History Main / PoorCommunicationKills

* ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'': The film's plot revolves around Mater being mistaken for an American secret agent, and the various conflicts and misunderstandings that occur as a result.

* ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'': Almost literally in this case. Because P.T. Flea wasn't in on the plan with the fake bird, upon seeing it, he shot fire at it, not only nearly killing Flik and the girls, but also exposing the ruse to Hopper.

** During the Tokyo race, Mater tries to have a conversation with Holley over his headset while still on the line to McQueen, which distracts the latter and causes him to lose the race. When explaining himself afterwards, Mater mentions hearing Holley's voice in his head, which makes Lightning assume that Mater's "girlfriend" is imaginary, making him even angrier.

** During the climax, [[spoiler: Mater realizes that the Lemons strapped a bomb to him in order to kill Lightning; and he desperately tries to drive away from McQueen while the latter tries to apologize for their earlier falling out. During the chase, Lightning interprets Mater's various warnings as simple words of regret, not realizing what's actually going on until he sees the bomb for himself.]]

Compare DramaticallyMissingThePoint; OpenMouthInsertFoot; ImpededMessenger; DoomedAppointment; FunnyPhoneMisunderstanding; SuspiciousMissedMessages.

* ''LetsPlay/LifeSMP'': The Boogeyman curse of Seasons 2 and 4 functions like a {{geas}}, where the assigned Boogeyman has to kill another player by the end of the session, or have their life prematurely shortened. This quickly becomes a primary source of tension in the series.

* Pretty much the entirety of ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'' would have not only been avoided, but they'd have escaped years ago had any of the hens actually bothered to ''listen'' to any of Fowler's ramblings. It's not until late in the movie that they even ask what the R.A.F. or "the old crate" was, and learn it was the Royal Air Force and ''a flying machine''. Fowler on the other hand always assumed they were listening to him, and is genuinely surprised none of them know what either of those things are, as it's implied he's been going off about both for as long as he's been there.

* In ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', Joy and Sadness focus on waking Riley up while Fear is on dream duty, but the other emotions have no idea that they doing this to get back to headquarters and Anger and Disgust chastise Fear for waking Riley up during a nightmare. Anger comes up with a plan to make Riley run away.

* ''WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting'', by the same creators as the above, has its Emperor-analogue, Big D, suffer from this. He does have his reasons; as discussed in the second audiolog, vampires are deadly serious about maintaining TheMasquerade, and if any of his family even let slip that they know basic vampire terminology like the names of their clans at the wrong time, an agent of the Camarilla might hear them and have them KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade. He also sometimes has trouble understanding that others might not share [[CloudCuckooLander his thought-processes]]; he didn't tell Marckus [[spoiler:about Diablerie]] because he expected that Marckus would already have assumed that [[spoiler:vampire+vampire= super vampire]]. Marckus, who did not in fact assume that, instead tried to test [[spoiler:what happens when vampires feed off each other]] experimentally, [[spoiler:resulting in Pyotr being able to gain enough power to break free.]]

* ''Roleplay/{{Communication}}'': The reason why the relationship between [[LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero Louise and Kirche]] got so toxic. [[FeudingFamilies Due to their families being enemies]], Kirche was content with simply ignoring Louise for their time together at school, but [[TheNapoleon Louise being Louise]] after [[NoodleIncident a poor encounter]], is the one who indulged in the family feuding with Kirche. [[WorthyOpponent Seeing and enjoying the fire Louise displayed in that encounter]], Kirche decided to [[SnarkToSnarkCombat indulged in it as well]], thinking ''that's'' what Louise actually wanted. This resulted in Kirche becoming unintentionally TheFace of all the mockery Louise faced at school, with her giving the nickname [[EmbarrassingNickname Louise the Zero]].

* ProxyBreakup: Alice wants to break-up with Bob, so she has Cindy do it for her. HijinksEnsue.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', after Lord Farquaad chooses Fiona as the princess he wants to marry, the Magic Mirror attempts to warn him about the "little thing that happens at night." However, Farquaad is so caught up in his own celebrating at being able to call himself a king that he cuts the Mirror off before he can explain. Had he let the Mirror finish, he would have learned that [[spoiler:Fiona was cursed to turn into an ogre every night until she kisses her true love. Though in the case her true love being the fellow ogre, Shrek, she ends up just staying an ogre full-time anyway.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'': The tragedy of Saber in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' as well as Saber of Red in ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha''. [[spoiler:Arturia was immensely focused on serving Britain as the best king she could be. When Mordred reveals that she's Arturia's son ([[ItMakesSenseInContext it's a long story]]) and wants the throne, Arturia rejects her and remains distant from her. Mordred takes this as Arturia hating her and lashes out by building a rebellion against Arturia while Arturia is busy chasing down Lancelot after the Guinevere affair, which eventually leads to Arturia and Mordred committing a MutualKill at the end of the Battle of Camlann, the defining moment of the fall of Camelot. As we learn from each other's respective sides of the story, Mordred only wanted the throne because she genuinely wanted to relieve her father of the burden of her royal duties and Arturia was essentially MarriedToTheJob (she didn't think that anyone else was capable of ruling Britain competently, especially not the HotBlooded Mordred) in addition to being understandably uncomfortable with a child she wasn't aware of and [[ChildByRape didn't consent to having with her half-sister archnemesis]] as well as [[TheStoic just being distant to everyone in general, even to her Knights]]. Of course, Mordred's mother Morgan le Faye engineered much of this intentionally to destroy Camelot; Mordred was always her weapon against Arturia, and she was careful to only reveal Mordred's parentage at the worst possible moment]].

* ''LetsPlay/LifeSMP'': The Boogeyman curse of Seasons 2 and 4 functions like a {{geas}}, where the assigned Boogeyman has to kill another player by the end of the session, or have their life prematurely shortened.

* In [[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/scourge-19-2/ Chapter 19.2]] of ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Skitter explicitly recalls and sets out to defy this trope when [[spoiler:talking to Weld and Miss Militia about Calvert]]:
-->'''Skitter:''' I'd always hated those parts in the TV shows and movies, where everything could be resolved with the simple truth. It was why I’d never been able to watch romantic comedies. It grated: the sitcom-esque comedic situations which would be resolved if people would only sit down, explain, and listen to one another, the tragedies which could have been prevented with a few simple words. I didn't want to be one of those tragedies.

* A similar example occurs in "5ever." A girl asks her boyfriend if he will love her forever; again, he says no, and again, she runs away and dies (this time she's struck by a car). When he finds her corpse, he explains that he didn't plan on loving her forever -- he was going to love her ''five''ever, which is apparently more than "four"ever.

* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} '''''heavily''''' on the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP''. This is a common problem throughout the server, which causes many, ''many'' conflicts and a lot of friction between the characters. For two of the most egregious examples of this trope in the series:
** [[spoiler:Wilbur's [[UnreliableExpositor unreliable exposition]] in the letters to his father, Philza, led him to embrace anarchy and help ''bomb Wilbur's legacy, L'Manburg, [[NukeEm into a gaping hole to bedrock]]'' in the Doomsday War. Ghostbur, Wilbur's spectral counterpart, proceeds to [[CallingTheOldManOut call him out on]] his [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremism]].]]
** Karl refusing to tell others about his [[PowerAtAPrice time travelling-induced memory problems]] caused him to forget to invite his fiancé Quackity to Kinoko Kingdom. [[spoiler:This turns out to be [[TraumaCongaLine the last straw]] for Quackity, triggering his relationship trauma and causing him to spiral ''heavily'', which ends up having huge ramifications on both [[DespairEventHorizon his views]] and [[WellIntentionedExtremist actions]] on the SMP. Meanwhile, Karl himself begins to grow resentful, eventually coming to the conclusion that Quackity had received the invitation and rejected it, and left to build his own country.]]

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': Blitzo and Stolas are in a transactional physical relationship where Blitzo [[SexForServices has monthly sex with]] Stolas in exchange for borrowing Stolas's grimoire for his business. Stolas is head over heels in love with Blitzo, but has NoSocialSkills and mainly expresses his affection through [[AggressiveSubmissive sexually explicit]] or [[InnocentlyInsensitive unwittingly condescending]] flirting, made worse by the [[UnequalPairing overwhelming difference in status and power]]. It's heavily implied that Blitzo has developed begrudging feelings for Stolas but feels trapped by his relationship with the prince, fearing intimacy as much as he [[IJustWantToBeLoved craves it]]. Additionally, Stolas's aggressive, ''very'' horny advances make Blitzo think that Stolas only sees him as a living sex toy, and when Stolas is too humiliated to respond when Asmodeus publicly calls him out on giving up his nuclear family to sleep with a lowly imp, Blitzo is further convinced that Stolas doesn't really care about him. Further compounding the misunderstanding is the reveal that it was Blitzo who aggressively seduced Stolas for the grimoire the first time they had sex, implying that part of why Stolas lusts after Blitzo so openly is because he thinks it's what ''Blitzo'' wants.

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': Blitzo and Stolas are in a transactional physical relationship where Blitzo [[SexForServices has monthly sex with]] Stolas in exchange for borrowing Stolas's grimoire for his business. Stolas is head over heels in love with Blitzo, but has NoSocialSkills and mainly expresses his affection through [[AggressiveSubmissive sexually explicit]] or [[InnocentlyInsensitive unwittingly condescending]] flirting, made worse by the [[UnequalPairing overwhelming difference in status and power]]. It's heavily implied that Blitzo has developed begrudging feelings for Stolas but feels trapped by his relationship with the prince, fearing intimacy as much as he [[IJustWantToBeLoved craves it]]. Additionally, Stolas's aggressive, ''very'' horny advances make Blitzo think that Stolas only sees him as a living sex toy, and when Stolas too humiliated to respond when Asmodeus publicly calls him out on giving up his nuclear family to sleep with a lowly imp, Blitzo is further convinced that Stolas doesn't really care about him. Further compounding the misunderstanding is the reveal that it was Blitzo who aggressively seduced Stolas for the grimoire the first time they had sex, implying that part of why Stolas lusts after Blitzo so openly is because he thinks it's what ''Blitzo'' wants.

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': Blitzo and Stolas are in a transactional physical relationship where Blitzo [[SexForServices has monthly sex with]] Stolas in exchange for borrowing Stolas's grimoire for his business. Stolas is head over heels in love with Blitzo, but has NoSocialSkills and mainly expresses his affection through sexually explicit or unwittingly condescending flirting, made worse by the [[UnequalPairing overwhelming difference in status and power]]. It's heavily implied that Blitzo has developed begrudging feelings for Stolas but feels trapped by his relationship with the prince, fearing intimacy as much as he [[IJustWantToBeLoved craves it]]. Additionally, Stolas's aggressive, ''very'' horny advances make Blitzo think that Stolas only sees him as a living sex toy, and when Stolas too humiliated to respond when Asmodeus publicly calls him out on giving up his nuclear family to sleep with a lowly imp, Blitzo is further convinced that Stolas doesn't really care about him.