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{{trope}}
[[Playing
Sometimes, a trope is handled in a way that is, quite frankly, beyond our normal categorizations of [[Subverted Trope|subversion]], [[Averted Trope|aversion]], [[Double Subversion]], or [[Inverted Trope|inversion]]. Such tropes wind up as those rare complexities that can make the readers grin ([[Driven to Suicide|or shoot their brains out]] due to being [[Mind Screw
Sometimes a Zig-Zagging trope is a product of overcomplication after it comes into play; anything involving a triple subversion makes the result a zig-zagging use of the trope. Sometimes, a trope is both inverted and played straight at the same time, which is also a Zig-Zagging trope. And sometimes the author is simply saying "[[Kikoskia|Dance, trope, dance! Dance for my amusement!]]" before indulging in an [[Evil Laugh]].
In other words, think of an example of this as any that is too screwy or complex to be one of the other [[Trope Tropes]].
{{examples|Examples: }}▼
== Anime
* ''[[
* [[Mahou Sensei Negima]] does this with the concept of the [[Unwanted Harem]]. It starts out as one, but oh wait, he's [[Oblivious to Love]], then a bunch of the cast fall in love with him anyway, but it doesn't count because he [[Chaste Hero|never reciprocates]], unless [[I Didn't Mean to Turn You On|it's unintentional]], etc. It's still not entirely clear if the series is actually an [[Unwanted Harem]] or not.
** Hell, it's not even clear whether the harem is unwanted! On one hand, he doesn't return any of the feelings at the moment, and probably won't for a while. One the other hand, he ''has'' become good friends with all the girls and a bunch more who aren't romantically interested in him, and does appreciate how much they are willing to help him. On the other hand, as [[Genre Savvy|Haruna]] and [[Meta Guy|Chisame]] have pointed out, love triangles rarely work out well, and unless Negi goes for a [[Chick Magnet|very elaborate]] [[Tenchi Solution]], a whole lot of them are going to be disappointed. On the ''other'' hand, this isn't just a straight romantic comedy but also an action/adventure fantasy as well, and Negi would not have gotten ''nearly'' as far as he had without all of these other characters backing him up. [[Zig Zagged Trope]] indeed...
** It does the same thing with [[First Girl Wins]], as there are about 5 girls who fit the criteria, and at least one of them could also qualify as [[Last Girl Wins|the last girl]]. And of course, Negi might not end up with any of them...
** The Negi/Rakan fight is essentially a long string of Subverted [[Anticlimax|Anti Climaxes]] combined with numerous instances of [[I Am Not Left-Handed]]. It's hard to tell whether the fight's conclusion is actually an [[Anticlimax]] or not.
* ''[[Giant Robo]]'' does this with a [[Broken Pedestal]]. The image of Vogler keeps getting added on with new information from new
* In ''[[Kitchen Princess]]'', Sora appears to be a [[Shallow Love Interest]] as he seems to fall for Najika off the bat. {{spoiler|A side story reveals that he had already run into her and was charmed by her, though she never finds out.}}Then it turns out he was just ordered to hang out with her so that she could be used in a publicity stunt. However, it was inevitable that he'd develop real feelings for her with all the time he spent with her. {{spoiler|Then Sora dies. Not to mention it's also insinuated another reason he wanted to have a relationship with her was so that there would be less chance of his younger brother remembering how their mother died}}.
* In ''[[Zettai Karen Children]]'', [[Wife Husbandry]] is sent through a blender. Minamoto is [[Defied Trope|absolutely not trying to do this]], but [[Inverted Trope|The Children want him to]] (not that they want him to wait that long), everyone else either [[Lampshade Hanging|thinks he's doing this]] or [[Shipper
* ''[[Pokémon (
==
* In the ''[[Ranma ½]]'' fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4876578/1/I_Want_a_Refund I Want A Refund]'', Kuno has forbidden anyone to date
* ''[[Kyon:
== Film ==
* [[Heroic Second Wind]] has a rather peculiar level of heavy subversion in ''[[The Matrix]] Revolutions'': After Smith delivers a truly exemplary [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] speech, he asks the beaten Neo why the hell he even bothers to keep fighting. Neo stands and says, "Because I choose to." Cue asskicking, trope subversion as Smith rejuvenates and beats Neo to a pulp again, double subversion as Neo gets up again, {{spoiler|triple subversion as Smith manages to infect Neo, and finally quadruple subversion as Neo uses his defeat to provide a link between Smith and the computer that created him, allowing it to simply delete him}}.
