Inconsistently Heinous villains who use kindness or politeness to manipulate others in order to hide their true nature or to taunt others. Because of this, they are usually the opposite of Affably Evil Inconsistently Heinous villains, who are genuinely polite. On the other hand, a Faux Affable Inconsistently Heinous might be polite at first glance, but their politeness is not genuine.

However, not being genuinely polite does not necessarily make an Inconsistently Heinous villain Faux Affable, as some are just hostile from the beginning and without feigning any kindness (e.g. Dabi, Fliqpy and Jack Frost). They should be put under the Equally Hostile category instead.

Also, if a villain is truly affable to the people they care about, but is not or rarely affable to others, then they still fall under this category (e.g Walter White, Megatron, Mr. Krabs, Silco, Herrscher of the Void, Captain Hook, Azula, Chris McLean, Goro Akechi, Marisa Coulter, Yuno Gasai, Cersei Lannister, Dutch Van Der Linde, Harumi, Gus Fring, Wilkins, Tomura Shigaraki, and Scarlet Overkill). As for the case of a Redeemed or On & Off villain who is genuinely affable as a hero, but is not genuinely affable as a villain, then they still fall under this category even if they become more affable after their redemption (e.g. Darth Vader, Flowey, Sunset Shimmer, and Eric Cartman).

Their closest Inconsistently Admirable counterpart is Heroic Jerks.