| 1 | %% Trope was declared Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=g3b7mhvj |
| 2 | %% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1307592761093900100 |
| 3 | %% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image. |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | ->''"Henchmen. Evil, obedient, bright -- pick any two."'' |
| 6 | -->-- '''Dr. No''', ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1502.html #1502]] |
| 7 | |
| 8 | %%If you wish the change or add a quote, take it to the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327331003042025100&page=1 quotes]] thread. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Competent evil help is hard to find. How else can you explain how the EvilOverlord's [[TheDragon General]] is a [[NumberTwoForBrains complete nincompoop]], {{mooks}} are all [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy dimwits]] who graduated from the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy, the elite special forces consist of a QuirkyMiniBossSquad, and all the ninjas are [[HighlyVisibleNinja standing around in plain sight]] or queuing up to attack the heroes [[MookChivalry one at a time]]? |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Sometimes, it seems like the lead antagonist has deliberately chosen the most incompetent, craven, cowardly, or just plain unreliable underlings around... the trope often culminates in a [[TheDragon second-in-command]] that, instead of being the best of what the lower ranks has to offer, [[NumberTwoForBrains seems to be the living distillation of everything that makes the incompetent underlings what they are]]. This version is often punctuated by having the right-hand man actually [[TheMole secretly trying to undermine]] and/or [[TheStarscream replace]] the EvilOverlord, but just too incompetent to be a real threat. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Of course, the simplest answer for why the evil master is surrounded by idiots is because you'd ''have'' to be stupid to work for him. The underlings' being TooDumbToLive may well explain why they continue to work for an [[VillainousDemotivator abusive employer]], but we still have to wonder why the EvilOverlord hired them in the first place. We can't pretend he's not aware of his hirelings' shortcomings since he never hesitates to exclaim about them: "[[YouFool FOOLS]]! CRETINS! BUNGLERS!" (there always seems to be [[RuleOfThree a basic formula of Mild Insult! Not-So-Mild Insult! EXTREME INSULT!]], if it's not a case of ArsonMurderAndJaywalking), sometimes, "It's so hard to find good help these days..." and of course, the oft-repeated Trope Naming line, "I'm surrounded by idiots!" - sometimes accompanied by a {{facepalm}}. After one too many failures, the boss tends to say "[[VillainNoLongerIdle If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself!]]" and then proceeds to do far better at any given mission than his underlings have ever done, making you wonder why he didn't just do this in the first place. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Occasionally, one of them will respond to this exclamation by looking around and asking, "[[WhereWhere Where?]]" |
| 17 | |
| 18 | This trope even made the EvilOverlordList. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Of course, one possible explanation may be that smart minions tend to try to [[TheStarscream take over...]] or perhaps any minion might be trying to take over, but a smart one might actually succeed. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | When the ''boss'' is an incompetent dolt, you have a GeneralFailure or a PointyHairedBoss. If ''both'' the boss and his minions are morons, then you are dealing with a group of {{Harmless Villain}}s (such as TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily). |
| 23 | |
| 24 | See also ConservationOfCompetence and BeleagueredBoss. Polar opposite of it is SurroundedBySmartPeople. Contrast TooDumbToFool. If the character being surrounded by idiots lashes out on them, then it's EnragedByIdiocy. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Here is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Yl4brpR-s compilation]] with a lot of examples. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | ---- |
| 29 | !!Examples: |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 34 | * In ''Manga/BlackButler'' Sebastian is the head butler, and he has his hands full with keeping the incompetent staff in line. There's a far-sighted maid who breaks dishes and confuses shoe polish with wax, a gardener who destroys everything he touches, a cook who uses flamethrowers, and a guest from India who keeps trying to turn himself in to the police. ([[JustifiedTrope As it turns out]], this is mostly because the staff was hired on the basis of their [[HiddenDepths competence in very different areas]].) |
| 35 | * In ''Anime/MazingerZ'', [[BigBad Dr. Hell]] often feels like this-- ''and rightfully so''. When he was younger, it was because he thought he was smarter than anybody, but now it's because his minions are, well, morons. In one episode, he invokes the trope almost word by word: his CoDragons have been fighting for the whole episode, even when they're supposed to engage the enemy. He had tried to stop them and force them to cooperate in the beginning, but didn't pan out. So during this particular argument, he (unsuccessfully) tries to ignore them as he has his dinner: |
| 36 | -->'''Dr. Hell:''' Why, oh, why is such a genius like myself surrounded by idiots? |
| 37 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 38 | ** While the main protagonists, the Straw Hat Pirates, aren't actually idiots, they do act the part. Zoro and Nami take turns being the OnlySaneMan to {{lampshade|Hanging}} the idiocy. Robin has moments of her too, what with her being TheStoic of the group. This is lampshaded during a scene where everyone save for Nami and Vivi are drinking, Vivi worries but Nami calms her down telling her that everyone knows what they have to do if a storm starts. |
| 39 | ** Captain Kuro has this reaction in regards to his crew. It's not so much that the crew is stupid as it is that he's the smartest man in the East Blue next to Benn Beckman of the Red-Haired Pirates, and looks down on his crew as thugs that are useless without his plans. This is part of why [[spoiler:his plan involves having all of them die so that he can maintain the secret of [[FakingTheDead his own death having been faked]]]]. |
| 40 | ** On the side of the Marines, Vice-Admiral Momonga has to deal with a rather impressionable crew that can't keep its act together both when facing a Sea King and meeting the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, making people wonder why he bothers with them. |
| 41 | ** Queen reacts with stunned disbelief when he checks in on Kaido's prison labour camp to find out his subordinates have not only let the high-profile prisoner Eustass Kid escape and gotten the master key to the PowerNullifier prisoner handcuffs stolen, but Straw Hat Luffy is literally in the process of escaping ''within view'', and they had decided to waste time telling Queen this instead of trying to stop him. |
| 42 | --->''"WHAAAT?!! GO CATCH HIM, YOU MORONS!!"'' |
| 43 | * A rare heroic example comes from the anime ''Manga/MartianSuccessorNadesico'', where LittleMissSnarker Ruri Hoshino frequently says of her crewmates, "baka bakka" -- literally, "I'm surrounded by idiots". |
| 44 | ** It has gotten to the point that many people have used this phrase as the base of "Ruri's Law", a cousin of SturgeonsLaw: "The vast majority of people are idiots". |
| 45 | %%* The detective in ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent''. |
| 46 | * Another hero example: ''[[Manga/SorcererStabberOrphen Orphen]]'' repeatedly utters this sentence (and variants) in the manga of the same name. You can't really blame him, though, since he ''is'' surrounded by nothing but [[TheLoad loads]] and [[TheMillstone millstones]]. |
| 47 | %%* Mercurymon from ''Anime/DigimonFrontier''. "I'm surrounded by buffoons!" |
| 48 | * Not quite a direct example, but ''Manga/GakuenAlice'''s Hotaru's various idiot-bashing tools, anyone? |
| 49 | ** It's straighter than you think. The Idiot Cannon only works on idiots. She uses it in almost every fight scene on almost everyone. |
| 50 | * In the case of Unsui in ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'', he was surrounded by perverts. But in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, this trope is played straight and he seems to be on the verge of saying this. Also Hiruma and Suzuna usually react like this when a dumber or excited teammate points out an obvious or dumb statement while the other marvels at it. |
| 51 | * In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', Giovanni often has to put up with the Team Rocket trio (Jessie, James, and Meowth) and often will comment on their stupidity. |
| 52 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'': From the Buu saga onward, Piccolo is typically depicted as long-suffering from the unreasonable antics of the other main cast members, to the point a recurring joke among fans is that he’s more of a babysitter than a team leader or strategist. Many of the gags in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'' revolve around how ''exasperated'' Piccolo is dealing with his friends. Bulma, the other resident [[TheSmartGuy smart guy]], would also consider herself in line with this trope, but is usually far too [[NotSoAboveItAll petty and childish]] to hold [[HypocriticalHumor any real high ground over anyone else]]. |
| 53 | * ''Manga/FromEroicaWithLove'''s Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach feels that this trope is in effect, but in reality his hapless subordinates are actually fairly competent (most of them, anyway), it's just that he has ridiculously high standards. |
| 54 | * The Second Mizukage of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' after being resurrected was incredibly pissed at how none of the shinobi he was fighting [[MasterOfIllusion would stop attacking the mirages he created]] and find his actual body. |
| 55 | ** Sasuke in Part 1, initially felt this towards Naruto and Kakashi. |
| 56 | * ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' has an odd take on this. [[spoiler:Witch Homura, and later Akuma Homura,]] intentionally creates the "Clara Doll" minions to represent parts of her personality, with upbeat names like Blockhead, Laziness, and Vanity. She certainly believes herself to be the sum total of these nasty traits, but [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation the accuracy of her self-loathing (one of the minions is Pessimism) is up for debate.]] |
| 57 | * In ''Anime/BraveExkaiser'', [[TheDragon Ptera Geist]] feels this way about the rest of his teammates. To be fair, he's kinda right, as the other lower-ranked Geisters are DumbMuscle. [[BigBad Dino Geist]] feels this way about the entire crew, Ptera Geist included, except his MouthOfSauron Komori. In fact several episodes ''open'' with him roaring in fury and then having Komori chew them out. |
| 58 | * Lady Une from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' when Trowa and Wufei attack Treize's fleet. All her underlings could do is report the Gundams' every moves and couldn't do anything right until Une gave them specific orders. |
| 59 | * In ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}'', Integra says, "I'm surrounded by Idiots" in one scene. |
| 60 | * Manga/{{Ajin}} even had one episode that is literally called "I'm Surrounded By Idiots." |
| 61 | * As he expresses numerous times, Kazuma of ''Literature/{{Konosuba}}'' feels this way about his lackluster party. His Arch-Priestess is a Goddess with the brainpower of a gnat, his Crusader is a crazy masochist who literally can't hit the broadside of a barn, and his mage is an explosion obsessed {{Chuunibyou}} who tires out after casting one spell. He muses quite often that he'd replace all of them if he could. |
| 62 | * In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', Chisame and Yue frequently think this about the rest of their class. As the series marches on and the two get to know their classmates better, the latter stops thinking this way, but the former doesn't. |
| 63 | [[/folder]] |
| 64 | |
| 65 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 66 | * [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] has pulled it more than once, as in his eyes, everyone who isn't Doom is an imbecile... |
| 67 | -->'''Doctor Doom:''' My greatest flaw. I surround myself with idiots. |
| 68 | * Dr. Light (the hero) was the overly serious member of the late '80s comedic ComicBook/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}. She said this a lot. |
| 69 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': |
| 70 | ** [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]]'s flunkies, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks in the Golden Age,]] tended to be dunces and were sometimes played for comic relief. They also might make [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turns.]] [[Film/SupermanTheMovie Otis and Miss Tessmacher]] are actually quite faithful to this type in the comics. |
| 71 | ** In ''ComicBook/StarfiresRevenge'', as she is being taken into police custody, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} villain Starfire (not [[ComicBook/TeenTitans that one]]) grumbles about her subordinates being cowards, stupid or incompetent. |
| 72 | --->'''Starfire:''' I don't know what's happening to criminals today-- They're either cowards or too dumb to follow the simplest order! |
| 73 | * ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': AntiHero (or AntiVillain, DependingOnTheWriter) Atrocitus is the leader of the [[ThePowerOfHate rage-fueled]] ComicBook/RedLanterns and is an abusive FatherToHisMen as having your superpowers mean you're constantly BlindedByRage isn't exactly conducive to good decision-making, meaning he frequently has to beat sense into his fellow Lanterns. The only exception to this is [[CatsAreMean Dex-Starr]], the only one smart enough to always do what he says. |
| 74 | * Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' where Thugboy and the other self-dubbed Witless Minions [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretended to be this]] to aspiring supervillains so they could fleece their high-tech equipment (and administer some quick, unexpected justice whenever a supervillain tried to cross the MoralEventHorizon). It went pretty well for them for a while, until they made the mistake of trying this on [[HeroKiller Willy Pete]]. |
| 75 | * ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': [[BeleagueredBoss General Cantankerus]] in "Asterix and the Goths" described his troops as "They're all quite thick, and I'm their leader! [sobs]" |
| 76 | * ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': Or, more often than not, by [[OnlySaneMan crazies]]. Special mention to the palace guards. Iznogoud even lampshades this several times: |
| 77 | -->'''Iznogoud:''' Can't we just fire all crazy people from this palace?!\ |
| 78 | '''Wa'at Alahf:''' Sure, boss, but who would be in charge of doing this? |
| 79 | * In the ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan2013'' run, [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Otto Octavius]] (in Peter Parker's body) often considers everyone he ever meets to be an idiot. Then again, he is a genius. |
| 80 | * In a ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' issue detailing a potential universe where [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] won, Batman taunted him by answering his question of why he was "surrounded by maggots" - after winning, he'd done what he always said he would do: reform creation in his image. Thus, he has no room to complain: all he's seeing is his own ugly mug. |
| 81 | * Done interestingly in ''ComicBook/{{Wayward}}'' where the BigBad, a VisionaryVillain intent on bridging the gap between the past and the future, not only finds himself frustrated by his conservative team mates' idiotic insistence to much rather fight to the last man instead of accepting the changing times and embracing the future and its technological wonders, but finds himself equally frustrated by the heroes' idiotic lack of respect for the introspective virtues of the past and stubborn teenage mentality to just follow the whims of their flailing emotions. |
| 82 | * In issue 2 of ''ComicBook/FlashGordon1988'' Flash points out Ming's guards are incompetent. It takes two panels for Ming to come to the same conclusion and try to kill Flash himself. |
| 83 | * ''ComicBook/ThePunisherWelcomeBackFrank'' has Ma Gnucci, who no doubt believes herself to be the only sensible person left in the family after Frank's rampage. Frank also earlier threw her to a polar bear, which she somehow survived, [[AnArmAndALeg minus her limbs]]. She attempts to have her vengance but is off to a slow start thanks to her remaining goons being LiteralMinded morons. |
| 84 | -->'''Ma Gnucci:''' Spread the word: '''vendetta'''. I am putting ''ten million dollars'' on the head of the ''animal'' that did this to me.\ |
| 85 | '''Mook:''' ...You want us to put a hit on the bear?\ |
| 86 | '''Ma Gnucci:''' (''visibly pained at the display of idiocy'') On the ''Punisher''... |
| 87 | [[/folder]] |
| 88 | |
| 89 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 90 | * This is Sheila's reaction on discovering who her final teammates are during the "Grudge Match" arc in ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable''. Following the elimination games, one member of each of the gaming groups is supposed to belly up to the table for the final showdown. Sheila expects to be backed up by the power players from the other 'evil' groups: the other players being supposed to take the fall to allow them to progress. Instead she ends up with the most useless character from every team. |
| 91 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': |
