Reality Ensues: Difference between revisions

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[[Negated Moment of Awesome]]. Commonly found in the company of [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]. Not to be confused with [[Hilarity Ensues]], although they can overlap, depending on usage. Compare [[Magic A Is Magic A]]; it's very important that these instances are ''consistent'' with the setting. Contrast [[This Is Reality]], where a character ''believes'' that reality will ensue, but it doesn't. '''Reality Ensues''' may also be defined as forgoing [[Genre Consistency]] in favor of [[External Consistency]].
 
{{noreallife|That would just beit's [[Department of Redundancy Department|redundant]]. Weas we all know that reality is not a work of fiction, [[Wild Mass Guessing]] notwithstanding. Reality already ensues all the time in [[Real Life]].}}
 
{{Unmarked Spoilers}}
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** Teenager: Hardly a model of rationality and long-term utilitarian thinking. Teenager who's just suffered a big loss and now sees a way to undo it: Even less so. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that Hodaka was going to choose to get Hina back and to Hell with [[The Needs of the Many]], but that's not what heroes in stories are supposed to do, right? Right?
** At the end, Hodaka hurries back to Tokyo after graduating from high school. Even if those who mistreated you [[Took a Level In Kindness]] after your return, as the novel suggests, that doesn't undo the damage done from the preceding years or the very understandable desire to get away from them again as soon as possible.
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'': A depressing example. Even though social services are called, that doesn't mean Satoko will be removed from her abusive uncle. Especially since Satoko is quite stubborn about it and she falsely called child services on her step-father beforehand, making them wary to investigate this very real case.
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* This trope could be called "The ''[[Kick-Ass]]'' Principle", too. Seriously, read the whole damn thing. It subverts almost every and all superhero trends, and replaces it all with how it would work being a hero in real life. It's painful to watch it.
** 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]].
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* [[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''.
* Every time [[Wonder Woman]] and [[Batman]] go up against each other. You expect Batman to pull out one of his [[Batman Gambit|special contingency plans]] or gadgets to take her down, because that's what Batman does, right? He's after a criminal under her protection! Here they go, this will be good, talking has failed! Epic [[Let's You and Him Fight|hero vs hero]] will ensure. OhBut she just blocked his batarangs and punched him off the roof. Wonder Woman is taking down all the members of the Justice League to save them from a prophecy, and Batman has caught on to her! He figures out she is doing this because of a prophecy (by analyzing a hair or something, it's Batman) from an ancient Greek Oracle. Batman does not believe in pre-destined fates,; Wonder Woman thinks this is the only way. Batman tries to get her to make a mistake by insulting her,; he escapes from her unbreakable lasso! OhBut she just threwthrows a rock at his head and punchedpunches him out. Huh. That's what you get when a normal person goes up against a Super with no [[Kryptonite Factor]].
** 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.
*** They have similar fighting skills. Only the Manhunter is in Batman's league as a tactician. But itsit's still enough.
* 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.
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* 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.]]
* ''[[Kimi no Na Iowa]]'':
** A small town in the middle of nowhere with less than a percentage point of its country's population just isn't going to be missed by the world at large, no matter how exotic the cause of its disappearance or affected the former inhabitants are.
** Some of the difficulty conventional forces have combating abyssals arises from the fact that normal antiship weapons aren't meant to hit human-sized targets whose [[Super Toughness]] means direct hits are needed.
** Shipgirls don't just take [[Clothing Damage]], but also real injury that needs medical or mechanical treatment.
** Ayaka doesn't magically become a stone-cold [[Badass]] just because her true nature has been activated. Having had less than two months of admittedly intensive training by the time of her first mission and no prior experience with fighting, she takes quite badly the suffering of what would have been serious wounds for a normal human.
** Averting [[Rock Beats Laser]], anti-abyssal guerillas are not having a good time; unlike normal human invaders, even the weakest PT Imp is [[Immune to Bullets]] and retaliates with heavy weapons that will tear a tree in half, never mind a man. Anything that does work, the abyssals have the numbers to push through, and their not having a civilian populace to be [[Slave to PR]] to means that they have no rules of engagement forcing them to play nice with humanity.
** William D Porter being a clumsy, fratricidal [[The Jinx]] is not [[Played for Laughs]] like in most other ''[[Kantai Collection]]'' stories, but instead results in her being [[The Millstone]], [[The Friend Nobody Likes]], and developing suicidal ideation from the guilt of her repeated wrongs however accidental.
** People don't universally react to an [[Inhumanly Beautiful Race]] with attraction or desire. Some have [[Uncanny Valley]] reactions.
** [[A Man Is Always Eager]]? No. When Ayaka turns out to be an [[Insatiable Newlyweds|Insatiable Newlywed]] whose newfound postmarital hunger drives her into [[Making Love in All the Wrong Places]], Uileag is more than a little disturbed and reluctant.
* ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11775552/1/The-Greatest-Generation-RESTART The Greatest Generation]'': Shipgirls get a lot of leeway as [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]s; being the most effective means of combatting abyssals means they get a pass on [[Mildly Military]] and [[Military Maverick]] behaviour that would get any regular soldier in trouble. Then Tenryuu engages in gross insubordination and threatening an allied foreign officer - admittedly in defense of her subordinates who said officer had been speaking less than kindly of - and quickly learns that there are still lines, the crossing of which will not be tolerated, special ability notwithstanding.
* There are several ''[[Miraculous Ladybug]]'' fics that do this:
** Some fics have the characters (not just Chloé) judged or ostracized for their actions as akumatized villains. Sometimes they're able to evade it (mainly the child/minor ones), but others (older and/or more dangerous ones) typically aren't so lucky.
** Marinette finding proof to reveal Lila's lies (Alya's bad journalism, Adrien taking the high road, and the whole class being dumb and rude are typically also called out). Nicer fics just knock the [[Idiot Ball|Idiot]]/[[Jerkass Ball|Jerkass Balls]] out of their hands and have everyone have common sense.
** There also several fics where Ms. Bustier is punished or fired for her need to turn the other cheek towards her students' clearly harmful behaviors/actions.
** Mayor Bourgeois notices Audrey's harmful attitude towards him and Chloe and divorces her.
** There are fics where ''all'' the girls' think [[Stalker with a Crush|Marinette's Stalker with a Crush]] tendencies towards Adrien are concerning, not just [[Only Sane Man|Alix and Mylene]]. They actively try to get her to stop/help. If that doesn't work, they typically stop being friends with her.
** Speaking of which, that infamous scene in 'Puppeteer 2' typically has Adrien creeped out at what Marinette did.
* A few ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' fan works that do this:
** ''[[The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well]]'': Rainbow Dash either resents her friends for either forcing her self-esteem down the drain or runs away to be a hero somewhere else. Nicer fics will have the mane 5 admit that while they had a point to take Rainbow's ego down a few pegs, they did go too far with it.
** ''[[One Bad Apple]]'': The CMC ignore Babs' bluff and tell an adult, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon ditch Babs Seed when she's done their dirty work for them, or Applejack and the CMC aren't nearly as [[Easily Forgiven|forgiving as they were in canon]].
** ''[[Ponyville Confidential]]'': The CMC run away, the mane six get a massive earful by someone for ostracizing three fillies (including their own families), and/or Featherweight and Diamond Tiara get karma for causing the conflict in the first place.
* In the ''[[Miraculous Ladybug]]'' fanfic series, ''[https://archiveofourown.org/series/994671 Smart Adversaries AU]'', not only are the baddies smarter but reality seems to come down harder.
** In ''Copycat Cops It'' and ''Darkblade and the Diary'', Adrien finds out about Marinette breaking into his locker, is very disgusted with her and breaks off their friendship. In the latter fic, it also makes her lose the election, due to everyone (save for Sabrina) also being disgusted with her.
 
== [[Film]] ==
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* 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]].}}
** There was also one earlier;, where {{spoiler|Linguini reveals his secret to the kitchen, only to have everyone, even the waiter and his girlfriend, walk out.}}
** 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.
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** Maverick has thus far avoided getting kicked out of the Navy despite his antics thanks to Iceman covering for him, but even then there's only so much that can be done. {{spoiler|Iceman hasn't even been dead long}} before Cyclone pulls him off the training with the admittedly reasonable pretext that he hasn't given the desired results. Later, when he takes a plane on an unauthorised flight to show that the low-level ingress in the required timeframe is actually possible despite the other pilots' hitherto failure, Cyclone makes clear to him that he should by right be facing a court martial, and that even if he's spared that, he will still be reaching the end of his career in this mission one way or another, whether it's through dying in enemy airspace or getting grounded permanently after his return.
** This film performs a [[Happy Ending Override]] on the previous one, hitting the viewer with the fact that no, just because Maverick received a pep talk and powered his way through his grief to fight doesn't mean that his issues from Goose's death are magically resolved. 30 years on, he still misses Goose, and the man's son still blames him for his role in the death.
* ''[[The Other Guys]]'': A criminal gets away from Highsmith and Danson - two swaggering supercops who would be the protagonists of a more stereotypical story - by ziplining from the roof of a tall building. To save time on getting to ground level, the two of them do a big heroic jump off the roof, saying to aim for the bushes. {{spoiler|There are no convenient bushes to break their fall. They go splat on the ground far below, and the camera lingers on their corpses for extra black comedy value.}}
 
== [[Literature]] ==
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** 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?!'''''
::Actually it turns out that {{spoiler|the cooks and kitchen aides naturally didn't drink anything, and try to stop the slavers by themselves. The slavers, on the other hand,... simply slaughter them and calmly proceed with loading the Unconsciousunconscious ononto their cart}}. Two 'Reality Ensues' moments in one.
* 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.}}
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* 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 ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts|Gaunts Ghosts]]'' novel ''His Last Command'', this is how a scout takes down a stalker, an [[Implacable Man]] that can soak up ridiculous amounts of damage and keep coming. Chaos -enhanced beastie or no, it's still an animal that can be paralysed by hamstringing and slain by getting shanked in the brain through the base of the neck.
* 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.
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* 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.
* The ''[[Discworld]]'' books play this for equal parts comedy and drama. Among other things, characters frequently react realistically to outlandish situations (in ''[[Discworld/Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'', after tricking a banshee into getting killed by a malfunctioning sorting machine, the protagonist is too busy being ill to shoot off a [[Bond One-Liner]]), and the narrative often points out that happy endings [[This Is Reality|in "real life"]] are never as simple as they are in stories (at the end of ''[[Discworld/Monstrous Regiment|Monstrous Regiment]]'', the protagonist and her companions end up stopping the war between Borogravia and Zlobenia, but some months later in story-time the ruthless ruler of Zlobenia just tries to start another war). Complicating things is the influence that [[Theory of Narrative Causality|narrative causality]] has on the Discworld, making the line between "reality" and "fiction" as blurry as it gets.
* 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]]'':
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** 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.]]
* The whole point of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' Seasonwas 5to finale:present Buffya approachesheroine [[Thewho Dragon]]could atopavoid athe tower.(often Heavoidable) gearsmistakes upthat fordoom athe fight,victims {{spoiler|andin shetypical just[[Slasher knocksMovie]]s, himso offthis theoccurs a lot: tower.}}
** Season 5 finale: Buffy approaches [[The Dragon]] atop a tower. He gears up for a fight, {{spoiler|and she just knocks him off the tower.}}
** 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. }}
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* In the ''[[Miami Vice]]'' episode "Glades", [[The Dragon]] is holding a shotgun to a little girl's head as Sonny Crockett approaches with this pistol drawn and aimed. [[The Dragon]] begins threatening to shoot the girl if he's not let go, saying "If I so much as twitch, she's go--" '''''BLAM''''' Sonny shoots him right between the eyes, with the [[Bond One-Liner]], "Maybe you won't twitch."
* 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.
* ''[[Justified (TV series)|Justified]]'' is based around this trope. Raylan has been cautioned about killing people after the first episode because he has earned a reputation for it, which doesn't make the police look good, and besides, every time he kills someone it involves more paperwork for him and his boss. As a result there are many situations where he could kill somebody but can't because of his position, so has to find more intelligent ways around it. In a later episode, Loretta really wants to kill Mags, but Raylan (who is behind her), points out that the police are in the room next to her and they will arrest her if she does it (even though the killing is justified by her - and the audience's - standards).
** 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.
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'''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.
* ''[[G.I. Joe: Resolute]]'' had this, when Storm Shadow asks why his uncle/sensei won't teach him his famed Seventh Step, which is basically instant death for anyone it hits. His uncle says he is not ready, and Storm Shadow pulls off his mask dramatically, symbolically divesting himself of his attachment to the dojo. {{spoiler|It's actually a signal for an assassin to snipe his uncle, so Shadow can take over the dojo. When he sees the assassin, Snake Eyes runs forward, and the assassin shoots him first. The sensei turns around, puzzled, and since he's standing still, it's much easier for the killer to hit him.}} Oh, and itAnd the miniseries was written by—wait for it--[[Warren Ellis]].
* ''[[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}}.
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{{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!]] }}
** If you don't understand how this is Reality Ensues, it's because afterAfter being faced with all the odds, Chiro, the main protagonist in the show, is actually ready to give up, whereas normally in this sort of show they would immediately start looking for another way.
*** 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.
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': After two episodes of turmoil, Aang finally unleashes his Avatar State. The assaulted army stops, watching in awe as the Avatar prepares to unleash his spiritual wrath upon them- and then gets shot down immediately. With Azula, [[Transformation Is a Free Action|transformation is]] ''[[Subverted Trope|NOTnot]]'' [[Transformation Is a Free Action|a free action.]]
** 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.
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* [[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.
* On ''[[The Simpsons]]'' in the episode "The Homer They Fall", Homer Simpson has a condition which renders him largely impervious to the effects of head trauma, which he uses to gain success in amateur boxing by tiring his opponents out. He winds up getting set up in a fight with an [[Expy]] of Mike Tyson, who pummels him so hard that [[It Makes Sense in Context|he forgets where he parked his car]]. Just because Homer can't fall down doesn't mean he can take on a well-trained boxer.
** 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.
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{{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.
** In "A Milhouse Divided" Kirk and Luanne get divorced due to their fighting at the Simpson's dinner party being the final straw. At the end of the episode, Kirk tries to sing a romantic song (really badly) to her at Homer and Marge's second wedding and asks her to marry him again. She coldly refuses because neither were happy in their marriage and one song can't fix years of misery. It also helps that her new boyfriend is an [[American Gladiators|American Gladiator]].
** In "Homer to the Max" Homer sues the creators of Police Cops for improper use of his name when they made their Homer Simpson character a moron and pretty much Homer as a cop. The judge finds in favor of the creators instantly because no one has an exclusive right to their name.
** Homer assumes college is nothing but [[Wacky Fratboy Hijinks]] and partying and picking on nerds in "Homer Goes to College." In reality the [[Academic Athlete|jocks are studious and not the idiots they seem]], the [[Dean Bitterman]] is actually friendly and the nerds while intelligent in their studies, have no grasp of life outside college. Naturally this flies over Homer's head and he learns nothing about from the experience.
* [[Teen Titans]]
**Many villains like Mad Mod and Warp have treated Starfire as the damsel that Robin has to rescue, thinking she's the weakest link in the team. As Starfire cheerfully reminds Cinderblock in the pilot, being nice doesn't mean she's helpless. She's a Tamaranean princess trained in hand-to-hand combat in a culture where it's tradition to fight for the throne if you don't like the leader. Starfire knows how to fight, use her massive strength with control, and shoot Starbolts with extremely accurate aim. Oh, and she escaped from a Gordanian prisoner warship when she was still a teenager and unable to use most of her powers due to her handcuffs. She just would rather if an opponent would surrender before she has to resort to violence but if you get her ''angry'', watch out! Starfire has beaten her older sister twice in combat, four times if you count the spinoff comics, and shows that when she fights, she means business.
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*In ''[[Frisky Dingo]]'', Killface and Xander run against each other for presidency for most of the second season before it's pointed out that neither of them are eligible, as Killface wasn't born in the US and Xander is under 35.
 
==[[Real Life]]==
*Kazuyuki Fujita fought Mirko Cro Cop twice. Fujita is a fighter known for his pitiful defense and general clumsiness. Cro Cop is a fighter known for his devastating striking. Reality ensues. Twice. Painfully.
**Not sure if "reality" and Cro Cop can even be used on the same page; before this, Fujita had beaten a few high-profile guys by simply outlasting them (i.e. letting them tire themselves out from beating him up too much).
**Arguably their fights could count as subversions as Fujita [[Made of Iron|was never knocked out in neither of them despite absorbing inhumane amounts of punishment]] and lost due to a cut in first and a decision in a second one. For a straighter example look at Fujita vs [[Scary Black Man|Alistair]] [[Lightning Bruiser|Overeem]]. Over-the-hill Fujita tries to use his old tactics against [[Seanbaby|265 pounds of death-dealing emasculation]] and [[One-Hit Kill|is dropped unconscious by a knee a little over a minute into the fight]].
*Fred Ettish vs. Johnny Rhodes, UFC 2. Ettish performs a textbook snap kick on the opponent to no effect. He is then brutalized to the extreme.
*Verizon got whipsawed by this big time with its attempt to monetize [[tumblr]] in 2018: Buy a blog site, a quarter of whose traffic is generated by adult content and another quarter by its supportive communities for alternative sexualities, for its revenue stream. Ban the adult content and tell the members of the LGBTQ communities they're unwanted. [[Step Three: Profit|Expect revenue to go up.]] [[Losing Horns|Sorry, no...]]
 
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