Paranoia Gambit: Difference between revisions

[[File:paranoia_7247paranoia 7247.jpg|link=FoxTrot|rightframe|Jason's finest 12 hours.]]

* This is L's tactic in ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'', to apply the pressure of [[Paranoia Fuel]] and watch for a [[Revealing Coverup]]. It does work, but not as successfully as he'd hoped; he counts the small victories until he has to concede defeat.

== ComicsComic Books ==

* In Marv Wolfman's ''[[DuckDuckTales Tales(1987)]]'' comic story "Scrooge's Quest", after Flintheart Glomgold buys out all of Scrooge's businesses and takes over Duckburg, Scrooge pulls this on Glomgold in the final chapter, "All That Glitters is Not Glomgold". By the end of the story, Glomgold is driven so far up the wall thinking Scrooge is out to sabotage him, that he decides [[Victory Is Boring|victory isn't all it's cracked up to be]] and willingly tears up his ownership contract of the city.

* The first issue of the ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?|Roger Rabbit]]'' comic book had him becoming paranoid about his new [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|weasel]] neighbor. Naturally, the weasel is harmless and just wants to be left alone.

* A ''[[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|Green Lantern]]'' annual written by [[Alan Moore]] describes how Abin Sur, on a rescue mission to a demonic prison world, was told by one of the imprisoned demons that he would die when his power ring failed him at a crucial moment. This convinces him to fly a ship rather than travel through space on his own... [[Self -Fulfilling Prophecy|setting the stage for the the accident that killed him]].

* One ''[[Heavy Metal (Animationanimation)|Heavy Metal]]'' story involved the protagonists tricking the villain into giving up critical information by placing him in a realistic simulation where he thought he'd won. When they reveal this to him, he's informed he'll be left trapped in a hyper-realistic simulation for the rest of his life. As they leave, one of the protagonists reveals to the other that all she did was ''tell'' him he was trapped in a simulation.

* In ''[[The Tall Blond WithMan with One Black Shoe]]'', the head of the French secret service pulls one of these on his [[The Starscream|Starscream]] number two, by convincing him that a completely random stranger, the titular blond, is in fact a top agent who will '"deal with him'". This causes the number two to get increasingly paranoid, and eventually results in {{spoiler|him dying}}.

* From [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Wyrd Sisters|Wyrd Sisters]]'':

{{quote| Only once, in the entire history of witchery on the Ramtops, had a thief broken into a witch's cottage. The witch concerned visited the most terrible punishment on him.<br />

* In the introduction of the Raymond Smullyan logic puzzle book ''What Is The Name Of This Book?'', the author talks about an incident in his childhood when his sister promised him she would "get him good" one April Fools Day. After a paranoia-filled day Smullyan proudly announced that April 1st1 was over and she hadn't got him once. She retorted that fooling him into fearing a non-existent prank ''was'' the prank. But since the prank was that there was no prank, [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradoxLiar paradox|was he really fooled or not?]]

* In a rather more serious example, a woman in an [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]] short story discovers {{spoiler|her husband intends to murder her once she signs an important document - a will or insurance thing or some such. She makes coffee, and insists on telling him something before she signs this document. She then tells him a completely invented story about two previous husbands that she poisoned in their coffee. He of course assumes she has poisoned ''him'', freaks out and ''dies''; but there was nothing in his coffee.}}

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother (TV)|How I Met Your Mother]]''

* In ''[[The Prisoner (TV)|The Prisoner]]'', Number Six does this to a cruel Number Two in the episode "Hammer Into Anvil".

{{quote| '''Two:''' Don't tell them. Don't report me.<br />

'''Six:''' I don't intend to. [[Beat|*beat* ]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|You are going to report yourself.]]<br />

* [[Almighty Janitor|The Janitor]] has done this to JD once or twice in ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]''.

* DJ does this to Stephanie in an episode of ''[[Full House (TV)|Full House]]'' as punishment for listening in on her phone calls.

* In one ''[[Cheers (TV)|Cheers]]'' episode, Diane tricks the bar folk, then becomes increasingly paranoid that they're plotting revenge. When she's asked to read her poetry for a TV show, she thinks it's a ruse, and humiliates herself by clucking like a chicken on television. Turns out all the gang intended to do was dump a bucket of water on her.

* Done to Jerry on ''[[Seinfeld (TV)|Seinfeld]]'' by a pissed-off girlfriend who, in response to his accidentally knocking her toothbrush in the toilet and not telling her for several days, proceeded to put something of his in the toilet when he wasn't looking. Jerry, a neat-freak, proceeds to start throwing out random things in his apartment, until she finally reveals it was {{spoiler|his toilet brush}}.

* ''[[Babylon 5 (TV)|Babylon 5]]''

{{quote| '''Garibaldi:''' I wonder if they'll ever find that transmitter you slipped in G'kar's drink.<br />

'''Sinclair:''' No they won't. Because there is none. If I had put one in, sooner or later, they would have found it. This way, they'll keep looking.<br />

'''Garibaldi:''' Are you aware of the tests they'll perform and the things they'll do to him?<br />

'''Sinclair:''' Yes. Come on.<br />

* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'': The Doctor used this as a trigger for {{spoiler|[[I'm Not Angry]]}}, against {{spoiler|Harriet Jones}}. The audience knows full well that the threatened six words that would bring her down were {{spoiler|"Don't you think she looks tired?"}} But all she knows is that it's ''something'' that the Doctor knows. And the Doctor [[Time Travel Tense Trouble|may have met]] her later, so even if it's something only she could know ''now'', he could still know it. And the Doctor tells a random person whose only job was translating, so it looks like he's relying on rumor mill--itmill—it could be anything, and now everyone knows.

