Determinator/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character refuses to give up, no matter what.

  • Straight: Alice never gives up, no matter the odds.
  • Exaggerated: Alice never gives up, even after Emperor Evulz blows up the Earth and everyone on it.
  • Justified: Alice keeps so much of her strength in reserve to make it look like she's fighting on pure spirit.
  • Inverted: Alice gives up at the first sign of trouble.
  • Subverted: Due to overwhelming odds, Alice finally surrenders after a long, drawn-out battle...
  • Double Subverted: ...but it turns out her surrender was a trick to lull the other side into a false sense of security.
  • Parodied:
    • Alice states that she never gives up...while her teammates all put up white flags.
    • Emperor Evulz finally kills Alice, she returns as a zombie. So Evulz destroys her body, her ghost continues to haunt him. Evulz uses his sorcery to contain her spirit in a small orb, but the orb would jump at his face whenever Evulz is nearby. He throws the orb Alice into ocean, but his teeth chip that evening when accidentally biting a small orb in a fish's belly.
  • Deconstructed:
    • Alice's refusal to give up takes a heavy psychological toll on her troops, as they'd like to surrender and at least hope to be treated well by their captors.
    • Alternatively, Alice's refusal to give up is fairly foolish, as the hope of winning is only in her head.
    • Alice's refusal to give up takes a heavy psychological toll on her troops, who eventually leave her to fight the enemy herself. The series ends with her facing thousands of soldiers by herself, when one pulls out a gun and shoots her in the forehead, killing her instantly.
    • Alice sustains heavy injury in battle, and refuses to retreat and regroup while there's still a fight to be won. Her weakened condition quickly proves detrimental, and leads to a swift defeat for her side.
    • Alice realizes that this kind of attitude, over time, becomes really, really bad for your health. Some time after the battle, Alice is forced to deal with the personal consequences, with a permanently and irrevocably crippled body.
    • Alice has all her limbs chopped off, while trying to fight, allowing the enemy to get past her, while she taunts them.
    • Alice will do whatever it takes to achieve her goal, even if it means crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
  • Reconstructed: Alice's refusal to give up resonates with the people of Troperia, who suddenly start turning the tide of their oppressors due to her inspiration. The sight of her wound-covered body also strike fear among enemy, they have no idea how to stop her if all of those injuries don't.
  • Zig Zagged: Alice gives up, but it turns out to be a trick to give the enemy a false sign of security. So they fight her again and this time, she really does seem to give up. But then it turns out to be part of another plan...
  • Averted: Alice surrenders, but only after a fair amount of fighting.
  • Enforced: "Alice is The Hero, right? Heroes never give up!"
  • Lampshaded: "I never give up, even in spite of overwhelming odds!"
  • Invoked: A villain keeps on fighting Alice, knowing that she'll never give up - he's hoping she will fight herself to death.
  • Defied: A massively powerful villain forces Alice to surrender.
  • Discussed: "This is the sixtieth time we're attacking Emperor Evulz. Her constant stamina is very tiring, don't you think?"
  • Conversed: "Wow, character Alice just never really seems to give up! I wish I was more like her."
  • Played for Laughs:
    • Emperor Evulz sees Alice charging his men all by herself. Because of the fact he knows she'll never give up, he's afraid, although his odds are overwhelming - in fact, he can be seen shouting for his mummy.
    • Alice is a determinator not only in war, but in EVERY aspect of her life. She'd spend days not eating or sleeping just to, say, win a Nintendo Hard video game.
  • Played for Drama: Along with her soldiers, Alice charges Emperor Evulz his men, despite the enemy having overwhelming odds. She could've waited a little longer to gain more soldiers, but she didn't do so, being too determined to destroy the enemy. The men keep on fighting, until eventually, they all rout and Alice is the only one standing...

I'll go back to Determinator, even if there's a whole field of air, land and sea mines between me and that page!