| rdfs:comment | - The Cavalry has arrived! Unfortunately, they're all wearing red shirts... and they all graduated from the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. Uh-oh. Happens all the time in action shows. The hero, who may or may not have any special training or powers, is to be escorted into a "hot zone" by a team of Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Space Marines, a SWAT Team, or some other heavily-armed and one would assume well-trained unit. Invariably, mere minutes into the mission, they've all been ambushed and killed off by the platoon-load, leaving only the hero alive to finish the job.
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| abstract | - The Cavalry has arrived! Unfortunately, they're all wearing red shirts... and they all graduated from the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. Uh-oh. Happens all the time in action shows. The hero, who may or may not have any special training or powers, is to be escorted into a "hot zone" by a team of Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Space Marines, a SWAT Team, or some other heavily-armed and one would assume well-trained unit. Invariably, mere minutes into the mission, they've all been ambushed and killed off by the platoon-load, leaving only the hero alive to finish the job. Makes one wonder, how did these guys ever pass muster (heck, even survive long enough) for assignment to an elite military or security force if they drop like mayflies in any tactical situation? This often massive loss of life will rarely be noted by anyone or have any direct effect on the plot, unless the heroes need to emote over how senseless the situation is. These guys are spear carriers in the finest Joseph Campbell tradition. Provides a convenient demonstration of just how scary the villain is and also explains why the villain gets away all the time. At least at the time. This is sometimes justified by the idea that the doomed Red Shirts really are competent, and did just fine in other jobs, but they've never had any training in how to fight beings that can kill them just by being looked at funny. As the singular Red Shirt is the "good" counterpart to Evil Minions, the Redshirt Army is the "good" counterpart to the endless hordes of Mooks. The Badass Army is the logical opposite to this; take note how often (as in the example above) Redshirt Army is, in fact, a subversion of Badass Army via The Worf Effect. Another opposite of the Redshirt Army are the Men of Sherwood, who aren't quite badass enough to qualify as a Badass Army, but who are at least competent enough at their jobs not to be wiped out in seconds. Often precedes Lowered Monster Difficulty. See Also: A-Team Firing, Cannon Fodder, Conservation of Ninjitsu, Curb Stomp Battle, Lemming Cops Note for Tropers: Redshirt Army specifically deals with easily-killed good guys. If you're looking for easily-killed bad guys, you want Mooks. Examples of Redshirt Army include:
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