Yeah, that's why I would recommend against naming the "skilled shooters make headshots" trope Rifle Headshots — there's no reason why they have to be with rifles, so why put that in the title?
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Exactly, just any old headshot isn't this, it would more than likely fall under something else. For example a Mob Hit where a hit man shoots them twice in the head is not this it would fall under Double Tap.
Scoped Pistol headshots at range would be this and might serve well to make it a redirect.
Edit: so Scoped Pistol, Aim Assist and Mob Hit do not exist? Strange.
edited 27th Oct '14 9:25:58 PM by Memers
I'm trying to think of some good wordplay with "head" and "dead"...
As a way of having a character die, I've seen it too many times to count. In fiction, a headshot is almost guaranteed to be an Instant Death Bullet.
To go back to your example of the people charging the machine gun, the guys who get hit in the arm and leg might be incapacitated but won't be in immediate danger of dying. The one who gets hit in the groin might or might not survive. The one who gets hit in the chest probably will die, but if he's an important enough character, he might get to say a few last words. The one who gets hit in the neck won't be so lucky and is practically certain to die, but even so, he'll probably take a few seconds to finish dying. The one who gets hit in the head? Dead. Instantly. No last words, no gasping for breath, nothing. It's the certainty and quickness of death that are the distinguishing features of headshots in fiction.
To put it another way, you could say that they all form a sort of Sliding Scale Of Hollywood Gunshot Lethality, in the sense that you can (usually) tell more or less what a character's odds of survival are based on where the character gets shot (often in contrast with Real Life). I don't know which of them deserve their own tropes, but it is a common thing in fiction.
edited 27th Oct '14 11:16:37 PM by MrL1193
The problem is you just linked the exact trope for that, Instant Death Bullet, and so common that only maybe an aversion trope Survived Being Shot In The Head like Zaeed in Mass Effect 2 would even be remotely notable.
Instant Death Bullet will go into the headshot index, add a line that saying Headshots are almost always this and that is pretty much it.
edited 27th Oct '14 11:29:38 PM by Memers
Instant Death Bullet isn't restricted to headshots at all. It refers to when you don't even have to see where the characters get hit—you just see bullets fired in their general direction, followed by the characters falling over dead. Sometimes works do use visible headshots, but the trope generally refers to when every successful hit kills (and often bloodlessly).
What I'm talking about is more the other way around. Even in more realistic works where Instant Death Bullet is not in play, a headshot will still result in instant death.
edited 27th Oct '14 11:29:32 PM by MrL1193
It does not need to be restricted to headshots at all, but headshots will almost always fall under it.
Anyway like I said it is just not a trope, it is a law. An aversion trope to it IE "Survived Being Shot In The Head" could work but that is about it.
edited 27th Oct '14 11:33:45 PM by Memers
Headshots may be serious in Real Life, but they're most certainly not always lethal (unlike decapitation), and they're not necessarily instantaneous either. Fiction severely exaggerates the effect of such wounds, to the point that a headshot is shorthand for instant death. I would certainly at least expect that people would make an attempt to save a headshot victim in Real Life, whereas in fiction, it's treated like a foregone conclusion. I can even think of an instance where a hospital worker asked a character why she was bothering to give CPR to a headshot victim on the doorstep of the hospital, pointing out that he had brain matter on his shoes, and the character replied that she was only doing it to preserve his organs for transplant. Such an exchange would never happen in reality.
edited 28th Oct '14 12:09:04 AM by MrL1193
Regarding Real Life vs. fiction headshot, it's worth noting that 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain exists for situations where surviving a shot to the head is a sign of badassery. As for headshots in people who aren't badasses or plot-required, I think Instant Death Bullet covers that one.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Ahh good the Survived Being Shot In The Head trope does exist... under a name I would have never thought of lol.
'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain is another one for the Headshot Index.
edited 28th Oct '14 12:13:27 AM by Memers
For the trope that was called Rifle Headshot: Since it's about a headshot used to communicate expert marksmanship, what about Headshot Marksman?
Not right away, not right awayThe fact that headshots are almost invariably lethal in fiction (as opposed to real life) doesn't make it Not A Trope — it makes it an Omnipresent Trope. I definitely think that we should make an Instant Death Headshot trope as a subtrope to Instant Death Bullet.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.That phenomenon is not headshot-specific, to my knowledge. And it may not be distinct from Instant Death Bullet either.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
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Pistols in videogames are usually considered to be a high accuracy/low rate of fire weapon. Generally, you can't zoom in with them as much as rifles, but they tend to be really accurate at long range and their fire speeds aren't anywhere near automatic weaponry. They're kinda the more action-oriented version of a sniper rifle. I'd say just stick them in with the rifles so long as it's the accuracy that counts for the shot.