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{{trope}}
{{quote|"[...] [[Theodore Roosevelt|that damned cowboy]] is president now."
|'''Mark Hanna'''}}
In this plot, a hero in an organization like the military is reassigned by a vindictive superior who seeks to ruin the hero by [[Reassigned to Antarctica|transferring him to a nothing post]], in hopes that the hero's career will dead end—or worse.
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To the assigner's horror, the assignment he himself inflicted to shut down the hero's career has instead given the victim a spectacular career boost with commendations, medals and promotions galore and the formerly nothing post becomes ''the'' post to be assigned to.
In
Often happens after a character has been [[Reassigned to Antarctica]]. Compare [[Busman's Holiday]]. And some commanders may not be unhappy at the prospect of [[Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder|cannon fodder they wouldn't miss, but who actually get the job done.]]
{{examples}}▼
Not to be confused with a sex change operation that goes spectacularly wrong.
== Anime ==▼
▲{{examples}}
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[801 TTS Airbats]]''.
* Mihoshi from ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'', who seemingly only ''has'' a job in the Galaxy Police because [[Nepotism|her grandfather is the Grand Marshall]], gets assigned to patrol Earth's solar system. After all, a planet that barely even has space travel could hardly have any trouble for her to get into, and there'd be nothing to report so her superiors wouldn't have to deal with her anymore. Naturally, she promptly gets involved in taking down the most notorious criminal in the universe.
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** Ironically, the winner ''would'' become captain during [[The Movie]].
==
* Traditionally, the origin of ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'' involves Odin sending the character to Earth in order to teach him humility before he ascends the throne as his heir. It works, but Thor ends up liking Earth so much that he is often extremely reluctant to return to Asgard, and even more to becoming its ruler.
** This is due to Thor being the son of Mother Earth herself, Gaea.
* When [[Wonder Woman]] died, the Amazons made her mother, Queen Hippolyta, take up the mantle in her stead, as a form of penance for indirectly causing Diana's death. Hippolyta enjoyed being a superhero so much that she kept at it even after Diana came back from the dead, and eventually abolished the monarchy entirely.
== [[Film]] ==
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* In ''[[Batman Begins]]'', Lucius Fox was assigned as head of the Applied Sciences division of Wayne Enterprises because Richard Earle, the CEO after Thomas Wayne died, wanted him out of the board and in a place where he won't have any influence over the company. However, Fox's prototypes caught the attention of Bruce Wayne, who after taking control of Wayne Enterprises fired Earle and appointed him as CEO.
* ''[[Under Siege]]'' Chief Casey Ryback ([[Steven Seagal]]) is [[Artistic License Military|reassigned as a cook for striking one of his superior officers]]. This proves invaluable when terrorists take control of his ship, as he's in the kitchen, away from them when they take the crew hostage.
* A rare villainous example appears in ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger]]''. Johann Schmidt is reassigned to a base in the
== Literature ==
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*** By the third time (Sidemore Station), even the vindictive superiors are getting [[Genre Savvy]] about it, but decide they have no choice.
** Kind of played with, in that at least on the first occasion (Basilisk Station) her career would have gotten a significant boost even without the crisis. She was just plain doing a damn fine job organizing the place, something none of the previous screw-ups the Navy assigned there had managed. This had already allowed some like-thinking superiors to pull a major political coup by the time things got messy.
**One variation was Lady Montaingne, who reassigned ''herself'' to
* Robert Asprin's ''[[Phule's Company|Phule]]'' books start off with the main character getting reassigned for strafing a peace-treaty signing; it's intended as a punishment because his new post involves taking charge of the Space Legion's [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|losers]] on a [[Reassigned to Antarctica|backwater planet]]. Of course, things go much differently than planned, and this is more-or-less the last time [[The Good Captain|Phule]] and [[Badass Crew|the Omega Mob]] get transferred/"promoted"/ect [[Bad Boss|without malicious intentions]].
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]],'' Murphy's position as the head of Special Investigations is where people you really, really don't like get sent and they soon leave, disgusted with it. Murphy's the first person who's stayed long enough to warrant a nameplate.
