You Have Outlived Your Usefulness/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A villain gets rid of minions when they're not useful anymore.

  • Straight: Emperor Evulz kills Lord Bad after doing an order for him.
  • Exaggerated: Every minion who works for Emperor Evulz will be killed when completing the order.
  • Downplayed: Emperor Evulz fires Lord Bad after doing an order for him.
  • Justified: Every minion still working for Emperor Evulz costs money. Since he's that cheap, he decides to just get rid of minions when they're not useful anymore.
  • Inverted: Can't Kill You - Still Need You
    • Every time Emperor Evulz needs a new minion for something, he arranges for one to be born and raised specifically to do that job.
    • Emperor Evulz kills a minion and binds his ghost because he needs him to remain useful post-mortem.
  • Subverted: Lord Bad has found out Emperor Evulz will plan to kill him after his mission is complete, so he becomes The Starscream and betrays him.
    • Emperor Ezulz's advisor recommends Evulz to kill Lord Bad now that he is not useful. Evulz states that he will find use for him.
    • Emperor Evulz kills Lord Bad, and one of the mooks ask if Lord Bad had lost his usefulness. Turns out Evulz killed Lord Bad for either incompetence or treachery.
  • Double Subverted: Except when Emperor Evulz comes back and kills Lord Bad.
    • Emperor Evulz sends Lord Bad on another mission. After that he kills him.
    • Emporer Evulz was lying.
  • Parodied: Emperor Evulz fires Lord Bad after doing an order for him. The latter likes it because he never really liked working for the former. Lord Bad even gives Emperor Evulz a box of chocolates and some flowers.
    • Evulz orders his assistant to get him coffee. Once he has it, he shoots the assistant.
  • Deconstructed: Four words: Lonely at the Top.
  • Reconstructed: ???
  • Zig Zagged: Emperor Evulz fires Lord Bad after doing an order for him, but he comes back to him. Lord Bad comes back, however, and Emperor Evulz reluctantly hires him again. Then Emperor Evulz fires Lord Bad again after doing an order for him. Repeat over and over again.
  • Averted: Emperor Evulz gives thought to killing Lord Bad once he has completed his task, but doesn't go through with it.
  • Enforced: The writer gets Evulz to kill Lord Bad after he gets a wave of fanmail badgering him to kill that character off for whatever reason.
  • Lampshaded: "Why do you want to kill me? You just invited me to a top secret meeting yesterday!"
  • Invoked: Sergeant Worse hates Lord Bad, so he lies to Evulz and tells him that Bad is planning a betrayal, provoking Evulz to kill Bad after his current mission.
  • Exploited: Sergeant Worse hears of Lord Bad's death and takes the opportunity to volunatarily promote himself to the empty spot Lord Bad left behind.
  • Defied: ???
  • Discussed: "Of course he's not gonna kill you. Why do you think he would do that after he invited you to that top secret meeting yesterday?"
  • Conversed: "So I heard Emperor Evulz was killing off some of his minions straight after their missions." "Oh, I always wondered where that extra life insurance money was coming from..."

I am done with you, so go to You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, and don't ever call me again.

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