History Main / ItRunsOnNonSensoleum

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's tongue-in-cheek novel ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast'' features, among other things, a dimensional transference drive that works by gyroscopic precession. Specifically, precession applied to a gyroscope in such a way as to make it do something geometrically impossible. Instead, it takes itself and anything touching it into in another universe.

** ''Knees Up Mother Earth'' features a motor vehicle fuelled by the ''rage' of its driver. Via a helmet built from Meccano.

** There's a ship drive that functions on the principle that bad news always reaches places before anything else. Too bad nobody would allow it to dock.

* ''VideoGame/{{Awesomenauts}}'' being a homage to wacky 80s' sci-fi cartoons, revels in this trope, above all when it comes to some of the Nauts' backstories. The silliest example so far is probably Commander Rocket, who somehow survived getting his head blown away and replaced by a head prosthesis. Don't ask...

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': The series explicitly works based not on actual science, but Science! of the 1950s. Nuclear powered cars and radiation causing giant bugs to pop up is just how things are supposed to work.

---->'''Sigint''': And it [[BottomlessMagazines never runs out of ammo]]?\\
'''Snake''': Never.\\
'''Sigint''': Why's that?\\
'''Snake''': Because the internal feed mechanism is shaped like an infinity symbol.\\
'''Sigint''': Ah, I get it. Yep, that'll give you unlimited ammo.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'':
*** Towards the end, Raiden asks Snake if he has enough ammo to lend him, and Snake replies, "Infinite ammo" while pointing to his bandana (a [[ContinuityNod reference]] to the Infinity Bandana from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', which did indeed give Snake infinite ammo for the weapon he was holding).

* The absurdity of what can be done with the power of a Devil Fruit is frequently lampshaded in ''Fanfic/ThisBites'' to the point that Cross has frequently coined the phrase "Devil Fruit bullshit" to justify whatever oddity the Straw Hat Pirates come across.

* In Creator/CraigShawGardner's ''Cineverse Cycle'', the Cineverse runs entirely on "Movie Magic". Basically, this means that whatever moves along the plot of a particular Cineverse world will happen, such as Western heroes getting twenty shots out of a six-gun or transporting themselves to their destination instantly just by singing a cowboy song.

* In ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'', "sushi-eyebrow" Amarao's explanation as to how and why robots are sprouting from main character Naota's forehead, apparently involving the thought processes of certain people's brains (particularly Naota's) creating hyperspace teleportation portals called "N.O. channels" when subjected to a good old smash from space officer Haruko's Rickenbacker bass guitar.

** The author Eiichiro Oda often gives joke reason for things in his question-and-answer column, like how Zoro can [[TalkingIsAFreeAction talk]] even when he [[CutlassBetweenTheTeeth has a sword in his mouth]] because [[{{Determinator}} his heart allows him to speak]]...

** The reason Brook kept his FunnyAfro even after being reduced to a skeleton is that he had "strong roots". He also claims that milk has healing properties for him because "Milk strengthens the bones"; Usopp calls him out on this one. Much later when, after a fight, Brook had a crack in his skull and Luffy was missing a tooth they both drink milk to heal these injuries.

* In Craig Shaw Gardner's Cineverse Cycle the Cineverse runs entirely on "Movie Magic". Basically this means that whatever moves along the plot of a particular Cineverse world will happen, such as Western heroes getting twenty shots out of a six-gun or transporting themselves to their destination instantly just by singing a cowboy song.

** In the fiction portion of ''The Science of Discworld'', the thinking engine Hex increases his own processing abilities by reasoning that, ''in the future'', he'll have already done so, then pulling the needed components out of probability phase space where they must therefore exist ''in potentia''. It's Lampshaded that, while this train of thought is, for the most part, garbage, it isn't ''complete'' garbage.

* The universe of ''Dr Dimension'' heavily relies upon Heinz products for propulsion and energy generation, so much so that the number 57 is considered to be holy by a number of religions.

--->'''Professor Farnsworth:''' Not at all! It's really quite simple.

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' hardly has any other kind of technology. For example, there's the completely fictional notion of all matter consisting of "trons", particles that come in good and evil flavours.

* One of the main problems with the mad science of ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'' -- it runs entirely on the inventor's madness (sorry, Inspiration). Any attempt to pin down the underlying scientific principles involved (''especially'' by a mundane observer) will fail, and any attempt by a mundane observer to closely examine or tinker usually results in the thing [[MadeOfExplodium blowing up]]... [[GoneHorriblyWrong or worse]]. Note that "runs on the inventor's Inspiration" should not be taken to mean that Inspiration is any kind of consensus -- five different Geniuses can build exactly the same machine, using five different theories on how it's ''supposed'' to work, and the machine will work ''exactly the way they said it would work'' all five times.
* In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' every human is essentially unaware that they are a Reality-Warping God, and mages are beginning to awaken to the truth, but most need their Focus to actually employ their powers, as they [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve believe that whatever method they practice is actually responsible for the changes they employ]], whether they use druidic magic, mad science, martial arts or reality hacking. The more they raise their Arete the more they realize that the magic is in them rather than their tools. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with the Technocrats, as their Enlightenment further cements their belief that their technology is the source of the fantastic abilities, and even when a Technocrat Ascends, they basically become a Ghost in the Machine.
* TabletopGame/Warhammer40000:
** Orky "teknologie" runs, quite literally, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve because the Orks believe it should work that way]]. This is typified in their most common upgrade to any vehicles' speed: they paint them red, because "[[LawOfChromaticSuperiority da red wuns go fasta]]!" So while the real reason is that Orks have tremendous PsychicPowers, their explanations fit this trope perfectly.
** This is used to hilarious effect when a group of Imperial engineers try to determine what it is that makes Orky weaponry so deadly. They dismantle it, put it back together, try everything they can to even get the gun to fire but nothing. This is because the gun is ''missing several vital components''. When they put it in the hands of an ork, it fires with deadly power.

* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' nonsensical explanations are given out for how certain abilities work. You might think this is accidental and that the series is being serious. It is, in a way, but it's later lampshaded when the seventh Level 5 gives an explanation for how he does what he does. It sounds just like every other explanation for how abilities work, but then someone who knows what he's talking about pipes up and says that that makes no sense at all and it can't possibly work. It turns out the Level 5 has no idea how it works either. It's later explained that espers are basically {{Reality Warper}}s that unconsciously reject just enough of reality to give them superpowers, so their powers don't even ''have'' to make sense. The seventh Level 5, however, is the only one who can seemingly just break the laws of physics completely and utterly without hesitation.

* This is the only possible explanation as to how [[Franchise/TouhouProject Patchouli Knowledge's]] rocket, which was more of a vaguely rocket-shaped three-tier cottage with very nice windows, cobbled together from random bits of [[AchievementsInIgnorance poorly understood trivia about the Apollo rocket,]] was perfectly capable of reaching the True Moon in ''[[Manga/TouhouBougetsushou Silent Sinner in Blue]]''.

!!Examples

** Similarly, Queen and King of the Beast Pirates can transform into a [[GentleGiantSauropod brachiosaurus]] and a [[PteroSoarer pteranodon]] respectively. Queen displays the ability to separate his head, neck and tail from the rest of his body, declaring that this serpentine form is the true nature of the brachiosaurus. King, on the other hand, can pull the crest behind his head in order to stretch his face and retract his beak, which flings forward like a powerful slingshot once he releases his head crest; [[NotSoAboveItAll King declares that this is how pteranodons used to hunt their prey in ancient times.]]

-->-- '''The Doctor''', ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink "Blink"]]

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' nonsensical explanations are given out for how certain abilities work. You might think this is accidental and that the series is being serious. It is, in a way, but it's later lampshaded when the seventh Level 5 gives an explanation for how he does what he does. It sounds just like every other explanation for how abilities work, but then someone who knows what he's talking about pipes up and says that that makes no sense at all and it can't possibly work. It turns out the Level 5 has no idea how it works either. It's later explained that espers are basically {{Reality Warper}}s that unconsciously reject just enough of reality to give them superpowers, so their powers don't even ''have'' to make sense. The seventh Level 5, however, is the only one who can seemingly just break the laws of physics completely and utterly without hesitation.

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'':

* One part of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' radio series that was never adapted in other versions has a fifteen mile high statue of Arthur Dent Throwing the Nutrimatic Cup. The mile-long marble cup floats in mid-air "because it's artistically right."

* ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'':

%%* Oh man, ''TheMysterySphere''.

** The game offers a bunch of nonsensical reasons for why things work the way they do, usually powered by puns and synonyms. For instance, a moldy jam sandwich can be used to counteract radar jamming, because the mold in it absorbs [[IncrediblyLamePun jam.]]

** Fighter survives a freefall by using his Knight abilities to block the ground. Fighter's "explanation" is that since he can block all sorts of [[ElementalPowers elemental attacks]], it's natural that he'd be able to block [[IncrediblyLamePun Earth]].

** ''Life'' also introduces the "[[WeirdnessCensor Somebody Else's Problem Field]]", a cloaking device that takes advantage of people's natural tendency to [[WeirdnessCensor ignore things they can't comprehend or don't want to deal with]], and proposes that the secret to unassisted human flight is to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Which, while a gross over-simplification, is [[GeniusBonus sort of how things maintain orbits...]] so it's not entirely false. [[spoiler:It works, too.]]

* ''FilmEverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'': Someone using the device to [[spoiler:teleport their mind to a parallel universe's version of themself]] requires an action that is otherwise completely nonsensical, making this a rather literal example.

** Nami's [[ArmorPiercingSlap Armor-piercing slaps]] [[AmusingInjuries bruise]] [[RubberMan Luffy]] because "She hurts his spirit." Of course anyone with the ability to use haki would also be able to nullify Luffy's [[BuffySpeak rubberness]], but by the time this power was introduced, Nami had been slapping around Luffy for years. When he was introduced (much later but still a good while before Haki), Luffy's grandfather Garp also displayed the ability to hurt Luffy, claiming he was able to because of ThePowerOfLove.

* This is the premise of the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': The Foundation collects strange objects, creatures and people, lists the ways they contradict the known laws of the universe, and try to find out why and how these things still function.

* All of the inventions at the Academy on Balbinarbi in ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' are this, ranging from a diarrhea cure that somehow [[BodyHorror turned the user inside out]] and a contraption used to extract sun beams from cucumber slices.[[note]]Sadly TruthInTelevision, hence Swift's satire.[[/note]]

* In one Myth/PaulBunyan story, he builds a sawmill that, simply by being set in reverse, can convert sawdust back into whole logs.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'':

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'':