History Main / WeWait

-->-- '''Darkwing Duck''', ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', "Calm a Chameleon"

* Lampshaded in the Neighborhood Cluck Productions abridged parody of ''Anime/DragonBallZDeadZone''.
-->'''Piccolo:''' It's a rule of Dragon Ball: We wait.

* Invoked in the penultimate confrontation of ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'': Bob and the Good Ole Boys have bought tickets to the Blues Brothers' show, and must now wait for the band to actually come on stage.

* In ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' when Hermione and Harry see their past selves in Hagrid's hut, Harry wants to rush in and capture Peter Pettigrew [[spoiler: who is hiding as Scabbers, Ron's rat]]. Hermione says they must wait until actions they take won't disrupt what for them are past events. She and Harry are forced to wait until the group comes back out of the tunnel, knowing that Pettigrew gets away and Lupin will change into his werewolf form.
** Since this was a StableTimeLoop world, it wasn't just that they shouldn't - logically, they couldn't.

--> '''Danny:''' What do we do now?
--> '''Danny's father:''' We sit here and we wait.

* Many Franchise/SherlockHolmes stories include Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade waiting for the criminal to fall in Holmes' trap.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' Illyrio Mopatis' [[spoiler: plan to restore the Targaryens has involved over 15 years of this.]] As changing events required repeated extensions of the wait time, [[spoiler: Lord Connington gets tired of it and goes off-script, invading Westeros with Aegon without reaching Danaerys.]]

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks:'' Miss Brooks stakes out a burglar in the episode "The Burglar".

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', when Tidus asks what they should do while Yuna is praying to the Fayth, Kimahri answers: "Pick spot. Shut up. Wait."
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' has this exchange at the beginning of the game, after getting [[CoolCar the Regalia]] into Hammerhead for repairs.
-->'''Ignis:''' And now we play the waiting game.
-->'''Prompto:''' Never liked that game.
-->'''Noctis:''' Never any good at it, either.

* The Mother in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' reacts to the loss of Kal'Hirol with this and a fine, healthy and educational [[EvilLaugh evil laugh]].

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAwesomes'' Dr. Malocchio proclaims that with the first stage of his plan complete all they have to do now is wait. Then one of his minions suggests that instead they go get sushi and come back, which he agrees is a better plan.

If it's the hero having this exchange, it's often followed by a TimeCompressionMontage. If it's the villain, [[NoDelaysForTheWicked we generally cut directly to our heroes approaching the trap]].

The WaitingPuzzle is the video game version. Compare TheStakeout.

* Lampshaded in the Neighbourhood Cluck ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' abridged parody of the first movie, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=691QC67dUAs]] ''

* In ''Film/HarryPotter'' when Hermione and Harry see their past selves in Hagrid's hut, Harry wants to rush in and capture Peter Pettigrew [[spoiler: who is hiding as Scabbers, Ron's rat]]. Hermione says they must wait until actions they take won't disrupt what for them are past events. She and Harry are forced to wait until the group comes back out of the tunnel, knowing that Pettigrew gets away and Lupin will change into his werewolf form.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* The producers of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' are famous for subjecting their contestants to a variation of this trope. At the beginning of many legs of the race we're told "''[=Racer A=]'' and ''[=Racer B=]'' who arrived first at 1:53 p.m. will now depart at 1:53 a.m." And with the last place team we're told "''[=Racer M=]'' and ''[=Racer N=]'' who arrived at 4:14 p.m. will now depart at 4:14 a.m." Then the teams race to the airport to find that the first available flight to their destination doesn't leave until noon. Or they race to some local tourist trap that doesn't open until 10 a.m.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

-->-- '''Darkwing''', ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''

->''"Now we implement the three Ws of a [[TheStakeout stake-out]]. We wait. We watch. We whittle."''

Used to be commonly rendered as "And now we play the Waiting Game...", but this line is now ''[[DeadHorseTrope never]]'' [[DeadHorseTrope played straight]]. Take this example from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':

* In ''Film/StarTrek'', [[BigBad Nero]] says this when his ship arrives at the coordinates where Ambassador Spock is going to enter the alternate timeline. In this case, they only have to wait for about a minute.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' Season Five: The characters have become TrappedInThePast, which is still an improvement over random, erratic and increasingly Frequent TimeTravel they've been experiencing. When asked NowWhat, Sawyer replies WeWait. They wait [[TheSlowPath for three years]] and end up going native.

-->'''Homer:''' And now we play the Waiting Game...\\

->'''Sidekick:''' What do we do now?
->'''Hero:''' We wait. (or "Now we wait." or "We wait. What else can we do?")

-->'''Homer:''' And now we play the Waiting Game...
--> [Several seconds of silence]
-->'''Homer:''' Ah, the Waiting Game sucks. Let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos.

* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''[[Literature/KnownSpace Protector]]'', the transmogrified super-intelligent Brennan is taking the hero on a sub-light {{Ramscoop}} ride to Alpha Centauri. The hero is riding in a stasis chamber, so that the years-long journey will pass in an instant for him. Mid-way through the trip, though, a battle with a Pak ramscoop forces them to throw the stasis chamber at their attackers, thus depriving the hero of a means of waiting out the remaining years to their destination. Brennan asks, "Just how much boredom can you stand?"