Basic Trope: A situation involving an adhesive.
- Straight: Alice steps in glue and gets stuck.
- Exaggerated: Alice steps in superglue and gets hopelessly stuck, to the point that the plot of the episode is to get the solvent to free her.
- Downplayed: Alice steps in honey and is slowed down slightly.
- Justified: This particular brand of adhesive is extremely strong.
- Inverted: Oil Slick
- Subverted: The glue Alice steps on is not sticky, perhaps a failed formula.
- Double Subverted: But then it dries, and Alice is stuck.
- Parodied:
- Only for a very brief while because the dried glue is very brittle and weak.
- Alice steps in glue and gets stuck, so she takes off her shoes and escapes. Then she steps into another puddle and takes off her socks, but then she steps into YET ANOTHER puddle, and since she's barefoot, there's nothing she can do but struggle.
- Averted:
- Nobody is in contact with any glue.
- There's no glue involved in the first place.
- Enforced: Animating a sticky situation serves as better filler than coming up with a storyline.
- Lampshaded: "Looks like I'm in a sticky situation."
- Invoked:
- As a form of protest, Alice superglues her bare feet to the ground.
- Dr. Adhesive invents a super adhesive and wants to become a glue-themed villain.
- Exploited: Dr. Adhesive wants to commit crimes but doesn't want to resort to lethal force, so he merely sticks his foes in place with a glue blaster.
- Defied: Alice either wears anti-sticky boots or refuses to go anywhere near anything adhesive.
- Discussed: "We got to find a way to get Alice out of this sticky trap."
- Conversed: "Just watch out for Dr. Adhesive. A bad run-in with him will leave you stuck on the sidewalk."
- Deconstructed: Alice gets skin irritation due to exposure from the chemicals of the glue. The process of struggling tears the top layer of her skin and causes her great pain.
- Played for Laughs:
- Alice struggles against the glue as it stretches exaggeratedly.
- "I'm stuck, I can't move my feet... and I have to pee!"
- As a form of protest, Alice superglues her bare feet to the ground in the middle of the street. Then someone zaps her with The Nudifier…
- Alice, who picked a very bad day to be Going Commando, is forced to strip off her dress when it gets stuck to the glue. And then she gets her bare feet stuck.
- Played for Drama:
- Alice worries that nobody will save her from the sticky trap, fearing that she may starve to death.
- There's another danger present (poison gas, a time bomb, or whatever) that will quickly kill Alice if she can't escape.
- Alice pulls up her feet while stuck barefoot and rips off some of her skin.
- Played for Horror: Alice is kidnapped by a psychopath and superglued to a table. Since she's now immobilized, her kidnapper can do whatever he wants to her...
Back to Sticky Situation, and don't get stuck on your way there!
