Basic Trope: A character frames an intimidating predator for murder.
- Straight: It looks like Ava the eagle killed Bob, but it was really actually Fred.
- Exaggerated: Fred portrays Ava as a blood thirsty serial-killer of a bird and whenever he needs to off someone, makes it look like she did it.
- Downplayed:
- Ava is simply one part of Fred's complicated gambit to kill Bob.
- Ava is set up to have apparently shot Bob with his own gun by chewing on the trigger. Even if people think Ava technically did kill him it was accidental on her part. Bob would be considered responsible for his own death because of his poor gun safety. Ava would be at no risk of being destroyed over it.
- Justified:
- Ava is very intimidating, and people hate her already for menacing their pets, children, and the local rodent population, so she's the perfect patsy.
- Fred is very popular around town, ergo whose word are the townsfolk going to take: The popular jock, or the bird?
- Claw marks were found on Bob's corpse, making it look like an eagle even though it was actually Fred using Wolverine Claws.
- Inverted:
- Ava The Eagle kills Bob and blames it on Fred.
- Fred is blamed for Bob's death, when it was really just an eagle attack.
- Subverted: As it turns out, Ava really did kill Bob after all.
- Double Subverted: But Fred still planned the death. He just manipulated Ava into doing the dirty work to take suspiscion of of himself.
- Parodied:
- Fred laughs at the news of the deaths and acts incredibly evasive whenever the victim's names are names are mentioned. Everyone adores him and buys his story that Ava is the culprit hook, line, and sinker, even though humans aren't eagle's natural prey.
- Fred manages to frame Mittens the cat for laundering money for the Russian mob and tax evasion because of paw prints on the record. The police are convinced that Mittens is a criminal mastermind.
- Fred tries to frame a completely harmless animal for Bob's murder.
- Zig Zagged: Ava is blamed for Fred's murder, but then it turns out Fred was still the one who planned Bob's death at Ava's claws. Then it turns out that Fred wasn't aware of what was going on...but that's actually just a lie he told the jury.
- Averted: Fred just hides the body and uses his reputation to get by above suspicion.
- Enforced: The game is based upon clue and reuses sprites from another game for playable characters.
- Lampshaded: "I can't believe Fred used that eagle to get away with everything!"
- Invoked: Fred makes sure Bob's wounds look like that of an Eagle's. Then he drops Bob's body off in Ava's cage. When the police see Ava with her new 'toy', they are instantly convinced.
- Exploited: Fred, realizing people's willingness to believe animals as culprits, makes a habit of blaming animals for minor offenses as well.
- Defied: Charlotte finds several flaws in Fred's testimony, figures out who the mastermind was, and Fred is carted off to jail, where he belongs.
- Discussed: "People sure like to use animals as scapegoats."
- Conversed: "See that Eagle? I bet Fred will frame her for Bob's death."
- Implied:
- We watch Fred kill Bob. Gilligan Cut to a newspaper headline with a picture of Ava staring menacing at the camera.
- When the coroner officially records Bob's death as an eagle attack, Fred is seen looking very smug. It's never confirmed why.
- Deconstructed: Animals gain a bad reputation because Fred keeps blaming them on things, Fred gets to walk free while Ava is blamed for something she didn't do, and Fred begins to get a bit of a bad reputation because he allegedly keeps letting animals best himself and his "loved" ones.
- Reconstructed: Charlotte discovers the truth, the animals are exonerated, and Fred is carted off to prison with everyone realizing what a brilliant criminal mastermind he is.
- Played For Laughs: Alice eats her homework, then accuses her dog of doing it. Nobody is fooled. Alice fervently denies eating her homework even when it is completely obvious that she did do it and demands that it is settled in a proper court case, which Alice promptly loses.
- Played For Drama: Charlotte is heart broken for her dead friend Bob, and Bob's ghost is still haunting the place of his death, and Fred completely sullies Bob's name, and Ava is locked up in a cage. Fred gets away Scott free.
- Played for Horror: Fred isn't framing Ava as the murderer, but even worse: He is actually Living a Double Life as both Fred the popular jock, and as Ava the Brutish Eagle whenever he wants someone out of the picture.
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