Defied Trope



"Ira Kane: Snag it and put it in the bucket. Harry Block: I've seen this movie; the Black Dude Dies First. You snag it."

- Evolution

Happens when a character knows that a trope is about to happen, either due to being Genre Savvy or because someone is trying to invoke it, and then actively attempts to avert it, subvert it, or maybe even invert it.

The character might succeed, or might fail. In failing, he might even set the trope off. The point is that the character is at least attempting to avoid a straight run of the trope.

Compare Reality Ensues (which this may sometimes lead to).

Contrast Invoked Trope, Exploited Trope, Discussed Trope.

Not to be confused with a simple Averted Trope, which has no prompting from any characters.

Also not to be confused with Deified Trope.

Anime and Manga
"Karina: You know those situations where people hate each other's guts at first, but then developing feeling for each other? Barnaby: Yeah? Karina: That's not going to happen. I'll rip down those Event Flags myself if I have to."
 * Judai of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX says he realizes it's pointless to give a Kirk Summation to Yubel.
 * Also, when Alexis is encouraged to become an Idol Singer, she actively refuses to become one.
 * Contrasting the invoked Bodyguard Crush in Kaze no Stigma, Kazuma goes out of his way to keep Ayano at a distance and offend her as much as possible so she doesn't get attached to him either. It doesn't really work.
 * The second season of Princess Tutu is all about the characters defying the roles assigned to them by the writer of the story.
 * Johan Liebert from Monster defies the trope of being Obviously Evil, and on the surface, he seems like a really nice guy.
 * In the second Tiger and Bunny drama CD, Karina assures Barnaby that she has no intention of letting their animosity towards each other become Belligerent Sexual Tension. So far she's proven successful: not only is any attraction between them still absent, they're now competing with each other for Kotetsu's attention.


 * At the end of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
 * If that trope had not been defied,.

Comic Books

 * Watchmen has
 * Black Orchid defies the same trope as Austin Powers below, except that the Mook really does shoot the main character in the head. He doesn't know that she can regenerate, but he sets her on fire to be absolutely certain she's Deader Than Dead. Given this is on the second page, it's a good thing Me's a Crowd.
 * At the end of volume 2 of Empowered the eponymous superheroine saves the life of a criminal who's holding her hostage, because he's still a human being with a wife and a daughter.

Fan Fiction

 * Reconciliation seems to be headed toward the Netorare Genre at first glance: Hanako, after her Bad Ending, has isolated herself from Lilly and Hisao out of guilt for eight years. During this time, Lilly and Hisao have gotten together, and Hanako still has feelings for Hisao. The twist that forces Hanako out of her self-imposed isolation, however, is.
 * In Ace Combat: The Equestrian War, a rookie griffon soldier named Slip almost pulls a Screw This, I'm Outta Here, but he seems to know what happens to deserters in war stories, so he decides to keep fighting. Shortly after this sudden bout of courage, he's killed.

Film
"Guy: Did you ever watch the show?"
 * The Scream films are supposedly loaded with this, yet most Horror Tropes in them are usually played straight or lampshaded. One genuine instance is when the second of the two killers is apparently dead at the end of the first film. Randy Meeks says this is the moment when the killer comes back to life for one last scare. The killer promptly does, but Sidney, without flinching, puts a bullet in his head: "Not in my movie." Also used in the second film. Also in the second film, a black man leaves town when the bodies start piling up, because he knows "how long brothers last in these movies". He lives.
 * In Galaxy Quest, Guy is, in essence, a Defied Trope in character form.


 * Austin Powers. Dr Evil has captured Austin and wants to place him in "an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death" (Dr. Evil's words), and his son Scott wonders why they can't just shoot him. Despite Scott's best efforts, Dr Evil's Contractual Genre Blindness prevails, and Austin predictably escapes from the pool of mutated sea bass that he's suspended over.
 * Prince Herbert from Monty Python and the Holy Grail tries repeatedly to break out into an "I Want" Song, but his attempts are constantly foiled (complete with Letting the Air Out of the Band) by his father.
 * In Dogma, Serendipity tries to goad Azrael into explaining his evil scheme to them, but he says, "Oh, no you don't: I've seen enough James Bond movies to know that you never reveal all the details of your plan, no matter how close you think you are to winning."
 * At the end of Iron Man, Tony Lampshades all the typical angst-riddled consequences he can expect to face because of his Secret Identity, only to subvert them all by declaring that he's Iron Man at a press conference.
 * Star Wars: Han Solo immediately begins to blast Darth Vader as soon as he is revealed. Won't Work On Me, though.
 * In The Incredibles, superhero costume designer Edna Mode specifically states the hazards of capes, which turns out to be a Chekhov's Gun with a villain. Of course, this has long been addressed in actual comics (for one, capes are easily detachable), and the real reason for "no capes" is that the animators didn't want to deal with cape physics and animation over the course of an entire film.
 * In Unfaithfully Yours, Daphne asks her sister what fur she will be wearing to avoid Dresses the Same.

