History Main / SubvertedTrope

* If the car drives through the pane of glass ''backwards'' or in any other weird way that a car should not be doing at all, it's '''zig-zagged'''.

* If the car hits the glass, but it's the ''car'' that shatters (instead of the glass), it's '''inverted''' (and a [[TheAllegedCar very shoddily-built car]] at that).

* If the car drives through the pane of glass, and the driver gets out of the car to explain the reason why he crashed into it, it's '''justified'''

** The ending can be seen as a major subversion [[spoiler:Rorschach and Nite Owl confront the now realized-to-be-the-evil-villain Adrian, he explains his master plan and when told that he will be stopped, he informs them that [[YouAreTooLate he carried out his plan before they even got there]]]].

* [[Fanfic/TheWritingOnTheWall The Writing On The Wall]] has AdventurerArchaeologist [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Daring Do]] speculating that the eponymous writing is just a curse meant to scare off superstitious tomb robbers who might otherwise disturb the AncientTomb she was exploring, just like she had seen on dozens of similar buildings. She's right about it being meant to scare off tomb robbers, but it isn't a curse - it is a genuine warning against entering. [[spoiler: The building isn't a tomb at all; it is an ancient [[http://www.damninteresting.com/this-place-is-not-a-place-of-honor/ nuclear waste storage facility built by humans]].]]

-->--'''HideoKojima'''

* The series as a whole has multiple subversions of the Sadistic Choice, which constantly turns out to be MortonsFork. Subverted choices include but are not limited to saving a young boy or a young man from zombies (the young boy's father always saves him, the young man can't be saved), choosing whether or not euthanize or attempt reviving an old man who has had a heart attack and may be on the brink of zombifiying (that young boy's father always kills him), deciding on stealing from an ostensibly abandoned vehicle (if you refuse to steal, the rest of your group steals anyway), and saving an injured man or a woman (an inversion; they both make it).

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' subverts the BigBad trope in Season One with "The Stranger". Halfway through the game, TheProtagonist Lee discovers that Clementine, a girl he treats like his daughter, has been communicating with a MysteriousStranger over her walkie-talkie. This man is implied to know a lot about Lee's group, and holds something against Lee. After an episode of watching Lee's group try and fail to stay alive, he kidnaps Clementine and Lee goes through hell to try and get her back. It's only when Lee and the Stranger meet face to face that he reveals why he hates Lee; at the end of Episode 2, [[spoiler:Lee's group stole from an abandoned station wagon, which actually belonged to this man. Because of this, his Wife and child died, and he blames Lee.]] The man we expected to be the BigBad turned out to be an AntiVillain.

* [[Fanfic/TheWritingOnTheWall The Writing On The Wall]] has AdventurerArchaeologist speculating that the eponymous writing is just a curse meant to scare off superstitious tomb robbers who might otherwise disturb the AncientTomb she was exploring, just like she had seen on dozens of similar buildings. She's right about it being meant to scare off tomb robbers, but it isn't a curse - it is a genuine warning against entering. [[spoiler: The building isn't a tomb at all; it is an ancient [[http://www.damninteresting.com/this-place-is-not-a-place-of-honor/ nuclear waste storage facility built by humans]].]]

* If the car misses the pane of glass but something else causes the glass to be broken, it's a '''double subversion'''.

A subversion has two mandatory segments. First, the expectation is set up that something we have [[SeenItAMillionTimes seen plenty of times before]] is coming, then that set-up is paid off with something else entirely. The set-up is a trope; the "something else" is the subversion.

** The glass example is subverted again in the episode where Bart gets an elephant. The elephant runs off, stampeding down a street towards two workers carrying a glass pane. They jump out of the way of the elephant, with the glass surviving, only to jump right into the path of a skateboarding Bart... Who they also successfully avoid, eventually making it all the way across the steet, glass intact, to complete their goal of throwing it into a dumpster, shattering it to pieces.

** The glass example is subverted again in the episode where Bart gets an elephant. The elephant runs off, stampeding down a street towards two workers carrying a glass pane. They jump out of the way of the elephant, with the glass surviving, only to jump right into the path of a skateboarding Bart... Who they also successfully avoid, eventually making it all the way across the steet, glass intact, to complete there goal of throwing it into a dumpster, shattering it to pieces.

See also DiscreditedTrope, DeadHorseTrope, DoubleSubversion, DownplayedTrope, PlayingWithATrope.

--> '''Guy:''' Great, I've got all my [[FallOfTheHouseOfCards dominoes]] set up exactly how I want them, next to the good china. Now I'll just place this priceless faberge egg next to my newborn hemophiliac baby....

** The glass example is subverted again in the episode where Bart gets an elephant. The elephant runs off, stampeding down a street towards two workers carrying a glass pane. They jump out of the way of the elephant, with the glass surviving, only to jump right into the path of a skateboarding Bart... Who they also successfully avoid, eventually making it all the way across the steet, glass in tact, to complete there goal of throwing it into a dumpster, shattering it to pieces.

* If the car drives through the pane of glass, and the workers are heard complaining about why cars that are being chased can avoid nearly everything but a pane of glass, it's '''lampshaded'''.

* ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' had a MonsterOfTheWeek named Debo Hyogakki. He was credited with having [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs wiped out the dinosaurs]], but being the first opponent that the team faced, it ''seemed'' to be an InformedAbility. Then we got episode 17, where it was revealed that the monsters were getting stronger as [[BigBad Deboss]] was reviving, to the point where the Kyoryugers started having trouble with the {{Mooks}} until they got their FullPotentialUpgrade. Then episode 21 subverted it even further by revealing when he was revived that [[AnIcePerson Hyogakki]] wasn't the only one who wiped out the dinosaurs. He, along with [[TheVirus Debo Viruson]] and [[ColonyDrop Debo Nagareboshi]], were a PowerTrio known as the Zetsumates, a pun on the Japanese word ''zetsumesu'', or extinction. Then in episode 25, Hyogakki, as the last of the Zetsumates, showed his true power [[spoiler: by making it so that if the people in the city shed a single tear, they'd turn into a HumanPopsicle.]] So while you might have chuckled at his reputation when you first met this guy, it ultimately is revealed that he wasn't nearly as weak as he initially seemed.

* ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' had a MonsterOfTheWeek named Debo Hyogakki. He was credited with having wiped out the dinosaurs, but being the first opponent that the team faced, it ''seemed'' to be an InformedAbility. Then we got episode 17, where it was revealed that the monsters were getting stronger as [[BigBad Deboss]] was reviving, to the point where the Kyoryugers started having trouble with the {{Mooks}} until they got their FullPotentialUpgrade. Then episode 21 subverted it even further by revealing when he was revived that [[AnIcePerson Hyogakki]] wasn't the only one who wiped out the dinosaurs. He, along with [[TheVirus Debo Viruson]] and [[ShootingStar Debo Nagareboshi]], were a PowerTrio known as the Zetsumates, a pun on the Japanese word ''zetsumesu'', or extinction. Then in episode 25, Hyogakki, as the last of the Zetsumates, showed his true power [[spoiler: by making it so that if the people in the city shed a single tear, they'd turn into a HumanPopsicle.]] So while you might have chuckled at his reputation when you first met this guy, it ultimately is revealed that he wasn't nearly as weak as he initially seemed.

* A series of Discover credit card ads established a pattern of people calling their customer service line, and having their queries answered by an employee who looks just like them ("We treat you like you'd treat you"). Then they subverted viewers' expectation that the employee's resemblance was purely symbolic, having the employee in a new ad be the caller's ''actual'' identical twin.

* In the season 2 finale of {{Carnivale}}, Jonesy strikes Varlyn Stroud unconscious with a log of wood. He then runs into the house that Varlyn was about to enter and rescues [[DistressedDamsel Sophie]], leaving Varlyn ''and Varlyns handgun'' unattended right outside the door. [[spoiler: Seconds later, Josey gets shot... By Sophie.]]

* ''TheSimpsons'' is the master of the subverted trope. One example of many is in the episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love," where CueTheFlyingPigs is subverted when Mr. Burns and Smithers enter a book store:

** Another episode subverts the car driving towards glass example mentioned above. In this case, the car hits the glass, but simply knocks it down flat on the ground and drives over it. The workers then pick the glass back up noting "wow, tough glass."
*** The glass example is subverted again in the episode where Bart gets an elephant. The elephant runs off, stampeding down a street towards two workers carrying a glass pane. They jump out of the way of the elephant, with the glass surviving, only to jump right into the path of a skateboarding Bart... Who they also successfully avoid, eventually making it all the way across the steet, glass in tact, to complete there goal of throwing it into a dumpster, shattering it to pieces.

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