Not Me This Time/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: The protagonist hunts down the recurring villain for some wrongdoing, only to have him demonstrate his innocence.

  • Straight: AwesomeAlice pursues Big Bad Bob for the robbery of the Tropeville Bank, but Bob proves he was elsewhere at the time.
  • Exaggerated: AwesomeAlice pursues Big Bad Bob because she misplaced her car keys, but Bob proves he was in the Andromeda Galaxy at the time.
  • Justified: Bob was under armed surveillance at a maximum-security prison when the bank robbery occurred.
  • Inverted: AwesomeAlice does not suspect Big Bad Bob at all despite conclusive evidence that it was him, and him even confessing to the crime.
  • Subverted: Just as AwesomeAlice is leaving, Big Bad Bob breaks down laughing and admits that he did it.
  • Double Subverted: ...It later turns out that he didn't, he just wanted to waste Alice's time.
  • Parodied: AwesomeAlice pursues Big Bad Bob to the ends of the earth for the robbery of the Tropeville Bank. When she finally catches him, he testily proves that he didn't do it, wasting Alice's time.
  • Deconstructed: AwesomeAlice's unwavering presumption of Bob's guilt drives him to commit a really spectacular robbery to justify her bias.
    • AwesomeAlice's constant assumption of Bob's guilt allows the real perpetrator to get away, and/or it destroys her credibility the next time Bob does commit a crime.
  • Reconstructed: Bob gives Alice a Hannibal Lecture over her immediate assumption of his guilt... to which she responds that he's directly responsible for 90% of the crime in the city, so for any given crime he's the obvious suspect -- and even if he's innocent he's at least likely to know who really is responsible.
  • Zig Zagged: AwesomeAlice chases down Big Bad Bob for the robbery of Tropeville Bank, but Bob professes his innocence and a length court battle ensues. Bob is convicted, but it's revealed that the witnesses were bribed and Bob goes Off on a Technicality... until Alice discovers that Bob had the witnesses bribed in order to bring this about. When it's finally incontrovertibly proved that Bob is innocent, the audience discovers (but Alice doesn't) that the whole plan was to tie up Alice and the legal system for months so that they wouldn't notice Bob's diabolical Evil Plan being carried out in the meantime...
  • Averted: Anyone accused of doing something immediately confesses to it.
  • Enforced: "This show is getting a bit Strictly Formula. How about we have a crime that Bob didn't commit?"
  • Lampshaded: "Why'd you assume it was me? This one doesn't fit my profile at all..."
  • Invoked: Big Bad Bob made it look like he'd committed a crime to discredit Alice when she inevitably falsely accuses him of it.
  • Defied: Big Bad Bob makes sure he can be seen on the camera robbing the Tropeville Bank.
  • Discussed: "She caught Big Bad Bob too easily -- he can't be guilty."
  • Conversed: "The show's not even half-over yet, so the real villain must be someone else."

Alice: Come out wherever you are, Bob! I know you took down the link back to Not Me This Time!
Bob: It wasn't me, I was out getting some ice cream! See, I'll even put the link back up!

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