Conflict Ball: Difference between revisions

 

Now since this trope involves contrivance, this is not technically possible in real life.

{{examples}}

== All Serial Media ==

* Almost any straight use of [[Yet Another Christmas Carol]], on a show with an established cast, needs to have one of the characters abruptly meaner for no apparent reason so they can learn to change their ways back to the way they were before the episode. Or have a [[Jerkass]] character turn nicer, [[Aesop Amnesia|only to revert to their usual ways afterwards]]. In fact, shows that [[Tropes Are Not Bad|fail to do this]] end up warping the plot into [[The Complainer Is Always Wrong]] instead.

 

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Usopp is surprisingly adamant about not abandoning the ''Going Merry'', despite admitting that he knew it couldn't be fixed, and Luffy is quite undiplomatic about his decision to let it go, without noting that he had previously been unwilling to accept that the ship was doomed.

** The ''Going Merry'' was not only a present from Usopp's sick friend, and a reminder of his home town, but a sentient being. It's understandable that Usopp would have trouble letting go. At the same time, it couldn't sail any longer. Luffy had no choice but to get a new ship. He couldn't very well give in to Usopp and sail his crew to their deaths.

* [[What an Idiot!|Certain viewers]] have noticed in ''[[Project A-ko]]'' on how B-Ko's desire for C-Ko probably would have gone better if she didn't antagonize A-Ko so much. One might think that well conflict is an absolute necessity in an action story but then [[Fridge Logic|you realize]] that B-Ko wasn't exactly the main antagonist in the 1st movie.

* Mousse from ''[[Ranma ½]]'' is almost always in conflict with the titular protagonist, which is absurd when you realize that their primary goals regarding Shampoo coincide perfectly. They have literally no reason to fight, since (aside from his massive ego) Ranma should love an opportunity to remove one unwanted love interest, and Mousse should be happy to have at least one ally who will want to see Shampoo end up with Mousse. But that would be too easy, so instead Mousse is too blind to see the reality, and Ranma just responds as usual to someone attacking him.

 

== Comic Books ==

* The [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]] in [[Marvel Comics]]. Many characters are fighting over the issue of a [[Super Registration Act]], but insist on [[Let's You and Him Fight]] with some of their fastest friends rather than getting their act together to prove their case (pro or anti) and finding a solution that doesn't result in very necessary heroes being hunted down like dogs, or ''more'' battles as the pro and anti sides fight and invariably give villains free rein in the chaos. In the end, the Pro side got [[Designated Villain]]s to [[Debate and Switch|simplify the debate]].

*** Which was, infuriatingly, never really explained, except with some blanket implications that lots of supers on the Pro side did it because it was "rational" given the political climate. This of course falls straight into the Conflict Ball's tendency to operate by shoehorning characters into designated [[Straw Man]] slots (such as "rational scientist") for the sake of plot. Reed Richards actually has an F-triple-minus grade in rational decision-making, (for one, [[The Determinator|his reaction to his best friend's death was to literally march into heaven]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|and ask Jack Kirby to give him back,]]) but hey, [[Iron Man]] had a long history of actively using his influence to protect his friends from this sort of political flack, so if you're going to screw things up, you might as well go for the whole hog.

* In a [[Black Panther]] comic, T'Challa is explaining his plan to take out a vampire infested city to Luke Cage, Brother Voodoo and Blade. Blade tells T'Challa that just because he runs a country doesn't mean he can tell him what to do. Cage says Blade is being difficult for no reason since he doesn't have a plan. Blade admits to it and says he just doesn't want to be part of a team. So T'Challa tells Blade to go off on his own and this immediately puts him in a good mood, so good he gives Luke Cage one of his guns before leaving.

* Oh, dear sweet merciful Xenu, Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog comics have had this ''[[Up to Eleven|A LOT]]'' under [[Writer on Board|Ian]] [[Running the Asylum|Flynn]], but the crowning moment of this came during 178-179. In those two issues, the House of Acorn imprisons Tails' parents for wanting to reform the government ('Cause ''that'' makes your monarchy look benevolent, [[Sarcasm Mode|right?]]). Sonic sides with the monarchy instead of...you know...his best friend, to the point that Sonic gets into a fight with Tails for daring to break his parents loose! Tails makes some rude comments toward Sonic during the fight, [[Wangst|yelling at him for leaving him behind on important missions, and blah blah blah]]...except that's not why he's fighting Sonic, it's really because Sonic took Fiona away from him. Yep, that was the core reason. Not his parents, just the passing love interest who not only wasn't even ''the same Fiona'' that Tails loved (that was a robot duplicate of her), but also who, just a few issues ago, was [[Face Heel Turn|revealed to be a bad guy.]]

