What An Idiot / Western Animation U To Z

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Other: A - C | D - F | G - L | M - R | S - T | U - Z

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U

• Ultimate Book of Spells: In "Once in a Blue Moon", Zarlack's plan to use the ring of a blue moon to escape fails. The Charmling, who was captured by Zarlack previously in the episode, knows the reason.
  You'd Expect: He would keep his mouth shut.
  Instead: He tells Zarlack exactly why the plan failed and what exactly he has to do to fix it. Cue Zarlack doing so and almost being successful if it hadn't been for Cassie. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, indeed.
  Even Worse: Zarlack didn't even interrogate him. He was just rubbing Zarlack's mistake in his face.
• Unikitty!:
  • In the episode, "Stuck Together," Master Frown loses his body and is left with only his head. Unikitty finds him and offers to take him to the Doom Lord's meeting....if he helps her with her princess duties.
    You'd Expect: Master Frown to explain that as a Doom Lord, he isn't supposed to do nice things. Making people miserable is in his job description.
    Instead: Master Frown refuses on the grounds that he doesn't do nice things. He only relents when Unikitty says she won't take him to the Doom Lords meeting. He only explains this when they're in Frown Town, after they've done her princess duties.
    As a Result: He's fired when Master Doom gets wind of him being nice.
    Fortunately: Unikitty has a meltdown and destroys the meeting room, causing Master Doom to think this was Master Frown's idea and reinstate him as a Doom Lord.
  • In "Tooth Trouble," Puppycorn loses his first tooth and hides it under his pillow. Unfortunately, the Tooth Fairy does not turn up, so Unikitty pretends to be the Tooth Fairy and gives Puppycorn a coin. It's then that she gets the idea to give everyone the magic of the Tooth Fairy, so she and her friends form a team and go around town.
    You'd Expect: They'd only take teeth that have already been lost.
    Instead: They resort to stealing teeth. This lands the real Tooth Fairy in trouble when she attacks them for doing her job.

V

• The Venture Bros.
  • The season three opener "Shadowman 9 - In The Cradle Of Destiny" has Phantom Limb find The Monarch with Queen Etheria (in a flashback). Limb asks for Monarch's name, to which he responds, "The Mighty M...Manotaur!" and is then put on Limb's "Shit List".
    You'd Think: When they meet, Phantom Limb would see that Manotaur,^note  an actual villain; Monarch didn't make him up, who retired from villainy years ago, neither looks nor sounds anything like the man that slept with his partner so many years ago and leave him alone.
    Instead: With a cry of "Nobody retires from the Phantom Limb's shit list!", Limb kills Manotaur, still failing to realize that Dr. Girlfriend ended up marrying Monarch, let alone that Monarch was ever one of his henchmen. This is even lampshaded by Dr. Girlfriend, who doesn't think Limb could possibly have been that thickheaded.
  • In Season 7's episode "The Forecast Manufacturer", a massive (man-made) blizzard has struck New York City. Hank, worried for Sirena's safety after numerous failed attempts to contact her, decides to brave the snowstorm to rescue her.
    You'd Expect: For Hank to remain focused on his mission to see if Sirena is safe, and not get distracted.
    Instead: Hank, being Hank, decides to have an impromptu football game with himself. He dives into a snowbank for a touchdown, only to knock himself out by hitting his head on a lamppost (the base being hidden by said snowbank). He's narrowly saved by the Scare Bear.
• Villainous (Cartoon Network): In one short, Black Hat and Flug demonstrate a security system that's meant to guarantee keeping people out with its multiple weapons.
  You'd Expect: Flug would make sure to implement some sort of off function so that he and Black Hat can safely enter and exit the house.
  Instead: He never considers an off function and is forced to endure the pain of the system after turning it on while he and Black Hat are both outside.
  The Result: Black Hat kicks Flug over the fence to brave the entire security system to disable it, resulting in the poor doctor being maimed, burned, and pelted with snowballs. To add insult to injury, Black Hat steps on him as he goes inside.
• Viva Piñata: In "The Fudgetive", Fergy Fudgehog attempts to weasel his way out of the party by writing two notes, one that makes it look like he was kidnapped by Professor Pester and one about the secret shack in the desert.
