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14[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/BerkeleyMews https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2014_08_11_genie_wish.png]]]]
15
16So the enemy is a JackassGenie, and has been attempting to corrupt the heroes by [[MakeAWish giving them wishes]], or maybe after the heroes are done will be free to wreak havoc. BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor!
17
18Since [[Film/WarGames choosing not to play the game]] would be boring, there is usually one wish that will actually get rid of the problem. This often involves exploiting some rule that the Genie has to follow.
19
20It usually helps if the hero doesn't succumb to the temptation of trying to benefit from the wishes and defeat the genie at the same time, but some have beaten the odds and accomplished exactly that. Usually the results are a dramatic explosion, but not always. Sometimes it's merely a ResetButton being pushed.
21
22The most benevolent form is FreeingTheGenie—this act of immense selflessness might be [[LaserGuidedKarma rewarded]] by turning a stunned and grateful former-JackassGenie into a [[AndroclesLion powerful friend and ally,]] [[MagicAIsMagicA who (depending on the system)]] may even be free to use their powers indiscriminately in your favor.
23
24Of course, whether or not the wording of the Wishplosion would work DependingOnTheWriter. Expect various works to come up with TakeThat interpretations to popular wording from other works.
25
26See also DidYouJustScamCthulhu, which is more about tricking superpowered beings into doing your wishes in general, and LogicBomb, which is an equivalent trope for dealing with [[AIIsACrapshoot computers and robots]].
27
28----
29!Examples:
30
31[[foldercontrol]]
32
33[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34* In ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'', Miki keeps abusing the wish-granting puffballs Kesaran Pasaran for selfish and trivial reasons. When Nube and her classmates are left hanging by the side of a building by an explosion, she uses all her remaining Kesaran Pasaran to save their lives.
35** They make a comeback in the manga when, upon seeing the {{Orochi}} rise to destroy humanity thanks to a MadScientist's portal into the supernatural realm, [[ThePowerOfFriendship Hiroshi, Kyoko, Miki, Tatsuya, and Makoto join hands]] and use the same portal to summon a ''titanic'', city-sized Kesaran Pasaran to pop the {{Orochi}} out of existence.
36** In both cases, it's a ''literal'' wishplosion, since the collected Kesaran Pasaran (or the single, giant one) actually ''explode'' into smaller puffs that spread cheer, health, and good luck over the entire city, covering everyone with holiday joy in the first case and [[ResetButton undoing all the damage from the second]].
37* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', Kagome basically wishes [[spoiler:for the Shikon no Tama to disappear]]. It's granted. [[spoiler:WordOfGod is that this is the ''only'' wish that the Shikon no Tama can't pervert toward evil ends.]]
38* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Anyone choosing to become a MagicalGirl is granted a wish in return. For the main character, the problem isn't so much avoiding the wish having bad consequences (though they do tend to), as breaking the cycle where magical girls are all screwed from the start, and she herself [[MortonsFork either fails to save anyone by not becoming a magical girl or dooms everyone even more by doing so]].
39** Finally, she manages to simultaneously [[spoiler: save the universe, save the {{Magical Girl}}s, and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence become an omnipresent Goddess]]]] all with one logic-defying wish.
40** Her wish [[spoiler:(personally destroy every witch ever before they're born)]] was against the laws of the universe [[spoiler:(since witches were an integral part of the life-cycle of a magical girl)]]. The solution to this dilemma? [[spoiler:[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Destroy the current universe]] and [[ResetButton recreate]] it so that the wish could be fulfilled.]]
41** [[spoiler:It's important to note the significance of wishing to ''[[ExactWords personally]]'' prevent the existence of witches. As per her wish, she appears in person before every magical girl who's about to witch out and collects their grief. After having collected this incalculable grief, she predictably overloads and is about to become Gretchen (her own witch form). [[ButWaitTheresMore But as she must abort witches with her own hands, as per her wish,]] Madoka simultaneously appears in a form strong enough to prevent Gretchen's existence. This is what allows her to exist as she does now.]]
42[[/folder]]
43
44[[folder:Comic Books]]
45* ''ComicBook/EightBillionGenies'' is '''built''' on this trope. One day, eight billion genies materialize out of thin air to grant one wish for every person on Earth. The story follows the patrons of a small bar as they struggle to make sense of the ensuing chaos and their everchanging reality.
46* A story in ''Journey Into Mystery'' was initially told from the POV of a genie that's been through such a situation before coming into a young master who makes selfless wishes. After making his third, he's surprised to see the genie still around. The genie then informs him that because all of his previous masters stopped after using their second wish to undo their first, he has thousands of surplus wishes left to give.
47* ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'': The initial miniseries ("The Morningstar Option") revolves around a "Silent God", a former Old God that simply grants wishes -- specifically [[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/velleity velleities,]] half-hearted wishes with no intent to follow through -- [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly as a way of obtaining worship]]. Lucifer remarks that this will quickly and inevitably lead to humanity's self-destruction unless the Silent God is destroyed. [[spoiler:He solves this by drafting someone who (inadvertently) used the Silent God’s power to wish her own brother dead, and brings her to it and rips up her emotional wounds. She ends up wishing with all her heart that the God dies, which, due to the circumstances of being worded right in front of it and being a wish born of earnest desire, it has no choice but to fulfill. Lucifer couldn't do it himself because he can't desire strong enough to make the God take notice.
48* In the ''ComicBook/{{XXXenophile}}'' story "Wish Fulfillment", a djinn can only be freed if his master asks him for a wish that he wants to grant but cannot. After splitting himself into three beings to satisfy his mistress sexually and having a marathon bout of love-making, she asks him to do it again. Immediately. When he cannot, he is freed.
49** Of course, this was her intention. They were in love. (Awwww!)
50--->'''Jamel:''' Zola! You did it! YOU DID IT!!! I'm free!!! FREE!!\
51''(pause)''\
52'''Zola:''' Does this mean you can't do it?\
53'''Jamel:''' Can you wait five minutes?
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
57* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' had an interesting example where the hero tricks the villain into [[BecomingTheGenie wishing he was a genie]], said villain not realizing that he would then be trapped in his own lamp. Although Jafar then becomes SealedEvilInACan for ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'', and once freed manipulates his new "master" all he wants and uses his immense powers to get revenge on Aladdin.
58[[/folder]]
59
60[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
61* In the 2000 remake of ''[[Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}} Bedazzled]]'', the protagonist is granted ''seven'' wishes by a literal DealWithTheDevil, and uses the first six to try to get a particular woman. His last wish, which resets the universe and keeps him from forfeiting his soul, is that she be happy even if it's not with him. The loophole is that an unselfish wish breaks the contract.
62** In the original, he accidentally used all seven because he didn't realize asking for an ice cream cone had counted as a wish, particularly as that one had been accomplished by him and the Devil going down to the shop and buying one. Then the Devil just gave him his soul back, on the basis that he already had as many as he needed.
63** If you read into it a certain way, the Devil is just fulfilling her role in the grand cosmic design. [[spoiler:When Elliot ends up in jail, a stranger informs him that his soul belongs to God, not to him. Later, in the ending, this "friend" and the Devil are playing chess together, suggesting they may not exactly be enemies (said previous scenes implied that the "friend" was an angel or God). She still tries to cheat by rearranging the pieces, though.]]
64* In Disney's ''Film/DarbyOGillAndTheLittlePeople'', King Brian of the leprechauns grants Darby three wishes. Darby's third wish is to save the life of his daughter by taking her place in death. King Brian tricks Darby into making an illegal fourth wish, which cancels the effects of the third wish and saves his life. His daughter is not harmed because she had already recovered by the time the third wish was canceled. Notable here that it's the wishgiver who gives the loophole out of kindness.
65* In ''Film/TheNeverendingStoryIITheNextChapter'', the hero defeats the villainess by "wishing she had a heart."... Which, since she personifies emptiness, causes her to go poof and her living crab-armor minions to explode.
66* Done once a film, with a different human "mark" each time, in the ''Film/{{Wishmaster}}'' series.
67** In the first film, the mark wishes the accident that freed the djinn had never happened. She also wished for him to blow his brains out; he immediately complies, and she discovers he is in fact ImmuneToBullets. "If it's any consolation," he adds, "That hurt like hell."
68** In ''Film/Wishmaster2EvilNeverDies'', she wishes (basically) for her innocence back so that she qualifies to re-trap him. Played with initially, when the heroine tries a couple of wishes to get rid of the djinn (such as wishing there was no evil in the world), with the djinn explaining why he can't grant the wishes, forcing her to choose again.
69** In ''Film/Wishmaster3BeyondTheGatesOfHell'', she summons the ArchangelMichael to fight him. He only ends up giving her the means to dispose of the Djinn, a sacred sword--she still has to do the job herself.
70** Finally, ''Film/Wishmaster4TheProphecyFulfilled'' plays with it -- she wishes she could love the djinn as he really is (thinking he's her human lawyer); this stymies him because she has to "grant" it herself, willingly. It can't stop him by itself however, until her boyfriend wishes for a way to kill him.
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Literature]]
74* OlderThanPrint: In the original ''Literature/ArabianNights''
75** In one story, a man's wife gets rid of an evil genie by wishing he would straighten out a single hair. (In today's age of salons, this wouldn't work.)
76** There's also the Fisherman and the Genie, where the fisherman, although he can't make a wish since he came up against a Genie so Jackass that it won't even pretend to grant wishes before it kills you, [[TrickingTheShapeshifter says he does not understand how such a huge genie fits in such a tiny bottle]]. The genie, who is naturally very proud of his magic, goes back into the bottle to show the fisherman exactly how he does it, rendering him harmless.
77* ''[[Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon The Callahan Touch]]'' by Creator/SpiderRobinson has a variation. They manage to capture a cluricaune (a kind of faerie that loves alcohol and can drink it magically) in their bar, and are thinking along these lines -- that after they use the first two wishes, the third has to be to get rid of the cluricaune so he won't constantly magic away all the booze. Once they've talked with him, and cracked jokes, the cluricaune is even on board with the plan, because he'd had more fun than in centuries, so it's worth it. And just as the narrator's about to do this, he realizes something, and instead says, "Nobody here wants you gone, Naggeneen. I just wish to God you'd pay for your drinks like a gentleman."
78** And then has to qualify this by adding "-- in ''real money'', not fairy gold!"
79*** Though technically, "like a gentleman" would cover this caveat, depending on how [[LiteralGenie intentionally literal]] the cluricaune is.
80* In Creator/LarryNiven's short story "Convergent Series", a mathematician sort-of accidentally summons a demon who grants him any one wish, at which point the demon will take his soul, reappearing wherever the summoning pentagram is drawn (or anywhere at all, if there is no pentagram). The mathematician freezes time outside of himself for 24 hours, spends the first few frozen minutes redrawing the pentagram, and goes about his business trying to figure out how to save his soul. Churches and houses of worship appear as empty lots to him, keeping him from getting inside holy ground where he'd be safe, so instead he does some silly things. At the end, the demon starts moving again with the rest of time, resizing to fit inside the pentagram. [[spoiler:Turns out the mathematician redrew it on the demon's fat stomach, trapping him in an endless loop where he keeps shrinking to reappear in the pentagram, then shrinking again because the pentagram shrank with him.]] The mathematician notes that this trick should keep the demon occupied long enough to find a way to fix this, somehow.
81* In the short story "Djinn Coffee" by Aaron Alston, published in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine, the protagonist has been put in charge of his evil boss's evil genie. He's been tricked into wishing that anything good he wishes for will happen to the boss instead and that he cannot wish harm to the boss, and the genie's own rules say that if he makes a wish without adding "In Solomon's name", he becomes the genie's slave in the City of Brass (and he's already seen this happen to the last guy who had the position). What does he do? [[spoiler: 1) Get his boss to agree that "drowning in wealth" is a good thing, then wish for an oil slick. 2) Get his boss to agree that anything that saves him from this is good, then wish ''to become the genie's slave in the City of Brass''.]]
82* In ''Literature/GodelEscherBachAnEternalGoldenBraid'', during the dialogue "Little Harmonic Labyrinth," Achilles obtains one Typeless Wish (that is, a wish that can be about wishes [a meta-wish], about meta-wishes, or about any-number-of-meta-wishes). He promptly [[LogicBomb wishes for the wish not to be granted]]. As a result, "an event -- or is 'event' the word for it? -- takes place which cannot be described, and hence no attempt will be made to describe it." The result is that the universe crashes, and the characters wind up somewhere totally different.
83* In ''Literature/GreyKnights'', Raezazel, while trying to [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind take control over]] one of his intended victims, claims that he can make any wish come true, and proves so. What does the target tell him?
84-->''I wish for a world where [[OurDemonsAreDifferent your kind]] cannot exist.''
85* Dutch author Creator/TaisTeng's novel ''De Ring van Ardek'' features an ArtifactOfDeath in the form of a ring that grants its bearer wishes, but at the cost of a demon named Ardek approaching closer every time it is used until he reaps your soul. At the end, the main character's shamanistic grandmother solves the problem by wishing for Ardek to become her protector--at which point Ardek's bony left arm grapples his right to prevent him from taking her soul, trapping him in a one-person SealedEvilInADuel.
86* In the novel ''Literature/TheWishGiver'' by Bill Brittain, the good guy clears up all the bad wishes by basically wishing for the wishes to revert, "with no tricks." Apparently his good-heartedness combined with saying "with no tricks" made it work.
87* In second half of ''TheWishingSeason'' by Creator/EstherFriesner, a Jinn will be free to wreak havoc as soon as the hero uses his half-wish (he only gets half of what is stated in the wish), so he wishes for the Jinn to be free. This ends up with the Jinn being free of the spell that made him grant wishes, but married to a very nagging demoness.
88** In the first part, genies are required to tell new masters that they can only have 3 wishes. Guess what happens when an inexperienced genie forgets this? [[spoiler: He wishes for as many wishes as there are stars in the sky.]]
89* A variant of this, with a ghost instead of a genie, is found in a [[http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/ghost.html Zen Story]] about a man who is plagued by the ghost of his wife. She torments him by repeating the conversations that he has with his new lady-friend, word-for-word. In short, the ghost knows everything that he knows. After following a Zen master's advice, he challenges the ghost by scooping up a handful of beans and saying, "Tell me exactly how many beans there are in my hand." The ghost vanished.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
93* The protagonist in ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland'' is avoiding using her wishes for fear of this trope, even though it's her boyfriend that's the genie.
94* In ''Series/TimeGentlemenPlease'', the Guv is terrorised by a possibly possessed novelty Leprechaun statue. The statue offers the Guv one wish in return for making the pub into an irish theme bar. Guv wishes the Leprechaun would do the opposite of everything he says. The implications of this statement cause the Leprechaun to blow up.
95* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E2TheManInTheBottle The Man in the Bottle]]", a genie grants a man four [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Monkey's Paw]]-type wishes. The third wish is to become the ruler of a country who can't be overthrown, so the genie turns him into Hitler at the end of World War II. The man's last wish is that all of the previously granted wishes be canceled.
96* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E12 I of Newton]]", a physics professor is confronted with a demon who'll claim his soul if he can't find a wish he can't grant. Said demon tells the man that he's capable of doing anything, even the impossible, and he can go anywhere, anywhen, and any version of history, like a 21st century Rome if Alexander the Great lived to an old age, and is aware of all existence. The professor finally gets rid of him by putting his last wish in the form of a command: [[spoiler:"Get lost!"]]
97[[/folder]]
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99[[folder:Video Games]]
100* In ''VideoGame/GrimGrimoire'', Lillet Blan summons a Demon King and makes a contract with him to get a wish in exchange for her soul. [[spoiler:First she pulls the ObfuscatingStupidity trick to get him to open-sign the contract before she states what the wish is. Her wish is for him to "Embrace God". He refuses, which counts as a contract breach and is permanently banished to Hell as punishment.]]Her purpose in summoning the Demon King in the first place was to [[spoiler: fulfill the terms of an existing contract he had on the BigBad's soul]].
101* At the end of ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings'', Sonic uses Erazor's own lamp to force him to revive Sharha and restore the world back to how it was before. He then uses his third and final wish to trap Erazor back inside the lamp.
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Webcomics]]
105* A variant in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/one-wish-2 here]]. "You used your second wish to forget all the consequences of your first wish."
106* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''
107** In one of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' parody stories, Torg is confronted with a djinn who grants two wishes to anyone, although it will try to screw up the first wish as much as possible. For some reason, this always entails "randomly" turning the wisher into chocolate. The djinn mentions that should anyone survive the first wish, the second one will be much less twisted. Torg's solution? [[spoiler: "Turn Torg Potter into chocolate." But that's not really his name. Even this might not have worked if the BigBad, who had control over the genie, had not jumped at the chance and ordered the genie to do ''[[ExactWords exactly]]'' as asked.]]
108** Later several of the protagonists run into demon-genies who could steal their souls at will and don't have to grant any wishes they don't want to, but like to play games by letting them try to think of wishes that will get them out. They're outwitted by [[spoiler:Aylee]] of all people, who in exchange to her soul wishes that Torg not be restrained by them in any way, which they take to mean that they won't restrain him ''within'' their own domain, but not allow him to ''leave'' (exactly as planned). Next Zoë, acting on [[spoiler:Aylee's]] instructions, pretends to try to make a wish so dreadful that they would let her go out of sheer [[ArsonMurderAndAdmiration admiration]]. She wishes that [[spoiler: blood of the innocents should rain all over their house.]] The head demon grants this with a shrug and is about to move on. [[spoiler: However, the soul of Torg's sentient sword, whose physical form is in the house, gains its [[ImmortalBreaker full powers]] as a weapon [[PoweredByAForsakenChild from the blood]], and Torg kills the demon with a single poke.]]
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Web Originals]]
112* ''Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG'': Mr. Welch is officially prohibited from attempting to fuse LogicBomb and Wishplosion with the phrase "I wish you wouldn't grant this wish."
