Karma Houdini

Karma Houdinis are characters who repeatedly commit wrongdoings and somehow get away with no comeuppance or karma. They are the polar opposite of butt-monkeys. No matter how much bad they do, or how much they deserve it, karma just seems to forget about them and instead punish the innocent butt-monkeys.

Notable Karma Houdinis

 *  Danger Mouse (2015) (mh:besttvshows:Danger Mouse' (2015): He has done wrong things and half of the time bad things don't happen to him.)
 * Manny Heffley (Diary of a Wimpy Kid; Almost never gets punished for his misbehavior. For example, in Cabin Fever, he shut the power off in every room in the house except his, and left his family to die just because no one ever taught him to tie his shoes! And he didn't get punished!)
 * Frank Heffley (Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: He bought some things to gain his own money from his house without his wife's permission.)
 * Elmo (Sesame Street, Seasons 27-29, 33-present; in some episodes, Elmo will throw a fit about not having his way and is rewarded for his behavior.)
 * Norman Price (Fireman Sam (Season 6-present): Whenever he is the cause of the emergency in any episode he is in, he is always let off with a warning and never gets properly punished)
 * Johnny Test (2005, Seasons 4-6) (Johnny Test)
 * Dukey (2005, Seasons 4-6) (Johnny Test: Although he is supposed to be the role-model of Johnny Test, he is actually responsible for putting Johnny into a handful of situations, and not once is he blamed (except occasionally by Johnny's sisters))
 * Susan and Mary Test (2005, Seasons 4-6) (Johnny Test: Half of the time they get away with DNA experiments or other prohibited experiments. Especially making Dukey talk. This is mainly focused on experimenting with Johnny, and altering his DNA as well. And they usually don't get caught.)
 * Hugh Test (2005, Seasons 4-6, 2021) (Johnny Test: It is implied that he hates Johnny. In "99 Deeds of Johnny Test", he threatened to send him to the military academy if he got one more detention and was UPSET that his permanent record was cleared. And in "Spotless Johnny", he threatened to take away PANTS for a WEEK. Not only will that get Johnny in trouble for public nudity but it will also get Hugh arrested because he's the responsible one.)
 * Fanboy and Chum Chum (Fanboy & Chum Chum: They always irritate and harass Kyle and Lenny every time they encounter them, and usually don't get consequences for it.)
 * Kirby (Kirby's Avalanche/Kirby's Ghost Trap) (He bullies many characters from his series like Waddle Dee, Waddle Doo and even King Dedede, but he never gets any consequences at all for what he does. This may be justified since he is the protagonist of the game, but still).
 * Four (BFB 1-29; They nearly always behave like an absolute asshole towards the other contestants (and their co-host X) by screeching at them, killing them, insulting them, and usually get scot-free for their actions)
 * SpongeBob SquarePants (Seasons 6 & 7 only) (SpongeBob SquarePants)
 * Bufo (Wolfoo) (Bufo sometimes gets away with his bad behavior, but sometimes, he gets what he deserves at times thankfully).
 * Patrick Star (Season 6-8 only) (SpongeBob SquarePants): Is this of the Idiot-Houdini category.
 * Jerry (Gene Deitch Era) (mh:terribletvshows:Tom and Jerry (Gene Deitch Era))
 * Mr. Krabs (SpongeBob Squarepants: especially in later seasons of the series. Most infamously in One Course Meal, where he led Plankton to attempt suicide by letting himself be roadkill after he tormented Plankton by wearing a Pearl costume, and then Mr. Krabs laughs when SpongeBob tells him this.)
 * Trevor Troublemeyer (Sidekick: He's noted for being a horrible friend towards Eric Needles, and comes off as a jerk who refuses to take responsibility for his own actions, and just frames them all on Eric.)
 * Kevin (Ed, Edd n Eddy) (Particularly in the episodes Your Ed Here and Smile for the Ed, he receives no comeuppance whatsoever for tormenting Eddy. In the former, he blackmails Eddy to do embarrassing things so he wouldn't tell the other kids his middle name, only to tell them his name anyway to further humiliate him. In the latter, he ruins Eddy's photo and makes thousands of photocopies to spread across the school and give to the other kids to scare Eddy, and he even ruins Eddy's only chance to retake his photo.)
