History Main / HandWave

* A fairly large hand wave occurs in the third act of ''Film/Scream2'' during the big [[TheReveal reveal]] that [[spoiler:one of the killers is Mrs. Loomis, the mother of Billy Loomis, Sidney's deceased former boyfriend and one of the killers in the first film. As Gale obviously would have seen pictures of Mrs. Loomis while investigating the case, how she encountered Mrs. Loomis under the guise of a local journalist earlier in the film without recognizing her is explained with a short exchange:]]
-->'''Gale''': [[spoiler:No, it can't be. I've seen pictures of [her].]]
-->'''Sidney''': [[spoiler:Yeah, this is 60 pounds and a lot of work later.]]

* In RealLife, the Boy Scouts of America has a "Two Deep Leadership" policy. Any interactions between youth members and adults has to have at least two adults present as a safety: to avoid placing children at risk if a Scoutmaster has [[PedophilePriest unsavory intentions,]] or to protect the adults from [[FalseRapeAccusation untrue accusation]]s of such intentions. In the ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' ElsewhereFic ''Fanfic/BoyScoutsOneHalf'', Matthew Atanian is an Assistant Scoutmaster, and he frequently spends time with his friends who are youth in the program. Matthew, being 20 as the story begins, is not exceptionally older than his friends who are all mid-to-late teens. Still, he spends a lot of time hanging out with his friends, even away from Scouting functions, where he is the only adult present. This is largely a matter of plot, as it would be difficult for them to get into a lot of the situations they do if they had to drag an additional person who was over 18 along with them — especially if this person was unaware of the Jusenkyo curses that Matthew and four of his friends suffer from. Still, in the real world, the amount of time Matthew spends with his friends could have UnfortunateImplications and lead Matthew into much trouble. This is handwaved on a few occasions, with Matthew being aware of the policies but glossing over them as he knows he has no ill intent and he trusts his friends to not [[TheRat mention his ignoring of said policies to those who might take issue with it.]]

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* ''Literature/AliensAteMyHomework'' (a children's science fiction novel series):
** In the sequel ''I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X'', main character Rod Allbright is transported to Dimension X. Shortly after finding himself able to communicate with one of the locals there, he asks how Spar Kellis speaks his language. Spar Kellis responds that the opposite is happening and Rod is speaking the language of Dimension X, which Rod quickly realizes is true. The explanation given is a quick bit about cross-dimensional travel's effect on the mind, and is never brought up again. [[FridgeLogic Nor is it really a very good explanation]], if someone from Dimension X came to our dimension, what language would they speak? (Considering in the series it includes not only the hundreds of languages on Earth but also alien ones.)
** It's stated that you have to "cross dimensions in exactly the right way", and that the monster that brought the protagonist there is "a perfectionist". Presumably, if you cross ''precisely'', you can rearrange someone's brain in ''just the right way'' that they start speaking a different language. Telepathy, which appears into the series a lot, is probably also involved. It's still a major [=Handwave=], but at least you could say that it's the work of the one creating the dimensional bridge, rather than a natural effect.

* This trope is the subject of a whole scene in the Creator/BeverlyCleary book "Ramona the Pest." On her first day of Kindergarden, Ramona is hoping to finally learn the answer to one of her most pressing questions — how, in the famous kids' book "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel," Mike Mulligan is able to go to the bathroom while digging the giant hole he can't get out of. After Ramona asks the teacher, the children argue amongst themselves, offering different theories, before concluding that Ramona's right — it would have been impossible. The teacher, clearly out of her league, announces with feigned authority that the question wasn't addressed because "it wasn't important," leaving Ramona deeply disillusioned with the public school system.

* ''Dr. Horrible's Unofficial Singalong Sequel'' is a FanSequel to ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' and naturally doesn't feature any of the original cast. The very first thing it does is explain this via callback - It's mentioned offhand in the original that [[{{unobtanium}} wonderflonium]] should never be bounced but not why: according to the unofficial sequel, the wonderflonium did end up bouncing, and the result was that anyone who was ever exposed to it became "genetically rearranged" - since that includes every major character who appeared in the original, everyone looks different. They ''are'' consistent about it, as characters who wouldn't have seen each other since the events of ''Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog'' don't recognize each other at first.

* ''Franchise/TheFlash'' has the Speed Force, an energy source/dimension that is also a prison, a mass vaporizer, an all-around way for speedsters to tell the laws of physics to sit down and shut up, and an explanation for how an increasing pool of characters are randomly struck by lightning in front of a wall of chemicals.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}:

** In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan co-habit the same universe. How can this be? It was never explained and no fan cared about the whys or hows because it was awesome.

* Speaking of Franchise/SpiderMan, a particularly famous explanation for how Spidey swings when his webline doesn't appear to be attached to anything is that there just so happened to be a helicopter off-panel that he's swinging from.

** At the end of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', the [=DeLorean=] gets struck by lightning while flying, and gets sent to 1885. At the point when the lightning actually strikes the car, it is stationary in the air, but it has to be moving at 88 miles per hour to time travel (which is important in both parts ''[[Film/BackToTheFuture1 I]]'' and ''[[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII III]]''). When it got hit it wasn't moving. The [=handwave=] is that the lightning causes the [=DeLorean=] to spin at 88 miles per hour, shown with the trails of fire being spirals in the air (the 1885 date is justified, as the time circuits were shown earlier to be broken, and an 1885 date was briefly shown).

** At the end of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', the [=DeLorean=] gets struck by lightning while flying, and gets sent to 1885. At the point when the lightning actually strikes the car, it is stationary in the air, but it has to be moving at 88 miles per hour to time travel (which is important in both parts ''[[Film/BackToTheFuture I]]'' and ''[[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII III]]''). When it got hit it wasn't moving. The [=handwave=] is that the lightning causes the [=DeLorean=] to spin at 88 miles per hour, shown with the trails of fire being spirals in the air (the 1885 date is justified, as the time circuits were shown earlier to be broken, and an 1885 date was briefly shown).

