History Main / SimpleSolutionWontWork

** In "When Aliens Attack", the Omicronians threaten the Earth because Fry accidentally disrupted the broadcast of the final episode of ''Single Female Lawyer'' back in 1999, which reaches the Omicronians 1,000 years later on their planet. Bender suggests simply finding a copy of the final episode for them, but no results come up on the computer, as Professor Farnsworth says that all the videotapes from that era were destroyed in 2443 during the second coming of Jesus.

** In "When Aliens Attack", the Omicronians threaten the Earth because Fry accidentally disrupted the broadcast of the final episode of ''Single Female Lawyer'' back in 1999, which reach the Omicronians 1000 years later on their planet. Bender suggests simply finding a copy of the final episode for them, but no results come up on the computer, as Professor Farnsworth says that all the videotapes from that era were destroyed in 2443 during the second coming of Jesus.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In "A Big Piece of Garbage", a massive ball of 20th-century garbage is headed toward Earth. Leela suggests the most obvious solution, shooting a missile at it, only to be told that the ball is so gooey that any missiles fired at it would just go straight through.

** In the episode [[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E21And22WildCards Wild Cards]], while Batman warning the tv executive that he sold airtime to the Joker is enough to get him to have his station cut the broadcast, it doesn't prevent Jokers scheme since he had the [[CrazyPrepared forethought to buy time in more than one network.]]

** In the AscendedFanfic "[[https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Rocks_Are_Not_Free! Rock Are Not Free!]]", a starship captain figuring he'd just drop an asteroid on the planet (admittedly a time-honored tactic, among orks) is sent to remedial/punitive accounting because it ended up costing almost three times as much as a standard orbital bombardment since the asteroid itself has to travel through realspace for several weeks before being in range to do anything.

** Subverted in the AscendedFanfic "[[https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Rocks_Are_Not_Free! Rock Are Not Free!]]", where a starship captain figuring he'd just drop an asteroid on the planet (admittedly a time-honored tactic, among orks) is sent to remedial/punitive accounting because it ended up costing almost three times as much as a standard orbital bombardment since the asteroid itself has to travel through realspace for several weeks before being in range to do anything.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Fight Fighters", Dipper is drawn into a battle against Rumble [=McSkirmish=], a video game character [[TheGameComeToLife he inadvertently summoned to the real world]]. Soos tries to help Dipper by fiddling with Rumble's health bar, but the HUD just flickers intangibly, doing actually nothing to his health.

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13452837/chapters/31000128 How I Learned to Love the Wild Horse]]'', Britney, after seeing the Umisenken in action, wonders aloud why Genma never used it to get rich as a successful thief. Later, when Ranma demonstrates the same technique to WOOHP, he learns the answer; the technique doesn't work on cameras, meaning Genma'd be limited to stealing from people who couldn't afford them.

* ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu'': In ''The Hamburger Hill of Art!'', Sousuke Sagara is asked to be the model of the class outdoor art assignment, which thanks to the eccentric art teacher telling him to "blend with the environment and be hard to catch" and [[ShellShockedVeteran his own eccentricities]] Sousuke decides to interpret as "run away and hide and turn the whole hill into a Vietnam War-style DeathCourse so the students cannot reach him". Right after Kaname gets a call by Sousuke telling her this, she tries to talk him out of it to no use and she immediately tries to ask the teacher if they can switch models once she hangs up, but the teacher absolutely refuses. Result: if they don't wish an automatic fail, the students have to brave the traps and get Sousuke. Once they find him, they take great pleasure on getting back on the hurt he inflicted on them by tying him up and dangling him upside-down from a tree while they do their art.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode: “Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.” During a conversation on how much of a abusive monster Quagmire’s sister Brenda's boyfriend Jeff is to the point [[DisproportionateRetribution of mercilessly beats the shit out of her for the smallest things,]] Peter asks Joe, who is a cop, why he can’t just arrest him, Joe then explains he is legally unable to do so unless Brenda herself files a formal complaint against Jeff to the police.[[note]] [[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement Even though Jeff was literally beating up Brenda]] ''[[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement right in front of Joe himself and everyone else around them]]'', thus making them witnesses with enough evidence. Therefore in reality, Joe would not only have to arrest him, he would legally be ''required to''.[[/note]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode: “Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.” During a conversation on how much of a abusive monster Quagmire’s sister Brenda's boyfriend Jeff is to the point [[DisproportionateRetribution he mercilessly beats the shit out of her for the smallest things,]] Peter asks Joe, who is a cop, why he can’t just arrest him, Joe then explains he is legally unable to do so unless Brenda herself files a formal complaint against Jeff to the police.[[note]] [[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement Even though Jeff was literally beating up Brenda]] ''[[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement right in front of Joe himself and everyone else around them]]'', thus making them witnesses with enough evidence. Therefore in reality, Joe would not only have to arrest him, he would legally be ''required to''.[[/note]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode: “In Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.” During a conversation on how much of a abusive monster Quagmire’s sister Brenda's boyfriend Jeff is to the point [[DisproportionateRetribution he mercilessly beats the shit out of her for the smallest things,]] Peter asks Joe, who is a cop, why he can’t just arrest him, Joe then explains he is legally unable to do so unless Brenda herself files a formal complaint against Jeff to the police.[[note]] [[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement Even though Jeff was literally beating up Brenda]] ''[[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement right in front of Joe himself and everyone else around them]]'', thus making them witnesses with enough evidence. Therefore in reality, Joe would not only have to arrest him, he would legally be ''required to''.[[/note]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode: “In Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.” During a conversation on how Quagmire’s sister Brenda is always abused by her boyfriend Jeff so bad to the point [[DisproportionateRetribution he mercilessly beats the shit out of her for the smallest things,]] Peter asks Joe, a cop, why he can’t just arrest him, Joe then explains he is legally unable to do so unless Brenda herself files a complaint.[[note]] [[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement Even though Jeff was literally beating up Brenda]] ''[[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement right in front of Joe himself and everyone else around them]]'', thus making them witnesses with enough evidence. Therefore in reality, Joe would not only have to arrest him, he would legally be ''required to''.[[/note]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Fight Fighters", Dipper is drawn into a battle against Rumble [=McSkirmish=], a video game character [[TheGameComeToLife he inadvertently summoned to the real world]]. Soos tries to help Dipper by fiddling with Rumble's health bar, but the HUD just flickers intangibly.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode: “In Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.” During a conversation on how Quagmire’s sister Brenda is always abused by her boyfriend Jeff so bad to the point [DisproportionateRetribution he mercilessly beats the shit out of her for the smallest things,]] Peter asks Joe, a cop, why he can’t just arrest him, Joe then explains he is legally unable to do so unless Brenda herself files a complaint.[[note]] [[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement Even though Jeff was literally beating up Brenda]] ''[[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement right in front of Joe himself and everyone else around them]]'', thus making them witnesses with enough evidence. Therefore in reality, Joe would not only have to arrest him, he would legally be ''required to''.[[/note]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode: “In Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.” During a conversation on how Quagmire’s sister Brenda is always abused by her boyfriend Jeff so bad to the point he mercilessly beats the shit out of her for [[DisproportionateRetribution the stupidest things,]] Peter asks Joe, a cop, why he can’t just arrest him, Joe then explains he is legally unable to do so unless Brenda herself files a complaint.[[note]] [[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement Even though Jeff was literally beating up Brenda]] ''[[ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement right in front of Joe himself and everyone else around them]]'', thus making them witnesses with enough evidence. Therefore in reality, Joe would not only have to arrest him, he would legally be ''required to''.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': The initial idea for [[spoiler:stopping Tiamat in her tracks]] was to evaporate the sea around her (they had a goddess who could do that), since [[spoiler:Tiamat]] could only move in the water. They try it; and immediately afterwards it's revealed that she can ''create'' water so the "limitation" was a non-issue. The eventual plan for stopping and defeating her ends up being incredibly complicated, including things like [[spoiler:digging a pit deep enough to reach the Underword]], having a mage turn the water into flowers via RulesLawyer-ing, and having the [[spoiler: personification of death apply the concept of death on her]]. So much for just evaporating the water.

** Once it's revealed that [[spoiler: Joker getting captured by the police was part of an elaborate BatmanGambit to [[FakingTheDead trick Goro Akechi into thinking he was dead]] and get Sae on their side, Sae asks why they didn't just tell her from the beginning that Akechi was the one behind the mental shutdowns. There are two reasons: 1) [[YouWouldntBelieveMeIfIToldYou There's no way Sae or anyone else involved in the investigation would have believed them]] and 2) in the odd chance that she ''did'' believe them, [[HeKnowsTooMuch her knowing the truth would have just made her one more loose end for the Conspiracy to tie up]].]]

** ”WebAnimation/BattleforDreamIslandThePowerOfTwo” in “Gardening Zero”, the teams had to protect each of their endangered flowers from different locations. [[spoiler: Team Death P.A.C.T. Again had to protect their plant in the jungle, but soon Puffball intrudes their biome to sabotage the team. As she was about to eat the their flower, Remote reminds Puffball of an earlier rule, that if she kills the plant herself, then her own team will be up for elimination. So Puffball tries to sabotage in a different way. She then exits, and comes back with Ice Cube, and pushes her in the ground by their flower, as the flower is now [[FurryReminder draining Ice Cube’s moisture]], and slowly killing her. So [[MortonsFork Puffball gives them the risky choice to either kill the plant to save Ice Cube, but forfeiting the challenge, or they let the plant absorb Ice Cube, with the team responsible for her death. (as the team has a priority on protecting people from death)]] At first, Remote tries to get out of the situation by pulling Ice Cube out, but even when using 110% of her battery strength, she couldn’t get Ice Cube out, as Puffball really wedged her in deep. Tree then suggest just taking Ice Cube’s bracelet off, so she would transport back home, but Fanny explains that if she teleports while in the ground, she’ll just teleport underground and suffocate. So the team made the choice to…]][[spoiler: kill the plant.]]