 * Big Tex Arkana (mh:besttvshows:Buddy Thunderstruck: Due to his greedy and villainous nature, he was shown to be running a pawnshop with thieves and underpaid employees that hard work for any wage in earlier segments of the show which caused him to be doing illegal crimes with them, most notably in the infamous episode, Get the Hock Out where he hires Buddy and Darnell (despite them having no money) just to scam other Greasepit citizens into their stuff that they got from his pawnshop. In fact, all the crimes that he and his employees did will lead to them being arrested by Sheriff Cannonball or lose more money from his pawnshop dealing with lawsuits and thousand dollar fines from Thunderstruck Trucking and other people who either got their stuff broken or stolen by his employees, despite this, Big Tex somehow redeemed himself in "The Sneezing Fits of Death" (though he did went on a trip without knowing that his son was left at home in Babysitters Yo).)
 * Megan Parker (mh:besttvshows:Drake & Josh: Her abundant practical jokes and pranks more often than not get Drake and Josh into trouble and she never gets punished for any of them, leaving Drake and Josh alone to be given the blame while Megan always gets off scot-free.)
 * Lynn Loud Jr. (The Loud House: Constantly bullies her brother Lincoln by using him as a sports dummy or someone to blame for her wrongdoings and usually nicknames him "Stinkoln". The most infamous example comes from No Such Luck, where she not only gets the family to believe Lincoln is "bad luck" over a fumbled softball game, but allows them to disown him because of it, and gives a very half-hearted apology for what she put her brother through, and even threatens to beat Lincoln up with a baseball bat if he didn't come to her game. She bullies the other sisters occasionally, though it's generally not as extreme compared to what she does to Lincoln.)
 * Sergio (The Casagrandes: He normally causes trouble by stealing stuff, destroying things, antagonizing people, invading privacy, pulling pranks, insulting others, or bullying Bobby. He was at his worst in “This Bird Has Flown”, where he uses the family's feelings and Bobby's outburst to his advantage by flying away from the Casagrandes ' apartment building.)
 * 'Bendy' (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Framed Blooregard Q. Kazoo, Coco, Eduardo, and Wilt for doing pranks around the home and tricked both Mr. Herrman and Frankie into believing him. He then pulls a nasty grin at them whenever Mr. Herrman and Frankie have their backs turned. In the end, Bloo got punished by being forced to clean up the gum under the couch while Bendy got off scot-free. He ended up being so hated that he never appeared in another Foster's episode again except for his signature being shown briefly in the final episode Goodbye to Bloo.)
 * Goofball McGee: (He treated Frankie like his own personal servant, messed up her chores and pinned the blame on her, and exposed her disguise and made Mr. Herriman punish her and took her place at a concert she wanted to go and boasted about it to her, and when it was revealed that he really is an imaginary friend, this somehow excuses all of his actions and he gets off scot-free.)
 * Bowser (SuperMarioLogan: He gets little to no comeuppance for torturing Chef Pee Pee.)
 * Tobias (Pokémon) (Pokémon: He never got any comeuppance for his actions after he defeated Ash and won the Sinnoh Conference by using only legendary and mythical Pokémon, which are supposed to be banned outside of the Elite Four and Champion rounds)
 * Mr. Goodman (SuperMarioLogan: With the exception of "The Bet!", he never gets any comeuppance with torturing Mario with house payments, and most episodes feature him winning.)
 * Kirby (Kirby Squeak Squad) (He literally assaulted King Dedede in his own castle and assaulted Meta Knight in his own Halberd but he gets no comeuppance for what he did).
 * Rosalina (SuperMarioLogan: With the exception of "Mr. Goodman's Revenge!", she never gets any comeuppance for abusing Mario, and lets Jeffy torture Mario as well.)
 * Duncan (Total Drama World Tour: While he did get away with bullying Harold most of the time, he does not get repercussions for cheating on Courtney for Gwen. This act was what caused Gwen to be hated by her team. Duncan indirectly caused Gwen's elimination by throwing a dingo at Cody. Otherwise, Cody would have voted for Courtney, along with Gwen and Heather, sending Courtney home. Duncan's cheating on Courtney was what caused Gwen to be placed on the Villainous Vultures, despite her good behavior.)
 * Randy Betancourt (Big Nate; Constantly bullies other students at his school but almost never gets caught.)
