< Berserk Button

Berserk Button/Web Original

RAPE MY CHILDHOOD, WILL YOU?!?!?!

When a nice, normal character suddenly goes into a rage, you've hit his Berserk Button.

  • Chakats. Let's count the buttons, shall we? Harming children in general? BEATINGS. Kidnapping/harming one of their own kids? WORSE BEATINGS. God help you, killing one of their own kids? You'll be lucky if there's enough of you left to bury.
  • Shandala from Broken Saints has a common one: family. She's the sweetest, most caring person in the world but bad shit happens when you mess with her various adopted family members.
  • FRATTA IS NOT A VERB!!!
  • Dante is generally a very calm and reasonable guy. But God help you if you touch a hair on any of his friend's heads. Example; when the SAMNITE killed Sarai, he tore the thing to pieces with his bare hands, threw the pilot into a skyscraper, and went on a rampage inside the Corporation base that killed an unknown amount of highly trained soldiers!
  • A number of characters have one of these in The Mad Scientist Wars, most noticeably Andrew Tinker. No matter how tempted you are, or how true it is, do not call him 'girly' or refer to him as female. The last guy got pinned to a wall by his neck.
  • Most Protectors of the Plot Continuum agents have a Berserk Button of some form or another. Common causes are messing with favourite characters, breaking the English language, trivialisation of child abuse, or misogyny, which offend the PPC community as well as in-setting.
  • Jeff, the hero of Ewen Cluney's anime-inspired story "Interesting Times," is a nice guy, if something of a Weirdness Magnet. But that comic collection that he maintains? Don't mess with it. You will not like him if you mess with it.
  • Mackenzie Blaise of Tales of MU has one in her "little sister," the golem girl Two. Even joke about hurting her, and you got a very angry demon girl after you. A lot of the readers feel the same way.
    • Unassuming little Hazel Callaway breaks bones whenever somebody speaks ill of her mum.
    • Steff has a large half-ogre boyfriend who is very, very protective of her.
  • In Darwin's Soldiers, a group of thugs at a food court insinuated that Aimee, who has robotic arms, was a cripple. Seconds later, five of the thugs were dead.
    • In the 3rd Darwin's Soldiers, the Horseman of Death just killed Neku's girlfriend Hailey. This was a very, very bad idea. Neku is now in a hyper mode that BURNED HIS SKIN OFF, and is now out to slaughter the remnants of Dragonstorm. And anything that gets in his way.
  • A few characters have at least one in Survival of the Fittest. For example, in v3, Darnell Butler has his protectiveness towards women extend towards being compelled to attack anyone he sees severely mistreating one, and Bobby Jacks becomes uncontrollable when called a murderer, causing a fight at the senior year's bonfire and, eventually, driving him to murder Tyson Neills. Especially notable since this seems to be the only thing that can make Bobby actually snap or get angry at all.
  • The Nostalgia Critic does not appreciate Batman and Robin creating the Bat-credit card BAT-CREDIT CARD!!! The full rant is available here.
    • Linkara mentions this at the end of the review of Superman IV as a retort after the Critic makes fun of his special effects. The Critic promptly descends into Angrish and Firing in the Air a Lot.
    • Neither did he take Doug well in his childhood.
      • A recent Running Gag involves Douchey McNitpick playing the Doug theme when the Critic orders another piece of music he doesn't like to stop playing.
    • Because of his past experiences, he hates it when kids get mistreated in any way. He really gets disgusted during the "Baby Geniuses" review when he realized they must have pinched or otherwise put some mild abuse on the baby actor to get him to cry.

Whatever you did to make that kid cry, it wasn't worth it.

