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* ''[[Surrogates]]'': In this world exists the technology to control machines with your mind, and yet its applications in the film are painfully limited. For example, we see people fighting wars by controlling human-looking infantry robots that are even wearing fatigues and helmets. Why not just control a tank? We even see surrogates using handheld cell phones!
* In the various ''[[Blade]]'' movies, Blade is the only [[Half-Human Hybrid|(Half)]] vampire with the [[Our Vampires Are Different|ability to go about in the daylight.]] Best use in movie: None, he just moves around and talks to humans during the day. Better use: Use it to attack other vampires in their homes or offices during the day when they can't run away. However, it's [[Rule of Cool|more cool]] to kung-fu fight vampires than stake them in their sleep.
* In ''[[The Matrix]]'' sequels, Neo never seems to use the full extent of his powers. In the first film, it's implied that he has transcended the laws of the Matrix, and can now just about anything he wants while inside. When Smith attacks him, he just tears apart his code. In films two and three, he shows some super-powers, like being able to fly and stop bullets, but he's still punching his enemies and worrying about getting punched.
** A possible explanation is that the Matrix in the second and third movie is reloaded (i.e. a new version) and that the upgrade reduced Neo's powers. This is supported by the first time in Matrix: Reloaded that Neo fights a group of Agents. They prove to be (slightly) more of a challenge than he remembers, and he sarcastically remarks: "Hmm... upgrades."
* ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'' is full of this, but it's lampshaded by Mike Teevee being outraged that Willy Wonka only wants to use his shrinking/teleportation ray for something as "pointless" as candy, when he could be using it on more interesting things, like breakfast cereal and ''people.'' Shortly thereafter, he learns the teleporter's limitations [[Don't Touch It, You Idiot!|the hard way.]]
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* In ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]: [[The Movie]]'', we learn that Tom Servo has an interocitor from ''[[This Island Earth]]'' in his room, which is capable of interstellar communication, blasting stuff with heat rays, [[Green Rocks|and just about anything else imaginable]]. He uses his to make hot chocolate.
* In the film ''Flubber'', the lead character's research is to help fund the university. He's assisted by a flying computer equipped with Artificial Intelligence, which would probably be worth millions, if not billions.
** Justified trope: He has no idea how he made her, and can't replicate it.
* ''Iron Man''. Similar to Flubber, by far the most important scientific breakthrough is the development of AI, yet the implications of this are not mentioned once and it's never used for anything more than cheap laughs. This trope also appears for many other technologies including those that are central to the films, but at least they're usually excused in some way, even if those ways are rather flimsy.
** ''[[Iron Man]]'' possibly has the justification that Stark is implied to make a lot of cool toys for himself and just uses them for mundane things instead of marketing them, just because he can be a lazy dick.
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** However, it is mentioned that they get infinite money from Alice's [[Psychic Powers|foreknowledge of the stock market's ups and downs.]] And then Carlisle is a doctor, which is a pretty good way to put his skills to use. And Edward used to use his mind-reading powers to hunt down criminals.
** Don't forget the perfect looks, absolute expertise in all physical combat, inability to feel cold/heat/pain, and several degrees apiece. About the only thing that can be used as an excuse is that the Volturi might kill them for using too much of their awesome stuff, but then that doesn't stop them from buying crazy-expensive cars and jet-setting around the world for years at a time. You have to think the world governments already know about them.
* Refreshingly, completely ''[[Averted Trope|averted]]'' in ''[[Honor Harrington|Honorverse]]'', at least about the [[Artificial Gravity]]: it was clearly shown to be the technology that makes their world ''exist''. It enables interstellar trade, as countergrav shuttles makes orbital delivery economical, and truly ''humongous'' (they weigh in ''megatonnes'') merchant boats keep shipping prices low enough that a ton of beef brought from hundred light years away could still cost same or even cheaper than the ton of a ''local'' beef. It also revolutionized architecture ([[Crystal Spires and Togas|10-km high residential towers]] anyone?), other areas of transport, and almost all their military technology, from the grav lenses in their [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] to the [[Deflector Shields]] or the engines of [[Macross Missile Massacre|all those missiles]] are different applications of the same basic countergrav.
* In [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''Timeline'' there is an immensely powerful quantum computer capable of recording the exact quantum state of every particle in human body, and then sending the data to another universe where it can somehow be recreated into a perfect copy of the person (though the original is technically speaking destroyed - the protagonists are much less disturbed by this than you'd think). It is used to study history by sending people and recorders to universes identical to our own except their position in time, when they could use it among other things for consulting dead people with important opinions, for duplicating rare and useful materials, for ''immortality'', or ''for bringing just about any technology that's ever going to be invented in any possible future to the present you morons!''
** [[Two Words]] [[Teleporter Accident|Transcription Errors]].
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* "[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me if I can pick up that piece of paper ...]]"
