It's not allowed to be serious?: Armor Piercing Slap

Ok, round two. A few days ago I posted here how Armor Piercing Slap was listed only under the Rule of Funny index. I was directed to take this to the "What Index(es) does this go on?" thread, with the questioning of why the example has only one index when it has serious examples listed like in Twenty Four and Professional Wrestling.

nuclearneo 557 responded that it's actually misuse if there are serious examples on the page.

Which leads me to question why a super slap to the face CANT just be a super slap to the face by a very pissed off or upset striker. Is drama not allowed when slapping people?

The trope's overly-long description itself doesn't say that the outcome of a super slap is always played for comedy. In fact, it's written to suggest that it's not.

nuclearneo 557 says that we'd have to make a new trope for this one, but I disagree. There's nothing saying the trope has to be played ONLY for comedy, and getting slapped for drama doesn't fall under People Sit On Chairs.

... if anything, it should have to be serious, given the dilemma stated on the page: Why is the guy so powerless? Because it's Different For Girls. She's very, very angry — so angry that it frightens and intimidates him into a panic reaction. But he can't fight back, because he Wouldn't Hit A Girl. And he can't run away, because she'll just get madder and he'll have to face her eventually. He's stuck.

Wouldn't a serious one be Get A Hold Of Yourself Man?

Is it?

In that case, the description on Armor Piercing Slap needs to be mended to make the point clear that the trope is only played for laughs.

I'm not sure Played for Laughs is the best phrase to describe it. It doesn't have to be funny, just not serious.

Which leads me back to questioning why it's only indexed under Rule of Funny. Any way you look at it, something needs to be repaired about this trope. If not adding it to another index, then the description needs to be mended to enforce the fact that it falls under this index for a reason.

A Get A Hold Of Yourself Man slap can be delivered by either a male or female character, is not the result of anger at the slappee, and is done to snap the slappee out of either a funk or hysterics. It's fundamentally different from an Armor Piercing Slap in by who, to who, and why it's delivered.

edited 29th Mar '11 8:12:08 AM by Madrugada

I seriously disagree that Armor Piercing Slap should fall on Played for Laughs only. Actually, I've seen this trope in action far more for drama than for comedy.

See that example from Mitsumete Knight, for example: it's anything but comedy, and it's definitely not Get A Hold Of Yourself Man either.

Don't worry about the Japanese in the vid: I've subbed the relevant part in English (said relevant part is at the very beginning of the vid, BTW)

edited 29th Mar '11 10:48:24 AM by AceNoctali

That's decidedly not an Armor Piercing Slap. If anything, it's closer to Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!, but it's likely just "trope we don't have".

edited 29th Mar '11 4:19:49 PM by Wulf

Yeah, that's not this trope. Not sure what trope it is, but it doesn't seem to fit this one.

An Armor Piercing Slap can be used for comedy, which is probably why it's in Rule of Funny, but it isn't always and should be added to more indexes.

Edit: Moved it from Rule of Funny and into general Comedy Tropes since it doesn't involve a change in personality, continuity or physics. Added it to the Dating Tropes and Anger Tropes indexes.

edited 29th Mar '11 4:43:31 PM by MC42

If that's really not an example of this trope, then we've got a little trouble, as the trope has several examples closer from this example, than from what you think is an Armor Piercing Slap: on top of my head, the Dragon Ball, Pokemon, Lunar and Tokimeki Memorial are definitely closer to the Mitsumete Knight example, and I suspect the Evangelion, Shaman King, Batman Begins, and Fire Emblem ones to be in the same case.

Then, maybe a split with something like Sudden Slap, with a definition such as "You've told something or done something that triggered the Berserk Button of a girl (girl because this is an Always Female trope), and, before you know it, she slaps you"?

edited 29th Mar '11 5:23:08 PM by AceNoctali

The Lunar example is definitely not Get A Hold Of Yourself Man, if it's the one I'm thinking of. That was a guy (Nash) who had been revealed as The Mole, having been charged with stopping the party from advancing. The slap got through to him even though he was in magically-powered armor because it was his Shy Girl girlfriend doing the slapping. Instant Heel Realization followed.

Whether this trope is played for laughs or drama isn't all that important because the mechanics and behavior behind the trope is consistent. Guy does or says something that angers girl -> girl slaps him hard.

Plus "guy lets her get away with it".

Actually the Shaman King ones are an example. (shaman king fan over here) Anna's slaps once left her fiance laying on the ground, in a pool of his own blood....no worries, he got better within the next panel. Her slaps ARE for the MOST part used as a comedy part of the trope, but there have been if memory serves, one or two instances where they have been used as the drama variety as well.

