History TheBigBangTheory / SeasonTwelve

* RealityEnsues: Being an InsufferableGenius Sheldon has managed to piss off even scientists he respects, and as such when he is looking to gain favor for a Nobel Prize nomination he has few allies in the scientific community.

* GuineaPigFamily: In "The Conference Valuation", Sheldon brings a book of science experiments to perform on babies so they could try them out on Howard's kids. This reminds Leonard of the way his mother did psychological experiments on him, and she calls her about it. Beverly reveals that [[spoiler:the experiments are still ongoing.]]
(The book, by the way, was Amy's way of getting Sheldon interested in having children.)

* TemptingFate: PlayedForLaughs in "The VCR Illumination" when Leonard, Penny, Sheldon, and Amy give a VikingFuneral (see below). Amy expresses doubt about its safety, so Leonard assures her that it is, since it's in a bathtub filled with water. [[spoiler:Barely a second after Leonard's statement, the curtains are set on fire, prompting the "funeral attendants" to throw bathtub water at the curtains to put out the fire.]]

* WriteWhoYouKnow: InUniverse. Bernadette overhears Howard tell Halley a story about how he was scared of the dark while at the ISS and writes it down as "The Scared Little Astronaut". She has Stuart illustrate it and a publisher friend of his wants to sell it. Unfortunately, Howard isn't keen on having that part of him made public and wants to rewrite it as him fighting aliens.

* RhetoricalRequestBlunder: When Amy is too busy with her own work to help Sheldon with super asymmetry in "The Planetarium Collision", she says she wishes she didn't have to work. Sheldon them convinces President Siebert to remove Amy from her project, which naturally makes her very upset.

* PaintballEpisode: "The Paintball Scattering", where the guys and girls get together to play.

* TakesAThirdOption: Leonard is put in charge of deciding who to give excess grant money to. Instead of choosing one of three eligible recipients (Raj, Kripke and a woman working with crows), he instead [[spoiler:uses the grant money on himself and gets a high-powered laser. That way, all three hate him, but he still gets a new laser.]]

* AsHimself: "The D&D Vortex", along with recurrers Creator/WilWheaton and Creator/KevinSmith, also includes Creator/WilliamShatner, Creator/JoeManganiello, and Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar.

* VomitDiscretionShot: Done with Sheldon throwing up on [[spoiler:Creator/WilliamShatner]] in "The D&D Vortex". The ColdOpen shows the scene leading up to it, then cuts to the guys watching a video of it on a phone, followed by the sound of Sheldon vomiting.

* CelebrityIsOverrated: When the group discovers Wil Wheaton has a D&D night with a variety of celebrities (including Willaim Shatner) they immediately start pestering him to let them in on the game. Wil ends up giving them a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech because the biggest struggle with being a celebrity is sycophants trying to use you to meet other celebrities.

* PopCultureOsmosisFailure: When Leonard is talking about Wil Wheaton's guests to Penny in "The D&D Vortex", she is shocked that he has no idea who Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is. Played with Creator/JoeMangianello, whom Leonard recognizes from ''Series/TrueBlood'', while Penny and (especially) Amy know from ''Film/MagicMike''.

-->'''Wil Wheaton:''' So, where were we?\\
'''William Shatner:''' I was about to go all "[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]" on these ogres.\\
'''Kevin Smith:''' That's it! Put another dollar in the Star Trek jar.\\

* VikingFuneral: Given to [[spoiler:Sheldon and Amy's Super Asymmetry theory paper]]. Rather than a boat on the sea with a flaming arrow, it's a cake pan on a bathtub with a lighter. [[spoiler:It sets the curtains on fire.]]

* DreamWithinADream: Leonard in "The Meteorite Manifestation" [[spoiler:dreams that he got infected by the meteorite, got possessed by a space virus and attacked Burt and Howard. He wakes up in his sofa, and then attacks Penny. Then he wakes up for real.]]

* TakesAThirdOption: Leonard is put in charge of deciding who to give excess grant money to. Instead of choosing one of three eligible recipients (Raj, Kripke and a woman working with crows), he instead [[spoiler:uses the grant money on himself and gets a high-powered laser. That way, all three hate him, but he still gets a new laser.]]

* AllForNothing: This is the case for Sheldon and Amy in "The Citation Negation". [[spoiler:[[ItsBeenDone The concept of "Super Asymmetry", which they came up with on their wedding day and spent many months afterwards working on, turned out to have been brought up before being disproved]],]] as Leonard and Raj find out in a Russian book that Howard translates for them. Not surprisingly, Amy and Sheldon are both devastated when Leonard tells them, especially after Leonard hands them the translated copy of the section [[spoiler:regarding the "Super Asymmetry" concept.]]

* AllForNothing: This is the case for Sheldon and Amy in "The Citation Negation". [[spoiler:[[ItsBeenDone The concept of "Super Asymmetry", which they came up with on their wedding day and spent many months afterwards working on, turned out to have been brought up before being disproved]], as Leonard and Raj find out in a Russian book that Howard translates for them. Not surprisingly, Amy and Sheldon are both devastated when Leonard tells them, especially after Leonard hands them the translated copy of the section regarding the "Super Asymmetry" concept.]]

* AllForNothing: This is the case for Sheldon and Amy in "The Citation Negation". [[spoiler:The concept of "Super Asymmetry", which they came up with on their wedding day and spent many months afterwards working on, turned out to have been brought up before being disproved, as Leonard and Raj find out in a Russian book that Howard translates for them. Not surprisingly, Amy and Sheldon are both devastated when Leonard tells them, especially after Leonard hands them the translated copy of the section regarding the "Super Asymmetry" concept.]]

* AllForNothing: This is the case for Sheldon and Amy in "The Citation Negation". [[spoiler:The concept of "Super Asymmetry", which they came up with on their wedding day and spent many months afterwards working on, turned out to have been done and disproved in a Russian book that Leonard and Raj find. Not surprisingly, Amy and Sheldon are both devastated when Leonard tells them.]]

'''Bernadette:''' If I were really Howard, I'd be doing this. [looks down her blouse] And I'm telling ya, he's not wrong.

* {{Sexiled}}: Stuart brings home Denise and retreats to his room, putting on background music. Howard and Bernadette are not accustomed to that kind of situation and not sure what to do about it, and end up just holding hands in terror.

* MillhollandRelationshipMoment: In a variation, Bernadette finds herself feeling overworked and instead of coming straight home she hides out in their backyard playhouse for a time before going back to the craziness of her kids. She is worried how Howard would feel that she is essentially bailing out on her family for an hour, but it's revealed that Howard knew almost instantly where she was and why, and was fine letting her have a moment to herself. She doesn't actually learn that he knows, but it makes for an amusing back-and-forth when Howard and Raj are in the hot tub while Bernadette, Penny and Amy are in the playhouse.