Battlestar Galactica (2003)

• Did I Make the Most of Loving You?:
  • After arriving in the past, when they each believe that they were the only one sent back, Adama and Roslin are each uncertain about trying to approach their future lover as they recognise that it required very specific circumstances to make them the people they fell in love with and are concerned that their younger selves wouldn’t be interested. Too fantastical
  • When a Cavil comes back to the past and tries to tell the other Cylons about the future, the other Cylons eventually conclude that he’s just suffered some kind of breakdown, forcing Cavil to try and ask Adama to serve as an independent witness even though he knows it won’t work. Cassandra Truth?
  • During her first meeting with the Battlestar Commanders of the new Fleet, Roslin reminds them all to take the unconventional circumstances into account when anyone tries to complain about the limited supply run in the current situation. Even with the additional time the various time-travellers had to prepare, actually putting things into practise is so difficult at first that Adama and Roslin in particular don’t always have time to be together as a married couple. Too fantastical
  • Roslin rarely receives ‘official honours’ when she visits Galactica as she goes back and forth from the ship so often, considering that most of her family live there. What?
  • Despite everything the time travellers have done thanks to their advance knowledge, some people still suffer loss; most notably, Helo is killed in a Cylon raid on Galactica shortly after Hera’s birth even though Roslin was trying to keep the family together. Plot
• Fabius Maximus has created an entire Shared Universe of stories based around a single premise — that as a civilization with a population of billions spread across numerous worlds and with FTL technology being commonplace, the Twelve Colonies must have had more survivors of the Cylon attack than just the ships in Galactica's fleet or the scattered resistance groups stuck on the planets' surfaces. Each story follows a different such group fleeing the Colonies their own way, with repeated mentions of even more groups doing the same. Plot

Ben 10

• In Another Anodite, Ben and Gwen both acknowledge that if their relationship becomes public, people will treat them differently due to the majority of society's strong aversion to incest. Plot
• When Ben, Gwen, and Kevin meet their (alternate) future selves in Dark Mirror, Present Ben asks them for help regarding problems they will face in the future. Their future selves say that the best they can offer is general advice, citing that they expierenced so many incidents that they don't remember them all ^note and that's not even getting into the fact that, due to Multiverse Theory, their future selves became their alternate future selves the moment they met each other, so the present trio might not face the same problems as the future trio did. Plot, too fantastical

Big Hero 6

• In the first chapter of BH6 One Shots and Drabbles, Fred suggests that Hiro kiss Karmi to embarrass her into stop accusing him of having a crush on her. Instead of it going according to Fred's plan, Karmi naturally - and angrily - slaps Hiro for kissing her without consent and threatens to do more harm if he tries again. Wasabi lampshades the consequences of relying on comic books to solve real world problems, as relying on comics did nothing to help them against High Voltage in the end. Wrong Genre Savvy
• Unlike the film, Breathe shows Hiro going through a more intense depression that spirals into Drowning My Sorrows and taking drugs to numb the pain. Character has trauma
  • There Are No Therapists is averted, but it doesn't mean Hiro instantly gets better. Because he doesn't want to get help, he can't benefit from counseling at all. Character has trauma, bad indentation
• Compassion has Tadashi trying to build Baymax in Aunt Cass's home. He blows the power fuse. Since he is building the robot without the equipment automatically provided by the college as he is not a student yet, Tadashi is struggling with funds and proper equipment. Plot
  • Since Hiro is approximately 5 or 6 in this continuity, that means that the Hamada brothers lost their parents recently. Tadashi and Aunt Cass naturally are still pained by the loss, Tadashi especially, since he is older and has a better idea of death than Hiro does at the moment. Character reactions, bad indentation
• In Eibetsu, Hiro is forced to drop out of his classes for being stuck in the hospital because he was horrendously sick and couldn't give the homework back. Plot
  • When Tadashi learns one of Hiro's teachers slapped him hard enough to leave bruises, he gets a recorder, confronts the teacher to make him confess, then reminds the jerk that school policy forbids the staff from harming students, meaning the dude's career is toast. Plot, bad indentation
• I'll Try to Picture Me Without You But I Can't has Tadashi averting You Have to Believe Me! by reporting Youkai's fabrication of microbots as squatting, illegal robot assembly and copyright violation - since the microbots are Hiro's invention. He still doesn't get anywhere with his complaint because the Police Department is already busy with the bot-fighting circles and the request is pushed back for being not urgent enough. Plot, too fantastical
• I'm Not Giving Up On You has Hiro captured by his amnesic brother, Tadashi after unmasking him on the island. When Tadashi falls asleep next to Hiro inside of his cell, Hiro steals the keys to the cell, snags his helmet, and sneaks outside to contact the team and let them know that he's okay. Problem is, Tadashi gets out and intercepts the call, destroying the helmet. When Hiro asks in shock how he got out, Tadashi responds that he had a spare key on him, just in case. Plot
• Krei's Little Reality Check is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. In Big Hero 6: The Series, Krei threatens to expose Big Hero 6 to the public if they don't fix the problems on a robot he is selling to the market with no issues. Here, Go Go (and Hiro to an extent) break down the exact consequences of his poorly thought-out plan which can be summarized as being seen as complicit in the vigilante actions of Big Hero 6, seen as the mastermind behind the superhero team, making his lawyers accomplices by creating the contract he tried making Big Hero 6 sign in the first place, and also making it look like Krei was forcing the Nerd Gang to become heroes in the first place and appear sympathetic to the public. Krei quickly changes his plans and offers actual payment instead (albeit, after a little begging). Plot
• Shock demonstrates that just because someone thought to be dead comes back, it doesn't lessen the grief that their loved ones have gone through when said person reunites with them. In fact, it makes the pain they suffered All for Nothing. Or in Hiro's case, go into shock and suffer from panic attacks at the mere mention of Tadashi's name. Character has trauma
  • There Are No Therapists is averted and deconstructed. The reason Aunt Cass didn't sign Hiro up for therapy after Tadashi supposedly died was because she was too busy keeping the cafe running to do much other than check on Hiro periodically and make sure he was fed. She feels guilty about not trying simpler solutions such as hiring more workers or having the counselor come to them since Hiro had been holing himself in his room. Character reactions, bad indentation
  • The Nerd Gang admits that they all dealt with Tadashi's apparent death differently or weren't able to get counseling due to multitasking their work, school time and crime fighting well. In Go Go's case, she becomes more aggressive after learning that Tadashi was alive. Character reactions, bad indentation
  • Hiro admits that aside from grief, he felt angry and hurt over Tadashi's Senseless Sacrifice in the movie, citing that his brother essentially chose to run into a burning building to save a man he knew for only a few years at best over Hiro, whom he has known his entire life. His last supposed moments ironically ended up making him look like a hypocrite by being reckless and not thinking clearly, something Tadashi had always reprimanded Hiro for. Character reactions, bad indentation
• Young Blood takes a typical plotline where Hiro is killed in the fire instead of Tadashi, but has Hiro surviving. Even with this revelation, Hiro mentions that Tadashi isn't completely better, proving that even knowing a loved one wasn't dead like you thought isn't enough to deal with psychological damage. Character has trauma
  • Tadashi is a legal adult, so Aunt Cass can't force him to take therapy. Character reactions, bad indentation
  • After being rescued, Hiro has to be taken to the hospital, since he was getting amateur treatment under captivity. He has to go through extensive physical therapy for the electrical damage to his arm. Plot, bad indentation
  • When talking to Callaghan at the end of the story, Hiro mentions that faking his death meant that Callaghan was declared legally dead, and his money was seized as a result. He also notes that Callaghan didn't seem to have a plan for afterwards, when he got his revenge. Hiro also points out that if Callaghan wanted the microbots that badly, he could have just asked, but also adds that the whole debacle would have been traced back to him much quicker. On a related note, Hiro has to be declared legally alive himself. Plot, bad indentation
  • Despite not holding a grudge against Callaghan for kidnapping him and keeping him in a drug-induced coma, Hiro still hates the man for essentially destroying Tadashi emotionally in the ordeal and giving him trust issues. Character holds a grudge, bad indentation
  • There Are No Therapists is averted, Hiro mentions having to go to one to deal with the trauma, and it is implied that Tadashi is dealing with heavy emotional baggage as well. Character has trauma, bad indentation

The Black Cauldron

• The Green Glade: When the heroes are attacked by some of the Horned King's remaining soldiers, Taran is given a longsword by two unexpected rescuers. Unfortunately, the boy has no real experience with swordsmanship, for the only sword he has ever used made him ridiculously invincible due to being magical. He needs all of his strength to defend himself against his more experienced opponent, and he's eventually knocked down, needing one of his rescuers — obviously a seasoned warrior — to rescue him from a fatal strike. Subversion of Instant Expert?
• Hope for the Heartless: Months after the ending of the movie, Taran is revealed to have dreamed nearly every night his final confrontation with the Horned King as well as the lich's horrifying death. Without opening up about this to anyone, he has against his better knowledge come to doubt the righteousness of his actions back then as well as regret that he ever wanted to be a warrior or didn't sacrifice himself before Gurgi could beat him to it. Character has trauma

Bleach

• Game and Bleach:
  • Once Ichigo becomes the Gamer, people quickly notice that he's learning new skills far faster than should be possible. Uryu passes off Ichigo learning the basics of being a Quincy in a couple hours as him being a prodigy, but when Ichigo masters every kata Tatsuki knows after only seeing them once, she starts ranting about how what he's doing is literally impossible. Ichigo hadn't trained in five years and was only a purple belt at the time but were they in a formal setting, he'd have just earned a black belt. Too fantastical
  • Others aren't exempt either. After Ichigo is dragged to Hueco Mundo, Yoruichi notices while training Tatsuki that the girl is mumbling to herself while tapping the air. She demands an explanation before they continue, citing that if she's to train Tatsuki properly, she needs to know how the girl's powers work. Plot, too fantastical
  • When Ichigo is dragged to Hueco Mundo, Urahara says he can find him, but it will take an unknown amount of time as he's searching an entire dimension for one person with no real starting point. Plot
• Not Quite As Planned:
  • Ichigo sees that Byakuya and Komamura are guarding Rukia's cell. His plan to get past them? Immediately go into Super Mode and drop both of them before they know what's going on because challenging them to a fight to make it fair isn't an option when he's marked as an invader on enemy soil. Plot
  • A couple chapters later, Aizen's habit of No Selling his opponent's attacks instead of dodging or blocking them nearly gets him killed, because as the author's note points out, if you do that sooner or later you're going to run into someone who can get past your defenses. In this case, it's Orihime, who in Aizen's own words tramples over the rules of spiritual combat. Plot
  • Ichigo becoming an Arrancar has serious consequences even when he's in his still-living body. Both Isshin and Karin notice the dramatic and ominous change in his spiritual energy. Isshin, being plugged into the spiritual scene, mostly gets annoyed at Urahara. Karin is flat-out terrified. Too fantastical
• A Protector's Pride Tia's 3 Fraccion all get shot in the back of the head by Uryu while they stand around arguing. Subverted/Deconstructed Talking Is a Free Action
• In a fic actually called Reality Ensues, Unohana learns the hard way that she doesn't get to just die peacefully in a Heroic Sacrifice, especially since Ichigo and the others have so many ways to cheat death and nobody with half a brain would let her stay dead since they need her to help against the Wandenreich. Too fantastical
• In To Protect is to Defend, after Masaki's death, Isshin decides to start training the ten-year-old Ichigo to learn how to protect the family and to get Ichigo out of his depression over his mother. Since Ichigo dropped all his martial arts lessons, his injuries attract the attention and suspicion of the school nurses who document all his visits. The school nearly reports Isshin for child abuse, which only is prevented by Ryuuken, as the head of the hospital, intercepting the report. When Ryuuken breaks it to him, Isshin is horrified. Plot
• To Undo it All:
  • Ichigo mentions that a number of shinigami tried to fight alongside him during the Blood War, either to brag about fighting by his side or claim they saved his life. Pretty much all of them died when either an enemy Quincy shot them or they got in the way of one of Ichigo's attacks, being way out of their league. Plot
  • After returning to the past, it takes Ichigo some time to be able to eat full meals again, having spent years subsisting on meagre rations. Unohana also assigns herself as his personal nurse to deal with his untreated PTSD, partially because Ichigo would easily kill anyone below captain level if he triggered. Character has trauma
  • Because Ichigo killed Aizen and Tosen before they could start the Winter War, martial law was never declared and the new Central 46 will outrank Yamamoto once they've been chosen, something multiple characters note will cause headaches as Central 46 likes to throw their weight around just to remind everyone they're in charge. Plot
  • While Ichigo, Shiro, and Ossan know how to train up most of the captains and some of the lieutenants to where they need to be, they're still only three people trying to train up a couple dozen while not giving anything away to the Quincies that are still spying on them. Shiro notes how badly Ichigo is being stressed out by it after only a week or so and they still have several years before the Blood War starts. To make things worse, Ichigo wants to find a way to make the lower ranked shinigami into something more than cannon fodder but has no idea where to start. Plot
• Harribel's protectiveness is noted in White to actually be stunting the growth of her future fraccion as they're getting no combat experience with her always fighting for them. Plot

Bridge To Terabithia

• In A Life Rescued, the writer addresses many of the clichés found in Bridge to Terabithia Fanon: This is all Deconstruction Fic and plot happening
  • Jess is a Peggy Sue who goes back in time to relive the fatal day, choosing to save Leslie. It turns out that he really has a mental illness, that the time travel is part of his delusions, and he requires extensive therapy, including three weeks in a psych facility. This was done to avert the even worse implications of an actual Peggy Sue, which would have involved a thirty-year-old in an eleven-year-old's body getting romantic with an actual eleven-year-old. Character has trauma
  • Jess is able to save Leslie's life, but they are both hospitalized, requiring physical therapy for Jess and incurring medical bills for his impoverished family.
    • Leslie's parents pay off Jess' medical bills in gratitude for saving their daughter, but the way they handled the situation offends Jess' father, to the extent that he initially forbids Jess to have anything to do with Leslie and her family.
  • As Jess and Leslie broaden their horizons, making new friends and expanding their interests, they outgrow Terabithia.
  • Jess and Leslie fall in love at a young age, but due to said young age, Jess is uncomfortable even with Leslie's innocent physical desires (no more than some hugging and kissing). Additionally, Judy is concerned that the young couple's affection will lead them to become sexually active at an early age. Moreover, both Jess and Leslie have to deal with problems in their relationship, including jealousy; since, in love or not, they are still preteens, and later teenagers, with a (lack of) maturity appropriate to their ages. Finally, when Jess and Leslie are ready to become more physically affectionate once puberty sets in, they have to be careful not to go too far. Even then, Jess and Leslie still argue over how far is too far, with Jess, due to his conservative Catholic upbringing (in the fic, at least), being more reticent when it comes to issues of physical intimacy.
  • As indicated in the preceding entry, Jess' conservative Christian upbringing (Catholic in this fic) and Leslie's progressive, athiestic upbringing lead to conflict between the two, particularly in the area of physical intimacy.
  • Despite having progressive views, Leslie's parents, especially Judy, are very concerned about Leslie going too far sexually, and set limits on how far she can go with Jess. And no, saving Lesslie's life doesn't give Jess any special consideration in that regard.
  • Some bullies lure Leslie into an ambush. Leslie is able to fight them off and Jess and their OC friend Tom leave their classes, to get a teacher and to aid Leslie, respectively. Tom's Big Damn Heroes moment catches Leslie off guard and he gets a black eye for his troubles. Leslie is nearly expelled for an apparently unprovoked attack, until she reluctantly discloses evidence that suggests the bullies intended some kind of sexual assault. All three are suspended from school: Leslie for fighting, and Tom and Jess for leaving class without permission. Additionally, regardless of their justifications, Jess and Leslie's parents both give additional punishments.
  • Some new neighbors move in, including a group of Innocent Fanservice Girls who have no problems with nudity and being very physically affectionate with boys (the way Leslie is sometimes portrayed in other fics). The affectionate nature of one of the girls causes trouble between Jess and Leslie (see above regarding jealousy), and the girls' nudism tempts thirteen-year-old Tom, who surreptitiously observes and photographs them. Worst of all, their behavior stems from the fact that they are being molested and subjected to child pornography by their father, who gets one of them pregnant, driving her to suicide.
  • Grace, an OC friend, has a crush on Jess who, being happy with Leslie, avoids Grace. Their other OC friend, Barbara, tells Jess off for being stupid and pressures him to spend more time with Grace as her friend. Jess and Grace find themselves in a situation where they kiss, freaking both of them out and jeopardizing their friendship. Additionally, upon finding out whose idea this was, Grace blames Barbara, jeopardizing their friendship as well.
  • In the backstory, Bill and Judy went a little too far, sexually, when they were thirteen, and got pregnant. Judy found out that, no, she couldn't marry Bill at such a young age, and that the two of them ended up being separated for a few years before getting back together.
  • In the sequel fic, Bowing Out Gracefully, after graduating from high school, both Leslie and Jess go off to pursue their dreams. Jess' artistic talent, which is canon, leads to art school and a promising career in art. Meanwhile, in the first fic, Leslie discovered a talent for acting, which is realistically developed (given that the story takes place over four years); she is able to pursue this dream after graduating high school. Their respective dreams, however, pull the two in different directions and they break up. Pursuing his artistic career, Jess, having been cured by Leslie of his puritanical attitudes toward sexuality, pursues a meaningless sexual relationship with an OC and has a one-night stand with Grace. Meanwhile, Leslie's life deteriorates as she follows the path of many a young adult celebrity, and she abandons her acting career. Eventually, Jess and Leslie get back together.

