From unchecked aggression to unfeigned apology.
"You probably don't remember me, but I went to high school with you. I kinda gave you a hard time back then. I did some things I thought were funny at the time, but now I realize they were just mean and stupid. I just wanted to apologize and I hope you forgive me."
Billy Madison apologizing to Danny McGraff, Billy Madison
A mean kid from school or the neighborhood, who treated people like dirt and ruled over the class with an iron fist turns up again. They were petty, judgmental, quick to shove other hapless students in their own lockers or slander them to their faces, and now they're... apologizing?
Yep, that grade-A pain in the neck has seemingly turned over a new leaf. The reason varies from person to person. Maybe their victims gave them a taste of their own medicine. Or they graduated and realized the real world isn't as easy as they thought it would be in school.note Probably they did some soul-searching, became more enlightened or matured significantly, and realized that's not the person they want to be. Perhaps they were just tired of being mean. No matter what reason, they are trying to change for the better. Of course, not everyone is likely to forgive them, and they probably wouldn't blame them if they didn't. There may be moments where they slip back into their scheming ways but they'll usually catch themselves in time before they do anything too awful. And of course just because they are nicer doesn't mean they lose their biting wit. (That is, if they had any in the first place.) Also, if they're still a bit of a jerk despite changing their ways, then they fall into Reformed, but Not Tamed.
Often overlaps with The Atoner and may be the ultimate goal of a Redemption Quest. If the former bully somehow doesn't feel sorry for his past actions but stopped for some other reasons, he can be the child version of Retired Monster, unreformed on the inside and without repentance and only changing in the acts. Another overlapping trope is Bully Turned Buddy, where the bully may not be reformed, but does manage to befriend their former victim. A bully may also reform after refusing to cross a certain line.
If they were initially mean and horrible... and didn't get any nicer (if not worse) as they got older, they're the Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up.
Compare Former Teen Rebel, where the character may have been rebellious but wasn't necessarily mean or a bully. Also compare and contrast to the Lovable Alpha Bitch, who has enough nice qualities to balance out the bad ones, and the Lovable Jock and Dumb Jock, since the former is just a Nice Guy all around and the latter is probably too stupid to be mean. If they were always reluctant about bullying, see Peer-Pressured Bully. Compare also the Former Bigot whose Jerkass behavior from an earlier time came from bias and hatred of a categorical class and which have since been renounced.
Contrast Used to Be a Sweet Kid when they start off a decent, kind individual, but then progressively took several levels in Jerkass maybe becoming an Evil Former Friend or may have even undergone a Start of Darkness turning into a Tragic Monster in the worst, most tragic cases.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Attack on Titan: The unnamed man who sired Historia's child used to throw rocks at her when they were children. After she becomes Queen, he's revealed to have turned to manual work to atone for what he'd done, and she recognizes his efforts and plight enough to request him to be her Chosen Conception Partner.
- Bokura no Hentai: The Distant Finale final chapter features Marika's middle school bully greeting her in high school. He's a lot friendlier than he used to be. In middle school, he made fun of her for being feminine, and later living as a girl (with implications that he had a crush on her after she began living as a girl).
- Case Closed: In an early episode, the Victim of the Week was one of these. After driving his victim to hang himself, the remorseful bully showed up to the victim's father crying and begging for forgiveness. The father not only forgives the bully but even lets him pet-sit the dog when the bully returns as an adult. But it turns out the bully actually never changed his ways, and prompted the father to train his dog to attack the bully.
- Chihayafuru: Taichi Mashima was a bully in flashbacks but reformed and is now a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Daily Lives of High School Boys: Habara is a former bully who cannot shake off her reputation. It is said that it would be better for her to skip town.
- Downplayed in Horimiya. Hori mentions in chapter 8 that the reason she helps out the Student Council when she isn't even a member is that she's trying to make up for how hard she was on her Childhood Friend Sengoku throughout their childhood (though she still messes with him from time to time when they're alone).
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Subverted at the very beginning of the series. Dio Brando has been an evil mastermind for most of his life, even in his childhood. When George Joestar adopted him, Dio used his guile and charm to poison all relationships that George's clumsy son Jonathan had, even to the point of killing Jonathan's dog. Jonathan is outmatched against Dio, but when Dio goes too far and steals his girlfriend's first kiss, Jonathan gets so angry that Dio can't even slow him down. After that incident, Dio stops his bullying altogether, and for the next several years, they seem like the best of friends. But Dio was simply biding his time for the opportune moment, and Jonathan never trusted or forgave him.
- Lyrical Nanoha: Arisa was a bully back in preschool, but she got that attitude slapped out of her by Nanoha (giving her the honor of being the first character ever befriended in canon). Her former bullying victim Suzuka ended up becoming her best friend (and possibly more), a friendship that is shown in the first StrikerS Sound Stage to still be going strong when they're in college.
- My Hero Academia: Played with in regards to Katsuki Bakugo. He starts the series as a Smug Super who takes pleasure in bullying and picking on the much weaker Midoriya. A few chapters in, Midoriya has gained his own superpower and starts standing up to him at the same time the two join a prestigious Hero Academy, which is unlikely to tolerate that behavior, and their classmates are not intimidated by him, with many being actually as powerful or skilled as him, sometimes even more. So he stops being a bully, but he maintains the same personality, except that he can't bully anyone anymore. He later starts befriending some of his classmates and even Midoriya, leading to him playing this trope straight, while still having quite an unpleasant personality. He finally becomes completely reformed in Chapter 322 after apologizing to Midoriya. By the end of the story he offers Midoriya a job at his agency though Midoriya declines and they occasionally give each other rides. Bakugo still can’t stop yelling at the people he’s supposed to save though. The first slight change in his behavior was noted in the Entrance Exams. By that point, Midoriya muses to himself that while Bakugo is still just as abrasive as ever, he lightened up immensely on the verbal abuse ever since the Sludge Villain incident. Before that, he literally suggested Midoriya jump out a window and hope for a Quirk in his next life. After that, all he does is pretty much a continuous "stay out of my way".
- Onani Master Kurosawa:
- Sugawa. As middle school comes to a close and she becomes too worried about poor grades ruining her future to bully, and she shows Hypocritical Heartwarming towards her previous target Kitahara, as well as ultimately forgiving Kurosawa for his harassment and dating him.
- One could also see Kurosawa himself as this after he admits to his sexual harassment of female students and decides to face ridicule head on instead of running away to reform himself.
- A Silent Voice:
- The protagonist Shoya is one. He severely bullied Shoko in elementary for being deaf, however ended up being bullied himself for his treatment of her. As a high schooler, Shoya wishes to atone and become her friend.
- In The Summer You Were There, Shizuku Hoshikawa, the protagonist, took it upon herself to help her classmate, Ruri Ichinose, but ended up verbally abusing her. When Ruri's best friend Seri Ichihara, confronted her, Shizuku had a Heel Realization, but it was too late and she ended up being ostracized. Years later, Shizuku apologizes to Ruri, and while Ruri is initially unwilling to forgive her, she realizes that Shizuku has changed and asks to start over.
- Tomorrow's Joe: Nishi first appears as a thug who pushes around everyone in police lock-up because he's the toughest and biggest guy there, and develops a particular animosity towards Joe because the latter isn't intimidated. He undergoes a Break the Haughty process once the two wind up in juvenile prison, where he's most certainly not either the biggest or the toughest anymore, beginning a journey where he not only becomes Joe's best friend, Nishi arguably matures more than he does - unlike Joe, he's able to leave boxing behind, and can actually flourish in a normal life with a regular job and even ends up getting married. Joe on the other hand, who's never been good at anything other than fighting or minor scams, ends up dying in the ring after giving his all against the World Bantamweight Champion, Jose Mendoza.
- Wandering Son: Doi had bullied Nitori since elementary. They end up going to the same high school, away from most of Nitori's old friends, and end up becoming awkward friends.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Joey, along with Tristan Taylor, used to bully Yugi, until Yugi stood up for them when Ushio came to beat them. Afterwards, Joey became a friend of Yugi, following through his adventures.
- Yuri!!! on Ice: Takeshi used to pick on main character Yuri when they were children. Their relationship improved over time, and as an adult, he's now one of Yuri's most supportive friends.
Comic Books
- Daredevil: A mid-eighties issue has Matt Murdock encountering Stinky McQuade at the end of an unrelated adventure. Stinky claims to be the bully who ironically nicknamed Matt "Daredevil" and he apologizes for his treatment of Matt as a kid before walking away.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW): A one-off issue focuses on how Twilight's brother, Shining Armour, met his wife. The story is a playful homage to every teen '80s film ever including a Jerk Jock called Buck. While he's definitely an antagonist in the past, in the present day he seems much more likable, and judging by the friendly gestures gets on a lot better with Shining.
- Spider-Man: Flash Thompson bullied Peter Parker in high school. He got better as he got older once the two entered college and they got along fairly well, and eventually became one of Peter's best friends. Joining the military also taught him discipline and mellowed him out a lot. He became a hero in his own right and eventually the fourth, and first straight-up heroic, incarnation of Venom and became an ally of Spider-Man.
Fan Works
- Bridge to Terabithia 2: The Last Time, a fanfic follow-up that combines both the Katherine Patterson novel and the Disney adaptation, actually gives Scott Hoager, Jess' former bully from the movie version the reformed treatment. The story also includes a new character, Sonia Taylors, Jess' on-off girlfriend who is excessively manipulative, sadistic, ruthless, and especially takes delight in picking on Leslie, who turns out to be not really dead but was kidnapped by an enemy of the Burke family and isolated from society for years before inevitably reuniting with Jess when both of them are teenagers. Sonia gets written off halfway through the story before showing up again in the Distant Epilogue, where she actually turns over a new leaf after she married Scott Hoager. The two ex-bullies had a son, Brandon, who became best friends with the daughter of Jess and Leslie, much to Jess' bewilderment. According to the daughter, "Brandon's mom is so nice to me..." and "Brandon's dad is a sergeant in the army"...
- Cheating Death: Those That Lived: Bear Redfoot was the bully of Eleven District, robbing weaker residents from thir belongings. In his Games, he's confronted to the outcome of his actions, causing him to become a better man, the Man of the City of his district and The Heart for other Victors.
- Danganronpa: Yakuza Arc, after Natsumi Kuzuryu was saved by Hajime, he convinces her to better herself in Part 1, leading her to stop bullying people. She later apologizes to Mahiru and Sato, whom she had bullied previously, and the latter of whom attempted to kill her for it to protect Mahiru. Mahiru accepts the apology and forgives Natsumi, with the two later becoming friends. Sato doesn't forgive Natsumi, but accepts her apology and ends their feud. Sato also apologizes for, you know, trying to bash Natsumi's head in.note
- The Day The Sky Fell (a Chicken Little (2005) fanfic): The main character and hero of the story is a grown-up Foxy Loxy, former schoolyard bully who now lives in another town and works as a police officer.
- Empath: The Luckiest Smurf: Hefty Smurf becomes this, particularly in light of his treatment of his young sister Sassette in "Little Sister Smurf Lost".
- Everyday Life with Ultimate Girls: In light of her Attempted Rape, Hiyoko Saionji becomes this. She still occasionally calls her previously favorite target Mikan Tsumiki names, but she is actually trying to get her to stop being such an Extreme Doormat and fire back against those who mistreat her. She also drops her nickname of "Pig Barf", calling her by her real name.
- Forewarned is Forearmed: In the first story, Akira deals with a relentless bully named Daiki who makes him a pariah at school, wrecks his things, and steals his shoes among other things. But after Daiki gets thrown into the TV World and Akira defeats his Shadow, he has a Heel Realization and apologizes. When winter arrives, they even become friends. And in the sequels, he even gets a Persona, Fezzik.
- The Karma of Lies: After Ladybug makes clear that she has no intention of letting Chloé become Queen Bee again, Chloé starts reevaluting her behavior and starts realizing that acting like a Spoiled Brat hasn't really been working out in her favor. Her decision to start making a serious effort to turn her life around sets her up as a Foil to Adrien, Alya and Lila; Adrien and Alya outright refuse to acknowledge they've done anything wrong, while Lila is fully aware of her selfish nature and aims to escape the consequences of her actions without any attempts at atonement or "changing for the better".
- The Multiverse's veins of Silver: While Aizawa ignores Katsuki's Bully Brutality because he believes his own childhood bully eventually grew out of his abusive tendencies, Yamada and Kayama eventually reveal that Saionji was an Aversion. Sure, he stopped picking on Aizawa and Yamada after Oboro's death, but that show of standards didn't stop him from turning his attention towards other victims. To Aizawa's shock, Yamada informs him that Saionji is currently serving ten to twenty after being arrested for unspecified crimes.
- My Super Best Friend has Heidi Turner return to being a Nice Girl after breaking up with Eric Cartman. However, when she was Cartman's Distaff Counterpart during the time she was still with him, she bullied many of her peers, which she acknowledges and is trying to make amends for her wrongdoings. For the most part, Heidi does succeed but has a harder time earning Kyle's forgiveness who arguably got the worst of her crap. Luckily Heidi gives Kyle a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech that convinces Kyle to reconcile with Stan while letting go of his resentment of Heidi and be happy for her. It helps that Heidi tries to defend Kyle when her ex-boyfriend attacks him.
- New Pair Of Eyes
sees school bully Deborah Rust taken down by quite a few pegs by a previously disregarded classmate. After this, Deborah becomes more amenable to reason and follows Catherine's lead without complaint or argument.
- In No One Sees Me, But Please Know I'm Right Here, Chloé had a Heel Realization and started working to improve herself, eventually befriending Marinette and supporting her as Lila turned most of her classmates against her with Malicious Slander. By the time the story begins, Chloé has made considerable progress, to the point where her father is startled and deeply concerned when she suddenly throws a temper tantrum as a delaying tactic, as such behavior has become highly out of character for her.
- Nymph and the Corrupted Miraculous: Marinette saves Chloé from an incoming car but at the cost of becoming paralyzed from the waist down. Grateful for saving his daughter, Mayor Bourgeois repays her by helping with all expenses related to making Marinette's life wheelchair accessible and Chloé declares herself Marinette's friend. While nicer to Marinette, Chloé still acts like a brat to everybody else with Marinette trying to make her behave. It is not until Adrien practically yells at her in public due to her behavior does she realize just how toxic her behavior is.
- Recommencer (Miraculous Ladybug) has Bella Allegri, a former Alpha Bitch who came to realize that she didn't care for the personal cost of her behavior. This spurred her to seek out professional help in countering her Lack of Empathy, including a form of training where her teachers and other trusted adults use a clicker to reinforce positive behavior, signaling to her when she's being too cruel. This makes her a prime Foil for Lila, who truly doesn't care about the impact her behavior has on others and happily continues being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- see it all in bloom: Bakugo Katsuki takes this trope and runs with it, to the point where will i ever be more than i've always been? focuses on his efforts to prevent other people from being bullied like how he bullied Izuku.
- The Sun Will Come Up, and the Seasons Will Change has Greg, a boy who started off as a bully to Mary and her friends. He even went so far as to say he hoped Mary had been killed after her disappearance. One day, Mr. Bryant, a teacher, has a talk with Greg which revealed that he was being a jerk because he was emulating one of his favorite videogame characters, and after Mr. Bryant explains how such a personality is insufferable to deal with IRL, Greg's personality starts to turn around. This eventually culminates in Greg apologizing to Mary after she returns and even befriending her in middle school after telling off a group of people who were hounding her about her mother's blog.
- Total Drama Legacy: Lightning. In Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, he was a Jerk Jock, but now, he's a caring family man.
- Waiting is worth it: Bakugo accidentally cripples Izuku for life with his quirk, causing him to develop a Guilt Complex and overprotective streak, defending him from bullies and generally helping when Izuku needs him. While he still has his explosive temper and tends to snap at everyone, including Izuku, it is often Anger Born of Worry and he begrudgingly tries showing gestures of apology when it is necessary.
- Why Am I Crying?:
- Cheerilee was a bully in high school to Scootaloo's father Crimson. When she sees him again when Scootaloo has taken Silver Spoon to the hospital when he tries to leave, she apologizes to him for everything she did to him. Crimson doesn't want to hear it but Cheerilee begs him to hear her out. Even offering to meet him somewhere to speak about it. He agrees then they get along better later.
- Silver Spoon, who had bullied Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom, becomes better later on after Diamond Tiara is killed. She even becomes one of Scootaloo's closest friends in high school.
Films — Animation
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs has "Baby" Brent McHale, whose fame as the mascot of Baby Brent Sardines gave him a huge ego and caused him to be a bully to Flint Lockwood starting from childhood and taking it into adulthood. When Flint's food rain causes him to become a bigger celebrity, Brent falls from grace and starts reflecting on his life. At the climax of the film, he decides to go with Flint and company to help stop the FLDSMDFR, wanting to make a change in his life and stop coasting on his childhood fame. Come the second film, he's become good friends with Flint. When trying to separate Flint from his friends, Chester V uses the fact that he used to be a bully to try and make Flint distrust him.
- Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves: Thanks to Adaptational Nice Guy, Gusuke's bullies Tsubakuro and Tobio reform at the end of the climatic battle, putting their rivalries aside and even cheer for Gusuke in the finale. Averted in the manga where the bullies are absent for unknown reasons in the final scene.
- Lou (2017): JJ reluctantly becomes one, although he does eventually see the good side of being friendly.
- Maya the Bee: In The Honey Games, Violet is a former mean girl who bullies Maya and other bugs from the meadow by beating them in the games in order for Beegood to win. Near the end of the second film, after she was rescued by Team Poppy from Thekla, she apologises to Maya for abusing her and for cheating. Finally she becomes best friends with both Maya and Willy, also helps Team Poppy win the final race, and disowns Beegood.
- Megamind: Downplayed with Metro Man. As a child, Metro Man (or Metro-Lad) was a Smug Super who relentlessly bullied Megamind after the latter caused an accident in class; constantly telling Megamind he was evil and making sure he was picked last in all games of Dodgeball. As an adult, whilst Metro Man is still a rival to Megamind, his rivalry with Megamind is far more friendly and he expresses approval about Megamind's Heel–Face Turn.
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Sunset Shimmer is a nasty bully who uses her magic abilities to subjugate her high school after crossing over to the human world. After her defeat, she is reformed, but has a lot of trouble proving herself to her schoolmates. She does succeed in getting them to accept her and she subsequently became the main protagonist of the franchise.
- Next Gen: Greenwood bullied Mai. At the end of the movie, they become friends.
- Turning Red: Tyler Nguyen-Baker is frequently antagonistic towards Meilin Lee and her friends. When he learns of her Red Panda transformation, he tries to take advantage of her form by making her the attraction for his birthday party (though this later backfired horribly on him). During the 4*Town concert, when Mei and her friends discover he's also a fan of the group, they hug and welcome him into the "sisterhood". After the climax, it's revealed that he now hangs out with Mei and her friends, and he even wears a friendship bracelet that matches theirs, thus becoming a Bully Turned Buddy.
- Since Sid Phillips was really a toy killer nextdoor neighbor at front of Andy Davis (just before Davis's family moves to our new house) was retired of childhood of torturing toys because he doesn't want to destroy him anymore, because the toys is still alive after getting frightened by Woody and The Mutant Toys in Toy Story 1. For this moment on, he works for job in Tri-County Sanitation, and works as a garbage worker in Toy Story 3.
- Zootopia (2016): Judy was bullied as a child by a fox named Gideon Grey who beat her up and clawed her left cheek while mocking her desire to become a police officer. Near the end of the film, Judy learns that Gideon's now a pastry chef, and even does business with her parents. When she reunites with Gideon as an adult, he apologizes to Judy for how he acted in the past—claiming that he had a lot of issues as a kid (and the language he uses suggests he went to therapy of some sort). But Gideon has ultimately come to realize that it was very wrong of him to take his anger out on other people, including Judy. For her part, Judy accepts Gideon's apology and seems happy for his positive personal growth. Their reconciliation also provides information about what Night Howlers are after Judy's father uses their scientific name, a.k.a "four-dollar words" to name the flower. This unintentionally gives Judy a "Eureka!" Moment about the conspiracy against predators.
Films — Live-Action
- Subverted in 13 Going on 30 when the main character discovers that her best friend seventeen years in the future and co-worker was the Alpha Bitch of her middle school, now much nicer... except she's also selling secrets to a rival fashion magazine.
- Anger Management: David is forced by his anger management therapist Buddy to confront his old bully Arnie Shankman, who turns out to have become a Buddhist Monk in the modern day. Subverted in that while Arnie is initially willing to apologize for most of what he's done, he's completely unrepentant about the time he pulled David's shorts down in front of his childhood crush (a traumatic moment for David that crippled his self-esteem) and still insists it was hilarious, and it only takes a bit of goading from Buddy about his mentally-disabled sister for Arnie to snap back into his old bullying mentality, leading David and Arnie to fight it out.
- Biff is a subverted example in the best timeline of the Back to the Future trilogy. He never becomes a great guy, but after being humbled by George's fist, he's given up his meanest habits to the point that he has a friendly relationship with the McFly family. However, him calling Marty "butthead" before he recognized him in the third film, and the behavior of his older future self in the second might cast doubt on whether he's really reformed or is just scared of George (or possibly a little of both).
- Gus from The Benchwarmers was a bully in his childhood, who bullied one kid so much he became a shut-in in his mother's basement even into adulthood. In the present day, he is afraid to have a kid because he thinks they'll be bullied or become a bully, and joins the 'baseball team' The Benchwarmers (a couple of dorky adults representing the kids who never get to play baseball because they are deemed too wimpy or geeky or weird) and plays baseball games against little league teams of jock kids and their former jock coaches. Later in the movie, he tries to make amends and apologize to the kid he himself bullied as a child.
- In Billy Madison, Billy calls up an old high school acquaintance (played by Steve Buscemi) to apologize for treating him poorly years ago. After the phone call, a thoughtful look appears on Buscemi's face, and he crosses Billy's name off of a list titled "People To Kill".
- It’s eventually revealed in A Christmas Story Christmas that Scut Farkus turned into this. After Ralphie beat the crap out of him in the first film, he was left humbled and decided to turn his life around and eventually became a cop. As a result, when he caught Ralphie breaking into Flick’s bar, despite having every right to arrest him, he instead takes him home and thanks him for what he did.
- The Gift (2015) has Dr. Greg Pierson, who along with Simon Callum participated in spreading the rumors that ruined Gordo Mosely's life. While Simon is in denial, refuses to take any responsibility for his behavior and is just as much of a bully now as he was then, which causes Gordo to set about ruining Simon's life in revenge, Greg has acknowledged what he did, feels genuine remorse and is implied to be a much more mature person. Gordo seems content to leave Greg be after seeing he is truly remorseful and the two have made peace.
- By the end of A Girl Like Her, Alpha Bitch Avery is so horrified by the video evidence of her treatment of Jessica that she breaks down in tears and admits she's a bully.
- By the end of Mean Girls, all of the 'Plastics', including the queen bee Regina, go through this.
- Parodied in Not Another Teen Movie, which lampoons every other teen drama trope as well. In one scene, Jake calls himself "the reformed cool guy", which implies this trope as he was a Jerk Jock.
- In The Wave (2008), when the kids write about how membership in The Wave has changed their life/perspective. One writes that he used to be a bully and is now ashamed of his actions.
- Shane Hawkins in The World's End used to bully Pete to a horrendous degree. At first he ignores him, then approaches him later on to apologize. Under the circumstances, it's probable that part or all of his reformation is due to him being a robot controlled by an alien intelligence trying to get the cast off their guard so they can be caught.
- Joanna in You Again was a horrible Alpha Bitch bully to the heroine Marnie during high school and spends much of the movie acting like the bullying was no big deal and they should just start over fresh, especially since Joanna is about to marry Marnie's brother, who has no idea that Joanna and JJ (the nickname she went by in high school) are the same person. When Marnie exposes Joanna's past to everyone, Joanna tearfully admits that she really does regret how she behaved back then and was inspired to change her ways after her parents died and she wanted to be a better person that they could be proud of. Her genuine apology cements her reformation and Marnie is able to accept that she truly has changed for the better.
Literature
- Bridge to Terabithia: Janice Avery, the eight-grade class bully who even forces other girls to hand over chocolate so she will let them use the bathroom (changed to a quarter in the movie adaptation), turns out to have a Freudian Excuse - being physically abused by her father at home. When Leslie Burke gives Janice some heartfelt advice and warms out to her, Janice eventually turns over a new leaf.
