We don't want to clog this thread since Surprisingly Realistic Outcome is an Overdosed Trope. Before posting here, check if the example you're analyzing qualifies for summary deletion from the three criteria below by keeping this trope's rigorous definition in mind.
- Does the example involve Applied Phlebotinum (Functional Magic, Science Fiction, Artistic Licence) or a character reaction? If so, it instantly violates the definition's second bullet point's realism requirements, and you should delete it without question.
- Is the example a Discussed Trope or an instance of Conversational Troping? If so, it violates the definition's third bullet point's emphasis on only counting outcomes, and you should delete it without question.
- Considering the definitions, would the example qualify better for Deconstructed Trope or Deconstructed Character Archetype from the trope page's rules? If so, move it to the appropriate one on the spot.
If the example survived all three tests, it satisfies the second and third bullet points, so you don't need to change it immediately. If you feel like it meets the first bullet point's requirements for being surprising, you can leave it. However, if you believe it doesn't meet the first bullet point or aren't sure, talk it over in the cleanup thread before deciding.
Many Stock Phrases you'll see used in this thread describe a particular type of misuse:
- Not surprising. — The outcome described isn't a Bait-and-Switch and merely follows expected genre conventions.
- Plot happens. — The example merely describes an event or series of events but not why we would expect something different.
- Too fantastical. — The causes/outcome described included the presence of stuff Impossible in Real Life such as Applied Phlebotinum, Functional Magic, or Science Fiction, meaning they're too unrealistic by default.
- No character reactions. — The outcome involves a character reacting in a certain way or having certain emotions, which we can't gauge the realism of because people's emotional reactions vary far too much.
- Not realistic. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin, but this one requires you to write a short description for why it isn't realistic.
- Too implausible. — The outcome describes an outcome that happened because of things too unlikely to count as relatively realistic compared to what they were subverting.
- Cuttable ZCE. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Not an outcome. — The example is either a Discussed Trope, Lampshade Hanging, Conversational Troping, or happens over too much time to be momentary.
- Too unclear. — The example is too convoluted or obtuse to judge.
- Irrelevant. — The example describes stuff utterly irrelevant to the definition of SRO.
- Bad indentation. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
A big thing I've noticed is that it's often used for anything remotely realistic, or something that's realistic but doesn't necessarily affect the story. Another problem is that the trope seems to be cherry-picked, where any instance of reality ensuing is put there, as well as when another trope could serve the example better.
Problematic examples from one sample page, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Disney Animated Series:
"Despite his attempts Wander can't make friends with Dominator who constantly rebuffs his friendly gestures throughout season 2. Even at the end of everything, she still refuses. Sylvia even lampshades it, telling him some people are just like that."
"Spider-Man's fight against Sandman and Rhino, where Spidey uses Rhino's weight against him. rather than fighting him directly."
"Beshte gets sunburns all over his body and is easily exhausted while he is lost in the Outlands. Justified due to the fact that hippos need water to survive to avoid sunburn and overheating."
"It's heavily implied that being the leader of the Lion Guard has taken a toll on Kion's social and private life."
"Milo Murphy's Law is about a boy named Milo Murphy whose entire life is centered around Murphy's Law. In another cartoon, being The Jinx would cause people to be afraid of them, resulting in an unsocial lifestyle. That does not apply here. While everyone does watch their step around Milo, they do not hate him for it. Being The Jinx does, however, give everyone Paranoia Fuel, given that Murphy's Law can happen at any time, so chances are you might need insurance, a phone in case of emergencies, among other things. Milo himself (as well as his friends Melissa and Zack) just learned to adapt to his condition, being prepared for anything. He has lived with Murphy's Law his entire life after all. That being said, that does not mean that they don't panic all the time. Examples include Milo panicking over his monthly doctor's note, and Melissa panicking over riding a rollercoaster with Milo."
" Hiro is initially not allowed to use Tadashi's former lab, as it can only be accessed by upperclassmen who earned the privilege. Subverted in the second half of the pilot when Professor Granville decides Hiro using the lab would benefit him. On a related note regarding Granville, she is tough, but fair when interacting with the students. She might be, as Wasabi describes "a hard case", but Granville being a complete sadist and picking on Hiro would be unrealistic. She is actually a decent person."
