Basic Trope: If you wind up in jail, you must assert your dominance.
- Straight: When Brooklynite Flash Young winds up in prison, the first thing he does is tank at least ten blows from the local Head of Security Jason Bloodspiller and retaliate with a headbutt, which lands him in solitary, but earns the respect of his fellow inmates.
- Exaggerated: Flash makes his presence known by never wearing a shirt, showing off his powerful build. Next thing he does is clock Jason in the face with a clean left cross, knocking the Head of Security down and out. He spends most of his day in solitary, and is widely regarded as The Dreaded.
- Downplayed: Flash, while not exactly Made of Iron, does show his durability by tanking a good few blows before eventually caving, which makes other inmates joke that he's a lot tougher than other New Meat around here.
- Justified: You Had to Be Sharp if you want to make it in prison.
- Inverted: Flash instead proves that he's reliable instead of scary and dominant by helping out with the other prisoners' work. The inmates and guards are impressed with his diligence.
- Subverted: Flash fights off several prisoners, but this earns him the scorn of others instead.
- Double Subverted: Time to beat up the entire prison with nothing but his own two hands, which turns his scorned reputation into that of The Dreaded instead.
- Parodied: Flash does increasingly ridiculous stuff in prison to prove his dominance. It actually works!
- Zig-Zagged: Flash's reputation is... Screwy, at best, even whenever he asserts dominance over others.
- Averted: Flash doesn't really do much. He's an extra at best.
- Enforced: Sometimes Truth in Television, but more often than not it's an Establishing Character Moment for a certified tough guy.
- Lampshaded: "You know what the first rule of the yard is, kid. Square up, let's see what those fists can do!"
- Invoked: Guards set up a sort of Fight Club in order to determine where the new meat should be placed; Losers go to minimum security, Drawers or Tie-ers go to medium security, and Winners go to Solitary Confinement.
- Exploited: Flash uses his intimidating figure and frame, as well as the fact that the build isn't just for show, to get others to do his bidding for him.
- Defied: Guards make sure that the only way to earn others' respect is through hard work and diligence, not senseless violence.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Flash is freakishly tall (at around 6'11"), and he claimed to have come from solitary. While he doesn't seem like he does much, those two factor in to his reputation.
The First Rule of the Yard is to send the message out to everybody that you're nobody's bitch!