Literature
""A child dwells in the village of Misery Chin, in the mountain provinces to the east. If allowed to grow to manhood, he will take over your empire, overthrow your ways and means, and send you from the halls of your palace forever.""
 * Done in It's Kind of a Funny Story, where the main character Craig refuses the possibility of heroin, because "If I were doing heroin, then I'd be a depressed teenager on heroin. I didn't need to be that cliché."
 * In Maskerade, once a series of murders begin happening at an opera house, the first thing they do is put extra guards on the giant chandelier, to keep it from being dropped on anybody.
 * The Screwtape Letters plays with, but ultimately defies the Deal with the Devil trope. Screwtape explains that it's fallen out of favor ever since Hell made the strategic switch from promoting Satanism to promoting atheism, which is seen as a safer bet.
 * The Warhammer 40,000 novel Grey Knights notes that the Inquisition defies Never Found the Body in the case of Ghargatuloth; they sent the Grey Knight expedition down to Khorion IX instead of simply calling Exterminatus on it because they needed eyes on the ground to see him die.
 * The short story Another End Of The Empire by Tim Pratt features the Evil Overlord Mogrash who is told the following prophecy:


 * Rather than raze the village to the ground as his ancestors would have done, which he realised would have only fulfilled the prophecy as the boy would inevitably escape the slaughter somehow and take his revenge, Mogrash tries to avert the prophecy by being nice, instituting reforms, and raising the boys who could be threats as his own sons. In the end the prophecy is fulfilled, one of the boys becomes his heir, his empire is changes irrevocably and he decided to leave his palace.
 * In the Myst novel, Atrus comes across one of the infamous D'ni puzzle-locks and tries to decipher it in the standard Myst Only Smart People May Pass fashion. His father Gehn picks up a blunt instrument and smashes it open.
 * Cassandra Truth is defied in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Professor Kirke. When Peter and Susan tell him they think Lucy is lying about discovering a portal to Narnia in the old wardrobe, the professor suspects she's actually telling the truth (after all, he knows quite a lot about Narnia) and convinces them to trust her.
 * Albus Dumbledore defies Cruel and Unusual Death in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Live Action TV
"The Master: Now then, Doctor! Ooh! New voice! ... Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat where I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me -- I don't think!"
 * Buffy stabs Dracula again when he tries to resurrect, and then reminds him she's still there when he tries again.
 * Mixing this up a bit with Memetic Badass, there's an LJ icon with Spy Daddy from Alias that reads, "I am five steps ahead of you. I kill you in step four."
 * Given that he is volunteering this information, he probably really kills you in step three. Given that I've thought of this, he more likely kills you in step two...
 * So, knowing that, he probably kills you at step one. But that means that he actually kills you right n---
 * He killed you thirty-five minutes ago.
 * Doctor Who, "Utopia":


 * Hannah Montana: Miley is Genre Savvy enough to check for feet under the stalls before talking about her Secret Identity with Lilly in the ladies' room.

Video Games
": "I also took the liberty of studying the tapes of you killing her, and I am not going to make the same mistakes. Four-part plan is this: One, no portal surfaces. Two, start the neurotoxin immediately. Three, bomb-proof shields for me, leading directly into number four: bombs, for throwing at you. You know what, this plan is so foolproof that I'm going to give you a sporting chance and turn off the neurotoxin. I'm joking, of course. Goodbye.""
 * Left 4 Dead has one of the guys who write the the saferoom graffiti proclaim that "WE ARE THE REAL MONSTERS". The guy underneath him says "No, that's the zombies".
 * Have you been outside JACKASS!!
 * I think it's them stupid
 * I hope you are DEAD now
 * I miss the internet
 * Capcom openly defied No Export for You when they worked to clear the legal hurdles and get Tatsunoko vs. Capcom localized overseas.
 * Evil Dead: Hail To The King was pretty much a straight up Resident Evil clone with an Evil Dead look, including the puzzles (though, thankfully, most were much less obtuse and nonsensical than RE). However, in the latter part of the game, Ash, in a cutscene, reads the plaque on a door. After noting the overly complicated puzzle mechanism required to open it, and just shoots the door open with his boomstick in the game's Crowning Moment of Funny.
 * In Freedom Fighters, you can prevent soviet reinforcements from coming in by blowing up the bridges their armored transport cars cross, and blowing up the helipads supplying assault and transport helicopters.
 * Dragon Age II presents this in the guise of one of the final Take a Third Option choices. A player actively seeking to achieve some sort of compromise between two factions is rewarded with a rather large "boom".
 * In Portal 2, the Final Boss defies Boss Arena Idiocy by studying the recordings of how you defeated the previous boss and deliberately setting up the arena to avoid those same mistakes. The trope is then zig zagged by having the boss make an entirely new set of glaringly obvious mistakes.


