History Main / TheLittleDetecto

[[folder:Film — Animated]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* "Numbers" Riktor, from the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books, designed numerous Little Detectos for different things. The only one that became relevant to the books was the resograph, which alerted the wizards to a serious incursion in reality.
** Probably named after the Richter Scale.

** The swords of the Nac Mac Feegle glow when they're near lawyers.
* Frodo's sword Sting from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' glows bright blue when the orcs draw near.
** As do Glamdring and Orcrist, the swords Gandalf and Thorin acquired at the same time Bilbo picked up Sting in ''Literature/TheHobbit''.
* In ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'', bronze Allomancers (also known as Seekers), can detect Allomancy. The most basic level is simply being able to sense when Allomancy is being used and who's using it, but more skilled Seekers can detect what metal is being burned, whether or not it's being flared, which emotions a Soother or Rioter is trying to affect, and even how much metal the Allomancer has left.
* Nicole, the life sciences officer in Literature/RamaII, uses robotic nanites to monitor the heart rates and chemical levels in the bloodstream of the Newton astronauts. It tells her when [[spoiler: Reggie is drugged]], though that data was tampered with and she had to recover the originals, and also tells her that Takagishi has a weak heart, which is what [[spoiler: did him n; she had warned him that his arrhythmia was flaring up, and he had gone on a night mission and had an unfortunate encounter with an octospider]].
* ''The Snows of Ganymede'' by Creator/PoulAnderson, the Planetary Engineers carry a 'general unit' which can be modified for any purpose required, as they are an order of {{Gadgeteer Genius}}es.
-->A man in the field, who might have to work hundreds of kilometers from camp, couldn’t pack twenty different meters and detectors. He needed a single device, rugged and portable, which could be adjusted to perform twenty different functions. Davenant had simply connected the thermopile with the galvanometer, blinkered the lens to provide sharp directionality, and come up with an infrared spotter.

* In ''[[Roleplay/WallERP WALLE Forum Roleplay]]'', Leonard Ghertivel has a device that detects all the specifics of various robot hardware/upgrades upon scanning of the robot in question.

* Luckily, [[SpaceMarine Calhoun]] from ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' just happens to have a hand-held [[BugWar Cy-Bug]] detector, for those times that a Cy-Bug escapes the game.

** The Doctor's [[MagicTool sonic screwdriver]] is often used in this fashion.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "Seek Locate Destroy", molecular shift detectors are set up around a Federation base that Blake is expected to attack. No explanation is given as to [[ForgottenPhlebotinum why we don't see them installed at other Federation bases]].

* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': The Terran Federation created a "Molecular Shift Detector", which could detect the sudden air-displacement caused by using a teleporter. The resemblance to the working principles behind the motion-detectors from the ''Alien'' franchise, the first installment of which was released during the show's run, is probably not wholly coincidental.

* The motion detectors in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' use changes in air pressure to detect movement.
** From [[Film/{{Alien}} the first movie]]:
--->'''Ripley''': What's it key off?\\

*** Very small changes in air density are what we call ''sound''. So, it's a microphone?

* ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast ''features special devices capable of detecting the Mutant X-gene ... as early as ''1973''. Makes you wonder [[FridgeLogic why the government didn't use those in any of the films set later]]...

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has the ubiquitous tricorder, which is half this trope and half hand-held EverythingSensor.

* Sam Fisher's goggles in ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory'' gain the ability to view electromagnetic fields, which essentially shows the player [[HintSystem electric/electronic devices they can interact with]].

* Nicole, the life sciences officer n literature/RamaII, uses robotic nanites to monitor the heart rates and chemical levels in the bloodstream of the Newton astronauts. It tells her when [[spoiler: Reggie is drugged]], though that data was tampered with and she had to recover the originals, and also tells her that Takagishi has a weak heart, which is what [[spoiler: did him n; she had warned him that his arrhythmia was flaring up, and he had gone on a night mission and had an unfortunate encounter with an octospider]].

