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A Stock Phrase joke used to indicate that giving a number, even a vague estimate, would be pretty useless at this point—yeah, the entirety of Europe just stormed your base. Commonly overlaps with an Oh Crap moment, or comes just before or after one. Or a Heartwarming Moment—which should we save? All of Them.
Note that this trope is a joke, normally in response to a question that would usually be answered with a number. Don't put every single example of someone using the words 'all of them' on this page—in general, if it's not funny or at least gallows humor, it isn't this trope. Usually, if the phrase is being used in a literal manner, it's not this trope, either, though sometimes the sheer implausibility of having literally every single cop in the world raiding your house or somesuch can be used as a joke itself. But seriously answering that you want every member of a population killed, for instance, doesn't qualify.
Note for Examples: This trope only applies if "All Of Them" is a response to a direct question about quantity.
Anime and Manga[]
Comic Books[]
- In Bone, after the Crown of Horns incident.
Fone Bone: How many dragons did we wake up? |
Regency Elf: If you could have any amount of money... how much would you want? |
Fanfiction[]
Film — Live-Action[]
- Played straight in Iron Man 2, when Justin Hammer shows off a wide selection of weapons to stick on Rhodes' newly-acquired Mk II suit. There's a very good reason it became known as War Machine.
- Terminator 2. The protagonists have broken into the Cyberdyne building and are preparing to blow it up.
John Connor: We got company. |
Stansfield: Bring me everyone. |
- A technically correct (assuming inclusive) one from Little Man Tate:
Elementary School Math Teacher: "How many numbers between 1 and 10 are divisible by 2?" |
- Dark City: Emma (John Murdoch's alleged wife) conversing with Detective Bumstead after being told to talk to him about her missing husband:
Bumstead: *points at list of names* Do any of these names seem familiar? |
- There's a particularly ridiculous one in Stealth that happens once the AI plane becomes sentient after getting struck by lightning.
Tech Guy: EDI just downloaded some music from the internet. |
- Contagion. Two pathologists are doing an autopsy on Patient Zero—the moment they take a look at what's left of her brain, the older pathologist tells his colleague to back away from the table.
Younger Pathologist: (backing away) "You want me to call somebody?" |
Literature[]
- The Dresden Files:
- In Summer Knight between a member of the Alphas and Dresden himself as they prepare to go into the Summer vs. Winter battle:
Billy: How many faeries are we talking about? |
- Once more in Proven Guilty of the same series.
Harry: Uh. How many of them? |
- Also in the novella Aftermath:
Murphy: Dresden killed the Red Court. |
- In the Halo novel Ghosts of Onyx, the protagonists are on the run from the titular "ghosts": Forerunner Onyx Sentinels, which are much more dangerous than standard ones found in the games. Late in the book, it leads to this:
"We've got incoming," Fred's static-filled voice crackled over the COM. "Sentinels." |
- Related joke: In Guards Guards, Nobby, in a panic, leaves the Mended Drum to report to Vimes that Carrot was fighting in the Mended Drum. Vimes asked to clarify "All by himself?" "No. With everyone!"
- At one point in Shatterpoint, sidekick Nick Rostu gets a little fed up with Mace Windu's dual habits of a) having apeshit insane plans and b) never telling Nick about them, leading to this exchange (paraphrased):
Nick: "And now the droid starfighters are targeting us..." |
- In Monster Hunter International, Owen asks how many gun laws his new, custom-made shotgun breaks. The response is "All of them."
Live Action Television[]
Sheridan: Sorry to drag you out here in the middle of the night, but I thought you should see this. Here, come on over here. This is the Imphili homeworld. They've recently been victims of attacks by Raiders that have decimated their world. They've asked for membership in the Alliance and protection. We've asked the Drazi to provide ships to help with the defense, because the Imphili are on the edge of Drazi space. Isn't that correct, Ambassador?" |
- Slings and Arrows: When Ellen is finally driven to a breaking point, the following exchange occurs:
Geoffrey: What are you quitting? |
- White Collar: In the pilot, when Peter hunts down Neal after his prison break:
Neal: We surrounded? (Peter nods) How many? |
- Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip: Zhang Tao has just spoken English to Jack Rudolph after spending about 10 episodes using a translator:
Jack: You speak English? |
- Doctor Who: In The Satan Pit, the Doctor is talking to a being that claims to be the Devil.
The Doctor: "If you are the Beast, then answer me this; which one? Because the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky! Which devil are you?" |
- In the Supernatural episode "The Mentalists", Sam and Dean are investigating the deaths of "mediums" in a town full of them.
Sam: How many crystal balls do you figure there are in Lily Dale? |
- A slightly different version from My Hero:
Ella: I asked him how much TV he watches, and he said "The whole screen"! |
- The Finder. Walter has tasked Willa to sort through a big mess of security footage and has given her lots of sugar and coffee to help her do it.
Willa: Isitmorningalreadyitcan'tbemorningwhyisthesunup? |
Newspaper Comics[]
- In Peanuts, Sally gave this answer when Charlie Brown, teaching her how to count, asked how many sailboats she saw in a book illustration.
Urban Legend[]
- An Urban Legend states that on D-Day dawn a German soldier looked out at the English Channel and phoned his superiors:
Soldier: Allied ships in the Channel! |
- This is based on a real-life occurrence. A local German commander with the rank of Major and the name of Werner Pluskat did sight the invasion force and was so dismayed that he relayed to his superiors that the allies had ten thousand ships coming right at him. At first they thought Pluskat had lost his mind because there was no way his claim could possibly be true, until he assured them that the exact number wasn't important but there was clearly a massive fleet out there. His exaggeration wasn't exceptionally far off either, as the Allies did have several thousand ships involved in Operation Overlord.
Music[]
- In Weird Al Yankovic's song "Jerry Springer" has an interlude much like a typical Springer ep that starts this way:
Man: Baby, I've been sleepin' with your sister! |
Web Comics[]
- In El Goonish Shive, when Grace first transforms into her first legion form this conversation occurs:
Sarah: Um... Uh, what form is this? |
- Schlock Mercenary
- "How many casualties were there?"
- "Who else is coming?"
- "There's room in there to dock battleplates..."
- "We are going to need to break a few eggs."
- Operation "Giant Smoking Crater" in Two Evil Scientists.
- Dominic Deegan, here. Spoilers ahoy.
- Happens in Chainsawsuit when Cthulhu plays Humans and Habitats and asks how many rounds his character is dead for.
- In Hijinks Ensue, when Eli is about to propose to Denise:
Denise: How much did you have to drink? |
- Characters in Homestuck frequently use this for emphasis, usually in the form "All (of) the X. All of them. There were no more X for anyone to Y."
- Penny Arcade used this joke to parody Hollywood Hacking that borders on a Critical Research Failure.
- Hyperbole and a Half does it twice in the same comic: "CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!"; later, "clean all the things?"
Web Original[]
- In The Guild, Vork irritably responds like this when asked how many languages he speaks. (He may have meant it literally, since so far he's been able to understand and respond in every language spoken in his presence, including Korean, Hindi, and possibly Spanish.)
Western Animation[]
- In "The Rebirth," the Multi Parter that comprises the final season of Transformers Generation One, when Optimus is asked how many Decepticons are approaching Cybertron his answer is an emphatic "All of them!"
- The scene from Léon: The Professional is parodied in Dan Vs "The Salvation Armed Forces." Dan tells Crunchy, employee of Greatwill (rival to the SAF) to "assemble the troops."
Crunchy: What troops? |
- From Megas XLR
(During an intergalactic, giant robot pro-wrestling match) |
- In the Thundercats 2011 episode "Between Brothers", when discussing the Lizard army that has surrounded the Elephants' village.
Panthro: Bad news. The entire village is surrounded. |
- At the end of the Fairly Odd Parents Christmas Episode "Christmas Everyday":
Easter Bunny: How many more houses do we have to hit? |
- Used parodiously in Futurama when Zapp's ship gets cut in half, dumping a...considerable number of his troops into the vacuum of space:
Zapp: How many did we lose? |
Other[]
Paris: Dad, found this woman! |
- A Sarah Palin interview:
CBS Correspondent: What newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this, to stay informed and to understand- |
- This Staredad Meme image: All of them