"A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility. The story should never be made up of improbable incidents; there should be nothing of the sort in it."
Wrath: What is your real name?
Scar: Hmph... Jugemu-jugemu
Gokōnosurikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kūnerutokoroni-sumutokoro Yaburakōjino-burakōji Paipopaipo-paiponoshūringan Shūringanno-gūrindai Gūrindaino-ponpokopīno-ponpokonāno Chōkyūmeino-chōsuke.
Wrath: What a coincidence. My name is also Jugemu-jugemu Gokōnosurikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kūnerutokoroni-sumutokoro Yaburakōjino-burakōji Paipopaipo-paiponoshūringan Shūringanno-gūrindai Gūrindaino-ponpokopīno-ponpokonāno Chōkyūmeino-chōsuke.
Scar: Hmph... Jugemu-jugemu
Gokōnosurikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kūnerutokoroni-sumutokoro Yaburakōjino-burakōji Paipopaipo-paiponoshūringan Shūringanno-gūrindai Gūrindaino-ponpokopīno-ponpokonāno Chōkyūmeino-chōsuke. Wrath: What a coincidence. My name is also Jugemu-jugemu Gokōnosurikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kūnerutokoroni-sumutokoro Yaburakōjino-burakōji Paipopaipo-paiponoshūringan Shūringanno-gūrindai Gūrindaino-ponpokopīno-ponpokonāno Chōkyūmeino-chōsuke.
— Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (non-canon short)
Largo: I knew it! You are our enemy from 'Endgames!'
Miho: Don't be ridiculous, Largo. What are the chances of that being true? You'd be more likely to get hired by the brother of your girlfriend's ex, whose daughter happens to have a crush on your best friend.
Miho: Don't be ridiculous, Largo. What are the chances of that being true? You'd be more likely to get hired by the brother of your girlfriend's ex, whose daughter happens to have a crush on your best friend.
— MegaTokyo Cliff Notes
Marty: That's right, Doc. November 12, 1955.
Doc: Unbelievable, that old Biff could have chosen that particular date. It could mean that that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance. Almost as if it were the junction point for the entire space-time continuum! On the other hand, it could just be an amazing coincidence.
Doc: Unbelievable, that old Biff could have chosen that particular date. It could mean that that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance. Almost as if it were the junction point for the entire space-time continuum! On the other hand, it could just be an amazing coincidence.
"Every story gets to have a really big coincidence and here's ours..."
— Narrator, George of the Jungle
"Think of the odds... Once I tried to calculate them but they're astronomical. I mean, think of the odds of me, going in, sitting down, that night, in that bar, next to that man."
— Walter, Breaking Bad
"What could I do? The feelings of Sophia were at that time so exquisite, and the tenderness she felt for Augustus so poignant that I had not power to start any other topic, justly fearing that it might in some unforeseen manner again awaken all her sensibility by directing her thoughts to her Husband. Yet to be silent would be cruel; she had entreated me to talk.
From this Dilemma I was most fortunately relieved by an accident truly apropos; it was the lucky overturning of a Gentleman's Phaeton, on the road which ran murmuring behind us. It was a most fortunate accident as it diverted the attention of Sophia from the melancholy reflections which she had been before indulging."
From this Dilemma I was most fortunately relieved by an accident truly apropos; it was the lucky overturning of a Gentleman's Phaeton, on the road which ran murmuring behind us. It was a most fortunate accident as it diverted the attention of Sophia from the melancholy reflections which she had been before indulging."
"Watch Brad Pitt survive an un-survivable apocalypse thanks to a constant stream of lifesaving coincidences like: never hitting traffic in the middle of mass hysteria; finding an RV with the keys and a loaded gun inside; this friendly mugger showing him where to find medicine; this friendly Mexican family taking him in, no questions asked; these fast zombies who slow down as soon as they are about to catch him; this small child headshotting a zombie on top of him; this plane dropping a ladder down to save him at takeoff; this Israeli soldier killing a zombie about to eat him; surviving this car crash; surviving this plane crash; surviving a spike through his stomach; and shooting up with a randomly picked virus that happens to be curable while also serving as zombie camouflage."
"Events have the mark of bad storytelling in that they rely almost entirely on coincidence and behavior that would take considerable solvent-sniffing to seem rational."
— Zero Punctuation on Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
V: It means that I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidence.
Jeremy: Writers almost always write something like this when it comes to coincidences like this.
Jeremy: Writers almost always write something like this when it comes to coincidences like this.
— CinemaSins, Everything Wrong With V for Vendetta
Angel: How is it a sword from the Third Century is conveniently located here in Los Angeles?
