Basic Trope: A single moment makes the rest of the work darker.
- Straight: A lighthearted fantasy romp turns grim when Emperor Evulz shows up and kills Bob halfway through. The rest of the show features the remaining heroes legitimately struggling against Evulz.
- Exaggerated: A show starts as a cartoon about the utterly adorable Squiggles who inhabit a Fluffy Cloud Heaven Sugar Bowl before suddenly turning into a biography of Jeffrey Dahmer.
- The first few episodes of a new show are set in a Sugar Bowl that would give Kirby and the Care Bears diabetes, then, halfway into the second episode of season 2, Emperor Evulz shows up who was previously discussed in the last few episodes but in a more cartoonish bad guy way, except he's a more realistic horror villain and within one episode goes from Sugar Bowl to Sugar Apocalypse to Crapsack World of nightmares. The rest of the series is a horror series that would give even the most hardcore horror fans nightmares.
- Downplayed: The show doesn't get that much darker.
- Emperor Evulz is a legitimately dangerous villain but he's a Deadpan Snarker with some of the best lines to the gut punch doesn't hit quite as hard.
- Justified: It's sweeps week.
- Inverted: The first 20 minutes of the movie indicate a horror movie, with some of the most terrifying scenes put to film, the remaining 90 minutes are a fun Buddy Cop Show type of movie where they try to catch Emperor Evulz, who turns out to be surprisingly harmless and defeated cartoonishly.
- In a world overflowing with darkness and cynicism, against all odds, the forces of good actually win. This victory begins to make the world a better place, and the rest of the series follows the ultimately successful rebuilding effort.
- A "Hallelujah Point" occurs to end a long, dark, and grim period.
- Subverted: After a few episodes of darkness, Alice steps up to take Bob's place as The Hero and defeat Evulz. The show's lightheartedness returns.
- Double Subverted: ...for one episode. Then Evulz is revealed to be Not Quite Dead, and it's back to the bleakness.
- Parodied: An instance of this that Crosses the Line Twice.
- Zig Zagged:
- The show can't decide what tone it wants to take.
- The darkness depends on the writer.
- Averted: The show maintains a consistent tone throughout its run.
- Enforced: "We need to Retool the show to fit an older audience. Let's state our intentions loudly and unmistakably."
- Lampshaded: "But it all looked so cute and nice!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: The people refuse to let Bob's death break their spirits.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "You know, just when you think you're used to something, it goes and pulls the rug out from under you."
Back to Gut Pun- *BANG*
