History Main / InvokedTrope

*** The Silver Horde find themselves in a comparable predicament, when they realize that Carrot's status as TheHero - a lone man standing against several, convinced he's saving the world - likely out-classes their own. And when they learn that Carrot ''doesn't even expect to receive any reward'' for doing so, but is merely fulfilling his duty, they '''know''' they don't stand a chance.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' has Kotaro invoking IdiotHero, claiming that Negi would be a better fighter if he acted more like an idiot. It actually makes some sense, as Negi's greatest weakness is that he tends to overthink everything.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'', Meyrin Hawke helps Athrun escape from soldiers searching for him by invoking DistractedByTheSexy via ModestyTowel. Two invoked {{trope}}s for the price of one! Extra points: she wasn't actually naked underneath the towel, she just got her hair wet and then wrapped the towel around her clothes to make it ''look'' like she'd just gotten out of the shower.
* In ''Anime/SailorMoon'', Rei attempts a CrashIntoHello in order to meet Mamoru. It doesn't go as planned but still works.
* In ''Manga/SangatsuNoLion'', Nikaidou specifically asks Shimada to turn his shogi match against Rei into a CurbStompBattle in an effort to have Rei develop as a player.

* A {{Sitcom}} character tries to stage manage a MeetCute between two characters.

* Attempted in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', where Anathema Device, after trying all other methods to find her book, dramatically pretends to give up, flop down, and let her gaze casually fall on a patch of dirt.

[-TECHNICAL NOTE: On the wiki typing the word "invoked" anywhere within an example turns off the automatic YMMV flagging (the scales) for that example. This is an [[TheArtifact artifact]] of hasty programming; it's ''InUniverse'' examples that are permitted on main work pages, not Invoked ones.-]

* ''ComicBook/NickFury'' invokes JerkWithAHeartOfJerk. He claimed this for himself in back in the '70s ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' comic. After he'd spent a whole issue getting ComicBook/TheFalcon pardoned for his criminal past, Cap remarked, "Fury, under that rough, unshaven exterior..." Fury interrupted, "There's an even rougher, unshaven interior!" Of course, in this case, it's very blustering; while later writers did make Fury genuinely amoral, around this time he was still a pretty straightforward bleeding-heart hero.

** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', Lady Lilith draws much of her power from fairy tales, to the point where the laws of Genua under the rule of her PuppetKing the Duc demand that people conform to fairy tale stereotypes. Cooks should be [[ChubbyChef fat and jolly]], toymakers should whistle while they work, and so on. Anyone who can't or won't confirm to their role is punished severely.

** In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards!,'' the main characters invoke the MillionToOneChance during a critical arrow shot - they deliberately make it ''harder to aim'' (using blindfolds and standing on one leg), in order to get the odds of a direct hit down to ''exactly'' a [[MillionToOneChance million to one]]. [[spoiler:They don't succeed, mind, but when the dragon blows up the building they're standing on, the narration continues, "Fortunately, the odds of anyone surviving the ensuing explosion were exactly a million to one."]]

** [[Discworld/MenAtArms Later in the series]], Vetinari orders Vimes to hand in his badge, specifically to invoke TurnInYourBadge and the inevitable determined solving of the crime afterward. Subverted in that Vetinari realizes too late that he's triggered a HeroicBSOD in Vimes instead.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', after Apu and Manjula have difficulty conceiving in "Eight Misbehavin'", Homer helps out by having them simulate a drunken teenage one-night-stand.

* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'': Pongo and Perdita catch each other's eyes before their human owners do, so they use DogWalksYou to arrange a MeetCute.

* In ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons,'' [[ChildProdigy Lewis]], a former DoorstopBaby, wants to track down his birth mother by creating a machine that will invoke NoInfantileAmnesia and allow him to remember her.

* Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians: Pongo and Perdita catch each other's eyes before their human owners do, so they use DogWalksYou to arrange a MeetCute.

*** Quite a lot of this happens in the same book, in fact. When the BigBad (or TheDragon to a dragon, depending how you look at it) calls guards to arrest Captain Vimes, the guards are reluctant to try to arrest him as he is clearly unarmed and outnumbered.

* In ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', it is ambiguous if Jolee Bindo is acting like a GrumpyOldMan because it is expected of someone his age and he finds humor in fulfilling the sterotype or if he actually is a GrumpyOldMan but GenreSavvy about it ([[TakeAThirdOption or some of both]]). Check out his [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Quote:Jolee_Bindo Wookieepedia quote]] [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Wookieepedia:Quote_of_the_Day/Archive#Jolee_Bindo pages]] and judge for yourself.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "I'm A Little Bit Country", Cartman attempts to invoke a flashback to colonial times so he doesn't have to learn about the Constitutional Convention by reading. This being ''South Park'', after a couple of false starts it eventually works.

''' This is not the same as an IntendedTrope. Only a character can invoke a trope; an author ''per se'' cannot.'''

[-TECHNICAL NOTE: On the wiki typing the word "invoked" anywhere within an example turns off the automatic YMMV flagging (the scales) for that example.-]

** Obviously, the more heavily invoked trope is TheTalk, since the main character, and unemployed high-school math teacher, took it upon himself to teach a course in the middle school that hired on [[TitleDrop sexual education]]

* Literature/TomSawyer runs his life this way. It helps that ''Mark Twain'' runs Tom Sawyer's life this way. Of course, [[MediumAwareness Tom probably knows that]].

** ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' has Harry actually mention this as his [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemy reason for breaking up]] with Ginny. He mentions that Voldemort already took her as a hostage in ''the Chamber of Secrets'' to get Harry to save her, and that was back when she was simply his best friend's sister. He wants to keep her safe by cutting off a romantic bond that would make her a greater target than before.
* Finally, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' has Lucius Malfoy ask Voldemort to call off the battle at Hogwarts. Voldemort denies it, knowing exactly how much it would torture Harry to know that people are dying because of him, and how he ''will'' give himself up to Voldemort before the battle is over. And he's right, as Harry heads off to face Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11842761/6/Memorable-Lullaby Memorable Lullaby]]'' Sirius sent Snape to the Shrieking Shack on a full moon as an attempt at starting a RescueRomance.