History Main / SpringTimeForHitler

The above examples are the wrong trope, since those are examples where our duo are trying to succeed but repeatedly fail.
The trope only comes into affect in the ending, where Asterix and Obelix manage to rob the Roman tax collector, only to discover that those coins are the supposedly stolen money. In fact, they were set up to fail in guarding the money, and then they were supposed to fail in recovering the money, messing up the evil plan when they accidentally found and recovered the “stolen” money.

(The above are NOT examples of this trope, and should be moved to a different trope)

* in Rising Stars, Randy Fisk, an ex super hero, gives up his cape and runs for president. But fails several times in a row. One season he is losing so badly in the polls that he just gives up and decides to just spend the rest of his campaign wearing his costume and catching criminals. By coincidence, the 2 other candidates have sabotaged themselves and the voters get to choose between 2 criminals and one super hero. … he wins.

* In [[http://www.sailorenergy.net/SMMiniMangas/SMMangaChibiChibiCookiesMercury.jpg this]] ''Anime/SailorMoon'' fanart, Sailor Mercury makes the cookies spicy in attempt to make Chibi-Chibi afraid of them (so she could just stop stealing them). Chibi-Chibi ends up enjoying them more so she could intentionally induce a FireBreathingDiner like a dragon.

* Michael Sembello was asked to provide a song for Film/{{Flashdance}}. Not liking any of the results, and frustrated by the lack of progress, he recorded the musical equivalent of a tasteless joke by making up a song celebrating the antics of a SlasherFilm maniac carving up victims. His wife accidentally sent it to the film producers. Sembello got a call, saying the producers ''loved'' the song. Understandably, a lyric change was needed. It ended up a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maniac_(Michael_Sembello_song) Number One hit.]]

-->-- ''[[Literature/NewJediOrder Rebel Dream]]''

* [[CatGirl Diona]] from ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' is such a good bartender that ''any'' drink she mixes is guaranteed to be exceptionally delicious, which is very at odds with her goal of ruining the wine industry by making terrible drinks. As shown in a particular route in her Hangout event, even when she deliberately messes up all the mixing steps and does the ''exact opposite'' of what a winemaker (i.e. Connor) did, the resulting beverage is anything but terrible; in fact, aforementioned winemaker has to admit the drink is a "true display of craftsmanship". It turns out she's stuck making supernaturally good alcohol because she was blessed by a fairy when she was a child.[[/folder]]

** In "Homer the Smithers," Mr. Burns pushes Smithers into taking a vacation. Worried that someone might overshadow him, Smithers decides to find someone so incompetent that he'll have to return early (and after 714 matches, decides just to have Homer take over). Unfortunately, Homer is so terrible that Mr. Burns quickly learns how to do everything himself, allowing him to fire Smithers once he returns.

** Bloo wants to get removed from the house so he doesn't have to fight "the new guy". To get himself banned from the house, he tells Mr. Herriman about pranks he has done, such as flooding the house, setting off 1000 lawnmowers on the grass and breaking every clock in the house. Everything is going well until Bloo mentions he's getting in a fight "with the new guy" (a huge bruiser who would surely kill Bloo), prompting Mr. Herriman to refuse to sign the release forms, forcing Bloo to fight the new guy, in the hopes that it would finally rid Herriman of Bloo and his shenanigans. [[spoiler:Herriman's letting Bloo get away with his pranks so he will get beaten also backfires, when it turns out the new guy just wants to show Bloo [[StabTheSalad his comedy routine]]. And then [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverted]] when Bloo [[IdiotBall gets himself beaten up anyway]].]]

* As an experiment, a "Most Unwanted Song" was created by combining a whole bunch of themes and instruments that people claimed to hate. Not surprisingly, [[http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2008/04/a-scientific-at/ it's hilarious]]. (And far better than the "Most Wanted Song" they made to go with it.)

