History Main / CrapolaTech

* ''Film/SchindlersList'': Oscar Schindler, sabotaging his own factory equipment

-->'''[[ComicBook/WarMachine Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes]]:''' I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife.\\
'''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]:''' The what?\\

* Anything made by {{Mad Scientist}}s in ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' suffers from this. Equipment created by a mad scientist has a "Reliability" number. Whenever you use it, you must roll a 20-sided die; if the result is higher than the "Reliability" number, something goes wrong. The problems can range from "Minor" (your gatling revolver jams) to "Major" (the boiler on your steam-powered car breaks) to "Catastrophe" (your jetpack ''explodes'').

* Quickscell in ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'', is quite like the Chipwell Armaments example above. Quickscell excels at making shoddy merchandise, sometimes with critical components not even installed at the time of sale. It has gotten so bad, that the Federated Suns mandates in purchase contracts that their quartermaster shall inspect every piece purchased and that any flaws or missing equipment is to be fixed by Quickscell at their own expense or the purchase is cancelled. Their most "popular" ware is the ''Hetzer'' [[TanksButNoTanks wheeled self-propelled gun]]. It is literally a [[BFG AC/20]] mounted on a wheeled chassis (look Ma, no turret!) with a boxy armored superstructure and no other weapons. It packs a punch, but is about as survivable as it sounds.

* In ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul, Dirk buys a cheap electronic calculator that can supposedly also run the I-Ching. He acknowledges that this is a terrible product in both concept and execution, which is exactly why he has to have it. It doesn't even work as a normal calculator; if the numbers go above four it starts reading from its I-Ching memory and claims the answer is "a suffusion of yellow". The calculator's version of the I-Ching is described as having been translated from Chinese via Japanese "and enjoyed many adventures along the way", and the back falls off almost immediately and has to be stuck back on with sticky tape. On the other hand, after reading its commentary on the question of whether he should get a new fridge, he decides it's saying he should, which is exactly what he wanted to do anyway, so in that respect it's a success.

* Anything made by {{Mad Scientist}}s in ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' suffers from this.

You just received some brilliant technology from your local GadgeteerGenius (or on a more "unfortunate" scenario, BunglingInventor). It's all neatly built and ready to go. And then you activate the damn thing...''and it doesn't freakin' work''. Ladies and gentleman, we got ourselves a piece of Crapola Tech on our hands, a slab of technology that, let's face it, either didn't have enough kinks worked out of it to ensure it performs its signature function or is just a plain old bad idea from the get go.

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]

* Paperinik (Donald Duck's superhero alter ego of Italian origins) has been a victim of this, either due Gyro's superweapons malfunctioning or Paperinik not reading the instruction manual. Then ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' has the 'device 87 bis' of the Extransformer shield, a forced teleporting beam used exactly three times: the first time was an EpicFail moment for our protagonist, the second time was an epic fail for the villain who had stolen the shield (followed by Paperinik [[LampshadeHanging pointing out it never worked]]), and the third time was when the villain started stomping the shield in a fit of rage and the device activated, giving him a bad burn after dumping him somewhere in the Hawaii Islands.

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''[[ComicBook/WarMachine Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes]]:''' I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife.\\

'''Rhodey:''' ''[Looks dejected]'' ... Yeah...

* In ''Franchise/StarWars Episode V: Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Han is about to be caught by the Empire, but he grinningly engages his uber-modified hyperdrive-- which fails. Han's borderline-insane modifications rendered his ship one of the fastest in the entire galaxy when everything works properly... but also a lot more likely to ''not'' work properly.
** Narrowly averted a second time, when the Millenium Falcon just had its hyperdrive repaired, and so Lando engages it--- only to find that Darth Vader had it deactivated. (Fortunately, good ol' R2 knew this, and fixes it).
* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' scene is parodied in ''Film/{{Fanboys}}'' with Hutch's van: When a highway patrol car shows up, Hutch tries to shake it off by engaging the NitroBoost he has installed on his van. It doesn't work, though. That is, it ''does'' work in the end: The nitrous kicks in unexpectedly with a delay, causing Hutch to lose control over his van and the vehicle to leave a hole shaped like Darth Vader's helmet in a billboard.

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]

* Anything made by {{Mad Scientist}}s in TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}} suffers from this.

* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', you can donate money to the Orange Kid in Twoson, who claims that he will use it for research. Eventually, he gives the player the Suporma ("Super Orange Machine"), which plays a song that is not heard, called "Ode to Orange Kid," and then breaks.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Some of WesternAnimation/TraceyMcBean's inventions delved into this category.
* The [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Acme Corporation]] in general has this.

* The prototype lightsaber #21 purchased from Dr. Venture during ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' episode "Tag Sale, You're It!" It actually does produce a lightsaber blade...it just can't ''cut anything''.

* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', you can donate money to the Orange Kid in Twoson, who claims that he will use for research. Eventually, he gives the player the Suporma ("Super Orange Machine"), which plays a song that is not heard, called "Ode to Orange Kid," and then breaks.

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* The Suck Cut from Film/WaynesWorld. Wayne himself nailed the bulls eye when he said "It certainly does suck".

-->'''[[Comicbook/WarMachine Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes]]:''' I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife.
-->'''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]:''' The what?
-->(Rhodey launches the "ex wife" weapon, [[TheWorfBarrage which bounces off Vanko with no effect]]...)
-->'''Tony:''' "Hammer Tech?"
-->'''Rhodey:''' [Looks dejected] "... Yeah..."

** Narrowly averted a second time, when the Millenium Falcon just had its hyperdrive repaired, and so Lando engages it--- only to find that Darth Vader had it deactivated. (Fortunately good ol' R2 knew this, and fixes it).

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

* Chipwell Armaments, an armor manufacturer in ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}''. They market themselves towards adventurers on a budget, selling equipmenmt that is priced far below their competitors. Unfortunately, they do this by cutting corners wherever they can. The result is equipment, that while functional, provides a fraction of the protection of armor made by just about anyone else. This has earned them the nickname "Cheapo Armor" among mercenaries.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''Videogame/EarthBound'', you can donate money to the Orange Kid in Twoson, who claims that he will use for research. Eventually, he gives the player the Suporma ("Super Orange Machine"), which plays a song that is not heard, called "Ode to Orange Kid," and then breaks.

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

Compare WalkingTechbane, when it's the user's fault that the gadget breaks. See also InfinityMinusOneSword, should the technology in question be used for combat purposes. Often a MadeInCountryX product.

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:TabletopRPG]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* Krackus from ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' specializes in building with junk, and it shows.

* Chipwell Armaments, an armor manufacturer in ''{{Rifts}}''. They market themselves towards adventurers on a budget, selling equipmenmt that is priced far below their competitors. Unfortunately, they do this by cutting corners wherever they can. The result is equipment, that while functional, provides a fraction of the protection of armor made by just about anyone else. This has earned them the nickname "Cheapo Armor" among mercenaries.

* In Videogame/EarthBound, you can donate money to the Orange Kid in Twoson, who claims that he will use for research. Eventually, he gives the player the Suporma ("Super Orange Machine"), which plays a song that is not heard, called "Ode to Orange Kid", and then breaks.

* In the very first episode of Anime/{{Medabots}}, Ikki felt this way about Medabee because he wouldn't start up during a battle. Medabee later on paid him back for the insult...''violently''.

* The infamous Zinco company from ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}. Similar to Acme Products from ''Looney Tunes'', its a running gag how explosively unreliable they are. Of course, since the owner of Zinco is a pawn of Rasputin, this is likely intentional on the part of the company.