History Main / AdvantageBall

* The film of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. In addition to [[HollywoodTactics many other lapses in tactical realism]], advantage in battle seems to be principally a matter of who makes the most [[BigEntrance badass entrance]], regardless of such matters as numbers and equipment.

-->-- '''Haedrig''', to the Nephalem, ''VideoGame/DiabloIII''

** Except for Rainbow Dash vs. Starscream, where Rainbow holds the AdvantageBall for pretty much the entirety of the fight. Its noted its almost a character trait of Starscream not to hold the ball regardless of circumstances.

* Most fights that aren't a straight up CurbStompBattle in later episodes of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' are a match of 'who has the most transformations'. Every time a character turns into a new form, they hold the AdvantageBall until their opponent does likewise.
** In this case, being changed into a piece of candy counts as turning into a new form... at least if you're Vegetto.

* David Eddings seemed to be fond of this. In ''TheRedemptionOfAlthalus'', the protagonists are a tightly-knit group of FireForgedFriends (a family in all but blood), they have the full support of a major goddess and full access to her extradimensional house, and several armies of the best soldiers in the world on their payroll (and stationed in said house so they could be deployed anywhere at any time). The antagonists mirror all this at first glance, but their core group all hate and distrust each other, their sponsoring god command them with terror (which is the only reason they even work with each other), their house is a terrifying hell full of fire, and their armies are primitive to the point of being at a stone age level (solely due to the aesthetic preferences of their commander). It's a credit to the author's writing skill that the series didn't end after the first battle.

->"The men look to you to lead them. When they see you laying waste to the demon hordes, they are heartened. As you go, so does this battle. Always remember that."

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' uses this trope in an interesting way: While the battles can be physical in nature, they rely mostly on smarts and finding a way out of your current situation. In order to keep things exciting, whoever loses the advantage ball automatically gets to be the POV character of the following chapters, as it's now his or her turn to turn the tides of battle.

* Explicitly modelled in the optional rules for "Swashbuckling Duels" in the ''Fate System Toolkit''. In such a duel, only the combatant who currently has the "upper hand" actually gets to ''attack'' the other, and gaining the upper hand is a matter of succeeding with style at using some ''non''-combat skill in a relevant fashion. More generally, [[LuckManipulationMechanic fate points and free aspect invocations]] can be seen as a straightforward implementation of this in the Fate system, period -- as long as you still have some, and especially if you have more than your opponent, you still have the ball, but once you run out you temporarily lose it until you've invested enough effort (and probably taken some lumps) to get some back again.

* Explicitly modelled in the optional rules for "Swashbuckling Duels" in the ''Fate System Toolkit''. In such a duel, only the combatant who currently has the "upper hand" actually gets to ''attack'' the other, and gaining the upper hand is a matter of succeeding with style at using some ''non''-combat skill in a relevant fashion. (Present-day incarnations of Fate already have "Create Advantage" as one of their explicit four core actions, serving to create or discover some aspect that the character taking the action can then hopefully exploit in their favor later, but these particular rules are an even more straightforward implementation of the trope.)

* The Church Knights of the ''Literature/TheElenium'' and ''Literature/TheTamuli'', being basically [[ThePaladin Paladins]], have superlative training and political support. Moreover, they have a fierce (deserved) reputation, very large war-horses and armour which not only [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe protects them]], but is also intimidating at the same time. Combining this with the [[PlotArmor extra plot protection]] that the [[NominalImportance named protagonists enjoy]], the Knights have the ability to steamroll over practically any force, almost regardless of the opposition's numbers, tactics or equipment. This is taken UpToEleven at the climax of the Elenium, when Sparhawk is driven into an UnstoppableRage and kills probably dozens of [[{{Mooks}} enemy combatants]] without effort or personal damage. Soon after, however, he faces TheDragon, a man with considerable anthropic weight, and barely defeats him in single combat. In ''Tamuli'' there is some discussion on the topic, with the knights having trouble with keeping up with [[ProudWarriorRace Atan]] levels of physical conditioning, recent advantages in crossbows and dealing with the overwhelming heat during the campaign in Cynesga. Vanion specifically mentions feeling near-obsolete, but concludes that he can still pull his weight, at least.

* The Church Knights of the ''Literature/TheElenium'' and ''Tamuli'', being basically [[ThePaladin Paladins]], have superlative training and political support. Moreover, they have a fierce (deserved) reputation, very large war-horses and armour which not only [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe protects them]], but is also intimidating at the same time. Combining this with the [[PlotArmor extra plot protection]] that the [[NominalImportance named protagonists enjoy]], the Knights have the ability to steamroll over practically any force, almost regardless of the opposition's numbers, tactics or equipment. This is taken UpToEleven at the climax of the Elenium, when Sparhawk is driven into an UnstoppableRage and kills probably dozens of [[{{Mooks}} enemy combatants]] without effort or personal damage. Soon after, however, he faces TheDragon, a man with considerable anthropic weight, and barely defeats him in single combat.
** In ''Tamuli'' there is some discussion on the topic, with the knights having trouble with keeping up with [[ProudWarriorRace Atan]] levels of physical conditioning, recent advantages in crossbows and dealing with the overwhelming heat during the campaign in Cynesga. Vanion specifically mentions feeling near-obsolete, but concludes that he can still pull his weight, at least.

* Much like ''Manga/{{Dragonball}}'', ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} passes the ball whenever a mon evolves and/or learns a new move. This doesn't necessarily mean coming back with a new move though.

* In the Battle of Doldrey in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', in terms of confidence the battle starts off fairly evenly matched, with the Tudor forces having all the material advantages (overwhelming numbers, a fortified position) and the Hawks having grit, determination, and the knowledge that Griffith has A Plan([[TradeSnark TM]]). After Guts goes StraightForTheCommander and Casca's unit takes the castle by sneak attack (a purely symbolic victory as they've had no time to dig in and fortify the place), the Hawks firmly grasp the Ball and the Tudor's DecapitatedArmy beats a hasty retreat despite still having overwhelming numbers and a more-or-less equal playing field to use them.

* The final battle of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' minds the ball back and forth. At first [[spoiler:Armstrong]] is invulnerable to both sword and hand to hand. When [[spoiler:Sam's sword]] becomes available, Raiden is able to face him on even footing with or without it - in fact, the easiest way for the player to take off the biggest chunk of his health is to trigger a quick-time event that causes [[spoiler:Sam's sword]] to fly out of Raiden's grasp and forces him to punch [[spoiler:Armstrong]] several times.

* The final battle of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' minds the ball back and forth. At first [[spoiler:Armstrong]] is invulnerable to both sword and hand to hand. When [[spoiler:Sam's sword]] becomes available, Raiden is able to face him on even footing with or without it.

Ownership of the Ball is determined primarily by morale. Whichever side is more confident has the advantage. This tends to result in HollywoodTactics: using your resources strategically is not as important as making a show. If you can [[DespairGambit break the spirit of your enemy]], you are probably going to win even if they greatly outnumber you and have a far superior position. On an individual scale, if a combatant is unsure either of his chances, or his reasons, he will fare badly. [[EpiphanyTherapy But once he has an epiphany]], [[HeroicResolve is reminded of what he's fighting for]], receives words of support from his allies, wins the respect of a neutral observer, or gets news that help is on the way, he will instantly become much stronger, even to the point of [[HollywoodHealing forgetting previous injuries]]. A well-placed WorldOfCardboardSpeech or TheReasonYouSuckSpeech can render his enemy demoralised and weakened. In mediums dealing with sound, a ThemeMusicPowerUp is almost required for these occasions.

Visually, this trope often expresses itself in a PendulumWar, with the side in possession of the ball advancing and the other clearly retreating. Once conditions change, the Ball may bounce elsewhere and those who were advancing suddenly find themselves falling back. It's noteworthy that it happens at both large and small scales, with whole armies or just two combatants.

* The Church Knights of the ''{{Elenium}}'' and ''Tamuli'', being basically [[ThePaladin Paladins]], have superlative training and political support. Moreover, they have a fierce (deserved) reputation, very large war-horses and armour which not only [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe protects them]], but is also intimidating at the same time. Combining this with the [[PlotArmor extra plot protection]] that the [[NominalImportance named protagonists enjoy]], the Knights have the ability to steamroll over practically any force, almost regardless of the opposition's numbers, tactics or equipment. This is taken UpToEleven at the climax of the Elenium, when Sparhawk is driven into an UnstoppableRage and kills probably dozens of [[{{Mooks}} enemy combatants]] without effort or personal damage. Soon after, however, he faces TheDragon, a man with considerable anthropic weight, and barely defeats him in single combat.

** His earlier fight against Sasuke followed the ''Dragonball Z'' approach of passing the AdvantageBall for a few rounds by unlocking increasingly more power.

** His earlier fight against Sasuke followed the {{Dragonball}} Z approach of passing the AdvantageBall for a few rounds by unlocking increasingly more power.

