History Main / MookDepletion

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'': The opening salvoes of the One Year War saw half of the entire human population wiped out, meaning both the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon faced a severe manpower shortage. This is the justification for why both sides have [[ChildSoldiers drafted teenagers into their militaries]]; there just aren't enough adults to fill the ranks any more.

* This is a mainstay of ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai''. After going through who knows how many [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Week]], the BigBad will eventually learn that all his monsters [[DefeatEqualsExplosion are gone]], though strangely, he'll still have plenty of footsoldiers. At this point, either the BigBad will finally be ready to enact his master plan or [[LastVillainStand decide to finally subvert]] OrcusOnHisThrone and the FinalBattle begins. Usually the Big Bad is a OneManArmy, so it won't really matter if he has no more forces... [[NearVillainVictory at first]]. Such examples include:

Most often, however, it's a side effect of the villain's [[BadBoss own mishandling of their subordinates]], such as ShootTheMessenger, YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness, ZergRush, ForgotToFeedTheMonster, FedToTheBeast, YouHaveFailedMe, WeHaveReserves, or just plain ItAmusedMe and ForTheEvulz. The villain may think WeHaveReserves each time he kills someone, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome only to find out in the end he used his reserves up]]. Usually the villain has a terrible case of GenreBlindness to allow this to happen. [[TooDumbToLive Extremely]] [[StupidEvil idiotic]] villains may even do this to their {{Elite Mook}}s or maybe even their [[QuirkyMiniBossSquad generals]], thus diminishing their best forces against the heroes, especially if one of them was actually his strongest warrior and [[TheJuggernaut the only one the heroes were never able to defeat]]. In some cases, the villain takes it UpToEleven and does this to his entire army in one shot.

** Zapp Brannigan was already known for throwing away the lives of his men (having them fly into an enemy ship's cannon to clog it and sending them to their deaths to overload a killing machine), but "[[Recap/FuturamaM4IntoTheWildGreenYonder Into The Wild Green Yonder]]" takes it UpToEleven when his ship is cut in half while flying through a giant golf course windmill because he refused to pick up speed, resulting in the death of ''all'' of his men. He looked at the bright side that they wouldn't have to mourn each other.

Usually, if it comes to this, the villain will decide to take a LastVillainStand and [[LeaveHimToMe face the heroes himself]]. Of course, in the event the villain is a OneManArmy, losing all his minions won't really be a problem for him. Then again, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome can and will play out as the heroes, through sheer determination and teamwork, easily overwhelm the villain.

It can also result from a case of ScrewThisImOutOfHere which stems from the {{Mook}}s having enough of the BadBoss routine or because they're not getting enough pay, if they're getting any at all. Alternatively, the BigBad may simply be cut off from reinforcements and lack the means to get them to help.

Pretty much LaserGuidedKarma for {{Bad Boss}}es. Villains who are [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic]] tend to avoid this. Can be prevented if the villain has a MookMaker, unless it is destroyed by the heroes, or NightOfTheLivingMooks if the villain's minions are undead. See also CriticalStaffingShortage for organizations that were originally bigger. ShootTheBuilder can be a similar situation wherein the villain kills the henchman in charge of building his superweapon after the device is complete, [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup only to find out that they should've kept their services after the weapon is destroyed]]. Contrast CantKillYouStillNeedYou. See ConservationOfNinjutsu and QualityOverQuantity if the minions become ''more'' of a threat as their numbers decrease, especially if KillOneOthersGetStronger is involved. May lead to EvilWillFail.

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheVoid'', the BigBad Amon has brainwashed humans with Zerg-Protoss hybrids, a substantial number of Zerg, [[spoiler:the BrainwashedAndCrazy Protoss]], a fanatical sect of the Protoss, and void-energy clones of regular units]] at his command. Over the course of the campaign, you kill all the humans, decimate the Zerg, ally with the TheStarscream of the fanatics, and close the portals that allow the void-energy clones. In the final mission, all that's left are the remaining hybrids and Zerg [[spoiler:and the brainwashed Protoss. The Zerg and Hybrids are slaughtered and the Protoss are freed, so in the Epilogue the clones are all he has left]].

* In ''Film/TheTenCommandments'', Pharaoh Ramses sends his entire army after Moses and the departing Israelites only to be told that they were all killed [[PartingTheSea when the Red Sea parted]], and then un-parted. The final shot of the Pharaoh is on his throne, silently contemplating how he can rule his country with no army to back him up. In this case it happens because the opponent's might (God's) is such that it wipes out the Pharaoh's entire army in one swift strike.

* Examples for ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'':

** From the ''Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt'' DLC, [[BigBadWannabe Professor Nakayama]] grows increasingly more panicked as the Vault Hunters get closer to his ship and he realises that he's been BullyingADragon this whole time. He subsequently throws as many of the tribesmen in your direction in the desperate hope that it will work. When his final secret weapon is destroyed, he realises that he's entirely alone and has nothing left to defend himself with. When forced to fight you, [[spoiler:he's ready to do it, but loses his balance, falls down a ramp and [[AnticlimaxBoss dies before you have the chance to fight him]].]]

