Basic Trope: A winning person or work's success pales in comparison to a losing opponent.
- Straight: Bob wins Troper Idol. He has a minor hit or so before falling into obscurity relatively quickly. Alice, who finished 2nd, goes on to have a very successful career.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob wins Troper Idol and immediately falls into obscurity, while Alice, who was the first one eliminated, enjoys a record-breaking career.
- Bob falls into obscurity while every losing contestant enjoys a more successful career than him.
- Downplayed: Bob wins Troper Idol. While he has a respectable career, Alice, the runner-up, has a noticeably more successful career than him.
- Justified:
- Bob lets fame get to his head, and he slacks off. Alice meanwhile, brushes off her defeat and uses it as a launch pad for her career.
- Bob's career goes on to suffer from Hype Backlash, a Creator Killer, a Role-Ending Misdemeanor, etc. whereas Alice is less cocky and more careful.
- Bob doesn't like being in the spotlight.
- Bob is tossed head-first in Horrible Hollywood and burnt out at ultra-high speed. Alice gets the advantage of taking her time to build her career (and not have a contract forcing her to stick around if she does not likes it).
- Inverted: Bob wins Troper Idol and becomes the most successful contestant after the show.
- Subverted: Alice, whom Bob defeated, initially does better than Bob after Troper Idol, but Bob makes a successful enough comeback afterwards.
- Double Subverted: Alice makes an even more successful comeback of her own.
- Parodied: Every contestant Bob defeated, the hosts, the producers, and the audience go on to have more successful careers than him.
- Zig Zagged:
- Alice and Bob alternate between being the more successful act.
- After Alice's comeback, Bob makes another, only for Charlie to make a career for himself. Bob then comes back, only for Diana to become the most successful.
- Averted:
- Bob and Alice are equally successful.
- Neither Bob nor his opponents enjoy any post-Troper Idol success.
- Enforced: "Forget Bob; we're gonna make Alice the next biggest thing."
- Lampshaded: "And keep in mind the voting public thought someone was better than me."
- Invoked: Bob decides to let Alice prove she's more talented than he is.
- Exploited: Alice feels Bob will let his success get to his head, so she takes the chance to continue her career in the event Bob does end up falling into obscurity.
- Defied: Bob pulls out all the stops to make sure he stays the most successful contestant on Troper Idol.
- Discussed: "I don't believe it, Alice. How could you be social media verified while I don't even have a Wikipedia page? I won Troper Idol fair and square!"
- Conversed: "Poor Bob. He worked his ass off for that victory yet Alice is enjoying the success that could've been his."
- Deconstructed: Bob becomes jealous of Alice's success and attempts to sabotage her career or even kill her.
Back to The Runner-Up Takes It All
