Basic Trope: A piece of futuristic technology suffers incredible damage after being hit with water.
- Straight: The Killbot 5000 is a very advanced robot, but short-circuits if it's sprayed with water.
- Exaggerated: The Killbot borders on Physical God levels and is impossible to kill with no weakness... however, if there is any hint of moisture in the air, then it bursts into flames.
- Downplayed:
- The Killbot slows down a bit and gets somewhat confused after being sprayed with water.
- It can survive wading in waist-deep water, or be sprayed, only being affected if fully submerged.
- Justified:
- The Killbot was created by beings from a planet without water, so they had no idea it would harm their creation.
- The Killbot has a hole in its environmental sealing due to damage, exposing sensitive electronics.
- The Killbot's creators had previously attempted to make it waterproof and failed. The materials used for waterproofing were having undesirable effects on the Killbot's mobility and functionality.
- The device in question was strictly intended for indoor use, and therefore shares all of the vulnerabilities of common electronics, including water.
- The Killbot is used by people that didn't RTFM and forgot to close an innocuous looking hatch that now allows water to seep into the circuitry.
- Inverted: The Killbot is powered by water.
- Subverted: The Killbot is soaked with a fire hose, only for it to shrug off the blast and keep going.
- Double Subverted: ...Until the moisture reaches its CPU, causing it to go ballistic and self-destruct.
- Parodied:
- The Killbot is programmed to do everything in its power to avoid even the smallest source of water... but then it ends up caught in a thunderstorm.
- The Killbot has the ability to cry. The heroes exploit this by telling it sad stories until it destroys itself via its own tears.
- The Killbot is destroyed because a dog peed on it.
- Zig Zagged: The Killbot is sprayed with water, which seemingly has no effect, but then it shuts down, only for it to wake back up and move faster, but then it starts going crazy after a while...
- Averted: Water has little to no effect on the Killbot.
- Enforced: The Killbot has to have some easily-exploitable weakness that the poorly equipped, desperate heroes can use to defeat it.
- Lampshaded: "You'd think they'd invest in waterproofing technology after a while."
- Invoked: The Killbot's weakness to water was deliberate, so that Doctor Nefario could have a reliable means of controlling it.
- Exploited: Alice and Bob quickly learn to spray all the Killbots they meet with a fire hose, and constantly bring a compressor and water tank around.
- Defied: Doctor Nefario installed his patented Moisture Repellent System to prevent his Killbot from being affected with water, at least without his say-so.
- Discussed: "Any robot, no matter how advanced, is always at least somewhat vulnerable to good old H2O."
- Conversed: "Why are B-Movie robots always weak to water?"
- Deconstructed: The Killbot's creators are completely and clearly incompetent. Their robots are entirely worthless against anyone who has half a brain and a garden hose. The fact that the robots are not waterproof also indicates that they are not environmentally sealed, meaning that corrosive chemicals, dust, sand, dirt, or nanobots can easily destroy them in field conditions. Hardly a terrifying menace.
- Reconstructed: The robots are downsized. Though each is individually less advanced, now they can make more of them - skimping on size, capabilities AND environmental sealing means the same amount of funds can pay for dozens of "cheap" Killbots. Even though water can kill them, they can use their better mobility to swarm upon targets. The low cost also means they are expendable.
- Played For Laughs: The Killbot learns of this emotion you call "Love", and begins to shed tears, which cause it to catch on fire and explode.
- Played For Drama: The Killbot goes berserk when water causes an electrical short in it's brain, causing it to destroy everything around it.
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