Basic Trope: A device breaks down with no apparent in-universe cause. Ironically, the only purpose for this event is to advance the plot.
- Straight: Jeremy, a well-trained sniper, has Vile Renault in his sights but is unable to kill him because his rifle jams up at a critical moment, forcing him to pursue the villain.
- Exaggerated:
- Despite having a ton of other weapons in his arsenal, Jeremy is forced to kill Vile by breaking his neck, as every single weapon he tries to use – from pistols to hand grenades – fails before he can make the kill.
- Jeremy only uses primitive melee weapons like sword and spears and they somehow all jam.
- Downplayed: Jeremy's rifle jamming delays Vile's death by a couple of minutes, long enough for some last words.
- Justified:
- Jeremy’s equipment is very old and extremely unreliable. The only reason he hasn't had it replaced yet is because Vile started causing mayhem before he had the chance.
- Jeremy is untrained with his new rifle.
- Inverted: Jeremy is about to kill Vile in his sleep when his cell phone – which he assumed was broken and hadn't received a signal in years – suddenly starts ringing at maximum volume, resulting in Jeremy’s capture.
- Subverted: Jeremy’s job is simply to photograph Vile meeting another man. Despite having a thirty-year-old camera, he’s able to take a compelling photo of the event.
- Double Subverted: Unfortunately, he cannot have the film developed because that part of the camera is jammed shut.
- Parodied: Bob’s sniper rifle, for some odd reason, always tilts his shots to the right. When he tries to correct this, it only fires the bullet even more to the right than usual.
- Zig Zagged: Jeremy's rifle jams just as he is about to take the shot. However, he repairs in time for him to take advantage of another convenient shot. But this time, the shot gets tilted to the right, and Jeremy is captured by Vile's forces.
- Averted: All of Jeremy’s equipment is top-notch and works perfectly throughout the story.
- Enforced: The writer wants to throw in a chase scene but is also trying to avoid Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?
- Lampshaded: “That was a tough mission. My cell phone was the only thing that worked right!”
- Invoked: Vile’s Dragon sabotages all of Jeremy’s equipment beforehand.
- Exploited: The only reason Vile set his plans into motion to begin with was because he knew Jeremy would be the only person who would try and stop him, and also that his subpar equipment couldn’t possibly handle the job.
- Defied: Before setting off on his mission, Jeremy stops by an arms-dealing friend of his to update his equipment.
- Discussed: “This is my rifle. It can pick off a target at 195 yards; it also has a one-in-seven shot of jamming up every time I shoot.”
- Conversed: “Why doesn’t the guy just shoot him?” “Because his gun don’t work, remember?”
- Deconstructed: As Vile is escaping by helicopter, Jeremy resorts to using his rocket launcher to finish the job. The device fails to launch the missile, and instead detonates, killing Jeremy.
- Reconstructed: Predicting that such a jamming might occur, Jeremy modifies the launcher so that the missile cannot detonate until it has been launched from the weapon, significantly reducing his chance of death.
- Played For Laughs: Negated Moment of Awesome
- Played For Drama: Jeremy angsts over his failure and how close he was to winning. He wonders if it was fate that made his rifle jam, and if he can ever win.
- Implied: Jeremy is asked why he let Renault go. He mumbles something about his "cheap rifle" in response.
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