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10[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/DoghouseDiaries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bgthq2_8924.jpg]]]]
11[[caption-width-right:350:[[BadNewsInAGoodWay The best results you will ever get.]]]]
12
13->''"My Legions of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any (troops) who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice."''
14-->-- ''EvilOverlordList'', Rule #56
15
16The good guys (the non-RedShirt ones, at least -- and sometimes even ''them'', too) can stand in the middle of the firefight and never get hit, and can pick off any bad guy with even the most casually-aimed shot while the bad guys seem unable to hit the broad side of a barn.
17
18This trope involves a degree of TruthInTelevision, in that by far most shots fired in firefights or combat are misses. Some sources report that in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the average soldier needed to fire two hundred rounds for every hit scored on an enemy. So the fictional bad guys don't necessarily actually suffer from unrealistic inaccuracy; rather, the heroes' fictional performance would probably count as ImprobableAimingSkills in real life. To make matters worse, though, most fictional bad guys exhibit lousy trigger discipline, always firing from the hip and in long bursts, even when firing at a lone target that sometimes isn't even shooting back, instead of looking down the sights and ''aiming''.
19
20Of course, the real reason for all this is the AnthropicPrinciple: If the {{mooks}} ever actually hit the main characters, the show would be over.
21
22Bonus points if anyone says something to the effect of "whoever is the actual target of that shooter is the safest one here."
23
24Obvious SubTrope of ATeamFiring, different in that on this one only the bad guys can't aim. DodgeTheBullet is the inverse of this. For the bladed weapon variation, see NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight. The flip side of ImprobableAimingSkills. The use of MoreDakka can either overcome this, or [[ATeamFiring make it even sillier]]. When the bullets don't just spray around the target, but consistently hit where the target was a moment ago, it's a case of HeroTrackingFailure. See also PlotArmor for the ''reason'' the bad guys are such [[OnlyAFleshWound lousy shots]]. When the enemies vastly outnumber the heroes, their incompetence is a symptom of ConservationOfNinjutsu. Compare PowerfulButInaccurate, when the inaccuracy is a property of the weapon rather than the wielder. See also AmusinglyAwfulAim.
25
26Named for the obvious ''Franchise/StarWars'' reference, in which setting the {{Mooks}} all seem to be visually impaired, though there is [[http://imgur.com/gallery/xgnot one explanation]] for their seeming ineptitude and [[https://youtu.be/P2TA9coGLzM?si=bbxRdIHUZ37kC3o6 analysis of their accuracy]] indicates they’re actually ''really'' good -- but for the Trope ''[[TropeNamers Namer]]'', see the Tabletop Games section below.
27
28----
29!!Examples:
30[[foldercontrol]]
31[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'':
33** Even though it's arrows instead of bullets, none of the marauding bandits, mouthy soldiers, or terrifying hellspawn can ever seem to hit [[MasterSwordsmen Guts]] even when there's hundreds of them and Guts is just casually strolling across the battlefield. In fact, most shots Guts just [[http://web.archive.org/web/20160801044904/http://img.bato.to/comics/2013/09/03/b/read52262522ac3de/img000054.png deflects]] off the flat of his blade which seems pretty reasonable as Guts's sword is huge and could provide cover but then as the series goes on and the villains get more skilled, some being super Indo-Arabian ninjas and others demon marksmen the excuse boils down to Guts's reflexes being that good.
34** The only real time this was truly subverted is when Guts was protecting [[ActionGirl Casca]] and got hit three times, the third even going straight into his hand and sticking there, forcing Guts to swing one-handed. Casca showed much shock and gratitude at his [[TakingTheBullet human shielding]].
35** The Villains aren't left out of the loop either as none of the human armies (except for the really skilled ones) can ever hit the demon-like Apostles and when they do find their mark it normally [[ImmuneToBullets doesn't do anything]] or just makes them angry. One truly galling example is Griffith after his evil resurrection is shot at with a hail of arrows... And they all miss their mark by a good yard -- though to be fair to this guy, this scene is meant to show that even though he's Griffith again, he has retained all of his godlike supernatural power as Femto.
36* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' plays this trope straight and often to a level that threatens one's SuspensionOfDisbelief. But, then again, its an [[StealthParody action movie masquerading as an episodic anime, so it makes sense.]]
37* In ''Space Pirate Manga/CaptainHarlock'' episode #39, the Mazone invade the Arcadia. They are supposedly well-trained troops and are constantly firing. Arcadia personnel mow down hundreds of them with the number of friendly deaths being at most in the single digits, and except for a single named character (whose death is foretold in the episode title, who is the only one to get a dramatic death scene, and whose death is the only one that makes an impression on the crew), none of those other deaths are even confirmed.
38* In ''Manga/{{Coppelion}}'' the antagonists do quite a bit of shooting. Usually fully automatic, often on still targets at rather short distances out in the open. Don't count on anyone hitting what they aim for.
39* Happens fairly regularly in ''Anime/CowboyBebop''... only to be dramatically subverted at the worst possible moment.
40* [[GasMaskMooks Troopmon]] in ''Anime/DigimonFusion'' and ''Anime/DigimonAdventure2020'' tend to act as cannon-fodder {{Mooks}} and regardless of whether they fight with [[MoreDakka rifles]] or their built-in FingerFirearms, they never manage to hit anything even at very close range.
41* Lampshaded in ''Anime/ExcelSaga'': Excel explains to the mooks firing at her that they'll never hit her because of this trope and doesn't even bother to move.
42* At one point in ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII FFVII]]: Last Order'', Zack evades Shinra fire by backflipping rapidly. Combined with HeroTrackingFailure, as the troops in question seem to be firing at his feet. (Compare to a similar scene in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'', and you'll see why this shouldn't have worked.)
43* Amarao's men in the fifth episode of ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' simply cannot hit Haruko, no matter how many of them there are. For context, at one point, a dozen or so men dogpile her and are apparently shooting at her while in this position, but still not a single shot hits her (but on the other hand Haruko also displays a superhuman ability to duck and weave through bullets and even slice them in half with a straight razor in midair.)
44* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'', anyone who shoots at Scar will fail miserably, even Riza Hawkeye who is known for being a highly skilled sniper has only been able to graze him. However, he does put the lightning in LightningBruiser.
45* The Industria soldiers from ''Anime/FutureBoyConan'' almost never hit anyone they shoot at, except on two occasions when Conan gets shot in the arm and later when one of them shoots Monsley in the back.
46* Momo Kawashima of ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' is a horrible shot, despite her [[TriggerHappy enthusiasm]]. Perhaps the most notable example was when Turtle team got to point blank range with the St. Gloriana's team, and she managed to fire ''through the tiny gap between two tanks''.
47* Happens a lot in the various ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series, where if you are not an AcePilot you can't hit a space colony while standing on it. ''The 08th MS Team'' had a hilarious instance of the hero utterly failing at marksmanship: as Shiro is sliding down a tower, he opens up on his enemy with every single machine gun the Gundam has on it... and misses spectacularly. His opponent remarks, "Well, that ''looked'' impressive."
48** Lampshaded by Zapper Zaku in ''Anime/SDGundamForce'' episode 19, when Zako Soldiers fail to hit Bakunetsumaru with missiles, even though he is preoccupied having a standoff with Ashuramaru. The missiles just whiz by them without hitting anything.
49--->'''Zapper:''' You ''missed'', you idiots, and he's not even moving!
50* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' has the Major. He utterly fails to hit a target slowly walking at him until his very last bullet. [[spoiler:As he dies, he chortles how happy he is to finally have hit his target.]] His own minions don't understand how he managed to get into the SS being such a horrible shot.
51* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
52** Hol Horse. Bonus points for managing to shoot like crap while '''having the ability to control the direction of his bullets'''!
53** Rohan Kishibe can apparently invoke this by using his stand to write "I cannot attack Rohan Kishibe" onto someone. After he does it to Koichi, he still tries by throwing projectiles, but subconsciously aims away from him every time.
54** Guido Mista's backstory where he first invokes his Stand. Three men shoot him but all of the bullets miss, even though he was at close range and virtually standing still, [[spoiler:though only due to his Stand, which gives him the ability to redirect bullets]]. Mista then calmly picks up one of the men's revolvers, loads it, and shoots all three of the men in the face. To top things off, the judge does not believe that a man could pick up a revolver in the crossfire without getting hit and sentences him to prison.
55* Happens all the time in ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion''. The second episode has an exaggerated example where Kimba avoids the gunfire from a group of AfricanTerrorists that is chasing the boat he is on by running towards them, ducking every now and again, and using the log that jammed the boat's wheel as a shield while removing the log.
56* Lalatina Dustiness "Darkness" Ford from ''Literature/KonoSuba'', manages to fall victim to this with a SWORD of all things on account of living in an RPGMechanicsVerse which requires people to get the relevant skill (i.e. the two-handed sword skill) to be able to use the weapon with any degree of accuracy. It's not NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight, because she doesn't often get disarmed, she just can't ever hit anything due to pouring all her XP into her defence stat and never picking up the two-handed sword skill. This results in her being UnskilledButStrong, meaning that Darkness' sky-high strength is usually meaningless, so her only use to the main party is as a StoneWall, partly because she's MadeOfIron, and partly because she's TooKinkyToTorture.
57* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': Any officer assigned to Zenigata to help stop Lupin must have gone to the marksmanship academy. Yes, Lupin is skilled, but he doesn't even have to try and dodge, he can just run in a straight line and they'll miss. (Zenigata himself, on the other hand, features ImprobableAimingSkills with thrown handcuffs.)
58* ''Anime/LycorisRecoil'' has the [=LilyBell=] agents. In Episode 12, [[spoiler:Chisato calmly walks out into a hallway where about 10 of them are firing their assault rifles up at her at a range of less than 50 meters. They all miss horribly without her needing to make a single dodge.]]
59* Any [[MacrossMissileMassacre missile volley]] in ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' fired at a single target (and ''not'' for saturation effect) is practically guaranteed to miss, ''particularly'' if the missiles have homing capabilities which defy the laws of physics.
60** In ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}'', a military police officer fails to hit a stationary enemy soldier at a range of six feet with a handgun. Even worse, in a similar event later the officer only manages to wing his coat with a ''rifle''.
61** ''Anime/MacrossPlus'' surpasses that: Myung is trapped in an elevator, and two security guards ''spray the inside of the elevator with automatic weapons... '''Not. Hitting. Her. Once.'''''
62* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'':
63** From the second ''Naruto Shippuuden'' movie, the ninja of the Sky Country have gatling guns that fire kunai. Apparently they're a deadly force, but they just seem to land by peoples' feet more often than not. One of them almost hits Shizune's foot as it just barely misses Tsunade, but she just has to stand there. Then Sai fights several of them in the air and just stands atop his giant bird thinking to himself while a volley of kunai fly over his head. But then, perhaps this also involves the ConservationOfNinjutsu.
64** The first ''Naruto'' film had similar devices, mounted on a train, mow down a crowd of {{Red Shirt}}s charging down a hill yelling (It was an honor thing). Our heroes are all appropriately cowed.
65* ''Manga/OnePiece'' tries to avoid this trope by having the navy use swords more often than using guns. Whenever the marines use guns on the Straw Hats, it's only against the stronger members that can easily dodge the bullets or disarm the snipers. If fighting the weaker members, they normally are too close and will be attacked by them or reasonably too far away to hit them. Worst of all is if the poor saps attack [[RubberMan Luffy]], who often neglects to dodge the ammo and instead bounces it back.
66** Played straight in its most glorious during the Donquixote Family flashback, when Gladius, Lao G and Señor Pink told Baby 5 about the history and tragedy of Flevance. The rival gang kept shooting guns and cannonballs throughtout most of the dialogue for several minutes, but they never hit any of the six pirates. Throughout the entire exposition, the pirates kept the entire conversation calm and casual and they walked slowly without caring about any of the bullets potentially hitting them. They didn't even make a conscious effort to dodge anything because the enemies kept missing them.
67* In ''Literature/RebuildWorld'', Akira's aim sucks at the start of the story and he continually misses even at extremely close range unless he's shoving the barrel of his [[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange gun right against someone's face.]] Alpha continually gives him shooting drills on top of directly assisting his aim to remedy this. Much later in the series (after Akira has [[TookALevelInBadass taken several levels in badass]]), he fights a battle against several platoons of soldiers with tanks and artillery backing them up. One of Akira's allies uses HollywoodHacking to tamper with their targeting computers (all of their sensors and guns are tied together in a network) to make them each miss most of their shots, providing a justified example. Eventually the enemy catches on and turns off their targeting computers.
68* ''Manga/SoulEater'': For a gang of supposedly skilled criminals, Alcapone's gang has colossally crappy accuracy considering the fact that they couldn't hit Black?Star and Tsubaki who were standing DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THEM ON A TABLE.
69* ''Anime/{{Xabungle}}'': This has the mooks [[LampshadeHanging wondering]] why they are even bothering to shoot [[NoFourthWall at the protagonists]].
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder:Comedy]]
73* In ''AudioPlay/TheUnfinishedSpellingErrorsOfBolkien'', Martin Pearson points out that in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'' the Witch-king very carefully misses Frodo's heart when he stabs him.
74* There's a joke comic about what happens when an Imperial Stormtrooper shoots at a Star Trek RedShirt: the Stormtrooper misses every shot, but the Red Shirt dies anyway.
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder:Comic Books]]
78* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
79** In ''ComicBook/TheAttackOfTheAnnihilator'', the titular villain's psychic blasts miss Characters/{{Batgirl}} while she is swinging away despite being a relatively slow-moving target hindered by Supergirl's dead weight.
80** In the ''ComicBook/EscapeFromThePhantomZone'' crossover, [[BigBad Xa-Du]] shoots one heat blast at Batgirl, who is just some few feet away, and he misses.
81* Parodied in an old ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' magazine where the heroes of the story are escaping from an enemy castle and none of the archers are able to hit them. One of the archers becomes fed up, takes aim, and proceeds to kill all three of the heroes with the next three shots. His celebration is cut short when his commanding officer reprimands him for the deed, stating that they were all missing on purpose and that the story couldn't continue now that the protagonists were dead.
82* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'':
83** In the story ''The Treasure of the Daltons'', Lucky Luke and TheCavalry are assaulted from four sides by bad guys armed with [[GatlingGood gatling guns]]. They proceed to dump several rounds of ammo into the area until Lucky Luke [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands disarms]] them with his ImprobableAimingSkills. The only casualties? The lieutenant's horsewhip and the trumpeter's trumpet. And [[TheStoic the lieutenant even refused to take cover!]]
84** Another story, ''The Rivals of Painful Gulch'', features two feuding families who have been fighting for ages but never wiped out each other since they were all such bad shots. At one point, the town undertaker even pleads for the hero, if he cannot bring peace between the families, to at least ''teach them how to aim'' so they can finish each other off. At the beginning of that story, the mayor is showing Luke around town when they come to a place where one member of the feuding families was cornered by three members of the opposing family. They had been firing at their victim for 15 minutes, but not a single shot hit. The wall at the spot is riddled with bullet holes everywhere, except for the place where their target stood.
85** In one of the short stories, a young man tries to impress his girlfriend by convincing her that he is at the same level as Wyatt Earp, let alone Luke himself. The problem is, he is such a terrible shot that every bullet he fires goes ''backwards'', hitting whatever target he has behind him (prompting Luke to take cover because he is standing behind him). At the end, this saves his reputation, because the bullets going the wrong way kills off a bank robber -- he had the bank behind his back. It earns him the promotion to sheriff.
86* The ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' parody "Bat Boy and Rubin!", from back when it was a comic, lampshaded a since-forgotten subtrope of this, where the heroes charge straight at villains who miss them with every shot:
87-->'''[[ParodyNames Rubin]]:''' Poor fools! Don't you know us comic book characters are always missed when we run at the guns?
88* Actually, the police forces and the military in the Franchise/{{Marvel|Universe}} and [[Franchise/TheDCU DC]] universes, as well as the government agencies, all seem to have attended this Academy. When you think of the number of times Doctor Octopus, Poison Ivy, the Green Goblin, etc. could have all been easily stopped by a police sniper doing what both had to be done ''and'' was legally justified and simply putting a round into a brain... Instead, you've got dozens of cops or soldiers emptying magazines and not hitting a damn thing. The exception is if they are firing at a [[ImmuneToBullets bulletproof]] supervillain, in which case they will hit every shot just to prove [[TheWorfBarrage that guns are ineffective and a superhero will need to save the day.]]
89* Justified in ''ComicBook/Marvel1602'', when the AlternateContinuity's ComicBook/XMen use telepathy to make the gunmen see their ship as being in a different place than it really is.
90* "Marvel What-The" lampshades it (like 100 other comic tropes):
91--> '''Wolverine Parody''': How come they don't hit us?\
92 '''Punisher Parody''': We got Good Guy bullets! They got the Bad Guy bullets!
93** In the same series, the trope [[{{Pun}} backfires]] for the hero:
94---> '''Punisher Parody''': Bet you can't hit the skull! [[note]]Which has most armor hitpoints.[[/note]]\
95 '''Bad Guys''': BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!\
96 '''Punisher Parody''': [is riddled with holes everywhere, EXCEPT at his skull emblem]
97* ''ComicBook/{{normalman}}'': AIMLESS, a mysterious paramilitary organization under the thumb of the nefarious Cephalopod... well, their name says it all, really. They're all really poor marksmen, but it doesn't exactly matter since their nemesis, Sgt. Fluffy, Agent of S.C.H.M.U.C.K., is completely invulnerable to bullets. [[spoiler:Or... is he? No, no he's not. Too bad ''he'' didn't know that when the Cephalopod got fed up with the indirect approach and decided to take care of the guy himself.]]
98* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': Frank can attribute much of his long career to this, given the number of times crooks have emptied magazines at him and missed every time. Well, ''almost'' every time. He's been wounded, although being MadeOfIron meant he could stay in the fight and be pretty much healed up by the next issue. He's even commented on it, saying most of the people he runs up against have no training and it shows. There's the others who hold their guns GangstaStyle, which sacrifices accuracy for looking cool. Averted in one issue, when he went up against ex-soldiers who were working as muscle for a cartel. They sighted down their weapons, used suppressing fire effectively, and did flanking maneuvers instead of just clustering together. Frank knew he was in deep trouble and quickly retreated.
99* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': This trope is humorously lampshaded by Jet the Hawk in ''Sonic Universe #34'' when soldiers of the Battle Bird Armada are futilely shooting at the Babylon Rogues.
