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Anime and Manga
King Kai: Goku, just transform into a Super Saiyan!
Goku: Well, yeah, but won't that make it too easy?
Goku: Well, yeah, but won't that make it too easy?
"I DON'T wanna hear where this treasure is!! I don't even wanna hear if there IS a treasure or not!!! I'm dunno anything about it, but...everybody set out to sea, risking their lives to search for it!!! If this old man to tell us anything about it here and now, then I'll on refuse to become Pirate King! If we're gonna have a boring adventure like that, then I would rather die!"
— Luffy, One Piece
"If there's no trouble, it's not worth stealing! That's the code of the Lupin family!"
— Arsene Lupin III, Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
Comic Books
[Batman's] life is mine... I can crush the breath out of him... effortlessly! I can, at last, triumph! But such a hollow victory—! It was mere luck that caused my attack on him to succeed. I'd always envisioned my winning as a result of cunning... at the end of a bitter struggle between the Batman and Myself— him using his Detective Skills and me employing the divine gift men call Madness!... No! Without the game that the Batman and I have played for so many years, winning is nothing! He shall live... until I can destroy him properly!
— The Joker, "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge", Batman
"What was that?! Somebody... has altered... my will?! Somebody... is waking up from my nightmare?! It's them... I know it! The Bat and the Boy Scout! Th-this is terrible! This is disastrous! This is... WONDERFUL! A little challenge! Some added chaos! I LOVE it!"
The Joker, Emperor Joker
Fan Works
"[why] didn't you spare [Littlefinger]?"
"Why didn't I take him up on his offer to reveal the weak points in the defenses of every city, the competent commanders to assassinate before a battle, the richest plunder, the best ways to defeat entire kingdoms with minimal effort and bloodshed on my part, to offer me the world on a silver platter?"
"… Yes."
The Wolf turned to look Arya in the eye, speaking with absolute sincerity.
"Where's the fun in that?"
"Why didn't I take him up on his offer to reveal the weak points in the defenses of every city, the competent commanders to assassinate before a battle, the richest plunder, the best ways to defeat entire kingdoms with minimal effort and bloodshed on my part, to offer me the world on a silver platter?"
"… Yes."
The Wolf turned to look Arya in the eye, speaking with absolute sincerity.
"Where's the fun in that?"
Orion: I was strong. I was good-looking. I excelled at sports. I was doing advanced geometry when I was nine from an old textbook the university here donated. And I was going out of my mind. Because nothing was a challenge anymore, and there's only one place in Two that will drive a man to his full potential.
Enobaria: The Institute ... So you chose the Games. Because you were bored with your life.
Orion: I figured a quick death in the arena is preferable to dying a little every day.
Enobaria: The Institute ... So you chose the Games. Because you were bored with your life.
Orion: I figured a quick death in the arena is preferable to dying a little every day.
Live-Action Film
"I could have shot you down when you landed, but that would have been ridiculously easy."
— Francisco Scaramanga, The Man with the Golden Gun
"I win. I always win. Is there no one on this planet to even challenge me?"
— General Zod, Superman II
Literature
You don't have to wear togas. That's exactly the problem, Q. You don't have to do anything. This is what you don't understand! You don't know any older magicians, except our professors. It's a wasteland out there. Out here. You can do nothing or anything or everything, and none of it matters. You have to find something to really care about to keep from running totally off the rails. A lot of magicians never find it.
— Alice, The Magicians
Simply this: hunting had ceased to be what you call 'a sporting proposition.' It had become too easy. I always got my quarry. Always. There is no greater bore than perfection.
— General Zaroff, The Most Dangerous Game
Live-Action TV
"Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is."
— Capt. James T. Kirk, Star Trek: The Original Series, "This Side of Paradise"
Video Games
"Without challenge, I grew... weary. Lost. Alone. But... here you now stand. This is my last fight, a true test of legends, OUR story will outlive us both. SET A FIRE IN YOUR HEART, SPARTAN! BARE YOUR FANGS! FIGHT HARD! Die well..."
— Escharum, Halo Infinite
"There's no honor, no challenge, no fun in stealing from ordinary people. You rip off a master criminal, then you know you're a master thief."
— Sly Cooper, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
"There's no glory if there's no challenge."
— Tiberius, Paladins
"I'd cut a lotta deals, but none spiffier than this. I spared Kronika...and she gave up the Hourglass. The power to shape time and history to my liking? Oh-ho-ho, fuck yeah. I set it up so that everything came up aces. Every desire, every wish, every whim I ever had? Done and done. But I realized pretty quick I'd sucked the fun out of things. Without a fight, winning was worthless. Nah, the fun wasn't in the having. It was in the getting. So, I changed things up one more time. Now what I want is always just outta reach. I gotta earn it. I score lotsa wins, but not always. And when I do win...it's something to savor."
— Kano's Tower Ending, Mortal Kombat 11
"How disappointing. This world should be shrouded in darkness, not bathed in insufferable light. All these weak, peace loving cowards running rampant. It would have been more...satisfying to overcome a worthy foe."
— Ganondorf, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Webcomics
Florence: There's still quite a bit to do [...] I also need childproof locks for the vital systems.
Winston: Won't Sam go through those in seconds?
Florence: If I used a good lock, he would. If there's no lock on it, he might play with the settings. Childproof locks he considers beneath his dignity and won't touch them.
Winston: Won't Sam go through those in seconds?
Florence: If I used a good lock, he would. If there's no lock on it, he might play with the settings. Childproof locks he considers beneath his dignity and won't touch them.
— Freefall
Western Animation
Jake: To live life, you need problems.
BMO: That's stupid!
Jake: If you get everything you want the minute you want it, what's the point of living?
BMO: That's stupid!
Jake: If you get everything you want the minute you want it, what's the point of living?
—Adventure Time, "Box Prince"
"Without Batman, crime has no punchline."
— The Joker, Batman: The Animated Series, "The Man Who Killed Batman"
