Basic Trope: A character willingly triggers a trap in order to progress.
- Straight: Emperor Evulz rigs a trap at his evil lair. Bob recognizes that it's a trap, but comes anyway.
- Exaggerated: Emperor Evulz rigs a thousand traps at his evil lair, and Bob recognizes every one of them for what they are. He comes to the evil lair anyway.
- Downplayed: Emperor Evulz rigs a trap at his evil lair. Bob suspects it's a trap, but he comes anyway.
- Justified:
- Bob knows how the trap works and plans to turn it against Evulz.
- Evulz is holding Alice prisoner. Bob absolutely needs to rescue her, and if that means walking into a trap, so be it.
- Bob knows that his friend Charlie is hanging back, ready to rescue him from the trap when things go south.
- Between the guarantee of death by the Advancing Wall of Doom and the slim chance of surviving the trap in his path, Bob really has no other way forward.
- Bob estimates that the obvious trap is a decoy (or a decoy for a decoy for a decoy…) for the real trap.
- Disarming or avoiding the trap requires knowledge that Evulz believes to be known only to his mole and he himself, and Bob still needs him to believe the secret to be safe.
- Inverted: Emperor Evulz invites Bob to a friendly get-together (and it really isn't a trap). Bob, however, assumes it's a trap and refuses to come.
- Subverted: The Bob who walks into the trap was Actually a Doombot.
- Double Subverted: ???
- Zigzagged: ???
- Parodied: Emperor Evulz sets up an incredibly obvious trap (complete with the sign "TRAP FOR BOB" on it.) Bob announces that it's a trap, but he comes anyway.
- Averted:
- Emperor Evulz rigs a trap at his evil lair. Bob does not recognize that it's a trap.
- Emperor Evulz rigs a trap at his evil lair. Bob recognizes that it's a trap, so he decides to avoid it.
- Enforced: The writers show that Bob tends to think 3 steps ahead by having him trigger a trap in a way that is advantageous to himself
- Lampshaded:Evulz: Of course Bob will recognize my trap for what it is, but he doesn't have any other choice, does he?
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Charlie also knows it's a trap and refuses to let Bob go anywhere near Evulz' lair.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Willingly walking into a trap, especially if the intent is to kill you, turns out to be a foolish mistake. Everyone sees Bob as Too Dumb to Live for risking his life in this way, even dumber than if he fell for the trap accidentally.
- Reconstructed: Other characters point out that there was literally no even marginally better option than to go through the trap. Try to jump over the trap? There's one on the ceiling. Try to go around the trap? There are some on the walls. Try to go under the trap? There are a few under the ground, including the one on the floor. Try to take any other path than the one that has the trap? Those paths are as trapped and as lethal too, not to mention that they're dead ends. Unless Bob has Super-Toughness or could become voluntarily intangible, he literally had no other choice. Those who derided Bob for being considered Too Dumb to Live are promptly derided for considering that there's always a third option.
Look, I know Trap Is the Only Option has "trouble" written all over it, but it's the only way out!