  • You'd expect: That he gives the second note to someone other than Ella Elephanilla(Who has poor memory) or Langston Lickatoad(Who's always trying to send him to a party), as he wrote "Read this note and then eat it." on the envelope.
  • Instead: He gives it to Ella, which leads to her getting both halves of the note mixed up and eating it.
  • As a result: A wild goose chase ensues.
• In every episode of Wacky Races, Dick Dastardly is often able to get ridiculously far ahead of the other racers.
  You'd Expect: That he would keep driving on and maintain his lead.
  Instead: He stops to set up some hairbrained car-trap for the drivers behind him. These ALWAYS fail and either bump him back several places or cost him the race.
• Voltron: Legendary Defender
  • "The Way Forward": Galra factions have existed in a vacuum since the Paladins fought Lotor in the quintessence field. Zethrid and Ezor interrogate the Paladins about where they've been. Keith and Lance try to explain they've only escaped the quintessence field a few weeks ago.
    You'd Expect: At one point for Zehrid and Ezor to realize that the Paladins have no reason to lie since they stick to their story despite the threat of torture. Also, as Hunk points out, the Paladins had a grudge against Lotor, not his generals at this point, for what happened. Much later, Heel–Face Turn Acxa is able to clear up the air by explaining that three Earth years actually passed and time passed differently in the field.
    Instead: They torture Pidge until the mice, Coran and Acxa, launch their rescue mission and distract them.
    Predictably: The Galra get no information, and it's implied Zethrid and Ezor get blown up during the escape attempt.
  • "Lion's Pride": During the time skip that the Paladins missed, the Galra that are following Sendak have invaded Earth. They have told the last surviving base — the Garrison — that if they turn over the Lions of Voltron, then Earth will go free. When the Paladins and Lions return to the Garrison, Admiral Sanda brings up this potential to bargain by handing over the Lions. The Paladins obviously say no deal because Sendak is a liar and the Galra don't just give up on planets they conquer. They debrief the Garrison officials about all this, including the time Sendak invaded the castle and took two Paladins hostage.
    You'd Expect: Sanda to realize there is no bargaining with genocidal intergalactic colonizers. As Keith puts it, the Paladins have seen more from their time in space than anyone on Earth has.
    Instead: When the Paladins and Garrison put together a last-ditch desperate plan to stop the new Zaiforge cannons, Sanda leaves the base and tells Sendak about it. She believed that he would honor their agreement to just take the Lions and leave the Paladins. The same Paladins that captured, cloned, and humiliated him.
    The Result: Sendak reneges and locks up Sanda with the Paladins. Without the Lions, Earth is even more defenseless than it was before, and the Garrison has to launch their not-flying ship, the Atlas. It hits Sanda that her betrayal was so fundamentally stupid that she curls up in a Troubled Fetal Position in her cell in Heroic BSoD, especially when Sendak orders the Paladins' execution. She has to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to save the Paladins and can only beg them to save Earth, where she failed.

W

• Wakfu:
  • The heroes are visiting a place where women can't play Gobbowl, necessitating that Amalia and Evangeline use magic to disguise themselves as men. This magic has a code word that immediately reverses it, just in case.
    You'd Expect: They'd pick something that would be very hard to say in casual conversation: "squiddleydoodlefluffer," maybe, or "You're a genius, Percedal."
    Instead: The code word is "Gobbowl." They are playing Gobbowl. The word that immediately reverses the transformation is the one they are most likely to say.
  • When Sadlygrove does his Heroic Sacrifice, you have to consider this.
    You'd Expect: He would use his enhanced leaping (when possessed) and quick recovery to jump at the robot or at the girls to take them to safety
    Instead: He jumps right in front of the laser beam and ends up dead. While that was a noble move, his Love Interest was so distraught that she almost allowed the robot to kill her and have succeeded if Ruel hadn't pulled a Big Damn Heroes.
  • Remington Smisse accepted a job to rob one of Bonta's wealthiest merchants of an enchanted mask, a job that would have required the use of several enchanted weapons to pull off. Grany advises against it, but Remington decides to go for it anyway. He loves challenges.
• Watch My Chops:
  • At the end of "Unlucky Break", Karen finds out about Bernie's broken leg, and she tells him that there will be no lies between them, and then she asks him how he broke his leg.
    You'd Expect: For Bernie to make something up, like that he just tripped by accident or something like that.
