What An Idiot / Mass Effect

• Mass Effect
  • Kaira Sterling is a security officer at Port Hanshan on Noveria. When a firefight breaks out in the Synthetic Insights headquarters, Kaira responds with a squad of about half a dozen. Unbeknownst to her, the Corrupt Corporate Executive in charge of Port Hanshan had shut the company down because the manager had evidence that he was corrupt, even by Port Hanshan's standards. She gets there to find the dozen or so bodies of the team of cops he'd sent to toss the place looking for it, and Commander Shepard's squad coming out of the manager's office. Even if Kaira still disbelieves Shepard's Spectre status (confirmed in her presence earlier when Shepard checked in), Kaira and her squad are non-military security grunts, and Commander Shepard is an Alliance N7 Special Forces Marine with two of the most dangerous individuals in Council space in their squad.
    You'd Think: In the face of overwhelming evidence of what she's up against, Kaira would put aside the hostility she's had against Shepard since they landed, stand down her squad, and walk away.
    Instead: She refuses to listen to Shepard, attempts a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner, and powers up her biotics. By which point Shepard and squad have already swatted her down with their biotics, disabled her squad's weapons and defenses, and finished them all off with a hail of gunfire.
• Mass Effect 2:
  • Warden Kuril, the head honcho of the Purgatory prison ship, welcomes Shepard and two other armed companions (^{who are any of the following}  a high ranking operative for one of the most powerful terrorist organizations in the galaxy; a seasoned lieutenant to the same organization; a mercenary renowned for his ruthlessness and extremely high rates; a former C-Sec Officer and one time Spectre candidate who single-handedly held off three of the most ruthless mercenary groups in the galaxy in the heart of the Terminus Systems (INCLUDING the same mercenary group Warden Kuril is a part of), on a station renowned for being the galaxy's Wretched Hive for three days with just a sniper rifle; a master thief so adept at her craft that no one recognises her hacking an advertisement terminal in a public space in broad daylight, or speaking to a woman/man who is both thought dead and renowned as a legendary figure for stopping Saren and the Geth; a scientist who killed people with farming equipment and participated in mass population control experiments; and a genetically engineered member of a race of Blood Knights previously under the care of a big shot warlord) on board with aims to kidnap them and sell them off to slavers.
    You'd Expect: that Kuril would require Shepard and his/her companions to disarm, in accordance with standard security procedures for guests aboard prison ships, and to refuse them entry if they do not comply. Or, failing that, that Kuril would scrap the whole "kidnap and sell" plan if unable to force Shepard and company to disarm.
    Instead: Although Kuril does make an attempt at requiring the party to disarm, when Shepard refuses to do so, he lets them proceed fully armed (including, possibly, with TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS) and then attempts to capture them near a security checkpoint. This works about as well as you'd expect.
    
• Mass Effect 3 gets a bunch of them.
  • An example pops up with the Geth Consensus when they are attacked by the quarian Migrant Fleet.
    Overview: The Geth Consensus is attacked by the Migrant Fleet, which destroys the Dyson Sphere they were building around Rannoch, and their territory is being overrun quickly. The destruction of the Dyson Sphere deletes the majority of the geth "species" and thus reduces their collective cognitive ability.
    You'd Expect: The geth to call for assistance from Shepard to prevent the quarians from overunning them.
    Instead: Following their emergency survival protocols, the geth seek out immediate assistance from the Reapers, who give them upgrades to their coding to render them immune to the quarians' weapons, at the expense of being enslaved or exterminated by the Reapers once their usefulness runs out. If Shepard points out that the geth made a rather poor long-term decision, Legion agrees with that assessment.
  • The quarian Migrant Fleet, in turn, makes its own equally stupid decision in attacking the geth.
    You'd Expect: The quarians, aware of the Reaper threat, to direct their military buildup to counter the Reapers, instead of launching into a destructive and costly war with the geth.
    Instead: The quarians, sensing a chance to completely destroy their old enemy and recover their homeworld, launch an attack with the new weapons that render the geth helpless. While initially successful, the quarians damage the geth's overall cognitive ability, and the greatly reduced Geth Consensus turns to the Reapers for immediate help. The upgraded geth trap the Migrant Fleet inside the Rannoch mass relay so they can't escape, and even if Shepard brokers a peace between them, the damage both sides suffered in the war reduces their ability to fight the Reapers.
  • The Citadel DLC: A villainous impostor pretending to be Shepard has just seized control of the Normandy with a squad of mercenaries.
    You'd Expect: They would kill all witnesses, ensuring that nobody could report the people inexplicably wearing CAT-6 armour accompanying Shepard, thereby easing the identity theft.
    Instead: The villain just fires Traynor and kicks her off the ship, allowing Traynor to aid the real Shepard in regaining access to the Normandy before she can leave.
• Mass Effect: Andromeda:
  • At the end of Peebee's loyalty mission, Peebee is on an unstable platform, The Rival Kalinda is hanging off the edge above a pool of lava begging for her life, the Remnant artifact they were all going after is rolling towards that exact same pool of lava, and Ryder is standing on the other side of a gap that Peebee has just proven is surmountable with only jump jets. Peebee decides to prioritize saving Kalinda.
    You'd Expect: Ryder to jump over and catch the artifact.
    Instead: Ryder either does nothing and lets the artifact be destroyed or murders Kalinda in cold blood to get said relic.