Not Helping Your Case in Fan Works.
- Bloodedge of Fairy Tail: Lucy notes that despite Ragna's annoyance at herself, Natsu and Happy calling him 'dad', a fair amount of his actions involve looking out for them, scolding them when they act out and generally playing the part of one.
- Constellations: Taylor tries to explain she's not a parahuman by explaining she first met Sunny - the big white wolf following her everywhere and blatantly possessed of superpowers - when she was eight years old and lost in a dark forest, then found her again when her mother died and her school life went to hell. Since Earth-Bet runs on Traumatic Superpower Awakening, it only comforts her cape audience in their conclusions.
- Fate/Gamers Only: After Rikku wakes up from her Heroic RRoD at the end of Septem, she finds Da Vinci next to her and accuses her of creepily sitting there the entire time, waiting for her to wake up. Da Vinci snaps back that she calculated the time Rikku would wake up and came in five minutes before, which Rikku says is also creepy.
- How the Light Gets In:
- While trying to buy her way back into Laurel and Sara's good graces, Dinah gets them both Christmas presents. Unfortunately, while the sweater she buys Sara is a perfect fit, Laurel's turns out to be two sizes too big. Laurel isn't remotely surprised by this.
- Felicity insists that Team Arrow isn't a group of Failure Heroes; however, she then struggles to come up with an example of something they've successfully accomplished. In particular, she brings up stopping Slade Wilson but trails off when she remembers that he killed Oliver's mother before they were able to stop him.
- Infinity Train: Boiling Point:
- In Infinity Train: Melancholy Afterlife, Chloe attempts to use her class picnic to prove that she's ready to join Ash and Goh on expeditions. Instead, she unintentionally strengthens his arguments against her; not only does she go off on her own trying to catch a Pokémon, without one of her own or any kind of protection, she ends up fighting a flock of angry Spearows trying to protect a Pidgey.
- Professor Sakuragi also falls victim to this several times over. Not only is he caught off-guard when she asks why he doesn't let her go on any research trips, he hadn't told her about the trip to Alola he was planning to send the boys on. And just when the two of them are reconciling, the boys walk into his lab and he hangs up on her, despite her begging him not to. Spectre exploits this to convince Chloe that nobody cares about her and get her onto the Infinity Train.
- Metal Gear: Green: Part of the Open Mouth, Insert Foot, when Shoto attempts to explain to Ocelot that he, Bakugou and Kirishima were trying to help them handle the situation.Shoto: We were trying to help.
Ocelot: It would have helped if you ran to the stairs! You are not heroes, you are not licensed to deal with villains. You are civilians training to become heroes. Your interference Todoroki, allowed the monster to escape when we had it pinned down. So I’m going to make myself clear, you do something like that ever again, without a license, and I will ensure you never even see a license in your lifetime. Capice? - Shed Some of This Black Light to Surrounding Towns: While trying to convince Tanaka-ba, Hizashi, and Aizawa that Kuriboh is a good cat, Yuugi shows them pictures of his kitty on his phone. Unfortunately, he accidentally shows them one of Kuriboh holding the decapitated head of an Endeavor toy in his mouth.
- Clark falls victim to this trope in Smallville X: Evolution
. Teleporter Alicia uses her power to teleport into Clark's bed while he's sleeping and deliberately gets them caught in bed together to make it look like Clark's been cheating on Rogue with her. Clark's protest that if he was going to sneak Alicia in he would have been smart enough to shut off the alarms first doesn't help his case, as it makes it sound like he's at the very least given serious thought as to how to sneak Alicia in, even though it never even crossed his mind. - snipers solve 99% of all problems: Practically every time the wizards open their mouths, they wind up revealing to the Amestrians that things are worse than they'd first thought.
- In Turnabout Storm, Rainbow Dash is accused of murdering one of her rivals in an upcoming race, a rare crime that could cost her a one-way ticket to the Sun if she's found guilty. As Phoenix is interrogating her, she comments that the prize for the winner of the race is flight lessons with her idols The Wonderbolts, and she'd do anything to get that chance.
- A Theory of Butterflies and Other Insects: Sasha has trouble adjusting to Wartwood. While part of this is that they're never dealt with a human before, much larger problems arise from her disrespectful attitude and delinquency, as she flouts and ignores the rules much like she did back home. When her usual tactics of trying to charm and talk her way out of trouble don't work, she blames the residents and continues digging herself deeper... until she has a Heel Realization while dealing with the toads for the first time.
- From Death Note: The Abridged Series (kpts4tv), what not to say when you're being accused of being a magical mass murderer:Light: Hey guys, the Shinigami's dead! I totally killed it! With magic powers that I totally have!
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
- Nappa, very much the Adaptational Dumbass, mistakes Chaitzo for a Pokémon. Chaitzo protests he's not by repeating that he's Chaizto, which Nappa takes as Pokémon Speak and tries to capture him.
