History Main / MagneticPlotDevice

* For ''{{Smallville}}'', the Magnetic Plot Device is not the GreenRocks, but instead is the Kryptonian influence of [[TheJorEl Jor El]]. The GreenRocks were just a side effect of that.

** Most likely has to do with Pucci's theory of [[BecauseDestinySaysSo "gravity"]].

** The new game also does this as it's revealed [[spoiler:Ivo Shandor, the cult leader/architect who rigged the apartment building, also rigged the library and hotel from the first film, and the museum from the second, as nodes for this city wide apparatus meant to fuel Gozer's Destructor form, with the apartment building being the door. His old estate was a castle/laboratory where the slime river was first made before it was pumped into the sewer. Also it was revealed one of Ivo's henchmen killed Eleanor Twitty, who became the librarian ghost.]]
* In the TransformersFilmSeries, the Allspark takes on this role. The first film it was a {{MacGuffin}}, an object that both Autobot and Decepticon wanted and would cause unpredictable things to happen around it (mostly creating mini-robots from nearby mechanical devices). ''TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' used leftover fragments of the Allspark to cause more chaos, the big one being that it downloads a Cybertronian database into Sam's head. While Sam says IJustWantToBeNormal, TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive and this is the only reason why he is involved with the events of the movie at all.

* The Rift in ''{{Torchwood}}'' - introduced in the 2005 series of Doctor Who, it became the focus of the first two seasons of the spin-off. It provides the team with all manner of time / space weirdness to deal with, and occasionally draws the Doctor back there when he uses rift energy to refuel the TARDIS.
* The TARDIS from ''Series/DoctorWho''. Seriously, how often is the Doctor actually ''looking'' for the plot of the episode? Nearly every time, he trips over the plot while sightseeing.
** The TARDIS the good Doctor stole was in for repairs, so it doesn't always land where it is supposed to land. Naturally, it sometimes lands in the middle of trouble.
*** It was being decommissioned, actually. It was completely obsolete and in such bad condition it wasn't considered worth fixing. Plus, as was revealed recently, it's supposed to have 6 pilots at once.
** Also, the TARDIS is stated multiple times to be alive and can sense things in the timeline. It may be more that the TARDIS deliberately lands places where it knows there is trouble so the Doctor can SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, despite the Doctor's attempts to "pilot" it.

** Semi-inverted with ''Series/StargateUniverse'' as The Destiny is aware of the needs of the crew and takes them to the planets where the adventure happens.

* The Dragon Balls in ''DragonBall'' always draw a lot of characters essential to the plot together, especially near the beginning of the series. For example, Bulma first meets Goku, because she is searching for a Dragon Ball that he owns. This also works especially well as a ''MagneticPlotDevice'', because there is more than one Dragon Ball, which allows for a more seamless move together of a higher variety of characters.

* Throughout the ''{{Terminator}}'' franchise, John Connor is the MagneticPlotDevice for both himself and his mother, as well as his uncle and robot sister in [[TheSarahConnorChronicles the series]].

* A MagneticPlotDevice is [[WMG/MurderSheWrote conspicuously]] absent throughout the entire series of ''MurderSheWrote'', considering the high rate at which Jessica Fletcher's friends and relatives kill each other, often with the string of homicides following her as she traveled. Given twelve seasons and four movies of corpses and premeditated slayings, it is a wonder that Fletcher's sanity remained intact throughout, and that the police never followed up on her perpetual proximity to this countless chain of crimes.
** John Constantine's theory is that she's the world's most successful serial killer.

* In ''{{Ben 10}}'', as soon as Ben gets the Omnitrix a lot of aliens show up specifically to take it from him.

* ''CodeLyoko'''s entire plot is about the Supercomputer and XANA's plottings. The computer is near magical enough to make whatever story you want to tell happen.

* The Rift in ''{{Torchwood}}''

Many times the device is uncontrollable, or the hero acts as a guardian of it, protecting it from misuse or limiting the damage it can do. Often it is an obscurely defined and rarely actually seen or used, but whose presense permeates the entirety of the saga.

* A big criticism towards ''{{House}}'' is the number of medical mysteries that get thrown his way, mentioned at being about one a week. The show has made some remarks in that regard, giving most patients a unique set-up as well as Doctors all around the region would send patients to House because he was just that good.

** The city of Atlantis in ''StargateAtlantis''. There always seems to be some Ancient experiment that they discover that messes with the team from time to time.
** Semi-inverted with ''StargateUniverse'' as The Destiny is aware of the needs of the crew and takes them to the planets where the adventure happens.

* The chance of a quiet sane life for a {{Witchblade}} wielder is zero. It [[MacGuffin attracts unfriendly attention as a powerful artifact]] and possibly [[{{Witchblade}} itself]] tend to choose ladies already with predisposition to be {{Weirdness Magnet}}s.

* In {{Jojo's Bizarre Adventure}}, Stand users apparently attract other Stand users. How or why this happens is never explained.

'''Ray Stantz:''' No, they never made them like this. The whole building is a huge super-conductive antenna that was designed and built expressly for the purpose of pulling in and concentrating spiritual turbulence. Your girlfriend, Pete, lives in the corner penthouse of spook central.\\
-- ''{{Ghostbusters}}''

* In ''{{Ben10}}'', as soon as Ben gets the Omnitrix a lot of aliens show up specifically to take it from him.

* ''JonnyQuest'''s father, Dr. Benton Quest, is a scientific genius and professional Magnetic Plot Device.

* Megas in "Megas XLR" is either used to transport the characters to alien places, draws aliens to it, or causes major problems, justifying why two guys from New Jersey encounter so many aliens.

* The TARDIS from ''DoctorWho''. Seriously, how often is the Doctor actually ''looking'' for the plot of the episode? Nearly every time, he trips over the plot while sightseeing.

->''Another basement, another elevator. [[LampshadeHanging How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?]]''
->-- [[DieHard John McClane]]

!!Examples

* ''{{Merlin}}'''s two main characters are examples of this -- Arthur, being Crown Prince of Camelot, is the target of numerous assassination plots and is expected to go forth and smite various evil creatures with mighty smitage; Merlin is an incredibly powerful sorcerer, which in itself attracts some opposition.

* ''{{Merlin}}'''s two main characters are examples of this- Arthur, being Crown Prince of Camelot, is tyhe target of numerous assassination plots and is expected to go forth and smite various evil creatures with mighty smitage; Merlin is an incredibly powerful sorcerer, which in itself attracts some opposition.

** Also, the TARDIS is stated multiple times to be alive and can sense things in the timeline. It may be more that the TARDIS deliberately lands places where it knows there is trouble so the Doctor can SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.