Wirt: No no, no no no! We're not... we're not! We just-we just needed to get out of the rain and we thought this place was abandoned, so...
Greg: So we came here to burgle your turts!
This character is extremely logic driven. They constantly come up with safe, law-abiding approaches to every problem. Too bad they are paired with a character or characters who have their own ideas on how to do things.
Typically a supporting character in a Duo, Power Trio, Comic Trio, Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, Super Team, or other group of heroes, this character is established as the voice of reason. A Type A personality, they believe strongly in a so-called right way to do things, and every decision they make is based on a set of rules that they follow to the letter. Those rules can come from an outside source, or it can just be their own personal philosophy.
When faced with a problem, they decide on a course of action based on those rules. They then share their ideas with their friends and allies, hoping to get them on board. Unfortunately for them, for better or for worse, their plans are almost never enacted. Their dumber or more instinct-driven companions prefer a more reckless and rebellious approach. They casually blunder ahead and ignore their ideas, leaving them struggling to regain control.
When things don't go their way, this character makes sure everyone knows it. There is a lot of complaining loudly about how the situation is going from beginning to end. There is a ton of blustering, yelling, crying, and/or panicking about how nobody listens to them. These tactics are ultimately unsuccessful.
This trope is a subset of The Smart Guy, The Finicky One, and Nervous Wreck. In a Straight Man and Wise Guy duo, this character is always the Straight Man. More often than not, they are a Cloudcuckoolander's Minder to one or more characters. Often, the characters around them will tune out whatever they say or pull a Leeroy Jenkins and charge ahead before they are even finished talking. Sometimes, they have a big old case of Big Brother Instinct, and their stress comes from a genuine worry for their companions. Other times, they are only concerned with saving their own skin. If the character is a villain, this would be a variant of Surrounded by Idiots. If enough frustration mounts, it could lead to a case where The Smart One Turns Traitor on the allies that ignored them.
They often view themselves as the Only Sane Man, The Cassandra, or an Ignored Expert. However, this is often an unfounded assumption. Despite their confidence, they are often wrong, and things usually work out for the group in the end anyway (or at least often no worse than whenever they do stick to their rule laden approach). By the end of the scene/chapter/episode, it usually appears to the main characters and to the audience that they overreacted.
Hilariously, it is common for the situation to work out flawlessly for everyone except them. Every other character improvises their way through the problem easily, while they struggle, making them an effective Chew Toy. It may be a case of all their rules and strategies not working well in action as on paper, their own finicky attitude complicating the approach, or just simple bad luck. More generous works may offer a compromise and show there is a time for planning and rules and simple initiative. After all, these rules often exist for a reason.
Sub-Trope of Anti-Intellectualism. Also compare with No-Respect Guy, Only Sane Man, The Complainer Is Always Wrong, and Butt-Monkey. If they're the smart guy on a Planet of Hats, then it's Klingon Scientists Get No Respect.
Has no relation to an actual version of The Smart Guy being literally run over by a steamroller.
Examples:
- Sooner or later, all of the other crewmembers of the Straw Hat Pirates in One Piece get their turn serving this role to Luffy. Luffy himself is prone to spontaneously charging in to fight enemies or punching anyone he sees is abusing someone else and won't listen to his crewmates' advice to find some easier way. This happens particularly often with Nami and Usopp, both of whom would prefer to avoid fights, or if unavoidable, plan out as much in advance as possible, and both of whom would rather Luffy be less impulsive. One instance of this is when Nami discovers a loophole in the rules for a competition in which Luffy could win a fight with Foxy the Silver Fox by default by forcibly recruiting Foxy into his crew using the competition's rules, but all other people present, including the other Straw Hat Pirates, accuse her of being a bad sport and violating a taboo of this competition.
- The video sequences from Trivial Pursuit DVD For Kids features a character named Lewis, who serves as a 'game show host' for the players watching. He constantly tries to maintain an air of professionalism when presenting. But to his chagrin, his three co-hosts, Mitch, Brad, and Bobby, are too dumb, vain, and immature respectively to follow his example.
- In IDW Comics' Transformers 2005 comics continuity, Prowl is a deconstructed example of this. A cold, logical, and largely asocial 'bot in a faction led mostly by daredevil mavericks who value strength of personality as much as (if not more so than) tactical acumen, Prowl finds himself growing increasingly frustrated with Autobot command's refusal to just listen to him and do things that would end the war faster and with fewer casualties (at least in the long term). This frustration, combined with a somewhat-shaky moral compass and a firm belief that the ends justify the means, causes Prowl to take increasingly extreme and unethical actions behind the other Autobots' backs in order to win the war his way. By the end of the comic's run, nearly every one of these actions has backfired on him horribly in one way or another.
