History Main / NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup

* ''ComicBook/PhantomLady'': The [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] "[[MsFanservice Good girl]]" had a "blacklight projector" whose inventor ''literally'' died just as he delivered the only copy straight into her hands.

* An unfortunate real-life example with ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon Saga''. According to the developers, the original source code is lost, shooting down any chances for a port (meantime, the game remains the rarest and most valuable [[UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn Saturn]] game.)

* This is becoming a concern for video game preservationists. With most gaming platforms as of the 2020s having a [[UsefulNotes/DigitalDistribution digital distribution]] option or is the only option, this presents several issues when it comes to making sure games are available for future generations:

** The silver lining in this is most digital distribution platforms still require you to download the whole game. This has allowed some lesser known platforms like the Zeebo (an mobile-OS console type thing for the South American market) to live on in some form or fashion despite it going down in flames by the mid 2010s. Even for some platforms like Steam or even the [=PlayStation=] Network, some hacking can get the game playable since it only needs to go online to make sure you bought a copy of the game. The worst-case scenario is when there are exclusives for [[UsefulNotes/CloudGaming cloud gaming]]. As these are played over a remote connection, any exclusives that are with the platform should the platform go down will be no longer available. When Google killed off its attempt with Stadia, it took a dozen or so games with it because they were not available elsewhere. The only hope is for someone to find a server or the developers' machines that has a copy of the game.

** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' features [[PsychoSerum Titan]] and by the end of the story it seems it is all but gone. Batman destroyed the original formula the original creator is dead [[spoiler:(but not before [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] tortured the formula out of her)]] and the manufacturing facility was destroyed by Batman (Again). [[AvertedTrope However]] TheStinger shows a Titan Crate floating in Gotham Bay and it still shows in Arkham City where Batman ends finally destroying it all in a sidequest [[spoiler:[[OverlyLongGag (except not)]] and a [[GiantMook Titan Thug]] shows up again in the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC]].
** Averted, played straight and brutally deconstructed in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity''. To cure the TITAN formula poisoning, Batman teams up with [[Characters/BatmanMrFreeze Mr. Freeze]] and ends up getting a sample of [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's Al Ghul]]'s blood. It's averted as Freeze makes two vials of the antidote, then played straight because, immediately after, he selfishly destroys a vial to force Batman to find Nora Fries, then brutally deconstructed as [[spoiler:Batman ends up losing the last vial when the Joker pulls off a BackStab, causing him to drop it on the ground, leading to the clown dying painfully]].
** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' features a predecessor of Titian called TN-1 once again Batman presumably destroys the notes when he blew up Bane's lair and [[spoiler:Bane himself [[LaserGuidedAmnesia suffers severe brain damage after using it on himself at the end of the game.]]. This leaves Batman and Alfred the only who still know how to make (They copied the notes) but of course they have no reason to and every reason not to do it]]. The BagOfSpilling for the Cold, Cold Heart DLC is justified this way. It is [[HandWave Handwaved]] that the Glue Grenade formula was unstable and all the grenades from the main game set just a few days earlier are nothing but dust.

A common cause of this is ShootTheBuilder. Compare ReedRichardsIsUseless, where the formula exists, but is only applied to fantastic problems. It may appear as a justification for NeverRecycleYourSchemes. See Also: BlackBox, for situations where the device in question has extraterrestrial or otherwise fantastic origins that would justify not being able to build another; TheSparkOfGenius, for devices that have the superficial trappings of science but are actually based on powers that don't follow the usual scientific rules of predictable cause and effect; ItOnlyWorksOnce, for devices that can't effectively be reused even if you know how to make them work again; and PsychoPrototype, when the first attempt is deranged and evil such that you wouldn't even want to recreate that version.

*** The reason that T-45d power armor (The stuff the East Coast Brotherhood uses) was considered inferior to later models was because the suits had a couple of drawbacks: Their servo systems weren't quite up to scratch so they were bulky and hard to move around in (represented in game as a -2 penalty to your agility); had problems with heat dissipation; Various electronic and mechanical subsystems of the armor were exposed on the outside of the casing, making it far more susceptible to damage (the condition deteriorates faster than Enclave armor); and the suits also burnt through energy cells like a gas-guzzling SUV (thankfully, you don't have to worry about that issue).

*** ''New Vegas'' also averts this with some of its more conventional weapons The NCR relies on primarily Pre-War weaponry (such as wooden-furniture AR-15s, M1 Garands, and Browning Hi Powers) rather than the more advanced technology the Enclave, Brotherhood, and even some Raiders favor. It's implied, however, companies within the NCR are still reproducing a lot of their weaponry; the Hi Power, for instance, is made by a company called M&A and, since ''Fallout Tactics'' confirms Browning exists in the ''Fallout'' universe and did make a Hi Power themselves, one can safely assume M&A's model is a reproduction, albeit one seeing front-line combat use.

* ZigZaggingTrope in ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Tron 2.0]]''. The Encom science staff ''did'' keep notes and records about the Shiva laser, but were unaware of the AIIsACrapshoot nature of the Master Control Program, which was "tweaking" the process and took the research with it when it was defeated. It took twenty years and the building of a more Benevolent AI ([=Ma3a=]) to compensate [[spoiler:and even then, it's an arguable case as to how much actually was rebuilt, seeing as [=Ma3a=] is a cross of an AI and the VirtualGhost of the laser's co-inventor]] and the laser doesn't work correctly without her. [[spoiler:Those who did shoot themselves in without her permission ended up ''very'' corrupted by it]] Alan and [=Ma3a=] do re-build the technology and algorithms to make it work, but after [[CorruptCorporateExecutive F-Con's attack]] and attempt to conquer {{Cyberspace}}, Alan, [=Ma3a=], and Jet agree to lock those things up ''very'' tightly and not share their discovery, concluding TheWorldIsNotReady.