Basic Trope: Characters in a cast may change in power, but their power relative to each other remains the same.
- Straight: In The Troper Rangers, it's very clear that Alice is the most powerful, followed by Bob, then by Trope-tan. Except for a few instances of Sidekick Glass Ceiling and cases where one character may get a level in badass shortly before the other two, this dynamic remains unchanged.
- Exaggerated: The Troper Rangers have dozens of characters, and they all remains the same in relative power for a decades long television show.
- Downplayed: There are permanent changes to the ranking, but the changes are few and far in-between, and most people have the same relative power.
- Justified:
- The team sticks together, so it's only natural they'd access powerful artifacts or new weapons at the same time.
- They gain power though a trainer, who gives them equal attention.
- Inverted: The power ranking ladder is gradually but completely reversed by the end of the story: Trope-tan becomes a Person of Mass Destruction, Bob also Takes a Level in Badass, but Alice remains at about the same power level as before.
- Subverted: Early on in the season, the characters have fixed relative power, but then as the plot thickens, everyone is changing, weakening, or increasing their powers like crazy, making who's stronger than who at a given time random.
- Double Subverted: This randomization, however, was just a key point in an arc. One that storyline is over, things are consistent again.
- Parodied: Alice begins working out to increase her physical abilities, even though she's twice as strong as Bob. When her strength improves from lifting 200 pounds to 250, she finds out that Bob is now able to lift 125 pounds, for seemingly no reason.
- Zig Zagged: Some seasons of the show follow this trope, others don't.
- Averted: Character strength changes all the time, and no ranking remains the same for long.
- Enforced: "We need to make sure the show is consistent and no confusing for new viewers."
- Lampshaded: "I like the fact that I'm stronger than you were a few years ago, but not since you'll always be ahead of me."
- Invoked: Alice holds a contest to establish a clear ranking among her friends.
- Exploited: An established power ranking helps the team decide who to send out on missions.
- Defied: Bob strongly dislikes being Always Second Best, and trains extra hard to try to catch up to Alice.
- Discussed: "I will always be the best!"
- Conversed: "Consistency is nice, but I'd like to see the weakest guy get a chance."
- Implied: While never explicitly stated, The Troper Rangers has information about the evil counterpart villain team which points to the villains being consistent in relative power.
- Deconstructed:
- Nobody trains, seeing as they'll never improve relative to each other.
- Trope-Tan grows resentful of her inablity to catch up and betrays the heroes for more power.
- Reconstructed:
- But they have to improve anyway, since nothing about this trope means they can't get better relative to their pasts selves.
- They have to improve anyway, since the Sorting Algorithm of Evil is in full effect and if Alice can't beat the next villain, Bob and Trope-Tan have no chance.
- Trope-Tan may have turned evil...but she's still at the same relative strength, resulting in her becoming an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain.
- Played For Laughs: One character trains as hard as he can, but he never gets better than anyone, simply because he's meant to be at the bottom.
- Played For Drama: One character decides to quit the team, seeing as how they'll always be the weakest member.
Back to Fixed Relative Strength
