History Main / SuperPrototype

# '''Fusion Prototype'' is when it was based on a known design but gained its' unique properties in an unexpected way. Maybe it was [[TouchedByVorlons tampered with by outside forces]], its onboard computer [[InstantAIJustAddWater suddenly became self-aware]], [[FreakLabAccident it fell into a giant vat of chemicals]], the pilot [[UnusualUserInterface has a special bond with the machine]] or was struck by a [[GreenRocks radioactive magical space rock]]. Regardless of the circumstance, what was once a tame improvement or even a standard device is now a unique existence that is much more than its original designs could ever have anticipated. Since nobody understands exactly what happened to change the original, attempts to replicate it with just the now-outdated schematics invariably produce lesser versions of it.
# '''High-Cost Prototype'' is when the simplest answer is a matter of cost and resources. The power core has three times the output but cost five times more, a cheaper engine can't move the invincible armor so they have to reduce weight, a {{BFG}} is way too limited in extended combat so it's replaced with a basic infantry package, etc. This often results in a general function JackOfAllStats and MasterOfNone, but with a collection of high spec prototypes which alternate between faster speeds, heavier armor and specialty ranged weapons. Streamlining functionality is often the key process of mass production since replacement parts become easier to access and the cost of producing something grows ''non''-linearly with complexity. Real wars (and markets) are won with efficiency of masses, not outstanding individual performances; over the course of history, many schools of thought perished over failing to adhere to this principle.

# The super prototype is really the ''experimental'' unit which was intended to test out new technology and its limits without ever being meant for mass production at all. As cost-effectiveness is less important, experimental units frequently ''do'' have superior performance to eventual mass production models. Military test pilots refer to this as "pushing the envelope" -- the upper edge is height, the right-hand edge is speed. Visualize this as the kind of envelope you mail somebody and you realize that particular area is [[{{Pun}} where the postage gets canceled]]. In this instance, a common flaw for the Hero to have is that because the prototype is meant for performance but not longevity, there are no proper safeguards in place to protect the user or others nearby. This can lead to a power overload or damage to the prototype and/or the hero, effectively giving them a whole load of {{Dangerous Forbidden Technique}}s, in addition to the experimental technology itself.
# A common fusion of the normally opposite tropes, Super Prototype and FlawedPrototype, is "TheHero's version is more powerful but has a DramaPreservingHandicap that the others don't." For the real-world equivalent, think of a phone or laptop. The latest model released isn't the absolute most powerful that the engineers could make, but it is the most powerful they could make that could last more than [[HourOfPower five minutes]] before shutting down or exploding. Basically, the mass-produced version that made it out of the lab is weaker because anything stronger can't be used for a prolonged period of time without too many drawbacks. Naturally, the hero is completely willing to take those drawbacks, even if the consequences can include things far more extreme like "being driven insane" or "stuck in an another dimension".
# An alternate version that often combines aspects of the 1st and 2nd variety introduces a prototype not of the ''current'' rank-and-file model, but their intended ''successor''. It is ''supposed'' to be an upgrade over the current standard, but justifies having any number of flaws in its systems or design by still being experimental and not properly tested.
# The prototype may not necessarily be a prototype but instead have its foundation in a BlackBox system, ancient LostTechnology, or some form of [[{{Unobtanium}} incredible new material]] that no one present understands. It is thus [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup unreplicable]] until someone can figure out how to reverse engineer it. In fiction, a popular setup is when the prototype is made by a genius and only they fully understand the technology behind it. So when the genius dies and the prototype goes missing, the bad guys may have the notes and schematics, but there's only so much that they can figure out without the prototype itself. As a result, only weaker or imperfect versions of the prototype can be made. This gives the bad guys a strong motivation to retrieve the prototype, since studying it could allow them to produce perfect replicas. The hero must then keep it out of their hands at all costs. This is often used for more [[FallingIntoTheCockpit inexperienced heroes]] as it justifies the enemy not using all their resources against the heroes for fear of damaging the prototype.
# A variation can blur the line between prototype and AceCustom. The prototype was originally based on a known design, but gained its unusual properties in an unexpected way. Say, it was tampered with by outside forces, its onboard computer [[InstantAIJustAddWater suddenly became self-aware]], [[FreakLabAccident it fell into a giant vat of chemicals]], or was struck by a [[GreenRocks radioactive magical space rock]]. Regardless of the circumstance, what was once a relatively tame improvement on the current standard is now a unique existence that is much more than its original designs could ever have anticipated. Since nobody understands exactly what happened to change the original, attempts to replicate it with just the now-outdated schematics invariably produce lesser versions of it.
# Finally, the most common reason is cost. Sometimes this is the result of a project running into budget difficulties and needing to scale back, but usually it just comes down to easy production (which also means easier repairs and easier replacement) being ''much'' more important for mass use than raw performance; since the cost of producing something grows ''non''-linearly with complexity, it is just BoringButPractical to make 3 devices with ''slightly'' less effectiveness than one that's insignificantly superior for triple the cost. Real wars (and markets) are won with efficiency of masses, not outstanding individual performances; over the course of history, many schools of thought perished over failing to adhere to this principle.

* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' has a room full of them. Most notably, the first robot of the Seraph series, S1, looks much better than the more recent ones. And it has actual hands, rather than the simple claws of the later S models. The explanation given is that, since the original designer died, no one (not even the prototypes themselves) understands the cutting-edge technology underpinning them (for example, these robots have [[{{Magitek}} no visible power source, or motor, or means of moving their limbs]]). The robots were forced to simplify their designs just for future robot generations to survive. This trope is actually {{deconstructed|Trope}} in time. When one of the first generation robots is revived, he's impressed by the design of his descendants, because their simpler parts are more efficient and easier to repair.

* As a general rule of thumb, there are two types of prototypes: one, a concept that barely works, and just demonstrates what the finished product could be; or two, stuff that has more buttons, features, and flashing lights than you can imagine, and is prohibitively expensive or complicated to make on a large scale. Super Prototypes are the latter category.

* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': The F-14E "Evangelions" (which in this alternate universe are experimental jet fighters rather giant robots). The first models are more powerful and have a better output than the latter ones. There also were talks to mass-produce them, but the Committee overseeing the project decided that it would be too expensive and the prototypes are good enough.

*** The titular ship of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', the NX-01 ''Enterprise'', also subverted the super prototype as her successor, the NX-02 ''Columbia'', left drydock with capabilities that surpassed and were later retrofitted into ''Enterprise''. Production designs for the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen unproduced fifth season]] of ''Enterprise'' and WordOfGod statements from Doug Drexler recently revealed that the entire NX class was one big work-in-progress and that every ship was its own prototype, as evidenced by [[http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/nx-01-refit-diagram/ these sketches]] showing off the engineering hull that was to be added to the "NX-01.5".
** The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Message In A Bottle" features the USS ''Prometheus'', an advanced Starfleet warship packing tons of weaponry, flys faster than ''Voyager'', has a shipwide holographic projection system, and [[DetachmentCombat can split into three smaller ships in combat]]. It's up to Voyager's Doctor and the ''Prometheus'''s own EMH to stop the Romulans trying to steal it.

* When the Empire State Building was built, it was much taller than any other skyscraper had been, and no one really knew just how strong it had to be to stay up. So they overbuilt it to such a degree that less than two decades later, it survived [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Empire_State_Building_B-25_crash a direct impact by a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber]]. Fourteen people were killed, but the building stayed up (and remains so more than 75 years later), and was open for business within 48 hours. (Later skyscrapers, having learned from its example, are much weaker and much cheaper to build.) One account of just how durable the building is, states that it's not just held up by the internal steel skeleton; the concrete walls themselves are so thick that they're actually load-bearing. Where more modern skyscrapers are designed to bend and sway in high winds and during earthquakes, the Empire State is one big solid rock that does not flex '''at all'''.

* When the Empire State Building was built, it was much taller than any other skyscraper had been, and no one really knew just how strong it had to be to stay up. So they overbuilt it to such a degree that less than two decades later, it survived [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Empire_State_Building_B-25_crash a direct impact by a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber]]. Fourteen people were killed, but the building stayed up (and remains so more than 75 years later), and was open for business within 48 hours. (Later skyscrapers, having learned from its example, are much weaker and much cheaper to build.) One account of just how durable the building is, states that it's not just held up by the internal steel skeleton; the concrete walls themselves are so thick that they're actually load-bearing. Where other skyscrapers are designed to bend and sway in high winds and during earthquakes, the Empire State is one big solid rock that does not flex '''at all'''.

