Basic Trope: A character rants about (or otherwise insults) another character, with said character being present, often without their knowledge.
- Straight: Bob is ranting to Alan about how Carol has an extremely obnoxious voice. Carol turns out to be standing right behind Bob, and slaps him.
- Exaggerated: Bob goes on a looooooooong rant to Alan about how Carol is a failure at life who should have been aborted while staring at Carol the whole time.
- Downplayed:
- Bob says something about Carol that can be interpreted very badly. Since Carol and Bob aren't exactly friendly with each other, Carol becomes somewhat offended.
- Carol doesn't hear it all, but she hears enough to know that Bob is insulting him. She just doesn't know what he was talking about.
- The conversation was overheard by Danielle, who is a friend of Carol's and would tell on Bob.
- Justified:
- Carol doesn't want to interrupt, instead waiting for Bob to realize that she's standing right there, making it even more awkward.
- Bob is ranting loudly enough to get Carol's attention and won't stop long enough for her or Alan to get a word in edgewise.
- Inverted:
- Bob talks to Alan about how Carol is an amazing human being, but she immediately walks out.
- Bob actually hopes Carol will hear his furious rant about her, but she is nowhere in sight.
- Subverted:
- Carol is deaf, and thus has no idea what Bob said.
- Bob is speaking in a different language.
- After Alan's shocked expression Bob nervously looks behind himself and Carol is not there. Alan was just shocked that Bob would talk badly about Carol period.
- Double Subverted:
- However, she is extremely skilled at lip-reading.
- Bilingual Backfire
- After not spotting Carol, Bob continues his rant until Carol shows up for real.
- Parodied:
- Bob continues to rant even though all of his friends are giving him awkward/worried stares. Bob doesn't get the hint.
- Bob eventually notices Carol, and politely greets her like nothing happened. When that doesn't work, he tries to play it off with a "Just Joking" Justification. Carol promptly beats the shit out of him.
- Carol is shocked, not by what Bob just said but how she got into the room in the first place. Saying anything bad about Carol will summon her.
- Zig-Zagged Carol is actually deaf, but is very skilled at lip-reading, however, she wasn't really paying attention.
- Averted: Bob does not complain about Carol, or if he does, he makes damn sure that she's nowhere in sight.
- Enforced: The writers know that everyone hates Bob, so they add a rather awkward moment where he gets what's coming to him.
- Lampshaded:Bob: I just can't fucking stand her! She's so anno- Oh, hi Carol!*Carol gives him a Death Glare*Bob: Uh oh...
- Invoked:
- Bob goes on a rant knowing very well that his target is there, to rile them up.
- Alan is annoyed at Carol and wants her to know but wouldn't dare criticise her to face - so he convinces Bob to share such feelings as well, who has fewer reservations then such.
- Exploited:
- Bob realizes that Carol is behind him, and decides to further insult her by saying how predictable she is.
- Bob is trying to find Carol, so starts insulting her, then turns around to see Carol behind him.
- Defied:
- Bob's friend(s) immediately warn him to shut the hell up.
- Bob is about to start ranting but stops himself out of awareness of the trope, and settles with getting his anger out of his system non-verbally.
- Discussed:Bob: Ugh, where did Carol go this time?
Alice: Worst case scenario you could try trashtalking her. That always seems to get people like her out of hiding. - Conversed: "Oh for crying out loud... Bob has Super-Hearing, shouldn't he have noticed her entering the room?!"
- Deconstructed: Rather than being offended, Carol is deeply hurt and runs away crying. Meanwhile, Bob's friend all angrily storm out to comfort Carol, while Bob slowly comes to the realization that he just lost all of his friends in a timespan of less than 30 seconds.
- Reconstruced: Bob profusely apologizes, complete with an Apology Gift. He eventually earns Carol's forgiveness, and wins his friends back.
- Played For Laughs:
- Bob's facial expression slowly turns more and more worried, and he starts talking more slowly as he realizes how screwed he is.
- Bob tries to explain to Carol, and makes it even worse for himself.
- Played For Drama: Carol is known as a Nice Girl, and her rant against Bob implies that he's really done it this time.
- Played For Horror: Carol is so utterly offended, she gets physical with Bob.
Back to Right Behind Me.
