History Main / PlayAlongPrisoner

* Ian Starshine from OrderOfTheStick played along to be prisoner, thinking he could recruit ''other'' prisoners to help bring down a local dictatorship. Unfortunately, this backfired on him. All the smart prisoners don't last long, and just because the local law enforcement can't ''catch'' a master thief without his cooperation doesn't mean that they can't ''hold'' him.

* At one point in ''{{Farscape}},'' [[spoiler: Scorpius is imprisoned on Moya.]] Three episodes after this, however, he breaks out to escape capture by hijackers- forcing the cell door open ''with his bare hands.'' When one character asks "You could have broken out any time you wanted?" he replies, "I never wanted to."

* {{Asterix}} did this. After the Roman army captured Panoramix[[hottip:* :this example isn't using the American names]], Asterix went to rescue him. After a brief discussion, he decided to surrender (which took some effort since the romans were scared) and have Panoramix brew a special potion. The first one was a hair growth potion to trap the soldiers; the second was claimed to be a potion to stop the hair growth but was really a soup. The magic potion was brewed alongside the soup to make Asterix suprizingly powerful in an instant, just before a high-ranking official came to inspect the camp.
** Also used in ''{{Asterix in Britain}}'' when Obelix, after being captiured while drunk and put in the Tower of Londinium, simply decides to walk out and effortlessly rips his chains from the walls and pushes down the door.
** And in ''{{Asterix and Cleopatra}}'' when the heroes are imprisoned after being falsely accused of attempting to poison the queen. They use the time in prison to prepare a defense and when they are ready to present it to the queen Obelix all but ignores their restraints and guards.
** In ''{{Asterix and the Goths}}'' Obelix repeatedly breaks down the prison door to request various ingredients from the guards ([[BigGuy are you noticing a trend?]])

Highly related to BreakingTheBonds, except that the prisoner decides to hang around and get tortured for a while before breaking free. May sometimes be a form of ISurrenderSuckers, when the person deliberately allows himself to be detained. Sometimes, the captive might not bother to escape, and just [[SelfRestraint hang around until the end of his prison sentence]] (but still heavily imply that he could have walked out at any time). This is a useful skill for the TrojanPrisoner. It also often shows up as part of a villain's escape from a prison that's [[CardboardPrison apparently made out of cardboard]].

* [[Invincible Allen the Allen]] allowed himself to be held prisoner by the Viltrumites until a particular point in time. His jailers probably should have suspected something when their multiple execution attempts utterly failed.

This is a common case for powerful heroes who have been WronglyAccused. They often stay around show their respect for justice, and because breaking out would convince people of their guilt, as well as getting them into unwanted fights.

* ''SinCity'': Marv, bound by Gaile, plays along with the interrogation until his captors understand he wasn't the culprit. Then he just gets up and shrugs off the ropes.

* Heroic example from the movie ''{{Hancock}}'', where the titular superhero allows himself to be imprisonned to win back the hearts of his chosen town, after being a bit careless about property damage during his career. One scene involved him jumping over the prison fences to go fetch a basketball.
* Joker in ''TheDarkKnight'' just wants his phone call.

* The page quote is, of course, {{Batman}} being [[{{BadAss}} Batman]] in the ''JusticeLeague'' cartoon. But he's not the only one to pull it off in the series. When Flash is arrested for robbery, Green Lantern comes to get him. because the cops have video proof that Flash was performing the heists, they cannot beleive another superhero is here to bail him out. GL just gives the guards a funny look. [[{{TooDumbToLive}} "If he was really ugilty, do you think you could have held him here with a pair of handcuffs?"]] Cue Flash spinning the handcuffs on one finger, having removed them himself. This is, of course, on top of the fact that ''he's the'' '''[[{{SuperSpeed}} Flash.]]'''

* Heroic example from the movie ''{{Hancock}}'', where the titular superhero allows himself to be imprisonned to win back the hearts of his chosen town, after being a bit careless about property damage during his career. One scene involved him jumping over the prisonfences to go fetch a basketball.
* Joker in ''TheDarkKnight'': just wants his phone call.
* ''Film/{{Spider-Man}} 2'': Doctor Octopus delivers the tied-up Spider-Man to Harry Osborn and leaves. Harry unmasks Spidey and is completely flabbergasted to see Peter Parker's face. Pete stands up, breaks the ropes holding him, talks with Harry for a bit, and leaves.
** Except Peter ''wasn't'' playing along. He was just unconscious until that moment.

** Granny Weatherwax in ''Discworld/{{Wyrd Sisters}}''.

* [[spoiler: Isis Eaglet]] in ''[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoah Magical Records Lyrical Nanoha Force]]''. Her GenreSavvy captor even lampshaded it, noting that she has a "these restraints are no big deal, but I should hear you out for now" expression. Naturally, her captor was right, and the moment that the place she's in came under attack, she proceeded to casually snap her restraints in half.

** In ''{{Asterix and the Goths}}'' Obelix repeatedly breaks down the prison door to request various ingredients from the guards ({{BigGuy are you noticing a trend?}})

**Plus she "kind of liked them" {{Fetish Fuel}}

** In ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', [[MagnificentBastard Lord Vetinari]] ''demands'' that he be thrown into his own dungeon. Interestingly enough, his cell has a lock on it on the ''inside'' to keep people out. Naturally, being Vetinari, he could escape any time he wished.