Imagine Spot: Difference between revisions

'''Dr. Kelso:''' Would you look at that...|''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]''}}

 

 

May be used to show what would happen [[If I Were a Rich Man]]. A more mundane (and stealthy) version is the [[Daydream Surprise]]. Very frequent in commercials. If someone else can see, that's [[Imagine Spotting]]. Someone who does this a lot is a [[Mr. Imagination]]. If Bob's [[Imagine Spot]] causes him to lash out in anger at Alice over something that only happened ''in'' the [[Imagine Spot]], we've seen an [[Indulgent Fantasy Segue]].

 

Compare [[Separate Scene Storytelling]].

 

== Advertising ==

* 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.

* Isaac and Miria of ''[[Baccano (Light Novel)|Baccano]]!'' have a ''joint'' one (fitting, considering their [[The Ditz|ditzy duo]] status) complete with [[Art Shift]] when they speculate with horror on Jacuzzi's fate at the hands of the mythical Rail Tracer. Which, by the way, they visualize as a giant green worm with fangs.

{{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.}}'' }}

* In ''[[Kyon Big Damn Hero (Fanfic)|Kyon Big Damn Hero]]'', after Kyon phoned Yuki in chapter 13 he imagines her in her apartment, kneeling by the phone, her cheeks pink-tinged as she daydreamed about him... But he dismissed that thought. This was Yuki, after all. As much as he might wish that...

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

* In ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]'', during the New Zork chapter, Beagle John tells Ringo that the government is looking for the first “A-plus Plus” (i.e., someone with more than one magical Ability) and such a man will be milked for his sperm so all the women can be artificially inseminated. Ringo, who easily qualifies, pictures “himself hooked up to a sperm-pumping machine, surrounded by thousands of big-nosed, blue-eyed [[Mind Over Matter|telekinetic]] kids.”

* 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 frequently in ''[[Corner Gas (TV)|Corner Gas]]'', to the extent that it's been described as "[[X Meets Y|Seinfeld meets Family Guy]] [[Recycled in Space|in rural Canada]]."

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

* ''[[Dexter]]'':

{{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. }}

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' has Isabella of all people seemingly quite often breaking off into an [[Imagine Spot]] where she imagines Phineas as a centaur. It's just as weird as it sounds.

** Specifically, he turns into a centaur and flies away with Isabella ''after'' suddenly having given her a dramatic declaration of love. Yeah.

** Candace had one in "Bowl-R-Ama Drama". Apparently, she believes that busting her brothers will result in her being allowed to use Dad's credit card ("You have our permission to ruin us financially.") and Jeremy proposing to her.

* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', when asked to try out for the football team with his friend Harry, Peter has a brief, absurdist fantasy of making touchdowns while in costume as Spider-Man, wearing a football helmet.

* ''[[Stickin Around|Stickin' Around]]'' is ''built'' from this.

* 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.

** In one memorable instance, Homer combined this with the [[Smart Ball]]: Lisa suggested forming a brain trust, and Homer started to fantasize...about a group of intelligent people discussing the issue at hand. When the Imagine Spot ends, the rest of the family is staring at Homer, who responds "What? Can't I get one right for once?"

** ''"NOW HOW BOUT A HUG?"''

* ''Mona the Vampire'' has a lot of this. There's a very clear visual effect to let you know when things are transferring between reality and imagination.

* A ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode has an [[Evilutionary Biologist]] whose funding has been cut imagining himself taking out a laser gun and wildly shooting at the people responsible.

* ''[[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.

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

* Owen's song "Oh, My Izzy!" in ''[[Total Drama Island (Animation)|Total Drama World Tour]]'' slips into this, since he was really too injured to dance and was thinking about all his times with Izzy during the song, complete with a crayon-drawn [[Art Shift]].

** 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.