    Instead: Bernie told her the exact truth about what happened (Corneil was playing chess, and he slipped on the king), and then she refused to go out with him because she had just told him not to lie.
    Even Worse: Bernie could've just said that he slipped on a chess piece that was lying on the floor, without mentioning anything about Corneil playing chess. It's not the entire truth, but it's still the truth and one that sounds more plausible than the full truth!
• Wild Kratts:
  • In "Let the Rhinos Roll!" Chris went off to find the mother of Nubs, a baby black rhino Martin is looking after. Later "Chris" calls Martin, telling him that there's nothing to worry about and that he can keep Nubs as long as he wants.
    You'd Expect: Martin would realize that Chris would want to return Nubs to the wild as soon as possible.
    You'd also Expect: Martin would notice that Chris is wearing red instead of his standard green.
    Instead: Martin misses both alerts and goes on as if nothing's wrong.
    Result: The Tortuga is nearly trampled by a herd of mind-controlled black rhinos.
    • What makes this more irking is that Martin did notice Chris using the word "Toodles" as a send-off.
  • In the season 3 two-part finale, "Back in Creature Time", Zach has infiltrated the Tortuga and captured Koki and Jimmy. After that, Zach uses the Time Trampoline to travel to the past, where the other Wild Kratts are. Zach states that he can now go back to the present with the Trampoline piece, thus trapping the Wild Kratts in the past forever.
    You'd expect: Zach to do exactly what he said.
    Instead: Out of arrogance, Zach believes it'll be much more fun to find the heroes and tell them he's gonna trap them in the past, first.
    As a result: The Wild Kratts foil Zach's plan and safely return to the present with him.
• We Bare Bears
  • In the episode "Cellie", after Panda's jealousy of his brothers' new phones got the best of him, he steals them in the night while they are sleeping.
    You'd Expect: Panda to destroy the phones and throw the remaining pieces away so his brothers aren't able to track where they are.
    Instead: He buries them in the backyard and leaves them perfectly intact, giving Grizzly and Ice Bear the opportunity to track their phones using an app that helps make them "come back to the owners."
    Then Again: Panda should be lucky that his brothers didn't search outside in the backyard and discover where he hid them or look out the window and see his footprints leading to them. If it went that way, he would have been in deep trouble.
  • In "Planet Bears", Grizzly needs to pee while at a supermarket.
    You'd Expect: For Grizzly to ask an employee where the bathroom is.
    Instead: He just runs around asking random people where it is, but none of them know.
    After That: Grizzly finds a bathroom, but it requires a code for the door to open.
    You'd Expect: For Grizzly to get the code from an employee.
    Instead: He just tries to knock it down by ramming into it, to no avail. Then he uses a forklift, causing it to go out of control.
    As A Result: He ends up having a Bring My Brown Pants moment after crashing the forklift.
  • In "Sumo Tsunami", Fergy is running from a sumo he seems to be no match for, and Langston is watching.
    You'd expect: Langston not to do anything that could get him in trouble, even if he ends up not catching Fergy.
    Instead: He reminds Fergy about a rule that the one who wears the diaper has to fight.
    As a result: Fergy dresses Langston in his sumo diaper, which leads to him being pulled into the fight.
• In What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode "New Mexico, Old Monster", a giant hawk known as the Wakumi flies towards Scooby and Shooby (who has been owned by Jimmy Proudwolf, Shaggy's friend since preschool) whilst herding some sheep, the gang and Jimmy saw this and they rush off to get them inside.
  You'd Expect: Shaggy to leave his art sculpture of Scooby on the table where it doesn't get destroyed, as it was entered for the International Art Show exhibit.
  Instead: He just takes it whilst rushing with the gang to get Scooby and Shooby.
  As A Result: The Wakumi snatches the sculpture when the gang is fending off the hawk. Later on, the sculpture is then found shattered, however, Shaggy states that he would make another one.
  Fortunately: At the end of the episode, Shaggy gets inspired by Jimmy's statement to think back to "their days in the sandbox," and so uses Scooby to pose as a life-like statue covered in sand for the exhibit.
• Winx Club:
  • In Episode 1x17, Bloom accidentally bumps into Diaspro, making her drop a hologram of Sky. While Diaspro is rude to her about it, Bloom just randomly assumes she must be one of the Trix simply because of this rudeness. She tricks Diaspro into leaving her seat in the stadium, leads her to a back room, and attacks her. Diaspro doesn't fight at first, but she is finally forced to fight to defend herself. It's not until the battle is taken into the stadium and Diaspro reveals Sky's secret that Bloom sees she's not a witch.
    You'd Expect: For Bloom to have eventually realized that Diaspro was not one of the Trix due to how much restraint she was showing. Diaspro clearly didn't want to fight Bloom and only did so when Bloom refused to leave her alone.
    Instead: Not only does Bloom fail to realize that Diaspro isn't one of the Trix until it's too late, but even after she finds out the truth about Sky, she continues to be angry with Diaspro, as if it's Diaspro's fault that Sky was two-timing her! She never apologizes to Diaspro for this incident or realizes that she should be angry with Sky, either, not with the person who didn't even know she existed.
    It gets worse: That's because the creator seems to have set things up so that Bloom was supposed to be Sky's fiancee all along while Diaspro is just supposed to sit there and take it.
    Then again: Stupidity seems to be the only option...as evidenced by Diaspro and the Trix Girls deciding that the best way to kill a fire elemental like Bloom is to send her to something called the Vortex of Flames.
  • Then there's Season 4, Episode 24, where Nabu willingly sacrifices himself to close the portal. Aisha is about to use the Black Gift, which can resurrect only one person, but Ogron steals it and wastes it on a dying flower.
    You'd Expect: For Bloom to use her Dragon Flame’s healing powers, discovered earlier in the series, or her Believix power, Strength of Life, to at least try to help Nabu.
    Instead: Bloom apparently Forgot About Her Powers, leaving Nabu to be Killed Off for Real.
  • There's also an episode in season six where a childhood friend of Bloom's, Selina, returns. Said friend is assisting the Trix, but Bloom isn't aware of this. However, keep in mind Bloom hasn't seen or heard from Selina in at least six years and she randomly comes and asks for the Winx's help.
    You'd Expect: For Bloom to be suspicious. While she may not be aware of Selina's true intentions, at the very least, you'd think she'd wonder where her friend has been all this time.
    Instead: Bloom blindly trusts Selina, not even questioning her story, and the others also go along with it!
    Then: Selina inconspicuously poisons Flora and when she and Bloom go to the potions lab to create a cure, Selina makes an even stronger poison while Bloom is distracted. She gives Bloom the poison and Bloom, thinking it's the cure, nearly pours it into Flora's mouth, inadvertently almost killing her! She's stopped just in time, but even when she's later expressing remorse, she doesn't at all say how she shouldn't have blindly trusted Selina as she did.
• W.I.T.C.H.:
  • The team finds out that the Big Bad, Phobos, has a sister. It turns out to be their friend Elyon Brown, whose parents are also from Meridian and rescued her when Phobos staged his coup and usurped the throne. Phobos is looking for his sister, for an as-yet unknown purpose, and sends out The Dragon Cedric to find her in the human world.
    You'd Expect: The Guardians to do as Cornelia suggests and tell Elyon, as well as her adoptive parents. She's their friend, and she has a right to know that two creepy guys have their sights set on her. So do her parents, since they've sworn to protect her from Phobos.
    Instead: Will decides to keep Elyon's origins a secret, rationalizing as either Elyon wouldn't believe them — which makes no sense since she readily accepts the supernatural on seeing them transform later — or that Elyon would believe them and freak out. Instead, they keep an eye on Elyon from a distance as Cedric prepares a spell to break down Elyon's mental barriers. Cedric manages to get all the components he needs for the spell and gives Elyon a job in his human guise.
    The Result: Elyon becomes depressed and isolated since Will and the others accidentally break her up with a guy she likes and won't come clean to her, and neither will her parents when she starts to do research on her family. Cedric, posing as a bookshop owner, manages to convince Elyon that her friends are misguided and lied to her — which they technically did — as well as that her adoptive parents stole her away from Phobos and her home. This is Metaphorically True, so Villain Has a Point. He manages to ambush her adoptive parents and turn Elyon against them. When the Guardians confront Cedric and try to expose him as a Meridian monster, Elyon runs away with Cedric to Meridian, reuniting with her brother and believing she's found her family. Her adoptive parents are arrested by Cedric, and the Meridian rebels barely get a chance to rescue them. Cornelia gives Will a much-deserved What the Hell, Hero? speech and temporarily quits the team. Phobos has an Unwitting Pawn in Elyon, who accidentally uses her powers to cause a rift in the rebellion, and he's planning to kill her after she's coronated as Queen of the kingdom.