Cordelia: I don't think it is. I mean, I get the impression that somehow it's accessible from like a hundred points all over the world.
Connor: How's that work?
Cordelia: I don't know. I just get the visions, not the Cliff's Notes.
Cordelia: I don't think it is. I mean, I get the impression that somehow it's accessible from like a hundred points all over the world.
Connor: How's that work?
Cordelia: I don't know. I just get the visions, not the Cliff's Notes.
In Wolverine #69, Jubilee read and badmouthed Charles Dickens' masterpiece David Copperfield, thereby confirming what we all suspected about her taste and brain power. "Does this kid live in the Alternate Universe of Amazing Coincidences, or what?" she asked. Uh, Jube, people who live in Marvel Universes shouldn't throw stones.
— Marvel Year in Review 1993
"Now let's explore the improbable chain of events that led to this amusing yet tragic farce."
— Ray Magini, The Simpsons, "Don't Fear the Roofer"
"...since when is Little Richard Denise’s uncle? Seriously, that never came up before? She never mentioned him before ten seconds ago, immediately preceding when he just happened to be picking her up at the full house, which also happens to coincide with them needing a celebrity guest for an event, plus also Jesse just having lost the tickets to his concert? It’s not like he’s even supposed to be in from out of town or anything, he’s just Denise’s uncle who she apparently sees all the time."
—Blogger Billy Superstar summing up how this trope works in a review of an episode of Full House
Navin: But how did you guys find me?
Dad: I dunno. This is the first place we looked.
Dad: I dunno. This is the first place we looked.
— The Jerk
It turns out our two victims were connected, it just had nothing to do with their deaths.
— Rick Castle, Castle, The Double Down.
"Yugi, wait. Wouldn't you say this is all a bit strange? We just happen to win a trip, our plane happens to crash, then we happen to meet the last man to see your grandfather before he disappeared? It's all too convenient."
— Yami Yugi, Yu-Gi-Oh!: Capsule Monsters
"What are the odds? Seriously, what are the fucking odds?!?"
— The Cinema Snob, the To Catch a Yeti review
"Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating."
— One of Pixar's 22 rules of writing.
"At least we managed to send out a distress signal. Hopefully somebody will pick it up! And if I’m insanely, ridiculously lucky, I might even be picked up by the galaxy’s foremost Josh Swollen expert."
Ross Marquand (Red Skull): Bad news. Unlike the other Stones that don’t give two flying fucks who uses them, the Soul Stone is on some kind of diva trip and has certain demands. You must sacrifice someone you love to get it.
Josh Swollen (Thanos): Well that’s handy! I only love one person, and she happens to be currently standing four feet away from me. Seriously, this is one humongous piece of luck.
Josh Swollen (Thanos): Well that’s handy! I only love one person, and she happens to be currently standing four feet away from me. Seriously, this is one humongous piece of luck.
— The Editing Room’s abridged script for Avengers: Infinity War
Hank: Relax, Drover. We’ll never see that creep again.
Drover: Yeah? How can you be so sure?
Hank: Because it would be too much of a coincidence. All the odds are against it. Things like that just don’t happen in the real world.
Hank (as narrator): And sure enough, we didn’t see the big oaf again...until twenty minutes later.
Drover: Yeah? How can you be so sure?
Hank: Because it would be too much of a coincidence. All the odds are against it. Things like that just don’t happen in the real world.
Hank (as narrator): And sure enough, we didn’t see the big oaf again...until twenty minutes later.
— Hank the Cowdog, "The Case of the Raging Rottweiler"
Nerd: Some of the concepts are just ridiculous like, when April's thrown in the dungeon, she looks over at this guy next to her and she says:
April O'Neil: Casey?
Nerd: Okay, so you're saying that Casey Jones had an ancestor in Japan? Well, even if I'm gonna accept that, why does she call him Casey like he's gonna respond? And then, just to push this scene over the edge of mockery, they have this rat creep in and April says:
April: (sigh) Yeah, you look familiar too.
Nerd: What? Y-You don't mean...
(the scene briefly fades to Splinter's face)
Nerd: Oh my god, they do! I swear, I didn't make this edit; the movie actually fades from the rat to Splinter implying that that rat is Splinter's ancestor. Now, April never ceases to amaze me. Of course the fuckin' rat looks familiar; it's a rat! I can't tell one rat from another! And of all the rats that can be crawling around that dungeon, how does that one just happen to be it? And I gotta say, all the planets must have lined up. April meets both Casey and Splinter's ancestor in a matter of seconds? And I can accept Splinter because it's Japan and that's where he's from, but both of them? That's the biggest fucking coincidence I ever heard in my life.
April O'Neil: Casey?
Nerd: Okay, so you're saying that Casey Jones had an ancestor in Japan? Well, even if I'm gonna accept that, why does she call him Casey like he's gonna respond? And then, just to push this scene over the edge of mockery, they have this rat creep in and April says:
April: (sigh) Yeah, you look familiar too.
Nerd: What? Y-You don't mean...
(the scene briefly fades to Splinter's face)
Nerd: Oh my god, they do! I swear, I didn't make this edit; the movie actually fades from the rat to Splinter implying that that rat is Splinter's ancestor. Now, April never ceases to amaze me. Of course the fuckin' rat looks familiar; it's a rat! I can't tell one rat from another! And of all the rats that can be crawling around that dungeon, how does that one just happen to be it? And I gotta say, all the planets must have lined up. April meets both Casey and Splinter's ancestor in a matter of seconds? And I can accept Splinter because it's Japan and that's where he's from, but both of them? That's the biggest fucking coincidence I ever heard in my life.
Murdoch: He killed one of the officers [who desecrated the tomb of his leader.] He escaped through French North Africa, boarded a merchant ship, landed here in Toronto where he took up a job as a barman.
Brackenreid: And a year later another toffy-nosed Redcoat comes waltzing through his door, bragging about how he's turned his Messiah's skull into an inkpot. What are the odds on that?
Murdoch: I suppose remote enough that he considered it a calling from God that his work was unfinished.
Brackenreid: And a year later another toffy-nosed Redcoat comes waltzing through his door, bragging about how he's turned his Messiah's skull into an inkpot. What are the odds on that?
Murdoch: I suppose remote enough that he considered it a calling from God that his work was unfinished.
Producer: Wow, pretty wacky coincidence that Jack did the thing that releases Salazar just before meeting Henry, who just met Salazar, who told him to tell Jack that he(Salazar) would kill him(Jack).
Screenwriter: Extremely wacky, sir; what are the odds?
Producer: Impossibly slim, I'd imagine.
Screenwriter: Extremely wacky, sir; what are the odds?
Producer: Impossibly slim, I'd imagine.
— Screen Rant Pitch Meetings, on the events that get the plot of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales moving.
Producer: Wow, what are the odds of that?
Screenwriter: Oh, odds don't matter when I'm pulling all of this out of my... (interrupted by the Producer, who changes the subject)
Screenwriter: Oh, odds don't matter when I'm pulling all of this out of my... (interrupted by the Producer, who changes the subject)
[tiny invader attempts to fly into Sam's open office window]
Sam: [stops typing] I think I'll just close this window for no good reason!
[smack!]
Sam: [stops typing] I think I'll just close this window for no good reason!
[smack!]
Leafa: Wait, he doesn't even know? Well if he's not trying to mess with me, than why is he even here?
Yui: Daddy's attempting to rescue Mommy from the very handsy clutches of this games' Administrator, who's keeping her mind captive at the top of the world tree. The fact that he ran into you - a close family member - mere minutes after logging in: was simply happenstance.
Leafa: THAT'S ABSURD!
Yui: Correct. But it is also what happened.
Yui: Daddy's attempting to rescue Mommy from the very handsy clutches of this games' Administrator, who's keeping her mind captive at the top of the world tree. The fact that he ran into you - a close family member - mere minutes after logging in: was simply happenstance.
Leafa: THAT'S ABSURD!
Yui: Correct. But it is also what happened.
"In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted."
"Holy crap! A weapon is just floating in space!"
"To me, coincidences are always believable if they're bad for your hero. Coincidences are never believable if it's good luck, but if it's, like Murphy's law in real life tells me, if it's a weird coincidence but it makes my life miserable, it's perfectly believable."
Lori Loud (having read a story in which her brother Lincoln hugs their other sister Lucy, and she claims she needed it) "Okay, that's not the reaction I was expecting."
Lana Loud: "Well, everyone needs a hug sometimes, Lori. Even gloomy girls like Lucy."
Lisa Loud: "In that case, Lincoln is awfully lucky that she happened to be in that state of mind at the moment he opted to hug her."
— Peeking Through the Fourth Wall, Episode 39
Almighty Tallest Purple: Remember that time we lied [to Zim] and told him we were sending him on a secret mission to Earth, but really we were just getting rid of him because he's awful?
Almighty Tallest Red: Yeah. We're hilarious.
Pilot: My Tallest! There's an incoming transmission!
Purple: Yep, life's been pretty great ever since Zim vanished for good. Anyhow, send that transmission through. I wonder who it could ever be.
Zim: IT IS I, ZIIIIIIIIM!!!!!!!
(Purple does a Spit Take)
