History Main / GladYouThoughtOfIt

*** He also does it in ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' with General Ashal of Klatch:
-->'''Vetinari''': May I suggest Ankh–Morpork?
-->'''Ashal''': No. On neutral territory, of course.
-->'''Vetinari''': But where, between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch, is there such a thing?
-->'''Ashal''': I suppose... there is Leshp.
-->'''Vetinari''': What a good idea. That would not have occurred to me.

* The legendary "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" speech from [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Julius Caesar'' is a famous example. Mark Antony, who gives the oration at Caesar's funeral, is given strict instructions ''not'' to praise Caesar by the group that murdered him. Antony agrees and promises to "bury Caesar, not praise him"...then proceeds to use those "insults" to sway the public's opinion against the assassins, [[ExactWords all while explaining why what he's saying aren't compliments]]. Soon, the Roman populace is whipped into a frenzy of love for Caesar; the conspirators are next kicked out of Rome, which eventually leads to a civil war that ends in their defeat. This is all a subtle scheme on Mark Antony's part to seize power for himself and his own allies; by making it seem like he's simply following the crowd's will, he's able to endear himself to them and gain their unwavering support.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Manipulating a person in this way is a tricky but practical combination of the Diplomacy and Bluff skills -- the first, to convince them of a course of action; the second, to make them think it was their idea in the first place.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Bob goes to see super-suit designer Edna Mode to repair his old costume after it gets damaged on a mission. She claims that it's a "hobo suit" and says he needs a new outfit, leaving Bob to wonder where he can possibly get one. Edna immediately agrees to make one for him, all the while insisting that Bob is "making" her do so; Bob himself isn't trying to be tricky, as he genuinely just wanted Edna to patch up the damage.

* In the ''Literature/StarTrekEnterpriseRelaunch'' novels, Maras, who is probably the smartest of the three Orion sisters, but whose survival ''absolutely depends'' on ObfuscatingStupidity, ''especially'' by her sisters, is highly skilled at getting her oldest sister Navaar to think up plans that fulfill Maras's goals rather than her own. In ''Patterns of Interference'', Trip tries something similar when trying to put his Section 31 handler Harris into a position where he incriminates himself.

* In ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheRecollection Red vs. Blue: The Recreation]]'', Simmons, Lopez, and Donut are being hunted by the Meta. When Lopez makes one of his usual Hispanic comments, Donut (Who took high school Spanish but is nowhere near as proficient as he thinks he is) assumes Lopez has come up with a way to escape, and relates this idea to Simmons. Simmons likes the idea, and congratulates Lopez for his thinking. Meanwhile, Lopez can't tell either of them that the idea has a few holes in it.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', this is how [[spoiler:the High Priest of Hel gets Roy to take him to the Godsmoot. He can't just tell Roy where it is, or ask Roy to take him there (and if Roy knew what "Durkon's" [[OmnicidalManiac intentions]] were, he would absolutely refuse), so he and Roy look around Tinkertown until they find someone heading to the Godsmoot, under the pretense of looking for someone who can resurrect Durkon. As the High Priest puts it to Durkon, he's a vampire, making something seem organic when it's really an unnatural facade is his entire thing]].

* ''Literature/CodexAlera'': In the last book, Ehren uses this to get [[spoiler:Attis]] to get himself killed trying to [[spoiler:fight Invidia]]. Considering the effectiveness and the [[RefugeInAudacity sheer audacity]] of his choice of victim, it winds up as not just an example Ehren's, but also might be listable as an example of GladYouThoughtOfIt.

* In the ''Literature/StarTrekRelaunch'' novels, Maras, who is probably the smartest of the three Orion sisters, but whose survival ''absolutely depends'' on ObfuscatingStupidity, ''especially'' by her sisters, is highly skilled at getting her oldest sister Navaar to think up plans that fulfill Maras's goals rather than her own. In ''Patterns of Interference'', Trip tries something similar when trying to put his Section 31 handler Harris into a position where he incriminates himself.

** Crystal manipulates her friend [[AlphaBitch Tiffany]] into flirting with [[HollywoodNerd Gunther]] in order to attract hunky exchange student Quill's interest. When the plan backfires, the following exchange occurs:

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge5CollisionCourse'': Manny and Ellie try to make Peaches give up on the idea of moving far from them by making her think it's her idea. Ellie says this is how they always make Peaches do whatever they want her to.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Anime/AnimeGataris'', this turns out to be the M.O. of [[spoiler:Nakano]]. In order to further his plan to [[spoiler:turn the real world into anime]], he nudges the Anime Club in the right direction by suggesting they follow through with events that allign with his goals. The most blatant example of these is in episode 9, where [[spoiler:Minoa hears Nakano's encouraging words echoing in her ears, only for the next shot to reveal he's right there whispering]].

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' realized that deliberately invoking this on his boss was about the only way to get funding for an idea Dilbert came up with. Considering [[GladIThoughtOfIt his]] [[PointyHairedBoss boss]], he's right. Dilbert refers to this as "bossifying" his idea, and an example can be seen [[http://dilbert.com/strip/2014-01-12 here]]...

* In ''[[Toys/PollyPocket Pollyworld]]'', Lorelei tries to have Polly sent to a boarding school by convincing Polly's dad it's ''his'' idea.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'', Chef uses this to convince the king to bring back Trollstice.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', when Louie the alligator refuses to take the heroes to the person that can break their spell (due to how dangerous it is), [[GuileHero Naveen]] starts saying that is a pity he cannot fulfill his dream of playing jazz in the river boats, and that maybe if he wasn't a gator, it may be possible. After a few seconds, Louie says that he could ask to become human, with Naveen calling him a genius for "getting" that idea.

-->'''Bob''': A new suit? Now where the heck am I gonna get a new--
-->'''Edna''': YOU CAN'T! It's impossible, I'm far too busy, so ask me now before I again become sane!
-->'''Bob''': ...wait. You wanna make me a suit?
-->'''Edna''': You push too ''hard'', darling--but I accept.

* ''Film/TheKingAndI'': Anna has to do this because she can't directly give advice to the King. See the entry under Theater.

* In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', Palpatine pulls this gambit on Jar-Jar in order to force a declaration of emergency powers that will ultimately lead to his rise as Emperor. Interestingly, he does this by having ''his chief of staff'' drop the hint rather than doing so himself, leaving him free and clear of any accusations despite the hinting being obvious and heavy-handed.
* ''Film/DjangoUnchained'': Stephen, Candyland's head house slave, is forced to resort to this with his owners after [[spoiler:Calvin Candie, who is normally much more receptive to his direct criticism and input, is killed]]. He privately confides to Django how frustratingly heavily he had to [[HintDropping drop hints]] before anyone finally picked up on his suggestion of [[spoiler:punishing Django by selling him to a mining company known for its atrociously cruel treatment of slaves]].

* ''Literature/OverSeaUnderStone'', the first novel in Susan Cooper's ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'' series. While the protagonists are trying to figure out a riddle, their Great Uncle Merry (Merriman Lyon) repeats one part of it ("the signs that wax and wane but do not die") to help them figure out that it's talking about the phases of the moon.

* In ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms The Snow Queen]]'', Aleksia's job is to arrange happy endings in her fairy tale kingdom, and it's often easier if her clients don't realize what she's doing. To do this, she's providing yet another instance where ideas are being given and created as someone else's idea. This could be useful in demonstrating the trope.
-->Between the two of them, she and Kaari had managed to put it into Essa's thick skull that this would be a grand betrothal token for Suvi, and even more cleverly, had managed to make him believe that ''he'' had thought of it.

* The Mrs. Jeffries series is based on this. As the housekeeper to a remarkably rich Scotland Yard detective, she organizes the household staff to independently investigate the cases and then steers her clueless employer to the right conclusions.
* ''Literature/TheConcreteBlonde'': Invoked. When Bosch fails to convince Belk to ask for a continuance, he assumes he should've tried to make Belk think it's Belk's idea.

* ''Series/YesMinister'': This is one of Sir Humphrey's standard tricks.
* On ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses''