** ”WebAnimation/BattleforDreamIslandThePowerOfTwo” in “Gardening Zero”, the teams had to protect each of their endangered flowers from different locations. [[spoiler: Team Death P.A.C.T. Again had to protect their plant in the jungle, but soon Puffball intrudes their biome to sabotage the team. As she was about to eat the their flower, Remote reminds Puffball of an earlier rule, that if she kills the plant herself, then her own team will be up for elimination. So Puffball tries to sabotage in a different way. She then exits, and comes back with Ice Cube, and pushes her in the ground by their flower, as the flower is now [[FurryReminder draining Ice Cube’s moisture]], and slowly killing her. So [[MortonsFork Puffball gives them the risky choice to either kill the planet to save Ice Cube, but forfeiting the challenge, or they let the plant absorb Ice Cube, with the team responsible for her death. (as the team has a priority on protecting people from death)]] At first, Remote tries to get out of the situation by pulling Ice Cube out, but even when using 110% of her battery strength, she couldn’t get Ice Cube out, as Puffball really wedged her in deep. Tree then suggest just taking Ice Cube’s bracelet off, so she would transport back home, but Fanny explains that if she teleports while in the ground, she’ll just teleport underground and suffocate. So the team made the choice to…]][[spoiler: kill the plant.]]

** ”WebAnimation/BattleforDreamIslandThePowerOfTwo” in “Gardening Zero”, the teams had to protect each of their endangered flowers from different locations. [[spoiler: Team Death P.A.C.T. Again had to protect their plant in the jungle, but soon Puffball intrudes their biome to sabotage the team. As she was about to eat the their flower, Remote reminds Puffball of an earlier rule, that if she kills the plant herself, then her own team will be up for elimination. So Puffball tries to sabotage in a different way. She then exits, and comes back with Ice Cube, and pushes her in the ground, by their flower, as the flower is now draining Ice Cube’s moisture, and slowly killing her. So Puffball gives her the risky choice to either kill the planet to save Ice Cube, but forfeiting the challenge, or they let the plant absorb Ice Cube, with the team responsible for her death. (as the team has a priority on protecting people from death) At first, Remote tries to get out of the situation by pulling Ice Cube out, but even when using 110% of her strength, she couldn’t get Ice Cube out, as Puffball really wedged her in deep. Tree then suggest just taking Ice Cube’s bracelet off, so she would transport back home, but Fanny explains that if she teleports while in the ground, she’ll just teleport underground and suffocate. So the team made the choice to…]][[spoiler: kill the plant.]]

** ”WebAnimation/BattleforDreamIslandAgain” in “Insectophobe’s Nightmare”, the teams were assigned to kill their own batch of bugs while trapped in glass boxes, on Team No-Name, Firey simply tries to burn the bugs, however his fire isn’t doing any damage, as Puffball Speaker Box explains that the bugs are fire-proof.

* ''WebAnimation/BattleforDreamIsland''

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ”WebAnimation/BattleforDreamIslandAgain” in “Insectophobe’s Nightmare”, the teams were assigned to kill their own batch of bugs while trapped in glass boxes, on Team No-Name, Firey simply tries to burn the bugs, however his fire isn’t doing any damage, as Puffball Speaker Box points out that the bugs are fire-proof.

* ‘’ Film/{{Convoy}}'': Early in the film, the police is quite eager to just shoot Rubber Duck's truck and stop his race to Mexico dead in its tracks. Until Rubber Duck points out that [[NitroExpress the gasoline trailer his truck is carrying is full and it may go off if they hit the truck wrong]]. The possibility of excessive collateral damage stops them for the moment. When they finally set up a blockade and start shooting, it's when Rubber Duck's truck is about to pass a narrow bridge over the Rio Grande and the damage will be minimal. [[spoiler:The truck explodes from the gunfire, [[NeverFoundTheBody guaranteeing]] that Rubber Duck successfully [[FakingTheDead faked his death]].]]

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The short story "[[https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Rocks_Are_Not_Free! Rocks Are Not Free!]]" is a detailed analysis of why the Inquisition does not use [[ColonyDrop giant asteroids]] instead of giant bombs to [[EarthShatteringKaboom Exterminatus]] planets. In short, getting an asteroid to crash into a given planet takes considerably more fuel, money, labor, and most importantly time than it is to bombard it from a distance.