Inventional Wisdom: Difference between revisions

[[File:BOT-Overload_6711.jpg|link=Transformers Generation 1|right|[[Sarcasm Mode|No way that button could ever come back to bite them.]]]]

 

 

When the villain creates a machine of diabolical nature, some function gets thrown into the mix that wasn't quite planned, and doesn't really serve any practical reason. Expect [[Lampshade Hanging]] to ensue.

Compare [[Oven Logic]], where the oven dial goes up to thousands of degrees. One has to wonder why the oven had a dial that could go up that high if it wasn't meant to be used that way.

 

 

== Anime ==

* At the end of ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'', the enraged Monster is rampaging through the lab. As he approaches a very large wooden lever Dr. Pretorius shouts, "Don't touch that lever! You'll blow us all to atoms!" The question must be asked: if you were collecting all the supplies and fixtures you'd need to build your super high-tech lab, how far down the list would "a lever that will blow us all to atoms" be?

** Well to be fair, he doesn't say that's what the lever is ''for''. Any [[Mad Scientist]]'s lab is going to be full of equipment on the verge of exploding, so messing with controls you don't understand is a very bad idea...

* The Chompers in ''[[Galaxy Quest (Film)|Galaxy Quest]]'', Gwen lampshades how ridiculous it is that there is a [[Death Course]] in the middle of the ship.

{{quote| '''Gwen''': <s>Fuck</s> Screw that! I'm not doing it! This episode was ''badly written''!}}

* An episode of ''[[Sesame Street]]'' involved a high-powered air conditioning system being installed in the Furry Arms Hotel. Humphrey specifically states that it's only meant to be turned up to 10. If the knob is turned up to 14, it will break. Those are literally his exact words. Guess what the resident penguins end up doing.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' episode "Blink", the Doctor {{spoiler|(who has been sent back to 1969 by the Weeping Angels)}} constructs a device from various unrelated objects, including a casette and a flashlight to detect other "travellers".

* ''[[Chuck]]'' Versus the Mask, the museum's computer room has a big red readout that says system failure. Talk about a complete lack of faith in your system. [[Fridge Logic|Shouldn't they have hired a curator who knew how to use a computer?]]

* ''[[Far Out Space Nuts (TV)|Far Out Space Nuts]]:'' "I said ''lunch'', not ''launch!''" Maybe those two buttons shouldn't be right next to each other?

** [[Morality Chip|Empathy Generators]] on the turrets. Too keep them able to shoot people they also installed an Empathy Suppressor.

** [[Springs Springs Everywhere|Aerial Faith Plates]] that propel the player vast distances; these were designed to send test subjects into space, apparently sans spacesuit or any other means of survival. They were also plans to use them to load cargo onto trucks, despite the fact that the cargo is thrown with such force that it either breaks it and/or causes it to bounce back out.

** Propulsion and Repulsion Gels, which were originally conceived as [[Squick|digestive aids]] despite the latter containing an element that "does not like ''the human skeleton''".

** Wheatley, the hilariously dumb personality core, is an elaborately set up subversion of this. It turns out that his stupidity {{spoiler|1=is completely intentional, as he was designed to keep GLaDOS hobbled by constantly feeding her bad advice.}} Of course, this is what caused GLaDOS to [[AI Is a Crapshoot|go haywire]] and kill her creators. {{spoiler|They also didn't anticipate that his idiocy would go so far as to arrange to kick her out of the job of [[Big Bad]] and [[Face Heel Turn|take over]] the role himself. Oops.}}

 

== Western Animation ==

{{quote| '''Plankton:''' Coin-operated self-destruct? Not one of my brighter ideas.}}

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': The Lorwardian Motherships' engines have an "off" switch.

{{quote| '''Warmonga:''' Long have I questioned the wisdom of that accursed switch!}}

** Not to mention that every evil device Dr. Doofenshmirtz makes has a "reverse" setting, or a "self destruct" button. And every death trap he makes for Perry the Platypus has an escape hatch or escape-pod. All this is usually lampshaded by Doofenshmirtz himself saying things like "Why did I even put that there? What's wrong with me?"

{{quote| Ferb: You know, in retrospect I questioned the inclusion of a self destruct button in the first place.}}

** In one episode, Doofenshmirtz spends an entire episode looking for an on-off switch so he can activate his latest [[Theme Naming|-inator]]. It turns out that all the -inator does is open the cage that he had trapped Perry in.

{{quote| '''Kuzco:''' [[Chekhov's Gag|Why does she even have that lever]]?}}

* ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'': "Action Packed"