Line #89 Main/CaptainObvious


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11	[[quoteright:350:[[Website/{{Uncyclopedia}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/captain_obvious_7.jpg]]]]
12	[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[SelfDemonstratingArticle Above is a picture demonstrating the trope. You are currently reading a self-demonstrating caption for the picture on a self-demonstrating article. All three help you understand the trope. This caption is thirty-seven words long.]]-]]]
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14	->''"It's a weapon! It's really powerful, especially against living things!"''
15	-->-- '''Barry Burton''' handing Jill acid rounds for a grenade launcher, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1''
16
17	[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere We are describing Captain Obvious here, on a trope page. You just read the quote and are reading this now.]]
18
19	He strives to be MrExposition... but there's something wrong with his exposition. Most of the time, whatever he has to say should already be obvious--both to the viewers and to any other character with half a brain. After saying anything, another character might state [[LampshadeHanging "Gee, you think?"]] Or if someone's attempt at humor was disrupted, they might say "DontExplainTheJoke!"
20
21	In other words, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Captain Obvious states the obvious]]. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment This means that his statements]] [[ShapedLikeItself are self-evident]].
22
23	In some cases, this is justified because Captain Obvious is also TheDitz, or so puzzled by something that he can't help but state, well, the obvious. This can be because he doesn't know that it should be obvious, and/or because he's just realized what was obvious to everyone else. In other cases, somebody has to be Captain Obvious because more than one person has been Lieutenant Oblivious. (That is, it sounds really obvious once you hear it, but you'd be surprised at what some people don't find obvious...)
24
25	See also AsYouKnow, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, NarratingTheObvious, ShapedLikeItself, DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment, CaptainObviousAesop, CaptainObviousReveal. Contrast [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Comically]] and DramaticallyMissingThePoint. Can very often be an {{Understatement}} as well. Not to be confused with CaptainOblivious. Sometimes, may be demoted to CommanderContrarian, a commander who disagrees. ItMakesSenseInContext is what fans will say when other people bring it up. ''Slightly'' [[JustifiedTrope justified]] if everybody ''else'' is CaptainOblivious.
26
27	This trope sometimes overlaps with MathematiciansAnswer and CircularReasoning, when Captain Obvious is stating the obvious to be a smartass or to avoid giving a more helpful answer to a question. It can also overlap with NonAnswer if the answer is self-evident and clearly not what the questioner wanted to know.
28
29	Incidentally, do not confuse this trope with LampshadeHanging. In the case of a Captain Obvious, a character notes something that is self-evident to the characters as well as to the audience (us). A Lampshade Hanging occurs when something that is obvious to us, but should go unnoticed by the characters, ''is'' noticed by the characters. Note that you can click on the words in blue, and they will take you to a new article.
30
31	[[SelfDemonstratingArticle That was a description, on a website called TV Tropes, which can be found on the Internet]].
32
33	Being one is often the cause of this reaction: YouCanTalk Obviously.
34
35	[[noreallife]]
36	----
37	!!Administrivia/InUniverseExamplesOnly: (Please only write examples of this trope that occur within the context of the fictional "universe" of the media itself)
38
39	-> Protip: The examples can be read by clicking the links or folders below!
40
41	!!Example subpages: (These subpages contain examples of this trope.)
42
43	[[index]]
44	* [[CaptainObvious/{{Advertising}} This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Advertising]]
45	* [[CaptainObvious/AnimeAndManga This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Anime & Manga]]
46	* [[CaptainObvious/ComicBooks This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Comic Books]]
47	* [[CaptainObvious/FanWorks This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Fan Works]]
48	* [[CaptainObvious/{{Film}} This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Films]]
49	* [[CaptainObvious/{{Literature}} This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Literature]]
50	* [[CaptainObvious/LiveActionTV This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Live-Action Television]]
51	* [[CaptainObvious/{{Music}} This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Music]]
52	* [[CaptainObvious/VideoGames This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Video Games]]
53	* [[CaptainObvious/{{Webcomics}} This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Webcomics]]
54	* [[CaptainObvious/WebOriginal This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Web Original Stuff]]
55	* [[CaptainObvious/WesternAnimation This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Western Animation]]
56	* [[CaptainObvious/OtherMedia This Sub-Page Contains Examples of this Trope in Other Material]]
57	[[/index]]
58
59	!!Other examples: (These folders contain other examples of this trope.)
