The Dog Was the Mastermind: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Bridge of Birds]]'', {{spoiler|the true identity of the tyrannical Duke of Ch'in turns out to be the meek, perpetually scared Key Rabbit. Oh, and his greedy peasant wife is a long-lost goddess}}. It actually makes perfect sense once Master Li explains it and there are many hints dropped throughout the novel, especially for the latter part, but it almost certainly stunned many first-time readers.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' this is Molly's reaction when she {{spoiler|is shown a photograph of the traitor on the White Council}} in ''Turn Coat.''

* In ''[[Doorways in The Sand]]'', {{spoiler|there's a near-literal example: the mastermind is in nearly every scene, disguised as the cat}}.

* In [[Harry Harrison]]'s ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the race of [[Big Bad|Big Bads]], who were mentioned throughout the book turn out to be {{spoiler|tiny lizards with [[Psychic Powers]] kept as pets by another race}}.

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' story has one such reveal in the story {{spoiler|1="There Is A Raptor In My Office". It turns out everything was engineered by the Fox News weatherman. Earlier in the story, he was all puffed up to do a story about three hurricanes in the Atlantic forming a Mickey Mouse shape only to be deflated by a lead in story about velociraptor riding banditos. The entire story sprung from his efforts to keep Dr. McNinja's latest adventure under the rug so that everyone will be interested in his story.}}

* In ''[[RPG World]]'', after Galgarion disguises himself to infiltrate the heroes, we get an extremely elaborate [[Red Herring Mole]] in the form of Eikre. Galgarion's actual disguise? {{spoiler|A ''flower'' that Eikre had bought and attempted to give to Cherry.}}

* One ''[[Electric Wonderland]]'' story detailed Trawn's attempts to report on the bombing of the Nettropolis Mall. Lululu helps her find the man she suspected of causing the explosion, but he turns out to be a decoy. Who ''really'' led the attack? {{spoiler|The cat seen sitting on the suspect's table while Trawn searched his apartment for evidence.}} Anyone can take on any form in [[Cyberspace]], after all.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' has {{spoiler|Betty Crocker and Her Imperious Condescension. Both of them are little more than background references until it turns out that they're actually the same person and the (likely initial) [[Big Bad]] of Act 6.}}

* Occasionally happens in ''[[Shadow Unit]]''--due to the nature of the anomaly, the gamma could be ''anybody'', including the sweet little old lady, the shy teenager, {{spoiler|a member of the team}}...

* Used/Parodied by [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] in a "previously" that had nothing to do with the comic.

* The "DNA Evidence" arc of ''[[Homestar Runner]]''. After being [[Arc Words]] in a number of otherwise unrelated shorts, we get a story about a vial of green DNA Evidence that keeps changing hands and getting stolen. Turns out that it was from {{spoiler|Strong Sad, who doesn't want anyone to find out if he's part elephant}}.

* In [[Becoming Human]], it turns out the killer is {{spoiler|Mr. Roe, the mild-mannered teacher, helpful teacher who was the only character to never be a suspect.}} A second more minor example is {{spoiler|the janitor, who spent a lot of time in the background before being believed to be an accomplice, but eventually turned out to be a [[Red Herring]]... or was he? }}

* The [[Twist Ending]] of [http://gegenschein17.deviantart.com/art/Sliding-Scale-of-Evil-299292851 this] one-off [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]] fancomic.

* [[Phelous]] has some fun with trope while reviewing The Amityville Horror 4. Why? The big villain is a demon possessed lamp. No, really.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* The trope name comes from an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', where Homer produces a remake of ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]]'' in which the villain is replaced by a dog, made obvious (to Homer) because "[[Traitor Shot|the dog has shifty eyes]]". The exchange is below, courtesy of SNPP:

'''Homer:''' They will if you set up that the dog is evil. All you do is have to show him doing this. [lowers eyelids and glances around in shifty-eyed fashion] [[Trope Namer|The people will suspect the dog.]] }}

** As a [[Brick Joke]], a dog with shifty eyes appears at the end of the episode.