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    Original post 
The main and laconic pages for the Graceful Loser trope say that it is a trope specifically for villains. But from my wick check (Graceful Loser Wick Check) it seems that it's used for anyone who takes their defeat well, regardless of if they're evil or even just antagonistic.

My current suggestion would be we make the current graceful loser page into a super-trope, given that's what it seems to be used for already, and maybe make the current description into a sub-trope.

Wick check:

A Wick Check page for the trope Graceful Loser.

Specifically, to check if the trope is being used for villains exclusively because the current trope name comes off as too broad.

Wicks checked: 67/67.


    open/close all folders 

    Villain who loses with dignity (24/67) 

MagnificentBastard.Shin Megami Tensei

  • Alek Messenas starts as a member of the Shadow Walkers, war heroes of the Polisian States. In the past, Alek discovered the truth behind the Phelesteau System and got his memories sealed for years until the seal was accidentally broken. Rebelling against the Polisian States, Alek's family is murdered during a assasination attempt, making him travel to the Gate of the Underworld to obtain power and have his revenge. Becoming a vengeful spirit, Alek would form a demon army that would challenge the Demon Lords and use his recently murdered Shadow Walker friends as his generals. Now deciding to take revenge on humanity as a whole, Alek would succeed at stealing the Book of Belial and invade the Mortal World, stunning Lucifer himself. Alek's demon army would then proceed to depopulate the planet while Alek boasts of his victory and challenges humans to defy him. When Ciel defeats him, Alek accepts his second death and congratulates the "Children of the Force".
  • The manga interpretation of Belial is far more cunning this his game counterpart. A master of illusions, Belial hypnotizes Haru into using her singing to summon a never ending swarm of demons. While he and his forces overwhelm the heroes, he uses his illusions to gently convince Haru into committing suicide so that he can gain her ability, nearly succeeding until she notices the heroes attempts to save her. When Kazuya attempts to absorb Belial�s soul after seemingly killing him, Belial uses his illusions to weaken Kazuya�s mind in an attempt to consume his soul from the inside. When defeated, Belial accepts it with dignity, and tells Kazuya that he�s more than willing to lend him his aid. Both seem evil enough.

Characters.Knives Out

  • Graceful Loser: Downplayed. Once everything goes against him and he realizes that he's just confessed to murder, Ransom tries to murder Marta as revenge, reasoning that he has nothing to lose from being convicted of two murders instead of one. When it becomes clear that he grabbed a prop knife instead of a real one, however, he utters a dejected "shit" and doesn't resist arrest any further, calmly and quietly walking into a police car without a fuss, even as his father tries (poorly) to bribe his way into freedom. As he's about to get in the car, he also looks up at Marta with nothing but calm and an ambiguously respectful nod. He's the Big Bad, so it checks out.

Characters.Total Drama Toxic Rats

  • Graceful Loser:
    • He takes his elimination in Revenge of the Island surprisingly well, even showing approval towards Zoey for "duping" him.
    • He takes his elimination in All-Stars well enough too, even warning Zoey of Mike's treachery before leaving. Another Big Bad.

Characters.Dexters Laboratory Dial M For Monkey

Characters.Team 8

  • Graceful Loser: He's more curious about Naruto than pissed he didn't get to kill him. Has enough villain tropes for me to put Gaara here.

Film.Kate

  • Graceful Loser: After Kate shoots Varrick in the stomach, he tells her "Great shot" before succumbing to the wound. Varrick is a villain.

Theatre.Fantasmic

  • Graceful Loser: Hades in the Hollywood Studios version; he doesn't appear all that mad or frightened by his inevitable defeat (instead seemingly reacting, with amusement, to what's happening to his cohorts), probably because he's a god and can't actually be killed.

VideoGame.Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled

  • Pinstripe of all people shows this when defeated in Adventure mode; at first, he makes a show of being a tough guy who hates losing before handing the key over, showing that he does have a sporting side and knows when he's beat. Outside of that mode, his second defeat quote also has him show this. According to the wiki he's a boss in the game and a sleazeball in general, so I'm putting him here.
  • N. Tropy also congratulates the player when they defeat all of his time trial ghosts and his 2nd-3rd place podium animation has been changed from him sobbing hysterically to merely kneeling on one leg and catching his breath, a reference to his open-to-attack animation from Warped. Listed among the Crash Bandicoot villains.

WesternAnimation.Toy Story 4

  • Graceful Loser: Played for Drama. Gabby Gabby successfully obtains Woody's voice box after he willingly donated it to her so she could have a chance with Harmony. After she gets turned down however, Gabby dejectedly says to Woody that he can genuinely have his voice box back. He lets her keep it in the end. Gabby is the movie's Big Bad.

Webcomic.Ensign Sue Must Die

  • Graceful Loser: The Sues take defeat better than we thought, as Prime Sue recognizes her selfishness and immaturity. Sue Prime is the Big Bad.

Literature.The Queens Thief

  • Graceful Loser: Sejanus spends Queen of Attolia doing everythng in his power to wreck Eugenides' life, from the petty (ensuring he's always late and not respected by the court) to the genuinely heinous (telling assassins where exactly to find Eugenides in the garden). He manipulates the rest of the attendents to turn Eugenides into a ridiculous figure in accordance with his father Erondites' plot to divide the throne and seize power. But when Eugenides reveals that he was letting Sejanus do all of this as part of his own plot to destroy Erondites and cuts off all avenues of exoneration, while also understanding that Sejanus was really trying to help his beloved older brother, Sejanus accepts his fall with dignity and honor.

VideoGame.Pokemon Sword And Shield

  • Chairman Rose claps for the player's victory and even says he genuinely had a good time battling against them. After Eternatus is defeated/captured, Rose turns himself in.
  • After nearly being attacked by one of the game's Legendaries, Sordward and Shielbert realize the error of their ways and allow themselves to be turned in to the police after the player catches the cover Legendary. Both of them are major villains in the story, so I'm putting them here.

Film.One Hundred And One Dalmatians 1996

  • Graceful Loser: After failing to catch the dogs one too many times, Jasper and Horace willingly turn themselves in, upon seeing the police cars. These two are Cruella's bumbling henchmen.

Film.Noah

  • Graceful Loser: Tubal-Cain congratulates Ham for 'becoming a man' after the former stabs him, and even gives him the snakeskin relic he stole from Noah's father as he dies. Tubal-Cain is the Big Bad.

Manga.Until Death Do Us Part

  • Graceful Loser: This is one of the very few admirable things about Zashid Turus. Now, if only his progeny would learn from him... Another Big Bad.

Literature.One Two Buckle My Shoe

  • Graceful Loser: The killer didn't get angry, or try to make excuses, or attempt to harm Poirot when the latter confronts them with the truth of the murder. When Poirot refuses to withdraw from the case, they calmly respond:
    Then I'm in for it. It's in your hands, Poirot. It's up to you.

Film.Eternals

  • Graceful Loser: At the end of the movie, Arishem appears next to Earth and takes the remaining Eternals. He's upset with them for going against their mission to allow Tiamut to be birthed, but rather than destroy Earth or otherwise punish the Eternals, he just takes them away for judgment. It's hard to tell exactly how much of a villain Arishem is, but he has enough villain tropes for me to go "close enough".

VideoGame.Slain

Anime.Persona 4 Golden The Animation

  • Graceful Loser: As before, Izanami, though in a different context and nonverbal this time. Even after forging Izanagi-no-Okami Yu can't bring himself to strike Izanami down because he keeps seeing Marie's face on her. This necessitates a different approach: Yu and Marie approach her together, and summon Kaguya to help them. Marie gives Izanami a speech about how the truth will save humanity rather than harm them and, alongside a Cooldown Hug from Kaguya, convinces her to believe in mankind again and rejoin with her. At this, Izanami's One-Winged Angel form dissolves into sparks of light; finally, Marie hugs her in her more humanoid form as she dissolves into her. Izanami is the final boss.

WesternAnimation.An Extremely Goofy Movie

  • Graceful Loser: Bradley of all people. When Max winds up winning the race despite everything Bradley and the Gammas did, Bradley offers his congratulations and a handshake, telling Max that he fully intends to honor their bet. While Max calls off the bet, that still doesn't stop Brad from owing Tank something. Bradley is the Big Bad.

Theatre.The Little Foxes

  • Graceful Loser: When Regina demands 75% of the mill, Ben accepts cheerfully, as fits his Affably Evil character, but he also implies that he may investigate the suspicious nature of Horace's death.

    Antagonist who takes losing well (16/67) 

Characters.Invincible 2021 Superheroes

  • Graceful Loser: After he loses his fight with Monster Girl, he pretty much warms up to her instantly, coming as close as he can to apologizing for underestimating her. Rex Splode himself is an Anti-Hero at worst, just one who dislikes the protagonist. And his fight was against another superhero.

Film.Lassie Come Home

  • Graceful Loser: Upon realizing just how much Lassie and Joe belong together, the Duke pretends not to recognize her as the dog he bought. The Duke doesn't actually do anything evil; his worst action being keeping a dog that is legally his from running away.

Garfield.Tropes D To G

  • Graceful Loser: Liz's date in the arc where she and Jon finally become an item. He goes out with Jon's initial date, Ellen, instead. Just a regular Pair the Spares romantic runner-up.

Characters.Keijo

  • Graceful Loser: After Miyata beats her, she congratulates her and acknowledges that Miyata is faster than her.
  • Graceful Loser: Acknowledges her school's loss in the East-West War. Just the typical rivals in a sports anime.

Characters.Fire Emblem Three Houses Byleth

  • Graceful Loser: In Three Hopes, despite being obviously ashamed that they failed in stopping Shez from killing their employer and rolling over them, Byleth and Jeralt take their loss in stride. Byleth isn't evil, only opposing Shez due to their employ as a mercenary, to the point where Shez killing them locks you out of the Golden Ending.

Characters.Eyeshield 21 Bando Spiders

  • Graceful Loser: Finished with personal recognition for Sena. Another rival competitor in a sports anime.

VideoGame.Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled

  • Graceful Loser: Megumi excitedly claps and gives a thumbs up to the winner if she loses. As far as I can tell she isn't evil, just another racer in the game.
    • Zig-zagged with Geary; when in his serious mode, he screams in rage before switching to his cleaning mode and applauding the winner. An unlockable racer who doesn't seem to be a boss.
    • Hasty looks genuinely discouraged if he loses, but he shrugs to express that he can't expect to win every time and takes his loss with dignity. Another unlockable racer.
    • In online multiplayer, every character on the podium effectively becomes this, as the losing animations do not play for players who reach second and third place. Instead, all three racers who reach the podium will display their winning animations, implicitly averting Second Place Is for Losers.

Characters.Ferdinand

  • Graceful Loser: When Ferdinand is pardoned, he graciously accepts this and leaves without a fuss. Justified, as having a bull declared indultado is actually one of the biggest feathers a matador's cap can receive. El Primero is the movie's Villainy-Free Villain.

VideoGame.Mario Golf

  • Graceful Loser:
    • In stark contrast to most of the other characters, Diddy's Bogey animation in World Tour has him reacting rather nonchalantly, simply lying down and eating a banana. He does slip on the peel if he Double Bogeys or worse, however.
    • Peach's Bogey animation in Toadstool Tour has her react surprised at first before calmly accepting her loss, in contrast to her Double Bogey animation where she nearly faints in a dramatic fashion.
    • In Super Rush, the failure animations have been greatly toned down compared to previous games, with most characters expressing only mild disappointment. Additionally, at the end of a round, the losers always clap for the winner, even perennial Sore Losers like Wario and Waluigi. Not strictly villainous characters, just competing golfers.

Characters.Barbie Life In The Dreamhouse

  • Graceful Loser: After Barbie beats her in the pose-off, she just smiles and says that as new neighbors, they can always compete again. Summer Gordon isn't evil.

Film.School Of Rock

  • Graceful Loser:
    • No Vacancy reads the room pretty quick and accepts their prize and modestly exits the stage when the crowd starts chanting for School of Rock to come back out. They knew they won, but the kids were the real winners with the crowd and they weren�t going to stand in the way. No Vacancy is just a competing band. They did kick out the protagonist at the start of the movie, but for understandable reasons.

Literature.Record Of Grancrest War

  • Graceful Loser: After his attack on Theo's new castle is foiled, Lassic David admits defeat and pledges allegiance to him. Lassic David seems to be A Father to His Men with no listed villain tropes.

    Anyone else who takes losses in stride (24/67) 

Characters.Gamble Fish

  • Graceful Loser: Tomu whenever he is the victim of someone else's schemes. Tomu, who seems to be a Guile Hero, is the protagonist of the work.

Awesome.Chess

  • Edward Lasker vs. Sir George Thomas in London 1912, a borderline Humiliation Conga summarized by Thomas with the words "This was very nice." Lasker (not to be confused with world champion Emanuel Lasker) ended the game within 18 moves with a queen sacrifice into a series of checks that drags the black king all the way across the board into his own back rank and then delivers checkmate by moving his king. The general consensus among chess fans is that the only way the game could've been more awesome for Lasker is if he checkmated by castling. Real life people can't be called evil.

Characters.Cars First Film

  • Graceful Loser: Lightning turns down his offer to become Dinoco's "new face", choosing to remain with the Rust-eze team instead. Tex is disappointed, but respects his decision and still offers him a favor. Tex is neither evil nor once opposes the protagonist.

Characters.Hairspray

  • Graceful Loser: In the 2007 film, she has no problem with Inez winning the pageant over her, since they're friends. Tracy is the protagonist of Hairspray.

Characters.Corpse Factory

  • Graceful Loser: As she's dying, one of her final thoughts is thinking how Kurosawa must have found out about the website and submitted her photo first. Her response? "Well played, Kurosawa." Emi's the Decoy Protagonist.

Advertising.Segata Sanshiro

  • Graceful Loser: His appearance in the Archie Sonic comics has him lose to Sonic offscreen. He declares there's no shame in losing to him. He also is defeated by Yuri and Flynn in Project X Zone 2 no worse for wear, and befriending them immediately after. Don't know if Segata Sanshiro can really be called a hero, but he's not framed as a villain.

Characters.West Of Loathing

  • Graceful Loser: The hunter, poacher, pool player, and lawyer's pacifist methods all involve either beating them in a game (hunter and pool player) or proving them wrong about something (poacher and lawyer). Once you've done so, they're fairly content with how it went (though the poacher is still befuddled). The manor's ghosts aren't listed amongst the villains and seem neutral overall.

WebAnimation.Smash King

  • Graceful Loser: Played with regarding Captain Falcon.
    • When Sonic and Falcon first raced, Falcon was shocked and hurt that he lost, but quickly pretended to laugh it off, saying he underestimated Sonic. He even suggested that he and Sonic form a team together for the tourney to dominate it with their speed. Sonic refuses however, which sowed the seeds of Falcon's rivalry with the hedgehog.
    • Played straight after Sonic races the reincarnated Captain Falcon in Episode 16. Although Sonic wins again, Captain Falcon simply remarks that he lost, and agrees to Sonic's offer to rematch him some other time. This may be because Falcon has only just been reborn, and has not had time to build up his ego as much as he had when he was first born. Captain Falcon isn't a villain in this machinima as far as I can tell.

Website.Akinator

  • Graceful Loser: Akinator is this when he failed to guess your character. ("Bravo! You have defeated me." And he applauds you too, even if it feels somewhat half-hearted.)

VisualNovel.If My Heart Had Wings

  • Graceful Loser: After making sure that Aoi does like Kotori, Ageha does her best to help her and Aoi get together. Not evil, just a Nice Girl you can choose not to go out with.

WebVideo.Deji

  • Graceful Loser: Accepted his boxing losses really well and admitted that he should have worked more on his cardio and stamina. Real Life people can't be called villains.

VisualNovel.My Girlfriend Is The President

  • Graceful Loser: Irina, when Junichiro tells her in Yukino's route that he won't be going with her to Russia because he's in love with Yukino. She's disappointed, of course, but she also pushes him to confess to Yukino as quickly as possible and she thanks him for being her first love, whilst expressing the wish to remain friends. Irina is just a girl the player can choose not to romance.

WesternAnimation.Youre Not Elected Charlie Brown

  • Graceful Loser: Russell spends the entire special being a passive competitor and never antagonizing Linus, and once the tiebreaker vote comes down to him, he believes that Linus would ultimately be a better president and votes for him.

LetsPlay.Nico B

  • Graceful Loser: In early 2015, a copyright strike was placed on Nico's account. Though he initially considered contesting it, Nico ultimately chose to accept it and move on. IRL people can't be called villains.

Series.Lazy Town

  • Graceful Loser: When Sportacus loses the first soccer match in "Soccer Sucker," Stephanie is distraught but Sportacus accepts the loss gracefully, saying he did his best. Sportacus is the hero.

TheLionKing1994.Tropes D To M

  • Graceful Loser: Downplayed. During "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" Simba finally manages to pin Nala when they tumble down a hill and he lands on top of her. She rewards him for "beating her" with a lick on the cheek and a seductive look. Both Simba and Nala are the heroes of the movie.

Theatre.The Blue Bird

  • Graceful Loser: The six girls who aren't chosen keep their calm and part with Tyltyl affectionately. Just your standard romantic runner ups.

WesternAnimation.Puss Gets The Boot

  • Graceful Loser: As the Maid drags him outside by the tail, Jasper just calmly grimaces and taps his paw. Jasper (aka Tom) was only trying to keep Pee-Wee (aka Jerry) from destroying all the plates.

The Sound of Music

  • Graceful Loser: The Baroness, eventually. One can scarcely blame her for putting up a fight for her love, she's been working on Georg for a long time now. In the musical, however, she gives up the fight for a different reason, in that she and Georg disagree on how to handle the oncoming invasion of Nazis into their country. She is graceful, but the scene where she breaks their engagement is quite heartbreaking. A Disposable Love Interest Romantic Runner-Up.

VideoGame.The Talos Principle

  • Graceful Loser: When you're about to end the simulation, Elohim admits that the whole point was for you to defy him. He's terrified that he'll die with everything else when the sim ends, but there's no changing the fact you've won. I've never played this game, but I checked his character page and it doesn't list a single villain trope.

Wrestling.John Cena

  • Graceful Loser:
    • Cena congratulates Daniel Bryan for winning the WWE championship from him in Summerslam 2013...even if it was short lived by Randy Orton and Triple H.
    • Often averted by Cena's opponents. Even Shawn Michaels, Mr. Wrestle Mania, one of the most humble wrestlers on the roster (post-2002 at least), refused a handshake from Cena after losing to him at Wrestle Mania 23.
    • Most recently, after losing to Shinsuke Nakamura on Smack Down Live for the right to face Jinder Mahal for the title on Summer Slam, he raises his hand and also bows to Nakamura (who returned it). IRL people can't be called evil, and Cena's wrestling persona is the face of the industry.

Characters.Barbie Life In The Dreamhouse

  • Graceful Loser: She doesn't seem to mind the fact that she doesn't always win first place. Barbie is the protagonist.
  • Graceful Loser: She doesn't have trouble brushing off defeat. Chelsea Roberts is just some little girl.

Film.School Of Rock

  • Graceful Loser: The kids take getting second place at the Battle of the Bands far better than Dewey, who honestly just wanted to one-up his former bandmates. Dewey eventually joins in their sentiment that they put on a good show, especially when the audience calls for an encore. The kids are the protagonists of the movie.

    ZCE/Other (3/67) 

Characters.Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Diamond Is Unbreakable

  • Graceful Loser: All things considered, she accepts her defeat against Koichi quite well, and even starts falling in love with him for real. Yukako Yamagishi apparently goes through a Heel�Face Turn and I don't know enough about Jojo to say if she's a villain or not.

Characters.Unforgotten

  • Graceful Loser: When she's eventually caught, she shows genuine remorse and apologises for having brought the police into disrepute. It's a bit hard to tell if Liz Baildon is evil or not, but from what I can gather from her associated tropes she seems to lean towards Anti-Villain.

VideoGame.Papers Please

  • Graceful Loser: Jorji never holds it against the inspector for denying him entrance (or even getting detained), provided the reasons are valid, and even regards him as a friend. Not sure where to put him, given that while he is trying to cross a border for illegal trade reasons, he's seemingly affable and at times does manage to present the proper paperwork.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 31st 2022 at 9:02:24 AM

#1: Oct 25th 2022 at 6:47:34 AM

To-do list:

    Original post 
The main and laconic pages for the Graceful Loser trope say that it is a trope specifically for villains. But from my wick check (Graceful Loser Wick Check) it seems that it's used for anyone who takes their defeat well, regardless of if they're evil or even just antagonistic.

My current suggestion would be we make the current graceful loser page into a super-trope, given that's what it seems to be used for already, and maybe make the current description into a sub-trope.

Wick check:

A Wick Check page for the trope Graceful Loser.

Specifically, to check if the trope is being used for villains exclusively because the current trope name comes off as too broad.

Wicks checked: 67/67.


    open/close all folders 

    Villain who loses with dignity (24/67) 

MagnificentBastard.Shin Megami Tensei

  • Alek Messenas starts as a member of the Shadow Walkers, war heroes of the Polisian States. In the past, Alek discovered the truth behind the Phelesteau System and got his memories sealed for years until the seal was accidentally broken. Rebelling against the Polisian States, Alek's family is murdered during a assasination attempt, making him travel to the Gate of the Underworld to obtain power and have his revenge. Becoming a vengeful spirit, Alek would form a demon army that would challenge the Demon Lords and use his recently murdered Shadow Walker friends as his generals. Now deciding to take revenge on humanity as a whole, Alek would succeed at stealing the Book of Belial and invade the Mortal World, stunning Lucifer himself. Alek's demon army would then proceed to depopulate the planet while Alek boasts of his victory and challenges humans to defy him. When Ciel defeats him, Alek accepts his second death and congratulates the "Children of the Force".
  • The manga interpretation of Belial is far more cunning this his game counterpart. A master of illusions, Belial hypnotizes Haru into using her singing to summon a never ending swarm of demons. While he and his forces overwhelm the heroes, he uses his illusions to gently convince Haru into committing suicide so that he can gain her ability, nearly succeeding until she notices the heroes attempts to save her. When Kazuya attempts to absorb Belial�s soul after seemingly killing him, Belial uses his illusions to weaken Kazuya�s mind in an attempt to consume his soul from the inside. When defeated, Belial accepts it with dignity, and tells Kazuya that he�s more than willing to lend him his aid. Both seem evil enough.

Characters.Knives Out

  • Graceful Loser: Downplayed. Once everything goes against him and he realizes that he's just confessed to murder, Ransom tries to murder Marta as revenge, reasoning that he has nothing to lose from being convicted of two murders instead of one. When it becomes clear that he grabbed a prop knife instead of a real one, however, he utters a dejected "shit" and doesn't resist arrest any further, calmly and quietly walking into a police car without a fuss, even as his father tries (poorly) to bribe his way into freedom. As he's about to get in the car, he also looks up at Marta with nothing but calm and an ambiguously respectful nod. He's the Big Bad, so it checks out.

Characters.Total Drama Toxic Rats

  • Graceful Loser:
    • He takes his elimination in Revenge of the Island surprisingly well, even showing approval towards Zoey for "duping" him.
    • He takes his elimination in All-Stars well enough too, even warning Zoey of Mike's treachery before leaving. Another Big Bad.

Characters.Dexters Laboratory Dial M For Monkey

Characters.Team 8

  • Graceful Loser: He's more curious about Naruto than pissed he didn't get to kill him. Has enough villain tropes for me to put Gaara here.

Film.Kate

  • Graceful Loser: After Kate shoots Varrick in the stomach, he tells her "Great shot" before succumbing to the wound. Varrick is a villain.

Theatre.Fantasmic

  • Graceful Loser: Hades in the Hollywood Studios version; he doesn't appear all that mad or frightened by his inevitable defeat (instead seemingly reacting, with amusement, to what's happening to his cohorts), probably because he's a god and can't actually be killed.

VideoGame.Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled

  • Pinstripe of all people shows this when defeated in Adventure mode; at first, he makes a show of being a tough guy who hates losing before handing the key over, showing that he does have a sporting side and knows when he's beat. Outside of that mode, his second defeat quote also has him show this. According to the wiki he's a boss in the game and a sleazeball in general, so I'm putting him here.
  • N. Tropy also congratulates the player when they defeat all of his time trial ghosts and his 2nd-3rd place podium animation has been changed from him sobbing hysterically to merely kneeling on one leg and catching his breath, a reference to his open-to-attack animation from Warped. Listed among the Crash Bandicoot villains.

WesternAnimation.Toy Story 4

  • Graceful Loser: Played for Drama. Gabby Gabby successfully obtains Woody's voice box after he willingly donated it to her so she could have a chance with Harmony. After she gets turned down however, Gabby dejectedly says to Woody that he can genuinely have his voice box back. He lets her keep it in the end. Gabby is the movie's Big Bad.

Webcomic.Ensign Sue Must Die

  • Graceful Loser: The Sues take defeat better than we thought, as Prime Sue recognizes her selfishness and immaturity. Sue Prime is the Big Bad.

Literature.The Queens Thief

  • Graceful Loser: Sejanus spends Queen of Attolia doing everythng in his power to wreck Eugenides' life, from the petty (ensuring he's always late and not respected by the court) to the genuinely heinous (telling assassins where exactly to find Eugenides in the garden). He manipulates the rest of the attendents to turn Eugenides into a ridiculous figure in accordance with his father Erondites' plot to divide the throne and seize power. But when Eugenides reveals that he was letting Sejanus do all of this as part of his own plot to destroy Erondites and cuts off all avenues of exoneration, while also understanding that Sejanus was really trying to help his beloved older brother, Sejanus accepts his fall with dignity and honor.

VideoGame.Pokemon Sword And Shield

  • Chairman Rose claps for the player's victory and even says he genuinely had a good time battling against them. After Eternatus is defeated/captured, Rose turns himself in.
  • After nearly being attacked by one of the game's Legendaries, Sordward and Shielbert realize the error of their ways and allow themselves to be turned in to the police after the player catches the cover Legendary. Both of them are major villains in the story, so I'm putting them here.

Film.One Hundred And One Dalmatians 1996

  • Graceful Loser: After failing to catch the dogs one too many times, Jasper and Horace willingly turn themselves in, upon seeing the police cars. These two are Cruella's bumbling henchmen.

Film.Noah

  • Graceful Loser: Tubal-Cain congratulates Ham for 'becoming a man' after the former stabs him, and even gives him the snakeskin relic he stole from Noah's father as he dies. Tubal-Cain is the Big Bad.

Manga.Until Death Do Us Part

  • Graceful Loser: This is one of the very few admirable things about Zashid Turus. Now, if only his progeny would learn from him... Another Big Bad.

Literature.One Two Buckle My Shoe

  • Graceful Loser: The killer didn't get angry, or try to make excuses, or attempt to harm Poirot when the latter confronts them with the truth of the murder. When Poirot refuses to withdraw from the case, they calmly respond:
    Then I'm in for it. It's in your hands, Poirot. It's up to you.

Film.Eternals

  • Graceful Loser: At the end of the movie, Arishem appears next to Earth and takes the remaining Eternals. He's upset with them for going against their mission to allow Tiamut to be birthed, but rather than destroy Earth or otherwise punish the Eternals, he just takes them away for judgment. It's hard to tell exactly how much of a villain Arishem is, but he has enough villain tropes for me to go "close enough".

VideoGame.Slain

Anime.Persona 4 Golden The Animation

  • Graceful Loser: As before, Izanami, though in a different context and nonverbal this time. Even after forging Izanagi-no-Okami Yu can't bring himself to strike Izanami down because he keeps seeing Marie's face on her. This necessitates a different approach: Yu and Marie approach her together, and summon Kaguya to help them. Marie gives Izanami a speech about how the truth will save humanity rather than harm them and, alongside a Cooldown Hug from Kaguya, convinces her to believe in mankind again and rejoin with her. At this, Izanami's One-Winged Angel form dissolves into sparks of light; finally, Marie hugs her in her more humanoid form as she dissolves into her. Izanami is the final boss.

