Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,561
edits
Dangerously Genre Savvy: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| (8 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 10:
But this time, the villain has an attack of [[Real Life]] common sense and uses their [[Genre Savvy|genre savviness]] to their advantage. No need to waste your breath asking [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him]]—they do!
In
A subversion of the [[Villain Ball]]. The opposite of [[Contractual Genre Blindness]].
Compare [[Flaw Exploitation]], and [[Fake Weakness]]. May lead to [[Defied Trope]] and (from there?) [[Reality Ensues]].
{{examples}}
Line 71 ⟶ 73:
* {{spoiler|Gungnir, aka the Nehushtan Armor}} from ''[[Senki Zesshou Symphogear]]'' - right after appearing {{spoiler|she}} tries to kidnap Hibiki and calls Tsubasa on being [[Wrong Genre Savvy]], for thinking that she is the main character here.
* In [[Mobile Suit Gundam]] a group of Zeon infantry proved themselves very genre savvy: while they had a Zaku, they knew it was no match for the Gundam, so they used it to lure the Gundam out, rush it on jetbikes and place time bombs on it, causing a collective [[Oh Crap]] in the crew of the ''White Base'' and failing only because they had no remote to detonate them before Amuro and the crew managed to disable them. It's notable because not only they outperformed anyone else who had tried to destroy the Gundam, but also because colonel M'Quve would use the very same tactic, albeith on greater scale and greater resources, to successfully disable the ''White Base''.
== Comic Books ==
Line 93 ⟶ 94:
* Megatron becomes quite Dangerously Genre Savvy in the ''[[Transformers]]'' comics. At this point Megatron has just been upgraded into a near unstoppable new body, but instead of doing something stupid like going for an all out assault on the Autobots he sets up a complicated and downright brilliant plan that allows him to take control over the minds of humans possessing devestating weapons supplied by the Decepticons, knowing full well Optimus would never even consider harming a human civilian. He later reveals that he's not doing this kill the Autobots, but to emotionally and mentally ''destroy'' them. He also waits to remove Starscream from power, kill Rodimus Prime, and blast the Matrix of Leadership into space so that ''nothing'' is left to stop him before starting up this plan.
* Cobra Commander usally starts out the usual [[Genre Blind]], incompentant villian we all know and love in many ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comics. However we soon find out he's more than capable of learning from his mistakes. When he does, pretty much everyone ends up realizing just how dangerous a lunatic like Cobra Commander can ''really'' be.
== Fan Works ==
* The [[Self-Insert Fic|self-insert protagonist]] of ''[[Sleeping with the Girls]]'' is very much this, probably because he has watched all of the anime and/or read the manga of the universes he lands in, and so knows the tropes that guide them.
* NewChaos from ''[[The Open Door]]'' shows touches of this. For just one example, they are aware that there are universes with even [[Bigger Stick]]s out there, as well as ones which are near their level and can make up the differences with [[We Have Reserves|Reserves]], and try to tread lightly around these.
* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]]'', both the protagonist and antagonist are. In particular, Voldemort ''wrote'' an equivalent of the Evil Overlord List, and made a Horcrux out of the {{spoiler|Pioneer Plaque, which is currently outside the solar system...}}
** Let's not forget Harry's
{{quote|I decided not to do the obvious stupid thing that everyone does in books, try to keep you safe and protected and helpless, and have you get really angry at me, and push me away while you go off on your own and get into even more trouble, and then heroically pull through it successfully, after which I'd finally have my epiphany and realize that blah blah blah etcetera. I know how that part of my life story goes, so I'm just skipping over it.}}
* In ''[[Uninvited Guests]]'', Aizen's latest plan is to {{spoiler|[[Hostile Show Takeover|steal Ichigo's main character status, thus giving everybody on his side]] [[Plot Armor]].}}
Line 110:
* Part of the reason ''[[Imperfect Metamorphosis]]'' is composed of an increasingly elaborate series of [[Gambit Pileup]]s is that nearly every faction is well aware of how things work in Gensoukyou, and do everything they can to counter any opposition (and counter their counters, et cetera). Unfortunately, the [[Genre Blind]]ness of Team 9 repeatedly screws things over, and the one time everyone's Genre Savvy fails them (predicting {{spoiler|Rin Satsuki}} is a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] despite her ''still'' not wanting to hurt anyone) it causes no end of grief.