 * Kaname Asagiri (Magical Girl Site: He was captured by Detective Kichiro Misumi, instead of being taken to custody after he killed Nijimi.)
 * Gus and Combo (Ryan's World: Despite this, they do apologize for their actions, thankfully).
 * Tokkori (Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: He sometimes never receives any comeuppances for acting rude towards Kirby and bossing him around. As a matter of fact his own page considers him a Karma Houdini. Though unlike most of the other characters mentioned here, he does get what he deserves from time to time in return, thankfully.)
 * Sarina Shizukume (Magical Girl Site: She was slit to the throat by Yatsumura instead of putting down the box cutter, while Sarina was trying to scar Aya for revenge in killing her friends)
 * Jiro Asagiri (Magical Girl Site: He loses lifespan from using Nijimi's panties to the point of focusing on keeping Kaname into studying, while stopping site admin, Juni from attacking the family)
 * Jade West (Victorious: She couldn't play Steamboat Suzy, but she was never punished for causing Tori to pass out from blood loss.)
 * Max (Max & Ruby: is rarely punished for his actions)
 * Chilly Willy (Woody Woodpecker: Chilly almost always wins in the end of his episodes (even more than Woody Woodpecker), even in episodes where he doesn't deserve to win for stealing food and also be a jerk to Smedley. In The New Woody Woodpecker Show he always wins in every episode. His 2018 version is much worse as a sadistic psychopath who tortures even Woody Woodpecker and acts more like a villain than a hero.)
 * Baby Anias (Tawog: she tries to eliminate Gumball ad Darwin and even framed them)
 * Mr. Kat (Kid vs. Kat: constantly bullies and frames Coop Burtonburger and often gets away with it scot-free. He's only a Karma Houdini when he doesn't (barely) get comeuppance, because sometimes he does.)
 * Jonathan Joestar's Bullies (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood: gets off scot-free and receives no punishment from bullying Erina Joestar.)
 * Francine Rhenquist (a minor recurring character who only made one major appearance in The Simpsons episode "Bye Bye Nerdie": Throughout the entire episode, she constantly bullies Lisa and bunch of other "nerds" and she seemingly received no punishment at all for it, even at the end of the episode where she beats up every scientist in the convention)
 * Pencilmate (Pencilmation; He almost always gets off with his idiotic actions)
 * Lofty (a one time character who made his only appearance in The Smurfs in an episode, "A Loss of Smurf" [He's not to be confused with the character from Bob the Builder]: although he served as a saboteur to a character, he is the one who tricked Vanity into taking a bog bath that turned him into a Wartmonger, and since Lofty never appeared throughout the rest of the episode, he never recieved any comeuppance for his actions, which would have been either the other Smurfs confronting him or recieving karma of any form)
 * Jeffy (SuperMarioLogan: While he can get his comeuppance at time, he mostly tortures his father and Rosalina lets him get away with it time after time.)
 * Carter Blake (Heavy Rain: Aside from getting suspended if he kills Ethan Mars and being haunted by Norman's ghost if Norman Jayden is dead, Blake always gets away with being aggressive towards suspects and he never gets punished for his police brutality.)
 * Scott Shelby (Heavy Rain: If none of the main characters reach to the warehouse and/or fail to save Shaun Mars and if Lauren Winter dies too, Scott Shelby will get away with all of his crimes of being the Origami Killer)
 * Chris McLean (Total Drama: While he did get sufficient karma in the first four seasons--even getting arrested for hosting Revenge of the Island on a toxic waste dump--Chris gets little to no punishment at the end of All-Stars and Pahkitew Island. This is ironic because Chris was supposed to be on parole for the events of season four. The worst thing Chris did was reveal Shawn's confessions and Sky's audition tape to their respective helpers Jasmine and Dave. This was the move that Chris does not get any punishment for, considering this was the last episode of the original Total Drama series before the show went into spin-offs and Chris was semi-retired.)
 * Pizza Rat (We Bare Bears: The Movie: He literally ratted out the Bear's location to Agent Trout and his troops in a selfish act to get more social media followers and is never seen again for the remainder of the movie and gets off scot-free.)
 * Trina Riffin (Grojband: Was shown bossing around on Mina throughout the entire show and also tries to sabotage her brother's band, she even had her own worst as she states that she had won in "Hear Us Rock, Part 2" after she throws her brother's instruments in the dumpster much after she had left Mina behind on Earth, she had finally got her full-time comeuppance and defeat as when Mina stands up to get revenge on Trina afterwards.)
