Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Difference between revisions

 

The chance of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] being applied more than once tends to be inversely proportional to its plot-resolving potential.

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** This case does, however, have some justification, since there's time limit to how long Saya's blood remains effective once it's drawn. Red Shield previously did try to manufacture bullets incorporating Saya's blood but found them ineffective, and Saya herself often has to redraw her blood during the same battle. Given that Hagi and Saya end up being separated from each other in many battles, it's not really an efficient strategy.

* In the very first episode of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', the main character pulls off a miraculous come-from-behind victory by getting the five parts of Exodia in his hand for an instant win. In the third episode, a minor villain destroys the cards so suspense can be maintained in future duels.

** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Gundam Wing]]'' had Libra's cannon, which was sabotaged into being recharged.

** ''[[After War Gundam X|Gundam X]]'' had the various Satellite Cannons, which couldn't be used without a laundry list of right stuff.

* [[Shakugan no Shana|Alastor]] gets to be here instead of [[Deus Exit Machina]] because his power is only ever used once, in a manner much more like a [[Wave Motion Gun]] i.e,. a weapon, not someone who really does anything. He isn't used again (besides the obvious) because there's a chance {{spoiler|it could kill Shana.}}

* Played straight and then averted (hard!) in ''[[Code Geass]]'' with the {{spoiler|FLEIJA warheads}}. At first, Suzaku has one and is swearing to whatever god(s) he believes in that he will not shoot it, {{spoiler|until he gets careless and goes up against an opponent he cannot beat. This being Suzaku, he's [[Death Seeker|completely unwilling to accept this fact]], and when it finally dawns on him he immediately accepts death. This being the trigger for the Geass Lelouch gave him last season, Tokyo goes up in a [[Sphere of Destruction|pink sphere of death]] and supposedly kills Nunnaly}}. In the final battle, Schneizel fires one about once every five minutes. {{spoiler|Once Lelouch has control of the Damocles, he fires one to prove a point.}}

* Late in the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' manga Alphonse {{spoiler|actually ''gets'' a Philosopher's Stone that Kimblee dropped}}, but only after the brothers had decided they wouldn't use [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|it]] for themselves even if they got it.

* In the ''Chapter Black'' saga of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Yusuke is joined by several psychics. One of them, Kaito, not only has [[Words Can Break My Bones|the power to take anyone's soul that violates his rules]] but also ''prevent anyone from using violence in his territory''. While this might have been useful during the ensuing chaos, the only time he is seen using his abilities is when [[The Obi-Wan|Genkai]] is trying to prove a point to the heroes.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' faces this difficulty when it comes to the Kyuubi. If he drew on its power he could readily defeat many opponents who otherwise give him trouble, but when he does it quickly overwhelms his ability to reason. A large part of Shippuden revolves around his attempts to suppress the Kyuubi and find alternative powers.

** In more recent chapters Naruto is training hard to avert this trope. The strength of the opponents he must fight is such that he ''needs'' to master the full power of the Kyuubi and ''soon''.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** Averted in ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' where the Flash uses his powers to make Keystone City truly crime free.

* As for the kid superhero Impulse, who could run at supersonic speeds, the reasons that normal-speed villains could give him a hard time was that Impulse was such an impulsive thinker and was often his own worst enemy.

** There was one issue where she had an internal monologue lampshading this; as a martial artist she's trained to fight with her fights and her heart, and using her metahuman powers would be like bringing a bazooka to a boxing match. On this occasion Oracle had been kidnapped, though, so she was using the Cry right left and centre with a 'screw them' attitude.

 

== Fanfiction ==

** In the second film, he actually raises this point himself when testifying to the Senate commission. He calls the suit (or rather himself) the new nuclear deterrent. As a result of his influence, the world's experiencing a long-lasting period of peace and [[Justified Trope|will continue to do so as long as the suit remains under the control of a stable, trustworthy entity.]] The irony is that he's an alcoholic dying guy who later uses above-miltary grade weaponry to explode glass in a crowded room and considers himself "stable and trustworthy".

** Another example of this trope in the second movie are the {{spoiler|<s>lasers</s> [[Fan Nickname|Death Blossoms]]. Extremely powerful and capable of ending any confrontation but they can only be used once.}}

** There's also the fact that, as Star Treks III and especially IV showed, the Klingon Empire was none too thrilled to see the Federation have a planet-killing weapon. Had the Federation been able to salvage the research, there could easily have been a war.