* ''Fanfic/FateHaremAntics'': Iri (who is controlling the Holy Grail from beyond the grave) mentions early on that while she does need a catalyst to summon a Servant, she doesn't have to use the one that the mage is presenting; she can use anything in the room. We don't see what catalysts she uses, but apparently the average mage's workshop has a lot to choose from, allowing her to alter the summoned Servants to ones she thinks [[IWantGrandkids will be better for her son Shirou to hook up with]].

* In the children's science fiction novel ''Literature/ILeftMySneakersInDimensionX'', the main character is transported to Dimension X. Shortly after finding himself able to communicate with one of the locals there, he asks how he speaks his language. The local responds that the opposite is happening and the protagonist is speaking the language of Dimension X, which he quickly realizes is true. The explanation given is a quick bit about cross-dimensional travel's effect on the mind, and is never brought up again. [[FridgeLogic Nor is it really a very good explanation]], if someone from Dimension X came to our dimension, what language would they speak? (Considering in the series it includes not only the hundreds of languages on Earth but also alien ones.)
** It's stated that you have to "cross dimensions in exactly the right way", and that the monster that brought the protagonist there is "a perfectionist". Presumably, if you cross ''precisely'', you can rearrange someone's brain in ''just the right way'' that they start speaking a different language. Telepathy, which appears into the series a lot, is probably also involved. It's still a major [=Handwave=], but at least you could say that it's the work of the one creating the dimensional bridge, rather than a natural effect.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'':

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In "Heroes," a Marine is found murdered in Central Park during Fleet Week. In real life, [=NCIS=] would be investigating, but a Marine whom Mac speaks with about the victim says his superior officer had told him to cooperate fully with the NYPD.

** To say nothing about ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'', wherein Pinkie Pie (in both worlds) manages to guess what's going on in the other world. The only explanation as to how she knows almost ''exactly'' what's going on? "Just a hunch!" The reason the humane five are at odds with each other? Fake emails and texts were sent... and why didn't they think to [[PoorCommunicationKills talk to each other in person]]? Oh, they simply "Didn't think about it." The show later made fun of this by implying the human and pony Pinkies [[https://trixiebooru.org/images/1146231 casually trade places sometimes]].

* ''Dr. Horrible's Unofficial Singalong Sequel'' is a FanSequel to ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' and naturally doesn't feature any of the original cast. The very first thing it does is explain this via callback - It's mentioned offhand in the original that [[{{unobtanium}} wonderflonium]] should never be bounced but not why: according to the unofficial sequel, the wonderflonium did end up bouncing, and the result was that anyone who was ever exposed to it became "genetically rearranged" - since that includes every major character who appeared in the original, everyone looks different. They ''are'' consistent about it, as characters who wouldn't have seen each other since the events of ''Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog'' don't each other at first.

* ''Dr. Horrible's Unofficial Singalong Sequel'' is a FanSequel to ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' and naturally doesn't feature any of the original cast. The very first thing the fan sequel does is explain this via callback. It's mentioned in the original series that [[{{unobtanium}} wonderflonium]] should never be bounced but we never learn why: according to the unofficial sequel, the wonderflonium did end up bouncing, and the result was that anyone who was ever exposed to it became "genetically rearranged" - since that includes every major character who appeared in the original, everyone looks different. They are consistent about it, complete with characters not recognizing each other at first.
* ''Film/ProjectMillion'': Spazz tries to figure out how The Wire escaped her TV. She throws several explanations at him such as she's not there and that he's in a dream within a dream, before claiming she "crawled through a river of shit and came out the other side clean."

* Typically every miniature in any one unit in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' will share a single body type. While the reason for this is clearly to simplify the design process and cut costs, this is sometimes given a hand-wave justification in the backstory. For example, Space Marines are all male because [[{{Phlebotinum}} gene-seed]] is [[{{TechnoBabble}} keyed to male hormones]].

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** The manual of the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' notes that enemies won't be killed by turtle shells sent after them if the enemies are off-screen, supposing that they jump over it if Mario isn't looking. The real reason is that their sprites haven't been loaded into memory yet. It also raises the [[VoodooShark seemingly obvious question of why they suddenly lose their ability to jump over the shells once they are on-screen.]]
** A certain Game Genie code for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' causes the game to freeze after you defeat Bowser in Dark Land. The Game Genie manual states that you must press Up at the final door straight away, otherwise you may get caught in Bowser's time trap and the game will pause forever. Nice way of masking a cheat code glitch, guys...
* The video game ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has lockpicks and multitools that, for some unexplained reason, can only be used once. During the tutorial level your support says that "unlocking doors expends the resources of modern lockpicks", but seeing as how the actual item is just two rods that spin about, it doesn't make much sense. It's never mentioned why the multitools can only be used once. Maybe they used really cheap batteries?
* In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', you're hacking you have access to special software that help you beat the security system. That software is expendable. In the future, UsefulNotes/{{DRM}} will be better than the hackers?
* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, here have been several major changes to the game world and/or the races living within it that have changed over the course of the series. Most have since been given an official in-universe explanation of varying quality and coherence. To note:
** Until ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' showed it as a mostly temperate hardwood forest, the nation of Cyrodiil was referred to as a tropical jungle earlier in the series. The in-universe explanation is that it ''was'' a jungle, until [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Talos]] used his powers as a newly ascended god to perform a CosmicRetcon, changing Cyrodiil to make the Imperial soldiers who served him so well more comfortable. ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', which is a prequel to the main series, shows it much the same as it is in ''Oblivion'', meaning that Talos' changes were apparently retroactive as well.
** The ArtEvolution of the [[LizardFolk Argonians]] and [[CatFolk Khajiit]] throughout the series has since been explained a result of in-universe forces. To note:
*** The Argonians owe their changes to the Hist, [[WiseTree sentient]] and possibly {{omniscient}} trees whose sap the Argonians drink to grow. The Hist began to change the Argonians around the time of the Oblivion Crisis, making them stronger and more aggressive to prepare for the coming chaos and wars.
*** The Khajiit have various sub-species which look different as adults depending on the phases of Nirn's [[WeirdMoon twin moons]] under which they were born. Certain sub-species are more common in different provinces, leading to their changing appearance throughout the series. On the other hand, they have yet to explain why all Khajiit outside of Elsweyr are specifically one sub-species in each game.
** Elder Scrolls lore also includes a plot device called a "Dragon Break," which is a cosmic event with no specific cause or explanation that can merge several timelines, erase historical events, or justify any other incontinuity. Although the series's in-universe history does include several purposeful, intentional, and plot-relevant "Dragon Breaks," the idea was originally conceived as a handwave to allow all the conflicting endings of Daggerfall to be canon simultaneously.
* Three endings in ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' are given explanations like this. The third ending has expository dialogue which is [[{{Macekre}} particularly ambiguous and poorly written.]] The fourth ending's explanation trumps them all, though, with a [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands hastily-written and somewhat nonsensical fable]] being the justification for a suicide run against the FinalBoss in the hopes that the fable will be re-enacted. Given, the circumstances were pretty dire, so the characters could almost be excused for thinking what they did. The fifth ending, well, [[DroppedABridgeOnHim is supposed to be anticlimactic.]] The sequel clears up a lot of the fog presented here, but that's no excuse.
* The manual of ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'' handwaved the game's physics bugs as just part of the "many diabolical traps" created by Dr. Robotnik.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'':
** After completing the game once, you get The Boss's gun if you start a NewGamePlus. If you equip it and call your weapons expert, he asks how Snake has it, and Snake tells him [[MST3KMantra not to worry about it]]. He also tells Snake that the gun has infinite ammo because the ammo feed is shaped like an infinity sign. "Makes sense..."
** If Snake calls Para-Medic after finding Bio-Luminescent Mushrooms, he'll ask if eating them will recharge his batteries; Para-Medic jokingly tells him "Sure, why not?" Eating the mushrooms actually ''does'' recharge the batteries; calling Para-Medic afterwards yields an amusing conversation where she [[IsThisThingStillOn steps away from the radio]] and talks to Sigint, trying to figure out how it could possibly work. The best explanation they can come up with is the placebo effect; [[AchievementsInIgnorance Snake is so gullible]] that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve his belief made it work somehow]].

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In the original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'', the Lion Key is a late-game item in the form of [[SkeletonKey a key that is not used up when opening a locked door, allowing for infinite uses]]. When it's collected, the number of keys remaining in the [[HeadsUpDisplay HUD]] is replaced with an "A". This is because you're normally not supposed to have more than nine keys, and since the key counter is a single-digit hexadecimal, having a state of keys above 0-9 causes the counter to go to the next base-16 digit: A. At least one supplementary material by Nintendo of America around the time of release attempted to get around this by saying that the Lion Key makes the key counter read "A" because it lets you open '''a'''ll the locked doors.
** Due to the CD-i controller having only two buttons, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames'', you interact with all objects in the game world by hitting them with your sword. This also includes the {{NPC}}s which you can start a conversation with by stabbing them. This is hand waved in the in-game tutorial:
--->'''Link:''' Luckily I brought my Smart Sword. It won't hurt anyone friendly. In fact, it makes them talk!
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'' seems to be, at least in part, Nintendo's attempt to do more than simply justify that Link is able to find money in random bushes and patches of grass, by explaining that the tiny race of people known as the Minish like to scatter the money for big people to find. They also scatter bombs, arrows, and hearts, and may be responsible for some of the ubiquitous treasure chests. Meanwhile, the [[NoExportForYou Japan- and Europe-only]] ''VideoGame/FreshlyPickedTinglesRosyRupeeland'' states that Tingle was the perpetrator of the above, so it's not really clear.
* In the original ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', players fought an enemy named Birdie, who was a white punk with a mohawk. When the character returned in ''Street Fighter Alpha'', he was a huge, hulking, ''black'' punk with an even bigger mohawk. In ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', he claims in one of his win quotes, "I looked pale because I was sick."
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** The game pulls a bit of one in the justification for why the Gnomes had failed to retake Gnomeregan for four years and the Darkspear Trolls had failed to recapture the Echo Isles, despite each being held by an elite boss [[EasilyConqueredWorld capable of being killed by low-level players]]. Apparently, the thousands of Thermaplugg's and Zalazane's heads turned in by players over the years were all from fakes, not the real deal.
** One of the Caverns of Time dungeons has the Infinite Dragonflight attempting to stop the Orcs' arrival on Azeroth. While Horde players wouldn't want this to happen, as it led to their eventual redemption and the formation of the New Horde, it could actually be a pretty sweet deal to the Alliance, who would be avoiding two wars, the destruction of Stormwind and a lot of people being killed. In order to justify Alliance players running the dungeon anyway, the Bronze Dragonflight attempts to Handwave this by saying that without a common threat to unite them the various races of the Alliance would have dissolved into infighting and destroyed each other.
** During the Horde campaign against Gilneas in ''Cataclysm'', there's an almost offhand remark about how being turned into a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent worgen]] makes one immune to undeath. Well, since both are curses and the only undead worgen are PlayerCharacter death knights, that's understandable. But then Sylvanas throws out a line about the Alliance only sending non-human forces against the Forsaken because they're all immune to undeath. Said line only exists to justify why the Forsaken don't simply plague and turn all the Alliance forces.
* ''VideoGame/RemnantsOfSkystone'' vaguely attempts to justify why the player missions [[ItsUpToYou could surely be done by the Rooks, Nidaria's standing army]] (who are even just dressed better to take on monsters than you), with a description that says they employ freelancers when they can't wait for the Rooks' ponderous command structure to swing into action, and with individual Rooks in the levels telling you that they wish they could accompany you, but they have orders to remain at their post.
* Conflicts in the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' are often justified with these. No good reason for our heroes and the boss to be fighting? Heroes agree? Well, too bad for them, [[RuleOfDrama that's just the way things are]].
* ''VideoGame/Superman64'' is an odd case of having two different plots before release, and both were handwaves. The game's original plot was that Lex Luthor was spreading Kryptonite fog all over Metropolis, which was clearly a clumsy attempt to explain the game's ridiculous amount of fogging (a common trick used in early 3D games to prevent framerate dips). Later, the story was changed to Lex Luthor trapping Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen in a virtual reality version of Metropolis, which handwaves not only the fogging but every other problem with the game.
* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising''
** There's a particularly funny hand wave regarding Pit not wanting to take his clothes off in the Hot Spring, as seen in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WGR8wXl4QTM#t=258s trailer.]]
** In Chapter 5:
--->'''Pit:''' What's an Exo Tank doing here anyway?\\
'''Pandora:''' I wanted to get my driver's license. So I whipped up a little parking lot to practice in. But then it hit me. How am I supposed to steer without hands?\\
'''Pit:''' [[VoodooShark How'd you build a parking lot without hands?]]\\
'''Pandora:''' Hard work and determination.

