The Lancer/Playing With

Basic Trope: The second most-capable member of the Five-Man Band; the opposite of The Hero in many levels.

• Straight: Whereas Hiro is a Large Ham, Lance is calm, silent and snarky.
• Exaggerated: Hiro is a deranged individual who blows everything out of proportion, which makes Lance a more capable leader in comparison.
  • Or vice-versa; Hiro is The Messiah and Lance is The Antichrist.
• Justified: What Hiro lacks, Lance excels in, and vice versa.
• Inverted: The Dragon.
  • Hiro's the Deadpan Snarker while second-in-command is an Idiot Hero.
• Subverted: Lance, a knife wielding rogue, joins the team, but he's more like a Blood Knight, and thus a Big Guy.
  • In episode 1, Hiro and Lance argue all the time, but then Chica straightens them out. In episode 2, they practically act like the same person, and are both the main characters.
• Double Subverted: His Blood Knight persona is a Super-Powered Evil Side that he desperately tries to suppress. This forms much conflict between him and Hiro.
• Parodied: Lance is the Ted Baxter who thinks he can lead better than that idiot Hiro.
• Deconstructed: Lance grows tired of always having to play second-fiddle to Hiro, so he goes to the dark side.
  • Lance is clearly outgunned on every front: not as powerful as Tony, not as smart as Will, not so morally or emotionally grounded as Chica, and he doesn't quite have have Hiro's natural leadership ability. He develops psychological issues over his inability to stand out in the group, which eventually leads to him trying to take on one of the other roles when he's not quite cut out for it.
• Reconstructed: Then he goes through a Peggy Sue, showing that without him, the team is actually more helpless than he thought.
  • Then again, Lance is a better fighter than Will, both faster and smarter than Tony, doesn't have the whole team relying on him emotionally like Chica, and if a plot fails, it's on Hiro's head, not Lance's. His responsibilities are more suited to his nature, and hey, even if his personality sometimes clashes with Hiro's, they're the best of friends and Hiro relies on Lance both in the heat of battle and in their lives outside of it.
• Zig Zagged: Hiro starts off as the leader while Lance is the second-in-command. Hiro is cool and calm while Lance is snarky and violent. Due to personal issues, Hiro has to step down, allowing Lance the position of the leader. The new sense of responsibility makes Lance mature while Hiro grows resentful and snarky. Hiro then forces his way back up to leader where he immediately calms down and resumes his previous personality. Realizing how much of a Jerkass Hiro is at heart, Lance becomes bitter and takes the number two role once more.
• Averted: The members of the Five-Man Band all act as a Foil towards The Hero.
• Enforced: Immediately after Hiro, Tony, Will, and Chica form a team, they go out looking for Hiro's perfect foil.
• Lampshaded: "Any bright ideas, number two? Number one needs some now."
• Invoked: Percius felt that Hiro needed a Yin to his Yang, and thus recruited Lance.
• Defied: Lance flips out once he realizes he'll be Hiro's number two and quits right away.
• Discussed: "You'd think that Lance would have taken complete command of the team by now. He's a better leader than Hiro and he knows it."
• Conversed: "Hey, do you ever wonder why the second-in-command is always a contrast to the protagonist's personality?"

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