Line #25 PlayingWith/AMillionIsAStatistic


1	'''Basic Trope''': A death of one important character matters more than thousands of {{Redshirt Arm\|y}}ies.
2	* '''Straight''': Through the course of the show, we see many {{Mooks}} and {{Red Shirt}}s being killed by both the heroes and the villains, either for the sake of defense or because they have outlived their usefulness. But when the BigBad Emperor Evulz kills {{Plucky\|Girl}} ActionGirl [[TheLancer Alice]] in cold blood, all her teammates suffer from HeroicBSOD and mourn for the next few episodes, which was Emperor Evulz' BatmanGambit to slow them down.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** Multiply the {{Red Shirt}}s and {{Mook}}s by [[MemeticMutation over nine thousand]], and make Alice TheScrappy.
5	** Bob watches an entire planet blow up and suddenly bursts into tears... because it means his pet goldfish died.
6	** [[TheHero Bob]] reacts this way after spilling juice on his shirt.
7	* '''Downplayed''':
8	** The heroes do sometimes think about the many people (whether they be Mooks or Redshirts) who died because of necessary actions or Emperor Evulz, but then realize that, to defeat Emperor Evulz, some must lose their lives. [[RuleOfEmpathy They just couldn't deal with Alice's death the same way.]]
9	** The cold-blooded execution of Alice is listed among various other war crimes, such as mass gassings, bombings, and burnings of innocent villages.
10	* '''Justified''':
11	** Alice was [[DamselInDistress a helpless prisoner]] [[NoQuarter when she]] [[KickThemWhileTheyreDown was killed]].
12	** People will typically be like this in real life; you'll be sadder when your mother dies than when 100 strangers are killed in a terrorist attack.
13	* '''Inverted''':
14	** The heroes couldn't care less when Alice or another teammate dies or goes missing, but deeply mourn when people they hardly know lose their lives.
15	** TheDeadHaveNames, but the main character is a RedShirt.
16	** Emperor Evulz's sidekick Leroy dies in battle, and the other villains mourn him.
17	** [[TheNeedsOfTheMany The Order of the Many]] leads an order who takes the opposite approach. They will gladly risk or [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves]] to save the most lives and mourn sheer numbers more than those who are close to them dying.
18	* '''Subverted''': And once they stop and look at the battlefield, they see that Alice's death is nothing compared to the horrors of war...
19	* '''Double Subverted''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint They killed]] [[TeamPet Tropey]], [[ComicallyMissingThePoint too!!]]
20	* '''Parodied''': Emperor Evulz is on trial for having murdered 99 people. After the judge gives his sentence, Evulz shoots a member of the jury, causing the judge to change his sentence to something smaller.
21	* '''Zig-Zagged''': Then they see that all those people died. And then [[TheHero Bob]] loses his favorite hat. [[DespairEventHorizon Cue the waterworks.]]
22	* '''Averted''':
23	** The heroes empathizes for Alice just as much as the others.
24	** [[EverybodyLives Every significant character makes it out alive.]]
25	** [[EverybodyDiesEnding No characters make it to the end.]]
26	* '''Enforced''': The creators wanted to emphasize how important Alice is to her teammates.
27	* '''Lampshaded''':
28	** "A bunch of armies wearing red shirts just died?" "Don't worry, WeHaveReserves!" "Wait, Alice just died? OH GOD!"
29	** "It's strange, isn't it? We've seen so many armies and citizens killed, and killed many villains ourselves... but none of their losses matter to us nearly as much as Alice's does."
30	* '''Invoked''': Emperor Evulz realizes this trope and kills one of the most loved member of the FiveManBand, in order to make the others vulnerable.
31	* '''Exploited''': As above, but Emperor Evulz does it accidentally and later exploits the heroes' reaction.
32	* '''Defied''':
33	** Bob carries a group photo of some of the soldiers so he never forgets how important their HeroicSacrifice is.
34	** TheBrute and Bob's rival [[ViolentGlaswegian Clay]] quietly growls, "Robert, [[TitleDrop say that line, 'a million is a statistic']], as many times as ya want, but ''[[GeneralRipper yew]]'' are the one who ordered ''their'' deaths, an' fer that, ''yew deserve gettin' cleaved in two''."
35	* '''Discussed''': "I know it's selfish but I can't help but to mourn Alices death... even if millions died in that war."
36	* '''Conversed''': "Why are the heroes so sad about their one teammate dying? An entire planet was blown up last episode."
37	* '''Implied''': "Sir, five thousand are dead from the latest attack." "Find one the public emphasizes with and mark his death in public. We have to rally the people."
38	* '''Deconstructed''': Several civilians [[WhatTheHellHero call the heroes out]] on how they can lack empathy for the many but mourn for the few.
39	* '''Reconstructed''':
40	** Then the heroes reveal that the few who died would have been future [[MessianicArchetype saviors of the Earth]] and since they are dead, humanity is doomed.
41	** The death of Alice is a form of JusticeByOtherLegalMeans, a crime that can be definitively pinned on Evulz himself.
42	* '''Played for Laughs''': Alice dies, and [[DueToTheDead everyone briefly mourns her]]. By the end of the episode, however, [[ForgottenFallenFriend they have completely forgotten that Alice ever existed]].
43	* '''Played for Drama''':
44	** Bob only mourns Alice's death, even though several thousand people died during the war. Once he realizes this fact, it throws him even deeper into despair.
45	** [[WideEyedIdealist Bob]] realizes [[HumansAreBastards how rotten society is to the core for not caring nor giving credit for all the soldiers who died fighting the villains.]] Because of this he [[MaddenIntoMisanthropy grows a loathing for humanity as a result]].
46	* '''Played for Horror''': The disproportionate focus on Alice's death at the expense of thousands of others is an early hint that our show follows a group of {{Sociopathic Hero}}es.
47	----
48	Destroyed a planet? Don't worry, AMillionIsAStatistic.

Context PlayingWith / AMillionIsAStatistic