* Ben uses this to wonderfully creepy affect in the ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' episode "The Whole Truth"

{{quote| '''Ben:''' Wow, you guys have some real trust issues, don't you? Guess it makes sense she didn't tell you, what with you two fighting all the time. Of course, if I was one of them - these people you seem to think are your enemies - what would I do? Well, there'd be no balloon, so I'd draw a map to a real secluded place like a cave or some underbrush - good place for a trap - an ambush. And when your friends got there, a bunch of my people would be waiting for them. Then they'd use them to trade for me. I guess it's a good thing I'm not one of them, huh? You guys got any milk?}}

* In ''[[The Office (TV)|The Office]]'', Dwight ambushes Jim by hiding inside a snowman. Later that day, when Jim is walking to his car, he finds himself surrounded by snowmen. As Jim snaps and starts destroying every one of them, Dwight watches from the roof. "The greatest snowball is fear. Merry Christmas."

* Used in an episode of ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'' as retaliation for black ink on the binocular eyepieces. Ziva's increasing paranoia over what Tony will do for revenge leads her to do such things as throw away her lunch when she finds out he picked up the order. {{spoiler|The payoff comes when Tony does get her just before the credits by rigging her desk chair to collapse.}}

{{quote| '''Peter''': ''[Thinking while eating the sandwich]'' Works every time.<br />

* Expertly done in ''[[Amnesia: theThe Dark Descent (Video Game)|Amnesia the Dark Descent]]''. A particularly notable example is how, early in the game, it will give you the helpful hint of how to hide from monsters. Of course, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|there are no monsters for quite a while...not that you know that.]] The game in general does this so well, minor sounds can get you to scream just because the tension is that high and you're ''that'' paranoid.

* ''[[You Don't Know Jack]]'', starting in volume 3, has a category known as Impossible Questions, mind-bendingly difficult questions which are worth a game-breaking $20,000 to whoever can get one right (or a game-breaking loss of $20,000 for whoever gets one wrong.) One of the Impossible Questions is from a category called "It's a Dog!" The question is "What has four legs, barks, and is a common household pet?" Awkward silence from the contestants. (The answer really is "a dog.")

* In ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'', Psycho Mantis and Ocelot tend to pull this ploy on each other with various degrees of success.

* ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcd]]'' [http://xkcd.com/524/ does this] with [[Rick Roll|RickrollingRickroll]]ing.

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' Bun-Bun [https://web.archive.org/web/20131004092519/http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=090621 pulls one of these on Riff], though he later gets revenge in a [https://web.archive.org/web/20131004095435/http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=090623 more direct way].

* [[Hive Mind|Think Tank]] in ''[[Sequential Art (Webcomicwebcomic)|Sequential Art]]'' [http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=563 used it when playing a wargame] to beat Pip in an [[Boring but Practical|embarassingly simple]] way.

* In [http://www.viruscomix.com/page508.html this] ''[[Subnormality]]'' strip, a harassed and undertipped waitress psyches two businessmen into thinking she messed with their free coffee.

* In ''[[Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic]]'' the Drow Queen [http://yafgc.net/?id=70comic/0070-a-quick-promotion/ poisoned a Grey Elf representative] on a meeting and chose to [[Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder|send Arachne instead of herself]] to the next one. Knowing this, Arachne decides to [http://yafgc.net/?id=75comic/0075-dressing-down/ give] some wine as a "peace offering" from her Queen to the replacement Grey Elf rep. One strip laterNaturally, [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* In ''[[Unreal Estate (Literature)|Unreal Estate]]'', Kisei does this to {{spoiler|the man who had her father killed, promising to come back and kill him on a Wednesday. "Maybe next week, maybe 20 years from now." She has no intention of coming back.}}

* After Roy of ''U.S. Acres'' (on ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'') plays a practical joke on Orson, Orson uses this as a revenge. Of course, {{spoiler|Lanolin actually does play a joke on him using a disguise that makes her look like Orson in a [[Paper -Thin Disguise]].}}

* On ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'', Klaus swears revenge on Steve and Roger after they pull a prank on him, and they spend most of the episode going insane from anticipation. Subverted when {{spoiler|Klaus forgets all about it, but now that they reminded him, he gets set to exact his revenge. Steve and Roger stop him by blocking his fishbowl.}}

* ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'': see [[What the Hell, Hero?]].

* Despite this basically being 2/3 of Batman's M.O., one episode of [[Batman: theThe Animated Series|the animated series]] features the Riddler pulling an epic one.. Sort of. His origin episode revolves around him going after Mockridge, the man who cheated him out of the profits for a game he designed due to him being 'work-for-hire'. Batman and Robin manage to save him, but the Riddler gets away and hints he will eventually return to finish the job. The episode ends with a terrified Mockridge in his mansion, locking every door and window in the place, checking every shadow, and getting into bed with a loaded shotgun at his side while Bruce muses on the situation:

{{quote| '''Bruce''': [[Pyrrhic Villainy|Mockridge may have his money, but he won't be sleeping well]]. "How much is a good night's sleep worth?" Now THERE'S a riddle for you.}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130807091240/http://bash.org/?276955 This bash.org quote].

[[Category:ParanoiaAlice Gambitand Bob]]