-Edited with permission from the OP-
Edited by lalalei2001 on Aug 10th 2022 at 5:47:25 AM
Don't worry mew, I do check. Some of the Reality Ensues are just Didn't Think This Through, Awesome, but Impractical, and so on, which are then relocated to the relevant items instead of SRO
- Reality Ensues: The channel's skew towards content James described as "Jackass-Lite" for the sake of monetization value (admitted by multiple members) eventually led to James suffering a painful and brutal leg break during a failed attempt at a skateboard stunt. Doubling down on this trope, Nova admitted that the incident seriously frightened his family and girlfriend, and that he himself hadn't enjoyed making that sort of content in the first place, and the whole incident served as the catalyst to his (long-deliberated) decision to leave. — Since this is behind-the-scenes stuff over a real-life group of people, permission to cut for being misuse?
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Yea that's a definite misuse.
Copied from the Is This An Example? Thread
Thinking about adding this to The Walking Dead S09 E08 "Evolution"
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Even a Lightning Bruiser like Jesus who has been established to be good at dealing with the walkers can still be taken by surprise as he had no reason to assume that one of the walkersnote could dodge his attack and kill him by surprise.
Does this example fit the trope or not? Thanks.
Bringing up this example from Frasier S 11 E 16 Boo:
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Since Martin is an elder, he has a weak heart, which is shown when Frasier pranks him and gives him a heart attack.
Friends forevermore
It's realistic, but it's not surprisingly realistic.
Another bunch of "plot happens because" shoehorned under Reality Ensues:
- Summer with Monika: Monika and Harry's sex- and sun-fulled summer idyll by the beach comes to an end when they run out of money and food.
- Summer School: In the end, not all of the students pass. Even though they all buckled down in the end, it was too little, too late for some of them. That said, they've all gained a new appreciation for academic achievement.
- The Baker: Milo and Bjorn duel with fencing foils. When Bjorn disarms Milo and triumphantly stabs him with his foil, it does about as much damage as once would expect from a thin piece of metal with a deliberately-blunted tip. They both seem surprised by this.
- The Christmas Bunny: Earlier, when they take Rumple to the vet and said vet's response (the price of the treatment for an injured leg). As anyone who's owned an "exotic animal" will tell you, vet bills can be higher (and more often than not are) than the bills for "regular pets".
- The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard: When Bryce faces his stepfather in a fight, he realises that the man is actually wearing kevlar despite his claim that he never bothers, Bryce Senior pointing out that he's a ninety-year-old man.
- Thor: When Mjölnir is found in the desert, it is at first treated as a tourist attraction, but later becomes subject to surveillance, as nobody but Thor knows where it came from and thus would be suspicious about it.
- The Lady Vanishes: In the Remake, the conspiracy depends on everyone else not seeing Mrs. Froy or denying her existence. When two of the witnesses who initially denied seeing her change their stories the entire conspiracy crumbles.
Gonna cut all of these since, well, can't find a replacement trope (at least I can't) and calling it "SRO" would be a stretch. No objections?
Edited by RobertTYL on Aug 18th 2021 at 3:35:40 AM
Bringing up these examples from For Love of Magic:
- Reality Ensues:
- Because Lupin agonizes for so long over whether he should introduce himself to Harry, when he finally does, Harry treats him as an acquaintance at best and a friend of Sirius' at worst. Knowing a friend of his parents would be nice to talk to but Lupin clearly must not value them that much if he never once contacted Harry and then spent nearly a year between meeting Harry and mentioning his past relationship with James.
- Krum's plan to deal with his dragon (in this story, all of them are Hungarian Horntails) by blinding it results in his death when he gets too close to the thrashing creature.
- Tonks breaks up with Harry after learning he's been accidentally brainwashing her with the same magic that he used to improve his sex life. While she does try to continue their relationship, she simply can't stay with someone who she can't trust, especially as there's no way for her to know he's doing it. They eventually get back together when he teaches her The Joining as well since knowing it makes one immune to its effects.
- Harry's desire to simply be left out of politics and not deal with Voldemort... involves a lot of politics. Whether he likes it or not, he's both an international icon and extremely wealthy on top of being nobility. All together, he has to play the political game if he actually wants to be left alone because no one will allow him to simply sit on the sidelines.
- A potion that makes sex more enjoyable and severely increases "discharge" also tends to leave the users too tired to continue. Even Harry, who has a ridiculous amount of stamina, notes that a single orgasm makes him feel like he "just went six rounds with Fleur at her randiest". Also, overuse of the potion can lead to dehydration.
