Convection, Schmonvection: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Lava: primal force, essence of destruction that leaves behind fertile land; ''really, '''really''' hot''.

[[Lava Adds Awesome|As awesome as lava is,]] most TV writers and video game developers forget that "really hot" part. The hero is making his way through the [[Lethal Lava Land]], but wait! There are floating rocks, he can make it across in a really dramatic way! Except in the real world, the rising heat would have fried him already, [[Artistic License Physics|and rocks do not float in lava]] anyway. Put your hand above an open flame and you have an idea of how hot that room, cave, or [[Eternal Engine]] ''should'' be. While it's possible for the outer layer of lava to cool, forming an insulating shell where the inner layer flows but people can get close to it relatively safely as long as they don't touch it, this is never seen in fiction where red-hot lava flows [[Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid|as free and exposed as river water]].

 

 

Although lava is the primary offender, this also applies to any time convection is ignored for the sake of [[Rule of Cool]], such as when a character is standing above or near a large fire or any other extreme heat source. If you don't touch the raging inferno, boiling lake, or white-hot walls, you'll be fine.

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* Yellow's second battle against Lance in the ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' takes place in and around the crater of an active volcano. Despite being inches from the lava, Yellow is fine thanks to riding on the Substitute shaped like a surfboard that Pika makes.

** It gets '''leagues''' more ridiculous. Lance was able to survive Yellow's Pika making a ''lava cyclone'' (by surfing!) using a shield made of ''bubbles''.

* ''[[Ronin Warriors]]'' twists this around so much. When the heroes are split up, Ryo is found in an active volcano. His power is fire based, so the lava makes his mystic armor stronger, but it gives off heat. When Anubis throws two unarmored characters into the volcano, Ryo dives after them but realizes that his ''armor's'' heat will kill them if he grabs them, but the fact they're in a ''volcano'' doesn't bothers him.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', the Katon (Fire Element) jutsus in the series [[The Worf Barrage|are almost always useless]]. Of course, they're always made out to be a big deal, but since they never directly connect the effects of convection are never shown. During the Valley of the End fight between Naruto and Sasuke, a fire jutsu from Sasuke leaves the rocks beneath Naruto literally glowing; Naruto isn't so much as singed, although he is somehow weakened.

** In another example, from the ''[[Naruto]]: Shippuden the Movie'', the priestess Shion goes running to where some evil demon's body is sealed in a shrine located along a thin strip of rock. In a volcano. ''Barefoot''. This also throws into question why one would put a shrine in a freakin' volcano.

** Itachi's Amaterasu, which creates black fire said to be hot as the sun, should destroy everything in the area of its use, but you can get right next to it unless it touches you (then it needs to be sealed/brought down by its user or it keeps burning). Even as hyperbole, it's a bit of a stretch.

** The battle between {{spoiler|Itachi and Sasuke}} gives an utterly bizarre subversion as someone is able to shoot multiple giant fireballs whose heat (along with that of {{spoiler|Amaterasu}}) raises up to the sky [[wikipedia:Pyrocumulus|and rapidly forms a thundercloud]].

** [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that the powers of a zanpakuto seem to be dependent on the spiritual pressure of the user. {{spoiler|Aizen and co.}} likely just upped their pressure enough to avoid damage from the heat and flame. Yama-jii, meanwhile, was only trying to keep them out of the battle, and didn't bother to try and harm them.

** Or, to put it another way: they're ghosts. They have an excuse for not following the letter of the laws of physics. Hence why they're able to ''float in the air.''

* In ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' Mashiro and Arika end up eaten by some sort of monster that has lava in its gut. Despite being in a close space with lava only inches away, they are fine.

* Makoto from ''[[Ghost Hound]]'' runs into a heavily burning house to {{spoiler|save his mother}}, without wearing any protection whatsoever, thus doing something that even the firemen in their fireproof suits couldn't pull off. The fire also appears to be totally smoke free.

** Not only that, but Luffy comes into direct contact with said [[Big Bad]] more than once during the fight and aside from a few superficial burns he's all right.

*** Like that weren't enough, that contact never lasted very long, just long enough for Luffy to get in a hit, and he quickly learned that this was a bad idea. But at the end of the fight, he maintains contact for several seconds with the guy like a few inches away from him before finally pushing him away. He's injured sure, but it's just generic battle injuries. None the worse for wear from having been in close proximity and actually touching a guy that's 10K degrees.

** Now the manga's gotten in on the act with the revelation that {{spoiler|Akainu}} is a ''magma'' Logia. He's duking it out with {{spoiler|Whitebeard}} and while he is doing pretty well, he's not doing as well as he should given the fact that HE'S MADE OF FRIKKIN LAVA! Hell, he gives a magma punch ''in the face'' to {{spoiler|Whitebeard}} and only the part of his face he touched was injured.

** When Ace was {{spoiler|freed from the execution platform}}, he held onto Luffy...with a tunnel of flames around them. Yet Luffy looks no worse for the wear.

** Well, they are wearing super suits. Then again, considering most of their faces are still exposed you'd at least expect a lost eyebrow or two.

* Averted in ''[[Gundam Wing]]''. It's shown several times that the title mech's [[BFG]] is so powerful that the heatwave generated by the particle beam can incinerate [[Mooks]] dozens of feet away from the beam itself.

* While it's mostly used straight in ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' with Natsu's flames never seeming to ignite anything, it is averted once. When fighting an enemy whose wind-magic armor allows him to deflect Natsu's attacks, Natsu gets hot enough to create a small firestorm, and the resulting updraft strips away his enemy's armor.

** It's particularly ridiculous when it's revealed that Natsu's flames can burn through metal. Yet they rarely seem to burn anyone severely.

* Averted in ''[[Gamble Fish]]''. Tomu is playing a game in which the loser gets a pot full of 1200 degree coals dumped on them. Everybody is getting noticeably hotter as the pot gets closer, and they're all perfectly aware that if the pot gets close enough Tomu will get roasted without even touching the coals. Sure enough, at a distance of 30 centimeters the ''stone table'' on which the game is being played begins to melt. Just to get close enough to take his turn Tomu has to fashion a makeshift safety suit out of several layers of clothing, and even then it only lasts a few seconds before bursting into flames, leaving Tomu himself with quite a few burns.

** At the very end of the series, {{spoiler|after absorbing God}}, Father creates a miniature sun in the palm of his hand. No one in the room so much as notices any heat, and his hand is unharmed. Of course, when you're precipitating nuclear fusion with a thought, convection is the ''least'' of the laws of physics that you're screwing with.

