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Playing With / Explosive Instrumentation

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Basic Trope: Consoles have an alarming tendency to explode whenever something happens.

  • Straight: The Starship Tropes is hit and a console explodes.
  • Exaggerated:
    • The Starship Tropes is hit and numerous consoles explode.
    • The Starship Tropes is hit and a console explodes...and continues exploding until someone can cut off the power.
  • Downplayed:
    • The Starship Tropes is hit several times before a console explodes.
    • The Starship Tropes is hit and a console fritzes slightly.
  • Justified:
    • No OSHA Compliance.
    • The Bridge itself took a glancing hit. Safeties aside, something's gonna explode.
  • Inverted: The Starship Tropes is hit and the consoles go dead.
  • Subverted: The Starship Tropes is hit, but the consoles don't explode.
  • Double Subverted: At least, not on the bridge. Engineering, however, is a smoking ruin.
  • Parodied:
    • The Starship Tropes hits a dust speck and every console explodes.
    • Someone sneezes near a console and it explodes.
    • The Starship Tropes shakes and someone's handheld PADD explodes, despite not being plugged into anything.
    • Future OSHA compliance requires a crate of fireworks under every computer.
  • Zig Zagged:
    • The consoles don't explode during the battle, but they do during repairs.
    • The Starship Tropes is hit, and the consoles explode—but it's actually a Virtual Training Simulation, and the explosions aren't dangerous. Even so, the officers manning the simulation act like they are by falling down and playing dead when their consoles explode. Then a serious malfunction occurs, and the consoles start exploding for real.
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  • Averted: The Starship Tropes isn't hit.
  • Enforced: Rule of Cool.
  • Lampshaded: "Dammit! I don't know what's gonna kill us faster, their torpedoes or our consoles!"
  • Invoked: Someone rigs a console to explode and take out an enemy.
  • Exploited: A console explodes and kills its user. A lower-ranked crewman quietly updates his resume for a promotion.
  • Defied:
    • The Engineer installs top-of-the-line safeties in the consoles so they don't explode.
    • The Starship Tropes uses consoles that aren't wired into the power grid and have a wi-fi connection to the computer, guaranteeing that they can't spontaneously explode.
  • Discussed: "I've lost count of how many times I've had to repair destroyed consoles after each battle."
  • Conversed: "Drinking Game: Watch Star Trek and take a shot every time a console explodes."
  • Implied: The Starship Tropes is hit and an explosion occurs offscreen. A few scenes later, a crewman previously seen using a console is in Sickbay.
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  • Deconstructed: Redshirt fatalities from exploding consoles lead to the Starship Tropes being understaffed.
  • Reconstructed: But it's a war, and there are plenty of Redshirts volunteering to fight and die.
  • Played For Laughs: A console explodes and gives its user Ash Face.
  • Played for Drama: A console explodes and kills the Ensemble Dark Horse, causing angst for The Captain.

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