- In the Buu Bits shorts, when Goku suggests using the Spirit Bomb on Kid Buu, Vegeta argues against it by pointing out it failed to kill him and Freeza and adds that Goku didn't use it on Cell. Goku points out that didn't use it because he knew it wouldn't work on Cell, and a glare from Vegeta makes him realize his mistake.
- Played for Laughs in Dragon Ball Z Elsewhere. Yamcha is rather annoyed at getting called a ladies man and doesn't understand why, especially since he used to be afraid of women. Krillin points out that while he isn't an outright playboy, he certainly has the image of a Chick Magnet when hanging around the likes of Yunomi and Solace.
- The Wolf Queen Awakens: During the Moot in Chapter 49, Jarl Siddgeir tries to cash in on Elisif's fame as the Dragonborn by offering to give her his political support if she agrees to marry him. Elisif firmly turns him down and (in front of all the other jarls) confronts him over an incident years ago where he sexually assaulted her. Rather than deny it, Siddgeir digs himself deeper by protesting that he wouldn't have groped her had he known she was Torygg's girlfriend at the time, much to the disgust of Jarls Brina and Idgrod.
- Distance Wakes The Heart Up: When Antonio asks where Mirabel learned her survival skills, Agustin says that he taught her those skills. Then Antonio yells "please don't die" to her, Agustin known for being very accident-prone.
- Family Guy Fanon's version of "Fecal Matters" expands on Meg's reasons for not thinking Peter's good to be a nurse. And for every reason, Peter shows it to be true.Meg: I don't think you have the makeup to be a nurse. You're ignorant,Peter: What's that?Meg: Impatient,Peter: Are you done?Meg: Short-tempered,Peter: [slams fists on table] ENOUGH!Meg: Lazy,Peter: I'd argue but ... meh.Meg: Rude,Peter: Shut up, Meg.Meg: Profane,Peter: Bullshit.Meg: Sarcastic,Meg: Annoying.Peter: [makes buzzer sound] WROOOOOOOOOOOONGUH! [blows raspberry]Meg: Unfri-Peter: [blows raspberry]Meg: Un-Peter: [blows raspberry]Meg: U-Peter: [blows big raspberry in Meg's face]Meg: Unfriendly,Peter: I hate you.Meg: And you faint when you see blood.
- When Dipper is trying to get out of a jam in Conspiratheory Bill offers to give him a hand. Dipper figures he's more likely to get a literal hand in return, to which Bill calls him overly suspicious. Of course, he follows that up with, "I mean that sounds HILARIOUS (and like something I’d actually do)..."
- The fic Movie Night (Russia forces Prussia to watch Alexander Nevsky):Prussia: But I was not and have never been a Nazi. If Sergei Eisenstein was alive I would burn him alive!
Russia: That would surely be a good way to prove Teutonic knights weren't the incarnation of evil.
- Mean Time to Breakdown:
- Mutou decides to confront Iwanako about her tendency to bottle things up and avoid confrontations during a point where she can't get away from him... because she's currently hospitalized after a narrow brush with death. Suffice to say, his timing severely undermines the point he's trying to make.
- Emi suffers similar issues when she admits to Iwanako that this isn't the first time she's collided with another student and aggravated their condition. Iwanako is furious to realize that Emi apparently learned nothing from that experience, calling her out for her carelessness.
- A Loud To Stay: After Leni accidentally reveals that Lincoln was adopted, his sisters muse aloud about how this explains why their brother seemed so different from him, unintentionally heightening his fears that they don't want him anymore.
- In The Fool Who Cried Foul, Luna points out that Luan's April Fool's Day antics bear a striking similarity to the sabotage that wrecked Luna's shot at opening for SMOOCH; Lincoln internally winces when Luan protests that they're totally different things while brushing off the idea that said antics are a problem since it doesn't give Luna any reason to consider Luan's innocence.
- An Alternate Keitaro Urashima:
- The more Granny Hina tries to manipulate, trick, and force Keitaro to take over the Inn, the more resistant he becomes.
- When the girls attempt to help Hina despite their own misgivings about having a man in charge, they proceed to make horrible impressions on his family.
- When rumors about how violent and explosive Naru is start spreading around her cram school, Naru doesn't do herself any favors with how she confronts Mutsumi.
- Shinobu asks Naru and Mokoto just what would stop Keitaro from evicting them if he became the new manager. Both reply that they'd beat him up... which, as Shinobu points out, would only reinforce why he'd want to evict them.
- Appears several times throughout For His Own Sake:
- After Keitaro ditches his job at the Hinata Inn, Granny Hina tries convincing him to return by revealing that she knew about his Childhood Marriage Promise all along. Instead of tugging on his heartstrings, this only outrages him, as he realizes she'd deliberately withheld critical information and is only telling him now as part of a bid to manipulate him, spurring him to call her out as a self-serving Control Freak.
- How do Naru and Motoko respond to Shinobu declaring that they're nothing more than Barbaric Bullies who constantly use violence to get what they want, and never truly cared about 'protecting' her from so-called perverts, merely using her as an excuse to hurt Keitaro? Motoko slaps her full in the face, then stands by and watches coldly as Naru prepares to beat her senseless.
- When Naru tries convincing Keitaro to come back by revealing just how much things have deteriorated at the Hinata Inn since he left, she insists that it's all his fault, calling him selfish for not wanting to return. Keitaro asks her point-blank why she wants him back if he's such a "horrible person".
- Called before her clan to explain her poor treatment of Keitaro, Motoko proceeds to blame him for everything because 'he's a perverted male'.
- When Seta tries to convince Haruka to marry him, his efforts fall flat — and then Sarah reveals that her adoptive father hired Keitaro as a way to learn more about Haruka and get closer to her. Haruka and Marumi are both disgusted, and he digs himself deeper trying to explain himself.
- When Seta is called into the school to discuss his daughter's tendency to bully others, Sarah proceeds to brag about how much more fun she had at the Hinata Inn, gleefully telling the principal about all the havoc she raised there. Seta's left frantically wishing that she would just shut up, as she is not helping.
- Everything Naru does at Tokyo University falls into this. Not only does she try to defend her attacking a man over an innocent misunderstanding as "just impulse", claiming that it's Keitaro's fault because she's so used to punishing him, she proceeds to attack Keitaro and the wife of the man she assaulted on campus.
- The Babysitting Fiasco: While Marlena knew about Lila thanks to her daughter Alya, she hadn't actually met her until she catches her looking after Chris and the twins when Alya is supposed to be babysitting her little sisters instead, while Chris is supposed to be with his brother Nino. Lila then attempts to talk her way out of trouble, unaware of just how much Marlena already knows; the more she talks, the more convinced Marlena becomes that this girl is trouble. Even her insistence that she doesn't need to be paid for her services only informs Marlena that that's the real reason why Alya was willing to trust her with the kids: she's a cheapskate taking advantage of her friends' generosity.
- Burning Bridges, Building Confidence:
- Having heard all about how her new classmates abandoned and turned upon her cousin Marinette, Cole has no interest in 'making nice' with any of them. Not when they're so firmly in Lila's sway. Lila naturally exploits this to turn them against Cole as well.
- For some reason, Chat decides that the best way to win Ladybug over is by sitting on the sidelines and refusing to help against akuma until she agrees to date him. When this leads to Master Fu choosing a new permanent Miraculous holder so she has a reliable ally, Chat continues to be obstructive, complaining about Vexxin and getting increasingly argumentative.
- After Alya realizes that a new Fox has been chosen, she immediately responds with an attack piece on the Ladyblog accusing her of stealing her Miraculous. Her temper tantrums lead to her getting akumatized and accidentally outing her Secret Identity, which Ladybug points out only proves how she can't be trusted with any Miraculous anymore.
- Following her assaulting Marinette and Cole in class, Alya responds to Principal Damocles questioning if her virulent (and entirely false) accusations towards them give her the right to attack them with a Blunt "Yes". This naturally contributes to her punishment being much harsher.
- Feralnette AU:
- Lila naturally takes advantage of how Marinette Stopped Caring about her social life to slander her further, spreading rumors about her getting into fights and causing trouble outside of school. It doesn't help that Marinette is sporting more bruises thanks to training harder in her spare time and getting involved with fighting akumas while untransformed.
- In Enough Rope, Alya tries to defend Lila by claiming that she 'has trouble with the truth sometime' — unintentionally revealing to Ladybug and Chat Noir that she knows about Lila's supposed 'lying disease', yet has continued using her as a 'trusted source' for her Ladyblog. Ladybug then reads her the riot act for recklessly endangering hundreds of people for the sake of drawing traffic to her blog with 'juicy exclusives', officially blacklisting her.
- I See What You Do Behind Closed Doors:
- The day after Adrien confesses to his girlfriend Marinette that he's Chat Noir, she confronts him over asking Ladybug out on another date. Unaware that they're the same person, Adrien tries to convince her that he was only asking Ladybug out "as a friend", claiming that Ladybug is actually struggling with financial issues in her civilian life. Rather than the intended effect of painting himself as a good, charitable person, he only enrages Marinette further with the Blatant Lies, and she breaks up with him.
- After learning that Lila was, in fact, a liar, Mylene is the first to apologize to Marinette for not believing her. Unfortunately, she does so by saying "I didn't know she was lying, I couldn't've!" Marinette reminds her and everyone else that she warned them, only for them to try defending themselves by claiming they believed she was just jealous of Lila. This only serves to annoy Marinette enough that she completely rejects their apologies, declaring that while she might have been able to forgive them for only hearing what they wanted to hear, their insistence upon blaming her for their own refusal to listen just convinced her that there's no point in doing so.
- Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe: Adrien gets incredibly jealous of other heroes, seeing them as intruding upon his 'special partnership' with Ladybug. Rather than proving his importance by working with Ladybug, however, he doubles down on playing The Millstone, becoming even more of a hindrance during battles as he continues to ignore her wishes in order to force his way into her personal space, amping up his flirting. He further attempts to deal with the other heroes by getting in their way in hopes of stealing their glory, which only serves to highlight how he can't work with anyone, much less his 'partner'.
- Throughout The Karma of Lies, Adrien does an excellent job digging his own metaphorical grave:
- When he asks Marinette "What's the harm in overlooking a few lies to keep everyone happy and friendly?", she retorts that "Because I hurt, and I'm not happy." Adrien completely ignores this, insisting that she's strong enough to handle it. This helps Marinette realize she was Loving a Shadow, completely killing her crush on him and cementing him as untrustworthy.
- After Lila steals from him, he goes to the police to report it, dismissing Officer Raincomprex's advice about consulting the Agreste lawyer or his warnings about how they want to question him about his father's crimes as Hawkmoth. He blithely admits during said interview that he knew that Lila was a Con Artist, but stood by and let her scam his classmates for months. Meaning that even if the police fully believed his testimony rather than suspecting he was trying to throw Lila under the bus, he still just told them he let her hurt his 'friends' and only cares now that he's been victimized.
- Chat Noir missed what turned out to be the Final Battle with Hawkmoth because he was hanging out with his classmates and Lila wouldn't let him leave. Yet he still shows up uninvited to a post-battle interview to joke around and press for a monetary reward for all his service 'protecting Paris'. During said interview, he continues harassing Ladybug about how they're 'meant to be' and tries to argue that Hawkmoth should get a lighter sentence since her Miraculous Cure repaired all the damage and brought back the victims of his akuma. Naturally, this upsets everyone present, making the public much more suspicious about why he missed that last fight.
- In order to 'prove himself', he decides to attack Mayura solo, ignoring Ladybug's attempts to contact and warn him off. This leads to Nathalie stealing the Ring from him when he offers her a hand up — which is caught on camera by those filming the battle, and looks as though he let her take it. Coupled with the revelation that Chat Noir is none other than Adrien Agreste, who's already suspected of potentially helping his father as Hawkmoth, and Chat Noir publicly defending Hawkmoth in the aforementioned interview...
- Alya does some grave-digging of her own. Upon learning that Marinette was Ladybug all along, she immediately tries to buddy up to her 'bestie' while ignoring how she abandoned her in favor of Lila, dismissing that as not her fault. She also makes a scene during that interview upon learning that there's a new Fox Heroine, outing herself as Rena Rouge and demanding 'her' Miraculous back. She and most of Marinette's former friends and classmates also attempt to go over Marinette's head by directly appealing to her parents for help, expecting them to force their daughter to forgive them... only for the Dupain-Chengs to alert their families about the harassment, getting them into even bigger trouble.
- LadyBugOut:
- Right at the start of the AU, Alya's attempts to avoid admitting that Ladybug wasn't happy about the photo she took, as well as how it was taken under extremely sketchy circumstances only serve to affirm to her classmates that she knows how shady her choices are and doesn't want to acknowledge that. Nathaniel even sketches out a spiraling pit, illustrating the hole she's digging herself into.
- Chat Noir thinks that he's caught Ladybug this way when he tries to force her to kiss him, claiming that she's refusing to do so because she wouldn't be able to 'hold back her passion' if they kissed. In reality, he's only making matters worse for himself by proving just how little he respects her wishes.
- Recommencer:
- When Marinette transfers to a new school in order to get away from Lila's Malicious Slander, Lila exploits it by suggesting she left out of guilt over 'bullying and stealing from her'. She then posts those same claims online, nearly causing Marinette to get akumatized over the thought that those lies will follow her wherever she goes.
- Lila's attempts to accuse Marinette of cyberbullying blow up in her face when Principal Achthoven asks to see the offending texts, which don't exist. She claims to have deleted them, only for Achthoven to point out that the Absence of Evidence means nothing can be done about it. Alya then jumps in and attempts to help by claiming she saw the texts, rattling off Marinette's old number... but since she changed it after transferring, this only serves to clear the names of the falsely accused, since the Principal knows that number doesn't belong to any of her students.
- Alya further tries to help Lila by revealing something the other girl told her in secret: that she is Imperatrix, the new Fox Heroine — meaning that the one who helped save everyone must be an imposter! The only serves to further cement both her and Lila as obvious liars, though Alya sincerely believes that she's telling the truth.
- Tales of Karmic Lies Aftermath: When her husband seeks a divorce and custody of their unborn child, Ms. Bustier manages to sabotage herself in several ways:
- Firstly, she selects Marinette and three other former students to serve as Character Witnesses. They find out about this not by being asked, but through being served legal summons out of the blue, completely without warning.
- Bustier specifically selected those four because they're active members of Team Miraculous. When asked, she admits that she's hoping to look good by association, especially since Marinette/Ladybug was her 'star student'. She also admits that she chose not to call any other members of their old class in to avoid 'muddying the waters' by reminding the public of certain controversies those students were involved in.