| 92 | ** One strip had the PointyHairedBoss complaining that he was "surrounded by incompetents", and Dilbert's reply was "If a bunch of incompetents were able to surround you, what does that say about you?" |
| 93 | ** At the end of a business meeting facilitated by Dogbert at Dilbert's request, Dogbert says that his takeaway was the realization that he was the only one there with anything to say, and requests "a moment of silence to honor me for my brilliant work despite being surrounded by dolts." Alice and Wally, seated on either side of him, are scowling. |
| 94 | * In [[https://www.gocomics.com/barneyandclyde/2016/05/13 this]] strip from ''ComicStrip/BarneyAndClyde'', Pillsbury Pharmaceuticals' SarcasmBlind R&D team makes pill bottles more difficult to open [[RhetoricalRequestBlunder in response to Barney's "Could we make it more difficult to open?"]] Barney declares himself surrounded by idiots, who then say, [[InsistentTerminology "We prefer]] [[IdiotSavant 'savants.'"]] |
| 95 | [[/folder]] |
| 96 | |
| 97 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 98 | * ''Manga/Evangelion303'': Asuka often thinks that all in the base but her -- and some few people such like [[BattleCouple Shinji]], [[LovelyAngels Hikari or Jessika]] -- are idiots or weirdoes. In the chapter 15, as she is putting up with the Mari and Kelly's antics, she thinks: "Idiots. Idiots both of them..." |
| 99 | * Rupert and Earl, an original creation by fanfic author Creator/{{Swing 123}}, are commanders of an exceptionally idiotic crew who appear in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheMovie'' (the original had the crew portrayed as very competent, but the remake makes them the idiots they are later on), have a cameo in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesIILostAtSea'', and return in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesIIIDoubleTrouble'' and ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries''. |
| 100 | * ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has [[OnlySaneMan Jean-Paul]] flatly say this almost word for word in the finale of Book 1, when his friends are [[CasualDangerDialogue casually chatting in the midst of a brutal battle]]. This is less because of their stupidity (they're all pretty smart), per se, more a complete lack of common sense. |
| 101 | * ''Fanfic/TamersForeverSeries'': |
| 102 | ** Ruki tends to show aspects of this when [[spoiler: Chaos]] and Takato do something moronic (which is pretty much all the time). |
| 103 | --->'''Oh I can't believe you two''' |
| 104 | ** Takato also acts like this when confronted by Ruki and [[spoiler: Chaos]]'s nigh constant bickering. |
| 105 | --->''"Sometimes I wish my mind showed me something '''other''' than the two of you"'' |
| 106 | * [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry]] feels this way in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8501689/11/The-Havoc-side-of-the-Force The Havoc Side of the Force]]'' after one of the slaves he freed loudly confirms his identity in a throne room filled with people. He even tells HK-47 to ask them, in the most insulting manner he can, "Whether the words 'I'd like to remain anonymous' are anything more than a collection of unintelligible syllables to them, or they actually want me dead, or if they are all just sodding morons." As he points out, when he saved the slaves (and robbed their owner, a Hutt, blind), he made sure no one could possibly trace it back to him. Now because of a little girl, he's going to be hunted by the Hutts for what he did. This is deconstructed when it exacerbates Harry's (somewhat justified) paranoia to the point that until he meets Death Watch and gets himself some decent security, Harry is ''obsessed'' with doing as much of his own security checks himself as he can humanly manage. To start with, he descends into incandescent rage when he learns the "little girl" above was actually Padawan Aayla Secura, who in her haste to contact her Master gave the Hutts a solid bead on Harry, who only managed to escape by the skin of his teeth. ''Then'', despite asking Amidala to keep his involvement discreet, the bounty hunters pursuing him arrived to his destination ''before him'' (unknown to him, it's actually not Amidala's fault - she gave Palpatine a few details and begged him to keep the info a state secret, and he immediately leaked the info). |
| 107 | * In chapter 3 of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10317264/3/A-Necromancer-s-Wild-Card A Necromancer's Wild Card]]'', a ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''Literature/IsThisAZombie'' [[CrossOver crossover]], [[TheStoic Minato]] [[TheHero Ari]][[OurZombiesAreDifferent sato]] provides a heroic example as he quotes this trope verbatim after witnessing [[{{Muggles}} the students]] of [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Ayumu]] [[TheLancer Aikawa]]'s school paying more attention to [[WholesomeCrossdresser Ayumu crossdressing]] instead of a '''[[UnusuallyUninterestingSight giant crawfish monster]]''' that [[ChainsawGood Ayumu recently killed]]. |
| 108 | --> '''Minato''' (thinking to himself while also {{facepalm}}ing): '' 'Hide your shame, Ayumu. Hide your shame because I'm evidently surrounded by idiots.' '' |
| 109 | * In ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'', Ritsuko's got this mindset. During [[HumongousMecha Unit-00's]] activation test, she thinks that everyone else is stupid. |
| 110 | * ''Fanfic/ReadTheFinePrintEvangelion'': In her first letter to Shinji, Asuka complains that she is the only member of the Nerv's German branch who is not a blithering idiot. |
| 111 | * In ''Fanfic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40k'' Kaworu bemoans his lack of competent henchmen. The trope is then deconstructed as he admits that he's not surrounded by ''idiots'', he's surrounded by the ''mediocre''. SEELE and NERV recruited the best henchmen while the Earth Cradle was essentially a dumping ground for the leftovers. As a result he got people who are less skilled and less ''sane'' than canon Evangelion characters. |
| 112 | * At one point in ''Fanfic/BackToUs'', Alya learns from Adrien that the other members of Team Miraculous (who she learned the identities of in a previous chapter) don't know who he is under the mask and he doesn't know who they are. She then {{facepalm}}s at realizing just how stupid he, Marinette, and Nino are. |
| 113 | * In a heroic example, the four VERY MUCH feel this way in ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World''. At one point John asks in frustration, "Are we absolutely the only ones usin' our brains round here?" And later, when they're meeting with the Circle leadership: |
| 114 | -->John, who had thought his observation perfectly reasonable and no insight of any great brilliance, was almost as astonished as the Circle people by their reaction to it. Remembering his conversation with George and Paul some nights ago, particularly his comment that no one seemed to be using their brains except them, he could only conclude that he was one hundred percent right and that ''every other person on C'hou was a fucking idiot. Including'' the gods. He quickly picked up his wine cup again and drank deeply so he wouldn't burst out laughing. |
| 115 | * ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'': |
| 116 | ** Poor Vegeta. |
| 117 | --->'''Vegeta:''' I'm surrounded by idiots.\ |
| 118 | '''Goku:''' [[SarcasmBlind "I thought you were surrounded by gumdrops and ice cream?"]]\ |
| 119 | '''Vegeta:''' AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! |
| 120 | ** And then there's Nappa... |
| 121 | --->'''Nappa:''' What's wrong Vegeta?\ |
| 122 | '''Vegeta:''' I'm just... having an aneurysm from sheer stupidity.\ |
| 123 | '''Nappa:''' I didn't know you were that stupid, Vegeta.\ |
| 124 | '''Vegeta:''' AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! |
| 125 | ** And then there's Garlic Jr. in ''The Dead Zone Abridged''. |
| 126 | --->'''Garlic:''' Oh God, your father's Goku... ''Oh my God you morons stole Goku's kid?!'' How? How did you steal Goku's kid?!\ |
| 127 | '''Cinnamon:''' Well first we beat up his wife.\ |
| 128 | '''Garlic:''' ''Oh my shit!'' |
| 129 | %%* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' |
| 130 | %%** Uttered by Dartz word-for-word in the first Evil Council of Doom. |
| 131 | %%** Bakura's utterance of "I'm surrounded by wankers." |
| 132 | %%* ''WebVideo/DeathNoteTheAbridgedSeriesKpts4tv'': |
| 133 | %%** Happens a lot: |
| 134 | %%--->'''[[spoiler: Higuchi]]:''' What's the point of having minions if they don't do your work for you! [[TheSlacker I should be watching the Home Shopping Network in my underwear]] but ''NO'', I have to go out and commit a murder! |
| 135 | %%** And: |
| 136 | %%--->'''Light:''' L, why?! ''Why did you leave me?!'' Why did you leave me alone with these IDIOTS! ''[sobbing]'' And... yeah, I'm over it now. |
| 137 | %%** Also when Mello's mafia minions kidnap an old grey-haired guy... |
| 138 | %%--->'''Mello:''' I asked you to bring me [[spoiler: Sayu Yagami]]. A 17-year-old girl. Does this look like a 17-year-old girl to you?\ |
| 139 | %%'''Minion 1:''' No...\ |
| 140 | %%'''Minion 2:''' Yes. |
| 141 | * ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'' has constant lamentation from named male characters to the outright stupidity of the rest of the player base. Kirito constantly has to remind his female companions (not named Asuna, thankfully) how aggro works, Diabel loses his temper when some of his fellow players break from the game during a boss fight to play ''Bejeweled'' of all things, Keita vociferously regrets surrounding himself with [[ArtificialStupidity quest NPCs]], Tiffany goes from trying to help his fellow players to [[ConArtist scamming them]] when he realizes just how stupid they are, and Kayaba's last vestiges of faith in humanity are sorely tested when one player attacks him ''after Kirito triggered the "Immortal Object" notice after attacking Kayaba himself''. |
| 142 | -->'''Kayaba:''' I ''tried'', you know. ''Lord knows'' I've tried. But there's just no helping you people! It's like you crave death, but not just ''any'' death, nooooo! You fuckers seem to have some sort of pool going to see who can end their existence in the dumbest, most avoidable way possible! ''[[SerialEscalation And you just keep one-upping each other!]]'' Do you know how many of you have died screaming "LeeroyJenkins"? ''More than zero!'' |
| 143 | * ''WebVideo/MajorLeaguePony'': Nightmare Moon states this to herself, as Twilight is running down a completely ridicules and nonsensical list of element names for her friends. |
| 144 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic, ''[[Fanfic/SunsplitSaga Sunspawned]]'', Princess Celestia discusses her [[IdleRich dissolute court]] in this way with the [[spoiler:[[OppositeSexClone newly cloned]]]] Sunset Shimmer and her creator, [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation Sunburst]]: |
| 145 | --> '''Celestia:''' I put on a disguise so I can socialize without being a 'princess'.\ |
| 146 | '''Sunset:''' What? But--you have a wealth of knowledge and power and, and wealth!\ |
| 147 | '''Celestia:''' I'm also surrounded by self-absorbed idiots and nopony respects me for myself.\ |
| 148 | '''Sunset:''' (To Sunburst) Congrats, you're a princess. |
| 149 | * ''Fanfic/ThePeaceNotPromised'': Lily's efforts at marking potions give a clue as to why Severus hated teaching the subject: the students are so clueless that even with a very basic follow-the-steps recipe, they turn in a whole rainbow of different results, baffling Lily as to just how they managed it. Notably, Severus himself has such long experience that he has no such difficulty; he can immediately identify each mistake. |
| 150 | --> '''Lily:''' I'm having a hard time thinking of constructive criticism. Any advice?\ |
| 151 | '''Severus:''' Don't bother with 'constructive'. There is little redeemable. |
| 152 | * ''Fanfic/{{Rules}}'': The reason why Light wants to stay in America for the summer is because this is his situation in Japan (with Misa being the most foremost example). When he was back home for Christmas, he desperately missed the intelligent company of Elijah and, to a lesser extent, Ethan, and has no desire to repeat the experience. |
| 153 | * A rare inversion occurs in a side story of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines''. Zevie, the leader of Team Zenith (from which Teams Magma and Aqua split from) admits to Steven Stone that his plans failed partly because he surrounded himself with too many ''bright'' people since their ideas to change the world clashed with each other and led to a lot of infighting. |
| 154 | * In ''Fanfic/InvaderFranny'', a crossover fic between ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' and ''Literature/FrannyKStein'', Franny dismisses everyone at Skool aside from Dib as being "bloody idiots". |
| 155 | * In ''Fanfic/RisingOfTheSleepingSoldier'', while Alucard is the second oldest of the cardinal heroes (himself being 19 and Motoyasu being 21), he is the most mature out of all of them and quickly starts to feel like [[TokenAdult the only adult among them]] due to their collective tendency to [[KnowNothingKnowItAll act like they're the smartest one in the room when the facts point the other way]]. |
| 156 | * At the climax of ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' story ''Fanfic/HereThereBeMonsters'', Dr. Sivana grumbles that his subordinates are unable to think for themselves or do anything without his input. |
| 157 | -->'''Dr. Sivana:''' "Illyria! Increase the power of the paralysis ray!"\ |
| 158 | '''Illyria:''' "How do I do that?"\ |
| 159 | '''Dr. Sivana:''' "How do I know? Get another rat to run in the generator! You all expect me to do your thinking for you!" |
| 160 | * ''Fanfic/MoralityChainAvatarTheLastAirbender'': Azula is very, very rarely impressed with anyone in the Fire Nation besides Ty Lee and Mai. And the main exceptions are Zuko and Iroh. |
| 161 | ** Most of the Fire Nation generals are incompetent idiots. This is apparently partly due to LoweredRecruitingStandards; with the imminent return of Sozin's Comet, they won't actually need competent people in charge soon, since all resistance will be completely shattered. |
| 162 | ** The soldiers who accompany her on the way to the Earth Kingdom are supposed to be elites, but she considers their Firebending forms atrocious. On the plus side, her primary way of dealing with this is forcing them to train with her--while it's not ''fun'' for them to be used as punching bags, they do know they learn from the experience. |
| 163 | ** She facepalms when she finds out that Mai's parents allowed an evacuation due to a suspicious plague in a city that was already known to have a resistance movement. She's also annoyed that they've agreed to trade the extremely valuable King Bumi for the return of their kidnapped infant son Tom-Tom, but she can understand capitulating... until she finds out that offering Bumi was ''their'' idea. |
| 164 | * ''Fanfic/ZimTheWarlordIrkenReversion'': This is why Gaz hates humanity more than she dislikes Zim. Humans are dumb, and so is Zim, but only a handful of humans know what Zim really is, one of them being her brother who's stupid pretty much everywhere else. Zim at least is pretty clever when he stops to actually think things through, which happens quite a bit more often after he undergoes [[{{Metamorphosis}} Reversion]]. |
| 165 | * ''Fanfic/MetalGearGreen'': |
| 166 | ** When calling up all the African Warlords to meet for her demands, Luan Igwe, the Warlord of South Africa, upon hearing the pathetic squabbles of other warlords, mentally remarks that it's a miracle Africa isn't under the rule of the Tyrant if his competition are complete and utter idiots. After five years of battle with the MSF, he pulls his forces out of the fight with the intent to use said idiots as human shields. |
| 167 | ** When Nezu is forced to sign a list of demands for heroes to be at the Sports Festival for added security, he mentally remarks that it's a miracle Ocelot hadn't gone insane from the HPSC's sheer ineptitude. |
| 168 | [[/folder]] |
| 169 | |
| 170 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 171 | %% this category has been alphabetized |
| 172 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': [[InspectorJavert Captain of the palace guards, Razoul]] feels this way towards his underlings, who cower in fear upon seeing a little monkey who barely reaches their knees holding a scimitar. |
| 173 | -->'''Guard:''' ''(horrified to see Abu holding a sword)'' He's got a sword!\ |
| 174 | '''Razoul:''' ''(angrily)'' Oh, you idiots... ''(unsheathes his sword)'' [[NoIndoorVoice WE'VE ALL GOT SWORDS]]!! |
| 175 | * Twice in ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'', the villain Carface shouts, "''Morons!'' I'm surrounded by ''morons!''" |
| 176 | * An interesting variation in ''Franchise/DespicableMe''. While Gru doesn't find the antics of the Minions annoying (at least not to the point where he berates them loudly and viciously), they do have a tendency to aggravate ''each other''. |
| 177 | * In their first appearance in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'', Hades' minions, [[BumblingHenchmenDuo Pain and Panic]], can't even go down the stairs without slapstick stuff happening to them. Which prompts Hades to [[AsideGlance glance at the audience with a "I don't get paid enough for this" look]]. |
| 178 | * In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'', Scar says this exact quote about the hyenas. Interestingly, he said this about said hyenas [[TheHyena playing their species's trope straight]], and not the mission they had recently failed. |
| 179 | -->'''Scar:''' ''[{{facepalm}}]'' I'm ''surrounded'' by idiots... |
| 180 | ** Scar once again repeats this line in Disney's centenary short, ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAStudio'', after WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph bumps into a trash can as he heads outside for the huge group photo. |
