Reality Ensues: Difference between revisions

[[File:reality01_264.png|link=The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)|right]]

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 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]].

* 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 ''[[Holyland (Manga)|Holyland]]'', gangsters often don't respect the results of [[Combat By Champion]] but instead beat the victor down anyway.

* Subverted in [[Bakuman｡ (Manga)|Bakuman｡]]. After Kosugi does a [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!]] punch to Nanamine when he essentially gives up on manga following losing to the main characters, Nanamine threatens to report Kosugi for assault and cause him to lose his job. Nanamine doesn't go through with it, though, thinking it would make him more of a laughingstock than he already is.

* In ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Azumanga Daioh]]'', [[Cloudcuckoolander|Osaka]], of all people, pulls this when she wonders what Chiyo would do if she was kidnapped. Chiyo suggests that [[Canine Companion|Tadakichi-san]] could come to her rescue, and Osaka mimes shooting him. This leads to this exchange:

* ''[[Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex]]'': Pretty much the entire first season was spent establishing [[Lightning Bruiser|The Major]] as a nigh-unstoppable badass, so, when she picks a fight with Gayle and his [[Powered Armor|military mech suit]] while armed with nothing but a pistol, you'd expect her to win handily. She does not. In point of fact, she gets outright [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomped]] until Saito shows up with his [[BFG|anti-tank rifle]]. [[Rock Beats Laser]] clearly does not work in that universe.

* 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.

* ''[[Black Orchid (Comic Book)|Black Orchid]]'' doesn't just lampshade this, a mook gives a half-page [[Character Filibuster]] on the subject. Then he shoots the [[Decoy Protagonist]] in the head and sets her corpse on fire to make sure she's really dead.

* The ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|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]].

* ''[[Forward (Fanfic)|Forward]]'' has River facing off against a rival pirate crew's [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]]. The battle begins with them sizing each other up, and with the martial artist declaring River as a [[Worthy Opponent]], who might be able to truly test his skills, and he rushes at her with his bo staff. {{spoiler|River shoots him twice in the head. Then she demands chocolate.}}

** Another case is where Blaine hits his head and the [[Easy Amnesia]] / [[Tap On the Head]] tropes are ''very'' much averted.

* In the ''[[Death Note (Manga)|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.]]

* The famous scene in ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark (Film)|Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' where Indy shoots the swordsman.

* ''[[To Live and Die In LA (Film)|To Live and Die In LA]]'' has the {{spoiler|protagonist Chance}} abruptly shot dead in a fight with the [[Big Bad]]'s henchmen. Like deaths in ''[[The Departed]]'', it's very abrupt and there is no last-minute speech. With still ten minutes left to go before the film ends, {{spoiler|Chance's partner}} chases after the Big Bad and eventually kills him. The film's creators did film another ending where {{spoiler|Chance}} lived, but chose the one where he died because it fit the story and the characters better.

* {{spoiler|Sonny's death}} in ''[[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather]]''. No [[My Name Is Inigo Montoya]] moment, no [[Famous Last Words|final speech]], just [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|getting shot and shot]] again until he's dead. Similarly, the four other Dons don't get any final speeches, any epic fight scenes, just simple assassinations.

* ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'':

* In [[Werner Herzog (Creator)|Werner Herzog]]'s remake of ''[[Nosferatu (Film)|Nosferatu]]'', {{spoiler|Van Helsing kills Dracula. He is then arrested for murdering a foreign dignitary. End of film.}}

* The generally lighthearted comedy ''[[The Men Who Stare At Goats]]'' takes a dark turn when it references the real MK-ULTRA experiments: A soldier is driven into psychosis with LSD and disorienting lights. He goes on a rampage and is [[Driven to Suicide]]. Later on, it revisits the theme when the protagonists discover a working application of all that "research": {{spoiler|sleep deprivation torture via loud nonstop music and strobe lights}}.