- She attempts to take credit for Chloé's Character Development, despite having blatantly enabled her bullying by making her victims Turn the Other Cheek and never punishing her for her actions.
- Even after having Marinette and the others spell out just how awful her teaching methods were, she tries appealing to her 'star student' by declaring she intends on naming her child after her and hopes she turns out just like her. Far from being touched, Marinette is horrified at the prospect of her raising her child the same way she treated her.
- In Telling Lies? No, Mama, Lila accuses Marinette of attacking and bullying her. Alya tries to stay neutral, but when she suggests that perhaps Lila simply mistook her attacker for Marinette, Lila accuses Alya of calling her a liar. When Alya tries to defend herself and Marinette, Lila just keeps twisting her words and insisting that Alya is accusing her of lying, to the point where Alya finally catches on that Lila is actively trying to make Marinette look like a bully. From then on, Alya is fully on Marinette’s side against Lila.
- Two Letters: Alya has major issues with this:
- As part of a plan to expose the new Ladybug as a Sketchy Successor, Alya showed up to an akuma fight disguised as Chat Noir. She then attempted to film everything that was unfolding on her phone as 'evidence', only for this to be Caught on Tape by the media. The new Ladybug ended up shielding her from an attack, then limped around after the battle, pleading with the public to remember that her Secret Identity had to remain secret, and to not get involved with akumas 'just to get clips for social media'. Her words, combined with Alya's past and present behavior, convinced Paris that the Ladyblogger had been trying to unmask the heroine just for the sake of an 'exclusive scoop'.
- Alya's pleas for Marinette to help clear her name are undermined by her complete inability to understand why Marinette is so upset with her. Even when Marinette reveals how betrayed she felt by Alya telling Nino that she was Rena Furtive, Alya cluelessly asks why she cares about that. Marinette then extensively and exhaustively spells out exactly why that matters so much, only for Alya to keep downplaying its severity by insisting "Everyone makes mistakes!"
- This also applies to Alix/Bunnyx, who attempts to force Marinette out of retirement by manipulating, intimidating, and guilt-tripping her. When it becomes clear that these methods have only strengthened Marinette's resolve to stay out of the fight, they call her a "selfish bitch" and mock her desire for a happy, normal life...and remain perplexed at how none of this is working.
- What Goes Around Comes Around:
- Once Adrien realizes that none of his classmates agree that Hawk Moth shouldn't be seriously punished for his crimes, he appeals to Marinette, claiming that she should support him just like how he supported her with Lila. Not only is he blatantly lying, as his 'support' entailed standing by and letting Lila scam their classmates and trash Marinette's reputation, he repeats his insistence that it didn't matter so long as they both knew she was lying... in front of their friends. Suffice to say, they're all horrified and furious that he kept his silence and let them all be victimized for so long.
- When Paris is being menaced by Catastrophe's Doomsday Tank, Alya tries to convince her parents to let her go outside because she was Rena Rouge. After they refuse, she pleads that she's got to at least get footage for her Ladyblog in order to repair her reputation...only further cementing how skewed her priorities are. Her mother also reminds her that the reason Lila's lies damaged her credibility is because she posted them without fact-checking.
- The Wolves in the Woods:
- Kagami starts to realize that Adrien wasn't who she thought he was when he attempts to pin all the blame for their recent woes on Marinette, complaining that the others wouldn't have turned on her if she hadn't tried warning them about Lila. Adrien asserts that things would've been different if he'd only known about Marinette's crush on him, forgetting that he's currently dating Kagami... and then he compounds the issue by angrily blurting out that the only reason he dated Kagami in the first place was her resemblance to Ladybug.
- Chat Noir isn't fond of other heroes being active in Paris, as he thinks that detracts from how special his 'partnership' with Ladybug is. Not that he bothers taking his duties as a superhero seriously, too concerned with harassing 'his Lady'. When the Iberian Heroes reveal themselves, he immediately blames Ladybug, whirling on her demanding to know why she brought them in (despite her not being involved), and demonstrates that he's willing to try and KILL the newcomers when they intervene, none of which convinces anyone present that he's a worthy hero.
- Alya tries to convince the rest of the class to help her ruin the reputations of Marinette's new friends at St. Catherine's by revealing what she's 'dug up' about them...including lots of private information. Her Moral Myopia and utter Lack of Empathy, as she suggests that somebody being Delicate and Sickly and another being homeless are proof that they're 'lame replacements', rub the rest of the class the wrong way.
- She also shows them information about other students at Lila's past schools who got expelled; however, these "victims" already had behavioral problems before Lila arrived, and were expelled for assaulting her. Which doesn't exactly help her make her case that Lila is evil incarnate.
