Basic Trope: A character thinks they're being prank-called when they're not.
- Straight: Alice phones Bob up, informing him about the Alien Invasion, but he rolls his eyes and hangs up.
- Exaggerated: Bob assumes every phone call he gets is a prank call.
- Downplayed: Bob is a bit dubious, but lets Alice speak to him.
- Justified:
- Well, an alien invasion is pretty hard to believe.
- The fact that Bob received five prank calls just this hour doesn't help either.
- Inverted: Alice prank-calls Bob, but he believes there really is an alien invasion.
- Subverted: Alice phones Bob about the alien invasion and it seems like Bob has hung up, but really the phone broke.
- Double Subverted: Bob still doesn't believe Alice, though.
- Parodied: Bob thinks it's a prank, even though the aliens are right there in front of him.
- Zigzagged: Bob keeps changing his mind over whether to believe Alice's call or not.
- Averted: Bob believes Alice's claim of an alien invasion.
- Enforced:
- Lampshaded: "I should've known he'd think it was a prank."
- Invoked:
- Exploited:
- Defied:
- Alice presents Bob with concrete proof of the alien invasion.
- Alice takes care to phrase her accusation in a way that doesn't sounds too crazy to be a prank call (instead of yelling about aliens and crop circles, she says “some assholes are ruining my corn fields and dressing up as aliens just to be cute").
- Discussed: "How do I tell if something's a prank call or not?"
- Conversed: "I can't say I blame that character for thinking it's a prank."
- Implied:
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs: Alice is phoning up her science teacher, Bob, for information on the planet Uranus. Bob, understandably, mistakes this for a Uranus Is Showing joke and hangs up.
- Played for Drama: Alice phones up Bob about the alien invasion, but he thinks it's a prank call. The aliens end up killing Alice, causing Bob to be wracked with guilt.
- Played for Horror: Alice phones up Bob about the alien invasion, but he thinks it's a prank call. The aliens then kidnap him and threaten to sacrifice him to their gods.
Back to Mistaken for Prank Call.
