Deconstructed Trope / Web Original

• I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC deconstructs The Cape tendencies of Superman, where he spends his time remembering back when righteous heroes were idolized, fully aware that his nobility and incredibly overpowered persona are frowned upon by current comic book fans, who want a hero that's full of faults so they're more relatable. Lex Luthor tries to use this to convince Superman into writing Marvel out of history. Without Marvel making flawed superheroes, everyone would still idolize the perfect, heroic good guys of yesteryear. The interesting thing about this deconstruction is that it essentially says that comics need Superman because he does still act as a standard, and that the entire basis of Marvel heroes is that they're trying to be like Superman, so without Superman, there's nothing to strive for.
  • Season 2 Happy Hours deconstructs Darker and Edgier, as the Joker brainwashed almost all the characters to become more like Batman. Green Goblin tells off the Joker since if all characters are dark and there is no Lighter and Softer counterparts, then they lose what made them interesting since there wouldn't be any contrast.
  • Also the Physical God tropes are deconstructed in-universe during the conversation between Darkseid and the Joker. Darkseid is quick to boast about being a god and the most powerful being in the universe, only to meet the Joker's laughter in return. The Joker then delivers a Breaking Speech Darkseid by telling him that the only reason why he's so powerful is because he's nothing but a fictional character, designed that way by a comic book writer, and that Stan Lee is the closest thing to a god that exist in their universe since he's also a comic book writer, spending his days creating characters in the ways it seems fit to him. Darkseid can't do nothing but stare in shock of the reveal.
  • That season then goes on to deconstruct reboots. Namely, the idea that decades of accomplishment can and will be completely erased in order to make a quick buck is depicted as a horrifying revelation in-universe, with Darkseid himself believing it to be the true Anti-Life Equation- i.e. nothing that you accomplish will actually matter in a few years. Contrary to Darkseid's expectations, the reveal does not break the heroes.
• This Cracked article shows what happens if you try to copy romantic gestures from films to real life. They all involve jail time.
• "Good Girl" deconstructs the popular idea of turning someone into a sexy, Brainwashed pet for some rich and powerful person. It's labeled psychological horror. The writer claims she was inspired by the trailer for Room.
• The SCP Foundation has a few subjects that break down some tropes. For example, SCP-085 (a.k.a. Cassy) is a living two-dimensional woman in a canvas. When she has Medium Awareness, the trope is deconstructed; instead of taking advantage of it, she slips into a deep existential crisis.
• This article (PDF warning) written by Watson Technical Counseling, in the form of an in-universe Daily Planet op-ed by Perry White, deconstructs the amount of Stuff Blowing Up in Man of Steel and many other recent Hollywood blockbusters. It was based on their analysis of the destruction in that film and how, if it had happened in real life, it would have produced a death toll on the order of the Nagasaki bomb and an economic impact close to two trillion dollars.
• Noob:
  • Appliance Defenestration is deconstructed when a computer thrown out a window by a player with Hair-Trigger Temper killed someone and had him end up in jail.
  • The webseries also gave Mistaken for Badass a quite realistic treatment, with the mistaken character never figuring out the situation due to sheer idiocy and the person conviced that he is more than he seems ending up loosing all credibility in the eyes of anyone that is not his devoted student.
• RWBY:
  • Hot-Blooded is deconstructed by Yang in Volumes 3-4. Her Semblance makes her stronger the more kinetic energy she takes from damage, often leaving her Burning with Anger. She's an expert in brawls and come-from-behind victories, but her predictable, anger-fuelled style makes her easy to frame in Volume 3, as well as easy for Adam to maim when she charges him in an attempt to save Blake. While recovering in Volume 4, her father directly addresses this to teach her to fight smarter and only use her Semblance as a last resort. Volume 6 then revisits the fight with Adam to show she's learned her lesson.
  • Necessarily Evil is deconstructed by Ironwood in Volume 7. He declares his willingness to sacrifice his reputation and humanity for the greater good by forcing others to sacrifice for his cause. Characters constantly question the morality of his choices and his own actions create consequences that later bite him in the ass. His lack of concern over his image and the negativity his actions generate serve only to assist Salem's plans and increasingly alienate him from the heroes. He appoints himself the judge of what counts as the "greater good", he neglects Mantle's security and makes it increasingly vulnerable to attack by viewing it as less important than Atlas. Oscar lampshades the deconstruction by pointing out that being willing to sacrifice all of Remnant just so "a few can live" is making him just as dangerous a threat as Salem.
  • No OSHA Compliance is deconstructed by Ironwood in Volumes 7-8: The heroes quickly discover that Mantle's defences are sub-par and unable to stop the Grimm from entering the city to attack. There is a hole in the wall that cannot be repaired because General Ironwood is redirecting the construction materials to a secret military project hidden in the tundra. Ironwood has massively upgraded all of Atlas' security, but neglected any of Mantle's. The villains are able to exploit the security deficiencies in an effort to try and turn the two cities against each other. Mantle's deficiencies include the security systems, which were designed by Watts and have been so neglected by Atlas that he can easily hack it as it's still using his original code. The Big Bad's plan was counting on Ironwood making the same mistake all Atlesians make — neglecting Mantle's infrastructure and software even when he's paranoid — for it to work, and it does. Characters point out the flaws in neglecting Mantle's infrastructure with increasing urgency until it finally leaves Ironwood abandoned by his allies and at the mercy of his enemies.
• This video deconstructs the trend of GoAnimate videos promoting both You Are Grounded! and Disproportionate Retribution towards "baby shows" like Caillou by having Caillou's dad declare that he's the Only Sane Man in a house out of control (when, as Caillou points out, he's being punished for watching shows that are "too scary" or light teasing), only to have his wife tell him he's utterly out of control and slug it out, grounding him instead and putting him in the closet. A follow-up has Caillou's mom reassure him that he's not in trouble after he and his friends panic in a fire alarm and his teacher threatens to tell their parents for it. She even tells him not to listen to his dad when he attempts to ground him.
