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Basic Trope: A flying character either refuses or forgets to fly when in situations where flying could easily solve the problems.
- Straight: Lenny the bird is being chased by a cat out in the yard, and never thinks to fly up and out of reach.
- Exaggerated: Lenny falls off a cliff, and instead of flying, continues to fall until he smashes against the ground.
- Justified: Lenny is a species of bird that isn't known for flight, like a chicken or a dodo.
- Lenny is literally afraid to fly, or else has a broken wing.
- Lenny is blind.
- Inverted: A bird character forgets he can walk and only flies to get everywhere.
- Subverted: Lenny the bird is being chased, but then remembers he can fly, and flies away.
- Double Subverted: And then he remembers he's afraid of heights or has a broken wing, and falls.
- Parodied: Lenny claims he is a flightless bird against all the evidence, never flies, and ends up in a lot of danger due to it. Despite all of his friends telling him again and again to fly.
- Deconstructed:
- Lenny is treated as an idiot by his friends for never thinking to fly out of danger. They advise him to see a therapist before it gets him really hurt.
- Lenny is promptly killed for not trying to fly. The Downer Ending version.
- Reconstructed:
- Lenny points out that he never has been seriously hurt, because taking off is what the cat is expecting him to do, while running allows him to hide under low obstacles his pursuer can't get at.
- Lenny is deliberately not flying as part of a clever plan to trick his enemies, for instance by acting as a decoy. Seriously, real birds do it.
- Zig Zagged: Lenny either flies to escape danger, or doesn't, depending on what's needed for the plot.
- Averted: Lenny always remembers to fly whenever applicable.
- Enforced: "We can't just have Lenny fly away at this point, that would destroy all the tension of the scene."
- Lampshaded: "I forgot I could fly."
- Invoked: The Big Bad knows Lenny's afraid of flying and uses it for his advantage.
- Defied:
- Lenny overcomes his fear of flying and flies away from any danger.
- Lenny's friends realise just how much danger he puts himself into, and try to teach him how to fly up out of danger.
- Discussed: "Why doesn't Lenny try to fly? It's not like this is a movie and he has to make it a dramatic chase scene."
- Conversed: "Did the writers forget he could fly?"
Did you forget you can go back to Acrophobic Bird?