We don't want to clog this thread since Surprisingly Realistic Outcome is an Overdosed Trope. Before posting here, check if the example you're analyzing qualifies for summary deletion from the three criteria below by keeping this trope's rigorous definition in mind.
- Does the example involve Applied Phlebotinum (Functional Magic, Science Fiction, Artistic Licence) or a character reaction? If so, it instantly violates the definition's second bullet point's realism requirements, and you should delete it without question.
- Is the example a Discussed Trope or an instance of Conversational Troping? If so, it violates the definition's third bullet point's emphasis on only counting outcomes, and you should delete it without question.
- Considering the definitions, would the example qualify better for Deconstructed Trope or Deconstructed Character Archetype from the trope page's rules? If so, move it to the appropriate one on the spot.
If the example survived all three tests, it satisfies the second and third bullet points, so you don't need to change it immediately. If you feel like it meets the first bullet point's requirements for being surprising, you can leave it. However, if you believe it doesn't meet the first bullet point or aren't sure, talk it over in the cleanup thread before deciding.
Many Stock Phrases you'll see used in this thread describe a particular type of misuse:
- Not surprising. — The outcome described isn't a Bait-and-Switch and merely follows expected genre conventions.
- Plot happens. — The example merely describes an event or series of events but not why we would expect something different.
- Too fantastical. — The causes/outcome described included the presence of stuff Impossible in Real Life such as Applied Phlebotinum, Functional Magic, or Science Fiction, meaning they're too unrealistic by default.
- No character reactions. — The outcome involves a character reacting in a certain way or having certain emotions, which we can't gauge the realism of because people's emotional reactions vary far too much.
- Not realistic. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin, but this one requires you to write a short description for why it isn't realistic.
- Too implausible. — The outcome describes an outcome that happened because of things too unlikely to count as relatively realistic compared to what they were subverting.
- Cuttable ZCE. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Not an outcome. — The example is either a Discussed Trope, Lampshade Hanging, Conversational Troping, or happens over too much time to be momentary.
- Too unclear. — The example is too convoluted or obtuse to judge.
- Irrelevant. — The example describes stuff utterly irrelevant to the definition of SRO.
- Bad indentation. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
A big thing I've noticed is that it's often used for anything remotely realistic, or something that's realistic but doesn't necessarily affect the story. Another problem is that the trope seems to be cherry-picked, where any instance of reality ensuing is put there, as well as when another trope could serve the example better.
Problematic examples from one sample page, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Disney Animated Series:
"Despite his attempts Wander can't make friends with Dominator who constantly rebuffs his friendly gestures throughout season 2. Even at the end of everything, she still refuses. Sylvia even lampshades it, telling him some people are just like that."
"Spider-Man's fight against Sandman and Rhino, where Spidey uses Rhino's weight against him. rather than fighting him directly."
"Beshte gets sunburns all over his body and is easily exhausted while he is lost in the Outlands. Justified due to the fact that hippos need water to survive to avoid sunburn and overheating."
"It's heavily implied that being the leader of the Lion Guard has taken a toll on Kion's social and private life."
"Milo Murphy's Law is about a boy named Milo Murphy whose entire life is centered around Murphy's Law. In another cartoon, being The Jinx would cause people to be afraid of them, resulting in an unsocial lifestyle. That does not apply here. While everyone does watch their step around Milo, they do not hate him for it. Being The Jinx does, however, give everyone Paranoia Fuel, given that Murphy's Law can happen at any time, so chances are you might need insurance, a phone in case of emergencies, among other things. Milo himself (as well as his friends Melissa and Zack) just learned to adapt to his condition, being prepared for anything. He has lived with Murphy's Law his entire life after all. That being said, that does not mean that they don't panic all the time. Examples include Milo panicking over his monthly doctor's note, and Melissa panicking over riding a rollercoaster with Milo."
" Hiro is initially not allowed to use Tadashi's former lab, as it can only be accessed by upperclassmen who earned the privilege. Subverted in the second half of the pilot when Professor Granville decides Hiro using the lab would benefit him. On a related note regarding Granville, she is tough, but fair when interacting with the students. She might be, as Wasabi describes "a hard case", but Granville being a complete sadist and picking on Hiro would be unrealistic. She is actually a decent person."
-Edited with permission from the OP-
Edited by lalalei2001 on Aug 10th 2022 at 5:47:25 AM
So it's been 3 days, any chance I could get a response to the example I brought up above.
I was avoiding looking at it because of spoilers, but whatever, you deserve a response.
I'm not really seeing how that's Reality Ensues. Are they talking about how his dad's not a knight, or a kid's reaction to finding out his dad was an alcoholic? Maybe the first one, big maybe, depending on how it's presented in the movie. The second one is just a kid having a sad reaction.
At best it's poorly written, more likely not an example.
RealityEnsues.Star Wars has some questionable examples, including episode-by-episode stuff in the Resistance folder.
"Just as in most places in real life, inciting a panic is a felony. Kaz and Synara nearly get arrested for attempting to pull the pirate alarm before the monster actually appears.
"A sea creature is going to smell bad.
The Protomen enhanced my life.
I can kinda see the first one, but isn't that what always happens when people get caught falsely pulling an alarm, even in fiction?
The second... Isn't even an example. Burn it.
Edited by Crossover-Enthusiast on Mar 5th 2019 at 7:08:14 AM
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Would anyone mind giving feedback on this post, please: here
.
ComicBook.Avatar The Last Airbender The Rift:
- In The Promise, Aang broke his connection with Roku after realizing that Roku would always advise him to take drastic measures because he was too traumatized by his own mistake. Five comics later, he learns that his rash action had consequences for his connection to the rest of his past lives, and has to do it another way since Roku was the most recent one. Aang reconciles with Roku in Part Three.
I say cut since it's about a fanatical ability with fantastical consequences, reality has nothing to do with this. There's probably many other example regarding the workings of Phlebotinum, which is by definition unreal, that can be cut.
RealityEnsues.My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
- Everything about Chrysalis' plan was terrible from the word go. Making a bunch of Evil Twins might sound devious, but they have no reason to obey Chrysalis, are so dominated by their flaws that they can barely function, and there was never any chance of them usurping control of the Elements of Harmony—the Mane Six can use the Elements because they embody them, not because they have some birthright. The Mean Six had absolutely none of the qualifications for using the Elements except looking like the rightful wielders.
Besides the fanatical ability with fantastical consequences, I removed since it's can't be unexpectedly realistic if it's so poorly thought out we expect it to fail? Is that a valid reason to cut?
RealityEnsues.Yu Gi Oh Arc V has several questionable examples, especially since the series ended up playing many tropes previously deconstructed straight.
" Episode 3 reveals the real dangers of Action Duels. Thanks to the holograms having real mass, the attacks can actually hurt the duelists, and Yuzu and the children are in real danger of falling from a tower.
Happens again in #34 during Sora's duel with Kurosaki. Kurosaki causes a tower to fall on Sora and it ends up seriously injuring him.
The playing styles of the LDS trio are quite realistic and they use combos that most real players would do.
In Episode 15, Sawatari especially states that the Pendulum Cards are being recreated."
" As the Big Bad has powers that the rest of cast can't compete with, who can beat him? The Big Good that defeated him in the first place."
" Much like Yugi giving Judai Winged Kuriboh, Jack gave Sam Tuning Magician. But while Judai gladly accepted the card, Sam reacted far more typically at the gift of a low level card, effect notwithstanding."
"It's common practice for the Big Bad to have absurdly broken decks, but the Big Bad takes it to its logical conclusion. His cards pretty much lockdown on anything his opponent could try to do to him, leaving him an Invincible Villain who crushes the heroes one after the other. The only thing that can beat him is a set of cards specifically designed to defeat him, and even then he learned from the last time they defeated him and set up countermeasures. The only reason he loses is due to Yuya taking control and sabotaging his last turn."
"The entirety of the backstory Leo reveals in episodes 126-127. While the fact that Duel Monsters have souls has been known of for a long time by fans of the franchise, in-universe only a handful of people were ever made aware of this fact. When people developed the technology to apply Solid Light to dueling, nobody knew that the monsters were actually getting hurt.
Despite Ray's wishes, her father was driven mad with grief from her Heroic Sacrifice and came up with a plan to revive her that foiled her plans for the Bracelet Girls to keep the Dragon Boys sane.
In a world where ancient forces scheme to take over the world about once a generation, it's actually a brand new human who manages to succeed, because his actions were entirely his own and there was no magical destiny centered around his defeat or his rise to power. The world was destroyed by a human being with minor Psychic Powers and advanced Magi Tech, not a primordial force. No supernatural Big Good stepped in to help because the Big Bad isn't a divine being and/or they didn't know this would happen."
Edited by lalalei2001 on Mar 14th 2019 at 11:45:54 AM
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Since everyone else is cutting the entries and just placing the information about what they've cut on this thread, I'll do the same thing.
I've cut all the gen:LOCK entries as follows, and direct people to come to this clean-up thread if there's anything they'd like to discuss.
