Line #97 IdiotBall/WesternAnimation


1	Sometimes, the only way to [[ThePlotDemandedThisIndex keep the plot going]] is to [[IdiotBall have the characters make some really boneheaded decisions]], and WesternAnimation is no exception.
2	----
3	* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode "Sonic Breakout", Robotnik captures Sonic's favorite comic book artist, and Sonic decides that the best way to break him out is to get captured himself. Now, this in and of itself isn't idiotic. But assuming that Robotnik ''wasn't'' smart enough to build a cell specifically designed to hold his archenemy, who could escape a normal cell with ease? His henchmen may make that mistake, but ''he's'' not that stupid. It's worth mentioning that Robotnik later grabs the ball himself, leaving said henchmen in the room to guard the cell, which was what let Sonic escape.
4	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Every character except for Sasha falls into this trope in the episode "Sprivy". Sprig and Ivy become obsessed with spending time together, that they meddle with Sasha choice of teams for their mission. But they fail to see that meddling with the teams Sasha assigned for them just to avoid 5 minutes of separation would be a bad idea. Even after Sasha tells them that their job is more important than their relationship and later after tricking Stumpy and Fern into switching up, they completely ignore Stumpy's warning about the dangers of messing with Sasha's tactical decisions as he says this right in front of them. Also their way of tricking Stumpy and Fern is by forging a fake letter from Sasha. Saying that they should switch up only because Sprig and Ivy are dating, and not because of a reason that would actually make sense. Stumpy and Fern easily believe Sprig and Ivy's fake letter without question, despite their BadBadActing. Regardless, Stumpy was right and the mission almost ends in failure because of their bone-headed decision.
5	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAnimalsOfFarthingWood'': Weasel conveniently forgets Fox's message for Adder to kill Scarface and mixes it up as simply killing a blue fox, despite she being the one who suggests they get Adder to kill Scarface.
6	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
7	** Iroh, usually RetiredBadass and TheCaretaker in one, once almost killed himself by drinking tea made of the leaves of a perceived delicious tea plant that wasn't (well, he and Zuko were desperate for food at the time). Followed by a small {{Find the Cure}} plot. (Though this may have been a bit of character exposition, meant to demonstrate exactly how much Iroh enjoys his tea.) However, this also could have been a BatmanGambit on his part. As up until then Zuko refused to go to a village for help, and Iroh did this to make him decide to go.
8	** Also, using Firebending to heat his tea while they were trying to stay incognito... in the Earth Kingdom... surrounded by refugees from the invading Fire Nation forces. Zuko immediately {{lampshade\|Hanging}}s: "What are you doing firebending your tea?! For a wise old man, that was a pretty stupid move!" Iroh doesn't make that mistake again, though- a later scene has him borrowing spark rocks for their stove even though as far as he knew nobody would see him lighting it himself.
9	*** Taking the two above, it looks more like his dangerous obsession with tea is his own idiot ball.
10	** Katara, who before had been hiding out of sight, deciding to step out and into the crazed Azula's line of vision just as Zuko has taunted her to shoot him with lightning. This is just so Zuko is knocked out of the fight protecting Katara so she can defeat Azula.
11	*** Also Zuko himself. Already having an edge over a crazed Azula, it was looking like he could win the fight through normal firebending alone, but then feels the need to taunt her into using lightning. And he doesn't just taunt her, he specifically says "Whats the matter, afraid I'll redirect it?". Even a VERY out of it Azula isn't stupid enough to shoot lightning at a guy who specifically says "I can stop lightning".
12	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'':
13	** Ms. Marvel picks one up when she sees what appears to be the rest of the Avengers walk out of a Skrull spaceship. Despite being well aware of the Skrulls' ability to shapeshift, she's only suspicious for as long as it takes for "Tony" to give a made-up alibi. She only starts to show signs of knowing once they start ''invading Wakanda'' for no reason, and even then she needs to see "Thor" die and revert to his green alien form to be 100% sure.
14	** [[NebulousEvilOrganization HYDRA]] and [[ScienceIsBad AIM]] are fighting and destroying New York in the ensuing battle. What does Maria Hill do with her army of [[EliteMooks highly trained soldiers]] and [[AirborneAircraftCarrier flying aircraft carrier]]? Go after the Avengers [[SkewedPriorities and make them join S.H.I.E.L.D. by force, naturally]].
15	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Harley Quinn's idiot ball ''is'' The Joker. With him around, she's hardly more dangerous than the average {{Mook}}. When she sets out on her own (Or with Poison Ivy), she becomes a ''deadly threat'' that on one occasion completely outsmarted Batman and came closer to killing him than any other villain in Gotham. This is even {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}ed in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' where, without the Joker, Harley's [[TookALevelInBadass Taken A Level In Badass:]]
16	--> '''Joker:''' What's confusing me is how the hell she found your top-secret Bat-base, Bat-face? She couldn't find her own reflection in a mirror when I was ALIVE. It's like something was holding her back.
17	* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', Max embraces the idiot ball like a long lost lover in "Hidden Agenda". She's being targeted by Jokerz and she ends up coming to the conclusion that Terry is one, so she decides to send him a threatening note to meet her in the park at 8 pm or she'll blow his cover. So... these Jokerz have been ''trying to kill her'', her plan is to demand one of them meet her at night in a secluded park, and she actually expected to not just meet a group of armed Jokerz waiting in ambush when she showed up at the meeting place?