| 181 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'', [[BigBad Adagio Dazzle]] feels this way about her CoDragons, [[TheDitz Sonata Dusk]] and [[BetaBitch Aria Blaze]]. She has this to say to Sunset Shimmer during her initial tour of the school: |
| 182 | -->'''Adagio Dazzle:''' ''[insincere smile]'' You'll have to excuse them. ''[contemptuous frown]'' They're idiots. |
| 183 | * The novelization of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'' provides some additional insight into Tempest Shadow's mental state: "'Well, answer it!' Tempest barked. Sometimes she couldn't help feeling as though she was surrounded by incompetent oafs. They couldn't even accomplish the simplest tasks, like answering a potion call." |
| 184 | * ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'': Ruber towards some of his dim-witted henchmen and mostly his Griffin. The annoyed expression on Ruber's face gives it away at times. |
| 185 | * The Bog King from ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic''. He's the king of the [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins]] who routinely fail him at basic tasks like informing him of trespassers or stopping said lone trespasser from breaking into his palace. |
| 186 | * In ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', Maleficent had been sending her minions to search for Princess Aurora, whom she cast a curse on as a newborn, to put her plan into motion. However, said minions failed in looking for her for 16 years because [[LiteralMinded they thought too much about the "newborn" part]]. Maleficent is not too keen on finding out... |
| 187 | -->'''Maleficent:''' '''''[[YouFool FOOLS!]] [[UnstoppableRage IDIOTS]]! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis IMBECILES]]!'''''\ |
| 188 | ''(She starts blasting at her minions, shooing them away)''\ |
| 189 | '''Maleficent:''' Oh, they're hopeless. [[MinionWithAnFInEvil A disgrace to the forces of evil...]] |
| 190 | ** In the live-action retelling ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'', this is actually the point where it clearly deviates from the original story: This time she sends her only competent underling, the raven Diablo (renamed Diaval), out ''first'', and [[SpannerInTheWorks the changes cascade from there]]. |
| 191 | [[/folder]] |
| 192 | |
| 193 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 194 | %% this category has been alphabetized |
| 195 | * In ''Film/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians1996'' |
| 196 | -->'''Cruella:''' Congratulations. You three have just won the Gold, Silver, and Bronze in the Morons Olympics!\ |
| 197 | '''Horace:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Who won the gold?]]\ |
| 198 | '''Cruella:''' [[BigShutUp SHUT UP!]] |
| 199 | * ''Film/AustinPowers'': |
| 200 | ** Doctor Evil, of course, supplies us with this quote: |
| 201 | --->'''Doctor Evil:''' Why must I constantly be surrounded by frickin' idiots? |
| 202 | ** Used in the trailer for ''Goldmember'' as well, by the narrator. |
| 203 | --->''He is brilliant. He is deadly. And he is still surrounded by frickin' idiots.'' |
| 204 | ** Of course he's not too smart himself... Number Two and Scott fit this more. |
| 205 | * In BEACH PARTY (Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon), the world's least scary motorcycle gang leader, Eric von Zipper, declares toward the end of the film that he has "an army of stupids." Not that he has much room to talk. |
| 206 | * In ''Film/{{Becket}}'', when Henry II sends some loyal members of his court to arrest the TurbulentPriest, Becket not only refuses to plead to the charges but manages to turn the tables on his accusers by reminding them that he's their spiritual father and threatening their souls if they arrest him on false accusations. Henry II, watching this turn of events from afar, breaks down laughing and says in amazement, "He's made mincemeat of them. I'm surrounded by fools! Becket is the only intelligent man in my kingdom and he's against me." |
| 207 | * In ''Bickford Schmeckler's Cool Ideas'', the eponymous character gives what may be one of the best diss lines ever: |
| 208 | -->'''Bickford:''' I'm surrounded by soon-to-be Deltas of the Literature/BraveNewWorld. |
| 209 | * ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid''. As Butch, Sundance, and their employer are on a mission to pick up a payroll, Butch and Sundance are watching for an ambush. The employer says "Morons. I've got morons on my team.", and explains that no one will ambush them because they don't have the money yet. |
| 210 | * ''Film/BlazingSaddles'': Outside of [[GuileHero Bart]], the Waco Kid and [[BigBad Hedley Lamarr]], neither side is exactly overburdened with brain cells. Hedley describes his chief minion as a "shitkicker" at least once, and one of the film's funniest lines is Creator/GeneWilder ad-libbing a reminder for Bart that the people of Rock Ridge aren't that bright either. |
| 211 | -->'''Jim:''' You've got to remember that these are simple farmers. People of the land. The common clay of the New West. You know. Morons.\ |
| 212 | '''Bart:''' [{{Corpsing}}] |
| 213 | * ''Film/{{Desperado}}'': A significant source of the film's comedy is BigBad Bucho's increasing (and eventually [[BadBoss murderous]]) rage at having a bunch of StupidCrooks as minions who are constantly getting killed and making him look bad in front of his fellow Cartel leaders. |
| 214 | * ''Film/GetShorty''. Very few people not named Chili Palmer consider the consequences of their actions or the possibility that they might not be as smart/sneaky/powerful as they think they are. |
| 215 | * In ''Film/TheGodsMustBeCrazy'', AmoralAfrikaner Sam Boga says this of his men when they meet up with him at the banana forest in Dumgaze after a botched AssassinationAttempt on the president: |
| 216 | -->'''Sam Boga:''' You killed three, and injured five. And you lost four. Why do I have to work with AMATEURS?! |
| 217 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': Spend enough time with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and one will inevitably have this reaction. |
| 218 | ** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', during the Kyln prison break, an exasperated Gamora comes to this conclusion on her future teammates. |
| 219 | --->'''Gamora:''' I am going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy. |
| 220 | ** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', Nebula's general attitude towards the DysfunctionJunction that is the Guardians of Galaxy is that they're all morons who are completely out of their minds. |
| 221 | --->'''Nebula:''' Idiots!! |
| 222 | ** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[Characters/MCUTonyStark Tony Stark]], [[Characters/MCUPeterParker Peter Parker]] and [[Characters/MCUStephenStrange Stephen Strange]] wind up teaming up with the [[Characters/MCUGuardiansOfTheGalaxy Guardians]] (minus Gamora, Rocket and Groot). Tony quickly becomes annoyed when the Guardians refuse to listen to any of his plans, and when Peter finally asks what it is they can do, Mantis tells him they "[[{{Malaproper}} kick names and take ass]]". Cue a long {{beat}} where Tony looks like he's seriously reconsidering every single one of his life choices, while Peter looks at Tony with a "well, now what do we do?" look on his face. |
| 223 | ** Thanos is subject to this a lot; whomever he hires fails to deliver the Infinity Stones to him. After Ronan the Accuser betrayed him ''and'' purposely failed to deliver the Power Stone to him, this lead Thanos in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' to decide enough is enough and that he will get the stones himself. |
| 224 | * In the 1993 film ''Film/HocusPocus'': |
| 225 | -->'''Winifred:''' WHY? Why was I cursed with such IDIOT sisters?\ |
| 226 | '''Sarah:''' Just lucky, I guess |
| 227 | * In the film adaptation of ''Literature/{{Holes}}'', after 4 days of digging in the same [[spoiler:wrong]] spot [[spoiler:in order to find Kate Barlow's loot]], the Warden starts to lose her patience with the diggers and both Mr. Sir and Mr. Pendanski's incompetence, leaving the scene while uttering: |
| 228 | -->'''Warden:''' I'm surrounded by Cow Turds. |
| 229 | * ''Film/TheHungerGames'': President Coriolanus Snow takes this attitude towards Seneca Crane during their scenes in the movie. In general, he seems to dislike the hypocrisy of the system he runs, or at least get tired of it, and enjoys the company of those, like Plutarch and Katniss, who share his cynicism. |
| 230 | * In ''Film/TheIllusionist2006'', the Crown Prince says that he's surrounded by incompetents and that he can't stand for it. [[spoiler:[[AteHisGun So he doesn't]]]]. |
| 231 | * ''{{Film/Labyrinth}}'': Jareth the Goblin King actually has to tell his goblin minions to laugh when he tells a joke and is seen at one point {{facepalm}}ing in the middle of his throne room. You get the feeling that he wants Sarah to stay with him because he's probably desperate for a conversation with someone with an IQ above one digit. |
| 232 | * ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia''. After attempting to discuss the [[HoYay uniqueness of Lawrence's face]] with his minions, they simply don't get what he's talking about. The Turkish Bey laments to Lawrence that he's "surrounded by cattle. If I [he] were posted to the dark side of the moon, I [he] could not be more isolated." |
| 233 | * The opinionated general in ''Film/MarsAttacks'' seems to think he's the OnlySaneMan in the White House. |
| 234 | -->'''General:''' Liberals! Peacemongers! IDIOTS!\ |
| 235 | '''President's Daughter:''' [[ShutUpHannibal Could you]] ''[[ShutUpHannibal please]]'' [[ShutUpHannibal keep it down? People live here!]] |
| 236 | * Mr. Vandegelder seems to believe this in ''The Matchmaker'', as he states [[NoFourthWall directly to the audience]] "Ninety-nine percent of the world is populated by fools. And the few that aren't are in grave danger of being overcome by them". Dolly apparently believes it to be the case as well, to a degree, though she feels it's equally foolish to try to separate one's self from them ("A fool among fools, or a fool alone?"). |
| 237 | * In ''Series/{{Merlin|1998}}'', Vortigern wonders aloud "Why is it that I surround myself with a bunch of incompetent fools?" |
| 238 | ** This is the same guy who prides himself on acting before thinking, which is precisely what causes his downfall (pun intended). |
| 239 | *** Though he discusses it in a remarkably thoughtful way and points out that it has worked for him so far. Apparently the trick is to act before the other guy is done thinking. |
| 240 | * There's a non-villainous version in ''Film/PaintYourWagon'', with the missionary expressing disgust at the inhabitants of No-Name City. ("Boozers! Gluttons! Gamblers! Harlots! FORNICATORS!") But [[InsultBackfire his insults fall on deaf ears]], partly because [[AtLeastIAdmitIt the townspeople are proud of their degeneracy]] and partly because they don't know what a "fornicator" is. |
| 241 | * In ''Film/Posse1975'', Strawhorn complain to Peppe that he asked him to get him a gang, but instead Peppe has provided him with a bunch of 'cucarachas' (cockroaches). He is proved right when Peppe's men are immediately cut down by Nightingale's posse after opening fire (against Strawhorn's explicit orders) when the posse were still out of range. |
| 242 | * In the UsefulNotes/NewZealand road movie, ''{{Snakeskin}}'', the leader of the skinheads proclaims, |
| 243 | -->'''Speed:''' Terry your brother is a fucking idiot. You're a fuckin' idiot too, I'M SURROUNDED BY FUCKING IDIOTS! |
| 244 | * In ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'', Robin - the ''hero'' - comes to this conclusion when he is presented with his new recruits. The ensuing training montage does little to disprove it, to the point where he seriously considers sending the training dummies into battle instead. |
| 245 | -->'''Little John:''' I sent word to every village in England. They've sent their best men.\ |
| 246 | '''Robin:''' We are in a lot of trouble. |
| 247 | * ''Film/RogueOne'' Imperial science officer Orson Krennic winds up on Scarif for the climax of the film. Given that Scarif is essentially a beach planet (at least the parts we see of it), it might be the Imperial equivalent of a cushy beach assignment. So, when Rebels attack the data vault there and the command crew reacts with only stunned silence, Krennic is understandably frustrated. |
| 248 | -->'''Krennic:''' Are we ''blind''? DEPLOY THE GARRISON!! |
| 249 | * In ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', almost everyone working on the bridge of ''Spaceball One'' is an asshole. At least, [[WhosOnFirst they have the surname Asshole.]][[note]]The novelization {{bowdlerise}}s this to "Idiots"; some TV edits replace "Asshole" with "Moron" or cut the word/scene out.[[/note]] |
| 250 | -->'''Dark Helmet:''' How many Assholes we got on this ship anyhow?\ |
| 251 | ''[all except one crewmember on the bridge jump to their feet]''\ |
| 252 | '''Standing Crew: Yo!'''\ |
| 253 | ''[{{beat}} as Dark Helmet turns slowly around, pauses momentarily upon seeing the number of Assholes, then continues turning to face Colonel Sandurz]''\ |
| 254 | '''Dark Helmet:''' ...I knew it, I'm surrounded by Assholes.\ |
| 255 | ''[another {{beat}} before Dark Helmet quickly slams his faceplate down]''\ |
| 256 | '''Dark Helmet:''' ''[in his deep voice]'' Keep firing, Assholes! |
| 257 | * Elijah Kalgan wants you to know that his ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' is being undermined by his own disciples. [[{{Narm}} His words, not ours.]] |
| 258 | * Justified in ''Film/TheSpirit'' as the MadScientist villain can create cloned (e.g. expendable) henchmen, but not cloned henchmen who are smart. One attempt to do so creates a bouncing foot...man...thing. Which is just plain damn weird. |
| 259 | * In ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' (1978) and ''Film/SupermanII'' (1980), Lex Luthor had Otis. "It's amazing that brain can generate enough power to keep those legs moving." |
| 260 | * Possibly originated, certainly [[TropeCodifier codified]] by ''Film/TheThreeStooges''. "I'm surrounded by morons!" could have been Moe's catchphrase if he hadn't had so many of them... |
| 261 | * Evil, the BigBad in Creator/TerryGilliam's ''Film/TimeBandits'', is surrounded by incompetent henchmen. At one point, he says to one of them who's just said something particularly idiotic, "Oh, my dear Benson, you are so mercifully free of the ravages of intelligence." This is likely his own doing, however, as both of the {{mooks}} who dare to raise serious questions about Evil's plan are blown to smithereens. |
| 262 | [[/folder]] |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 265 | * ''Franchise/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Victor from ''Portal Through Time'' is a committed and serious villain who is exasperated by how most of his allies in trying to disrupt the Slayer timeline are arrogant, lazy, dim-witted, or some combination of the three. |
| 266 | * Creator/TerryPratchett likes this one. |
| 267 | ** Evil Harry Dread in the Literature/{{Discworld}} book ''Literature/TheLastHero'' deliberately chooses his underlings for their stupidity, and they quickly kill themselves in battle. [[ContractualGenreBlindness He's a traditionalist]]: "if I surround myself with morons, as I'm supposed to, then the hero will let me get away, like he's supposed to." It's just Creator/TerryPratchett's usual method of taking things to the breaking point to make a joke. |
| 268 | ** Carcer in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', especially after he [[spoiler:becomes Captain of the Palace Guard]]. This is somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]], in that "[Carcer's men] hated Keel with that gnawing, nerve-sapping hatred that only the mediocre can really bring to bear, and that was useful." |
| 269 | ** Exactly the same joke/point is made in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', an earlier Literature/{{Discworld}} novel which also stars Vimes, with the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night. |
| 270 | * Ignatius Reilly, the protagonist of ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'', views his fellow citizens of New Orleans as such. Inverted to a degree, in that Ignatius himself is very foolish and has some serious [[ParentalIssues Mommy Issues]]. |
| 271 | * Pavel Kazakov, BigBad of the Creator/DaleBrown novel ''Warrior Class'', says "I'm surrounded by cowards and incompetents" after [[spoiler: Tin Men take over one of his oil tankers.]] |
| 272 | * ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'s'' Cluny the Scourge [[LampshadeHanging muses on this trope]] while considering the intelligence of his commanders. Only [[TheDragon Redtooth]], [[BunnyEarsLawyer Killconey]], [[TheReliableOne Darkclaw]], and [[PhantomThief Shadow]] could be called smart by any real measures, while the rest are just brutes (such as Frogblood), expendable idiots (Fangburn and Ragear), or are [[SmugSnake far too overconfident in their limited abilities]] (Cheesethief). He decides that putting up with stupidity from his followers is worth the utter obedience he gets because they're too dim to think for themselves. |
| 273 | * ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': |
| 274 | ** [[BigBad Visser Three]] has an instant solution to any idiots around him - [[OffWithHisHead and it's not pretty]]. Thing is, though, he's not very tolerant of any failure and is prone to executing his subordinates for anything from letting the Animorphs escape to [[DisproportionateRetribution reminding him that bugs exist]]. |
| 275 | ** In ''The Return'', SixthRangerTraitor David recruits a pair of thugs to do his dirty work, seeing as how he's now trapped in rat morph. They're not very bright, though, and David laments their idiocy several times. Eventually, they even end up [[TheDogBitesBack turning on him]]. |
| 276 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': |
| 277 | ** [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCerseiLannister Queen Cersei Lannister]] laments this, unaware that the reason is she's driven away or ignored everyone with good advice. |
| 278 | ** [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireJaimeLannister Ser Jaime Lannister]] was pretty much self-reliant when he didn't have a position of responsibility, so he never quite socialized with the rest of the White Cloaks or never cared about the rest; when he is named Lord Commander, he quickly realizes that save for Balon Swann and Loras Tyrell he is responsible for a bunch of disloyal, fishy, mediocre and unworthy Kingsguards with a catch: since Kingsguard vows are for life, he cannot dismiss any of the chumps even if he wanted to. Especially not after making clear to his father that he intends to close the gate that Cersei opened by dismissing Selmy. |
| 279 | ** Aside from Melisandre and Davos, [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireStannisBaratheon King Stannis Baratheon]] feels he is surrounded by mostly bootlickers and fanatics. |
| 280 | * In ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'', this was A.A. Milne's explanation for why Eeyore is depressed. |
| 281 | * In the ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' series, Jack Frost often complains about this. It backfires on him in the movie, where he gets smarter henchmen... who betray him. |
| 282 | * In ''Literature/HarryPotter'' Severus Snape, the Potions teacher, repeatedly laments that very few, if any, of his students are up to his standards of intellect. To their faces. It becomes a vicious cycle, because the environment of constant ridicule and deprecation without any kind of aid or approval from the teacher does not lend itself to productive education, thus causing children to make mistakes and earn even more insults. In some cases, Neville Longbottom in particular, fear of him makes students so nervous that they're simply so stupefied with terror that they can't do their work properly, thus earning his wrath. |
| 283 | ** Harry feels this way towards the Ministry of Magic for [[HeadInTheSandManagement not accepting Voldemort's return sooner]] as well as not punishing Umbridge for her actions at Hogwarts. He has good reason to feel that way. He also feels this mixed with OnlySaneMan in the sixth book during Ron and Hermione's OperationJealousy. |
| 284 | * ''Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Vikings are great, big and muscly, but they don't have a lot going on in the brains department, which means Hiccup and Fishlegs are usually the [[OnlySaneMan only sane men around]]. In Book 2, when the Hooligans are all going on a mission that might get them all killed, Fishlegs laments that he's "surrounded by people with seaweed for brains". |
| 285 | * Despite being quite prone to StupidEvil himself, [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] complains of this in the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novella ''Book of Sith''. Despite being the one who personally issued [[FinalSolution Order 66]], he was sick of Vader [[KickTheDog going out of his way to hunt down random Jedi]] instead of [[DystopiaIsHard helping him manage the Empire]] even after being ordered to knock it off ''twice'', so he created the [[HeroKiller Inquisitorius]] to help [[BloodKnight satisfy his bloodlust]]. However, the Inquisitors were IncompletelyTrained by Vader and [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels laughably incompetent]] as a result, with Palpatine complaining in the book about three of them getting [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed through mundane means]] such as a bomb, speeder crash, and drowning, and ranting that they're making a mockery of TheEmpire. |
| 286 | * In ''The White Rose'', the third book of ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'' series by Glen Cook, published in 1985, near the end of the book exactly this occurs: "Idiots" the Lady murmured. "I'm surrounded by idiots. Even the Tree is a dolt". |
| 287 | * As ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' progresses, Greg becomes much more aware of this. In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidOldSchool'' during the camping trip, he's the [[OnlySaneMan only sane person]] in the cabin, and helpless to prevent his cabin-mates' stupidity. In fact, when Greg separates from the group it all goes wrong for them. |
| 288 | * Literature/ArtemisFowl often feels this way about all of the other main characters (except Foaly, who is a genius) throughout the entire series. To be fair to his friends and teammates, almost all of them are quite competent in their own right, but Artemis is still equal parts exasperated/amused at their lack of understanding of his jokes/references/plans. It's tough to be an evil genius! |
| 289 | * ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'' (a novella of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): It's implied that this is how Nale feels about his acolytes. At one point, Lift overhears him giving a dressing-down to his acolytes, noting that he's managed to learn more about their target during a morning stroll than they did for the past week. |
| 290 | * ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': During the events of ''Literature/AMagesPower'', the Black Cloaks criminal gang tries to kidnap Princess Kasile but twice fail in their attempts to do. At that point, their leader realizes that he'll have to do it himself because his underlings are useless. |
| 291 | * ''Literature/TreasureIsland'': Long John Silver actually has a rather simple plan: Let Captain Smollett get the ship to the island, let Trelawney and Livesey find and dig up the treasure, and then kill them on the way back to England and take the treasure. Unfortunately the rest of the pirates can't figure out why they shouldn't kill the honest crew ''now'', and by the time they reach the island it's all Silver can do to stop them from breaking out into open mutiny before they get any clue as to where the treasure is hidden. |
| 292 | * ''Literature/RubberGirl'': Melissa Robinson recognizes her classmate Katie Elaz in a news photo of Rubber Girl. But everyone else in her class do not see it even though Rubber Girl was [[ClarkKenting obviously just Katie in a mask]] and Rubber Girl only showed up in town after Katie was [[SuperHeroOrigin hospitalized from an accident at her parents' factory.]] She {{facepalm}}ed and groaned this line. |
| 293 | -->'''Melissa:''' I'm surrounded by retards! |
| 294 | [[/folder]] |
| 295 | |
| 296 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 297 | * In ''Series/AlloAllo'': |
| 298 | ** General von Klinkerhoffen (despite being a little crazy himself) is constantly finding his progress held up by the incredible incompetence and profiteering of his subordinates, which leads to many an execution threat or [[ReassignedToAntarctica an attempted posting to the Russian Front]] |
| 299 | ** René often feels this way towards the innumerable absurd schemes he is forced to carry out by Michelle Dubois, the intrepid, if not over-optimistic leader of the French Resistance. |
| 300 | * A heroic example is seen in ''Series/DadsArmy'' with Captain Mainwaring's opinion of his men (the joke being that some of them probably feel exactly the same about ''[[GeneralFailure him]]''). As he states in the episode "Gorilla Warfare"- |
| 301 | -->'''Mainwaring:''' You know, [[NumberTwo Wilson]], over the years that I've come to know the members of the platoon, [[AFatherToHisMen I've grown quite fond of them.]] But I can't help feeling sometimes that I'm in charge of a bunch of idiots. |
| 302 | * ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': Edmund at least from second season onward. Everyone except the title character is either insane, stupid, or both. |
| 303 | * At one point, during a first season episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', Joel Robinson, prompted by yet another difficult wrangling of the robots, declares in anger 'I'm surrounded by idiots, of my own design!' |
| 304 | ** Also uttered by Kalgon, the LargeHam BigBad of ''Film/SpaceMutiny'', which was skewered by ''[=MST3K=]'' several years later. |
| 305 | --->"I'm being undermined by my own disciples!" |
| 306 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': |
| 307 | ** In the first episode that he appears in, Spike explains his lack of perimeter guards to Angel this way. |
| 308 | * Botija feels this way in ''Series/{{Chespirito}}'', especially regarding his wife Chimoltrufia and his best friend and criminal accomplice Chompiras, in the case of the latter Botija would normally punish his stupidity with a slap in the face. Should be noticed that of the three, Botija is by far the most intelligent, not only is he shown to know a lot of culture and history, in later seasons, once they left the life of crime and became law-abiding citizens working in a hotel, Botija is always shown reading. Of course, considering that both Chompiras and Chimoltrufia are dumber than average… It is also explained in-universe that Botija is not from the same poor and humble origins as Chimoltrufia and Chompiras, instead, coming from a high middle-class household, which may explain his more cultured persona. |
| 309 | * Chilindrina also feels this way in ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'', especially when she teams up with Chavo and Kiko for mischief and/or she’s trying to trick them. Chilindrina shows a normal intelligence, if not higher than usual for a little girl: she’s not only very astute but also quite clever in the school episodes (her bad grades probable being a consequence of laziness instead). Of course, considering that stupidity is one of the main characteristics of both Chavo and Kiko, it isn’t hard to be portrayed as smarter. |
| 310 | * ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Lonzak, in ''The Adventures of Captain Proton!'' holoprogram, is an homage to this trope. His bungling gives MadScientist Dr Chaotica a frequent opportunity to emote his famous "[[YouFool FOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL!]]" line. Lampshaded also when Janeway (posing as [[FemmeFatale Queen Arachnia]]) is trying to get Chaotica to lower his [[DeflectorShields Lightning Shield]] so Captain Proton (Tom Paris) can attack. |
| 311 | -->'''Chaotica:''' ''[suspicious]'' Why this preoccupation with the Shield?\ |
| 312 | '''Janeway:''' Oh, forgive me. It's just that, as a [[TheCaptain fellow ruler]] of the cosmos, [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything I often have to do things myself]].\ |
| 313 | '''Chaotica:''' Ah. Because of the incompetence of your inferiors, no doubt!\ |
| 314 | '''Janeway:''' [[DesignatedHero Something like that]].\ |
| 315 | '''Chaotica:''' Oh, Arachnia, my love, my life! How well you understand our plight. If it weren't beneath my dignity, I...[[ManlyTears I would weep]]. [[LonelyAtTheTop How I've longed for someone who would understand]]. |
| 316 | * In the original Disney ''Series/{{Zorro|1957}}'' TV series, the evil commandant of the pueblo at one point actually said, verbatim, "I'm surrounded by incompetents!" |
| 317 | * Aeryn in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' references this when she considers who on board Moya is worth keeping. Running down the list, Crichton eventually gets annoyed enough to suggest she just have the whole ship to herself. Aeryn's response: "Mmm. Is that an offer?" Ironically, when one of the people she believes should have left Moya [[spoiler: apparently]] dies later that episode, [[PetTheDog she reacts with open horror.]] Guess she was just in a bad mood. |
| 318 | ** On the villainous side, Scorpius has a fairly miserable time putting up with people like Crais, Grayza, and most of Natira's minions. And an equally miserable time when he pulls an EnemyMine and discovers that [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits the crew of Moya]], far from the tactical geniuses he had anticipated, were a DysfunctionJunction of spectacular scale whose continued survival drew as much from [[IndyPloy wild improvisation]] and [[XanatosSpeedChess moments of brilliance]] as any kind of strategic savvy. |
| 319 | --->'''Scorpius:''' Now you understand what stupidity I have to deal with...\ |
| 320 | '''Scorpius:''' I may well have joined the wrong side. |
| 321 | * Myth/KingArthur and [[OnlySaneMan Father Blaise]] in ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}''. Every time there's a Round Table recap of "heroics". |
| 322 | ** The same in TheMovie, ''Film/KaamelottPremierVolet''. Counts for Merlin too with Karadoc, Perceval and the workers in the TunnelNetwork (who dug in the wrong directions and got easily lost underground). |
| 323 | * ''Franchise/KamenRider'': |
| 324 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'': Downplayed. Despite General Xaviax's frequent complaints, his underlings are not actually stupid. They are normal people with their own motivations, goals, and ConflictBall he didn't do much against. It's only logical that things don't always go the way he intended. Unfortunately, he can be an efficient villain even under such conditions. For example: |
| 325 | ---> ''(about [[LeeroyJenkins Brad]] [[PoorCommunicationKills Barett]])'' What moron gave humans free will?! |
| 326 | ---> ''(about the [[PsychoForHire Cho]] [[BumblingHenchmenDuo Brothers]])'' Enthusiastic, but not very bright. |
| 327 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' naturally runs into this a lot, being something of an InsufferableGenius. [[spoiler:He has it even moreso late in the series when he reverts to his original, more abrasive personality of Takumi Katsuragi.]] Subverted in a late episode where he and his allies confront the BigBad, and even facing a monstrously powerful evil they still engage in their usual comedic antics, causing [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Sento]] to remark "I'm surrounded by [[TrueCompanions idiots]]..." before adding with a grin "...And I couldn't be [[ThePowerOfFriendship happier]]!" |
| 328 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'': [[OnlySaneWoman Tsukuyomi]] is mostly passive-agressive about the annoyances caused by overseeing an [[CloudCuckoolander out of context]] future overlord, his pathologically [[HammyHerald hammy]] herald and the future overlord's [[HairTriggerTemper wannabe]] assassin. Considering how they're all on the way to [[KudzuPlot ensure and/or avert]] the BadFuture that [[TimeyWimeyBall have happened]] already, noone can blame her. |
| 329 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 330 | ** The Ogrons, ape-like minions of the Master and the Daleks, are a literal version of this trope. Oddly, that's more of an InformedAbility, as they actually are fairly effective minions, able to hold their own against human soldiers or guerillas as well as draconians. |
| 331 | ** In the Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures, [[EnigmaticMinion Sabbath's]] minions are an assortment of normal (but seemingly fairly well-trained; they can handle guns) Earth apes. They seem to be about as clever as can be expected, but don't comprehend video cameras and get scared if they hear one producing an imitation of his voice, suggesting he's a bit of a BadBoss to them. |
| 332 | ** Queen Katrika, in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Mysterious Planet]]" uses this one almost by name while wandering round lost in the underground. |
| 333 | ** Harrison Chase from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom The Seeds of Doom]]" declares this twice in one episode. |
| 334 | ** The Doctor themself sometimes complains about the human race in this way. Nine often called humans "stupid apes", while Twelve's go-to insult was "pudding-brains". |
| 335 | * In an episode of ''Series/BabylonFive'', Emperor Cartagia comments that while he is infallible, he has to put up with everyone else making mistakes. |
| 336 | * ''Series/{{Reba}}'': This is Reba Hart's default expression. (The other one is "[[DeathGlare I hate your living guts.]]") |
| 337 | * On ''Series/TheWire'', Stringer Bell increasingly feels like this, which prompts his "40 Degree Day" speech. Even after that, [[Funny/TheWire some of his Mooks *still* don't get it]]. In an interview, Creator/DennisLehane, who wrote the episode, said he wrote that speech specifically to embody this trope. |
| 338 | * Beautifully {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'' after Magnus beats the crap out of a mook, steals his gun, and points it at the boss. |
| 339 | -->'''Forsythe:''' Why? Why do I even hire these guys? |
| 340 | * Much of the comedy of ''Series/HogansHeroes'' is on how Klink (hardly a smart man in his own right) is constantly moaning of the antics of Schultz and others under his command. |
| 341 | -->'''Klink:''' Schultz, you're the most stupid man in the regiment. And what's worse, you're my top man. |
| 342 | * [[Characters/GameOfThronesTywinLannister Tywin Lannister]] in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' is a rare case of a BigBad who, while unhappy about the situation, is aware of his subordinates' tendency toward idiocy and accepts it as a fact of life. That doesn't stop him from berating them for their incompetence, but he doesn't get ''angry'' about it. He also considers his eldest two children to be stupid in their ways. |
| 343 | ** He makes it clear when he notices Arya that he considers everyone else in the fortress to be the equivalent of blind cattle in terms of intellect, both for wasting good talent and for not noticing a girl dressed as a boy. |
| 344 | ** When Arya has one of his lieutenants assassinated right in front of him, Tywin's brief sigh before calling for the guards seems to be less fear he was the intended target, but more exasperation that he's going to have to find someone to replace ''this'' idiot! |
