Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''Using Surf to cross ''lava''?!''|'''Lance''', ''[[Pokémon Special]]''}}

 

 

 

Lava's animation is likely to be just as bad, especially in works where the technology and artistic technique to draw bubbling and flowing are limited. (Games are the worst offenders here, since the CPU power necessary to plausibly model fluid dynamics is often more than it would take to run the entire game, minus the fluid-dynamics model.) Lava will look like someone tipped a barrel of red Kool-Aid in a lake; if something falls in, it will still be visible, through the red tint of cherry flavor.

 

Compare [[Sand Is Water]]. Sometimes a subtrope of [[Palette Swap]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** [[Mazinkaiser]] paid homage to that episode with one scene where the titular [[Humongous Mecha]] was tossed into the crater of Mount Fuji. The lava also seems less dangerous than it should be in this instance. However, given what kind of punishment Mazinkaiser shrugs off throughout the series, withstanding a lava bath seems almost trivial.

** Then again, neither should the 8th Angel that just happens to look like a Lava Fish. When in doubt, an AT Field did it. Weirder things have been done by AT Fields anyway...it seems to actually alter reality around the Angel when used.

** ''[[Shinji and Warhammer40K|Shinji and Warhammer 40 K]]'' handwaves the vision as some kind of [[Everything Sensor]], which might have been lifted from [[All There in the Manual|the manual]].

** On the other hand, Kool-Aid (of any temperature) would probably have doused Charizard's tail flame, being mostly water ([[Artistic License Physics|not to say molten rock shouldn't have doused it, too...]])

*** Well, lava is hot, and Fire-types probably use it as a spa. The heat likely kept Charizard's tail flame going. In addition, basaltic lava at a high enough temperature can actually be as runny as water. This leads to [[Convection, Schmonvection]] problems, of course...

* In [[Outlaw Star]], Aisha relaxes in a lava pool, and Gean falls in. He runs out, parboilled, but otherwise unharmed.

** [[Our Monsters Are Different|Aisha is a were-tigress]] in a universe where [[A Wizard Did It|all space-pirates are Chinese cyborg-wizards]]. Gene definitely should've died, though.

 

 

* ''[[The Core]]'' seems to present the ultra-high pressure liquid metal at the core of the earth as being thin as water and just about as clear, just slightly yellow-orange tinted. Being under such high pressure, the "liquid" core really functions more like a solid (denser than lead), and it's most certainly not the transparency and color of tang.

** Movie convenience. Wouldn't be much of a movie, take that as you will, if the outside views were fully based on reality now wouldn't they. As for the viscosity...least of problems present.

*** Of course, the movie may have been a lot more interesting if they didn't have any outside views, and we were limited to the same visual detectors as the crew.

* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' {{spoiler|Gollum and the Ring tumble into the magma within Mount Doom. Gollum splashes around and sinks, and the ring stays afloat. The rock slowly melts, and the ring melts instantly upon hitting the rock.}} Chalk it up to some combination of [[Rule of Cool]], [[Artistic License]] and [[A Wizard Did It]].

* Averted in ''[[Spy Kids|Spy Kids 3D: Game Over.]]'' The "lava" is a bunch of computer pixels, so they have no effect on the player.

* In ''[[The Terminator|Terminator 2: Judgement Day]]'' the T1000 falls into molten metal<ref>(Okay, not lava but close enough.)</ref> that mysteriously splashes just like coloured water.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** It also a type of shark that lived in molten lava.

** 4th edition outright averts it. The rules are "If you touch it and aren't fully immune to fire, you die." No damage. Outright death.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' for NES has it.

* In ''[[One Piece]] [[Licensed Game|Unlimited Adventure]]'': it is possible to fish in a pool of lava, where lava fish somehow are swimming around.

** [[Rule of Cool|It is]] ''[[One Piece]]'', after all.

*** One of the endgame levels has a navy of ships sailing on lava like an ocean. Swimming underneath it is a viable option for completing the level.

** Averted in later games, where the lava kills Mario instantly or causes him to jump off if he touches it, although he still has [[Convection, Schmonvection]] on his side.

** Death by falling into lava in ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' uses the same animation for [[Quicksand Sucks|drowning in quicksand]]. You can also ''fish'' in the lava (you won't catch anything, of course), indicating that the game simply thinks of it as retextured water with an added [[Super Drowning Skills|contact penalty]].

* Believe it or not, the [[The Moral Substitute|Christian-themed]] ''Zelda'' clone ''Spiritual Warfare'' partially averted this by showing lava in the demon stronghold seethe and bubble compared to the two different animations for water textures; it's harmfulness is irrelevant since you can't walk into it. It had its own recoloring in the form of boiling green slime.

**** [[Collective Groan|Although,]] Super Metroid's soundtrack describes the song for Lower Norfair as "Norfair: Hot Lava zone" ...

