'''Basic Trope''': A "red shirt" is an expendable extra character, whose only job is to die while accompanying the main characters through danger.
* '''Straight''': The main characters bring along a few [[NominalImportance nameless]] extras for a dangerous mission. The extras die horribly, and the main characters complete their mission.
* '''Exaggerated''': An entire RedShirtArmy dies but every named character survives without a scratch.
* '''Downplayed''':
** The red shirts are always clones or robots. Whenever one dies, the team creates an identical replacement.
** [[AnyoneCanDie All of the characters can die]], but the main characters tend to die [[DeathIsDramatic dramatic deaths]].
** Red shirts get smacked around a lot but none of them ever die.
** Nobody dies, but the red shirts are the first to get KO'd and/or captured.
* '''Justified''':
** The main characters have more experience. It's only the new guys who get themselves killed.
** The extras in question [[TooDumbToLive wear their red shirts in a hostile jungle]], making them obvious targets. The main characters are smart enough to wear camo, so they don't get hit.
* '''Inverted''':
** The main characters all die. The only survivors are new guys with no names and no previous role in the narrative.
** The extra [[IronButtMonkey walks off ridiculous amounts of damage, that would've killed other people]], on a regular basis.
** {{Mooks}}
* '''Subverted''':
** The extra [[DisneyDeath seems to be dead]], but survives and recovers her health.
** MauveShirt
* '''Double Subverted''': The extra narrowly escapes, only for a second, hitherto unnoticed peril to claim her.
* '''Parodied''':
** Cannonballs stop in midair, then change direction to hit the nameless extras, not the main characters.
** Main characters put on literal PlotArmor, shielding them from harm, but the extras all die.
** People serving on starships are pathologically afraid of [[LiteralMinded shirts that are red; some captains won't even let them on board]].
** The doomed extra is named [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Kenny]]; when he's killed, someone else shouts, [[ShoutOut "Oh my God!]] [[TheyKilledKennyAgain They killed Kenny!"]]
** The extra is actually not an extra and appears in every episode to the point of being a regular. The reason of him being treated as such is because the captain is not good with names and faces and always assumes he's the new guy.
* '''Zig Zagged''': The extra becomes a MauveShirt, but finally dies as a SacrificialLion. This isn't exactly a double subversion, because she is now too important to be a Red Shirt.
* '''Averted''':
** EveryoneLives, including all those minor characters.
** AnyoneCanDie
* '''Enforced''': "We need to kill some good guys, but all our main characters have PlotArmor. Insert some expendable red shirts."
* '''Lampshaded''':
** "Why is it always the new guy?"
** "Isn't it strange how we never get hurt but all of these random people die?"
** [[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness "Go put on a red shirt."]] ''({{beat}})'' "OhCrap"
* '''Invoked''':
** The villain wants to [[IWantThemAlive capture the main characters alive]], and deliberately kills only the extras.
** An AntiHero decides to send the extras into the front-lines, [[WeNeedADistraction giving the bad guys a distraction]] while he and the other main characters sneak in to their base.
** "Curse of the Red Shirt" is an Intristic effect on red garments that randomly {{Draw Aggro}}'s enemies.
* '''Exploited''': TheHero uses the redshirt deaths to inspire a RememberTheAlamo-style speech.
* '''Defied''':
** The main characters go by themselves, without any extras.
** TheHero tells his subordinates to [[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness "lose the red shirts"]] for an upcoming mission, and nobody gets killed.
** Knowing that they don't stand a chance on direct confrontations due to their lack of power, the extras start relying on a guile oriented approach to combat, [[WeakButSkilled employing cunning strategies to compensate deficiencies]]. In the process their effectiveness increases, while also decreasing their casualties' ratio.
* '''Discussed''': "I see an army coming, but who cares? It's all Red Shirts, and everyone knows how easily they can be killed."
* '''Conversed''': "Do the writers expect us to feel any sort of tension? It's obvious that all those extras in the background will die long before the main characters do. That is, if the main characters die at all."
* '''Implied''': The heroes come back from an offscreen battle and mention that there were "many deaths". Considering all the main characters are alive and well, it's obvious only nameless characters died.
* '''Deconstructed''':
** The families of the deceased red shirts sue the main characters for negligent death.
** The deaths of the red shirts traumatize the main characters.
* '''Reconstructed''': The hero shows that they went into battle of their own free will and actually put up a brave fight, considering they were facing certain death. The families drop the suits and statues are erected to honor their memories.
* '''Played For Laughs''':
** The nameless extras go around wearing targets or [[KickMePrank "shoot me"]] signs.
** "Don't worry. We're the leaders of The Rebellion. We always come back... Feel really sorry for those guys over there, though. I don't even know their names."
** [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Someone kills a]] {{recurring|Character}} [[TitleDrop Red Shirt]] [[TheyKilledKennyAgain in almost every episode]].
* '''Played For Drama''': The hero is the only survivor of a vicious battle. He laments that he was unable to save his men and the fact that he never even took the time to know them fills him with even more remorse.
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