Imagine Spot - Television Tropes & Idioms

A very popular trope with commercials, so much so that it could almost be considered an advertising trope as much as it is a comedy trope, with the idea being to either convey how much one's life would be better with the product/service or how easily obtainable it is. A recent commercial, for example, features an Imagine Spot with a middle-aged managerial type daydreaming about becoming president after he discovered the joys of microwaved gourmet pasta.
- That particular commercial is somewhat of a subversion...it turns out that even in his fantasy, he's not the president.

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Azumanga Daioh uses several imagine spots throughout the course of the series.
Ouran High School Host Club has "Tamaki's Inner Mind Theatre", usually with Tamaki fantasizing about Haruhi
Similarly, Minami-ke's Hosaka gets really caught up in his fantasies, usually starring Haruka, to the point of acting them out. Everyone else thinks he's weird and a little sick in the head.
Pokémon's Meowth has done this Once An Episode since Hoenn, thinking about what Giovanni would do with the Pokémon of the day. More often than not, the imagery is pretty weird.
- By weird, we mean everything from said Boss spontaneously performing a Super Deformed Gene Kelly dance routine, to said Boss stripping to a Loin Cloth for almost no friggin' reason. It helps that said Boss is a major Unfunny.
Misaki in Wagaya No Oinari Sama is prone to sudden and overthought fantasy sequences about Noboru, her crush. Usually these fantasy sequences involve Kuugen or Kou, his family's resident Pretty Freeloaders.
In the Ai Yori Aoshi manga, Mayu fantasizes about being an uh-MAZING cook so that Kaoru falls for her unconditionally. In reality, the complete opposite is true.
- Later on, we witness Kaoru's imaginings of marriage to Aoi, who is an amazing cook. They tend toward the perverse, sometimes.
Used in a Code Geass sound episode where Shirley is imagining all kinds of insane things that could go wrong if she asks Lelouch out to a concert. It starts with him just saying that he will take his sister to the entire student council admitting their undying love for him, even Arthur. That's almost JD level weirdness.
- Also used in the Picture Drama in which Sayoko first meets Suzaku when he comes over for tea with Lelouch and Nunally. She happens to overhear part of a conversation between Suzaku and Lelouch at the end and somehow interprets it to mean they are secretly in love... and her imagination runs away on her a little.
Unavoidable Lucky Star example: Hiy ori would often falls into fantasies about portraying her classmates Yutaka and Minami as Schoolgirl Lesbians, but immediate cut short by chastising herself about thinking her friends that way. Said friends are clueless as to what she's freaking out over.
Onsokumaru of Ninin Ga Shinobuden does these a lot, usually involving Fan Service images of Kaede and Shinobu, or of himself surrounded by women or doing something awesome.
Used several times in a row in an episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena, when Nanami is trying to embarrass Anthy (and win Miki's affection) by planting weird stuff in her room. She envisions each ploy going off without a hitch, only to have them fail because Anthy is already keeping weird stuff in her room. And Miki finds it cute.
Saitou Hajime of Rurouni Kenshin: Memetic Badass, Inspector Javert, Unfunny... and master of the Imagine Spot. He makes the "If Kaoru -> Tanuki and Megumi -> Fox, then Misao -> Weasel" in one and images a broom shooing away a rooster when Chou and Sanosuke get into an argument.
- In the anime, after Saitou casually drops the fact that he's married (and the manga has to add a Not Making This Up Disclaimer), there's an Imagine Spot of Saitou reclining on the statue of a Bodhisattva.
Often used in Paradise Kiss. In one instance, Yukari pictures a Love Triangle as a Duel To The Death between Tokumori as a samurai and Arashi as a Lupin III pastiche, for the love of Miwako as a schoolgirl in Sailor Fuku. She notes it's only natural Arashi won, after all, he had a gun.
Mahou Sensei Negima has quite a few, as well as a few Imagine Sketches from Haruna (or Nodoka's magic diary). In one notable instance, after Nodoka confesses to him, Negi imagines himself marrying her... without losing the Blank White Eyes he got from the revelation.
In Ichigo Mashimaro (the manga), while Nobue is filling out a job application for one of the "zillions of 7-Elevens" in the area, the other girls contemplate what sorts of jobs they would want to get. The question is posed to Matsuri, and Miu imagines Matsuri in a few different kinds of jobs, coming up with the conclusion that Matsuri is not employable. When they consider the job of handing out promotional tissues, Miu remarks that "Matsuri wasn't able to do it at all just now," and imagines herself in the position, sneaking them into people's pockets and bags even if they refuse, and offering entire boxes at once.
In Macross Frontier, Luca's brain goes to town in not entirely worksafe ways◊ when Sheryl casually declares Alto her slave. Makes you wonder what else goes on in his head, considering Sheryl obviously meant slave in the menial labor-drone sense.
Pretty much every character in Ranma 1/2 indulges in this regularly. If there are any other people in the room, they usually comment on the scene.

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In Slumdog Millionaire, when the adult Jamal finds his older brother Salim that pointed a gun at him, raped his Love Interest and disappeared for years with the girl, he runs against Salim and pushes themselves out of the building where they are, killing them both. Turns out that it was just his imagination. This time, when Salim approaches, he punches him in the face so hard that makes Salim fall to the ground.
In Mean Girls, Cady does it in the lunch room by thinking about how her dilemma would be solved in the animal world. In her spot she imagines tackling Regina George and wrestling with her as the other students howl and yell like monkeys.
- Subverted when Regina George is hit by a moving bus and dies. Turns out she really did get hit by a moving bus, but only got sent to the hospital.
In High Fidelity, Rob Gordon imagines three increasingly violent scenarios to get back at Ian 'Ray' Raymond for stealing his girlfriend when he arrives at Rob's record store: 1. Issuing a cutting insult that causes Ray to leave rather quickly 2. Attempting to attack Ray only to be held back by Dick and Barry, shouting and cursing at him, causing Ray to actually run out the door 3. Attacking Ray WITH Dick and Barry, landing enough punches to lay him out on the floor and make him bleed from the mouth, not only kicking him while he's down but ripping the A/C unit from the wall and bringing it down on his head. In actuality, Rob does and says nothing, only glaring at Ray as he speaks and casually walks out.
- Could also be considered an Indulgent Fantasy Segue
In Apollo 13, after hearing that they are too damaged to land on the moon and just getting back to Earth will be hard enough, the commander imagines himself touching down, leaving perfect tracks, running his fingers through the moon dust. He'd really wanted to be there.
In Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Harold imagines himself finally working up the nerve to flirt with his attractive neighbor Maria in the elevator. In actuality, he and Maria ride the elevator in awkward silence.
Happens several times in Girl Next Door.
In Up, Carl just found out that Russell snuck aboard his house before liftoff and is passing over some buildings. Cue him trying to lower the kid down onto one with towels, the kid falling off, the mental image ending, and Carl deciding "Well, that won't work."
The entirety of Next can fall under this due to its premise.
Amelie frequently lapses into this, one of the more extreme examplse being that if Nino couldn't assemble a torn-up photograph in time, he'd end up living in Tajikistan with only a goat for company - and Amélie refuses to go out with somebody that would wear a teacosy for a hat.

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This is probably the central comedic tool of Scrubs, which uses it to great effect.
- Usually J.D. does this, to the point where other character's lampshade it increasingly as the series goes on, mentioning how one was really long, messing with him while he is in his head, triggering one on purpose to get him to zone out, and so on. Usually after his fantasy he says something that sounds completely weird if we weren't to be shown the Imagine Spot. And his propensity to do this is apparently infectious, as his friends occasionally indulge in it as well, though far less regularly.
- Of course, during episodes where it isn't centered on J.D.'s this trope happens without the cut, so all we see is J.D. staring off into space and saying something weird.
  "We're gonna need a lot of gnomes..."
Malcolm in the Middle frequently uses it.
Ally McBeal and Teachers used it occasionally.
Andy Richter Controls the Universe used it as a central theme, often with voiceover commentary by Andy. Example: "I was thinking about what it would be like if I had wheels for feet. In case you were wondering, here's what it would look like!"
Possibly the funniest thirty seconds in five seasons of Angel involved Angel, at a party, being asked if he wanted to dance. The ensuing Imagine Spot is brilliance. You'll have to watch every single episode to find it though, because we're that evil here. It's episode 13 of the first season, but don't tell anyone, they'll beat me
- Another hilarious imagine spot in Angel involved Wesley imagining himself and Fred starring in a ballet. The actress who played Fred was actually trained as a dancer, so Fred was pretty good. Wesley... not so much.
The early-90s HBO series Dream On used a variation on the Imagine Spot as its primary gimmick. But instead of segments featuring the Dream On cast, clips from old movies and TV shows were used for the Imagine Spots of its main character, Martin Tupper.
Doctor Who, "Love And Monsters" similarly had the main character flash to clips, including one of Elton John.
Farscape, episode "Scratch 'n Sniff", though some question exists as to whether they were Imagine Spots or flashbacks.
Common in Father Ted.
- To the point where Dougal needed a chart to tell the difference between dreams and reality.
Played straight in nearly every episode of Son of the Beach, but subverted in one in which Notch Johnson was informed that one of his lifeguards once won a preteen breast size contest. Intrigued by what such a contest would be like, the Image Spot begins to take form, when suddenly the scene cuts to pornographer Larry Flynt saying that, while he is all for free speech, some things are just obscene. Afterwards, Notch clarified that he meant what those girls would look like *now*.
Wendy of The Middle Man often drops into Imagine Spot sequences when people ask her questions she needs to answer, or when she has a "Eureka!" moment.
Used frequently in Corner Gas, to the extent that it's been described as "Seinfeld meets Family Guy in rural Canada."
Used a lot in Spaced, usually as pop-culture references or scenes from movies done with a fraction of the budget.
That 70s Show used a lot of these.
Dexter used it once, memorably, in which Dexter has just found out that Miguel lied to him. He lets out "MIGUEL!!!" and throws the computer through the window, and then he's shown at the computer, and he walks out noticeably angry. It would have been Narm had Michael C. Hall not been as brilliant an actor as he is.
- Don't forget the time he tried to imagine what Deb would do if he told her that he was a serial killer, with no less than three hilarious conclusions.
- All the times his dead foster father Harry shows up to remind him of The Code counts, too, as Dexter converses with him.
Subverted and/or Lampshaded in an episode of 30 Rock where Liz and Jack are discussing some of Tracy Jordan's more outrageous antics. Instead of cutting away with clips to illustrate them, however, the scene stays on Liz and Jack who have this exchange:
Liz: And I am thinking of some of them right now.
Jack: So am I.
Dead Like Me - George lets Mason take care of her dog. She then wonders if he's taking care of it properly or merely using it for some harebrained scheme. Like, say, attracting women, then sitting in a hot tub with the women and the dog. And then she forgets it never actually happened, so she scolds him for bringing her dog into a hot tub.
Australian TV series 30Seconds has a slight variation on this; the main character, who works in commercials, sometimes has delusions that he's watching a commercial in real life. These seem to be superimposed over what's actually in front of his eyes rather than actual full Scrubs style daydreams. Also, they tend to have swear words.

