Disciple of Woolsey
The name of the trope is really unindicative. The uninitiated would assume the person saying it is reacting to someone else's plans and gambits. Or just saying the Stock Phrase itself. I feel like this trope should be renamed to Unforeseen Variable, or something to that effect.
Seriously, though: What part of this trope's name indicates plans are involved at all?
Edited by DBZfan102 "I think if you're capable of entertaining people, then you are doing a good thing. - Stan Lee
Not An Example, the Trope involves plans that are foiled through lack (or misinterpretation) of certain information:
- The designs for most of the elemental Robot Masters from the classic Mega Man series match with their respective elements, but then we have Robot Masters like Turbo Man from Mega Man 7 and Sword Man from Mega Man 8, who are both fire-elemental and don't even look like they'd be associated with fire, like Heat Man, Burner Man, and Magma Man. However, no other elemental Robot Master is as random as Clown Man from Mega Man 8, who is lightning-elemental.
- Also in the classic Mega Man series, Wily's Castle in Mega Man 10 unexpectedly has the longest level path trail in the series. After clearing the 2nd to the last stage, the path travels up a newly revealed Space Elevator for 14 SECONDS until it reaches the final stage on a Space Station.
The second is just Wily being Crazy-Prepared (or not-so-much as the only Mooks there are on the station are the mole drills). The first seems more like the setup to an Outside-the-Box Tactic.
What could count is in MegaManX4 the five officers of Repliforce do not create a weakness circle among themselves; Sigma had to sacrifice two loyal Mavericks plus a new convert in order to complete the Cycle. Ergo, the three Mavericks were Unknown Unknowns for Repliforce.
Edited by DonaldthePotholer Ketchum's corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced tactic is indistinguishable from blind luck.
Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Ambiguous Name
, started by DBZfan102 on Jul 23rd 2020 at 12:05:47 AM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman