Basic Trope: A situation has gone so far downhill that the people combating it are willing to use extremely destructive, powerful, risky, and morally dubious tactics to defeat it, because anything is better than allowing the current problem to continue.
- Straight:
- In response to Emperor Evulz going Omnicidal Maniac and presenting a very credible threat to the world, the nation of Tropeland decides to start using tactics that they'd never consider for anything less, because it's not like the world can get any more destroyed than if Evulz wins.
- A monster or otherwise ludicrously destructive force is running rampant in the setting, and the only way to stop it is to use something just as awful or even worse to fight it.
- Exaggerated:
- Emperor Evulz is such a threat that the people of Tropeland don't hesitate to use a tactic that may defeat him, but will definitely kill 99% of the world's people, reduce the remaining 1% to Stone Age technology, and decimate its ecosystems.
- Emperor Evulz is a threat to the entire universe, and his opponents do stuff like create new black holes to fight him.
- Downplayed:
- While the nation of Tropeland is doing more extreme things in the war against Emperor Evulz, there are some lines they still feel they don't have to cross.
- The solution will result in a lot of property damage and maybe a few lives but otherwise, it is not as deadly as other alternatives.
- Tropeland is forced into legalizing mercenary companies which could have perverse incentives that lead to instability later on.
- Justified:
- Hero Insurance and Violence is the Only Option — usually, when these are being invoked, the situation has reached the threshold to some degree.
- Can be Truth in Television in Real Life, at least in its more individual variants (extreme medical treatments, self-defense, the attempt to stop/mitigate a major disaster).
- The consequences of the action taken may be bad, but the results of not acting really would be that much worse. Would you rather sacrifice two cities to end a problem, or lose three and still have it out there?
- There is literally no other option left — all of the weapons, equipment, theories, champions and resources that were important parts of other options are destroyed, dead, or missing and presumed dead/destroyed.
- Simple Solution Won't Work, with anything less destructive being the "simple solution" in question.
- Inverted:
- There are quick, reliable, and safe methods to solve the problem, and they are happily resorted to first. Anyone trying to use the Godzilla Threshold solution when these other solutions haven't yet been considered has crossed the Moral Event Horizon.
- Can be Truth in Television in Real Life as well. Part of the point of many investigations and lawsuits is to determine if such an inversion happened — if someone didn't stop to think of less dangerous or violent solutions to a situation.
- The situation is just that bad, but the solution is even worse, so it's better to let it continue than attempt to stop it.
- A few techniques are only used if things are absolutely peaceful and stable because of the sheer havoc that could be caused if they were sabotaged. For instance, a reactor and Deflector Shield combo that can protect from any sort of accidental harm but a deliberate focus of a sufficiently powerful energy weapon or sabotage could blow up a solar system.
- The proper thing to do in the circumstances is judged to let Emperor Evulz win as opposed to using power that may risk destroying the universe.
- Subverted:
- At first it looks like Tropeland will need to use extreme methods to defeat Emperor Evulz, but then Alice and her Ragtag Bunch of Misfits show up and take him down.
- Often Truth in Television, thankfully: not all problems reach this point.
- The argument against summoning Troperia is not that "the cure may be worse than the disease", but rather than it may still not be enough gun to solve this mess.
- Troperia is summoned and, much to the surprise of everybody, the odds are not immediately equalized.
- After being summoned, Troperia immediately decides to go on a rampage of her own instead of doing the expected "attacking the other monster out of a sense of territoriality" result. The high-risk tactic has brought no reward: everybody is even more screwed.
- It turns out that Evulz had a Xanatos Gambit in place ready to go and stops Troperia instantly and thoroughly when she's summoned.
- Double Subverted:
- Alice and her Ragtag Bunch of Misfits are considered a Godzilla Threshold solution themselves: they are exactly the kind of despicable, expendable losers led by despicable, expendable mavericks that you don't send out onto the field unless you are really out of anything else, even the slightly less despicable and expendable cannon fodder.
- Godzilla Threshold-crossing tactics are argued against because Emperor Evulz just wants to rule the world, but then Alice discovers that Evulz really is an Omnicidal Maniac, and once he's taken over he'll use his power to destroy everything.
- The typical argument to summon Troperia still stands: it's a situation bad enough that anything with a chance of evening the odds is to be considered.
- Because of this, Troperia crosses her own Threshold and uses a Dangerous Forbidden Technique. That hits the spot.
- The long-term reward (destroying the world-ending threat) was still achieved. It just happened that the cost was higher than anybody could think of, even at their most pessimistic. It's not much for solace, but it will have to do.
- You know that Evulz has made heroes way beyond desperate with his invincible schemes when their plan "B" (or rather "T") for the "desperate backup plan" that was summoning Troperia is to bring in Claidheamh The Left Handed Brute.
- Parodied:
- Someone actually calls in Godzilla to handle the problem. Bonus parody points if Godzilla, the fifty-story-tall nuclear-powered mutant harbinger of the Apocalypse, is the one who proposes a sensible solution like requesting a restraining order.
- Everything is seen as the threshold, in a Black Comedy.
- The characters are (deliberately or not) drama queens and act like whatever proposed solution is a crossing of the Threshold.
- The solution ends up with a ridiculous consequence, such as everyone turning purple.
- Zig-Zagged:
- The severe solution solves the problem but spins into unintended consequences such as more wars, the Cycle of Revenge, or the like, which themselves cross the threshold demanding equally severe solutions.
