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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Nigel Tufnel:''' What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
'''Marty DiBergi:''' Put
'''Nigel Tufnel:''' Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
|''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]''}}
Often, some people [[Bigger Is Better|have the need to top things]]. It could be because of dissatisfaction with something, a need to best someone else (often known as "Keeping up with the Joneses"), or some other reason. Either way, you would like to take something, and push it beyond what's been done before.
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Exactly what is topped can vary. It could be a commercial product ([[How Video Game Specs Work|like computer and gaming tech]]), an architectural feat, a world record, or something else. Whatever thing, this trope is taking the highest bar set, and taking that "Up to Eleven".
For those who aren't into guitar (electric guitar specifically), the phrase "Taking it up to eleven" is a reference to the volume setting on a guitar amplifier; the maximum setting on most (especially older) amps is 10, however newer amps (most often Marshalls) with the "11" option (which is beyond loud, believe us on that one) [[Defictionalization|came out]], and you can even take the volume higher with gain/equalizer settings on distortion boxes. More recently volume eleven has become partially obsolete as many Marshall amplifiers sport 0-20 volume knobs, essentially taking the trope
[[Conspicuous Consumption]] and [[Absurdly High Stakes Game]] often involves this.
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Up To Eleven was officially [[Defictionalization|Defictionalized]] by its inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary.
When applied to a trope, said trope is [[Exaggerated Trope|exaggerated]].
{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* [[Shaving Is Science|RAZOR BLADES]]. O Gillette, why would anybody need five blades with only either one chin or two legs?
** In theory each additional blade shaves the tiny bit of the whisker that the one before it missed. Presumably this means that the more blades you add, the smaller the remaining bit trimmed by the last one... a literal case of [[Incredibly Lame Pun|cutting it fine]].
** Michael McIntyre once did a bit on ''[[Mock the Week]]'' on Gillette ending with "For that closest ever shave. In fact, this one's too close. It'll cut off your face like a potato peeler. Buy the previous Gillette razor, we couldn't get it any closer than that."
*** That said, there tends to be a noticeable difference between, say, a three-blade and five-blade razor. When you've got five-minutes before you have to catch a bus to work, and your face looks like cactus, those five-blades are a godsend. A quick once-over tends to do a passably thorough job, though you might want to bring along the aftershave with you on the commute.
** A long time ago, ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', in response to the 'two blade razors' showed a three-blade razor parody commercial. The fake ad looked completely real until the final line: "Because ... you'll believe anything!"
*** Later, they did another commercial parody about "The Platinum Mach 14"
** One-upped by a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV42I26tx2s real razor ad]. The 15-bladed Quintippio is of course a parody, the actual product is an ''electric'' razor.
** ''[[Mad TV]]'' one-upped ''SNL'' and did a skit with the fiction Spishak Mach 20 which had 20 blades and shaved the man to the ''[[Nightmare Fuel|bone]]''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140111091102/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F7TMlrDXtw Watch it here].
** Here's [http://agrumer.livejournal.com/429861.html a 9- and a 114-bladed razor]!
** ''The Onion'' did a parody article called [https://web.archive.org/web/20100317214535/http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33930 Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades] shortly after Schick introduced their four blade razor in response to the popular Mach3. This is made [[Hilarious in Hindsight|extra hilarious]] by the fact that ''this is what Gillette actually did'' a few years later. And they added one more on the ''back''.
** Rotoshaver - an actual (electric) razor with 9 blades.
** ''[[The Daily Show]]'' spoofed the Razor Wars in an interview segment with the commentator's own 16-blade razor...it included four four-blade razors connected at the handles to a rotating motor. The skit ended with the commentator [[Nightmare Fuel|leaning his face in towards the spinning razors...]]
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* "Our Games Go to 11!" was the tagline of defunct publisher Working Designs, known for publishing niche Japanese RPGS in the US with expensive, high-quality packaging (often including lots of [[Feelies]]).
* ''[[
▲== Anime & Manga ==
▲* ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'': Accelerator's [[Superpower Lottery|game-breaking power]] is essentially [[Mind Over Matter|telekinesis]] turned Up To One Hundred Eleven.
▲* ''[[Dragon Ball]] Z'' went all the way up to eleven, then [[Memetic Mutation|OVER 9000!!!]],
* Pretty much everything in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is an example of this. Bigger Mechs! More powerful weapons! Even more [[Hot-Blooded]] shouting!
* ''[[Detroit Metal City]]'' offers this less-than-subtle [[Shout-Out]] - Krauser attempts to push his record of yelling 'rape' ten times a second Up To Eleven.
* Kakashi Hatake from ''[[Naruto]]'' is one of the most powerful ninja his village has to offer, due to his knowledge of techniques, martial arts abilities, determination, and tendency to take it up to eleven. Even though his dial [[Cast
** Naruto himself has gone
*** Seriously pushing it into [[Serial Escalation]] territory as of one of the latest chapters; in English, he's developed {{spoiler|the Rasengan Riot, where he forms multiple Rasengan behind him with chakra tails and attacks multiple targets simultaneously, the Vacuum Rasengan, where he forms a Rasengan above his back and slams enemies violently against it, and a MINI RASEN SHURIKEN.}}
*** {{spoiler|Since it has been suggested than Naruto could be a <s> reincarnation</s> successor of the Sage of Six Paths, along with the fact that he is now developing the Tailed Beast Bomb,}} Naruto is definitely going to take it Up To Twelve sometime in the future. {{spoiler|Up to twelve? Check.}}
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* ''[[GaoGaiGar|Gao Gai Gar]]'' went this route in the ''FINAL'' OVA, since the enemy at the end of the series proper was so powerful it could take out Jupiter the folks at the Gutsy Galaxy Guard decided they needed a weapon that could out do it. {{spoiler|3G's weapon can ''Extinguish the Sun''}}
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' starts using this a lot in its more recent chapters, most notably with [[Crazy Awesome|Jack Rakan]], who exists solely to continually ramp up the amount of ''''AWESOME'''' the series contains. He ''starts'' with summoning a [[BFS|sword the size of a building]], and only gets more ridiculous from there. He also seems to be rubbing off on Negi, as the entire Negi/Kotaro vs. Rakan/Kage fight in the tournament was essentially a contest to see who could turn the awesomeness knob higher. {{spoiler|After five separate [[I Am Not Left-Handed]] moments from Negi, Kotaro turning into a [[Big Badass Wolf]], and Rakan nearly destroying the arena with one punch, the knob gets broken off and the match ends in a draw.}}
** There is also the school's tendency to push all school tropes
** Ku Fei starts the series as the most badass of the human characters going toe to toe with demons in the Kyoto arc (as a human mind you just with badass martial arts) and then {{spoiler|she learns to harness her Ki and succeeds in reducing a mountain into a fine dust.}} Seems level ten just wasn't enough for her.
* At one point in the ''[[Digimon]]'' series, the protagonists considered it "cheating" when the main antagonist reached a power level one higher (Mega) than the one they had been told was the apex (Ultimate). Since then, we've had [[Fusion Dance|DNA Digivolution of two Megas]], Mega Mode Change, Ancient Spirit Evolution (the fusion of ''ten'' Ultimate-equivalent level Digimon), Burst Evolution and [[Digi Xros]].
* One end-of-episode teaser in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' claimed things would be going
** Younger Toguro raises his strength in percentage. He reaches 100%, and then pulls out his 100%'s 100%, or 120%. The [[Updated Rerelease]] of a recent YYH videogame added "120%" to its title in a reference to this.
* In the [[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]] episode "A Promise is a Promise", Dr. Namba tells his Electabuzz to "turn it up to eleven," as he turns up his rage machine to greatly increase the Pokémon's power.
** Done earlier, with speakers, when the Team Rocket trio were dressed as rock stars with ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' accents.
* ''[[
* The [[Comic Book Adaptation]] of ''[[Breath of Fire IV]]'' has a specific case of a story segment from the original game being deliberately ramped
** Some background is necessary here. In the original video game, there is a scene {{spoiler|featuring [[The Emperor]] Soniel stabbing [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] and [[God-Emperor]] Fou-lu with a [[Evil Weapon|soul-devouring sword]]; Fou-lu pulls the sword out and [[Off with His Head|decapitates]] Soniel [[Hoist by His Own Petard|with the very sword]] he was stabbed with.}} This ended up being [[No Export for You|Japanese-only]] and was completely [[Bowdlerise
** In the manga adaptation, {{spoiler|Soniel yet again [[Back Stab|BackStabs]] Fou-lu with the [[Evil Weapon]]--and Fou-lu proceeds to manifest an energy sword by will, decapitates Soniel in a spray of gore whilst '''''still having the Dragonslayer sticking through him''''', and then proceeds to shove the Dragonslayer out of his midsection ''by hand'' as Soniel's body sprays blood like a fountain}}.
* ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' takes every [[Jerk Jock]] stereotype you can think of and stretches it to logical limits in the form of Agon. Over-developed sense of entitlement? Said to be ''the'' most talented athlete of the century and believes anyone who lacks natural talent (even if they work hard) doesn't deserve to exist. Gets away with anything? Car jacked a woman without getting so much as a scolding. A bully? Aimed a football at the head of a little boy in a wheelchair and seems to mug people on a regular basis. Popular with the ladies? Popular enough to get away with car theft. Chauvinistic pig? Is only relatively nice towards pretty girls, and sees nothing wrong with kicking an ugly girl in the back of the head. And if you're a pretty girl who ignores him, he isn't above using violence to get you to notice him. Jerk is an understatement (to say the least), he's practically a sociopath.
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* Sana from ''[[Kodomo no Omocha]]'' cranks multiple tropes up to eleven - [[Genki Girl]], [[Motor Mouth]], [[Human Hummingbird]], [[Wheel-O-Feet]], and anything to do with screwball humor.
* ''[[Bleach]]'': Ulquiorra, after stomping all over Ichigo in his released form, decides to {{spoiler|bring out his far more powerful Second Release in an attempt to invoke despair}}. And immediately following {{spoiler|Ichigo's supposed death, Hollow Ichigo takes over and returns the favor in full}}.
* ''[[Toriko]]'' does this with [[Food Porn|food.]] It's as awesome as it sounds. One of the chapters is even titled "Beyond 10".
* The ''[[Rosario
* The gore in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' is ramped up like this compared to that in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]''.
* ''[[Blame]]'' does this with Killy's [[Weapon of Mass Destruction|Graviton]] [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|Beam]] [[Wave Motion Gun|Emitter]]. Now, even at the lowest power, its power can be paralleled by your average space fleet's [[Wave Motion Gun]]. Now, when he cranked it up to 8 (apparently) and shot it, it gave him the nickname of "[[Red Baron|the Calamity]]".
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* In the Marvel and DC Comics crossover ''[[JLA-Avengers]]'', [[Superman]] says to [[The Mighty Thor]], "Tell yourself that, Mister... Ease yourself to sleep at night while you let your world go to '''hell'''! Where I come from, though, '''''LIVES MATTER'''''!" When Thor tries to bring Mjolnir on his head, Superman ''catches'' the hammer, causing an astonished Thor to react, "Odin's beard! How ''can'' you...? The mightiest... mightiest in Nine Worlds cannot..." Superman retorts, "S-sorry... sorry to disappoint... but in... my world, it looks like the dials '''''GO UP TO ELEVEN'''''!" and crushes Thor with a roundhouse punch, knocking him out cold. This caused [[Flame War|a LOT of controversy]] among comic book fans, [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|which fortunately we won't duplicate here.]]
* The Casket of Ancient Winters from the ''Thor'' comics is a weird example of this. It created a winter so cold when opened that '''''frost giants''''' started freezing to death.
* The [[Singapore
* In ''[[Dork Tower]]'', anything Igor Olman does will eventually come to this.
* Issue 27 of ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' has one after the main characters confront a senator about his porno dealings.
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==
* ''[[Shinji and
* In ''[[An Entry With a Bang
* In the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]/
* One memorable line (and not for the right reasons) from the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' fanfic, ''[[Passion Night]]'': ""IF I GO ANY FASTER WE WILL BE AT HYPER SPEEEEEED!" Lupin shouted trying not to moan while he shouted."
* ''[[Ace Combat: The
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* Lightsabers in ''[[Star Wars]]'' are cool. But then Darth Maul tops this with a dual blade saber in ''[[The Phantom Menace]]''. And then, General Grievous wields ''four'' lightsabers in ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''.
** ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' parodied the concept, predicting the escalation [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/82.html before Episode III came out].
** And [https://web.archive.org/web/20111110134514/http://3do.jediknight.net/dcm/strips/07.gif this strip] of ''Diary of a Crazed Mimbanite'', back when all we had to go on was the ''Episode I'' trailer.
** In canon, the [[Expanded Universe]] series ''[[New Jedi Order]]'' has Lord Nyax, with ''eight'' lightsabers (surgically implanted into his wrists, elbows, and knees). One of the latest RPG books finally gave us a picture of him... [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:Lord_Nyax.jpg He is a very silly-looking Cuisinart].
*** The ones on the elbows makes sense though, if the enemy hits them he's going to have a hard time powering through even with two hands, allowing you to get a quick jab in.
* The villains of ''[[The Frighteners]]'' are going for a murder world record {{spoiler|even from beyond the grave}}.
* ''[[Piranha 3D]]'' : [[Bloodier and Gorier|The whole movie]], and {{spoiler|[[Sequel Escalation|especially the end]].}}
* [[Stephen King]] wanted cinema houses to play the sound as loud as possible when showing his film ''[[Maximum Overdrive]]''
* Zurg's Ion Blaster in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 2'' goes up to 11.
* ''[[The Hunt for Red October]]'' has Captain Tupelev: "Inquire with the engineer about going to 105% on the reactor", and then going to 110% when he doesn't think 105% is fast enough
** It's pretty close to the trope-namer in that in this case, "100%" represents a safe maximum power output level, not the theoretical or even practical maximum output of the reactor, like 10 on Nigel's amp. Given the setting, "100%" probably represents what the reactor system can handle without burning up the sub plus a reasonable safety margin. In the original book, a Soviet ''Alfa''-class sub actually does have a reactor meltdown and gets a hole the size of the superheated reaction mass burnt through its hull and sinks.
