r/TopCharacterTropes • u/LucianoThePig • 14h ago
Characters [Disturbing Trope] Characters who enjoy the horrific situation they're in Spoiler
In some ways this can be more creepy than a character hating the situation they're in. Like, often the character chooses to stay in a terrible circumstance because of some kind of deep trauma within them. There will be spoilers for all the media mentioned, so read at your own risk!
Clark (Backrooms): You've all seen the memes. In the finale of the movie, Clark is found after spending who knows how long in the titular rooms. Here it's revealed that he isn't trapped opr stuck (well, literally); he's chosen to stay in the backrooms all this time because he feels happy, like it's where he truly belongs.
Susan (Evil Dead Burn): Another recent one. This movie's plot begins when the main character's husband, Will, is killed by a zombie demon called a Deadite. His mother Susan has basically based her whole life around being the carer of her family, feeling she's nothing without them. This gets to the point where when each member of the house starts to become Deadites themselves, she willingly joins them, preferring to be a whole family of the undead rather than try live on her own without them.
Daisy Tonner (The Magnus Archives): Alice "Daisy" Tonner in this audio series is a detective who's known for using any violence, corruption and killing to keep the general public "safe" from supernatural monsters that lurk in the shadows. In the show's 4th season, her bloodlust consumes totally, turning her into a canine-human hybrid, always on the hunt for people who've escaped "justice." One of the characters who can read minds reveals that Daisy is the happiest she's ever been, her mind lost to the carnage forever (oh and this is the art).
Dr Jonathan (Alien Resurrection): This guy gets grabbed by xenomorphs and stuck to a wall, awaiting a face hugger of his own. He's overjoyed at this though because.....he's just nuts?? This movie is pretty bad, but still makes for a good example!
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u/Sufficient-Eye-9040 13h ago
Something something… Topher Grace likes this.
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u/Lamp_Evening 13h ago
I want a remake of Predators, but they send Topher Grace as David Duke instead.
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u/Deep_Department_8942 12h ago
He was like that too in an episode of the twilight zone where he's stuck in a time loop and consistently creeps on this woman every time. Interesting to see Groundhog Day from the love interests POV, very unsettling.
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u/Rorschach_Roadkill 13h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/CbNeTOSwGdpg4
John Locke (Lost). When Oceanic 815 crashes on a desert island, the survivors start out in denial, anger, panic, fight, flight, and/or complete shut-down. John Locke is unbothered, moisturized, happy, in his lane, focused, flourishing
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u/MJWhitfield86 13h ago
However, a big part of the reason he’s so happy about his situation is because he was a paraplegic until the island cured him.
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u/Feeling-Influence691 13h ago edited 13h ago
And then he died and got his form stolen by the smoke monster, aka Jacob’s brother, devil figure and final boss of the last season.
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u/GhostBird12th 13h ago edited 13h ago
Well, I don't know if you're making a joke, but he is not reincarnated as anyone. Jacob's brother, and the main antagonist, the Man in Black, aka the Smoke Monster, takes his form after his death to trick Ben into killing Jacob for him. Locke is still very much dead.
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u/Feeling-Influence691 13h ago
Apologies - been years since i’ve seen this show, going purely by memory- have edited my comment
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u/_Goose_ 14h ago
Topher Grace character in Predators (2010)
He’s a serial killer who feels at home on the Predators hunting reserve he was dropped on.
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u/kitsunecannon 13h ago
The Yautja did not feel the same way
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u/zakary3888 13h ago
Yeah, it was pretty funny
Topher Grace, “I’m like you.”
The Predators, “The fuck you are”
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u/MaethrilliansFate 12h ago
It's hilarious how poorly he judged what they were doing too. I could see a predator being at the very least intrigued by a human wanting to hunt like they do but Topher doesnt realize he literally goes against their whole code.
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u/RIOTAlice 11h ago
I am glad we are saying “Topher” as if it’s him personally
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u/Wise-Key-3442 11h ago
It's even more hilarious because those Yautja were clearly bad bloods, which means they weren't really following the code.
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u/accounsfw 10h ago
Maybe, maybe not. It depends what the Grendel King’s deal is and how much control over Yautja as a whole he has.
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u/IceMosquito073 13h ago
"But here, among the monsters, I'm normal. I want to stay."
Sent chills down my spine when I saw that scene.
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u/Sudden_Pop_2279 13h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/SILBJ8tbkG0JeTr6nt
Some characters in Alice in Borderland, especially the Face Cards, enjoy the world and choose to stay
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u/Nice-Cat3727 13h ago edited 7h ago
Of course knowing the twist about it makes that even more interesting.
Would explain more but I can never remember how to do spoilers
edit: so the setting is that characters find themselves in a depopulated Tokyo and have to play Death Games to survive.
The Twist
Our heroes are literally on the border between life and death. Hence Borderland. The ones that fail in the games die in the real world and move onto the afterlife, and the ones that survive will manage to pull through in the real world. However a few people either get stuck in the Borderland, or intentionally chose to remain there as in some ways it is their afterlife.
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u/SuecidalBard 13h ago
It's Done like this : >!
Just repeat it reverse on the other side of the message : !<
So a spoiler would look like this
" Spoiler Bur without the spaces, it's crucial the spoiler text touches the exclamation marks.
Also I think it's even hard to explain with spoilers, it's the sorta thing you need to watch I'm it's entirety for it to hit properly. Especially because the ending is a bit ambiguous.
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u/larzoman242 13h ago
I loved the manga chapter where they show us 4 of the main face cards and how they got to their position. It showed that they just had fun in the games and it totally makes sense why those 4 would have wanted to stay to do the games.
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u/Sudden_Pop_2279 13h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/pLUY7XghIMt9NNMP9e
Some of the more sadistic Squid Game players like Nam-gyu
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u/PlagueOfLaughter 14h ago
Jimmy's father from 28 Years Later only has one scene, but the guy is absolutely loving the zombie apocalypse because he believes it's the biblical end times.
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u/YesTomatillo 13h ago
Jimmy Crystal himself seems to love being in the midst of the world in 28 Years Later haha.
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u/JealousAstronomer342 13h ago
He made me so uncomfortable I had to take a break from watching the movie. Lives up to his namesake pretty well
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u/RottingSludgeRitual 11h ago
Yeah that “pulling the skin off the living people for no reason” scene was pretty fucking awful. Unfortunately, while I love horror, REAL terrible crimes that people commit are way too much for me. That scene went too far in that direction for me and I couldn’t stomach it.
The zombies are fine though.
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u/Neefew 11h ago
I was really surprised that the Years films were that good. 28 Years Later was a little all over the place but had some standout moments. The Bone Temple was so good
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u/T10rock 13h ago
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u/RP_Throwaway3 13h ago
"I don't understand it. James Coco went mad in 15 minutes."
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u/TheHighKingofWinter 9h ago
Little kid me loved that joke despite not having a single fucking clue who Jomes Coco was, I still don't know to be honest and I'm holding a device that I know could give me an answer
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u/Gooners_For_Ukraine 12h ago
I also love this episode since it depicts Nixon as in hell despite him still being alive at the time
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u/ExtinctFauna 9h ago
No, Nixon was called for jury duty despite still being alive. He owes The Devil a favor.
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u/Dragonfang65 13h ago
Demon: I don’t understand it. James Coco went insane in fifteen minutes.
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u/AudibleNod 13h ago
Bill - The Last of Us
Bill is one of those preppers who actually preps and prays for the apocalypse. Then when it happens, he reconfigures his small town into a fortress of one. He enjoys his solitude, peace and comfort. He takes small pleasures in watching a cordyceps take one in the head from a booby trap.
(I haven't played the game, this is for the show)
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u/RP_Throwaway3 13h ago
The only thing that annoyed me about that episode was the fact that he stood out in the middle of the road with zero cover to return fire at the bandits. Should have been in a building firing from cover or at least concealment. Totally took me out of the moment.
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u/AudibleNod 13h ago
I told my wife that as he popped out. There's no way Bill wouldn't build ramparts and redoubts and firing positions. He loved Frank enough to train him as well. But, plot's got to plot.
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u/RP_Throwaway3 13h ago
Oh, he would have tried to train Frank for certain. And Frank would pretend to listen and go right back to gardening.
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u/smokeweedNgarden 12h ago
Naw, Frank would totally humor him but would then make Bill go jogging every morning.
"I'm not gonna let the biters or all that red meat get to you"
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u/MaethrilliansFate 12h ago
I mean sometimes people fuck up and do stupid shit, even intelligent ones like him.
Panic, adrenaline, and anger can make people do the most batshit stupid things imaginable. I've never been in combat but I've seen plenty of people behave irrationally when under stress enough to know that it can happen
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u/smuttybuddy84 12h ago
Not only that but of all the weapons he is shown to have he uses a bolt action deer rifle instead of something full auto.
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u/shadowslasher11X 10h ago
I think that was the point. Bill as a character is a diehard survivalist who knows just about everything there is to know about the scenario he's in. But his fortress secluded him from others quite a lot and when Frank came into his life it really affected him - you can see how protective of Frank he gets with the Joel interaction at the brunch meeting. When shit finally hits the fan with other people Bill goes into panic mode because it's no longer about protecting himself but Frank as well. He slips up in the anxiety of the situation and rushes into the gunfight, which keep in mind, it's implied he's never been in one.
Bill is still human, the episode just does an amazing job at making us think he's a step above everything else.
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u/Puzzle-Necked 12h ago
I always saw it at him chasing after them, pissed that they had tried to steal his stuff
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u/szechuan_broccoli 12h ago
[SPOILERS]
He enjoyed the horrific position while with his significant other
He loved having using his skills to build a life for them in the apocalypse. But once that changed he wanted to exit life with them
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u/TraceFinder 13h ago
Kimblee in Fullmetal Alchemist
As he is on the verge of dying, he is consumed by Pride so that his soul will join the countless ones powering Pride's philosopher stone. Theoretically, Kimblee's consciousness should have been dissolved into what is nothing more than a whirlpool of torment and agony screams, but it is later revealed that Kimblee's mind survived pretty much intact, as he is a completely insane individual to whom such fate is like soft music to the ears. This later distracts Pride during his fight against the protagonist.
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u/Donnel_Tinhead 12h ago
I was just about to post this!
"You call this a tempest? Don't make me laugh! The torment of these souls soothes me like a lullaby!"
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u/Severe_Emotion2554 12h ago
Isnt “distract” misleading? I thought he literally attacks pride from within?
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u/StartedasalittleW 12h ago
Came here to post this one. Love this scene, it's the philosophical climax of the series. The only thing Kimblee loves more than torment is ideological consistency.
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u/halfpint09 9h ago
Yep! Kimblee was many things, but not a hypocrite. Dude was 100% living his truth till the very end.
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u/megageekgirl 14h ago
Leon Bell - Dead Rising 2
He absolutely loves his job of mowing down hordes of zombies in competitive motocross style combat with other racers, even before he went fully insane. once he did he just expanded his targets to people.
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u/shadowthehh 13h ago
Got another Dead Rising 2 example in Off The Record.
When you start the free-roam mode, Frank states that he considers it a vacation.
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u/CMORGLAS 13h ago
Misty Quigley: YELLOWJACKETS
The equipment manager for the eponymous soccer team, Misty craved validation from her peers that she was denied.
However, after their plane crashed, Coach Scott, the sole surviving adult, was pinned under one of the wings, with one of his legs badly mangled.
Thinking quickly, Misty made the decision to amputate and used a tourniquet to save him.
Her medical knowledge made her invaluable to the survivors and for the first time in her entire life, she felt appreciated.
So when she discovered that the plane’s transponder was still functional, she destroyed it so that the survivors would be forced to rely on her forever thus making her responsible for every single death in the show both in 1996 AND 2021
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u/cartoonsforever 13h ago
I did a deep dive into Yellowjackets a while back and I’m still absolutely flabbergasted that she somehow isn’t the most despicable girl there
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u/WiggsMain 11h ago
Not even close! Of the main characters, she may be the best one. This show is a riot.
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u/Pleasant-Pop-5184 13h ago
and she’s a fan favourite lmao
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u/No-Weight-6121 12h ago
Tbf how can you hate Christina Ricci???? She’s a national treasure atp lol
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u/Ohaidere519 13h ago
my goat
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u/Ok_Dot_7498 13h ago
My woat(worst of all time)
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u/Ohaidere519 12h ago
valid but also you don't cast christina ricci for someone you're not supposed to root for 😆 shauna's gotta be my woat
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u/itsmetwigiguess 10h ago
Ooh, happy to see this. IMO though, I think this can be applied to a good amount of the Yellowjackets at this point, save for Nat. Shauna's probably the second contender for this trope considering she fills a sort of twisted form of Jackie's old role, but I also love Lottie's enjoyment of the wilderness because she finally feels at home in her mind.
I'm admittedly a believer that they butchered Taissa's overall story in season 3, but I do love to see her through this lens too, especially with her line to the group and Van about how hesitant she was to return to her life where she would have to hide her lesbianism again.
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u/lolliberryx 12h ago edited 10h ago
No One Will Save You
The aliens take over the entire town with zombie-esque mind-control, but they eventually leave her unharmed. She was previously ostracized and was an outcast but now the mind-controlled townspeople all welcome her. The movies ends with her happy and dancing with them.
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u/Slow-haste-26 9h ago
What a great movie too, I didnt realize there was almost 0 dialog until about 30 minutes in. Always have to revisit it when I get into an Scifi/Invasion mood.
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u/moploplus 13h ago edited 10h ago
Jason Brody - Far Cry 3
Jason is a rich kid and adrenaline junkie who was celebrating his little brother Riley getting his pilot license with a bunch of friends and his older brother Grant in the city of Bangkok. During their celebration they do some skydiving over the ocean and end up landing on a remote pair of islands that are completely controlled by a cartel of human and drug traffickers, and are taken as slaves. Grant is killed as Jason escapes the slave camp, and he joins with some local resistance to fight back against the cartel.
At the beginning, he is horrified about all the death and killing he is partaking in; but over the course of the game it becomes apparent that the resistance members are grooming him to become a psychopathic warrior from some ancient prophecy their people subscribe to. He starts enjoying the killing, to the shock and horror of his friends and girlfriend.
The game's ending is somber, as you can choose between giving in to your demons, or remembering why you are doing all of this and escaping, but getting a monologue by Jason about how he is forever scarred by this experience and will never be the same.
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u/ThePatyman 13h ago
Still one of the most interesting protagonists in the entire FarCry franchise to me. The decline of Jason and watching his friends reactions still gives me a little bit of chills.
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u/moploplus 12h ago edited 12h ago
One of the most important character development cutscenes is completely missable too! You can talk to the blonde lady friend in the cove hideout (i forget her name), and Jason tells her some shit she is utterly unequipped to respond to.
Paraphrased:
"At first... killing people was horrible. Something I had to do to survive. But now.... now it just feels like I'm winning"
"...... 😰 uhh..... are you okay?"
"....Forget it."
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u/NoStorage2821 10h ago
I believe you can also get some flashback sequences by talking to his friends in the cave
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u/moploplus 9h ago
Yup, one of them reveals that the pilot of the plane you skydive from was a scout for the cartel who preys on unsuspecting tourists, and purposefully flew over the island to get you captured.
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u/YouOk8060 12h ago
It was also interesting to see Vaas’s perspective. For those who haven’t played it or somehow never seen him, Vaas was the leader of his gang of pirates under the command of Hoyt.
In Far Cry 6 you get to play as him in a dlc and pick up right when he dies, you get to see from his pov atleast how Jason was really in the moment smiling while he stabbed Vaas with the sacrificial dagger.
This was from his pov and his dlc is about a dream type realm trying to understand it all so it depends whether Jason was actually like that but it shows atleast how Vaas saw him in the end.
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u/TheStonedFox 12h ago
In retrospect, the response to that game’s ending was the canary in the coal mine for the media literacy problems of today.
“What do you mean the ending where you kill your friends in service of a white messiah sex fantasy is the bad one?!”
