CAUTION: Read this article carefully before using it -- if you don't, you'll probably mistake it for Not a Subversion. Basically, this is playing bait and switch with a trope. A work makes you think a trope is going to happen, but it doesn't. Phrased another way, the work is ultimately revealed not to be using the trope at all, but in the meantime was played up to look like it was. This is one method of leveraging a trope to give a story texture. It certainly isn't the only way. Meta Trope Intro compares this with many other ways that a trope can be used. Examples of Subverted Trope include: