Playing With / Small Role, Big Impact

Basic Trope: A minor character's actions or words significantly impact the story.

Negative Impact

• Straight: Eric, who is given 2 minutes of on-screen screen time, kills Bob, Alice's boyfriend. This act causes Alice to turn aloof and cold kickstarts the story.
• Exaggerated:
  • One-Scene Wonder Eric causes Bob's death. This turns Alice into an Evil Overlord, causes The End of the World as We Know It and ends up the catalyst for the death of the whole universe.
  • Eric doesn't even appear properly, just a Freeze-Frame Bonus, but he's the Greater-Scope Villain of the entire franchise.
• Downplayed: Bob's death is the final push Alice needed to make a Face–Heel Turn. However, she'd already been toying with evil deeds and people manage to talk her down within an episode or two. The people orchestrating The Conspiracy weren't really concerned with Eric anyway and sort of just go with it.
• Justified: The Reveal is that Eric was secretly the Big Bad, who needed Bob dead to traumatize Alice, the aim of The Conspiracy being her turn to evil.
• Subverted:
  • Not-So-Small Role
  • Bob's background friend Eric suddenly kills him and sets Alice off. At least until people bring Bob Back from the Dead, putting everything right...
• Double Subverted: ...Except Bob ends up dying from the wounds Eric inflicted on him anyway. This still sets Alice off, but in a different, more destructive way than intended.
• Inverted: Eric's murder attempt fails. Not only does he get arrested for this, the consequences of Bob surviving are much worse than anyone could've imagined. To a very catastrophic degree that causes his loved ones to die by the hands of Alice.
  • Major character Eric kills The Hero Bob to spite Alice, but Bob was one of many Rotating Protagonists and Eric's rampage is put down within an episode, and Eric with his rampage. His name is never brought up again.
  • Big Bad Eric kills Bob, but nobody notices, let alone cares.
  • Big Role, Small Impact: Eric wastes all of Alice's shampoo but she has an enormous amount of shampoo.
  • Plot-Irrelevant Villain
• Parodied:
  • Side-character Eric's murder of Bob is one of many, many instances of minor characters inadvertently shaping the plot at-large. The protagonists are constantly affected by goofy errors they aren't privy to. If they did notice these things, there'd be no story.
  • In an otherwise straightforward story, major characters start dying at the hands of minor extras. The minor characters are revolting against the author by killing off the protagonists.
• Averted:
  • Side-character Eric tries to kill Bob, but fails. This ends up being a non-canon scene that doesn't affect the story at all.
  • The media Alice, Bob and Eric star in has Negative Continuity, thus Status Quo Is God by the next episode no matter how badly Bob's death affects everyone this time.
• Defied: Alice kills Eric before he can kill Bob. This completely derails The Conspiracy and keeps Alice on the side of good.
• Zig-Zagged: Minor character Eric's murder of Bob causes a shift in Alice's personality, but doesn't seem to do much other than cause everyone to mourn Bob's loss for awhile. Until Alice randomly falls to the dark side in an act of grief, causing a cataclysm The Conspiracy needed to secure their plans.
• Enforced:
  • Bob was already unpopular as a character and was on the verge of being phased out, so the writers Dropped a Bridge on Him using his friend as an Author's Saving Throw instead of giving him an elaborate send-off.
  • Bob has to die to kick off the plot, thus the writers choose to make his friend Eric do the deed.
• Lampshaded: "Why does Eric appear that one time?"
• Discussed: "Is it just me or have you and Eric had a lot of close calls lately? If something happened to you...I don't know what I'd do."
• Conversed: "Eric gets away with killing Bob! It's where a character exists to kickstart the story! God I hate that cliché!"
• Invoked: The Conspiracy begins with Bob's assuming friend Eric killing him while under Mind Control. This sets off Disaster Dominoes that puts the city in turmoil and turns Alice into a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
• Exploited: Bob's small-time friend Eric seemingly kills him. This puts a grieving Alice on the path of evil, endangering millions with the destruction she causes. However, Bob was merely Faking the Dead; things had to happen this way so Alice could stop a much worse threat when it suddenly arrived on Earth.
• Played for Laughs: ???
• Played for Drama: Major character Bob is suddenly murdered by his background friend Eric. This sets Alice's trauma into overdrive and causes her to lash out at various parties in her grief. The next few episodes are from the point-of-view of the trio's associates, who can only watch as their friends' lives (and eventually their own) fall apart to schemes and plans beyond their understanding.
• Played for Horror: The death of Bob at Eric's hands is initially a small dramatic moment whose consequences start out small and slowly go From Bad to Worse. Alice's Face–Heel Turn is gradual, devolving from Heroic BSoD into Beware the Superman - The death that ensues in the wake of her grief is a global event that emergency alerts, folks that mean well, various superweapons and even schemers that reach a Heel Realization are all unable to prevent. The deterioration of the setting takes place in real-time as the deaths of everyone trying to stop her are depicted one after another. The story concludes with a relevant motivational quote Bob said to Alice during happier times, eliciting a final Skyward Scream.
• Implied: ???
• Deconstructed: Bob's death at Eric's hands sets Alice into a destructive frenzy, per the plans of those orchestrating The Conspiracy. But, they underestimated how much control they really had over everyone's lives and Alice's descent into madness soon puts the schemers in danger too. They're eventually destroyed by the object of their own hubris. The whole affair is ultimately a Pyrrhic Victory - The Conspiracy is over, but an Evil Overlord is now on the rise and numerous people, many of whom didn't deserve it, are dead...
• Reconstructed: ...per the plans of Eric, who was actually the minion of even worse group than the schemers that corrupted Alice. With their enemies dead, it's a simple matter of putting Alice down and taking over a ruined world unable to fight back. The Earth becomes a Crapsack World with few prospects and even fewer chances for anything resembling liberation, all because the wrong person died at the wrong time. The end.

