History Main / DuckSeasonRabbitSeason

'''Bugs:''' ''[In Elmer-style hunting clothes with a gun]'' Shh! Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting Elmers.\\
'''Daffy:''' ''[In Elmer-style hunting clothes with a gun]'' Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny[[note]]Actually WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker in disguise[[/note]] does this to WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd in an attempt to entice him to play ''The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2''.

'''Fake Umpire:''' Out!\\
'''Bugs:''' Safe!\\
'''Fake Umpire:''' Out!\\
'''Bugs:''' Safe!\\
'''Fake Umpire:''' Out!\\
'''Bugs:''' Safe! Out!\\
'''Fake Umpire:''' Safe!\\
'''Bugs:''' Out!\\
'''Fake Umpire:''' Safe!\\
'''Bugs:''' Out!\\

** It's named after the "Duck season! Rabbit season!" argument in the short ''WesternAnimation/RabbitFire''. The exchange above is only the first part of a very funny gag. It's a combination of the normal trope as well as the "light switch" variant -- Bugs and Daffy are actually pushing the barrel gun towards each other every time they say their line. When Bugs says "rabbit season," he also takes the barrel and pushes it towards Daffy, but then quickly back towards himself. When Daffy says "duck season," he points the gun back at himself.

** In another Cartoon Network. commercial, a man tried to use this when his boss was firing him. After a minute of "No I'm not," "Yes you are," the man finally switched to "Yes I am." Unfortunately, it didn't work and the boss replied with "Yes ... you are." The {{Tagline}}: "[[RealityEnsues You are not Bugs Bunny.]]"

* Tends to happen in arguments ([[{{GIFT}} especially on the internet]]) where one or both sides aren't entirely sure what their ''own'' position is; they just know that the other guy's wrong. The point at issue takes second place to the reflexive contradiction until you see someone shift their own argument 180 degrees without even noticing.

* ''WesternAnimation/FerngullyTheLastRainforest'' has a moment between Batty Coda and Zak when the former is looking for sympathy, but only wants it to be sincere; Zak tests his resolve.

* ''WesternAnimation/FerngullyTheLastRainforest'' has a moment between Batty Coda and Zak when the former is looking for sympathy, but only wants it to be sincere; Zak tests his resolve.
-->'''Batty:''' Nobody cares about me.\\
'''Zak:''' I do, Bat-man!\\
'''Batty:''' You sure?\\
'''Zak:''' I'm positive.\\
'''Batty:''' Only fools are positive.\\
'''Zak:''' Are you sure?\\
'''Batty:''' I'm ''positive!'' ({{beat}}) I ''fell'' for it! [[LampshadeHanging I should have known]]!

-->'''Garfield:''' If you can't beat 'em, trick 'em.

* The first episode of ''LightNovel/SeitokaiNoIchizon'' uses this with Kurimu stamping approval forms and Ken saying "UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}}" (which she is) every time she says "approved." Then he switches.

** In "The Fair-Haired Hare", Yosemite Sam builds a cabin on top of Bugs's property, which leads Bugs to take his case to the highest court in the country [[LiteralMetaphor which is 6,723 feet above sea level]]. The judge declares a {{tontine}}-like situation that Bugs and Sam will share the property, and if either one passes on, the survivor inherits the property. Sam schemes to hasten Bugs's demise, and after he fails to hit Bugs on the head with a mallet, he prepares two glasses of carrot juice, [[SlippingAMickey trying to serve a Mickey Finn-style carrot juice laced with poison]]. After Bugs [[PoisonedChaliceSwithcheroo spins the table several times to switch the glasses around]], Yosemite Sam orders Bugs to drink up, and Bugs insists that Sam drinks his carrot juice first, and the poisoned juice knocks Sam through the roof.

** In "The Fair-Haired Hare", Yosemite Sam builds a cabin on top of Bugs's property, which leads Bugs to take his case to the highest court in the country [[LiteralMetaphor which is 6,723 feet above sea level]]. The judge declares a {{tontine}}-like situation that Bugs and Sam will share the property, and if either one passes on, the survivor inherits the property. Sam schemes to hasten Bugs's demise, and after he fails to hit Bugs on the head with a mallet, he prepares two glasses of carrot juice, [[SlippingAMickey trying to serve a Mickey Finn-style carrot juice laced with poison]]. After Bugs spins the table several times to switch the glasses around, Yosemite Sam orders Bugs to drink up, and Bugs insists that Sam drinks his carrot juice first, and the poisoned juice knocks Sam through the roof.

* In ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max Season One]]'', [[spoiler:in order to defeat an evil hypnotist, you take turns giving orders to his hypnotized minions, and have to trick him into saying "No, attack me!"]]
** The trick is giving the order "Worship me!", which provokes Brady Culture into bawling "No, worship ''me!''"; following this up immediately with [[spoiler:"Attack me!"]] will prompt the attention freak into yelling the order that gets him beaten up.
** There are a couple of variants in the "Do You Have Any...?" RunningGag. In "Situation Comedy", you ask British Bosco for a few random things, before asking "Do you have any ketchup?" He reflexively answers "No," before correcting himself. This is then subverted in "Reality 2.0" when you ask half-Elf Bosco if he has any self-respect. He answers "No," before admitting that he did understand the question, "all too well."
** Used and Lampshaded in "The City that Dares Not Sleep", where you trick Sammun-Mak into opening the Moleman Processing Room by saying "Rabbit Season" at the right moment.
* Used in the last "boss" of the ''VideoGame/BlazingDragons'' adventure game. Flicker uses his first invention, the clicker (which was pointless for the whole game) to trick the evil wizard into exploding the transformed robotic evil dragon king, which they were inside at the time. Because the sound of the clicker was exactly the same sound as the switch on the self-destruct mechanism.

* Creator/AlanMoore claims to have done this in promoting ''Comicbook/LostGirls'':

* ''WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels'': The kings of Lilliput and Blefuscu disagree about whether the song "Faithful" or "Forever" will be played at the wedding, starting the war between them.
--> '''Little''': "Faithful" has always been played at our weddings.
--> '''Bombo''': Twaddle. Absolute twaddle. It must be "Forever".
--> '''Little''': Faithful.
--> '''Bombo''': (his crown flying up, and landing back on his head) Forever!!!
--> '''Little''': (squeaky voice) Faithful.
--> '''Bombo''': (his face going up in flames) It will be Forever, or there will be no wedding.
--> '''Little''': No wedding? Oh, but the cake, and the pretty flowers... (dances and sings "faithful")
--> '''Bombo''': IT'S WAR!!!! (Smashes the wedding cake, and storms out)

-->'''Patrick:''' Tee-hee-hee! Daffy Duck's animosity towards the Bugs Bunny character is so intense, that he fails to see when Bugs has presented him an opportunity for victory! Instead of... of maintaining an awareness of the words being used, Daffy's rage is so blinding that he frames his statements in pure contrariness to Bugs', which results in his getting '''shot in the face! AHAHA!''' Had he been less angry, he might have acted on Bugs Bunny saying "Rabbit season," but he too strongly conflated his desire to disagree with his opponent and his desire to defeat him! And it was that very desire to disagree that prevented him from fulfilling his goal of outwitting Bugs Bunny, and in doing so saving himself from harm! The irony is staggering! Ahahahahahahaha!

* A discussion between Tigger and Piglet on a ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' animated series went through one of these reversals on whether a story was taking place at dawn or midnight. (For some reason, it wound up on "Evening" after this reversal.)

** Another variant between Jon and Liz happens in [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2020/05/17 the May 17, 2020 strip]], this time involving what they should do on their date. Jon wants to go see a monster movie, while Liz wants to go to a craft fair and wins the argument by saying "Monster Movie" to trick Jon into replying with "Craft Fair".

* The UrExample may be Creator/LaurelAndHardy film ''Film/SonsOfTheDesert'' (1933). Ollie is arguing with his wife over whether he's going to spend the weekend attending a fraternity convention with Stanley or take her camping in the mountains. During the course of the argument, something like this pops up, though it's uncertain whether this is a deliberate trick on Ollie's part or something he inadvertently stumbles upon in his flustered state. It doesn't work, at any rate.

-->'''Mrs. Hardy:''' That's just what I said, that you're not going to the mountains, that you're going to the ... that you're going to the mountains!

'''Peter:''' Darn, that trick always worked for WesternAnimation/BugsBunny...

** A variant in [[https://garfield.com/comic/1991/10/13 one]] strip:

** Another variant between Jon and Liz happens in [[https://garfield.com/comic/2020/05/17 the May 17, 2020 strip]], this time involving what they should do on their date. Jon wants to go see a monster movie, while Liz wants to go to a craft fair and wins the argument by saying "Monster Movie" to trick Jon into replying with "Craft Fair".

** And then finally {{subverted}} in the {{revival}} film ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' when Daffy leaves Warner Bros. and Bugs and Elmer are forced to do this routine without him. It doesn't go well for Bugs.

-->'''Moore:''' If we’d have come out and said, "Well, this is a work of art," they would have probably all said, "No it's not, it's pornography." So because we're saying, "This is pornography," they're saying, "No it's not, it's art," and people don't realise quite what they've said.

[[folder:Advertising season]]

** In another Creator/CartoonNetwork commercial, a man tried to use this when his boss was firing him. After a minute of "No I'm not," "Yes you are," the man finally switched to "Yes I am." Unfortunately, it didn't work and the boss replied with "Yes ... you are." The {{Tagline}}: "[[RealityEnsues You are not Bugs Bunny.]]"

[[folder:Anime and Manga season]]

[[folder:Audio Play season]]

[[folder:Comic Book season]]

[[folder:Fan Fic season]]

[[folder:Film season]]

[[folder:{{Literature}} season]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV season]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comic season]]
* Parodied in ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', with a strip featuring Jason and Peter arguing in a movie rental store:
-->'''Jason:''' I think we should get ''Film/AlienResurrection''.\\
'''Peter:''' I think we should get ''Film/AustinPowers''.\\
'''Jason:''' Alien!\\
'''Peter:''' Austin!\\
'''Jason:''' Alien!\\
'''Peter:''' Austin!\\
'''Jason:''' Alien!\\
'''Peter:''' Alien! So you're now supposed to say...\\
'''Jason:''' Ah, good. We agree.\\
'''Peter:''' Darn, that trick always worked for WesternAnimation/BugsBunny...
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}''
** A variant in [[https://garfield.com/comic/1991/10/13 one]] strip:
-->'''Jon:''' So Liz, how's the cat?
-->'''Liz:''' Fine.
-->'''Jon:''' How's the dog?
-->'''Liz:''' Fine.
-->'''Jon:''' And how are you?
-->'''Liz:''' Fine.
-->'''Jon:''' Okay if I pay by check?
-->'''Liz:''' Fine.
-->'''Jon:''' How about a date?
-->'''Liz:''' Fine.
-->'''Jon:''' [[BigYes YES! YESSSSS!]]
-->'''Liz:''' ''That's cheating!''
-->'''Garfield:''' If you can't beat 'em, trick 'em.
** Another variant between Jon and Liz happens in [[https://garfield.com/comic/2020/05/17 the May 17, 2020 strip]], this time involving what they should do on their date. Jon wants to go see a monster movie, while Liz wants to go to a craft fair and wins the argument by saying "Monster Movie" to trick Jon into replying with "Craft Fair".

[[folder:Pinball season]]
* Referenced in ''[[Pinball/BugsBunnysBirthdayBall Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball]]'', where the sides of the cabinet include a sign reading "Pinball [-(Rabbit)-] Season Open".

[[folder:Tabletop Game season]]
* ''Analects Acme'', an April edition of ''d20 Weekly'''s spellbook column ''Analects Arcane'', described the ''Tooninomicon'', a grimoire created by a ''TabletopGame/{{d20 Modern}}'' mage who tapped into the power of cartoons to create Looney Tunes based spells. One of them was ''control argument'', which guarantees that the person you're arguing with will fall for this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre season]]

[[folder:Video Game season]]
* In ''VideoGame/JimmyNeutronVsJimmyNegatron,'' the Herminator and Jimmy Neutron argue who Jimmy's last name is. Jimmy yells "Negatron", while Hermin yells "Neutron" and they switch it so Hermin believes he is talking to Jimmy Negatron.
* In ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max Season One]],'' [[spoiler:in order to defeat an evil hypnotist, you take turns giving orders to his hypnotized minions, and have to trick him into saying "No, attack me!"]]

[[folder:Web Comic season]]
* ''[[Webcomic/EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]]'' [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/09/02/episode-738-completely-original/ did a variant]] during a WhosOnFirst story.

[[folder:Web Original season]]

* Narrowly avoided [[http://www.sir-toby.com/extend-a-story/story-1/code/read.php?episode=70345 here]].

[[folder:Western Animation season]]
* WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, being the Trope Namer, has several examples of this:

[[folder:Real Life season]]
* The Harlem Globetrotters use this gag.

*** There's [[RuleOfThree one more iteration]], ''Duck! Rabbit, Duck!'' in which Daffy completely [[SanitySlippage goes off the deep end]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pChZeIE_3o leading to this climax]] that has even Elmer flummoxed.
---->'''Daffy Duck:''' Shoot me again! I enjoy it! I love the smell of burnt feathers, and gunpowder, and cordite! I'm an elk! Shoot me, go on! It's elk season! I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me? It's fiddler crab season!
*** By this point Elmer is so confused that he asks a park ranger who happens by what season it ''really'' is. The reply sends ''him'' off the deep end.
---->'''Ranger (really Bugs Bunny):''' Why certainly, my boy! It's ''baseball'' season!