Snipe Hunt: Difference between revisions

[[File:vlcsnap-2010736.png|link=Up (animation)|frame|I found the snipe!]]

A common hazing ritual [[Truth in Television|in real life]], a '''Snipe Hunt''' consists of sending the [[Butt Monkey]], [[Naive Newcomer]], or a [[Bumbling Sidekick]] out on [[Impossible Task|an impossible or imaginary task]] to get them out of the way or humiliate them. Oftentimes used in comedy as a B-Plot to the main action, and a common ending involves the getter finding what they were sent out to get (even if it was say, a unicorn) or finding the wrong thing and having hilarity [[Hilarity Ensues|ensue]]. Bonus points if [[Achievements in Ignorance|the finder locates the imaginary item or accomplishes the]] [[Impossible Task]] [[Achievements in Ignorance|right away.]]

Not to be confused with trying to find a sniper in a battlefield.

{{examples}}

* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'': The crew of the Gekko State did this to Renton in the episode "Absolute Defeat." Renton was sent to deliver a package of "highly-explosive" ramen noodles in a stupid costume, and told that his contact would be a man bearing a tattoo of a "legendary and mythical beast." Moondoggie (the previous [[New Meat]] of the Gekko State) gets sent out to videotape Renton making a fool of himself, but suspects that ''he's'' actually on a meta-snipe hunt when Renton takes the job [[The Pollyanna|unnaturally seriously]]. When Moondoggie finally snaps and starts beating Renton up, the boy was saved by a man with a tattoo of [[The Ace|Holland]] on his back; Renton immediately decides that he's found his contact. [[Hilarity Ensues]]—on both sides of the screen. The guys back on the Gekko watching it all were laughing their asses off, almost to the point of literally rolling on the floor.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' Shippuden: In the Six Tails filler arc, Utakata promises to accept Hotaru as a student if she fulfills tasks that he thinks are impossible for her (for example, mastering a water jutsu that is impossible to do without water-nature chakra), since he [[Shoo the Dog|doesn't believe that he can truly give her what she wants]]. Contrary to what he expects, she manages to accomplish each task.

* ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'': When Sendo arrives to spar with [[The Rival|Miyata]], Ippo isn't allowed to go watch because the gym had officially cut all ties to the Miyata family. In order to give Ippo an excuse to go watch the fight anyway, his gymmates send him to [[Impossible Task|buy them some nonexisting products]], including Pokarimin C drink, Tsuchinoko drink, Arowana Cola, Doctor Pappy, and next month's issue of a magazine. Surprisingly, he does find a Tsuchinoko drink.

* In ''Thimble Theatre'', during the storyline Popeye makes his debut, Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy are about to leave on another adventure, and in order to ditch Olive, who insists on coming along to keep an eye on her boyfriend (Ham), they tell her to fetch a 'dimes worth of longitude'. Olive naturally gets laughed at. When Popeye tells her what longitude is, she gives Castor a good thrashing.

* In ''[[Retail]]'', one of the pranks Cooper plays to new employees is to go and search around for a "wall stretcher".

* ''Justice League: Year One'' has [[Fish Out of Water]] Aquaman asked to find a "bulb wrench" to help with work on the new headquarters. He doesn't see the funny side.

* ''[[Digimon]]'': Used in [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/854032/1/The_Hunting_of_the_Snipe this] fanfic, when Wallace's friends send Daisuke off on a snipe hunt. Then he tells them he found one. {{spoiler|He caught onto the joke. It's Chibimon inside his bag.}}

* In a later chapter of ''[[Invader Zim: The Series]]'', [[Relationship Sue|Sue]] sends Zoburg out to hunt snipe so that she can get some time [[Unholy Matrimony|alone with Spork]].

== Film ==

* The first ''[[Shrek]]'' movie contains an example where Donkey is sent off to find a blue flower with red thorns to keep him from distracting Fiona and Shrek while they dealt with the arrow in Shrek's behind. Not only does he find the flower, he wanders through a ''whole copse of them'', complaining that his task would be infinitely easier if he wasn't colorblind, and he only brings back the right flower because he grabs one - ''any'' one - in a panic when he hears Shrek yell. The other characters don't even react weirdly, making it a relatively subtle sight gag.

* In ''[[Ocean's Eleven|Ocean's 11]]'', Rusty sends a detective out to "Go find Griggs," as a distraction while he's recruiting Basher in the guise of an FBI agent. This is also an example of the [[Bavarian Fire Drill]], as Rusty brazenly walks into the police crime scene and walks off with their bombing suspect.

== Literature ==

* Invoked in ''America: The Book'', in which a new hire at the EPA is told to save the North American Gutter Snipe.

* Played with in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. Robert Baratheon sent his hapless squires off to Ser Aron Santagar for a (non-existent) "Breastplate Stretcher" when he discovered he'd gotten too fat to fit his old armor. They hesitate, probably knowing there is no such thing, before scampering off at his insistent roaring.

== Live Action TV ==

* In the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode ''Fire Maidens of Outer Space'', Joel and the robots imply that the monster wandering the woods was sent on a Snipe Hunt by his friends.

* An episode of ''[[Cheers]]'' revolved around Frasier being sent on a Snipe Hunt, though he later gets back at the others by agreeing to go on another and abandoning them in the cold.

* ''[[Game of Thrones]]'': Robert Baratheon is too fat for his armor, so he sends Lancel Lannister to find the breastplate stretcher.

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'': A sourcebook called ''Relics'' mentions a very stupid ogre king who was told by a mage he will gain respect if he'll slay a '''dreaded weresnipe''' living in a nearby cave. The king was lucky enough to stumble upon an artifact which enhanced his mind.

** Mentioned in one of the sample dragon entries from the ''Draconomicom'' - one particular green dragon gets his kicks by capturing adventuring parties and holding their equipment hostage until they bring him back some rare or hard-to-acquire item. Whenever they come back, they find that the chimera pelt or whatever is the wrong size or wrong color, and get sent out again. The game ends when the adventurers wise up and don't return, or when the dragon grows bored and just eats them.

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Fallout]]'': The Glow Quest in the first game is little more than an extended Snipe Hunt—one that's expected to kill the questant, no less.. Like many examples, the place is filled with great loot (and good info on the backstory) if you buff {{spoiler|your radiation resist}} beforehand.

* And of course, ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' has the dreaded line ''"Thank You, Mario! But [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|Our Princess Is In Another Castle]]"'', which while not technically a Snipe Hunt can certainly ''feel'' like one after navigating an entire castle and finding out she's not there.

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Girl Genius]]''

** Agatha is sent on one. She actually manages to get the Silverodeon working again, though they'd given her the task [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050307 just to keep her busy] and weren't expecting her to succeed.

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Zuko's task of finding the Avatar, who had been thought dead for a century, was essentially just this. All this is courtesy of his [[Evil Overlord]] father Ozai, after he personally [[Abusive Parents|scarred and banished his own son]].

* An episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'' involves Bobby and his friends being sent out to hunt Snipes and accidentally injuring an endangered Whooping Crane instead. Oops. Hank and his friends had it pulled on them in the backstory, and don't seem to know even as adults that the snipe is a real bird, and think it's some kind of imaginary animal.

== Web Original ==

* In episode 3 of ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', the Red team sent their rookie Pvt. Donut to go fetch some elbow grease and some headlight fluid from "the store." He returned with the Blue flag, thereby starting the plot proper.

** Made even funnier by the fact that he instantly caught on that they were sending him on a Snipe Hunt with the elbow grease. He was completely fooled by headlight fluid though.

== Real Life ==

** Subverted in that the [[wikipedia:Snipe|Snipe]] ''is an actual type of shorebird'' that is notoriously hard to catch. The term "sniper" actually originally referred the skill of someone who was able to hit one.

* This is apparently ''very'' common in the military. Examples from [[The Other Wiki]], at least for the US Navy, include:

** Another example: "Wireless cable". Now that we have fiber optic cables, these are real.

* The Oil Patch is also full of these. From pipe stretchers and buckets of steam, to "Push Slaps" (the Rig Manager is also known as a "Tool Push"), "Glasses for the Blind Rams" (blind rams are a set of hydraulic rams used to close off the well completely) or the "Key to the V-Door" (The V-Door on a rig is the metal slide that drill pipes ride on when brought up to the floor).

* Being sent to retrieve the keys to the lean-to.

* Newbies to shop classes and technical theatre work calls are sometimes sent to fetch a replacement level-bubble or a wood stretcher

* New hires at baseball parks used to be asked to fetch the keys to the batter's box, a left-handed fungo bat, or 100 feet of foul line.

* In the film industry, it's a C-47. (A clothespin.) There ''will'' be clothespins on a film set because wood conducts heat poorly, so they're used to gel lights and that sort of thing. But it's fun watching the littlest production assistants run around with haunted looks in their eyes. There's also a practical purpose to using [[Insistent Terminology]] - if you want to get rid of someone, you can tell them to get a C-47, and if they don't know what it is you can yell at them for not knowing how to do their job and fire them on the spot.

{{reflist}}