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' had three detection spells, Detect Magic, Detect Creatures, and Detect ''Key''. While the last was very handy, one wonders what aspect of keys makes them detectable vice any other particular object. (Although it does serve a kind of MundaneUtility verisimilitude. One can only imagine a wizard inventing it after turning his laboratory inside-out trying to figure out where he left his keys last night.)

->''"Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff."''

It's a wonderful device -- a detector that detects the things you need! There is a detector for everything -- AppliedPhlebotinum, GreenRocks, guns, bombs, spaceships, ghosts, mice, cheese, socks... If you live in a high-tech setting and need to find something, there is a type of The Little Detecto that will detect it!

The physics behind The Little Detecto is never explained. It just detects the thing that is the local SeriousBusiness.

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

** As do Glamdring and Orcrist, the swords Gandalf and Thorin acquired at the same time Bilbo picked up Sting in the Hobbit.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink "Blink"]] memorably featured the timey-wimey detector. [[BuffySpeak It goes ding when there's stuff.]]

* Of course, the PKE (psycho-kinetic energy) Meters, Ecto-Goggles, Giga-Meter, and the ghost-sniffer, all from ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}''.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In ''Manga/LoveHina'', Kaolla Su produces a device that detects turtles... and some kind of pot, the two words being homonyms in Japanese. She later upgrades it to detect Keitarou and Naru.
* About the only good thing about the Brand of Sacrifice from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' is that it lets Guts know when the demons are coming for him by bleeding.
* In ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', the D-Arc is able to detect where are the Digital Fields, which contain Digimon that crossed to the real world.
** Every version of the Digivice has something like this, detecting either Digimon, {{Upgrade Artifact}}s, rifts that can let someone travel between it and the human world, and so forth... pretty much whatever is needed.

-->'''Hiei''': I only came to find the source of the vile noise... and kill it.
* In addition to being the source of a MagicalGirl's power and [[spoiler:[[SoulJar their effective phylactery]]]], Soul Gems in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' are also handy Witch detectors as shown in the second episode, glowing brightly when they're close to a Witch's presence.

[[folder:Comics]]
* The HEYDAR and the BTRS Meter on ''Series/TheMiddleman''.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Of course, the PKE (psycho-kinetic energy) Meters, Ecto-Goggles, Giga-Meter, and the ghost-sniffer, all from ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}''.

** The thaumometer, as used by Ponder Stibbons and others, is ''the'' Discworld examplar of theuniversal Everything Detector.

** And the swords of the Nac Mac Feegle of the Discworld, when they're near lawyers.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Chrestomanci}} Witch Week]]'', Inquisitors carry witchcraft detectors. Chrestomanci's, however, is just a cigarette case that he causes to beep at appropriate times; he doesn't need a machine to tell him when someone's a witch.

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' memorably featured the timey-wimey detector. [[BuffySpeak It goes ding when there's stuff.]] The [[MagicTool sonic screwdriver]] is used this way at times, too.
** The classic serial "The Android Invasion," in which androids are passing as humans, has a robot detector. It's a small box with a single red indicator light on it.
** In "The Time Monster", the Doctor tracked down the Master with a device that Jo christened "a TARDIS sniffer-outer".

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Earth-2 has a ''cellphone app'' that can detect nearby Metahumans.
* In ''Series/PeopleOfEarth'' a guy at a UFO convention has a device that he claims detects cosmic radiation on people, but Alex is quite skeptical when he claims she has a very high level of cosmic rays, indicating she's been to space.[[note]]Her mother was abducted by aliens while giving birth, and she was born in space then dropped off in a baby supply store, but she's unaware of that at that point.[[/note]] She thinks the wand looks like a curling iron. But, later [[HumanAliens Don]] passes by the booth and the device goes crazy.

[[folder: Multiple Media ]]

[[folder: Radio]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In ''[[TabletopGame/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy Mistborn Adventure Game]]'', bronze Allomancers (also known as Seekers), can detect Allomancy. The most basic level is simply being able to sense when Allomancy is being used and who's using it, but more skilled Seekers can detect what metal is being burned, whether or not it's being flared, which emotions a Soother or Rioter is trying to affect, and even how much metal the Allomancer has left.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' has both the Pearl Detector and the Animal Detector, which help you find {{Plot Coupon}}s and animals for your FirstPersonSnapshooter sidequest.
* ''The VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' had three detection spells, Detect Magic, Detect Creatures, and Detect ''Key''. While the last was very handy, one wonders what aspect of keys makes them detectable vice any other particular object. (Although it does serve a kind of MundaneUtility verisimilitude. One can only imagine a wizard inventing it after turning his laboratory inside-out trying to figure out where he left his keys last night)
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' game ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II--Retribution'', during the Ork Campaign when pursuing teleporting Eldars, trusty second in command Mister Nail-Brainz set his git-finda to "Pansy" mode.
* Sam Fisher's goggles in ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory'' gain the ability to view electromagnetic fields, which essentially shows the player [[HintSystem electric/electronic devices they can interact with]].
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', the chocobo acts as this while you ride it. They are able to detect things buried in the ground, and a text bubble appears for you to play Hot and Cold as you run around to find the item.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'', [[BeatStillMyHeart The Heart]] lets you detect runes and bone talismans, and can tell you secrets about people you point it at.
* The ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series has the Artifact Detectors, though they only really appeared in ''Call of Pripyat'' after being DummiedOut of the earlier installments. There are several different versions, the best of which leans slightly towards being an EverythingSensor as it can also mark the position of non-moving anomalies.

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* ''FanFic/TheReturn'', pattern detectors. Little palmtop things that tell you if the creature currently ripping your heart out through your ribcage is a demon or not.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

--->'''Fry:''' The ship has a mammoth detector?
--->'''Bender:''' You're drunk, Fry. This is the elephant detector. I just set it to big and woolly.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents,'' Mr. Crocker has a "fairy detector" that he uses to hunt down Timmy's fairies.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Vanessessary Roughness", [[EvilGenius Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] "just happens" to have a [[GreenRocks pizzazium]] detector [[CrazyPrepared in his top pocket]] after he and his [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter daughter]] stumble upon a sample [[VillainsOutShopping at the mall.]] It comes in handy when Baljeet snags the [[MacGuffin pizzazium]] first.
** In "The Chronicles of Meap", Phineas converts a GPS into a "cute tracker" to find an adorable alien the boys call "Meap". Isabella, who harbors a crush on Phineas, is annoyed that the device apparently ignores her, until Phineas reveals that he deliberately had it ignore Isabella's cuteness. When he adjusts the device to stop ignoring Isabella, it [[ReadingsBlewUpTheScale self-destructs]].
* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'''s first season, Jack Spicer builds a Shen Gong Wu detecto-bot.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', the chocobo acts as this while you ride it. They are able to detect things buried in the ground, and a text bubble appears for you to play Hot and Cold as you run around to find the item.

* The motion detectors in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' changes in air pressure to detect movement.

** In "The Time Warrior", the Doctor tracked down the Master with a device that Jo christened "a TARDIS sniffer-outer".

* On ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Officer Jenny (Junsa in the original) just happened to have a sleep wave detector in her pocket when the situation called for it. Dogasu (he compares the dub to the original) says [[http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/kanto/ep027.html here]]:

* Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast features special devices capable of detecting the Mutant X-gene ... as early as ''1973''. Makes you wonder [[FridgeLogic why the government didn't use those in any of the films set later]]...

* ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'':Siege has IQ's electronics detector and Pulse's heartbeat sensor.

* ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'':Siege has IQ's electronics detector and Pulse's heartbeat sensor