Duct Tape for Everything: Difference between revisions

[[File:uses4duct-tape-002.jpg|link=Hilariously Abusive Childhood|frame|For extreme situations, please use a [[Xkcd|staple gun]].]]

 

 

 

This trope is about the versatility, ubiquitousness, and downright ''usefulness'' of the substance known as "duct tape". A plastic adhesive tape, usually black, grey or silver in colour, originally created to seal ammunition boxes in World War II, but whose usefulness is apparent to anybody who's ever had a breakage of ''any'' kind that has to be temporarily held together. It is the first cousin to, but distinct from, gaffer tape, which is less adhesive and designed to be removable. A military version also exists, known as hundred-mile-an-hour tape in the US, which is even stronger and ''more'' adhesive than duct tape, and typically comes in some shade of green or brown.

 

The etymology of the word and whether it originated as "duck" tape is unclear. Not to be confused with scotch tape, although [[egregious]] use of duct tape can function as [[Scotch Tape]]. International names include "silver tape" in Latin America, "gum tape" (''gamu teepu'') in Japan, "roadie tape" and "Jesus tape" (because it performs miracles) in Finland, "American tape" in Spain and Italy, "Panzertape" or "Panzerband" ("Panzer" = "armor") in Germany, and "weave tape" or "silver tape" in Sweden, "isolenta" ("isolation tape") in Russia. In England, it may be (mistakenly) called "gaffer<ref>Also an informal term for an old man or a foreman, make of that what you will</ref> tape".

{{examples}}

 

* In ''[[Battle Royale]]'', one character uses duct tape to ''hold his intestines in'' after his stomach had been cut open.

* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', Looker has a huge roll of it, which he dubs as Secret Weapon No 10: Super Tight Tape. He uses it to {{spoiler|tape Charon's mouth shut to stop his commands to Heatran before completely wrapping him up in tape to prevent him from escaping}}.

 

* In ''Marvel Vs DC'', the Guardian of Space/Time (Access' predecessor) at first attempts to seal the rift between the Marvel and DC universes using duct tape. Surprisingly, this doesn't work.

** Clearly, [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|he didn't use enough]].

** Then later after {{spoiler|1=Willie Pete blasted the space station, <nowiki>MindF** k's</nowiki> spacesuit had a big chunk torn out of it, and Emp successfully patched the big hole with Duct Tape}} <ref>Well, most of the space station was assembled with duct tape.</ref>

* One ''[[Dilbert]]'' comic has Dilbert, Alice, and Wally tie an annoying co-worker to his chair with duct tape. Alice comments on how useful the stuff is, and Wally responds "Sometimes I use it instead of underwear."

* Shadowpact's Enchantress carries a roll of this at all times with her. She's surprised Nightmaster doesn't.

 

* According to the ''[[Fenspace]]'' glossary, a roll of duct tape treated with [[Phlebotinum|handwavium]] is called the "Universal Adapter".

 

* Used on Casey's boyfriend Steve in the opening of the first ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]''.

* In ''[[Gran Torino]]'', [[Clint Eastwood]]'s character claims that a man can do 50% of the jobs around the home with three tools: a can of WD 40, a pair of vise grips and a roll of duct tape.

* ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' [[The Film of the Series|movie]] ''Duct Tape Forever''.

 

* One book of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] mentioned the universe-wide joke that everything was held together with space tape, from starfighters to the Imperial Palace on Coruscant.

** Duct tape ''is'' The Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

* In [[Jack Campbell]]'s [[The Lost Fleet]]: Beyond The Frontier: ''Invincible'' humanity finally makes friends with aliens for the Universal Fixing Substance: Duct Tape.

 

* Duct Tape is the favorite tool of [[MacGyver]] (he carries a roll around at all times). This has actually [[Memetic Mutation|resulted]] in an interesting phenomenon: Duct Tape is sometimes referred to as MacGyver Tape.

* Duct tape forms an essential part of one of the monster-fighting devices in ''Tremors'': The Series, prompting Jodi to yell, "Duct tape! Duct tape can do anything!"

* An episode of ''[[Castle]]'' opens with Rick Castle having his daughter, Alexis, duct tape him into a chair, and leave him there, so he can figure out how his hero in [[It's for a Book|the book he's writing]] will be able to extract himself from that situation.

* On ''[[The Amazing Race]]'', Season 16 had Steve & Allie crash their front right fender at a curb. When loose parts were making an awful scraping sound while driving, Steve used some Duct Tape (that his wife packed him "just in case") and were able to tape up the loose pieces and motor along to a respectable finish.

 

== [[Radio]] ==

* One of the fake advertisers on ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]'' is the National Duct Tape Council.

 

* ''[[GURPS]]'' High Tech 4th ed. has a whole section devoted to duct tape (along with a MacGyver quote). Also, a section on [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|towels]].

* You can purchase duct tape (by a different name) in the ''[[Star Wars|Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Saga Edition]]'' RPG. Unfortunately, it doesn't give a bonus on Mechanics checks.

* In ''D20 Modern'', one of the magic items you can get is a roll of duct tape that instantly repairs anything broken you use it on. Essentially a potion of cure wounds for inanimate objects. Normal duct tape is one of the cheapest items on the equipment list.

 

* ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'' actually uses this in gameplay, as duct taping weapons together is a core feature. [[Chainsaw Good|Chain]][[Blade on a Stick|spear]], anyone?

** This really becomes funny in the cut scenes for the Combo Weapons. You see Chuck from behind, fiddling on the work bench and you hear the distinctive sound of duct tape being pulled from the roll, while he should be nailing up a [[Batter Up|baseball bat]].