100-->'''Jet''': The usual Armada standard of marksmanship.\
101'''Armada soldier''': Hey, all that target practice is paying off. I almost hit the big guy.
102* Amusingly enough, in the comic book crossover between ''ComicBook/SpyBoy'' and ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', Robin actually asks Spy Boy's team if they indeed took the Stormtrooper Marksmanship course -- never realizing that HE was also displaying Stormtrooper level of accuracy.
103* In the Italian comic ''ComicBook/{{Sturmtruppen}}'', the new snipers and the execution team play this trope for laughs, often bordering with EpicFail (for example they miss the Jewish prisoner they were supposed to execute while he was standing right in front of the gun's muzzles and holding them still against his chest.)
104* ''ComicBook/StarWarsTales'': Even the Emperor seems to have a low opinion of his own men's aiming skills, as illustrated in a non-canon parody of ''The People's Court'' in which he rebuts Han Solo's visual defense depicting Greedo shooting first and missing by asking, "What was he, a Stormtrooper?"
105* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
106** In ''ComicBook/StrangersAtTheHeartsCore'', the leader of a criminal trio known as The Visitors sneaks into [[Characters/SupergirlTheCharacter Linda Danvers']] office, shoots at her, and barely grazes her shoulder, even though she is standing less than ten meters away and too stunned to move.
107** ''ComicBook/Supergirl1984'': Even though they are hanging from a cliff, hence they are easy targets, Selena's fire spell cannot hit Supergirl, and it only hits Zaltar's shoulder after two tries.
108* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'': Anyone who tries to fire at the titular character will either miss or only graze him. If they graze him, they will only ever graze his skull, and he'll be unconscious/in hospital long enough for them to make a plot-relevant getaway.
109* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
110** Decepticon Targetmasters Misfire and Aimless. Misfire held the record for failure in the Decepticon Academy and only passed because they needed every last soldier. Aimless, his gun, doesn't exactly help matters because he doesn't even ''try'' (Misfire, by contrast, actually ''is'' trying, and trying very hard; he's just plain incompetent when it comes to hitting a target). Megatron actually sees potential in Misfire, however, saying that he's much more deadly than your average gunman because he's a danger to everything ''except'' his target. In any case, he's become a surprisingly useful soldier to officers who use his lack of ability in creative ways, such as directing him to shoot at something other than the actual target.
111** Strafe of the Technobots is inherently inaccurate. His targeting computer is defective, it's impossible for him to aim well... but tries to cover it up by saying things like "I shoot everywhere because that's where the enemies are."
112* ''ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool'' is revealed to have this as one of her new powers: because she's the star of her book, her assailants' shots all miss her. Her powers are granting her PlotArmor and allowing her to escape them.
113* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Lampshaded by Hawkgirl when she takes down Harpi during "The Witch and the Warrior", as all of Harpi's shots are failing to hit anything or anyone of tactical importance.
114-->''Hey, Harpi, you ever actually hit your '''target''' with those blast powers of yours?''
115''ComicBook/Zatanna2010'': When the Witch Hunters attempt to shoot down Zatanna with machine guns, but they somehow end up missing every shot despite all that she's doing to dodge them is swinging on a rope.
116[[/folder]]
117
118[[folder:Comic Strips]]
119* In one ''ComicStrip/TwistedToyfareTheatre'' issue, a bunch of troublemaking Stormtroopers of various types are forced to community service in a retirement home for the Empire's most honored veterans: The Clone Troopers.
120-->'''Stormtrooper:''' Wow, so you guys actually used to, you know, ''hit things'' with your guns?\
121'''Clone Trooper:''' Oh, yeah. Jedi, droids, small children... One time I hit the broad side of a ''barn!''\
122'''Stormtrooper:''' '''Wow'''.
123[[/folder]]
124
125[[folder:Fan Works]]
126* ''Fanfic/AhsokaANZREStarWarsStory'': Lampshaded by Sabine in E1.
127-->'''Sabine:''' Do you know how easily we could defeat your troopers?
128* Lampshaded in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13766417/11/Bone-s-to-Pick Bone(s) to Pick]]'' when Amycus Carrow fires a badly-aimed Killing Curse after Tonks taunts him about the death of his sister Alecto.
129-->'''Tonks:''' It seems that we have a graduate of the Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. [Blank look from Amycus] And that's a perfectly good waste of that muggle reference.
130* ''WebVideo/TheBuggerAnthology'': "Groundhogmanay of the Daleks" features Dalek Yurtle, a Dalek even other Daleks make fun of for being a terrible shot.
131-->''(flashback starts)''\
132'''Dalek Cheese and Wine:''' [[AC:You couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo!]]\
133'''Dalek Darius:''' [[AC:If you fell over, you'd miss the floor!]]\
134'''Dalek Bill is How Much This Month?!:''' [[AC:[[BrutalHonesty You don't aim good.]]]]\
135''(flashback ends)''\
136'''Dalek Yurtle:''' [[AC:Well, that last one was a little rough, but I get where they're coming from.]]
137* ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'': The guns in Brainstorm's lair have terrible aim. Possibly justified as Brainstorm's terrible programming.
138* ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'': Enoby shoots at Snape and Lupin "a gazillion times" and fails to cause them any actual harm beyond making them fall off their broomsticks and break their camera lens.
139* The examples from ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'' involve arrows/bolts, not bullets.
140** In chapter 6 of the original, goblin archers attempt to ambush Kyril's company by firing arrows from above, but they fail to hit anyone (or if they do, [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail they don't hit anyone important enough for the narrative to show it]]). [[JustifiedTrope The reason is that]] their targets are shown taking cover, and that the goblins' arrows are simply inaccurate. Another moment is where Sanakan moves out of cover under Kyril's orders, and reaches the gates unharmed while the rest follow her advance, also unharmed.
141** In the very same chapter, Kyril and his two apprentices [[LuredIntoATrap find themselves ambushed]] by Beasley's guards within the fortress of Feoh. There are at least two archers taking potshots at the three from a scaffolding, but their arrows never hit. The closest they can get is an arrow that flies past Hugh's ear. [[JustifiedTrope Then again]], the three hunters have SuperReflexes and are not stationary targets.
142** {{Subverted|Trope}} in Chapter 11 of the original, where Kyril is shown being hit by crossbow bolts. From how he has to use a [[HealingPotion Blood Vial]] to heal himself, it shows that he ''did'' take damage from them, {{avert|edTrope}}ing AnnoyingArrows entirely.
143[[/folder]]
144
145[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
146* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Bionicle}} 3: Web of Shadows'', the [[GiantSpider Visorak]] only ever land a hit when the target's not expecting it, yet the heroes' blasts hit almost always. [[JustifiedTrope That's 'cause the Visorak can only shoot upwards]], and being [[FourLeggedInsect quadrupeds]], have difficulty bending forward. Sidorak, the King of the Visorak, meanwhile misses his ''huge'' target to demonstrate what a nobody he is.
147* In ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestVersusTheCyberInsects'', for genetically-engineered super-bugs, the cyber insects sure can't aim well. They can't even hit ''each other'' properly. The RedShirt [[BadassBystander Quest Station scientists]] are better shots!
148[[/folder]]
149
150[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
151* The Predator from ''Film/AliensVsPredatorRequiem'' has really bad aim when trying to hit aliens with his double shoulder cannons, at one point accidentally blowing out the power to the entire city. He does better with his pistol, however.
152* ''Film/{{Anna}}'': Even at close range, the KGB officers can never manage to shoot Anna.
153* Averted in ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}''. No longer needed for human sacrifice, the captives are ostensibly allowed to run free, but are used for target practice with a variety of weapons, including spears, arrows, and slings. They are deadly accurate. When it's Jaguar Paw's turn to run, he zigzags across the field and successfully dodges several shots but eventually is hit in the gut with an arrow.
154* In ''Film/AreYouBeingServed'', no matter how slow or large some of the Grace Brothers staff are, none of them manage to get shot during the climactic gunfight.
155* A variant in ''Film/AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes''. The villain tries to assassinate Mason Dixon. The assassination is shown by a hand wielding a gun aiming and firing at the hero walking down the street, and getting a perfect one-hit kill on some random person that Dixon is walking past. This continues until the villain's pistol runs out of ammunition.
156* Parodied in ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery'', during the final raid of Dr. Evil's base. The bad guys are shooting submachine guns at the agents and Austin, never hitting anything. Austin just picks them off with his tiny pistol.
157* The end of ''Film/BehindEnemyLines'', when Creator/OwenWilson's character is fleeing through open ground IN THE BLEEPING SNOW but isn't hit once by the fire from dozens of Serbian paramilitary troops, mobile anti-aircraft batteries, snipers, and a tank. Instead only one poor U.S. RedShirt in a helicopter is hit by the salvo of destruction.
158* ''Film/Belly1998'': An [[FacelessGoons entire hitsquad]] of more than a [[RedshirtArmy dozen guys]] equipped with [[LaserSight laser sights]] failed to land a single shot on a drug kingpin they were trying to kill even when he is in the prone position with no cover and have him cornered.
159* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' and [[Film/BeverlyHillsCopII its sequel]] both play this absolutely straight during the films' respective final shootouts. In both cases, the bad guys have a dozen or more machinegun-equipped goons who are completely incapable of hitting the pistol-armed heroes. It even rubs off onto the good guys in the first film, although it's at least justifiable in this case by the Beverly Hills police using service revolvers far beyond their effective range.
160* The battle robots in ''Film/TheBlackHole'' are frequently described in reviews as being ''bar none'' the worst shots of anything ever committed to celluloid. They don't even seem to be aiming at anything. This is made all the more jarring by a scene near the beginning where some unseen attacker [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands blasts the gun out of one person's hands]] and effortlessly disables only the laser systems on the robot.
161* Everyone who tries to shoot at ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''. Especially Creator/CarrieFisher's Mystery Woman. In fact, the character with the best aim (although an example of ATeamFiring) was Music/RayCharles. Justified:
162--> '''Jake''': Ma'am, would it make you feel any better if you knew that what we're asking Matt here to do is [[MissionFromGod a holy thing?]]\
163 '''Elwood''': You see, we're on a [[DivineIntervention mission from God.]]
164* In [[TruthInTelevision the documentary]] ''Film/{{Bus 174}}'', an officer fires three bullets from less than a foot away and misses. The hostage-taker turned and flinched just enough to avoid being shot.
165* Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in ''Film/{{Commando}}''. He stands on the lawn picking off guys one by one while little squibs go off all around him. Also has him running ''on an open field'' while his enemies, maybe 30 meters behind him, shoot uselessly in his vague direction. Arnold, on the other hand, is the Anti-Stormtrooper in that movie, as he hits goons he's not even aiming at!
166** Even WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic makes fun of these...
167---> STOP SHOOTING AT THE GROUND YA MORONS!\
168Look at this...it's an entire army and they can't hit this ONE GUY! How hard is it to hit ONE GIANT AUSTRIAN MAN!? He's the size of ''A MOUNTAIN''! In fact when they say that 'you can't hit the broad side of a mountain', THIS is the mountain they're talking about!\
169 '''About Arnold's ImprobableAimingSkills:''' I don't even think Arnold's aiming anymore. He knows that if he points a gun in any general direction, he'll hit something.
170* In George A. Romero's ''Film/TheCrazies1973'' the soldiers seem to completely ignore all military training and very rarely take cover and can never seem to hit poorly trained Civilians even when the soldiers drastically outnumber them and have better rifles.
171* A particularly egregious example is Creator/JetLi's ''Film/DannyTheDog'', during [[spoiler:Raffles' ambush of Bart]]. Three men armed with military-grade assault rifles empty them at a stricken car with four helpless men inside that's ''maybe'' fifteen feet away. The result? [[OnlyAFleshWound Flesh wounds]]. And do they bother administering a CoupDeGrace, or do they just run as soon as their guns click empty? Three guesses, first two don't count...
172* Stephen suffers from this at the beginning of ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978''. He gets better as the film goes on, though.
173* Both sides in ''Film/DeltaFarce'' also had horrible shots. Bill is the only one to get hit, and he gets ShotInTheAss of all places.
174* The terrorists in ''Film/TheDeltaForce'' and ''Film/DeltaForce2TheColombianConnection'' are such ridiculously bad shots that we'd have to call this trope "The Delta Force Effect" if it hadn't already been named.
175* Parodied nicely by ''Film/DieHard2: Die Harder'', where there's a massive firefight outside a church between good guys and bad guys where nobody gets hurt despite the enormous amount of gunpowder being discharged. The fact is [[spoiler:they were all shooting with blanks since they were all bad guys]].
176* In ''Film/DisturbingThePeace'', several members of the biker gang completely fail to hit Jim Dillon when he is standing in the middle of a empty street with no cover and they are are firing at him with fully automatic weapons.
177* ''Film/{{Dollman}}'': Braxton chases Debi, repeatedly attacking her with bursts of machine gun fire, none of which come close to hitting her. Later, one of his goons tries to shoot Brick with two guns at once and doesn't manage to hit him even though they're in the same room.
178* In ''Film/DumbAndDumber'', Harry reveals to have survived a shot to the chest by unloading a full clip on the wall behind the bad guy, leading Lloyd to comment "Harry! You're alive! And you're a horrible shot!"
179* In ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'', which features a fair number of demonstrations of the Academy's graduates in action. In one particularly (in)famous scene, protagonist Preston stood still in the middle of a crossfire while his opposition opened up and failed to hit him anyway. This was [[{{Handwave}} explained away]] by virtue of the fictional "GunKata" martial art, which teaches its practitioners to seek locations with minimum probability of getting fired at. (...Like the middle of a room?)
180* In ''Film/EveryLastOneOfThem'', the supposedly elite troops Murphy sends to get Hunter are shooting more than a foot above his head, which is easily seen because they are firing ''tracer'' rounds; making the misses even harder to fathom.
181* Used straight in ''Film/FallingDown''. A carful of thugs tries to kill the main character in a drive-by, spraying bullets everywhere and hit (but not kill) about half a dozen pedestrians before dying in a car crash themselves. The protagonist walks away without so much as a scratch. He didn't even ''duck''.
182* ''Film/FeedingFrenzy'': Played for comedy when Mr. Plinkett fires at Jesse and Christine as they stand only a few feet away from him in a small basement and manages to miss every shot, even though they're not even moving. He has better aim when he [[ThrowingYourGunAtTheEnemy throws his empty gun]] at them.
183* In ''Film/FourBrothers'', Sweed's assassins have a huge advantage over the Mercer brothers in numbers and firepower. But they get slaughtered by the Mercers during the home shootout, mainly because most of them just stand out in the open and mindlessly "spray and pray" all their shots.
184* Where Paulie Tan learned how to shoot in ''Film/FreshMeat''. And actually an accurate representation of what happens when you attempt to fire a submachinegun one-handed.
185* In the Creator/ClintEastwood film ''Film/TheGauntlet'', Eastwood and costar Sondra Locke are in a bus, driving not very fast down a street lined with cop-mooks on both sides firing automatic weapons at the bus. The bus is shot full of holes, but neither Eastwood nor Locke are hit. This is more an inversion of ArmorIsUseless, as the ImprovisedArmor compartment Eastwood's character builds around the driver's seat does take its share of hits. On the other hand, it does raise the question of why none of Phoenix's finest, virtually all 2900 of whom are lining the bus route, think to ''shoot out the tires''.
186* This is all part of the fun of being a Franchise/{{Ghostbuster|s}}. The Proton Pack's ion stream is, according to WordOfGod, "a thousand times more powerful than a fire hose." It bucks and writhes about. Also, the idea is not to ''hit'' the ghost, but to get it running from the streams long enough to tire it out and corral it over the trap -- the stream can't harm ghosts directly, but it can contain them long enough for the trap to do its thing.
187* ''Film/GleahanAndTheKnavesOfIndustry'': When Gleahan confronts Penelope and her FacelessGoons at the warehouse, they shoot at him. Or... Well... ''Around'' him.
188--> '''Penelope''': ''"What did I tell you guys on the way over? Don't shoot the merchandise!"''
189* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
190** The entire U.S. military in ''Film/Godzilla1998''. Having lured out the title creature, an immense artillery barrage begins, firing at a target several stories tall. The small arms fire [[ImmuneToBullets may have been ineffective,]] but several dozen missiles all miss from a range of half a block to a hundred feet or so. The missiles do manage to hit something, though. Namely, the Chrysler Building, after the giant reptile dodges them. The mayor of New York is not happy.
191** Even in the original Japanese movies, the military were exceptionally bad shots. If you watch closely during some of the older movies, their missiles normally just fly right past Godzilla and his mates and hit the buildings. They probably caused more property damage than Godzilla did. Creator/{{Toho}} seems to have caught on to this by the Heisei and Millennium films, so they make it where the military have 95% accuracy [[NighInvulnerability but still don't do any damage]].
192* In both of ''Film/TheGreenHornetSerials'', if the Hornet is involved in the gunfight none of the gangsters are capable of hitting him. And most of those gunfights are taking place indoors, at roughly 10-20 foot ranges. (If the Hornet's ''not'' involved, they're good shots.)
193* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', when Nebula attacks Gamora, she's in a SpaceFighter and Gamora's on the ground, and she goes in for an attack run emptying hot lead at Gamora, who starts running. She can't land a single hit.
194* In both ''Film/HeneralLuna'' and its sequel, ''Film/GoyoAngBatangHeneral'', it is rare to find a scene wherein the Filipino soldiers actually hit anything, [[spoiler:save for the assassination of the titular general of the first film, done at close range]]. It's justified in that all of them are poorly-trained conscripts during a time when the land wasn't united at all.
195* Parodied in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'', where Arthur, Trillian, Zaphod, and Marvin are surrounded by blaster-wielding Vogon soldiers. All of them take cover in Arthur's caravan except Marvin, who remarks, "[[TemptingFate I don't know what all the fuss is about. Vogons are the worst marksmen in the universe]]," and is immediately shot in the back of the head. This isn't a real accomplishment though, since this version of Marvin has a ''huge'' head, and gets back up after a minute. However, Marvin's tempting fate is justified by the fact that in all previous scenes of the movie where we see the Vogons shooting, they use weapons that have multiple barrels which shoot loads of laser blasts in every direction except towards the characters; the design is physically impossible to aim and lacks sights in any case. In fact, this one time where they hit Marvin is their only hit in the entire movie. Plus, they never would have made that hit if a less genre-savvy character hadn't screamed "don't hit the robot!"
196* [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade The Nazis]], [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom Thuggee cult]], and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull the Russians]] in the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' films follow this trend, except for the shootout at Marion's bar in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' (which involved locally hired henchmen, not Nazis). Also the Hovitos in the first film. Not one of their [[AnnoyingArrows arrows or darts]] hits Indy as he flees the jungle. Not that they seemed able to aim well in the first place.
197* Common in ''Film/JamesBond'' films. Bond frequently walks alone into a massive group of enemies with automatic rifles of some description, carrying nothing but his trusty Walther PPK, and caps every single one of them with precise single shots whilst they all blaze away and hit nothing but air, or with extreme accuracy, any metal railings between Bond and the gun.
198** ''Film/CasinoRoyale1954''[[note]]The first screen adaptation of a Franchise/JamesBond novel, released in 1954 as a television movie/episode of the anthology series ''[[Series/{{Climax}} Climax!]]''[[/note]] begins with someone shooting at Bond while his back is turned -- and missing -- from a few meters away.
199** Averted just ''once'', in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', where Bond gets shot in the leg trying to lose pursuers in the Junkanoo parade. It's not even a GameBreakingInjury, to add insult to that.
200** Eric Kriegler from ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' is an Olympic biathlon competitor, who gets the drop on 007 with a rifle, and ''still'' can't hit him. This may possibly be justified since Kriegler, as a biathlon competitor, would have been used to hitting a stationary target, rather than a middle-aged Englishman careening down an alpine slope. When Bond takes cover and tries to retrieve his fallen pistol, Kriegler is able to shoot his ski pole in half at a decent distance.
201** At one point in ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'', Bond's car and the bad guy's drive side-by-side for several seconds. The bad guy riddles Bond's car with bullets but never touches Bond. The cars separate. Bond retrieves his own machine gun. The other car comes back into view. Bond immediately puts three bullets into the bad guy, killing him instantly.
202** In ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', Bond uses his PPK in conjunction with a captured [=MP5=] SMG for [[ATeamFiring suppressive fire]]. A good portion of the climax is both of them forcing the baddies to keep their heads down.
203** In the chase sequence of ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', Bond and his hostage run desperately through an embassy with lots of enemy troops firing on them. Bond is going all out with tactics and hand-to-hand to avoid being shot, and the troops outside can't see very well.
204** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'': Pretty evident during Bond and Madeline's escape from the SPECTRE base in Morocco, where Bond mows down {{Mooks}} left and right without getting so much as a scratch. Particularly noticeable since when Bond breaks cover he steps completely out into the open rather than lean out from behind cover.
205* The ''Film/JakaSembung'' movies from Indonesia ''loves'' portraying the Dutch colonizers as terrible shots, unless the plot requires them to hit something. Notably in the first movie's climatic raid as the Indonesian resistance raids BigBad Van Schram's palace - a few dozen Dutch soldiers firing in a row at a horde of rebels cuts to... two or three rebels falling over, while the rest keeps on charging (are they aiming for the ground?).
206* ''Film/JudgeDredd'' justifies this to a certain extent in an early scene, with Dredd pointing out to the other Judges (who are hiding behind cover while Dredd is out in the open) that despite the large quantity of gunfire coming down around him, apparently they're well beyond the manufacturer-listed "lethal range" for the guns that are being used, and so Dredd doesn't see the need to hide.
207* ''Film/JurassicWorld'': The movie would have ended halfway through if the veteran soldier with the Gatling gun had been able to hit the sixty-foot-long ''I. rex''. And if [[spoiler:the mercenaries]] could hit raptors charging straight at them at close range when they have automatic weapons and night vision sights. Possibly justified in some areas in that [[spoiler:since the ''I. rex'' was secretly designed to be a living weapon for military use, it would be built to be able to withstand certain weaponry, especially ones not meant for war, let alone non-lethal ones like in the former scenario]].
208* ''Film/TheKiller1989'' usually averts this trope (the mooks scores some non-fatal hits on Ah Jong and Inspector Li in the climatic [[BloodstainedGlassWindows church shootout]]) but plays it straight at one point in the beachhouse gunfight. Ah Jong and Jenny are in a ''straight'' corridor when they're surprised by a mook holding an [=MP5=] machine-gun firing at full auto, from ''spitting distance''... and the bullets all ends up in the wall without hitting either Ah Jong or Jenny (does the mook have astigmatism and is he firing sideways?). Ah Jong then guns down said mook, steals his machine-gun, and took out a few more enemies.
209* In the DVD commentary of ''Film/TheKingdom'', the director mentions that he asked a group of ex-special forces people watching a preview if it wasn't a bit too implausible that none of the good guys were getting hit by the terrorists in the final shootout. They assured him that such lousy accuracy was nothing unusual. You can see in that movie how often the special forces take position and then aim deliberately while the untrained terrorists just point their guns in the general direction and fire.
210* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'': Valentine's mooks empty magazine after magazine at Eggsy, but they don't miss; his suit is bulletproof. A deleted clip shows him shrugging off a ton of flattened bullets. All of them do, however, manage to miss his unprotected head.
211* ''Film/TheLadyVanishes'' inadvertently draws attention to this by letting the villains [[DisposablePilot kill the train conductors]] with one shot each. Naturally, the only other good guy who gets shot [[spoiler:[[SuicidalPacifism makes a blatant target of himself]]]].
212* Played straight in ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaider''. An entire squad of mercs with assault rifles and fancy night-vision equipment break into Lara's mansion and somehow never manage to shoot her as she's jumping and running around, taking them out with karate kicks. She does have the home-field advantage and a fancy trapeze -- which obviously isn't a standard combat scenario -- but her VoiceWithAnInternetConnection lives in a trailer. The bad guys block the door, then shoot at it when he tries to get out -- except they don't shoot at the actual door, just around it. They even manage to shoot the Pepsi can ''next'' to his computer, (and then he ducks down). They don't cut the cables to the mansion's security system from the trailer, and for some reason like to fight hanging from cords in the air where they'd be big sitting ducks instead of on the ground where they'd have some cover and concealment, or just march into the trailer and execute the guy.
213* ''Film/TheLastSentinel'': The drones have terrible aim, and can't even hit Tallis or the Girl from less than ten meters away. It really makes the audience wonder how did they manage to win a war against humans and enslave all of mankind given how incompetent they are. This appears to be PlotArmor, as their aim is fine against supporting human characters.
214* The {{Mooks}} in ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' are utterly incapable of hitting anything with their automatic weapons (in 1899!), except for some old men in Kenya at the start of the film. Also applies to Secret Service Agent [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Sawyer]]. You'd think marksmanship would be something a Secret Service agent would need to pass before being sent into the field. Instead, he prefers the same spray'n'pray approach as the {{Mooks}}. One of the story arcs is Quartermain teaching Sawyer how to shoot the proper way -- by aiming and leading the target. Naturally, this ends up being useful when [[spoiler:Quartermain has been stabbed, and Sawyer is the one who has to shoot Moriarty in the back of the head from quite a distance away]].
215* In ''Film/LeftForDead'', Goldie unloads her sixgun at Mobius when he suddenly appears and starts slowly advancing towards her, and misses with every shot. She panics and claims that he is bulletproof, but Clem angrily snaps back that she just missed. As it turns out, Morbius is ImmuneToBullets, [[AccidentalTruth but Goldie had no way of knowing that]].
216* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' has this. In the book, it's not made clear how accurate orcs are with bows and arrows, yet in the movies, it's apparent that you won't get hit unless you're heir to the line of Stewards of Gondor. They're actually shown to be quite competent marksmen in the books, both at shooting down fleeing enemies at Cirith Ungol and when a scout orc shoots an arrow into the eye of a warrior Uruk after an argument, killing him. Although for some reason, their marksmanship isn't quite good enough to hit Faramir fatally in either battle at Osgiliath in which he's involved, even though everyone else dies on the second attempt.
217* The Musketeers in ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask''. Justified in that they were shooting with their eyes closed so that they wouldn't have to see the original Three Musketeers die.
218* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
219** Occurs in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' when the Chitauri army descends on New York and begins firing indiscriminately into crowds of civilians, and yet can only seem to hit inanimate objects.
220** Justified in ''Film/IronMan1'': [[spoiler:Obadiah Stane]] has difficulty hitting Tony Stark in the final battle because Tony had disabled his targeting computers. Though due to the Iron Man armour being bulletproof, most of the time bad guys are a pretty good shot. An improbably good shot in the case of the tank, which shot Tony down with a single hit while he was in flight approaching supersonic speed.
221* In ''Film/TheMatrix'', as the agents chase the heroes through the program, they fire repeatedly but are unable to inflict more than minor wounds except when shooting at point-blank range. Also, [[MrSmith Agent Smith]] misses throwing a knife at Neo by a rather wide margin. This is made all the more ironic since the agents are ''computer programs'' with presumably superior aiming skills. Their poor aiming skills could be attributed as just another [[AGlitchInTheMatrix glitch in the Matrix]].
222* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d and {{justified|Trope}} in ''Film/TheMenWhoStareAtGoats''. During a flashback to Bill Django's time in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, he orders his soldiers to fire on a single Viet Cong soldier. While they do open fire, every shot misses. The main character's voiceover reveals that the men were aiming high ''on purpose'' because they didn't actually want to kill anybody. It's also stated that only about twenty percent of all soldiers in the war actually shot to kill. Naturally the Viet Cong were quick to take advantage of this. The incident was what inspired Django to create the New Earth Army.
223* The mooks in ''Film/{{Mercenaries}}'' couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with their machine guns.
224* The only time any of the Destroyers manage to hit anybody in ''Film/MomAndDadSaveTheWorld'' is when Emperor Tod orders two of them [[BadBoss to shoot themselves in the head for disagreeing with him on a matter of fashion]]. The fact that their weapons discharges appear to corkscrew outward from the gun rather than travel in a straight line might have something to do with this.
225* ''Film/TheMountie'': When Corporal Grayling arrives in the settlement for the final showdown, the Cossacks unload at him from the front steps of the scorch along the length of the main street without any of their shots coming anywhere near him, despite Grayling standing still without any cover.
226* ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005'': When a squadron of expert mercenary snipers have circled John and Jane, no one manages to hit them and all get gunned down by two people hiding behind nothing more than each other.
227* All of the villains in ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy''. The mook with a machine gun who manages to miss the heroes hiding behind a couch two meters in front of him in a bedroom in ''Film/TheMummyReturns'' deserves a special mention; either [[TheMole he was secretly on their side all along]] or a wall killed his parents when he was a kid and he swore vengeance on their kind.
228* Parodied in ''Film/TheNakedGun'' films, when Lt. Frank Drebin and one of the bad guys are shown firing at each other from behind trash cans in separate shots before it is revealed in a wide-angle shot that they are three to four feet apart.
229* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico'' protagonist El Mariachi has spent the last two movies diving for cover when the shooting starts. In this movie, maybe because he's got a [[DeathSeeker death wish]], maybe he's just spent so much time fighting the last several years he's just that much of a badass, he tends to stand in the wide open areas and massacre his opponents.
230* Parodied in ''Film/OSS117LostInRio'': the hero reacts to heavy gunfire by crouching slightly and holding his arm up above his eyes like he's shielding himself from rain. During one scene, while fleeing from a barrage of gunfire, he stops and goes back to retrieve some pocket items he left behind, twice. He even pauses a third time as if trying to remember whether he's forgotten anything else, while still getting shot at, before finally leaving.
231* Played with in ''Film/ThePatriot2000'', where the militiamen led by Benjamin Martin effortlessly cut down several companies of British regulars with precision aim, yet the regulars in question often fail to deal significant casualties in turn to the rebels. In one scene, Ben and his two youngest sons are able to wipe out an entire supply column all by themselves in their bid to save Gabriel; Colonel Tavington and his royal dragoons don't show half as much difficulty in combating their American foes.
232* The British Royal Navy sailors are kind of useless at their jobs in ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''. They become a little competent in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]]'' but become useless again in the fourth film.
233* ''Film/ThePostman'':
234** Arguably, the scene with the Postman swimming away downriver. Yes, it's hard to hit a target moving independently and with the current just about randomly, but they fired a ''lot'' of shots.
235** The Postman rides toward one of the Holnists, closing in on a straight path. There is eventually less than 10 meters between them and the Holnist can't hit him, despite eventually having to reload. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Or so it seems]] -- not only did the Postman get shot, but once the adrenaline rush is over, he goes comatose]].
236* In ''Film/{{Predator}}'' the American soldiers kill a camp of South American guerillas without losing a single man. Only one gets hit, but he completely ignores the injury. And they did not really try to get into cover most of the time.
237* Played with in ''Film/PulpFiction'', where Vince and Jules are shot at with a {{handcannon}} at point-blank range and missed. Vincent calls it a freak occurrence, Jules is convinced it is [[DivineIntervention a miracle]]. Subsequent events seem to favor [[spoiler:Jules]].
238* ''Film/{{Purgatory}}'': People die, but it takes a lot of firing to do it. Except when the plot calls for it, of course.
239* Played to its most comedic end in the banjo-laden chase scene in ''Film/RaisingArizona'', in which H.I. is chased by a police officer who fires at him constantly for at least five minutes of film, and never once hits him. The cop must fire 300 rounds from his sidearm, and yet you never see him reload.
240* Justified in ''Film/ReadyOrNot2019'' for various reasons:
241** [[spoiler:Emilie]] is high on cocaine and pills, causing them to miss Grace who was less than twenty feet away. Though they do manage to [[spoiler:kill two maids]] by accident.
242** [[spoiler:Charity]] has a perfect shot on Grace but misses due to not realizing [[spoiler:her harpoon gun fires in an arc]].
243** [[spoiler:Becky]], who is hinted to be the one to [[spoiler:kill Helene's husband]] in the DistantPrologue, is implied to have not practiced archery since the prologue.
244* ''Film/Red2010'' ends with [[spoiler:Frank and Marvin]] fleeing across an empty field in Monrovia pursued by an entire wide line of soldiers who are not only firing at the two but lobbing shells at them as well. Nothing ever hits them. [[spoiler:Marvin]] even shouts back "Monrovia SUCKS!" at the soldiers.
245* ''Film/TheRocketeer'' has a scene where several FBI agents have [[TheDragon Luthar]] cornered inside of Cliff and Petey's house, and begin a wild shootout with him. Even though they are armed with Tommy gun's and he is a massive human being, the closet they come to hitting him is knocking his hat off.
246* The barrage of Reavers and Alliance mook fire doesn't hit Zoe at all when she breaks cover in a HeroicBSOD-fueled rage and has to be pulled back by the others in ''{{Film/Serenity}}''
247* Used for both sides in ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'' during the final gunfight between Roy O'Bannon and Sheriff Van Cleef. In O'Bannon's case, it makes some sense as he's a lot more talk than he is ability but he HAS shown some gun skill in the film, yet his shots are hilariously wild and off the mark, never hitting ''anything''. Van Cleef, however, is meant to be a highly skilled and ruthless killer of bandits. [[spoiler:O'Bannon ends up with [[OneBulletLeft one last bullet]] while Van Cleef has two full revolvers, every single shot of which misses, if just barely. O'Bannon thinks he's invincible after he notices in awe that such a renowned marksman missed him that often from that close. He then tries doing a slow walk into thugs who are firing at him (from behind the door anyway) after noticing there are so many bullet holes in his robes, and yet he was unscratched, saying they can't hit him.]]
248* Lampshaded in ''Film/ShootEmUp'' by the villain Hertz: "My God. Do we just suck, or is this guy really that good?"
249* Justified in ''Film/SinCity''; Roark Jr. is firing at Hartigan and Nancy and not hitting a goddamn thing. Hartigan notes that he ''is'' a good shot, but says he's missing because he's throwing away bullets, and not taking the time to aim.
250* A spectacular example occurs in ''Film/{{Sleepwalkers}}''; Officer Raeburn is in the same room as lead sleepwalker Mary, and attempt to open fire on her. He proceeds to shoot practically everything in the room EXCEPT Mary before he flees for the phone and quickly gets ''murdered with corn'' by Mary.
251* In ''Film/Snatched2017'', Morgado and his men shoot at Emily and Linda as they run towards Roger's boat, missing them by several feet even though they can't be more than a dozen meters away.
252* Parodied (along with a lot of other ''Star Wars'' tropes) in ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''. During the "escape from prison" sequence, the only shot of the evil stormtroopers which hits true is one that just barely singes Princess Vespa's hair. This [[BerserkButton launches her]] into an UnstoppableRage in which she guns down all of the enemy stormtroopers, Rambo-style. Also spoofed earlier in the movie when "Gunner's Mate First Class Phillip Asshole" is asked to fire across the nose of Princess Vespa's ship, and almost hits her. When told "I said across her nose, not up it!", it is revealed that the gunner is cross-eyed. As is the rest of his family (most of which are on the crew), prompting this quote:
253-->'''Dark Helmet:''' I knew it! I'm surrounded by Assholes! ''(slams his visor back down)'' Keep firing, Assholes!
254* Ruthlessly mocked in the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode ''Film/SpaceMutiny''. Especially remarkable considering they're aiming at Big [=McLargehuge=]:
255-->'''Crow:''' Here's a little free advice for the mutineers: ''Just stop and '''aim''', you idiots!''\
256'''Tom:''' Why is [the hero] so impossible to hit? How can they keep missing this slow, giant white thing?\
257'''Mike:''' Y'know, they shouldn't have set their phasers to '''miss'''.
258* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
259** The Remans in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' are supposedly the fearsome shocktroops of the Romulan Star Empire, and yet an army of them pursue Picard and Data through their ship for several minutes without hitting either of them.
260** Justified in ''Film/StarTrek2009'', where Kirk and Spock are involved in a running gun battle with the Romulan crew of the ''Narada''. The Romulans can't hit anything, while Kirk and Spock are wasting them with precise shots. However, these Romulans are former miners with no military education and just barely got out 25 years on Rura Penthe, while Kirk and Spock are Starfleet and trained in combat and tactics. It can be assumed that marksmanship is a requirement for any Starfleet officer.
261** Somewhat less justified in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', when four main characters go up against an entire squad of Klingon warriors. The Klingons don't get a single hit in. At most, they might have managed to kill the two {{Red Shirt}}s that accompanied Kirk's team, but [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse even that isn't clear]]. They fare a little better when they switch to melee weapons, but that doesn't stop Khan from [[OneManArmy slaughtering them all singlehandedly]].
262* ''Franchise/StarWars'' is the ([[TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} inspiration for the]]) {{Trope Namer|s}}.
