Times where characters get Out-Gambitted in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- Child of the Storm runs on a massive Gambit Pileup, but in the end, Doctor Strange was manipulating them all for the sake of his own Long Game.
- During the Forever Red arc of the sequel Ghosts of the Past, Russian President Volodya attempts to shut down the Red Room by meeting with General Lukin while backed with a small army, all of whom are equipped psychic dampeners in case Lukin tries to have one of his telepathic minions take control of them. Unfortunately, the minion Lukin brought with him is the Red Son, who telekinetically destroys all of the dampeners and the soldiers' weapons before killing them all, allowing Lukin to kill Volodya and seize control of Russia.
- At the climax of the Bloody Hell arc of Ghosts, Dracula has captured Carol and is preparing to enact his plan to drain her blood and gain sunlight immunity. However, he's foiled when Harry bursts into the scene, projecting an illusion of the Phoenix, the one being Dracula fears. This drives Dracula into such a panic that he doesn't see through the illusion (and the fact that he can still easily overpower Harry) until right before the Avengers arrive on the scene to send him packing.
- The Equestrian Wind Mage: Once Vaati discovers Queen Chrysalis's ruse during the Canterlot Wedding episode, he secretly transports all his monsters to Canterlot (while having Celestia secretly evacuate the city's civilians), and then allows the Changelings to attack, which triggers an utter massacre once his monsters reveal themselves.
- In Fate: Zero Sanity, Gilgamesh believes that he is the Fourth Grail War's resident Magnificent Bastard as in canon. He is gravely mistaken and ultimately taken advantage of by Assassin!Obito Uchiha, the War's true Magnificent Bastard, ending in Gil's death via Saber and Berserker when Obito steals Tokiomi's Command Seals and orders Gilgamesh to attack the latter two.
- Pokémon: Harmony and Chaos: This happens to Team Shadow when they first try to invade the Crystal Empire. Sombra is able to enter the Crystal Empire without issue due to being on good terms with everyone, and secretly installs a virus in Androrg that messes with its security list in its systems, allowing Chrysalis and the grunts to invade while also turning Androrg and all the Guardroids against everyone in the Crystal Empire. Team Shadow attempts to obtain the Heart Fragment of the Crystal Heart and the Shadow Spear, contained in two cases, with Sombra subtly assisting them by taking the cases and planning to hand them off to one of the grunts and make it look like he was robbed, and Chrysalis at one point pretending to threaten his life to force everyone to hand over the cases. In the end though, although Chrysalis manages to snatch both cases and escape, she finds out too late that Shining Armor and Cadance already thought ahead and hid both of the artifacts somewhere else. The cases were just empty decoys, and the whole battle was just buying Cadance time to remove the virus and get Androrg and the Guardroids back on their side so Team Shadow could not immediately attack again after realizing they were tricked, or try the same trick in the future. The only silver lining for Team Shadow is that Sombra managed to keep his cover, with nobody realizing he is the leader of Team Shadow.
- In Three Can Keep a Secret, Toffee manages to make a contract with Bill Cipher without the other actually managing to get anything out of it. Bill is both impressed and infuriated by this feat.
- Absolute Trust:
- During the Siege of the North, Alec and the Gaang catch Zuko by setting a trap in the Spirit Oasis. The following night, Zhao arrives with five times the amount of soldiers they'd expected him to bring... along with Iroh. Alec immediately informs Iroh that they have Zuko hostage, but will let both of them go free if Iroh helps them defeat Zhao. Iroh instantly agrees, proceeding to hold off three-quarters of Zhao's forces by himself.
- Ozai knows about the planned invasion on the Day of Black Sun. But Long Feng learns this and warns the invaders, causing them to change targets; Ozai spends the eclipse hiding inside his volcanic bunker in Caldera City while the raiders launch a massive jailbreak, freeing every prisoner in the war camps across the Fire Nation before destroying the facilities. The fact that two of these prisons were situated on the Fire Nation's largest Naval Shipyard and primary Weapons Factory was just the icing on the cake.
- Corrin Reacts: Corrin and Saizou manage to do this to each other. Saizou swaps Jakob's diary for a blank in an attempt to catch Corrin out. Corrin in turn swaps the (unbeknownst to him) blank diary for a book of sketches of Flora, causing Saizou to flip out when the blank diary is missing.