* Much like {{Dragonball}}, ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} passes the ball whenever a mon evolves and/or learns a new move. This doesn't necessarily mean coming back with a new move though.

* Tex's ability to handle the ball in RedVsBlue is subject to the RuleOfFunny, she will beat entire teams into the ground when its funny and nothing is on the line and fail miserably when something is. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a part of her character, she's an artificial intelligence based on a woman who died in the line of battle.]]

* The second season of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' had the ball being minded back and forth. With the acquisition of powerful relic after relic, the ball was handed to whoever got the newest one. Notably in the finale a full assault was carried out of the team despite Optimus still holding the same weapon Megatron himself declared that the Decepticons faced their darkest hour when he got it.

* The Church Knights of the ''{{Elenium}}'' and ''Tamuli'', being basically [[ThePaladin Paladins]], have superlative training and political support. Moreover, they have a fierce (deserved) reputation, and armour which not only [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe protects them]], but is also intimidating at the same time. Combining this with the [[PlotArmor extra plot protection]] that the [[NominalImportance named protagonists enjoy]], the Knights have the ability to steamroll over practically any force, almost regardless of the opposition's numbers, tactics or equipment. This is taken UpToEleven at the climax of the Elenium, when Sparhawk is driven into an UnstoppableRage and kills probably dozens of [[{{Mooks}} enemy combatants]] without effort or personal damage. Soon after, however, he faces TheDragon, a man with considerable anthropic weight, and barely defeats him in single combat.

* A few schools of pro wrestling teach that best matches are not the most realistic, technically sound or athletically spectacular but those that get the most "heat" without burning out the audience out. Every audience being different means basing a match on responses can result in anything from an extended on side affair with a few {{hope spot}}s (Wrestling/RickySteamboat and RickyMorton of Wrestling/TheRockNRollExpress were famous for it), a dizzying see-saw of advantages (Wrestling/TheRock was well know for these but it was almost literal in a ladder match between Wrestling/RobVanDam and Wrestling/ChristianCage), a miraculous second winds (like HulkingUp) or {{villainous underdog}}s becoming increasingly frustrated\frightened as baby {{face}}s keep shaking off their 'clever' strategies (Wrestling/RicFlair, Wrestling/TerryFunk). Hold for hold (Wrestling/KurtAngle vs Wrestling/EddieGuerrero), blow for blow (Kazuchika Okada vs Wrestling/HiroshiTanahashi or Wrestling/AJStyles), counter for counter (ACH vs Ta'Darius Thomas or Cedric Alexander) rarely last an entire bout and the term "back and forth" is rarely as literal as it is in other "genres" of fighting. Some multiple fall matches such as Perro Aguayo Jr vs El Hijo Del Santo literally had "advantage" shift each decision and [[GimmickMatches match types]] like War Games literally run on it.

* A few schools of pro wrestling teach that best matches are not the most realistic, technically sound or athletically spectacular but those that get the most "heat" without burning out the audience out. Every audience being different means basing a match on responses can result in anything from an extended on side affair with a few {{hope spot}}s (Wrestling/RickySteamboat and RickyMorton of the Wrestling/RockNRollExpress were famous for it), a dizzying see-saw of advantages (Wrestling/TheRock was well know for these but it was almost literal in a ladder match between Wrestling/RobVanDam and Wrestling/ChristianCage), a miraculous second winds (like HulkingUp) or {{villainous underdog}}s becoming increasingly frustrated\frightened as baby {{face}}s keep shaking off their 'clever' strategies (Wrestling/RicFlair, Wrestling/TerryFunk). Hold for hold (Wrestling/KurtAngle vs Wrestling/EddieGuerrero), blow for blow (Kazuchika Okada vs Wrestling/HiroshiTanahashi or Wrestling/AJStyles), counter for counter (ACH vs Ta'Darius Thomas or Cedric Alexander) rarely last an entire bout and the term "back and forth" is rarely as literal as it is in other "genres" of fighting. Some multiple fall matches such as Perro Aguayo Jr vs El Hijo Del Santo literally had "advantage" shift each decision and [[GimmickMatches match types]] like War Games literally run on it.

-->-- '''Haedrig''', ''VideoGame/DiabloIII''

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', this is more of a story fluff than a real effect. In theory there are other people fighting the forces of Hell, but because success in the game is dependent entirely on the actions of the player's character, the game makes the NPCs seem to have some significance by showing their effectiveness be proportional to the progress of the hero, specifically because it gives them hope.