39,327
edits
Misapplied Phlebotinum: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
m (Remove useless categories) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 30:
<!-- %%Try to avoid the temptation to add a JustifyingEdit. The definition of "misuse" is definitely a YourMilageMayVary, especially when it comes to the "but you could make money off it!" examples; everyone has their own goals. -->
<!-- %% -->
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
Line 56:
** A recent issue of ''[[The Flash|Flash]]'' had him do just this. He was hired by an antique film and memorabilia collector. He hired the Flash to watch all of his movies and examine all of his antiques and catalog them. Obviously made for the plot, but ingenious none the less.
*** Another issue of Flash has Mirror Master being introspective about how him and many of his fellow villains are perceived as examples of this trope. He is perfectly aware of the fact that he and most of his compatriots could make more money selling their various technology (Freeze Rays, Teleportation, Weather Control, etc.) legitimately then they could ever hope to make robbing banks even if there were no super heroes. He does the supervilliany instead because he's an immensely disturbed individual, but is aware of the fact.
** [[Pre Crisis]] [[Mad Scientist]] [[Superman|Lex Luthor]] could become every bit as wealthy as [[Fantastic Four|Reed Richards]] if he marketed his tech legally, but he has too much of an [[Ubermensch]] complex to even ''want'' to make a living within society's infrastructure, viewing mundane Last Man civilization itself with contempt. John Byrne's [[Post
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the first issue of the Mark Shaw incarnation of ''Manhunter''. Over a series of panels of Dr. Alchemy using this powers to perform a robbery, Manhunter points out that he could probably make more money a dozen different ways using a stone that would allow him to transform an object into something else, even if it was temporary.
** The ''[[GURPS]]'' supplement ''SuperTemps'' was filled with supers who used their powers for things like sanitation and garbage disposal, medicine, being a courier, or being a security expert.
Line 68:
** Not entirely averted, as people like the Trapster and Spider-Man demonstrate. In the case of the latter, the alternate-future series ''The Last Avengers Story'' showed Peter Parker as a multi-millionaire, having patented his web formula after retiring as Spider-Man.
** A large chunk of their income actually comes from several companies that pay Reed NOT to release certain of his inventions which might drive them out of business or make their entire industry obsolete.
* Simon "Wonder Man" Williams, a [[Nigh Invulnerable]] [[Flying Brick]] ([[Re
** Which doesn't help in that Simon dislikes showing his rear for the camera.
*** Which is even funnier, considering ''he wears tights that practically show everything anyway.''
Line 82:
* In the Cronenberg remake of ''[[The Fly]]'', Brundle [[Body Horror|messes himself up beyond repair]] because he [[Professor Guinea Pig|risks his own hide]] in order to get his teleporter to transport living things successfully. A teleportation system that only transports inorganic matter could still be worth ''billions'' to the shipping industry.
* ''[[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
* 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."
Line 119:
** The point being that, in a way reminiscent of idiot-savants, while they are capable of advanced theoretical, mathematical and biological leaps, they're still kids and think like kids. Ask a kid what ''they'' would do if given some random power/technology. Most of the time it will be precisely something of that order. Mathematics only require a knowledge of the basic rules and their extrapolation. Sociopolitical thinking (which includes the application of theoretical research) is based less on intellect and more on experience.
* A number of stories by Henry Kuttner about a down on his luck (mostly due to constant drinking) man who becomes a [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]] genius inventor when drunk but can't remember when he sobers up. Since it is generally played for laughs and his drunk self is a [[Cloudcuckoolander]], that kind of explains it.
** In the short story ''The Proud Robot'' he invented an unbelievably sophisticated singing robot with a highly intelligent (and vain) AI. The inventor couldn't get the robot to do anything he wanted because he forgot ''why'' he built it in the first place (he was drunk). In the climax, he remembers that he built it because {{spoiler|he had trouble opening a can of beer. He swore to build a bigger and better can opener; said robot is able to open beer cans with absolutely no fizz or a single drop of spilled beer}}. The ending has the inventor becoming depressed because {{spoiler|beer cans are being phased out in favor of plastic bulbs, meaning his [[Do
* In ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'', the [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires|Cullens]] are blessed with eternal life and a seemingly infinite amount of money. You'd think they'd devote their lives to something interesting, if not something charitable since they are described as basically Jesus. The best thing they could come up with is ''going to high school for decades'' and not even making good friends every once in a while.
