I Like Those Odds: Difference between revisions

== Anime and Manga ==

* As part of the big flashback in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', The [[Redheaded Hero]] is saving the princess; meanwhile, the rest of [[Badass Crew|Ala Rubra]] has to hold off the forces overseeing the execution, leading to this exchange:

'''[[World's Strongest Man|Jack Rakan]]:''' Like I said. Are you seriously telling me you think that's gonna be enough?! }}

* The very first sequence of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''.

* From ''[[One Piece]]'', we have this little gem from the Enies Lobby arc.

'''Luffy''': Yeah... I'm by myself. Get out of my way! }}

** A couple of hundred chapters later, when the crew finally enters the New World, ''all of them do it:''

'''Luffy''': PERFECT!!! }}

* Kumagawa of ''[[Medaka Box]]'' lives and breathes this trope. [[Born Unlucky]], he feels uncomfortable when the odds ''aren't'' stacked against him.

 

 

* As a student, [[Largo Winch]] once got in a fight with a bunch of upper-class douchebags, and when asked what he had to say for himself, he admitted to using an unfair advantage like a true coward by outnumbering them: "They were only three."

* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]'', because young Scrooge is just that [[Badass]].

'''Guy #1:''' "You're ''right!'' Smitty, go round up another ten men!" }}

 

** Considering the abuse the Persians took when they outnumbered the Greeks hundreds or even thousands-to-one for the bulk of the movie, without the contex of differing tactics, it would be surprising to the viewer that they didn't just kill their commanders and ''run''.

* This happens in ''[[Star Trek Generations]]'', which is certainly a common attitude Kirk has since he enjoys bluffing his way out of the unwinnable scenarios.

'''Kirk:''' If Spock were here he would call me an illogical, irrational human being for taking on a mission like that... Sounds like fun. }}

** The 2009 ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' movie:

'''Kirk:''' Well, get some extra guys and then it'll be a fair fight. }}

* The film of ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|Return of the King]]'' has Gimli do this when it's announced that Gondor's army will attack the Black Gate to provide a distraction for Frodo and Sam.

* In ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|Batman Begins]]'', Ras al Ghul motions for two of his henchmen to fight Batman as he makes his getaway. Batman says, "I can't beat two of your pawns?", to which Ras says, "As you wish", and motions for two more henchmen to join the fight.

* In the [[Kurt Russell]] movie ''[[Soldier]]'', Russell's superior is having his Soldier in a fight with one more "evolved". The evolved soldier's superior says they're not fair odds and asks the other (general?) to bring two more.

* ''[[The Three Musketeers (1993 film)|The Three Musketeers 1993]]''. The Musketeers comment amongst themselves that five soldiers against the three of them is hardly fair. D'Artagnan, missing the point, tries to point out that there's four of them.

'''Aramis''': Perhaps we should offer them a chance to surrender. }}

* ''[[Dumb and Dumber]]''. Qualifies as sort of a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].

'''Lloyd:''' ''([[Beat]], then grins happily)'' So you're telling me there's a ''chance''. }}

* In ''[[The Right Stuff]]'', as Alan Shepard is recruited as an astronaut:

'''Shepard:''' Count me in. }}

* ''[[October Sky]]''

'''O'Dell:''' ''([[Beat]])'' That good? Well why didn’t you say so? }}

 

** [[Light Bulb Joke|How many Dzur does it take to sharpen a sword? Four. One to sharpen the sword, three to put up enough of a fight to make it worthwhile.]]

* In ''[[Discworld/The Colour of Magic|The Colour of Magic]]'', Hrun the Barbarian declares he'll fight both dragonlords at once:

'''Hrun:''' Yah. I outnumber you one to two. }}

** In ''[[Discworld/The Science of Discworld|The Science of Discworld]]'' the wizards are informed that the chances of the new thaumic reactor (they're planning on using to heat the building) from going critical and blowing up the entirety of creation is 50-to-1. They think that this is entirely reasonable since "I wouldn't bet on a horse at those odds". Apparently an inch of ice on the ''inside'' of your bedroom window gives you a very personal perspective of risk.

* In ''[[The Three Musketeers (novel)|The Vicomte De Bragelonne]]'', d'Artagnan proposes to raise his own army of forty men and restore Charles II to the English throne (for profit!). Planchet, who is putting up half the money, protests: "Forty against forty thousand! That is not enough. I know very well that you, M. d'Artagnan, alone, are equal to a thousand men; but where are we to find thirty-nine men equal to you?"

* In ''[[X Wing Series|Starfighters of Adumar]]'':

'''Wes''': Not too bad. }}

* In ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'', when Mike tells the main characters that the chances of having a successful revolution are of 1 to 7, they immediately cheer. This is because a Loonie (a Moon inhabitant) will always accept a bet if the odds are greater than 1 to 10.

== Live Action TV ==

* Done twice in ''[[Angel]]'', the second time in the finale.

* A [[Running Gag]] in the 1960s ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' series, as the Dynamic Duo faces hordes of [[Mooks]]. In one episode it got inverted: Either the Riddler or the Joker said to Batman, "There's six of us and only two of you. But we're not afraid!"

* Inverted in a ''[[Burn Notice]]'' episode. Russian Black Ops, when discussing if they should surrender note that [[Fun with Subtitles|<]]He's [[Memetic Badass|Michael Westen]], there are only four of us[[Translation Tropes|>]].

** And again in "Where There's Smoke":

'''Fiona:''' Don't feel bad for them, Michael. }}

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'' this comes up when the Daleks declare war on the Cybermen.