* A [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent Foundry mission]] for ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' titled [[Recap/StarTrekOnlineFoundryRelics "Relics"]] has a part where a HumanPopsicle has to be sent back to his home time period through a sister artifact to the Guardian of Forever. Your ship's counselor hangs a lampshade on the Guardian of Balance's claim that so doing has restored the timeline, noting that the event that would've altered it, not sending him back, didn't happen in the first place. The Guardian basically says the Federation's understanding of time isn't advanced enough to comprehend it.
* In ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', Ryusei wants to know why Anime/{{Dancouga|r}} is combined instead of being split into its constituent Battle Beasts. Masato meanly asks Shinobu Fujiwara to explain, and the others finally say that [[NoodleIncident Shinobu did something careless]], and they've been ordered not to separate.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsBX'', Eldoran creates a copy of the [[Anime/ZettaiMutekiRaijinoh Raijinoh team]]'s classroom inside of the Diva battleship, so they can deploy anywhere.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' justifies the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit by the characters pondering in universe that only 100 Pikmin being allowed on the field at once is a survival tactic to make sure an entire colony doesn't get wiped out in one fell swoop. The real reason was because of the limits of the ''UsefulNotes/GameCube'', and later for game balance so you can't just ZergRush enemies with a massive mob of Pikmin.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' gives an interesting example of a purely visual handwave. Early testers consistently griped that they didn't really get how Chell could fling herself around the puzzles like a Superball and never take any harm from high speed impacts with walls and ground. So the devs put some big springs on her legs. With no further {{exposition}}, and despite the game being in first person perspective such that it took some tricky portal placement to even see Chell's legs, this fixed the SuspensionOfDisbelief right up.
* Alucard explains in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' why Dracula's castle is [[ChaosArchitecture very different in every games]]. The castle is "a creature of Chaos."

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': A major plot point in the first section of the game is that [[spoiler:Shiki doesn't actually look like herself -- due to jealousy, she was changed to look like her friend Eri]]. Logically, then, in the AlternateUniverse chapter "Another Day", [[spoiler:she should look like herself]] -- but that's not the case. Should you decide to seek out Joshua when you start the day, he's willing to explain the situation with "a certain young lady": the player is refusing to perceive reality as it truly is instead of prolonging their own misconceptions... that, plus the developers didn't have the time to create an appropriate set of sprites that would only be used once. Amusingly, he says all this to Neku, the player ''character'', who is implied to be seeing the true form just fine and definitely has no idea what Joshua is talking about.
* ''VideoGame/{{ARMA}} 3'' is an open-world military shooter that features a lot of enterable buildings. However, the player will find that nearly every building in the game lacks any form of furniture. The player can find newspaper with headings like "Mysterious Disappearance of all Furniture!" with a picture of a UFO.
* ''VideoGame/TheSilentAge'' gives us a [[spoiler:[[ThePlague virus]]]] brought from the future, that destroyed the humankind in a day or two. We eventually learn that the [[spoiler:virus]] in question is [[spoiler:[[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory a kind of avian flu]]]], and whatever rendered it SO lethal is handwaved in some reports as its reaction to ''[[TimeTravel time travel]]''.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' introduce Mega Evolution, which was first enabled/discovered some 3,000 years ago. Despite this, [[PrehistoricMonster Aerodactyl]] has a Mega Evolution despite being long extinct by the time such an event occured. [[http://www.pokemonxy.com/en-us/pokemon/mega_pokemon/#Aerodactyl The official website]] gets around this by claiming that some InUniverse researchers believe Mega Aerodactyl is the creature's original appearance before being fossilized.
* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonVSPhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', when [[spoiler:[[ItMakesSenseInContext the Storyteller is explaining to the court about how they're not actually from the past, and how the Shades use metal bells to knock everyone unconscious which works because everyone in the town drinks from the same tainted water source]], he mentions that the Shades drink from a different water source. Phoenix points out that the Shades still would have had the water from the town's source in their bodies. The Storyteller then says that the water's effects wear off exactly a day after it's drunk]].
-->'''Phoenix''': [[LampshadeHanging Well, that's convenient...]]
* Parodied in ''Bullet Heaven 2''. Natalie panics about the second level of the second world, stating she can't breathe.
-->'''Matt:''' Don't worry! Thanks to the developer, we can breathe underwater for no reason! It's actually kind of cool!

