Basic Trope: Readings from something so powerful that the scale used to do so explodes.
- Straight: The Thing-O-Meter is used to measure the power of Crystal Dragon Jesus. It explodes.
- Exaggerated:
- Making a measurement of Crystal Dragon Jesus while it's actively trying to hide its divine power still makes the meter explode like a nuke.
- It doesn't even have to be turned on for it to explode.
- The Thing-O-Meter explodes with enough force to cause an Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
- Downplayed:
- The meter sparks and then burns itself out harmlessly.
- The meter suffers an overflow error like on a calculator.
- Justified:
- The meter uses a shard of crystal that resonates with the power of the individual. If it resonates powerfully enough, well, things will explode.
- The meter's tempered glass housing isn't tempered against the pressure the measuring liquid is (or at least was) putting on it.
- Inverted: Incredibly low readings cause the scale to implode.
- Subverted:
- The meter maxes out, and the scientists working on it flinch… but it doesn’t explode.
- The meter goes so high it overflows back to zero, and needs to be turned off and back on to work.
- Double Subverted: ...but when Crystal Dragon Jesus powers up a tiny bit more, and THEN the meter detonates.
- Parodied:
- The scanner explodes into pieces. Then Crystal Dragon Jesus powers up again, and the pieces explode again.
- The scanner explodes. The head researcher, not bothered by it at all, walks to the nearby truck, opens up the back, and takes out another one of the many scanners in the truck.
- The scanner explodes. A voice is heard in the distance: "Actually, That's My Assistant." The REAL Crystal Dragon Jesus shows up, and every machine used to measure something instantly explodes, even devices meant to measure unrelated things.
- The researchers are attempting to measure Crystal Dragon Jesus's height with a tape measure. Before they can reach the top, the tape measure runs out and explodes.
- The scanner explodes no matter what it's being pointed at. After putting it back together several times, the engineer realizes that the package it came in is labelled "exploding Thing-O-Meter replica - for pranks, sabotages, and more!"
- Zig Zagged: The readings for Crystal Dragon Jesus reaches the maximum on the gauge, but the machine is still okay. Crystal Dragon Jesus then powers up and causes the machine to emit smoke, but the machine continues to function good enough for the users. When the test is finished, the machine finally explodes—but the researchers got the data they needed, so no one minds...except their accountant, who complains that the scanner was expensive and they couldn't just casually destroy them like that.
- Averted: No scanners explode.
- Enforced: The creators have used Readings Are Off the Scale so often, that this was the only way to up the ante.
- Lampshaded:
- “We’re going to need to debug the Thing-O-Meter after we figure out HOW THE HELL YOU GOT SO DAMN STRONG!"
- "Please don't measure my power. I don't want you to get hurt from your instruments exploding."
- Invoked:
- Dr. Drachenstein wires dynamite into his scanners so when they max out, they explode for dramatic effect.
- A Guile Hero sabotages his enemy's Thing-O-Meter so it overflows and explodes the next time it's used as part of a bluff.
- Exploited:
- A system of measurement is devised based on how long it takes a certain scanner to explode, allowing the immeasurable to be measured.
- An overloading scanner is used as an impromptu grenade.
- The (anti-)hero knows the enemy is using the Thing-O-Meter as a radar to track him, so he powers up to the point where it explodes, disarming the enemy of their ability to find him.
- Defied: All scanners are equipped with surge protectors.
- Discussed:
- “That’s a ridiculous idea. Excessive readings aside, there is no way the device would explode just by measuring something.”
- “If I power up here, you’re going to need to repair a lot of equipment, so let’s just say I am “too damn strong and leave it at that.”
- Conversed: “According to the lore on this show, the circuit breaker was never invented. Unfortunately.”
- Deconstructed: The model is deemed inefficient and as suffering from design flaw, meaning the only people who have that scanner are people who have not upgraded to the newer model that only suffers an overflow error.
- Reconstructed: To show how deadly Crystal Dragon Jesus is compared to the average person the people using the Thing-O-Meter scan, using it on normally strong people doesn't cause it to explode. But somehow, it exploded when met with this guy, meaning he must be very strong. Our heroes are in for a tough battle!
- Played For Laughs:
- "Let's see how strong you really are!" KA-BOOM! "Uh... uh oh."
- As a character takes a deep breath, preparing to unleash their full power, it cuts to a distant scanner factory exploding.
Back to Readings Blew Up the Scale
