Basic Trope: The Big Bad of the story nearly wins.
- Straight: King Evulz, the Big Bad of Lily and Bill's Adventures, appears to be close to finishing his evil plan, but then Bill sneaks around and kills Evulz at the last, possible second.
- Exaggerated: King Evulz is so close to being done with his evil plan, that many people consider his plan done. But then, Bill kills him.
- Downplayed: Evulz is halfway done with his plan, when Bill kills a quarter of his minions.
- Justified:
- Evulz thinks that Bill is weak, but, in fact, Bill has Super-Strength as one of his powers.
- Evulz has a fatal flaw such as pride, so he grew too confident for his own good.
- There was a prophecy that specifically required that Evulz nearly complete his Evil Plan for Bill to defeat him.
- Inverted: Bill appears to be very close to finishing his good plan, but Evulz kills Bill.
- Subverted: Bill seemingly kills Evulz but then it turns out Evulz survived and kills Bill, landing him a victory.
- Double Subverted: ....Too bad Evulz, upon gloating his victory, didn't see Lily sneak up and she ends up successfully killing him.
- Parodied: Evulz appears to be close to finishing his evil plan, but is shot by the audience unsatisfied with the Downer Ending.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Evulz has really won, not interrupted by a single Hope Spot.
- Evulz was never close to winning.
- Enforced: The creator wants the hero to win. Yet, he knows that the audience will know that the heroes will win in the end. Thus, this trope.
- Lampshaded: "Foiled at the last second again! Curse these heroes!"
- Invoked: Lily and Bill let King Evulz think he's won, so he'll drop his guard at a crucial moment.
- Exploited: Lily and Bill strike when it looks King Evulz has won, knowing his guard will be down
- Defied:
- There are no villains in the story.
- There's a Hope Spot just before The Bad Guy Wins, but King Evulz wins anyway.
- Discussed: "That was a close one! if you hadn't done that King Evulz would have won!"
- Conversed: "Why does it always look like we're going to lose right before we win?"
- Played for Laughs: King Evulz, a Harmless Villain, finally corners Bill and is about to spray him with water, but a piano suddenly falls onto him.
Back to Near-Villain Victory