* ''VideoGame/IdleMineRemix'' mentions that in the Universe, planets cannot become much larger than over 250000 km in diameter because the immense mass and pressure in the core would start a nuclear fusion, which means that the planet would become a star. But thanks to the game's different physics that can be done.
* The manual for ''VideoGame/UmJammerLammy'' has a Q&A section, one of the questions asking why Stage 1 is the only stage in the game that can't be played in multiplayer at all. The real reason for this is that when you unlock [[DemotedToExtra Parappa]] after beating the game, he has an [[RemixedLevel alternate version]] of every stage ''except'' for Stage 1, which was DummiedOut due to time constraints. Since Parappa also becomes playable in multiplayer alongside Rammy (Lammy's PaletteSwap), the developers opted to disable it for Stage 1 entirely instead of solely disabling playing as Parappa. The manual hand-waves this by saying that it's because Stage 1 is intended to be a [[VideoGameTutorial tutorial]] for the game as a whole (implying that having a second player around would just be a distraction), while adding that since it's eventually revealed that Stage 1 is AllJustADream, other characters can't simply follow Lammy into her own subconscious.
* When ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight: Specter of Torment'' was released, fans quickly took note of how peculiar it was that the gold that Donovan collects in the playable FlashbackBPlot stages instantaneously carries over to Specter Knight in the present when they're completed. According to [[WordOfGod a Yacht Club Games developer]], Specter Knight simply forgot that he collected the money in the past until the game returns to the present.

* Halfway through ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002'', Ratchet obtains the Thruster Pack upgrade for Clank, which, unlike the Heli-Pack that you get much earlier, grants Ratchet a hover function that allows him to strafe, and a [[GroundPound Power Slam]] ability that can be used to attack enemies and press switches. In most other games in the series, Clank still has it, but it's reduced to an alternative to the Heli-Pack, as every other game lets Ratchet strafe on his own and the Power Slam switches are removed entirely. The official explanation from ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' is that the two abilities were removed due to Bogon Galaxy bylaws when Ratchet and Clank were brought there.

* The webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Harkovast}}'' does this with the explanation for why the female reptilian humanoids have [[NonMammalMammaries breasts]].
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''
** The Foglios make fun of this trope. A fictional Agatha on a radio show broadcast by the in-universe Foglios builds a "mechanical taxidermist and tailor" in a forest [[MemeticMutation without even]] [[Film/IronMan1 a box of scraps]]. How? She completely fails to explain.
--->'''Agatha:''' ''Please.'' I ''always'' carry a Swiss army knife and a coil of wire.
** Later on, Othar Trygvassen, '''{{GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER}}''' gets what appears to be a back-breaking injury from a Jagermonster. Not a comic later, he is back on his feet and punching said Jagermonster like nothing happened. He explains his recovery with "Special trousers. ''Very'' heroic."
** Invoked in-universe when Airman Higgs offers to guide the group through Castle Heterodyne because he supposedly saw and memorized a map of the Castle previously. Sleipnir begins to protest the impossibility of this before Theo shushes her. They need his help and if he needs to have "found a map" to offer it, then that's what they'll go with.

* ''Webcomic/WhatTheFu''[='=]s preferred way of explaining things. The characters just roll with it.
* ''Webcomic/NeonIceCreamHeadache'' involves a drug that causes its user to be TrappedInTVLand. How can a simple pill do that? The exaplanation given is that "It aligns your nervous system with a certain electro-magnetic frequency."
* ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'': Tailsteak's [[http://www.undefined.net/1/0/?strip=920 explanation]] of how light behaves. It's a one-time exception, and it's PlayedForLaughs.

* Lampshaded and Played for Laughs in WebVideo/DeathNoteTheAbridgedSeriesKpts4tv where Matsuda questions how L got a camera in the Yotsuba Group's meeting room.
** It was also invoked as in the previous episode [[spoiler: Matsuda dies due to a miscommunication with L. He returns in the next episode and L doesn't even bother explaining how he came back.]]

* ''Dr. Horrible's Unofficial Singalong Sequel'' is a FanSequel to ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' and naturally doesn't feature any of the original cast. The very first thing the fan sequel does is explain this via callback. It's mentioned in the original series that [[{{unobtanium}} wonderflonium]] should never be bounced but we never learn why: according to the unofficial sequel, the wonderflonium did end up bouncing, and the result was that anyone who was ever exposed to it became "genetically rearranged" - since that includes every major character who appeared in the original, everyone looks different. They are consistent about it, complete with characters not recognizing each other at first.

* [[WordOfGod Creator example]]: writers for the ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode "Epilogue" state that part of the reason they wrote the episode's events - [[spoiler: revealing [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Terry McGinnis]] to be Bruce Wayne's biological son]] - was them realizing both him and his brother Matt have black hair, which looking at their parents (Mary is a redhead while Warren has light brown hair) is genetically improbable, a very clever way of handwaving any inconsistencies said reveal may create.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", after Homer tells Bart and Lisa about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin his barbershop quartet]], the kids have some questions about why they'd never heard about it until now, where all the money went, and so forth. Homer assures them that "there are perfectly logical answers to all those questions, but they'll have to wait for another day." [[note]]One of their questions ("Since when can you write a song?") was answered in the 19th season episode "That '90s Show."[[/note]]
** Mr. Burns, when asked for an explanation of how he managed to inexplicably [[VillainTeleportation get to the basement ahead of them]], simply says "Oh there'll be time for explanations later."
** One is made explaining the appearance of Frank Grimes, Jr.:
--->'''Homer''': Wait a minute, Frank Grimes wasn't married!\\
'''Junior''': He ''happened'' to like hookers, okay?
** How can eight-year-old Ralph Wiggum, original TropeNamer for TheDitz, run for President in E Pluribus Wiggum? Simple: the Patriot Act killed the Constitution to protect freedom.
** The premise of "Homer the Genius" is that Homer is an idiot because he has had a crayon lodged in his brain since he was a child. Marge at one point questions Dr. Hibbert how this could have gone undetected, given how often Homer's skull has been x-rayed over the years. Hibbert replies that his thumb must have been accidentally covering up the crayon every time he held one of the x-rays in the past.
** In "Blame it on Lisa" Marge visits the phone company and encounters Lindsey Neagle, the fast-talking female executive who seems to work everywhere in Springfield.
--->'''Marge''':We've met you many times, Ms. Naegle. Why do you keep changing jobs?\\
'''Neagle''': ''[menacingly]'' I'm a sexual predator.\\
'''Marge''': ''[understandingly]'' Oh.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' has Wolverine telling a story of how he fought in World War II alongside ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. When asked by Professor X how he remembers this in spite of the fact that he has such profound amnesia, Wolverine Hand Waves it by saying he remembers bits and pieces of the recent past while everything else is a blur.

