History Main / TheCallHasBadReception

* This is the driving force of the plot of ''GiantRobo: The Day the Earth Stood Still''. The succinct version of the saga is thus: young Emmanuel Von Volger walks in on his father unsuccessfully attempting to stop an experiment that winds up destroying an entire country. His father shuts himself into a room for days, until he stumbles out of his room, randomly babbling that Emmanuel should stop the scientists he worked with at all costs, and handing him the tool he needs to do it before dying. As Emmanuel delivers what he believes is the death stroke to the entire world, the truth is revealed via hologram: [[spoiler:Dr. Volger wanted to stop the energy drive because the drive they created was faulty, and would have created an even greater catastrophe than the original explosion that set the whole story in motion.]] By this time Emmanuel has screwed up so badly that there's nothing left for him to do but kill himself.

* Prior the {{Mistborn}} series, a prophesied hero went on a quest to destroy a great evil, but instead gave into temptation and became a living god instead. [[spoiler: Except this was the RIGHT thing to do, because it drained [[SealedEvilInACan Ruin's]] power for a millennium. When Vin is faced with the same choice, she refuses the power, which [[NiceJobBreakingItHero lets Ruin can take over the world]]. How could they have misinterpreted the prophecy so badly? Because Ruin edited all the history books.]]

* In ''The Grand Tour'', the sequel to ''SorceryAndCecelia'', it is revealed that Kate, who had previously come across as the DistaffCounterpart to BadassNormal James, has just as much magical talent as her cousin [[BlackMagicianGirl Cecelia]], but has no interest in developing it. In ''The Mislaid Magician'', she uses this power to find her husband and children and to keep her hair up. To near-deadly effect.

* By ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry has already JumpedAtTheCall repeatedly - but [[EccentricMentor Dumbledore]]'s last instructions to him are less than clear, making it very difficult to accomplish his mission.

If the message gets screwed up so badly that the would be protagonist goes over to the dark side, this can lead to situations where WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis.

* This certainly never, ever happens as a standard hosejob in a game of ''{{Paranoia}}''. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Your mission briefing will never come out of a Computer printer garbled, a transbot will never roar by when The Computer is telling you the location of your briefing room, important details are never Deleted For Security Reasons, your mission will never get accidentally mixed up with the week's food vat assignments]]... TheComputerIsYourFriend, Citizen. Have a nice daycycle!

* This is the basis of the plot of the Christopher Nolan film [[spoiler:''{{Memento}}''. Having accepted TheCall from ''himself'' to find his wife's killer, Leonard's anterograde amnesia and [[NoteToSelf Notes To Self]] lead to all sorts of problems - some accidental due to his memory problems, but some deliberate due to his MemoryGambit.]]

* This is the driving force of the plot of ''Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still''. The succinct version of the saga is thus: young Emmanuel Von Volger walks in on his father unsuccessfully attempting to stop an experiment that winds up destroying an entire country. His father shuts himself into a room for days, until he stumbles out of his room, randomly babbling that Emmanuel should stop the scientists he worked with at all costs, and handing him the tool he needs to do it before dying. As Emmanuel delivers what he believes is the death stroke to the entire world, the truth is revealed via hologram: [[spoiler:Dr. Volger wanted to stop the energy drive because the drive they created was faulty, and would have created an even greater catastrophe than the original explosion that set the whole story in motion.]] By this time Emmanuel has screwed up so badly that there's nothing left for him to do but kill himself.

* In Wizard's Bane by Rick Cook, hacker (in the sense of ace programmer) Wiz Zumwalt is called into a parallel universe where magic rules, but he knows no magic, to the intense disappointment of the apprentice of the wizard who summoned him. [[spoiler: He discovers the underlying rules of magic, and learns how to program it, making him the greatest magician ever.]]

* ''[[{{Nine}} 9]]'': Happens with the soul talisman, [[spoiler: rather than putting the necessary knowledge in their heads, or even writing it on a piece of paper, the inventor leaves cryptic clues on what needs to be done to stop the brain with 6, the talisman to stop the brain on the floor besides 9 when he awakes, the and the instructions on what to do in a locked box, which doesn't get found until the end of the movie.]]

* By ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry has already JumpedAtTheCall repeatedly - but [[TheDumbledore Dumbledore]]'s last instructions to him are less than clear, making it very difficult to accomplish his mission.

* In Wizard's Bane by Rick Cook, [[hacker]] Wiz Zumwalt is called into a parallel universe where magic rules, but he knows no magic. [[spoiler: He discovers the underlying rules of magic, and learns how to program it, making him the greatest magician ever.]]

* This certainly never, ever happens as a standard hosejob in a game of ''{{Paranoia}}''. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Your mission briefing will never come out of a Computer printer garbled, a transbot will never roar by when The Computer is telling you the location of your briefing room, important details are never Deleted For Security Reasons, your mission will never get accidentally mixed up with the week's food vat assignments]]...TheComputerIsYourFriend, have a nice day!

* ''WarGod'': Tomanak doesn't like to lead his champions by the hand, so he generally nudges them toward where he wants them. Also, in the beginning Bahzell has only a vague notion that he's supposed to be heading west, and [[RefusalOfTheCall turns east]] when he realizes he's getting [[TheCall the call]].

* According to WordOfGod, in ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the TeamNormal Sokka apparently had water-bending potential just like his sister, but his skeptic nature meant that he never developed it. However, he makes up for this by being TheSmartGuy and being ''really'' good with a boomerang.

* By ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry has already JumpedAtTheCall repeatedly - but [[TheDumbledore Dumbledore]]'s last instructions to him are less than clear, making it very difficult to accomplish his mission.

* This certainly never, ever happens as a standard hosejob in a game of ''{{Paranoia}}''. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Your mission briefing will never come out of a Computer printer garbled, a transbot will never roar by when The Computer is telling you the location of your briefing room, important details are never Deleted For Security Reasons, your mission will never get accidentally mixed up with the week's food vat assignments]]...TheComputerIsYourFriend, have a nice day!
* Happens ''literally'' in ''[[{{Literature/Monster}} Monster]]''. Judy is the ChosenOne destined to save the universe, but her reception with the universe is rather crappy, leading to [[CosmicPlaything the universe consistently screwing up her life]].

* ''9'': Happens with the soul talisman, [[spoiler: rather than putting the necessary knowledge in their heads, or even writing it on a piece of paper, the inventor leaves cryptic clues on what needs to be done to stop the brain with 6, the talisman to stop the brain on the floor besides 9 when he awakes, the and the instructions on what to do in a locked box, which doesn't get found until the end of the movie.]]
* ''[[TransformersTheMovie Transformers: The Movie]]'' '86. The Matrix is to be used by the Chosen One to light the Autobots' darkest hour. Problem is, no one knows who the chosen one is, and they just assume that it is whoever the leader of the Autobots happens to be at the time. They also don't know exactly when their darkest hour will be, which isn't helped by the fact that in this movie the Autobots day can be summed up in 3 words: ItGotWorse. This results in Optimus Prime being killed, and Ultra Magnus getting killed while attempting to use the Matrix. Eventually it is revealed that Hot Rod is the one to open the Matrix, and their darkest hour is when Unicron tries to destroy Cybertron.
** Although another example may come in the television series, and the two part "Return of Optimus Prime." In that case, the "Darkest Hour" in question was the release of the Hate Plague, which not only endangered the Autobots and Decepticons, but all sentient life in the cosmos. In that case, the Matrix was also used to light their Darkest Hour. It's just that the chosen one was dead at the time, and had to be revived before he could use the Matrix to save the day. And in fitting with the prophecy where "All are One," at the end the hostilities between the different factions were resolved. At least for the time being.
* ''WarGod'': Tomanak doesn't like to lead his champions by the hand, so he generally nudges them toward where he wants them. Also, in the beginning Bahzell has only a vague notion that he's supposed to be heading west, and [[RefusalOfTheCall turns east]] when he realizes he's getting [[TheCall the call]].

* This happens in ''Fray'' because of UntoUsASonAndDaughterAreBorn. Melaka (the girl) got the strength but NOT the inherent slayer memories/psychic stuff, which went to her brother Harth. Which is even more awkward when he becomes a vampire.

* This is the driving force of the plot of Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still. The succinct version of the saga is thus: young Emmanuel Von Volger walks in on his father unsuccessfully attempting to stop an experiment that winds up destroying an entire country. His father shuts himself into a room for days, until he stumbles out of his room, randomly babbling that Emmanuel should stop the scientists he worked with at all costs, and handing him the tool he needs to do it before dying. As Emmanuel delivers what he believes is the death stroke to the entire world, the truth is revealed via hologram: [[spoiler:Dr. Volger wanted to stop the energy drive because the drive they created was faulty, and would have created an even greater catastrophe than the original explosion that set the whole story in motion.]] By this time Emmanuel has screwed up so badly that there's nothing left for him to do but kill himself.

* According to WordOfGod, in AvatarTheLastAirbender, the TeamNormal Sokka apparently had water-bending potential just like his sister, but his skeptic nature meant that he never developed it. However, he makes up for this by being TheSmartGuy and being ''really'' good with a boomerang.

* In the Stephanie Plum novel ''Seven Up'', Eddie [=DeChooch=] is told by a mob boss that he wants his enemy's head -- metaphorically, of course. Unfortunately, Eddie mis-hears it as "heart", and literally cuts the heart out of the corpse and mails it to the mob boss.
** NOT an example, but exception Type 3.

# Half Truths, Jedi Truths and such do not count. Even if the person sending the hero on the mission ''purposely'' tells the hero half the story with good intent, because the very act of telling him the whole story would immediately doom the hero to failure, then it doesn't count.

* This was the basic premise of the TV series ''The GreatestAmericanHero'': SufficientlyAdvancedAliens deliver a supersuit to earth, but the young man who gets it loses the instruction manual, and thus has no idea what it can do or how to use it effectively.

* In the third book of TamoraPierce's ''[[TortallUniverse The Immortals]]'' quartet: the heroine, Daine, is given the power to temporarily raise the dead. The person giving it to her, however, forgets to tell Daine that she is getting this new power, or how to use it without half-killing herself. Daine is disturbed to find that skeleton start moving when she touches them. This isn't an exact example, as gaining the power of necromancy was not the first or even the most important CalltoAdventure Daine receives.
** But it was the biggest, loudest, most violent, and by far the most awesome!
* This is the driving force of the plot of Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still. The succinct version of the saga is thus: young Emmanuel Von Volger walks in on his father unsuccessfully attempting to stop an experiment that winds up destroying an entire country. After barely escaping with their lives, the poor boy witnesses his father, the good doctor, go insane as he shows him the result of the catastrophe: an energy drive branded with the name of the scientists who were truly responsible for the catastrophe, who coincidentially also blame him for the explosion, and have caused him to be reviled the world over. He watches as his father shuts himself into a room for days, working and toiling endlessly, until one day, having literally worked himself to death, the father stumbles out of his room, randomly babbling that Emmanuel should stop the scientists he worked with at all costs, and handing him the tool he needs to do it before dying. Enraged, this begins a long game of deception where the young boy hones his skills, develops new weapons, creates several aliases, and enlists the aid of an evil organization which has long desired to conquer the world. When all is said and done, he manages to bring the entire world to its knees, depriving it of its only power source, as well as deal crippling blows to both his enemies AND his allies. The full effect this trope has upon this story becomes apparent when, as Emmanuel delivers what he believes is the death stroke to the entire world, the truth is revealed via hologram: [[spoiler: Dr. Franken Von Volger had forgiven his enemies years ago, and understood their motivations were not all self serving.]] Dr. Volger wanted to stop the energy drive, [[spoiler: not because he hated the scientists who took credit from him, but because the drive they created was faulty, and would have created an even greater catastrophe than the original explosion that set the whole story in motion.]] Of course by this time Emmanuel has screwed up so badly, killed so many people, and burned so many bridges that there's nothing left for him to do but kill himself...

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* ''TheGreatestAmericanHero'' is a well known example of this. Ralph Hinkley tries to use the suit the aliens gave him to do good, but because he loses the instruction manual (twice), he winds up being less than effective at his task of saving the world.
** NOT an example, but exception Type 3.

* Happens in ''TheOrder.'' Heath Ledger is a genuinely good priest who just wants to exorcise demons and get rid of the Sin Eater. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the ritual he thinks will kill the Sin Eater is actually the ritual to [[TomatoInTheMirror become one]].]]