Basic Trope: Something gives the heroes hope, which is then shattered.
- Straight: Hiro is defeated and at the mercy of Emperor Evulz, when Bob shows up. Evulz then takes down Bob with a single blast.
- Exaggerated:
- Hiro is on the brink of being enslaved or killed by Emperor Evulz, when Bob, a demi-god one-man army shows up to help. He dies from a tiny flick.
- Bob actually does save Hiro from Evulz, but Hiro has already been hurt by Evulz’ Poisoned Weapon and dies much slower and painfully than he anticipated.
- Downplayed:
- The odds of success weren't very good before the Hope Spot was shattered.
- At first it looks like the Big Damn Heroes are going to curb stomp Evulz. Instead, one of them has to make a Heroic Sacrifice, and the rest barely escape with their lives. There's still hope, but it's far more distant than it seemed at first.
- Justified: Evulz knew Bob was coming.
- Or Evulz was just too powerful, even for Bob.
- Inverted: Hiro is about to be killed, and Bob has been defeated... only for the Even Bigger Neutral to decide that evil is not winning, thank you very much, and show up with an army of Cthulhu Clones.
- Subverted: Hiro is defeated and at the mercy of Emperor Evulz, when Bob shows up. Evulz then takes down Bob with a single blast. Bob then gets back up, dusts himself off, and beats Evulz into submission.
- Double Subverted: ...and Evulz reveals that he is not left handed.
- Parodied: Hiro is in Hell fighting with Emperor Evulz. As he makes the killing blow, a beam of light shines on Hiro as a Cherubic Choir sings in the background and pure white wings appear on his back. He flies out of Hell...right before a Record Needle Scratch is heard and Evulz abruptly yanks Hiro back into Hell with a giant black tentacle he definitely didn't have a minute ago.
- Zig Zagged: Hiro is defeated and at the mercy of Emperor Evulz, when Bob shows up. Evulz then takes down Bob with a single blast. Bob then gets back up, dusts himself off, and beats Evulz into submission. Evulz then reveals that he is not left handed. Bob turns off the Power Limiter and takes down Evulz. Evulz goes One-Winged Angel and kills Bob, who then comes back from the dead and kills Evulz Deader than Dead. Everyone starts celebrating, when Evulz reveals they were Fighting a Shadow.
- Averted:
- Something happens to give Hiro hope. Things then turn out as he hoped, with no catch.
- Nothing happens that would give Hiro hope once things start going downhill.
- Enforced:
- "This fight is too boring, so lets spice it up by having the viewers think that Hiro's getting rescued!"
- The producers want to avoid people losing interest in their story so they throw in a hope spot to reel 'em in.
- Lampshaded:
- Hiro is defeated and at the mercy of Emperor Evulz, but Bob shows up at the last moment... To which Hiro reacts by telling Bob to get out of the way because he's probably about to get blasted.
- Too Good to Be True
- Invoked: Evulz gives the heroes a Hope Spot so that they don't break out their Desperation Attack until it's too late.
- Exploited: Evulz allows the heroes to have Hope Spots, just so he can shatter them, breaking the heroes' spirits.
- Defied:
- Bob shows up to save Hiro and beats the crap out of Emperor Evulz, because he Took a Level in Badass, knowing that Emperor Evulz would be prepared for him.
- Hiro shows no reaction to Bob's arrival and death, as he's already beyond hope.
- Discussed:"Whatever happens to me, don't come to my rescue if I get captured."
"How come?"
"That's when you'd die." - Conversed: "Why can't the guys who come to the rescue ever be helpful?"
Back to Hope Spot.
