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    Anime and Manga 
(Dumpson, Power Joe and McCrane combine, forming the Build Tiger for the first time)
Azuma: But why does it have a tiger face on its chest?
Chief Saejima: Because it looks cool.

Because it's cooler that way.
Captain Bravo's catchphrase, Buso Renkin

I don't know what's going on there but it's awesome.

"Osamu Tezuka was educated as a doctor, so the stories are rich in medical knowledge and experience. Except, of course, when Tezuka decides that it would be more fun to just make crazy shit up. Which is pretty much constantly."

    Comic Strips 
Calvin: My powerful brain has come up with a topic for my paper.
Hobbes: Great.
Calvin: I'll write about the debate over tyrannosaurs. Were they fearsome predators or disgusting scavengers?
Hobbes: Which side will you defend?
Calvin: Oh, I believe they were fearsome predators, definitely.
Hobbes: How come?
Calvin: They're SO much cooler that way.

Calvin: Let's see... to argue that tyrannosaurs were predators and not scavengers, we'll need to write a brief overview of carnosaur evolution. Then we'll delve into skeletal structure, skull design, arm strength, potential running speed, and environmental factors.
Calvin: ... But first, we'll draw some pictures of a T.Rex eating people in the natural history museum.
Hobbes: I notice your head is shrinking back to normal size.

Calvin: "Tyrannosaurus Rex: Fearsome Predator or Loathsome Scavenger?" Ahem... "I say tyrannosaurs were predators, because it would be so bogus if they just ate things that were already dead. The end."
Calvin on the Tyrannosaurus rex, Calvin and Hobbes

    Fan Fiction 
So yeah. I just invented Mgalekgolo Vanguards. Why? Fuck you, that's why.
The Last Spartan, Chapter 33 Author's Notes

    Film — Animated 
Baymax: I fail to see how flying makes me a better healthcare companion.
Hiro: I fail to see how you fail to see that it's awesome.

    Film — Live-Action 
Budd: You're telling me she cut her way through eighty-eight bodyguards before she got to O-Ren?
Bill: Nah, there weren't really eighty-eight of them. They just called themselves "The Crazy 88".
Budd: How come?
Bill: I dunno. I guess they thought it sounded cool.

Graydon: And then suddenly, they're on top of the bus!
Clifford: Why?
Graydon: The rules!

Bloodsport: No one likes a showoff.
Peacemaker: Unless what they're showing off is dope as fuck.
[Beat, as Bloodsport turns away from Peacemaker]
Bloodsport: Fuck!... That's true.

Marty: Wait a minute, Doc, are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?
Doc: The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?

(six Blackhawk helicopters descend onto the stadium that Johnny Blaze intends to jump across on his motorcycle)
Manager: Why, JB? Why helicopters, man?
Barton Blaze: (flashback) You know what I've been thinking about? A new stunt. But instead of the cars, or the Ring of Fire... a helicopter.
Johnny: (present) My dad thought it'd be cool.
Manager: ...He was right.

Marlow: The Iwis won't speak their name, but I call 'em "Skull Crawlers".
Conrad: Why?
Marlow: 'Cause it sounds neat.
Conrad: ...Okay...?
Marlow: ...Look, I just made that name up. I'm trying to scare you.
Weaver: I'm fine calling them that. Are you cool with that?
Conrad: Yeah, that seems okay...
Weaver: I like the name, so I think-
Marlow: I've never said that name out loud before. It sounds stupid now that I say it, just- You call 'em whatever you want!

"Nothing in Jurassic World is natural! We have always filled gaps in the genome with the DNA of other animals, and if the genetic code was pure, many of them would look quite different. But you didn't ask for reality, you asked for more teeth."
Henry Wu, Jurassic World

    Literature 
But to remain historically accurate, I would have to leave out an important question that I felt needed to addressed, which is, 'What if Jesus had known kung fu?'

    Live-Action TV 
The laws of physics stopped; the laws of awesome tripled.
How I Met Your Mother, "Blitzgiving"

Matt: This is aversion therapy. The thing you like causes you pain; therefore, you don't like it anymore.
Gordo: What are the wires for?
Matt: Well, the wires are for absolutely nothing. They just look really cool.

Walter: Anti-gravity osmium bullets. Shoot the Observers with this and watch them float away like balloons.
Peter: If we shoot 'em, they're dead. Why do we what them to float away?
Walter: Because it's cool.

