Reality Ensues: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:reality01_264.png|link=The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
So the hero has defeated the [[Evil Overlord]]'s army. They've disarmed [[The Dragon]] using [[The Power of Friendship]]. The superweapon is destroyed. The hero is facing the [[Evil Overlord]] in the final showdown... and takes out a gun, [[Kill Him Already|shoots the Evil Overlord in the head]], and walks away.
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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 the [[Tethercat Principle]] 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]]..."
This can sometimes be seen on the hard end of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], though [[Dystopia Is Hard|it isn't necessarily so]]. See also [[Twist Ending]], [[Mood Whiplash]], [[Ascended Fridge Horror]] and [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]. [[Defied Trope]] may lead to this, as may [[Deconstructed Trope]]. 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
'''[[No Real Life Examples, Please]]''', as that would just be [[Department of Redundancy Department|redundant]]. We all know that reality is not a work of fiction, [[Wild Mass Guessing]] notwithstanding. Reality already ensues all the time in [[Real Life]].
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** 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 (
* 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.}}
** Similarly, in the same arc, Zoro suffers grave injuries that put his life in danger- as usual. But, unlike the other times where he has an [[Unexplained Recovery]] and the injuries are usually never mentioned again, one arc later Zoro tries fighting and his wounds cause him to be temporarily paralyzed. And then two arcs later, even after resting and being treated (by Perona, believe it or not), his wounds actually re-open when he tries to fight and move, resulting in him getting his ass kicked by Apes.
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* Any [[Hentai]] where the girl gets pregnant after unprotected sex when it's not explicitly [[Pun|(heh)]] their "safe period".
* ''[[Freezing]]'' features beautiful girls who attack each other with sharp weapons. When their clothes get ripped apart, so do their bodies.
* In ''[[
* Subverted in [[
* In ''[[
{{quote| '''Chiyo''': So what should I do?<br />
'''Osaka''': If this was a TV show, you'd use your genius brain to think up somethin'...and fight back against incredible odds...<br />
'''Osaka''': ...and get killed. }}
* In episode in [[Soul Eater]] where Death the Kid first starts attending the DWMA, [[Large Ham|Black Star]] climbs up near the top of the academy building to deliver a [[Badass Boast]] to Kid...who's standing near the front entrance and can't hear a word he's saying because he's so far away.
* ''[[Ghost in
== Comic Books ==
* This trope could be called "The [[Kick
** 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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* 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 ''[[Irredeemable]]'', the [[Ax Crazy]] [[Face Heel Turn|superhero-turned-supervillain]] [[Villain Protagonist|titular character]], in a flashback from his early teens, hears his foster mother is about to commit suicide. He gets here in a fraction of a second. But sounds takes almost ten seconds to travel two miles. She was already dead before he left his school desk.
* Amusingly one of the first times [[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]] comes across as actually being badass. She points out, quite effectively, that driving an SUV at 75 miles an hour into a villain's back is much more effective than hitting him with a thrown one at about 5 miles an hour. This allows her to defeat a villain that the entire superhero squad she's a [[Butt Monkey]] for was defeated by. Unfortunately, the car is totaled, leaving her tied up and unable to brag, and her superhero squad walks off, assuming they and the villain knocked each other out. ([[The Woobie|Forgetting about Empowered in the process.]])
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== Fan Fic ==
* The ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** [[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.
* The ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1518794/1/The_Game_of_the_Gods The Game Of The Gods]'' is ''thirty-three'' instances of this. Morgoth fashions [[Mary Sue]] after Mary Sue; Varda carefully imposes reality and lets their own impossibility do them in. [[Just for Pun|Reality Ends Sues]]?
* In ''[[Tiberium Wars (Fanfic)|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.''
* ''[[
** Later on, River is facing a group of vengeful pirates. She's on the ground, and they're in their ship. She starts running for cover behind some boulders where they can't shoot her, only to get hit by the backwash of their engines and get thrown into said boulders, breaking her legs and back.
* Braid of the Limbo Clone Squad. When he was facing his demise he was plucked from his universe by a mischief god and given his choice of powers. His choice: the natural laws of his Earth will always rule him. How does this count as a power? {{spoiler|Well, the universe he was thrown into is an anime universe, meaning that the only reason the heroes haven't died is that the universe's laws seem to want to protect them. Which means he can see through the [[Paper-Thin Disguise|flimsy disguises that most people use]] and has no problem just killing the fuckers when they're not powered up with a simple sniper shot to the head.}}
* Like the Fic above, a very old Latin Fanfic called "Strata" [[Lost Forever|(deleted since 2003)]] had this premise with a Ranma 1/2-[[Sailor Moon]] crossover. An elite army of very [[Genre Savvy]] [[Military Science Fiction|black ops]] end in their Universe and by a series of hi-jinks ended [[Kill Them All|targeting martial artists]] for the government agency. They break [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|every]] [[Killed Mid-Sentence|loophole]] in battle, using [[Combat Pragmatist|ambushes, snipers]], heavy weapons, reinforced vehicles and even bioweapons, mowing down and nearly killing the main characters. It doesn't get ''truly'' brutal until Kuno gets shot in the middle of his rambling. {{spoiler|He [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|deftly avoids it and brutally beats the entire team to within an inch of their lives]] [[Punctuated Pounding|while explaining that]], [[Reality Is Unrealistic|shockingly, the fact that he was talking doesn't make him blind, deaf, or stupid; and that he's a not worthless opponent just because he doesn't use a gun or have military training]]. Then he congratulates them for pissing off every single fighter on the planet and making ''very'' sure that no rules will ever apply to the black ops.}} [[Deconstruction|It]] [[Kill Them All|gets very]] [[Wrong Genre Savvy|dark]] from there, very fast. {{spoiler|The people of the "unreal" universe show the "professionals" how and why they were feared in their world. (What [[Deadly Dodging|Mars does]] to the [[Pay Evil Unto Evil|sniper ambush]] and Mercury's house defense are [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|undiluted awesomeness]]) and Saffron's revenge... holy crap. }} In the end... the world didn't change all that much, except for a Footnote of some insane assholes from a silly dimension in the Saotome scrolls.
* Frequently [[Played With]] in ''[[Hunting the Unicorn (Fanfic)|Hunting the Unicorn]]''--[[Troperiffic|lots of tropes]] show up naturally, but everyone who ''actively tries'' to [[Invoked Trope|invoke a trope]] will end up just failing at best, or running into [[Deconstruction|consequences]] at worst. Most notable is {{spoiler|Blaine}}'s past attempt to invoke ''[[Sex Equals Love]]'', which... [[Break the Cutie|didn't work.]]
** Another case is where Blaine hits his head and the [[Easy Amnesia]] / [[Tap
* Played with, though also straight, in the ''[[Nineteen Eighty Three Doomsday Stories]],'' which has Austria hoping against hope that Hungary survived [[Apocalypse How|Doomsday]]. {{spoiler|She doesn't}}. Though it doesn't stop {{spoiler|her}} from looking after him even after death.
* 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 ''[[
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* The entire film of ''[[The Departed]]'' runs on this trope- deaths are abrupt and meaningless, there are no last-minute speeches, and it all happens so damn fast for the characters that they have no time to react.
** ''[[Infernal Affairs]]'' (the source inspiration) is even more so in that the one death in ''[[The Departed]]'' that actually has meaning to it never happens in the original.
* The famous scene in ''[[
** And in ''The Last Crusade'', when {{spoiler|Donovan shoots Henry Jones Sr. to force Indy to bring back the Grail}}
* At the end of ''[[Ip Man]]'', after {{spoiler|beating General Miura}}, Ip Man stands around and thinks of the cost of war. {{spoiler|Then, as promised, he is shot for not throwing the match. [[Foregone Conclusion|He survives]], but it's still a very striking moment.}}
* ''[[To Live and Die In
* {{spoiler|Sonny's death}} in ''[[
** This even holds true in the video game adaptation; all except one, who barely has time to gasp, [[You Killed My Father|"I knew it would be you,"]] before you blow him away.
* ''[[
{{quote| '''Operative:''' I want to resolve this like civilized men. I'm not threatening you. I'm unarmed-<br />
'''Mal:''' Good. ''[draws his gun and shoots him]''<br />
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* Possibly the most delightful moment from 1980s [[Eddie Murphy]] vehicle ''[[The Golden Child]]'' is when the [[Big Bad]] Sardo Numspa attempts to have Murphy's character Jarrell arrested, claiming that Jarrell stole a dagger from Numpsa, because Numpsa needs the dagger to kill [[The Messiah]]. Numpsa believes that either Jarrell will give him the dagger to avoid arrest, or that the police will simply hand it over to him after arresting Jarrell if he refuses. Jarrell gleefully agrees to be arrested, then takes a moment to explain the rules of evidence handling to Numpsa: Jarrell will be arrested, and the dagger held in police custody as evidence for his trial, which might not happen for months or over a year. Since Numpsa has to kill the child within a specific time frame, instead of having to fight his way past one or two unarmed guardians he'd have to storm police headquarters to get ahold of the dagger. Numpsa is forced to publicly back off of his accusations and let Jarrell go free rather than risk it.
* ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' ended with a triumphant victory for the heroes, but the sequel shows the aftermath. The defeat of Gozer calmed the psychic dimension, allowing the ghosts to rest at peace once again and putting the ghostbusting services out of business. On top of that, the amount of property damage, code violations, and other offenses committed throughout the first movie have [[Pun|come back to haunt them]] in the form of multiple lawsuits suing them into bankruptcy. At the start of the second movie, they're working odd jobs from TV show hosts to ''children's parties''.
* In [[
* The generally lighthearted comedy ''[[The Men Who Stare
* ''[[The Matrix]]'' ends with Neo running to escape the Agents and make it to a hotel room so he can log out. {{spoiler|He opens the door, and Smith is there waiting with his gun out at point-blank. He unceremoniously shoots Neo through the chest many times. Neo comes back, though, to fit with the whole [[Kung Fu Jesus]] theme.}}
** {{spoiler|In fact, the whole return from death thing is really the ultimate engagement of reality, since the whole movie is based around the concept that nothing in the Matrix is really occurring. As such, reality kicks in and he simply starts re-writing the world around him.}}
* ''[[The
* ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'': When the [[Humongous Mecha|AT-AT]] first appears, it looks intimidating, fearsome, unstoppable... right until a rebel snowspeeder demonstrates the drawbacks of long, ungainly legs.
** There's also the fact that it's only armed with forward-facing weapons.
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* In [[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]], after Scott manages to {{spoiler|knock Gideon away, he stops for a chat with Ramona and Knives. Only for Gideon to stab him through the chest. Lots of gaming tropes are played straight in this setting, but [[Talking Is a Free Action]] is apparently not one of them.}}
** An alternate ending that was never filmed would have had it be revealed that {{spoiler|Scott and Ramona were arrested for murdering seven very famous people in the entertainment industry.}}
* In ''[[Kick-Ass (
** There's also the other would-be superhero at the start of the film who seems to think he can fly. Gravity [[Oh Crap|doesn't agree]] with him.
** When {{spoiler|Big Daddy}} gets killed.
** Hit-Girl spends much of the movie being awesomely lethal. Then in the climatic battle, she finally runs out of ammo and throwing weapons and we remember that she's an eleven year old girl in a somewhat realistic state of panic and the only thing keeping the bad guys from destroying her now is their uncertainty about whether she's still armed. Also in an earlier scene, she tries to engage in hand to hand with the boss only he's a full grown man who also knows martial arts and promptly drops her forcing her to resort to weapons again.
* In ''The Awaken Punch'', a 1970's Kung Fu movie, the hero tracks down the leader of the gangsters responsible for murdering his family and kidnapping his love interest and kills him after a brutal fight. S.O.P., right? Well, then he gets arrested for nine major offenses, including the deaths of six other gang members. [[Downer Ending|The End!]]
* The [[Pixar]] movie ''[[Up (
* In [[The Incredibles]], there's an in-universe example of Elasti-girl explaining to her children that the bad guys they're facing are not like the ones on TV, that they [[Would Hurt a Child]] if given a chance.
** ''"[[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.
* ''Bodyguards & Assassins'': The final assassin is a highly-skilled martial artist. [[Instant Death Radius|Death in close quarters]], [[Hero-Killer|he mows down a lot of bodyguards, including several named characters]]. {{spoiler|One of the last survivors gets his hands on a pistol and pumps the assassin full of lead, ending his streak.}}
* ''[[Escape From
* In the film of ''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."
