Inaction Sequence/Playing With

Basic Trope: Characters spend more time talking than fighting.

• Straight: Alex the Swordsmasher stops frequently in the midst of a battle with his arch-enemy, Darkness the King of Dark for a chat.
• Exaggerated: Alex and Darkness talk so much they don't even throw a punch.
• Justified: Alex's loved-one is set to die if he loses, so he's using the chatter to buy more time for a rescuer to locate the hostage.
  • Boss Banter to which Alex has scripted replies.
  • Alex's style is based on counter attacking his oponent, so he starts lecturing and taunting him until he gets bored and attacks.
• Downplayed: Alex and Darkness exchange two words, but important words
  • Alex and Darkness don't stop fighting as they talk,but the attacks slow down noticeably
• Inverted: Alex and Darkness meet for a chat, but spend more time trading blows than words.
• Subverted: Darkness starts talking, but Alex tries to catch Darkness offguard by attacking mid-sentence.
• Double Subverted: ...Then, Alex gets knocked down and Darkness returns to being Mr. Exposition.
• Parodied: Alex frequently stops to have a Musical Number during the battle.
  • Alternatively: Alex and Darkness are nearly dead from the injuries they have sustained while fighting each other, and they stop fighting for a chat over some tea and biscuits.
• Deconstructed: Alex tries to engage Darkness in witty banter, but doing so distracts him from the swordplay, possibly costing him the fight.
• Reconstructed: He survives, learns from his mistakes, develops more discipline, and keeps his mouth shut during a rematch.
  • Alternatively: Alex's witty banter helps keep him relaxed, and possibly distracts Darkness, which helps Alex win.
• Zig Zagged: ???
• Averted: Alex stops to have a chat with Darkness, who gets so bored that he slices Alex down.
  • Alternatively, both characters happen to be perfectly capable of chatting mid-fight without slowing down.
• Enforced: The actors need a breather before the next song-and-dance number, or the Moral Guardians have set a limit to the amount of time which can be devoted to violence for a show airing in that time slot.
  • The series is being adapted from another media that's still in progress and they can't go ahead of what's already there.
• Lampshaded: "Nice bark, but can you bite?!"
  • Alternately: "Are you going to fight me or tell me your life story?"
  • Or: "If I kill you, will you shut up?!"
• Invoked: ???
• Defied: "I'd like to chat but I've a duel to win. Take this!"
• Discussed: "It'll be a while. He'll probably tell me his whole life story before we can actually fight."
• Conversed: "It's like they think talking their enemies to death is the most effective way to fight."

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