History Main / GoYeHeroesGoAndDie

* Subverted in the ''Sandokan'' cartoon. In his speech to the {{mooks}} occupying the goodies' island stronghold and awaiting a counterattack, 'Admiral Zenay' delivers such inspiring lines as "the pirates outnumber us ten to one" (leading the Major to add, in his follow-up speech, "the pirates will be overwhelming us at any moment"). Since '[[SdrawkcabName Zenay]]' is actually Yanez, Sandokan's second-in-command, in disguise, demoralising them is all part of the plan.

* The pilot of ''{{Community}}'' contains a non-death related variation; the Dean's RousingSpeech to welcome the new students in the pilot becomes one of these when he manages to lose the middle, which is unfortunately the bit that contains the 'Rousing' part; the rest is just basically a list of all the stereotypes (which, unfortunately, match our heroes quite closely) of the kind of 'loser' who attends community college. Naturally, no one listening is particularly roused.

* At the beginning of ''TheWestWing'' episode "Election Day", in the moments before the polls open it is suggested that Josh Lyman, the Santos Campaign Manager, might want to say a few words to rouse and inspire the troops. Unfortunately, Josh is in the process of allowing his own neuroses about the occasion to overwhelm him, with the result that his speech quickly derails into a rant about a key tactical mistake that someone he's already fired made months ago. Needless to say, the troops are neither roused nor inspired by this.

* "La Resistance" from ''SouthPark: [[TheMovie Bigger, Longer, and Uncut]]''.

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* ''AzumangaDaioh'': Right before taking the entrance exam for college, Tomo declares "All right, let's ''fail'' this thing!" Only [[CloudCuckooLander Osaka]] remains cheerful.

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* [[http://comics.com/wizard_of_id/2010-01-16/ This]] TheWizardOfId strip.

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<<|ComedyTropes|>>

these intentions are well meant."

these attentions are well meant."

-->'''Spike''': We band of buggers.

* Theoden has a remarkably short one in the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Return of the King]]'' movie. "No, we can't [defeat them]. But we will meet them in battle nonetheless." No wonder Aragorn took over the duties of rallying his troops in the next battle.
** The one Theoden gives just before the battle was originally Eomer's encouragement for a last stand in the book. That's why it basically boils down to "let's at least try to die heroically".

The trope is named after a passage from the song "When the Foeman Bares His Steel," from the Pirates of Penzance.

* In a book of the SwordOfTruth series, Zedd invokes this by using it intentionally: He gets a mob that wants to burn him for witchcraft to convince itself that warlocks are powerful, evil quasi-deities, and then compliments them on their courage to fight such a dangerous foe.

* In a book of the SwordOfTruth series, Zedd subverts this by using it intentionally: He gets a mob that wants to burn him for witchcraft to convince itself that warlocks are powerful, evil quasi-deities, and then compliments them on their courage to fight such a dangerous foe.

-->'''Spike''': We band of buggered.

* Paul [=McCartney=] gives one of these early in the ''LetItBe'' sessions. (Yes, one of these made a {{documentary}}.) It did not go over well. (It's amazing those sessions went as well as they did.)

* In ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'' Captain Carrot rallies his troops with a rousing cry of "If we succeed, no-one will remember. And if we fail, no one will forget!". Noted to be perhaps the worst battle cry since "Come on boys, lets all get our throats cut!"

* Subverted in the ''Sandokan'' cartoon. In his speech to the {{mooks}} occupying the goodies' island stronghold and awaiting a counterattack, 'Admiral Zenay' delivers such inspiring lines as "the pirates outnumber us ten to one". Since '[[SdrawkcabName Zenay]]' is actually Yanez, Sandokan's second-in-command, in disguise, demoralising them is all part of the plan.

When a pep-talk... isn't.

** It's a subversion, though, in that it actually works. But only because it's Carrot, who could have led a thousand armies into war under the battle cry of "Eggs! Milk! Bread! FLOUR!"