Basic Trope: Superfluous goggles.
- Straight: A character has goggles that do nothing.
- Exaggerated:
- A character has dozens of different goggles, none of which do anything.
- Or, the goggles do nothing. Not even what they were designed to do.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is a swimmer in Troperville High School's swim team. His goggles do something. Except he's often shown wearing them when not at the pool.
- The character occasionally use their goggles as a form of eye protection, but that's about it.
- Justified:
- The item in question has an archaic use and is kept to identify members of the group that had use for the goggles.
- The character wears goggles purely as a fashion statement.
- The character is in a setting where, although they never use them, the goggles actually make some sense, such as the arctic or the desert.
- The goggles might be a gift from a loved one, and the character keeps them on their person as a memento.
- The character is a ghost, the goggles are an iconic part from when he was alive. So Jacob Marley Apparel or not, people expect him to wear them.
- Inverted:
- Goggles Do Something Unusual.
- A character's Informed Equipment includes a pair of genuinely functional goggles that boost defense and grant immunity to blinding.
- Subverted: After being asked, the character reveals that their goggles do, in fact, have a use.
- Double Subverted: That use is to look cool.
- Parodied:
- A character buys special goggles that are advertised to do absolutely nothing.
- A character has goggles that serve to...protect another useless pair of goggles, wearing one pair on top of the other.
- The goggles are for decorative-purposes only: they're actually opaque and blind the unfortunate who tries to wear them properly.
- Zig Zagged: The character wears a pair of goggles on their head. They do nothing. However, one of their Too Many Belts contains everything they could possibly need... including an oxyacetylene torch. When they use that, they're always careful to pull on their goggles to protect their eyes.
- Averted:
- The character needs their goggles for protection in their line of work, and uses them frequently.
- The character doesn't wear goggles.
- Enforced: The marketing department want the artists to maximize The Merch potential. Alternatively, the artist can draw Only Six Faces, and uses distinctive costuming to tell his characters apart.
- Lampshaded: "Let me just get some goggles, despite the fact that we will not be encountering any situation where they would help."
- Invoked: Like a stethoscope and white coat for a doctor, useless goggles give the impression of being Crazy-Prepared and thus solid hero material.
- Exploited: The Mole places a listening device on the goggles, knowing that Bob always wears them, but never uses them and thus won't spot the bug.
- Defied: A character repeatedly finds different uses for their seemingly superfluous goggles.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Why's Bob wearing goggles, he NEVER uses them!"
- Deconstructed: A character wears superfluous instrumentation because they are, all in all, a follower and a poser, and it's all just another element of their character that is Lost in Imitation of heroes who actually had a use for these things.
- Reconstructed: A character uses superfluous mundane goggles to disguise the fact that he has ones that really do have special powers.
You know, if the Goggles Do Nothing you might try PUTTING THEM ON for a change.
