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Author: Ryusui

Oct 29th 2012 at 5:02:14 PM

Look, this is actually tropeable, but it needs a ''hell'' of a lot of work.

Basically, you have a villain who is an "Evil Genius" - he's got the tech, the diplomas, and the minions to prove it - but despite all the faculties at his disposal, a five-year old could (and regularly ''does'') defeat him at every turn, because he ''also'' happens to do ''mind-blowingly stupid things'' (like leaving the power cord to his death ray within easy unplugging reach) that prove his undoing every single time.

In other words, this trope refers to a disconnect between a villain's ''observable'' reputation and capabilities and the mistakes they make that allow them to be defeated - the guy is smart enough to build an engine that will catapult the moon into the sun; he ''knows'' his arch-nemesis is some stupid kid who keeps getting into his Evil Base; why does he never think to keep the emergency self-destruct switch under a child-proof cap?

(Also, it's Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and he's from PhineasAndFerb.)