* In ''Series/TheBorgias'', Machiavelli does this to make it look like the king of France is passing through Florence peacefully and that it was the king's idea. The French army's lances at point (that is [[SwordPointing pointing forward]]) would indicate Florence had been conquered, a possibility that had gotten the city threatened with excommunication. Their lances at rest (pointing straight up) would not, but they can't fit under the gates that way.
-->'''King Charles:''' Monsieur Machiavelli! Our lance at rest prevents us from entering your fair city!\\
'''Machiavelli:''' Then perhaps angled backwards?\\
'''King Charles:''' And of what will ''that'' be a symbol?\\
'''Machiavelli:''' Of Your Majesty's ''infinite resourcefulness.''
* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Invoked. When some characters wonder how Dr. Sweets will tell Daisy Wick she's being fired, Booth suggests he'll make her think she's leaving on her own.
* ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'': In "Maid to Order," Darrin insists on hiring a maid for pregnant Samantha to prevent strain. She settles on Naomi, a sweet but incredibly clumsy woman. Naomi fully acknowledges her own klutziness, explaining that she's a widow who desperately needs a job to pay for her son's medical schooling. Thanks to some magical help from Sam, Naomi is able to succeed, but she ultimately ends up quitting, as she [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy wants what's best]] for the Stephens and their unborn baby. Before she goes, though, she produces a list of the things she's broken and, without missing a beat, rapidly determines the exact percentage of her salary that should be withheld to pay the damages. Impressed by Naomi's calculator-like mind, Samantha suggests that Darrin find her a job in his advertising firm's accounting department, where she can get more money and play to her strengths. She rushes to tell Naomi the good news, saying "Mr. Stephens had the most wonderful idea!"
** An earlier episode uses a similar trick. Samantha comes up with some clever ideas for Darrin's latest advertising client (a soup-making company), and at first, he loves them--but then he decides that the only way she could have possibly devised the slogans was with her magic (in case you hadn't noticed, ''Bewitched'' is heavy on UnfortunateImplications). After a massive fight, the two eventually make up, with Samantha casually remarking "How silly that a can of soup would come between us." Darrin decides that it's the perfect slogan, and heads out...at which point Samantha tells Endora that she ''knew'' it would be a great idea, and deliberately let Darrin think it was his. Endora [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the whole situation and points out its issues, but Samantha resignedly tells her that it's the way things have to be. Yeah...
* In ''Series/HotelBeauSejour'': The main characters have important information for the police but won't be believed if they approach the police directly, so Charlie talks to a local man who falsely believes himself to be psychic, and implants the information while making him believe that it was a psychic vision and then convinces him to go to the police.

* In ''Theatre/JacobMarleysChristmasCarol'' the Bogle drops increasingly obvious hints about Marley using his spirit powers to affect Scrooge, with varying terms, but he doesn't get it until the alcoholic version of "spirits" is used.
* In ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'', Benjamin Franklin uses this twice in rapid succession with his and John Adams's proposal for American independence stalls in the Continental Congress. Franklin summons [[LargeHam Richard Henry Lee]] of Virginia to ask about how to get the idea moving again, and Lee suggests getting someone else in Congress to advance the idea, just as the Pennsylvanian planned. Franklin then makes a show of wondering what Virginian could ''possibly'' have enough power in the state's government to suggest writing the proposal...and Lee immediately realizes that he's the perfect choice, [[ThatRemindsMeOfASong bursting into song]] about how he'll get the resolution within a day. The whole situation is promptly lampshaded by Adams, who wonders why Franklin didn't simply ask Lee for help; Franklin replies that if he had, they would [[YouOweMe owe Lee a favor]], a situation that could cause issues in the future.
-->'''Benjamin Franklin:''' Now, if we could think of a Virginian with enough influence to go down there and persuade the House of Burgesses--\\
'''Richard Henry Lee:''' [[NoIndoorVoice DAMN ME IF I HAVEN'T THOUGHTA SOMEONE!]]\\
'''Franklin, John Adams:''' Who?\\
'''Lee:''' Me!\\
'''Franklin:''' [[BlatantLies Oh, why didn't I think of that?]]
* The legendary "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" speech from [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Julius Caesar'' is a famous example. Mark Antony, who gives the oration at Caesar's funeral, is given strict instructions ''not'' to praise Caesar by the group that murdered him. Antony agrees and promises to "bury Caesar, not praise him"...then proceeds to use those "insults" to sway the public's opinion against the assassins, [[ExactWords all while explaining why what he's saying aren't compliments]]. Soon, the Roman populace is whipped into a frenzy of love for Caesar; the conspirators are next kicked out of Rome, which eventually leads to a civil war that ends in their defeat. This is all a subtle scheme on Mark Antony's part to seize power for himself and his own allies; by making it seem like he's simply following the crowd's will, he's able to endear himself to them and gain their unwavering support.

* Darren of ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'' not only tells Katherine to use this technique on Monica, but he [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/sothetrickis/ uses this technique to make the suggestion.]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', this is how [[spoiler:the High Priest of Hel gets Roy to take him to the Godsmoot. He can't just tell Roy where it is, or ask Roy to take him there (and if Roy knew what "Durkon's" [[OmnicidalManiac intentions]] were, he would absolutely refuse), so he and Roy look around Tinkertown until they find someone heading to the Godsmoot, under the pretense of looking for someone who can resurrect Durkon. As the High Priest puts it to Durkon, he's a vampire, making something seem organic when it's really an unnatural facade is his entire thing.]]

