History Main / ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime

* The scientists of the Open Sado Project in ''Manga/SevenSeeds''. One of them discovered a new type of Lizard Ant, who seem partial to the energy bars that the scientists eat themselves. One of their later hologram-recordings mentions that the ants escaped their original glass nest and are roaming around freely, with some of the scientists hallucinating. It's not exactly clear how many years passed between this event and when our protagonists finally encounter it, but by the time they do, the facility is a mess of huge holes, filled with these and other ''huge'' ants and even larger earthworms and they all suffer from hallucinations which make them disorented. And this is all cause the scientists were doing their job, trying to continue the regular life of scientists in a facility meant to replicate the world for the protagonists whenever they awaken after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': During the USJ arc, Jiro shoves Kaminari into a group of villains [[ShockAndAwe so he can shock them]], even though she and Momo will also be zapped in the process. The latter scolds her for this, and in the Japanese version, Jiro apologizes and says she thought it was a good idea at the time. In the English dub, she instead [[BackhandedApology sarcastically apologizes]] and says she'll ''ask'' before trying to saving them next time.
* In ''Manga/HeavensDesignTeam'', Pluto fills the Amazon river with [[PiranhaProblem piranhas]] as a testing environment for her new species, and Mercury puts a couple of caimans to serve as a predator for the piranhas. This bites them in the ass when a freak accident de-ages four of the designers (including Pluto and Mercury) and blows them straight into the river.
-->'''Venus:''' What on earth?! Of all the things to put in here!\\
'''Mercury:''' It seemed like a good idea at the time!
* In the finale of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', AntiVillain [=BlackWarGreymon=] performed a HeroicSacrifice by using his body to seal the Japanese gateway in order to stop the [[DemonicPossession Myotismon-possessed]] Owikawa from getting to the Digital World. Two factors end up turning this into a SenselessSacrifice. First, through a convoluted ricochet into another world, Myotismon (now [=MaloMyotismon=]) gets into the Digital World anyway, enabling him to launch his master plan to [[WhenDimensionsCollide claim both worlds as his own]]. Second, [=BlackWarGreymon=]'s seal makes it difficult for the Digidestined back on Earth to get to the Digital World in order to help the others.

* Said word for word by Story!Loki in issue #16 of ''ComicBook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'' when their best (and only) friend began to question ''why'' they turned her soul into a piece of magical jewellery. Come to think of it if you apply this reasoning to most of young Loki's plans they begin to make a strange amount of sense... [[RefugeInAudacity sometimes they even work]].

* In ''Comicbook/{{BPRD}}'', this is how Director Manning justifies preserving the remains of [[EldritchAbomination Sadu-Hem]] in a laboratory, after it regenerates and escapes:
-->'''Manning''': Hindsight is, of course, 20/20. We felt the object was properly contained, and [[ForScience from a scientific standpoint...]] the whole growing thing seemed like a good idea at the time.

* [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Bethany]] invokes the trope by name in ''Fanfic/BeyondHeroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium'', when asked why she was at [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition the Conclave]].
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13657522/1/The-Trouble-With-Being-A-Teenage-Agent The Trouble With Being a Teenage Secret Agent]]'', this is Spider-Man's excuse for blowing up a historical medical research facility despite completing his mission undetected.

* A Real Life example for ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. Introducing paid mods into a passionate, decades-old community with no prior warning wasn't the most well-thought out plan. Insisting it was for the best intentions didn't help. The feature was removed amid intense backlash mere days later.
* Another Real Life example for ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'': there used to be a "Bad Baby!" achievement, which you could only get if a creation of yours was banned from the servers. Naturally, everyone and their mother started deliberately uploading offensive creations in order to get this achievement. It got so bad that the achievement was eventually [[ObviousRulePatch removed from the game]].
* Another real life example. Back in 1988 Nintendo wanted to develop a CD peripheral for the SNES. They first partnered with Sony, but after discovering the deal gave Sony unprecedented control over the games on it, they bailed and partnered with Philips. This made Sony none too happy at the betrayal. The SNES never got a CD add-on, Philips got temporary rights to misuse [[VideoGame/HotelMario Nintendo]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames IPs]], and Sony got busy preparing for the formal announcement of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation with the CD video game technology they now had to hand. NiceJobBreakingItHero indeed.

