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Comic Books
Minion: Most revered leader Hokum, we have a rare opportunity at hand. With the rebel leadership and the Kryptonian in our sights, is it out of bounds for me to suggest an option? A nuclear option perhaps?
Harry Hokum: It is a tempting thought, isn't it? But this is a chess game. And I am four moves ahead.
Harry Hokum: It is a tempting thought, isn't it? But this is a chess game. And I am four moves ahead.
Robin: You dressed up as bats, just to rob a mall? Isn't that kind of... elaborate?
Fred: Not compared to some of the crimes we've solved!
Robin: Mm. Or some of our cases, now that I think of it.
Fred: Not compared to some of the crimes we've solved!
Robin: Mm. Or some of our cases, now that I think of it.
—Scooby-Doo! Team-Up, "Man Bat and Robbin'"
"Be careful, Maladi, that you do not scheme for scheming's sake. Do not become so enamored of your plotting that you lose sight of your goal."
—Darth Krayt, Star Wars: Legacy #13: Ready to Die
"Do you know the utter joy of total power? I could turn you into protoplasmic slime if I so wished! But I believe watching you painfully die will be far more satisfying."
—Syrene, Two for the Death of One
Fan Works
He kicked out angrily at Superman, dislodging him, and damned himself for not killing him during the month and days he had him helpless, damned himself for trying to eke the last bit of power from his body for its usefulness.
"At the time B.O.R.G. was recruiting beautiful women to seduce high-ranking generals so they could be blackmailed into dropping satellite A-bombs on the San Andreas Fault, thereby creating an earthquake which would inundate Silicone Valley. Realizing this plan was completely ridiculous, I enacted a more efficient strategy to eliminate the competition by selling quality products at lower prices than our rivals."
—Annika-709, Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space
"All I want to know is what this setup is all about," said Supergirl. "If we're going to be the main course for this vampire or whatever you're going to be hosting, just call me curious."
"Call you dead," said the guy with the bucket, and drew a .38.
Vladislav slapped his hand, then slapped his face. "How many times do I got to tell you? How many times? How many?"
"No more, boss, no more," pleaded the vamp. "I understand. I understand. I swear on my father’s coffin."
The fangfather buried his hands in his underling's turtleneck. "I don't really have time for this aggravation, Lester. You got me?"
"Gotcha, boss."
"I said we don’t shoot the women, and we don't shoot the women. We need them for later. Got that?"
"Call you dead," said the guy with the bucket, and drew a .38.
Vladislav slapped his hand, then slapped his face. "How many times do I got to tell you? How many times? How many?"
"No more, boss, no more," pleaded the vamp. "I understand. I understand. I swear on my father’s coffin."
The fangfather buried his hands in his underling's turtleneck. "I don't really have time for this aggravation, Lester. You got me?"
"Gotcha, boss."
"I said we don’t shoot the women, and we don't shoot the women. We need them for later. Got that?"
Film — Animated
"Ah, how shall I do it? Oh, I know. I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives... I'll smash it with a hammer! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say! ...Or, to save on postage, I'll just poison him with this."
—Yzma, The Emperor's New Groove
Film — Live-Action
Dr. Evil: Scott, I want you to meet daddy's nemesis, Austin Powers.
Scott: What? Are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him?
Dr. Evil: I have an even better idea: I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death.
Scott: What? Are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him?
Dr. Evil: I have an even better idea: I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death.
"Why did you have to make this so fucking complicated?!"
Literature
[Bobby] never met an overly complicated plan he didn't want to commit to and make even more prone to possible failure.
Halek had known Victor long enough to understand how his devious mind worked. Victor was one of those who liked convoluted things for the sake of convolution. He liked to plot and scheme just for the sake of it.
—Gotrek & Felix: Beastslayer
"I've yet to encounter a situation that couldn't be improved by a copious amount of lies and body doubles."
—Dread Emperor Traitorous, A Practical Guide to Evil
"Thirty-two minutes to draw out blueprints for the pendulums and work out the sequence needed for best effect. Three hundred to three hundred and forty minutes of time to set it up. He could estimate costs north of eleven thousand dollars, not counting salaries. None of the materials were particularly expensive in and of themselves, and he had any number of businesses in his pocket where he could acquire those materials at a significant discount."
—Accord designs a Death Trap, Worm
Live-Action TV
"Instead of being an alive person pretending to be a dead person pretending to be an alive person, why not just be an alive person?"
