History Main / ZigZaggingtrope

** ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' zig-zags 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.
** As well as this trope, ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' zigzags [[spoiler:SweetPollyOliver , when it starts applying to every single character. Except Blouse. Who, when they have to disguise as women, suggests that he be the one who does it, as the "boys" would clearly fail. He does get into the stronghold unhindered, while the regiment are so used to boyish mannerisms at that point that one of them has to lift her skirt in order to prove that she indeed ''is'' a girl.]]

* The ''Franchise/{{Scream}}'' zig-zags between mutliple tropes :

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''FanFic/ACharmedLife'' does this with HeelRealization: Light comes to realize he'd been acting like an asshole [[spoiler: when it comes to the way he was treating Ryuk]] and works to make amends [[WellIntentionedExtremist but he finds nothing wrong with being Kira of course.]] It also does this with the trope BecomingTheMask when [[MasterActor Light decides to play the role]] of "a naïve little boy playing with things he doesn't fully understand" but in many ways (such as his being a WideEyedIdealist PsychopathicManchild and messing with Shinigami who play by rules he does not fully understand) that is ''exactly'' what he is but Light himself is too deluded to realize it.

* ''Literature/{{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 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.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' has a female genie called Eden, who is also {{benevolent|Genie}}. Unlike Genie however, she's wise enough to become a LiteralGenie when dealing with JerkAss Abis Mal. When the villain wishes Genie imprisoned in the bottom of the ocean, she gives him an escape hatch because Mal didn't say forever. When Mal wished to become the biggest and strongest being in the world, she included 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.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' Does this with TheFunInFuneral. Yusuke attends his own funeral as a ghost. To his disgust, he finds that some of his classmates are laughing and smiling, causing him to think that they only came just to get extra credit. Then he sees Keiko crying over his death, and Kuwabara mourning over his death and commenting that he was supposed to be there for him. Then he notices Iwamoto and Akash, who seem to be rather glad that he was already dead. But Mr. Takanaka confronts the two, and proceeds inside their house. He follows him, and seems to be a little bit surprised to see the teacher mourn over his death. He also sees his mother, also doing the same. The kid whom he saved is also there with his mother, and as they leave the kid tells his mother that he was really a nice guy even though some people there were angry at him. Seeing how much he's missed by his childhood friend Keiko, his mother, his rival Kuwabara, and his school's principal gives him the resolve necessary to go through some difficult ordeals to get himself resurrected.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' does this with AlwaysChaoticEvil. Subverted, inverted, averted, double-subverted, and ultimately deconstructed. And just occasionally played straight. [[TropesAreNotBad It works beautifully.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheModifyers'':
** The unofficial porn short goes back and forth with the InterruptedIntimacy trope by having Rat capture [[PerkyGoth Lacey Shadows]] and turn her over to his boss, [[BigBadWannabe Baron Vain.]] But instead of getting rid of her, Vain becomes horny. Lacey attempts to free herself, until Vain starts to perform oral sex on her, which is when Rat interrupts hoping to get a compliment from Vain. It backfires, annoying Vain ''and Lacey'' who was just starting to [[AllWomenAreLustful get into it.]] So Vain decks Rat unconscious then proceeds to screw Lacey to both their hearts' content.
** The short also does the same with AttemptedRape by making it seem that Lacey would have a chance to escape, thanks to Rat distracting Vain. Except Lacey [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization had become horny]], despite her earlier protests, and was now more than willing. So once Vain decks Rat, Lacey takes the initiative and asks Vain if he's [[DoYouWantToCopulate ready to reesume]] from where they left off. He replies [[CoitusEnsues by screwing her]] for the remainder of the short.

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* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' fanfic'' ''Fanfic/CourtneysCrusadeForRedemption'' does this with IKnowMortalKombat. With Sam; for the boxing challenge, everyone tells him that just because he's good at playing Videogame/PunchOut doesn't make him a good fighter, and, luckily for him, he doesn't need to find out. Later, it turns out that being a great VideoGame/MarioKart player makes him very good at boat-racing.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheModifyers'':
** The unofficial porn short goes back and forth with the InterruptedIntimacy trope by having Rat capture [[TeenSpy Lacey Shadows]] and turn her over to his boss, [[BigBadWannabe Baron Vain.]] But instead of getting rid of her, Vain becomes horny. Lacey attempts to free herself, until Vain starts to perform oral sex on her, which is when Rat interrupts hoping to get a compliment from Vain. It backfires, annoying Vain ''and Lacey'' who was just starting to [[AllWomenAreLustful get into it.]] So Vain decks Rat unconscious then proceeds to screw Lacey to both their hearts' content.
** The short also does the same with AttemptedRape by making it seem that Lacey would have a chance to escape, thanks to Rat distracting Vain. Except Lacey [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization had become horny]], despite her earlier protests, and was now more than willing. So once Vain decks Rat, Lacey takes the initiative and asks Vain if he's [[DoYouWantToCopulate ready to reesume]] from where they left off. He replies [[CoitusEnsues by screwing her]] for the remainder of the short.

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* Creator/UmbertoEco's approach to TheDeathOfTheAuthor tends toward this, as demonstrated by ''The Limits Of Interpretation''.

[[ForTheLulz And sometimes the author is simply saying "Dance, trope, dance! Dance for my amusement!"]] before indulging in an EvilLaugh.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' does this with their GoldfishPoopGang: Team Rocket [[DiminishingVillainThreat quickly goes from being a threat to being a]] GoldfishPoopGang. They volley between legitimate threats and harmless nuisances. As of season 14, they are dangerous threats with an EvilCostumeSwitch. But then they change back to white. Then ghosts suck out their life force, making them goofy for one episode. Then they're back to serious again. And now they're back to being goofy in ''X & Y''.

* AssholeVictim is toyed with in Creator/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.

* ''Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey'' Does this with TheBoxingEpisode. The cover of issue 106 is done in the style of a boxing poster promoting a bout between Big Barda and Knockout, but the actual story doesn't involve the sport at all. ''Punching'', on the other hand, is very much present.

* ''Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey'' Does this with TheBoxingEpisode.The cover of issue 106 is done in the style of a boxing poster promoting a bout between Big Barda and Knockout, but the actual story doesn't involve the sport at all. ''Punching'', on the other hand, is very much present.