty interesting. Now I never come up with cool stuff on my own, but what if that causes the dissociated friend to become an anti-hero/villain who has to fight the evil side legitimately? Would there be a cool dynamic between them? I don't know, but your original idea is very very cool
@@andrewwurth8998 that’s what I was thinking too. It would be a pretty cool dynamic to see
A good idea for that is if the love interest actually tries to save the character. But it DOESNT work, and the evil side just explodes more!
Isn't that what happened in futurama with the werecar? Bender as the werecar tried to kill Lela and not Fry which fry took offence to cause they were told that Bender would be doomed to kill his closest friend in time which caused Fry to belive Bender saw Lela as his closest friend and not himself.
They _almost_ had this in the "Dark Inside" books, where one of the characters has a dark alter ego that's almost as scary powerful as the more feral Baggers (basically a blend of vampire and zombie without actually consuming their victims and no immortality), and the only character who comes close to taming that side of him is his love interest... But then this new character that we don't even meet until the final book just wacks him on the head to "get him back to normal" and it hilariously works.
I sorta wish you’d used the super Saiyan example of TFS’ “I’m going to break you. Like a KitKat bar.” To describe evil Goku
They managed to make the super saiyan keep some of gokus goofiness
Total. Annihillation.
“Not much of a milestone anymore” best description of the “power creep” in the show.
Goku didn't become evil when he turned Super Saiyan, even in the abridged. He was just livid that Frieza killed Krillin, and thus fought more violently. He still had his morals, as shown when he told Gohan to run and even saved him when Frieza tried to hit him. He even started calming down as the fight progressed.
If anyone in Dragon Ball felt "evil" after transforming, it was Gohan when he first went SSJ2. He was violent and creepily confident, playing with Cell instead of killing him right away.
@@esteban8471 the super saiyan power ups make you progressively more and more uncontrollable until you get used to them, basically degrading your impulse control, so in a way it's a super powered evil side
I love that feeling when Red’s talking about a trope and the little light goes off in your head that says “Oh Yeah. It’s *that thing* from *that show*!
Example “it later became super common that the villain would have an innocent alter ego that didn’t know about their own supervilliany”
...Does anyone else hear a phone ringing?
Moshi moshi
*Sudden frame skip*
Uh oh
I hear it Earl. there were quiet a lot evil sides in that series (Booklman alias levi, Tikki,...)
*Grabs frog*
There's actually a fun subversion of the "love interest snaps protagonist out of evilness after the best friend fails" in Attack on Titan where it's Armin (the best friend character) who snaps Eren out of his evilness (Titan form) after Mikasa (the love interest) fails to.
Hell if you want to take it a step further you could argue it may have been Mikasa herself who made him slip into an uncontrollable state, but that's just speculation on my part.
Oh you know what would have been cool? Telling this trope talk but like. From Red's evil power up alter ego. Named like Crimson or Maroon or something. Yeah.
I second this
iunno about superpowered, but her evil counterpart is definitely blue
@@assassintwinat8 i see what you did there
@@assassintwinat8 you monster.
Infra-Red!
Everyone is forgetting about the strongest super powered evil side in history: Melon Lord.
Why is this not the top comment.
@@janusnightshade9848 Because I'm not top, I AM MELON LORD! MWHAHAHAAHH!
@@zoro115-s6b fair enough.
@@zoro115-s6b "SNEAK ATTACK"
@@AnakinFury HAHAHAH! NO ONE CAN SURPRISE THE *MELON LORD* ! MWHAHAHAHA!
I'm team 'treat the superpowered evil side as a fully fledged character' in its own right.
That way, it's about character development, and relationship development between the two 'sides,' not the overpowered-ness.
Winning the fight isn't necessary the point anymore, and power creep isn't as much of a problem.
I'm not a fan of Naruto, but when the show did this well, it was actually kind of interesting! I didn't care about the outcome of the fight, the drama of the 'fox' inside / learning about him, etc. was interesting until the series jumped the shark with it.
Yes, also, Please talk to plural systems before writing this stuff, Instead of just being evil, be a protector or something, or eventually have healthy switching or a headspace, maybe other head mates.
