Snipe Hunt: Difference between revisions

{{trope|wppage=Snipe hunt}}

[[File:vlcsnap-2010736.png|link=Up (Filmanimation)|rightframe|<small>I found the snipe!</small> ]]

In a real-life work situation, [[Snipe Hunt|'''Snipe Hunts]]''' are met with a variety of responses depending on the nature of the workplace -- whileworkplace—while a less 'formal' atmosphere, like your local FutureShop, might just shake their heads and bear the tradition, a lawyer's office is much more structured, and a [['''Snipe Hunt]]''' means that you're holding up someone's (possibly time-critical) files in order to play a useless prank.

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[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—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.

* In ''[[Magical Idol Pastel Yumi]]'', the title character starts one by accident when she creates a golden bird.

== Fan FicWorks ==

* In a later chapter of ''[[Invader Zim: the Series (Fanfic)|Invader Zim theThe Series]]'', [[Relationship Sue|Sue]] sends Zoburg out to hunt snipe so that she can get some time [[Unholy Matrimony|alone with Spork]].

* In ''[[OceansOcean'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 BugsBug's Life (Animation)|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.

* ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]'' features a literal example. Carl sends Russell away on one to get him to stop annoying him. {{spoiler|Eventually, he actually finds one, although it's a bit bigger than he expected.}} Alpha sent Dug away on a literal [[Snipe Hunt]] as well, due to the fact that Dug's foolishness was viewed a burden on the pack. {{spoiler|True to this trope, he finds the bird.}} The bird becomes a principal character of the film!

** Made explicit in the [[Game of Thrones (TV)|TV series]], with Robert wondering out loud how long it'll take Lancel (his squire in the series) to figure it out.

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** A variation appears in a number of Watch novels. Nobby and Colon are sent on these by Vimes to prevent them from interfering with actual police work, but often stumble upon important clues which are vital to solving a case. Also played with in that Colon occasionally sends ''himself'' on such errands, such as making sure a bridge or the opera house isn't stolen, so he doesn't have to do any real work. No major landmark has yet been stolen -- exceptstolen—except the University, but that was a student prank. This is no mean feat, seeing as how many of the city's major landmarks are less than a foot tall, courtesy of "Bloody Stupid" Johnson's bloody stupidity.

* In ''[[Catherine, Called Birdy]]'', Catherine celebrates April Fools by asking three of the household servants to bring her pigeon's milk, [[Polka Dot Paint|striped paint]], and hens' teeth. To her disappointment, the first two ignore her and the third reminds her that she tries the same trick every year and they haven't fallen for it yet. <ref>Though in fact pigeon's milk does exist. It is a high-fat, high-protein secretion from the crop lining on which newly-hatched chicks are fed. It looks somewhat like pale yellow cottage cheese.</ref>

* ''[[The Office (2005 TV series)|The Office]]'' when the whole group is on an evening cruise, the captain assigns Dwight the task of piloting the ship which Dwight eagerly accepts. Turns out Dwight is put in front of a prop steering wheel to get him out of the Captain's hair. Even Michael can tell it's fake.

* In ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]'', 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.

* ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'': Data got suckered into a snipe hunt once (as did Wesley).

* A ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' supplement had a story about a [[Idiot Hero|Lion husband]] and [[The Chessmaster|Scorpion wife]]. The wife sends him on a [[Snipe Hunt]] for a left-handed widdershin oatmeal stick which he dutifully goes looking for, day after day. On the day she invites over the ex she would have preferred to marry, but her husband barred from the house, an unscrupulous merchant sells him a left-handed widdershin oatmeal stick at a ridiculous price and he triumphantly returns... to find the guy who was barred from his house sitting in the living room. Hilarity and romance ensued.

== WebcomicsWeb Comics ==

** When Agatha arrives at Castle Heterodyne, she isn't sent on a snipe hunt -- buthunt—but Wilhelm tells her that "people will have you fetching devil dog chow <ref>"devil dog" is a nickname for local [[Mechanical Monster|hunter-killer units]], so that's probably just a rude reference to the prisoners themselves</ref> and left-handed trilobite tighteners <ref>trilobite is a major element of Heterodyne heraldry and as such also a form of local pastry, with either one is out of luck as much as with the real thing</ref> soon enough."

* ''[[OrderThe of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' has the main characters sent on a wild goose chase to find some "[[Thunderbolt Iron|Star metal]]" to {{spoiler|repair [[Ancestral Weapon|Roy's sword]] (which was shattered in the previous arc)}}. There actually was some where they were headed at some point in time, however the {{spoiler|[[The Psycho Rangers|Linear Guild]]}} assumed that it would have been claimed by other adventurers by now, not to mention {{spoiler|it wasn't even needed to repair the sword}}. They do find it, though; however, it turns out to be a {{spoiler|chunk about the size of a pebble}} -- but—but later it turns out that {{spoiler|that chunk is actually enough to reforge Roy's sword with a [[Infinity Plus One+1 Sword|+5 bonus and undead slaying abilities]].}}

** Durkon has technically been in a [[Snipe Hunt]] since before the start of the comic: a prophecy foretold that Durkon's return to his home would cause the destruction of the dwarven homelands. Therefore his superiors sent an unknowing Durkon to the human lands and told him not to return until they called him back. Another Oracle foretold that Durkon eventually WILLwould return... posthumously. {{spoiler|And he did - once he was turned into a vampire, he returned to the dwarven homelands.}} As of January 2018 real-time, {{spoiler|he was still there, although he'd been raised, and the dwarven homelands were in very serious threat of being destroyed.}}

* In ''[[Eight Bit Theater (Webcomic)|8-bitBit Theater]]'', after fetching three of the Elemental Orbs for [[A Wizard Did It|Sarda]], [[Designated Hero|Black]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|Mage]] starts to feel like the orbs are just a [[Snipe Hunt]]. When told to find the Orb of Air, he says "Oh, sure. The Orb of Air. And after that maybe we'll get the "[[Red vs. Blue|Orb of Headlight Fluid" and "Then the Orb of Elbow Grease]]" too, right?"

* In ''[[Nodwick]]'' adventurers distract their naive cleric when they're about to abuse the henchman. [http://comic.nodwick.com/?comic=2009-10-09 {{spoiler|byFor using him as an [[Obvious Distraction]example]}}:

{{quote| '''[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2009-10-09 Piffany]''': I didn't find the '''undead snipe''' you said was lurking in-- — where did Nodwick go?}}

* In ''[[Nip and Tuck]]'', [[Genre Savvy|Tagger Beaver]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130801175515/http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00086.html gets rid of the protesters by sending them off to interfere with the snipe hunt.]

** The description is similar to the conventional fictitious description of a "snipe" for the purposes of snipe hunting. So, that part is [[Truth in Television|Truth In Television]].

** The [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Nematoda |nematode]] is actually quite real, but nothing like the creature described in the episode.

** In "The Son Also Draws", when Peter - after Lois gambles away their car at a Native American casino - claims he has Native American blood, management has him go on a vision quest to prove it. Subverted, as Peter has a vision (or at least an insightful hallucination), even though his claim to Native American ancestry was a con and none of the actual Native Americans figured he would have one--andone—and immediately start whining that ''they'' want a vision quest now.

* In the ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'' pilot, Mr. Krabs and Squidward send Spongebob on a fool's errand for "a hydrodynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments and turbo drive", to keep him from getting a job as fry cook in the Krusty Krab. Astoundingly enough, he shows up with one near the end of the episode ("Can you believe they only had one in stock?"). Lucky for Mr. Krabs and Squidward too, since Spongebob uses it to save them from a pack of unruly anchovy customers.

{{quote| '''Squidward:''' I want something else to eat now. Something that’s very difficult to find.<br />

'''Patrick:''' What do you hunger for, master?<br />

'''Spongebob:''' Whatever you want, we’ll find it, we’ll find it!<br />

'''Squidward:''' Cherry pie.<br />

(Patrick holds pie)<br />

'''Squidward:''' Where’d you get that?<br />

'''Patrick:''' I found it.<br />

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'': During a safety audit, Homer Simpson and two other less-gifted employees are put in a room out of the way and given the task of guarding a bee in a jar. The other two question it but Homer, thinking himself brighter than the other two, boasts of his position as "head bee guy".

* In an episode of ''[[Codename Kids Next Door|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.

* One episode of ''[[Donkey Kong Country (Animationanimation)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' has multiple snipe hunts...all surrounding the same trinket.

** 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.

{{quote| '''Donut:''' Elbow grease? How stupid do they think I am? Once I get back to base with that headlight fluid, I'm gonna talk to the Sergent.}}

* [[Chronicle of the Annoying Quest]] actually ''began'' as a [[Snipe Hunt]]. Ellers wanted to drink with his fellow paladins ([[Casanova Wannabe|and pick up chicks]]), but they told him [[Only the Worthy May Pass]] and sent him to kill a Black Dragon, knowing it would likely just kill him.

** Newbie mechanics in aircraft hangars in all branches may be asked to go and fetch a bucket of Propwash. For the uninformed, propwash is the term for turbulence behind an aircraft created by a propeller (or in the case of Jetwash, a jet engine).

* The U.S. Navy’s Equator-crossing tradition involves –among ''many'' other jests – placing the uninitiated on a watch schedule with binoculars to look for the big red line . . .

** For bridge types, asking someone to polish the "[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_bearing:Relative bearing|Relative bearing]]"

* Many a new employ at Microsoft have been sent to a meeting at [http://blogsblog.msdnjameslin.comname/oldnewthing2007/archive12/200828/04microsofts-building-7-now-you-see-it-now-you-dont/01/8346907.aspx Building 7] (where all the important decisions are made)

* Actor [[Nicolas Cage]] proposed to future wife Patricia Arquette on the day they met. She gave him a list of extremely rare things to find (including a black orchid, [[J. D. Salinger]]'s autograph and a Bob's Big Boy statue, among other items), saying that that's what it would take to win her. When he started to actually find and deliver the things on the list, she got scared and avoided him. They still went on to marry (and divorce), however.

* Another common one is a newbie, or a person in for work experience, to be sent to retrieve a 'long weight'. The person the newbie is sent to is often in on the joke and when asked for the item will usually, on the pretencepretense of going to retrieve the item, clear off and leave the newbie will be left standing, waiting for the person to return. The newbie can be left standing for as long as half-an-hour before they finally catch on.

[[Category:SnipeBig HuntTrope Hunting]]

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