Skewed Priorities in Fan Works.
- A Disease Of The Brain: Lucas is imprisoned alongside several of the cast from SDR2 because they've been infected by the Z-Virus. He's more concerned about missing out on Halloween while he's stuck in his cell.
- In Amazing Fantasy, Disney tried to lobby Congress to further extend its copyright protections over characters like Spider-Man... while the world was teetering on the edge of collapse from the rise of Quirks. Naturally, Disney got ignored in favor of more pressing matters, which let Disney's properties go into the public domain. The House of Mouse has gone on a crusade against people using the image of characters they once owned ever since by making it cultural faux pas.
- Blue-Green Eyes: While Genma didn't like the idea of Soun reprimanding Nabiki so harshly, he didn't intervene, as he was more concerned with currying favor with Akane, even if it came at her older sister's expense.
- In brilliant lights will cease to burn, Izuku is scared of not finishing his homework or running his errands while several dozen cops are pointing their guns at him."There's no time to waste. Izuku has homework. He has school tomorrow. He has so many errands to run. He doesn't have time to get arrested."
- The Chaotic Masters: Instead of immediately fleeing the auction with their pilfered artifacts, even with Section 13 showing up to raid the place, Adagio insists on staying to jealously confront Raven about the Collector showing an interest in her.
- Petunia Dursley of Child of the Storm is horrified by the fact that her neighbors think she's scum, never mind the fact that she earned that contempt by abusing a child.
- In the sequel, it's Played for Laughs when Clark wonders at how Harry seems far more concerned with his fashion sense than the Humanoid Abomination in the background. Harry just dismisses him as a Big Bad Wannabe, saying, "he'll keep."
- In Code: Pony Evolution, Twilight Sparkle thinks it's more important not to be late than to avoid death. Even though if any of the ponies die on Earth, X.A.N.A wins.
- In Fates Collide, when Crescent Rose gets damaged during Ruby Rose's sparring match with Cu Chulainn, she attempts to repair it, ignoring him even though the fight wasn't paused. He calls her out on it.
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail plays this for drama. When Chloe's classmates learn that Ash is the Alola Champion, they immediately pressure her to challenge him, setting into motion a chain of events that culminate in her running away from home and boarding the Infinity Train. A few days later, Goh visits the school and informs them that she ran away... only for the news to get completely glossed over as they clamor to see the video of the fight. Yeardley gleefully mocks the fact that she made a rookie mistake, and it takes Goh calling them out for helping to drive her away before they pay any attention to the news of her disappearance... even if just to deny any responsibility.
- J-WITCH Series: In "Fright Night Fight", when Hak Foo demands that the Guardians hand over the Squidkhan mask, Hay Lin says that since he's already orange (as he's a Dark Chi Warrior), it won't work with his skin tone. Jade dryly notes that shouldn't be the main reason they're not giving him the mask.
- In A Man of Iron, what is Tywin Lannister's reaction to a flying knight who shoots magical laser beams bursting through the ceiling and threatening the lord of the castle? Annoyance that said knight is wearing Lannister colors without his permission.
- Tony's reaction to Jon saving him from Ivan Vanko is to point out that the armor Jon is wearing isn't one which he (Tony) made.
- In Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku!, Lexi Luthor is more concerned with finishing her essay on Danganronpa than her classwork or that a giant robot is rampaging in the cafeteria.
- In No Gods, Only Guns, Gaige decides that the best time to start working on SCIENCE! and robotics is while she's in the middle of a giant battle with a bunch of geth.
- In The Power Of Freedom, Ganondorf notes that Link has always gone through life at his own pace and with a mindset that only makes sense to him. On one occasion, he delayed one of their clashes for the fate of Hyrule just to go fishing.
- In POWER RANGERS: Owl Force, Camila is more concerned over the fact that her motorcycle was transformed into Luz's vehicle than the fact that Luz is a red ranger or the fact that Earth is still being invaded.
- Raise Your Voice Against Liars:
- Adrien believes that it's more important to placate bullies like Chloé and Lila so that they don't get akumatized, ignoring how much damage they're inflicting with their ongoing cruelty. He also ignores that Hawk Moth has no shortage of targets aside from the abusers, along with how their actions cause others to get akumatized.
- Alya would rather have Marinette forgive her instantly than actually address how much she hurt her and make any amends for her actions.
- Invoked in Shades of Twilight, the sequel to the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Mass Effect crossover, Mass Effect The Equestrian Equation, when everyone who is involved in leading The Herd dismisses Rarity's insistence that they need to set up Equestrian tailoring as more of her fashionista frippery. Rarity eventually takes matters into her own hooves by pointing out, as part of a live broadcast interview, that non-Equestrians don't have the social training they do, and so any pony who insists on going "furclad" is giving anyone behind her (or him) a real eyeful of their most private parts whenever they move their tail. When Twilight Sparkle privately tries to point out that they weren't embarrassed by this when they didn't know it, Rarity points out it's better they be embarrassed and take steps to rectify it now, then ignore it and end up getting a reputation as primitive beasts who can't even understand modesty later.
- As if to hammer the point home, an Equestrian worker suffers only minor injuries despite being caught in a fuel pipe explosion that should have charred him to ashes because he was wearing one of Rarity's work uniforms, thanks to the combination of her fashion designer wizardry and space age materials.
- In Truth and Revelations, when Daniel Jackson returns to his old friends and explains what he's doing with his life now, Hermione is initially more focused on the idea that Harry has now become a renowned scholar of history, as opposed to the discovery that aliens are real and the American military can travel to other planets.
- Defied on Xander's suggestion in Time and Again
when he explains to Harry Potter that if any Task seems beyond him in the Triwizard Tournament, he should simply concede as his goal is survival, not winning. Harry admits he's right and is embarrassed by once taking Wood's advice to "Get the snitch or die trying" seriously given that Quidditch is only a game. - In Twice Chosen, when Alpha mentions that he's disabled the Tributes' trackers since they found the ship, Glimmer is annoyed people will assume the Tributes died "off-screen" in a cave-in, which Foxface finds astounding considering they're in an alien starship.
- Wilted Flowers: When Izuku is forced to become Tentōchū and sub in for Ladybug, Chat Noir is far more interested in grilling him over what happened to 'his lady' rather than dealing with the akuma.
- With Pearl and Ruby Glowing:
- Shan Yu discovers the hard way that it's not the best idea to pause the confrontation with the person who's currently kidnapping/freeing your slave to correct his Malapropism.
- Blueblood is angry about being attended by two doctors when he's being treated for shock and sexual assault, because he thinks he deserves three.
- A Certain Droll Hivemind:
- When the mall is taken over by armed gunmen, Misaka-11111 is more concerned that she can't pay for her new shoes because the staff fled.The Network considers this a moderate threat. We are in a defensible location, I have my F2000-R in my bag, and if necessary I can engage the shutters and seal us in. I have not done that yet because the controls are labelled 'authorised staff only' and I am not a member of staff. If we are hostages, then they will not wish to kill us. Hostages are not killed immediately.
- When a magician summons a giant bird construct out of her own blood, the Network is mostly arguing over what type of bird it is. Everyone is very disappointed that Touma destroys it before 11111 can ask.
- When the mall is taken over by armed gunmen, Misaka-11111 is more concerned that she can't pay for her new shoes because the staff fled.
- Blackened Skies: The 'Death Row Delights' menu is filled with dishes that reference the various executions the participants faced, including one based off the first execution of this game. Korekiyo observes that Teruteru mostly seems upset by how the 'Deep-fried Teruteru with Fries' offering is greasy carnival fare.
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
- Goku prioritizes his food first, followed by his friends, followed by the friends he considers "emergency foods", and then his son.
- When Chichi was injured, Goku's first question to her is where the food is - she'd called that one of their meals was ready. Then he asks about what happened to her and her dad. When she finally points out Gohan was just kidnapped, Goku complains he'll be late for the meal.
- Bulma is outraged that Krillin destroyed the remote she created, not because it means Cell can absorb 18, but because it took her twenty hours to make. Later when Vegeta agrees to let Cell absorb 18, Bulma is delighted that she won the bet on who would screw things up.
- In The Seer and His Butterfly, Isabela has a passion for plant symbolism and her Berserk Button is its misapplication, so when the boys in the village that bullied Mirabel start trying to "woo" her, Isabela's big gripe is thus.Isabela: Enrique gave her buttercups. Buttercups!
Camillo: I'm going to pretend I have any idea what that means and move on.
- Arjuna's primary goal in E Pluribus Unum: Peerless Bow is to battle and defeat Karna. When he is summoned to the America Singularity and learns that Karna has joined the Americans under Thomas Edison, he aligns with Medb, Cu Chulain, and their Celtic army, despite their aim being the destruction of America and the Foundation of Human History. Even after leaving the Celts, he still persists on wanting to fight Karna despite the fate of the world being on the line, something many characters like Sita and Karna call him out on. In the end, he gets Karna to agree to a final fight by vowing to defend America in his place if he wins and kills Karna. And when the Twenty-Eight Demon Pillars summoned by Cu arrive, they work together to destroy them while vowing for another fight in their next encounter.
- Ginny Weasley and the Half-Blood Prince:
- Ginny doesn't appreciate Cho trying to get back together with Harry in the middle of a siege, and makes sure to sabotage the attempt.
- Ginny also lampshades the fact that Ron and Hermione having their First Kiss in the middle of said siege—due to a comment Ron made regarding house elves, no less—is bizarre.
- In The Guile of the Traveller an empousa is loose in Hogwarts after a fight between several familiars broke the seal that was keeping her imprisoned. Harry and her dormmates decide to organize a search party - and then Walburga insists on having her evening shower first, no matter what.
- In Harry Potter and the Daft Morons, when she's informed that Fred, George, and Ginny have all been collected by their parents to deal with a death in the family, Quidditch captain Angelina's immediate reaction is to panic about the upcoming game. True, three players out of seven are out of school and it's not known when they'll be back, but she totally fails to acknowledge that there might be any other priority, such as emotional pain or even basic politeness. Harry, Katie, and Alicia all venomously chew her out (Harry is not currently a member of the team, the two girls threaten to quit on the spot over the insensitive behavior of their captain).
- In Harry Potter: Master of Malicious Compliance, Harry fully admits that his priorities are messed up given that his desire to make people who cause him problems suffer nearly eclipses his sense of self-preservation. As a child, Harry refused to climb out a school window during a fire because he knew that instead staying in the room he was locked in for detention would get the responsible teacher fired.
- Played With in Hitting the Tomes when the Gryffindor quidditch team, several of Harry's housemates, and McGonnagall all think Harry has his priorities all wrong when he quits the team because it's his OWL year and he needs to study. Though the real reason is he needs time to study for his GSCEs.
- In Trouble, Draco Malfoy complains about how without brooms, they cannot do try-outs for Quidditch. This is after one of the brooms acted up and nearly killed Tracey. Ron even lampshades it.
- When the dragons break free and go on a rampage in When the First Task Went Wrong, several Slytherin students are more interested in blaming Harry than running for their lives. They die when one of the mortally injured dragons falls out of the sky on top of them.
- In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, the Computer Society President finds it strange that Haruhi's biggest priority on Kyon's first "encounter" with Yamane (which ended with an attempt to kill Tsuruya followed by Kyon dangling Yamane outside a window in the third floor) is Kyon's record, and preventing it getting back to Kyon's mother.
- Invader Zim: A Bad Thing Never Ends:
- During Tak and Lex's attack on Zim's base in Chapter 13, Zim takes the time in the middle of the initial standoff to complain when his minion Bob refers to it as "our base" instead of just Zim's.
- This is what ultimately costs Tak and Lex a victory in Chapter 14's High-Altitude Battle: when Gaz reenters the fight in Tak's old ship, Tak refuses to let Lex fire on it as she still wants it back, which distracts them both long enough for Gaz to shoot down Lex's ship.