- The problem seems to cross the threshold briefly but then goes back to being less severe.
- Averted:
- Tropeland defeats Emperor Evulz without resorting to risky last-resort tactics.
- Can be and often, thankfully, is Truth in Television in Real Life: the reason for safety measures including failsafes where needed, regulations requiring preparedness or safety measures, and similar is to prevent problems such as this, and in at least one Real Life case, global thermonuclear war itself was prevented by someone
staying calm and verifying a false alarm as such. - Emperor Evulz wins and consolidates his absolute power so quickly and comprehensively that even summoning Godzilla would do nothing
- Enforced:
- "The only way that this spectacular and dramatic sequence would ever come to be is if whoever authorized it was really desperate- so you need to find something to make them that desperate."
- In Real Life, any use of a nuclear weapon (and to a slightly lesser degree, the use of biological or chemical weapons), and the overt commission of genocide by an identified nation/state all are the threshold codified into international law and policy: any nation/state found to be currently engaging in such conduct can expect a declaration of war as the response.
- In Real Life on a more individual level, pulling a gun on someone in many places is the threshold enforced: by doing so, you have given them the legal right to kill you in self-defense, even if you don't fire.
- In Real Life in general, any situation where the inevitable or near-inevitable outcome of not dealing with the situation or of using less severe solutions is the loss of human life (especially if it's the loss of multiple lives) is usually this to some degree. Almost any amount of property damage, injury, or even death is considered worth it to prevent someone from dying or to prevent someone or something from killing more people than it already has. For example, amputating someone's legs or putting them through chemotherapy or giving them an ongoing drug addiction to save their life, or demolishing a neighborhood to create a firebreak against a super-fire or dumping seawater on nuclear reactors — because the alternative is far worse.
- "We need a reason to use Troperia, or an equivalently destructive force, in our work, but to do so we need to bring up something at least as bad in the story to justify her return. Any ideas?"
- Lampshaded:
- "You are telling me we should drop a nuclear bomb on the oil well? What next, summoning Troperia herself?"
- My God, What Have I Done? in some instances.
- "Look, we have an asteroid headed for Earth. I say all options are on the table, up to and including Troperia herself."
- "The only thing worse than taking this course of action would be not taking it."
- Invoked:
- Someone notes the severity of the situation and suggests a solution that would seem to cross the threshold.
- The situation itself is shown to be something beyond any lesser solution. Scenery Gorn and Storyboarding the Apocalypse may be involved.
- Exploited: The Big Bad intentionally set up the situation in the first place, because the effects of the Troperia option is what he wanted in order to implement his real plans.
- Defied:
- The heroes Take a Third Option and find a less dangerous solution. And if the third option as proposed looks like it will cross this, they will search for a fourth.
- The heroes summon Troperia. Troperia gets annihilated five seconds later. Mass "Oh, Crap!" ensues.
- Evulz secretly killed Troperia somehow at the beginning of his offensive. As a result, there is no Third Option at all.
- Discussed: "I hate to do this, but it is the only option we have."
- Conversed: Alice and Bob watch a show and mention how desperate the heroes must be to come up with such a plan.
- Implied: Upon seeing whatever is happening this episode, The Lancer will suggest "Plan T", which will be slapped down by The Leader and all others with likes like "that plan is only for emergencies!" (even if a house being on fire/a flood coming in/somebody being trapped in a crashed car/an Alien Invasion about to start would fall under any normal person's definition of an "emergency").
- Deconstructed:
- The heroes find a solution that results in many deaths and are considered international criminals despite defeating the Big Bad.
- The heroes find a solution that works, but now they're stuck with finding a way to deal with the aftermath of said solution, which is at least as bad as the previous problem, if not worse.
- There will always be some damn impulsive fools who believe that either whatever the hell is going on is the "Troperia" that the Threshold must deal with or that once the Threshold has been crossed at some point before that de-escalation will never be possible, and if left to their own devices they will bring untold amounts of chaos and will defend themselves with "I Did What I Had to Do."
- Reconstructed:
- They turn themselves in, the jury looks over the evidence, and find them innocent of charges since the alternative would have been far worse.
- The heroes may well know that their actions to stop the Big Bad would get them imprisoned. The loss of their reputation is just part of the cost; at least they have a world with a functioning justice system to imprison them.
- The second problem cause by their first Godzilla Threshold-exceeding solution gets them to consider a second one to solve that problem.
- Those damn impulsive fools are part of the failsafe. The Threshold will be officially declared as passed if the heroes all unanimously agree with the fools and then say that none of them can think of any other options to offer at all, not even for the sake of spite.
- Played for Laughs: Their solution will result in the destruction of one of the heroes' favorite restaurants. The Hero Bob finds the act horrible and almost decides against it until the other heroes give him a Dope Slap.
- Played for Drama: Evulz is defeated but at grave cost. The heroes are despondent. Alice is Driven to Suicide, Bob becomes The Alcoholic, and the others go their separate ways.
- Played for Horror: Congratulations, you unleashed Claidheamh The Left Handed Brute, only reserved for when even Troperia herself isn't enough (as in all of the defiances as well as one of the double-subversions)). Now enjoy the montage of people being torn to shreds, fatally irradiated, set on fire, panicking, rioting, stampeding and stepped on by man and monster alike, and consider that this is supposed to be the "lesser evil".
There's nothing else that will save us at this point! We MUST return to Godzilla Threshold! It's our last hope!
