Basic Trope: A character sends out a monster to defeat another monster.
- Straight: Bob sends his Ax-Crazy brother Jim to save Alice from a madman.
- Exaggerated: Bob summons Cthulhu to obliterate a madman.
- Downplayed: Bob sends out his Husky to quiet down his neighbor's Yorkshire Terrier.
- Justified:
- The only one left who can fight the monster at all is a monster itself.
- The "bigger fish" was specifically made for dealing with the smaller fish in question.
- Inverted:
- Jim is sent against Bob by a madman who's holding Alice captive.
- Bob is sent against a madman by Jim who's holding Alice captive.
- Subverted: The madman gets a hold on Jim and then sends him after Bob.
- Double Subverted: ...And then Bob convinces Jim that he should be after the madman.
- Parodied: Whenever the protagonists are faced with a big monster they can't defeat, they cast their magical Even Bigger Monster spell, or call the Bigger Monsters For Hire company.
- Zig Zagged: Bob sends Jim after the madman, but he sends Jim right back, but Bob sends Jim back again, and it turns into a psychological game of Ping-Pong that ends in Jim sending in his friend Bim to defeat the madman while he defeats Bob.
- Averted: Jim doesn't fulfil his mission.
- Enforced: The villain is powerful enough to defeat the heroes but the writers want him to be defeated by a monster to give a happy ending.
- Lampshaded: When Bob points out that sending Jim in was just summoning a bigger fish.
- Invoked: Bob specifically takes Jim from the mental institution.
- Exploited: Bob then uses Jim for many things requiring a handy crazy person.
- Defied: Bob doesn't call his brother (and phones the police instead).
- Discussed: Bob talks with his friends about how would he deal with a madman kidnapping Alice, and mentions his crazy brother.
- Conversed: Bob talks with his friends about a situation where the protagonist of a Show Within a Show summoned a "bigger fish".
- Deconstructed: The heroes Summon A Bigger Fish to take out the creature rampaging around town. The new monster wins... leaving the heroes to realize that the monster they just summoned much more dangerous than the original one was.
- Reconstructed: The summoners expected this, and included a way to un-summon the bigger fish once it wins.
- Played For Laughs: Bob calls Jim, but Jim wants to do something completely different. Hilarity Ensues.
- Played For Drama: Bob calls Jim. Jim is now determined to find Alice and the madman, get her and probably also do something with the madman.
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