[Authoritarian Trope] Casually being questioned/threatened by an imposing authority figure out of nowhere

[u/TheWalkingBag]

One way to really set the oppressive atmosphere of a setting is by having our characters get randomly questioned or interrogated by a soldier/cop out of nowhere, often for very minor reasons

1. "Pick up that can." (Half-Life 2)

When Gordon first arrives to City 17, a Combine Civil Protection officer he's passing by suddenly drops a soda can in front of him and orders him to pick it up. If you comply here and throw the can in the bin he'll amusedly let you pass, but if you don't then he'll proceed to whip out his stunstick and attack you on the spot

1. "I'm just a tourist." (Andor)

In the episode "Announcement" of Season 1, a random shoretrooper on Niamos questions and threatens Cassian (using the fake alias "Keef Girgo") for nervously looking around too much while they're conducting a crackdown. The trooper asks if he's "a part of it" to which Cassian repeatedly protests that he isn't and that he's just a perfectly normal tourist; he's then violently arrested by him anyway and sentenced to hard labor in Narkina 5 without a fair trial

1. "Now, you. Show me your identification papers, please." (Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus)

A Nazi commandant randomly sits down at Papa Joe's Diner, orders a strawberry milkshake for himself and then very casually asks Blazkowicz to show his ID papers to him. Here you can show him your fake IDs (where you use the alias "John Smith") which seems to fool the commandant for a bit before he looks at a wanted poster on the wall and immediately recognizes your true identity, frantically pulling out his pistol before being shot by the diner's owner

[u/Yokogaijin_jr]

The funny part for Andor is that it is after Cassian’s team had robbed an imperial treasury reserve where they stored imperial paychecks. Now Cassian is just lying low with his alias. When Cassian gets arrested, he wasn’t recognized for the dude that robbed a treasury. He just looked suspicious, and then treated like a criminal. This showed the oppressive nature of the empire, you could have robbed a bank or even just had a regular Tuesday. Either case you are guilty as hell if you are nervous. This is scary.

[u/Im_At_Work_Damnit → u/Yokogaijin_jr]

It's also his turning point. Before this, he was just out for himself and he didn't want anything to do with the forming rebellion.

[u/SlinkyAdmiral → u/Yokogaijin_jr]

Due to the robbery and some other factors (like a certain space station) they heavily increased the penalties before his arrest. Which leads to him getting 6 years labour camp instead of 6 months for his charges. At this point they were looking for any excuses to get free labour for Palpatines side project.

[u/homotopy_equivalent → u/Yokogaijin_jr]

It also demonstrates the inefficiency of authoritarianism. They thought that by cracking down hard they would make the resistance pay, but all they did was accidentally hide the guy they were looking for by locking him up for the wrong crime. Ironically he was much closer to getting caught because he escaped from prison. If he had served his time he would have been safer