WesternAnimation.An Extremely Goofy Movie

  • Graceful Loser: Bradley of all people. When Max winds up winning the race despite everything Bradley and the Gammas did, Bradley offers his congratulations and a handshake, telling Max that he fully intends to honor their bet. While Max calls off the bet, that still doesn't stop Brad from owing Tank something. Bradley is the Big Bad.

Theatre.The Little Foxes

  • Graceful Loser: When Regina demands 75% of the mill, Ben accepts cheerfully, as fits his Affably Evil character, but he also implies that he may investigate the suspicious nature of Horace's death.

    Antagonist who takes losing well (16/67) 

Characters.Invincible 2021 Superheroes

  • Graceful Loser: After he loses his fight with Monster Girl, he pretty much warms up to her instantly, coming as close as he can to apologizing for underestimating her. Rex Splode himself is an Anti-Hero at worst, just one who dislikes the protagonist. And his fight was against another superhero.

Film.Lassie Come Home

  • Graceful Loser: Upon realizing just how much Lassie and Joe belong together, the Duke pretends not to recognize her as the dog he bought. The Duke doesn't actually do anything evil; his worst action being keeping a dog that is legally his from running away.

Garfield.Tropes D To G

  • Graceful Loser: Liz's date in the arc where she and Jon finally become an item. He goes out with Jon's initial date, Ellen, instead. Just a regular Pair the Spares romantic runner-up.

Characters.Keijo

  • Graceful Loser: After Miyata beats her, she congratulates her and acknowledges that Miyata is faster than her.
  • Graceful Loser: Acknowledges her school's loss in the East-West War. Just the typical rivals in a sports anime.

Characters.Fire Emblem Three Houses Byleth

  • Graceful Loser: In Three Hopes, despite being obviously ashamed that they failed in stopping Shez from killing their employer and rolling over them, Byleth and Jeralt take their loss in stride. Byleth isn't evil, only opposing Shez due to their employ as a mercenary, to the point where Shez killing them locks you out of the Golden Ending.

Characters.Eyeshield 21 Bando Spiders

  • Graceful Loser: Finished with personal recognition for Sena. Another rival competitor in a sports anime.

VideoGame.Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled

  • Graceful Loser: Megumi excitedly claps and gives a thumbs up to the winner if she loses. As far as I can tell she isn't evil, just another racer in the game.
    • Zig-zagged with Geary; when in his serious mode, he screams in rage before switching to his cleaning mode and applauding the winner. An unlockable racer who doesn't seem to be a boss.
    • Hasty looks genuinely discouraged if he loses, but he shrugs to express that he can't expect to win every time and takes his loss with dignity. Another unlockable racer.
    • In online multiplayer, every character on the podium effectively becomes this, as the losing animations do not play for players who reach second and third place. Instead, all three racers who reach the podium will display their winning animations, implicitly averting Second Place Is for Losers.

Characters.Ferdinand

  • Graceful Loser: When Ferdinand is pardoned, he graciously accepts this and leaves without a fuss. Justified, as having a bull declared indultado is actually one of the biggest feathers a matador's cap can receive. El Primero is the movie's Villainy-Free Villain.

VideoGame.Mario Golf

  • Graceful Loser:
    • In stark contrast to most of the other characters, Diddy's Bogey animation in World Tour has him reacting rather nonchalantly, simply lying down and eating a banana. He does slip on the peel if he Double Bogeys or worse, however.
    • Peach's Bogey animation in Toadstool Tour has her react surprised at first before calmly accepting her loss, in contrast to her Double Bogey animation where she nearly faints in a dramatic fashion.
    • In Super Rush, the failure animations have been greatly toned down compared to previous games, with most characters expressing only mild disappointment. Additionally, at the end of a round, the losers always clap for the winner, even perennial Sore Losers like Wario and Waluigi. Not strictly villainous characters, just competing golfers.

Characters.Barbie Life In The Dreamhouse

  • Graceful Loser: After Barbie beats her in the pose-off, she just smiles and says that as new neighbors, they can always compete again. Summer Gordon isn't evil.

Film.School Of Rock

  • Graceful Loser:
    • No Vacancy reads the room pretty quick and accepts their prize and modestly exits the stage when the crowd starts chanting for School of Rock to come back out. They knew they won, but the kids were the real winners with the crowd and they weren�t going to stand in the way. No Vacancy is just a competing band. They did kick out the protagonist at the start of the movie, but for understandable reasons.

Literature.Record Of Grancrest War

  • Graceful Loser: After his attack on Theo's new castle is foiled, Lassic David admits defeat and pledges allegiance to him. Lassic David seems to be A Father to His Men with no listed villain tropes.

    Anyone else who takes losses in stride (24/67) 

Characters.Gamble Fish

  • Graceful Loser: Tomu whenever he is the victim of someone else's schemes. Tomu, who seems to be a Guile Hero, is the protagonist of the work.

Awesome.Chess

  • Edward Lasker vs. Sir George Thomas in London 1912, a borderline Humiliation Conga summarized by Thomas with the words "This was very nice." Lasker (not to be confused with world champion Emanuel Lasker) ended the game within 18 moves with a queen sacrifice into a series of checks that drags the black king all the way across the board into his own back rank and then delivers checkmate by moving his king. The general consensus among chess fans is that the only way the game could've been more awesome for Lasker is if he checkmated by castling. Real life people can't be called evil.

Characters.Cars First Film

  • Graceful Loser: Lightning turns down his offer to become Dinoco's "new face", choosing to remain with the Rust-eze team instead. Tex is disappointed, but respects his decision and still offers him a favor. Tex is neither evil nor once opposes the protagonist.

Characters.Hairspray

  • Graceful Loser: In the 2007 film, she has no problem with Inez winning the pageant over her, since they're friends. Tracy is the protagonist of Hairspray.

Characters.Corpse Factory

  • Graceful Loser: As she's dying, one of her final thoughts is thinking how Kurosawa must have found out about the website and submitted her photo first. Her response? "Well played, Kurosawa." Emi's the Decoy Protagonist.

Advertising.Segata Sanshiro

  • Graceful Loser: His appearance in the Archie Sonic comics has him lose to Sonic offscreen. He declares there's no shame in losing to him. He also is defeated by Yuri and Flynn in Project X Zone 2 no worse for wear, and befriending them immediately after. Don't know if Segata Sanshiro can really be called a hero, but he's not framed as a villain.

Characters.West Of Loathing

  • Graceful Loser: The hunter, poacher, pool player, and lawyer's pacifist methods all involve either beating them in a game (hunter and pool player) or proving them wrong about something (poacher and lawyer). Once you've done so, they're fairly content with how it went (though the poacher is still befuddled). The manor's ghosts aren't listed amongst the villains and seem neutral overall.

WebAnimation.Smash King

  • Graceful Loser: Played with regarding Captain Falcon.
    • When Sonic and Falcon first raced, Falcon was shocked and hurt that he lost, but quickly pretended to laugh it off, saying he underestimated Sonic. He even suggested that he and Sonic form a team together for the tourney to dominate it with their speed. Sonic refuses however, which sowed the seeds of Falcon's rivalry with the hedgehog.
    • Played straight after Sonic races the reincarnated Captain Falcon in Episode 16. Although Sonic wins again, Captain Falcon simply remarks that he lost, and agrees to Sonic's offer to rematch him some other time. This may be because Falcon has only just been reborn, and has not had time to build up his ego as much as he had when he was first born. Captain Falcon isn't a villain in this machinima as far as I can tell.

Website.Akinator

  • Graceful Loser: Akinator is this when he failed to guess your character. ("Bravo! You have defeated me." And he applauds you too, even if it feels somewhat half-hearted.)

VisualNovel.If My Heart Had Wings

  • Graceful Loser: After making sure that Aoi does like Kotori, Ageha does her best to help her and Aoi get together. Not evil, just a Nice Girl you can choose not to go out with.

WebVideo.Deji

  • Graceful Loser: Accepted his boxing losses really well and admitted that he should have worked more on his cardio and stamina. Real Life people can't be called villains.

VisualNovel.My Girlfriend Is The President

  • Graceful Loser: Irina, when Junichiro tells her in Yukino's route that he won't be going with her to Russia because he's in love with Yukino. She's disappointed, of course, but she also pushes him to confess to Yukino as quickly as possible and she thanks him for being her first love, whilst expressing the wish to remain friends. Irina is just a girl the player can choose not to romance.

WesternAnimation.Youre Not Elected Charlie Brown

  • Graceful Loser: Russell spends the entire special being a passive competitor and never antagonizing Linus, and once the tiebreaker vote comes down to him, he believes that Linus would ultimately be a better president and votes for him.

LetsPlay.Nico B

  • Graceful Loser: In early 2015, a copyright strike was placed on Nico's account. Though he initially considered contesting it, Nico ultimately chose to accept it and move on. IRL people can't be called villains.

Series.Lazy Town

  • Graceful Loser: When Sportacus loses the first soccer match in "Soccer Sucker," Stephanie is distraught but Sportacus accepts the loss gracefully, saying he did his best. Sportacus is the hero.

TheLionKing1994.Tropes D To M

  • Graceful Loser: Downplayed. During "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" Simba finally manages to pin Nala when they tumble down a hill and he lands on top of her. She rewards him for "beating her" with a lick on the cheek and a seductive look. Both Simba and Nala are the heroes of the movie.

Theatre.The Blue Bird

  • Graceful Loser: The six girls who aren't chosen keep their calm and part with Tyltyl affectionately. Just your standard romantic runner ups.

WesternAnimation.Puss Gets The Boot

  • Graceful Loser: As the Maid drags him outside by the tail, Jasper just calmly grimaces and taps his paw. Jasper (aka Tom) was only trying to keep Pee-Wee (aka Jerry) from destroying all the plates.

The Sound of Music

  • Graceful Loser: The Baroness, eventually. One can scarcely blame her for putting up a fight for her love, she's been working on Georg for a long time now. In the musical, however, she gives up the fight for a different reason, in that she and Georg disagree on how to handle the oncoming invasion of Nazis into their country. She is graceful, but the scene where she breaks their engagement is quite heartbreaking. A Disposable Love Interest Romantic Runner-Up.

VideoGame.The Talos Principle

  • Graceful Loser: When you're about to end the simulation, Elohim admits that the whole point was for you to defy him. He's terrified that he'll die with everything else when the sim ends, but there's no changing the fact you've won. I've never played this game, but I checked his character page and it doesn't list a single villain trope.

Wrestling.John Cena

  • Graceful Loser:
    • Cena congratulates Daniel Bryan for winning the WWE championship from him in Summerslam 2013...even if it was short lived by Randy Orton and Triple H.
    • Often averted by Cena's opponents. Even Shawn Michaels, Mr. Wrestle Mania, one of the most humble wrestlers on the roster (post-2002 at least), refused a handshake from Cena after losing to him at Wrestle Mania 23.
    • Most recently, after losing to Shinsuke Nakamura on Smack Down Live for the right to face Jinder Mahal for the title on Summer Slam, he raises his hand and also bows to Nakamura (who returned it). IRL people can't be called evil, and Cena's wrestling persona is the face of the industry.

