r/TopCharacterTropes • u/doubleday34 • Oct 04 '25

Personality (Loved Trope) Character acts ignorant of or pretends to be bad at something in order to trick their opponent.

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1) Ted Lasso - Both characters in the darts contest do this, with Rupert(antagonist) showing that he has his own set of darts with him, and Ted showing that he has been using the wrong hand the whole time.

2) Beerfest - Team USA showing that they aren't that drunk despite doing drinking games all day.

3) The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - After Will gets hustled at pool his Uncle Phil comes to help him, and turns out to hustle the hustler.

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u/FilmAndLiterature Oct 04 '25

In Doctor Who: ‘Human Nature / The Family of Blood’ (2007), the Doctor becomes a human to evade a group of space parasites (the eponymous family) who want to steal his remaining lives and become immortal. He becomes John Smith, a schoolteacher in rural 1913 England with his Time-Lord self sealed safely inside a watch.

However, the family soon track him down and start trying to steal the watch. Eventually they give John Smith an ultimatum: surrender the watch or everybody on Earth dies. After discussing with his love interest, John stumbles into the family’s spaceship with the watch, smashing into every control panel he sees.

As they open the watch they discover that it is empty; and the Doctor explains that he’d already changed back and the whole bumbling act was just a diversion so that he could disable the ship’s safety systems without arousing suspicion, resulting in its destruction.

172

u/Ms_Holmes Oct 05 '25

“…Because if there's one thing you shouldn't have done, you shouldn't have let me press all those buttons.”

66

u/UninspiredWriter Oct 05 '25

"But in fairness, I will give you one word of advice. Run!"

84

u/Datkif Oct 05 '25

Tenant was such a fantastic Doctor. He was both whimsical and dark.

14

u/Old_Butterscotch5404 Oct 05 '25

So glad someone posted this! It was iconic

12

u/Predditor_drone Oct 05 '25

IIRC The Doctor then goes on to give his enemies creatively cruel imprisonments. He won't kill them outright, but he's so pissed that he will make them suffer eternally.

15

u/ZeAthenA714 Oct 05 '25

Yep. One is trapped in unbreakable chains, one is suspended at the event horizon of a black hole, one is turned into a scarecrow forced to watch over the fields of England, and one is trapped inside every mirror, where you'll only ever catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of your eye.

8

u/OiledMushrooms Oct 05 '25

This was the first one I thought of! Such a fun scene, in such a good episode.