Never My Fault: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Dave''': What, cock it up and then blame someone else?|''[[Drop the Dead Donkey]], Pilot episode''}}

 

** The real kicker is that [[Misaimed Fandom|the writers of these stories (and their supporters)]] [[Draco in Leather Pants|actually seem to believe that the Slytherins are right]]. No matter how horribly the Slytherins behave, the writers always seem to attribute any display of animosity toward them to "anti-Slytherin prejudice."

* In ''[[The Blue Blur of Termina]]'', Tatl stops Sonic from going after the Skull Kid and, as a result, gets left behind and accidentally injured by the imp. She immediately blames Sonic who, in turn, immediately calls ''her'' out on it:

 

 

** [[Smug Snake|Eddie Brock]] hates Peter for costing him the staff job at the Bugle. There are consequences to framing a man for robbery, and falsifying journalistic documents, Eddie. This is actually [[Truth in Television]]: people who plagiarize rarely admit that what they're doing is wrong, and/or tell themselves they're a special case.

* C-3PO is famous for this, especially in ''[[Star Wars]]: [[A New Hope]]'' when he decides to go a different direction than R2-D2 in the Tatooine desert.

'''C-3PO''': That malfunctioning little twerp. This is all his fault. He tricked me into going this way. But he'll do no better. }}

** In ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'', Anakin blames Obi-Wan for turning Padmé against him. ''Of course'', it couldn't have been your [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|sharp descent]] into [[Face Heel Turn|violent murder and villainy]], no...

*** Later on, Anakin, waking on the slab, initially has this reaction to being told that he had killed Padme. He thinks that he loves her, always will, could never will her death - but he remembers the cold terror he felt when thinking of her death (said terror is called "the dragon" in the text. [[It Makes Sense in Context]]) that made him create Darth Vader, and he remembers Vader's fury and hatred...

[[My God, What Have I Done?|You did it]]. }}

* Used rather darkly in ''[[The Last King of Scotland]]'', after [[Glorious Leader|Idi Amin]] has realized that exiling the Asian population of Uganda was a serious political mistake.

'''Amin''': But you did not persuade me! }}

* In ''[[The Lion King|The Lion King 2]]'', Zira blames Kovu for Nuka getting himself killed trying to get the attention and praise [[The Unfavourite|she never gave him]]. She even weeps for her elder son briefly [[Ignored Epiphany|before turning her sorrow into anger]] at her youngest.

*** Although in this case it's less a refusal to admit responsability and more an attempt to guilt-trip Simba.

* ''[[The Santa Clause]] 3: The Escape Clause''.

'''Jack Frost''': Look what you've done! }}

* A non-comedic example can be seen in ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera|Repo the Genetic Opera]]'' where Rotti and his kids use a constant (and [[Ear Worm|catchy]]) chorus of this to convince Nathan that [[It's All My Fault]].

* In ''[[Smallville]]'' nothing is ever [[Lex Luthor]]'s fault. He'll blame his [[Archnemesis Dad|dad]], Clark, Lana, and anyone else he can before accepting that his slide into villainy is by his own choice. This is actually a fairly major part of his characterisation, and something that Clark calls him out on in the Season 7 finale. Major Zod exhibits similar traits; after {{spoiler|throttling his lover to death and thus killing his unborn son, he blames Clark, claiming that he made Faora betray him}}.

* In ''[[Black Books]]'' this is Bernard's default attitude. One episode involves around a quarrel between Bernard and Manny that isn't resolved until one of them has the strength to apologize:

 

 

== Web Animation ==

* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'': In the Strong Bad Email "long pants," Strong Bad edits down a lengthy email into nothing like what it was originally (by ''drawing on his laptop's screen with a magic marker''), then blames the sender when Homestar appears wearing Daisy Dukes and later freaks out over [[Stylistic Self Parody|a remark]] regarding his [[Long Pants|apparent lack of pants]]. (And The Cheat for covering his screen in magic marker.)

'''Strong Bad''': Noice work, Clanky. You made Homestar go nuts, and you've seriously creeped me out. And how am I supposed to get ''this'' crap offa here? Stupid... made-up technology... that I made up... paint pen... The Cheat! Call tech support and tell 'em you broke the Lappy again! }}

** Actually in the case of the Cheat, it might just be that the Cheat technically counts as a pet, and with all the crap that happens to Strong Bad's computers, saying "my pet did it again" is the only way to get service from tech support.

* Caboose from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' will often quip "Tucker did it" whenever something bad happens - regardless of who is actually to blame.

** He later fumbled a grenade toss, leading to this immortal exchange:

'''Caboose:''' Not my fault. Someone put a wall in my way. }}

** Caboose once switches from gloating to this ''mid-sentence'' when things suddenly go south after he stops {{spoiler|Tex}} from [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb stomping]] the Reds and Tucker:

 

 

** In the episode "Rosebud," Adolf Hitler blames losing [[World War II]] on ''a teddy bear''.

** Homer in full [[Jerkass/Western Animation|Jerkass]] mode always finds someone else to blame:

'''Homer''': Which is society's fault because... }}

** And who can forget when Homer tried to back out of donating a kidney to his dad (whose kidneys Homer was responsible for damaging):

** Sideshow Bob gives a slight variant in "Funeral for a Fiend"

* ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'' frequently shows railwaymen screwing up, causing no end of crashes and delays. But of course, the engines will nearly always be blamed for it. In ''Thomas Comes To Breakfast'', Thomas crashed through the station master's house because a cleaner had fiddled with his controls but the Fat Controller still chewed Thomas out for it. Also in the episode ''One Good Turn'' everyone blames Bill and Ben for the incident with the turntable, when the narrator very clearly said that it was the foreman's mistake.

* ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''

* ''[[Spider-Man: The New Animated Series]]'' has it's fair share (this being a Spider-Man cartoon and all). In the second episode, when Kingpin tricks Spidey into stealing a very important chip, Peter is kidnapped by an FBI agent who interrogates him, and confiscates a video tape of a science lesson that Peter recorded for Mary-Jane, accusing Peter of being involved in Bio warfare. The agent later calls Peter and berates him for wasting time giving him the tape.

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' - Valerie in the [[Chained Heat]] episode, though at least Danny has the nerve to call her out on it:

'''Danny''': Right, 'cause ''clearly'' [[The Hunter|the maniac]] who cuffed us and dragged us in here didn't have anything to do with it! }}

* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' - Used for much more serious effect [[Ironic Echo|twice in identical instances]] with two different characters, [[Not So Different|Demona and Jon Canmore]], as each realized the full scope of the consequences of their actions:

* Done seriously in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'': Sentinel Prime hates Optimus Prime because {{spoiler|Optimus was unable to save Elita-1 from the [[Giant Spider|giant spiders]] on an alien planet, even though it was ''Sentinel's idea'' to go to the planet and search for the energon that made the spiders huge in the first place.}} What a [[Jerkass]].

* ''[[Futurama]]'' does this from time to time, but most memorably after Leela is blinded, she crashes the Planet Express ship through the roof of the building. Hermes, having seen everything, turns to Zoidberg and says: "That's coming out of YOUR pay." Zoidberg is reduced to tears. Of course, this is normal for the show, as Zoidberg is the primary [[Butt Monkey]].

** Also done by Zapp Brannigan, usually blaming his [[Egregious]] mistakes on Kif, his beleaguered lieutenant.

'''Kif''': Aaah! }}

* In an episode of ''[[House of Mouse]]'', Donald offers to give Mickey the money he needs to pay the club's rent if he'll let Daisy do an act tonight. Mickey reluctantly accepts the offer, but after Donald reveals to Daisy that he paid Mickey to put her on stage, she declines, saying she wanted to get her act because she would be good at it, not out of monetary reasons. As she walks out, Donald complains to Mickey, "Now see what ya did?"