    • Don't tell Ma-Ti that Heart Is an Awesome Power.
    • Doug Walker got extremely agitated over the presentation of a deeply serious, hotly debated, very adult topic like abortion showing up in Twilight Breaking Dawn, a movie that's part of a series he enjoys because of what he feels is its poor presentation and good only at "manipulating its target demographic."
    • Speaking of Doug, go too far with insulting him while Rob is nearby and the big brother anger will flame you to a crisp.
  • The Cinema Snob has a few berserk buttons...
    • "Shot on shitteo".
    • Italian movies with about fifteen alternate titles.
    • The Day for Night special effect.
    • He also hates movies with abrupt endings.
    • Homophobia. While reviewing Rock: It's Your Decision," he riffed on the protagonist's final speech until he made a homophobic reference - Brad pretty ended the review on the spot.
  • You better drink Julian's Hot Kool-Aid.
  • Don't tell The Spoony One that he is in your spot. He will go crazy.
    • Also, don't bring up Tidus. Ever.
    • And don't have a wrestling program with no wrestling.
    • There's a lot more, but these are probably the biggest.
  • Don't dig up Linkara's old fanfic, force him to listen to you read it, and then have the temerity to insult Doctor Who. When Bennett the Sage pulled this stunt, Linkara escaped the ropes holding him into a chair and started laying a smackdown.
    • One More Day and everything to do with also tends to send him into fits of rage.
    • As will killing the little sweet girl from his favorite comic: Lian Harper. Cry for Justice, you bastard. And you know it is for real too; this wasn't his normal anger; this was growling, snarling...and deadly calm.
    • Also, avoid demeaning Iron Liz if you don't want Linkara to bring the pain. And in case you're wondering, no, its still not a good idea now that they're no longer a couple.
    • Linkara also doesn't like being mocked for still enjoying Power Rangers. When Mightily Murdered Power Ringers did it to him after coming to life, he retaliated by morphing into the Green Ranger and kicking the comic's ass.

Linkara: Oh, bucko did you push the wrong button.

    • Apparently, a comic adaptation of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan getting the movie's famous KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!! scene incorrect[1] is enough to cause Linkara to just absolutely lose it.
  • Professor Otaku is prone to bringing himself to the brink of sheer breakdowns, but more often than not reigns himself in. However, MD Geist and Sorcerer Stabber Orphen Revenge have seen him lashing out at his hated foes of Moe and stupidity rather loudly.
    • His fellow Desu Des Brigade member Vixen wound up in such a rage that she denied her traditional Chill-out Food a mere 10 minutes into New Moon. The terror that was wrought on the universe will never been erased.
    • Unless you want to unleash Tranquil Fury, don't insult Desu Des Brigade/That Guy With The Glasses member JesuOtaku's boyfriend Nash in the comments on their videos (especially for using an e-cigarette without knowing what they are), or directly attack him, his taste in music and his fans on the chat for his live radio show.
  • Flocculencio in AH Dot Com the Series whenever anyone mentions the name of his nemesis, Justin Pickard. Particularly noticeable considering Flocculencio is usually one of the more laid-back and sedate characters, but this makes him go Ax Crazy.
  • In I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC, Green Goblin is a huge fan of Willem Dafoe, his film portrayer. So when the Joker says "I'm grateful Dafoe didn't play me in the Tim Burton movie," he promptly gets his ass kicked.
  • In Tech Infantry, Erich Von Shrakenberg has a bit of a thing about aliens, and about rebels who compromise humanity's unity in the face of the alien threat. And then there's Hex, who alternates between flipping his lid whenever someone calls him "Hex," and flipping his lid whenever someone calls him anything but "Hex."
  • In There Will Be Brawl, Mario gets angry when anyone insinuates that he is/was/will be a plumber.

"There is only one fist that bruises the face of my angel!" Cue a screaming Oh Crap from the two henchmen as Falcon does his thing.

  • Gordon Freeman, at least as interpreted by Freeman's Mind, isn't the most stable of individuals by any means, but what really sets him off are bugs, which he will chase while flailing away with his crowbar before pulling out an MP5 or shotgun. He also gets upset when confronted with yet another locked door or dead end.
  • LPing a game slowbeef likes is a good way to get him on your bad side. He seemed a lot more irritated at the videos of Contra 3 and Snatcher.
    • More specifically, LPing them badly. Or any game he especially likes, for that matter. That goes for reviewing as well.
    • Slowbeef also dislikes people who read out character dialogue in "silly" voices.
  • Do not admit that you liked Fallout 3 or Brotherhood of Steel on No Mutants Allowed.
  • Blogger Joe Mathlete will take a lot of nonsense from Marmaduke creator Brad Anderson, but one thing he will not stand for is an inaccurate depiction of the Moonwalk.
  • Both Cactuar and Tonberry from the Final Fantasy series by Crazy Boris have theirs.
    • Tonberry is eventually pushed to such a breaking point by Cactuar's stupidity that he sets the poor idiot on fire-- twice-- in "Gil Quest".
    • Cactuar goes ballistic upon being called "Fatty" by a cop in "Final Fantasy: Fugitive", and proceeds to morph into a giant, psychotically violent, needle-throwing version of himself. If a fleet of fighter jets arrive, turns back to "normal" self, but saying "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" and runs.
    • He also gets really pissed at Aerosmith for misspelling his name in "Resident Cactuar".
    • And whatever you do, DON'T mention Mary Kate and Ashley around him...
  • Please don't ask Carlyle a Dark Knight question on ACOCO. He will flame you on air.
  • From the Global Guardians PBEM Universe: Never, ever mention the fact that Dreamcatcher's father died in an insane asylum after a life of villainy if you value your sanity. Dreamcatcher, as the name might imply, can manipulate your nightmares so you regret ever mentioning his father in the first place.
    • Want to press Eightball's Berserk Button really, really hard? Make fun of Bamm-Bamm's condition or use any variation of the word "retard" in his presence. Go head. I double-dog dare you.
  • Red vs. Blue has a sequence where Caboose tries to intentionally push his own Berserk Button.

Caboose: My name is Michael J. Caboose and I hate babies!

    • Epsilon has two: being called "a thing", and the mere sight of Agent Washington.

Epsilon: YOU WILL FEAR MY LASERFACE!

The way Proton Jon's insanity drove him to make a level full of invisible coin blocks reminds me of how Jack Torrence typed all those pages of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".

  • Ghost of True Capitalist Radio has so many of them, ranging from: Stupid Statement Dance Mixes, "audio splicing," anything to do with My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, playing Christmas music, etc.
  • J from Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl hates when people touch her stapler. She ends up being forced to go to an anger management people with other people whose pet peeves include e-mails written in Comic Sans and people who don't let the microwave time run out.
  • In Project Million, Diamanda Hagan is not pleased when Critic TV dismisses her invasion of Channel Awesome as nothing special.
    • Cin Wicked blows a fuse over the Canadian music groups on display at Disneyland.
  • Rather Vocalized Illusion. The mere mention of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic sends Bhaalspawn into a frenzy.
    • Also, mentioning love around the Psychosocialist has a similar effect.
  • Shiny Objects Videos: Do not sit in Daniel's spot.
  • In The Gamers Alliance, Belial is a reasonable and polite fellow even to his enemies. However, those who insult his loved one Razia in front of him will quickly regret ever opening their mouths.
  • It's best not to call Pinisu-chan a donut. She's a Large Bagel.
  • The crew of Talkradar does not appreciate people who call them biased, or ones who imply that they've accepted money for review scores. Many of them went to journalism school and see lying to their readers and listeners one of the worst things they can do.
  • In Freddie Wong's short Don't F With My Cream, two robbers who knock over an ice cream parlor learn a very painful lesson when they mess with Freddie's ice cream.
  • All three members of The Runaway Guys have one:
  • Smosh's SHUT UP! Cartoons had this in episode 3 of "Zombies Vs. Ninjas." One part had Tanzy trying to stop the haters from hating ninjas, but when the man said, "We hate you," Tanzy went on a cursing rampage, cursing the man out with every swear word she has.
  • RWBY: Never, ever touch Yang's hair.
  1. ↑ The comic reduced that particular bit to just one panel and Kirk just simply shouting it.
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