18	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', specifically when Grodd thought turning Batman into a 400 pound gorilla would ensure his total victory.
19	** Another example involving Grodd occured at the conclusion of the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Secret Society". After all the other villains have been defeated, he tried to fight Superman... By himself. The end result was both painful and humiliating for Grodd.
20	*** Possibly justified in that this was a last resort and originally Grodd was trying to escape. And with his mental powers he came close to overwhelming Superman.
21	* ''Franchise/Ben10'':
22	** In the [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]] episode "A Change of Face", Grandpa Max doesn't notice that Gwen is acting odd, the reason being that villainess Charmcaster has [[GrandTheftMe swapped bodies]] with Gwen. Even later on, after the ruse has been revealed and more body-swapping has occurred, Grandpa Max still can't tell who's who without a scorecard... This is pretty glaring, given that Max is a former plumber (this show's [[TheMenInBlack Men in Black]] equivalent), has been repeatedly shown to be pretty clever, and above all is their grandfather.
23	** Another example is in the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' episode "Good Copy, Bad Copy". You'd think that, considering how much weird stuff they've seen, Kevin and Gwen would immediately be suspicious of "Ben" (really a Galvan named Albedo) claiming he's ''looking for Ben''. Instead, they just assume he's the real thing and has lost his mind, setting up for the old "Which one is which?" bit.
24	** In the ''Alien Force'' episode "[[YouAreGrounded Grounded]]", Ben gets a distress call from Kevin after his parents [[SkewedPriorities try to stop him from going hero anymore out of fear for his life]]. He tells his parents that he's going to see Gwen, but doesn't even ''leave his front yard'' before turning into Echo Echo (when he has two forms that can ''fly'') for no reason and getting busted. This move gets Gwen grounded as well and Kevin almost killed by the Highbreed.
25	** Also "Duped" from ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien''. With Ben splitting into three of himself, each a different aspect. Sending the sensitive part to fight Forever Knights and the {{Jerkass}} part to Julie's tennis game is an idiot ball the size of Texas.
26	* In the ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'' episode "Double Trouble", both Snap and Penny seem to be holding it when they run into Rudy's evil robot double created by Skrawl and Craniac 4. While Robo-Rudy has some pretty clear differences between him and the real Rudy, both Snap and Penny (who's TheSmartGuy, even) can't tell the difference until Craniac 4 slips up his dialogue for Robo-Rudy and accidentally reveals he's a robot double.
27	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'':
28	** While it may be easier to list the appearances Numbah 86 made where she ''wasn't'' an idiot, "Operation: E.N.D." stands out. As Numbuh One tried to tell her (not that she listened) it should have been obvious to her that he was ''not'' thirteen years old, given that the two of them were in kindergarten together. Apparently, she believed a computer over something she had personally witnessed.
29	** In the cold opening to "Operation: C.A.R.A.M.E.L.", Numbuh 5 (usually the most sensible of the main characters) goes to Guatemala and finds [[WeUsedToBeFriends Heinrich]] once again attempting an ancient ritual that [[ItMakesSenseInContext exchanges a person's most prized trait for caramels]]. He fell victim to that curse previously and, not knowing how to break it, [[NeverMyFault blames her]] [[NoodleIncident for what happened]]. It was such a traumatic incident that it ended their friendship (at least in Heinrich's eyes) and made him do a FaceHeelTurn. However, now he claims he found a way to get back what he lost and just needs her help to move some sugar into the ritual circle. Knowing him and how vindictive he can be (''especially'' [[BerserkButton when it comes to Guatemala]]), you'd think Numbuh 5 would be on her guard even more than usual here. But with very little hesitation, she believes him and walks right into his trap, getting cursed herself (and kicking off the episode). We even learn later that [[spoiler:Numbuh 5 had the very item Heinrich needed to undo his curse and already knew the true way to break it]].
30	* The Nickelodeon ChristmasEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' gives ''the entire town of Bluffington'' an IdiotBall. In the beginning of the episode, Porkchop is shown accidentally injuring Beebe Bluff in an attempt to save her from drowning in a frozen lake. Because of this, her father initiates a massive smear campaign against him, painting the dog as a monster... and the town ''believes this'', even though many episodes show Porkchop ''helping people''. Even worse, when [[OnlySaneMan Doug]] tries to start a petition to save him, they flat out dismiss him, saying that "It's Christmas." When Porkchop goes to trial, Doug is forced to call everyone out on it.
31	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', where in most episodes it's Timmy's idiocy that gets the plot moving. And very often keeps it moving, as Timmy could easily resolve most of the plots with wishing, and on the occasion that there is a reason why he can't, it's usually pretty flimsy.
32	** In "Man's Worst Friend", Timmy doesn't seem to immediately notice that Sparky has been replaced with his anti-fairy counterpart. Keep in mind that the main distinguishing feature separating anti-fairies from fairies is that anti-fairies are blue with bits of black.
33	** Exaggerated in "Return of the L.O.S.E.R.S." Timmy becomes so stupid that he can't do anything without his fairies (which includes dressing up, walking, and eating), so when they leave him, the titular group of villains decides to attack.