* The ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' episode "Plasma Monster" has Mira and XR building a really big gun, which they then use to shoot a laser at the monster of the episode's title. The conversation that follows:

'''XR''': ''(to Mira)'' You idiot! That monster was her boyfriend! }}

** Similarly, ''[[Toy Story]] 3'' has Jessie admit to Woody that the toys were wrong not to believe him. When she says that she was wrong specifically, Mr. Potato Head adds, "Jessie's right, Woody. She ''was'' wrong!"

** Though Meg [[Mis Blamed|was already blaming Chris]], Peter, mistaking the blame to be directed for having to relocate towards him, also blames Chris... even though it was Peter's fault in the first place for [[The Millstone|revealing Chris' identity to the crook who wanted him dead]].

** After hitting Brian with his car:

** Stewie frequently meddles into Brian's attempts at finding women and gives him bad advice. When it inevitably fails and Brian confronts him, Stewie will always accuse ''him'' of trying to blame his incompetance on others.

*** Not that Brian isn't capable of doing this on his own, such as cheating on Rita, his (older) fiancee, with a hot young thing, then saying he just needed one last fling before settling down with her. She doesn't buy it.

* Lucius on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' once destroyed every washroom in Miseryville to torment Jimmy...[[Didn't Think This Through|including his own]]. He immediately hands the detonator he used to [[Butt Monkey|Samy]] and says "Look what you've done!"

* On ''[[South Park]]'', [[Butt Monkey|Butters]] is used to being a scapegoat.

** Also done in [[The Movie]], as the end of the song "Blame Canada" has the line ''We must blame them and cause a fuss/before somebody thinks of blaming us!'' due to them allowing their children to go see a movie with foul language, vulgar jokes, and various other things and blaming Canada for it instead of themselves.

** In another episode, the parents are angry that the school is not teaching children about sex, something that is usually the responsibility of parents. Of course, at the end of the episode, they get called out on that by Chef, as the teachers they pick to explain are Mr. Mackey (who hasn't had sex in decades), Ms. Choksondik (who [[Does Not Like Men]] and thinks [[Sex Is Evil]]), and Mr. Garrison (no explanation necessary).

** Butters is often a scapegoat for ''his own parents''. In one episode, Butters is grounded because his dad mistakenly put Hamburger Helper in his coffee.

* ''[[Justice League]]'': The Atom is battling a (relatively) large nano-machine, and blames it on his assistant.

'''The Atom''': Because otherwise it would be my fault. That can't be right. I'm a professor. }}

* Lucy in ''[[Peanuts]]''. In the animated special ''It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown'', she pulls the football from Charlie Brown in an actual football game with a game-deciding last-second field goal on the line, and then later (with Peppermint Patty) blames him for missing. (It should be noted that Charlie Brown himself [[It's All My Fault|feels let down]] by this miss, even though it clearly wasn't his fault).

* Played very darkly in the [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney]] animated movie ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'':

** Frollo, a pious, merciless man, develops an obsession with the gypsy Esmeralda, rationalizing his lust by claiming ''she'' seduced him. All she did was flirt with him a little during her dance.

** Frollo also chases a woman through the city on his horse because he thinks the bundle she's carrying is stolen property, only to unintentionally kill her in front of Notre Dame; his excuse to the Archdeacon is that wouldn't have happened if she hadn't run from him in the first place. He also orders his men to burn down a home, ''with an innocent family still inside'', with the excuse that they were harboring gypsies (despite the only "proof" being that someone had found a gypsy emblem on their property).

* ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]'': Boog and Lenny blame Fanboy and Chum Chum in "Monster in the Mist" for pretending they were the eponymous monster, when in fact it was Boog and Lenny's impaired vision that made them see it. Lenny could be forgiven, though, since his eyesight was handicapped by them.