- Reality Ensues:
- Kazu in Episode 2 is still not used to moving in his Powered Armour and as a consequence starts running...only to underestimate his speed and faceplant into a wall.
- Scene acts as a reveal for the abilities of the body suits that have only just been introduced to the audience. I've removed this.
- After the incident with Simclair and watching him die painfully, the gen:LOCK recruits understandably want nothing to do with the program anymore. It takes a little time as a Holon, some persuasion from Dr. Weller, Chase, and Yas, along with seeing a medical transport dropping off wounded refugees for them to stay.
- The narrative logic is entirely about them overcoming their aversion to the body suit. It's therefore not defying narrative logic to introduce reality, the story uses their reluctance to allow the new technology to be introduced to the audience. I've removed this.
- When Col. Marin chews out Weller for having to rely on substandard recruits, such as prisoners, teenage hackers, and cooks as Holon pilots, angry that he hasn't focused more on improving gen:Lock compatibility to make it easier for her to get trained, military professionals into the mechs; he replies that that's what happens when you rush highly-experimental technology and that he's only one person.
Weller: I can't [improve gen:Lock compatibility], recruit, and make the program field-ready all at the same time! I'm only one person! I can't just... clone myself! Believe me, I've tried.
- Again, the narrative point is that the heroes are very special people who can do something no-one else in the world can do. This is just the story's explanation for that specialness. I've removed this.
- The reason the Holons are all initially identical save for color is simply due to the fact that Weller only had the time to have one model designed and made. This causes Cammie to have some initial trouble controlling her Holon compared to Kazu and Valentina since the longer legs in proportion to her own body mean that her center of gravity is completely different. Although she manages to learn how to walk in her new body with enough practice, in the next episode she's still having trouble, which is part of what nearly gets her killed by Nemesis.
- Again, the narrative point is to start Cammie (the teenager hacker and techno-wiz) on the road to redesigning the Holons for everyone and to 'justify' her Holon becoming a robotic rabbit in design. I removed this.
- The Union wants to actually use the infrastructure in the areas they take control of, so their usual M.O. is to advance slowly, pushing the Polity and their sympathizers out with the minimum collateral damage possible.
- The mysterious villainous force of the show is introduced as Pragmatic Villainy as a plot point that them attacking the Ether distribution node is an unusual tactic. There's no narrative structure being averted by 'reality' here and it sets up the introduction of the season's main villain. I've removed this.
- When the gen:LOCK team goes on their first mission in Episode 4, it's clear from the onset that Cammie is way out of her element. Being both the youngest and the only one who doesn't have any combat experience, she's a jittering wreck for the first half of the mission. When faced with shooting the Union troops she hesitates and instead shoots one of the spider tanks. When Nemesis comes for her, she panics and makes a run for it, only to get cornered. All she can do is fire erratically. It doesn't do her any good.
- At no point does the narrative ever imply that the story intended for its recruits to be perfect fighters from the outset only to have that narrative broken by a sudden influx of reality. Indeed, even before the recruits arrived in the second episode, there was talk about having to train the 'greenhorns' — four of the five recruits are experienced military fighters and were still regarded as 'greenhorns' that needed to be trained in both technology and tactics. The Baby of the Bunch is the cute, vulnerable non-fighter who has to learn from scratch and rallies the group in protection of her. That's a common storytelling narrative, not a break from it. I removed this.
- Cammie doesn't just bounce from Nemesis hurting her as it did without issue (her attempt at messing with her emotions in her uploaded mind just making it worse), with Chase pointing out how just because the Holon kept her from being physically damaged doesn't mean it didn't affect her, and Weller sticking his neck out for her was the only reason that she wasn't grounded.
- Which was the point of the narrative. Not only did it introduce yet more information to the audience about how the Holon technology works, but the main villain of the season is a villain precisely because of psychological issues taken up to eleven. I've removed this.
- It's revealed that the Union "takes" people that it considers "intellectuals." This most likely explains why they have such issues with Creative Sterility.
- For a start this is speculating about why the Union has been described as not innovative in its own right, which isn't any kind of objective trope. I removed this.
- Kazu in Episode 2 is still not used to moving in his Powered Armour and as a consequence starts running...only to underestimate his speed and faceplant into a wall.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Mar 14th 2019 at 8:53:00 AM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Saw a Wall of Text on RealityEnsues.Star Wars and I have no idea what point it's trying to make.
