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M

• Masters of the Universe: Revelation: Skeletor tricks He-Man into stabbing him, unwittingly unlocking the power of Castle Greyskull by also stabbing the sword into the lock.
  You'd think: He-Man and Teela would finish Skeletor off for good.
  Instead: Both of them just stand there watching as Skeletor slowly climbs back to his feet, walks over to the orb, and destroys it, threatening the entire universe in the process.
• The Magic Roundabout:
  • In the CGI Series Episode "Mr. Rusty's Luck", Dougal is bringing Mr. Pickles, Mr. Rusty's lucky teddy to him as he needs him whilst placing the magic gasket back into the Magic Roundabout. Along the way, he spots a bone sticking out of the ground.
    You'd Expect: Dougal to stay focused on getting Mr. Rusty's lucky teddy to him as it is important for Mr. Rusty and get the bone later.
    Instead: He lets his distraction overcome him and digs it up, unknowingly burying Mr. Pickles with dirt.
    As a Result: He brings the bone to Florence by mistake, who sends him back to go and get Mr. Pickles.
    To Make Matters Worse: Dougal finds Mr. Pickles completely dirty and takes it to Ermintrude to wash him, but it shrinks when she squeezes the water out of him. Dougal gets Brian to help him to stretch Mr. Pickles back to his size, but only to rip him apart into a pile of bits. Of course, Florence is shocked when she sees the remains in a paper bag and sternly tells him to put him back together. Dougal calls for Zebedee to repair Mr. Pickles, but the wizard accidentally makes Mr. Pickles disappear, leaving only a scorch mark, due to Mr. Rusty taking out the magic gasket which made his powers wonky. Dougal explains what has happened to Mr. Rusty which makes him now completely nervous to place the magic gasket without his lucky teddy, fearing about what is going to happen like last time.
    Fortunately: Everyone reassures him that he didn't need his lucky teddy to fix things, which gives Mr. Rusty enough confidence to place the magic gasket back into the Magic Roundabout without his teddy. He manages to place the magic gasket correctly to everyone's relief as it functions the Magic Roundabout properly where it reinstates Zebedee's magic to full power allowing him to restore Mr. Rusty's lucky teddy.
  • In "Special Delivery", Dougal and Florence come to help Mr. Rusty to polish the horses on the Magic Roundabout. When Fly begins to pester Mr. Grimsdale, Dougal notices this and realises that Fly might be going after his pies.
    You'd Expect: Dougal to stay out of the way if Mr. Grimsdale is driving. If he sees that Mr. Grimsdale has managed to fend off Fly, he wouldn't have to worry and rush into defense.
    Instead: He instantly rushes directly in the path of where Mr. Grimsdale is driving, causing him to swerve and crash into the bandstand.
    As a Result: Mr. Grimsdale has hurt his back and Florence is angry with Dougal for causing the accident. She then forces him do the rest of the deliveries throughout the episode until Mr. Grimsdale recovers.
  • In "Dylan's Big Gig", everyone is setting up for Dylan's rock gig for the night and Dougal isn't very happy about it. Mr. Grimsdale has built the stage for Dylan as his decking isn't big enough and has supplied the sound system and the lighting. Mr. McHenry has made some juice for the night's gig.
    You'd Expect: Mr. McHenry to place the tray of the glasses containing the juice somewhere they wouldn't be accidentally knocked over and onto the equipment.
    Instead: He mindlessly places it near the generator that is used to power up both the lights and the sound.
    As a Result: Dougal, who was underneath the stage at the time, accidentally snags the cable with his fur causing the tray to fall over and spill the juice over the generator, causing it to explode and thus ruining Dylan's chances to play his gig.
    To Make Matters Worse: Everyone, including Florence, was furious with Dougal when he owns up for causing the accident. Dougal begins to redeem himself for his interference by saying that he'll make up for it by helping them look for the solution to power up the lights and the sound. Although the Magic Roundabout can power up the sound, but it cannot power up both the sound and the lights.
    Fortunately: Florence suggests that they can use fairies to light up the stage and she and Dougal find them where they convince them to help light up Dylan's stage in exchange of baking them a cake. All with Dougal's help, Dylan is able to play his gig and it was a great success.
• In the Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) episode "The Beginning", Guts Man tosses a monorail car at Roll, hoping to crush her. Mega Man sees this and runs to the rescue.
  You'd Expect: him to push Roll out of harm's way, then dash to safety.
  Instead: Although he manages to push her out of the way, he doesn't make a run for it. He steps back underneath the falling car's shadow in order to blast it to pieces. Why would he even need to do that in the first place? In the time he steps back, raises his Arm Cannon, says, "Oh no! I'm out of power!", continues to stand there and stare at the car, he could have safely gotten away. Needless to say, he gets crushed.
  Even Worse: This stems back to Roll. Keep in mind, this all takes place on the apron of an airport, where there's more than enough space to run. When Roll saw the car heading her way, she just gawks at it and starts cowering, not even trying to run to safety.
  • In another episode, Mega Man and Proto Man are fighting in front of Abraham Lincoln's statue, and the former is easily dodging all of the later's shots. Then Proto Man aims at the statue. Mega Man decides to save it, even though he's many meters away from it.
    You'd Expect: Him to shoot Proto Man while he's aiming at the statue.
    Instead: He runs in front of the statue and takes the shot, even though just shooting Proto Man would have taken less time.
