Complexity Addiction: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives *evil laugh*, [[Large Ham|'''I'LL SMASH IT WITH A HAMMAH!''']] It's ''brilliant'', ''BRILLIANT'', '''''BRILLIANT''''', I tell you! Genius, I say!... [[Comically Missing the Point|Or, to save on postage]], [[Subverted Trope|I'll just poison him with this.]]''|'''Yzma''', ''[[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]]''}}

A character (usually the villain) comes up with a ridiculously elaborate plot that is so meticulously planned out that [[Tempting Fate|it can't possibly fail...]]

* ''[[Austin Powers]]'' spoofs this trope as it commonly appears in spy films. [[Big Bad|Dr. Evil]] is notorious for making his plans to kill the titular character exceedingly complicated, such as in the first movie where he ties Austin and Vanessa to a pole suspended over a pool of water with mutated, enraged sea bass ready to eat them, in a secluded room with the door closed and one easily defeatable guard stationed there. [[Genre Savvy|Dr. Evil's son, Scott]], is [[Lampshade Hanging|usually the one who calls him out]] on these things and [[Stating the Simple Solution|states much easier ways]] to kill Austin.

* In ''[[The Bourne Identity]]'', Jason Bourne needs to get some information from a hotel receptionist, but he's afraid that the police will come after him or his girlfriend the moment any of them step inside. Therefore he comes up with a complicated plan of action, involving her entering, counting the number of steps she takes from the entrance, counting how many civilians, guards, etc. there are, and him then calling her via the lobby phone to plan further ahead. This is explained via Jason's voice-over as we see her doing this. As she looks at the telephone, the camera cuts to Jason outside, dialing the number. No answer. He hangs up in a hurry and prepares to go in, only to find her standing right behind him with the papers in hand.

* The [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] villains are bad enough [[Bond Villain Stupidity|to name a whole separate trope]] - for instance, instead of simply killing Bond they [[Dr. No|beat him up and leave him in a somewhat easily escapable cell]], [[Live and Let Die (film)|leave him in the middle of an alligator farm]], and of course, [[Blofeld Ploy|shoot a mook that failed them instead]].

* Many of the killers on ''[[Monk]]'' and ''[[Psych]]'' fit this trope. Many come up with very elaborate schemes to kill the people they want dead. And although the end result is a mystery that leaves many of the cops stumped and the main detectives boggled for a few minutes, there were too many places for something to go wrong, which will ultimately lead to the clue that indicts them.

** [[Psych|Shawn]] even Lampshades this in a recent episode...

** One episode of ''[[Monk]]'' had the killer in a coma for a year while the thing happened. How did he do it? With a bomb that was stuck to the bottom of the mailbox with a special type of glue that would hold out for a year, meaning it would be delivered in a year, after which it would go off when it finally got into the deliveree's hands. The possibility of it being delivered to the wrong address, of the victim moving, or of the bomb detonating too early or not at all don't seem to occur to the murderer.

* The Master in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', especially the Anthony Ainley incarnation. As the Rani once summed him up:

* In ''[[Angel]]'' Jasmine's plan while possessing Cordelia gives the impression of being massively overcomplicated. Apparently she felt the need to unleash The Beast, make Connor think he was responsible for the apocalypse, have sex with him, blot out the sun, bring back Angelus, release him to generate even more chaos and possibly kill The Beast, which serves her, then give birth. Alternatively, she could have had sex with Connor, told Angel "I need some time to think", and left the city for a [[Express Delivery|month or two.]].

** One possible justification for this is that actually ''required'' the deaths The Beast caused to bring her forth, and that Jasmine lacked full control in the early days. This would also explain why "Cordelia" had a nightmare (which the audience saw her having, inside her own head) about a monstrous unknown demon - that ''works for her'' and she told to show up.

** Her elaborate courtship of Tavros included abusing him physically and mentally, crippling him, taking advantage of his childhood fantasies, teaming up with him, mocking him, giving him a flying car, trying to force him to kill her, and {{spoiler|killing him when he fails}}, all in order to toughen him up and sparking either red or [[Foe Yay|black]] romantic feelings. Instead he just got confused and very frightened of her. She'd have had better results by ''just being nice to him'' - it worked on John.

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' as a result of her time in {{spoiler|the forest}}, Antimony developed a case of this.

== Web Original ==

* ''The [[Evil Overlord List]]'', item #85:

** TJ flat out tells the villain that removing summer won't remove summer vacation, but the [[Big Bad]] just replies, "I can try."

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''' "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" (during a parody of ''[[The Prisoner]]''):

'''Homer:''' That's impossible. All my stories are bullplop. [[Gosh Dang It to Heck|Bullplop!]]<br />

'''Number 2:''' Don't be cute. I'm referring to the flu shot exposé. You see, we're the ones loading them with mind-controlling additives.<br />

'''Number 2:''' Yes, it is. }}

** Subverted in another episode when Sideshow Bob's brother Cecil is about to kill Bart by throwing him off a hydroelectric dam:

'''Cecil''': You know, you're right. If anyone asks, I'll lie! }}

* In an episode of ''[[Underdog (animation)|Underdog]]'', Simon barSinister's plan to take over the city was thwarted because he couldn't reach a vital piece of equipment due to the [[Thanksgiving Day]] Parade blocking the street. Fortunately, he has a time machine. How does he use it? Option A: Go back in time to that morning, cross the street before the parade starts. Option B: Go back in time one day, tell his troops the attack is postponed until Friday, when the parade won't be blocking the street. Option C: Go back in time one week, and move the device to the other side of the street, so the parade won't be an issue. What he comes up with is Option D: Go back ''several hundred years'' and sabotage the formation of Plymouth Plantation so that [[Thanksgiving Day]] never happens, and therefore the [[Thanksgiving Day]] Parade will not exist to keep him from crossing the street. He opted to try to alter centuries of history, possibly creating a [[Butterfly Effect]] that would cause the city he wanted to conquer to never exist in the first place, just to remove a temporary ''traffic obstacle''.

* On ''[[Phineas and Ferb]],'' [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] will regularly plot to do something needlessly complicated rather than something ''much'' simpler, like steal Big Ben rather than go to the store and buy a new watch. [[Better Than a Bare Bulb|Of course]], it's often [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]].

** Arguably, Phineas and Ferb are prone to this as well. For example, in "Picture This", Ferb has left his skateboard in England:

'''Ferb:''' If it's all the same with you, Father, we're going to build the machine. }}

** For Phineas and Ferb, it's ''literally'' an addiction--Phineas goes into [[Heroic BSOD|withdrawal]] when they're forced to climb a mountain the normal way, with no inventions. [[The Stoic|Ferb holds up a little better, but that doesn't mean he likes it.]]

* Most ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' villains succumb to this, and [[Once an Episode|every episode]] ends with either them or the members of Mystery Inc. giving detailed explanations of how they were pulling off what they were doing, and why.

** The best example of this is probably the ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated|Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated]]'' episode "Mystery Solvers Club State Finals": the villain (revealed to be '' {{spoiler|[[The Funky Phantom]]}}'', of all people), goes into ''excruciating'' detail about how he carried out his plot, which turns out to be an overly-complicated way of {{spoiler|getting rid of his team so he can stop being a sidekick}}. This ''could'' be justified by the fact that the whole episode is [[All Just a Dream|just a fever dream Scooby's having]], but still...

** Note that the reason why is generally something along the lines of "scare everyone else away so I can do what I want in the area," often involving treasure. Simply buying them off would work just as well, and would not attract people with an interest in ghosts.

* Dr. Drakken from ''[[Kim Possible]]'' suffers from this. His sidekick, [[Only Sane Woman]] Shego, lampshades this repeatedly.

* ''[[American Dad]]'' has this [[Genre Savvy|down to the]] [[Evil Brit|Gary Oldman accent]]:

'''Steve''': Sure, [[Mundane Solution|you could kill me with your gun...]] but are you willing to try something much more elaborate and unnecessary? }}

* [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Two Brains]] from [[Word Girl]] has a really bad case of this. In one episode, he tries to build a ray to transform gold into cheese. (Two Brains really likes [[Trademark Favorite Food|cheese.]]) But the ray doesn't work right. Instead of changing gold into cheese, it changes gold into potato salad. So Two Brains invents a ray to turn potato salad into cheese. Then he and his henchmen steal gold, to turn into potato salad, to turn into cheese.