History Main / FailedASpotcheck

* ''[[{{Series/Wipeout2009}} Wipeout]]'' has the infamous [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvRRbFgMO4A "Where's the pole?"]] incident (at 1:30).

** And not just similar people, he switched out people of different races and sexes.

** In the episode ''Jurisdiction'', Gibbs and DiNozzo go into a house with guns drawn and searching for bad guys, and DiNozzo calls "clear!" on a room with a CGIS agent in it that DiNozzo would have easily seen, if he'd bothered to look anywhere but straight ahead.

-->''The Doctor'': Oh, missing something, obvious, [[spoiler:Rory]]! Something big, something right slap in front of me, I feel it.\\
[[spoiler:''Rory'']]: Yeah, I think you probably are.\\
''The Doctor'': I’ll get it in a minute.

** [[MagnificentBastard The Master]] isn't immune either. He converts 99.999999999...% of the human race into copies of himself and ''still'' fails a spot check; something which the Doctor is only too happy to point out.

* ''Kim Possible'': Ron Stoppable repeatedly fails romantic spot checks in relation to himself, with Tara the cheerleader and Yori the ninja ActionGirl. He failed to recognise their interest despite being kissed by them, Yori twice in one episode.

*** In the books, Watson never shows Holmes's brilliance, but he ''does'' learn to follow Holmes's methods and make deductions of his own. Once ("The Cardboard Box") he even correctly names the criminal. InspectorLestrade and Holmes's other official rivals would be better examples of this trope.

''The Doctor'': I’ll get it in a minute.

Strangely, more likely to happen to a {{Meganekko}} than someone with an EyepatchOfPower.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

** The expansion turns the whole game UpToEleven, making the possibilities even wilder. Hypothetically, the first three searchers might find nothing but car keys, a single bullet, and a screwdriver, followed by other players finding (one at a time) a flamethrower, live beagle, double-barreled shotgun, suit of chainmail, safe, and [[OverlyLongGag cellar door]] in the same spot.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* On two occasions in Metal Gear Solid: Fight of Metal Gears, Jake Snake fails to notice enemies until Otacon calls him and tells him that they're behind him.

* Happens a lot in AnAmericanTail, where Fievel and his family keep narrowly [[MissedHimByThatMuch missing each other]].

* ''{{iCarly}}'': Gibby in ''iWin a Date'':
-->'''Carly''': We have to keep the game clean and fair.
-->'''Gibby''': How would I know which one is Shannon?
-->'''Sam''': Listen. There will be 3 girls: Girl Number 1, [[BoldInflation '''GIRL NUMBER 2''']], and Girl Number 3.
-->'''Gibby''': So, which one is Shannon?
-->'''Carly''': If you want '''TWO''' go on a date with Shannon, you got '''TWO''' choose carefully.
-->'''Carly & Sam''': That is all you have '''TWO''' do.
-->'''Gibby''': O-kaaaaay!

* In ''{{NCIS}}'', there is an episode where Anthony Di Nozzo is captured by the episode's weekly menace and imprisoned in an ammo bunker. The super-meticulous baddie failed, however, to remove his tactical bootknife, oh-so-cleverly hidden ON THE FRONT OF HIS BELT.

''The Doctor'': I’ll get it in a minute.
** The Ninth Doctor did this in the first episode of the New Series: he and Rose are discussing the Nestene invasion plans by the Thames, with a clear view of the London Eye, and the Doctor mentions that the Nestenes'll need an enormous transmitter. "What's it look like?" "Like a transmitter, round and massive. Smack dab in the middle of London, must be completely invisible." She has to make him turn around ''three times'' before the penny drops.

* Character obliviousness is a genre convention for several stylized theatrical forms, particularly opera. There's no unified standard, of course, but the basic rules are roughly as follows: anyone hiding behind or under something is invisible, and that talking or even singing won't attract attention unless their speech happens to be a startled exclamation; anyone wearing a mask is unrecognizable, sometimes even obscuring gender. Individual productions have been known to subvert these rules, for instance by having all five eavesdroppers on a scene hide behind the same chair, concealed for plot purposes not only from the scene's principals but also from each other.

* This is the only possible explanation for why Kurassa could have [[http://yafgc.net/?id=1537 failed to notice the dragon]] he's ''walking on'' in [[YetAnotherFantasyGamerComic YAFGC]].

* Ron Stoppable repeatedly fails romantic spot checks in relation to himself, with Tara the cheerleader and Yori the ninja ActionGirl. He failed to recognise their interest despite being kissed by them, Yori twice in one episode.

*** Cracked was probably suggesting you shouldn't keep them as pets; but a lot of people do.

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* In ''TheLovelyBones'' Susie Salmon admitted after the fact that, she didn't pay any attention to her surroundings implying that she might have lived if she did.

* How many times have you lost your car keys and spent ten minutes looking for them only to find them on the kitchen counter in plain view?
* I lost my glasses once. I found them on my face.
* I done even worse: I lost my phone. I just made a phone call... And it wasn't even over yet! Yes, I lost it when I was still using it! It was still in my hand, right next to my hear, with me talking to someone, and yet I lost it!

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* ''{{LiveActionTV/Wipeout}}'' has the infamous [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvRRbFgMO4A "Where's the pole?"]] incident (at 1:30).

May relate to GenreBlindness and PlotInducedStupidity. May be a sign of a character carrying the IdiotBall or being a XanatosSucker. In cases of characters consistently failing spot checks to penetrate a PaperThinDisguise, we have ClarkKenting. Someone who does this too often may be {{Too Dumb to Live}}, or it may be a case of ObfuscatingStupidity, especially if the spot check failures suddenly stop at a crucial point. Also, this ''is'' {{Truth in Television}}, as anyone who lost his keys in the open middle of his desk can say. {{Behind the Black}} or NoPeripheralVision is when the character ''should'' be able to see it from his vantage point, but doesn't because the audience can't from their angle. The ChasteHero is a character (usually male) who consistently rolls "1"s where romance is concerned. If the thing they're failing to notice is a breaking news story, that's IgnoredVitalNewsReports.

* ''BatmanTheMovie'': The United World Council takes the cake, unable to notice the criminals entrance or the fact each member is disappearing one by one.

** In the original stories, Watson just doesn't have any habit to make logical conclusions in such a way as to decipher a crime. Holmes usually asks Watson to come with him when there is a slim chance of sudden assault. With firearms. At night.

** The Eleventh doctor again in "The Pandorica Opens". He's in ancient Britain during the time of the Roman occupation when one of the Roman soldiers who've joined his cause turns out to be [[spoiler:Rory Williams, who had died thousands of years in the future and then was erased completely from ever having existed by a crack in the universe. The Doctor is the only person who still remembers him.]] He tries to approach the Doctor but the Doctor, lost in thought about the other aspects of their situation, asks him to be quiet while he tries to figure it out.

** The Ninth Doctor did this for laughs in the first episode of the New Series: he and Rose are discussing the Nestene invasion plans by the Thames, with a clear view of the London Eye, and the Doctor mentions that they'll need an enormous transmitter. "What's it look like?" "Like a transmitter, round and massive. Smack dab in the middle of London, must be completely invisible." She has to make him turn around ''three times'' before the penny drops.

** The Ninth Doctor did this for laughs in the first episode of the New Series: he and Rose are discussing the Nesten's invasion plans by the Thames, with a clear view of the London Eye, and the Doctor mentions that they'll need an enormous transmitter. "What's it look like?" "Like a transmitter, round and massive. Smack dab in the middle of London, must be completely invisible.é She has to make him turn around ''three times'' before the penny drops.

* [[DoctorWho The Eleventh Doctor]], along with River Song, had one of these in "The Time of Angels" when they failed to notice that [[spoiler:while the Aplan race who built the catacombs had two heads, the statues they supposedly put there only had one... and that all the statues were angels.]]

* I done even worse: I lost my phone. I just made a phone call... And it wasn't even over yet! Yes, I lost it when I was still using it!