  • Of course, after this, Elyon starts getting red flags that Phobos and Cedric aren't what they seem. She hears her friends desperately calling for her when they invade Phobos's castle, a rebel bows to her, and she only talks to Cedric and Miranda, Phobos's lackeys, and rebels, when she accidentally hypnotizes them. Not to mention she goes missing on Earth for months and has left her friends behind, including the normal nonpowered Alchemy, who gets so worried that she asks the authorities to call the police.
    You'd Expect: Elyon to do what she does in the comics and start investigating Meridian undercover. She's given a little bit of alone time, and she would just need a change of clothes. This might get her away from the glamour that Phobos had put on around the castle.
    Instead: Blinded by her sibling's love for Phobos, Elyon concludes that her friends are well-meaning but misguided, and asks them to leave her alone because she doesn't want Phobos to hurt them. Phobos has put on the image that he'd have to track down the Guardians due to The Chains of Commanding.
    The Result: Elyon is blindsided when Phobos tries to kill her during her coronation. More specifically, he absorbs her powers and leaves her dead. Understandably, she apologizes to Cornelia, who received a vision that Elyon was in danger and came to rescue her. It also means that the police are called on her friends to investigate Elyon's disappearance from school, and Elyon has to spin a cover story about traveling for months to explain her long absence. She's truly regretful that she caused Alchemy and everyone else to worry.
  • At the beginning of "P is for Protector", Taranee and her boyfriend Nigel get "arrested" because they are mistaken for thieves during a robbery. Her mother comes, and Taranee tries to explain what happened, namely that she unmasked the real burglar.
    You'd expect: The lady to know her own daughter isn't a liar, especially about something serious. The worst Taranee has done is sneak out to see a concert, which wasn't lying.
    Instead: She starts berating Taranee for dating a "bad boy" and starts worrying about potentially sentencing her.
    Predictably: When the restaurant owner explains that Taranee and Nigel actually saved his livelihood and fought off the burglars, Taranee's mother awkwardly apologizes as the two give her a mutual Death Glare.
• In the Woody Woodpecker short Buccaneer Woody, at the end when Woody is hiding in a barrel from Buzz Buzzard, Buzz is looking for Woody through the group of barrels... and then Woody's arm pops out of his barrel, and points to Buzz that Woody is hiding in a nearby barrel.
  You'd Expect: Buzz to question how a barrel could have an arm and speak.
  Instead: Buzz takes the barrel's advice and drags off the barrel he thinks has Woody in it... and as he's passing by Woody's barrel, Woody pulls the cork out of Buzz's barrel and lights the gunpowder falling out with a match. The rest is self-explanatory.
• WordGirl has Dr. Steven Boxleitner working on an experiment that would allow him to read the mind of his pet mouse, Squeaky. Suddenly, he gets distracted by the smell of his sandwich.
  You'd Expect: That he should lock Squeaky in a cage in order to avoid risks in him making his experiment gone horribly wrong.
  Instead: He leaves him down near the "HOLY COW!! Don't press this button!" button and leaves the Narrator in charge of stopping him. By the time he came back since he doesn't know the Narrator doesn't do any physically, Squeaky ended up pressing the button anyway. That's when Dr. Two-Brains is born! Not good, indeed.
  • This is a more general instance: Given that this is a superhero show, there have been plenty of episodes where the villains will fool the citizens with their usual tricks. Wordgirl, of course, finds out the truth first and points this out to them.
    You'd Expect: Them to listen to her and remember the villains' previous schemes and what they're capable of.
    Instead: They flat-out ignore her and even turn against her...EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
  • In the episode "High-Five Sandwich", Chuck The Evil Sandwich-Making Guy wins a local sandwich contest and is looking forward to seeing the article in the paper about it, but finds it overshadowed by the titular "high-five sandwich"^note Actually a three-person high five that Becky, Violet, & Scoops came up with and gets angry over another "sandwich" showing him up.