* ''[[Film/{{Xanadu}} Xanadu on Broadway]]'':

** In "[[Recap/TotalDramaPicnicAtHangingDork Picnic at Hanging Dork]]", Alejandro's already been developing a plan to seduce Courtney to keep her and Heather at odds. Yet for that he needs Duncan's cooperation while he also needs him unaware of his manipulative qualities.
** In "[[Recap/TotalDramaTwinningIsntEverything Twinning Isn't Everything]]", Max shares his impractical idea of placing doom balloons on a stick to poke the opposing team members with with Scarlett. Scarlett feigns being impressed and subtly suggests that Max uses the stick to create a blowpipe to shoot the doom balloons of the other team to pieces, thereby taking them out with their own weapons. Max immediately claims the idea as his own and Scarlett goes along with it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama World Tour'': Alejandro already had the idea to seduce Courtney, fresh from her breakup with Duncan, to prevent her and Heather from working together. He manipulates Duncan into being the one to come up with the plan, though to be fair, Duncan sees an equally good chance for Courtney and Heather to wise up and eliminate Alejandro instead.

* In one episode of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', a murder happens at a reunion of Kogoro's high school judo club; both the victim and the killer are old friends of his. Conan [[ItsPersonal decides to let Kogoro have this one]], but still helps out by providing subtle hints; for example, he realizes that the victim's time of death was thrown off because she engaged in rigorous physical activity before being killed and nudges Kogoro in this direction by asking about a statue of the legendary warrior-monk Musashibo Benkei, who DiedStandingUp.

* {{Invoked}} in ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'': it's a minor plot point that Anna has to do this because she cannot be seen as offering advice to the King. So she pretends to be guessing what he's going to do -- and quite naturally he says that she's guessed right, and then proceeds to do just what she "guessed" that he would do.

* In ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'', Benjamin Franklin uses this twice in rapid succession with his and John Adams's proposal for American independence stalls in the Continental Congress. Franklin summons [[LargeHam Richard Henry Lee]] of Virginia to ask about how to get the idea moving again, and Lee suggests getting someone else in Congress to propose independence, just as the Pennsylvanian planned. Franklin then makes a show about wondering what Virginian could ''possibly'' have enough power in the state's government to suggest writing the proposal...and Lee immediately realizes that he's the perfect choice, [[ThatRemindsMeOfASong bursting into song]] about how he'll get the resolution within a day. The whole situation is promptly lampshaded by Adams, who wonders why Franklin didn't simply ask Lee for help; Franklin replies that if he had, they would [[YouOweMe owe Lee a favor]], a situation that could cause issues in the future.

* The legendary "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" speech from [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Julius Caesar'' is a famous example. Mark Antony, who gives the oration, is given strict instructions ''not'' to praise Caesar by the group that murdered him. Antony agrees and promises to "bury Caesar, not praise him"...then proceeds to use those "insults" to sway the public's opinion against the assassins, [[ExactWords all while explaining why what he's saying aren't compliments]]. Soon, the Roman populace is whipped into a frenzy of love for Caesar; the conspirators are next kicked out of Rome, which eventually leads to a civil war that ends in their defeat. This is all a subtle scheme on Mark Antony's part to seize power for himself and his own allies; by making it seem like he's simply following the crowd's will, he's able to endear himself to them and gain their unwavering support.

* In ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding'', Toula's relatives subtly convince her patriarchal father to let Toula get a job. The aunt, who owns a travel agency, loudly laments how she needs an assistant. Toula's mother sighs that such an assistant would need to be good at computers, and isn't it unfortunate that none of the family's sons fit the bill? Cue lightbulb moment.

You could have it contrasted with HintDropping, as that's when somebody tries something, but the second person fails to come up with the idea.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Dean is angry that Castiel won't help him avoid one of Chuck's prophecies. Castiel responds that it would be a terrible, terrible idea to interfere with a prophet because that would bring down the wrath of an archangel. Dean then formulates a plan that involves saving same by using Chuck to bring down the wrath of an archangel.

* In one episode of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', a murder happens at a reunion of Kogoro's high school judo club; both the victim and the killer are old friends of his. Conan [[ItsPersonal decides to let Kogoro have this one]], but still helps out by providing subtle hints; for example, he realizes that the victim's time of death was thrown off because she engaged in rigorous physical activity being killed and nudges Kogoro in this direction by asking about a statue of the legendary warrior-monk Musashibo Benkei, who DiedStandingUp.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', when Louie the Crocodile refuses to take the heroes to the person that can break their spell (due to how dangerous it is), [[GuileHero Naveen]] starts saying that is a pity he cannot fulfill his dream of playing jazz in the river boats, and that maybe if he wasn't a crocodile, it may be possible. After a few seconds, Louie says that he could ask to become human, with Naveen calling him a genius for "getting" that idea.