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Conflict Ball: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.ConflictBall 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.ConflictBall, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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For example: Why is [[The Lancer]] [[Commander Contrarian|disagreeing]] with [[The Big Guy]] on the way to [[Storming the Castle|infiltrate the enemy base?]] The Lancer actually suggested similar plans before. In fact, it's The Lancer's favorite kind of plan, so why is he disagreeing with it now? He never says. It's just so The Lancer can [[Ineffectual Loner|go off on his own, screw up]], [[Distress Ball|get captured and be rescued]], and then [[An Aesop|learn a valuable lesson]] [[The Power of Friendship|about teamwork]], that he will [[Aesop Amnesia|just forget]] the next time he is handed the [[Conflict Ball]].
As we all know, [[Conflict]] is the driving force of a story. As we also know, [[
[[The Load]], the [[Ineffectual Loner]], and [[Commander Contrarian]] often do this, being belligerent and contrary for no apparent reason, or to [[Overcome Their Differences]] with the leader.
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When there is some actual effect compelling the characters to fight all of a sudden, that's a [[Hate Plague]].
Compare [[Rule of Drama]], [[Idiot Ball]], [[Apple of Discord]]. See also [[Out
Now since this trope involves contrivance, this is not technically possible in real life.
{{examples
== All Serial Media ==
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*** The problem with these is that between Yamamoto and Central 46, one will suggest a plan of action and the other will agree out of respect, seemingly without taking into consideration whether this plan was good or not. Also, almost every problem encountered in, say, the movies, the fillers, and many in the canon are their fault. In the Bount arc, it's revealed that Central 46 ordered genocide of the Bounts because they ''might'' eat human souls to get stronger, despite the fact that they didn't really show any definite desire to do this. In the second movie, Central 46 decided that since Hitsugaya and his friend had the same Zanpakuto in two different forms, that one of them needed to die....for some unexplained reason. In canon, Central 46 seemingly did nothing to investigate Urahara and Tessai's innocence, simply declaring them guilty based on opinion and leaving no further investigation. Even yelling at Urahara when he tried to defend himself.
*** Actually they did investigate. When Urahara tried to blame Aizen, Central 46 informed him they had collected witness statements from ''200 shinigami'' to confirm Aizen's whereabouts at the time in question. Urahara didn't have a leg to stand on, especially as he was caught "red handed" with the forbidden hollowfication research (and victims).
* [[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 One Half|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.
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* 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 ''[[War Craft]] 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 ''Wrath of the Lich King'' area of Grizzly Hills is of special note, as its main theme is that you must help your faction to gather as much of the Hills' plentiful resources as possible, while sabotaging the rival faction's attempts to do the same. Both factions want to use said resources to help them defeat the Lich King - which is to say that in Grizzly Hills, the Lich King's two main enemies are locked in a savage war over ''who will get to fight the guy they both actually came there to fight.'' With [[Too Dumb to Live|enemies like these]], the Lich King doesn't need any friends...
** In Icecrown, the Horde and Alliance each have a flying gunship specifically built to take on the Scourge, and yet are used almost exclusively against each other. This culminates in Icecrown Citadel, where they battle over who has the right to take on the Lich King. They do this even though the respective gunship captains are otherwise very sensible sorts who are perfectly aware that every Horde and Alliance soldier who falls in battle becomes a potential recruit for the Scourge.
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* 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]]!
* During one infamous scene in ''[[Tactics Ogre]]', [[
* In ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|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 [[Conflict Ball]] ''is'' the plot to ''Vivisector: Beast Inside''. It starts out with a [[General Ripper]] hiring an [[Evilutionary Biologist]] to create an army of [[Half
* In ''[[Onimusha]]: Dawn of Dreams'', you must fight each one of your potential party members before they can join your party, mostly just because fighting is what the game is all about. This leads to some rather odd, out of character moments from each one before they join you. Roberto, for instance, acts like a complete [[Jerkass]] when you first meet for no particular reason, despite being a perfectly nice guy afterwards.
* 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...
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** 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.]] [[
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* In an episode of the ''[[The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3|Super Mario Bros.]]'' cartoon series, "True Colors", the Koopas spray red paint on half the townspeople, and blue paint on the other half. The Toads begin arguing over petty differences (egged on by two of the Koopa Kids) and end up dividing based on color. Naturally, this allows for [[Fantastic Racism|a corny allegory about racism]].
* In episode 12 of ''[[The Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan]]'', Tom and Anne both get a hold of the ball for a time when Tom refuses to believe Ms. Scarlet Avondale is the crook simply because she's female and Anne insists a woman can be a crook just as easily as a man, as if it's an accomplishment. Anne turns out to be right, but the ''reason'' for the argument is rather silly.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' uses this in a number of episodes, like Rarity and Applejack's escalating tiff in "Look Before You Sleep", and Applejack and Rainbow Dash's competitiveness getting out of hand in "Fall-Weather Friends".
** ''Invoked'' by Twilight in "Lesson Zero" with the hope of being able to solve someone's problem and learn her weekly Aesop. It gets out of hand when everyone in town winds up fighting over [[Artifact of Attraction|her doll]]. In doing so, she ironically ended up ''holding'' the Conflict Ball herself, by dint of her sudden obsession with helping fix others' problems.
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'': Whenever Candace actually goes along with her brothers' latest scheme, she (usually) has a great time and often gets quality time with Jeremy. Yet she is constantly trying to bust them for no apparent reason beyond sibling upmanship (pointless as they genuinely look up to her) and winning her mom's approval.
** Though lately even she has pointed out that the urge is irrational, but she still goes with it. Sometimes, admittedly, the things the boys are doing would be dangerous if they were even a smidgen less competent (showcased in "Phineas and Ferb get Busted" where one misplaced bolt led to most of the house being wrecked. Thank goodness that Just a Dream...), and sometimes she does seem to be in it more because she thinks what they're doing is dangerous (like the all-terrain vehicle bit) or disruptive (driving cattle through downtown).
*** By now, even her failure to ever bust them is lampshaded almost every episode, and she often tries (and usually fails) to resist the "urge to bust" like it's an odd [[G
* ''[[Total Drama Action]]'': The cast seemed pretty cold and mean to Courtney's reappearance even before being shoe-horned in as the season's 'villain'.
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