Misapplied Phlebotinum: Difference between revisions
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** Seemingly played straight, but averted at the last second with in the case of the [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Yamasenken and Umisenken]]. These are exceptionally devastating martial arts schools which emphasize, respectively, outwards force and absolute stealth. Warrior-minded fighters will seek them out to add to their repertoire... but in their creator's words, they're actually meant for ''burglary'' and ''thievery''.
** Gosunkugi gets ten paper dolls which let him give people commands that they must obey. He suffers from a pretty severe lack of imagination. He tries to command Ranma to argue with Akane—he didn't succeed, but nobody would have noticed anyway. The other nine are similarly squandered.
* One niche of hentai involves "skinsuits" that allow a male user to become a woman, functional vagina with sensation and all, just by putting one on. Where modelled on an existing person, said skinsuits are usually also indistinguishable from the model, including the model's dimensions, regardless of the user's original size. Usual use: Indulging genderswap sexual fantasies. No one seems to consider the potential such a thing would have for espionage or show business. The ability of a skinsuit to convey touch sensations without needing surgery to connect with the user's nervous system also implies an amazing underlying grasp of neurology that could greatly benefit paraplegics and nerve damage patients, but nothing of the sort ever comes up.
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** And then there's Martin, who is basically the Hulk, who uses his ability to...advertise his chain of super-markets. {{spoiler|Oh, and do work for the mafia}}.
** But easily topping them both: Using a [[Time Travel|Time Portal]]... for [http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/21p36/ garbage disposal.] And a septic tank, somehow.
* Heroically averted in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]''. If someone didn't think of a good use… someone else will.
*
** The Wormgates themselves can be considered an evil aversion of this trope as well: after all as long as people are seen going in one place and coming out the other, there's nothing to worry about what goes on in between...[[Cloning Blues|right?]]
*** Or,
{{quote|'''Narrator''': Every non-compromised mini-gate in the system begins {{spoiler|[[Macross Missile Massacre|spouting dangerous, semi-sentient military hardware]]}}.
'''Narrator''': It should surprise no-one that the F'sherl-ganni use their gate-copy technology for mass-production of manufactured items. Oddly enough, [[Mass "Oh Crap"|it surprises almost everyone]]...}}
** And even before the introduction of the Teraport there was the ubiquitous gravitic technology; if you have gravity manipulation<ref>not creation, just manipulating the gravity generated by a sphere of Neutronium</ref> on your ship then you already have forcefields, tractor-beams and a reactionless drive as well.
*** ...not to mention the ability to rip other ships apart with a careful application of gravitics.
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** This is also a universe where every major government has a dedicated ([[The Masquerade|albeit secret]]) magic agency. Just because ''Tedd's'' not applying the phlebotinum doesn't mean somebody isn't.
** Tedd and his friends occasionally do break out the transformation gun for more practical purposes, like to turn Elliot into a [[Were Cat|werecat]] for battles.
* ''[[Drive (webcomic)|Drive]]'': [[Averted Trope|Averted]] viciously. If the space being pinched by a ring drive is occupied by a planet, then that planet will suffer massive tremors. The bigger the ship, the more severe the quakes. This ''has'' been taken to the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130703002332/http://www.drivecomic.com/archive/110519.html logical] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130702233254/http://www.drivecomic.com/archive/110623.html conclusion].
* ''[[Vexxarr]]'' mocking ''[[Star Trek]]'': "It's like they were so confused by the weird conundrums inherent in their wacky technology that they couldn't see [[Mundane Solution|the solution staring them right in the ''face'']]."
** Also, [http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=030617 on transporters]:
{{quote|'''Carl''': A show where all sentient life has the ultimate superweapon, and they float around pointing flashlight at each other.}}
== [[Web Original]] ==
* The eponymous object in ''[[Erikas New Perfume|Erika's New Perfume]]'' never really does more but take up space in Erika's bedroom after Sarah uses it, despite having at least two of its three demonstrated functions with a definite audience for them and having even more [[All There in the Manual]]. This might partially be because the characters themselves don't ''have'' the manual, though.
* ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s [https://web.archive.org/web/20131016234318/http://www.cracked.com/article/138_6-magical-movie-items-they-wasted-bullshit/ 6 Magical Movie Items They Wasted on Bullshit].{{dead link}}
* Phase is single-handedly wrecking this trope in the [[Whateley Universe]]. Only a freshman at [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]], he's already going around getting inventors to sign up with his financial service and marketing their inventions to fix this problem. Bugs had a weird gadget that faked painting on stuff: Phase saw how to turn it into the best toy ever. Jericho had some stuff that Phase is trying to patent and turn into the best medikit in the world. Loophole had a gadget that helped her get awesome performance out of her self-built car: Phase wants to market it as a way of cranking up automotive fuel efficiency world-wide.
* ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'' author Stephan Gagne's ''[http://www.pixelscapes.com/unrealestate/ Unreal Estate]'' is set [[In a World]] where technology that allows pocket universes to be created to order is ubiquitous. It's mostly used to create a few [[Planet of Hats|Worlds of Hats]]—the most unusual world is the [[First-Person Shooter]] world that automatically respawns "players" after lethal wounds. {{spoiler|The [[Big Bad]] reveals that he has a Vision about using the technology to its full potential, and [[You Can't Make an Omelette]]...}}
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* The Computer, a machine capable of performing incredibly complex arithmetic and decision logic, primarily sees use doing a workless infinite loop and managing resources that may one day be used. Even in the case of people who actually use computers for things, most of the time it's the same old boring stuff over and over again. They want to do their accounts, or write a letter, when the machine may be capable of creating sapient or sentient thought, or just comparing your personal data to millions of other people and trying to figure out what kind of beer you'd want.
** And [[The Internet Is for Porn|porn.]] Can't forget the porn.
** Oh, it gets used for the important stuff, too, like doing simulations for engineers and scientists. It's just that they're so cheap nowadays that the [[Mundane Utility]] of being able to do silly stuff like editing [[
** [[It Gets Worse]]. The Brain, the most marvelous organ in your body, capable of incredible feats of complex movement coordination, communication, image and sound analysis, and decision-making, primarily sees use reading [[
*** [[Running Gag|And porn. Can't forget the porn.]]
* Any science fiction full-body alteration device. Yes, they do occasionally forget that [[Reed Richards Is Useless]] and start marketing it to transsexuals, but fail to recognize that a device capable of making such thorough rearrangements of adult bodies ''might'' be engineered for more than appearance - like, say, ''immortality''.
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