- Happens to Adrien several times throughout this Accusation Fic:
- Firstly, Adrien attempts to punish Marinette for standing up for herself by painting her as a bully that slapped him "for no reason", leaving out the part where she only did so because he'd been gripping her wrist hard enough to leave marks behind. His efforts to convince Marinette to support his side of the story as her side comes out only succeed in turning the class against him.
- When Nino claims that Adrien was just trying to defend Lila, Felix asks him "Tell me, when did he ever defend you from Bourgeois? Or anyone, for that matter?" Not long afterwards, Felix shuts down Chloé's attempt to continue slandering Marinette by reminding her of the Trainstopping incident that accompanied her debut as Queen Bee, causing her to storm out in a huff; Adrien immediately chastises Felix for being "mean", with Felix countering that he's defending her nearly murdering several innocents:Felix: Though that seems to be the norm for you. You stood up for Bourgeois just now so easily. Where was this capability when it came to helping Dupain-Cheng? Or Lahiffe? Or literally anyone else?
- Challenged to publicly pick a side once and for all, Adrien attempts to Take a Third Option by declaring that he just wanted to protect Lila from Marinette without clarifying whether or not the former was actually lying. This only proves to Marinette that he was never truly on her side; when she sadly repeats his words of encouragement from the Chameleon incident, Lila leaps upon the Exact Words and convinces the class that Adrien lied about her being a liar, making Alya and the others mad at him for manipulating Marinette with blatant falsehoods.
- Erased Potential:
- Toshinori sets off Izuku's 'stranger danger' with how he approaches him, and his poor choice of words just keeps making matters worse. Once Aizawa arrives in response to Izuku's distress call, Toshinori fails to read the room or pick up on the dangerous vibes coming off of the underground hero.
- When Tenya starts expressing his doubts about Izuku's ability to pursue his chosen path safely, Izuku cuts him off, warning him that saying "I don't mean to overstep" signals that he knows he's about to overstep. Tenya refuses to take them out and back off, which only serves to make Izuku more annoyed with him.
- When Izuku tells Nedzu that he just wants an apology for how he manipulated and used him, Nedzu initially pretends that he didn't hear him, followed by a non-apology that makes clear he has no regrets or remorse at all. This spurs Aizawa to threaten to quit outright, with Hizashi and Toshinori backing him up.
- Following the USJ incident, Nedzu tries to gloss over what happened by suggesting that the attack was 'a valuable learning experience', refusing to acknowledge how many students were injured. This only serves to infuriate Inko and other aggrieved parents.
- Failure to Explode: After Katsuki doesn't make it into U.A.'s Hero Course, his Big Jerk on Campus status at Aldera is summarily revoked; they can't leech off of fame and success he doesn't have, so they start punishing him for his Barbaric Bullying. When his mother angrily confronts him, he insists that he was never punished for going after Deku before; naturally, this isn't the surefire defense he thinks it is, only serving to make Mitsuki madder.
- Green Tea Rescue: While Saito's grudge against Toga isn't unfounded given their history, he doesn't do himself any favors when he confronts her, declaring outright that her parents should have killed her when she was born. When she apologizes, Saito tells her that if she really wants to make up for her crimes, she should kill herself, and proceeds to assault her in front of a crowd of reporters, even gassing Midoriya when he leaps to her defense. As a result, Saito only succeeds in making himself look like a villain; even Chitose declares that he went too far and lost control.
- Bakugo in Izuku Midoriya the Rabbit takes offense to Izuku claiming to have trained him to be his "Pet Human". In response, Izuku taps on Bakugo's leg (something he does when he wants a carrot stick), and the behavior has become so ingrained in Bakugo that he does it without thinking, somewhat proving Izuku's point.
- Mean Rabbit:
- The morning after the Assessment Test, Izuku thinks about how he needs to smooth things over with his classmates. Unfortunately, the first words that come out of his mouth are "We better not have a problem today."
- Several of the students who blame Izuku for causing their expulsion scare act incredibly unheroic at the USJ, showing a complete lack of discipline, teamwork, or regard for others. Their behavior is so bad that two get expelled for real as a direct result.
- Aizawa insists that he's treating Izuku with Tough Love in order to prepare him for the discrimination he'll face as a Quirkless Hero. He proceeds to actively sabotage his performance at the Sports Festival, targeting him to the point that he throws a fit when he can't convince any of the students who were eliminated in the tournament to step up and serve as his opponent after a double elimination gives him a free pass to the next round.
- Reality Check (MHA): Shinsou believes everyone in his class unfairly judges him for having a "villainous quirk" and that's why they avoid him. He completely misses that he's a remarkably unpleasant individual and he uses his quirk on them whenever it's convenient.
- With Confidence: When Izuku calls out the Pro Heroes who chose not to act against the Sludge Villain, Death Arms attempts to defend himself, only to fall headlong into this. Izuku counters his insistence that hostage situations are delicate by pointing out that the Sludge Villain was suffocating Katsuki, making it a murder attempt. Death Arms then tries to claim that it was just a bad Quirk match-up and that it was better to wait for backup; Izuku replies by declaring that this means he can't be relied upon to do his job if he sees citizens in trouble. Izuku also points out his Skewed Priorities when he notices the film crew, addressing his mom and noting that Death Arms considered it more important to lecture him than to ensure he wasn't injured or in shock. Then Mitsuki shows up, announcing herself as the mother of the boy he refused to save and demanding to know why she wasn't contacted.
