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10[[quoteright:350:[[Advertising/DumbWaysToDie https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dummbutton.png]]]]
11[[caption-width-right:350: ♪ [[EarWorm So many dumb ways to die~]] ♪]]
12%%
13->''Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.''
14-->-- ''Literature/ThiefOfTime''
15
16When it comes to curiosity, there are generally two main types. The first type is patient enough to wait for an explanation to be given, usually by an expert on a subject and/or its creator. Someone who can [[LaymansTerms break it down into a more simplified language]], to a point where it can be easily understood, what its benefits are, what dangers it may impose, and the like. [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny The second type]]... does not have that kind of patience. Or insight. Or anything resembling ''restraint''. They're willing to stumble blindly towards a control panel and start randomly pressing buttons. Usually, they'll ask the all-important question, "[[TitleDrop What Does This Button Do?]]" just before doing so, or just after doing so if the work emphasizes them being unthinking rather than reckless.
17
18This is the kind of thing that can result in [[SelfDestructMechanism self-destruct]] sequences being set off, {{Wave Motion Gun}}s made to be even more dangerous without anyone who ''knows what they're doing'' to run them, all while someone with half a brain will scream warnings (and insults to their intelligence) just before things get wrecked.
19
20A very bad way to [[TemptingFate tempt fate]]. An even worse way is to leave the button [[IdiotBall unlabeled]], among BillionsOfButtons, [[FromBadToWorse or both]]. The proper response to anyone who asks this question is, "DontTouchItYouIdiot", although "WhatWereYouThinking!" also crops up as a regular post-press reaction in either frustrated hiss or yelling flavours. Note, however, that {{Big Red Button}}s are usually a ChekhovsGun: even in the event that a curious character is prevented from pushing it, rest assured that you'll eventually find out what the button does. Compare and contrast AreTheseWiresImportant, for cases where the character is deliberately trying to make something malfunction, and CapsLockNumLockMissilesLock, when the button's placement means that it's highly likely to be pressed by accident.
21
22Beware! Savvy villains may leave them lying out in the open as SchmuckBait...
23
24----
25!!Examples:
26
27[[foldercontrol]]
28
29[[folder:Advertising]]
30* An ad for Cable One, in which a supervillain has his plans to destroy Earth from his outer-space lair spoiled by a slow Internet connection, has "Common Sense" say the trope name and push the self-destruct button.
31* The Metro Trains safety ad ''Advertising/DumbWaysToDie'' has a character asking "I wonder, what's this [[BigRedButton red button]] do?" Cue [[EverythingMakesAMushroom an enormous explosion]].
32* In the 1995 Platform/PhilipsCDi informercial ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhZdWvnF3do A Day with Sid, Ed & Cd-i]]'', in a scene deriding [=PCs=], a woman tries and fails to start a game in DOS for her son. While she goes looking for the manual, the boy instantly becomes bored and, having been told not to touch anything, immediately starts pressing random keys. Two keypresses in and a Windows 3.1-style dialog box appears asking if he wants to erase the hard drive. Up to five keypresses later and the screen is literally flashing red. A dramatic press of the enter key (while his mother helplessly tries and fails to run across the room) later and the obvious happens.
33[[/folder]]
34
35[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
36* Tomo from ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' once found a button that would kill Chiyo when pressed. She pressed it anyway. It was only in a dream, though (not that it alleviated Chiyo's anxieties about Tomo, anyway).
37-->'''Chiyo:''' Please don't kill me. Even in a dream.
38* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': This shows up in the Beast Swords filler arc, where Senbonzakura finds himself in a room in the 12th division that has surveillance cameras all over Seireitei. He starts pressing buttons at random and ends up messing with the Shinigami on the cameras in various ways: Renji gets his bathwater superheated, Omaeda's barbecue explodes, Matsumoto's treadmill suddenly stops, and so on.
39* Asked in Episode 15 of ''Literature/BodaciousSpacePirates'' when Marika brings the yacht club aboard the Bentenmaru to fill in for her quarantined crew. Answer: It fires the ship's main cannons.
40* ''Anime/CombattlerV'': In episode 16, Kotaro -- a little kid of [[TheHero Hyoma]]'s acquaintance -- visited the [[HomeBase Nanbara Connection]]. When [[RobotBuddy Ropetto]] shows him the team's vehicles, Kotaro can't help to get in Hyoma's jet fighter, point at a random button and ask what it does. Ropetto tried to talk him out of touching it, but Kotaro pressed it anyway.
41-->'''Kotaro:''' What does this button do?\
42'''Ropetto:''' That's the ignition button. Don't touch it.
43* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheSteelTroops'' has Chizuka messing around with a button of a HumongousMecha. The robot then fires [[EnergyWeapon laser beam]] that destroys an empty building nearby.
44* ''Manga/EdensZero'': Rebecca attempts to teach Shiki how to fly her spaceship, but he immediately starts pressing buttons, which makes them crash.
45* ''Manga/FireForce'': When visiting Vulkun's home, Iris can't resist pushing the buttons scattered around his inventions. She even taps on some of Licht's more bizarre research items in his lab.
46* ''Anime/IsekaiQuartet'': When the ''Literature/{{Konosuba}}'' group finds a mysterious button, Aqua immediately wants to press it. Kazuma holds her back, pointing out it could do something dangerous. Megumin says she agrees with his logic but presses it anyway. Pressing it whisks the group away to the series' school setting.
47* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': This series mixed this trope with FallingIntoTheCockpit, and deconstructed both of them (funny and ironic, keeping in mind that ''Anime/MazingerZ'' [[UnbuiltTrope was the first mecha show where the pilot fell into the cockpit]]). When TheHero Kouji sat in the Hover Pilder (the flying device that controls the Super Robot) for the first time, he knew absolutely nothing about piloting. His little brother suggested to him that maybe it was a really bad idea, and he angrily replied he only needed to figure out what each button did. So then he began pressing random buttons to ascertain which did what... and he nearly got himself and his brother killed. Mazinger-Z went on a rampage, destroying everything on its path, and it only stopped when Sayaka showed up and carefully explained to Kouji what he had to do (after getting baffled at the thought of someone doing something SO stupid). And it was way worse in the original manga version since Kouji activated Mazinger-Z in the middle of a big city. To be fair, though, the person who had built Mazinger-Z was dead, so it was not like if Kouji could consult someone about it at the time.
48* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Franky goes searching through the laboratory of the world's most brilliant scientist for a ship that can take him to the rest of the Straw Hats. He comes across a "Pirate button", and...
49-->'''BOOM!!'''\
50''The world refers to this incident as the Future Kingdom's great disaster: "The Nightmare of Baldimore".''
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder: Audio Play]]
54* In ''AudioPlay/OmeHenk'', the answer is almost always StuffBlowingUp.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Comic Books]]
58* A gag in ''ComicBook/AchilleTalon'' has just a single button labeled "do not push". The main character gets more and more unhinged as he desperately tries to resist the temptation of pushing it until he finally gives in. [[spoiler:It electrocutes the pusher.]]
59* One ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' story has Mr. Lodge having trouble with his kitchen because every appliance is built into the wall, and the buttons are unlabeled. On Archie's suggestion, the two of them test each button which results in variations of TheDoorSlamsYou until Mr. Lodge gives up, has Archie gather firewood, and cooks lunch over a campfire in the kitchen.
60* Done in ''ComicBook/GorskyAndButch'', in a direct ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' parody. (Unfortunately, the button was in the middle of a bomb that Gorsky was trying to disarm.)
61* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman2016'': After Diana and the Holliday Girls "borrow" an experimental aircraft in order to go join the fight against the Duke of Deception and try to prevent him from awakening the Titan, they pass an allied aircraft. When Diana talks about contacting them on the radio, Tilly Heyday pushes the giant red button covered in caution tape while cheerfully chirping "maybe it's the radio!" while the others, in horror, tell her not to. It turns out to be the button to turn the plane invisible.
62* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans''; [[ComicBook/Robin1993 Tim Drake]] manages to smuggle a batmobile to California under the 'Batarang budget' and tells the group not to touch the blue button after being asked that question. A page later reveals it most likely contacts Batman, right after [[ComicBook/{{Impulse}} Kid Flash]] has managed to crash the car upside down.
63* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', Laurie is exploring Nite Owl's aircraft and starts pressing buttons on the panel. She presses one and it turns off the lights. Then, she taps another button with the fire marked on it for the cigarette lighter. It's not a cigarette lighter. After the fire is put out and Dan mentions the air-to-air missiles, Laurie announces that she has just quit smoking forever. [[spoiler:In a nice bit of {{Foreshadowing}}, Dan mentions that The Comedian did the same thing back 1977...]] In the film version she doesn't smoke, but still pushes the button just to see what it does.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Comic Strips]]
67* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170920120330/http://dilbert.com/strip/2007-12-06 This rather surreal]] ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' comic.
68* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20091128092147/http://www.broadside.net/M09051119.htm This]] ''Greenside'', though it's never made explicit whether it's because the character in question is a Marine, or simply because he's a Private.
69* In the German comic ''ComicStrip/{{Rudi}}'', the button in question automatically moves the kickstand of a motorbike. Cue the MotorcycleDominoes.
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder:Fan Works]]
73* The Judge asks this in case 1 of ''Fanfic/BrendanNamronAceAttorney'' just before pressing the power switch of the flashlight -- and getting hit by its light.
74* ''WebVideo/TheBuggerAnthology'': In "The Dalek Invasion of Funk", the Doctor finds a button labeled "Health & Safety Violation Alarm", wonders what the button does, and presses it. It activates an alarm, prompting all the nightclub guests to flee.
75* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheInvincibleTechnomage'' (a fanfiction in which Literature/HarryPotter is adopted by [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]) the Dursleys and Harry go to a Stark International factory. Dudley decides to start pressing buttons and switches, and his father not only doesn't do a thing to stop his son but [[TooDumbToLive prevents some people from stopping the kid]]. The result? The Dursleys die, another family that was there dies, a technician dies, and the only survivor is Harry thanks to his magical powers.
76* In ''Fanfic/ThePortal'', Thomas Smith pushes a strange button which causes him to fall into the basement where he finds the portal to the Dragon Realms.
77* Defied by Hermione in ''Fanfic/TheProblemWithPurity'' when she notices dormant wards that, if her calculations are correct, would ''probably'' separate the tables in the Great Hall from each other if they were activated. She's tempted to activate the wards just to see them working, but has enough sense to restrain herself.
78* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlph_4wvF8s this]] ''VideoGame/TitanFall2'' fansong, "Wait, what's this button for?" "[[AC:Eject eject, that's the nuclear core]]"
79[[/folder]]
80
81[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
82* In ''WesternAnimation/BillyAndMandysBigBoogeyAdventure'', after Skarr manages to escape Grim in a submarine, he notices a flashing button and decides to press it. It shoots out a laser that goes [[TorsoWithAView through Skarr's body]], who laments having forgotten the button does that.
83* In ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'', Private can't stop pushing the buttons on Dave's submarine, each one sending them deeper into the ship. Later he [[ChekhovsSkill presses]] another one to [[spoiler:save the North Wind from Dave's [[DeathTrap death trap]]]].
84* At the start of ''WesternAnimation/StarshipTroopersTraitorOfMars'', Johnny Rico is commanding a squad of rookie soldiers. The EnsignNewbie tries to activate his infrared and shoots off a backpack nuclear missile instead, blowing them all up. Fortunately it's a DangerRoomColdOpen.
85* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'': Played with, in a way that suggests that the crew's GeniusDitz weapon specialist is savvier than he might at first appear. [[spoiler:We never do find out what it does.]]
86-->'''Gune:''' Does this look familiar? Do you know what it is? Neither do I. I made it last night in my sleep. Apparently, I used Gindrogac. Highly unstable. I put at button on it. Yes. I wish to press it, but I'm not sure what will happen if I do.
87* Rex in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' asks this while pointing to a big red button on Buzz Lightyear's armor. Subverted in that it just plays a voice recording. In the same scene, Slinky Dog activates Buzz's laser, though without the line.
88* The ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' movie ''Larry-Boy and the Fib from Outer Space'' plays this straight within the Larrymobile. There's a panel of multicolored buttons that Alfred didn't take the time to label, and he tells Larry this ''while he's driving towards the city's water tower''. Larry's trying to find the button for the 'Mobile's flight system, but Alfred can't remember which one it is until the last second.
89* ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'':
90** Ringo and Fred are wandering around the Beatles' house looking for the rest of the band and they find a giant Frankenstein's monster with a lever next to it. Fred warns Ringo to leave it alone, but Ringo pulls the lever anyway, insisting "Can't help it, I'm a born [[FunWithHomophones lever-puller]]"[[note]]Pronounced "Liverpooler", although the proper term for someone from Liverpool is "Liverpudlian"[[/note]]. The monster wakes up, but fortunately, it then drinks a potion and transforms into John.
91** Ringo presses another button just after he's told not to do so. It is a panic button/ejector seat that puts him in the Sea of Monsters... (Music/RingoStarr himself said children all over the world asked him "why did you push the button?")
92* In ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', as Ralph is trying to figure out how Vanellope's racecar works, Vanellope asks, "What does this joystick do?", pulls it, and reverses, smacking Ralph in the face. She does this two more times.
93[[/folder]]
94
95[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
96* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'', the BigBad promises his {{Swiss Army Weapon}}s to the alien mercenaries in exchange for the MacGuffin he seeks. The container turns out to be empty; he gives them one weapon crate anyway for trying, but one discovers a [[BigRedButton little red button]] on the gun whose purpose Zorg didn't explain. That was his insurance in case he got ripped off. The alien presses it, which causes the gun to self-destruct, killing (almost) all of them.
97-->'''Zorg:''' Now a real killer, when he picked up the ZF-1, would've immediately asked about the little red button on the bottom of the gun.
98* ''Film/Apollo13''. As the crew begins to prep for its re-entry, we briefly glimpse a piece of paper over a panel in the cockpit, simply marked "NO!". When all three men get back in the cockpit, Jim Lovell asks Jack Swigert about the note; Swigert admits that he was getting "kinda punchy" and didn't want to accidentally [[ThrownOutTheAirlock jettison the LEM with the other two men still inside]]. (This happened for real on the actual Apollo 13. The note part, not the jettisoning the LM part.)
99-->'''Lovell:''' ''[deadpan]'' That's good thinking.
100* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
101** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', Rocket shows Groot an explosive device (with the yield of a [[NukeEm nuke]]) and gives him specific instructions not to press the BigRedButton, as it would set the nuke off immediately, killing them all. Groot has trouble understanding. [[spoiler:Luckily, when Groot has to press the button, the instant explosion one is cracked and possibly broken, meaning the right one is the only choice.]]
102** In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', on finding the spacecraft they stole doesn't have any weapons because it's a pleasure yacht used by the Grandmaster for his orgies, Banner is told not to push any buttons, presumably for fear of activating some kind of {{Orgasmatron}}. However, when they're being shot at, Banner in desperation pushes the biggest button he can see. This activates the Grandmaster's birthday celebration fireworks which distract the craft shooting at them, causing it to crash.
103* ''Film/MenInBlack'': Jay is firmly instructed early in the movie to never, ever touch the red button. In the crisis of the climax scene, [[ForbiddenChekhovsGun Tommy Lee Jones tells him to push it]]. [[spoiler: It activates turbo engines that allow the car to drive on walls and ceilings to get through a traffic-clogged tunnel.]]
104* David curiously touches all the alien-buttons he sees in ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''. Heavily overlaps with DontTouchItYouIdiot. No, seriously, DON'T!
105* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', Sam ends up zapping himself onto the Grid by ignorantly repeating the last issued command on the console. Even when faced with the warning message, he makes only a token effort to look for the indicated "aperture" before confirming the command.