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* In L. E. Modesitt Jr's [[Space Opera]] novel ''The Ethos Effect'' the main character, a former military spaceship commander responsible for a PR disaster (everyone knows he [[I Did What I Had to Do|did what he had to do]], but being responsible for the loss of a large passenger ship doesn't make you popular) ends up being the "victim" of one of these; he's given a weird assignment that doesn't match his experience, working at an embassy on a planet he's completely unfamiliar with. He ends up foiling an assassination attempt targeting diplomats from multiple interstellar nations. {{spoiler|Which angers his superiors even more, because, as the main character eventually realizes, they were ''behind the assassination attempt'' and didn't intend for him to actually succeed at his job. In fact, they didn't even intend for him to survive the journey to the planet; the unidentified spaceship that attacked him en route was actually [[False-Flag Operation|one of their own ships]].}}
* In ''The ESP Worm'' by [[Piers Anthony]], the hero is the President's deadbeat cousin, who was given the supposedly meaningless job of negotiating with any aliens that ever happened to come to Earth. Humans have never come in contact with an alien before, but there's a first time for everything, and naturally, it comes as a surprise to everyone when the titular worm is the first alien to come to Earth.
* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[
** Vetinari invokes this ''intentionally'' with Moist von Lipwig in ''[[
* In the second [[Artemis Fowl]] novel ''Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident'' elf LEP recon captain Holly Short is assigned to guarding an abandoned shuttle port where nothing has happened in literally a hundred years. Naturally, she encounters a huge goblin smuggling program which involves the use of a human contact and illegal weapons.
* [[Flashman]] is a good example of this. Harry Flashman, freshly expelled from Rugby School, joins the prestigious 11th Hussars. Within a year, he gets into a duel over a woman, and is posted to Glasgow, assisting the local militia against agitating mill workers. He seduces the prettiest daughter of the mill owner he's billeted with, and is forced to marry her. This doesn't sit well with Lord Cardigan, the commander of the 11th Hussars, and he gets posted again, this time to India (a location hated and despised by Cardigan). Flashman's skill with a horse and lance impresses the Governor General, and he's sent as an ADC to Kabul, on General Elphinstone's staff. He gains (stolen) credit with the natives as "Bloody Lance", the lone killer of five would-be assassins, and gains credit with the military and public when he's one of the few survivors of the Kabul Retreat, and "defends" a small fort outside the besieged Jalalabad - he's found surrounded by dead, clutching the flag to his chest. As the only (white) survivor, he feels free to not contradict the CO's assumption that he wasn't cowering uselessly in bed, and was in fact about to throw the flag to the attackers. He gets a hero's send-off from India, a hero's welcome upon his return, and a medal from Queen Victoria herself.
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* Subverted in ''[[M*A*S*H (television)]]'' in "Fade Out, Fade In". Charles is sent to the 4077th by a higher officer who owes him money. Shortly after his arrival he is able to prove his surgical skills are invaluable, ensuring, much to his chagrin, that he becomes the permanent tentmate of Hawkeye and BJ.
** Played straight a few seasons later when the higher officer came back. Because of a sequence of events that would lead to trouble, he expects Winchester to cover for him so that Margaret's career would be ruined and his career would be fine, with an reward of finally going back to Tokyo. Due to [[Character Development]] making him turn from a [[Jerkass]] to a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]], Winchester has enough morals to loudly call him on it.
* Commander William Adama, assigned to the so-old-we're-using-it-as-a-museum [[Battlestar Galactica
** Roslin was also sent to the Galactica as a way to get her out of the way for a short time. She went against the president when negotiating with the teacher's union and the party leaders had to keep her away from the public spotlight while they neutralized any political fallout.
* To certain extent, the premise of ''[[The Wire]]''. A [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] is put on a deadend assignment.
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*** The true Reassignment Backfire occurs in ''Wing Commander IV'' when {{spoiler|the hero gets involved in going rogue to fight a conspiracy that turns out to be run by the very same Admiral.}}
* [[All There in the Manual|According to the help file]] included with the registered version of ''[[Doom]]'', the Marine was relocated to Mars, a backwater dustball whose only notable features were scientific outposts on its moons, in lieu of a court-martial for striking a commanding officer who had ordered him to fire on civilians. No, they '''didn't''' just make that up for the novel. He, of course, went on to save the world from the forces of Hell over the course of two games.
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' features Ashley Williams, whose name bears some serious stigma—her grandfather was the general who surrendered his garrison (for good reasons) to the turians during the First Contact War. She and her father were passed over for promotion many times and assigned posts with no action (and thus no opportunity to demonstrate capability). Then along comes Sovereign, the geth, and Saren—and Shepard to take her along for the ride. Needless to say, her actions clear her family's name.
* Variation in ''[[Mass Effect]] 2:'' Tali is reassigned to the ''[[Cool Starship|Normandy]]'' when she is {{spoiler|on trial for treason}} because the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] on the Admiralty Board wants her exiled from the Migrant Fleet and thinks that Commander Shepard will be a poor advocate for her. That [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|does not go according to plan]] (unless Shepard is a poor diplomat).
* ''[[Luminous Arc]]'' plays with this a bit. Kingston created the Garden Children idea to [[Reassigned to Antarctica|get Heath out of the way when he started asking too many questions]], on the premise of creating a crack squad of [[Tyke Bomb|orphans raised to be excellent soldiers]]. {{spoiler|Here's where it starts to zigzag. Kingston got exactly what he asked for - a group of highly proficient soldiers who work very well together, and thanks to Heath being incredibly zealous to try and get back in the good books and keep sniffing around, they're completely loyal to him and his ideal. [[What an Idiot!|He then proceeds to reassign Heath again and Sends the Fatal Hounds on a wild goose chase to get them out of his hair]], giving them time to defect and become a very sharp thorn in his side. If he'd kept them on a tighter leash and used them as an actual strategic asset, he would have won.}}
* ''[[L.A. Noire]]'': The result of reassigning {{spoiler|Cole Phelps}} to [[Reassigned to Antarctica|the police department's version of Antarctica]] is a backfire of ''epic'' proportions. In trying to move public scrutiny away from Vice by giving the media a new [[Chew Toy]], they put {{spoiler|Cole ''directly'' on the scent of their [[The Conspiracy|conspiracy]]}}. Whoops. [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]].
* The ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' franchise likes to play with this trope often.
** ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'': Kyosuke Nanbu is reassigned to North America's Langley Base after surviving the crash of the Wildraubiter's test flight at the Izu Far East Base. The person who reassigned him, Colonel Hans Weber, {{spoiler|is later revealed to be a [[The Mole|Mole]] for the Divine Crusaders and caused the crash.}} After arriving in Langley, Kyosuke is placed on the ATX Team and eventually goes on to defeat the United Colony Corps with his new friends at Langley and aboard the Hiryu Kai. When he returns to Izu, Hans is not pleased at what Kyosuke has become. Later, when {{spoiler|Hans' treachery is revealed, he has to face Kyosuke and if the player feels like it, [[Karmic Death|can be killed by the very same pilot he got rid of to make his plans succeed]].}}
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* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' uses a variant of the science fiction version: Optimus Prime's assignment to menial space bridge repair duty (after being involved in {{spoiler|the apparent death of Elita-1 and taking the blame for the entire affair}}) puts him in exactly the right place to recover the AllSpark, which eventually does lead to a galaxy-shattering adventure that takes place on Earth.
** And, depending on certain interpretations of the series finale, may have even resulted in him being {{spoiler|made the next Magnus.}}
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender
** Of course, if Zuko hadn't played his part, Ozai's dynasty might have wound up overthrown and his country pillaged, instead of a peaceful rollback of their costly conquests. On the other hand, Ozai might have finished his world conquest under the aegis of Sozin's Comet while Aang was still stalling at the South Pole, or at least refusing to admit who he was in the absence of a jerk in red armor demanding the Avatar from old ladies. Hard to say.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* Erwin Rommel proved a very capable general in Africa, but never got along well with his superiors. [[Adolf Hitler]] decided to transfer him to a less important position (albeit after Axis forces in Africa surrendered) - inspecting the fortifications on the French coast, as the High Command thought the Allies wouldn't ever try something as crazy as an amphibious assault on France. Which, of course, they did. Rommel wasn't enough to stop the Allies, but certainly made their job a lot more difficult.
** This is a bit of an urban myth. Rommel actually had a good relationship with Hitler, and was only reassigned because - as aforementioned - his previous post ''ceased to exist''.
** It is also highly unlikely that the Germans did not know an amphibious assault was coming. Everyone was talking about it, the Allies were bargaining hard with Russia about it, and the Allies were demonstrating very handily their skill in amphibious operations. If they dismissed the possibility their intelligence was even more incompetent than most think.
***In fact, though it was a quiet theater then it was likely to be a critical front, in just a few months. Placing him there is simply putting the most talented general that could be spared from the Russian Front right where he was needed.
** Speaking of Hitler, the German government tried to keep him in line by handing him the job of [[Evil Chancellor|Chancellor]]. It ended badly.
* Julius Caesar was sent over to Transalpine Gaul, a far-flung province mostly composed of constantly rebellious barbarians, so that Pompey in Rome wouldn't have to deal with him. Unfortunately, Caesar ended up conquering the ''rest'' of Gaul (modern day France), which made him so popular back home that he was able to gain enough support to overthrow Pompey.
** Caesar was quite happy to be assigned to Transalpine Gaul as:
** Caesar had originally been assigned to look after the local province but this was in reality an insult, known as looking after the "woods and country paths". It actually took a lot of political skill to secure the impressive Transalpine, Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum for five years. Pompey was influenctial in Julius Caesar securing it, but it was because he was allied with Caesar at the time.
* Napoleon's entire republican career was this; Italy was a sideshow just to keep the southern border vaguely covered, but it ended up winning the war while the rest of Europe went "huh?". Egypt was a sideshow and an attempt to get rid of him; he came back at the perfect time and position to hasten the fall of the Directoire and take over.
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* General Norman Schwarzkopf (of Operation Desert Storm fame) actually invoked this one on himself when he was a brigadier general. When he was a 1-star staff officer in the Pentagon he was very dissatisfied with his assignment (deputy assistant something something for personnel, IIRC) and, consequently, not impressing anyone in it. His solution? To volunteer to become assistant brigade commander for a new winter-warfare unit forming up in Alaska, an assignment absolutely ''no one'' else wanted. Where, since he actually ''liked'' field command, he was far more motivated to perform well... which led directly to his highly impressing his commanding officer there, which led directly to his promotion to 2-star and his first division command, which set him on a path that ended up with him being one of the most highly regarded 4-star generals of the past 50 years.
** The undesirability of the Alaska assignment was actually a key factor in his plan -- after having gone to considerable trouble to get him the Pentagon job in the first place, his superiors would have been notably unwilling to prematurely end it. But when there's a big hole in the TO&E that they're having that much trouble filling, volunteering to be the guy to fill it gets you unquestioning approval.
* Matthew Maury was a naval officer in the Nineteenth Century who broke his legs in a carriage accident. He asked for command of the US Naval observatory. What others looked on as a supremely boring assignment (most of the people there spent their time shuffling paper) Maury used to examine ship's logs and create a chart of currents which ship captains used to speed voyages. In this case it was a downplayed version. Maury's superiors had no personal or political grudge against him; they simply could not figure out how to employ a lame officer.
* How the whole thing with America aiming for and [[American Revolution|successfully claiming independence]] (which eventually led to picking apart the rest of British Empire, for that matter) started? Well…
{{quote|The British government, only too glad to be rid of rebellious Puritans, Quakers, and Roman Catholics, willingly gave them liberal charters. This explains that freedom in many of the old charters which has surprised so many students of our colonial history. Some of these liberal instruments were granted by the Stuart kings, with the approval of their officials and courtiers, all of whom showed by almost every other act of their lives that they were the determined enemies of free parliaments and free representation of the people.
Connecticut, for example, obtained in 1662 from Charles II a charter which made the colony almost independent; and to-day there is no colony of the British empire that has so much freedom as Connecticut and Rhode Island always had, or as Massachusetts had down to 1685.
|'''Sydney George Fisher''', ''[https://archive.org/details/truehistoryofame00fishuoft The True History of the American Revolution]'', 1902}}
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Index Backfire]]
[[Category:Plots]]
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