Basic Trope: A character who avoided the consequences of their misdeeds finally gets what's coming to them.
- Straight: Bob gets away with killing and stealing from a lot of people. He eventually slips up and gets caught, subsequently going to jail.
- Exaggerated: Bob suffers a gruesome death (or worse) once it is found out that he's been committing tax evasion for years.
- Downplayed:
- Bob usually gets punishments that come off as nothing compared to the severity of his crimes, but eventually receives a comeuppance where his fate is justly proportionate to the heinousness of his latest misdeed.
- Bob has been getting away with all sorts of things for so long, then he gets a slap on the wrist.
- Justified: With how careless and arrogant Bob was about slipping through the fingers of the authorities, it was only a matter of time before karma caught up with him.
- Inverted:
- Bob often suffers blame for actions he didn't do, then gets a break when he actually does something wrong and someone else takes the blame.
- Bob who’s constantly being punished for doing the right thing, finally gets rewarded for his noble actions.
- Subverted:
- Bob is carted off to jail for murdering a friend of The Hero, but breaks out of prison not long after and continues getting away with horrible things.
- The way Bob's death is placed on screen is not satisfying at all. He just dies and that's it. Bob doesn't react at all so there's no catharsis in seeing him undergo a Villainous Breakdown, it's not horrifying so gorehounds don't find it cool, it's not truly undignified so there's no catharsis in the potential Narm, and it's shown as a quick footnote during the epilogue so there's no catharsis in it being spectacular (by itself or by being part of a major action sequence).
- Bob enjoys the punishment he gets for his crimes.
- Double Subverted:
- Bob gets recaptured after his prison escape and gets beaten to death by inmates who are disgusted with the atrocities he committed in the interim.
- Bob was an evil asshole and now he is dead. That's satisfaction enough. The director wasn't looking to make Bob's death memorable, which in a way denies him even a little victory.
- ...until it loops around and he starts to find it painful.
- Parodied:
- Bob's eventual punishment for all the misdeeds he got away with is to be forced to listen to a song he hates.
- Bob's punishment is to have his List of Transgressions read to him in a Brown Note voice.
- Bob and his whole family are brutally murdered and practically erased off the face of the planet because he accidentally spilled salt during a dinner that happened seven years ago.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob alternates between getting away with his crimes and getting a suitable punishment for them.
- Averted:
- Bob remains a Karma Houdini and never gets punished for what he's done.
- Everyone who's done something wrong faces the consequences of their actions immediately.
- Enforced:
- "The fans are getting sick of Bob getting away with all the crap he's pulled. Let's appease them by doing an episode where he finally gets his just deserts."
- "Let's let Bob get away with his misdeeds for a while before he gets punished for his crimes. That way, the time he finally gets his comeuppance will be much more satisfying for the audience."
- Lampshaded: "Looks like Bob forgot to take his anti-karma pills this morning."
- Invoked: The people Bob has wronged act to see that he gets caught and punished for his wrongdoings.
- Exploited: When the hammer of justice finally comes down on Bob, Alice decides to do all the bad things she's always wanted to do while the system is so focussed on him.
- Defied:
- Bob is manipulative and crafty enough to thwart all attempts to punish him for his crimes.
- Bob's enemies tear him apart the very nanosecond he's done something wrong, inflicting great punishment even in their alleged death throes. Bob never spends any time as a Karma Houdini.
- Discussed: "I'd really like it if that psycho Bob would eventually get what he deserves for all those people he butchered. If he gets off scot-free one more time, I'm through with this show."
- Conversed: "Bob finally got punished for all he's done? Better late than never."
- Implied: Bob is seen in prison with no explanation given for what crime he committed that he was finally caught for doing.
- Deconstructed: Though Bob has escaped karma for years, it eventually catches up due to his reputation as a Hate Sink, leading to a brutal Rasputinian Death that borders on Karmic Overkill.
Back to Karma Houdini Warranty, where those sneaky scoundrels will finally get their long-awaited just deserts.
