History Main / TrialBalloonQuestion

** Anders says he'd still love Kara if she were a [[ArtificalHuman Cylon]], and she replies that if he were a Cylon she'd put a bullet between his eyes. Little does she know that [[spoiler: he ''is'' a Cylon, and that wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear]].

** Anders says he'd still love Kara if she was a Cylon, and she replies that if he were a Cylon she'd put a bullet between his eyes. Little does she know that [[spoiler: he ''is'' a [[ArtificialHuman Cylon]], and that wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear.]]
** It happens in season 1 with Caprica Boomer (later known as Athena) and Helo, after she decides to run away with him for real. She suggests Cylons can, y'know, love? And ''maybe'' they were misguided in nuking the colonies? Helo's "No, they knew perfectly well what they were doing, they're just ''[[JustAMachine machines]]''" visibly upsets her before she hides it.

'''Starbuck:''' You are a better person than I am, Sam, because if ''I'' found out that ''you'' were a [[ArtificialHuman Cylon]], I would put a bullet between your eyes.

'''Starbuck:''' You are a better person than I am, Sam, because if I found out that you were a Cylon... I would put a bullet between your eyes.

%%* Happens in ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'' more than once.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'': After Bagheera convinces Baloo to take Mowgli to his own kind in the man-village, Baloo struggles to find a way to get Mowgli to see it the same way, including asking the same hypothetical question that Bagheera asked him.

* In Creator/CharlesChesnutt's ''The House Behind the Cedars'', the main characters are a mixed-race brother and sister, John and Rena, who work their way up in society by passing for white. Rena tests the loyalty of her white fiance by asking if he would still love her if she were black. Unfortunately, he misunderstands the question, and when he eventually discovers her secret he rejects her.

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* Eli in ''Film/LetTheRightOneIn'' asks Oskar, "Would you still love me if I weren't a girl?" [[spoiler:The audience assume Eli means "I'm a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]]", but actually Eli was given an [[{{squick}} involuntary, non-surgical]] penectomy]].
* Inverted in ''Film/ButImACheerleader'', where everyone ''except'' the main character knows she's a lesbian: It's her friends and family who ask ''her'' the question [[spoiler:and she doesn't react well]].
* One version of ''Literature/PeterPan'', which took a lot of liberties with the source material, had Wendy telling stories and acting like a mother to both the lost boys and the pirates. When Peter Pan finds out the pirates have a mother, she nervously asks what he'd do if he found her...
* In ''Film/ASafePlace1971'', Mitch asks Noah how she'd feel if he murdered his other girl, Rita. When Noah asks him if he actually murdered her, he replies that he did. Neither Mitch nor Noah seems terribly upset about it.
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* A [[{{Glurge}} glurgy]] UrbanLegend has a mother and father getting a letter from their son in the service asking them what they'd do with a friend who had had his arm and leg amputated and had nowhere else to go. The parents said they wouldn't be able to take such a friend. The next letter they get is one stating that their son is dead from suicide. When they get to the morgue, they find their son...with an arm and a leg amputated. (There's a sci-fi short story with exactly that plot, [[RecycledINSPACE but in space, naturally]].)

'''Starbuck:''' You are a better person than I am, Sam, because if I found out that you were a Cylon...\\
I would put a bullet between your eyes.

* In ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat for President]]'', Jim diGriz asks a member of the local gentry who is helping him overthrow the local BananaRepublic regime how he would react if diGriz advocated redistributing estates to the peasants. He responds, "I would shoot you on the spot." Jim disclaims having any such intentions, while thinking to himself that it will ultimately happen, but [[SocietyMarchesOn at a pace that the local culture can handle]].

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': At the end of "Mistaken Identity", Carlton, refusing to believe that the cops that arrested him and Will earlier were targeting them for being black, asks his father a hypothetical question and gets an ArmorPiercingResponse in return.

* In the Season 2 ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Visitor", when a delusional [[MonsterOfTheWeek Freak of the Week]] claims to be an alien, Clark casually asks Chloe and Lana how they feel about the possibility it's true. Chloe thinks it would be cool; Lana finds it scary. Yet Clark continues to want to admit his secret to Lana, [[FanPreferredCouple instead of Chloe.]] [[spoiler:The latter of whom later finds out in Season Four and ''accepts him completely''.]]

-->'''Dad:''' Well of course... I... would...

* OlderThanFeudalism: In Literature/TheBible, King David slept with a married woman named Bathsheba, got her pregnant, sent her husband to die on the front lines, and took her as his new wife. He is approached by a prophet named Nathan, who tells him a story about a poor man who had only one little lamb that he deeply cared for, that was taken and slaughtered by his wealthy neighbor who already owned a very large flock. David says the rich man deserves to be put to death, and Nathan tells him simply, "You are the [rich] man." Then David realizes OhCrap, MyGodWhatHaveIDone.[[labelnote:*]]2 Samuel ch. 11, 12:1-15[[/labelnote]]

* In the Season 2 ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Visitor", when a delusional [[MonsterOfTheWeek Freak of the Week]] claims to be an alien, Clark casually asks Chloe and Lana how they feel about the possibility it's true. Chloe thinks it would be cool; Lana finds it scary. Yet Clark continues to want to admit his secret to Lana[[FanPreferredCouple , instead of Chloe.]] [[spoiler:The latter of whom later finds out in Season Four and ''accepts him completely''.]]

* In the season 1 finale of ''Series/BreakingBad'', Skyler discovers that her sister has been shoplifting. Her husband Walt (who just robbed a chemical depository in order to make meth, while claiming he was away at a Navajo sweat lodge), asks her what she would do if it was him. She says she hopes she never has to find out.

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* Creator/SophieKinsella's ''The Undomestic Godess'' has a main character who's a lawyer, but currently working as more of a maid, and the guy she loves hates lawyers.

-->'''Harry:''' You're doing so well [professionally]. W-What... What if we were to accidently… you know... have a baby now?\\

* In the "Mr Strawberry" episode of ''The Alan Davies Show'', Alan stars in an embarrassingly bad advert for a soft drink, which he desperately tries to keep his girlfriend from finding out about because she believes he's a serious actor. When she mentions that a lot of her actor friends have been in adverts, he offhandedly asks her is she still respects them, only to be told that no, she thinks all of them are cheap whores.

* In Creator/Evowizard25's {{Crossover}} RecursiveFanfic between his ''Fanfic/TheShimmerverse'' and the ''Fanfic/TheSunsetverse'', ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/242343/shimmering-sunsets Shimmering Sunsets]]'', Shimmerverse!Octavia asks Sunsetverse!Twilight about her AU counterpart's stallionfriend:

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* In [[FanFic/TheShimmerverse Evowizard25's]] [[{{Crossover}} Shimmering]] [[FanFic/TheSunsetverse Sunsets]], Shimmerverse!Octavia asks Sunsetverse!Twilight about her AU counterpart's stallionfriend:

Compare IHaveThisFriend, ComicRolePlay, RhetoricalQuestionBlunder. Not to be confused with the ArmorPiercingQuestion, where the one posing the questions is trying to force a realization in another (hence "armor piercing).