Does Not Illustrate (crowner, new clock): Readings Are Off The Scale

I've read too many bad fanfics where 99999-etc. is an amazingly high number used to describe power levels to see it as reaching the cap and continuing.

I like the modified speedometer pic where the needle has gone past the highest number.

I have never seen 9999 (etc.) mean anything besides "over max". That image seems okay also.

The current image does not illustrate the trope, which is about a value being so high it can't be measured according to the scheme or device used to measure it.

The fact that the swirly rainbow thingie is literally "off the scale" is only good in the sense that a picture of Richard Pryor onstage would be good for Black Comedy.

edited 9th Jul '12 9:54:58 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Isn't it, though? I mean, what's being measured is apparently so high that the scale literally isn't big enough for the readout. It'd be like a scanner producing a string of nines that then continued to scroll off into thin air.

But while a string of nines continuing in midair is instantly recognizable as a measurement, the swirly rainbow is not. Only people familiar with the source will know what it is.

The literalness of "off the scale" is not the problem, the problem is it doesn't look like a measurement.

I recognised it for what it was. Though after I actually checked the source, I kinda want it gone for personal reasons...

If the nines were to continue past the interface border, then I'd see it. As it is, I just see a ridiculously large number.

edited 10th Jul '12 5:03:58 AM by Feather7603

Exactly.

And I still think that the Battler thing works as an unreadably high value. It's like when you're graphing something, and you get a value that causes a flat peak on the scale because it doesn't go that high.

And honestly, I think the GL pic probably would have worked better for Readings Blew Up the Scale than this, but it lost out in that page's Image Pickin', so that's not happening.

Couldn't we just add some more off-the-scale nines to the Battler image?

If we can find the font; it's giving me a really hard time, due to the busy image (preventing a tool I often use) and the only digit being 9 (so there are no distinctive features). I know from a manual check that my computer doesn't have the exact typeface. Can someone grab a 9 with Photoshop and do some magic to paste in more of them?

edited 10th Jul '12 10:26:07 AM by Telcontar

Does it need that?

Also, why was it taken off the page in the first place? It used to be the page image, and I still don't know when or why it was removed. Anyone?

Looks unilateral; this is the only IP thread there's ever been. On the 11th of April, blade 4771 removed the image, caption and a/the quote. On the 11th of June, Mile Run added the current.

In that case, I move that we return the Battler image until this thread comes to a consensus.

The battler image is certainly better than nothing, even without modifications.

I'm not sure if I prefer it or a (two-panel) version of the current.

We're in the middle of discussing the image now, so we should not pretend this discussion isn't happening for some bureaucratic reason like that the image was wrongly removed or something. This is image picking, and we're picking an image - that's what the forum is for.

I wasn't proposing ignoring the thread, just reverting the unilateral change while we discuss a more permanent decision.

Two wrongs don't make one right. In the middle of this discussion, suddenly changing the image would be just as unilateral.

I suppose you're right. The time to just revert the change would have been before this thread started. It's a discussion now, so, yeah.

I've got some concept art that I can fiddle around with more if you'd like me to.

edited 10th Jul '12 7:37:48 PM by DarkConfidant

Not bad. I think the speedometer example could work if the needle was more visibly past the 120 mph mark; as is, I don't think it's evident enough.

That's Off the Chart, though. Related, but not quite the same.

Off the Chart is watermarked, so I'm starting an IP thread.

Intention is that the needle is pegged / maxxed / not moving, not that the car is just going 130 mph but the numbers aren't printed there.

edited 11th Jul '12 11:02:55 AM by rodneyAnonymous

Would the use of an infinity sign in the picture be illustrative? Because there's a couple examples I could think of then, if that's the case.

edited 11th Jul '12 11:33:29 AM by Raidouthe21st