History Main / DidYouJustScamCthulhu

** It should be noted that [[spoiler: his manipulation of Rem only works because Rem loves Misa]].

** [[AlternativeCalendar Mercuryday, actually.]]

** Notably, he drew inspiration from an in-universe version of the Gordian knot story, which at the time he declared cheating. He must have reckoned there's no reason to play fair with gods, who aren't known for their tendency to do so.

* In ''SluggyFreelance'' Aylee comes up with a plan to trick some nigh-omnipotent [[JerkassGenie Jerkass Genies]] into granting what seems like a worthless wish ([[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20080627 making it rain the blood of the innocent]]), without them realizing that "the blood of the innocent" is exactly what Torg's CoolSword needs to become a magical weapon that can kill just about anything, including, that's right, nigh-omnipotent [[JerkassGenie Jerkass Genies]].

* In the ''HaruhiSuzumiya'' novels, Kyon forces [[spoiler:the near-godlike Data Overmind]] to back down by threatening to [[spoiler:provoke the [[AGodAmI even more godlike]] Haruhi into recreating the universe with him, to a place where the Overmind would not exist.]]

* Jonouchi of ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' survives a blow from the Egyptian god Ra during the Battle City semifinals, which, given the Dark Duel he is in with Yami Malik, is enough to kill an ordinary human, and yet still stands when Ra returns to the graveyard. [[spoiler:He manages to draw and summon Gearfried, and... [[YankTheDogsChain collapses from shock]]]], ultimately making this a {{Subversion}}.

* Lyra successfully lying to and tricking the usurper king of the Armored Bears is seen as this ''in universe'' in ''[[HisDarkMaterials Northern Lights]]''.

* Izaya Orihara of ''{{Durarara}}'' fame, who screws with everyone every chance he gets. [[{{FairFolk}} Celty]] and [[{{ArtifactOfDoom}} Saika]] included.

[[AC: {{Comic Books}}]]

* Davy Jones gets this in {{Pirates Of The Caribbean}}, although who it is that actually scammed him is up for debate. It took the combined conflicting efforts of possibly the three smartest/wittiest/cleverest brits in the Caribbean to [[spoiler: steal his heart, though James Norrington walks away with the heart and documents at the end of the film]]

* In one short story by {{Brian Jacques}} (yes, [[{{Redwall}} That one]]), a kid traded his soul so he could lie better, and ended up convincing the devil he's illiterate, voiding their soul contract, and got an Angel to agree to come over to his house for cake - the latter implying he wasn't using his supernaturally-enhanced lying skills.

[[AC: {{Live Action TV}}]]

* [[{{GreekMythology}}]] Who has blinded you? 'Nobody'! 'Nobody' has blinded me!

[[AC: {{Web Comics}}]]

[[AC: {{Video Games}}]]
* Probably the most clever of them all, Lillet Blan from ''GrimGrimoire'' tricks a very powerful demon into [[spoiler: leaving the human it's possessing by asking for a wish from it at the cost of her soul, and then wishes for the demon to DEVOTE ITSELF TO GOD. Needless to say, the demon refuses... which sends it back to Hell.]]
** In fact, her plot is so impressive that the local would-be MagnificentBastard Devil Advocat actually backs her on the deal.
*** And to top it all off, [[spoiler: that demon was summoned in order to get rid of what was the BigBad until then. Lillet successfully [[{{Wishplosion}} wishsploded]] two being way out of even her league.]]
* While not supernatural beings per se, the Scrin from ''{{Command and Conquer}}'' are {{Sufficiently Advanced Aliens}} with psychic powers and access to exotic, [[GreenRocks Tiberium]]-powered technologies. They are led to believe by [[DarkMessiah Kane]] that the civilisation on Earth has collapsed and that Earth is ripe for Tiberium mining. Not so much. By the time the Scrin realise they've been suckered to landing on Earth, they are already having their asses handed to them by Nod and GDI alike (and the two [[WeAreStrugglingTogether won't even stop fighting each other to fight the Scrin]]).
* The plot of ''[[MarvelUltimateAlliance Marvel: Ultimate Alliance]]'' is essentially Dr. Doom making a ChainOfDeals that winds up suckering or screwing over most of the other villains in the universe, including gods like Loki, Mephisto, and Odin.
* This is the goal of The Emperor in [[{{ptitlefjcz80qe}} Dissidia: Final Fantasy]], who plans on living forever and manipulating the gods themselves to become something more than them.
* In ''{{Ever 17}}'', the whole point of [[spoiler: You'haru and Kaburaki's gambit is to trick a 4D being called Blick Winkel into believing that the events of 2017 and 2034 are one and the same. The clincher? [[StableTimeLoop It was Blick Winkel himself who set up the whole gambit to do that.]]]]

