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{{trope}}{{Darth Wiki}}
{{cleanup|Entries should be moved to the individual works' YMMV subpages (or separate Wall Banger subpages if there are enough examples). If the work doesn't yet have a Works page, remember that [[Works Pages Are a Free Launch]].}}
Whoops! Looks like we found some cartoon [[Wall Banger|story screw-ups]] here, too. It would have been nice if someone had spent a few minutes working these out before sending them to air.
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==Subpages==
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== ''Ben 10'' ==
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* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'' has its own when one sees that all of a sudden the characters are fighting their grandma, with lethal power being used on both sides. Only Kevin, who is not related to her, is worried. It's all forgiven as if it were nothing even though they fought with enough power to kill her and ''vice versa.'' Yeah, they were trying to stop her from forcing her way on her granddaughter, but there was no need for either side to use force if they have a good relationship.
** They [[Retcon|decided]] in that episode that Gwen [[Doing
** Worse, Gwen is 1/4 Anodite. '''1/4'''. Yet somehow, she is able to transform into a full Anodite and use all the full powers of an Anodite as well! ''How the hell do those kind of genetics WORK?''
** Gwen's grandmother was [[Easily Forgiven]]. After she has already defeated Ben and Kevin and could have left, she attempts to kill them. Then Gwen appears and she realizes Gwen's her granddaughter and has alien powers. But she is more interested in Gwen's alien powers than in any familial relationship—Ben is her grandson, but she hardly cares. She attempts to ''destroy Gwen's body'' and kidnap her spirit - "the energy being within" - showing no regard for the wellbeing of her grandson. Gwen manages to talk her down, and she leaves on good terms. Nobody calls her out over trying to ''kidnap one grandchild and murder another''. The kids were defending Gwen; the grandmother just wanted a new person on her planet.
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** Also, Charmcaster's father Spellbinder (and it's a wallbanger in of itself that he, a single soul, has to be ressurected with 600,000) gives his daughter a [[What the Hell, Hero?]] speech when he learns what she did, which is well deserved....but it's ''also'' terribly, needlessly harsh and cruel without any sort of understanding shown on Spellbinder's part. "[[Moral Event Horizon|How could you do something so evil?]] [[Complete Monster|You're worse than Adwaitya ever was!]]" That's right, Spellbinder, just ignore all reasoning as to ''why'' your daughter did this. Ignore that she was left alone in the care of her [[Abusive Parents|abusive uncle]] throughout her life, that she was later stuck in this hellish realm for who knows how long, and that [[Evil Power Vacuum|everyone tried to kill each other (and likely her) in an attempt to claim power after Adwaitya was deposed.]] Never mind how traumatized Hope's going to be when you say all this and then go back to being dead ''immediately afterward'', with no words of encouragement for her to redeem herself, no reassurance that she's truly not as evil as the guy who killed you if she does so, or that things will get better for her even without you. But I guess [[True Art Is Angsty]], so just let your daughter suffer! [[Sarcasm Mode|What wonderful parenting!]]
* Bringing Elena Validus and her father from the live action movie into the TV show [[Back for the Dead|just to kill them off]]. Seriously, what the hell? Julie being blatantly made out to be better than Elena in the episode also makes this a possible case of [[Derailing Love Interests]].
** Oops, looks like Elena's not dead, she's back as a complete [[
* Pierce is killed by the Forever Knights, just so that they can be a bigger threat now. Such a casual throwing away of a character....it's a male version of [[Stuffed in The Fridge]]! Oh, and [[
* Ben's defeat of a monster made from the "trash island" in the Pacific Ocean, after it's moved to the coast of San Francisco to get more trash. Since it's a [[Blob Monster]] he can't beat it conventionally. Then he sees that the waves in the ocean are eroding it. This inspires him to do the only logical thing: use Way Big (a giant alien) to run in a circle around the monster fast enough to create a tornado that ''hurls it into space on course for the Sun''. This series has never been good with the laws of physics and tends to abuse [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]], but this solution came right the fuck out of nowhere, kicked physics in the nuts, and pretty much gave a middle finger to any sense of rationality. Worst of all, it's a complete tangent to the observed weakness Ben was presumably trying to exploit.
* Vilgax's [[Not So Different]] speech toward Ben in the series finale. ''Really''? Are we seriously supposed to believe that Ben is ''anything'' like Vilgax even though there's been no evidence of that at all before?
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** There's also the bit of [[Fridge Logic]] that suggests that since they don't want adults to know about the moon base, they must have no idea what a telescope does.
* The end of Heinrich's ongoing story was most likely slapped together because the series was ending. That's the only explanation for how lousy it was. The cause of the feud between Numbah 5 and Heinrich as revealed to be because Heinrich didn't listen to Abigail when she warned him about eating magic caramel. Only, the truth is really "her" and "Henrietta". They did this so abruptly to Heinrich, it couldn't not be this.
* The [[Crossover]] with ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
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== ''The Fairly Oddparents'' ==
* In the [[Reality Television]] parody episode of ''[[The Fairly
* {{spoiler|The [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]}} at the end of the Wishology, which hits the [[Reset Button]] on a good deal of [[Character Development]] for the secondary characters.
** Also in the Wishology, whenever Timmy drives a motorcycle, he falls off and the motorcycle zooms ahead; but he's able to ride the Time Scooter and his cheap bike just fine in earlier episodes. In part two, [[Idiot Plot|almost everyone who is smart enough to make rockets is also dumb enough to send them up without being inside]].
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** Note well: in the very same episode, when Quagmire's sister is getting beaten by her boyfriend, Quagmire runs outside to yell at Brian over his sister getting beaten. He's blaming Brian for something that isn't his fault without motivation, and chewing Brian out is more important to him than trying to rescue his own sister.
*** Wasn't the point Quagmire was making not that that Brian does all of those things, but that he acts intellectually and morally superior to everyone all the time in spite of them? That's one thing Quagmire himself ''doesn't'' do. The fact that he himself acknowledges his flaws and asks him "what gives you the right to judge anyone?" does seem to support this.
**** And he's not "a big alcoholic bore" either. Then again one could argue that having Quagmire lampshade the show's flaws has involved ironically diluting his personality and making him an [[Author Avatar]] too (his voice pitch even seems to convert more into Brian's throughout the speech amusingly enough). Also note the speech is about the one element in his resentment that isn't caused by [[Kafka Komedy]] (e.g. "Quagmire's Dad"). It's not really a justified [[Take That, Scrappy!]] if you're punishing a character for actions that aren't connected to their flaws or even their fault.
* The episode "Jungle Love". This episode extends Lois's abusive behavior to Chris. She spends a good minute trying to convince Chris to tolerate school and realize it's not all bad, and then baits him to Freshmen-targeting high schoolers the minute he sets foot on school grounds. Granted, Lois's character these days is inconsistent and dependent on [[Comedic Sociopathy]], but it's hard to take the Aesop the episode is handing us seriously after that. (Though, since this is ''[[Family Guy]]'', that may be the point).
* The entire episode "Padre de Familia" (which was one of the episodes [[Seth MacFarlane]] didn't do because of the 2007-2008 Writer Guild of America strike). Peter is fired from his job because he is an illegal immigrant, even though 1) his mother is American and 2) he's married to a citizen of America.
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** Don't forget the "we'd be living in the Future right now if Christianity never existed." Uh, time out, here... 1. Christianity actually helped PRESERVE lost Roman sciences and arts during the Dark Ages. 2. The biggest cause of the Dark Ages was the burning of the Library of Alexandria by the Muslim caliphate and the destruction of the Roman Empire, both of which set back centralized research and development several centuries.
*** On the other hand, the Muslims preserved a lot of science and advanced scientifically while Europe didn't, and Muslim knowledge came back to Europe during the Crusades, which was what helped lead them out of the Dark Ages.