    The scene in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI8RPO87vSc
  • In "Bro Bots" Protoman pretends to have turned over a new leaf and act as a mole. Protoman sneaks a scrambling chip onto Mega Man's ear that causes him pain.
    You'd Expect: Someone, anyone, to notice that Mega Man is clutching his right ear in agony, find the chip by looking there, and remove it.
    Instead: Even when they notice that Mega Man is in pain, it takes a ridiculous length of time for Dr. Light to find the scrambler chip.
    Even Worse: Light does a scan of Mega Man's body at one point to try to find the problem. For some reason, Light scans everywhere EXCEPT Mega Man's head.
• Megas XLR: In the second episode, Magnanimous gives Kiva access to a junkyard to scrounge for parts while Coop is busy competing in the arena. Kiva comes away with a nice haul of parts from the visit.
  You'd Expect: Kiva to carry the parts in a box or cart, so she doesn't drop one by accident.
  Instead: She carries them by hand, and ends up dropping a part. Which leads into another one from Magnanimous' security detail.
  • In chasing the stray part, Kiva wanders into a restricted area, tripping a silent alarm. The truth is that Magnanimous is looking to make a killing if Coop loses the tournament, and this area is the command center that controls the traps installed in the arena to make sure of it. Kiva doesn't know that. She doesn't see anything worth investigating, and shows no intention of poking around; all she's doing is retrieving a part she dropped and leaving.
    You'd Expect: Security to back off and let her leave peacefully. Or, if they have to make their presence known, escort her out and give her a box or something so she doesn't wander into any other sensitive areas.
    Instead: They claim she's seen too much and immediately try to pick a fight, which Action Girl Kiva has no problems winning. Kiva takes the fight as confirmation that Magnanimous isn't playing things legit in the arena, and begins hacking the control center to sabotage Magnanimous's attempts to rig the tournament in his favor.
• Mixels: In "Coconapple", Zorch mixes with Seismo in order to help him get his coconapple. The mix even strikes a heroic pose.
  You'd Expect: The mix would fly heroically, getting the coconapple which Seismo wanted.
  Instead: The mix flies uncontrollably like a plane about to crash, crashing through some homes and even getting stuck in a volcano.
  As A Result: Seismo doesn't get the coconapple he wanted.
  • In the "Only You Can Stop Forest Freezes! Only You!" segment of "Mixel Moon Madness", after Meltus accidentally melts the Camp Cube, Bernard gets some ice water to chill it back up, only for him to get chewed out by an angry Flamzer.
    • You'd Expect: Flamzer would snatch the ice water out of Bernard's hands, put the lid back on, and put the ice water away.
    • Instead: Flamzer refuses to put the lid back on or even turn it upright, causing the ice water to pour onto the floor.
    • As A Result: Flamzer starts a forest freeze and nearly gets frozen solid if it wasn't for Bernard and Meltus's quick thinking.
• The Mr. Men Show:
  • In the Garage Episode, Mr. Fussy allowed Mr. Messy to store a surprisingly clean bike in his(Fussy's) garage, soon after, Mr. Nosy and Mr. Small offer Mr. Fussy to go on a bike trip with them using Mr. Messy's bike(he did get permission).
    • You'd expect: Mr. Fussy to close and lock his garage so that Mr. Messy can't get in without asking.
    • Instead: He apparently forgets to do so which leads to Mr. Messy making a huge mess in it.
    • Even worse: He rides the bike into the garage at top speed, making a bigger mess than Mr. Messy.
  • In the Restaurants episode, Mr. Small and Nosy play jacks while waiting for Little Miss Calamity to make cinnamon rolls, however, she put too much yeast in the mix by accident and got herself trapped in the shop.
    • You'd expect: Mr. Small and Nosy to take one good look at the window and notice the mess Ms. Calamity got herself into.
    • Instead: They don't consider it when the time the cinnamon rolls should've been done, and head for another restaurant, leaving Ms. Calamity to her fate.
• Monster Allergy: Zick gets trapped into a device that absorbs his powers for every zap.
  You'd Expect: He'll just have to wait until rescue comes.
  Instead: He continuously zaps the container until he loses his powers.
  • In the same episode, Elena can finally see monsters. She enters Magnacat's secret lair and pretends not to see him. This act has fooled not only him, but also Zick, who tries to warn her that Magnacat is around. She then grabs into some end of the device and starts to swing over to Magnacat.
    You'd Expect: He dodges her swing, then realizing that she can see him.
    Instead: He just stands still and watches getting a chance to kick him in the face, knocking him out.
  • There's also in the first episode of season 2 where Elena is taking care of Bombolo when Bobby Clash, a new Tamer that Zick really hates, gets a hold of him to feed him with chocolate and gives him back to Zick as he started to explode farting from it.
    You'd Expect: Elena to scold Bobby for feeding him with chocolate.
    Instead: She falsely accuses Zick for this act.
  • Zick successfully sucks Magnacat, Vizosed, and the Monster-Saur all at the same time.
    You'd Expect: In common Dom Boxes, only one monster at a time. They have to be placed in separate Dom Boxes.
    Instead: They were imprisoned in one Dom Box. Magnacat and Vizosed managed to absorb the Monster-Saur long enough to confuse it that it ended up freeing him. Nice job, Zick.
• Monster Buster Club:
  • The episode 'Wrong Number' has Mr. Smith being called upon to serve as an ambassador to two warring species. He's given a special communication device and has been put on hold, claiming that the peace treaty talk will probably be happening soon. Chris feels impatient and wants to check out the communication device's features.