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* ''[[Saw|Saw VII]]'' supposedly includes a trap that was "so bloody, so disgusting, and so disturbing, the producers wouldn’t allow them to put it in any of the [previous] Saw films – until now". ([http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20075 source]) This in a series that is known for its gory and disturbing traps, and they wouldn't let this one be put in because it was too much? You can bet it will go up to eleven. That, or be a complete anti-climax,depending on your opinion.
* In ''[[The Villain]]'', [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] is a White Hat character with a seven-shot six-shooter. When asked why he had it made, he simply looks confused and said "I don't know".
* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' there's an amp vs. amp battle between Scott's band, Sex Bob-omb, and the Japanese DJs the Katayanagi Twins. The Twins kick off the battle by cranking their amp up to +- (11 in Japanese). This little bit also doubles as an [[Arc Number]]/[[Mythology Gag]], as the Twins are Ramona's fifth and sixth Evil Ex-Boyfriends<ref>
* There's the guitar scene from ''Cheech and Chong's Next Movie'', where Chong, in a pot high, decides to pretend he's Jimi Hendrix. His guitar is rigged to a big maxed-out amp, and the entire neighborhood knows he's playing. People outside run for cover, a dog covers his ears, and the neighbor's house shakes. Cheech even has trouble getting inside to stop him since the blast from the speaker keeps slamming the door in his face.
** Later on, he tries the same routine in a record store and blows out a "cheap" amplifier within seconds.
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* A character in ''Sewer, Gas and Electric'' goes Up To Eleven in both lavish extravagance and in attempts to impress one's date with one's wealth, investing $10,000 in a top-of-the-line ''pack of condoms''.
* ''[[Dune|Dune Messiah]]'': Alia Atreides engages in a sparring match with a mechanical swordsman, which gets faster, and creates more lights (which reflect off its prismatic body to distract its opponent) every time it is struck. It's noted that the greatest swordsmen in the universe can strike it seven times before it becomes too fast to safely continue. Alia manages to strike it eleven times, before Paul stops her. (Note that this book was published in 1969, which makes Up To Eleven [[Older Than They Think]].)
* [[Matthew Reilly]] bypasses eleven in his books and goes straight to ''sixteen''. One example: the heroes are in a truck and being chased in a tunnel barely wide enough to hold a car. The solution to get rid of the bad guys? Call in a plane, have it fire a missile down the tunnel, and drive the truck hard against the wall so that the wheels on one side ride up the wall, allowing the missile to shoot ''below'' the truck and kill the bad guys. Mind you, this is one of the ''less'' extreme examples.
* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] is full of much "up to eleven" material, including a tiny ship which has a power factor that makes the Death Star itself seem like a cap gun, a Sith Lord who sliced through a ''planet'' with his lightsaber, and combat movements that seem to be too fast for the human eye to collect (Thank God they're written down, then, eh?)
** Luke's powers have been taken Up To Eleven, especially by Troy Denning. (Matt Stover, however, has Luke see the heat death of the universe. Seriously.) Kyle is too; he actually survives being stabbed through the heart with a lightsaber. It actually goes back to Bantam, when Zahn made a big deal about Luke's powers being taken Up To Eleven. He didn't exactly win that battle.
** Even the Jedi who have innate mechanisms to ''prevent'' them from being taken
** Happens to Sith too. Palpatine in ''[[Dark Empire]]'' goes [[Body Surf|body surfing]] and rips the fabric of space-time itself, resulting in a [[Villainous RROD]]. (He gets better due to said body surfing.)
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', during the Finale of ''Changes'', this trope is invoked by the narrator when he describes Molly, his apprentice, ramping the battle's chaos
** The gamebook for the RPG takes this trope...well, one step further. The book describes evil wizards as having arrogance turned
* The children's book ''[[Green Eggs and Ham]]'' was written as the result of a friendly bet: [[Dr. Seuss]]'s publisher was impressed that ''[[The Cat in the Hat]]'' was written using fewer than 300 different words, and bet Seuss that he couldn't write another one with a coherent plot using only 50 different words. Seuss hit it right on target.
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[
** One episode had them taking many of their previous myths and just pushing it up to insane levels. For example, the myth about the exhaust of a jet engine flipping a car. They confirmed it in the original show (if only through archive footage) but then they decide to see if it could flip a bus. (It could.)
** Or the "Shooting Fish in a Barrel" episode: it turns out that shooting fish in a barrel is, indeed, quite easy (the shockwave will knock them out even if the bullet misses). So why did they then attack the barrel with a [[BFG|Humvee-mounted]] [[More Dakka|Chaingun]]? [[Rule of Cool|Because]]. ([[No Animals Were Harmed|No live fish were harmed testing this myth]].)
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*** The cement company accidentally overfilled that truck, and the ''entire load'' had set. Tory had unsuccessfully tried to loosen it using a jackhammer, and it had pissed him off. The truck deserved everything it got. At the time it was the biggest explosion ever done on the show (now it's only 3rd or 4th biggest but still one of the coolest). There was ''very little'' left of that truck afterwards.
** The build team did this literally when they busted the myth that a sheet of paper can be folded in half only seven times. It culminated in producing and folding a huge sheet of paper (with the same ratio of width to length as a standard sheet of printer paper) in alternating directions to achieve a maximum number of folds... to eleven.
*** Another person got it [https://web.archive.org/web/20051102085038/http://pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm up to twelve] using a different pattern of folding and a differently shaped piece of
** The ''Hindenburg'' episode had them using scale models of the ''Hindenburg'' to test the myth that it was the chemicals on the skin of the airship rather than the hydrogen that destroyed it. It turned out to be a "contributing factor". Then - just for the hell of it - they took the last scale model, pumped it with hydrogen, and ''coated it with seventeen pounds of pure thermite''. It burned. Oh yeah did it burn.
** Another episode has them trying to cause two tractor-trailer rigs to fuse together in a head-on collision, with a compact car being crushed between them and literally lost in the wreckage. They crashed the trucks into the car at highway speeds, but there was no fusion, and the car was still partially there. Next, they built a rocket-propelled sled with the proper mass and crashed it into the car at ''seven hundred miles per hour''. Still no fusion, though it did successfully make the car vanish, bend a piece of one-inch-thick steel plate in half, and throw a multi-thousand-pound block of concrete about thirty feet. They eventually resorted to [[wikipedia:Explosive welding|explosive welding]]. (The car wasn't just destroyed. ''It was vaporized.'')
** Another favorite motto of theirs: "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing"
** Four words: "When in doubt, C4."
* In ''[[Star Trek: The
** The concept of "anti-time" took [[Rocks Fall Everybody Dies]] Up To Eleven. An energy field grows to the point of consuming Earth before life on Earth evolved.
* The ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' season 6 episode '[[Epic Fail]]' includes House joking about this to Wilson:
{{quote|
House: Should've been here when I was butchering the ox. What do you expect? I'm an addict. I turn everything up to eleven. }}
** In "TB or not TB", House and Foreman have a bet going on whether a test will gain any results. As soon as it looks like House is losing, he turns the dial up to 11, gets expected results, as well as $20.
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* ''[[Good Eats]]'' did a straight-up reference to ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' in one episode where Alton's assistant Paul makes a toaster that goes up to eleven. When another character asks why he didn't just make ten higher, he starts freaking out until Alton puts him in time out.
* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'': Finster, the [[Monster of the Week]] [[Mook Maker|maker]], [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this when he tried to make Rita grow back to regular size with one of his devices: "I've never turned it to eleven before!"
** Hell, [[Make My Monster Grow|any time a monster grows]] ([[Once Per Episode]]), it takes it
* ''[[iCarly]]'': from the episode "iOMG", Gibby and Carly put Spencer into a box for their project to see how he reacts to different stimuli, one of them being stink gas.
{{quote|
'''Spencer''': ''slides down the side of the box'' }}
* On 'TV Heaven, Telly Hell,' Jimmy Carr refers to 'Flavour of Love' as reality TV '
* Heisei-era ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' series love to use the [[Swiss Army Hero]] trope, with the last new form gained being the [[Super Mode]] - and then in post-show projects, said [[Super Mode]] gets a boost:
** In ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'', Kuuga's regular forms got a "Rising" [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] (Mighty form became Rising Mighty, Dragon form became Rising Dragon, etc.) before he got his [[Super Mode]] of Ultimate form. The version of the character in ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' achieved, logically enough, Rising Ultimate form.
** ''[[Kamen Rider Den-O]]'': Climax Form became Super Climax Form.
** ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'': CycloneJokerXtreme became CycloneJoker Gold Xtreme.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhP4QiK8GzA The trailer] for the [[Disney+]] series ''[[The Muppets Mayhem]]'' makes a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Spinal Tap]]''{{'}}s Trope Namer with a brief shot of one of the Electric Mayhem's amplifiers -- which goes up to ''11.5''.
* A variation on this trope is responsible for David Banner's accidental acquisition of the power to turn into the Hulk in the [[Pilot Episode]] of the 1978 ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' TV series -- a technician in Banner's lab was given to "suping up" the equipment, improving each device's power or efficiency. He had done so to the gamma ray projector, but had not yet relabeled the knob controlling the power level before Banner's late-night venture into experimenting on himself. Banner spun it up all the way to the top, but instead of getting a level of gamma exposure equal to the usual natural maximum he instead got hundreds or ''thousands'' of time more. In this case, 11 wasn't on the dial, but it went up to it anyway.
== Music ==
* In Camera Obscura's "Dory Previn":
{{quote|
* [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140416072145/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqZnxvAPkL8 Black Or White]'' music video features this in the first two minutes, when the [[Loud of War|son retaliates against his dad.]]
* Buckcherry's cocaine anthem ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcpiF4QGJNY Lit Up]'' alludes to this when making a comparison between the norm and the coked-up person.
{{quote|
* Peter Tagtgren from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4hMPcHZJ0M PAIN/HYPOCRISY].
* Citizen King's song "Better Days" features the line "Crank it to eleven/blow another speaker".
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* In the documentary film ''Moog'', [[Yes]] keyboardist Rick Wakeman remarked that when the Moog synthesizer allowed keyboardists for the first time to fill a role equal to that of guitarists in bands, all the guitarists started looking for the knob that goes to eleven.
* Murdoc of [[Gorillaz]] mentioned taking the bass up to thirteen in [[All There in the Manual|Rise of the Ogre]].
* The German band "Die Ärzte" demonstrate this in their animated music video for the live-performed song "Elke". This sarcastic song about a fat [[Fan Girl]] called "Elke" starts out calm, but when the amplifier gets up to eleven, this song rocks hard and the animated over the top violence begins. The "11" even glows red ! ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdayFTI6eVo Here (with English subtitles)]''{{broken link}}
* German Industrial Metal band [[KMFDM]] recently released WTF?!, an album featuring the song "Krank" which features the lyrics "Krank! Krank it to 11/Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid 24/7"
* Natasha Bedingfield's heart megaphone is set on eleven. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].
* The song ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHrE5x9mOkQ Smack Down]'' by [[Thousand Foot Krutch]] mentions turning it to eleven.
{{quote|
Gonna start this party
If we turn it to 11
Then we can't go wrong }}
== Professional Wrestling ==
* King Kong Bundy has, as a central part of his gimmick, the "five-count". Normal pinfalls go to a three-count; when Bundy pins someone, to show how badly he's beaten them, he holds up a hand and yells "FIVE!", demanding the referee count to five instead.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer
** And the [[Crazy Awesome|Orks]] would cheerfully turn it up to seventeen if any of them could count that high.
** Tzeentch would then turn the knob backwards....to 999, then [[
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20141025214351/http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/6/63/Warhound9.jpg Examine a Warhound battle titan sometime]. One of the largest and most expensive Forge World models in existence, armed with some of the most powerful guns in the game, and guess what it is? A SCOUT TITAN! The battle titans are so big they don't make models for them.
*** Forgeworld now make Reaver titans. These guys are bigger than Warhounds and mount an extra weapon on their top carapace. There can only be time before these gentleman crank out a Warlord titan...
*** There are official rules for Warlord Titans and some fans have made them. They are about ''four feet'' tall.
*** Look at [http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Titan this]
*** Those are not even close to what they had before the Age of Strife hit. During the Dark Age of Technology they had even BIGGER Titans. Why don't they have them now, you may ask. Well, many things were lost in-between the Dark Age and the 41st Millennium.
** The standard sidearms go to ridiculous extremes already. Their numbers include laser guns that can blow limbs off people with a single beam, guns that spray razor-sharp shards of crystallized neurotoxins, guns that spray even sharper shards of crystal, guns that fire rocket-propelled armor-piercing grenades, and railguns that vaporize their iron slugs before firing them. And these are the sidearms.
** You have to buy 11 or more Orks for all of them to get the fearless rule. 11 is also the minimum number of barrels on a baneblade.
* Torpedoes bigger than small frigates, cargo shuttles barely shorter than the [[Star Trek|Starship Enterprise]], frigates the size of [[Star Wars|Star Destroyers]], cruisers that dwarf [[Stargate Atlantis|Wraith hive ships]], thousands of battlecruisers bigger than anything in fiction beyond a [[Star Wars|Super Star Destroyer]]...TabletopGame/BattlefleetGothic has it all.
* The card game ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]'' has a card named "Mine goes up to Eleven!" If you play it, people have to reach level 11 instead of 10 as usual.
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'' has a mechanic called "protection" which made a card essentially immune to a certain source (A card with "protection from red" can not be blocked or damaged by red creatures, or targeted by red spells and abilities). Until recently, the mechanic was limited to phrases like "protection from black" or "protection from red" or "protection from artifacts", or occasionally "protection from creatures". Then along came [https://web.archive.org/web/20090514050235/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=179496 this card].
