History Main / AppliedPhlebotinum

In essence, it is plot fuel. Without it, the story would grind to an abrupt halt. It's the science that powers the [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL]] drive on the starship so the characters can get somewhere, it's the magic that hatches the EggMacGuffin so the protagonist can save an endangered species, it's the strange things unknown to science or magic that do basically anything [[RuleOfDrama except those limits and dangers required by the plot]]. The reader does not know how Phlebotinum would work and the creators hope nobody cares. In essence, it's a plot device that abstracts away the problem of [[SlidingScale/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hard science]].

In essence, it is plot fuel. Without it, the story would grind to an abrupt halt. It's the science that powers the [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL]] drive on the starship so the characters can get somewhere, it's the magic that hatches the EggMacGuffin so the protagonist can save an endangered species, it's the strange things unknown to science or magic that do basically anything [[RuleOfDrama except those limits and dangers required by the plot]]. The reader does not know how Phlebotinum would work and the creators hope nobody cares. In essence, it's a plot device that abstracts away the problem of [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hard science]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/applied_phlebotinum.jpg]]]]

* SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay

A.K.A. Handwavium. Compare AuthorPowers, HandWave, MacGuffin, DeusExMachina, and AWizardDidIt. Contrast MisappliedPhlebotinum, and MinovskyPhysics for when it's actually examined in scientific detail with clearly defined limits and uses. Not to be confused with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlebotomy Phlebotomy]].

A.K.A. Handwavium. Compare AuthorPowers, HandWave, MacGuffin, DeusExMachina, and AWizardDidIt. Contrast MisappliedPhlebotinum. Not to be confused with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlebotomy Phlebotomy]].

In essence, it is plot fuel. Without it, the story would grind to an abrupt halt. It's the science that powers the [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL]] drive on the starship so the characters can get somewhere, it's the magic that hatches the EggMacGuffin so the protagonist can save an endangered species, it's the strange things unknown to science or magic that do basically anything [[RuleOfDrama except those limits and dangers required by the plot]]. The reader does not know how Phlebotinum would work and the creators hope nobody cares.

* ByThePowerOfGreyskull

In essence, it is plot fuel. Without it, the story would grind to an abrupt halt. It's the science that powers the [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL]] drive on the starship so the characters can get somewhere, it's the magic that hatches the EggMacGuffin so the protagonist can save an endangered species, it's the strange things unknown to science or magic that do basically anything except those limits and dangers required by the plot. The reader does not know how Phlebotinum would work and the creators hope nobody cares.

!!Tropes

AppliedPhlebotinum is among the JustForFun/TropesOfLegend.

->''"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device"''