Brightburn

• In the Brightburn fic A Monster's Nature:
  • Regardless of how powerful Brandon is, he is still a teenage boy who makes teenage errors, such as having difficulty coming up with a plan that would warn others not to hurt Caitlyn that wouldn't basically give away that there’s someone ‘Brightburn’ cares about. Plot
  • When Brandon is being held captive in a coma, although Project B2 couldn’t find anything capable of killing him, he did become emaciated as he obviously wasn’t getting any sustenance in that state, although it was noted that he was starving far slower than a human would have in his state. Plot
  • While nuclear bombs can’t kill Brandon, he still needed to take a detour to get the radiation ‘cleaned off’ so that he wouldn’t contaminate Caitlyn once he went to rescue her. Plot
  • When preparing to fly back to America after being held captive, Brandon has to make 'arrangements' to have a private plane made available for him and Caitlyn as he can't fly across the ocean with her at a safe speed without risking her freezing or starving to death in the process. Plot
  • By chapter 36, pamphlets are being issued warning against the dangers of Brandon and other superhumans, with the pamphlet on 'Brightburn' simply affirming that people should try to avoid him. Plot
• In certain crossover fics, (usually involving Superman or other similarly powered heroes), Brandon gets curb-stomped when he fights them. The kid only has had his power for a short time, whereas Superman for example, is Strong and Skilled. Not surprising, general example

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

• Buffy nearly dies in Builders after being shot with a powerful tranquilizer^note In real life, tranquilizers will likely either simply make someone a little woozy or kill them if the dose isn't perfect. Hence why anesthesiology requires a special degree rather than being a blue collar job, which is why Xander and Giles were watching her until she woke up. Not surprising or realistic
• Done horrifically in Death and Life when the Scoobies forgetting to dig up Buffy's coffin before resurrecting her causes her to suffocate before she can reach the surface. Too fantastical
• Amy's mother Catherine in Faith the Vampire Slayer attempts a Grand Theft Me on Faith and fails miserably. Since Faith is a Lightning Bruiser and Catherine didn't have the element of surprise, instead of a new body, Catherine just gets a broken wrist and Impaled Palm for her trouble. Plot
• In Hurt Me, Buffy and Xander enter into a BDSM relationship but still fumble things from time to time as neither has any experience with it or even experience with a serious relationship. Plot
• In The Pride of Sunnydale, Xander's roar is a very powerful weapon but has serious limitations. First, using it a second time against a group of vampires proved to be useless as they were still deaf. Second, he can't use it with allies nearby, especially in enclosed spaces, as they'll be hit by his attack as well. Too fantastical
• In a snippet in Variations On a Scene, Dawn hits Xander with a taser after learning he kidnapped her on Buffy's orders. Unlike canon where she safely guides the car to a stop, Xander's spasming muscles cause him to slam on the accelerator, causing the car to crash and kill them both. Plot
• What Goes Up has a much darker aftermath for the Halloween episode. Xander and various others firing into the air for a variety of reasons results in numerous injuries and deaths throughout the town. Plot
• When Buffy tries to prove her Super-Strength by bending rebar in Working for the Weekend, Joyce bends it back (albeit with some effort) and tells her that rebar is meant to bend so that's not as impressive as Buffy thinks. Joyce does believe her when Buffy twists it into a pretzel however. Probably some other trope
  • Buffy's stint at an asylum is actually shown to be better for her as the alternative to claiming temporary insanity due to a bad drug reaction was a mandatory five year prison sentence for arson. Plot, bad indentation
• In Wood It Work, the main characters gain Super-Strength from drinking Re'em blood but their weight remains unchanged. When moving engine blocks around, they overbalance and fall over since they're preteens and weigh less than the engine blocks. Plot, too fantastical
  • Immediately after drinking Re'em blood, all five are massively hungry and each eat several pounds worth of food (particularly meat) then sleep for the rest of the day in order to fuel their bodies changes. '''Plot, too fantastical
• Several of the Scoobies end up requiring therapy in Xendra from the various horrors they've witnessed/experienced while fighting the supernatural. For example, Buffy needs help getting over both her death and having to kill Angel while Xander needs therapy after nearly being raped as Xendra. Characters have trauma
  • After being separated from Xander, Xena is amazed by the technology around her but still figures things out without much trouble, such as roughly understanding how to drive a car by paying attention to Giles' driving. Likewise, she's well traveled enough to understand that the things she sees are likely technology rather than magic. Yes, and? Bad indentation too
  • After a threesome involving a bed covered in marshmallow filling, Faith needs two hours to get herself clean the following morning while Xander and Willow end up using magic to clean everything up so they don't have to replace all their furniture. ...no

Calvin and Hobbes

• In the Calvin & Hobbes: The Series Thanksgiving Episode "Calvin, Hobbes, and the Pilgrims", Calvin becomes disgusted at the tradition of eating turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner, so he, Hobbes, and Socrates go back in time to take the pilgrims' supply of turkeys and replacing them with modern foods such as ice cream and chips. When they go back to the present, they find out from a history book that the pilgrims didn't know how to reproduce the weird foods that haven't been invented yet and many of them died in vain while trying to search for more. They were then introduced to duck by the Native Americans, which is why duck is now the main course for Thanksgiving dinner. Too fantastical

Carrie

• In the Carrie fanfic An Alternate Path, Ms. Desjardin, Carrie's gym teacher, discovers how horribly Carrie is treated by her mother, Margaret. When Desjardin confronts Margaret about her mistreatment of Carrie, the witch tries to pull a sneak attack on Ms. Desjardin with a knife...only to discover that an adult gym teacher, unlike her submissive daughter, has the skill, strength, and confidence to not only block the attack but break her wrist for good measure. Plot, probably some other trope

Carmen Sandiego (2019)

• Over the Edge features ACME pretty much ruining the chance of an alliance with Carmen after kidnapping and drugging Player. Plot
  • Julia is uncomfortable with drugging Player, especially when he acts scared of it (which isn't entirely an act either as while Player isn't phobic about needles, he definitely doesn't like them any time and especially not when they're being used to manipulate him). Plot, bad indentation
  • Finding out his mother worked for ACME before she disappeared doesn't endear ACME to Player and in fact, The Reveal just confuses and upsets him. Character reactions, bad indentation
  • The stress of his kidnapping ultimately makes Player pass out once he's safely on his way back to the team's base. And even before that, his first action upon being able to move again is to run to Carmen and hug her tightly. How is this surprising?
• This Isn't a Caper features several realistic consequences ensuing for Team Carmen in rapid succession.
  • Player has been well-aware for a while that if anyone at VILE figured out he existed, they'd immediately target him to remove Carmen's "secret weapon" from play. Plot
  • Carmen losing her ear piece quickly freaks Player out since, while Carmen doesn't understand the logistics, the tech could be (and ultimately is) used to track him down. Plot
  • When three VILE agents break into his home, Player grabs a baseball bat and actually manages to smash one of them in the knee crippingly hard. Unfortunately, he's both a kid and a Non-Action Guy so once one of his attackers manages to actually grab and hit him, Player goes down quickly, ultimately in such pain he can barely think let alone try to move. Plot
  • Coach Brunt is the most aggressive VILE superior towards Player, who she clearly blames for the loss of her surrogate daughter. Plot
  • Despite the fact that they don't dispute Player's claims that Carmen doesn't care about him and won't be coming after him, the VILE council still don't completely take him at his word, fully intending to make use of a "I Have Your Wife" scenario if it arises and in the meantime, they have other reasons for keeping him prisoner. Plot
  • Despite holding up better than most kids would in his situation, Player is still terrified by the entire kidnapping ordeal and can't bite back a whimper when he's drugged again at the end of Chapter 2. Plot

Cinderella

• In the oneshot Ex Tenebris, Lux, Cinderella's happily ever after is only the start of her recovery. Years of abuse aren't so easily washed away, even with wealth and a happy family. Character has trauma

Cobra Kai

• The Cobra Kai fics by silentsaebyeok run on this. It runs on Deconstruction Fic, not this trope
  • Phantom of Incapacity:
    • Miguel has a full-on panic attack when Robby catches him with Sam at the Miyagi dojo and tries to attack him. This is the first time he's crossed paths with Robby since the school brawl at the end of season 2, a fight that ended with Robby kicking Miguel over a railing, and Miguel breaking his back. Sam can do little to help beyond get Miguel some lemonade to calm his nerves, and recognizes the triggers for his panic attacks as similar to the one she had when Tory showed up at the arcade fight.
    • Sam's opinions of Johnny have been completely changed between Miguel's speech at the town hall meeting speaking highly of him, but they leave her in a very conflicted position, given the very negative views Daniel and Robby have expressed of Johnny.
    • With how secretive Sam had to keep her relationship with Miguel during season 1 (due to the fact her dad wouldn't approve of her dating someone in Cobra Kai), she's never gotten a chance to actually talk and get to know more about his personal life, or realize how she takes for granted things like having both parents around to raise her (unlike Miguel, who only has his mother and grandmother).
  • Caught Between Confusion and Pain applies reality to the aftermath of Miguel's fight with Kyler during the brawl in the season 3 finale.
    • The only reason Miguel is still standing after knocking Kyler out is due to adrenaline. He's been so badly battered by the fight that he passes out for a solid minute after Tory and the other Cobra Kais leave.
    • Sam and Demetri have to work together to get Miguel up the stairs to his mother's apartment because neither one has enough strength in them to carry him.
    • Miguel has a concussion and a bruised kidney, leaving him in pain for weeks.
    • When Sam and Demetri explain to Carmen what happened to Miguel, Carmen realizes the chances of Kyler facing criminal charges for attacking Miguel are slim, given he's a rich kid from Encino who can buy his way out of trouble. And she's afraid to take him to the hospital because of the possibility that Child Protective Services will get called on her.
    • When Johnny comes by the Diazes' apartment and learns what happened, he doesn't immediately go straight to Cobra Kai to confront Kreese, and in fact has to explain to Carmen how the LaRussos had tried and failed to use the legal system to hinder Krese.
    • The only reason Miguel is any shape to run with Sam when she picks him up to go over to Cobra Kai and talk their senseis out of killing Kreese is because he's hopped up on painkillers. When he gets back, his mother grounds him for sneaking out and risking getting himself hurt again.
    • Miguel has had a hard time getting over the mental trauma of the school brawl when his fall over the railing was being filmed by dozens of bystanders and plastered on social media.
    • When Johnny returns the next day, he has to ask Miguel what happened the previous night to see how much Miguel remembers about seeing Kreese, Kreese's proposal of settling things at the All Valley Tournament, and them seeing that Robby had sided with Cobra Kai, on the off chance he was concussed. While disappointed that Miguel decided to risk injury, he also shows gratitude to Miguel over how he and Sam got the students of Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do to ally before the adults could be persuaded by Ali to do the same.
  • Lived and Learned from Fools and from Sages
    • With the rather crass language and unorthodox methods Johnny uses to train his students, Daniel is amazed Johnny hasn't been shut down by hovering parents interested in finding out what he's teaching them.
    • Daniel is horrified when Johnny mentions how in season 2, he had his students mix cement by hand in the back of a cement truck, pointing out how hazardous it is to breathe in the fumes. He points out that Johnny could easily have been sued and even arrested for endangering his students both for the cement exercise and also for the junkyard scenario.
    • When Daniel brings up how Johnny has been neglecting Robby as a parent, a worked up Johnny punches Daniel in the face and storms off. After a conversation with Amanda about this, Daniel comes to realize he's not in much of a position to judge Johnny as Johnny's neglect of Robby isn't all that different from how Daniel himself hasn't been too attentive towards his own son Anthony, being busier trying to help Sam through her fear of Tory and also trying to make the Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang alliance work.
    • Amanda has to remind Daniel that just because Ali got them to bury the hatchet doesn't mean Johnny will change overnight.
    • Miguel had to put off taking his driver's ed course because he got injured in the school brawl. And with his family not having the money to scrape together to get him a car, he has to resort to biking, or being driven around by his mom, by Johnny, or by Sam.
    • Even though Sam has made efforts to downplay her privilege around Miguel, she sometimes doesn't understand that there are certain things she can take for granted growing up with wealth that working-class people can't. For instance, when she and Miguel notice Johnny drunk outside his apartment, Sam mentions her dad saying something about Johnny trying to cut back on his drinking. Miguel realizes Sam nor her dad seem to understand how Johnny doesn't have the money to go to rehab, as rehab clinics and twelve-step programs are very expensive.
    • When Sam finds out about the latest rift between Johnny and Daniel, she's mad seeing as her dad's inability to let go of their 30 year grudge is what ruined her relationship with Miguel the first time around.
    “Dad…you can’t just write Sensei Lawrence off like that! It’s only been one week! You need to give him a chance!”
    Daniel scoffed, emotions taking over as he completely forgot about the short discussion he had with Amanda moments ago. “Give him a chance?! Sam, Johnny is a deranged lunatic! I don’t want you or any of the other Miyagi-Do kids around him anymore! He’s not a good person and he shouldn’t be around kids!”
    “He’s not a deranged lunatic, Dad!” Sam countered, beginning to pace the room. “You—you just have this image in your head of who you think Sensei Lawrence is, and you refuse to look past that image and see the good in him.”
    Daniel’s brain screeched to a halt at her words. Who was this girl and what did she do with his little Sammy?
    “What’s gotten into you, Sam?!” he nearly yelled, standing as he did so. “Siding with that guy over your own father?”
    “I wouldn’t have to side with him if you stopped acting all crazy!” Sam snapped, dropping her purse and keys to the ground and gesturing wildly. “You guys are supposed to be on the same team now, and you can’t even do it for one week? And—and every time the two of you fight it messes up my relationship with Miguel. You do realize that, right? Oh, and that’s not the only thing! We have a tournament to win! How are we supposed to do that if you and Sensei Lawrence keep fighting every five seconds?”
    • In an effort to mend fences, Daniel decides to reach out to Miguel and has him come over to Miyagi-Do to help him check on Miyagi's antique car collection. What gives him the idea is one of his Facebook memories, which he (and most people) tend to regard mostly as "just a way to remind everyone of the embarrassing things they posted in the past."
    • Turns out that taking care of the antique cars is a lot of work, even for a gear nut like Daniel. With Amanda, Sam and Anthony having no interest, he's had to have his cousin Louie and Anoush help out.
    • Daniel fails to notice that casually bringing up Robby in conversation makes Miguel very uncomfortable. The fact that Robby had been Daniel's student and had in fact lived with the LaRussos for the summer is something Miguel has a hard time reconciling with, simply because he can only think of Robby as the kid who injured him in the school brawl and who, upon getting out of juvie, tried to attack him again.
    • Miguel starts by bringing up how Johnny rescued him from Kyler. Just the mere mention of Kyler's name makes Daniel put two and two together about what really happened at the minimart. He brings up the time he confronted Johnny at Cobra Kai (while Miguel was there, cleaning the bathroom) about it, thinking that Johnny was beating up teens for fun because he'd bought Kyler's lies about being jumped at the minimart hook, line and sinker, simply due to the fact Sam was dating Kyler at the time, and Kyler had been putting on a convincing act to get into Sam's pants. As it turns out, Miguel didn't realize that was Daniel because he was new to Reseda and hadn't been around long enough to notice Daniel's local celebrity status. Daniel now deeply regrets that he listened to Kyler regarding the minimart altercation rather than Johnny, knowing he would've acted differently if he'd known Johnny was beating up a gang of delinquents picking on an innocent kid.
    • Daniel is proud that Sam broke up with Kyler after seeing his true colors, although he thinks it's only because she found out about Kyler being a bully^note Which is true. Sam saw Kyler bullying Miguel, Demetri and Eli in the library and has no idea that Kyler tried to date-rape her twice.^note The first time was at the Halloween dance, where Daniel interrupted Kyler before he could go too far, as confirmed by Kyler's dialogue with Brucks in the scene that follows. The second time was at the movie theater, when Sam was calling Kyler out for bullying Miguel's friend group Considering how Kyler spread vicious rumors about Sam afterwards, Sam wouldn't be comfortable telling her parents about how Kyler acted towards her at the movie theater, as she's become pretty guarded in her interactions with people in general.
    • It turns out that many of the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students are wary of Hawk, because of how deeply he'd been swayed to Kreese's side and the fact he participated in—and in many cases instigated—a lot of Cobra Kai's bullying against Miyagi-Do, including the mall fight, trashing Miyagi-Do, the soccer match, and the arcade fight (where he broke Demetri's arm).
  • Watching Reruns Of My Life:
    • Miguel has developed a fear of heights to the point of needing to steer clear of the staircase where Robby kicked him over the railing.
    • Miguel is very uncomfortable with the fact that everyone at school now knows who he is because of getting the lion's share of media attention from the school fight.
    • The news that Robby is getting out of jail reduces Miguel to a nervous wreck that snaps at his mother, as he's afraid of Robby coming after him again.
    • At one point, Miguel watches a newscast from when Sam got interviewed during the Miyagi-Do car wash fundraiser. He's uncomfortable about how the onscreen graphic describes her as the "victim's friend." Miguel doesn't see himself as a victim, despite the law making him out to be one and him having signed a victim impact statement for Robby's court case, as he reasons that the school fight (and his injuries) wouldn't have happened if he hadn't cheated on Tory with Sam at Moon's party (ignoring the fact that Tory probably would've found some other excuse to go after Sam if she hadn't seen Miguel kiss Sam).
    • When watching a newscast from while he was in a coma, Miguel is disgusted to realize that the media station used one of his social media pictures without his permission, and quickly sets his Instagram feed to private.
    Because the footage of the fight was all over the internet—and the news—and he couldn’t un-see that shit. He couldn’t watch it without freaking out, so he had to avoid it like the plague. And there were the countless news reports about him, detailing his injuries and his fight with Keene, all without asking him how he felt about any of it.
    And the reason? It was because people were too self-obsessed. Too unthinking. Too uncaring.
    All that mattered was a YouTuber's five minutes of fame. All that mattered was a news corporation’s bottom line.
    And it was all at the expense of his sanity.