== Literature ==
* ''[[
** There is a [[Recycled in Space|having Portugal as the setting]] 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.}}
* Happened pleasingly often in the ''[[Redwall|Redwall Series]]''. For instance, in the climax of ''Martin The Warrior'', {{spoiler|where the [[Big Bad]] slams the [[The Lancer|Lancer]] [[The Chick|Chick]] Rose into a wall when she attempts to jump him. She is immediately ''dead'' as it broke her neck. Likewise, when Martin disarms said [[Big Bad]], he wastes no further time on him and kills him while he is still on the ground.}}
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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.<br /><br />'''''Or does it?!'''''<br /><br />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 loading the Unconscious on 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 ''[[
* James Patterson has this as a side effect of the [[Author Tract]] in ''Cross Country'', Alex Cross's ex girlfriend gets brutally murdered by an African mercenary. He heads to Africa. {{spoiler|The second he gets out of the airport, he's kidnapped. By the police. Then it gets worse.}} You could basically cut out several hundred pages from the middle of the book, and all you'd miss would be the [[Author Tract]] and Reality Ensuing, over and over again.
* [[Reality Ensues]] plus [[Deus Angst Machina]] is pretty much the entire reason for the ''[[Lawrence Watt Evans|Three Worlds Trilogy]]''. [[This Loser Is You|The protagonist fails]] [[Boring Failure Hero|at everything]] and a whole bunch of people die because he's just an ordinary person up against insurmountable odds. [[Grimdark]] only begins to describe it.
* In the ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' novel ''[[Brothers of the Snake]]'', {{spoiler|Apothecary Menon}} wanders around a village with suspected Chaos cultists with his helmet's faceplate up. For a good reason, mind, as the daemon his squad is hunting is invisible to helmet sensors and can only be seen with the naked eye. Unfortunately, when he gets into a fight with said cultists, he takes a bullet in the face and dies.
** In a [[Ciaphas Cain]] novel, Cain notes that many battle sisters do something similar, [[Helmets Are Hardly Heroic|fighting with their faces exposed]] claiming that faith will be their armor. Many of them die horrible deaths thanks to the [[Bug War|Tyranids]] as a result.
* ''[[Mansfield Park]]'': [[Prince Charming Wannabe]] Henry Crawford ultimately ''doesn't'' love the heroine enough to [[Ladykiller in Love|give up his lady-killing ways]] and crushes everyone's hopes of their marriage when he runs off with her (married) cousin. What, you were expecting the [[Handsome Lech]] to completely change his ways because of [[I Love You Because I Can't Control You|the influence of a girl he couldn't control]] and to deserve the heroine because [[Stalker
* 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
** 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 ''[[
* 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.
* [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms]]'' series does this to the standard [[Fairy Tale Tropes]]. Sometimes it [[Deconstructor Fleet|takes a story apart]] so thoroughly you wonder how it could ever have worked, but other times it retrieves what was nice and [[Reconstructed Trope|shows how it could still function]].
* 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 ''[[
* The ''[[
* 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.
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* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode, "Last of the Time Lords", the Doctor talks one minor character out of shooting the villain, then he gives a speech about how there are better ways to do things than kill people. While he's giving the speech, another minor character picks up the gun and shoots the villain anyway. [[Talking Is a Free Action|Talking Is Not A Free Action]], and not everyone is as [[Technical Pacifist|pacifist]] as the Doctor.
** And then there's "Midnight", which savages the Doctor's usual bluster and approach to problem-solving. Instead of managing to get the people's trust, they view him with suspicion and think him very arrogant. It's all part of the [[Monster of the Week]]'s plan.
* In ''[[
{{quote| '''Ianto:''' There we are then.<br />
'''Tosh:''' Sorted. }}
** ''[[Torchwood
* This happens in ''[[Jericho]]'' in the episode "Termination for Cause" when {{spoiler|Jake and Russell were arguing what to do with Goetz, then Stanley drove up and shot Goetz in the head for killing Bonnie}}
* The pilot for ''[[True Blood]]'' goes for this one. Girl saves cute vampire boy from crooks, cute vampire boy shows interest, girl is alone in car park... and gets the crap kicked out of her by the crooks, who ambush her.
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** And then there's {{spoiler|Derek's death. He gets in a gunfight with a terminator at close range and no advance warning}}. And just to really drive the point home, {{spoiler|the camera then follows the terminator}}, effectively making it little more than a ''background incident''. Which, in this world, it kind of is.
** FBI agent Ellison finally tracks down Cromartie and has more or less concluded that the target is some sort of combat machine. He even goes out of his way to secure an FBI Hostage Rescue Team for the assault. Unfortunately, antitank weapons are not included in the team loadout and thus it goes exactly the way of every other police versus Terminator fight in the universe.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' – [[Subverted Trope]]: {{spoiler|Near-invulnerable superpowered serial killer Sylar, who's been by far the most powerful character on the show for a whole volume, is dropped mid-monologue by a sudden knife in his weak point from a man he turned his back on...and just gets back up again, because he'd used his new shapeshifting powers to ''move'' his weak point.}}
* The pilot episode of ''[[Bones]]'' has one where Brennan confronts the killer, who is dousing a room with evidence in gasoline. When Brennan says she can't let him destroy evidence, he pulls out a lighter and does the whole "try and stop me and we both burn" thing. {{spoiler|Brennan immediately whips out her revolver and shoots him in the leg. And in even more ensuing reality, she is promptly arrested for it. By Booth. And later fails to get a gun-carrying permit, because of this incident.}}
** {{spoiler|Shooting him in the ''leg'' is excused by her co-workers: [[Completely Missing the Point|"It was her first shooting, you can't expect her to be perfect right out of the gate!"]]}}
* ''[[CSI: Miami]]'':"Guerrillas in the Mist". The bad guy has a weapon that's basically a [[wikipedia:Metalstorm#Products|Metal Storm]] with the [[Serial Numbers Filed Off
{{quote| '''Bad Guy''': You're on the losing side of this one, Lieutenant. I could fire a thousand rounds before you get a shot o--<br />
'''Caine''': (shoots him, shoots his accomplices. Walks over to the [[Big Bad]]'s body and [[Glasses Pull|removes his glasses]]) [[Quip to Black|Apparently, it only takes the one]]. }}
* ''[[
* 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 ''[[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 [[Post Mortem 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.
* [[
* The ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' "Hero Song" features Andy Samberg as a businessman singing about how he's distressed by crime in the city and donning a superhero cape and mask to clean up the streets. Until he finds a [[Distressed Damsel]] played by Amy Adams being menaced by a [[Mooks|mook]] played by Jason Sudeikis. In mid-''line'', the singing hero takes a [[Talk to
* ''[[Blue Mountain State]]'' is a comedy series built firmly upon the [[Rule of Funny]]. The acts committed by the team shown in the show would get a real NCAA team in serious trouble with the NCAA but hey, it's a comedy, so that kind of talk is brushed aside. {{spoiler|Then comes the end of season 3. [[Wham! Episode|It turns out that the NCAA has been investigating BMS and the Goats are in serious trouble.]]}}
* The series two finale of ''[[
* ''[[
* 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.
== Music ==
* Swedish songwriter Lars Winnerbäck tells us what really happened to some of [[
** Specifically: [[
* 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.
* What [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] does with this trope in ''Trapped in the Drive Thru'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmGVYki-oyQ&feature=related needs to be seen to be fully appreciated].
* [[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.]]")
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== Tabletop Games ==
* 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 ''[[
** Grittier, meaner, more brutal games (''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
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* 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.
* Most strategy games would make missions where you cause an enemy commander's [[Final Death]] to be long base sieges. ''[[Dawn of War]]'' sees {{spoiler|the Imperial Guard's General Sturnn}} off in the middle of the Disorder campaign, at the start of a mission that gives the player only a standing force and no base to rush him with. There's a longer part of the mission afterwards, and his passing is barely mentioned subsequently. Only in a [[Crapsack World]] [[World Half Empty|Half Empty]] like ''[[
** It's not even a particularly spectacular fight. Fight can be summed up as {{spoiler|Gorgutz picking up Sturnn and beating him into bloody pulp.}} Then again, what you do expect from fight between {{spoiler|beefed up Ork and normal human?}}
** In a similar case is in ''Dawn of War II: Retribution'' in the Tyranids campaign Sgt Merrick is faced with the Hive Tyrant, and the Nid just hacks him in less than three seconds.
* Played around with the ''[[
** In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'' there's a point where you see one of [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|The Cobra Unit]] out in the open and defenseless. If you're quick you can [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|shoot him in the head, averting a boss battle with him later]]. Or since he's old, you can just wait a week (according to the [[
*** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots]]'''s difficulty settings qualify for the trope: Even though one of the game's "features" was an expanded arsenal of firearms and associated controls, only on Liquid Easy (lowest difficulty) can he take enough damage to get away with anything approaching a stand-up or run-and-gun fight, as he's still one operator against however many enemies, whether human or GEKKO.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* The agility and tenacity of the [[Game Breaker]] QAAMs' from ''[[Ace Combat]]'' may be what happens when you put a real-world (nigh-)undefeatable heater, ''a la'' Python 4/5 or AA-11/R-73 or AIM-9X, against planes that usually encounter missiles sloppy enough to be outflown without needing countermeasures. Also seen when Captain Bartlett in ''Unsung War'' draws a missile away from Nagase and the missile stays firmly on him despite his weaving here and there... and it proceeds to splash him. Must have been a QAAM. {{spoiler|He gets better.}}
** The [[Xbox 360]] game ''Over G Fighters'' is essentially what happens when [[Reality Ensues]] on ''Ace Combat''. Did you know that afterburner in the presence of heat-seeking missiles is a BAD thing? On the other hand, unlike ''Ace Combat'', the player (though also enemies) can sometimes break missile locks by turning enough to reduce their plane's radar cross-section.
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* 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.}}
* Many of the cutscenes in ''[[Dynasty Warriors]] 7'' invoke this with [[Annoying Arrows]]--In one scene, Pang Tong succumbs to a wound that resulted from taking an arrow intended for Liu Bei, Zhou Yu dies in a similar fashion, and another cutscene has the famous [[Eye Scream]] scene with Xiahou Dun (at least [[Gory Discretion Shot|as much as can be shown in a T-rated game]]). To say nothing of Wu.
* For ''[[Max Payne (
* In [[Grand Theft Auto IV]], {{spoiler|the game's [[Final Boss|Final Bosses]] (which differentiate [[Multiple Endings|depending on which ending you take]] are hardly any tougher than any of the other random [[Mooks]] you've been killing. They have slightly more health thanks to body armor, but other than that, they're no tougher, and will likely go down quickly.}}
* In ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' and ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'', Batman can take out dozens of prisoners with delicate uses of flips, jumps, punches, and Batarangs. But try to take on a group of gun wielding goons head on, and Batman will quickly be turned into Bat-paste. Especially true in the sequel, where he fights mooks with high-powered sniper rifles.
* In the backstory of ''[[
* In ''[[Homestar Runner
* 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.}}
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* Despite passionate pleas, Masayuki in ''[[
== Webcomics ==
* [http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=16&issue=9 This] page of ''[[
** 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.}}
* [http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/72300/wee-army-man-comics-snipers-finished-on-page3/p1 This] comic on the ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' forums.
* A common occurrence on ''[[
* In ''[[
** After Grace's brothers are freed from Damien, they are informed that they will have to take psychological tests to make sure that they're of fit mind to live in society. Grace realizes that she underwent similar tests after living with Ted, but Ted's dad was just sneaky enough to be very subtle about it.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* [http://buttersafe.com/2010/06/08/so-sleepy/ This] ''[[Buttersafe]]'' comic.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Nip and Tuck]]'' the [[Show Within the Show]] ''Rebel Cry'' opens with [[La Résistance]] getting its head handed to it by [[The Empire]], because it consists of two systems.
* In ''[[
{{quote| "Disintegrate. Gust of Wind."}}
** The kicker here is that Vaarsuvius didn't ''know'' that he was dispatching a threat. He was just removing a distraction from his research. Of course, this garners him a [[What the Hell, Hero?]] from Elan.
