Bender: It's just... neither of us can get up when we get knocked on our back.
Fry: What? I've seen you get up off your back tons of times.
Bender: Those times I was slightly on my side.
Fry: What? I've seen you get up off your back tons of times.
Bender: Those times I was slightly on my side.
— Futurama, "Crimes of the Hot"
The plotline has a character display some vice, flaw, prejudice, addiction or other negative attribute or behavior, which said character has never before this point shown any signs of suffering from, but which they then engage in solely as the setup for some sort of One Shot gag or An Aesop. (In some cases, the plot claims/suggests that they've always had this problem, even though previous episodes show otherwise.) It then vanishes totally after the end of the gag and/or plot. Sometimes this is meant to serve as Character Development, but due to the entire process being constrained to that one single episode, it's usually not very convincingnote . If the creators are more consistent about the issue, it becomes a largely Informed Flaw which drives several distinct episodes but still is never observed in a character outside them. Shows up frequently in Very Special Episode, although rarely in the Too Smart for Strangers variant for obvious reasons...
This is distinct from writers adding enduring flaws to a Flat Character, or hypocrisy no one notices. If the character has to try to lose the vice in the same episode, they'll find Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere (but will usually not get "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome afterwards).
Compare Compressed Abstinence, Long-Lost Uncle Aesop, Can't Get Away with Nuthin', Characterization Marches On, Jerkass Ball, Idiot Ball, Temporarily Exaggerated Trait, Circular Character Arc.
This trope is a sub-trope of Backstory of the Day.
Example subpages:
Other examples:
open/close all folders
Anime & Manga
- The original Japanese version of Digimon Adventure 02 gave Hikari a crippling reliance on her brother in the infamous Dark Ocean episode. It may have been an attempt to keep her from looking too perfect, but while she does freak out at the Dark Ocean in a later episode, she doesn't mention Taichi at all.
- Louise in The Familiar of Zero went through a rapid descent into gambling addiction while trying to go undercover. Despite Saito's best attempts to stop her, she wagered larger and larger amounts until she finally placed all of their remaining funds on one bet, all without winning a single time.
- Himitsu no Akko-chan, the original 1969 series, manages to wish a Compressed Vice to the main character, just to scare her into her personal Aesop. In episode 32, aptly named "_____", upon meeting a deaf-mute kid, Akko-chan, out of empathy and curiosity, wishes to her magic mirror to be a deaf-mute version of herself. Upon discovering that, being speechless, she can't wish anymore, and she'll be stuck that way forever, Akko-chan breaks apart, feeling scared and useless until the mirror, reasoning that she got her Aesop about hasty wishes and physical ailments, and she understood the true courage of her new friend (who will never be seen around for the rest of the series), lifts the wish on its own accord.
- An Arc Villain in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable has a Stand that lets him trap people in paper if he exposes their nervous tic. Josuke's tic, biting his bottom lip, appears all of once, where he does it and it gets him captured, despite being nervous several times before and after. This is only the case in the manga, however, as the anime adaptation adds additional moments in previous fights where he can be seen biting his lip.
- Pokémon the Series
- On more than one occasion, Ash has gotten so full of himself specifically to get a Break the Haughty moment by the end of the episode, and then go back to being a reasonably humble trainer afterwards. Instances of this include his battles with Prima, Brawley, and Drake of the Elite Four.
- May also got this in one of her contests when she gained a Coordinator Superiority Complex out of nowhere and was reprimanded for it, and then it never comes up again.
- Pikachu gets this in "Betrayed, Bothered, and Beleaguered!" when Pikachu becomes jealous of Ash's Riolu that he trains extensively. Never mind that Riolu is just a baby, and Pikachu had been very welcoming to other baby Pokémon Ash had given more attention to such as Phanpy and Larvitar. In addition, there were other occasions where Pikachu was overshadowed such as when Ash training his Snorunt excessively until it perfected Ice Beam as well as the emotionally scarred Chimchar he took from Paul, to even his own disobedient Charizard that he stayed up all night taking care of. Yet, for this episode and this episode only, Pikachu becomes jealous of Riolu to the point of even considering leaving Ash.
- ×××HOLiC manages to give a Compressed Vice to a character who only appears in two episodes. After Watanuki manages to help convince a shy girl that her negativity is cursing her to fail and that she should try to be more positive, her more upbeat and outgoing twin suddenly turns into the sister from hell, psyching her out even worse than she ever did to herself until the poor girl is on her knees and paralyzed by the feelings of uselessness her sister is laying on her. Then, after Yuuko intervenes and the lessons are learned, all is sunshine again.
- Honor Before Reason is one of the central themes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, but one case didn't make much sense in the Japanese version. When a Ghoul/Rare Hunter known as Seeker duels Jonouichi/Joey using the Instant-Win Condition monster Exodia the Forbidden One, Yugi attempts to get Jonouichi's Red-Eyes back. Jonouichi tries to warn Yugi about Exodia, but Yugi cuts him off each time he tries to say it, saying it's not fair to know an opponent's strategy before facing them.... even though this philosophy has never come up before and never would again (in fact, Yugi defeated the previous Big Bad and would defeat the upcoming one because he knew their strategies before facing them).note
- Downplayed. In the "Fake Jack Atlas" episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Jack develops a reckless refusal to play any kind of defensive strategies or cards. While he always prioritized offense in prior seasons, and even criticized Yusei's defensive style of dueling as cowardly, he was still quite willing to use defensive tactics, even lecturing Yusei about how he enjoys being the one to be chased.
Comic Books
- The infamous Batman: Fortunate Son had Batman be given a hatred for rock and roll and punk rock that never appears anywhere else in the books before or after. Of course, while it was never referenced again in the comics Linkara and other fans will make him Never Live It Down.
- In Blackhawk #240 (which is towards the end of the New Blackhawk Era), André Blanc-Dumont has been given a crippling fear of beautiful women. He declares himself cured after punching out a man disguised as a woman. Click here
for an in-depth recap.
- The Books of Magic interprets Mister E as being misogynistic to the point of believing that women are inherently evil, which doesn't track with the courtesy and respect he showed his secretary Kelly O'Toole in his original Secrets of Haunted House stories.
- Many authors who worked on Iron Man gave Tony Stark's alcoholism a spin of their own, thus making him a borderline example. This trope applies largely because it is always restricted to specific plotlines. Outside these plots, he may be seen drinking but is never shown having this habit as a problem. Nevertheless, he is somewhat well known for this aspect of his character and there's no guarantee he won't go on a drinking binge again whenever someone decides they can make an innovative take on it.
- In the early '90s, the Spider-Man comics had an infamous period where Mary Jane Watson revealed right out of the blue that she used to be a smoker and a bunch of different stressful events all happening at once (such as Harry Osborn reverting back to his Green Goblin personality and the arrival of Carnage) caused her to have a relapse and take it up again. It lasted for roughly a year and a half or so before Peter was able to get her to drop the habit, and true to this trope, was never brought up again after.
Comic Strip
- In Bloom County, Opus briefly takes up smoking because cigarette ads make it look cool.
Fan Works
- Vanity Smurf, who is normally clean, spends part of the story "The High Cost Of Smurfing" from Empath: The Luckiest Smurf snorting up pixie dust, a Fantastic Drug analog of cocaine.
Films — Animation
- In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Melman the giraffe suddenly develops deep feelings for Gloria the hippo. Nothing of the sort was mentioned in the first film. A flashback at the beginning of the second film shows that, even as children, Melman had a crush on Gloria. This is partly due to the fact that a dropped subplot for the first film would've been that Gloria would've been pregnant during the film and Melman, whose crush on her was clear in this version, would've eventually gotten together with Gloria and agree to raise the child with her. Additionally, an inverse case with Melman's hypochondria in the first film, which is completely gone by the sequel. The only hint appears to be his great knowledge of medicine.
- The Princess and the Frog does this within a single film. The realtors are portrayed as perfectly nice gentlemen until the costume party scene, where they reveal to Tiana that she's been outbid for her planned restaurant, where one of them notes that, "given [her] background, you're probably better off where you're at." The implied racism and sexism comes out of nowhere and is never brought up as a theme in the film again aside of a flashback of the exact same scene.
Films — Live Action
- The Avengers (2012) has Loki calling Black Widow a "mewling quim" and displaying Straw Misogynist tendencies that were never there in the first Thor - and would seem at odds with the fact that he grew up closer to his mother. He doesn't show this trait in any of the subsequent films either.
- In Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly develops a problem with not being able to handle people thinking of him as a coward, something that was not evident in the first film. This gets used for an Aesop about not caring what people think of you. Also a rare example where the sudden character flaw is kept: Marty didn't learn his "lesson" until the end of the third film. Word of God has suggested that this might be a result of the Delayed Ripple Effect from changes to the timeline in the first movie; Part 2 Marty had a very different childhood than Part 1 Marty.
- One common criticism of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the view that Kirk's prejudice against Klingons never really existed prior to that movie, in which it's contrived just so that he can overcome it. Sure, he fought against them a lot, but they were always the aggressors. Consider that much of Kirk's antipathy for the Klingons is said to stem from the fact that they murdered his son back in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. However, Star Trek III featured a scene in which the Klingon directly responsible for that was falling into a lava pit, and Kirk's immediate response was to try to Save the Villain. And yet, three films later, Kirk hates all Klingons due to the actions of a guy whom he was willing to save? Moreover, in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Kirk seemed willing to accept the Klingons when they approached him in a spirit of peace.
Literature
- A staple of The Berenstain Bears; each book usually had Brother and/or Sister (sometimes Papa too) engaging in some kind of immoral or unhealthy behavior such as lying, eating junk food, fighting, teasing, etc. They never exhibited the behavior before and after the book ends, it's never brought up again.
- Roys Bedoys: In “What’s That Smell, Roys Bedoys?”, Roys has to learn to brush his teeth before bed, despite never having that problem in previous stories.
Video Games
- In Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden near the end each member of the party are put through a Secret Test of Character where they are faced with a personal temptation. While the other party members manage to overcome the test Barkley ends up succumbing to his never-before mentioned desire for Incan Gold.
- In Year 2 of Grim Fandango, Manny's driver/sidekick Glottis is suddenly revealed to have a gambling problem when Manny offers him a VIP membership at the cat track. It's implied that cat racing is an outlet for Glottis's obsession with speed.
- Metaphor: ReFantazio: During the Malnova arc, Heismay has a Fantastic Racism moment when he distrusts Basilio and Fidelio because they’re paripus. It’s never brought up again afterwards, save for one moment in the endgame when he and Basilio snipe at each other - Heismay says that while he reckons he’ll never understand the paripus, he doesn’t hate ‘Bas, implying the two have grown to be Vitriolic Best Buds. Other than that, this flaw of Heismay’s is never brought up or addressed in any way. It sticks out particularly because it’s the only moment of Fantastic Racism within the core party itself and the fact that Heismay’s own Follower arc involves him convincing his own people to overcome this flaw, so this can make him come off as a Hypocrite.
- Moshi Monsters: One of the magazines listed Whurley as being afraid of heights, but he's been up high in the mission "Strangeglove From Above" and not been scared.
- In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team, the partner Pokémon briefly displays cowardice when Jumpluff tells them and the player about the scary monster supposedly living in Silent Chasm. The partner fakes a stomach ache in an attempt to get out of the mission, and gets comically upset if you don't play along. Until then, they'd been been shown as a friendly and dedicated Pokémon. Shortly afterwards, the player has the option to fake a stomach ache when Alakazam explains more about Zapdos (the "scary monster" in question), at which point the partner will say that their friend does this "all the time" and it's really embarassing.
Webcomics
- Inverted and possibly subverted in the webcomic Narbonic, where Dave's chain-smoking habit is established early on and continually referenced. However, after Dave goes back in time and alters the event that causes him to start smoking, he is surprised to find that he has no addiction at all... and the other characters assure him he never did, smoking was never relevant to any of their adventures, and they are confused when he brings it up. The author even devotes a filler comic to two fans explaining how the previous plots where his habit was a key point make sense without it.
- Subverted in Unshelved. A storyline deals with Colleen quitting smoking — when there was no indication of her being a smoker before, and the other characters are surprised to hear about it. At the end of the storyline, it turns out this is because she quit decades ago when she was still a teenager — she made it sound current as an excuse for being rude to a patron at the library.
Web Original
- Happy Tree Friends: Originally, Petunia was a Flat Character that mostly served as cannon fodder. Then the episode Wishy Washy reveals that she has a severe case of Obsessively Organized and is Terrified of Germs, a trait that wasn't even hinted at outside a few online materials. From then her OCD seems to come and go every few episodes she's in. Notably, in every episode post-Wishy Washy that brings back her Neat Freak tendencies, it ends up being the indirect cause of her death, whether it be from a Chekhov's Gun caused by her not thinking things through, or simply ending up at the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Phelous notes this trope in his review of Mortal Kombat: Conquest. In an episode where Siro must overcome his pride, Phelous notes that the character has never seemed particularly proud before, has nonsensical motivations in the episode, and actually seems to become more egotistical in later episodes.
- Zsdav Adventures: Zsdav is usually an easy going and cheerful character. But in Karácsonyi külön kiadás (Christmas special) he is portrayed as grumpy and sour who hates Christmas, just to be visited by three spirits and learn the true meaning of the holiday.