Surprisingly Realistic Outcome, previously called Reality Ensues, is one of the most heavily misused tropes this site has ever had, having gone to the Trope Repair Shop twice ([1]
[2]
) and Trope Talk once ([3]
) before settling into its current state of having to receive constant cleanup.
These issues finally came to a head in 2019 when Reality Ensues went to TRS after a wick check found misuse to outnumber valid examples 30-40 to 1. After discussion, tropers agreed to drop the "broken convention" aspect of the trope and rename it Surprisingly Realistic Outcome to improve clarity. However, after the cleanup began, it soon became apparent that instead of properly reviewing examples, tropers were mass-moving them to the new name with no regard for whether they even fit the new definition, and the cleanup soon became regarded
as the textbook example of botched TRS work. Despite removing nearly half of the examples, SRO was still in Overdosed Tropes with over 10,000 examples by the time Reality Ensues wick migration finished. This cleanup thread, which predates the TRS efforts by nearly two years, noticed the problem and took it to TRS a second time, which eventually turned into a Trope Talk discussion that finally fleshed out SRO with an actual description and established clear, concise criteria for judging examples. After that, cleanup began intermittently, eventually deleting nearly all the subpages and getting SRO below the Overdosed Tropes threshold; active cleanup continues.
Many Stock Phrases used in this thread describe particular types of misuse encountered frequently:
- Not surprising. — The outcome described isn't a Bait-and-Switch and merely follows expected genre conventions.
- Note that SRO can't be common in any fiction, as realistic events being surprising requires that they be rare. They might be unexpected at first if they keep happening, but they would eventually become expected; SRO being "common" in media is an oxymoron.
- Plot happens. — The example merely describes an event or series of events but not why people typically expect something different.
- Deconstruction / Genre Deconstruction / Deconstructed Trope / Deconstructed Character Archetype shoehorn. — The example is a deconstruction of some type misplaced under SRO.
- Too fantastical. — The causes/outcome includes stuff Impossible in Real Life such as Applied Phlebotinum, Functional Magic, Science Fiction, etc., meaning they're too unrealistic by default.
- Character reaction. — 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. — The supposed "realistic" outcome isn't legitimately realistic; using this phrase requires you to describe 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. — The example is a Zero-Context Example, which can be cut unilaterally in a cleanup.
- Not an outcome. — The example is a Discussed Trope, Lampshade Hanging, Conversational Troping, something that happens over too much time to be momentary, a general feature of the setting, or is otherwise not a singular event.
- Too unclear. — The example is too convoluted or obtuse to judge.
- Irrelevant. — The example describes stuff utterly irrelevant to the definition of SRO.
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, Surprisingly Realistic Outcome.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 by lalalei2001 on Oct 18th 2024 at 2:06:25 PM
- Unacceptable Sitch Series:
- In "Under the Milky Way Tonight", the hostages at the Space Center are able to exploit a serious weakness in Gemini's agents — his habit of dropping them down trapdoors when things go wrong has left them afraid to act on their own initiative when a plan starts going off the rails. Deconstruction of You Have Failed Me.
- Case Closed: Trapped in a 6-year-old body and assuming the alias "Conan", teenage detective Shinichi Kudo knocks out someone physically older than him and uses them as a decoy to deliver Exposition and solve cases. When they wake up, Shinichi then gives credit to that decoy by lying them in the face that they were solving the case the whole time. This has worked with Kogoro (a Clueless Detective) and Sonoko (a Brainless Beauty), who never seems to question Shinichi's explanation. In "Holmes Freak Murder", Shinichi does the same with Heiji Hattori, a fellow teenage dectective who doesn't know Conan is Shinichi. Unlike his predecessors, Heiji Hattori does not believe Conan's obvious lies at all and eventually forces him to confess he's Shinichi. Case Closed usually excuses Shinichi's stunts so that the stories can be told, so it comes as a surprise that someone in-universe called out Shinichi's lies for once. Character reaction
(crossposting from Trope Description Improvement Drive
)
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome was edited last year
to begin with an Example as a Thesis.
No matter how well-written the description is, it probably won't help with the misuse since most people already think they know what the trope is. The problem is, that idea was based on the trope's previous name, "Reality Ensues", so they think the trope is about anything slightly unexpected happening in the work's reality.
Also, some examples were added to Western Animation:
- Kaeloo:
- In Episode 64, Stumpy attempts to spy on his friends using the Mobile Shrubbery tactic. Everyone notices that the bush was not there a minute ago and immediately sees through the disguise. Valid. Usually, Rule of Funny prevents people from noticing the obvious hiding spot.
- In Episode 105, Kaeloo says several sentences in succession without bothering to stop and breathe in the middle. Her face turns blue from the lack of oxygen. Not sure
- In Episode 129, the main four try to stay up all night so they can Make a Wish on a special shooting star. Stumpy manages to stay awake long enough, but the lack of sleep makes him unable to think straight so he just wishes for a bed instead of whatever he actually wanted to wish for. Plot happens.
- In Episode 176, Stumpy asks Mr. Cat to explain quantum physics to him. Mr. Cat hesitates, because even though he knows the subject well, it's fairly hard to explain it to someone else, particularly since Stumpy struggles to understand even the most basic things very well. Not an outcome
- In Episode 117, Olaf meets a group of sentient refrigerators and decides to adopt them. In Episode 155, we can see that his igloo is too small for himself, Olga, and the fridges, since it was built for only himself and Olga, and he needs a bigger house. Sentient refrigerators are not realistic.
- After Pretty spends seasons 2-4 being an Abhorrent Admirer to Mr. Cat and trying to convince people that they were in a relationship, she falls out of love with him in season 5 and tries to be his friend instead. Episode 213 from season 5 has Pretty try to stop the spread of an embarrassing rumor about Mr. Cat by telling people it isn't true, only for the crowd to tell her they don't believe her because she's his "girlfriend" and he must have told her to say that, because she successfully convinced people that they were dating before. Character reaction
- The residents of Smileyland have the ability to control the weather conditions, creating the ideal climate... but since everyone has a different idea of "ideal" weather, the weather control mechanisms cause countless fights on the show. Not realistic, and a character reaction
- Naruto - Nagato: As an Edo Tensei zombie, his legs which had been previously crippled were healed. But due to having spent nearly two decades in a machine, he lacks the muscle memory required to use them to move properly. As a result, he required the revived Itachi to support him while walking. Too fantastical
What do you make of these?
- My Hero Academia - League of Villains: As a collective, they are a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits they perform their villainy to both make a name for themselves and to turn the world on its head so they can live comfortably. Problem is, to do that they have to pull bigger and bigger crimes and mission to no one's benefit except their own, regardless of whatever collateral incurs, They continue to blame society instead of being better. As a result, the more power they gain, the worse they get, the bigger target they paint on themselves, which all leads to everyone in their group being worse off when the tragic consequences rear their ugly head due to their villainy.
Both of these are listed as "Reality Ensues", and fall under the misconception that the trope means "something bad and unexpected happens within the work's reality" or "the character's plans succeeding was unrealistic due to how the work's reality functions", so they can be removed.
The Fire Punch one sounds like a straight example of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!, so it can be moved to that trope.
So, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has a few examples listed, and I think a lot of them are misuse:
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Even though Peter had a great time and found a new source of happiness during the events of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, it was not enough to heal his grief over losing Gamora and he is still deeply depressed and heavily drinking. Cut. This probably falls under character reaction, since it's pretty much saying that Peter is still grieving over Gamora.
- Even with his enhanced intelligence, Rocket was still young when he barely escaped the High Evolutionary. His old friends weren't so lucky. While Rocket is nimble and resourceful in making a means of escape and attacking the High Evolutionary and his cohorts, he is unable to prevent the others from getting caught in the crossfire. Even so, their augmentations actually hinder their movements and most importantly, unlike Rocket, they spent more time in captivity because they were rejected. In short, they would not have gathered their bearings in time to survive. Cut, since I'm not really sure what it's trying to say. Rocket's friends were basically cornered and killed before they even made an attempt to escape. Plus, the circumstances are probably too fantastical to count.
- At OrgoCorp, Peter tries to charm the cute manager Ura, and fails. He tries again, and begs her to give him access to Security's comms so he can talk them out of killing Drax and Mantis (and catching other OrgoCorp employees in the crossfire, including her). And the second she does, he says he's not that big an idiot, and remotely disables their suits. Cut, since this is more of a character reaction. Peter just goes for the more pragmatic option, and the fact he disables their suits relies on sci-fi technology.
- Peter jumps into a car ready for a high speed chase to their goal. Except he struggles doing anything. As it turns out, being taken from your home as a child and being raised without cars means that driving will be extremely difficult. In particular, the car's jerky motions imply Peter is having trouble Driving Stick. This is one I almost can see staying, since it sets up the group driving to the High Evolutionary, only for Peter to not know how to drive because he never needed to know how to drive. My only concern is that it requires a fantastical explanation for that (namely, that Peter was abducted by aliens as a child and spent most of his life flying spaceships). Probably cut?
- The High Evolutionary is fully aware of his society's problems, and obliterates it the second it's convenient. Peter's attempts to poke at The High Evolutionary's failings do absolutely nothing, and the villain willingly admits he's not perfect. Cut, since this once again relies on a character reaction. It's just the villain admitting he's flawed, and I'm not sure what the expected outcome is. Usually, the villain denies their flaws, but it's not more or less realistic for one outcome to occur.
- Friday Night Lights, despite being much more idealistic than the source material, has a lot of moments of this:
- Matt Saracen is a hard-working quarterback with the team's respect and who Coach Taylor personally likes and cares for. However, he is also a second-string player who got pushed into the starting quarterback role when Jason Street was injured. As much as everyone likes him, ultimately Taylor can only afford to worry about winning games, so whenever anyone more talented comes along, whether they're a Jerkass like Voodoo Tatum or a breakdown waiting to happen like J.D. McCoy, Matt gets benched. Not surprising
- When Matt is replaced as QB1 by J.D., he asks to be allowed to play running back instead. Taylor agrees to let him try if he can catch ten passes. Taylor runs through the drill with Matt, throwing as hard and as far as he can to test Matt's limits. By the end Coach Taylor, a middle aged man who hasn't played football in years, has completely wrecked his shoulder. Valid
- After he is paralysed, Jason befriends Herc, another former athlete who suffered a Career-Ending Injury. Herc introduces him to wheelchair rugby, which Jason proves very good at and sees as a way to regain his athletic aspirations. They both try out for the US Olympic team, and Jason fails to make the cut, since he's been playing for less than a year and still learning how to control his wheelchair. Herc frankly tells him that it was a longshot, and that even getting a tryout as a newly paralysed rookie player is a huge achievement. Plot happens
- Jason Street spends most of Season 1 in the hospital and physiotherapy, and then goes to try out for the US Olympic wheelchair rugby team in the middle of his senior year. As such he doesn't have enough credits to graduate and takes the GED. Plot happens
- Coach Taylor spends the first half of Season 2 working as an assistant coach at TMU. The team has a young quarterback who isn't living up to his potential, so Taylor draws up a plan to help him improve, planning to invest a lot of time and mentoring into the kid like he would with his high school players. The head coach tells him to just cut the guy loose. Character reaction
- Even though he's a good enough player to get a football scholarship, Tim Riggins doesn't have the brains or work ethic for the academic side of college and drops out within days. Plot happens
- A cash-strapped Billy and Tim steal several coils of copper wire from an abandoned power station. Since they don't know anyone who could buy it from them, they can't do anything except leave it hidden in their back yard for weeks. Plot happens
- Later, the two begin operating a chop shop out of the family garage. Tim disposes of the gutted chassis of the cars by taking them all to the same scrap yard. After a few weeks, the owner tells Tim he can't bring any more gutted cars, since Tim is clearly up to something shady and he doesn't want to be involved. Indeed, the suspiciously frequent dumpings of gutted cars puts the police on their scent and ends up getting them arrested. Character reaction
- In Season 4 the East Dillon Lions, plucky underdogs that they are, spend most of the year on an epic losing streak since they have only two naturally skilled players and very little experience playing as a team. Their first win is against another team who also haven't won a game all year. Not surprising
- In Season 5, Tami starts mentoring a troubled girl named Epyck who has spent most of her life bouncing between different schools and foster homes. Epyck is shown to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who is great with kids and smarter than she appears, and her current foster mother is extremely loving and supportive. However, just as she starts turning her life around she is caught stealing, has a violent outburst and attacks Tami. She gets arrested and is pulled out of her foster home and East Dillon High, and sent to a last chance school. Even with all the positive influences around her at the moment she's been too damaged by life to change. Character reaction
- As coach of the Lions, Taylor begins using plays like two-point conversions and field goals in order to grab every point he can, which he never had to bother with when he had the well-oiled touchdown machine of the Panthers at his command. Cuttable ZCE
- When Becky becomes pregnant, she goes to Tami, who is able to direct her to Planned Parenthood, where she terminates her pregnancy. As a school principal even tangentially involved in an abortion in a small Texas town, Tammy find herself the target of a campaign to have her fired, and accepts demotion to guidance counsellor at East Dillon to smooth things over. Plot happens
- Luke is the star running back of the Lions and one of the best players in the series. However, no major college is interested in him because, like many top-level high school players, he just isn't a hot commodity in the student athlete market. Plot happens
- When a white Farm Boy approaches a drug dealer in the bad part of town, asks for Oxycodone and insists he's not a cop, that drug dealer clams up immediately. Character reaction
- In season 2, Matt starts acting out, skipping school and going drinking with Tim. When Coach Taylor picks him up at the hospital, he IMMEDIATELY lays into Matt for his foolish behavior. Matt immediately retorts that Julie, coach's daughter (whom Matt was in love with) left him for another guy, his father left him for a war, his grandmother's housekeeper (whom he had fallen for) left him to go home, and Coach himself (whom Matt looked to as a father) abandoned him for a new job. The fact is Matt was a teenager and, like everyone else, had his limits and if put through enough, sooner or later, was gonna blow. People can only take so much. Character reaction
- In the later seasons of Friends, Ross and Rachel drunkenly get married in Vegas. Ross claims he has annulled the marriage when they get back to New York, but secretly reveals to Phoebe that he didn't because he didn't want to have three divorces. When Rachel finds out weeks later, she insists on filling out the paperwork for the annulment herself, and tries to humiliate Ross by claiming that he is sexually impotent, gay and addicted to heroin. When the judge finds out those are lies, she refuses to carry out the annulment and threatens them with a day in jail if they don't leave her chambers. Character reaction
- Also, in Season 4, Monica and Rachel lose a bet to Chandler and Joey where they have to trade apartments as a condition of losing the bet. At first, it seems like Phoebe's sudden pregnancy announcement will cause everyone to forget about the apartment switch, the ending credits scene as well as the following episode prove that yes, Monica and Rachel are indeed stuck in the smaller apartment for the next 7 episodes. Plot happens
- In Season 8, after Rachel gets over the initial shock of becoming pregnant, she believes that having a child won't drastically alter her life too much. Not quite. She discovers that she can't date as much as she used to because most men don't want to be with a single mother, the unexpectedness has left her with little knowledge and preparedness for the baby's arrival and that most of her free time will now consist of having to take care of her child instead of her previous activities. Plot happens
- After baby Emma is born, Rachel becomes paranoid of making even a little mistake with her and incessantly calls her pediatrician over every little thing, even calling him at 3 in the morning because the baby has hiccups! This causes her doctor to drop her as a patient after he has enough of her. Character reaction
- A Season 2 episode deconstructs the Improbable Food Budget trope, by showing that Joey, Rachel, and Phoebe are having trouble keeping up with the expensive dinner plans Monica, Chandler, and Ross keep making since they don't make as much money as them and can't afford such luxuries on a frequent basis. Valid
- Monica's Age-Gap Romance with Richard realistically ends because the two of them are at different points in their life and have completely different aspirations for their relationship. Although they love each other enough to get past the awkwardness and societal judgment of an older man dating a young woman he's known since she was a child; the fact is that Monica is in her mid-twenties and wants to get married and start a family, while Richard is middle aged, divorced after a decades-long marriage and already has adult children and isn't interested in a getting married or having kids again. Furthermore, although she knows they have no future, Monica is still deeply in love with Richard and spends multiple episodes depressed and struggling to move on. Deconstructed Trope
- Throughout the series as a whole, it is HEAVILY implied by other characters (some even outright state it) that part of the reason the six main characters are so close is because most people find their "endearing" quirks (Monica's obsession with competition and cleaning, Phoebe's ditziness and bluntness, Rachel and Ross' spoiled nature, Chandler's tendency to always crack jokes, and Joey's dimness and womanizing) not so endearing, this is partially why most of them have trouble maintaining long term relationships. Not an outcome
- This point is hilariously referenced in one episode. The gang is at the coffee shop when they start mentioning how much their respective bosses don't like them. When Ross suggests it may be a universal thing, Joey chimes in with "Or maybe it's because you're all in a coffee shop at 11 AM on a Wednesday". Try not coming to work and see how well you get along with your boss. Not an outcome
- Full House:
- Jesse and Rebecca's wedding is held up when Jesse gets himself arrested that morning and Rebecca is forced to drive to the outskirts of San Francisco to retrieve him. After many more mishaps, the wedding is finally held... and the reception ends up being held at the house, because that's what happens when you miss the time frame that you chose for your reception venue. Valid
Danny: (serving champagne and hors d'oeuvres to guests) "Groom was late, we lost the hall."