**** Your timeline is a bit off - the Dark Ages (remember that the term refers to the gap between the fall of Rome and the founding of the Holy Roman Empire), were already over for centuries by the time of the Crusades, likewise the al-Andalusian contributions to European scholarship. The primary authority leading Europe out of the Dark Ages was the aforementioned Holy Roman Empire, just as the primary scholastic revival was centered around the Catholic monasteries.
** In the "People/Dog role reversal universe", apparently what 'breed' of dog you are is completely random, regardless of the 'breed' of your parents. That would be like the coupling of a white man and black woman giving birth to a Japanese baby.
** Ok, in one gag of the episode, Brian and Stewie end up in a Flintstones-esque universe with Peter as Fred and Lois as Wilma. The joke? Nothing but "rock" puns. Um, the writers of the show do know that ''[[The Flintstones]]'' was essentially ''[[The Honeymooners]]'' [[Recycled in Space|with cavemen]], right? It wasn't just "Rock Puns".
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* "The Father, The Son, and The Holy Fonz" has a scene that has Peter, Francis, and Brian sharing some common ground by stating how much they dislike Madonna. Now, disliking someone due to personal choices they've made in their lives, fine. A bit harsh, but, nothing too serious. But, the wall banger comes in when the group calls Madonna a "liar" just because ''La Isla Bonita'' isn't a real place (Peter stated he couldn't find it on a map). [[Sarcasm Mode|Yes, because no one has ever created a fictional location before.]] Oh, except for [[Harry Potter|Hogwarts]], [[Jurassic Park|Isla Nublar (Isla Sorna in later books/films)]], and, oh yeah, '''[[Family Guy|QUAHOG!]]'''
* "Stewie Loves Lois" - Lois finds Peter in the kitchen, and remarks that he looks awful before asking him what happened. He tells her he was raped...and she laughs! [[Dude, Not Funny|yeah]]. This would not be so bad if she had laughed after he explained everything and she realized he mistook his prostate exam for sexual molestation. Laughing right after the phrase "I was raped" is uttered by a clearly distraught Peter though makes it seem like she finds the notion of Peter getting raped funny, and that's just wrong.
== ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' ==
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* Four Wave Intersection. One of the biggest Wall bangers in the series. Summary: Huge heat wave in Arlen, Bobby sees a commercial for a water park and gets a season pass. He wants to ride the Endless Wave but the guy in charge won't let him because he's not a "local". Then when they decide to go to a higher up he practically tells the guy "Do whatever you want to him." First off, not letting someone go on because of where they're from is discrimination, and from how the higher up acted, its not the first time someone's complained about this idiot. SO WHY IS HE STILL EMPLOYED THERE?!?!?! And with them throwing Bobby down the waterslide like that, he could've broken his neck. Know what would've happened then? Lawsuits, lawsuits and more lawsuits. So instead of firing someone who is not doing their job and performing illegal discrimination, they just let him stay there and hope no one gets hurt. The only thing that prevents this from becoming a DMOS is that the B plot is one of Bills better moments in the series.
* One episode deals with Bobby getting into Tarot cards. Hank, of course, is horrified. Bobby makes friends with a guy at a store who is into Tarot cards. Do we get an aesop about how people who try strange things can be normal? Nope, the guy turns out to be a loser who lives in his mom's basement, dresses up in wizard robes, tries to cast magic spells, and is friends with a bunch of other guys who seem to be just as pathetic as him. By the end of the episode, Bobby realizes how uncool they are and insults them with Hank. It doesn't help that when he left the group, they all tried to destroy him just by saying a spell that included the words "Destroyitcus Bobbyus". Yep, Hank is proven right again because as we all know, ''Hank is always right''.