* In ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'', the cubi race are mentioned to be the kings of this, due to their emotion reading talents making them very emotional. Fights with them are compared to fighting someone who's blind drunk.

* In ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'', while the line itself is never said, [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2012/01/01/seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time/ it's the title of a strip where the truth comes out about Zenith Central... and in light of what's been revealed so far, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.]]

* Throughout Season 9 of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Grogar created a LegionOfDoom with Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow and King Sombra. However, during the GrandFinale, it's shown that the actual reason Grogar gathered the villains together was [[spoiler:that Grogar was actually Discord assuming Grogar's form the whole time. He wanted to prove to Twilight that she was ready to become the ruler of all of Equestria by having her defeat all of her strongest villains]]. Discord admits that it seemed like a good idea to try and play the StealthMentor. Discord even says "it all made sense in my head" when he explains himself. [[WhatTheHellHero The rest of the cast does not let Discord get away with this]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' episode "Breakfast Food Killer", that hiding the UCP codes up his butt seemed like a good idea at the time. Though he didn't really have any other place to hide them.
* In the episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' entitled, "Chuckie is Rich," Drew foolishly invests the majority of [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted Chaz's new money into a product that seemed promising...until it failed and the company went bankrupt]]. He uses this as his excuse.
* ''WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'': Every idea Klunk comes up with for the Vulture Squadron to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon seemed like a good idea at the time. Once it's implemented, EpicFail is imminent.
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Tina is backed into a corner when classmate Tammy blackmails her with the threat of reading Tina's "erotic friend fiction" to her crush Jimmy Junior -- her mom reassures her, and tells her to take control of the situation and read her fiction herself to the whole class. [[ExplainExplainOhCrap It's only after she repeats her advice to Bob that she sees what a bad idea it is]].

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer, taking advice from Moe and [[TheAlcoholic the barflies,]] hires a private eye to spy on Lisa so she'll think he's a good father. When the time comes to pay the bill, Homer refuses, citing the detective's overspending, and he retaliates by freeing some animals from a research facility and framing Lisa. As Homer and Lisa are hiding in a motel, Lisa asks who could want to frame her, and Homer, feeling guilty, confesses to the whole thing:
-->'''Lisa:''' How could you?\\

* {{UsefulNotes/Venezuela}}’s [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puntofijo_Pact Puntofijo Pact]]. The Puntofijo Pact was formed after overthrow of Marcos Perez Jimenez, a dictator of Venezuela. The pact would be a power sharing agreement that excluded Venezuelan Communist Party, and would secure democracy for 40 years. However, this agreement degenerated into oligarchy, and eventually, resulted in rise of UsefulNotes/HugoChavez.

* UsefulNotes/Venezuela’s [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puntofijo_Pact Puntofijo Pact]]. The Puntofijo Pact was formed after overthrow of Marcos Perez Jimenez, a dictator of Venezuela. The pact would be a power sharing agreement that excluded Venezuelan Communist Party, and would secure democracy for 40 years. However, this agreement degenerated into oligarchy, and eventually, resulted in rise of UsefulNotes/HugoChavez.

* Throughout Season 9 of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Grogar created a LegionOfDoom with Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow and King Sombra. However, during the GrandFinale, it's shown that the actual reason Grogar gathered the villains together was [[spoiler:that Grogar was actually Discord assuming Grogar's form the whole time. He wanted to prove to Twilight that she was ready to become the ruler of all of Equestria by having her defeat all of her strongest villains]]. When it's pointed out to Discord that [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot he could have potentially stopped Grogar's schemes]], Discord admits that he knew what might happen, but did nothing because it seemed like a good idea to try and play the StealthMentor. Discord even says "it all made sense in my head" when he explains himself. [[WhatTheHellHero The rest of the cast does not let Discord get away with this]].

