- Basic Trope: Stairs that don't.
- Straight: Alice tries to go up the stairs in her house, but several of the steps fall down.
- Exaggerated: Alice gets on the first step, and the whole staircase collapses.
- Downplayed: The stairs squeak and some appear to be a little damaged, but they work.
- Justified: The stairs are older than Alice's grandparents. She should have replaced them years ago!
- Inverted: Alice walks upstairs several steps at a time.
- Subverted: The stairs look extremely rickety, but it's just a rather odd choice of material. They hold up just fine.
- Double Subverted: Well... the first step does.
- Parodied:
- Any time Alice comes within 10 feet of the stairs, the whole staircase collapses and spontaneously catches on fire.
- Alice becomes deathly afraid of stairs due to her defective staircase.Alice: "STAIRS? NOOOOOOOOO!"
- Zig-Zagged: Some of the steps are fine, while others look like they are about to collapse.
- Averted: Alice's stairs do not fail.
- Enforced: The writer's grandfather nearly died after a Staircase Tumble caused by a very old staircase, and he wants to include An Aesop about paying attention to the condition of your staircase.
- Lampshaded: "I think I'll take the escalator instead."
- Invoked: Alice refuses to replace the stairs, to see how long they will last.
- Defied: Alice replaces her stairs ASAP.
- Discussed: "Your stairs collapsed? You should probably check the stability of the rest of your house."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alice suffers a Staircase Tumble and dies.
- Reconstructed: The new homeowner makes it their first priority to get rid of those stairs.
Back to Mind Your Step. Careful, though — the steps are very— *crack* WAHHHHHHHHHHH!
