History Main / WildcardExcuse

** Another episode had Timmy breaking a vase worth fifty thousand dollars, only for his parents to be ecstatic because the vase had also been ''insured'' for fifty thousand dollars and they'd bought it for just a buck. Where did they buy a fifty-grand vase for a dollar? Internet.

* Near the beginning of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Tidus learns to say "I got too close to Sin's toxin" (which is known to cause confusion and memory loss) to cover for his ignorance of life in Spira.

'''Timmy:''' Uhh... internet?\\
\\

'''Timmy:''' ...internet?\\
\\

'''A.J:''' Yeah - wherever did you get it?\\

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents''

* ''{{Series/Chuck}}'' tends to explain away everything as the effects of a spastic colon, even if said excuse makes no sense whatsoever.

In a game of cards, a wild card can be played in any situation. The wild card excuse is the same way. Late for class? You hit your head. Acting strange? You hit your head. You were seen lighting things on fire with your mind? You hit your... Okay, you get the point. What matters is that the same excuse is always used, no matter how implausible it is in the given situation.

** Conan often blurts out smart observations in a crime scene in front of the grownups. His excuse of knowing this? [[IKnowMortalKombat He watches a lot of television]], hiding the fact he's a 17-year-old TeenGenius inside a 7-year-old body.

* ''Manga/OnePunchMan'': King's standard excuse for not being somewhere is that he was fighting monsters/raiding monster lairs. [[spoiler:He's telling the truth, in a way - he's a hardcore video gamer, and said monsters/lairs were in an RPG.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Kubera}}'', the disguised [[GodInHumanForm Fire God Agni]] attributes anything that endangers his secret to his jacket. Including his survival of Kubera's MegatonPunch and spontaneous combustion.

* Used often in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' during the earlier seasons, when any questions Clark Kent was asked about his interest in the caves or any Native American symbols that were related to his Kryptonian heritage were met with "It's for a term paper" -- to the point where ComicBook/LexLuthor himself actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it later. What makes it doubly strange is that he had a perfectly reasonable excuse: His dead girlfriend died to protect the caves, and he is trying to honor her memory by learning as much about them as possible. He uses this excuse all of once, and Lex actually buys it.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': In ''Endwalker'', [[spoiler: the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]] time travels to a time before the world and its people were Sundered into fourteen parallel universes. Their unsundered incarnation at this point in time was Azem, an important member of the Ancients' ruling council who's infamous for their weird antics. Thus, the Warrior of Light learns to excuse their strange behavior, abnormally small aether reserves (compared to the Ancients), and the similarity of their souls by claiming to be a familiar created by Azem.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Kubera}}'', [[GodInHumanForm Fire God Agni]], doing his best to disguise himself, tends to get critically close to revealing his secret to our IdiotHero Kubera. However, whenever something strange happens, he credits to his jacket. That includes surviving her MegatonPunch and spontaneously combusting.

* In a yonkoma omake in ''Manga/TouhouSuzunaanForbiddenScrollery'', [[{{Lilliputians}} Shinmyoumaru Sukuna]] uses the excuse "It's an effect of the Miracle Mallet" to explain away any weird occurance. A believable enough explanation when inanimate objects begin to move of their own accord, not so very believable when there are tiny bite marks in Reimu's food and Shinmyoumaru's mouth is stuffed.

* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': In the first book of the ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'' series, Alanna always uses "I fell down" to explain her black eyes, and broken bones, and other conspicuous injuries obviously gotten from fighting. This is Justified in that this is the traditional response for brawling pages.
** Later on, in ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' Kel upholds the tradition after each fight she gets into with the other pages.

* A perennial joke among archaeologists is that any artifact you can't identify is a "ritual item". This one even got used by ''WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions''' video about Creator/HPLovecraft.
** Biologists have a similar joke, that any external characteristics you can't identify are sexual displays.

* In ''Manga/DetectiveConan'':

* A perennial joke among archaeologists is that any artifact you can't identify is a "ritual item".

The Wild Card Excuse is a Subtrope of BlatantLies. It often consists of a {{Blatant Lie|s}} or an excuse that is elevated to a RunningGag in the series.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': The Mages HandWave things like people flying, shooting fireballs, or giant demon mecha with "It's CGI." This one actually makes a little sense: The original Japanese phrase means "special effects," which includes CGI, but also fireworks and other stagecraft. But somebody translated it as CGI by accident, and the other translators thought it was funny enough to keep.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}:''

* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'': According to Officer Harkin, "Reavers did it" is a [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore popular but ineffective criminal defense.]] Though Harkin doesn't believe that Reavers are real to begin with.

* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'': According to Officer Harkin, "Reavers did it" is a [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore popular but ineffective criminal defense.]]

** It doesn't help that during the Cold War there really was an Air Force project focused on what were basically highly secret weather balloons (it involved detecting hidden nuclear testing), and that the Air Force took a while getting the hang of covering up the project's existence. While the convenient public perception that they were really covering up alien contacts evidently came about by incompetence rather than planning, the result worked... and the connection stuck around.

** Conan often blurts out smart observations in a crime scene in front of the grownups. His excuse of knowing this? [[IKnowMortalKombat He watches a lot of television]] hiding the fact he's a 17-year-old TeenGenius inside a 7-year-old body.

* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Asalia's friend Maya claims to be the daughter of traveling merchants to explain anything unusual about her, even when the evidence points towards to her parents actually being [[spoiler:part of an invading army]].

Contrast LameExcuse, HurricaneOfExcuses, SuspiciouslySpecificDenial. See also ExcusePlot, and the actual WildCard.

The Wild Card Excuse is a Subtrope of BlatantLies. It often consists of a {{Blatant Lie|s}} or a LameExcuse that is elevated to a RunningGag in the series.

!!Examples

[[folder: Film]]

** In ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', Rincewind visits [[ImperialChina the Agatean Empire]], where foreigners are routinely executed. He's advised to tell anyone who gets suspicious that he's from Bes Pelargic, an Agatean town looked down on by everyone else for being a bit weird.
** Likewise, when the Patrician, Nobby and Colon are undercover as Klatchians in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', Sgt Colon is explained as being from Ur, a town proverbial for stupidity. Every time someone gets suspicious about him (he doesn't know what a minaret is, he's unfamiliar with couscous, he's surprised by a flying carpet), the Patrician deftly turns it into an Ur joke, and everyone laughs and relaxes. Colon did it by accident the first time, when after claiming he spoke Klatchian he's called out on it by a couple of locals who ask where he's from, and while trying to think, he says [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic "Er..."]]

* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' runs through all the popular UFO denials, including GIR as a robot Man in Black claiming that Zim, a squishy green humanoid with red eyes and antennae, is an "experimental government aircraft."

* Subverted in a promo for the 4Kids dub of ''[[WesternAnimation/WinxClub The Winx Club]]'': The troll who starts the series as the henchman of [[BigBadDuumvirate The Trix]] is being interviewed about his many losses to the Winx girls. His excuse each time is he wasn't wearing his glasses[[note]]An excuse that he did actually use in the series, but only once[[/note]], at least until the last time when he blurts out how much better the girls are than him before switching back to the glasses excuse.