Arbitrary Skepticism/Quotes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


"But this is set in the 1930s! Hitler's still alive!" A guy has just been brought back to life after dying because he picked the wrong cup as the Holy Grail, and you're worried about historical accuracy?

Antimony: You see, I also think Jones is a robot.
Kat: Whaaaaa... Come on! First off, a human looking robot is called an "android" and second, there is no way you could make an android that looks that good.
Antimony: We have seen stranger. Remember that cursed teapot?

Kat: Yeahhhhh... But that was... I don't even know what that was about...

GM: The ship has a cooling system.
Obi-Wan: So where does the heat it generates go? It's a closed system; you can't just magically pump it out into space. We're trying to be realistic, right?
GM: Yeah...
Obi-Wan: In fact, didn't you say the hull is polished silver? The thermal emissivity of polished metal is—

GM: This ship hovers with no visible means of propulsion and travels through hyperspace, and you're worried about the air conditioning?
"Those movies are very unrealistic; there's no way they could've survived! But the time travel concept, that's okay."

Flash: Let's see, after I caught the gorilla, he told me that...
Green Lantern: He talked to you.
Flash: Yeah, right after I stopped his car.
Green Lantern: I'm supposed to believe this?

Flash: Hey, we've both got a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt here.
Justice League Unlimited -- The Brave and the Bold Part 1

Senator Stampingston: Dethklok has summoned a troll.
General Crozier: That's impossible. There's no such thing as trolls.

Senator Stampingston: Then how do you explain the dead unicorns?
Metalocalypse -- Dethtroll

Gimmick: No! There is no such thing as a woodsprite!

Leota: Oh? And I suppose there's no such thing as a big bag of air stuck in my tree! But there it is, big as life!
The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin -- The Airship (book)
"Scully, in six years, how often have I been wrong? No, seriously. Every time I bring you a new case we go through this perfunctory dance; you tell me I'm not scientifically rigorous and I'm off my nut. And then in the end, who turns out to be right 98.9% of the time?"
Agent Mulder, The X-Files, "Field Trip"
"I never would have thought that a living skeleton would be such a skeptic."
Stephanie, Skulduggery Pleasant

Bruce: These people believe that anything they can't explain is magic.
Terry: And naturally you don't believe in that kind of thing.

Bruce: Of course I do: I've seen it all. Demons, witchboys, immortals, zombies... But this thing, it's just so... So high-school.

Hinagiku: Stop ignoring me! I am totally serious about this day repeating itself!
Momoko: Don't be stupid, that can't happen.

Hinagiku: We're magical transforming girls who fight devils with love waves and take orders from a mirror! I think this is within the realm of possibility here!

Sam: Dean, there's ten times as much lore about angels as there is about anything else we've ever hunted.
Dean: You know what, there's a ton of lore on unicorns too. In fact, I hear that they ride on silver moonbeams, and that they shoot rainbows out of their ass!
Sam: Wait, there's no such thing as unicorns?

TT: Optimism through stalwart skepticism is a defect not everyone is lucky enough to be cursed with.
Rose Lalonde, Homestuck
"The supernatural is make believe" says the UNICORN to the DRAGON.

Wash: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
Zoe: You live on a spaceship, dear.
Wash: ...So?[1]

"Harry was no longer sure, at this point, whether this was the sort of thing he ought to be skeptical about, or the sort of thing he should just take in stride."
"Oh come on, there's no such thing as crop circles! What it really was was a ghost. And that dinosaur the principal saw? Ghost dinosaur."
Random fifth graderDigimon Tamers

Jack Slater: Give you nightmares the rest of your life, but you’re fictional, so who cares? I’m sorry, but I don’t find it so new and exciting to discover that my whole life has been a damn movie.

NC: Yeah, this is the real world. With magic tickets that suck you into realms of fantasy. It’s an everyday occurrence.
"Skyrim is now host to giant, flying lizards and two-legged cat-men... And you're surprised by me? Yes. I just talked. And am continuing to do so."
Like all good comic book scientists, Doctor Shark is willing to ignore massive swaths of his own inexplicable universe.

  1. In their setting, spaceflight is normal but powers are not, hence Wash's confusion.