 

 

** In ''[[Secret Wars]]'', when the Torch uses his "nova flame" to take out Ultron, it burns so hot that it melts clean through the surrounding solid-metal walls and floor. When the smoke clears, Captain America, who was standing a few yards away and protected only by huddling his upper body behind his shield, is perfectly unharmed. Apparently, his body's melting point is a lot higher than that of whatever alien metal was used to build Doombase. His shield absorbs kinetic energy, not heat.

* Subverted in one issue of ''[[X-Force]]'', where Wolverine's female clone, X-23 was above a vat of molten metal, and falls. The next time we see her, all her hair has burned away and she has third-degree burns all over. Her clothes were burned away too, making Elixir run around in his underwear after covering her up. Turned out she bounced off the side of the vat to the ground, but the brief exposure to the heat was still enough to harm her. Of course, she has a [[Healing Factor]] so she got better.

'''Robin:''' You're ''complaining'' because it wasn't ''more'' difficult?!? Are you ''nuts''?! }}

 

 

** Cold air (very poor heat conductor, anyway) and even touch of ice or snow on skin are nearly harmless ''for very short time''. People who take a bath in hot springs can exit and spend from a few seconds to a few minutes in sub-zero air while dressing up, or even rub themselves with snow and afterwards dress up quickly, with no ill effects. Prolonged exposure over many hours is the culprit for frostbite and death.

* Despite breaking almost as many scientific rules as ''[[The Day After Tomorrow]]'', ''[[The Core]]'' actually averted this nicely. One crewman had to step outside safe area of the ship, never touched lava, and still burned to death. He '''was''' wearing a protective suit - which is the only reason he could even open the door without immediately bursting into flame while simultaneously imploding from the intense heat and pressure. Previously they had to use liquid nitrogen, the ship's coolant, to exit the ship without bursting into flames. The crew is notably sweating through the rest of the movie, even while in the ship.

* Since we brought up ''[[Terminator]] 2'', it should be mentioned that this trope was lightly averted during the final chase scene when Sarah Connor declares that it is "too hot" to approach [[No OSHA Compliance|the open pit of molten metal]].

* A similar event in the [[Sylvester Stallone]] movie ''[[Demolition Man]]'' in which the villain holds a blowtorch mere inches away from a floor which is covered in gasoline. Never mind that the fumes coming from it would have surely caught fire instantly, as long as the naked flame doesn't touch the liquid itself it's fine.

** The scene where lava starts pouring into the wooden house, that miraculously hadn't caught fire already, surprised instead of incinerated all of the characters there. Also, when they run outside, the lava has already swept through the surrounding small pine trees, most of which were still standing.

* Unlike ''[[Volcano]]'', where, after blocking the lava with concrete barriers, the fire fighters lean over the top of said barriers while laughing about the lava.

** Since they were WALLS of lava rather than just a gushy mass destroying the entire base and everyone inside and Syndrome was a technological genius, I think it's probably safe to assume that there were force fields of some sort involved. Heck, he probably had a converter built to use the heat from the convection to power his base.

** It is never stated nor visually implied that it is lava and ''not'' just a fancy lava-like wall made of colored glass or plastic just to look cool.

** The poor sap who gets lowered before her ''does'' burst into flames.

** The [[Novelization]] goes into full detail of how excruciating the experience was for poor Willie. At one point it even explicitly says that her eyelashes singe and her dress starts smoking, and she eventually passes out from the high temperature.

** The other characters had to walk around the edge of the area to meet back up with him. This could be due to the fact that, as mentioned in many other pages, Goku is a super-powered alien and survived something like this in the original anime more than once. Or it could be due to the fact that this incarnation of [[Idiot Hero|Goku]] is ''incredibly'' dumb and completely missed the safer, cooler path around the pit.

* The ending to ''[[Godzilla]] 1985'' has the monster being trapped in a volcano. Not surprisingly, he's not affected at all by either the lava itself or any of the intense heat. Of course, he ''is'' Godzilla.

* The 2005 movie ''[[House of Wax]]'' has the main characters escaping from said house as it melts and burns. Not bothered by the heat at all.

** Although the description of a fusion reactor in ''Spider-Man 2'' is ''bad'', it's still not as bad as in the movie ''[[The Saint]]'' where a fusion reaction is contained in a '''glass jar'''. ''Stars'' are powered by fusion reactions. Stars in general are not known for their utter lack of heat.

*** That was cold fusion, which doesn't actually 'work' but that's how you're supposed to do it in real life: Electrodes in a glass jar.

* The infamous Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie ''Raptor Island'' features a scene where the female lead runs across a tree over a river of lava.

** Had the liquid coolant been water (from a Boiling Water Reactor or Pressurized Water Reactor) or heavy water, it would have turned to steam immediately after being exposed to open air. [[Fridge Brilliance|As long as it stood liquid, it was below 100°C]], still enough to kill you, [[Squick|but not so quickly]].

* The title character of ''[[Shrek]]'' and his donkey sidekick walk across a rickety bridge over a boiling lake of lave without seeming to feel any heat.

* ''[[Toy Story 3]]''. [[Tear Jerker|Not that we're complaining.]]

* The entire ending of ''[[Congo]]''.

* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' had a scene that fits the trope description to a T, right down to floating rock islands that could be jumped on by ''dinosaurs''.

 

 

** Well, Covenant ''is'' torn between believing that the Land is real or the opposite. It could use some lampshading.

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]] novels, explicitly invoked and averted. Once Cain claims that a plasmabolt missed him by a millimeter. In a footnote, Amberley points out that he would have suffered flash burns that close, so he was wrong about the distance.

'''Cassie:''' (narrating) ''Sometimes I think hanging around Marco so much has given Ax a totally twisted sense of humour. Very un-Andalite.'' }}

** The same joke is used again (or before?) in the ''Hork Bajir Chronicles".

* In the ''[[Jedi Academy Trilogy]]'', Luke once walks through lava to impress a prospective student. He's stated to be using the Force to direct the heat away from his feet, so it's not much of a stretch to assume that he includes the rest of his body.

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Also, when they went to Iceland to start their trip to the North Pole, James had a hard time standing within ten feet of a ''coagulated'' lava flow. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rffcRFwD0&feature=relmfu\]

* Subverted on ''[[MacGyver]]''. In the episode "Flame's End", the villain has [[Death Trap|locked him and a companion in a room]] at a nuclear power plant and he plans to flood it with the reactor's coolant water. Mac's companion points out that convection alone is going to kill them long before they have a chance to drown, scald, or be irradiated to death.