* The premise of ''Series/TedLasso'' is Rebecca, the new owner of a British soccer team, wanting to destroy it as it was the only thing her ex-husband loved. So she hires the titular character as the new coach...an American college football coach who doesn't know anything about soccer. Despite his ignorance of how the sport works, Ted is undaunted and starts pushing the team into becoming winners though kindness and positive reinforcement. This ends up being subverted by the end of the first season, as Rebecca realizes how many people will be put out of work if the team goes under and she refuses Ted's resignation so they can both build the team into real winners.
* In ''Series/ThirtyRock'', after Tracy stars in a serious, Oscar-winning movie, he starts feeling pressured to be a more serious actor and role model, which he doesn't want at all. With Liz's guidance, he does a series of publicity stunts to get people to stop looking up to him, but either people think he's in character or forget what he was doing when he stops (at one point, he saves a man from drowning). In the end, he realized (with the help of Jack Donaghy) that all he had to do to lose respect was resume working on television.

* The premise of ''Series/TedLasso'' is Rebecca, the new owner of a British soccer team, wants to destroy it as it was the only thing her ex-husband loved. So she hires the titular character as the new coach...an American who has never coached soccer in his life. Despite that, Ted starts pushing the team into becoming winners. Ends up subverted as Rebecca realizes how many people will be put out of work if the team goes under and she refuses Ted's resignation to build the team into real winners.

* ''Series/TopGear'' had one epic race where the three were tasked to get from Basel (Switzerland) to Blackpool (England) with only a single tank of fuel and no refills allowed. Jeremy Clarkson, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption believing that the whole thing was impossible and that he could at least run out as he passed his home]], decided on a [[CoolCar hugely powerful, gas-guzzling Jaguar]] and intentionally wasted fuel on powering the gadgets in his car (including using the heaters on the back seats simply because he could). While the other two presenters, Richard Hammond and James May, [[BoringButPractical made more sensible choices for their cars]] and were extra-careful to save as much fuel as they could. Jeremy finished less than a minute after the winner, so if he hadn't been trying quite so hard to fail, he would've won.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy's parents get arrested due to being [[CriminalDoppelganger mistaken for a pair of criminals]] called the Turnbaums. To [[ClearMyName free them]], Timmy needs to get the Turnbaums arrested, so he sets up a BatmanGambit to get them to steal the [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Sacred Silver Sharpener]] so they'd be caught it in the act. To aid them, [[DistractedByTheSexy he uses an attractive woman to lure away the guards]], [[DungeonBypass helps the Turnbaums get through the museum's booby traps]], [[OpenSesame and gives the password for the door to the chamber the Sharpener's in]]. Unfortunately, just when Timmy thinks the Turnbaums will be busted by the Mounties, they manage to make an escape in a rubber raft due to the Mounties [[HoistByHisOwnPetard being distracted by]] [[BrickJoke the attractive woman from earlier]], forcing Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda to go after the Turnbaums themselves.

* In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', protagonist Pteppic is about to graduate from the Assassins' Guild school, but he realizes that he can't kill, so he attempts to fail his exam stylishly by aiming his crossbow at the wall. The shot bounces off and hits the (dummy) target anyway, and the examiner passes him with just some points taken off for being too flashy.

* This is reportedly the origin of shot fried chicken or more popularly known as Nashville hot chicken. It is generally accepted that the originator of hot chicken is the family of Andre Prince Jeffries, owner of Prince's Hot Chicken Shack. Although impossible to verify, Jeffries says the development of hot chicken was an accident. Her great-uncle Thornton was purportedly a womanizer, and after a particularly late night out, his girlfriend at the time cooked him a fried chicken breakfast with extra pepper as revenge. Instead, Thornton decided he liked it so much that by the mid-1930s, he and his brothers had created their own recipe and opened the BBQ Chicken Shack café. What began as breakfast revenge is now considered to be a staple food for late-night diners.

** This was also reportedly the origin of shot fried chicken or more popularly known as Nashville hot chicken. It is generally accepted that the originator of hot chicken is the family of Andre Prince Jeffries, owner of Prince's Hot Chicken Shack. She has operated the restaurant since 1980; before that time, it was owned by her great-uncle, Thornton Prince III. Although impossible to verify, Jeffries says the development of hot chicken was an accident. Her great-uncle Thornton was purportedly a womanizer, and after a particularly late night out his girlfriend at the time cooked him a fried chicken breakfast with extra pepper as revenge. Instead, Thornton decided he liked it so much that, by the mid-1930s, he and his brothers had created their own recipe and opened the BBQ Chicken Shack café. What began as breakfast revenge is now considered to be a staple food for late-night diners.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' has a case where Heiji and Kazuha are arguing over whether to see a baseball game (Heiji's preference) or a theatrical production (Kazuha's preference). They make a bet, with the person who successfully solves a particular murder case getting their way. Heiji takes the bet seriously at first, but after seeing Kazuha at the point of tears, changes to trying to give her hints instead. Unfortunately, he puts too much effort into it and solves the case himself.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Talespin}}'' a disguised Thembrian named Wally tricked Baloo into delivering a package to the High Marshall, with [[YouGotMurder it actually being a bomb]]. The plan was for the bomb to be discovered at the checkpoints, where Cape Suzette would be accused of attempting to blow up the High Marshall, who would then declare war on them and [[WarForFunAndProfit put Wally's bomb factory back in business]]. Unfortunately, Wally underestimated Baloo, who managed to finagle Colonel Spigot into helping him get through the checkpoints before the bomb was discovered. Needless to say, the High Marshall actually being blown up is not part of Wally's plan.

* Taking a page from Sokal, James A. Lindsay, Peter Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose decided to try their own experiment by making up ''twenty'' completely [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievance_Studies_affair bogus academic papers]]. Like Sokal, they set out to make them as ridiculous as possible, loaded with buzzwords, politically fashionable language, and an ideological bent. By the time they admitted the hoax, only six were rejected. Four had been published, three had been accepted for publication, seven were still under review. One of the published papers had won special recognition in its field.

** This was also reportedly the origin of shot fried chicken or more popularly known as Nashville hot chicken.
It is generally accepted that the originator of hot chicken is the family of Andre Prince Jeffries, owner of Prince's Hot Chicken Shack. She has operated the restaurant since 1980; before that time, it was owned by her great-uncle, Thornton Prince III. Although impossible to verify, Jeffries says the development of hot chicken was an accident. Her great-uncle Thornton was purportedly a womanizer, and after a particularly late night out his girlfriend at the time cooked him a fried chicken breakfast with extra pepper as revenge. Instead, Thornton decided he liked it so much that, by the mid-1930s, he and his brothers had created their own recipe and opened the BBQ Chicken Shack café. What began as breakfast revenge is now considered to be a staple food for late-night diners.

** There’s another food anecdote about the origin of Nashville hot chicken. Like the above example someone complained their chicken wasn’t spicy enough. The difference in the story is it’s a husband who complains to his wife about this, so to teach him a lesson, she basically saturated the chicken in a blend of spices and fed it to him. He loved it and this is how Nashville hot chicken came to be.

* Following a similar principle, in season 8 of ''Series/RedDwarf'', Cat tries to get himself sent to the infirmary (as part of a plan to break out of prison) by picking a fight with the biggest, nastiest inmate on the ship, by openly disrespecting him before declaring the inmate his bitch. The inmate presumes that the Cat ''must'' be even tougher than him to speak to him so brazenly and agrees, much to Cat's dismay.

** In another episode, when Lucy and Ethel exceed their shopping allowance while in Florida, Lucy comes up with a plan to ask Ricky and Fred to take her and Ethel fishing with them. [[BatmanGambit Knowing they'd say no]], the two would use it as an excuse to shop and show the boys the purchases when they got back, with them being unable to get upset about the expense. Unfortunately, Lucy's plan hits a snag when Ricky agrees with the idea (having decided to take the girls fishing so they couldn't shop).