Basic Trope: A character, animal, or vehicle is helpless if flipped on its back.
- Straight: Legends of Troperia features a giant beetle as an obstacle for its heroes. They manage to flip it over, at which point it can only flail helplessly.
- Exaggerated: Flipping over causes the giant beetle to go instantly comatose.
- Downplayed: The giant beetle can get back on its feet, but only with considerable time and effort, leaving it open to attack.
- Justified: The giant beetle's shell is very hard and flat on the back, leaving it in a bad position to get up from, and it's not strong enough to get back up on its own.
- Inverted: The beetle somehow becomes more powerful after the heroes manage to flip it over.
- Subverted: The Big Guy gives the beetle a mighty shove while it's rearing up for an attack, causing it to go tumbling end over end... with enough force that it ends up landing back on its feet.
- Double Subverted: The beetle lands close to a ledge. It takes a few steps backwards and accidentally falls off, ultimately landing on its back and being unable to get up.
- Parodied: The beetle has a button on a pendant chained around its head, which it manages to press while flipped over. A lift assist team comes in to get the beetle back on its feet, like it's an old person who fell down.
- Zig-Zagged: The beetle is a Recurring Boss. Sometimes it's competely helpless when flipped over, sometimes it can get back up, and sometimes it can still defend itself when on its back.
- Averted: The heroes defeat the beetle without ever thinking to flip it over.
- Lampshaded: "It landed... on its back? I don't think it'll be getting up any time soon..."
- Invoked: The Smart Guy of the team tries a plan to lure the beetle close to a ledge, hoping to make it fall off and land on its back.
- Exploited: After the beetle flips over, the heroes waste no time in attacking its exposed underbelly with everything they've got.
- Defied: Knowing that the beetle failed the first time due to being flipped over, the Evil Genius equips it with a self-righting mechanism on its back, so it can get back up.
- Discussed: "That thing's shell looks pretty flat on top. If we can flip it over, it might not be able to get back up!"
- Conversed: "Oh, you got to the giant beetle boss! He's really easy if you can flip him over and lower his defence."
- Implied: The Big Guy's trophy room includes a portrait of him with his sword planted into the giant beetle, which is lying helplessly on its back.
Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!
