Basic Trope: A character is decent at something but becomes incredibly good when drunk.
- Straight: Bob is an ordinary guy...until he gets drunk, when he becomes a black-belt in Muay Thai.
- Exaggerated: Bob is an ordinary guy...but when he gets drunk, he turns into a nigh godly martial artist who can reduce his opponents to Pink Mist with just a finger flick.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is quite a skilled guy who's just cowardly and needs a few sips to increase his bravery. Too much alcohol, however, is extremely detrimental to his concentration, coordination, judgment, reaction time, etc.
- Bob isn't even skilled in the first place; It takes a drink to get him Blinded by Rage, and he'll start swinging endlessly, no matter what hits him. He gets into a fight, chugs a keg down, and wakes up.
Bob: What Did I Do Last Night?
Alice: You wiped out an entire street! - Justified:
- Bob is holding back his true power, but alcohol removes his inhibitions.
- Bob is just drunk enough to be unpredictable.
- Inverted:
- Bob is an alcoholic, but he's incredibly powerful when sober.
- Bob is a very skilled combatant when he is sober but is completely useless as soon as he drinks even a little bit.
- Subverted:
- Bob is getting beaten up in a bar fight, grins, slugs down three shots of vodka...and falls to the ground in a drunken stupor.
- Or the alcohol actually makes the person in question worse at what they're doing instead of better.
- The drink Bob chugged at the start of the fight is revealed to be non-alcoholic. Turns out Bob only thinks he needs to be drunk to fight well.
- Bob reveals that he's been drinking water the whole time and is pretending to be drunk while he fights so that his enemies will underestimate him when he's sober. Bob even mocks the stupidity of actually trying to fight while drunk.
- Double Subverted: But Bob was only pretending to be unconscious so he could beat his opponents senseless when they turn their backs to him.
- Parodied:
- Bob goes into battle wearing a beer helmet.
- Alternately, Bob becomes incredibly proficient at making a fool out of himself.
- Bob downs several beers and the viewer is treated to an over-the-top scene of him beating up all his opponents. We then cut to him in a drunken stupor on the floor.
- Parodied/Subverted: with his uninjured 'opponents' looking concerned at him… that battle scene was just an alcohol induced dream.
- Zig Zagged: Bob is really good at painting while drunk, but always smashes them in drunken rage, but when a partner is there to restrain him, the paintings are fantastic.
- Averted: When Bob gets drunk, he acts drunk. No change of skill.
- Enforced: The author wanted to make a Shout-Out to Drunken Master.
- Lampshaded:
- "I need to start getting drunk more often. That's when all the great stuff happens."
- "Some people are scary drunks, but Bob takes it to a whole different level..."
- Invoked: "We're losing! Bring out the keg!"
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz had all the available drinks in the bar spiked. When Bob chugged down a beer, he instead passed out from the tranquilizer.
- Defied: "They're bringing out a keg! Shoot it, sniper!"
- Discussed: "That's it - time to bring out the reserves!" (Downs two bottles of beer)
- Conversed: "Every movie I watch, some guy loses until he gets drunk, then he wins. Let that be a lesson."
- Deconstructed:
- Bob is a master when drunk, but any benefit the alcohol brings is greatly outweighed by the damages that it causes to the rest of his life.
- Bob may be a master while drunk, but he's still, you know, drunk. Being a master helps him fight or whatever, but if he's still drunk when the fight's over, it just means he's harder to keep under control until he sleeps it off. And keeping him under control is easier said than done, especially when he's had so much that he either can't tell friend from foe any more, or just doesn't care which is which.
- Bob lacks self-confidence and is very shy and so drink before a battle in order to become more confident.
- Reconstructed:
- But when he's drunk enough, he activates a Healing Factor.
- Bob trains to be a master while sober, and keeps a flask of something horrible on him at all times for emergencies.
- Played For Drama: Getting drunk brings out Bob's bad side...
If the floor isn't pitching like the sea, you're too sober to go back to Drunken Master.
