Basic Trope: It seems like a generally unlucky character is finally getting luck but then the luck doesn't happen or goes away.
- Straight: Alice generally has rotten luck. In one episode, it looks like she's about to finally marry Bob (marrying Bob is one of her goals) but then he changes his mind.
- Exaggerated:
- It looks like all Alice's wishes (to marry Bob, have kids, get a pet and learn to drive) are coming true, but then Bob dies in a tragic accident before he can tie the knot with Alice, she fails to get pregnant, the animal shelter is all sold out and she is unable to earn her own driver's license for medical reasons.
- Negated Moment of Awesome
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog
- Bait the Dog
- Downplayed:
- Bob changes his mind about marrying Alice, but only for now.
- Bob changes his mind about marrying Alice, but he becomes Platonic Life-Partners with her.
- Even though Bob changes his mind about marrying Alice, she does get to have her favourite food as an apology present.
- Justified:
- The Powers That Be are trying to prevent the two from marrying at every turn to prevent an unknown catastrophe.
- Status Quo Is God, even if it isn't in Alice's favor.
- Inverted: Alice was Born Lucky and Happily Married to Bob. It looks like he might divorce her but he doesn't.
- Subverted: He then changes his mind again.
- Double Subverted: But then wants a divorce.
- Parodied: Alice simply greets Bob on the sidewalk, and a Dastardly Whiplash with red horns and a forked tail immediately appears out of nowhere to shoot Bob dead, blowing raspberries and making faces at Alice before dissapearing in a puff of smoke.
- Zigzagged: Bob keeps changing his mind about marrying Alice, and additionally, Alice has several good things happen to her, a few of which go away but a few of which don't.
- Averted: Alice's luck pretty much stays the same, or it improves or gets worse steadily.
- Enforced:
- "We can't just leave the two married happily ever after. The entire show revolves around Alice's bad luck, and getting married would end it too soon!"
- Comedic Sociopathy
- Lampshaded: "Ugh, and just when I thought my luck was going to improve!"
- Invoked: Charlie, a mean dude, tries to talk Bob out of marrying Alice.
- Exploited: Diana, who was Born Lucky, uses the fact that Alice can't marry Bob as a Misery Trigger.
- Defied:
- Bob decides he's going to marry Alice, no matter what.
- The writer finally decides to allow Bob and Alice to marry... because Alice just so happens to be holding a gun to his temple after one too many chain yankings.
- Discussed: "You'd better not change your mind, my luck's bad enough as it is."
- Conversed: "Why did the writers do that to Alice?!"
- Implied: Bob agrees to marry Alice, but in the next episode, they're still not married with no explanation.
- Deconstructed:
- Having her hope ripped away from her so cruelly sends Alice either over the Despair Event Horizon or off the deep end, leads to her severe trust issues.
- Alice's perpetually unlucky situations develop her Freudian Excuse to make her become an extremely self-centric Attention Whore who will recklessly fight with everyone to receive everything that she wants by her own fists.
- Played for Drama: Then, Alice breaks into Inelegant Blubbering.
- Played for Horror: Bob decides he's going to marry Alice, however, it turns out that Bob is a sociopathic Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who doesn't really see Alice as a human despite he already knows that Alice will die for him, so his marriage acceptance is just for tricking her into his own inhuman tortures that will break Alice's body and mind forever.
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