* ''[[
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]] becomes rather a
* [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl|Watching]] [[Lucy Liu|the]] [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|Detectives]] zigzags quite frequently between [[Deconstruction]] and [[Reconstruction]] while [[Playing
* [[Men Don't Cry]] is pretty much thrown into a Tornado when it comes to [[The Wizard of Oz]]. The Tin Man can cry, and even does so on several occasions, but is advised against it and it ends negatively for him, as he rusts when it happens. The Cowardly Lion also cries several times out of fear, and while he isn't human, he is genuinely courageous in the sense that when he has a good reason to, he does things even though he is afraid. The meaning of the trope is also challenged a bit when it comes to them; do they count as subversions because they are male characters who cry? Or are they playing it straight due to the negative [[In
== Literature ==
* [[Asshole Victim]] is toyed with in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''The Naked Sun'', where the murder victim qualifies under reasons two (to allow the murderer to be [[Sympathetic Murderer|sympathetic]]) and three (it maximizes the number of possible suspects) . . . because he was the perfect embodiment of the planet's social code ("a good Solarian"), that is, an anti-social a-hole. Everyone had a motive to murder the man who reminded them all of their imperfections, and in the end Elijah Baley decides to sit on the knowledge of who murdered the victim.
* [[The Mole]] is played with in the ''[[Harry Potter (
* The entire point of the [[Tom Holt]] novel ''Falling Sideways''. The description of the backstory of the major players is revised, revisited and completely contradicted every two or three chapters, and keeping track of all the lies (and trying to fit it into the events of the book) becomes a big brain-hurting exercise. It doesn't help that, at the end, there's still plenty of huge [[Plot Hole
* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] gets a lot of play in ''[[The Sirantha Jax Series]]''. There's an alien species who change form... by extruding an extra skin around their insectoid bodies. They can manipulate the features on the outside layer, but they occasionally have to molt it and replace it.
* The ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' zigzags [[Kissing Cousins]] in ''one chapter'', when Rand is researching his family tree, trying to figure out if he is related to
** {{spoiler|Except that he doesn't know his mother was actually much more closely related. We think anyway.}}
*** {{spoiler|They are very distant cousins... who share a half brother, by way of Rand's mom and Elayne's dad.}}
* ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' zigzags [[There Can Be Only One]]: {{spoiler|The premise is that the last survivor wins. With only a few competitors left, the Capitol makes an announcement that if the last two survivors are from the same district, they will be co-winners. Katniss and Peeta become the last two survivors, but the Capitol [[I Lied|lied]], and there will only be one winner after all. They decide to commit double suicide rather than attempt to kill each other, and the Capitol backs down, deciding that having two winners is better than not having any.}}
** In the second book, there's even more play on the trope- {{spoiler|Katniss is sure that there can only be one winner this time, but then five of the tributes are rescued from the arena.}}
* Lisanne Norman's ''[[Sholan Alliance]]'' series does this with [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]. It's ''mostly'' an inversion, but...
** To whit: Mara has a mate. She is also pregnant. Her mate is not the father. Half a chapter is devoted to finding daddy.
** [[Playing
* ''Candle'' by John Barnes does ''something'' to [[Shades of Conflict]], as one [[The Reveal|reveal]] after another changes the apparent shade of the conflict. In order: [[Black and White Morality]] ([[Hive Mind|One True]] is good, the last rebel [[Complete Monster|raped a little girl for the fun of it]]), {{spoiler|[[Black and Grey Morality]] or [[Evil Versus Evil]] (One True is [[You Will Be Assimilated|solely concerned with propagating itself]], but the representative of it who serves as the main character is only partially controlled and is a [[Lawful Good]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]), [[White and Grey Morality]] or a reversed [[Black and White Morality]] (One True lied about the rebel, and he's actually a good guy), [[Grey and Grey Morality]] or [[Evil Versus Evil]] ''again'' (the rebel is the last survivor of a benevolent [[Hive Mind]] founded to protect humanity from One True and its like, but it [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|jumped off the slippery slope]] and now what remains of it forces him to convert more people, [[And Then John Was a Zombie|just like One True]]), and finally [[Rousseau Was Right]] (the rebel himself is still an idealist, and One True is willing to learn from his example, voluntarily splitting itself into bits and becoming more of a [[Mental Fusion]].}} The sequel takes it another step: {{spoiler|One True is ''trying'' to be good, but is still driven to propagate itself, and may or may not have killed thousands of people so it could assimilate the rest into its "[[Well-Intentioned Extremist|benevolent]]" control.}}
* ''[[
** He's smart about certain things ... and ''only'' about those things. It's just that, unlike most characters of his type, he can find practical uses for them. But only some of the time - the rest of the time he's genuinely clueless.
** Wouldn't that make him a [[Genius Ditz]]?
*** That's part of it, but not all of it. He's [[The Ditz]], but (in addition to topical genius) varies between intelligent but clueless, [[Wrong Genre Savvy]], and ''subverting'' [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] (which is itself ''already'' a subversion). Witness, for instance, the scene where Jackrum fakes a [[My Rule Fu Is Stronger Than Yours]].
** As well as this trope, ''[[
* [[Umberto Eco]]'s approach to [[The Death Of The Author]] tends toward this, as demonstrated by ''[[The Limits
== [[Live
* ''[[
** Mrs. Benson in the first and second seasons is clearly a Carly/Freddie shipper, going so far as to ask Carly ''"Why won't you love my son!"'' In Season 3 she [[Zig Zagged]] into an anti-Carly/Freddie shipper, blaming Carly for Freddie getting hit by the truck in
{{quote|
** Sam's actions in
** As a result of the above actions, Carly appears as a [[Shipper
Line 69 ⟶ 68:
== Newspaper Comics ==
* The first time Lemont Brown is alone with Saxon Kenchu in ''[[Candorville]]'', the latter goes from a [[Flat Character]] to an apparently [[Axe Crazy]] [[Knife Nut]]. The story he tells, however, indicates that he's just [[Properly Paranoid]]
== Other ==
* A variant on a popular joke is a triple or quadruple subversion:
{{quote|
''"How?"''
''"He fell out of a guard tower."''
''"Your grandfather was a Nazi?!"''
''"He was trying to escape." (beat) "The prisoners were rioting."'' }}
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Traveller]]'': [[Planetville]]. A planet does not have to be a planet ville. Many planets are large and complex societies and some have mini-sourcebooks about them. On the other hand
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' somehow manages to do this with both [[You Can't Fight Fate]] and [[Screw Destiny]].
** As does the ''[[Terminator (
* ''[[Ace Combat]]'' zig zags around [[So Last Season]] with its starter planes; some games have better starter planes than later ones, but the current latest one, ''6: Fires of Liberation'' also has a better starter plane that some games before it. See the trope page for the full rundown.
* ''[[Fat Princess]]'' does this to [[Save the Princess]].
* [[Knight in Shining Armour]] trope in ''[[
* ''[[Frontlines: Fuel of War]]'' zig zags with [[Bag of Spilling]]: Each mission comes in two halves, and you keep all of your gear if you die... But when the second half of the level loads you're suddenly stuck with a regular weapon set and ''none'' of the collected gear from the first section.
* [[Jeanne D
* ''[[
* ''[[Nethack]]'' has a triple subversion of [[Useless Useful Spell]]. The game has an [[Standard Status Effects|instant death]] spell (and wand that contains the spell in consumable form) that's [[Too Awesome to Use]] against regular enemies. However, the list of things immune to it is "everything that's already dead", which, in the first subversion, does not include all the bosses (it's about half; as an extreme example, two of the three endgame bosses are vulnerable to it, one is immune). However, the most powerful bosses (that are vulnerable to it) will simply respawn, making it much less powerful against them than you'd expect. However, it's still the most effective weapon to use against them anyway...
* ''[[King's Quest IV]]'' and ''[[King's Quest VII]]'' do this for [[Standard Hero Reward]]. Subverted, gender inverted, played straight, subverted another two times, gender flipped again...In the end, Edgar and Rosella just agree to date.
* ''[[Fire Emblem Elibe]]'' does this to [[Lamarck Was Right]]: Played straight with Lou and Ray's magical ability (inherited from Nino), Eliwood's and Hector's ability to wield Durandal and Armads, respectively; inverted with Zephiel's (and nobody else's) ability to wield Eckesachs; subverted with Hector's and Lyn's inability to wield Durandal in ''Rekka no Ken'' and with '''everybody's''' (if they have the appropriate skill in swords) ability to wield Durandal in ''Fuuin no Tsurugi''. Also subverted with Lilina's magical ability, as neither Hector nor his wife were able to use magic.
