Basic Trope: The villain gives the hero a chance to start running before chasing them.
- Straight: Emperor Evulz gives Bob a five-minute head start.
- Exaggerated: Evulz waits a whole year or even longer before chasing Bob.
- Downplayed: Evulz gives Bob a five-second count.
- Justified:
- Evulz is a Noble Demon.
- Evulz sees Bob as a Worthy Opponent.
- Evulz is pulling a Trick-and-Follow Ploy on Bob to find out where La Résistance is hiding.
- Inverted:
- Bob asks Evulz for a head start, but Evulz would rather Just Shoot Him.
- Bob gives Evulz a head start.
- Subverted: Evulz gives Bob a head start, but then shoots him before he can even start running.
- Double Subverted:...except the gun was loaded with blanks. Evulz used a Secret Test of Character to know if Bob trusts him, and then the real countdown starts.
- Parodied:
- Bob and Charlie are playing hide and seek, and Charlie is counting so Bob can hide.
- Charlie gives Bob a head start so he can tickle him.
- Zigzagged: Evulz gives Bob a head start, but shoots his friend Alice though.
- Averted:
- Evulz kills Bob immediately.
- Evulz never chases Bob.
- Lampshaded: "Let me tell you something? I give you a head start, you start running and I'll chase you. Then you'll get away".
- Enforced:
- The heroes decide to show Evulz why a head start would be a bad idea.
- Evulz doesn't want to kill Bob, so he gives him a head start to look like he lost him.
- Invoked: Charlie convinces Evulz to give Bob a head start to save him.
- Exploited: Bob uses the headstart to set a trap to capture Evulz.
- Defied: Evulz refuses to give Bob a headstart knowing how stupid that is.
- Discussed: "Why do villains always give the hero a chance to escape? Don't they know how stupid that is?
- Played For Laughs: Evulz doesn't even know how to count properly when trying to give Bob a headstart.
- Played For Drama: The countdown leads to Bob being hunted and running for his life in terror.