34	** In "Tardy Sauce", Chloe's trying to maintain her perfect attendance streak at school. Timmy says that school is closed, showing her a voicemail by Crocker, and takes her to get tacos. However, Chloe thinks that school is still open and that Timmy is lying. Since she's an AllLovingHero who is LovedByAll, you'd think she would call one of her classmates and ask them, or wish for Cosmo and Wanda to teleport her to school and see for herself, but she spends the entire time just worrying over it rather than making sure.
35	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Certain characters like Brian and Joe Swanson tend to be used as the voice of reason, but they are sometimes given the idiot ball to help advance the plot or assist in the random gag of the day.
36	** A specific example afflicts ''Stewie'' of all people in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS11E9SpaceCadet Space Cadet]]". He pushes the BigRedButton that launches the shuttle into space despite not knowing what it does. As the resident GadgeteerGenius, Stewie should be the one to know that you ''don't'' press a button if you don't know what it does. Later, he also starts pressing random buttons with no knowledge of what he's doing, [[LethallyStupid which gets Meg killed]].
37	--->'''Stewie:''' [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo Ooh, big red button, I don't care what it does!]]
38	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': Fred Flintstone gets hit with one halfway through "Dino Disappears". When he's looking for his runaway dinosaur Dino, he sees a random dinosaur in someone's backyard that looks just like his pet and immediately decides that this must be Dino, to the point of ignoring all evidence to the contrary and enacting out a kidnapping scheme. What makes this more noticeable is that, not five minutes earlier, Fred himself encountered three dinosaurs that looked exactly identical to Dino but weren't him.
39	%%** In ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' {{sequel series}} ''WesternAnimation/ThePebblesAndBammBammShow'', Pebbles is very prone to this.
40	* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': In the episode "Land of the Flea", Frankie and Mr. Herriman try to get rid of Eduardo's pet fleas. They bear witness to Eduardo learning from his fleas that the collar they give him to try and kill the fleas is a flea collar, and that the comb they try to get him to use is a flea comb. Despite this, they somehow still think they are normal fleas who don't even know that their own hosts exist, and are shocked when they take over Mr. Herriman.
41	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Most of the characters, [[OnlySaneMan save for Hermes]], will carry the idiot ball from time to time, but Leela, often times, will take off running with it. To analyse this for a second, Leela is the OnlySaneWoman most of the time; the character with the most common sense and intelligence (combined; Farnsworth might be the brightest intellectually but he's barely sane). This makes it difficult for the writers to start up certain plot points without taking a few IQ points off of Leela for the episode.
42	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': In the episode "Vows", Demona gains possession of an artifact known as the Phoenix Gate, which allows the holder to travel to any place at any time at will. She travels back in time and informs her past self (also in possession of the past version of the Gate) that SHE should use the Gate to change history, instead of just doing it herself with the Gate she already possesses. The ultimate lesson is that history is immutable, though the reason for this apart from a large, conspicuous Idiot Ball is unclear.
43	** Made worse by the fact that present day Demona says she remembers the whole incident (well, Goliath's talk after she got knocked out), but if she remembers that, it's pretty odd to think she'd have forgotten meeting herself and seeing her other self's defeat. So if she already had memories of her plan failing, why go through with it? It reeks of Dr. Manhattan style pre-destination.
44	** The aforementioned ''pales'' in comparison with the sheer idiocy Demona displays in "Hunter's Moon". Goliath and Co. break in when she's about to deliver the fatal blow against humankind and unleash the enchanted virus lethal to all sentient beings (Gargoyles will be protected by a magical figurine she has on her table). Not only does Demona start monologuing, in the worst Bond Villainesque manner possible, but she actually POINTS at the figurine as if asking Goliath to smash the thing. He obliges.
45	*** Not to mention the unpondered fridge-horror: Demona spends her ''days'' human. Demona is also nigh-immortal. Best case scenario, the virus 'counts' in terms of her curse about Macbeth, and killing him disperses her nigh-immortality, allowing her to die. Worst case, it doesn't count and she spends her days ''dying repeatedly'' and her nights in agony from Mabeth dying repeatedly.
46	** This is actually an explicit feature of Demona's character. She's such a mess of contradictory issues, topped with a healthy dose of repressed self-loathing, that she has a noticeable tendency to sabotage herself. WordOfGod even outight says that Demona is, and always has been, her own worst enemy.
47	** In "Deadly Force" Elisa Maza, an experienced police officer, is apparently stupid enough to leave her gun lying around her apartment loaded, which leads to [[spoiler:Broadway accidentally shooting her when he starts playing with it.]]
48	** Derek Maza, later called Talon, had a firm grip on this throughout the show, with a slew of stupid decisions, irrational thinking and pulling erroneous conclusions out of his ass. He believes his level-headed detective sister is obsessively paranoid about wanting to catch David Xanatos doing something illegal, and when Xanatos offers him a job, he accepts, ignoring Elisa's warnings because he believes she's just trying to control him. Even after Elisa obtains proof of Xanatos's misdeeds on tape, she gives the tape to Derek, which he never bothers listening to. Derek ends up mutated due to Xanatos's machinations, and due to the presence of the Manhattan Clan to rescue another mutate resulting in the apparent death of Dr. Sevarius, the scientist that could create the cure, Derek blames Goliath for this for a long time, even trying to kill him, to the point that he believes Elisa, his own sister, is in on the whole thing and protecting Goliath from him. When Elisa tells him that nobody died on the day Derek got mutated, which she'd easily know because there would have been a police report, Derek refuses to believe her, but when he does see the Sevarius is indeed alive, he believes Sevarius and Goliath have been in cahoots from the start, and later believes that Elisa is also in cahoots with them. It ultimately takes hearing Xanatos admit to everything right in front of Derek to get him to finally see reason.