—Robin, How I Met Your Mother
Darien: All right, so why don't you just knock me out with a... Stun gun? Baseball bat? You know, what is it with all these complex plots? I mean, what, is it a Swiss thing? Is that what it is?
Arnaud: You know I can't just walk up to you and knock you out with a baseball bat. There are... variables.
Darien: Don't defend it. Please.
Arnaud: You could turn invisible, for one—
Darien: Will you just admit it?
Arnaud: Admit what?
Darien: You're ridiculous. You are! I mean, you join the Q-Gland design team just so you can steal the design. You make me think Kevin's alive so, what, I can lead you to some files. Hey, buddy, you could've found them on your own with a little research. Then you give me the flu so I could wind up in some hospital room and you can take the gland out of me? Douche, Rube Goldberg's got nothing on you, pal.
Arnaud: You know I can't just walk up to you and knock you out with a baseball bat. There are... variables.
Darien: Don't defend it. Please.
Arnaud: You could turn invisible, for one—
Darien: Will you just admit it?
Arnaud: Admit what?
Darien: You're ridiculous. You are! I mean, you join the Q-Gland design team just so you can steal the design. You make me think Kevin's alive so, what, I can lead you to some files. Hey, buddy, you could've found them on your own with a little research. Then you give me the flu so I could wind up in some hospital room and you can take the gland out of me? Douche, Rube Goldberg's got nothing on you, pal.
—The Invisible Man, "Diseased"
"So when you're sat with all these fresh ingredients on your doorstep, and the climate they've got, the simpler it is, the better it's gonna be. Unfortunately, they've got more complicated, and tried to be clever, and completely lost the fucking plot."
—Gordon Ramsay, on La Parra de Burriana, Kitchen Nightmares
"Then how did I break into the bank, to the tower, to the prison? Daylight robbery! All it takes is a few willing participants! I knew you'd fall for it. That's your weakness, you always want everything to be clever."
—Moriarty, Sherlock
"Vicious, complicated, and inefficient! Typical of your way of thinking."
—The Doctor to The Master, Doctor Who, "Terror of the Autons"
Frenchie: Wile E. Coyote. Always chases Road Runner, always with an elaborate plan, always fails. You know, I always say, "Why do this, Coyote? All you need is an AR-15, and 'meep meep' no more."
Butcher: Exactly! See, we're just gonna shoot Road Runner in the fucking head.
Visual Novels
"Why can't we have a normal, straightforward killing once in a while in this country?"
—Ema Skye, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (lampshading the frequent usage of this trope in Ace Attorney)
(Yeesh, Rube Goldberg machines have less elaborate setups than L'Belle's scheme...)
—Apollo Justice, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies
Web Animation
Chain Chomp: Dammit!
Koopa Troopa: Hey, what's the matter?
Chain Chomp: The Mario jumps over me every time! I don't know why Bowser put this goddamn chain on my body!
Koopa Troopa: I hear you, man. Did you know I just walk off cliffs?
Chain Chomp: Seriously?
Koopa Troopa: Yeah, man, right off the edge. Like a lemming!
Boo: I have it bad, too. Check this retardedness out. I can only chase the Mario when his back is turned. And if the Mario looks at me, I have to... hmm, how did Bowser put it? I have to freeze, turn invisible, and never move! F(beep)ing terrible!
Bullet Bill: Red Man bad for me when he jump down. But I bad for him when he jump up! Me bullet! Me should be bad no matter how Red Man touch me.
Hammer Bro #1: Get this, guys! We can't even throw our hammers at the Mario.
Hammer Bro #2: Well, we can throw them in his direction, but... we gotta lob 'em!
Hammer Bro #1: Like we're on some slow-pitch, beer-league softball team, or something.
Koopa Troopa: Hey, what's the matter?
Chain Chomp: The Mario jumps over me every time! I don't know why Bowser put this goddamn chain on my body!
Koopa Troopa: I hear you, man. Did you know I just walk off cliffs?
Chain Chomp: Seriously?
Koopa Troopa: Yeah, man, right off the edge. Like a lemming!
Boo: I have it bad, too. Check this retardedness out. I can only chase the Mario when his back is turned. And if the Mario looks at me, I have to... hmm, how did Bowser put it? I have to freeze, turn invisible, and never move! F(beep)ing terrible!
