Phlebotinum Du Jour: Difference between revisions

** [[Clock Punk|Mechanical gears]] and optics ([[E. T. A. Hoffmann|ETA Hoffmann]], [[L. Frank Baum]]).

** Electricity, particularly [[Lightning Can Do Anything|lightning]]. (''[[Frankenstein's Monster]]'')

** Mesmerism ([[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar'') Do note that as originally understood (at least by its creator), Mesmerism was not hypnosis, but rather an intricate ritual combining mysticism and electricity to adjust what Mesmer called a person's "animal magnetism", or "[[Life Force]]"; it was not until later that it was realized that all of his electrical apparatus and magnetism theories were pointless, and he had instead accidentally invented hypnosis in the experiments/rituals.

** Vivisection (''[[The Island of Doctor Moreau]]'')

** Radio waves and microwaves

** ''[[Chemistry Can Do Anything]]'', particularly pharmaceutical type (Super Soldier Serum; Dr. Jekyll's formula), although the [[Silver Age]] [[Flash]] got his powers by having a bunch of random chemicals spilled all over him at the same time he got hit by lightning—two phlebotina for the price of one! Note that all of the DCU speedsters were later [[retcon]]ned into being powered by the mystical "[[Meta Origin|Speed Force]]", probably to stop the endless process of phlebotinum decay going on with their "scientific" origins.

** Mathematical formulae (source of the original Johnny Quick's speed, and much of the "magic" in H. P. Lovecraft's works.)

* 1980s-1990s Phlebotinum

** [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|Genetic Engineering]] and [[Bio Augmentation]].

** Chaos Theory

** [[Antimatter]]

* [[Quantum Mechanics Can Do Anything]]

* [[I Love Nuclear Power]]

* [[Magical Particle Accelerator]]

 

[[Category:Trope Names From the French]]

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]