* ''[[Inner Demons]]'': Even though she believes herself to have already killed the other Element bearers by locking them inside a burning building, the first thing [[Face Heel Turn|Queen!]][[Big Bad|Twilight Sparkle]] does after setting herself up as Equestria's new [[Evil Overlord]] is to dispatch one of her chief lieutenants and a platoon of [[Mooks]] to Ponyville to confirm whether or not they're dead.
*
* ''[[Queen of All Oni]]'': [[Villain Protagonist|Jade]], due to having [[Fallen Hero|once been a hero herself]], knows all the tricks of the trade and is using them to her advantage. For starters, she's avoiding [[World Domination]] plots and focusing on personal gain, since she knows overreaching is what led to past [[Big Bad]]s being made [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]. When she punished [[The Starscream|Valmont]] for his betrayal and realized she'd done so in such a way that the heroes could capture and interrogate him, she immediately cleared out her lair before he could lead them to her {{spoiler|though she made the mistake of leaving Daolon Wong behind to be captured}}. And then there's the [[Batman Gambit]] that was [[Operation Blank|Operation Steel Lightning]], which only failed because of Agent Wisker's [[Spanner in the Works|unforeseen interference]].
* [[Marilyn Manson]] in ''[[Final Stand of Death]]'' seems aware of his fate, but he opts to face it since there's no point of backing out.
* Syndrome from ''[[The Incredibles]]'' doesn't automatically assume [[No One Could Survive That]] when {{spoiler|Mr Incredible falls off the cliff into a waterfall. He throws a grenade after him to make sure. And then sends down some weird scanning drone.}} Doesn't work, but full marks for effort. If he was fully [[Genre Savvy]], he would have then killed his secretary after practically letting her die. {{spoiler|And, of course, not worn a cape}}, and realized {{spoiler|the problem with his plan to have his hyper-intelligent, self-aware, learning killer robot roll over in defeat for him.}} In short, Syndrome is very Dangerously Genre Savvy, but he's also [[Smug Snake|arrogant]] and [[Large Ham|overly theatrical]], and sometimes these two traits will overrule his common sense and make him do something purely for the spectacle and/or ego boost. This, of course, leads directly to his downfall.
** His mooks are actually decently genre
* ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]'': After indulging in typical [[Nothing Can Stop Us Now]] [[Evil Gloating]], the [[Wicked Stepmother|Wicked Queen]] suddenly stops mid-[[Evil Laugh]] to ponder, "But wait!" ''pause'' "There ''may'' be an [[Magic Antidote|antidote]]! Nothing must be overlooked!"
** Unfortunately that's as far as her savvy goes, because she scoffs at the notion that her Show White could actually be revived by true love's first kiss. She says out loud that the dwarfs will think Snow White is dead, and will bury her alive. (In some written versions her remarks are less family-friendly, reasoning that the fairest girl in the land must have had her first kiss, and more, a long time ago.)
Line 123 ⟶ 122:
** Bonus points for realizing that crushing Basil's self-esteem and sending him into a [[Heroic BSOD]] was the most effective tactic to try.
* [[Disney]]'s ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'' has Lady Tremaine. When she realized that Cinderella is the girl that the Prince has fallen in love with, she locked Cinderella up in the tower where no one could hear her cries and kept the key on hand. When that failed (thanks to Cinderella's mice friends), she tripped the foreman carrying the glass slipper so Cinderella wouldn't have proof she was the right girl. That backfired when Cinderella reveals she carried the other half of the pair of slippers.
* The killers in the ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'' series, who murder people using the horror genre tropes and cliches.
