History Main / PhlebotinumOverdose

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[[quoteright:219:[[Webcomic/LookingForGroup https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phleb.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:219:[[VideoGame/StarCraft Power overwhelming.]]]]

* ''{{ComicBook/Asterix}}'': The magical potion grants the user enhanced strength and resilience, with the duration of the effect being proportional to the amount of potion drunk (in Obelix's case, the effects are effectively permanent). However, as seen in ''Recap/AsterixAndObelixAllAtSea'', drinking too much potion [[TakenForGranite turns the drinker into stone indefinitely]].

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/AMindSwitchInTime'', supervillain Euphor gets more and more powerful as he absorbs more negative emotions until he is able to fight Superman face-to-face. Superman beats him by feeding him his negative emotions caused by Krypton's destruction until Euphor becomes frozen into a cocoon of solid energy.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' Franchise/MonsterVerse fanfiction, [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonMonsterX Monster X]] absorbing too much of [=MaNi=]/Elder Brother's electrical power for themselves all at once causes their body to begin ''tearing itself apart'' under the strain of holding so much power.
* ''FanFic/PokemonMysteryDungeonLostTracksOfTime'': In the climax, [[spoiler: Giratina is ordered to absorb 17 out of 18 of Arceus' Plates, hoping to have more than enough power to take the final plate from Ingo and Emmet. Giratina's body immediately overloaded and randomly began spamming attacks of all different types (sans poison-type, the typing of the missing plate). Then Giratina's wings liquify into AlienBlood with the power to corrode matter and melt off body parts of pokemon it contacts. It took Ingo and Emmet literally jumping into Giratina's body to pull out the plates and save them.]]

* In the film ''WesternAnimation/DotAndTheKangaroo,'' the Kangaroo warns Dot not to eat too much of the root that allows her to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal talk to animals]] because if she does she'll "know too much," which will make her "miserable."
%%* This is how the BigBad is defeated in the second ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}'' movie.

-->'''Jekyll/Hyde''': "It's me on a bad day."
* ''Film/SantaClausTheMovie'' (1985) has stardust as the phlebotinum in question: Adding it to their fodder gives Santa's reindeer their flying abilities. When elf inventor Patch journeys to the human world to prove his worth to Santa, he creates a lollipop that has a bit of stardust as an ingredient; whoever eats one can temporarily fly. They're hugely popular, and the CorruptCorporateExecutive who markets them demands that the follow-up should have more stardust added, so the effects will last longer; the villains subsequently learn that the resultant candy canes ''explode'' if kept near a heat source (i.e., a radiator) too long. This is because the stardust, which originated at the cold North Pole, becomes unstable when exposed to too much heat.

* The ''Literature/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''Time Spiral'', Radha uses this to defeat Greht. She breaks his hold on his horde, he gets it back by starting a ridiculously powerful spell, and Radha starts feeding him more mana. This doesn't end well for him.

* In ''Literature/{{She}}'', Ayesha made herself immortal centuries ago by passing through a magical flame. When she wants her present-day lover to join her in immortality she tries to show him the flame is harmless by passing through it again, something she hadn't done since the first time. [[spoiler: It turns out even after centuries, a second dose is one too many.]]

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', there is Bizarro. He reacts in the opposite manner to kryptonite than Clark does. He gains strength from green kryptonite, which depowers and poisons Clark. When exposed to blue kryptonite, which strips Clark of his powers for as long as it's in contact, he gains a massive power boost and explodes.
%% * In one ''Series/FantasyIsland'' a woman was given a potion to become beautiful for a time (an hour??) if she took one drop. Complications ensued and she was forcibly made to drink the whole bottle on the grounds that "if one drop is good the whole bottle is better!" She became a harridan.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E15TooShortASeason Too Short a Season]]", a retired InsaneAdmiral takes his wife's share of age-reversing medication as well as his own. He de-ages so quickly that all his bodily systems become totally unstable, and he dies.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' has an episode where Daniel Jackson learns to use the [[ResetButton sarcophagus]] for reasons other than coming BackFromTheDead. He starts to become DrunkWithPower before the team brings him back to the base, where he goes through painful [[NailedToTheWagon withdrawal symptoms]].
* In ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S3E4LastSupper Last Supper]]", a scientist pursues an immortal woman to unlock the secret of eternal life. He injected a tiny bit of her blood into a rat, which was still alive decades later. As his age had caught up with him, he decided to attempt the same on himself. He drew a little too much blood, however, causing him to de-age into a pre-fetal puddle of human tissue.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': Season 3's "[[Recap/CSINYS03E20 What Schemes May Come]]" involves a couple of researchers doing a hibernation experiment on a friend who'd volunteered. They started off with very small doses of an unusual chemical (that even stumped experienced M.E. Peyton Driscoll) and slowly increased it, trying to find a safe but effective amount. The friend got impatient and, when they glanced away, turned the dial way up, which knocked him unconscious and eventually leaves him in a vegetative state.

