History Main / ConvectionSchmonvection

** In ''SecretWars'', when the Torch uses his "nova flame" to take out Ultron, it burns so hot that it melts clean through the surrounding solid-metal walls and floor. When the smoke clears, Captain America, who was standing a few yards away and protected only by huddling his upper body behind his shield, is perfectly unharmed. Apparently, his body's melting point is a lot higher than that of whatever alien metal was used to build Doombase. His shield absorbs kinetic energy, not heat.
*** In a Punisher / CaptainAmerica crossover, a mook tries to invoke this (and is kind enough to explain it as he does so): if firing a bazooka at the shield causes it to bounce off, shooting it so it explodes short of the shield will let the heat (which will go around) do the work.

* In one issue of PaperinikNewAdventures the hero was able to fly with no problems few centimetres abowe the lava on his [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon Extransformer]].

* In [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mechanical_Monsters the second episode]] of the early [[SupermanTheatricalCartoons Fleischer]] ''{{Superman}}'' animated series, a villain with his own foundry tries to make Lois Lane talk by slowly lowering her into a giant vat of molten iron. She shows no signs of distress, even when she falls and Superman has to grab her ''mere inches'' above the surface of the vat. (For reference, iron has a melting point of 1538 °C/2800 °F)

** Played straight in that they ''should'' have been roasted alive when they were dropped into the chimney. Except {{Superboy}}. But then, it is [[AWizardDidIt Doctor Fate's house]].

** Pretty much any time someone gets hit with a move like Flamethrower at close range.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the Katon (Fire Element) jutsus in the series [[TheWorfBarrage are almost always useless]]. Of course, they're always made out to be a big deal, but since they never directly connect the effects of convection are never shown. During the Valley of the End fight between Naruto and Sasuke, a fire jutsu from Sasuke leaves the rocks beneath Naruto literally glowing; Naruto isn't so much as singed, although he is somehow weakened.

** The Mangekyo Sharingan's Amaterasu is usually actually pretty effective as jutsus as a whole go ([[NeverLiveItDown notwithstanding the Karin incident]]). It creates black fire said to be hot as the sun, which is where it runs headlong into this trope. Being hot as the sun it should destroy pretty much everything in the area of its use, but you can get right next to it unless it touches you for a few seconds (then it needs to be sealed/brought down by its user or it keeps spreading and burning). Even as hyperbole, it's a bit of a stretch.

* Makoto from ''GhostHound'' runs into a heavily burning house to [[spoiler:save his mother]], without wearing any protection whatsoever, thus doing something that even the firemen in their fireproof suits couldn't pull off. The fire also appears to be totally smoke free.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' had a filler arc where the BigBad had eaten a Devil Fruit that allowed him to increase his body temperature to 10000 degrees Celsius, something that causes an underwater volcano to erupt underneath the ice archipelago they're on, which eventually culminates with Luffy and the BigBad duking it out with magma surrounding them, ''with said villain literally standing in the lava without any effect''. It could be handwaved that he is hotter than the magma, thus making it seem rather cool in comparison, but Luffy literally only has a block of ice separating him from being melted, with only breaking a minor sweat.

** Now the manga's gotten in on the act with the revelation that [[spoiler:Akainu]] is a ''magma'' Logia. He's duking it out with [[spoiler:Whitebeard]] and while he is doing pretty well, he's not doing as well as he should given the fact that HE'S MADE OF FRIKKIN LAVA! Hell, he gives a magma punch ''in the face'' to [[spoiler:Whitebeard]] and only the part of his face he touched was injured. Apparently the only explanation needed is that [[spoiler:Whitebeard]] is [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower just that strong]].

** Once again, when [[spoiler: Ace is impaled by Akainu's fist]], it makes a clean wound, with only minor burns around the hole. This could be explained by his Logia powers, but then what about Luffy and Jimbei? Akainu attacked them too, and the same thing happened. [[spoiler: Sure they were badly injured and Luffy gets an [[XMarksTheHero X-shaped ]][[GoodScarsEvilScars scar on his chest]]]], but considering it's magma, they should have been reduced to smoldering, molten corpses. Not to mention that Jimbei punches Akainu and leaves his fist in the magma for a few seconds and then pulling it out with only minor surface burns.

* Averted in ''GambleFish''. Tomu is playing a game in which the loser gets a pot full of 1200 degree coals dumped on them. Everybody is getting noticeably hotter as the pot gets closer, and they're all perfectly aware that if the pot gets close enough Tomu will get roasted without even touching the coals. Sure enough, at a distance of 30 centimeters the ''stone table'' on which the game is being played begins to melt. Just to get close enough to take his turn Tomu has to fashion a makeshift safety suit out of several layers of clothing, and even then it only lasts a few seconds before bursting into flames, leaving Tomu himself with quite a few burns.
* At the very end of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', [[spoiler:after absorbing God]], [[BigBad Father]] creates a miniature sun in the palm of his hand. No one in the room so much as notices any heat, and his hand is unharmed. Of course, when you're precipitating nuclear fusion with a thought, convection is the ''least'' of the laws of physics that you're screwing with.
** In the dub of Brotherhood at least, this is done specifically to show how unbelievably powerful Father had become after [[spoiler: consuming an entire country's worth of souls]]. He even points out that he is containing the star's power and if he wanted to, could release it into the room and kill everyone. He was [[AGodAmI showing off his power]] to intimidate the heroes.

* Subverted in one issue of ''{{X-Force}}'', where Wolverine's female clone, {{X-23}} was above a vat of molten metal, and falls. The next time we see her, all her hair has burned away and she has third-degree burns all over. Her shirt was burned away too, making Elixir give her his. Turned out she bounced off the side of the vat to the ground, but the brief exposure to the heat was still enough to harm her. Of course, she has a HealingFactor so she got better.

** Since they were WALLS of lava rather than just a gushy mass destroying the entire base and everyone inside and Syndrome was a technological genius, I think it's probably safe to assume that there were force fields of some sort involved. Heck, he probably had a converter built to use the heat from the convection to power his base.

** Not to mention an entire castle built on a pier of rock rising out of said boiling lake of lava. That pier of rock wouldn't even be stable in such conditions, as lava can erode, corrode, and often outright melt such piers.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' had a scene that fits the trope description to a T, right down to floating rock islands that could be jumped on by ''dinosaurs''.
* The climax of ''Disney/TheJungleBook 2'' apparently takes place inside an old temple that's for some reason built inside a volcanic pit. Mowgli, Shanti, Ranjan, Baloo, and Bagheera actually lure [[KnightofCerebus Shere Khan]] inside the temple, where they attempt to distract the tiger by hitting gongs, but when that doesn't work, they simply throw Khan into a pool of lava. Khan survives the fall, thanks to a rocky ledge overhanging the lava, but is immediately trapped inside a giant stone tiger head that also fell inside the pool of lava. As soon as the heroes leave the volcanic temple, [[FridgeHorror the vultures arrive...]]

** Also worth noting is ''StarWars Episode I: ThePhantomMenace'', where Qui-Gon Jinn attempts to melt through a blast door with his lightsaber; he's standing next to it at the time, with his hands literally inches away from molten metal, but he doesn't even get singed. Force-based protection from heat seems as reasonable an explanation as any.

** Cold air (very poor heat conductor, anyway) and even touch of ice or snow on skin are nearly harmless ''for very short time''. People who take a bath in hot springs can exit and spend from a few seconds to a few minutes in sub-zero air while dressing up, or even rub themselves with snow and afterwards dress up quickly, with no ill effects. Prolonged exposure over many hours is the culprit for frostbite and death.

*** Do keep in mind that Smaug is, of course, a dragon. His [[spoiler: little bath in molten gold]] shouldn't really affect him that badly, when you consider that he breathes fire and is comfortable to be in a room filled with fire.

** The other characters had to walk around the edge of the area to meet back up with him. This could be due to the fact that, as mentioned in many other pages, Goku is a super-powered alien and survived something like this in the original anime more than once. Or it could be due to the fact that this incarnation of [[IdiotHero Goku]] is ''incredibly'' dumb and completely missed the safer, cooler path around the pit.

* The ending to ''[[Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla Godzilla 1985]]'' has the monster being trapped in a volcano. Not surprisingly, he's not affected at all by either the lava itself or any of the intense heat. Of course, he ''is'' Godzilla.

* The climactic battle in ''Film/DrNo'' takes place in a room being flooded with coolant from a nuclear reactor. [[spoiler:Dr. No survives long enough in the superheated coolant to desperately claw for a way out even when submerged above his head, and JamesBond, of course, is unharmed despite being mere inches away from the coolant.]]

** Furthermore, Kitai takes refuge in a cave with a ledge overlooking an active lava flow and is no worse for wear, and even ''lights a campfire'' to make it cozier. Later on, after nearly freezing to death in the wilderness, he runs and jumps up the side of an active volcano, coming within feet of large cracks that glow with the heat of the lava.

* Completely subverted in the video for "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu6SvTn6eg4 Just Got Lucky]]" by Music/{{Dokken}}; George Lynch really did play that solo in front of an active volcano, and even though they weren't ''very'' close to it he says it was hot enough that he could feel it though his shoes.

** Played very straight in the movie ''Mask of Light'', wherein Takua (''not'' a Fire Matoran) fishes the eponymous mask out of a lava flow with his bare hands, and only feels the hotness after holding it in his hand for a moment. Then, he hops onto his comically frail lava surf board... on all fours, with his fingers clinging onto its sides (literally hanging into the lava), but suffers no ill effects.

** In what has to be one of the weirdest things about gameplay, an "Unearthly Heated" environment (anything over 211 F) deals 3d10 fire damage a round. Physical contact with magma? 2d6. Granted, total immersion deals ten times as much damage as simple contact, but when was the last time a character survived being * dunked* in lava long enough to be considered totally immersed, with charting HP still relevant?

*** Anyone level 6 or up in D&D 3.5 is literally superhuman. (Anyone level 11 or up is literally legendary enough that magic itself takes note of them.) How is surviving a swim in lava at an appropriately high level an issue? D&D is not meant to simulate real world human abilities at all, except at very low levels. Sufficiently high skill checks are explicitly stated to allow you to rape physics out of sheer skill.

* Played painfully straight with the HeroClix Muspelheim map. It includes special rules for squares containing lava, which basically allow a character to walk over it in complete safety, just so long as they don't end up standing in a lava square at the end of a turn, which will deal a pittance of damage. Admittedly, it is based on the superhero genre, so it's not like accurate physics was its top priority.

* The ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series gives us the dwarven school of landscaping, that basically uses molten rock where humans would use water features.

** In ''YoshisIsland'', the first leg of "The Very Loooooooooong Cave" has flowing lava on the floor and ''[[HailfirePeaks icicles on the ceiling]]''. Of course, said icicles are entirely stable [[StalactiteSpite until you get close to them]].

** In both ''Zero Mission'' and ''Super Metroid'', having both the Varia suit mod and the Gravity suit mod allows Samus to move unharmed through lava. In ''Super Metroid'' (which first distinguished lava from acid, the first being solid orange, the latter watery bubbling yellow), acid is still impossible to enter without losing health rapidly, but ''Zero Mission'' has this combo grant immunity to lava and acid both. Of course, it also has the Varia suit grant the lava immunity and the Gravity suit doesn't work until near the end of the game, after the Zero Suit section has been played through.

** It should be noted that this is par for the course in Hell, which is supposed to be full of fire that burns but doesn't consume. However, for levels that take place on Phobos, Earth, or Io there's no excuse.

* Of course, there are many examples in ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''.

*** On a more subtle note: Sephiroth's hair didn't so as [[BeautyIsNeverTarnished budge]].

** And let's not forget the king of fire and fire elementals, Ragnaros, a being MADE of lava. Who can be melee attacked by people standing a foot away with metal weapons and only hurts them if he directly attacks them or uses a special attack.

