Captain Obvious: Difference between revisions

Being one is often the cause of this reaction: [[You Can Talk]] Obviously.

 

:Protip: The examples can be read by scrolling down to the sections below!

:All examples found in advertising campaigns are here!

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mgzUSNxVeE&feature=PlayList&p=2B24D77C0160960D&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=32 In the flesh, with a catchy jingle to boot.]

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgWeFCzsKF4 A Marvel Comics promotion from 1996]: After a busload of heroes take a bus to McEDs, [[The Fantastic Four| the Invisible Woman]] strolls by, while invisible, carrying a takeout order, causing [[Spider-Man]] to remark, "Huh, didn't see ''her'' on the bus."

 

:All examples found in Japanese manga and animation are here!

* One example that occurs in multiple anime and manga is the translation of the phrase ''abunai'' (危ない), which is both an adjective meaning "dangerous" and an interjection meaning "Look out!" Often translators will mix up the two, having a character shout "This is dangerous!" while something dangerous is about to happen to one of their friends.

* ''[[One Piece]]''; during the Egghead Arc, Kizaru shouts at Luffy to leave, stating that he won't be able to continue his mission if their fight continued. Well duh, Kizaru, why do you ''think'' Luffy is putting so much effort into fighting you?

 

:All examples found in comic books are here!

* Several issues of ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'' back in the 60's had an advanced alien race send a "recorder" android along with him to an unknown galaxy to observe information. He said almost ''everything'' that was going on in the panel. Granted he was a ''recording'' android and everything, and he was probably making notes to himself, but still...

** ''[[Dark Empire]]'' also contains a [[Not an Example|non-example]]: When Palpatine is about to pass his spirit into a fresh clone body, Luke walks in, revealing his status as a [[Fake Defector]] and his intent to destroy all the clones in the room, preventing Palpatine's perpetuation. Palpatine's response ("Very well... then I must '''die'''.") is not a case of stating the obvious, but rather a challenge for Luke to [[Bring It]]. {{spoiler|He brings it, but it's not enough.}}

 

:All examples found in fan fiction and other amateur tributes are here!

* In the ''[[Psych]]'' fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4207524/3/Hero Hero]'', there is the following exchange when a man who's taken a high school class hostage reveals he's got a bomb strapped to his chest:

* In one chapter of the [[Harry Potter]]/[[The Princess Bride (novel)|The Princess Bride]] [[Crossover]] ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/135041/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Florinese_Dream Harry Potter and the Florinese Dream]'', Count Rugen calls Prince Humperdinck "Prince Obvious."

 

:All examples found in cinematic releases are here!

* In ''[[Anti Trust]]'' Milo righteously exclaims "In the real world, when you kill people, they die--for real!" He's saying it to bring home how far removed the [[Big Bad]] really is from reality and how little he respects human life, but it's pretty silly out of context.

''Visits? Well, that would indicate visitors!''

''Future events such as these will affect you in the future.'' }}

* In ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'', when the ''Enterprise'' is trying to contact Regula One, Spock has this insightful comment, "There are two possibilities. They are unable to respond. They are unwilling to respond."

* In ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'', Data had his Captain Obvious moments too, as even the dead-serious ''TNG'' crew couldn't help but notice sometimes...

'''Miyagi:''' [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Detroit!]]}}

 

:All examples found in books not of the comic or manga persuasion are here!

* In ''[[Duumvirate|Billy & Howard]]'', the twins have vastly different ideas of what is and isn't obvious, occasionally leading to this trope being named.

'''Bertie:''' Well, perhaps you're right. }}

 

:All examples found in shows, that aren't animated, displayed on the television are here!

* Counselor Troi on ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' does this a lot. An alien will appear on the viewscreen and rant, rave, posture and threaten the Enterprise. Troi will lean over to the Captain and murmur, "I sense hostility..."

{{quote|'''Maggie''': And now, I'm gonna be looking at what it's like to be a young unemployed adult! Because--more young adults are becoming unemployed on account of they can't find work! Basically, the problem is this: if you haven't got a job, then you outta work! And that means only one thing-- unemployment!}}

 

:All examples found in songs are here!

* [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s "Albuquerque".

* "If I Had $1000000" by the [[Barenaked Ladies]]; most of the song has the [[Narrator]] pondering all he could do if he had so much money, until the last line, where he simply says, "If I had a million dollars... I'd be rich!"

 

:All examples found in comics in the newspaper are here!

* In ''[[Non Sequitur (comic strip)|Non Sequitur]]'' a recurring character has an alter ego named "Obviousman", who swoops in dressed like a superhero, complete with cape and [[Visual Pun|a big red circle and slash over the word "DUH!" on his chest]]. His mission is to point out the (usually snarky) obvious to the oblivious, though given [[What an Idiot!|the intelligence of the people he needs to rescue]], he is rarely thanked for this.

* Parodied in [[Rip Haywire]] where a temporary character says such things as "Sharks!" "It blew up!" and "Why do I keep on shouting the Obvious!"

 

:All examples found in periodicals are here!

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130823084110/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983116,00.html Apparently there's porn on the internet.]

 

:All examples found in professional wrestling are here!

* [[Professional Wrestling|Professional wrestler]]-turned-[[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]-commentator Tazz is in the habit of calling his broadcast partners "Captain Obvious", when they sum up something that the viewers just saw fifteen seconds ago.

* [[TNA]] commentator Mike Tenay does the same thing whenever the wrestler Rellik is mentioned ("That's 'killer' [[Sdrawkcab Name|spelled backwards]].") Eric Young later started parodying Mike Tenay on this, referring to Rellik as Rellik-that's-killer-spelled-backwards, as if the entire thing was the guy's name.

