History Main / DownplayedTrope

* Rei Kiriyama from ''Manga/SangatsuNoLion'' is downplayed example of TheEeyore. He spends much of his time and narration contemplating over his many issues and is prone to frequent emotional lows. However, he is not ''unreasonably'' depressed, and he is capable of showing other emotions for more than just a brief moment.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' downplay AllLovingHero. Monkey D. Luffy will only go to the ends of the earth to help the people he "likes"; or, in other words, people who catch his attention for some reason or another (usually just being nice to him, especially by giving him food). Of course, being TheHero, it just so happens that he "likes" most of the people he encounters (generally, anybody that's not trying to kill him and quite a few that have). But if you're someone he ''doesn't'' like, then your best bet is to run in the other direction as fast as possible. Specifically, Luffy only seems interested in helping those who are willing to help themselves. People who sit on the sidelines and hope for things to get better don't interest him, but those who will put themselves in danger to fight for their beliefs earn his respect. He even patently refuses to [[spoiler:help Momonosuke save Wano Country until Momo shows a will to fight,]] caring more about the willingness to act than being begged for help. Still, as said above, he does not like people who hurt his friends, and given his tendency to make friends quickly, there's a good chance that any bad guy Luffy crosses paths with is about to get his ass whooped.

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': Downplays CrazyJealousGuy. Germany and Japan may have been [[GreenEyedMonster intensely jealous]] of each other, but they didn't actively try to ban Italy from being with the other.
* ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'': Downplays MegatonPunch. In chapter 2 [[FieryRedhead a very angry]] [[BelligerentSexualTension Asuka punches Shinji]] ''hard''; but instead of putting him in orbit as usual in this trope, her punch just results in him stumbling backwards and his nose bleeding.
* ''Fanfic/NoOneBreaksMyHeartLikeYou''; Downplays WhatDoesSheSeeInHim. Barbara Heinz, Mary Jane's friend, does not hate Peter or look down on him; she knows that Peter and Mary Jane love each other and that Peter is a good guy. However, she can tell that Mary Jane is unhappy and sometimes feels that he's weighing her down.
* ''Fanfic/WanderOverFostersAUOneshot'' (''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'', ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''): Downplays BreakTheCutie. Being away from Sylvia takes a toll on the Wander, but he doesn't completely break from sorrow. He instead becomes friends with others at Foster's.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' Downplays AllOfTheOtherReindeer. The Furious Five and Shifu treat him with disrespect for most of the first film. However during his second day Po earns the respect of most of the Five through his HeroicResolve, [[ThroughHisStomach great cooking skills]], storytelling, and humor, while Shifu undergoes a JerkassRealization.

* ''Film/HappyDeathDay'' downplay DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist. Every time Tree dies she wakes up she wakes up weaker and weaker and she feels the after effects of whatever killed her last. If the cycle goes on too long she won't even be strong enough to wake up at all.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' Downplays ADayInTheLimelight. Judy Winslow never really gets one, only a few subplots:

* ''WesternAnimation/SummerCampIsland'' Downplay TheFriendNobodyLikes. At least amongst the counselors. Since Betsy is the nicest, she is the one who stops Susie and Alice from overdoing it, much to Susie's displeasure. However Alice does not seem to care when she stops her from overseeing it and despite Susie's dislike of Betsy's stopping her from going too far, she still cares for Betsy.

** Downplay PetTheDog. While Oroku Saki/Ch'rell/The Shredder can throw it away at a moments notice, he seems to have ''some'' level of affection toward his higher level lieutenants; he personally raised Karai, trained Hun, rarely ever significantly punished them, and they're the only ones he listens to. He also respected the power of the Foot Mystics, which they reciprocated to some extent, even when they thought he was an "abomination".
** Downplay VillainWithGoodPublicity. Bishop's a very secretive government agent and very few people know of his actual existence. However, he has the backing of the United States government and by the fourth season, the unconditional support of the President himself, which makes him arguably as big of a threat to the Turtles as the Foot Clan, if not moreso. He becomes yet another downplayed example by the time of Fast Forward because by that time, everyone knows of his existence and he's extremely well liked by almost everybody on Earth... but by that time, he's pulled a HeelFaceTurn and is no longer an actual villain.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' Downplays ADayInTheLimelight. Judy Winslow never really gets a day in the limelight, only a few subplots:

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow'' Downplay ProperlyParanoid. When served food by a woman they've just met, Kai is suspicious and asks her what is in the soup. Just vegetables... [[spoiler:and Toros bones]]. The trio don't [[IAteWhat freak out]] about it beyond an inital SpitTake and being slightly disgusted that [[spoiler:they just ate soup that used bones from humanoid cows]]. Though later, [[spoiler:one of her sisters drops a plate of jello... which contains things like eyeballs]] and [[spoiler:these women are actually witches that want to eat the trio's souls]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' Downplay MyGodWhatHaveIDone. It appears that Bolin is so focused on stopping Kuvira that he is not allowing himself to think about how he messed up by trusting her, but he is upset when he meets the innocent people Kuvira is interning in her camps, realizing that he has had a part (albeit unwittingly) in ruining their lives.

