Index Failure

"If at first you don't succeed, you fail."

— GLaDOS, Portal

There are a lot of tropes about failing. That should probably tell you something.

Contrast Indexed For Success.

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Tropes:

See also:

• Artistic License
• Finagle's Law
• Fridge Logic
• Hypocrite
• Index Backfire
• Index Myopia
• Logical Fallacies
• Poor Communication Kills
• This Index Is Useless
• Writing Pitfall Index

• Abilene Paradox: Failure to manage consensus—when the majority decides to do something that the majority doesn't want.
• Acquired Error at the Printer: You fail to print something properly.
• Aesop Amnesia: You fail to remember the moral you learned last episode.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: You fail to make your sentient computer behave.
• The Alleged Car: Your car is prone to failure.
• The Alleged Computer: Your computer is prone to failure.
• The Alleged Expert: You fail to do what you were supposedly trained to do.
• Americans Hate Tingle: Your work fails to gain a large foreign audience.
• Amnesia Missed a Spot: Your attempt to wipe someone's mind doesn't work as well as you'd expected.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Your final opponent fails to put up much of a fight.
• Anti-Mentor: You fail to be a good teacher.
• Anvilicious: Your story fails to deliver its message in a manner that is subtle and doesn't piss off people who may disagree with the message.
• Assassin Outclassin': You fail at assassination.
• Ass Pull: You fail to foreshadow your plot twists.
• A-Team Firing: You fail to shoot a target.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: You fail to concentrate.
• Atrocious Alias: You fail to give yourself a good code name.
• Audience-Alienating Premise: You fail to attract the audience's interest.
• Audience Participation Failure: You fail to get audience backup in your show or song.
• Automatic Door Malfunction: Automatic doors fail in some way.
• Award Snub: You fail to receive an award and/or nomination for your work.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Your technique or equipment seems amazing, but using it is a bad idea.
• Bad "Bad Acting": You fail to give even a remotely good performance.
• Bad Liar: You fail to tell a lie convincingly.
• Base-Breaking Character: Your character unintentionally fails to appeal to approximately half your audience.
• Blatant Lies: You fail to tell that somebody else is lying.
• *Bleep*-dammit!: The censorship fails to effectively censor the content in the work needing to be censored.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: You fail to translate something.
• Blunder-Correcting Impulse: Bob fails in such a way as to provoke Alice to demonstrate the correct way without thinking about the consequences.
• Bonus Feature Failure: You fail to provide good bonus content.
• Box Office Bomb: Your movie fails to make enough money.
• Broken Aesop: You fail to convey your message because your characters don't obey it. Bonus points if it was meant to be Anvilicious.
• Buffy Speak: You fail to articulate a sentence.
• Bungled Suicide: You fail to commit suicide.
• Butt-Dialing Mordor: You fail to avoid detection by making unintentional contact with the enemy.
• But We Used a Condom!: A condom fails to work effeciently.
• Caffeine Failure: You fail to stay awake.
• Calling Me a Logarithm: You fail to realize that you weren't just slurred.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: You fail to protect a secret.
• Cannot Spit It Out: You fail to say something succinctly.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: You fail to tell a joke.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': You fail to stay out of trouble.
• Can't Get in Trouble for Nuthin': You fail to get into trouble.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Your self-control fails when you imbibe alcohol.
• Can't Use Stairs: Your locomotion fails to let you use stairs.
• Captain Obvious Aesop: You fail to teach a lesson people don't already know.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: You fail to make your big revelation a surprise.
• Cardboard Prison: Your prison fails to contain its prisoners.
• Cassandra Truth: You tell the facts, but your recipients fail to accept them.
• Character Derailment: You fail to keep characters consistent.
• Christmas Light Chaos: You fail to rig up Christmas lights.
• Color Failure: You fail to keep your color when you lose your cool.
• Comically Missing the Point: You fail to understand the point another person is trying to get across in a humorous manner.
• Completely Off-Topic Report: You fail to write your assignment on a subject relevant to what was assigned.
