Idiot Plot/Western Animation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Examples of the Idiot Plots in Western Animation include:

  • Virtually every episode of Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes involves a catastrophe either
    1. started when Reed Richards' latest invention malfunctions,
    2. triggered by Johnny Storm's stupidity, or
    3. set off when Johnny Storm's stupidity causes Reed Richards' latest invention to malfunction.
  • The entirety of The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door was just one big Idiot Plot that involved all kinds of KND and Billy and Mandy characters falling for some of the most pathetic Paper-Thin Disguises in fictional history. We can expect this thing from those minor Billy and Mandy characters but every single KND moon base operative too? The only ones without an Idiot Ball attached were Mandy, Grim, Numbuh Five, The DCFDTL, and (most of the time) Numbuh One. Billy, on the other hand, is an idiot ball, so he doesn't count.
  • As mentioned above, this is standard fare for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, to the point where few episodes begin without being catalysed by Billy AKA Idiot Ball incarnate and Grim and Mandy stupidly giving in to his demands. Sure, Grim is their best friend/slave forever, but one expects better from the relatively Genre Savvy Mandy.
  • You'd think Scooby, Shaggy, and the rest of the gang would have the common sense not to run from every monster they see after so many frauds...
    • If they don't know who's behind the mask, why would they assume the Monster of the Week isn't dangerous?
    • Some incarnations (particularly Mystery Inc.) justify this by making the monsters total psychopaths who are perfectly willing to commit murder and widespread destruction if someone gets in their way. They may be frauds but that doesn't mean they're not dangerous.
    • And there are indeed some plots (Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island wasn't the first, but was the one that started the trend) where the monsters are real.
  • Happens more than it should to poor Eddie Spenser, Jr. on Filmation's Ghostbusters. It doesn't help that he gets a few episodes where he's quite capable of busting ghosts along with the best of 'em.
  • The various Super Mario Bros cartoons were often driven by the characters being suddenly weakened to the point where they walk into or can't escape traps that they would have easily dealt with before. Some ridiculous examples include them just standing and watching as Harmless Villain King Koopa tosses Chain Chomps at them, which latch onto their ankles like makeshift manacles and leave them easy to capture and, in the Super Mario World cartoon, they get forced to jump into a warp pipe leading to a Magikoopa's haunted house HQ when he threatens to throw Bob-ombs at them"!
  • Almost any given episode of Superfriends. Seanbaby elaborates here.
  • One Chaotic episode involves Kaz's science teacher receiving scans from the UnderWorlders in exchange for the technology to travel between dimensions. Did he not stop to consider that if Chaotic was invaded, all his scans would be worthless? (It was All Just a Dream though.)
  • What's with Andy? is a walking Idiot Plot as you'd have to be a complete idiot to fall for any of Andy's pranks.
  • Transformers Animated:
  • Every single episode of Thundercats relies on the titular characters being as thick as possible. Lion-O, with a firm grip on the Idiot Ball, is the worst offender, though since he's a kid in an adult body it's somewhat excusable. Occasional episodes, however, will have him pass it off to the others, usually Tygra who gaily runs with it straight into trouble.
  • On Phineas and Ferb, the incredibly awesome Fireside Girls are trying to raise money to protect an endangered critter. They ask P&H's help because their attempts at making money, like running a lemonade stand, ended in disaster. Unlike other instances of sudden ability lack on the show, it is not presented as ironic or even pointed out that these girls have been a race-pit crew, mission control on a space flight, and rebuilt a time machine despite faulty instructions. Yet they cannot run a lemonade stand.
  • 2 Stupid Dogs - this IS the plot of this entire show. Still awesome.
  • The Fairly OddParents.
    • The Idiot Plots don't detract from the show since they're a large part of what drives it along, but they're there nonetheless (and, as stated, are a HUGE part of what drives it along). The only reason nobody discovers Timmy Turner's fairies is because of the stupidity of everyone else. Even when they're disguised as ordinary objects, with obvious faces, and they speak while in this state, in front of large crowds. Timmy's parents (and even random people on the street at times) will, instead of questioning Timmy's various talking possessions, simply remark that "That [object that clearly should not be speaking but did] is right!"
    • Even more obvious is how most of Timmy's bad wishes that fuel episode plots could be easily resolved with one counter-wish. (Usually handwaved with "Magic can't effect [antagonist]!")
    • One of the worst specific example would be the episode where Timmy joins the circus. The entire circus plot would literally have not happened had Timmy not overheard his dad talking about him, or more correctly would have not happened had his dad decided to phrase his opinion in literally any way that wasn't basically "Timmy is a worthless little prick who should have been a girl and then I would be much much happier... [Timmy walks out of earshot, sad, to go make preparations to run away] ...is the exact opposite of how I really feel!"
  • DCAU:
    • As awesome it was, it was not immune to Idiot Plots from time to time. One notable example is the Justice League episode "War World". Though closely adapted from a popular DC Comics storyline from the early 80s, "War World" is easily the weakest episode of the first season of Justice League, in large part because of its flaming idiot plot. This World's Finest review says it best:

