Trope Talk: Lancers

*points at hero: "I like this one" *points to lancer: "But I like this one better"

Lancers: literary manifestations of "Always the bridesmaid, and never the bride".

Normal narrative: Die as a hero or live long enough to become a villain. Dragon Ball: Die as a villain or live long enough to become a Lancer.

“Hey, remember when you killed like half of our friends” “Yeah, that was a rough Tuesday” That part killed me

Main character: red Lancer: blue Me: are you trying to tell us somthing? 🤔🤨

“The shipping is of course a natural consequence,”

Lancer/hero dynamic: the personification of “two dudes chilling in a hot tub five feet apart cause they’re not gay.”

I had no idea "lancer" came from "people who fight with a lance," I just sort of assumed it was a reference to Lancelot

Its kind of amazing how Vegeta manages to be all of the Lancer types and none at the same time.

2010: I wish I had a girlfriend... 2020: I wish I had a lancer...

This episode made me realize how weird Cyborg is in Teen Titans. He multiclasses Lancer and smart guy, as well as looking like the team's big guy. Edit: ok so replies really wanna talk about beast boy. Seeing as hes comedy relief and what his powerset is, id argue Beastboy has heart, big guy, and a secret third thing as his tropey five man band roles. He's in a big guy/smart guy duo with cyborg despite cyborg beinv both bigger and smarter than him (in base form ofc). And Beastboy has sone of the sociability of the heart where Starfire has the emotional maturity. (Starfire also multiclasses big guy by having a very fighty power set and being tougher than she looks). I think of the team, Raven actually has the least five man band qualities, only really having the broodiness of a lancer, but instead of only directing that lancer-foilness at robin (the defacto leader), she directs it at the whole team.

WAIT A MINUTE! Does anyone else notice that when Red draws heroes, she usually makes them... well, red? And now talking about Lancers, they're blue? Maybe it's a coincidence, but its sweet to imply Blue is Red's lancer :')

Hero and villian: epic fighting Lancer and dragon: falling in love

Hero: "Um, hi...Can I help you?" Lancer: "Yeah, the author hired me to stand next to you all day so you look better by comparison." Hero: "That's ridiculous! I don't need a-" Audience: "Hey, Hero. Did you get more interesting?" Hero (pulling Lancer in closer): "YEAH!"

My favorite type of Lancer has to be the "I have access to a technique that is super effective against the MC specifically, but I won't kill him because he's not evil" trope. I don't remember any examples of this beyond Batman always keeping Kryptonite with him, but I want more of them because it helps solve the problems that power creep can introduce, since the lancer will always be capable of defeating the hero no matter how OP they get.

Animated series about a lancer support group where famous lancers get together and vent about their frustrations with their positions in their stories

"if the hero has fire powers the lancer has ice powers" todoroki is his own lancer then

Hero and Lancer interact Fandom: so anyways, I started shipping

"if the hero has fire powers the lancer probably has ice powers" Natsu and Gray: 👁👄👁

Watching this, it occurred to me that in She-Ra, Catra starts off as Adora's Lancer before becoming Shadow Weaver's Dragon and Glimmer became Adora's new Lancer. This makes Glimmer and Catra's parallel arcs even more interesting in season 4 once they begin to gain more power, but still can't step out of Adora and Hordak's shadows. That show is so good.