Basic Trope: Soft science material fuel.
- Straight: Alice asks Bob how his time machine works. Bob replies that it runs on phlebotinum, "an incredible substance that can control the flow of time around it." Little to no explanation is actually given as to how the machine, or phlebotinum, works.
- Exaggerated: Made of Phlebotinum
- Downplayed: We get some specifics on how the machine is designed, but where it gets all its energy from is attributed to phlebotinum.
- Justified:
- Phlebotinum is Made of Magic and functions much differently than any other substance on Earth.
- One of the properties of phlebotinum is that it constantly blanks out any persons' knowledge of it.
- Bellisario's Maxim
- Bob insists the full explanation isn't worth Alice's time.
- Inverted: Bob's modern coffee maker runs on phlebotinum, a highly detailed substance which the author soon delivers an Infodump about.
- Subverted: "Years of hard science have been put into researching the element phlebotinum. This machine utilizes it by..."
- Double Subverted: The exposition on how phlebotinum works is really just there for show. Things using phlebotinum will occasionally go Beyond the Impossible and defy what was previously said about phlebotinum's "limits".
- Parodied: Bob gets nervous when Alice asks about his time machine, and throws out some random Techno Babble before admitting he just "put magic shit in a box and now it works."
- Zig Zagged: Phlebotinum does not work realistically except in scenes where it's pointed out how it has to work realistically.
- Averted:
- Nobody asks about phlebotinum.
- Phlebotinum is realistically written from the start, and its capabilities are limited.
- Enforced: The audience (presumably) wants to know how the time machine works despite being too ignorant for hard sci-fi.
- Lampshaded: "That doesn't sound very respectful to the laws of the universe, but okay."
- Invoked: A wizard creates large amounts of a magical substance and leaves it behind for the scientific community to put to use.
- Exploited: Alice distracts Bob from his tasks by getting him to figure out the properties of phlebotinum.
- Defied: Alice keeps pressing Bob for more information until he fully describes how phlebotinum works.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played For Laughs: It Runs on Nonsensoleum
This blue text is a phlebotinum-powered gateway to the main page.