- To Ginny's horror, being close to The Hero, even tangentially, can make you and your family a target. Because Harry doesn't have anyone he cares about (or family of those he cares about) not living on his island Spellhaven, Voldemort kidnaps the Weasleys after hearing a rumor that Ginny is his latest concubine.
- As Voldemort learns, rumors are not a good source of information and taking hostages only works if your opponent cares about their survival. Likewise, if your enemy knows negotiations won't be held in good faith, they won't agree to your terms. When Voldemort demands Harry come alone or the Weasleys will die, Harry not only has his girls hiding nearby, even as he arrives at the meeting point he's already determining the best way to tell Ginny her family's dead.
- When Voldemort attacks London with a force of Inferi and Giants, the Statute of Secrecy is completely obliterated and no matter how much the International Confederation of Wizards tries, there's simply no putting a lid on the situation. Not only are there easily tens of thousands of witnesses, but many of them have posted photos and videos online, causing millions more witnesses by the end of the night.
- Because cities can only store at most three days worth of food at a time, once Harry wipes out all technology with magic, large cities fall into complete chaos in only a couple days.
Shingan no Yuusha — A woman captured by pirates, and kept alive for her beauty, as opposed to as a hostage, is not likely to be able to keep her chastity.
— Another "this woman gets raped because she is pretty" shoehorned under Reality Ensues. Do we have a law against stuff like these?
Oh and this one from Surgical Spirit
- Reality Ensues: The episode Sheila's Baby revolves around a new surgeon at the hospital, a young woman who hero-worships Sheila… and isn't exactly good enough to keep working there. Despite the fact that having a female doctor looked extremely good all-around, she ended up having to be fired. — A female doctor will "realistically" suck at her job. That's what the sentence's trying to imply, is it?
Edited by RobertTYL on Aug 20th 2021 at 12:42:24 AM
Yea those are terrible. Cut
A lot of "plot happens" with no surprises or subversion. Cut.
Bringing up the following examples from The Simpsons S9 E1 "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson":
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Drinking 17 cans of anything, let alone crab juice, will give most people a Potty Emergency.
- Homer tries to remove the boot on his car with a jackhammer. He ends up damaging the car even more, breaking the windows through the force of the vibrations and filling the car with holes when he misses. At least the boot eventually comes off.
Delete the two examples for misuse.
Heck, Simpsons recap pages are especially prone to Reality Ensues misuse. I went through like a third of these, and then have to give up and move onto something else because there's just TOO many shoehorns
South Park S 4 E 5 Cartman Joins NAMBLA
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The NAMBLA Leader tries to gain sympathy by claiming he just wants to be understood by everyone for his sexual orientation. Naturally, given that he grooms children, neither the boys nor the townsfolk buy into his crap and have him arrested anyway.
There's nothing surprising about this considering society as a whole's reaction to pedophilia.
Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
Angry babby
It is set up like An Aesop about understanding and stuff, but that gets thrown out the window clearly because the actual aesop is "pedophilia is Still Bad, Dude."
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
But the outcome itself isn't surprising considering what he did. Would you seriously set up the audience to make a pedophile a Karma Houdini?
Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
From The Katering Show:
- Reality Ensues: Yeah, nobody actually wants to eat lasagne made out of a placenta. Not even the person whose body produced the placenta in the first place.
- Sure, McCartney can eat the stuff McLennan makes her with all those helpful food substitutes, but more often than not, the substitutes just make it taste like crap, so she doesn't want to. And sometimes they wind up making something where the taste isn't thrown off, but McCartney didn't like it to start with. ("It's fucking dinner porridge!")
Not sure how either of these examples qualify.
You can't escape this monster
From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
- Reality Ensues:
- So what do you get when a trio of 17 year olds embark on a quest to destroy 5 magical artifacts that could be anything and anywhere in the UK, without a hint as to what? You get a very long period of our heroes plodding around, with no real plan of what to do. Even several of the hints Harry and Hermione had been looking into didn't really lead anywhere, because not every bit of new information is a world shattering revelation.
- When the three protagonists are captured and imprisoned in Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix opts to get information the same way that she always seem to, separating Hermione from the others and subjecting her repeatedly to the Cruciatus curse. She does predictably get an answer to her questions. However, just as predictably, Torture Is Ineffective and she gets an untrue answer. This fits into a pattern that shows up throughout the series. Like torture in the real-world, using Cruciatus is very useful for hurting someone, but not nearly as useful for gathering actionable intelligence. Given Bellatrix's characterization, of course, she may not actually care.
The second is just Torture Is Ineffective, but would the first, at least the last sentence, fit Surprisingly Realistic Outcome?
