Discussion Main / GeneralFailure

I think that the example of Abaddon from 40k should be brought back. I know that it technically is not canon but the well known fan interpretation of him as a general failure makes him a highly iconic example of this trope. Since it's not supposed to be the canon interpretation then it it should go in the fan works section.

• Winston Payne of the Ace Attorney series: despite being apparently one of the relatively higher ups in the setting's prosecutor office, his main job is to show up and lose quickly to the player at the beginning of each game. The fact that Phoenix initially seems to have lost a case to him in the third case of Trials and Tribulations is taken by all involved as evidence that something fishy is going on — namely someone impersonating Phoenix attempting to intentionally lose. Heavily lampshaded, as no one takes Winston seriously in the AA-verse; he's still called "the Rookie Killer" out of respect for what he used to be, but everyone acknowledges he isn't nearly up to that par anymore. On that note, it should be noted that he's only called "Rookie Killer" by people who actually remember him. Both Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth have demonstrated a complete ignorance of who he is, at times. Miles even mistook him for someone on the cleaning staff./

Thrown out this example, as Payne has absolutely nothingto do with military of any kind, and his incompetence has nothing to do with leading anything.

Has anybody noticed the pun in the title?

Seen in the profile picture: the Gundam Flauros Rebake Full City, piloted by McGillis Itsuka, captain of the Turbines Hide / Show Replies

The British army's catastrophic failure at Isandhlawana was due to the design of the standard ammo box, where a sturdy copper band secured the box and had to be physically chiselled off. Even after that, nine large screws secured the lid and had to be individually removed. It was discovered in action that not many men had been issued the correct screwdriver. Even after that, many screws had rusted in storage. And even after that, many minor military bureaucrats, even with the Zulus pressing hard on them, insisted the correct procedure for issuing and accounting for the ammo - in writing, on the correct Army documentation - had to be followed to the letter....

The British could hardly have been unaware of the drawbacks of this storage, issue and recording procedure. It is not very well known that in an earlier campaign in West Africa, a British Army trying to subdue the fierce Asante tribe of the gold Coast had been wiped out in extremely similar circumstances, running out of ammo under pressure from ten times their number of tribesmen. Indeed, the woes of that army had been compounded when they opened the ammo boxes only to find... they had been packed in error with biscuits. The british general responsible was captured by the Asante, beheaded, and his skull turned into the victorious chief's drinking vessel.

Male, early sixties, Cranky old fart, at least two decades behind. So you have been warned. Functionally illiterate in several languages.

Should the caption be changed? "My plan is to attack the place where the enemy ISN'T at!" is remarkably similar to General Douglas Mac Arthur's island-hopping strategy during World War II: "Hit 'em where they ain't," which was generally considered a successful strategy. I'm sure the caption does not refer to the use of such a tactic, but... surely something better can be found.

I'll let natural selection run its course and if that fails then I'll fix it. Hide / Show Replies

Anyone up for renaming this trope The [[Warhammer40000 Abbadon]]?

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To avoid repetition with General Ripper, how about we change the name from General Failure into Major Failure?

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On an unrelated note, there's a Netrunner card "Colonel Failure".

Long live Marxism-Lennonism!

Real Life section cut. It was longer than the rest of the page combined and a brilliant example of Thread Mode. Sorry, guys.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Shoudn't the Italians be here?

During world war two, they where renowned as being great soldiers, led by dinosaurs who where too obsolete even to world war 1 standards.

There seems to be a severe case of the "Stop Having Fun" Guys brigade when it comes to the image for this article. :/

With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars. Hide / Show Replies

Removed the obnoxious Take That! to former president Bush for three reasons: 1) he wasn't a general 2) his leadership never directly led to military defeats 3) he did not remain in command FOLLOWING a military defeat

Political Take Thats are bad form to begin with. They become unacceptable when they don't match the Trope at all.

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