History Main / ZigZaggingtrope

** The second part of the event starts with an over-the-top dramatic scene where TheNostalgiaCritic and TheSpoonyOne discuss [[EnemyWithin Doctor Insano]]. The two simultaneously [[LargeHam overact]] for drama, [[{{Narm}} humour]] and [[NarmCharm ironic humour]].

[[AC:MangaAndAnime]]

** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with for Kaid and his son, Dzaka.

[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]

PlayingWithATrope [[XMeetsY meets the]] ThirtyGambitPileup.

Sometimes, a trope is handled in a way that is, quite frankly, beyond our normal categorizations of [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], [[AvertedTrope aversion]], [[DoubleSubvertedTrope double subversion]], or [[InvertedTrope inversion]]. Such tropes wind up as those rare complexities that can make the readers grin ([[DrivenToSuicide or shoot their brains out]] due to being {{Mind Screw}}ed). Thus, the Zig Zagging Trope.

Sometimes a Zig Zagging trope is a product of overcomplication after it comes into play; anything involving a triple subversion makes the result a zig-zagging use of the trope. Sometimes, a trope is both inverted and played straight at the same time, which is also a Zig Zagging trope.

In other words, think of an example of this as any that is too screwy or complex to be one of the other TropeTropes.

Has [[IThoughtItMeant nothing to do with]] TakeOffEveryZig.
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!!Examples:
[[AC:{{FanFic}}]]
* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4876578/1/I_Want_a_Refund I Want A Refund]], For reasons too complicated to explain, Kuno has forbidden anyone to date [[RanmaOneHalf Nabiki]] Tendo as part of his attempt to deny her income. Nabiki invokes an inverted "I'll do anything" offer to any boy that defeats Kuno- secure in the knowledge that Kuno's warped honor code will prevent him from surrendering, and that he will successfully defeat all the other boys in school (since Ranma isn't fighting). Kuno [[spoiler:manages to defeat himself]], and what follows is a Triple subversion of the "I'll do anything" trope- maybe even quadruple, or quintuple depending on your perspective.
* ''[[{{FanFic/Ptitle0028gzjm}} Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' does this with RecurringDreams: Kanae's favorite dream is kissing her [[SempaiKohai sempai]] at the beach and magically teleporting to a shadowy wooded glade surrounded by bunnies and flowers. The dream isn't psychic or precognitive but [[ContrivedCoincidence events happen]] so her sempai is in a very similar position to the start of her dream. With Kanae sightly dazed (enough to realize the differences on her usual dream but not enough to realize she's awake, ItMakesSenseInContext) she kisses her sempai for the first time, everybody watching.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* HeroicSecondWind has a rather peculiar level of heavy subversion in ''TheMatrix Revolutions'': After Smith delivers a truly exemplary NietzscheWannabe speech, he asks the beaten Neo why the hell he even bothers to keep fighting. Neo stands and says, "Because I choose to." Cue asskicking, trope subversion as Smith rejuvenates and beats Neo to a pulp again, double subversion as Neo gets up again, [[spoiler:triple subversion as Smith manages to infect Neo, and finally quadruple subversion as Neo uses his defeat to provide a link between Smith and the computer that created him, allowing it to simply delete him]].
** Is ''that'' what happened? Makes sense.
* ''GalaxyQuest'' in regard to LampshadeHanging.
* TheBadGuyWins becomes rather a ZigZaggingTrope in MurderOnTheOrientExpress. In the traditional way of viewing murder mysteries the "bad guy" is the committer or committers of the in-film murder, but the murder victim was himself a horrendous monster [[spoiler: and mafioso who was killed only because he escaped justice by due process of law for his crimes, and a large part of the story involves the central dilemma caused by Poirot being after the murderer/murderers of a man who so obviously had it coming to him and was clearly the worst guy amongst all the characters of the story ethically. When Poirot figures out whodunnit, he lets the guilty parties literally get away with murder, allowing them to win in the sense of escaping justice even though they've lost in the sense of failing to succeed at their plot of deceiving him -- although in a sense they won to begin with just by succeeding at their plot to murder Ratchett at all, which is what they were there for in the first place.]] If you go by defining the bad guy literally as the most morally degraded character in the story, then Ratchett alternately loses in the sense of ending up a murder victim himself, wins in the sense that his murderer(s) cannot murder him without getting caught, and he loses again in that the murderer(s) get(s) away with it anyhow. And had won long ago at escaping the law itself in the first place to begin with, at which his success technically remains permanent.
* [[{{Manic Pixie Dream Girl}} Watching]] [[{{Lucy Liu}} the]] [[{{Single Woman Seeks Good Man}} Detectives]] zigzags [[{{Understatement}} quite frequently]] between [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstruction]] and [[{{Reconstruction}} Reconstruction]] while [[{{Playing With A Trope}} playing tropes like a drum]]. It's better to just give up trying to analyze it and enjoy the [[{{Cillian Murphy}} dreamy]] [[{{Estrogen Brigade Bait}} blue]] [[{{Even The Guys Want him}} eyes]].

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* AssholeVictim is toyed with in IsaacAsimov's ''The Naked Sun'', where the murder victim qualifies under reasons two (to allow the murderer to be [[SympatheticMurderer sympathetic]]) and three (it maximizes the number of possible suspects) . . . because he was the perfect embodiment of the planet's social code ("a good Solarian"), that is, an anti-social a-hole. Everyone had a motive to murder the man who reminded them all of their imperfections, and in the end Elijah Baley decides to sit on the knowledge of who murdered the victim.
* TheMole is played with in HarryPotter with Snape. As in, the main characters have thought (and therefore the reader thinks) that he was ''every single sub-trope of this'' at some point, until finally he just becomes ambiguous. It was played straight to begin with, then inverted to become the ReverseMole, then the main characters thought he was a HeelFaceMole who was just duping Dumbledore and can't be trusted, and then the inverse of ''that'', etc, etc. That is, up until TheReveal, where [[WordofGod it's established]] that [[spoiler: he's just doing it for Lily Potter]].
* The entire point of the TomHolt novel ''Falling Sideways''. The description of the backstory of the major players is revised, revisited and completely contradicted every two or three chapters, and keeping track of all the lies (and trying to fit it into the events of the book) becomes a big brain-hurting exercise. It doesn't help that, at the end, there's still plenty of huge {{Plot Hole}}s.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting gets a lot of play in TheSiranthaJaxSeries. There's an alien species who change form... by extruding an extra skin around their insectoid bodies. They can manipulate the features on the outside layer, but they occasionally have to molt it and replace it.
* The WheelOfTime zigzags KissingCousins in ''one chapter'', when Rand is researching his family tree, trying to figure out if he is related to [[spoiler: Elayne Trakand, his lover]], and receives a lot of confusing and slightly contradictory evidence resulted in the trope going from seemingly played straight, to subverted, to "sort of true." [[spoiler: Elayne is indeed Rand's cousin, but only a very distant one. They descend from the same bloodline, but are not close enough to be considered really related.]]
** [[spoiler: Except that he doesn't know his mother was actually much more closely related. We think anyway.]]
*** [[spoiler: They are very distant cousins... who share a half brother, by way of Rand's mom and Elayne's dad.]]

** In the second book, there's even more play on the trope- [[spoiler: Katniss is sure that there can only be one winner this time, but then five of the tributes are rescued from the arena.]]
* ''Candle'' by John Barnes does ''something'' to ShadesOfConflict, as one [[TheReveal reveal]] after another changes the apparent shade of the conflict. In order: BlackAndWhiteMorality ([[HiveMind One True]] is good, the last rebel [[CompleteMonster raped a little girl for the fun of it]]), [[spoiler:BlackAndGreyMorality or EvilVersusEvil (One True is [[YouWillBeAssimilated solely concerned with propagating itself]], but the representative of it who serves as the main character is only partially controlled and is a LawfulGood WellIntentionedExtremist), WhiteAndGreyMorality or a reversed BlackAndWhiteMorality (One True lied about the rebel, and he's actually a good guy), GreyAndGreyMorality or EvilVersusEvil ''again'' (the rebel is the last survivor of a benevolent HiveMind founded to protect humanity from One True and its like, but it [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope]] and now what remains of it forces him to convert more people, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie just like One True]]), and finally RousseauWasRight (the rebel himself is still an idealist, and One True is willing to learn from his example, voluntarily splitting itself into bits and becoming more of a MentalFusion.]] The sequel takes it another step: [[spoiler:One True is ''trying'' to be good, but is still driven to propagate itself, and may or may not have killed thousands of people so it could assimilate the rest into its "[[WellIntentionedExtremist benevolent]]" control.]]
* ''[[Discworld/MonstrousRegiment Monstrous Regiment]]'' does that with the ModernMajorGeneral Blouse's PingPongNaivete. Is he really that stupid? No, he turns out to be a genius about certain things. Then he reverts right back to useless officer, and back to smart... and back.
** He's smart about certain things ... and ''only'' about those things. It's just that, unlike most characters of his type, he can find practical uses for them. But only some of the time - the rest of the time he's genuinely clueless.
** Wouldn't that make him a GeniusDitz?
*** That's part of it, but not all of it. He's TheDitz, but (in addition to topical genius) varies between intelligent but clueless, WrongGenreSavvy, and ''subverting'' WrongGenreSavvy (which is itself ''already'' a subversion). Witness, for instance, the scene where Jackrum fakes a MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours.

[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]
* MahouSenseiNegima does this with the concept of the UnwantedHarem. It starts out as one, but oh wait, he's ObliviousToLove, then a bunch of the cast fall in love with him anyway, but it doesn't count because he [[ChasteHero never reciprocates]], unless [[IDidntMeanToTurnYouOn it's unintentional]], etc. It's still not entirely clear if the series is actually an UnwantedHarem or not.
** It does the same thing with FirstGirlWins, as there are about 5 girls who fit the criteria, and at least one of them could also qualify as [[LastGirlWins the last girl]]. And of course, Negi might not end up with any of them...
** The Negi/Rakan fight is essentially a long string of Subverted {{Anti Climax}}es combined with numerous instances of IAmNotLeftHanded. It's hard to tell whether the fight's conclusion is actually an AntiClimax or not.
* GiantRobo does this with a BrokenPedestal. The image of Vogler keeps getting added on with new information from new character left and right, from being a vengeful MadScientist to a benevolent scientist. Eventually, [[spoiler: it ends with subversion]]. Too bad PoorCommunicationKills.
* In ''KitchenPrincess'', Sora appears to be a ShallowLoveInterest as he seems to fall for Najika off the bat. [[spoiler: A side story reveals that he had already run into her and was charmed by her, though she never finds out.]]Then it turns out he was just ordered to hang out with her so that she could be used in a publicity stunt. However, it was inevitable that he'd develop real feelings for her with all the time he spent with her. [[spoiler: Then Sora dies. Not to mention it's also insinuated another reason he wanted to have a relationship with her was so that there would be less chance of his younger brother remembering how their mother died]].

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* The first time Lemont Brown is alone with Saxon Kenchu in ''{{Candorville}}'', the latter goes from a FlatCharacter to an apparently AxeCrazy KnifeNut. The story he tells, however, indicates that he's just ProperlyParanoid--but the fact that he put a paralytic agent in Lemont's drink leads him to admit within two panels that maybe he's just plain paranoid. Meanwhile, Lemont thinks the whole story is [[InTheMouthOfMadness Kenchu's hallucination]] and he really is AxeCrazy--[[spoiler:and then Kenchu shows his GameFace, meaning he's not AxeCrazy but ''is'' a {{Dhampyr}} and quite probably a KnifeNut. Then it turns out that Kenchu is [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire trying to protect Lemont]], subverting the KnifeNut trope.]]

[[AC:RealLife]]
* In the days of WilliamShakespeare, ''all'' roles in a theater play were played by men or boys. This includes the female roles, so you had guys dressing up as girls, so you get DudeLooksLikeALady. Which makes for a very interesting time when this guy is playing either Viola from ''TwelfthNight'' or Rosalind from ''AsYouLikeIt''. Both are female roles, but the females ''disguise themselves as males'' in their respective plays, producing the reverse trope, {{Bifauxnen}}. So you end up with a guy playing as a girl that's pretending to be a guy: a crossdressing double-cross, one could say.
* [[http://www.slate.com/id/2210913/ This]] newspaper article suggests that a current political sex-scandal is going through this. In brief, Gay male mayor, possibly underage male intern. On the one hand, Gay Man Child Predator is a very old and damaging trope, on the other hand HotForStudent suggests that we don't think of a young male was 'taken advantage of' but maybe even 'got lucky'. By contrast, old guy - young girl is seen as more 'appreciable' but much more often 'predatory'. Furthermore, gay men are 'expected' to be secretive about their sex lives for some because of privacy, for some because of leeway for a frowned-upon sexuality, and for some because of BrainBleach.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

** As does the ''{{Terminator}}'' franchise, even when it ''probably'' shouldn't...
* ''AceCombat'' zig zags around SoLastSeason with its starter planes; some games have better starter planes than later ones, but the current latest one, ''6: Fires of Liberation'' also has a better starter plane that some games before it. See the trope page for the full rundown.
* ''FatPrincess'' does this to SaveThePrincess.
* KnightInShiningArmour trope in {{Braid}}.
* ''[=~Frontlines: Fuel Of War~=]'' zig zags with BagOfSpilling: Each mission comes in two halves, and you keep all of your gear if you die... But when the second half of the level loads you're suddenly stuck with a regular weapon set and ''none'' of the collected gear from the first section.
* JeanneDArc actually managed to pull this off with the DoomedByCanon Trope. In real life, Joan was [[DownerEnding burned at the stake]] but in the game, [[spoiler: she was previous NotQuiteDead, so her best friend Liane was actually posing as her for a portion of the game. Liane instead was captured and burned at the stake since she had been masquerading as Joan and everyone believed her to be the true Joan. For extra irony, Joan herself appears on the scene moments after.]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* Look under "FanPreferredCouple" for ''ElGoonishShive''. The trope is [[InvokedTrope set up]] when an alternate love interest for Elliott is introduced in the form of Nanase, [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when they turn out to actually ''be'' a couple, [[DoubleSubvertedTrope double subverted]] when she breaks it off because there's no spark, and then ''triple'' subverted when [[OppositeSexClone Ellen]]/Nanase becomes canon. Triple-subversions are ''extremely'' hard to do... but the trope isn't being subverted as much as being a straight playing of WillTheyOrWontThey.
* ''DarthsAndDroids'' do this with NotTheFallThatKillsYou. More complex than you thought.

** This comes close to ''quadruple''-subversion level, though only time will tell: [[spoiler:Reynardine is now under Annie's control, and as Annie learns more and more about him, he appears to be far more sympathetic and far less the demon that Eglamore believed.]]
*** Probably already counts as a quadruple subversion, after [[spoiler:in #109 Eglamore requested to turn Reynardine over and Antimony [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome refused and offered a good rebuff]],]] so the situation essentially turned into [[spoiler:"the Fair Maiden saves the [ex-] Dragon from the Knight"]].
* Randomly point a finger, with eyes closed, somewhere on the FateAndProphecyTropes page, and you're likely to find something in ''{{Digger}}'' that's addressed in this manner.
* ''OrderOfTheStick'' does this with AlwaysChaoticEvil. Subverted, inverted, averted, double-subverted, and ultimately deconstructed. And just occasionally played straight. [[TropesAreNotBad It works beautifully.]]
* ''TheWhiteboard'' does this regularly with MoreDakka, substituting paintballs for real bullets.
* In {{Nedroid}}, the initial comics had a lot of artistic experimentation, with some comics looking sketchy while others looked gorgeous. As time went on, the comic eventually focused on a simple, but polished art style. It's two cases of {{Art Evolution}} while simultaneously being two cases of Art Decay.
* [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=561 This]] ''SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' panel is a textbook example of screwing with the reader's expectation so many times it makes you dizzy. The webcomic in question ''loves'' this trope.
* {{Jack}} zigzags ParentalAbandonment with Fnar, an innocent unborn, who has two dead parents - both reside in Hell like he does. He is mainly kept away from them, since Mama's stuck in a dangerous place, and Papa is just dangerous. Later on the trope gets twisted further: Papa finds him [[spoiler:and to some degree abuses him as a means to get to his de facto guardian]], after which Fnar is separated from both Mama and Papa [[spoiler: as he is given another chance at life]]. Except that not all so, because [[spoiler:Papa is a Sin and able to visit the world of the living]]...
* In TalesOfTheQuestor, Ralph Hayes has loads of fun with BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Quentyn ''is'' careful what he wishes for, utterly screwing his fae enemy. Then he realizes he wished for the wrong things--only to learn that his original wishes were the best ones he could have come up with.

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* In part 1 of ''{{Kickassia}}'' GodwinsLaw is both played straight and inverted ''in the very same sentence''.
--->"So are you a nazi, or a NAZIIIIIIII?"
** The second part of the event starts with an over-the-top dramatic scene where TheNostalgiaCritic and TheSpoonyOne discuss [[EnemyWithin Doctor Insano]]. The two simultaneously [[LargeHam overact]] for drama, [[{{Narm}} humour]] and [[NarmCharm ironic humour]].

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* There are at least two episodes in the ''MenInBlack'' animated series which play with the WhatMeasureIsANonCute to a somewhat confusing degree:
** In ''The Buzzard Syndrome'', an alien comes to Earth hunting another alien, so it's Space Policeman hunting Dangerous Killer. Then the lies are exposed, and it seems to be Heartless Bounty Hunter hunting Cute Alien. Then it turns out that the cute alien is a killer, so it's Heartless Bounty Hunter hunting Cute Dangerous Killer. Bit hard to keep track of the lies.
** In ''The Star System Syndrome'', something is doing in the alien actors of Hollywood. They believe it's the Space Demon, a washed-out actor who looks like the ''[[Film/{{Alien}} Alien]]'', but he just wants to get another movie deal. It turns out to be the Astro Tots, the cute little hosts of a children's show. And then, it turns out the Astro Tots are ''exactly'' as harmless as they appear and that they only trapped the other actors for setting a bad example.
* A Triple Subversion occurs in ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Bart Gets An Elephant." Two men are carrying a [[SheetOfGlass large pane of glass]] across a street. Out of nowhere, Stampy the elephant comes charging down the street, only for the men to [[SubvertedTrope move out of the way.]] Then Bart comes racing down the street on his skateboard in pursuit; [[DoubleSubversion the men move out of the way again.]] This leaves them free to continue carrying the pane of glass across the street, [[ZigZaggingTrope where they promptly toss it into a garbage bin, shattering it.]]
* The TV series version of Aladdin has a female genie called Eden, who is also benevolent. Unlike Genie however, she's wise enough to become a Literal Genie when dealing with Jerk Ass Abis Mal. When the villain wishes Genie imprisoned in the bottom of the ocean, she give him an escape hatch because Mal didn't say forever. When Mal wished the biggest and strongest being in the world, she including a method of relieving him of his power; and when the little girl who finds her wishes for everything to be all right, she turns Abis Mal into a bug as a "freebie". She also went out of her way to encourage the little homeless girl to come up with better wishes; when the girl wished for a sandwich, she convinced her to wish for a lifetime supply of food instead.
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<<|TropeTropes|>>

PlayingWithATrope [[XMeetsY meets the]] ThirtyXanatosPileup.

** As does the ''{{Terminator}}'' franchise, even when it [[WallBanger probably shouldn't...]]

* A Triple Subversion occurs in ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Bart Gets An Elephant." Two men are carrying a large pane of glass across a street. Out of nowhere, Stampy the elephant comes charging down the street, only for the men to [[SubvertedTrope move out of the way.]] Then Bart comes racing down the street on his skateboard in pursuit; [[DoubleSubversion the men move out of the way again.]] This leaves them free to continue carrying the pane of glass across the street, [[ZigZaggingTrope where they promptly toss it into a garbage bin, shattering it.]]

* A Triple Subversion occurs in ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Bart Gets An Elephant." Two men are carrying a large pane of glass across a street. Out of nowhere, Stampy the elephant comes charging down the street, only for the men to [[SubvertedTrope move out of the way.]] Then Bart comes racing down on his skateboard; [[DoubleSubverson the men move out of the way again.]] This leaves them free to continue carrying the pane of glass across the street, [[ZigZaggingTrope where they promptly toss it into a garbage bin, shattering it.]]

** The second part of the event starts with an over-the-top dramatic scene where TheNostalgiaCritic and TheSpoonyOne discuss [[EnemyWithin Doctor Insano]]. The two simultaneously [[LargeHam overact]] for drama, [[{{Narm}} humour]] and [[NarmCharm ironic humour]].

* * HeroicSecondWind has a rather peculiar level of heavy subversion in ''TheMatrix Revolutions'': After Smith delivers a truly exemplary NietzscheWannabe speech, he asks the beaten Neo why the hell he even bothers to keep fighting. Neo stands and says, "Because I choose to." Cue asskicking, trope subversion as Smith rejuvenates and beats Neo to a pulp again, double subversion as Neo gets up again, [[spoiler:triple subversion as Smith manages to infect Neo, and finally quadruple subversion as Neo uses his defeat to provide a link between Smith and the computer that created him, allowing it to simply delete him]].

* [[{{Manic Pixie Dream Girl}} Watching]] [[{{Lucy Liu}} the]] [[{{Single Woman Seeks Good Man}} Detectives]] zigzags [[{{Understatement}} quite frequently]] between [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstruction]] and [[{{Reconstruction}} Reconstruction]] while [[{{Playing With A Trope}} playing tropes like a drum]]. It's easier to just give up trying to analyze it and enjoy the [[{{Cillian Murphy}} dreamy]] [[{{Estrogen Brigade Bait}} blue]] [[{{Even The Guys Want him}} eyes]].

* In ''KitchenPrincess'', Sora appears to be a ShallowLoveInterest as he seems to fall for Najika off the bat. Then it turns out he was just ordered to hang out with her so that she could be used in a publicity stunt. However, it was inevitable that he'd develop real feelings for her with all the time he spent with her. [[spoiler: Then Sora dies. Not to mention it's also insinuated another reason he wanted to have a relationship with her was so that there would be less chance of his younger brother remembering how their mother died]].

* In ''KitchenPrincess'', Sora appears to be a ShallowLoveInterest as he seems to fall for Najika off the bat. Then it turns out he was just ordered to hang out with her so that she could be used in a publicity stunt. However, he had to spend so much time with her that he ''did'' eventually fall for her for real. [[spoiler: Then Sora dies]].