History Main / Unobtainium

Others are more fantastic "high-grade" unobtainium, such as {{Antimatter}}, which would be a revolutionary way of storing huge amounts of energy, if it didn't violently[[hottip:*:as in, 1-10 grams = tactical nuclear weapon yield]] undergo mutual annihilation with ''any'' conventional matter it came into contact with, [[DisasterDominoes including air molecules and the walls of whatever you're trying to store the damn stuff in]]. And if it could be made to exist for more than a few minutes.

* The entire Gundam franchise uses unobtanium to various degrees, but it is played straight and subverted in the very first series of all, ''Mobile Suit Gundam''. Early on the Lunar Titanium Alloy used by the RX-78 Gundam is effectively indestructible to conventional fire, the oversized machineguns and bazookas used by mobile suits shaking it, but otherwise causing very little damage. This changed near the end of the series, when Zeon mobile suits gain beam weaponry technology, and we discover that beam weaponry trumps EVERYTHING in terms of armor. For the entire Universal Century timeline afterwords, combat becomes based around ''avoiding'' getting hit, since any significant hit at all is instantly fatal, regardless of armor. Even the large shields mobile suits carry generally only suffer one impact before getting blown away completely.
* ''GundamWing'' plays the trope straight, and has the alloy Gundanium, which is incredibly tough, nearly immutable, heat-resistant, electrically neutral, and a natural radar damper. The "rare, hard-to-find" part comes from the fact that it can only be manufactured in space and the fact that at the start of the show, only six people in the world know how to make it. You might be surprised to learn that [[RealityIsUnrealistic this has some basis in real-world science]], as the crystalline structures that form as liquid metal solidifies can be ''very'' different in microgravity. The odds of creating an alloy with ''all'' the aforementioned properties remain fairly small, however.

* Levistone from ''KyouranKazokuNikki'', a material which makes things hover when electricity runs through it.

* Done with a twist in ''{{Laputa}}'' where the Levistone (a Grade A {{Unobtainium}}) is a well-known mineral (and the name of the material is Etherium instead of Levistone), commonly found in rocks - however, it rapidly decays when exposed to air and thus serves no practical purpose. The movie's {{Precursors}} knew how to refine it and fashion it into durable crystals, with many amazing properties. This technology has been lost and the world's nations will now stop at nothing to lay their hands on the few remaining samples.
* ''VisionOfEscaflowne'' has 2 of these.

* ''OnePiece''

* [=GEMs=] in ''{{Mai-Otome}}'' give Otome their robes (and thus, most of their powers). The Coral and Pearl [=GEMs=] used by students are artificially created, but the knowledge of how to create Meister [=GEMs=] was lost, making them extremely valuable.
* OutlawStar has ''dragonite'', used for FasterThanLightTravel.

* In ''{{Claymore}}'' swords are made from a rare ore which makes them indestructible. The near-impossibility of getting said ore [[spoiler: and the ease at which the Claymore's organization is able to get the ore to make new swords]] becomes a big supporting evidence of a major plot point quite far into the story.

* Creator/RudyardKipling's story ''The Night Mail'' has [[CoolAirship airships]] lifted by "Fleury's gas" energized by "Fleury's ray." The lifting power of the gas can apparently be rapidly adjusted, and is so great that airships are made rigid enough to achieve speeds of two hundred miles per hour without straining the hull or engines. (No real-world airship[[hottip:*:a lighter-than-air vessel, as distinct from an airplane, many of which have stall speeds above 100 mph]] has ever reached '''one''' hundred.)

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' and its sequels feature [[GreenRocks Tiberium]], an apparently plant-like (in growth patterns and behaviour) but actually crystalline substance of extraterrestrial origin, as a harvestable resource and GlobalCurrency. Its name derives from where it was first encountered - the impact site of the meteor that carried it to Earth at the ''Tiber'' River - ergo, it was called ''Tiber''ium.[[hottip:* :The Brotherhood of Nod would like you to note that the quoted name origin was part of a faked discovery story created for anti-Nod propaganda. The true discoverer of Tiberium, the Benevolent and Mighty Kane, named the substance in honour of Tiberius Caesar, but GDI propagandists insisted on altering every detail of the story.]] It's also terribly, terribly toxic, potentially radioactive (depending on what it leeches or assimilates) and generally so dangerous that it explodes violently if processed properly or stored in large enough quantities.

