The Dog Was the Mastermind: Difference between revisions

Beware, however, in certain types of fiction, such as when you are supposed to guess the identity of the villain, this can come off as an [[Ass Pull|enormously]] [[Shocking Swerve|crappy]] [[Deus Ex Machina]].

 

 

Sometimes appears in a [[Clueless Mystery]]. Sometimes involves the [[Almighty Janitor]] or [[Beware the Nice Ones]].

Keep in mind that this is a '''Reveal Trope''', so beware of spoilers!

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In the ''[[Medabots]]'' anime, the [[Big Bad]] turns out to be a (cybernetic) house cat using the body of a mad scientist as its puppet.

* The (most probable) [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Naruto]]'' is neither [[A God Am I|Pain]] nor [[Grand Theft Me|Orochimaru]] but {{spoiler|the [[Comic Relief]] Tobi. It later turned out though that it is a little more complicated than that.}}

* ''[[Shugo Chara]]'' has one. Who was the [[Man Behind the Man|Man Behind The Man?]] {{spoiler|Hikaru Ichinomiya.}}

* Quicker version: Who is the Claw in ''[[Gun X Sword]]''? {{spoiler|The old man talking to Wendy in the park.}}

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', manga version. The Homunculus Pride is {{spoiler|[[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|little Selim Bradley]]}}. The biggest clue to his identity are his speech patterns in the original Japanese, [[Lost in Translation|which wouldn't get through to an American reader]]. One translator did pick up on this [[I Knew It|and correctly predicted his identity]].

* Used in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', Santa in Hayate's 'imaginations' from the first chapter is revealed to be {{spoiler|Mikado}}. Although the reveal doesn't really unnerve Hayate, since he's already been unnerved by this point in the plot.

* Hardly anyone could have expected Aji Tae, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Shin Angyo Onshi]]'', [[Diabolical Mastermind]] who had already brought down an entire country before the series began and is stated to be an [[Evil Sorcerer]] of the highest order to be {{spoiler|that [[Adorkable]] prettyboy healer with a pet goose who shows up to save one of the main characters and clearly plays into the role of not-so-covert sage mentor later.}} All exactly as planned by him, of course. The fact that he completely changes his appearance between flashbacks and actual story helps to mislead readers.

* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]]'', this is done so well that even if the [[Big Bad]] had a creepy moment or two, you wouldn't have known who it was until [[The Reveal]]. The [[Big Bad]] has been shown in every single arc, and as far as the viewer was concerned, had no chance of being the villain. After all, it is extremely difficult to suspect a character that {{spoiler|looked like she was promptly killed off [[Groundhog Day Loop|every single arc]]}}. Even with the very few creepy moments before [[The Reveal]], who would suspect that {{spoiler|it was the dead nurse faking her death every time}}?

* In the third ever [[Justice Society of America]] story in ''All Star Comics'' #5, the JSA bust up a series of rackets headed by a mysterious figure known as Mr X. At the end of the story, an innocuous milquetoast who had appeared in each of the individual chapters turns up the police station. It turns out he is really Mr X and now, with all of his rackets smashed, he intends to turn himself in and live off the state in prison.

* ''[[Rat-Man]]'': one story has the eponymous "hero" meeting Graziello, a stick figure who annoys him by telling corny jokes and laughing in a monotonous way, and Rat-Man can't get rid of him. In the end we discover that everything that happened in the issue was Graziello's plan: as a failed comic book character who never got the chance to be published, he lured Rat-Man to the comic book school and in doing that he had appeared in a ''Rat-Man'' issue, thus finally [[Medium Awareness|being published and read by many people]]!

* This happens ''twice'' in [[Fifty Two|52]]. The first time is a huge early reveal that {{spoiler|the time issues going on are the work of Skeets, Booster Gold's sidekick. Oh, and he kills Booster.}} In the very last issues {{spoiler|after Booster is revealed to be alive due to time travel tricks, it's discovered that Skeets is possessed by Mister Mind.}} Said villain had only appeared in a few panels without ever saying a word in the early issues.

 

 

== Fanfiction ==

* In the ''[[Firefly]]'' fanfic ''[[Forward (Fanfic)|Forward]]'', it turns out that the mastermind behind the events of the "Charity" episode was {{spoiler|Katie, the little girl following Zoe around, who was actually a powerful psychic}}.

 

** This meme gets used in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni]]'', when we find out {{spoiler|the culprit's 'real'}} name is Yasu.

* In ''[[Wild Arms 3 (Video Game)|Wild Arms 3]]'', you'll occasionally notice a purple-haired little girl. She might just walk by for a second as you enter a town or dungeon, or show up standing near a plot-important character as he begins conspicuously talking to himself. She is, of course, {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad]] [[Manipulative Bastard]].}}

* Played with in the "Killerman" event in ''[[Illbleed (Video Game)|Illbleed]]''. Midway through, you're asked to finger a suspect for the role of Killerman (if you're right, you win more money). Besides the proper suspects you've encountered, the choices for who may be the murderous Killerman includes... [[Shaped Like Itself|Killerman]], and the ''[[Breaking The Four Wall|player]]''. The latter is explained that playing ''Illbleed'' [[The Most Dangerous Video Game|drove you insane and made you go on a killing spree]]. (This being ''Illbleed'', this is at least somewhat plausible.)

* In ''[[Ghost Trick]]'', it turns out that the course of the entire game was orchestrated by {{spoiler|an alternate future version of seemingly-irrelevant-to-the-overall-plot character and literal dog Missile, trying to prevent the death of Lynne and Kamila that would have happened if he had not convinced Sissel to interfere -- in the original version of events, [[The Bad Guy Wins]].}}

* 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? }}

* In [[Greek Ninja]], the one behind the attacks at Ariadnio and the danger unlike any the world had ever faced before, turned out to be {{spoiler|none other than a weak and bitter man from Sasha Hunter's past}}. [[Makes Sense in Context|Really really past life...]].

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

{{quote| '''Lamp:''' NO ONE EVER SUSPECTS ''THE LAAAAMP''!}}

* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "About Last Night...", Kyle's toddler brother Ike was the key player in Obama and McCain's ''[[Oceans Eleven]]''-style heist.

** A variation occurs in the Mysterion Trilogy (''Coon 2: Coon and Friends'', ''Mysterion Rises'', and ''Coon vs. Coon and Friends'') when [[Late Arrival Spoiler|Kenny as Mysterion]] tries to find out the origin of his immortality, learning it has something to do with the Cult of C'tulu. When a [[Superman|Jor-El type]] [[Makes Just As Much Sense in Context|man in a glowing ball appears to explain everything completely out of nowhere]], it turns out {{spoiler|he was actually talking to Bradley Biggle AKA Mintberry Crunch, a character introduced pretty much entirely for these episodes, who learns he really is a super hero who combines the powers of mint and berry. Kenny never really learns the truth about himself and is as confused by the entire encounter as the audience.}}

* [[Invader Zim]]: It was me! I was the turkey all along! MEEE!!

* In ''[[Ed, Edd n Eddy]]'', one episode has the Eds track down someone who went to great lengths to frame them for various crimes. {{spoiler|It ultimately turned out to be Jimmy, who was angry at Eddy for casually giving him a wedgie.}}