    You'd Expect: For Chris to realize the importance of the mission and not touch the communicator unless it's absolutely necessary. If he really wants to the check out the device, he can do it when the peace talks are over.
    Instead: He takes the device to school and immediately loses it because it looks identical to Mark's phone.
    The Result: Earth is nearly decimated because of Chris's recklessness and Mark's confusion as to what's going on.
  • In the episode 'Snack Time' Cathy and Sam are responsible for caring for a Pythenor Eater child who's disguised as a human. She's not allowed to eat Glusock crackers for everyone's safety.
    You'd Expect: For Cathy or the Pythenor mother to explain to Sam that the Pythenor child is an alien with specific dietary needs and restrictions, and Glusock crackers aren't for Pythenor children.
    Instead: The alien's mother tells Sam not to feed the crackers without explaining the importance as to why, and after the child finishes every other snack, Sam feeds her some Glusock crackers unaware of the risk.
    The Result: The Pythenor eater child goes on a rampage eating just about everything.
  • The episode 'Keep Your Eye on Nebulak' has Mr. Smith once again being called to be an ambassador, in the ball-sized planet Nebulak. He shrinks himself down and begins doing card tricks as that is one of the few ways to get the warring factions to communicate.
    You'd Expect: Him to leave a note that specifically explains the importance of the situation, where he is, what he's doing, and what Nebulak is, so that the Busters know to keep the planet safe.
    Instead: He leaves a vague note that doesn't explain the importance of the planet, and the Busters are left surprised when they learn that the ball they're watching is a small planet.
    The Result: The Busters drop Nebulak repeatedly which screws up the peace talks, and lose the planet with it being confused for an alien's egg, and a regular bowling ball.
• Moral Orel: "Beforel Orel" has Clay reunited with his father, Arthur, whom he is bitter with ever since he blames him for the death of Angela in "Passing". The latter begins to realize his treatment of the former.
  You'd Expect: Clay realizes his mistakes as well and reconcile with his father.
  Instead: He refuses to reconcile with Arthur, ruining any chances for this moment to happen again.
  • Speaking Of Arthur and his long cold shunning of his son.
    You'd Expect: Arthur would forgive Clay early on since Angela's death was an accident, Clay probably didn't even know or at least was too young to understand his mother's heart condition.
    Instead: He continuously shunned Clay and their relationship worsened over the years, leading Clay into the man we know. And while Clay refusing to make peace with his father is indeed an idiotic and childish move, Arthur being cold to his son is just as boneheaded if not more.
• In the My Gym Partner's a Monkey episode "The Magic Fish", Adam saves David Coppertrout from suffocating who in return offers him one wish. However, Adam says he doesn't believe in wishes and denies the offer causing all the students to try to get him to use the wish on them.
  You'd Expect: Adam would take advantage of David's magic and making a deal with him: make one wish and if the wish doesn't happen, he'd be proven right.
  Instead: Adam spends most of the episode so caught up in his own ego trying to tell everyone that there is no such thing as wishes.
  The Result: The entire CDMS staff and students continuously beg him to make a wish. When asked why he doesn't want it, Adam tells David that when he was really young, he wished on a shooting star for an action figure of the superhero he worships, but he didn't get one so he doesn't believe in them and starts crying over it. We're not making this up: a twelve-year-old boy is still whining over the fact he didn't get an action figure he could've bought with his own money for his birthday when he was like four or five. Predictably, the students see how ridiculous his logic is and demand David give Adam his wish. Adam, at the very last minute, wishes to go back in time before any of it happened. David grants his wish and Adam ends up in the Stone Age, ending the episode.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot: In the episode "Ball and Chain" Brad finds himself being abducted by the Space Bikers, much to his surprise it turns out Tammy intends to marry him. While the other Space Bikers are preparing for the wedding, Brad is left in Tammy's custody with no obvious way to escape.
  You'd Expect: Since Values Dissonance is a high risk in weddings, Brad would spend his time in captivity getting to know the customs of Space Bikers and social structure. Sure Tammy would love to tell her husband-to-be all about how she planned for them to live together? Or he could turn to Lenny, the only male member available who for some reason is The Chew Toy. By doing so he'll learn that; 1: Space Bikers live in a strict matriarchy where women dominate men and 2: If the groom divorces the bride eats him. Knowing this he'd look for any loophole, a taboo, anything that can render a Space Biker wedding null and void.
  Instead: Brad does nothing productive while in captivity and ends up saying "Yes" at the altar. He only catches on after he had put a ring on her only to be treated like a pet. And then dumps her at the altar.
  The result: Jenny has to rescue him during a fight after Tammy tries to eat him. Afterwards, Tammy coldly rejects having anything to do with him.
  In his defence: It's not like he had much of a chance to escape on his own anyway and at least he didn't make the situation worse.
  • Also in the episode "A Robot for All Seasons", Jenny is falsely framed by Todd Sweeney for ruining every holiday, and turning all of Trementon (except for Sheldon) against her.
    You'd Expect: Brad and Tuck might be suspicious of why Jenny isn't like her usual self and ruining every holiday, and Santa could see right through Jenny and see Todd Sweeney controlling her, and they would be on her side.
    Instead: Brad and Tuck have also turned against her, and are trying to attack her, and Santa has put Jenny on his naughty list.
• My Little Pony Tales:
  • In "Battle of the Bands", Melody and her band the Rockin' Beats enter Ponyland's first-ever Battle of the Bands. Melody's mother has to work that day so Melody has to find a babysitter for her little sisters.
    You'd Expect: Melody to talk this over with each of her friends in advance and see if one of them or even their parents can babysit.
    Instead: She waits until the day of the contest to look for babysitters. As it turns out, none of her friends can babysit on short notice so she decides to bring her sisters to the studio so she can perform.
  • In "Stand By Me", Teddy is accused of stealing Melody's cassette deck. His class puts him on trial, and he is called to the stand. Sweetheart asks him if he has a tape recorder of his own.
    You'd Expect: Teddy to simply answer yes or no and avoid saying anything that would implicate him as a thief.
    Instead: He confesses that he'd do anything to get a tape recorder, steering his class towards a guilty verdict. Had Sweetheart not brought the school janitor to the stand, Teddy easily could have been given detention.
  • "Blue Ribbon Blues": Teddy's teddy bear is ripped apart after a fight with Yorkie, his cousin Corny's pig. He decides to get revenge by scaring Yorkie off the farm in the middle of the night. His laughing attracts Corny and Sweetheart who become worried since the pig is supposed to be judged at the country fair the next morning.
    You'd Expect: Teddy to apologize for what he did and help his cousin and Sweetheart find Yorkie.
    Instead: He tells Corny that Yorkie was gone when he went to check on him. Sweetheart sees through his lie immediately and calls him out on it.
  • Teddy gets another one in "Roll Around the Clocks" when he is teamed up with Sweetheart in the roller skating contest. While practicing, he shouts "Crack the whip!" and the ensuing move results in him letting go of Sweetheart while he falls.
    You'd Expect: Teddy to not do this in the contest as it will likely result in himself and Sweetheart getting eliminated.
    Instead: He does this anyway despite Sweetheart's objections and winds up throwing her into the referee, getting them both kicked out of the contest.
• My Little Pony (G3): In Twinkle Wish Adventure, Mayor Flitterflutter gives Cheerilee a box containing the Twinkle Wish star. She warns her not to open the box until the Winter Wishes festival begins.
  You'd Expect: Cheerilee to heed the mayor's warning, keep the box closed and not let anyone get near it.
  Instead: Scootaloo opens the box and the Twinkle Wish star jumps out. Seconds later, the star is stolen by a dragon.

N

• Nexo Knights:
  • The entire nation of Knighton in the episode "Monster Chef". There's a chili cook-off held for the possession of a recipe book containing the hottest chili recipe, and the Book of Monsters wants it to make his monsters more dangerous. He sends Moltor and Lavaria to take part in the competition, and the two don't exactly bother with disguises.
    You'd expect: For everyone to notice that the so-called "Moldronovich" and "Bob" are Lava Monsters who have been spotted causing trouble numerous times before and sound the alarm. Since Axl took part in the competition, he could've recognized them immediately and either destroyed or captured them.
    Instead: Nobody, not the audience, not the Nexo Knights, not even Merlok, seem to notice Moltor and Lavaria, and they are allowed to take part in the competition.
    As a consequence: The monsters have time to create a number of Globlins as reinforcements, with more backup arriving soon after, and a battle which could've been avoided breaks out.
  • Not even for episodes later, in "Saturday Knight Fever", the Book of Monsters makes a plan to infect the Nexo Knights with a snotheiser cold to make them too weak to fight back. For this plan to work, he himself needs to get sick first by eating a snotheiser special in a tavern.
    You'd expect: The tavern's staff to notice that the Book and Jestro are in their estabilishment and aren't even disguised, unlike Moltor and Lavaria in the previous example, and, of course, sound the alarm, immediately contact the Nexo Knights or at least the royal guard and inform them of the villains' presence.
    Alternatively: They could simply deny them service up until (and if) the villains threaten them with harm.
    Instead: They do nothing, allow the villains to make an order and eat it without even the justification that they held the staff hostage (in fact, they aren't as little as rude towards them), and it's only after Jestro releases monsters that they bother to ask the Nexo Knights for help, leading them right into the Book's trap.
• Ninjago:
  • In the episode "All of Nothing", the ninja break into the underground fortress where they fight against snakes. The bite of Fangpyres turns the victims into snakes. Fangtom, the Fangpyre general sees Jay, who has his shoulders and an arm covered with metal, the rest of his uniform having only cloth.
    You'd Expect: Fangtom to bite Jay in a place without metal.
    Instead: He bites Jay in the arm covered in metal and his teeth hurt because of it.
  • In the Season 9 episode "The Weakest Link", the Resistance manages to successfully capture Harumi and they put together a plan to infiltrate Garmadon's tower by having their shape-shifter friend Mystake copy her appearance.
    You'd expect: That the real Harumi would be kept under heavy guard. The infiltration plan only involves two people, so the rest of the team should be free to make sure that the evil emperor's second-in-command stays put. If something urgent comes up, they could at least leave someone competent like Lloyd or Nya to stand guard.
    Instead: They all leave Dareth, a well-meaning but clumsy oaf with no powers, behind to watch Harumi alone.
    Even worse: Lloyd and the others straight-up tell Harumi about their plan to impersonate her, giving her even more motivation to escape.
    As a consequence: Harumi easily overpowers Dareth and makes it back to Garmadon's side just in time to throw the heroes' plan off the rails.
  • In the first half of Season 1: A young Lloyd Garmadon, pre-Heel–Face Turn, gets his hands on a map to the five hidden tombs of the Serpentine and plans to unleash them to get revenge on the Ninja. The first tribe he frees attacks him on sight, and the second tribe agrees to follow him but then betrays him almost immediately.
    You'd expect: Lloyd to realize that the Serpentine aren't worth the trouble. He may still be a Bratty Half-Pint at this point in the series, but it should be clear to him by now that the snakes are chronic backstabbers and aren't going to follow the orders of a child.
    Or, alternatively: Lloyd could instead search for his father, who is far more powerful than the Serpentine and is fiercely protective of him. Lloyd's uncle Wu knows his brother's location and loves Lloyd like a son, so getting information from him and setting out to find Lord Garmadon on his own would be entirely possible.
    Instead: Lloyd opens a third tomb and befriends the sole survivor Pythor without a second thought.
    As a consequence: Lloyd gets betrayed a third time and ends up in the custody of the Ninja, while Pythor escapes and goes on to free the remaining two tribes and cause the rest of the season's conflicts.
  • The villains, of course, also have their moments. After freeing the rest of the Serpentine, Pythor sets his sights on unleashing the ultimate snake, the Great Devourer.
    You'd expect: The rest of the snakes to realize that releasing an all-consuming monster with no way to control it is a terrible idea, and that Pythor's plan could potentially lead them all to extinction.
    In fact: The Ninja actually explain this to one random snake Mook, who has an Oh, Crap! reaction and begs them to stop Pythor.
    Instead: The rest of the Serpentine continue to blindly follow Pythor without thinking of the consequences.
    As a result: Pythor unleashes the Great Devourer and, unsurprisingly, is immediately eaten. The monster's rampage also drives the remaining Serpentine leaders underground, leaving the rest of the army high and dry with no leadership when the disaster is over.

O

• The French series of educational cartoons Il Était Une Fois... (Once Upon a Time...) has the characters portrayed by Pest (who the official site describes as the "king of idiots" — those exact words).
  • In the second installment, the sci-fi cartoon Once Upon a Time... Space, he truly takes the cake. General Pest, Glorious Leader of Cassiopeia and apparent Big Bad, has caused trouble to the Confederation of Omega, and near the end, confiding in both his military superiority over Omega's Space Police and the Confederation's members and the help of the Humanoids, androids from the planet Yama that have built weapons, ships and a Planet Killer for him, leaves Omega and threatens war if they don't surrender unconditionally, only for the Humanoids, who still have to deliver the Planet Killer, to demand his unconditional surrender. This was right after the Space Police warned him that it was about to happen, asking him to join forces against the common enemy.
    You'd expect: He'd join forces with Omega, postponing his attempt at taking over the cosmos until after the Robot War has been won.
    Instead: He sends his entire fleet to confront the Humanoid armada. An armada many times his fleet, that includes ships based on the Cassiopeian ones but improved and that Planet Killer, whose crews know every single strength and weakness of most of the Cassiopeian warships. And threatens to shoot down any Omegan ship that shows up. Of course, the Humanoids easily destroy wave after wave of his ships while begging him to stop this senseless massacre, while the Space Police uses the chaos of the battle to infiltrate the Humanoid mothership and gain data on their battleplans.
    Then: Pest orders the charge of his Nautilus-class battleships, the ones the Humanoids don't know better than his own men as he had made them produce in his empire, right in the mouth of the heavily-armed and protected Planet Killer.
    As a consequence: The Humanoids wipe out most of the battleships and, having lost their patience, threaten to blow up his homeworld if he doesn't surrender. He surrenders, but the once formidable Cassiopeian fleet is now destroyed.
  • Another Pest one from the same series, shared with his good friend the Dwarf. This time, Pest and the Dwarf are portraying the leader of a cavemen tribe and his advisor, and the strange man (actually Peter of the Space Police) has summoned the Great Spirit of the Sky (actually a Space Police starship).
    You'd expect: They'd kneel and worship Peter, his colleague and Love Interest Psi and the starship, as the other cavemen are doing.
    Instead: They walk under the now landing ship, trying to chase her away as they believe it's an evil spirit.
    As a consequence: They're vaporized by the landing rockets of the ship, which promptly land where they have been disintegrated. And Psi, a very nice girl, seems to have thrown herself on Peter's shoulder not to cry but to hide her own reaction.
  • From the same series, when we're shown the history of Earth between our time and the present, we have Pest and the Dwarf as the dictators of two nuclear powers on Earth, dealing with domestic unrest.
    You'd expect: They would try to either better their people's welfare or suppress the riots.
    Instead: They try to distract them with a war. On each other. Both of which are nuclear powers.
    As a consequence: The Button War was very short and nearly destroyed the planet.
  • In one episode of Once Upon a Time... Life (teaching about the workings of the human body), Pest visits the doctor due to a series of pains that are promptly revealed to be symptoms of an imminent heart attack. Thus the doctor orders him a very strict diet and forbids him from smoking.
    You'd expect: He'd follow the doctor's orders, or at least try.
    Instead: He starts eating and smoking worse than before, to prove he could.
    As a consequence: He has a heart attack, faints, and almost drowns in a beer. Next, we see him after this, he's in a hospital bed with a very bemused doctor at his side.
• Ōban Star-Racers: Don Wei makes some pretty poor life decisions:
  • In the past, following his wife Maya's death in a race, Don feels he's not fit to take care of his Daughter Eva since he's still reeling from the trauma of her crash.
    You'd expect: Don Wei would send her to live with surviving family, or failing that, find a descent boarding school and be sure to keep her in contact so she'd know he still cares.
    Instead: He drops her off at the aptly named Stern Boarding School and makes no attempt at all to contact her.
    As a consequence: Eva's relationship with her father is fractured, and when she eventually reveals who she is, she flat out lays into him how horrible his decision was.
  • In the first race on Planet Alwas, Rick Thunderbolt, the Earth Team's pilot is severely injured on the first race with Groor. The team scrambles to find a replacement.
    You'd expect: Don Wei to realize the entire Earth is at stake, put aside any reservations about female pilots, and hire Molly/Eva, who happens to be the only other member with pilot experience.
    Instead: Don is so adamantly against Molly piloting that he puts Jordan in the drivers' seat, even though Jordan has a terrible track record with flying.
    As a consequence: Jordan nearly crashes the Whizzing Arrow on his first test-flight. Don is almost ready to fly the thing himself before Eva jumps into the cockpit and proves a worthy replacement.
  • Rick Thunderbolt is starting to recover in time for the second race.
    You'd expect: Don to have Rick given a thorough examination before he's allowed in the cockpit again.
    Instead: Don once again pushes Eva to the side, and eagerly puts Rick behind the wheel. Unfortunately, Rick has suffered crippling nerve damage from his crash that triggers paralysis at high speeds.
    As a consequence: Rick freezes up in his race against Ceres, nearly getting himself and Jordan killed. It's only through Eva jumping in and taking the controls that they're able to win.
  • In Agile Like Aikka, Eva strikes a deal with the Nourasian Prince Aikka that in their next race, they won't use weapons to even the odds. She tells the Earth Team of this plan, but they ridicule this strategy out of distrust for the Nourasians. Come the race, Eva shuts down the Arrows turret, preventing Jordan from firing. Aikka in turn keeps his word.
    You'd Expect: Don Wei or Jordan would notice that Eva's plan is working. Aikka wields mystically charged arrows that deal heavy blows, and as Eva points out, if they were to attack him, that would provoke him to fire back and make the course more risky than it needs to be.
    Instead: Don Wei has Stan and Koji turn the turret back on out of anger at Eva's disobedience. Jordan then blasts away giddily at Aikka mere moments before they reach the finish line, who disables the ship with an arrow, costing them the match. Aikka feels betrayed and Eva lambasts Jordan for not trusting her.
    Even Worse: Jordan and Don Wei blame Eva for not sticking to the plan.
  • Near the end of the Great Race Of Oban, it's revealed the true Ultimate Prize is the position of new Avatar. The current Avatar is revealed to be Satis, who's power is fading and needs someone to replace him. The evil former Avatar Canaletto is imprisoned on Oban and if an Avatar isn't there to keep him at bay, he'll escape and potentially destroy the universe.
    You'd Expect: Satis to explain what's at stake to the remaining pilots now that they know the truth. He's seen Canaletto manifest to alter the course, so he's growing stronger. That way whoever wins the race will likely accept the title of Avatar to stop galactic destruction by Spider-crow monster.
    Instead: He leaves this small detail out completely for some bizarre reason.
    As a Consequence: Upon winning the Great Race, Eva tries to pass the title of Avatar to Aikka, giving Canaletto enough time to break free of his cage. He then horribly kills Satis, goes about destroying Oban, and would've continued across the galaxy had it not been for Jordan diving into the Pyramid of Power and becoming the new Avatar. Hope he does a better job than the last two.
• Ozzy & Drix: In one episode, a lice check is happening at school, and nobody else will believe Ozzy when he tries to tell them about the lice he saw jump onto Hector's head. He needs permission to use the suits that will protect him from hardening on the surface, but it's permission he needs to get from Spryman.
  You'd Expect: For Ozzy to tell Spryman all the negatives lice bring about, such as their infamous bites causing itchiness and the bugs being able to spread like wildfire.
  Instead: The reason he opens with is that Hector will have to stay home from school. This is the reason he used with Spryman.
  As a result: Spryman is instead delighted by the prospect of having lice and rejects Ozzy's request for the suit.

P

• Peppa Pig
  • "Sports Day": The first event is about to begin. All the children are getting ready to race. Peppa tells her best friend, Susie Sheep, that she's going to beat her.
    You'd expect: That the two of them would stay focused so that they can start running when the starter says "Go!"
    Instead: They both start arguing about who is faster, causing the other children to run miles ahead of them!
    • Later in the episode, it's the relay race. Daddy Pig manages to get the baton over to Peppa.
      You'd expect: Peppa to start running right away.
      Instead: She stands there complimenting Daddy Pig, causing the other racers to run miles ahead of her AGAIN!
• Pinkalicious & Peterrific: In "Glitterizer", Mommy invents a device that can spray glitter on anything.
  You'd Expect: Pinkalicious not to touch it without Mommy's permission
  Instead: Pinkalicious ignores Peter's warnings and takes the prototype of the glitterizer, and glitterizes everything in sight.
  • Later, Pinkalicious offers to glitterize Rafael's painting of the town hall. Rafael tells her to only glitterize the stars.
    You'd Expect: Pinkalicious to just glitterize the stars
    Instead: She glitterizes everything but the stars, resulting in her upsetting Rafael.
• Planet Sheen: Revolving the overall plot and beginning of the show:
  You'd Expect: Jimmy Neutron, with his great intellect, to realize that Sheen was gone and so was his rocket that can go to outer space. Perhaps he could even try a rescue mission if he could.
