| abstract
| - Scientists may be open to new ideas, but are not by any means paragons of universal open minded acceptance. This is heavily exaggerated in fiction. What do a peerage of scientists do when presented with amazing or disturbing theories that could seriously change everyone's worldview and/or revolutionize science by one of their fellows? Do they test out the theory themselves, analyze it thoroughly, or interview their fellow scientist in an effort to find any truth in his "wild" theories or disabuse him of them before he goes crackpot? Of course not! Everyone knows that's not how you do research! They'll mock him, never take a second glance at his theories, and do everything possible to discredit him, bury his ideas, and make him shunned in respectable scientific circles. The outcomes are usually:
* He will turn into a bona fide Mad Scientist and wreak havoc usually motivated by personal gain or revenge on the scientists who dared to mock him. Parodies and/or extremely cliché examples may spout out lines like "They all laughed at me...but I'LL SHOW THEM! I'LL SHOW THEM ALL!! BWAHAHAHAAA!"
* He will become a slightly more tragic version of The Worm Guy, and be involved in a situation where his theories work. If everything goes smoothly, he will usually be accepted back into the community that once shunned him and his detractors forced to eat crow or discredited themselves. If it's related to The Men in Black or the Masquerade, his vindication will be personal, but still uplifting.
* He will become an Ignored Expert if the "wild theory" is a premonition of a disaster. Most (usually all) of his detractors end up dead or recant and he is lauded a hero for preventing bigger casualties. That is, unless he's pragmatic, or world destroying type.
* This occasionally happens in Real Life. Usually, it's because the scientist has been rather...prolific with his wild theories, and this thus becomes more of a case of him happening to (for once) be right. Could you blame people for ignoring the Ignored Expert if he'd been predicting some kind of world-ending disaster annually before he lucked out? Occasionally, they will be one screw short of becoming a Mad Scientist before this falling out, or have the typical personal tragedy motivating Professor Guinea Pig. In these cases, his peers aren't so much fools as they are (rightly) concerned that his experiments have fallen down the slippery slope of scientific inquiry into grave robbing, God-defying Mad Science. At the outset of the story he'll usually be on hard times, and probably have become a recluse or in a dead-end job. Or... will use their Super Prototype to branch into supervillainy. Compare All of the Other Reindeer and Who's Laughing Now? With variant #1 especially, this is frequently a motive behind Disproportionate Retribution. Examples of They Called Me Mad include:
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