 

* In ''[[My Immortal]]'', everything everyone does seems to be a bit arbitrary and stupid, but the conflicts bear special mention. Dumbledore appears to be portrayed as a prep because he's not goffik enough, and therefore he must hate all goffs and act cruel and mean to them, [[For the Evulz|just because]]. [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] also appears to be the story's seeker in terms of conflict balls.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Volcano]]'', an angry black guy butted heads with a bigoted cop, while the volcano was still going off. The effort to stop the lava conveniently helped them see past their differences.

* George A. Romero just ''loved'' tossing this one onto the court in ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]''. It wasn't guaranteed to get everyone killed, but it never helped their situation to stand around and quibble.

* ''[[Wild Wild West (film)|Wild Wild West]]''. Sure it was their first assignment, but Jim West and Artemus Gordon's fighting came across as petty instead of natural differences in their characters.

* ''[[Apollo 13]]'' has astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise argue over what may have caused their mission's accident. In real life, no such arguments occurred at all, and was added because [[Word of God]] thought [[Reality Is Unrealistic|it didn't seem right]] that they were completely together through the rest of the mission. It is ultimately [[Justified]] afterwards, when they discover their CO2 levels have gone up considerably and it's affecting their judgment.

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Robert Merle]]'s ''[[Malevil]]'', the conflict ball is given to Catie. A [[The Tease|shameless tease]], frequently undermining discipline, arguing against Emmanuel, and causing problems for her husband Thomas, Emmanuel's second in command.

* In the Wheel of Time, it is often averted or played straight, depending upon your point of view. Despite the obvious rise and return of the Dark One, the many factions in the world bicker and fight each other rather than teaming up. Could be viewed as an aversion, as the entire series seems to be a response to classic fantasy series like LOTR, where political and philosophical differences are just too great to easily set everything aside and band together against the approaching evil. However, a recent straight example of this trope is Egwene's opposition to Rand's plan to destroy the remaining seals. Although it's a curious plan that's a bit outside the box, it never shows her even considering why Rand wants to do it or to try communicating with him to discuss the matter. She just immediately dismisses it as a horrible idea and sets about trying to turn everyone against him, all for the sake of conflict.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' had an almost identical subversion with Tom Paris, showing him having more and more problems fitting in over a long arc culminating in his leaving Voyager to infiltrate an enemy group.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Sometimes conflict seems randomly shoehorned in among the characters just so the writers can meet some sort of mandatory drama quota.

** There's a rather aggravating example in the Season 5 episode "Tough Love" where Willow and Tara suddenly get into a fight that comes out of nowhere so Tara can conveniently go out alone to get attacked by the [[Big Bad]].

** Let's just say that Joyce and Buffy's friends mishandled her return from LA on a thermonuclear level in Season 3's 'Dead Man's Party'. Joyce was an early S1 flake; Willow and Xander were their S6/7 selves four years early.

* One episode of ''[[Saved by the Bell]]: The College Years'' has Slater discover he actually has Mexican heritage. He out of nowhere accuses Zack of being racist because Zack tries to set him up with a blonde girl. He actually says "why do you only think girls with blonde hair and blue eyes are attractive? I've dated girls with dark hair and dark eyes". This is completely ignoring that the love of Zack's life was brunette and that he dated girls of many ethnicities in high school, including their friend Lisa. Slater spends the whole episode being overly sensitive and Zack is presented as the one who needs to learn the Aesop.

* In ''[[The Dead Zone]]'' TV series, Johnny holds the ball whenever Greg Stillson is involved. One particularly annoying example is when Stillson (Vice President at the time) shows up at his house to ask for his help in bringing a space shuttle home safely after it loses radio contact. Johnny reluctantly helps him, with emphasis on ''reluctantly.'' The audience can identify with Stillson's frustration at some points, when Johnny berates him for (what he sees as) using the incident to advance his career. Come on, Johnny. You're helping a team of astronauts get home safely. Does it ''really'' matter that Stillson was the one to ask it of you? Notably, this was ''after'' Johnny had stopped getting Armageddon visions from Stillson. Stillson was still a shady, ambitious politician, but in this episode it seemed like Johnny was being a jerk for apparently no reason at all.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* All over the place in [[White Wolf]]'s ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' games. It seemed that every single faction was in a war, cold or hot, with every other faction; a particularly standout example would be the entirety of the ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' line, where the various tribes fought each other, other shapeshifters, regular humans, and ''sometimes'' the Wyrm (the entity they were supposed to be fighting), mostly for reasons that made the reader wonder how the place ever got past the stone age. Shapeshifters, simply put, can be just as bad as any humans but with infinitely more anger issues and less self-control.