{{quote|'''Eggman''': "Please refrain from peeling off the special space-age polymer holding the starship together. [[Blatant Lies|It may look and feel like duct tape, but it's not.]] [[Hesitation Equals Dishonesty|It's called... space... tape.]] Very advanced stuff. Thank you."}}

* A fan-produced expansion pack for ''[[Free Space]] 2'' called ''[[Derelict]]'' features Lt. Mackie, who frequently references duct tape in his dialogue. Got far enough that it's considered one of the character's defining traits among the fandom.

 

* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', it's still down to [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-01-06 baling wire, bondo, and duct tape]. "Duct Tape has actually seen the most change during the intervening centuries. For instance, it can now safely be used to fasten and seal duct-work. Just be sure to lose the handy-dandy spool with the built-in tape cutter before it trims the tape just above your first knuckle."

** Pronto the demo expert loves [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-04-02 using] [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-04-18 duct-tape].

** "[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00699.htm There are problems that can't be solved with duct tape?]"

** It even helps to [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1000/fv00969.htm move around in microgravity].

* [[Archipelago]]: What do you do when you're miles out to sea and the heart crystal, which powers the whole submarine, is fractured? [http://archipelagocomic.com/comic/?id=397 Yup, you guessed it.]

* Subverted in the title text of [http://xkcd.com/478/ this] ''[[xkcd]]'', where duct tape is insufficient for the character, as it doesn't make [[Most Wonderful Sound|"that 'kaCHUNK' noise."]]

{{quote|...You just duct-taped chainsaws to a wheelchair?

Why not? The high-level characters [[MacGyvering|make shit like that all the time]]. }}

{{quote|'''Unwinder:''' Doc, pick a masculine thing to learn about, or I'll pick one for you.

'''Dr. Minivan:''' Well, I've heard good things about using duct tape for various tasks.

'''Unwinder:''' Yeah, I'm having second thoughts about the duct tape thing. It seems like you're just turning this into arts and crafts. }}

* In ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0331.html Julie thinks she needs healing or to be patched up with duct tape.]

* In the [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Beast Wars]]'' the Maximals had some technology being held together with duct tape aboard the Autobot shuttle (which apparently served to explain how the shuttle made it to transwarp).

* In an episode of ''[[Megas XLR]]'', the titular mecha's photonic stabilizer is damaged, which could wind up with Megas exploding big time. After spending the whole episode looking for a replacement part, and in the middle of a fight ''for'' the replacement part that was [[Explosive Overclocking|pushing Megas to its limits]], a cry of "DUCK!" [[Eureka Moment|inspires Coop]] to wrap the damaged stabilizer in <s>duct</s> duck tape. Seconds later, Megas is able to fight at full power. "When in doubt, duck it!"

* [[Squidbillies]] combines garbage bags and duct tape to give us the ''Hillbilly Hazmat Suit.'' Now breathe deep and hold your breath!!!

 

* [[Orion's Arm]] has [http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/464f285677e0e Duck Tape 2.0], with [[Nanomachines]] on the sticky side and solar cells on the other.

{{quote|With creative programming, Duck Tape 2.0, can be used for any number of applications.}}

 

 

* [[Truth in Television]], as anyone who has worked as a stage hand can attest to. Everything in a theatre is held together by either duct tape, gaffer tape, 12 gauge wire, or bits of string. Or prayer.

* 1972: Apollo 17: One fender on the lunar rover was damaged. The astronauts taped it back on with duct tape. Eventually, the moondust overcame the tape and the fender fell off again. This time, they jury-rigged a fender out of duct tape and four laminated maps. The map-fender lasted through 15 hours of EVA.

** Also during ''Apollo 13'', [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/3139248.html duct tape among many other items] was used to adapt the "square peg" CM carbon dioxide scrubber canisters for use in the "round hole" LM scrubber socket.

* [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity ensued]] in 2002 when the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security advised citizens that, in the event of a chemical or biological attack on their neighborhood, they could protect themselves by sealing their doors and windows with duct tape. [[Fridge Logic|Many people eventually sussed to the fact]] that this would only work if the duct tape were to render the room airtight, in which case a chemical weapons strike would be a secondary issue at best.

** Less funny is that [http://www.snopes.com/rumors/ducttape.asp one family didn't].

** Yup. EB Green is some good stuff. We have regular duct tape underway too.

*** Anti-contamination (Canary) suits for entering the Reactor Compartment during a shutdown, the gloves were sealed on using... yep, EB Green, which is not green anymore but a dull grey. The stuff is about 20x more flexible that duck tape and 3x stickier.

** As stated in the Live-Action Television section, this was confirmed by Mythbusters.

* A hole in your drum? Piece of your guitar get chipped off? There's a reason why duct tape is commonly called the (amateur) musician's best friend.

** It's a friend to a professional musician as well. Eddie Van Halen has a strip of duct-tape rolled into a tube and flattened stuck to his guitar to hold picks.

* Fun fact: there exists ''nuclear-grade'' duct tape in a variety of colors, including red, orange, and slate blue. And that's not hyperbole -- [[Shown Their Work|the technical data sheet advertises compliance with ASME NQA-1]], the 2008 standard for nuclear technology. It's not even all that expensive.

** Less to do with "no bras in space" and more to do with the white see-through dress she wore throughout ANH.

* Anyone who would do this to such an adorable creature must be on the dark side of the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4R9wjjoeNI duct-tape force]

** Duct tape has been, and likely will always be, standard issue on all space missions.

* ''The Darwin Awards'' have a few entries related to people who overestimated duct tape:

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]

[[Category:Tropes Examined by the Mythbusters]]