History Main / AreYouSureYouWantToDoThat

It doesn't have to be those exact words. Any question of this type that is a neutral call for confirmation or [[LetMeGetThisStraight clarification]] on the surface, but is loaded with implied danger if the speaker gets the answer wrong, falls under this trope. The speaker is giving whoever is about to make the error a chance to back away from the edge of a precipice before they plummet over into the abyss.

Being asked this is a red flag that you are dealing with TheTrickster. If you're being asked it while under said trickster's wing, that makes the character a TricksterMentor as well, the kind of {{mentor|Archetype}} who prefers to let their students make their own mistakes and naturally smooth out the rough edges before teaching them the final touches... but they can't help themselves from issuing a subtle warning that they know the bold or chronically indecisive are ultimately going to ignore. (It's fun to watch them fluster over the choice before getting it wrong anyway, after all, and a mentor has to have fun, right?) It's also the favorite disclaimer of the LiteralGenie.

Of course, this may be used in a serious context later on when used on a villain who is about to [[SelfDisposingVillain make their own grave,]] ruin their own plan, or otherwise screw things up for Team Evil. This may also be used as a CallBack to the original question to the hero under tuition; all the more appropriate if the question comes from the student themselves. After once being played straight, it is sometimes used as a bluff to unnerve an opponent from making a good move. However, it's rarely if ever a bluff the first time, and it's likewise unheard of for someone to take the hint when it's not a bluff.

* ''VideoGame/{{Arcaea}}'' warns you when you attempt to begin the final act of the ''Final Verdict'' chapter that you are about to make an "irreversible decision" and gives you the option to either continue on or back away. [[spoiler:This is because that portion of the chapter will actually delete Tairitsu from your Partner list, as well as all variants of her that aren't a "Tairitsu and another character" Partner, which instead render her name as a jumbled mess of characters. This was thought to be indeed irreversible until the ''Silent Answer'' epilogue was introduced a few days later, which upon its completion will restore Tairitsu to the game.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' games have a Hardcore mode where [[FinalDeathMode dying permanently retires your character]]. You are typically warned about this mechanic on a separate screen, and will also state that Creator/ActivisionBlizzard's customer service will not revive a killed character for any reason whatsoever.

* In ''VideoGame/HoloCure'', the Halu (the Indonesian word for "delusional") item is a high-risk high-reward item. Each upgrade spawns more enemies and they become stronger with each level, though it gives one coin per every 5/4/3/2/1 kills. On the fourth level, the game even asks "Are you sure about this?" Going to level 5 has the game warning you "Don't do it."

* In the ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'' one-shot ''Nirvana", the title character visits the demon Beruchapalimon for leads about the Silk Man's recent attack on himself. The demon assumes Lucifer intends to [[{{Whatevermancy}} read his entrails]] for clues and so has his {{Mooks}} attempt to restrain him while he prepares a magical assault. Lucifer says, "A threat display, demon? Have you thought this through?" Beruchapalimon doesn't take the hint, and proceeds to cast knives at him out of thin air, only for Lucifer effortlessly to turn the knives on the mooks. "I really was just looking for information," he tells the demon, holding a knife to his throat.

* One of the most notable examples comes from ''Film/DirtyHarry'', when Harry Callahan is playing RussianRoulette when confronting a wounded bank robber:

** Near the end of ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Solo Command]]'', [[spoiler:[[EvilutionaryBiologist Dr. Edda]] [[SmugSnake Gast]]]] is offered a new identity and a half million credits in exchange for information regarding certain brainwashing projects that Warlord Zsinj is undertaking. After accepting the deal, she is asked by her liaison (Nawara Ven) whether she wants New Republic credits or Imperial credits. She chooses Imperial credits. After a bit more discussion, Ven gives her one last chance to change her mind, and to work directly for the New Republic. She blows it off...[[spoiler:and soon after, is arrested on Coruscant for carrying half a million Imperial credits, which, according to law, is such a large amount that it can only be for purposes of sedition. She is promptly arrested, and presumably convicted for the crimes she was set up for. Given what Gast had done, [[FramingTheGuiltyParty she deserved it.]]]]

'''Scotty:''' Laddie, don't you think you should rephrase that?\\

* ''VideoGame/AlphaCentauri'' displays this sort of warning if you order one of your army units to attack an enemy unit which happens to be far more powerful.

* A ''Creator/FailbetterGames'' trademark is to offer some blatant bad ideas as options, while warning you at the same time they're absolutely not worth it. While visible in both ''Videogame/SunlessSea'' and ''Videogame/SunlessSkies'', it's clearest in ''Videogame/FallenLondon'' with the entire Mr. Eaten questline; as you advance, paying worse and worse prices, the interface will ''beg you to stop'' the entire time and warn you each following option isn't worth it and is just gonna hurt like hell. [[PressXToDie And it's correct every time]].

* ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' has a rare animal hunting mission for an albino honey badger named Gulo which the locals claim is immortal and undying, but your hunting contact brushes off as baseless superstition. The game prompt itself asks you several times if you're ''absolutely sure'' you want to go through with this, ending with "Any last words?" (note that it doesn't do this for any other hunting missions, which include animals like a bear, a tiger, and a rhino). Sure enough, [[spoiler: Gulo is a monster that has killed a rhino, a tiger, several wolves and soldiers, has to be hunted with a ''submachine gun'', and can tear through nearly your entire health bar in one bite]].

* In ''VideoGame/HoloCure'', the Halu (the Indonesian word for "delusional") item is a high risk high reward item. Each upgrade spawns more enemies and they become stronger with each level, though it gives one coin per every 5/4/3/2/1 kills. On the fourth level, the game even asks "Are you sure about this?" Going to level 5 has the game warning you "Don't do it."

* [[https://youtu.be/TjtkhvrpZyc "What Happened to our Study Girl?" by College Music]] is the best known instance of Website/YouTube displaying a warning prompt before playing the video, cautioning the viewer of content that other viewers have reported as disturbing (apparently this has also been used for pornographic content and rightwing content). The College Music channel and many other channels post videos of lo-fi music meant to be played in the background while the viewer is doing other tasks, especially popular among students working on assignments. Some videos display an anime character studying at her desk at home. This video starts out as a fan-animation of similar content while lo-fi music plays... [[spoiler:only to [[MusicalisInterruptus suddenly stop]] as the girl starts breaking down into tears, ''[[DisguisedHorrorStory pulls out a kitchen knife]], and [[DrivenToSuicide almost stabs herself in the stomach]] before changing her mind''. The video is a suicide prevention announcement, ending with a message to the viewers that although things may be hard right now, it will come to pass and directs them to the description with a link and a message on how to cope with these intense feelings.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': In "Destination Imagination", World asks Frankie if she really wants to leave the chest world before shutting the door, which Frankie immediately replies by saying she'll stay a little longer.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s "You Have 0 Friends", a fed up Stan attempts to delete his Facebook profile, but ends up with multiple notifications asking if really sure about his decision before he gets sucked into Facebook.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E18ASinglePaleRose "A Single Pale Rose"]], Pearl repeatedly spells out the consequences for Rose's big plan. The latter goes through with it anyway.

* A well designed (modern) computer program will do this before an action that is hard/impossible to reverse, or just plain dangerous/destructive, as a way to make sure you don't accidentally perform said action. (One classic example is MS-DOS's "Are you sure (Y/N)?" prompt for deleting all files in a directory.) Given that computers are the embodiment of a LiteralGenie, this is a good thing.

* In the web version of chat app Discord, if you open up the developer console in your browser, you'll see a big red warning from the Discord devs that anyone asking you to copy/paste something there is almost certainly scamming you, and that you shouldn't continue unless you know ''exactly'' what you're doing. (And that if you ''do'' know exactly what you're doing you should apply to work for them.)

* ''Series/DadsArmy''. Sergeant Wilson's CatchPhrase is "Are you sure that's wise?", used whenever Captain Mainwaring is about to do something foolish. Which he does anyway.

* Invoked by Regis Philbin's famous [[CatchPhrase "Is that your final answer?"]] on ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', although he was required to ask the question if the contestant did not specify that it was. This ensured that the contestant would accept the result of TheReveal and not claim that they weren't ready.

* One of Matt Mercer's {{Catchphrase}}s in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. Considering that he is the DungeonMaster in a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game and his players like to come up with absurd ideas, it gets a lot of use.

* In ''Hancock'' while in prison, two other inmates unwisely block the title character from getting to his cell. He tries to be polite at first, but after that fails he is forced to make a threat that is far from idle.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'': [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The End of the Cycle]] will rarely approach you when you have access to the Shroud and offer a laundry list of massive bonuses, which you can have for fifty years "[[DealWithTheDevil if we will only bring forth the End]]". The tooltip on the choice to accept is a massive "[[ShmuckBait DO NOT DO THIS]]" in big red letters. [[spoiler: If you accept, then when those fifty years are up, you lose ''absolutely everything''-- all your structures, all your ships, and all your ''planets'' are destroyed, save one. Then a massive fleet made of the souls of your race appears in the center of what used to be your empire and starts laying waste to everything, [[ForcedToWatch deliberately leaving you for last]]. And if the galaxy somehow survives this? You don't get to just restart from the ground up, because every surviving empire hates your guts for letting that happen and will go out of their way to destroy what's left of you.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Collar 6}}'', Butterfly asks [[spoiler:Ginger]] this, when the latter confronts her.

[[folder:WebVideo]]
* One of Matt Mercer's [[{{Catchphrase}} Catchphrases]] in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. Considering that he is the DungeonMaster in a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game and his players like to come up with absurd ideas, it gets a lot of use.

* If your GameMaster says this in a TabletopRPG, then you ''really'' might want to reconsider your chosen action.
** Accordingly, a common subject of [[FauxtivationalPoster demotivators]].

* [[https://youtu.be/TjtkhvrpZyc "What Happened to our Study Girl?" by College Music]] is the best known instance of Website/YouTube displaying a warning prompt before playing the video, cautioning the viewer of content that other viewers have reported as disturbing (apparently this has also been used for pornographic content and rightwing content). The College Music channel and many other channels post videos of lo-fi music meant to be played in the background while the viewer is doing other tasks, especially popular among students working on assignments. Some videos display an anime character studying at her desk at home. This video starts out as a fan-animation of similar content while lo-fi music plays... [[spoiler:only to [[MusicalisInterruptus suddenly stop]] as the girl starts breaking down into tears, ''[[SurpriseCreepy pulls out a kitchen knife]], and [[DrivenToSuicide almost stabs herself in the stomach]] before changing her mind''. The video is a suicide prevention announcement, ending with a message to the viewers that although things may be hard right now, it will come to pass and directs them to the description with a link and a message on how to cope with these intense feelings.]]

-->''Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast is not responsible for consequences of [[LetsSplitUpGang splitting up the party]], [[TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face]], [[TabletopGame/KeepOnTheBorderlands accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears]], storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, [[BullyingADragon angering a dragon of any variety]], or saying yes when the DM asks, "Are you really sure?"''

-->''Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast is not responsible for consequences of splitting up the party, [[TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face]], [[TabletopGame/KeepOnTheBorderlands accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears]], storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, [[BullyingADragon angering a dragon of any variety]], or saying yes when the DM asks, "Are you really sure?"''

* ''VideoGame/Persona4'': [[BonusBoss The Reaper]] can appear as a ChestMonster (in a NewGamePlus in the original, or the first time through in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]''). When you're about to open its chest, the game stops you and warns you that you feel terrified, then asks - twice - if you're sure you want to open it.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'': In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Mr. Hooper asks Bert and Ernie for confirmation before allowing each of them to trade their most prized possessions for gifts for each other. Later on, he catches up with them at home and gives them their treasures back.

* If you're a higher-up and someone you're giving an order to asks for it in writing, it's a pretty good sign that what you're doing or asking will come back to bite you and your subordinate is covering their ass.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'''s Simmons tries to keep it as non-objective as possible: "Sir, wouldn't it be better if we didn't do that, instead of doing it?" And usually, he is ignored.

* ''VideoGame/FerrariF355Challenge'' has three different driving modes: Automatic (automatic transmission and all assist features available), Semi-Automatic (use the paddles to shift, auto-braking is disables but all other assists are still accessible), and Manual (use the clutch and gearbox to shift, all assists are disabled). Choosing Manual has the game warn you that this is the full simulation mode and asks you to confirm your decision. Choosing Yes goes through with Manual, while choosing No kicks you back to the driving style select ''and'' prevents you from choosing Manual again until you start a new credit.

* ''VideoGame/FerrariF355Challenge'' has three different driving modes: Automatic (automatic transmission and all assist features available), Semi-Automatic (use the paddles to shift, auto-braking is disables but all other assists are still accessible), and Manual (use the clutch and gearbox to shift, all assists are disabled). Choosing Manual has the game warn you that this is the full simulation mode and asks you to confirm your decision. Choosing Yes goes through with Manual, while choosing No kicks you back to the driving style select ''and'' prevents you from choosing Manual again.

* ''VideoGame/FerrariF355Challenge'' has three different driving modes: Automatic (automatic transmission and all assist features available), Semi-Automatic (use the paddles to shift, auto-braking is disable), and Manual (use the clutch and gearbox to shift, all assists are disabled). Choosing Manual has the game warn you that this is the full simulation mode and asks you to confirm your decision. Choosing Yes goes through with Manual, while choosing No kicks you back to the driving style select ''and'' prevents you from choosing Manual again.