Are You Sure You Want to Do That?

"You've gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

— Harry Callahan, Dirty Harry

A phrase said by one character as a subtle warning to another character that their next proposed action is likely to be a big mistake. Trope Codifier is Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird.

It doesn't have to be those exact words. Any question of this type that is a neutral call for confirmation or clarification on the surface, but is loaded with implied danger if the speaker gets the answer wrong, falls under this trope. The speaker is giving whoever is about to make the error a chance to back away from the edge of a precipice before they plummet into the abyss.

Being asked this is a red flag that you are dealing with The Trickster. If you're being asked it while under said trickster's wing, that makes the character a Trickster Mentor as well, the kind of mentor who prefers to let their students make their own mistakes and naturally smooth out the rough edges before teaching them the final touches... but they can't help issuing a subtle warning that they know the bold or chronically indecisive are ultimately going to ignore. (It's fun to watch them get flustered over the choice before getting it wrong anyway, after all, and a mentor has to have fun, right?) It's also the favorite disclaimer of the Literal Genie.

Of course, this may be used in a serious context later on when used on a villain who is about to dig their own grave, ruin their own plan, or otherwise screw things up for Team Evil. This may also be used as a Call-Back to the original question to the hero under tuition; all the more appropriate if the question comes from the student themselves. After once being played straight, it is sometimes used as a bluff to unnerve an opponent from making a good move. However, it's rarely if ever a bluff the first time, and it's likewise unheard of for someone to take the hint when it's not a bluff.

Compare You Can Turn Back and Last Chance to Quit.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Played with in the Fate/stay night visual novel. If you get a Bad End, an optional cutscene called "Tiger Dojo" can play afterwards, consisting of a bit where Taiga and Illya comically explain how to avoid the Bad End you just encountered. Before you play the Tiger Dojo cutscene, a prompt asks you if you want to play it, with a message explaining what the Tiger Dojo is and that you can choose to decline if you want to for whatever reason, like if you want to play the game blind or if you are satisfied with your Bad End and want to keep the characters left like that.
• Rei of Neon Genesis Evangelion... yes that Rei, tries to rationalize wiping out the human race, justifying that everyone has the right to life, but Shinji is adamant. She does it, then... undoes it.
• In the Virtual Nightmare Arc of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Jonouchi uses this in his duel against Chikuzen (Johnson in the dub), after using a card that requires Chikuzen to choose from one of two cards without seeing them. Chikuzen at first seems not to fall for it, saying that because Jonouchi asked "Are you really sure?" after asking the question normally, it probably means Chikuzen guessed right. However, Jonouchi manages to keep such a stiff poker face that Chikuzen loses his nerve and changes his mind; unfortunately, he had gotten it right the first time, and this blunder costs him the duel.

Comic Books

• In the Lucifer one-shot ''Nirvana", the title character visits the demon Beruchapalimon for leads about the Silk Man's recent attack on himself. The demon assumes Lucifer intends to read his entrails for clues and so has his Mooks attempt to restrain him while he prepares a magical assault. Lucifer says, "A threat display, demon? Have you thought this through?" Beruchapalimon doesn't take the hint and proceeds to cast knives at him out of thin air, only for Lucifer effortlessly to turn the knives on the mooks. "I really was just looking for information," he tells the demon, holding a knife to his throat.
• Ultimate Marvel:
  • Ultimate X Men: The US government finally discovers the hidden base of Magneto and his terrorist group, the Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy. All the NATO leaders agree that it is the perfect chance to drop an army of Sentinels there. Xavier warns them about Magneto's likely counter-attack and asks Bush if he realizes that by provoking Magneto this way he is endangering every person on the planet. Bush accepts that it's risky, but it's a chance that they can't let pass.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man: After realizing the effects of the Oz on Peter Parker, Norman ordered his scientists to go to the next phase, by repeating the accident in a controlled environment. One of them asked it in plain terms: "You, sir? You want to inject yourself with the Oz compound?" "Glad we understand each other".