    You'd Expect: That, as the narrator suggested, Chuck actually reads the article and find out it's not an actual sandwich.
    Instead: Chuck attacks the city to destroy the high-five sandwich out of jealousy, resulting in him going to jail over a misunderstanding.
  • The Grand Finale episode, "Rhyme and Reason" has the two titular villains committing a crime at the National National Bank, but the latter insists that their 'rhyming crime' M.O. is the very reason they have never been successful in their robberies, so far.
    You'd Expect: For Rhyme to listen to what Reason has to say about all this. After all, they've been best friends for 15 years, so why not give him a chance to reason with her about how they should commit crimes?
    Instead: She insists on committing crimes with that very M.O. It's no wonder he finally snaps at her after being caught by WordGirl that he has decided to end their friendship.
    • Becky herself isn't faring any better in this episode. After hearing an alarm go off in Rhyme and Reason's robbery, she has decided to leave her Muggle Best Friend Violet behind to handle the situation.
      You'd Expect: Since there are three cameras in her garden that will take pictures of anything crossing their paths, Becky will hold off transforming into her alter ego and walk out of the house like a normal person while trying to stay away from her garden.
      Instead: She transforms into WordGirl by the garden where her photo is being taken. As soon as she comes back to Violet's house, she is heartbroken about being kept in the dark about her secret that she has decided to end their friendship as a result.
• Wunschpunsch: in the episode "Nice wizards", Bubonic and Tyrania try to cast a spell that would make their supervisor, Mr. Maggot, a nice man who wouldn't bother if they did their work or not.
  You'd Expect: their pets, Jacob and Mauritio, will allow their owners to go through with this plan because it is a well-known fact by now that Bubonic and Tyrania are punch clock villains who only curse the city when Mr. Maggot reminds them it's their duty to do so. Allowing them to complete this plan means Jacob and Mauritio most likely never have to worry about another spell being put on the city again.
  Instead: Jacob and Mauritio try to seize this opportunity to turn Bubonic and Tyrania into nice people themselves by interfering with the spell. It works, but the Bubonic and Tyrania are so clumsy that all their attempts to use magic to do good deeds end up causing disasters they're oblivious to, making them an even greater threat to the city than when they're their normal evil selves.

X

• Xiaolin Showdown
  • Master Fung is the teacher of Omi, Kimiko, Raimundo, and Clay. He tries to keep them out of danger while also teaching them to be warriors.
    You'd Expect: He'd be more clear about some of the dangers they are facing so they don't walk headfirst into it.
    Instead: He doesn't always do this, only vaguely hinting at it. For example, in "Mala Mala Jong", he warns the warriors not to come back to the temple and orders them to hide the Shen Gong Wu elsewhere. The reason for this is because Wuya can read minds, and the warriors didn't tell Master Fung where they were. But since Fung didn't tell them why they shouldn't return to the temple, Raimundo doesn't listen and tries to fight Jong. Also, in "The Ring of the Nine Dragons", he warns Omi not to use the titular Shen Gong Wu, but neglects to tell him that it divides every part of its user's personality by the number of clones they have. So Omi uses it to split into five to try to find the next Wu, the Falcon's Eye.
    Result: Fung becomes an Unwitting Instigator of Doom more times than necessary when he could have avoided this with just a little bit of clarity. For the examples given, Wuya picks Raimundo's mind and finds the remaining warriors and Wu, leading Mala Mala Jong right to them, and Omi enters a Showdown with Jack that he loses due to not being his full self.
    Worse Yet: In those particular cases, Fung doesn't promote Raimundo to Apprentice and makes Omi clean dishes by himself with a toothbrush when Fung himself could have done something to make sure those events didn't happen.
  • Omi gives Raimundo a series of taunts and Stealth Insults after Raimundo isn't promoted to Apprentice level.
    You'd Expect: Kimiko, Clay, or Dojo to tell him to knock it off and that not getting promoted is already weighing on him heavily enough or suggest he apologize after Raimundo storms off.
    Instead: They do absolutely nothing, and Raimundo is easily tempted to the Heylin side after Wuya promises him everything he could want, and follows through with it. The ensuing arc nearly gets the Xiaolin Warriors killed until the Power of Friendship leads Raimundo to pull a Heel–Face Turn.