* ''[[The a Team (Film)|The a Team]]'': {{spoiler|The team clears their name, and the bad guy, a rogue CIA agent, is taken away by his employer to a nonspecific future. Then the team is arrested for breaking out of jail, and because the Government needs someone to blame for all the damage they've done.}} They should have bought [[Wrongful Accusation Insurance]].

* In ''[[Kick-Ass (Film)|Kick-Ass]]'' when Dave gets his first try at superheroism {{spoiler|and gets stabbed in the gut for the effort, just to be run over by a car mere seconds later.}}

* The [[Pixar]] movie ''[[Up (Film)|Up]]'' has an instance of this. Young Carl, determined to impress Ellie, attempts to walk across a wooden beam to retrieve his balloon. He takes a single step. The beam promptly breaks.

* ''[[Escape From LA]]'' 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.

* ''[[Madame Bovary (Literature)|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, 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.

* In ''[[War of the Dreaming (Literature)|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.}}

* ''[[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 With a Crush|the more she tried to get rid of him, the more he harassed her]]? Not in [[Jane Austen]]!

* 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 ''[[Gaunts Ghosts (Literature)|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 ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|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 (Literature)|Discworld]]'' books play this for equal parts comedy and drama. Among other things, characters frequently react realistically to outlandish situations (in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Going Postal|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 [[Post Mortem 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 (Literature)/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 ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'', Tosh and Ianto find themselves confronted by three hooded, scythe-wielding men who spout fire and brimstone, then ominously start walking towards them as the music swells. They gun them down without a pause.

** ''[[Torchwood Miracle Day (TV)|Torchwood Miracle Day]]'' uses this as its premise: Having everlasting life in the real world creates horrific problems.

* ''[[Heroes (TV)|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.}}

* ''[[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|serial numbers filed off]]. In [[The Teaser]], it actually ''vaporizes'' three men. Horatio tracks the baddies down at the airport and comes riding in in his Hummer, which the bad guy destroys. Caine gets out of the burning car and takes aim at just outside of point-blank range. A staredown ensues.

* ''[[Blakes Seven]]'' gives us a single ship --admittedly the most advanced in the galaxy-- crewed by approximately seven people --admittedly very talented-- trying to bring down a gigantic evil bureaucracy ([[The Federation]]). They manage to survive for four years, then [[Kill'Em All|reality catches up.]]

* '[[Justified (TV)|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).

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

* 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 The Fist|punch to the face]], at which point the mook proceeds to beat the hero. ''[[Squick|Brutally]].'' [[Overly Long Gag|For over a minute.]]

* The series two finale of ''[[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]]'' hinges on the police no longer implicitly trusting Sherlock on the basis that he's Just That Good, and the reaction of their superiors to a PI being given access to classified information (repeatedly).

* ''[[Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]'' uses this trope often for comedic effect. In one episode Mac and Charlie attempt to fake their deaths by blowing up a car. Their attempts to do it by invokeing various action movie tropes result mostly in the duo injuring ''themselves''. Later it turns out that their attempt to fake their demises failed naturally and that no one but Frank thought they were dead.

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

** Specifically: [[Pippi Longstocking (Literature)|Pippi Longstocking]] is in jail for assaulting a police officer, Rasmus is a homeless alcoholic, [[Ronja the Robbers Daughter (Literature)|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]].

* 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].

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

** Grittier, meaner, more brutal games (''[[The World of Darkness (Tabletop Game)|The World of Darkness]]'', ''[[Dark Heresy]]'', ''[[Call of Cthulhu (Tabletop Game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'', and so on) intentionally invoke this trope to help create the feel of danger, failure, and high stakes. Some games, such as the old [[West End Games]] ''D6 [[Star Wars]]'' adaptation, have rules written to invoke this trope and then blatantly tell the GM to lie and keep the PC's relatively safe, allowing them to feel like reality may ensue when it probably won't. Some games even shoot to overplay this trope in the name of schadenfreude; for instance, in ''[[Paranoia (Tabletop Game)|Paranoia]]'', your character is incompetent, your boss is insane, and your teammates will throw you under the bus at the drop of a hat-- so sure enough, you're pretty much guaranteed to suck, fail, and die repeatedly [[Black Comedy|for laughs]].

** ''[[GURPS (Tabletop Game)|GURPS]]'' defaults to a gritty, dangerous rule system where this trope is in full force, and combat is lethal. But the GM can change that, for example by using the various Cinematic Combat rules, or ignoring the bleeding rules. And then there are the ''Silly'' Combat rules, which throw reality right out the window in favor of rules like Bulletproof Nudity, [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]] (the [[Trope Namer]]), [[Bottomless Magazines|Infinite Ammunition]], and [[Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting|Martial Arts Anonymous]].

** ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' generally averts this trope. However, when it comes to 2.5 Edition, if one were to implement the [[Critical Hit|critical hit]] system from [[Expanded Universe|Combat & Tactics]], 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|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 a rampaging [[Smash Mook|umber hulk's]] fists? 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]]. [[Light Is Not Good|Permanently]]. And occasionally [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]].

* 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 ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40000]]''. Then again, it may be Justified; this is, after all, a setting where there are enough ranks above a "mere" General for even them to be open to the Commissars' field executions - in the fluff at least.

* Played around with the ''[[Metal Gear Solid (Video Game)|Metal Gear Solid]]'' series a few times, although it's much more into [[Metal Gear (Video Game)/Awesome|CMOAs]].

** 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 [[PS 2]] internal clock) and he'll die of natural causes. On the other hand, the area is then manned by ''twenty'' guards instead of one boss character.

* In ''[[Halo Reach|Halo: Reach]]'' {{spoiler|almost everyone gets an over the top [[Heroic Sacrifice]] death with Jorge blowing up a Covenant super-carrier, Carter crashing a dropship into a [[Spider Tank|Scarab]], Emile falling over a ledge with the Elite who just impaled him with an energy sword, and Noble 6 getting a [[Last Stand]] and [[Taking You With Me|taking as many Covenant with him]] as he can. Only Kat gets shot in the back of the head by a sniper [[Killed Mid-Sentence|in mid sentence]] as the team passes a hole in the roof.}}

* In ''[[Fable II (Video Game)|Fable II]]'' {{spoiler|you can shoot the villain as he is doing his [[Motive Rant]]. If you hesitate, one of your companions ([[Karma Houdini]] Reaver) will pull the trigger.}}

* ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]'', a minor patron saint of deconstruction, lets reality happen quite a few times. At one point, [[The Dragon]] decides that it's much, much smarter to [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|just order his troops to kill you]], rather than actually having to go through the complicated business of waiting for the [[Explosive Leash]] to kick in. (Notably, he ''also'' activates the [[Explosive Leash]]- which for newer models like you is a relatively slow and seemingly natural death rather than instant death by explosion.) At another point, you confront an enemy [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] who realizes that trying to shoot the [[Super Soldier]] might not be such a good idea, so he waits until you turn around and leave, whereupon he shoots you in the back. At the "Realistic" difficulty level, there's a quite high chance that this will kill the player character in one shot. Of course, you can silently pick off the guards before he chance to sick them on you, resulting in a "You win this round, Denton."

* For ''[[Max Payne (Video Game)|Max Payne]]'', not so much. But reality ensued all over [[Butt Monkey|poor Vinnie]], a mob lieutenant with more enemies than friends and such an incurable fanboy for a cartoon [[Kid Hero]] that he'll cosplay without hesitation. Doing so straps him into explosives, and since that puts him in an [[Enemy Mine]] situation with Max, you figure [[The Hero]] should be able to save his life. [[Escort Mission|And he did]]. [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|Temporarily]].

