Times where characters realized they "Could Have Avoided This!" in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In Avenger of Steel, after Natasha leads Clark to a hotel where they can contact someone affiliated with the Russian mafia, Clark points out that they didn’t need to go to the trouble of infiltrating the hotel and ‘hiring an escort’ as he could have just flown them straight to the right room. Natasha’s response suggests that she just found this way more amusing.
- Implicitly brought up in Chapter 68 of Avengers: Infinite Wars, when the Mandalorians and Guardians of the Galaxy indicate that Vision could have found his friends sooner if he had mentioned that he was part of the Avengers.
- In the Italian remake of Battle Fantasia Project, the Guardians of Kandrakar have this reaction when they learn their training was as messed up as in canon because their training manuals had gone lost and could not be recovered due the spell enforcing the masquerade and the Congregation had debated on recreating them for fifty years. In his defense, the Oracle agrees with them and is quick to avert another instance (the trouble with Ari of Arkhanta, who has an autistic son and a banshee powerful enough to threaten Kandrakar. As now it's possible, he has the Guardians bring the child to a therapist).
- In Contact at Kobol, at the end of the war, a Libran general notes that the whole conflict could have been averted if the Twelve Colonies had just left the Tau’ri alone as they wished.
- In Dangerous Tenant, when Wesker discovers the Survivors’ location based on the computers they’re using, the Doctor muses that he should have realised that might happen but he just didn’t think of it in time.
- While they couldn't have avoided the entire problem, in the Demented Verse fic "Vile Violent Vacations", after the Winchesters learn that Harry and Hermione worked out that Dean was the one who broke the First Seal during their first meeting, Sam observes that they should have told Dean at the time rather than leave him to learn that fact from the demon who broke him as he might have taken it better from an ally.
- In A Hollow in Equestria, Ulquiorra points out that if Discord had simply asked for his help, he would've been willing to provide it, before pointing out that they could've saved weeks of effort and potentially avoided a great deal of suffering in the process. But considering the story has taken a Cosmic Flaw route by that point, it's questionable if his evaluation was right or not.
- An interesting variation of this occurs in the Infinity Crisis spin-off Counterpart Conferences; when Oliver starts hearing reports of increased anti-metahuman legislation, he uses the precedent set by the Sokovia Accords on the Avengers' Earth to contact Barry and Jefferson immediately so that the three of them can discuss how best to handle such rules to avoid the better metahumans like Flash and Black Lightning being lumped in with their enemies.
- Infinity Train: Knight of the Orange Lily:
- Had Gladion chosen to inform anyone about Faba's late-night experiment, it's entirely possible that Lillie's trauma could have been dealt with much sooner. Gladion himself briefly considers this before dismissing the idea, reassuring himself that he did what he had to do in order to protect his sister. Lillie doesn't agree.
- Dulse later brings up another point to consider: if Lillie told her mother about her traumas, most of her problems would have been lessened since Lusamine would have been there for her since the beginning.
- Played for Laughs in the J-WITCH Series. In the Season 1 chapter "A Shady Service", Jackie has Captain Black do a background check on Professor Collins to prove he's not the disguised Cedric. They then point out that the Guardians and Jade could have done that in the first place instead of spending all day stalking and ultimately attacking him for no reason.
- The MLP Loops: Due to the looping nature of reality, we get to see this happen many times. In addition to using nigh-infinite power or knowledge that they didn't have in baseline, several times we see loopers deliberately only using powers and knowledge they had in baseline, but simply making better choices. They're all super bored, so "Let's see what would have happened if I was smart" is a common pastime.
- In canon, Twilight gets one spare ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala, and all her friends compete for it. It's only resolved when she refuses to take just one of them and decides not to go at all, but then Celestia sends her extra tickets. In one loop, Twilight skips the angst and just tells Celestia the problem straight off.
- Speaking of the Gala, everypony was disappointed that it was nothing like they were expecting. In the loop, Twilight explains what it's actually like and helps them achieve their goals without making fools of themselves. For example, Applejack wanted to sell her products out of a stall; Twilight points out it's a catered event with free food, but instead helps her get a catering contract.
- In one loop, Nightmare Moon is defeated by having the town greet her with a "Welcome back Princess Luna" party, proving that she was not forgotten and her subjects did love her night after all. Celestia says they should have tried this the first time. However, Twilight notes that this only worked because they know how Luna and Nightmare Moon think. Without that experience, trying it would have been irresponsible and dangerous.
- In canon, Timberwolves attack and everyone runs around in a panic until they are barely able to defeat them. In the loops, Twilight reminds Spike that he is a dragon with fire against creatures made of wood. And then it turns out that fire doesn't work that great against magical, living wood.
- One of Twilight's most embarrassing moments in canon is generally referred to as "the Smarty-Pants Incident;" Twilight, panicking over the fact that she doesn't have a problem to talk to Princess Celestia about, enchants her old doll Smarty-Pants to make everyone obsessed with it, which nearly destroys the town. In the vast majority of loops, this problem is solved by her doing nothing whatsoever. However, in at least one loop Celestia starts freaking out because she figures that if Twilight isn't having any problems, that just means that the next problem is going to be much, much bigger. And in the rare loops where everyone else has to deal with unAwake Twilight, it turns out that the Smarty-Pants Incident is surprisingly difficult to stop; even if they prevent the first time it could happen, sooner or later the opportunity will arise again and Twilight will have her Freak Out.
- In The Secret Keeper, Ron is annoyed when Bella and Hermione realise that vampire venom may be able to destroy horcruxes; he explicitly expresses frustration that he and Hermione had to go all the way down to the Chamber of Secrets to get a basilisk fang when they could have just asked one of the Cullens to bite the cup.
- In When Harry met Wednesday
, Rufus Scrimgeour is outraged that both Dumbledore and Slughorn knew Voldemort had created horcruxes and told no one about it, the former for a few years and the latter for decades. According to him, the entire second war could have been avoided if either one had ever come forward with their information. Dumbledore's defense that no one listened when he said Voldemort wasn't dead yet is destroyed when Rufus insists they would have listened if he explained about horcruxes, as they're so vile that most have never even heard the term before.
- Vow of the King: Zigzagged. Yoruichi comments that she could have rescued Nemu and escaped within fifteen minutes if Urahara had sent her alone. But doing so would leave Aizen in a position of power. Instead, the teens were sent to do it as they'd be able to grow stronger in a relatively safe environment and Yoruichi could step in to save them if things went sideways.
- Danganronpa: Komm Susser Tod: In Chapter 6, Reiji is informed of the fact that all the way back in Chapter 1, the secret he was given regarding his fellow students was that Sasuke was the mastermind, and yet Reiji not only never revealed it, but had also let it be burned before even having read it, despite having information that would've ended the Killing Game before it properly began. The realization that he could've saved most of his fellow students from killing each other understandably causes him to remark that he feels "like shit".
- In Hope on a Distant Mountain, several of Naegi's classmates are so curious about his origins that they're willing to participate in a class trial. Makoto questions if any of them even thought about simply asking him. However, this is Subverted by how he wouldn't have been honest. Furthermore, the whole trial is ultimately a pretense on Kyouko's part — their real goal all along was attacking and discrediting her father.
- In Kimberly T's Gargoyles, in a flashback to the day Elisa spent with Jason Canmore when the clan believed her dead, she explains the nature of Demona's immortality to Jason, most notably how Demona is linked to another immortal and the only way she can die is if she is killed by that other immortal. Elisa explicitly states that if the Hunters just stopped going after Demona, it might have given the other immortal (not explicitly naming Macbeth) the chance to catch up to her and kill her himself, as opposed to Demona being constantly on the run.
- Beneath the Surface: The goblins tell Dumbledore that had he told them about the existence of Voldemort's horcruxes in the first place, Harry wouldn't have had to spend 13 years with the soul fragment of a genocidal madman in him as well as banish Voldemort to the hereafter.
- In He's Just Hiding Mrs. Weasley suggests that Minister Shacklebolt put an article in the Daily Prophet announcing Snape's innocence.Harry: Wait. You mean I've been keeping this man in my house, keeping a huge secret, when all I had to do was tell you? [Shacklebolt nods.] No! That's stupid! That's too easy! We thought prison, we thought Azkaban and you—you're telling me—
- survival is a talent: In this Soulmate AU Fic, Harry and Draco discover that they're soulmates during their second year at Hogwarts. Draco notes that they would have learned this much sooner and avoided an entire year of their rivalry if the two of them had simply shaken hands back when they first met on the train.
- In the Alternate Universe fanfic Why Dumbledore Would Have Done Well to Look After Harry Properly, part of Harry's Rage Against the Mentor/"The Reason You Suck" Speech against Dumbledore includes him stating that a lot of unnecessary deaths (most especially Sirius') and other close calls could have been completely prevented if Dumbledore hadn't kept Harry in the dark about the prophecy and actually spent time helping everyone prepare for Voldemort's return instead of pulling the strings behind the scenes.
- In Persephone, Astrid is somewhat put out when Hiccup realises that he could have released them both from Berk's cells the moment they were locked up, as he helped make the cells in question and was so distracted when Astrid started wearing short skirts that week that he never disabled the failsafes designed to prevent anyone being locked in during construction.
- In Ambience: A Fleet Symphony chapter 74, Damon points out to the leader of the Granite Quarry gangsters that he was perfectly willing to pay and go his way in peace, but the other guy just had to be obstinate and pull a gun.
- Kingdom Hearts Ψ: The Seeker of Darkness: Land of Oblivion has Aqua, Kairi and Naminé traveling to Castle Oblivion in search of where Aqua hid Ventus's body, with them being forced to climb the castle and relive various painful memories. Some time later, Child of Oblivion has Aqua and Naminé return to the Castle with Terra and Ventus. After Naminé explains the system that allows them to warp to the highest floor they've been to before, Terra points out that if they had brought along Sora or Riku the first time, they wouldn't have had to climb the floors one by one. (Though it was probably to their benefit that they did, considering what they each learned from the experience.)
- A Piece of Rebellion: While Bad Cop/Good Cop is completely loyal to President Business, his boss assumes otherwise when BCGC discovers the Piece of Resistance and immediately sics his robots on him. BCGC repeatedly notes that all the drama could have been avoided if the President hadn't jumped to conclusions.
- Starcrossed: The main four find themselves in very bad situations, some of which themselves are their own fault. It's only after they cross the Despair Event Horizon that those still alive remember the promise of friendship they made to each other upon graduating from high school, to be there for and seek help from one another, a promise which they had broken and lost everything they could have salvaged for. Minami does the same thing in the epilogue, running away from whatever problems she was having instead of asking Yutaka for help (and at a time when Yutaka herself needed help with certain problems courtesy of Konata), and subsequently dies in a divine plane crash out of Japan.
- Once Lost Now Found starts with Peter Parker finding subtle clues that he may be Tony Stark's long-lost son, Tony Junior, who vanished when he was two after the death of Tony's then-partner and TJ's mother Jenny. After Peter makes contact with Tony, the two spend three months working together before Tony and Peter both realise that they are father and son, but the moment Tony introduces Peter to the other Avengers, Natasha, Vision and Wanda all "recognise" Peter as Tony's son; Natasha and Vision spotted the visual similarities between the two and Wanda sensed the thought of their relationship in their minds. Peter is particularly bemused at the idea that he and Tony spent ages working out the truth when the Avengers realised it in seconds.
- One common plotline involves the notion that there is some way for Hawk Moth's goals to be achieved without the extreme measures he went to, using knowledge that Master Fu or other good-aligned characters have about the Miraculous. Examples include some of the CONSEQUENCES series, Integrity, Perfect Sense and The Wavering Peahen.
- In How to Fake a Marriage, Adrien and Marinette, after falling in love, keep their relationship secret for almost two years, because Gabriel banned Adrien from dating while in London. Once they reveal their relationship (well, engagement by then) to him, it turns out the ban was mainly to prevent Adrien from settling down with some girl in London, and had Gabriel bothered to remember Marinette was only there for temporary internship instead of a long-term job, he would have been fine with them dating.
- Throughout The Karma of Lies, Plagg repeatedly warns Adrien against letting Lila continue to bilk his friends and isolate Marinette. His refusal to do so causes her karmic backlash to hit HIM instead... and as it turns out, telling others about what she was doing would've made it much easier to convince others of the truth after she stole from him. Plagg notes as much, only for Adrien to continue ignoring him, insisting that he hasn't done anything wrong.
- Leave for Mendeleiev: After discovering just why Hawk Moth began terrorizing Paris, Ladybug and the Miraculous Team are able to solve the problem by sending Tempavo after Emilie, who was lost while misusing the Peafowl's Astral Flight. Afterwards, Tempavo expresses sympathy for his plight, only for Ladybug to remind him that Hawk Moth chose to abuse the Butterfly's powers rather than simply seeking out help. Not only that, but he didn't ask for help after his defeat, instead taunting the heroes by gloating that Tempavo would fall into a coma as well, unaware that the Peafowl Pin had been fixed.
- Played for Drama in Missing: after Marinette disappears, Adrien blames himself for not helping her expose Lila as a Consummate Liar, as he wanted to avoid causing more conflict... but staying silent instead of standing beside her only allowed Lila to go unchecked. Alya is also struck by guilt after realizing Lila's true nature, as she'd brushed off Marinette's attempts to warn her without ever bothering to check her sources — something she'd chided Marinette about while dismissing her efforts as being fueled by envy.
- Of Patience and Pettiness:
- After Ramier's twenty-second akumatization into Mr. Pigeon, several members of Miss Bustier's class note that there are places where he can feed the birds legally, wondering why he doesn't simply visit those areas instead of repeatedly attempting to feed the pigeons in places where he'll get into trouble for it.
- Played for Drama with the akumatization of Eden into Asian Beetle. Adrien wrongly assumes that they're secretly Ladybug; when he publicly accuses them of this, Alya immediately leaps down their throat and joins him in berating them. Neither one is willing to let their target defend themselves; it takes Chloé speaking up for the victim to get a word in edgewise. Notably, this triggers Adrien and Alya both having Heel Realizations about their behavior.
- Satisfaction Brought It Back has a subplot involving Marinette being extorted by Adrien's former boss Marcel Dubois who wants him to come back to work. She keeps this from Adrien for months despite the damage to her business, not wanting him to sacrifice himself by returning to a job he hated and doesn't need. When Adrien does find out, he and Alya immediately start planning to get Dubois fired, and when Marinette raises her previous concern with Chloé and Nino, they tell her how badly she misjudged Adrien:Chloé: Marcel might have been able to pull Adrien back in if he had made it look like the company was floundering without him or fed him another line where it put the burden of the company back on his shoulders. In fact, he could have still triggered the Agreste Self-Sacrifice Switch if he hadn't jumped the gun and threatened you first. The minute that happened, not only would Adrien have not gone back, but he would have probably kickstarted this whole plan to put Monsieur Dubois out on his fat wrinkly ass all the sooner.
Marinette: Seriously?
Nathaniel: Marcel crossed a line. After he did that, his fate was sealed.
Nino: Hate to say it, but that definitely tracks. As dumb as this whole plan is, it probably would have shook out the same way if had you just told him back in February.
Marinette: Well, gee whiz, that makes me feel super! Why didn't you tell me this earlier?! (Beat) Oh... yeah, I would have had to tell you first, right? - Scarlet Lady: During "Desperada", Adrien used his brief stint as Aspik to screw with Scarlet Lady, using Second Chance to repeatedly get her zapped by the akuma while resetting and erasing the consequences of his actions. Much later on, late into Season Five, Marinette points out that he could have used one of his Second Chances on unmasking Scarlet Lady, learning her Secret Identity so they could figure out how to deal with the Nominal Heroine. Adrien freezes up as her words sink in.
- In The Surrender, Gabriel asks Duusu and Nooroo if the Wish would have truly brought Emily back. The narration points out that, if Gabriel had asked that question in the beginning instead of being so pigheaded and selfish, all the problems he has caused as Hawkmoth would have been avoided.