  Instead: Jimmy doesn't even show up at any point in the series. Either he is bad at making rockets since he made his last one or he simply doesn't care that Sheen could be dead. What a great friend.
• This page focusing on Bluto's most idiotic moments on Popeye provides some standout moments:
  • In Nearlyweds, Bluto and Olive visit the Justice of the Peace, who asks Bluto (in rhyme) to make a promise to take responsibility for various things. A sample of the requests: "Do the laundry, feed the cat / mow the lawn and stuff like that."
    You'd Expect: Bluto to get suspicious of the Justice of the Peace, who is actually Popeye himself in disguise, for making him take such a specific vow for a marriage ceremony.
    Instead: He falls for it and exclaims, "No, NO!! That's not for me!" and runs off through the wall, leaving Olive behind. Olive runs after him, and Popeye takes off the disguise and laughs.
  • In Parlez-Vous Woo, Bluto (disguised as "the International") challenges Popeye to a fencing duel to win Olive's heart, and eventually splits Popeye's sword in half and seems to stab him in the heart. When he pulls back the sword, however, it turned out that he impaled Popeye's can of spinach instead.
    You'd Expect: Bluto to quickly get rid of the spinach and finish off Popeye for real.
    Instead: He just stands there in shock, letting the spinach fall out of the can and into Popeye's mouth, and eating it somehow repairs Popeye's sword, leaving him to disarm Bluto and remove his disguise.

R

• The Real Ghostbusters:
  • Three examples from the "Slimer" short "Sweet Revenge":
    • First off, Dweeb invents a chair that teleports whoever sits in it to the Netherworld.
      You'd Expect: Him to wait until he's caught Slimer to see if it works.
      Or: To test it on Elizabeth (he can send people back from the Netherworld as well, so he could easily bring her back if he did).
      Instead: He tests it on himself. Luckily (for him at least), he calls out for Elizabeth as he's disappearing and she sends him back.
    • Then, he dresses up as Slimer.
      You'd Expect: Everyone who sees him to clearly be able to see that it was a human in costume, not a ghost. After all, his face is visible through the mask. Furthermore, the three characters who saw him (Peter, Goolem, and Zugg) know what Slimer looks like, so they should be able to tell that Dweeb is much bigger.
      Instead: They wholeheartedly believe he's Slimer. Particularly stupid of Peter, since he's seen Dweeb before so should have recgonised him (especially since he had a pink dog with him).
    • Finally, Dweeb sees Slimer dressed up as a superhero.
      You'd Expect: Dweeb to recognise Slimer, since he's flying and his blobby green face is still visible.
      Instead: He mistakes Slimer for a kid trick-or-treating.
  • Another one involving Professor Dweeb and disguises happens in "The Slob": Dweeb shows up at the firehouse, pretending to be a vacuum cleaner salesman.
    You'd Expect: The Ghostbusters to recognise Dweeb, since they've seen him before, his face was not obscured, and he clearly had a pink dog with him.
    Instead: Slimer alone recognises him. Not even Egon recognises Dweeb.
  • In "Janine, You've Changed", it's revealed that a while ago, a demon approached Janine and claimed to be her Fairy Godmother.
    You'd Expect: Janine not to believe the demon. After all, she's a Brooklyn woman, who describes herself as "intellectual" in the first movie, and she knows full well that demons and such exist. She also dealt with a too-good-to-be-true entity earlier, back in "Janine's Genie", and if this creature was her fairy godmother, it's odd that she didn't show up until her alleged goddaughter was in her thirties.
    Instead: She believes the demon.
    The Result: It turns out that the demon was playing on Janine's insecurities about her appearance and trying to turn Janine into one of her kind under the pretence of giving her a makeover. Luckily, the Ghostbusters save her, but only because Slimer just so happened to have a photo of the original Janine around.
• Redakai: Team Imperiaz is only working for Lokar because the later has their parents captive. Upon learning this, Team Stax offers for the Imperiaz to join their side since they have a common enemy in Lokar, but they refuse, citing they'd never be able to defeat him. Ky and Boomer repeat this to them later on, while Maya takes on Lokar and wins.
  You'd Expect: The Imperiaz would realize that maybe Team Stax can defeat Lokar and save their parents, given Maya's demonstration (which takes them by surprise) and join them. It wouldn't be the first time anyway - Team Imperiaz actively seeked out Team Stax to help get their parents back after Lokar was seemingly killed.
  Instead: For some reason, they don't and continue working for the Big Bad that they said they couldn't defeat even after being offered a chance to join a team that has a member^note well, technically two, since Ky defeated Lokar once as well, but the Imperiaz weren't aware of it that can defeat him.
• Regular Show would have these moments as well:
  • "Skunked" has the main duo finding the Were-Skunk lying in the middle of the road. They believe they got a Bingo, and go all excited with it.
    You'd Expect: They poke it with a stick to make sure if he's really dead or not.
    Instead: Rigby shouts "BINGO!" at the Were-Skunk and he ended up not only waking it up, but also getting sprayed. Good thing Mordecai isn't near at that time.
    Even Worse: Being a Were-Skunk, Rigby is also gonna turn into one.
  • In "Muscle Woman", Mordecai is forced to date Muscle Man's ex-girlfriend, Starla. So far, he hasn't dumped her and goes on a forced date in the coffee shop.