 * Gerald Broflovski (South Park (Season 20): his actions caused the entire conflict of the season, he became an online troll known as SkankHunt42 and targeted women and little girls and bully them to commit suicide, which causes the girls at South Park elementary to become hostile towards the boys, and corrupted Butters into becoming a misogynist and rallies other boy students to join him to protest against the girls, and framed his sons Kyle and Ike to his wife Shiela that they're SkankHunt42, and gets off scot-free at the end of the season.)
 * D'Vorah (Mortal Kombat: She is always betraying someone in order to gain more power, and killed off fan favorite characters like Baraka, Mileena, and even Scorpion (one of the most iconic characters of the franchise and mascot) and she is never seen again for the rest of MK11's story mode.)
 * Rob (The Amazing World of Gumball: unjustifiable moment where he framed the duo and didn’t get punished for it)
 * Sugar (Total Drama: Pahkitew Island): While she did get somewhat of a comeuppance at her elimination, most of time, she never gets any comeuppance for doing things she does like bullying Ella, and almost killed Sky after she (Sugar) pushed her (Sky) off of a really high mountain, she neither got any comeuppance for that either.
 * Amy (Total Drama: Pahkitew Island): Like Sugar, she did get comeuppance at her elimination, but most of the time, she gets away with bullying Sammy, and is never called out by the other contestants (with the exception of Jasmine).
 * Nassur The Hamas Teddy Bear (Tomorrow's Pioneers): Being the only costume based character who (sadly) survived throughout Season 4)
 * Nina Einstein (Code Geass R2:) Though she did atone for her actions and she did get captured by Lelouch, she doesn't get any severe consequence for creating F.L.E.I.J.A. which killed millions of Japanese people.
 * Mario (Mario Vs. Wario Comics; commits animal cruelty and absolutely never got any comeuppance whatsoever)
 * Pencilmiss (Pencilmation; never gets punished for bullying Pencilmate)
 * Jibril (No Game No Life: Zero: Has killed Schwi and showed no remorse for it.)
 * Irene Alvarez vda. Mangayao (Sahaya: Has abused her stepdaughter Sahaya & her mother Manisan multiple times up to the point she almost tried to kill Manisan by ramming her with her own car. She even framed the two of kidnapping her husband Harold when he decided to ran away with them & even blamed them of Harold's death when her ally, Salida, shot him for protecting the two)
 * Saucy Chicken (ToonMarty: She has abused Chef and at one point made everyone hate Marty and got off Scot-Free)
 * Dilweed & Fungus (Numb Chucks: They never get called out (except for Buford and Hooves) when they cause all hell to break loose)
 * Luc Maxwell (Looped: He never learns from his mistakes and always gets away with it)
 * ANY Happy Tree Friends Villain (HTF: Despite Lumpy and Fliqpy sometimes getting punished, Splendid, The Ants, and Mr. Pickles hardly ever get punished.)
 * Wither Skeleton (Monster School) (He Cheats on challenges, and never gets disqualified)
 * Aoi Asahina (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc): While she's normally a likable character, chapter 4 has her at her absolute worst. As after she finds that her best friend Sakura Ogami committed suicide and believing that it was due to the other students' treatment of her due to a false note written by Monokuma, Aoi completely refused to accept the fact that Sakura chose to end her own life and tries to get her and the other students executed by framing herself as Sakura's killer in the trial. And in the end, the other students throw all the blame onto Monokuma and forgive Aoi immediately, not holding her accountable for the actions that she chose to commit in the slightest.Thankfully, Aoi realizes the error of her ways after the truth is revealed. But then anime comes along and manages to make her even less sympathetic by having her scream at the other students that they deserve to burn in Hell, and yet somehow, we're still supposed to feel sorry for her!