** Most ''MTG'' cards at the new "Mythic Rare" rarity level fall under this trope.
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20090514050235/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=179496 Progenitus] is "protection up to eleven"
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20090527182723/http://ww2.wizards.com/
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20090527203701/http://ww2.wizards.com/
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20090425235811/http://ww2.wizards.com/
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20090523044346/http://ww2.wizards.com/Gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Conflux Conflux] is "card-search up to eleven"
*** [http://magiccards.info/autocard.php?card=Maelstrom%20Nexus Maelstrom Nexus]{{Dead link}} is "cascade up to eleven"
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20090522040348/http://ww2.wizards.com/
*** ...''et cetera''. Although not all Mythic Rare cards make use of an existing mechanic, it's basically not worth making a card Mythic Rare UNLESS its potency is cranked up to eleven.
** "Darksteel Colossus" goes up to eleven literally. It has 11 power, 11 toughness, and costs 11 mana. Oh, and it's indestructible. Not only that, but if it is somehow sent to the graveyard, it's shuffled into its owner's library instead. This ability (which also appears on the aforementioned Progenitus) is actually meant as a ''drawback'', as it prevents players from discarding or milling it and then reanimating it.
*** Blightsteel Colossus does all that, ''plus'' has infect. Infect deals poison damage, which can't be healed in standard and it only takes 10 points to kill you. Yes, Blightsteel Colossus can [[One-Hit Kill]] you without even trying.
** Zendikar is [[Everything Trying to Kill You]] taken up to 11. Get some Rise of the Eldrazi cards and you can take it up to [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193452 15] (the linked monster nukes six of your cards simply by looking at you funny, and is almost impossible to kill).
* ''[[Rifts]]''' is basically [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] turned
* ''[[Scion]]'' quite literally goes up to eleven. See, it has a system known as Legend, and Scions, gods and other supernatural beings have a Legend score, and they're able to take Epic Attributes and Boons equal to their Legend score minus one. The maximum Legend score is 12. Therefore, the maximum you can take your powers to is 11. The 11-dot Boons and Epic Attributes are the [[Anthropomorphic Personification|Avatars]] and Ultimate Attributes, at which point you quite literally become a force of nature.
* ''[[The Dresden Files (game)|The Dresden Files]]'' [[RPG]] takes Up To Eleven...Up To Eleven. The section on the Laws of Magic describes breaking the Fifth Law (Never reach beyond the borders of life) as giving an exaggerated arrogance over one's power over life and death, like a doctor's God complex turned Up To Eleven. In the [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|hand-scribbled notes]], Harry himself crosses out the eleven and adds "Thirteen", leading himself and Bob to do a brief parody of the [[Trope Namer]] ("...These go to THIRTEEN," Harry insists).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130724022309/http://
* We'd be remiss without mentioning ''[[Dystopian Wars]]''. Think the giant robots and tanks from ''[[Warhammer
* [[Forgotten Realms|Larloch]] had a level one above what was possible for his class, by [[Word of God]] (the intended implication was 'he'll ''always'' be more powerful than the player characters, no matter what'). Then the edition changed and rules were published that made it possible to reach that level.
▲== Theater ==
* There is a game in improvisational theater called "Toppers", which is basically this trope.
== Video Games ==
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** The [[Game Boy Advance]] is not only more powerful than the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]], it's more powerful than the [[Neo Geo]], in everything but screen resolution and color depth. The ''[[Castlevania]]'' games show this quite well.
** The [[Nintendo DS|DS]] tops the [[Nintendo 64]], even though its processors are slower. This was because the processor speeds were mostly for show. The RAM is also more efficient, making it more practical than even the RAM with the Expansion Pak. Plus, it has plenty of texture memory, which can be seen in comparing the graphics of the original and DS versions of ''[[Super Mario 64]]''.
** The [[
** Early reports from E3 claim that the upcoming [[Nintendo 3DS]] to have graphics that surpass the [[Nintendo
** And now the [[Play Station Vita|PSVita]] doesn't just surpass the [[Nintendo 3DS|3DS]] but is ''even more powerful'' than the [[
* Equipping Demyx with the Ultimate Gear in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
* ''[[The House of the Dead (series)|House of the Dead]]: Overkill'' has volume dials which can be turned all the way to eleven.
* ''[[Rock Band]]'' and ''[[Guitar Hero]]'' are falling into this quite nicely.
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** ''Guitar Hero 5'' matches this by escalating the maximum total band multiplier all the way up to 11x assuming everyone has a good streak and uses star power when a band moment occurs. Keeping in mind the personal score multiplier that's also applied, this pushes the possible score to [[Beyond the Impossible|previously unthinkable amounts.]] [[Nintendo Hard|This is also how you're expected to get the diamond-level score on the "God of Rock score attack" challenge]] (which requires you to score [[Pinball Scoring|10 million points]] - though you only need half of this score to get the gig's unlockable, which requires platinum).
** ''Guitar Hero 6'' (Neversoft's rhythm swan song) had "powers" which could be combined. 36x multipliers and running Star Power for ''minutes'' at a time becomes common.
** Australia's ''XBOX Magazine'' gave ''[[Guitar Hero]] II'' 11 out of ten.
** Here's the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngEmBsuiMgQ Space Oddity Guitar chart]{{broken link}} in ''Rock Band''. Now here's the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_868433&v=lzKtfoIONVg Pro Guitar chart for the same song].
* In the free flight simulator of ''Flightgear'', a specific aircraft can go at 112% Maximum Speed in space.
* Some of ''[[Ace Combat]]'''s superplanes have special weapons which are more or less downgraded versions of the superweapons you destroy on a regular basis.
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* In ''[[Burnout|Burnout Paradise]]'' the SFX volume goes up to 11.
* 11 is an [http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Eleven intentionally recurring number] in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]''. In particular, the Super-Secret Canadian Mind-Control Device goes Up To Eleven, with a reference to ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]''.
{{quote|
* Games company Team17 were originally known as 17-Bit Software - because they were "that bit better than the rest".
* In ''[[Digimon World 3]]'', {{spoiler|[[Game Breaker|Imperialdramon Paladin Mode]]}} takes digivolving power up to 11 with the following: Heals that do everything but rez KO'ed allies or recover MP, a devastating 3-hit attack technique (not to mention the already crazy physical attack power), a [[One-Hit Kill|OHKO]] attack technique that always works in random encounters {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|and even has a chance of OHKO'ing the 2nd phase of Galacticmon, the final boss]]}}, not to mention his signature technique, {{spoiler|[[Smite Evil|Omega Blade]], which can OHKO an evil Armageddemon (if you have enough strength) on the [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon|Gunslinger satellite]]}}.
** Some Digimon Digivolve beyond Mega, taking them
* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Star Wars: The Force Unleashed|The Force Unleashed]]'' is pretty much ''Star Wars: Up to Eleven'', in that, not only did it have a [[Mary Sue]] as the main character, but it also went back and "unleashed" all the symbolic battles that took place in the movies and the sort. The game is ''just that over-the-top'' that it pretty much destroyed the visual impact of the movies, because suddenly, grabbing a lightsaber from a few feet away using your mind, or pushing a fragile droid over isn't quite as cool as pulling a ''Star Destroyer'' out of the sky, or pushing a stormtrooper so hard off his feet that he flies through a titanium sealed door, landing in a bunch of conveniently placed explosives which effectively destroy the enemy base of operations.
