History Main / RightForTheWrongReasons

* During the ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' review of ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' on UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} they remark that the developers can't be accused of racism because they, as a Japanese team, put in the [[SelfDeprecation self-deprecating]] Piston Hondo. They're right that such an accusation would hold little merit, but it's because of ''[[CanadaEh Bear Hugger]]'' as the game (Just the Wii version specifically) was made by Canadian developers Next Level Gaming Inc. In fact, they went out of their way to pick Bear Hugger as the ''only'' character to return from ''Super Punch Out!!''.

** In ''Canim Fever'', Greg berates [[GenkiGuy Rowley]] for skipping. Rowley thinks that Greg is [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] of him for not being able to skip, but Greg actually just thinks skipping looks stupid. However, Rowley ''was'' right in the assumption that Greg can't skip.

** In another book, Greg berates [[GenkiGuy Rowley]] for skipping. Rowley thinks that Greg is [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] of him for not being able to skip, but Greg actually just thinks skipping looks stupid. However, Rowley ''was'' right in the assumption that Greg can't skip.

** In one book, Manny apologises to Greg for breaking his gaming device by making him [[CrappyHomemadeGift a tinfoil ball with toothpicks sticking out]]. Greg thinks that if he doesn't throw the ball away soon, he will end up [[PainToTheAss sitting on it]]. He's right that ''somebody'' will end up sitting on it, but it turns out to be Rowley instead.

*** [[OppositeSexClone Although...]]

** In [[http://xkcd.com/759/ this]] comic someone correctly calculates that three times nine is 27, but does it by multiplying three by the square root of 81, and then dividing it by 27, 21, and six. (The AltText suggests that they did know the answer the normal way, they just didn't know how to show their working beyond "because that's what it is", and so had to fudge something.)

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'': Seen in [[http://xkcd.com/759/ this]] comic. Someone correctly calculates that three times nine is 27, but does it by multiplying three by the square root of 81, and then dividing it by 27, 21, and six. (The AltText suggests that they did know the answer the normal way, they just didn't know how to show their working beyond "because that's what it is", and so had to fudge something.)

->''[D]idn't Aristarchus and the Pythagoreans propose heliocentrism in ancient times? If only they had prevailed, we might have had Real Science millennia sooner. What was ''their'' evidence?''\\
''Well, you see, fire is nobler than earth and the center is a nobler position. So fire has to be in the center. QED.''\\
''There are many names for this sort of thinking, but "scientific" is not one of them.''

** Grand Admiral Thrawn of ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' makes a few of these. Thrawn's TheChessmaster and a ManipulativeBastard who is often [[MagnificentBastard magnificent]], and usually he's spectacular at gauging what any given individual will do in response to the situation. As the trilogy goes on and unforeseen events crop up with more regularity he starts being wrong about the ''why'', but still right—until the end, when he's not. The main issue (besides overestimating the abilities and sanity of his allies) is that he's completely unaware that [[spoiler: Luke and Leia are Darth Vader's children]]; since the things he doesn't predict lead almost entirely from that, he had no way of predicting them.

* In ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', after Kirito reveals outs Heathcliff as being Kayaba Akihiko all along, Kayaba paralyzes the assembled crew before ranting about the self-destructive stupidity of the player base, who ignore his strategies in favour of idiotic [[DeathOrGloryAttack Death or Glory attacks]] that more often result in the "death" part, before blaming him for all their problems. One player reminds him that for all his complaints about the players' tendencies, he genuinely ''is'' responsible for many of their problems. [[DisproportionateRetribution Kayaba kills him in response]].

** In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': DitzyGenius Miu manages to [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight accurately finger the killer]] in [[spoiler:every trial she participates in]], but lacks the deductive reasoning skills to connect the how and why. [[spoiler:In the second trial, she says it's suspicious that Kirumi was alone in the gym and accuses her, which ends up being proven right. In the third trial, she accuses Korekiyo of killing Tenko and Angie since Angie's murder weapon came from his lab, and he was the first to discover Tenko's body. Lastly, in the final trial when the surviving students perform a retrial of the first case, her assessment that Monokuma was the murderer was half-right as the mastermind (who Monokuma works for anyway) ended up being the real killer.]] On top of this, Miu's contributions to the investigations of the murders proved very helpful, if not for the right reasons. [[spoiler:In Chapter 1, Miu adds a camera to a drone to draft a floor plan of the library, revealing Kaede's Rube Goldberg DeathTrap, just to get out of doing any investigative legwork. Chapter 2 has Miu establishing the alibis for everyone in the Insect Meet and Greet, which contributes to Kirumi's setup opportunity, all because she secretly felt left out. Lastly, in Chapter 3, Miu instantly assesses the wax effigy setup to be a distraction and proposes the séance was entirely a trap to lure Tenko to her death, all of which is proved to be true... for no other reason than her intuition from her golden brain.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':

** In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': DitzyGenius Miu manages to [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight accurately finger the killer]] in [[spoiler:every trial she participates in]], but lacks the deductive reasoning skills to connect the how and why. [[spoiler:In the second trial, she says it's suspicious that Kirumi was alone in the gym and accuses her, which ends up being proven right. In the third trial, she accuses Korekiyo of killing Tenko and Angie since Angie's murder weapon came from his lab, and he was the first to discover Tenko's body. Lastly, in the final trial when the surviving students perform a retrial of the first case, her assessment that Monokuma was the murderer was half-right as the mastermind (who Monokuma works for anyway) ended up being the real killer.]] On top of this, Miu's contributions to the investigations of the murders proved very helpful, if not for the right reasons. [[spoiler:In Chapter 1, Miu adds a camera to a drone to draft a floor plan of the library, revealing Kaede's Rube Goldberg DeathTrap, just to get out of doing any investigative legwork. Chapter 2 has Miu establishing the alibis for everyone in the Insect Meet and Greet, which contributes to Kirumi's setup opportunity, all because she secretly felt left out. Lastly, in Chapter 3, Miu instantly assesses the wax effigy setup to be a distraction and proposes the séance was entirely a trap to lure Tenko to her death, all of which is proved to be true... for no other reason than her intuition from her golden brain.]]

** When King Robert wants to make Jaime Lannister the Warden of the East, Eddard Stark is suspicious of him; he remembers seeing Jaime [[SlouchOfVillainy slouched on the Iron Throne]] after betraying and killing [[TheCaligula Mad King Aerys]], and takes this as evidence of Jaime wanting the throne for himself. Robert jokes that Jaime was probably just tired and needed a place to sit... and is completely correct.[[note]]Though this loses some of its possible accuracy with the fact that, unlike in the TV show, the Book!Iron Throne is far more massive - a 30-foot mess that requires a climb equivalent to 2-3 floors worth of stairs to actually get to the seat; if he was REALLY exhausted, it seems more likely Jaime would have sat on the steps, if not the ground, rather than climb all the way up.[[/note]]

!!!'''Authors:'''
* In Creator/KarlMay's novels and stories set in the [[TheWildWest Old West]], the cowboys, scouts and settlers in the West from either [=USA=] or Mexico are never idealized. Their vices, avarice, theft, violence, [[TheDungAges filth]] are usually touched with BrutalHonesty. He did it to contrast the IncorruptiblePurePureness of the heroes Literature/{{Winnetou}} and Charlie/[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Old Shatterhand]], but he reflects reality pretty accurately. The Western frontier had been a pretty dismal place before being fully settled and people trying their luck there were frequently or even usually on the less savoury side.
!!!'''Works:'''

* In ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', after Kirito reveals outs Heathcliff as being Kayaba Akihiko all along, Kayaba paralyzes the assembled crew before ranting about the self-destructive stupidity of the player base, who ignore his strategies in favour of idiotic [[DeathOrGloryAttack Death-or-Glory attacks]] that more often result in the "death" part, before blaming him for all their problems. One player reminds him that for all his complaints about the players' tendencies, he genuinely ''is'' responsible for many of their problems. [[DisproportionateRetribution Kayaba kills him in response]].