History Main / CuttingTheKnot

** Another form of attack relies on the fact that the weakest link in any security system is inevitably going to be the user. Methods range from [[BavarianFireDrill fraud]] to {{blackmail}} to [[AppealToForce literal brute force]] against the user.

* ''WebVideo/MinecraftSOS'': While exploring a jungle temple in his 1st episode, Owen points out the civilization that built it "sought to hide their treasures under difficult-to-reach temples and hide them behind contraptions that [...] would take years to crack". He then, as any sensible VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}er would do, breaks open the wall to get to the loot chest inside.

** His wife is the same too. He [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lod_LUp3ggc once tried]] to get her interested in lockpicking by locking up her Ben and Jerry's ice cream with their [[https://store.benjerry.com/ben-jerrys-pint-lock/ official Pint Lock]], which LPL describes as being trivially easy to open by feel, and leaving it in their freezer. When he returns, he shows that [[spoiler:his wife had simply cut off the bottom of the container.]]
--->'''[=LockPickingLawyer=]''': So it seems that the lessons of the day come courtesy of Mrs. [=LockPickingLawyer=], who reminds us all first, that security is only as good as its weakest link, and second, that no man should ever get between his wife and her ice cream.

-->367. No using excessive firepower to force the plot along.
-->38. When investigating evil cultists not allowed to just torch the decrepit mansion from the outside.
-->400. Check the door means to listen at it, not put several rounds through it.
-->580. A sledgehammer does not give any bonus to my search for secret doors roll.
-->608. The answer to 'who's got point?' is not the [[KillItWithFire fireball]].
-->694. Search the old castle means enter it, not level it with artillery and dig through the rubble.
-->840. Even if it would have immediately solved the last six adventures, I won't [[StuffBlowingUp throw dynamite]] in every well I come across.
-->1071. I will go take out the villain's dungeon the old fashioned way, and not use magic to [[KillItWithWater reroute a river into it]] instead.
-->1019. Even if we have more ammo than fuel, I still have to cut down the tree with the chainsaw, not the HMG.
-->1267. The lockpicking kit must be more than a sawed off shotgun.
-->360. I must remind the GM that my Blessed can Raise Dead before he runs [[InterrogatingTheDead another murder mystery]] again.
-->1439. If the top floor is too well defended, can't just blow off the next to top floor.
-->1843. Can't land the drop pod [[SquashedFlat on the villain]].
-->1845. I will use the security skill to open the door, even if it's easier to just rip it off its hinges.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': At one point during the battle with [[BigBad Tai Lung]] over the Dragon Scroll, Po throws a dozen woks on and around the scroll and rapidly shuffles them back and forth with a pair of bamboo stalks to force Tai Lung to find the right wok in a high-speed version of the ShellGame. Tai Lung isn't playing around though and just smashes all the woks aside in one swipe.

* ''WesternAnimation/GlobehuntersAnAroundTheWorldInEightyDaysAdventure'': In the lab locker room, Eddie tries to break into Wilkins' locker by picking the padlock with one of his own hairs. Sasha, feeling Eddie's method is taking too lock, breaks the lock in half with her paw.

TheHero has only a limited amount of time to do something, be it rescue, [[DungeonBypass transport]], [[PercussiveMaintenance repair]], or simply OutrunTheFireball. But he has a problem. A very complicated problem that would need time to solve, time the hero definitely doesn't have. After trying in vain to solve the problem the technical way, the hero [[TakeAThirdOption Takes a Third Option]]: getting rid of the problem altogether, usually with violence. Smash it down, break it apart, run right through it, blow it up. Whatever he does, he "solves" the problem by either causing so much damage that it's not his problem anymore, or via a solution that no one in their right mind would think of/be capable of.

TheHero has only a limited amount of time to do something, be it rescue, [[DungeonBypass transport]], [[PercussiveMaintenance repair]], or simply OutrunTheFireball. But he has a problem. A very complicated problem that would need time to solve, time the hero definitely doesn't have. After trying in vain to solve the problem the technical way, the hero [[TakeAThirdOption Takes a Third Option]]: getting rid of the problem altogether, with violence. Smash it down, break it apart, run right through it, blow it up. Whatever he does, he "solves" the problem by causing so much damage that it's not his problem anymore.

Compare with DebateAndSwitch (when done with a philosophical rather than physical problem), DungeonBypass, MurderIsTheBestSolution, MyopicArchitecture, OpenSaysMe, PercussiveMaintenance, SequenceBreaking, StealTheSurroundings, UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay, OutsideTheBoxTactic, and TakeAThirdOption. Contrast WeHaveTheKeys or ThereWasADoor, where violence is the ''complex'' solution. See also ImpossibleTask, in which this trope is often the only solution. If an authority figure berates you or even punishes you for this trope, see NoFairCheating.

* ''Visual/NovelDanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': When the class is confronted with the Headmaster's Office, which is locked but probably has important clues inside, Yasuhiro points out that they don't ''need'' to find a key, they have [[WorldsStrongestWoman Sakura]] with them. [[ObviousRulePatch Monokuma promptly adds a rule against breaking down locked doors]].[[spoiler: However, Sakura ''does'' later break the door open as her 'revenge' against Monokuma for blackmailing her; she didn't need to fear his retribution because she planned to commit suicide.]]

* Services that require appointments/reservations (such as hotels and high-demand fine-dining restaurants) and which do not charge anything at the time of booking often charge a cancellation fee if you cancel too close to the date and time of your booking. Folks who want to cancel after fee applies and who aren't too concerned with doing ethical business can just either move their funds to another card or freeze their card (an option available with a growing number of banks and credit card providers) when requesting cancellation; tada, the transaction now declines, cheating the business out of the cancellation fee.

* Services that require appointments/reservations and which do not charge anything at the time of booking often charge a cancellation fee if you cancel too close to the date and time of your booking. Folks who want to cancel after fee applies and who aren't too concerned with doing ethical business can just either move their funds to another card or freeze their card (an option available with a growing number of banks and credit card providers) when requesting cancellation; tada, the transaction now declines, cheating the business out of the cancellation fee.

* In the PianoGuys and Music/LindseyStirling spoof of ''Film/MissionImpossible'', after Lindsey bends over backwards to get through the LaserHallway, Steve merely punches in the code to turn the lasers off and walks through.

* ''Myth/JapaneseMythology'': After marrying Suseri-hime, Okuninushi had to win over her father, the infamously ill-tempered storm god Susano'o. Several attempts on Okuninushi's life later, the couple realized it was fruitless and eloped... except Susano'o was starting to respect Okuninushi anyways. Him absconding with stolen goods proved that he was just as much of a troublemaker as he was, so Susano'o begrudgingly gives the couple [[SweetAndSourGrapes his blessing in the end]].

** He also discusses this tendency for locksmiths in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSuaUok-wTY this video]]: a viewer had to call a locksmith to help remove the lock from his bike after he lost the key, who became irate when asked if he could just pick the lock instead of completely destroying it, saying he was tired of people watching videos on [=YouTube=] and thinking locks can magically be picked open in 2 seconds and claiming LPL was the worst of the bunch, calling his videos "complete bullshit". After some back-and-forth, the viewer and locksmith agreed to let him send the destroyed lock to LPL, and if he could pick it open in less time than the 2 minutes and 14 seconds it took for the locksmith to cut it open, he would refund the $75 he charged for it. [[spoiler:LPL found [[SophisticatedAsHell the most polite way possible]] to say that he's not surprised that the locksmith in question would look at a Kryptonite lock and immediately conclude it "couldn't be picked" simply because he himself lacked the tools and/or know-how to pick it, before getting it open in 28 seconds.]]