** Another walbanger is that the LARP group actually believe in what they're doing going so far as to try and make Bobby drink dog's blood as a ritual. This goes beyond unbelievable and falls into [[Chick Tract]] and [[Mazes and Monsters]] levels of stupidity. Do the writers of KOTH even know what LARP groups or [[Dungeons
* ''Serpunt''. Let me sum it up as briefly as possible. Bobby gets a pet python from Lucky (Which, by the way, would've cost Lucky a pretty penny since pythons in general cost about $100). Bobby's python escapes. Two corrupt exterminators cause a city-wide panic about the snake in Texas (You know, where snakes including '''HIGHLY VENOMOUS''' rattlers are commonplace). Dale finds the snake, again Bobby's '''pet''', and brutally kills it rather than humanely capture it and return to its owner. The snake wasn't even being a threat to anyone. It never attacked anyone in the episode. Notice a problem?
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* ''[[Scooby-Doo (animation)|Scooby Doo]] and the Cyber Chase'': So... a professor and his students create a device able to transport people and objects between different dimensions in the cyber world, and they choose to show this revolutionary technology to a bunch of hippies and their retarded dog? Did they honestly believe the Scooby Gang could stop a walking sentient computer virus capable of controlling the world's technology - that would be a job important enough for the government, don't you think?
** The fact that there even ''is'' a walking sentient ''computer virus'' would count.
*** Hey, it worked on ''[[
** The sentient computer virus thing is mostly [[Rule of Cool]]. The problem I had with it was when Daphne said that every villain they ever faced was in the game. So... the gang only faced 7 or 8 villains throughout their entire career?
*** [[Fridge Brilliance|Maybe the game generates a set of villains randomly each playthrough?]]
** The gang was on their way there just to play the new game. The virus appearing the night before was a coincidence. And the gang was zapped into the game by the guy who made the virus.
* Following on the above, ''[[Scooby
** To be fair, the reason why the pirates care is probably less about them being against more innocents, but the fact that '''they''' were consumed. It's probably more of a case of revenge on the part of the pirates than any real altruistic feelings toward any other victims.
** Besides, 200 years [[Fate Worse Than Death|hanging on an island as zombies]] doesn't leave the pirates with much else to do besides reflecting on their own lives. Remember what [[Vandal Savage]] went through in "Hereafter" on ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]''? [[Cassandra Truth|And Moonscar might've thought that if he wrote messages telling the truth too bluntly, he wouldn't be believed]].
** [[Did Not Do the Research|You're asking about the point of the random, suspicious, scary guy who hunts catfish?]] It's been a staple of pretty much ''every'' mystery story that there's someone who acts shady as a [[Red Herring]].
* [[What's New, Scooby
== ''The Secret of NIMH 2'' ==
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== ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' ==
* In Season 2 of ''[[Star Wars: The
▲* In Season 2 of ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars|Star Wars the Clone Wars]]'', Obi-wan, Anakin, and Mace Windu are trying to get information from {{spoiler|Cad Bane}}, who's not cooperating. After ruling out [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|torture]] for not being "the Jedi way", the "heroes" combine their Jedi Mind Trick powers and essentially [[Mind Rape]] the victim into cooperation. The victim cooperates, not because the trick worked, but because ''[[What the Hell, Hero?|he didn't want them to do it again.]]'' Looks like someone's definition of "torture" is incomplete...
** This isn't entirely bad when Anakin at least has the decency to point out that the Jedi are acting like a military and as a result should report to Chancellor Palpatine.....who, of course, is [[The Chessmaster|Darth Sidious]], so it serves to bite them in the ass even if they don't realize it at all at that point. But torturing...yeah.
*** Well considering that the lives of two babies were on the line I'd say that in this case desperate times call for desperate measures.
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** And then, the Father, living embodiment of the Force As A Whole, brings him [[Heel Face Revolving Door|right straight back to the Light Side again]], [[Easy Amnesia|with no memory of what happened]]. My ''God'' that plot twist was pointless...
** From the same episode, only this time, the [[Idiot Ball]] has been handed to the Daughter, [[Rule of Three|living embodiment]] of the Light Side. Get this; her brother is about to stab her father, and instead of, y'know, ''using the Force'' to pull the knife away from her brother, she [[Takes the Bullet]]. And dies. Thus leaving the Force in the care of her father, who is dying, and her brother, who is as dumb as she is and evil on top of that. ...If ''these'' are the people who are basically running the universe at large, is it ''any'' wonder that the Chosen One is an idiot? I mean, come on...
== ''Super Mario'' Cartoons ==
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** Commentaries explained Megatron's behavior. As the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|supposed savior]] of Cybertron has placed himself in position where he would have to keep his word as part of his new beliefs. As for Rattrap, he admits he originally ''intended'' to double-cross Megatron, but thanks to Megatron's playing to Rattrap's bruised ego, kept him from killing him
* Speaking of ''Beast Machines'', the entire premise of the show is a sham; supposedly, the entire "technological perfection" vs "nature and free will" argument that the show's premise is based on was meant as a philosophical look into whether one can "live" in an increasingly technological society, and whether there can be a balance between industry and nature. Sweet, [[Anvilicious]] tripe, but here's the problem: by the time of ''Beast Wars'' continuity, Cybertron was ''already'' pursuing that balance, having developed technology to incorporate organic beast modes into their systems for leisurely exploration into other planets, and as [[The Scrappy|Nightscream]] explains in his intro, had all ''internalized'', in an off-screen upgrade. Rumor has it that [[Executive Meddling]] demanded continuity not be followed for the show, but Nightscream's statement remains in this show's own canon. So, to give [[An Aesop]] about technorganic balance, the show had to ignore the same technorganic balance the Transformers were ''already working toward''? Or was the Oracle just too impatient to wait for the planet's evolution to technorganics on its own, and decided to force the evolution to happen on its own timeclock?
** What'e even worse, is that, when you [[Fridge Logic|think about it]], this story could've been told far more competently and logically by ''keeping'' continuity with ''Beast Wars'' instead of disregarding it. Think about it; by the end of ''Beast Wars'', the survivors have been altered anatomically to the point where it's unknown how or even ''if'' they could be reverted back to their original forms (btw, just ''how'' did the virus in ''Beast Machines'' override the Vok enhancements in the Maximals, but let Megatron keep his Dragon form?), and they are now privy to forbidden knowledge, not just of the Great War (that, as established below, was meant to be classified), but of the dirty little secrets of both the Maximal and Predacon ruling councils. So, if the executives wanted a "[[Rage Against the Machine]], nature vs. technology" story, they could've used ''that'' as a basis, with the Maximals being hunted down by the general populace for their mutations (which, if the "Vok are the evolved Swarm" theory is used, could be contagious, fulfilling the "technorganic Cybertron" ending they were going for), and the government in order to shut them up and keep their knowledge from sparking a revolution. Just another example of how these [[Wall Banger
** One more on ''[[Beast Machines]]'': The End of BW had Megatron's ass kicked in a major way, and him badly humiliated by being a hood ornament on their entire ride home. He was damaged in the fight. The transit through space couldn't have been kind. But lo and behold, all this is ignored with some vague time-dilation talk so that he can now become supreme ruler and nineteen kinds of invincible. That's right, total and utter defeat ensures your supreme victory.
* ''[[Beast Wars]]'' has a huge [[Wall Banger]] with its ''continuity''—specifically, its continuity relative to G1. To avoid [[Fan Dumb|fan backlash]], the writers strove to put G1 in the light of [[King Arthur|"Arthurian lore",]] building the implication of the series over time that general knowledge about the events of G1 was fuzzy and ill-defined, and any records of those events (especially regarding their connection to Earth) were tightly controlled by the government, preventing the public from clarifying the facts. Okay, all well and good, and they would've succeeded...had they not decided to use ''Ravage'' in the second season finale. Ravage, one of ''the original Decepticons on the Nemesis'' and possibly ''one of the oldest Transformers in existence''. Once he showed up and confirmed that there were others from G1 alive and well during the series' timeline, the question of what they were doing all this time and why they didn't educate their descendants about their history overrode any attempt by the writers to maintain [[The Masquerade]]. Or should have.