    Music 
"Like Kurosawa I make mad films
Okay, I don't make films
But if I did they'd have a Samurai"
Barenaked Ladies, "One Week"

"Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
It's a goddamn dinosaur laser fight!
In space! With sharks!
It's a balls-out dinosaur laser fight!

    Newspaper Comics 
Lucy: The definition of feasible seems to be a moving target here.
Danae: My idea is cool, and cool trumps all other words.

    Video Games 
A bone harpoon is more Dangerous than a rifle because it is totally badass. Until Victorian technology invents a foolproof method of badassedness calibration, we must accept that at face value.
— Chris Gardiner, Fallen London forums

Because I am a star dragon. That's why.
Aurelion Sol upon respawning, League of Legends

Iron Bull: By the way, Varric, you write some nice fight scenes.
Varric: Well, thank you. I'm surprised you think so. They're not exactly realistic.
Iron Bull: I figured that out when the good guy did a backflip while wearing a chain mail shirt.
Varric: And that didn't bother you?
Iron Bull: Back in Seheron, I fell on a guy who tried to stab me in the gut. I felt the blade chip as it went through my gut and hit my back ribs. But I was alive, and on top. I sawed through the armor on the rebel's neck, back and forth, until it went red. I don't need a book to remind me that the world is full of horrible crap.
Varric: Impossible swashbuckling it is.

Callie: Why does an office need propeller lifts?
Marie: You don't always need a reason to have cool stuff.
— Ancho-V Games discussion, Splatoon

Ryuji: Arsène? Can't (Joker) use a more powerful Persona?
Ann: What are you talking about!? Arsène is awesome!
Joker's gameplay trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

I could just walk over and pick [Luke's lightsaber] up but it wouldn't look as cool.

Jill: The bartending station only works with me.
Alma: I see. Okay then, I move this here, click here, and... Now it works for you, for me, and that dog in a Hawaiian shirt.
Jill: Why with him too?
Alma: He's a dog. In a fucking Hawaiian shirt.

    Web Animation 
Simmons: Wait a second, so you build an entire chamber capable of holographic simulations instead of building the car itself? That doesn't seem very efficient to me.
Sarge: Simmons, sometimes you just gotta go for style points... hoo-ahh.
Red vs. Blue: Relocated

God knows what would happen if you spread Branston Pickle onto No More Heroes. Possibly the universe would explode.

There was definitely a lot of thought put into the story of this one, which is gratifying; I do slightly get the sense that the explanation for robot dinosaurs was rather blatantly working backwards from, "Let's have robot dinosaurs because they kick arse", but I'm not complaining!

    Webcomics 
Always remember, Elan: it doesn't matter if you win or lose, as long as you look really cool doing it!

Two things. First, Ron Wizard is my City of Heroes character, and he's a badass. Second, top right, that's an ent with a helicopter head.

That would be Abe Lincoln with a chainsaw fighting a wooly mammoth. Sorry for the small panel.

Oh. How stupid of me. That was the sound of chainsaw nunchuks.

I believe everything that sounds cool enough.

My body carries an electric charge of over 10 million volts! (aside glance) Why? WHO CARES, IT LOOKS COOL!

I see you out there. You're wondering if you should buy [PROTOTYPE]. You're on the fence. 'Should I buy it? I don't know!' I can help you with that. In Prototype, you can do a karate kick on a helicopter. WHAT THE FUCK ELSE DO YOU WANT?!

"Truly, wizardkind's slavish devotion to aesthetic cohesion over practicality never ceases to amaze"
The Bloody Baron on, specifically, pumpkin juice, My Life as a Background Slytherin

Morgan: Mechas are a silly concept. The tall profile make them easy targets, the legs are an exposed weak point and the vehicle would be slow, unstable and lightly armed. A tank is faster, stronger and cheaper, and whatever miracle technology would make mechas viable would make tanks even better.
Jane: Those are indeed good points, but... can a tank suplex a Kaiju?
Morgan: Can't argue with that.

    Web Original 
One of the major canons of construction for RPG rules is: Always err on the side of awesome. Therefore, applying this, the Laser Jellyfish can definitely fly up out of the water.
The Wyzard, RPGnet

GG: My girlfriend is a human shark. I have a robotic hand that can shoot laz0rs. Why the hell am I so impressed by people fighting dinosaurs?
Asagi: ...Dude, they have a spaceship that can turn into a semitruck. That's still pretty kickass, in my opinion.

