History Main / RummageFail

* Played for drama in ''WebAnimation/EmesisBlue''. After torturing Jeremy with a power drill, Zed Conagher comes across Fritz pointing a shotgun at him. Zed briefly tries to talk him down, before [[spoiler:attempting a QuickDraw. He accidentally grabs the drill instead of his pistol, which allows Fritz to shoot him.]]

* Happens less often then you would think in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', given that trainers always carry multiple Pokéballs, don't even look at them when they pick them out, and they (nearly) all look exactly the same.

** They manage to subvert it somehow, too. In the BreatherEpisode before the Sinnoh League, Ash calls up some of his old team members from Professor Oak's lab; after the five Pokémon turn up missing thanks to Team Rocket, Ash and friends set off to find them. After finding one of the Pokéballs, Ash somehow managed to figure out that one Pokémon sent to him was not what he asked for, even though that Pokéball was empty.

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheGreatGlassElevator'': Mr. Wonka has to turn out his pockets — which contain (according to him) all his most important possessions — to find the recipe for Wonka-Vite, bringing up such items as a rubber fried egg, stink bomb, and "homemade catapult" along the way.

** Done again in the same episode with Genie searching his suitcase for a Griffin toenail needed to change the Sultan back and throws out objects such as a bicycle tire, a Groucho mask and a pizza which Abu starts eating. Genie then states that he already used up the last of his Griffin toenail on last night's pizza; [[IAteWhat Abu reacts accordingly.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': While Tim is good about keeping most of his costume in the hidden space in his closet his gloves and boots sometimes end up mixed up with the rest of the mess in his disastrously messy room. On one occasion he spent about a page digging through everything looking for one of his gloves only to be [[StealthHiBye surprised by Batman]] holding the missing glove when he turned away from digging through the closet.

** In the episode "Vocal Hero": Incompetent villain Amin Damoola turns the Sultan into a small golden statue. Amin rummages in his pants for his latest trick against our heroes. After getting the correct object, the object then (initially) ''fails on him''!

** Done again in the same episode with Genie searching his suitcase for a Griffin toenail and throws objects such as a bicycle tire, a Groucho mask and a pizza which Abu starts eating. Genie states that he already used up the last of his Griffin toenail on last night's pizza; [[IAteWhat Abu reacts accordingly.]]

-->"Hmm. I'm afraid your parents are out of reach, and I can't create new bodies for them. But your godfather was a different case..." She reached for her cloak and started rummaging about through a surprising number of pockets, dropping various things on the floor next to Harry – coins; various books, scrolls and pages sewn together; lint; several peculiarly coloured socks (which made at least one house elf in the crowd against the wall make a noise sounding something like "Squee!"); a simple earthenware cup ("So that's where I put it!" she murmured); handfuls of keys; a large chunk of green cheese with a tag that read 'Lunar sample #23'; a grey kitten that yowled for a moment before running under a table. Finally, she opened one small pocket and said, "Aha!"

* ''FanFic/WithStringsAttached'':

** The Fourth and Tenth Doctors have done this from time to time. One memorable scene from the Fourth Doctor's first appearance ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot "Robot"]]) has the Doctor searched by a security guard. We are then shown the foot-high pile of items taken from the Doctor's pockets, which completely covers the poor security guard's desk. The new series explains this by revealing that his pockets are bigger on the inside than the outside. It implies that Time Lord technology uses these [[{{Pun}} pocket dimensions]] everywhere.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E3TheSontaranExperiment "The Sontaran Experiment"]]: The Doctor digs through his pockets for something he's been holding on to. "Never throw anything away, Harry." He can't find it. [[HypocriticalHumor "It's a mistake to clutter one's pockets, Harry."]]

* Roy's Bag of Tricks from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', as described above in the ''D&D'' entry. It's been used during three battles and in each comes up with an inappropriate animal. [[spoiler:Used against a random encounter, it produced a small critter one monster simply ate. Used in the bandit camp, it crushed Roy with a rhinoceros. And used to try and save Roy from falling to his death in Azure City, it failed to produce anything large enough to cushion him or winged enough to carry him.]]\\\
It was useful on two occasions, however. While sneaking into the bandit camp, he used a cat to provide distractions for the guards, allowing him to sneak up on some of them. And he also summoned two rats and a beaver to gnaw the ropes his friends were tied up with.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' episode "Vocal Hero": Incompetent villain Amin Damoola turns the Sultan into a small golden statue. Amin rummages in his pants for his latest trick against our heroes. After getting the correct object, the object then (initially) ''fails on him''!
-->'''Amin Damoola:''' I have a few tricks under my belt yet, Aladdin. ''[reaches into pants]'' Behold! ''[pulls out his boxers]'' My shorts! No, wait. That's wrong. Sorry. (''throws them away, reaches back into his pants and pulls out a monkey's paw'') Behold! The Monkey's Paw of Mamoon-Ra! Now, how's that spell go? Gimme a minute? Oh, yes! Monkey paw, monkey paw, hear my rhyme, take to the sky and get what's mine! (''throws the paw and laughs evilly...then it flies back to him holding the boxers'') No, not those, the Sultan, you silly simian appendage!

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheBlueSpirit The Blue Spirit]]" Momo is asked for water by a very sick Sokka and Katara while Aang fetches the cure for what ails them. The well-meaning creature brings everything you can think of except for water, leaving Aang very confused at the episode's end.

* Occasionally happens when ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' looks through his pocket, usually excused as a panic attack or a [[PhlebotinumBreakdown pocket malfunction]]. The NonSerialMovie turned it into a RunningGag, where Doraemon would almost always inevitably fail to produce anything useful for several moments during a critical moment.

The standard comedy bit for any character with a magic hat, BagOfHolding, or other large collection of stuff in an impossibly small space is that he can never find the thing he needs when he needs it.

He'll reach in, rummage about a bit, and triumphantly pull out... an [[FishingForSole old boot]]. Or a pink beach umbrella. Or a rubber chicken. Or something else equally useless or even embarrassing.

If he perseveres, he may find the thing he's after [[RuleOfThree on the third attempt]]. Or [[OverlyLongGag it may take much longer]]. Or time may run out before he finds it, leaving him to improvise with what he did find. May also be [[BillBillJunkBill voiced over]].

* ''VideoGame/PizzaTower'': [[spoiler: Pizzahead fights you in his second phase by grabbing various hazards from other parts of the tower to use against you. Occasionally, he'll instead pull up a pinup of a lady pizza, prompting him to put it back in embarrassment before grabbing something more useful to him.]]

** Possible subversion on the episode "Garbage In, Garbage Out": Wreck-Gar is a garbage truck Transformer whose garbage-carrying trailer becomes a sort of Backpack of Holding when he transforms into robot mode. During the course of the episode, he pulls out a great many items from this "backpack" that are not appropriate to the situation. The twist (and possible subversion) is that, in most cases, the item he produces actually ''is'' the item he wanted to find; he simply misunderstood what he was asked for. He manages to produces an incredible array of items, including a burnt-out cash register, a set of income tax forms, an uprooted kitchen sink, and even the original Wreck-Gar's motorcycle form!

* In ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', pint-size monk Omi gets into a high-altitude sparring match with another capable fighter. Showdown rules let each of them bring one Shen Gong Wu into battle, and the other guy chooses shoes of super speed. Omi's pockets yield many items, including a basketball, a hockey stick, and a sandwich before he finds a collar that lets him breathe water instead of air. Even [[MakingASplash for him]], it proves less than helpful.

[[folder:Film — Animation]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

--> '''Basil''': Easier to find a packed of sliced hippopotamus in suitcase sauce than a walnut in this bloody kitchen.

* Presto's wizard hat in the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' animated series. He almost never managed to pull out what he was after, but the thing he pulled out instead usually worked just as well towards solving the problem, with a bit of creative thinking.

** Another example is when Peter wins a month of maidservice from ''Series/WheelOfFortune''. He tells her to clean out his belly button...and pulls out several objects, namely a carton of Parliament cigarettes and a Colecovision (with controllers!)

* Orko in ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' occasionally has trouble with this after storing something in his hat; usually flowers will be the first thing he pulls out.

* In the French animated series ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois...'' (''Once Upon a Time...''), the character Maestro sports a full-body ''beard'' of holding. Pulling out the wrong item (sometimes anachronistic) out of it is a RunningGag for him.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Marge Simpson often uses her ''beehive'' hairdo for this very purpose.