** In D&D and its successor ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', the [[MagicStaff Staff of the Magi]] is recharged by letting it consume the power of incoming spells. If the user tries to make it absorb more than its capacity, it explodes with enough force to kill a full-grown dragon or suck the user into a wormhole.
* Many cyberpunk games have some sort of psychological penalty for implanting too much cyberware, such as going insane or dying.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': Getting cyberware and bioware installed damages Essence, which is essentially the connection of the body to the soul. While higher grade 'ware can dramatically reduce the impact, having too low essence can, but not always, result in sociopathic tendencies, cyberpsychosis, dissociation, personality loss, and other physical maladies like becoming resistant to cloned replacement parts and picking up a laundry list of allergies along the way. Essence also provides a solid cap on how much modification somebody can take: if Essence reaches zero for whatever reason, the person in question dies.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} 2020'': Cyberware can lower the user's Humanity, and losing too much causes Cyberpsychosis. The chrome itself doesn't cause an overload, but all the add-ons and DLC that are inevitably added to it will; cyberware that mimics human abilities has an insignificant chance of cyberpsychosis, but adding non-human abilities like flamethrowers, mind control, bullet time, jetpacks-for-feet,etc. will make the user less capable of empathizing with regular humans, and mixing all that extrasensory overload together with drug abuse and psychological damage can drive ''anyone'' over the edge.
* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' supplement ''Terror Australis'', adventure "Old Fellow That Bunyip". The investigators must drive a bunyip upriver by calling "Eleanba Wunda", the name of a terrifying spirit. Unfortunately, if they say the name too often they may [[SpeakOfTheDevil summon Eleanba Wunda itself]].

* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': Characters accumulate magical "warping points" from exposure to [[PlaceOfPower strong magic auras]], powerful or long-lasting spells (like {{Longevity Treatment}}s), and other sources. Warping progressively increases the danger and effect of {{Magic Misfire}}s, and eventually causes the mage to glitch out of reality forever. {{Muggles}} overexposed to Warping start to pick up permanent [[SkillScoresAndPerks character Flaws]] instead.

* A gameplay example in the ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' series: being hit by certain substances will cause your character to transform into a mummy, zombie or ape, the latter two having some advantages (such as subverting OneHitPointWonder and being able to climb on railings). A second dose is however fatal.
* While the ''VideoGame/{{Metroid Prime|Trilogy}}'' series has the already ToxicPhlebotinum Phazon, ''Corruption'' gives Samus a way to harness it as [[SuperMode Hypermode]]. If Samus is exposed to large amounts of Phazon or she stays in Hypermode for too long, it overloads and she must dump all of the Phazon in the system or she will [[NonstandardGameOver turn into another]] [[EvilTwin Dark Samus]].
* In ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'', you suffer poisoning when you drink potions. This prevents you from taking too many powerups at once. A justified trope since they ''are'' poisons, many of which are lethal to non-mutated humans, but not to the resistant [[SuperSoldiers Witchers]].
* Overlaps with DealWithTheDevil in ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''-- using Gig's power too much results in a hostile body takeover, and a NonstandardGameOver.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', the mysterious black soul-like stuff called "Humanity" is useful for all kinds of things, most notably reversing the effects of Hollowing on an Undead. Naturally, players find themselves encouraged to collect as much of it as they can, and several other characters are shown harvesting it for their own goals. On the other hand, the very dark fate of New Londo and the existence of the Abyss (a dimension of pure darkness that causes instant death to anyone who enters it unprotected) suggest that Humanity is dangerous stuff if mishandled. This is then confirmed in the ''Artorias of the Abyss'' DLC, which shows that [[spoiler:the old kingdom of Oolacile was annihilated when its people tried to feed off of a "primeval human"'s mother lode of Humanity, resulting in BodyHorror, mass insanity, and the presumed first appearance of the Abyss.]]
** In ''Videogame/DarkSoulsIII'' ''The Ringed City'' we learn more about the Abyss and its connection to humanity. [[spoiler:Humans are only having trouble handling it because of Gwyn placing a seal of fire on humanity that prevented them from properly channeling the Abyss's power through the Dark Soul.]]
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' explains that the reason [[BigBad Wesker]] can perform inhuman feats like [[FlashStep avoiding bullets]] and having super strength is due to [[spoiler: an experimental virus within in his body and said virus needs to be kept in check with a specialized serum. Jill suggests to Chris that he should inject Wesker with more of the serum to make the virus unstable. When Chris does so, Wesker writhes in pain and is weakened enough for Chris and Sheva to attack him directly and succeed. Wesker decides to go for the last resort route by infecting himself with Ouroboros to get even stronger.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', {{Determinat|or}}ion turns out to be a physical substance that can be [[HumanResources extracted from SOULs]]. It's well known that humans have much more of it than monsters -- because monsters are made mostly of magic, while humans are made mostly of water, attempting to artificially increase a monster's determination tends to overwhelm their body and ''melt'' them. You can see the results of this in the GoldenEnding path as the Amalgamates, partially-melted monsters that had "[[OnlyMostlyDead fallen down]]" and were injected with determination as an experiment in preserving monster [=SOULs=], only to merge together into terrifying abominations [[spoiler:that turn out to be pretty much unchanged mentally, so they end up just returning to their families in the end.]] In any other path, you can see the process directly [[spoiler:by killing Undyne, who is so determined not to die at your hands that she ''naturally generates'' enough determination to overload her body and melt.]]