- Marlin from Finding Nemo is rule and safety oriented to a fault. While traveling with Dory to rescue his son Nemo, he constantly worries about the various dangers the ocean poses. Typically, Dory either doesn't understand his instructions, forgets them, or decides that she knows a better path.
- In The Lion King (1994), Zazu tries to teach a young Simba about the responsibilities of being a king. Simba is completely disinterested in these lessons. Zazu shows his frustration with birdlike screeches and squawks as he tries to keep Simba's attention.
- In The Little Mermaid (1989), King Triton assigns Sebastian to keep watch over Ariel. However, Sebastian is repeatedly unable to keep Ariel from sneaking off to visit humans.
- In Bringing Up Baby, David Huxley is a meticulously organized museum curator who has plans to secure a huge donation. When Susan Vance comes into his life, however, he falls into a whirlwind adventure despite his constant protests.
- C-3PO from Star Wars frequently makes confident proclamations about how one course of action is foolhardy and fraught with risk, which characters like R2-D2 and Han Solo then ignore. It is especially prevalent in the opening of Episode IV, when he argues with R2 in the desert over where to go and the legitimacy of his "mission" to find Obi-Wan Kenobi.
- This is one of Sheldon's recurring fates on The Big Bang Theory. He often comes up with extremely convoluted plans and schemes to solve problems, much to the chagrin and eventual dismissal of the rest of the group. It's a combination of his being an Insufferable Genius who thinks he's smarter than everyone and lords his intellect over others, having No Social Skills so he can't deal with impromptu events, and his total inability to lie and subsequent need for an elaborate cover story before telling even a small fib.
- The Cry of Mann and the sequel, The Call of Warr:
- Berry takes on the role of trying to keep her family from falling apart and keeping the business from going under. Unfortunately for her, her quirky brothers slowly undergo Sanity Slippage, and nobody will ever listen to anything she says, whether it's trying to keep Jouglat and Courtney respectful at Jack's art show, or getting Jack to stop ruining Jouglat's funeral. She gets increasingly frustrated as time goes on and undergoes Sanity Slippage of her own because of it, eventually loudly complaining that nobody listens to her and threatening to hurt people if they don't.
- In Warr, Prince is a very by-the-book soldier who follows the rules very strictly. When the rules call for the execution of Prisoner Sarah, he relentlessly tries to get Gravesite to go along with it, to no avail. As the series goes on, he gets more and more frustrated with Gravesite's lack of action and eventual disinterest in his leadership, and is constantly begging to just kill Prisoner Sarah. Of course, everyone else finds his attitude grating and don't trust him with any actual authority, for good reason, as when he gets it he attempts to kill multiple people.
- Josh from Drake & Josh usually disagrees with Drake on which course of action to take. Josh presents the responsible and mature solution, which Drake then usually ignores, despite Josh's protests.
- Chidi from The Good Place overthinks every decision. Whenever he suggests a logical course of action, Eleanor or Jason act impulsively instead, leaving Chidi with a stomachache.
- In Kamen Rider Gaim, Mitsuzane is the team tactician and usually comes up with plans for whatever he and his friends are facing. However, while his friends do respect him and his skills, his plans tend to be coldly pragmatic; and in the heat of the moment they tend to abandon the strategy in order to step in and help people right now. The fact that Kouta does this all the time and gets praised for his heroism eventually turns Mitsuzane into a Green-Eyed Monster, and he deludes himself that he needs to kill Kouta so that his world-saving plans can actually work before Kouta's recklessness dooms everybody. Not that his plans were likely to work anyway, as Mitsuzane overestimates his intelligence; he considers himself The Chessmaster but doesn't realize that his "pawns" are the show's real Chessmasters leading him on.
- Bo Burnham's Netflix comedy special What. Has a song called Left Brain, Rig Brain, where the cold and analytical Left Brain berates the Right Brain for constantly ruining their life through impulsive behavior.
- In Double Homework, Johanna, who is the most sensible of her siblings, often becomes this whenever the protagonist's and/or Tamara's way of doing things clashes with her own.
- Engineer from Among Us Logic is a logical, intelligent player who usually tries to use deductive reasoning to roost out the Impostor. However, since almost all of the other players are idiots, he's usually ignored, and at one point is voted out for using too many fancy words.
- The other World Of Warcraft players in the Leeroy Jenkins Video have a meticulous plan for a raid that they have obviously spent a long time crafting, which Leeroy promptly ruins by running into battle prematurely.