** 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 ''[[Honorverse (Literature)|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]].
Line 164:
*** The Asgard decided to commit mass suicide when their last effort to correct the genetic degradation of their species had failed. Since they were going to go extinct soon anyway, they decided it was better to kill themselves and give their technology to the still relatively primitive but basically trustworthy Tau'ri rather than risking it falling into [[Big Bad|Ori]] hands. Yet to be brought up is that, with all of the Asgard technology at their disposal and no time limit like what the Asgard faced, Earth scientists might someday be able to solve that genetic degradation problem and clone new bodies for them (among other things, the Asgard database includes the recorded thoughts and memories of every Asgard who ever lived).
** ''[[Stargate SG 1]]'' and ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' actually do tend use phlebotinum intelligently. As soon as people dealing with the Wraith gained access to Asgard beaming technology, who had never dealt with that before, they just started teleporting atomic bombs onto Wraith vessels, which did considerable damage before the Wraith figured out how to jam it. (Which took all of about five minutes. But hey, they got in a few good shots before that happened.)
** In the ''[[Stargate SG 1]]'' episode "Tin Man", a lonely alien android makes [[Robot Me]] versions of the team, almost indistinguishable from the originals except for needing to recharge their batteries every few hours. In-verse application: none, they bury the gate and we never hear of it again. (At least they don't murder the doubles!) Better application: [[
*** Actually, they ''do'' re-visit that one. {{spoiler|the [[Robot Me]] versions start using their battery power to go on their own missions through the Stargate, just going home before their power runs out. Until stuff happens.}}
** There is an episode of ''SG-1'' where [[Big Bad|Anubis]] has souped up his flagship so that it has a nigh-impenetrable energy shield. Meanwhile, the Tau'ri have developed a kick-ass space fighter with a hyperdrive that, sadly, only works for very short hops (as in, miles, rather than light years). Colonel O'Neil uses the hyperdrive to make a hyperjump just inside the forcefield and make an [[Airstrike Impossible|Spacestrike Impossible]] on the flagship to disable its [[BFG|main weapon]].
Line 229:
* In ''[[Halo Reach]]'', {{spoiler|a Slipspace drive is used to destroy a Covenant supercarrier when no nukes are available. About a third of the ship is pulled into slipspace, leaving the front and back portions disabled.}}
* The first [[Retcon|10]] Robot Masters in ''[[Mega Man (Video Game)|Mega Man]]'' were created for such purposes as forestry, lubrication, lab assistance, and ''housekeeping''. Do you know how much trouble creating humanoid robots has been in [[Real Life]]?
** To be fair, they were first made [[For Science!|for the sake of being made]] and only then their creators started thinking of more practical uses like replacing man in dangerous work (don't mind housekeeping, that was the first two robots and the lab was really a mess, ok?) and [[Take Over the World]]. They still fit this trope to a 'T'. Oh, and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in [[Bob and George]].
== Webcomics ==
Line 260:
* [[Cracked]]'s [http://www.cracked.com/article/138_6-magical-movie-items-they-wasted-bullshit/ 6 Magical Movie Items They Wasted on Bullshit].
* 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
* Averted in [[The Salvation War]]. When the [[Legions of Hell]] invade Earth, they start out with Bronze Age tactics and technology, but that proves [[Curb Stomp Battle|inadequate]]. They quickly adapt by using their portal-making abilities for [[Fantastic Nuke|Fantastic Nukes]]. After the war, they use their portal creating abilities to put FedEx out of business.
Line 282:
* 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.
** The various incarnations of [[G
** And, of course, all the supervillains. The future has hovercars, but they work about the same as regular cars, and pretty much all that's different is that youthful self-destructive behavior is more colorful.
Line 317:
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
[[Category:Misapplied Phlebotinum]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
| |||