Fearful Symmetry: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Two identical-appearing combatants attacking in perfect synchronization with identical attacks which will often cancel each other out if the two combatants are fighting each other. A favorite of the [[Asteroids Monster]], expect plenty of [[Beam-O-War]] if ki-attacks are in fashion, and [[Spot the Imposter]] if one of the two is an [[Evil Twin]].

This trope runs on the rather dubious idea that since the combatants know everything the other knows they must know what they would do in this situation. This completely ignores the fact that both are facing a completely new situation (being faced with a copy of them-self) and therefore couldn't possibly know exactly how the other will react.

 

 

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' features the angel Israfel, which splits into two and can only be defeated by two pilots using an identical sequence of simultaneous attacks. By way of the dance.

** Not to mention the fight between EVA-01 and EVA-02 in Episode 24.

* In an episode of ''Rockman.EXE'' (''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]''), an evil alternate universe version of one character shows up. The inevitable fight eventually ensues. This trope is taken to the point that when the two use their ''Dice Bombs'', they both roll the same.

* In the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' OVA, Sonic faces Metal Sonic; a robot programmed to think and fight exactly like him. Naturally, they spend half the fight simply canceling each other out. See the quote at the top of the page.

** The battle between Knives and Vash in the finale of [[Trigun]] is similar in this respect.

* [[Saiyuki]] both plays this straight and subverts this in both the anime and the manga when an enemy creates clones of the main cast programmed with their entire moveset, with every move he's observed up until the day prior to when he chose to unleash them on the team. The main characters quickly realize they'll just copy and counter all their known moves and switch to trying different things, making quick work of the clones and rendering them a minor nuisance, chiding the enemy that created them by saying "the us you knew yesterday isn't the us that exists today". Hilariously, in the manga, although Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai figure this out quickly, Sanzo doesn't catch on until they find him and tell him...after enjoying watching him fight against himself for a while.

* In one episode of ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', Akito has a [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]] with the ship's computer, and both combatants take the form of Gekigangar III, the title robot of ''Nadesico's'' [[Show Within a Show]]. They match each other's attacks blow for blow until Akito levels up his avatar to Gekigangar V, a more powerful robot that the computer doesn't know about.

* [[Fan Nickname|Shirosaki]] does this to Ichigo in ''[[Bleach]]'' during their [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]]. Slight subversion in that the hollow is actually capable of using much better techniques with greater finesse, he just wanted to show that he could do everything that Ichigo could just as well.

* An example without the appearance part in ''[[Black Butler]]'' is the duel between Sebastian and Agni in chapter 17.

** ''Countdown: Arena'' is four issues of this trope, as Monarch forces different versions of heroes to fight each other.

*** However, it's not very faithful- while the Wonder Women may be hard to tell apart, the Supermen's powers are very different (one is an "evolved" Kryptonian who can grab the other two's heat vision beams and throw them around by them, while the other is the super-patriotic Superman from [[All Star Batman and Robin]] and the third is Red Son Superman, raised communist) and the others all offer some degree of variation- for example, the Ray fights a Nazi Ray and [[The Authority|Apollo]], one of the Batmen is a vampire (from Batman: Red Rain) and another is a Green Lantern (from Batman: Darkest Knight), one of the Starmen is a monkey and one is a chick, and... well, the list goes on.

 

 

* Having been trained by the same tulku and possessing the same powers, The Shadow and Shiwan Khan manage to do this with bullets. But only once, because they're both a little freaked out by it.

* The fight between Wesley and Cross in ''[[Wanted]]'' has shades of this, such as when they continuously deflect each other's bullets with their shots.

 

 

== Literature ==

* In the novel, The Third Twin - the narrator notes that a brawl between the identical twins could go on for some time as they are almost perfectly matched. Ultimately subverted because it turns out {{spoiler|they're not twins, they're clones... and [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|there's more than one.]]}}

* [[Star Wars|Tahiri]]'s internal conflict with her implanted Riina personality ends up like this once it comes to blows (in ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Reunion]]'') - the two forms are literally identical, except for their handedness. Given the particular rules of this fight, it'd be equal even if one of them somehow outfought the other, as Riina demonstrates by charring herself with her [[Laser Sword|lightsaber]], inflicting an identical wound on Tahiri.

 

 

* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' parodies this between the twins George and Oscar Bluth. each man tries the exact same sequence of movements, just to be blocked in the same way everytime.

* Happens in ''[[Farscape]]'' when Crichton is duplicated. He plays rock-paper-scissors against his other self for hours at a time, and it's always a tie, {{spoiler|even when he plays against a ''recording'' of his other self.}}

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'', the flashback to the Rider War ends with [[Kamen Rider Kuuga|Kuuga Ultimate Form]] and Decade throwing identical punches at each other, creating a [[Sphere of Destruction]]. The image was iconic enough that the ''Climax Heroes'' series of video games uses it as the animation when one character attempts to counter another's [[Finishing Move]].

 

* Although they don't look alike, part of the final battle between {{spoiler|Solid Snake and Liquid Ocelot}} in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots|Metal Gear Solid 4]]'' goes like this.

* One moment stands out in particular. After spending several minutes beating each other to a pulp, Snake and his "brother", Liquid Ocelot, each find themselves facing each other and holding a syringe full of fast-healing nanotech. Instead of jumping back to inject themselves or trying to knock away the other's syringe, they ''inject each other'', knowing that the the other will do the exact same thing. Fearful symmetry, indeed...

* Something similar can happen in ''[[Street Fighter Alpha]] 3''. Adon (trained under Sagat) has a special intro with Sagat, where they both do identical kicks that end up parrying each other.

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQeRRZv8YcM battles] between Dante and his older twin brother Vergil in ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3''; both utilize their agility, stamina, big-ass swords, and Devil Trigger abilities.

** From the same game, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6NRFw3yh8 Dante's doppleganger battle is a more straight-on example.]

* The PC game based on ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'' has one of these as a puzzle. You face a mirror image of yourself, and since he copies everything you do, you can't move forward since the double is in the way. You get rid of him by {{spoiler|casting a suicide spell backwards, which does nothing to you, but the re-reversed spell cast by the double kills him}}.

* In ''[[Mega Man 1]]'', the title character has to fight a robot clone of himself. While his movement is his own, the robot will fire a shot every time Mega Man does.

 

 

 

== Other ==

** There are also a few pairs of cards that seem perfectly matched to one another - for instance, Time Spiral reprinted the 13/13 Krosan Cloudscraper, and the next set (Planar Chaos) has Shivan Meteor, which deals exactly 13 damage.

* When playing black in a game of chess, one possibility is to simply mirror white's moves. This is sometimes called a Russian game.

[[Category:Geometry Tropes]]

[[Category:Twin Tropes]]