* In ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'', [[ItMakesSenseInContext Hector Con Carne, Major Doctor Ghastly, and General Skarr visit an island and meet their currently elderly future selves.]] Eventually, we learn that Hector and Ghastly settled down and bore a son which Hector, [[ItMakesSenseInContext being only a brain and a (sentient) stomach attached to a bear,]] naturally [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]]. Ghastly handwaves this as being caused by "the miracle of love."

* Early ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episodes described the "Terrance and Phillip Show" as a cartoon with crappy animation, though this later evolved into a weirder (but funnier) premise that the show was actually filmed in Canada, where everything actually ''was'' crappy-looking. In the episode "Behind the Blow," which parodied Creator/VH1's "Behind the Music", this inconsistency was waved away with a rather convoluted explanation. Apparently, in the South Park world there ''used'' to be a Terrance and Phillip cartoon that was separate from the live-action show, but the cartoon was so popular many people became confused as to whether or not T&P were real people or cartoon characters.
* In a likely example of PlayingWithATrope, in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Gnomes", the Underpants Gnomes steal underpants, and describe their entire plan as:\\
Phase 1: Steal Underpants. \\
Phase 2: ? \\
Phase 3: Profit
-->'''Cartman:''' Oh, now I get it!\\
'''Kyle:''' No you don't!
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' episode "The Junk Man", Sheen asks Jimmy several questions as they are flying to and from the Moon, like why the voyage takes only a few minutes and why the boys don't need space suits and helmets. However, both times Jimmy starts to answer Sheen's questions, the camera cuts to Carl on the other side of the rocket singing an off-key, made-up song about the Moon. Both times Carl finishes singing, the camera cuts to Jimmy asking Sheen if he understands his answer and Sheen responding that he is still confused. On the third question, Carl's singing gets annoying, leading Sheen to yell "Carl! Enough with the song!", but even then we still do not get a plausible explanation.

* Invoked in ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', while Randal goes on another ''Star Wars''-related tangent:
-->'''Randal:''' "That's another thing; what about the lightsabers? I mean, you turn it on, and it goes yea high. How does it know when to stop?"
-->'''Dante:''' "Um... The Force?"
-->'''Randal:''' "Man, that's your answer for ''everything''."

* One episode of ''[[Franchise/{{Peanuts}} The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show]]'' had a sequence where Linus was carrying around a ''green'' blanket rather than his usual blue one, with Lucy saying off-screen that "Linus has a stupid new green blanket!" It's really obvious that the coloring was an [[OffModel animation error]], and that they simply threw in Lucy's dialogue just to hand wave it, since it was dubbed in so poorly.
* In the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'', the Biskit Twins' mother finally appears, explaining her long absence by saying she had been staying in the east wing of the mansion the whole time nursing a really bad headache.
* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' fell prey to this rather often, considering one of the main cast members is an omnipotent genie. Most of the time, when the rest of the cast suggested using some of his phenomenal cosmic powers, he'd respond that his magic just wasn't strong enough to get them out of that week's fix. Of course, if the cast ''could'' just have Genie zap away any problem they ran into, there'd be no show...

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' does this with anything that isn't completely awesome; [[AWizardDidIt Spiral Energy did it.]] And, to be honest, most of the stuff that is.

* The lack of male-type humanoid robots in ''Manga/YokohamaKaidashiKikou'' is supposedly because of the male versions being "weaker" than the female ones, but how this difference comes about is never explained.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** When Renji's [[EmpathicWeapon sword Zabimaru]] breaks free, Zabimaru is shown as a split being, a monkeyish woman and a childish snake. This is contrary to Zabimaru's previous appearance, which was an actual monkey that had a snake for a tail (a Nue). When Renji asks why Zabimaru isn't in its previous form, the Chimpette half of Zabimaru simply laughs and says, "Since when are you so concerned with minor details?" "That's a pretty big freakin' detail!" This is actually based on an {{omake}} when Renji and Hisagi read a catalogue of changes Mayuri can do to their weapons' true forms, Renji sees that changing them into females is possible, with one female example being exactly the form of Chimpette right down to the green fur covering the body.
** Yammy, the lowest-ranked Espada who constantly got knocked around is suddenly revealed to be the 0th Espada and the most powerful. Despite this, he's easily beaten off-screen by Kenpachi and Byakuya. A databook tried to explain this discrepancy by saying that the Espada are ranked by who has the most reiatsu, and Yammy wasn't as dangerous as the others because he only had power with no special abilities. The problem is that one of his opponents, Kenpachi, also relies solely on brute strength, and also has no special abilities, but wins almost every one of his fights. It's even been stated that reiatsu is the deciding factor in who wins a battle between spiritual beings, which would seem to be borne out by Ichigo always beating people who have over a century worth of experience while he has, at most, a few months of training.

* The Future Arc in ''Manga/Reborn2004'' concluded with [[spoiler: the Acrobalenos performing a huge ResetButton so that Byakuran never gains the power of the Mare Rings]] when the inevitable TimeParadox is [[LampshadeHanging pointed out]] by Shoichi, [[spoiler: [[MadScientist Verde]]'s response was simply that the existence of the [[MacGuffin Trinnisette]] amounts to a miracle by itself and can't be explained by science or common sense]].

