Properly Paranoid: Difference between revisions

[[The Chessmaster]] or the [[Magnificent Bastard]] ''is'' out to get John and his family and friends -- and they ''are'' using all sorts of devious devices and schemes that would succeed... if the person enacting the security lock down wasn't doing his job. Sadly, only John, the opposing forces and the audience know that the full body frisking of the boyfriend is mandatory for survival. Although it does leave the annoyed characters vulnerable to [[Too Dumb to Live]] moments.

* ''[[Strange Days]]'' reveals that the extreme misfortunes and frequent assassination attempts following the main characters around stems from a death squad operating within the LAPD designed to target undesirables, including a prominent rapper-slash-social activist who was recently assassinated. When one character dismisses this as paranoia, a [[Properly Paranoid]] one rebuts that "it's not a question of whether you're paranoid, it's whether you're paranoid ''enough''." The other characters spend the rest of the movie in a state of deep paranoia about this. {{spoiler|Except it's a complete lie; the rapper was shot by two trigger-happy cops who merely screwed up a traffic stop, most of the other events of the movie are the result of [[Gambit Pileup|various other plans and gambits crashing into each other chaotically]], and the [[Properly Paranoid]] character was in on it the whole time and made up the whole 'death squad' thing [[Xanatos Speed Chess|on the spot]] to distract from his own wrongdoings.}}

* In ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'', Dorian starts out improperly paranoid about his portrait. But he becomes very [[Properly Paranoid]] indeed the moment that {{spoiler|James Vane}} shows up.

** Commissar [[Ciaphas Cain]]<ref>'''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM'''</ref>, of his self-titled series, is a stunning endorsement of this trope, as the only reason he hasn't been killed hundreds of times is that he ''always'' suspects something more sinister lurking under the surface, and he is ''always'' correct. In his very first appearance even, the short story ''Fight or Flight'', he looks at a cult of [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong|Genestealers]] several star systems away and loss of communications with a nearby fleet and ''immediately'' thinks "incoming [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Tyranids]]", his preparations preventing the planet being eaten long enough for the fleet to arrive and kill all the bugs.

* [[Chaotic Evil]] creatures in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' -- as well as anyone living close to them -- usually are leery to the extreme.

** The Drow are justifiably paranoid about their enemies and as such tend to get killed by their friends. [[Morton's Fork|Conversely]], if one spends too many time looking over the shoulder at one's allies... according to Drizzt Do'urden, "Those who watch their backs meet death from the front." Even technically [[Chaotic Good]] followers of Eilistraee tend to be very jumpy, as most of them are ex-Lolthites and know what to expect all too well. And of course any non-disguised Drow outside of their territory--above ground or below--usually are attacked on sight, [[Van Helsing Hate Crimes|without asking for their purpose or something]], by almost anyone else not too busy running away, which usually is a [[Properly Paranoid]] reaction as well.

* Syl, Duchess of Dementia from an ''[[The Elder Scrolls|Oblivion]]'' expansion pack, is paranoid. When you first meet her, she gives you a quest to rout a conspiracy in New Sheoth. She is right too -- the office of Duke of Dementia is gained by killing the previous Duke. {{spoiler|As part of a quest, you can end up killing her and becoming Duke (or Duchess) yourself. She is, of course, [[Crazy Prepared|prepared]].}}

* Played with in ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'' during Maximillian Roivas' chapter. He's right to believe that body-snatching [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] are out to get him; some of his servants are possessed, and he is forced to kill them. However, the encounter leads him to actual paranoia and insanity, and he comes to believe ''all'' his servants are monsters. One round of cold-blooded murders later, he is committed to an insane asylum.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' has the spy. That guy who looks like he's guarding the intelligence could be a spy. The sniper on the sniper deck could be a spy. ''Your own team's spy'' could be a spy. ''You'' could be a spy. It could be you. It could be me! It could even be--oops, a spy just killed you.

** Starting at Fort Frolic, the [[Properly Paranoid]] player will develop a habit of shooting any frozen splicers, statues, or suspicious corpses he comes across. Because you never know when one of them might spring to life and assassinate you.

* Every ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' assassination target who voices concern about the Assassin's presence -- since all are done within earshot of the Assassin. One notable example in the first game was Sibrand, who is first seen (by Altaïr) threatening a Scholar whose white robes are similar to those of the Assassins. Unfortunately, although (as the Scholar points out accurately) that's ''why'' the Assassins wear those robes, Sibrand cuts him down anyway. Eventually this isn't enough "security" for Sibrand, who then flees to a boat that's quite off-shore, correctly believing that the Assassins are still hunting him.

** Except for Gunny Sergeant Bardue, whose behaviour is less [[Properly Paranoid]] and more simply [[Jerkass]]. He beats up a young student for demonstrating how his illusions work because the illusion, which was quite clearly only an illusion, resembled an antique pistol. He later hurls a car at a student that has no mutant ability, with the intent of forcing her latent mutation to manifest. Not only is the manifestation of a mutant power actually none of his concern, it may have been a life-destroying change for the student, such as if her power manifested by turning her permanently into a monstrous form. And that's assuming that she had a latent mutation that would react to, and be able to defend against, a car hurtling towards her. [[What an Idiot!]]!

** And then another episode had Homer ''making up'' conspiracies and posting them to the internet. One such conspiracy (Flu shots being used for [[Mind Control]]) turned out to be true, causing Homer to be kidnapped and held in [[The Prisoner|The Villa]]--no I mean "The Island".

* In ''[[Invader Zim]]'', Dib has the [[Cassandra Truth]] reputation going strong. But he's right -- Zim, the main character, is indeed an evil alien bent on conquering humanity. What's more, whenever he's seen engaging in other paranormal studies (such as chasing a hairy kid he thinks is a baby Bigfoot), he continues to show much more awareness of the world around him than... well, the world around him. Maybe he'd be more credible if he stopped talking to himself.

* [[Lovable Coward|Wade]] from ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'' comes off as this once he points out that local [[Reality Warper]] Orson keeps dragging Wade into [[Portal Book|dangerous stories]] via [[Dream Sequence|Dream Sequences]]. This is emphasized in one episode where Orson's reading causes Wade to be placed in a series of dangers, including a polar bear, a train, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex. [[What the Hell, Hero?|Suddenly it makes sense for Wade to be scared of everything.]]

* During late July/early August of 2011, many members of the Bethesda forums expressed a suspicion that the Lonesome Road DLC for [[Fallout: New Vegas]] would be delayed, to the point that the senior producer, Jason Bergman, called people paranoid and said that Lonesome Road would come out in August. A week later, it was announced that Lonesome Road had been delayed and wouldn't come out in August.