"* Luke had a point about not being able to do much despite his Jedi powers. Yes, the Force is strong with him and Jedi in the Clone Wars heyday could throw machines around with ease single-handily. But Luke never grew up in such times to keep his abilities that honed and ended Return of the Jedi only slightly more skilled and disciplined than before, just enough to be on par with his father. Palpatine still outclassed and nearly killed him and it took Anakin/Vader to end that threat. Here, he's now older and suffering guilt and depression due to inadvertently leading Kylo on his path and repeating the Jedi's mistake of arrogance, leading to his indifference to Rey's pleas. It took Yoda to finally break him of his funk but, due to his age, most he could do was Astral Project himself and buy time to save the remaining Resistance members. Since he knew Kylo would be too focused on him to allow them to escape. Thus just barely managing to keep the flame of Rebellion against the First Order alive. Also in doing so, puts a tremendous strain on him as well. After giving the Rebellion enough time as he could, Luke ultimately passes away and becomes one with the force."
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Avengers: Endgame already has LOTS of entries, and most of them don't fit the trope definition in my opinion. If you're not afraid of spoilers, please help me sort out if any is salvageable.
- Reality Ensues:
- When Tony tried to fly alien tech in Infinity War, he crashed the ship, even with Spider-Man and Doctor Strange's help. While aboard on the Guardians' spaceship the Benatar, Tony and Nebula have done their best to fix the ship, but its fuel cells were cracked during the battle on Titan and it eventually broke down in the depths of space with no chance for repair, leaving them stranded with limited supplies.
- While Tony nanosprayed his wound closed with seemingly no issues Thanos stabbed him in Infinity War, he mentions in his opening monologue that he suffered a hell of an infection afterward, with only Nebula's help to treat it.
- Also, back on Earth, Tony is obviously weakened to the point of having lost a dangerous amount of weight, needing an IV tube to supply himself and nearly collapsing. He also has trouble speaking with his mouth so dry.
- Similar to Gamora in Infinity War when she cried after killing (illusion) Thanos, Nebula is shown mourning and even closes her father's beheaded corpse's eyes, once again showing that an abused child still cares for their Abusive Parents. Not to mention that his last words being a regretful apology for treating her harshly through all these years.
- Wiping out half the people living in the galaxy turns out to be much different than reducing the life of a species. Instead of the galaxy managing to improve as Thanos believed, the galaxy is practically falling apart due to having fewer resources and having no idea what to do; Earth, for example, is in a state of confusion at how they are to survive and the heroes are unable to find a solution right away. While Thanos's slow and cold annihilation of planets might have produced results, doing so without care or cause means things are essentially going to fall apart.
- Though the kids being unwilling to take a picture with Scott Lang is played like he's a Hero with Bad Publicity, it's more likely that they don't even know or remember him. He did disappear and was thought to be dead for five years. Also, when Scott attempted to ask a kid in his neighborhood, the kid just gives him a mean look and runs off, possibly thinking he's an ignorant crazy hobo for even asking what happened.
- When Steve, Tony and Scott travel back to 2012; it is shown in the aftermath of The Avengers that Secretary Pierce was reluctant to let Loki be taken back to Asgard. He tried to insist that Loki and the Tesseract be taken into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody since he led an alien invasion to Earth and the Tesseract had been S.H.IE.L.D.'s property for decades. Obviously, HYDRA would be interested in cultivating a rogue Asgardian as an asset and unwilling to let go of a great power source such as the Tesseract.
- Rhodey and Nebula travel to Morag to get the Power Stone and they come across Peter Quill at the point where he's playing "Come and Get Your Love" on his Walkman. The scene shown to the audience is initially taken from that film with the full soundtrack playing. However, when it cuts to the bit from Rhodey and Nebula's perspective, they can't hear the music and are confused by the guy seemingly dancing to nothing like a complete idiot. Dancing by yourself with no audible music is bound to look awkward to other people instead of cool.
- In the finale, Thanos obtains the new Infinity Gauntlet and finally performs another Snap... to no effect, as Tony has removed the Stones while the two were grappling. It makes sense Tony would have had a backup plan in case anyone outside of the Avengers attempted to use the Stones. And the Gauntlet is made from Stark's own Iron Man nanotech... of course he has total control over it if he just gets close enough.
- Rocket Raccoon tries to give a pep talk to Thor when they both travel to the past and Thor gets emotional upon seeing his mother again to the point that he couldn't bring himself to do the task he came here to do, it appears to have succeeded at first, but ultimately Thor says he can't do it. Everything that Thor went through in the past left him scarred and isn't something that he could get over with just one pep talk. It takes his own mother Frigga herself to cheer her son up that it finally gives Thor some closure and the confidence he needs.
- Thor is severely overweight, out of shape, and out of practice after the time skip. As such, while he's able to put up a spirited fight against Thanos in the finale, Thanos still has a clear advantage over him and manages to beat him into submission.
- Thor's enraged beheading of Thanos may have been cathartic in the moment, but long-term, it did nothing to alleviate Thor's guilt over his initial failure.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I don't think any of those are examples except maybe the reducing everything by half one, and even then it needs rewording.
Edited by lalalei2001 on Apr 28th 2019 at 1:07:14 AM
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Going entry-by-entry I'm trying to imagine whether each subverts an expectation built up by genre, narrative convention, or previous MCU installments. Every one of them seems like a logical "this happens as a consequence of that" which make sense in this setting and story and therefore not an example of Reality Ensues. The bad aftermath of the snap was hinted at in IW: Thanos is portrayed as a villain whose quest to kill half the universe is wrong, and therefore the consequences of that would also be bad. The "reality", then, is only Thanos noticing that people aren't happy about seeing half their population wiped out.
As I thought, none of the examples really fits the definition of the trope.
I am going to remove them from the page while leaving a link to this thread to discuss if any can be reworded enough to be salvageable.
he/him | Image Pickin' regular
These examples on Steven Universe S4E9 "Three Gems and a Baby" seem like misuse, especially the first one:
- Steven, having been only a baby at the time, has no memory whatsoever of the depicted events.
- Garnet unfuses in front of Steven as a demonstration, but as a baby, Steven lacks object permanence and doesn't understand where Garnet went.
- Due to Steven being a one of a kind Half-Human Hybrid, both Greg and the Gems are confused when his gem glows. Greg worries it might be a fever while the Gems kidnap him, thinking it might be Rose trying to get out.
I think those examples can be cut without much issue.
he/him | Image Pickin' regular
OK, cut those.
The DC Extended Universe has its own page about this trope and it's mostly concerned about deconstructing and examining every movie on a scene-to-scene basis. I always Reality Ensues only applied when a work of fiction is about to follow some fictional convention only to subvert viewer expectation and instead follow real life rules. Almost every example on that list is about how "realistic" and "grounded" the story is, without mentioning a fictional convention the story is trying to subvert. Take Man of Steel, example:
- Though Clark still uses his powers for good, those powers isolate him from other people until he becomes Superman. His neighbors don't assuage this. - Hero with Bad Publicity.
- When superhumans are about to fight, people don't cheer but duck for cover. - Destructive Savior.
- Zod thinks he can convince Clark to help him since he's a fellow Kryptonian and a way to revive their planet. However when Clark finds out Zod means to do so through subjugation and destruction of Earth, he utterly refuses. Clark may have been born on Krypton but he was raised on Earth and, even with all the hardships he endured, wasn't going to forsake the people he did care about for a planet he never even knew. - Pro-Human Transhuman or Category Traitor.
What do you think?
I think those examples and other like them can be cut.
I'm starting to think this needs a TRS thread.
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Some of the examples on the DCEU aren't Reality Ensues as much as they are "that's just how things work there." Some of the examples on those pages can be explained by tropes. There is a difference between Reality Ensues and Deconstruction. There should be a better way to describe the trope to prevent further misuse.
From The Laughing Salesman:
- In one episode, Moguro helps a housewife named Koino Yumemi reunite with her first love, Karatsu Toukichi, a talented potter. Because both of them were not happy with their marriages, they both left their partners to be together and start a new life. Their new life together is even worse than before because Toukichi's ex-wife kept all the assets to Toukichi's pottery since she knew how to sell his creations. Without any money or the business savvy on how to sell Toukichi's pottery, both of them now live in a small house in the woods with Yumemi taking a part-time job and both of them constantly arguing with each other.
- In another episode, an aged executive on the cusp of retirement is resentful of how his office barely gives him anything to do anymore and switches places with a slightly younger, overworked executive in the building next door to recapture his glory days as a blazing, hotshot wheeler-and-dealer. He has a great time, but all the stress winds up giving him a lethal stroke, something his original coworkers were likely trying to avoid by reducing his responsibilities in the first place.
...
From My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S9 E13 "Between Dark and Dawn":
- When Luna goes to the beach by herself, she doesn't put on sunblock. As a result, Luna gets several sunburns from being in the sun too long.
I'm starting to think this trope may need a trip to the repair shop...
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@ Pichu-kun: Not an example. You can delete it.
@ Crossover: Yeah. Reality Ensues is not being used properly. Some examples listed on the page are more along the lines of Deconstruction or "that's how the story goes", rather than "story subverts viewer expectations by ignoring fictional tropes and conventions and playing by real life rules."
Troper Greglarocca 095 restored the examples on the DC Extended Universe page without giving a justification. What should we do about this?
Would this example from The Kid Who Would Be King count?: