Glad I Thought of It/Playing With
Basic Trope: Someone steals another person’s idea after he heard it and dismissed it.
- Straight: Carol tells Alice a plan to prank on Bob. Alice says it is a stupid plan and then proceeds to tell Carol the same plan he just said.
- Exaggerated: Alice spends two full minutes picking apart Carol's plan in excruciating detail, insulting it every step of the way, and then proceeds to tell Carol the same plan she just said.
- Justified: Alice has no imagination what so ever, thus every idea in her head came from somewhere else.
- Inverted: Carol comes up with a clever idea. When Alice enthusiastically agrees, Carol says, "I wish I'd thought of that."
- Subverted: Alice tells Carol her plan, which turns out to be original...
- Double Subverted: ...until she begins to tell the final step of the plan, which is Carol’s last step of the plan, word for word.
- Parodied: Alice tells Carol her plan is stupid, then pulls out a tape recorder and replays Carol's plan.
- Deconstructed:
- Angry that Alice stole her plan, Carol takes her to court.
- Carol is the only one who knows how all the parts of her plan work, so when Alice steals the idea, she can't implement everything properly and fails.
- Reconstructed: However, Alice, after hearing what she is going to do, takes Carol to court first.
- Zig Zagged: They sue each other simultaniously. The judge says, "You're both dimwits," and kicks them out.
- Averted:
- Alice dismisses Carol's plan and promptly comes up with a completely different one.
- Alternatively: Alice agrees with Carol's plan from the start and compliments her on it.
- Enforced: Alice has been Flanderized as so stupid that the only way audiences could see her as competent is by showing her steal ideas from Carol.
- Lampshaded: “I can’t believe how smart I am! It’s like I am taking them from someone’s head!"
- Invoked: Carol is The Jeeves, and frequently makes observations that are obvious enough to force a certain idea into Alice's head, but just subtle enough for Alice to think she thought of it - after all, it would be unbecoming for Carol to look smarter than her boss.
- Defied: Carol does not tell Alice the plan but instead gives her instructions on what to do.
- Discussed: "Don't talk about your idea near Alice. She'll just steal it and claim she came up with it!"
- Conversed: "Have you noticed bosses on TV will steal their employee's ideas and pass them off as their own?"
Back to Glad I Thought of It