60
61	->Press this button to open all folders. If they are already open, this will close them instead.
62
63	[[foldercontrol]]
64
65	[[folder:This folder is about Asian Animation]]
66	* ''Animation/MotuPatlu'':
67	** In the episode "Motu Ke Sawaal", Motu watches a TV show where the host mentions that one's knowledge will increase if they ask questions... which is the ''whole point of asking questions in the first place''.
68	** The songs the show has uploaded to Website/YouTube feel the need to point out that they're "Available Worldwide!" They're normal [=YouTube=] videos, so why wouldn't they be?[[note]]Then again, they're blocked in India and neighboring countries despite their claims. [[{{Irony}} This show is from India, by the way]].[[/note]]
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:This folder is about Comedy]]
72	--> In this folder are all the examples of comedy not fitting anywhere else.
73	* Creator/StanFreberg, "St. George and the Dragonet":
74	-->'''Chief''': Say, did you take that .45 automatic into the lab to have them check on it?\
75	'''St. George''': Yeah. You were right.\
76	'''Chief''': I was right?\
77	'''St. George''': Yeah. It was a gun.
78	* Creator/BillEngvall likes to do this to set up jokes, often ending with his catchphrase "Here's Your Sign". Granted that this is more of an AskAStupidQuestion example, Bill still sometimes channels his inner Captain Obvious for his comedy act. Usually the "Here's Your Sign" jokes are about other people's stupid questions, but sometimes he himself just can't resist.
79	-->'''Random Guy:''' (''points to a buck's head mounted on Bill's wall'') Ya' shoot that deer?\
80	'''Bill:''' (''beat'') Oh no. He tried to run through the wall and got stuck.
81	* In one stand-up special, comedian Greg Behrendt acknowledged that his book ''He's Just Not That Into You'' is filled with "duh"-inducing information, but explains that some of the people who hit him up for advice are seriously ''that'' dense, as illustrated by this exchange:
82	-->'''Woman:''' Greg, I have a problem. My boyfriend is married, and I--\
83	'''Behrendt:''' Okay, stop ''right'' there and repeat that back to yourself.
84	* Dara O'Briain has a bit making fun of a cover story in the London Examiner titled "10 Symptoms You Should Not Ignore". The first 3 symptoms listed were rectal bleeding, loss of height, and ''sudden blindness''.
85	--> Who ignores ''sudden blindness''?! Who sits in the office at lunchtime going "Oh, who turned out the lights? Oh, no, I can't see a thing, it's awful, I'm no use to anyone today. I'll answer phones, that's all I can do, that's all I'll be good for today. Oh, don't make a fuss, don't make a fuss, don't make a fuss."
86	* Tim Hawkins [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IC9O98PybQ does a bit]] in which his mother gave him good advice as a kid--after the fact. She tells him to be careful (''[[ForgotToMindTheirHead after]]'' [[ForgotToMindTheirHead hitting his head on the table]]), and tells him his wallet must be ''somewhere'' (yes, yes it is) and that he should look in the place he left it last (when he was looking in the place he left it [[SuddenlyShouting FIRST!!!]]).
