History Main / ObstructiveBureaucrat

* Galloway from ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' insults and looks down on the Autobots, and even on Lennox, Epps and the other troops who support the Autobots. Threatens the Autobots with banishment from Earth, though it's never mentioned that he could only legally banish them from the US.

These characters tend towards LawfulNeutral, usually LawfulStupid and sometimes LawfulEvil. Usually tends to be a subtrope of VillainyFreeVillain.

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': The Romulan Star Empire is no more, but its successor, the Romulan Free State, is still a bureaucratic nightmare.
-->'''Trill''': My residency was supposed to start six months ago, but the Romulan Free State revoked it when I was halfway here. I have no idea why, or why they finally reinstated it.\\

--> ''''Guido:''' It's ten to one.

* In the TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting:

* There are two uses for the Bureaucracy skill and its related Charms in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. One is to evade these characters. The other is to become one. With the Charms, you can ''magically aid'' your obstructions to be nearly insurmountable.
* One of the many misfortunes that can interfere with whatever the players are currently doing in ''TabletopGame/GoblinQuest'' involves a hobgoblin arriving and demanding that the players show identity papers, which the book says the players don't have.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', red tape is one of the many perils of life in Alpha Complex: for example, Troubleshooters might be forced to fill out Personal Authorized Handmounted Firearm Requisition Application Forms (in ''triplicate'') to get laser guns so they can defend themselves from a horde of rampaging mutants.

*** Another favorite: the equipment they need is available at their clearance level for once, but ''the requisition form for said equipment'' isn't. Or, for experimental equipment, the instructions aren't.
* In ''TabletopGame/TheSpoils'' CCG, a number of cards from the Banker trade are bureaucrats created from the reanimated corpses of those who died in debt. They must pay back their debts to their lenders (a process one card implies takes roughly 500 years), and are mostly used a pencil-pushers to deal with the poor and undesirables the bank has no interest in lending money to, drowning them under mountains of paperwork. Mechanically, their function is to tie up the opponent's resources (for example, depleting their Character cards to no effect). One card's flavor text sums up the experience rather aptly: "Could I please speak to a ''living'' person?"
* The Vilani Imperium in ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' is a VestigialEmpire composed of these. They were completely incapable of running the war against the Terrans because of this. Interestingly, they were deliberately designed this way to ensure that the Imperium ran on autopilot and had as little disorder as possible. As there hadn't been a real enemy for thousands of years, it made sense in its day.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' roleplaying game ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'', one of the locations described is the "Scrivener's System" of Prol, an entire ''solar system'' filled almost completely with Obstructive Bureaucrats. There is ''literally a civil war brewing'' in the Prol system because they're running out of places to store all the paperwork. All sides making their points in multi-volume treatises is not helping.
** It's not like the rest of the Imperium of Mankind's Administratum is all that competent either, as entire planets have been lost because of misplaced paper work or ''rounding errors''. The Tau, on the other, hand, avert this with the Water Caste. Their job is to make everything run better, not worse, and they tend to be good at that job.

** The Inquisition was made specifically because the High Lords of Terra couldn't be bothered to wait for due process to deal with the billions upon billions of criminals in the Imperium, as it takes centuries to fill out request forms for ''ammunition and food''. Consequently they have absolutely no checks or balances and little in the way of a formal hierarchy or structure, but this has created a chaotic internal environment where political struggles and backstabbing (sometimes metaphorical, sometimes literal) between opposing Inquisitors often delay any useful action, making the Inquisition not that much different than the Administratum they were suppose to circumvent.
** There is at least one order of the inquisition devoted entirely to cutting through as much as of the Administratum's red tape as possible. Whether they're having any success or making a real impact is unknown and doubtful though.

* If there is ever a need for an insufferable jackass with a load of red tape in the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'', expect to see another appearance by Henry Peter Gyrich. He spent ''decades'' being a massive pain in the ass of superhero teams, particularly the Avengers, before CrisisCrossover events such as ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' pushed him into KnightTemplar territory.
** He's even beyond that. His actions during ''[[ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative Avengers: The Initiative]]'' (cloning a teenage soldier and using him to cover up a training death) clearly cross the MoralEventHorizon. He's the only comic book character where "basic human decency" is an InformedAttribute. Everyone goes out of their way to say he's not a villain, while Gyrich's actions would say otherwise.

* The Creator/TimDorsey novel ''Florida Roadkill'' has an insurance exec whose job is to block insurance claims, especially if they're actually covered by the client's policy. This gets him a KarmicDeath when he gets shot, and when he goes to the hospital, the call to his insurance company for payment regarding the treatment gets directed to his office.

** Finally, what seems like an open-and-shut case of a space pilot spacing a young housewife because he wasn't prepared or determined to come up with a third option (spacecraft was carrying crucial medical supplies and there was too much weight, classic ColdEquation) ends up going the opposite way because of the bureaucracy forcing him to do it: The shuttle was a deathtrap because of "safety regulations" banning advanced technology or even redundant systems, the housewife stowed away because the local TSA was "cracking down" on space pirates, which made getting a shuttle too expensive, and she was able to get stow away because TSA TERRORIST REGULATIONS BANNED DOOR LOCKS (YES REALLY), and finally, while the pilot wasn't smart enough to just use the chair instead of the housewife, he did call for help and got a direct order to follow protocol and execute her. Fortunately, he got a slap on the wrist[[spoiler: because he didn't even try to kill her; he intended to kill himself instead, but she sacrificed herself first]], and she got paid enough for medical bills (she survived spacing herself) and her own ship. Additionally, the TSA was cracked down for designing this no-win situation intentionally to justify their "losing spacecraft constantly"; the plan was to decrease security, wait for hitchhikers to board one of the deathtraps, and then get their recently-promoted pilots to panic and do something stupid, thereby justifying the rumors of pirates (frame the pilot as a murderer, record the death of the housewife, or watch the ship blow itself to bits).

* An episode of ''[[Series/{{Mash}} M*A*S*H]]'' saw Hawkeye and Trapper navigate up the ranks through a series of obstructive bureaucrats in an attempt to obtain a piece of medical equipment.
--> '''Trapper''': Sir, we started with a captain, went on to a major, then to a colonel.
--> '''Hawkeye''': On the way, we've encountered oral compulsiveness, raging paranoia, and a colonel who's shipping Korea to Switzerland one dollar at a time.
** Of note is the guy who told them they couldn't have the vital piece of medical equipment they needed, but could have a pizza oven if they filled out the standard paperwork and replace "machine gun" with "pizza" on the request.

** In the ''/Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy'' readers learn just how little tolerance the Empire has for obstructive bureauts. Those who weren't executed often went into hiding to avoid the wrath of Palpatine or Vader.
** Later, in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' Jacen feels the Galatic Alliance bureaurcy is hobbling the military. In order to deal with the situation he heads directly to the supply department and forces the procurement agent in charge of turbolaser parts to be sent to the frontline unit with the most misfires. After Jacen does that his troopers compliment him, telling Jacen that he acted like his grandfather would have and their weapons were already working better.

* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/TheWarriorsApprentice'' the Barrayaran embassy on Beta Colony maintains a bureaucratic black hole into which Betans who have grievances against Barrayaran citizens will be "swallowed up in an endless möbius loop of files, forms, and reports, kept especially for such occasions by the extremely competent staff. The forms included some particularly creative ones that had to be round-tripped on the six-week journey back to Barrayar itself, and were guaranteed to be sent back several times for minor errors in execution. ... 'It works great with Betans -- they're perfectly happy, because all the time they think they're doing something to you.'"

* Vice Admiral Alynna Nechayev is presented this way in most of her appearances on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]''. Her involvement in the Cardassian [=DMZ=] crisis, if not actually outright caused by her, certainly aggravated the situation.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In the novel "Station Rage" readers see obstructive Cardassian bureaucrats in action. The military hates dealing with them so much that the military leadership has to force Guls to take turns in dealing with them otherwise the military would fall apart because they would not be resupplied.

!!Examples of the humorous version

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica:'' The Commission of Super-Human Activities, who not incidentally have aforementioned Henry Gyrich among their number, usually are just regular obstructive. In "The Captain", they find Steve Rogers technically owes them back-pay. Steve resigns on grounds of conscience, and they replace him with John Walker. Fine enough, but Gyrich insists that if Steve continues superheroing, the CSA strip the Avengers of ''any'' ability to operate on American soil. He's soon outdone by the CSA's head, who as the story goes on becomes increasingly maniacal, trying to have Steve arrested for sedition (uh) and treason (breaking into the White House to save the President from being turned into a snake man. Long story), and even the other commissioners think he's being nuts. Turns out the man is working for the Red Skull as part of a plot to ruin Cap's legacy. Once he's caught out, the Skull has him killed to tie up loose ends.

* ''Fanfic/KyoshiRising''; the magistrate's assistant Kyoshi meets early in her journey, who ignoring Kyoshi's attempts to help the town with a giant spirit monster even after she reveals she's [[TheChosenOne the Avatar]]. The dockmaster in Taizhou has the temperament of an Obstructive Bureaucrat, but is more of a BeleagueredBureaucrat.

* ''The Leaky Establishment'' by Creator/DavidLangford: This is how the Nuclear Utilisation Technology Centre operates. While it's supposedly their job to create and maintain Britain's Independent Deterrent, that's a long term goal, whereas the Public Relations Committee meet every Tuesday, and therefore the minutes of the last meeting have to be done ''now''. Scientists are frequently disturbed by Security men wishing to check that "valuable equipment" (cheap pocket calculators and ancient slide-rules) are still in the office and haven't been taken home, and the security measures at the front gate seem to be there purely to inconvenience people because that makes things ''look'' secure. However, since many of the scientists are rather sceptical about the nuclear deterrent they tend to the view that, while these things are hugely inconvenient for them personally, at least it stops them from actually making weapons, which is probably a good thing. (This situation is, of course, nothing like the real-world Atomic Weapons Establishment, [[WriteWhatYouKnow where Langford worked for five years]].)

* ''Little Dorritt'' by Charles Dickens has the Circumlocution Office, which is entirely made up of obstructive bureaucrats. A fair number of said bureaucrats are from the same family, the [[MeaningfulName Barnacles]].

* In his youth, the only expression of strength and personal vengeance the mouse-like narrator of Dostoevsky's ''Notes from Underground'' could hope for was by playing this trope.

** In ''War Story'', the adjutant (Executive Officer), charged with keeping the squadron in essential stores, is a corrupt gambling addict at the end of a chain of corruption. As a result the airmen are on basic rations with no coal for heating as the officer charged with providing food and warmth has gambled it away. The situation is only resolved with a change of personnel and a barter system, based on food parcels containing sought-after luxury items sent by rich relatives of affluent officers. The old Adjutant is demoted and sent to a penal regiment, whose ex-con soldiers kill him when they discover he's gambled away their rum ration.
** In ''Goshawk Squadron'', an officious senior officer is humbled by Wooley and forced to provide the sort of luxuries only issued to General Staff officers far behind the front lines.
** In ''A Piece of Cake'', half the squadron's aircraft are grounded for want of essential spare parts. An unhelpful stres depot will not issue them unless the correct paperwork is filled in properly. The squadron does not have the official forms to requisition spare parts. The Air Ministry maintain these have been sent out and you're not getting any more. A new CO mounts an armed raid on the deopt and takes what he needs at gunpoint. The enraged bureaucrat catches up with the squadron in France and threatens court-martials. A killer pilot is sent to strafe his car to destruction, which is later blamed on the Luftwaffe.

* In the ''Cross Time Engineer'' series by Creator/LeoFrankowski, the hero Conrad Stargard confesses his real identity as a time traveler to his priest, who can't decide whether this is an act of God or the Devil. So he refers the matter to the Holy Inquisition in Rome. Conrad spends years with this threat hanging over his head, but it turns out someone at the higher levels of the Church always refuses to believe the report and sends it back to the local church authority for verification. But as Conrad's star rises the priest keeps getting promoted as well, because naturally the Church want to maintain their influence over any powerful figure. So the report keeps getting referred back to his friend as the local authority, and therefore just goes round in circles without reaching Rome.

* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' had Qi Fu, a government official appointed to oversee the training of the batch of recruits Mulan ended up with, who seemed to positively delight in documenting Shang's failures and the general ragtag nature of the unit in training, would have gotten Mulan killed had Shang not [[IOweYouMyLife owed her his life]], and proved to be an incredible ninny when not on duty. Though to his credit, he also seemed quite pleased when Shang or the unit actually met his unfairly high standards, and possessed enough intellectual integrity to recognize when following the rules simply wasn't possible or when The Book didn't really have anything to say about the situation. Qi Fu also doubles as a ''MeaningfulName'', as Qi Fu (欺負) means "bully" in Mandarin.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': Subverted in "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E25FareTheeWhale Fare Thee Whale]]". The commissionner seems to be one at first, but soon reveals that he also wishes to see Blight and Plunder stopped. It's just that he can't take any legal actions without solid evidence.

* In ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'', a series of trials deconstructs varying codes of conduct and harshly judges those responsible for mass death and destruction with the use of subtle laws and regulations that ended up causing no-win situations. First off, the Captain Picard expy and his civilization get massive penalties to spatial travel and are sentenced to planetary rebuilding because they didn't save a planet with intelligent, non-advanced life over First Law regulations. Then 'Yoda' is charged with abducting children to be indoctrinated into a cult and assassinating a legally-elected ruler over 'religious differences'. Finally, what seems like an open-and-shut case of a space pilot making a fatal decision to a young housewife because he wasn't prepared or determined to come up with a third option (spacecraft was carrying crucial medical supplies and there was too much weight, classic ColdEquation) ends up going the opposite way because of the bureaucracy forcing him to do it: The shuttle was a deathtrap because of "safety regulations" banning advanced technology or even redundant systems, the housewife stowed away because the local TSA was "cracking down" on space pirates, which made getting a shuttle too expensive, and she was able to get stow away because TSA TERRORIST REGULATIONS BANNED DOOR LOCKS (YES REALLY), and finally, while the pilot wasn't smart enough to just use the chair instead of the housewife, he did call for help and got a direct order to follow protocol and execute her. Fortunately, he got a slap on the wrist[[spoiler: because he didn't even try to kill her, he intended to kill himself first]], and she got paid enough for medical bills (she survived spacing herself) and her own ship. And the TSA was cracked down for designing this no-win situation intentionally to justify their "losing spacecraft constantly"; the plan was to decrease security, wait for hitchhikers to board one of the deathtraps, and then get their recently-promoted pilots to panic and do something stupid, thereby justifying the rumors of pirates (frame the pilot as a murderer, record the death of the housewife, or watch the ship blow itself to bits).