106* In ''Film/UndercoverBrother'', Conspiracy Brother sees a BigRedButton in the control room of The Man's base labelled "Atomic Core". He goes ahead and presses it anyway, starting the self destruct sequence.
107* In the 1983 film ''Film/WarGames'', this concept is spoofed, when a tourist at NORAD is tricked by a military tour guide into pushing a big red button that simulates an emergency response, for comedic effect.[[note]]Complete with the "Challenging Stage" jingle from VideoGame/{{Galaga}}, which coincidentally was the game David was playing earlier in the film on two separate occasions.[[/note]]
108* Subverted in the 1971 ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', at the very end, in the Great Glass Wonkavator, Wonka lets him know that he has pushed every button in the compartment besides the one with a red ring around it, which he encourages Charlie to do, claiming he doesn't know what'll happen, eventually revealing he actually knew it would lead them up and out of the factory.
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Gamebooks]]
112* Defied ''with a vengeance'' in the ''Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps'' book, ''Literature/AllDayNightmare''. When you're re-abducted by the aliens who took your memory, you're given a chance to hit a red button on a control panel and try crashing their ship, but if you chose that option it turns out the aliens are GenreSavvy enough to anticipate what you're doing - which is why said button has a safety lock installed. The aliens then decides humans are ''too untrustworthy'' to be left alive and decide to launch an invasion to KillAllHumans - and you're ForcedToWatch from the sidelines. NiceJobBreakingItHero doesn't even cover your screw-up.
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder:Jokes]]
116* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by the joke, "Do you know what the last thing they said on [[BlackComedy the Challenger space shuttle before it blew up? Gee, what does this button do?"]]
117* A button is situated next to a display that says "Press to Test". When the button is depressed, the display changes to "Release to Detonate".
118[[/folder]]
119
120[[folder:Literature]]
121* In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'', ''The Atlantis Complex'', Mulch amuses himself on a long trip in a stolen shuttle by doing this repeatedly, activating the emergency braking system and dumping a load of "waste" on some very surprised fishermen.
122-->'''Mulch:''' I should have guessed that one. There's a little picture of a toilet on the button.
123* ''Literature/CastleHangnail'': During the introductory tour of the castle, Molly is shown a device of uncertain purpose built by a MadScientist who used to occupy the castle; it features a button with a prominent label saying NEVER EVER PRESS THIS BUTTON -- and the button has been pressed so hard it's stuck in the "on" position.
124* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia: The Magician's Nephew'':
125-->''Make your choice, adventurous stranger\
126 Strike the bell and bide the danger\
127 Or wonder 'till it drives you mad\
128 What would have happened if you had''
129* In ''Contraband Rocket'', a 1956 sci-fi novel by Lee Correy, rocket geeks restore a scrapped atomic rocket and fly it to the Moon. While landing on autopilot, someone accidentally hits his hand on a switch and goes into a panic, thinking he's just caused a disaster. Instead they land safely.
130-->And Chubb discovered what switch he had accidentally hit. He found himself staring at a luminous light panel on the overhead which said plainly: ''You have just hit the panic switch, provided by the Electronics Division for your convenience in times of stress.''
131* Discussed several times in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''.
132** Wizards will always pull anything marked "Do Not Pull" just to see what all the fuss is about, and if you put a sign saying "End of the World Switch" on a lever in a remote cave somewhere, the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.
133** ''Literature/SoulMusic'': The shop full of magical musical instruments, where the question was "What happens if I pick up this instrument and play it?" One of the scarier ones in the shop was the horn of either Heimdall or Gabriel.
134** ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'': The wizards find a nailed-shut door in Unseen University, and naturally have Modo the handyman un-nail it. After Ridcully has explored the full capabilities of the B. S. Johnson bathroom behind the door, he has Modo nail it up again; but Modo leaves the nail-heads sticking out a little to make it easier next time the Gentlemen want it opened.
135** In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', the sign on the pole propping open a dimensional portal window that is the faculty's only way back to UU has a sign saying not to remove it, ''not even'' to see what happens. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, it doesn't also say "Or if you're Mrs Whitlow and are having trouble fitting the tea tray past it."]]
136* One character in ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Finder's Stone]]'' trilogy thought the best way to learn what unknown magical devices do is to tell them all known stock command words and look what will happen.
137-->"Nonsense," Olive said with a sniff. "There's no danger as long as you know the right way to deal with these things. All you have to do is hold your hand over your head--" the halfling demonstrated, while Akabar stepped backward and Alias rose to her feet "--and command the ring, 'Show your power to me.' If that doesn't work then there are certain keywords you should--"\
138They never heard the rest of the bard's lecture. Suddenly the ring's power did indeed display itself.
139* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' plays this trope straight, while subverting the ShmuckBait element and averting the ChekhovsGun of it: "[Arthur] reached out and pressed an invitingly large button on a nearby panel. The panel lit up with the words 'Please do not press this button again.'" At no point is this button ever mentioned again.
140* The ''Literature/MrMen'' story "Adventures with Minibeasts" ends with [[ConstantlyCurious Little Miss Curious]] coming across Miss Inventor's Shrinkometer and wondering how it works, presses a button on it and makes Little Miss Tiny grow to the size of a giant. It may also be a ShoutOut to the TropeNamer.
141* [[TheChosenOne Alk and Ilke]]'s adventure starts out like this in ''Literature/{{Phenomena}}'', where Ilke can't help it but grab some handles.
142* In the novelisation for ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', having forced his way into command of Enterprise, Admiral Kirk finds himself thrown when he realises he doesn't know which button unlocks the restraints on the captain's chair. It's played more seriously later when he worries that his unfamiliarity with the systems might have lead to the deaths from a transporter malfunction because he didn't fix the problem quickly enough.
143* ''The Illustrated Franchise/StarWars Universe'' has an image of an Ewok examining a blaster, with the caption saying that Ewoks are curious about Imperial technology, often to their own detriment.
144[[/folder]]
145
146[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
147* Pretty much the set-up for every plot in ''Series/{{Aquila}}'', as the boys press buttons on the titular craft with no idea of what will happen. There's one whole episode focused around Jeff wanting to try out all the buttons just to see what happens... generally something odd.
148* ''Series/Batwoman2019'':
149** Luke Fox tells Kate Kane to press the BigRedButton on her right gauntlet to activate her cowl-cam. She does [[ArmCannon and a batarang slams into the wall]].
150--->'''Luke:''' Sorry. Your left gauntlet.
151** This trope is weaponized at the start of Season 2. Ryan Wilder has found the Batsuit and puts it on, but doesn't know how to operate it properly. After an attempt at taking down a couple of crooks involves her accidentally shooting off various Bat-gadgets, she tells a crook she's interrogating that she has no idea what a particular button on the Batsuit does and that if he doesn't answer her questions, they're going to find out together.
152* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': PlayedForDrama in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E3CygnusAlpha Cygnus Alpha]]". When our heroes first get hold of the Liberator, they have no idea how to operate the alien vessel and so must make educated guesses about every button. One sends them hurling across the galaxy at LudicrousSpeed, the next button does nothing at all. Then when Blake is in urgent need of a TeleportationRescue, the button they thought would teleport him up does nothing, so they have to try buttons at random until it works.
153* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': The Scooby Gang capture a [[StaticStunGun taser blaster]] from the Initiative and try to figure out how it works. Willow suggests just pushing buttons to see what happens, but Xander replies that since they're fiddling with a "blaster", randomly hitting buttons is not high on his agenda. He then adds that if it were called the "[[{{Orgasmatron}} Orgasminator]]", that would, in fact, be his desired approach.
154* ''Series/Castle2009'': Detective Beckett often laments that Castle is prone to this -- including one episode when his curiosity results in him believing he has been cursed by a Mayan mummy!
155* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
156** The Fourth Doctor's companion, Harry Sullivan, has a bad habit of pushing buttons to see what will happen. He gets over it after about the third time he nearly kills Sarah.
