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alt title(s): Happiness Equals Death
"Sir, I've checked around and no one aboard this ship has a name."
"So what?"
"So it means we're goons. Faceless cannon fodder!"
"Bah! You have no proof of that."
"Sir, in case you hadn't noticed... EVERYONE ON THE SHIP IS WEARING A RED SHIRT!"
"Bah! Sheer coincidence!"
"YOU'RE LIVING IN DENIAL! HE'S GONNA WIPE US ALL OUT!"
"BAH! YOU'RE CRACKING UNDER THE PRESSURE LAD. JUST RELAX. HERE, LET ME SHOW YOU SOMETHING. It's a picture of my wife and kids! Ain't they something? They're the reason that I'm here. I'm fighting for them. I ain't going to let them down."
"...Well, nice knowing you, Captain."

Retirony's equally devious brother. Whenever a character shows the others a picture of their family and/or loved ones, they're shot to the top of the Sorting Algorithm Of Mortality.

It mostly works as a cheap "look at my lovely family" moment so we feel bad for them when the character dies. This isn't immediately lethal though; it usually takes a while to kill the character because it bumps the Red Shirt into the Mauve Shirt's sweet spot for "less likely to die meaninglessly, much likelier to die meaningfully because it'll hurt more."

The variation where the picture directly leads to the character's death could be seen as a subtle acknowledgment of the trope.

Contrast Personal Effects Reveal, which often involves finding a family photo after the death.


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Embarrassing Old PhotoPhotography And IllustrationFurries Are Easier To Draw
Failsafe FailureAdded Alliterative AppealFatal Flaw
Family Unfriendly DeathDeath TropesFaux Death