Fan Works

• A Darker Path: Atropos warns Paul that "I wouldn't do that if I were you," but he fires anyway, and the gun explodes in his hand due to her sabotage.
• Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past: Harry does try to warn Draco not to start anything this time around. Draco is intimidated enough not to immediately attack him, but doesn't actually learn the lesson. By the end of second year, Draco has been expelled.
  Harry: If you want to escalate things to that level, go ahead. I’ll even give you the first shot. Just remember that you have a choice to make of what to do with your life. And also remember that I was a baby when I destroyed your father’s master. Choose wisely, Draco.
• In Harry Potter: Master of Malicious Compliance, when Draco Malfoy tells Harry Potter to kiss his arse, Harry warns, "Do you really want me to take that as literally as I think you do? Remember the last time I took your words literally and what happened as a result."

Film — Live-Action

• One of the most notable examples comes from Dirty Harry when Harry Callahan is playing Russian Roulette when confronting a wounded bank robber:
  Harry: I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk? [After the thief gives up trying to retrieve his shotgun, Dirty Harry cocks his revolver's hammer]
  Thief: Hey! I gots to know! [Harry turns around, aims and pulls the trigger, with the gun clicking on an empty chamber, and Harry laughs as he walks away]
  Thief: Son of a bitch!
• From The Dark Knight: Coleman Reese, an employee of Wayne Enterprises, discovered Bruce's identity as Batman and confronts Lucius Fox, demanding 10 million dollars in exchange for not revealing his identity.
  Lucius: Let Me Get This Straight.... You think that your client - one of the wealthiest, most influential men in the world - is secretly a vigilante, who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands... and your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck.
• In The Stinger for Eternals, Dane Whitman is looking at the Ebony Blade and is really considering taking it up. But then he hears the voice of Eric Brooks from offscreen asking him "Sure you're ready for that, Mr. Whitman?"
• In Hancock while in prison, two other inmates unwisely block the title character from getting to his cell. He tries to be polite at first, but after that fails he is forced to make a threat that is far from idle.

  Hancock: If you don't move, your head is going up his ass. Y'all fellas sure you wanna ride this train?
  Matrix: (Mocking) Choo, choo, asshole...
  (Hancock shoves Matrix's head up Man Mountain's ass, with accompanying bystander horror.)

• In Hot Fuzz, By-the-Book Cop Nicholas asks the Psychopathic Manchild the villains are using as Dumb Muscle whether murdering people is what he "really, really wants". After confirming it, he quips "Suit yourself" and kicks his ass.
• Sir Galahad in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, when the nymphs of the Castle Anthrax examine him for injuries:
  Sir Galahad: Are you sure that's absolutely necessary?
• In Mortal Kombat: The Movie, Johnny Cage challenges Goro to protect his friends.
  Shang Tsung: Challenging Goro, eh? You weren't supposed to fight him now. Are you that eager to die?
• The protagonist of Mulholland Dr. is asked this by the hitman she hires to kill her ex. The guilt of it then drives her to suicide.
• In Open Graves, the protagonist wins a Jumanji-like boardgame that grants you a wish if you complete it. As most of his friends died while playing it, he tells the wish granter that he wishes it were last week, before any of this happened. She tells him that it seems a waste as it'll put him right back where he started and he, being an idiot, insists on going ahead instead of taking a moment to consider this statement. So it's last week. And he, lacking Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory, proceeds to let the exact same sequence of events happen over again.
• In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, when Barbossa is about to slit Will's throat and undo the curse:
  Jack Sparrow: You don't want to be doing that.
  Barbossa: ...no, I really think I do.
  Jack Sparrow: [shrugs] Your funeral.
  [Beat]
  Barbossa: [extremely annoyed] Why don't I want to be doing that?
• In WarGames, David Lightman logs on to the computer Joshua as Stephen Falken, who in his past liked to research war games. Joshua asks "Falken" if he would like to play a game, and David types in: "Love to. How about Global Thermonuclear War?" Joshua replies, "Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?" As we learn later, the real Falken would prefer chess, but David insists on playing Global Thermonuclear War.

