Basic Trope: Electricity causes unconsciousness.
- Straight: Bob is struck by lightning and passes out.
- Exaggerated: Bob is struck by lightning and passes out snoring.
- Downplayed:
- Bob falls after being struck by lightning but isn't unconscious; just really groggy.
- Bob ends up getting knocked out after being struck by lightning, but there was another factor (e.g. force of impact) that also caused his unconsciousness.
- Justified:
- The lightning struck Bob directly in the head, or it really was severe enough to knock him out.
- Bob is a robot; being electrocuted caused his circuitry to shut off.
- Bob is Made of Iron, so it's difficult (or even impossible) for him to get severely injured or killed; generally, the worst that can happen to him is unconsciousness.
- It wasn't so much the shock that caused the unconsciousness, but the pain of it.
- … or the Oh, Crap! factor.
- Inverted: Bob is asleep, but wakes up when he gets struck by lightning.
- Subverted:
- But it turns out Bob is dead.
- After being shocked, Bob stumbles around for a bit, but doesn't lose consciousness.
- Double Subverted:
- But it turns out Bob died from a heart attack, and if he hadn't had a heart attack he would have merely been knocked out.
- Bob later passes out.
- Parodied: Bob gets sentenced to the electric chair and merely passes out, to everyone's surprise.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob uses a fork to get his toast out of the toaster and gets shocked but remains fully conscious. But later, when he gets struck by lightning, he passes out.
- Averted: Bob is struck by lightning and nothing happens.
- Enforced:
- The work's creator believes that getting shocked will render someone unconscious.
- Having Bob actually die of an electric shock would be too disturbing or otherwise unsuitable for the work, so instead he just falls unconscious.
- Lampshaded: "I fell asleep? That should have killed me!"
- Invoked: Bob gets struck by lightning and nothing happens. The narrator then says Bob lost consciousness, and Bob loses consciousness.
- Exploited:
- Bob can't fall asleep, so he sticks a fork into an outlet.
- Static Stun Gun
- Defied: Bob gets struck by lightning and passes out. The narrator then says that's ridiculous, and the scene starts again.
- Discussed:
- Bob the screenwriter says a character in his Show Within a Show will get electrocuted and go to sleep. Alice the Producer assumes the character dies, but Bob tells her that getting electrocuted just makes you "a little sleepy".
- "What happens if I get electrocuted?" "You'll probably just get knocked out, that's all."
- Conversed: "I'm staying outside. So what if I get struck by lightning? I'll probably just get knocked out, like in the movies."
- Implied: Bob is struck by lightning and is not seen passing out, but wakes up in the hospital.
- Played for Laughs: Bob is struck by lightning and gets a goofy grin on his face before passing out.
- Played for Drama: Bob is struck by lightning and goes into a coma.
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