- Diath Woodrow, Jared Knabenbauer's character from the Dungeons & Dragons web show Dice, Camera, Action! frequently tries and fails to wrangle his three party members, Strix, Evelyn, and Paultin, who are too cowardly/impulsive/rebellious to follow any detailed plan he has.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Depending on the Writer. Sokka is the self-identified 'idea guy' of Team Avatar. He makes up for his lack of bending ability by coming up with clever schemes for outwitting enemies. In combat, these schemes are often critical to victory. But when it comes to planning day-to-day travel and chores, his detailed schedules are always tossed aside by his less structured and easily distracted companions.
- Tenzin, Korra's mentor in The Legend of Korra, is an uptight air nomad who believes in discipline and meditation. However, the more headstrong Korra, as well as his own kids, frequently flout his commands. This usually leaves him frustrated and angry, but he just as often comes to realize that his approach is wrong and that he can trust Korra to solve problems her own way.
- Ed, Edd n Eddy: Edd/Double-Dee is the smartest and most careful of the eponymous trio, but he's often overruled by the dimwitted Ed and the impulsive, impatient Eddy.
- Dipper from Gravity Falls likes to heavily research his surroundings before taking action, while his sister Mabel often runs headlong into danger without a second thought.
- The protagonists of the fourth season of Infinity Train are Min-Gi and Ryan. Min-Gi is hardworking and responsible, while Ryan is impulsive and carefree. Their personalities frequently clash. In episode 5 in particular, Ryan tries multiple times to break into a club, while Min-Gi repeatedly and loudly insists that they wait in line to get in.
- John Stewart's Green Lantern from the DC Animated Universe iteration of Justice League is extremely serious, while The Flash is impulsive and silly. They are often paired together to form a Straight Man and Wise Guy duo. In the episode Brave And The Bold, Green Lantern tells Flash to stay back and form a plan of attack on three separate occasions, and each time, Flash runs into battle before Green Lantern is finished talking.
- Dennis from Kid vs. Kat likes to use thorough planning and research when dealing with Kat. Coop however, is too Hot-Blooded to listen to any of it most of the time and insists on just blindly charging in without any kind of strategy. Highlighted throughout the episode "Menace The Dennis" when Coop has to leave town for a few days, leaving Dennis to be the one to stop Kat's latest plot, with Dennis formulating a plan to stop him and Coop outright demanding that Dennis charging Kat head-on is the only plan that will work.
Dennis: This calls for a classic flanking maneuver! We'll surround {Kat} in—
Coop: [charges off with a rake in hand] KAAAAAT!
Dennis: [exasperated] Or we can try a reckless frontal assault, as usual. - Wirt from Over the Garden Wall sets his sights on Adelaide's house once Beatrice tells him that Adelaide could help them get home, developing a one-track mind about getting there above all else. However, Greg is easily distracted by the fantastical things they pass by. Greg frequently gets distracted and wanders off, forcing Wirt to chase after him.
- In Ready Jet Go!, Sean is an uptight perfectionist who likes to do things the traditional way, like using the Scientific Method. He's The Smart Guy and also serves as the Straight Man and Only Sane Man in his gaggle of goofy friends, and they never listen to him, especially Jet since he always wants to make mistakes deliberately and play around to solve problems.
- Pearl from Steven Universe is the "Mom" of the Crystal Gems, and many episodes of the show begin with her giving specific instructions/advice to Steven or Amethyst. Steven and Amethyst then disobey or mess up what they were supposed to do, leaving Pearl scrambling to fix their mistakes, often in the middle of a fight.
- Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) favors scientific solutions to almost every problem and prefers to form a strategy before the Turtles face an enemy. Unfortunately, many of the Turtles' enemies are much more powerful than they are, and they have no choice but to engage in battle without being fully prepared. This makes Donatello prone to panic in the middle of a fight when it isn't going their way.
- Bradford the Brakevan from Thomas & Friends is a huge stickler for the rules and always tries to get the engines to follow them, much to the chagrin of everyone else.
- Thundarr the Barbarian: Brainy Brunette Princess Ariel always tries to keep her companions Thundarr and Ookla from rushing headfirst into danger, with very little success.
Princess Ariel: Thundarr, you can't just rush in!
Ookla: [rushes in behind Thundarr] Roarrr!
Princess Ariel: Outvoted again! - Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh has a particular, rule-oriented way of living, and he always wants to lead the group in making decisions. However, Pooh and the rest of the gang always either don't understand what Rabbit is telling them, or take impulsive actions that derail his plan. A frequent plotline in Winnie The Pooh stories features Rabbit desperately trying and failing to protect his meticulously organized possessions from his friends' destructive tendencies.