 * Junko Enoshima (Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School) (She lured Chiaki Nanami into a maze filled with booby traps, tortured her to death, forced the rest of Class 77-B to watch in order to turn them into Ultimate Despairs, and didn’t even get punished by anyone for it. Although she is defeated by mh:greatcharacters:Makoto Naegi, Hajime Hinata, and the other surviving students in Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair)
 * Tsumugi Shirogane (Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony) (She killed Rantaro Amami and framed mh:greatcharacters:Kaede Akamatsu for it, resulting in Kaede Akamatsu getting wrongfully executed, and Tsumugi Shirogane getting off scot-free for it until the 6th Class Trial. But like Junko before her, this doesn't last long, as she's defeated in said trial by Shuichi Saihara, Maki Harukawa, Himiko Yumeno, and K1-B0)
 * Tenko Chabashira (Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony) (No matter how awful her behavior gets, her classmates rarely (if ever) even try to call her out for it. Despite everything she said, and did, during her Free Time Events, no one even tried to point it out and everyone simply lets her continue her terrible behavior towards the males.)
 * Lizzie Devine (Codename: Kids Next Door) (Her first appearance has her attempt to brainwash Nigel, only to be later forgiven by the rest of Sector V. And she often acts hostile and stalkerish towards him, and never gets punished for any of it.)
 * Fanny Fulbright (Codename: Kids Next Door) (She's a huge boy-hater, hypocritical, blames others for her own mistakes, and even willingly decommissioned Sector V after describing what would happen in way too much detail, but the most she ever gets for all of it is being chewed out for an apt failure and her own bouts of stupidity, or personally humiliated for a comedy gag.)
 * Chad Amani (Chad (2021)) (He breaks two of Rieds possessions throughout the first season, and sabatoges Peter and Denise's romance, and serves no comeuppance whatsoever.)
 * Vanellope von Schweetz (Ralph Breaks the Internet) (She broke her own game because she's so determined to race that new course, further endangers Sugar Rush by going to Slaughter Race just because she's bored, despite knowing that a character leaving their game can get it unplugged wiping everyone out as the first movie established, and stayed there without considering that, or Ralph's feelings.)
 * Aquarius (Fairy Tail) (Despite the fact that she promised former master that she'd protect her daughter Lucy, she's regularly abusive towards the latter, always abandons her at the eleventh hour, called her an idiot when she was in danger and didn't have any of her other guild-mates to help her, and even says she always hated Lucy for being such a naive, crybaby little brat and even tells her she'd be relieved if they never saw each other again before she broke her key)
 * Pink Diamond (Steven Universe) (She started a war between her own people, traumatized her sisters by faking her death despite knowing all too well how they'd react, abused her power over Pearl by forcing her to bottle up her emotions, bubbled Bismuth away in Lion's mane and lied to the other Crystal Gems about what happened to her, is responsible for too many other horrible things for them all to be listed here. And what does she get for all of that? A peaceful life on Earth with Greg and the other gems where she's praised as a hero!)
 * Jake Spidermonkey (My Gym Partner's a Monkey) (He regularly treats Adam like garbage, but rarely, if ever, gets his comeuppances.)
 * Iona Hikawa (Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!) (She regularly treats Hime terribly and never listens to her side of the story about opening Axia and inadvertently releasing all the evil forces into the world, when Hime was trying all she could to restore her Kingdom while Iona was refusing to cooperate with the other cures, and is never called out for any of it. Although unlike most examples, she does realize the error of her ways and make amends with Hime.)
 * Akane Tendo (Ranma 1/2) (She often assaults and beats up Ranma, sometimes for the pettiest of reasons, and never faces any repercussions for her actions. But to her credit, she sometimes does have a good reason to be angry at Ranma since he isn't always completely innocent either.)
 * Sunny (Strange Magic) (He felt so entitled to Dawn that he tried to use a love potion on Dawn despite not knowing if she really reciprocated and only deciding to do it because maybe she wouldn't. And on top of that, he promised to take care of the potion only to screw everything up at the ball, and still got off scot-free and end up with Dawn in the end.)
 * Mr. And Mrs. Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb) (They treated their son Heinz like absolute dirt and never faced any consequences for any of it.)
 * Foxy Loxy and Goosey Loosey (Chicken Little) (She and most of the other characters treated Chicken Little horribly throughout the film all because he thought that the sky was falling, and her redemption at the end felt rushed and forced.)
 * Judge Peckinpah (The Angry Birds Movie) (He hypocritically sentenced Red to anger management classes when he too has anger issues, made the others sitting at the court laugh at Red when he said something insensitive about him, never showed the slightest bit of suspicion towards the pigs even when they destroyed Red's house. In fact, he barely even treats Red like a citizen, and still gets forgiven too easily for his actions by the end. But to his credit, he is another example who realizes they were wrong and redeems themselves by the end as well.)
