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* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'': The Organization put a chemical in Jules's blonde hair dye that makes her [[DumbBlonde behave more stupid and slutty]] than she really is, as they force the various occupants of the cabin to fill their typical SlasherMovie roles. Jules is actually pretty intelligent, being pre-med.

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* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'': The Organization employs several measures to make the characters act stupid. They put a chemical in Jules's blonde hair dye that makes to make her [[DumbBlonde behave more stupid dumber and slutty]] than she really is, as they force hornier]]. They use a combination of chemicals, subliminal suggestions that manipulate the various occupants of the cabin to fill characters into filling their typical SlasherMovie roles. Jules is actually pretty intelligent, being pre-med.roles and doing dumb things (such as entering the basement, or reading the forbidden book out loud).
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** The episode "Salsa Imbecilicus" has Plankton making salsa with Patrick's DNA that makes almost everyone in Bikini Bottom as dumb as Patrick, Plankton himself included.

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** The episode "Salsa Imbecilicus" "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS9E25PineappleInvasionSalsaImbecilicus Salsa Imbecilicus]]" has Plankton making salsa with Patrick's DNA that makes almost everyone in Bikini Bottom as dumb as Patrick, Plankton himself included.

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* The ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' comic had an experimental weapon named "the Stupid Gun." It fell into the wrong hands -- HilarityEnsues.
* In the utterly depressing [[AlternateUniverse alternate]] Franchise/MarvelUniverse that serves as the setting for ''Mutant X'', there is a DumbMuscle character called The Brute. He used to be brilliant scientist Hank [=McCoy=] before his notorious ProfessorGuineaPig tendencies took a tragic turn, leaving him too stupid to figure out how to reverse what he'd done to himself.

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* The ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' comic had has an experimental weapon named "the Stupid Gun." It fell Gun" which falls into the wrong hands -- HilarityEnsues.
hands.
* In the utterly depressing [[AlternateUniverse alternate]] Franchise/MarvelUniverse that serves as the setting for ''Mutant X'', ''ComicBook/MutantX'', there is a DumbMuscle character called The Brute. He used to be brilliant scientist Hank [=McCoy=] before his notorious ProfessorGuineaPig tendencies took a tragic turn, leaving him too stupid to figure out how to reverse what he'd done to himself.himself.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** The end of Lex Luthor's PresidentEvil arc explains his blaming Superman for a kryptonite meteor heading for Earth, putting on PoweredArmor, and ranting madly on national TV, by him having injected himself with a mind-altering mixture of Bane's Venom formula and liquid kryptonite.
** Geoff Johns [[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis later]] threw in a revelation that Lex's recent bouts of stupidity were caused by the presence of his AlternateUniverse 'counterpart', Alex Luthor Jr., somehow... [[VoodooShark even though]] he is actually ''the son'' of his universe's Lex. This above gets some possibly unintentional FridgeBrilliance from the fact that ''before'' Luthor's total breakdown, in ''Adventures of Superman'' #600, he had a brief period of amnesia during which he became a radical anti-corporate villain, in essence, the opposite of regular-Luthor. During this story, he called himself... Alex.



* The end of the PresidentEvil arc in Franchise/TheDCU explained ComicBook/LexLuthor's blaming Franchise/{{Superman}} for a kryptonite meteor heading for Earth, putting on PoweredArmor, and ranting madly on national TV, by him having injected himself with a mind-altering mixture of Bane's Venom formula and liquid kryptonite.
** Drinking green, radiated rocks from outer space in liquid form is even worse. And don't forget this IS the guy who had cancer because he wore a Kryptonite ring all the time.
** Geoff Johns [[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis later]] threw in a revelation that Lex's recent bouts of stupidity were caused by the presence of his AlternateUniverse 'counterpart', Alex Luthor Jr. Somehow. [[VoodooShark Even though he is actually]] ''[[VoodooShark the son]]'' [[VoodooShark of his universe's Lex.]]
** The above gets some possibly unintentional FridgeBrilliance from the fact that ''before'' Luthor's total breakdown, in ''Adventures of Superman'' #600, he had a brief period of amnesia during which he became a radical anti-corporate villain, in essence, the opposite of regular-Luthor. During this story, he called himself ... Alex.



* In an early episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' Jimmy has a brief bout of FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome and builds a "brain drain" helmet to lower his intelligence to that of an average person, but it accidentally gets cranked up to maximum stupidity without him noticing, and turns him into a total idiot.

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* In an early episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', Jimmy has a brief bout of FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome and builds a "brain drain" helmet to lower his intelligence to that of an average person, but it accidentally gets cranked up to maximum stupidity without him noticing, and turns him into a total idiot.



** In "Grounder the Genius", Dr. Robotnik invents a helmet that uses a microchip to increase his already high intelligence. Near the end of the episode, the chip is swapped out with one that makes him stupid instead.
** In "Attack on Pinball Fortress", Robotnik builds a ray that he plans to use to make the population of Mobius stupid so they can be easily ruled. While Sonic wants to destroy it, Sergeant Doberman wants it because stupid soldiers are easier to train, while Wes Weasley wants it because stupid customers are easier to sell to.

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** In "Grounder "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E23GrounderTheGenius Grounder the Genius", Genius]]", Dr. Robotnik invents a helmet that uses a microchip to increase his already high intelligence. Near the end of the episode, the chip is swapped out with one that makes him stupid instead.
** In "Attack "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E41AttackOnPinballFortress Attack on Pinball Fortress", Fortress]]", Robotnik builds a ray that he plans to use to make the population of Mobius stupid so they can be easily ruled. While Sonic wants to destroy it, Sergeant Doberman wants it because stupid soldiers are easier to train, while Wes Weasley wants it because stupid customers are easier to sell to.



* Played with in an ''I.M Weasel'' short on ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'', in which [[ButtMonkey I.R. Baboon]] managed to publish a book that apparently turns everyone who reads it into complete and utter idiots. Lamenting on this turn of events, I.M. Weasel decides to expose himself to the "stupid powers"... but remains unaffected. He eventually realizes that everyone around him was already a stupid twit and he just didn't notice it.

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* ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'': Played with in an ''I.M Weasel'' ''WesternAnimation/IAmWeasel'' short on ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'', in which [[ButtMonkey I.R. Baboon]] managed manages to publish a book that apparently turns everyone who reads it into complete and utter idiots. Lamenting on this turn of events, I.M. Weasel decides to expose himself to the "stupid powers"... but remains unaffected. He eventually realizes that everyone around him was already a stupid twit twit, and he just didn't notice it.



* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In "Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!", Black Heron builds an intelligence-draining ray that she plans to use on Scrooge. Steelbeak ends up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard using it on her]] after she presses his BerserkButton one too many times, then later plans to make Duckburg literally TooDumbToLive. It also has a reverse setting.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Baby Stewie", Brian convinces Stewie that he'll lose his genius intellect when he grows older, so Stewie builds a machine to rewrite his DNA and keep himself smart. It instead reduces his intelligence to that of a normal 1-year-old.

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* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In "Double-O-Duck "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S3E3DoubleODuckInYouOnlyCrashTwice Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!", Twice!]]", Black Heron builds an intelligence-draining ray that she plans to use on Scrooge. Steelbeak ends up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard using it on her]] after she presses his BerserkButton one too many times, then later plans to make Duckburg literally TooDumbToLive. It also has a reverse setting.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Baby Stewie", "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS18E15BabyStewie Baby Stewie]]", Brian convinces Stewie that he'll lose his genius intellect when he grows older, so Stewie builds a machine to rewrite his DNA and keep himself smart. It instead reduces his intelligence to that of a normal 1-year-old.
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* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' has Experiment 319, named Spike, who can spray spikes that raise people's silliness by 99%, leaving them only 1% clever.

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* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' has Experiment 319, named Spike, who can spray spikes that raise people's silliness by 99%, leaving them only 1% clever.clever, for 48 hours. Notably, they failed to do anything noticeable to [[MadScientist Jumba]], who notes his SuperIntelligence is vast enough that even at 1% he's still a genius.

