History Main / ChandlersLaw

[[caption-width-right:222:The readers will never see ''this'' coming![[note]] This is a northern-European depiction of Jesus Christ. Depictions of him in their tradition imagine him as being him as an ethnic-northern-European, even though the Germans had yet to come off the steppes during Jesus' time and were probably milling around somewhere in Russia or Central Asia.]]

[[caption-width-right:222:The readers will never see ''this'' coming!]]

* Occurs in the ''Series/BreakingBad'' episode, "Dead Freight". Walter, Jesse, Mike, and new NiceGuy Todd, rob a train to get a massive amount of methylamine. The robbery goes off without a hitch, but as the crew are celebrating they see a young boy on a dirt bike watching them. Cue seemingly NiceGuy Todd calmly pulling out a gun and [[WouldHurtAChild executing the kid with no warning whatsoever.]]

** "Albuquerque", with its RandomEventsPlot, seems to be built on this trope. Specifically the instance where he finally gets to the eponymous city and is relaxing in a Holiday Inn. When suddenly a "big fat hermaphrodite with a Flock-Of-Seagulls haircut and only one nostril" knocks on the door [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext to steal his lucky snorkel]].

* ChuckPalahniuk has said that, if you want to move a plot along, the best way is to just have another character enter the room and make them say something disturbing.

-->[[AWizardDidIt Magic]]. [[note]]Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Imperishable Night, Phantasmagoria of Flower View[[/note]]

-->[[ItsAllAboutMe It's a Moriya Shrine conspiracy]]. [[note]]Everything [[MythArc starting from]] Mountain of Faith[[/note]]

* [[http://www.wikislessons.com/index.php?date=2005-10-26 This]] ''Wiki's Lessons In Life'' comic applies this principle to conversations.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' uses the rather natural combination of this trope and MomentKiller [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090511 here]].

* ''IrregularWebcomic'' compares this with the scene in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/750.html here]].
** And [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2583.html another one]], with a link here!

* Nale of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' spells it out in-character [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0849.html here]].

* Battletech canon inverts this. When the plot ''stops'' feeling like a twisted web of lies, betrayal, and deceit, assassinate a random major protagonist. Has happened at least 8 times.

This undoubtedly finds some origin in the RuleOfDrama. If guns are too dramatic for you, try [[DropTheCow dropping a cow]] for the RuleOfFunny version. If an entirely new plotline results, see HalfwayPlotSwitch. DiabolusExNihilo operates on this principle with varying levels of success. ConflictKiller is often a result of this.

Not to be confused with ''anything'' to do with [[{{Friends}} Chandler Bing]], other than that part where Joey films himself acting as a gunman so as not to disappoint his grandma.

# [[AWizardDidIt Magic]]. [[note]]Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Imperishable Night, Phantasmagoria of Flower View[[/note]]
# [[MushroomSamba Eirin's shady new drug]]. [[note]][[NeverLiveItDown Never actually happened]].[[/note]]
# [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Yukari is fooling around again]]. [[note]]Perfect Cherry Blossom, Immaterial and Missing Power, Silent Sinner in Blue[[/note]]
# [[ItsAllAboutMe It's a Moriya Shrine conspiracy]]. [[note]]Everything [[MythArc starting from]] Mountain of Faith[[/note]]

* In many {{FPS}}es, this is the only plot point that happens outside of a cutscene. Apparently ''RedSteel'' was designed by Raymond Chandler.

* Stay too long in one place in the newest version of {{Minecraft}} on Hard difficulty and more monsters, with better armor and potion effects, will spawn at night.

* ''{{Lampshaded}}'' in ''ThePretender''. Jarod narrates that when in doubt, have a man walk in with a gun. A man walks in with some ice cream. As he corrects himself in the narration, the man asks Jarod whether he is Dick Dickson (who Jarod is currently pretending to be). When Jarod answers in the affirmative, the man promptly draws a gun.

* Episode 8 of {{Hyouka}} reference's Chandler's laws by name.

* In ''{{Naruto}}'', The [[TournamentArc Chunin Exam Finals]] culminate in a series of seven one-on-one single-elimination fights between the remaining eight participants. By the middle of the third battle, the Tournament was no longer progressing the story by itself, so the author chose that moment for [[BigBad Orochimaru]] to reveal his Evil Plan to destroy the Leaf Village.
* In season 1 of the [[Manga/AxisPowersHetalia Hetalia anime]], France, feeling left out and insecure, goes through a rather long series of flashbacks while trying to assure the viewers (and himself) that he was and is a powerful military nation. After a number of clips covering such events as the Hundred Years War, Joan of Arc, The defeat of Spain's armada by England and the War of Austrian Succession, France finally snaps back to reality just as Germany walks in/bursts through the door with a rifle in his hands, demanding France's surrender. The Dub even has Germany sarcastically apologizing for interrupting France and asking him mock nicely to put his hands up.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Creator/TiteKubo has stated that when he gets writer's block, making new characters helps overcome it. The trouble is, he doesn't create one or two characters, he creates entire groups which introduces a new CastHerd leaving the story with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

* [[http://markwaid.boom-studios.net/2009/06/15-minutes-with-waid-my-good-friend-jack-daniels Mark Waid]] has two of these :

*** To see this concept in action, read Waid's JusticeLeagueOfAmerica arc "Tower of Babel", in which the League [[spoiler:especially Batman]] go right on down the list.
* There was an issue of TheFlash where Wally was involved with an uncomfortable relationship talk with his girlfriend. The captions really sum it up best:

* ''MyImmortal'' abuses the concept so much that it becomes a RandomEventsPlot very quickly. It's pretty coherent (Ebony and Draco meet, date, screw like bunnies, break up) until Voldemort shows up. And Snape becomes a pedophile. And Draco gets captured. And Dumbledore turns evil. And Draco commits suicide. And comes back to life. This is all in about 2,000 words, by the way.

* While ''TheBoondockSaints'' is practically made of "People Busting Through Doors and Shooting At People," there is one scene that particularly feels like this trope: The main characters are even bored, and the plot is kinda on hold; suddenly, their best friend kicks through the door and starts waving his gun around and screaming for everyone to pack their shit.
** ''Feels'' like it, but the friend bursts in panicking because [[spoiler:he just shot and killed three people in broad daylight.]]
*** Sure, because after they wrote about him bursting in, they asked themselves "now why did he burst in like that?". That's the whole point of the rule: it gives you a new direction to take and hopefully find yourself back on track. Sounds like it worked in this case.

* JimHenson once commented on his pre-Muppet puppet sketches that when he couldn't think of how to close a sketch, he'd either have an explosion or have one character eat the other. It's pretty clear that this carried over to TheMuppetShow.
* ''TwoAndAHalfMen'' has Alan, while writing a movie in a coffee shop, geting writer's block several times and solving it by having a meteor hit the characters.

* In the sequel to ''TheExpendables'', our heroes are trapped under gunfire and the enemy has pulled out a tank. Suddenly, the enemy is quickly butchered by some unseen force. Considering the nature of the movie, this was likely a parody of this trope's place in action films. Oh, did I mention it was '''''ChuckNorris'''''?
* ''SavingPrivateRyan'' has a scene that also feels like this trope. The squad regroups with an American unit in a building, only to have a wall collapse, revealing German soldiers occupying an adjacent room, resulting in a standoff. Captain Hamill (TedDanson) and one of his men show up with Thompsons unnoticed and shoot all the German soldiers, ending the standoff.

* The Director AI in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' and ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' pulls this quite frequently: stay in one place too long instead of advancing and you'll get a bunch of Special Infected coming at you. It's also more likely to send a Zombie Horde at the Survivors at any given moment the slower they're progressing through the level. This can be something of a vicious cycle when playing on Expert.

* The Director AI in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' pulls this quite frequently: stay in one place too long instead of advancing and you'll get a bunch of special infected coming at you.

->''"When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."''
-->-- '''Creator/RaymondChandler'''

[[caption-width-right:222:The readers will never see this coming!]]

* TiteKubo, author of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has stated that when he gets stuck writing, he introduces a new CastHerd to move the plot along (often in the form of a new villain to fight, but just as often in the form of allies to help beat an unbeatable foe). [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters He got stuck a lot]].

* ''TrappedInTheCloset'' by R. Kelly follows this trope so much it goes from OnceAnEpisode to DrinkingGame pretty quickly.
** Parodied in the ''South Park'' episode of the same name, where R. Kelly is ''constantly'' pulling out his gun, usually for no reason at all.
* Many of Weird Al Yankovic's parody songs are like this. A particularly egregious ([[RefugeInAudacity but not]] [[SoBadItsGood actually unpleasant]]) example would be ''Everything You Know Is Wrong''.

* RegularShow uses this a lot, the episode starts with Mordecai and Rigby taking part of something plain or mundane, then before you know it, an EldritchAbomination comes out of nowhere, a normal person exhibits super natural powers, a normal object comes to life...and more.

* ''IrregularWebcomic'' compares this with the scene in ''TheLordOfTheRings'' [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/750.html here]].