Chekhov's Gun/Playing With

Basic Trope: An element is introduced early in the story whose significance does not become clear until later on.

• Straight: Bob passes a statue on the way to the Big Bad's throne room before the climatic battle in The Movie. When the statue is broken open later, it reveals the Big Bad's power source.
  • There's a gun hanging on the wall and nobody says much about it, but thirteen minutes into the episode someone is shot with it.
• Exaggerated: Bob passes a snail on the way to the throne room. The Big Bad later trips over this snail and dies.
  • The gun appears for a split second at the beginning, but helps the hero beat the bad guys, gets him the girl, and has the secret of his parentage etched down the barrel.
• Downplayed: Bob passes a statue on the way to the throne room. After the Big Bad is defeated, Bob holds a party, but he needs an extra wine cup... which the statue happens to have.
• Justified: It's his one weakness.
  • Nobody cares that there's a gun on the wall because the owner of the house is an arms dealer. The unexpected shooting occurs because a deal goes bad.
  • There's a gun hanging on the wall and nobody says much about it. In the third act, it is taken down when someone needs something to pound a nail with.
  • The item is something the character normally has around even if they don't use it, such as a small gun for self defense. It comes in use later to help save the owner.
• Inverted: We hear all about the incredible things the Giant Orb of Awesomeness is doing, but it's not actually introduced until fairly late in the plot.
  • Or, the Great Orb of Awesomeness is only explained well after it comes out of nowhere to save the plot.
  • Perhaps the Great Orb of Awesomeness plays a crucial role in its debut, but is unnecessary after its crucial role.
• Subverted: Red Herring
  • Bob brings along a pendant that his father gave him when the Big Bad killed him he brings it to the throne room when he fights the Big Bad. It does nothing.
• Double Subverted: Brick Joke
  • ...Until Bob is nearly defeated and the pendant fires a beam of Pure Energy, destroying the Big Bad.
• Parodied: Everything ever mentioned comes up in one way or another.
  • The gun is not remarked upon, but above it is a neon sign saying "Property of Anton Chekhov. Please do not touch." The gun shoots chicken nachos, the aliens' only weakness.
  • A giant robot is present in the background of an early scene, and commented on in passing, but not used. Upon becoming an important plot point much later on, it is referred to as Chekhov's Gundam.
  • Every item that is intended to become an actual plot point has an arrow blinking in its direction until said item sees action.
• Deconstructed: The gun doesn't quite cover all of the heroes' needs when it's used.
  • Alternately, Bob figures out the medallion he bought at the beginning of the episode is the key to victory...pity it seemed so insignificant he left it in its glass case before heading out to face the Big Bad.
• Reconstructed: The gun is an ornament, when it is grabbed ten minutes into the episode by the hero, who is shocked to find it doesn't fire. He uses the replica as a club to kill the villain, then bar the door as he escapes through the back.
  • Bob manages to use his badassery to defeat the Big Bad anyway.
• Zig Zagged: Bob's father's pendant fires the beam, then it appears that it was just Bob getting an Eleventh-Hour Superpower in a Die or Fly moment. But the pendant was still important in that thinking of his father gave Bob the Heroic Resolve to manifest the power.
  • There is a gun on the wall and it's shot thirteen minutes into the episode, but it misfires. The hero pulls a heretofore ignored knife from his ankle sheathe, but he is quickly disarmed. Seeing a lever on the floor that he previously tripped over, he pulls it, dropping the villain into a pit of acid.
• Averted: All plot points are laid out in an obvious manner, and there are no plot twists.
  • There is a gun on the wall in the first chapter. It has no significance and is never mentioned again.
• Enforced: "We want to sell toys based on The Movie, so have one of (shows object) turn out to be important."
  • The gun from a previous episode becomes important later because the producer noticed a pronounced fan response to the gun.
• Lampshaded: "I knew this thing would come in handy!"
• Invoked: "I bet this thing will be important later on.".
  • The hero, a Chekhov fan, picks up an old, useless-looking gun he sees, hoping it will come in handy later.
• Defied: The hero sees the gun in the middle of the climatic fight scene thirteen minutes into the episode, but ignores it because he thinks Chekhov's Gun is trite.
• Discussed: The hero notes out loud that the gun on the wall ought not go unnoticed.
• Conversed: Characters in a room with no hidden significance are waiting for their tea. They talk about the use of Chekhov's Gun in a play they saw.
• Played For Laughs: Everything in the room has incredible significance, to the increasing shock of the hero in act three.
• Played For Drama: The gun kills the hero.

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Back to Chekhov's Gun, and don't lose it. You'll need it in Act Three.