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* ''[[Winx Club]]'': An S3 ep has Tecna sacrifice herself to save Layla's realm. Just one problem with that: In doing so, she gets her Enchantix powers. It was firmly established earlier in the season that each girl is supposed to save someone from her own world through a great sacrifice to get hers. At no point did the episode, or even the series, feature (or even mention) anyone else from Tecna's world.
** As of the end of S4, we ''still'' haven't been to Tecna's home-realm, and she's moved on from Enchantix to Believix.
** This is far from the only [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|complaint]] made about the third season. From that same season, we have [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b9N3q7lF6Y this scene], in which Icy doesn't [[Playing with Fire|fight Bloom with fire]] even though she was shown [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMEowH5X84k getting that power] two minutes ago, while Darcy (whose first action in the series was to detect Bloom hiding behind a trashcan) gets tangled with Stormy after Layla sneaks up behind them. The "best" part? These lapses in logic were the result of [[Dub
** Regarding Tecna's Enchantix, some people have argued that Tecna still did save an ''entire realm'' and so she does deserve her Enchantix. I've heard some fans even suggest that someone simply may have been visiting Layla's realm during that time to justify it.
* On an episode of ''[[Monster Buster Club]]'' (an otherwise quite enjoyable show), one B-plot revolved around team tomboy Sam. She is angry because there are "no female characters in comics" and has to make her own 'girl comics'. Now ok, you can argue that women are treated differently in comics or objectified; but to say that there are '''no''' women in comics at all... is simply ridiculous. [[Wonder Woman]], [[Birds of Prey]], [[Lady Death]], Photon was for a time Captain Marvel for crying out loud, [[Storm]] used to lead the X-Men. The claim is impossible to back up. It doesn't make Sam look 'strong' or 'passionate'; it makes her sound like she seriously [[Did Not Do the Research]]... which is exactly what the writers did(n't) do.
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*** Which means that Rabbit is basically a walking [[Broken Aesop]]. Why? Well, Rabbit is a furry [[Small Name, Big Ego]] who has some clear [[Jerkass]] qualities to him...And yet, NO one in the show points out how arrogant he is because he's one of the good guys. So, um, [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|it's ok to be act like you're all that and a bag of chips and act like you're better than everyone else just because you're one of the good guys?]]
* The ending of ''[[Titanic: The Legend Goes On]]'' being [[Happily Ever After]]. A movie about the ''Titanic.'' [[Dude, Not Funny]] doesn't even begin to describe how offensive this is.
** And the utterly ridiculous [[
* In one episode of ''[[Ozzy and Drix]]'', Ozzy goes through mitosis. The result is a mutated [[Evil Twin|clone]] (he has 4 arms), and after getting Ozzy out of the way, he steals the iodine that will allow Hector to grow. What's wrong with that? Well, remember I said the clone had 4 arms? During the hold-up, all 4 of his arms are visible (he previously had the 2 extras hidden)...and yet NOBODY-not the police, not Maria, not even Drix-notices that 'Ozzy' has 2 extra arms! They all automatically assume that Ozzy (the real one) is guilty! Hey, morons! Are you stupid or something?! YOU CAN SEE THAT IT'S NOT THE REAL OZZY!
** In their defense, Ozzy is a fairly accomplished shape shifter. The extra-arms may be strange but not completely impossible for Ozzy to do.
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* ''[[BattleTech]]''. Towards the end of the show, Adam Steiner breaks into the Jade Falcon compound where his brother is being held. How do you ask? By walking up to the chainlink fence, grabbing it at the bottom and lifting a portion up so he can crawl underneath. Wait... what?! [[Fridge Logic|Why didn't the prisoners escape that way in the first place?]]
* ''[[Tale Spin]]'', while usually a rather enjoyable and heartwarming show, wasn't void of these moments either. Episodes like "Save The Tiger" and "Your Baloo's In The Mail" are notable for evolving the Baloo ([[The Ace|yeah]], [[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|THAT]] [[Gentle Giant|Baloo]]) into almost the same [[Idiot Ball|idiotic]] [[Jerkass]] territory as [[Family Guy|Peter Griffin]] and [[The Simpsons (animation)|Homer Simpson]] had as of recently. Rebecca, while hardly void of abusive moments to Baloo herself at times, came off as a borderline [[The Woobie|Woobie]] for the hell she put with on these occasions. "[[Downer Ending|Baloo's In The Mail]]" especially enters [[Dude, Not Funny]] territory for many fans.
* ''[[Men in Black (animation)|Men in Black]] The Series'': Much of the early seasons revolved around [[The Men in Black]] ditching their overall mission to protect Earth from dangerous aliens in favor of humiliating [[Butt Monkey|Agent J]] every chance they got. One of K's favored tactics was purposefully withholding vital facts about the [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] of the aliens they were about to encounter until J screwed everything up and it was too late (that J was a newbie and it was his partner's responsibility to educate him about such things never figured into it). One of the many [[Wall Banger
** It's even worse than that. As the bodyguard will take too long to regenerate, the Men in Black decide to have an agent go undercover in an alien bodysuit to protect the diplomat. Fair enough, but you should already know who they give the assignment to. What follows is a J getting a cram session about the alien species' culture (habits, language, etc.) and then "comedic" pratfalls endured by the disguised agent while on the job. The Wallbanger becomes evident because K and virtually every other agent seen knew all about this species. Why waste valuable time getting the newest agent up to speed and go through all of this when anyone else could've done the job?
** Following Zed's retirement, a weakened Alpha crashes an alien ship and steals the body parts of the alien criminals inside. With his new powers and body made of [[Badass|Badass Incarnate]], he captures Agent J and uses a [[Mind Probe]] on him to learn Zed's location. After he leaves, Agent L rescues J and reveals Zed's not retired: every last one of J's fellow agents was pulling a [[Massive Multiplayer Scam|Massive Multiplayer]] [[Batman Gambit]] on J to trick Alpha into reading J's mind, with armed agents lying in wait at the "retirement" spot. In other words; the Men in Black knew Alpha would attack the alien ship and, rather than spring a trap at the ship against a weakened Alpha, they let him upgrade himself with the alien goodies that made him [[Nigh Invulnerable]] and planned to take him down afterwards. The plan falls apart spectacularly, as Alpha picked up on J not being entirely fooled by Zed's phony retirement.
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* In ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'', the infamous episodes with a [[Shout-Out]] plot to [[Baby's Day Out]]. The [[Dumb Blonde]] who was supposed to be babysitting Tom's owner's baby instead spends all night taking on the phone, completely unaware of the [[Badly-Battered Babysitter|trouble Tom and Jerry are going through to keep the infant from suffering a very messy, very early end]]. For all their trouble, what do they get? ''Arrested'', when the babysitter finally decides to be a babysitter and immediately assumes the cat and mouse kidnapped the child. The fact there is absolutely no tangible comeuppance for her drives many older fans up the wall.
* One of the episodes from the 80s ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]'' involved an [[It's a Wonderful Plot]] for Dave. (Basically, after feeling he's ruined the boys' day by dealing with a lemony car, flubbing a soccer game play, and having to break the news to Alvin that they can't go to summer camp, Dave feels depressed and feels that they'd be better off without him) The Wallbanger is in Simon's story. (Long story short, it's about a spelling bee he had in kindergarten, and Dave helped him when he felt he couldn't spell anything.) In the Daveless future, Simon can't spell anything, but here's the Wallbanger: At the spelling bee Simon is given the word: "Mississippi" (hard word for a five-year-old), but when Simon misspells it, EVERYONE STARTS LAUGHING AT POOR SIMON! Yes, you read right, the entire audience full of supposedly mature adults bursts out laughing at a kindergartner who just tried to spell a word that he shouldn't be able to until he's eight, and traumatizes the poor guy. That's just cruel.
* ''[[My Little Pony:
** The episode "Secret Of My Excess" has one. Ok, so first Spike gets greedy from people giving him so many gifts (something he's not used to...despite that you'd think that Celestia, Twilight Sparkle's parents, and other people who knew Spike before the series began would give him gifts as well). Odd, but fine. Then, Spike starts growing larger and more powerful as he hoards more things. That's stretching the [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] a bit...But, it's a cartoon, so we'll let that pass. It's then explained that Spike's growth is a result of his greed and that the more he wants/obtains, the bigger he gets and they must stop him from being greedy to return him to normal. An interesting metaphor, if a bit overused. But, fine. But, then...''then'' it's explained that this is a '''normal''' aspect of a dragon's growth. (beat) [[Big "What?"|WHAT!?!]] Not only has this ''never'' been established before with the other dragon characters shown in the series (Yes, they did hoard treasure, but they didn't mindlessly grab at any random object they could reach. And they certainly weren't reduced to [[Hulk Speak]] like Spike was), but it doesn't make sense at ''all'' regarding the lesson that the episode is trying to convey. [[Lost Aesop|Spike's greed is normal, but it's bad so we have to remind him to be generous with others by having him remember how good he felt when he gave Rarity that gem?]] Wouldn't a better lesson be "It's
** If you thought Pinkie got off easy for destroying Cranky's book, that's nothing compared to what her "friends" got away with in "Mmmystery on the Friendship Express." The former can at least be written off as an accident, the latter was completely selfish and slimy. Does it mean ''nothing'' to them that [[Butt Monkey|the Cakes]] poured their blood sweat and tears into the Mmm, while simultaneously taking care of two newborns? It doesn't matter how tasty it looked, it wasn't theirs to eat! The deus ex machina that took the heat off of them was such an [[Ass Pull]]. What really burns me up, is that we had episodes like ''Suited for Success'' where both sides of the conflict learn a lesson. Here however we see one of the most incredible [[Karma Houdini|Houdinis of the karma and lesson variety]]. Rather than ''"Dear Princess Celestia, today we learned that that we need to have better self-restraint, and that we should confess to our mistakes,"'' the lesson is some half-baked yarn about how Pinkie was in the wrong despite being practically the only person doing anything productive!
* Unfortunately, ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' had a small one at the end of "Lights, Camera, Candace". Phineas and Ferb's movie is finished and according to the director type, it's being shown to a crowd of teens in a theater. The teens love it...until Doof's Age Accelerator<ref>-Inator</ref> zaps them causing them to turn old and flee the theater complaining about the noise. The director dude is like "Oh they didn't like it, tough break, boys." even though he ''specifically said that there were TEENAGERS in the theater'' and not senior citizens!
** There's also a bigger one in ''Run Candace Run'', which revolves around Candace having to do three things-one for Jeremy, one for Mom, and one for Stacy[[What Happened to the Mouse?|(though Stacy's was never shown later on).]] However, it later on switches to the Johnsons' long lost family member, Annabelle, ''even though that had absolutely nothing to do with what was going on earlier.'' Later on, Candace accidentally reunites their long lost family member. [[Heartwarming Moments|Sure, that was nice and all,]] ''but what about the rest of the plot?'' Couldn't everyone who Candace had to help have just talked it over and come up with a solution?
* The ''[[Dexter's
* [[Archer]] usually avoids this, since its nonsensical elements and the idiotic actions of its characters are usually played for laughs, but it unfortunately runs headlong into this at the end of "Skin Game." Archer's dead fiancee Katya is resurrected as a cyborg, and when she feels she can no longer find acceptance among humans, she runs off with the only other cyborg on the show: Barry. The same Barry who caused her death and forced her to become a cyborg in the first place. All this despite the two trying to kill each other less than a minute earlier, Archer protesting that he still loves her even though she's a cyborg, and the fact that she had spent her entire career fawning over Archer.
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