* Played with in ''{{VideoGame/TAGAP}}''. Normally, the titular drug allows increased combat prowess and regenerative capabilities, at the cost of lower intelligence and higher vulnerability to brainwashing; however, protagonist Pablo has been altered to resist the drug's drawbacks while keeping all the benefits. It's still possible for him to temporarily "overdose" on the pill, but this just results in a mild MushroomSamba and a very useful BulletTime.

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/HollowKnight''. Charms are helpful buffs, but each takes up a certain amount of charm notches, and you're unable to equip charms that exceed the amount of charm slots you have. However, if you keep repeatedly forcing an extra charm on, you can eventually Overcharm yourself, where you're able to exceed your standard amount of charm notches... With the drawback that you take twice as much damage per hit. It's strongly discouraged on normal runs, especially during bossfights, but it's often used against Radiant bosses in the Hall of Gods, since you die in one hit anyway.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/11/19/episode-626-spinelessness/ where Red Mage repeatedly casts Haste on an undead dragon]], explaining that it will accelerate the spell animating it until it runs its course in a few seconds. Sadly, magic doesn't work that way, stacking spells only increases the duration and not the effect. Fortunately, it did work as a distraction to allow Thief to remove its vertebrae.
* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' [[McNinja Smoke Knights]] use [[PsychoSerum combat stimulants they call "Movit"]]. The highest level Violetta [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090211 dared to use on a wounded Tarvek]] was #6, which him run around as new... but as a side effect it made a person that's normally a [[MagnificentBastard subtle schemer]] act [[SuicidalOverconfidence suicidally "heroic"]]. And he didn't look pretty when this stuff wore out. Then [[spoiler:Zola]] drank a dose of #11. That level can be lethal for unprepared people as it is, so Violetta decided she'd have a better chance injecting [[spoiler:Zola]] with an [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20101029#.W9xHrSdReCU overdose]] rather than trying any other poisons.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/{{Phaeton}}'' absorbing too much [[{{Mana}} mystic energy]] causes crystal sealing.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'':
** In "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS1E5TheWinningEdge The Winning Edge]]", Bane's doctor adapts the Venom formula into slap-on dermal patches for an illicit drug trade, only to be defeated when Terry knocks him into an entire box of them (followed by an explosion to knock him out), rendering him catatonic, much like what Bane has become after years of Venom abuse.
** In "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E3Splicers Splicers]]", a scientist marketing LegoGenetics to create animal people [[OneWingedAngel turns himself into a chimera]] to fight Batman, only to be defeated when Batman doses him with even more of the stuff, causing him to go turn into a [[BodyHorror horrible blob monster]] that [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman can safely be blown apart on a Saturday morning cartoon]].
* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'' has this in the episode "Best Served Cold". Whitney Stane has been over-using the Madame Masque image inducer, and the phlebotinum that powers it has started to affect her brain. Tony has to travel to the arctic to find the raw ore form of the material to help cure her [[spoiler:but in the end ends up having to use a small amount from the supply that powers his pacemaker.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'', the Gummi Glen Gummis at one point corner Toady and he decides to drink a whole keg of Gummiberry Juice and everyone scrambles back for the reaction for that much a dosage. Sure enough, Toady has a massive overdose that leads him to uncontrollably rocketing back to Duke Igthorn empty handed.

* All known life on this planet runs on water as a vital component, and you can even overdose on that. It's safe to say that too much of anything we need could be...unpleasant.