What An Idiot / Mega Man X

• In the first game, Dr. Cain uses Dr. Light's designs for X to create Reploids. These robots are missing design elements that Dr. Cain couldn't understand and haven't gone through the testing period X did to ensure his safety.
  You'd expect: Dr. Cain to make sure that the Reploids were as safe as possible by not doing things like giving them special powers or built-in weapons, making them massive, and keeping them humanoid. Ideally, they'd be issued weapons as needed from the government, and be given select tools and powers for the job at hand as opposed to constant access to such power. Since they're obviously supposed to be people, they should be designed as such to avoid unnecessary gaps between both species, such as huge animalistic forms that could instill fear, jealousy, self-loathing, mistrust, etc. In case of emergencies, he could also make special electrical weaponry designed to shut down their brains temporarily, essentially a high-tech tranquilizer for mechanical organisms, or magnetic-powered weaponry that would stop them from moving, or perhaps some kind of remote device that would activate via satellite, for exactly the same purpose, as Reploids would be naturally harder to take down than a human would.
  Instead: He goes nuts building the Reploids, who eventually go nuts on humanity, thanks to the Maverick Virus.
  In Addition: Nobody thinks to start installing actual security measures into Reploids until X8. They attempt this by using copy chips — chips that contain DNA data of hundreds of existing Reploids — that can change a Reploid's DNA and grant them immunity to the Sigma Virus. But nobody bothered to check what kinds of data were encoded in them, so it wasn't until the events of the game that they found the chips had copies of Sigma's DNA data — which is the virus causing Reploids to go Maverick — installed. Which not only allows them to go Maverick at will,^note not just in the sense of making Maverick decisions resulting from circuit breaks, abstract reasoning, misinterpretation of duty, etc., as all Reploids technically can do as they have free will, but by adopting Sigma's evolution philosophy in place of any conscience, effectively becoming Reploid sociopaths, but to steal the identity of anyone they damn well please.
• Going further is the world's reaction to the New-Gen Reploid incident. After the incident, the government shuts down all copy chip research because it's pretty obvious those chips are hell in micro form.
  You'd expect: That everyone would heed that lesson, never manufacture copy chips again (or at least double check which Reploid data is programmed into them), cancel anything and everything that actually needs these copy-generation Reploids to function properly, oh, and kill all the copy-gen 'roids, or at least keep them under very close scrutiny if they do have a problem with mass executions.
  Instead: Not only are we NOT told that all of the copy chip Reploids are destroyed, but people are so obsessed with building their ungodly space towers that they eventually put research into these chips BACK UP in spite of the warnings from people who pay attention to history. Meaning that, despite X, Zero, and Axl having busted their metallic asses to finally destroy Sigma on the moon, the presence of his virus in the copy chips means he can come back anyway. If Command Mission is anything to go by, they basically asked for Colonel Redips.
• Here's one from the original game and its remake: Towards the end of the game, Vile has captured X using his Ride Armor, and a previously incapacitated Zero leaps onto the back of the Armor, where Vile can't aim any attacks at all. There's no indication that Vile can't be shot directly; the original game uses Gameplay and Story Segregation to prevent any easy head-shots, while the remake has Vile just grab X, preventing the fight altogether.
  You'd expect: Zero to aim his Z-Buster at the back of Vile's head and shoot it off. Zero's shown in the intro stage that he can tap his buster's full attack power much faster than X. That way it's two on one when it's time to fight Sigma.
  Instead: He self-destructs, destroying the armor and saving X, but killing himself in the process. Again, there's no reason to assume Vile is invulnerable when he's there. It's really blatant if this happens when you don't already have the buster upgrade, because Zero will give his own as he dies, showing that it's been fully functional the whole damn time.
• In X2, X has to fight the X-Hunters to reclaim Zero's parts, except the control chip which the Maverick Hunters already have. Having Zero on either side is showed as being very important. Canon dictates that there was a black-painted copy of Zero in the villains' possession.