- Kingdom Hearts: The Antipode: Played for Laughs during the fourth installment's Arendelle Arc. As Young Xehanort watches over a cursed Riku to ensure that his heart doesn't freeze (as Xehanort needs him alive for his plans), Xigbar gets bored and leaves to catch his favourite show on TV, much to the former's chagrin.Young Xehanort: The future of the Organization is dying on this couch, and you would rather watch TV?
Xigbar: Yep.
- The End of All Things: When Zach and Midna inadvertently get caught in the gullet of a giant Deku Baba, Midna is more focused on the string of insults Zach just launched at her than the prospect of being eaten alive.
- Requiem for a Loud features an extremely rare Played for Drama example; Lincoln is diagnosed with brain tumors and will die within the next two weeks, but the reactions that his friends and family have to this are what he considers to be the most devastating.
- An Alternate Keitaro Urashima: Granny Hina considers it more important to defend and excuse the often-inexcusable behavior of her tenets than anything else. She takes this so far that when Mokoto gets arrested, she's more concerned with figuring out some way to get the charges dropped than acknowledging the fact that Mokoto threatened her grandson with a deadly weapon in public.Esther: Hina, that girl, Motoko, threatened your grandson with a real weapon. Doesn;t that bother you?
Hina: Of course it bothers me. I just think things would work out if they just talked it out and not getting the legal system involved.
Esther: If it were my grandson who got attacked like that, I'd be worried if he didn’t press charges.
Hina: Esther, you just don't understand how things are where I'm from.
Esther: I think its just you.
Hina: How rude...
- In Five Times Hakuryuu Screamed Judal's Name and One Time He Was Silent, the second time Hakuryuu screams Judal's name involves him chasing after Judal seeking revenge for a prank that's been pulled on him, and this exchange occurs:Hakuryuu: Judal! When I get my hands on you, I'm going to cut off your braid and hang you on it!
Judal: No! Don't cut off my braid!
- Peter Parker's Field Trip (Of course it's to Stark Industries): Tony seems surprised how little Peter's punishment would have been.Tony: ...hey, out of curiosity... what is the punishment for forging Tony Stark's signature around here?
Peter: Two weeks of in school suspension, ineligibility for all future field trips, handwritten notes to all of my classmates and teachers apologizing for my lies, and um, no more leaving early.
Tony: That's it? Well, I'm sure that feels like a lot when you're a kid. I was thinking jail time. Of course, I've seen prisons nicer than this place, so... potato, potato.
- In All's Fair in Love and War (And Turnabout's Fair Play), Adrien strikes back at Lila through a 'shocking tell-all interview', revealing to the media that he's been dealing with an obsessive stalker at school. While he doesn't name her outright, his descriptions are enough for all of his classmates to connect the dots, and Lila knows that it's only a matter of time before the public discovers her identity as well. Yet she finds herself fixating on the fact that Alya deleted the 'exclusive interview' she gave her off the Ladyblog.
- BURN THE WITCH:
- Even with Witch Hunter marshalling an ever-growing mob, turning more and more of Paris against her, Lila still focuses on taking any opportunity she can to insult, undermine or sabotage Marinette and Ladybug. Despite how the two of them are increasingly the only allies she has trying to keep her alive.
- After discovering that Master Fu has been affected by Witch Hunter's powers, Marinette panics over having to knock him unconscious. Tikki, meanwhile, complains that he won't be selling any more popcorn now.
- Lila attempts to appeal to Witch Hunter and Hawkmoth this way, pointing out that she hasn't made any progress with obtaining the Earrings and Ring despite Chat Noir being completely under her spell.
- During the final confrontation, one of the members of the mob calls out to "AVENGE MY MARSHMALLOW!"
- Burning Bridges, Building Confidence:
- As far as Chat Noir's concerned, getting Ladybug to agree to be his partner romantically is more important than protecting Paris. When the series begins, he's attempting to Blackmail her by sitting on the sidelines during battles, refusing to help unless she 'admits' that she's in love with him. And he's supported in this insanity by Alya, who overhears one of his declarations and is totally on board because she wants LadyNoir to be canon.Good ultimatum, Alya thought. She better do it quick, or else they might get her miraculous.
- After two of their schoolmates get akumatized at once right after an argument with him, Adrien decides that rather than finding a safe place to transform into Chat Noir and join the fight, it's more important to track down Marinette... so he can scold and accuse her of causing it.
- A stronger parallel gets drawn between Alya and Adrien/Chat Noir when both of them express the same outrage over Ladybug updating her look. Alya because she based her blog's appearance around her original style, and Chat because she didn't consult him about it and it doesn't show off her figure to his satisfaction.
- As far as Chat Noir's concerned, getting Ladybug to agree to be his partner romantically is more important than protecting Paris. When the series begins, he's attempting to Blackmail her by sitting on the sidelines during battles, refusing to help unless she 'admits' that she's in love with him. And he's supported in this insanity by Alya, who overhears one of his declarations and is totally on board because she wants LadyNoir to be canon.
- Cheshire: While Master Fu and Adrien pursue Cheshire out of a sincere, if misguided, belief that she is a dangerous Villain with Good Publicity, Kim is motivated primarily by his desire to get back the Horse Miraculous and return it to Max — to the point that he ignores Akumas in favor of attacking her. Chloé, meanwhile, only cares about the fame and glory of being the "superheroine" Queen Bee, seeing Cheshire as a competitor for the attention she craves.
- Dad Villain AU:
- This is Played for Drama with Gabriel; the entire Alternate Universe is the result of him getting to make his reality-rewriting Wish. Rather than focusing purely on saving Emelie, he deliberately structures his Wish to punish Ladybug and her loved ones for how she dared stand up to him. Duusu points out his Motive Decay and how he no longer cares about his wife's safety, treating her as nothing more than an Unwitting Pawn whose careless usage of the Peacock is hurting others:Duusu: Ooooohhh, I get it! You wanted revenge on Ladybug first and foremost... Emelie's survival was just a participation prize, huh? You really think it's justified behavior so long as you win.
- When Sabine's mysterious illness worsened to the point that she was hospitalized, Tom turned to his father for help keeping the bakery running. Rolland seized on this as an opportunity to try and force them to follow his recipes and traditions, while showing No Sympathy for Sabine — even accusing her of faking her illness and telling her daughter that she'd likely never return home.
- During the Charity Ball arc, Emelie sees that Bitterbug is carrying Adrien out of the currently collapsing ballroom and attempts to order him back to her side; her need to control her son overrides any concern for his safety.
- This is Played for Drama with Gabriel; the entire Alternate Universe is the result of him getting to make his reality-rewriting Wish. Rather than focusing purely on saving Emelie, he deliberately structures his Wish to punish Ladybug and her loved ones for how she dared stand up to him. Duusu points out his Motive Decay and how he no longer cares about his wife's safety, treating her as nothing more than an Unwitting Pawn whose careless usage of the Peacock is hurting others:
- Feralnette AU:
- Played for Drama with Marinette; the AU begins when she decides that her responsibilities as Ladybug and the new Guardian take priority over maintaining her health, happiness, and well-being, spurring her to stop caring about her social life, appearance, and other such matters.
- Alya's top priority is the Ladyblog. She sees nothing wrong with not only risking herself, but imperiling others for the sake of 'good stories'. This leads to her whining when an akuma's powers don't show up on camera, and seeing absolutely nothing wrong with filming her friends suffering so long as she's getting 'exclusive footage'.
- Miss Bustier cares more about 'keeping the peace' in her classroom and her supposed reputation as a good, 'approachable' teacher than she does about actually dealing with the various issues arising. When an exhausted Marinette has a panic attack in the middle of class, she intends to scold her for being disruptive and 'not setting a better example', and wonders why her students won't trust her with their problems anymore.
- In the AU To Hench or Not to Hench, where Chat Noir has been fighting alone for years, Marinette is so set on having that internship at Gabriel she ends up accepting the demand to work as Hawk Moth's henchwoman in exchange. At least she used the situation to turn it into a paid internship (plus lavish pay as a henchwoman)...
- In the Rain features Alya furiously confronting Marinette after she reunites with her class after being separated from them during a supervillain attack. This isn't Anger Born of Worry, though. She's more concerned with berating her for not immediately confessing her feelings to Adrien, insisting she just let the perfect opportunity to deepen their relationship slip through her fingers. Marinette is less than thrilled. And when her words don't get through to Alya, Ms. Mendeleiev does by virtue of having the power to punish her and Nino for their misdeeds.
- The Karma of Lies:
- Adrien considers preserving his reputation as a 'golden boy' who gets along with everyone to be far more important than exposing the fact that Lila is actively conning his classmates with her fake charities and claimed connections. When he sees on the news that Ladybug has had to fight several akuma in a row, Lila latches onto his arm and won't let him leave the party, and he decides that 'his lady' can handle the battle without him, since he doesn't want to upset his friends by bailing.
- After seeing the results of Ladybug's Final Battle with Hawkmoth, Alya immediately squeals with delight that she's Ladybug's best friend. Everyone else present stares at her before she off-handedly acknowledges how it was just revealed that Hawkmoth is none other than Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's father.
- LadyBugOut:
- The whole plot gets kicked off by Alya posting the photo she took of Ladybug and Chat Noir Kissing Under the Influence of Oblivio's mind-whammy on her Ladyblog, effectively deciding that 'a juicy scoop' is more important than proving herself trustworthy to Ladybug, who'd asked her not to put it online. She also feels that sticking to her guns is more important than her relationships with Marinette and most of her classmates, who aren't too thrilled with her decision.
- After learning that Marinette's helping Ladybug maintain her new blog, Adrien invites himself over to the bakery and awkwardly tries pressing her for information, wanting to know if Ladybug ever talks about him (or Chat Noir). He also reveals that he's still prioritizing Lila's feelings over the rest of the class, and doesn't understand why that annoys Marinette even after she spells it out for him.
- Ms. Bustier goes for a double whammy. Not only does she believe that it's better to coddle the bullies in her classroom and force her better-behaved students to 'set a good example' by quietly enduring the abuse, but when she finally does decide to address the growing unrest in her class? She puts that over the safety of all of Paris by trying to pressure Marinette into deleting Ladybug's blog behind the superheroine's back. Never mind all the valuable resources it provides, it's caused some of her students to get angry with each other, and she can't have that—!
- Leave for Mendeleiev:
- As far as Adrien/Chat Noir is concerned, protecting Paris from Hawk Moth and his akuma isn't nearly as important as flirting with 'his Bugaboo' and figuring out all her secrets.
- After Lady Wifi falsely 'reveals' Chloé as the superheroine, Chat Noir proves practically useless in tracking her down because he's too busy gloating and taunting Ladybug with how the 'cat's out of the bag'. Later, after he's forced to accept that wasn't the case, he complains about how he doesn't get why Chloé couldn't be Ladybug, and responds to Ladybug detailing all the ways that Chloe is anything but heroic by noting that she seems to know Chloé well, teasing that she might have said too much and hinted at her identity.
- When his bodyguard is turned into a gorilla, Adrien exploits the situation by convincing Ladybug that they should hide out inside the movie theater he was going to. Plagg points out that the akuma is still tearing through Paris trying to find him, but Adrien doesn't care; he's too giddy over the idea that he's conned his crush into a 'date'.
- Mme Bustier's belief that Chloé 'just needs good role models' leads to her prioritizing the class bully over her other students. This is so severe that when Chloé claims that she's having trouble focusing without her favorite punching bag around, she attempts to convince Marinette to transfer back into her class — or, failing that, to start mentoring the girl who's bullied her for years. Naturally, she doesn't understand why Marinette's horrified by that idea.
