They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

** It gets worse when you stop to consider the little snippets of horror behind this "Brand New Cybertron", from the alleged corruption of the Maximal High Council to the secret schemes and origins of Tarantulas and the Tripredacus Council, are only glimpsed at and not elaborated on at any length, leaving a ''lot'' of intriguing history undiscovered.

* In ''[[Transformers Armada]]'', one particular episode comes to mind. The Autobots had just managed to eke out a victory over the Decepticons regarding a trio of Minicons that combined to form a particularly devastating weapon. They could easily end the Cybertron war by using them, they realize. The problem is that the Minicons want nothing to do with the war, and prefer to be left alone. As the Autobots argue the moral dilemma against each other, the human members of the cast reach their own decision. They side with the Minicons, abandon the Autobots, and help them escape from the base to safety. While this works at first, eventually they are tracked down by a Decepticon, and they realize the danger of not being protected by the Autobots. This could have become a great plotline. Unfortunately, it is considered one of the worst episodes of the series. Reasons are numerous, including the show's insistence that the Autobots must always be the good guys, the fandom's [[Creator's Pet|hatred of the kids]], a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] scene that is considerably more painful than amusing, and the whole thing being resolved by a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment from Optimus Prime that solidified the argument that the kids were morons for not having perfect faith in the heroes of the show.

* One of the more universally reviled episodes of ''[[Animaniacs]]'' is "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock", a full episode featuring Slappy and Skippy. The premise: Slappy goes insane, Skippy is eventually taken away to a foster home, Slappy needs to get back. Again, many figure Slappy was a little out of character here... but some fans felt that it had a lot of potential as a story, maybe more dramatic than most... until it all falls flat at the end, with the foster family (or the government agency that put Skippy there!) never even mentioned. Not even a token grenade tossed. Even if the plot was meant to justify large cartoon bombs... at least feature things getting bombed, OK?

* Parodied in the [[Shoo Out the New Guy]] episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'': Poochie's premiere cartoon begins with Itchy and Scratchy driving to a fireworks factory. They then get stopped by Poochie, who launches into a [[Totally Radical]] rap song. Cut to Milhouse sobbing and asking, "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?"

* Played deliberately in the fifteenth season two parter ("You're Getting Old"/"Ass Burgers") of ''[[South Park]]'' which set itself up for some great potential storylines about divorce and how it's occasionally the best option, along with some major character development through life changes and epiphanies. Just as Stan accepts all the surprises his life awaits, the entire potential arc was wrapped up in a single [[Reset Button]], much to his exasperation.

* While the dream making concept of ''[[The Dreamstone]]'' is rather unique, it is actually rarely explored or developed in favor of the Urpneys' [[Road Runner vs. Coyote]] antics. The actual process for making dreams is depicted in a rather unclear and mundane manner due to the heroes being kept somewhat [[Out of Focus|underfocused]] and [[Flat Character|flat]], while the dreams themselves are shown once in a blue moon, largely in favor of making the minions of the [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character|equally underused Zordrak]] act as [[Villain Protagonist|Villain Protagonists]]. If it weren't for it's name, The Dreamstone could often be seen as any other generic [[MacGuffin]] stealing show (not to say it's a bad one however).

* ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' is a pretty darn awesome superhero in concept, but he spends the entire series gleefully clutching the [[Idiot Ball]] and generally being useless (only a handful of episodes [[Let's Get Dangerous|showing his potential as a competant hero]]). Alot of people say that Penny's a lot better a protagonist, and wish that she was the series' primary focus.

 

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