"Ebert defines an "idiot plot" as a plot that could be solved in 5 minutes if the characters did not act like idiots. We get this in the very first scene, when Superman, J'onn and Hawkgirl are trying to detonate an asteroid. Something goes wrong with the explosion and Supes and J'onn are left stranded in deep space. We never get a full explanation for what exactly went wrong and who was at fault, a sure sign that the writer, having made one of the heroes an idiot, is trying to avoid pinning the blame on anyone. But if this person had not screwed up, we wouldn't even have a story. Nor is this the only occasion when someone acts like an idiot: Why are GL and Hawkgirl gassed in part two? Because they're arguing like idiots. In the fights on War World, why doesn't Superman just fly away from Draaga? Because he's an idiot."

    • And then there's the JLU episode "Clash", which relies entirely on Superman acting like an idiotic jerkass for the story to work. Heck, even Batman points out Supes is acting rashly and out of character and Superman ignores him.
  • Futurama:
    • The first movie had the entire population of the Earth falling for spam ads and obvious Internet scams. Apparently spam filters have become Lost Technology.
    • Bender even has a virus scanner which catches the spam, but looks at it anyway.
    • Then again, most characters in Futurama are deliberate Idiot Balls. The ones that aren't usually end up getting plenty of crowning moments of stupidity too.

Leela (checking e-mail): Spam, spam, junk. (GASP) The very last pygmy rhino is going extinct?! Unless it gets my credit card number?!

    • The third Futurama movie, Bender's Game, features an idiot plot set into motion and resolved by Professor Farnsworth in one of his "less than worthy of being a professor" moments. Because fuel prices are higher than they were before, he reasons that the world would be better off if he and his crew went on a difficult quest to destroy the source of that fuel and then replace it with something almost the same... but infinitely inferior, effectively crippling society as they know it. This plot is made even stupider when another character, Bender, becomes so insane that he cannot distinguish fantasy from reality. He eats a (literal) shitload of radioactive waste that transports all of the characters into his dream, wherein they still try to accomplish the professor/wizard's idiot plot.
  • The Weekenders: Usually a good show, but "Tish's Hair" hinges on Lil Tish (the smart chick of the clique, mind you!) reading a sign that's supposed to say "Your hair is the pits" as "Your hair is it" and not notice that it's been obscured by a tree, and hearing Carver's sister's comment "That's the worst I've ever seen" and thinking it's referring to Carver's shirt instead of her 'do.
  • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad had Toad and friends breaking into Toad Hall to get the deed from Winkie and the Weasels to verify Toad's story. They don't seem to realize that the very presence of the Weasels in Toad Hall would be enough for the police to suspect Toad's story was true and search the place for the deed. Get a constable to see that Toad Hall is "ablaze with lights!" and see whatever Badger saw.
  • Invader Zim's whole series is based on this—the story could be resolved instantly if any human except for Dib noticed that Zim was obviously an alien. Their sheer stupidity is part of the humor, though. Even Zim and Dib themselves hold the Idiot Ball a lot, so a lot of specific episodes fall under this trope.
  • Every episode of Beavis and Butthead is this.
  • This is the premise of the "Chicken Boo" segment on Animaniacs. Chicken Boo is dressed in a painfully obvious costume yet still manages to fool everyone (except for one person) each time.
  • A few episodes of Jimmy Two-Shoes revolve around this.
  • X-Men: Evolution:
    • 'Joyride'. To put it simply, Villain Avalanche joins the X-Men to get into Kitty's pants. Scott doesn't trust him. Meanwhile, the New Recruits start taking the X-Vehicles out for joyrides. When it becomes obvious someone is taking the vehicles out for a joyride they start to suspect Avalanche. Two ways this could have been avoided: Lance could have told them it wasn't him and that he saw the New Recruits sneaking around, or Xavier could have checked their minds/Logan could have used his advanced senses to smell the cars and detect who had been using them. In the end Avalanche takes Kitty with him when he realizes they're taking the X-Jet, thanks to their presence, Jubilee accidentally fries the control panel, and they're nearly blown up by the US military. Avalanche then quits because life at the mansion is too hard.
    • Also, with all of the security at the mansion, things were really flimsy enough that a group of kids who couldn't properly beat a training simulation could crack security and sneak off in the various cars and jets? Surely after it became apparent that someone was using the vehicles, the team would think to at least put a better lock on the garage.
    • Also, the entire Romance Arc for Lance and Kitty, not to mention that very plot, could have been avoided (along with a lot of heartbreak for both) if she had realized that he was still villainous, since the event that made her think he was nice was because he saved her from a falling statue, a falling statue that HE CAUSED.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • The episode "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" of had a lot of logical conclusions; in fact the "happy" ending the episode had wasn't the best posible solution.
    • Especial mention of the Flim-Flam brothers who could have won a lot of money if they weren't so greedy and Granny Smith who caused all the problem to begin with since the Flim-Flam brothers could´t force them to participate in the competition.
    • The Flim-Flam brothers only lost because they arrogantly allowed Apple Jack's friends to help.
    • Also, the Flim-Flam brothers left the town because they couldn't sell cider, but only sold the "bad" cider; they had a lot of good cider and even could make more.
      • Yes, but given that their earlier error had pissed off the entire population of the town it doesn't matter how much good cider they have left to sell, because no one in Ponyville wants to buy anything from them anymore. Especially since their immediate business competition just announced a clearance sale.
    • The fact Apple Jack claims that there are lessons to be had (except for her apparently since she believes already knew all of them) and goes into what she believes to be the lessons, yet clearly misses the lesson of "arrogance can lead to easily avoidable and possibly dire misfortune", may compound annoyance on the part of the viewers.
  • "The Nasty Patty" episode of SpongeBob SquarePants where Spongebob and Mr. Krabs thought they killed the health inspector, when all they did was knock him out. When the police arrive and they confess, the health inspector walks out of the freezer, dazed, leading Spongebob, Krabs, and even the police to believe he is a zombie! It was all intentional, however, and the narrator even lampshades it at the very end.

Narrator: Yes, they are all idiots aren't they?

  • Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens arguably has this bad. The Omnitrix is clearly malfunctioning, but Ben does not tell Tetrax nor anyone else that could deal with it until the halfway point of the film. It doesn't help that, because of these errors in communication, Azmuth, who was visiting to fix the Omnitrix's malfunction, ends up being turned into an angry, incredibly dangerous Tokuster, causing his father to assume that Azmuth died, causing him to attack Ben, whose watch absorbed the Tokuster. This, again, can be traced back to Ben not telling anyone he can trust about the watch, to see if something's wrong with it, as well as admitting he was really grounded.
  • South Park is pretty much built on this.
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