| 345 | ** This is actually the reason he treats Arya so well until he hands her over to Gregor at least. He recognizes her as very intelligent and enjoys having conversations with someone on a strong intellectual level, which is rare for him. The only other subordinate that he considers remotely competent on a mental level is Tyrion, and he despises Tyrion for [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild entirely different reasons]]. |
| 346 | ** In a deleted scene from season 3, Tywin confronts Pycelle on how he knows the man's appearance as a hunched, doddering idiot is all an act, openly asking "am I the only one who sees through this performance? Is it possible so many have been fooled for so long?" Pycelle (speaking in a normal tone) admits even he can't believe it works so well. Knowing that, you can see in season 4 Tywin glancing about when Pycelle is speaking as if asking himself "Seriously? ''No one'' sees this?" |
| 347 | * ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': |
| 348 | ** Lieutenant Stone from the early seasons has the misfortune of having ThoseTwoGuys Bulk and Skull as his subordinates. He can frequently triple the IQ of a room by entering, and he ''knows'' it. |
| 349 | ** ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' features this with Tenaya 7, TheDragon; while she sometimes acts sassy towards her boss, KnightOfCerebus and [[AIIsACrapshoot evil AI]] Venjix, it is ''easy'' to sympathize with her when she's dealing with the other CoDragons. In fact, it's lampshaded when Venjix calls her his most intelligent and reliable servant, and she remarks while looking at the other two that that's not saying much. |
| 350 | ** Hell, practically every ''Power Rangers'' villain has had to put up with having to conquer the universe with the aid of complete morons. Lothor and Divatox stand quite high on that list. |
| 351 | ** In ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', Astronema calls her Quantrons nincompoops. And she ''built'' them. |
| 352 | * Grimlord from ''Series/VRTroopers'' also felt similarly, at one point stating "I am surrounded by incompetence!" He winds up [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness blowing most of his minions up and replacing them]] in the second season because of their repeated failures against the VR Troopers; his new forces still don't have much success. |
| 353 | * Series/{{House}}: |
| 354 | ** House acts this way around his employees, and ''is'' this when it comes to his patients -- ''especially'' the clinic ones. |
| 355 | ** Cuddy's ADayInTheLimelight episode has her surrounded by lazy, whining, conniving insurance companies, doctors, and assistants who expect her to sort out every problem they have. |
| 356 | * On an episode of ''Series/{{Batman|1966}}'', Catwoman is exasperated by the {{mooks}} working for her, and asks, "Why can't I get good help?" |
| 357 | * In an episode of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', Barbas mumbles this when his mole revealed itself when captured. |
| 358 | * ''Series/BassieEnAdriaan'': The Baron is frequently full of anger because his henchmen keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over, managing to blow stuff up in his face or have Bassie and Adriaan escape. |
| 359 | * This is actually a plot point in ''Series/TheFollowing'': Wannabe [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] Joe Carroll founds his cult of psycho killers to carry out his bidding. The problem is that ''it's a cult of psycho killers''. They're all crazy and murderous, and directing them toward any kind of focused productive activity is next to impossible. The original cult implodes before the end of the first season, and Joe's later attempts to rebuild it keep running into the same problem: AxCrazy people just don't play nice together. |
| 360 | * ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': Played straight, then inverted, in Season 2. Most of the demons that work for [[spoiler:Michael]] are morons, insubordinate, or both - but after the experiment fails 800 times, the other demons decide that [[spoiler:Michael]] is the real problem. |
| 361 | * ''Series/NinjaTurtlesTheNextMutation'': |
| 362 | ** In the FiveEpisodePilot "East Meets West", the Shredder is shown to have little patience for his Foot Ninjas' screw-ups. |
| 363 | ** Silver is often annoyed by the idiocy of his henchmen, to the point that he considers letting them go in "Sewer Crash" after seeing how useful hypnotizing Donatello into committing robberies for him has become. |
| 364 | * A non-villainous variant is Creator/AlexTrebek (Creator/WillFerrell) from the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' "Celebrity Series/{{Jeopardy}}" sketches. He just wants to host a game show, but he's stuck with celebrities who can't answer the simplest questions -- and, of course, Sean Connery making rude jokes about [[YourMom his mother]]. |
| 365 | * ''Series/OddSquad'': A heroic example. This is Agent Olive's modus operandi when it comes to dealing with oddness-stricken clients and co-workers alike. Anytime someone's an idiot and she's around to witness it, she'll either be [[DeadpanSnarker snarking about it,]] or will react with an expression that embodies this trope. |
| 366 | * ''Series/KingdomAdventure'': Magistrate Pitts ''thinks'' his guards are dumb failures, [[DumbMuscle and not entirely]] [[FellAsleepStandingUp without reason]]. That said, he overestimates his own intelligence and underestimates that of his guards, often blaming them for his own shortcomings. |
| 367 | * ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': Bud often felt this way about his family. |
| 368 | -->'''Bud:''' Must I be the meat in an imbecile sandwich? |
| 369 | * ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': Mycroft implies this in his dialogue in "The Empty Hearse"; when discussing their relative intelligence, Mycroft says to Sherlock: "If you seem slow to me, Sherlock, imagine how real people are like. I'm living in a world full of goldfish." Worth pointing out that Sherlock has supersonic thinking processes compared to normal people, so if Sherlock is slow to Mycroft... |
| 370 | * ''Series/{{Loki 2021}}'': At one point, Loki is surrounded by dozens of people with their own ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. [[GambitPileUp As everyone reveals their plans to usurp everyone else]] and [[MeleeATrois it devolves into a giant brawl]], Loki can be seen in the background, [[{{Facepalm}} face in his hands]]. The best part (which for some reason Loki doesn't find funny) is that [[spoiler:[[AlternateSelf they're all timeline variants of him]]]]. |
| 371 | -->'''Loki:''' This is a nightmare. |
| 372 | * It's a common joke among fans of ''Series/OurFlagMeansDeath'' to refer to Izzy Hands, Blackbeard's beleaguered and long-suffering first mate, as being the only human character in a cast full of [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppets]]. |
| 373 | * ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': The Spanish Inquisition leader Cardinal Ximinez's flunkies, Cardinals Fang and Biggles, share a brain between them, and their efforts to instill the Church's fear clearly are marked by Ximinez's facial expressions. |
| 374 | [[/folder]] |
| 375 | |
| 376 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 377 | * "I am Surrounded By Incompetence", by You've Got Foetus on Your Breath. |
| 378 | * Wrathchild America's "Surrounded By Idiots". Can be cathartic to hear. |
| 379 | * Mr. Burns sings about his lazy employees to Smithers in '[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t96Tz_blZwc ''Look at all those idiots]]''. The words surrounded by idiots is even in the lyrics. |
| 380 | [[/folder]] |
| 381 | |
| 382 | [[folder:Myths & Religion]] |
| 383 | * A heroic example is presented in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''; Odysseus' men end up screwing Odysseus over time and time again, doing things like getting trapped on the [[LotusEaterMachine Island of Lotus Eaters]], opening the bag of winds just as they were almost home, and butchering Helios' sacred calves. Sure, it was Odysseus' fault that Poseidon was angry at them, but you'd think his men would know better than to piss off the rest of the pantheon. |
| 384 | [[/folder]] |
| 385 | |
| 386 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 387 | * Early in ''AudioPlay/LeDonjonDeNaheulbeuk'', the Enchantress lampshades this trope about her group. [[HypocriticalHumor Right after she ended up detecting her own group with a detection spell]]. |
| 388 | -->'''The Enchantress:''' One is surrounded by incompetents!\ |
| 389 | '''The Dwarf:''' Wanna talk about your magic again? |
| 390 | [[/folder]] |
| 391 | |
| 392 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 393 | * Charles sometimes feels like this in ''Radio/AbsolutePowerBBC'': |
| 394 | -->'''Charles:''' I come in here in the morning, I look at him, I look at you, and I want to open the window and shout "I'm not mad! I'm the warden!" |
| 395 | [[/folder]] |
| 396 | |
| 397 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 398 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 399 | ** Horus Lupercal expressed this feeling during the infamous Literature/HorusHeresy. With his Primarch brethren split evenly between himself and The Emperor, The Emperor got the likes of [[TheAce Sanguinius]], [[TheParagon Guilliman]] and [[UltimateBlacksmith Vulkan]]. Horus? He got the likes of the morose [[AxCrazy Konrad Curze]], the useless-in-everything-but-a-fight [[TheBerserker Angron]] and the duplicitous [[ComplexityAddiction Alpharius]]. He often bemoaned his ragtag group of allies. |
| 400 | --->'''Horus:''' Strange is it not, that so many I wish beside me stand against me, while at my back are only the flawed and damaged. I am a master of broken monsters. |
| 401 | ** During the Siege of the Emperor's Palace, Perturabo of the Iron Warriors - a man who had little enough respect for the intelligence of the people around him at the best of times - was left managing the whole affair while Horus was indisposed and most of the other Primarchs present were getting increasingly DrunkOnTheDarkSide. Eventually the aggravation of dealing with them managed to do what over a hundred years of back-breaking siege engagements couldn't and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere prompted Perturabo to just give up on them and leave]]. |
| 402 | [[/folder]] |
| 403 | |
| 404 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 405 | * Leon, a young man who arrives in a town where everyone is cursed to be stupid, in the play ''Theatre/{{Fools}}''. |
| 406 | * In ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'', John Adams continually laments this about Congress. Near the end, Franklin [[WhatTheHellHero calls him out]] on his dismissive attitude and points out that the other Congressmen are accomplished men who have been given the trust and responsibility of their colonies, just like Adams, and deserve respect even if they disagree. |
| 407 | * In ''Theatre/PokemonLive'', Giovanni is this to the point that Jessie and James give him migraines from sheer annoyance. |
| 408 | * ''Theatre/BlackFriday'': The members of the Wiggly cult are very much dimwitted, led only by their greedy desires and their undying admiration for a doll and Linda Monroe, much to the latter's dismay. |
| 409 | -->'''Linda:''' Guys, while I don't want you to think for yourselves, I want you to know what I mean when I say my evil shit. |
| 410 | [[/folder]] |
| 411 | |
| 412 | [[folder:Theme Parks]] |
| 413 | * In ''Theatre/TheEighthVoyageOfSindbad'' show at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]], Miseria bemoans, "Why is it so hard to find good help these days?", upon seeing all of her minions get plowed through by the heroes. |
| 414 | [[/folder]] |
| 415 | |
| 416 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 417 | * ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'': In Chapter 4, it's revealed that Joey Drew hired Bertrum Piedmont to build a Bendy-themed amusement park called Bendy Land. [[PlayerCharacter Henry]] ends up having to go through the never-completed park on the chapter's main quest, and inside Bendy Land, he finds an audio recording from a mechanic named Lacie Benton. Other than [[TheAce Bertrum Piedmont]] himself, it seems there were a lot of idiots working on the theme park. Lacie complains that half of her coworkers don't know the difference between a wrench and a steamroller. |
| 418 | * ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'', in the twelfth Soviet mission, [[UsefulNotes/JosephStalin Stalin]] says the exact same line in response to Nadia and Georgi Kukov questioning his desire to obtain the Allies' [[{{Teleportation}} Chronosphere]]. |
| 419 | * In the ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'' manual comic (which serves as a premise to the game), Jazz learns from a [[TokenHeroicOrc rebel turtle]] that Devan Shell "has got a huge ego, so he tends to surround himself with morons." |
| 420 | * Your minions in ''VideoGame/OverlordI'' are so loyal, [[HumanResources they would gladly jump into a giant smelter to fuel the forging of your new equipment]]. However, they're all complete fools. |
| 421 | ** ''VideoGame/OverlordII'' has Queen Fay and the ineffectual StupidGood Elves. [[spoiler:She gets out of her position soon after though, and one of the elves was only [[ObfuscatingStupidity acting stupid]].]] |
| 422 | * Lazarevic in ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'' after executing a soldier who stole from him: "I am surrounded by traitors and fools!!" |
| 423 | * Cesare Borgia tries to play this card near the end of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'', though by that point it's really more like "Surrounded by dead people and one very, very good Assassin." |
| 424 | * ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Platinum]]'': After crafting a beautiful speech about recreating the world for Team Galactic, Galactic Boss Cyrus admits when you confront him that the speech he gave was somewhat of a lie in that the new world would be for him alone, as his minions are not worthy of being in it, telling you that "you yourself must know that they are uniformly useless and incomplete." ("Incomplete" is kind of Cyrus's favorite word.) In fairness, most of the minions you'll have faced, aside from the commanders, really ''are'' useless. |
| 425 | ** It's actually implied that Cyrus is [[InvokedTrope actively and deliberately]] keeping his followers uninformed, as they'd [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leave]] the moment they learned what he was actually after (and they do in ''Platinum'', and are mentioned in ''Black and White 2''). The sole exceptions are the Commanders, who are either [[NightmareFetishist genuinely interested]] or [[MoneyDearBoy Charon]]. |
| 426 | ** By the end of ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'', [[spoiler:BigBad Greevil points out that after he finishes the XD project and makes irredeemable Shadow Pokemon, he would get to work on making Shadow Pokemon that can act independently so he doesn't have to rely on clunky Admins - like the five you beat down on the way to him. That kind of comment, from the man in charge of the evilest organization in Pokemon history, downplays Cyrus and his lies big time]]. |
| 427 | ** A lighthearted example in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'': Team Skull Admin Plumeria admits the grunts are idiots but she finds it endearing, in an AnnoyingYoungerSibling way, and attacks you to defend her "cute, dumb brothers and sisters." |
| 428 | * ''VideoGame/SpaceColony'': you control, or try to control, a series of idiots, slackers, and various personality problems. |
| 429 | * ''Franchise/TouhouProject's'' [[NinjaMaid Sakuya Izayoi]] has to clean and guard the entire [[BiggerOnTheInside Scarlet Devil Mansion]] in spite of having a virtual army of hundreds of guards and maids single-handedly because the other {{meido}}s (all of which are fairies, a race of infamously unintelligent nature spirits) would do more harm than good, and the other guards, including ButtMonkey [[GateGuardian Hong Meiling]], tend to sleep instead of stand watch. Which is just as well, they're too incompetent to stop the KleptomaniacHero Marisa, anyway. Somewhat [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] by fanon in Meiling's case: even though she does take the usual siesta, [[BunnyEarsLawyer it doesn't interfere with her work in any way]]. She's actually quite good at dealing with riffraff, a talented gardener and a very good martial artist... none of that particularly useful when trying to stop PlotArmor-infused characters. |
| 430 | ** Reisen gets similar treatment; her boss is an absolute [[BadBoss sadist]] MadScientist who experiments on her [[ForTheEvulz just to pass the time]], none of the underlings she supposedly commands listen to her, Tewi (who they do listen to) is TheTrickster who would rather torment her than help her, and the other Earth Rabbits are just as lazy, stupid, and easily distracted as any fairy. Because of these things, she winds up being [[MemeticMutation just a no-good bunny, only useful for her sex-appeal]]. |
| 431 | * In what appears to be a ShoutOut to ''Film/AustinPowers'', Geartop, a robot, says this when one of his gnome {{mooks}} lets the players enter his lair in ''VideoGame/EverQuest'': |
| 432 | --> '''Geartop''' shouts 'Deal with it! Whatever you do, don't open that door. They can't get in unless you open the . . . Idiots. I'm surrounded by fleshy idiots.' |
| 433 | %%* Present in ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' and, like everything else, lampshaded to hilarity. |
| 434 | * King K. Rool mutters "I'm surrounded by fools..." in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'', during a cut scene in which Lanky Kong makes fools out of a couple of Kritters. |
| 435 | * A ganglord Sanchez in ''VideoGame/DesperadosWantedDeadOrAlive'' throws a magnificent temper tantrum including this complaint after the heroes steal some horses from his mooks. He even knocks one of his mooks out cold on the spot. |
| 436 | -->'''Sanchez:''' ''Mierda! Idiota!'' I can't believe this! You let one, '''ONE''' lousy American soldier steal your horses?! |
| 437 | * A quest in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' called "A Wolf in Bear's Clothing" had the following intro: |
| 438 | --> '''High Warlord Cromush:''' These [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent worgen]] take us for fools! One would think that only an idiot would mistake one of their druids in bear form as a real bear. Unfortunately, there are many idiots here at the Forsaken Front. We've already lost a few battalions to organized worgen bear attacks. Yes, it's even more idiotic than it sounds. |
| 439 | * ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Bowser, in varying forms of media, suffers from this. While the degrees of stupidity vary, it's quite clear that his evil minions aren't smart enough for his liking. |
| 440 | %%* [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 INCOMPETENCE SURROUNDS ME!]] |
| 441 | * There are {{Self Imposed Challenge}}s in ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' which involve only directing one sim in a household, leaving the others to act under [[ArtificialStupidity their own free will and capabilities]]. The "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin I'm Surrounded By Idiots]]" Challenge is one version, while the somewhat better-known Asylum Challenge turns the household into an insufficiently-equipped BedlamHouse, with your playable sim forced to GoAmongMadPeople. |
| 442 | * [[PlayerCharacter The Courier]] from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas: Old World Blues'' is this (providing s/he has an INT higher than 1), with the majority of the people there being clinically braindead, with the beings actually capable of communicating with him being a nymphomaniac robot, his own Jerkass brain, a Large Ham Mad Scientist who cannot control THE VOLUME OF HIS VOICE!, a megalomaniacal toaster, and two bickering lightswitches. The only other sane people are Doctor Mobius, who is addicted to every drug in the game from the stress, and Doctor 8, who can only speak in programming code. |
| 443 | * This tends to be the case with whoever the main character is in ''Franchise/AceAttorney''. The most notable example is Miles Edgeworth, who is paired with the ever-bumbling, incompetent Detective Gumshoe. |
| 444 | * Although he never says the phrase outright, this is more or less the mindset of Neku in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. Subverted in that his allies ''really'' are competent (their reliability is variable but once in track they are powerhouses), it's just his distrust towards people interfering with teamwork and lowering their (both individual and joint) potential. |
| 445 | * ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' provides a rare heroic example with [[KidDetective Naoto]] [[InsufferableGenius Shirogane]] before joining the Investigation Team, as in this gem while finding future teammates are DrunkOnMilk during a school trip to [[VideoGame/{{Persona 3}} Iwatodai]]. |
| 446 | -->"Are you a pack of imbeciles!?" |
| 447 | * ''VideoGame/Persona5 Royal'': Late in the game, the team has a slightly goofy conversation giving their newest member a codename. The most serious member of the team makes this comment in response: |
| 448 | -->'''[[spoiler:[[TokenEvilTeammate Crow]]]]:''' I'm surrounded by absolute fools... |
| 449 | * ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'': Farseer Taldeer takes this opinion of her Imperial Guard catspaws at the start of ''Winter Assault'', and states to that effect twice. In ''Dark Crusade'', she uses this thinking to justify a direct invasion of Kronus by the Eldar, suggesting that the other factions on the planet don't realise the threat the Necrons pose and wouldn't be able to stop them even if they did. At least in [[CantArgueWithElves her not-so-humble opinion]]. |
| 450 | -->''"The Imperials test my patience with their incompetence! Very well, we will deal with the Orks ourselves, but only because time grows short."'' |
| 451 | ** Also, Warboss Gorgutz in ''Winter Assault'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMefse9UfWc hilariously]]. |
| 452 | ** Another Ork with a brain, Kaptin Bluddflagg, takes a turn in ''Retribution'' when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0vDQWMJNbE he reasons out the location of his main target, and even his smartest minion reacts with a blank look]]. |
| 453 | * Pagan Min of ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' is a BadBoss who tends to [[YouHaveFailedMe punish failure harshly]], but in his defence, his underlings really do make some spectacular screw-ups, most prominently failing to check a prisoner for cell phones. His exasperated response: |
| 454 | -->"Really, guys? We're not checking for these anymore?" |
| 455 | * ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' presents this as a roleplaying reason for the Fatebinder refusing to work with either of Kyros' two armies and instead [[StartMyOwn make their own side]] -- especially if you decide that ''nobody'' is competent enough for you and decide to strike it out solo. |
| 456 | * The various members of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s RoguesGallery in the ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries'' often complain about how useless their {{Mooks}} are whenever the Dark Knight takes them out. |
| 457 | * In the "Recall" trailer for ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', Reaper gives this expression when one of the {{Mooks}} he brought along to deal with Winston flies through the window of the room he's in and crashes into a table. The kicker? He's able to somehow do this expression while wearing ''a completely static skull-shaped mask!'' |
| 458 | * ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'': While Tyreen Calypso's entire power base relies on the fact that bandits are stupid enough to ''pay her'' for the right to ''die at her whim'', she still grumbles about how stupid they are more than once. One ECHO log is about her trying (and failing) to explain to a bandit about how they allied with Maliwan and they can't kill them. In another, she orders a bandit to "cut off your favorite leg" to demonstrate how loyal her followers are; he promptly cuts off ''both'' of his legs, and she facepalms. |
| 459 | * ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories'' has this exchange: |
| 460 | -->'''Vincenzo Cilli:''' I'll tell you what I know tough guy. Some of our boys have screwed up a simple, no brain, fucking job. Lousy bastards can't even pull off a simple raid. Marron! Why am I surrounded by so many fucking idiots?\ |
| 461 | '''Toni Cipriani:''' I don't know... 'birds of a feather?\ |
| 462 | '''Vincenzo Cilli:''' Oh, you're a fucking comedian! Well, laugh this off wise-guy. You're the one who's gonna clear this shit up for me! Now get over there and drag those morons back here! |
| 463 | * Previously, ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' gave us this classic zinger, courtesy of [[DeadpanSnarker Tommy Vercetti]]: |
| 464 | -->''[after meeting [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Avery Carrington]] for the first time at [[AmoralAttorney Ken]] [[NervousWreck Rosenburg's]] office]''\ |
| 465 | '''Tommy Vercetti:''' Who are these pricks anyway? Lawyer pricks, rug-wearing pricks! I'm surrounded by pricks! |
| 466 | * Asra Nox of ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'' seems to have this opinion regarding her [[{{Cult}} Occasus]] minions, if her journal in the Grand Pagoda Libary is any indication: |
| 467 | -->''They exalt in their [[FantasticRacism supremacist rhetoric]] and scamper around spreading their hate, but they just can't fathom the genesis of what's happening here.''\ |
| 468 | ''Still, better an army of morons than no army at all.'' |
| 469 | * A brief non-verbal example occurs in ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'', in the [[https://youtu.be/JAHR1qPvnQI closing cutscene of the Crystal Glacier world]], where Shaman Tuk shakes his head disapprovingly upon seeing his underlings buried head-first in the snow. This is not present in [[https://youtu.be/Sv6VcTxQUls the same cutscene's reinterpretation]] in the ''[[VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy Reignited]]'' remake, however, which portrays Tuk as looking more concerned than anything. |
| 470 | [[/folder]] |
| 471 | |
| 472 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 473 | * During Fuuko's route in ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'', Tomoya's sanity begins to strain as he is forced to spend more time with certain people. Who? [[CloudCuckoolander Fuuko]] herself, [[ButtMonkey Sunohara]] and Nagisa and her family, who are all as strange as Fuuko. Eventually he starts getting to the point where he wants to scream and ask "''Why are all you girls'' (Sunohara is generally excluded from notice) ''such idiots!''" Obviously not a villain, but he almost says the line word for word. |
| 474 | * ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'': The BigBad Monokuma actually averts this trope, being amused by the antics of his prisoners more than anything, and [[spoiler:by all means, Monokuma/Junko’s minions within the [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Ultimate Despair]] are very competent]]. However, several other characters feel this way, and not without reason. |
| 475 | ** [[SmugSnake Byakuya]] [[TheRival Togami]], [[RichBitch Ultimate Affluent Prodigy]], from the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc first game]] is the most obvious example, as he considers himself to be above the other students in just about every respect. Some, like [[CloudCuckoolander Yasuhiro Hagakure]] and [[{{Otaku}} Hifumi Yamada]], just prove his point. |
| 476 | ** In the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony third game]], Kokichi Oma believes his classmates are too focused on turning on each other than defeating the killing game. He's not wrong either, and [[spoiler:only succeeds in uniting everyone when they're united against ''[[GenghisGambit him]]'']]. |
| 477 | * ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'': In the second game, [[spoiler:Blaise Debeste]] sends out his henchmen to kidnap [[spoiler:John Marsh]]. They end up kidnapping [[spoiler:Blaise's own son Sebastian]] instead since for some reason they thought the best way to make sure they got the correct target is to ask them "[[spoiler:Do you know Justine Courtney]]?" rather than something more concrete, like "Are you [[spoiler:John Marsh]]?" One could fault [[spoiler:Blaise]] for not providing them with a picture of the target, but since the target is [[spoiler:a famous up-and-coming child actor starring in a big blockbuster movie whose face is already plastered ''everywhere'']] he probably didn't think he needed to. |
| 478 | [[/folder]] |
| 479 | |
| 480 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 481 | * In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', this seems to be Emperor's general attitude towards his subjects, both his servants and common citizens of the Imperium. His sons are no exception and only [[ParentalFavoritism Sanguinus]] and [[TheGoodChancellor Malcador]] get a pass. To be honest, the Imperium has been showing its stupider side multiple times over the years, and Kitten, with whom the Emperor interacts the most often, is not the sharpest tool in the box either. |
| 482 | * Everyone in ''WebAnimation/CombatDevolved'' seems to think this about their teammates. |
| 483 | * ''WebAnimation/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool'': [[OnlySaneMan Mackenzie Zales]], whether it be with her Cheer Squad containing two dimwits and a mentally unstable bitchy {{Tsundere}}, or with Team USA's antics in Season 5. In [[http://cute-anonyme-art.tumblr.com/post/163432115524/with-the-new-season-of-mpgis-i-wouldnt-be this fanart]], she even says the trope name word-for-word. |
| 484 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 485 | ** Torchwick frequently shows disappointment at his underlings' performance. To be fair, the guys that he hires them from also show the same disappointment. |
| 486 | --->'''Hei "Junior" Xiong:''' Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them -- ''[raises his voice so his gangsters can hear him]'' -- which is something I can relate to! |
| 487 | ** In a non-villainous example in the same series, [[LovableAlphaBitch Weiss Schnee]] had this attitude towards Ruby and just about any student who isn't Pyrrha. [[DefrostingIceQueen She gets better]]. |
| 488 | * In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', this tends to happen to anyone of normal sanity who has to deal with the [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits titular teams]] for any length of time. It starts out as mostly just Church, but later seasons add [[TheComicallySerious Washington]] and Carolina (and multiple secondary characters) to the lineup. |
| 489 | * ''WebAnimation/WackyGameJokez4Kidz'' has Mickey the Dick, who clearly has this view towards the ditzy June and the bubbling nerd Eric. |
| 490 | * Skeletor's plight is parodied in the web animation ''[[Creator/HarryPartridge Bo-Starr and the Masters of Galastrom]]'' ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZpxMyoFpds link]]): |
| 491 | -->'''Skullduggen:''' You talk big, Bo-Starr, but you're no match for my legion of Invincible Deathbots!\ |
| 492 | ''[cue [[ScareChord evil synth chords]]]''\ |
| 493 | '''Skullduggen:''' ...which I'm ''not'' going to be using. Go and get them, Grass-man!\ |
| 494 | '''Grass-man:''' Brwabrwabrwebrweebrweebrwabrwabrwah! |
| 495 | * ''Creator/SamAndMickey'': Deborah. |
| 496 | -->'''Deborah:''' ''(to Barbie and Ken)'' How many cooking shows do we have to cancel because you keep getting drunk and making fools of yourselves on air? |
| 497 | [[/folder]] |
| 498 | |
| 499 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 500 | * ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/01/24/episode-111-the-unfurling-of-a-master-plan/ here]]: |
| 501 | -->'''Black Mage:''' Well, at least I shall die as I have lived. ''Completely ''surrounded by morons. |
| 502 | ** And when he dies and [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/02/24/episode-388-see-you-in-hell-monkey-boy/ ends up in Hell,]] Black Mage initially thinks he's dreamed the entire (mis)adventure to date: |
| 503 | -->'''Black Mage:''' What a horrible dream. There was this idiot and these two other idiots. We kept running into idiots. So horrible. |
| 504 | ** Black Mage's homicidal impulses seem directly linked to how many stupid things are said in his vicinity at any given point in time. For example, if three people are having a conversation which defies the laws of logic, he will probably snap and stab anything and everything in arm's reach. If his ''sanity'' is finally broken by said stupidity, he'll just nuke everything in a five-mile radius with a hadoken. |
| 505 | ** Then there's D'rizzl, the only Dark Warrior to possess both intelligence and skill: Garland occasionally gestures towards competence but is usually a moron, Vilbert is basically incapable of dealing with any problem outside of LARP, and Bikke is the only character dumber than Fighter. It's fair to say that he has a miserable time of it... which only gets worse when Black Mage takes over the Dark Warriors and D'rizzl is forced to pull an EnemyMine with the Light Warriors. |
| 506 | --->'''Garland:''' We've got Black Mage now. He's so evil he's got us living in squalor.\ |
| 507 | '''Bikke:''' [[ItMakesSenseInContext And lava.]]\ |
| 508 | '''Black Mage:''' [[ForTheEvulz For basically no reason!]] (wink, finger-guns)\ |
| 509 | '''D'rizzl:''' Well, it's official. It's impossible to determine who's stupider than who. |
| 510 | * ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'': In "Futures Trading", [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext older alternative future Gordito is part of a resistance movement against intelligent dinosaurs.]] He clearly thinks some resistance members who accidentally attack Dr. [=McNinja=] are really stupid to do so, and makes a kind of "look what I have to deal with" face. He may be being a bit harsh, though. |
| 511 | --> "Stop it! What's wrong with you? That's ''obviously'' a man using a dead dinosaur body as a hang glider!" |
| 512 | * ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'': |
| 513 | ** [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0467.html Obi-Wan and Anakin confront Grievous]]: |
| 514 | --->'''Anakin:''' So, what are you up to?\ |
| 515 | '''Grievous:''' My armpits in incompetence! |
| 516 | ** Director Krennic also has some choice words, but [[SmallNameBigEgo fails to see the obvious answer]]. |
| 517 | --->'''Krennic:''' You buffoons! You just destroyed important Imperial data! Stop missing them!\ |
| 518 | ''(soldiers hold their fire)''\ |
| 519 | '''Krennic:''' Don't stop shooting! Start ''hitting'' them! Why does the stench of incompetence follow me wherever I go?? |
| 520 | * ''Demonade'' gives a female main character with two not so bright "Body Guards" who apparently let the inept thief go free because he got them to point out how their jobs sucked so bad they weren't paying attention, while their employer shows some measure of GenreSavvy and she actually utters the trope over three panels to emphasize how much she doesn't like her hired help. |
| 521 | * A variation seen in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' when [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090323 Gil justifies rescuing]] a ditzy DamselInDistress. |
| 522 | --->'''Gilgamesh:''' If I let ''everyone'' I thought was an idiot die, there wouldn't be many people ''left''. |
| 523 | ** His father, Baron Wulfenbach, often has the same reaction to people around him. (Gilgamesh eventually reaches the point where he realizes this explains a LOT of the Baron's behavior.) |
| 524 | --->'''Klaus:''' I swear, it's like [[TheChainsOfCommanding running a kindergarten]]. |
