Basic Trope: Quicksand is a suck-you-in Death Trap.
- Straight: While wandering through Death Swamp, Alice stumbles into quicksand and sinks to her doom.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice steps in quicksand and gets sucked down in seconds.
- A large group of hikers all stumble into quicksand and get sucked down.
- Alice completely one-way phases through the sand.
- Downplayed: Alice steps in quicksand and sinks up to her waist. She doesn’t go any deeper, but she’s too stuck to free herself.
- Justified:
- Alice panicked and started struggling, which created pockets of air in the quicksand that sucked her down.
- Alice was wearing/carrying heavy equipment which caused her to get sucked down.
- The quicksand itself was rather aqueous to begin with; it's hard for Alice to keep herself from sinking quickly.
- Magic or technology is being used to cause the quicksand to literally suck Alice under.
- Inverted:
- Alice emerges from a patch of quicksand.
- A mass of sand rises up around Alice and engulfs her that way.
- Subverted:
- Alice starts sinking in…ankle-deep mud, from which she easily frees herself.
- Alice ends up sinking in another type of substance that isn't quicksand (e.g. A Slurry or cement).
- Double Subverted:
- But after doing so, she runs into quicksand and starts sinking for real.
- Turns out whatever it was she was sinking in or getting sucked down in, it wasn't bottomless like quicksand.
- Parodied:
- The quicksand makes slurping noises as it sucks Alice down, followed by a loud gulp and a belch after she goes under.
- Alice falls into a quicksand pit and starts sinking, but Bob pulls her out. Then she stumbles into another quicksand pit, and Bob has to save her again...and then she falls into another pit, and so on, and so on.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Quicksand is portrayed realistically; Alice falls into it, but she's just stuck and has a hard time getting out.
- Enforced: Alice is intentionally put in a situation dealing with quicksand as an excuse to have her start shedding her clothes to escape and escape with barely anything on.
- Lampshaded: "Why am I suddenly getting shorter…Oh, Crap!"
- Invoked: Charlie wants Alice dead and pushes her into quicksand, hoping to Make It Look Like an Accident.
- Exploited:
- When Charlie sees Alice sinking in quicksand, he offers to rescue her…for a price.
- While being chased through Death Swamp, Alice tosses her hat onto a patch of quicksand to make her pursuers think she just met a sticky end.
- Since the color of the quicksand blends in well with the rest of Death Swamp, Alice uses the quicksand to drench herself so that she camouflages.
- Alice is a Thrill Seeker who gets herself trapped just to see if she can escape.
- Alice and her friends have a fetish for quicksand. Alice gets herself aroused by sinking in quicksand, while her friends get aroused by watching her.
- Defied:
- Alice hears the rumors about Death Swamp and stays far away from it.
- Bob sees Alice about to step in quicksand and pulls her away.
- Alice sinks up to her waist and remembers her survival training: lie down and swim out.
- Alice walks elsewhere when she realizes she was about to walk into quicksand.
- Discussed: "Watch your step in this swamp—the ground isn’t exactly safe."
- Conversed: "So what exactly are these rumors I've been hearing about Death Swamp?"
- Implied: Alice walks into Death Swamp, which is infamous for quicksand…and never returns.
- Played For Laughs: Alice gets caught in quicksand, and is angered about the fact that she's getting dirty and having to leave things behind to get out, completely ignoring that she's being sucked in.
- Played For Drama:
- Alice sinks waist-deep in quicksand on a tidal flat. She may not go down any farther, but before she can free herself or be rescued, the tide starts coming back and threatens to drown her.
- Alice starts sinking in quicksand and cries for help. Bob hears this and rushes in, leading to a few potential outcomes:
- Bob shows up too late to save her, and regrets it for the rest of his life.
- Bob shows up Just in Time to save her. A Rescue Romance ensues.
Back to Quicksand Sucks, but watch your step.