 

* Many hotheaded RPG characters, whether heroes or villains, will be [[Hot-Blooded|more in the mood to fight]] when it makes more sense to talk, because the plot [[But Thou Must!|can't go further if they resolve things peacefully]].

* The entire population of Azeroth was handed one of these between ''[[Warcraft]] III'' and ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Nearly all the civilizations of Kalimdor, which includes forces from both the Alliance and the Horde, allied to fend off the Burning Legion and the Scourge by the end of the former game, but those alliances dissolve ''offscreen'' in the years between the games. The release of ''Wrath of the Lich King'', and the corresponding rise of the Scourge as a major threat once again, has caused a thaw in relations between the coalitions, but they still battle openly in some places. The main purpose of the war seems to be to have an excuse for the two sides to be in opposition.

* The "ring of conflict" in ''[[Nethack]]'' is a conflict ball... for the group of monsters you're facing.

* Used as a joke in some of the ''[[Touhou]]'' games, especially fighting games. Often the fights are for improbable, ridiculous reasons. However, it's also clear that, ultimately, [[Blood Knight|these people just like beating the heck out of each other]]!

* In ''[[Mega Man X]] 5'' many reploids you fight want to have a piece of your character for various reasons. While there are varying degrees of justification, the fact that several not in the throes of Maverick fever insist on doing this when the [[Colony Drop|giant space colony is coming crashing down]] is a bit incredulous.

** ''Mega Man X4'''s entire plot starts simply because Colonel would rather throw the entire Repliforce into a pointless war with the Maverick Hunters than simply ''turn off his [[Laser Sword]] when asked to come to the latter's headquarters''.

* The AI in ''[[Galactic Civilizations]] II'' likes to lob one of these your way if it gets bored. The galaxy is prosperous, quiet, and peaceful? A [[Random Event|Mega Event]] goes off in which one of your citizens assassinates the head of the Drengin Empire, plunging you into war! Which drags the Drengin's allies the Drath Legion into it, and thanks to their [[Manipulative Bastard|racial ability]] they convince the Yor to attack you too! But then the Altarians step in on your behalf, and use ''their'' racial ability to have the Iconians help out too, but ''that'' serves as the last straw for the Korx who team up with the Thalans...

 

* Emily McArthur of ''[[Misfile]]'' has had this a ''lot'' lately.

** Justified quite a bit, in that Emily ''likes'' her "misfiled" existence - in which she's learned a lot of new and interesting things, made new friends and basically lives a life that's more than an extension of her mother's lost dreams. She also knows Ash hates her new life (or more specifically, hates the fact that [[Gender Bender|he's a she]] in it). Emily doesn't really want to fix things, and only admits this when Ash tries to get her to commiserate with her one time too many. She even tried to explain this.

** A straighter example would be the constant, immature sparring between Emily and Missi. While Emily has generally gotten better at this and only retorts back when provoked, Missi seems to take a perverse delight in annoying her. The only reason for this, it seems, would be so that the two can clash over their feelings for Ash. Even more irritating, though, is Missi's refusal to accept that Ash isn't her girlfriend anymore. It's makes one wonder whether Chris only created her to exacerbate personal drama in the lives of the two protagonists. When you consider that Ash and Emily are steadily becoming ''less'' hostile towards Rumisiel over time - they aren't friendly with him, but they seem to trust him more than they did at the start - this theory isn't without justification.

* Hardly a week goes by without ''something'' going down in ''[[Candi]]'', and there have been perhaps three instances over the course of the comic's six-plus-year run where characters have actually, permanently [[Character Development|learned anything from the resulting drama.]] [[It's All About Me|Trevor,]] [[Never My Fault|Linda]], and [[Clingy Jealous Girl|Rebecca]] in particular are especially fond of The Ball.

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Improbable Behavior Tropes]]

[[Category:Rule of Drama]]

[[Category:The Plot Demanded This Index]]

[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]

[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]

[[Category:Character Derailment Tropes]]