Too Dumb to Live/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Someone does something stupid, and it leads to his/her death or serious injury.

  • Straight: Alice kicks a crocodile. The crocodile ate Alice as a result.
  • Exaggerated: Alice kicks a T.rex baby while its parents are around. The results are predictably gory.
  • Downplayed: Alice kicks a crocodile. She gets maimed and ends up in a hospital.
  • Justified:
    • Alice believes crocodiles are very slow, as seen in many media.
    • Alice is stoned.
    • Alice has a dead wish.
    • As a kid, Alice saw people holding fire, kissing snakes, and getting eaten by bread. She can no longer tell what is safe or what is dangerous.
  • Inverted: Violation of Common Sense
  • Subverted: Alice kicks a sleeping crocodile. It doesn't wake up.
  • Double Subverted: Then Alice gloats about how brave she is to her friends hiding nearby. The crocodile wakes up and eats her.
  • Parodied: Alice sees a pit filled with spikes, fire, sawblades, crocodiles, and angry kittens with a large neon sign reading "INSTANT DEATH" hanging above it. She turns toward the screen, says "What's the worst that could happen?" and jumps in.
  • Zig Zagged: ???
  • Averted: Alice has enough common sense not to do things that will obviously kill her.
  • Enforced: Alice is a very unpopular character, so the producers decide to have her Killed Off For Real.
  • Lampshaded: "It occurs to me that kicking this crocodile probably isn't good for my health."
  • Invoked: Cassie dares Alice to kick the crocodile. Alice gets eaten.
  • Exploited: Cassie does so to have Bob all to herself.
  • Defied: Cassie stops Alice from kicking the crocodile and explains to Alice clearly why it is not a good idea.
  • Discussed: "The way Alice behaves around dangerous animals, she won't live very long."
  • Conversed: "Alice kicked a crocodile in last week's episode. No prizes awarded for guessing what happens next."

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