Characters who sometimes act as heroes and sometimes they don't. Typically, this means that they "switch sides" (i.e. go back and forth) more than twice. These types of characters are very common in cartoons. The hero is only corrupted or redeemed if he or she stops switching sides and decides to stay evil or good in the end.

Majority of heroes who belong to this category are anti-heroes.

None of these characters are Pure Good because there are no breaks in the Purely Good heroes' heroism. On and Off heroes can still be sympathetic if their heroic acts are admirable enough and show significant kindness. In some cases, the on & off nature of a certain hero is because he/she is a video game character with multiple choices (e.g. Clementine and Eleanor Lamb).