* In ''Literature/TheAmbitionOfOdaNobuna'', it's never clearly explained how Sagara Yoshiharu not only [[FishOutOfTemporalWater traveled back in time]] to the UsefulNotes/SengokuJidai, but many of the major people he remembered as old guys are instead young women. And the one guy who saves his life at the beginning was UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi, who is conveniently killed off, and tells the young lad to take his place and help Oda Nobuna to achieve her dreams of uniting Japan.
* In ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'', the various tanks the girls ride around in have some special coating on them that prevents the crew from being harmed any time the tank gets hit. Aside from that, it coasts on RuleOfCool, so [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief shut up and enjoy the ride!]]

* [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]] has always been known for [[PooledFunds swimming in his money]]. In the Carl Barks story, "Only A Poor Old Man", the Beagle Boys manage to legally get his cash, leading Scrooge to lament how he won't be able to indulge in his hobby. After giving a demonstration, the old duck offers that the Boys try it themselves. The Beagles dive in, and immediately knock themselves out on the pile of coins. When Huey, Dewey and Louie bring up the FridgeLogic, Scrooge remarks, "I'll admit- It's a trick!"
** ANOTHER handwave in a Don Rosa story... he swam in his money and it got easier and easier...

* Franchise/{{Superman}}:
** Probably not attributable to the original creators, but a Finnish ''Superman'' magazine once answered the question in reader mail about how Superman can fly: It's just like how we walk. He activates the muscles used for flying. And now you know!
** In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan co-habit the same universe. How can this be? It was never explained and no fan cared about the whys or hows because it was awesome.
--->'''Creator/GerryConway:''' "Purists may complain that we never explained how Superman and Spider-Man ended up in the same 'universe'...; to our minds, how they got there was beside the point."
* Speaking of Franchise/SpiderMan, a particularly famous explanation for how Spidey swings when his webline doesn't appear to be attached to anything is that there just so happened to be a helicopter off-panel that he's swinging from.

* In ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'', the finer points of how Agent Graves pulls off his "game" [[note]] Giving ordinary people the chance to find and take revenge on people who wronged them in the past, with zero legal consequences[[/note]] are left intentionally vague, leaving a few lingering questions about how it's all possible. In particular: how does he ''always'' find irrefutable evidence proving his targets guilty of their crimes, even when there were no witnesses? If ''he'' can always prove his targets guilty, then [[PoliceAreUseless why can't the police and the courts]]? And how does he have enough influence to give the recipients immunity when he's not a member of [[TheSyndicate the Trust]] anymore? We get the answer in the final story arc: [[spoiler: he just knows a really well-connected arms dealer]]. No, it doesn't perfectly explain everything...but considering there wouldn't even be a story without the briefcase plot, it's forgivable.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' story "Present Tense" has Grim consulting Nostramaus about his fate (all started when a palm reader ran in fright from Grim who then thought maybe he was doomed). When Nostradamus says something rather obtuse, Grim suggests using his scythe to figure out what he said. Mandy thinks that idea was ''too'' convenient.

* ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'': Dumbledore isn't OutOfCharacter, he only swor coz he had a hedache ok
* In the ''Fanfic/TamersForeverSeries'', the absence of Takato's crush on Jeri from the original series is off-handedly referenced and attributed to him [[LikeBrotherAndSister never truly having been in love with her]].

* In ''Fanfic/ThePrayerWarriors'', during his first encounter with Literature/{{Percy Jackson|and the Olympians}}, Jerry, the main character, realizes that there is a traitor among the Prayer Warriors, and spends the next few chapters trying to figure out who it is. It's revealed, midway through this process, that God told him that there was a traitor the night before the attack, but God apparently neglected to mention who the traitor was.
** When Grover is brainwashed into fighting against the Prayer Warriors, it is offhandedly mentioned that his coming back after being killed four times in the past was due to being cloned by atheists.
* In RealLife, the Boy Scouts of America has a "Two Deep Leadership" policy. Any interactions between youth members and adults has to have at least two adults present as a safety: to avoid placing children at risk if a Scoutmaster has [[PedophilePriest unsavory intentions,]] or to protect the adults from [[FalseRapeAccusation untrue accusation]]s of such intentions. In the ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' ElsewhereFic ''Fanfic/BoyScoutsOneHalf'', Matthew Atanian is an Assistant Scoutmaster, and he frequently spends time with his friends who are youth in the program. Matthew, being 20 as the story begins, is not exceptionally older than his friends who are all mid-to-late teens. Still, he spends a lot of time hanging out with his friends, even away from Scouting functions, where he is the only adult present. This is largely a matter of plot, as it would be difficult for them to get into a lot of the situations they do if they had to drag an additional person who was over 18 along with them — especially if this person was unaware of the Jusenkyo curses that Matthew and four of his friends suffer from. Still, in the real world, the amount of time Matthew spends with his friends could have UnfortunateImplications and lead Matthew into much trouble. This is handwaved on a few occasions, with Matthew being aware of the policies but glossing over them as he knows he has no ill intent and he trusts his friends to not [[TheRat mention his ignoring of said policies to those who might take issue with it.]]
* Used in ''Fanfic/PokemonClefairyTales'' to explain any deviation from game mechanics (e.g. Normal-type attacks vs. Ghost-type Pokémon).
* In ''Fanfic/TheStoryToEndAllStories'', this is used several times to explain what happens in the story.

* ''Franchise/{{Tron}}''. PatchworkFic authors integrating ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'' and ''Film/TronLegacy'' canons explain Jet's absence in the film as him being in Washington DC visiting his mom, Jet and Sam having a nasty falling-out before the film's events, or some combination of the two.

* ''Fanfic/FateHaremAntics'': Iri (who is controlling the Holy Grail from beyond the grave) mentions early on that while she does need a catalyst to summon a Servant, she doesn't have to use the one that the mage is presenting; she can use anything in the room. We don't see what catalysts she uses, but apparently the average mage's workshop has a lot to choose from, allowing her to alter the summoned Servants to ones she thinks [[IWantGrandkids will be better for her son Shirou to hook up with]].

