History Main / SelfDestructMechanism

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E07CivilDefense Civil Defense]]", this was part of Dukat's "Counter-insurgency program" should the Bajorans take control of the station. When ops restablishes contact with Sisko, they explain to him how the self-destruct is supposed to work by a main reactor overload. Sisko decides overriding the computer to stop the countdown wouldn't work so he reroutes the fusion reator to output the energy away from the station. When the countdown completes the energy is harmlessly released into DS9's shields, leaving the station intact.

* Spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' episode "Space Madness", where the {{narrator}} ends up badgering Stimpy into pressing the "History Eraser Button". The shiny, candy-like button.

** In ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', RobotBuddy ''Alpha Five'' had one of these. He can activate it himself, but can't turn it off. Rangers saved him at the last moment, of course. (And, if it's the 'kaboom' kind, they also saved the kid Alpha had been protecting. Alpha didn't seem too concerned about his proximity.)

* [[BigBad Dr. Jail Scaglietti's]] lab in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' has a self-destruct mechanism that [[SmugSnake Quattro]] remotely activates after Fate's group manages to subdue the MadScientist and the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Numbers Cyborgs]] with him. Unfortunately for Fate, the lab has a lot of innocents stuck in PeopleJars so she has to deactivate it to save them, and Jail isn't cooperating since [[spoiler: the backup clone in Quattro means it doesn't matter if he gets killed]].
* Twice used as a way to escape and buy some time by the protagonists in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. The first one requires a fairly lengthy code, while the second one required them to log into a computer first.

* In ''Anime/{{Yatterman}}'', and possibly in other ''Time Bokan'' series too, the TerribleTrio always installed a useless self-destructing mechanism on their mechas. This, combined with their stupidity, was often the cause of their demise. Also, the BigBad almost always left them self-destructing messages with the mission objectives, often hidden in the weirdest objects.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** CrazyPrepared MadScientist Mayuri Kurotsuchi reveals during his battle with Szayel that he has [[spoiler: tinkered with his Bankai to ensure it will self destruct if it is ever used against him]].
** There are four types of soul power: Human, Quincy, Hollow, and Shinigami. Human is opposite to Hollow and Quincy is opposite to Shinigami. If souls mix, they break the boundaries and create beings much more powerful than having one soul alone. However, the soul becomes unstable and self-destructs in a process known as soul suicide. Visoreds are Hollowfied Shinigami who were stabilised by a Quincy/Human vaccine. [[spoiler: Masaki was a Hollowfied Quincy whose self-destructing soul was stabilised by being bound for life to "Humanified" Shinigami soul (Isshin).]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': [[HollywoodCyborg Franky]] encounters one of these while exploring Vegapunk's old lab. Despite [[DontTouchItYouIdiot having been repeatedly warned not to activate it]], take one guess what happens when he encounters the big skull-marked button.

* The ''Manga/Cyborg009'' episode "Mystical Island" has a self-destruct mechanism for the island base which is triggered by the destruction of security robots. The self-destruct sequence was disabled when the scarecrow robot removed the circuit control card from the main power circuit, causing the base's main power systems to shut down and the self-destruct countdown to stop with 6 seconds left on the timer.

* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' has a BigRedButton on ''Spaceball One'' that triggers the self-destruction of the ship, labeled with a sign that warns, "Do not push unless you really, ''really'' mean it!" Lone Starr knocks Dark Helmet into it, setting off the countdown to the big boom. Later, the main computer gently informs Colonel Sandurz, President Skroob, and Dark Helmet (the only ones left on the ship after everyone else uses the escape pods) that they have one last chance at pressing another BigRedButton that cancels the procedure. They rush to do so, only to discover it's out of order, leading Helmet to lament "Even in the future, nothing works!". This is after, of course, Skroob unleashes an [[AtomicFBomb extremely loud]], [[PrecisionFStrike first-in-the-show]] curse.

* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' has a BigRedButton on ''Spaceball One'' that triggers the self-destruction of the ship, labeled with a sign that warns, "Do not push unless you really, ''really'' mean it!" Lone Starr knocks Dark Helmet into it, setting off the countdown to the big boom. Later, the main computer gently informs Colonel Sandurz, President Skroob, and Dark Helmet (the only ones left on the ship after everyone else uses the escape pods) that they have one last chance at pressing another BigRedButton that cancels the procedure. They rush to do so, only to discover it's out of order, leading Helmet to lament "Even in the future, nothing works!". This is after, of course, Helmet unleashes an [[AtomicFBomb extremely loud]], [[PrecisionFStrike first-in-the-show]] curse.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E07CivilDefense Civil Defense]]", this was part of Dukat's "Counter-insurgency program" should the Bajorans take control of the station.

* ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'': Tec starbases have the Saftey Override Protocal upgrade, which turns them into giant bombs. When triggering the self destruct ability (labled as [[LastDitchMove Last Resort]]) the resulting explosion deals a [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill hilarious amount of damage]], enough to kill most regular ships three times over, and potentially one shot lower level capital ships as well.

* In the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series, the Umbrella Corporation is famous for simply loving its self destruct mechanisms, installing them in nearly everything it builds, from secret laboratories to Victorian mansions to trains. {{Justified|Trope}} since their specialization is in infectious [[TheVirus Bioweaponry]] and [[ZombieApocalypse we all know what happens if it gets loose]].

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' actually ''parodies'' the series' love of self-destruct sequences. In the finale, Ada has rigged the entire island with explosives and set a timer, and gives Leon a heads up and a means to escape. Leon's more than accustomed to escaping such sequences at this point, but Ashley Graham on the other hand.

* Switzerland has or has had its infrastructure of tunnels, bridges, highways, and railroads rigged to blow in times of war to deter the enemy transportation [[http://www.billdamon.com/switzerland-has-rigged-their-infrastructure-to-blow-up-if-they-are-invaded/#sthash.zsvQxiRT.dpbs]].

** In "The Day of Cleansing", also in Season 8, which serves as a crossover with ''Series/MartialLaw'' (serving as Part 2 of "[[Recap/MartialLawS2E16HonorAmongStrangers Honor Among Strangers]]") and rips the UsefulNotes/OklahomaCityBombing [[RippedFromTheHeadlines from the headlines]], [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Cliff Eagleton]] and his militia group rig up semi trucks with explosive chemicals to go off within four minutes after the driver pulls the loop, with their intended targets being police stations, banks, churches, courthouses and other government and diverse locations at exactly 9:00 AM. After Eagleton's men are captured, the semi operated by Eagleton had Sydney, whose cover was blown while she and Gage were undercover, tied up, but Walker and Sammo free her and manage to drive the truck as far away from Dallas as possible before it exploded. Afterwards, the explosion was strong enough to trigger a seismic reaction.