%%* ''WebVideo/WhatTheFuckIsWrongWithYou'' is full of these moments.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Jiro, Yaoyorozu and Kaminari end up being attacked by a group of villains during the USJ arc, with no way of escaping or calling for help. Jiro notices that Kaminari isn't using his [[ShockAndAwe electric Quirk]] on the villains and he reminds her why- he can't control the electricity, so he's afraid that he'll end up electrocuting her or Yaoyorozu. Jiro then decides to shove Kaminari into the villains so he can shock them. Yaoyorozu notices that this is less than ideal and scolds Jiro to take this seriously, prompting Jiro to namedrop the trope. Yaoyorozu then comes up with a better idea; she creates an insulating blanket to cover herself and Jiro, then tells Kaminari to use his Quirk at full power.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', in episode 52 ''Have We Met?'':

* ''Series/AdamTwelve'': Several episodes where officers -- both Malloy and Reed, and then other officers as well -- are shown making serious mistakes that seem to work out well initially but later on have not-so-good outcomes or might not have made good outcomes, and an authority figure pointing said mistakes out. One of the most notable examples:

* The narrator of Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" quotes this trope verbatim while speculating why the titular twine ball was built.

If questioned about why they did it, they'll often respond with the reason for everything that has ever been done by anyone at any time and any place: "It seemed like a good idea at the time!".

'''Ethan:''' Seemed like one three minutes ago.

%%* Any of Chris's antics during his college career in ''Literature/ThePaleKing''.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E10JourneyToBabel Journey to Babel]]", Spock's father, Sarek, gives this as the reason why he married Spock's human mother:

** The StockPhrase is also used in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E01E02TheWayOfTheWarrior The Way of the Warrior]]", when Sisko is rather surprised to find Dukat on the side of the Cardassian Civilian Government instead of Cardassian Military. Facing a revolution, Dukat had to consider what was best for... well, Dukat. (He tries to play it off as [[MyCountryRightOrWrong being an apolitical servant of the state and the people]], but he's fooling nobody and he knows it.)

* ''Series/TheThundermans'': In Season 3's "Kiss Me Nate", Max is jealous when his girlfriend Allison is auditioning for the lead female role in the school play alongside Nate, who gets the male lead in every play he auditions. Fearing he could lose her, he has Phoebe audition for the same role Allison is trying out for. His plan works, with Phoebe getting the lead and Allison getting one of the supporting roles... until Allison brings up the part she got has to have a big kissing scene with Nate's character, [[DidntThinkThisThrough which Max didn't know of until now.]] Phoebe lampshades such by quipping "You should've read the play."

* When he was 21, Music/TomLehrer thought it a good idea to write "The Old Dope Peddler". Later, he called the song "Chilling".

* In ''Theatre/TheAddamsFamily'', Gomez tells the giant squid in the cellar that this is why the United States has the Electoral College. (Used as a throwaway joke.)

* In ''WebAnimation/TheTrashPack'' webseries episode "Snot My Problem", Trash-A-Pillar and Scummy Screen feel this way when it comes to a link.

* Throughout Season 9 of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Grogar created a LegionOfDoom with Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and King Sombra. However, during the GrandFinale, it's shown that the actual reason Grogar gathered the villains together was [[spoiler:that Grogar was actually Discord assuming Grogar's form the whole time. He wanted to prove to Twilight that she was ready to become the ruler of all of Equestria by having her defeat all of her strongest villains]]. When it's pointed out to Discord that [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot he could have potentially stopped Grogar's schemes]], Discord admits that he knew what might happen, but did nothing because it seemed like a good idea to try and play the StealthMentor. Discord even says "it all made sense in my head" when he explains himself. [[WhatTheHellHero The rest of the cast does not let Discord get away with this]].

* In the episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' entitled, "Chuckie is Rich", Drew foolishly invests the majority of [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted Chaz's new money into a product that seemed promising...until it failed and the company went bankrupt]]. He uses this as his excuse.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In Season 1's "Boating School", after [=SpongeBob=] fails his boating test for the 38th time, Patrick decides to help him by placing a walkie talkie in his head which he hides under a hat, while he gives him the directions. The technique works, and [=SpongeBob=] makes it through without a hitch... until Mrs. Puff jokingly comments it would be cheating, causing [=SpongeBob=] to realize he cheated and flips out, failing again.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' episode "The Case of the Killer Pizzas", when Baxter Stockman used a remote device to command the trio of {{Xenomorph Xerox}}s to attack the turtles, Donatello uses his bo staff to knock it out of his hand and into the sewer river. Unfortunately, without the remote, the creatures were completely out of control and attacked everyone. What's more, Raphael points out that the remote could've been used to subdue them if "Mr. Homerun Slugger" hadn't knocked it into the water. Donatello sheepishly says this.

