Walking Techbane: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"I hate computers! Why do they always blow up when I use them?"''|''[[Freemans Mind|Freeman's Mind]], Episode 4''}}

 

 

For added irony, sometimes the Walking Techbane ''wants'' to be good with technology, but is prevented from doing so by the apparent plague of gremlins that follows them whenever they try to work anything with moving parts. In this case, they may overlap with [[Bungling Inventor]].

* Shin Seijuro from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' has a tendency to break any piece of technology handed to him within a minute, at the most. It started with him breaking a video camera by accident, which was followed up by him trying to open a GPS like a normal map. He apparently breaks the ticket machine every time he takes the train to school, and he can't even buy a can of soft drink from a vending machine without disabling it. Considering the guy is able to perform vertical push-ups ''on his index fingers'', one can make a [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|plausible guess]] about the reason. The most technologically advanced piece of equipment he is shown using in the series is a stopwatch.

** In the supplemental material within the manga, there is a girl who look like him and has a crush on him, that in order to be as much like him as possible, she breaks three computers a month on purpose.

* Nina Mercury from ''[[Lost Universe]]'' is ''infamous'' for breaking or ruining ''anything'' electronic she touches.

* For [[Code E|Chinami Ebihara]], involuntarly frying electronics [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|twenty minutes in future]] must really suck.

 

== Comic Book ==

 

* Black Canary despises computers, and the feeling is mutual. In the first issue splash panel of ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' she is seen looking terrified and screaming "No! NO! Take it away! It's too horrible". Turn the page to learn that Oracle has just bought her a computer.

* Kitty Pryde of the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] has this as a side effect of her intangibility powers: Phasing through any sort of electronic device will cause it to instantly short circuit. (Unusually for this trope, she is a skilled programmer as long as she stays tangible.)

== Literature ==

 

{{quote| "There. You fixed it. You fixed it ''good''."}}

* Harry Dresden of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' shorts out any advanced technology (almost anything past the '50s) because he's a wizard. (Magic makes microscopic improbabilities more probable - and electronics are particularly vulnerable to small current surges.) This occurs to all wizards, but he interacts with [[Muggles]] more often. This forces him to drive an old-school VW Bug and use an old-style stove and icebox in his home.

* In [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''Changeling'', the main character was [[Switched At Birth]], and was originally from a magical world. Naturally, he short-circuits any technology he's around, leading his adoptive father, a scientist and inventor, to joke he has a "poltergeist".

* Magic and technology simply don't mix, as mentioned several times in Sergey Lukyanenko's ''[[Night Watch]]'' novels. Anton, the protagonist of most of the novels, constantly has to replace mini-disc players due to them frying every time he casts a moderately-powerful spell. Other than that, he is pretty good with computers, his former position being an IT tech support guy.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* Neil from ''[[The Young Ones]]''. He even laments that technology is rebelling against him.

* Captain Kirk was never this in ''[[Star Trek]]'', but he is often [[Flanderized]] into it in humor based on the series, due to the fact that he destroyed several [[AI Is a Crapshoot]] [[Master Computer|all-controlling computers]] in different episodes.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* In ''[[Shadowrun]]'' characters can pick up a flaw called "Gremlins" that does this. Of course they are getting extra build points so it might be an even trade depending on the character.

** The same name is used for the Physical Limitation that adds up to Techbane in [[Champions|''Urban Fantasy Hero''.]]

** As far as Wonders go [[Muggles|mere mortals]] are this as well, Clockstoppers have an array of special abilities aimed at destroying and/or disabling Wonders and can affect mundane items.

* ''[[GURPS]]: Thaumatology'' has a ritual called "Machines Hate You" that makes machines and computers mess up in way that will make the target's life miserable.

** ''GURPS Supers'' also has the Dampen power, which allows a character to turn this on and off at will... unless they have the [[Power Incontinence|Always On]] drawback to the power. One NPC created in the ''GURPS Mixed Doubles'' book has this unfortunate combo.

 

== Video Games ==

** Magic items in the hand of a technologist just lose their power, but technological items malfunctions in the hands of mages - their innate "magic affinity" play havoc on the exact scientific rules of nature, affecting the items that rely on those. There are three main ways this is depicted in the game: if you want to ride the railway, you have to answer several questions regarding your stance on magic (if you're of a magical race, if you're a particularly adept mage, if you know volatile spells or carry potent magic items, etc); failing to do so tend to result in spectacular train wrecks. Tech weapons, devices and drugs affect magical targets much less. And finally, equipping technological items on a mage increases their chance of critical failure, with a higher increase the higher their magical aptitude, and the complexity of the item. Equip princess Raven (an elven mage of quite some power) with a pyrotechnic bow and a range of tech gear, and she runs a very real risk of lopping her arm or head off. With a BOW.

* In ''[[Phantasy Star]] 2'', Josh Kain was a mechanic who found that everything he tried to repair would end up exploding spectacularly. He made the best of this and switched careers to hunting and smashing rogue robots.

* Alicia, the title character of the game ''[[Bullet Witch]]'' seems to be one of these specifically for aircraft. Any time she's on an aircraft, ''something'' happens to cause it to crash -- it happens twice in the course of the game, and she's convinced not to attempt it a third time. {{spoiler|She also died in a plane crash before the game even started.}}

* Cyan/Cayenne from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is terrified of (though fascinated by) machinery, though the first time you meet him he jumps into a suit of Magitek armor and (eventually) pilots it without too much problem; at one point has a great deal of difficulty ''stepping on a simple pressure switch''.

 

== Webcomics ==

 

* In the webcomic ''[[UC]]'' Minor character Jess managed to delete the entire internet from her computer.

* Evidently, ''[http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/9/3/ Gabriel]'' is one of these. Illustrated [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/9/3/ here].

* Brad, from ''[[The Class Menagerie]]'', is an EXTREME Techbane (and being a bit of a Luddite does not help matters), one crossover storyline ended up with him completely wiping out a company's network just by ''ending up in the server room''. In fact, the only machine he could handle without it breaking is a coffee-maker ([[Must Have Caffeine|which he can't live without anyway]]).

* ''[[PHD|Piled Higher & Deeper]]'' would like to talk about [http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=821 your research adviser's negation field].

** And it has returned yet again where {{spoiler|1=a group of Dalek [[Expies]] have deemed Art a threat, as they are [http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=711 "of technology."]}}

* Gabe of ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' is apparently one of these, if Tycho is to be believed.

 

== Web Original ==

* Overload of the [[Whateley Universe]] is an Energizer with a powerful electromagnetic field. That he can't control. The special [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]] laptops are ruggedized to prevent damage from Energizers, but he was able to accidentally wreck his roommate's Whateley laptop a couple times a week. Most of the school calls him 'Glitch' instead of his preferred codename.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** It gets to the point where the owner of a local electronics shop knew immediately what Jean and Scott are in for, and jokes how she's good for business.

{{quote| '''Teacher:''' Most people can't program such complicated game protocols without crashing their computer. You, on the other hand, managed to crash three.}}

* Astoria, the titular character from the ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' episode "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide"; this turns out to be helpful when the Decepticons try to [[Mind Probe]] her and the probe promptly malfunctions.

** Though when the probe gave its result as being "subject's mind completely empty", it might have been [[The Ditz|on to something]].

* [[Catch Phrase|THIS is why]] Captain Fanzone from ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' [[Catch Phrase|HATES machines]]!

** We're talking about the man who once managed to set ''[[Epic Fail|cereal and milk]]'' [[Incendiary Exponent|on fire]] while simply trying to mix them together in an ordinary cereal bowl. Causing a meltdown is a walk in the park compared to that.