I do like when this works out, but I tend to be more of a fan of the "evil side" being closer to a feral and violent side that the MC has to try to keep under control. Also adds a bit of flavor if the MC is already just a little bit unstable as it is say due to past trauma. Of course, this can be overplayed, but a bit of subtlety and especially plenty of "show, dont tell" can make it work fairly well.
TKO from Ok Ko is a real good example of that.
@animeizzy_ ninetails good reason.
This is basically the whole concept of the Incredible Hulk.
Not often do I praise Naruto for its writing, but they definitely nailed the Super powered evil side. It doesn’t fall off, it has extreme consequences, but also it’s uses in a few scenes, and I love how Naruto grows with it till eventually hones and masters it.
"Inuyasha is a romance first and shonen anime second." That is very true
Its indeed true and make me disappointed
@@Daycore_lovers The romantic side of Inuyasha was the better side.
Red mentions symbiote Spider-man
that one braincell of mine:
*"GET BACK HERE SHOCKER!!!"*
Hammy as fuck and I love it.
Where is the rent
YooooU can't EscApe mEEE, I'll chAse you to ThE endz of thE Eeeeeeearth.
@@cybersketcher1130 aww you beat me to it
*Shows up behind him
In avatar the last air bender, the final battle, when aang is forced in to the avatar state he becomes this ruthless angry force of nature, and the power balance shifts and ozai is the one voiding and evading, and you can feel his desperation when he is no longer figting a boy, and its when aang gets control back he spares him. so i would call that an " evil powerup
This trope is a little iffy in my mind, but I do love the “fight in the center of the mind.” By far my favourite use of this is when George and Harold start to lose their humour in the Captain Underpants. Oh, I love that scene.
I somehow got reminded of Mustang's "fight" against Envy in FMA Brotherhood. Even though there are _no_ superpowered evil sides involved
My favorite version of the Superpowered Evil Side is when it's just a personality shift, not a completely different personality. Like when Roy went hard on Envy to avenge Hughes, or the mentioned instances of Goku being uncharacteristically serious and Gohan being uncharacteristically bloodthirsty, or any time Kenshin goes Battousai. I think it's more compelling when the "Evil Side" really is an integrated part of who the character is, rather than a Hyde-like alter-ego or some other kind of distinct entity. Because you can't really fight against your Evil Side when the Evil Side is just you.
As someone who's spent his life keeping violent impulses and an explosive temper in check and who always tries to be as nice and as kind to others as possible, I find it very relatable when the Superpowered Evil Side is treated as a truly internal problem that can't just be disentangled from the character suffering from it.
It's also really cool when the "Superpowered" part isn't actually a power-up at all, but just the character not holding themselves back anymore, because it means that they could use that kind of monstrous asskicking ability any time someone pisses them off, but they choose not to. True power is knowing when not to use it, after all.
Well he got atleast pretty unhinged
@@skazwolfman8622 a couple of my characters have a super powered evil side that is literally just the darkest parts of them personified. It doesn't even take over, just convinces them to give into their impulses. It's pretty fun to play with in writing and gets sooooo many good dynamics.
@@skazwolfman8622 another example would be ATLA has that with Katara and bloodbending. Characters where they could be doing something, it was in their abilities all along, but their personality keeps them from doing that, either because it's unethical/ immoral to them, or because they try to hide that they can do it/ just don't like that application are a generally neat use of the trope. Where something pushes them too far, or the stress/ stakes are high enough they snap, and it's not a different person, just the same person except they're allowing themselves to be ruthless.
@@snowboundwhale6860 Another example would be when Killua in Hunter X Hunter taps into his assassin training. It's subtle, but he stops trying to be a normal kid and reverts to being a remorseless killer.
"So...yeah."
Me: *affronted gasp!* Been holding that forever.
"That's spooky! Peter not likey!" I almost choked on my water.
Imagine someone tries to use their Super Powered Evil Side™ but accidentally use their Under Powered Good Side™
*traffic signaler/evacuater intensifies*
I think that’s called not entering a new side