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Deadlock Clock: Jun 4th 2014 at 11:59:00 PM
lalalei2001 Since: Oct, 2009
#1: Apr 28th 2014 at 2:53:02 PM

A lot of examples on the page are not getting the SURPRISE part right. Disney movies and most kids' shows are lighthearted and are known for usually having happy endings, and the trope seems to be about a very dark work that has a happy ending in the last percentage of it. For a Disney example for that, Pinocchio or the Black Cauldron could work, but not Lilo and Stitch or Tangled. The Western Animation section is just as bad, and the Video Game section has Super Mario Sunshine on the list.

edited 28th Apr '14 2:58:04 PM by lalalei2001

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#2: Apr 30th 2014 at 12:53:19 PM

I'll open this, but my concern is more around the fact that it's presented as an audience reaction. It's almost entirely subjective whether a given happy ending will be "surprising".

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Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#3: Apr 30th 2014 at 1:13:11 PM

^ Subjectivity aside, I think part of the issue is that even if a work is light, it may have a Darkest Hour somewhere in the third act, which is where I think some of the issues that OP is having stem from.

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Furienna from Örnsköldsvik, Sweden Since: Nov, 2013
#4: Apr 30th 2014 at 4:39:10 PM

"Lilo & Stitch" sounds like it might not qualify. But all the other Disney examples look okay to me.

Rethkir A Trusted Friend in Science and Ponies from the gap between dimensions Since: Mar, 2013
#5: Apr 30th 2014 at 8:23:42 PM

The surprise is for the characters, not the audience. Like, if The Hero Bob thinks his friend Alice was killed in the fight against the Big Bad, but we know that she survived. Bob's mourning the loss of Alice up until the very end, when she reveals that she's okay and they live Happily Ever After. Surprise! Happy Ending. The audience is not shocked.

The name isn't helpful, since it does sound like an audience reaction trope. So, this trope description should be modified so that it explicitly specifies that the surprise is In-Universe.

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captainpat Since: Sep, 2010
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SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#8: May 1st 2014 at 8:08:40 AM

A lot of the examples look like they are subversions of such tropes as Downer Ending and Bittersweet Ending.

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#9: May 1st 2014 at 9:34:16 AM

Yeah, one wonders if this was conceived as a subverted Downer Ending that someone thought had enough examples to merit its own trope.

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SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#10: May 1st 2014 at 9:35:25 AM

This is the YKTTW.

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#12: Jun 5th 2014 at 5:46:20 AM

Clock's up; locking for inactivity.

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