* Played straight on ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The End of the World". Solar heat is shown to be a terribly lethal thing to let through, with special sun visors to block it out. But when the visors come down, the victims have plenty of time to scream and DUCK to avoid them (with mixed success, depending on the room and whether the Doctor is nearby). The walls seem to stand up to the energy reasonably well, too.

* In an episode of the original ''[[Knight Rider]]'', the car runs over a lava spillage not once, but ''twice''. The tires are a little melted, but the Magical Impregnable Alloy protecting KITT is just a little dirty. [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=brOfsNAQfU8 You can see it here in all its... glory?]

** It's a favorite trick of "life coaches" to demonstrate firewalking over wood or charcoal. Ask them to repeat the feat with a comparatively ''cooler'' metal plate.

* An episode of ''[[Eureka]]'' deals with a miniature sun springing into being over the title city, creating an unending, superhot day. It keeps growing and getting hotter until it collapses a silo, melts the tires on a Jeep and fries the circuitry on a rocket. No people suffer any ill effects worse than sweating, and the idea that a small sun might cause a fire in the forest it's hovering over is never even mentioned.

* In the ''[[Sanctuary]]'' episode "Pax Romana", two characters in insulation suits (which leave much of the head and hands exposed) leisurely execute a medical procedure surrounded by molten rock a few meters below. There's a dramatic close call where one of them falls extremely close to the lava. Sadly, her hair fails to start smoking.

 

 

== Music ==

 

 

== [[Multiple Media]] ==

** Only Matoran of fire, who have a greater heat resistance, do it for sport. Other characters surf on lava only if needed to escape. It was also mentioned that Toa of fire could survive a few seconds in lava. No one thinks that it is stupid to surf for sport on a liquid which kill you if you fall.

** Played very straight in the movie ''Mask of Light'', wherein Takua (''not'' a Fire Matoran) fishes the eponymous mask out of a lava flow with his bare hands, and only feels the hotness after holding it in his hand for a moment. Then, he hops onto his comically frail lava surf board... on all fours, with his fingers clinging onto its sides (literally hanging into the lava), but suffers no ill effects.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Not only that, but the game includes rules for related things like hypothermia, sunstroke, sandstorms and forest fires. Notable in that you ''can't'' outrun a forest fire, and smoke inhalation from a fire (or lava or volcanic vent) at first damages you, and then is quite capable of killing you. You don't even want to consider attempting to assault the [[Lethal Lava Land|red dragon's volcano lair]] without magical protections against the heat effects, or else the superheated air will kill off a party long before even seeing said dragon.

** Played straight however with certain spells. If a wizard casts a fireball spell and you are 20 feet away expect to take up to 10d6 damage, more than you'd get from sticking a foot in lava. If you are 20 feet and 1 inch away? You're fine. Possibly justified as being intentionally designed that way by whoever invented the spell, allowing you to roast enemies while not harming your allies. It ''is'' [[A Wizard Did It|magic]] after all.

*** Anyone level 6 or up in D&D 3.5 is literally superhuman. (Anyone level 11 or up is literally legendary enough that magic itself takes note of them.) How is surviving a swim in lava at an appropriately high level an issue? D&D is not meant to simulate real world human abilities at all, except at very low levels. Sufficiently high skill checks are explicitly stated to allow you to rape physics out of sheer skill.

*** The latest edition's rules for falling into lava are simpler. [[Chunky Salsa Rule|You die]]. Well, except when they're not: in several published adventures, lava simply deals 10-20 points of damage per round, which is survivably even for a first-level character.

* Played painfully straight with the [[Hero Clix]] Muspelheim map. It includes special rules for squares containing lava, which basically allow a character to walk over it in complete safety, just so long as they don't end up standing in a lava square at the end of a turn, which will deal a pittance of damage. Admittedly, it is based on the superhero genre, so it's not like accurate physics was its top priority.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

Countless [[Video Game Tropes|video games]] have [[Lethal Lava Land]] levels [[Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid|that you don't lose health for just being in]]. For example:

** You can also grab onto and climb metal poles and gratings that are partially submerged in lava, and/or have just emerged from lava, without taking damage.

** In fact, Nintendo has used this trope in nearly every Mario game since his early days on the NES. At the very least, it used to kill you instantly.

*** Although fun fact, the very first Super Mario Bros game treats the lava exactly like red water, it's not the <s>[[Not the Fall That Kills You|fall]]</s> contact that kills you, it's falling through it down the bottomless pit that kills you. Now, it just makes Mario run around like an idiot for three seconds, grabbing his butt and screaming "AAAAHHH - hothothothot!" It's a toss-up as to which fate is worse.

** New Super Mario Bros Wii raises the bar with a level that has a pool of lava below you coming in waves, and a pool of lava ''above'' you also coming in waves. The upside-down lava was in Super Mario 3 as well, but here, even veterans are guaranteed to have Mario coming within pixels of the lava without getting too hot (if the lava does touch you, it's an instant kill).

** One part of the final level of the original ''SMB'' featured Cheep Cheeps jumping in and out of lava. Though it features an underwater section as well, but it only featured Bloopers.

** The problem here is that even though they are unaffected by the convection, lava is still an instant kill for some reason.

** [[ROM Hack]] ''[[Rock Man 4 Minus Infinity]]'' plays this straight in Pharaoh Man's level and averts it in part of Dust Man's: you get a temperature gauge, and you take damage when it fills up completely.

* In ''[[Digital Devil Saga]] 2'', the final dungeon is ''the sun''. Admittedly you're dead already, after a fashion, but still... It doesn't help that the sun is apparently a purple labyrinth populated by scores of monsters, the souls of the dead, and God.

* The final level of the first ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' game had Sly hopping from object to object so close to lava that his fur should have caught on fire.

*** Also in Sonic 3, the fire shield is an item that grants the player this as an ability, taken to an extreme - no fire/lava/magma in the game hurts if you have it, but it goes away if you touch water. Naturally, this makes many bosses (which have flames of some sort protecting the underside, and a couple of which use fireballs to attack), as well as Lava Reef much easier. Sadly, it only appeared in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

* Exception: The ''[[Metroid]]'' series, where you'll incur constant, significant damage from being in a hot area without the Varia armor upgrade. In the ''[[Metroid Prime|Prime]]'' series, your HUD will also warn you that your life-support system is in danger of failing due to overheating.

** Moving from environment to weaponry, the Plasma Beam in ''<nowiki>MP3: Corruption</nowiki>'' exhibits conduction effects as well. Shooting most things will cause them to heat visibly; hit a heat-sensitive target (ice, some metals) and the target melts, along with anything else heat-sensitive in proximity to the target.

** ''[[Video Game Remake|Zero Mission]]'', at first glance, seems to play it straight more often than not. Whereas in ''Super'' and ''Fusion'', practically any room with lava in it is considered super-hot, numerous rooms in [[Lethal Lava Land|Norfair]] with 'lava' present allow you to run about without the Varia suit as long as you don't touch the 'lava'. A closer examination of these rooms reveals, however, that the 'lava' is in fact acid.

** In both ''Zero Mission'' and ''Super Metroid'', having both the Varia suit mod and the Gravity suit mod allows Samus to move unharmed through lava. In ''Super Metroid'' (which first distinguished lava from acid, the first being solid orange, the latter watery bubbling yellow), acid is still impossible to enter without losing health rapidly, but ''Zero Mission'' has this combo grant immunity to lava and acid both. Of course, it also has the Varia suit grant the lava immunity and the Gravity suit doesn't work until near the end of the game, after the Zero Suit section has been played through.

** It does not help that the gameplay area is right smack in-between a couple of ''huge'' lava planets, which are close enough to be linked together here and there.

* ''[[Doom]]'' is all over the place with this trope. Part of the issue is the way the game handles floor types: what the floor is made of and whether or not it damages you (and by how much) are stored separately for each section of floor, meaning some levels have lava that doesn't harm you at all. Even for levels that have regular damaging lava, the lava only damages you if you wade in it for more than a full second.

** It should be noted that this is par for the course in Hell, which is supposed to be full of fire that burns but doesn't consume. However, for levels that take place on Phobos, Earth, or Io there's no excuse.

*** On a more subtle note: Sephiroth's hair didn't so as [[Beauty Is Never Tarnished|budge]].

** ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' has one of the more glaring uses of this trope well within the first half hour of gameplay. Squall and Quistis journey to the Fire Cavern, a vast underground cave with a narrow rocky path mere centimetres above a sea of churning magma as far as the eye can see. Despite this, the pair can fight their way to and defeat a low-level GF without breaking a sweat!

** It's actually superheated water (thus why it's clear and the Ice Breath freezes it), which is a little better. As for why a volcano is filled with flowing rivers of hot water... [[Fridge Logic|yeah, ya got me]].

*** Thermal springs. They're pretty common around volcanoes.

* This was used again in the ''War Chiefs'' expansion on the Valley Forge level.

* In the PC version of ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'', as the Predator you have an area in a factory with molten metal. Not only can you stand near the fiery pits without taking damage, but when using heat vision, the area is only partially highlighted, whereas it should completely blind the sensors.

*** Although in earlier patches the melee weapons would be damaged by hitting Rags and would eventually break. One of those things that makes sense but is so annoying in-game that they drop it.

** In the Molten Front, there are lots of pools of lava, but they don't follow the percentage-based damage model. A level 85 (max level at the time of writing) character takes so little damage from ''standing'' in them, that it's often to your advantage to fight lava worms ''in'' the pools, to avoid the giants that are also walking around.

** Not to mention, in the intro, two of the characters are battling each other on falling rocks ''INSIDE'' the freaking volcano.

** ''[[Eternal Champions]]'' has a similar stage, set on a rock outcropping near an erupting volcano and lava flow.

* In the ''[[Thief]]'' games lava is harmless as long as you tiptoe around it, but coming into even the slightest contact with it will kill Garrett instantly. This is taken to an even more ridiculous extreme in the Thief Gold mission "The Mage Towers" where the interior of the Fire Tower is built almost entirely out of metal and there's a huge lava pool sitting right smack in the middle. In addition to convection, shouldn't the intense heat conduct through the metal and immolate any non-mages on contact?

* Treated somewhat schizophrenically in ''[[Guild Wars]]''. Lava isn't that huge a deal, and running in it will only cause you to take burning damage. This is true for pretty much the entire endgame of ''Prophecies'' (The final boss fight is in a volcano's ''caldera!''), several [[PvP]] arenas, and much of the endgame of ''Eye of the North''. The Desolation in ''Nightfall'' however consists of many, ''many'' sulfurous flats that are fatal within seconds to step on.

** That's because [[Conservation of Ninjutsu|he's a ninja]]. The same also applied to the previous game.

* Lovely scene in ''[[Myst]] III: Exile''. Not only can you stand comfortably on a platform inches above a room filled with lava, but after the lava drains away, the floor and all surfaces are ''instantly'' cool enough to touch.

** Slightly justified within the Myst series in that the worlds visited are alternate realities where the normal rules of science aren't always perfectly in line with our own. A lot of bizarre forces (i.e. anti-gravity) and other mechanisms are controlled by instant on-off switches, and this state of affairs isn't helped by the Chicken and the Egg nature of Linking Books being "written" by someone creating what they want to visit, but apparently also just connecting to a world in the multiverse that happens to randomly have the things written.

** Worse yet in ''[[Myst]] IV: Revelations'' in the Age of Spire, but again this may be forgiven if physics in that world just doesn't work normally.

* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]: Hordes of the Underdark'', there is a lava river running through the otherwise totally frozen over Cania. Oddly, it's averted the other way around; you do take cold damage in Cania unless you're near pretty much any fire except the lava river above.

** The coolant liquid encountered in the sequels might be justified assuming that it's corrosive rather then super-hot.

** Also averted in that you are a Cyborg Proto-Master Chief/Spartan who can use grenades and rockets like a super jump. Fire's only bad if you're a squishy meatbag.

** And before I forget, you can actually swim in lava without taking damage. All you need is a cape of ice. It's probably [[A Wizard Did It|magic]], but whatever.

** On a related note, the ice cape even works if you lack the [[Power-Up]] necessary to swim in water without [[Super Drowning Skills|taking damage]]. This may be considered [[Sequence Breaking]], but it gives you something to [[Fridge Logic|think about]].

* ''[[Lemmings]]'' one-upped this trope: the fiery levels in the original not only had lava that was no danger to the little green-haired [[Too Dumb to Live]] critters as long as they didn't actually touch it, it also had a trap that continually sprayed fire and fried them - if they landed in the middle of it. The edges (especially the forward edge) were perfectly safe. And the masonry levels had something greenish as the liquid that looked suspiciously like the cliché depiction of acid - but without dangerous vapors. Then again, [[Everything Trying to Kill You|it's not exactly as if the lemmings were ''safe'' because of these omissions...]]

* ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' follows this trope. Particularly in ''[[Ratchet and Clank Going Commando]]'' where:

** If Ratchet grabs an edge just above lava, he'll hang there in lava ''up to his knees'' and take no damage.

* Justified in ''[[American McGee's Alice]]'', as Wonderland is entirely inside the heroine's own mind.

* Taken to ridiculous extremes in the last two levels of the eleventh ''[[Touhou]]'' game, Subterranean Animism. In the fifth level, you fly amidst the fires of Hell, which are portrayed as an endless sea of towering flames that seem to be just below you the entire time. Naturally, being right above them doesn't burn or affect either of the playable characters at all. The final level is even more ridiculous, as the heroines fly through the corona of a ''second sun'' created by the game's final boss. Said final boss plans to use her power over nuclear fusion to melt the entire Earth away, yet when you fight her, you can get mere millimeters from the miniature suns and nuclear explosions she produces without even getting singed.

** That said, the trope is also [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the same game: in the composer's notes for the track to the sixth level, ZUN talks about how lava levels are pretty common in shooters, and then states, "I guess it's normal for shrine maidens to fly above lava. Crows also."

* ''[[Donkey Kong Country]] 2'' has several lava stages. Touching the lava kills you, the rest of the stage gives no problems.

** And even then, you only die if you submerse yourself completely (the lava is just your bog standard [[Bottomless Pit]]). You're perfectly safe as long as part of your sprite is poking above the lava.

** Donkey Kong Country 3 also has stages inside a factory, where the player must travel across vats of molten metal. Unlike the above example, landing on them hurts you.

** That desert wasn't just hot though, it was very clearly stated to be EVIL.

** You might need an HDTV to see it, but if you look closely it is also ''raining molten lava'' all over the place during the entire fight. Granted, it's unrealistic lava rain (basically just normal rain but red, no ash or anything), but still it's red hot and hitting normal humans with exposed skin but they don't seem to mind at all.

** Averted in the prototype of ''[[Resident Evil 2]]''. The Research Facility was planned to be set on fire, and you would need a special vest to protect you from the heat.

* ''[[Star Wars Battlefront]]'' games are guilty of this. Mustafar is available in Battlefront II, though that can be handwaved by the above explanation. Then there's Hoth (ICE planet), Rhen Var (snow and ice, including an ICE CAVE in one level in Battlefront I), Tatooine (hot, and with periodic sandstorms)...

** On ice levels stormtroopers and rebels get cold-weather gear. The game also only depicts hectic, short battles, with lots of, y'know, running and such. It's not likely that exposure to cold would kill them that quickly. Oh, and there's a one in four chance that a given combatant will be, you know, a robot.

* Both used and averted in the [[Star Wars]] RTS, ''[[Empire At War]]''. There are a few planets which are volcanic (Sullust, Shola, Aeten II, Mustafar in the expansion) and planets which are covered in snow and ice (Hoth, Ilum). The only one that infantry take auto-damage on is Shola. Somehow, infantry and vehicles are immune to going over STREAMS OF LAVA (or entire rivers in the case of hover vehicles on Mustafar in the expansion). Then there's the cold on Hoth and Ilum, acid rain only affecting repulsorlift vehicles on Jabiim (repulsorlift vehicles don't work), and nobody taking damage from Tatooine heat or sandstorms...

* As long we're talking about Mustafar: in ''Star Wars Galaxies'', as long as you are on solid ground, you are safe from lava. However, flying over lava (even in completely enclosed vehicle) will cause damage. That's right, in ''Galaxies'' heat travels only upwards.

** Close examination reveals that the "lava" in some rooms of Dodongo's Cavern appears to be just really hot rocks. The room with the gigantic lava flow covering two stories is a straight example, though.

** Using the [[Warp Whistle|Bolero of Fire]], young Link can trans straight to Death Mountain's crater (and plant a seed to access a Piece of Heart). There is a timer on arrival that ticks down until Link leaves (another song is required, as he lacks the tools needed to escape on his own), and he will die of heatstroke if the clock runs out (aforementioned tunic is too big for him).

*** Also notable that in the Dragon Roost Cavern level, tossing a pot of water into a lava pit temporarily creates a floating bit of solid, perfectly-fine-to-walk on ground, which you can even ride up lava plumes on! However, the terrific animation for falling into a lava pit totally makes up for it all.

*** This gets downright absurd in one late-game dungeon where you must swing by grappling hook over a big open lava pit. At the zenith of your swing you are mere inches from the lava, and the game even applies distortion to the camera to underline just how hot the air is.

** ''[[Spirit Tracks]]'' has plenty of the molten stuff to go around, and Link isn't affected unless he lands in it, where he loses half a heart from terminal fall respawning. With the exception of the Wrecker Phantoms, Link can ride ''on top of Zelda'' over these molten masses and neither of them will be hurt. The extra-heavy armor that Wrecker Phantoms use must be made of Goron iron...

** Eldin Volcano in ''[[Skyward Sword]]'' has a patch in it that will set Link on fire if he tries to go through it with his standard clothes. Because a key piece for the Earth Shrine is through it, Fi suggests you run to minimize heat-related damage. There is also a passage that leads deeper - Link may require special protection, and Fi will force you to turn back if you try to go through (be thankful the key piece is NOT that way).

* Quite possibly the most extreme example comes in ''[[The Simpsons Game]]'', during Happy Fun Fun Video Game World. Not only do you travel mere inches from lava, but you must freeze fire themed enemies in blocks of ice and then drop said ice into the lava to form bridges. These blocks of ice never melt once placed.

* ''[[Magical Starsign]]'' features a "Fire Planet" which, due to its proximity to the sun, can't even be approached by your spaceship without a special magical cooling system, or your ship will melt and you'll be fried. But once you do manage to get there, the heat is suddenly a non-issue, and you can walk outside your ship on the planet's surface with barely a complaint from your party members.

* ''[[Soul Series|Soul Calibur 3]]'' has a stage where you fight on a rock floating on a lava flow. Nobody even breaks a sweat.

** The enemies that can move through lava are usually dragons, but then there are Felynes - ordinary, walking ''cats''! One such culinary gift in the games is Felyne Firewalker, which cancels the damage from lava proximity, and since the chef is a Felyne himself, that makes explaining things a lot easier. Oh, and one job requires you to carry a Powderstone back to camp; as long as you're holding it, Cool Drink or no, ''you will burn''!

** On the other end of the thermal scale, there's the Tundra and similar areas, where you have to take a Hot Drink periodically or risk your Stamina depleting at a phenomenal rate. Given how much running, rolling, and blocking you have to do... be sure to stay warm.