87	* From the ''Clarke and Dawe'' skit "The Front Fell Off", in reference to the ''Kirki'' oil spill off the coast of Western Australia in 1991:
88	-->'''Bryan Dawe''': Well if this (''the oil tanker'') wasn't safe, why did it have eighty thousand tons of oil on it?\
89	'''"Senator Bob Collins" (John Clarke)''': I'm not saying it wasn't safe, it's just perhaps not quite as safe as some of the other ones.\
90	'''Dawe''': Why?\
91	'''Clarke''': Well, some of them are built so that the front doesn't fall off at all.\
92	'''Dawe''': Well wasn't this built so the front wouldn't fall off?\
93	'''Clarke''': Well, obviously not.\
94	'''Dawe''': How do you know?\
95	'''Clarke''': Because the front fell off! And twenty thousand tons of crude oil spilled into the sea caught fire! It's a bit of a giveaway! I would just like to make the point that that is ''not normal''.\
96	'''Dawe''': Well, what sort of standards are these oil tankers built to?\
97	'''Clarke''': Oh, very rigorous maritime engineering standards.\
98	'''Dawe''': What sort of things?\
99	'''Clarke''': Well, the front's not supposed to fall off for a start.\
100	'''Dawe''': And what other things?\
101	'''Clarke''': Well, there are... regulations governing the materials they can be made of.\
102	'''Dawe''': What materials?\
103	'''Clarke''': Well, cardboard's out.\
104	'''Dawe''': And?\
105	'''Clarke''': No cardboard deriviatives.\
106	'''Dawe''': Like, paper?\
107	'''Clarke''': No paper. No string, no sellotape.\
108	'''Dawe''': Rubber?\
109	'''Clarke''': No, rubber's out. Um, they've gotta have a steering wheel. There's a minimum crew requirement.\
110	'''Dawe''': What's the minimum crew?\
111	'''Clarke''': Oh, one I suppose.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:This folder is about Mythology & Religion]]
115	--> All examples found in mythology and religion are here!
116	* Literature/TheBible: [[Literature/BookOfExodus Exodus 16:15]] helpfully explains the Israelites' thought process when they first saw manna.
117	--> They said to one another, "What is it?" —for they did not know what it was.
118	** The last line of [[Literature/BooksOfKings 2 Kings 7:4]] gives us this gem:
119	--> If they let us live, we shall live; and if they put us to death, we shall but die.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:This folder is about Podcasts]]
123	--> All examples found in podcasts are here!
124	* ''Podcast/RelativeDisasters'' occasionally uses this for humor, such as Greg "helpfully" explaining that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs came from outer space.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:This folder is about Pro Wrestling]]
128	--> All examples found in professional wrestling are here!
129	* [[ProfessionalWrestling Professional wrestler]]-turned--commentator Wrestling/{{Tazz}} is in the habit of calling his broadcast partners "Captain Obvious", when they sum up something that the viewers just saw fifteen seconds ago.
130	* The ''really'' bad ones will actually do this to ''themselves'', thanks to DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment. (Wrestling/MichaelCole: "[Name] has been completely embarrassed! ...they're humiliated!")
131	* Former Wrestling/{{TNA}} commentator Mike Tenay does the same thing whenever the wrestler Rellik is mentioned ("That's 'killer' [[SdrawkcabName spelled backwards]].") Eric Young later started parodying Mike Tenay on this, referring to Rellik as Rellik-that's-killer-spelled-backwards, as if the entire thing was the guy's name.
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:This folder is about Scripts]]
135	* ''Script/{{Watchmen}}'': During the experiment that killed Jon Osterman, the general present "comes to a belated and painfully obvious realization":
136	-->'''General:''' Say, there's a man in there!!
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:This folder is about Theme Parks]]
140	--> All examples found in theme parks are here!
141	* The skippers on the Ride/JungleCruise at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks tend to be this; for instance, Disneyland's version starts with the skipper pointing out the first sign of danger: A "Danger" sign.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:This folder is about Visual Novels]]
145	* ''Franchise/AceAttorney''
146	** In ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', Phoenix states during the first case that the "missing fifth ace", could have been swapped out of the victim's hand either before, during, or after the murder. Payne responds with a variation of this trope.
147	--->'''Payne''': Well, yeah! Thanks for the news bulletin, Mr. Wright!
148	** In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'', early on in the first game's fourth case, Inspector Gregson tells Ryunosuke and Susato that a policeman witnessed their client stabbing the victim. Susato, who's usually Ryunosuke's HypercompetentSidekick, ends up having a moment as Captain Obvious.
149	--->'''Susato''': A policeman witnessed the incident... As your judicial assistant, I must warn you that this could make our job very difficult indeed!\
150	'''Ryunosuke''': ...Yes, as a non-judicial assistant, I could have warned me of that, too.
151	* Shirou in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and the infamous "People die if they are killed." [[note]]This one requires some explaining. First, it's a play on the idiom "[[{{Determinator}} (s)he won't die even if you kill them!]]". Additionally, what Shirou's saying is that people ''[[DeathIsCheap should]]'' die if they're killed; it's taken out of context with the next part, "...that's the way it's supposed to be. The line is said because [[spoiler:Shirou died when he was a child, and the presence of a healing item within him brought him back. In full context, Shirou is accepting that what he's doing means that he WILL have to die eventually, and that he's giving up immortality.]] It's a fairly touching moment in context... But out of context, it's hilarious. "[[/note]]
152	* ''VisualNovel/KindredSpiritsOnTheRoof'': In an extra scene, Seina Maki searches for a place in the school that's out of the way, so she and Miki Aihara, her sempai and the girl she likes, can have some time with each other without anyone bothering Miki. Aki Ariu, a member of the disciplinary committee, shows Seina around the campus, but warns her that this is her patrol route, so her colleagues will be patrolling the area. Seina, disappointed, remarks that Aki is on the disciplinary committee, which disciplines people.
153	* The protagonist of ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'' makes expository summaries of every single chapter.
154	[[/folder]]
155
156	[[folder:This folder is about Web Videos]]
157	--> All examples found in web videos are here!
158	* Gordon's thoughts in ''WebVideo/FreemansMind'' after two hours of killing hostile soldiers, culminating in escaping heavy caliber machine gun and rocket launcher emplacements.
159	-->'''Gordon:''' You know, I'm really starting to think maybe this whole thing isn't a rescue operation.
160	* ''WebVideo/LegalEagle'':
161	** PlayedForLaughs in his video reacting to ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw''. When he questions why Titania isn't in jail for attacking a jury, a graphic appears saying "Did You Know? Attempted murder is against the law."
162	** Also PlayedForLaughs in his review of a WebVideo/DharMann video "Prosecutor Sends Innocent Black Man to Jail". He is so flabbergasted with the lack of jury, the judge straight up asking the defense whether they have evidence, the video being unclear on what part of the trial is happening, and the defense lawyer being unable to find evidence for the defendant's alibi despite him being at a ball game at another state at the time of the crime (and that's just a few of the legal inaccuracies) that a graphic appears saying "Did you know? Trials have a jury and evidence."
163	* WebVideo/LifeHacksForKids:
164	** "Careful kids! Hot glue guns are HOT!"
165	** "Make sure you always have adult supervision when using knifes!"
166	* WebVideo/TheTRYChannel, a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin YouTube channel where people try things]], has an early video ("[[Recap/TTC04302018IrishPeopleTryIrishCraftBeers Irish Craft Beers]]"), where one person says the beer "Tastes like beer". Almost ShapedLikeItself territory, there.
167	* ''WebVideo/EchoRose'': Carma starts "the truth" by informing the viewers that what they are watching is a [=YouTube=] video she is filming at that moment.
168	* WebVideo/DrewGooden:
169	** The oh-so-helpful Scorpio horoscope of "You're a Scorpio", which Drew's character enthusiastically notes is true.
170	** "What's the difference between regular ketchup and fancy ketchup?" "This one has the word "fancy" on it."
171	[[/folder]]
172
173	----
174	->[[TheStinger This is the end of the article. There is nothing more for you to read on this page. Except for these links to similarly-themed pages. (We call them categories.)]] Oh, and by the way, you just read Captain Obvious trope! On Website/TVTropes! With your eyes! On a screen! On a computer or phone! (Probably!) [[OverlyLongGag Now you're really sick of the joke!]]
175

Context Main / CaptainObvious