* {{Aladdin}}'s CrowningMomentOfAwesome:

* Eric Cartman does this ''LITERALLY'' in the ''SouthPark'' epsides ''Mysterion Rises'' and ''Coon vs. Coon and Friends'' as he actually scams Cthulhu into ''doing his bidding by acting sickening cute.''

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', Terezi [[spoiler: pulls this on the supernatural Doc Scratch in order to bait him into enacting her revenge on Vriska]]. Yes, Terezi managed to manipulate ''An omniscient being''. [[RunningGag She is simply the best there is.]]

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', Terezi [[spoiler: pulls this on the supernatural Doc Scratch in order to bait him into enacting her revenge on Vriska]]. Nobody out-manipulates Terezi. [[RunningGag She is simply the best there is.]]

* Davy Jones gets this in {{PiratesOfTheCaribbean}}, although who it is that actually scammed him is up for debate. It took the combined conflicting efforts of possibly the three smartest/wittiest/cleverest brits in the Caribbean to [[spoilers: steal his heart, though James Norrington walks away with the heart and documents at the end of the film]]

* Mai of ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is the first person -- possibly ''ever'' -- to fool the [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent]] [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]] Azula (enough to [[spoiler:send her into a VillainousBreakdown]]) because EvilCannotComprehendGood.

* The mathematician and strident atheist G. H. Hardy is said to have tried this. Before traveling across the ocean by boat, he sent a postcard claiming to his colleague Littlewood in Cambridge saying that he had proved the Riemann hypothesis. He arrived safely in England at which point he revealed that he hadn't really proved it, and had just blackmailed God by ensuring if the storm had killed him he would have become famous for dying before the proof was known (as Fermat was famous for himself with his last theorem) and thus God would have made his enemy famous.

* The mathematician and strident atheist G. H. Hardy is said to have tried this. Before traveling across the ocean by boat, he sent a postcard claiming to his colleague Littlewood in Cambridge saying that he had proved the Reimann hypothesis. He arrived safely in England at which point he revealed that he hadn't really proved it, and had just blackmailed God by ensuring if the storm had killed him he would have become famous for dying before the proof was known (as Fermat was famous for himself with his last theorem) and thus God would have made his enemy famous.

* In HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys, Autocolyes, King of Thieves, once managed to steal Hermes's winged sandals right off of his feet.

*** Or rather - pardon this troper if this is a repetition of the above, she's short on sleep - he is no longer "of the Earth," being dead, he is not "of Heaven," being wicked, and he is not "of Hell," the result of his deal. The only thing that will claim him, his only indentifying mark, is the lantern, and so became "Jack of the Lantern." Bit creepier than lit gourds when you tell it like that....

* In {{Earthbound}} [[spoiler: Pokey Minch ends up manipulating Giygas if you think about it]]
** That's actually {{Alternative Character Interpretation}}, because it's nowhere explicitly stated that he did it.

** [[MemeticMutation Or an entire regiment of]][[BadassNormal Kasrkin]][[MemeticMutation in the enemy general's bathroom.]]

* The Title Image can be attributed to a plausibly exploitable rule in Warhammer40K that may be interpreted so that a certain [[MaryTzu Creed]] ''can hide heavy equipment in ridiculously implausible locations'' due to his Tactical Genius. Such as heavy tanks behind a light post. Or heavy infantry in ''the enemy leader's bathroom''.