• Concepts Are Cheap: You fail to offer intellectual depth for your idealistic rhetoric.
• Confidence Sabotage: You are tricked into believing you're a failure.
• Conflict Ball: You fail to set up character conflicts properly.
• Correction Bait: You fail not to correct the mistake you've found.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: You mess up information about a work that was obvious to anyone who is familiar with said work.
• Crapola Tech: Technology that fails even to be a good prototype.
• Creator's Pet: You fail to notice the audience's hatred for a character, continuing to endorse her/him.
• Critical Existence Failure: You fail to stay alive, even though you were fine one hit point ago.
• Critical Failure: You fail to roll a two or higher, thus leading to more failure.
• Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: You fail to psychoanalyze someone.
• Cryonics Failure: Your freezing system fails, usually with fatal consequences.
• Dangerous Key Fumble: You fail to hold on to your keys.
• Dangerously Loaded Cargo: You failed to secure cargo.
• Deaf Composer: You can't enjoy something you made because your ability to experience the necessary sense(s) has failed.
• Death by Genre Savviness: Your knowledge of how things happen in works of fiction similar to the situation you are currently in fails to keep you alive.
• Defensive Failure: You fail to remember the weapon in your hand.
• Delayed Safety Feature: A safety feature fails to activate until after it would have been useful.
• Designated Hero: You fail to create a good character.
• Designated Villain: You fail to create an evil character.
• Despair Event Horizon: Your hope has failed and is beyond hope of restoration past this point.
• Didn't See That Coming: You fail to consider the consequences of your plan.
• Didn't Think This Through: You fail to plan thoroughly.
• Died During Production: You fail to finish your series before you die.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: You fail monumentally to fix a faux pas.
• Disappointing Heritage Reveal: Your ancestors fail to impress you.
• Disappointing Last Level: The final stretch of a game fails to meet expectations.
• Disastrous Demonstration: Demonstration of a product or concept goes so horribly wrong that, whether it deserves to be or not, it's discredited.
• Distracted by the Sexy: You fail to concentrate in the presence of Fanservice.
• D.I.Y. Disaster: You fail at renovating your house.
• Don't Shoot the Message: Not only do you fail at enlightening others because your delivery was fallacious, vicious, or both, but for like reason(s) you fail at appealing to those on your side.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: You fail to distinguish emotionally between someone you know and a clone/Alternate Universe duplicate/zombie/shapeshifter that "is" or used to be them.
• Dramatically Missing the Point
• Dreadful Musician: You fail to make music.
• Drives Like Crazy: You fail to drive safely.
• Dude, Not Funny!: You fail to keep your comedy in good taste.
• Dull Surprise: You fail to emote when, logically, you should be.
• E = MC Hammer: You fail to write convincing-looking mathematics.
• Eight Deadly Words: A Fan Speak phrase said when you fail to get people to be invested in your story.
• Elevator Failure: Your elevator fails.
• Entendre Failure: You fail to make a double entendre.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Sound though your reasoning is, it nonetheless fails to lead you to an accurate conclusion.
• Epic Fail: You fail spectacularly.
• Escaped Animal Rampage: When people failed to keep animals locked in their cages.
• Every Car Is a Pinto: Cars catch on fire and/or explode when badly damaged.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Villains fail due to their inability to see how virtue motivates their adversaries.
• Evil Will Fail: You can pursue a life of evil if you wish, but there'll be severe consequences.
• Exact Time to Failure: Initiating failure in three... two... one...
• Explosive Stupidity: You fail to handle a bomb correctly.
• F--: You fail spectacularly at schoolwork.
• Facial Composite Failure: You fail to draw an accurate Wanted poster.
• Failed a Spot Check: You fail to spot something two inches from your face.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: You fail to make a dramatic moment.
• Failed Attempt at Scaring: You fail to scare someone.
• Failed Audition Plot: You fail an audition for your dream career, but find a reason to keep trying.
• Failed Dramatic Exit: You fail to leave your setting promptly on the note you wanted.
• Failed Execution, No Sentence: After repeatedly failing to execute a criminal, the judge gives up and pardons the criminal.
