Sandbox / Just Eat Gilligan Wick Check

Two Trope Talk threads have raised issues with Just Eat Gilligan (which is under Tropes Needing TRS).

First, the description states it is about characters that cause such problems that it's a wonder why others don't get rid of them thus solving the issue which fits the Trope Namer. But current use is about any possible solution to the conflict the cast are idiots for not considering. The description was apparently originally in-line with current use, but was subject to a bunch of edits resulting in its current state.

JEG should be investigated for Trope-Namer Syndrome, if the current description is redundant with The Millstone, and if the current use is too similar to Idiot Plot or What an Idiot! which were made Flame Bait for their issues.

Second, the concept seems like it should be YMMV. Almost all examples are about audiences noticing fixes the work fails to acknowledge and used as complaints. Intentional/self-aware examples may fit other tropes better.

Third, there's also been examples about villains ignoring ways they could beat the heroes, which seems misuse as villain actions cause/escalate conflict rather than fix it. There's also been examples misused as ignoring in-universe reasons why the solution wouldn't be viable. These raise questions about what the scope of JEG should be.

Wicks (50/50)

Conclusion: A majority (60%) are about ignoring any possible fix, not just ignoring characters causing problems. 52% are used as YMMV while nearly all intentional uses fit other tropes. 7/50 (14%) are the Trope Namer or references to them, only 3/50 do so in a way that's valid/not redundant with other tropes. Very few (6%) are about villains ignoring ways to win which prior cleanups deemed misuse as creates not solves the conflict and is covered by Villain Ball and others.

Proposed fixes:

• Make YMMV as a majority are audience reaction/complaints and intentional examples almost always fit other tropes.
• Consider Disambiguate or make Flame Bait as use not covered by other tropes may be redundant with Idiot Plot or What an Idiot!
• Cover all ignored solutions as most are not just ignoring characters causing problems/changes suggesting such were unilateral.
• Rename as Trope-Namer Syndrome led to the above unilateral changes and many references to the Trope Namer are suspect in validity.
• Disallow villain examples as they would further not resolve the conflict and fit other tropes.

YMMV ignoring characters causing problem (5/50) 10%

1. Black Comedy Cannibalism: A recurring threat on Gilligan's Island are cannibal tribes from nearby islands. Although that might have solved all their problems. Trope Namer example.
2. Literature.The Ties That Bind Hayes: A lot of the Blackthorn's problems would be solved if he just murdered Green. Thankfully, H'ost's army takes care of the problem.
3. Reset Button Ending: In any episode of Gilligan's Island in which it looks like they might actually manage to get off the island, something will go drastically wrong in the last two minutes. It's usually caused by Gilligan, which gives us another trope. Trope Namer example 2.)
4. Chaotic Stupid: Sonic from inSONICia. He's the kind of guy who will push a Big Red Button that will bring about The End of the World as We Know It, then yell at you to stop criticizing him. It gets to the point where Sonic becomes so annoying and useless that it's a wonder nobody just offs him to save themselves a headache.
5. Stock Jokes: "If the Professor could build a radio transmitter out of bamboo and coconuts, why couldn't he fix the damn boat?" ^noteIn an early episode, he almost did fix it, but the glue he used caused the entire boat to fall to pieces—so after that, fixing it was no longer an option. And guess whose fault it was? Trope Namer example 3.