Ah manga-abusing people to the point of near death, only for them to be fine within the next second. (not that the Looney Tunes didn't engage in this stuff either! XD)

I think this trope is supposed to be that sort of a Slap-Stick trope.

It's just kind of mutated because we're lacking a trope for the more serious slap as a female berserk button.

You know, nothing in the description says it's supposed to only be comic, and I don't remember that it ever did. (I once YKTTW'ed "Comic Violence Chick" for characters like Akane from Ranma 1/2 and Gwen from Sluggy Freelance but it never got anywhere.)

Um, is this thread still alive?

• thread necromancy*

If this trope describe only the humorous slapping, we're in a huge mess. Even the trope illustration is one of the serious types! Also, I don't agree that serious!Armor Piercing Slap = Get Hold Of Yourself Man. The difference: Armor Piercing Slap - girl is pushed into the corner by guys action/talk; her only option to make him realize he's hurting her (or anyone else, for that matter) is the slap. It works, because she plays the "soft" role.

Get Hold Of Yourself Man - guy is seriously loosing his sh*t, either being hysterical or plane mad; someone around him puts him back on the tracks by hitting him, thus stoping his raving. It works, because he's out there, not being himself or just crazy.

Yeah, it looks similar, but in Armor Piercing Slap the main point is that much softer, weaker character hits the stronger one, because it's her only way to fight back.

Is there anything else that needs to be done?

The description could use a lot of work.

What's wrong with it?

A really huge Example as a Thesis that never actually gets around to summarizing the definition, for one. We don't do those anymore.

edited 17th Oct '11 9:50:14 AM by Stratadrake

So, you're saying it should look like this instead?

Armor Piercing Slap is used to show anger. Usually from a female to a stronger male. Often, there is nothing physically preventing the guy from defending herself (he's been shown capable of fending off faster and stronger attacks). The person receiving the attack is choosing to accept the slap instead of whatever might come from fighting her.

This trope doesn't happen unless the receiver knows why he being punished. It may be genuine betrayal, although it is more likely Not What It Looks Like (anything from being assaulted by a Clingy Jealous Girl to suffering an Accidental Pervert moment or even a completely Unprovoked Pervert Payback). No matter what the cause, she's hurt by his (apparent) betrayal and she won't stop until he feels her pain.

If he had no idea why she was angry, or if she were a stranger, or if he were a total jerk, he would defend himself. Which is why this trope almost never happens to anyone but the guy who knows exactly why she's mad (whether or not he's actually at fault), regularly associates with her, and is at least half-way decent. Even if this guy is a master martial artist and even if she hasn't taken a single karate class in her life, she'll smack him silly because he all but lets her.

Why is the guy so powerless? Because it's Different for Girls. She's very, very angry — so angry that it frightens and intimidates him into a panic reaction. But he can't fight back, because he Wouldn't Hit A Girl. And he can't run away, because she'll just get madder and he'll have to face her eventually. He's stuck.

Even if he doesn't quite understand it himself, he instinctively knows that if she doesn't hurt him now, her wrath will fester into long-lived anger. Their association or relationship will be soured if not broken off altogether. Compared to that, a bit of mind-numbing pain seems the lesser of two evils — if she's allowed to take her pound of flesh, maybe she'll be more inclined to hear apologizes or explanations later.

And so, the slap effectively pierces his armor.

Truth in Television, as anyone who interacts with young girls on a regular basis can attest.

See also Mundangerous and the Megaton Punch. Not related to Armor Piercing.

edited 17th Oct '11 2:14:42 PM by crazysamaritan

Maybe I've always had an oversimplified view of this trope, but my understanding was that the core of this trope was about the fact that someone that is relatively week strikes out in anger, frustration or surprise, and manages to get past the defenses of someone that has shown himself to be under normal combat circumstances perfectly capable of this preventing such an attack. Hence the "armor piercing".

So, if your Bruce Lee Clone has consistently shown himself capable of deflecting blows even when blindfolded and fighting against expert ninja assasins, or your Kung-Fu Wizard can survive getting speared by a massive spike of stone, he will still somehow manage to be incapable of defending himself against his punch happy tsundere girlfriend.

All the "even if he doesn't quite understand it himself, he instinctively knows..." stuff seems to be adding a lot of speculation about motivations that are rarely actually explained in fiction. Generally speaking I think the creators of the work don't expect us to think to hard about why the guy's girlfriend or whatever can get a hit in.

I think the laconic sums it up pretty well: When a girl gets pissed off, she will slap the guy who did so, and it will hurt, no matter how strong he is