What An Idiot / X Chronicles

• Prior to the first saga, Dr. Cain uses Dr. Light's designs for X to create Reploids. These robots are missing design elements that Dr. Cain couldn't understand and haven't gone through the testing period X did to ensure his safety.
  You'd expect: Dr. Cain to make sure that the Reploids were as safe as possible by not doing things like giving them special powers or built-in weapons, making them massive, and keeping them humanoid. Ideally, they'd be issued weapons as needed from the government, and be given select tools and powers for the job at hand as opposed to constant access to such power. Since they're obviously supposed to be people, they should be designed as such to avoid unnecessary gaps between both species, such as huge animalistic forms that could instill fear, jealousy, self-loathing, mistrust, etc. In case of emergencies, he could also make special electrical weaponry designed to shut down their brains temporarily, essentially a high-tech tranquilizer for mechanical organisms, or magnetic-powered weaponry that would stop them from moving, or perhaps some kind of remote device that would activate via satellite, for exactly the same purpose, as Reploids would be naturally harder to take down than a human would.
  Instead: He goes nuts building the Reploids, who eventually go nuts on humanity, thanks to The Virus.
  • The Arcadia Council did ask Cain to do such special electrical weaponry to shut off Reploid brains.
    You'd expect: This "Cain Antivirus Failsafe" to reset the Reploid to factory settings.
    Instead: It kills the Reploid.
    Worse: The Arcadia Council installs it in Repliforce and nearly uses it to kill it, and they would have succeeded if X wouldn't have sabotaged it.
• Here's one from the original saga: Towards the end of the saga, Vile has captured X using his Ride Armor, and a previously incapacitated Zero leaps onto the back of the Armor, where Vile can't aim any attacks at all. There's no indication that Vile can't be shot directly.
  You'd expect: Zero to aim his Z-Buster at the back of Vile's head and shoot it off. Zero's shown in the prologue that he can tap his buster's full attack power much faster than X. That way it's two on one when it's time to fight Sigma.
  Instead: He self-destructs, destroying the armor and saving X, but killing himself in the process. Again, there's no reason to assume Vile is invulnerable when he's there.
  • Granted, X didn't want Vile dead, but he didn't consider the fact Vile went Maverick on his own accord.
• In Lazarus Zero, X has to fight the Counter Hunters to reclaim Zero's parts, except the control chip which the Maverick Hunters already have. Having Zero on either side is showed as being very important. Canon dictates that there was a black-painted copy of Zero in the villains' possession.
  You'd expect: The Counter Hunters to turn over the parts of the fake, and either rig them to explode in enemy HQ, or to take Zero's control chip back to them.
  Instead: They actually turn over Zero's parts.
  • Granted, they did attempt to retake them, unlike in the games. Even Cyrex considers the fact they never attempted to retake Zero's parts in the games as a moment of idiocy, which was going against the idea of Serges being Wily, who is a genius.
• Doppler Effect:
  • Dr. Doppler realizes that X is powerful and tries to capture him. The first time, he has a corrupt Maverick Hunter, Mac, capture X and tries to extract him during a siege on Maverick Hunter HQ.
    You'd expect: That Mac would use a teleporter to immediately move X to Doppler's fortress.
    Instead: Mac opts for a manual extraction, giving Zero enough time to catch up and save X.
    • Also: Doppler later deploys Bit and Byte to capture X while he's tracking down the main bosses.
      You'd think: The pair would realize that X should be an easy target since Mac pulled it off.
      Instead: Bit and Byte ignore Doppler's capture order and try to kill X on sight.
• Rise of Repliforce:
  • The Repliforce army is under suspicion for being responsible for the fall of Sky Lagoon, destroying an entire city and killing millions of people. Zero comes across Colonel, a high-ranking member of Repliforce. Zero asks Colonel to disarm and come in for questioning regarding the fall of Sky Lagoon.
    You'd expect: Colonel would immediately disarm and come in for questioning, both in a show of good faith for the victims and to clear Repliforce's name. Or, if Colonel refused to come in for whatever reason — believes they should be looking for potential survivors first, suspects this might be a frame job with too many people in the right places, worries that Repliforce might just get blamed anyway in the panic, etc. — clearly mention that reason as why he's refusing.
    Instead: Colonel refuses to come in for questioning because he says laying down his sword for any reason would be dishonorable. Colonel then leaves the scene without any more clarification, causing all of Repliforce to be declared Mavericks and starting a massive war.
  • While Colonel definitely takes the cake in idiocy, Zero's handling of the situation isn't exactly graceful. He's just saved Iris, Colonel's sister, and received his thanks, but the situation does look pretty bad, and his superiors have already been suspicious of the Repliforce for some time. However, there's nothing out-of-the-ordinary about Colonel's behavior, he seems perfectly calm and rational.
    You'd expect: He'd recognize, at the very least, Colonel himself seems to think he's innocent, and that Mavericks are generally not known for their emotional or mental stability. Therefore he probably shouldn't say anything that could set him off. He'd assure Colonel that while it seems unlikely he was involved in the attack, he and his men were still found with weapons on the scene, and as a member of the primary anti-Maverick force in the world it's his duty to make sure.
    Instead: He asks pretty bluntly if they were involved, to which Colonel says they came only to help.
    Now: It'd be the time to break the news to him as gently as possible, and appeal to his sense of honor and justice. He could simply tell him as a fellow soldier he must know that it's the sensible decision to have a full investigation. If Colonel shows hesitancy, he could ask him to do it as a personal favor for saving Iris.
    Instead: He drops a bomb on him. Granted, he asks him nicely to disarm.
    The result: Colonel predictably flies off the handle, insisting war would be preferable to the shame of accusations and surrender, teleports back to General and prepares for war.
  • Colonel's What an Idiot! moment is, for the most part, because of a What an Idiot! moment itself. Before Doppler Effect, Gate wanted to replicate the success of the Maverick Hunters and create a warrior as powerful as she was compassionate, just like X. Unfortunately, he was unable to achieve his goal, and was forced to split the program he'd made into what became Colonel and Iris, the former a proud and honorable warrior, the latter his compassionate and sensitive sister.
    You'd Expect: He'd remember X himself went through 30 years of testing and that being careless with the design and conditioning of the artificial brains of reploids resulted in the original Mavericks, so he would put them through extensive therapy and analysis, making certain to teach Colonel that there is a time when pride must be discarded for what's right, and to teach Iris how to deal with emotional trauma and inner pain, helping them overcome their greatest potential weaknesses.
    Instead: He decides not to bother, and immediately assigns them to positions where they're directly involved in the Maverick Wars, namely, as Maverick Hunters. Iris as a Navigator, and Colonel on active duty. When Colonel is informed that the government thinks he's a Maverick, he's shocked at first, yet after hearing he'll be brought to HQ and simply questioned (notably after disarming, which he views as a blow to his honor), he loses it, and rebels, and whenever seen, comes off as almost delusional in his statements, insisting war is the only choice. He adamantly refuses to listen to reason, and in the end, is wounded. Iris, after being yelled at and called a traitor by her brother, has a complete mental breakdown. She uses a device of Gate's to turn into a mech-like form to kill Zero, but the stress of the adaptation and the fight proves nearly fatal, leading her to nearly die in Zero's arms and only surviving thanks to X.
    Granted, Gate was infected while working on Colonel and Iris, so perhaps he ensured those flaws were there on purpose in order to kill X and Zero.
  • X managed to convince the Arcadia Council that the Maverick Hunters can end the Repliforce War with as few casualities as possible on both sides and prove Repliforce's innocence.
    You'd expect: The Arcadia Council to just let X do his thing.
    Instead: Teagan sends Double in to make things harder for the Hunters.
  • Both Maverick Hunters and Repliforce are aware the latter's Maverick label is wrong.
    You'd expect: The Repliforce commanders to understand that the Hunters were trying to clear their name and stand down.
    Instead: The only one that does is Web Spider.
    Worse: Slash Beast fights X despite outright stating he does not want to fight him.
  • Iris' situation isn't as tragic when you remember that Zero led his own unit at the time.
    You'd expect: Zero would just contact his soldiers and order a security detail to monitor Iris and keep her inside Hunter HQ. She's on Zero's side, but she's still the sister of a high ranking member of Repliforce, so her loyalty is still suspect.
    Instead: Iris has free rein to go as she pleases, and no one knew she was gone until when Zero found her on the Final Weapon.
  • Another reason Iris' situation is less tragic is because she herself has a moment: when Colonel broke her.
    You'd expect: Iris to go get comfort from Zero, who cares the most for her.
    Instead: She goes to ask help from the shady Gate.