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Basic Trope: Two or more people pull weapons on one another simultaneously, causing a stalemate.

  • Straight: During an argument in a Wild West saloon, Alice and Bob stand up and point guns at each other.
  • Exaggerated: Every single person in the room stands up and points guns at one another simultaneously. One guy even points a gun at himself.
  • Downplayed: In the present day, two guys point guns at each other over an argument. However, the "guns" aren't actually real guns at all; they're just water guns which look like the real thing.
  • Justified: Alice and Bob drew their guns in response to the same jilt, and have fairly equal reflexes.
  • Inverted: Back-to-Back Badasses
  • Subverted: Alice and Bob suddenly stand up... and order some more drinks before sitting down again.
  • Double Subverted: And a few seconds later, they pull their weapons for real.
  • Parodied: Alice pulls her gun, but Bob's gun is caught in its holster. Alice puts her gun away and helps Bob with his holster so they can have a standoff.
  • Deconstructed: A moment after they both pull their guns, Alice decides "Screw this" and shoots Bob.
  • Reconstructed: Alice can't do that; she knows Bob's reflexes are good enough that she'd get a bullet too if she tried that.
  • Zig Zagged: Alice and Bob draw guns(Straight). Alice says she drew the gun because she expected Bob would(Genre Savvy), but Bob only drew because Alice did first(Justified). Chuck, Dan, and Eric then draw their guns on them for knocking over their whiskey(Exaggerated) so Alice and Bob go back to back against them(Inverted). Then more whiskey arrives and they all agree to resume after a drink(Parodied).
  • Averted: They stand up as if for a standoff but instead start to brawl.
  • Enforced: The argument and standoff is inserted by executives despite it having no relevance to the plot.
  • Lampshaded: "Oh, come on. Just once can't one of us gain a proper upper hand over the other?"
  • Invoked: Felicia, a Manipulative Bitch who wants Alice and Bob to be dead, paid the bouncer not to take their guns and set up the argument hoping the two would kill each other.
  • Defied: Alice and Bob deliberately leave their guns at the door so they won't pull them on one another.
  • Discussed: "Here, we just call it a standoff, señor."
  • Conversed: ???
  • Exploited: During the standoff, George, the Big Bad, who was stealing money from the barkeep when the standoff began, makes off with the money, with everybody else too distracted by the standoff to notice him.
  • Played for Laughs: Mr. Harleson is a teacher living in modern times. When he sees two students, Isaac and Keith, having an argument, he gives them guns and tells them point the guns at each other and just stand still and generally do nothing at all. This goes on for the rest of the day.
    • Alternatively, see Exaggerated.
  • Played for Drama: During the standoff, Alice/Bob accidentally shoots and kills Bob/Alice.

Back to Mexican Standoff

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