History Main / UpsideDownBlueprints

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[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' has a cartoon of an angry-looking devil, a "[[NumberOfTheBeast 999]]" on the door, and the painter going "I must have been holding the dang work order upside down!".
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-->'''Goofy''': I thought those right angles looked wrong.

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* Inverted in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyDucks'', where the Saurians have stolen a missile and loaded it into a launch platform pointing downward. Upon looking at the plans, Siege comments that they did it wrong, the missile supposed to be point upward, only for Wraith to flip the plans around, showing that the missile is ''suppose'' to go downward, their plan being to use it to create a volcano.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' [[Recap/RugratsS3E23Passover Passover]] special, Chuckie builds an upside down pyramid for Angelica, who takes on the role of Pharaoh in Grandpa Boris' story. Angelica is shocked when she sees the upside-down pyramid, and Chuckie tells her that he followed the instructions the way she wanted him to. Angelica then turns the instructions right-side-up, and Chuckie realizes his mistake.

* ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' had a story about a pyramid that was accidentally built upside down and into the ground to the great embarrassment of the Pharaoh, who put a curse on the foreman to guard the shameful secret as a {{mummy}}. [[spoiler: They end up correcting the error by lifting the entire thing out of the ground and flipping it over, allowing the mummified foreman to rest in peace.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' had a story about a pyramid that was accidentally built upside down and into the ground to the great embarrassment of the Pharaoh, who put a curse on the foreman to guard the shameful secret as a mummy. [[spoiler: They end up correcting the error by lifting the entire thing out of the ground and flipping it over, allowing the mummified foreman to rest in peace.]]

* ''Literature/WaysideSchool'' is a 30-story building. It was supposed to be a 1 story building with 30 classrooms in a row, but the builder was holding the plans sideways. He said he was very sorry.

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' has a cartoon of an angry-looking devil, a "999" on the door, and the painter going "I must have been holding the dang work order upside down!".

* ''Literature/WaysideSchool'' is a 30-story building that was supposed to be 1 story, but the builder was holding the plans sideways. He said he was very sorry.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' Passover special, Chuckie builds an upside down pyramid for Angelica, who takes on the role of Pharaoh in Grandpa Boris' story. Angelica is shocked when she sees the upside-down pyramid, and Chuckie tells her that he followed the instructions the way she wanted him to. Angelica then turns the instructions right-side-up, and Chuckie realizes his mistake.

Alternatively, the worker might be confused about the plans and mentions his doubts about the project to his boss who, unaware that the plans are upside down, invokes IDontPayYouToThink and orders him to follow the plans exactly.

** In "A Goof Under My Roof", Pete reads a set of boundary plans that seem to show that he owns half the property Goof's house is on. Taking advantage of it, he knocks down half of Goofy's home and starts acting like [[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave an annoying house guest]]. In the end, Peg shows him he had the blueprints upside down: ''Goofy'' actually owned half of ''Pete's'' house!

** In "A Goof Under My Roof", Pete reads a set of boundary plans to seem to show that he owns half the property Goof's house is on. Taking advantage of it, he knocks down half of Goofy's home and starts acting like an annoying house guest. In the end, Peg shows him he had the blueprints upside down: ''Goofy'' actually owned half of ''Pete's'' house!

[[folder:Video Game]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Discworld}}'': [[http://discworld.wikia.com/wiki/Bloody_Stupid_Johnson Bergholt Stuttley "Bloody Stupid" Johnson]] is infamous for the negative genius he applied to his creations, to the point where one of his other nicknames is "Look, The Plans Were The Right Way Round When I Drew Them". We don't see what resulted in that particular epithet, but he's built things like salt-and-pepper shakers big enough to be used as family housing, a shower that dispenses acid rain, a mail-sorting machine that breaks the laws of physics by rounding down pi to 3, and a trout lake an inch wide.
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[[folder: Film - Animated ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''Literature/WaysideSchool'' is a 30-story building that was supposed to be 1 story. but the builder was holding the plans sideways. He said he was very sorry.

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[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

[[folder: Video Game ]]

[[folder: Web Animation ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

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[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' has a cartoon of an angry-looking devil, a "999" on the door, and the painter going "I must have been holding the dang work order upside down!".

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* There are a number of urban legends that claim that buildings which show a less-decorated facade to a now-more-important direction were accidentally constructed back to front. For example, the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, which was constructed to face the university campus, meaning that the main entrance from the street is actually the back of the building.
* A [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/backwards-buildings/ related urban legend]] tells how some buildings (especially on college campuses) were supposedly built "backwards", with the more elaborate architecture and ornamentation on the less-used side, or where you couldn't admire it from a distance.

Subtrope of {{Bizarrchitecture}}, which has to be at work in order for the project to be standing after the builder is finished. Also relies a lot on RuleOfFunny. See also HadTheSillyThingInReverse. May result in AchievementsInIgnorance.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'', a couple of con artists pose as house renovators and steal parts of Pete's house. After getting the parts back, Pete and Goofy rush to put the house back together before Pete's family finds out. They succeed, but Pete still gets caught when it's shown that the kitchen is upside down.

* ''NewspaperComics/TheFarSide'' has a cartoon of an angry-looking devil, a "999" on the door, and the painter going "I must have been holding the dang work order upside down!".

* ''WesternAnimaton/DarkwingDuck'': In the episode "Going Nowhere Fast", after being zapped by a particle accelerator from Negaduck, Darkwing gains SuperSpeed and uses this to try and be a better hero. One of the things he does is single handidly build a new skyscraper in a matter of seconds, but since he held the blueprints upside down the whole building ends up being constructed upside down. [[IdiotHero Darkwing being Darkwing]], he fails to realize his error and instead states that [[NeverMyFault the architect should be sued]]. He breaks it down again later after it's revealed the new super speed comes with RapidAging, and he has to run backwards to undo this effect.

Where JustFollowingOrders gets too extreme. When a construction worker unknowingly is looking at a blueprint the wrong way, instead of figuring out what's wrong with it, [[TooDumbToLive he builds his project accordingly to the misread plans]].

Subtrope of {{Bizarrchitecture}}, which has to be at work in order for the project to be standing after the builder is finished. Also relies a lot on RuleOfFunny.

It's only after construction is finished that the worker realizes his error, [[OhCrap only for it to be too late]]. Expect yells of YouFool or the worker experiencing a DopeSlap for his idiocy. See also HadTheSillyThingInReverse. May result in AchievementsInIgnorance.