Basic Trope: Stating the obvious. These are different ways this trope can be played:
- Straight: Bob always states the obvious.
- Exaggerated: Everything Bob says is so freakin' obvious that everyone should know it.
- Downplayed: While exploring a mysterious place, Bob comments on something that may be obvious to us, but has more features than meet the eye.
- Justified:
- Bob is such a ditz that he can only state, well, the obvious.
- Alternately, Bob is a robot and was not programmed with an understanding of "obviousness", so he states the obvious without realizing it.
- Bob points out the obvious to emphasize something.
- Bob has been cursed to make only statements that are obvious to everyone.
- Bob is in shock.
- Bob's friend Charlie is being Captain Oblivious, forcing Bob to state the obvious.
- Bob's friend Charlie is blind and he is describing things to him to avoid him getting hurt or confused.
- Bob states the obvious as part of his thinking process because things make better sense to him when spoken aloud.
- Bob is deliberately being Captain Obvious as a form of snark, or to direct mockery toward him.
- Bob's lawyer advised him to state the obvious about his product to avoid a Frivolous Lawsuit.
- Bob is still a child. Things that are obvious to adults are still mind-blowing to him.
- While these things may be obvious to Bob and his co-pilot, they won't be to the NTSB replaying the CVR should anything happen.
- Inverted:
- Bob always states Blatant Lies.
- Bob is Comically Missing the Point.
- Bob always states the subtle or unobvious. Only a few people can fully understand the true meaning of his words, without Bob simplifying what he says to them.
- Subverted:
- Bob is watching the Super Bowl on TV with his Heterosexual Life Partner, Charlie. Bob says, "I am not watching the Super Bowl." Charlie is amused.
- While this may be an obvious fact nowadays, not so during Bob's days.
- "WhileTheFactsIStateMayBeObviousToThoseThatActuallyWatchTheseEvents,I'mStatingThemForThoseListeningToTroperFM…AndAliceShootsAndItGoesAcrossTheField…GOAL!"
- Double Subverted:
- Bob continues, "I am not watching the Super Bowl; I am watching a TV that is displaying the Super Bowl."
- What Bob said was, in fact, well-known even in his time.
- Parodied:
- Bob is literally a superhero called Captain Obvious whose only superpower is his unparalleled ability to point out the glaringly obvious.
- Bob can say only one word: "Air!", which everyone else knows they breathe.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob states the obvious to The Ditz Alice, who actually needs it to be stated to her, but when he's with more intelligent people he doesn't.
- Averted: Nothing obvious is stated.
- Enforced:
- Viewers Are Morons.
- The way the previous episodes of Bob's Journey Around The World were dubbed from Tropestani to English meant that the Bob Visits America's English To Tropestani scenes became English To English scenes.
- Lampshaded: "Gee, thanks, Bob! I really learned something!"
- Invoked: Bob is actually very perceptive but uses the obvious statements as part of his Obfuscating Stupidity.
- Exploited: Bob uses obvious statements to hide not very obvious ones when in company of people who should not known the latter.
- Defied:
- Bob begins with "You know..." but Alice cuts him off and asks if he's actually pointing out something the others can't see. He apologizes and shuts up.
- Bob himself just says, "I suppose you see the obvious." Everybody else indicates assent.
- Discussed: "Next time Bob says something obvious, I'm gonna punch his lights out."
- Conversed: "Drinking Game: Take a shot every time Bob says something obvious."
- Deconstructed: Bob's friends lose respect for him every time he states the obvious, which makes Bob feels like he's in the wrong for doing so.
- Reconstructed: Bob's friend Max consoles Bob, telling him that he doesn't have to feel bad for stating the obvious and that the so-called friends are just being Jerkasses; Bob feels better now.
- Implied:Carol: Did Bob say anything useful?Charlie: Not really.
- Played for Drama: Bob says, "I Don't Like the Sound of That Place. It's dangerous," just before the Five-Man Band goes to the Valley of Death. When they get there, he points out all the remains of previous adventurers and creatures that look ready to eat them to the rest of his team. They all tell him that they know how dangerous it is and they're well-prepared ... right before they're all snatched away.
- Played for Laughs: Bob is an onlooking character in an update of The Emperor's New Clothes, and we're invited to laugh at how Naked People Are Funny along with him.
- This is the end of the page.This link goes back to Captain Obvious!Alice: Hey, you! Stop stating the obvious!