 

:All examples heard on radio shows are here!

* Inverted and parodied in ''The Bob and Tom Show'''s recurring "Mr. Obvious" skits. The premise in them is that Mr. Obvious, a the host of a radio call-in show, attempts to help today's caller with what looks to be a difficult problem until the caller reveals enough facts about his problem to make it clear that [[The Ditz|he has no clue, he can't afford to buy one, and he refuses to rent-to-own]], and that the caller would have solved his problem by himself long ago if he weren't so bloody dense.

'''Barry:''' Thank you. }}

 

:All examples found in games with physical equipment, played generally on top of a table but occasionally on the floor, are here!

* The 4th Edition ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' Monster Manual has "[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Bear_Lore Bear Lore]" - an [[Memetic Mutation|infamously]] [[Narm|hilarious]] example where it requires a DC20 Knowledge (nature) check to learn that bears ''attack with their claws''. [[Memetic Mutation]] has extended similar gems of wisdom to fire (DC15: Fire is hot), water (DC25: When immersed in water, organisms with lungs cannot breathe) and bees (DC15: Bees generally live in hives or trees. DC20: BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES).

* The card [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=73943 "Duh"] from the ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' joke set ''Unhinged'' invokes this trope. ''(Reminder text is any italicized text in parentheses that explains rules you already know.)''

 

:All examples found in plays are here!

* Shakespeare's characters sometimes don the captain's braid, but often it's because of the limitations of the Elizabethan stage. To paraphrase another page on this wiki, if your actors are in the middle of a sword fight but they're only pretending to be using swords, it's probably helpful if the victim grabs at his chest and cries "O, I am slain!" so the audience knows what happened. Also, if your only set decoration is a big sign that says "Castle of Elsinore", the characters are going to have to provide a description of the castle in their dialogue if you want the audience to visualize it.

{{quote|'''Cyrano:''' ... And, shortly, you shall see what you shall see!}}

 

:All examples found in Theme Parks are here!

* From [[Disney Theme Parks|Disneyland]], the narration for the now-defunct ''Adventures Through Inner Space'' did this several times.

"Yes... these are ''water'' molecules! H2O... Two hydrogen atoms bonded to a single oxygen atom." }}

 

:All examples found in computer and console games are here!

* Shirou in ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' and the infamous "People die if they are killed!" (What he's saying is that people ''[[Death Is Cheap|should]]'' die if they're killed; it's taken out of context with the next part, "...that's the way it's supposed to be.") But the real example: this is the guy who also says things like "having sex means getting naked".

* The PC [[Hidden Object Game]] ''Haunted Manor: Queen of Death'' has as its [[Big Bad]] a soul-sucking demon which somewhat resembles a giant bat. Whenever it appears onscreen, it hisses at the player and disappears in a cloud of mist while declaring, "I AM EEEEVIL." Did we mention this is a ''soul-sucking demon''?

 

:All examples found in cartoons on the internet are here!

* Teeg Dougland from the short-lived Limozeen cartoon in ''[[Homestar Runner]]''.

'''Blue Unicorn:''' We're on a bridge, Charlie!! }}

 

:All examples found in comics on the internet are here!

* [http://www.bmoviecomic.com/?cid=310 These] [http://www.bmoviecomic.com/?cid=311 two] ''[[The B-Movie Comic]]'' strips.

{{quote|'''Jay:''' The lights went out!

'''Jag:''' Well said, my dear, but [[Narrating the Obvious|this isn't radio]]. }}

* ''[[Cyanide & Happiness]]'' even made a superhero character (or at least a stick figure man) called Captain Obvious.

* Tom Siddell, ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' author, sometimes writes some hilariously (and intentionally) redundant sentences in [[The Rant]], such as "The background is white".

* A slightly less useless incarnation shows up in ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'' [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=178445 here.]

* [[Spinnerette]] constantly refers to her (non-existent) spider sense as telling her something that is patently obvious.

* Author's comment in the infamous miscarriage arc in ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'':

{{quote|And I know that it [the miscarriage]'s often much harder on the woman than on the man.}}

* An actual character in ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'', he makes sure people don't miss...[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=178445 things.]

* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'', [http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/03-02.html the innkeeper tells Perrault that he's a cat.] Perrault observes that nothing can be hidden from him.

 

:All examples found in content native to the internet which are not cartoons, comics or video are here!

* Captain Obvious is an [[Overly Long Gag]] on ''[[Uncyclopedia]]'' saying something [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|obvious]] [[Once an Episode|on every single Article.]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Captain Oblivious]] is probably also there, but he's not sure.

* I think he [https://web.archive.org/web/20140113012036/http://voicetalentproductions.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/captain-obvious.jpg is a captain].

 

:All examples found in video on the Web are here!

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axtfB7QPTiw Thank you, Captain Obvious.]

 

:All examples found in cartoons made in America or Europe are here!

*''[[Futurama]]'' has many

'''Clover:''' Oh, ''you think??''}}

 

:All examples observed in real life are here!

* The actual Captain Obvious is one of New York's self-proclaimed [http://www.reallifesuperheroes.org/2007/06/14/modern-day-superheroes/ real-life superheroes]{{Dead link}}, and goes about shouting the obvious through a megaphone. His bio states that he was thrown out of the [[X-Men]] for being too obvious. He frequently partners with [https://www.youtube.com/user/squeegeemannyc?feature=watch Squeegeeman]