Literature

• Hive Mind (2016): Upon learning that Tobias has Adika on his priority target list, Rothan (Adika's deputy) takes command of the strike and orders Adika to retreat. Adika challenges him on this, summing up the trope in one menacing word: "Really?"
• In Ranger's Apprentice Book 1, Halt uses this twice to teach his apprentice Will to think before acting. In the first case, Will is learning how to shoot a recurve bow (a smaller version of a longbow), and Halt asks him if he wants to go ahead and shoot right off the bat. Will, being an eager 15-year-old, pulls back the string, fires... and yells in pain when the heavy bowstring smacks into his unprotected arm.
  • Later, Halt asks the same question before Will climbs atop his new horse. Will goes right ahead... and learns that Ranger horses are trained to buck off any rider who doesn't say the code word, in order to keep them from being stolen.
  • In a funny turn of events, Will ends up on the other end of this eleven books later when training his own apprentice, who's just as eager and reckless as he was. It's implied that this happens to most Rangers, and is their version of a Running Gag.
• Star Wars Legends:
  • Near the end of Solo Command, Dr. Edda Gast is offered a new identity and a half million credits in exchange for information regarding certain brainwashing projects that Warlord Zsinj is undertaking. After accepting the deal, she is asked by her liaison (Nawara Ven) whether she wants New Republic credits or Imperial credits. She chooses Imperial credits. After a bit more discussion, Ven gives her one last chance to change her mind and to work directly for the New Republic. She blows it off...and soon after, is arrested on Coruscant for carrying half a million Imperial credits, which, according to law, is such a large amount that it can only be for purposes of sedition. She is promptly arrested and presumably convicted for the crimes she was set up for. Given what Gast had done, she deserved it.
  • About midway through the Legacy of the Force series, Lumiya and Alema Rar have temporarily teamed up and at one point enter a discussion about Sith philosophy and history. After a while Alema has connected enough dots together from Lumiya's input that she begins to speculate about the possibility that there are more Sith hiding in the galaxy. Lumiya then asks if she really wants to know if that's true or not (implying that Alema's life would be forfeit once she learned the truth), at which point Alema wisely decides to shut up.
• Trope Codifier is Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird, as mentioned above. He uses it several times in Scout's earlier years before the story as a warning during chess matches that she was about to make a mistake: Scout never took the warning and always got trounced when she ignored it. The second time uses it for drama in a climactic moment that displays Atticus's bravery as he faces down a lynch mob, and, after asking them what they are here for, asks the titular question. It is not this that disperses the crowd, however, but Scout's famous Shaming the Mob speech that follows.

Live-Action TV

• Dad's Army. Sergeant Wilson's catchphrase is "Are you sure that's wise?", used whenever Captain Mainwaring is about to do something foolish. Which he does anyway.
• Doctor Who: In "The Empty Child", when the Doctor asks Nancy to show him what's going on at Limehouse Green station, which the military has cordoned off, she asks him if he really wants to know. The Doctor being Constantly Curious, he naturally does.
• In the seventh season finale of Game of Thrones, it looks like the scheming Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish has managed to turn sisters Sansa and Arya Stark against each other by tricking the former into believing the latter is plotting against her. Sansa has Arya brought before her and the other Northern lords and it looks like she's about to put her on trial, and Arya asking "Are you sure you want to do this?" is at first taken as challenging. Then it's soon shown that the one on trial is actually Littlefinger himself (who was Sansa's Evil Mentor), and she was asking the question sincerely; once Sansa agrees to proceed, Arya's only too happy to cut down the man who caused their family's ruin.
• Bob Barker did this occasionally on The Price Is Right, if someone made a really bad bid, such as $250 000 on a daytime showcase
• Star Trek, "The Trouble with Tribbles."
  Korax: That saggy old rust bucket is designed like a garbage scow. Half the quadrant knows it. That's why they're learning to speak Klingonese.
  Scotty: Laddie, don't you think you should...rephrase that?
  Korax: (With Scottish accent) You're right. I should. (Drops accent) I didn't mean to say that the Enterprise should be hauling garbage. I meant to say that it should be hauled away as garbage!