49	*** Derek, now known as Talon, continues to hold it in the episode ''Kingdom'', where Fang has been bullying and shaking down residents of their underground community for any valuables, yet Talon does nothing, believing Fang will "come around eventually". Due to Elisa, Goliath and Bronx having been missing for over a week, Fang easily manipulates Talon into attacking Xanatos in hopes to get Derek either weakened, injured or even killed, just by telling Talon that Xanatos is the one who mutated him and that Xanatos always hated Elisa. Fang and his cronies proceed to find a cache of high-tech weaponry and take over the Labyrinth, taking Talon prisoner. Had it not been for the intervention of the Manhattan Clan, Fang would've continued unopposed.
50	*** Ironically, this leads into Fang holding the idiot ball, as during the fight as he took over, Maggie manages to escape thanks to Claw. Fang, rather than send his goons after her, decides to just let her go because he figures she can't move around during the daytime without causing a big scene. Maggie simply cloaks herself and heads to where the Manhattan Clan lives, which Fang knows because it was her who originally showed their home's location to Fang and Claw under Talon's orders, and she gets their help, resulting in Fang's being plans ruined and him ending up imprisoned.
51	* In ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe'', the creation of Serpentor was likely the biggest mistake in Cobra's history, but one part of it stands out as especially idiotic. After Dr. Mindbender fails to obtain the DNA of Sun Tsu (meant to give Serpentor wisdom and patience), he thinks that replacing it with Sergeant Slaughter's DNA would be a good idea. (Sun Tzu, Sgt. Slaughter. Same thing, really) Ironically, Cobra Commander (whose incompetence is the whole ''reason'' for the plan) is the sole voice of reason when this suggestion is made, ranting about how ludicrous it is to put the DNA of an enemy into someone who is meant to lead them. [[spoiler: The point is eventually rendered moot, as Slaughter himself destroys his own DNA sample just as the experiment is happening, and Serpentor is born without it; without either Sun Tzu or Slaughter's DNA, he proves to be impatient, impulsive and little better than Cobra Commander.]]
52	* On ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'', Pete is a ManipulativeBastard and PJ is the OnlySaneMan... usually. Sometimes, one or both of them acts in a manner more befitting the resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, Goofy. One time PJ forgot he didn't have a balcony, and another he mistook an egg for a "giant albino M&M." Pete, for his part, managed to [[MistakenForPregnant think his wife was pregnant and almost due]] just because Goofy said so, and in another episode tried to hide from TheMafia in the back of... TheMafia's car. Max usually manages to avoid the IdiotBall, only acting on his [[FearlessFool characteristic intelligence flaws]].
53	* ''WesternAnimation/HollyHobbieAndFriends'': One of the main issues critics had with ''Fabulous Fashion Show'' was that Holly was passed the idiot ball and as a result was acting out of character and like a complete YesMan to Portia. The ball was then passed over to Amy and Carrie in ''Marvelous Makeover'' for most of the first story before it was finally threw away, but by then it was too late.
54	* Inverted by ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'', bizarrely enough. While Penny and Brain were typically the ones who saved the day, there were quite a few isolated moments when Gadget himself could actually show competence when the plot demanded it. Typically these happened when the former two held this trope and got into scrapes similar to the ones they usually save Gadget from.
55	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Ron's intelligence varies from episode to episode, and sometimes he's just flat out clutching this ball. Kim gets it a few times, too.
56	--> '''Ron:''' "Hello, Information? I'd like the number for 911 immediately please!"
57	* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': One episode focuses on a series of salesmen who have been exploiting Hank's customer loyalty by constantly overcharging him, resulting in him paying over the odds for a new car. Hank is normally shown as being a master of most life skills, including household budgeting and automotive maintenance, so it is hard to believe that he could be so oblivious in this situation (especially when Peggy of all people is on the ball). To make matters worse, the plot then involves Hank becoming the unwitting leader of a terrorist organisation.
58	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': In Season 2, Lin is suddenly incompetent and quite frankly lazy in her handling of the attacks on Republic City, whilst constantly berating Mako for actually being proactive. She even falls for a rather obvious frame up when Mako gets too close to the truth.
59	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'': In one episode, Kion meets the ObviouslyEvil lions of the outlands, led by Zira. Zira tells him that using his superpowered roar against other lions will cause him to lose the roar forever, and he believes her and is rendered helpless for most of the episode. Except, his father Simba told him very clearly before that his uncle Scar, who had the roar before him, lost it not because he used it on other lions, but because he used it for evil and selfish purposes. This is compounded with the fact that the most stupid of his friends, Bunga, is the one who has to remind him of this, at which point he then easily defeats the outsider lions.
60	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
61	** Discounting the number of times WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd (who, in turn, is holding the SmartBall by [[ObfuscatingInsanity successfully faking insanity]]) outsmarts him, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny is less intelligent than usual in ''WesternAnimation/HareBrush'', such as eating a literal spoon instead of taking a teaspoon of Elmer's medication.
62	** Bugs is also uncharacteristically dimwitted in ''WesternAnimation/ForwardMarchHare'', where most of the humour is derived from him causing problems by complete accident.
63	** WesternAnimation/PorkyPig is usually one of the more lucid members of the cast, but in the three Creator/ChuckJones shorts where he's paired with Sylvester, he plays TheFool who is completely oblivious to the imminent danger he's in and [[CassandraTruth refuses to believe]] [[ProperlyParanoid Sylvester]] when he's trying to warn him. In the final short, he even sees an alien and simply thinks it's a "friendly Navajo".
64	** Sylvester is dopier than usual in ''Catch as Cats Can'', compounded by the fact that his usual lisp is replaced with a SimpletonVoice in this short.
65	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': In "Devil Dog", Bugs believes that the Tasmanian Devil is [[MistakenForDog a dog]] and [[IRejectYourReality refuses to believe anyone who tells him otherwise]]. Even [[TheDitz Daffy]] is aware that Taz is a dangerous beast. It’s not until Daffy causes a pandemonium at the dog show that he’s convinced otherwise.
66	* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'': Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy are all handed the Idiot Ball in the 2014 Paul Rudish short "[[Recap/MickeyMouseS2E11MickeyMonkey Mickey Monkey]]". After a monkey steals Mickey's clothes, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald all mistake the monkey for Mickey and vice versa even though the only way they are identical is that they both have black fur and a similar body shape. They don't even suspect anything when the monkey doesn't speak English or even when he grooms Minnie as he would for a mate. After Mickey gets his clothes back and chases the monkey away, he is then unable to notice that now his friends have been replaced by a trio of gators that stole their clothes as the monkey did with him.
67	* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': Grabbed by Molly, Tooey, Trini, and Oscar in "Tooth Or Consequences." Granted, Molly and company are young kids, and do have very active imaginations. But even kids should be smart enough to know that no licensed dentist would use a giant drill or even a ''jackhammer'' on a kid's teeth, or their butt would lose their medical license big time and most likely be arrested, if not sued for malpractice. Even so, the kids all believe the sensational video Molly's cousin sent them, and it takes an actual dentist to set them straight.
68	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
69	** "Spike at Your Service" suddenly has Spike completely unable to do tasks he has previously been shown doing with no problem, and is suddenly obliviously stupid when previous episodes have depicted him as at least reasonably intelligent. According to WordOfGod this is an OrphanedReference to the original script where he was Rarity's servant instead of Applejack's, and the reason for the sudden drop in IQ points is he was nervous about letting down his crush.
70	** "Growing Up is Hard to Do" depicts the Cutie Mark Crusaders as being unable to use the train, use maps, and travel by themselves because of their age. Note that they've done all three of these each several times in the past, most notably being able to travel from Equestria to the Crystal Empire alone by scooter, with absolutely no problem whatsoever, to say nothing of them now being apparently old enough to tutor and have jobs. According to WordOfGod, this is because the episode was originally penned for back in Season 5, but they didn't get the green light until the final season and wanted to do the episode so badly they didn't care about the plot holes.
71	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePatrickStarShow'':
72	** While Squidina is usually much more intelligent and responsible than Patrick, throughout "[[Recap/ThePatrickStarShowS1E13NitwitNeighborhoodNewsMidSeasonFinale Nitwit Neighborhood News]]", she acts just as dumb as him if not more. For instance, she thinks that her seatbelt still protects her even after she rips it from its holster, and can't recognize that a criminal in a SuspiciousSkiMask isn't a celebrity like Patrick thinks, even when she goes into his hideout and sees a guy being held hostage.
73	** "[[Recap/ThePatrickStarShowS1E6GasStationVacationBunnyTheBarbarian Gas Station Vacation]]" and "[[Recap/ThePatrickStarShowS2E3TenAndOneToiletsFamilyPlotz Family Plotz]]", which focus on the whole family causing trouble because of their stupidity, have Squidina and [=GrandPat=] briefly being brought down to Patrick's level so they can join in.
74	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Major Monogram and OWCA on the whole are usually correct in their assumption that the latest problem or sign of mischief in the Tri-State Area was caused by Dr. Doofenschmirtz (even when there is little evidence to go off of). One exception is in the episode "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbCheerUpCandace Cheer Up Candace]]", wherein Doof creates clones of Agent P to wreak havoc all over the Tri-State Area. OWCA, seemingly without doing any investigation into it nor considering if Doof is behind it, immediately comes to the conclusion that Perry has gone rogue and Monogram decommissions him. Notably, the ensuing ClearMyName plot is played very straight for a show that otherwise revels in poking fun at itself and its episode formula.
75	* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'':
76	** Jet gets passed this in "Mindy's Weather Report". In that episode, Mindy tells the gang that a storm is on Saturn, and Jet believes that there's a storm in Boxwood Terrace, and tells all the neighbors (including the Petersons) to prepare, despite the number of times Sean, Sydney, and Mindy try to tell Jet that the storm is on Saturn. When the gang goes into space, they see the storm on Saturn and Jet says: "Why didn't you tell me?" with Sean and Sydney in annoyance.
77	** Mindy gets passed the idiot ball in "Galileo, Galileo!", where she believes that the sun orbits the Earth, despite the fact that in "Round and Round", she portrayed the Sun and saw that the solar system revolves around the sun, not the Earth.
