Basic Trope: A character comes in second place in a competition and is disappointed.
- Straight: Bob takes part in a running race with 10 competitors. He finishes second place, and takes the sliver medal with a sour look.
- Exaggerated: In a race with 100 competitors, Bob comes in second neck on neck with the champion, and throws a Sore Loser tantrum.
- Downplayed:
- Bob ends up being in second place. He's a little disappointed and would prefer if he got first place, but lets it go eventually.
- Bob is rather fine with second, but when he hits third, he reacts disappointingly.
- Justified:
- The champion of the race won by a large margin, and Bob barely got in second. He is right to feel that he put in a mediocre performance.
- There was only one other competitor (IE: second place is last place)
- Bob knows that he made a stupid, easily-avoidable mistake in the race that cost him enough time to lose first.
- Bob loses because of the circumstances outside of his control, making his loss a bad luck, especially when he had a clear chance to win otherwise.
- It was a tournament bracket for a game that is normally head-to-head with a 3rd-place match, 5th-place match, etc. Bob getting second means he just lost and hasn't been allowed time yet to process his disappointment at losing, while those who finished lower than him have had time to do so.
- There is a huge cash prize for the first-place finisher, but nothing at all for second place or below.
- Bob is very prideful.
- Bob's parents were pressuring him to win, and he feels that he let them down.
- Bob would be okay with being the guy in second place if not for the tsunami of Sore Loser enraged fans and asshole gloating fans of the other guy who are going to make his life a living hell for a very long time.
- Inverted:
- Second Place Is for Winners
- Bob has been a long time reigning champion, but is tired of always winning and wants someone else to win. Evertime he hopes someone will beat him, and is annoyed every time.
- Bob participates in a race with 10 competitors, he jumps for joy when he finishes second-to-last.
- Bob insists that he did not lose, he got second place. In a competition with two contestants.
- Subverted: Bob is initially disappointed he finished second but gets over it soon enough and is overall feeling pretty good about how he did.
- Double Subverted: At least, that's what he puts on for others to see. Bob is later seen in his room looking sullenly at his silver medal before he throws it in disgust.
- Parodied:
- The silver medal is a rather literal Medal of Dishonor with "not 1st" written on it. In a similar vein, the bronze medal simply has "YOU SUCK" written on it.
- Bob is so disappointed at getting second place that he tries to hang himself with his silver medal, which is too crappy for the job.
- Zig-Zagged: In some competitions Bob is unsatisfied with anything but first; in others he's less upset about not winning.
- Averted: Bob concludes that second place is good enough.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob immediately decides to adopt a positive mentality — second place is not a sign he is a loser, just that he is not on the top spot… yet. He certainly is better than the guy who came in third.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played for Laughs: Bob always ends in second place and hating it is seen as a joke by other people, which makes Bob to laugh at it as well
Back to Second Place Is for Losers
