Reassignment Backfire/Playing With
Basic Trope: A character is reassigned to a meaningless job but ends up saving the day.
- Straight: Officer Bob is Reassigned to Antarctica, which seems like a waste of time until the Evulz Gang out there and he catches them, making him a hero.
- Exaggerated: Officer Bob is demoted to meaningless janitorial duty at the worst post in the world - which Emperor Evulz happens to be using as a base for his world destruction plans. Bob becomes the savior of the universe overnight.
- Downplayed: Bob is given a menial assignment at home but ends up busting a big-time crook.
- Justified: No one knew what things would hold for Bob in the future.
- Inverted: Bob is promoted and it backfires spectacularly.
- Subverted: Bob is Reassigned to Antarctica - and nothing happens.
- Double Subverted: Because he already took out the bad guys, and his superiors hadn't discovered it yet.
- Parodied: Once Bob gets reassigned to the middle of nowhere and saves the day, every police officer clamors to get that post.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: His reassignment is more or less uneventful.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: Bob knows that the Evulz Gang is hiding out in the middle of nowhere, so he intentionally screws up to get assigned there.
- Exploited: Bob is a glory hog of the highest caliber, and rather than admit he knows where the bad guys are, he gets reassigned and "pretends" to find them so he can get the spotlight.
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: "Bob got reassigned? Shouldn't be too long before he gets a ticker-tape parade then."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Bob's heroism turns the meaningless post into the hot new destination. This means all the best officers then fight tooth and nail to get that spot, and Trope City is left without a cohesive police force...which the Evulz Gang uses to take over the city.
- Reconstructed: Bob's heroism makes all the cops fight with each other, which causes the suits upstairs to realize that they have a serious infighting problem with their force, and they address it as needed.
- Played For Laughs: Bob saves the day entirely by accident then acts at his parade like he knew what he was doing all along.
Well, I didn't expect you to do anything much when you were Reassigned to Antarctica, but I guess you proved me wrong. Good work, troper, and feel free to head back to Reassignment Backfire when you get a chance.