- Words May Hurt: When Katsuki protests being punished for misusing his gauntlets during the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, he insists that the only reason he used such excessive force is because of who he was fighting. Nobody is impressed.Katsuki: I only did that because it was Deku!
Midnight: I need you to really understand that isn't a good or defensible argument. Actually, it just further proves Commission concerns about the possibility you'd do that again as being right.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Bitter Tears: An Anon-A-Miss Fic: While debating internally with herself, Sunset asserts that she's not crazy, only for the voice she's arguing against to note that she's arguing with a voice inside her head. She begrudgingly concedes the point.
- It's A Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Door:
- When Rarity declares that she's not interested in learning how to teleport, Pinkie cheerfully pipes up with all the nasty accidents that could've happened. Twilight adds that accidents are rare; this doesn't help.
- Dash is rude and brash to the Dale Guard, making a scene at the dining hall. While her snappiness is understandable given how they were less than welcoming, her hostile behavior doesn't help endear her to anyone.
- Loved and Lost, an extended retelling of "A Canterlot Wedding" has a few examples.
- After Twilight Sparkle has stopped the Changelings by shrinking them, Prince Jewelius calls all the other heroes out of their canon mistakes — like failing to realize "Princess Cadance" was actually Queen Chrysalis in disguise and refusing to believe Twilight about her — while the wedding guests and some guards are present. Taken aback by the previously mild-mannered prince's aggressiveness, the heroes are unable to properly defend themselves against his impudent accusations of them being foolish and selfish. He then makes a speech to the ponies in Canterlot's streets, ending it with a vow to rectify the collateral damage the heroes' mistakes caused them. At this point, Celestia tells the shaken heroes to run. Not only does the escape attempt fail, but it also gives serious plausibility to Jewelius' slander about the heroes, so when the guards subdue Celestia and the other heroes on Jewelius' orders, the wedding guests do nothing to help them.
- The only defense Celestia herself offers against Jewelius' accusations is the claim that everything would have been solved differently if Twilight had only presented her accusations against Chrysalis calmly and gathered evidence to back them up. Unfortunately, this choice of wordsnote gives the impression that she's trying to blame Twilight for everything. As Jewelius correctly (if one-sidedly) makes clear, the franticness and lack of evidence on Twilight's part were neither the beginning of nor the only factors in the events leading up to the invasion taking place.
- When the heroes are captured by Jewelius' forces and brought out to be berated by Canterlot's citizens who feel betrayed by their former protectors, their attempts to warn everypony about Jewelius being The Sociopath who convinced the Changelings to attack Canterlot in the first place not only fall on deaf ears, but only succeed at making them even more scorned upon because the citizens have more faith in their new king whom the prisoners appear to be attacking than in the prisoners themselves. And just before that, when Twinkleshine calls the disgraced heroes out on not caring about her, Minuette and Lyra's disappearance, Shining Armor thoughtlessly rubs salt in the wound:Twinkleshine: We went missing! Didn't anypony besides Twilight find that suspicious? Didn't anypony try to look for us? Why would none of you think to look into that?!
Shining Armor: She said she fired you all because you were only interested in meeting Canterlot royalty.
Twinkleshine: (gets extremely offended) How could you believe that lie? I never did anything to anypony!
Twinkleshine bursts into tears, and Shining Armor is booed at by the now absolutely livid citizens who've sided with the three mares.
Shining Armor: I didn't mean to hurt her feelings!
Twilight: But you did! Just like me. - The below exchange is a smaller case of this that happens to Jewelius himself after the fugitives and the Changeling army both escape from Canterlot, when Fancy Pants gets into an argument with him about dealing with the renewed Changeling threat which the public now considers a far bigger concern than the escaped fugitives whom Jewelius is obsessed with punishing to the point of ignoring said army.
- After Twilight Sparkle has stopped the Changelings by shrinking them, Prince Jewelius calls all the other heroes out of their canon mistakes — like failing to realize "Princess Cadance" was actually Queen Chrysalis in disguise and refusing to believe Twilight about her — while the wedding guests and some guards are present. Taken aback by the previously mild-mannered prince's aggressiveness, the heroes are unable to properly defend themselves against his impudent accusations of them being foolish and selfish. He then makes a speech to the ponies in Canterlot's streets, ending it with a vow to rectify the collateral damage the heroes' mistakes caused them. At this point, Celestia tells the shaken heroes to run. Not only does the escape attempt fail, but it also gives serious plausibility to Jewelius' slander about the heroes, so when the guards subdue Celestia and the other heroes on Jewelius' orders, the wedding guests do nothing to help them.