• Failed Future Forecast: You fail to predict the future.
• Failing a Taxi: You fail to hail a taxi.
• Failsafe Failure: You fail to make a failsafe.
• Failure Gambit: You fail intentionally as part of a grander scheme.
• Failure Hero: You fail to save the day.
• Failure Is the Only Option: You have no choice but to fail because success would end the story.
• Failure Knight: Your backstory revolves around some failure.
• Failure Montage: You are shown failing in various ways.
• Failures on Ice: You fail to skate, especially on ice.
• Fallout Shelter Fail: You fail at riding out the apocalypse in safety.
• Femininity Failure: You fail to be ladylike.
• Fetish Retardant: You fail at Fanservice.
• Fight-Scene Failure: You fail to direct an awesome fight scene.
• Flame Bait: You fail to realize the intensity of the mutual Values Dissonance between you and other people online.
• Flawed Prototype: Something fails because it is an early model and not as good as the final product.
• Floorboard Failure: The floorboards have failed to support your weight.
• Forgot About His Powers: You fail to remember that you have a power that can save you.
• Freudian Slippery Slope: You fail to prevent further Freudian Slips.
• Gave Up Too Soon: You failed because you gave up at the last second when you were about to succeed.
• General Failure: Your plans fail to prove you earned your rank as General.
• Gift-Giving Gaffe: You fail to get someone a suitable present.
• Glamour Failure: You fail to hide who you really are.
• A Glitch in the Matrix: Your otherwise convincing illusion momentarily malfunctions.
• Gone Horribly Right: Your plan worked, but you fail to consider its consequences.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Not only does your plan not work, it fails to work in disastrous ways.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Heroes fail due to their inability to see how vice motivates their adversaries.
• Gotta Pass the Class: You're failing at school, so you'd better hit the books.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: The guards fail to do their jobs.
• Hand Wave: You fail to explain complicated plot points in great detail.
• Happily Failed Suicide: You failed to commit suicide, and that's a good thing.
• Harmless Villain: You fail to be a credible villain.
• Hero-Tracking Failure: You fail to shoot a moving target with Plot Armor.
• Hero with an F in Good: You fail to be heroic.
• Heroic BSoD: Your brain fails at a crucial juncture as you are committing your good deeds.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: You bring your own failure directly upon yourself.
• Hollywood Heart Attack: Your heart dramatically fails to work.
• Holodeck Malfunction: Holograms glitch and become deadly.
• Horsing Around: You fail at getting the steed to do what you want it to.
• Hypocrite: You fail to practice what you preach.
• I Can't Dance: You admit that you are a failure at dancing.
• Idiot Ball: Your brain temporarily fails to work properly.
• Ignorant About Fire: You fail to prevent a fire from starting or spreading due to being too stupid, naive, or clumsy.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: You fail to realize your own ineptitude.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: You shoot someone due to failing to handle a gun properly.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: You fail to save your loved ones.
• I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You!: You fail epically at keeping a secret, even as you insist you'll succeed.
• Immunity Attrition: Your immunity to something only protects you in the short run, but prolonged exposure cancels it out.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Your entire army fails to shoot a moving target with Plot Armor.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: You fail to convince others you are someone else.
• Incompetence, Inc.: Your business fails at everything.
• Incompetent Guard Animal: An animal meant to guard, protect or chase away hilariously fails at its job.
• Inconvenient Dark Room Illumination: You fail to lock the dark room door, and someone barged in and let light ruin the photos you were developing.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Your evil schemes fail so often that the audience feels sorry for you.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: You fail because you demonstrated knowledge you shouldn't have had.
• I Never Told You My Name: You fail to avoid mentioning a person's name when you're trying to convince them that they never met you before.
• Inept Mage: You fail at magic.
• Informed Attribute: You fail to demonstrate that a character is what you say s/he is like.
• Inopportune Impersonation Failure: A character in disguise fails at the last second and is unmasked.
• Insecurity Camera: A security camera fails to be useful, which is good news for you, the intruder.
• Insult Misfire: You fail to offend your intended target.
• In-Universe Factoid Failure: You fail to get a fact right.
• I Thought Everyone Could Do That: You fail to realize everyone else's ineptitude compared to you.
• It Only Works Once: Your previously successful technique fails when used again.
• It's a Wonderful Failure: You see the repercussions of your failure before you see Game Over.
• I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: You failed, so your pal's got pain coming.
• Jerk Sue: You fail to create a Jerkass Woobie.
• Jump Rope Blunders: You fail to skip rope.
• Just One Little Mistake: You would have gotten away with your crime if it hadn't been for one minor slip-up.
• Key Confusion: You fail to find the correct key among a bunch of other keys.
• Lame Comeback: You fail to come up with a witty one-liner.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Your memory fails you whenever it's convenient for somebody else.
• Last-Second Photo Failure: You almost maintained order until the picture was taken, but you failed to prevent chaos at the last second.
• Lazy Alias: You fail to come up with a convincing fake name.
• Lethal Chef: You fail at cooking.
• Literal-Minded: You fail to understand metaphors.
• Logic Bomb: Your statement fails to maintain consistency with reality and possibility.
• Loose Lips: You fail to prevent yourself from giving away information at your own and other people's peril.
• Losing Horns: Brass instruments or some other sound effects mock your failure.
• Lost Aesop: You fail to remember the message you were originally trying to send.
• MacGuffin Blindness: You fail to recognize the object you're looking for when it's right in front of you.
• Made Out to Be a Jerkass: You lose face when you stand up for yourself.
• Magic Misfire: You fail to cast your spell on your intended target.
• Major Injury Underreaction: You fail to react to a serious injury.
• Makeover Fail: A makeover fails to make a person look better.
• Matchmaker Failure: Character tries and fails to set two people up together.
• Maternally Challenged: A woman fails to be good with children.
• Mayor Pain: You fail as a city leader.
• Meaningless Meaningful Words: Your phrase with a "unique" meaning is anything but.
• Memetic Loser: You are famous for your many and/or spectacular failures.
• Metaphorgotten: You fail to convey a metaphor.
• Mind Your Step: A staircase's structural integrity fails.
• Minion with an F in Evil: You fail to be villainous.
• Miss Conception: You fail to realize that you need to have sex to get pregnant.
• Missed the Recital: You failed to arrive at a special event on time.
• Misspelling Out Loud: You fail to spell a word out loud.
• Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: As long as you tried your best, it's OK to fail.
• Mook Depletion: You let yourself run out of Evil Minions.
• Moral Event Horizon: You cross the line into villainy for good.
• Morphic Resonance: Your shape-shifting fails to effectively hide your identity because of certain recognizable traits that stick no matter what form you assume.
• Morton's Fork: You fail regardless of the choice you make.
• The Mountains of Illinois: You fail to provide proper geography when filming your show or movie.
• Mugging the Monster: You fail to realize that the target of your crime is Not So Harmless.
• Muggle Born of Mages: Special talent skips a generation.
• My Car Hates Me: Your getaway car fails to start.
• My Greatest Failure: You have never failed harder than this.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Preventing a a failure of yours from happening again, to you or to others.
• My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: You fail to speak a foreign language.
• Narm: You fail to make a scene serious.
• Necessary Fail: You failed, but it's going to lead to greater things in the future.
• Network Death: Your TV network fails to stay on the air.
• Never My Fault: You fail to realize the responsibilities of your own actions.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Hero fails by trying to solve the problem.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Rivals!: You and your enemy both fail because neither of you could bear the thought of the other winning.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Villain fails by trying to cause a problem.
• No Adequate Punishment: The law has no idea how to punish a specific crime.
• No Can Opener: Hoarding canned items for emergencies but forgetting the can opener.
• No Dead Body Poops: You fail to brown your pants when you die.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: You reject something while failing to articulate why you refuse to accept it properly.
• No Listening Skills: You fail to listen to anything anyone tells you.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: You fail to say something meaningful after an injury.
• No OSHA Compliance: You fail to provide a safe workplace.
• No-Sell: Your ploy that usually succeeds fails on this person.
• No Social Skills: You fail to carry on in a social setting.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Fanservice fails to throw you off your track.
• Not Quite Saved Enough: You fail to keep yourself or someone you rescued safe from harm just as the dust clears.
• Nurse with Good Intentions: Someone tries to care for their sick or injured friend, but causes more problems than success.
• Obliviously Evil: You fail to realize that you're a villain.
• Oblivious to Hatred: You fail to realize someone else hates you.
• Oblivious to Hints: You fail to take a hint.
• Oblivious to His Own Description: You fail to realize that someone is talking about you.
• Oblivious to Love: You fail to realize that someone has romantic feelings for you.
• Obvious Beta: You fail to program a game.
• Obvious Judas: You fail to make your twist villain a surprise.
• Obviously Evil: Villains fail at subtlety.
• Obvious Stunt Double: The stunt double fails to pass as the actor.
• Of Course I Smoke: You fail to pretend to be a smoker.
• Offending the Creator's Own: You fail to appeal to viewers from your own background.
• Open-Fly Gag: You fail to check and adjust your clothes below the waist before anyone else reminds you.
• Open Secret: You tell that it is a secret, and then everyone goes to it and finds out.
• Otherworldly Communication Failure: Supernatural being fails to communicate their message to a human either because they freak them out or because they physically can't interact or talk to non-supernatural beings.
• Out-Gambitted: Your plan fails when pitted against someone else's.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: You fail to make your work remembered for its merits, and instead remembered for an uproar.
• Own Goal: You fail to score a point in the opponent's goal, but succeed in scoring in your own team's goal.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: You fail to recognize someone who is barely concealing his/her identity.
• Pass Fail: You fail to be recognized as white, even if you're not.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": You fail to create a good password.
• Personal Horror: You fail to follow your own Code of Honor.
• The Peter Principle: You succeeded at your old position, but fail at your new one.
• Plan B Resolution: Plan A was thought to be the only real plan needed, and with its failure, an emergency Plan B is needed.
• Plot Hole: You fail to maintain your story's internal logic while writing it.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: The hero's friends suddenly and temporarily fail to be friends for the sole reason of adding more drama to the plot.
• Plumber's Crack: The plumber failed to check whether their pants or jeans wouldn't sag down to expose their butt crack when they bent over.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: You fail as a business leader.
• Poke the Poodle: Your attempt at an evil act fails to be evil.
• The Poorly Chosen One: The Chosen One fails his job.
• Popcultural Osmosis Failure: You fail to recognize another demographic's pop-culture references.
• Potty Failure: You fail to keep your pants clean.
• Powerful, but Incompetent: A character that has great power or ability, but is too dumb to actually accomplish anything with it.
• Power Incontinence: You fail to keep your power under control.
• The Presents Were Never from Santa: You fail to recognize the true source of all those useful things you got.
• Recognition Failure: You fail to recognize someone.
• Reckless Gun Usage: You fail to handle a gun properly.
• Redemption Failure: You fail to remain on the side of good.
• Reliably Unreliable Guns: Your gun is poorly made, so it fails to shoot when it's supposed to and/or shoots when it's not supposed to.
• Reminder Failure: You fail to remember why you set up your mnemonics.
• Repeated Rehearsal Failure: Your rehearsed message fails to stay coherent as you repeat it.
• Revealing Cover Up: You fail to hide something immoral or incriminating.
• Rock Beats Laser: Your state-of-the-art technology fails against more primitive weapons.
• Rooting for the Empire: You fail to get your audience to root for the hero against the villain.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: Yew fell two use wards car wrecked lee (You fail to use words correctly).
• Rummage Fail: You fail to find something in a bag of random items.
• Running into the Window: You fail to prevent your collision with a window.
• Samaritan Syndrome: You fail to rescue everybody when you're try to save a bunch of people.
• Sarcasm-Blind: You fail to understand sarcasm.
• Sarcasm Failure: You fail to express sarcasm.
• Saying Too Much: You fail to avoid revealing confidential information.
• Scrappy Mechanic: You fail at making a game mechanic fun.
• The Scrappy: Your character unintentionally fails to garner a Fandom, instead garnering a Hatedom.
• Seeking the Intangible: You fail to realize that intangible/abstract things can't be sought for.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: You failed to Screw Destiny because you made it happen yourself.
• Self-Offense: You hurt your buddies because you failed to recognize they weren't your enemies.
• Self-Punishment Over Failure: You punish yourself for failing at something.
• Senseless Sacrifice: You fail to accomplish anything with your Heroic Sacrifice.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: A story's buildup fails to have a payoff.
• Shapeshifting Failure: Your shapeshifting is imperfect or falls apart quickly.
• Shoehorned Acronym: You fail to make an acronym well.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog Story: A story's buildup fails to have a payoff, and the characters shall die for it.
• Short-Lived Aerial Escape: The helicopter sent to rescue you fails to get away after you get on board.
• The Show Must Go Wrong: You fail to keep disaster from happening during your performance.
• Sick Captive Scam: A guard fails to realize a captive is faking illness/injury to get the drop on him.
• The Simple Gesture Wins: After several grand gestures fail, the one that works is the unimpressive one.
• Skepticism Failure: You fail to disprove the existence of the supernatural.
• Skewed Priorities: You fail to notice what is more important.
• Slippery Swimsuit: Your swimsuit fails to stay on your body.
• So Much for Stealth: You managed to sneak this far, but now you've failed to maintain your stealth.
• Spanner in the Works: Your evil plan is thwarted because you failed to anticipate the involvement of the hero who thwarts the plan.
• Special Effect Failure: You failed to fund the SFX department properly.
• Springtime for Hitler: Your plan to fail intentionally itself fails.
• Staircase Tumble: You fail to keep your balance on a staircase, either because of a faulty staircase or your own body.
• Stillborn Franchise: Your work fails to start an intended franchise.
• Streisand Effect: You fail to suppress knowledge of something, and are making it more widely known, instead.
• Status Quo Game Show: You failed to win a game show because Status Quo Is God.
• Stock Footage Failure: You fail to realize that was a bad time to use Stock Footage.
• Straw Character: You fail to present your opponents' actual arguments.
• Strawman Has a Point: You fail to make your opponents look irrational.
• Sturgeon's Law: You'll fail nine times out of ten.
• Sucks at Dancing: You fail at dancing.
• Sucky School: Your educational institution fails to function.
• Surveillance Station Slacker: Whoever watches the security cameras fails to do their job.
• Suspect Existence Failure: The suspects for a crime you're investigating fail to stay alive. This hints that you've probably failed to put the perpetrator on your suspect list.
• Suspect Is Hatless: You're asked to describe a person, but fail to make your description specific enough to narrow down who the person could be.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: You fail to avoid suspicion because you denied stuff the other person hasn't even accused you of.
• Swiss-Cheese Security: Your security fails to keep people out.
• Symbology Research Failure: You fail to remember that cool logo you saw the other day and put into your work actually has religious meanings.
• Teleporter Accident: You fail at teleportation.
• Testing Range Mishap: You fail at the testing range and possibly beyond it.
• Thinks of Something Smart, Says Something Stupid: You fail to say a smart thing despite thinking of one, and say a stupid thing instead.
• Third-Party Deal Breaker: An agreement falls apart because somebody outside the deal interferes with it.
• Thought-Aversion Failure: You fail not to think about something when ordered not to.
• Thread of Prophecy, Severed: A prophecy fails to come to pass due to something involved in it breaking.
• Throw the Pin: You fail to handle a grenade correctly.
• Time for Plan B: Your first plan failed; on to the backup.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: You fail to give your audience anything to like about your work's setting and characters.
• Too Dumb to Live: Because you failed so badly to think things through, your body fails to keep working.
• Torture Is Ineffective: You fail to torture information out of a prisoner.
• Totally Radical: You fail at youth culture forever.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: You failed because you just couldn't wait.
• Translation by Volume: You fail to communicate with foreigners.
• Translation Train Wreck: You fail monumentally to translate something.
