Imagine Spot: Difference between revisions

'''Elliot:''' I know that made no sense, but he's totally there now in his head.<br />

''(J.D.'s eyes dart back and forth)''<br />

The combination of a [[Dream Sequence]] and a [[Gilligan Cut]], usually no more than a few seconds long, and commonly [[Book Ends|bookended]] by a [[Fade to White]]. [[Alice and Bob|Alice]] yells at Bob, "What ''am'' I, your maid?!". Cut to Alice cleaning the house in a [[French Maid Outfit]]. Cut to Bob's face -- he's clearly just imagined the role, and Alice has just [[Armor-Piercing Slap|slapped him]] to snap him out of his imagination trance.

== Anime & Manga ==

* In [[Bleach]], Chad tries to remember what Ichigo's little sister Karin looks like. We end up with Squick as he sees Ichigo with a black wig, Karin's red hat, and lipstick.

* ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' has "Tamaki's Inner Mind Theatre", usually with Tamaki fantasizing about Haruhi.

** ''[[Star Driver]]'', from the same writer and director as the ''Ouran'' anime, has Wako doing almost exactly the same thing, complete with ''Ouran''-style captions.

* Similarly, ''[[Minami-ke]]'''s Hosaka gets really caught up in his fantasies, usually starring Haruka, to the point of acting them out. Everyone else thinks he's weird and a little sick in the head.

** By weird, we mean everything from said Boss spontaneously performing a [[Super-Deformed]] [[Gene Kelly]] dance routine, to said Boss [[Flung Clothing|stripping]] to a [[Loin Cloth]] for almost ''no friggin' reason''. It helps that said Boss is [[The Comically Serious]], and the occasions with Meowth's accented voice filling in for what he imagines would be what Giovanni would say help even more.

** What makes it even more imaginative is that the three are probably the most pathetic excuses for Team Rocket members ever seen on the show, and that Giovanni despises them with a passion.

** There's also Connoiseusse Burgundy, who has one involving Cilan mocking her and her Oshawott in a particularly cruel manner while Pansage just cackles viciously. [[Nice Guy|Considering what Cilan's really like]], plus her recent evaluation of Ash's Pokemon in a negative light, it just shows how wacked out she really is.

* In ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', Takato has one when he can't find his partner Guilmon, imagining Guilmon being shot to death by police.

** Later on, we witness Kaoru's imaginings of marriage to Aoi, who ''is'' [[Supreme Chief|an amazing cook]]. They tend toward [[Hadaka Apron|the perverse]], sometimes.

* Used in a ''[[Code Geass]]'' [[Omake|sound episode]] where Shirley is imagining all kinds of insane things that could go wrong if she asks Lelouch out to a concert. It starts with him just saying that he will take his sister to the entire student council admitting their undying love for him, even [[Squick|Arthur]]. That's almost [[Scrubs|JD]] level weirdness.

* Saitou Hajime of ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'': [[Memetic Badass]], [[Inspector Javert]], [[The Comically Serious]]... and master of the [[Imagine Spot]]. He makes the "If Kaoru → Tanuki and Megumi → Fox, then Misao → Weasel" in one and images a broom shooing away a rooster when Chou and Sanosuke get into an argument.

** In the anime, after Saitou casually drops the fact that he's married (and the manga has to add a [[Not Making This Up Disclaimer]]), there's an Imagine Spot of Saitou reclining on the statue of a [[wikipedia:Bodhisattva|Bodhisattva]].

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has quite a few, as well as a few Imagine Sketches from Haruna (or Nodoka's magic diary). In one notable instance, after Nodoka confesses to him, Negi imagines himself marrying her... ''without'' losing the [[Blank White Eyes]] he got from the revelation.

* In ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'' (the manga), while Nobue is filling out a job application for one of the "zillions of 7-Elevens" in the area, the other girls contemplate what sorts of jobs they would want to get. The question is posed to Matsuri, and Miu imagines Matsuri in a few different kinds of jobs, coming up with the conclusion that Matsuri is not employable. When they consider the job of [[wikipedia:Tissue-pack marketing|handing out promotional tissues]], Miu remarks that "Matsuri wasn't able to do it at all just now," and imagines herself in the position, sneaking them into people's pockets and bags even if they refuse, and offering entire boxes at once.

* The characters in ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' do this sometimes. Usually they imagine themselves pulling of a spectacular play (in Monta's case, it's always followed with Mamori fussing happily over him).

* In the second episode of ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'', Yuichi has these more frequently (and they become more indulgent/fantastical) as things continually get worse for him.

* May Chang in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' (manga and second anime) is prone to daydreaming about the Elrics (first Ed, then upon [[Expecting Someone Taller|finding him insufficiently tall]], Al) with copious [[Bishie Sparkle]]. Already funny, it becomes downright [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] when [[Monica Rial]] was cast as her English voice actress, leading to ''many'' [[Ouran High School Host Club]] jokes among fans.

* Early on in the anime, [[Naruto]] fantasises about becoming Hokage and beating [[The Rival|Sasuke]].

* Used so heavily in ''[[Brigadoon Marin and Melan]]'' that it's a bit confusing at first. Marin's imagination usually involves violent death.

* In ''[[Soul Eater Not]]'', new student Tsugumi imagines herself surrounded by [[Bishonen|pretty boys]] at the academy, but she snaps out of her thoughts once she sees [[Idiot Hero|Black Star]] punching a guy in the face. She also imagines the aforementioned pretty boys all clamoring to be her partner, but instead finds herself being fought over by two ''female'' classmates.

* Masamune of ''[[Gate 7]]'' get lose in his own [[Imagine Spot]] of [[Catgirl]] Hana ''at the middle of a battle''.

* The whole point of [[Calvin and Hobbes]].

** [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Debatably.]]

* [[Give Me Liberty]] has a few imagine spots that display the main character as a panther and the villian as a hunter.

* One of the few almost totally lighthearted moments in ''[[Sin City]]'' happens when Dwight McCarthy imagines the recently deceased Jack Rafferty talking to him as a [[Deadpan Snarker]]. Emphasis on the dead part.

== Fan Works ==

{{quote| {{spoiler|''...Thus, logic stated that she had been captured by Keeper Mercury.''}} <br />

{{spoiler|''Eline dared opened her eyes. Keepers rarely healed their prisoners out of the goodness of their heart, in her experience, which meant that Mercury needed her strong enough to survive whatever tortures she had planned. A quick glance around revealed that she was alone in a barred cell, which was bare except for a bucket in the corner. The dark elf sat up silently, keeping her breathing even in order to avoid drawing attention, and tried to remember what she knew about the Keeper. Mercury's main claim to fame was defeating a horned reaper in single combat, even if Morrigan ranted often about how she had to have cheated. In Eline's head, the indistinct, blue-haired mental picture of the Keeper grew and gained bulging muscles, until it was nearly the equal of the reaper. What else did she know? Mercury had, according to rumours, had her way with the red-skinned beast against his will, which made her a terrifying and suicidal deviant. The red-eyed mental picture in the prisoner's mind gained a demented, lecherous grin. The Keeper's reported exhibitionist tendencies hardly mattered in comparison. Eline pinched the bridge of her nose as the brute in her imagination lost her clothes. Just great. She's basically a female clone of Morrigan.}}'' }}

{{quote| ''"Doctor, I'd like the part of my brain responsible for that image [[Brain Bleach|lobotomized please...]]"''}}

* In ''[[Mean Girls]]'', Cady does it in the lunch room by thinking about how her dilemma would be solved in the animal world. In her spot she imagines tackling Regina George and wrestling with her as the other students howl and yell like monkeys.

** Subverted when Regina George is hit by a moving bus and dies. Turns out she really did get hit by a moving bus, but only got sent to the hospital.

* In ''[[High Fidelity]]'', [[The Everyman|Rob Gordon]] imagines three increasingly violent scenarios to get back at Ian 'Ray' Raymond for stealing his girlfriend when he arrives at Rob's record store: {{spoiler|1. Issuing a cutting insult that causes Ray to leave rather quickly 2. Attempting to attack Ray only to be held back by Dick and Barry, shouting and cursing at him, causing Ray to actually run out the door 3. Attacking Ray WITH Dick and Barry, landing enough punches to lay him out on the floor and make him [[Blood From the Mouth|bleed from the mouth]], [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|not only kicking him while he's down but ripping the A/C unit from the wall and bringing it down on his head.]] In actuality, Rob does and says nothing, only glaring at Ray as he speaks and casually walks out.}}

** Could also be considered an [[Indulgent Fantasy Segue]].

* Most of the music numbers in ''[[Chicago]]'' are fullblooded imagine spots of the heroine, who hopes to become a jazz dancer. There are even a few snapping-out-of-it moments, and the contrast between the reality and her jazz saturated daydreams is often underlined.

* In the film [[Muay Thai Giant]], [[Nathan Jones]] is trying to come up with ways to make money to repair the small restaurant he wrecked. One of the suggestions is becoming a stripper. The result... must be seen to be believed.

** Of course, during episodes where it isn't centered on J.D.'s this trope happens ''without'' the cut, so all we see is J.D. staring off into space and saying something weird.

{{quote| "We're gonna need a lot of gnomes..."}}

* ''[[Ally McBeal]]'' and ''[[Teachers]]'' used it occasionally.

* ''[[Buffy]]'', on the other hand, managed to do the most depressing use of this trope ever when {{spoiler|Joyce is rushed to the hospital and saved-- cut to the paramedics declaring her dead from an aneurysm}}.

* The early-90s HBO series ''[[Dream On]]'' used a variation on the Imagine Spot as its primary gimmick. But instead of segments featuring the ''Dream On'' cast, clips from old movies and TV shows were used for the Imagine Spots of its main character, Martin Tupper.

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Love And Monsters" similarly had the main character flash to clips, including one of Elton John.

** And just about any sequence with Harvey, the Scorpius neuro-clone. Harvey "lives" in Crichton's mind and the two regularly converse. Their conversations usually take place in Imagine Spots - some of them based on Crichton's memories and some of them not.

* Common in ''[[Father Ted]]''.

* Played straight in nearly every episode of ''[[Son of the Beach]]'', but subverted in one in which Notch Johnson was informed that one of his lifeguards once won a preteen breast size contest. Intrigued by what such a contest would be like, the [[Image Spot]] begins to take form, when suddenly the scene cuts to pornographer Larry Flynt saying that, while he is all for free speech, some things are just obscene. Afterwards, Notch clarified that he meant what those girls would look like ''now''.

* Wendy of ''[[The Middleman]]'' often drops into Imagine Spot sequences when people ask her questions she needs to answer, or when she has a "Eureka!" moment.

* Used a lot in ''[[Spaced]]'', usually as pop-culture references or scenes from movies done [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|with a fraction of the budget]].

* ''[[That 70s Show]]'' used a lot of these.

{{quote| '''Dexter''': [[Understatement|This isn't going to be easy]].}}

** Dexter has just found out that {{spoiler|Miguel Prado}} lied to him. He lets out {{spoiler|"[[Large Ham|MIGUEL]]!!!"}} and throws the computer through his office's window, and then he's shown at the computer, and he walks out noticeably angry. It would have been Narm had Michael C. Hall not been as brilliant an actor as he is.

{{quote| '''Liz:''' And I am thinking of some of them right now.<br />

'''Jack:''' So am I. }}

== Music ==

== Visual Novels ==

* Kareha in [[Shuffle]] has a tendency to go into these whenever thrilled about something possibly romantic. It unnerves the rest of the class, who refer to them as hallucinations. We never get to see what she is actually thinking at these times, [[Covert Pervert|perhaps for the best]].

* In ''[[Kanon]]'', there's a rather... unique scene at lunch where Yuuichi is trying to imagine how Sayuri and Mai spend time together. Naturally, with the vastly different behavior and personality between them he finds it hard and eventually comes up with the idea that they're schoolgirl lesbians who then invite him to a threesome. Believe it or not, this is one of the times where Yuuichi refrains from speaking his mind.

** At the end of Sawatari Makoto's arc Amano asks what Yuuichi would ask for if he could make a miracle, Yuuichi tells her its obvious and it cuts to his wish; {{spoiler|[[Heartwarming Moment|Makoto napping on the hill where she and Yuuichi first met.]]}}

== Webcomics ==

** Done again recently with [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-12-12 this strip], which also references ''Scrubs'', but this time without the scene showing. However, it's possible to make a link between the original statement and the after-comment.

* An occasionally used gag in the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' [[Fan Web Comic]] ''[http://ashitahadocchida.sakura.ne.jp/top.html A's/StrikerS Nano]''. As they're employed on characters portrayed as having [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]], the spots tend to be very heavily censored. [http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/3563/asnanoss19es6.jpg Here's one example involving Fate] (Caution: May still be [[NSFW]]).

* "To the [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=76616 Mighty-Mobile!]"

* A rather amusing one in ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' involves [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/bjarnionice/ seasonally inept Vikings.]

* [[Squid Row]] [http://squidrowcomics.com/?p=178 Of course a squirt gun will make you a Space Opera hero!]

* [[Mac Hall]]: [http://www.machall.com/view.php?date=2006-06-19 "My spleen!"]

** Pre-Doc Ock Otto Octavious has one of "taking care" of his abusive employer, Norman Osborn.

* The second half of ''every single episode'' of ''[[Angela Anaconda]]'' is an Imagine Spot of Angela dreaming about disgracing her [[Alpha Bitch|snooty rival]] Nanette Manoir, in steadily more [[Humiliation Conga|ludicrous]] ways.

* In one episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer envisions what would happen if he used his new gun to rob Apu's store -- [[Cloudcuckoolander|somehow]], the logical outcome is that he becomes a Southern senator with a giant mansion and Marge dances the Monkey in a bikini.

** Homer gets these very, ''very'' frequently, and they often devolve into bizzare tangents (such as a fantasy about meeting various junk food spokespersons ending in him accidentally kiling a [[Captain Ersatz|stand-in for]] [[Bland-Name Product|Twinkie the Kid]].) He also tends to comment on these fantasies in real life, as if the other characters have seen them as well (in the same example, the dream cut back to him chanting "Blood For Cream" in front of a bewildered Lisa.)

* ''[[Doug]]'' might hold the record for most time per episode spent in fantasy sequences. Often these would feature lengthy trips to the comic-book universe Doug created around his [[Mary Sue|Gary Stu]] superhero Quailman, whose outcomes ultimately led to Doug figuring out a solution to the problems in his own life.

** By the end of the Disney run, they started abandoning the wrapper story altogether and just making whole episodes that were Quailman cartoons.

* Wrong on both counts. The real record holder is ''[[Muppet Babies]].''

* Another mention, ''[[Rugrats]]'', which has a large number of fantasy sequence episodes from being pirates to being superheroes.

* This is a recurring theme in ''Birdz''.

* On ''[[Kim Possible]]'', Ron Stoppable has one of these during "Ill Suited" when he figures out wearing Kim's battle-suit will make him awesome at football. [[Lampshaded]] seconds later when Monique asks how long he's had that goofy look on his face while imagining his victory.

* In ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', after [[Chaotic Good|Jimmy]] predictably messes something up for [[Louis Cypher|Lucius]], Samy worries about what he'll do to them...leading to them imagining a bunch of horrible ([[Amusing Injuries|and amusing]]) punishments.

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' employs these with some of their cutaway gags. In one episode, Peter pulls onto the runway staging area of the airport with his new truck. As he watches them fuel the planes, he fantasizes about filling his truck with jet fuel and then flying it through the sky to the theme to ''[[Top Gun]]''.

{{quote| '''Peter:''' Well, that's all the convincing I needed to actually do this!}}

** In "A Friend In Deed", Pinkie Pie has one as she runs down her mental checklist of friend-making tasks. Apparently, Pinkie imagines in ''felt.''

* Bobby from [[Bobby's World]] would often go into one of these after he's misinterpreted something and he imagines what he thinks the thing might be or he imagines what he would do in a situation in a movie or book.