Hunter "Patch" Adams: You told Walcott I cheated. I know you did it. Just tell me why.
Mitch Roman: Look, cut the crap, Hunter. I live with you. I know how much you study, or don't study. And you do better than me? Give me a break.
Mitch Roman: Look, cut the crap, Hunter. I live with you. I know how much you study, or don't study. And you do better than me? Give me a break.
Typically, a character accomplishing something impressive (getting a high score on an exam, catching an animal on a hunt, winning at sports) would be celebrated. But then one person is skeptical because they don't buy that the other character truly did what they claim.
The skeptic's reasons may vary. They may be a rival trying to discredit the other character or an authority with a beef against them. In more innocent cases, they may be someone trying to expose the accused as a fraud, someone who simply knows the accused as a slacker, weakling, coward, etc which justifies their disbelief or simply think that a mistake was made resulting in the accused character getting credit for something they didn't actually do.
If the person actually did accomplish the feats they got credit for, this is Badass on Paper. If not, this is Feet of Clay if they got the false reputation by no fault of their own.
Compare Varying Competency Alibi in which a character is accused of doing something that could get them into trouble rather than get them approval and their level of competence is vital to proving they didn't do it. Super-Trope to Miles Gloriosus.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime and Manga
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Uto claims that her first words as a baby were her singing a song while playing the ocarina. Karane accuses her of telling Blatant Lies.
- The Kindaichi Case Files: In the very first case, the accompanying teacher tells Miyuki that several teachers suspect that she helped Kindaichi cheat on his entrance exams, since he hasn't shown any sort of academic ability at all throughout his high school life so far. A flustered Miyuki denies this, but the teacher tells her she's well aware since she's come to the realisation that Kindaichi is Brilliant, but Lazy (plus, his score was actually significantly higher than Miyuki's). It's her murder that really causes Kindaichi to begin investigating in earnest... because he can't shake the feeling that if he'd bothered to sooner, she might have lived.
Comic Books
- Batman: In "Legends of the Dark Knight", it is revealed that the Riddler was abused by his father who accused him of cheating due to envy of his son's academic achievements and inability to understand Edward's intelligence. This is apparently the reason behind the Riddler's compulsion to incorporate riddles into his crimes; since his father accused him of faking his achievements, the Riddler subconsciously wants to tell the truth and prove he is innocent of deception.
- Rogue Sun: Dylan makes another kid named Reggie do his English paper for him. However, Dylan's teacher is able to deduce the paper was not done by Dylan because it contains the word "facetiously", a word Dylan clearly does not know the meaning of.
Films—Animation
- The Sword in the Stone: Sir Hector and the rest of the knights who attended London's tournament initially find the idea of a scrawny kid like Wart lifting the legendary sword Excalibur next to impossible. It's only at the request of Sir Pellinore and Sir Bart that Wart is given the chance to prove he's the rightful heir to the throne of Britain.
Films—Live-Action
- Patch Adams: Patch doesn't just do well in his exams, but surpasses his roommate Mitch. As Mitch sees Patch as a buffoon who treats medicine like a joke and has never seen him do any serious studying, he accuses Patch of cheating.
- Stand and Deliver: The ETS investigators don't believe that Escalante's students could have passed the AP calculus test without cheating.
Literature
- Roys Bedoys: In one story, Roys tells Coder that he couldn't have thrown the ball at him on purpose because Coder's aim isn't that good.
- Smart Ice Cream: The narrator is a Child Prodigy and an Insufferable Genius who is usually the only one in his class to get full marks in math. So when his classmate Dadien also gets full marks, the protagonist, who believes all his classmates are dumb, thinks Dadien must have cheated.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Samwell Tarly kills an Other with a dragonglass (obsidian) dagger after he gets separated from a group of fleeing Night's Watch Brothers. As no one is around to witness this feat except Grenn, few believe the story and jeeringly call him "Sam the Slayer".
