History Main / MadeOfIndestructium

* For a media example, the PowerRangers franchise. The show has been cancelled ''five times''. [[IGotBetter It got better]. ''Five times''.

* Inertron serves this role in the ''LegionOfSuperHeroes'' comics.

* ''TheLordOfTheRings'': The One Ring qualifies as this since Gandalf confirms that nothing that Middle-earth possesses can even damage it. He gets rather specific as to the methods that could be attempted and specifically mentions that not even Dragonfire, from the most powerful Dragon no less, would've been able to so much as singe it. In the end the only way to destroy it is to throw it into Mt. Doom, where it was made.

** Captain America's shield, Thor's hammer and Silver Surfer's Power Cosmic enhanced board are indestructable in most stories. [[hottip:*:The exception here is The Molecule Man who has absolute control over chemical bonds. The Beyonder and Thor when Odinforce empowered are also exceptions.]] The shield is also an example of {{Unobtainium}}. It's made of a vibranium-iron alloy with a mystery catalyst that no one can identify. The guy running the experiment fell asleep when it was added and couldn't duplicate the results.

[[caption-width-right:200: This GameBoy was recovered from a bombed out barracks during the Persian Gulf War, and is currently on display at Nintendo World in New York City. Why? ''Because it still runs''.]]

[[caption-width-right:200: This GameBoy was recovered from a bombed out barracks during the Persian Gulf War, and is currently on display at Nintendo World in New York City. ''It still runs''.]]

* In ''FullmetalAlchemist'', the (likely antique) armor [[AnimatedArmor that Al's soul was put into]] can somehow routinely completely deflect bullets without getting scratched.
* The titular objects in DragonBall qualify for this. The four-star-ball once [[PocketProtector saved Goku's life]] when [[spoiler:it blocked Tao Pai Pai's Dodonpa from piercing his heart]].

** The Marvel Universe also has Vibranium, which is functionally indestructible. There's also Carbonadium, a cheaper form of adamantium which is functionally indestructible as well. In terms of true and utter indestructibility, even adamantium is vulnerable. The only items in the Marvel universe which are totally invulnerable are Captain America's shield and Thor's hammer.
*** For a given value of "indestructible". The Molecule Man had no trouble dismantling both (and later putting them back together) in an old ''Avengers'' issue, for example.
*** He also took apart the Silver Surfer's Power Cosmic enhanced board, IIRC. The shield is as close to truly indestructible as possible in the Marvel Universe. Only ridiculously powerful beings like the Molecule Man (who has absolute control over molecular bonds), the Beyonder, and an Odinforce empowered ''Thor'' have been able to break it.
*** Curiously enough, the shield is also an example of {{Unobtainium}}. It's made of a vibranium-iron alloy with a mystery catalyst that no one can identify. The guy running the experiment fell asleep when it was added and couldn't duplicate the results. Even the Molecule Man had no idea what it was, commenting that the Silver Surfer's Board and Thor's Hammer were strange but the shield was even stranger.
*** Vibranium (or certain variants) actually acts as ''anti''-Indestructium. Due to its VibroWeapon nature it can cut through other metals like butter, even adamantium.

* Interesting justification in the French comics ''{{Papyrus}}''. Pharaoh's soldiers encounter enemies who have swords made of indestructium. They capture the princess, but the soldiers manage to take an indestructium dagger. The author explains it in footnote: that's just ''iron'', which may as well be indestructium against the Egyptian bronze swords!

* ''StarTrek'' TOS had "The Doomsday Machine", which was made of solid neutronium and could only be destroyed by blowing up a starship inside it.
** However, even this rather extreme method only managed to disable it by damaging the sensitive equipment inside. The outside was ''entirely'' unscathed.

* In LarryNiven's Known Space stories, the hulls of General Products ships were advertised to be invulnerable to harm. In one story it was revealed that they could be destroyed by contact with {{antimatter}}. However, anything enclosed in a stasis field is ''completely'' indestructible and reflects all forms of energy.
** They can also be destroyed by hacking, but that's even more difficult than finding antimatter. If you do it right, you can turn off the effect that's holding the hull together.