    You'd Expect: Mordecai to do a bad performance on her in order to get her to dump him.
    Instead: After enduring Starla for so long, Mordecai outright tells Starla he hates her and will not be her boyfriend any longer.
    The Result: Needless to say, Starla goes berserk and causes a city-wide rampage. Mordecai and Rigby have to make Muscle Man admit his true feelings for her.
  • In the second story of "Terror Tales of the Park", Muscle Man attempts to escape from an RV, which is placed very close to the crash pit. He is locked inside but luckily finds a cinderblock.
    You'd Expect: Muscle Man to toss the cinderblock into one of the windows so he can escape through safely.
    Instead: Muscle Man tosses the cinderblock onto the RV's pedal, causing it to drive into the crash pit, killing him.
    Then Again: Muscle Man may have been distracted by the terrible music caused by some ghost rockers.
  • "Cool Cubed" has Rigby, Mordecai, Thomas, and Pops buying slushies to see who can get the best Brain Freeze face. When Thomas doesn't react to his slushy, the others tease him for his "weak-sauce" brain freeze face.
    You'd Expect: That Thomas would laugh this off or maybe get another slushy and fake a reaction,which would probably be easy since he's a trained spy/actor.
    Instead: He buys the "Cool Cubed" slushy, which the counter guy warns him is freezing to dangerous levels.
    The Result: He chugs it down and the cold is so intense it freezes his body from the inside and nearly kills him, which kicks off the plot of the episode. Mordecai and Rigby are then tasked with unfreezing him before it's too late.
  • "Dumped at the Altar" has Mordecai read a letter from Muscle Man's late father at his (Muscle Man's) wedding. CJ and Margaret are both in attendance.
    You'd Expect: Mordecai simply read the letter and leave it there. If he feels the need to add on, he should keep it brief and play it safe.
    Instead: He decides this is the perfect time to admit that he still has feelings for Margaret, but wants to continue dating CJ.
    The Result: CJ breaks up with Mordecai before he has the chance to finish speaking and the scene becomes incredibly awkward.
    Worse Yet: Even had Mordecai finished explaining himself and CJ be cool with everything, it's still poor form to hijack a wedding like that.
• Ren & Stimpy: In "Jerry the Bellybutton Elf", Stimpy gives the titular elf lintloaf, which causes the elf to go berserk and attempt to kill Stimpy. Stimpy then tries to calm Jerry down as the latter corners him.
  You'd Expect: For Stimpy to ask Jerry if maybe he wants something else.
  Instead: Stimpy suggests they put more lintloaf in the microwave, causing Jerry to go even more ballistic.
  Then Again: This is Stimpy we're talking about, so this shouldn't be a surprise.
• Rocket Power:
  • "Big Air Dare": Otto and his friends are warned off an adults-only snowboarding course because it's too dangerous. The guard is a Reasonable Authority Figure Jerk with a Heart of Gold who tells them if he catches them again, they're going up on the "Shame Fame" wall for the adult snowboarders to mock. That's actually a pretty light punishment for trespassing.
    You'd Expect: The kids would listen.
    Instead: Otto insists on racing and sneaking past the guard.
    Predictably: Reality ensues; Otto breaks his leg while racing and is semiconscious as his friends need to get help. The guard tells his father that Otto could have avoided this if he had listened, the kids are grounded and their photos are put on the Shame Fame wall. Otto is only let off chores because he needs to recuperate, but the other kids have to do shoveling and he gets bored quickly.
  • "Race Across New Zealand":
    • Ray has one that lasts most of the movie. The titular race was something he did when he was around Reggie and Otto's ages and he lost badly in the end to the father of one of their current competitors.
      You'd Expect: That Ray would tell his kids just why he's so caught up in the competition, especially since he suspects both the competitor and his father of cheating.
      Instead: He blatantly favors Otto since he's a boy, giving him a more inflated ego than usual and ignores Reggie, making her feel inadequate and leading to the following moment.
    • In a windsurfing race, Reggie takes the lead. However, her dad, Ray, is still cheering on Otto, prompting her to think: "Maybe this will get Raymundo's attention".
      You'd Then Expect: That Reggie would get Ray's attention by just winning the race, and in the process putting herself in contention for the main title.
      Instead: Reggie deliberately jumps off her board to ensure that both she and Otto lose the race.
  • Ray gets another moment when he confronts Reggie about hers.
    You'd Then Expect: That Ray asks Reggie what's wrong since it's extremely out of character for her to throw a race at all let alone make her brother lose as well.
    Instead: He blames her entirely for everything that's gone wrong up to that point, making her even more furious and causing her to bitterly call him out before storming off.
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: During the Reindeer Games scene, Donner covers Rudolph's nose. Eventually, the cover pops off revealing his red nose and all the yearlings laugh and tease him.
  You'd Expect: Comet, the coach of the games, to chastise the yearlings for their cruelty and throw them out of the games if they continue to act up.
  Instead: He accepts their behavior and throws Rudolph out of the games.
  To Make Matters Worse: Santa witnesses the whole thing.
  You'd Then Expect: For Santa, being the personification of all that is good, to put his foot down on this bullying, call out the yearlings for their name-calling, and force Comet, one of his own pulling the sleigh, to allow Rudolph to continue playing.
  Instead: All he does is tell Donner that he should be ashamed of himself, which, taken the wrong way, could mean Santa chastised Donner merely because of Rudolph's nose! Great job standing up for Rudolph there, Santa!

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