- In Black Flames Dance in the Wind: Rise of Naruto, two minor characters are talking in the aftermath of an attack on Konoha that left its inhabitants trapped in an illusion facing their worst fears, often leading to them killing each other. One of them, Tetsuya, found his wife and brother dead at each other's hands and worse, they'd been having sex beforehand. When he calls out the other shinobi, Shinnosuke, on the fact he knew about the affair that had been going on for two years, Shinnosuke tries to justify himself that first he kept quiet because Tetsuya's wife offered a night of sex. Then he kept quiet because they blackmailed him over it. The real problem comes from him deciding that if he's already forced to keep an affair from his friend, he might as well join in. Yes, he tried to justify having an affair with his friend's wife for two years.
- Word of God says the conversation is based on an actual argument he'd heard in real life.
- When rumors spread of Sakura's mother Barako sabotaging her own child, a kunoichi neighbor decides to visit her to see if the rumors are true in the First Try Series. Barako digs herself deeper when she talks about forcing Sakura on a diet when she got too muscular, how she didn't believe Iruka's advice because he was friends with Naruto, and was "helped" by Mizuki, who told her exactly what she wanted to hear. The neighbor leaves the Haruno residence disgusted and driven to drink.
- Advice and Trust: Every time Asuka tries to convince Misato that she and Shinji are mature enough to be sleeping with each other, she ends up saying something sexual (usually about the wonderful things Shinji can do with his hands).
- At one point in Forewarned is Forearmed, Akira accuses Ichiro Hoshino of beating his own daughter. Hoshino responds by attacking Akira in full view of police officer Dojima. As it turned out, Akira was aiming for this response, as Hoshino being arrested for assaulting a minor would give the police a reason to remove his daughter from his custody.
- Recovery None: When York and South are held at gunpoint by a paranoid Wash, who's convinced that they've come to Blood Gulch to harm the Reds and Blues, York tries talking him down. South, on the other hand, abrasively snarks and goads him, even daring him to try shooting her.
- This is used to the point of a Running Gag for South Dakota in Stress Relief. Whenever she does something reckless, rude, or childish, she'll usually be denying it while simultaneously doing something that confirms the accusation. This is lampshaded in both the narration and by other characters.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness:
- Just about every time someone tries to lecture her about her Hair-Trigger Temper, Arial ends up blowing her stack.
- In Act III chapter 24, while explaining the reasons behind their Jerkass actions in the previous chapter, Apoch and Astreal insist that they didn't mean to be so cruel. Rrrright; they threaten the gang, blow up Felucia, lie to Ms. Nekonome to get the girls sent to the headmaster's office for simply asking them why they were mistreating Yukari, and try to kill Yukari right in front of God and everybody, and then say that they didn't mean to act like such bitches. So convincing.
- In the first few chapters of Act VI, while escaping from the HDA compound, Moka and co. are forced to fight back against the soldiers, even killing some of them; the group even acknowledges that it doesn't help their claims of peace, even if they had no choice but to fight back.
- In Act VI chapter 42, tensions between Kokoa and Sun over Gin reach their boiling point, leading Kokoa to power up and punch Sun clean through a wall and then chase her and Felucia through Fang Fang's villa in an Unstoppable Rage. It's subsequently discovered in chapter 44 that Kokoa's attack fractured Sun's skull and ruptured her eyes, and she would have destroyed Sun's head completely had she hit her any harder. Kokoa is instantly horrified and swears she didn't mean to hit her so hard. Considering that she had previously tried to murder Sun outright in a fit of jealousy back in chapter 11, as well as her actions in the aforementioned chapter 42, the others point out that Kokoa's claim rings a bit hollow:Kokoa: I'm sorry, Gin. I didn't mean to hurt her so badly.
Felucia: You were chasing me in the halls to slaughter her in your rage. To an observer, it would seem like you were trying to kill her. - In Act VI chapter 47, when Tsurara tells Ageha that she looks like "a whore off the street," it leads to this exchange:Ageha: How dare you group me with those inexperienced and trashy sluts that claim they know how to satisfy a man. I'll have you know that I've slept with greater and more powerful men than you ever will!
Tsurara: And that defends you against my statement of you being a whore how?
- Pyrrha tries to prove she's more than just the "Invincible Girl" in Service with a Smile but even though Glynda suggests she throw a fight, Pyrrha has such a strong competitive streak that she always goes all out, beating even full teams by herself.
- White Sheep (RWBY): Qrow gropes Sapphire, Jaune's eldest sister (though Qrow doesn't know that) during a fight. When Sapphire screams and calls him a pervert, Qrow insists that he thought she was just a mindless Humanoid Abomination, not intelligent. It's repeatedly pointed out that this isn't really better.
- Young Boba Fett's insistence on being treated like an adult in An Open Secret isn't helped by him ordering what's basically a Kid's Meal when his cadre hit a drive-thru. Cad Bane mockingly asks if it comes with a toy.
