History Main / PlotDrivenBreakdown

*** Note to the Empire: Do NOT repair your prisoners' ship until they are safely off-planet. In fact, if you don't need the ship, scrap it or hurl it into a star.

* This trope seems to happen in every ''[[Metroid]]'' game. Samus' powerups always malfunction or disappear somewhere whenever she needs them.

* This trope seems to happen in every ''[[Metroid Metroid]]'' game. Samus' powerups always malfunction or disappear somewhere whenever she needs them.

* In the original (pre-movie) version of ''TheRocketeer'', Hughes asks Peevy if anyone has thought of checking the fuel level on the rocket pack. Minutes later, Cliff runs out of fuel in mid-flight. There is exactly enough time for Hughes to get int a plane, catch up with him and grab him before he hits the ground.

-->--'''''DoctorWho''''', [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfMh_5hy-48& blooper]] from '''"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor The Armageddon Factor]]"'''

** [[ItGotWorse It gets worse:]] Remember the Enterprise's [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath "transporter malfunction"]] in ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''? They even used it as a way to conveniently [[DroppedABridgeOnHim "remove"]] the new Vulcan science officer who was supposed to replace Spock. Granted, everyone was naturally wanting to see Spock on the bridge again, and [[JonasQuinn any other Vulcan]] would most likely have been [[ReplacementScrappy unacceptable.]] But ''come on!'' Couldn't they have just [[PutOnABus reassigned]] the poor guy?

** Voyager was particularly bad at this, one episode (workforce part 2)had transporters and warp drive fail within minutes of each other, despite the sheer size of each system a single weapon hit is all that is required to take them offline.

* In the original (pre-movie) version of TheRocketeer, Hughes asks Peevy if anyone has thought of checking the fuel level on the rocket pack. Minutes later, Cliff runs out of fuel in mid-flight. There is exactly enough time for Hughes to get int a plane, catch up with him and grab him before he hits the ground.

*** Officially, it was half-working when they were flying to Bespin, despite the [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale original intent]] to have the ship just [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale fly to another system at sublight speeds.]]

* In ''GearsOfWar'' you can expect to be unable to access the hammer of dawn whenever a boss fight breaks out.
** Except when you need the Hammer of Dawn to hurt it. Then there will be like 6 of them scattered around (despite the fact that you can't carry a second one, it never runs out of ammo in Campaign, and you can only play Co-Op with one other person).

** As an aside note, the recent movies and the several alternate continuities avert this by having the webbing be organic...except in the second movie, where a crisis of confidence shorts out his powers.

Sometimes things just break down purely for plot development.

* occurs at a crucial time

Often the equipment in question is something the the hero depends on (e.g. a PlotCoupon, spiritual enhancement, TheProfessor's invention). Having the equipment fail is therefore an obvious way of developing the plot, forcing the hero to TakeAThirdOption, reassess his chances or get more creative. It's a way of avoiding the predictable "Hero defeats enemy with his favourite weapon" conflict resolution. However, when the writers fail to provide reasonable justification for the failure, the audience's WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief is broken.

When this happens in video games, the player can feel like control is being taken away from them unfairly.

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC: ComicBooks]]

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

* This happens all the time to any source of light in {{Darkness Falls}}.

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]

* ''RedDwarf'' uses this trope regularly and unashamedly, seeing as the show relies more on character interaction than plot development.

[[AC: TabletopGames]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

[[AC: RealLife]]
* Richard Lawrence was the assassin who tried to assassinate AndrewJackson. He ran straight into this trope when both his pistols jammed. Jackson then proceeded to [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking beat his attacker down]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome with his cane]]. [[BadassGrandpa At age 68]].
** Both pistols were subsequently fired, and the chances of two successive misfires were estimated at somewhere less than one in 78,000. Some have speculated that the weather that day may have contributed, though, by temporarily wetting the gunpowder.
*** Not that it would have mattered. Jackson already had [[MadeOfIron two bullets lodged in his body.]]

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-->--''DoctorWho'', [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfMh_5hy-48& blooper]] from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor The Armageddon Factor]]

->'''Kevin:''' My magical gun never runs out of power!
->'''Mother Brain:''' Yes it does - when the plot demands it!
-->--A (unfortunately no longer available) fanfiction spoof of the first episode of ''CaptainNTheGameMaster''

* In the case of ''{{Empowered}}'''s super suit, it is easier to list the times when the [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman Hypermembrane]] ''does'' work correctly.

* Inversion: In ''{{Naruto}}'', when Naruto is fighting Gaara he tries to summon toads early on in battle, he gets Gamakichi and Gamatatsu (who are small, although better than the tadpoles he was summoning earlier) while trying to get Gamabunta ([[{{Kaiju}} who's a 100 meters tall]]), but succeeds in summoning Gamanbunta once it becomes absolutely necessary (despite the last time requiring him to use his SuperpoweredEvilSide).

*** Note to the Empire: Do NOT repair your prisoners' ship until they are safely off-planet. In fact, if you don't need the ship, scrap it or hurl it into a son.

* There's at least one scene (and probably two or more) in the Ruby-Spears production of the American ''MegaMan'' cartoon, where Mega Man runs low on power in a critical situation.

** Both pistols were subsequently fired, and the chances of two successive misfires were estimated at somewhere less than one in 78,000.

* In ''{{Ultraman}}'', it seems that Ultraman always runs out of energy at the worst moment and because Earth's atmosphere is too polluted, he will have to fly up above the atmosphere.
** PleaseExplain. He only has a few minutes worth of power at a time and if it starts to run down it means he's losing the fight.