What An Idiot / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The eponymous turtles may be heroes in a half-shell, but even they aren't immune to making half-brained decisions or even worse.

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• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987):
  • In "The Curse of the Evil Eye", Baxter Stockman discovers that the Eye of Sarnath has no effect on gold.
    You'd Expect: That he'd actually remember this weakness.
    Instead: He attempts to use the eye on a golden minaret in an attempt to create a monster.
    As a result: The turtles and the Shredder discover the weakness as well.
  • Earlier in the same episode, Baxter has recovered the Eye of Sarnath from Blodgett with the help of the Sarnath-o-meter.
    You'd Expect: That he would keep the Sarnath-o-meter on his person.
    Instead: He throws the device in the garbage, where Blodgett finds it.
  • The final season (Yes during the Red Sky Era) gives us the Glob Father, who is shown to capable of fully coating anyone with his slime, turning any unfortunate soul into a limbless blob like he did to one of his henchmen.
    You'd Expect: That he'd do the same to Raphael the moment he gets to him.
    Instead: He only partially slimes him.
    As a result: This gives Leonardo the opportunity to use his katana to get the slime off Raphael's body once the villains flee with their hostage and the protein computer.
  • Following on from the above moment, the mobsters test the protein computer, only to learn that it doesn't work because it doesn't have its brain. They find out that their hostage, Professor Huxley, hid the brain in his son's toy car, but they don't know what the kid looks like.
    You'd Expect: That the media would not show what Ronnie Huxley looks like since the risk of the mobsters hunting him down to get the brain is too high.
    Instead: The media posts his picture on an APB they've put out for him, which the mobsters catch on TV.
    As a result: The Glob Father and his men succeed in stealing the brain and endangering Ronnie's life. The media's actions also result in the alien who hired the Glob Father for the task, Lord Dregg, using the brain to take over several defense satellites in his plan for global domination.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003):
  • Stockman in "Return to New York Part 3". He battles the Turtles and the Shredder with an exosuit, and doesn't go down easily.
    You'd Expect: Stockman to continue battling them, and make speeches that don't reveal his secret of how he keeps going.
    Instead: He openly admitted the reason why he doesn't go down easily: the exosuit's limbs each have a backup power supply. Donatello gets the suit's gatling gun arm and blasts him out of the sky with it.
  • In "Aliens Among Us", while in a plot to fake an alien invasion just so the President of the United States would fund his organization, the Earth Protection Force, Bishop discovers that his alien creations explodes mutagen whenever they got hit once.
    You'd Expect: Bishop to order some of his men to clean up this mess, and at the same time, continue on with his plot.
    Instead: He attempts the latter, ignoring the mess and "rescuing" the President in the process. Not only does the mutagen remain, but it also goes down into the sewers. This results in the mutagen starting an outbreak in New York City.
  • In "Worlds Collide" part 2, while defending the Fugitoid, the Turtles ended up being surrounded by the black soldiers sent by Agent Bishop.
    You'd Expect: Considering they don't even know if they're good or not, they have no choice but to make a surrendering move.
    Instead: Raphael, being the hothead that he is, has no plans to surrender that he ended up picking a fight with them. Leo calls him out on that by saying, "Nice going, Raph," in sarcasm. Eventually, they ended up getting captured.
  • In season 4's "Insane in the Membrane", Stockman is perfecting a clone body where he will transfer his mind into. However, Bishop warned him to not be in a hurry to proceed with the experiment due to the fact that the body might decompose similar to the genetically engineered aliens they used for their made-up invasion.
    You'd Expect: For Stockman to agree with what Bishop has to say. After all, it's too soon to perform the experiment with New York City under a plague from the mutations.
    Instead: Stockman decides to perform the experiment anyway.
    So Now You'd Expect: Bishop to stop him by paralyzing his robotic body, or have his men restrain him until the outbreak has neutralized.
    Instead: Bishop lets him perform the experiment, only giving him a warning not to damage his brain as it's still useful to him upon leaving.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012):
  • One of these moments happens at the beginning of season 2 where the Turtles are stopping a Kraang shipment filled with mutagen. Even worse, they end up spilling the canisters and one of them spills on April's father, mutating him into a mutant bat, and April claims it's all her fault at the worst moment.
    You'd Expect: The Turtles to comfort her and try to reassure her that it's all the Kraang's fault From a Certain Point of View. Apologize for how they failed in saving her father and try to do their best to fight the Kraang next time.
    Instead: Mikey stupidly spills the beans about how it's their fault that the mutagen has been spilled around New York, and neither Leo, Raph, nor Donny call him out or smack him for telling her the Awful Truth, resulting in pissing April off and her never wanting to see their faces again. Way to go, Mikey.
  • In the episode "Vengeance is Mine", Karai Miwa is reunited with Splinter at last. But then, Karai asks Splinter what happened between himself, Shredder and her mother.
    You'd Expect: That Splinter would take into account that Karai already has a lot resentment towards Shredder from being imprisoned in a cell, apart from lying to her and kidnapping all those years ago. Thus politely promise to tell her another time.
    Instead: Splinter tells the whole truth. The knowledge of what Shredder has done angers Karai so much that she decides she wants revenge. But while she is about to sneak out, she runs into Leo, who offers to help.
    So Now You'd Expect: That Karai would accept Leo's help. After all, she of all people should know that going after Shredder alone is a bad idea. Something that Leo points out.
    Instead: Karai knocks out Leo and leaves the safety of the lair to take on Shredder herself, this leads to Karai's accidental mutation.
  • The episode, "Bat in the Belfry", makes it clear that the Aeon crystal April's wearing around on her neck is causing her Sanity Slippage, just like from the planet she and the Turtles were on during their journey in outer space.
    You'd Expect: The Turtles would try to take the crystal from her and destroy it when they have the chance. After all, it's better to save her sanity than letting her keep the crystal around for her to do who knows next with it.
    Instead: They didn't even think of doing this, not even during their battle against Super Shredder.
    Result: Two episodes later on, Za-Naron, the entity inside her crystal comes into play, possessing her and nearly destroying the Turtles.