Armor-Piercing Question: Difference between revisions

[[File:Piercing question 1206.jpg|link=Slightly Damned|frame|The injury is imaginary,<br />but the [[Harsh Word Impact|pain]] is very real.]]

'''Sonny:''' ...Can you?|''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]''}}

** The whole story actually builds to this one question. {{spoiler|It is asked as Superman, who has been able to spread his dictatorship peacefully up to this point, is finally forced to use force to take over the rest of the world. It both references his (only) failure to reenlargere-enlarge a shrunken city and compares him to fellow alien conqueror Brainiac, who shrunk the aforementioned city in the first place, and who is being used as a tool by Superman at this point to maintain his dictatorship (which actually makes "putting the whole world in a bottle" a valid option for him).}}

* In the ''Extremis'' run, [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]] manages to double this up with a sort-of [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] when he delivers this to John Pillinger, an anti-war activist/documentarist who is interviewing him in regard to the weapons Tony designed for the military ''over a decade ago'', when Tony was ''nineteen''.<ref>Albeit an area denial weapon that sprays BB-sized bombs everywhere, each with the explosive power of ''three sticks of dynamite.'' Eighteen percent of them had timer failures, so people in those areas are ''still'' finding the damned things and getting blown to salsa dip. Well, it was his first military project... at nineteen...</ref> Over the course of the interview, Pillinger is clearly determined to make Tony out to be as unsympathetic as possible to the point of insinuating that he is [[Not So Different]] from any current arms dealer; he interrupts Tony at every turn, gives Tony no chance to expand on his answers, and more or less dismisses ''incredibly'' significant medical breakthroughs as meaningless just because they aren't available in ''third-world countries''.<ref>Also, he asks (paraphrasing here) if a kid in Iraq with no arms would be impressed by the [[Iron Man]] armor, completely ignoring the fact that [[Iron Man]] has repeatedly saved/played a large hand in saving ''the planet'' and routinely helps keep New York from being turned into rubble.</ref> He also brushes aside the fact that Tony hasn't designed weaponry for the military in over ten years, and has in fact put his efforts and resources into venues that could improve the world.<br />The real kicker comes when Tony, rather than attempt to make excuses for the damage the weapons he once designed have done, flat-out admits that he knows that no matter what he does, he will always have blood on his hands—and Pillinger reacts as if Tony ''has'' given some long, rambling explanation to excuse himself from responsibility. Tony ends his statement by saying, with obvious sincerity, that he's trying to be a part of making the world a better place regardless. Pillinger responds with a caustic "...I see."<br />However, at the end of the session, Pillinger asks Tony why he agreed to the interview. Tony responds ''beautifully'' with an Armor-Piercing Question of his own.

** The two '''menchesmensches''' shake hands amicably before parting.

* Twilight Sparkle manages to do this to [[Prince Charmless|Prince Blueblood]] in ''[[Getting Back on Your Hooves]]'' during a [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]. After explaningexplaining how [[God-Emperor|Celestia and Luna]] seek such a close relationship with their subjects, a stark contrast to the self obcessedobsessed, high and mighty Blueblood, she asks him a question that, for once, actually makes him think about his actions.

'''Light''': [[A God Am I|Yes, I am a God.]]<br />

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[I Heart♥ Huckabees]]'': "How am I not myself?" Notable in that it is an Armor-Piercing Question to the person who asked it in the first place, completely unintentionally unhinging his ''entire life''.

* ''[[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier|Star Trek V the Final Frontier]]'': "What does God need with a starship?"

** ''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]'': "How do you feel?.....How do you feel?.....How do you feel?"

{{quote|'''Smith''': [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|Why, Mr. Anderson, why?]] Why, why do you do it? Why, why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting ''for'' something, for more than your ''survival''? Can you tell me what it ''is'', do you even ''know''? Is it ''freedom'' or ''truth'', perhaps peace - could it be for ''love''? Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or ''purpose''. And all of them as artificial as the ''Matrix itself''. Although, only a ''human'' mind could invent something as insipid as ''love''. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson, you must know it by now! You can't win, it's pointless to keep fighting! ''Why'', Mr. Anderson, why, ''why'' do you ''persist''?<br />

{{quote|''"What did she do, Angela? You know what she did. What did she do, Angela? You know what she did. What are you afraid of? What did she do?''; '''What did she do? '' What are you afraid of?!?'''''"}}

== [[Literature]] ==

** In ''[[Discworld/Jingo|Jingo]]'', Nobby, of all people, asks some questions that puncture the anti-Klatchian rhetoric going around Ankh-Morpork.

{{quote|"Why, {{spoiler|'tis Abigail Mason who's just burned her husband so she can get another.}}"}}

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

'''The Doctor:''' Appreciate it? ''Appreciate it?'' You commit mass destruction and murder on a scale that's almost inconceivable, and you ask me to ''appreciate it??''' Just because you happen to have made a brilliantly conceived ''toy'' out of the mummified remains of planets?

'''The Captain:''' [[Large Ham|Devil storms, Doctor!]] It is ''not'' a toy!<br />

* One prominent instance in ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' were commandant Spangler asks Francis "Can you name one thing wrong with your life that you don't blame on your mother?". Having blamed his mother for every problem he's ever had regardless of how much [[Insane Troll Logic]] used to do so, Francis is stumped.

