Basic Trope: A food item has something unpleasant in it.
- Straight: Bob eats a candy bar and discovers a razor blade.
- Exaggerated:
- The candy bar is loaded with razor blades to the point where it's not even edible.
- Every single candy bar produced at a candy factory has one or more razor blades in it.
- The candy was secretly contaminated by Vampire blood. Kids don't notice, but Parents grow concerned over kids displaying Virus-Victim Symptoms.
- Downplayed: Bob eats a candy bar that has a metal nut in it. It could chip a tooth at worst and ended up in there from a factory error.
- Justified:
- The candy bar was intended to be eaten by a Ferros who in addition to normal food need to consume metal to fulfill their nutritional needs, and commonly use it as garnishing.
- The factory where the candy was made has poor maintenance.
- It was Halloween, and the house he got the candy from REALLY hates children, to the point of potentially causing them harm if they happily and blithely eat the tampered-with candy.
- The candy was complementary with the razors from a Shaving Club, but rough shipping and handling resulted in the two being mushed together.
- Inverted:
- Bob finds that someone has tampered with his razor by sticking food on it.
- A couple gives out shaving razors to trick-or-treaters. Parents find hidden candy stuffed into the boxes.
- Subverted: What appears to be a razor blade is actually edible.
- Double Subverted: Though it has nasty side effects upon consumption.
- Parodied:
- A razor head juts out of the candy bar.
- Parents in Bob's neighborhood freak out at fruit hidden in firearms and dangerous tools that they buy.
- Zig Zagged: One couple doesn't give razors to trick-or-treaters- they just give out rocks instead.
- Averted:
- The candy bar does not contain any foreign objects.
- Someone gives out razors on Halloween, without hiding them in candy.
- Enforced: The author is doing a Ripped from the Headlines story about a dangerous Halloween.
- Lampshaded: "Awww, damn it. I can't eat this."
- Invoked: A couple giving out Halloween candy specifically asks the trick-or-treaters if they want some razors, and sticks them in a loose apple if they say yes.
- Exploited: Bob asks for a candy bar in prison in order to get a razor to escape with.
- Defied: Alice feels it would be too cruel to stick a razor blade in the candy bar, and finds another way to get Bob to diet.
- Discussed: "What happened to your mouth, Bob?"
- Conversed: Parents instruct their kids not to accept or consume any candy, sweets, or fruit that isn't in a sealed wrapper, citing the possibility of hidden sharp objects.
- Deconstructed:
- Municipal laws make it a Misdemeanor to give trick-or-treaters sweets that aren't in a sealed wrapper, and police checkpoints are set up to inspect candy.
- The candy and the razors were made in the same factory, where the safety standards were so poor that the FDA ordered it closed down.
- Reconstructed:
- Families decide to protest the regulations by also giving out razors in sealed wrappers, which end up poking out of the wrapper and stabbing the candy.
- The factory is later re-opened with new management and new safety standards, but they ship complementary candy with their razors... which gets mashed together in shipping.
- Implied: Bob grabs the candy bar and walks off. He later screams, and returns with his hand covering his mouth.
- Played For Laughs: Bob accidentally bites onto the toothpick used to skewer food together.
- Played For Drama: Bob was never allowed to eat unwrapped candy growing up, after his mother bit a razor that was hidden in a candy bar when she was a teenager. Unwrapped candy becomes a Forbidden Fruit.
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