Basic Trope: A group of characters try to prevent another character from obtaining an artifact by tossing it from one to another.
- Straight: Alice and Bob toss a Doomsday Device to each other away from Emperor Evulz.
- Exaggerated: Every hero tries to keep the doomsday device from Emperor Evulz.
- Downplayed: Alice holds up the doomsday device high over her head where Emperor Evulz can't reach.
- Justified: Well... It's a Doomsday Device! They pretty much need to pass it back and forth to ensure Evulz won't get ahold of it and bring about The End of the World as We Know It.
- Inverted: Hot Potato
- Subverted: Bob and Alice start to play keep away from Emperor Evulz, but hand it to him after being threatened.
- Double Subverted:
- But the doomsday device they handed him was a fake.
- They returned it after removing the batteries.
- Parodied: The heroes and villains act like schoolchildren at a playground.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob and Alice play keep away for a while, then let Emperor Evulz have the doomsday device, but they've reprogrammed it to blow up only a very specific spot — and since Evulz is holding it, goodbye to the Big Bad.
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob just run away from Emperor Evulz with the doomsday device as quickly as they can.
- Alice and Bob don't have a doomsday device.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked:Bob: I can't outrun him.
Alice: Neither can I.
Both: But he can't outrun the joint power of our arms! - Exploited: ???
- Defied:
- Alice and Bob destroy the doomsday device as soon as they receive it so Evulz can't use it.
- Evulz is much larger, faster, or more agile than Alice or Bob, so their tossing it to each other to keep it away from him doesn't work.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Keep Away