* During season 2 of ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]'', Richard became affected by a magic-induced rage, and to help him control it, the wizard Zedd kept asking Richard "What are you angry at?", knocking down each of Richard's answers until they got to the real answer: {{spoiler|Richard was angry at Zedd for lying to him about heritage and bringing him into the conflict in the first place}}

* The second-to-last episode of Season 1 of ''[[The Wire]]'': D'Angelo Barksdale decides to quit the Game:

* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', [[Arc Words|"Will you join us?"]] - pierces through ''Cameron's'' literal armor, which is saying something. This prompts, amongst other things, an [[Oh Crap|Oh Shit Moment]] for her, with John even bewilderedly pointing out ''she's'' upset, not him.

* In the classic James Newcomer ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episode, "The Measure of a Man,", Picard is forced to defend Data's rights when Commander Bruce Maddox claims he is not sentient and is Starfleet's property, giving Maddox the right to disassemble Data against his will to study and replicate him. Picard's defencedefense is one giant [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] where he questions the [[Unfortunate ImplicationImplications|real implications of Maddox's work]] that eventually leaves Maddox shaken and silent.

** The [[Fridge Logic]] here is that if Picard is so careful about the slippery slope that he is pressing to err on the side of caution, warning that it could lead to ''servitude and slavery'' to deny rights to something that might possibly show the signs of the aforementioned criteria, then why exactly does he have no similar attachments to other advanced computers, like the Enterprise's (he never asks the ship if it wants to go where he wants it to go), or any other form of equipment? It was even brought up that the only reason there was such a fuss over Data was just because Data looks human(ish). These tough questions never are answered again in the series, of course (though ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' does take a crack at it with the new Doctor).

*** Except of course in the episode "The Quality of Life", when the exact same issues were brought up regarding the emerging sentience of the Exocomps, and both Moriarty holodeck episodes ("Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle"). Plus there was an episode where the ship DID''did'' become sentient ("Emergence"), although it was a temporary condition caused by the presence of an alien lifeform, and the crew spent most of the episode unable to communicate with it.

'''Picard:''' [shaken] That will be all, Mr. Data. }}

* ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'': Ben Stone's cross-examination of an anti-abortion activist who had tricked a woman wanting an abortion into carrying a bomb to the clinic. After the woman self-righteously declared what she had done was just, and that the victim, a former follower of hers who had become pregnant, deserved what had happened, the question came that left her speechless.

** ''Law and& Order'' has tons of examples of these on the witness stand.

* Linus does this in one ''[[Peanuts]]'' strip when he asks a doomsday prophet who has been terrorizing (or boring) the camp kids for a week: "Have you ever considered that you might be wrong?".

* In one strip of ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', Calvin asks his father, "Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world's problems?" His father has no answer for him.

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

== [[Theater]] ==

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' has a question that spurs a centuries-long worldwar that drove an entire species from their planet: "Does this unit have a soul?"

** ''[[Mass Effect 2]]:'' A Paragon Shepard has an absolutely ''brutal'' one to a racist asari [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] on Illium, after she describes her alien-loving, high-achieving, prematurely-dead family:

** In general, Shepard uses a LOT''lot'' of these when persuading people, and sometimes regularly in dialogue to keep events moving.

* ''[[RunescapeRuneScape]]'' has one from the finale of the goblin quests. The god of war has possessed your friend, Zanik. During the fight, she can regenerate indefinitely thanks to said god's power. At one point, she says she has to kill you because humans are the enemy. The player asks her: "but am ''I'', ''your'' enemy?"

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'', Paarthurnax will respond to the Blades' demands that he be killed with dignity and admits that {{spoiler|Dragons like himself}} aren't exactly trustworthy beings {{spoiler|and that he is trustworthy only due to tremendous effort -- he fights his tyrannical urges ''every day''}}. He invites the Dragonborn to ponder one question, one that has actually made many players hesistate to kill him: "What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?"

== [[Web Visual NovelsComics]] ==

{{quote|<span style{{=}}"color|:#b536de| ;">TT: Have you ever looked into the sky without your shades?}}</span>}}

* ''[[Freefall]]'': This is all it takes for Florence to finally catch a break in her quest to save Jean - because [[Rousseau Was Right]], and the [[Bad Boss]] is infamous [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01959.htm]:

{{quote|'''Florence''': ''[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01959.htm Have you met Mr. Kornada?]''

'''RandomMr. EURaibert employee''': ''[[OhAh, CrapYou Know Him|Yes]]. [[Oh Crap|Hmm... Yes.]] It is possible that [[This Is Gonna Suck|It is possible that we have a problem here.]]'' }}

== [[Web Original]] ==

== [[Western Animation]] ==

{{quote|'''Iroh''': What do you plan to do now that you have found the Avatar's bison? Keep it locked in our new apartment? [[Sarcasm Mode|Should I go put on a pot of tea for him?]]<br />

'''Zuko''': First I have to get it out of here.<br />

* In the ''[[Sonic Sat AM]]'' episode "Sonic and Sally" Tails [[Wise Beyond Their Years|turns out to be right about]] {{spoiler|the character who looked and sounded like Sally but wasn't Sally. When Sonic goes to confront said character...}}

* In the episode "A Bird In The Hoof" on ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', Twilight bursts out at Fluttershy "You have no idea what the Princess is gonna do when she finds out you're the one who took her pet, do you?!" Fluttershy replies just by asking "Do ''you?''" This makes Twilight actually pause in her speech before she can continue speaking normally.

* Kilowog delivers one to [[Anti-Villain|Razer]] in the pilot of ''[[Green Lantern the Animated Series|Green Lantern: The Animated Series]]'', calling him out on his [[He Who Fights Monsters]] hypocrisy:

== Journalism[[Real Life]] ==

** Possible response: "Yes. [[Artistic License Biology|Straight is the default.]] Gay is an aberrant choice."