History Main / JustEatGilligan

* {{Inverted}} in {{Houshin Engi}}. Being the {{genre savvy}} guy that he is, Taikobo decides the best course of action in one of the first chapters is to take the fight directly to Dakki. Just find a way in the palace and catch her when he guard is down, get the happy ending. The problem is that Dakki is {{dangerously genre savvy}} and also a {{manipulative bastard}}. She knows Taikobo's every move before he makes it and nearly kills him in a pit of snakes.

* In RanmaOneHalf, not one single character who has gained a curse at the Jusenkyo springs has thought to take a dip in whatever spring would cure them before they leave, despite there being a helpful guide there who happens to know what curse each spring carries.

* ''{{Terraria}}'' has the "Guide" who does things like letting monsters into your safe house, prompting many a player to think this trope.

* Creator ChuckJones liked to quote George Santayana's observation, "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim." Meaning, to Wile E., eating the Road Runner is largely not the point anymore. Indeed, as Cliff Claven pointed out on ''{{Cheers}}'', "What he wants is to eat that ''particular'' Roadrunner. Very existential."

** In the shorts where Wile E. is pitted against BugsBunny, it's made clear that he's in it for the intellectual challenge as much as for a meal. One would assume this is probably the case in the Road Runner shorts as well.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' would have ended much sooner in Lelouch's favor had he abandoned his favoritism and made a much earlier attempt to kill his best friend turned rival Suzaku, or geassing Villetta into forgetting everything that happened during their first encounter. Even sooner if he'd simply made some [[spoiler: "Follow all of my orders"]] commands, which he finally begins throwing around near the end of the second season. There are some (admittedly fairly flimsy) reasons for not doing these things; Lelouch's personal brand of selfishness makes him willing to do anything for the people he cares about at the expense of everyone else, (he started his entire war for the sake of his little sister,) so it is a recognisable character flaw for him to hold back on Suzaku. He also dislikes taking away people's freedom (it's one of the reasons he hates [[TheEmpire Brittannia]],) so he only Geasses innocent people temporarily, and his finally being willing to go that extra mile is a sign of his general breakdown. Yes, there is a lot of ambiguity and hypocrisy in his personal code of ethics ([[HypocrisyNod which he's well aware of]],) but he does actually have a reason for not solving his problems this way. His failure to deal with Viletta properly (either by Geass or by execution,) is certainly a stupid oversight, but could be excused by the stress of his first battle and new-found powers causing a WhatAnIdiot moment.

** Bluto DOES eat the spinach willingly in in an attempt to beat Popeye [[spoiler at Baseball spoiler]] in "The Twisker Pitcher".

** Bluto DOES eat the spinach willingly in in an attempt to beat Popeye <spoiler>at Baseball</spoiler> in "The Twisker Pitcher".

** Bluto DOES eat the spinach willingly in "The Twisker Pitcher" in an attempt to beat Popeye <spoiler>at Baseball</spoiler>.

* ''TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' deserves some kind of reward for the stupid decision that doesn't just [[NiceJobBreakingItHero help this game's villain]], but makes about 85% of all misery in Hyrule ever possible. You spend about a third of the game trying to open a Gate of Time so you can find Zelda, where you learn nothing that Impa or Fi couldn't have just ''told'' you. Opening the Gate of Time is mandatory to [[spoiler:acquire the Triforce to obliterate the villain in the present by]] elevating the Master Sword to its full power, but rather than ask the old lady [[spoiler(actually a future version of Impa)]] to dismiss the gate when you were done with it, the protagonists give Ghirahim the opportunity to haul Zelda through it and revive his master. Had the gate been dismissed on time, the BigBad would have been obliterated without undue drama and Ganondorf wouldn't be tearing Hyrule a new asshole time and again.

* ''TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' deserves some kind of reward for the stupid decision that doesn't just [[NiceJobBreakingItHero helps this game's villain]], but makes about 85% of all misery in Hyrule ever possible. You spend about a third of the game trying to find a way back in time, where you learn nothing that Impa or Fi couldn't have just ''told'' you. But the timegate gets hijacked by TheDragon after defeating the BigBad in the present. Had you never opened the timegate, TheDragon would've been unable to go back (opening the gate required the Master Sword, which he couldn't use since he's evil and which didn't even exist yet), the BigBad wouldn't have been able to utter his curse, and Ganondorf would never have existed.

** I think it would also break the treaty with the werewolves.

* ''Film/TheAvengers'', [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwrkR3PELJ8 referencing a deleted scene in the Norton film]], has Bruce say that he's tried to kill ''himself'' and it hasn't worked. Part of the problem in that film is that the military is trying to ''capture'' Bruce. Even when hitting him with tank fire in the Ang Lee film, they could barely slow him down. And even without the military's intervention, Bruce often Hulks out anyway.

Note that there's no guarantee that doing this one thing would ''definitely'' result in the [[StatusQuoIsGod show's resolution]], but there's at least enough potential there to make that one thing ''worth a try''. [[NeverRecycleYourSchemes Or maybe several tries, to hammer out all the bugs]], if the fundamental concept is particularly ''rational''...

Note that there's no guarantee that doing that one thing would ''definitely'' result in the [[StatusQuoIsGod show's resolution]], but there's at least enough potential there to make that one thing ''worth a try''. [[NeverRecycleYourSchemes Or maybe several tries, to hammer out all the bugs]], if the fundamental concept is particularly ''rational''...

* In ''{{Enchanted}}'', Giselle is teleported to the real world by going out from a sewer. It seems that to come back to her original world she just had to go back to said sewer and throw herself in it [[spoiler: as it was shown in the ending by Prince Edward and Nancy]]. {{Justified|Trope}} by how Giselle has the mentality of the typical DistressedDamsel, making her brain the size of a walnut. In order to figure that out, she needed her time the real world to become GenreSavvy enough to save the day.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''TheSwanPrincess'': King William would have lived and his daughter would never have been imprisoned, if he had just executed the BigBad in the beginning. It's even lampshaded in the prologue:
-->'''Narrator:''' "Many thought the King ''too'' kind.
[[/folder]]

* In ''StationeryVoyagers'', Alhox has a legitimate excuse (his [[LaserGuidedAmnesia head trauma]]) for [[DevilInPlainSight not immediately figuring out]] what the Mystery Wanderer [[ObviouslyEvil so plainly is]]. The other characters [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter really have no excuse]] for being [[UnwittingPawn so easily manipulated]]. Still, they begin to have suspicions about him. However, the most Pinkata does is say: "I have a feeling he's a really bad man." Had she voiced her "[[CassandraTruth crazier]]" suspicion that he was [[spoiler:Melchar]], Alhox would have put two and two together - and a third of the series' entire plot would immediately disintegrate. All this trouble because the [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]] CannotSpitItOut.