  SOCK!!!
• Happened on Whose Line Is It Anyway? during a game of Greatest Hits. Drew asked the audience for a European city you would go to to have a good time, and got back Paris and Amsterdam and had to make a decision.
  Drew: Paris...Amsterdam...umm...let's do uhh...P...Am...Amsterdam...
  [Ryan, Colin, and Wayne all give Drew bemused, questioning looks]
  Ryan: Ooookaay!
  Drew: ...Let's do Paris.
• Invoked by Regis Philbin's famous "Is that your final answer?" on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, although he was required to ask the question if the contestant did not specify that it was. This ensured that the contestant would accept the result of The Reveal and not claim that they weren't ready.

Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street: In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Mr. Hooper asks Bert and Ernie for confirmation before allowing each of them to trade their most prized possessions for gifts for each other. Later on, he catches up with them at home and gives them their treasures back.

Radio

• From time to time, on the radio game show Ask Me Another, hostess Ophira Eisenberg, in-house musician Jonathan Coulton, or the Puzzle Guru will hint that a contestant or V.I.P might want to reconsider their answer.
• Peter Sagal, host of the PBS comedy-news-quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me will occasionally do this when a guest picks the wrong answer on one of the show's news questions.

Tabletop Games

• In Dungeons & Dragons, it's generally understood even by novice players that one should take warning when a DM asks "Are you sure?" after you call out your action for that turn. It's code for the DM subtly telling you "I am giving you exactly one chance to rethink this and do something smarter". Should you fail to heed this warning, then one hopes you weren't too attached to your character sheet. There's a disclaimer in 5th Edition Player's Handbook that references this.
  Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for consequences of splitting up the party, sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face, accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears, storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, angering a dragon of any variety, or saying yes when the DM asks, "Are you really sure?"
• GURPS allows players to buy the "Common Sense" advantage for their characters, which basically obligates the game master to ask this very question when they're about to do something that would blatantly violate it. (Though this arguably falls under Useless Useful Non-Combat Abilities since sufficient player savviness — or a kind GM — will provide the exact same benefits for free rather than charge character points for them.)
• The 2004 edition of Paranoia recommended that new players be allowed the "newbie net" for their first few clones — the GM should ask for confirmation when those players were about to do something stupid.
• Classic Traveller supplement The Traveller Adventure. If the PCs decide to get rid of the anolas, the game master is advised to ask them if they really want to do that. This represents the slight but growing hold the anolas have on the PCs' minds.
• Similar to GURPS, both version of the World of Darkness system have "Common Sense" as a Merit players can take. Taking this allows the Storyteller to give the player a chance to back out of any particularly stupid move. Its usefulness is limited by its rather hefty point cost.

Video Games

• Alpha Centauri displays this sort of warning if you order one of your army units to attack an enemy unit that happens to be far more powerful.
• In Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Klavier Gavin asks Phoenix Wright if he really wants to embarrass himself with the falsified evidence he is about to present. It seems at the time to be simply arrogant taunting, and Phoenix does it anyway.
• Arcaea warns you when you attempt to begin the final act of the Final Verdict chapter that you are about to make an "irreversible decision" and gives you the option to either continue on or back away. This is because that portion of the chapter will actually delete Tairitsu from your Partner list as a representation of Hikari killing her, as well as all variants of her that aren't a "Tairitsu and another character" Partner, which instead render her name as a jumbled mess of characters. This was thought to be indeed irreversible until the Silent Answer epilogue was introduced a few days later, which upon its completion will restore Tairitsu to the game, to represent Hikari bringing Tairitsu back.
• Baldur's Gate III: There are a few points in the game where picking a specific dialogue option will have other characters question whether you want to continue with your chosen course of action and give you a chance to reconsider, including Lae'zel warning you about badmouthing Vlaakith (which can lead to her casting Wish to kill your entire party immediately, or the Emperor warning you against opposing Gortash's coronation as Archduke (which leads to a difficult battle that may end in Duke Ravengard's death).
• Used for humorous effect in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!. Selecting Claptrap at character creation requires you to go through three confirmation screens (as opposed to one), each asking you if you're absolutely sure you want to play as him.
• Cytus II uses this twice: once when attempting to open an OS log that leads to the end of the game, and again in the 4.0 update that leads to the truth. Both spark cutscenes that are 20-30 minutes long, so be sure to have time to finish.
• Diablo games have a Hardcore mode where dying permanently retires your character. You are typically warned about this mechanic on a separate screen, which will also state that Activision Blizzard's customer service will not revive a killed character for any reason whatsoever.
• DoDonPachi Resurrection BLACK LABEL: Highlighting the "Strong Style" setting on the Style select will alternate the standard descriptor of Strong Style with a warning unique to this mode about its boosted difficulty:
  DANGER — This style is customized for advanced players. Proceed only if you have prepared yourself.
• Try and tangle with a Red Dragon in either Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara game and the game asks this of you. Three times in a row, in fact, which is very generous for a quarter-eating arcade game. If you insist on going ahead, you're in for a veritable flood of One-Hit KO moves as the dragon annihilates you in a spray of fire.
• A Failbetter Games trademark is to offer some blatant bad ideas as options while warning you at the same time they're absolutely not worth it. While visible in both Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies, it's clearest in Fallen London with the entire Mr. Eaten questline; as you advance, paying worse and worse prices, the interface will beg you to stop the entire time and warn you each following option isn't worth it and is just gonna hurt like hell. And it's correct every time.
• In Fallout: New Vegas this occurs upon first meeting Benny where a female character with the Black Widow perk can sleep with Benny, but only if the player is willing to confirm the action through around a dozen utterances of this trope by Benny. Some of the dialog gets a bit creepy. It's not a perfect example, though — Benny isn't warning you, he is genuinely confused why you would want to sleep with someone who shot you in the head and left you for dead. If anything it is Benny who should have been more cautious, given that you can take advantage of the opportunity and kill him while he's distracted by sleeping with you.
• Far Cry 4 has a rare animal hunting mission for an albino honey badger named Gulo which the locals claim is immortal and undying, but your hunting contact brushes off as baseless superstition. The game prompt itself asks you several times if you're absolutely sure you want to go through with this, ending with "Any last words?" (note that it doesn't do this for any other hunting missions, which include animals like a bear, a tiger, and a rhino). Sure enough, Gulo is a monster that has killed a rhino, a tiger, several wolves, and soldiers, has to be hunted with a submachine gun, and can tear through nearly your entire health bar in one bite.
• Ferrari F 355 Challenge has three different driving modes: Automatic (automatic transmission and all assist features available), Semi-Automatic (use the paddles to shift, auto-braking is disabled but all other assists are still accessible), and Manual (use the clutch and gearbox to shift, all assists are disabled). Choosing Manual has the game warn you that this is the full simulation mode and asks you to confirm your decision. Choosing Yes goes through with Manual, while choosing No kicks you back to the driving style select and prevents you from choosing Manual again until you start a new credit.
• In HoloCure, the Halu (the Indonesian word for "delusional") item is a high-risk high-reward item. Each upgrade spawns more enemies and they become stronger with each level, though it gives one coin per every 5/4/3/2/1 kills. On the fourth level, the game even asks "Are you sure about this?" Going to level 5 has the game warning you "Don't do it."
• Kittens Game: When trying to convert all your catnip to wood with a negative catnip income, the game warns you that your kittens will die.
• Mushihime-sama and its sequel Mushihimesama Futari display a menacing red warning screen when choosing the Ultra difficulty, asking if you're "ready to battle sheer despair" and giving you a yes/no prompt. (Strangely, this prompt does not appear in Mushihimesama Futari Black Label when choosing God mode, likely due to God being designed to be a little easier.)