* When the Empire State Building was built, it was much taller than any other skyscraper had been, and no one really knew just how strong it had to be to stay up. So they overbuilt it to such a degree that less than two decades later, it survived [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Empire_State_Building_B-25_crash a direct impact by a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber]]. Fourteen people were killed, but the building stayed up (and remains so more than 75 years later), and was open for business within 48 hours. (Later skyscrapers, having learned from its example, are much weaker and much cheaper to build.) One account of just how durable the building is, states that it's not just held up by the internal steel skeleton, the concrete walls themselves are load-bearing. Where other skyscrapers are designed to bend and sway in high winds and during earthquakes, the Empire State is one big solid rock that does not flex '''at all'''.

* When the Empire State Building was built, it was much taller than any other skyscraper had been, and no one really knew just how strong it had to be to stay up. So they overbuilt it to such a degree that less than two decades later, it survived [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Empire_State_Building_B-25_crash a direct impact by a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber]]. Fourteen people were killed, but the building stayed up (and remains so more than 75 years later), and was open for business within 48 hours. (Later skyscrapers, having learned from its example, are much weaker and much cheaper to build.)

* The Rocketdyne F-1 (the engine that powered the Saturn V rockets) to every U.S. rocket engine since then. It was so powerful that the first examples built, scaled up from existing rocket designs, were unable to stand up to the force they were delivering and literally ripped themselves apart on the test stand. To test their stabilizing capabilities, NASA essentially built a grenade launcher to fire explosives into the rocket plume while the engine was running. Each individual flying F-1 engine was hand-built and hand-tuned, making the whole production run of fifty engines a series of Super Prototypes designed to work with four other Super Prototypes in concert. This answers the very common question as to why UsefulNotes/NASA doesn't just build more F-1 engines for future long range missions: since each engine was hand-crafted, there's no such thing as a standardized F-1 engine design that can be mass-produced, and the knowledge of how to hand-craft each engine is nearly completely gone with the ageing and deceased engineers who built them.

* The Rocketdyne F-1 (the engine that powered the Saturn V rockets) to every U.S. rocket engine since then. It was so powerful that the first examples built, scaled up from existing rocket designs, were unable to stand up to the force they were delivering and literally ripped themselves apart on the test stand. To test their stabilizing capabilities, NASA essentially built a grenade launcher to fire explosives into the rocket plume while the engine was running. Each individual flying F-1 engine was hand-built and hand-tuned, making the whole production run of fifty engines a series of Super Prototypes designed to work with four other Super Prototypes in concert.

** The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Message In A Bottle" features the USS ''Prometheus'', an advanced Starfleet warship packing tons of weaponry, flys faster than ''Voyager'', has a shipwide holographic projection system, and [[BifurcatedWeapon can split into three smaller ships in combat]]. It's up to Voyager's Doctor and the ''Prometheus'''s own EMH to stop the Romulans trying to steal it.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1999'': Tim's Redbird is technically the prototype of a self-driving Wayne Tech car. The Redbird's ability to shift panels and its armor and many other capabilities are not included in the car, which never reaches full production but does appear at a car show as a promotional event.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Tim's Redbird is technically the prototype of a self-driving Wayne Tech car. The Redbird's ability to shift panels and its armor and many other capabilities are not included in the car, which never reaches full production but does appear at a car show as a promotional event.

* ''Film/InspectorGadget'' and his EvilTwin [=RoboGadget=] are these. Gadget himself doesn't become a FlawedPrototype until the sequel.

* As a general rule of thumb, there are two types of prototypes: one a concepts that barely work, and just demonstrate what the finished product could be or two stuff that has more buttons and features and flashing lights than you can imagine, and is prohibitively expensive or complicated to make on a wide scale. Super Prototypes are the latter category.

# An alternate version that often combines aspects of the 1st and 2nd variety introduces a prototype not of the ''current'' rank-and-file model, but their intended ''successor''. This justifies its superiority it is ''supposed'' to be an upgrade over the current standard, while still being experimental justifies any flaws in untested systems.
# The prototype may not necessarily be a prototype but instead have its foundation in BlackBox technology that no one present understands and is thus [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup unreplicable]] until someone can figure out how to reverse engineer it. In fiction, a popular setup is when the prototype is made by a genius and only they fully understand the technology behind it. So when the genius dies and the prototype goes missing, the bad guys may have the notes and schematics, but there's only so much that they can figure out without the prototype itself. As a result, only weaker or imperfect versions of the prototype can be made. This gives the bad guys a strong motivation to retrieve the prototype, since studying it could allow them to produce perfect replicas. The hero must then keep it out of their hands at all costs. This is often used for more [[FallingIntoTheCockpit inexperienced heroes]] as it justifies the enemy not using all their resources against the heroes for fear of damaging the prototype.

* The setting of ''Literature/{{Noob}}'' has the Empire's elite troops consist of an extreme case of MagicallyIneptFighter called neomancers: a special injection cuts them off from the world's magic system in exchange of what amounts to BioAugmentation. It's known from the start that the ijection contains genetic material from various beings that one could expect to find in a fantasy AdventureFriendlyWorld. The third novel reveals that mix is technically cells from Tabris, an entirely artificial super-being that was so powerful that the world's {{Physical God}}s considered it a treat and requested his destruction in exchange of a very big favor. The neomancers are individually extremely weak by comparison to Tabris.

** Nazi Germany had a wide variety of tanks, aircraft, guns, munitions, systems, etc. that performed well as prototypes (though not as well as some fanboys would have you believe) but were anywhere from downgraded to disastrous in mass production. Why? Well, they used lots of concentration camp inmates and [=POWs=] as slave labor, which unsurprisingly [[DidntThinkThisThrough bit their quality control in the ass]]. Some of these slaves, having been selected for their technical skills, came up with some fairly brilliant and hard-to-notice methods of sabotaging whatever the Nazis forced them to manufacture. Among the most prominent examples was the Me-262 jet fighter, whose engines were found to be extremely delicate and would often violently disengage themselves from the airframe if the pilot adjusted the throttle the wrong way.

* The [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns MG 34]] was the predecessor to the famous [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns MG 42]] [[note]]Not exactly a prototype but close enough in spirit[[/note]]. The MG 34 featured both a sturdier construction than its successor and was capable of sustaining a higher rate of fire. It also had a innovative crescent double trigger that allows the user to change between firing semi and full auto without the need of a selector switch. The 34 was to expensive and time intensive to manufacture so Germany designed the easy to manufacture 42 to take its place.

* ''Fanfic/GlitchedMikoAU'': Miko, as noted by her co-worker Zahra, is far more complex than any Glitch (i.e., living computer program) ever seen, with attention to detail so fine she's even coded to have individual blood cells. As a result, she can fully pass for human and Miko herself never suspected anything until she began regaining her memories and capabilities as a side effect of exposure to Glitch Tech equipment. The only one of her successors that comes close is M-2/Meico, who was made by other scientists in the lab attempting to recreate Professor Masaki's work, but whom the professor was tasked to finish the actual work on. Meanwhile, the M-3 units are far, far less complex than both girls; explicitly to allow for timely, larger-scale production, and implicitly because they're unable to figure out how Masaki managed to get the girls to [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming grow beyond their programming]].

A question that often comes up is why the super prototype is so, well, super compared to the production model. To some degree, this trope is TruthInTelevision, with the typical reasons given in fiction more-or-less matching those given in real life. These include: being that the production model is far cheaper or easier to make in large numbers. Ideally, any piece of technology goes through ''several'' prototypes, with the earliest being likely to come across more as a proof-of-concept as opposed to something truly feasible for mass production as they figure what features are necessary, what's cost effective for the given price range, etc. And sometimes, this early proof-of-concept can and does vary widely from the final product... but usually not to the extent seen in fiction, where the reasoning for how the inventors got from point A to point B can feel nonexistent.

Writers tend to find various reasons for why the Prototype is better which usually fall under a few general lines of reasoning.

* ''Fanfic/GlitchedMikoAU'': Miko, as noted by her co-worker Zahra, is far more complex than any Glitch (i.e., living computer program) ever seen, with attention to detail so fine she's even coded to have individual blood cells. As a result, she can fully pass for human and Miko herself never suspected anything until she began regaining her memories as a side effect of exposure to Glitch Tech equipment. The only one of her successors that comes close is M-2/Meico, who was made by other scientists in the lab attempting to recreate Professor Misaki's work with Miko, while the M-3 units are far less complex than both to allow for timely, larger-scale production.

A question that often comes up is why the super prototype is so, well, super compared to the production model. To some degree, this trope is TruthInTelevision, with the typical reason given in real life being that the production model is far cheaper or easier to make in large numbers. Ideally, any piece of technology goes through ''several'' prototypes, with the earliest being likely to come across more as a proof-of-concept as opposed to something truly feasible for mass production as they figure what features are necessary, what's cost effective for the given price range, etc. And sometimes, this early proof-of-concept can and does vary widely from the final product... but usually not to the extent seen in fiction, where the reasoning for how the inventors got from point A to point B can feel nonexistent.

# A real-world concept that more closely resembles the super prototype is the ''experimental'' unit or "concept car," which is intended to test out new technology and its limits without ever being meant for mass production at all. As cost-effectiveness is less important, experimental units frequently ''do'' have superior performance to eventual mass production models. Military test pilots refer to this as "pushing the envelope" -- the upper edge is height, the right-hand edge is speed. Visualize this as the kind of envelope you mail somebody and you realize that particular area is [[{{Pun}} where the postage gets canceled]]. In this instance, a common flaw for the Hero to have is that because the prototype is meant for performance but not longevity, there are no proper safeguards in place to protect the user or others nearby. This can lead to a power overload or damage to the prototype and/or the hero, effectively giving them a whole load of {{Dangerous Forbidden Technique}}s, in addition to the experimental technology itself.
#A common fusion of the normally opposite tropes, Super Prototype and FlawedPrototype, is "TheHero's version is more powerful but has the DramaPreservingHandicap that the others don't." Maybe all versions after TheHero's are weaker because the "use it for longer than [[HourOfPower five minutes]] and it shuts down/explodes/drives you insane" problem could not be fixed without losing some power. It would, of course, be equally workable for the hero to be less powerful but lack the handicap, but that's less popular.
#An alternate version that often combines aspects of the 1st and 2nd variety introduces a prototype not of the current rank-and-file model, but their intended successor. This justifies its superiority as being an upgrade over the current standard, while still being experimental justifies any flaws in untested systems.
#Another common version is when the prototype is made by a genius and [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup only they fully understand the technology behind it]]. Then the genius dies and the prototype goes missing. The bad guys may have the notes and schematics, but there's only so much that they can figure out without the prototype itself. As a result, only weaker or imperfect versions of the prototype can be made. This gives the bad guys a strong motivation to retrieve the prototype, since studying it could allow them to produce perfect replicas. The hero must then keep it out of their hands at all costs. This is often used for more [[FallingIntoTheCockpit inexperienced heroes]] as it justifies the enemy not using all their resources against the heroes for fear of damaging the prototype.
#Most prosaically, a project may simply have run into budget difficulties or been sidelined in favour of something else, resulting in significant cutbacks to the quality of the end product.
#Lastly, the prototype may not be a prototype but instead BlackBox technology or if a prototype was made, black box technology was incorporated into the design and the "super" parts of the prototype are [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup unreplicable.]]
#But of course the most common reason, in fiction and in real life, is cost: in most cases, easy production (which also means easier repairs and easier replacement) is ''much'' more important for mass use than raw performance; since the cost of producing something grows ''non''-linearly with complexity, it is just BoringButPractical to make 3 devices with ''slightly'' less effectiveness than one insignificantly superior for triple cost. Real wars (and markets) are won with efficiency of masses, not outstanding individual performances; over the course of history many schools of thought perished over failing to adhere to this principle.

* ''Fanfic/GlitchedMikoAU'': Miko, as noted by her co-worker Zahra, is far more complex than any Glitch (i.e., living computer program) ever seen, with attention to detail so fine she's even coded to have individual blood cells. As a result, she can fully pass for human and Miko herself never suspected anything until she began regaining her memories as a side effect of exposure to Glitch Tech equipment. Her successors, on the other hand, are inferior in this regard, both due to Miko's complexity making it difficulty to replicate in a timely manner and to have more obvious tells concerning their true nature to make them more easy to locate should one escape like Miko did.

* The [[RareGuns Heckler & Koch G11]] is an experimental assault rifle which uses caseless ammunition, it has a slow full auto firing mode and an ''absurdly quick and accurate'' three round burst mode. It also looks [[OurWeaponsWillBeBoxyInTheFuture boxy and futuristic]] thanks to its unique loading mechanism. Unfortunately, despite being a huge success, the cost inefficiency has terminated its production.