- In the Discworld, Night Watch offers a glimpse into the shared past of Patrician Vetinari and Lord Downey, now Guild Master but then a contemporary of Havelock Vetinari when both were pupils at the Assassins' guild School. Downey is very much the undisputed School Bully and seeks to make life miserable for the seemingly weedy and ineffectual "Dog-botherer". Vetinari bides his time and comes up with a devastating counter-attack. In the "now" of the Discworld, some thirty years later, lord Downey is deferential and careful to be of service to the City's ruling Patrician. A school bully at the Assassins' School risks making some very powerful enemies who will have memories in later life — not forgetting and possibly inclined to forgiveness. Eventually.
- In the Harry Potter series:
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix reveals that the title character's father, James Potter, was a bully in his youth, mostly targeting Severus Snape because he was a Death Eater wannabe and friends with the girl James fancied. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin reassure Harry that James grew up before Lily would date him and he became Head Boy, both of which happened in his seventh year. (By the admission of Sirius and Remus, James did remain enemies with Severus in particular, albeit with Severus as the usual instigator after this point.)
- Dudley apologizes to Harry for years of abuse at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and they still keep in touch as adults.
- As revealed in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, after the main events of the series, Draco Malfoy turns his life around and raises his son Scorpius to be a better man than he was. He even genuinely becomes Harry's friend at the end of the play.
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! is about a girl who gets reincarnated as the villainess in her favorite otome game, who bullies the protagonist. In the main series, Catarina gets her Past-Life Memories back at the age of eight and never becomes a bully, but in the On the Verge of Doom spinoff manga, this happens after she has bullied her adoptive brother Keith for years and while she's in the process of bullying Maria, the original game's protagonist. While Maria is willing to accept Catarina's change of heart, Keith is not.
- N.E.R.D.S.: Jerk Jock Jackson Jones after losing his popularity and place on the football team overnight thanks to his new dorky set of braces. Even though he stops being a bully after losing his popularity, he only realizes his actions were wrong much later. From then on, he actively becomes The Atoner and tries to make peace with his former victims.
- Star Wars: Jedi Academy: After being bullies for the first two books Cyrus and Jo-Ahn no longer partake in their usual bullying of other students alongside Cronah in The Phantom Bully, as both of them Took a Level in Kindness and showed no signs of their former selves.
- Warrior Cats:
- When Firestar arrived in ThunderClan, he was bullied by Sandstorm, Dustpelt, and Longtail for being a former kittypet. Over time, Sandstorm started bonding with him after he'd saved her life in battle only to eventually become his mate, Dustpelt outgrew his bullying attitude and began to respect him as a leader despite occasionally disagreeing with him, and Longtail proved himself a loyal warrior who matured past his original prejudice.
- Shrewclaw bullied Tallstar with the name "Worm", as a reference to his tunneler heritage. However, he got over this in the end after Tallstar helped in battle, even giving him a life during his leader ceremony to show he'd changed.
- In Wicked, Glinda starts out as hating Elphaba's guts. She hadn't wanted a roommate and especially didn't want a nerdy, green girl as her roomie. Over the next year, she begins to slowly become fond of Elphaba, but she still pretends to hate her amongst her Girl Posse. After Elphaba is embarrassed at a gathering, Glinda shuns her friends and becomes besties with Elphaba. It's also all but stated that Glinda was in love with Elphaba.
- In The Wish List, Brendan Ball, Lowrie's childhood bully, turns out to be this. Lowrie intended to face him again as an adult and clock him one good, but Brendan turned out to be friendly and remorseful for his past actions, and the two end up bonding.
- Worm: Madison Clements was one of Taylor's main bullies at Winslow High School. The interquel Glow-Worm leading into Ward has her admit to Victoria that she's agonized a lot over her actions and wonders how responsible she is for Taylor's ruthlessness as Skitter. To try and atone, she's decided to become a teacher.
Live-Action TV
- The Big Bang Theory:
- Penny goes through a stage of repentance thinking of the girls she bullied in high school; this is prompted by her two best friends in adult life, Amy and Bernadette, both being exactly the sort of nerdy types she'd have made life difficult for.
- A former bully calls on Leonard to help him with a business idea. Leonard confronts him on his behavior as teenagers and the man, who is drunk at this point, tearfully apologizes, and Leonard takes him home to recover. However, when he sobers up in the morning, he turns out to be just as mean as he was back at school.
- Blue Bloods: In "Entitlement", while Danny and Baez investigate a death at an all-girls school, Baez gets particularly pissed off when having to deal with a bullying Alpha Bitch. When Danny asks her about this later, she admits that she used to be a bully in the all-girls school she attended as a teen, something the Alpha Bitch uncomfortably reminded her of. Danny assures that she's a much different and better person nowadays.
- Cobra Kai:
- In season 2, Johnny meets up with the rest of the Cobra Kai OGs, most of whom have turned into mature, well-adjusted adults. Bobby, who was the least jerkass of them, is now a pastor. Jimmy is a dedicated husband and father with nothing but contempt for the Cobra Kai ethos, and Tommy has made his peace with the world. The only exception is Dutch, who doesn't appear on account of being in prison.
- Season 3 has Chozen, who was an even bigger a bully than Johnny, returning and confronting Daniel. He, like Johnny, initially appears to be a bit of a jerk towards Daniel, but it turns out to be an act, just for his own amusement. Once he is done trolling Daniel, he happily teaches him a secret martial arts technique. The two bond over and Chozen expresses regret over his past (read: murderous) behavior. Once Daniel forgives him, they part ways on good terms.
- Eli goes full circle. He's introduced as a shy bullied nerd, then becomes an alpha bully after joining Cobra Kai and reinventing himself as Hawk. But in Season 3 he starts to become uncomfortable with his own actions and those of his fellows, especially after his former bullies join the dojo. The season finale has him turn on Cobra Kai and help defend the Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do students from an unprovoked assault.
- Season 5 reveals that Mike Barnes, after being banned from karate, found a mentor in a furniture store owner who helped him turn his life around. He even admits that he thought about reaching out to Daniel a few times to apologize, but figured it would just reopen old wounds, and sincerely apologizes when they meet again.
- Cold Case: The episode "Boy Crazy" has a former Alpha Bitch from the '60s who bullied the victim over her gender non-conformity in high school. Years later, she got caught up in second-wave feminism and eventually became a women's studies professor. Her remorse over her treatment of the victim causes her to give the team a vital clue.
- Death in Paradise: The prime suspect in one case ends up being JP's former school bully Cordell Thomas, and JP is convinced he's guilty. Cordell eventually turns out to have gone straight and settled down with his pregnant girlfriend, and to regret how he treated JP when they were younger. The episode ends with Cordell being cleared of the murder and making a fresh start with JP.
- Frasier: The plumbers that show up to repair Frasier's bathroom turn out to Danny Kriezel and his older brother Billy, who respectively bullied Niles and Frasier when they were children. After stewing for a while, Niles finally approaches the Danny to inform him of their past. It turns out the guy has matured a lot and is genuinely sorry when Niles explains how badly the bullying hurt him.
- In one episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will returns to his hometown, Philadelphia, and after getting his reputation mocked to his face for leaving and going to Bel Air (as seen in the opening credits), decides to confront his old bully. However, said bully is now a mentor for younger people and no longer willing to fight. Ironically, when Will tries to provoke him into a fight and threatens to ruin the bully's rep, the ex-bully is the one telling Will to grow up.
- Girl Meets World: Harley Kiner, a tormentor of Cory during Boy Meets World, regrets the way he behaved as a young man and is now friends with Cory, who got him his job as a janitor, for which he is grateful.
- Patricia from House of Anubis started off the show by bullying Nina over her assumption that she'd done something to make her best friend, Joy, disappear. She soon moved past this, though her grudge against Nina didn't disappear fully until Nina agreed to talk to her in private and help her out with her investigation to find Joy. Her character arc was finished when she joined Sibuna and ended up becoming very close friends with Nina. Her reformation was proven in the next two seasons when, despite hating Eddie and KT just like she'd hated Nina, her actions toward them had never reached the point of genuine bullying like with Nina.
- Jerome was a bit of a bully toward his best friend, Alfie, manipulating him for his own agenda and forcing him to be The Mole against Sibuna, who were all much nicer to Alfie than he was. Following his partnership with Rufus Zeno, Jerome had to turn to Sibuna for help once he realized how much danger he'd put himself in. Though he never truly turned nice or became friends with Sibuna, he'd become a better friend to Alfie and spent the next two seasons attempting to reform himself further.
- I Not Stupid has a TV series adaptation that gives Chong Meng, The Bully to the trio Terry, Boon Hock, and Kwok Pin, the Adaptational Nice Guy treatment, by giving Chong Meng a Break the Haughty moment when he fails his exams and is unexpectedly comforted by Terry. When Kwok Pin's mother is diagnosed with leukemia and the school is searching for volunteer blood donors, the reformed Chong Meng is the first upper-class student to raise his hand.
- Earl from My Name Is Earl was a bully as a teen (and still a pretty mean guy into the first few years of adulthood) before he finally had a change of heart. Former victims of his make up a couple List items, with his first one being Kenny James, a guy he used to torment as a kid whom Earl helps with coming out of the closet.
- In New Tricks, Sandra was a pretty bad bully at school, to the point that at her High School Reunion, someone had defaced her class picture with devil horns and a goatee, and also at the police academy where she wrecked at least one other career and caused another cadet to crash out of training and into a life of crime. Seasons one and two showed that she was actively getting therapy to deal with her vicious streak, and she definitely mellowed throughout her tenure on the show.
- Riverdale: Veronica Lodge was a bully at her old school pre-series. Driving a girl named Paige into therapy was enough for her to realize the horrible things she had done to the girl. She's trying not to go back to being the Alpha Bitch she once was.
- Young Sheldon: In the Season 1 episode "Jiu-Jitsu, Bubble Wrap, and Yoo-Hoo", George Cooper, Sr. admitted that he was a bully growing up, but he's a reasonably good guy nowadays and is a loving husband and father and a hard-working family man for his wife and kids. In fact, George is played by the same actor as Leonard's former bully in the series' parent show The Big Bang Theory (see above).
- In Zoey 101, Vince Blake returns in one episode after being expelled from school in the previous season for beating up Chase, Michael, and Logan after Chase exposed him for cheating on a test. He is said to have changed his ways, but Michael and Logan don't believe him and try to get revenge on him. The girls are quick to forgive him, but Michael and Logan don't forgive him until the end of the episode when Vince gives them a genuine apology for his actions.
Video Games
- Groose becomes one as his Character Arc in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. He starts off bullying all his classmates (although he's not very successful where Link is concerned), but after he discovers the surface world and the evil that is brewing there, and finally accepts that Zelda isn't interested in him, he turns over a leaf and helps build defenses for the Temple of Light, which are ultimately vital to defeating the Big Bad.
- Two cases in Like a Dragon:
- In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Ichiban Kasuga was a former teenage delinquent until he was taken under Arakawa's wing, where he slowly changed and reformed, though he was still a yakuza. After Taking the Heat for the Arakawa Clan Lieutenant, Jo Sawashiro, and spending 18 years in prison, Kasuga changed into a much jollier and chipper Manchild.
- In Lost Judgment, the moral conflict between Yagami and the main villain is centered around at this. The villain believes that bullies need to be punished for their part in ruining people's lives and pushing them to suicide, as the legal system turns a blind eye to these tragedies. Meanwhile, Yagami thinks that vigilante justice is ignoring the root cause of the issue and will only cause collateral damage that'll ruin more lives senselessly. While both sides have their points, Yagami's side of the argument is backed up by the resident Gang of Bullies of Seiryo High that start off not only actively picking on Mami Koda but are also hostile to Yagami. Over the course of the game, they end up seeing the error of their ways and not only do they start to clean their act up but by the end they not only help out Yagami by distracting some cops sent by the Greater-Scope Villain to arrest him, the final scene has them standing up to other bullies alongside Koda, thus averting any potential future tragedies. Not every bully in Seiryo turns over a new leaf, but it's enough to show that Yagami's way of solving the issue is proactive rather than reactive.
- Roots of Pacha: According to Grob, Croll has forgiven him for his bullying back when they were kids, and Grob's glad that his sons didn't grow up to become as mean as he was, which he got from his abusive father Gragee.
- Star Fox: Assault: Star Wolf, Fox's old rival, is no longer the taunting antagonist who was introduced in Star Fox 64. He teams up briefly with Fox and actually gives him some helpful advice. (Although Wolf technically continues as a rival in the same continuity, he and Fox basically respect each other from this point onward.)
- In Them's Fightin' Herds, Tianhuo used to be an Alpha Bitch who bullied the weakest longmas, considering them a shame to their own kind. Then she had a Jerkass Realization after a prophetic dream in which the representation of both parts of her cultural legacy (a kind horse and a savage dragon) battled to achieve her inner peace. She apologized to her former victims and swore to use her strength to protect the weak.
Web Animation
- PRIVATE DIARY: Diego was a mean bully and used the fact that his mother is the principal to harass the other students. He softened up after he got to know Adele though and he even has reservations about his mother's plan to humiliate her by pouring goo on her when she rigged the election so Adele will be the prom queen.
Web Comics
- Bruno the Bandit: Invoked in the "Sour Ron" story arc, where Bruno realizes he was the bully who caused Sour Ron's Start of Darkness by stealing his childhood teddy bear (at the time, Ron had been an expy of Calvin, while Bruno was one of Moe), setting him down the path of becoming a nihilistic death metal superstar. While Bruno hasn't actually reformed one bit, being a professional thief as an adult, he invokes this trope to strip Sour Ron of his cynicism and destroy his career after Ron refuses to be blackmailed, heartfully apologizing for his behavior when they were children, and delivering the final blow by returning the teddy bear.
- Buckaress from League of Super Redundant Heroes was revealed to have once been an Alpha Bitch alongside her former friend before becoming who she is now. She was afraid of what her relatively unchanged former friend thinks of her, until it became apparent that she grew jealous at Buckaress's new life. Buckaress didn't notice the jealousy, however.
- PvP: Teezo Cunningham, Francis' high school bully, turns out to have become one of these when Francis meets him at their reunion. While he doesn't remember Francis specifically, he knows he was a huge asshole in school and went to the reunion specifically to apologize to everyone he tormented.
- Questionable Content: Brun accidentally caused a Jerk Jock to become one of these with a single Armor-Piercing Response:
Brun: [In Flashback] High school is going to be the best part of your life. Everything after now will be a slow slide into obscurity and misery. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Renee: [In present] I looked Jed up a while ago and nowadays he's a pro wingsuit glider and motivational speaker. You gave that dude a complex.
Western Animation
- Archer: E.Z. Ponder, the sheriff of Ray's old hometown in the South turns out to be this, as everything pointed to him being a Dirty Cop who was trying to steal Ray's brother's pot farm for himself. As it turns out, Ray's brother was lying, and Ray had just believed him because of what an enormous asshole Ponder had been in high school. In reality, Ponder had not only cleaned up his act and became an honest cop, he's also an elder of the local church and had gone out of his way to settle the matter peacefully before being forced to use the law.
Ponder: Why would I [steal the dope farm]?
Ray: Well, you did used to pick on me a bunch in high school.
Ponder: Well I'm sorry! I was a dick in high school! - Arthur:
- Binky Barnes was never that bad a bully to begin with. He was actually good friends with Arthur and the rest of the gang, even when he picked on them (Arthur once lampshaded how weird he can be sometimes). He's even shown to be a very cultured individual who likes dancing, ballet, opera, and has a gift for musical instruments. Still, a number of episodes did center around him dropping more and more of his bully act over time, and eventually in Season 16, he and the rest of his "Tough Customers" crew, who had their own Hidden Depths, decided to quit bullying altogether.
- As stated above, this extends to the other Tough Customers. Molly befriended Arthur in one episode (their younger siblings already being friends), and it was shown that she was actually amazingly polite. After this, she gave great advice to kids at school who needed her help. Ironically, she was the one who initially resisted the group's attempt to give up bullying completely, until she realized that she was setting a very bad example for her younger brother, James, whom she is very protective of.
- Rattles is also this. He was actually one of the most intimidating Tough Customers. But in Season 16, the same season where he gave up bullying, he revealed himself to be an expert chess player, surpassing even the Brain. He then gave Brain some training on how to defeat an opponent who had a reputation for never losing. Brain even called Rattles his friend when they met the aforementioned opponent for the first time.
- While Slink also gave up bullying with the rest of them, when he finally gets his own episode in Season 22, it's revealed that he's having self-doubts over whether he has a special talent. Once he overcomes it by the end, he learns he's a very good paperboy.
- Back at the Barnyard: In the episode "Brave Udders", Otis's childhood bully, Krauser Krebs, comes back to the farm after many years, and Otis assumes he's back to beat him up more. In actuality, Krebs came back to formally make amends to Otis (and everyone else he bullied back in the day) after getting help for his anger issues. Krebs still ends up beating Otis and his friends up because they didn't give him a chance to explain, provoking him.
- Bob's Burgers: Zeke is revealed to be this in the episode "Bully-ieve It or Not", when one of his former victims, Will, transfers to Wagstaff and the story comes out. Zeke had had problems making friends in elementary school due to his family moving a lot and having a lot of energy that manifested through innocent attampts to wrestle other kids. One day he unintentionally caused a kid to wet himself while doing this, which a group of other boys saw and thought was funny, and invited Zeke into their group; excited to finally have friends and wanting to stay in their good graces, he began intentionally making kids wet themselves as his signature move. Nowadays he's deeply ashamed of his past behavior, but especially the incident with Will: he had managed to get out of Zeke's hold, so Zeke resorted to cruelly mocking him for his lisp - an impediment shared by Zeke's current best friend, Jimmy Jr.
- Garfield and Friends: In the U.S. Acres segment "Hog Noon", Orson gets a letter from his childhood bully Hammerhead Hog and finds Hammerhead is coming to "settle with him"; Orson expects he wants revenge after being busted for repeatedly stealing Orson's lunch money and getting detention. When Hammerhead arrives, his method of settling with Orson surprises everyone — he's come to give back all the lunch money he'd stolen.
- Gravity Falls:
- Pacifica Northwest started as your usual Rich Bitch and foil/rival for Mabel. Then in the second season, she got a bit of Character Development, explaining that her attitude was from her Abusive Parents pushing her to be cocky and selfish. By the end of the show, she is still a bit pretentious and prissy, but really warmed up to and became friends with the protagonists.
- To a lesser extent, this could also apply to Robbie who was reformed by The Power of Love and had stopped being spiteful towards Dipper.
- Hey Arnold! reveals in the episode "Girl Trouble" that Arnold's Grandma used to bully Arnold's Grandpa the same way that Helga bullies Arnold in the present day. Somewhere along the way, she renounced her bullying ways, married Phil, and is a sweet (if senile) old lady.
- Mild-mannered Hank Hill from King of the Hill was a Jerk Jock as a teenager who made fun of everyone below him on the social ladder (which was everyone outside his True Companions) but eventually grew out of it and became the wholesome family man he is in the present day.
- The Looney Tunes Show: A flashback in the episode dealing with Daffy and Porky's high school reunion reveals that Porky Pig of all people is one: The flashback sees Porky being a Jerk Jock in high school who treatens his peers poorly and activly bullies the nerdy Daffy Duck. In the show itself Porky is a very decent guy who himself is a Butt-Monkey who now often gets treated poorly by his former victim Daffy.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- Gilda the Griffon was introduced doing things like roaring in Fluttershy's face and calling everypony in town (besides Rainbow Dash) lame, which caused Rainbow to stand up to her and break off the friendship. In "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone", Pinkie and Dash are sent to a griffon area where Gilda just happens to be living. Over the episode, Pinkie manages to draw out Gilda's better nature and she and Rainbow reconcile.
- The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie!! is a braggart and a bully to Twilight in her first appearance (possibly out of concern that Twilight would heckle her and mess up her image as a performer, as some of her friends were doing). Then Twilight accidentally shows her up in the process of saving Ponyville, and she skips town. In her next appearance, after she fails to get back at Twilight and spends most of the episode possessed by an amulet, she comes up to Twilight and apologizes. She later returns in the sixth season, from which point she's a recurring character who still has an ego and attitude that annoys Twilight, but is ultimately good-natured.
- Diamond Tiara, one of the wealthiest fillies in town, has been bullying the CMC over their lack of Cutie Marks (and Scootaloo's difficulty with flying) for whole seasons of the show. Then, after losing an election to a classmate and being called out and ditched by her friend Silver Spoon, she lapses into depression. The Crusaders follow her to see that she was all right, discovering that her mother Spoiled Rich raised her to be a bully to live up to the family name, which leads to the group becoming unlikely friends and Diamond Tiara discovering that her Cutie Mark represents not richness, but leadership.
- The Owl House: Amity Blight is introduced as the resident Academic Alpha Bitch, but by the end of the first season, it's firmly established that her bad attitude was mostly a front she put on to appease her parents. After a rough start, she develops a friendship with Luz and slowly begins to repair her broken childhood friendship with Willow, breaking away from her old friend group and becoming more cordial in the process. By the midway point of the second season, Amity and Luz have become an Official Couple.
- Pepper Ann: Nicky Little is one of the protagonist's closest friends, but we eventually learn at the end of season four that when they first met back in elementary school, she was a school bully. They end up becoming fast friends when they get into a argument where Pepper Ann calls her out on how she can't use her insecurities regarding her older sister Becky as an excuse to be a jerk, after which Nicky's attempt at prove that it totally is a valid excuse (by inviting both Pepper Ann and Milo to a family dinner to see how insufferably perfect Becky is) has her realize that she doesn't actually want to be a Grade Skipper like her sister if it also means skipping out on having friends her own age.
- Phineas and Ferb: Buford van Stomm is portrayed as a standard Big Dumb Bully for an episode or two, but quickly ends up rounding out Phineas and Ferb's core Five-Man Band, reveals a soft heart and a surprising intellectual bent, and develops a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with his default victim Baljeet, at one point even describing him as his best friend. An episode set ten years in the future shows that he's fully abandoned the trappings of his "bully" persona and become a film student.
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In the Time Travel Episode "Get Back Jojo," we learn that none other than Professor Utonium is actually one of these. Back in his youth, he was a Bratty Half-Pint who loved to pick on the nerd in his class, but after being rescued by the Powerpuff Girls from a time-traveling Mojo Jojo, he developed his love for science and became the nice man we all know him to be.
- One episode of Rocko's Modern Life features Rocko finding out that his old childhood bully Dingo is coming to visit, and thus he expects a showdown and trains so that he can fight back. When the former bully shows up, it turns out that he's found religion and has come to ask Rocko to punch him in penance. Rocko obliges.
- South Park:
- Heidi Turner becomes a Jerkass as she continued to date Eric Cartman right until she realizes Cartman's a bad influence for her and breaks up with him. By Season 22, Heidi is back to being a Nice Girl while ridding herself of any Cartman-like traits she had inherited in her past relationship with him and is seemingly making amends with the people she had mistreated.
- Eric Cartman himself managed to become this in Post Covid going from a vicious antisemite to a soft-spoken Jewish rabbi and family man. Though Kyle is suspicious of Cartman since he was a Manipulative Bastard who gave Kyle his worst treatment, Cartman proves that he did change his ways in the next special by sacrificing his prosperous life so Kyle and his friends can have a better future. This act ironically turns Cartman into Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up in the new future as well as a bitter and homeless alcoholic.
- Spider-Man: The Animated Series: Played straight but cynically with Flash Thompson, who is an example of someone who doesn't really regret what he did and remains something of a prick and a coward. He did stop actively antagonising Peter and, ironically, openly worships Spider-Man.
Real Life
- Sammo Hung used to beat up Jackie Chan while they attended the Peking Opera School. Years later, Jackie met him again, the two reconciled, and they teamed up with schoolmate Yuen Biao to become the driving force in Chinese action cinema.
- This video has testimonies from a couple of former bullies. While one has his identity disguised, the other (Colleen Cross Carlson) is now a teacher who does her best to prevent bullying at her school.
- Believe it or not, some bullies do grow out of bullying. As an adult gives kids the benefit of a doubt because they are young and learning how to deal with the world, adults should be given a chance to prove their maturity, and not automatically be judged by actions they did years ago when they were children or teenagers. If a former bully is mature enough to come forward and apologize later on in life, they do deserve an equally mature acknowledgement of the bravery and humility it takes to admit that.
