Opponent Switch/Playing With
Basic Trope: A hero team, in battle with The Psycho Rangers, wins by switching off and having everybody fight someone else's evil counterpart instead of their own.
- Straight: The heroes are in battle with their Evil Twins, and are only managing a stalemate at best. Realizing they can't defeat their own counterparts, they suddenly switch places and attack each other's counterparts, and win.
- Exaggerated: The Psycho Rangers are leading a Curb Stomp Battle against the heroes. Despite being heavily injured and on their last legs, the heroes suddenly switch opponents. The battle instantly becomes a Curb Stomp Battle in the other direction.
- Justified: The heroes each have a weakness that their counterparts share and which another can exploit.
- Inverted': Switching opponents guarantees the villians victory.
- The good guys decide that they should all at least start with their own evil twins.
- Subverted: One of the heroes calls for an Opponent Switch, but this is just a Look Behind You!-style feint to catch The Psycho Rangers off-guard.
- Double Subverted: They call for a switch again. Now that The Psycho Rangers are expecting the feint, the heroes really do switch and catch them off-guard again.
- Parodied: This happens with two armies of clones, where they're all exactly identical to their teammates. Somehow it still works.
- Deconstructed: They switch in pairs, but it doesn't give either side the advantage, as while Good Bob defeats Evil Alice, Evil Bob defeats Good Alice in much the same way, and so on with every switched pair.
- Reconstructed: Switching in groups of three or more, however, proves more effective, allowing everyone on the heroic side to take on someone they have the advantage against.
- Zig Zagged: They start fighting their own counterpart and get nowhere. The heroes switch opponents and gain the advantage. The villains suddenly switch again into the inverse of the matchups the heroes chose, giving them the advantage instead. They switch again and wind up back with their own counterparts. They switch again...
- Averted: Nobody switches.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "See? Switching opponents always works."
- Invoked: The heroes switch as soon as The Psycho Rangers show up, not even bothering to fight their own counterparts.
- Exploited: The Psycho Rangers, expecting this, each train to fight the hero who they think is most likely to switch to them instead of training to fight their own counterpart.
- Defied: The Psycho Rangers attack when the heroes are separated, so they can't reach each other.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Go back to Opponent Switch, but make sure somebody who's reading that page comes to this one.