* 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 ''[[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]'', Cave Johnson is the [[Crazy Awesome]] [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] of Aperture Science, who has no qualms whatsoever about working with hazardous experimental substances, and wildly misapplies potentially revolutionary scientific breakthroughs because he doesn't realize what they could do. Unfortunately, it's not a cartoon, and these practices have the same result they would in real life, i.e., {{spoiler|he dies slowly and agonizingly from exposure to dangerous chemicals while his company collapses into financial ruin.}}

* In ''[[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|Peasant's Quest]]'', the humble peasant hero Rather Dashing goes through a bunch of trials to prepare himself to fight Trogdor the Burninator. When he finally reaches Trogdor's cave {{spoiler|he's immediately flash-fried, because he's one ordinary guy trying to fight a giant fire-breathing monster.}}

* Despite passionate pleas, Masayuki in ''[[A Profile (Visual Novel)|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.

* [http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=16&issue=9 This] page of ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)|The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]''. Make sure to read the [[Alt Text]].

* A common occurrence on ''[[Shortpacked (Webcomic)|Shortpacked]]''. [[Rule of Funny]] will be enacted, then in the next comic the serious results will hit the characters.

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' this is most likely what ended Susan's uniform crusade arc. Didn't help she was blatantly ignoring nearly half the school, and misreading almost the entirety.

* In ''[[Friendly Hostility (Webcomic)|Friendly Hostility]]'', Collin gets a part time job as a funny kids show host. When he's publicly outed as being gay, it's shrugged off as a joke at first, until he realizes it will cost him his job. He becomes severely depressed and ends up breaking off his relationship with Fox, and although they try to work it out with a therapist, later canon shows that they never get back together. [[Downer Ending|End of comic]].

* In ''[[Sinfest (Webcomic)|Sinfest]]'', there's an entire Reality Zone. Inside it, characters are drawn with a much more realistic style, and all the normal rules like [[Rule of Funny]] or [[Rule of Cool]] no longer apply, with characters instead being forced to face reality. The Devil and other supernatural characters all avoid the place like the plague, for example, and Squig (an anthropomorphic pig) turns into an ordinary pig when he enters.

* ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcd]]'' had [http://xkcd.com/347/ Breakout]: [[Don't Try This At Home]].

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'', Vaarsuvius succinctly deals with [[Aristocrats Are Evil|Kubota's]] [[Take Over the City]] [[The Chessmaster|chessmastering]]:

* Occurs in ''[[The Dreadful (Webcomic)|The Dreadful]],'' for a given value of "[[Improbable Aiming Skills|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.

* [http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/building-code-violations-for-the-love-shack Building Code Violations For] [[The B 52s (Music)|The Love Shack]]

* ''[[How It Should Have Ended (Web Animation)|How It Should Have Ended]]'' frequently combines this with [[Fridge Logic]] and/or [[Cutting the Knot]] in derailing various movies and such. A few examples include ''[[Film/Star Wars A New Hope|Star Wars A New Hope]]'', where instead of going around the planet between them and the rebel base, the Death Star just blows up the planet then immediately follows it up by blowing up the base too, how in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back (Film)|The Empire Strikes Back]]'' Vader could have caught Luke with the force rather than doing nothing when the kid jumped off the catwalk, or Batman running over the Joker with the Batpod in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', which resulted in putting the Joker in traction but not killing him. And the Twilight parody, where Belle gets vamped at the end of the first movie.

* ''[[Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'': Near the beginning of Act II, Dr. Horrible gloats about his unstoppable plan to commit a heist using his Freeze Ray. Cue [[Gilligan Cut]] and a bruised Dr. Horrible explaining how he needs to be careful about what he says on his blog because both Captain Hammer and the LAPD watch it.

** When pretending to be the ''[[The A-Team (TV)|The A-Team]]'', Peter and friends expect the workers demolishing the park to flee in panic, crashing their vehicles in the process and then slinking off in shame, defeated. The foreman educates them how even if they weren't killed outright by the [[A-Team Firing|reckless shooting]] or vehicle crash, even a minor fender bender can result in serious neck injury and partial numbness.

* ''[[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]].

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

* 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:

* 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]]''!

* [[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 (Animation)|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.

** When Ray gets knocked out via a [[Tap On the Head]], he has to see a neurologist.