Basic Trope: Two blades lock against each other, and the characters fighting usually proceed to push against each other and/or drop some witty or important dialogue.
- Straight: In Tales of Troperia's Chapter 5 Climax, Sir Bob and Barbaric Clay are dueling, and their swords make contact. They proceed to push against each other until either gives, which takes about fifteen seconds, and drop a couple clever taunts in the meantime.
- Exaggerated: The blades remain locked for a full ten minutes. Clay and Bob exchange lots of dramatic lines, and Bob spends the last two minutes giving a full speech about why Clay can't win.
- Downplayed: The blades lock for about two seconds, just enough for Bob to say "Give up already!"
- Justified:
- Clay and Bob are both clueless about actual swordplay, and don't know any of the grappling and maneuvering techniques one would want to use during a bind.
- Clay and Bob swung at each other so hard that their swords cleaved into one another, also known as "The Bite" in fencing terminology.
- Inverted: Clay and Bob are dueling with swords and shields. Somehow their shields get stuck against each other, and they exchange insults while trying to get them unstuck.
- Subverted: The blades come apart on their own after a second.
- Double Subverted: Then they lock again after a couple blows and remain locked for twenty seconds.
- Parodied:
- The swords are made of candy and actually stick to each other.
- Clay is wielding a gargantuan claymore and Bob is wielding a measly toothpick. The same effect still happens, complete with an hour long Snark-to-Snark Combat match and a two hour long "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Bob.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Blades never lock during combat.
- No one fights with blades.
- Enforced: The writers needed a point during the fight for the characters to drop some dramatic dialogue.
- Lampshaded: "Ah, it appears we have clashed blades. May we start dropping quips, dear rival?"
- Invoked: Sir Bob starts focusing on parries and swings at Clay's sword hard enough that the two enter this, in order to stall for time while Lance prepares to pounce on Clay's back.
- Exploited:
- During the sword push, Clay uses his off hand to draw a dagger and stab Bob.
- Clay wins the sword push and stabs Bob while he's knocked off-balance.
- Lance pounces on Clay's back while he's distracted pushing against Bob.
- Clay furiously wrestles with Bob, throwing him into any nearby stage hazards.
- Bob kicks Clay in the groin for an easy hit in.
- Defied:
- Clay and Bob pull away to disengage the instant their blades lock.
- Clay and Bob lubricate their blades in order to make sure that this never happens.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "What's with the pointless blade pushing in films? Why do they never just move their blades around each other?"
- Implied: ???
- Deconstructed: Clay and Bob spend a lot of energy just pushing against each other, and by the time the blade lock ends, they're both too tired to continue fighting.
- Reconstructed: ???
- Played for Laughs: ???
- Played for Drama: It's an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight, and Bob makes a heartbreaking attempt to call out to Clay during the blade lock.
Back to Blade Lock. And make sure that your sword is extra slippery so that it doesn't happen again.
