Reassignment Backfire: Difference between revisions

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.

 

 

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}}

* 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 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.

* 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.

** 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.

*** 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.

* 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]].}}

* ''[[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.}}

** 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]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Index Backfire]]

[[Category:Plots]]