* Occurs in ''[[
== Web Original ==
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* [http://www.cracked.com/article_18791_if-movie-characters-didnt-make-horrible-decisions.html This] [[Cracked]] article lists a number of humourous hypothetical examples, imagining what sort of films fictional characters would watch.
** "An ex-con coach and a team of misfits... No one thought they'd have a chance. They were right."
* [http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/building-code-violations-for-the-love-shack Building Code Violations For] [[The B
* ''[[
** The problem with the Death star example is that Yavin is a) A gas giant, and therefore can't be destroyed by the Death Star, and b) The Death Star has a very long recharge rate, so it would have to wait for a long while to destroy the base.
* The Prolecto series, at Episode Two and later, falls into this, and at first balances hilarity with reality, but moves towards reality later on. For instance, at the end of the first one, they decide to start converting everyone! At the beginning of the second one... {{spoiler|They're in prison for, amongst other things, public nudity!}}
** http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6721353/
* ''[[The Salvation War]]'' runs on this. One of the core themes is that Biblical depictions of the powers of angels and demons, quite simply, are not all that impressive compared to modern weapons. Sure, a demon may be nine feet tall, run thirty KPH without getting tired, regenerate from most injuries in a few hours or days, can rip through human beings like tissue paper, and throw lightning bolts, but all of that is terribly useless when the demon's most advanced weapon is a pitchfork and the humans are sitting twenty kilometers away launching missiles and firing artillery that rips through demonic flesh as easily as it does human.
* ''[[Dr.
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*** Joe [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this by asking [[Friends Rent Control|how the hell Peter can afford those things.]]
** When Joe manages to tackle the robbery suspect and severs his spine in the process Peter jokes about the man's resulting paralysis, but Joe informs him that the man died.
** When pretending to be the ''[[
** Stewie forgets about his babysitter's boyfriend whom he locks in the trunk of Brian's car. When he remembers after 3 weeks it is clear that the person has died.
** There's also the clown that Peter has kept in the ceiling somewhere in order to pop up when Lois admitted Peter was right. Unfortunately, this hasn't happened for years. So when it finally does, all Peter gets is a skeleton in a colorful wig.
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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 it the miniseries was written by--wait for it--[[Warren Ellis]].
* ''[[
** 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}}.
*** Even when Dinobot II (who has {{spoiler|regained the originals' memories}}) tries to tell him that it's an overkill to use {{spoiler|giant ship-to-ship lasers}} to kill {{spoiler|a primitive tribe of organics}}, Megatron pretends to consider it for a second, and then pushes the button anyway.
* Played for laughs in ''[[Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!]]'' when the Sun Riders (who at this point are evil) have taken over the Super Robot and forced the Hyperforce to flee. Chiro suggests that they instead use the Sun Riders' old fighting mecha and they head to where they've been told it's stored... only to find out that it is only 20 feet tall (compared to the Super Robot skyscraper) and is in disrepair, at which point the following exchange takes place:
{{quote| '''Chiro''': * Slams his fists into the ground* That's IT! I give up!<br />
'''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 after 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
** 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.
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'''Mayor:''' NO! Do you realize the two crooks that you caught stole approximately four hundred dollars? Do you realize that you did ''over three '''MILLION''' dollars in property damage to that bridge?!'' '''IT'S NOT REPLACEABLE!''' }}
** An even better (worse?) example was when Rainbow the Clown suffered an accident that turned him into the sound-and-color-hating "Mr. Mime." He almost succeeds in turning Townsville into a silent, monochromatic wasteland, but the girls set everything right with [[The Power of Rock]]. Rainbow's mind is freed from the evil and he thanks the girls for saving him - at which point they beat the tar out of him and have him carted off to jail, because... well... he broke the law.
* [[Sym
* In ''[[
* 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]].
** 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.
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* ''[[Archer]]'' often plays the various injuries encountered in [[Spy Fiction]] realistically:
** Whenever a character is exposed to explosions or gunfire, they suffer temporary deafness, sometimes accompanied by a [[Shell-Shock Silence|loud ringing noise]]. It's happened to Archer so many times he mentions that he thinks he's developing tinnitus.
** When Ray gets knocked out via a [[Tap
* 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.
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