| 525 | ** Apparently when you're a [[MadScientist Spark]] you really do feel like everyone else is dumber than you are, because they are (intellectually that is; [[MadScience not in the common sense way]]). |
| 526 | ** At least two of the Jager generals display this attitude about their followers as well. |
| 527 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': While eventually revealed [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold not be so bad]] underneath all his vitriol, [[{{Cyberbullying}} Cyber]] and literal troll Karkat routinely calls everyone in the near vicinity idiots or similar terms of abuse. His rudeness seems to scale with the level of competency, with {{Munchkin}} Vriska getting the most and fellow OnlySaneMan Kanaya getting next to none. |
| 528 | * ''Webcomic/HowIKilledYourMaster'': Master Fei chooses the insult 'oafs' but otherwise done precisely. |
| 529 | * DaChief from the Cliffport Arc in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0347.html definitely surrounded by idiots]]. |
| 530 | * Pretty much any villainous organization in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' has this problem. Of course, in the ''Sluggy Freelance'' [[TheMultiverse multiverse]], there aren't many ''non''-idiots to choose from. |
| 531 | ** In "28 Geeks Later", Zoë complains about everyone around her acting stupidly (basically like in a zombie parody, which the story is) by asking if everyone has been exposed to crazy-stupid gas or something. Then a flashback reveals that yes, they have, literally. |
| 532 | * Silas Morth from ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'' deliberately {{invoke|dTrope}}s this, since he plans to sacrifice his minions in exchange for power. |
| 533 | * Captain Locke from ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'' has a pirate crew that makes it seem more like he's running a daycare. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that [[spoiler:everyone in the alternate universe he hails from has MerlinSickness]]. |
| 534 | * The leader of the Church of the Narrative in ''Webcomic/VegfolkFables''. His followers brag about how they never question anything told to them, interpret orders in punny ways and the whole lot of them combined can’t accomplish the basic skills that he can perform. |
| 535 | * ''Webcomic/ZebraGirl'': Sandra's minions aren't exactly bright. They seem to mean well, but they frequently go above and beyond what she expects of them, resulting in them [[spoiler:almost killing Crystal and knocking Sam unconscious]]. Sandra's feelings about them include annoyance, disbelief, anger, and barely contained fury. She even goes as far as saying that she would have killed some of them on the spot if her combustion power actually worked on them. |
| 536 | [[/folder]] |
| 537 | |
| 538 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 539 | * Sasha Hunter in ''Literature/GreekNinja'' feels that she is (and is right on a few circumstances). |
| 540 | * Justified in ''Literature/SailorNothing'': Dark General Cobalt's 'henchmen' (with one exception) are [[TheHeartless heartless]] made from the darkest impulses of the human mind (emphasis on "impulse") and are [[StupidEvil incapable of subtlety, organization, or planning]]. Or anything that doesn't immediately lead to satisfying those desires, really. [[spoiler:And Cobalt isn't aware that the only reason ''he's'' capable of it is because of magical help.]] Things really don't improve for him [[spoiler:in the epilogue, even though he's gone on to command real humans in the normal world]]. |
| 541 | * ''Website/SCPFoundation'' has the MadArtist clique Are We Cool Yet, a bunch of a bunch of sociopathically pretentious modern art types with RealityWarper powers that they use to create AnomalousArt. Their leader, Jack Dawkins a.k.a. "The Critic", is frustrated to no end by his underlings' tendencies to make art that simply kills everyone who looks at it [[PragmaticVillainy because the purpose of art is to spread a message, and dead people can't learn anything from it]]. |
| 542 | * ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by She-Beast during her confrontation with the Anti-Champion: |
| 543 | -->Yes, I know, I know, it's MY fault, I hired them… bargain-basement villains, hired at the last minute… SO, this is why some supervillains are always screaming about being surrounded by incompetents. |
| 544 | [[/folder]] |
| 545 | |
| 546 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 547 | * ''WebVideo/AgamemnonTiberiusVacuum'''s {{mooks}} are all lovable [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy dimwits]]. Especially Belvedere. |
| 548 | %%* [[WebVideo/EchoChamber Dana]]. |
| 549 | * Villain [[PsychoElectro Carla Brunelle]] from ''Series/FlandersCompany'' is a {{Magnificent B|astard}}itch and a DragonInChief who is an actual treat in Season 2. Starting with Season 3, however, [[spoiler:her boss is killed]], and the only remaining competent member of her team is BadassBookworm [[{{Intangibility}} Nadège]]; the three others consist in a bunch of morons with [[FashionVictimVillain horrible sense of fashion]], with only one of them possessing actual (but lame) powers and fighting skills. |
| 550 | * This is one of Henri the cat's laments in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q34z5dCmC4M Henri 2, Paw de Deux]]'': "The white idiot writhes on his chair, begging for cheeseburgers... I'm surrounded by morons." |
| 551 | * ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'': While the RealLife [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] is considered to be an inversion of this trope, the ''Film/{{Downfall|2004}}'' [[WebVideo/HitlerRants parodies]] Hitler is played straight. Hitler's staff is mostly made up of idiots who have such [[SarcasmMode incredibly useful]] skills as pointing at maps, providing Hitler with useless information, getting drunk, objecting to all of his plans, and ranting. Naturally it's often because of them that Hitler's schemes always backfire. It also doesn't help that most of the people who are slightly more competent are constantly targeting him for their own gain. |
| 552 | * ''WebVideo/HowItFeelsToPlayTF2'': As noted in "How it FEELS to play Engineer", playing a support class in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' and locking down a vital area makes Lazy wonder more than any other class what the hell his team is doing when they fail to help him. He apparently imagines them all glitched out in the spawn room. |
| 553 | %%"WHERE IS MY TEAM?!" |
| 554 | * ''WebVideo/LifeSMP'': Scott has a reputation for being TheSmartGuy and the OnlySaneMan of most of the server, and by Season 4, has a practically trademarked tone of voice specifically reserved for expressing exasperation and disappointment at everyone else's shenanigans. |
| 555 | -->'''Scott:''' The whole branding that I'm like, the only one here with like, any brain-cells really stands. |
| 556 | %%* [[WebVideo/NonePiece "I'm up to my tits in morons."]] |
| 557 | * In ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'', the guild of Gaea Admirers probably wouldn't have even existed if its members hadn't been a bunch of idiots. They want to assist Gaea, who is playing in an enemy faction because they are convinced that she's a DoubleAgent loyal to their own side. In reality, the events that made them come up with the DoubleAgent scenario are actually a NotMeThisTime FrameUp in which their own faction's top guild has a hand; this isn't even kept as a secret at least in the comic version of the story. An episode of the webseries also hints that Gaea's ManipulativeBastard tendencies have an EverybodyKnewAlready status to most players and that the members of the guild of Gaea Admirers are the only ones acting as if whatever they see her do should be kept secret. To top things off, they are also quite incompetent as helpers. |
| 558 | * WebVideo/TheOddOne utters this every time his teammates acts incompetent or doesn't go along with his plan. Since he plays Solo queue, this happens so often, it's almost his catchphrase. |
| 559 | [[/folder]] |
| 560 | |
| 561 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 562 | * ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': |
| 563 | ** ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': After Azula's captain completely ruins her attempt to capture her brother, the princess wisely trades in her RedshirtArmy for a QuirkyMinibossSquad PowerTrio. [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the season 2 finale, in which Azula's [[DressingAsTheEnemy disguised]] sidekicks blab that they are Fire Nation. As it turns out, [[TheChessmaster she had staged the situation]]; [[BluffTheEavesdropper the Dai Li overhearing is key to their take over.]] Turns out she was better off with the redshirts -- [[spoiler:her QuirkyMinibossSquad has consciences, and when they storm out on her [[VillainousBreakdown she loses a lot of SAN points]]]]. |
| 564 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': |
| 565 | *** The sequel series has a notable moment when [[BigBad Amon]]'s {{mooks}} fail to capture Korra, who has ''already'' been kidnapped and locked in a metal box by [[spoiler:Tarrlok]], but still manages to trick them into opening the box and letting her escape. Amon, having just warned them not to underestimate her, is not amused. |
| 566 | *** The Earth Queen in Book 3 takes a leaf out of [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar's]] book by saying this exact quote while ordering her servants around. |
| 567 | * ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': |
| 568 | ** Interesting inversion when [[TheDragon Shego]] constantly complains about [[PointyHairedBoss her boss being a nitwit]]. |
| 569 | ** On the other hand, the trope is played straight with Drakken's rank-and-file henchmen. |
| 570 | ** Also, Shego seems to have been driven to her FaceHeelTurn by exasperation with her brothers' [[GoodIsDumb cluelessness]]. |
| 571 | * In ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', one is a genius, the other is, well... Pinky. They never specify which one is the genius or the insane one. Still, one is drawing complicated mathematical equations on a chalkboard, and at the same time, the other one is dancing around with his tongue hanging out and is tied up in a straightjacket... do they really ''need'' to specify which one? Considering what happened when The Brain enhanced Pinky's intelligence, it might not hurt. Especially if you've seen the episode where The Brain actually lets Pinky attempt it on his own (the "AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering" bit) and it WORKS until The Brain screws it up. On the other hand, we humans aren't shown as exceptionally bright either. With a few exceptions, folks are perfectly willing to accept the word of a talking mouse in an obvious disguise. |
| 572 | ** Played straighter in ''WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain'' where a lot of humour comes Brain now having to endure ''two'' playful idiots while concocting his schemes. |
| 573 | --->'''Brain:''' ''*bitterly*'' I am completely alone... |
| 574 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 575 | ** Mr. Burns, as stated in the ImageSong mentioned above produced during the 1990s: |
| 576 | ---> ''Look at all those idiots! Look at all those boobs! An office full of morons, a factory full of fools!'' |
| 577 | ** And in another episode: |
| 578 | ---> '''Jackanapes! Lolligaggers! NOODLEHEADS!''' |
| 579 | ** Frank Grimes. The whole premise of his episode is watching a normal person trying to cope in [[WorldGoneMad Springfield.]] Eventually, [[SanitySlippage his frustration overwhelms him]] and he gets himself killed. |
| 580 | ** The episode "They Saved Lisa's Brain" has Lisa inducted into Springfield's Mensa chapter, which naturally consists of only a small handful of characters who bemoan this outlook of Springfield. When events end up giving them power over the town, however, they become {{Pointy Haired Boss}}es and argue over inane proposals, with Stephen Hawking of all people stepping in to give them the riot act and deliver the Aesop that even intelligent people can be equally childish. |
| 581 | * In ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Squidward always says, [[LampshadeHanging "Why am I surrounded by idiots?"]] |
| 582 | -->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' ''[imitating Squidward]'' Everybody's an idiot except me.\ |
| 583 | '''Squidward:''' Well, it's true! |
| 584 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': Grievous makes it quite clear he is beyond exasperated with the foolishness of his battle droids, casually destroy them over every little thing. However, he acts quite different with organic allies and his own, notably ''very snarky'' medical droid, who are more competent. Still, in [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E10LairOfGrievous "Lair of Grievous"]] he shouts: |
| 585 | -->'''Grievous:''' You expect victory over the Jedi, but all you give me to fight them are [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Battle]] [[ButtMonkey Droids]]! |
| 586 | * [[NoNonsenseNemesis Grand Admiral Thrawn]] from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' may not say this ''per se'', but he no doubt thinks this frequently. The plans he comes up with, such as locating and ambushing the Rebels on Atollon and mass-producing TIE-Defenders on Lothal, have a fair chance of success if not for such underlings as Admiral Konstantine and Governor Pryce bungling everything. |
| 587 | -->'''Thrawn:''' I expected Governor Pryce to fail, but not so completely. |
| 588 | * Prime Evil, from ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters''. (However, his henchmen did prove themselves to be capable on rare occasions.) |
| 589 | * ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': |
| 590 | ** Megatron of the original ''[[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers Transformers]]'' has nothing but bad things to say about Starscream's intelligence, bravery, and [[TheStarscream trustworthiness]]... but continually places him in a position of authority and trusts him with pivotal missions. |
| 591 | ** In the G1 cartoon episode ''Auto Berserk'', Megatron actually makes a rare pop culture reference by perfectly quoting ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'', screaming out in the middle of battle "I've got MORONS on my team!". |
| 592 | ** Deconstructed a few times where Starscream or some other Deception actually predict a definite error in Megatron's plan. He dismisses it as this trope until the problem inevitably occurs. |
| 593 | ** In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' we have this little gem from [[MagnificentBastard Megatron]] when [[TheBrute Lugnut]] and [[TheMole Shockwave]] are brawling over who's the [[UndyingLoyalty more loyal minion]] after some prodding from [[TheStarscream Starscream]]. |
| 594 | --->'''Megatron:''' ''[{{facepalm}}]'' Oh for spark's sake. |
| 595 | * Lurky, bumbling henchman of Murky in ''WesternAnimation/RainbowBrite'', is not only [[MinionWithAnFInEvil clumsy and stupid but actually ''good'']]... he loves colors and happiness and everything Murky hates, yet he continues to obey Murky and Murky continues to employ him. |
| 596 | * The Monarch of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': "I ''hate'' it that [[ThoseTwoGuys you two]] are my best men!" |
| 597 | * In ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', Skeletor was fond of going off on tirades against the intelligence of his many henchmen, calling them lamebrains and numbskulls several times an episode. Not that he was particularly bright himself. Maybe it was just a bad pun. |
| 598 | -->'''Skeletor:''' I ''have'' to be brilliant, just to make up for ''them!'' |
| 599 | * ''Franchise/GIJoe'': Cobra Commander has never been very appreciative of his employees (not that his own battle plans were [[HollywoodTactics worthy of Sun Tzu]] either.).: |
| 600 | -->'''Cobra Commander:''' ''Idiots!'' I'm surrounded by ''incompetent IDIOTS!!''\ |
| 601 | '''Cobra Commander:''' ''Morons!'' I have ''Morons'' on my payroll!\ |
| 602 | '''Cobra Commander:''' Why are great men always surrounded by lesser beings?!\ |
| 603 | '''Cobra Commander:''' I shall be waiting to reward your genius, or to have you beheaded for terminal stupidity! I have spoken. |
| 604 | * Ganon's minions in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989'' definitely fit this description. Notably, in "The Moblins are Revolting", when they got sick of his abusive management style, they actually managed to overthrow him and tried to take matters into their own hands, leading to an extremely ill-conceived and self-defeating assault on North Castle. The main reason he keeps them around at all appears to be that since they always regenerate, [[WeHaveReserves he's basically got an infinite supply]]. |
| 605 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'', Dr. Robotnik reaffirmed the lack of intelligence possessed by [[BumblingHenchmenDuo Scratch and Grounder]] in pretty much every episode. However they're typically his first choice to send after Sonic, and he often trusts them with important inventions he created. This was lampshaded in the episode "Spaceman Sonic" in which Sonic states that Robotnik will figure it cheaper to put Scratch and Grounder back together than to build new robots. |
| 606 | ** In the episode "Robotnik's Rival", he claimed that this was [[IMeantToDoThat deliberate]] to ensure that they never betrayed him. Given that he was gloating over the eponymous rival who had just been backstabbed by his own super-competent henchbot, (and given that it's Robotnik) this was doubtless an AssPull. |
| 607 | ** From the episode "Blackbot the Pirate": "I'm surrounded by defective circuitry!" |
| 608 | ** From "Robolympics": "I'm surrounded by a bunch of burnt-out circuits!" |