* Scott Evil from ''[[Austin Powers]]'' was very [[Genre Savvy]]. When dad wants to use the overly complicated death trap of doom, [[Stating the Simple Solution|Scott offers to shoot Austin]]. Needless to say, Doctor Evil was pissed that his son didn't want to play by the villain's handbook.
Line 154 ⟶ 150:
== Literature ==
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
**
** Another ''[[Discworld]]'' example, this one going both ways, shows up in ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Vetinari
* The Queen in [[Tanya Huff]]'s humorous short story "A Woman's Work..." is always winning because she's not only read the Evil Overlord's List, she's made it the operating manual for her rule. Not accidentally, the story is found in the anthology ''If I Were an Evil Overlord''.
* The Vord Queen. When faced with {{spoiler|Araris Valerian, most dangerous swordsman in Alera}} in [[Chrome Champion]] mode, she freezes him, causing him intense pain.
Line 188 ⟶ 185:
* ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]'': A subtle example: Captain Nemo knows the [[Power Trio]] will attempt a [[Great Escape]] because he don’t want to impose them [[The Promise]] to keep in the Nautilus, so he only let’s the [[Power Trio]] explore islands without any civilized life connection or navigates in the surface of the seas that are either non frequented by ships or are actually affected by a natural event that could cause the death of the escapees (like a submarine eruption or the Maelstrom).
* Dark Lord Mogrash from ''Another End of the Empire'' by Tim Pratt hears a prophecy from a sybil concerning a child born in a certain village: "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". Rather than slaughter the village (he knows a survivor will rise up to behead him in that situation), he makes the village into a testbed of reform. When he finds the three boys most likely to take his empire, he raises them as his own sons instead of trying to kill them. In the end the prophecy still comes true, but in a way that leaves Mogrash alive and a changed man who just wants to enjoy peaceful retirement. He even falls in love with the sybil who sees enough of the future to know that they will be happy together.
== Live-Action TV ==
Line 237 ⟶ 233:
** Princess Diana is denied access to the tournament, so she throws a tantrum and retires to the summer palace… only to participate in secret and winning, to show her commitment and knowing that his mother will forgive her.
* Iain Harrison from Top Shot realizes from day one that as long as the teams remain evenly matched, the competition will remain relatively fair. He therefor sabotages his own team, breeding discord so subtly that the show's own producers failed to notice. Red Team's total collapse eliminates several serious competitors early on {{spoiler|and paves the way for Iain's total victory in Season 1.}}
== Professional Wrestling ==
Line 250 ⟶ 245:
*** Then you'd think Zack Gowen would technically never be able to be eliminated. You know, since he has only one leg, after all.
** Both Macho Man Randy Savage and Bob Backlund have found themselves thrown ''through'' the ropes onto the ground (therefore not being disqualified), and used this to recuperate and wait out a couple more disqualifications before returning to the ring.
* [[
* So far, almost EVERY Money In The Bank winner is this, cashing it in while the champion was [[Kick Them While They Are Down|down and exhausted]] from a grueling match or other beatdown. (The sole exception is [[Rob Van Dam]], who merely went for "home turf" advantage in a no-DQ match at ECW One Night Stand.)
== Tabletop Games ==
Line 259 ⟶ 253:
* Acererak, the lich responsible for the ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]'', clearly knows your average group of adventurers ''very'' well. The whole place is littered with [[Schmuck Bait]] and ways forward that are hidden behind much more obvious paths, the [[Rule of Three]] is [[Exploited Trope|exploited]], and he even {{spoiler|made a [[Fake Boss|low-grade copy of himself]], complete with illusion of a [[Collapsing Lair]] and a bag of loot containing a map to a faraway, nonexistent dungeon}}.