** It's also usable as rocket fuel.[[hottip:*:Disclaimer: we didn't say it was ''good'' rocket fuel.]]

* ''BenTen'' featured two such elements which, combined, formed an explosive capable of wiping out entire solar systems. Only one known sample of Element X exists while the other, Bicenthium alloy, is only found in appreciable quantities on Earth. [[spoiler:Except it's ''iron'', [[CriticalResearchFailure the sixth most common element in the galaxy]]]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenonauts}}'', just like in ''X-COM'', you can salvage the alien fuel source, Alenium, which cannot be reproduced terrestrially. Incidentally, even before attempting to use it as a power source, Xenonaut scientists decided they made for even better missile warheads, giving your interceptors an early shot in the arm in terms of firepower.

* The first two games of the ''{{X-Com}}'' series had Elerium, an element that formed in yellow crystals and had an atomic number of 115. By the third game, Elerium could be mined on Mars and extrasolar colonies.

* Chaos Emeralds in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' went from KryptoniteIsEverywhere to Unobtainium during the "Order From Chaos" storyline. Prior to the story, Mobius had hundreds of Chaos Emeralds and if the story needed one, poof, there ya go. However, when A.D.A.M. drew every Chaos Emerald in the solar system to Mobius, Turbo Tails and Super Shadow (the ones who were forced to bring them there) realize how dangerous that was and shove them all into the Zone of Silence. Feist, the being remaining there, became a god when he harnessed their power to remake the Zone and condensed all of those emeralds into only seven.

** "[[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Biotics]]" are individuals who were exposed to Element Zero ''in utero'' and manifested [[PsychicPowers biotic abilities]] as a result. Those who don't manifest are often born normally with few complications, but unfortunately there also exist some who develop fatal cancers and rarely make it to term. Other problems faced by Human biotics is that because they are still part of the first generation, many were wired with [[ObviousBeta older models]] of [[UpgradeArtifact Biotic amps]] before humanity really knew what they were doing. While the L3 amps are stable, those wired with the L2 models experience some [[EquivalentExchange serious side effects]], everything from [[PsychicNosebleed nosebleeds]], to occasional migraine headaches, to full-on insanity.

In ScienceFiction it will usually take one of three flavors: whatever stuff makes FasterThanLightTravel possible, closely followed by the stuff that can [[ArtificialGravity mess with gravity]] (if they're not [[Series/StargateSG1 one]] and the [[MassEffect same]]), and finally the stuff they make HumongousMecha and [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Alien]] spacecraft out of, which is why they tend to be effectively [[ImmuneToBullets immune from earthly weapons]] or environmental damage.

* ''MassEffect'' also has its own form of Unobtainium, better known as Element Zero or "eezo" in the Mass Effect 'verse. This material is responsible for all of the technology in-game, as it has [[MinovskyPhysics the ability to manipulate mass]], which makes it valuable for propulsion systems, projectile weapons, kinetic force fields, artificial gravity, and a powerful, convenient method of Faster Than Light travel. Indeed, "eezo" is a key element of virtually every advanced galactic technology.

* In ''[[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog Doctor Horrible]]'', the good doctor powers his freeze ray with Wonderflonium, not far removed from Unobtainium as it has the power to stop time. However it only seems to paralyze or turn to stone a single target, rather than actually stopping time itself.
** Wonderflonium doesn't freeze time as suggested here. It merely makes the impossible possible and powers the freeze ray -- [[IThoughtItMeant which freezes time]] -- for a short time, at least. Wonderflonium should also never be bounced for some reason.

* In Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Heaven, common coal have rare "slow" and "fast" coal that slow or speed up time inside it. The BigBad had [[spoiler:hundreds of young girl slaves move hands over small pieces of coal and pick out those specific coal pieces]].

* In ''IronMan2'' the element which powers Stark's Arc Reactor is first palladium before he creates a better substitute.
* In ''[[Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet 21 Jump Street]]'', there is also a substance called Unobtainium, which apparently "has a nuclear reaction with the flux capacitor — carry the ’2′ — changing its atomic isotoner into a radioactive spider".

** "[[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Biotics]]" are individuals who were exposed to Element Zero ''in utero'' and manifested [[PsychicPowers biotic abilities]] as a result. Those who don't manifest are often born normally with few complications, but unfortunately there also exist some who develop fatal cancers and rarely make it to term. Other problems faced by Human biotics is that because they are still part of the first generation, they were wired with older models of Biotic amps (to make their powers useful in combat), before humanity really knew what they were doing. While the L3 amps are stable, those wired with the L2 models experience some [[EquivalentExchange serious side effects]], everything from [[PsychicNosebleed nosebleeds]], to occasional migraine headaches, to full-on insanity.

** "[[DifferentlyPoweredIndivudals Biotics]]" are individuals who were exposed to Element Zero ''in utero'' and manifested [[PsychicPowers biotic abilities]] as a result. Those who don't manifest are often born normally with few complications, but unfortunately there also exist some who develop fatal cancers and rarely make it to term. Other problems faced by Human biotics is that because they are still part of the first generation, they were wired with older models of Biotic amps (to make their powers useful in combat), before humanity really knew what they were doing. While the L3 amps are stable, those wired with the L2 models experience some [[EquivalentExchange serious side effects]], everything from [[PsychicNosebleed nosebleeds]], to occasional migraine headaches, to full-on insanity.
** Another use for Element Zero, commonly used by criminals is to refine it into a drug called "Red Sand", named after the first drugs were developed from Eezo found on Mars. It's like cocaine, but it gives you limited biotic powers. [[DrugsAreBad Oh, and it's highly addictive, and addicts who can't pay for their habit are sometimes sold into slavery.]]

** The [[PsychicPowers "biotic powers"]] in the game come from being exposed in the womb to Element Zero. But if it doesn't work, it usually gives the fetus fatal cancer. Plus, the computer hardware that makes biotics useful in combat has some [[EquivalentExchange serious side effects]], everything from [[PsychicNosebleed nosebleeds]], to occasional migraine headaches, to full-on insanity.
** As the title quote notes, bad guys make Element Zero into a drug called "Red Sand." It's like cocaine, but it gives you limited biotic powers. [[DrugsAreBad Oh, and it's highly addictive, and addicts who can't pay for their habit are sometimes sold into slavery.]]

* Parodied in the fifties B-movie homage ''TheLostSkeletonOfCadavra'' with Atmospherium, a super-powerful and poorly-defined element capable of operating spacecraft, resurrecting evil skeletons, and delivering actual advances in the field of science.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall Z'', Supreme Kai summons a block of "Kachin", the hardest metal in the universe, to show just how awesome the Z Sword is. [[spoiler: It consequently breaks to release Supreme Kai's predecessor from 15 generations ago]] and the metal is never heard of again.

* In ''[[TwentyOneJumpStreet 21 Jump Street]]'', there is also a substance called Unobtainium, which apparently "has a nuclear reaction with the flux capacitor — carry the ’2′ — changing its atomic isotoner into a radioactive spider".

** Taken - literally - BeyondTheImpossible with ''apeiron'', a material that can only be produced by some [[TheArchmage archmasters]] and appears to be some sort of Platonic ideal: it has whatever physical properties are best for the situation at hand.

* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' they have a special liquid called LCL which has several useful properties. One is its ability to conduct electrical signals, useful for electrically conducting nerve impulses between an Evangelion pilot and his/her Evangelion. But more amazing is its property that it can hold vast amounts of dissolved oxygen at concentrations high enough that once it has filled the lungs, a human can directly breath the oxygen present in it (handy thing when you have to fill a bio-mecha cockpit with this stuff and have the pilot be completely submerged in it).
** [[spoiler: It's actually the menstrual blood of the Angel Lilith, which adds all sorts of retroactive squick when you realize they've been "breathing" it the whole time.]]

** ''GundamWing'' plays the trope straight, and has the alloy Gundanium, which is incredibly tough, nearly immutable, heat-resistant, electrically neutral, and a natural radar damper. The "rare, hard-to-find" part comes from the fact that it can only be manufactured in space and the fact that at the start of the show, only six people in the world know how to make it. You might be surprised to learn that [[RealityIsUnrealistic this has some basis in real-world science]], as the crystalline structures that form as liquid metal solidifies can be ''very'' different in microgravity. The odds of creating an alloy with ''all'' the aforementioned properties remain fairly small, however.

** Maybe this unobtainium has thermoelectric properties, which is exploited.

** Promethium is the DCU's equivalent of adamantium, a super hard metal that superstrong superheroes have a tough time damaging, and Nth Metal, or "transuranic iron ore," was the key to Thanagarian technology (as seen frequently in ''JusticeLeague'').
*** [[ElementsDoNotWorkThatWay Irritatingly]], promethium is a real metal (element 61), one with no stable isotopes and no special structural properties.
*** DC's promethium comes in two flavors. "Raw" promethium can be used as an energy source or a [[SuperSerum mutagen]]. When alloyed with titanium and vanadium, it forms a near-invulnerable metal.

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' [[InvokedTrope refers to it by name]]. The movie features a mineral called unobtainium, although, in the film, the unobtainium functions as a MineralMacGuffin; it's described as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_temperature_superconductor room temperature superconductor]] that makes space travel more affordable, but never really expanded on apart from that. On the [[AllThereInTheManual website]] [[http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Unobtainium wiki]] some of the other uses make it apply to this trope better.
** According to [[AllThereInTheManual the guide]], it's called "unobtainium" because this is a tongue-in-cheek designation for all high-temperature semiconductor materials, called so by Earth scientists when they gave up on reliably synthesizing them.
*** Cartoon Network's ''Mad'' series lampoon of ''Avatar'' lampshades and mocks the name by calling it "Stupidnameium."

* Metallic tritium serves this function in the second ''Film/{{Spider-Man}}'' film. The BigBad has to make a DealWithTheDevil (requiring him to beat the protagonist) in order to get some.
** Strangely enough, the way the BigBad is going to use the tritium is a scaled-down version of one way physicists are trying to develop fusion power called "inertial confinement". The idea is the same, vaporize an amount of an element with lasers in an attempt to create a miniature sun, only the scale and elements used are different. For more information, this writer's original reference is "Kaku, Michio [=PhD=]. ''Physics of the Impossible''. Doubleday Publishing, 2008. Pages 43-45."
*** The "miniature sun" created by inertial confinement wouldn't have a photosphere, prominences, and sunspots like the one in the movie, though.
*** Not only that, the "miniature sun" of inertial confinement would resemble a miniature sun the way an exploding stick of dynamite resembles a burning candle. In other words, [[{{Dissimile}} there is no resemblance.]]

** Dalekanium is often called 'bonded polycarbide' when they want it to sound less silly.
*** Which basically means plastic. Specifically Kevlar.
** Various episodes have featured a group of people in a confined space looking for Unobtainium when suddenly they get attacked by the [[MonsterOfTheWeek alien of the week]]. Dark Matter has been used as the unobtainium more than once and has several different uses and effects depending on what episode you see, from use as transport between dimensions to regular spaceship fuel to turning people into blood thirsty monsters.

** Neutronium. This is a real substance: a type of "degenerate matter" composed entirely of neutrons, thought to be what neutron stars are made of -- but since even a thimbleful would weigh millions of tons, its usefulness as a material is rather limited.
*** This doesn't stop assorted aliens from constructing ''easily opened'' doors, ''buildings on planetary gravity'', entire starships and a freaking Dyson Sphere out of the stuff.
*** Astrophysicists rarely if ever use the word "neutronium" for this stuff, preferring terms like neutron-degenerate matter, and that that neutron star matter would not be stable without the extreme pressures of a neutron star in the first place anyway, i.e. it would instantly explode producing extremely intense neutron radiation.

** There's also officially "Bassnium," the power supply Wily says he used to make Bass, which is a bit silly.
*** In the Japanese version, it has the much less silly-sounding name "Fortenium". However, since Wily himself discovered the element while designing Bass/Forte, it's not out of character for him to give it a silly name just to match his robot.

* ''{{Starcraft}}'', likewise, had "minerals" of an unspecified type and "Vespene Gas" (which [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas you require more of]], by the way), which each of the playable races uses in a different way to produce its various units and buildings.
** Neosteel, the material of Terran construction, is another example.
*** Also, the Khaydarin Crystals.

* {{Minecraft}} gives us redstone, a nice little powder that can conduct electricity and can be used to open doors, power minecarts, make music, ect. Although it actually is very common when mining deep enough.
** The unminable bedrock is sometimes referred to as Unobtanium.
*** This is probably the most accurate use of the name, since, without the use of cheats, you [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin cannot obtain it.]]

*** Engineers, Jewelcrafers, and Blacksmiths use Thorium (a radioactive metal used in some reactors as a replacement for uranium and of which powdered form has been known to spontaneously combust in the air... dust which would be prolific around any thorium mining, smelting or forging site... and causing liver damage if absorbed in the body pre-combustion) and later on Cobalt (which gives off toxic, arsenic containing fumes when smelted, is an active nutrient for bacteria, is the third highest rated metal for causing contact dermatitis, and can lead to cardiomyopathy or cobalt poisoning if too much is absorbed into the body from breathing or consuming cobalt dust or powder... which would be produced, as with thorium, by the mining, smelting, and forging process). And while these are real elements, the apparent ease and safety with which they can be mined, smelted, and forged adds an Unobtanium aspect to them. And we won't even start on mercury being as harmless as water in the Deepholm zone, with one quest even requiring you swim in a lake of it. Considering the average character's PowerLevel is way OverNineThousand by the time they get to Deepholm, plain old mercury shouldn't be a problem.

** ''Skyrim'' allows elite smiths to forge armor from dragon scales and bones. The [[GameMod modding community]] has seen fit to add dragonbone weapons as well.
*** And Bethesda themselves later added dragonbone weapons when they released Dawnguard.

** Though the Xenothium itself ''didn't'' do all that- it just powered the devices that did.
*** Which would lead one to believe that buying Xenothium is like buying reactor-grade or even weapons-grade uranium. Not inherently illegal (at least for the former) but it would certainly draw attention.

** Incidentally, the classical bucket of sand will not save you from it either: it'll just ''burn through the sand''.
*** Who uses sand on a gas?
**** CTF's boiling point is nearly 12°C. For rocket applications it was stored and used as a liquid. The high density makes it a more powerful fluoridating agent than fluorine. Also, it dissolves Teflon.

* Carbon nanotubes have immensely useful electronic, optical, and mechanical properties, including a strength-to-weight ratio vastly superior to any building material currently in use. Sadly, as of 2010, even poor grade nanotubes go for about $100/gram. [[IWantMyJetpack Guess that space elevator will have to wait a few more years.]]
** The biggest problem with them at the moment is to avoid cumulative weakening, as at the moment the more nanotubes you stock together, the more the nanoscopic faults accumulate, until their strength is all but gone. Still, many scientists are confident that they'll have long and durable nanotube strings in a couple of years.

* In StationeryVoyagers, both Mechies and spaceships can use lead-balzhite for fuel. Lead is obviously a stabilizer; but the balzhite part [[HandWave is never explained]]. What matters is that only Stationeries have learned how to create it and harness it.