Sandbox / Achievements In Ignorance Wick Check

Achievements in Ignorance wick check, to be used for a future TRS thread. 50/50.

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12/50 = 24% are examples.

21/50 = 42% are characters accidentally doing something, or being lucky.

17/50 = 34% are either ambiguously worded, hard to understand without knowing the work, or examples of an unintelligent character doing something.

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Good Examples 12

• Amplified Animal Aptitude:
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes: This trope makes animals even harder to spot since every character other than Jimmy and Heloise (maybe) is a monster. In Jimmy and the Big House it seemed the only difference between animals and people is if they could talk. Cerbee (explicitly called a dog despite looking nothing like one was intelligent enough to give an Aside Glance and such, while in one scene the others talked before Molotov reminded him he couldn't.

• No One Could Survive That!
  • Megas XLR gives us this exchange
  Zerak: "No one could have survived that blast!"
  S-Force: "Good thing no one ever told us that."

• Awesome.Dorkly Originals
  • Link Didn't Get Sword: Link actually managing to go through nine dungeons and countless enemies with nothing but a shield. ^note  Nah. "Smashing Board."

• Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten: Is able to access her full potential instead of the usual human 30% because she thinks the whole thing is a dream.

• Honor Harrington - Manticoran Allies: Because of Grayson's relative isolation from the rest of the galaxy, much of their technology before joining the Manticoran Alliance was built on them experimenting, during that period, with technologies and techniques long abandoned in the Galaxy at large. Despite that — or, probably, because, as nobody was around to tell them that "it's impossible" — Graysons managed to achieve several rather spectacular technological feats.

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Invoked. To fly, one must aim at the ground and miss. To miss you have to distract yourself at the last moment. Then once you've achieved flight, you have to avoid thinking about how this is impossible or gravity will notice you, hard.

• Team Fortress 2: So, to clarify, what you're saying is they can rocket/sticky jump, respectively, because they don't know they can't?

• Beast: The Primordial: It also has a new Nightmare allowing you to delude a mortal into believing he is a supernatural being. Meaning you can now justifiably cause someone to run around screaming "I'M A VAMPIRE! I'M A VAMPIRE!" A delusion, it should be noted, that can give actual bonuses to rolls to acting like whatever monster the mortal currently believes he is.

• The Witch's House: As mentioned the main page and the trope page for Achievements in Ignorance, there's a sign before a hallway that warns you to go straight down the hallway without letting anything distract you. Normally, if you let anything distract you, you die. If you didn't read the sign, though, you can go down the hallway however you like. Ignorance of the rule -> being able to disregard it. It works but I had to find the examples it mentions to understand it.

• The Fairly Odd Parents S 2 E 8 A Mile In My Shoes: Cosmo tries to light candles underwater as part of dinner (reasoning that "somebody's gotta dry up all this wet food"), which Wanda exclaims should be impossible. However:
  *Timmy walks in the room*
  Timmy: Hey, guys, what's new?
  Wanda: (the candles light) Um... the laws of physics?

• Toon:
  • Characters can successfully pull off certain cartoony stunts by failing a Smarts roll, meaning their character fails to notice that what they're doing (like walking on thin air) should be impossible.
  • Turned Up to Eleven by the Bozonians, an alien race from the "Star Toons" setting of Tooniversal Tour Guide, whose highly advanced civilization stems not from being super-intelligent, but from being too stupid to know that the things they build should be impossible. Visitors to the planet are strictly forbidden, to prevent someone from shouting "That's impossible!" and destroying their civilization.

• The Penguins of Madagascar: The penguins have trouble removing a hornet nest. They discover that Mort isn't hurt by the hornets because he is protected by a "halo of ignorance". Kowalski uses a machine to drain their minds of bad thoughts so that they could then deal with the hornets. Hilarity Ensues.

Did Something by Mistake 21

• Too Dumb to Fool
  • The Orks of Warhammer 40,000 fit this trope. They cannot be fooled with a cunning tactical ruse, they won't attack an enemy's command structure or supply chains, they'll simply charge at whatever is right in front of them. This causes no shortage of headaches for many of the setting's centuries-old commanders, who can't break out of the deceptive warfare habit. It doesn't help that they sometimes mix it up with completely random tactics on a whim, which frequently results in Achievements in Ignorance or a case of "Who Would Be Stupid Enough?". It makes sense considering the Orks' two deities, Gork and Mork, embody brutal cunning (hits you even harder when you're looking) and cunning brutality (hits you when you're not looking) respectively. It's a tossup which Ork deity's philosophy an Ork considers the best. The most dangerous Orks are the ones who are brutally cunning and cunningly brutal. Completely random tactics -> did something by mistake

• Ange Vierge: The reason the girls weren't turned to darkness like all other active fighters was because of their shaky relationships with Amane resulted in a link too weak for it to happen. They were not happy when they figured that out. Sounds like they survived by mistake/luck

• Awesome.Game Grumps:
  • They're Hungry" is part of a set of levels specifically chosen for being fiendishly difficult. Arin boots it up for a trial run where he's more interested in reading the comments...and manages to beat it ''accidentally''. Accomplished accidentally

• BlindIdiotTranslation.Film
  • That said, one line actually came out sounding rather poetic, and considerably better than the original. Precisely, Obi-Wan's response to Vader's iconic (and one of the few lines to be preserved) accusation "you have turned her against me!" went from "you have done that yourself" to "this is your own masterpiece!". Accidentally good translation

• BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense: Pretty much how she plays the game. She never really played games before so she has no idea of proper stat balance, leading her to keep putting all of her stat points into VIT. It is because of this that she is able to get rare and powerful skills simply by being constantly attacked, as well as gaining resistances and outright immunity to certain attacks. Character accidentally finds a winning strategy

• Darths & Droids: After Obi-Wan's death, Luke became disillusioned on the usefulness of the Force, and thus was reluctant on using it himself. He ended up using it unintentionally at the end of the Battle of Yavin. Unintentionally

• Earth Twenty Seven Supporting Characters: She proposed her friends get matching Henna tattoos based on a design she found in an old book, the symbol served as a summoning ritual which led the three of them to Elvira's house, becoming true witches practically by accident. By accident

• Hope of the Shield Hero: He unlocked his Racoon Shield after some of Raphtalia's hair fell on his shield and was absorbed into it while he was giving her a haircut. Did something by mistake

• Kaijudo: Being a talented sketch artist for his age, he managed to draw a "tablet" depicting a Rumbling Terrasuar perfectly, even though he'd never seen one before. Though we later learn he had seen one before when he was a baby in the Creature Realm with his parents; he even bonded with it. In a pinch with the bullies, he even correctly "made up" the creature's name, summoning it and scaring the bullies (and him and his friends) away. A bit of luck mixed with talent

• Pokemon Reset Bloodlines The Main Group: Ash and Pikachu accidentally reverse engineer Zap Cannon while trying to relearn Electro Ball. Accidentally

• Sonic the Hedgehog (2020): During the highway chase in being pursued by Robotnik's convoy, Sonic accidentally trips into a ball and uses his Spin Attack for the first time, having no idea what he did, how he did it or why it worked. When it comes time for the final confrontation, he's understood how it works and how to use it to great effect, repeatedly slamming into Robotnik's ship before the doctor can even react. Accidentally does something

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 64 to 69: In trailers, the carnage [[Isabelle]] causes is generally depicted as being entirely accidental. She often looks extremely embarrassed after landing an attack on an opponent. entirely accidental

• The Amazing World of Gumball: Gumball Watterson: In "The Grades", when he tries to study, he has no idea where to start. When he tries to cheat, going over the material to write crib sheets lets him remember everything he needed to. Accomplished by accident

• The Tale Of Lord Barleycorn: A variation; the Hollow Shades weather crew have literally rewritten the book on handling "wild" weather due to having to cope with Everfree's weather systems without having enough pegasi to brute-force it to ponykind's wills like in, say, Ponyville. Not sure I understand, but might be an accidental achievement?

• Fantastic Four (2015): Reed's attempt to invent a matter transporter instead inadvertently creates a dimensional rift. Until Sue and Franklin point it out, Reed assumed he had been beaming his test objects in one of Earth's deserts. While they had independently invented the same thing, Reed managed to bring his test objects back. Sounds like an accidental discovery? Either way, it says other people did something similar, so it's not doing the impossible.

• If The Emperor Had A Text To Speech Device Specials: Over the timeskip, the Celestial Space Wizard has taken up a side-gig as a Space Pirate (complete with eye-patch) raiding Kitten's federation, and somehow controls more territory than her former overlord and his other vassals combined. Being unexpectedly lucky/good at their job

• Snow Whiteandthe Seven Dwarfs: As Sleepy is carving a decoration on top of one of the posts, the fly that annoys him throughout the film perches on it, and he tries to hit it with his hammer and chisel, quickly going into rapid-fire hammering Big Ball of Violence-style. When it's over, he hasn't hit the fly, but he's carved a full rabbit out of the post. Accidentally made something nice

• Kids Praise:
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Psalty is an inventor as well as a praise leader, having invented a vehicle made of musical instruments, surveillance equipment that shows people in spiritual need, and even managing to invent a time machine by accident! By accident

• Lupin IIIS 2 E 78: Lupin accidentally manages to make the robot work properly after breaking it apart and putting it back together. Accidentally

• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S4 E2 "Princess Twilight Sparkle – Part 2":
  • Pinkie is the first to find the stairs leading down to a precarious cavern, by falling down them. Accidentally
  • Spike does the same while trying to come find the Mane 5 to help Twilight. Accidentally

• Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race:
  • Laurie and Miles: Their spiritual abilities are similar to Dawn's, but Laurie and Miles' powers are the result of being human reincarnations of ancient nature spirits. Due to this, they are able to speak and empathise with animals and attune with nature. In fact, the Vegans' attempt to get the fossil wasn't stupid on their part, they were actually trying to revive the fossil with their powers. However, Laurie is actually the reincarnation of a carnivore spirit, and she was unaware of this for most of her life until she ate meat. Laurie's spiritual aura had been accustomed with veganism and therefore kept the carnivore within her sealed away, but eating meat reminded her of it. Achievements in Ignorance, really. While the Vegans were horrified about eating meat for fear of provoking the spirits' wrath, Laurie's carnivorism resurfaced and she eventually embraced it. (Of course, Miles had a herbivore's spirit, so she wouldn't tolerate it.) When they were eliminated, Don joked about them being stuck on an island full of cannibals, but it's possible that Laurie might have used her carnivore powers to scare them away (or even eat them). Sounds like an accidental achievement

ZCE / Ambiguous / Other 17

• "How Did You Know?" "I Didn't.":
  • Not to be confused with You Just Told Me, although the same phrase can be used for that purpose too. Also not to be confused with Accidental Truth or I Just Knew. See also I Have No Idea What I'm Doing, Achievements in Ignorance, and Sure, Let's Go with That. Related Trope

• Acquisitions Incorporated: Of the original cast, Mike was the one newbie to (tabletop) roleplaying. His attempts to roleplay actions that were implausible by the rules of the game system, but awesome, and they mostly worked out well for him. Kind of a ZCE. Sounds like he got lucky doing something difficult, instead of doing something impossible

• Chain Chronicle Knights: His desire to actually live up to the fake reputation he took up and became a better man is also what motivates Alvert to once again stand, fight, and face his fears. Sounds like Becoming the Boast instead

• Dungeons & Daddies: How Ron has likely survived in life. ZCE

• Qwerpline:
  • Insult Misfire: Derek will sometimes inadvertently do this to Alex' Stealth Insult. Though is almost always is a result of not understanding the insult rather than wit on Derek's part. Sounds more like Sarcasm-Blind, not enough context to really say

• The Rising of the Shield Hero - Naofumi Iwatani: Played With. Like the other three heroes, Naofumi was an otaku who could not help but compare Melromarc and its magical and cosmological rules to that of a video game. However, he was not as familiar with gaming cliches as the others. This combined with being denied all of the perks of being a Cardinal Hero by the royal family had caused Naofumi to learn how to survive in this world slowly through trial and error, him and his party eventually becoming more powerful and more effective against threats compared to the other heroes. Never did anything impossible. Uses Played With as Weasel Words.

• Thomas The Tank Engine The Steam Team: In season 23, she's given a long train of troublesome trucks to deliver to the other side of the island, who tease her with singing and try bumping her off the rails. Having no idea what they're trying to do, she joins in with the singing and goes faster. It works, leaving the other engines and the trucks baffled. Maybe an Insult Backfire or Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!? Definitely doesn't fit here

• With This Ring Orange Lantern: Renegade!OL is able to convincingly pretend to be Grayven to DeSaad, mostly because of his lack of a soul. No idea what this is trying to say, seems to be relying on another webpage to explain

• Tropes Q to Z: Ed never seems horrified of any sort of punishment; in fact, he seems to enjoy it. It could be due to being used to parental abuse, though. Or that he's too stupid to comprehend pain. Doesn't really fit, also Examples Are Not Arguable

• The Dreamstone: As "The Stowaways" exemplifies, Rufus and Amberley are often the first inducted to deal with whatever mess the Urpneys cause (and are unhappily aware of it). No wonder they have No Sympathy for Frizz and Nug getting Press-Ganged into facing them, especially in later episodes, where their incompetence causes the Noops almost as much abuse as vice versa. Incompetence is not doing the impossible, or even not knowing that something is impossible

• Enchanted Forest Chronicles: Invoked for Daystar in Talking to Dragons, since if he rescued the King of the Enchanted Forest knowing the king was his father, then wizards would track him down. Cimorene isn't happy when discussing this plan while Daystar is a baby, but she eventually has no choice when her husband is taken hostage. I don't know how this could be an example.

• Fate of the Jedi: Abyss Raynar has recovered enough from his joining with the Killiks to the point that he doesn't need to stay in the Jedi Temple's asylum anymore. He just didn't realize it without a little prodding. Might be an inverted example? Hard to tell without actually reading the book.

• Workmanship:
  • Portfolio: Obstructive Bureaucrat (The Whole Lot Of Them), Lawful Stupid, Evolutionary Levels, Evolved By Sheer Stubborness, Bad Boss, Suckiness Is Painful Maybe? Stubborness isn't the same as ignorance.

• DuckTales (2017) S2 E20 "The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!": Launchpad says his high score on the "pointometer" is about 5000. Della starts to correct him that it's the airspeed indicator before realizing this means he once flew a propeller airplane over 5000 miles per hour. Maybe? Seems more like Beyond the Impossible than Achievements in Ignorance.

• Strong Bad Email E 161 Four Branches: "The Joint Sub-Committee on So Stupid It's Smart-ities", which includes reciting Coloumb's Law after being asked "What's two plus two?" Not even close to an example

• Married... with Children: Kelly on occasion, such as the time she found Waldo. Another great example of this is when Kelly is asked what color an orange is. She thinks for a moment, and then asks if this is a "regular orange or a navel orange." She wants clarity, you see. Kelly isn't smart, but not everything she does is Achievements in Ignorance.

• Guild of Dungeoneering: A Cartomancer may choose to intentionally stack Stupidity cards - which waste a turn when used - to power up their Paper Shield (which shields from physical damage for the amount of cards in your hand) and Card Storm (which does magical damage for the amount of cards in your hand). It's possible to have 4+ blank cards in your hand and then nuke an enemy with a single Card Storm. Maybe, but probably not an example