Positive Impact

• Straight: Bob, The Mentor of Alice, who is given 10 minutes of on-screen screen time, gives her advice to change the tactics she uses against Emperor Evulz and his minions in a more beneficial way.
• Justified: Bob, mentor of the Hero Alice, gives her the advice because he's a seasoned warrior and knows it's the only strategy that can defeat Emperor Evulz.
• Inverted: Minor Major Character: In spite of Alice being the main heroine and Chosen One of the story, she holds barely any significant impact in the story, with the story being more focused on her mentor Bob and her partner Charles.
• Subverted: Bob, the mentor, begins to give Alice advice that seems significant, but it turns out to be a red herring that doesn't affect the battles at all.
• Double Subverted: ...but later, it is revealed that it had a hidden impact on the Emperor Evulz.
• Parodied: Bob, offers Alice a piece of advice that involves performing an intricate dance routine during her epic showdown with Emperor Evulz... while wearing a tutu.
• Deconstructed: Bob's advice leads Alice into a series of disastrous missteps, showing the impracticality of blindly following Bob's guidance without considering the nuances of the situation.
• Reconstructed:After realizing the flaws in Bob's advice, Alice and her companions carefully reevaluate and refine it, incorporating their newfound wisdom into a strategy that ultimately outwits Emperor Evulz and his minions.
• Zig Zagged: Throughout the story, Bob's advice alternates between being seemingly brilliant, then disastrous, then brilliant again, depending on the situation.
• Averted: Bob never offers any advice to Alice, and their relationship has no impact on the battles.
• Enforced: Bob's advice is included because the studio insisted on having a mentor character, even though it doesn't naturally fit into the story.
• Implied: Bob's advice isn't shown on screen, but it's implied that he guided Alice behind the scenes, influencing the story.
• Exaggerated: Bob's advice is taken to the heart, resulting in a series of events that reshape the entire battlefield.
• Logical Extreme: Bob's seemingly trivial advice about pointing the sword at the enemy in the right way to Alice spirals into a chaotic, world-altering event, with the entire universe affected by her actions.
• Downplayed: Bob's advice is mentioned briefly and doesn't have a significant impact on the battles.
• Discussed: ???
• Conversed: ???
• Lampshaded:
  Alice: "You know, Bob, this advice of yours feels like something out of a bad action movie, but hey, I'll give it a shot,"
• Played for Laughs: Bob's advice, delivered with over-the-top seriousness, leads Alice to attempt a hilariously convoluted plan that involves dressing up as Emperor Evulz's pet ferret to infiltrate his lair.
• Played for Drama: Bob imparts a poignant piece of advice to Alice, which becomes a central theme of the story, as she grapples with its profound implications and must make difficult decisions
• Played for Horror: Bob's advice leads to Alice's imprisonment, leading to the dark ending.
• Invoked: Bob strategically uses his knowledge to provide Alice with advice that he knows will have a significant impact.
• Defied: Bob recognizes that giving Alice advice could have disastrous consequences and refuses to do so, actively avoiding any influence on the battles.
• Exploited: Bob, knowing the potential impact of his advice, strategically uses it to manipulate the course of events in his favor.