Dangerously Genre Savvy/Playing With

• Main
• Laconic
• Playing With
• Quotes
• All Subpages
• Create New

Basic Trope: A character, typically a villain, is Genre Savvy and uses this to deadly effect.

• Straight: The Big Bad, Mr. Razor, refuses to explain his evil plan to a captured hero, opting to put a bullet through the hero's brain instead.
• Exaggerated: Mr. Razor has Medium Awareness, and uses that to his advantage.
• Justified: Mr. Razor is Wicked Cultured, and loves stories of the same sort he's in.
• Inverted:
  • Genre Blind mixed with Too Dumb to Live.
  • Alternatively, a Genre Blind Spanner in the Works, who defeats his enemies out of pure cluelessness.
• Subverted: Mr. Razor puts a bullet through the hero's brain and throws him out with the trash. Unfortunately, the hero was a Superhero who regenerates the wound and is soon back for vengeance.
• Double Subverted: Once Mr. Razor realizes he's dealing with a superhero, he has his contacts determine his enemy's Kryptonite Factor and has some Depleted Phlebotinum Shells custom made for the purpose.
• Parodied: Contractual Genre Blindness
• Deconstructed:
  • Mr. Razor thinks he's Dangerously Genre Savvy, but he's just a guy who watches too much TV. Turns out the real world doesn't work that way.
  • Mr. Razor's Genre Savvy makes it impossible for the heroes to get a meaningful win against him, resulting in a Downer Ending. In addition, the audience loses interest in the show because they're tired of the villain always winning.
• Reconstructed: Mr. Razor isn't intentionally using genre tropes to his advantage; he's simply a very intelligent, cunning man who is using human nature to his advantage, and avoiding any stupid mistakes.
• Zig Zagged: Mr. Razor is Dangerously Genre Savvy when dealing with things in his realm of knowledge (cops, master detectives, rival crime lords), but is still just learning to deal with the stranger enemies he's picked up. Sometimes the tricks that work against the former work against the latter as well, but sometimes they backfire miserably.
• Averted: Mr. Razor is a standard villain; basically intelligent but with a Fatal Flaw that can be exploited.
• Enforced: Mr. Razor is the Knight of Cerebus, and making him Dangerously Genre Savvy is the best way to make it clear Nothing Is the Same Anymore.
• Lampshaded: "I'm not a Saturday morning cartoon villain; I have no intention of telling you my plan."
• Invoked: Mr. Razor makes a point of reading up on what fates befell those who preceded him to avoid meeting the same fate.
• Defied: The vast majority of heroes and villains in the world have Contractual Genre Blindness, and will unite and stop playing nice if anyone breaks the rules of engagement between the two sides.
• Discussed: "Sam's dead! I think the killer has watched as many cheesy horror films as we have!"
• Conversed: "This bad guy has really read up on his villainy!"
• This trope exploits itself.
• Played for Laughs: Mr. Razor realizes that, ultimately, the only way for a villain to guarantee survival is to engender audience sympathy and be as inoffensive as possible. Taking Dangerously Genre Savvy to its utmost, logical conclusion, he changes his name to Mr. Butterknife and becomes a Genre Savvy Harmless Villain.

---

Back to Dangerously Genre Savvy