Basic Trope: A scene is edited so that Bob is portrayed to be acting in self-defense.
- Straight: In the original version of Trope Wars, Bob shoots Alice. In the special edition of Trope Wars, Alice is badly edited to have shot at Bob first and missed, thus giving Bob justification to kill her.
- Exaggerated: The original version Bob was a murderer who killed an innocent woman in cold blood. The edit not only puts a gun in her hand, but then has Bob mutter to himself about Alice's puppy kicking operations afterward.
- Downplayed:
- The edit makes the Alice seem slightly more of an imminent threat by moving her hand towards what might be a concealed weapon.
- Bob's blackmailing of Alice is made more sympathetic when he notes that she would do the same, and she casually agrees.
- In the original Bob breaks into Alice's house and guns her down. In the recut she fires first with a gun of her own. It's still murder, as Alice was the one defending herself.
- Instead of punching Alice for insulting him, he tries to walk away and she grabs him, resulting in the punch.
- Justified: The edit is more consistent with Bob's personality.
- Inverted: In the first version of a show there was a justification of killing a man to prevent miscegenation. As he was already wanted at the time, removing this heinous bit made him more Anti-Hero than Villain Protagonist.
- Subverted: It seems like Bob is going to give Alice a chance to shoot first, but the moment she moves, Bob shoots her.
- Double Subverted: It seems like Bob is going to give Alice a chance to shoot first, but then Bob raises his gun... and hesitates. Alice then shoots, Bob dodges, and then Bob shoots Alice.
- Parodied: The justifications given are for "offenses" so minor it amounts to Disproportionate Retribution like "was a bad tipper" or "jaywalked back in 1989".
- Zig Zagged: Alice and Bob keep trying to shoot each other and missing. Bob hesitates several times before Alice proves herself to be a threat by trying to shoot someone else, but then Bob shoots her before she can pull the trigger.
- Averted: The hero finds Alice and kills her with no hesitation.
- Enforced: The writers are worried the audience might lose sympathy for the hero for killing a villain that isn't fighting them.
- Lampshaded: "I had to let him shoot first. What would people think of me otherwise?"
- Invoked: Bob records the exchange via covert camera, and gives Alice a chance to shoot first before he kills her, making himself look better in the record.
- Exploited: Alice knows that their first shot will inexplicably miss and dodges the hero's fire.
- Defied: Bob psychologically prepares himself, saying to someone else "The moment I get a clear shot, I'm taking it." He does.
- Discussed:
- Conversed: "Why was it necessary to change the scene to make Alice shoot first? Bob already has plenty of reasons to kill her."
- Deconstructed: A hero that blatantly lets someone else take a free shot at them is a hero that will probably end up dead or seriously injured. After all, how many times can you really get lucky?
- Reconstructed:
- Bob sabotages Alice's weapon ahead of time, so he can reassure himself (and others) that had Alice been able to, she would have killed him. This allows him to take the shot without remorse.
- Bob points a gun at Alice and demands her to surrender. She could have complied, but instead chooses to draw a weapon, and is shot dead clearly armed.
Back to Adaptational Self-Defense.