** A non-phlebotinum example: in "Whom Gods Destroy", a shape-shifting impostor captures Kirk and copies his appearance to escape the asylum planet where he is imprisoned, only to be stopped due to Scotty refusing to beam up the Captain without saying the proper response to the code phrase "Queen to Queen's Level 3". The code phrase had never been mentioned before and would never be mentioned again, even in situations featuring impostors running around (such as "[[Star Trek/Recap/S3/E24 Turnabout Intruder|Turnabout Intruder]]" where the omission is quite glaring)

* Averted in ''[[Star Wars]]'': While the original plan was to use the Death Star once and rule by fear, the Empire does use it every time they can.

* In ''[[Quest of the Delta Knights]]'', a made-for-TV movie popularized by its appearance on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', the Delta Knights were an organization dedicated to finding Archimedes' lost inventions, and using them to "bring the world out of the dark ages." In the end, the heroes decide to destroy the inventions because "the world isn't ready for such power." Of course, most of those inventions were used heavily in the Renaissance Period, the time period in which the movie is set.

 

 

*** Even if such a biological agent was never used, it would make an effective "[[Sword of Damocles]]" for the humans to possess, and potentially force the Cylons to halt their campaign under the threat of mutally assured destruction if the humans were pushed to the point of using it.

*** If the humans simply told the Cylons about it, the Cylons would have needed to hold back Resurrection Ships from battle, making battles significantly more costly for the Cylons.

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' in general, in fact, tends to do this a lot with its more mundane gadgets as well as the shiny new [[McGuffin]] Of The Week.

** In any typical episode from any series, if any of the crew are trapped somewhere, you can expect something to go wrong with the transporters. Send a shuttle craft? That ion storm that's blocking the transporter already downed the last one, which is why the away team is trapped, so it's best not to go throwing away another one. Try to air-drop some supplies? The ion storm will destroy them too.

** By the way, if this is another holodeck-gone-wild episode, don't expect the holodeck's built-in safeties to work. Either the computer's not taking orders today, or the villain of your favorite holodeck adventure still knows how to trap you in a dungeon or force field when the safeties keep his ray gun from destroying you. There's also a good possibility one of your enemies is at the controls ''trying'' to get you killed, having successfully locked out all of your teammates who are trying to rescue you.

** This is why at least one popular theory among fans is that what happened between episodes wasn't interesting enough to be worth showing us because all those times, the phlebotinum ''worked''.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* [[Peace Through Superior Firepower|Nuclear weapons]] anyone?

** [[Completely Missing the Point|I believe you're thinking of ''uranium'']]

** Isn't this trope only for fiction?

** Apparently not? Also: how about [[Unwinnable by Design|tic-tac-toe]] instead?

** Nuclear weapons probably don't count since the only thing they are really useful for is killing civilians while not under fire from enemy forces and rendering the area uninhabitable. Comparatively speaking, anything a nuclear weapon can do can be done much safer and easier with the appropriate conventional warhead for the situation. If nuclear warheads had a legitimate purpose beyond mass civilian casualties that couldn't be done better with other types of warheads, they might see more usage. Right now, their only real purpose is as a threat rather then an actual weapon. Even for attacking civilians, nuclear warheads aren't always the best option.

*** Not really true. There are a huge number of military situations in which nuclear weapons would be far more useful than their two orders of magnitude less conventional cousins; it's just that civilised societies (rightly) have such a horror of SUSTAINED nuclear weapon use that no one is willing to set the precident of using a nuke if a conventional weapon will possibly suffice. The "nuclear weapons are useful only for killing civilians" belief is a direct consequence of the US cold war policy of MAD, where they reacted to any hint of Soviet aggression with the threat of global extinction.

* Read a popular science magazine. Any of them. Once a week there is special feature on some technology that surely should have solved all the problems of the world by now.

* The United States is blessed with the world's largest supply of helium, with some 78% of world production today; in the past, before significant sources were found in Algeria, Russia, and elsewhere, the proportion was even higher. In the early 20th century, the US intentionally banned foreign sales of helium for strategic reasons; this is why the German Zeppelin company was forced to use hydrogen rather than helium in its eponymous airships, which (in turn) led to or at least exacerbated the ''[[Hindenburg]]'' disaster.

[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]

[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]