Basic Trope: A character is speaking a list, and the last item in the list is darker or more disturbing than the rest.
- Straight:
- Bob is talking to Alice and says, "I have our date all planned out. We'll go to that fancy Italian restaurant, then we'll watch the fireworks at midnight, then we'll kick the neighborhood puppies down the street."
- "Let's have some breakfast! There are bread, eggs, milk, and ghost pepper
."
- Exaggerated:
- "I'm really excited about my trip to Washington, D.C. I'm gonna see the Washington Monument, visit the Smithsonian, and bomb the White House. And then I'll visit the sightings of my bombings of the Washington Monument and Smithsonian."
- "Let's have some breakfast! There are bread, eggs, milk, radioactive material, and then we have radioactive dead bodies for everyone here!
- Downplayed:
- From Bad to Worse: When the list has already started as disturbing: "You drive recklessly, you never tidy your room by yourself, and you bombed the White House."
- "Come on! We're going to go get some lunch, play some video games, and read pornography."
- "My favorite bands are The Beatles, ABBA, Queen, and Anal Cunt"
- The last thing on the list isn't entirely disturbing, but definitely doesn't fit in with the rest: "The flavors of ice cream are chocolate, vanilla, cookies and cream, and spinach."
- Justified:
- Bob is (Faux) Affably Evil.
- Bob doesn't understand why one of his suggestions is more out of place than the others.
- Bob has No Social Skills and doesn't realize that bringing up certain topics in ordinary conversation are generally considered inappropriate.
- Bob doesn't actually mean the last one; he's just messing with Alice.
- (for Straight #2 and Downplayed #4) It's a popular food in Troperia.
- Inverted:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
- The first item on the list is the darkest item, everything else after it is child's play compared to it.
- Subverted:
- "Let's have lunch, ride our bikes, then kill some prostitutes... in GTA IV!"
- "I'm just going out to get some bread, eggs, milk, lettuce, tomatoes, pepper, and rape.... seed oil."
- "I can't wait to visit France! I'll get to see Paris, the Eiffel tower, maybe kill a Frenchman... Then I'll try out the local cuisine."
- "Ha - just kidding."
- Double Subverted:
- "Then bomb the Capitol!"
- It turns out that Bob wants to literally 'rape' seed oil
- "And I'll visit my terrorist friend to plan some mass murder in Paris!!!"
- "After all, who wants to kick puppies? We'll kick the kittens instead."
- Parodied:
- Alice ends up enjoying the date.
- Or:
Bob: We need to get milk, eggs, bread, printer ink, a ream of paper, and the dead body out of your car.
Alice: But I thought you said you already got the printer ink! - Zig Zagged:Bob: "Let's have lunch, ride our bikes, kill some prostitutes in GTA 4, and bomb the Capitol!"
Alice: "You can bomb the Capitol in GTA 4?"
Bob: "No, I meant the real Capitol... The realistic-looking Capitol in another game that I play! And if it's bombed, the game-makers will carry out that in real life for us! ... If we pay them the amount of money needed for the explosives..." - Averted:
- "I'm gonna bomb the White House today!"
- Alternatively, "Hey, I just need to get some gas, pick up the groceries, and make dinner."
- "Let's have some breakfast! There are bread, eggs, milk, tomatoes, and baked bean.
- Enforced:
- "All right, we need to mention the Big Bad's plan, but we still need to make him Affably Evil. Any ideas?"
- The last item is a Censor Decoy.
- Lampshaded:
- Invoked:
- Bob always throws a disconcerting comment at the end of his lists to throw people off.
- Alternatively, Bob wants to see how attentive the people he's speaking to are.
- Exploited: Bob throws the "squick" item in so that Alice will allow him to do the "bread, eggs, milk" options, which are what he actually wanted.
- Defied: Bob always makes the nature of his lists very obvious, with no sudden twists for better or worse.
- Discussed: "Did Bob just casually mention wanting to kill a priest?"
- Conversed: "Well, at least he's honest."
- Implied:
- Alice was talking to Bob over the phone about their date plans. Near the end of the phone call, Alice is visibly scared.
- Alice reads a list, but when she's at the end she does a Double Take.
- Deconstructed: Alice breaks up with Bob.
- Reconstructed: Bob was joking about the Squick part, and Alice knows it.
- Played For Laughs:Bob: "This date will be perfect, we'll get some Italian food, go on a boat ride and murder a priest."
Alice: "What?"
Bob: "I'm just messing with you, I hate Italian food." - Played For Drama:
- "So yeah, we'll just run out for pizza, catch a movie, maybe go out for a couple of drinks, and lynch that bastard. Sound good?" After jokes have been had at this little "joke", it turns out that Bob planned things this way for real - after getting everyone else drunk, he convinces them to lynch the bastard so he won't get the blame.
- The last item on the list turns out to be a Wham Line.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Bob's inclusion of the Squick shows that he's going insane.
Hey, we should ride our bikes, go back to Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick, and kill my neighbor!