** At the beginnging of ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' Captain Pellaeon (Thrawn's flag captain and second-in-command) notes that despite Darth Vader's legendery and often lethal [[YouHaveFailedMe low failure tolerance]], many of the Empire's best and brightest officers and crew served on his flagship ''Executor''. When an A-wing [[SuicideAttack crashing into the bridge]] caused the ''Executor'' to go out of control and collide with the Death Star, the destruction of Vader's flagship caused the deaths of many of the Imperial Navy's best mid-level officers and crewers.

** The ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology starts with Supreme Commander Gilad Pellaeon (Thrawn's former flag captain and second-in-command) deciding to sue for peace with the New Republic after a test of a new weapon system for fighting while [[StealthInSpace cloaked]] fails miserably. He comments that at this point, the Empire is down to one shipyard that can't even keep up with the demand for fighters, never mind capital ships, and they're having to buy the former from outside contractors.

** In the ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'', General Grievous invokes YouHaveFailedMe every time one of his bridge officers slips up. Towards the end of the space battle, he kills one more, then realizes he's just finished off the last of his bridge crew, those he hadn't killed personally having been killed by reflected blaster bolts.

** ''The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels'' states that there was a point during Grand Admiral Thrawn's tenure as Imperial high commander where he realized the Empire's TIE Interceptor losses had gotten to the point where they couldn't be [[WeHaveReserves considered expendable]] anymore, and he began having them equipped with DeflectorShields.

** About two-thirds of the way through the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series, there's a high-level strategy meeting for the Yuuzhan Vong high command. Supreme Overlord Shimmra chews out his warmasters for their prior WeHaveReserves attitude: with the Galactic Alliance just having destroyed a major Yuuzhan Vong fleet to kill a mid-level general, they now have no strategic reserve left, meaning not only can they no longer advance, they don't have enough troops left to hold their conquests. This is ultimately one of the factors that costs them the war.
* In the ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'' novelization, General Grievous invokes YouHaveFailedMe every time one of his bridge officers slips up. Towards the end of the space battle, he kills one more, then realizes he's just finished off the last of his bridge crew, those he hadn't killed personally having been killed by reflected blaster bolts.

* ''VideoGame/TransformersDevastation'': The final level is one long slog against the remaining Decepticons Megatron brought with him. Alongside {{Mook}}s like the Seekers and Ground Troopers, this also includes higher-ranked Decepticons like Thundercracker, Skywarp and Motormaster. When Optimus and his team reach Megatron, he sics the [[CombiningMecha Constructicons]] on them while he leaves with the [[Macguffin Ferrotaxis]]. After all is said and done, Megatron faces the Autobots alone as the FinalBoss.

** Averted in the "War of Azure City" arc, where Redcloak was originally fine with sending hobgoblins to their death, [[FantasticRacism thinking them less than normal goblins]], until one of them saves his life at the cost of their own, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone causing him to come to his senses]] that all goblin races are the same.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the FiveEpisodePilot of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' by Krang to Shredder when the Turtles incapacitate Bebop and Rocksteady, his strongest henchmen, as a reason to install [[MakeMyMonsterGrow the molecular amplification chip]] into his body.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersCyberverse'', despite being a cowardly and opportunistic backstabber Starscream maintains the loyalty of many of his Seekers, to the point they defect from the Decepticons when he goes rogue. After he gains the power of the AllSpark, however, he "rewards" them [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness by draining their sparks]]. This of course means that when he is knocked out during his attempt to wipe out both Autobots and Decepticons, there's no one to carry him to safety while he's unconscious and he's captured by the Autobots.

** A bit of a meta example in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''. In many earlier episodes (including the 3 part mini-series that began the show "More Than Meets The Eyes"), the Decepticon ranks would often be filled out with [[PaletteSwap recolours]] of Starscream's character model, due to there being fewer Decepticon characters compared to Autobot characters (roughly speaking there were 10 named Decepticons to almost 20 Autobots). As time went on, this occurred less and less as more characters were introduced, so it's easy to assume the "lesser" Starscream-type Decepticons (later known as the Seekers) were simply battlefield casualties.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}:

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''. This trope is probably the reason Megatron puts up with [[TheStarscream Starscream]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', Megatron's usual attitude is WeHaveReserves with most of his Decepticon soldiers, and occasionally even his lieutenants. True to this trope, he even ends up killing plenty of them himself in mad attempts to finish off the Autobots, though for most of the series he seems to have more than enough to replace them. He is forced to rethink this attitude after [[spoiler:a mutated C.Y.L.A.S. inadvertently starts a small-scale zombie infection, which kills off nearly half of their troops and subsequently forces Soundwave to banish the Insecticons after they are brainwashed by Airachnid, depriving them of their EliteMooks]]. When the Autobots finally make it to the Nemesis in the penultimate episode, Megatron concedes that they probably don't have enough troops to win.