Line #41 Main/ItWasntEasy


1	How did the ludicrous thing happen? "It wasn't easy!"
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3	A StockPhrase, and a staple of surrealistic comedy, this trope effectively combines a {{Watsonian}} {{Handwave}} with a NoodleIncident to explain the presence of something bizarre or otherwise impossible for the given setting. Can double as MathematiciansAnswer if the character leaves it at that and give no further details.
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5	!!Examples:
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8	[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
9	* In ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'', Egg Shen disappears after the fight in the assembly hall, then abruptly reappears to throw his friends an escape rope through a hole in the ceiling. When asked how the he got up there, Egg just says, [[HandWave "It wasn't easy."]]
10	* In ''Film/JawsTheRevenge'', after Hoagie's plane is attacked by the shark and pulled under, he appears climbing up into the heroes' boat. When Hoagie is asked how he managed to escape from the shark, his only answer is "It wasn't easy!".
11	* In ''Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch'', Cochrane's only explanation of how he got a piece of Stonehenge into his laboratory is "We had a ''time'' getting it here. You wouldn't believe how we did it."
12	* ''Film/ThePinkPanther1963'' ends with [[spoiler: Clouseau being framed for the jewel robbery by his wife and the real thief]]. As he's being driven away from the court he's amazed at the cheering fans (many women) surrounding them, who consider the Phantom to be a sexy folk hero. One of the admiring officers asks how he'd done such remarkable work, and he slowly replies, "Well...it wasn't easy."
13	* ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'': When Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein, and Jacob Kowalski try to catch Newt's Demiguise (with the powers of {{Futureshadowing}} and {{Invisibility}}), Tina wonders aloud how Newt managed to capture it the previous time. Newt Scamander replies, "With immense difficulty," which doesn't answer Tina's question, as she was hoping for a repeatable plan.
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16	[[folder:Literature]]
17	* ''Literature/TheCulture'': In ''Literature/ConsiderPhlebas'' by [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]], Balveda's escape from the ''Hand of God'' happened {{offscreen\|MomentOfAwesome}} (though we do discover much later how she killed the guard). In the discussion afterwards...
18	-->'''Horza''' ''[disbelieving]'': Unarmed, you killed an Idiran in full armour and toting a laser?\
19	'''Balveda''' ''[shrugs]'': Horza, I didn't say it was easy.
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22	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
23	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]], the Doctor advises Rory to stay out of trouble. [[ItMakesSenseInContext When he runs into Rory a couple of thousand years later]], the Doctor asks Rory how he managed.
24	-->'''[[WeirdnessMagnet Rory]]:''' [[InvertedTrope Unsuccessfully.]]
25	* Maxwell Smart of ''Series/GetSmart'' uses a variation of this as one of his many catch phrases. When asked, "How did you do X?" or "How do you plan to do Y?" he will invariably respond, "With great difficulty."
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28	[[folder:Video Games]]
29	* Garrus utters one in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', when you find out that ''he's'' the one who's pissed off every major mercenary[=/=]criminal organization in the Terminus Systems to the point where they're all working together to bring him down. The line goes, in his usual sarcastic (albeit tired) tone:
30	-->''It wasn't easy... I reaaaallly had to work at it.''
31	** Although it's pretty clear what he did to tick them off (and you can get details if you ask about the specific mercenary leaders coming after you). The real miracle is that he didn't die in the process of screwing over each and every underworld element on Omega (except Aria) in order.
32	** Zaeed's "explanation" for how he survived being held down by two men and shot in the face plays it straight, though. All we get is "Rage is a hell of an anesthetic." Most likely the ([[AbnormalAmmo microscopic]]) bullet hit at the wrong angle and deflected with survivable damage, which is unlikely but VAGUELY possible.
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35	[[folder:Western Animation]]
36	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
37	-->'''Candace:''' How did you guys become pop stars!?\
38	'''Phineas:''' Well, it wasn't easy. It took most of the morning and half a dozen phone calls. But, if you're willing to put in the work-\
39	''[Candace stomps off]''
40	* In ''WesternAnimation/JoeAndJack'', when the boys are pretending to return from saving the day.
41	-->'''Jack:''' Thank you all for coming out to welcome us back. It wasn't easy saving the world, but...
42	We don't find out what he was going to say next.
43	* As part of one of Homer's {{Zany Scheme}}s in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Mom and Pop Art", he and Bart break into the zoo at night. Covered in cuts and bruises, Bart reports to Homer:
44	-->'''Bart:''' Okay, Homer, it wasn't easy, but I managed to snorkel the grizzlies.
45	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': In "The Super Snooper", when WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck (as detective Duck Drake) is told by a Beverage Hills mansion butler to "walk this way" and mimics the butler's peculiar manner of walking, he turns to us and says, "T'ain't easy!"
46	* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpeedBuggy'' episode "The Ringmaster", the eponymous car says of bringing the villain to justice, "It wasn't easy, pulling all those circus wagons!"
47	* A second season episode of ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' involved the return of Magnanimous, who was last seen sucked into a quantum singularity. When Kiva asks how he managed to escape, this is his reply.
48	* An anti-smoking [=PSA=] with WesternAnimation/YogiBear and Boo Boo has the two seeing a visiting camper and some teens smoking. This prompts Boo Boo to ask why people smoke and how can they stop. "It isn't easy," Yogi says in his explanation.
49	* ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'': In the episode "The Pain in Spain", Pumbaa hides inside a jar he logically shouldn't fit, and when Timon asks him about this, he just says "It wasn't easy" as he struggles his way out.
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