• Mogeko Castle: Most of the choices leading to a bad ending are explicitly labeled as such, with the game even outright stating "If you do this, you'll die! Do you still want to?"
• In Nier, Nier can save Kaine from the Black Scrawl by choosing to not just die, but completely erase even the memory of his existence from everyone's minds. This includes all your saved games. The game spells out the consequences and repeatedly asks you to confirm your choice. ver.1.22474487139... does it again during Route E, which does the above choice but in reverse when attempting to restore your save data, and the game warns you in no uncertain terms that doing so will erase your Route E data in the process.
• In NieR: Automata: after achieving Ending E, you are given the choice to offer aid to another player struggling with the final grueling shoot-em-up segment of the game, the same as the aid you received. In so doing, however, you would have to consent to having your save data erased. You are asked for multiple confirmations, warned of the consequences beforehand including losing access to Chapter Select and Debug Mode until you unlock them again, and the fact that the aid you would send would be received by another player selected at random, maybe even someone you don't particularly like.
• In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, in the chapter taking place on the train, Mario has to retrieve a ghost's diary to help its owner pass on. If Mario attempts to read the book, three warnings appear that this is a bad idea. If the player insists on reading the diary, the ghost appears and causes a Non-Standard Game Over.
• Persona 4: The Reaper can appear as a Chest Monster (in a New Game Plus in the original, or the first time through in Golden). When you're about to open its chest, the game stops you and warns you that you feel terrified, then asks - twice - if you're sure you want to open it.
• Persona 5: If you purposefully choose to sell your friends out to Sae during interrogation, there's another prompt saying "Is this really the right choice?".
• In Planescape: Torment having a very high wisdom will add an extra branch to conversations where, if you choose to do something foolish, a message will appear that basically says: "Something inside you says that would be a really stupid thing to say. Are you sure?"
• Progressbar 95: Trying to delete System32 will have the game warn you that it's a system directory and ask several times for confirmation. It'll even ask if you're the admin or you're cheating just to make sure.
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity: The first post credits side quest involves bringing your character back for a joyful reunion... unless you choose not to return. The game and the player will ask you if have no regrets if you choose to not return multiple times. If you still refuse to go back to the Pokémon world, a Non-Standard Game Over ensues. Fortunately, it turns into a But Thou Must!, with the outing to the Worldcore being treated as a defeat and your partner resolving to try again, but still.
• In the RuneScape quest "Sliske's Endgame", you have a conversation with an Elder God. If you choose to insult her, the game prompts you to change your mind. If you are playing as a Hardcore Ironman, the game prompts you three times to change your mind, explicitly warning you that her retribution is NOT considered a "safe" death and you WILL lose your Hardcore status.
• Across the Shin Megami Tensei games, it's a tradition to ask very politely if you really intend to enter an area where the monstrously strong Fiends await. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne even asks twice.
• In StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, during the Bar Brawl sequence, Tychus is about to tear the jukebox down from the ceiling of the cantina to use as a weapon against Jim. Jim warns him: "Don't do something you're gonna regret." Tychus ignores the warning, pulls down the jukebox, and throws it at Raynor—who dodges, then promptly disables Tychus's suit using the electrical cable the jukebox was plugged into.
• Stellaris: The End of the Cycle will rarely approach you when you have access to the Shroud and offer a laundry list of massive bonuses, which you can have for fifty years "if we will only bring forth the End". The tooltip on the choice to accept is a massive "DO NOT DO THIS" in big red letters. If you accept, then when those fifty years are up, you lose absolutely everything — all your structures, all your ships, and all your planets are destroyed, save for one brand-new colony. Then a massive fleet made of the souls of your race appears in the center of what used to be your empire and starts laying waste to everything, deliberately leaving you for last. And if the galaxy somehow survives this? You don't get to just restart from the ground up, because every surviving empire hates your guts for letting that happen and will go out of their way to destroy what's left of you.
• In Subnautica, the first time the player enters the Dunes biome, the PDA warns them: "Detecting multiple leviathan class lifeforms in the region. Are you certain whatever you're doing is worth it?"
• The Tree of Life: The game will warn you that entering hard mode while already being in extreme mode is not advised and ask if you want to proceed.
• At the end of ZeroRanger on Green Orange mode, you've just defeated the Big Bad but you are about to die from loss of life support due to a critically-damaged ship, and all life on Daikon was destroyed anyway while you were fighting. Erasure appears to give you one possible hope: You can go back in time to destroy the Lotus Jewel in the past to save humanity, but she also warns you that "you have only one chance", cryptically hinting that if you lose, you will cease to exist (which translates to your game progress being erased). With your continues indicator cracking, she asks you if you wish to take the option, and if you say yes she will ask you if you're really sure. If you say no, she leaves you alone and the game ends at that point without any changes to your game progress.

Web Animation

• Not a Normal Genie: A kid ignores the warnings of a genie on his loophole wish and it backfires on him.
• Red vs. Blue's Simmons tries to keep it as non-objective as possible: "Sir, wouldn't it be better if we didn't do that, instead of doing it?" And usually, he is ignored.
• "What Happened to our Study Girl?" by College Music is the best-known instance of YouTube displaying a warning prompt before playing the video, cautioning the viewer of content that other viewers have reported as disturbing (apparently this has also been used for pornographic content and rightwing content). The College Music channel and many other channels post videos of lo-fi music meant to be played in the background while the viewer is doing other tasks, especially popular among students working on assignments. Some videos display an anime character studying at her desk at home. This video starts out as a fan-animation of similar content while lo-fi music plays... only to suddenly stop as the girl starts breaking down into tears, pulls out a kitchen knife, and almost stabs herself in the stomach before changing her mind. The video is a suicide prevention announcement, ending with a message to the viewers that although things may be hard right now, it will come to pass and directs them to the description with a link and a message on how to cope with these intense feelings.
• Hunter: The Parenting: The third episode sees Door make Dirty Harry proud while warning a vampire against attacking him.
  Door: I know what you're thinking. You know with that busted leg you can't reach me in time. But you're thinking maybe. Maybe. Maybe you can jump over. Jump over these mines. Get to me before I pull the trigger. Maybe you can. But maybe you can't. Maybe my gun finds you. And maybe the force of a .45 caliber bullet sends you plummeting straight to hell. Me? I like those odds. But you? You've got an eternity to lose. So the question is... You wanna live forever, son?

Webcomics

• In Collar 6, Butterfly asks Ginger this, when the latter confronts her.
• The Order of the Stick: Visiting an uncooperative Oracle, Roy words his question to avoid a Mathematician's Answer so narrowly that the Oracle can't give the right answer, even though he actually wants to, and refuses to reconsider when the Oracle hints at it.
  Oracle: Yes, you've certainly managed to cunningly outsmart yourself, at least.

Web Video

• One of Matt Mercer's catchphrases in Critical Role. Considering that he is the Dungeon Master in a Dungeons & Dragons game and his players like to come up with absurd ideas, it gets a lot of use.

Western Animation

• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: In "Destination Imagination", World asks Frankie if she really wants to leave the chest world before shutting the door, to which Frankie immediately replies by saying she'll stay a little longer.
• In South Park's "You Have 0 Friends", a fed-up Stan attempts to delete his Facebook profile, but ends up with multiple notifications asking if really sure about his decision before he gets sucked into Facebook.
• Steven Universe: In "A Single Pale Rose", Pearl repeatedly spells out the consequences of Rose's big plan. The latter goes through with it anyway.

Real Life

• A common subject of demotivators.
• A well-designed (modern) computer program will do this before an action that is hard/impossible to reverse, or just plain dangerous/destructive, as a way to make sure you don't accidentally perform said action. (One classic example is MS-DOS's "Are you sure (Y/N)?" prompt for deleting all files in a directory.) Given that computers are the embodiment of a Literal Genie, this is a good thing.
  • Depending on how often this is encountered, people would get annoyed by this to the point of disabling it. Even if it meant your computer was now open to being destroyed by users being stupid.
  • Some Debian-based Linux distributions will go the extra mile if you're about to install or uninstall something system-breaking^*(for example, removing Python or replacing your SysV init scripts with SystemD). They will put up a very scary warning and require you to type the whole string of "Yes, do as I say!" to continue. Entering anything else will cancel, and you have to type it out; copy-and-paste is disabled.
• In casual games of Chess it's common for a player to give their opponent a do-over if they're about to make an obvious blunder. They may even explain why it's an obvious blunder from their perspective. This is entirely a social convention as the rules only explicitly prevent you from putting yourself in Check.
• If you're a higher-up and someone you're giving an order to asks for it in writing, it's a pretty good sign that what you're doing or asking will come back to bite you and your subordinate is covering their ass.
• In the web version of chat app Discord, if you open up the developer console in your browser, you'll see a big red warning from the Discord devs that anyone asking you to copy/paste something there is almost certainly scamming you, and that you shouldn't continue unless you know exactly what you're doing. (And that if you do know exactly what you're doing, you should apply to work for them.)

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