Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Difference between revisions

* N2 ([[Suspiciously Specific Denial|Non-Nuclear]]) mines in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. They're the largest and most destructive incendiaries ever invented, and they even create a mushroom cloud, ''but nope, they ain't nukes, hell no''. They can somehow do this with a much smaller range than an actual nuke.

** [[Truth in Television]]: Conventional thermobaric weapons like the MOAB have the thermal and overpressure effects of a tactical nuke, except that they are three orders of magnitude weaker.

** It's outright stated that a number of cities, including "Old Tokyo", were nuked during the Post-Impact Wars that had raged in the early 21st Century. It even led to the presumed revocation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution (renouncing war "forever" and banning the government's right to declare an offensive war), and the establishment of the "J'''S'''SDF" (Japanese '''Strategic''' Self-Defence Forces). Considering the fact that they have 40-foot technorganic mechas developed from [[Eldritch Abomination|Angels]], the idea that they were able to develop bombs with power roughly equal to smaller strategic nukes is one of their [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]].

** The "Non-Nukes" still produce an EMP effect, however, as can be seen in the first episode of the TV series.

** It also comes up in the fact that most mobile suits have fusion reactors: in both [[Mobile Suit Gundam|the original series]] and ''[[Gundam Unicorn]]'', someone accidentally blows a hole in a colony when an enemy MS they destroy goes up in a nuclear fireball. In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]]'', amoral Federation officers attempt to [[We Have Reinforcements|take advantage of this]] to destroy a Zeon mobile armor. ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam F91]]'' introduces shotlancers, pneumatic lances designed specifically to keep this from happening by destroying specific parts of enemy machines (such as coolant lines) and forcing an emergency reactor shut-down.

** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Gundam Wing]]'' plays it straight only due to a faulty translation. Lady Une tries to get rid of the Gundams by self-destructing a stockpile of missiles beneath the base they're attacking. The English translation simply refers to them as "large missiles", but the original Japanese dialog explicitly calls them ICBMs.

** Plays a role in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED|Gundam SEED]]'''s backstory. When the Earth Alliance and ZAFT go to war, the Alliance's '''first''' response is a tactical strike on the colony Junius Seven. ZAFT invents devices called Neutron Jammers which prevent nuclear reactions, primarily to prevent any further nukings (which also has the side-effect of making most mecha in this setting battery-powered). Eventually a countermeasure is developed, and when the Alliance gets it they go for another bombing run. This time around, ZAFT has a counter-countermeasure called the Neutron Stampeder, which [[Hoist by His Own Petard|causes the nukes to go off early]].

** In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Gundam 00]]'', nuclear weapons never come up because the world's nuclear arsenals were disarmed decades before the show started. {{spoiler|Which was all part of Aeolia's plan.}} However, the Gundams' GN Drives may be a form of "clean" nuclear power (the name stands for "Gundam Nucleus").

* [[After the End|Naturally]] [[Averted Trope|averted]] in most releases of ''[[Fallout 3]]'' but in Japan, the implications (which are, actually, not so much implied [[Nuclear War|as outright stated]]) of the setting resulted in some changes for localization purposes. The Japanese release of ''Fallout 3'' had the entire questline related to detonating the nuclear weapon at Megaton removed. This also removes the Tenpenny Towers quests that open up in relation to it. The Fat Man launcher was renamed "Nuka Launcher" (Perhaps trying to connect more towards the fictional in game soft drink Nuka Cola), though this one should have been obvious considering that the name "Fat Man" comes from the bomb dropped on Nagasaki...

* Used... ''differently'' in ''[[Singularity]]'': There exist nuclear bombs, but the ''real'' focus is on an E-99 bomb that is a little bigger than a basketball and can turn the ''whole East Coast'' of your United States into a smoldering crater. Then there's the eponymous [[It Got Worse|Singularity]].

* ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]]'' removed nuclear weapons from the game through a plot device while its predecessors used them amply. This no doubt had to do with the addition of a Japanese faction and someone rightly figuring that creating a game that you won by dropping a nuclear weapon on the Japanese might make someone mad.

* The original ''[[Ace Combat]]'' setting, Strangereal, is supposed to be an alternate universe of our Earth with approximately equal level of technological advancement. However, the only nation that apparently has ever developed its own nukes is Belka (essentially an alternate [[Nazi Germany]]) and even then their warheads counted in ''single units'', not the thousands that world powers possess in [[Real Life]] today and seems to lack long range delivery systems. For this reason, Strangereal's two superpowers Osea and Yuktobanian (counterparts of the US and Soviet Union) could duke it out in ''Ace Combat 5'' in what would have basically become [[World War III]] in our world, without risking a nuclear apocalypse. In fact, when Belkan remnants try to use their remaining nuclear warheads in that war, the hostilities soon cease and everyone gangs up on the Belkans instead. That ''[[Ace Combat]]'' was developed by the Japanese company Bandai-Namco probably explains things.

** Belka is the only nation stated to have ''used'' nukes in a war. During the events of [[Ace Combat Zero]], in an act of desperation, they resorted to dropping nukes on 7 of their own cities to try and delay the allied advance. The rest of the world was ''horrified'' at this, and may explain the world's preference for other types of weaponry.

** Even when Namco changed over to the real world in Ace Combat Assault Horizon, they played this trope straight. The [[Big Bad]]'s super weapon, Trinity, was shown to have varying levels of destruction, ranging from vaporizing a medium-sized bridge, to destroying an entire city, and still having enough power to nearly knock the Protagonist off his feet from twenty or thirty miles away. However, Trinity has shown to have zero nuclear fallout, and by all means, it is still a conventional warhead, all things considered. In short, it's not a nuke, but a really, ''really'' big bomb.

* Handily averted in ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption''. One of the player's missions is to build a nuclear bomb. It only gets used to destroy a shield, though.

* Averted in the ''[[Civilization]]'' series, where you can indeed build nukes and threaten your enemies with them. Actually using them does tend to mess up the environment, as well as make everybody hate you.

* The "Bleach Protocol" in ''[[Generator Rex]]'', used as a last resort against particularly dangerous EVOs. Lampshaded in one episode:

{{quote|'''Rex''': I don't know Doc. Sometimes you just have to say "[[Nuke'Em]]".

'''Rex''': Try working ''that'' into a [[Catch Phrase]]. }}

* [[Megas XLR]] has nukes in its arsenal, with warning labels around the [[Big Red Button]]. Coop ''wants'' to press it anyway, even when he and the enemy are in an underground military base at the time. Kiva insists that the nukes are not to be used, to Coop's disappointment.