Bullet Bill: Red Man bad for me when he jump down. But I bad for him when he jump up! Me bullet! Me should be bad no matter how Red Man touch me.
Hammer Bro #1: Get this, guys! We can't even throw our hammers at the Mario.
Hammer Bro #2: Well, we can throw them in his direction, but... we gotta lob 'em!
Hammer Bro #1: Like we're on some slow-pitch, beer-league softball team, or something.
Moint Pan: WHT IS DEAL?!?!?!?!?!
G-Man: Moint pan it was never your deal! Remembar black missa? One who crow bar you was never freeaman but instead was AMAD whole time! Oldes frint was actual spy for US! He keep eye on you for sevantien year so that when time came we could use to desctrat combins from freeman! You thut you HUNT DOWN FREE MAN? Ha! You are foool like baby so!
Moint Pan: wait! You mean you use spec ops soldier whose face I never see to beat me to actually death but then resurect me and make that boy my best fren only so that sevanteen year later you both culd use me to make it so freeman was always play on easy mode, even tho combins actually dont care about me and all I did was be on boat for two decade and be frame for kill one spy? [Beat] BASTARD! Oldest trick in book, under my nose hole time!
G-Man: Moint pan it was never your deal! Remembar black missa? One who crow bar you was never freeaman but instead was AMAD whole time! Oldes frint was actual spy for US! He keep eye on you for sevantien year so that when time came we could use to desctrat combins from freeman! You thut you HUNT DOWN FREE MAN? Ha! You are foool like baby so!
Moint Pan: wait! You mean you use spec ops soldier whose face I never see to beat me to actually death but then resurect me and make that boy my best fren only so that sevanteen year later you both culd use me to make it so freeman was always play on easy mode, even tho combins actually dont care about me and all I did was be on boat for two decade and be frame for kill one spy? [Beat] BASTARD! Oldest trick in book, under my nose hole time!
Webcomics
Red Mage: I know how we can free Fighter from his armoire-y prison! Behold! I will simply transfer all of my stat points into my INT rating, invent, and master, quantum mechanics, and then construct a device that will redescribe the armoire's weight on a quantum level so we can move it off Fighter! The experience gained from such a well thought out plan would be astronomical! It's almost too easy.
[...]
Black Mage: I would like to interject some constructive criticism in regards to this alleged plan of yours, RM.
Red Mage: By all means.
Black Mage: First, and I mean this in all sincerity, you are an idiot. This plan, much like all your other ones, is unnecessarily complex unto impossibility. In conclusion, your intellect is lacking and your personal hygiene is poor.
[...]
Black Mage: I would like to interject some constructive criticism in regards to this alleged plan of yours, RM.
Red Mage: By all means.
Black Mage: First, and I mean this in all sincerity, you are an idiot. This plan, much like all your other ones, is unnecessarily complex unto impossibility. In conclusion, your intellect is lacking and your personal hygiene is poor.
Agatha: I have to get to the bottom of this hole—
Dr. Mittelmind: Nothing simpler!
Agatha: —and survive.
Dr. Mittelmind: Ah. Tricky.
Professor Diaz: I will strap a directional explosive to your chest, then detonate it just before you land!
Professor Mezzasalma: Bah! I have a secret procedure of my own devising that will (probably) give you the properties of the noble spider! Then you can simply leap to the bottom!
Dr. Mittelmind: No, no, my lady, my hydrophilic attractor could (theoretically) be modified to fill the Castle with water! When it subsides, it will gracefully lower you to the bottom!
Moloch: Why don't we just move this winch? There should be enough cable, and it looks strong enough that we could lower everybody on a platform. [turns around and notices he's become the subject of several disapproving glares] ...and then, at the bottom, it could unfold into a... a giant caterpillar or... something...
Dr. Mittelmind: No, no. You've already taken all the joy out of it.
Dr. Mittelmind: Nothing simpler!
Agatha: —and survive.
Dr. Mittelmind: Ah. Tricky.
Professor Diaz: I will strap a directional explosive to your chest, then detonate it just before you land!
Professor Mezzasalma: Bah! I have a secret procedure of my own devising that will (probably) give you the properties of the noble spider! Then you can simply leap to the bottom!
Dr. Mittelmind: No, no, my lady, my hydrophilic attractor could (theoretically) be modified to fill the Castle with water! When it subsides, it will gracefully lower you to the bottom!
Moloch: Why don't we just move this winch? There should be enough cable, and it looks strong enough that we could lower everybody on a platform. [turns around and notices he's become the subject of several disapproving glares] ...and then, at the bottom, it could unfold into a... a giant caterpillar or... something...
Dr. Mittelmind: No, no. You've already taken all the joy out of it.
Gil: I can't even get in the same room with Agatha without—
Higgs: So write her a letter.
Gil: Whut?
Higgs: I've seen this over and over! Damfool Sparks who thing they've got to send a full-scale army of giant, singing rosebushes or it isn't romantic enough! Don't make everything so complicated! Here. Paper. Pen. Sit. Now. Write. Use the pen. On the paper. Tell her what you want to say.
Gil: [Beat] I could build a machine that would project a simulacrum of myself that could explain—
Higgs: Why I smacked you?
Gil: Or... I could... just write...
Higgs: So write her a letter.
Gil: Whut?
Higgs: I've seen this over and over! Damfool Sparks who thing they've got to send a full-scale army of giant, singing rosebushes or it isn't romantic enough! Don't make everything so complicated! Here. Paper. Pen. Sit. Now. Write. Use the pen. On the paper. Tell her what you want to say.
Gil: [Beat] I could build a machine that would project a simulacrum of myself that could explain—
Higgs: Why I smacked you?
Gil: Or... I could... just write...
"Ridiculous machinations to accomplish nonsense easily done otherwise through ordinary means — how like a young Spark. You are extremely amusing."
— Queen Albia, Girl Genius, 11 Sept. 2020
"This is exactly the needless complexity you've come to expect from your sylladex!"
— The Narrator after John Egbert deliberately makes his inventory system impractical, Homestuck
Nale: I need to devise some scheme, some elaborate machination, by which I could unearth more information concerning this gate...
[Gilligan Cut]
Roy: Can you tell us more about the gates?
Shojo: Sure.
Nale: Huh.
[Gilligan Cut]
Roy: Can you tell us more about the gates?
Shojo: Sure.
Nale: Huh.
Web Originals
You just have to love the fact that Superman doesn't even give a problem a second thought before his mind goes right to, "I know! I'll do an elaborate ruse!" He's gone the ruse route for so long he doesn't know how to solve problems any other way, not even giving it a few more seconds' thought to determine if the problem actually exists in the first place!
— Brian Cronin, "Comics Should Be Good"
[crossed out] 5. Attack with your turn 1 flyer buffed by infinite Rallies.
Too easy.
5. Draw your deck.
[crossed out] 6. Cast a card that wins the game.
What is this, "good combos 4 boring people"?
6, 7, 8. Play Altar for black mana, play Wishclaw Talisman and give it to your opponent, play Cavalier of Dawn to force your opponent to have a creature.
Now we're talking.
Too easy.
5. Draw your deck.
[crossed out] 6. Cast a card that wins the game.
What is this, "good combos 4 boring people"?
6, 7, 8. Play Altar for black mana, play Wishclaw Talisman and give it to your opponent, play Cavalier of Dawn to force your opponent to have a creature.
Now we're talking.
This is the episode in which the Doctor deduces the Cybermen's plans, a deduction never contradicted in the story, and they are rubbish. Their goal: To take control of the Wheel and use it as a base from which to launch the invasion of Earth. Fair enough. Step 1: Make a star go nova. 2. Smuggle yourself aboard a deserted ship full of bernalium and coast near the station (while sitting in big eggs for NO REASON WHATSOEVER). 3. Send over some Cybermats so they can eat all the bernalium on the Wheel. 4. Without bernalium, they can't fire their weapons, so if they didn't already destroy the derelict ship before the Cybermats could do their job, allow the Wheel crew to investigate and find bernalium aboard it. 5. Mind control the crew members and smuggle yourself aboard the Wheel. 6. Let the crew fix the laser and protect the station from the nova-created meteor storm. 7. Take control of the air supply and suffocate the crew. 8. Say to yourself how clever, clever, clever you are. There are a hundred ways this could have gone wrong even before the TARDIS landed aboard the Silver Carrier. Even Step 7 is overly convoluted. The Cybermen can kill you with one zap of their chest unit, or take control of your brain, or probably choke you out manually with their great strength. Once they get aboard the Wheel, why not just do that? The nova thing is complete overkill as well, and a complete contrast to the invasion force consisting of two whole Cybermen. Sometimes in episodic television, a plan will seem convoluted in retrospect yet seem to stand up on an episode-by-episode basis. But all unfurled in one go by the Doctor, as it is here, it really seems to work of a crackpot.
Web Videos
K. Rool: KLUMPH! You need to devise a new sneaky plan immediately!
Klumph: You know, we could have just chased after them...
K. Rool: Just do what I say! Don't question me!
Klumph: You know, we could have just chased after them...
K. Rool: Just do what I say! Don't question me!
Klingon revenge is a dish best served convoluted.
—SF Debris, on Arne Darvin/Barry Waddle's plan to travel back in time and kill Captain Kirk with an explosive tribble, in "Trials and Tribble-ations"
"This is the most, like THE most, out-of-the-way, absurd solution to a problem that has an easy solution. Like, 'Oh no, my coffee's cold! Why don't I blow up a country, instead of just heating it in the microwave?'"
Katie: We made a bunch of decoy bags with fake Raph bucks in case you suspected our little bag trick. I grabbed a decoy bag, while Ally took the real money and passed it through a tunnel that we dug, which you never noticed because you've actually been working out of a perfect replica of your office that we built just for this heist!
Rekha: That is all so unnecessarily complicated. You could have just taken the briefcase!
—Collegehumor, "Too Many Twists"
"So Palpatine needs Padme dead, but he doesn't want to do it himself. So he asks Count Dooku to go kill Padme, but Count Dooku doesn't want to do it himself. So Count Dooku asks Jango Fett to go kill Padme, but Jango Fett doesn't want to do it himself. So he asks his shapeshifter friend to go kill Padme but the shapeshifter sends a robot to go kill Padme! And if you really wanna be an asshole, and get even more granular, the droid says "I'll send these little bugs to go kill Padme!" Note Palpatine sends a man who sends a man, who sends a shapeshifter, who sends a robot, who sends bugs TO GO KILL PADME! And what's even funnier is that after they chase the robot and the shapeshifter, Jango has a chance to go kill Padme, but instead he goes out of his way to assassinate the person he hired to assassinate PADME!!!
"I like to imagine a conference room and up against a wall stands a board upon which they've mapped out the whole thing. All the people they need to manipulate. All the evidence they have to fabricate. The entire patchwork of needless risk-taking laid out bare before them. And they looked at that and then looked at each other and went, "Yep, that's a solid plan.""
Western Animation
"Sure, you could kill me with your gun... but are you willing to try something much more elaborate and unnecessary?"
— Steve, American Dad!, "With Friends Like Steve's"
Little Brittle: Now kill me, quick!
Frylock: We're not going to kill you. The moral thing to do is to let you die naturally... alone, in a pile of your own filth.
Little Brittle: Look, it's easy. Just build a time machine, go back into prehistoric times with a satellite tracking device and a laser gun, blow up the comet, save all the dinosaurs so they don't die out and create fossil fuels, so there ain't no energy to feed my food tube.
Meatwad: Or we could just pull this plug right here.
Little Brittle: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... do that!
Frylock: We're not going to kill you. The moral thing to do is to let you die naturally... alone, in a pile of your own filth.
Little Brittle: Look, it's easy. Just build a time machine, go back into prehistoric times with a satellite tracking device and a laser gun, blow up the comet, save all the dinosaurs so they don't die out and create fossil fuels, so there ain't no energy to feed my food tube.
Meatwad: Or we could just pull this plug right here.
Little Brittle: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... do that!
— Aqua Teen Hunger Force, "Little Brittle"
Glomgold: Our scheme to destroy Beaks begins with a billionaires' convention on a yacht. We'll tell him we're going, but then we won't show! First slam!
Scrooge: Seems unnecessary, especially the part about the yacht.
Glomgold: Emotionally devastated, Beaks will seek solace and drown his sorrows at the buffet.
Scrooge: A yacht and a buffet for one person? I'm not paying for that.
Glomgold: Fine. We'll use my yacht. Now, distracted by delicious shrimp, Beaks won't realize he's being sailed into an active volcano, where it'll get so hot he'll jump into the yacht's pool, which, unbeknownst to him, will be filled with sharks!
Scrooge: Where did the sharks come from?
Glomgold: I've got a great shark guy. Beaks will be so terrified of the sharks, he'll forget he's in a volcano and jump blindly into the lava! All while we watch from a bridge above.
Scrooge: Wait, wait, I thought we wanted to boot him out of our club, not kill him! Although you have tried to kill me countless times, which usually ends up being more annoying than deadly.
Glomgold: That's right, I'm a genius. Now, pay attention, 'cause this where it gets complicated.
Scrooge: Seems unnecessary, especially the part about the yacht.
Glomgold: Emotionally devastated, Beaks will seek solace and drown his sorrows at the buffet.
Scrooge: A yacht and a buffet for one person? I'm not paying for that.
Glomgold: Fine. We'll use my yacht. Now, distracted by delicious shrimp, Beaks won't realize he's being sailed into an active volcano, where it'll get so hot he'll jump into the yacht's pool, which, unbeknownst to him, will be filled with sharks!
Scrooge: Where did the sharks come from?
Glomgold: I've got a great shark guy. Beaks will be so terrified of the sharks, he'll forget he's in a volcano and jump blindly into the lava! All while we watch from a bridge above.
Scrooge: Wait, wait, I thought we wanted to boot him out of our club, not kill him! Although you have tried to kill me countless times, which usually ends up being more annoying than deadly.
Glomgold: That's right, I'm a genius. Now, pay attention, 'cause this where it gets complicated.
Duke Baloney: First, I'll take my shine money and buy a coal mine. Then, I'll stomp at the coal so hard, it turns to diamonds!
Scrooge: Wouldn't that hurt your feet?
Duke: No, sir. I'm too stubborn to know when I'm hurt! Anyway, I'll build a massive drill. With a diamond bit to drill for gold and become rich!
Scrooge: Or... W-Why don't you just cash in the diamonds?
Duke: [looks at Scrooge with confusion] Then what would I use for the drill?
Scrooge: Wouldn't that hurt your feet?
Duke: No, sir. I'm too stubborn to know when I'm hurt! Anyway, I'll build a massive drill. With a diamond bit to drill for gold and become rich!
Scrooge: Or... W-Why don't you just cash in the diamonds?
Duke: [looks at Scrooge with confusion] Then what would I use for the drill?
"I should have just destroyed him when I had the chance. But NO! I had to be greedy. Elaborate. Turn it into a sport."
— Cronos, Futurama
"Ah, my ridiculously circuitous plan is one-quarter complete!"
— Robot Devil, Futurama, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"
"Okay, let's get Operation Too-Complicated-To-Actually-Work underway."
— Shego, Kim Possible, "Ron Millionaire"
"Anyway, once I recovered from the shock I did what I always do: solve a simple problem by inventing a complicated and menacing machine."
— Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Phineas and Ferb
Doofenshmirtz: As I get older, I find it gets harder and harder to read my small little wristwatch. I will launch Big Ben into space and fly it all the way out to the Tri-State Area!
Agent Double 00: ...You realize you could just buy a bigger watch, or maybe a wall clock?
Doofensmirtz: Yes, yes... but then I'd have to drive to a store, find a parking spot, and then choose from like dozens of styles. It just seemed like so much work. This would be much less complicated.
Agent Double 00: ...You realize you could just buy a bigger watch, or maybe a wall clock?
Doofensmirtz: Yes, yes... but then I'd have to drive to a store, find a parking spot, and then choose from like dozens of styles. It just seemed like so much work. This would be much less complicated.
Phineas: Ferb, he must have left your skateboard in England the last time we were there. I know! We could create a highly intricate and sophisticated machine that will transport any object from anywhere on the globe to our backyard!
Lawrence: Well, why don't you just build a new skateboard?
(long Beat)
Phineas: Naah, I don't think so.
Ferb: If it's all the same with you, father, we're going to build the machine.
Lawrence: Well, why don't you just build a new skateboard?
(long Beat)
Phineas: Naah, I don't think so.
Ferb: If it's all the same with you, father, we're going to build the machine.
Megabyte: Hexadecimal, you know the plan.
Hexadecimal: Which one? There seem to be several.
Hexadecimal: Which one? There seem to be several.
— ReBoot, "Web World Wars"
Now, when we arrive, each of you will have a unique role to play in our plan of attack. It's a very simple two-step plan, really. In fifty-eight parts.
— Jet-Vac, Skylanders Academy, "Belly of the Beast"
Real Life
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."
—Carl von Clauswitz, On War
"Any damned fool can make something complex. It takes a genius to make something simple."
—Albert Einstein, also attributed to Pete Seeger