 * And taken further at the end:
 * Belle defies a Sadistic Choice in Kingdom Hearts II. Xaldin kidnaps her and takes the rose that can lift Beast's curse, forcing Beast to choose which he'll give back. Although Beast chooses for Belle to be safe, she elbows Xaldin, saving herself and the rose.
 * Baldur's Gate II: Irenicus: "No, you'll varrant no villain's exposition from me."
 * Baldur's Gate II: Irenicus: "No, you'll varrant no villain's exposition from me."

Web Comics
"Rayne: I fell down some stairs. Noel: No he didn't. I beat the shit out of him with a smile on my face."
 * A rare example of a double-defiance: this Irregular Webcomic strip.
 * The DM of DM of the Rings will not tolerate Off the Rails when he can help it. Only twice do the players pull it off.
 * Least I Could Do does this with an old classic:

"Elan: Will I ever see you again? Julio Scoundrél: Well, as an older mentor figure, the most likely scenario is that I'd return only to be randomly killed by an enemy of yours so that you can cradle my dying body while swearing revenge — so don't take it personally if I say I sincerely hope we never cross paths again."
 * Tarquin from Order of the Stick is so Dangerously Genre Savvy that he hands out guidelines on defying tropes to his guards.
 * And Cool Old Guy Julio Scoundrel defies Mentor Occupational Hazard.


 * Axe Cop advices the families of crime fighters to hide in the bushes outside their house with guns every night to avert And Your Little Dog, Too.

Web Original

 * Basically the entire point of the Evil Overlord List.
 * In Linkara's "Extreme Super Christmas Special #1" review, the ghosts from A Christmas Carol show up. Linkara flatly tells them that he does not want to make a Yet Another Christmas Carol nor does he need to (he already loves Christmas and comic books), and tells them to promptly GTFO.
 * And in the Nostalgia Critic's review of Babes in Toyland, the Ghost Of Christmas Future tries to do this with him, but the Critic defies it as well. The Ghost gets his revenge by making him review The Grinch next week.
 * In Spoony's review of the Wing Commander movie, he takes one look at the cover (showing Matthew Lillard and Freddie Prinze Jr.) and shrieks in terror. He explains thusly: "You know that thing, you can't trust a book by its cover? Well fuck you! That's books, not movies!"
 * When Film Brain learns that M. Bison's plan amounts to an "evil property development scheme", he interrupts the OF COURSE! saying it doesn't deserve that joke.
 * Part two of this video on Mr. Coat and Friends defied "Previously On...", noting that it was on the internet, and we could just watch part one.
 * The hentai flash site Zone Archive had apparently been pestered to make a something related to My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic. So they did...however not what you would expect. After bringing up a shot of Pinkie Pie in Naughty Tentacles, selecting pretty much any of the animation options causes this to happen. It speaks for itself.

Western Animation

 * The Earthworm Jim episode "Hyper Psy-Crow" almost ends with a "Here We Go Again" ending (actually called that) after a Reset Button of the episode's events. Jim won't stand for it, and just drops a cow on Psy-Crow before he can enact his scheme again.
 * Attempted, but failed in the smoking episode of South Park. Kyle wants to just confess what they did to avoid the usual antics, and it doesn't work.
 * Done successfully in another episode. The main characters agree that they don't want to have any part in the episode's plot. They actually don't (letting secondary characters run the episode), and agree at the end that they're glad that they didn't get involved.
 * At the end of an episode of Darkwing Duck, he's forced to work with Quacker Jack, one of the regular villains, to stop a greater villain. When the greater villain is stopped, Quacker Jack asks if this is where they show the greater villain love and kindness, and he vows to mend his evil ways. Neither Quacker Jack, nor Darkwing think so. They just beat him down further.
 * Raven from Teen Titans is aware of the Bad Powers, Bad People trope, and despite the fact that  she does her best to be a good gal.
 * In the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic episode "The Best Night Ever", the ponies are running away from the chaos they've caused at the Grand Galloping Gala and Rarity drops her glass slipper. Pinkie Pie lampshades the trope of The Girl Who Fits This Slipper and Rarity, who has no interest in meeting Prince Blueblood ever again, screams and crushes the slipper into powder.
 * In the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic episode "The Best Night Ever", the ponies are running away from the chaos they've caused at the Grand Galloping Gala and Rarity drops her glass slipper. Pinkie Pie lampshades the trope of The Girl Who Fits This Slipper and Rarity, who has no interest in meeting Prince Blueblood ever again, screams and crushes the slipper into powder.

Real Life

 * Newt was a Pixar movie scheduled to be released in 2012, which had similar premise to two other movies scheduled to be released first. As a result, the movie was canceled. Fans of Pixar can only hope the movie is brought back to life once this is no longer seen as an issue.