fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2588 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2588 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 103 secrets from Secret Submission Post #370.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Characters rescuing/showing mercy to/having to work with their enemies. Both the times where it works, where people end up feeling respect/gratitude/duty/honour towards each other because of it, and also the times where it ends badly, or causes corruption/temptation, or is tragically subverted and one character takes the opportunity to stab the other in the back. Or those times when it works between the two characters, but their sides are still against each other, and in the end it only makes the whole damn thing more tragic.

I just love the tension of opposing sides being forced to deal with each other in ways that can't immediately default onto violence/rejection, and the various ways where that can end well, or horribly, or horribly well.

Oh noooo I realized I love this too! Do you have any good examples? :O

My go-to one is usually Londo & G'Kar from Babylon 5, mostly because over the course of their relationship they managed to hit just about every possible variation from 'it went horrifically' to 'it went well' to 'it went tragically well and I'm bawling my eyes out'. They were ... a complicated pair, those two.

The Doctor and the Master from Doctor Who had some fun variations: see 'Claws of Axos', 'Logopolis', 'Trial of a Time Lord' and 'Survival' in Classic Who.

On the anime side, most of the Gundam series have some fantastic and some utterly tragic moments of this. On a more comedic note (most of the time), Lupin and Zenigata from Lupin III end up doing this with alarming regularity.

Mind you, Lupin's granddaddy ended up doing this with his nemesis as well (see Arsene Lupin and the Red Silk Scarf).

I have an utter fondness for this trope in chase movies and westerns, but I'm having trouble thinking of specific examples off the top of my head. Although, The Fugitive, both TV and movies, is fantastic in this regard.

Oh! Also Assault on Precinct 13, although the variation is a little different between the original and the remake (remake is more 'it went well', while original goes more the 'it went tragically well' route).

For TV shows, Person of Interest does this fairly regularly, with extremely variable results for the protagonists. Also Leverage. A lot of heist movies and shows seem to do this, which is possibly another reason why I'm so fond of them. Also chase shows. Both Dukes of Hazzard and The Incredible Hulk had moments where the protagonists had to help their oldest enemies because they're just basically too decent to let anything happen to them. With, again, varying results.

Erm. Those are the canon examples that immediately spring to mind. If you meant in fanfic, I might have more trouble.

No, that's totally what I was asking! Thank you! I need to check these out. :D

The Doctor and the Master from Doctor Who had some fun variations:

NuWho, too -- as much of a train wreck as the Tenth Doctor two-parter "The End of Time" was, I liked how this trope ended up playing out between the Doctor and the Master.

Some cartoon examples, if you'd like?

In the DCAU, Lex Luthor was fantastic for this. On his side, there was that spectacular team-up with the League against Darkseid towards the end of Justice League: Unlimited. On their part, the entire Amazo and Justice Lords arcs hinged on whether or not they showed mercy towards Luthor at key junctures, with some utterly horrifying possible results.

Gargoyles basically ran the show on this, at least in regard to Xanatos. Much like Luthor, he had a knack for making his enemies realise that teaming up with him/sparing him/helping him was the best way out of a situation. Including, at one point, him just flat asking for their help, saying that because they were decent, that had always been his back-up plan.

The 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also had some good arcs, mostly involving Karai, the Hun, and once or twice even the Shredder. I still think the Turtles/Karai/Hun vs Agent Bishop fight on the train in 'Hun on the Run' was one of the best fights in the series (though less for this trope, and more for how amazingly badass Bishop was - he fought them off with his necktie). The Triceraton arcs also have some really good moments of this, too.

Some of my absolute favourite moments of Transformers: Armada (my first TF series) involved the Autobots having to work with Starscream for an extended period of time, and having it go shockingly and, in the end, tragically well. I think most of the other TF series had some moments as well, though Armada is the only one I watched consistently enough to remember.

Hell yeah I love cartoons! Thank you!

Yes!

[ SECRET POST #2588 ]

Re: Kinks, narrative kinks, and favorite tropes!

Re: Kinks, narrative kinks, and favorite tropes!

Re: Kinks, narrative kinks, and favorite tropes!

Re: Kinks, narrative kinks, and favorite tropes!

Re: Kinks, narrative kinks, and favorite tropes!

Re: Kinks, narrative kinks, and favorite tropes!

Re: Kinks, narrative kinks, and favorite tropes!

Re: Kinks, narrative kinks, and favorite tropes!