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' features this on the lava planet Therum - walk right next to the lava, you're fine. Drive next to the lava, you're fine. Dip one centimeter of your back left wheel into the lava for a split second and -- [[Nonstandard Game Over|the vehicle and all its inhabitants freeze, and it's explained that the heavily armored and shielded vehicle and its inhabitants spontaneously combusts]]. Characters do comment on the heat, but even then it's not within hazardous levels.

* ''[[Dark Forces Saga|Jedi Academy]]'''s penultimate level is a [[Single Biome Planet|planet half-covered in lava]]. At first, the game primarily averts the trope: most of the action takes place high above the lava if not inside buildings, Jaden comments on the heat the first time you're required to cross a bridge close to the lava, and the bridge itself requires heat-shields on the sides. Then, ten minutes later, Jaden is jumping across the lava on rocks only jutting half a foot out of it.

* In ''[[Ultima]] VIII: Pagan'' orange lava was solid but would burn you every moment of contact, and yellow lava was instant death. Nonetheless, you could walk around in volcanic caverns without any ill effects, as long as you didn't touch the lava itself. The entire Sorcerer's Enclave was built inside one such cavern, and a quest involved using the Endure Heat spell to jump from patches of floating orange lava to reach the chest at the end. It was actually possible to navigate across orange lava prior to getting this spell by throwing objects down onto it to stand on.

* This was also played straight in the infamously flawed ''[[Ultima]] IX: Ascension'' where lava is little more than orange colored water that very slowly drains health on contact. You can even swim in the pools, though this makes a tad more sense if you use a white potion or the Infernal Armor spell. The biggest case is the town of Valoria, which makes you wonder if the townspeople's brains weren't already baked when the Guardian's column showed up. [http://hacki.bootstrike.com/english/nitpicks_u9_valoria.htm Hacki's Ultima Page] describes it best:

* Very much present in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', despite its horrendously complicated temperature system. Until somewhat recently, an long-standing [[Good Bad Bugs|bug]] caused ''ice'' to be considered a magma-proof material.

* [[Wii Sports]] Resort, where apparently being inside a volcano is perfectly safe, as long as there're guardrails.

* Part of one of the later stages of [[Dino Crisis]] 2 takes place inside an active volcano that Dylan can run around in (while wearing body armor, no less) with no problems despite coming perilously close to the lava flows.

* A slight aversion in classic [[Text Adventure]] ''[[Adventure]]'' (also known as ''[[Colossal Cave]]''): heat isn't an issue, but trying to walk across a (magical) bridge across the shaft of a volcano causes the PC to die from the toxic gases unless {{spoiler|wearing [[Guide Dang It|the mithril ring]].}}

** While not strictly a lava hazard, Magcargo's Pokedex entry lists it skin [[You Fail Physics Forever|as being]] ''[[You Fail Physics Forever|twice as hot as the surface of the sun.]]'' Just let [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWQpe-QN-o this guy] explain the further implications of this, especially in regard to ultraviolet radiation. {{spoiler|A Pokémon trainer standing near a Magcargo gets ''35 million times more'' UV radiation than an average life-form would get from the sun.}}

** Then again, the Pokemon world's idea of scientific investigation is to send a ten-year-old out to catch 'em all. The fandom strongly suspects the kids themselves are writing the entries and [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|have no sense of scale]].

** ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]''/ Platinum has Stark Mountain, which has this trope all over the place-the character is walking all around lava pools

** ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]]'' has a lava pool area with one of the Team Magma grunts just making a comment about his ear burning.

* And now we're joined by ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', when its Nemesis Quest ends with a battle inside a volcano, complete with stepping stones across the lava. Hey, at least it lampshades it.

** Oh hey, and if you screw up the "jump on moving stepping stones" minigame, you're allowed to start over - by ''swimming through the lava'' (like you haven't suffered worse hot damage during the game, sissy).

* Averted in ''[[Space Quest]] III'', where you need to equip the Thermoweave Underwear to protect yourself from the intense heat on the [[Lethal Lava Land]] planet Ortega. (No face coverage, mind you...)

** For extra fun, if you figure out a simple [[Easter Egg]] in ''Space Quest IV'', you can revisit Ortega in your time machine... and die the moment you get out. No thermal underwear to save you in ''this'' game.

* ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' for the Sega Genesis and ''[[Jurassic Park]] 2: The Chaos Continues'' for the SNES both feature levels set inside a huge volcano, with pits of lava you must jump over. Of course, as long as you don't touch the lava, you can run around just inches from it and be perfectly fine.

* The Xbox ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' game not only has Buffy casually crossing a stone bridge over lava with just a casual comment about the heat, but there's also a level fought in an active foundry with molten metal all around the place. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in some dialogue, though.

* It's interesting to note that ''Kyrandia'' (an old DOS adventure game by Westwood) has a puzzle in which there is a massive lava flow going under a bridge. Seemingly played only for drama, when your character begins to cross the bridge he catches fire and burns up painfully. To get through you need to find a scroll of freezing to turn the lava into ice.

* Played mostly straight in the ''[[Dungeon Keeper]]'' games:

* In ''[[Adventures of Lolo]]'', there are plenty of rooms with lava and the hero is just fine. For the most part, it functions exactly like water, with one major exception; bridges built over lava will burn down, either on a set timer or after walking over it a certain number of times.

* Tragically/Hilariously averted with the ''[[Minecraft]] Alpha Update 1.0.15'', where lava got the ability to light nearby flammable blocks on fire. The exact point where [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarity ensued]] was when people loaded their saves and had their [[Violation of Common Sense|wooden houses with lava fountains]] burnt down. [http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=22404\]

** Also played perfectly straight (possibly even exaggerated) where the player can not only stand near or over lava without harm, they can scoop it up in an ordinary bucket and '''carry it around with them'''.

* In ''[[Half-Life]]'', radioactive material doesn't effect Gordon unless he stands in it. The fact that he's [[Justified Trope|wearing a suit explicitly made to be used in radioactive environments]] helps.

* Firmly averted in ''[[Ancient Domains of Mystery|ADoM]]''; not only will being in the Tower of Eternal Flames slowly roast your character to death (unless he's very fire resistant) and destroy his equipment, it will also boost his speed if he's of the reptilian Drakeling race. (Similarly, hanging around the game's only ice level will cause slow death by freezing unless you have cold resistance.)

* ''[[Jed]]'''s [[Brutal Bonus Level]], naturally set inside a [[Lethal Lava Land]].

* In [[Lufia|Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals]], there's Soma Temple, a temple way out in the ocean filled with lava. Actually jumping down into it sends you back to the platform you jumped off, and leaves you with minor damage. Unless you have the appropriate skill, which negates damage from falling from high places. Even into lava.

* In ''[[Will Rock]]'', many levels (like the Hepheasteum and the Underworld of Tartarus) will bring you close to the fiery, orange magma. However, as long as you don't step in it, you're sound and safe. There's, however, a red haze on the screen if you're really close to magma, suggestic heat. [[Fridge Brilliance|Then again, seen that Will is possessed by the Titan Prometheus, this may protect him from fire.]]

* In ''[[Jet Force Gemini]]'', molten steel or lava deal no damage as long as you're not explicitly standing on them, and if you're playing as Juno even that won't injure you.

* ''Color Dark Castle'', the [[Video Game Remake|remake]] of the first ''[[Dark Castle]]'', replaced the log platforms floating in water with log platforms floating in ''lava'', essentially replacing [[Super Drowning Skills]] with this trope.

* ''[[Heretic]]''. Episode 2, Level 4 is "The Ice Grotto". On this level, there are stretches of ice, ''right next to lava pits''. Obviously, [[A Wizard Did It|D'Sparil did it.]]

* The final two areas of ''[[Diablo]] II''s act 4 are set in a [[Fire and Brimstone Hell]]. The area aptly titled the River of Fire is composed of stone platforms sitting in a lake of lava with small stone bridges linking the platforms, yet there is no gameplay effect for this. Then again, at this point in the game your character may have enough fire resistance to make Diablo's fire-based attacks a mild inconvenience.

* Taken to it's obvious extreme in [[Futurama]]: The Game. The crew lands ''in the sun'' and they're just fine... as long as they don't touch the lava "floor".

 

 

== Web Comics ==

** Later on, Dave and Rose wind up {{spoiler|walking out of a sun. Fortunately, the two are immortal.}}

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'': [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/110815 "I don't have to be a volcanologist to know you don't step in the lava!"] (Technically true, but for better reasons than are dreamed of here.)

* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' now has a link to this very page as they approach the Obi Wan and Vader lava battle.

 

 

* Mounty Oum's CG [[Fan Film]] series ''[[Dead Fantasy]]'' probably takes this to its most extreme. During part II, the fighters end up on a stone raft floating down a river of lava. The raft is less than a foot thick, but does not melt or overheat. Similarly the girls suffer no problems from heat and toxic gas. Sounds pretty standard so far. Then Tifa gets knocked off of the raft. Yuna shoots Tifa to knock her onto the rocky ledge rather than into the lava, implies that falling in the lava would be a bad thing. But Tifa then proceeds to RUN ACROSS the lava, suffering no more than ignited shoes, used to deliver a fiery dropkick.

** Used again with Tifa and Hitomi's [[Battle Amongst the Flames]]. The whole church is on fire? No problem, it just makes an awesome backdrop to the fight.

* [http://wayofthemetagamer.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/34423 Lampshaded in] ''[[The Way of the Metagamer]]''.

* [[Averted Trope|Averted]] and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the [[Whateley Universe]]. Team Kimba is in a holographic simulation of an evil lair inside a volcanic mountain, complete with a huge gap across molten lava to get to the [[Big Bad]]. [[The Smart Guy]] points out that even the toughest supers on the team wouldn't survive flying above the magma, and snarks that it isn't some stupid video game. But they have other resources.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* Played straight and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in 2002 ''[[Tarzan|Disney's Tarzan & Jane]]''. The heroes and Jane's father escape from inside an erupting volcano, by surfing the rising lava on a piece of rock. The lampshade is hung by one of the characters asking: "Should this even be possible?" to which another answers "Who cares, as long as it's working?". One of the most hilarious sequences in modern animation.

* ''[[Futurama]]'': The entire crew are in a room full of lava and none complain about how hot it is. In fact, Fry almost jumps in without the heat obliterating him - so long as he doesn't actually touch it, he's fine.

** "''PROFESSOR! LAVA! '''HOT!'''''"

** Then there's this gem from a commerical off-screen:

'''Participant''': Ahhh! I'm burning to death! }}

* ''[[Transformers]]'' and lava... Don't go there. Just don't. Some of them have actually survived a dip in the lava itself, despite it being fatal to others. Officially? Not so much as a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on this. Attempts by fans to explain this are doomed from the start.

*** {{spoiler|Apparently, robots can't get scalded in ''Animated'', thus why Sari was safe.}}

*** In the same episode as Megatron, it seems like Tarantulas survives a dip in the lava too. It may have something to do with Transmetal bodies being more durable; although {{spoiler|Terrorsaur and Scorponok}} were starting to change into Transmetals when they fell in, they were still in their original forms.

*** And in the season 1 episode, "Double Dinobot" a clone of Dinobot kicks a tree that Rattrap is on into a lava filled trench. The tree gets wedged high above the lava but bursts into flames from the heat, as it rightfully should. However, Rattap floats around on a rock inches above the lava and suffers no ill effect from doing so.

** Conversely, the 2007 movie gets convection mostly right, but was criticized by fans who did not fully understand that while space is infinitely cold, the ''lack'' of convection in space means that a body in space will cool very, very slowly - much more slowly than a superheated body falling into the Arctic Ocean. In fact, the TF Wiki ''links to our [[Space Is Cold]] page'' to explain why that's not an error. See, this stuff ''is'' educational!

*** Not only does "infinitely cold" not exist (there is a lowest possible temperature), but space is several degrees warmer than absolute zero. Specifically, it's about 3 Kelvin, or -270 degrees Celsius (0 Kelvin is absolute zero). Furthermore, unless there is evaporation going on, a body in space that is in view of the Sun tends to heat up unless it's already hotter than the Sun's surface, 6000K. And, of course, if it is not in view of the sun, it tends to cool down to that 3K I mentioned, but it happens very slowly because neither conduction nor convection are possible, only radiation, and things at "normal" temperatures tend to radiate very very slowly.

** Likewise, in "Volcano" Lois is right next to molten lava and is completely unaffected, even doing a hand-over-hand climb over a field of lava without being even singed.

** This is amended in later episodes, where Lois Lane is imperiled by fire, and passes out or is burned outright by the heat.

** It is possible that characters with Firebending talents are more resistant to heat and can defend against extreme heat better than others. Or even protect others from it, keep in mind that Aang is both an Airbender and a Firebender so he could maybe keep the tunnels cool enough for his Sokka and Toph? If you're a master in those elements all sorts of handwaving could be done to make it all make sense.