* Whatever the [[JediAcademyTrilogy Sun Crusher]] is made of, it counts. It can take out a capital ship by [[RammingAlwaysWorks flying through it]] and remain completely unharmed; similarly, it's still in perfect condition after [[HurlItIntoTheSun sitting in the heart of a gas giant]]. Oh, and it's a superweapon the size of a starfighter. If Spaceship Sue was a trope, the Sun Crusher would be the picture at the top.
** The Sun Crusher does possess two weaknesses. Its conventional weapons are externally mounted, in its first battle the Imperial forces they were fighting just blasted the crusher until all its cannons were slag, cue the ramming. Second, its super weapon requires a sun to work, it fires a experimental tunneling torpedo that triggers a supernova, otherwise it just fires very powerful missiles.
* The gems of the belt of [[DeltoraQuest Deltora]] can not be destroyed. Supposedly, the belt can not be destroyed either as long as the heir to the throne of Deltora lives, although this is entirely unsubstantiated in the book ''The Belt of Deltora'', as Lief realises when he believes the royal line may be dead after all.
* In Robert Jordan's [[TheWheelOfTime The Wheel Of Time]] series, ''cuendillar'' is "an indestructible substance created during the Age of Legends. Any known force used in an attempt to break it is absorbed, making it stronger." However, this doesn't stop [[spoiler: the Dark One's seals from breaking]]
* In [[HarryPotter Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows]], Goblin metal is clearly stated as being Indestructium. And if you imbue it with poison, a sword made of this is poisoned forever.
* Critically subverted in the fourth-generation ''TomSwift'' novel "Mind Games", where Tom surprises everyone during the ''Galaxy Masters'' game by destroying one of the two [[MacGuffin Memory Cubes]], locking [[BigBad Dedstorm]] out of victory while still allowing the heroes to accomplish their goal. [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything The game's designer himself]] [[SubvertedTrope notes that he's effectively broken the game.]] [[spoiler: It's not the last time he does so.]]

* In the ''DungeonsAndDragons'' up to AD&D 2, artifacts and relics surpass normal mortal magic and could only be destroyed by one of a few very specific methods -- much like [[TheLordOfTheRings the One Ring]].
* In MagicTheGathering, items made of Darksteel (which range from ingots to [[GiantRobot giant robots]]) are indestructible - as in, the cards literally say, "This is indestructible."
** This does not however, prevent them from being [[DeaderThanDead Exiled from the game]], rendered incapable of doing anything, sacrificed, or killed by being reduced to 0 toughness via Wither or other weakening effects. Magic gives you a wide range of [[TakeAThirdOption alternatives]].
** Another example would be Progenitus, who has Protection from Everything. ''Everything''. All colors, all spell types, all creatures. This means it can only be affected by spells that don't specifically target it, such as [[LightIsNotGood Wrath of God]].
* ''{{Warhammer40000}}'' features the ever-bemoaned [[OminousFloatingCastle Necron Monolith]], made of a 'living metal' that can physically alter its shape. It was already immune to the tank-killing effects of heat based weapons (melta), targeting weapons (lance), rending weapons, and dedicated tank-hunting specialists, but thanks to a 5th edition rules change and a quirky Rules-as-Written interpretation, it physically cannot be destroyed by glancing hits.

* The 'Far Jumper' hyperdrive in ''{{Homeworld}}'' - even if a ship using it is completely destroyed, in the game it always emerges unscathed.
** And when we mean completely destroyed, we mean that ship self-destruct with power enough to destroy ships so powerful that the ship IT WAS DESIGNED TO GUARD can't destroy them.

* ''{{Touhou}} Soccer'' has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIAH6USEbUQ this soccer ball]]. What happens in this video is actually a pretty minor punishment compared to some others...
** Compared to, say... ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kofnEdB8Blc this]]''.

* The [[strike:flag]] briefcase from TeamFortress2. While hails of gunfire, flames, explosions and everything else goes on around it, the flag sits exactly where it was left, calmly rotating 6 inches above the surface of the floor. Actually, most anything that isn't directly used by the classes themselves seems to be effectively indestructible.

* In the SCPFoundation, a good portion of the objects are indestructable.
** To the point where the rules for submissions specifically point this out as a DeadHorseTrope.
* [[MinovskyParticle Magmatter]] from [[OrionsArm Orion's Arm]] is effectively impossible to damage. Not only does it have an incredibly high a binding energy but normal matter will pass right through it.

* Averted in ''Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs'', in which Farnsworth and Wernstrom both brag about their "indestructible" inventions: diamondium and diamondillium. Both are useless against Yivo.
** At the same time played straight in that Yivo is made of electro-matter, which is impervious to anything from our universe.

* Its become a DeadHorseTrope joke that if airliners were made out of the same thing flight recorders are made out of, they'd survive crashes. Of course this isn't really true, but people still think of 'Black Boxes' as being impossible to destroy.
** They're just steel, incidentally. Their strength is from their compact design more than material, and they're tucked away where they're unlikely to take the brunt of a crash.
* Design requirements for nuclear waste containers can be rather... impressive. Their design requirements quickly border on the insane and just keep going from there, like surviving a derailed train running into them. It's hard to blame them, though, given that they are essentially cancer in a box (among other things). However, it's been suggested current designs are highly vulnerable to extremely high temperature fires. Let's hope they are wrong about this.
** Flasks designed to carry used nuclear fuel for reprocessing are [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17mETJNBvOU most definitely]] made of indestructium.
** One thing they can't survive is time. The best designs ''might'' last 10,000 years if kept in a perfect environment, but that isn't even half way through the first half-life of most of the forms of waste they hold. The funny part is that the requirements for nuclear waste (which does eventually decay into stable elements) are ''far'' more stringent than the storage requirements for toxic waste, which remains dangerous forever.
* On a similar note, Nuclear Reactor required design specs are batshit insane and are clearly intended to be as close to this trope as humanly possible. If you thought the specs for the waste containers were a bit much, keep reading. Nuclear Reactors are designed to be able to survive someone flying ''A FUCKING AIRLINER DIRECTLY INTO IT''. The government appears to be GenreSavvy about this and have quite insane amounts of protection around these reactors in case someone gets creative.

* A running joke about Nintendo's video game systems (particularly the Game Boy line, surviving intact after being thrown from apartment windows, run over by cars, flushed in toilets, and - in one famous case, seen in the page-topping picture - ''getting hit by a military air strike'') is that they're made of an indestructible compound known as [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Nintendium Nintendium]].
** Considering that back in the day Nintendo's idea of "Quality Testing" was to take Game Boys to the top of a three story building and ''[[RefugeInAudacity just start]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny chucking them]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome off the roof]]'', it's no surprise that (with the possible exception of the screen) the internal workings of most Game Boys still work perfectly fine, despite putting up with a good twenty years of abuse.
** Nintendo of Japan finally stopped repairing the Famicom after 20 years. In other words, they expected the console to last 20 years!
** The NintendoGameCube, the goofy purple lunchbox, is this trope ''defined''. The top of the disk case is a weak point of sorts, but if the "lid closed" button can be held or taped down, the system will survive most anything. (The disks... not so much).
*** Its portable equivalent, the Game Boy Advance SP, has an equally strong reputation for being impossible to destroy. Nintendo was apparently using a prime lode of Nintendium for that generation.
*** According to legend, one player lit his Game Cube on fire in a fit of rage. MARIO KART KEPT WORKING FOR LIKE FIVE MINUTES.
*** XPlay once took this claim to task by attempting to destroy a [=PlayStation=] 2, an [=XBox=], and a GameCube. They performed three destructive stunts (dropping a weight on each system, hitting each console with a sledgehammer, and dropping each system from a height), and after each stunt, the systems were tested to see if they still worked. The winner (as in, the only one to still boot up properly after all three tests)? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inXT-CPWoHk Take a guess.]]

** Hell, even Nintendo DS Flash carts are made out of Nintendium! This troper accidentally forgot to take his game (SuikodenTierkreis) out of pants pocket due to the fact that this troper lent it to a friend. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome IT SURVIVED A COLD SETTING WASHING MACHINE]] [[BeyondTheImpossible AND A VERY HOT DRYER]] '''[[RefugeInAudacity SIMULTANEOUSLY!]]'''
*** "Simutaneously"? [[PrincessBride ...I do not think it means what you think it means"]]
** Of course, the Wii game discs are not indestructible in the least, always getting scratched or broken in half in a fit of rage and needing to be replaced...

[[{{GameBoy}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nintendium.jpg]]
[[caption-width:200:[[{{Pokemon}} SADDAM used AIRSTRIKE! It's not very effective...]]]]

->''"The problem with adamantium is that once you've processed it's raw, liquid form--you've got to keep it that way. You've got to keep it'' hot. ''Because once it cools...its indestructible."''
-->--'''[[XMen William Stryker]]'''

* A running joke about Nintendo's video game systems, particularly the Game Boy line, surviving intact after being thrown from apartment windows and run over by cars--and in one famous case, ''a military air strike''--is that they're made of an indestructible compound known as [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Nintendium Nintendium]].
** Considering that back in the day Nintendo's idea of "Quality Testing" was taking the humble Game Boy to the top of a three story building and ''[[RefugeInAudacity just start]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny chucking them]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome off the roof]]'', it's no surprise that with the possible exception of the screen the internal workings of most Game Boys still work perfectly fine despite putting up with a good twenty years of abuse.

*** Its portable equivalent the Game Boy Advance SP has an equally strong reputation for being impossible to destroy. Nintendo was apparently using a prime lode of Nintendium for that generation.

** Hell, even Nintendo DS Flash carts are made out of Nintendium! This troper accidentally forgot to take his game (SuikodenTierkreis btw) out of pants pocket due to the fact that this troper lent it to a friend. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome IT SURVIVED A COLD SETTING WASHING MACHINE]] [[BeyondTheImpossible AND A VERY HOT DRYER]] '''[[RefugeInAudacity SIMULTANEOUSLY!]]'''

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* Interesting justification in the French comics [[Papyrus]]. Pharaoh's soldiers encounter enemies who have swords made of indestructium. They capture the princess, but the soldiers manage to take an indestructium dagger. The author explains it in footnote: that's ''iron'', which is indestructium against the egyptian bronze swords!

** Possibly justified. Ed or Al could have modified the armor with alchemy to make it stronger. Or that may have been the entire reason their family had the armor to begin with.
* The titular objects in DragonBall qualify for this. The four-star-ball once saved Goku's life when [[spoiler:it blocked Tao Pai Pai's Dodonpa from piercing his heart]].

** Also, the newer systems, particularly DSes in general and DS lites in particular, have an AchillesHeel in the form of their hinges, which are ''really'' vulnerable, at least compared to their indestructible bricklike ancestors.

* In HarryPotter: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Goblin metal is clearly stated as being Indestructium. And if you imbue it with poison, a sword made of this is poisoned forever.