Basic Trope: A character removes a piece of clothing before a fight.
- Straight: Bob takes his shirt off before his climactic battle against Emperor Evulz.
- Exaggerated: Bob strips completely naked before the fight.
- Downplayed:
- Bob takes his glasses off and rolls up his sleeves, but that's all.
- Bob dramatically whips his coat off, but his shirt stays on.
- Justified:
- Bob's wearing a very heavy shirt that restricts his movement.
- Bob's shirt was damaged and would have fallen off entirely during the fight anyway.
- Bob's significantly faster without his clothes on.
- Bob's clothing is meant for an hours-long recon mission in Antarctica, but when his fight with Emperor Evulz takes them both inside the latter's lair, he has to remove a lot of clothing because it's simply too warm to keep fighting in full winter gear.
- Bob is supposed to change into his One-Winged Angel form before battle, which would most likely damage his clothing if he left it on in the process.
- Evulz has a Villainous Crush on Bob, so Bob hopes he will be distracted by him shirtless.
- Inverted: Bob the Walking Shirtless Scene puts on a shirt before he fights Evulz.
- Subverted: Bob removes his shirt only to reveal that he's wearing another shirt beneath it.
- Double Subverted: Then he removes that one as well.
- Parodied:
- Bob takes his shirt off. A horde of fangirls (and a few fanboys) suddenly appear in Evulz's throne room and snap photos while Bob poses for them. Emperor Evulz crosses his arms and taps his foot impatiently.
- Alice rips off her shirt, only to realize she's been wearing Vapor Wear recently. She quickly covers her chest and retreats in shame.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob rips his shirt off, but only so that he can summon the legendary shirt that gives him his true power.
- Averted: Bob does not remove any of his clothes before he fights Evulz.
- Enforced: Bob's played by a very handsome actor and the creators want to show him off in a Shirtless Scene.
- Lampshaded: "Oh, Bob took his shirt off. Pass the Popcorn? This is going to be one heck of a fight."
- Invoked: Princess Alice, who's being held captive in Evulz's throne room, is a major Bob fangirl and reminds him that all the real heroes fight shirtless.
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz knows that Bob tends to take his shirt off before major fights and is skilled at grappling his opponents, so Evulz pre-emptively doused his imperial robes in contact poison (to which Evulz himself is immune, of course).
- Defied: Bob tries to take his shirt off, but Evuls kills him before he gets it off.
- Discussed: "And in any decent adventure story, this is where Bob would take his shirt off- Oh, there it goes."
- Conversed: "Why does The Hero always take his shirt off before he fights the Big Bad? What if he gets cold?"
- Played for Laughs: Bob accidentally drops his pants as well, revealing his Goofy Print Underwear.
- Played for Drama: Bob takes his shirt off to reveal the scars he acquired while he was a captive in one of Emperor Evulz's prison camps.
Now put your shirt back on and return to Battle Strip.