- Played for Drama in Luckier Without, where Chat Noir does not care about the fallout of Shadow Moth's final attack in Season 4. His inability to think about anything other than getting what he wants spurs him to follow Ladybug and learn her Secret Identity, followed by exposing himself, much to Ladybug's horror at his refusal to consider the consequences of his actions.
- Miracle Queen Aftermath revolves around Chloé's Karma Houdini Warranty running out after the events of the Season 3 finale. Adrien, naturally, feels sorry for her, and believes that Marinette and the rest of their class should do everything they can to help her. Much of the story boils down to them spelling out Chloé's various transgressions against them, only for Adrien to keep stubbornly insisting that they should forgive her anyway, giving more weight to how she feels than to the feelings of everyone she's hurt.Adrien: I just... I just want to give her the best chance.
Ivan: (bitterly) That's nice for Chloé, I guess. But not nice for us. - The One to Make It Stay:
- Alya's zeal for 'major scoops' and love of 'LadyNoir' leads her to film the Obliviated Chat Noir's Love Confession, then trim and cut the footage to make it look like Ladybug reciprocated rather than gently turning him down. She then posts the resulting video on her Ladyblog, and when Ladybug confronts her about it, dismisses her anger. So what if she just massively invaded their privacy and is openly lying about what happened while claiming to be the best source of Ladybug-related news around? Surely Ladybug's just overreacting, right...?
- This catches up to her further after she accidentally skips out on babysitting duty, forcing Nora to miss an important match. Alya attempts to defend herself by blurting out that she was trying to help her friends with boy troubles; Nora isn't impressed. Neither is her mother, who points out that she's also been neglecting her studies and letting her grades drop.Marlena: When you haven't been running off on dates with Nino or trying to set up your friends, you've been running off into danger, trying to capture footage for your blog. At first, I thought that maybe it was just difficulty adjusting to life in Paris, but speaking to your teachers at school and your friends' parents, I realized that couldn't be the case. No, the problem is that you've picked up so many things to do that it's compromised your ability to prioritize.
- This catches up to her further after she accidentally skips out on babysitting duty, forcing Nora to miss an important match. Alya attempts to defend herself by blurting out that she was trying to help her friends with boy troubles; Nora isn't impressed. Neither is her mother, who points out that she's also been neglecting her studies and letting her grades drop.
- So far as Chat Noir is concerned, protecting Paris isn't nearly as important as making things 'official' with Ladybug. Throughout White Hot Morning, he persistently tries to force her into accepting his feelings, blaming her for the tension that results. This builds into the situation exploding in All The Laughs We Had in the Past — and in the aftermath, Adrien winds up blaming Plagg for 'allowing himself' to be used by Hawkmoth and Feline Fatale to terrorize Paris.
- Alya's zeal for 'major scoops' and love of 'LadyNoir' leads her to film the Obliviated Chat Noir's Love Confession, then trim and cut the footage to make it look like Ladybug reciprocated rather than gently turning him down. She then posts the resulting video on her Ladyblog, and when Ladybug confronts her about it, dismisses her anger. So what if she just massively invaded their privacy and is openly lying about what happened while claiming to be the best source of Ladybug-related news around? Surely Ladybug's just overreacting, right...?
- Of Patience and Pettiness:
- Adrien considers it far more important to keep bullies like Lila and Chloé happy by letting them go unchecked than to address the problems they're causing. Marinette's crush on him withers away upon realizing that the feelings of people like her don't matter to him at all — he's keener to scold her for standing up for herself than he is either of them for their misdeeds.
- Chat doesn't care about protecting Paris nearly as much as he does getting that Relationship Upgrade with Ladybug, prioritizing his flirting and joking around over her protests. He also gets incredibly upset whenever she brings another guy in as backup against akuma.
- Recommencer:
- Moments after complaining about Ladybug getting help from civilians, Chat Noir declares that he won't help her fight the latest akuma unless she 'confesses her feelings'. This leads to him getting Shamed by a Mob calling him out on this.
- Played With when Alya accuses Imperatrix of being an imposter. Several witnesses recognize her as the Ladyblogger, and believe that her accusation is actually her doing a bit, as they think the Ladyblog is actually a satire site. They question her timing, unaware that she's actually being dead serious with her claims.
- Sins of the Past: When Adrien learns that Lila has been threatening and bullying Marinette ever since her return, and has just framed her for supposedly attacking her, he's far more upset and disappointed that Marinette is still trying to expose her. After all, if Lila gets revealed as a liar, she'll get akumatized again... and to his mind, preventing that is much more important than letting anyone know they're dealing with a manipulative Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. Thus, he accuses Marinette of being a bully, causing things to go even further downhill.
- So you time travel to the future and your classmate gets punched... has Adrien and most of his classmates get transported twenty years into the future by an akuma. Upon learning that Hawkmoth was defeated twenty years prior, his biggest concern is finding out whether or not he successfully hooked up with 'his lady', becoming very upset upon hearing that she had other Love Interests.
- In Unsatisfied: Self-Destruct, Alya wakes up and learns she's been hospitalized for three months after being attacked and nearly killed by a criminal who cut her throat open, leaving her unable to speak. When she hears that Hawkmoth was defeated and the Miraculous heroes have retired, she despairs at the fact that no Ladybug means no Ladyblog, and that her dream of capturing Hawkmoth's downfall on tape is effectively impossible.
- Weight Off Your Shoulder:
- Adrien considers Chloé's feelings to be more important than those of her victims. When her Karma Houdini Warranty runs out thanks to the new Ladybug publicly exposing her betrayal of the Miraculous Heroes, he berates Marinette and the rest of the class for being happy that their long-time tormenter is finally facing consequences for her actions. Even after they spell out for him that Chloé was completely unapologetic, he continues sulking and acting as though they are completely in the wrong.
- As Chat Noir, Adrien cared far more about harassing his partner than dealing with akumas. When the new Ladybug comes up with a plan to expose Shadow Moth, he keeps ignoring her instructions in favor of badgering her to promise that they can start dating after he's arrested. When she refuses, he gets upset and starts berating her for exposing Chloé's betrayal.
