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It's the Only Way

146 statements
27 feature instances
22 referencing feature instances

It's the Only Way	type	FeatureClass
It's the Only Way	label	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way	page	ItsTheOnlyWay
It's the Only Way	comment	A crutch commonly used to justify a foolish or ridiculous course of action. There is almost always a more sensible course of action available if the characters involved would just bother to think, but that might ruin the contrived plot and/or prevent a tragic situation. And the audience better not try to think of any alternate solutions either, because "It's the only way!" In many dramas, it is "the only way" in the messed-up mindset of the character saying it — television characters are frequently less reasonable and more focused than real people. Compare with I Did What I Had to Do, the Well-Intentioned Extremist's accessory after the fact. Compare also the correlated trope When All You Have Is a Hammer…. Less common is another character Stating the Simple Solution in response. Death by Pragmatism is when The Only Way is enforced by killing off the person saying sensible things.
It's the Only Way	fetched	2023-06-21T21:45:08Z
It's the Only Way	parsed	2023-06-21T21:45:08Z
It's the Only Way	processingComment	Dropped link to BizarroEpisode: Not an Item - FEATURE
It's the Only Way	processingComment	Dropped link to Hellraiser: Not an Item - FEATURE
It's the Only Way	processingComment	Dropped link to WordOfGod: Not an Item - FEATURE
It's the Only Way	processingComment	Dropped link to justifiedtrope: Not an Item - FEATURE
It's the Only Way	isPartOf	DBTropes
It's the Only Way / int_11b7db91	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_11b7db91	comment	In the Adventure Time episode "Another Way", Finn is harassed by enemies who give him exactly two courses of action (usually bad and worse) then declaring "IT'S THE ONLY WAY! AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Then Finn finds Another Way through the obstacle.
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Adventure Time	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_11b7db91
It's the Only Way / int_20948a39	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_20948a39	comment	Tales of Monkey Island: Spoken by Zombie Guybrush to a surprised Morgan near the end of Chapter 5, when he takes out his last shred of life and tosses it into the rip to close up the Crossroads, trapping the Pirate God LeChuck and allowing her and Elaine to use the Coup de Grâce on him simultaneously. Before that, De Cava says this in Chapter 3 when he says he's weaving the husks of Manatee Throat Grubs for an artificial cochlea, unaware that the actual cochlea had been stolen by his own crew during the time they were in the manatee.
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Tales of Monkey Island (Video Game)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_20948a39
It's the Only Way / int_2ac87cac	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_2ac87cac	comment	There are better methodologies of discerning the superiority of one thing over another, but that doesn't mean that Harry Hill doesn't have a personal favourite.
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Harry Hill's TV Burp	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_2ac87cac
It's the Only Way / int_2baf4941	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_2baf4941	comment	Blue Beetle: Subverted when Dani Garrett is about to fly her ship into a volcano, and Jaime asks if she's sure it can survive it.
It's the Only Way / int_2baf4941	featureApplicability	-0.3
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Blue Beetle (Comic Book)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_2baf4941
It's the Only Way / int_3f4a104b	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_3f4a104b	comment	A porcupine, in a Dilbert comic strip about When All You Have Is a Hammer…: "We must stick them with quills! It's the only way!"
It's the Only Way / int_3f4a104b	featureApplicability	1.0
It's the Only Way / int_3f4a104b	featureConfidence	1.0
Dilbert (Comic Strip)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_3f4a104b
It's the Only Way / int_5da242aa	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_5da242aa	comment	Fuga: Melodies of Steel: The Soul Cannon requires the Heroic Sacrifice of one of your Kid Heroes in order to power it. Typically, it only becomes available as an option when the Taranis' HP falls below a certain threshold; however, this threshold rises during boss battles — hit 50%, and the radio will start urging you that the Soul Cannon is your only option. Just to ensure the temptation is there for much longer as you face a difficult fight.
It's the Only Way / int_5da242aa	featureApplicability	1.0
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Fuga: Melodies of Steel (Video Game)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_5da242aa
It's the Only Way / int_61a39969	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_61a39969	comment	Avengers: Infinity War: Thanos is convinced that the only way to solve the problem of limited resources is to kill half of all life. Other solutions such as doubling the resources don't occur to him, even as he acquires literally omnipotent means. Word of God says he could have found another way and gotten it done easily, but he has a point to prove and is blind to other possibilities. Strange surrenders the Time Stone to Thanos in exchange for Iron Man's life, leading to the Snap and a universal crisis. When confronted on this, he states this was the only way to win in the long term.
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Avengers: Infinity War	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_61a39969
It's the Only Way / int_69d15cc0	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_69d15cc0	comment	Marvel Cinematic Universe: Avengers: Infinity War: Thanos is convinced that the only way to solve the problem of limited resources is to kill half of all life. Other solutions such as doubling the resources don't occur to him, even as he acquires literally omnipotent means. Word of God says he could have found another way and gotten it done easily, but he has a point to prove and is blind to other possibilities. Strange surrenders the Time Stone to Thanos in exchange for Iron Man's life, leading to the Snap and a universal crisis. When confronted on this, he states this was the only way to win in the long term. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Strange is called out in-universe for using this excuse to justify bad plans that get other people hurt or killed. The most obvious example is his Defender alternate who decided the only way to protect the multiverse was by personally killing America to steal her powers.
It's the Only Way / int_69d15cc0	featureApplicability	1.0
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Marvel Cinematic Universe (Franchise)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_69d15cc0
It's the Only Way / int_72262aee	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_72262aee	comment	In the quoted example from Avatar: The Last Airbender above, it may in fact have been justified as Roku's holding back the magma is the only thing that gives the rest of the village enough time to evacuate.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_72262aee
It's the Only Way / int_73dd3d5	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_73dd3d5	comment	In X2: X-Men United, Jean Grey sacrifices herself, supposedly because it's the only way to save the team; there has been considerable debate among fans about the multiple other ways they could have survived, or ways she could have saved them that would not have involved her death. However, to be fair, the movie had already gone and shown many examples of Jean's lack of control of her powers throughout has proven a danger to herself and those around her, with the entire dam collapse happening because she lost control in her fight with Cyclops. Who is to say that she'd even be able to safely control her powers during the climax or if right as she managed to lift the jet, it exploded because she accidentally overloaded it. It then actually makes sense why she'd rather just risk her own life rather than doing it with the others, many of whom were rescued children.
It's the Only Way / int_73dd3d5	featureApplicability	1.0
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X2: X-Men United	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_73dd3d5
It's the Only Way / int_760aead0	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_760aead0	comment	The Event uses this trope like there's no tomorrow. Unless a character hasn't thought up "the only way" yet, in which case you can be sure they will insist "I'll find a way!!!" when pressed about the fact that they have no gameplan.
It's the Only Way / int_760aead0	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Event	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_760aead0
It's the Only Way / int_7a7a1a86	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_7a7a1a86	comment	Aliens: "I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." And it wasn't that bad an idea because every colonist save one was long since dead and the majority of the marines were either KIA or awaiting a Fate Worse than Death. Not to mention everyone save the corporate stooge was 100% on board with denying Weyland-Yutani their murderous, murderous prize by this point.
It's the Only Way / int_7a7a1a86	featureApplicability	1.0
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Aliens	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_7a7a1a86
It's the Only Way / int_9459b387	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_9459b387	comment	Parodied (kind of) in the movie Snakes on a Plane, where the villain releases hundreds of venomous snakes onto a plane containing a single person he wishes to kill. When one of his lackeys wonders if there might have been a simpler plan with a higher chance of success, the villain snaps something to the effect of, "Do you think I didn't exhaust every other option?"
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Snakes on a Plane	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_9459b387
It's the Only Way / int_9b38e5f3	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_9b38e5f3	comment	Justified in Interstellar. Their spacecraft has been damaged by Explosive Decompression and starts to spin at a rapid rate. The protagonists decide to dock regardless of the risk because the fate of the entire human race depends on their mission.
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It's the Only Way / int_ae56742b	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_ae56742b	comment	Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Strange is called out in-universe for using this excuse to justify bad plans that get other people hurt or killed. The most obvious example is his Defender alternate who decided the only way to protect the multiverse was by personally killing America to steal her powers.
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_ae56742b
It's the Only Way / int_bcadd7cb	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_bcadd7cb	comment	Warhammer 40,000: Konrad Kurze brought peace back to a lawless planet by basically becoming a combination of Batman and the Punisher, dismembering criminals and leaving their mutilated corpses as a warning to others. However, this only lasted as long as he was on the planet, and when he was taken by the Emperor the planet quickly fell back to its lawless ways, and Konrad was later called out for this.