- Jesse's arc of being a struggling musician shows how difficult it is to become a successful musician. Even though he has genuine talent on both the guitar and singing, his band isn't considered distinct enough or good enough to get signed. Once he gets married and has kids, his band becomes more or less a hobby and his career is concentrated in other areas of the music industry like being a radio DJ and owning his own club. Eventually, the members of the Rippers dump him for good. Not an outcome
- In "I'm Not DJ", Stephanie wants to get her ears pierced, but Danny refuses to let her do so until she enters junior high like D.J. did, so she has Kimmy do it due to her brother, Garth, having recently gotten a new job at a tattoo parlor and having borrowed his ear-piercing gun for the job. It would've been a good idea to have Garth do it, since he's much more experienced than Kimmy is, because before she used the gun on Stephanie, she practiced on cold cuts and forgot the two most important rules about piercing: 1): to always clean and sanitize said gun before and after each use, and 2): to make sure she and the subject are sanitary (the piercer must wash his/her hands, wear gloves and disinfect the area where the piercing will be placed). Kimmy's inexperience leads up to Stephanie's earlobes becoming infected and forcing her to tell Danny the truth. Valid
- In "Taking the Plunge", Kimmy's indifference to her education causes her to be rejected by every university in California. Stanford even sends her rejection letter with $40 (after she bribed them with a $20) and a note saying "Let's pretend this never happened". She actually does regret this, both for being a failure and because it means she will be separated from D.J., who, despite also being rejected from Stanford, at least gets accepted into Berkley. Actions have consequences
- In the episode "We Got the Beat", Stephanie, Gia, and Kimmy form a girls' band for the talent competition, but they spend more time on their appearances than practice for the song of choice after signing up, culminating in them bombing their performance when it's their turn. As with most other performance-oriented group endeavors, playing in a band takes a lot of practice before members can memorize the routines well enough to pull off a well-coordinated result, natural talent notwithstanding. Plot happens
- The chronologically final example is Played for Laughs. After a series of bad candidates that Kimmy has presented for D.J. to take as her senior prom date, D.J. is understandably wary when Kimmy claims she has found one last guy to become D.J.'s date on the prom night. It's a good thing Kimmy's prom date of choice this time meets D.J.'s approval. Character reaction
Kimmy: Bad news, Deej. Duane's cousin can't make it.
D.J.: I'm not going to the prom?
Kimmy: Don't worry, Deej, I've scrounged up another guy for you.
D.J.: I'm afraid to ask.
Steve: (walking into the house) Come on, Deej, let's go. I don't wanna miss the buffet!
- Jesse and Rebecca's wedding is held up when Jesse gets himself arrested that morning and Rebecca is forced to drive to the outskirts of San Francisco to retrieve him. After many more mishaps, the wedding is finally held... and the reception ends up being held at the house, because that's what happens when you miss the time frame that you chose for your reception venue. Valid
- Gekisou Sentai Carranger:
- Dappu appears before the crew of the garage and asks them to become Carrangers. Their response is... to run and hide from the weird alien thing that suddenly appeared before them. Character reaction
- Even though Grotch has the least combat experience out of the Bowzock generals, when he accidentally discovered the ability to grow giant through eating imo-youkan, his sheer size basically made him invulnerable to the Carrangers' weapons, thus necessitating the creation of the Ranger Vehicles to combat future giant-sized Bowzock monsters. Too fantastical
I am in favor of keeping it. To quote the entry, "being taken from your home as a child and being raised without cars" can plausibly happen in real life, and the fact that it involves alien abduction isn't relevant to how the scene's setup and subversion works.
Yeah, TBH, sometimes I feel like people are using any tangential fantasy/sci-fi element to call an example "inherently unrealistic" even if that's not the focal point.
Don't think any of these qualify, but I'll leave that up to you guys.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX:
- I Can Still Fight!: Zane accepts a duel from the heir of the Cyber Style's rival dojo because of his deck's desire to continue dueling, and gives it his all despite his heart failure. It doesn't go well, and he ends up needing emergency medical treatment again.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V:
- After Sawatari loses to Yuya, he just tries to steal the Pendulum Cards by force.
- Sawatari often switches decks to find one that might be perfect, something that most meta players do.
- It's mentioned that Gongenzaka would be crippled by a shared graveyard in their Tag Duel with the Tyler sisters, but Sawatari would have been just as crippled had he accommodated Gongenzaka due to his own heavy reliance on Spells.
- Reira may be a good duelist on par of the other Lancers, but she's still just a traumatized little kid. She's scared stiff when she arrives in the Synchro Dimension without Reiji.
- Despite being a good duelist, Reira also tires much easier than the older Lancers, and after beating three Security officers and two Obelisk Force squads in a row, she is exhausted... and her PTSD is triggered.
- When you splash a secondary engine in that supports a different deck entirely, you're going to draw a card that you really don't want to see at the moment on a few occasions. Which is why the Antique Gears have apparently disappeared from his deck and he goes on to use Fusion Monsters based around the Entermages.
- In episode 19, Nico sits on top of the car in the bus - on top of the back of it. When the bus stops, he is of course, knocked off before the camera cuts to a sign that asks people to sit properly on their seats.
- Yu Gi Oh VRAINS Ep 8 The One Who Commands The Wind:
- Since nobody was around to see Specter give Aoi that card, it's assumed she deliberately put it in her deck. The only person who thinks otherwise is Akira, and instead of guessing the complex truth that Hanoi attacked her and removed her memories of the incident, he assumes that something about the duel itself caused her state.
- When Akira's bosses find out that Aoi is Blue Angel, they put the blame on Akira and accuse him of spying, making it clear he'll be fired soon.
- It's obvious that the Blue Angel on VRAINS is a trap, but Yusaku goes anyways thinking he understands what's happening and can get results no matter the outcome. Only the trap isn't at all what he was expecting it to be and he nearly gets killed.
- When Akira tries to follow Aoi into the emergency room, a nurse holds him back because he's not allowed.
- As Ai points out, hacking the hospital is invading the hospital's privacy. As Shoichi points out, almost everything the heroes do is illegal.
Edited by CelestialDraco on Jun 15th 2023 at 12:16:20 PM
I don't really come around this neck of the woods, but if I could just make an observation: If the trope is being misused this much, that means that either the parameters or the definition are extremely unclear. Like to the degree where the whole thing needs to be red linked and reworked from the ground up. Changing the name didn't work and I'm not sure "too fantastical" is a valid reason to cut an example if the original poster articulated their logic correctly.
Just Having FunPerhaps we should encourage the use of Deconstruction then as an alternative. I think the two go hand in hand and often get confused.
Just Having FunYugioh GX:
I Can Still Fight!: Zane accepts a duel from the heir of the Cyber Style's rival dojo because of his deck's desire to continue dueling, and gives it his all despite his heart failure. It doesn't go well, and he ends up needing emergency medical treatment again. That happens a lot in this franchise. Cut it.
Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V:
After Sawatari loses to Yuya, he just tries to steal the Pendulum Cards by force. Character Reaction
Sawatari often switches decks to find one that might be perfect, something that most meta players do. Character Reaction
It's mentioned that Gongenzaka would be crippled by a shared graveyard in their Tag Duel with the Tyler sisters, but Sawatari would have been just as crippled had he accommodated Gongenzaka due to his own heavy reliance on Spells. Not Surprising
Reira may be a good duelist on par of the other Lancers, but she's still just a traumatized little kid. She's scared stiff when she arrives in the Synchro Dimension without Reiji. Character Reaction
Despite being a good duelist, Reira also tires much easier than the older Lancers, and after beating three Security officers and two Obelisk Force squads in a row, she is exhausted... and her PTSD is triggered. Character Reaction
When you splash a secondary engine in that supports a different deck entirely, you're going to draw a card that you really don't want to see at the moment on a few occasions. Which is why the Antique Gears have apparently disappeared from his deck and he goes on to use Fusion Monsters based around the Entermages. Maybe this is valid
In episode 19, Nico sits on top of the car in the bus - on top of the back of it. When the bus stops, he is of course, knocked off before the camera cuts to a sign that asks people to sit properly on their seats. Valid
Yu Gi Oh VRAINS Ep 8 The One Who Commands The Wind:
Since nobody was around to see Specter give Aoi that card, it's assumed she deliberately put it in her deck. The only person who thinks otherwise is Akira, and instead of guessing the complex truth that Hanoi attacked her and removed her memories of the incident, he assumes that something about the duel itself caused her state. Character Reaction
When Akira's bosses find out that Aoi is Blue Angel, they put the blame on Akira and accuse him of spying, making it clear he'll be fired soon. Character Reaction
It's obvious that the Blue Angel on VRAINS is a trap, but Yusaku goes anyways thinking he understands what's happening and can get results no matter the outcome. Only the trap isn't at all what he was expecting it to be and he nearly gets killed. Too fantastical
When Akira tries to follow Aoi into the emergency room, a nurse holds him back because he's not allowed. Maybe this is valid
As Ai points out, hacking the hospital is invading the hospital's privacy. As Shoichi points out, almost everything the heroes do is illegal. There's probably a better trope for this, maybe Kleptomaniac Hero ?
From Characters.Kamen Rider Amazons Amazon Riders:
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Wide-Eyed Idealism can only take one so far on its own. Haruka's insistence on only protecting the innocent while destroying the savage has little impact on a situation where everyone's forced to be savage. Haruka's sympathy towards Humans and Amazons, while admirable, prevents him from dealing with threats like Jin and 4C. By Season 2 even the Amazons have lost faith in him and he's deemed a Wild Card by just about everybody; nipping any chance of being a Spanner in the Works in the bud. Plot happens. Cut?
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The "Maybe valid" one doesn't sound valid, since it's about a character removing cards from his deck to avoid a "realistic" outcome, which isn't technically realistic since it depends on the rules of the in-universe game rather than real life.
Also, this was added underneath the RWBY example:
- A subtle one occurs with General Ironwood in Volume 8. After he assumes complete control of Atlas' Military and declares Martial Law, he spends the majority of the volume trying to force the now fugitive heroes (by his own doing) to co-operate, and also fighting against Salem's forces at the same time. However, because of his arrogance and unwillingness to accept any input from his subordinates, he takes on all of the burdens that entails from it despite having only recently come out of a rushed surgery for his damaged arm. this micromanaging and unwillingness to recognize out how of his depth he really is causes his mental state to deteriorate even faster. As a result, he ends up making many costly mistakes that end up pushing the heroes into an increasingly bad situation.
Sounds like it's just Plot Happening, since it doesn't explain why we wouldn't expect bad things to happen due to Ironwood's actions.
Edited by Someoneman on Jun 18th 2023 at 7:52:47 AM
The villains are all exploiting his Fatal Flaw (he's The Paranoiac) and pressing his Trauma Button (he has PTSD, which is implied to be why he's The Paranoiac); at the same time, he learns the Awful Truth that the Big Good has been hiding, which so commonly sends people over the Despair Event Horizon due to concluding the Big Bad is an Invincible Villain that this is why the Big Good got into the habit of keeping it a secret in the first place. Also, his descent into authoritarianism and his instinct for turning on allies when something goes wrong began in Volume 2, meaning this entry's set-up began six seasons prior and accelerated all through Volume 7. In short, it's exactly what you said: plot happens.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Jun 18th 2023 at 11:34:39 AM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
