Reality Ensues/Surprisingly Realistic Outcome cleanup

• Zambot 3: Kids being pilots of a Humongous Mecha can actually be psychologically straining, and immaturity can lead to deaths. Also, cities do not get magically repaired after getting smashed down during a battle between giant robots, and often the cast has to fight on the ruins of a city destroyed in an earlier battle. Super Robot Deconstruction
• Zoids: Chaotic Century:
  • When Van steals his Shield Liger back when it was confiscated by the Republic, he tries to use its missile launchers only find there is no ammo. As Irvine points out, confiscated Zoids have their weapons disarmed. Zoids and the Republic aren't real so we don't know what the protocols would actually be.
  • The Geno Saurer has to anchor itself to fire its Charged Particle Cannon due to the recoil. Van realizes this weakness in his fight with Raven at the end of the first season, and when Raven tries to turn the Geno Saurer to aim at Van, the recoil damages his Zoid. Too fantastical. Geno Saurer isn't real.
  • After Rudolph is kidnapped by Rosso and Viola, he makes an attempt at escaping. Rosso doesn't even make much effort to stop the boy as he runs away. He just walks after Rudolph and lets him realize that if he were to escape his captors, he would leave himself stranded in the middle of nowhere with almost no chance of rescue. Not an outcome
  • The main characters want to avoid getting involved with the Republic or the Empire. In fact the military of the Republic is initially hostile to them, though this fades after they assist in stopping a battle with the Empire. Character reaction
  • The Guylos Empire is called The Empire but that doesn't mean it's evil. Beyond Prozen and his followers, the characters from the Empire are good people just like in the Republic. Subversion of The Empire
• Zombie Land Saga:
  • After succeeding in their first two shows purely by Kotaro and a few of the girls' improvisation, the girls try to crunch in as much practice as they can for their first proper idol performance in Episode 3. The results are that Lily accidentally trips over herself and Sakura completely forgets her lines in the middle of the song, causing the few people they managed to attract to disperse without a second glance. Although the highly experienced Ai and Junko step in and the rest of the show goes off without a hitch, the concert is largely a failure and only manages to attract a single fan, albeit a very invested one, in the end. Plot happens
  • In Episode 6, Ai's flashback shows her getting struck by lightning when she points to the sky, which is also Truth in Television, as pointing up in the middle of a lightning storm is considered to be very dangerous. Not realistic
  • In Episode 7 shows that while as zombies that girls don't physically need sleep, it's still important for their mental health as Ai starts to hallucinate after going a month without it. Too fantastical
  • In Episode 8, the girls acknowledge that people will recognize the similarities each girl has to who they were prior to becoming zombies, after meeting with Lily's father who says that Number 6 bears a resemblance to his daughter. By first season's end, the reporters who were covering the group likewise notice the similarities between Ai, Junko, and Lily's past and present selves. This continues in the second season in which people do comment on the fact Ai resembles herself. Not an outcome
  • Saki died due to her reckless riding, which is mentioned early on and shown in a flashback in Episode 9. Even if you are a badass biker gang captain, riding too fast is dangerous. Valid
  • In Season 2 Episode 1, Kotaro is left in a depressed state and just spends his time drinking somewhere else. The girls have to earn money to pay the huge debt incurred after their failed concert in the Ekimae Real Estate Stadium. But it turns out they can't replicate Kotaro's proper make-up skills, and as a result, they still look very pale and their Creepy Shadowed Undereyes are still visible in public. Without a producer, they also find it hard to resume their idol activities. Plot happpens
  • Also, Kotaro breaking out of his funk to support Franchouchou by shouting "Encore!" only results in him pissing off the unimpressed audience and starting a brawl. Even as the girls find their confidence and pull off their song perfectly, the concert was largely a failure. Character reaction
  • In Episode 4 of Revenge, Franchouchou put on an incredible performance as Iron Frill's opening act, winning the respect of their lead singer Shiori. Despite this they're easily outshined by Iron Frill, the group the audience were actually there to see, and until Shiori declares Franchouchou their rivals in an interview their performance is considered little more than a footnote to the number one idol group's tour. Plot happens

From Licence to Kill:

• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Krest essentially ends up having to be the unfortunate mook who has to explain to his unimpressed boss exactly what happened when James Bond performed one of his awesome-but-completely-unbelievable stunts that completely fouls up the Big Bad's operations. This ends for him as you'd expect it to — namely, in his unpleasant death.

• Krest's death pulls no punches in exactly both exactly how gruesome and vicious a death by explosive decompression can be (it's interesting to compare this with Kananga's death in Live and Let Die) and what kind of vicious psycho would do such a thing (and thus become the type of villain James Bond opposes to begin with). Notably, even Bond himself is kind of freaked out by it.

• Fearful that this might attract the attention of his bosses, M revokes Bond's licence to kill after admonishing Bond for his Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Franz Sanchez, who attacked Felix Leiter in retaliation for having him arrested for narcotics smuggling.

• Truman-Lodge's angry ranting also showcases the fact that, yeah, all of that crap Bond blows up is expensive and very hard to bounce back from in a financial way. Same as Krest, he has the bad luck of pointing this out to his boss at a very bad time...

, Those analyses look good to me.

Wanted to add this example from Amphibia:

• Amphibia: In the episode "Hopluck", the Planters and Anne make a dish that the mayor claims to be the best dish they’ve ever brought to the yearly potluck. Sprig thinks that means they actually won until the Mayor corrects them and says they didn’t. It’s the same gross recipe they use every year but with a tomato slice on top, so while it’s better than usual, it’s still terrible and comes in last place.

I feel it fits cause it seems to play up them actually having a victory before subverting it with a more realistic outcome

Edited by Jobyrdthegamerbyrd on Mar 31st 2023 at 9:19:59 AM

• She's Not So Famous: After triumphantly reclaiming her camera from Chris, Millie tries to escape back out through the vent like Annie did... but she lacks Annie's height and upper body strength, so she can't jump up there by herself and gets accosted by security. Valid

That might just be a normal Bait-and-Switch or Exact Words. Taste is subjective, and the show is about frogs who have different tastes than humans, so it's hard to objectively say that it's a realistic outcome.

Guess it's just as well. It has been stated that the Plantars lose every year so

Consensus on my example?

I agree with you. It sounds valid.

Edited by SoyValdo7 on Mar 31st 2023 at 6:43:45 AM

• Tales from the Borderlands:
  • The series really likes to point out the physical weaknesses of the protagonists Rhys and Fiona. In the first episode, Rhys tries to kill a bandit with his bare hands, only for the bandit to be amused by the attempt and later be annoyed by it. Rhys is a corporate businessman turned janitor, he's out of his element on Pandora and has had no reason to train for this sort of thing. Character untrained
  • Fiona is just as unprepared physically, as she is mainly a con-artist and scavenger. When she tries to shoot Vallory (who is incredibly strong and is effortlessly holding a missile launcher) in mid-air, Vallory simply throws the gun at her, causing Fiona to be knocked to the ground and pinned by the sheer weight of it. To further elaborate on how heavy it is, both Sasha and Fiona had to hold it, just so Fiona can have a steady aimed shot. Character physcially weak
  • In the episode "Catch a Ride" the gang is caught in a car chase. While laying on the hood, face to face with August pointing a gun at him, Rhys assumes he was going to fire and quickly rolls out of the way. Only for August to stare at him in confusion and point out how futile and naive it is to try to dodge a bullet at that distance. Not an outcome
    August: What, you think you can just roll out of the way of a bullet? All I have to do is move my hand a little bit and oop, I'm aiming at your face again!
• Tales Series:
  • Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World shows the after effects of the heroes' actions from the previous game by showing how they saved the worlds, but made many new problems by not warning either world of their intentions. Since the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were separated with minimal contact or understanding, when the two worlds are merged together suddenly, the people of both worlds suddenly become afraid and form military groups to defend their ways of life from what they see as basically aliens. Also, while the protagonists are hailed as heroes by some, just as many despise them because their actions caused problems unaddressed in the original game; Marta's mother was killed when the Mana Tree rampaged in Palmacosta, and none of the heroes did anything to stop it nor save them, so from her perspective, she has every reason to hate Colette for her failure because she was supposed to prevent events like that. Oh, and the racism Half-Elves endured? It doesn't go away at all, instead now pushed aside to a degree by the new racism found by the two worlds merging. Character reaction
  • Tales of Berseria:
    • The game likes to shine a harsh light on the collateral damage Velvet causes. One of the biggest examples is Hellawes, where early on, Velvet has the entire port firebombed as cover for stealing a ship. Most games would go the Inferred Holocaust route or show the town bouncing back from the damage - not here. The town remains inaccessible for over half the plot because it simply doesn't have a dock big enough to moor the Van Eltia anymore. Even once the port is repaired, it's still only barely functional because sunken wrecks are blocking most of the docks, and they can't be moved from the arctic waters. The destruction of the merchant fleet cratered the town's economy to the point they're limping along on relief supplies and being lucky enough to have an older generation who have the know-how to resurrect the fishing industry. Austerity measures are in place, and the town has been all but cut loose by the Abbey for no longer having a worthwhile export. And things go From Bad to Worse late-game, when Velvet commits an act of terrorism in the sister village (as in, terrifying the population to get something from the government) causing it to be evacuated and the Abbey to declare it a no-go zone, meaning Hellawes is now flooded with refugees and cut off from its only cheap source of fuel. It's stated that if not for another upheaval waking the Emperians and undoing a decade of global cooling every settlement on the landmass would have been abandoned. Subversion of Inferred Holocaust
    • The Abbey of Innominat, and especially its leader Shepherd Artorius, practice The Needs of the Many as their absolute philosophy. It's repeatedly shown that this isn't just unsustainable, but morally abhorrent. Artorius is a sociopath with a Lack of Empathy who murders, deforms, imprisons, tortures, and exploits his own family for the "greater good" and relies on being a Villain with Good Publicity. The Abbey itself tests its new members' potential and then assigns them a permanent rank based on performance, with no hope of promotion and limited horizontal mobility - consequently, they have serious manpower issues as most people aren't fanatical enough to consider this a viable career, and those that are tend to notice how stagnant the job is and quickly develop motivation issues. People and even entire communities can be cut loose to starve or get eaten by Daemons, and they're expected to like it since it's for the greater good (but the people who are kept comfortable have a convenient blind spot to this bit of logic, and the Abbey knows it). Since all needs are accounted for, the prices for goods and licenses to trade are strictly controlled in a command economy - everyone on the ground can see how fragile this is and both price gougers and a black market are already well-established. The party frequently comments that things are only going so well because the Abbey maintains an illusion of peace, has a charismatic leader who looks like a Messianic Archetype, and has the royal family in a stranglehold, but peel back the surface and their world-spanning power structure is a house of cards that won't outlive the Shepherd. This is one of the first and most obvious signs that there's far more going on - the Abbey is aware of all this and their endgame involves brainwashing the entire planet to make this madness sustainable. Not an outcome
    • On a subtler note, Easy Communication is averted. The ability to teleport meaningful distances is extremely rare, and far-speak artes are the domain of only one or two mages like Melchior. This means the party, as distinctive as they are, have no trouble going wherever they want once they obtain some reasonably legit ID - news travels slowly, and when their reputation does precede them, the reports are an exaggerated mishmash of all the individual party members that doesn't even resemble them individually. Too fantastical
  • Tales of the Abyss:
    • What happens when you take a ten year old noble who recently lost all of his memories, motor skills, and general knowledge about the world, throw him back home and tell him he can't leave until he's almost twenty? As the game shows us with Luke, it causes them to grow up into a Jerkass with no social skills, no friends, and nobody to truly turn to. Then, when Luke gets teleported outside the city, he's completely ignorant about simple things, like buying food requiring money. Not an outcome
    • Also, being totally sheltered and ignorant about the world around him makes Luke incredibly easy to manipulate. This is exactly what Luke's sword teacher, Van, was counting on. By setting himself up as the only person Luke could trust, Van makes Luke into an Unwitting Pawn. Plot happens
    • Luke ends up killing a soldier when the Tartarus gets hijacked in the beginning of the game. And while he was acting in self-defense, he still thinks of it as murder, and ends up incredibly traumatized. He's practically catatonic in the immediate aftermath and starts shaking like crazy, when the full impact of having taken a human's life hits him. Even post-battle quotes of his when fighting human enemies is that he doesn't want to take their lives. During the last arc of the game, talking with Jade has him mention that he knows that Luke sometimes lies awake at night or wakes up in a cold sweat after they have had to fight other people. Luke completely averts the idea of It Gets Easier. Character reaction
    • Luke refusing to own up to his mistakes, even if he wasn't entirely responsible, doesn't mean his new friends will just ignore his behavior, forgive him, and be happy to talk to him. Instead, they abandon Luke in disgust for his attitude, and partly because they can't afford for him to emerge from his coma. While Luke does genuinely start trying to make up for his mistakes later in the game, and becomes much nicer and respectful, not everyone forgives Luke for what he's done. For a while, even Luke doesn't think he ought to be forgiven, no matter how much he tries. His depression and guilt briefly turns him borderline suicidal. Character reaction
  • Tales of Vesperia:
    • Out of the all the recipes, including the new ones from the Updated Re-release, Repede hates a resounding 18 out of 42. Those recipes are either sweets or include onions, both of which are toxic to dogs. Character reaction. Dogs will usually eat anything given to them.
    • Estelle being a princess is revealed early on in the game, and save Karol, all the heroes already knew. Not only did Yuri find Estelle in a castle, but her mannerisms, naive outlook on things, and her obviously sheltered life made it clear she was someone important. Plot happens
    • As skilled as Yuri is, he is still only a young adult with a few years of combat training under his belt. When he tries to duel Don Whitehorse in the Updated Re-release, Whitehorse easily overpowers Yuri and defeats him. Whitehorse might be a bit old, but he's an incredibly skilled swordsman with many years under his belt. Curbstomp Battle
    • A lot of Karol's actions before his Character Development fall into this. He's a twelve year old kid in a world with monsters and many other threats; naturally, he grows up being scared of them and being a bit of a coward. He's fighting things even grown adults would struggle with, after all. Character reaction
  • Tales of Xillia:
    • What happens when Milla loses the Four Spirits of the Elements, on whom she has relied for all sorts of things, ranging from being able to swim, fight or use magic? She can barely do things on her own. She can't swim, has no idea how to properly use her sword and can't do any proper combos during battle, until she gets a little instruction from Alvin on how to fight. Once she gets that part down, her natural ability lets her improve very fast. Not surprising
    • Alvin has repeatedly backstabbed the party, but keeps getting let back onto the team. While this mostly is allowed and shrugged off by Jude, who is rather idealistic and naive, the rest of the party keep their suspicion about Alvin. Eventually, they do allow him to return, but only because they know that he'd follow them anyway and willingly taking him in would give them the advantage of being able to keep a close eye on him. As such, he is not Easily Forgiven. The sequel proves that he is still trying to better himself, so that people can trust him again. Characcter reaction
    • Once again for Alvin, he is trying to shake Jude out of his Heroic BSoD while on the cusp of one of his own by trying to egg him on into getting angry. During this event, Alvin accidentally shoots Leia and almost kills her. Contrary to it being dropped after Leia is healed up, their interactions become extremely awkward, stilted and they try to avoid each other. Things take some time to get better between them. Character reaction
    • The shooting has another aspect of this trope to it as well. Despite being a trained marksman, Alvin was emotionally distraught at the moment and waving a loaded pistol around. It was only a matter of time before someone took a bullet. Valid
• Tekken:
  • In one pachinko cutscene Asuka Kazama attempts to pick a fight with Kazuya Mishima. For all of Asuka's bravado, combat expertise and her ability to subdue the Devil Gene, she still is fighting a grown man far more experienced than her, who is willing to go (and just had gone) One-Winged Angel without hesitation, and who is quite clearly an active threat. She quickly realizes that she's outmatched and attempts to flee - too late to prevent herself from getting brutally curb-stomped, neck lifted and thrown off a rooftop, where she almost certainly would have been reduced to little more than a splatter on the pavement without Jin's intervention. Character weaker than another character
  • The Final Boss fight of Tekken 7 is a Duel to the Death between the above-mentioned Kazuya and his Archnemesis Dad Heihachi, who for all of his Charles Atlas Superpower is still in his twilight years. If you guessed that the younger, legitmately superpowered participant wins, then you are spot on. Anti-Climax Boss
• Temtem is a Spiritual Successor to the Pokémon series, and plays with this by subverting the typical expectations of the average Pokémon game. When the local Nebulous Evil Organization known as the Belsoto Clan invades the island of Kisiwa, rather than the teenage player doing all the work ousting them, the player arrives to see a full-on war break out with a La Résistance filled with Child Soldiers trying to protect their families with their mons. A refugee crisis ensues, casualties mount on both sides, and when the player confronts the Belsoto's General Ripper he kills The Rival before inflicting a Hopeless Boss Battle on the player, being the far more experienced combatant. The battle is a Pyrrhic Victory for him as he's already lost the war and in the midst of retreating, but he states that if this weren't the case he'd kill the player as well. Not an outcome
• ThanksKilling Day: In the latter half of the game, the kid can attempt to escape from the pilgrim killer by driving away on the farm's tractor. However, since he's a kid who's probably too young to be able to drive, he ends up swerving the tractor all over the cornfield and crashing it into a fence. Valid
• In the Thief series, Garret is, well, a thief, and not equipped or trained for a stand-up fight, something the player will painfully learn if they try going One-Man Army like in so many other games. Valid
• Trials of Mana:
  • Angela's prologue has her thrown into the aptly named Frostbite Fields wearing nothing but a highly Stripperiffic leotard. Less than ten minutes later, she starts coming down with hypothermia. Valid
  • In contrast to the Lovable Rogue type of mercenary, Duran is loud, brutish, uncouth, and smells bad. Also, the first time Duran goes up against the Crimson Wizard, he gets curbstomped, because Duran's never faced anyone who uses magic before. Too fantastical
  • Hawkeye is a thief in a gang of them. Once Hawkeye decides he no longer wants to be part of the gang because of their growing corruption, they don't graciously let him leave; they try to have him killed (it didn't help that he was framed for the murder of one of their own). When he returns to the gang as a hero trying to stop the end of the world, only two of them side with him and the rest are all Mooks who have to be cut down. Character reaction
  • Kevin can transform into a werewolf and kick major amounts of ass, but he can't control it. The first time he transforms, Kevin kills his beloved pet Carl (or so he thinks), and spends the rest of the game hating his power. Too fantastical
  • Both Kevin and Charlotte are Half-Human Hybrids whose genetics give them significant abilities, but also cause a fair share of problems. Both of them have some sort of brain deficiency as a result of being a mix of two species, with Kevin talking in Hulk Speak and Carlie still having the mindset of a small child (and looks to match) despite actually being fifteen. Too fantastical
  • Riesz is an Action Girl, but she's not a One-Man Army. When raiders invade her kingdom, kill her people and kidnap her brother, she has to run in order to find help. She also never gets a chance to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, instead having to find ways to stop the plans of the Big Bad while putting her kingdom's reconstruction on hold. Unsure
• Tomb Raider (2013) depicts Lara's transformation from an optimistic university student to a Shell-Shocked Veteran after besting the horrors of Yamatai. The trailers for the sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider show Lara in therapy to treat her PTSD. Character has truama
• Touhou: Mountain of Faith's plot is all about this. The stated job of a shrine maiden is to protect human settlements by battling youkai; Reimu is too lazy to even investigate all but the most dangerous youkai incursions, so the human village doesn't like her very much or pay tribute to the god she represents. When the Moriya gods move in with a shrine maiden who actually does take youkai-hunting seriously, they are instantly popular and nearly put Reimu's shrine out of business entirely. Character reaction to fantastical situations
• In Tropico 3, pissing off the USA or the USSR too much will result in them invading you. As the military of a small island republic would be hopelessly outmatched against either of the Cold War superpowers, this causes an instant Game Over. Preventing this requires either allying with the other superpower (and angering the Nationalists), or developing the capacity for nuclear weapons. Character reaction
  • Dystopia Is Hard is also in full effect, especially in later games. Anger one faction enough and they unite to make your life miserable: the Capitalists will crash the economy, the Communists will send constant rebel attacks, the Religious will turn church attendants against you, the Militarists will attempt a full-blown coup, etc. Plot happens
• Trillion: God of Destruction:
  • The eponymous antagonist is a world-destroying mass of a trillion curses. Your Overlords are going up against it solo, with short-notice training and limited opportunities to retreat. They're going to die. It is hammered into the characters, and then the player, that going up against Trillion is a true Suicide Mission and the best they can hope to do is do enough damage before their inevitable demise that they might be able to wear it down before they run out of time or candidates. This realization, especially the first fatality, horrifies everyone and morale starts to become a serious problem. Too fantastical and character reaction
  • The training the Overlords go under would be considered overkill in any other game (blocking large, steel balls being launched at them at Mach speeds, dancing around a storm of blades in a literal whirlwind, dodging fire raining down from the sun, withstanding the near-boiling temperatures of a hot spring, etc.). Even being Fallen Ones won't stop them from becoming exhausted, and as their fatigue rises they have an increasing chance of getting badly injured during a training session, which will sideline them for several days as they recover (and as time is limited before Trillion awakes, this is bad news all around). Cuttable ZCE

Edited by CelestialDraco on Mar 31st 2023 at 7:35:20 AM

Need some consensus on these, especially on the unsure one and valid ones, because I'm not entirely sure about them.

Edited by CelestialDraco on Apr 1st 2023 at 10:02:01 AM

Seems like fair assessments.

Thanks for looking at these. I was analyzing the Video Games R folder, but the Resident Evil examples were so numerous it was putting me off from it. However, there's one example I disagree with:

• When Leon is captured at the beginning of the game, he awakens later on chained to the ceiling with Luis and missing his jacket and all of his weapons and gear, necessitating a brief stealth section before he can recover his equipment. This was a glaring oversight in the original game, where he was only missing his jacket while still armed.

I'm not sure this one is valid. It's a realistic outcome to lose your weapons after being captured, but the No-Gear Level and Stealth-Based Mission tropes are common enough that it's not necessarily a surprising outcome. It's a remake, so something being different from the original version doesn't automatically mean it's surprising, either.

EDIT: Speaking of which, here are the rest of the R examples, except for the Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 examples, which are also numerous enough to warrant their own post. Also, I swear someone already made a post about them.

Edited by Someoneman on Apr 2nd 2023 at 11:36:37 AM

Thoughts on these entries from Ghostbusters II?:

• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • While the Ghostbusters did save the day in the first movie, this movie revealed they were forced out of business due to getting sued for property damage (they did blow up an uptown high-rise to stop Gozer) and getting an injunction barring them from investigating the supernatural.
    • Once the positive PR wore off and the team got hit with said lawsuits, it's also unsurprising that the political support they received from the mayor's office evaporated (as Lenny, as a politician, would naturally focus on protecting his political interests first and foremost).
  • In an aversion of Omnidisciplinary Lawyer, Louis completely botches his defense of the team in court because he's only studied tax and probate law and knows nothing about criminal defense.

The first two are Status Quo Is God and a character reaction. The third point seems valid.

In the third case, it’s made clear immediately that he’s out of his depth in the case, so the fact that he initially fails to win the case doesn’t seem that surprising.

On SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Western Animation

Thoughts?

Plan to go through the other subfolders soon

Edited by Paperfly on Apr 3rd 2023 at 4:50:49 AM

I'm not so sure. I think a realistic outcome would be Lewis saying "Dammit man, I'm a tax lawyer, not a defense attorney!" () and them hiring a criminal defense lawyer, or using a court-appointed lawyer if they can't afford one, and that's assuming a tax lawyer would be allowed to represent someone in a trial.

Just noticed this was added to the main page. What are your thoughts on this?

• The Dragon and the Butterfly: Chapter 43 involves the Vikings of Berk fighting the Madrigal family. One might expect the Madrigals to overwhelm them with their magic, and the battle does starts out that way... however, none of the Madrigals are fighters and are one-trick ponies when it comes to using their abilities defensively, while the Vikings are all stronger and have more fighting experience. Basically, all they have to do is tough it out until the Madrigals exhaust themselves.

Magic is unrealistic and Vikings no longer exist. Example can be cut

I think the main page should be locked to avoid addition of misuse. I'd suggested it a while back, but I think it got overlooked

Any feedback on this?

Edited by Paperfly on Apr 4th 2023 at 12:34:55 PM

They look fine. I guess one could argue that sentient goldfish aren't real, but the valid part (freshwater goldfish being unable to survive in saltwater for more than a few minutes) does fit SRO.

I kinda see the point. Vikings are warriors, they train to fight wars. And the Madrigals are ultimately normal people with zero real combat experience. That said, it seems like the example has nothing to do with actual combat neither, so yeah, I guess it doesn't count.

Edited by SoyValdo7 on Apr 4th 2023 at 9:10:34 AM

• The Dark Side of the Moon (Zootopia): While asking about the history of the Lang Family, Jimmy is led to believe that they've been around for centuries based purely on the number of Alphas they've had. Morty has to explain that A), they're not a literal family that passes on leadership over generations, and B), they were mostly a crime family, meaning that a lot of their Alphas ended up dead or arrested before their time. Not an outcome

• Abyss: In the first issue, Eric tries to hurry through the dispensation of his father's will. His father's lawyers point out that Eric is inheriting an entire company with multiple divisions, and the subsidiaries alone will probably take three weeks to review. When he finds out that his dad's company owns a baseball team, he asks a question about one of the players, only to have a lawyer tell him that he's not yet legally entitled to that information, as the team is company property, not his personal property, and he has not been fully recognized as the new owner yet. Valid?
• Action Man: As Bestley points out, the terrorists' "X" belt buckles — which led Ian to go in against them guns blazing — count for nothing as evidence that Doctor X is still alive. It's a letter. Not an outcome
• Adventure Time: In issue 30, Marceline and Bubblegum drink 15 year old milk and spat it out since it went bad. Not surprising
• Alix: Turns out reuniting with the father you thought was dead for ten years doesn't immediately turn you into a happy family again. Character reaction
• Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld: While Amethyst's heroics are loved by people, her actions make delicate diplomacy with Dark Houses she keeps picking fights with a nightmare, to the point her own mother considers her a political liability. Turquoise is her only political ally and is constantly pressured by other houses to stab her in the back. Character reaction
• Apama - The Undiscovered Animal:
  • Apama's battle with the Lawn Mower Man goes about the way one would expect for a fight where both combatants are idiots and one of them is drunk. Ilyia tries to deliver a haymaker to Jesse, but because the latter is wearing armor and super-durability is not part of the Apama power set, Ilyia screws up his arm. On the other end of things, Jesse tries to retaliate by using his flying rods' acceleration powers to turn himself into a living tornado, but since his internal organs aren't designed to withstand that sort of force, he ends up winded and vomiting. Unsure
  • Trina Kukula is initially introduced as an Intrepid Reporter who's bravely seeking out Regina and her cult. Her near-death experience at Regina's hands leaves her with severe PTSD, killing any lingering inclinations she had to seek out more stories. Character has truama
• Archie vs. Predator:
  • Archie may have got a huge dose of Super Serum that makes him stronger than Predator but he is still a huge klutz with no fighting experience, he only lands two sucker punches before the Predator kills him. Too fantastical
  • Veronica admits that at seventeen years old, if Betty lives she will be able to move on past Archie. Not an outcome
  • Colonel Keller brought his son, Reggie, Chuck and Midge with him to combat the Predator. Never mind the Predator is a One-Man Army, none of them except Kevin have military training and all of them are easily killed by the alien. Not surprising
  • In the final chapter, Betty is forced by Veronica to wear a gown before the Predator attack and easily trips over the long skirt when she attempts to run. Valid
• Armageddon 2001: In the Action Comics annual, in a future where Superman is elected President, Lex Luthor (at the time posing as his own "son") is caught on tape vowing to kill him. Luthor is, of course, used to weaseling out of such threats against Superman...but threatening the life of the President of the United States has him immediately arrested by the Secret Service. Valid
• Astro City:
  • The man who would become Mister Drama tried robbing a theatre he'd failed an audition at, and made no attempt to hide who he was. The stick-up was successful, but the victims remembered his name and face and told the police, who quickly went to his house. Only the fact that he wasn't in prevented him from getting arrested. Valid
  • A heartbreaking example from the story of G-Dog. Most dogs, even if they have superpowers, are going to get old long before their humans do. Too fantastical
  • Quarrel and Crackerjack are forced to face the fact that two people, as amazingly gifted athletes as they may be, just can't keep crime-fighting as they did in their 20s when they're hitting 50. Characters age
• Atomic Robo:
  • Like many action heroes, he tries to tear the door of an ancient complex off its hinges rather than trying to unlock it. Unfortunately, it breaks apart because the wood rotted away. Valid
  • He can't hire a ten year old girl to be an Action Scientist because... she's a ten year old girl and he would have to deal with child labor laws, let alone child endangerment. Not surprising
• Avatar: The Last Airbender – Imbalance: Occasionally a problem for Robo.
  • 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 business man'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. Plot happens and too fantastical
  • 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 people with the ability to shoot fire or throw rocks at whim would start to use their abilites as leverage and superiority over those who can't. 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. Too fantastical
  • Aang realizes that it would've been easy to energybend away the power of Liling; but doing so would've been fruitless; for the racism she spouted wasn't only hers but 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 so. The bigotry of the people is awful; but it's something that can only be changed by changing the minds and hearts of the people; and brute force wasn't going to solve that problem. Too fantastical