* Used in ''VideoGame/UrbanChaosRiotResponse''. In the fire levels (where you have to go into a building that's on fire. The enemies are called Burners for a reason) you don't take damage from the heat. You cough a lot in the smoke rooms unless you have your BREATHER (Caps are proper) on but of course smoke is the more visible secondary effect of fires.

* Treated somewhat schizophrenically in ''GuildWars''. Lava isn't that huge a deal, and running in it will only cause you to take burning damage. This is true for pretty much the entire endgame of ''Prophecies'' (The final boss fight is in a volcano's ''caldera!''), several PvP arenas, and much of the endgame of ''Eye of the North''. The Desolation in ''Nightfall'' however consists of many, ''many'' sulfurous flats that are fatal within seconds to step on.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', Oblivion is an alternate dimension has lava that doesn't hurt you unless you swim in it, and even then, high level characters can last a long time. Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that it's basically a hell dimension, and one character [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that while you'd expect it to be hot with all the lava, all he feels is a deep chill.

* In ''NeverwinterNights: Hordes of the Underdark'', there is a lava river running through the otherwise totally frozen over Cania. Oddly, it's averted the other way around; you do take cold damage in Cania unless you're near pretty much any fire except the lava river above.

* ''VideoGame/{{La-Mulana}}'' features lava in places, most notably in the Inferno Cavern, which, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as you can guess]], is full of molten lava. You don't take damage unless you swim in it, and even then it only damages you gradually. It's quite possible to escape if you're close enough to dry land. Curiously, immersing yourself in lava doesn't damage any of your possessions, although you can't access your computer/inventory without a "heat-proof case."
** And before I forget, you can actually swim in lava without taking damage. All you need is a cape of ice. It's probably [[AWizardDidIt magic]], but whatever.
** On a related note, the ice cape even works if you lack the PowerUp necessary to swim in water without [[SuperDrowningSkills taking damage]]. This may be considered SequenceBreaking, but it gives you something to [[FridgeLogic think about]].

* There's a particularly jarring example in ''WildArmsXF''. One character jumps into the lava to hold up a portion of collapsing bridge while the other character clammers to safety. He has time to given an entire speech about his political views before dying while standing ''knee deep in lava''.

** As for the Utsuho battle, don't forget the danmaku rule: she has no right to kill the protagonist, therefore she's using a much weaker version of her full power. (Although this bring about another question, spellcard rules were introduced since Reimu's death would spell [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt doom for Gensokyo]], but that's what Utsuho whats to do anyways, why does she follow them?) If Utsuho was going all out, Reimu and Marisa would probably quickly have been reduced to piles of glowing green ashes on the floor.

** And even then, you only die if you submerse yourself completely (the lava is just your bog standard BottomlessPit). You're perfectly safe as long as part of your sprite is poking above the lava.

** You might need an HDTV to see it, but if you look closely it is also ''raining molten lava'' all over the place during the entire fight. Granted, it's unrealistic lava rain (basically just normal rain but red, no ash or anything), but still it's red hot and hitting normal humans with exposed skin but they don't seem to mind at all.

** Not to mention the boss-room where you fight the two El Gigante later in the game. This has a floor which consists of nothing but a metal grate with steaming lava underneath it. It's a wonder Leon can breathe in there, let alone kill two giant badass Cave Troll things single-handedly.

** An especially jarring example would have to be in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', where Link is perfectly fine running around in the [[LethalLavaLand Goron Mines]]. Heck, even if you [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential make him leap into the lava]], he'll only come out about two hearts less for the wear. If you wear the Zora Tunic though -- ''which is specifically stated to be weak against fire'', Link'll still be fine running around......[[NonStandardGameOver unless you leap into the lava]].
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' has an especially odd example of this, with Fire Mountain. Sure you use the Ice Arrows to freeze the main spurt of lava, but it's still gotta be pretty damn hot inside. Not to mention the fact the Hero's Clothes are stated to look "too warm for the weather" earlier in the game, and yet they don't make Link overheat.
*** Also notable that in the Dragon Roost Cavern level, tossing a pot of water into a lava pit temporarily creates a floating bit of solid, perfectly-fine-to-walk on ground, which you can even ride up lava plumes on! However, the terrific animation for falling into a lava pit totally makes up for it all.