Shatner allegedly only included horses so that he might get to ride one (“be one with the horse”), but it lends the movie a nice western quality...Shatner originally proposed that the horses on Nimbus III would receive prosthetic to make them look like unicorns – perhaps suggesting that the western imagery was incidental, and it was all part of a failed attempt to provide us with a shot of James T. Kirk riding a unicorn. There are, I suppose, worse reasons to make a film.

A lifeboat full of people is hanging precariously from the side of the ship. It could give way at any moment. Do you:

A: Roll the gangplank out and take the people off the lifeboat
B: Throw them a rope and pull them up one by one
C: Throw yourself onto the roof of the lifeboat like a he-man and then... well.. cling to the top as it swings about, people scream and.. well, that's it.

Obviously the answer here is to look as much like a hero as possible, even if it means killing everyone. C.
Chris Parry on Speed 2: Cruise Control

Bruce turns to a window, and sees the Bat-signal. What a miracle of engineering that thing is. Whatever building Bruce is in, he always, always, always has a perfect view of it.

This is another film written and directed by Jackie himself. Maybe you can blame the following two sentences on the chunks of his brain that fell out during his Project A skull injury, but here goes: In Who Am I? (1998)? Jackie Chan plays a character named both "Jackie Chan" and "Who Am I?" He loses his memory after special forces attack a meteor, and he joins an African tribe and a rally car race before stopping an international space weapon smuggling operation staffed entirely by kickboxers. So crumple up that screenplay you're working on, awesome 8-year-olds. Jackie Chan already made it.

When we last left our heroes, Catwoman had lured them into the warehouse of the Gato & Chat Fur Company, where they were faced with not one deathtrap, but an entire series of them, each deadlier than the last. It all culminated in Batman being confronted with two doors and given a literal choice between the lady and the tiger, and choosing wrong. All of which is to say that this is an episode of television that opens with Batman fighting a tiger, which is without question the best possible way for anything to open, ever.

And while it’s obvious, it’s worth noting that that it’s a real tiger. I mean, yes, it’s obviously a trained and likely declawed animal being supervised by someone standing just off-camera, I’m sure, but that’s still Adam West – or a stuntman who sure looks a heck of a lot like him when you freeze-frame – in a fistfight with an actual tiger. That is completely bananas, and completely awesome.
Chris Sims on Batman (1966), "Better Luck Next Time"

Riker:Why did we abandon our posts on the bridge to come down here and fight these guys? Shouldn't we have a security detail?
Worf: Because the audience expects main characters to be involved in every scene.
Riker: And why are we the first ones to arrive, even though the Remans came in through the bottom of the ship and we had to come from the bridge at the top of the ship?
Worf: How the hell should I know? Maybe most of the crew is on vacation. And why are the lights so fucking dark?
Riker: Dim red light makes everything look more foreboding.
Worf: But didn't they say that the Remans see really well in the dark and can't stand bright lights? Why don't we crank up the lights to fullbright and blind 'em?
Riker: Shut up and just try to look dramatic.

Snowpiercer. This was the best movie I’ve seen this year. Granted, I’ve only seen, like, three movies this year. But I doubt I’ll see another movie where people kick the shit out of each other with hatchets on a bullet train. No way Foxcatcher has any scenes like that. I have not seen John Wick, but I assume that movie and Snowpiercer will be the only movies nominated for Best Picture at the end of the year.

God, I hope Greggggg doesn’t see this movie. I will forcibly restrain him from seeing this movie. 'Verily, how doth one maintain a 300,000km track on a frozen planet with no outside maintenance?' SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP IT’S PRETEND SHUT UP.'