Code Geass

• Knightmare Frames aren't the be all end all for military vehicles in Armed Resistance as shown when several fighter jets utterly curb stomp Lelouch and his squad due to being far far faster than any Knightmare. Plot
• At the Hands of Betrayal has Lelouch not just lie down and prepare to die when betrayed by the Black Knights, instead he surrenders with Lulu then being put on a trial that Schneizel oversees. He more or less points out (with Schneizel himself saying it out loud) that he couldn't have used his Geass to enslave the Black Knights since they could still disobey him. While Lelouch's fate is left open, the Black Knights' leadership is shown after the trial to have doubts over arresting Zero over the words of and shaky evidence from a Britannian prince, with Tamaki noting how odd it was for them to turn on him so easily. Plot
• The Black Emperor:
  • While Lelouch and Milly designed prototype Knightmares, they realize the Lancelot far outstrips their machines due to Britannia being able to pour far more money and more scientists into R&D. Plot
  • When Milly and Kallen gain their own Geasses, they need time to figure out what they do and how to properly utilize them: Milly tries to demonstrate hers by inducing a small amount of lust in Kallen, only to accidentally spike it so high the girl falls to her knees. Aversion of Instant Expert
  • Just because someone's willing to share, doesn't automatically mean a Love Triangle is painlessly resolved; while Milly doesn't mind sharing Lelouch with Shirley, the latter girl isn't willing to share so she has no chance with Lelouch as he and Milly had been a couple for years at that point. Character reactions
  • After causing the death of Prince Clovis like in canon, Lelouch broadcasting the Shinjuku Massacre causes a PR nightmare for Britannia: not only is the Purist Faction discredited, riots break out in other Areas, and the state funeral ends with the former viceroy disowned by the Emperor. Plot
  • Causing a landslide at Narita without massive civilian casualties is shown to be much more complicated than just using less power or evacuating the town: Nina's simulation shows that if they use less power so they don't damage the town, the landslide will be too small and too slow to take out Cornelia's forces. Likewise, evacuating the town without tipping off Cornelia is nigh impossible; fortunately, Euphemia is on their side and brings up to Cornelia that the JLF might turn their artillery on the town and take them hostage, thus causing Cornelia to order an evacuation shortly before the operation begins. Plot
• The Britannian Succession Crisis of 2017 ATB continues the above trend where infantry, tanks, and gun turrets do in fact have their own uses in military. Their roles have simply evolved in the ascendance of Knightmare combat: tanks for example have become generally stronger and tougher to better exploit a niche that Knightmares cannot. Plot
  • Due to Nunnally's canonically superhuman hearing, one might wonder why she never overheard her brother and C.C. In fic it is explicitly noted that Lelouch had their apartment soundproofed. It enables Nunnally to sleep better and lets him safely deliver monologues and rants he'd rather her not hear. Plot
  • Lamperouge is not Marianne's last name in fic, though it is implied to be a name from her family tree, meaning that if a royal or someone familiar with the late empress stumbled on it they would not immediately recognize it. In addition a lot of students at Ashford are named after royals, so their first names are not that obvious to most. However with additional context clues, like a picture of 'Prince Lelouch' and knowledge of their shared connection with Suzaku, people can figure it out. Both Euphemia and Kallen figure out the shared identity of Lelouch Lamperouge and Vi Britannia in the same chapter with the aide of the extra context, and Euphemia's own suspicions about Zero and familiarity with Suzaku's reports of Shinjuku means she was further able to identity him as Zero and deduce his motivations to some extent. Meanwhile Tamaki manages to figure out a good bit of Zero's motivation, though not his identity, by watching a lot of Gundam and noting Zero's tendencies as a Char Clone. Plot
  • While in canon this fact wasn't really looked at, Suzaku's known history comes up a lot. Clovis and Jeremiah had both questioned him about the Vi Britannia's final days which was how the latter knew who he was to frame. Jeremiah and Viletta would later question him about the student he reported at Shinjuku whom Viletta was looking into canonically, and just looking up Suzaku's known associates allowed them to narrow the name of the student down to Lelouch and Rivalz. He only gets out of that conversation because Euphemia bailed him out to cover for him and Lelouch. Plot
  • The Alternate History of the Code Geass series is noted to have several cities and nations exist that do not in our own timeline, such as New Carthage in Tunisa and the Boer Republics in southern Africa. The author comments on this, noting the time frame of several divergent points should have a lot more affect on the map than what is canonically shown. Author discussion
  • Both Cornelia and Marianne note the fact that for the drama and good story telling a Worthy Opponent gets, in real life that just means a harder fight in which you have to lose more men and resources than you'd otherwise have to. While steamrolling the enemy is boring, it does spare men and resources for other fights. Plot'
• In Code Geass: Colorless Memories Zero runs into this in Chapter Eight when trying to recruit the main character Rai into the Black Knights, which C.C Lamp Shades. People don't just join your cause without having a reason to beyond vague proclamations, debates and discussions (Lelouch had been feeling Rai out in earlier chapters for his views and feeling in regards to Area 11 and Britannia). Plot
  Lelouch: He understands the current situation of Area 11, he knows that what the Britannian Military is doing is wrong and he has the power to fight back, so why won't he…
  C.C: Because he has no reason to do so; people don't do things without a purpose. Well, unless you use Geass on them, which is another possibility for you to use.
• Likewise in Code Geass: Lelouch of Britannia, tanks and artillery can be useful against Knightmares if the latter's maneuverability is negated, like say firing from outside their targeting range. Plot
  Lelouch: "Anything which can kill a sixty-ton tank can certainly harm an eight-ton Knightmare."
• In Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion, Euphemia eventually figures out that Suzaku has Death Seeker tendencies. Her reaction? Arrange for him to see a psychiatrist. Character has trauma
  • Falling into the Cockpit is an exception rather than the rule. Any time someone, even prodigies like Suzaku and Kallen, gets a new Knightmare Frame, they're required to Read the Freaking Manual before even getting into the cockpit. For standard Knightmares, they have to spend time in the simulator so they don't wreck a multi-million dollar machine. Plot
• Code Geass: Redo of the Rebellion
  • After destroying Cornelia's base and killing Darlton, Lelouch gives her a Bond One-Liner as a final taunt before he escapes. Unfortunately for him, that snapped Cornelia out of her shock and let her focus on hunting him down. If not for C.C.'s interference, she would have killed him. Deconstruction of Bond One-Liner or Talking Is a Free Action
  • The fic starts out with Zero Requiem ending in flames. As it turns out, not even Zero's planning can overrule so many long-running problems and conflicts on Earth or even basic human nature. Plot
  • Zero's success causes many Britannians to pull their children out of school and transfer them to the homeland. According to Milly, Ashford Academy is down to less than a hundred students and will likely have to close due to a lack of funds. No one wants to live an an area that has not only active, but successful terrorists. A few chapters later, the Academy has no students left at all. Plot
    • Zero's success has also emboldened the Japanese people to stand against Britannians. However, they don't just act against ones actively oppressing them, but any Britannians they find. One student's family had to sell their restaurant so they could afford to leave Area 11 after a group of Japanese trashed their business so thoroughly that no one is willing to eat there any more. Plot, bad indentation, probably some kind of racism trope
  • Lelouch's status as a Triple Shifter is starting to eat into his social life and make him less effective as Zero. When he yells at C.C. for turning off his alarm and making him oversleep, she counters that he's been getting an average of three hours of sleep nightly for several weeks and he's clearly showing signs of sleep deprivation. After showing up hours late to help balance the Ashford's budget, his friends tell Lelouch to not make promises if he doesn't plan on keeping them. Afterwards, C.C. warns Lelouch that despite his hopes, he'll have to fully commit to one of his personas. Plot
• In A Cold Calculus:
  • When the idea of making Suzaku Euphie's personal knight is brought up, Euphie dismisses it for several reasons. She'd be taking an Ace Pilot and his Super Prototype away from the front lines where he could be doing more good for the empire, destroying any and all political capital she has with the deeply xenophobic Britannian nobility, and turning him from someone the Japanese can look at and think "Man, if I put in the effort, I could be like that guy" into someone the Japanese would look at and think "That guy's a special seed, nobody could be like him". It's noted that the only person who could get away with such a move is the Emperor himself because he's the emperor of a totalitarian regime and if you don't like what he does, there's the execution block. Plot
  • In Chapter 23, the author's notes point out how unrealistically fast Knightmare technology developed in the canon series and reveals that in the fic, the Brittanian military forces stick with good old proven 5th generation Sutherlands slowly being supplanted by Gloucesters, with prototype 7th generation Gareths and Vincents only coming in at the very end. Author's note, not in fic
• Darwin:
  • A group of Britannian soldiers jury rig a bunch of explosives to get into the sealed command center of their base when their commanding officer locks himself in during an attack. Since the explosives in question are not breaching charges, and thus not shaped to focus the blast in one direction, most of the explosion's energy goes right back down the corridor and kills them all. Probably some bomb/explosive trope
  • After Suzaku is shot in the hand and knee with hollow point rounds, even when fully healed he's left barely able to walk without a cane and his hand experiences random spasms due to nerve damage. Injuries
  • Kallen might be one of the greatest Knightmare pilots ever and in possession of one of the only Eighth Generation frames in existence, but after a couple rounds sparring against her, the former Glaston Knights quickly start picking her apart. Superior skill and gear isn't necessarily a match for a group of opponents who are trained to work together. Solo loses to group, not surprising
  • Some time after Japan joins the E.U., Zero goes to war with the various factions controlling Africa to bring the continent back under European control. After Zero's resounding initial success, the head of the E.U. tries to find a way to sabotage or discredit him out of fear of being replaced by a popular (and effective) war hero. Plot
  • Officially new political parties in the E.U. can be started by anyone if they feel the current parties don't suit them. Unofficially, high level politicians in the established parties do everything they can, including sending armed thugs to political meetings, to prevent a new party from potentially destabilizing their power base. Plot
• When Lelouch geasses Jeremiah to "shoot him in such a way it couldn't be self-inflicted" in Dauntless (Allora Gale), the resulting injury nearly kills Lelouch and leaves him hospitalized for weeks. Injuries
• In More than just a Man, Lelouch is turned into a vampire by C.C. but by her own admission, it takes far more than a bite and a few minutes for someone to change completely. She estimates Lelouch will need an entire year to change, longer if he doesn't intake the massive amounts of nutrients he needs for such a drastic change. Plot
  • Many of a vampire's traditional powers are either false or misleading. Transformation and flight are impossible as a vampire's powers beyond superhuman physical abilities (like Super-Strength and Super-Speed) are all mental in origin. They can make someone think they turned into a flock of bats, but they can't actually do it. Too fantastical
  • Most vampire weaknesses either have a scientific explanation or are odd quirks of specific vampires. Vulnerability to sunlight is due to increased night-vision and an increased sensitivity to ultraviolet light. Garlic is simply unpleasant to their Super-Senses. Things like counting every grain of rice that's thrown at them or undoing every knot they see are just habits of some vampires with OCD. And the weakness to holy symbols was a prank by Dracula. Saltwater however weakens vampires for reasons even C.C. doesn't understand. Deconstruction of vampire weaknesses
• My Mirror, Sword and Shield:
  • Honorary Britanians being the hated minority group that they are, suffer high rates of sexual assault in the military. The reason Suzaku was able to avoid this was because he won Emperor Lelouch's favor. Plot
  • Despite Lelouch’s secret plans helping Nunnally during the early years of her rule, it still her took six years to enact most of the reforms and for the world governments to stabilize. Plot
• In Screw You Fate, I'm Going Home, Lelouch has spent thousands of years in a "Groundhog Day" Loop that is apparently impossible to break even when he manages a Golden Ending. As a result, he's lost all of his morals, has little to no feelings for his former loved ones, and is completely apathetic toward the conflict with Britannia. It's implied Lelouch is clinically depressed from both losing his loved ones countless times and knowing nothing he does actually changes things. Too fantastical

Codename Kids Next Door

• The aptly named Reality Check reveals that the Delightful Children's view of high school is nothing like the real thing.
  • Teens are not simply younger adults. Many of them still act very immature and are in no hurry to grow up, still waiting to enjoy their youth. Not surprising
  • Part of the reason Kuki became popular is because she is simply a nice person who people like having around. Character reactions
  • On the flip side, the Delightfuls are at the bottom end of the popularity food chain because they are Know Nothing Know It Alls who are also Teachers Pets and cheaters. Case in point, when they attempted to run against Rachel for Student Body President, she crushed them simply because she was offering a live DJ at school dances, while they wanted longer school hours. Character reactions
  • A lot of the teens aren't actually Child Haters and only joined the Teen Ninjas as a way to make money. Deconstruction?

Command And Conquer Tiberium Wars

• In Tiberium Wars, reality doesn't so much ensue as it ambushes you in an alley, beats you over the head with a lead pipe, and then rifles through your pockets for more characters to viciously and mercilessly kill. The most noble and heroic death (Lieutenant Wallace's Last Stand against the oncoming Nod army) ends up being subverted. ZCE

• Blackened Skies:
  • Kaede's willingness to lie is exposed to everyone during the first trial. While most of them understand why she chose to lie — namely, that she was trying to clear somebody's name, and knew that Mondo nearly killing her the night before would make the situation look even worse, the fact remains that she still kept that information from them, contributing to the trial's length and complexity, and nearly causing an innocent student to be wrongly convicted — something which would have gotten all of them killed. As a result, her standing amongst the others takes a severe blow, and she faces a vote of no confidence which only fails to oust her because Korekiyo abstains and Mondo votes against his conscience as thanks. Character reaction
  • Tsumugi rejects her apology for the above situation. When Kaede approaches her a couple days later, trying to be friendly and repair their relationship, she rejects her again, making clear that she still doesn't trust her, and her efforts to force the issue aren't helping her case. Character reaction
    Tsumugi: ...Why are you doing all this, Kaede?
    Kaede: ...I know you don't trust me anymore. Or really like me that much, either. Both of those are totally fair, and I don't blame you at all for feeling like that. But... I don't want things to stay like that. I want to try to make up for it, if I can. If we can be friends again, then I want to do everything I can to make that happen. I really think it can happen if we-
    Tsumugi: Please stop.
    Kaede: Huh?
    Tsumugi: Please, don't do this. I know you're trying to be nice, but... I'm not okay with it yet. It's not easy to forget something like that, Kaede. It would be great if we could fix things, but... it might sound a bit mean, but... honestly? I'm plainly not ready to trust you, and I don't know when I will be. So... please don't say things like that.
    Kaede: [slowly recovers from her Jaw Drop] O-oh... I... understand. I'm sorry.
• Cat's In The Cradle:
  • The basic concept of the fic is that without the experiences that brought them together in canon, including Sayaka's death, Makoto and Kyoko's personalities are simply too different for them to be romantically compatible. By the time Kyoko realizes her feelings for Makoto, he's already moved on and hooked up with Sayaka. Character reaction
  • Graduating from Hope's Peak is a significant advantage for students, but they still have to take- and thus study for- college entrance exams, as Makoto and Kyoko do in Act III. Not surprising
  • While Sayaka is a talented Idol Singer, she can't stay popular forever. Eventually, the public gets sick of her after the novelty of her being the Ultimate Pop Sensation fades, and her career ends within a few years of her graduating high school. Character reaction
• From Academy of Discontent, the second part of Danganronpa: The Immersive Learning Program: Murder is not something that is Easily Forgiven, especially without a sympathetic motive. After Peko is kept behind following the double murders while only Fuyuhiko is (forcefully) given the First Blood Perk and removed from the Academy, she is ostracized by her classmates with the exception of Gonta. Character reaction
• or did it eat the little girl?:
  • While the protagonists earn their happy ending, Team Danganronpa is not completely brought down by the way their season concludes. What's worse, those who survived the virtual killing game are forced to seek aslysm in Canada in order to escape potential retribution from angry 'fans'. Plot happens, doesn't explain why we specifically wouldn't expect this outcome.
  • In the semi-sequel let's go out with a bang!, the Happy Ending Override happens because Team Danganronpa still has them bound by contracts. The kids simply don't have the resources necessary to take them to court, and are forced to comply. Same
  • With fifty-three seasons' worth of content to go through, it turns out that even the majority of Danganronpa's participants simply aren't familiar with everyone who's ever been involved with the mutual killing games, much less with everyone's individual storylines. This leads to things like Himiko completely failing to recognize a disguised Junko, or all the drama that unfolds from the fact that despite vowing to protect the youngest participants, neither Mondo, Makoto or any of their peers recognize Kaede Akamatsu by name as somebody from Session 53. Same
  • A key element in Miu's estrangement from the others is that she believes Kokichi is given preferential treatment: that he's allowed to torment and provoke her and everyone else freely, while she's constantly chided for biting back. In reality, their attempts to reign both of them in aren't quite so lopsided; Kokichi just blithely refuses to listen. Without his cooperation, the others have no chance or reigning him in, and Miu mistakes the others' inability to chastise him in any way that he seems to care about as blatant favoritism, feeding into her own issues with not wanting to accept the consequences of her actions. Character reaction
  • Even in the best of the story's Multiple Endings, the survivors are forced to recognize that the trauma of their experiences in the various mutual killing games will not simply fade away, even if Team Danganronpa is stopped for good. Himiko also has to deal with the fact that she shot herself in the foot; it may not have been a fatal injury, but she's still hospitalized and unable to walk. Character has trauma
• A Student Out of Time: Let's count the ways.
  • Going back in time and working to prevent the Tragedy from happening doesn't mean the trauma and guilt carried by Hajime and the other time travelers is magically erased. It also leads to him making a lot of poor and emotionally-motivated decisions. Character has trauma
  • Because a lot of the factors that lead to the Tragedy were unknown to the public until after it happened, Hajime and his allies have to work outside the law to change things or bring people to justice. While he does cover up his identity using a fake persona, this quickly puts the group in the crosshairs of the police and many interested parties, and leads to mixed reactions from the public. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising
  • To help fund the group's escapades, Chiaki, who comes from a fairly wealthy family, winds up taking several million yen from her family's bank account. This does not turn out well when they find out. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising
  • One of the cruelest examples is the death of Kana Ise. When shot in the abdomen by a hollow-point round, Only a Flesh Wound is absolutely not in effect: they lose a lot of blood and have to have their ruined intestines replaced, which takes time and weakens their body enough for septicemia to set in. Despite the best efforts of everyone at the hospital, Kana has very little chance of survival and dies when the infection reaches their lungs. Not sure about the fic itself, but Danganronpa is a work with lots of murder, so you wouldn't expect Only a Flesh Wound to apply. Not really surprising.
  • Much of the abuse endured by the characters has permanently affected them. Emma's years of being beaten and burned by her father have left her arms Covered in Scars and she struggles with chronic pain, the latter of which also lead to her becoming addicted to opiates. Likewise, Kotoko being forced into child prostitution by her family lead to her contracting HIV. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising.
• In The Ultimate Assistant, Makoto returns back to his dorm only to stabbed by a knife from Sayaka when she was planning to kill Leon. While she does treat his injury and save him from dying, he decides to keep his distance from her, since he is unsure if their friendship was ever genuine or was an act for her to use him as a scapegoat. It's not until after the first trial that they reconcile. Character reaction
• In The Unlucky Luckster And The 77th Class, Makoto finds out that Classes 77 and 78 had a competition over him where the winning class would basically monopolize all of Makoto's free time. Since this was all done without Makoto's knowledge and consent, he is naturally very upset when he finds out that the people he considers to be his friends see him as nothing more than a trophy to be won. Character reaction
• In Despair Arc: Execution Failed?, as soon as the Steering Committee's various crimes are revealed, mainly relating to what they did to Hajime, they are arrested for the numerous human rights violations they committed. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising

• Danny Phantom: Lost Episodes Series:
  • This story shows the sad truth that not every bully has a Freudian Excuse for their actions or is a good person deep down willing to change. Dash in the cartoon has two Pet the Dog moments from the series present, but those are only when he learns that Danny is Danny Phantom, and the episodes "Pirate Radio" and "Micro-Management" show Dash turning on Danny the first chance he gets. In this story, the only reason he goes to Danny, Sam and Tucker for help is that all of his friends abandoned him and he has no one else to turn to, yet he still disrespects them. Team Phantom reluctantly agrees to help him, but only if Dash promises to stop bullying them in exchange. To stop his bad luck, they try to turn him nice, but not only does Dash have a problem being nice, it's clear that the only reason he's is trying to is to get rid of his bad luck. At no point in the story is Dash ever shown to enjoy being nice or grow as a person. At the end of the story, when it looks like he did change his ways, Dash promptly goes back on his deal with Team Phantom, claiming that it was a cursed item that caused his bad luck and not karma so he wasted time being nice for no reason. It's implied that he's just using that as an excuse and would have broken the deal anyway. Dash is just a horrible person who enjoys being a horrible person. Already covered by Jerk Witha Heartof Jerk, and doesn't explain why it's surprising.
• Danny Phantom: Stranded:
  • Because Danny and Star were lost at sea, the captain was sued by the students' outraged parents for putting their children in danger in the first place. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising.
  • Despite bonding in the last story, Danny and Star still don't trust each other because they went back to their group of friends and still have some differences. Even after they kiss, it doesn't magically make the time they spent disliking one another go away. Character reaction
  • As Danny points out, in 10 years no one will care that Star was popular in high school. Not her husband or kids or working buddies. And while Dash doesn't bother trying to have a life after senior year, Paulina is going to either remain the same shallow doll she is now or get forced to find a job when her parents wise up, while Danny wants to be an astronaut, Sam will probably join some environmental organization and Tucker will likely end up going to MIT like he's always dreamed. Not an outcome
  • Star, in gratitude to Danny, threatens to have her father sue Casper High for turning a blind eye to the harassment students receive from Dash and the A-Listers, something that could very well happen in real life. Not an outcome or surprising
  • Star's former friends attempt to bully her and treat her like a loser after she leaves the group, but with the teachers no longer favoring them and Star being the one who threatens to sue the school, the teachers give them detention every time they catch them. Character reaction, doesn't explain why it's surprising
  • Danny and Star may have become friends, but Sam and Tucker are having a hard time getting used to it, since while Danny and Star have bonded during their previous adventures, Sam and Tucker have not seen Star's nice side and only know her being mean to them and Danny, so it's hard for them to accept that she has changed. Character reaction
  • Stella always had a strained relationship with Jonathan and Star after she left them to be with another man and his daughter in Paris. While Jonathan, to his credit, tried not to get in the way of Stella having a relationship with their daughter and Star does wants her mother to love her, Jonathan is still angry at Stella for cheating on him while Star resents her for abandoning them. They both reach their breaking point in this story. For Star, she was sick of her mother favoring her step-family over her, along with her thoughtless and selfish behavior. After thinking Danny left because of their insensitive comments, Star finally calls Stella out on being a bad mother and leaves, saying she hates her. Later, with Star missing and Jonathan seeing that Stella was unwilling to admit her fault, he decides to terminate her visitation rights. Stella is an irresponsible and self-centered person and it was only a matter of time before Jonathan and Star would have enough of her and want her out of their lives. Character reaction
  • Even though Stella rightfully apologizes for what happened, Star notes that it doesn't make the years of abandonment and insensitivity go away. But at the very least, it's the right path to being forgiven. Character reaction
• Lady Lucks Favor (NSFW):
  • After Desiree becomes a teacher at Casper High, she doesn't favor Dash and instead gives him the grades he's earned, resulting in Dash quickly facing the possibility of being kicked off the football team for his failing grades. Similarly, Danny points out that Dash's violent responses to his own shortcomings, such as wanting to beat up Danny after getting a poor grade on a test, means he's likely going to find himself in prison shortly after high school. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising.
  • While a more positive first meeting with Desiree causes Danny to be more sympathetic towards ghosts, most are still his enemies as their personalities aren't any different from canon, such as Skulker still wanting to skin Danny. Not realistic, character reaction
  • Though Spectra tries to drive Danny and Jazz apart by making it seem like Jazz is regularly insulting him, Danny quickly realizes how extremely out of character that is for his sister and discovers Spectra is lying to him. Character reaction
  • When Valerie's father loses his job, Danny and his friends are confused as to how she's poor almost instantly and needing to sell off so many of her possessions within a few days. Turns out, her father heavily invested his own savings into the security system he designed and was supposed to get paid back triple what he'd invested into it. Since the security system failed to stop Danny, her father's boss declared their contract invalid and refused to pay. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising. Failing to stop Danny is probably unrealistic.
  • In the prologue, it's stated that Danny turned down Sam's suggestion to call himself Danny Phantom, and instead calls himself The Phantom. As he pointed out, having a superhero name that sounded exceedingly close to his civilian name was just a surefire way to get exposed. Not an outcome
  • Even though Ember and Danny enjoyed their sex session, Ember is a rock star and has to go on tour if she wants to become world famous, meaning that she can't stay in Amity Park and start a relationship with Danny. She does agree to see how things turn out if she ever returns. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising.
  • The plot point about Doomed's master keys granting actual control of the internet is dropped, since it's pointed out that placing that sort of power in the hands of children would be insanely stupid. Not sure what this is, but it seems unrealistic
  • The Fright Knight has centuries of experience, while Danny has only had his powers for less than a year. So naturally, when the two of them get into a fight, the result is a lot more one-sided than it was in canon. It takes both Danny manifesting his ice core and Pandora showing up to pull a Big Damn Heroes for the Knight to be defeated, and even then it's a close call. Not realistic
• In Outside Looking In, Cade Maboroshi, Casper High's new student councillor, following the hot mess that was Penelope Spectra, finds most of, if not the entirety of the student body extremely reluctant to open up to him. As he himself acknowledges, after the last councillor they talked to psychologically tortured them to hell and back, they're more than a little paranoid of having history repeat itself. It's implied that it took weeks of patience and understanding on his part before students started opening up to him. Characters have trauma
• Resurrected Memories:
  • Paulina is in love with Danny but even though he had a crush on her in season 1, Danny saw firsthand how cruel and shallow she really is, with Paulina making it clear to Danny that she considered him a loser and treated him like garbage. Now that Paulina wants him, he wants nothing to do with her because he now knows that her only interest in him is because he's a popular superhero and he moved on from his old crush. Character reaction
• A few fan fics that take place after Phantom Planet, such as Harmless and Facing the Future Series, show how stressful it can be for a teen to be the mayor of a town. Deconstruction Fic

