Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,517
edits
Got Volunteered: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
m (→Comicbooks: -> Comic Books) |
No edit summary |
||
| (10 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{Template:Needs Image}}
{{quote|Voluntold – An assignment that is technically voluntary but understood to be mandatory.|Glossary of Military Terms & Slang|military.com}}
A dirty job needs to get done. The boss is asking volunteers to step forward. No way are you going to get mixed up in a sticky situation like that. Your mama didn't raise no fool. Suddenly you are shoved forward by some of your "friends". The boss smiles. Wait- No! You just got volunteered!
Line 26 ⟶ 24:
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Almost any anime with an [[Unwanted Harem]] is going to have the leading man be "volunteered" for an unwilling date.
Line 39 ⟶ 36:
* This is how the ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'' team got formed; after Nozomi became Cure Dream, she dragged along the others, already deciding that they were to be Pretty Cure - despite the fact that Rin was scared witless of it all and Karen just didn't want any part of it! Nozomi's ''determined'' and it pays off!
* In ''[[High School DxD]]'', someone needs to be the partner for Asia in their three-legged race. [[Shipper on Deck|Kiryuu Aika]] then [[The Gadfly|tells Issei that he has a hole on his shirt in the armpit region]]. Seeing as Issei was still in deep thought, he nonchalantly raises his arm, finds that there's no hole and the realization hits him that he gets volunteered to be Asia's partner.
* Inverted in ''[[Saga of Tanya the Evil]]'' when Rerugen was told to tell Tanya that she is to do a training exercise with the Navy and then go to the Rhine. Rerugen told Tanya about the Rhine assignment, and then correctly assessed that Tanya would eagerly part take in the training exercise if offered. Rerugen then offered Tanya the assignment of being in the training exercise, instead of ordering Tanya like Rerugen was supposed to.
== Comic Books ==
Line 48 ⟶ 45:
* In ''Popeye'' one of Wimpy's trademark phrases—that he normally uses after wronging a big strong guy who now has come for revenge—is "You want to fight? All right! [[Let's You and Him Fight]]!" Then, you guessed it, Wimpy steps aside and makes way for Popeye, who has to fight the big strong guy.
== Fan Works ==
* In [[The Tainted Grimoire]], Luso and Villi would unwittingly be roped in as dance partners for Kanin and Adelle when they get Cheney to teach them how to dance.
== Film ==
* ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]'' is a sterling example of this.
* "That's why he's called [[Dirty Harry]]."
Line 66 ⟶ 61:
* ''[[Rat Race]]'' ended with this trope, portrayed as comeuppance.
* ''[[Mystery Team]]''. Apparently the task of sticking one's hand in a filthy toilet inside a gentleman's club restroom is a job for the Boy Genius.
== Literature ==
Line 72 ⟶ 66:
* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''[[Operation Chaos]]'', the narrator notes that he never got actually asked if he volunteered.
* Used unusually in ''The Book Thief.'' The commander asked for one man who would stay out of battle that day. Nobody can volunteer without being branded a coward, but if you Got Volunteered... (and Hans Hubermann does).
* Pextel in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]''. The Call was more complex than that, and he was largely [[Ignorant of the Call|ignorant of most of it]] for a little while. But since he saw no other way, he [[Resigned to the Call|just accepted it]].
* [[Discworld]]
*
** This has happened so often to Rincewind that in ''[[
** Inverted in ''[[
* In ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'', after a riot gone bad, some soldiers under Cain's command are sentenced to death by "volunteering on the next suicide mission". Cain is satisfied with this judgment (he had maneuvered to avoid an execution that would be disastrous for morale) until he's himself required on a very dangerous mission, meaning he has to take ''them'' along instead of more reliable soldiers.
* Happens in the
== Live-Action TV ==
Line 90 ⟶ 84:
{{quote|'''Worf:''' I did not expect you to be the first, Doctor.
'''Bashir:''' ''*looks at others*'' Neither did I. }}
* [[
** Another method used is for the other two members to say "not it!" before the third even finished explaining the myth.
* On ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Snyder "volunteers" students to escort trick-or-treaters.
Line 99 ⟶ 93:
* In one episode of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', Rimmer mentions that Lister once put his name on the waiting list for experimental piles surgery.
** In another episode, they stumble upon their personnel files. Rimmer's says "There's a saying amongst the officers: if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well. If it's not worth doing, give it to Rimmer'".
== Newspaper Comics ==
* In one ''[[Hagar the Horrible]]'' strip. "I have [[Good News, Bad News|good news and bad news]]! The good news: I just want volunteers for this mission! The bad news: I need four volunteers." (There are just four guys.)
* Also in the ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' cartoon ''Cosmo's Naught'' it happens but even more extreme: Volunteers have to walk the distance of 50 miles. Beetle Bailey, Zero and Cosmo complains how ill they are until Sarge tell them to shut up and that if anyone of the soldiers need to see the doctor they should go. Everyone except Beetle Bailey, Zero and Cosmo immediately run away leaving the three back as the volunteers.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' encourages PCs to throw their underlings under the bus this way, while pretending that you're doing them a favor ("Suck-R, go disarm that berserk scrubot, you'll probably get a commendation for it"). If the underling seems devious enough to actually pull it off, then you may need to pile on some complications ("oh, but leave your toolkit here, we wouldn't want it to get damaged").
* The [[Flavor Text]] of the ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' card "Goblin Hero" reads: "To be a hero, you don't have to step forward. Everyone else just has to step back."
== Theatre ==
* According to ''[[1776]]'' Thomas Jefferson Got Volunteered to write the Declaration of Independence.
== Video Games ==
* One dialogue option in the opening of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' is Shepard asking the Illusive man if s/he's volunteering or being volunteered. The Illusive Man tells him/her s/he can walk away, but to check out Freedom's Progress first. Shepard wants to take out the Reaper threat too much and no one else is willing to believe and help him/her, so this is more of a case of [[Magnificent Bastard|The Illusive Man]] [[Batman Gambit|knowing]] Shepard ''won't'' not jump at the chance.
* If you pick Morrigan for [[Combat by Champion]] against {{spoiler|Loghain}} in ''[[Dragon Age]]''.
Line 128 ⟶ 118:
* In ''[[Quest for Glory I]]'', none of the fairies want to give the hero any fairy dust, so they make a fairy named Mikey do it.
* Robin in ''[[Books Don't Work Here]]''gets "volunteered" in the first page and has yet to be given the chance to back out.
* Susan and Nanase from ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' (especially Susan) during their trip to Paris {{spoiler|to kill an aberration}}.
Line 135 ⟶ 124:
* In ''[[Wapsi Square]]'', Bud [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/need-just-one/ got volunteered] to recover an artifact from Ireland.
* When [[Wide-Eyed Idealist|Spoorflix]] ask [[Vexxarr]] why he thinks Spoorflix's people didn't expect him to succeed, he responds with "Let's say I know a thing or two about being volunteered for one-way missions."
* In [http://www.schlockmercenary.com:8080/2006-02-28 this strip]{{Dead link}} of ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', company lawyer Massey Reynstein demonstrates a knowledge of how to tackle the financial end of a mission, and is promptly volunteered to take care of it since everyone else in the company prefers a more brute-force approach.
* In ''[[Red String]]'', Miharu's cousin Karen volunteers Miharu to help at the family restaurant, causing Miharu to miss a date.
== Web Original ==
▲== Web Originals ==
* In ''[[Thalia's Musings]]'', this happens to Apollo when he tries to get Thalia out of watching eternal adolescent Eros for the day. (She owed [[Better as Friends|Hephaestus]] a favor.) Hephaestus thinks Apollo is volunteering to help. Apollo is too nice to refuse.
* [[Echo Chamber|Zack]] is only involved with Tom's show. because the camera equipment belongs to his father and Zack's dad made Tom let him tag along, and Tom put him to work.
* Done several times in ''[[AH Dot Com the Series]]'', usually with perennial [[Butt Monkey]]s Luakel or Michael as the "volunteer".
== Western Animation ==
Line 168 ⟶ 155:
** Later, Courtney, Heather, and Sierra do this to Gwen, and Owen and Noah do this to Tyler to have them [[It Makes Sense in Context|strip down guards.]]
** Gwen and Courtney then do this Heather for the torture rack challenge.
== Real Life ==
Line 181 ⟶ 167:
* In the Cadet Corps, a call for volunteers means everyone has to raise their hands. The "volunteers" are consequently picked at random (that or they're the last ones to raise their hands).
* Supposedly George Washington wrote letters to his wife talking about how he didn't want to lead the Continental Army and how he felt completely inadequate to the task after he Got Volunteered. Of course, he never mentioned how he turned up at the meetings in full uniform every single day.
* You may have heard that Kamikaze pilots were all volunteers. That isn't entirely true.[https://youtu.be/vtiAALlxOFk?t=2m59s]
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
Line 189 ⟶ 176:
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
[[Category:Call to Adventure]]
▲[[Category:Got Volunteered]]
[[Category:A Slave to the Index]]
| |||