263** The Imperial Stormtroopers are notorious, even among many non-''Star Wars'' fans, for their inability to hit the heroes, particularly in ''Film/ANewHope'' and ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. Their reputation among the audience conflicts with what the characters think; in the former film, Obi-Wan [[InformedAbility makes a point of what incomparably good shots they're supposed to be]], and in the latter, the Emperor refers to the scouts on Endor as his "best troops". A lot of ink has been spilled on the subject, by fans, critics, and official ExpandedUniverse sources, either [[FanWank rationalizing]] or just {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing this shoddy marksmanship. And we've done it, too; we've got [[Analysis/ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy a whole Analysis page]] on it, but briefly:
264*** The prequel trilogy gives us the predecessors of the Stormtroopers, the Clone Troopers. Interestingly, they tend to be much better shots than the Stormtroopers, suggesting some sort of degradation between the prequel and original trilogies. At least one source has a surviving clone complaining about the much lower quality of recruits they get almost immediately after the war.
265*** In at least two instances (the Death Star escape and the Cloud City rescue), the Stormtroopers are under orders ''not'' to kill the heroes, as Vader wants them alive for various reasons. In other cases (stunning Leia on the ''Tantive IV'', hitting Leia and R2 in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''), their aim is great but non-lethal.
266*** In the sequel trilogy, the Stormtroopers have not gotten any better, even as we get an insight into how they are trained and behave from Stormtrooper defector Finn. Throughout the trilogy, Finn is the only one who shows any improvement compared to regular Stormtroopers; ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' does mention him as having placed very highly in training, so that could be a RedemptionPromotion.
267*** Certain groups of Stormtroopers have much better aim, like the 501st Legion, Darth Vader's personal formation named after the fan club. This is because the legion does not take on recruits (even after the Empire opened up the ranks) and is purely composed of former Clone Troopers, who are much better shots. Similarly, the [[DoomTroops Death Troopers]] seen in ''Film/RogueOne'' exemplify the brutal efficiency of the model Stormtrooper and score high kill counts against the Rebels (including [[spoiler:[[HeroKiller Baze and Chirrut]]]]), despite their reliance on HollywoodTactics.
268*** The aim might be explained by the Stormtroopers' blasters being noticeably equipped with a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_(firearms) folding stock]], but it was never used in the original trilogy.
269*** It's also been the butt of a ton of jokes (like a whole ''Podcast/RiffTrax'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DweMrG7vZG8 compilation]]), some of which are as old as the films themselves.
270---->''A Stormtrooper and a RedShirt get into a firefight. The Stormtrooper misses every shot. The Red Shirt dies anyway.''
271** In ''A New Hope'', Greedo shoots at Han from across a tiny ''table'' and misses him, allowing Han to shoot him in retaliation. Chalk this one up to the necessities of editing it for the Special Editions; in the original theatrical version, Han just shot Greedo. The idea was to make it look less like the good guy just shot the bad guy in cold blood and give him some AdaptationalSelfDefense. Only there wasn't really any plausible way to do it. The ridiculousness of the whole sequence led to a plethora of explanations, ranging from Greedo being blind drunk to knowing that Han was worth more alive than dead and just trying to scare him into compliance. (It also led to the rallying cry "Han shot first", to show [[FanonDiscontinuity the supremacy]] of the original version.)
272** The Battle Droids of the prequel trilogy can only hit anything when in formations that number in the thousands. EU sources indicate that this was actually a design feature; the Neimoidians didn't want an army that could [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters be effective if they rebelled or were hacked]]. And they were built on the cheap to [[WeHaveReserves impose superiority through numbers]]. The [[EliteMooks other droids]] are much more accurate.
273** Ordinarily Rebel soldiers, in the few scenes where we actually see them fighting, are even worse than Stormtroopers. In the ''Tantive IV'' battle that opens the franchise, the door frame takes more hits from them than the Troopers filing out of it.
274** In ''Film/RogueOne'' a Stormtrooper tries to take out Chirrut with a blaster. Not only does the Stormtrooper fail to hit his target but manages to hit a fellow Stormtrooper several times, with a couple of the shots [[GroinAttack landing in a sensitive location]].
275* ''Film/StreetFighter'': towards the end, the {{Mooks}} are trying to machine-gun hostages ''tightly packed in a pit'' and failing, which is very close to trying to shoot fish in a barrel and messing it up. They also notably fail to hit Guile when he's sitting out in the open.
276* ''Film/TheSweeney'' suffers from this, with the bad guys firing hundreds of bullets from assault rifles, submachine guns, and handguns only to hit nothing but the various walls and windows surrounding the protagonists.
277* ''Film/ThreeAmigos''. In the battle between El Guapo's {{bandito}}s and the villagers, the criminals don't manage to hit a single villager while the villagers kill about ten of the bandits. This despite the fact that the bandits are a lot more familiar with using guns than the villagers. The villagers were all dressed like the Amigos to mess with the banditos' heads and were picking them off from random locations, then ducking out of sight before the bad guys could get a bead on them.
278* In the {{Blaxploitation}} film ''Film/ThreeTheHardWay'', the three heroes, armed with single-shot cap pistols from a considerable distance, defeat a larger group of men, who are armed with fully automatic machine guns, killing all but one of them (whom they capture to interrogate). One of the heroes gets a small flesh wound, the others are untouched.
279* ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', where during the Iron Springs shootout, the bad guys could not hit Wyatt Earp despite him just slowly walking towards them. He winds up killing several of them, driving them off. This was what happened in real life too; Wyatt himself was notoriously ImmuneToBullets, and despite wading into the river in the middle of a shootout was completely uninjured, even with bullets coming close enough to riddle his coat full of holes.
280* ''Film/TrueLies'': Played for laughs when the fat Gib hides behind a lamp post while being shot at with an AK-47, and remains unharmed, despite the pole and everything behind him being hit repeatedly. Even he can't believe it.[
281* In ''{{Film/U571}}'', a submarine is within close range of a destroyer and manages to survive long enough to dive without getting ripped to shreds.
282* Parodied spectacularly in ''Film/{{UHF}}'s'' Franchise/{{Rambo}} homage, where George strolls towards an enemy soldier while the latter is desperately firing an assault rifle directly at him. Even after George stops with only a few feet between him and the goon... and proceeds to slowly ready his bow, the enemy still can't land any hits.
283* ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'':
284** This trope is played with quite deftly with the character of English Bob. When we first see him, he displays quite a bit of aptitude with a pistol during a pheasant shooting contest ([[ImprobableAimingSkills on a moving train, no less]]). Later, we learn that he is a bounty hunter of great acclaim for killing outlaws in honorable combat, most notably "[[IronicNickname Two Gun]]" Corky. The character of [[MagnificentBastard Little Bill]] soon reveals this to be false. According to him, Bob just happened to be drinking in the bar that Corky walked into and took a shot at him and missed because he was so drunk. Corky gets startled and shoots himself in the foot trying to draw his (only) gun. Bob carefully aims his second shot but misses again because he is that damn drunk. Corky recovers, takes his time, and aims carefully, but the gun blows up in his hand. [[DirtyCoward Bob only lands a shot when Corky is wounded and defenseless.]]
285** Again in the final shooting. [[spoiler:Most of the gunmen in the saloon don't hit Munny from even a few meters away in the chaos. Even though it's practically a MexicanStandoff, the shooting lasts for a full half minute.]]
286* ''Film/UpTheFront'': Somehow ''Lurk'' of all people is able to dodge a German machine gun just by running away from the bullets.
287* Overdone in ''Film/WhereEaglesDare''. Mooks from THREE Nazi groups (SS, Luftwaffe, and Heer) can't hit any of the heroes (except for Major Smith, but it's just a flesh wound).
288* In ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', when Havok starts to practice controlling his powers, he first ends up shooting everything EXCEPT his intended target. While he really was trying to aim, he couldn't control the sheer force of his powers yet. After some training, he becomes much better at targeting and controlling his blasts.
289* None of the Mexican soldiers in ''Film/YellowHairAndTheFortressOfGold'' could hit the broad side of a barn.
290* ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': Downplayed with the parademons. Most of their shots miss, but there are key hits. Batman uses his power-absorbing gauntlets to deflect some that may have hit him in the undersea tunnel. They can’t hit the Batmobile in the final battle whatsoever, but at the same time, that one parademon scored the key hit on the Flash [[spoiler:that allowed the Unity to synchronize, only to have his head blown off by Batman and the Flash reverse time.]]
291[[/folder]]
292
293[[folder:Folklore]]
294* There was an urban legend that went something like this: In 1971, a marshal and a general in Uruguay decided to settle a conflict the old-fashioned way: with a gun duel. After standing back to back, they walked twelve steps, turned around, and started shooting. First once. Then twice. Nothing happened. They ended up firing 37 shots each '''without''' hitting each other before the duel stopped by itself due to the lack of ammo. The explanation the men gave? They forgot to put on their glasses, apparently.\
295Another variation of this story has an alternate ending: After seeing that all their shots missed, they decided to call off the duel and shake hands. As they were approaching each other, one of them let out a yelp -- his foot had been burned by stepping on a mass of lead where their ''[[ImprobableAimingSkills bullets had hit each other and fused together]]''.
296* Andreas Hofer was sentenced to death for his rebellion against Napoleon, and legend has it that after the first salvo of the firing squad assigned to his execution barely wounded him, Hofer -- an experienced sharpshooter -- [[GallowsHumor mocked them for it.]]
297[[/folder]]
298
299[[folder:Literature]]
300* This happens in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', whenever the Yeerks (human- and Hork-Bajir-Controllers) fire Dracon beams at the Animorphs, they will usually (but not always) miss. In book 29, Visser Three even yells "Would it be asking too much for one of you to actually hit something?!!" (although in that particular case, they were trying to shoot a bird in flight in a cavern).
301* Justified in the Literature/{{Biggles}} stories ''The Professor'' and ''Biggles Finds His Feet''. Biggles explains that most anti-aircraft gunners never hit anything as they aim directly at where they see the plane, and by the time the shell reaches the target, it has moved on. To successfully hit an aircraft it's necessary to aim at the point ahead of it where it will be when the shell arrives.
302* The ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novel ''The Last Ditch'' lampshades Ork lack of marksmanship. The troop transport carrying the Valhallan 597th has arrived via crashlanding, and the battalion is bracing for an Ork attack in the wreckage.
303--> '''Corporal Magot:''' Always knew the greenies couldn't hit the broad side of a starship, but I never expected to see it for myself.
304:: Subverted, however, in that they're firing on instinct. Once they close in they actually start doing damage.
305** Whenever Orks or Chaos cultists appear in a Cain novel, Cain will snark about their poor aim at least once. He has a minor freakout in ''Cain's Last Stand'' when he realizes the Chaos invaders are ''actually aiming their shots''.
306* ''Literature/TheDarkTower'': Mob henchman Tricks Postino is an excitable idiot who just plays action movie scenes in his head instead of paying attention to what's going on in front of him during a gunfight. So when he fills a room with sustained full auto from his M16 because it works in the movies, he fails to notice when he cuts one of his own allies in half, fails to hit any enemies, and instead begins spraying the ''ceiling''.
307-->''I got him!''
308* In a ''Literature/SergeStorms'' novel, this happens for justifiable reasons in an incident that is largely irrelevant to the plot. A man who was denied a driver's license for failing a vision test walked into a DMV and emptied a pistol at the clerks, hitting nobody.
309* In ''Literature/TheDreamsideRoad'', [[TheRemnant The Liberty Corps]] rifle forces subvert this to a degree. They aren’t sharpshooters, by any means, but they would have successfully shot Orson Gregory half a dozen times, in the first arc alone, if it weren’t for his [[BadassLongcoat armored coat]].
310* Until the [[AnyoneCanDie last book]], the Death Eaters of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series were generally poor shots, although with wands rather than guns. Actually {{justified|Trope}} in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' in which Harry's friends happened to have all taken a rare luck potion before the Death Eaters showed up, which is an example of OneShotRevisionism. Since, unlike guns, wands can do more than just kill, there's a ''Harry Potter''-specific corollary to this trope, which we shall define thusly: "the more deadly and/or permanent the curse is, the less likely it is to hit its target."
311* Most of DERSO in ''Literature/TheLeonardRegime''.
312* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' features this in ''The Two Towers''. Orcs are incompetent soldiers but are known to be good shots with arrows throughout the literature; however, during the Battle of Helm's Deep, thousands of Uruk-hai rain down what are described as black clouds of arrows on the Rohirrim defenders... and very, very few even get injured, let alone killed.
313* In ''Literature/LesMiserables'', in an inverted version of this trope, the students, who are the good guys, fire massive volleys of shots at the National Guard, and don't manage to hit any of them.
314* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/OrdealInOtherwhere'', Shann, only brushed by the weapon fire, comments to Charis on how badly they are shooting. Charis suggests that they might not be shooting to kill.
315* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:
316** Very often subverted in the books, especially when the protagonist is on the same side or at least neutral towards the Empire. It is not completely uncommon to see the Stormtroopers really are the best of the best. The Creator/TimothyZahn novels in particular tend to portray Stormtroopers (and other Imperial personnel) as highly competent professionals.
317** Subverted and lampshaded in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce: Invincible''. Jaina Solo and Boba Fett are defending Roche against an Imperial assault. The stormtroopers first shoot Boba's gun, causing him to raise his hand, then blow a hole through it. Jaina is thinking "these weren't her mother's stormtroopers."
318** ''Imperial Commando:501st'', the final book in the Karen Traviss ''Literature/RepublicCommandoSeries'' explains why the Clone Troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Imperial Stormtroopers are on polar opposite ends of the spectrum where accuracy is concerned: the clones that served in the Clone Wars were solely sourced from Kamino, using a process that takes ten years to produce a fully matured clone. Shortly before the rise of the Empire, Palpatine ordered the creation of lower-quality clones sourced from various other sources including a facility on Coruscant’s moon, that would be ready in less than a year. These [[CloneDegeneration lower quality clones]] couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, but they would help fill the ranks. Curiously, at least one of these clones was assigned to the Imperial Commando Special Unit of the 501st legion, which was initially formed from the especially badass Clone Commandos and ARC Troopers who had survived the Clone War.
319** In the book series ''The Last of the Jedi'', a SequelSeries to the ''Literature/JediApprentice'' and ''Literature/JediQuest'' set after ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', it's mentioned that, ever since the Clone (now Storm) Troopers transitioned to "peace-keeping" instead of fighting an active war, they have been instructed to hold down the trigger while aiming instead of conserving ammo. After all, individual blaster shots are cheap, blasters have no kick to throw off your aim while you bring the weapon to bear, and blaster shots flying all over the place tend to panic your enemies (who are now generally trouble-makers and law-breakers instead of battle-hardened enemy soldiers).
320[[/folder]]
321
322[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
323* Came up in ConversationalTroping when the aliens watched a movie on ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'':
324-->'''Tommy:''' Now, how did he beat those guys? I mean, c'mon, it was twelve against one.\
325'''Harry:''' Well, he has the advantage. You see, [[ConservationOfNinjutsu they only have machine guns while he has the broken pool cue.]]
326* On ''Series/TwentyFour'', no matter what kind of military-grade assault weapons the villains have at their disposal, Jack Bauer can always defeat them with his trusty handgun. And sometimes with a knife.
327* In the Syfy miniseries ''Series/{{Alice|2009}}'' all of the suits are horrible shots until it is convenient for the plot, like shooting the motor of the flying flamingos.
328* Lampshaded and justified in an episode of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' when a Nightsider dragging Harper and Trance along asks why the bounty hunters shooting at them only seem to be aiming for him. Trance then reveals that she and Harper are wearing personal High Guard ECM generators that prevent smart bullets from locking on. The Nightsider thanks her and promptly confiscates Harper's bracelet. It's easy to imagine the look Harper gives Trance.
329* ''Series/AngProbinsyano2015'' has President Oscar Hidalgo escape from (corrupt) police officers under the (equally corrupt) Vice-President's payroll who were vainly trying to mow down the LegallyDead President. And that's despite the supposedly-deceased chief executive being in convenient range for [[MoreDakka assault rifle-toting gunmen]] and without any body armour to even protect him at all.
330* ''Series/TheATeam'': Every episode features a gun battle with every character, hero and villain, emptying hundreds of thousands of rounds at each other -- and no one ever got shot. This was because ''The A-Team'' was nominally a kid's show in prime time. At the time, it was overlooked due to the RuleOfCool, but now it's amazingly funny to consider the A-Team were a bunch of Vietnam War Special Ops veterans who couldn't hit their targets at all. A popular interpretation is that the good guys, at least, missed ''on purpose'', following [[ATeamFiring the trope named after them]]. They never wanted to hurt anybody, they only wanted to make the bad guys ''think'' they were going to hurt them.
331* The Cylons from ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' -- killer combat robots that almost wiped out the entire human race -- couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with their toes up against the shingles. The silver Cylon robots were the dumbest type and they almost always reacted the same way to the same type of attack. The humans could usually guess which way they would turn in a battle and shoot where they were going to be. Watch a space battle and you can see that the vipers don't shoot at the cylon ships, but at where they will be. The same could be said about gun fights with handguns. At one time, it was common in some BG and SW fan circles to refer to the "Imperial/Cylon School of Gunnery" to refer to the lack of accuracy of both Stormtroopers and the original Centurions -- except when the plot called for them to actually hit someone (e.g., to kill Serena). Reference to the School was generally followed by the tagline "Could not hit the side of a Death Star."
332* The ones from ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' are hardly expert shots, though it's not like they were needed to nuke the colonies to extinction. The sentient Raiders suffer this pretty badly it would seem with one notable exception, which became well known even among the human fleet. Considering in almost every engagement the human pilots, flying 40-year-old machines remember, are extremely outnumbered and have a very limited number of people they can call up, casualties are usually very light compared to what they should be were the Raiders any good. It's possible that despite death being "a learning experience" for the Raiders, they just did not learn anything so long as they had the ability to resurrect. The humanoid Cylons may have figured this out given later episodes of the first half of Season 4 showed some had been training as colonial-style pilots.
333* In the DVD commentary for the last episode of Season 4 of ''Series/BurnNotice'', Matt Nix and several of the actors were [[{{MST}} sporking]] the entire episode, and anytime Michael was being shot at, they would joke that Vaughn's men were only able to hit their target when they were aiming at tires. Considering the number of times a [[InformedAbility special forces sniper]] missed Michael, they weren't too far off.