• Trap-Door Fail: You fail to drop someone down through a trapdoor.
• Trapped by Mountain Lions: You fail to make the characters' stories relevant to the greater plotline.
• Trapped the Wrong Target: A trap catches someone or something other than the intended target.
• Trust-Building Blunder: An exercise meant to improve interpersonal trust increases tensions because someone intentionally or unintentionally messed it up.
• Tutorial Failure: You fail to teach someone how to play a game properly.
• Underling with an F in PR: You don't care about the media fallout of your actions.
• Unexpectedly Real Magic: You fail to realize what you're doing is magic until it's too late.
• Unfortunate Character Design: You fail to notice that you designed the character in a way that they look unintentionally risque or offensive.
• Unfortunate Implications: You fail to notice an accidental stereotype or other offensive aspect in your work before making it public.
• Unfortunate Item Swap: You fail to tell those two important objects apart.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: You fail to create a proper Hate Sink.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: You fail to create a likeable character.
• Unintentionally Unwinnable: The programmer and/or game designer fails, or the player fails by trying too hard or messing around.
• Unintentional Period Piece: You fail to make a timeless work.
• Unishment: You fail to make the punishee rue the consequences.
• The Unsmile: You fail to smile properly.
• Unsuccessful Pet Adoption: You fail to own a pet, either because it runs away or is sent away.
• Unwinnable: The game can only end in failure, no matter how much you win.
• Unwinnable by Design: The programmer intentionally designs a game that can only end in failure.
• Upside-Down Blueprints: An architect follows the blueprints they're reading...only to build the project upside down.
• Useless Security Camera: A security camera fails to be useful, which is bad news for you, the police.
• Values Dissonance: Your work fails to connect with people outside the intellectual fashions of your time and place.
• Video Call Fail: A video call which goes off the rails, usually thanks to the user of it.
• Viewer Name Confusion: Audiences fail to get your name right.
• Villainous Breakdown: You lose your composure and/or sanity when your Evil Plan fails.
• Villainous Plan Inertia: You defeated the villain, but that alone won't stop his plan.
• Virtual Assistant Blunder: Your smart device fails to understand what you just asked it.
• Voodoo Shark: You fail to cover your plot holes.
• Walking Techbane: You fail to prevent your mere presence from causing machinery to fail.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: Your clothes fail to cover you.
• Watch Out for That Tree!: You fail to prevent your collision with a tree.
• Watch Where You're Going!: You fail to prevent your collision with someone else.
• We ARE Struggling Together: You fail to cooperate with someone who shares your objectives.
• Wearing It All Wrong: You fail to put a garment on the right body part.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Your defences fail against a common and/or feeble attack.
• What Does This Button Do?: You fail to exercise restraint around buttons that you shouldn't be pressing.
• What the Fu Are You Doing?: You fail at martial arts.
• Where's the Kaboom?: You fail to make something explode.
• "Where? Where?": You fail to recognize that someone is referring to you.
• Wimp Fight: You and your opponent fail at fighting.
• With Catlike Tread: Your attempt at stealth has the complete opposite effect.
• Witless Protection Program: Witness Protection fails to prevent criminal retaliation.
• Worf Had the Flu: You fail because of a temporary disadvantage.
• World Limited to the Plot: You fail to build context for your story.
• Wrong Line of Work: Someone gets a job they lack the proper skills for.
• You Answered Your Own Question: You fail to see the obvious answer contained within your own question.
• You Are Too Late: You fail to reach your destination on time.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Your attempts to Screw Destiny will fail every time.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: You fail to stop a villain's plan even when you should have succeeded.
• You Have Failed Me: You fail to please your superior, and pay the price for it.
• You Just Ruined the Shot: You interrupted the actors because you failed to distinguish acting from reality.
• You Just Told Me: You fail to recognize that someone is tricking you into revealing the secret.
• You Keep Using That Word: You fail to understand the actual definition of a word you use.
• Your Costume Needs Work: You, the genuine article, fail to be recognizable when compared to imitations.
• You Were Trying Too Hard: You failed because you had to do the job calmly.

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