Reality Ensues/Surprisingly Realistic Outcome cleanup

There's nothing inherently more realistic about that, I mean knives are weapons for a reason, subverting a knife throw isn't a more realistic outcome.

Any opinion on these examples?

• After the utterly audacious news crew street fight in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Ron tells Brick that he should probably lay low, as he'll likely end up wanted for killing a guy with a trident.
• Gladiator: The hulking German Chieftain at the beginning is not killed in an epic one-to-one against Maximus. In fact, they don't even fight or share a scene together. The Chieftain is killed by being stabbed multiple times by nameless Roman soldiers.
• The Swarm (2020): In the middle of the movie, one night, Virginie finds her neighbours dog, and decides to feed it to her flesh-eating locusts. Later on, the neighbour comes by looking for his dog, which is what people do when their pet is absent for an extended period of time.
• Scream 3: Shortly before the climax, the killer throws his knife at Dewey. Cue slow-motion as the knife reaches him... only for it to bounce off his head and cause him to tumble down the stairs, instead of impaling him through the skull like what normally happens in fiction.

First is not an outcome. Second I think is Surprisingly Sudden Death. Third is a character reaction. Fourth I'm unsure of.

The fourth does read like a deliberate moment of not-working-like-it-"should"-in-fiction, so it's fine I think.

Great Scott!... Film.Back To The Future Part II

• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • In 2015, Marty is terminated after Needles goads him into an illegal transaction. That action would get you fired in real life. — Maybe this one's keepable. If just.
  • Doc reminds Marty of this when he suggests landing on Biff's car: — If it didn't happen, then not sure if it could count.
    Doc: Marty, he's in a '46 Ford, we're in a DeLorean. He'd rip through us like we were tin foil.

Film.Back To The Future Part III

• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Marty's near-lynching really illustrates just how lucky he was the last two times he had to outrun a Tannen throughout town; if he hadn't had access to some form of transport outside of his own two feet, he would've died like he almost did here. - Not surprising, stuff happens
  • As Doc reminds Marty, while Mr. Fusion powers the flux capacitor, the DeLorean itself is still a car that needs gasoline to work. And no, alcohol is not a viable substitute in a non-flex fuel vehicle: Doc and Marty's attempt to use high-proof liquor just wrecks the fuel injection manifold that would take a month to be rebuilt. — Maybe? I get the logic that the DeLorean is a fictional gadget that somehow adheres to real world logic, not sure tbh
  • The plan with the horses pulling the DeLorean wasn't going to pan out. "Even the fastest horse in the world can't run more than 35, 40 miles an hour." — Not surprising. At all.
  • Doc originally dies six days after he sent the letter, so Marty sets the DeLorean to travel back to the next day from the letter. He thinks they have until the exact day Doc is stated to die. What never occurs to Marty (or Doc) is that someone can get shot and take days to die, while nothing can be done with the medical technology of the time. — Not surprising.
  • No sooner than Marty agrees to a duel with Buford Tannen does Doc's headstone in the photograph change to "Clint Eastwood". Marty's just a teenager with decent aim and no stomach for killing, while Tannen is an experienced outlaw who's already killed 12 men in gunfights; him dying in the duel is practically a foregone conclusion, forcing him to outwit his opponent instead. — Combat Pragmatist is another trope that exists, either way it's not surprising.
  • Trains can't stop on a dime to stop from running over something on the tracks. — Not surprising.
    • As Doc so pointed out in the previous movie, the DeLorean is a pretty delicate vehicle. Between that and roughly 75 years stored in an abandoned mine, it's little wonder the oncoming train in 1985 reduces it to smithereens. Likewise, the DMC-12 DeLorean was infamous for having a poorly designed door mechanism; namely, the doors had a habit of refusing to open... A 75-year-old vehicle acting fragile? Not surprising.

Edited by RobertTYL on Jan 13th 2023 at 2:49:51 AM

x6 I think that one might count depending on how it's presented by the work, since when someone throws a knife, The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In is an Expected Unrealistic Outcome.

x1 (Back to the Future examples):

• "In 2015, Marty is terminated after Needles goads him into an illegal transaction." Needs to explain why we'd expect him to get away (great) scot-free with this, otherwise it's just describing Plot.
• "As Doc reminds Marty, while Mr. Fusion powers the flux capacitor, the DeLorean itself is still a car that needs gasoline to work." I think this one counts, since the example mentions Alcohol Is Gasoline as an Expected Unrealistic Outcome.
• "Doc originally dies six days after he sent the letter, so Marty sets the DeLorean to travel back to the next day from the letter." This one might count if six days is presented as an Exact Time to Failure in the movie.

A Plague Tale: Innocence:

• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Aside from the Black Death having supernatural origins, this game has quite a fair bit of realism.
  • Any attempt by Amicia to fight professional infantry and knights in a straight fight goes as well as can be expected; when a novice huntress armed with a sling tries to defend in melee against a war-trained swordsman or dodge an arrow out of cover from a seasoned marksman, she's screwed. Character more skilled than another.
    • However, knights or not, a rock thrown by a sling to an unprotected head is almost guaranteed to kill someone. And knights, for all their military training, understand little about finding saboteurs or spies. Happens too frequently to be surprising.
  • In the medieval era, people of noble birth are kept alive for ransom. Many soldiers comment on how much money Amicia will make as an excuse for keeping her alive. Not an outcome.
  • Rodric's push with the cart serving as a shield works fine until the cart gets about halfway there, and then Rodric's back and side are exposed to the archers, enabling them to get three arrows into him. This ultimately kills Rodric. Unsure.
  • Killing Vitalis is a big one for the protagonists. Yes, Vitalis was a corrupt sadistic power-hungry monster who no one in the audience would miss, especially since he was excommunicated. The townsfolk don't immediately run off or try to capture Hugo and Amicia and may or may not know much about the witch-boy with rat-powers who killed a psychotic witch-tyrant with worse rat-powers and saved them. But regardless of whether or not he was evil, the fact the protagonists killed such a high figure in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church means that the Church will never stop hunting them and the local townsfolk do know the two are wanted, and so they have to leave the region. Not to mention that word about Hugo's power has certainly spread. Valid.
  • Amicia is a sheltered noble, not a trained killer, so naturally, she experiences great remorse the first time she has to kill in defense of Hugo. Character reaction.
  • Mellie, compared to her twin Arthur, is more inclined to stay with the others at the Chateau d'Ombrage, partly because she has more time to get to know the others, partly because she likes the idea of having a safe and stable hideout in these dark times. As of January she and Arthur have been arguing about staying or going. But at the end of the game, Mellie's gone. This makes sense for several reasons. She has a sense of responsibility for Arthur and feels like saving her brother means he saves her back, and must feel that if she'd been willing to leave when he urged it he wouldn't have been stabbed. The Chateau is no longer safe and concealed and the survivors of their little band are leaving the region. And after a game of being threatened by the rats it's very uncomfortable to have Hugo both have powers involving them and want to defend them. This is the first time Mellie has been presented with the overtly supernatural aspects of the setting and she doesn't like them. While Vitalis lived she had a reason to stick with the others and seek Revenge, without it she really only has her fondness for Lucas and Amicia to keep her there, and she doesn't need them. Plot happens.

I was checking the history for The Simpsons S6E24 "Lemon of Troy" and noticed that someone added an example for Reality Ensues and then someone deleted it. I know the trope name is incorrect, but I do believe it is an actual example of SRO, so I want to bring it here to see if it can be added back.

My problem with that is that while it'd work in other cartoons, I wouldn't necessarily expect it to work in the simpsons, specifically. IDK if that disqualifies it, though

If it's built up to make you believe it's gonna work, then the example is valid to me.

Edited by jOSEFdelaville on Jan 18th 2023 at 12:33:15 PM

I found a clip and I have to admit I'm not sure if it might be this or just Wrong Genre Savvy as Bart spells out his plan before doing it.

Edited by ElBuenCuate on Jan 18th 2023 at 2:17:13 AM

A Thing of Vikings:

• A Thing of Vikings Chapter 3 "Idle Hands...": When Snotlout and his friends go a-viking, they succeed in capturing several cows and sheep... which are dead by the time they reach Berk. Turns out, when livestock is carried through the air in a cold winter night by a flying apex predator, it'll be a race to see what kills it faster-fright or hypothermia. Valid
• A Thing of Vikings Chapter 12 "First Time For Everything":
  • Toothless is interested in a horse (an animal he's never seen before) and of course the horse runs away in terror. Character reaction
  • Weeks aboard a ship during viking times does not necessarily leave room for bathing. Not surprising
• A Thing of Vikings Chapter 26 "Aftermaths": Stoick insists that they would have tried to free Heather's parents if she had just told them, but Heather puts in a rather convincing argument as to why she finds that unbelievable. Not an outcome.
  Heather: Uh huh. That's easy to say, chief, but it's one thing for you to be so happy about freeing thralls when all you have to do is saw off some collars and dish out some boiled mutton! It's another thing for me to believe that you'd be willing to invade Vedrarfjord on my say-so! How would you know that I wasn't leading you into a trap!? How would I know that you wouldn't try to make me into a double agent? That would just get my parents killed!
• A Thing of Vikings Chapter 50 "The Center Cannot Hold...": Visiting dignitaries would usually wait till after winter to visit relatives in distant locations. Or rather visiting dignitaries that travel by land and not dragons. Too fantastical
• A Thing of Vikings Chapter 57 "Let The Games Begin": Wulfhild doesn't win the archery contest, as she points out she only started practicing with a bow 3 months ago while her competition have had much more experience. Valid
• A Thing of Vikings Chapter 60 "A Threat Perceived":
  • With the reveal that Heather was a spy, many of Berk's pre-dragon taming citizens have become suspicious of the new freedmen that have taken residence on Berk, something that has not gone unnoticed by the freedmen. Character reaction
  • Hiccup's technological innovations make everyday tasks require less and less manpower, this being used as an incentive by the more xenophobic Hooligan tribesmen to make foreigners leave due to decreasing job opportunities. Plot happens
• A Thing of Vikings Chapter 85 "Inheritors Of Strife": When Hiccup creates a new tail-fin that allows Toothless to fly on his own, it robs Toothless of most of his agility because it can only copy what the other fin does- thus limiting the manoeuvres he can pull off- and Toothless is required to adjust his flight method to accommodate the absence of Hiccup's weight on his back. Too implausible
• A Thing Of Vikings Chapter 89 "Initiation": Sigurd never learned how to ride horses. Considering Berk is a small hilly island, this makes sense. Not surprising
• A Thing Of Vikings Chapter 90 "Ties Of Blood And Seed": Ruffnut finds out that ancient books about a culture are not always a good source of information about how that culture acts in the present. Valid
  Ruffnut: Turns out that the ancient Greeks and their plays aren't really a thing anymore. I guess that's what I get for going off of old books.
  Magnus: What do you mean? There are some plays out there. I've seen a few!
  Ruffnut: Yeah. Christian plays, pageants and morality stories. Done by the Church for teaching people who can't read the Bible. But those are a few specific stories told by the Church a couple of times a year. There apparently just aren't actors—trained and practiced actors—like there were back in the Greek and Roman days. The Emperor Justinian apparently ordered the theatres of the Roman Empire closed five hundred years ago because they were 'too pagan'. So you can imagine the reaction when the 'pagan queen of Norway' sent around letters asking if there were actors available to put on plays in the north.
• A Thing Of Vikings Chapter 99 "Astride The World": Sigurd has to work on playing politics to justify how much money is being spent on the dragon nests, particularly since Sigurd can't offer personal justification for his claims but just second-hand evidence from an unaligned Norse woman who has every reason to be hostile to them. Too fantastical
• A Thing Of Vikings Chapter 109 Shift Happens: While Mulan got her position through her heroics, she did not receive any training to be a councillor, which makes it harder for her to help. Not surprising
• A Thing Of Vikings Chapter 114 The Paragon Of Animals: After Eret learns that Cami and Merida are interested in him as their concubine, he spends some time uncomfortable with the notion as he has a cultural perception of concubines as essentially slaves to their 'masters', and it is strongly implied that he has been subject to sexual abuse during his time as a thrall. However, he takes his time to establish that concubinage on Berk is not like what he expects, and eventually approaches Cami and Merida to explain that he is interested but would prefer to be given the chance to get to know them as people rather than diving directly into a physical relationship, which Cami assures him she understands and accepts. Character reaction

Edited by CelestialDraco on Jan 22nd 2023 at 3:48:24 AM

Any consensus on the Valid ones?

First one is shaky because travel by flying dragon is surely unrealistic. I mean it feels more like a Voodoo Shark because the livestock die but human riders are completely fine...

"Novice loses to Expert at a thing" does not sound surprising. I'd say only an example if the entry explains the story sets up the expected unrealistic win.

I'm not seeing a setup for an expected unrealistic outcome? Only a character becoming the author's history lesson mouthpiece for a paragraph?

Thanks. Don't know how I missed the dragon part with the first one.

Edited by CelestialDraco on Jan 24th 2023 at 10:26:11 AM

• Your Place In The Stars
  • As dramatic and touching as it was for Paimon to give herself an Important Haircut so that Aether didn't keep being reminded of the Unknown God who not only stripped him of his powers but his memories of his sister as well, it turns out that gathering your hair and then cutting off most of it with a knife in one go will likely end up with the hair having uneven edges and looking messy. Valid
  • Paimon and Venti, having been allies in the past, fall back into a familiar strategy to take on Dvalin in a non-lethal matter. Aether, on the other hand, is left to figure things out on his own while the large dragon attacks. While Paimon and Venti instinctively know not to kill the former Dragon of the East due to their shared history, Aether who is not familiar with Teyvat at all reacts like most people would in his situation: try and deal with a perceived threat in a lethal matter. Had Venti not intervened, Aether likely would have killed the rampaging dragon. The miscommunication on their end leads to Venti screaming at him. Character reaction
  • Being very hands off when it comes to your nation and then being absent for long years at a time likely results in people having little to no faith. Or doubting your presence as a god, as Venti finds out the hard way. Character reaction
  • Having a large tab that you never seem to pay off will not make you a popular person with people in charge of minding the store. As soon as Charles sees Venti who has yet to pay for the drinks be bought the month before, he immediately vaults over the counter and tries to drag him out knowing full well that the god in disguise has no plans for paying for his drinks. Character reaction

Is the first one really so surprising as to be valid?

"Character cuts their own hair, it turns out messy" seems like a common enough thing, in fiction and otherwise, that playing it straight isn't really a surprise.

OK, maybe it's not that surprising now that you've put it into perspective.

Edited by CelestialDraco on Jan 26th 2023 at 6:11:04 AM

• A Song of Light and Dark: When Anakin decides to head to Limsa Lominsa to get a pole for his spear, he quickly realizes he has no money to pay the blacksmiths and has to wait a little while dragons and Moogles gather raw materials to trade. Too fantastical because of dragons and Moogles
• All Because of Uncle Gary: Wesley Stringer was found dead in the ballpit at Corny's. This resulted in the restaurant getting shut down as a dead body (especially one of a child) is a serious health violation. Plot happens
• All That Shimmers: The Humane Five try to help Sunset clean up the school entrance, bursting into song as they do so, like they did when cleaning up the gym... only for Pinkie to accidentally hit Fluttershy with a brick, giving her a concussion and forcing the group to take her to the nurse's office. Not surprisingly given how the scene was set up
  Rarity gently tosses the brick underhand to Applejack, who does the same to Rainbow Dash, who does the same to Pinkie Pie...
  "And before you know it-"
  ... who tosses the brick a little too high to Fluttershy who bends down a little too low...
• An Arc for every season: In chapter 43, after finding out Jaune was captured and tortured by Adam, his parents understandably want to pull him oit of Beacon. When they go to Ozpin to demand Jaune return home, however, Ozpin points out that they can't force him to leave Beacon: upon enrollment, students at Beacon are legally considered adults, and since Beacon has no tuition fees, parents have no say on whether or not their child remains enrolled at Beacon. Even Jacques Schnee has to resort to the threat of disowning Weiss and cutting her off to have any influence over her. Beacon isn't real, so we don't know how realistic an outcome that would be
• Anyone: After being knocked off a building and falling fifteen meters onto a car, Stain stands up and makes the same bold declaration as canon that only All Might is allowed to kill him. He learns while in custody that his actions badly aggravated his injuries and he'll never regain the use of his legs again. Unrealistic. It's much more likely he would have died on impact from such a fall
• Arcanum Archives: Descendant's Shadow: In the anime, Bray doesn't get any punishment for how his Mudsdale nearly crushed Chloe with that fallen stalagmite. Chapter 10 reveals that he is in serious hot water for his actions by the Curator because the Curator specifically tasked Chloe, Ash and Goh to do research for him and gave him eyewitness reports to his negligence, and Professor Cerise is threatening to sue them. Moreover, his comical scene of stealing Chloe's whipped cream for the curry is treated with utmost seriousness, with even Cara in trouble for not reigning her partner in at all, to the point that they're close to losing their licenses if they mess up one more time. Adaptational Karma
• Avenger of Steel: Clark Kenting can and does fail. It works for Clark whose Secret Identity is relatively unknown and who acts very differently from the quasideity that Superman is, it works for Steve as long as he doesn't slip into his military persona, but Thor utterly fails to pass since he doesn't bother to be anything but the boisterous Large Ham the public is familiar with. Deconstructed Trope
• Being Dead Ain't Easy: Yami Bakura offers Kaiba a Deal with the Devil: he helps Joey in exchange for control of Kaiba's company. Since he held up his end of the bargain, Yami Bakura successfully becomes CEO of KaibaCorp. However, since his host has no idea what's going on and neither of them knows how to run a company, Yami Bakura doesn't enjoy it as much as he thinks he would, and gives it back. Unsure on this one
• Being To Timelessness:
  • For "Smith and Jones", when the Doctor and Rose are preparing to check into the Royal Hope Hospital, they decide to have Rose be the patient and the Doctor be the concerned husband. This is because A) Rose already has a National Health Service card and B) the Doctor's binary vascular system would raise problems with the hospital staff. Unlike the Doctor, it's not a problem for Martha to take Rose's heartbeat. Plot happens
  • During the "Human Nature" / "Family of Blood" arc, John and Rose are considerably more kind and gentle with Martha than Joan was. This is because Rose has the more modern societal values she grew up with implanted into her fobbed personality. The fact that they treat Martha like an equal does not go unnoticed by others. Character reaction
  • At the end of the "Family of Blood" arc, the Doctor's fates for the Family of Blood are unchanged from before. But as things are rewritten, the Doctor makes clear that the Family are lucky he's being merciful, especially when they killed over a dozen people (the four bodies they used as hosts, plus the veteran at the dance, the MC at the dance, Mr. Philips, Mr. Rocastle, Lucy Cartwright's parents; and any additional injuries/fatalities that happened when they shot up the town), abducted Rose, and threatened to kill her twice. Not an outcome
  • During "Blink", it's noted that apartment hunting is hard for the Doctor, Martha and Rose as they're waiting in 1969. Too implausible
    Apparently, it was easier to convince a guard that you were the King of Belgium than it was to convince a London landlord to let to you without proper identification. Eventually, they found someone willing to let to them and handed over an unbelievable two hundred quid for first and last months' rent.
  • While they're waiting out in 1969 for Billy Shipton to arrive, job-hunting's not easy for Martha (who has to work in a shop to comply with Sally Sparrow's transcript) with her lack of references. She ends up in a job at a clothing store, and Rose (who used to work at Henrik's) has to give her pointers to adjust to her temporary life. Not surprising
    • In addition, Martha briefly considers using the Doctor's psychic paper to fake a resume and references, but realizes it will only take one phone call for a manager to discover the lie. Too unrealistic because of the psychic paper
  • From the Master arc:
    • When he was orchestrating the events of the Battle of Canary Wharf, the Master admits to having to be careful with his words to avoid outing himself as another Time Lord. Irrelevant
      The Doctor: Had the Void ship already arrived in this world when you first visited Torchwood.
      The Master: [shakes his head] That happened shortly after. They knew the weak spot was there, of course, since that's why they built the tower in the first place.
      The Doctor: Why didn't you tell them what it was when it appeared?
      The Master: Because, Doctor, there is a difference between advanced information a human might possess, and the kind of information that makes Torchwood suspect you're an alien. I realise subtlety isn't exactly your thing, but surely even you can understand that.
      The Doctor: Are you really going to lecture me on being subtle, Master? Have you forgotten the time you called yourself Dr. Harcourt De'ath?
    • The Master is shown to not have 100% control over even his own staff aboard the Valiant, as the underground resistance are able to get a couple of their own inducted into the guards on-board the ship. Plot happens
    • The Master and the Doctor may be former friends, but there are clearly lines as to where the Doctor draws limits. When the Master is defeated, the Doctor can't see past what he did to Rose (ordering Rose beaten up, putting a booby-trapped telepathic cloaking device on her to cut off her telepathic bond with the Doctor, etc.). The Doctor makes this very clear and pulls no punches ripping into the Master once he's undone the paradox machine. Character reaction
    • When Martha's family suggest that the Master be executed, the Doctor doesn't disagree with them; Rose has to take the Doctor's place as the one who talks Francine out of shooting the Master. And whilst most "season 3 with Rose" stories keep the Doctor's shattering grief over the Master dying, but putting Rose through a year of hell would obviously make the Doctor a lot less forgiving and only want to see his former friend locked up for good. Character reaction
    • When Lucy subsequently shoots the Master, the Doctor's anger over the Master's cruelty towards Rose keeps him from immediately grieving his former friend. He doesn't break down until while he and Rose are burning the Master's body on the pyre. Character reaction
      There was a time when the Master had been one of his closest friends, when his death would have sent him into shattering grief. Even a year ago, he would have been devastated to find another Time Lord, only to lose him again. But with Rose beside him and yet not in his head, the only thing the Doctor could think was that the person responsible for all the pain and anguish of the last five months was dead.
    • After the Master is gone, the Doctor and Rose still have a lot of lingering trauma to work through, which will take up the entirety of the next two stories. Character has trauma

Edited by CelestialDraco on Apr 1st 2023 at 10:13:52 AM

Evaluations look good to me

What about the Yu-Gi-Oh! one?

Edited by CelestialDraco on Jan 27th 2023 at 8:49:28 AM

So, any input on that one?

I guess it's fine.

Need an opinion on this entry in Persona5.Tropes S To Z:

• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The clash with Shido in his palace is slowly built up to over the entire game, involves Joker nearly being assassinated, and is the culmination of a conspiracy that is tied to every other palace aside from Kamoshida's. The Phantom Thieves believe that changing Shido's heart will bring the entire thing down. Except...it doesn't. Shido was the head of the conspiracy, but there were many other members who all were seeking to benefit from it, and as soon as Shido starts wishing to recant what he's done, they do everything they can to cover it up, particularly because if he starts naming all his crimes, they will all go down with him. Ultimately, not much really comes of Shido's change of heart, and society basically gets bored and moves on. Though it helps that this is all part of the true Big Bad's plan.

Entering his mind to change him seems too fantastic. Call it Heel–Face Brainwashing that didn't go as hoped?