78	* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Rick doesn't act suspicious at all when Morty is insistent on him not testing the horse semen, and refuses to test it just because of Morty's pestering. If Rick was naturally suspicious, the sperm monsters wouldn't have been created.
79	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
80	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E2LisasRival Lisa's Rival]]", Lisa is no less smart than she usually is, but she's ''feeling'' like an idiot because a new girl in class, Alison, has proven to be better than her at everything. Visiting Alison's house, Lisa attempts to play an anagram game with Alison's father but fails miserably. Taking her to be a simpleton, Alison's father hands Lisa a red rubber ball, saying "this is a ball. Perhaps you'd like to bounce it."
81	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E9PrankstaRap Pranksta Rap]]". The plot revolves around Bart faking his own kidnapping and gives rise to two idiot ball moments: Bart handwrites the ransom note, and Marge fails to recognise her own son's handwriting.
82	*** Speaking of Bart's handwriting, one of his more audacious pranks occurs in "Bart the Lover" when he successfully strikes up a romantic correspondence with his ''teacher,'' who's read any number of his terrible essays.
83	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E1BeyondBlunderdome Beyond Blunderdome]]" has Creator/MelGibson coming to town to screen his remake of ''Film/MrSmithGoesToWashington''. Rather than listen to how 99.9% of the audience loves the movie and hails his performance as genius, Gibson thinks they're all too awed by his star power to be honest. He thus focuses on the ''one'' bad review of the bunch, written by (of course) Homer, who complains about the lack of violence in the movie. Rather than realize how Homer is a total moron with no taste, Gibson thinks Homer is the "only one with the guts to be truthful" and makes the huge mistake of listening to his advice on how to reshoot the movie. The result is the film now ends with a scene of Gibson's Smith going on a bloody rampage that completely misses the point of the original film. The reaction is horrible as the movie flops and Jimmy Stewart's granddaughter threatens to sue Gibson for defamation. It's when Homer presses on Gibson making things more violent that it finally hits Gibson he's been listening to an idiot. He kicks Homer out of the car while moaning on [[HilariousInHindsight his career is ruined and the public will never see him as a beloved actor again.]]
84	** Just about every character in the show has a gaping blind spot when it comes to "El Barto," a legendary Springfield graffiti artist who's [[LazyAlias exactly the person you'd expect]]. This is despite the fact that Bart is [[TheDreaded notorious]] for delinquent behavior (vandalism included) throughout Springfield and beyond to the degree that he'll more typically be the prime suspect in crimes he [[NotMeThisTime didn't commit]], besides the fact that some of the graffiti goes as far as ''depicting'' Bart (in a mask). One episode has Skinner calling Bart the ''second-''biggest troublemaker at Springfield Elementary, the first being the as-yet-unidentified El Barto.
85	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS33E15BartTheCoolKid Bart the Cool Kid]]", Bart, despite acknowledging Homer as a bad parent, asks him to buy some shoes. Marge isn't busy, doesn't have any objections, is more responsible than Homer, and usually does the family's clothes shopping anyways, so there's no reason Bart couldn't have asked her instead. Even then, Bart doesn't go with Homer to get the shoes and make sure he does it right, and Homer ends up buying cheap bootlegs because he doesn't want to wait in line. Considering Bart's consistent lack of respect for Homer, it's odd that he would put this much trust in him.
86	%% * In ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'', Antoine would occasionally be used for this. The mini-episode Fed Up with Antoine was the most blatant example of this trope.
87	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': While a lot of it is {{Flanderization}} into simply dumber characters, the show is generally willing to hand out idiot balls for whatever reason they feel like it. Occasionally Stan or Kyle, the [[OnlySaneMan only sane kids]], will start acting like idiots. Before the majority of the cast became idiots normally, idiot balls were more common, and their frequent usage is likely what lead to flanderization.
88	* ''WesternAnimation/SpiritRangers'' premises an episode on a group of adult American rock-climbers believing that Native Americans ''are extinct''. The same episode relies on a forestful of immortal animal spirits not recognizing an opossum when they see one- in an environment where opossums (albeit of a different species than in the episode) would be common.
89	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
90	** Honorable Mention: The Orb of Confusion -- a ''literal'' Idiot Ball.
91	** The trope applies to several episodes, with varying results -- [[TheFool SpongeBob]], [[MoneyFetish Mr. Krabs]], and/or [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Plankton]] will be saddled with the Idiot Ball at any time whatsoever. The only ones safe are [[GadgeteerGenius Sandy]] and [[PerpetualFrowner Squidward]]... and even then...
92	** The episode where [=SpongeBob=] lost his name tag had a big one. Normally, retracing your steps is a smart way to find something you lost. The idiot part is how [=SpongeBob=] thinks he has to perfectly recreate everything he did that morning, no matter how unpleasant, and having to redo the whole thing if even the tiniest detail is missed. It's telling when Patrick by contrast grabs the smart ball after all this and tells [=SpongeBob=] to just keep going through the rest of his day instead of focusing on one specific part.