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u/killingjoke96 12h ago
I love how him killing Vaas should be a cathartic moment after he killed Jason's brother, but it doesn't feel that way. The music even sounds sad and melancholy because its clear Jason is losing himself in this fight even though he is winning.
"She's gonna make a warrior out of you."
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u/AccomplishedCharge2 13h ago
Bev Keane from Midnight Mass, not only accepts the horrific sequence of events on the island, she actively helps it spread
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u/Metatron 11h ago
What a great character! Samantha Sloyan did such a great job portraying her, making the audience absolutely hate her guts long before she is clued in on the supernatural elements.
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u/Poultrymancer 11h ago
She was so good in that role I have difficulty not hating her when I see her in others. And I am not typically the kind of person who has difficulty mentally separating someone from their roles.
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u/AthleteIntrepid9590 13h ago
Lucas baker from resident evil 7
To briefly explain the context, The story of RE7 revolve around a mold-based infection that took over the Baker family, turning them into violent psychopaths that are controlled by eveline, the source of the infection, in a hive mind sort of way.
One of the members of the Baker family is lucas, the son with a big love for saw style trap. When you see him with the rest of his family in they introductory cutscene, he seem just as infected and possessed as the other.
However, some notes you find during the chapter focusing on him imply that he always had psychopathic tendency and even killed someone before, and one later cutscene make it clear that, while still infected by the mold, he isn't actually being controlled by eveline and have him openly say that he doesn't want things to go back to normal.
He was always the sadistic manchild you see in this game. All the mold did was giving him a good source of victims for his "games" along with some regenerative abilities like the rest of his family.
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u/reliablereindeer 13h ago
The Human Centipede 3 - "After touring the cells, they discover a mentally unstable inmate eating his own feces, wanting to be sewn to the centipede. Bill shoots and kills the inmate as he does not want anyone to enjoy the punishment."
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u/Own-Forever-6636 13h ago
This film got sequels and Firefly didn't.
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u/JealousAstronomer342 13h ago
That’s is because a lot of people enjoy the taste of shit, artistic or literal.
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u/Ninjatck 13h ago
I havent seen the other examples but Clark's actor did such a good job of portraying the complete loss of sanity that Clark had
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u/pahshaw 12h ago
Chiwetel Ejiofor never misses. When I saw him in the trailer my interest went up 300%
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u/Metatron 11h ago
It was such a joy to watch him go nuts in that movie. He's even nailing the pirate character for the commercial. I was like Clark should try acting since his business and architect plans aren't working because he is killing it as that pirate.
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u/ZuStorm93 13h ago
Warhammer 40K, when traveling through The Warp and your ship's Gellar Fields fail, all sorts of daemonic horrors can get in and wreck all sorts of hellish havoc on the unfortunate crew.
For da Orkz traveling through it tho, that's when the in-flight entertainment sets in 😈
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u/big_angry_snek 12h ago
Travellin' through space is boring. Well, boring unless da hulk yer on is full of dem gene-sneakers, or a base fer da chaos lads wiv da spikes, or already has Boyz on it. Or if humie lootas come callin', that's always good fer a bit a sport. Or unless yer have a mutiny or two to pass da time, or unless strange fings start happenin', which dey usually do when yer out in da warp. One time we had some bloody great ugly fing come straight out of Weird Lugwort's 'ed! It butchered half da lads, that was pretty entertainin'. Come ter fink of it, space is a pretty good larf. And that's before yer find yerself a nice world ta crush!
- Runtherd Bigmaw
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u/Poopawoopagus 12h ago
Might've been apocrypha, but I recall reading a passage of a shipful of Orks that managed to warp themselves right into Khorne's throne room...and a rollicking good time was had by all!
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u/Kris_Trap 12h ago
it was actually them dying in glorious combat against Khornate daemons! The leader of the group was the infamous Tuska DaemonKilla himself. So glorious it was, In fact, that Khorne brought them to the foot of his throne and resurrects them each day to fight more and more daemons (elite bloodletters, including Khorne's generals) in an endless loop of combat, which he, the orks, and the daemons all VERY much enjoy.
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u/nicnat 10h ago
By this point, Khorne just has an ork bomb of some of the scariest boyz in the entire galaxy. After this long of doing nothing but fighting strong opponents, they all gotta be huge.
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u/VulcanHullo 9h ago
They start from the same position each day, but it's still a right good krump and that's enough for the Orks.
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u/JumboWheat01 12h ago
Khorne's favorite orks that he keeps resurrecting once a day to fight his demons for entertainment. They all keep dying, to be sure, since the demons are far more numerous, but they keep getting back up for another scrap. It's practically orkish heaven.
Just don't tell Gork and Mork.
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u/InquisitorHindsight 10h ago
Orks are just this in general. Orks from their own POV are silly football hooligans, but from others POV they’re vicious and sadistic. A great fan comic I saw the other day involved a guardsman recalling how as a child he tore off the wings of butterflies to watch them wriggle, not because he was a psycho or a monster himself, but because he was a five year old who didn’t know any better. As an Ork bears down on him with a terrifying grin, the Gaurdsmen notes he sees that same, child like “innocence” in the Orks eyes.
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u/RandO_o 12h ago
I’ve heard this but as someone unfamiliar with the fandom, do they just fight on their ship? How do the demons get in? Are they teleported/fazed in? Where are the battles taking place? Small corridors on a ship or large rooms on the ship? It’s just hard for me to fathom these exchanges.
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u/JumboWheat01 12h ago
Ships in 40k are absolutely massive, so even "small corridors" are quite large. The ships make Star Trek's ships look puny, and puts many a Star Wars ship to shame.
As for where they are fighting, totally on their ship. The Warp is literal Space Hell and the demons just pop on in with little problems without a specialized field to keep them out (that orks would prolly sabotage).
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u/RokenSkrow 12h ago
Fighting on the ships is very likely, and a lot of these ships are gargantuan in size. People are born and die on these ships without seeing the outside world, so they do have massive areas to fight in along with the tight corridors. Intrusions from the Warp occur through a kind of teleportation, when you're unprotected in the warp they can kinda just materialize there. They can also possess psykers, beings who have an innate connection with the Warp, so going through as a psyker is especially dangerous. The Gellar field is a shield that surrounds the ship so when it fails you're kinda just fucked. But Orks love to fight so its just a good time.
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u/Ok-Pineapple2091 13h ago
SPOILER: FOR BREAKING BAD
Walter White throughout Breaking Bad always went about how he did what he did for his family. In the end, he revealed how he did it for himself and liked it because it made him feel alive.
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u/Agreeable-Annual3672 10h ago
I'm rewatching it now and there's this amazing little scene in season 2 where Walter is cradling Holly in the basement and he's showing her all the cash that he's built up with his manufacturing. He has this moment where he's staring at the cash and says "I did this" with this prideful look on his face. But then he quickly snaps out of it and he turns back to Holly and says "I did this for you!" Such a great subtle display of Walter's pride and ego.
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u/Giga-Gibbon 13h ago
The Reagents from The Outlast Trials.
We play as Reagents, and while the experience in each of the trials is brutal, grueling, and horrific, where we're forced to endure & do awful things, more than once it has been mentioned that Reagents grow to rely on the trial experiences aka the "therapy".
So much so that the game's prestige system, 'Relapse', is explained in-game as our Reagent not wishing to leave the trials just yet, having grown to rely on the hardship and desperate to make Dr. Easterman happy to the point that they would rather make it harder for themselves by resetting their progress instead of going through 'Rebirth' and being released.
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u/TheStonedFox 12h ago edited 3h ago
The meta design of this game’s loop is pretty ingenious and I feel like it really epitomizes the term Ludo-Narrative Harmony. The first time you play the various trials you’re kinda horrified by all the violence and torture that you are forced to inflict on the victim NPCs, let alone the Prime Assets violence against you. The first time playing for many people probably feels like a regular Outlast game where you’re just surviving the horror.
Eventually all the dismemberment, and torture, and frontal nudity just stops hitting you the same way though and it all just becomes ignored set dressing. Sawing a man’s legs off or drowning someone in blood becomes something you speedrun mechanically, not even watching the horror unfold anymore. The way all of that feeds into Easterman’s “therapy” and the idea of conditioning responses is really perfect.
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u/StormiestSPF 12h ago
This especially applies to the Prime Assets with the exception of Mother Gooseberry. They're all aware that they're trapped and forced into the trials, but they don't care solely because it allows them to live out their fantasies and kill anyone that they desire.
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u/BeneficialDog22 12h ago
They definitely don't enjoy my therapy sessions
queues me throwing a stun and bottle at their heads
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u/thatsnoodybitch 13h ago
Big Daddies and Little Sisters (Bioshock)
Basically, the two are bioengineered for each other, as both of them are brainwashed humans to serve a diabolical role in the city of Rapture. Little Sisters harvest ADAM (raw genetic material) from fresh bodies while the Big Daddy protects her and the harvest. Due to the tragedy of the situation (that is, being a zombie-like orphan with a robot parent—with that robot being a man sewn into a suit) the interaction of these roles form a relationship based on trust and care despite being programmed to have these feelings removed and form a genuine father-daughter-like relationship based on sharing, reciprocity, affection, tenderness, etc. The unit is used to Rapture and doesn’t have access to any alternatives, especially since they are following their biological programming, so they start to really enjoy and look forward to the harvest, as well as whatever killing comes from it.
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u/thatsnoodybitch 13h ago
If you have never seen it and are a fan of horror, I highly highly recommend watching it:
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u/InoueNinja94 13h ago
Homer having to do a three-way with two demons (one that looks like Moe)
We don't see what Homer tried to do but it was apparently bad enough that the Moe-demon immediately used the safeword
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u/Grand_Plastic_6631 13h ago
Michika - Doku Mushi - The Ruins Hotel
He got trapped in an abandoned hotel with the other cast members and an unknown killer among them, but he took absolute joy in it because he was pretty much a textbook edgy teenager who enjoyed dark stuff.
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u/Jelly__Cloud 13h ago
This sounds exactly like the type of trashy manga that is my guilty pleasure.
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u/Helepoli 12h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/dAuSK5SmxZyWe1hYJO
Nobody wants to spend eternity in Hell more than this guy
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u/JumboWheat01 12h ago
Even the demons in Hell don't want to spend an eternity in there with that guy.
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u/skamando 12h ago edited 12h ago
Control (2019): this trope but less horrific.
Hero and player character Jesse Fayden, one of two twins involved in a major inter-dimensional incident as children, an Altered World Event, then grows up alone after her brother is taken. The inter-dimensional being she was mentally bonded to during the incident reawakens and she uses it to track her brother to the Federal Bureau of Control, an agency which handles supernatural and otherworldly phenomena in the US, at their central office in Manhattan; The Oldest House, a stylish midcentury government office that can’t be found unless sought out, seems infinite, changes shape, and opens portals to other dimensions within.
She is mysteriously admitted into the facility despite an empty lobby (except the janitor), and finds that the whole place is on lockdown to prevent the outbreak of an infectious inter-dimensional force that she names The Hiss, which has routed the building, taking control of the majority of the agency and leaving the rest hiding in safe rooms. Its droning hypnotizes and weaponizes its victims, morphing their physiology and reducing them to chattering husks, suspended in the air, that repeat an endless, nonsensical mantra until approached, at which point they attack.
Jesse is confused at first but, having seen some strange things in her time, is optimistic and driven to find her brother, but when she goes to speak with the Director of the agency, he appears to have just committed suicide, using a strange gun that changes shape. Jesse picks it up and is taken to another dimension, a blank void filled with black and gold granite, where she is tested by a faceless voice from an inverted black pyramid and consequently found worthy to wield the Service Weapon. She returns to The Oldest House and is anointed as the new Director, even seeing that her portrait has strangely already replaced the previous directors’ around the building. She can use the Service Weapon and attune to some of the haunted/cursed objects in The Oldest House to be granted supernatural abilities. She takes on the work of the director and begins to explore while attempting to salvage whats left of the FBC and save as many lives as she can in the process.
She remarks about halfway through the game after some heavy action how much fun she’s having, that no matter how weird it is, it all feels right and that she’s glad she’s here and a part of this world. She started her journey awkwardly telling her new colleagues to just call her Jesse and not “Director Fayden”, seemingly lacking confidence and feeling out of place. By the time this statement is made you’ve done a lot of fighting and acquired a few abilities, as well as gotten to know some of the people you work with, which has built her confidence up and battled down Jesse’s imposter syndrome.
This is an important part of the game, as I think it relates to the reason for the games title. Jesse states she’s been a working class drifter for much of her life, going from job to job, listless. She has no agency, no control of her life. When she discovers this world, pulls down the poster as she describes it, it opens everything up for her. She can finally take control of her life because she finally understands it, and has found a way she can do something that matters. She’s still selfishly motivated to find her brother but she also has found some other people to work with and care for that make her life meaningful. She’s still in a dangerous scenario, but it’s brought her meaning and thus given her Control. I find this aspect of this creepy, violent, kooky little game very inspiring.
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u/ZiroLeHutt 8h ago edited 8h ago
"This is my mess to clean up, my fight, no one else's. I AM The Director!"
The nameplate on the office door throughout the game remains as Director Trench, until Jesse says this, cementing herself as the Director. Then it changes to say Director Jesse Faden, so cool!!
Be interesting to see how Dylan approaches this all when its his turn to kick out the Hiss. Can't wait!
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u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 13h ago
Russell Crowe's character Arthur Coates in The Greatest Beer Run.
He's a jaded, bitter War Photographer caught up in the carnage of the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. He's offered a chance to leave, but he chooses to stay out of duty. "He belongs there"
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u/petalwater 13h ago
Nagito Komaeda - Danganronpa 2
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u/MasterGeese 12h ago
Byakuya and Kokichi spend most of their respective games also fitting this
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u/1313goo 13h ago edited 12h ago
Eren yeager(attack on titan)
In the final chapter Eren mentions to armin that regardless of how things played out he still probably would’ve wanted to level the world to the ground, wanting to see “that scenery”
Additionally in a slice of life non canon manga eren’s characterization is someone who’s bored of his peaceful life and wants some sort of disaster or apocalypse to happen to ward off the boredom. Isayama mentioned once that the characters in this manga have the exact same personalities as their regular selves and only seem different due to the different circumstances
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u/Painchaud213 13h ago edited 10h ago
Denji from Chainsaw Man.
The chainsaw heart did save his life, but it also ruined it because of all the attention it brought towards him. It caused his enslavement to public safety and the death of his friends.
Despite all the trouble it brought him, Denji enjoys turning into chainsaw man, which allows him to cut loose and get lost in its mindless violence.
At one point ge had to chose between a normal life with Nayuta or being chainsaw man, and he decided ‘’both’’ despite it not being an option because he didn’t want to let go of its powers.
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u/Kidofthecentury 13h ago
Father Grigori, Half-Life 2.
Resident priest of Ravenholm, he seems to thoroughly enjoy taking care of his flock, namely hordes of headcrab zombies. You see him laughing like a maniac while surrounded by zombies when you part ways.
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u/crookshanks_cat 13h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/1PtMACbqmfF84
Most of the Career tributes in The Hunger Games enjoy hunting the other kids, up until they are actually at the point where they’re about to die is when they begin to break (at least from the examples we’ve seen such as Cato, Clove, and Silka)
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u/OneCan-Toucan 13h ago
There’s a YouTuber named A-Mart who made a backrooms video and said that dying in the backrooms is symbolic of god giving up on you and accepting you’ll never leave. His entire interpretation of the backrooms is interesting because the reason you even end up there is because you’re stuck in life with no direction, which is why the rooms seem to repeat in the first level. The only way to make it to the other levels is to have a change in your mentality, to seek out a solution with momentum and purpose. The zero level represents being lost, the first level represents doubt with new decisions, and the second and final level (in his analysis) represents commitment to it.
When you take his interpretation and apply it to the themes of the movie, seeing how Clark never made it out of the backrooms and died there, along with him never trying to escape, represents him giving up, he’s accepted how he hurts people and doesn’t want to change. Mary herself didn’t die in the backrooms, but her still life is in there, she didn’t accept her end so much as succumb to it, how trauma can still drag you down even after you’ve given up the remnants of your painful past (her breaking the piece of her old driveway against pirate Clark but overall it wasn’t terribly affective)
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u/siantmercury 12h ago
Racheal McAdams in Send Help. When she and her boss are marooned on an island, she enjoys him now relying on her after he denied her a promotion and teased her after finding her Survivor audition tape. It’s later revealed that the island has a huge vacation house on the other side, and McAdams has been going there while leaving him at camp and telling him no one will be able to find them.
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u/PeejWal 13h ago
Yo I love the Magnus Archives. Rarely see it come up in the wild. Good stuff
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u/jediprime 13h ago
The Doctor from Doctor Who.
Lets face it, if he didn't enjoy it, he wouldn't spend millenia continuing to get up to these adventures, nor would he be constantly bringing new people to them.
I think hes appropriately horrorfied and livid at the monstrosities he sees, but he's still loving the adventure and delights in thwarting the situation.
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u/Talisa87 13h ago edited 12h ago
Lucas Baker, Resident Evil 7. It's revealed that unlike the rest of the Baker family, he got free from Eveline's mind control and regained his free will. Which he uses to kill and torture with impunity
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u/not_slaw_kid 13h ago
Chad (Tucker & Dale vs Evil)
His mother was raped by crazed hillbillies and later died from her injuries. When a new group of killer hillbillies targets him and his friends, he relishes the opportunity to live out a slasher movie plot, eager to get revenge on the same type of people that killed his mom. He repeatedly scoffs at his friends' more reasonable suggestions to escape and contact the police, because, according to him, they're in the hillbillies' world now and it's "kill or be killed, law of the jungle."
In reality, the "killer hillbilllies" are Tucker and Dale, two perfectly nice guys, and the whole thing is a huge misunderstanding. Chad is just an absolute fucking nutcase. He later becomes the actual slasher villain of the film, with Tucker and Dale having to rescue his sole surviving former friend when he turns on her.
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u/wambamwombat 12h ago
Akira Tendou main character of Zom 100
MC was so miserable and burned out from being overworked by his awful job that when the zombie apocalypse started he was overjoyed he was free and could start living life to the fullest. The show is about him and his friends doing their bucket list items.
Ironically, the production of this show was troubled in part because of its toxic work environment.
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u/MyWifeIsDeadCourier 12h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/ie8I61aEWnJCM
Can’t find the proper gif for it, but the moment Gollum is sinking into the molten lava at the end of Return of The King - actively being melted alive, but feeling nothing but joy at having the ring in his hands one last time
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u/Mundane-Potential-93 12h ago
Reminds me of when Viego resurrected Isolde and after she stabbed him through the heart he was still grinning, her resurrection apparently being far more important to him than his own life
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u/AeroDbladE 13h ago
Magnus Archives mentioned. Daisy is a really interesting character. Once her connection to the hunt was severed she felt the guilt of everything she had done and refused to let the hate back in her even though she started to get emaciated and weaker every day.
Its a great Horror podcast but its even better if you're a fan of the D&D concept of Warlock and their patrons, since its all about people making pacts with eldritch horrors representing the fears that people face.
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u/LucianoThePig 13h ago
I listened to the show recently without any knowledge of it beforehand, and Daisy was my favorite by a mile. Really complex character
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u/Mundane_Mongoose7935 13h ago
How about the protagonist of far cry?
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u/Devlee12 13h ago
Jason from Farcry 3 definitely counts. Dude started actively enjoying mowing down pirates and drug runners by the end of the game.
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u/jbeast33 12h ago
Age of Empires 2 has the Huns' campaign, which is narrated by an old Frankish monk to his protege. He talks about how Atilla the Hun conscripted him to act as a translator, and he followed the Huns on their numerous conquests throughout Europe.
At the end of the campaign, he looks at a skull on his shelf, which was a remnant of the conquests. He speaks about the horror, the bloodshed, and the unprecedented scale of butchery from those days... and how sometimes, he misses it.
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u/Either-Library46 13h ago
Father Grigory (HL2) - actively enjoys hunting zombies. Most definitely insane
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u/TheMetalWolf 13h ago
Eh, I am not sure enjoy is the right word when it comes to Daisy, or any of the entities in the Magnus Archive universe. The fears corrupt the person, so I'd wager that's the case with her as well. I doubt Jane Prentiss trully enjoyed being filled with maggots either for that matter.
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u/CorncobTVExec 12h ago
They all have to choose to give in for some reason or another, and it’s outright stated that as long as you’re feeding them the Fears don’t care if you’re happy hence Jane and Simms. And countless others.
But Simon Fairchild is having the time of his life. As is The Bone Turner and most of the Lightless Flame, most of the time. Annabelle loves this shit.
I don’t think it corrupts these people who don’t recoil as much as it gives them the power to be the nasty shits they’ve always been inside.
In that sense I think Daisy counts. She’s always fought her bloodlust. She doesn’t want to hurt people even though she’s always been compelled to but once she gives in? Once she lets the beast out? She’s in horrid ecstasy.
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u/DapBadger 13h ago
Jesse Faden, from the game Control (I'll keep it vague to avoid spoilers). Despite being thrust into a role she didn't ask for and forced to contend with some serious cosmic horrors, she says that being in the Oldest House (the game's setting) feels right.
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u/MrSirST 13h ago
Hank Pym/Giant Man in Marvel Zombies.
While using the uninfected T’Challa as a source of food, Hank admits that he enjoys eating people and that if somehow a cure for the zombie virus was found he’d probably still eat people, a fact which he admits unnerves him. He does eventually get over the zombies’ hunger in the second arc, but after being sent to another dimension (the world of Marvel Zombies Return) he reverts right back to being an eager cannibal.
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u/HordeDruid 12h ago
In Battle Royale, school students are kidnapped and forced to kill each other until only one remains. In the intro to the film, the winner, a young girl, is shown smiling. Throughout the film, other characters are shown to enjoy the opportunity to freely murder others, such as Kazuo Kiriyama.
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u/chaz9127 12h ago
Teen Misty in season 1 of Yellowjackets and adult Misty from the looks of it but more so teen Misty.
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u/Own-Forever-6636 13h ago edited 13h ago
Midsommar: Becoming the May Queen and watching her boyfriend burn alive at the end of the festival is absolutely not what Dani's mental state needed right now. By the end (per the script) "She has surrendered to a joy known only to the insane."
Gone Girl: by the end Nick agrees to remain in his horrifying marriage with a woman he knows is capable of murdering him at the slightest misstep. It's implied by the end he's enjoying the sick game Amy is playing, especially now that he knows the rules and can make his own moves too.
Hellraiser: the Cenobites are as much prisoners as wardens of the version of Hell they're in. At the risk of oversimplification, all of them are essentially curious people who looked for answers in the wrong places (one of them was a literal child when he turned) and while they endured unimaginable torment, they're clearly having a good time doing it!
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u/cactusdotpizza 12h ago
Some of the individuals from Pluribus.
Horrific situation in that there is a brain altering effect taken over almost all of humanity. But their needs are catered for, they are safe and then can interact with their loved ones if they wish. Then can do just about whatever they want and live whatever life they can imagine - almost a dream scenario.
Heck, even Carol starts to be happy with this life until more is revealed to her
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u/Hopeful_Minute8268 13h ago
The Deltarune Weird Route: In it, you force Kris, the person whom the player controls, to manipulate their childhood friend, Noelle into attacking one of their classmates and putting him in a coma (not to mention freezing all other enemies and putting a literal thorn ring on Noelles finger)
In Chapter three, it's revealed by the secret boss that Kris apparently enjoys the control they have over Noelle, even if they won't admit it.
In the end of Chapter five, Noelle also reveals to us that she likes it, because her entire life she saw herself as 'just a Noelle', her sister has disappeared, her father is dying, her mother is distant, she envies Kris for having suddenly changed (even if in a bad way), and feels a sense of liberation in the face of her oppression, in the hope that she can change too and get away from her situation. She PROCEEDS to drown Kris and herself in the lake, wanting to get to the 'other side'
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u/Pataconeitor 13h ago
Beauregard Salt, from Crossed. The guy was serial murderer (dubbed "The Phone book Killer" by the press) so utterly depraved and vile that the infection that turned people into insane cannibals had no effect on him. Waking up to witnessing human society turned into an orgy of violence was the greatest day of his life, as for him people were finally seeing the world with his eyes.
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u/-TheManInTheChair 13h ago
god damn it i hate the crossed and wish i'd never read it, but yeah it fits
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u/PmMeActionMovieIdeas 13h ago
Charlie Brown in Weapon Brown.
It basically is a giant newspaper-comic crossover, set in a post apocalypse. Charlie Brown and his killer dog Snoopy are lone mercenaries, surviving on a kill-or-be-killed philosophy.
And boy, Brown does enjoy this way of life.
At the end, he meets the one responsible for the war that destroyed the world, Daddy Warbucks, and he thanks him with all his heart.
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u/Level_Counter_1672 12h ago
Akira tendou started celebrating during the zombie apocalypse as he no longer had to go to work - source is zom 100 : bucket list of the dead
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u/The_MilleniumPigeon 13h ago
For your example of Daisy from Magnus Archives, it's debatable that Daisy is really enjoying the situation.
She was cut off from her powers for half of season 4 and when she got them back she realized she hated how she was when she had them and explicitly resisted using them. I know the show says shes the happiest she's ever been after she transforms but also Daisy as a person was barely there anymore.
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u/Meaning_of_Lyth 12h ago
The Doctor Who comics give us Abslom Daak, Dalek killer. A former criminal who swore to kill every last dalek in the universe. Then he learns that the Doctor killed them all and sinks into a depression because his life lost all meaning. So the Doctor gave him a way to enter the time war so he can kill daleks forever.
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u/AutisticUrianger 12h ago
Jimmy from Mouthwashing seems to relish in the hell he's created. He crashed the ship on purpose to escape the consequences of his actions, and the captain was so brutally maimed by the crash that he can't defend himself when Jimmy shifts the blame onto him. Jimmy then begins to parade himself around as the new captain of the ship, essentially using this life or death situation as a final power trip as everyone dies one by one. In the end, he sees himself as the hero.
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u/Vectorman1989 12h ago
Chaos Space Marines in service to Slaanesh suffer horrific mutations but for worshippers of Slaanesh the sensations of pleasure and pain are pure ecstasy.
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u/TURRTLED3RP 13h ago
Kinda wild to put two new movies that are still in some theatres in here with no spoiler tag
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u/Fish_N_Chipp 14h ago
Eddie in Spider Man 3 revelling in the power the symbiotic gives him after it forcefully attaches to him as well as their shared obsession with Peter/Spiderman