  You'd expect: The X-Hunters to turn over the parts of the fake, and either rig them to explode in enemy HQ, or to take Zero's control chip back to them.
  Instead: They actually turn over Zero's parts, with no attempts to retake them at all.
• X3:
  • Dr. Doppler realizes that X is powerful and tries to capture him. The first time, he has a corrupt Maverick Hunter, Mac, capture X and tries to extract him during a siege on Maverick Hunter HQ.
    You'd expect: That Mac would use a teleporter to immediately move X to Doppler's fortress.
    Instead: Mac opts for a manual extraction, giving Zero enough time to catch up and save X.
    • Also: Doppler later deploys Bit and Byte to capture X while he's tracking down the main bosses.
      You'd think: The pair would realize that X should be an easy target since Mac pulled it off.
      Instead: Bit and Byte ignore Doppler's capture order and try to kill X on sight.
• X4:
  • The Repliforce army is under suspicion for being responsible for the fall of Sky Lagoon, destroying an entire city and killing millions of people. X or Zero (depending on who you're playing as) investigates the damage and comes across Colonel, a high-ranking member of Repliforce. X/Zero asks Colonel to disarm and come in for questioning regarding the fall of Sky Lagoon.
    You'd expect: Colonel would immediately disarm and come in for questioning, both in a show of good faith for the victims and to clear Repliforce's name. Or, if Colonel refused to come in for whatever reason — believes they should be looking for potential survivors first, suspects this might be a frame job with too many people in the right places, worries that Repliforce might just get blamed anyway in the panic, etc. — clearly mention that reason as why he's refusing.
    Instead: Colonel refuses to come in for questioning because he says laying down his sword for any reason would be dishonorable. Colonel then leaves the scene without any more clarification, causing all of Repliforce to be declared Mavericks and starting a massive war.
    Even worse: To draw the Maverick Hunters away from Repliforce, Jet Stingray attacks and destroys a city, meaning Repliforce has now committed an act on the scale they were improperly declared Mavericks for in the first place.
  • While Colonel definitely takes the cake in idiocy, Zero's handling of the situation isn't exactly graceful. He's just saved Iris, Colonel's sister, and received his thanks, but the situation does look pretty bad, and his superiors have already been suspicious of the Repliforce for some time. However, there's nothing out-of-the-ordinary about Colonel's behavior, he seems perfectly calm and rational.
    You'd expect: He'd recognize, at the very least, Colonel himself seems to think he's innocent, and that Mavericks are generally not known for their emotional or mental stability. Therefore he probably shouldn't say anything that could set him off. He'd assure Colonel that while it seems unlikely he was involved in the attack, he and his men were still found with weapons on the scene, and as a member of the primary anti-Maverick force in the world it's his duty to make sure.
    Instead: He asks pretty bluntly if they were involved, to which Colonel says they came only to help.
    Now: It'd be the time to break the news to him as gently as possible, and appeal to his sense of honor and justice. He could simply tell him as a fellow soldier he must know that it's the sensible decision to have a full investigation. If Colonel shows hesitancy, he could ask him to do it as a personal favor for saving Iris.
    Instead: He drops a bomb on him.
  Zero: They suspect you've become a Maverick.
  Colonel: What!?
  Zero: Disarm and come with me to HQ.
  • The result: Colonel predictably flies off the handle, insisting war would be preferable to the shame of accusations and surrender, teleports back to General and prepares for war.
  • Colonel's What an Idiot moment is, for the most part, because of a What an Idiot moment itself. Before X4, the government wanted to replicate the success of the Maverick Hunters and create a warrior as powerful as he was compassionate, just like X. Unfortunately, they were unable to achieve their goal, and were forced to split the program they'd made into what became Colonel and Iris, the former a proud and honorable warrior, the latter his compassionate and sensitive sister.
    You'd Expect: They'd remember X himself went through 30 years of testing and that being careless with the design and conditioning of the artificial brains of reploids resulted in the original Mavericks,^notenotably the psychotic and murderous Vile, who nearly killed two of their best! so they would put them through extensive therapy and analysis, making certain to teach Colonel that there is a time when pride must be discarded for what's right, and to teach Iris how to deal with emotional trauma and inner pain, helping them overcome their greatest potential weaknesses.
    Instead: They decide not to bother, and immediately assign them to positions where they're directly involved in the Maverick Wars, Iris as a Navigator for the Maverick Hunters, and Colonel as the Colonel of the Repliforce.^AlsoBonus points for Colonel actually being his name, as though he has no identity whatsoever beyond his rank. Double bonus points for placing him underneath a General with the exact same problem. When Colonel is informed that the government thinks he's a Maverick, he's shocked at first, yet after hearing he'll be brought to HQ and simply questioned (notably after disarming, which he views as a blow to his honor), he loses it, and rebels, and whenever seen, comes off as almost delusional in his statements, insisting war is the only choice. He adamantly refuses to listen to reason, and in the end, is killed in a duel with Zero. Iris, after hearing the news, has a complete mental breakdown. She uses her brother's chip to turn into a mech-like form to kill Zero, but the stress of the adaptation and the fight proves fatal, leading her to die in Zero's arms.
  • Iris' death isn't as tragic when you remember that Zero led his own unit at the time.
    You'd expect: Zero would just contact his soldiers and order a security detail to monitor Iris and keep her inside Hunter HQ. She's on Zero's side, but she's still the sister of a high ranking member of Repliforce, so her loyalty is still suspect.
    Instead: Iris has free rein to go as she pleases, and no one knew she was gone until after her brother died.
  • X4 reveals Sigma and Zero fought when Sigma was a Maverick Hunter. At the time, Zero was an unidentified Maverick berserker who killed a whole hunter unit, and Sigma stepped in personally to take him out. They begin fighting, Sigma has his beam saber and Zero, for whatever reason, isn't using his Z-Buster and dash boots and runs like an idiot intending to beat Sigma to death.
    You'd expect: Sigma, whose sole purpose at this point is to take out Mavericks as quickly as possible, to immediately use his saber and chop his target into two or more pieces, winning in a Single-Stroke Battle.
    Instead: He plays around, ultimately getting a near-fatal beating and becomes infected with the Maverick Virus, which leads to his becoming evil.
  • Iris' death is also less tragic in the fact that she didn't explode into pieces until the other game's bosses.
    You'd expect: Zero to take Iris' body with him after defeating Sigma and potentially repair and revive her with a personality independent from her brother, since she's also a robot.
    Instead: Zero just leaves Iris' unconscious body aboard the Final Weapon.
    That said, X6 reveals that even if Zero would have taken Iris' body with him, it wouldn't change anything since Reploid revival is illegal.
• X5:
  • Official artwork shows that Zero changes busters between X2 and X3, with the newer design emulating the former's abilities but ultimately proving weaker than the old one.
    You'd think: He'd reinstall the second buster. Even at its weakest, the third buster let Zero use special weapons as well as sword moves. A functioning buster could only expand his arsenal.
    Instead: He doesn't do anything. After X6, he drops the buster entirely.
  • Lifesaver discovers ominous data that implies that Zero is heavily linked to The Virus somehow, since it increases his power output instead of hurting him. He reports this to Commander Signas, who wisely decides to keep this top secret for now and not to act rashly.
    You'd expect: Lifesaver to follow orders and go back to his job, trusting his level-headed commander to make the best decision on how to move forward, since he's just a medic.
    Instead: Lifesaver goes behind Signas' back and tells his suspicions to X, Zero's best friend, accusing Zero of being dangerous and points out that Zero is unaffected in an area brimming with The Virus. The resulting concern and mistrust between the two friends causes them to fight and nearly get killed by the Big Bad when he takes them by surprise. Unsurprisingly, Lifesaver hasn't been seen in the games ever since.
• In X6, it's revealed that Gate, a Reploid scientist on a research team Alia was once part of, had created a set of 'roids that were too advanced to be fully analyzed by the other scientists on the team.
