History Main / SwiperNoSwiping

[[{{Anticlimax}} The villain concedes.]] He powers down the machine and turns himself in. Battle over. Everyone lives {{happily ever after}}.

That's the gist of this trope: The villain only needs to be ''told'' to stop his evil scheme, and he will. Usually, this is a way to [[AnAesop teach the audience a lesson]] about the importance of communication, and sometimes it stands as a testament to the hero's [[{{Badass}} badassery]], but just as often it's PlayedForLaughs due to the sheer unlikeliness of the idea.

That's the gist of this trope: The villain only needs to be ''told'' to stop his evil scheme, and he will. Usually, this is a way to [[AnAesop teach the audience a lesson]] about the importance of communication, and sometimes it stands as a testament to the hero's [[{{Badass}} badassery]], but just as often it's played for laughs due to the sheer unlikeliness of the idea.

The villain concedes. He powers down the machine and turns himself in. Battle over. Everyone lives {{happily ever after}}.

* ''StarControl II: The Ur-Quan Masters'': The titular Ur-Quan generally attack and kill anyone who is not either an Ur-Quan, or a 'Battle Thrall' in their service. However, because [[spoiler:one of the first races they tried to enslave asked them the same question when they arrived at their planet, and then managed to escape when they were thinking about it]], if anyone hails them with the words "What you are doing is wrong! Why do you do this?" they have to stop attacking, and actually ''answer'' the question, basically expositing their racial {{Freudian excuse}}. But it only works ''once'', so don't count on the next Ur-Quan ship responding in the same way.

* GoDiegoGo "Freeze, Bobos!" in response to the antics of the Bobo Brothers, the two monkeys who are always causing trouble in the series.

* Police Sgt. Mike Cosgrove from ''{{Freakazoid}}!'' can stop any criminal from carrying out his act by looking at them straight in the eye and saying, "Hey. Cut it out."

* {{Go,Diego Go!}} "Freeze, Bobos!" in response to the antics of the Bobo Brothers, the two monkeys who are always causing trouble in the series.

* {{Go,Diego Go}} "Freeze, Bobos!" in response to the antics of the Bobo Brothers, the two monkeys who are always causing trouble in the series.

* A sort of bottle-episode of TheCosbyShow featured the casts as characters in a story by little Rudy. The nice meek townsfolk get overrun by the greedy jerks next door (led by Rudy's rival for cuteness, [[CousinOliver Olivia]]). The climax of the story has Rudy (as the princess or what-have-you of the nice folks) just going up to the mean folks and telling them to STOP. And they do. Rudy mentions that someday, when she's the President, she'll just tell everyone to get rid of guns and be nice to each other. Her parents are skeptical but impressed by their daughter's faith that people will listen to reasonable authority figures. The episode ends with them turning on the news for a quick run down of all the violence and crises going on. Cliff yells upstairs to Rudy that she had better hurry up, looks like they need her.

* In ''AdventureTime'', Finn stops a "bazooka goblin" from shooting him and Jake by shouting, "Don't do it, man!"

->If only crime prevention were as easy as saying "Terrorist, no terrorizing!" or "Rapist, no raping!"\\
--Unknown {{Troper}}

It's the moment of truth. The villain, cackling, stands before his {{doomsday device}}. His finger hovers unsteadily over the {{big red button}}, and you ''know'' he's crazy enough to push it. All hope seems lost... but then, the hero kicks open the double doors and bursts into the room. He looks at the villain straight in the eye, points his index finger at him, and says...

* In ''WereBackADinosaursStory'', Louie tries to restore Rex the tyrannosaur's sapience by telling him to get in touch with his feelings.

* ''StarControl II: The Ur-Quan Masters'': The titular Ur-Quan generally attack and kill anyone who is not either an Ur-Quan, or a 'Battle Thrall' in their service. However, because [[spoiler:one of the first races they tried to enslave asked them the same question when they arrived at their planet, and then managed to escape when they were thinking about it]], if anyone hails them with the words "What you are doing is wrong! Why do you do this?" they have to stop attacking, and actually ''answer'' the question, basically expositing their racial {{Freudian excuse}}--and on top of it, they'll then let you go. But it only works ''once'', so don't count on the next Ur-Quan ship responding in the same way.

* ''StarControl II: The Ur-Quan Masters'': The titular Ur-Quan generally attack and kill anyone who is not either an Ur-Quan, or a 'Battle Thrall' in their service. However, as part of some honor-thing, if anyone hails them with the words "What you are doing is wrong! Why do you do this?" they have to stop attacking, and actually ''answer'' the question, basically expositing their racial {{Freudian excuse}}--and on top of it, they'll then let you go. But it only works ''once'', so don't count on the next Ur-Quan ship responding in the same way.

** In an ironic twist, it's subverted in the [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol Christmas Carol]] episode when Swiper himself tries it on his future self. Future Swiper just laughs at him, tells him it doesn't work anymore, and swipes the object in question anyway. Turns out that Swiper was just being polite and listening to Dora, when he got put on the Naughty List, [[NotSoHarmless he stopped listening and swiped so much stuff that the future Dora angerly tells the present Swiper there's nothing left to steal]].

** In an ironic twist, it's subverted in the Christmas Carol episode when Swiper himself tries it on his future self. Future Swiper just laughs at him, tells him it doesn't work anymore, and swipes the object in question anyway. Turns out that Swiper was just being polite and listening to Dora, when he got put on the Naughty List, [[NotSoHarmless he stopped listening and swiped so much stuff that the future Dora angerly tells the present Swiper there's nothing left to steal]].

That's the gist of this trope: The villain only needs to be ''told'' to stop his evil scheme, and he will. Usually, this is a way to [[AnAesop teach the audience a lesson]] about the importance of communication, and sometimes it stands as a testament to the hero's [[{{Badass}} badassery]], but just as often it's played for laughs due to the sheer unlikeliness of the idea. The {{trope namer}} is ''{{Dora the Explorer}}'', wherein Dora would often stop Swiper the fox from stealing something (usually of little value) from her or her friends by repeatedly chanting the trope name at him. Or rather, she would ask ''us'' to [[NonInteractivity do that for her]].

* In ''WereBackADinosaurStory'', Louie tries to restore Rex the tyrannosaur's sapience by telling him to get in touch with his feelings.

-->Unknown {{Troper}}

That's the gist of this trope: The villain only needs to be ''told'' to stop his evil scheme, and he will. Usually, this is a way to [[AnAesop teach the audience a lesson]] about the importance of communication, and sometimes it stands as a testament to the hero's [[{{Badass}} badassery]], but just as often it's played for laughs due to the sheer unlikeliness of the idea. The {{trope namer}} is ''{{Dora the Explorer}}'', wherein Dora would often stop Swiper the fox from stealing something (usually of little value) from her or her friends by repeatedly chanting the trope name at him.