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Editing the OP to show how the header post is maintained.

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Doing random test edits! [tup][tup]

Testing pinned post function.

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Edited by Tabs on Jan 25th 2023 at 3:33:31 AM

Vorpy Unstoppable Sex Goddess from from from from from from from from from Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Two-timing
Tzetze DUMB from a converted church in Venice, Italy Since: Jan, 2001
Blackfire Since: Mar, 2011
#3053: Aug 10th 2011 at 9:32:19 PM

Chekhov’s Shaggy Dog

So you have a hero, and he’s on a quest to find the Evil Temple and defeat the Evil Sorcerer. Then he finds a shaggy dog, lost and alone. He’s a kind-hearted hero, so he decides to find the owners. Why not? He doesn’t know where the Evil Temple is, so he might as well complete a Side Quest in the meantime. He hears of some people who are missing a shaggy dog, so he travels across mountains and rivers and plains and seas to reach them, only for them to tell him their dog "wasn't that shaggy". Then the dog runs away.

...right, so: a plot element has been thrown away. You think, What Happened to the Mouse? After minor distress, you dismiss the element as unimportant or the writers as hacks, and proceed through the episode, series, film, etc., not expecting to see the plot point again.

However, the writers were setting you up for a much later payoff. The long-forgotten element comes back into play just when you least expect it. The hero finally reaches the Evil Temple only to find it locked. The situation is hopeless, only for the long-forgotten dog to appear and start burrowing furiously into the ground, emerging with the key.

Named so because it’s a Chekhov's Gun for which the gun in question is an element from a "Shaggy Dog" Story. The defining quality is that the set-up is seemingly pointless, and has been discarded as unimportant, hopefully even forgotten, by the time of the payoff. By necessity, then, the payoff will almost always come long, long after the original story.

There may be exceptions if the set-up was low-key enough to be forgotten quickly, or if it is clear that this trope was the writer’s intention, whether it succeeded or not. Nevertheless, some time at least must pass. In the above example, if the dog were to dig up the key immediately after the hero discovers he’s found the wrong owners, then it’s not this trope.

May overlap with Something We Forgot and Once More, with Clarity. Sometimes the payoff is used as The Stinger. If the payoff is funny, then this is also a Brick Joke. Obviously overlaps with "Shaggy Dog" Story, and any one of the items in Chekhov’s Gun Depot. Compare Overly Pre-Prepared Gag, which may take less time but require more setup on the part of the joke.

This trope can be seen as a subtrope of Continuity Nod.

Brick Joke

A Brick Joke is a particular type of Chekhov's Gun or its variants for which the payoff, but not necessarily the set-up, is a joke. Named after an old joke, which seems at first brush to be a pair of unrelated jokes. At the end of the first joke, a brick is tossed away, leaving the confused listener without a punchline. At the end of the second joke, the brick returns and the listener falls on the floor laughing. For bonus points, the teller can tell an actual unrelated joke in between. The Flying Brick, however, refers to something else entirely.

Popularized in early 20th-century Newspaper Comics by Krazy Kat. (Not to be confused with The Cat Came Back, which is nearly the opposite of this trope.)

Overlaps with any type of Chekhov's Gun. Often this can also be a Chekhov's Gag, if the set-up is also a joke.

Not to be confused with a dick joke.

Chekhov’s Gag

Most times, jokes come and go; they get their set up, make you laugh, and then they're done and you move on to the next joke. But sometimes, jokes aren't done with you. Sometimes, you find yourself not only going back to the joke, but having it bring a whole new twist - the first joke wasn't just a gag, but also set up for something else that blindsides you later on.

This can happen in any span of time, in a single episode (usually very beginning to the very end), in several episodes, or even whole seasons.

The first gag is always a set-up for whatever will happen later, though ideally it doesn't seem that way at first. If it not, then it's a regular Running Gag. If the payoff is also funny, then this overlaps with Brick Joke, but if not, it may turn out to be Not So Harmless. A type of Call-Back. Sometimes, the connection is given a form of Fridge Brilliance.

YamiiDenryuu Since: Jan, 2010
#3054: Aug 11th 2011 at 5:55:48 PM

If You Know What I Mean

... How'd they get a custom title and a redlink?

edited 11th Aug '11 5:56:04 PM by YamiiDenryuu

SpruceZeus Since: Aug, 2011
#3055: Aug 11th 2011 at 6:44:55 PM

Did this crazy thing get fixed yet?

EDIT: Nope.

edited 11th Aug '11 6:45:18 PM by SpruceZeus

MidnightVelvet Since: Apr, 2014
#3056: Aug 11th 2011 at 8:43:18 PM


Thumped for taking troll bait. Feeding a troll. Bad idea.

Alucard Lazy? from Vancouver, BC Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Anura from England Since: Apr, 2011 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#3059: Aug 12th 2011 at 5:02:43 PM

Lets try '''emphasizing''' a link!

perhaps...

Okay, then how about this?

Convoluted, but workable...

edited 12th Aug '11 5:04:00 PM by Anura

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.
Medicus Sierra 117 from Australia Since: Sep, 2009
Sierra 117
#3060: Aug 12th 2011 at 9:43:36 PM

 blahblah
1 2 3

edited 12th Aug '11 9:45:32 PM by Medicus

It's not over. Not yet.
TheDeadMansLife Lover of masks. Since: Nov, 2009
Lover of masks.
#3061: Aug 12th 2011 at 11:03:31 PM

dfaadfa

sdfaasdf

Neet.

edited 12th Aug '11 11:05:24 PM by TheDeadMansLife

Please.
Haven Planescape Hijack Since: Jan, 2001
Planescape Hijack
#3062: Aug 12th 2011 at 11:19:28 PM

le test

Productivity is for people without internet connections. -Count Dorku
VmKid Since: Sep, 2009
#3063: Aug 13th 2011 at 4:22:25 AM

Rearcovers

Cheese.

Cheese

edited 16th Aug '11 7:37:22 PM by VmKid

nuclearneo577 from My computer. Since: Dec, 2009
#3064: Aug 14th 2011 at 1:40:59 PM

Dumping so I can read it later on.

What fits in Troper Tales and what doesn't? Glad you asked.

What goes:

Entries that are right on the trope. 'Aversions' and subversions are too subtle for us in Troper Tales. We need clear-cut examples of the trope that happen to be from your life. These examples are here to help folks understand/appreciate the trope, so the Holy Triad of Clear, Concise, and Witty are key.

What doesn't go:

Bile. Psychopathic rants. Threats of violence. Stories requiring more than three drinks to believe. It isn't a drabble contest about wedging the trope into a fictional life. Creepy sexual stuff. By the way, yeah, incest and underage sex stories are, in fact, creepy. Bigotry and hate speech. Natter.

And, finally and most importantly, really dull stuff.

megamagikarp Since: Dec, 2009
#3065: Aug 16th 2011 at 3:00:43 AM

I love recursion.

edited 16th Aug '11 3:01:08 AM by megamagikarp

Anura from England Since: Apr, 2011 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#3067: Aug 16th 2011 at 12:28:02 PM

[1]

edited 16th Aug '11 12:28:15 PM by Anura

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.
Solstace Hexachordal Combinatorial from the Second Viennese School Since: Dec, 1969
Anura from England Since: Apr, 2011 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#3069: Aug 16th 2011 at 7:05:40 PM

[[quote: quootin']]

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.
Ramus Lead. from some computer somwhere. Since: Aug, 2009
Lead.
#3070: Aug 18th 2011 at 9:52:51 PM

Hmm...

edited 18th Aug '11 9:53:19 PM by Ramus

The emotions of others can seem like such well guarded mysteries, people 8egin to 8elieve that's how their own emotions should 8e treated.
Vox Since: Dec, 2010
#3071: Aug 19th 2011 at 6:50:12 AM

edited 21st Aug '11 1:43:46 AM by Vox

Night The future of warfare in UC. from Jaburo Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
The future of warfare in UC.
#3072: Aug 19th 2011 at 5:03:29 PM

You saw nothing.

edited 19th Aug '11 5:03:52 PM by Night

Nous restons ici.
thespacephantom Jamais vu from the smallest church in Saint-Saëns Since: Oct, 2009
Jamais vu
#3073: Aug 19th 2011 at 7:32:48 PM

monospace

UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI
thespacephantom Jamais vu from the smallest church in Saint-Saëns Since: Oct, 2009
Jamais vu
#3074: Aug 19th 2011 at 7:33:08 PM

monospace

UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI
thespacephantom Jamais vu from the smallest church in Saint-Saëns Since: Oct, 2009
Jamais vu
#3075: Aug 19th 2011 at 7:33:30 PM

MONOSPACE

UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI

Total posts: 8,368
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