Character Derailment/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character suddenly changes with no explanation whatsoever.

• Straight: Bob, formerly a Nice Guy, suddenly starts kicking the dog and becomes a huge Jerkass.
• Exaggerated: Bob, formerly Incorruptible Pure Pureness, becomes a Complete Monster.
• Justified:
  • Bob was The Scrappy, so the writers change his character in an attempt to make him more popular.
  • Alternatively, Bob has split personality disorder.
• Inverted: Static Character
• Subverted:
  • Bob, the resident Nice Guy, seems to have become a Jerkass. However, it turns out that it's actually Bob's identical twin brother berating everyone - Bob himself is just as nice as ever.
  • Character Rerailment
• Double Subverted: However, it turns out that Bob has secret evil plans, and his kindness is merely a facade.
• Parodied: Bob constantly switches between The Hero, Big Bad, Anti-Hero, Anti-Villain and various other roles in the course of a single episode/book/game.
• Deconstructed: Fans who liked Bob's previous characterisation resent his changes so much that they abandon the show entirely.
• Reconstructed:
  • The writers decide to return Bob to his previous characterisation, thus restoring the work to its former glory.
  • Alternatively, fans begin to see the merits of Bob's new personality as well, and thus start watching again.
• Zig Zagged:
  • Bob was previously a Nice Guy, then he acts like a Jerkass. But it turns out to be someone else. But they're covering up for his secret evil plans, which turn out to be well-intentioned but extreme.
  • Bob's personality varies by episode.
• Averted: Logical Character Development takes place in the course of the work.
• Enforced: The new writing team wants to establish that all good-hearted people have no problem with X. Since jerkish but otherwise helpful sidekick Bob mentioned two years ago in passing that he has a problem with X, he joins forces with all other characters who dislike X and crusades ceaselessly for all X to be destroyed forever.
• Lampshaded: "Bob isn't how he used to be, is he?"
• Invoked: "I'm going to be a changed man!"
• Defied:
• Discussed:
• Conversed:

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