*** Of course, in the anime, Ash and company ''did'' once meet the guy who ''was'' writing the entries, and he ''did'' seem to be a sort of MadScientist type...

** ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger: Shadows of Almia'' has you riding a Pokémon across pools of lava. This is made even worse by the Pokémon in question being Torkoal -- basically a tortoise-shaped volcano.

* Averted in ''SpaceQuest III'', where you need to equip the Thermoweave Underwear to protect yourself from the intense heat on the LethalLavaLand planet Ortega. (No face coverage, mind you...)

* ''VideoGame/JurassicPark'' for the Sega Genesis and ''JurassicParkPart2TheChaosContinues'' for the SNES both feature levels set inside a huge volcano, with pits of lava you must jump over. Of course, as long as you don't touch the lava, you can run around just inches from it and be perfectly fine.

** In the first one, you can build wooden bridges over lava and they'll last forever, and your creatures can cross them with no ill effects. Flying or levitating creatures can fly right over lava with no problems, and even creatures that happen to get knocked into lava won't die instantly, though they will take damage and die fairly quickly if they can't get out of the lava in time (except for the ones that are immune, like Demon Spawns and Hellhounds).

* One of the worlds in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestMaskOfEternity'' has lava strewn all about the place willy nilly. The player character can stand within a few centimeters of the start of a lava pool or traverse platforms mere inches above it with nary a point of damage. Come into contact with the lava, of course, and he dramatically burns to death. Made even sillier by the game's technical limitations, with which Connor can take a running leap over a pool of lava, accidentally land in just the very edge of the pool, stumble forward a few steps completely unharmed as he does at the end of every running leap, and ''then'' dramatically burn to death.

* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''{{Starcraft}}''. The levels on [[LethalLavaLand the planet Char]] are full of lava that has no effect on any units. Of course, the Terrans are all wearing PoweredArmor (we know it can survive hard vacuum easily), the Protoss have shields, and the Zerg have AdaptiveAbility.

* ''VideoGame/{{Boktai}}'' juggles this so bad it is annoying. Touching magical stationary fireballs, will-'o-wisps or certain cubes will launch you back flying, usually burning or frozen (slowed down). But there are stages where you are dangerously close to lava and nothing happens! Of course, you take damage and gets knocked back if you touch lava, also getting burned for a couple of seconds, but you won't instantly die. Now, if you ever walk too close to a ledge you can fall off into the water, you will instantly die. So, Water is instant death, but Lava isn't? Good job, Konami.

* ''VideoGame/DontLookBack'' plays the trope basically straight when the protagonist passes through the lava rooms on their OrpheanRescue journey.

* ''Webcomic/VoldemortsChildren'': Harry [[http://www.elidupree.com/main/posts/273-voldemort%27s-children-page-81 burns Dumbledore's entire office]] and then doesn't seem to have any trouble standing around in the ''only spot that isn't on fire''.

* As long as the cast of ''DSBTInsaniT'' aren't touching lava, (and even ''then'', due to an animation oversight) they can be as close to it as possible without getting hurt.

*** Not only does "infinitely cold" not exist (there is a lowest possible temperature), but space is several degrees warmer than absolute zero. Specifically, it's about 3 Kelvin, or -270 degrees Celsius (0 Kelvin is absolute zero). Furthermore, unless there is evaporation going on, a body in space that is in view of the Sun tends to heat up unless it's already hotter than the Sun's surface, 6000K. And, of course, if it is not in view of the sun, it tends to cool down to that 3K I mentioned, but it happens very slowly because neither conduction nor convection are possible, only radiation, and things at "normal" temperatures tend to radiate very very slowly.

** It is possible that characters with Firebending talents are more resistant to heat and can defend against extreme heat better than others. Or even protect others from it, keep in mind that Aang is both an Airbender and a Firebender so he could maybe keep the tunnels cool enough for his Sokka and Toph? If you're a master in those elements all sorts of handwaving could be done to make it all make sense.

** In the later ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'' series, in the "Mama Luigi" episode, Luigi nearly lands in "boiling lava" after he [[IFellForHours falls for hours]]. Luckily he happens to land on a skull raft, and despite the long fall is [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou uninjured]], and of course unaffected by the heat, which should already have vaporized the raft. Later on we see dinosaurs actually ''swimming'' in lava. This does follow the in-game physics though.

*** Homer continues to writhe in agony because, as Creator/GeorgeTakei mentions afterward, their Orangina is "loaded with wasabi" (and orange concentrate in your eyes would burn like hell anyway).

* In the episode "Exchange" of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', not only are Ron and Yori trapped in a metal cage and lowered into a river of lava, the lava actually spills into the cage and sets Ron's shoe on fire by contact. Ron and Yori then survive by hanging onto the tops of the cage's bar while the entire lower half of the cage melts away until they are saved. Apparently metal has to be immersed in lava to actually heat up. This also leads to the idea that heat doesn't conduct through metal. To get a steel bar hot enough to melt one end would make the other end way too hot to hold. (Of course, this is more an example of Conduction Schmonduction.)

* Played dead straight in ''{{The Spectacular Spider-Man}}''. Not only does a whole warehouse full of lava seem to do no harm to Spidey, Green Goblin, or Tombstone, but Hammerhead is precariously dangled literally inches from a vat of the stuff without even the soles of his shoes melting.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode "Denial", the team falls into a pit, at the bottom of which is a pool of lava. A trap door closes over the lava in time to catch them (though not before taking out [[NighInvulnerability Superboy's]] [[FelonyMisdemeanor boots]]), and while Aqualad notes that the floor ''should'' be burning hot and Kid Flash warns him that if he pulls open the trap door, the backdraft from the lava will roast them alive, neither are true. Of course, this is all due to the fact that they're in [[RealityWarping Dr. Fate's tower]], and reality warped itself to their benefit after they convinced the tower they had legitimate reasons for breaking and entering.

* Played pretty darn straight by the experience of Heimaey, Iceland, in the Vestmannaeyjar islands. In 1973, a nearby mountain erupted, sending, literally, acres of lava towards the town -- and, from the inhabitants' perspective, more importantly, the harbor. In a desperate attempt to save the harbor from being filled by lava, the inhabitants, the government of Iceland, and, eventually, even the U.S. Navy, started pouring water directly on the lava to try and solidify the leading edge, hopefully sending the remaining lava ''somewhere else''. This took weeks, if not months, and for most of that time, not only were people walking directly on top of the lava, they were separated from actual liquid rock by, at times, ''nothing but ash'', but they were running hoses along it, and even driving ''bulldozers'' around on top of it. The treads of the bulldozers blued from the heat over time, and the soles of boots tended to melt when people stood, but for a significant amount of time, people were not only running near lava, they were working on top of it for twenty-hour-a-day stretches. Icelanders are hardcore.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' both [[AvertedTrope averts]] and plays this trope straight. While Link seems immune to the heat waving off of the lava pools and rivers in the Dodongo Caverns as a kid, when he goes into the Temple of Fire as an adult he has to wear a [[AWizardDidIt special magical tunic]] to protect himself from the heat, otherwise he'll eventually die. None of the later games, however, seem to reference this and Link goes into many more fire dungeons without harm.

** An especially jarring example would have to be in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', where Link is perfectly fine running around in the [[LethalLavaLand Goron Mines]]. Heck, even if you [[VideogameCrueltyPotential make him leap into the lava]], he'll only come out about two hearts less for the wear. If you wear the Zora Tunic though -- ''which is specifically stated to be weak against fire'', Link'll still be fine running around......[[NonStandardGameOver unless you leap into the lava]].
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]'' has an especially odd example of this, with Fire Mountain. Sure you use the Ice Arrows to freeze the main spurt of lava, but it's still gotta be pretty damn hot inside. Not to mention the fact the Hero's Clothes are stated to look "too warm for the weather" earlier in the game, and yet they don't make Link overheat.

** ''SpiritTracks'' has plenty of the molten stuff to go around, and Link isn't affected unless he lands in it, where he loses half a heart from terminal fall respawning. With the exception of the Wrecker Phantoms, Link can ride ''on top of Zelda'' over these molten masses and neither of them will be hurt. The extra-heavy armor that Wrecker Phantoms use must be made of Goron iron...
** Eldin Volcano in ''SkywardSword'' has a patch in it that will set Link on fire if he tries to go through it with his standard clothes. Because a key piece for the Earth Shrine is through it, Fi suggests you run to minimize heat-related damage. There is also a passage that leads deeper -- Link may require special protection, and Fi will force you to turn back if you try to go through (be thankful the key piece is NOT that way).

* Discussed in ''{{Website/Cracked}}'', as one of the [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18862_6-deadly-injuries-you-think-youd-survive-thanks-to-movies_p2.html 6 Deadly Injuries You Think You'd Survive (Thanks to Movies)]].

* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''{{Starcraft}}''. The levels on [[LethalLavaLand the planet Char]] are full of lava that has no effect on any units. Of course, the Terrans are all wearing PoweredArmor (we know it can survive hard vacuum easily), the Protoss have shields, and the Zerg originally evolved on a similar planet.

[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection Convection]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convective_heat_transfer the process by which a liquid or gas (like air) forms currents that very quickly spread heat from a hot thing to its environment]], does not exist in TV land. ConvectionSchmonvection -- as long as you don't touch the lava, you're okay. Note that this trope covers heat ''radiation'' as well (but [[JustForFun/LousyAlternateTitles Radiation Schmadiation]] would sound like ILoveNuclearPower...), and seeing as large explosions create shockwaves as well as fireballs, this also covers OverpressureWhatOverpressure. TV also ignores the other hazards of volcanoes and lava flows, such as [[DeadlyGas toxic gases]] and [[OminousFog blinding, choking ash]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Divinity 2}}'' has wooden planks laying what appears to be mere inches from the lava and your character merrily walks and jumps across them. As long as he doesn't touch the lava he is fine. Falling in the lava causes massive damage per second, but it is possible (albeit very hard) to survive if you had an active healing effect and immediately jumped out.

* There are several examples from the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' games. They can be partially handwaved by the fact that Rock, [[VideoGame/MegaManX X]], and [[VideoGame/MegaManZero Zero]] are all robots; Rock is described as being made of titanium, which has a melting point of 3,034 degrees Fahrenheit, ''beyond'' lava's temperature which peaks at about 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. The problem is that ''falling into'' the lava is still an instant kill; if they can take the heat, what's so deadly about falling in?
** RomHack ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'' plays this straight in Pharaoh Man's level and averts it in part of Dust Man's: you get a temperature gauge, and you take damage when it fills up completely.
** There's a really glaring example in ''MegaManX5''. Burn Dinorex (a.k.a. Mattrex) has an impressive volcano stage, with periodic floods of lava and then a whole under-lava zone. You can only explore this zone with a heat-shielded suit of Ride Armor. It's so close to avoiding the trope, but then you notice that the suit of Ride Armor ''has no protective dome to cover the cockpit''....

*** Except the ring itself was weak to the lave, as it dissolved the instant it sank in.

*** According to one of Gollum's lead CGI model animators, the ''real'' reason for his little lava swim was [[spoiler:they had all wanted to give Sméagol an appropriately [[DyingMomentofAwesome awesome death scene]].]]

** Speaking of Peter Jackson, it's also present [[{{TheFilmOfTheBook}} in the second movie of]] ''[[{{Literature/TheHobbit}} The Hobbit]]'', ''[[{{Film/TheHobbit}} The Desolation of Smaug]]''. In a scene that was not in the book, [[spoiler: Thorin and the Company attempt to kill Smaug by flooding him with liquid metal from a Dwarven furnace (it doesn't work). There is a chase sequence where Thorin and Bilbo use shields (or something like that) to [[{{LavaSurfing}} surf the river of molten metal]] that erupts from the furnace, with no ill effects whatsoever.]] Never mind that they should have been fried almost instantly.

** You're also in hell, so normal laws of physics may not apply.

Lava is also rarely found just calmly laying around -- when it slows, it has time to cool and harden. If it's been liquid for any appreciable length of time, it will probably [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAxj2ob_JoU look like this]]. This is a subtrope of ArtisticLicensePhysics.

** In Ghost Babel, fire and electrified floors just knocks you back. It's more ridiculous when you reach the Power Plant, where supposedly the rain water flooded the basement and pools of water will shock you. And what else is in the basement? A power generator. So, touching electrified water should fry a human alive and still... Just causes you some damage and kncoks you back.

* The final level of the first ''SlyCooper'' game had Sly hopping from object to object so close to lava that his fur should have caught on fire.
** Also, in the new game coming out, "Theives in Time", Sly can use samurai armor (which are normally made from metal and leather) to block fire balls. Also, they didn't have shields, but that's a diffrent trope.....
* Many ''SonicTheHedgehog'' games feature some variety of LethalLavaLand, some of them near or in active volcanoes. The heat is never an issue, and you only get injured if you touch the lava. ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' had Marble Zone. ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' had Hilltop Zone and Metropolis Zone. ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' had Lava Reef Zone, where the second boss battle happens while the player is standing on a small rock in a huge pool of lava. One level of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' has the player piloting a robot around inside a volcano and not being affected by the heat at all, although given who built it, it probably wouldn't be beyond Robotnik to account for heat.

Convection, the process by which a liquid or gas (like air) forms currents that very quickly spread heat from a hot thing to its environment, does not exist in TV land. ConvectionSchmonvection -- as long as you don't touch the lava, you're okay. Note that this trope covers heat ''radiation'' as well (but [[JustForFun/LousyAlternateTitles Radiation Schmadiation]] would sound like ILoveNuclearPower...), and seeing as large explosions create shockwaves as well as fireballs, this also covers OverpressureWhatOverpressure. TV also ignores the other hazards of volcanoes and lava flows, such as [[DeadlyGas toxic gases]] and [[OminousFog blinding, choking ash]].

See also: LavaPit, LavaIsBoilingKoolAid, BattleAmongstTheFlames, DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud, HailfirePeaks, ThermalDissonance, HarmlessElectrocution, LavaSurfing and HarmlessFreezing. ToastedBuns and LavaAddsAwesome are related tropes.

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime, Cinnabar Island's Gym is now located in a volcano. The characters comment on the heat inside, but Fire and Rock Types can withstand the intense temperature without actually having to fall in (with the exception of Magmar). This makes it especially awesome when the deciding rematch for the Volcano Badge takes place over a ''LavaPit'', with Charizard [[Awesome/{{Pokemon}} surviving a full dunk with nary a burn]].
** Well... You know, Charizard is a [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons dragon]] in all but name...

* In the ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' episode "The Parent Trap", this trope gets [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zagged]]. Power Man gets tossed into a volcano and the only danger he faces is the possibility of ''drowning in the lava''. While in and of itself this is justified since Power Man is [[NighInvulnerability nigh invulnerable]], there's no similar justification for his ''costume'' being unharmed. Later, when Spidey shoots some webbing down to pull Power Man up, the head from the lava incinerates the webbing before it reaches him. But when he uses AppliedPhlebotinum to induce a "mini-eruption" and launch Power Man to safety, Spidey is standing what ''should'' be perilously close to the magma himself without taking any damage.