  You'd expect: The researchers would be happy to work with a hyper-competent prodigy and would do everything they could to help him and learn from him.
  Instead: They jealously order him to weaken his creations in order to "correct" the issue. Predictably, he refuses.
  You'd then expect: For either Alia or Gate himself to suggest, and then work on, tweaking the analysis programs so his Reploids could be studied anyway in an effort to put the rest of the team at ease.
  Instead: No such thing occurs. Alia is later forcibly drawn into the team's conspiracy to destroy Gate's Reploids, and Gate bitterly quits and becomes an anchorite somewhere.
  You'd then expect: The government would recover the remains of Gate's Reploids since it is possible that Gate or some other highly-competent engineer could rebuild them and they want to be the ones facilitating and supervising that process should it ever take place. Alia, shortly after joining the Maverick Hunters, would convince Signas to have this team investigated so the proper authorities could get wind of their blatant sabotage of a potential major breakthrough over petty politics and subsequently arrest them, then get the Hunters to conduct a search for Gate. Depending on the state he's in when they find him, either the Hunters and the government would destroy Gate and his Reploids' remains respectively or the Hunters would ask him to head up a new science team with their resources and supervision and the government would turn over the remains so he could rebuild them.
  Instead: None of this takes place, Gate eventually goes Maverick thanks to Zero's remains post-X5, and brings all his creations back with the help of an evil scientist who may be a vessel of Dr. Wily.
• X7:
  • The opening tells us that even though Earth was recovering from the shithole it became post-X5, Maverick crime is still alive and well, and is even experiencing an upsurge.
    You'd expect: This incident would be another Tuesday morning for X, and for him to get out there and dispense some justice from his trusty X-Buster.
    Instead: X retires from the front lines to look for more peaceful solutions, in spite of the fact that 99% of the Mavericks he's destroyed in the past were too violent, evil, and/or unstable to be reasoned with anyway, and that he had already come to terms with the fact that fighting was the only way to restore and protect peace.
    The result: X's retirement robs the Maverick Hunters of one of their only two members that can pull their own weight, causing a power vacuum that was filled by the vigilante group, Red Alert. Already using questionable tactics to hunt down and terminate Mavericks to begin with, Red Alert was soon completely corrupted by Sigma (surprise, surprise), leaving Zero to deal with it all by himself until he just happened to run into Axl. It's only after the two either rescue 64 Reploids or defeat all 8 of Red Alert's Mavericks that X finally relearns the lesson that was beaten into his cranium for the past six games and becomes an active Maverick Hunter once more.
• In X8, the Power Trio has just defeated Lumine, but his body hasn't exploded yet like every other boss up to this point, though his armor does crack open. X is a little concerned, but Zero just shakes his head to say "he's didn't survive." Axl, feeling conflicted emotions for what is basically his little brother, walks up to Lumine's corpse.
  You'd expect: X and Zero to stop Axl, then open fire and destroy the body just in case, since it does contain Sigma's viral data.
  Instead: They let Axl get closer, and they get taken by surprise as a tentacle in Lumine's body lashes out at Axl and breaks his forehead gem, knocking him unconscious, then destroy the body. The ending implies that now Axl is infected.
• In Command Mission, Scarface brazenly storms Central Tower to get the Supra-Force Metal back from the Resistance and avenge his fallen comrades unaware that Botos is the one who crippled Ferham, nor that Redips is the one who took the Supra-Force Metal and killed Botos. After being defeated by the party, he flees the scene.
  You'd expect: Scarface to conceal his location, possibly take a secret shortcut or head to a safer base. Being one of the few remaining Rebellion Army leaders left, he'd ought to be cautious and make a tactical retreat.
  Instead: Scarface heads straight back to the Grave Ruins Base, Epsilon's main stronghold. Because of this careless blunder, Nana is able to trace his location, allowing the party to storm the hideout and kill both of them, ending the Rebellion Army. He tries to justify this to Epsilon, claiming that a confrontation was inevitable, but then goes back on his word and urges Epsilon to escape at the end. Sounds like the poor guy had some regrets.

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