'''Dalek:''' YOU ARE BET-TER AT ''DY''ING. }}

** And then promptly gets turned around:

* In ''[[Friends]]'', in the chapter where the guys buy many lottery tickets as there is a lot of money on the jackpot, Ross says he won't join, because it is "42 times more likely" that they will be struck by lightning. Chandler answers that, as they are six, it would be only 7 times more likely. Joey says the trope verbatim.

* ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'': Faced with a small army of [[Mecha Mook|Mecha Mooks]], all [[Hollywood Cyborg|Dillon]] has to say is "Venjix should've sent more."

* ''[[Farscape]]'': While John isn't exactly happy about it, he does believe they can beat the bad odds since they have before.

'''Crichton''': "Not good" is the best odds we ever get. }}

 

== Toys ==

* ''[[Bionicle]]'':

 

 

* Play a video game. It's one 'you' against a million enemies or so. You take the job and you invariably win.

* In the ship level of ''[[Command and Conquer]]: [[First-Person Shooter|Renegade]]'', a prisoner [[One-Man Army|Havoc]] just freed asks him if he intends to take on the ship's crew alone.

** Itself a reference to the famed commando line from the original game:

* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', during Grunt's recruitment mission:

* Later, in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', during Shepard's [[Recurring Boss|first]] confrontation with Kai Leng:

'''Kai Leng''': No. Now it's ''fun''. }}

* ''[[Guild Wars]]: Nightfall'' has this in the first mission, when you get a good look at the opposing forces:

'''[[Boisterous Bruiser|Koss]]:''' No, there are '''three''' of us <ref>the PC, Kormir ([[The Obi-Wan]]) and himself</ref>, and only '''two''' corsair ships. We outnumber them! }}

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', Leon and Cloud do this during their [[Back-to-Back Badasses]] moment while surrounded and vastly outnumbered by Heartless.

'''Cloud:''' What, you're fighting, too? }}

* From ''[[Halo 3]]'':

'''Half-Jaw:''' "Then it is an even fight." }}

* In ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'', every mercenary has a special line when they can see 3 enemies simultaneously, usually suggesting retreat, or something like, "I'm fighting a losing battle here!" Magic takes the opposite stance, exclaiming, "This is when I'm at my ''best''!"

* ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact 2]]'': It doesn't matter how long the odds are... Kyosuke Nanbu doesn't mind betting on them.

* From ''[[Sly Cooper]]'':

* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', you arrive at an inn just as a fight is about to break out between Khelgar, a lone dwarf, and four thugs. When you point out that four against one isn't fair odds, Khelgar agrees... and asks the thugs if they've got any friends who might like to join in.

 

== Webcomics ==

* ''[[Homestuck]]'':

* ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'':

'''Cador''': Don't they '''learn'''? }}

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' shows us Jägergenerals in action, against a [[Zeppelins_from_Another_World|blimpload]] of Wulfenbach crack troops:

'''Soldier''': ''[[Gratuitous French|C'est la guerre]]'', general.<br />

'''General Goomblast''': (disarms the soldier and flicks his poisoned dirk into another's chest) Hy dun mean for ''me''. }}

** Also, Chief Wiggum uttered the exact phrase "I like those odds" when he asked if he had a chance of taking the bait out of a dangerous trap, and his smarter sidekick Lou warned him "It's a million to one, chief." Wiggum's tone also seemed more like naive confidence than devil-may-care boasting, and in that case, one possible interpretation is that Wiggum misunderstood Lou's remark and thought he meant that the odds were a million to one ''in favor of success.''

** In "Bart the General," when Bart's looking for a guy with military experience to help him deal with a bully:

'''Grampa:''' Oh, yeah? Well, General George S. Patton was a little nuts. And this guy's ''completely out of his mind!'' [[Insane Troll Logic|We can't fail!]] }}

* ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]''

** "Roger Dodger" has:

'''Skipper:''' I like those odds. }}

*** Considering Skipper's idea of a perfect future is a post-apocalyptic wasteland involving zombies, he probably did like the high odds of facing an abomination. Incidentally, Kowalski is pretty much right.

** A similar exchange in "Snakehead":

'''Skipper:''' I like it already! }}

* In ''[[Family Guy Presents Laugh It Up Fuzzball|Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side]]'':

'''Han/Peter:''' [[Never Tell Me the Odds|Never tell me the o...]] well that's not bad. }}

* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'', "Starcrossed, Part 3": Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are heading straight for the Thanagarian mothership (and the dozens of smaller ships around it).

'''Superman:''' Yeah, they don't stand a chance. }}

* ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' episode "Monster in the Monastery". After Jonny and Hadji tell Dr. Quest and Race that there are nine enemies left in the monastery, Race says to Dr. Quest "That makes the odds about right, sir". Two men, two kids and the Raj Guru (who's basically a non-combatant) against 9 armed men, and the odds are "just about right"?

* ''[[G.I. Joe Extreme]]'' featured this a ''lot''. "The odds are a million to one. Just the way we like it."

** In [[G.I. Joe|the original series]] episode "My Brother's Keeper," Sgt. Slaughter says:

* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' had Leonardo fighting a dozen ninjas.

'''Michelangelo:''' Well yeah there's only 12 of them. }}

* In the ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "How Long Is Forever?", Starfire tells Nightwing that the time travelling thief they are up against believes in [[You Already Changed the Past]] and that history cannot be changed.

 

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