** Further downplayed if you equip your operative with a plasma pistol and a nanofiber vest. If they're the right class (say, Assault geared for close combat or a sniper with Gunskinger and Double Tap) they can mord than pull their own weight during the exfiltration.

* ''WesternAnimation/SummerCampIsland'' Downplay TheFriendNobodyLikes. At least amongst the counselors. Since Betsy is the nicest, she is the one who stops Susie and Alice from overdoing it, much to Susie's displeasure. However as Alice does not seem to care when she stops her from overseeing it and despite Susie's dislike of Betsy's stopping her from going too far, she still cares for Betsy.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' Downplay PetTheDog. While Oroku Saki/Ch'rell/The Shredder can throw it away at a moments notice, he seems to have ''some'' level of affection toward his higher level lieutenants; he personally raised Karai, trained Hun, rarely ever significantly punished them, and they're the only ones he listens to. He also respected the power of the Foot Mystics, which they reciprocated to some extent, even when they thought he was an "abomination".

* ''Film/HomeAlone 2'' downplays PunchClockVillain with the concierge played by Creator/TimCurry. He's doing his job and is right that Kevin used his father's credit card illegally to book a room, but he's overly motivated in catching Kevin and it looks like he's doing it out of spite.

* LoveTriangle is downplayed in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. Not only Cordelia and Sumia ''never'' catfight over their "love interest" Chrom (Sumia is one of his potential wives, but [[UnrequitedTragicMaiden Cordelia isn't]]... and yet Chrom's '''not''' mentioned in their support talks), but both women can [[SecondLove end up with other men]] [[CelibateHero or as bachelorettes]] if the player so desires.

* King Graham in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'' is a downplayed EmpoweredBadassNormal. The magical fruit he ate in the previous game not only cured him of his fatal illness, but also gave him strength far beyond what [[BadassGrandpa his age]] should allow. However, his abilities are exactly as they were when the series began. [[spoiler:This is no longer downplayed when he learns Iconomancy.]]

In case the introduction didn't tip you off, many cases of Administrivia/NotASubversion fall into this trope's territory. Keep in mind when listing examples, downplaying does NOT mean that trope criteria can be ignored and that not all tropes can be downplayed.

* ''Film/HomeAlone 2'' downplays PunchClockVillain with the concierge played by Creator/TimCurry. He's doing his and is right that Kevin used his father's credit card illegally to book a room, but he's overly motivated in catching Kevin and it looks like he's doing it out of spite.

It has been said that "a trope [[NotASubversion cannot be partially subverted]] any more than a woman can be a little bit pregnant". Then what do you call it when TheButlerDidIt, but "it" [[PokeThePoodle was eating the last cookie in the jar?]] Or when [[PowerGlows a powerful weapon glows]] so little you can't even notice it in good light?

In case the introduction didn't tip you off, many cases of NotASubversion fall into this trope's territory. Keep in mind when listing examples, downplaying does NOT mean that trope criteria can be ignored and that not all tropes can be downplayed.

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[[AC:Literature]]
* Creator/BeverlyCleary's sister series ''Literature/HenryHuggins'' and ''Literature/RamonaQuimby'' downplays EmbarrassingNickname. ''Beezus and Ramona'', which was written in Beezus' perspective, mentions that she'd rather be called her real name "Beatrice", rather than "Beezus". But she never verbally complains about the nickname when her friends and family uses that, so one might assume that she's actually fine with it.

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* ''WebVideo/RedVsBlue'' downplays OutdatedOutfit with Caboose, who opted to stick with his Halo 1 armor and weapon when every other main character was upgrading to Halo 3. His armor is only outdated in-universe, while to viewers not familiar with the games he just looks like a custom loadout.

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* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' downplayed ImplausibleDeniability in ''Into the Wild Green Yonder'', when the head of the robot mafia isn't denying his wife stole his lucky foot. He's just insisting they need more evidence when the evidence so far is conclusive.

* Similarly, ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic's'' Princess Celestia downplays PrincessesPreferPink, as she only has a pink outline and pink strands in her hair; she is mostly white.
** Not that you'd know it, looking at the earliest toys based on her, which depicted her with a ''pink'' coat instead of a white one. Thankfully, with the arrival of Princess Cadence, a princess who really ''is'' pink, Celestia is now free to have the ''first'' toy that actually looks like her made ''years'' after her introduction.
* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', GravityIsAHarshMistress is downplayed. When Dipper and Mabel run off a cliff, they fall down at a realistic speed, but instead of falling forward in an arc, they go straight forward, then down.

In case the introduction didn't tip you off, many cases of NotASubversion fall into this trope's territory.