By the way, Greggggg finally did see Snowpiercer this week and promptly bitched about the economic feasibility of an ice world future train. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go ram my hand through a table saw.
Drew Magary, "Gregg Easterbrook Is A Haughty Dipshit"

This is the culmination of cars, track, electric motors and gravity all wrapped into one giant ball of sheer what-the-fuckery. We've examined the photos and we've even watched this commercial for the thing and still have no idea what's going on. It is awesome, however, so we really couldn't care less how it works.
Cracked, "8 Old School Toys That Got Badass Makeovers" note 

I think we need to take a moment and simply say that Batman is fighting dudes on T-Rexes while flying on a giant bat. Despite whatever confusion surrounds this moment, this is possibly the best two-page spread in comics history.
David Wolkin, "The Complete and Utter Insanity of Batman Odyssey"

Chris: I am honesty not even sure how I feel about this guy. On the one hand, this is quite possibly the stupidest way they could’ve done a live-action Deadshot, as a crazy steampunk cowboy with a Cable scar over his eye and magic bullets that turn into little missiles when he fires them. But on the other hand, it’s so ridiculously over the top that I can’t help but kinda love it. This is what Deadshot would’ve been if he’d shown up in last summer’s terrible Jonah Hex movie.
David: That first scene, where he fires a bullet into Cat Grant’s tailpipe? That was kind of awesome in how dumb it was.
ComicsAlliance on Smallville ("Shield")

The Cyber King. He's a bit naff, isn't he? Don't get me wrong, the visualisation of his ascendance is faultless. From the physical sets rising with a beautiful woman at its heart to the painstakingly recreated version of Victorian London in CGI for him to trash as he marches through the town, the impressive budget is very much there on screen. If you are five years old this would probably be the pinnacle of Doctor Who for you, an enormous Transformer style Cyberman blowing an entire town to bits. It doesn't get more 'Cor! Wow!' than that. But if you have reached adolescence and your brain can skip over spectacle to good sense then the entire climax is just a mess of implausibility, embarrassment and lunacy.

"Plus he went into battle with a shield that also doubled as a flamethrower, and this is a point that I can't possibly emphasize enough."

But it's tough to really care about questions like, "Why did that happen?" or even "What's going on?" when you're constantly interrupted by 'Oh my goodness! Giant robots! Wheeee!'
Peter Suderman, reviewing Transformers (2007)

"...Saito, the resident sniper, gets more time to shine because he's a sniper and only has one eye, and snipers with only one eye are cool."

"I- Wha- .... You know what? Screw it. That was awesome."

...who is Gertrude Yorkes?
Well, she’s a purple haired owner of a psychic Deinonychus, daughter of two time-traveling supervillains, and a future leader of the Avengers. If that isn’t enough to sell you on her, I don’t know what to tell you.
— Blogger agentvictoriahand explaining why she likes Gert

"We don't know exactly how this works, and the artist probably didn't either, but it sure does look cool!"
This Transformers wiki page

"We reject physics in the name of awesome!"

You automatically get cool points for being able to control the weather. (Which we assume Frostbyte can, and if she can’t, don’t tell us because we like it better this way.)
John Boone, about the "Bad Blood" music video

Yup, that’s a rap about the power of two women in romantic love, delivered during a fight aboard an exploding spaceship. It’s as awesome as it sounds.
James Whitbrook's article "Why I Fell In Love With The Brilliant Steven Universe, And You Will Too"

Enterprise: SURPRISE LAUNCH FROM INSIDE AN AQUATIC SHIP!
Reptile and Insectoid Ships: Huh. That looked cool, but what was the point?
Enterprise: When you look that cool, you don't need a point.

[as the metal crate begins to attract all metallic objects in the vicinity]
Mike: Good thing our jeep isn't magnetic. Oh wait, it is.
Kevin: It's the law of selective magnetism. It only works when things look cool or funny.

    Web Video 
Although the show is a fantasy, sometimes they ask a bit much for you to suspend your disbelief...But then again, sometimes the silliness produces spectacularly awesome results. Boom! Nunchucks. Bam! Guy with a flamethrower. Zing! Vampire Jack the Ripper.

Isn't METEOR, like, the ultimate spell in Final Fantasy, the one that reportedly, like, causes the apocalypse of the world if you use it? And I just dropped it on Satan three times. But the real deathblow comes from Zell's kung-fu. Because swords and meteors are one thing, but a good Chuck Norris roundhouse to the jaw will finish anything — even TEH DEVIL. And in true Pokemon fashion, as soon as you kick a major monster's ass it serves you, even the Devil.

Harry breaks into a party for...reasons to infiltrate...things...They catch wise because Arnold is not good at The Stealth, and before you know it, WHOOOOOA evil German henchmen on skis because why not?

