What an Idiot!/Anime and Manga/Pokémon

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• Happens to Team Rocket on numerous occasions, usually used as an Ass Pull.
  • In Pokémon Paparazzi they've successfully captured Pikachu and defeated Ash and Todd.
    You'd expect: Them to the get the heck out of there.
    Instead: They throw bombs at Ash and Todd and are fooled into posing for a shot, where the bombs blow up in their hands, thus defeating them.
  • In another episode, Ash is fighting Misty in the Whirl Islands Tournament. When Misty tries to use her last Pokémon, Psyduck comes out. Ash has his Kingler out on the field. However, Psyduck has a tendency to go into a Psycho rage when it gets a headache. Ash knows this; he has seen it on numerous occasions.
    You'd Expect: Ash to command Kingler to tickle Psyduck, or better yet, nudge it into the water.
    Instead: Ash commands Kingler to use Vicegrip. On Psyduck's head. A few seconds later, Ash's face comes in contact with flying crab.
  • Ash's general stupidity in regards to Team Rocket.
    You'd Expect: Ash, over his many encounters with Team Rocket, to smart up and realize that their weapons/tools/whatever are more often than not designed to nullify electric attacks.
    Instead: Time and again, Ash sics Pikachu's Thunderbolt on their asses as a first attack, with unsuccessful results.
  • On a similar note...
    You'd Expect Ash and his company to recognize Jessie and James's hair colors, styles, and voices after all the constant encounters, and learn to identify them through such.
    Instead they fall for the disguises almost every time.
  • At the end of the eighth movie, Lucario needs to use his Aura power to heal the World Tree, but the amount of Aura required would be fatal to him.
    You'd Expect Lucario to ask Ash, who has recently been revealed to have Aura power, to help him heal the tree, thus preventing a senseless loss of life.
    Instead Lucario does it himself and dies a tragic, pointless death.
  • In Pokémon: The Movie 2000, the villain Gelarden has just captured Moltres and Ash & co accidentally.
    You'd Expect: The villain to keep Ash and friends imprisoned, or just for kicks, dump them into the sea.
    Instead: He lets them go as he monologues. A few minutes later, his flying base is in ruins and the two birds he captured have escaped. Nice work, moron.
  • During the three-episode Enemy Mine tournament arc where Ash and Paul are forced to work together, Ash comes across Paul's intense training methods and how injured Chimchar was, all in the name of harnessing Blaze - the whole reason Paul caught Chimchar in the first place and kept him as long as he did, and the whole reason he's even in the tournament in the first place (this is already a big strike against him). Keep in mind that this is the night before their next match. Chimchar is taken to the Pokémon Center, and Paul is explicitly told by Nurse Joy that Chimchar would be far too worn out to battle tomorrow and would need rest. He is also aware that his next match involves a Zangoose, and that Chimchar fears this particular species.
    You'd expect Paul to take her advice and have Chimchar sit this one out. You know, since she IS a doctor for Pokémon and knows what she's talking about. Not only would this give Chimchar a chance to physically and psychologically recover, it would also ease Ash off his case. And who knows - maybe Blaze could come out the following round?
    Instead Paul ignores Nurse Joy's warning and uses Chimchar in their battle the next day. Not only that, he then has Chimchar attack knowing that his moves would end up hurting Ash's Turtwig as well and finally, fed up with its 'weakness', leaves Ash to finish the battle solo. After the fight, he abandons Chimchar without a second thought, just like several other Pokemon he once handled.
    Taking the stupidity even further, the kind of trainer Paul was meant to represent would know better than to send into an important match a Pokemon that clearly needs bench time, professional opinion or otherwise. Furthermore, anyone with even a shred of empathy would know that throwing a Pokemon against something it flat-out fears is more likely to petrify it than to trip Super Mode. And yet, despite such flagrant disregard for both his Pokemon and his teammate, especially in front of such a massive audience, Paul was not reprimanded one whit, either on-the-spot or in hindsight. Were it not for his leather pants and the author's favoritism for him, this would be the moment that destroyed any sympathy he deserved.
  • In Pokémon: The First Movie, Mewtwo, having been persuaded to work with Giovanni, is still wondering what his purpose is.
    You'd Expect: Giovanni would keep in mind Mewtwo is the strongest Pokémon ever, and can take down multiple opponents all at once, AND that prior to this, he destroyed an entire laboratory and all those inside in a fit of rage over the scientists not caring about him, just what he is. Thus he should be careful not to offend/anger Mewtwo.
    Instead: He tells Mewtwo that, as Mewtwo was created by humans, his purpose is to serve them and not question it. Mewtwo promptly causes an explosion and takes off.
  • Barry is battling Ash. Ash's Chimchar defeats Barry's Staraptor.
    You'd expect: Barry to send out his Empoleon, taking advantage of Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors and the fact that Empoleon is a fully evolved Pokémon with powerful attacks, unlike Chimchar.
    Instead: He sends out his Roserade, giving Ash Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors advantage.
    However: His Roserade is also powerful, taking out Chimchar in a matter of seconds. Plus, defeating Chimchar despite type disadvantage may have been Barry's way of showing off.
• In Pokémon Special:
  • Jasmine is traveling through Ecruteak City when there's an earthquake.
    You'd Expect: She run somewhere she won't get crushed.
    Instead: She runs to what has to be the most structurally weak building in the area: a crumbling, 700-year-old wooden tower! Not just inside it, either, but to the top!
  • Ark uses a bound-and-gagged Flannery as a hostage to lure Sapphire into an airtight cable car, which he locks and then floods with his Azumarill - but not before knocking out Toro and putting an air bubble around his head to make certain he can breathe in the flooded car.
    You'd Expect Ark to let the water do the work. He can breathe; they can't. The entire situation, at that point, was engineered so he couldn't hope to lose.
    Instead not only does he summon a Sharpedo to expedite the killing, but even after its teeth are broken off, he flagrantly violates Rule 6 of the Evil Overlord List, with some of the gloating going straight into Tempting Fate. Yes, Sapphire can hold her breath that long, and she does, up to the point she manages to cut a hole in the glass with the same teeth she just broke off!

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