- The Wolves in the Woods plays with this. After Ms. Bustier's trial, Adrien complains to Kagami that none of the drama that just unfolded needed to happen. Specifically, he laments that if he'd only known about Marinette's crush on him, he could have used that to ensure that she'd stop trying to expose Lila's deceptions to everyone. Not only does this reveal how he's Dramatically Missing the Point and Blaming the Victim, he doesn't consider the fact he's telling his girlfriend that he would have used another girl's feelings for him to manipulate her.
- Are you my dad?: In this fic, Izuku is All Might's son. However, Toshinori stayed away from his family for so long that he fails to recognize Izuku, setting into motion a chain of events that leads to both Izuku and All For One mistakenly believing that the supervillain is Izuku's father instead. Izuku makes sure to point that out when he tells All Might to go to hell during his first day at U.A.
- When Reason Fails: Ibara mind-controlled her Cabal into being unable to perceive her as a dryad so that they don't try to attack her for being one. However, it turns out Komori wants to become a dryad herself and would have been ecstatic to know Ibara is one and the mind-control was completely unnecessary, something a shocked Ibara feels silly about.
- Words May Hurt: In "Erased From the Story", the HSPC President notes that if Aizawa had actually read up on his students' files, he would have known that Midoriya's Quirk had only come in very recently, explaining his poor control. She muses that this might have prevented him from dismissing him as a lost cause and scheming to get him kicked out of U.A. However, despite being shaken when this little tidbit is revealed to him, Aizawa stubbornly continues to insist that this doesn't change anything, and that the Hero Course is no place for somebody who can't control their Quirk.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- As Twilight Falls: Discord reveals that Princess Celestia had put a shield around Canterlot to protect it from Calamity, so that he couldn't break Discord out of his stone prison. However, Celestia didn't put a shield around Ponyville, where the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony lived; had she done so, Calamity wouldn't have been able to attack them instead.
- Bitter Tears: An Anon-A-Miss Fic: The Cutie Mark Crusaders created Anon-A-Miss out of anger over not being allowed to attend a couple of slumber parties meant for Sunset. In Life Goes On, Sunset points out that if they'd simply waited until the end of that week, they could have hung out with their sisters at the Apple Family Christmas Party instead.
- Twilight Sparkle says this in the third story of The Negotiations-verse, Truth, regarding the war Celestia started with the humans. To sum up, the Conversion War and all the deaths, suffering, and destruction it brought could've been avoided if Celestia hadn't assumed the worst of humanity rather than try to establish peaceful relations with them, opened the conversion bureaus under false pretenses, and then attempted to force humanity into converting and giving up their way of life just to preserve the "purity" of Equestria's culture.
- Parting Words:
- Twilight Sparkle calls Celestia out on how easily most prior conflicts could have been solved if Celestia had simply explained what was going on.
- Applejack tries invoking this against the Cutie Mark Crusaders, declaring that they should have simply told her, Granny Smith or Big Mac that Babs Seed was bullying them. The trio retorts that Applejack and the other adults had already proven themselves useless, as they'd never helped them out before. Sweetie Belle specifically points out that Applejack completely failed to notice how Babs was bullying Apple Bloom right under her nose, comparing it to all the times she ignored Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon openly bullying and even blackmailing them. Ultimately, the sentiment is fully reversed, as Applejack is forced to realize that a lot of the Crusaders' troubles could have been prevented if she or other adults had stepped in rather than ignoring everything or writing it off as "harmless".
- The Pieces Lie Where They Fell: Its sequel Picking Up the Pieces has a relatively mild example — Sweet Surprise, who's been worried about her reputation affecting that of her husband and wife unless she works very hard to improve it (by doing a lot of overtime work in her office), realizes (after some supporting words from her husband) that she could have avoided quite a bit of drama with them if she'd just spoken to them about her worries, and Sound Mind’s additional support when she arrives on the scene helps as well. Fortunately, they're both very understanding about the whole thing.
- Vengeance of Dawn: Twilight would have gladly helped Breaking Dawn regain Celestia's love if she had just asked. But when Twilight points this out, Dawn just throws this back in her face, saying that she doesn't want her pity.
- Blackkat's Reverse: Kurama's quest to collect all the jinchuuriki can be traced back to two root causes, both of which are acknowledged as having been completely avoidable:
- If the hidden villages treated their jinchuuriki like human beings rather than living weapons — or worse, like monsters — then they wouldn't have felt alienated and resentful of their homes. As it is, Kurama is easily able to convince them to join him simply by offering a better life. Hiruzen admits this, and points out to Rasa that if he had treated his son with basic human decency, Gaara wouldn't have been so out of control.
- Kakashi unintentionally got the ball rolling when he saw Kurama hugging Naruto and overreacted, ripping the boy out of his arms. This spurred Kurama's decision to run away with the boy, since he clearly wouldn't be allowed to provide the support Naruto needed in Konoha. Kakashi later admits he grossly overreacted, but the damage is long done by that point.
- Jiraiya remarks in The Hat Hangs Heavy that Naruto would have never become Hokage (and Hiashi wouldn't have forced a Sadistic Choice on Naruto, forcing him to marry Hinata) if Hiashi had simply argued about Naruto's competence rather than making the debate into a vote between Naruto and Hiashi.
- What You Knead: When Kakashi learns how Tazuna lied about why he wanted to hire Konohan shinobi for protection, heavily downplaying the danger involved in order to keep the cost low, he calls him out on this. Had he been honest from the start, the Sandaime would have been willing to work out a deferred payment, and Tazuna would have gotten the level of protection he needed. Instead, thanks to his deception, he wound up with an inexperienced genin team on what they'd thought was their first C-Rank, and now not only has to deal with Gato's cronies after his head, but a coldly furious jounin who's ill-inclined to continue helping somebody who lied to them and treated his bodyguards like crap.
- Olive's Last Partner:
- After they give their Not-So-Final Confessions to each other, Olive and Oscar both realize that all the strife between them could have been avoided if they had better communication skills. Even Otto notes this in the story's sequel, Ships Ahoy!.Olive: I guess we're just really bad at telling each other things.
- When Otto rescues Olive and Oscar from drowning in the Boiler Room, they ask him how he got in if the door was locked. He reveals to them that the door was never locked to begin with, meaning that they could have escaped the room at any point in time and without nearly dying in the process. Oscar not realizing this is solely the fault of Oprah, who forgets to tell him that Owen removed the locks on the Mechanical Room doors prior to him, Olive and Otto going to check on the Boiler Room.Oscar: So, all that time...we could've just...left?
(long pause)
Olive: (grinning) We...are...idiots!
- After they give their Not-So-Final Confessions to each other, Olive and Oscar both realize that all the strife between them could have been avoided if they had better communication skills. Even Otto notes this in the story's sequel, Ships Ahoy!.
- In Viva La Vida, Oscar asks Olive why she didn't come to him, Oprah or Otto about her feelings sooner, as she would have been placed in an Odd Squad therapy program and gotten help for getting through her odd phase. Olive tells him that she never thought turning to the odd side would happen to her.
- Near the end of A Year To Fill An Empty Home, Makoto points out that the non-contact order of Akira's probation would only punish the contactors, meaning that his parents could have stayed in touch with their son if they'd been willing to deal with the consequences. However, they were too weak-willed to question what they'd been told; as a result, Akira spent the whole year believing that his parents had turned their backs on him.
- The (Edit) War for Ash’s Freedom to not be Betrayed: Played for Laughs. At one point, Arceus cuts off Darken's attempt to give Ash a harem by ending the sentence before Darken can write down all the names of the people he wants to include. Arceus then realizes that He could have prevented most of the edit war by simply using periods to cut off Darken's additions, instead of trying to spin all his sentences into sensical edits.
- With Strings Attached: After the epic battle on the Plains of Death, George points out to the Hunter that after he learned he could become a dragon, he could just have flown everyone away from the Plains and up to the Twisted Temple, thus avoiding the battle, which was never necessary to their quest.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness:
- In Act I, Apoch and Astreal brainwash Rason and Dark in order to get them to help them fight off their master Ghaldin, but it backfires when Ghaldin arrives and takes control of all four of them. When Ghaldin is defeated, Apoch and Astreal apologize and insist that they only wanted help; Tsukune informs them that the entire group would have willingly helped them from the very beginning if they had simply asked and let them act on their own accord.
- In Act VI, Kokoa and Sun's conflict over Gin escalates to the point where Sun spies on them having sex and outright tells Kokoa to her face that she doesn't deserve Gin, after which Kokoa loses her temper and beats Sun so brutally that she ends up brain dead; while Gin acknowledges that Kokoa undoubtedly went too far, he also states that the whole thing could have been prevented if he had just put his foot down with Sun and gotten her to stop her advances sooner.
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong
- SV Wishes: Shen Yuan gets increasingly annoyed when he realizes that so many conflicts, including his predecessor's death and their failing marriage, could have been avoided had Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu actually talked to each other. Or at the very least Yue Qingyuan respond to Shen Qingqiu's attempts to talk him.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
- Don't Go: Played for Drama. The fic (which was probably written by series creator ND Stevenson) takes place shortly after Catra's Heel–Face Turn. Adora casually mentions she's been waiting for Catra to join the Rebellion since the beginning, and Catra realizes that she was never Forced into Evil — Adora would have welcomed her with open arms at any time. This means everything was All for Nothing even more than she thought, and she has a breakdown.
- Shatterpoint reveals that most of Clark's issues with Jor-El amount to a translation error; the translation program Jor-El prepared for him didn't have cultural context, so he didn't realise that the symbol that he interpreted as 'rule' actually meant that he was intended to guide humanity rather than conquer them as a tyrant.
- TMNT: Turtle Power: After Leonardo kills the Shredder, Karai descends into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, expending a lot of time and effort focusing on avenging her father's death at the Turtles' hands. In the process, she leaves Shredder's empire defenseless, leading to every crook in the city fighting to fill the Evil Power Vacuum by the time of the City at War arc. When the Turtles ask her why she didn't do anything about it sooner, Karai admits she had fallen into Revenge Before Reason, but also makes the point that at the time, the gang squabbles were minimal and she just assumed they'd take each other out and leave the Foot to pick up the pieces; she never anticipated the Mob War to get so out of hand.
- In The Hobbit fic Prayers to Broken Stone, Thorin and Bilbo are faced with the seemingly unsolvable dilemma of how to stop Thorin's transformation into a power-mad dragon. It turns out that Gandalf had known all along about the dragon transformation curse and how to reverse it but had never told Thorin or the other dwarves about it. When Gandalf tries to justify withholding the information by saying that he was afraid that the dwarves would embrace the transformation as a way to become more powerful, Bilbo chews him out for buying into the worst stereotypes of dwarves as only caring about gold — especially since Thorin loathed dragons after one of them razed his home kingdom and would never have willingly become one just to gain power or gold, and Gandalf admits that Bilbo is right and he should have told Thorin and the others about the curse beforehand.
- In Marry Me, Rodimus accidentally becomes the ruler of another species. The aliens, hating the idea of an outsider ruling over them, place an Explosive Leash on Rodimus, forcing Magnus to pretend that he needs Rodimus to officiate his wedding to Swerve, which in turn forces him and Swerve to get married for real (although they're not too bothered by that). When Ratchet finds out, he points out that Magnus could have simply told the aliens that Rodimus was a Prime and thus forbidden to take on another role.
- It Gets Worse: When Eidolon asks Accord to come up with a plan to solve world hunger, Accord remarks that he'd come up with one six years ago. In fact, the only reason he'd gone into villainy in the first place is because he couldn't get anyone to read it, and turned to crime trying to acquire the resources he'd need to implement it by himself. He then hands Eidolon a revised version of the plan, which he'd updated just that morning.
- A Mother's Touch: Reiji wants Yuya's Pendulums to be mass produced as weapons against the oncoming invasion by his father's army. He resorts to either having a patsy steal them from Yuya and duel with them for data or to frame Yuya for assault to buy out You Show. Not once did he ever consider just going to Yuya and asking for a demonstration with monetary compensation. Yoko spells it out to him that he screwed up his reputation and his standing as a CEO for his negligence. She also rips Himika Akaba apart for never advising Reiji to do the sensible thing and talk to her or Yuya.
