Basic Trope: In fiction, being hidden from sight by whatever obstruction always means you're safe from weapons fire.
- Straight: Alice is in her car when she sees Bob on the side of the road pointing a gun at her. She ducks behind the car door, and it reflects or absorbs impact from every bullet Bob fires.
- Exaggerated: Bob can't pierce the car with an assault rifle.
- Downplayed: A plaster wall withstands a couple of shotgun blasts, but crumples after another.
- Justified:
- Bob is using a Ray Gun that can only melt through flesh and other soft materials.
- The door is made of particularly strong materials.
- Bob uses a gun of low calibre, like .22 Long Rifle. Short barrel or/and large distance from Alice are also a factor.
- Inverted:
- Unconcealed equals uncovered: if you can be seen, you can be shot at. Distance is not an issue, reinforced glass is never strong enough, liquid is never dense enough, etc.
- Bob chucks a dry snowball at Alice's car, and it breaks through her side window.
- Bob fires a pistol, penetrating several walls without any drop of velocity and angle.
- Subverted: Alice ducks beneath the car door. The bullet doesn't care.
- Double Subverted: Alice still gets hit after she ducks, but it's revealed to be Only a Flesh Wound and she would be dead if the car door hadn't absorbed most of the impact.
- Parodied:
- Alice closes her eyes and refers to the rule of thumb "as long as you can't see the shooter, you're a hundred percent safe."
- Bob is Dual Wielding two BFGs. Alice successfully takes cover behind a large grass plant.
- A sleeping Alice is shot at in her bedroom, She survives from being covered by her blanket.
- Zig Zagged: Whether a bullet can pierce through a car door depends on "the strength of the car".
- Averted:
- Alice jumps out of her car and takes cover behind the engine block.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "So you emptied your whole magazine onto a car, yet you couldn't pierce through it? Either some script writer hasn't been doing their research or you need to get rid of that wimpy peashooter."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Alice regularly uses a thick slab of wood as a shield.
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Concealment Equals Cover
