Drunken Master/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character is decent at something but becomes incredibly good when drunk.

• Straight: Bob is an ordinary guy...until he gets drunk, when he becomes a black-belt in Muay Thai.
• Exaggerated: Bob is an ordinary guy...but when he gets drunk, he turns into God.
• Justified: Bob is holding back his true power, but alcohol removes his inhibitions.
• Inverted: Bob is an alcoholic, but he's incredibly powerful when sober.
• Subverted:
  • Bob is getting beaten up in a bar fight, grins, slugs down three shots of vodka...and falls to the ground in a drunken stupor.
  • Or the alchohol actually makes the person in question worse at what they're doing instead of better.
• Double Subverted: But Bob was only pretending to be unconscious so he could beat his opponents senseless when the turn their backs to him.
• Parodied:
  • Bob goes into battle wearing a beer helmet.
  • Alternately, Bob becomes incredibly proficient at making a fool out of himself.
  • Bob downs several beers and the viewer is treated to an over-the-top scene of hi, beating up all his opponents. We then cut to him in a drunken stupor on the floor.
• Deconstructed:
  • Bob relies on alcohol so much, he has horrific liver damage.
  • Bob may be a master while drunk, but he's still, you know, drunk. Being a master helps him fight or whatever, but if he's still drunk when the fight's over, it just means he's harder to keep under control until he sleeps it off.
  • Bob lacks self-confidence and is very shy and so drink before a battle in order to become more confident.
• Reconstructed:
  • But when he's drunk enough, he activates a Healing Factor.
  • Bob trains to be a master while sober, and keeps a flask of something horrible on him at all times for emergencies.
• Zig Zagged: Bob is really good at painting while drunk, but always smashes them in drunken rage, but when a partner is there to restrain her, the paintings are fantastic.
• Averted: When Bob gets drunk, he acts drunk. No change of skill.
• Enforced: The author wanted to make a Shout-Out to Drunken Master.
• Lampshaded: "I need to start getting drunk more often. That's when all the great stuff happens."
• Invoked: "We're losing! Bring out the keg!"
• Defied: "They're bringing out a keg! Shoot it, sniper!"
• Discussed: ???
• Conversed: "Every movie I watch, some guy loses until he gets drunk, then he wins. Let that be a lesson."

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