No Delays for the Wicked: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Except in parodies, all villains in fiction are magically immune to the problems of bureaucracy, logistics, and bad luck. Their powers are so strong that this even transfers to their lowest minions. This trope is the opposite of the much less common (and [[Reality Is Unrealistic|much more realistic]]) [[Dystopia Is Hard]].

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', SEELE has to worry about its minions committing treachery. It never has to worry that they might slack off on the job, or don't understand the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] as well as they think.

** It's reasonable to assume that people are not going to slack off on the job when failing the job will cause ''the extermination of the human race''.

** Kanon could easily send them straight there. She doesn't because the journey is as important as the destination.

 

* Averted in ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' (except for the fact that the government is fascist). The people who work for the Norsefire government all have their personal quirks and flaws, which V is able to exploit to bring them down. Take Derek Almond, who confronts V with an empty gun that he emptied earlier that night so he could threaten his wife without actually endangering her. And Almond's death sends his wife on the downward spiral that ultimately leads her to {{spoiler|assassinate Leader Adam Susan}}.

* Interesting use of this in ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' during the reign of [[The Caligula|Judge Cal]]. The entire city got very efficient (what with the death penalty for incompetence and all) but this ended up helping the heroes as the postal service was efficient enough to get them a vital piece of evidence before anyone worked out that it had been copied.

** Of course this just led Judge Cal to see it as his master work and plans to ''kill everyone in Mega-City One''.

* Averted in ''[[The Invisibles]]''. King Mob regards the all too human workforce of the evil overlords as their greatest weakness. See the quote page.

 

* The live-action ''[[Death Note]]'' film has L point out that large, secret organizations have statistically increasing degrees of inefficiency, proportional to their size. He gives this as evidence for his deduction that Kira is more likely an individual rather than a conspiracy.

** ''[[Death Note]]'' as a whole averts this trope as virtually all the factions have slackers or incompetents (Matsuda, Misa, Sidoh etc.).

* In ''[[Outland (film)|Outland]]'', the shuttle bringing the assassins sent to kill the protagonist arrives early. In the Mad Magazine parody, the hero comments that this is the first flight in the history of the station to not arrive late.

 

* Inverted in many of [[Tom Clancy]]'s novels from about ''Red Storm Rising'' on. The US military and intelligence agencies are staffed with supremely competent agents from the lowliest grunt to the most senior general or administrator. All these agencies cooperate well and share information, and the infamous real-life rivalry between the CIA and the FBI, or the fights for funding between the army, navy and air force, are nowhere to be found. Agents are given experimental equipment that works perfectly as advertised the first time out in the field. When the villains inevitably make a small misstep in their master plan, the protagonists are on them like white on rice.

** In fact, the only thing holding [[America Saves the Day|the USA back from finishing the story by page 30]] are [[Strawman Political|bleeding heart liberal socialist Commies.]]

** As [[Isaac Asimov]] pointed out in his review of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (which he thought was overrated), while the economy of Oceania is in shambles, the television sets (which always have to be switched on) seem to work all the time.

*** That's because the economy is in an artificial shambles. The Party seems to figure that (above a certain class level, at least) people who don't know where their next meal is coming from are easier to keep in line.

* Lewis acknowledges this again in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' book ''[[The Horse and His Boy]]'' (set during the reign of the kids). [[The Evil Prince]] Rabadash is angered when Susan rejects his marriage proposal but knows that his country's massive armies can't cross the desert to reach Narnia. He decides to collect 200 horsemen in an attempt to kill the King of Archenland (Narnia's neighbor) and gain a foothold. Even then it apparently takes the better part of two days to get the men ready.

* The Barrayaran government in [[Vorkosigan Saga]] is a zig-zag. It is not really fascist, but is definitely [[Insistent Terminology|authoritarian.]] However the military is generally efficient, and the Imperial Security [[Badass Army|certainly is.]] Of course it's efficiency is rather spotty; it's economy and technology is suboptimal although that is at least excusable by it's previous isolation and the scourging of an invasion. It is to be noted that Barrayarans though they are flawed are not villainous.

**The Cetagandans are closer to a straight example. They are plagued with internal troubles and seem to have come to the end of their expansionist ability.

***The Solarian League is reasonably competent at it's real purpose. It's [[Corrupt Politician|real purpose]] is to enable bloated criminal organizations at their bloodsucking while allowing those highest in rank to tipple from the government in the process. It is not efficient at establishing justice, ensuring tranquility or providing for the common defense. Except insofar as the vast armadas the Solarian Navy has intimidates everyone until the Manties give them a beating. Of course the real purpose of the Solarian navy is to scam taxpayers into paying more money thinking they are getting security that way instead of huge expensive target practice for any foreign navy that wants to try it.

 

* One of the most obvious examples is the ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode "Patterns of Force," where a historian creates a Nazi planet because it was the "most efficient state ever." It ends in tears, of course, because it's a frickin' Nazi planet. But it's efficient - unlike, as discussed below, the real Nazi Germany...

**The real Nazi state got all the efficiency it had from the [[Prussia and All That Lot|Hollenzollerns]]. At that even the earlier German state was mainly good at tactics which was sufficient when it had a sensible "pocket your winnings and leave the casino" policy under William I and Otto von Bismark but in Hitler it got the political equivalent of a superstitious gambler who thinks it mathematically possible to have a such thing as an irresistible winning streak.

{{quote|'''C.J.''': There is no group of people this large in the world that can keep a secret. I find it comforting. It's how I know for sure the government isn't covering up aliens in New Mexico.}}

 

* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' occasionally suffers from this. While the Camarilla is desperate to keep humans from finding out about the existence of vampires, the Sabbat apparently gets a free ride - government agencies and police forces are apparently totally oblivious to them, even though they actively work to undermine the [[Masquerade]].

** This was noted and explained in the Sabbat Splatbook - while the Sabbat officially scoffs at the thought of hiding from humanity, its own elders have come to the same conclusion as the Camarilla: Humanity knowing about vampires would be Bad News, which is why any Sabbat packs engaging in too obvious activities are told to turn it down and clean up after themselves in no uncertain terms. The difference between the sects is mostly in the clean-up: The Camarilla hides its skeletons in the closet with media manipulation and memory-rewrites, the Sabbat simply puts any witnesses right into the closet as well. The only time the Sabbat actively works at breaking the Masquerade is when fighting the Camarilla, reasoning that the other sect will believe the Sabbat doesn't care about humans finding out about them and thus spend its own resources to clean up, essentially making the whole thing into a game of Chicken.

* Invoked in the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' campaign setting, ''[[Eberron]]''. The empire of Riedra is ruled by the Inspired, ruthless overlords who keep the nation oppressed under an iron fist and keep things running more or less smoothly, due to very hard work on their part (mostly involving cultural manipulation and mass psychic brainwashing that keeps the populace docile). Another evil group, the Heirs of Ohr Kaluun, is made up of insane cultists who want to overthrow the Inspired, but it's clear that if ''they'' took over Riedra, everything the Inspired worked so hard to maintain would come crashing down on them.

 

* In the ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' video game, if [[Heroic Mime|Crono]] is declared innocent for the crime of abducting a member of the royal family, he's only sentenced for 3 days of solitary confinement for running off with her, but the good kingdom's [[Evil Chancellor]] uses the bureaucracy flows to convince the jail warden that Crono is scheduled for execution in 3 days by saying that "the execution forms must have been lost". Of course, if he's declared guilty to begin with, the above exchange never takes place.

** [[Bavarian Fire Drill|"Or do you mean to question me?"]]

* Becomes a plot point in ''[[Nancy Drew|Alibi In Ashes]]'', when Nancy realizes that {{spoiler|Brenda}} has some secret way to get around town very fast, despite traffic delays and bridge closures.

 

* This is subverted as part of Dark Pegasus' recent fleshing-out in ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures|DMFA]]''.

** Keep in mind, however, that {{spoiler|Dan was sent to his castle by another Creature with plans of her own.}}

{{quote|[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0543.html Do they think crushing an entire civilization beneath our heels "just happens?" It's all fun and games for them, but I'm the one who has to make the magical lightning-powered trains run on time.]}}

* ''[[Xkcd]]'' used this [http://www.xkcd.com/282/ Mussolini for a pun].

 

* The ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' episode "Operation TRIP" is based on this. Two spies chasing [[The Ditz|Numbuh Three]] are plagued by horrible coincidences, like bumping in to a rabid dog, getting on the wrong train, and so on. In the end, it turns out that every accident they had was arranged by the heroes.

* ''[[South Park]]'' spoofed this in "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce", by explaining that the 9/11 Conspiracy Theorists are in fact employed ''by'' the government to make people think that they're actually capable of doing such a thing.

** As with the Crusade subversion, are you at the [[Fridge Brilliance|Fridge]] yet?

* Subverted in an episode of ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]''. The [[Monster of the Week|episode's antagonists]], a well-organized magical cult, plan to harness the Stonehenge's magical power. These cultists had planned for every possible event and had Jackie and Jade in a tight spot for most of the episode. They ultimately complete their ritual, only to discover {{spoiler|[[We Could Have Avoided All This|that the Stonehenge really wasn't magical]].}} Hilariously, {{spoiler|a UFO lands at the site after everyone has left}}.

* Lampshaded in ''[[The Emperor's New Groove]]'', when Kronk and Yzma make it back to the palace before Kuzco and Pacha ''in spite of'' having a delay.

{{quote|'''Kuzco''': Wait, how did you get here before us?

'''Yzma''': I - How ''did'' we get here before them, Kronk?

'''Kronk''' You got me. (Displays a map that shows them having fallen into a ravine) By all accounts it doesn't make sense. }}

 

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