Snipe Hunt: Difference between revisions

[[File:vlcsnap-2010736.png|link=Up (animation)|frame|I found the snipe!]]

 

 

A common hazing ritual [[Truth in Television|in real life]], a '''Snipe Hunt''' consists of sending the [[Butt Monkey]], [[Naive Newcomer]], or a [[Bumbling Sidekick]] out on [[Impossible Task|an impossible or imaginary task]] to get them out of the way or humiliate them. Oftentimes used in comedy as a B-Plot to the main action, and a common ending involves the getter finding what they were sent out to get (even if it was say, a unicorn) or finding the wrong thing and having hilarity [[Hilarity Ensues|ensue]]. Bonus points if [[Achievements in Ignorance|the finder locates the imaginary item or accomplishes the]] [[Impossible Task]] [[Achievements in Ignorance|right away.]]

 

 

The fictional version of the snipe is often described as a rather horrific creature. Usually something akin to a werewolf, or mutant bird. Fictional snipes are usually described as being all black with glowing red eyes.

 

Not to be confused with trying to find a sniper in a battlefield.

{{examples}}

* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'': The crew of the Gekko State did this to Renton in the episode "Absolute Defeat." Renton was sent to deliver a package of "highly-explosive" ramen noodles in a stupid costume, and told that his contact would be a man bearing a tattoo of a "legendary and mythical beast." Moondoggie (the previous [[New Meat]] of the Gekko State) gets sent out to videotape Renton making a fool of himself, but suspects that ''he's'' actually on a meta-snipe hunt when Renton takes the job [[The Pollyanna|unnaturally seriously]]. When Moondoggie finally snaps and starts beating Renton up, the boy was saved by a man with a tattoo of [[The Ace|Holland]] on his back; Renton immediately decides that he's found his contact. [[Hilarity Ensues]]—on both sides of the screen. The guys back on the Gekko watching it all were laughing their asses off, almost to the point of literally rolling on the floor.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' Shippuden: In the Six Tails filler arc, Utakata promises to accept Hotaru as a student if she fulfills tasks that he thinks are impossible for her (for example, mastering a water jutsu that is impossible to do without water-nature chakra), since he [[Shoo the Dog|doesn't believe that he can truly give her what she wants]]. Contrary to what he expects, she manages to accomplish each task.

* ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'': When Sendo arrives to spar with [[The Rival|Miyata]], Ippo isn't allowed to go watch because the gym had officially cut all ties to the Miyata family. In order to give Ippo an excuse to go watch the fight anyway, his gymmates send him to [[Impossible Task|buy them some nonexisting products]], including Pokarimin C drink, Tsuchinoko drink, Arowana Cola, Doctor Pappy, and next month's issue of a magazine. Surprisingly, he does find a Tsuchinoko drink.

 

* In ''Thimble Theatre'', during the storyline Popeye makes his debut, Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy are about to leave on another adventure, and in order to ditch Olive, who insists on coming along to keep an eye on her boyfriend (Ham), they tell her to fetch a 'dimes worth of longitude'. Olive naturally gets laughed at. When Popeye tells her what longitude is, she gives Castor a good thrashing.

* In ''[[Retail]]'', one of the pranks Cooper plays to new employees is to go and search around for a "wall stretcher".

* ''Justice League: Year One'' has [[Fish Out of Water]] Aquaman asked to find a "bulb wrench" to help with work on the new headquarters. He doesn't see the funny side.

 

* ''[[Digimon]]'': Used in [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/854032/1/The_Hunting_of_the_Snipe this] fanfic, when Wallace's friends send Daisuke off on a snipe hunt. Then he tells them he found one. {{spoiler|He caught onto the joke. It's Chibimon inside his bag.}}

 

== Film ==

* The first ''[[Shrek]]'' movie contains an example where Donkey is sent off to find a blue flower with red thorns to keep him from distracting Fiona and Shrek while they dealt with the arrow in Shrek's behind. Not only does he find the flower, he wanders through a ''whole copse of them'', complaining that his task would be infinitely easier if he wasn't colorblind, and he only brings back the right flower because he grabs one - ''any'' one - in a panic when he hears Shrek yell. The other characters don't even react weirdly, making it a relatively subtle sight gag.

* In ''[[Ocean's Eleven|Ocean's 11]]'', Rusty sends a detective out to "Go find Griggs," as a distraction while he's recruiting Basher in the guise of an FBI agent. This is also an example of the [[Bavarian Fire Drill]], as Rusty brazenly walks into the police crime scene and walks off with their bombing suspect.

* The premise of ''[[A Bug's Life|A Bugs Life]]''. Princess Atta sends Flik out to find some bugs to fight Hopper, not expecting him to actually find anybody willing to defend an ant colony.

** What makes it even funnier is that Carl truly believed that it was impossible because he didn't know that there is such a bird as a snipe.

 

== Literature ==

* Invoked in ''America: The Book'', in which a new hire at the EPA is told to save the North American Gutter Snipe.

* Played with in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. Robert Baratheon sent his hapless squires off to Ser Aron Santagar for a (non-existent) "Breastplate Stretcher" when he discovered he'd gotten too fat to fit his old armor. They hesitate, probably knowing there is no such thing, before scampering off at his insistent roaring.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* In the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode ''Fire Maidens of Outer Space'', Joel and the robots imply that the monster wandering the woods was sent on a Snipe Hunt by his friends.

* An episode of ''[[Cheers]]'' revolved around Frasier being sent on a Snipe Hunt, though he later gets back at the others by agreeing to go on another and abandoning them in the cold.

* ''[[The Wire]]'': The detectives at Homicide make the newbie call the zoo about a "Methane Probe for Mr. Lyon".

* In the ''[[Father Ted]]'' episode "Escape From Victory", Ted gives [[The Ditz|Dougal]] the task of guarding the corner flags from theft during a football game. Predictably, he struggles with this.

* ''[[The Bill]]'': The repercussions of Snipe Hunts are seen when to catch a serial graffiti artist, someone really does have to keep a wall under surveillance. Assuming it to be a joke, the policeman watching the wall wanders off.

* In ''[[iCarly]]'', annoying fan Mandy is sent off to get "fladoodles," which of course don't exist. She comes back an hour later, claiming she had to go to some store in a different state, and then she is told "No, we wanted fat free". Guess what else is in the bag.

* ''[[Game of Thrones]]'': Robert Baratheon is too fat for his armor, so he sends Lancel Lannister to find the breastplate stretcher.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Mentioned in one of the sample dragon entries from the ''Draconomicom'' - one particular green dragon gets his kicks by capturing adventuring parties and holding their equipment hostage until they bring him back some rare or hard-to-acquire item. Whenever they come back, they find that the chimera pelt or whatever is the wrong size or wrong color, and get sent out again. The game ends when the adventurers wise up and don't return, or when the dragon grows bored and just eats them.

* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' has the Carnival bloodline in ''Bloodlines: The Legendary'', who send prospective initiates to go find "the key to the midway" (an actual carny tradition). This is generally to keep the fledgling off their backs while they assess the fellow's worth. If the fledgling refuses, they can never join the bloodline... but if the fledgling refuses because they saw through the trick, their odds of being allowed in shoot up. A similar trick is used to divert noisy vampires who might rat the Carnival out to the Prince.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Fallout]]'': The Glow Quest in the first game is little more than an extended Snipe Hunt—one that's expected to kill the questant, no less.. Like many examples, the place is filled with great loot (and good info on the backstory) if you buff {{spoiler|your radiation resist}} beforehand.

* [[Heroes of Might and Magic]] 4 has a passing mention of a coming of age ritual called "Snark Hunting", which basically comes down to this. It's then subverted when it turns out the heroes' quest was not one of these.

 

* ''[[Girl Genius]]''

** Agatha is sent on one. She actually manages to get the Silverodeon working again, though they'd given her the task [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050307 just to keep her busy] and weren't expecting her to succeed.

** Also, the Jägers' quest to find an heir was believed by everyone to be a snipe hunt, albeit a necessary one (it keeps their honor). When Agatha turned out to exist, one of them ''burst into [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051010 tears]''.

** And way earlier, Agatha herself [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050829 sent] Aedith on such a hunt to keep her little clanks a secret.

* The "hatchet joke" in ''[[Lackadaisy Cats]]''. The Savoys make Mordecai Heller {{spoiler|chop some... compromising evidence up with a hatchet.}} He is not happy when they tell him it was a joke. {{spoiler|Boss Asa Sweet later asks him if the rather OCD Mordecai put the pieces in alphabetical order. After a moment of silence, Mordecai snarks "A is for amygdala, Mr. Sweet.}}

** [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/04/19/episode-542-what-do-you-do-with-a-drunken-sailor/ Once], to get Fighter inside a room rather than outside, Black Mage uses an old trick: a paper with "There is a map to Swordtown on the other side of this note" on both sides. Somehow, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/04/21/episode-543-no-loose-ends/ he found it].

*** Or, for some of you who won't believe it, he got into the Real Light Warriors supplies.

** Also, when the Warriors wanted to take over the town Mafia, they got the [[Good Is Dumb|well-meaning]] Fighter out of the way by sending him off to play in a Drownball tournament (a parody of [[Final Fantasy|Final Fantasy 10's]] Blitzball), where the rules are, apparently, that you have to drown in order to win. And it's unclear where the ball comes in.

*** Incidentally, Fighter won the tournament by default, since he was the only player who failed to drown, on account of his brain using less oxygen. That's perfectly logical.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Zuko's task of finding the Avatar, who had been thought dead for a century, was essentially just this. All this is courtesy of his [[Evil Overlord]] father Ozai, after he personally [[Abusive Parents|scarred and banished his own son]].

* An episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'' involves Bobby and his friends being sent out to hunt Snipes and accidentally injuring an endangered Whooping Crane instead. Oops. Hank and his friends had it pulled on them in the backstory, and don't seem to know even as adults that the snipe is a real bird, and think it's some kind of imaginary animal.

** Monogram didn't expect the goose to be ever found. He was just afraid [[Phineas and Ferb]] were working for Doofenshmirtz so he got Perry out of the way during the investigations. The Moon was among the places Monogram told Perry to go while searching for Agent G.

* ''The Talented Mr. Bixby'': [[Lampshaded]] in one episode, in which Mr Bixby sends the students of the auto repair class he is substituting to get some "blinker fluid" to avoid having to write a ridiculous paper. As the students leave the room, they pass a sign that says "There is no such thing as Blinker Fluid". They come across an ''identical'' sign at the auto parts store, and stare blankly at it.

** After Marge accident cut of Homer's thumb in one episode, she phones the emergency services, but when it becomes clear that Wiggum intends to arrest her for this, she gives the address as "123... Fake... Street". Later on it Wiggum bursts into an actual house with that address to find Bart and Milhouse trying to hide illegal fireworks stolen from the mob... [[It Makes Sense in Context|It's a long story.]]

* In an episode of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]],'' Numbah 4 is ordered by Numbuh 86 to guard a random flower in a garden, in order to prevent him from following her. Four places the flower in a pot and takes it with him.

 

== Web Original ==

* In episode 3 of ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', the Red team sent their rookie Pvt. Donut to go fetch some elbow grease and some headlight fluid from "the store." He returned with the Blue flag, thereby starting the plot proper.

** Made even funnier by the fact that he instantly caught on that they were sending him on a Snipe Hunt with the elbow grease. He was completely fooled by headlight fluid though.

 

== Real Life ==

** Subverted in that the [[wikipedia:Snipe|Snipe]] ''is an actual type of shorebird'' that is notoriously hard to catch. The term "sniper" actually originally referred the skill of someone who was able to hit one.

* This is apparently ''very'' common in the military. Examples from [[The Other Wiki]], at least for the US Navy, include:

* Another famous one is sending them out to look for [[Polka Dot Paint|tartan paint]].

* In Spain, Portugal and Cuba the equivalent of a snipe hunt is hunting "gamusinos", an even more jerkish version since (unlike the snipe) the gamusino does not even exist. The term ultimately comes from the Provençal word gambozi, meaning "lie".

* [http://notalwaysright.com/someones-about-to-get-smacked-to-the-future/1698 This anecdote.]

* It's an initiation ceremony in German military as well. Among weird stuff to find (like a key for the supply room which in German military is a part of the battle field rather than an actual room) noobs are sent all about the base with an open container of 'highly dangerous battery fluid', which is usually simple juice consumed finally by some superior.

* Working in stores or grocers, ''powdered water'' (Just add water!) is a favorite item.

* It ''used'' to be that strapping young electricians were sent to fetch one-farad capacitors, that being a ridiculously large value for the actual components. [[Technology Marches On|Nowadays]], though, you can probably find one for under fifty bucks.

* The Oil Patch is also full of these. From pipe stretchers and buckets of steam, to "Push Slaps" (the Rig Manager is also known as a "Tool Push"), "Glasses for the Blind Rams" (blind rams are a set of hydraulic rams used to close off the well completely) or the "Key to the V-Door" (The V-Door on a rig is the metal slide that drill pipes ride on when brought up to the floor).

* Being sent to retrieve the keys to the lean-to.

* Newbies to shop classes and technical theatre work calls are sometimes sent to fetch a replacement level-bubble or a wood stretcher

* New hires at baseball parks used to be asked to fetch the keys to the batter's box, a left-handed fungo bat, or 100 feet of foul line.

* In the film industry, it's a C-47. (A clothespin.) There ''will'' be clothespins on a film set because wood conducts heat poorly, so they're used to gel lights and that sort of thing. But it's fun watching the littlest production assistants run around with haunted looks in their eyes. There's also a practical purpose to using [[Insistent Terminology]] - if you want to get rid of someone, you can tell them to get a C-47, and if they don't know what it is you can yell at them for not knowing how to do their job and fire them on the spot.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Big Trope Hunting]]