History SkewedPriorities / WesternAnimation

** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS15E6HotShots Hot Shots]]", Peter tells Lois that he'll support her anti-vaccination protest just as soon as he finishes getting the word out about the one thing more important. We then see Peter some time later, running around Quahog shouting that [[Creator/TheWachowskis the brothers who made]] ''Film/TheMatrix'' [[{{Transgender}} are ladies now.]]

** In ''Bender's Big Score'', Bender was sent to kill Fry while BrainwashedAndCrazy and believes himself to have succeeded. As he's grieving, Fry appears, very much alive. Bender's delight at his survival doesn't stop him from ''immediately'' trying to kill him again: "I don't want people to say I'm incompetent."
** In "A Farewell to Arms," Earth is seemingly about to be destroyed by a solar flare. Bender is getting ready to board Earth's only operational ship with his friends when he finds out about the "mayhem" that's due among those left behind and happily remains on the doomed Earth to loot.

** In their self-titled episode, Brian and Stewie are locked in a bank vault and Stewie's cell phone has just enough battery life for one call. He uses it to return a $3000 sweater (it was the last day Stewie had to return the sweater for a refund).
** In "Hot Shots", Peter tells Lois that he'll support her anti-vaccination protest just as soon as he finishes getting the word out about the one thing more important. We then see Peter some time later, running around Quahog shouting that [[Creator/TheWachowskis the brothers who made]] ''Film/TheMatrix'' [[{{Transgender}} are ladies now.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In the two-parter episode “Pandemic”, Randy was so obsessed with his video camera & recording everything he saw to the point that he prioritized recording everything over the fact that giant guinea pigs were attacking the city. Even when one guinea pig broke into his house (and despite Sharon’s constant protesting), he ''still'' wanted to record everything!

* WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries: PlayedForDrama. Cassandra tells Hercules she had a vision, and he assumes that it's something important only to be disappointed when Cassandra tells him her vision was of her kissing Icarus. Hercules still agrees to help her by talking with Icarus, only to make things worse by unintentionally making Icarus happy to learn he kisses Cassandra in the future. So Cassandra makes a deal with Hades to stop the kiss, for her soul on weekends. She makes it clear to Hercules she does not care for the consequences of her actions as long as she gets out of the kiss. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] as she draws a line at having Icarus hurt or killed. When it looks like Hades killed Icarus by blasting him with an energy bolt she is shocked and horrified, even saying that while she didn't want to kiss him, she didn't want him dead. When Hades reveals that he put him in an eternal sleep, and only a kiss can wake him up, she is willing kiss him to wake him up.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode [[Recap/EdEddNEddyS5E2SmileForTheEd Smile for the Ed]]", none of the school staff seem to care about the students harassing Eddy into a nervous breakdown in the cafeteria, yet they punish Eddy when they mistakenly believe he [[FelonyMisdemeanor impersonated the principal]] ([[MisplacedRetribution which was actually Edd's doing]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': In "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS5E2SmileForTheEd Smile for the Ed]]", none of the school staff seem to care about the students harassing Eddy into a nervous breakdown in the cafeteria, yet they punish Eddy when they mistakenly believe he [[FelonyMisdemeanor impersonated the principal]] ([[MisplacedRetribution which was actually Edd's doing]]).

* Zim from ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' is this trope incarnate. He gets a huge warmech that can solo whole armies if powered properly and the first thing he does with it is try to beat up Dib, an eleven-year old kid. He builds massively advanced [[LotusEaterMachine Lotus Eater Machines]], than uses them for winning a school fundraiser and finding out who threw a muffin at him during lunch. An explosion threatens to destroy the city and his base, and the main thing he's worried about is what his bosses will think if they call before it destroys everything. WordOfGod notes that this is Zim's FatalFlaw; he's not stupid, he just has the worse sense of priorities ever.
* The reason why Marceline of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' hates her father is because he [[FelonyMisdemeanor ate her fries]], and not because he's an EldritchAbomination that eats people's souls and is most likely {{Satan}}.

** In the episode "XLVI: Scotsman Saves Jack -- Part 2," Jack takes the time to change his clothes back to his regular clothes when he regains his lost memories... while the Scotsman is about to get eaten by the monster the Sirens morphed into.
** When Jack and Ashi end up trapped in the belly of the beast in ''[=XCV=]'', Ashi was solely focused on killing Jack rather than their predicament forcing Jack to keep her in chains.
** While it was understandable that Jack didn’t want to be embarrassed by [[spoiler: Ashi’s nudity in episode 8 of season 5, he took the time to use his gi to cover her, rather than to concentrate on defeating Lazarus 92, which was a danger to his and Ashi’s lives]].

** In "Hot Shots", Peter tells Lois that he'll support her anti-vaccination protest just as soon as he finishes getting the word out about the one thing more important. We then see Peter some time later, running around Quahog shouting that [[Creator/TheWachowskis the brothers who made]] ''Film/TheMatrix'' [[{{Transgender}} are ladies now]].

** In [[CampingEpisode "Let's Play Treasure Hunt"]], the main four go camping. Kaeloo checks the supply pack and realizes that the sleeping bags, flashlights and all other necessary equipment is gone. [[TheDitz Stumpy]] reveals that he unpacked everything because there wasn't enough room to pack his comic books.
** In Episode 77, [[TheFashionista Pretty]] is upset when she hears that the world will be destroyed... because she doesn't know what to wear for the explosion.

** In Episode 102, [[CatsAreMean Mr. Cat]] and [[AntiHero Stumpy]] beat up Kaeloo and turn Quack Quack into an EldritchAbomination. Kaeloo sees what they did to Quack Quack and is horrified... because during the chaos, she was reading a book and lost her page.

* In ''Pinocchio's Christmas,'' the main character [[spoiler:steals a puppet from the Puppet show he stared in, and Lady Azora ignores and instead sings a song of how he was wrong to work for money to buy Geppetto a Christmas gift and should just give his father love]]. Talk about UnfortunateImplications.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In the two-parter episode “Pandemic,” Randy was so obsessed with his video camera & recording everything he saw to the point that he prioritized recording everything over the fact that giant guinea pigs were attacking the city. Even when one guinea pig broke into his house (and Sharon’s constant protesting), he ''still'' wanted to record everything!

* Ron Stoppable from ‘’WesternAnimation/KimPossible’’ lives and breaths this trope. Once he fixated on something, such as getting Kim elected Student Council President or making a home movie, he will pursue it even at the cost of the mission.

** Scorpia is so focused on her crush on Catra that at one point she assigns Kyle to the vitally important fortress defence role of... figuring out Catra's favourite colour. She also at one point stops in the middle of a fight with Seahawk to complain about her romantic troubles, [[NotSoDifferent leading to a bonding moment]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' uses this for the occasional gag:
** Exaggerated in "The Return of Harmony", Pinkie doesn't care about eternal chaos, as long as she gets chocolate milk rain and Rarity wants the box the Elements of Harmony are in, instead of the Elements themselves. Keep in mind that this is ''before'' [[spoiler:they're {{brainwashed}} by Discord.]]
** Continued in "Keep Calm and Flutter On", when Pinkie instead criticizes Discord for making chocolate milk rain... because he didn't also provide whipped cream.
** In "Dragonshy", Rarity foregoes on a protective helmet and picks a chic hat instead, because the helmet didn't look as good. Also, her skewed priorities is put on full display when she is shown to be more concerned about getting some of the dragon's stash of jewels than she is about getting rid of the dragon itself.
** Rarity is pretty much the queen of this trope. In "Lesson Zero", she forgot to bring plates to a picnic, but she certainly didn't forget [[DramaQueen her fainting couch to lament that fact afterwards.]]
** In the same episode Twilight Sparkle is looking for someone with a problem she can solve so she can write her usual letter to Princess Celestia about it. Seeking out the timid Fluttershy as a likely source she witnesses her beat down and NeckSnap a bear (actually part of a massage) and her response is to lament that she doesn't have any friendship problems, and walk off without a second thought.
** In "Ponyville Confidential", the Cutie Mark Crusaders lament that, having made themselves pariahs throughout town and alienated everypony (including their own families and Rainbow Dash), they ''still'' didn't get their cutie marks. This is standard behavior most other times too -- no matter how convoluted their plan, disastrous their failure, or devastating the outcome, ''especially'' if they could have shattered their damn ''skulls,'' their top priority is finding out if they have their cutie marks.
*** Averted in "Hearts and Hooves Day", where getting their cutie marks was the last thing on their minds; they just wanted to make their teacher Cheerilee happy.
** During "A Canterlot Wedding", after the changelings reveal themselves, Rarity, once again, is more focused on catching the dresses the others threw off than going to get the Elements of Harmony. The rest of the group lampshades this by yelling "Rarity" in unison.
** In “Magic Duel”, Twilight could give Pinkie back her mouth after Trixie has been rendered harmless and defeated, but she’s too busy explaining how the elaborate ruse was pulled off, and then performing for the Saddle Arabians.
** Pinkie's priorities are clearly off during the first part of "Princess Twilight", when she becomes more focused on thinking about cake frosting than reassuring Twilight about their friendship (though in her defense, there’s the Magic Duel example, and to a lesser extent, three of said friends eating the cake she worked hard to protect in “Mmmystery on the Friendship Express”), and again when she gets more focused on coloring than helping find out what's happening in the Everfree Forest.
** In "Make New Friends But Keep Discord", when [[BlobMonster The Smooze]] starts overflowing the Gala, Rarity screams, "My shoes will be ruined forever!" Applejack replies, "''That's'' what you're worried about! Really?"
** After the canoe crashes in "Non-Compete Clause" Rainbow Dash is less concerned about the students' safety than the fact that she missed the canoeing speed record. Also, throughout the episode, she and Applejack are more concerned about getting Teacher Of The Month than, you know, actually managing and coordinating their field trip. A fact that the six students repeatedly lampshade. After Applejack and Rainbow Dash call for help after trapping themselves in a stick and vine cage, for example:
--->'''Ocellus''': Uh, at least now they're agreeing on something.

-->'''Jackie''': When the museum finds out about this, my career will go down the drain!
-->'''Uncle''': (''{{Dope Slap}}s Jackie'') Your career's not important! The statue had inscriptions on it! ''Knowledge'' has been lost ''forever''!

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Dying For Pie", after Squidward explains to him about the exploding pie, the first thing Mr. Krabs comments on is [[Main/Greed the twenty-five dollars Squidward spent on the pie.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Dying For Pie", after Squidward explains to him about the exploding pie, the first thing Mr. Krabs comments on is [[Greed the twenty-five dollars Squidward spent on the pie.]]

** In their self-titled episode, Brian and Stewie are locked in a bank vault and Stewie's cell phone has just enough battery life for one call. He uses it to return a sweater. To be fair, though, it was a $3000 sweater (and it was the last day Stewie had to return the sweater for a refund).

** In their self-titled episode, Brian and Stewie are locked in a bank vault and Stewie's cell phone has just enough battery life for one call. He uses it to return a sweater.

-->'''Hiccup''': Was that...chicken? Is that what you've been-\\

** In "Class Clown", Trixie Tang considered her "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial seemingly harmless plant]]" more important than Timmy, who killed it, and [[UngratefulBastard dumps him]], [[ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike despite the fact that he saved her life]].

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'', the Turtles are trying to get into the warehouse where Shredder is holding April hostage - like he always is - when Michelangelo gets the munchies and suggests stopping for a pizza break. The others are noticeably upset at him, but it does [[DeliveryGuyInfiltration give them an idea on how to get in.]]

** In the episode "XLVI: Scotsman Saves Jack - Part 2," Jack takes the time to change his clothes back to his regular clothes when he regains his lost memories....while the Scotsman is about to get eaten by the monster the Sirens morphed into.

** Scorpia is so focused on her crush on Catra that at one point she assigns Kyle to the vitally important fortress defence role of...figuring out Catra's favourite colour. She also at one point stops in the middle of a fight with Seahawk to complain about her romantic troubles, [[NotSoDifferent leading to a bonding moment]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'': The Teen Titans are incredibly selfish and immature, and often focus on inane things instead of stopping bad guys or saving the world.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': {{Downplayed}} and {{Deconstructed}} in ''All-Stars''. Although Duncan is determined to stop Mal, he also wanted to prove he was still a bad boy, so he blew up Chris's "[[InsistentTerminology cottage]]", which got him booted from the competition and sent to jail.

** PlayedForDrama with Catra's VillainousBreakdown. She becomes so obsessed with getting a "victory" that she tries to destroy the world on the grounds that Adora wants to save it. [[spoiler:She's stopped at the cost of Queen Angella's life, and the attempt has burned her bridges with both Adora and Scorpia.]]

** PlayedForDrama with Catra's VillainousBreakdown. She becomes so obsessed with getting a "victory" that she tries to destroy the world on the grounds that Adora wants to save it. [[spoiler:She's stopped at the cost of Queen Angella's life, and the attempt has burned her bridges with both Adora and Scorpia.]]

* WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries: PlayedForDrama. Cassandra tells Hercules she had a vision, and he assumes that it's something important only to be disappointed when Cassandra tells him her vision was of her kissing Icarus. Hercules still agrees to help her by talking with Icarus, only to make things worse by unintentionally making Icarus happy to learn he kisses Cassandra in the future. So Cassandra makes a deal with Hades to stop the kiss, for her soul on weekends. She makes it clear to Hercules she does not care for the consequences of her actions as long as she gets out of the kiss. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] as she draws a line at having Icarus hurt or killed. When it looks like Hades killed Icarus by blasting him with an energy bolt she is shocked and horrified, even saying that while she didn't want to kiss him, she didn't want him dead. When Hades reveals that he put him in an eternal sleep, and only a kiss can wake him up, she is willing kiss him to wake him up.

-->'''Knock Out:''' Guards! Help me extinguish this inferno before it scorches the project! And my ''finish!''

** In "A Farewell to Arms," Earth is seemingly about to be destroyed by a solar flare. Bender is getting ready to board an escape ship with his friends when he finds out about the "mayhem" that's due among those left behind and happily remains on the doomed Earth to loot.

** In "A Farewell to Arms," Earth is seemingly about to be destroyed by a solar flare. Bender is getting ready to board an escape ship with his friends when he finds out about the "mayhem" that's due among those left behind and happily stays on the doomed Earth to loot.

** In "A Farewell to Arms," Earth is seemingly about to be destroyed by a solar flare. Bender is getting ready to board an escape ship with his friends when he finds out about the "mayhem" that's due among those left behind and happily stays behind to loot.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In the two-parter episode “Pandemic,” Randy was so obsessed with his video camera & recording everything he saw to the point that he prioritized recording everything over the fact that giant guinea pigs were attacking the city. Even when one guinea pig broke into his house (and Sharon’s constant protesting), he ''still'' wanted to record everything!