- Sweet Valley High: Jessica Wakefield is usually a mediocre student. So when she gets a higher score on the SATs than her more studious twin sister Elizabeth, everyone (wrongly) assumes that she must have cheated.
- The Vampire Lestat: The defining experience of Lestat's youth is a harrowing fight in which he kills a pack of eight wolves. When he limps home and tells the story, his Big Brother Bully coldly calls him a lying little bastard. The brother immediately realizes his mistake and starts Verbal Backpedaling, but the snub forever erases whatever love or kindness Lestat had for him.
Live-Action TV
- The Dropout: In "Iron Sisters", Erika Cheung and Tyler Shultz send an e-mail to Elizabeth about the company's falsified blood tests, with Tyler making Erika take her name off the e-mail so she doesn't get fired. When both Tyler and Erika are called to Sunny's office over this action, Tyler tries to take full responsibility for the e-mail, but Sunny doesn't buy it for a second because of Tyler's average-at-best intelligence.
- Kenan & Kel: In "IQ Can Do Better", Kenan and Kel take an I.Q test, scoring 3 and 96 respectively. Kenan refuses to believe that Kel scored so high and contests the results. The principal does a recount and it does turn out that an error was made: Kenan got a 90 while Kel's real score is 98.
- The principal initially refuses to do the recount and only agrees after being told Kel scored 96.
- Red Dwarf: In "Back In The Red Part 2," Rimmer gives Captain Hollister a startlingly accurate report on potential drive plate malfunctions. However, Hollister is immediately suspicious given that Rimmer has made a name for himself as an incompetent dolt who constantly fails the astronavigation exam. He's right to be dubious, as it turns out: Rimmer is using files taken from Starbug's computers to make himself appear cleverer than he really is. Unfortunately for Rimmer, Hollister takes the opportunity to drug him and put him in the Virtual-Reality Interrogation with the rest of the Dwarfers - though this isn't found out until part 3.
Video Games
- Knights of the Old Republic: When you complete your accelerated Jedi training and are sent off in pursuit of the Star Forge, Carth Onasi is increasingly bewildered by the fact that you've been judged competent enough to be sent on a mission that will save the galaxy after only a few days of study. In later conversations, he admits to being deeply suspicious - not just of you, but the Jedi Council, believing that some underhanded strategy is in play. He's right, as it turns out.
- Mortal Kombat 11: An intro dialogue has Shang Tsung dismissing Johnny Cage's claim of defeating Shinnok. While anyone who played Mortal Kombat X knows Johnny is telling the truth, his facetious attitude makes it very easy for Shang Tsung, who wasn't present during the events of that game, to disbelieve him.
Western Animation
- American Dragon: Jake Long: Jake takes some pictures of himself in dragon form and delivers them to Rotwood. However, Rotwood thinks Jake is too much of an amateur to have gotten close to a real dragon and accuses him of fabricating the photos.
- Kim Possible: In "Naked Genius", Rufus gains super intelligence and Ron has him do his algebra homework. This initially backfires when his teacher still gives him an F, since the homework was solved with advanced mathematical concepts well above what a high schooler struggling with algebra would be capable of, though he's able to save face by having Rufus (hiding in his sleeve) make it look like he's writing complex formulae.
- The Loud House: In "Any Given Sundae", Lily, who, at the time is only a baby of fifteen months, tricks her family into giving her her first ice cream by deliberately soiling her diaper so they'll take her to get it changed at the convenience store, then jumping onto the store's freezer. On the way home, her older sister Lisa wonders if she did it on purpose, but their father Lynn Sr. tells her not to be silly as Lily is only a baby.
- The Simpsons: Zigzagged at the end of "Who Shot Mr. Burns?". When it's revealed that Maggie Simpson shot Mr. Burns, Marge says it was probably an accident since Maggie is only a baby, but at the end, we see a spooky close-up of her, indicating she may have done it on purpose. Ultimately, though, it's left ambiguous.