* In ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'': Glinda waits till the end of the movie to tell Dorothy about the ruby slippers. Why didn't she tell her at the beginning, instead of sending her Off To See The Wizard down the Yellow Brick Road? "Because you wouldn't have believed me." This covers up a plot hole caused by merging two different Witches from the books.
* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Batman (who has a strict [[TechnicalPacifist no-kill policy]]) gets into a high-speed chase on the freeway with the cops, causes more than a couple crashes and drives over several cop cars with the cops still inside, endangering dozens of civilian and police officer lives. Yet we know no one is hurt (very badly) because Alfred says: "[[CouldHaveBeenMessy It's a miracle no one was killed.]]" The same thing happens in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', as he fires high-powered guns into what appears to be a mall's glass door to break it so he can drive through, then showing people dodging out of the way. No way someone wasn't going to get hit. In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', it is "explained" that the Batmobile has "life sign scanners."

* In ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'', Egg Shen disappears after the fight in the assembly hall, then abruptly reappears to throw his friends an escape rope through a hole in the ceiling. When asked how the he got up there, Egg just says "ItWasntEasy!"

* A fairly large hand wave occurs in the third act of ''Film/Scream2'' during the big [[TheReveal reveal]] that [[spoiler:one of the killers is Mrs. Loomis, the mother of Billy Loomis, Sidney's deceased former boyfriend and one of the killers in the first film. As Gale obviously would have seen pictures of Mrs. Loomis while investigating the case, how she encountered Mrs. Loomis under the guise of a local journalist earlier in the film without recognizing her is explained with a short exchange:]]
-->'''Gale''': [[spoiler:No, it can't be. I've seen pictures of [her].]]
-->'''Sidney''': [[spoiler:Yeah, this is 60 pounds and a lot of work later.]]
* This trope is referenced by a movie executive in ''Film/ThankYouForSmoking''. They are discussing the idea of [[ProductPlacement having two actors smoke in a movie]] that's set on a space station.
--> '''Nick:''' But wouldn't they blow up in an all-oxygen environment?\\
'''Jeff:''' Probably. But that's an easy fix. One line of dialogue. "[[AsYouKnow Thank God we invented]] the, you know, [[{{Phlebotinum}} whatever device.]]"\\
'''Nick:''' Of course.

* ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'': After Bill asks how the time machine works, Rufus replies "Modern technology, William."
* In the ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' film ''Film/AStudyInTerror'', Holmes is trapped in a burning building. They quickly cut to him back at Baker Street, explaining that he survived because, as everyone knows, he's indestructible.

* ''Film/LakePlacid'' has a character question how a giant crocodile could get to their land-locked lake in North America from the other side of the world, especially since it was a freshwater species that couldn't have swam the ocean anyway. Another character smugly replies: "They keep that kind of information in something called books."
* In ''Film/HudsonHawk'', Tommy goes over a cliff in a burning car, but shows up at the end, burnt but very alive, which he handwaves with "airbags" and "built-in sprinklers". As this is the guy whose catchphrase is "Can you ''believe'' it?!", it fits rather well.
* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'': The Architect tells Neo that he must either reboot the Matrix or allow it to crash, killing all humans inside of it. When Neo asks why the machines would allow the Matrix to crash, since they rely on it for power, the Architect says only that there are levels of existence that the machines are willing to accept. No further details on how the machines can survive without the Matrix are provided (although in the first movie Morpheus does mention 'a form of fusion').

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'': Later films in the series brush off the fact the depiction of dinosaurs in the franchise [[ScienceMarchesOn have become increasingly inaccurate with more discoveries made]] since their [[ShownTheirWork relatively accurate]] appearances in [[Film/JurassicPark the first film]] with some throwaway lines that they were "genetically-engineered theme park monsters" specifically designed to be crowd-pleasing hybrids or the result of frog DNA influence rather than "real" dinosaurs, allowing them to keep using outdated (or even outright made-up) depictions that have long since been disproven. It works because even as far back as the first movie and novel, John Hammond was favoring RuleOfCool over paleontological accuracy when designing the park.

* Each chapter of ''Literature/NakedCameTheStranger'' was written by a different author. Any inconsistencies left by the editing process are explained by Gillian's ability to transform in the eye of the beholder into any man's ideal woman, even if his ideal woman looks and acts nothing like her.
* ''Literature/ThePower'': The UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era anti-chemical-weapon agent Guardian Angel is blamed for the development of the Power. Exactly ''how'' the chemical could so drastically alter the biology of cisgender female humans--and also some intersex males--is neither explained nor particularly relevant to the plot. However, it is theorized this might have just activated dormant genes too.

* The film ''HeartbreakRidge'' focuses on the actions of US Marines in Grenada. The main character, and one of the supporting cast, are said to be veterans of the titular battle, which was fought by the ''US Army'' in the Korean War. One of the characters handwaves this by saying "we joined the Corps later." The real reason for this unlikely situation is that the filmmakers tried to get military support from the US Army but they rejected the request, unhappy with the script. When the Marines offered to help instead, the characters were hastily rewritten to be Marines, and the handwave thrown in.

* In ''Film/HudsonHawk'', Tommy goes over a cliff in a burning car, but shows up at the end, burnt but very alive, which he handwaves with "airbags" and "built-in sprinklers". As this is the guy whose CatchPhrase is "Can you ''believe'' it?!", it fits rather well.

[[caption-width-right:286:Now that that's out of the way, let's move on!]]

-->-- ''Film/ThankYouForSmoking'' (discussing ProductPlacement in a SciFi movie)

** Whenever time travel of any stripe shows up, expect to hear the phrase "because quantum" a lot. Not quantum harmonics or singularities or anything so specific. Just... quantum.

* In ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' Sakura asks Kotaro how she became a zombie:

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' has a few in-universe examples in the ''[[MagicAmpersand Bunkers & Badasses]]'' DLC, such as "Because... REASONS!"

** Mei's [[ConvenientMiscarriage abortion]]