*** It's possible, but in "The Fortuneteller" and "The Awakening" Aang hasn't yet mastered firebending, yet standing right next to flowing lava doesn't harm him or his friends at all.

** Homer continues to writhe in agony because, as [[George Takei]] mentions afterward, Orangina is "loaded with wasabi" (and orange concentrate in your eyes would burn like hell anyway).

* Taken to ridiculous extremes in ''[[Ice Age]] 3'', where Sid manages to raft along a river of lava then have some of it ''splash'' on him without getting at all hurt.

** In another episode (''A Colonel of Truth'') a tiny flying fox type creature falls into a lava flow, only to safely land on a floating rock.

* In the episode "Exchange" of ''[[Kim Possible]]'', not only are Ron and Yori trapped in a metal cage and lowered into a river of lava, the lava actually spills into the cage and sets Ron's shoe on fire by contact. Ron and Yori then survive by hanging onto the tops of the cage's bar while the entire lower half of the cage melts away until they are saved. Apparently metal has to be immersed in lava to actually heat up.

** Though the Gargoyles themselves are often shown to be made of much tougher stuff than most other living creatures, and they do turn to stone during the day. Oberon is a god, and Avalon is prevented from harming him.

* Partially averted in an episode of ''[[Max Steel]]'': Max and Kat are sent in to a volcano to collect a crystal, and are given heat-resistant kevlar suits, along with helmets and (possibly) an air supply. They're warned that they'd only have a couple of minutes, and do avoid the lava if possible...yet there's a layer of solid rock where they land, and handily-placed rocks in the lava leading to where the crystal is.

* Played dead straight in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''. Not only does a whole warehouse full of lava seem to do no harm to Spidey, Green Goblin, or Tombstone, but Hammerhead is precariously dangled literally inches from a vat of the stuff without even the soles of his shoes melting.

* ''Hotwheels World Race''. Scorchers cars are capable of ''crossing the lava''. The protection is only at frontside (called lava plow) and wheels

* In ''[[The Road to El Dorado]]'', the main characters are chased across a cracking layer of volcanic rock by a large stone jaguar. Lava comes within inches of splattering on them. But it must not be very hot itself, because the stone critter pops right back out.

* In ''[[Brother Bear]]'', Koda and Kenai traverse a field of heat (supposed to be lava...) This is impressive for two reasons: Kenai gets continuously hit by jets of steam (a la Princess Bride and the Swamp) and the nearby areas are covered in SNOW!

** [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in another episode; things are seen catching on fire ''before'' making contact with lava.

* Displayed throughout ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' episode "Twelve Hundred Degrees Fahrenheit". Taken to a ridiculous extent when both Argost and Drew ''[[Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid|swim through the volcano]]'' (wearing fireproof lizard-skin and a heatproof suit, respectively, but ''still!''). Particularly egregious in Argost's case, as the lava should have seeped in through the openings in the skin (eyes, mouth).

* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' animated series episode "The Canyon of Shiny Stones" is all about this trope (although they do, at least, remember that volcanoes produce choking smoke).

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' roast weiners on a passing lava flow in "Candace Loses Her Head".

** Played straight in that they ''should'' have been roasted alive when they were dropped into the chimney. Except [[Superboy]]. But then, it is [[A Wizard Did It|Doctor Fate's house]].

* Unexpected aversion in [[Stroker and Hoop]], in one episode, where Stroker ([[Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity|and son]]) are forced to toss some items into a fiercely burning car...and do it standing several feet away, flinching and shielding their faces from the heat.

** "Dragon Quest" has this in spades. Spike ''jumps into'' a [[Lava Pit]], ''submerges'' and then '''spits out some lava from his mouth''' as if it were a swimming pool, which, for the teenage dragons that he is hanging out with, is.

 

== Real Life ==

* Subverted a bit by [http://youtube.com/watch?v=4b6n8riJaFo the Discovery Channel].

* In older aluminum plants, the metal is still poured partly by employees who work very close to 1300-1700°F aluminum - often as close as a foot or less distance between the worker and the aluminum. Dross is skimmed from the tops of crucibles and molds with hand-held metal skimmers. The workers wear heavy cotton gloves, double cotton sleeves and aluminized aprons to do this. While it is not the most comfortable job in the world, the protective gear does not singe or burn unless in direct contact with the metal, and the cotton is not fire retardant.

*** Kind of brings a whole new layer of meaning to "flares", that does:)

* Played pretty darn straight by the experience of Heimaey, Iceland, in the Vestmannaeyjar islands. In 1973, a nearby mountain erupted, sending, literally, acres of lava towards the town - and, from the inhabitants' perspective, more importantly, the harbor. In a desperate attempt to save the harbor from being filled by lava, the inhabitants, the government of Iceland, and, eventually, even the U.S. Navy, started pouring water directly on the lava to try and solidify the leading edge, hopefully sending the remaining lava ''somewhere else''. This took weeks, if not months, and for most of that time, not only were people walking directly on top of the lava, they were separated from actual liquid rock by, at times, ''nothing but ash'', but they were running hoses along it, and even driving ''bulldozers'' around on top of it. The treads of the bulldozers blued from the heat over time, and the soles of boots tended to melt when people stood, but for a significant amount of time, people were not only running near lava, they were working on top of it for twenty-hour-a-day stretches. Icelanders are hardcore.

* Played straight in real life (?!) with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZCou2qkFKM&NR=1 this video], complete with lava.

** Yet also averted, given that he's not dipping the marshmallow ''in'' to heat it, and it melts quite a ways from the lava itself.

* The thermal radiation is particularly harmful to a person's eyes. Looking directly into glowing lava is physically painful. If you've ever looking directly at a heating element (and you shouldn't), imagine that times thousands.

** Also one of the reasons for which gas welders [[Captain Obvious|use dark goggles]].

* Averted with many living things, since most except for some species of bacteria actually cannot survive above the boiling point of water. The only place bacteria cannot survive at all is still inside volcanoes, however.

* Averted with the Sun, where its corona is actually much hotter than its surface, so in real life any spaceship that orbits that close will melt and vaporize instantly, killing any astronauts onboard, even if it is only a thousand miles away from the corona.

* Averted with certain exoplanets where most scientists think that the least habitable planets for life are those mostly covered in lava.

* One episode of [[The Magic School Bus]], though being as it is an educational show, they make it a point in the ending segment that realistically everyone would have been burned alive.

 

[[Category:Lava Tropes]]

[[Category:Sublime Rhyme]]

[[Category:Heat Index]]