 * Lu (Mike, Lu & Og) (She's almost always treating everyone around her like trash, mistreats her pet turtle Lancelot, and sees herself as above everyone around her. Yet she rarely, if ever, gets called out for any of it.)
 * Golly Gopher (Re-Animated) (He's manipulative, egotistical, and only shows concern for his reputation and never the slightest for anyone around him, and never faces any consequences for his behavior.)
 * Craig Yoshida (Re-Animated) (Despite being labeled as Jimmy's "friend", he spends the entire movie berating, pushing around, and taking advantage of him. And yet, the movie tries to portray Jimmy in the wrong for finally standing up for himself and treats Jimmy reconciling with Craig as a "happy ending".)
 * Gene Meh (The Emoji Movie) (He panicked for no good reason while being scanned by Alex, causing several apps to be deleted, and even left the Just Dance girl, Akiko Glitter, to die in the trash along with the Trolls while only showing concern for Hi-5. But the movie still tries to portray him as the main hero)
 * Titan (Space Chimps) (He doesn't receive any punishment for letting Zartog took over the space center where the three scientists at besides being called out by the chimps and Kilowatt for his actions in the sequel)
 * Vendetta (Making Fiends) (She constantly does cruel and spiteful things such as making monsters, or fiends, through baking, and even terrorizes the town she lives in. But this could be explained by the fact that she's a villain protagonist)
 * Princess Peach (SMG4) (She doesn't get any comeuppance for kicking Mario out of the castle in "Mario Joins the Circus", she has tried to kill Mario multiple times, and was ungrateful that Mario gave King Bert his crown back in "If Mario Was in Fall Guys" because she cared more about getting a new crown for herself.)
 * Morgan Patrick (Andi Mack): She is a criminal, as her mother allows her to do whatever she wants, and even when she does bad things, her mother denies any acknowledge of it, making it one of the reasons she gets away unpunished.
 * Kyosuke Kiriya (Kamen Rider Hibiki): He's an annoying, obnoxious, overly competitive, and mean-spirited jerk, looks down on others for little to no reason, and yet never seems to get any kind of punishment for his actions (in fact, he still got to become an Oni despite his terrible behavior in the show).
 * Paulina Sanchez (Danny Phantom): She is mean-spirited, vain, stylish, and insensitive who usually thinks she is above anyone below her social status. But she still never gets punished for her actions, nor does she realize the errors of her ways.
 * Dash Baxter (Danny Phantom): He is a very selfish, cruel, and mean-spirited bully, and unlike other bullies like him in another cartoon (Francis from The Fairly OddParents for example), he almost always gets away scot-free with his actions toward Danny and his friends.
 * Karma Akabane (Assassination Classroom): He's a name troper after a Karma Houdini for example he bullies Nagisa, but he's still a well-written character.
 * Katsuki Bakugo (My Hero Academia): When he used to bully Deku is never got punished for it even when he told him to commit suicide for not having a quirk.
 * Khannie the Panda (The Wacky World of Tex Avery; receives no comeuppance and goes unpunished with torturing Genghis)
 * Niles(SMG4): Got to go to heaven, despite destroying multiple universes and killing innocent people. same goes for SMG0.
 * FeeBee (Unikitty!) (She never gets punished for being a jerk to people who take her flowers)
 * Martin and Roland (The Transformers): doesn't get punished for their actions, especially with torturing Elise at the end of this episode.
 * Wolfoo (Wolfoo: Treats everyone badly and hardly ever gets his comeuppance whatsoever.)

Why This Trope Sucks

 * 1) Basically, this trope serves as hateful character development, where characters you hate or despise get off scot-free from anything they caused and actually deserve their comeuppance more than the butt-monkeys.
 * 2) It can ruin the reputation and likeability of characters who avoid the punishment that they deserve and do not learn from their wrongdoing.
 * 3) It is more often frustrating than funny to watch the wrong characters get punished for actions they didn't do.
 * 4) Avoiding karma can also cause characters to become unintentionally unsympathetic.

The Only Redeeming Quality

 * 1) Sometimes as said above, Karma Houdinis do at least get their comeuppances for excessively being mean-spirited towards other characters. Four and Tokkori are some examples of this.
 * Just because a character gets off scot-free doesn't necessarily mean we're meant to like them.