==
* Look under "[[Fan-Preferred Couple]]" for ''[[
* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' do this with [[Not the Fall That Kills You]]. More complex than you thought.
* Sivo in ''[[
** This comes close to ''quadruple''-subversion level, though only time will tell: {{spoiler|Reynardine is now under Annie's control, and as Annie learns more and more about him, he appears to be far more sympathetic and far less the demon that Eglamore believed.}}
*** Probably already counts as a quadruple subversion, after {{spoiler|in #109 Eglamore requested to turn Reynardine over and Antimony [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|refused and offered a good rebuff]],}} so the situation essentially turned into {{spoiler|"the Fair Maiden saves the [ex-] Dragon from the Knight"}}.
*** Tom zigzagged the [[Ship Tease]] in chapter 34 where it looks like {{spoiler|Annie and Jack}} flirt with each other well, in contrast to their previous awkward interaction in chapter 31. They have an apparently sweet moment in a balcony, which leads to her saying she doesn't like him when it looks like they're about to kiss. Then he sighs in relief and declares a crush on {{spoiler|Zimmy}}. She gets pissed off, and he gives her [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]. He then cracks a joke, and she agrees with the joke and concedes to his calling her out. It finally ends in a relatively sweet moment which leads her to offering him an actual kiss. He turns her down gently and they're shown hugging at the end.
* Randomly point a finger, with eyes closed, somewhere on the [[Fate and Prophecy Tropes]] page, and you're likely to find something in ''[[
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' does this with [[
* ''[[
* In ''[[Nedroid]]'', the initial comics had a lot of artistic experimentation, with some comics looking sketchy while others looked gorgeous. As time went on, the comic eventually focused on a simple, but polished art style. It's two cases of [[Art Evolution]] while simultaneously being two cases of Art Decay.
* [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=561 This] ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' panel is a textbook example of screwing with the reader's expectation so many times it makes you dizzy. The webcomic in question ''loves'' this trope.
* ''[[Jack (
* In ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'', Ralph Hayes has loads of fun with [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]:
** Subversion 1: Quentyn ''is'' careful what he wishes for, very carefully wording his wishes so that his Fae Lord enemy has no loopholes to wiggle through.
** Subversion 2: Later, he convinces himself that he wished for the wrong
** Subversion 3: He's told that his wishes were the most damaging things he could possibly have asked a Fae Lord for {{spoiler|All debts and favors cancelled, everything stolen returned to the duchy, and barred from hunting the world again}}
* ''[[Sequential Art (
== Web Original ==
* In part 1 of ''[[
{{quote|
** The second part of the event starts with an over-the-top dramatic scene where [[
== Western Animation ==
* There are at least two episodes in the ''[[Men in Black (
** In
** In
* A Triple Subversion occurs in ''[[The Simpsons (
** If they hadn't avoided Bart and the elephant, [[Fridge Brilliance|they would have had to clean up all the glass.]]
* The TV series version of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' has a female genie called Eden, who is also [[Benevolent Genie]]. Unlike Genie however, she's wise enough to become a [[Literal Genie]] when dealing with [[Jerkass]] Abis Mal. When the villain wishes Genie imprisoned in the bottom of the ocean, she
== Real Life ==
* In the days of [[
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2210913/ This] newspaper article suggests that a current{{when}} political sex-scandal is going through this. In brief, Gay male mayor, possibly underage male intern. On the one hand, Gay Man Child Predator is a very old and damaging trope, on the other hand [[Hot for Student]] suggests that we don't think of a young male was 'taken advantage of' but maybe even 'got lucky'. By contrast, old guy - young girl is seen as more 'appreciable' but much more often 'predatory'. Furthermore, gay men are 'expected' to be secretive about their sex lives for some because of privacy, for some because of leeway for a frowned-upon sexuality, and for some because of [[Brain Bleach]].
* The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is either a straight example or an inversion{{context|Of what trope?}}. They found the body but don't know who it belongs to. In fact it is a recognition of an aspect of war that people [[War Is Hell|don't like to think about.]] That is, often enough people get so mangled that not only can you not tell which person it is from, you cannot even tell if it is one or a mish-mash of [[Squick|parts of several]].
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[[Category:Trope Tropes]]
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