| 609 | * Another rare heroic example: In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', Scrooge [=McDuck=] is preparing to retrieve his vast fortune from the Marinaras Trench. He sees [[MeaningfulName Doofus]], Launchpad, and Gyro Gearloose, the crew that will help him, trip each other up and fall all over the place. And so, Scrooge can't help but exclaim in exasperation, [[HereWeGoAgain "MORONS! I've got]] [[Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid MORONS on my team]]!!" Similarly, on ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', Scrooge asks [[CaptainCrash Launchpad]] if he can even pilot a submarine ([[TooDumbToLive he asks this AS Launchpad is at the controls and presumably has been for some time already]]). Launchpad replies that he [[NoodleIncident once crashed a helicopter into a wading pool]], to which Scrooge dejectedly replies "I've done more with less..." |
| 610 | * ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'': |
| 611 | ** Shredder, ArchEnemy of the Ninja Turtles, would often lament "Why am I surrounded by such brainless morons?". Shredder once actually took the stupidity of his henchmen in stride. After inventing a new robotic weapon, he told Rocksteady and Bebop that he named it after them. He called it "The Knucklehead". |
| 612 | ** In ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'', he watches footage of the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 Shredder]]: |
| 613 | --->'''Shredder:''' Oh, how I've longed for an ally such as this! So unlike the sniveling idiots that I've been forced to suffer! \ |
| 614 | '''Krang:''' [[ImStandingRightHere I'm right here, I CAN HEAR YOU!]] |
| 615 | ** Krang isn't particularly appreciative of Shredder's mental prowess either: "Morons! I'm surrounded by morons." |
| 616 | ** Kraang Sub-Prime from the ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 2012 version]]'' often finds himself this whenever he is around his fellow Kraang especially how the way they speak. |
| 617 | --->'''Sub-Prime:''' You guys are as dumb as a bunch of rocks! Seriously! What's taking so long?! |
| 618 | * Krabo/Draffsack of ''WesternAnimation/{{Insektors}}'' uses this excuse when the Yuks/Kruds plans fail. The thing is, he's actually right. |
| 619 | * In ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'', K.Rool would bemoan his henchmen being, in his words, 'Home-spun idiots'. |
| 620 | -->'''K.Rool:''' It's at times like this I find that I must ask myself again and again: "Do I really want the Crystal Coconut this badly?" |
| 621 | ** Kranky Kong was also a heroic version, with his attitude towards Donkey and Diddy. |
| 622 | ** In "Barrel, Barrel, Who's Got the Barrel?" has Klump being the OnlySaneMan when his Kritter troops begin firing their guns at the slightest provocation. |
| 623 | -->'''Klump:''' Stop, you moronic, robotic Kritters! ''STOP!!''\ |
| 624 | '''Kritter 1:''' Did he stop?\ |
| 625 | '''Kritter 2:''' I thought he said fire!\ |
| 626 | '''Klump:''' When I said fire, I didn't mean, "''Fire!''" ''(Kritters begin firing their guns in the air again.)'' Oh, what's the use? |
| 627 | * Junkman's henchmen in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleCrashDummies'', although it is his fault (he built them from scrap). |
| 628 | * Megabyte in ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', and ''how!'' He's [[MagnificentBastard the most brilliant mind in Mainframe,]] and by rights should be routinely walking over Bob...but all his minions are DumbMuscle [[MinionWithAnFInEvil With An F In Evil]]. |
| 629 | ** Played hilariously straight when the plot makes them heroic sidekicks instead of evil henchmen. |
| 630 | ** There was also the episode where Enzo accidentally made everyone (but himself) into dimwits. |
| 631 | * In one late episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', Xanatos's robot Coyote screws up. Xanatos sighs and, sounding more resigned than anything, says "It's so hard to build good help these days." |
| 632 | * After a failed attempt to teach the other kids of the cul-de-sac after various demonstrations of their stupidity in "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS3E8DimLitEd Dim Lite Ed]]", a lamenting Edd of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' says this verbatim. He also says this in the episode "O-Ed Eleven". |
| 633 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': |
| 634 | ** In "Lightspeed", Jinx remarks "I don't know why I hang around with you nitwits." [[spoiler: By the end of the episode, she's done hanging around with those nitwits.]] |
| 635 | * Phaeton in ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'' is constantly berating his generals for their incompetence. Even when they're right. ESPECIALLY when they're right. |
| 636 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' "Wishology" trilogy, The Lead Eliminator is noticeably more competent than his comrades. |
| 637 | * [[BigBad Duke Igthorn]] on ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' probably would've have been more successful in conquering Dunwyn if his ogre minions (well, except for [[TheDragon Toadwart]]) didn't have the intelligence of mayonnaise. |
| 638 | * More than once on ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'', when General Specific's army men turn incompetent, he expresses; "I'm surrounded by buffoons!" Then, the camera pans out to show ''actual madmen'' out of nowhere, encircling him and bumbling incoherently in propeller hats and diapers. |
| 639 | * Cat from ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' always feels like this amongst the people of Nearburg [[NotSoAboveItAll (although sometimes he can be pretty shortsighted himself)]]. And to make it worse, he's attached to one! |
| 640 | * Benson from ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' is often frustrated with the laziness and incompetence of Mordecai and Rigby. |
| 641 | * [[ButtMonkey Adam Lyon]] from ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey'', who is pretty much the only sane student at Charles Darwin Middle School. With the possible exception of Windsor Gorilla, although even his animal instincts cause problems every now and then. |
| 642 | * Slinkman and Edward from ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'' are pretty much the only two people at Camp Kidney who are fully aware about [[SummerCampy how awful it is]], contrasting Scoutmaster Lumpus' apathy towards its dismal conditions and Lazlo's enthusiasm for the place. |
| 643 | %%* Hollywood from ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs''. |
| 644 | * Aku complained about this more than once in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' (and the majority of his minions being mindless robots didn't tend to help). That Jack was able to turn his robots to junk with such ease was the biggest reason he tried to face him mano-a-mano in "Jack Versus Aku". Of course, in ''that'' episode, the breaking point for him was a pretty big EpicFail, when he sent a whole army of robots after Jack, and then ''one'' of them tripped, causing ''all'' of them to fall over like dominoes, destroying the ''entire'' army. Jack never did a thing. You can't blame Aku for wanting to rethink his plans after something like ''that''. |
| 645 | * ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Bob Belcher is frequently the OnlySaneMan in his family (and to a lesser extent everyone else in town), so he has his moments of feeling like this. |
| 646 | * On ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Hank frequently feels this way, due to the various harebrained schemes that his friends and family pull off that he then must fix. |
| 647 | %%* This often happens with Stan and Kyle in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. |
| 648 | * On ''WesternAnimation/TheHairBearBunch'', whenever Mr. Peevly wasn't annoyed by the antics of the bears, he was frustrated by the incompetence of his oafish assistant, Botch. |
| 649 | * Limburger from ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars''. ''Especially'' when it comes to TheDragon, Greasepit. |
| 650 | * Scarecrow has a pair of oft-insulted henchmen who "never liked school" and are impressed to find they're working for an (ex)professor in his introductory episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries.'' |
| 651 | * Fung's bandit gang in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness''. It's even more frustrating considering that Fung had given themselves a year to be successful in the trade; now it's month 11 and the crocs are definitely still stumblebums. |
| 652 | * Derek Powers in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' is a living radiation generator. His doctors, picking him up from a frozen-over lake, have brought him a blanket in case he's cold. Powers just glares angrily and states "You are ''idiots''." |
| 653 | * ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': |
| 654 | ** Dib. |
| 655 | --->'''Dib:''' Okay, am I the only one who sees the [[PaperThinDisguise alien]] sitting in class? |
| 656 | ** At least Dib still has some hope for humanity. His sister, [[CreepyChild Gaz]], on the other hand, sees everyone around her as idiots. Like Dib, she knows Zim is an alien. But unlike him, she finds it stupid to even care. |
| 657 | --->'''Dib:''' Don't you care that ZIM is trying to destroy all mankind? Huh?\ |
| 658 | '''Gaz:''' But he's ''so'' '''''bad''''' at it. |
| 659 | * The Sheriff of N.O.T.T. from ''WesternAnimation/RocketRobinHood'' shouts a variant of this tropes when insulting his Guards for failing to keep Rocket Robin Hood and Little John in a pit. The exact speech: |
| 660 | -->'''Sheriff:''' IMBECILES! BUFFOONS! COWARDS! I'm surrounded by cowards! I asked you to guard twoooo prisoners! Just -- TWOOOOO! PRISONERS! I EVEN PUT THEM 10 FEET UNDERGROUND IN A STEEL VAULT TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU! ''[then, he calms down somewhat]'' And, what happens? |
| 661 | * The intro song to ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' has the repeated lyric, "You're standing on my neck," alluding to the title character feeling this way about her peers; their presence is so smothering that she can't function normally. |
| 662 | * ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'': |
| 663 | ** With the exception of the [[TheDragon Dark Ace]] and later her [[EliteMooks Nightcrawlers]], this is Master Cyclonis's situation with her empire. If her troops aren't screwing up, it's her Generals Snipe (who's just plain stupid despite his brute strength) and Raveness (who ''is'' intelligent and skilled, but [[SmugSnake nowhere near as much as she thinks of herself]] with a side-order of [[TheStarscream rebellion]] on top of it). No wonder the Storm Hawks always win. |
| 664 | ** Repton feels this way about his brothers/members of The Raptors, and really he can't be blamed for it as events show he clearly got the lion's share of their collective intelligence. |
| 665 | %%* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': Frylock, and maybe Carl. |
| 666 | * ''WesternAnimation/LosTrotaMusicos'': The archnemesis of the series, Chef, usually blames his henchmen for all their failings. |
| 667 | * ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'': |
| 668 | ** ''WesternAnimation/The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo'' episode "When You Witch Upon a Star" has Marcella having to rely on the Brewski Sisters, a trio of incompetent witches based off The Three Stooges, to free her from another dimension she got trapped in after being released from the Chest of Demons with the rest of the 13 ghosts in the series premiere. She makes it clear whenever she is outraged by the Brewski Sisters' bumbling. |
| 669 | ** Dr. Phibes, the main villain of ''WesternAnimation/ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue'', is frequently irritated by his henchmen's bumbling. |
| 670 | * The Owl in ''The Owl & Co'', which often leads to the Owl [[TheChewToy suffering mishaps]]. |
| 671 | * Helga Pataki or Grandpa Phil of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' often respond to idiocy by using a shortened version of "I'm surrounded by idiots" by saying "I'm surrounded." |
| 672 | * On ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' in ''Dora's Fairytale Adventure'', the witch is this. While she's a case of VileVillainSaccharineShow, her minions don't seem to be capable of doing anything quite right and at one point actually get so caught up in one of Dora's accomplishments on her path to becoming a true princess that they cheer for her. |
| 673 | * ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' has Practical Pig and Miss Turtle. They often give the people around them a nasty look on their faces because they feel this way. |
| 674 | * Despite being stupid, Penny from ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyB'' feels this way. Especially when she bullies Bessie. [[SmugSnake She thinks she's the]] OnlySaneMan at [[SuckySchool the Honey Bee Academy]] even to her true friends, Portia and Gwen. |
| 675 | * Mildred from ''WesternAnimation/ScaredySquirrel'' is the [[OnlySaneMan only sane character]] on the show and doesn't want to contribute into the insanity created by [[IdiotHero dimwitted protagonist]] Scaredy or [[AxCrazy criminally insane]] Nester. |
| 676 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/JamesBondJr'', Dr. No orders his men to kidnap Major Boothroyd, aka Q. Unfortunately for him, they kidnap [[TheSmartGuy Horace Boothroyd, aka I.Q., Boothroyd's grandson]]! When his lieutenant points out that I.Q. answered the fake phone call, Dr. No says, "I'm surrounded by incompetents!" [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments It is certainly funny!]] |
| 677 | * This is how Momo feels about his minions the Blup Blups, as he often says so in most episodes of ''WesternAnimation/StarStreetTheAdventuresOfTheStarKids''. |
| 678 | * Dr. Gangreen in ''WesternAnimation/AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes'' constantly mentions the stupidity of his minions, especially in reference to his main minion Igor. Zoltan and his band of tomatoes are more competent but still manage to enrage him. |
| 679 | * King Max feels the same about his minions Sheky the Jester and his two dogs in ''WesternAnimation/TheBiskitts''. |
| 680 | * Mother Brain often mentions her minions' stupidity in most episodes of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''. Usually her ire is aimed at bungling morons Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo. Dr.Wily usually escapes the worst of her verbal abuse, as he displays his competency often enough to be genuinly useful. |
| 681 | * In ''WesternAnimation/KiddVideo'' Master Blaster is constantly insulting his henchcats the Copycats with derogatory terms both related to their lack of intelligence and/or furry nature, and he’s also constantly threatening them with horrible tortures. |
| 682 | * Mr. Cat from ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}''. The closest thing he has around him to a remotely intelligent life form is the DitzyGenius Quack Quack, and in fact he's suffering from a ridiculous amount of stress due to the people around him. |
| 683 | * In ''WesternAnimation/LegoElves'', the Goblin King is constantly frustrated by his incompetent goblin mooks. |
| 684 | * ''WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'': In "Fly-By-Knights," Dick Dastardly bemoans "What's a nice guy like me doing in a goof-up squadron like this?" |
| 685 | * The ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'' episode "The 29th Page" had Al Vermin quip about having to give his goons dumbbells for Christmas when they're having trouble opening a safe, then retracting his statement after deciding that he doesn't want any more dummies working for him. |
| 686 | * ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' provides a rather dark example with Lila Rossi: she flat-out states to Marinette that everyone in their class besides them is an idiot ([[JerkassHasAPoint and given how easily she manipulates even the teacher it's hard to say she's wrong]]), and this justifies her manipulation of their class into adoring her. |
| 687 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheMrMenShow'': Mr. Grumpy and Mr. Rude. |
| 688 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': |
| 689 | ** [[DefrostingIceQueen Twilight Sparkle]] feels this way when she visits Ponyville for the first time. She gets better, though. |
| 690 | --->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' All the ponies in this town are ''crazy!'' |
| 691 | ** In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E13TheMean6 The Mean 6]]", the evil clone of Twilight feels this way about the other clones created alongside her, calling them "fools" and "imbeciles". She's not wrong; while she makes a fairly competent grab for power and comes close to success, the others set off the Tree of Harmony's defenses and get her ''and'' themselves killed. |
| 692 | * Dracula in ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' certainly feels this about his court. Most of them are actually highly competent, but they don't get along at all and spend most of their time bickering or [[TheStarscream planning to backstab him]]. |
| 693 | * ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'': In episode 2, the Watcher explains that in the main universe, Yondu Udonta picked up Peter Quill himself. In this universe, he outsourced the job to two of his crew... who proceeded to go to the wrong side of the planet and pick up T'challa instead. |
| 694 | -->'''Yondu Udonta:''' You morons grabbed the wrong kid.\ |
| 695 | '''Taserface:''' Uh-uh. Not so fast, Captain. ''[points to the black T'challa]'' [[BuffySpeak Two see-holes, two hear-holes, one eat-hole.]] Everything checks out.\ |
| 696 | '''Yondu Udonta:''' ''[shows a picture of the Caucasian Peter Quill]'' Does this really look like Peter Quill to y'all?\ |
| 697 | '''Taserface:''' Sure. I don't know. [[DittoAliens All humans look alike to me.]] |
| 698 | * ''WesternAnimation/FourEyes'': In alien protagonist Emma's opinion, at least. She thinks humans are an underdeveloped species. |
| 699 | [[/folder]] |
| 700 |
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