Basic Trope: A plan has a serious flaw in it that goes seemingly unnoticed until it's too late.
- Straight: Alice and Bob break into the Evil Overlord's base. Because they didn't account for the security cameras, they get caught.
- Exaggerated: Alice and Bob try to stop the Greater-Scope Villain without weapons, armor, or any way to stop him.
- Downplayed: Alice tries to save Bob from the Evil Overlord. She doesn't account for his dog, Fluffles, who is a chihuahua that hides in a crate.
- Justified:
- They conceived of the plan in a hurry and didn't have time to check if their plan had any mistakes or details they failed to anticipate.
- They didn't know the Overlord's lair would be that heavily guarded.
- Alternately, they did think of the solution through, and it succeeded in bringing down the Evil Overlord, but they didn't consider the longer-term ramifications this would cause, such as the Overlord being martyred, or the ensuing political vacuum allowing an even worse kind of despot taking over.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob have an overly precise plan that works down to the smallest detail.
- Alice and Bob's Indy Ploy works so smoothly one might mistake them for actually having a plan.
- Alice and Bob's plan doesn't account for the security cameras breaking, making their break-in easier.
- Subverted:
- Alice and Bob's Plan A seems to have a hole in it, but it's actually All According to Plan; they're deceiving their foes with a Fake Weakness.
- It turns out that they had told Charlie to hack the cameras and disable them, only for it to turn out that they are brand-new prototype unhackable cameras.
- As the plan falls apart we cut back to the planning table as Alice quips "And that's why we shouldn't …"
- Double Subverted:
- When things go wrong, Bob claims it's All According to Plan. It isn't, he's trying to bluff and/or buy time for an Indy Ploy.
- The immediate plan went without a hitch. But Alice and Bob failed to consider how their future adventures became more dangerous as the Evil Overlord decided to be more pragmatic with his future plans against Alice and Bob and more thorough in eliminating them...
- The final plan has a flaw that none of Alice or Bob's thought exercises caught. note
- Parodied: Whenever Alice and Bob notice a flaw in their plan, they try to hastily create a contingency plan that only makes things worse due to also having a glaring flaw.
- Zig-Zagged: One aspect of the plan wasn't thought out. Bob says that they didn't think this through. They end up getting past that. Then another aspect fails.
- Averted: No characters' schemes, even the really zany ones, ever fail because of poor planning.
- Enforced: The creators have the characters fail their goal because of a poorly thought-out plan to provide some quick comic relief.
- Lampshaded: "I really should spend more time considering how executing my plans may turn out and anticipating more ways my plans might fail."
- Defied: Alice and Bob never act out their schemes until they've prepared for every possible way their plans can go south.
- Discussed: "You didn't think this through? YOU DIDN'T THINK THIS THROUGH?!! Emperor Evulz is an almighty tyrant whose power is matched only by his sharp intellect. What did you think was going to happen when you rushed into his fortress without planning a way to incapacitate him?"
- Conversed: "Isn't it funny how some people never seem to have time to look over their plans before it's too late to fix their screw-ups? I can only imagine how embarrassing it would be to have to repeatedly learn that it pays to make sure there aren't any flaws you've overlooked in your planning before you act on them."
- Invoked:
- Bob and Alice get drunk at their planning session.
- Emperor Evulz has The Mole feed them false information about his lair.
- Exploited: ???
- Deconstructed: Because Alice and Bob's plan to take out Emperor Evulz was full of holes, they end up nearly getting themselves killed and barely manage to escape their enemy's fortress with their lives.
- Reconstructed: After surviving their disastrous earlier attempt at fighting Emperor Evulz, Alice and Bob realize how they can learn from their mistakes and start forming a more effective plan in stopping Evulz.
- Played for Laughs: The characters' plan fails because it requires them to do something they forget they can't do until the very last crucial moment.
- Played for Drama: Because of Alice and Bob's incompetence at making good plans, their attempts at saving the day keep making things worse and often result in innocent lives being lost.
We'll just sneak our way into the bad guy's fortress and make our getaway with the treasure he stole. Wait, he'll probably kill us once he sees us, and it'll definitely be hard to outrun him while lugging around a chest full of gold and baubles. Oh, Crap! We Didn't Think This Through.