93	** Squidward has been known to hold the Idiot Ball. In "The Snowball Effect", Squidward tells Patrick to think of him as [=SpongeBob=], to teach him how to have a {{snowball fight}} (while [=SpongeBob=] [[ComicallyMissingThePoint asks to be Mr. Krabs]]). Squidward throws a snowball at Patrick and says, "Now, what are you going to do?" Patrick throws a snowball back at Squidward, who had said not five seconds ago to think of him as [=SpongeBob=]. Squidward asks why Patrick didn't throw it at [=SpongeBob=].
94	--->'''Patrick''': [[LampshadeHanging You said you were SpongeBob, SpongeBob.]]\
95	'''[=SpongeBob=]''': ''([[ItMakesSenseInContext Impersonating Mr. Krabs.]])'' [[DumbassHasAPoint Argh, it's true, Mr. Squidward.]] Now get back to work!
96	*** The other time his stubborn, outspoken nature came back to bite him was in [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie the first movie]], where he brags to Plankton that he's going to expose him, and doesn't get very far.
97	** Taken to the extreme with [=SpongeBob=] in "A Pal For Gary". If he had just heeded the old lady's warning about Puffy Fluffy, none of the traumatic events that Gary goes through would've happened.
98	** In "Karen for Spot", Karen acts as though she has never interacted with Spot before. She tries to feed him a napkin dispenser, and thinks he runs on batteries.
99	** While Mr. Krabs' business ownership qualities change DependingOnTheWriter, in "Gary's Playhouse", he's shown trying to cook his cash register and throwing burning-hot coins at the customers.
100	* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Moon grabs this hard in the final stretch of the show. [[spoiler:Even knowing that the ArcVillain Mina Loveberry is an uncontrollable crazed woman who wants to kill all monsters her own daughter fought so hard to protect, she still allies herself with her in order to get her kingdom back, and even gives her the army of Solarian warriors she wanted. It doesn't even occurs to her to warn Star or Eclipsa about it before joining her, or that Mina will turn against her too once she gets her plans going, not even to change the spell used to create the warriors so she could control them instead of Mina or Queen Solaria.]]
101	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'':
102	** In "The Gungan General", Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent to negotiate with some Weequay who have captured Count Dooku. Right from the start, they go in expecting a trap, yet apparently did not bother to think of any countermeasures. They quite willingly hand over their lightsabres rather than hide them, and worst of all, at the end when they've finally broken free and have the Weequay leader at blade point, ready to give up and come to prison quietly, Obi-Wan tells Anakin to let him go. ''Why?'' They never even ''try'' to explain why Obi-Wan suddenly wants to let someone who lied to them, drugged them, kidnapped them, and ''tortured'' them get off scot free!
103	** ''The Clone Wars'' also has Cad Bane, a bounty hunter who seems to have the power to hand out idiot balls to all of his enemies. In every one of his appearances, he manages to succeed by turning the Jedi into complete morons. Bigger idiots than they usually are in the prequel era, that is.
104	** The entire clone army seems to be equipped with standard issue idiot balls. While it is reasonable for the droids to not really have any sort of care for self-preservation, the clones will often completely ignore cover and tactics to charge enemies head-on.
105	** [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Mace]] [[ThisIsTVTropesBitch Mother Fucking]] [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Windu]] starts off with the idiot ball in the Zillo Beast arc. A giant beast that eats the inhabitants of the planet the Jedi are negotiating with is found, and Mace Windu turns into Captain Picard, demanding that the rights of the creature be respected, and it not be killed. The native Dugs aren't too thrilled by this, as this thing is the equivalent of Godzilla on their world, and demand that the Jedi help kill it, under threat of ceasing negotiations with them. Mace Windu explains this to Senator Palpatine, and asks to be allowed to take the beast off world. Senator Palpatine says to defer to the locals if the creature's death is a sticking point. So now we have a conflict between killing this innocent creature and signing a necessary treaty, or letting it live and losing out on valuable resources. Only, it's completely unnecessary. Windu presents the issue of the creature's survival to the Dugs as one of just "letting it live and putting up with it", while he presents the option of having the creature taken off world to Palpatine. The Dugs have a perfectly legitimate reason for not wanting a creature that could destroy a large part of their population to be allowed to live on their planet. However they might be more apt to let it live if Windu were to actively present the removal option to the Dugs. Since "dead" and "on the other side of the galaxy" have the same end result from the Dugs' point of view, there's no reason why this couldn't have been even floated as a solution, thus ending about half an episode's worth of [[ConflictBall needless conflict]].
106	* The ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Onion Trade" is about when Onion steals Steven's rare action figure, Ranger Guy. Steven discovers a magical artefact that can replicate anything. Steven wants Onion to give back Ranger Guy. Does Steven use the wand to replicate the toy that Onion took and resolve the whole thing in five seconds? Nope. Instead he creates a bajillion copies of one of the more common action figures and creates a HUGE mess and destroys half the city doing so. Pearl even asks Steven why he didn't just replicate Ranger Guy, to which Steven replies "....DANG IT!!" Though do bear in mind this was an early episode of the show, and Steven wasn't always very smart in those early episodes, but STILL, even then he was usually leagues smarter than THIS.
107	* In ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures'', the titular redhead is, if not the smartest character in the show, the most consistently competent. Yet in "Star Light, Star Bright", Strawberry asked the pop singer Cherry Jam her name when she first met her. That was despite Strawberry earlier mentioning that Cherry Jam was her favorite singer, Cherry repeatedly singing a line from a song she was writing when Strawberry found her (which Strawberry helped with by singing her suggestion back), Cherry Jam being dressed in similar clothing as she was in the "music video" at the beginning of the episode (including trinkets with ''cherries'' on them), and Strawberry noticing that, near Cherry, it smelled like cherries. Four-year-olds facepalmed watching that.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'': Episode 12 has some IdiotBall moments when you consider two things: One, why didn't Lance and the others consider stomping and or obliterating the [[PlayingPossum supposedly dead]] {{monster\|OfTheWeek}}'s body just to be safe. Two, wouldn't it have occurred to Ilana and Lance by now that Octus isn't a normal robot considering his build and powers? It's made clear early on that everyone on the show occasionally picks up the ball for the plot (episode 4, anybody?).
109	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'': Every character would carry the ball when the plot required. A stand-out moment includes a scene in the series' third episode, when, left to their own devices in April's apartment, the turtles suddenly become morons: Leonardo begins throwing tubes of lipstick at a painting, calling it "target practice"; Raph interprets "insert capful of Shampoo into tub" as referring to an actual baseball cap; Donny starts fiddling with April's answering machine with no regard as to her privacy; and Mikey proves incapable of making instant pizza which he had no permission to touch. April is understandably furious.
110	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' hands Robin a huge idiot ball at the end of "Trust". After spending an episode fighting against a shapeshifter who had both shown that she could mimic both the appearance and voice of anyone, cannot replicate powers, and loses her structural integrity when she's exposed to strong heat. What does Robin do after a fight where the result isn't clear? Immediately trust the Not Hot Spot, and handed over a spare communication device -- which allowed The Brotherhood of Evil to track down every single superhero that the Titans gave the com device to. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking It, Robin]]. This makes it worse since Robin is supposed to be the smart, suspicious one.
111	* Lion-O of ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats\|1985}}'' runs headlong down the field with the Idiot Ball held very tightly ("[[LetsSplitUpGang I'm going to go exploring!]] Uh-oh, trouble I can't handle myself! Wait, [[ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself can't call the other Thundercats, the episode's not three-quarters over yet!]]") though he occasionally passes it off to other Thundercats. [[TheLancer Tygra]], especially, seems willing to run with it. Lion-O has the {{justifi\|edTrope}}cation of being a child in a grown-up's body, but Tygra and the others have no excuse.
112	* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': This happens quite a bit for when a character gets themselves eliminated. There are many instances where, in order to eliminate a contestant, said contestant will make a stupid mistake that will cause them to get either blindsided or temporarily earn the hatred of their competitors. An infamous example is when Heather hides the invincibility statue in ''All-Stars'' after finding it, only for Alejandro to find it and use it against her.
113	** There are also plenty of times in which a contestant is dumbed down for an episode when the season's BigBad is working on manipulating them in some way in order to make them foolish enough to make the mistakes necessary for the villain's plans to work and get someone eliminated while the real threat remains in the game. Mal in ''All-Stars'' and Alejandro in ''World Tour'' are often accused of invoking this by their detractors (notably with Zoey and all of Team Victory), but even Heather has a couple instances under her belt (such as easily convincing Trent that Gwen didn't actually like him in order to break them apart).
114	* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': Optimus Prime gets whacked ''hard'' in the face with this in the episode "Heavy Metal War". He's been fighting Megatron for centuries, long enough to know which powers Megatron does and doesn't have... and yet he doesn't realise that Megatron cheated during a one-on-one battle until Teletraan-1 spells it out for him. Even though Megatron uses powers that he has ''never used before.''
115	%%** Then there's the episode ''A Prime Problem''. [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/A_Prime_Problem The episode's TFWiki article]] sums it up pretty nicely.
116	* Thrust is actually pretty smart in ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' when he first shows up. After several DeusExMachina-induced failures he starts spending a lot more time around the Idiot Ball, culminating in getting his rear kicked by ''human children''.
117	* In ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' episode "Venomous", Peter Parker hides from his other team members and S.H.I.E.L.D. that Venom, the monster they have been chasing, is actually a possessed Harry Osborn. This allows his team to completely trash it and allows Spider-Man to constantly botch and drag out their battles with it... rather than just have Peter tell the people that could have helped him sooner by holding back and using their infinite scientific resources to cure him sooner.
118	* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': Phantom Limb was holding it very firmly during The Monarch's backstory. He fails to recognize Monarch as one of his own Shadowmen when Limb catches him with Queen Etheria, and buys his story that he's actually a different villain named Manotaur (who actually does exist, unbeknownst to The Monarch). That alone is one thing, but TheStinger of the episode shows that Phantom Limb ''somehow never once questioned it'', because he's seen exacting his revenge on the aforementioned Manotaur, who 1) is now retired, 2) had nothing to do with the above events, and 3) ''looks nothing like The Monarch''.
119	* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronForce'' [=S1E14=] (''Inside the Music''), Pidge picks up the Idiot Ball and runs with it for a touchdown. He's so heavily invested in keeping his secret identity as the mastermind of the band "Stereolactic" a secret, that he doesn't even tell his TrueCompanions. This results in the [[KidSidekick Cadets]] wasting time and effort chasing him down, believing that he's the Drule agent, that could have been used finding the real agent.

Context IdiotBall / WesternAnimation