Draco in Leather Pants/Playing With

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Basic Trope: A villainous or morally ambigious character is embraced by fans and have their flaws downplayed or ignored.

• Straight: Prince Evulz is handsome, if a bit cold and curt, and has a tragic past that drives him forward. He's also one of the bad guys, but fans tend to rationalize that little detail.
• Exaggerated:
  • Prince Evulz is a Complete Monster who finds Cold-Blooded Torture and manipulation fun. Despite this, fandom keeps rationalizing him.
  • Prince Evulz has every single quality that would make him completely unlikeable. Fandom treats him as perfect.
• Downplayed:
  • Fans accept that Prince Evulz is the bad guy, but try to give him Freudian Excuses when he's actually doing it For the Evulz.
  • Alternatively, Prince Evulz is a dark Anti-Hero rather than a villain, and while he's one of the good guys, certain fans seem to excuse many of his more questionable actions.
• Justified:
  • Prince Evulz is Unintentionally Sympathetic.
  • The fans want a more balanced and developed quality instead of a Complete Monster.
• Inverted:
  • Ron the Death Eater.
  • Creator's Pet is an inversion in a meta-sense (and on multiple levels!): the author creates a villain intended to be hated but the fandom keeps cheerleading for him versus the author cheerleading for a character he loves and intends to be loved, but the fandom hates.
• Subverted:
  • Although Prince Evulz initially appears to be developing into a fan-favorite, he was just baiting the dog: his actions later in the series reveal him to be a Complete Monster who repels the fans by crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
  • Alternatively, he turns out to be on the hero's side all along.
  • He is played as an Anti-Hero. Other than that, his personality is parallel to canon.
• Double Subverted: Despite his Complete Monster actions, his fans continue to fawn over and apologize for him.
• Parodied:
  • Even Hiro openly excuses him.
  • The good guys inexplicably start treating Prince Evulz as though he was always on their side while Hiro acts as the Only Sane Man.
• Deconstructed: Prince Evulz's popularity with fans is reflected in the series by giving him Joker Immunity even as he explores new Moral Event Horizons, as he begins openly trading on his good looks and popularity. It is made clear that his actions are dragging the world to hell, yet his in-world apologists keep giving him a free pass for his behavior.
• Reconstructed: During a fight, Hiro gives Prince Evulz a hideous scar, which also removes his immunity, but his die hard in-world fans are so outraged, they decide to work for Draco.
• Zig Zagged: Draco's appearance and level of rationalization are constantly in flux, with fan opinion changing from week to week.
• Averted:
  • The fans react to Prince Evulz in an appropriate manner based on his actions.
  • The fandom remember that Hiro is the hero, and Prince Evulz is the villain, and do not create multiple theories rationalizing his crossing of the Moral Event Horizon. However, those who do like Prince Evulz prefer him as a believable villain or as a sympathetic character without downplaying his flaws.
  • The author wrote Prince Evulz as a believable villainous character, and the fans ask the author enough questions about him to know that Prince Evulz was never heroic, or was once heroic then became a villain.
  • The fans prefer Prince Evulz as a villain because they think that he is more believable as an antagonist than he would be as a protagonist. The author has written something from Draco's warped perspective, and fans reacted to him in an appropriate manner based on his actions.
• Enforced: The producers deliberately make Prince Evulz an appealing villain because All Girls Want Bad Boys.
• Lampshaded: "You don't understand him! He's not as bad as everyone makes him out to be!
• Invoked: Prince Evulz is intentionally presented as a charismatic person in order to enable him to seduce people over to the dark side.
• Defied: The producers intentionally make Prince Evulz a repellent, physically unattractive Complete Monster with no redeeming features who crosses the Moral Event Horizon in his very first appearance in order to prevent people excusing his actions.
• Discussed: "Prince Evulz's ability to make people excuse his sins borders on the supernatural."
• Conversed: "Duh, don't those fans realize that Prince Evulz is supposed to be the bad guy?"
• Played For Laughs: Prince Evulz has a legion of fangirls that serve as his Quirky Miniboss Squad, as well as a not-exactly-veiled Take That at Alternative Character Interpretation.
• Played For Drama: Hiro's friend Maybelle falls in love with Prince Evulz and becomes his apologist, insisting that he can change. Prince Evulz picks up on this and charms her into a Face Heel Turn, toying with her feelings before disposing of her.
• Plotted A Good Waste:
  • Prince Evulz is intentionally set up like this in order to lead to The Reveal that he gained his resources and support from like-minded higher-ups, who turned a blind eye to his horrible actions because they fell for his good looks and charm. Prince Evulz is shown to be a Manipulative Bastard who deliberately turns his good looks to his advantage, something he openly taunts the heroes with after the truth comes out.

Prince Evulz: "You keep saying you'll bring me to justice...Ha. Men like me are never punished. One look upon me and people fall all over themselves to serve my will. You're the odd one out. And once you're disposed of, who will question my authority? Certainly not anyone with eyes..."

• • The author plans on putting Prince Evulz in a Shoujo series as a Sexy Sadist.

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