- And then there's Future!Alix, whose plotline parallels Adrien's. Much like how Adrien ignores the damage Chloé has done through her constant cruelties and bullying, Future!Alix wishes to "fix" the timeline despite being fully aware that in the original verse, Shadow Moth would get his hands on the Miracle Box and become far more powerful and dangerous. Something that she accidentally lets slip to Marinette and the Kwamis, then blows off their horror as overreacting. As far as she's concerned, preserving the original timeline takes precedence over preventing harm, telling those who would suffer most to Quit Your Whining and trust that things will work out eventually.
- Future!Alix also tries to manipulate Alya and the Girl Posse by exploiting one of these. When Alya wants answers about what kind of timeline they'll be "restoring", Future!Alix tells them that Adrien and Marinette eventually hooked up, knowing that Alya has been trying to make that ship sail for ages. Juleka disgustedly asks "Is this all just a shipping thing?", getting the other girls to freeze as that sinks in.
- This builds up to the revelation that Future!Alix is a Shipper with an Agenda who's been abusing the Rabbit Miraculous to try and ensure Marinette and Adrien get together and stay together... despite having repeatedly seen their relationship fall apart in numerous Bad Futures due to their incompatibility. She considers this FAR more important than dealing with any of the various villains — in fact, she flatly doesn't care what sort of horrors the villains unleash so long as she creates her "power couple".
- What Goes Around Comes Around: Adrien's life is turned upside down when his father is exposed as Hawk/Shadow Moth and arrested, with the police also discovering evidence of Nathalie's involvement and arresting her as well for her crimes as Mayura. Yet Adrien fixates on the 'upside': Ladybug was also revealed to be none other than Marinette, meaning he finally knows who 'his lady' is and can get that Relationship Upgrade he's been gunning for—!
- Further driven home when he pays her a visit as Chat Noir and barely makes a token apology for missing the Final Battle before diving straight into discussing their 'relationship', taking it completely for granted that she'll agree to hook up with him.
- Anyone: Upon learning that Dabi was serving as All For One's mole, Izuku expresses concern over whether or not he got a good deal for his services.
- Cheat Code: Support Strategist: During the attack on the USJ, Mei covers Izuku's eyes to keep him from seeing Momo's Wardrobe Malfunction. Hound Dog attributes this reaction to having witnessed Shigaraki kill someone.
- Played With in Deku? I think he's some pro... during the League's debut. While Shigaraki is specifically targeting Izuku as a 'side quest', that doesn't factor into All Might's decision to prioritize saving him. No, he's purely driven by his own biases there: Midoriya is Quirkless, and in All Might's mind, that naturally translates to being completely helpless. He also completely dismisses the threat that the League poses to all of the other students, and has to be forcibly reminded that yes, villains are perfectly capable of hurting children, Quirked or not.
- Erased Potential:
- Bakugou interrupts a kidnapping attempt and promptly attacks the target, demanding to know why anyone considers him worth kidnapping.
- The League of Villains' assault on the USJ turns out far worse than it did canonically... yet all Endeavor cares about is that his son wasn't caught up in the worst of it. Not because he actually cares about Shouto's safety, but because he sees it as a wasted opportunity for Shouto to demonstrate his strength.
- Principal Nedzu cares more about protecting Yuuei's image than helping the students who got caught in the crossfire at USJ.
- Failure to Explode: Played for Drama in the Backstory. When Europol requested aid from Japan with capturing the villainous Star Heart, several of the Pro Heroes who got involved in the case turned out to be Glory Hounds who wanted to ensure they were the ones who brought her down. Not because they had any kind of personal connections to her or the like; no, the only thing they cared about was how collaring such a big name might raise their status in Japan's Hero Ranks. This resulted in several civilians being killed in the crossfire, along with Legacy, a hero sent by Europol, getting seriously injured trying to prevent more innocent deaths.
- A Hero Rises: While fighting Stain, Izuku asks him for permission to marry Himiko, since he's the closest thing she has to a father-figure. While this was partially to throw him off, Shouto still bluntly comments that "There's a time and place, this is neither."
- Mean Rabbit: Played for Drama during the USJ assault. Aside from Sero, all of the students who get stranded with Izuku are more concerned with sniping at him and giving him grief than dealing with the villains trying to kill them. Hypocritically, Jiro accuses Izuku of this when she yells at him to use his taser and he comments on how she was just calling him useless moments before.
- Think Before You Speak: While being interviewed following his brother's injury in a training accident, Tensei unintentionally gives the impression that he's more concerned about how Tenya won't be able to participate in U.A.'s Sports Festival.
- This untitled one-shot has Izuku angrily point out that Aizawa and the rest of the staff at U.A. are well aware that Katsuki has anger issues that he's constantly taking out on others. Yet the only time he was ever punished for his behavior was when he refused to participate in the Sports Festival's award ceremony because he was pissed off about not winning exactly the way he wanted. Izuku notes the irony that they were willing to physically restrain him just to force him onto the podium, but let him run rampant otherwise.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Parodied in A Dance on the Mats. The Rainbooms consider going to class as less important than helping Rainbow deal with her feelings toward Anon. It even takes precedence over their discovery that their friendship magic can give them healing powers.Pinkie Pie: "So, like, we're just kinda putting the fact that we have magic mumbo-jumbo healing powers on the back burner? What if it can cure cancer...? No? Yeah, you're right, boys come first."
- A Diplomatic Visit: In chapter 7 of the sequel Diplomat at Large, during the fight with the Storm King, Pharynx breaks a horn off his helmet. The Storm King's biggest concern is that now it doesn't look right, and how long it's going to take to get it fixed.
- Equestria: A History Revealed:
- The Equinus Republic demonstrates this by placing great priority not on the starving population, or the increase in aggressive monster raids, but in the action of banishing all of its political critics to Tartarus, the Pit of Monsters. The Lemony Narrator shows off her own Skewed Priorities by justifying their actions by stating that they couldn't allow the critics to stay, or they would lower national pride. And then what would become of all the money they poured into the Equestrian Games?
