Basic Trope: A character didn't finish their training or schooling on something.
- Straight: Bob never finished all his MMA lessons at the Trope Dojo.
- Exaggerated: Bob only ever took the free introductory taster session at Trope Dojo, and considers that all the training he needs.
- Downplayed:
- Bob only had the most superficial aspects of MMA to learn before he started his quest.
- Bob actually learned everything practical he needed, but wound up as an Uncertified Expert because due to a technicality he never officially graduated.
- Justified:
- Bob got overconfident and left midway through his training, believing that he'd learned enough.
- Bob's master died before he could complete his training.
- The Big Bad attacked before Bob's training was complete, and he has to counterattack now.
- Bob was given lousy training by his sensei as a joke (this one is Truth in Television, sadly).
- Inverted: Bob stays at the dojo after graduation to take the advanced courses, which leads to his initial Refusal of the Call; someone has to convince him that he's learned enough already to confront the problem.
- Subverted: Bob never finished his training, but then finds out that he really had learned everything, and his master was just saying there was more to learn to screw with him.
- Double Subverted: But then he finds a better master who shows him that there really are more techniques to learn.
- Parodied: Bob never completed his training... for changing diapers.
- Zig Zagged: Bob stormed out of his training, frustrated with his Trickster Mentor never giving a straight answer... only to eventually figure out that the mentor's cryptic remarks became relevant later on and helped him to learn from experience. The mentor congratulates him on figuring out this lesson and invites him back to complete his training... but the mentor is killed by the Big Bad before he can give him the final piece of the puzzle!
- Averted: Any characters who enter a plot-relevant training programme finish the whole thing before putting their new skills to work.
- Enforced: "We want our characters to have room for growth and improvement. We need them to start out partially unqualified to do that."
- Lampshaded: "All I want is to learn. Why does circumstance have to prevent me from completing my lessons?"
- Invoked: Bob's master tells him that for the final stages of his training, he has to Figure it Out Himself — it's the Only Way He'll Learn.
- Exploited: A character who never finished their training gets their butt kicked by someone who did.
- Defied:
- Bob makes every effort to finish his training.
- Bob's master refuses to let him leave the dojo until he finishes his training.
- At the Assassins' Academy, you stay until you graduate, or die trying. Resignations Not Accepted - - and this policy is strictly enforced. And you can't destroy the Assassins' Academy; Anyone who wants to stay can thank us.
- Discussed: "Why did my master have to ditch me? I wanted to finish my schooling!"
- Conversed: "Why does it seem like no one in fiction finishes their training?"
- Implied: Bob fights alongside other graduates of Trope Dojo, but he's only seen using basic techniques while the others are clearly more advanced.
- Deconstructed: Bob didn't attend enough lessons to learn a technique that would be useful against his current opponent.
- Reconstructed:
- However, what he has learned is good enough to allow him to hold out until he infers what that technique is.
- Bob's lack of proper training turns him into sort-of a Wild Card; seeing how he barely knows anything about his technique he free-styles and adds in "cheaper" moves to keep his opponent off-guard. His foes have a tough time trying to predict what he's going to do.
- When Bob returns to complete his training, his master tells him that it's impossible—training is never complete. There is no pinnacle of power, and one must always strive to improve, even if they are the best.
- Played For Laughs: Bob's incomplete training turns him into a Boisterous Weakling, and him getting his ass kicked is a Running Gag.
- Played For Drama: Bob is cornered by the battle-hardened Big Bad, and all he has to fall back on is a week's worth of basic training. As a result, he's filled with dread over how seriously outmatched he is.
- Played For Horror: See "played for drama", add additional Gorn courtesy of the Big Bad's hyper-violent retaliation.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Bob is the protagonist and it's mentioned he hasn't been completely trained for a sense of drama. Turns out that the move he didn't know isn't one that you can learn by learning, it's one of those shonen power-boost things that can only appear in the middle of risking your life.
Do you know how to get back to Incompletely Trained? Don't worry, I never graduated Wiki Navigation School and I found it.