157** At the end of her [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E4TheFaceOfEvil first adventure]], [[spoiler:Leela]] invites herself into the TARDIS, and it dematerializes as the Doctor says "Don't touch that button!" (i.e. the dematerialization button). The only consequence is that she becomes the Doctor's new companion.
158** In his [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion first episode]], the Tenth Doctor parodies this Trope when he finds a big red button whilst exploring his new personality and dubs it "The Great Big Threatening Button Which Should Never Be Pressed Under Any Circumstances" and presses it, resulting in [[spoiler:the freedom, as opposed to the deaths, of one-third of the humans on Earth.]]
159** Eleven also has his moments: "There's something here that doesn't make sense. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice Let's go and poke it with a stick!]]"
160** Amy learns this from him. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E2DinosaursOnASpaceship When she is stuck on an alien spaceship]], she and two others find a console and she tells the others, "Well, I've spent enough time with the Doctor to know whenever you enter somewhere new, press buttons."
161** When Clara and Danny's students wind up on the TARDIS in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E10InTheForestOfTheNight In the Forest of the Night]]", there are lots of fun buttons they feel compelled to play with, as might be expected from a group of children. Fortunately, doing so does nothing other than annoy the Doctor.
162** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]", Ryan Sinclair sees a glowing golden square appear in the air, which expands to form a glowing button. He presses it, summoning the MonsterOfTheWeek. Later in the episode, when he admits this, the others give him flack for it, but the Doctor admits that [[ConstantlyCurious she'd have done the same]].
163* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'':
164** Fargo's GD personnel file contains the phrase "inappropriately pushed button" 37 times.
165** In one of the episodes, Fargo finds a strange device and, naturally, turns it on. It turns out to be a force-field generator, whose field is constantly increasing in size, threatening to destroy Eureka. When Carter finds out that someone gave the device to Fargo, he berates that person, who claims he didn't think that Fargo would activate it. Carter looks at him incredulously and points out that it's Fargo they're talking about.
166* Lampshaded in the ''Series/FatherTed'' episode "[[Recap/FatherTedS2E10FlightIntoTerror Flight into Terror]]". We're explicitly told that the BigRedButton dumps all the fuel, but for some reason, it's placed next to another Big Red Button, which is to be pressed when the plane is in trouble (in this case, an old priest in the cockpit going a bit mad and molesting the pilot). When the pilot asks Dougal to press the button...
167* Dr. Smith from ''Series/LostInSpace'' is made of this trope. For all his raving cowardice, the man never met a button he wouldn't push. Probably the best example is when he finds a giant machine, stupidly activates it, and it produces an android which tries to kill him. The Robinsons destroy the android and forbid him to go near the machine again. So of course, [[TooDumbToLive he sneaks back and does exactly the same thing again]].
168* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': The Child loves to play with the buttons and switches that control the ''[[CoolStarship Razor Crest]]'', much to the dismay of the Mandalorian who has to keep telling the kid to stop doing that while they're flying as it causes the entire ship to shake.
169* One episode of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' revolved around Al and the rest of No Ma'am trying to figure out what a button in the Bundys' kitchen did. The button itself was harmless enough[[labelnote:*]]it controlled the light in Buck's doghouse[[/labelnote]]; Al's electrician skills, less so.
170* In part 3 of the Father and Music episode of ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'' when his son (Jimmy Rogers) and his grandson (Alex Rogers) visits him. While playing the trolley, Alex was about to play with the trolley control switch, Fred reminds his baby grandson that it does not work unless the trolley is on the tracks.
171* Referenced in ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. In one movie, Servo greets a nuclear blast with the line "Oh, that's what that button does!"
172* ''Series/OddSquad'':
173** In "[[Recap/OddSquadS1E19HoldTheDoorFlatastrophe Hold the Door]]", Olive begins to give a dramatic speech about how great Odd Squad is, but is interrupted by Ori asking "What does this do?" and then pressing the button in question, which causes green fire to spit out into the Lab's quarantine room and the glass wall to start cracking. Olive immediately rushes over to scold him and lead him back to the bullpen to continue the tour of Headquarters.
174** Another Ori-related example occurs at the end of "[[Recap/OddSquadS1E30NoIfsAndsOrRobotsWorstFirstDayEver Worst First Day Ever]]" when he presses the blue button that Odelia stopped him from pressing earlier when sucking all the Centigurps back into one being. Oprah rushes into the lab in a panic, asking him if he pressed the blue button, and Ori confidently states that everyone does that on their first day working at Odd Squad. The reactions of Oprah and Odelia show that he could not be more wrong, and Headquarters begins to rumble and warp in a similar manner to when the Time Sheep arrive.
175** In "[[Recap/OddSquadS1E34NowYouDontSeeMeMoustacheConfidential Now You Don't See Me]]", Otto does this but with string instead of a button and ends up activating a BucketBoobyTrap full of invisible ink that's dropped on him, causing him to turn invisible.
176** The opening of "[[Recap/OddSquadS3E17OswaldInTheMachineTheBTeam Oswald in the Machine]]" has Omar eyeing the pencil-and-paper button on one of the desks in the bullpen of the Mobile Unit Van, and Opal asks what would happen if she pressed it. As it turns out, pressing the button causes the desk to retract into the wall, which sends all the papers, pencils and folders sitting on it to the floor.
177* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'':
178-->'''Connor:''' What does this button d--\
179'''Lester:''' ''Please don't touch anything.'' I don't want you changing my settings.\
180'''Connor:''' ...Sorry.
181* In the pilot episode of ''Series/SpecialUnit2'', Benson is patting down O'Malley and takes out his strange-looking gun. He tries to warn her about the infrared hairline trigger, but too late. She ends up blowing up a car with a single shot.
182* ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Verse}}'':
183** In ''Series/StargateSG1'', Dr. Jackson explains that him fiddling with alien control panels is acceptable, whereas Colonel Mitchell doing the same is stupid because "I know how to ''read'' 'that'."
184** Likewise, [=McKay=] claims the rights to this trope in the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "[[Recap/StargateAtlantisS03E17Sunday Sunday]]" and berates two other scientists for using it, since he has the ability to fix whatever he might screw up, while they will usually turn to him for the same. Doesn't always turn out that way, but does in this episode.
185* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
186** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever The City on the Edge of Forever]]", [=McCoy=], under the influence of cordrazine, passes out in the street of a Depression-era city. A tramp picks up his phaser, curious, and hits a button or two. [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat Oops]].
187** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E22HalfALife Half a Life]]", Lwaxana Troi is poking around the tactical console on the bridge, and asks the question of "Mr. Woof", who alarmedly says it is the photon torpedo launcher...! [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And his name is "Worf", not "Woof"]].
188** In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E13MessageInABottle Message in a Bottle]]", two Emergency Medical Holograms have to take control of a vessel being attacked by Romulans. As neither has been on the bridge before, the [[BillionsOfButtons LCARS interface throws them into confusion]] and they have to make educated guesses on what to press.
189--->'''EMH-1:''' All we have to do now is find a way to send Starfleet a distress signal, and --\
190''[warning beeps]''\
191'''EMH-2:''' Be-be-beep? Be-be-beep? I've never heard that one before.\
192'''EMH-1:''' [[OhCrap Oh, no.]]\
193'''EMH-2:''' What?\
194'''EMH-1:''' I'm not sure, but I think whatever I did initiated a warp core overload.
195** In the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E04Borderland Borderland]]", Trip creates a new captain's chair for Archer. As they're about to go on a mission he says they don't have time to go over the controls, "...but try not to hit that button." This is a MythologyGag too, as the chair is a recycled prop from ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' that activates the seatbelts. ''ST:ENT'' takes place when they still have NoSeatBelts.
196* In ''Series/TopGearUK'', James May built a limousine from an Alfa Romeo and a Saab, creating a two-headed Frankenvehicle. Richard Hammond couldn't resist pulling a lever on the Alfa side... which uncoupled the steering and left the "Alfaab" fishtailing wildly while Jeremy Clarkson tried to regain control.
197* In one episode of ''Series/UchuuSentaiKyuranger'', Lucky, Stinger, Champ, and Kotaro are exploring an unfamiliar ship. They find a casket-like container with a BigRedButton, and Lucky and Kotaro eagerly press it before the other two can stop them. Luckily, it only contains a cryogenically-frozen man who becomes their [[SixthRanger Sitxh (well, technically twelfth) Ranger]].
198* Happens practically OnceAnEpisode in the cold opens of ''Series/TheUpsideDownShow'', as David inevitably notices a new button on the show’s UniversalRemoteControl while explaining it to the audience, and inevitably ends up subjecting Shane (and sometimes himself) to the effects of each episode’s main gimmick button.
199[[/folder]]
200
201[[folder:Music & Music Videos]]
202* Music/KidsPraise: Said word-for-word when a little girl named Hanna is checking out a machine Psalty invented that was supposed to stretch time. Turns out the machine travels through time instead; they found this out when she pressed it.
203* The FilkSong [[http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/songs/dont-push-that-button.html "Don't Push That Button"]] describes a few misadventures of someone who never heeds that advice.
204* The intro to "Doomsday" by Mephiskapheles has an idiot saying: "Ayayayayayay! Ay, what's this button for?"
205* In Music/{{Genesis|Band}}' music video for "Music/LandOfConfusion" starring ''Series/SpittingImage'' dolls, Reagan presses "Nuke" instead of "Nurse". That earns him a slap on the back of the head from Nancy.
206* At the end of Laszlo & Gary's "Don't Touch That", a recording engineer begs him not to touch a big red button on the control panel even though he's curious about what it does; he touches the button and the song ends with a loud explosion.
207* In the music video for Series/TheYoungOnes' "Living Doll", Vyvyan says "What does this button do?", pushes a button on the mixing desk, and blows up the studio.
208[[/folder]]
209
210[[folder:Radio]]
211* Lampshaded on ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978''.
212-->'''Arthur Dent:''' What happens if I press this button?\
213'''Ford Prefect:''' I wouldn't--\
214'''Arthur Dent:''' Oh.\
215'''Ford Prefect:''' What happened?\
216'''Arthur Dent:''' A sign lit up, saying "Please do not press this button again."
217[[/folder]]
218
219[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
220* In ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', the Curious disadvantage causes your character to do exactly this, with a penalty to your roll if the button is big, red, and has "Do Not Press" written on it.
221* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'': We need you to field-test this experimental device that [[MadScientist R&D]] cooked up. Instructions? Sorry, they're above your security clearance, [[IdTellYouButThenIdHaveToKillYou you'd have to be terminated if you saw them]]. What's left? Trial and error; in other words, ''repeatedly'' asking WhatDoesThisButtonDo, then pressing it and hoping the answer isn't "kill you horribly" (or worse).
222* A rule for [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]] in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' -- that former [[TankGoodness Leman Russ]] or [[{{BFG}} Basilisk]] that da boyz looted? Each turn it has a one in six chance of [[CriticalFailure careening straight ahead at full speed instead of doing anything else]], due to its over-enthusiastic crew hitting the wrong pedal.
223* In the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'''s fanmade expansion ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'', this is represented with the ''Mere Mortal Law (a.k.a. [[Series/GilligansIsland Gilligan's]] Rule)'', or, in game-play terms, Havoc: Wonders, the inventions of [[MadScientist Geniuses]], will almost-certainly go haywire when touched, picked up or interacted with by an ordinary human. This effect is especially bad when an actual scientist does so.
224[[/folder]]
225
226[[folder:Theme Parks]]
227* Right at the end of ''Ride/TheSimpsonsRide'' at Ride/UniversalStudios, Krusty asks this when he sees a mysterious button next to him. He pushes it, which makes the ride vehicle vibrate.
228[[/folder]]
229
230[[folder:Video Games]]
231* In ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'', you enter a dungeon with [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience red and green]] pressure plates. The green plates have positive effects (they open doors that block your way or treasure rooms), while red ones more or less negative ones (they release monsters or open rooms with cursed items). At one point you enter a room with a blue pressure plate -- and a party member, curious what it does, steps on it, which opens a trap door and sends the party crashing down below.
232* One section near the end of the game in ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld'' has the player riding a giant armed vehicle into a packed arena while armed guards fire on it. The player is then presented with a panel of buttons without context, which they're ''supposed'' to deduce the correct order in which to push them in order to activate the vehicle's escape pods, though it's much easier to just hammer on every single button (which also activates the vehicles' mounted laser cannons) until the scene ends.
233* The first level of ''VideoGame/BloodyZombies'' have you randomly deciding to activate a lever after killing an area of zombies. You then trigger a set of automated gears that starts chasing you, in an AdvancingWallOfDoom moment you must outrun.
234* ''VideoGame/BuffyTheVampireSlayer2002'': Buffy is trying to gain access to a control room at the docks. The only way seems to be a shorting out and sparking control panel. Using it sends her flying twenty feet through the glass of the control room so she can progress at least.
235* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', while searching for a way back from the [[BadFuture post-apocalyptic future]] at Arris Dome, Marle says this exact phrase before pressing a button on Arris Dome's supercomputer that plays a recording of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Day of Lavos]], the very day the world "ended", though she and her friends take it upon themselves to try and prevent this future. One could argue that pressing it has [[TimeyWimeyBall disastrous effects to the timeline]]...
236* ''VideoGame/TheControlPanel'' gives you an unspecified device with buttons to push, switches to switch, cables to wire and more! [[spoiler:It blows up the world once you figure out all the challenges. Complete with a message not to mess with stuff you don't understand.]]
237* ''VideoGame/CreepTV'': When Courage enters the furnace room and sees a large dial, he wonders what it does. When he turns it, it turns off the water in the bathroom, which bores the poltergeist who was flushing the toilet and makes it go away.
238* During the Dr. Lugae and Barnabas boss battle in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', if you defeat Barnabas first, Lugae will pilot a new one afterward, and accidentally press a self-destruct button wondering what it does, despite the fact that he was the one who created that robot in the first place.
239* In ''VideoGame/GotchaForce'', Yuji will occasionally say this when one of his borgs is destroyed. Given that he does occasionally use borgs that specialize in kamikaze tactics, like the aptly-named Walking Bomb, the implication is ([[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} mostly]]) clear.
240* In a mission of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' in which he steals a working WeaponizedCar from the set of a spy movie, Franklin wonders aloud what a certain button on the dashboard does, and the player is invited to find out. [[spoiler:It's the EjectionSeat, and the obnoxious starlet in the passenger seat goes flying out through the roof.]]
241* Mirai from ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterMillionLive'' has this as one of her lines when sent on jobs. This comes up again in one of the offers in ''Theater Days'' where Haruka mentions having to stop her from pressing random buttons when doing a radio show.
242* In the ''VideoGame/Halo4'' Spartan Ops mission "Gagarin", triggering the ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' EasterEgg will lead to this exchange:
243-->'''Caboose:''' What does this button do?\
244'''Church:''' Caboose, don't touch anything.\
245'''Caboose:''' [[TemptingFate But I'm great at buttons]]. [[InstantlyProvenWrong Hey look at that explosion]]!
246* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
247** Mentioned in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' with the right party-members on Noveria where there is a button which sets off a deadly Neutron purge. Kaidan (or Ashley) will actually mention that it's always a good idea to RTFM before pressing any buttons, to Liara's confusion. Tali will offer the priceless advice "Nobody push any {{Big Red Button}}s".
248** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' there's a random button on Sur'Kesh that Shepard can repeatedly press, with no effect other than causing a nearby salarian to get incredibly annoyed. Eventually, the salarian informs Shepard that if they're so enamoured with that button, they should get their ''own'' feces analyser.
249** In ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', there's another random button on Kadara, with another salarian standing nearby asking you ''not'' to touch it. [[spoiler:Not that it matters. It's broken.]]
250* Ladies and gentlemen, ''[[http://store.steampowered.com/app/354240 Please, Don't Touch Anything,]]'' which is the game version of this trope.
251* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', examining a statue in the Cinnabar Mansion causes the game to tell you there's a button on it, then asks if you want to press it. Once you press it, the game replies, "Who wouldn't?"
252* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002'', has a mission on the Blarg Tactical Station where it asks you if you want to "Press the shiny red button?" Doing so will cause the ship you're on to activate a self-destruct, and now you have to get out before it explodes.
253* The controls in ''VideoGame/SimAnt'' included an unmarked white "mystery button" whose effects changed at random with each click. It might tell you a joke, rapidly play every single sound effect, let the spider shoot lasers from its eyes, or ''annihilate most of your colony.'' (There were plenty of other effects, some beneficial but on average, clicking the button was disadvantageous to the player.)
254* In ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'', Hunter comes across a button in Evening Lake, which he pushes, causing him to fall into a cage, which closes as the Sorceress is heard laughing.
255* In ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'', when Tychus gets his hand on his very own HumongousMecha, he invokes this trope twice. The first one is simply the big red "fire all cannons" button. The second is his SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
256-->'''Tychus:''' Now how did I miss this button with a ''skull'' on it?\
257'''Adjutant:''' [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound Nuclear launch detected.]] ''(final Dominion Valhalla base flattened seconds later)''
258* ''VideoGame/StarshipTitanic'' has a button that says, "Push button to disarm bomb." You can guess what it actually does.
259* Ling Xiaoyu says this in Panda's ''VideoGame/Tekken5'' [[https://web.archive.org/web/20131025032458/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbFGBCcpf-E ending.]]
260* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan'', De Cava wonders what the button on the locket does after [[spoiler:Guybrush has handed said trinket over to him. It turns out that pressing the button initiates the Voodoo Lady's GrandTheftMe of De Cava as she tells Guybrush his next mission]].
261* Beat, from ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': "Yo, you show me a button, and I want to push it." To which Neku replies "They design traps like this with you in mind..." (What does it do? [[spoiler:Nothing, unless you've solved the puzzle; if you have, the box opens, granting you a key needed to get past a barrier and progress.]])
262* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
263** The boss Mimiron is an inventor, fought in his main workshop. Behind the tank he's adjusting when you encounter him is a massive red button, which is labelled "Do No Press This Button". Pressing it triggers the self-destruct mechanism and the boss hard mode, with a short timer and flames everywhere, as well as provoking an angry rant from the boss on how stupid it was to press that button.
264** In the Mogu'shan Vaults instance, the guide NPC, Lorewalker Cho, announces one section of the instance with "Ah, the ancient vaults of the Kings of Mogu'shan! Hmm... what might this button do?" Turns out it displays to Cho a history of the rule of the (evil) mogu emperors -- and also conjures material phantasms that attempt to use your raid as object lessons in the brutality of said emperors. ([[ButThouMust You must complete this sequence to proceed,]] as the final set of phantasms are the next boss encounter, and open a secret passage upon their demise.)
265* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', while Alvis is informing the party about the traps scattered around the High Entia Tomb, Reyn wanders off, delivers the line, and pushes the button in front of him. Cue trapdoor sending everyone (and [[GravityIsAHarshMistress eventually]] Riki) to the Catacombs.
266[[/folder]]
267
268[[folder:Visual Novels]]
269* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'', Maya presses the emergency buzzer at the KB office setting off an alarm. In the trial, Phoenix can claim that this is why the killer sounded the alarm due to curiosity for what the button does, only for Godot to point out the button is clearly labeled as an emergency buzzer.
270* At one point in ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape: VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', D-Team encounter a button with a timer and have to decide to press it or not. Sigma opts to press it while Phi saying there's no danger so they shouldn't. [[spoiler:Not pressing it is exactly the best option, doing so will obliterate the entire base.]]
271[[/folder]]
272
273[[folder:Web Animation]]
274* ''WebAnimation/ASDFMovie'':
275** Parodied in ''[=asdfmovie1=]'', with the Pointless Button. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The button is pointless]].
276** Again in ''[=asdfmovie9=]''.
277--->'''Guy:''' Ooh, I wonder what this one does.\
278''[clicks button]''\
279'''Guy:''' Oh, I'm gay now. Huh.
280** In another episode, we have this where one character pushes a button and changes the world from black and white and into color, which promptly reveals that the characters are naked. Panic ensues.
281* In ''WebAnimation/TheDementedCartoonMovie'', a Blah Guy comes across a set of three buttons, each with a picture beside it. The first is of a brick wall, the second is of a kamikaze watermelon, and the third is an EarthShatteringKaboom. He doesn't speak, but seems to do some thinking before he presses each one -- yes, he does press the third one, which has predictable consequences.
282* In ''WebAnimation/GEOWeasel'', as Jimbob pokes around in the buttons of the flying machine, he accidentally hits the AOL instant messenger button.
283* ''WebAnimation/ImAnton'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhIxAzU1_Zk Mason]], the CEO's son would often play with the machinery, often playing with the buttons which causes the machines to malfunction and hold up production.
284* ''WebAnimation/MinilifeTV'': In "[[Recap/MinilifeTVSeason2Episode10 The Man With The Box Sketch]]", when Chris wonders what a button on his remote does, the platform that he and Ian are on is raised seemingly endlessly when he presses it. Fortunately, he manages to bring it back down by pressing the button again.
285* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
286** When Roman Torchwick takes control of a military airship in Volume 3, he invokes this trope while merrily wreaking havoc. It's downplayed, though; while the first button causes an offScreen explosion, ("Oh, fun!") the second button just dumps a squad of robots out, causing no serious harm.
287** In Volume 9, the Curious Cat does this when shown Ruby's scroll. They've never seen technology before, and ends up taking multiple selfies while fiddling around with the scroll.
288[[/folder]]
289
290[[folder:Webcomics]]
291* [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Dr. Watson]] of all people is guilty of it [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20110215.html in this fan comic.]]
292-->'''Holmes:''' Watson! No!!!\
293'''Watson:''' Ooh! Buttons!
294* [[http://charcole.kyrio.net/?comic=charcole223-ill-take-the-case Shows up]] in ''Webcomic/CharCole'' when the professor describes Brian. The button in question plays a recorded message scolding him for touching it.
295* Subverted in ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty''. [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2010/11/07/about-death-trap/ CK freaks out when Nin Wah seemingly stumbles straight into this trope, but the keyboard is just a standard layout using an unusual font.]]
296* {{Subverted}} by Jyrras in [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_362.php a strip]] from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures''.
297-->'''Jyrras:''' [[BigRedButton The red flashy one]]? It disables the system so no one can push any of the real buttons.
298* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': An [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00174.htm example]] shows one of the least hazardous consequences -- initiating automatic shutdown of the ship reactor. Which they had only just gotten ''working''.
299* ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'':
300** Pip [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=343 does this by proxy]] before selling MadScientist equipment left by EvilMinions on [[FictionalCounterpart EBuy]]. As to how much this helps, see the next comic.
301** [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=355 Later]], Kat prevents the same squirrel girl from doing this after she ''looked once'' at a button.
302* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': In spite of Riff's best efforts, this is often what happens whenever [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny Kiki]] gets in his lab. Double if there's sugar involved.
303* [[http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=111208 Sid]] from ''Webcomic/{{Vexxarr}}''. [[http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=122109 Another example.]] Sid doesn't see the danger in this, mostly because [[NighInvulnerable there is hardly any danger anywhere for him]]. Vexxarr himself is forced to rely on this when he knows the button he wants is on the control panel, but the panel itself is utterly invisible. [[http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=051311 The feedback he gets is less than desirable]].
304* In ''We're Misguided'' Miss Guided [[http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/comics/misguided30jul01.html unleashes the billion-sided die this way,]] forcing an IndyEscape.
305* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' [[https://xkcd.com/242/ takes it a step further]] -- finding out what the lever does leads to the question "Will it do the same thing if I pull it again?"
306[[/folder]]
307
308[[folder:Web Original]]
309* In ''WebVideo/ChronoTriggerTheMusical'', this happens when Frog, Ayla and Robo [[SelfDisposingVillain "defeat"]] Dalton and reclaim the Epoch:
310-->'''Ayla:''' Epoch okay?\
311'''Robo:''' More importantly, how do we control it?\
312'''Frog:''' D-do not look to me!\
313'''Ayla:''' What this big red thing do?\
314''(Cue the Epoch's new laser cannons opening fire on Dalton's airship, destroying it)''\
315'''Ayla:''' Uh... oops?
316* A very common theme in ''WebVideo/FreemansMind''. Freeman will frequently say variations on this as he recklessly presses any unlabeled button that the player would normally press in-game without question or justification.
317* Grian is ''infamous'' for randomly pushing any and all buttons and levers he sees. As the result, this leads to hilarious or disastrous consequences.
318** In Season 9 of ''WebVideo/{{Hermitcraft}}'', Doc exploits Grian's bad habit by hiding a horde of ghasts inside of the redstone device and make a sign that says "DO NOT PRESS THIS BUTTON!" in order to prank him for Secret Fools Day. The resulting prank is [[OhCrap exactly what you expected]]. Several months later, Grian's habit (alongside with Scar tagging along) accidentally destroys Doc's tunnel bore, which leads to an EscalatingWar of pranks and the redstone robot fight between Grian, Scar, and Mumbo against Doc and Ren.
319** On Day 6 of the ''[[WebVideo/LifeSMP Limited Life SMP]]'' while his faction-mate Jimmy is interrogating Lizzie-as-Pearl (who's in another faction) about his late frog Judge Judy And Executioner ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]]), Grian presses the button which triggers Pearl's PitTrap on which both of them were standing -- while [[LampshadeHanging Jimmy dies yelling at Grian for being an idiot]].[[note]]For context about the Pearl situation, Pearl ''made'' the trap, but couldn't make it to the Day 6 recording session and had to be subbed in by Lizzie, who had no idea the trap even existed until Grian triggered it.[[/note]]
320* The red button at a multi-site site, run by Sprint, that says "push now". The old version of the site opened with a USB device [[MundaneMadeAwesome plugging into a computer]]. [[spoiler:It does nothing, and nearly 300,000 people have fallen for it]]. However, now that the site [[http://now.sprint.com/nownetwork/ redirects to this new version]], [[spoiler:over 120,100 people have fallen for the one there]].
321* In the third episode of ''Creator/RoosterTeeth'''s ''Minecraft'' series, there's a small button innocuously located on the outskirts of Achievement City. When Michael finds and presses it, Geoff and Gavin can be seen [[FunnyBackgroundEvent quickly backing away from the city square]] shortly before [[spoiler:several hundred blocks of TNT that were hidden under the city detonate, turning the city into a giant crater]].
322[[/folder]]
323
324[[folder:Western Animation]]
325* Sal (a parasite Monster) from ''WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters'', hence the line (when he was in [[WombLevel Oblina's stomach]]), "One of these has got to be [[GrowlingGut hunger]]. Which one?"
326* In the ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'' episode, "Saving Mrs. Beady", the plot starts off with using the titular neighbor's car for Abby's driving lesson. She starts to play this trope, only to subvert is as she just activates the windshield wipers. Later in the episode she plays it straight when she accidentally crushes Peck in a hospital bed.
327* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
328** In "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE2ABulletForBullock A Bullet for Bullock]]", Harvey Bullock asks this about one of the Batmobile's buttons. Batman half-grins and says, "Passenger ejector seat". Doubles as a ShoutOut to a rather similar event in which Batman duped the Joker with that button.
329** In "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE7Harlequinade Harlequinade]]", Harley Quinn is riding in the Batmobile and pushes what she thinks is the radio switch - deploying a drag chute that nearly causes the car to crash before Batman brakes to a stop.
330--->'''Harley''': Oops.\
331'''Batman''': Listen and listen good: you don't ''touch'' anything, ''say'' anything, or '''''do''''' anything, unless I tell you! '''GOT IT?'''\
332'''Harley''': ''[tiny voice]'' Yes, sir.
333* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'':
334** When Batman and the Joker team up, the Joker asks this about every button in the Batmobile.[[note]]It might well be a CastingGag, since the Joker's VA, Jeff Bennett, was also the dad on ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory.''[[/note]] Finally, when Batman warns him to ''especially'' [[BriarPatching not push the big red button]], the Joker does, getting sprayed with sleep gas as a consequence. Even better, he does it ''twice.'' Batman smirks at the second one.
335** Joker does this once more in the ColdOpen of his VillainEpisode "The Vile and the Villainous!" where after [[TheBadGuyWins helping The Misfit defeat Kamandi and Prince Tuftan's forces over the ICBM missile]], he (much to The Misfit's horror) presses the button for it. Cue EarthShatteringKaboom.
336* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
337** This is the attitude that Darkwing approaches the [[WaveMotionGun Ramrod]] with in the {{pilot}}. He is deliberately trying to disable it or at least break it -- he ends up [[ExplosiveOverclocking overloading it]]. The explosion is visible from miles and miles away.
338** Gosalyn can be pretty bad about it as well.
339--->'''Gosalyn:''' What else does it do?\
340''"Don't touch that!"''\
341'''Gosalyn:''' Why not? ''[presses the button anyway]''
342* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'':
343** Dexter's big sister [=DeeDee=] is the arguable TropeCodifier, having elevated this to an art form and having "What does this button do?" as her catchphrase.
344** This would usually be the last thing Dexter would hear before one of his inventions [[HoistByHisOwnPetard goes awry.]] Even she lampshades it on occasion, such as one episode where Dexter's trying to sleep:
345--->'''[=DeeDee=]:''' I went into your lab... and I pushed this button...\
346'''Dexter:''' Oh, just like the last ''thousand'' times?\
347'''[=DeeDee=]:''' I think it's ''really serious'' this time... ''[cut to self-destruct device counting down]''
348** Doing this has sometimes served as the ''solution'' to a problem. One episode has Dexter deliberately invoke it when his new supercomputer has [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turned against him]].
349* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': At the end of the episode "Vicky Loses Her Icky", Cosmo finds the President's BigRedButton, exclaims "I don't know what it does!", and presses it to everyone's horror. Cue EarthShatteringKaboom... on [[BaitAndSwitch Pluto]]. Cosmo's dialogue afterwards strongly implies that he knew what the button did all along, and merely invoked the trope [[TheGadfly to mess with Timmy]].
350-->'''Wanda:''' Oh no! We blew up Pluto!\
351'''Cosmo:''' Well, sure! [[ExactWords The president never said which world it blew up!]]
352* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
353** Lampshaded in an episode; Peter presses a button clearly marked "Do Not Press This Button". A small Asian man walks up to him, bows then kicks Peter in the head.
354** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS11E9SpaceCadet Space Cadet]]", the first thing Stewie does is push a big red button in the space shuttle Chris is giving a tour of, saying, "Ooh, big red button, I don't care what it does!"
355* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''
356** In an episode, Garfield is trapped in a HauntedHouse and finds a rope hanging from the ceiling with a sign that says [[SchmuckBait "DO NOT PULL ROPE."]] Naturally, he pulls on it and is dropped through a trap door. "There's your lesson for today, kids. When it says 'Don't Pull The Rope,' [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment don't pull the rope]]."
357** In a US Acres episode, Roy bought a rocket that could go to Saturn, but as he had to build it himself, it wasn't that well-built. Wade's forgetful cousin, Newton Duck, pressed the button even after Roy told him a hundred times not to press it.
358* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "[[Recap/InvaderZimS1E24BattleOfThePlanets Battle of the Planets]]", GIR is sent to distract Dib. He goes off and makes it look like he's going to do something evil and actually competent, when all he ends up doing is randomly pushing buttons on Dib's controls, saying, "What's this do? What's that do?" And somehow this manages to ''fulfill'' his given assignment regardless.
359* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'': In "[[SpaceEpisode Rocket Jimmy]]", Jimmy is messing around in [[MadScientist Dr. Scientist]]'s observatory, and we get this:
360-->'''Jimmy:''' Oooh, what's this do? ''[presses button]''\
361''[a missile is launched, blowing up a large laboratory on a nearby hill]''\
362'''Dr. Scientist:''' ''[surprised]'' Apparently, it destroys my house.
363* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': Flash does this in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E24To26Starcrossed Starcrossed]]" (said button is in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160814103342/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUof_lw46h8 the cockpit of a Thanagarian gunship]])... and blows a giant hole in the wall of Wayne Manor, almost killing Alfred. Batman immediately rounds on him, saying "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis THAT'S. NOT. HELPING]]!"
364* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'':
365** Ron Stoppable. One major example is in ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]'' whereby foolishly pressing the dangerous button he destroys an evil giant monkey statue.
366** Another time Ron got into the control room of a powerful laser beam and proceeds to call it a precision instrument, before repeatedly pushing every button and lever on it, intentionally overloading it.
367* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
368** "WesternAnimation/LighterThanHare" has WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's robot facing off against Yosemite Sam of Outer Space's robot:
369--->''[all lines delivered stiltedly robotic]''\
370'''Bugs' robot:''' Eh, what's up, doc?\
371'''Sam's robot:''' I'll show you what's up. ''[pulls ray gun]'' Come with me, or I'll blast you!\
372'''Bugs' robot:''' I'll go with you on one condition. That you don't press this button. ''[points to a red button on body frame]''\
373'''Sam's robot:''' Oh, yeah? Well, no Earth robot is going to tell me what button I can press. I'm a-pressin'!\
374''[presses button; gets clobbered by forward-plunging mallet]''
375** Bertie Mouse in the Warner Bros. cartoon "House-Hunting Mice" (the last button he presses causes him and Hubie to be taken to the cleaners by the house's remote-controlled units):
376--->'''Bertie:''' ''[sing-song]'' I get to push the next button! I get to push the next button!
377** In "WesternAnimation/DesignForLeaving", Daffy turns Elmer's house into a "Push-button" home, with each button controlling a different gadget. The entire short is this trope with Daffy and Elmer testing different buttons and comical results therein. At one point, Elmer takes in interest in a BigRedButton that Daffy warns never to touch ("Not the [[GotMeDoingIt WED]] ONE! Don't ''ever'' push the wed one!"). [[BrickJoke At the end of the short]], curiosity gets the better of Elmer and he pushes the button. [[spoiler:It's for a "In Case of Tidal Wave" device, and raises the house hundreds of feet into the air on a piston. Daffy then flies by in a helicopter, offering to install a blue button to get the house down.]]
378* The subject of ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}} Megamind: The Button of Doom]]''. Having renounced his villainous ways, Megamind auctions off all his weapons and evil devices. At the end of the day, the only thing left is a BigRedButton. Megamind suggests it probably just opens the garage door. It turns out to activate a HumongousMecha. Oops!
379* Little Miss Whoops from ''WesternAnimation/TheMrMenShow'' usually has problems with what button to push.
380-->'''Little Miss Whoops:''' Which one of these is the brake? Better try them all.
381* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
382** This exchange (although it might have been more panic than curiosity):
383--->'''Phineas:''' As long as you don't start hitting buttons randomly, everything will be okay.\
384'''Candace:''' I can't hear you! I'm too busy hitting buttons randomly!
385** In another episode, [[NotSoAboveItAll Perry]] of all people does this while riding in British Agent Double-00's car. Turns out it was the eject button.
386* The classic ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' episode "[[Recap/RenAndStimpy1x03SpaceMadnessTheBoyWhoCriedRat Space Madness]]" ends with Commander Hoek, driven mad by... well, by space madness, brings Cadet Stimpy around the bend with him by ordering him to guard the History Eraser Button, with a very strict order not to let anyone touch it. Finding out what that button does is already tantalizing enough before the narrator decides to pile on the excruciating suspense.
387-->'''Narrator:''' Oh, how long can trusty Cadet Stimpy hold out? How can he possibly resist the diabolical urge to push the button that could erase his very existence? Will his tortured mind give in to its uncontrollable desires? Can he withstand the temptation to push the button that even now beckons him ever closer? Will he succumb to the maddening urge to eradicate history at the ''mere push of a single button''? The ''beautiful, shiny button? The jolly, candy-like button?'' Will he hold out, folks? ''Can'' he hold out?!\
388'''Stimpy:''' NO I CAN'T! ''[pushes button]''\
389'''Narrator:''' Tune in next week as-- ''[[[KilledMidSentence erased from history]]]''
390* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart Simpson on an invisible (read: made with transparent casing) computer. He manages to crash the hard drive to the point that it ''catches fire.''
391* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGoofs'': In "Arctic Intelligence", when aliens are just about to leave Earth, [[TheDitz Bud]] presses a button on their spaceship that releases a disco ball and more disastrously, another one that freezes everything, preventing the aliens from going home once again.
392* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': During their first off-planet adventure, the Turtles end up fleeing from some Triceratons in a flying car, with Mikey in the "sidecar".
393-->'''Donny:''' Uh, leave the shiney buttons alone, Mikey!\
394'''Mikey:''' But it might be something really good. ''[his segment starts to detach]'' Or not.
395* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaWorldTour'' has Izzy in the cockpit, pressing random buttons and asking "Ooh, what does this button do, and this button...", eventually landing the plane in a French canal and ejecting herself.
396* Wander of ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' does this on Lord Hater's ship in the episode "The Prisoner".
397-->''Do you know the button song?\
398 The button song?\
399 The button song?\
400 When you play the button song\
401 You find out what goes wrong!''
402[[/folder]]
403
404[[folder:Real Life]]
405* [[http://wearscience.com/design/button/ There's even a T-shirt]] for this trope.
406* The annals of IT horror are rife with tales of clueless bosses/interns/contractors who simply could not resist pressing the [[BigRedButton big red emergency shutdown button]]. And that's when you're lucky and [[http://foldoc.org/molly-guard they don't bring their kids to work]].
407* An employee at Robotoki's office pushed a button because he was apparently curious about what it did. It was the studio's panic button; [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130608110727/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/01/robotoki-offices-stormed-by-lapd-after-designer-unknowingly-pres their building was subsequently raided by an LAPD SWAT team.]]
408* Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton was supposed to be given a ride in Google's driverless car. The first thing she did after sitting inside it was to push the "Emergency Stop" button, which deactivated the car.
409* A milder, but still embarrassing example are these countless examples of kids in schools and college pushing the button of the fire-alarm that instantly calls the firemen (said buttons are usually [[BigRedButton red]]). Which is why most fire alarm buttons are now encased behind glass, which you have to break in order to set off the alarm.
410* Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter outlets contain two buttons that are designed to test the outlet's circuit interruption followed by resetting it. Older ones labeled the buttons "Test" and "Reset" but newer ones usually do not. Any curious child could push the "Test" button not knowing what it does and create an electrical outlet that seems totally dead, but a quick and firm push of "Reset" is all it takes to fix it.
411* ''Series/DoctorWho'' actress Creator/JennaColeman often tells conventions about a time while filming in a power plant that her co-star, Creator/PeterCapaldi, out of curiosity, pushed a button which he found out too late activated an emergency shower. Capaldi claims he thought it was a door-opener.
412* Burnie Burns of Creator/RoosterTeeth was shocked to find out that there was a "death switch" to the machinima offices in their kitchen -- a poor schmoe found the switch and began flipping it, innocently wondering why the kitchen lights weren't turning off. Gus Sorola, Barbara Dunkleman and Creator/GavinFree postulated that, had the switch existed during the early days of the company, Burnie would have flipped and ripped it out ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' style.
413[[/folder]]

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