  • In the episode "Sizing Up Omi", Omi gets the idea to use the Changing Chopsticks and Reversing Mirror to grow to Cyclops' size so that he would stand a fighting chance against him, with their next showdown impending as the Glove of Jisaku lights up moments later.
    You'd Expect: Omi would grow after arriving at the Glove of Jisaku so Dojo can carry him.
    Instead: He does this at the temple, nearly crushing Dojo.
    You'd Then Expect: Omi to shrink back to normal size, ride Dojo to the Glove, grow back to giant size, then take on Cyclops. If the fact that he grew using two Shen Gong Wu means he must wager them, he can challenge Cyclops to a Shen Yi Bu Dare. In addition, that would have helped him figure out that he needs both the Changing Chopsticks and Reversing Mirror to return to normal size.
    Instead: He goes after Dojo on foot and is unable to keep up with him.
    Result: Clay has to face Cyclops in the showdown, losing the Reversing Mirror, and causing Omi to permanently shrink with no way to return to normal. Following this, Kimiko, Clay and Raimundo attempt to storm Jack's hideout to get back the Reversing Mirror and are defeated by Cyclops once again in a Curb-Stomp Battle. Jack offers a trade - the Reversing Mirror for all of their Shen Gong Wu.
    You'd Expect: For the warriors to also add that they need to keep the Changing Chopsticks, as Omi needs both of them to return to normal size. If Jack says no, then refuse the deal, since they'd just be making a Senseless Sacrifice.
    Instead: They accept the deal and nearly made that Senseless Sacrifice. Thankfully, Omi tags along as the Thorn of Thunderbolt revealed itself and despite his small size, defeats Cyclops and wins back the Reversing Mirror, but if he hadn't (or listened to the other warriors and Dojo's attempts to dissuade him from coming along), they would have given up all but one Shen Gong Wu that couldn't do anything on its own.
• In the 1990s X-Men: The Animated Series cartoon, Rogue's character is defined by her sassy, flirty one-liners inability to touch people without draining their life/powers/mind. She is forced to wrestle with this in virtually every episode that gives her a serious role. Halfway through the first season, Gambit, Storm, and Jubilee are imprisoned on an island where mutants are used for slave labor and controlled with collars that can disable their powers.
  You'd Expect: That when Rogue helps to rescue them after all the enslaved mutants have removed their collars, she would take one, break the locking mechanism, and have the means to activate and deactivate her powers at the drop of a hat collar. For added convenience, she could also take a few spares so that any of her genius friends could figure out how they work and make a more discreet and secure version.
  You'd Also Expect: Gambit, having spent several days in the collar, would have at some point realized that since the only thing standing between him and the woman he loves is her out-of-control power, it might just be a good idea to bring her one when he escapes.
  Instead: She almost immediately tries to track down the scientist who is offering a cure (which would eliminate her flying, superhuman strength, and nigh invulnerability as well) without stopping for one second to think about the fact that the only reason she has to believe that the guy is legit is that he was the one who invented collars that can suppress mutant powers! In the process, she comes within an inch of becoming a pawn of Apocalypse. After that, the collars would show up numerous times in the series, and never once did she ever make the connection between her overwhelming desire to control her power and a device that controls powers.
  • In addition, with not only numerous collars available for use and/or study but for an entire season, a device that suppressed the powers of all mutants in the entire savage land as a major plot point...
    You'd Expect: Someone, ANYONE, would have thought to make to use of this technology to deal with the untold number of mutants that are constantly fighting. The X-Men could easily slap a device on any of their immensely powerful mutant foes, quickly neutralizing them rather than trying to simply beat the crap out of them in a drawn-out, knock-down, drag-out fight. The same goes for any sufficiently intelligent team of villains. And most certainly, the authorities who are more or less useless whenever a mutant goes on a rampage ought to consider adding this to their crowd control arsenal.
    Instead: The X-Men continue to fight without using any possible advantage they might have at their disposal. The only villain to use this technology for anything other than detaining prisoners is Mr. Sinister, who despite inventing the technology and being able to build a machine that can block powers over a vast area, as well as devices that grant immunity to this effect, never actually deploys the technology offensively, replaces the device when destroyed, or gives the protective devices to henchmen with even moderately useful abilities. As for the authorities, they continue to spend all their money on terribly ineffective lasers, and giant robot canon fodder.
• In X-Men: Evolution, the team is taking a boat cruise to get away from the mutant persecution. During the evening, Bobby "Iceman" Drake decides to start making sculptures out of the seawater. Now, this is already pretty dumb - considering they're trying to avoid having anyone onboard I.D. them as mutants - but Bobby is not content with just that level of idiocy. Thus, at a request to "make a big one," he declares: "name this movie" and creates an iceberg.
  You'd Expect: Bobby to create his "masterpiece" off to the side, so the ship will pass right by it.
  Instead: He creates the iceberg directly in the ship's path, despite the fact he has no way of moving it aside or changing the ship's course. Perhaps he wanted to emulate Titanic as much as possible.
  Additionally: Iceman gets extra stupid points for not even exacerbating a tense and fragile situation like most of these but by saying, "Hey, watch this!" and creating one. For absolutely no reason.
  • Jean gets one in the same episode for almost the exact reason. Later on, during breakfast, Boom-Boom decides to teach a whiny customer a lesson by covertly throwing a tiny explosive orb onto her food, causing it to explode rather harmlessly. The woman, of course, freaks out and starts a chain of events that ends with her table being on fire.
    You'd Expect: Jean to just leave it be, or at the very least grab a fire extinguisher. It's only a table, after all, not like it'll burn down the entire ship. Or put out the fire telekinetically without anyone possibly being able to see that it's linked to her since she can control atoms with her thoughts.
    Instead: She telekinetically lifts an entire lobster tank and pours it, lobster and all, on the fire. This is right after lecturing Bobby for his iceberg stunt.
    As a result: Not only is she exposed as a mutant, but every one of her friends are either directly or indirectly outed as mutants, too.
  • Magneto builds a machine that enhances mutant powers while also brainwashing them into being his obedient slaves. There are two prominent groups of mutants available: the unscrupulous and dim-witted bullies of the Brotherhood led by Magneto's associate Mystique and the heroic X-Men.
    You'd Expect: Magneto to secretly offer the treatment to the Brotherhood and other dregs of mutant society he can find and then use the resulting army of super-mutants to subdue or destroy the X-Men, at his discretion, and Take Over the World.
    Instead: He puts mutants from both factions in sparring matches to determine the "worthy" ones. This not only makes the remaining X-men aware of his scheme but also leaves the defeated Brotherhood members disgruntled, including Mystique who knows where his base is. Out of spite, they team up with the X-men, storm Magneto's base, and wreck the whole operation.
  • Mystique and Cyclops happen to fight in a cellar. Having lost his glasses, Cyclops has to keep his eyes shut, but he manages to pinpoint the only lamp in the chamber and blast it, plunging the cellar in complete darkness and stripping Mystique of her advantage.
    You'd Expect: Mystique to morph into a nightsighted predator, or at least its eyes, and carry on trouncing Scott.
    Instead: She just stumbles around in the dark until Cyclops receives reinforcements and she's defeated.

Y

• Young Justice (2010): An ongoing one during season 2. Aqualad has gone undercover within the Reach, seeming to prove his loyalty by killing Artemis. We find out later that he, Nightwing, and Artemis faked her death so she could infiltrate as Tigress.
  You'd Expect: Nightwing would have told his teammates about the ruse and advised them to play along. This is way beyond what his Teen Titans counterpart did by posing as a supervillain. At the very least, tell Miss Martian since she's been using her powers irresponsibly on supervillains and on her own boyfriend.
  Instead: He doesn't.
  The Result: The team mourns Artemis, who had just come out of retirement to battle her former teammate. Miss Martian ends up mind-raping Aqualad to avenge Artemis and get vital intel from him. She only realizes her mistake when reading his mind as she destroys it, and Tigress sends her a thought: "M'Gann, what have you done?" To save Aqualad from his broken mind, Tigress and Miss Martian have to fake the former kidnapping the latter, with Black Manta threatening to murder Miss Martian after she's healed his son. After all this drama, Nightwing is forced to fess up to the team, and they all give him a What the Hell, Hero? with Lagoon Boy in the lead. They're not wrong that he didn't trust them and made them suffer for nothing. Nightwing himself realizes that he messed up and resigns at the end of season 2 after Kid Flash dies.

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