* Averted hard in [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' setting. Thanks to ubiquitous and cheap teleporters, Earth's population becomes almost entirely homogeneous.
* Happens a lot in ''[[Harry Potter]]'', where they use ''time machines'' so that children can take more classes than they otherwise could, the [[Bag of Holding]] exists but is strangely underutilized, and so on. Deconstructed in ''[[Harry Potter and
** The Room of Requirements is even guiltier since you can't even give the "it's too dangerous" excuse. A room that can response to your request by changing itself, providing all the neccessary equipment and information. Even if it cannot create things that don't already exist (like a map that marks all V's [[Soul Jar|Horcruces]]), the possibilities are still staggering. You could probably request a room full of gold, or lost artifacts, or weapons, or hell, maybe the cures to cancer and AIDS, while you're at it (one could argue that it does exist, we just haven't been able to put it together)! Naturally, none of these options is ever explored by the characters, and they end up using it as a gym, a supply closet or a storeroom.
** And how about the Resurrection Stone? Yes, bringing back loved ones is dangerous, and trying to do it permanently is wrong, but imagine the possibilities of contacting the dead! Solving a murder crime by asking the victim, getting the wisdom from the greatest minds in History directly from them, etc.
* Aversion: in the Teleporter section of the main article, there's a mention of the potential use of this for backing yourself up/making multiple copies of yourself. The [[Charles Stross]] book ''Glasshouse'' did both; they massively affect society, and form major plot points. For example, changing genders is common thanks to the 'reconstruct' part (making gender nouns rather confusing); 'orthohuman' (standard ''H sapiens'' shape) and 'xenohuman' (with massive bodily alterations) are normal descriptions; lethal duels are equally common so long as the participants 'saved' recently; the combination of disintegration/reconstruction transport 'gates' with memory-wipe technology resulted in ''memory censor viruses'' which affect anyone who uses the gate, one of which managed to pretty much wipe the reason for a whole ''war'' from history; and a major plotpoint involves the main character {{spoiler|being knocked out by a copy of ''himself'' (well, he's physically female at the time, but he seems to identify as male for the most part), thanks to the 'original' being brainwashed with one of those memory worms.}}
* Charles Stross's [[The Merchant Princes Series]] [[Playing with a Trope|plays with]] this trope. Members of the Clan have the ability to teleport between [[All the Myriad Ways|alternate timelines]], along with whatever they can carry. They use it to get rich in modern America by smuggling drugs through a world with a feudal culture that lacks a DEA, and in that feudal culture they use their ability to get rich by bringing in modern innovations like penicillin and automatic guns. Compared to many examples on this page, that's a very smart application of the phlebotinum, compared to robbing banks, using [[Green Lantern Ring]] superpowers just for fighting, or using dinosaurs as the main attraction in an amusement park. However, after a modern business journalist learns about the system she quickly points out that mercantilism is a very old-fashioned, zero-sum economic theory and there are much better things the Clan could be doing with their time, like [[Giving Radio to the Romans]].
* In [[David Weber|David Weber's]] [[Empire From the Ashes]] the Enchanach Drive, if activated/deactivated too close to a star, can accidentally cause a [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?|supernova]]. A small error in emergence in our Solar System is also used to explain why the orbit of Pluto is a bit odd. (Well, it's using black holes - there's bound to be SOME gravitational side-effects!) {{spoiler|In fact, they make use of the supernova-riffic side effects to give an entire enemy fleet a billion-degree plasma bath.}}
* In ''The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar'', the titular Henry Sugar finds a book that gives a first-hand account of how a doctor met a man who mastered an ancient technique that allowed him to see without eyes and to also see through various thin objects, like playing cards. Subverted by the doctor, who wanted to find a way to use the technique to help people with disabilities like blindness be able to live normal lives, but played straight by Henry, who picks up the technique to win in casinos. He later subverts it himself, when he has an is bored and rich and decides to dedicate his life to winning money and donating it to various orphanages and charities.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* Most magicians in ''[[Unknown Armies]]'' behave this way, one major reason why some of the most powerful canon [[NPC]]s are almost completely mundane. The rulebooks frequently mention adepts using their earth-shattering powers and ancient mystic rituals to beat up ex-boyfriends or acquire ''[[Star Trek]]'' paraphernalia. Since step one to being an adept is to [[Justified Trope|become cripplingly obsessed and insane]]...
* In ''[[Dungeons
** Given the nature of the ''[[Dark Sun]]'' setting, it seems strange that there aren't more Water Clerics running around.
*** Create food and water aren't available spells in Dark Sun. The game designers wanted an apocalyptic setting where the players actually had to struggle.
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** Repulsion and Propulsion Gels - Gels literally capable of breaking the laws of physics by making any surface in which they are spread suddenly gain elasticity or make any object in contact with that surface ''gain momentum'' respectively. Marketed as ''dietary aids'' despite being ''horrifically toxic''.
** The Long Fall Boot—a "foot-based suit of armor for the Portal Device." Something that lets human beings fall up to ''500 ft'' and land without a scratch? It was only used to help in testing the portal gun!
** And then there's the stuff that was apparently ''never released at all'': solar powered [[Hard Light]] bridges, tractor beams capable of sending things forward or backward, [[Brain Uploading]], enough technology to create a facility literally capable of suriviving the Apocalypse, repair and literally ''[[Chaos Architecture|rearrange itself at will]]'', sentient [[A Is]] capable of running with voltage sources capable of outputs as low as ''1.1 volts'', selective desintegration... all this used for no other purpose than testing.
* Averted to an incredible degree in [[Mass Effect]]: almost everything in the universe runs on [[Minovsky Particle|eezo]]-based technology, from artificial gravity and FTL travel to miniature railguns and telekinesis.
* The Weavers in ''[[Loom (video game)|Loom]]'' can manipulate the fabric of time and space. They mostly use this power for... spinning and dying clothing.
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*** The harmonizer weakens blows from demons. A bullet will still have the same effect it always does, but a fireball will barely scratch you. This is the reason you can't just massacre the JSDF and walk out of the city.
**** It is also not selective. Anyone within range of the Harmonizer reaps the benefits, owner or no.
**** Actually, the harmonizer DOES work against bullets...but only other demon summoners. The JSDF shoots you in gameplay, remember? But, the harmonizer can only work when a demon is present, is area effect....so, yeah, it's limited.
* The Black Spider ninjas' motivation for trying to steal the [[Artifact of Doom|Dark Dragon Blade]] in ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]''? Their leader wanted to grind it up to make ''tea''. Granted, he believed drinking tea made from dragon bones (which the Dark Dragon Blade was forged from) would empower him...but still, ''tea?''
** Lampshaded in game.
* PROXY, the cheerfully homicidal (to Galen at least) [[Robot Buddy]] in ''[[The Force Unleashed]]''. Vader created a droid that could, with the proper modules, copy the techniques and appearance of any Jedi, somehow produces lightsabers from nowhere, and can even replicate ''Force abilities'' with repulsor technology. And Vader uses it as a communications device and as a [[Training
** Not so much. The Clone Wars (well, the last five minutes or so) showed that Jedi are about as effective as knights were (in other words, not very...) with their primary use being as commandos (Vader has that) and generals (Vader IS that). And we don't know how prohibitively expensive PROXY was.
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' both follows and averts this trope. [[The Verse]] is filled with these insanely powerful creatures, who mostly serve as combatants between [[The Kid with the Remote Control|kids with remote controls]]. They have also, however, been show to do more practical things.
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* On the PBS cartoon ''[[Word Girl]]'' the villainous Dr. Two-Brains builds a ray which can make gold into cheese (he's obsessed with cheese) and then a second one which can turn potato salad into gold. He then ''steals'' potato salad to turn into gold and then into cheese. Not only WordGirl but even the ''announcer'' think this is the stupidest plan ever—why not just turn potato salad into gold and ''buy more potato salad?''
* One could say that many of the devices Shredder and Krang use in [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987]] had more potential than they were using them for, including Krang's [[Morph Weapon|molecular]] [[Make My Monster Grow|manipulation circuit]] for his suit.
** {{spoiler|In ''[[Turtles Forever]]'', the Shredder of [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]] was much more creative with the Technodrome's technology, such as using the dimensional portal for bigger ambitions and even spliced the technology of Krang's suit into his own to great effect.}}
* Very common in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', which was set [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] and given the kind of writing team that admits they usually just blew the building up to round off the episode because they hadn't though of an ending. Most of the plots revolved around some new technology, and none of it was thought out very hard.
** Particularly ludicrous example is that cash money has become obsolete, but the writers apparently didn't understand how digital currency transfers work, so you get things like people stealing shipments of little green 'cash cards,' or running a 'cash card' through one of those little handheld beeper thingies and getting the correct amount in the read-out, but then the card gets stolen back and apparently the money's still on it.
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*** It's the [[Discworld|socio-economic factors]].
* Any one who actually has psychic powers could make tons of cash at Las Vegas instead of appearing on talk shows. As Jay Leno once said, "Why do you never see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?" Answer: Because when a psychic wins, he doesn't tell he's psychic. 'Cause, you know, some people might dare accuse him of cheating.
** This is actually [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the Nicolas Cage film ''Next''. Also justified since the psychic in question knows he's being hunted down by the government and thus keeps his wins small to avoid attracting attention.
** This is also used in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Planet of the Dead", with a psychic woman who repeatedly wins small amounts on the lottery, because she's happy enough with her life as it is and doesn't want the changes a big win would create.
** In case you haven't heard, Casinos tend to kick anyone who starts winning too much out the door, and blacklisting them across town. Because no one said they have to play fair.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
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