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Ryo has a few of these in Brass Restoration, to amusing effect.
Kareha in Shuffle has a tendency to go into these whenever thrilled about something possibly romantic. It unnerves the rest of the class, who refer to them as hallucinations.We never get to see what she is actually thinking at these times, perhaps for the best.
Fate Stay Night: In the Unlimited Blade Works Scenario, Saber argues about sleeping with Shirou in his room due to his having been brainwashed by Caster to go to her base the night before. Shirou stops himself from countering with his belief that Caster won't try it again after he imagines Saber berating him for being such a Wide Eyed Idealist.

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Dan Shive of El Goonish Shive occasionally delves into this (and cites Scrubs as a good example of how to do it) and his comic occasionally features one, such as this strip.
Used liberally throughout Misfile, one of them even managing to be Missi's Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
An occasionally used gag in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Fan Web Comic A's/StrikerS Nano. As they're employed on characters portrayed as having Unresolved Sexual Tension, the spots tend to be very heavily censored. Here's one example involving Fate◊ (Caution: May still be NSFW).
"To the Mighty-Mobile!"

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Phineas And Ferb has Isabella of all people seemingly quite often breaking off into and Imagine Spot where she imagines Phineas as a centaur. It's just as weird as it sounds.
The "manatee gags" in Family Guy sort of started out as Imagine Spots and evolved into their own little... thing.
In The Spectacular Spider Man, when asked to try out for the football team with his friend Harry, Peter has a brief, absurdist fantasy of making touchdowns while in costume as Spider-Man, wearing a football helmet.
The second half of every single episode of Angela Anaconda is an Imagine Spot of Angela dreaming about disgracing her snooty rival Nanette Manoir, in steadily more ludicrous ways.
Stickin' Around is built from this.
In one episode of The Simpsons, Homer envisions what would happen if he uses his new gun to rob Apu's store — somehow, the logical outcome is that he becomes governor and Marge does exotic dances for him.
Mona the Vampire has a lot of this. There's a very clear visual effect to let you know when things are transferring between reality and imagination.
Little Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers has at least one of these per episode, as Lil' Elvis speculates on who was responsible for his status as a Doorstop Baby. (They went all the way up to "UFO" level.)
A Justice League Unlimited episode has an Evilutionary Biologist whose funding has been cut imagining himself taking out a laser gun and wildly shooting at the people responsible.
Doug might hold the record for most time per episode spent in fantasy sequences. Often these would feature lengthy trips to the comic-book universe Doug created around his Gary Stu superhero Quailman, whose outcomes ultimately led to Doug figuring out a solution to the problems in his own life.
- By the end of the Disney run, they started abandoning the wrapper story altogether and just making whole episodes that were Quailman cartoons.
If Doug holds the record, Arthur is the contender.

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