[ SECRET POST #4890 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4890 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 31 secrets from Secret Submission Post #700.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I mean, to be fair, some of the smartest people I know can also be FANTASTICALLY DUMB in certain ways/at certain times. Being intelligent doesn't mean you can't pull a great big stupid.

My dad is an engineer with a PhD. He has also done some AMAZINGLY stupid shit in his life.

[(Anonymous)]

But that's not what the secret is about. You missed the part about plot convenience. Nobody's saying that characters have to be 100% smart all the time. Just that sometimes, writers come up with situations where it's not very credible for someone to suddenly have a major drop in IQ points, UNLESS it's for the sake of the plot.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think that's what OP means. "Passing the stupid ball" is just when a character is suddenly out of character for the sake of plot (they call it passing the ball because the phrase comes from serialized shows where it seems almost every character has an episode where they're "dumb" and then the next ep the ball is passed). You see this a lot with miscommunication plots.

It doesn't necessarily have to be like a character who was good at math suddenly bad at math but more along the lines of a very emotionally intelligent character suddenly being terrible at reading other people and communicating with them solely so a plot where they're oblivious to another character can happen.

[(Anonymous)]

It's the Idiot Ball, but yup.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, that would be an example of doing it right - a character who is amazingly smart in their own field and amazingly stupid outside it. The secret is complaining about, say, a character who is an engineer and then suddenly (when the plot needs it) is all "duh, how bridge work? Oh no, we fell in the water!"