* In "Shadow Play - Part 1", a book written by Starswirl Star Swirl the Bearded is discovered, chronicling his and the Pillars' final battle and banishment with the Pony of Shadows. It's eventually revealed that there's a way to reverse the banishment spell and bring the heroes back to Equestria.
You'd Expect: For Twilight Sparkle to stop and consider the possible outcomes or negative consequences of their actions (namely the Pony of Shadows possibly being released as well). Even if they decide to go ahead and free Star Swirl and the Pillars from limbo, they still could prepare a failsafe if something does go wrong.
Instead: Even though Starlight Glimmer thinks they should leave well enough alone (citing that Star Swirl and the others probably knew what they were doing), they reverse the banishment spell, thus unleashing the Pony of Shadows onto Equestria, as well as Twilight gaining Star Swirl's ire for her shortsightedness.
Twilight outright stated afterward her hero-worshiping of Star Swirl caused her to overlook the risks for the chance to free him. Her hero-worshiping is how Star Swirl was first mentioned nearly 6 seasons prior long before the episode was planned, so it doesn't seem more narratively possible to set up this "stupidity" as expected even if she'd otherwise know better. At least the idiocy is so intentional and addressed in-work the complaining WAI is seems suspect. (It's why I argued WAI should only apply to unintentional examples.)
Just my two cents, but the example above could also easily fit under "Didn't Think This Through".
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
I come to this discussion from The Simpsons S 33 E 2 Barts In Jail (Recap). It was in YMMV with a flame icon telling me to move it to the Flame Bait tab, which I did. But the flame icon was still showing up. So I asked on ATT: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/query.php?parent_id=107955&type=att
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Agreed. This is why I argued intentional stupidity should be expect from WAI. What of my question about is it WAI if an otherwise smart enough to know better character's established character traits/flaws (or being too emotionally compromised to think things through) prevent them from making a smart call (I think not if such means we shouldn't expect them to make smart calls). Or is that a question for the existing WAI example cleanup thread?
About the proposed "Unexpectedly Smart Action". It seems redundant with Informed Wrongness (narrative treats it as stupid but fans digress) or Fridge Brilliance. If non-YMMV it's not Sugar material and redundant with Moral Luck (stupid but works out well for unforeseeable reasons) or Actually a Good Idea.
Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Jan 16th 2022 at 8:18:46 AM
Angry babby
Unexpectedly Smart Action makes no sense now that What An Idiot is being punted to Darth, IMO. I already didn't think it was a necessary trope, which helped me see that What An Idiot was also unnecessary with tropes like Idiot Ball existing.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
An Unexpected Smart Action that forwards the plot is Smart Ball. So what's left is "What a Smartie!"
YMMV.Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
- What An Idiot: See this page.
This and many other YMMV pages have links to their WAI pages. What do we do with them? I assume remove as Flame Bait and Darth.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
Yeah, we can just delete those.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
If an entry on a YMMV page just links to a subpage instead of directly listing examples, delete it since the examples are already in the right place.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Since it doesn't allow real-life examples, should pages for reality shows like WhatAnIdiot.Survivor be cut?
Reality Shows are not Real Life, so no.
Edited by SeptimusHeap on Jan 26th 2022 at 9:33:30 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Friends forevermore
But with that being said, I had to remove an example on WhatAnIdiot.The Amazing Race yesterday for relying on information the contestants didn't know.
I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.
the Retromancer
A tricky area with this trope are things that are considered normal in a genre like Evil Gloating or Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?, but people feel the need to Stating the Simple Solution with "should have paid attention to hero's arms".
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
You'll never find out who I am
Are entire pages dedicated to this still allowed?
Check out my forum game: Rate the above YMMV.
Yes. They're subpages of WAI only.
Since Dethroning Moments pages were removed from work pages' headers due to being Flame Bait, should the same apply to WAI pages? I think that the coding for that can only be done by the admins, but that's a separate issue.
You'll never find out who I am
You won't believe how much people have been using this as a character trope.
Check out my forum game: Rate the above YMMV.
Angry babby
I'm fine with keeping reality shows but are we also keeping game shows? Or is the chance of it being staged still a factor there?
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Friends forevermore
Game shows usually don't have enough of a narrative to keep.
I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
for axing game show examples.
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
You'll never find out who I am
Is this from the Dumb and Dumber page valid use?
- Humor Dissonance: A deliberate example: In Lloyd's dream sequence, the crowd at Aspen finds all his stupid, childish humor (such as lighting a fart and throwing food at someone) hilarious, as he's too dumb to realize that most people would just roll their eyes and think What An Idiot in such cases. He also tells some joke which we only hear the end of but has something to do with a guy in a ski mask. While everyone laughs their asses off in the dream, given what we know about his sense of humor, it was likely either an extremely dumb joke, or one that doesn't even make any sense.
I think that type of removal is OK. You aren't slashburning an example, just removing the WAI wick
Edited by magnumtropus on Jan 28th 2022 at 7:03:05 PM
That can be rephrased to "[...]as he's too dumb to realize that most people would just roll their eyes and think he's an idiot."
Jawbreakers on sale for 99ยข
Wicks now at 6,200.
Crown Description:
What should be done with What An Idiot? Not all options are mutually exclusive.
I normally wouldn't mind, but with all the issues that have been popping up I just feel like the cleanup work is too complicated to do here. Keeping it open sort of encourages the "slash and burn" mentality (so that we can get it closed) whereas cleanup threads are encouraged to do the exact opposite and discuss things. Obviously it doesn't always work, but they're a space for people to bring up concerns and talk about examples.
Edited by WarJay77 on Jan 16th 2022 at 7:47:53 AM
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness