Basic Trope: An item or location designed to explode when necessary.
- Straight: Dr. Diabolical has rigged his Volcano Lair to explode at the press of a button.
- Exaggerated:
- Dr.Diabolical has rigged anything important to explode upon his mental command, should he deem it fit.
- The self-destruct is hilariously stereotypical, complete with a Big Electric Switch, a Big Red Button behind a molly-guard, and a Magic Countdown.
- An entire planet is rigged to one self-destruct switch.
- Downplayed:
- Dr. Diabolical keeps a block of thermite near his laptop at al times in case he has to destroy incriminating files.
- Dr. Diabolical's personal aircraft carrier has scuttling charges, like a normal warship.
- Justified:
- Dr. Diabolical’s experiments run a real risk of destroying the planet should they ever Go Horribly Wrong, and so he needs to be able to annihilate them at a moment’s notice.
- The self-destruct is to prevent the doctor’s unique inventions from being used by the enemy. The World Is Not Ready!
- Alternatively, being stolen is the point; the Doomsday Device, real or not, will self-destruct inside his enemy's base, killing them all of and ensuring a smooth victory for Dr. Diabolical.
- Dr. Diabolical's lair contains damning evidence that could be used against him. The self-destruct is needed to destroy as much of it as possible.
- Dr. Diabolical's backup plan if the heroes are close to defeating him is to destroy his lair with them inside, thus destroying them as well.
- Inverted: A destroyed device has an instant-repair switch.
- Subverted:
- Agent Dashing smashes the button… and nothing happens, as Dr. Diabolical hasn’t repaired the charges.
- Agent Dashing hits the button, and is immediately riddled with bullets.
- Double Subverted:
- Agent Dashing hits another button that causes the safeties on the lair’s Nuclear reactor to self-destruct, and with it, the rest of the lair.
- As Dr. Diabolical is mocking him, one of his minions accidently trips the real button.
- Parodied:
- Dr.Diabolical rigs everything to explode at the press of a button, even if it’s completely unnecessary: his car, his base, his minions, his underwear…
- Agent Dashing hits the self-destruct switch…and the switch promptly self-destructs.
- Mundane every-day locations are equipped with self-destruct mechanisms.Alice: Wait, why does a shopping mall have a self-destruct button?!
Bob: For situations like this.
- Zig Zagged:
- Agent Dashing hits the self-destruct switch and the switch promptly self-destructs. However, this starts a countdown to the actual self-destruct, leaving him to flee. At the end of the episodes, it turns out it only leaves a colossal hologram of the base exploding, and it’s actually intact. Then Dr. Diabolical accidently taps the actual button...
- There is no true self-destruct mechanism, however, there are several safeties, that if disabled, will cause much the same effect.
- Averted: A self-destruct sequence is setup in case it's needed, but never used. At most, an alternate sequence can be used to deactivate just in case.
- Enforced: “We paid good money for those explosives we never got to use in Action Blockbuster #5, we may as well shoehorn them in.”
- Lampshaded:
- “This place is going to blow! Screw This, I'm Outta Here!”
- The button for the self-destruct switch is labeled “To resolve plot, press button.”
- Invoked: Dr. Diabolical installs explosives in his base because it’s what supervillains are required to have damn it!
- Exploited:
- Dr. Diabolical lures Agent Dashing to an unused lair to trap him in the self-destructing base.
- Dr. Diabolical uses the self-destruct to prevent being shot via a Dead Man's Switch.
- Defied: “I’m not wring my base to explode! It’s my home! I have all my stuff in it!”
- Discussed: “Let, me guess, you’re looking for the convenient button that explodes my island base."
- Conversed: "Why, exactly, do the bad guys need a button to destroy their own base?"
- Played For Laughs: Dr. Diabolical's lair explodes Once an Episode as a running gag.
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