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder:Western Animation]]
116* Prismo of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', being a BenevolentGenie who is (for reasons that go unexplained) forced to operate by LiteralGenie rules, straight-out tells Jake the exact wording of the wish that will fix all the shenanigans caused by Finn's previous, ill-considered wish: [[spoiler: "I wish that the Lich had wished for Finn and I to be returned home."]]
117* ''WesternAnimation/BimblesBucket'' has a downplayed example, the genie in question essentially has a pocket dimension inside his bucket with gadgets for every purpouse imaginable for the hero to use, when the BigBad finally gets her hands on it she wishes for {{Power}}. The genie ends up being too [[LiteralGenie literal minded]] to understand what she wants and panicks.
118* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'': When Monterey Jack becomes a genie and is captured by Fat Cat, he is forced to grant wishes for the bad guys. He tricks a ''{{mook}}'' into making a misguided wish, allowing Chip and Dale to reach the genie's lamp. To reset reality, they wish that none of this had ever happened.
119* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'':
120** This is the way to defeat Desiree, the Wishing Ghost. When Danny originally fought her, she was too strong for him to defeat, so he made a wish that she would be imprisoned in the Fenton Thermos. He then berated himself for not realizing to do that when she first appeared.
121** The second time, Danny's friend Sam, [[ItMakesSenseInContext having wished that she never met Danny, which caused him to lose his powers]], made another wish to undo the damage. Desiree [[FridgeLogic then commented]] on [[LampshadeHanging needing to stop]] granting every wish she hears as Danny imprisons her again.
122* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', an evil genie is thwarted by the ''villain'' wishing he had never found the genie's lamp, which results in it being lost underground.
123* ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' presented a LogicBomb for an evil genie, "I wish you won't grant this wish."
124* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' had Timmy getting three more wishes that need to solve everything, against a malevolent genie that was thousands of years old and knew how to twist any wish into something horrible. Timmy, realizing he needed someone as conniving as Norm (the genie), wishes for a lawyer, and he made a wish in the form of a giant contract that would reverse everything that was done and couldn't possibly be read any other way.
125** At the end of "Fairy Idol", Chester used his last wish to make everything be like he never found Norm's lamp.
126*** Earlier, Norm explained that this sort of thing is pretty by the book: every time a human finds a genie, they wish for (in order): a dumb test wish (almost always for a sandwich), a wish for a position of power, which always results in the wishmaker getting lynched by a mob, prompting them to angrily declare "I wish I never met you".
127* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' episode "Cinderella Cat" features a genie doing a Marlon Brando impression (he's a Fairy "Godfather", [[ParentalBonus get it?]]). Garfield wishes for lasagna, and the Godfather gets it from a vendor. Garfield wishes for money, and the genie gets it from a bank. Garfield tries to forego his last wish, but the genie insists, so... he wishes for a fairy god''mother'' to appear, who turns out to be the genie's wife. She promptly started berating him, and they both depart, leaving Garfield to deal with this book he found...
128* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'', Nadakhan, the main antagonist of season 6, is a Djinn who can grant anyone three wishes. Unfortunately, he's a JerkassGenie who always funds a way to twist the wishes of others to his evil benefit, so long as they have at least one wish left. The downside of this, however, is that he is required to grant any wish he hears, so long as the wisher has wishes left, even if there's no way to twist it in his favor. The ninja, specifically Jay as by the end of the season he's the only one with any wishes left, originally plan to take advantage of this by hitting Nadakhan with a poison that's deadly to humans but only slows Djinn down and then wishing that he was no longer a Djinn. In the end this fails, as some of the poison hits Nya, with the only way to save her being for Jay to use his last wish. Jay does this but instead of wishing to save Nya he wishes that nobody found the teapot Nadakhan was trapped in in the first place, thus turning back time and preventing the entire season from ever happening.
129* In an old ''WesternAnimation/{{Sinbad the Sailor}}'' cartoon, a genie's last wish will determine whether he is good or evil. The villains have used up the first wish, so the hero is in a quandary. Wishing the villains dead counts as evil, so how can he stop them? He wishes that "none of this ever happened", which counts as a good wish.
130* One ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' short had a LiteralGenie (who doubles as a prankster trickster), first controlled by Gargamel and then by Papa Smurf. Papa orders the "Genie Meanie" to first undo all the tricks it had performed that day, and his last command to it is to stay in its bottle until it can learn to stop being mean.
131* Defied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', where [=SpongeBob=], Squidward and Patrick are granted a wish by the Flying Dutchman before he eats them. [=SpongeBob=] wishes for the Dutchman to be a vegetarian. In return, [[LoopholeAbuse the Dutchman transforms them into fruit]].
132[[/folder]]
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