Heads or Tails: Difference between revisions

A [[Born Lucky]] character will almost always get the result they want in this. A staple feature of [[The Gambler]] and [[The Trickster]], who frequently settle their disputes this way. Cheaters tend to use a [[Two -Headed Coin]]. [[Heads -Tails -Edge]] is a subtrope.

{{examples|Examples }}

* In ''[[Hunter X Hunter (Manga)|Hunter X Hunter]]'', members of the Spiders flip a coin to settle disputes.

* Two-Face's signature item in ''[[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]]'' is a double-headed coin, except one side is all scratched up. This allows him to easily identify which side landed.

* In a [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|Donald Duck]] story by [[Carl Barks]], "Flip Decision", Donald is conned by a charlatan into believing in [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Flipism |Flipism]]: the idea that all of life's choices can be made on the flip of a coin. Hilarity Ensues, of course, though the coin does show uncanny predictive power.

* Mr. Tako habitually does this in ''[[King Kong vs. Godzilla (Film)|King Kong vs. Godzilla]]'' to make decisions. He even does it when the two monsters first confront each other in an attempt to predict the winner.

* In ''[[Scarface (Film)|Scarface]]'', Guino Rinaldo was the one to popularize this trait as a quirk of gangster and gangster movies in general.

* This happens twice in ''[[The Mote in GodsGod's Eye (Literature)|The Mote in Gods Eye]]''.

{{quote| I flipped a coin to decide, and of course won since I had palmed the coin before the toss. It was going to be action. }}

* In ''[[The Wheel of Time (Literature)|The Wheel of Time]]'' books, Mat, and sometimes Rand, uses this method to make decisions. Since they both have [[Born Lucky|luck-bending]] [[Reality Warper|reality powers]], this has extra significance. Mat in particular has a tendency to get coins landing on their edge.

* In an episode of ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]'', J.D. and Kim can't decide if they want to keep their baby, so they leave it up to a coin toss. [[Irony|It lands]] [[Heads -Tails -Edge|on its edge.]]

* ''[[Magic: theThe Gathering]]'' has [http://magiccards.info/query?q=o%3Aflip+o%3Aa+o%3Acoin&v=card&s=cname a few cards] that require you to flip a coin.

* [[Played With]] in ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Theatre)|Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]''. They periodically flip a coin to make a decision, but it is established early on that the coin always lands heads up, as a symptom of [[You Can't Fight Fate]]. Until the one time it's tails.

* Dante picks up this quirk in the second installment of ''[[Devil May Cry (Video Game)|Devil May Cry]]'' for unexplained reasons, using his coin to determine whether or not he'll help Lucia and Matier, most notably when deciding who between him and Lucia will {{spoiler|go into Demon World and slay the recently-revived devil king Argosax and most likely be trapped there for eternity}}. Lucia notices in the epilogue {{spoiler|that it's [[Two -Headed Coin|a trick coin]]}} and the coin itself [[Chekhov's Gun|later comes in handy]] when Dante {{spoiler|switches his own lucky coin with the Arcana Medaglia [[Batman Gambit|to fool Arius]] near the end of the game}}. Dante retains this trait during his [[Guest Fighter|guest appearance]] in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne (Video Game)|Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]''. Savvy players can actually {{spoiler|recruit Dante for only one Macca if they know about the trick coin}}.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'' Edgar and Sabin flip a coin to determine who will be king of Figaro. Edgar won, by using a [[Two -Headed Coin]], in order to not keep the burden off his brother's shoulders. Later, Celes borrows the same coin against [[The Gambler|Setzer]]. He falls for it.

{{quote| '''Celes''': Heads, you take us to the Empire's capital. Tails, I agree to marry you. }}

* In an episode of ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'' , the main characters enter an alternate universe where coin flips have opposite results causing decisions to be different.

[[Category:Heads Oror Tails]]

[[Category:TropeRandomness Index]]