Basic Trope: A character refuses to recant a decision that is clearly a mistake, claiming he's sunk too much into it or is on the cusp of achieving some goal.
- Straight: Despite several warning signs, Gina refuses to back away from her one-woman crusade for justice, no matter what she hears from anyone.
- Exaggerated: Gina has become a full-on Totalitarian Utilitarian, enslaved millions around the world and imprisoned her friends for speaking out against her, but still refuses to admit she's made some missteps.
- Downplayed: The plans Gina puts into motion are unorthodox but very well-measured, always balancing risk versus reward and never crossing the line. At least, that's how she started out...
- Justified: Gina believes the ends justifies the means, doesn't care much for other peoples' opinions, and considers the goodness she could reap from fighting dirty worth any cost.
- Inverted: No longer caring who she has to hurt to accomplish her goals, Gina goes all-in on efforts to rid the world of evil, relying on her own sense of self-righteousness to reassure her that she's doing the right thing.
- Subverted: When she realizes just how much her work has costed her, as well as just how much she has left to lose, Gina recants at the last second before she does something irredeemable.
- Parodied: Unintended consequences and the Sunk Cost Fallacy do not register in Gina's worldview.
- Zig Zagged: Gina knows she's gone too far, but can't back off her choices without a lot of pain and suffering coming down on lot of people. The only thing to do is keep going and hope she can eventually find an off-ramp.
- Averted: Gina never says she's come too far, because she still has a long way to go.
- Enforced: Access to godlike powers has altered Gina's outlook to the point where it's a little wonky by mortal standards, making her less likely to renege on a course of action.
- Lampshaded: After laying out for her critics the many questionable acts she's done for the greater good, Gina asks why she would stop now and let them go to waste.
- Invoked: Gina thinks her problem is that she doesn't go too far enough with her plans, resulting in a reluctant compromise between minor league heroics that prove ineffective and more direct action. Her failures spur her to dream a lot bigger and ignore those who claim her plans are dangerous.
- Defied: Gina knows her limits and has a support system in place (her far more practical friends) to keep her from diving off the deep end.
- Exploited: Despite having no inner conflicts about her goals, projecting doubts about her efforts to her enemies is something Gina is way into.
- Discussed: Gina is constantly questioning herself and whether or not she's doing the right thing, and ultimately comes down on the side of moving forward.
- Conversed: "This Is the Part Where... Gina invokes the sunk-cost fallacy to defend her atrocities. Because of course she would."
- Implied: Even if Gina claims to have no qualms about her actions, her expression tells anyone paying attention that she thinks it's too late to turn back anyway.
- Deconstructed:
- Gina doesn't recant her extreme efforts because in the end they see her through. The world becomes a better place because she refuses to compromise and does what has to be done, prompting a lot of other people to revise their moral codes downward to match her successes.
- Gina doesn't turn back, and her machinations prove too much for her to handle, destroying her by her own hand.
- Reconstructed: Gina has come to terms with her status as a monstrously evil person fighting for good, and is secure in the knowledge that she will never inherit the promised land she endeavors to create.
I've come too far just to go back to the main page now!