• In Coincidence and Misunderstandings, Starfire attacks Raven (who left the team five years prior) while the latter is on a date. Afterwards, not only does the Titans' reputation take a major blow, but the entire situation becomes an interstellar incident since Starfire is Empress of Tamaran. Batman lectures them after hearing "all the details about that debacle from various media sources. And from the Department of Justice. And the State Department, the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and the leaders of the Armed Forces." Furthermore, Starfire ordering three battlecruisers into Sol's heliosphere without informing the Justice League or the Armed Forces is treated as an act of war. She's given twenty-four hours to get them out of the system or they'll be destroyed and she'll be deported from the planet and barred from ever returning. Not realistic
• In Don't Poke the Golden Goose, almost everyone at the Daily Planet is fully aware that Clark Kent is Superman. They just don't let anyone else know since if Clark's life became too hard, he might well just leave and they'd be out both a superhero and a skilled reporter. Not realistic or an outcome
• In More Pressing Matters, the first chapter follows the typical "Dick Grayson is put into Juvie" plotline on the grounds that all foster homes are filled up. When Bruce wins custody, does he look shocked over the potential trauma that Dick went through, but do nothing? Does he let the social worker, Dr. Cunningham, get away with her crimes like most Dick Grayson origin stories tend to do? No. Not only did he contact his lawyers to ensure that Dick be removed ASAP, but he also contacted the Attorney General, since Bruce also serves as a member of the directors for Child Services Welfare. And instead of letting Cunningham insult and belittle Dick for his background, Bruce comes very close to hitting her and quietly tells her to shut up. When she protests Dick leaving, Bruce reveals he got a court order demanding the boy's release. Character reaction
  Bruce Wayne: As of this moment, the Attorney General's office is investigating why the civil rights of an innocent child were violated through false imprisonment. Your (Dr. Cunningham) incarcerating Richard here, alongside violent juvenile offenders is not only disgraceful...it's illegal.
  • He also implies to the Chancellor that he will face charges as well for letting Dr. Cunningham incarcerate Dick as well as other innocent children, ending the first chapter with Cunningham receiving a court summons, facing charges for her actions. It could also be seen as a Take That! to the common Fandom-Specific Plot that is used regarding Robin's origins. Not an outcome
  • For the next several weeks, Dick suffers from PTSD and has nightmares taking the form of his dead parents blaming him for their deaths, forcing Bruce to hire a child psychologist to help. He even suffers a panic attack on Easter when the Easter eggs created by Alfred remind him of his parents. Bruce also tries setting up a schedule to further help Dick get more sleep, but the way he set it up was similar to a military regiment, which Leslie calls him out on with a quick What the Hell, Hero? Bruce may be the World's Greatest Detective, but he doesn't know much about children. He adjusts the schedule accordingly, albeit begrudgingly. Character has trauma
    • Reality also ensues once again when Dick discovers that Bruce is also Batman. He is understandably hurt and angry that his legal guardian is (in his mind) ignoring him for the sake of crimefighting and runs away to hunt down Zucco himself. Furthermore, he also wonders if Bruce let his parents die in his effort to go after Zucco. When he confronts the man, Zucco begins to suffer a heart attack from the Curb-Stomp Battle, but Dick doesn't believe it in his anger. He also blurts out Bruce's name when the man arrives by accident, as he is not trained as Robin at this point and still acts a little careless. Character reaction
• A similar fanfic, Little Boy Lost, follows the Juvie story. Dick befriends some Juvie inmates who help him escape, but witnesses the death of one of his new friends, threatened by Zucco's underlings in the Center grabs the attention of a child molester who kidnaps him later on, and mishears a conversation where he believes that Fingers is just using him to take down Zucco.
  • Were it not for Batman pulling a Big Damn Heroes, Dick might have still been in the clutches of his kidnapper and his brother. After all of this, Dick contemplates jumping off a building before Batman talks him out of it. He is brought to Wayne Manor and is happy for the next two days...until Child Services forces Bruce to relinquish Dick back to the Detention Center. Circumstances or not, Bruce didn't have official custody. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising.
  • However, Bruce does go to the Center the next day and confronts Cunningham, the Center's official, over not letting Dick's godfather, Mr. Haly, have official custody over the boy and even throwing him into Juvie in the first place. By the way she reacts, it's implied that Bruce intends to have the Detention Center investigated for wrongly placing Dick there to begin with, especially right after his parents' deaths. Same
  • When Cunningham attempts to override Bruce's demand for custody, Lucius Fox reminds her that the papers presented to her were signed by a judge, forcing her to relinquish, at least until the custody court decides officially. Reality ensues even further when Cunningham is unable to best Bruce, due to his wealth and lawyers. The judge, while only allowing Mr. Haly visitation privileges, assures him it is not out of cruelty. Same
  • Dick's friend, Fingers' backstory reveals he had a younger brother that was killed in a hit-and-run by Zucco's men...except that it was the wrong address. Not only was it All for Nothing, but it shows how criminals end up making mistakes that hurt unintended targets. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising.
• Father deconstructs Bruce's frequent absences during the first month that Dick stays there. When he finally talks to Dick and apologizes for the absences, saying that he wishes to be a good parent to Dick, he is not Easily Forgiven. Over the course of the month, he never talked to Dick and even prevented him from running away a few times, which were basically the only interactions and failed to make a good impression on Dick. Character reaction
  • Dick's rant at Bruce in the end clarifies the problems in Bruce's half-assed parenting: Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising.
  Dick: Now you care about me? What gives? You were perfectly fine to leave me here in this huge house where I'm afraid to touch anything in case I broke it earlier. What, did the reporters finally figure out that I don't want to be here and now you're trying to make me stay? Well guess what, I don't want to. You're not my dad. You made that clear when you took me in. (Dick starts crying) I'm not a puppy that will just sit there and wait until you decide whether or not you want me. I just want to go home.
• The case against Lex Luthor in the fic Lex Luthor Triumphant falls apart despite how sure the prosecution was that they had a strong case against him. It turns out that evidence acquired through a vigilante (in this case, Cyborg) who did not submit his work to any officials or subject it to peer review is not acceptable for court, one of their witnesses admits to being unreliable thanks to his mental problems, and Batman's plotting against his teammates combined with all the resources needed to be Batman ends up backfiring on the prosecution since Luthor's defense is able to spin it as Batman being the one behind Superman's disappearance. The cherry on top being Wonder Woman, in a rage at Luthor's acquittal, forcing the Lasso of Truth on Lex Luthor who proceeds to work around its magic and pass. Diana's actions end up being PR suicide with even her teammates chewing her out. Not sure about the first one, but I think "important evidence turns out to be useless in court because it was obtained illegally" is a trope that has happened in other media. The second and third parts are plot happening and character reactions.
• Total Stranger in the Dark deconstructs Bruce's sudden appearance in Barry Allen's home. Unlike the Justice League (2017) trailer, where Barry is simply suspicious but still gives Bruce a chance to explain himself, Barry automatically calls the police to report an intruder. He doesn't even believe that Bruce is who he says he is, and when attacked, quickly overpowers him with his superspeed. Badass Normal means nothing to a metahuman. Deconstruction Fic, the second part is unrealistic.
• Forgotten Bonds is a deconstruction of the cliche plot of Slade abducting Robin to become his apprentice. For starters, Robin doesn't want to be around the man and frequently fights back against him, but is utterly crushed by Slade each time. Deconstruction Fic, character reaction
  • Being a crimefighter since the age of seven does little good for your psyche if your mentor is an emotionally distant man. Character reaction
  • Wintergreen finally steps in when Slade goes too far and insists on a gentler approach towards Robin. Slade initially ignores him until threatened, since Wintergreen's patience has essentially run out by this point. Character reaction
  • Pet the Dog is deconstructed. Robin initially feels touched when he finds that his stuff from the Titan's Tower was brought along with him, but Slade's brash behavior makes him paranoid and further lack of decency makes him distrustful. Character reaction
    • After Slade decides to adjust Robin's training and discipline actions, Robin has a panic attack from utter shock. It isn't until Slade apologizes for his previous actions that Robin starts calming down and begins to trust the man a little. Character reaction
  • Secret Test of Character is also deconstructed; Robin still isn't sure if Slade has changed his ways or not and decides to test the man by setting a bomb to explode. Slade nearly fails the test and is shocked that Robin felt the need to do that in the first place. He promises Robin that he will never raise a hand or lie to him after spanking him. Character reaction
  • A homemade bomb will do nothing in a secluded area with thick walls. Cyborg's blaster is stronger than that and easily breaks in. Doesn't explain why it's surprising
  • Unlike most fics where Robin easily decides to toss away Thou Shall Not Kill, he is adamant against even holding a gun. Even after everything, he still refuses to let go of that rule. Character reaction
  • The sequel shows this popping up as well, since the Titans are still wary of Slade adopting Robin and don't really trust him. The first story also has them all thinking that Robin is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome (the author observes the symptoms of it and confirms that Robin is NOT suffering from this, as Slade's previous behavior would have never accomplished anything). Character reaction
  • According to the author, Robin looks to be about 14 rather than an older teenager and so, he tends to act immaturely as well at times. Not surprising
  • Cyborg is the only Titan who refuses to give Slade a chance after everything that's happened in the previous story, and his relationship with Robin crumbles. Character reaction
• Political Realities does this to the scenario of a superhero (in this case Huntress) just killing a murderous supervillain who isn't a Villain with Good Publicity like the Joker (with a crossbow) when she has a sure shot at him and being arrested for it:
  • First off, while Batman follows Thou Shall Not Kill to the point of even sparing a monster like the Joker, Huntress doesn't. Batman insisting on binding himself to it no matter how impractical doesn't mean everybody he knows will and so not take out a target like the Joker when they can. Not surprising. Why would we expect everyone to act like Batman?
  • When Commissioner Gordon expects that the case against Helena (Huntress) will be open-and-shut, he's given a step-by-step account by the Distract Attorney on how that won't happen. Gordon gets told Helena already has a legal fund with thousands of dollars donated to it, lawyers would pay to be her defense, the best prosecutors are bailing out instead of risking career suicide by prosecuting the woman who finally killed the Joker (which leaves the worse prosecutors as opposition), the trial would happen in Gotham so the judge would have a significant possibility of having suffered at the hands of the Joker or know somebody who had which would make him itch for an excuse to dismiss the case, the jurors also might have a significant possibility of having suffered at the Joker's hands, and that Gordon's own policemen could have suffered at the Joker's hands (never mind all the cops that the Clown Prince has killed over the years), leading to one or more of them tampering with evidence to make sure Helena is acquitted. Gordon gets told by the D.A. that they are, as he puts it, going to save Gotham from a "needless and public waste of time and money." Gordon then accuses him of trying to avoid a media circus and making a future political animal out of Helena. Regardless, Gordon hears she has already been released. Not an outcome.
• Loxare Hinder uses this when Superman tries to arrest Red Hood for being a murderous vigilante:
  • So Superman is supposed to be The Cape while Red Hood is nothing but a villain. Problem is, they fight in Bludhaven, the Hood's playground. Bludhaven's children know the Hood extremely well, because he's always nice to them and always finds time for their problems, meaning he basically cemented himself as a Cool Big Bro to the underage community. So when Superman started beating Red Hood, the kids didn't see a Hero stopping a criminal, they saw some mean stranger hurting their beloved brother substitute. Character reaction, Villain with Good Publicity
  • Superman was quite rough with Red Hood, laying a brutal beatdown on him. This and Hood being only in his twenties meant he caught a lot of flak for assaulting a mundane young man who could have died from his injuries. Character reaction
  • In the second part, Stephanie manages to peacefully interact with Jason since she's not currently affiliated with the Batclan, and he ends up trusting her enough to ask her to housesit his flat while he's busy out-town. When he comes back to discover she invited Cassandra (the current Batgirl), he calls Stephanie on letting someone else access his flat without his agreement, orders both girls to leave and states he doesn't trust Stephanie anymore. Character reaction
• Penance, much like Political Realities, shows another way that the Joker would have been dealt with. It boils down the question: What if the Joker finally killed Batman? into a final solution. He is never let out of Arkham again for his crime, and paid a visit by the Spectre who is implied to be Batman, who alters his mind with the powers given to make the Joker harmless and to ensure that he doesn't hurt anyone ever again. The Joker got what he wanted, but he's unable to commit any more atrocities, even if he wants to and has no control over his body anymore. It also serves to reconstruct Batman's Thou Shalt Not Kill rule, by proving that there truly are such things as being killed, if the punishment is right. The consequences are not realistic.
• In Average Joe, Arkham's status as a Cardboard Prison is explained as a lack of funding. Despite a substantial security budget, most of it gets spent on repairs when a villain breaks out, which, combined with the ridiculous number of security cameras means they don't have funds to pay for enough security guards. Arkham can only afford to pay security guards 45 thousand dollars annually, which most see as nowhere near enough to guard criminally insane supervillains, leaving the asylum constantly shortstaffed. Covered by Extraordinary World, Ordinary Problems
• Batman spending most of his time with the Justice League in A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Action Please leads to both a rise in crime in Gotham and several imitators pretending to be Batman. When he returns to Gotham to foil one of Joker's plans, he comes across Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown imitating him and Robin respectively. Plot happens. Not really surprising or realistic.
• New Tamaran:
  • The people of Earth have been looking into deep space for decades, so they're well aware not just of extraterrestrial life but of interstellar conquerors. As a result, Earth's militaries are well-prepared for the event of an alien invasion. Not realistic
  • After his daughter was crippled, Commissioner Gordon has become much harsher on criminals, to the point of shooting to kill and personally performing executions. Character reaction
  • Wonder Girl, like her parents, is a soldier, and thus doesn’t have a No Killing rule. Character reaction
  • After returning to Earth, the surviving Justice League members are so exhausted, physically and mentally, from intergalactic war that they retire from hero work. Probably unrealistic and not surprising.
  • Likewise, many Titans have to retire or semi-retire to raise their children. Thankfully, new young heroes take their place. Plot happens. Why would we expect this to not happen?
• One Day At A Time Fanfic:
  • Terry and Matty cannot publicly and legally be known as Bruce's sons because Bruce died several years before their conception. It would've been a nightmare to explain the truth without exposing at least some of the Waynes' secrets and discrediting the government for allowing one of their directors to arrange this (not to mention telling Terry and Matty themselves), so Jason simply adopted them as his sons instead and had them inherit their rightful portions of the Wayne fortune that way. Plot happens. Why would we expect this to not happen?
  • Jason might have the mind and skills of an experienced and hardened Batman, but his current body is that of a sixteen year-old boy who, while trained, lacks the sufficient muscle memory. It takes him months to get back into proper fighting form, and even then it will be years before he reaches his previous level of strength. Weak, but Skilled. Possibly unrealistic.
  • Cass is completely illiterate, and Jason, for all his skills, has no training as a speech therapist. The most he can manage is verbal word-picture association, and finding her a fully-vetted and accredited speech therapist is one of the family's top priorities after they finally get to Gotham. Plot happens. Why would we expect this to not happen?
  • Bruce might be one of the most brilliant men on the planet, but he's also Old Money and grew up being cared for by a butler all his life. Hence, his self-care habits are terrible, and he passed that on to his children. Said lack of self-care habits meant that Alfred was the cornerstone of their entire vigilante operation, and putting him out of commission grounds everything to a halt, leaving the city in danger. This is the reason why Jason made self-care an integral part of his training for his students. Same
  • The Bats and their various enemies might all be Badass Normals, but they're still normal and thus, human. They're still subject to numerous human ailments, including old age and disease. Jason passed down the mantle to Terry not just because he had lung cancer, but also because he was getting too old to be Batman in general, and it's implied that Cass and the other contemporary members of their generation (Duke, Luke, Stephanie, etc.) were in the process of retiring if they hadn't already. This is especially prevalent in the first flashback arc, which sees Alfred bedridden thanks to his own advancing age and the likes of Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, and especially David Cain all well past their primes. Same
  • Dynastic fortunes diminish greatly over time and family lines can easily die out due to any number of misfortunes. This means the First Families of Gotham are on their last legs with the Waynes noted as an anomaly for actually still playing Old Money straight. Combined with the fact that all of the current members of the First Families are involved in dangerous occupations (Thomas Elliot and Oswald Cobblepot were both supervillains; the rest were vigilantes), one shouldn't be surprised that all of the First Families except the Waynes died out by the time Jason was in his early thirties. Even the Waynes nearly died out, pruned to two known members (Jason and Cassandra) until the adoptions of Carrie, Terry, and Matty, and the arrival of Helena. Same
  • The Joker and the effects of his numerous and terrible crimes are played much more realistically here than they are in canon.
    • The Joker is a Bad Boss who regularly tortures and murders his henchmen on a whim, and has a serious case of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder that sees him betray (and usually kill) nearly everyone he works with. That means that most criminals fear and hate him, and that not even the most corrupt courts in Gotham show leniency to people who willingly associate with him. This is why Batman has no problems shaking down Penguin for information after Joker escapes Arkham and blows up a physical therapy center in broad daylight. Penguin knows that if he keeps mum, he could be charged as an accomplice and that not even his name and fortune will be able to save him. Character reaction, plot happens.
    • Gotham is a large city with a population numbering in millions, and hundreds if not thousands of them hold some kind of grudge against the Joker. Eventually, someone was going to get sick of the constant back-and-forth between Batman and him, and take things into their own hands. Likewise, Jason wasn't able to prevent Felicia Bell's murder of Joker IV and subsequent transformation into Joker V because, up until the incident itself, he literally had no idea she existed. She was a random civilian whose husband was murdered by Joker IV. As sad as that is, the Joker's victims numbered in the thousands by that point. There was no way Jason (or anyone else for that matter) could've remembered all of them, let alone monitor the countless loved ones that would want revenge for their deaths. Plot happens, doesn't explain why it's surprising.
    • No one wanted to provide the Joker psychological treatment after Dr. Harleen Quinzel, while in the midst of treating him, went insane and fell in love with him (it's not clear which came first), broke him out of Arkham, and then dumped herself into the same vat of chemicals that transformed him and became the supervillain Harley Quinn. Jason mentions that Arkham had to offer a five million dollar reward for someone to try again, and even then the reward was only if they managed to last the year without going insane like Harley. There's no mention if anyone who took the challenge succeeded or not. Character reaction
    • The Joker treated Harley horribly, putting her through immense Domestic Abuse and treating her as little more than a competent meat shield. Harley was only able to put up with it for so long before she left him and started shacking up with Poison Ivy and Deadshot. Unfortunately, that backfired for her; the Joker was still possessive over her and killed her after she started sleeping with the latter. He killed Deadshot too, and nearly succeeded with killing Ivy as well. Character reaction
  • Bruce refuses to let Jason help in the search for the Joker, despite knowing Jason can take care of himself, because the last time he remembered the two of them being in the same vicinity, the Joker murdered his son. Jason himself refuses to be sidelined, because the last time he remembered the Joker being in the same vicinity as Bruce, the Joker murdered him. Eventually Jason concedes to being on standby, though he ends up joining the search anyway after Joker blows up the Crowne Physical Therapy Center, killing (among others) Jack Drake, making Tim more compromised than either of them. Character reaction
  • Dick became jaded and even ashamed of the Robin mantle as he got older due to its In-Universe Franchise Original Sin nature. Jason, who has his own conflicting opinions over the mantle, suggested they should retire it after Damian graduated to solo hero, seeing as Dick has enough help that he doesn't really need a Kid Sidekick anymore. Dick agreed to his suggestion, but of course, as we all know, it doesn't stick. Character reaction
  • Ra's al Ghul was a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist, a Bad Boss and an Abusive Parent, whose Villainous Legacy not only had a negative effect on the heroes, but also on his surviving subordinates and his remaining blood family. Unsurprisingly, he became a Broken Pedestal post-mortem, with everyone soundly rejecting his legacy, including his own daughter. Character reaction
• Sparks Fly:
  • Since he's been invulnerable his whole life, Superman has almost no pain tolerance. When he's Brought Down to Normal, flicking his finger against a punching bag makes him cry out in pain. Not realistic
  • Despite being an anti-authority Shock Jock, Leslie Willis is still a Slave to PR. Not only does she have to maintain her reputation, meaning she can't be overly nice during her show, she also has to keep her sponsors happy. The concert that led to her becoming the supervillain Livewire? She was only willing to host it because her sponsors were going to cut her funding otherwise. Similarly, she was perfectly willing to comply with the police and Superman to shut down the concert, knowing the place was a death trap with the record thunderstorm rolling in, and merely gave them a hard time to save face. Extraordinary World, Ordinary Problems

• In All You Need Is Love Naomi points out how L's whole setup is not practical for any situation other than the Kira case and overall looks ridiculous. Not an outcome
• A Charmed Life:
  • Light imagined that when he'd moved in with Ryuk in the Shinigami Realm that he would make a clean break with his old life, but soon discovers that making the Shinigami realm habitable is actually a lot of work and he has to make frequent trips back to the human world for groceries and supplies. Not realistic
  • Lampshaded when Light decides that he and L are Better As Frenemies, seeing as a mutual desire to see each other dead is not a good foundation for a lasting and loving relationship. Character reaction
  • The police sue L for the illegal and unethical way in which he handled the Kira case—namely his stalking and harassment of a teenage boy. Deconstruction Fic since it's applying realistic outcomes to a canon event
• In A Cure for Love the Kira Taskforce and L's successors are furious with L when it comes to light that L has been having an affair with his main suspect. Character reaction
• In Fever Dreams L and Light get sick from staying out in the rain for an extended period of time. Later Souichiro gets mad at Light for "corrupting" the investigation. Catch Your Death of Cold and character reaction
• Misa is insane, stalks Light, is totally obsessed with him, and promises she will kill anyone who comes between them. In the AU Kira, Sweetheart when Misa discovers that her obsession is already involved with someone, she grabs a knife, and during the fight that follows Light gets stabbed in the hand and is essentially incapacitated by the pain. L makes him leave the knife in his hand to keep him from bleeding out. First part is just Yandere. Not sure about the second part, but "leave the weapon in the wound so the bleeding doesn't get worse" is probably a trope already.
• L's Proof is a big Take That! against fanfic clichés involving L's morally ambiguous investigation, focusing on the police officers reactions to the various ways L would "prove" that Light is Kira such as calling Light "Kira" when he's half-asleep or when chaining him to the bed and having his way with him. Deconstruction Fic
  Aizawa: I think Light would have admitted to being Santa Claus at that moment. That really doesn't prove anything. Except that you're a pervert.
  Matsuda: And a rapist. Did you hear Light-kun at the start? He was saying no!
  L: Unconventional methods are sometimes necessary to get a confession.
  Aizawa: Except we don't have any evidence pointing to Light being Kira, aside from your personal opinion.
• In Lies On Yamamoto the oblivious school friend gets into a debate with Light Yagami on how Kira Didn't Think This Through: Discussed Trope
  Yamamoto: Kira or no Kira crime is never going to disappear. People have always been afraid of dying. That hasn't stopped them before—it's not going to stop them now. Criminals are just gonna get smarter about it, that's all.
  Light: But the crime rate...
  Yamamoto: Hasn't improved. Kira has only monopolized murder. You pointed that out to me yourself, remember?
  Light: Oh... right.
  Yamamoto: If you think about it, there's plenty of ways to exploit the Kira situation. What if you want to get rid of your enemies fast? Just frame them for murder and get their name and photo on the six o'clock news...
• In Markings Of The Mind Teen Genius Light Yagami is placed in solitary confinement for fifty days... and goes stark raving mad. Character reaction
• In Point of Succession L's attempt at creating a romantic atmosphere by covering his bed with M&Ms results in Light getting melted M&Ms in awkward places. Not enought context. Might be covered by Didn't Think This Through
• In Ragnarok when L sends Mello and Matt to spy on Light. Since they are in the middle of Tokyo, Light notices the blonde kid spying on him almost immediately. Not enough context
• In Revenant, like in canon, Light is shot with a blank at point-blank range. Unlike canon, this ends with him in a hospital, brain-dead and breathing by machine. Not sure
• In Ruling Child, Kimiko takes a bullet to the shoulder during the incident on the bus to Spaceland. One might expect her to just shrug it off, but no. She passes out due to pain and blood loss, and requires prompt medical attention. She doesn't recover very quickly either, with it being mentioned that she won't be fully healed for months. Maybe. The wording implies that you'd expect a different outcome.
• This happens in Seigikan when L tries to invoke Sex Equals Love when his partner is a Sociopathic Serial Killer, attempting to persuade Light to come back to headquarters to confess "so we can prove that you're Kira": Character reaction
  Light: Tell me, why on Earth would I want to do that?
  L: You need to absolve and pay for your crimes so we can be together.
  Light: I couldn't help it. I laughed even more. For a second I thought I would wake everyone in the house.
• Shadow Of The Valley suggests that bad things happen after the fall of Kira and our plucky heroine has just eliminated the only force that was maintaining order in the world. Needs more context. Might be unrealistic
• As demonstrated in Spira Mirabilis Light's desk trap involving an electric current that would ignite a plastic bag of gasoline is not a good idea and the way he has it set up it would blow up even quicker in real life. (By quicker we mean immediately. Gasoline melts plastic). In-Universe Factoid Failure
• A Story of Stupid shows what would happen if someone recognized Light while he was out manipulating Naomi Misora. Also Sayu overheard her brother shouting at the television: Character reaction
  Sayu: Why is he screaming to the TV about justice? [...] Wow. My brother's on crack.
• In To Feel Alive Light misses the Lind L. Tailor broadcast entirely because the overworked honors student crashes in the middle of the afternoon. This is due to not drinking any coffee after he'd been awake for all the previous night attending cram school, killing criminals, and talking to Ryuk. Doesn't explain why it's surprising.
• The Crack Fic Unexpected illustrates the dangers inherent in dramatic potato chip eating. ZCE

• In the series "Package Deal", after Ben, Mal and Evie are married (Mal and Evie having been in a relationship back on the Isle and Mal convincing Ben to let Evie join their relationship later), it is noted that the Queen of Auradon does have actual duties separate from the King's. Since Mal was taught how to be a ruler by Maleficent, it is relatively easy for her to adapt her mother's lessons to serve as Auradon's active queen, while Evie, who was primarily taught to basically please her future husband, becomes the official royal tailor and focuses on being the more regular mother to her and Mal's daughters, Lily and Violet (Ben and Mal are involved in raising their children, but Evie is the one most regularly available). Plot happens. Doesn't explain why it's surprising.

• Being a darker version of Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Adventure 02: The Story We Never Told has multiple examples of reality ensuing for the Digidestined. Deconstruction Fic
  • The Digidestined’s conflicts, personal problems, and other priorities downplayed in the original series are brought to full light here, meaning that sometimes, it could detriment their missions in saving the Digital World. Not enough context
  • Don't expect that saving the life of a Jerkass character will make them become nicer to you. Yes this even applies to the Digidestined themselves. Character reaction
  • It takes a long time for Character Development to kick in and one single event does not mean that person will have a change of heart and suddenly become nicer. Cody resents Ken even more then in canon, even after the rest of the Digidestined have forgiven Ken for his crimes as the Digimon Emperor and he has had a Heel–Face Turn. Character reaction
  • Human vs Digimon goes very poorly for the humans. Even if you're a protagonist, it won’t go well for you, because of how insanely powerful the Digimon are. Not realistic
  • Just because you are a child, and a Digidestined, doesn't mean you are guaranteed to make it out of the Digital World alive. In Chapter 49, Ken learns that the hard way, as Oikawa kills him. Not surprising if it's a Dark Fic

• Wolf in the Streets, Sardine in the Sheets:
  • In this Alternate Universe, Valvatorez's refusal to drink blood is translated to refusing to take 'unnecessary' blood transfusions to manage his condition. Though he believes that he can achieve Ideal Illness Immunity through the power of determination and sardines, Artina warns him that this can only accomplish so much. Eventually, he needs a transfusion after getting shot, and though he tries to stop it upon becoming aware of what's happening, the attempt is shut down. Not surprising if he's told this will not work
  • Laharl's desire to look after his sister Sicily is severely hampered by the fact that he has no way of helping her with her medical condition. Though he attempted to deal with this by pilfering random medical supplies, he's ultimately forced to alter his plans upon having it explained to him why he can't achieve his original goals right away. Doesn't explain why it's surprising.

• Corvo in Two Steps to the Left makes a deal with Lizzy Stride: she deals with the Pendleton twins, and he steals a signet ring for her. Lizzy plans to use it for fraud. Since Corvo raised an alarm on his way out, the ring becomes useless because the owner would quickly discover the theft and warn everyone that any future use is fraudulent. Lizzy honors her deal only because Corvo saved her life for unrelated reasons. Plot happens. Doesn't explain why it's surprising.

• Occurs frequently in the DisneyPrincess 'Old and Graceful', depicting what the princesses went through in their adulthood and old age.
  • As Snow White married at only fourteen, she cannot have live births for several years. And because she is small and skinny, her children are fairly brittle. After Prince Charming wins a battle, he dies of an infected wound, leaving a frail teenage boy as the new king. Plot happens. Doesn't demonstrate anything unrealistic.
  • During the French Revolution, peasants from Belle's town try to convince the revolutionaries that the Beast is not as bad as the French king, which results in some of the townsfolk being killed for their views. When Belle and the Beast escape France, the Beast is recognized, arrested and executed while Belle barely escapes with her life. Same
  • Due to most people in that time and place not believing in mermaids, people presume Eric is mad. On another note, it is hinted that because of Ariel changing form her body and mind are not as stable as humans', leaving her insane. Not realistic
  • When Elsa has an argument and blocks Arendelle off from the world by freezing the sea, resulting in low supplies and starving people, they revolt, forcing Elsa to watch as Anna is given the ducking stool so that the queen will lift the frost. Not realistic
  • The sequel to 'Old and Graceful' isn't much better.
    • Melody goes to Atlantica to permanently be a mermaid. Because they age at a slower rate than humans, Melody doesn't notice the passage of time. As a result, before she knows it, her little brother is grown up, then an old man on a future visit. To make things worse, Melody has missed her parents' passing. Not realistic
    • While things do get better for her, Alice is locked away in a mental asylum at a young age and later forced to marry a boring old man, causing her to long for Wonderland again, as insane as it was. Involves character psychology
    • On a lighter version of this trope, it is suggested the reason why Peter Pan was slightly obsessed with Wendy is because he was going through puberty. But since Neverland doesn't stop ageing, only slow it down, he discards the Lost Boys back in the human world decades after they left, while their memories of Neverland fade in time and makes Wendy promise that her granddaughter will look after him when he becomes a man. Not realistic
    • Lilo finally lets Stitch return to space, but he is lost during a peaceful mission and sucked into a black hole when Lilo is still a young woman, living the next fifty years without him. Not realistic
• In The Moon Calls, Varian advises Eugene against proposing to Rapunzel like he did at the beginning of the cartoon series. Eugene thinks it's because Varian doesn't approve of him, but Varian lists several practical reasons for why he's against it: Not an outcome
  • 1) Eugene and Rapunzel have only known each other for six months.
  • 2) Rapunzel is already overwhelmed with reuniting with her family and the kingdom.
  • 3) Eugene plans to propose in a room full of strangers, no doubt embarrassing Rapunzel to some extent.
  • 4) Rapunzel doesn't like being in the spotlight, already having enough trouble as it is being the princess.
• Rapunzel Goes Home:
  • All of Maximus' physical exertion suddenly assaults him right after he has brought Flynn to the tower, leaving him completely exhausted and sorely needing rest. Subversion of Automaton Horses. Although I think it could stay if there was a reason why we'd expect that trope to apply.
  • A quirky girl with reaally long hair running around and acting as the Life of the Party? Of course the Guard noticed her, they only waited to see if she intended to disturb the peace or commit a crime. Probably covered by a different trope
  • Rapunzel is not the first girl to come at the palace and claim to be the Lost Princess. There's actually a test to ensure the claimant truly is the one, and after several years of failed impersonators, the King and Queen's morale is extremely low. Not an outcome
  • Being raised in total isolation left Rapunzel unable to handle crowds for very long until she has a meltdown. Character psychology
  • Eugene warns the royal couple to not tell their daughter they love her — since Mother Gothel constantly abused her on the emotional and verbal level, Rapunzel automatically associates compliments and vocal affection with mockery. Same

• Being To Timelessness:
  • When Rose finds out that the Doctor has been keeping an important secret from her that directly affects her (namely, that in harnessing the power of the Vortex on the Game Station, she was rendered clinically dead for several minutes before the Doctor revived her), she is furious at him for keeping her in the dark for months and not saying anything about it. She does forgive him once he explains to her his reasons (that she'd brought Jack back to life, and more importantly, made him a fixed point), but she makes clear it'll take some time for her to trust him again. Character reaction
  • The series 3 and series 4 rewrites to accommodate Rose acknowledge the fact that slight accommodations have to be made to factor in Rose's presence, beyond "shove her in and move some of the characters' lines to her". In addition, the Doctor doesn't do the same things he does beat-by-beat in the actual episodes because Rose's presence changes his mentality. To give examples: Plot happens, not surprising
    • For "Smith and Jones," for instance, the Doctor and Rose's idea of infiltrating the Royal Hope Hospital is for Rose to be the sick patient, since she's a British citizen and still has an NHS card, neither of which the Doctor has.
    • For "Daleks in Manhattan," the Doctor's Death Seeker tendencies he has in the actual episode from losing Rose aren't there. Instead, he tries to negotiate with the Daleks after they invade the Hooverville camp.
  • Within the series 3 arc, the Master adapts accordingly to unintentional roadblocks in his plans. He initially plans to turn Martha's mother against the Doctor by feeding her stories of how dangerous the Doctor is, and when this doesn't work (due to Rose inadvertendly defusing any tensions between Francine and the Doctor at Lazarus's reception), just has Tish kidnapped to force her cooperation. Plot happens. Doesn't explain why it's surprising.
  • The resolution to the Year That Never Was is somewhat different. In this fic, the Master has the Doctor and Rose imprisoned on the Valiant for the duration of the year. He torments the Doctor regularly by forcing him to watch Rose get beaten up, and later cuts off his telepathic link to her, leaving him to think the Master killed her. While the Doctor does learn that Rose is in fact still alive thanks to coded messages from Lucy Saxon, he is not in a forgiving mood after he undoes the Master's takeover of the Earth. He makes clear that he's going to see to it that the Master rots in the Tower of London until his regenerations run out...and when Lucy decides to just shoot the Master, the Doctor is careful to check for and destroy his resurrection ring after burning his body, guaranteeing he can't come back. Character reaction
• The fanfic Not The Last points out that Karvanista can't be the Last of His Kind because the Lupari wouldn't have let the very young and old go to war, nor would they have forced those that couldn't or wouldn't fight. A small team of youngsters tracks down Karvanista and invite him to come back home with them. Not an outcome
  • Karvanista doesn't know what to do after receiving the invitation, because he's built a life for himself on Earth and has developed a genuine friendship with Dan. Fortunately, Dan Takes a Third Option and offers to come with him. Character reaction

• In A Jealous Wish (written well before Episode of Bardock) a thirteen-year old Goku wishes his father back to life. Said father is an incredibly strong warrior who exterminated planets for a living and was so fearsome that he had to swear to not do it again to come back to life (on pain of dying immediately if he even tried again), has seen in a vision that Goku will grow up to defeat intergalactic tyrant Frieza, and has zero knowledge of Earth's customs. It's a miracle there's only one casualty so far... Not realistic
  • Bardock's musings reveals that, once upon a time, one of Bardock's squadmates decided to take alien drugs to get high, and, knowing just how sturdy Saiyan bodies were, he didn't read the labels. He died fast, as the first drug contained an ingredient that was just that toxic to Saiyan bodies. This also led to Bardock's utter terror of incompetents doctors and the one casualty, as a well-meaning doctor managed to pass himself as incompetent while trying to cure Goku and Bardock threw him through a wall to protect his son and do the world a favour. Not realistic
    • The same musings also reveal a piece of intelligence in Frieza's army: they colour-code their drugs and make sure every soldier knows the code specifically to avoid this kind of incidents. Not an outcome, or realistic
  • Bardock is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and told Goku's friends as little as he could. Bulma has Goku kidnapped to protect him from someone she thinks is a jerk who is only interested in torturing his own son and using him to murder someone named Frieza. Character reaction
  • Speaking about the kidnapping... Bardock can fly faster than sound, has an incredibly acute sense of smell, and is smart enough to learn as much as he can about Earth's society, including that we send our children to communal schools. Upon losing track of Bulma's mercs due to their aircraft going through populated airspace, he goes after their families and successfully takes hostage the daughter of one of them faster than they could deliver Goku to Bulma. Not realistic
• This trope is all over the place in A Simple Wish (Dragon Ball) (which is a parody of "It’s a Wonderful Life") Chi-Chi accidentally makes a wish out of anger on Christmas Eve that she wasn't born due to her frustration with Goku, Gohan and Goten not being home to celebrate and being worried sick about them. While said wish is unrealistic, what's realistic are the repercussions of how the world is like without Chi-Chi: This is just It's a Wonderful Plot played straight. Not surprising.
  • Goku is still alive, but he has no idea who Chi-Chi is. Chi-Chi tries to befriend him and tries to remind him of their sons, but he has no memories of her, thus making things awkward for them and Goku thinking she's crazy. They do become friends later, at least.
  • When Chi-Chi meets Piccolo, she still thinks he's a good guy due to his friendship with Gohan and Goku, but since Gohan was never born, Piccolo was still evil. When Chi-Chi tries to talk to him, Piccolo fires a ki-blast at her, almost killing her until Goku saves her the last minute. Goku even calls her out on trying to talk to him, and that she was basically making a death wish.
  • Goku is NOT friends with Piccolo, still can't stand him, and sees him as a monster. Even after they teamed up against Raditz, Piccolo was overjoyed when he finally killed Goku (and Raditz).
  • Since Gohan was never born, Goku ended up dying 3 times since Gohan wasn’t alive to help him in his battles.
  • When Bulma meets Chi-Chi and Chi-Chi talks about her family that she “can’t find (really they aren’t born),” it makes Bulma suspicious since Chi-Chi keeps making “excuses” and makes her think that Chi-Chi is an unfit mother.
  • Since Goten wasn't born, Trunks is an angry, rude kid in general due to his father’s death, has no friends, and has nobody to play with since Goten was Trunks’ Only Friend. All Trunks does is train all day to ease his frustrations.
  • A Played for Laughs scene: When Chi-Chi wakes up one day and sees that Goku left, she gets angry with him for not saying goodbye…until she remembers that since she made the wish, the two aren’t married. Also, she was a guest at Goku’s house and he could go and come as he pleases.
  • When Goku sneaks up on Chi-Chi while she’s taking a bath, she gets angry and freaks out. Since they are not married, her reaction was completely justified.
  • When Chi-Chi goes to look for the Ox-King and runs into a few people where the castle used to be, she tells them that she’s his daughter. They respond and say she’s crazy and that he never had a daughter due to the Ox King and her mother both getting sick and dying. The people attempt to take Chi-Chi to an asylum since they think she’s mentally unstable.
  • Chi-Chi ends up crying, feeling depressed, and regretting her wish. It gets all this (and some nagging from Fortuneteller Baba) to get Chi-Chi to realize that her wish was extremely selfish and careless. Thankfully, Chi-Chi gets to collect the dragon balls, unwishes the wish, and gets her happy ending.
• Bardock and Gine in Dragon Ball H mention that since Kakarot/Goku doesn't have any antibodies to deal with otherworldly viruses and bacteria, he could easily die if he gets sick on Earth. Not realistic
• Hermit:
  • Ginyu collapses shortly after taking possession of Vegeta's body as the saiyan had gone almost a week with little food or water and no sleep. Doesn't explain why it's surprising.
  • After being kidnapped, suffering a year of Training from Hell, nearly dying several times, watching friends die, and actually dying himself, Gohan suffers from PTSD and needs to attend therapy. Character has trauma
  • Unlike canon where it's brushed off, Piccolo Must Make Amends with Chi-Chi for kidnapping Gohan. Character reaction
• Goku the Gamer (Rewrite):
  • Bulma quickly realizes she's going to need a lot of therapy due to all the life and death struggles she's been in while searching for the dragon balls. Character has trauma
  • Bulma treating and cleaning Akane's many injuries is a very long and painful process for Akane while be extremely nauseating for Bulma, given that some such injuries are weeks old. Doesn't explain why it's surprising.
  • After Yamcha refuses to attack Goku and company due to spotting Akane, Puar chews him out for making zero progress on his phobia of women and thus costing them at least half of their marks, declaring that they're going to attack this new group whether he likes it or not. Character reaction
• The Legend of the Dragon Ball: Rise of the Saiyans:
  • After wishing to become a Saiyan, Bulma isn't particularly more powerful than before as she still has the same level of conditioning as she had before her transformation. The real difference is she can grow much stronger much faster. Not realistic
  • After Roshi barely defeats Goku in the World Martial Arts Tournament, Kefla is hyped up to fight him, only the old man is so exhausted that he barely puts up a fight before collapsing. Not sure.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Book One: Water

• In the finale of Book 1, Zuko finally has seemingly captured Aang (who has left his physical body behind to visit the Spirit World) and made a successful escape. Only he does so by running through a blizzard, and being fatigued from fighting Katara, wet from his infiltration as well as said fight, and having no idea where he can go, he almost dies from hypothermia and has to hide in a small cave till he can escape. He only survives thanks to the heroes finding him, which ends in him being easily beaten by Katara, since their rematch is in the middle of a snow packed area, something Zuko can't counter, and Zuko lost the element of surprise. Later in Book 2, Iroh even brings this up as an example of his inability to think things through. Not surprising.

Book Two: Earth

• "City of Walls and Secrets": Jet storms into the tea shop, threatening Iroh and Zuko at swordpoint to out themselves. Thing is, he walks in accusing them with no evidence, in the presence of two guards who point out a teamaker would be heating tea. He gets into a fight with Zuko, who is a master fencer and remains on the defensive side until the Dai Li come. The shop-owner rightly points out that Jet assaulted his employees and destroyed his shop, with the guards corroborating these stories. Jet promptly gets arrested on these charges as he's shouting that Iroh and Zuko are firebenders, something nobody takes seriously. Not surprising.

Book Three: Fire

• "Sokka's Master": Aang tries on a ridiculously oversized suit of Scary Impractical Armor. He can't even move in it, falling over after a single step. Nobody expected him to manage.
• In the same episode, we see a flashback to the war meeting Zuko attended before making his Heel–Face Turn. Turns out that even though the Fire Nation finally captured Ba Sing Se, the sheer size of the Earth Kingdom continent means that their armies are spread too thin to maintain control and they are regularly dealing with rebellions in the more remote areas of the country. Just because the capital of a country is conquered doesn't mean total victory is achieved. Plot happens.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise

• The long-term consequences of a century-long war of conquest and genocide will not simply go away because one of your friends has replaced the Evil Overlord in charge of the aggressor nation and is perfectly willing to make any reparations requested. Even if both sides have well-intentioned individuals in charge, there is still the potential for conflict simply because some things can't be fixed, and instead have to be lived with. Not surprising.
• Likewise, Earth King Kuei hasn't forgiven the Fire Nation — or himself — for Ba Sing Se having fallen. He hates the fact that his own advisor made a dupe out of him and endangered the innocent civilians. For that reason, Kuei wants to be more proactive in protecting Earth Kingdom interests and declares war when Zuko withdraws from the Harmony Restoration movement because We Are Not Going Through That Again and he is damn well not going to let his people become war prisoners again. This nearly leads to disaster. Katara has to show Kuei that he is not abandoning his people in Yu Dao to realize that he is overreacting as a result of his trauma and that there is another solution. Character reaction, unqualified.

Avatar The Last: Airbender - Rebound

• Just because the Evil Overlord was defeated doesn't mean his empire fell with him. While The Empire is fractured, a new order of Ozai's loyalists (dubbed the New Ozai Society) is on resurgence with the Imperialist ideals still alive. Plot happens.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search:

• At one point in the comics, Zuko's frustrations get the better of him when dealing with Azula, and he frustratingly yells at his sister "Why does our relationship have to be like this?" to which Azula doesn't even properly reply because she isn't lucid at the moment. It captures a dark truth about dealing with a loved one who is suffering from mental illness in that sometimes it's really not easy to deal with it and those types of frustrations happen more than we'd like to admit they do. It's also a reveal in a way that Zuko also could do with some therapy; as even though he does want to help his sister get better too; he also has a lot of traumas (inflicted by Azula as well) since the beginning of the series that he needs to come to terms with. Character reaction, unqualified.
• For people to change, they have to want to change. Zuko was willing to change and mend ways with his sister; but his sister was barely lucid to try to change; and even when she was, she was clearly only humoring Zuko long enough to find Ursa. It made mending bridges harder to do between them as a result of it. You can't mend a relationship unless both parties are willing to try. Doubly so when, again, one of the two people in the conversation isn't consistently mentally healthy enough to try. Character reaction, unqualified.
• There were hints in the show that Ozai was once a loving father, and their family was a sort of normal, with Zuko pointing out that the Firelord was once an innocent baby posing for a photo. This ended up being wishful thinking on Zuko's part, and Nostalgia Filter. We find out in "The Search" that while Ozai had capability to be a decent parent or husband, his marriage to Ursa was a sham, and this colored their relationship to the point where Ursa looks on him with disgust when she sees him in prison, calling him a pathetic bully. Firelord Azulon ordered her to marry Ozai or her family would be killed, meaning it was Questionable Consent at best and marital rape at worst, especially since Ursa was already engaged to her childhood friend at the time. The breaking point was when Ozai confronted Ursa for writing to her ex Ikem that Zuko was their son — due to the timing that was a lie, and she reveals it was to ferret out that he was intercepting her mail. Ozai then said he'd treat Zuko as an illegitimate child since that's what his wife wanted, punishing his innocent son for Ursa's deception. After that, their relationship was a Happy Marriage Charade in public, but in private they loathed each other. Ozai had no incentive to at least act the part of a loving husband, and Sanity Slippage ensued. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Azula claims that Ursa saw her as a monster and didn't really love her. That was not true; Ursa was concerned about Azula's Troubling Unchildlike Behavior and commented on it, but loved her because that's what parents do. In fact, when Ursa revealed she could make an untraceable poison for Ozai to use on Azulon, she asked if she could take both of the kids with her into exile, believing that Ozai would have no use for a traitor's children as heirs. Leaving Azula behind was the last thing she wanted to do. The reason why she didn't wake her daughter up to say goodbye is that Azula was littler than Zuko; she wouldn't understand that Ursa was banished and had to leave, making the separation more painful. Ursa was Cruel to Be Kind that Azula wouldn't have to witness her mother leaving her in person, and trusted that Zuko as the teenager would understand the circumstances. Character reaction, unqualified.
• This is the reason why Ozai is never redeemed: he doesn't see that what he did — sending assassins after his wife's ex, abusing Zuko, blackmailing Ursa with her children's lives— was unforgivable and wrong, unlike Zuko. He believes that because he was the Fire Nation's golden child and Phoenix King. Zuko at least had the decency to apologize and make things right on realizing how far he had fallen. Ozai lacks Azula's excuse that she was trained to be a Child Soldier from a young age or Iroh's trauma of losing his own son. Even when Ursa refuses to be cowed by him, Ozai can simply not understand why he lacks power over her anymore. Character reaction, unqualified.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Rift

• One of the Rough Rhinos defies Talking Is a Free Action. Not an outcome.
  Rough Rhino: Let this be a lesson to you, kiddies. Never have a conversation when you're in the middle of a fight!
• Since the war is over, this leads to Fire Lord Zuko downsizing the Fire Nation's armed forces as there is no longer any priority for them. This has caused a number of army personnel to be discharged from service and have to take contractor jobs. Plot happens.
• Aang was eleven when he ran away from the temple, and didn't learn all the reasons why certain traditions existed, merely knowing the steps to follow. This proves a big hindrance when he tries to recreate the Air Nomads. Not surprising.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Smoke and Shadow

• This comic deconstructs The Good King trope. Zuko finds out that even with him being an objectively better Fire Lord than his father, there is still resistance to his rule, resistance that may one day need to be dealt with through overt violence. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
• Kiyi starts out acting cold towards Ursa, notably ever since she got back her original face. It's not easy for a child to adjust to new changes so drastically. They need time to get used to said changes. Character reaction, unqualified.
  • Building on that, Kiyi grew up her entire life identifying the plain-faced Noriko as her mother. She isn't going to be easily swayed into loving Ursa's beautiful princess face, even if it is essentially her mother's real face. Character reaction, unqualified.

Avatar: The Last Airbender – North and South

• Despite similar cultures and a shared history, the Northern and Southern Water tribes are not one big happy family, and prejudices and other issues exist between the two. (A century of separation and being cut off from each other doesn't help either, as the two tribes have essentially become strangers to each other.) Especially when the South has valuable natural resources that can be exploited and the Northerners feel the South is too ignorant/uncivilized to take advantage of it. The South isn't free of other prejudices against the other nations either, despite being "good guys" in the war, with some southerners bitter and resentful towards the North for staying out of the Hundred Year War until near the end of it.
• Just because the South united in the war, it doesn't mean there won't be a falling out and divisions about policy regarding what road to take after the war.
• Katara imagines she'll go back to the South and find nothing has changed, only to find that everything is changing as the tribe tries to adapt to new post-war circumstances. When she is upset about this and says she expected things to go back to normal with the war over, Sokka points out that nobody in the South still remembers a time before the war, so nobody even knows what normal is anymore. A lot of people, including Katara, are trying to go back to a normal that they don't even know, and may have never existed.
• As part of their reconstruction plans, the North converts several villages in the South into a massive city very similar to the North's capital. This is seen as cultural erasure by certain southerners, namely Gilak and Katara. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Pakku is attempting to teach waterbending to two very young sisters, the first southern waterbenders since Katara. Their mother always told them to hide their powers or the Fire Nation would take them away, which was a very real danger since the Fire Nation had a specialist military unit for that exact purpose less than ten years ago. They're too young to really understand that the war is over and the "monsters" aren't coming for them, and they're also away from their family and their incredibly isolated village for the first time ever. Naturally, they're terrified and don't want to learn waterbending or understand why their mother suddenly decided to send them away to do the thing she always told them never to do. Character reaction, unqualified.

Avatar: The Last Airbender – Imbalance:

• Just like the real industrial revolution, the creation of machines to replace jobs that previously required human workers leads to a massive job shortage, with many of those out of work forced to turn to crime. Satoru highlights this from the businessman's perspective: Noting that because of the improvements made to technology, he had no reason to keep the benders around and spend money on them, yet he never intended to put people out on the streets. Not surprising.
• Change occurs, but change is constant. What was once a blessing for a small town to prosper ended up turning it into a Wretched Hive because of the sudden downturn in employment thanks to Satoru. Yes, change was going to occur, but not all of it is good; especially as a town can go from the top of the heap to down in the dumps in less than a few years. Plot happens.
• Though much more prevalent in The Legend of Korra, it was only going to be a matter of time before benders would start to use their abilities as leverage and superiority over nonbenders. Despite the practice growing traction, chi blocking isn't widely used or readily available to non-combatants, and it's difficult to stand up to benders who can cause massive damage at whim. Plot happens.
• The Gaang by this point has been used to foiling conspiracies, dealing with people who betray them, and any Opportunistic Bastard or Manipulative Bastard lot. Ergo, they're prepared when Toph alerts them to the fact that Liling was lying about sending supplies to the factories that were sabotaged, and successfully arrest her when infiltrating her pro-bending rally. Aang by this point isn't even shocked that Liling was trying to betray him after he thought they found common ground; he disappointedly tells her What Were You Thinking? because they had been working together on a better solution. Not surprising.
• At the end, Aang realizes that it would've been easy to strip Liling of her earthbending, but doing so would've been fruitless, for the bigotry she spouted wasn't only her was shared by hundreds of benders, and it would've been nearly despotic to remove the bending of hundreds of people, fueling their rage even more. Bigotry is awful, but it can only be changed by changing the minds and hearts of the people, and brute force wasn't going to solve that problem. Character reaction, unqualified.

Suki Alone

• Azula had taunted Sokka that Suki was her "favorite prisoner" and that Suki was waiting for Sokka to rescue her. The comic confirms that Azula lied; while Azula did taunt Suki about being alone and sending her off to the Boiling Rock without the other Kyoshi Warriors For the Evulz, she had no direct part in Suki being tortured or given solitary confinement. With how long it takes to get to the Boiling Rock on a hot air balloon, plus Azula's campaigns and the Warden's Control Freak regimen, there was no chance for her to torture Suki during Book 2 and 3's Time Skip. Plot happens.
• Suki puts on a chipper face about being a prisoner. She befriends a woman named Biyu who was imprisoned for unjust reasons and decides to rally everyone by building a garden to give them extra rations. The comic ends with Biyu selling out Suki to the guards and getting a Luxury Prison Suite as a result while Suki gets two weeks of solitary confinement and the gardens are destroyed. When Suki confronts her, Biyu mocks Suki for thinking that the prisoners needed community and that they would have a chance of evading detection. Unlike Suki being a permanent war prisoner, Biyu's sentence will end at some point. All she has to do is find reasons to make her prison time easier, and she'll be free in the Fire Nation. Suki even breaks down in the privacy of her cell that one selfish person killed her hopes; Kyoshi has to appear in a vision to reassure Suki that her friends have not abandoned her to keep her from breaking completely. It's also why she sarcastically asked a disguised Sokka "What did I do now?" when he was dressed as a prison guard. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Biyu shows she's a Dirty Coward when Suki threatens to drop her off a high railing, begging for her life. She may have the guards' favor now, but Suki still has her fists. All it would take is for Suki to let her fall or snap her neck, and her betrayal would be for nothing. The only reason Suki doesn't let go of her is that she thinks Biyu is Not Worth Killing and it wouldn't make things better. Character reaction, unqualified.

The Legend of Korra

• One of the overall themes is to show that the original Team Avatar didn't live happily ever after. They went on to live very realistic lives, complete with personal and family issues. These issues ultimately affect the lives of their children and grandchildren; Bumi and Kya are resentful towards Tenzin due to Aang's favoritism of his only airbending child, Lin not knowing her father makes her angry at her mother, her and Suyin growing up without parental supervision messed up their ability to form relationships, etc Not surprising.
• Toph's Brutal Honesty and flippant nature was cute when she was a kid. It's not so cute when she directs those same brusque words and carelessness towards her own daughters; Suyin explicitly says that she wished Toph had been a parent instead of an absent authority figure which is partly why she rebelled as a teen and became a getaway driver. Lin for her part always believed that Toph cared more about her own ego and reputation than actually answering her questions about her father or putting in the minimal effort of parenting, eventually severing ties with her for several decades. Toph only gets a Jerkass Realization about this when Lin says they're only allying to save an imprisoned Suyin and after that, they're going their separate ways. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Korra learns a Be Yourself Aesop at the end of Book 2, but over a decade of identifying mainly as the Avatar isn't brushed away so easily. And having been raised as The Chosen One for her entire life, she equates her self-worth with being able to fulfill that role; her being unable to do so leads to serious mental repercussions and self-esteem issues. Character reaction, unqualified.
• The Korra/Mako/Asami Love Triangle in Book 1 is a typical "plucky teen heroine wins boy away from girlfriend who doesn't deserve him" plotline. In Book 2, the constant lies necessary to uphold it leads to a lot of lingering strain between them, Korra and Mako face difficulties in actually maintaining a relationship, Mako and Asami still have remaining feelings for each other which creates problems, and Korra and Mako eventually break up entirely, as a Belligerent Sexual Tension romance is not usually a good basis for a successful relationship. In Book 3, everyone finally stops lying and talks it out, allowing them to deal with and move past the problems, and although Mako needs some space all three remain friends despite the fiasco. Love Triangle deconstruction shoehorn.

Book 1: Air

• The first episode has the title character stopping some thugs from getting tribute money, destroying a lot of the street while doing so. When the police show up, they almost immediately attempt to arrest her for property damage. Trying to catch fish from a pond in a public park likewise draws their attention, since that pond is the city's property. Plot happens.
• As early as the third episode, Amon gets Korra on the back foot and tacitly explains that while it's well within his power at this moment, depowering the Avatar - generally seen as the Big Good to the world at large - would turn her into a Martyr and make his still-growing Equalist faction into terrorists. So with a simple threat that she'll be last, he leaves her be, and doesn't attempt to go after her again until he's drummed up enough public support and dissatisfaction even Korra is grouped in with the "Us vs. Them" mentality the Equalist movement made. This incident also leaves Korra huddled up as a crying mess; she had never been so thoroughly defeated, helpless and threated and only remained the Avatar because the villain was a pragmatist. Don't Create a Martyr shoehorn.
• So Korra and the Fire Ferrets make it to the Pro-Bending finals against the Wolfbats, only to discover the Wolfbats have bribed the referees to ignore their cheating and not call any fouls or penalties against them. So naturally, the Fire Ferrets, through pluck and determination, manage to overcome this and win the match fair-and-square anyway, right? Nope. Although the Fire Ferrets manage to hold their own for a little while, they ultimately get crushed, which is what usually happens when one side in a competition is allowed to blatantly cheat without any consequences. Too magical of a sport.

Book 2: Spirits

• At the end of Book 1, Korra is granted the use of the Avatar State by her past lives despite being a neophyte airbender and still lacking in maturity (usually an Avatar masters all four elements and the discipline from doing so is how they become fully realized, per the previous series), having subconsciously called upon Aang during a period of severe depression. Come Book 2, Korra is using the Avatar State to cheat at racing Tenzin's children and refusing to continue her airbending training now that she's "fully-realized". If someone is just handed something without earning it, nine of ten times they're not going to respect it. Too magical.
• Related to the above, an encounter with a Dark Spirit shows Korra that she's not the Instant Expert she thinks she is, as any skill takes time and practice to perfect. Especially if it requires a mental state entirely different from your usual self. It takes some character building with Iroh in the Spirit World before she's able to become the full Avatar. Too magical.
• The first episodes of the season show that The Hero would not be happy if their Mentor Archetype hid important things from them "for their own good", would likely develop serious trust issues, and would probably get pretty annoyed about being constantly bossed around and told that they are The Chosen One. Character reaction, unqualified.
• In the previous series, Professor Zei decided to stay behind in Wan Shi Tong's library as it sank, in order to study it. By the time Jinora pops in to visit, Zei has been long dead. The fact that there may or may not have been physical food in the library to begin with didn't help matters. Not surprising.

Book 3: Change

• Book 2 ended on an uplifting note with Korra's speech about looking towards a new future. Book 3 quickly reveals that a lot of people are mad at the changes that have come about as a result of spirits living in the material world and all. This leads to another Aesop that part of making decisions is making peace with them, no matter how difficult. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Korra and Tenzin are so excited that Harmonic Convergence made several people airbenders that until they try to recruit those people to rebuild the Air Nomads, they don't realize that, new powers or not, people aren't too keen on leaving behind their lives, homes, and families in order to adopt an entirely new culture. In fact, on the trip to Ba Sing Se, the only successful recruit is Kai, a Street Urchin thief who uses Korra and Tenzin's group as a means to get into the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. And while several of the new airbenders do willingly join the Air Nomads later in the series, several of them still choose to keep living their current lives. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Despite the huge technological strides made between The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, large swathes of the Earth Kingdom are shown to look pretty much the same as they did seventy years ago. This is a fairly realistic look at how economic and technological development would spread through a country as huge as the Earth Kingdom- the rest of the world is relatively much smaller and could introduce new technology faster and easier, but the sheer scale of the Earth Kingdom would make that a logistical nightmare. Add to that the devastation of the war and the comet, and the general ineptness and selfishness of the Earth Queen, and it makes sense that there would be huge areas of the Earth Kingdom set away from the railroads which would be just as isolated and underdeveloped as they were decades ago even if the nation as a whole is wealthier and more modern. There are many historical examples of this such as the USA from around the time of the Civil War to World War II, late Tsarist Russia/early Soviet Union, and modern-day China. Not surprising.
• Toph invokes this in the past when Lin was forced to arrest Suyin for serving as a getaway driver, resisting arrest, and assaulting an officer. She said if Suyin was in jail then it'd ruin her as police chief and tears up the warrant, choosing to exile her daughter to her strict grandparents in the Earth Kingdom. A bandaged Lin turns it around on her by pointing out she's saying what Suyin did was okay and she can get away with it, and ultimately becomes estranged from both her sister and her mother. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Despite Lin being a militarily trained and accomplished Earthbender and Metalbender, the fight between Lin and Suyin ends in Suyin's decisive victory. They were both trained by their mother, and while they both chose different paths in life, Lin focusing on combating threats and Suyin focusing on making a place where people can live happily, Lin at the time has been weakened both physically and mentally and even though Suyin is a pacifist, she also has had her share of experience in fighting and having been separated for years, Lin has no way of knowing this and thus underestimated her. As such, just like Zuko and Azula's last fight, the level-headed and fully competent fighter wins the battle despite any gap in experience between them, as Suyin is able to effectively neutralize Lin's frenzy attacks and even successfully counter and drive her back because while Lin is just employing fierce moves, Suyin is tactically manipulating the metal and earth. Their fight is over in a matter of minutes even after Opal interrupted it, as Suyin is still standing pretty tall while Lin ends up exhausting much of her already dwindling energy. Curb-Stomp Battle shoehorn.
• Zaheer’s legitimately a very good airbender for someone who’s had the powers for such a short amount of time, but he’s also got the fact that very few people (probably a dozen at most) have ever actually had to fight one before, meaning that next to no-one knows how. Kya, who grew up with an airbender dad and brother and presumably trained with them, gives him a much harder time than anyone else. Lin and Su, who also grew up around Aang and Tenzin, are similarly able to get the better of him a few episodes later. Too magical.
• One of the issues created by the new airbenders who refuse to accept the monks' lifestyle is that they're not trained to hold back for the sake of only fighting in self-defense. This shows how absurdly dangerous control over the air itself can be when one goes entirely on the offensive, as a group of untrained airbenders working together can easily create a tornado, or tell the air not to enter someone's lungs and asphyxiate them (as the Earth Queen finds out the hard way when Zaheer assassinated her this way^note  Makes you wonder about Monk Gyatso in his last moments around a pile of dead Fire Nation soldiers now doesn’t it?). Too magical.
• From the episode "Long Live The Queen":
  • Upon learning that the Earth Queen's forces have captured Korra, Zaheer points out to her that imprisoning the Avatar - i.e. the Big Good of the setting - would bring unwanted international attention upon the Earth Kingdom. Not an outcome.
  • Bolin and Mako are imprisoned in the Earth Queen's dungeons. Mako tells Bolin to metalbend the doors, gives him a speech about how this is his time and gets the whole cell block to cheer him on. Bolin digs deep, focuses... and achieves absolutely nothing. You don't instantly gain a very difficult and specialist skill because people believe in you. Too magical.
  • If an authority maintains order over the masses through iron rule which is heavily disapproved of, things will get ugly when that authority is bumped off. Not surprising.
• That said, when Hou-Ting the Earth Queen is murdered by Zaheer who in turn hands control of the country over to "the people", it's not romanticized in the least and treated as a happy occasion where the people are freed from a horrid tyrant and unite in celebration. Instead, it's portrayed scarily realistically as the country descends into violent anarchy almost instantly, military members abandon their posts, infrastructure crumbles, and the streets are overrun by violent mobs who begin destroying things and robbing the rich and the poor alike with impunity while citizens cower in their homes praying to make it through the ordeal alive. Even three years later the country is struggling to recover from this and large swaths of the nation are controlled by raving bandits until control is finally reclaimed by a new leader. Too magical.
• The Arc Villain Zaheer is an Instant Expert at airbending but has only had his powers for at most a few months (and seems to use moves based off firebending he probably picked up from P'li), and when he faced Tenzin (who's been an airbending master nearly all his life) he got creamed until his teammates arrived to Zerg Rush Tenzin. Similarly in the season finale, Bolin's new Magma Man abilities do take away a good portion of Ghazan's advantage, but the older lavabender still has the upper hand from experience until Mako joins in. Too magical.
• In her final battle, Ming-Hua (an armless waterbender who fights by creating temporary prosthetics) lures Mako into a pool of water, giving her a decisive advantage. Or at least, she thinks. She dies seconds later when Mako puts himself on dry land and just zaps the pool with lightning. Logical Weakness shoehorn.
• The Avatar State doesn't cure poison, so Korra's battle ends up being short-lived once the poison gets the better of her determination. It's definitely not something one can bounce right back from, as by the beginning of season 4 she still hasn't recovered mentally. Her physical recovery also took three years and a lot of willpower. Heroic BS Od shoehorn.

Book 4: Balance

• For all the drama caused by the arrival of the spirits within Republic City, a newsreel three years later shows that the area the spirits took over is now a major tourist attraction, intercut with scenes of people and spirits getting along peacefully. People can pretty much get used to anything. Too magical.
• The Earth Queen was a terrible tyrant, no doubt about it, but killing her just creates more problems. The ensuing chaos creates a power vacuum that gives rise to another tyrant, Kuvira. This was Truth in Television for both China and Russia around the time the show is based on. Not surprising.
• Zaheer's anarchist revolution is brutally crushed by a well-organized military push, and Kuvira has shown herself to be even worse than Hou-Ting ever was, which Korra calls him out on. All Zaheer's ideals about freedom though chaos were just that, ideals. This was actually foreshadowed when Asami and Bolin were playing Pai Sho in Book Three while staking Aiwei out. Bolin, who was playing fast-paced Pai Sho, lost pretty much every time to the strategic and calculating Asami (he nearly won once, but Pabu scattered the pieces). While chaos may be effective in the short term, order tends to win out in the long term, especially when safety is threatened. Plot happens, and not an outcome.
• When Korra loses a fight in an underground Earthbending ring, she is smacked around in possibly the most brutal curb stompings in the show, which depicts her injuries fairly realistically and demonstrates just how painful being on the receiving end of what is essentially a beating with flying rocks would be in Real Life. Too magical.
• Toph explains to Korra the futility of her job. Even if she stops one bad guy, there will always be others waiting to take their place. Tenzin admits she has a point but offers a less cynical view of it. Of course, Toph lightens up later on in this matter, realizing that while evil never gives up, neither should the forces of good. Not an outcome.
• The duel between Korra and Kuvira in "Battle of Zaofu" has a double example. Korra may have just cured herself of mercury poisoning, but she's spent most of the last three years recovering from it and hasn't had much chance to practice fighting during this time. As a result, Kuvira — who's spent the last three years fighting to stabilize the Earth Kingdom — easily kicks her ass. Unfortunately for Kuvira, reality then ensues in the opposite direction. Flippantly goad a Physical God during a duel, and she may end up invoking her Super Mode, blasting you halfway across the field before crushing your prone form with a massive boulder. Too magical.
• In "Enemy at the Gates", Varrick's Beleaguered Assistant Zhu Li turns against him and Bolin when the three of them get captured trying to defect from Kuvira's army because she's sick and tired of Varrick treating her like crap in order to keep herself from being imprisoned along with them. In "Operation Beifong", it turns out that Zhu Li only pretended to switch sides in order to hurt Kuvira's spirit vine cannon experiments and gather intel on when Kuvira will attack Republic City because she truly does love Varrick and wanted to protect him. However, the next episode proves that being pushed around by an ungrateful boss would grate anybody's nerves and Zhu Li more-or-less meant everything she said during "the betrayal". When Varrick finds out the truth and attempts to get her to become his assistant again, she flat-out refuses and demands to be treated like an equal if he really does want her around. This makes Varrick have a Heel Realization, and he begins to treat her better as a result, culminating in the two of them becoming Happily Married in the Grand Finale. Plot happens.
• Opal isn't Easily Forgiving towards Bolin when he and Varrick return to Republic City to warn President Raiko about Kuvira's new spirit vine weapons. While she's glad that he's alive and that he immediately deserted Kuvira once he realized that he was fighting on the wrong side, she's still understandably upset with him and he needs to work to regain her trust again, which he does by helping Opal and Lin free the remaining Beifong family members from Kuvira's captivity. On the other hand, his friends forgive him easily, because they're like his family, and have known him far longer than Opal has. Character reaction, unqualified.
• At the end of "Operation Beifong", Toph saves her family, but announces she's going back to her home in the swamp. When questioned, she points out that while she is powerful, she's pushing ninety and can't perform the same large-scale heroics she could when she was younger, and also notes that this is why Katara stayed out of the Water Tribe Civil War in Book 2. Unlike the White Lotus grandmasters who fought in their oldest years, not everybody will age gracefully; and old age can affect everyone differently. Not surprising.
  • Toph finally reveals the long-awaited identity of Lin's father. Turns out it was just some guy named Kanto, a name that has absolutely no importance to anyone, including the audience. Missing parents are not automatically indicative of a special lineage, and just because the audience know the two characters doesn't mean they'll hook up together. Furthermore, there's no sitcom-level drama between them, he wasn't revealed to be evil or an abuser or anything like that. Toph flippantly speaks nicely of him, describing him as "a nice guy who just didn't work out" and leaves it at that — sometimes marriages just don't work out and people part their separate ways, rather than there being a huge battle or anything like that. Valid. It's surprising because most main characters on the show have major lineages, realistic because most missing parents don't automatially imply drama, and it's an outcome. Whoever dewicks this page, remember to put this in for Korra's trope sheet.
• The two-part Grand Finale features The Colossus. While the airbenders give it a lot of trouble and are able to dodge the beam itself they are still blown away by the shockwave it produces. It's mostly hollow, save for the framework, and its spirit vine power core is the size of a house, which makes sense when you consider that something that big must need a lot of power to function. And even though they managed to take it down, it and the opening of the new spirit portal still did immense damage to the city. Too magical.
  • Also, the Earth Empire only managed to make one. The Colossus was untested technology that required a lot of time and effort to create. In fact, it took so much platinum, so many workers and so much time to create that there's no way a second one will ever be rebuilt. And since the Earth Empire ultimately fails to take Republic City, it's not like anyone's going to let them try. No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup shoehorn.
• Though Kuvira surrenders and apologizes to Su, she doesn't get Easily Forgiven by the older woman. As much as Suyin believes in second chances and considers Kuvira to be a daughter of hers, she has betrayal and trying to harm her family for Berserk Buttons, both of which Kuvira pushed during her time as the Great Uniter. Character reaction, unqualified.

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars

• Having grown up in near isolation from the rest of the world, it doesn't occur to Korra that some people might take issue with her relationship with Asami. Not an outcome.
• Kuvira attacking Republic City with the Colossus, and the attempts of the heroes to stop it, destroyed a lot of the city. Both the police station and city hall are out of commission, with their respective staff having taken up temporary headquarters in residential areas. The government has basically no money thanks to the massive cost of reconstruction. Hundreds of people have been left homeless and are set up in tents outside the city. And with the police stretched thin and communication spotty thanks to the spirit portal, the bending gangs have grown in power. Not surprising.
• The mere existence of the new spirit portal becomes a point of contention; relationships between spirits and humans may have improved greatly since Avatar Wan's time, but they're still not perfect, and the spirits aren't happy about having another entrance to their world in the middle of a populated human city. And while Korra, Asami and the Air Nomads are willing to watch over the portal and prevent its exploitation, the land around the portal did have an owner before it became "sacred", who would want to see a return on his investment. Too magical.
• A couple can sometimes be more effective when they're not working alongside one another. While at the refugee camp, Asami declines Korra's request to join her on her visit to the refugees, on the basis that she'd be unnecessary with the Avatar there. Instead, she spends her time drawing up housing development plans in order to get the refugees back into proper accommodation, which ends up fitting in nicely with Korra's promise to find homes for them all in her Rousing Speech to them. Not an outcome.
• Mako's arm is still injured. Only a few days have passed since the wedding, so no Hollywood Healing. Not surprising.
• Korra and Asami may have become a couple, but that doesn't mean that they'll immediately start being physically intimate with one another, as demonstrated when Asami makes a move on Korra in her office. Different people will become more comfortable with physical intimacy at different speeds. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Asami learns the hard way that dating a powerful figure like the Avatar will make you a target for those seeking to exploit and manipulate her. Cuttable ZCE.

The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire

• Even though Kuvira may have seen the error of her ways and surrendered, it doesn't mean that all of her supporters will do the same. Guan for example sees her decision to stand down and disband the Earth Empire as a betrayal on her part, since she did so right as she was - in his view - on the cusp of conquering the United Republic. At the same time, while Kuvira might have been grateful to Korra for saving her life, and also realized that she went too far in creating the Earth Empire, she still defaults to her previous methods when talking doesn't work three months later, as Guan gets a first-hand taste of. Plot happens.
• Related to the above, three months is not nearly enough time for the members of Team Avatar to consider forgiving and/or trusting Kuvira again. Especially Asami, whose father was killed by Kuvira, and whose girlfriend nearly went the same way multiple times. They do warm up to her at the end of the trilogy, but only after Kuvira helps stop Guan, shows genuine remorse for her crimes, and risks her mind to help create a fix for Guan and Dr. Sheng's brainwashing. And even then, Asami makes clear that she won't forgive Kuvira for "a very long time", which could mean anything up to multiple decades. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Also, the reason Korra's the first one willing to give Kuvira a chance to atone is that she's had the most interactions with Kuvira in the moments leading up to and after her surrender, so she has more experience with Kuvira, and more reason to buy her Heel–Face Turn than the others do. But that doesn't mean she'll just forget all the times Kuvira's wronged her friends or ignore the possibility of the other woman betraying her trust. Character reaction, unqualified.
• In the past, Kuvira could threaten and bully others into submission because she was the one in charge. When she tries it as a prisoner in Korra's custody however, Korra immediately moves to try and stop her, and Asami electrocutes her into unconsciousness soon afterward, neither of them approving of her chosen course of action. It doesn't help that unlike Kuvira's previous victims, Guan has a small army at his command, who would have attacked had Kuvira not stopped assaulting their commander. Not surprising.
• Because of Kuvira's actions as stated above, none of Team Avatar is willing to set her free to help against Guan’s forces, even though she was absolutely right to request it. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Any kind of political reform on a national scale will take time to implement; it's at least three months since Kuvira's defeat before the first election is held, and the process is expected to take around a year to complete, which is considered to be an unrealistic timetable given the scale involved. Wu ultimately admits that he was pushing his nation into becoming a democracy too hard, and too fast. Not surprising.
• Furthermore, the two magistrates running for Gaoling's governorship are from "the outdated bureaucracy" (Wu's own words), and both look old enough to have once served King Kuei. Just because democracy was being introduced does not mean that the old order instantly vanishes into the ether. Not surprising.
• It's worth noting that while the Earth Kingdom is willing to give the Democracy thing a try, it's also difficult for a kingdom to try a new way of life after years of Monarchical rule. It's really hard to determine if the people's choices for leaders are really what they want or if it's just them reverting to old habits. Plot happens.
• The ugly side of freedom and democracy rears its head with Guan; and while Korra and Wu believe in the good of a democratic system, people like Guan can just as easily use it for their own ends as well. Cuttable ZCE.
• After Guan reveals his plan to run for Governor of Gaoling, Mako tells Wu that he should cancel the vote until they can sort this mess out. Wu points out that cancelling the vote just because he doesn't like one of the candidates would set a pretty bad precedent for democracy going forward. Not an outcome.
• As a result of the above five points, and the fact that it was blatantly sabotaged, Wu decides to postpone the Gaoling election at the end of the trilogy. He then asks Toph if she'll be willing to participate next time, but she warns him not to get his hopes up. After all, she prefers to be alone, has little love for politics in general, and only took part in the previous election out of necessity. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Baatar Jr. is spending his sentence in Zaofu, under house arrest. This is actually more of a punishment than being in jail for a number of reasons: one is that he witnesses the damage he caused by turning Zaofu into a war camp and imprisoning his parents and siblings. The second is that Suyin is the only one who has forgiven him; most of his family members tolerate him because he caused them undue trauma for months on end and he only reformed when staring death in the face. Opal has a few moments where she's a Deadpan Snarker. While Baatar Jr. redeems himself in this comic and admits he was stupid for following Kuvira blindly, including a scene where he calls her out for trying to kill him, it's going to take a long time for him to fix the damage. Not an outcome.
• Most of the Beifongs forgive Kuvira after she helps fight Guan to make amends for enabling his rise to power, showing that she has changed, and helps with undoing the brainwashing on Team Avatar. There's just one exception: Baatar Jr. She didn't just try to kill him; she tried to kill him when he was taken hostage by his own family and begging her to negotiate for his freedom. That is not an easy thing to forgive, especially since Baatar Jr. believes that their relationship was a lie if she was so willing to sacrifice his life for her ambitions. He's willing to work with her but is keeping their relationship professional. Opal hints, however, that Baatar Jr. just needs time to forgive his ex so that he can live with what they both did. Character reaction, unqualified.
• Kuvira attempts an I Surrender, Suckers and metaphorical suicide to Guan. He questions why she would want to be brainwashed after seeing its horrific effects, and she says she doesn't want to remember nearly killing her mother or losing the Beifongs. Guan humors her and straps her into the chair, but he reveals he's not stupid; he knows Kuvira too well to know that she would want to give up her free will since it's Too Good to Be True. So he had Mako and Bolin on standby to attack if she tried something. Not an outcome.

The Rise of Kyoshi

• The political realities of being the Avatar are full on display here. Since this is before the Hundred Year War, the Avatar is still a world-revered figure across all four nations and regarded as both a major political and spiritual authority. Every master in the world wants the honor of teaching the Avatar, and several others covet the idea of being one of the Avatar's companions, because it's basically a ticket to being a part of the elite of their nation. This is why Yun being misidentified as the Avatar is such a big deal; he presided over so many political dealings over the years that if it were revealed he wasn't the Avatar, many of those agreements become null and void, because in reality he's just "some street urchin from Makapu", with none of the reputation, clout, or authority to make the agreements stick. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
• A humorous example comes when Kyoshi has her first kiss with her Love Interest Rangi, who was very recently punched in the face. Rangi pushes Kyoshi away, and it's played as an apparent rejection on her part...until she's shown to be laughing, before embracing Kyoshi and asking to be kissed somewhere she hasn't been hurt. Unsure.

The Shadow of Kyoshi

• Kyoshi has been working for two whole years to find Yun at the beginning of the book, but since he's one person traveling in the huge, populous Earth Kingdom continent, it's impossible to really to nail down his movements. Not surprising.
• Another reason Yun is able to evade her is because most of the Earth Sages (who know Yun, or at least his appearance, best) flat-out don't want to find him to begin with. Jianzhu paraded Yun around the world as the Avatar for years, with their full support. When it was revealed that Yun wasn't the Avatar and that Kyoshi was, the entire situation became a national embarrassment for the Earth Kingdom and reflected badly on everyone involved, especially those closest to Jianzhu and Yun. As a result, they won't search for Yun because it could cause the scandal to return to the front of the public conscious; instead, they'd rather pretend he never existed so that way they can sweep the entire mess under the rug. Not surprising.
• When you're the Avatar and are supposed to bring balance to both the spirit world and the human world, favoring one over the other can lead to disastrous consequences, especially for the non-favored party. Yangchen favored the Human world, which caused many spirits to become corrupted and leaving her successor, Kuruk, to deal with the consequences. His fate can also be this, as the stress of having to clean up her mess in the Spirit World caused him to die prematurely. Too magical.
• Relating to the above point, Kyoshi spends most of the book idolizing Yangchen, believing her to have been the perfect Avatar. When she finally reaches her however, she learns that Yangchen was far from flawless and made mistakes just like anyone else, in her case favoring humans over spirits and setting in motion the events of the novels. Yangchen also makes a point of explaining that there's no right way to be the Avatar, further quashing any thoughts Kyoshi might have had of being able to handle things more easily from now on. Too magical.
• Kyoshi and Rangi might be a couple, but they've only known each other for a couple of years. When Rangi seemingly breaks up with Kyoshi after discovering that the latter was complicit in her mother Hei-Ran's scheme to use herself as bait for Yun, Kyoshi buys it hook, line and singer, but Hei-Ran predicts that Rangi will soon come around and forgive her. Guess who turns out to be right? Character reaction, unqualified.
  Hei-Ran: You think you know her so well? I've known her since she was born.
• Kyoshi notes that being abandoned by the people you were sworn to protect would leave lasting scars; she can relate all too well from the previous book. Yun cannot shake off his Trauma Conga Line of being left to die and face a dangerous spirit, seeing an evil mentor drag off his best friend, and having to restore himself to the human world. He understandably snaps when an innkeeper mocks him for claiming to be the Avatar when he just wants a damn sip of water, and cannot turn back after killing everyone in the inn. Character reaction, unqualified.