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Warhammer 40,000 (Tabletop Game)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_bcadd7cb
It's the Only Way / int_ca2e0d18	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_ca2e0d18	comment	Eve Archer in Face/Off believes that taking a blood sample from Castor Troy-as-Sean Archer is the only way to establish his identity. She could have simply taken DNA samples from him and her daughter (hair, fingerprints...) and run a comparison. Either way, additionally demanding a sample from Sean Archer-as-Castor Troy would have been a good idea.
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It's the Only Way / int_d10e76a9	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_d10e76a9	comment	In the climax of Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Jack Black challenges the Devil to a rock-off, and for the stakes declares the Devil can take (just) his partner Kyle Gass back to Hell as a sex slave if they lose. He then melodramatically urges the understandably upset Kyle that "it's the only way!". Although, when you really think about it, it actually IS the only way. What better motivation to rock really hard than threats of rape by Satan himself? Also, he had the deal center on his partner being taken by Satan so that he would be free to block the unholy lightning attack with his guitar and blow the Devil's horn off. Of course, how he expected that to work is another question entirely.
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Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_d10e76a9
It's the Only Way / int_d531b6f7	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_d531b6f7	comment	Spoofed in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_d531b6f7
It's the Only Way / int_db034944	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_db034944	comment	The Year Without a Santa Claus: Snow Miser and Heat Miser refuse to learn to get along, so Mrs. Claus decides to pay Mother Nature a visit.
It's the Only Way / int_db034944	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Year Without a Santa Claus	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_db034944
It's the Only Way / int_e081af79	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_e081af79	comment	Subverted in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! when Galatea concludes her new invention has to be destroyed before it falls into the wrong hands.
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The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! (Webcomic)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_e081af79
It's the Only Way / int_e1c3178b	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_e1c3178b	comment	your move, instigator (draw your weapon and hold your tongue): Danzo fancies himself to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist willing to do whatever it takes to protect Konohagakure, regardless of what sacrifices it requires him to force upon others. Much of the internal conflict among the adult shinobi has them grappling with this mentality, forced to weigh the cost of compliance versus the cost of resisting their superiors' insistence upon such extreme measures as hastily training 'non-essential children' as Child Soldiers.
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your move, instigator (draw your weapon and hold your tongue) (Fanfic)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_e1c3178b
It's the Only Way / int_ef076a36	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_ef076a36	comment	In the pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the crew decides that the only way to prevent the Kazons from taking control of the Caretaker's Array is to remain in the Delta Quadrant (rather than taking it back home) so that they can blow it up. Apparently, none of them have ever heard of time bombs. Also, nobody brings up the far more logical argument that the Array had already killed half the crew the first time it was used, and they didn't have any way of ensuring it would be safer this time. Somewhat justified in that the Kazon were already there. In the middle of the battle, it was decided to destroy the array.
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It's the Only Way / int_f4e799ee	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_f4e799ee	comment	Series finale of Burn Notice - The "only way" for Jesse to get Charlie out of the safe house is for Madeline to push the big red button on the bomb and sacrifice herself in the process. Except of course for the countless other ways they could have easily rigged that big red button to be pressed when the bad guys opened the door. Or the countless other kinds of booby traps the characters have rigged up over the past seven seasons.
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Burn Notice	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_f4e799ee
It's the Only Way / int_f688799b	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_f688799b	comment	My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): When Twilight's friends call her out for trying to steal the seaponies' pearl, she uses this as her justification. They don't buy it.
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My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)	hasFeature	It's the Only Way / int_f688799b
It's the Only Way / int_f7ed2fd7	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_f7ed2fd7	comment	The Little Mermaid (1989): King Triton says this before laying waste to Ariel's grotto, thinking it will end her obsession with the human world once and for all. It backfires horribly.
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It's the Only Way / int_ff0bf83f	type	It's the Only Way
It's the Only Way / int_ff0bf83f	comment	Justice League Unlimited. In "The Return", the Green Lantern Corp decide to concentrate their firepower to destroy Amazo, even though John Stewart points out it will destroy half the Earth.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Pacific Rim / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Shin Godzilla / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Snakes on a Plane / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
The Atomic Submarine / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
X2: X-Men United / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
C-Chute / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
I Come in Peace / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
ptitlewzmde5nu	seeAlso	It's the Only Way
Earthsearch (Radio) / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
CDT Dream II (Roleplay) / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Fuga: Melodies of Steel (Video Game) / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Love of Magic (Video Game) / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Spec Ops: The Line (Video Game) / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Tales of Monkey Island (Video Game) / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Recess / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
The Year Without a Santa Claus / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way
VeggieTales / int_ad3a96f5	type	It's the Only Way

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