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* ''Literature/{{Eragon}}'': At one point, the titular character is captured and jailed, where he's given food and water laced with a drug that renders him, quite frankly, too stupid to do anything but smile, stare at the wall, and think highly of the warden who brings his tray ("Wasn't that nice of him?"). When Eragon misses a single meal, he regains just enough intelligence to realize what's happening and thus keep from eating until his mind is restored.



* In the short, short story ''Literature/IWishIMayIWishIMight'' by Creator/BillPronzini, a retarded boy finds a genie in a bottle which offers to grant him three wishes. One of them? "I'm going to wish for all the little boys and girls in the world to be just like me so I'll never-ever be without somebody to play with."

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* In the short, short story ''Literature/IWishIMayIWishIMight'' "I Wish I May I Wish I Might" by Creator/BillPronzini, Bill Pronzini, a retarded boy finds a genie in a bottle which offers to grant him three wishes. One of them? "I'm going to wish for all the little boys and girls in the world to be just like me so I'll never-ever be without somebody to play with."
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No character tags.


-->'''Dumb!Cat:''' You... You d-did this to me, bow-wow person! You made the smart go bye-bye!

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-->'''Dumb!Cat:''' -->'''Cat:''' You... You d-did this to me, bow-wow person! You made the smart go bye-bye!
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Not needed commentary


* The end of the PresidentEvil arc in Franchise/TheDCU explained ComicBook/LexLuthor's blaming Franchise/{{Superman}} for a kryptonite meteor heading for Earth, putting on PoweredArmor, and ranting madly on national TV, by him having injected himself with a mind-altering mixture of Bane's Venom formula and liquid kryptonite. Why he decided he needed some pretty low level SuperStrength despite being the President of the United States is definitely PlotInducedStupidity though. Damn you Loeb.

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* The end of the PresidentEvil arc in Franchise/TheDCU explained ComicBook/LexLuthor's blaming Franchise/{{Superman}} for a kryptonite meteor heading for Earth, putting on PoweredArmor, and ranting madly on national TV, by him having injected himself with a mind-altering mixture of Bane's Venom formula and liquid kryptonite. Why he decided he needed some pretty low level SuperStrength despite being the President of the United States is definitely PlotInducedStupidity though. Damn you Loeb.
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Can be used to justify the IdiotBall, as opposed to PlotInducedStupidity, which does not bother with an explanation.

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Can be used to justify the IdiotBall, as opposed to PlotInducedStupidity, which does not bother with an explanation.
IdiotBall.
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* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

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* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':''Website/SCPFoundation'':
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** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1056 SCP-1056]] is a {{Sizeshifting}} device that will often reorganize a living organism's body design in order to keep the organism's circulatory, pulmonary, and nervous systems functional despite the change in size. But scaling humans down below 0.50 results in their brains being simplified to the point of losing cognitive function -- and scaling them back up won't restore their brains because the device is now extrapolating from the simplified composition. The SCP Foundation first discovered SCP-1056 at a high school where many students "displayed significantly impaired language skills, abnormally poor attention span, long-term memory, and impulse control" as a result of using the device "for recreational purposes" without realizing what it was doing to their bodies.

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** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1056 SCP-1056]] is a {{Sizeshifting}} device that will often reorganize a living organism's body design in order to keep the organism's circulatory, pulmonary, and nervous systems functional despite the change in size. But scaling humans down below 0.50 results in their brains being simplified to the point of losing cognitive function -- and scaling them back up won't restore their brains because the device is now extrapolating from the simplified composition. The SCP Foundation first discovered SCP-1056 at a high school where many students "displayed significantly impaired language skills, abnormally poor attention span, long-term memory, and impulse control" as a result of using the device "for recreational purposes" without realizing what it was doing to their bodies.brains.

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* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-714 SCP-714]] is a ring that, among other symptoms, reduces the wearer's mental capacity, [[OneCurseLimit but also makes them resistant to other forms of mental manipulation]].

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* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':
**
[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-714 SCP-714]] is a ring that, among other symptoms, reduces the wearer's mental capacity, [[OneCurseLimit but also makes them resistant to other forms of mental manipulation]].manipulation]].
** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1056 SCP-1056]] is a {{Sizeshifting}} device that will often reorganize a living organism's body design in order to keep the organism's circulatory, pulmonary, and nervous systems functional despite the change in size. But scaling humans down below 0.50 results in their brains being simplified to the point of losing cognitive function -- and scaling them back up won't restore their brains because the device is now extrapolating from the simplified composition. The SCP Foundation first discovered SCP-1056 at a high school where many students "displayed significantly impaired language skills, abnormally poor attention span, long-term memory, and impulse control" as a result of using the device "for recreational purposes" without realizing what it was doing to their bodies.
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** "You won't get away Man-Ray; not while we have the Orb of Confusion!" Which, by the way, causes a wave of confusion that ''starts'' with the person who turned it on, making it a very ''literal'' IdiotBall.

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** "You won't get away Man-Ray; not while we "Not so fast, archvillain! We still have the Orb of Confusion!" Which, by the way, causes a wave of confusion that ''starts'' with the person who turned it on, making it a very ''literal'' IdiotBall.
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Increasing image resolution.


[[quoteright:234:[[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/IdiotBall.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:234:[[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope WARNING]]: Prolonged exposure can cause [[TooDumbToLive severely reduced intelligence]], [[NoSocialSkills complete social ineptitude]], and most likely [[BreadEggsMilkSquick death]].]]-]

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[[quoteright:234:[[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants [[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/IdiotBall.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:234:[[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope
org/pmwiki/pub/images/c4c53b91_d181_437c_978b_6c569b0513c8.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope
WARNING]]: Prolonged exposure can cause [[TooDumbToLive severely reduced intelligence]], [[NoSocialSkills complete social ineptitude]], and most likely [[BreadEggsMilkSquick death]].]]-]
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* In the short, short story ''I Wish I May, I Wish I Might'' by Bill Pronzini, a retarded boy finds a genie in a bottle which offers to grant him three wishes. One of them? "I'm going to wish for all the little boys and girls in the world to be just like me so I'll never-ever be without somebody to play with."

to:

* In the short, short story ''I Wish I May, I Wish I Might'' ''Literature/IWishIMayIWishIMight'' by Bill Pronzini, Creator/BillPronzini, a retarded boy finds a genie in a bottle which offers to grant him three wishes. One of them? "I'm going to wish for all the little boys and girls in the world to be just like me so I'll never-ever be without somebody to play with."



* In Creator/RobertLForward's ''Rocheworld,'' the ship's crew are given a drug ([=NoDie=]) that greatly extends their lifespans at the expense of making them stupid. The ship's AI stops administering the drug when they get to their destination, and their intelligence comes back.

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* In Creator/RobertLForward's ''Rocheworld,'' ''Literature/{{Rocheworld}}'', the ship's crew are given a drug ([=NoDie=]) that greatly extends their lifespans at the expense of making them stupid. The ship's AI stops administering the drug when they get to their destination, and their intelligence comes back.
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* The end of the PresidentEvil arc in Franchise/TheDCU explained ComicBook/LexLuthor's blaming {{Superman}} for a kryptonite meteor heading for Earth, putting on PoweredArmor, and ranting madly on national TV, by him having injected himself with a mind-altering mixture of Bane's Venom formula and liquid kryptonite. Why he decided he needed some pretty low level SuperStrength despite being the President of the United States is definitely PlotInducedStupidity though. Damn you Loeb.

to:

* The end of the PresidentEvil arc in Franchise/TheDCU explained ComicBook/LexLuthor's blaming {{Superman}} Franchise/{{Superman}} for a kryptonite meteor heading for Earth, putting on PoweredArmor, and ranting madly on national TV, by him having injected himself with a mind-altering mixture of Bane's Venom formula and liquid kryptonite. Why he decided he needed some pretty low level SuperStrength despite being the President of the United States is definitely PlotInducedStupidity though. Damn you Loeb.

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