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# Series.{{Whitechapel}}: '''These examples might be legit, but they're pretty whiny.'''

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# Series.{{Whitechapel}}: WhitechapelTVSeries: '''These examples might be legit, but they're pretty whiny.'''
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Hope you don't mind me updating this wick due to deprecated namespace


# LetsPlay.MindcrackServer: Kurt gets saddled with this on occasion, as seen when he obsesses over "resetting his spawn" in Season 3 and complains about how hard it is to get string while walking right past cobwebs in Season 6. In Season 16 [[spoiler: he dives at Baj and places lava on him to kill Baj, but it kills Kurt too]]. '''Consistent characterization'''

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# LetsPlay.MindcrackServer: {{WebVideo.Mindcrack}}: Kurt gets saddled with this on occasion, as seen when he obsesses over "resetting his spawn" in Season 3 and complains about how hard it is to get string while walking right past cobwebs in Season 6. In Season 16 [[spoiler: he dives at Baj and places lava on him to kill Baj, but it kills Kurt too]]. '''Consistent characterization'''
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Added Darth Wiki to What An Idiot wicks


IdiotBall is a trope about characters being unexpectedly stupid in order to further the plot. There's concerns about overlap with WhatAnIdiot, despite the latter trope being subjective. Another potential concern is the trope being used as complaint bait, or for any example of a character doing something dumb even if it's in character.

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IdiotBall is a trope about characters being unexpectedly stupid in order to further the plot. There's concerns about overlap with WhatAnIdiot, DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot, despite the latter trope being subjective. Another potential concern is the trope being used as complaint bait, or for any example of a character doing something dumb even if it's in character.



# Series.DealOrNoDeal: The majority of contestants get handed one at some point. The most [[ButtMonkey persistent carriers of the Ball]] frequently end up carrying it straight to a [[EpicFail 1¢ win]] as they are too stubborn and/or stupid to give up and take the deal offered. It's especially bad when the Banker decides to give them the GameShow equivalent of a pity party and offer them something very close to the top remaining amount...and they ''still'' [[WhatAnIdiot walk away with the penny]]. '''Bashes real-life people.'''

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# Series.DealOrNoDeal: The majority of contestants get handed one at some point. The most [[ButtMonkey persistent carriers of the Ball]] frequently end up carrying it straight to a [[EpicFail 1¢ win]] as they are too stubborn and/or stupid to give up and take the deal offered. It's especially bad when the Banker decides to give them the GameShow equivalent of a pity party and offer them something very close to the top remaining amount...and they ''still'' [[WhatAnIdiot walk away with the penny]].penny. '''Bashes real-life people.'''



[[folder:Wicks with WhatAnIdiot counterparts- separate count, will overlap with the above folders]]

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[[folder:Wicks with WhatAnIdiot DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot counterparts- separate count, will overlap with the above folders]]



# Characters.{{Heavyweights}} and YMMV.{{Heavyweights}}: '''Both examples discuss Pat and Tony, with the WhatAnIdiot version being longer and more complain-y as well.'''

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# Characters.{{Heavyweights}} and YMMV.{{Heavyweights}}: '''Both examples discuss Pat and Tony, with the WhatAnIdiot DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot version being longer and more complain-y as well.'''
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# Recap.CheersS2E4: Diane's choice of the murder scene from ''Othello'' was ill-considered.

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# Recap.CheersS2E4: CheersS2E4HomicidalHam: Diane's choice of the murder scene from ''Othello'' was ill-considered.
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope


** The title characters run the length of the field with this in "The Gooseberry Bush". After finding an abandoned baby you'd assume they would turn it in to the police. Instead, deeming the 20-mile distance to the nearest police station too much of a bother, they keep it - even refusing to tell the police when they are on site after finding a body. Turned UpToEleven when they decide to stash a gun next to the baby - even pointing the barrel at him while concealing it.

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** The title characters run the length of the field with this in "The Gooseberry Bush". After finding an abandoned baby you'd assume they would turn it in to the police. Instead, deeming the 20-mile distance to the nearest police station too much of a bother, they keep it - even refusing to tell the police when they are on site after finding a body. Turned UpToEleven up to eleven when they decide to stash a gun next to the baby - even pointing the barrel at him while concealing it.
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Spot Of Tea has been disambiguated.


** [[spoiler: Two officers guarding a possible killer (or conspirator at least) leave to get her a [[SpotOfTea cup of tea]].]]

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** [[spoiler: Two officers guarding a possible killer (or conspirator at least) leave to get her a [[SpotOfTea cup of tea]].]]
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# Series.NeverHaveIEver: Devi thinking she could date two guys simultaneously. It doesn't last long before they find out, and both are very angry with her. She's generally smarter than this, but is just so thrilled that both are into her she does it anyway.


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# VideoGame.TrinitySoulsOfZillOll: Dagda is shown to be surprisingly intelligent, however he still falls for a simple pit trap and is stuck their for days until Areus rescues him.


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# Series.{{Whitechapel}}: '''These examples might be legit, but they're pretty whiny.'''
** During Series 1, the sheer length of time that various people suspect Buchan might be the Ripper copycat, based solely on his in-depth knowledge of how the murders were committed. This is despite the fact that, (as he rightfully points out), there are ''millions'' of Ripperologists who possess the exact same knowledge and it can ''easily'' be found online!
** In fact lets not go over how incredibly incompetent the entire department is at times, especially in season 3.
** [[spoiler: The entire murder department completely dismisses the idea that the serial killer could be the carpenter because they saw him walk normally ''once'', completely ignoring the fact he worked with ''all'' of the victims and literally anyone could tell you a man has the ability to hide a limp]]
** [[spoiler: Nobody even considers following up the missing persons link until ''after the killer kills 4 more girls that look like her''.]]
** [[spoiler: Two officers guarding a possible killer (or conspirator at least) leave to get her a [[SpotOfTea cup of tea]].]]


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# AudioPlay.GhostRiderTheAudioDrama: Lets lock up a guy with superpowers in a normal prison. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong


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# Characters.{{Othello}}: He's smitten with Desdemona so follows her and her ''newly-wed husband'' (a big scary general) to a war-torn country in an attempt to win her back. '''It sounds like this character is just not smart.'''
# DarthWiki.IdiotDesign: Some early programmers [[note]](among them, Microsoft; the CALL 5 entry point in MS-DOS relies on this behavior)[[/note]] were, unsurprisingly, stupid enough to use this almost-not-a-bug '''[[IdiotBall as a feature]]'''. So, when the 24-bit 80286 rolled in, a problem arose - nothing wrapped anymore. '''Complaining about real people and tech.'''


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# Series.CHiPs: Watch enough episodes and a viewer might come to the conclusion that (a) California Highway Patrol officers are complete morons, or (b) the show was written by former police officers from around Los Angeles out to make the CHP officers look like complete morons. '''If the characters are constantly stupid, it's just who they are.'''


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# WebVideo.EphemeralRift: Happened in hindsight [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I0dawYRlmA&t=1699s in this video]] when Paul admits in the video description that using rubbing alcohol to clean action figures was not a good idea- as seen with a few toys in the video, isopropyl alcohol can dissolve paints as some figures lose chest decals instantly. '''A real person who just made a mistake.'''


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# Characters.{{Legendz}}: NiceJobFixingItVillain: Doubles with IdiotBall. Hadn't she corrected Shu about the right way to say 'Reborn', Shiron would never have awakened. '''Not sure if the character was expected to know that or not.'''


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# Roleplay.ComicFuryWerewolf: It wasn't made public, but when Ice was jailed on the final day of Game X, He and Espeh pretty much gave up all hope and had resigned themselves to their fate. They'd even arranged to skip the next two phases so they could die together (whilst taking Ranger out, out of spite). Then '''[[IdiotBall Ranger unvoted]]'''...

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# Series.IkMikLoreland: The second episode starts with one for the main character as she comes across [[MakeAWish a shooting star]]. She could have easily wished for all the letters and words to return. Instead, she simply wastes her wish to dry her clothes.
# Series.KillingEve: Characters tend to catch it often.
** Bill [[spoiler: chases Villanelle into a nightclub, despite being in no way prepared to deal with her]]
** No one decides to give Eve protection or put surveillance on her house, even after [[spoiler: Villanelle knows where she lives and is clearly obsessed with her.]]


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# WesternAnimation.AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves: Cassim grabs it by trying to steal the Oracle during the private wedding ceremony. He knows his son and in-laws are expecting him, and he could always try another time, or simply ''ask'' Aladdin if he can ask the Oracle a question. Oh, and it turns out the guards set a trap to catch him red-handed.
# WesternAnimation.{{Ratatoing}}: Everyone at one point or another. Ironically, Greg comes off as the [[GeniusDitz smartest when he's supposed to be the idiot]] and/or the [[FatIdiot idiotic]] FatComicRelief. '''These examples seem to qualify.'''
** Despite seeing how Greg turned on the ceiling fan, Carol still takes a minute and a half to turn it off again, while being given very simple instructions by the token idiot.
*** Likewise, Greg decides to grab hold of Marcel [[AchievementsInIgnorance instead of turning off the fan despite knowing how to operate it.]]


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# Webcomic.GreenKirbyAirRide: Green Kirby, notably in Comic 2 and 3.
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# Recap.MoshiMonstersMoptopMischief: Sweet Tooth seems to be a bit dumb in this mission: doing a ridiculously poor job at acting like Zack, then playing guitar instead of dancing in a ''dance'' competition.


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# Series.BatesMotel: Thinking that [[spoiler: Shelby had leverage against Norma]] because he discovered Keith Summers' belt. Even if he'd kept it in his house, it would be hard for him to convincingly explain why he had it in his possession. But the truly idiotic part happens when it comes to [[spoiler: the boat]]. How hard could it be to discredit the value of it as evidence? [[spoiler: The boat it was being kept on belonged to the victim! Just leave it there.]] '''Sounds accurate, but also sounds complainy.'''


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# Podcast.{{Doomsayers}}: Passed between the characters at blinding speed.


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# Recap.CheersS2E4: Diane's choice of the murder scene from ''Othello'' was ill-considered.


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# Recap.WatchmanS01E7: Blake figures out what's going on and immediately explains it all to Mrs Crawford, who turns out to be in on it. '''No explanation for why this would be OOC.'''

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# Characters.ForgedDestinyEnemies: Spends a week torturing [[spoiler:Jaune and Lisa]] only to leave them with [[spoiler:a summoned Salem]], and absolutely no way to either know or guarantee a wish made by either won't directly or immediately screw her over.


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# Film.BlastOfSilence: Frank gets to hold this when [[spoiler: his employers]] plan a trap for him. Despite being an experienced hitman, he never considers the fact that they are Mafia bigwigs and they want to meet him at a largely deserted area as a warning sign. [[spoiler: This is what ends up killing him]]. '''Seems valid.'''
# Film.MinorityReport: '''Two examples, both seem valid.'''
** Albeit a somewhat justified one. Anderton learns that he's been predicted to go to a specific kind of building at a specific time to kill someone he's never met. The logical thing to do -- which John himself even suggests at one point -- would be to simply lay low until such time that the vision was rendered invalid, at worst proving that the Precogs' vision was wrong or, one could argue, was prevented because he himself chose to prevent it. If he had hung around in the crappy apartment where he got the eye transplant, he'd have been in the clear. As Witwer points out, however, Anderton won't just run and hide, "because he thinks he's innocent". Even when Agatha tries to persuade Anderton not to face his "destiny", Anderton won't, as he does not believe he could have committed a murder and is so driven to find out why he would do so. Anderton does end up not killing the guy ''intentionally'', but it happens anyway thanks to a GunStruggle.
** Witwer learns that someone has possibly managed to "trick" Precrime with a faked vision, one that would require intimate knowledge of the system and access to secured files, severely limiting the possible suspects. He chooses to detail all of this to one of said suspects after handing the man a gun while the Precogs are currently unable to detect murders. His fate after that is pretty obvious.


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# Film.Zombi2: The survivors actually had a pretty decent chance of holding out against the horde in the hospital near the end of the film... if only Dr. Menard had remembered to [[BoomHeadShot shoot]] the corpses already inside the building. You know, ''[[IdiotBall like he'd been doing the entire movie already.]]'' '''Text already italicized, so I kept it that way. This sounds accurate, but also whiny.'''


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# Anime.LastExile: A few, but when Mullin starts getting wistful for his "glory days" as a cannon-fodder rifleman, ''every'' viewer is required by law to perform a FacePalm and quietly tell him to take his Website/{{Darwin Award|s}} and get out of here... '''Not only is this bash-y, but I don't think a character just saying something stupid even counts for this trope.'''


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# Characters.{{Deathloop}}: Justified. [[spoiler:Julianna wants to convince Colt to stop trying to break the loop, but has already done so countless times, just to lose the progress she's made with him to his amnesia. By the time the game starts she's bored enough to be willing to take less than wise risks when she tries new ways to achieve that goal, which enables the player to break the loop]]. '''This appears to be completely in-character given the circumstances.'''
# Characters.LifeUnexpected: Lux's plan and reaction in "Crisis Unaverted" when Cate [[spoiler: says she won't take in Tasha so she won't have to go to a foster home three hours away]]. Lux pulled the "I never asked you for anything!" gambit and asked at the worse possible time for Cate, not even considering that, y'know, Cate has problems of her own and can't exactly [[spoiler: handle taking in another kid]]. Her blaming Cate made her come off like a selfish bitch. '''Complainy, and seems to just be the character's general personality.'''


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# IdiotPlot.{{Twilight}}: Bella herself is a walking IdiotBall. Anybody who comes into contact with her (most notably Edward) starts making random, ridiculous decisions that establish them as TooDumbToLive. The narrative says this is deliberate -- she's just so unique that she naturally provokes such reactions, which really doesn't help matters. Even when the characters ''try'', Bella shows a marked inability to process information; if the characters tell her anything, she forgets it almost immediately. This leads to several occasions where Bella is told two obviously connected pieces of information and doesn't put two and two together until someone explains it to her. '''Obviously bash-y, and if it's a consistent character trait I don't think it counts.'''


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# Anime.BatmanNinja: Joker [[spoiler: inexplicably decides to take a nap in the middle of the battle against Batman and co., giving them enough time to summon Grodd's monkey army. Possibly justified in that he may think his massive barrage of cannons and rockets has wiped them out.]] '''It's the Joker and all, and this example attempts to justify itself, so I'm not really sure.'''
# Characters.AuroraCycle: The majority of book 2's drama could have been avoided had he simply told the team about his father being the Starslayer. It was obviously difficult to say, but hardly impossible. The team might have mistrusted him for a while, but they wouldn't have tossed him out. Furthermore the team could have known about Saedii's hunt for him and the Starslayer's Trigger. '''This seems more like PoorCommunicationKills, and I don't know enough to say it counts as IdiotBall, but I also don't know enough to say it doesn't.'''


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# InsufficientlyAdvancedAliens: Also from ''Voyager'', the humans abducted in "The 37's" rebelled against their Briori captors, but '''[[IdiotBall destroyed the ship that could have returned them to Earth in the process]]'''. By the time ''Voyager'' reaches them their tech has advanced substantially from 1937 Earth, but still isn't up to Federation standards. '''Stupid, yes, but there's no way for me to know if it's OOC or not.'''
# SeekerArchetype: J of ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' does some '''[[IdiotBall rather stupid things]]''' in his quest to find out what happened to Alex. [[spoiler: Until Entry #23, where he swears off the whole thing, due to having the living crap scared out of him by Slender Man.]] It doesn't last, by the way. '''Knowing the series, J is indeed pretty stupid, but he's stupid very consistently which makes this ZCE also likely misuse.'''


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# Characters.AbraxasHrodvitnonHumans: He handles it in Chapter 8 when [[spoiler:Monster X is being reborn]], asking why Monarch aren't trying to fence it with a containment field, which prompts Mariko to spell out why that would be a very idiotic move. '''So...May ''we'' know why it's stupid?'''


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# DarthWiki.{{Homage}}: The team goes around ressurecting their dead comrades , their journey taking them to Victorian England, modern Venice, and ancient Israel, and eventually separating the prince from the rest of the gang. When they are reunited after a [[spoiler: seven-year]] TimeSkip, The Prince reveals that should the Dagger fail, he has two chances to return afterwards before he's KilledOffForReal. '''[[IdiotBall Coincidentally, one of those times comes quickly, as he runs out of sand and falls off of Mt. Sinai]]'''. '''No idea what's so stupid here.'''
# Fanfic.BadIdea: Subverted. The Justice League truly decide to fight against the Light, using their own scheme against them. '''I'm not sure how this or anything under this bullet qualifies as a subversion...'''
** They release information into public about Lex Luthor funding UnwittingTestSubject programs which ruins his reputation and ends his ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount;
** They call upon the aid of New Genesis, which allows them to end the trafficking of Apokoipsian tech into Earth which strip Queen Bee and Savage without resources;
** The Guardians of the Universe embargo Apokolips, which results in Savage being stranded there.
** With the aid of New Genesis and Earth's magic users, the League is able to contain Klarion the Witch Boy.
# Fanfic.SaiyanInBrockton: In the middle of a fight between Lung and Sun Wukong- arguably the two most physically powerful capes in the Bay area- which in itself is part of a massive gang war, a random civilian wanders into the middle of the fight and starts recording it on his cell phone. His presence forces Sun Wukong to go on the defensive and have to take a massive fire blast from Lung to save the fool, nearly costing him the fight. Had Glory Girl not shown up, it's quite possible that Sun Wukong could have been killed. '''A random bystander isn't enough of a character to be OOC.'''
# Fanfic.{{Yuso}}: Between Noah and Finn, the options are a [[CoolSword sword]] that Finn bought off the internet and uses in roleplay, and a [[AutomaticCrossbow crossbow]] that both boys have practiced with enough to be proficient at reloading it quickly. '''[[IdiotBall Not that the practice does Noah any good against Nago.]]'''
# Film.GangsOfNewYork: [[spoiler:Monk]] was carrying it when he turned his back on Bill the Butcher while the latter was clearly in a killing mood. '''Sounds dumb, but there's no indication the character isn't always dumb.'''


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# Film.BlastOfSilence and YMMV.BlastOfSilence: '''Both examples mention Frankie falling for the trap set up by the Mafia.'''

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# Music.AncientBards:
** Sendor and Daltor in ''A New Dawn Ending''. Sendor's former lover Shena already told him ''souls can't simply be brought back with magic'', not even theirs combined, and not even of the Black Crystal Sword. But Sendor, mad with desire to bring back their son Surod, uses the Sword for that purpose anyway, AllForNothing.
** And now Daltor's case: sure, he meant well to fight [[BigBad Sendor]] and shattering the Black Crystal Sword seemed to be the only way to overpower him, but how much did he know about [[SealedEvilInACan that eldritch demon that blackened the crystal that trapped it in the first place?!]]
# Recap.AdventureTimeS5E28BeMore: The whole mess could've been avoided if BMO didn't delete his core files for no reason.



# Recap.TintinTheRedSeaSharks: Tintin, of all characters, suggests that they drink ''the sea water'' to survive while he, Haddock and Skut are drifting away on their raft. Altough Haddock is against the idea, this is not for the realistic reasons and he's just trying to find an excuse to not drink water.



# Series.RosemaryAndThyme: '''Both examples seem to count.'''
** What kicks off the murder plot in "Arabica and the Early Spider". The victim is working late and sees some suspicious figures digging up his lawn. Instead of doing the smart thing of retreating inside and calling the police he chooses to confront them and gets shot for his troubles. Rosemary also gets hit with this in the same episode, as after being shot at through her window she ''stands up instead of ducking under the desk'', and a moment later chooses to ''open the door and yell at the shooters''. Both instances are heavily lampshaded by the more level headed characters.
** The title characters run the length of the field with this in "The Gooseberry Bush". After finding an abandoned baby you'd assume they would turn it in to the police. Instead, deeming the 20-mile distance to the nearest police station too much of a bother, they keep it - even refusing to tell the police when they are on site after finding a body. Turned UpToEleven when they decide to stash a gun next to the baby - even pointing the barrel at him while concealing it.
# Series.TerminatorTheSarahConnerChronicles: Heroes suffer from these from time to time in order to lead to development of additional plot arcs. Particularly, in [[spoiler: ep. 208 the protagonists decide to bury Cromartie’s body instead of taking it with them right away, giving it a chance to disappear, and in ep. 213 Sarah decides to check and “infiltrate” a secret military front without any additional backup]].



# Toys.CSToys: Immediately after the [[Series/KamenRiderAgito Machine Tornador]] review and before the [[Series/KamenRiderAgito Agito]] [[MidSeasonUpgrade Trinity Form]] review, everyone decided to gang up on [=ExplodingShark=] and Negiz for no good reason. Mr. S. had to intervene so he could do the review without a bunch of kicking going on in the commentary bar.
# VideoGame.ZombieArmyTrilogy: Karl and the other survivors apparently just left the Book of Souls after they found it couldn't work instead of taking it with them. This winds up greatly helping the returned Hitler, who uses the Book to increase his own power, very nearly resulting in the whole world getting swarmed into a zombie apocalypse. '''Seems to fit with the context given.'''
# Webcomic.SemiAutoSemla: Julia firmly holds it when, [[spoiler:after being handed solid evidences of the Trevaines' illegal operations]], she decides to confront them ''alone'' in their own [[spoiler:manor]] while bringing the documents with her. She didn't even think of giving the evidences to her superiors or, at least, making copies.
# WesternAnimation.{{Visionaries}}: "The Power of the Wise" not only opens with the Spectral Knights accidentally and then purposefully insulting Merklynn, they also ignore him when he says going on a quest to find a way to keep from aging is a terrible idea. Naturally, they, particularly Leoric, get schooled. '''Seems correct with the info given.'''



# VideoGame.AgeOfMythology: The entire ''Titans'' campaign is the result of this: '''Might be valid, but seems very negative.'''
** First, the Atlanteans believe the questionable advice of the now-possessed Krios with, well, no question, and just go along with everything he says. Even though his tone is oddly assertive and clearly evil, and he conveniently dreams of where to go next and finds Sky Passages. Almost like he has an agenda. Hmm...
** Second, after the Atlanteans are strangely attacked by two Greek scouts when they first set up camp in Greece, Castor responds by [[spoiler:defeating the Greeks in the area in retaliation, which escalates to Egypt and Scandinavia and inadvertently allows some of the Titans to escape]]. At no point do the Atlanteans consider that the Greeks may have attacked them because they were repairing temples to the Titans; which one Atlantean soldier even remarked was forbidden barely ten seconds before the Greeks attacked.
** The initial Greeks themselves get this: when told Castor is coming with a small force, they immediately attack rather than allow Castor to discuss matters with them, turning Castor against them completely.
** Third, when arriving in a new land the Atlanteans automatically make the worst decision imaginable. Just arrived in Egypt? Let's take all their relics! Visiting the Norselands? We'll topple their tower to Odin! [[spoiler:Accidentally wound up on the slopes of Mount Olympus]]? ''Let's attack it to prove our superiority!''
# WebAnimation.{{Snowdrop}}: So ''nopony'' in Cloudsdale - not even the teacher or Snowdrop's ''mother'' - thinks that a blind filly may need some help getting to and from her house in the middle of the ''worst storm of the season'' - in a city '''''tens of thousands of feet in the sky'''''? It's frankly ''amazing'' Snowdrop hasn't plummeted to her death yet. '''Seems correct, but very complainy.'''



# Manga.AishiteruzeBaby: Much of the conflict in the beginning of the manga/anime results from Kippei leaving Yuzu alone on the way to pick her up from kindergarten, after picking her up or some variation thereof, e.g. 'Please wait here alone in the middle of the street while I take my own sweet time to buy some caramel sweets for you', to the point where Yuzu wises up and refuses to leave her class until Kippei shows up. '''If this is a repeated thing, then it's not OOC'''
# Podcast.ThespianTalk: When a criminal gets arrested for committing a crime while holding the IdiotBall, Gomer and the co-host of the week will often point out how to NOT get caught, with the disclaimer: "You really shouldn't be doing this, but if you must..." '''Since it's discussing real people, it hinges too much on assumptions about said real-life people.'''
# Recap.ThePowerpuffGirlsSpecial1: Whoever's idea it was to send the Key of the World to Townsville was definitely carrying this ball. The girls even lampshade what a stupid idea it is. '''Not attached to a specific character.'''
# Series.DealOrNoDeal: The majority of contestants get handed one at some point. The most [[ButtMonkey persistent carriers of the Ball]] frequently end up carrying it straight to a [[EpicFail 1¢ win]] as they are too stubborn and/or stupid to give up and take the deal offered. It's especially bad when the Banker decides to give them the GameShow equivalent of a pity party and offer them something very close to the top remaining amount...and they ''still'' [[WhatAnIdiot walk away with the penny]]. '''Bashes real-life people.'''



# TabletopGame.{{Xiangqi}}: Even grand masters carry it from time to time.



# Theatre.CaptainSabertooth: Any character might pick it up at any time, usually when [[RuleOfFunny it's funnier that way]]. Wally and Wimp pass the IdiotBall between themselves so many times during any given story that it's impossible to say which brother, if any of them, has the brain at the moment. '''If this is so common, does it really count?'''
# Theatre.WhenMidnightStrikes: It takes Christopher far too long to realise that Jennifer knows about his affair. And he has apparently not noticed that [[spoiler: Nicole]] has been in love with him for years. '''Doesn't seem like an IdiotBall so much as a general romance plot scenario.'''



# JustForFun.DisneysGhosts: Manders is the one character who ''doesn`t'' need much improval from the Disney side, except for his HeelFaceTurn towards the end of the movie. '''?'''
# Literature.ExecutiveOrders: The UIR attempts to do this against the U.S., but they don't get very far, due to a combination of IdiotBall moments and not taking Jack seriously. '''Not enough context; a PossibleWar example'''



# Recap.AlixLeSphinxDor: Alix sends three emissaries to UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar's camp. One of them is Aldéric, the guy who was the chief before Alix came back and who planned to execute Vanic. '''Not enough context to judge by.'''



# WesternAnimation.ShrekForeverAfter: A variant where Shrek physically travels and explores a timeline where he was never born '''[[IdiotBall instead of just looking at it]]''' from his own timeline. '''???'''



# ICarly.TropesFToJ and WhatAnIdiot.{{iCarly}}: Both reference Carly's actions in "[=iSell=] Penny Tees".

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# ICarly.TropesFToJ and WhatAnIdiot.{{iCarly}}: Both '''Both reference Carly's actions in "[=iSell=] Penny Tees".'''
# Series.DealOrNoDeal: '''No example on the YMMV page, but the trope is potholed in the IdiotBall example.'''
# WebAnimation.{{Snowdrop}} and YMMV.{{Snowdrop}}: '''Both examples discuss Snowdrop being stuck in the storm.'''

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# Characters.{{Gate}}: The first incident can understandably be brushed aside since she and her unit had no idea about the peace treaty. The second incident.... not so much. Despite knowing how important it was to treat Itami and his men (but ''especially'' Itami) with respect and safety, she ends up slapping him because he along with everyone else in the room was ignoring her when she prepared herself to sleep with him. The Princess' reaction to finding out about this is priceless.


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# ICarly.TropesFToJ: Carly in "iSell Penny Tees". Why on earth would she pay the kids up front? They were apparently being paid $10 a day, there were at least a half-dozen of them, so she'd have paid out anywhere from $400 to $1000.
# Literature.TheShatteringPreludeToCataclysm: Cairne doesn't seem as wise as he usually is when he confronts Garrosh over supposedly sabotaging a peaceful druid meeting and massacring everyone there. (In fact, it was the Twilight's Hammer.) Especially since he hurls insults straight at Garrosh's face, has no evidence to back up his claims and doesn't seem to realize that Garrosh ''has no idea what he's talking about.''
# Recap.BlakesSevenS3E2Powerplay: '''Two examples, both context-lite, but both seem to count.'''
** Even if he dismissed the Primitives' concerns as exaggerated, Vila seems awful trusting of the High-Techs for a professional criminal.
** Klegg gives Tarrant and Avon five minutes to surrender. As they're right outside the door, five seconds would have been enough; this only gives them time to cook up a plan.
# Recap.SupermanAndLoisS1E1Pilot: Decades have passed and Clark has his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic now, but in all that time it's never occurred to him to move his advanced alien starship out of the basement of a barn hidden by nothing more than a locked door that is defeated by a crowbar.
# SelfDemonstrating.NormTheGenie: After seeing how much freedom his idiot fairies have, I hatched up a plan to switch places with them and take my revenge on Canada! [[NoodleIncident Don't ask]]. My plan worked as I got his dumb fairies to take my place in my lamp! Then, for some reason, '''[[IdiotBall I just floated there while Turner conveniently finds the only type of vacuum (a Smoof brand btw) that can even trap me, an all-powerful genie]]'''. Hey! I blame Canada on that one as well! '''A bit obscured by the self-demonstrating part, but this does qualify as described.'''
# TabletopGame.TalesFromTheFloatingVagabond: In-universe; any PC with the Howard, Fine, and Howard Effect has the ability to cooperate with another person to bamboozle other characters, temporarily making them more gullible and less cool-headed. '''Seems like a correct in-universe usage.'''


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# Series.NipTuck: The patient in Season 6 who hates looking beautiful and perfect. (Of course, '''[[IdiotBall she could save herself ten grand if she just gains 50 pounds]]''', but no one points this out). '''Might count, but is complainy, and also has the UnfortunateImplications that gaining weight would inherently make her less beautiful. Eugh.'''
# WesternAnimation.{{Gumby}}: The movie borders on IdiotPlot.[[invoked]] The characters could practically end the plot about halfway into the movie. Goo ties them up, they shut down the Gumby robot and the fake clayboy robots. It could end there, right? But nooo, they literally ''leave the blockheads tied up'' and allow them to escape.
** The characters were tossing an Idiot Ball back and forth before that, too:
--> "But shouldn't we call the police?"
--> "No time for that now."


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# Wrestling.{{Lita}}: It wasn't just that she cheated on Matt, but that in the process she turned her back on the fans who had loved her for some ''five years'' and that she was '''surprised''' that the fans resented her for that. '''Might count as IdiotBall, but is also bashy about it.'''


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# Blog.AskAPony: In-Universe, anyone who signed up for the Vocational Death Cruise -- a "cruise" with numerous mentions of death in the name, locales, and invitation, hosted by Santalestia, a BadSanta version of Celestia who gave out lumps of foal meat instead of coal. Lampshaded by one of the Rarity blogs, which highlighted all the mentions of "death" in the invitation and declined by saying "A lady is not stupid." '''Doesn't appear to be correct usage, because there's no indication that these ponies aren't just stupid instead of uncharacteristically stupid.'''


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# ICarly.TropesFToJ (1): Spencer is especially prone, as he can switch between intelligent protective older brother into someone who will build a machine seemingly intended to fling hammers at high velocity at head height, or a "sculpture" which seems tailor-made to catch fire at random. '''This is just who Spencer is. There's another example in the "correct" folder.'''
# LetsPlay.MindcrackServer: Kurt gets saddled with this on occasion, as seen when he obsesses over "resetting his spawn" in Season 3 and complains about how hard it is to get string while walking right past cobwebs in Season 6. In Season 16 [[spoiler: he dives at Baj and places lava on him to kill Baj, but it kills Kurt too]]. '''Consistent characterization'''
# Music.{{ONEUS}}: When Xion says he wanted to dress up as a princess when he was a kid and specifies it was the one from Beauty and the Beast, Keonhee responds with: "Rapunzel?" '''There's no plot here, just a person saying a dumb thing. A ''real life'' person.'''
# Series.PairOfKings: The protagonists hold one with regards to Lanny, ignoring his poorly-concealing insults and attempts to get rid of them. '''This is Lanny being a DevilInPlainSight, and the boys are always idiots, so this doesn't count.'''
# Theatre.{{Ghosts}}: Manders is the prominent ball holder in this play. He is elegantly tricked by Engstrand, and has to get all the InfoDump straight in his face from Mrs Alving. As a priest, he should have known his flock a little better than that. When he confronts Engstrand, he is tricked again. When he decides not to take any insurance on the memorial home, and then almost gets framed for arson later, he is almost TooDumbToLive. '''If this happens consistently, the character is just stupid.'''
# VideoGame.BattalionWars: Admiral A-Qira takes this to IdiotBall levels, repeatedly ignoring Lei-Qo's warnings that something's strange about the Anglo attack and ultimately [[spoiler: playing right into Kaiser Vlad's hands]]. '''If it's a consistent character trait, it's not IdiotBall.'''


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# Series.Avenue5: When an alarm goes off, former astronaut Spike informs Ryan that the reason is an oxygen leak. This rumor spreads like a wildfire, as do rumors that they are going to have to eject 500 non-essential passengers. It is only later, when the entire ship is panicking and Rav is accused of being a murderer for suggesting ejecting 500 people, that Billie realizes that it was not an oxygen alarm, but rather a notification regarding the newborn space-baby; Spike comments that this was the other possible reason but he'd assumed they had already checked for that. '''As written, I can't tell if this is in character, or just dumb.'''


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# Anime.BubblegumCrisis: Relating to DeusAngstMachina above, if Sylvie can hypnotize people with her eyes, why does she need to use the D.D. Battlemover to drain victims of their blood?
# Anime.{{Xabungle}}: Elchi likes to juggle these every few episodes.


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# Characters.TheBigDamnRoleplay: Crevan, for attempting to jump down several flights of Hogwarts stairs, expecting it to work out well.
# Manga.AiOreLoveMe: '''Mizuki'''. Often results in her holding the IdiotBall [[{{AllWomenArePrudes}} whenever Akira tries to make a move on her.]] Although admittedly sometimes he's more forceful than necessary. '''A {{Tsundere}} example.'''
# Manga.{{Knights}}: Nina, after getting it into her head that Euphemia is sleeping with her beloved Mist while also having orgies with the enemy soldiers, decides to sell Mist out to the Saints so they can be TogetherInDeath. Euphemia isn't shown as being a whole lot better, at least in letting Nina believe that she and Mist are getting it on, but in her defense sheltered, lovelorn, and '''[[IdiotBall occasionally dumb]]''' Nina hit her BerserkButton pretty hard. Once the two of them actually ''avert'' PoorCommunicationKills, stuff gets a little better...for a while, anyway. '''A LoveMakesYouCrazy example.'''
# Recap.WatchmenS01Ep07: Blake figures out what's going on and immediately explains it all to Mrs Crawford, who turns out to be in on it.
# Roleplay.LightningWar: Marcus Pendry, when he decides to attack the much-more powerful Ercole Malaspina.


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# VideoGame.{{Aion}}: Yeah, sure Zikel, please attack the Balaur diplomats ''your friends summoned for peace talks''. Cue Tower exploding in the resulting conflict and the AfterTheEnd situation at present.
# WesternAnimation.MagoosPuddleJumper: At least Magoo has the excuse of being legally blind. Apparently Waldo doesn't realize they're underwater because he's a moron.


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# ICarly.TropesFToJ and WhatAnIdiot.{{iCarly}}: Both reference Carly's actions in "[=iSell=] Penny Tees".

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# Anime.{{Sarazanmai}}: [[spoiler: Enta]] thinks he can hide his [[spoiler: theft of the dishes of hope]] from people who read his mind on a regular basis.
# Characters.BleachEspada: While he's chasing Askin in the final arc, the Sternritter suddenly throws a Gift Ball at him. Rather than avoid the strange attack entirely, he chooses to swipe at it with his arm, getting poisoned and put out of action for quite some time. Askin compares this to a child not learning to be cautious of gifts from strangers.
# Fanfic.{{Starcrossed}}: Kirk attacks Romulus (Nemesis's capital), engaging in open battle with Nemesis. Given that he only has 600 ships left and that Nemesis's fleet has used its overwhelming technological advantage to crush them easily whenever they engaged it, this seems to happen purely so that Kirk goes off on his own out of despair, which is needed for the plot. '''Seems to count.'''



# ComicStrip.NineChickweedLane: Edda wakes up feeling unusually nauseous and thinks she's pregnant. She goes from her home in New York City to her mom and stepdad in Connecticut, flies to her grandma and half/step/biological grandpa in ''Austria'', flies back to NYC, tells her boyfriend Amos and her roommate Seth that she might be pregnant, and ''then'' has the courage to have a pregnancy test done only after Seth berates her for being an idiot and a coward for "not wanting to know the answer" in the first place. '''Seems valid, but also seems a bit negative in tone.'''
# WesternAnimation.{{Visionaries}}: "The Power of the Wise" not only opens with the Spectral Knights accidentally and then purposefully insulting Merklynn, they also ignore him when he says going on a quest to find a way to keep from aging is a terrible idea. Naturally, they, particularly Leoric, get schooled. '''Seems a bit too negative, but not invalid.'''



# Film.GoodBoys: At the highway scene, traffic started out slow. The Bean Bag Boys are hesitant to cross through even at a time when the cars are going at no faster than 5 mph. Literally halfway, they stop to check on a text. Then, the traffic resumes back to the usual 50+ mph. HilarityEnsues as they try to cross the second half of the freeway. '''Seems to not affect the plot, and also seems to be in character from what I can tell.'''
# VideoGame.SpaceEmpires: Weaponized. The Mental Flailer subsystem, researched from the Psychic tech tree, delays all existing weapons of the victim ship for several turns, provided the ship is managed by a living crew instead of a master computer. '''Has nothing to do with the trope from what I can tell.'''



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# Animation.MezgaCsalad: Aladár and Máris. The former is a TeenGenius who occasionally takes advantage of his gullible family, the latter is a grumpy DeadpanSnarker who often makes comments on his neighbours' idiocy. That said, both of them can grab the IdiotBall when the plot requires it.
# Blog.SevenshotKid: Marc is definitely holding it. Eric is too. It seems like the two of them are playing a friendly game of catch with it. '''If they're always holding it, this doesn't sound completely OOC...but then again, the context is too low to really be sure.'''
# Characters.{{Heavyweights}}: After the boys trap Tony and lock him up in a cage enforced by electric wires, Pat offers to release him. Tony responds by threatening a GroinAttack on Pat somehow thinking Pat had something to do with his predicament, and so Pat leaves him as he is. '''Doesn't elaborate enough to explain why this is stupid and OOC'''
# Series.TheMiddle: Brick. Axl and Sue's stupidity have always been consistent but Brick's intelligence will disappear depending on the episode or situation. '''Describes a character who holds the idiot ball, but doesn't elaborate. This might be more like DependingOnTheWriter for all I know.'''
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# Film.GoodBoys and YMMV.GoodBoys: '''The 50+ mph traffic scene is mentioned in both examples.'''
# Characters.{{Heavyweights}} and YMMV.{{Heavyweights}}: '''Both examples discuss Pat and Tony, with the WhatAnIdiot version being longer and more complain-y as well.'''
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IdiotBall is a trope about characters being unexpectedly stupid in order to further the plot. There's concerns about overlap with WhatAnIdiot, despite the latter trope being subjective. Another potential concern is the trope being used as complaint bait, or for any example of a character doing something dumb even if it's in character.

Potholes and comments will be '''bolded''', examples alphabetized.

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[[folder:Correct, non-complainy usage]]
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[[folder:Complainy, but correct usage]]
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[[folder:Misuse, complainy or not]]
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[[folder:ZCE/potholes/misc]]
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[[folder:Wicks with WhatAnIdiot counterparts- separate count, will overlap with the above folders]]
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