- Wings of Anemos: All of Atropos' efforts to steal the power of the Mars Star from Isaac fail when he learns too late that Isaac never actually had that power to begin with; it belonged to Garet the whole time.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi
- Second Bite of the Cherry: Jin Guangshan offers one of his bastard daughters as a bride to Lan Wangji, hoping to ally with another powerful Great Sect and make it seem the very honourable Gusu Lan are alright with his immoral conduct. Unfortunately for him, the Lan elders already have trained a bride for Lan Wangji precisely to avoid this kind of political trap.
- Dodging Prison & Stealing Witches: Dumbledore frames Harry for the attempted murder of his twin John and convinces the boys' parents to let him defend Harry at trial, intending to lock Harry up in Azkaban until he has to face Voldemort. Unfortunately, not only does Harry refuse to sign a confession, but the prosecution informs him they plan to push for execution. Come the trial, Dumbledore learns that not only is the prosecution pushing for exoneration, but a good deal of evidence he thought was inadmissible is presented. Due to the prosecution insisting the defendant is innocent and the defense declaring him guilty, Amelia forces the two to switch sides.
- Begrudging Assistance Requests: Ellie and Dmitri agree to work together in order to get their revenge upon Henry. However, one goes in with the intent of betraying their nominal ally; Ellie tries to kill Grigori alongside Henry, then goes to celebrate her newfound freedom by robbing a bank, only to find that Dmitri had called in some CCC agents to monitor her.
- The Ultimate Evil: During the climax of the Demon Portals arc, the J-Team and Shendu team up to open the last portal so that Jade can escape from the Netherworld, in exchange for the Chans' friend (and object of Shendu's obsession) Valerie Payne surrendering herself to him. However, Uncle realizes that Shendu is probably planning to double-cross them all when the time comes, so he already has a spell in place to banish him before he has a chance to. Ironically, Shendu's subsequent interactions with Valerie when he possesses her imply he genuinely wasn't going to leave any strings attached when upholding his end of the bargain.
- In Zelda's Honor, all of the villains' plans ultimately fall apart due to the decisions that Impa makes right before their death.
- CONSEQUENCES: After going on a globe-trotting Monumental Damage spree in WORLD BEYOND, Hawkmoth is confident he's finally won when the French Government appears to bow to his demands, arresting Ladybug and Chat Noir. When he arrives to claim their Miraculouses, however, it turns out to be a trap, and the heroes swiftly subdue and arrest him.
- Feralnette AU: During the Birds of a Feather arc, Lila angles to get Marinette expelled again, this time for good. However, once she manages to get her target in the principal's office, she's shocked to learn that Chloe has outplayed her; having anticipated that Lila might pull the same stunt, she informed the principal that Marinette was "tutoring" her, warning him that if he expelled the other girl again, she'd get her father involved. Marinette then negotiates a punishment that works in her favor, and alerts Ms. Mendeleiev that Lila was "being weird" about a friend's gender identity, getting the Bitch in Sheep's Clothing into more trouble than her target was.
- Tales of Karmic Lies Aftermath: In Karma Comes to Collect, Lila targets a new victim, Harry Hood, unaware that he's a mind-reader. This, combined with her own paranoia, results in her Karma Houdini Warranty finally running out.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Antipodes: Rubidium kills the Attenuator for Stalliongrad, banking that Jigsaw will give himself up to save the city before Tantalus realizes Stalliongrad is defenseless. However, Tantalus sent Jigsaw and Tiptoe to him in the first place, banking that they would lower the shield somehow, and was ready to attack at a moment's notice.
- A Chance Meeting of Two Moons: When Blueblood/Bluebelle tries to submit a proposal for a summer house he/she wants to build outside of Ponyville, Luna/Artemis sees it for what it really is — an attempt to set things up to establish a power base down there and make life miserable for the Element Bearers, and she/he immediately rejects it as a result. Later, when Blueblood/Bluebelle tries to convince Celestia/Solaris to their side, they are again made to look a fool by Luna/Artemis.
- RealityCheck's Nyxverse: Alicornundrum has Prince Blueblood's father, Duke Blueblood. He tries to con Twilight into a marriage contract with his son. Unfortunately, he never considered: 1) Twilight is not going to take it lightly, 2) Celestia's reaction if she finds out (which she does indeed). 3)Threatening or trying to boss around Twilight or Celestia carries bad consequences.
- A Growing Affection: Orochimaru takes advantage of Itachi's Zero-Approval Gambit by manipulating Sasuke into agreeing to let Orochimaru claim him as a vessel if the snake sannin kills Itachi for him. Just to twist the knife further, he manipulates things so that Sasuke finds out the Awful Truth behind the Uchiha Massacre right before he finishes Itachi off and claims his prize.
- White Eyes: Madara proves to be a No-Nonsense Nemesis when he anticipates Obito and Kakashi's plans to take him down, letting them believe that he's unaware just long enough to lure them into a trap and take them down.
- When a Wolf Runs Alone: Luz's ability to sense magic means that Edric and Emira's efforts to sneak up on her through invisibility and silencing spells are just broadcasting their location to her. This doesn't stop them from trying anyway.
- In Mergers, Brock chooses to be merged with Steelix for pragmatic reasons given its strength and difficult capture rate, but unfortunately the Rockets were prepared and catch him in a Master Ball.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness Act IV: After learning that Hokuto is apparently planning a full-on attack on Yokai Academy to capture Moka in the future, Tsukune and co. take time to prepare. However, they fail to consider the fact that Luna and Falla, two Time Masters, weren't present during the attack in that timeline, and are caught unprepared when Hokuto does factor in Luna and Falla's presence and instead has Jovian and Jacqueline kidnap Tsukune's mother and cousin and hold them hostage at opposite sides of Tsukune's hometown in order to Divide and Conquer the group while a Brainwashed and Crazy Felucia forces Moka to go with her to Hokuto without a fight.
- Bad For Business: Roman poses as a Fake Defector in an attempt to find the White Fang's headquarters, only for a real defector to reveal his plan to Cinder. Cinder then uses Roman as bait for a trap, intending to catch his allies... but rather than contacting his allies, Roman calls in an anonymous tip to Ozpin about the base's location, who sends Glynda and Team CFVY to raid the place, providing him with the perfect distraction.
- Chasing Dragons:
- During the Greyjoy Rebellion, Balon has his forces pull back from Fair Isle enough to draw the royal forces into invading the island to take on the token force holding it, so that the Iron Fleet can then return and destroy the royal fleet to strand the army there... all of which Euron and Stannis see coming, so after initially invading the island they return their forces to the ships under cover of darkness, leaving them at full strength when the Ironborn attack, giving the royals the upper hand.
- Bloodraven foresees Euron's Long Game (gain Stannis' trust until he can become Hand, become regent for Stannis' children after eventually killing him, marry one of his daughters to become king) and arranges events to have him killed during the above-mentioned battle at Fair Isle.
- Resounding Echoes AU: After noticing the holes in Sylphic's story, Eggman sets up Sylphic and forces him to watch as Bastette and his friends seemingly drown.
- Secrets Of The Emeralds: Knuckles, of all people, pulls one on Robotnik. When he tries to rescue Sonic from Robotnik's fortress, Sonic asks him to tell him what the real secrets of the Chaos Emeralds are. Knuckles explains that each emerald has a different power, depending on the color, and gives the light blue one as an example, telling Sonic that it's a teleporter. When Knuckles is captured and brought in front of Robotnik, the doctor mockingly tells him that the conversation was recorded and uses that Emerald on Knuckles to transport him into a cell. Unfortunately for him, Knuckles was well aware (or at least, strongly suspected) that Robotnik might be listening. Turns out that the light blue Emerald that Robotnik uses on the badly injured Knuckles has the power of healing, not teleportation.
- A Codette World Tour: Alejandro counters Noah's attempts to expose him as a Manipulative Bastard by helping Lindsay remember who Tyler is, convincing the two to vote for Noah alongside him as repayment for his assistance.
- In Risk It All, Ren's grandparents conspired to kill his father to prevent him from ever challenging Ren's uncle for the position of patriarch of their clan. They didn't count on Ren's father going as far as to torch their ancestral home and plant explosives to create a diversion and escape.
- Young Justice: Darkness Falls: All of Vandal Savage's schemes and plans earn him an Omega Beam in the back, due to his inability to resist having Doomsday kill Superman rather than simply defeating him.