Characters.Barbie Life In The Dreamhouse

  • Graceful Loser: She doesn't seem to mind the fact that she doesn't always win first place. Barbie is the protagonist.
  • Graceful Loser: She doesn't have trouble brushing off defeat. Chelsea Roberts is just some little girl.

Film.School Of Rock

  • Graceful Loser: The kids take getting second place at the Battle of the Bands far better than Dewey, who honestly just wanted to one-up his former bandmates. Dewey eventually joins in their sentiment that they put on a good show, especially when the audience calls for an encore. The kids are the protagonists of the movie.

    ZCE/Other (3/67) 

Characters.Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Diamond Is Unbreakable

  • Graceful Loser: All things considered, she accepts her defeat against Koichi quite well, and even starts falling in love with him for real. Yukako Yamagishi apparently goes through a Heel�Face Turn and I don't know enough about Jojo to say if she's a villain or not.

Characters.Unforgotten

  • Graceful Loser: When she's eventually caught, she shows genuine remorse and apologises for having brought the police into disrepute. It's a bit hard to tell if Liz Baildon is evil or not, but from what I can gather from her associated tropes she seems to lean towards Anti-Villain.

VideoGame.Papers Please

  • Graceful Loser: Jorji never holds it against the inspector for denying him entrance (or even getting detained), provided the reasons are valid, and even regards him as a friend. Not sure where to put him, given that while he is trying to cross a border for illegal trade reasons, he's seemingly affable and at times does manage to present the proper paperwork.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 31st 2022 at 9:02:24 AM

MacronNotes 🦋(she/her) Relationship Status: -not set
Yindee from New England Relationship Status: I wanna know about these strangers like me
#3: Oct 25th 2022 at 7:04:00 AM

Maybe just expand the definition to be anyone who's chill about their losses?

Overdosed Tropes | Quote Source | Parent to Vehicle-Based Characterization and Grief-Induced Split
Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#4: Oct 25th 2022 at 7:10:54 AM

I prefer expanding to non-villainous losers. Villain Admits Defeat can be yarded as a potential split.

The page is a Super-Trope for Villain's Dying Grace and Touch� already.

Edited by Amonimus on Oct 25th 2022 at 9:20:32 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
MatthewWayne The Man Outside Reality from TVA Headquarters Relationship Status: One Is The Loneliest Number
The Man Outside Reality
#5: Oct 25th 2022 at 9:09:14 AM

Yeah, I'd like to expand this trope's definition as well. No sense in limiting it to villains specifically.

Hop a fence, leave the street and wet your feet to find the swimming pool...
themayorofsimpleton Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him from a record store Relationship Status: Abstaining
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
#6: Oct 25th 2022 at 9:21:17 AM

[tup] Expansion and yarding

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Oct 25th 2022 at 12:21:41 PM

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
MatthewLMayfield Pastamania, brother! from some place that has Southern charm Relationship Status: What is this thing you call love?
Pastamania, brother!
#7: Oct 25th 2022 at 9:22:48 AM

[tup] for expanding

Whatcha gonna do when Pastamania runs wild on you?
Adept Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#9: Oct 25th 2022 at 9:35:38 AM

So we've currently got 6(?) votes for expanding the page. Maybe seven since I'm fine with that as well.

ANonagon9 he/him from The land of Bi-Puns Relationship Status: LA Woman, you're my woman
MacronNotes 🦋(she/her) Relationship Status: -not set
🦋(she/her)
#11: Oct 25th 2022 at 11:19:46 AM

Expand[tup]. All we have to do is rewrite the description and lock up because we wouldn't have to clean anything as we are conforming the trope to its misuse.

Official TVT Discord Server
Nen_desharu Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
underCoverSailsman Peeks from Under Rocks from State of Flux Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Peeks from Under Rocks
#14: Oct 25th 2022 at 11:38:18 AM

Expand. There is nothing about the title that makes it seem villain-centric, and I'm not sure that the differentiation between a "villain" and "hero" version would be worth making in the first place.

WarJay77 You Spin Me Right Round from The Void Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
You Spin Me Right Round
Synchronicity Relationship Status: -not set
GastonRabbit Orderly (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Orderly (he/him)
#17: Oct 25th 2022 at 5:15:07 PM

Expand. There's no reason for this to be restricted to villains.

"I'm one of the few people who live what's called a low life."
4maskwolf Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Nen_desharu Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
BlackMage43 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
#22: Oct 25th 2022 at 7:29:40 PM

Oops. I probably contributed to the misuse.

[tup] Expand

themayorofsimpleton Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him from a record store Relationship Status: Abstaining
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
#23: Oct 25th 2022 at 7:47:31 PM

So that's 20 "expand" votes so far, counting myself and the OP.

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
callmeamuffin 🦋 Cure Butterfly! 🦋 from the kitchen Relationship Status: Chocolate!
🦋 Cure Butterfly! 🦋
#24: Oct 25th 2022 at 8:19:44 PM

Dropping a [tup] for expanding.

DVD language option selected: "Woman Friendly"
GastonRabbit Orderly (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Orderly (he/him)
#25: Oct 25th 2022 at 10:06:25 PM

[up][up]Yeah, I don't think we'll need either a crowner or wick cleanup. Even though this has quite a few wicks, I don't think anyone will complain if we don't use a crowner since the people who were using this to refer to heroes will no longer be considered to be misusing the trope. We'll just need to make some minor tweaks to the description to remove the morality aspect before closing.

"I'm one of the few people who live what's called a low life."

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