I'm mainly a fan of underrated media.
Bringing up the following examples from Love Stinks:
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Larry pulls Seth into the bathroom and keeps him there for nearly an hour. When they open the door to leave, they're greeted with a long line of impatient people.
- Seth may have had feelings for Chelsea still, but not nearly enough to decide to marry her after everything she put him through.
Do ahead as planned.
Cut both lines for misuse.
Speaking of which, here's two examples from Olaf's Frozen Adventure...
- When the Yule Bell is rung, everyone goes home instead of staying for the surprise party due to most people having personal and family traditions and plans already formed by the time the holidays arrive.
- Anna is dressed warmly and Elsa isn’t. Anna has rosy cheeks and Elsa doesn’t, since Anna is still vulnerable to cold and Elsa is not. — ...both which have ZILCH to do with the plot. Cut?
And this from Ronal the Barbarian
- Body acne is a problem for the barbarians. Probably comes from being constantly slathered in muscle oil and sweat. — Again, this have nothing to do with the plot. Cut?
Edited by RobertTYL on Aug 23rd 2021 at 9:22:46 PM
Thoughts on adding these to the disambig?
Indexes:
- Consistency: Tropes listed in the "Presence of..." and "Excess of..." folders
- Pragmatism Tropes
- Deconstruction and its listed subtropes
- Failed Attempt at Drama
- Logical Weakness
- Negated Moment of Awesome
- Subverted Trope
Bringing up these examples from SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- Agent Carter
- Due to the aforementioned Madonna-Whore Complex, Peggy is looked down upon and often pushed aside by her superiors and coworkers, who at best dismiss her as a young lady who simply hasn't learned that as a woman her proper place is either at home raising kids and making dinner or doing something not dangerous (like fetching coffee and reports) since anything dangerous is "man's work" or at worst think she's trying to use her relationship with Captain America to get ahead in an environment that is no place for a woman. Ultimately Peggy ends up using this to her advantage, since everyone either sees her as "a stray kitten" or "a secretary turned damsel" actually makes it easier for her to sneak around and do her own investigating.
- "The Blitzkrieg Button": Sousa struggles to get a homeless man to tell him what he saw, even after he talks about their shared service in WWII. The man still refuses to talk to cops. Thompson simply bribes him with a bottle of whiskey and a burger.
- A sad case with Sousa in "SNAFU": even an honest-to-god Nice Guy like him is still going to have some sexist leanings in the setting the show has; he might respect Carter, but he still views her with a Madonna-Whore Complex.
- Similarly, in "Valediction", while Thompson and the SSR honestly acknowledge Peggy's good work Thompson still takes all the credit when a politician shows up to congratulate the person responsible for stopping the attack. No one at the SSR stops him or, besides Sousa, even seems perturbed. For what it's worth, Thompson does look a little uncomfortable taking credit for Peggy's accomplishment.
- Jason Wilkes may be a brilliant scientist, but in the 1940s he still has to deal with an incredible amount of casual racism everywhere he goes.
Those all just seem like Deliberate Values Dissonance, the sexism/racism is pretty much built in the entire setting so it's not a surprise in context.
Unsolved Mysteries have this gem:
- Reality Ensues: A particularly sad case came in the case of Colorado resident Jason Horsley, who even after several run-ins with his neighbor, Malaika Griffin, about he and his fiancee apparently trespassing on her property, still thought there was some good in her and tried desperately to befriend her. Sadly, he may not have truly realized that not only was Griffin a racist but a Black supremacist who had no desire to try and attempt a friendship with any White people and ultimately killed him over another perceived slight. Being cordial to a racist, especially a violent one at that, will not make them change or even curtail their racist views. — Firstly, WTF? That's just... stuff happens. Secondly, the show in question is an investigation of mysteries that happened in REAL LIFE. Easy Cut?
And then Norbit gives us this gem:
- Rasputia chases Norbit in a rage when Norbit curses her for cheating on him... but the chase doesn’t last long due to her being morbidly obese. She’s soon wheezing and crumbling to the ground, unable to carry on the chase.
Edited by RobertTYL on Aug 25th 2021 at 11:39:13 PM
Bringing up the following example from X-Men S4 E1 "The Juggernaut Returns":
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Xavier learns the hard way that childhood scars aren't that easy to get over.
Xavier: I thought I was over this! But I was so young, and it hurt so much.
It happens in a lot of cleanups, sadly. Some people don't care about context.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness