History PlayingWith / GodzillaThreshold

** In response to Emperor Evulz going OmnicidalManiac and presenting a very credible threat to the world, the nation of Troperia decides to start using tactics that they'd never consider for anything less, because it's not like the world can get any ''more'' destroyed than if Evulz wins.

** Emperor Evulz is such a threat that the people of Troperia don't hesitate to use a tactic that ''may'' defeat him, but will ''definitely'' kill 99% of the world's people, reduce the remaining 1% to Stone Age technology, and decimate its ecosystems.

** While the nation of Troperia is doing more extreme things in the war against Emperor Evulz, there are some lines they still feel they don't have to cross.

** Troperia is forced into legalizing mercenary companies which could have [[WarForFunAndProfit perverse incentives that lead to instability later on]].

** At first it looks like Troperia will need to use extreme methods to defeat Emperor Evulz, but then Alice and her RagtagBunchOfMisfits show up and take him down.

** The argument against [[SummonBiggerFish summoning Godzilla]] is not that "the cure may be worse than the disease", but rather than it may still not be enough gun to solve ''this'' mess.
** Godzilla is summoned and, much to the surprise of everybody, the odds are not immediately equalized.
** After being summoned, Godzilla immediately decides to go on a rampage of his own instead of doing the expected "attacking the other monster out of a sense of territoriality" result. The high-risk tactic has brought no reward: everybody is ''[[FromBadToWorse even more]]'' screwed.
** It turns out that Evulz had a XanatosGambit in place ready to go and stops Godzilla instantly and thoroughly when he's summoned.

** The typical argument to summon Godzilla still stands: it's a situation bad enough that ''anything'' with a chance of evening the odds is to be considered.
** Because of this, Godzilla crosses its own Threshold and uses a DangerousForbiddenTechnique. ''That'' hits the spot.

** You know that Evulz has made heroes way beyond desperate with his invincible schemes when [[PlanBResolution their plan "B"]] (or rather "Z") for the "desperate backup plan" that was summoning Godzilla is to wake up ''[[OmnicidalManiac King Ghidorah]]''.

** Troperia defeats Emperor Evulz without resorting to risky last-resort tactics.

** "We need a reason to use Godzilla, or an equivalently destructive force, in our work, but to do so we need to bring up something at least as bad in the story to justify his return. Any ideas?"

** "You are telling me we should drop a ''nuclear bomb'' on the oil well? What next, summoning Godzilla?"

** "Look, we have an asteroid headed for Earth. I say all options are on the table, up to and including Godzilla himself."

* '''Exploited''': The BigBad [[ManipulativeBastard intentionally set up the situation]] in the first place, because the effects of the Godzilla option [[BatmanGambit is what he wanted in order to implement his real plans]].

** The heroes summon Godzilla. [[HopeSpot Godzilla gets annihilated five seconds later.]] MassOhCrap ensues.
** Evulz secretly killed Godzilla [[HandWave somehow]] at the beginning of his offensive. As a result, [[MortonsFork there is no Third Option at all]].

* '''Implied''': Upon seeing whatever is happening this episode, TheLancer will suggest "Plan G", which will be slapped down by TheLeader and all others with likes like "that plan is only for emergencies!" (even if a house being on fire/a flood coming in/somebody being trapped in a crashed car/an AlienInvasion about to start would fall under any normal person's definition of an "emergency").

** There will always be [[GeneralRipper some damn impulsive fools]] who believe that either whatever the hell is going on is the "Godzilla" that the Threshold must deal with or that once the Threshold has been crossed at some point before that de-escalation will never be possible, and if left to their own devices they will bring untold amounts of chaos and will defend themselves with "IDidWhatIHadToDo."

** [[DevilsAdvocate That damn impulsive fool is part of the failsafe.]] The Threshold will be officially declared as passed if the heroes all [[JerkassHasAPoint unanimously agree with the fools]] and then say that none of them can think of any other options to offer at all, not even for the sake of spite.

* '''Played for Drama''': The BigBad is defeated but at grave cost. The heroes are despondent. Alice is DrivenToSuicide, Bob becomes TheAlcoholic, and the others go their separate ways.
* '''Played for Horror''': Congratulations, you unleashed Godzilla. Now enjoy the montage of people being eaten, fatally irradiated, set on fire, panicking, rioting, stampeding and stepped on by man and monster alike, and consider that '''this''' [[WasItReallyWorthIt is supposed to be the "lesser evil".]]

** Emperor Evulz is such a threat that the people of Troperia don't hesitate to use a tactic that ''may'' defeat him- but will ''definitely'' kill 99% of the world's population and reduce the remaining 1% to Stone Age technology.
** Emperor Evulz is a threat to the entire universe, and his opponents do stuff like create new black holes in order to fight him.
* '''Downplayed''':

** HeroInsurance and ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption - usually, when these are being invoked, the situation has reached the threshold to some degree.
** Can be TruthInTelevision in RealLife, at least in its more individual variants (extreme medical treatments, self-defense, the attempt to stop/mitigate a major disaster)

** The situation really is that bad... but the solution is ''even worse'', so it's better to let it continue than attempt to stop it.
** A few techniques are only used if things are absolutely peaceful and stable because of the sheer havok that could be caused if they were sabotaged. For instance a reactor and DeflectorShield combo that can protect from any sort of accidental harm but a deliberate focus of a sufficiently powerful energy weapon or sabotage could blow up a solar system.
** The proper thing to do in the circumstances is judged to let [[TheBadGuyWins Emperor Evulz]] win as opposed to using power that may risk destroying the universe.
* '''Subverted''':
** At first it looks like Troperia will need to use extreme methods to defeat Emperor Evulz, but then Alice and her RagtagBunchOfMisfits show up and are able to take him down.

** The argument against summoning Godzilla is not that "the cure may be worse than the disease", but rather than it may still not be enough gun to solve ''this'' mess.

** The long-term reward (destroying the world-ending threat) was still achieved. It just happened that [[PyrrhicVictory the cost was higher than anybody could think of, even at their most pessimistic]]. [[RayOfHopeEnding It's not much for solace, but it will have to do]].
** You know that Evulz has made heroes way beyond desperate with his invincible schemes when [[PlanBResolution their plan "B"]] (or rather "Z") for the "desperate plan B (or "Z")" that was summoning Godzilla is to wake up ''[[OmnicidalManiac King Ghidorah]]''.

* '''Zig Zagged''':

** Troperia is able to defeat Emperor Evulz without resorting to risky last resort tactics.

* '''Enforced''':

** In RealLife in general, any situation where the inevitable or near-inevitable outcome of not dealing with the situation or of using less severe solutions is the loss of human life (especially if it's the loss of multiple lives) is usually this to some degree: almost ''any'' amount of property damage, injury, or even death is considered worth it to prevent someone from dying or to prevent someone or something from killing more people than it already has. For example, amputating someone's legs or putting them through chemotherapy or giving them an ongoing drug addiction to save their life, or demolishing a neighborhood to create a firebreak against a superfire or dumping seawater on nuclear reactors -- because the alternative is far worse.
** "We need a reason to use Godzilla, or an equivalently destructive force, in our work, but to do so we need to bring up something just as bad if not worse in the story to justify his return. Any ideas?"
* '''Lampshaded''':

** WhatHaveIDone in some instances.

** The heroes TakeAThirdOption and find a less-dangerous solution. And if the third option as proposed looks like it will cross this, they will search for a ''fourth''.
** The heroes summon Godzilla. [[HopeSpot Godzilla gets annihilated five seconds later]]. MassOhCrap ensues.

* '''Conversed''': Bob and Alice watch a show and mention how desperate the heroes must be to come up with such a plan.

** The heroes find a solution that works, but now they're stuck with finding a way to deal with the aftermath of said solution, which is just as bad as (if not worse than) the previous problem.
** There will always be [[GeneralRipper some damn impulsive fool]] that believes that either whatever the hell is going on is the "Godzilla" that the Threshold must deal with or that once the Threshold has been crossed at some point before that there is absolutely no way de-escalation will ever be possible, and if he's left to his own devices he will bring untold amounts of chaos and will defend himself with "IDidWhatIHadToDo".
* '''Reconstructed''':

** The heroes [[ZeroApprovalGambit may well know that their actions to stop the Big Bad]] would get them imprisoned. The loss of their reputation is just part of the cost - at least they ''have'' a world with a functioning justice system to imprison them.

** [[DevilsAdvocate That damn impulsive fool is part of the fail safe]]. The Threshold will be officially declared as passed if the heroes all [[JerkassHasAPoint unanimously agree with this fool]] and then say that none of them can think of any other options to offer at all, not even for the sake of spite.
* '''Played For Laughs''': Their solution will result in the destruction of one of the heroes' favorite restaurants. TheHero finds the act horrible and almost decides against it until the other heroes give him a DopeSlap.
* '''Played For Drama''': The BigBad is defeated but at grave cost. The heroes are despondent. One is DrivenToSuicide, another becomes TheAlcoholic, and the others go their separate ways.
* '''Played For Horror''': Congratulations, you unleashed Godzilla. Now enjoy the montage of people being eaten, fatally irradiated, set on fire, panicking, rioting, stampeding and stepped on by man and monster alike, and consider that '''this''' [[WasItReallyWorthIt is supposed to be the "lesser evil".]]

%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
%%
%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???

** Alice and her RagtagBunchOfMisfits are considered a Godzilla Threshold solution themselves: they are [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores exactly the kind of despicable, expendable losers]] led by [[SurprisinglyEliteCannonFodder despicable, expendable mavericks]] that you don't send out onto the field unless you are really out of anything else, [[InsultToRocks even cannon fodder]].

** You know the heroes are way beyond desperate when [[PlanBResolution their plan "B"]] (or rather "Z") for the "desperate plan B" that was summoning Godzilla is to wake up ''[[OmnicidalManiac King Ghidorah]]''.

** You know the heroes are way beyond desperate when [[PlanBResolution their plan "B"]] (or rather "Z") is to wake up ''[[OmnicidalManiac King Ghidorah]]''.

** Someone actually calls in Franchise/{{Godzilla}} to handle the problem.

* '''Straight''': In response to Emperor Evulz going OmnicidalManiac and presenting a very credible threat to the world, the nation of Troperia decides to start using tactics that they'd never consider for anything less, because it's not like the world can get any ''more'' destroyed than if Evulz wins.

* '''Double Subverted''': GodzillaThreshold-crossing tactics are argued against because Emperor Evulz just wants to rule the world, but then Alice discovers that Evulz really is an OmnicidalManiac, and once he's taken over he'll use his power to destroy everything.

* '''Defied''': The heroes TakeAThirdOption and find a less-dangerous solution. And if the third option as proposed looks like it will cross this, they will search for a ''fourth''.

** There is literally no other option left -- all of the weapons, equipment, champions and resources that were important parts of other options are destroyed, dead, or missing and presumed dead/destroyed.

* '''Played For Horror''': Congratulations, you unleashed Godzilla. Now enjoy the montage of people being eaten, fatally irradiated, set on fire, stampeding and stepped on, and consider that '''this''' [[WasItReallyWorthIt is supposed to be the "lesser evil".]]

* '''Played For Laughs''': Their solution will result in the destruction of one of the heroes' favorite restaurants. He finds the act horrible and almost decides against it until the other heroes give him a DopeSlap.

* '''Defied''': The heroes TakeAThirdOption and find a less-dangerous solution.