** The enemies in the game also have flesh and bone that is lightsaber and impact resistant. They are just that strong. Not so smart on the field, though.
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* In ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'', you took on leviathans, warlocks, and medusas, dueling a God at the end. In the sequel, you pretty much take on the authorities of Greek Mythology as a whole, so the goal-meter has been heightened quite a bit. And as for the ''third'' game...
** Lets put it this way. If anything was left alive after ''God of War III'', it's because Kratos hasn't killed it yet.
* Every time the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series uses the Job Class system, S-E invokes this trope. In the original Final Fantasy, you chose classes in the beginning and were stuck with them. In ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'', the game gives you several classes that you can switch between anytime you wanted to, with a wide variety of abilities. ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'' uses a similar system to III, but this time around you can also set a secondary skillset from another class. ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' introduces even more classes and not only lets you equip a second skillset, but also gives you a myriad of counterattacks, supportive, and movement abilities to create the most customizable ''FF'' game to date.
* The Fusion Pins in ''[[The World Ends With You]]''. The first is simply the Neku and his partner jumping between the planes attacking with beams. The second adds more character; Shiki's attacks with Mr. Mew, Joshua's summons meteors and Beat's involves riding on chains. Then, the third takes it up to eleven. Shiki's third Fusion is transforming Mr. Mew into ''[[Godzilla]]-like-proportions'', Beat's summons a giant wave which squashes the Noise and Joshua's ''summons the freakin' moon''.
* In ''[[Star Trek: Bridge Commander]]'', you can boost the power going to your ship systems up to 125%. There is no downside apart from the increased power drain. What happened to "The engines cannae take it, Captain!"?
* ''[[Half-Life (series)|Half-Life]]'' starts with a experiment at Black Mesa to run the [[Gone Horribly Wrong|"Antimass Spectrometer"]] to "one-oh-five percent." Whatever that meant, [[Freak Lab Accident|it didn't turn out well]].
* ''[[Pokémon Stadium|Pokémon Battle Revolution]]'': "The energy level of the fans has been turned up to 11!"
* The ''[[Mass Effect]]'' series seems determined to use every single trope in existence. ''This is not an exaggeration'' - its pages have gotten so large that they've broken the wiki ''several times''.
* In the case of the ''[[Capcom vs. Whatever]]'' games (this only applies for the five [[X-Men vs. Street Fighter|games]] [[Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter|featuring]] [[Marvel vs. Capcom Clash of the Superheroes]] [[Marvel vs. Capcom 2|Comics]] [[Marvel vs. Capcom 3|characters]] and ''[[
* In ''Beautiful Katamari'', of the ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'' series, your performance on each level is graded out of 100 points. If you do really, really well, you'll get 120 points instead. The King of All Cosmos comments that even he doesn't understand how that works.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has currently (Cataclysm expansion) a maximum of 10 characters per realm (server). In the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion, they are, in words of one of their forum representatives, [http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/219158-from-10-to-11/ turning it all the way up to 11.]
* In ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette|Rosenkreuzstilette Freudenstachel]]'', legend has it that Schirach Fühler of the [[Five-Bad Band|Black Cross organization]] possesses abilities that go FAR BEYOND the simple limitations of ''standard humans''.
* [[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[8-
* In ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', Dr. McNinja one-upped the sword-chucks one with ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20090202073630/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=37&issue=5 chainsaw-chucks]''.
* And then [[Reality Warper|Red Mage]] taught Fighter the [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/06/24/episode-1008-charmed-im-sure/ Glorious Chainsaw Method].
* Subject of [http://xkcd.com/670/ this] ''[[
* ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'': For a sweet little Catholic girl, Carrie sure can [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=82757 rock] ...
* [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=863 This] ''[[Questionable Content]]'' comic. Look at the poster between Marten and Hannelore in panels two through four.
* ''[[Blip]]'' gives us Brolove. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130405070700/http://blipcomic.com/373/ Here], it goes to level 8, and [https://web.archive.org/web/20130405070626/http://blipcomic.com/374/ here it is] up to 11.
* And now ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has brought us the [[Super Serum]] Movit #11 - [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20101013 the extra strong version].
** Subversion: Movit ''#6'' is the maximum any average schmuck should take. #7-#11 are ''all'' too potent for anyone who isn't a fully trained smoke knight to be messing with. On top of that, even the lower numbers are something they reserve for emergencies; so really, what you should be impressed by isn't that there's a Movit #11, but ''what sort of emergency would be serious enough to prompt the knight to reach for it''.
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* ''[[Vexxarr]]'': [http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=021811 Up to eleven was mentioned.]
* The [[Serial Escalation|entire story of]] ''[[Homestuck]]'' takes it up to eleven, then goes up to eleven from ''there'', repeatedly, all the while never taking it back down. Quoth [[Andrew Hussie]] on the matter:
{{quote|
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' sometimes does this:
{{quote|
'''Ennesby''': I don't know. I'm reindexing "frying pan" for a higher baseline, though. }}
* ''Is It Canon?'' on "[http://www.isitcanon.com/index.php?date=2018-05-17 Regular fantasy vs *anime* fantasy]".
== Web Original ==
* [[The Nostalgia Critic]] does top eleven lists instead of [[Top Ten List
** And it is cranked up to a whole twelve in the Christmas lists, because "IT'S CHRISTMAS!".
** In his "Top Eleven Coolest Movie Clichés" he parodies himself: "Why top eleven? Because I have my own cliche that'll never die!"
* Linkara from ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall]]'' goes "up to 15". Linkara has said that his video personality is basically his real life personality "turned up to eleven".
* Movie-related podcast ''All Movie Talk'' has Top 6 lists because 6 is one more than 5,
* Episode 16 of the web series ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20090211202337/http://www.purepwnage.com/episodes/s2/4/ Pure Pwnage]'' opens with the main character activating a series of amplifiers and overdrivers attached to his Xbox360 and dialing up the volume past the labeled 'Max' setting as well as the labeled 'Dude', and 'Srsly' marks to reach 'WTF' before rocking out to ''[[Guitar Hero]]''.
* With the revamp of [[
* ''[http://11points.com 11 Points: Because Top 10 Lists are for Cowards]''
* The Online Game ''Billy vs. Snakeman'' contains countless references to this trope. The [[Author Avatar|in-game character of the maker]] is called "11billionth HoCage".
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]: Revelations'' Episode Ten is titled "It Goes To Eleven", in reference to the [[Trope Namer]]. Since the entirety of the episode is a fight scene animated by [[Dead Fantasy]]'s Monty Oum, it's extremely appropriate.
** Add to this the fact that {{spoiler|Tex, already a [[Badass]], apparently [[Took a Level
* ''[[EPICMEALTIME]]'' strives to take cooking this way. They built a '''gingerbread house using meat and cheese that totaled 86,997 calories''' and [[Memetic Mutation|lots of bacon]]. Then there was the Sloppy Roethlisburger, totalling ''over 100,000 calories''. And they ate the entire thing.
** Recently, they utterly pwned that. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAjhG09X9YA&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SP84FBB60DFE42481F Behold. The Turbaconepicentipede.] '''Over 800,000 calories.'''
