History Main / ChandlersLaw

-->-- Bomber Grape's ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'': [[https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/747138 "Punch Line"]]

-->-- Bomber Grape's ''Touhou'': [[https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/747138 "Punch Line"]]

* A variation is discussed in ''WebVideo/CounterMonkey'', wherein Spoony suggests that if a campaign is getting stagnant or the PCs are getting distracted from the main plot, a DM can have someone steal something from the PCs. He does warn that this tactic only works once.

* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'' had perhaps fallen into something of a rut by the end of volume 5, although lead character Gary had at least just escaped from a protracted car-crash relationship. So the writers applied this principal twice over, perhaps even to excess. First, another of the lead characters' boyfriend came through a door (and into the middle of a lesbian orgy) with a startled expression, and then, one strip later, it turned out that Gary had just come through an international plane flight with a naked {{transgender}} lingerie model.

** [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20170809 The later side story about Ivo Sharktooth]] is all about this trope (alongside being TropeOverdosed on PrivateDetective story tropes). Ivo is a Private Jäger, which is to say a Jägermonster who moonlights as a PrivateDetective. What happens when you hire him? Usually, he blunders around the crime scene(s) until the people who did the crime try to have him silenced via this trope, allowing him to eventually track down who did it through tracing the people currently trying to kill him back to the source.

-->-- Bomber Grape's ''Touhou'':[[https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/747138 "Punch Line"]]

-->-- Website/{{Danbooru}} post #747138: "Punch Line"

Although expressed in a form very specific to the genre in which Chandler was writing, the Law can be easily generalized to handle any type of story.[[note]]It should be noted that Chandler was ''not'' presenting this as unqualified, universal advice, but rather describing it as a kind of constraint the pulp formula of the time ''imposed'' on him. Though he did occasionally use it even in his more "literary" stories, he was more ambivalent about it than anything.[[/note]]

'''Eirin''': Not to worry, Your Highness. Just have the characters say any old thing, then in the last panel, show the Scarlet Devil Mansion or the Hakurei Shrine's offertory box exploding, and you've got yourself a ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' manga.\\

* In season 1 of the ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' 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.

* ''FanFic/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.
* This is something that's acknowledged (and even encouraged) in the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fandom. Behold, the existence of [[http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/6487/1227762377713zd9.png templates]] (which are forbidden)!

** And again not long after, where Finn, Rey, and BB-8 have started arguing and the GM distracts them with something breaking and starting to smoke on the ''Millennium Falcon''. The GM quips that, rather than Chandler's Law, he "just wanted to [[{{Pun}} vent]]."

* [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0005.html This page]] of ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' uses the explosion version.

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. Both DiabolusExMachina and DiabolusExNihilo can operate on this principle (with varying levels of success). ConflictKiller is often a result of this. Contrast CodeSilver (which is this trope applied to medical and law dramas and otherwise non-action-packed series).

-->-- Website/{{Danbooru}} post #747138: "Punch Line" ([[http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=10092761 original]])

* ''Film/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.

->'''Jay:''' I think Creator/ShaneBlack did some rewrites on this movie.\\
'''Josh:''' He did such a good job that a truck explodes to stop [the protagonists] from talking.\\
'''Rich:''' That's the screenwriter saying, "We've got to stop this banter immediately! Abort! Abort!"
-->-- ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst'' on ''Film/TheodoreRex''

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

[[quoteright:222:[[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JesusGunDoor.jpg]]]]

Although expressed in a form very specific to the genre in which Chandler was writing, the Law can be easily generalized to handle any type of story.

** The later side story about Ivo Sharktooth is all about this trope. Ivo is a Private Jäger, which is to say a Jägermonster who moonlights as a PrivateDetective. What happens when you hire him? Usually, he blunders around the crime scene(s) until the people who did the crime try to have him silenced via this trope, allowing him to eventually track down who did it through tracing the people currently trying to kill him back to the source.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Chandler's Law kicks in during the climaxes in both third and fourth books. In ''Seeker of Thrones'', [[spoiler:Mottom attacks the Infinite Bank to get revenge on Allison when she's trapped inside Mammon's inner vault, has lost her only lead on Zaid's location, and [[TheDragon 00001]] threatens to kill her]], while in ''King of Swords'' [[spoiler:the Celestial Empire is attacked just as the TournamentArc ends, Allison finds Zaid and the gang look like they might be getting through to Solomon David.]]

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Chandler's Law kicks in during the third and fourth books. In ''Seeker of Thrones'', [[spoiler:Mottom attacks the Infinite Bank to get revenge on Allison when she's trapped inside Mammon's inner vault, has lost her only lead on Zaid's location, and [[TheDragon 00001]] threatens to kill her.]], while in ''King of Swords [[spoiler:The Celestial Empire is attacked just as the TournamentArc ends, Allison finds Zaid and the gang look like they might be getting through to Solomon David.]]

[[/folder]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/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 supernatural powers, a normal object comes to life...and more.