Reality Ensues: Difference between revisions

Maybe [[Our Vampires Are Different|Your Vampires Aren't Quite So Different After All]]. Maybe the villain is [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]], or the [[Mooks]] can [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|actually shoot straight]]. Perhaps the [[Love Interest]] is ''not'' [[Immune to Bullets]], or perhaps talking is not, [[Talking Is a Free Action|despite what you may have been led to believe]], a free action. Or maybe the protagonist should have been better about cleaning up his/her loose ends, because [[Offscreen Inertia]] is actually ''not'' in effect and those [[Butt Monkey]] [[Mooks]] are angry. Or the plucky [[La Résistance]] [[Rock Beats Laser|has beat the Empire despite being technologically inferior,]] only to realise too late that [[Insane Admiral|Admiral I.N. Sane]] ''hasn't'' forgotten his [[Kill Sat|orbit-to-surface]] [[Nuke'Em|nukes]]. [[Overly Long Gag|Or...]] Whichever, it's that moment when the audience goes "[[Fridge Logic|that makes logical sense]] but [[The Coconut Effect|our tropes don't cover]]..."

 

 

 

{{Unmarked Spoilers}}

 

{{examples}}

* Sprite did a series of commercials based around subverting [[Cereal-Induced Superpowers]] by invoking this trope. One features a kid spotting NBA player Grant Hill drinking Sprite, and thinking Sprite will make him a basketball player—which he quickly disproves by drinking Sprite and then attempting a slam dunk, failing, and falling on his ass.

{{quote|'''Announcer''': If you want to make it to the NBA... practice. If you want a refreshing drink, obey your thirst. Sprite.}}

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpReQprVjag One depressing European ad against child abuse] had a man [[Amusing Injuries|beating a cartoon kid]] for a while before cutting to a real, unconscious kid on the floor and the legend "Real children don't bounce back".

 

** While Blitz Stanford, an enormous [[Those Wacky Nazis|neo-Nazi]] is extolling the virtues of his [[Hand Cannon|enormous Luger]], Revy {{spoiler|takes the time to reload before promptly shooting him}}.

** There's also Lotton The Wizard, who gets shot out-of-hand while attempting to make a big entrance. {{spoiler|Luckily, he was [[Genre Savvy|the only one who thought to wear a bullet-proof vest]]}}.

* In ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]'', {{spoiler|Train is falling off a building and Rinslet jumps off to catch him}}, ending when Rinslet comes to a sudden stop at the end of the rope - and actually does tendon damage to her arm. Turns out inertia matters after all...

* In ''[[One Piece]]'' during the Thriller Bark arc, Chopper points out that the zombies' inability to feel pain is actually a weakness. Even if they can keep getting up from normal damage, they don't know what's ''really'' hurting them. {{spoiler|Oz's limbs all end up broken, and he can't understand why he can't move anymore.}}

** On the flipside, Saki may have been an abusive piece of shit, but she was still Kousei's mother, and the death of a parent can be badly traumatising. Kousei has little emotional support; friends, no matter how close, can only be so much help, and Kousei's father is away at work almost all the time while he has no siblings. Whatever one thinks of Kaori's methods, this rut wasn't something Kousei could have gotten out of by himself.

** Kaori is an [[Ill Girl]] with {{spoiler|a terminal degenerative illness.}} Late in the series, some hope appears in the form of {{spoiler|a high-risk surgery.}} You'd think that since she's the love interest and made a promise to play together with Kousei again, everyone is going to work out, right? It doesn't, because reality doesn't load the dice even though you check the boxes of narrative convention.

*''[[5 Centimeters per Second]]'' is something of a self-rebuttal to Shinkai's earlier works, which had the [[Star-Crossed Lovers]] hold on despite the fantastic obstacles in their way. Here, Takaki and Akari's [[Long-Distance Relationship]] fails, not because of some exotic cause or a romantic antagonist's sabotage, but out of the depressingly mundane cause of physical distance leading to emotional distance and the both of them not doing enough to fight for it.

* ''[[Your Name]]'':

** He also doesn't benefit from the expected results of [[David Versus Goliath]], especially since he is not established at any point to have fighting skills. Unlike other cases, where the David might be able to use agility and quick thinking to defeat physically superior opponents, Hodaka is quickly subdued once bigger adult men get ahold of him, and he needs an ally's intervention or some other way of evening the odds.

** Hina gets caught by a news crew clearing the sky for a major festival from the rooftop of a famous landmark, and orders rise sharply as a result of the newfound fame. In a normal story, this would be the time the scrappy crew gets down to brass tacks, goes through a [[Hard Work Montage]], and comes out more successful than before. In reality, though, a sudden surge in demand is something that can be hard to handle, especially for small operations, and that is exactly what happens; they get overwhelmed and need to call for a timeout.

 

** Until an 11-year-old girl starts tearing apart the mob singlehandedly. But even then, reality finally catches back up with her when she fights the boss, who has trained in martial arts. Also, the Batman of the movie uses guns and armor instead of impossible crimefighting skills.

* A common situation with superheroes since the end of the [[Silver Age]]. And it has resulted in some great stories, but fails in others. The problem being that [[Necessary Weasel|some of the basic tenets of superheroes have to be kept in order for the genre to work]].

* [[Ultimate X-Men]]'s Colossus ended [[Reality Warper]] Proteus' reign of terror by... slamming a car down on him.

** Similarly, the villain in [[Grant Morrison]]'s ''[[Seven Soldiers]]'' event. Time-travelling jellyfish-totem Gothic Queen versus runaway car. And it ''rocked''.

** It might also have to do with the fact that Batman and Wonder Woman have a similar tactical mindset, and with Wonder Woman's superior abilities, she of course has the advantage.

* Famously, when Gwen Stacy was thrown off a bridge and [[Spider-Man]] caught her. [[Not the Fall That Kills You|The sudden stop made her neck break]]. [[Word of God]] says that the long fall into the water would have killed her just as well, averting [[Soft Water]] too.

* In ''[[Common Grounds]]'', [[Let's You and Him Fight]] situations between people with superpowers end up with at least one corpse, along with a subsequent trial and lengthy prison term. You do not get a free pass because you were a hero, you do not escape prison every other week to wreak your vengeance or operate as an outlaw vigilante, you '''do''' spend several years behind bars and, once released, have to scrounge in the trash for food because an ex-con fresh out of jail for murder has plenty of trouble finding gainful employment. However, on the upside, the death in that fight will inspire the foundation of an international chain of coffee shops where Heroes and Villains can chat amicably over donuts.

* In the Zatara story found in the original [[Action Comics|Action Comics #33]], a villain attempts to steal a platinum idol so that he can sell it and become rich. More then one person notes that putting the statue on the market would cause the price of platinum to plummet.

 

* The ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanfic ''The Night Of Days'' (in which [[WW 2|American Airborne troops and German defenders are teleported from Normandy]] into Equestria by a reincarnation of [[Bigger Bad|Nightmare Moon]]) has her luring scattered German soldiers to her castle ruins, where she then tries to manipulate them and gradually take them over, in order to make them fight for her and put her on the Equestrian throne. The German commanding officer is... [[Shut UP, Hannibal|not amused]]. He nods at first, [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?|but then he pulls out his sidearm]] and [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|nonchalantly guns her down, injuring her severely]]. Then he declares that the soldiers under his command would be serving no one but "Führer and Vaterland" and leads them on a campaign to [[Day of the Jackboot|colonise Equestrian territory]] for [[Nazi Germany]].

** [[Word of God]] says that he wanted to avert exactly what another fanfic he once read did; having the Germans comply with Nightmare Moon without as much as a question. He said he disliked it exactly because it would have been completely unrealistic.

* In ''[[Tiberium Wars]]'', reality doesn't so much ensue as it ambushes you in an alley, beats you over the head with a lead pipe, and then rifles through your pockets for [[Anyone Can Die|more characters to viciously and mercilessly kill]].

** It's worth pointing out that the most noble and heroic death thus far ({{spoiler|Lieutenant Wallace's [[Last Stand]] against the oncoming Nod army}}) ends up being ''subverted.''

* Subverted in ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5659618/1/Mikami_VS_The_Cybermen_A_Tale_Most_Epic Mikami Vs. the Cybermen]''. After eight days straight of writing, he mentions how surprised he is that he hasn't run out of ink. {{spoiler|[[Double Subverted]] right afterwards, when he dies of thirst.}}

* In the ''[[Death Note]]'' fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8065617/1/ Markings of The Mind]'' [[Teen Genius]] Light Yagami is placed in solitary confinement for fifty days... [[Sanity Slippage|and goes stark raving mad.]]

 

* In ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2]]'', {{spoiler|Po thinks he can use kung fu to make his ordinary straw hat into a disc of destruction to cut the chains holding the furious five from half a mile away}}. [[Hilarity Ensues|He ends up looking like an idiot]].

** Prior to that, Po tries to heroically tell [[Big Bad|Lord Shen]] about how he's going to {{spoiler|rescue the Furious Five}} and stop him, only to show that Shen can't hear a word of it thanks to Po being so far away.

* In the animated film ''[[Wizards]]'', good wizard Avatar confronts his [[Evil Twin]] Blackwolf. {{spoiler|At first everything seems to set up for a Wizard's Duel. Then Avatar, who up to this point has been a pacifist, suddenly pulls a gun and shoots Blackwolf dead, adding [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|"I'm glad you changed your name, you son of a bitch!"]] }}

* Although less violent than most examples, this ends up happening in ''[[Ratatouille]]'' -- {{spoiler|after everything seems set for a [[Happily Ever After]], it gets derailed into more of a [[Bittersweet Ending]]. Despite everyone's efforts to revive Gusteau's, it's shut down for good when the Health Inspector is entirely unmoved by the fact that the rats in the kitchen are perfectly sanitary and are cooking the food. Remy, Linguini, and Colette ''do'' bounce back and open up another restaurant, though, keeping it from falling into a full [[Downer Ending]].}}

** Linguini and Colette's [["Falling in Love" Montage]] is [[Mood Whiplash|rudely interrupted]] when Remy falls off Linguini's head, and is abruptly faced with the very real danger of being a rat in the middle of the street.

* In the [[Final Battle]] of the first live action ''[[Kekko Kamen]]'' film the title character is fighting a very butch mook who is revealed, with much gloating from the [[Big Bad]], to be immune to all of her powers. The heroine then picks up a gun from a fallen mook and uses it.

** ''"[[Turbine Blender|NO CAPES!]]"''

** Really, the central premise behind the movie itself is somewhat similar to [[Watchmen]]: the real-life consequences of superhero activities. Mr. Incredible saves a suicidal man, who promptly sues him for the injuries he caused. He stops a runaway train, and is sued for damages. Holding superheroes responsible for the collateral damage they inadvertantly cause is the reason they disappear.

* ''[[Escape From L.A.]]'' Snake goads some mooks to see how fast they can shoot, by getting them to put their guns and not fire till his can hits the ground. When he flips it he shoots them all before it hits the ground.

* In ''[[Wild Wild West (film)|Wild Wild West]]'', when West is up against a mook, said mook fights with elaborate kicks and punches, saying "I learned that from a Chinaman!" West simply hits him over the head with a shovel, stating "I made that up."

 

* ''[[Madame Bovary]]'' did this in 1856, making it [[Older Than Radio]]. The eponymous madame [[Thinks Like a Romance Novel|reads way too many romance novels]], and is convinced the world works that way. Naturally, [[Wrong Genre Savvy|it doesn't]]. The love affairs she has ultimately go nowhere, because the men she's seeing aren't the type to drop everything and whisk her away. The extravagant lifestyle she leads is done just to [[Becoming the Mask|delude her from sadness]]. And when she finally can't take it anymore, she takes poison, [[Perfect Poison|expecting it will kill her quickly and romantically]]... and that [[Squick|doesn't go so well either]]. The whole novel was a [[Deconstruction]] of tropes associated with Romanticism that the bourgeois classes loved to read, and ended up paving the way for Realism.

** There is a [[Recycled in Space|having Portugal as the setting]] version of ''Madame Bovary'' named ''Primo Basílio'',<ref>''Cousin Bazilio''</ref> written by Eça de Queirós, that has almost the same plot. But the ending is very different: {{spoiler|the Madame Bovary's expy, Luísa, is blackmailed by her own servant who threatened to reveal to her husband and is driven to get a stress-induced disease. She deeply regrets having betrayed her husband, has to shave her head, which in an Brazilian TV-adaptation was considered one of the most tearjerking moments of the history of Brazilian TV, and ultimately dies. There is no [[Power of Love]] to save her, there is no [[Black Comedy]] like the original, only pure [[Tear Jerker]]. In the last scene, Basílio, the eponymous adulterer is shown that he didn't care with Luísa and he should have brought "Alphonsine", making him '''''the''''' biggest [[Jerkass]] [[Karma Houdini]] of the entire Portuguese-language literature.}}

** Or in ''Mattimeo'', where a gang of slave traders disguise themselves as entertainers to sneak into Redwall Abbey and abduct the children (for underground mining labour). {{spoiler|At an ensuing festival inside the abbey grounds, they manage to spike all of the partygoers' drinks, and get them to drink them at the same time by calling out a toast.}} All seems to be working according to plan.

::'''''Or does it?!'''''

* In ''Retribution Falls'' the heroes {{spoiler|find the legendary pirate port Retribution Falls to be exactly what a city built by pirates would be like: a badly built [[Wretched Hive]].}}

* In ''[[War of the Dreaming]]'', there is an [[Out-of-Genre Experience|scene]] where a Beatrix-Potteresque [[Talking Animal|Mouse]] shows up to rescue one of the heroes. Then the setting changes back and Mouse {{spoiler|promptly gets stepped on.}}

* Used numerous times in the ''[[Dresden Files]]'' book ''Changes'', nearly always as [[Trauma Conga Line|yet another way to horribly torture Harry]]. Example: the [[Our Vampires Are Different|Red Court]] sends in assassins to take him out. Rather than attacking him directly the way that, say, the gruffs did, they {{spoiler|pay lesser thugs to try to kill him ''over and over'', then set his house on fire. He barely manages to get his elderly neighbors out... then falls off a ladder and breaks his back, leaving him paralyzed. He has to make a [[Deal with the Devil]] [[Fair Folk]] to fix it.}}

** In the short story ''Day Off'', Harry goes home to find a group of weak-talented wizard wannabes waiting outside his home. Apparently, Harry dispelled a bad luck curse they'd placed on some lady (which was so weak that Harry was mostly convinced wasn't real, and dispelled it to give her peace of mind). They sneer and threaten him, with the leader demanding that Harry prepare to defend himself, before he and his posse begin gathering their power to attack him. Harry responds by shrugging, drawing his .44 revolver, and pointing it at them. At their shocked disbelief, his response is "I'm a'fixin' to defend myself."

* In ''[[The Witcher]] Saga'' Geralt tells a story about when he was young, he wanted to pose as a knight when dealing with thugs mugging a merchant and his daughter. The downright brutal method he used to dispatch the thug's leader ended in daughter fainting from horror, and merchant running away from him along with the bandits.

* In ''[[Wearing the Cape]]'', Hope/Astra is given a lesson in momentum and force and why it's a good idea to know how tough something is before you fly yourself into it like a missile. The book is actually full of little reality-checks, like superheroes getting warrants before going after supervillains, villains who's lawyers get the charges dropped, and strangers committing random acts of badness.

* At the end of Brandon Sanderson's ''[[Mistborn]]'', they kill the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|who betrayed the hero of ages past, stole the power of the Well of Eternity for himself, dislodged the Earth from its proper orbit, brought up volcanoes that constantly choke the air with ash, created a permanent underclass of slaves, and turned HIS OWN FRIENDS into monsters.}} Good riddance, right? Well, no. The second book then details the political consequences of such a sudden power vacuum, and trying to go from a totalitarian dictatorship directly to a constitutional monarchy (hint: [[It Got Worse|a lot of people die]].)

* In the ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' novel ''On Basilisk Station'', the Bronze Age-tech Medusans manage to brutally kill some Manticorans by swarming them. Then, the Manties bring out the heavy weapons and air support. The aliens die. And die. And die some more.

* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series, there are a number of points where the protagonists forget basic things as a result of their panic at a situation. A prominent example is in the first book, when Hermione is so freaked out at the sight of Harry and Ron being strangled by the Devil's Snare that she forgets that she can use magic to save them. This is given a callback in the last book, when they are trying to get into the Shrieking Shack via the tunnel by the Whomping Willow. Ron panics because there's apparently no way to freeze the tree, prompting Hermione to remind him that they can use magic.

* ''[[A Certain Magical Index]]'':

** Mikoto tries to take down the Level 6 Shift Experiment on her own, refusing to let anyone else know about it. But even a Level 5 esper with [[Shock and Awe|power over electricity]] can't do much against a project with the resources of an entire city behind it.

 

* ''[[Angel]]'': Lindsey has a big showdown planned with the eponymous hero, only to be outraged when he's {{spoiler|shot and killed by sidekick Lorne.}} "Goodnight, folks."

** When the gang finds out that Knox is {{spoiler|responsible for Fred's death}}. Angel starts a speech to Knox about how [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|they're the good guys and they don't kill]], and in the middle of it {{spoiler|Wesley shoots Knox dead}}. He has principles, but they don't extend all the way to showing mercy to the guy who killed the woman he loved.

** In the same episode, Illyria travels to her temple to release her army and take over the world again. Angel follows her. expecting to encounter a horde of hellbeasts, only to walk into a dusty, empty ruin, with a distraught Illyria in the middle. [[Sarcasm Mode|Apparently, if you leave a building full of people sealed off from the rest of reality for eons, they die and the building falls down.]]

** In the season 3 premiere, the [[Monster of the Week]] knocks [[The Chick]] down and does a speech about how his realm is inescapable. Then the girl gets up and pushes him off the edge.

** Midway through season 2, a demon is hyped throughout the two-part episode as being so strong, that [[No Man of Woman Born|no weapon forged by man could defeat him]]. {{spoiler|He is blown apart in one shot by an anti-tank missile. The mankind forged a lot more in the past six hundred years. Besides, while some components of the delivery system are arguably "forged by man", the part that hurts isn't. }}

* The series ''[[16 and Pregnant]]'' deals heavily with this, as the young mothers-to-be face the reality of their decisions. Turns out that [[Babies Make Everything Better|babies do]] '''NOT''', in fact, make everything better.

* In the [[Star Trek]]: [[Deep Space Nine]] episode Blaze of Glory, Sisko and a wounded [[Anti-Hero|Michael Eddington]] have rescued several surviving members of the maquis from a planet controlled by the Dominion. Due to his wound Eddington asks to be left behind to [[Heroic Sacrifice|hold off the Dominion soldiers]] in order to [[Death Equals Redemption|give the others time to escape]]. However, as he gets up for the last stand ([[Theme Music Power-Up|even joking if anyone knows a rousing song to play]]) he is promptly shot at least half a dozen times in the chest and thrown against a wall.

* In the first episode of ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'''s second season, Starbuck tries to shoot Sharon for being a Cylon, and then Starbuck and Helo have a tense confrontation where Helo convinces her not to shoot Sharon because Sharon is pregnant and different from the other Cylons. Just in time to hear the engine noise as Sharon high-tails it out of there in Starbuck's stolen Raider - because, of course, when your baby's life is at stake, you're not going to stand around and wait to see if the crazy lady with the gun changes her mind.

** In season 3 Raylan has gotten used to bullying the local criminals for information because none of them want the trouble he can bring on them and it would be utter stupidity to kill a US Marshall. However, he does this one too many times with Limehouse who points out that Raylan is alone in a remote mountain community where everyone is utterly loyal to Limehouse. Raylan could shoot Limehouse but then he will be shot down himself by the dozen armed men surrounding them. They can then make his body disappear without a trace and with all the enemies Raylan has, they probably will not be even the main suspects in his disappearance.

* [[Chappelle's Show]] : "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong" skits are all about this.

* A short commercial parody (of ''Snuggle'' brand fabric softener) on MTV's ''[[The State]]'' features a woman discussing how her fabric softener has improved the quality of her laundry. Then when she sees a plush bear extolling the virtues of the product, she promptly begins screaming and beats the unnatural thing to death.

* The [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]] usually glosses over the consequences of normals fighting supers, but ''[[The Falcon and the Winter Soldier]]'' shows in unflinching detail what happens when a normal gets [[Punched Across the Room]] into a pillar. {{spoiler|He dies instantly, or at least near enough to it that he doesn't get to say any last words.}}

 

* Swedish songwriter Lars Winnerbäck tells us what really happened to some of [[Astrid Lindgren]]'s characters in his "Balladen om Konsekvenser" (The Ballad of Consequences).

** Specifically: [[Pippi Longstocking]] is in jail for assaulting a police officer, Rasmus is a homeless alcoholic, [[Ronja the Robber's Daughter|Ronja]] is screaming her head off in a mental hospital, and [[Big Bad|Kato]] from ''Mio My Mio'' [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|runs a mindless commercial TV channel]].

* The song "Scalp" by Atmosphere features the narrator describing his night. He goes to the bar and meets his friend Sonny, who offers to pay him for retrieving a package from a tattoo parlor. One expects the protagonist to follow through with his task, possibly finding something surprising in the package along the way, but instead he is killed in a car crash pretty much immediately after leaving the bar. Which is what happens when you drink $50 worth of alcohol and then drive at night.

* [[Will Smith]] had a hit song in the 80s with "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson." ("[[One-Hit Kill|One punch, that's all it took]] (oooh), [[Curb Stomp Battle|He hit me in my ribs and my insides shook.]]")

 

* [http://i.somethingawful.com//sasbi/2006/09/jumpman16/Unkempt.jpg This picture.]

** This is averted by way of more reality: the reason Batman's enemies don't work together to beat him is because they're a bunch of sociopathic murderers and backstabbers who don't play well with others.

 

* Any tabletop RPG player knows this can happen to the heroes or the villains. It doesn't matter how dramatic the story has made it, one lucky roll from either side can make a climactic showdown [[Chunky Salsa Rule|very, very brief]]. The extent to which this happens can tell a lot about the nature of a game and GM. [[wikipedia:GNS theory|GNS theory]] covers this as well; Simulationists want this trope in force, while Narrativists want "plot first."

** Games that heavily avert this trope (such as ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' and ''[[Star Wars]] D20'') tend to create a very heroic, action-movie like feel.

** ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' generally averts this trope. However, when it comes to 2.5 Edition, if one were to use the [[Critical Hit]] system from ''Player's Options'', players can find themselves in need of [[Death Is Cheap|a resurrection spell]] fast. And, [[It Got Worse|to make matters worse]], depending on the type of damage inflicted (e.g., [[Hollywood Acid|acid]], [[Man On Fire|fire]], [[Gale Force Sound|vibration]]) a player may require a [[reincarnation]] spell, [[Make a Wish|a wish]] [[Be Careful What You Wish For|spell]] or worse yet, [[Killed Off for Real|a new character]] [[Final Death|to continue playing]].<ref>After all, what do you expect to happen when a 3rd level illusionist receives [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|TRIPLE damage]] from stone-digging claws of a rampaging [[Smash Mook|umber hulk]]? Not to mention the damage [[Impromptu Tracheotomy|an arrow through the throat can do]], the horrific effects of the various kinds of [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragon's]] [[Breath Weapon|breath]], the many [[Universal Poison|venomous/poisonous beasts]], the [[Brown Note|long term effects]] [[Telepathy|of getting]] [[Mind Rape|hit with a]] [[Psychic Powers|psionic attack]], and let's not even get started with [[The Undead]] and the many ways they can kill a PC [[One-Hit-Point Wonder|in one turn or less]]. While we're on the subject of creatures of the night, getting mauled by a [[Our Werebeasts Are Different|werebeast]] will more likely end in a [[Gorn|bloody death]]; becoming a therianthrope is a rather remote possibility.</ref> [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|When]] [[Killer Game Master|played straight]], D&D can be [[Everything Trying to Kill You|far more]] [[Death World|dangerous]] than [[Real Life]], since [[Wizard Needs Food Badly|you can starve]], [[Hostile Weather|die from exposure]], [[Super Drowning Skills|drown]] [[Captain Obvious|(take off your armor before you attempt to swim)]], and having a [[Light'Em Up|light spell]] [[Eye Scream|cast on]] [[Blinded by the Light|your eyes will]] [[Sense Loss Sadness|blind you]], possibly permanently. And occasionally [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]].

 

* ''[[Into the Woods]]'' is all over this trope. Not only does it show the realistic consequences of fairy tales (particularly in regards to [[Fourth Date Marriage]] and [[Parental Abandonment]]), it also shows just how dangerous some fairy tale characters can be in a more realistic setting. When a giant comes down from the beanstalk, the audience goes "hey, cool!" at first, until she starts actually stepping on people. It's ''not'' played for laughs.

** Specifically, it's Act II that does this. [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|Act I is frequently used for school productions]], as it's a fairly straightforward mash-up of recognisable fairy-tales that ends with a musical number celebrating how all the heroes have had their dreams come true and now they're going to live [[Happily Ever After]]... [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|and then Act II opens]], and everyone is faced with the fallout of their decisions.

 

* The [[Final Boss]] of ''[[The Darkness]]'', Uncle Paulie, is built up as the catalyst for all of the misery in Jackie's life, from {{spoiler|the death of Jackie's girlfriend}} to getting blown out of a window by a bomb. Jackie finally makes it to Paulie, and {{spoiler|Paulie goes down just as easy as the [[Mooks]] Jackie had been slaughtering to reach him. After all, Paulie's a normal human being, and a rather overweight one, at that. Jackie has the personification of all evil living inside of him. If anything, it's more of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] [[Cutscene Boss]] than a final boss fight}}.

* In [[Sonic the Hedgehog]], with the addition of the Sonic Boost in recent games we see a more realistic take on what happens when an object gets hit by another object moving at the speed of sound.

* ''[[Shadow Complex]]'': The writers go through the trouble of fleshing out a personality for the evil quasi-Nazi [[Mad Scientist]] who has kidnapped your girlfriend...and instead of an epic boss fight or the scientist pulling out ninja moves or something to get away, {{spoiler|he is [[Killed Mid-Sentence]] in one shot by the hero, right in the middle of saying that the hero "doesn't look like a killer".}}

** At the end of the game, {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad]] is ''not'' killed by the hero, whose family and loved ones he was threatening, but by the girlfriend, who is--surprise!--an NSA operative. Which explains [[Contrived Coincidence|what they were doing in the woods right by the enemy base]], but she ''really'' should've captured the guy alive.}}

** The various "Chosen Ones" encountered during the game are victims of this. [[Blatant Lies|Bright, bold]] lads setting out to meet their destiny, they're quickly murdered by everything from wolves to trow to zombies. One sheriff even took to locking them up for their own safety.

* In ''[[Seiken Densetsu 3]]'', Angela's prologue has her trekking through the aptly named Sub Zero Snowfield...in a highly [[Stripperiffic]] leotard. She doesn't get ten minutes in before she starts coming down with hypothermia.

* Used wonderfully in ''[[Rudra no Hihou]]''. A few days after the other protagonists have already received their magical [[Power Crystal]], Surlent is still lacking his. Being a scholar, he finds it inside an ancient artifact he's set out to research. It promptly flies towards him to merge with his body... and the impact kills him. Instantly.

* In ''[[Minecraft]]'s'' Survival Mode, you need to gather natural resources to build into weapons (among other things). Swords can be made of (in order of ascending rarity) wood, stone, iron, gold, and diamond. For the most part, the rarer starting materials result in stronger weapons, except golden swords are functional identical to wooden swords. It came as quite a surprise when the players realized the second-rarest material made the weakest weapon, and a lot of people thought it was a bug... [[Fridge Brilliance|until they remembered gold is one of the softest metals in the world]]. Just like in real-life, gold weapons are only good for decorative purposes.

** This was initially true of ''all'' items made of gold, but this made gold so worthless that it was changed for balance reasons. Although gold tools still count as wood for purposes of durability and what they can actually do (a Gold Pickaxe can only harvest the same materials as a wood pickaxe), they work incredibly fast—a golden pick or axe can chew through materials in no time flat, outclassing even the diamond tools of the same type.

* In ''[[Utawarerumono]]'', the {{spoiler|rabbit-people bring out their ultimate weapon: [[Humongous Mecha]].}} The best anyone else has basically amounts to pointy sticks. They slaughter their enemies en masse, and are completely invulnerable to you, the player, fighting spirit be damned. Well, until you become {{spoiler|a giant divine monster yourself.}}

* In ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Chaos Theory'', Sam is facing down {{spoiler|Shetland on the rooftop, with their guns drawn. Shetland goes on a [[Motive Rant]], ending it by saying that Sam "wouldn't shoot an old friend" and putting his gun away. Sam can, at this point, opt to put his gun away, triggering an [[I Surrender, Suckers]] moment where Shetland draws his gun and catches a bad case of knife in the heart for his trouble. The other option is to just shoot him in the face the moment he puts his gun away.}}

* In ''[[Ghost Tricks]]'', making a hard hat hit a guy in the face with the force of a moving bullet leads to [[Nonstandard Game Over|exactly what you think will happen happening]]. {{spoiler|Also, if you trick an item in front of Yomiel, he will notice and respond.}}

* This ends up happening in ''[[We Happy Few (video game)|We Happy Few]]''. While it is understandable that the town would want to be happy given what they went through in the past, they ended up designing a drug that caused people to take happiness for granted. So it’s only a matter of time before the whole town begins to fall apart. And it’s unfortunately too late to fix things, since the joy drug has a rebound effect that results in depression.

 

* Despite passionate pleas, Masayuki in ''[[A Profile]]'' is ultimately completely unable to make Miou's parents reconcile. As he says to Miou, it's not like a kid like him can do much to convince adults of anything serious like that. On the other hand, it's not completely without results in that it made her father approve of him, whereas until then he was judging Masayuki as the street punk he used to be.

 

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090901192335/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=16&issue=9 This] page of ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]''. Make sure to read the [[Alt Text]].

** Later on, Dan McNinja has to hunt down the last surviving member of the Belstein family, whose bloodline is the only thing that can defeat a powerful demon. It turns out that the {{spoiler|Belsteins had to engage in massive inbreeding to keep the bloodline "pure" so someone could fight the demon....and the last living Belstein is a crippled invalid thanks to that.}}

* Occurs in ''[[The Dreadful]],'' for [[Improbable Aiming Skills|a given value of "reality"]]. A posse shows up at Kit's hideout. Their [[Smug Snake|arrogant]] leader threatens and insults Kit while flipping his gun around [[Metal Gear Solid|Revolver Ocelot]]-style. It looks like an epic gunfight is about to ensue, but Kit simply shoots the hammer of his gun mid-flip, causing it to shoot him in the head.

 

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120729052734/http://doc.tf-media.net/Stories/Bahamad/drjekyll.html One transformation-fetishist rewrite] of ''[[The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' had Jekyll as the [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] of a woman he knew, after she becomes engaged. This gives him the inspiration to complete a potion that brings out his subconscious desires. Turns out his subconscious desire is to be a large, strong, [[Gag Penis|well-endowed]] possibly bisexual sociopath named Hyde. After assaulting and killing his beloved's fiance, he forces himself into his beloved's home, forces the potion down her throat, and her already comely form turns into a [[My Girl Is a Slut|loose-moraled sex goddess]]. After they're...done, they try and dose the rest of the city. The first person turns into a bisexual sex-goddess and they have a threesome. Then the story goes "no, wait, she really dies peacefully, since she had smallpox, as previously mentioned, and didn't want to live". The second one we see turns into a [[Super Toughness|fireproof]] pyromaniac (with a gigantic moustache and super-strength) trying to "purge" the world, and accidentally destroys the lab and the remaining stock of potion. Since the potion wears off eventually, once they're back to normal, their hosts obviously aren't going to make any more. The story ends with the city in flames from the pyromaniac.

* ''[[The New Adventures of Captain S]]'' has the hero constantly beating up enemies inside the world of videogames. When he punches someone in the real world he hurts his fist.

** "In Seymour Butts", while it's fairly unlikely that he would shoot Bart with a shotgun simply for prank phone calling him, he immediately recognizes him as the person who keeps prank phone calling him by the sound of his voice.

 

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' loves doing this and it is almost like the writers flip a coin to determine if a specific action will play out according to [[Cartoon Physics|cartoon logic]] or will generate realistic effects. It's actually a good way to keep the audience guessing as they can never assume how things will play out based on [[Genre Savvy|genre conventions]]. Examples include:

** When Peter [[To the Bat Noun|"goes to"]] Peter-Copter and the Hinden-Peter he promptly crashes them into Joe's house causing substantial damage.

'''Peter:''' Aaahhh!! It's not a liquid! It's a great many pieces of solid matter, that form a hard floor-like surface! Ahhh!! }}

* ''[[Mighty Max]]'': In one episode, a barbarian has recently rampaged through a village, killing everyone. Max the [[Kid Hero]] goes inside a house to check the carnage and immediately hops out, vomiting. He's seen gore all the time on television, but realizes it didn't prepare him for this.

* ''[[Beast Wars]]'' had a scene seemingly parodying the one from ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'': Optimus is going all over the place showing off his sword moves, and Megatron just shoots him.

** This Megatron is a [[Combat Pragmatist]]. He'll do anything if it means his goals are met. Hell, when his plan to simply {{spoiler|kill off the proto-humans}} fails and he later {{spoiler|finds the Decepticon battleship ''Nemesis''}}, the first thing he does with it is {{spoiler|try to blow all proto-humans off the face of the Earth}}.

{{quote|'''Chiro''': * Slams his fists into the ground* That's IT! I give up!

'''Sprx''': If this was just some TV show, kid, we could give up. [[This Is Reality|But THIS is the REAL WORLD!]] }}

*** Either that or the fact that the TV superheroes didn't ''actually'' use a [[Humongous Mecha]] while on set.

* A magnificent example from ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''. During their first tête-à-tête confrontation the crime boss Tombstone offers Spider-Man a chance to work for him. Spider-Man refuses and calls him out to "finish this". "Very well," sighs Tombstone... and then [[Villain with Good Publicity|calls the cops]] and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|accuses Spidey of invading his personal space, attacking his guards and threatening him]]. Spider-Man probably suffered cognitive dissonance at that point from the fact that ''[[In Soviet Russia|the villain was legitimately siccing cops on him, the hero]]''!

** Perhaps even better was his fight against [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvdg9xcq2Ng Sandman and Rhino] , where Spidey uses Rhino's weight against him rather than fighting him directly (the relevant part is at 1:52). Also a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] ''and'' a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] at the same time.

** Speaking of the Rhino, Peter attempted to use the old cartoon clitche of knocking over a shelf and tripping him the the contents. Rhino just steps on them.

** One flashback sequence revealed that Avatar Roku tried to use [[The Power of Friendship]] to prevent Sozin from taking over the world. To say that it didn't end well would be a ''[[Evil Former Friend|HUGE]]'' understatement.

*** Interestingly, it ''almost'' worked. Roku had gotten Sozin to halt his plan. Later, a volcanic eruption threatened the village Roku lived in. Sozin showed up to help his old friend, who was rescuing the villagers...then Sozin had the sudden epiphany, that if he just left and ''let'' Roku die, he could resume his plans of world conquest.

* [[Sym-Bionic Titan]] fights the first [[Monster of the Week]] in the city and causes major damage. For the rest of the series, the city is shown being rebuilt, while the team tries to draw away future monsters out to the country where they're less likely to do harm.

* In ''[[Gargoyles]]'', the [[Winged Humanoid|eponymous heroes]] always have to explain to their human allies that they can't actually fly; they can only glide, meaning there are often situations where their wings are of no use, like falling into pits and having to climb out.

** Another example would be when Lisa befriended a beached whale, and Homer came to the rescue with helicopters to save it...But it turned out that it was just Lisa's [[Hope Spot]], and the whale died like many beached whales do.

** And in "Bart Vs Australia" where Homer tries to get in a kangaroo's pouch only to realize it's not a pocket, and actually full of mucus.

{{quote|'''Tour Guide''': Of course for safety reasons, we don't keep the cannon ''loaded''. That's just common sense.}}

** When Homer builds a church in an island, he believed in the Flintstones by using a pelican as a cement mixer, as he gives it a pat, the bird just falls on the ground.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Morality Tropes]]

[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]

[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]