** ''[[Metroid Prime]]'''s Magmoor, as the name might indicate, doesn't try to escape it. Aside from the damage, Samus' mobility while wading in it is all but negated.

** Let's not forget the giant worms, ''[[Metroid: Other M|Other M]]'''s whales, and various other creatures that live in the lava.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', taken to such an extent that one dungeon in particular is easier and quicker to reach by dropping into and walking through a large pool of lava, healing up as you go, than it is to take the "normal" entry route past a long chain of mobs. It's still quicker even if you're many, many levels above the mobs in question.

*** They did attempt to make lava seem viscous in the game since it, unlike water, does not always have a flat surface. Most of the time it just looks weird though, as it keeps a bumpy, uneven surface while still remaining perfectly still.

** Even better, the Cataclysm expansion added the ability to ''fish'' in lava. The best result is some form of elemental fire, but you also get small animal bones, melted weapons, and ... all the usual fishing failure [[Vendor Trash]], like ''weeds'' and ''pieces of cloth''.

* The ''[[Sonic Adventure Series]]'' stage Red Mountain pretty much plays this straight along with the [[Convection, Schmonvection]]-ness of it. The lava is bright red bubbling goo, and is buoyant enough to have gigantic rocks floating on top of it for Sonic to jump on.

* In ''[[La-Mulana]]'', lava is pretty much a [[Palette Swap]] of water, with the mechanics being very similar despite the different colors: you need one item to avoid taking damage (water can cause damage too in this game) and another to use the MSX while submerged. Diving through several screens of lava in the Inferno Cavern is actually required.

** There's also a memo you can find in one of the final levels that was sent by the manufacturer of their fake lava, stating that while it looks far less realistic than previous versions (the lava in NOLF2 looks terrible compared to the first game), it is far hotter.

* In ''[[Lemmings]]'', lava looks like bubbling, red-orangey water, and causes [[Super Drowning Skills|the same kind of death]] as any of the other types of water.

** Most likely the case, as lava in [[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind|Morrowind]] is treated fairly realistically (you don't sink when you step on it, you can't swim in it, and it doesn't flow like water). Can stand next to it all day without minding, though. Cryodiil doesn't have much in the way of active tectonic activity, where Morrowind is set on a large volcanic island.

* Most of the lava in ''[[Donkey Kong Country]] 2'' is treated as a [[Bottomless Pit]]. However in one level you can cool the lava down in order to swim through it.

*** The reason in this case is because the level in the screenshot is a [[Palette Swap]] of the Sunken Ship level type, with the "lava" being a unique twist to it for the [[Lethal Lava Land]] world.

*** Or how jumping on a seal's back allows him to cool it down. (Though at least that remains [[Magic A Is Magic A|internally consistent]]; you later use the same seals again for a [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World]]).

'''Dan''': ''"Can it, you. It's lava, alright?"'' }}

* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'''s handling of lava seems to have gotten ''less'' realistic as time has passed. In the old 2D versions, lava flowed significantly more slowly than water and touching it was typically instantly fatal, though special workshops could be built hanging over magma without harming the workers (unless dangerous creatures crawled out of the magma). In 3D versions up to 0.28.181.40d, it flowed at the exact same rate as water (but didn't follow the rules of pressure ''unless'' you used pumps) but was still very deadly. In the latest versions (0.31.xx), though, the introduction of tissue layers (and some apparent issues involving temperature transfer between them) means that being immersed in magma causes [[Body Horror|fat to melt off]] and results in bleeding to death (unless the creature is big enough and thus has enough blood, at which point the bleeding stops and the creature tends to ''drown'' before dying in the heat).

* ''[[The Curse of Monkey Island]]'' has a lava-powered barbeque.

** Somewhat truth in advertising, you can [http://www.dolphinbayhilo.com/cook.html cook with lava].

* ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]] Nuts & Bolts'': The first level has lava inside a volcano that is just water with a different color. [[Justified Trope|It fits the theme, however, of a level with inflatable trees, clouds moved by a water mill, and a horizon provided by LCD screens.]]

* In ''[[Fate]]'', lava encountered in the Dungeon is a recolor of water. You can catch fish in it.

* It's possible that it's not even supposed to be lava, but at any rate the Last Cave in ''[[Cave Story]]'' has pits filled with a red liquid that damages you. Aside from its color and its ability to damage you, it is identical to the water found elsewhere in the game.

* ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' had ''translucent'' red lava. Partially averted in ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'' and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' with their opaque lava, but objects and enemies still fall right through it like water.

'''Host:''' Don't worry. That "lava" is just Orange Ade, made by our sponsor Osaka Orange Ade Concern.

'''Homer:''' IT BURNS! IT BURNS!!! }}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Paint the Index Red]]

[[Category:Lava Tropes]]

[[Category:Heat Index]]