* Eating large quantities of food, e.g. as part of a contest, may seem like a fun thing to do...until the food coma and wooziness kick in less than an hour later.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' episode "The Case of the Killer Pizzas", when Baxter Stockman used a remote device to command the trio of {{Xenomorph Xerox}}s to attack the turtles, Donatello uses his bo staff to knock it out of his hand and into the sewer river. Unfortunately, without the remote, the creatures were completely out of control and attacked everyone. What's more, Raphel points out that the remote could've been used to subdue them if "Mr. Homerun Slugger" hadn't knocked it into the water. Donatello sheepishly says this.

* In ''WesternAniamtion/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1986'' episode "The Case of the Killer Pizzas", when Baxter Stockman used a remote device to command the trio of {{Xenomorph Xerox}}s to attack the turtles, Donatello uses his bo staff to knock it out of his hand and into the sewer river. Unfortunately, without the remote, the creatures were completely out of control and attacked everyone. What's more, Raphel points out that the remote could've been used to subdue them if "Mr. Homerun Slugger" hadn't knocked it into the water. Donatello sheepishly says this.

* In ''WesternAniamtion/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' episode "The Case of the Killer Pizzas", when Baxter Stockman used a remote device to command the trio of {{Xenomorph Xerex}}s to attack the turtles, Donatello uses his bo staff to knock it out of his hand and into the sewer river. Unfortunately, without the remote, the creatures were completely out of control and attacked everyone. What's more, Raphel points out that the remote could've been used to subdue them if "Mr. Homerun Slugger" hadn't knocked it into the water. Donatello sheepishly says this.

* A Real Life example for VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim. Introducing paid mods into a passionate, decades-old community with no prior warning wasn't the most well-thought out plan. Insisting it was for the best intentions didn't help. The feature was removed amid intense backlash mere days later.

* ''Series/TheThundermans'': In Season 3's "Kiss Me Nate", Max is jealous when his girlfriend Allison is auditioning for the lead female role in the school play alongside Nate, who gets the male lead in every play he auditions. Fearing he could lose her, he has Phoebe audition for the same role Allison is trying out for. His plan works, with Phoebe getting the lead and Allison getting one of the supporting roles... until Allison brings up the part she got has to have a big kissing scene with Nate's character, [[DidntThinkThisThrough which Max didn't know of until now.]] Phoebe lampshades such by quipping "You should've read the play."

* The song "[[TitleDrop A Good Idea At the Time]]" by Music/OKGo both expresses SympathyForTheDevil and is an [[ShoutOut explicit response]] to Music/TheRollingStones song of the same name. Lucifer wasn't responsible for any of the tragedies listed in the Stones song, humans did these terrible things because they "seemed like a good idea at the time."

* Another real life example. Back in 1988 Nintendo wanted to develop a CD peripheral for the SNES. They first partnered with Sony, but after discovering the deal gave Sony unprecedented control over the games on it, they bailed and partnered with Philips. This made Sony none too happy at the betrayal. The SNES never got a CD add-on, Philips got temporary rights to misuse [[VideoGame/HotelMario Nintendo]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames IPs]], and Sony got busy preparing for the formal announcement of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. NiceJobBreakingItHero indeed.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer, taking advise from Moe and [[TheAlcoholic the barflies,]] hires a private eye to spy on Lisa so she'll think he's a good father. When the time comes to pay the bill, Homer refuses citing the detective's overspending, and he retaliates by freeing some animals from a research facility and framing Lisa. As Homer and Lisa are hiding in a motel, Lisa asks who could want to frame her, and Homer, feeling guilty, confesses to the whole thing:

* As a tie-in to ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', Mattel produced a toy broomstick with a vibrating feature to help simulate the feeling of flying. The product was quickly pulled when the company learned several pre-teen to adult females were ''really'' enjoying this experience...