== Theatre ==
* In ''[[A Shoggoth on the Roof]]'' during the song "To Life" (based on [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft's]] ''Herbert West--Reanimator''), when Herbert reveals that in order to reanimate Dr. Halsey, he first had to kill him. While first claiming that he used an [[Zany Scheme|"ingenious plan"]], it is quickly revealed that he "just shot him".▼
▲== Theater ==
▲* In ''A Shoggoth on the Roof'' during the song "To Life" (based on [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft's]] ''Herbert West--Reanimator''), when Herbert reveals that in order to reanimate Dr. Halsey, he first had to kill him. While first claiming that he used an [[Zany Scheme|"ingenious plan"]], it is quickly revealed that he "just shot him".
== Toys ==
Line 268 ⟶ 260:
** He even decides to {{spoiler|take care of his 'Toa problem' before he even ''begins'' his universal takeover so they don't mess up his plans later on.}} Not to mention {{spoiler|realizing that exiling Mata Nui's spirit was a bad idea, so he resolves to go after Mata Nui once he finishes with the Toa.}}
** There's also Tuma, the leader of one of the tribes on the world that Mata Nui ended up on. Now, on this world, [[Gladiator Games]] have become [[Serious Business]] with valuable resources riding on the outcomes. Instead of just sending fighters to win those resources in the arena for him, Tuma used the fights to study the other tribes and then sent in an army to just ''take'' them (having figured out that the tribes were too caught up in their rivalries to ally against him).
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Neptunia]]''{{'}}s entire premise is a parody of video games, and revolves around this trope. Every character in the player's party knows they're video game characters, and frequently correct each other on RPG rules, often making references to other popular RPG's. [[The Fourth Wall]] is broken constantly, such as during the tutorial, when Neptune comments off-handedly that she has amnesia, so she asks if another character could please explain the game mechanics for the player. During Neptune's ultra-flashy and lengthy transformation, she may even shout, "No attacking while I'm transforming!" In another instance, the character IF gets in an argument with a random NPC, upon which she points out that her stats are much higher than his. Neptune threatens the same NPC, but IF corrects her, saying that while they can argue with him, she's not allowed to kill NPC's who are critical to advancing the story. Even deaths of characters not important to the story are foreshadowed this way, as the characters all point out at one point that that the character that's with them doesn't even have his own animations or artwork, so he is obviously going to die soon. When he does in fact die as they expected, Neptune says she totally called it.
** They take it to such a level that, in an early dungeon, Neptune will complain that it's boring fighting in a dungeon with low-level monsters while having no cool skills yet, upon which another character says every RPG has to start out this way, whether they like it or not, or the game would run out of material too fast.
* Gregory Barrows, the ''[[Time Crisis|Time Crisis 4]]'' [[Big Bad]], is unusually [[Genre Savvy]] for a Light Gun game villain; he not only allows his [[Faceless Goons]] to use their secret weapon ''from the VERY beginning of the game'' and outruns the heroes in a race to get more of said weapon, he actually manages to ''hide his true plans until the last level'' (while usually [[Trailers Always Spoil|they're given away on the game's "insert coin" trailer]]). And, on a minor note, the Stealths he stole and sent to {{spoiler|destroy all major cities in the US with nuclear missiles}} are controlled by a separate informatic system, so they can't be hacked by usual computers to be stopped, thus using the [[Evil Overlord List]] rule #50.
Line 285 ⟶ 276:
'''** JARRING CHORD** '''
'''Prism Red:''' "[[What an Idiot!|...Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about that!]]" }}
** ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'', in addition, gives us Mao, who immediately comes up with the following plan to become an [[Evil Overlord]]: get his title changed to hero, thereby invoking [[How to Cheat Death|contractual immortality]], kick the current Overlord's ass via [[Theory of Narrative Causality|Narrative Causality]], and simply take the guy's place when it's all over. Unfortunately, the ''Disgaea'' world itself is Genre
* Again subverting the [[Just Between You and Me|trope]], Jon Irenicus of the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series continually rebuffs the protagonist's attempts to find out any information about him - "No, you warrant no villain's exposition from me." Unfortunately, he leaves his journals (in multiple copies, even) and a disaffected [[Lovable Traitor]] behind, from which you can piece together his evil plan anyway.
** He at least justifies keeping them. Because {{spoiler|he had his soul removed}}, he's suffering from memory problems and keeps the journals as a reminder of what he was doing (or something to that effect).
Line 318 ⟶ 309:
** After conquering a planet and cutting off its military and communications, the Reapers act like it is a war of conquest rather than extermination, and force the conquered governments to come aboard them for "peace talks" (allowing them to be indoctrinated), and thus make the conquered governments ''help'' them in rounding up their citizens. It should be noted that this tactic {{spoiler|backfired big-time against the turians, whose own [[Genre Savvy]] let them take the opportunity to smuggle bombs onto the Reapers and take them down in suicide attacks combined with external military action, which become known in-universe as [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|"The Miracle at Palaven"]]}}.
** Sovereign in [[Mass Effect (video game)|the first game]] proves to be this while monologuing at Shepard. At first glance it appears to be the usual round of [[Bond Villain Stupidity]], with the villain explaining their entire plan to the hero. However, pay attention to what it says; Sovereign is smart enough to lord its superiority over Shepard without actually giving him/her any information that would actually be useful in stopping its plans. Later, when it came time to {{spoiler|attack the Citadel, Sovereign rushed directly into the station, letting the geth fight the fleets circling outside}}.
** Harbinger from [[Mass Effect 2|the second game]] is made of this. In the first ten minutes of the game, it has the Normandy destroyed in a devastating surprise attack and kills Shepard in the process, then spends a good part of the next two years [[Never Found the Body|hunting down the Commander's body]] just to ensure that s/he was out of the way. It never says [[I Want Them Alive|I want him/her alive]], informing its minions "I want his/her body recovered, if you can.", possibly for study, but above all else wants him/her ''DEAD''. It also never ''once'' comes near Shepard physically, instead {{
** [[Magnificent Bastard|The Illusive Man]] dumped an absurd amount of resources into resurrecting Shepard, because he realizes Shepard's [[Magnetic Hero]] tendencies would be a ''Good Thing'' (tm) to have on his side. Furthermore, he does not want to compromise Shepard's personality by implanting a control module, believing that the qualities displayed in Shepard would be diminished if s/he were firmly under TIM's thumb.
* In ''[[Ōkami|Okami]]'', the final boss {{spoiler|''grabs and shocks the godly bejeezus out of Amaterasu in the middle of her victory howl''.}} Admittedly, he does nothing to stop it when {{spoiler|a [[Combined Energy Attack]] brings Ammy back}}, but he still spends the rest of the fight blocking himself off whenever you try to use the Celestial Brush, which is used for all the most powerful abilities.
Line 391 ⟶ 382:
** Saying that, he's not above making the odd massive [[Evil Overlord List]] error... like {{spoiler|honouring his bargain with PM}}.
*** Note that this is a literal case of [[Genre Blindness]]. {{spoiler|Jack assumed that his bargain (giving the Uber Bunny to PM) would still work out in favor, believing that the Uber Bunny would be obedient to him if he ever crossed paths with it again. This fails due to Jack, being a boss character, not being familiar with how RPG equipment works.}}
* [[Truck Bearing Kibble]] (which is very much like [[The Perry Bible Fellowship]] in its humor) has [https://web.archive.org/web/20120915042000/http://truckbearingkibble.com/comic/2008/07/14/down-to-the-wire/ this cartoon] which either features a puppeteer very dedicated to his art, or a puppet who knows that to [[Take a Third Option]] is sometimes the better choice.
* [[Akuma TH]]'s version of [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Robotnik]] wised up and built a mech with an armored cockpit, preventing the heroes from attacking the usual [[For Massive Damage|weak point]]. Unfortunately, {{spoiler|he forgot to take precautions against Shadow simply teleporting into the cockpit with Chaos Control.}} [[Big Bad|The Undertaker]] (No, not [[The Undertaker|that one]]) has this occasionally as well—when he invents an attack that homes in on and chases down a specific target, he designs it so that it will simply ''pass through him'' if the target tries to return it to sender. Unfortunately, they have their moments of [[Genre Blindness]] as well.
* It's the entire premise of ''[[Erfworld]]'', where a gamer geek gets sucked into a reality where the laws of nature seem to have been replaced by fantasy wargame rules. Once he gets the rules figured out, his total disregard for conventional goals and his penchant for being a [[Rules Lawyer]] make him the finest general in the land. For example, early on, Parson needs to find a way to keep Ansom's approaching army from besieging Parson's city. Parson has a much smaller army, so he sends his units to attack just Ansom's siege engines and then retreat. Parson knows that because his side keeps retreating, Ansom will assume he's winning, and therefore won't pay much attention to his minor losses. By the time he realizes what's happening, his siege engines have been decimated, seriously hurting his chances of taking Parson's city by force.
* Mynd from ''[[Bob and George]]'' started out with jokes being made at his expense (he started out [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010303 his introductionary role in the comic] and [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010308 looking for a light switch in the dark]) and [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010707 having not read the comic], but when he goes full tilt on his attack on the Mega Man universe, he becomes a savvy [[Knight of Cerebus]]. In fact, the author [[What Could Have Been|intended to have]] Mynd spend a week finally going on an [[Archive Binge]] on the comic, culminating with [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/comics/0111/011107a.png his discovery] of the [[Evil Overlord List]].
* In ''[[Adventurers!]]'' the party encounters [https://web.archive.org/web/20130615073512/http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/0029.html this enemy] after setting themselves up for the battle with the boss of the Ice Cave.
* Gort the [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[Darken]]'' fame, decides, instead of playing it like a good villain should, that he would just get on of this assassin allies to stab the hero in the back whilst he hero is lecturing his nemesis.
* Vole the Ex-Jager of ''[[Girl Genius]]'' just proved himself to be an example of the trope. [[Boisterous Bruiser|Also,]] [[Dumb Muscle|Smarter than the Average Jagermonster]], when he told Gil and Tarvek, currently surrounded by motion detecting death clanks, that if one of them jumps up to distract the FMADDs,<ref>Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers</ref> the other might be able to get away in time to rescue Agatha. Needless to say, they both tried to make the sacrifice.
Line 406 ⟶ 397:
'''Female Minion:''' {{spoiler|Once we overheard you mention [[Dominic Deegan]], we knew a fake bullying would easily gain your trust.}}
'''Male Minion:''' {{spoiler|And seeing the way you and Mecha Maid interact, we figure [[Les Yay|a little girl-on-girl action wouldn't hurt.]]}} }}
* In ''[[Minion Comics]]'', Von Gernsbach is challenged to reveal his evil plans, and retorts by asking if he should do this because "you will die soon, and so I spill all the plans, and then there is the escaping and the foiling?" He reveals his plans anyway, because [https://web.archive.org/web/20111229003941/http://www.meetmyminion.com/?p=1017 "the ranting. The ranting, it is my greatest love]."
== [[Web Original]] ==
Line 413 ⟶ 404:
** Simon Bar Sinister and Penny Dreadful, two villains from the same setting, never put captured heroes into deathtraps. They simply whip out the guns and start blasting.
* Dr. Diabolik of the [[Whateley Universe]]. He builds plans which actually ''depend'' on the hero (apparently) winning while he (supposedly) gloats. He treats his minions extremely well and always rescues them if they get caught: as a result he is hated by Interpol because his mooks never turn traitor. He has two children: he treats them very well. He is fully aware of the cost of running a large villainous organization and always makes sure his attacks provide himself and his staff with enough loot. He has a robotic arm, but he no longer wears clothing which lets it show, because someone could spot it and use that knowledge against him. He never confronts the superheroes directly, and has never been caught.
== Western Animation ==
Line 493 ⟶ 483:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Abridged Series Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Genres]]
[[Category:
| |||