* ''[[Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time]]'' plays this delightfully literally - their cooker has a maximum setting of 11 drawn on it.
== Western Animation ==
* The entire plot of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' revolves around this. Firelord Ozai is the most powerful firebender in the entire world. But on the day of Sozins Comet, every firebender will be much stronger than usual, which allows him to burn the entire world!
** Of course, he forgot that the Avatar was ''also'' a firebender, among other things.
* In an episode of ''[[
** At this point Bob jumps up on stage, whips out his own guitar, and the two of them have [https://web.archive.org/web/20140604155755/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al6ssH4vkdY an epic rock-off]. Megabyte then says "I've always wanted to do that", gives Enzo the guitar as a birthday present, and drives off in his stretch limo.
* In ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''' episode 'Bubblevicious', Bubbles got sick of being the "kid" in the group, so she turned the training simulator up to eleven to prove she was "hardcore". The result is an entire [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for her, and her sisters acknowledge it.
{{quote|
* In the opening sequence of ''[[Bump in the Night]],'' Mr. Bumpy actually uses a crayon to add an 11 setting to his amp before jacking it all the way up.
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Pete Townshend (Guitarist for The Who) has an amp with a setting in place of 11 reading simply "Whuh-Oh", that's strong enough to partly demolish a wall made of solid garbage.
** Mr. Burns hires a hypnotist to motivate his softball team.
{{quote|
'''Team''': We are all very good players.
'''Hypnotist''': You will beat Shelbyville.
'''Team''': We will beat Shelbyville.
'''Hypnotist''': You will give 110 percent.
'''Team''': That's impossible. No one can give more than 100 percent. By definition, that is the most anyone can give. }}
* In the ''[[Veggie Tales]]'' video "The Star of Christmas," [[Gadgeteer Genius|Seymour (Pa Grape)]] sends Bob and Larry's characters to the church where a Christmas pageant is going to be held in a Rocket car. He warns them that although the car has 11 engines, they should only fire engines 1 through 10, and that [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|under no circumstances should they fire the untested rocket 11.]] Larry does anyway when the car shows that the church is out of the range of 1-10.
* In the "S'Winter" episode of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', Doofenshmirtz builds a laser that has a melting capacity of seven...on a scale of one to five.
** Much of the show is the titular brothers taking everything Up To Eleven.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Home Movies]]'', Duane's band SCAB scrawled the number 11 on the far end of their amps' volume dials.
* In one episode of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', Cyborg complains that, as a machine, he cannot go beyond 100% of his ability. By the end of the episode, he does, and throws away the corresponding indicator.
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** Said stereo actually has more security preventing its use than ''all of Megas' weapons'' and is the one weapon Coup actually considers cruel to use. As if that didn't already show how powerful it is, when combined with Coup's off-key voice, it becomes a weapon of mass destruction capable of destroying a massive space station and an army of monsters and robots in seconds.
* In ''[[Shaun the Sheep]]'', whilst trying to cure one of the other sheep of hiccups, Shaun pulls out an electric guitar and amplifier and turns the amplifier up to eleven. As soon as he plays a single chord, a mushroom cloud is seen rising out of the field.
* One episode of ''[[
* In ''[[Adventure Time]]'' Marceline's bass amp goes up to ''XII''!
== Real Life ==
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** Huey Long also had built the Louisiana State Capitol, which still stands as the tallest state capitol in the country and the tallest building in Baton Rouge. Local historians state that the Nebraska state capitol, which was being erected concurrently, was going to exceed the planned height of the Louisiana construction. Governor Long responded by increasing the height of his capitol to remain the tallest.
* Amps made by Fender go up to twelve, and still sound clean. Then we have Marshall who decided to one up it by giving it more watts, more speakers, more preamplification for that hard rock sound, and then later going to twenty. Then Mesa Boogie, inspired by Marshall, makes it go even further, creating one of the loudest metal amps. Soldano amps do go up to eleven because of this.
** Averted by Soldano's daughter company Jet
* A lot of the [[Ermine Cape Effect]] is due to this, where royalty would do their best to show the most elaborate [[Bling of War|outfits]] and [[Pimped-Out Dress|dresses]] they could get tailored, especially in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
* One particular king commonly ate his dinners either plated in gold, sprinkled with ground-up pearls, or soaked in expensive perfume. However, the source is ''Ripley's Believe It or Not'', so this idea is probably an exaggeration or taken out of context, at best.
** A far more reliable source (a grade X chemistry school book from the 1970s) stated that Napoleon III, French emperor in the 19th century, used aluminium plates for himself and the empress at official banquets, this metal being the most expensive available in his era.
* On that note, the Age of Imperialism was around those centuries, and all about getting the most colonies.
* How many times have you heard a supervisor or a coach demand a "110% effort"?
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** Best exemplified by the infamous iPhone application "I Am Rich", which was an application which cost $999.99 (the maximum possible at the iPhone store) and did nothing useful besides showing that its owner is rich. {{spoiler|Also, it had a typo.}}
* The FreeBSD [[UNIX]] based operating system had some problems switching from the 4.x to the 5.x version, forcing them to release a 4.10 and 4.11 "production" versions. They lampshaded it releasing promo material with "4.11, ours goes to eleven" on it.
* Overclocking computers with the help of liquid nitrogen. ''Liquid motherfucking nitrogen''.
** Then someone did it with [http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/overclocked_amd_phenom_ii_hits_65ghz_with_liquid_nitrogenhelium_cooling liquid helium]. For people who would do such a thing, the achievement is an end itself and there's apparently no such thing as "too much". It's all about the [[Rule of Cool]], not the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Rule Of Cooling]].
* The Big Ten college sports conference invited an eleventh member (Penn State) to join in 1990, kept their name as the Big Ten, and added an 11 buried in their [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Big_Ten_Conference_Logo.svg/500px-Big_Ten_Conference_Logo.svg.png logo]{{Dead link}}, which they used until 2010.
** Ironically, they had only formally adopted the name Big Ten in 1987....
** The Atlantic 10 sees your eleven and raises you 14. Given its members in Missouri and Ohio, the name appears to have become an [[Artifact Title]].
** Quite a few of the major conferences have been wanting to expand to ''sixteen'' teams since forever, and now it looks like a definite possibility. The Big East will have seventeen starting next season. And the new entry is from [[Everything Is Big in Texas|Texas]].
* The Badwater Ultramarathon: (from ''Sports Illustrated'') Think of [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Badwater]] as [[The Spartan Way|five consecutive marathons, only they're uphill]] (from 280
** The featured runner, Arthur Webb, has run the thing 12 times and has finished around 48 hours (with a record 36 hours being fourth place) each time, [[Nausea Fuel|rips his big toenails out]] so they won't crack as his feet swell in the 130 degree daytime heat, and once lost consciousness... and his pulse (he got better). Oh, and '''''he's 67 years old.'''''
* In a West Indies vs Australia [[Cricket Rules]] match from the early 90s, specialist bowlers Mike Whitney and Bruce Reid (both infamously bad batsmen) were in the Australian side. Whitney came to bat at number 10 (second-last), and after he'd swung wildly at a few deliveries, West Indian commentator Michael Holding (who'd never seen either of them play before) said "can you believe this guy's at number 10?" Ian Chappell replied, "Just you wait. There's someone worse to come."