* The Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan was several years into its occupation of most of East and South-East Asia but was running low on oil and other vital supplies. America gradually stopped selling Japan things due to outrage over Japan's conduct in the Sino-Japanese war, which drove Japan into even more desperate straits as they tried to invade and secure oil-producing regions in the Pacific. Attacking the American base at Pearl Harbor was supposed to prevent loss of face on the Japanese part, to show the Americans that Japan was not to be trifled with. Instead, it provided an instant and undeniable ''causus belli'' for Americans to directly enter a war that had previously been distant and often considered 'not our problem'. Unfortunately for the Japanese forces, America's wartime production massively outdid their own.
** The guy who planned the raid, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, rather famously had a dim view of Japan's prospects for success; while [[BeamMeUpScotty he never actually said]] the '[[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant Sleeping Giant]]' line, he ''did'' say that Japan shouldn't commit to war with the United States unless they thought that they could dictate peace terms in the White House (never going to happen and nobody thought it would), and warned his superiors that the Pearl Harbor attack would only buy them 6 months, after which he couldn't guarantee anything. The problem was, the Japanese high command were dead set on not having to lose face by withdrawing from wars with China and various small Southeast Asian countries due to a lack of resources.

* The Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan was several years into its occupation of most of East and South-East Asia but was running low on oil and other vital supplies. America gradually stopped selling Japan things due to outrage over Japan's conduct in the Sino-Japanese war, which drove Japan into even more desperate straits as they tried to invade and secure oil-producing regions in the Pacific. Attacking the American base at Pearl Harbor was supposed to prevent loss of face on the Japanese part, to show the Americans that Japan was not to be trifled with. Instead, it provided an instant and undeniable ''causus belli'' for Americans to directly enter a war that had previously been distant and often considered 'not our problem'. Unfortunately for the Japanese forces, America's wartime production massively outdid their own. Naval Marshal General Yamamoto famously said "I fear all we have done is to [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant awaken a sleeping giant]] and fill him with a terrible resolve."
** Hitler declaring war on the United States even before the United States officially declared war on Japan. It may have been a case of HonorBeforeReason, as Japan and Germany were allies. Hitler wanted to be able to sink the American ships which were bringing much-needed supplies to England... but he didn't stop to think that the only reason that the United States wasn't doing more than providing supplies was because there was no state of war between Germany and the U.S.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** The corrupt World Government admitted privately that they made a major mistake with the Whitebeard War. They managed to capture the late pirate king Gol D. Roger's son Portgas D. Ace, and wanted to not only end Roger's bloodline but also use Ace as bait to draw in Whitebeard so they could defeat Whitebeard and his crew. Unfortunately, several outside factors made things go south very fast. While the World Government had no control over the outside factors that turned what should have been a great victory into a PyrrhicVictory, it should have been obvious to the World Government that things wouldn't go down so simply, to say nothing of the fact that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they really didn't consider the ramifications in the long term.]] They admitted they only wanted Ace dead because of his [[SinsOfTheFather parentage,]] not because he was particularly threatening in and of himself. Whitebeard was on life support and would have died anyway in a few more years. In short, the World Government attempted to fix a problem that was already going to be solved anyways, and ended up bringing far greater problems as a result.

* The corrupt World Government in ''Manga/OnePiece'' admitted privately that they made a major mistake with the Whitebeard War. They managed to capture the late pirate king Gol D. Roger's son Portgas D. Ace, and wanted to not only end Roger's bloodline but also use Ace as bait to draw in Whitebeard so they could defeat Whitebeard and his crew. Unfortunately, several outside factors made things go south very fast. While the World Government had no control over the outside factors that turned what should have been a great victory into a PyrrhicVictory, it should have been obvious to the World Government that things wouldn't go down so simply, to say nothing of the fact that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they really didn't consider the ramifications in the long term.]] They admitted they only wanted Ace dead because of his [[SinsOfTheFather parentage,]] not because he was particularly threatening in and of himself. Whitebeard was on life support and would have died anyway in a few more years. In short, the World Government attempted to fix a problem that was already going to be solved anyways, and ended up bringing far greater problems as a result.

* In ''Manga/HeavensDesignTeam'', Pluto fills the Amazon river with piranhas as a testing environment for her new species, and Mercury puts a couple of caimans to serve as a predator for the piranhas. This bites them in the ass when a freak accident de-ages four of the designers (including Pluto and Mercury) and blows them straight into the river.