Didn't Want an Adventure

"Mr. Incredible: The building's getting weaker by the second! It's gonna come down on top of us!

Frozone: I WANTED TO GO BOWLING!"

- The Incredibles

When the characters are in the middle of doing some particularly dangerous or adventurous activity and something's just happened that's warranted an Oh Crap response, the Genre Savvy Only Sane Man, Straight Man, Commander Contrarian or The Lancer points out how he never wanted to be there in the first place. Frequently said in the form of "I wanted to [do something safer]," often followed by, "... but no, you had to go and [do something else]!"

Compare I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea. Not to be confused with Refusal of the Call.

Comic Books

 * During the Club of Heroes reunion in Batman comics, when it becomes evident that the world's greatest detectives are trapped on an island with a murder to solve, the Musketeer is quick to note that he wanted to play five-a-side rugby.

Film -- Animation

 * The former trope namer is Pixar's The Incredibles. Mr. Incredible and Frozone lie to their wives that they're going bowling, when in reality they're doing secret hero work. They end up in a tight spot and start arguing, prompting Frozone to shout "I wanted to go bowling!"
 * The Rescuers: As Orville takes off with Bernard and Bianca in tow, Bernard comments, "Sure wish we'd taken the train!" He repeats in the Sequel as they're riding Wilbur, "Miss Bianca, from now on, can't we just take the train?"

Film -- Live Action

 * In Juno, Bleaker says he wanted to watch The Blair Witch Project on TV, but Juno wanted to make out instead, and One Thing Led to Another.
 * In the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Butch (Paul Newman) says to Sundance (Robert Redford), "Kid, the next time I say, 'Let's go someplace like Bolivia,' let's go someplace like Bolivia."
 * John McClane in Die Hard is huddled in an air vent, thinking about how he's going to try to beat a whole gang of bad guys and why he's even in the building: "Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs..."
 * Independence Day: One character says while kicking an unconscious alien, "I could've been at a barbeque!"

Newspaper Comics

 * This is played differently on occasion in Calvin and Hobbes by Calvin's dad. "See, if we had gotten a dog like I wanted..."

Western Animation
"Larry: Bob! Bob, are you okay?
 * In an episode of Veggie Tales, the sled the characters are riding crashes:

Bob: Mousetrap.

Larry: Huh?

Bob: I wanted to play Mousetrap -- you roll your dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt."

"Chuckie: * sigh* All I wanted was a nice quiet trip to the museum -- no running away from grown-ups, no getting lost, no making trouble... just a nice, quiet trip. But, no, you guys always have to think of something scary.
 * Rugrats:

pause

Tommy: Chuckie, are you through?

Chuckie: Um, yeah, that's about it.

Tommy: Then LET'S GO!"


 * Grandpa Lou, when the parents take the babies to the movies, responds with this almost verbatim.
 * Arnold's Catch Phrase on The Magic School Bus is "I knew I should've stayed home today!"
 * In an episode of South Park, Craig does something along these lines when he gets trapped in a part of Peru where things grow really really big.
 * In one episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, even though they were given the opportunity to go on vacation, the team still went on a dangerous mission. X-R, the only one who wanted to take up the furlough, continuously stated throughout the episode, "I wanted to go to Mahambis Six!"
 * Sokka laments in the first episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, "I'm just a guy... with a boomerang... I didn't ask for all this flying... and magic..."

Fan Works
"Zuko: I wanted to see Toy Story."
 * Zuko in this drawing of the Gaang's reactions to The Last Airbender: