Convection, Schmonvection/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Very hot things are only dangerous if you touch them.

  • Straight: Characters stand three feet above lava pits without burning up.
  • Exaggerated: Characters stand three feet above the surface of the sun without burning up.
  • Justified: The heroes have Applied Phlebotinum that shields them from radiant heat, but would stop working if they were immersed in magma.
  • Inverted:
    • Lava radiates deadly amounts of heat, but submersion is perfectly safe.
    • OR: Someone tries to apply this trope to a cold zone. See also Space Is Cold.
  • Subverted: The characters walk safely above lava pits, but they start to notice it's getting very hot...
  • Double Subverted: Someone points out that real lava would have cooked them by now - the Big Bad must really have surrounded his base with boiling Kool-Aid!
  • Parodied: The characters can't walk safely over the lava until they find the "convection" switch and turn it off.
  • Deconstructed: A character tries to get past a Lava Pit and suffers horrible burns.
  • Reconstructed: However, after a couple of months, Alice is making a smooth recovery, planning to hike the same trail that got her burns in the first place.
  • Zig Zagged: Bob and Alice walk within three feet of open lava pits, but it's revealed that they have superpowers and can withstand the heat. Then in the next episode Bob reaches for a hot teakettle and burns his hand.
  • Averted: The characters are forced to stay well away from the lava pits due to amount of heat they radiate.
  • Enforced: "The inside of a volcano would be a great place to have the Big Bad's stronghold, but what about the heat?" "Don't worry about it."
  • Lampshaded: "I always thought that lava heated its surroundings. Guess I was wrong."
  • Invoked: The Big Bad puts a decoy back entrance into his lair right over a lava pit, counting on the heroes not understanding that just jumping over it will be enough to do them a lot of harm.
  • Defied: "Were you going to try to jump over the lava? You Fool!!"
  • Discussed:
    • "Anyone gives me a reason why that lava didn't kill you as soon as you got anywhere near it, I don't throw you in. Fair's fair".
    • "I don't understand convection?"
  • Conversed: "You know, if they were really that close to the lava, they'd promptly burst into flames."

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