Basic Trope: The Plucky Comic Relief is removed from the narrative when everything gets dramatic.
- Straight: Billy the Talking Dog mysteriously disappears during the battle with Professor V. Lan.
- Exaggerated:
- Billy gets blasted into a million pieces before the final battle.
- All of the comic reliefs get written out for dramatic moments.
- Billy is Retgoned from existence the moment an actual, credible threat is introduced into the setting.
- Downplayed:
- Billy is there during the final battle, but doesn't do or say much.
- Billy is still present for the final arc, but his wisecracks are markedly further and fewer between than normal and of a much darker and drier nature than usual.
- Billy's comedy is replaced by genuine anger and despair to reflect how grim the situation is.
- Break the Comedian
- Justified:
- Inverted:
- Billy is only visible during the dramatic scenes.
- At the start of a wacky Breather Episode, Broken Bird Alice finds a quiet place to unwind, avoiding her teammates' hijinks entirely.
- Knight of Cerebus
- Billy, who was previously Put on a Bus, comes back after the final battle to show the narrative's shift back into a lighthearted tone.
- Billy is Professor V. Lan, and that twist retroactively taints every single comedic moment Billy had by association.
- Subverted: Billy looks like he's going to leave, but changes his mind, sits, and watches.
- Double Subverted: ...before leaving in the middle of the sequence after getting bored.
- Parodied: Billy packs his bags and heads off to Disneyland before the battle.
- Zig Zagged: Billy randomly leaves and returns all throughout the battle.
- Averted: Billy participates during the battle.
- Enforced:
- "We don't want to ruin the intense drama of the moment...let's get rid of Billy during the battle!"
- "Oh it seems that the audience wants drama, let's write out Billy from the story."
- Lampshaded: "That was one heck of a battle! If only Billy had been there."
- Invoked: Billy wants the heroes to take care of this without having to constantly worry about his safety, so he leaves.
- Exploited: The heroes want to invoke the Darkest Hour, so they leave Billy alone to support it.
- Defied: "Oh no you don't, Billy! You're helping us defeat the villain and that's final!"
- Discussed: "Billy just left! You know what that means..."
- Conversed: "Isn't weird how in these shows, the goofy character always disappears when it gets intense?"
Back to Shoo Out the Clowns. It's time for the drama.