334-->'''Robert Wisdom:''' Hire burned spies and blind gunmen. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong
335* Justified in ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'', when Castle and Beckett test out antique flintlock pistols allegedly used as a murder weapon. They each take one, go out to the firing range, and miss. There's even a montage just showing dozens of impacts on the padded area behind the paper targets. The justification is that flintlock pistols were often inaccurate, and the ones used were worse than most. Not only that, the cop right next to Castle goes to help him after all Castle's shots kept messing with his own target practice. This goes from the cop giving Castle stable platforms to shoot from, to strapping a scope and a laser pointer on the pistol, taping it down zeroed on the center of the target, and pulling the trigger with a string. Still misses, with the only hit being to the target ''next'' to the one aimed for. [[spoiler:This is all used to prove that the weapon was highly unlikely to have been the murder weapon. In fact, the two guys specifically dueled with them in order to "satisfy their honor" without anyone actually being harmed. The real culprit is someone using a modern smoothbore weapon with an old-fashioned steel ball.]]
336* Invoked on ''Series/{{Deception|2018}}''. A woman shoots a man standing two feet away but he survives with only a minor wound. Everyone initially assumes that the man was lucky and the woman was a poor shot. However, the FBI later finds out that she is actually a highly trained sniper with no qualms about killing bystanders. The 'lucky victim' was actually her accomplice and she was such a good shot that she was able to shoot him in a way that made it look like this trope was in play. This caused the FBI to seriously underestimate her capabilities and, until Cameron figures out the scheme, removed all suspicion from the accomplice.
337* Everyone who's trying to shoot Bart Curlish in ''Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' -- she's a holistic assassin and protected by the universe itself. Every weapon fired at her will miss, unless it's jammed, [[ArrowCatch caught by her]], or [[spoiler:she goes against her mission and loses her invincibility]].
338* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
339** Inverted in the new series with the Daleks, who land almost every shot they make with pinpoint precision, and miss very rarely and only in highly chaotic situations. This fits their characterization as omnicidal EX-TER-MIN-ATORS and guarantees that anyone, even heroic characters, foolish enough to fight them openly is going to be dead in short order. Even ''the Doctor himself'' has been tagged by their shots when any other villain would have played the trope straight.
340** [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet "The Pirate Planet"]]: One scene has two guards escorting the Doctor and Romana, plus a third coming from the other direction, utterly failing to hit the Doctor's local ally, who is standing out in the open and still manages to gun down all three.
341** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen "Revenge of the Cybermen"]]: Oddly not the Cybermen this time, who display excellent aim as they mow down ranks of Vogan soldiers. The Vogans, however, are terrible shots, seemingly unable to hit a target at more than point blank range, and missing Harry by at least three feet when shooting at him.
342** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E9ColdBlood "Cold Blood"]]: Restac's soldiers fire a lot of shots that hit no other characters whatsoever. Restac herself is the only person wielding a gun who manages to hit anyone else at all.
343** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]]: The Lord President of Gallifrey orders a squad of soldiers to execute the Doctor. The soldiers fire from a few feet away and all miss. This is subverted as the camera zooms in and we see that the missed shots formed a person-shaped outline on the wall behind the Doctor. The soldiers are all elite veterans and very good shots, but they all aimed just a tiny bit to the side because they revere the Doctor and did not want to shoot him.
344** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E2TheGhostMonument "The Ghost Monument"]]: The Doctor and company have to head through ruins guarded by sniper robots. All of the shots are way off target, although one of the guest characters does get injured.
345* A sniper in the ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' episode "Peace Pipe" successfully shoots a construction worker, then takes multiple shots at the paramedics without coming close to hitting them.
346* In ''Series/{{ER}}'' episode "Greene with Envy", the gangbanger who shot a patient and a security guard engage in a shootout from about 40 feet apart in a narrow hallway. Both empty their magazines and don't hit each other even once. The security guard is old and clearly out of practice and the shooter is firing GangstaStyle.
347* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has the supposedly feared and elite Peacekeepers. One of the main characters in the show, Aeryn Sun, is nothing more than a PK grunt and is still one of the deadliest crew members of Moya. She frequently goes on about the harshness of her training in the early episodes. Her former comrades, however, get easily killed off by the dozens, and not by just our heroes either. For a good example, see the ending trilogy of the second season, "Liars, Guns, and Money".
348* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'':
349** There are mooks that are both hilariously incompetent and amazingly adept shots. One particular standout moment is in the final shootout in [[Recap/FireflyE01Serenity the pilot]], where Mal and Zoe are standing in the open, against a numerically superior enemy force and with no cover. When the gunfight starts up, Zoe gets hit dead center in the chest, but Mal only gets winged, even when he's standing only a dozen meters away and only walking slowly forward and sideways. On the other hand, Rance Burgess' collection of militia and goons can hit prostitutes firing back at them from a good twenty to thirty meters away behind cover, firing rifles one-handed, on the backs of moving horses.
350** Hilariously inverted in "[[Recap/FireflyE10WarStories War Stories]]". When [[TrueCompanions the gang]] invades Niska's [[SpaceBase sky complex]] to rescue [[TheCaptain Mal]] and not a single one of them gets hit (even when Zoe stops bothering to use cover, she only picks up a graze on the arm that’s shown bandaged later), it looks like a straight example of this trope. However, after it's all over, the ensuing conversation reveals it wasn't just the bad guys who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn... [[TheMedic Simon]] couldn't either.
351--->'''Mal:''' So, I hear you all took up arms in that little piece of action back there... how you faring with that, doctor?\
352'''Simon:''' I don't know... I... er... yeah, I never shot anyone before.\
353'''Book:''' I was there, son. I'm fair sure you haven't shot anyone yet.
354* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': While the Earth 1 version of [[Characters/SuicideSquadOperatives Floyd Lawton / Deadshot]] is a master marksman, his Earth 2 counterpart is such a horrible shot that he empties an entire clip at a man from a few feet away and fails to hit him, a rare case of a good guy (he's a policeman on Earth 2) suffering from this syndrome.
355* Most of the men from ''Series/FTroop'' graduated from there.
356** This is made clear in an episode where Agarn was brought before a firing squad and all the soldiers shot the water tower he was standing next to. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the ballad sung in the black-and-white first season with the line, "''...and nobody takes a lickin'.''"
357** Lampshaded again in several episodes as well, including a memorable scene where O'Rourke and Agarn are, by themselves, staging an attack on their own base (ItMakesSenseInContext, we swear). When Agarn complains that they are certain to be shot by their own team...
358--->'''O'Rourke:''' Don't worry. We're perfectly safe as long as they're aiming at us.\
359''(a shot hits the ground near them)''\
360'''Agarn:''' Oh yeah, what was that?\
361'''O'Rourke:''' That was Vanderbilt aiming at something else.
362* In ''Series/GenerationKill'', the Iraqi jihadists that ambush the Hitman platoon aren't able to wound (minorly) more than one American soldier when four of the platoon's Humvees are trapped on a bridge, while the Americans have no trouble taking the snipers out. Justified partially because it's dark and the Americans have night vision and laser sights, and partly due to TruthInTelevision; most of the jihadists were civilians who had been hastily recruited and had little weapons training, particularly with [[MoreDakka hard-to-control machine guns]].
363* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': During the most decisive battle at the Stepstones, Daemon Targaryen is [[RainOfArrows showered in a hail of arrows]] during his mad charge against the Crabfeeder's army, yet he only gets hit by a handful right before the rest of the Velaryon army arrives.
364* The bad guy in ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'' has presumably-trained guards with submachine guns that can't hit the hero standing ''three metres'' away from them.
365* In ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', all {{Mooks}} throughout the ages appear to be graduates of the academy, as their aim is notoriously bad. The flying 22nd-century robots must also have downloaded all the relevant coursework, the first chapter is, of course, "How to Always Miss When Shooting at Heroes".
366* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Subverted by the Orcs led by Adar. When they launch a rain of arrows on the villagers, many of them are directly hit and die. This includes one of the main characters too; Bronwyn is hit immediately and badly wounded, and without Arondir there to heal her, she would have died.
367* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': Mac is often shot at. The few times they hit is for plot purposes.
368* ''Series/TheMandalorian'':
369** The Imperial Stormtroopers' infamous aim gets brought up in [[Recap/TheMandalorianS1E6Chapter6ThePrisoner the sixth episode]]. The Mandalorian has to join a crew for a job, and the leader is introduced as a former Imperial marksman. The Mandalorian isn't impressed.
370--->'''Ran:''' Well, Mayfeld -- he's one of the best triggermen I've seen. Former Imperial sharpshooter.\
371'''The Mandalorian:''' [[DamnedByFaintPraise That's not saying much]].\
372'''Mayfeld:''' I wasn't a Stormtrooper, wiseass!
373** [[Recap/TheMandalorianS1E8Chapter8Redemption Chapter 8]] opens with the two Scout Troopers from the previous episode riding back to the town and they stop on a hill overlooking it waiting for instructions from their commanding officer to proceed. While they’re waiting, one notices a piece of refuse nearby and decides to try to shoot it with his hold out blaster. He and the other trooper both fire multiple times at it and neither managed to hit their target. This is actually [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in this case, since, if you pay close attention, their shots vary widely from where their guns are aimed, implying that Stormtrooper ''equipment'' may be shoddy (probably due to the blasters' age, as the Empire was defeated five years earlier), instead of the Stormtroopers themselves. It's also worth noting that one of the troopers shakes his pistol and it makes a rattling sound. As anybody who has dealt with precision weaponry can attest, loose parts inside a weapon is a sign that something is seriously wrong with it. This is also the explanation ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' used; Clone Trooper Rex complained that his marksmanship went in the toilet when wearing a shoddy Stormtrooper helmet.
374** Inverted in [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E2Chapter10ThePassenger Chapter 10]], with a BigDamnHeroes climax featuring two New Republic pilots, armed with heavy blaster rifles, gunning down a swarm of spiders too much for the [[TheAce Mandalorian]] to handle. With skill and precision (and [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith the high ground]]), they manage to wipe out all the attacking creatures within minutes.
375* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' has every North Korean and Chinese soldier missing stationary targets at relatively close range, including [[InformedAbility supposed snipers]], almost to the point of wondering how the Communist armies inflicted any casualties at all.
376** The most jarring example is Hawkeye climbing down a rope, from a helicopter, on Christmas, ''dressed as Santa'', to treat wounded pinned down in a foxhole, all the while under fire. He isn't hit once.
377** "5 O'Clock Charlie" would attempt to bomb them every day at 5 o'clock. He was so bad the M*A*S*H staff had to leave instructions and pointers to get him to blow up the ammo dump so that Frank couldn't organise some shooting back, which would have escalated things.
378*** He still never hit the dump. Instead, Trapper and Hawkeye's interference leads to Frank ordering a 40mm anti-aircraft gun to fire without knowing where the shell is aimed. Between the Korean operators' confusion and Frank's impatience, the 4077th blows up the ammo dump itself.
379*** In a later episode, Charlie redeems himself by at least being competent enough to drop propaganda fliers on the camp.
380** It's noted that at least one of the snipers that attacked the unit -- the one who had an entire episode dedicated to his siege of the camp -- was nothing more than a scared kid with a rifle. Doesn't excuse the sheer number of misses (only one person is hit, and dozens and dozens of rounds are fired) but it explains it to a degree.
381* One ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' skit had a bicycler eventually wind up in front of a firing squad. They give the order to fire, and everyone misses. They try a few more times, and everyone misses again. The officer tries to give advice about how to aim, but they still miss. The last time, the Russian soldiers just decide to bayonet the man, and he survives, although the audience doesn't know how, because the scene cuts to a title card labeled "Scene Missing" followed by the bicycler exclaiming [[TakeOurWordForIt "What an amazing escape!"]]
382* ''Series/MrAndMrsSmith2024'': In the finale, John and Jane tear up the house with bullets but neither is able to land a shot on the other. [[spoiler:Subverted — under the influence of truth serum, they admit that neither really wanted to kill the other, and so were missing on purpose.]]
383* One ''Franchise/StarWars''-themed episode of ''Series/MythBusters'' tests if the beams from a Stormtrooper's blasters could be physically dodged. On average, each shot from a Stormtrooper's blaster is calculated to be between 130-135 mph (209-217 km/h). Despite testing from both ready and holstered positions, the shots are proven much too fast to dodge. Maybe the Stormtroopers really are blind.
384* In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', the would-be-terrorist brings a machine gun to bear on Gibbs... firing it single-handedly, starting from the hip and going up. The distance he misses by is almost the width of the Air Force One corridor they were in. (Gibbs, by contrast, puts 2 rounds from a semi-auto square in his chest, dropping him to his knees, followed by a third to flatten him. Game over.)
385* ''Series/NCISNewOrleans'': "Means to an End" features some spectacularly bad shooting from the bad guys. Despite Pride being in a narrow alley which means he cannot dodge sideways, and the villains being militia members who are presumably trained in weapons use, they still manage to miss him while firing at him with automatic weapons.
386* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': The border guards in "Dead Men are Dangerous" show some spectacularly bad aim when they manage to miss Steed despite him lying prone on the ground no more than 20 or 30 feet away.
387* ''Series/{{Nichols}}'': In "The Indian Giver", a group of townsfolk show up to help Sheriff Nicols evict the Ketchams from their ranch. The townsfolk and the Ketchams unload a fusillade of shots at each other from about 20 feet apart: with a very reluctant Nichols caught in between the two groups. Absolutely nobody gets hit.
388* In the short-lived TV show ''Series/PoliceSquad'', Frank and a villain are shooting at each other on a street, each using a trash can for cover. The camera pulls back to reveal that they're hiding behind opposite sides of '''the same trash can'''; they're shooting at each other from handshaking range and missing. (Note: The show was a {{Parody}}, so jokes such as this are normal.)
389* The Spanish troops in ''Series/QueenOfSwords'' are spectacularly bad shots, especially when shooting at the heroine. They usually manage to gun down unarmed peasants without problem.
390* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
391** Lampshaded. When the crew are being chased by a hologram in the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]", Cat references the fact that they haven't met anyone who can shoot straight.
392** [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]] can take down whole hordes of rifle-bearing Nazi mooks with nothing but his trusty pistol while saving the princess. That's Ace being Ace -- he's such a damned awesome hero he just ''can't'' be hurt by gunfire. The one time they graze his jacket, he's more pissed off about them ruining his clothes.
393* In the pilot of BBC's ''Series/RobinHood'', several guards miss shooting an escaping Robin and his group when they are galloping towards them!
394* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Junior orders a hit on his nephew Tony, but he must've gotten two of the worst hitmen possible. Despite catching Tony completely by surprise, Tony spending most of the encounter sitting down in his car, and shooting at him from so close that he could reach out and grab their guns in his hands, they manage to miss all of their shots and one accidentally shoots the other in the fray, allowing Tony to escape. It's an assassination attempt so pathetic Tony easily forgives Junior for trying to off him (although the fact Junior was rendered harmless by being placed under house arrest for unrelated charges helped).
395* The Jaffa in ''Series/StargateSG1''. Well, at least when they're evil. A Jaffa's aim gets ''much'' better after turning to the good side. They do have those bulky staff weapons, but good Jaffa seem to be pretty proficient with them. In the episode "The Warrior", O'Neill hangs a lampshade on this by describing the staff weapon as "a weapon of terror: it's made to intimidate the enemy." and compares it with the P-90, a submachine gun which he says is "a weapon of war: it's made to kill the enemy." He then goes on to demonstrate that the power and accuracy of a staff weapon is pitiful compared to the P-90. That would make this a JustifiedTrope, if it weren't for the sheer number of times SG-1 manage to escape unharmed despite being shot at by an army of Jaffa at close range.
396* Most ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' villains have terrible aim. When anyone starts shooting at Starsky or Hutch, they almost always miss, no matter how easy the shot is.
397* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
398** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E16QWho Q Who]]", Captain Picard orders the enemy ship's tractor beam to be destroyed. Multiple phaser shots are then fired with no apparent attempt to aim at the tractor beam, and inflicts minimal damage on random spots of the enemy ship. Only the last shot lands squarely on the tractor beam and destroys it.
399** There is also a common thread running throughout the shows that anyone using handheld weapons is awful with them. The weapons themselves don't help, especially for Starfleet, with hand phasers that are point and shoot from the hip and not aimed through sights. There are loads of misses from point-blank range with energy weapons.
400* The live-action [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin Teddy Ruxpin]] special lampshades and invokes this. One character states, when the cannon fire begins, that the bad guy is the worst shot in the world, and that as long as he's trying to blow up the cabin, the cabin is the safest place they could be.
401* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'':
402** Hazel, Cha-Cha, and the unnamed mooks fire hundreds of rounds at close range without hitting anybody. Particularly egregious at the bowling alley, where they are unable to take down people running in straight lines down the bowling lanes.
403** Exaggerated in Season 2, where the siblings are attacked by [[spoiler:hundreds of Commission mooks]], all wielding rifles, yet ''none'' of them are so much as grazed by bullets. It makes even less sense with Five and Diego, who are only a few feet away when the battle begins and have to run about a hundred meters in an open field to get to cover, and Five is too tired to teleport.
404** The Swedes go after Diego and Lila at the asylum, with two of them toting automatic weapons. They open fire when they catch Diego and Lila in a narrow hallway. Exactly none of them land a shot.
405* On the Creator/{{SyFy}} series ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'', this was brought up as the agents had target practice. Steve said something to the effect of "It's not this difficult to fire a raygun in movies" to which Pete replied "Actually it's very difficult to fire a raygun in the movies. The stormtroopers hardly hit anything."
406* ''Series/TheWire'': While the gangbangers may have access to firearms and not be shy about using them, they don't really know much about ''shooting accurately''. A prime and tragic example is in Season 2, where Bodie's crew and another gang unload dozens of rounds at each other in a running shootout. The only resulting damage is a bunch of shattered car windows... and a little boy in an upstairs bedroom who gets [[MurphysBullet a stray bullet through the head]]. Most of the bangers don't even aim properly when they shoot and have their eyes closed when they pull the trigger. The only real exception is Marlo Stanfield's crew, as Marlo often takes his men out into the woods for target practice.
407[[/folder]]
408
409[[folder:Music]]
410* ''Music/{{Jim Stafford}}’s'' "Cow Patti" has the eponymous heroine face off against her father's killer in a shootout. Each fires dozens of rounds (from revolvers!), killing 40 townspeople but not even wounding each other.
411* ''Music/{{Voltaire}}'s'' "Expendable" from the album "[=BiTrektual=]" references this trope, along with RedShirt. According to the song, Imperial recruiters were part of the rebellion and intentionally signed up the worst people.
412[[/folder]]
413
414[[folder:Pinball]]
415* ''Pinball/LaserWar'' depicts three color-coordinated armies shooting {{Ray Gun}}s with [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] at each other... and no one scoring a single hit.
416[[/folder]]
417
418[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
419* ''TabletopGame/FengShui'''s {{mooks}} typically have low combat [=AVs=], meaning the only time they actually hit named characters is on a series of sixes, which doesn't happen too often. Mooks with better [=AVs=] are more dangerous.
420* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'':
421** The [[TropeNamers trope takes its name]] from a "Cinematic" rule in GURPS, where the first shot the bad guys take always misses.
422** Further, in the ''TabletopGame/BunniesAndBurrows'' supplement, where a gun is an incomprehensibly dangerous weapon that the [[HumansAreCthulhu equally incomprehensibly dangerous humans]] use from time to time, the [[PlayerCharacter PCs]] (all rabbits) are given some comfort by this rule, which states that the first shot fired by a gun always misses. It's also available as a Silly Combat Rule in any other campaign.
423** This will also inevitably get played straight in a realistic campaign involving untrained shooters (such as civilians with stolen guns or insurgents): shooting an average gun without any points in the Guns skill means that you roll at DX-4. The average human score for any stat is 10, so an average human with zero training needs a whole lot of luck to hit the target in combat conditions. (This increases at point blank range or during a careful range session, of course.) Even for professional soldiers, range and vision penalties and various other factors (such as being under suppression fire at the time) can heavily reduce accuracy. In an ultra-realistic campaign where one or two bullets can take even a PC out of the game, making everyone a terrible shot is often the only way to keep everyone alive.
424* ''TabletopGame/HongKongActionTheatre'''s Importance system is not very kind to those of Minor importance. With their typical stats, they can take out characters of no importance, Minor importance, and Moderate importance with some effort, but anyone higher up on the Importance scale (such as many {{Player Character}}s) is going to need a natural 20 in order to even hit them at all.
425* ''TabletopGame/StarWarsLegion'' may feature Stormtroopers as the key unit of the Empire's armies, but it zigzags this trope a bit. On one hand, Stormtrooper attacks roll white dice, which makes them generally inaccurate especially when compared to the Rebel Trooper's black dice. On the other hand, the Stormtrooper's DLT-19 heavy weapon is a long-range rifle that rolls red dice, making it far more accurate than the Rebel's white dice rolling equivalent, the Z-6. In addition, Stormtroopers unlike Rebel Troopers have an attack surge to hits, and also possess the 'Precise' keyword which makes aim tokens more powerful. Both of these abilities combined gives them a little more accuracy than their white dice imply at a glance.
426* In ''TabletopGame/TalesFromTheFloatingVagabond'', characters with the Rambo Effect shtick can't be hit with guns at all from Point Blank or Close range (which means anyone who wants to actually hit them with a ranged weapon will always have a penalty to the attack roll) and gives an 80% chance that enemies will try to shoot the character anyway.
427* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
428** [[Characters/Warhammer40000Orks Da Orks]] love their ATeamFiring, not considering aiming to be that important and so being universally hilariously bad shots (their basic troops have the lowest Ballistic Skill in the game by comparison, getting a mere two out of six chance to hit anything). They make up for this with a [[BloodKnight great deal of enthusiasm]], [[MoreDakka more, more and more dakka]], [[{{BFG}} huge, noisy and ludicrously rapid-firing guns]] -- and [[WeHaveReserves sheer numbers]], reasoning that if you point enough dakka at something, some of it will stick.
429** Averted by the setting's {{Red Shirt}}s, the [[Characters/Warhammer40000ImperialGuard Imperial Guard]]. About half their shots will land (and like the Orks, they make [[BeamSpam many, many of them]]. Actual Stormtroopers (elites) match [[Characters/Warhammer40000Astartes Space Marines]] in their good 2-hit-out-of-3-fired accuracy.
430[[/folder]]
431
432[[folder:Theatre]]
433* ''Theatre/TheDevilsDisciple'': Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw {{lampshade|Hanging}}d the realistic side of the trope back in 1897:
434-->'''Richard:''' I think you might have the decency to treat me as a prisoner of war and shoot me like a man instead of hanging me like a dog.\
435 '''General Burgoyne''' [sympathetically]: Now there, Mr. Anderson, you talk like a civilian, if you will excuse my saying so. Have you any idea of the average marksmanship of the army of His Majesty King George the Third? If we make you up a firing party, what will happen? Half of them will miss you: the rest will make a mess of the business and leave you to the provo-marshal's pistol. Whereas we can hang you in a perfectly workmanlike and agreeable way. [Kindly] Let me persuade you to be hanged, Mr. Anderson?
436[[/folder]]
437
438[[folder:Video Games]]
439* Most gunpowder-based units and siege weapons in ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' are quite inaccurate. Trebuchets are probably the best example of this; they do huge amounts of damage but seem to miss just as often as they hit. Siege weapons are meant for attacking stationary targets i.e. builds, except for the onagers which are short-range anti-infantry/ship. They don't really have the projectile velocity to hit a moving target but once you've gotten them in range will nail builds every time (there is a tiny variation, but unless you're attacking a house you'll never miss). Hand cannons are more TruthInTelevision as those era firearm ares were horribly inaccurate due to the way it was held, no rifling, variable quality gunpowder, and inconsistently shaped projectiles.
440* ''VideoGame/ApexLegends''[='=] animated short ''Stories from the Outlands: Gridiron'' has an enemy SuperSoldier chase down one of the playable characters, Bangalore, while shooting at her with his pistol and missing all of his shots. To really drive this example home, his gun is ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}''[='s=] [[SmartGun Smart Pistol]], which aims the bullets for its user for a perfect hit.
441* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', this trope surprisingly does not affect the Colonial-era soldiers you fight in the historical missions, who are fairly good shots with their flintlock pistols and muskets. Ironically, it is most prevalent in the modern-era missions when Desmond faces Abstergo security guards. Apparently, their training involves wielding semi-auto pistols like flintlocks (complete with cocking/pulling the slide after every shot) and being unable to hit a human target at two paces. They are remarkably good at shooting each other, though.
442* Averted in ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' and [[Videogame/BatmanArkhamSeries its sequels]], where confronting the good aim of the armed mooks is part of why facing them is tactical suicide. It's specially bad with snipers.
443* In ''VideoGame/BattlefieldHeroes'', the Commando's sniper rifles are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9i3oeXqMdU so inaccurate when they're not zoomed in]] that it is actually possible to hit something ''behind'' the player.
444* ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'', the chase scenes. They blow up some serious crap, bring along a couple of ships, and soldiers appear within breathing distance of you, but they'll most likely miss, ''even when you're leisurely climbing a box at a snail's pace.'' Subverted/averted with the turret-laser that is present on levels that require stealth to pass. No matter where you are and what obstacle is between you and it, if Jade's detected, that laser will hit and kill you.
445* ''VideoGame/BioShock'':
446** Rosie Big Daddies in the series, while lethal within a few meters, are horrible shots at longer distance. Justified in the fact that they're using modified rivet guns.
447** The series also uses this as a game mechanic: an enemy's first shot will ''always'' miss you. It's meant to be an [[AntiFrustrationFeatures Anti-Frustration Feature]] so enemies can't hit you with cheap potshots.
448* Kirino from ''VideoGame/BlueArchive'' while aiming at the target manages to hit the hostage, and all of her shots miss while positioning in close proximity from slowly walking targets. Sensei notices that her shooting skills give the opposite effect from what she wants, so if she deliberately aims at the hostage, [[ImprobableAimingSkills she lands all the shots on the crimedoer]], and if target attempts to dodge, no shots miss, even if the gun barrel did not face their direction. Kirino is not quite happy about it.
449** In the gameplay, if target has significantly higher Evasion stat than attacker's Accuracy stat, the latter has a very good chance to miss.
450* ''VideoGame/BountyOfOne'': Ranged enemies in this game normally have perfect aim. However, there's an item called "Drinks Are On The House", which makes them have a 70% chance for their shots to go very wide, presumably due to being [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy way too smashed to aim straight]]. This effect also applies to the melee charger enemies.
451* Played straight as an arrow in any ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' game. A.I. accuracy is terrible more than a few meters away, while your weapons seem to fire magical homing bullets. That is, until you play on the [[NintendoHard Veteran]] [[ImprobableAimingSkills difficulty]]. In later games, it depends on who you are fighting (whether they depend on quantity or quality to overwhelm you). Random Viet Congs and Guerrillas play this straight since their main challenge is that there are a crapload of them firing at you, but averted by EliteMooks such as Spetsnaz commandos who are deadly accurate, and can shoot you in the face from across the yard right after performing an UnnecessaryCombatRoll (even on early missions!) and requires you to take cover regularly.
452* In the fourth ''VideoGame/DarkTales'' game, ''The Gold Bug,'' the villain is practically within arm's reach of [=LeGrand=] when he fires his pistol... and he ''still'' misses. He acknowledges later that he's a terrible shot.
453* Lady in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' is initially portrayed as a competent gunslinger capable of gunning down demons and incompetent players. After defeating her in a boss fight, however, the ensuing cutscene shows her missing her shots at Dante even as he ''walks'' closer and closer to her. Possibly justified if you cut her some slack for the massive loss of blood.
454* Invoked with the Partial Invisibility power-up in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', which doesn't stop enemies from seeing you, but instead causes them to fire wildly in your general direction. In some cases, though, this can make enemies even ''more'' dangerous: {{Painfully Slow Projectile}}s are also affected by the wild firing, which can lead to players [[DamnYouMuscleMemory attempting to sidestep a fireball and running right into it instead]].
455* ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'':
456** The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' gives you a percentage chance (which is usually believable) to hit any specific limb of the enemy. Should you miss that limb, your shot will miss the enemy altogether. Two things make this worse: first, even if the enemy is ''shoving his head into the barrel of the gun'', your character still has that [[CriticalFailure 5% chance of missing]] (there is no guaranteed hit in VATS). Second: if you somehow (*cough*cheater*cough*) manage to have enough Action Points to have a long series of attacks, it still uses the exact probabilities given to you when you set up your shot sequence, even if the enemy has managed to ''get out from behind cover, walk right in front of the player, and done everything short of sticking his/her/its finger-analogue down the gun's barrel''. Want to hit that person right in front of you? Don't use VATS. Concentrated Fire gives your character a 5% higher to-hit chance for each consecutive time you target a limb in VATS. Without cheats, this can give your last shot a 71% chance to hit an enemy from 10 kilometres away.
457** Averted in ''VideoGame/Fallout4''; the hilarious miss chance is meant to lull your enemies into a false sense of security while your ultimate charges. Said ultimate is a wall-hacking aimbot super-crit, as in, it '''never''' misses, laws of physics be damned. You can also ''store'' ultimate charges with the right perk and use them whenever you want.
458* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': The new Grand Assassin Tezcatlipoca is an Aztec god fascinated with modern guns, but he has horrible aim despite being so powerful. Only one of four bullets will hit the target, which forces him to continue his combo at close range, which is where he actually excels at.
459* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
460** Used in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', when the Shinra soldiers are firing at Barret and Dyne and Scarlet yells at them "Kyaa haa, ha!! You can shoot all day and never hit them with an aim like that." Then quickly subverted when one of them manages to hit Dyne.
461** At the beginning of its PSP prequel, ''Crisis Core'', Zack is speaking to his mentor about his current mission on a cellphone, while being fired at by a squad of soldiers. The fact that he's perfectly apathetic to the gunfire and calmly speaks on the phone before killing them just shows how much Shinra soldiers suck. Sure, it was a virtual reality mission, but still, that means Shinra programs virtual representations of their own grunts with the faith that they couldn't hit a mark bigger than Mt. Fuji if the fate of their company would depend on it.
462** Rafa and Malak in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' have skills that are horrifyingly inaccurate. They fire off one to six times, but there is an extremely high chance of the attacks only firing off once, on a spot completely off your intended target. The kicker? ''They're trained assassins.'' One has to wonder just how ineffective the rest of Barrington's military forces are... Reis, as a human, has a similar skill that fires only up to four attacks over an area up to thirteen tiles wide. Yeah. Good luck hitting anything with that. The Hydra family has two similar skills that tend to be MUCH more accurate that it's easy to limit the number of panels it can target (and thus are actually usable some of the time), so nobody knows why these special character skills are worse than what a generic monster can perform.
463* In the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'', poor Henry can suffer from this if he's using something other than a sniper rifle. Probably the worst is in the "Toppat King" route of ''Completing the Mission'', where, despite having a 95% accuracy in aiming at a helicopter pilot's head, ''[[EpicFail he misses all four shots!]]''
464-->'''FAIL Screen''': ...95 percent, huh?
465* Inverted in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' during Story Mode, wherein [[spoiler:Bane]] is ''too'' accurate when shooting at [[spoiler:Wonder Woman, given that he keeps shooting at her indestructible bracers, rather than shifting his aim to anywhere else on her person]].
466* The Krimzon Guard from ''VideoGame/{{Jak II|Renegade}}'' had this trouble if you stood still. They tended to have better aim at moving targets, but that follows this trope closely anyway.
467* ''Franchise/JamesBond'':
468** Mooks in ''VideoGame/AgentUnderFire'' are like this. It's not ''entirely'' their fault as each and every one of the numerous automatic weapons they employ have ''horrendous'' accuracy [[ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon past five meters or so]], and they can usually hit reliably with most handguns... after a few shots... assuming they live that long.
469** This trope can be played with in ''VideoGame/{{GoldenEye|1997}} 64''. Unlocking the 007 difficulty allows players to manually determine the enemy's accuracy before starting a mission. When set to the lowest value, it's possible to stand point-blank in front of an enemy wielding an assault rifle for almost an entire minute, and he won't get a single hit.
470* Played with in one of the trailers for ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', where [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] and {{ComicBook/Deadpool}} shoot at each other at point-blank range yet none of their bullets seem to hit their mark. Thing is, they ''are'' hitting each other; both characters have a pretty hefty HealingFactor, and like to show it off. All that collateral behind them? That's caused by the bullets going ''through'' them.
471* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': On Arrae, Cerberus troopers repeatedly fail to hit several slowly moving targets ten feet away during a cutscene. This is especially jarring since the average Cerberus soldier can shoot the wings off of a fly in normal gameplay, especially on Insanity.
472* In ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'', enemies who fire on Faith will often fail to land their shots, so long as she stays in motion.
473** This is enforced in ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdgeCatalyst'' with the Focus Shield mechanic -- staying on the move and using Traversal attacks builds up the Focus meter, which will cause gunfire to miss Faith as long as it's not empty.
474* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'''s Chapter 6. Some Black Dragon {{Mooks}} attack the Special Forces and manage to graze Past Johnny Cage's face, leaving a scar on his present self. This pushes a BerserkButton as Past Johnny Cage charges on his attackers with a riot shield and an assault rifle, firing wildly at them... [[EpicFail and failing to score a single hit in the process]]. All he manages to do is hit them with his shield.
475* ''VideoGame/PapersPlease'': The border guards can't seem to hit a target to save their lives, even when it's ''running headlong towards them in a straight line''. It eventually gets to the point where you're given authorization to shoot terrorists yourself, presumably in an effort to help stave off some of the casualties.
476* In ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', there is a solo mission called "The Duel" where if you play in Special Agent or higher, you will face against a Jonathan simulant and pretty much his aim is so terrible that no matter how close you are to him, he will ALWAYS miss you.
477** It's not actually his aim that's at fault: the problem is that the version of Johnathan you face in "The Duel" uses the same coding as the version who accompanies you in some of the storyline missions -- including the part about him being [[FriendlyFireproof unable to damage the player]].
478* In ''Perfect Dark Zero'', Mai Hem is the undefeated champion of Death Match, but she can rarely hit the broad side of a barn at long range, even on Perfect Agent difficulty. Thus, the best strategy is to fire bursts from the balcony, and go full-auto or use the Superdragon's [[GrenadeLauncher noob tube]] when she or her [[DoppelgangerAttack clones]] try to flank. The mooks have even worse accuracy with automatics.
479* Even on Impossible difficulty, ''VideoGame/RedFaction'''s mooks have pretty lame accuracy at long range, not counting snipers and EliteMooks.
480* Alfred Ashford in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' can't seem to snipe a target to save his life. Ditto for Annette in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', who suffers from this when she tries to shoot Ada in the sewers, although she accidentally hits Leon when he jumps in the way.
481* In ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'', this trope affects the run-of-the-mill Nazi {{mooks}}, but not the female SS Paranormal EliteMooks, who are [[ImprobableAimingSkills deadly accurate]] even with automatic weapons.
482* A playable example happens in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''. James has never held a gun before in his life, so he's a crap shot at it, being incapable of hitting a non-boss enemy from a room's length. With his flashlight off, you're lucky if you can hit a mannequin at arm's length. When he gets the [[SniperRifle hunting rifle]] this changes, though the ammo is so limited that the only enemy you'd use it against is [[MightyGlacier Pyramid Head]] and [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss Mary]]]], both of which are fought in an arena.
483** In ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'', Kaufmann shoots at Harry from an arm's length away in a fairly well-lit room and fails to hit him.
484* With the sole exception of Inspector Fox, all ranged enemies in ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' games avert this. Even the ones who throw rocks. Given that the Inspector is perfectly capable of shooting straight when she's playable, one explanation is that she's so incensed by Sly's presence that her aim goes to pot.
485* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest IV'' the Sequel Police Cyborgs are lethally accurate most of the time, but still suffer occasions of Stormtrooper Syndrome [[IdiotBall when the plot calls for it]].
486** They're actually playing with you because you're so fun to shoot at, they could hit you on the first shot if they wanted to.
487* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
488** Goofing on this trope, the ''Star Wars'' FirstPersonShooter games often feature the Stormtroopers' blaster rifle as the least accurate weapon in the game. ''No one'' can fire it accurately -- not stormtroopers, not other mooks, not even the player character. But put another weapon in their hands, and they're serious threats. Some LampshadeHanging in ''VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast'': troopers can be overheard talking about how difficult it is to see out of their helmets, how badly designed their rifles are to control recoil, etc. Some choice quotes:
489--->'''Random Stormtrooper:''' I'd like to see you come down here and try to hit something while you're wearing this damn helmet so I can sit in an air-conditioned office and tell you how stupid you are!\
490'''Random Stormtrooper:''' You can't stay on target with these things! You miss your first shot, and you're lying on the ground with a hole blasted through your armor.
491** In ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront2'', the medal for horrific inaccuracy has to go to the A.I. Sand People on Mos Eisley in Hunt mode. If the Sand People had a modicum of intellect and some power of aiming, their sniper rifles would give them a tremendous advantage over the Jawas' short-ranged lightning guns, but as-is it is nearly impossible to win that map single player as the Sand People because the A.I. is so horrible. {{Justified|Trope}} in-universe, however. The Sand People eschew technology aside from what they can scavenge and use against invaders. That means they're using guns that have probably spent too long in the sand, baking in the Tatooine suns, and weren't trained to fight with firearms past "point and shoot."
492** In ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront2015'', Stormtrooper marksmanship is uncannily like the films if [[http://i.imgur.com/mbOmzKg.webm this clip]] is anything to go on.
493** Most AI players on your team cannot shoot, making this an almost literal case if you play as the Empire, either in campaign or in a different game mode.
494** Averted with ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' where the Imperials are more than capable of gunning down Republic characters.
495** Also averted in ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' where the Stormtroopers are much better shots towards Galen Marek. They pose a big threat in numbers and when not dispatched quickly. Especially in the higher difficulties.
496*** A databank entry exists in the sequel on the common Stormtrooper, which was authored by none other than Clone Commander Cody, his glory days of serving alongside General Kenobi long behind him, now stuck on Kamino leading the birth-born recruits that guard the cloning facility of Timira City. Cody is not happy.
497--->'''Commander Cody:''' The Stormtroopers in my own battalion are expendable buffoons.
498** ''VideoGame/StarWarsRepublicCommando'' has an interactive prologue where you get to watch your character, RC-[[ShoutOut 1138]], living out his first couple of years as a budding clone commando. The whole sequence is narrated by one of the Kaminoan cloners, but if you ignore her and [[FunnyBackgroundEvent pay attention to what's going on in the background]], you actually get to see one of the mass-produced clone troopers at a firing range. He is literally five paces away from his target drone, which is in a small, enclosed shooting alcove, and is hitting everything ''but'' the target. These guys are on your side, but obviously they will become the core of the Stormtrooper corps later. Also in the game, B1 battle droids appear en masse and can't hit the broad side of a clone commando at almost point blank range. it's not unusual for you or one of your fellow commandos to run right up to one without taking a hit and take it apart with your [[VibroWeapon vibro-knuckler blade]].
499** ''VideoGame/JediFallenOrder'' completely averts this trope to the point where you have to wonder why the Empire never sent ''these'' troops after the heroes. Stormtroopers are incredibly accurate here, as they ''will'' hit you at any range if you fail to dodge or deflect their shots. On top of this, you'll even encounter them en masse with Scout and Purge troopers. FriendlyFireproof is in effect in these instances, as they will always hit you, but never their allies unless they're using rocket launchers.
500** One early Flash game that involved trying to hit stormtroopers as they appeared in a room takes note of this on the score screen, saying that it didn't matter how many the player actually hit on account of them never being accurate enough to shoot the player anyway.
501* The Red Dudes in ''VideoGame/{{SUPERHOT}}'' can take a few bullets before they hit their mark on you if you're in motion and can easily be set up to SetAMookToKillAMook, which is justified since they can't manipulate time like you can.
502* Enemies in the early ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' games can't hit you until the Danger meter fills up. Which it does much faster on the Hard difficulty.
503* The lesser enemies in the ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'' series are often like this, but when you're about to get hit in the later games, a "Crisis Sight" is shown. The EliteMooks (such as red soldiers) almost always score a hit on the first or second shot.
504* Any of the ranged units in ''VideoGame/TotallyAccurateBattleSimulator'' have terrible aim, as the player finds out quickly. While most of the time they're able to hit their mark, a badly placed unit is more likely to kill their own allies than the enemy.
505* Bots in ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' can go anywhere from exaggerating to inverting this depending on difficulty. On the Novice setting, bots often miss virtually point blank shots with hitscan weapons. On Godlike, bots [[ImprobableAimingSkills can land headshots from all the way across the map immediately after turning around to face the player]].
506* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', due to the [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard computer's blatant cheating]]. Enemy tanks ''will'' effortlessly [[BoomHeadshot headshot]] your guys from the other side of the map [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill with their main guns]], and enemy Lancers ''will'' ram an anti-tank lance into your tank's radiator if they ever get so much as a quick peek at it ([[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou which means instant game over]]). Your guys, meanwhile, can barely hit the broad side of a barn, at least in the early game.
507* Enemy archers in ''Vindictus'' will only ever hit you if you're moving or attacking because those actions make your hitbox larger. Arrows will trace an outline around you if you stand still ([[DancingWithMyself or dance]]), as though they're trying to [[HeroTrackingFailure anticipate the movement]]... [[TooDumbToLive of a stationary target.]] Sitting down causes arrows to sail harmlessly above your head, suggesting they aren't programmed to recognize your change in height.
508* To compensate for the fact that the third weakest enemy in ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}'' happens to be the only one with a long-range {{hitscan}} attack, Grunts have a rather low accuracy with their shotguns.
509* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Sunblade Lookouts are placed in such a position in order to shoot down anyone attempting to make a bombing run along the Dead Scar of the Isle of Quel'danas. While they do respond to each threat with an impressive volley of flaming arrows, they simply couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if it painted a bullseye onto itself. Who said that elves are good archers?
510* Soldiers in the ''[[{{VideoGame/XCOM}} X-COM]]'' games are notoriously bad shots. Given that skills grow in proportion with their successful use, constant misses can result in even worse accuracy. Unfortunately, the aliens suffer a lot less from this than the soldiers. Interestingly, given the game mechanics, you never have a 100% chance of hitting anything. At most, the chance is always 95%. This means that, even if the target is right in front of the soldier, there is still a 1 in 20 chance he will miss. Furthermore, since a 'miss' means your bullet is fired at a tile adjacent to your actual target, you can miss your target by ''up to 45 degrees''. Played straight and subverted in the [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown remake]]: Rookies have horrid aiming at targets in cover (and horrid aim against targets in the open, too) but if you manage to flank an enemy and negate their cover, your soldiers get a sizable accuracy boost. Even better, being point blank can grant not only a 100% chance to hit but up to a 60% chance to critically hit.
511* Happens once early on in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} Episode I''. Shion, trying to get back to the lab on the Woglinde during a Gnosis invasion, is fired upon by a squad of A.G.W.S and Realians. ''Each bullet misses her completely, despite everyone using automatic weapons.''
512[[/folder]]
513
514[[folder:Web Animation]]
515* The Brazilian website ''Charges.com.br'' featured an animation providing theories on why the intruder who broke into the President of Brazil's Palace wasn't killed. One of the theories is that the guards are Stormtroopers. [[InvokedTrope One of them even says Stormtroopers never hit their targets]].
516* ''WebAnimation/{{Haloid}}'', where it takes a ''mob'' of Covenant (including Banshees) to drop the SPARTAN-II armor's force field. Once.
517* The popular flash series ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'' features FacelessGoons that couldn't hit a sleeping elephant with a sniper rifle. This is arguably done for black humor as it's obvious the series takes place in a CrapsackWorld. If you look closely at the beginning of ''Madness Depredation'' there's a LampshadeHanging. One of the henchmen clumsily shoots himself. Still, a few mooks do get lucky and have managed to hit the protagonists... Not that it helps them.
518* A running gag in ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' is that Church simply can never, ever hit anything. In the first season, he merely has the (fairly common among some players) problem of being a lousy sniper (despite bogarting the sniper rifle constantly). Later it's Flanderized to the point that he empties an entire clip trying to shoot someone that he is kneeling in front of, less than two feet away, and then has to ask Washington to do it for him. Partially {{justified|Trope}} in that Church is [[spoiler:the copy of a man who was rejected for military service]] and never received training. Plus he was using a body built by someone with questionable electrical, mechanical, and programming skills. But mainly just [[RuleOfFunny played for laughs.]]
519** When the Red and Blue teams squared off in ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'', Church was deemed to be the most incompetent member of either team -- even in the animation, he fails to shoot Donut (who is literally just standing there, dancing) and does nothing of note.
520* In Legendary frog's ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Code Veronica]]'' flash, Alfred Ashford is shooting at Claire with his sniper rifle but keeps missing, and when she's right in front of him he shoots at her several times point blank and misses every shot, including one time when he hits the wall behind him. In fact, the only time he hits his target is when he shoots at the ceiling to make a point and a piece of the ceiling falls down and hits him on the head.
521* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
522** Seen in Vol. 2 Chapter 11, where Torchwick and more than ''five'' or so {{mooks}} fail to shoot an escaping Ruby, with her somehow maneuvering through all of the rounds fired without a scratch ''and with her back turned''. No wonder Torchwick got so upset.
523** Any Atlas troops, human or robot, will never, ever, hit their targets. In Volume 7, [[spoiler:they chase after Team JNR and Oscar trying to arrest them, and despite shooting in an ''enclosed hallway'' from a relatively close range, each and every shot misses]].
524* discussed several times in WebAnimation/TerribleWritingAdvice, both with [[=JP=] complaining about its prevalence and with [=MegaCorps=] [=CEO=] mentioning that he’d never seen a battle where neither side landed a single shot before his [=PMC=] fought the Evil Empires stormtroopers.
525* [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Starscream]] is noted to have this trait in ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle''. [[spoiler:It's a large part of why he lost to [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow Dash]] -- Starscream has trouble hitting giant robots, so there's no way he's going to be able to land a hit on the much smaller and more agile pony.]]
526* In ''WebAnimation/XRayAndVav'', X-Ray gains EyeBeams, but he can't hit the broad side of a barn, blowing up the entire city while trying to hit two robbers who were forced to move in slow motion. He eventually improves as the series progresses.
527[[/folder]]
528
529[[folder:Webcomics]]
530* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'':
531** Black Mage firing his Hadoken spell at a volcano and somehow... MISSING IT.
532--->'''Thief:''' Not that I'm complaining about it, but ''HOW DO YOU MISS A VOLCANO?!''
533** Another instance is when that same person tried to attack his friends and kill them. Good news, it hit. Bad news:
534---> "How can you not only manage to miss us, but also zap yourself?"
535* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d and {{justified|Trope}} in ''Webcomic/BallAndChain'' as being due to Vidoc mostly hiring stuntmen as his goons.
536* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'':
537** The Clone Troopers (they're still called that instead of Stormtroopers in Episode IV) are under the impression Han is a tourist visiting the Peace Moon. They're perplexed that he's shooting them, but [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0811.html they'll only fire warning shots back]] until they've clarified the situation.
538** In [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0734.html another strip]], Obi-Wan remarks that the slaughter of the Jawas can't be due to the clone troopers, as the shots are too precise for their rubbish aim.
539** [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0737.html Later]] Obi-Wan claims suggests that the clones inherited a nervous twitch Jango Fett had when firing at living targets, hence why they're more effective against the droid armies than against the rebels. [[https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1447.html When]] Han tries to use R2 as a HumanShield, the droid gets hit because he's not a living being, causing someone to remark that if Han had shielded R2 instead, neither would have got hit.
540** The scene where Leia gets shot in the arm is [[https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1459.html played]] as a clone trooper firing a warning shot and missing, ie. trying ''not'' to hit and hitting.
541* The trope picture is from ''Webcomic/DoghouseDiaries''. In [[http://thedoghousediaries.com/3198 Target Practice]], a guy at Bad Guy Training Headquarters is only allowed to pass his marksmanship exam when he can just barely miss a human-shaped target with every bullet in an assault rifle magazine, fired full-auto.
542* The penguins in ''Webcomic/{{Fluble}}'' are apparently the worst shots in the world: they can't hit the protagonist with tommy guns ''from two feet away''.
543* Subverted in ''WebComic/FullFrontalNerdity'' when [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1412 Lewis proposes]] that the Stormtroopers were being supplied incredibly shoddy weapons. When they complained about the quality to the Emperor, the supplier's sales rep convinced him the clones were just trying to cover up their own ineptitude.
544* Frighteningly enough, the title character of ''Webcomic/{{Furmentation}}'' not only sucks at firearms but with ''incredibly dangerous magical discharges as well''. The head Professor of the Magic School is also responsible for hospitalizing students.
545* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''. Gil is left standing apparently unscathed after [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071123 a hail of bullets]], but soldiers mostly blame bobbing of their WalkingTank. Subverted, as after Gil "Deals With It", it turned out that he actually was wearing body armor and still got injured.
546* Justified (and a little lampshaded) in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}''. Two of the protagonists are having an argument about who creeps through a pipe first, while under attack by crossbow-wielding guards, and stand completely unharmed. The guard who appears to be in charge asks, "What's the matter with you!? Can't you even hit one of them?" To which the shooting guard replies "At this angle, the pipe is giving them some cover, sir."
547* The Aimless Renegade of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003019 believes his marksmanship skills to be impeccable.]] In practice, [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002940 not so much...]] Oddly fitting, considering [[MeaningfulName his title.]]
548** [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/1121 YOU ARE THE LAW WHOOPS]]
549* Although ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob's'' MIB Agent Jerry is certainly trigger-happy, it has been established that he can't hit the side of a barn. Even the [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/270 one time]] he actually hits what he's aiming at, it produces the opposite result of what he wants.
550* In ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'', the true reason for the Stormtroopers' poor marksmanship [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1512.html is revealed]]. The results are demonstrated [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/119.html earlier]], with characters casually carrying on a conversation while two Stormtroopers attempt to shoot them.
551* ''Webcomic/MinionsAtWork'': [[http://www.minionsatwork.com/2007/07/minions-73-safety-is-on.html They've got guns to do it!]] Another page [[http://www.minionsatwork.com/2011/10/minions-293-disincentive.html explains]] that the traditional villainous incentive can improve the situation only when the minimum skill level is already better than this.
552* A group of smugglers with automatic weapons in ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'' [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/noplacelikehome/ can't hit Monica]] at all, even at rather close range. [[spoiler:We later find out that there is a slightly more complicated reason than just bad aim.]]
553* [[http://www.weregeek.com/2007/08/29/ One strip]] of ''Webcomic/{{Weregeek}}'' has a tabletop game where the dices are true to the fiction.
554[[/folder]]
555
556[[folder:Web Original]]
557* Parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9bDzHP6_Pk this video]] showing how the events of ''A New Hope'' would have turned out if the Imperial Stormtroopers had [[SignedUpForTheDental gotten a decent eye-care plan]].
558* Exaggerated in the last episode of Season 4 of ''WebVideo/ChadVader'', when Jeremy and a Stormtrooper fail to shoot each other, even though they're standing about ''four feet apart''.
559-->'''Jeremy:''' These blasters are terrible!
560* ''WebVideo/CinemaSins'':
561** Exaggerated in the ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'' review: Jeremy claims that the guards at the Kyln[[note]]a space prison[[/note]] are such terrible shots that ''even Stormtroopers'' are laughing at them for it.
562** In the review of ''Film/ANewHope'', during the scene where Luke's home is found in ruins [[FrameUp and made to look like the Sand People did it]], Obi-Wan notes that the blast markings on the Sandcrawler are too accurate for them and that only Stormtroopers are that precise. The reviewer simply laughs for a few seconds before adding a sin.
563* Lampshaded in a ''Website/CollegeHumor'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV7Ha3VDbzE video]]. Stormtroopers are okay shots until they put on their helmets.
564* Parodied in ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s [[http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_767_42-sci-fi-movies-if-they-were-updated-realism/ 42 Sci-Fi Movies (If They Were Updated for Realism)]], which shows a ''Star Wars'' stormtrooper losing his job for missing a paper target.
565* [[WebVideo/TheAngryJoeShow Angry Joe]] in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'', which eventually got lampshaded by [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]]:
566-->'''Linkara:''' Excellent job, Mr. Joe. Except for the fact that you ''missed''.
567* In [=LongBeachGriffy's=] skit ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vEbq_8EJkY Bad Guys in Movies have Terrible Aim]]'', the hero tries to jump for his gun from behind cover, misses, then realizes after several seconds that the villains aren't hitting him even though he's only six feet away. It gets even more ridiculous when he stands still and one of the shooters keeps firing in every direction except at him while shouting for him to stop moving so much.
568* Played straight in [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic the Nostalgia Critic's]] review of ''Film/Catwoman2004''. A load of cat-women storm into his room and try to gun him down with guns concealed in their high-heels. Despite the action taking place in a relatively small room, none of the women manage to hit the Critic.
569* Downplayed in ''Literature/ThePiratesCoveredInFur''. Most of Lyle's soldiers shoot erratically at the protagonists and hope for the best. Nevertheless, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome some of them end up catching a stray bullet]].
570* ''WebVideo/ResidentEvilAbridged'' presents an egregious example by having Wesker fire a shot at Rebecca and miss, even though she was standing perfectly still -- only five feet in front of him! [[spoiler:She falls down and plays dead anyway]].
571* The enemy soldiers in ''[[WebVideo/ShockTroopers2011 Shock Troopers]]'' manage to miss every shot they take at the two protagonists... who have to run straight towards the bad guys and hit them at point blank range with a [[MagicalDefibrillator defibrillator]] to do any damage.
572* The Sombreros from the Sombrero Hattist War blog are living embodiments of this, not only rarely hitting anything, but also managing to hit each other.
573* [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/652553 This meme]].
574-->A [[Franchise/StarTrek redshirt]] and a [[Franchise/StarWars Stormtrooper]] get into a fight. The Stormtrooper misses every shot. The {{redshirt}} dies anyway.
575[[/folder]]
576
577[[folder:Western Animation]]
578* In the WesternAnimation/AndyPanda cartoon “Mouse Trappers” the mouse at one point dares Poppa Panda [[WilliamTelling to shoot an apple off his head]]. He misses every shot, at one point even hitting the cuckoo clock above him; the mouse then gets fed up and hands him a card saying he is exempt from military service.
579* Blastronaut in the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Hitman". Blastronaut was hired to "hit the hitman" and swooped in, all guns blazing, and missed every shot before Scorcher destroyed his outfit.
580* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'', Sonic is made sheriff of an old-western town and is set up to participate in a shoot-out with some of Robotnik's robots. However, Sonic reveals that he's a real poor shot -- he can't even hit the broad side of a barn -- literally; Tails takes him to a broad side of a barn, Sonic shoots at it and it's completely unscathed! It takes some quick maneuvering for the hedgehog to take out his foes.
581* Lampshaded in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' where three [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Chinese Mafia]] members fail to hit Stan. One remarks on how unlikely it is that they'd all miss, and another says that not killing people is his New Year's Resolution.
582* In '' WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Firebending {{Mooks}} are terrible shots when trying to hit the heroes.
583** However, this is averted with Firebending soldiers under Ozai or Azula's command, in which the heroes usually have to protect themselves or dodge them.
584** Also averted with the Yuyan archers, because they are well known for their ''deadly'' accuracy.
585* Most police officers in {{superhero}} series. Surely ''some'' police officer would think of just shooting Joker as soon as he shows up and giggles. (Especially given that he's a known cop-killer and mass murderer.) Granted, killing him would [[JokerImmunity kill the series]] but most of Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}'s enemies are not bullet-proof. (Of course, with the Joker, it's hard to tell [[JokerImmunity whether a gunshot would stop him for long.]]) Theoretically, it would take just one person with a good shot (or an NRA member). In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Batman himself realizes that he's been very lucky in avoiding death, and wonders aloud if The Joker, Two-Face, or "some punk" will get lucky someday. In many episodes, thugs armed with Thompson machine guns will fire nonstop at a hero or innocent and still miss every shot.
586* Speaking of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', {{Mooks}} can be all over the map in terms of aim (though it's safe to assume they never actually kill an enemy, considering the show's intended age group), but one henchman in the episode "POV" makes Darth Vader himself proud. He catches Batman and Montoya off-guard and proceeds to shoot around them in a near-perfect outline. He then continues to fire above them for about three straight seconds while Batman pulls out his grapple gun and repels away ''still without getting hit''. [[http://i.imgur.com/W27iiPg.png It has to be seen to be believed]]. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Guys like this make you wonder if Bruce Wayne pays off some of these henchmen to intentionally miss]].
587* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamKnight''; at first, the shootouts look like the typical "Mooks open fire with automatic weapons, Batman dodges them all easily". However, later in the movie, it's explained that Batman actually ''does'' get hit with a few bullets whenever faced with automatic fire; it's just that his armored suit protects him as long as he's at long range.
588* ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'': In "Hero", the crooks who take over the restaurant unload hundreds of shots at Deathstroke and somehow miss with all of them, even when he is standing at point blank range.
589* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/BlackDynamite'': That Bastard Kurtis orders his brothers to shoot at Black Dynamite and his gang and they completely miss, carving the words "We missed" into the wall behind them with one shooter discharging after everyone else and adding the dot on the 'i'.
590* Nobody on ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' ever gets hit by bullets (unless their name is Gangstalicious).
591** Very much {{lampshade|Hanging}}d when a gang tries to execute Gangstalicious and shoots him up at point-blank range... only to ''still'' miss every shot prompting this exchange:
592--->"Shit, we missed!"\
593"I can't believe this man we suck."
594** Earlier in the same episode, Gangstalicious gets into a fight with rival rapper Eat Dirt in which they draw their guns and accidentally shoot themselves.
595** When Huey is explaining that the 3rd leading cause of death for black men (aside from pork chops and [[TakeThat FEMA]]) are [[NWordPrivileges Nigga Moments]]. A scenario shows two otherwise intelligent black men become stupid and they unload Uzis and pistols at each other from point-blank range and miss every shot, only to get instantly shot and killed by white policemen after they apologized to each other and said the whole thing was ridiculous.
596** In another episode, Uncle Ruckus is shot over a hundred times by police officers because [[ShootHimHeHasAWallet they thought his wallet was a gun]]. Unsurprisingly, he lives.
597** In one episode, Gin and Rummy get into a shootout with group of convenience store workers after they try to rob the gas station they work at and despite being at close range both groups fail to shoot each other and only end up hitting a bystander cop nearby.
598* Zurg's Hornets in ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' are famous for being lousy shots.
599* In the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} ''Commando Duck'', several [[WartimeCartoon Japanese soldiers]] shoot thousands of shots at WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck. He merely waves his hands, dismissing them as mosquitoes.
600* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'':
601** XANA's monsters are really horrendous shots at times; they rarely hit the heroes with their [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]]... even sometimes at close range or when they are stationary targets. (Odd even lampshades this in one episode, claiming that the only thing dumber than a Blok is two of them together.)
602** The heroes with ranged weapons tend to have very bad aim as well, though this is more within "realistic aiming skills". Yumi generally [[BoomerangComeback hits after her fans return]], rather than after the throw. Odd seems to go between being great and missing everything (considering that his weapon doesn't have a {{Bottomless Magazine|s}}, this is a bad thing). Aelita can't fight until Season 3, and it turns out that her {{Energy Ball}}s are the most powerful weapon, but she frequently misses too, especially when panicking.
603* The guards in the [[Creator/VanBeurenStudios Cubby Bear cartoon]] "Goode Knight" are all cross-eyed, and thus are terrible shots with their arrows when they're going after Cubby.
604* Hilariously parodied in one ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' cartoon. Two Martian robots are pursuing Cadet (Porky) with jetpacks, only for one of them to lose him, unaware that Porky is standing on his back. The other one, however:
605-->'''Robot:''' I see him. Hold still, hold ''very'' still… ''(Fires his weapon and then scene shifts, showing that he blew the other robot’s head off.)'' Oops… You moved! I said hold still! He moved, right? You saw him!
606** This continues in the next scene where the robot confronts Porky again:
607--->'''Robot:''' [[AndThisIsFor This is for M-2…]] Even though he moved and was partially to blame, [[InsaneTrollLogic it’s mostly your fault.]]
608** …and this time, his misfire only manages to take ''himself'' out.
609* In one ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode, the Eds are facing down the Kanker sisters and start shooting them with water-filled Turkey basters. All three Eds completely miss.
610* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
611** The episode "And the Wiener Is..." pokes fun at this: in a shooting range, various extras are shooting targets specific to their character: a track referee shoots a starter pistol at a target on the ceiling, a blind man shoots at the side of a barn, and an Imperial Stormtrooper shoots at a cardboard cutout of Luke Skywalker -- and misses with every shot.
612** Another example happened in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuyPresentsLaughItUpFuzzball''. When the group are fleeing the Death Star, no one is ever hit, even when Han (Peter) and Chewie (Brian) spend about 25 seconds standing at the doorway trying to get a couch through the door.
613** In the retelling of ''The Empire Strikes Back'':
614--->'''Stormtrooper 1:''' Did we ever hit anything with these guns?\
615'''Stormtrooper 2:''' I hit a bird once.
616** In "Cool Hand Peter", Peter, Quagmire, Joe, and Cleveland are escaping from a Southern prison, whose warden has arbitrarily extended their sentence (apparently, no one ever leaves the prison). As they're running for the train, they're chased by the guards, who are shooting at them. When the others express concern over this, Peter calms them down by saying that the bad guys ''never'' hit the good guys. Cue the guards firing every which way (including pointing the rifle backwards) but at the escapees.
617* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters'', Jake's attempt to use the Dematerializer on a dragon melting the Arctic results in an EpicFail because, as he claims, he misses. (The dragon is the size of a mountain, as Eddie quickly mentioned; exactly how he could miss isn't clear, as it happened offscreen, but it was obviously a PlotTunnel to make the heroes' job harder.)
618* ''Franchise/GIJoe'':
619** Most cartoon {{Mooks}} can't hit for crap either. Whenever Cobra and G.I. Joe faced off in battle, firearms proved completely worthless in shooting down anything smaller than a helicopter, and most ground engagements ended in a massive fistfight. ''ComicStrip/TwistedToyfareTheatre'' mocks this when the two factions are facing off inside Mego Spidey's house. Spidey notices that both sides are aiming unusually high, and reaches out to pull Duke's rifle barrel down to an effective angle; Joe and Cobra alike are horrified when this results in a dead Cobra soldier.
620** One episode of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' has Flint use the bad aim of a group of MechaMooks to insult Cobra Commander, asking the villain if he programmed them himself. Later, Flint is able to fight back efficiently after stealing one of their weapons, proving that the rifles themselves aren't the problem.
621** As a general rule, the only thing either side can reliably hit are each other's vehicles, which get hit with attacks slow enough that the people in them can see it coming and bail out before the explosion.
622* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'':
623** A particularly bizarre example in episode 6: Duke and Scarlett are walking down a corridor when they trip an alarm. Some COBRA troops come out of a door at the end of the hallway, and our heroes walk backwards to take cover behind some pillars while bullets miss them by feet. The second they make it there, the pillars start taking hits from the COBRA forces. Strangely, neither Duke nor Scarlett is able to hit the {{mooks}} either, despite sniping several outside minutes before, and the troops being backlit and standing in the open. Scarlett actually notes that she and Duke are pinned down.
624** The even more egregious instance of a Cobra Trooper missing Snake Eyes with every shot from a long burst of his SMG, starting at less than a dozen metres away and steadily decreasing as Snake Eyes runs ''directly towards him'', not even managing to place a single shot on target when the other's gotten close enough to kill him with his sword.
625** There's also the absurd firefight with the Baroness and Destro against Gung-Ho and Roadblock at the HAARP facility. Where either side is about five feet apart, not in cover, shooting each other with automatic weapons, and still don't hit each other.
626* The ''WesternAnimation/LegoStarWarsDroidTales'' episode "Flight of the Falcon" parodied this with the {{Trope Namer|s}}: when the Millennium Falcon escapes from Hoth, it flies over Darth Vader and several Snowtroopers and the exhaust sets Vader's boots on fire. He nonchalantly orders the troopers to throw snow at him to put him out, and even when they're trying to hit his feet they end up just hitting his face and chest instead.
627* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
628** In the WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck short ''WesternAnimation/DaffyDuckAndEgghead'', Egghead [[TropeCodifier must have been a top graduate of the Academy]]. His aim is so awful that he can't hit the apple on Daffy's head, '''[[ExaggeratedTrope even when he's standing right in front of the gun]]'''. Amusingly, he ''can'' [[VisualPun hit the broad side of a barn]]. For this EpicFail, Daffy promptly puts a "blind" sign on Egghead and walks off in shame.
629** 1943's "Plane Daffy" has Hatta Mari with gun in hand, aiming and firing point blank several times inside an umbrella holder that Daffy is hiding in. Daffy pops out immediately after and cheerfully chirps out "Missed me!"
630** "Rebel Without Claws" has Confederate army courier Tweety facing a firing squad from the Union army during the Civil War. The squad misses Tweety altogether and hits Sylvester.
631* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars'' naturally features a jab at this; during "In The Empire", Candace complains about how "Gladys from Accounting" got promoted to commander over her despite failing the blaster part of the exams several times because she's apparently [[{{Nepotism}} related to "some mid-level Darth".]]
632* The ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' short "For Better or Nurse" has Popeye and Bluto trying to get hurt so they can get close to nurse Olive at the hospital. Popeye positions himself against a target on a buoy during some naval artillery exercises, but the shells hit everything on the target ''except'' Popeye and the section of the target he was leaning against.
633* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'':
634** Parodied in one short where two 18th century gentlemen proceed to conduct a firing duel but miss every time because of the lack of accuracy of their period weapons. They finally give up to just shake hands and walk away. [[http://www.historycentral.com/nn/Alexander.html Too bad that didn't happen in real life.]]
635** They parodied the Franchise/GIJoe tendency toward ATeamFiring as well, showing the Joes' "Wall of Fallen Heroes." The wall was empty. Cobra's wall only had one name, under "Injured", which was just a root canal.
636* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'': Epsilon's agents could stand to spend a lot more time on the range, given the number of shots they fire without hitting anyone in "Paris is Melting". Maybe they've come to rely on their sonic screams a little too much.
637* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
638** The episode "Homer of Seville" is a stark example: After Homer becomes a famous opera star, a fanatic of his attempts to kill him after being rejected. At one of his performances, Marge is able to stop the would-be killer with her own poison dart. Then Chief Wiggum gives the go-ahead for the Police Department snipers to fire. Each sniper fires multiple times -- only one hits her and it may have been fired by a guy covering his eyes. She even looks at her watch for a moment.
639** Another episode has a hitman storming the retirement castle with an assault rifle to kill Grampa and missing every shot before [[BadassBystander a nurse drives him off with a shotgun]].
640** In "Homie the Clown" Fat Tony tries to have Krusty (who is actually Homer) assassinated but both Legs and Louie are unable to pull it off (Louie burning through an entire magazine and destroying a car but unable to hit his target standing directly next to it).
641* ''WesternAnimation/{{Slugterra}}'': In "The New Kid Part 2", Diablos and a squad of Black's troops open fire on the Shane Gang at point blank range with the advantage of surprise and miss everyone.
642* Happens often with automatic weapons on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. Particular examples include:
643** "Wing," where multiple Chinese thugs fire at the boys and miss completely from mere feet away, even when the boys ''are in the open with no cover at all''. This doesn't stop the boys from killing the same thugs with blind fire from guns they found lying around.
644** "Medicinal Fried Chicken," when a bunch of heavily-armed gangsters are taken down slowly and one by one, in a close-range gunfight with South Park's incompetent police force, who are wielding only pistols.
645** Exaggerated in "Little Crime Stoppers," where the boys' presence incites nearby gangs to ''accidentally shoot each other to death''.
646* This trope shows up a few times in the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' miniseries. For example, at one point Padmé uses Threepio as a target to make an invisible battle droid reveal its position. The droid fails to land a single shot on this shiny target walking slowly in a straight line.
647* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'':
648** The battle droids are also prone to this, but [[ZergRush with so many of them firing at once]] they tend to hit things anyway. The droids even lampshade it a few times:
649--->'''Droid 1:''' What a terrible shot!\
650'''Droid 2:''' Ah well, it's my programming.\
651'''Droid 1:''' This is too easy!\
652'''Droid 2:''' I ''still'' can't hit anything!
653** The series also includes a bit attempting to explain why the stormtroopers were so much worse than the badass clone troopers: Apparently, Jango Fett's cloned DNA was getting "stretched thin" by the end of the war, resulting in soldiers with worse combat abilities and marksmanship.
654* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'':
655** The stormtroopers here were clearly some of the Academy's finest. This is actually invoked in [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E04BreakingRanks an episode]] centered on the actual academy, where one of the cadets that Erza befriended chose to say behind and help cover Erza's escape by deliberately missing the escape vehicle.
656** Averted by Sabine. Despite being trained in an Imperial academy, she's an excellent shot. Granted, she is also a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Mandalorian]].
657** Played beautifully straight in the [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsSparkOfRebellion first episode]]. During a firefight, the heroes and some Wookiees are pinned down by a squad of stormtroopers. It's very obvious that, despite both the troopers and the heroes being completely stationary, most of the troopers' shots are all over the place, not hitting a thing, let alone the crates the heroes are hiding behind. Then Kanan decides to reveal himself as a Jedi in order to draw fire and protect everyone. He does this by climbing on top of a crate and standing there for a full two seconds before slowly walking towards the stormtroopers, all while they are STILL FIRING. He does dodge a whopping two shots by slightly moving his head to the side, but otherwise most of the shots don't even come close to hitting him.
658** Exaggerated in the [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E13FamilyReunionAndFarewell series]] [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E14FamilyReunionAndFarewellPartII finale]]: [[spoiler:The Emperor's Royal Guards have Ezra immobilized in midair with their Force Pikes, yet the stormtroopers still miss every shot. This gives Ezra the opportunity to escape by using the Force to hurl a boulder at all of them.]]
659** Lampshaded by Kanan in regards to Captain Rex's substandard aim while disguised as a stormtrooper in [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E07StealthStrike "Stealth Strike"]]. When Rex takes the helmet off, he quickly goes back to his [[ImprobableAimingSkills usual standard]] of marksmanship.
660--->'''Kanan:''' Wow, you really ''do'' shoot like a stormtrooper. Guess I don't have too much to worry about.
661--->'''Rex''': It's this helmet. I can't see!
662* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'': The Lizards are pretty bad shots when it comes to dealing with Lion-O and the surviving [=ThunderCats=]. The Cats themselves almost equally so, the arrows fired against the Lizards hit a grand total of two targets on-screen.
663* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
664** ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' was the worst about this, with shots rarely hitting and even when they did, it mostly just knocked the target down without ''too'' much injury. The moment when Starscream nails a killshot on Brawn through the shoulder in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'' followed by Prowl, Ratchet, and Ironhide suffering the same fates is what sells the DarkerAndEdgier tone of the movie if the [[PlanetEater giant planet-devouring monster]] in the opening didn't already.
665** Later ''Transformers'' series handle this somewhat differently. While shots hit often enough, Transformers are [[MadeOfIron very hard to kill]] as, not only are they heavily armored robots, but the only sure way to [[DeaderThanDead put one down for good]] is to crack their [[SoulJar Spark Chamber]].
666** Often taken to ridiculous levels, though. In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', a {{Mook|s}} starts shooting at Raf, steadily walking towards him. Not one piece of ammo touches Raf, even when the mook gets close. Yes, Raf is ''much'' smaller than what the mook is used to firing at, but still...
667** The Vehicon armies in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' could not hit a target that was standing still. Even if the target was running, hundreds of robotic soldiers should have had no trouble getting a few shots in just shooting at random.
668** As early as episode 3 of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersCyberverse'' you have Bumblebee and Optimus Prime vs. three Seekers, standing in rows across an open space. The Seekers blaze away into the space ''around'' the Autobots, failing to land a single hit from their volleys, before being gunned down in just a few shots.
669* ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'' has this in the most absurd way. Hundreds of Foot Soldiers piling out of the Technodrome versus 9 stationary targets in a clump... and not only does no one get hit, but the turtles actually charge in, closing the distance to mere inches, and still the heroes are no worse for wear! There was some laser-dodging, and the ConservationOfNinjutsu was obviously at work, but come on! Though, these are the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 '80s]] Foot Soldiers we are talking about here. Despite being (in theory) killer robots programmed to fight with ninja effectiveness; the chances of them actually killing everything was low. They were even less dangerous than any of the Human Foot Ninja throughout the franchise history. Karai from [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 the 2003 series]] even comments on their poor combat effectiveness (calling them "almost cartoonish") whilst in the process of upgrading them with the '03 series tech. After that, they become [[NotSoHarmlessVillain much more deadly]] and almost succeed in killing the whole group of Turtles when they are led to attack the 03' Turtles lair. Yet they still can't shoot anything worth a damn, ironically.
670* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': Lord Hater's Watchdogs have trouble even hitting a ''stationary'' target! Although it could be Hand-Waved by their lack of depth perception since they just have an eyeball for a head. Lord Dominator's MechaMooks have much better aim by the sheer virtue of just shooting at everything in sight, reflecting their creator's love of destruction and chaos.
671* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', when Duncan and co. attack Spyke and the other Morlocks only a few of their shots came close to hitting their targets (and those were blocked), even when the target was standing still. The members of [[ThievesGuild The Rippers]] in "Cajun Spice" weren't much better.
672[[/folder]]

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