* First round of Wimbledon 2010: John Isner versus Nicholas Mahut. They go into a fifth set. Because tie-breakers aren't used in the final set at Wimbledon, the final score of the fifth set was''70-68''. That's not points; that's ''games''. They were at the game so long it had to be suspended and continued the next day - and then suspended ''again''. It was finally finished two days after it began. Isner, still affected by the length of that match, lost in the second round.
* The Space Shuttle Main Engine goes [[wikipedia:SSME#SSME thrust specifications|up to 109%]]
* Fun fact: The volume on the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120522232026/http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_world_service BBC iPlayer] goes up to 11.
** However Sky's goes up to 12. "So there!" (R. Murdoch)
* VLC media player's volume percentage goes up to 200% in the menu bar then goes on to 400% if you use the scroll wheel over the main window. This isn't just cosmetic, either: The default 100% setting is at the same level as other software, and cranking it higher will manipulate the waveform, [[Loudness War|clipping and even brickwalling it]] as needed.
** This is probably for files that were transferred from the (usually non-digital) source at less than full
* This is the entire point of Guinness Records.
** The race for the fastest 100 meter dash in particular was stuck on trying to go ''below'' ten seconds for quite some time...and then Usain Bolt broke ''his own'' record by the largest margin to date, ''and'' he was so ahead of the rest of the pack that he slowed down a bit to show off.
* The Russian "Tsar" projects: [[wikipedia:Tsar Bell|Tsar Bell]], the world's largest bell; [[wikipedia:Tsar Cannon|Tsar Cannon]], the world's largest howitzer; and the more recent [[wikipedia:Tsar Tank|Tsar Tank]] and [[wikipedia:Tsar Bomba|Tsar Bomb]].
* US Navy slang includes the term "All ahead Bendix." The ship's speed is controlled by a device which was often made by the Bendix company. Their logo was just beyond the maximum setting, so it appeared that "Bendix" was an option for higher speed.
* The [[Cool Car|Bugatti Veyron's]] power gauge stops neatly at [https://web.archive.org/web/20120916114151/http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-2006/2006-Bugatti-Veyron-Targa-Florio-Gauges-1600x1200.jpg 1001]. Actually it tops at about 1200
** 1001 metric hp (PS) would make around 987
** While not quite as fast as the Veyron, the HTT Plethore LC-1300 "Canadian Supercar" has a 1,300 horse power engine and is designed as a 3-seater with the driver's seat and steering column in the centre like a Formula 1 car, and two passengers to the rear flanks of the driver.
* [http://www.brewdog.com/index.php Brew Dog] seem to be brewing the world's strongest beer: [
** [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66S3SR20100729 And 't Koelschip] went into overdrive outdoing [[Brew Dog]] with the Start the Future, at a massive 60% ABV.
* One of the Tv Tropes forums discusses this in terms of bodybuilding, noting how contestants went from being strongmen who happened to have highly defined muscles (and actually looked pretty good) to freakishly huge guys more obsessed with adding mass than being healthy.
** Compare [http://scooby1961.blogspot.com/2011/09/does-phil-heath-use-steroids.html the 2011 Mr. Olympia winner with a winner before steroids were available.]
* Appropriately, at the [[IMDb]] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/ page] for ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'', the ''rating'' is displayed as <number>/11.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120601085033/http://dvd.ign.com/articles/037/037306p1.html IGN] also gave the movie 11 out of 10.
* If you thought the Snuggy was bad, behold "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S2p7AiNX9g Forever Lazy]".
* Advanced Micro Devices [http://blogs.amd.com/work/2011/01/31/bulldozer-goes-to-11/ used the trope] OUTRIGHT in their blog, litterally citing the ''Spinal Tap'' scene to explain what the Turbo CORE technology does in the Bulldozer processor architecture. The processor will often try to overclock all its cores by as much as
* Energy drinks, in both can size and caffeine content. Originally an 8.3 oz. can of Red Bull was a lot. Then came other energy drinks that made Red Bull look like tea, and larger can sizes. 16 ounces is pretty much the standard, and there are also 24 and ''32'' ounce cans, as well as ''boxes''.
** Powerthirst (from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs this fake commercial]), the most EXTREME energy drink. It actually belongs in this section now, because it's [https://
* Finnish Navy corvettes "Turunmaa" and "Karjala" used Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines (yup, the same as in Concorde), and they were equipped with special restrictors equipped with security seals. The normal maximum speed of those corvettes was 38 kn, but they logged regularly 43 kn speeds. But when breaking the security seals and overriding the restrictors, the vessels could achieve 50 kn speeds - although the engines would not stand such stress for a long time.
* War Emergency Power on Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine. Used on P-47 Thunderbolt, F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair. The WEP device consisted of water-methanol injection on the already turbocharged engine. When breaking the security seals and applying WEP, the pilot could stress some 20% more power momentarily out of the engine than usually.
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* Rubik's Cubes. Thought the 3x3x3 cube was hard? There are cubes up to 7x7x7 commercially available, and a method has been patented that can take the cube's size literally up to eleven. When it comes to computer-simulated cubes, you can just [[Serial Escalation|go infinitely higher]]: How about a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnbPhwajuqg&feature=related 20x20x20] or a ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50Vhs0Xe02k 1000x1000x1000]'' cube? There are also ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AqMb-edXlc 4-dimensional cubes]'' or even '''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81gGxSEm2i0&feature=related 5D cubes]'''.
** 5D is so last millenium, they're up to [http://astr73.narod.ru/MC7D/MC7D.html 7D] now, 5^7 to be precise.
* In a
* The TORRO scale for tornadoes goes up to eleven, with the highest ranking T11 tornadoes having wind speeds in excess of 300
* The [[BBC]] embeded video players actually go up to eleven on the volume adjustment.
* According to James May, in the final episode of ''[[Top Gear]]'' series 16, the original moon buggy was designed to have a top speed of 8
* Footballer [[Small Name, Big Ego|Nicklas]] [[English Premier League|Bendtner's]] confidence was measured to a ten on a scale that goes to nine.
* [http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80457645/ Body suits that make you look like a sex doll]. Gets a creep out rating of 11.
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* Telescope advances are usually more a case of [[Bigger Is Better]], advancing in leaps and bounds, but the Gran Telescope Canarias, the world's largest and built in 2009, has a main mirror a little over 34 feet across. The previous record holder, the Keck telescope, has a 33 feet wide main mirror. You could park a bus on the main mirrors of any of them (and cause a gazillion dollars in damage doing so!)
* [http://longnow.org/clock/ The Clock Of The Long Now] is a mechanical clock designed to run continuously for the next 10,000, that's ''ten THOUSAND'', years. That is the entire length of human civilization, which is actually their benchmark. They want to build lots of them, and scatter them all over the earth.
* NASCAR racecars, the quintessential "ten" of automotive racing in the USA, rates their cars in the 8-
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[[Category:Pothole Magnet]]
[[Category:Universal Tropes]]
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