Playing With / Duck Season, Rabbit Season

Basic Trope: Two characters are in an argument that effectively deteriorates to "Yes!" and "No!". Someone switches sides, and the switcher invariably wins, generally making the loser look stupid.

• Straight:
  • Verbal: Alice and Bob are in an argument that has effectively turned into a match of screaming "Is so!" and "Is not!" at each other. While the argument is at its most heated, Bob unexpectedly switches sides, leading Alice to take up his position out of mindless contrariness, allowing Bob to win the argument.
  • Physical: Bob throws a grenade at Alice, who tosses it back to him. They keep tossing the grenade back and forth at each other until Bob snatches the grenade from Alice, who does likewise. After fighting over the possession of the grenade, Alice claims the grenade for herself and is blown up.
• Exaggerated: This trope is applied to a more complicated argument.
• Downplayed: Bob tricks Alice into compromising between the two sides of their argument (e.g. "it's both rabbit and duck season" or "it's neither rabbit season nor duck season").
• Justified:
  • Alice is an idiot.
  • Alice so blind with anger and a wish to outshout Bob at any cost, that she has momentarily forgotten what the argument was about in the first place.
• Inverted: The person who switches sides loses, possibly on purpose.
• Subverted:
  • The non-switcher plays along but switches it at the last moment. "You really didn't think that was going to work, did you?"
  • Alice doesn't take the bait when Bob switches sides, sticking to her position. Bob, annoyed, calls out "You were supposed to say 'is not!'"
  • As soon as Bob switches sides, Alice says "We have come to an agreement!"
• Double Subverted: The non-switcher switches at the last moment, but the non-switcher catches on and flips it back. "Yep, I did."
• Parodied: Alice and Bob argue about having children or not. Bob doesn't want children, but Alice switches sides and fools him. So Bob gets pregnant, to Alice's greatest confusion.
• Zig Zagged: See Double Subverted— rinse and repeat as necessary.
• Averted:
  • Nobody switches sides.
  • There is no conflict.
• Enforced: "We need to make this argument funnier. Let's have Alice switch sides and win; it would be the perfect chance to show how crafty Alice can be, and how gullible Bob is!"
• Lampshaded:
  • "Ha! Fooled you! I switched sides so I'd win!" "Why does that always work?"
  • "This is a pointless argument. Like in politics, all you have to do to win is switch sides."
• Invoked: Alice knows that Bob is easily manipulated, and thus switches her argument, knowing it'll cause her to win.
• Exploited: Bob is the one who does the switcheroo first, putting Alice off-balance.
• Defied:
  • Each person delivers his statement once and only once, and if Bob tries to prolong the argument, Alice keeps her mouth shut.
  • "I've got enough bullets for you and the rabbit, so when I say it's rabbit season, it's rabbit season, comprende?"
• Discussed: "I should have switched sides to trick Alice. You know, like what's-his-name did." "I don't think it would have worked, because unlike you, Alice has a brain."
• Conversed: "It seems like when characters switch sides of the argument, the switcher always wins! Why does it almost never work like that in Real Life?"
• Implied: Bob tells Charlie, "I don't know how Alice fooled me. At first, I thought I was on one side of the argument, but I was really on the other."
• Deconstructed: The trope is so widely abused, that switching sides is forbidden. People must sign a statement of intentions before any discussion.
• Reconstructed: They wind up pulling the routine over whether or not they properly signed the statement of intentions.
• Played For Laughs:

Alice: "I say 'Is so', while you say FIRE!"

• Played For Drama:
  • The argument is over which of them will die saving the other from Emperor Evulz.
  • Alice and Bob get into these kinds of arguments all the time, but the one time Alice doesn't go along with it and actually sticks to her position, Bob realizes that this time she means it.

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Back to Duck Season Rabbit Season
No, back to Rabbit Season Duck Season!
No, back to Duck Season Rabbit Season!
Rabbit Season Duck Season!
Duck Season Rabbit Season!
Rabbit Season Duck Season!
Duck Season Rabbit Season!
Rabbit Season Duck Season!
Rabbit Season Duck Season!
Duck Season Rabbit Season!
Rabbit Season Duck Season!
I say it's Duck Season Rabbit Season, and I say CLICK!

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