We don't want to clog this thread since Surprisingly Realistic Outcome is an Overdosed Trope. Before posting here, check if the example you're analyzing qualifies for summary deletion from the three criteria below by keeping this trope's rigorous definition in mind.
- Does the example involve Applied Phlebotinum (Functional Magic, Science Fiction, Artistic Licence) or a character reaction? If so, it instantly violates the definition's second bullet point's realism requirements, and you should delete it without question.
- Is the example a Discussed Trope or an instance of Conversational Troping? If so, it violates the definition's third bullet point's emphasis on only counting outcomes, and you should delete it without question.
- Considering the definitions, would the example qualify better for Deconstructed Trope or Deconstructed Character Archetype from the trope page's rules? If so, move it to the appropriate one on the spot.
If the example survived all three tests, it satisfies the second and third bullet points, so you don't need to change it immediately. If you feel like it meets the first bullet point's requirements for being surprising, you can leave it. However, if you believe it doesn't meet the first bullet point or aren't sure, talk it over in the cleanup thread before deciding.
Many Stock Phrases you'll see used in this thread describe a particular type of misuse:
- Not surprising. — The outcome described isn't a Bait-and-Switch and merely follows expected genre conventions.
- Plot happens. — The example merely describes an event or series of events but not why we would expect something different.
- Too fantastical. — The causes/outcome described included the presence of stuff Impossible in Real Life such as Applied Phlebotinum, Functional Magic, or Science Fiction, meaning they're too unrealistic by default.
- No character reactions. — The outcome involves a character reacting in a certain way or having certain emotions, which we can't gauge the realism of because people's emotional reactions vary far too much.
- Not realistic. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin, but this one requires you to write a short description for why it isn't realistic.
- Too implausible. — The outcome describes an outcome that happened because of things too unlikely to count as relatively realistic compared to what they were subverting.
- Cuttable ZCE. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Not an outcome. — The example is either a Discussed Trope, Lampshade Hanging, Conversational Troping, or happens over too much time to be momentary.
- Too unclear. — The example is too convoluted or obtuse to judge.
- Irrelevant. — The example describes stuff utterly irrelevant to the definition of SRO.
- Bad indentation. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
A big thing I've noticed is that it's often used for anything remotely realistic, or something that's realistic but doesn't necessarily affect the story. Another problem is that the trope seems to be cherry-picked, where any instance of reality ensuing is put there, as well as when another trope could serve the example better.
Problematic examples from one sample page, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Disney Animated Series:
"Despite his attempts Wander can't make friends with Dominator who constantly rebuffs his friendly gestures throughout season 2. Even at the end of everything, she still refuses. Sylvia even lampshades it, telling him some people are just like that."
"Spider-Man's fight against Sandman and Rhino, where Spidey uses Rhino's weight against him. rather than fighting him directly."
"Beshte gets sunburns all over his body and is easily exhausted while he is lost in the Outlands. Justified due to the fact that hippos need water to survive to avoid sunburn and overheating."
"It's heavily implied that being the leader of the Lion Guard has taken a toll on Kion's social and private life."
"Milo Murphy's Law is about a boy named Milo Murphy whose entire life is centered around Murphy's Law. In another cartoon, being The Jinx would cause people to be afraid of them, resulting in an unsocial lifestyle. That does not apply here. While everyone does watch their step around Milo, they do not hate him for it. Being The Jinx does, however, give everyone Paranoia Fuel, given that Murphy's Law can happen at any time, so chances are you might need insurance, a phone in case of emergencies, among other things. Milo himself (as well as his friends Melissa and Zack) just learned to adapt to his condition, being prepared for anything. He has lived with Murphy's Law his entire life after all. That being said, that does not mean that they don't panic all the time. Examples include Milo panicking over his monthly doctor's note, and Melissa panicking over riding a rollercoaster with Milo."
" Hiro is initially not allowed to use Tadashi's former lab, as it can only be accessed by upperclassmen who earned the privilege. Subverted in the second half of the pilot when Professor Granville decides Hiro using the lab would benefit him. On a related note regarding Granville, she is tough, but fair when interacting with the students. She might be, as Wasabi describes "a hard case", but Granville being a complete sadist and picking on Hiro would be unrealistic. She is actually a decent person."
-Edited with permission from the OP-
Edited by lalalei2001 on Aug 10th 2022 at 5:47:25 AM
Scooby Doo is the next page in line to be discussed.
CelestaPlebs
SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Scooby Doo is on the shorter side, and I haven't found anything else valid on it, so you can cut and dewick if you want.
Add a title. Stay safe; stay well. Live beyond… memento vivere! Should intermittent vengeance arm again his red right hand to plague us?
With that taken care of, The Simpsons is the last previously discussed page waiting in the wings.
CelestaPlebs
For SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.The Simpsons, I suppose we can ask those who think we can salvage more to Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace. If nobody objects within 24 hours, cut and dewick.
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Black Lightning 2018 S 4 E 13 Closure
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Despite Chief Lopez getting powers, she's barely able to last a second against Jennifer, who's had far more experience in using them, and is an arguably better emotional state than her foe.
Too fantastical?
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Indeed. Cut.
Even if it wasn't fantastical, it wouldn't be surprising. If you substituted the powers for something else, like...
"Character A just finished studying martial arts. Character B finished their studies years ago. They fight and Character A loses."
It is the opposite of a surprising outcome.
The Simpsons' page is full of pretty awful examples. For example, what even was the thought process behind adding this as an example?
- "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" has a scene where Krusty presents the "Krusty Komedy Klassic" at the Apollo Theater, but the show's acronyms lead to him being Mistaken for Racist and getting Produce Pelted by the crowd. Xtreme Kool Letterz may be cool and all, but they can bring some very Unfortunate Implications.
It was probably an old "Reality Ensues" example that assumed "Reality" referred to the show's reality, but still.
Edited by Someoneman on Aug 31st 2022 at 3:37:45 AM
CelestaPlebs
Since we agree, cut and dewick. I'll start working on some more analyses.
Also, Spare-plume just added blatant misuse. Delete.
- Some can be found in I'm okay, even if I leave my grin behind:
- Even if Garmadon couldn’t explicitly see who the other heroes are from Chloe’s memories, he could still deduce who the other heroes are. Too fantastical.
- In Marinette’s case, it was much easier simply because, as a former cat holder, he can recognize the ring even when it's camouflaged. Bad indentation.
- Just because you're the lesser demons DOESN’T mean that they automatically join your side, as Garmadon learnt from Marinette/Cheshire, when both have a common enemy (the parisian miraculous users). Too fantastical.
- A child being the one to sign the forms instead of an actual adult (such as Caline Busier, who happens to be the main teacher) or even the class resident should be extremely troublesome, as Luc stated. This point is further seen when he tries to contact said child, only to end up with someone else. Plot happens.
- Even if Garmadon couldn’t explicitly see who the other heroes are from Chloe’s memories, he could still deduce who the other heroes are. Too fantastical.
Edited by Idiosyncratic on Sep 1st 2022 at 2:19:21 AM
Add a title. Stay safe; stay well. Live beyond… memento vivere! Should intermittent vengeance arm again his red right hand to plague us?
As an aside, I’ve noticed that the page for the fic being mentioned, which was created by the same person, has problems with indentation and punctuation.
I bumped off the example after constaton11's attempt didn't work. And I really doubt they'd wanna add that back since I pointed out to them he was breaking the Edit War rules.
Edited by skan123 on Sep 3rd 2022 at 2:42:41 AM
CelestaPlebs
You can try fixing that if you want, but it's irrelevant to this thread.
I think we should try to sift through SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Live Action TV folder by folder next, as it's too long for me to analyze in one sitting. Anyone who can help should.
Danny Phantom: A Trip to Tomobiki just got a new batch of Reality Ensues examples that I hope I don't need to tell you are blatant misuse. Delete.
- Reality Ensues: Alot of things that are hand-waved in the series for being slap-stick comedy and harmless injuries in Urusei Yatsura are brought up as dangerous and horrific abuse by the Fentons:
- Ryuunoske's fathers treatment of her.
- He's been arrested a couple times for knocking out people to drag them to his restraunt to be his "customers" and Ryuunoske says if he keeps doing it he'll be put away. She also tells the Fentons that she has everything he's ever dont to her written down and plans to show it to the police and persecute him for child abuse. She just wants to beat him first.
- Sukara hitting Ataru like any other girl when he gropes/hits on them.
- Ataru being hit in general.
- Lum shocking people.
- Ryuunoske's fathers treatment of her.
Edited by Idiosyncratic on Sep 3rd 2022 at 3:01:29 AM
Add a title. Stay safe; stay well. Live beyond… memento vivere! Should intermittent vengeance arm again his red right hand to plague us?
Did this person even try?
Edit: oh god this page is in general is super bad. Cleaning it up and sending the creator some notifiers.
Edited by Crossover-Enthusiast on Sep 3rd 2022 at 7:39:44 AM
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Maybe you can tackle the soap opera folder first. I don't know why those examples are separated from the others.
Cut some on that page to remove the too-long warning.
Edited by Tabs on Sep 3rd 2022 at 5:01:58 AM
Hey look, more misuse from Danny Phantom: A Trip to Tomobiki, added literally just a few hours ago:
- Reality Ensues: Jack's and Maddie's trigger-happiness regarding anything they think is a ghost gets them into a lot of trouble in Japan.
- The Fentons as a whole call out several residents of Tomobiki for [[things Comedic Sociopathy]] that were considered normal and acceptable in the series. This includes Ryuunoske's fathers treatment of her, the double-standard abuse delt on Ataru, Lum's carelessness and selfishness, etc.
It's all been added by the same person, and it's not even under the correct title this time. In combination with their other problems, would this be enough to report?
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Peeks from Under Rocks
Delete and send them a Not A Trope notifier (there's a "send message" button next to the edit in page history.) Only worth reporting if they Edit War over it.
I mean it's not an edit war technically but they're clearly not getting the message:
- August 27th
, first misuse of Reality Ensues on page
- August 28th, Tabs removes that misuse
- September 3rd, adds different misuse of Reality Ensues to page
- on the same day, I remove that misuse
- September 4th, adds yet another example of Reality Ensues misuse to the page
- Tabs removes this misuse a few hours later
I'll send a notifier either way but I have a feeling they'd just move their examples to Surprisingly Realistic Outcome with no changes at all.
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I'm done cleaning up pages from the Fanfic namespace, but the examples from the following pages still need another look:
- Comes and Goes (in Waves): Antibiotics have a shelf life of several years, but they do expire eventually. Despite Five taking as many antibiotics as he can stomach after a bad accident, his arm still gets infected, and they have to amputate.
- Common Sense: After James has to shock himself with the Zap Sapper to combat a sudden weakness after Team Rocket lands in a den of Primeape, Henry has to give James a muscle relaxant and hook him up to a heart monitor to combat muscle spasms and check for arrhythmia respectively. Not sure what the Zap Sapper is. Is it something that could exist in real life?
- Cursed Blood
- In the first chapter, Izuku tries to act as a Bullet Proof Human Shield, only for the bullets to go right through him and into the girl he was protecting.
- Mineta's attempted rape of an escort sees him arrested along with being expelled from U.A. and blacklisted from the hero business entirely.
- Fallout: Equestria - Empty Quiver: War Crime is a fully-automatic sniper rifle chambered for the .50 caliber machine gun round. There is a very good reason why all .50 caliber automatic weapons are fired from solid mounts, and don't require the user to support it with a stock on their shoulder. Night Strike is not a smart pony.
- Fanfic Theater 3015:
- The ball dropping Running Gag has caused instances of people slipping on or tripping over them, and the room being filled with them as a result. I remember someone saying this one might be valid
- Getting repeatedly hit in the head with a piece of plywood during "she must never know" results in Crazy56U (aside from temporarily shifting through multiple songs) being severely concussed and have a bad headache (and also bleed from his head).
- Relic Of The Future: When Jaune gets Oobleck to translate some of the ruins he found... it doesn't go well. After a long time, much money spent, and tons of effort thrown into them, the best they can do is a few pages of partially translated notes. Work like that takes time, particularly the translation of dialects that haven't been spoken of in thousands of years. It's the reason the Rosetta's Stone in real life was so important — it offered a way to translate texts not spoken by any living person.
- The Egg Team: Downplayed. In the scene where Luna and Teddy first meet Kit, she jumps down the stairs trying to make a dramatic entrance. This ends up putting her legs in a lot of pain, but she doesn't seem to have sustained any injuries, and recovers from the pain rather quickly.
Peeks from Under Rocks
- Comes and Goes (in Waves) : ZCE - how old are the antibiotics? Are we primed to think that this is a sure-fire solution?
- Cursed Blood:
- Probably valid. Character is expecting to pull Taking the Bullet. Are audience given a reason to expect that it won't work?
- character reactions in-universe (calling the legal system a character(s) reaction in a very loose sense)
The rest of the list are PCE at best - missing the setup, so can't evaluate "Surprising"
Any thoughts on the Planetes video that was added? It depends on people being able to live on the Moon, which might qualify it as Too Fantastical. The realistic outcome (breaking bones from falling despite the Moon's lower gravity) is also mentioned before it happens, but it then makes it seem like they were wrong and the people will land safely, so it might still qualify as surprising.
Also went through the Adventure Time folder on Western Animation:
- The songs and/or musical notes Finn and the others start with tend to sound horrible and have lyrics that don't make any sense whatsoever, like how someone who was trying to make up a song on the spot would actually sound that's more likely to occur, as opposed to songs that conveniently sound great and have meaningful lyrics. Probably more of a Justified Trope for Stylistic Suck. And breaking out into song like in the show isn't really realistic in the first place.
- In "Storytelling", when the wizard realizes Finn has actually improved the forest animals' lives by disrupting the natural order: Not an outcome. Could work as a lampshading of Cardboard Prison or Stating the Simple Solution
Finn: So does this mean I get to go free?
Wizard: Your cage is made of sticks, Brother. Just kick it apart. - In "Up a Tree", Finn explains to a porcupine that getting pricked with needles doesn't actually lead to jumping really high. Not an outcome. Could fit under This Is Reality
- In the episode "Davey", Jake tries to make Finn quit being Davey by dressing like a robber and robbing someone. Instead of breaking character and being a hero, he calls the police and Jake gets arrested. I don't remember much about this episode (or if I've even seen it in the first place), but if it happens too early, then failure is the expected outcome since otherwise, it'd resolve the main plot and leave nothing for the remainder of the episode.
- Several episodes show that Finn's Precocious Crush on Bubblegum is immensely painful to him. Unrequited love hurts even if you're still friends with that person, and despite starting a relationship with Flame Princess, his feelings don't magically go away. They still linger despite his best efforts to move on. Character reaction
- In three words, the end of "Lady & Peebles" shows a common consequence of long term relationships that most children's shows rarely mention: "I am pregnant!" Plot Happens since this is the consequence of Jake and Lady's series-long relationship rather than the outcome to a single specific action.
- "Candy Streets":
- When Finn and Jake ask Anne if she's seen any suspicious characters coming into her pharmacy, she points out to them that there are so many people who come in and out on a daily basis that the odds of her picking out a specific one as suspicious and remembering them are very low. Subverted when she does exactly that anyway. Not an outcome
- When Finn and Jake chase a suspect into a train station, they get arrested for trying to board without a ticket. Maybe, but needs more context.
- In "Lemonhope", the titular character repeatedly refuses to rescue his siblings from the tyrannical Lemongrab despite the urging of Princess Bubblegum. Eventually, the guilt causes him repeated nightmares, so he finally fulfills his destiny, defeats Lemongrab and is apparently set to become Castle Lemongrab's new Earl... only for him to leave again, since he only did it to get rid of the nightmares. Doing something to soothe your conscience doesn't turn you into a hero. Character reaction
- The episode also works on showing what a supposed Kid Hero would do when given that kind of heavy responsibility. In reality, not every kid is going to be like Finn, who is all for helping people no matter what. Instead, some are going to be like Lemonhope, who hated his supposed destiny and only wanted the freedom to live like the kid he is. The sole reason he fulfills it in the end is not because he felt it was the right thing to do, but because he didn't want to deal with the weighing guilt any longer. He just wanted his carefree life back. Same as above
- "Frost & Fire" shows that Finn being the Last of His Kind is problematic when he has... weird dreams that not even Jake can explain. Character reaction
- At the end of "The Light Cloud", Finn finally convinces his mother that people should be allowed to leave Founders Island if they want. When Finn readies a ship to set sail to Ooo, the citizens tell Finn they can't just uproot their lives immediately on a spur of the moment decision, but they're still glad they now have the option to leave. Not sure. Might not be an outcome.
Edited by Someoneman on Sep 6th 2022 at 9:59:12 AM
CelestaPlebs
That video in general is extremely unrealistic. Sheets like that wouldn't slow your fall by that much, and if they were drifting down as slowly as shown in the video through whatever means, they wouldn't get hurt at all. Ask a mod to reject it.
Add a title. Stay safe; stay well. Live beyond… memento vivere! Should intermittent vengeance arm again his red right hand to plague us?
lmao
So I'm doing some expansion to Webcomic.The Seer and found this:
- Reality Ensues: Needless to say, the farmboy turned on Scarecrow in horror and outrage when she murdered his girlfriend.
Context: A scarecrow gets jealous of a farmboy being "taken" from her by his girlfriend and makes a Deal with the Devil to gain mobility, and in exchange she would get Zalgo the girl's soul. Scarecrow expects that the farmboy would come back to her, but instead he tries to burn her.
It's a realistic outcome, but not a surprising one. Zalgo was being a Manipulative Bastard from the start to have Scarecrow Trapped in Villainy.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
Alright, it's my first time on this thread so I wanted to be sure. Thank you! ![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Edited by BlackFaithStar on Sep 9th 2022 at 6:50:14 PM
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It's a character reaction, so it's automatically disqualified. (See the pinned post)
Edited by Twiddler on Sep 9th 2022 at 3:40:32 AM
Here's one that I have problems with from the film page, regarding Creed II:
- When it was announced the Drago would be returning in Creed II, fans immediately began predicting a final confrontation between him and Rocky. The two never get physical with each other because, even if both men weren't aging physical wrecks, a fistfight between two boxer's cornermen would likely result in the match being stopped and both fighters disqualified, which neither they nor their respective proteges want.
This isn't describing something that actually happens in the work. It's just explaining why something that fans would have wanted to see would realistically not be a very smart thing for the characters to do In-Universe.
Edited by costanton11 on Sep 9th 2022 at 12:31:19 PM
Ugh, that indentation is awful too...
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