So now the director has shown these two images, of Muslim and Hindu origin respectively, it's likely that he's establishing the core belief system of the film as being derived from the quasi-Orientalist teachings of early New Age philosophy contemporary to this time. Or it just looks cool.
Oancitizen, on the eye imagery in Zardoz

To me, this is about as close to perfection as a music video can get. I mean, God. This is unbelievable. Why is he suddenly singing? What is he even doing there? Suddenly, none of that really matters. We are just sunken into the kickass amounts of awesomeness this whole scene displays.
The Nostalgia Critic, referring to the Smooth Criminal scene in Moonwalker.

So this is Commando, and it kicks ass!... It's ungodly stupid, but it kicks ass!
The Nostalgia Critic, again, on one of his favorite guilty pleasures

I love you T-Rex, you are the most awesome goddamn thing. Even though it makes no sense how they couldn't hear you come in even though your footsteps always make the ground shake, you just gave the most epic, awesome ending this movie deserved.
The Nostalgia Critic, again, on the climax of Jurassic Park

This is what TV Tropes people mean when they invoke the Rule of Cool. The rules of this universe are literally defined by what will look the coolest in animation. I'm willing to bet that there was a production meeting for this show where someone said, "We want there to be lots of big explosions of blood and gore. What can you think of which would create the biggest, most satisfying explosion of blood and gore?" "Well, what about driving a massive fucking train through a horde of zombies? Yeah, that works." "We also want to have people fighting the zombies up close and personal, but there's a limit to what we can do if those people are bound by the laws of physics and logic." "Well, if we introduce a race of super-powered zombie-human hybrids then we can pretty much animate whatever our imaginations can conjure." Now, I'm not saying that Kabaneri couldn't have possibly had a better story or more interesting characters, and still have been exactly as badass as it was...but I do have to wonder how anyone made it three episodes into this show and thought that it had any priorities other than animating cool shit.
Beatrice the Golden Witch, "Kabaneri Was Always That Dumb"

And the Incredible Hulk, who now for the sake of the plot can suddenly control his rage … without any explanation. Which doesn’t matter, ‘cuz that shot was awesome!

Legal experts are already talking about how this clearly marks the trend towards the Roberts Court being less strictly constitutional and more strictly awesome.

Producer: So how are these guys able to do this stuff?
Screenwriter: Well, sir, you know physics?
Producer: Yeah?
Screenwriter: Well, I don't, nor do I care to learn!
Producer: Oh, okay, gotcha. It does sound more fun to just ignore all that stuff.

Screenwriter: There exists an old tradition in Hollywood that if a scene looks cool, you must allow the writer to get there by any means necessary.
Producer: You're really going to invoke the rule of cool right now?

[Gem-Knight] Topaz can deliver a good beating due to attacking twice and dealing burst damage. Yeah, I call Flame Wingman's effect "burst damage" because it sounds cool. Just try and fucking stop me.

    Western Animation 
Candace: Okay, that doesn't even make any sense.
Truck Driver: It doesn't have to, I've got a monster truck!
Phineas and Ferb, "It's a Mud, Mud, Mud, Mud World"

AI: My people worked themselves into extinction converting our planet into a space vessel!
Zim: Why would you do all that?
AI: Because it's cool.
Invader Zim, "Battle of the Planets"

Rarity: Do you not like the shape?
Rainbow Dash: The shape's fine, just make the whole thing... y'know... cooler! It needs to be about... 20% cooler.

    Real Life 
The irrationalities involved in Odysseus' being put ashore in The Odyssey would be manifestly intolerable if a second-rate poet had composed them, but as it is [Homer] conceals the absurdity with other good qualities, and makes it a source of pleasure.

While it will feel ridiculous...it will look awesome
J. J. Abrams on the set of Star Trek (2009)

The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature is as follows: All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool. And that works all the way from the external trappings to the level of metaphor, subtext, and the way one uses words. In other words, I happen not to think that full-plate armor and great big honking greatswords are cool. I don't like 'em. I like cloaks and rapiers. So I write stories with a lot of cloaks and rapiers in 'em, 'cause that's cool. Guys who like military hardware, who think advanced military hardware is cool, are not gonna jump all over my books, because they have other ideas about what's cool.

The novel should be understood as a structure built to accommodate the greatest possible amount of cool stuff.
Steven Brust

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