- Loose Change then points out that if the money on the games was wasted, it might as well been used for something stupid, like feeding the starving population.
- It seems like this trope seems to fit the Equinus Republic in general, as they spent weeks debating the simple creation of a road before throwing out the case all together, while approving the abolishment of penalties for homicidal evisceration in less than an hour.
- This is Exploited by Prince Jewelius in Loved and Lost, an extended retelling of "A Canterlot Wedding". After Twilight Sparkle has stopped the Changelings with the shrinking spell Jewelius showed her, his assistant Vivian leads the wedding guests and some royal guards to the wedding hall right as Princess Celestia tells Twilight as per canon that the latter has a real wedding to put together. At that point, Jewelius calls all of the heroes save Twilight out on their mistakesnote and brings up the collateral damages those mistakes caused everypony in Canterlot. This — combined with the heroes' failure to defend themselves against Jewelius' aggressive accusations, and the failed escape attempt Celestia initiates right after Jewelius has publicly promised to rectify their mistakes — convinces everypony that the heroes are irresponsible fools who care more about the wedding than everypony's safety, allowing Jewelius to seize the throne and turn the public (and later Twilight as well) against the heroes.
- After the disgraced heroes and the entire Changeling army have escaped from Jewelius' clutches, the public is afraid of a new Changeling invasion. Jewelius refuses to do absolutely anything to prepare against the Changelings (who, especially Queen Chrysalis, have a score to settle with him) before he's finished with the heroes, even though the public — as well as Twilight — acknowledges that the Changelings are more of a threat than the heroes they're starting to forgive. Not only does Jewelius' immature behavior lead to Twilight and Canterlot's citizens realizing what he truly is, but he's left completely helpless once the heroes have defeated his army and cornered him in the climax, allowing the Changelings to swoop in and eat him as revenge.
- RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: During "Crisis on Two Equestrias", Rarity's takeaway when Trixie seems to have gone nuts and stolen the Elements of Harmony is that the Element of Magic doesn't go with her coat. Applejack's attempt to call her on this fail, since Rarity argues there can be more than one point.
- A Slice of Life: In order to gain a private army to raid the Royal Kitchens, Celestia agrees to sign many legislative bills for the ponies' support. She eventually stops skimming the titles and just starts signing the dotted lines, so she could have just signed Equestria over to her secretary for all she noticed.
- In Ultra Fast Pony, Princess Celestia only seems to care about tea. When Twilight Sparkle saves the world from the destruction in the opening two-parter, Celestia punishes her for missing a tea party while she was saving the world. When the malicious Reality Warper Discord begins wreaking havoc, Celestia only cares that Discord stole her teacups. In Celestia's mind, a fire destroying a major city is less important than Princess Luna holding a tea party without inviting her.
- Played for Drama in Androgyninja's A Dose of Venom: Despite how Konohagakure is struggling to recover from the Konoha Crush attempt, an assault that left much of their village damaged and many dead, there are still some who consider it more important to sabotage Sakura's fledgling career, simply because she happens to be civilian-born and challenges their prejudices.
- Some of the lower ranked shinobi in Kyubed: Shinobi's Revenge on Naruto give Naruto (and later his team) a lot of flak for the fact that despite his perfect stealth, he's much less impressive in a straight fight. Only the higher-ups realize that being able to fight is less useful than getting the job done without getting caught. So while his classmates will talk smack, the entirety of Team 7 is recruited into ANBU after their first Chuunin Exam.
- In Nothing but Trouble, Naruto correctly predicts that his fiancé Anko would be more freaked out that he's been married before than the fact that he's really the Kyuubi and Naruto's been dead for years. Though her reasoning does make an odd bit of sense: she barely knew Naruto but she's fully aware that she's rather crazy and is worried that Naruto/Kyuubi will divorce her if he wasn't willing to work things out with his previous wives (Naruto/Kyuubi quickly reassures her that he did work things out with them; he just outlived them).
- Olive's Last Partner has Otto lampshade this in regards to Oprah when she explains the Boiler Room and the Blobisites to them...Olive: You wanted to see us, Ms. O?
Oprah: Yes, I did. Something very odd has happened. Well, no, not odd. More like disastrous. Here, at Odd Squad Headquarters.
Otto: (muttering) Lemme guess. There's no more juice boxes left?
Olive: Shush!- Which then becomes Hypocritical Humor when he doesn't display a good grip on priorities:Oprah: If that thing completely shuts off the main pipe, Odd Squad Headquarters won't have any more heating or cooling.
Olive: (gasps) Which could endanger all the rare plant and animal specimens we house! They won't be able to survive without their climate-controlled rooms to live in!
Oprah: Not to mention all of the Odd Squad agents. It's important that we take care of every agent accordingly.
Otto: And don't forget the food rooms! (as Olive and Oprah stare at him) What? We all need to eat. And we can't eat if all the food is melted or frozen or rotting into compost!
- Which then becomes Hypocritical Humor when he doesn't display a good grip on priorities:
- In OSMU: Fanfiction Friction, Omar sees that Lois Lane and Lana Lang are waging battle against each other, and decides to leave in order to get a souvenir before the Mobile Unit leaves Metropolis.
- This Bites!:
- Nami's miserable as they leave Alabasta, not because Vivi is forced to come with them after being assigned a bounty, but because they didn't get the solid-gold Crocodile statues from Rain Dinners.
- When Yasopp finds out that Usopp has become a Straw Hat Pirate from Cross' SBS broadcast, he and Shanks instantly get into a brawl. Yasopp is pissed because Shanks's protégé dragged his son away from his quiet, safe life. Shanks is pissed because Yasopp's Spit Take caused him to waste good booze.
- In Luz Commits Tax Fraud, the IRS is more concerned with collecting taxes from Luz than they are about the existence of the Boiling Isles.
- Akira is accused of this in The Evil Queen by his Persona Arsene. Akira doesn't want to risk his life in the Metaverse to change Makoto's heart, but was about to get in a fight with Ryuji to keep him from breaking another student's gaming handheld.Arsene: THIS is the great cause you will stand and fight for? A child's toy? You would damn the whole school to a year's worth of tyranny, but a single boy’s suffering drives you to heroism?
- Ash's Just Reward: Paul gets involved in the battle against the Ultra Beasts not to defend anything or anyone, but because he considers it to be good training for his Pokémon.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness:
- In Act III chapter 13, when it's discovered that the ghoul inside Tsukune had infected Kokoa with its essence, which caused her to rape Tsukune against her will, Felucia is more concerned over where having Kokoa rape Tsukune fits in with the ghoul's Evil Plan than anything else. Ahakon even asks her why that's the only detail she can focus on; in Felucia's defense, however, she does admit that it was a stupid question.
- In Act V chapter 23, with Yokai Academy's festival ruined and several students dead as a result of Tsukune's bloodlust-fuelled rampage, Rin's primary concern is that the fireworks show has been cancelled. Somewhat justified, as Ran explains to the others that she and Rin have seen far worse while explained to Babylon.
- A Rabbit Among Wolves: Following the fashion show, Adam spends more time yelling at Jaune for not attempting to get Blake into her swimsuit than he does discussing the rest of what happened.
- RWBY Recaps: In "The End of the Beginning", Ruby is completely unconcerned about Yang (her sister) losing an arm, and is more worried about whether Roman Torchwick (her enemy) had died from being Swallowed Whole.
- White Sheep:
- Salem sends Tyrian to take Jaune back home where he'll be safe—but that was a secondary objective. The primary objective was to ask if Jaune was still a virgin and if he had impregnated anyone yet.Jaune: Good to see Mom's priorities haven't changed any.
- Not only is Coral perfectly willing to have sex with Qrow on an active battlefield, but she tries to compromise with her sister Sapphire (who wants to kill Qrow) by telling her she can cut off his right arm: "I don't need his arms."Qrow: I need them!
Coral: [unimpressed]
Qrow: They're essential. Uh...for cuddling?
[beat]
Coral: I changed my mind. Both arms stay.
- Salem sends Tyrian to take Jaune back home where he'll be safe—but that was a secondary objective. The primary objective was to ask if Jaune was still a virgin and if he had impregnated anyone yet.
- Winter Thorns of Highgarden: Willas Tyrell's decision to abduct and marry Lyarra Snow is a humongous scandal amongst the Westerosi nobility, and it's implied House Tyrell's reputation took a serious hit because of it. Mace Tyrell is deeply upset by the fact his eldest son refused to invite him to his wedding. Okay, it showcases his political ineptness, but this is rather sweet.
- Tarkin's Fist: Following his coronation as Emperor Yos finds himself more focused on time tables and pet projects than actually prosecuting the war on Earth or noticing the scheming which is beginning to occur in his court.
- The Will of the Empire: The Decapitation Strike by Admiral Piett and the Noghri turns into a free-for-all as a number of the assassination targets at the Imperial palace try to kill each each other on top of being shot at. This just makes Piett and the Noghri's job easier.
- Deconstructed in Monster Chronicles, where despite the fact that a supernatural serial killer has forced Duncan to work for him and the danger he and the other contestants are in, Duncan is more concerned with his bad boy rep and avoiding being seen as good than using his knowledge to expose Cedric to the others. Even Cedric mocked Duncan for how foolish his behavior, and called him a coward for it. Duncan eventually realized he was right and decided stopping Cedric was more important then being seen as a bad boy, even performing a Heel–Face Turn.
- In Chapter 21 of The Command Quarters, Starscream decides that grabbing a tin of polish is more important than escaping from a fight with the Autobots, and gets shot in the cockpit as a result.
- The Artist Formerly Known as Bonesaw: Jack asks the Siberian to set a good example to Riley and keep elbows off the table — so she moves the severed human arm she's eating, to keep its elbow off the table.
- In Mutatis Mutandis by Artemis's Liege, teenagers Rogue, Anole, and Northstar are trapped on the edge of a battlefield during the Marvel Civil War, facing an armed Punisher. Rather than help explain the misunderstanding, Jean-Paul begins texting on his cell phone, not for help, but for entertainment, as a gun is held to his face.
- The Judgement of the World (5Ds):
- While getting changed so that she can help Yusei look for Carly's missing deck, Aki starts looking for a matching necklace and bracelet for her outfit. Witch of the Black Rose asks her how this is supposed to help them with the search.
- Jack thinks about how undignified he looks while caught in the midst of one of Black Rose Dragon's rages, which was caused by Aki entering Heroic BSoD over injuring Yusei with her powers. He quickly has a Jerkass Realization that he should be focusing on calming down Black Rose and helping his friends instead, only to soon get sidetracked again during the chaos after being drawn into a shouting match with Red Dragon Archfiend.
- Stardust Dragon tries to get Black Rose Dragon to back out of a building before the floor collapses and Aki gets hurt. Black Rose is more concerned whether that implies she's fat.
- A large group of onlookers choose to watch Yusei and Judai separately duel two copies of Trueman rather than flee for their safety as their surroundings start getting torn up. It takes Black Rose Dragon appearing and unleashing her Unstoppable Rage on an Evil Knockoff of herself for the crowd to finally scatter.
- Trudge tells his fellow officers to beware Black Rose Dragon, mentioning that she'll likely throw something at them due to her temper. Some of them immediately understand the urgency, though others focus instead on asking about the idea of dragons having genders as well as how they should be addressed.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series: When Dartz's monsters start attacking all over the world in season 4, the heroes realize that it's a serious situation, and promptly... go home to watch Netflix instead of doing anything about it.
- Later, Kaiba decides to face off against Pegasus. Sure, winning will save his company, but Kaiba's mainly doing it so Pegasus will stop making fun of him.
- When Dartz reveals that he was behind everything in Raphael's tragic backstory, the latter has a breakdown. Not out of realizing that he was manipulated into villainy, or about working for the man who murdered his family, but because the whole thing is so incredibly contrived and nonsensical.