YMMV ignoring possible solutions to the conflict (18/50) 36%

1. Headscratchers.Leisure Suit Larry 2 Looking For Love In Several Wrong Places: This is Fridge Logic here: if Larry gets captured by KGB agents and dragged in front of an interrogator, he gets tortured until he tells him where the onklunk is that they want. But Larry has it in his inventory from early on in the game. Why does Larry just not give them the onklunk to stop the torture?
   • Simple. The onklunk extractor is an EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL monster that will torture him to death even if he does so. Also argues with itself.
2. WesternAnimation.Cinderella 3 D: This version makes Cinderella into a confident butt-kicker so it can be a rip-roaring Wild West adventure. As Bobsheaux points out in his review, this means there's really no reason for her to hang around letting her relatives treat her like a slave, instead of kicking them to the curb and striking out on her own. Except then it's not a Cinderella story anymore.
3. No Bisexuals: I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry is about a pair of straight men who enter into a fake gay marriage, and must pretend not to be attracted to women so that they won't be found out. While the movie pays lip service to bisexuality with Captain Tucker's closing speech, there was no indication that it's possible for a man to be attracted to more than one gender, and Adam's character's affairs with women in the past becomes a major plot point. The entire "conflict" could have been ended if Chuck just said he was bisexual and in an open relationship with Larry.
4. Literature.The Woman In Black: Kipps has to review all of Alice Drablow's documents, a task that will take several days at least. This apparently necessitates him staying in the creepy haunted house over several nights to do so... instead of, for example, reviewing said documents in the relative safety of the town.
5. Series.Kamen Rider Geats
   • The Genesis arc has the heroes grapple with how to deal with the civilians who've been turned into Stage 2 Parasite Jyamato, with the thought seemingly never occurring to them that they could just ask Tsumuri to use her Reality Warper powers to make a powerup that can defeat Stage 2 Parasite Jyamato while saving their hosts.
   • Similarly, after Sara is killed, Keiwa chooses to give Tsumuri over to Zitt in exchange for the chance to revive Sara, even though he could have just asked Tsumuri to revive Sara, especially since Tsumuri had already shown a willingness to help him and was able to bring back Ace an arc before. Both may overlap with Forgot About His Powers.
6. Series.Murder In Mind: In "Neighbours", Alan outright tells Nigel that he'd kill Debra if he found out she was cheating on him. Nigel knows she is cheating, and has video evidence. Rather than go to the trouble of killing the Squires himself, he could just have shown Alan the video and let him kill Debra and be arrestead.
7. Recap.The Nostalgia Critic S 2 E 31: The critic complains that Kevin could have easily dealt with the Big Bad with his pausing power or the warp zones. In-universe review of YMMV.
8. SesameStreet.Tropes G To J: During Seasons 3-16 when Snuffy was thought to be imaginary, Snuffy has no excuse to not give a holler or get the adults' attention while their backs are turned, likely due to his shy nature. Big Bird also doesn't bother to have someone stay with Snuffy in case he leaves early before he brings the adults to see him, something he doesn't think of until the Season 17 premiere once Elmo comes into play.
9. Film.The Worlds End: Just leave town, or don't attempt the crawl in the first place.'''Just leave town, or don't attempt the crawl in the first place.
10. Characters.Jumanji Welcome To The Jungle: The in-game story would've probably been over and done with if Nigel just went directly for the Jaguar statue and returned the jewel after swiping it from Van Pelt instead of writing a letter to Dr. Bravestone and having his team do it for him, allowing Van Pelt to mobilize his men and have time to prepare obstacles for the player characters. But then again, we wouldn't have a story now, would we?
11. WebVideo.Cinema Sins: Jeremy points out several moments where the characters don't think of an easy to do solution which would solve a problem. Reviewer reacting to examples.
12. Series.Viudas E Hijos Del Rock And Roll: Perhaps it wasn't a solution for 1992, but if Diego really wanted to find Miranda, even if he had no adresses or phone numbers, he could have done so years ago with Facebook. Fortunately, that overlooked option was just the Origin Story.
13. Characters.Splatoon Inkopolis And Splatsville: With This Herring: If he supplied you with Grizzco weapons on every Salmon Run shift instead of doing random ones and always enabled the Ink Cannons at low tide, his Salmon Run egg hauls would be a lot more profitable (and, admittedly, less fun). Perhaps them being illegally modified has something to do with it.
14. Who Will Bell the Cat?: Contrast Just Eat Gilligan, where a simple action which would resolve the plot is not carried out because no one thinks of it.
15. Rule of Drama: When there's a particularly simple solution that's always overlooked because of this rule.
16. Film.Rogue One: Galen's message to the rebellion and his daughter tells them he put in a weak point in the Death Star, and tells them to break into a highly secured facility to recover the plans and find it. Had the Imperials intercepted this message, it would be enough information to casually look up those plans and find it themselves (which they end up trying anyway). Given that the plan would be ruined if this message was intercepted anyway, there is little reason why Galen couldn't have said where to shoot a torpedo in his initial message and save his daughter a suicide mission. Except of course, that the movie would be over too soon.
17. WhatAnIdiot.The Legend Of Zelda: You'd Expect: Them to realize how counterproductive and outdated that rule is and abolish it, what with the place's whole economy being dependent on commerce in a kingdom where most traveling merchants are male, not to mention their race being in risk of going extinct due to the lack of males.
18. YMMV.Rapunzel: On that note, her "bring me some silk every day so I can make a ladder" escape plan is needlessly slow and risky, and raises the question of why Rapunzel didn't just have the Prince bring a rope long enough for her to climb down. Could it have been a sign of her having an inner conflict about leaving the tower?

Intentional ignoring characters causing problem (3/50) 6%

1. TrueCompanions.Live Action TV: The "seven stranded castaways" on Gilligan's Island. If one of them's in danger, the other six rush in to help. If one is (always wrongly, of course) believed to have died, the other six will be beside themselves with grief. And while they may not be able to get off the island, they are actually quite adept at surviving whatever obstacles could cause them to perish there. In the end, the answer to the infamous question, why don't they Just Eat Gilligan, is easy. Because they love him. '''Argues the Trope Namer might not be an example if there's reason why they keep him around.
2. Unwanted Assistance: Lord Hamster: Y'know... as far as helping his own cause goes, Stanley is somewhere between Gilligan and Starscream. Trope Namer reference, overlaps with The Millstone.
3. Literature.The Darksword Trilogy: Welcome Back, Traitor: Joram remains accepting of Simkin no matter what he does, even when the others want to Just Eat Gilligan.

Intentional ignoring possible solutions to the conflict (12/50) 24%

1. Characters.Warhammer 40000 Space Marine: At one point he discusses the possibility of simply destroying the power source so as to prevent Nemeroth from obtaining it, but Titus shoots down the idea because he believes that destroying the power source may cause dire consequences (like opening another warp rift). Simple Solution Won't Work as it explains why they can't risk it.
2. WebAnimation.Oxhorn Short Shorts: In episode 3 of Inventing Swear Words, the Master of Euphemisms suggests that the trio should simply change their chat filter settings in order to circumvent the censorship of swear words, to which they immediate refute the idea, claiming it would "defeat the purpose of these videos." Stating the Simple Solution might also fit.
3. Characters.Big Finish Doctor Who Aliens And Monsters: In "Zygon Hunt", after the original plan to invade Earth has been ruined, the Doctor points out that there's nothing stopping the Zygons establishing a home on the planet they're on at the moment, which doesn't have a sentient species they'd need to kill first. "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot as acknowledged in-work.
4. Fanfic.The Boy Behind The Mask: Stating the Simple Solution: Sick of Katla and Hiccup arguing over whose dragon is faster, Nina asks if they have actually raced to settle the argument. They both awkwardly admit that they didn't think of that. Fits because no reason for not figuring this out before pointed out.
5. Literature.Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The crux of the series' entire plot is that the fate of Olympus may be changed once a halfblood of the eldest three gods reached sixteen. As Percy immediately asked when he learned about this, why don't one of the gods just kill him, as that'd be the safest option. Annabeth responds that he's right. She explains that the gods mainly refrain from killing Percy because they're still waiting to see what hero he'll turn out to be. Also, they're worried about offending Poseidon.
6. Characters.One Minute Melee Season Five: After being beaten up for so long thanks to Sans's unconventional abilities keeping him from even landing a hit, Bill just freezes time to hit Sans with one big slap. Only counts by question of why wait to use it? May better fit Forgot About His Powers.
7. WebVideo.Solid JJ:
   • Deconstructed in "Scooby-Doo Has Had Enough". Scooby bypasses the whole mystery by just shooting the Malevolent Masked Man on the spot.^note  Ironically, in the actual episode, the man that Scooby shot really was a robot. The guy dies, and Shaggy is horrified to the point he suggests Scooby will be put down as a result.
   • In "Team Rocket Wins?", Team Rocket decide to ignore Pikachu and just jump Ash while he was alone talking with Pikachu.
     James: I'm more in disbelief that it's taken us this long to realize "hey, let's just jump the kid!" I mean, it's Criminal 101 and we've never done it before!
8. Fanfic.The Fanmake Blooper Series: "One does not simply walk into Sodor. You can take a boat, but you can't walk there. It is an island, filled with trains. Trains with the curse of having faces... they are the eyes of Sir Topham Naraku, the Fat Controller. But... If we were to use the hawks..."
9. Characters.Bojack Horseman Bojack Horseman: As Princess Carolyn points out, most of BoJack's problems could be easily solved if he didn't insist on making them worse with convoluted sitcom antics and stopped obsessing over whether or not people like him. Overlaps with Fatal Flaw as explains why they didn't.
10. Characters.Puella Magi Madoka Magica Sayaka Miki": Gave Up Too Soon: As the PSP game revealed, had Sayaka chosen to simply confess to Kyousuke that she's a Magical Girl, he'd actually believe her and compose a song for her. She comes really close to getting Kyousuke if it wasn't for her lack of confidence and her mental breakdown. Overlaps with Fatal Flaw as explains why they didn't.
11. Recap.Arrow S 5 E 10 Who Are You: Rene finally suggests the seemingly obvious idea that Curtis' role on the team should not be as a vigilante that gets into combat (which he has demonstrated on multiple occasions to be ill-equipped for), but as their resident Gadgeteer Genius, much like Cisco. Redundant with Stating the Simple Solution.
12. Recap.The Simpsons S 9 E 14 Das Bus: When Lisa shows the starving kids the boar they encounter sustains itself on the slime found on the island's rocks, she attempts to convince them they can do the same to survive. The children, having had enough of keeping their hunger at bay with very few food rations, fittingly kill the boar and roast it to eat its meat rather than licking unsavory stuff. Also fits Comically Missing the Point.

Ignoring non-conflict resolving/related solutions (3/50) 6%

1. VillainBall.Anime And Manga: The six or seven times that the Mundane Solution of using the tank-destroying strength of King Crimson and its ability to erase time was avoided usually because of his rampant paranoia. If he wasn't so desperate to never show himself, the show would have ended about midway through. Already u den Villain Ball.
2. Recap.Captain N The Game Master S 2 E 8 The Feud Of Faxanadu: The Evil One proves to have the only key to the area where the crystal he wants is hidden. Yet for some reason he sells it to Dwarfina instead of just going in and getting it himself. Creates solution to conflict, not ignores.
3. JustForFun.TV Tropes Additional Evil Overlord Vows Cellblock P: If I am a villain on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, I will knock out that meddling purple unicorn/alicorn on sight, before she uses the overpowered magic of friendship to save the day. Or if I have other things to do, I will hire a goon or two to restrain her. Villain creating the conflict.

ZCE/unclear/misuse (9/50) 18%

1. PlayingWith.The Starscream: Deconstructed: Emperor Tyranus has Halgar executed for his disloyalty. Not this if the solution is implemented.
2. WesternAnimation.Right Now Kapow: With an actual island to boot! One sketch involves the group getting shipwrecked with Moon constantly causing problems for those who managed to survive with him. He keeps throwing things they need into the water, talking about an ex-girlfriend and trying to guilt trip the others into giving him their scant amount of supplies. He will only do anything useful if bribed (and even then, he does it by causing a much bigger problem.) Finally, Plant just socks him in the face. He tries to guilt trip the others into staying stranded on the island with him when the coast guard (his ex) arrives, but at last they refuse. Misuse as they do take the solution, Shout-Out to Trope Namer, and redundant with The Millstone.
3. Literature.The Child Thief: Nick realizes pretty early on that everyone wants the same thing, for the Flesh-Eaters to leave Avalon.This would be easy and take no more lives if the Lady would just lift the Mist, but everyone is horrified that he could even think such a thing. Solution is noticed but reason not to is given.
4. Heartwarming.Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Golden Ending in Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable. Everybody Lives, they come to terms that they're liches and will make the best out of it, Madoka doesn't become a Magical Girl, and everyone has one big final tea party. It can happen, you just gotta earn it. In one of the extra routes, if Sayaka confesses to Kyousuke that she's a Magical Girl, he'll actually believe her and compose a song for her, thus averting her tragedy in the canon once and for all. Not this if taken in a route/player choice not to.
5. Characters.Star Trek Species N To Z: Living MacGuffin: Without the Prophets and Pah-Wraiths, there would be very little reason not to collapse the wormhole with photon torpedoes and prevent the Dominion from even invading. Sisko was willing to do just that in "The Search", but only if there were no other options left. The Klingons and Romulans were thinking along the same lines in "Visionary". Explains why they do not and acknowledges it in-work.
6. Headscratchers.Once Upon A Time: ...borders on Just Eat Gilligan levels. Like the apple turnover. Why not spike the turnover with regular lethal poison? Same thing with the hearts...why not rip the hearts "the regular way", the way that kills the victim? Why don't the heroes or the villains ever think of using guns? And then there's Merida's Character Derailment, where she forgets all of the fighting skills she had in the original movie in order to rely exclusively on the Bear Potion. The mundane solutions may not be "fairy tale" enough, but they are far more effective.
   • Emma DID use guns early on in Seasons One and Two. She tried using a pistol against Maleficent's dragon form, and then again after being sent to the Enchanted Forest. They didn't work. At all. The second time, Mary chewed her out for it, and pointed out that doing things "the modern way" (so to speak) wouldn't work in their world. Emma spent the entire first and second season TRYING to be Genre Savvy about dealing with fairy tail problems, and they either didn't work or backfired, so it's small surprise she stopped bothering after awhile. Explains why alleged examples is factually untrue.
7. Headscratchers.American Horror Story Coven: Why is there no system in place to remove a Supreme from her position if she cannot or will not perform her responsibilities? I know the real answer is "Because then there'd be no show," but since Fiona was described by everyone as an awful Supreme who cared more about her own endeavors than leading her coven, I'm surprised there was no way for the council to give her the boot.
   • "Either you are Supreme, or you aren't." Considering they can't actively control who becomes the Supreme (as it's a magical force), they wouldn't be able to stop the Supreme except by erasing her via death. As for why Fiona was chosen to be the Supreme when she was terrible on a whole - she did (by the end) eventually unite the Voodoo witches with her coven (even if it was just Marie) and wiped out the witch hunters, who would have won had she not interfered. So in the end, her becoming the Supreme helped the witches. Argues against.
8. New Meat: He's a bit loathed by the rest of the men because he constantly asks questions or makes mistakes that hinder their progress. Prone not to appreciate A Father to His Men's stern but necessary discipline. Some of the more seasoned members may even consider his rookie status a risk and petition the commander(s) to get rid of him. Misuse as attempting not ignoring the fix.
9. Season Fluidity: Put another way, you can watch any episode of Gilligan's Island and be equally entertained, without worrying that you've missed important plot points (it's not like they'll ever get off the island or something). Trope Namer reference, needless/unclear use here.