History Main / PhlebotinumOverdose

** ''Cyberpunk 2020'': lowers Humanity, losing too much causes Cyberpsychosis

* ''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]].

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' [[McNinja Smoke Knights]] use [[PsychoSerum combat stimulants they call "MoveIt"]]. Maximum of what Violetta [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090211 dared to use on Tarvek]] was #6, which made a wounded run around as new, but as a side effect made a [[MagnificentBastard subtle schemer]] he was [[SuicidalOverconfidence act suicidally "heroic"]] -- and he didn't look pretty when this stuff wore out. [[spoiler:Then Zola]] drank a dose of #11. It could be lethal for unprepared people as it is, so Violetta figured out she have a better chance with overdose rather than trying any other poisons.

* In the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode featuring Bane, Batman defeats Bane by sabotaging his Venom pump, causing a massive overdose. This is repeated in two ''BatmanBeyond'' episode; in one, a doctor is selling Venom as a street drug (in dermal patch form); and eventually is overdosed during his fight. In an episode featuring LegoGenetics animal people, the BigBad injects himself with a several vials at once, but Batman injects him with a lot more, causing him to go from OneWingedAngel to a giant blob monster that [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman can safely be blown apart on a Saturday morning cartoon]].

-->--''GirlGenius''

* In ''GirlGenius'' [[McNinja Smoke Knights]] use [[PsychoSerum combat stimulants they call "MoveIt"]]. Maximum of what Violetta [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090211 dared to use on Tarvek]] was #6, which made a wounded run around as new, but as a side effect made a [[MagnificentBastard subtle schemer]] he was [[SuicidalOverconfidence act suicidally "heroic"]] -- and he didn't look pretty when this stuff wore out. [[spoiler:Then Zola]] drank a dose of #11. It could be lethal for unprepared people as it is, so Violetta figured out she have a better chance with overdose rather than trying any other poisons.

* Magic on {{Discworld}} has some [[CosmicHorror ugly]] quantity limitations.

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]

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* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' had an episode where an old diplomat takes his wife's share of age-reversing medication as well as his own.
* The end of ''Planet of Spiders'' on ''Series/DoctorWho''--[[spoiler: the Great One, leader of the spiders, assembles a web of crystals that contain power--but when she completes it, the power destroys her. Also meant as a metaphor for the ego.]]

* ''TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. An enemy {{Mook}} drinks a flask of Dr. Jekyll's potion and grows into a berserk monstrosity that makes Mr. Hyde look normal (and that's saying something).

* ''TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. An enemy {{Mook}} drinks an entire flask of Dr. Jekyll's potion and grows into a berserk monstrosity that makes Mr. Hyde look normal (and that's saying something).

* In the film ''Dot and the Kangaroo,'' 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."

* ''Santa Claus -- The Movie'' (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.

* Spoofed by [[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/sci_fi_writer_attributes this Onion article.]]

* This is how the BigBad is defeated in the second {{Hoodwinked}} movie.

** ''{{Shadowrun}}'': lowers Essence, losing too much causes death

<<|AppliedPhlebotinum|>>

* In the film ''Dot and the Kangaroo,'' the Kangaroo warns Dot not to eat too much of the root that allows her to [[TheDoctorDolittle talk to animals]] because if she does she'll "know too much," which will make her "miserable."

* Many Americans overdose on prescription drugs every year because they think that if taking the recommended dose will help them, taking an overdose will immediately cure them.
** On the contrary, it's actually more common for their body to grow accustomed to the small amounts they take, and so they overdose when they take more and more to try to compensate. Unfortunately, the ''effective'' dose and the ''safe'' dose - one not determined by the same factors as the other - ''don't'' rise at the same rate with a lot of medications, so doing this is a bad idea. Better to switch up meds.

* In ''[[CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator]]'', Wonka gives the grandparents pills which de-age them exactly 20 years per pill--they all decide after taking the first one that they should split the whole bottle, which then made three of them babies and one of them negative two years old.

May cross over with {{Aesoptinum}} when the {{Aesop}} is "All things in moderation." Not to be confused with PhlebotinumOverload. SuperpowerMeltdown is this on the individual level.

** On the contrary, it's actually more common for their body to grow accustomed to the small amounts they take, and so they overdose when they take more and more to try to compensate. Unfortunately, the ''effective'' dose and the ''safe'' dose - one not determined by the same factors as the other - ''don't'' rise at the same rate with a lot of medications, so doing this is [[{{Understatement}} a bad idea]]. Better to switch up meds.

AppliedPhlebotinum is useful, so applying more phlebotinum should be more useful, right?

Wrong! When the amount of phlebotinum [[GoingCritical reaches critical mass]], bad things happen. Maybe it summons an EldritchAbomination, maybe it makes a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie black hole]], maybe it [[StuffBlowingUp blows up]]. If the phlebotinum was already dangerous, expect the danger to increase exponentially.

May cross over with {{Aesoptinum}} when the {{Aesop}} is "All things in moderation." Not to be confused with PhlebotinumOverload.

* The end of ''Planet of Spiders'' on ''DoctorWho''--[[spoiler: the Great One, leader of the spiders, assembles a web of crystals that contain power--but when she completes it, the power destroys her. Also meant as a metaphor for the ego.]]

* While the ''{{Metroid}} Prime'' 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]].

->Zola: "Violetta, you pathetic loser! Did you just try to ''poison'' me? [[EvilLaugh Ahahahaha]]! [[NothingCanStopUsNow As if that could stop me now!]]"
->Violetta: "I know that. That wasn't poison, that was [[DeadlyUpgrade more]] [[PsychoSerum Movit]] [[UpToEleven 11]]. Now all I have to do is [[HeroicRROD watch you combust]]."
-->--GirlGenius

->Violetta: "I know that. That wasn't poison, that was more [[PsychoSerum Movit]] [[UpToEleven 11]]. Now all I have to do is [[HeroicRROD watch you combust]]."

** On the contrary, it's actually more common for their body to grow accustomed to the small ammounts they take, and so they overdose when they take more and more to try to compensate for the accomadation.

Wrong! When the amount of phlebotinum reaches critical mass, bad things happen. Maybe it summons an EldritchAbomination, maybe it makes a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie black hole]], maybe it [[StuffBlowingUp blows up]]. If the phlebotinum was already dangerous, expect the danger to increase exponentially.