Basic Trope: Backwards threat level scale where higher numbers mean war.
- Straight: DEFCON 1 is the lowest level of military readiness and DEFCON 5 is the highest.
- Exaggerated:
- DEFCON 6,000,000 is the highest level of military readiness.
- DEFCON 0 means unilateral disarmament and disbandment of the military.
- Downplayed: DEFCON 3 is declared to avoid confusing anyone.
- Justified: The government changed the system because it confused too many people.
- Inverted:
- DEFCON 6 is unilateral disbarment and disbandment of the military.
- DEFCON 0 means that Earth is about to blow up and everyone's gonna die.
- Subverted: With the world on the verge of nuclear war, the President orders the country to DEFCON 5. It's then revealed that the crisis had just been resolved off-screen.
- Double Subverted: But the President didn't know that at the time.
- Parodied:
- In the middle of a national crisis in a Dr. Strangelove-type movie, the President and his staff waste valuable time arguing over whether the DEFCON numbers go up or down.
- The DEFCON readings go from -∞ to ∞, meaning orders to go into, respectively, hibernation and overstimulation.
- Zig-Zagged: On the verge of World War III, the president orders the US to DEFCON 11. It turns out that he means he is going to relinquish the military and declare the US once again a colony of Great Britain.
- Averted: DEFCON 1 is correctly given as the highest level of military readiness.
- Enforced: Meddling Executives insist that "DEFCON 5" be the highest level of military readiness because people are used to seeing it that way.
- Lampshaded: "DEFCON 5 means 'no danger', DEFCON 1 is a crisis!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: The system hasn't been changed, but The Mole in the government assumes the president's authority and plays on people's belief that it has before ordering DEFCON 1 and inviting one or more hostile countries to invade.
- Defied:
- The President explicitly asks his military advisors what ordering DEFCON 1 means before he gives the order.
- The President refuses to order any DEFCON threat level regardless of the circumstances.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: After a nuclear crisis is averted, President Buffoon orders the country to DEFCON 1, thinking it means peace. The military takes this to mean the crisis was not averted, leading to A Nuclear Error and World War III.
- Reconstructed: Centuries after the nuclear hellfire, new countries with sophisticated militaries arise that adopt a DEFCON scale.
- Played for Laughs: President Buffoon describes the DEFCON level as "over nine thousand". He's the only one that finds it funny.
- Played for Drama: With the country currently at DEFCON 3, the government doesn't know what the President meant by "Go to DEFCON Four" before communications suddenly cut off without explanation, as he has been confused by the DEFCON system before. Did he mean "raise the military readiness" or "stand down"? Get it wrong one way, and the nation is vulnerable to attack; get it wrong the other way, and they may raise tensions to the point of A Nuclear Error for no reason.
- Implied: The President calls DEFCON 5, and the next scene depicts soldiers rushing to duty.
Back to Defcon 5