• Red vs. Blue:
  • The Blood Gulch Chronicles deconstructs many FPS-related tropes, including - perhaps most notably - Capture the Flag. Nobody knows why the flags even matter, and the Reds eventually decide that capturing one isn't really worth the trouble. This becomes outright Parodied in season 3, with a bunch of...not very competent soldiers fighting over the flags for religious reasons.
  • At the end of season 10 Epsilon leaves with Carolina to investigate Freelancer equipment without saying goodbye to Tucker and Caboose. The rest of season 11 and 12 showed the results of this. Caboose spiraled into a depression and latched onto a very dangerous Freckles the Mantis assault droid as a Replacement Goldfish. Tucker became bitter and angry with Epsilon for abandoning them and constantly clashed with the latter when they were reunited. Epsilon later did admit it was a jerk move to do to his friends.
  • Epsilon later deconstructs another trope - namely Heroic Sacrifice. While his sacrifice is presented a noble one, the series averts the Dying Moment of Awesome by having Epsilon simply shatter into fragments. It also shows how, despite not fearing death all that much, he is not content with that kind of fate, as he will never know if the sacrifice had any real meaning.
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss is deconstructed by Tex and Church's relationship in later seasons. As it turns out, a relationship where both partners constantly bicker and argue is deeply unhealthy. As well, Tex only puts up with Church as penance for failing to rescue him from the Director's torture, while Church refuses to let the relationship end and obsesses over her, pursuing her constantly. Ultimately, Church realizes that his obsession with her is unhealthy and lets it go.
  • The Forever War and Hopeless War is deconstructed in The Blood Gulch Chronicles. The conflict between the Reds and Blues is completely pointless and neither side actually knows why they're fighting; they're all either too stupid or insane to stop the battle, or have just Stopped Caring. By the end of Season 5, they've largely started treating the other side as Friendly Enemies and stopped caring about their conflict, with the exception of Sarge. Reconstruction reveals the entire war was a farce created by Project Freelancer, who used the Reds and Blues and countless soldiers like them for simulations for Freelancer agents, meaning the entire conflict meant absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.
  • Season 12 deconstructs Let's Get Dangerous!. Tucker, Grif, Simmons, and Caboose, while as goofy as ever, are dead serious about rescuing their friends. They also have no real clue what they're doing, since, while they have survived countless combat situations, they haven't ever had a position of command or fought in an actual war. They fail to accomplish anything of notice outside of a few victories, and nearly die countless times before they get their act together.
  • Felix gleefully deconstructs Taking the Bullet when he reveals himself to be Evil All Along. As he smugly points out to Washington, to actually do so would either require above average reflexes or planning in advance. Him doing so a season ago was a deliberately planned move to buy trust which worked like a charm, since everyone took it at face value.
  • Just Following Orders is deconstructed with Locus, who takes this attitude both so he can hide from the guilt of the atrocities he committed during and after the Human-Covenant War and because this attitude was drilled into him by his superiors during the war, which he fully embraced after he was left with severe PTSD and was unable to return to civilian life.
  • Season 13 deconstructs Enemy Mine. When the Feds and Rebels, who have been locked in a brutal Civil War for years, are forced to team up to prevent a third party from killing all of them, both sides still hate each other and are highly accusatory towards and skeptical of the other side's intention. This obviously leads to them having excessive difficulty in working together because of their mutual lack of trust.
• The Christmas Episode of the Sawbones Podcast deconstructs the figure of Santa Claus, as Doctor Sydnee enumerates the numerous serious health problems that would plague an overweight, middle-aged man who consumes prodigious quantities of sugar and dairy, and then spends an entire night trying to maintain control over an animal-driven flying sleigh. By the end of the episode, Justin is traumatized:
  Dr. Sydnee McElroy: Now, let's talk about Santa's heart.
  Justin McElroy (extremely distressed) Yes! It's a big heart, big enough for all the children in the world!
  Dr. Sydnee McElroy: Right. An enlarged heart can mean all kinds of bad things...
• Twitch Plays Pokémon completely tears apart the Mind Hive trope, showing that if many minds are trapped in one body yet retain themselves they are NOT going to work together unless they absolutely have to. Instead they will waste much of their time and progress fighting for control over their shared body.
• In DEATH BATTLE!, Deadpool vs. The Mask deconstructs the Curb-Stomp Battle. Wiz and Boomstick are so annoyed over Deadpool that they literally plan a match against someone who is clearly superior to him in every which way that it completely wrecks their draw as impartial judges. When Deadpool is killed off, they both are suitably upset over doing so and are incredibly regretful over acting this way.
• The Springhole article "No, Thanos Was Not Justified" deconstructs the Anti-Villain trope. Syera argues that regardless of his intentions, what Thanos did during Avengers: Infinity War was pointlessly cruel and wouldn't even be effective in the long run. In addition, there were alternatives that wouldn't have traumatized half the universe.
• Black Jack Justice: Trixie is a the love 'em and leave 'em type, and constantly threatens to shoot people. In "The One That Got Away", we learn that she breaks up with her suitors by way of abuse. And bottles to the head. And gunfire. There's almost no humor about this revelation, and Theo points out she's clearly afraid of opening herself up to a man. Turns out the Femme Fatale routine ain't exactly good for long-term emotional satisfaction.
• The Twins (2022) centers on a Sibling Rivalry between two twin brothers. Unlike most versions of the trope where the siblings would usually make up in the end, Lucas and Lake never reconcile, and their conflict ultimately results in one of them dying.

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