| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16720724020.99620500 |
| 3 | %%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 5 | [[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Lifted}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_lifted.png]]]] |
| 6 | [[caption-width-right:350:Yes, every single one of those does something.\ |
| 7 | No, not a single one of them is labeled.]] |
| 8 | %% |
| 9 | ->''The bubble-top canopy rose automatically and Tom dived inside, searching frantically amongst hundreds of levers, switches and analogue dials for the start button.'' |
| 10 | -->-- ''Attack of the 50-Ft. Half-Klingon'' |
| 11 | |
| 12 | The RuleOfCool dictates that there should be lots of buttons on the fancy starship or new mech, often paired with rows of unlabeled indicator lights. It's a billion buttons, with no apparent purpose. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Usually, of all these buttons, a few will ''always'' be used, [[PlotSensitiveButton usually in]] different [[ContextSensitiveButton contexts]]. This can be justified by the fact that any vessel with standardized parts would have more than a few displays which look identical, and the fact that pressing various combinations of the return, tab, arrow, and escape keys while in a menu system can in fact get you radically different results- but this does not mean that the rest of the keys are unnecessary.[[note]]Other than "pause/break" and its friends.[[/note]] Nevertheless, many shows just don't manage to make things look convincing, or to consider that the more 'advanced' something is, [[EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture the fewer buttons it might have]]. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | This is TruthInTelevision. RealLife aircraft, spacecraft, power stations, trains and so on have loads and loads of buttons — many of which are only used if one particular component (out of thousands) is misbehaving. The cockpit of the Space Shuttle, for example, had buttons covering every available surface (even the ceiling!). More advanced and reliable computing power has allowed designers to simplify control panels; the 'Glass Cockpit' with Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) screen, for instance, is pretty much standard kit on most airliners. Even in an era when most or all functions ''can'' be routed through a single simple interface, having a cockpit full of hard-wired controls reduces the chances of a single circuit failure rendering an entire craft uncontrollable. The armada of buttons are on standby just in case you have to take full manual control of the craft, or make it do something outside the normal operational regime — say, when you suddenly need to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549 land an airliner on a river]]. (In a delightful fulfillment of the trope, the Airbus A320 actually ''does'' have a button for precisely that situation; it seals several of the aircraft's external openings, to help slow the rate at which the fuselage floods and sinks. In the case of Flight 1549, though, it wasn't actually used, nor would it have helped, since the impact with the water tore holes much larger than those the "ditch switch" would have sealed. But the switch was ''there'', and that's the point.) |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Another design consideration underlies the trope: that of haptic feedback. The primary strength of a touchscreen interface is its ease of discoverability and configuration: instead of a bunch of single-purpose buttons and switches and so forth, you can have just a single touchscreen with modes providing all those controls and more, and the platform lends itself well to helping a novice user find her way around the interface. The trouble is, those controls are totally refractory to muscle memory and touch feedback, because no matter what control inputs you're making, what you are actually ''doing'' is wiggling your fingertips around on a sheet of glass. This makes it almost impossible to perform those control inputs without looking at what you're doing — a minor concern when you're flipping between apps on your iPad, but a potentially life-threatening requirement when you can't afford to divide your attention from trying to fly an aircraft or spacecraft back out of trouble. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Or, for that matter, even a plain old ordinary automobile: this consideration is why, even in the newest cars, touchscreen interfaces are relegated to cabin entertainment and other nonessential systems, with all the actual driving controls still implemented with mechanical switches and levers which the driver can reliably operate without needing to look away from the road. For the same reason, touchscreen controls are almost universally absent from the cockpits of fighter aircraft. The sole exception is the F-35, where a cockpit interface driven almost entirely via touchscreen and voice input is just one of many radical (and as yet unproven) departures from conventional fighter design. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Contrast alternate futuristic design styles AsceticAesthetic and HolographicTerminal. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | See also ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation, and TheAestheticsOfTechnology for adding billions of buttons to something in an attempt to make it look complicated. In animation expect some LazyArtist, with huge banks of cool but unlabeled controls. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | ---- |
| 27 | !!Examples: |
| 28 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 31 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' #75, the X-Men are re-entering the atmosphere after flying the Blackbird to Magneto's asteroid. Quicksilver must take the pilot seat because there are so many buttons that he is the only one fast enough to activate them all. |
| 32 | * ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': |
| 33 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': To ComicBook/SteveTrevor's horror Etta Candy once activated a spaceship, which then took off with them still aboard, on accident due to messing with two of the many buttons covering a wall and then trying to fix whatever that had activated when things started lighting up. |
| 34 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': [[ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} Sebastian Ballesteros]]'s nuclear silo-inspired base has every surface save the floor covered in buttons, screens, or both. |
| 35 | ** In ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman2016'' the Holliday Girls are amazed that Diana can control the aircraft they "borrow" due to the overwhelming number of buttons and switches in the cockpit. |
| 36 | [[/folder]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 39 | * ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'' had this in spades: the eponymous submarine had hundreds of buttons to choose from. None of them were labeled in any way, either, requiring the Beatles to press them all at random to do anything. Most of the time, though, it didn't matter, as the submarine had NewPowersAsThePlotDemands. |
| 40 | * The [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts bonus animation]] on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' DVD, "WesternAnimation/{{Lifted}}", has a lot of fun with this. Suffice it to say it involves a young alien who's taking his spaceship-flying test, in a spaceship controlled by Billions Of ''Unmarked'' [[strike:Buttons]] Switches... WordOfGod mentioned that the daunting panel of switches was influenced/inspired by a sound mixer's console. |
| 41 | [[/folder]] |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 44 | * ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' had the same principle as above. Tommy knew how to drive the Thermian ship because he had made up in his mind what each button was supposed to do, acted accordingly in the ShowWithinAShow, and the Thermians based their design on that. |
| 45 | -->Like most things in ''Galaxy Quest'', this was a direct homage to ''Franchise/StarTrek''; Creator/WilWheaton developed a similar system for the helm panel on the bridge of the ''Enterprise''. |
| 46 | * Parodied in the movie ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' when Ted Striker first steps into the airplane's cockpit, and his POV slowly pans ([[OverlyLongGag and pans and pans]]) across an endless, well, panorama of buttons, knobs, and switches. To top it off, that's a pan across [[TruthInTelevision actual control panels]] from a contemporary four-engine jet, although much of what's included would actually be on the flight engineer's panels and not an immediate concern of the pilots themselves. |
| 47 | * ''Film/AirplaneIITheSequel'': |
| 48 | ** Parodied a second time, when Buck Murdoch (Creator/WilliamShatner, [[ChewingTheScenery hamming it up]] as always) has a nervous breakdown over the thousands of switches, lights, and knobs in the control tower on the Moon. |
| 49 | ---> '''Murdoch:''' They're blinking and they're beeping and they're flashing... and they're FLASHING and they're BEEPING. I can't stand it anymore! WHY DOESN'T SOMEBODY STOP THEM?!… |
| 50 | ** It doesn't help that [[CowTools no one knows what they actually do]]. |
| 51 | --->'''Lieutenant Pervis:''' Sir, these lights keep blinking out of sequence. What should we do about it, sir?\ |
| 52 | '''Commander Murdoch:''' Get them to blink ''in'' sequence! |
| 53 | * The banks of billions of buttons in ''Film/{{Alien}}'' were wired up such that actions on one console changed the configuration of lights on the other consoles, providing "work routines" for the actors to go through. |
| 54 | * In ''Film/Apollo13'', there are buttons all over the spacecraft, many were even behind the astronauts' shoulders and were meant to be reached without turning to look (the controls were labelled in reverse and mirrors were strategically placed around the CSM). The writers and actors made sure that the usage of such buttons was realistic -- they had the commander of Apollo 15 there ''every day'' to make sure they [[ShownTheirWork did it right]]. |
| 55 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 56 | ** ''Film/ANewHope'': The cockpit of the ''Millennium Falcon''. Harrison Ford has said that he had seen the construction of the set for the movie, and was looking forward to actually sitting in the cockpit. When he finally did, he asked how you "fly" the ship, and he was told by George Lucas that he didn't know, just to work it out. |
| 57 | ** In the prequels: "Retransmit this message to Coruscant." Accomplished with one button. Which is later seen doing something totally different. A subtle commentary on the differences in design between a fancy spaceborne limo and a UsedFuture freighter, or an example of lazy editing? You make the call. |
| 58 | ** The speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi have only three switches. The middle one apparently is used for jamming comm signals. Then again, if the comm system for the bikes is like a CB radio, then just keying the mike and holding it open can interfere with other talkers. So, it's possible. |
| 59 | * In ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', the bridge of the Leonov was filled with unlabeled buttons. This contrasted nicely with the Discovery, which has a very sensible layout. This was probably meant to suggest something about the difference between United States and Soviet engineering and interface design philosophies. |
| 60 | * The cockpit of any Batmobile, from the '66 TV show to ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy''. |
| 61 | * A brilliant use in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', when Khan [[OhCrap realizes]] that the ''Enterprise'' has managed to remotely order ''Reliant'' to lower her shields, the camera quickly cuts to a rapidly-panning POVCam shot of a control panel as Khan tries to find the override (the subtitle commentary on the Director's Cut wryly points out that Khan won't find it: [[GenreBlind He's staring at the helmsman's station]]). |
| 62 | * In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Bennie the Cab's dashboard is covered in dozens of buttons, levers, and switches. During a chase scene, when he orders Roger and Eddie to "Pull the lever!", he has to [[TalkingWithSigns produce a sign]] indicating which one he's talking about. ("[[ExpoLabel This Lever, Stupid]]!") |
| 63 | * ''Film/{{Gravity}}'' plays this realistically, as all the areas in the film are real spacecraft and space stations. (Well, current and future space stations.) Dr. Stone has to read both Russian and Chinese on control panels for the ISS' Soyuz and the Tiangong station's Shenzhou, respectively, and there are manuals there to help. In an unusually thorough and realistic application of the trope, while Stone can't read the Chinese text labeling the controls of the Soyuz-derived Shenzhou, her training on the Russian platform enables her to successfully operate its close Chinese descendant through a series of educated, and correct, guesses. |
| 64 | * The [[CoolCar Delorean]] TimeMachine in ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' films has three rows of buttons along the roof of the car (well, the roof that isn't also part of the gull-wing doors) and more than a few on the board behind the seats. They're never touched in the movies, though the Delorean model in the [[VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame video game]] labels the buttons such things as "Flux front", "Coolsys 1", and "Alt". |
| 65 | ** At the end of the first one (and beginning of the second), Doc audibly and visibly presses the buttons on the roof console, so they must now have something to do with activating the fusion reactor and/or engaging flight mode. |
| 66 | * The Gadgetmobile in both ''Film/InspectorGadget1999'' and ''Film/InspectorGadget2'' takes this to [[ExaggeratedTrope absurd levels]]. Seriously, the thing is so over-crammed that it's an eyesore. |
| 67 | * The [[TheAllegedCar Tartan Prancer]] in ''Film/{{Vacation}}'' has more buttons than necessary on both its center console and key fob. Many of those buttons have ambiguous functions due to the non-standard iconography; one of the buttons on the fob ''[[EveryCarIsAPinto blows up the car]]''. |
| 68 | * When Neil enters Gemini 8 and Apollo 11 in ''Film/FirstMan'', the camera lingers to show the countless buttons, switches, and displays both cockpits have. |
| 69 | * In ''Film/TopGunMaverick'', [[spoiler:Maverick and Rooster are both shot down and resort to stealing an F-14 from the enemy base they just destroyed. Rooster is put in the backseat and has no clue how to work the hundreds of analogue switches. Maverick dryly admits he doesn't know much more because that was the job of Goose, Rooster's late dad.]] |
| 70 | * ''Film/NightRide'': A tram arrives at a stop on a cold winter night. The woman waiting at the stop gets on early, while the driver is off using the toilet, because it's cold. She looks over the many mysterious buttons and levers, pushes the wrong one, and ends up starting the tram and accidentally stealing it. |
| 71 | * ''Film/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea''. The diving station of the submarine is even dubbed The Christmas Tree because of all the flashing lights, which include a [[CowTools large panel of unlabeled lights that flash on-and-off for no apparent reason]]. When showing some VIP's the missile launch station, Admiral Nelson points out a long row of buttons and jokes that the trick is knowing which one to push. |
| 72 | |
| 73 | [[/folder]] |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 76 | * Subverted in ''Literature/TheSubtleKnife:'' after seeing a computer for the first time, Lyra describes the keyboard as "a board with at least one hundred buttons". [[MathematiciansAnswer She]] ''[[MathematiciansAnswer is]]'' [[MathematiciansAnswer right, mind...]] |
| 77 | * In the original novels and both film adaptations of ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', the walls of Willy Wonka's Great Glass Elevator are covered floor to ceiling with buttons. At least this time it's clearly explained that there is a button for each room and there are ''a lot'' of rooms, as the factory is akin to an iceberg, with only a small fraction visible above-ground. |
| 78 | ** The sequel shows how CrazyPrepared Wonka is. The elevator has a button that supplies oxygen to the elevator, four for rockets for directional movement, and one for orbital reentry rockets. (Exactly why he was expecting to take it into orbit when he built it isn't made clear. Then again, if you ''can'' build an elevator that can make orbit, [[RuleOfCool why wouldn't you]]?) |
| 79 | * In ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'': when discussing which electric oven to buy, Danny's father comments that one of them is so covered in dials and knobs, it looks like the cockpit of an aeroplane. |
| 80 | * Venturus from ''Literature/ArchersGoon'' got carried away with the RuleOfCool and designed his spaceship like this. Operating it requires two people, stretched across the array of buttons so as to press four or more of them at a time. |
| 81 | ** This is lampshaded all to hell, if you can't tell. |
| 82 | * Implied in ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'': Roland sees a 1980s-era jetliner cockpit and immediately understands why it takes four people to operate. |
| 83 | * The computer room of the cruise ship ''Star of Empire'', in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' is just crowded with buttons, all colorful. |
| 84 | * In the ''Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse'', the cockpit of a [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] has hundreds of buttons and switches to control fire suppression system, communications, ammo selection, and actuator calibration. In the ''Saga Of The Gray Death Legion'', Grayson notes that while the basic movement and weapon control systems for a mech are almost universally a pair of joysticks, twin foot pedals, and a BrainComputerInterface helmet for balance, all the other systems vary heavily by manufacturer. When he steals an enemy battlemech in the second novel, [[DamnYouMuscleMemory he can't find the loudspeaker button]] as a friendly mercenary is aiming at the "enemy" mech with a FireBreathingWeapon. |
| 85 | * Lampshaded in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'': cars and other Muggle technologies have too many buttons for a clever wizard. |
| 86 | -->'''Dedalus:''' You know how to drive, I take it?\ |
| 87 | '''Vernon Dursley:''' Of course I ruddy well know how to drive!\ |
| 88 | '''Dedalus:''' Very clever of you, sir, I personally would be utterly bamboozled by all those buttons and knobs. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 92 | * ''Series/ComeBackMrsNoah'' had this on the space station Britannia Seven, being a wonder of British technology and all. OnceAnEpisode there would be some futuristic device that after [[OverlyLongGag excessive button-pushing and accompanying sound effects]] would end up [[RuleOfFunny not doing what they wanted it to do.]] |
| 93 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 94 | ** The TARDIS console has tons of buttons and things because it's actually a 6-person console that the Doctor is using by themself. The ship also creates her own interfaces every time she takes on a new appearance, and the buttons change accordingly. The Doctor often needs to run around the console hitting buttons on all sides, even when it's not an emergency. (In an emergency, they sometimes have to tie levers down with rope...) Also, because of the effect of eleven centuries of amateur maintenance, the console possesses fewer actual buttons than it does loose wires, brass light switches, ''bicycle pumps''... |
| 95 | ** For many years, Creator/TheBBC kept a plywood mockup console for rehearsals that had outlines of the various controls drawn on it. If you looked closely you'd find handwritten notes penciled in beside some of them. They were written by Creator/JonPertwee: every time he had to do something "new" on the console, he'd pick an unlabelled control on the mockup and use it, then write in what he used it for in case it ever came up again. Basically, SchrodingersGun as applied to controls. This also happened very early on in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E3TheEdgeOfDestruction The Edge of Destruction]]". A plot-relevant button had to be labeled for the actors to interact with, and the crude felt-tip label [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fast_return_9567.png made it onscreen]]. |
| 96 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E1DayOfTheDaleks Day of the Daleks]]", the women "manning" the consoles in the Controller's headquarters are clearly just sliding their hands aimlessly over those same consoles. Perhaps it's meant to be a touch-sensitive interface, but how can they tell what they're doing without looking at the panels? |
| 97 | ** TheAestheticsOfTechnology is invoked in the [[AppliedPhlebotinum sonic screwdriver]], which has had very few buttons over the course of the show's run but lots of functionality (much of it from the newer series). The latest version has a thumb slide and specifically operates by [[ContextSensitiveButton reading the user's thoughts and extracting a relevant function]]. |
| 98 | ** In the new series, much as in the Pertwee days, the uselessness of the buttons is averted. Creator/MattSmith was actually given a manual when he was cast as the Eleventh Doctor so he could learn to use the console properly. |
| 99 | ** If the dramatisation of the early days of the franchise ''Film/AnAdventureInSpaceAndTime'' is accurate, this was in effect from the very start of the show. Creator/WilliamHartnell insisting that the same controls were used for the same TARDIS function, successfully arguing with the producers that it would violate viewers' suspension of disbelief if he used the same control to operate the door one week and activate the viewscreen the next. |
| 100 | ** One Creator/BigFinish radio episode hinted that the TARDIS spontaneously sprouted a new function and accompanying button just to save the Doctor's life with it. |
| 101 | * In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', ''Serenity'''s cockpit doesn't have massive amounts of buttons, but it does have a large number of them on the consoles and especially on the cockpit's ceiling. Creator/AlanTudyk, who played the ship's pilot Wash, said that every time he was directed to do something with the ship, he would always flip three switches above him as a sort of "start-up sequence". |
| 102 | * In ''Series/KnightRider'', K.I.T.T's control panel had a lot more buttons than were actually used. The handful that were used, like Turbo Boost and Eject R, were marked clearly, but most of them had obscure labels along the lines of [=7DLX=], [=8PL1=], or [=P AUX=]. |
| 103 | -->'''Devon:''' Welcome on board the Knight 2000.\ |
| 104 | '''Michael:''' Thank you. What's all this? ''[gestures at dashboard]'' Looks like [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]]'s bathroom. |
| 105 | * ''Series/OutOfThisWorld1962'': The gallery in "[[Recap/OutOfThisWorldLittleLostRobot Little Lost Robot]]", from where the characters conduct the [[BluffTheImpostor experiment]], has [[ComputerEqualsTapedrive tape reels]], buttons and levers, as well as [[BeepingComputers whirring and flashing lights]], which shows how complicated the machinery is in Hyperbase 7. |
| 106 | * ''Series/RedDwarf'': |
| 107 | ** Inverted with Holly's ultra-sophisticated, universe traveling, faster-than-light "Holly Hop Drive". It only had two buttons a green one marked "start" and a red one marked "stop", you pressed the green one to start it... |
| 108 | --->'''Holly:''' ...and you can work out the rest of the controls yourself. |
| 109 | ** In ''Back in the Red'', Kryten manages to sway Rimmer into coming with them by promising him his own seat in the cockpit with as many as five buttons at his command. |
| 110 | * The control consoles for starships in ''Franchise/StarTrek''. |
| 111 | ** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' has huge panels filled with unlabeled buttons and switches. Creator/GeorgeTakei, playing helmsman Sulu, subverted the usual ContextSensitiveButton corollary; directed to push a particular button, he refused, saying that based on previous episodes it would blow up the ship. |
| 112 | ** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has illuminated consoles that were touch-sensitive, and we always see crewmembers constantly pushing buttons even when nothing much is happening. |
| 113 | ** In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Paris designs the Delta Flyer with buttons and other manual controls (modeled off a Buck Rogers-esque 1940s movie serial) specifically so he can have a more tactile experience when flying it. Plus RuleOfCool. Also lampshaded by quite a few characters they run into. |
| 114 | ** In the ''Voyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E13MessageInABottle Message in a Bottle]]", the Doctor ends up in the middle of a battle on a Starfleet ship where the only other crew is another EMH who's never even seen bridge controls (and the Doctor himself is hardly an expert, not to mention the ship is a prototype with a new design). |
| 115 | --->'''Doctor:''' What are you waiting for? Shoot! Shoot!\ |
| 116 | '''EMH-2:''' [[LampshadeHanging There are so many controls]]...\ |
| 117 | '''Doctor:''' Find the one that says "fire" and push it! |
| 118 | * The vehicles in ''Series/SuperhumanSamuraiSyberSquad'' are controlled by many flashing unlabelled buttons pushed by untrained teenagers (and on one occasion a high school lunch lady) -- even weirder, considering that the said vehicles are actually [[ItRunsOnNonsenseoleum antivirus software]]. |
| 119 | * ''Series/StrangerThings'': The console in Hawkins Lab opposing the glassed-in portal to the Upside Down has a very high button count. They flash brightly and incoherently when an alarm condition occurs. |
| 120 | * In ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', any time a computer is used, it has not only numerous buttons but also panels full of lights that are not labeled, which blink, usually in a pattern. This is a simultaneously lazy and clever take on contemporaneous ''actual'' computers, which themselves had panels full of lights that ''were'' labeled, and which would blink, usually in a pattern. Since the lights and their labels had meaning only for those few closely familiar with the arcana of a particular machine's operation, the TV versions just show big panels full of blinking lights, since that's all a layman would notice in any case. |
| 121 | * In ''Series/UFO1970'', a montage of flashing lights, [[ComputerEqualsTapedrive spinning tape drives]], [[OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture blocky letters on colored monitors]], [[{{Fanservice}} swaying female buttocks]], and rows of large luminous buttons accompany every RedAlert. |
| 122 | [[/folder]] |
| 123 | |
| 124 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 125 | * Pipe organs, including theatre/cinema organs, often have large numbers of knobs and buttons, as well as pedals and multiple keyboards used during a performance. Knobs and buttons are often set before a performance; if settings are to be changed during a piece, the organist may call upon an assistant to make the changes while they continue to play. |
| 126 | [[/folder]] |
| 127 | |
| 128 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 129 | * ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': The interior of a Battlemech's cockpit is depicted this way, due to the game being "the future of the 80s." In combat, however, most of the buttons and switches aren't used, they're there for non-combat functions or to support functions that that particular mech doesn't have due to cockpit controls being very nearly universal. Most of the time, the pilot just uses the control yoke (which has all the weapon firing studs attached to it), the foot pedals, and [[{{Overheating}} shutdown override button]]. |
| 130 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' |
| 131 | ** The first edition featured an artifact known as [[ArtifactOfDoom the Machine of Lum the Mad]], a device consisting of a large console powered by dozens of dials, plugs, levers, and buttons, none of which are labeled. A sourcebook for Second Edition AD&D introduced the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O, which was essentially a HumongousMecha controlled by around 300 [[GuideDangit unlabelled levers]]. |
| 132 | ** This trope got used numerous times with Creator/GaryGygax and his original gaming group, as they all liked to gamble on random lever pulls. Often Gary would keep two or three different lever or button rooms as SchmuckBait for the players, who couldn't resist pulling them and hoping to get a magic item or a sizable boost in XP -- though just as often they'd end up [[RocksFallEveryoneDies dooming the party instead...]] The infamous Deck of Many Things is based on the same concept. |
| 133 | ** The most button (and dial, and switchboard plug) heavy version of the Machine of Lum the Mad had 8.5x10^48 different combinations, each with the possibility to possess its own unique effect. (And [[FridgeHorror the worst part is]], it would have ''far'' more combination if many of its controls weren't broken.) Obviously, they were not enumerated, but the possibilities do give one the idea why Lum was called "the mad.") |
| 134 | ** A smaller-scale implementation of this is the Apparatus of Kwalish, a lobster-ish seagoing construct that is piloted by sitting inside its barrel-like body. It has ten different levers, each lever has two functions, and none are labeled. Spending some time getting to grips with it is mandatory. |
| 135 | * ''Into the Outdoors with Gun and Camera'', the introductory adventure to ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' 2nd ed, sends the hapless Troubleshooters into wacky adventures on a six-legged amphibious vehicle. The players are presented with a foldout of the vehicle's dashboard with unmarked buttons, gauges, and levers, and of course the instruction manual is not available at their security clearance, leaving WhatDoesThisButtonDo as their only option. Have a nice day-cycle! |
| 136 | [[/folder]] |
| 137 | |
| 138 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 139 | * The Platform/AtariJaguar's controller had seventeen buttons: a normal set of buttons consisting of a directional pad, Pause and Option buttons, and 3 face buttons, and a numerical keypad under them with pound sign and asterisk buttons. The intention was to include game-specific plastic faceplates to be attached on top of them as a reminder of what each button does in that game. Keep in mind that this is a game controller, where all the buttons have to be able to be accessed easily and quickly. This was one of many reasons why it flopped. |
| 140 | ** This is just the standard controller: The Pro Controller adds Z, Y, and X on another row as well as two shoulder buttons for a whopping 22 individual inputs. |
| 141 | ** Before the Atari Jaguar's controller came along, it was Platform/{{Intellivision}}'s controllers, which sports a 12-key "touch tone phone" keypad, two trigger buttons, and a D-pad whose center is yet another button. Coming in close is the Platform/ColecoVision's, which has the same 12-key "touch tone phone" keypad, two trigger buttons, and a joystick (narrowly losing out to the Intellivision by one button); it also hosted the Super Action Controller, which added three extra buttons and a roller wheel. It's no surprise that both platforms did not catch on as well as the Platform/{{Atari 2600}}. Most of what doomed the "telephone keypad" controller designs was the combination of a lousy user interface and a lack of developer interest in actually making all those extra buttons ''do'' something; by contrast, in the entire Atari 2600 lineup there was [[VideoGame/StarRaiders only one game]] that actually had a use for a 12-button keypad, and that game came with one in the box. |
| 142 | ** Hilariously, modern gamepads are coming dangerously close to returning to this trope. The Platform/XboxOne Elite controller has two analog sticks that could also be pushed down as buttons, a four-way D-Pad, two shoulder buttons, two analog triggers that double as additional shoulder buttons when pushed, seven face buttons, and ''four more'' backhand buttons that are triggered by the third and fourth finger on each hand. The [[Platform/PlayStation4 DualShock 4]] and [[Platform/PlayStation5 DualSense]] does not have the backhand buttons but instead has a multitouch pressure-sensitive trackpad, and the [=DualSense=] has an additional face button to activate streaming/sharing mode. |
| 143 | * In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', the Chief usually seems to know just which button to press on any [[{{Precursors}} Forerunner]] control system he comes across. The [[Literature/HaloTheFlood novel adaptation]] of the [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved first game]] lampshades this, with Chief and friends both being rather baffled about it. It's later revealed that the Forerunners encoded genetic instructions into ancient humanity which give some humans instinctual knowledge on how to use Forerunner tech. |
| 144 | * ''Videogame/SteelBattalion'', a $200 HumongousMecha game for the Platform/{{Xbox}}, has a controller approximating what might actually be used to pilot a mech, including an ''ejector switch housed in a plastic cover'' which had to be used if your mech was destroyed or you, the pilot, were blown up too... [[{{Permadeath}} which deleted your saved game]]. Unlike the prior examples, this actually succeeded quite well in its admittedly rather narrow niche. |
| 145 | * The BonusDungeon of ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'' included a (toned down for simplicity of coding) version of the aforementioned Machine of Lum the Mad. The rest of the dungeon provided several notes giving valid combinations (yielding some very nice stat boosts and [[BrokenBridge the key to the next level of the dungeon]]), but hitting switches at random produced random results in [[HilarityEnsues the usual range]] from 'brilliant' (the single largest XP reward in the game) to 'damn' (disintegrate the operator with no saving throw). |
| 146 | * ''{{TabletopGame/Battletech}}: [[Videogame/MechWarrior Firestorm]]'' simulator pods have [=MFDs=] with many buttons that are labeled that control functions from targeting, selecting between group and chain fire, setting pilot mode, and even buttons to shout pre-recorded radio insults to another/all player(s). |
| 147 | ** And the pre-''Firestorm'' version that ran in those same Virtual World pods adds power generator and coolant loop management to the mix via those same [=MFDs=] - features never seen in a home ''[=MechWarrior=]'' release, and likely removed from ''Firestorm'' because that game is literally ''[=MechWarrior=] 4'' in an arcade cockpit. |
| 148 | * ''Videogame/KerbalSpaceProgram'''s "Raster Prop Monitor" GameMod adds [[DiegeticInterface virtual cockpits]] to almost all control pods, with several multi-function displays that can flip between radar, status displays, orbital maps, etc. Each MFD has multiple buttons for controlling the display. Many cockpits also have additional controls such as flip switches (complete with a protective cover) for emergency boosters, parachutes, staging, fuel cut-off, and so on. |
| 149 | ** Inverted for comedic effect in the stock game. Kerbals have a joystick and a BigRedButton for commanding the modules, and... that's about it. |
| 150 | * ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame'' demonstrates that, while ECTO-1's dashboard is mostly a normal dashboard, Egon's backwards-facing "control chair" is one of these. |
| 151 | * Any SimulationGame that puts you in a cockpit will confront you with this by default - see the Real Life section below. Sometimes, it's simplified for ease of gameplay, as in ''VTOL VR''. Other times, with ''Falcon 4.0 BMS'' and ''Digital Combat Simulator'', you'll have to learn what each and every one of those switches actually does, even if you never touch 90% of them after a cold start. |
| 152 | ** And it's not even limited to real-world aircraft and spacecraft, either; ''VideoGame/RogueSystem'' is described as "''DCS'' [[JustForFun/RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE!]]" for a reason, clearly designed by someone who thought that your typical space sim didn't have ''enough'' switches to flick in the cockpit. It makes the likes of ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'' and ''VideoGame/IndependenceWar'' look like simple arcade games by comparison. |
| 153 | ** Taito's ''VideoGame/LandingSeries'' of video games avert this trope, being simulators but designed to be playable by casual arcade customers. The first two games only have a yoke, throttle, and ContextSensitiveButton (used for menus and performing a go-around to retry the stage). ''Landing High Japan'' does add rudders and buttons for flaps, but it's still heavily simplified compared to the likes of many consumer flight simulators. |
| 154 | * ''[[VideoGame/RockBand Rock Band 3]]'''s Fender Mustang Pro Guitar controller has 102 buttons on its neck, simulating 6 strings across 17 frets. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 158 | * In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' Riff and [[MadScientist Mad Scientists]] in general love this trope. You'd think Riff would learn to cut down on the bright buttons since he has [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny Kiki]] living with him. |
| 159 | * ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'': When Doc has to fly a spaceship, casually notes that it should be the same as or easier than flying a plane. When he actually gets into the cockpit, he stammers that he doesn't know what the buttons do. |
| 160 | * Inverted in ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge''. Dr. Light's time machine only has one button, but a number of complicated procedures built around pushing it to use the suit's various functions. |
| 161 | [[/folder]] |
| 162 | |
| 163 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 164 | * The eponymous giant robot in ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' has buttons for every occasion. In one episode, he hits a series of buttons labeled, in this order, "Missiles," "More Missiles," and "[[MacrossMissileMassacre All da Missiles.]]" In another, after declaring he was going into Super Destructor Mode, Coop presses a button labeled, "You heard him kids Super Destructor Mode!" Once, when trapped in a cocoon with a giant alien insect queen bearing down on them, Coop and his pals look over all the hundreds of buttons on the console and find themselves having to decide between "Break Out of Cocoon" and "Kill Giant Insect." He also installed three buttons that could destroy the planet ("Destroy the World," "Smite the World," and "Destroy the World Worse"), but the "Save the World" button was out of order when he needed it the most. Heck, there's a button in the series finale for "Just Got Hit With A Giant Taser?" which zaps the guy with the taser by sending a charge along his own wires. |
| 165 | ** ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' is the king of this trope when it comes to labels - in that same finale, the gearshift reads "P R N D Save Jamie". When Jamie is being trapped under a collapsing column in the dystopian alternate universe, guess into what gear Coop shifts? That's right. |
| 166 | ** In another episode, Coop retorts to the villain, "Maybe you'll like ''this'' better, then!" The button he presses is marked "THIS BETTER THEN", which makes no sense in any other context (What does THIS BETTER THEN do? It extends axe blades from Megas' forearm, and then the arm extends to perform the giant-robot equivalent of a heart-rip-out fatality). |
| 167 | ** And let's not forget the (in)famous "5 minutes to the end of the episode"-button |
| 168 | ** For a miniature version (who knew it was possible?) the ultimate controller used in ''Rearview Mirror Mirror''. About the size of Coop's face covered in little buttons for an infinite number of combinations for battle moves, including one for interdimensional travel. |
| 169 | *** Or how about the face-sized "Headbutt Button" [[ArtisticLicenseBiology (placed above the steering wheel on the dash)]]? To make Megas execute a headbutt, Coop must headbutt the gigantic red button, but not before a quick open-mouthed head-shake in proper LargeHam fashion. |
| 170 | * In a similar vein to the above example, ''WesternAnimation/MikesNewCar'', the short attached to ''Monsters, Inc.'', had the titular automobile with an array of devices and doohickeys. Naturally, every single one of them is [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo unlabeled.]] |
| 171 | * Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Sideshow Bob enters a fighter jet to escape pursuit. The cockpit has two buttons: Stop and Fly. Bob remarks, "Thank god for the idiot-proof air force!" |
| 172 | ** It shows up again in "500 Keys" with the Duff blimp, which only has a stop and a go button. Homer still complains about how many buttons there are. |
| 173 | ** A similar gag was done in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', justified (sort of?) in that the people in the airplanes were ''babies.'' The three buttons were LIFT OFF, FIRE MISSILES, and... a clowny face. It doesn't do anything, just enjoy it. |
| 174 | ** Played straight when Lisa encounters a Chinese keyboard.[[note]]Old Chinese "typewriter" keyboards literally did have a button/printing die for each character. Each typewriter has multiple keyboards, each with around a thousand characters. A professional typist averages around 20wpm. The University of Sydney Rare Book collection owns a 1920s Chinese typewriter. It's about 1.5m wide and weighs several hundred kilograms.[[/note]] |
| 175 | ** Played straight when you look at Homer's job. The show had fun with it when they forced him to demonstrate his knowledge in a simulator. |
| 176 | *** For reference, he manages to cause a nuclear meltdown in a simulator that's not connected to anything. The testers are as baffled as anyone else. |
| 177 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "WesternAnimation/DesignForLeaving", Elmer Fudd's house is made over into an automated home with a panel of dozens of buttons that activate the various features. Includes one BigRedButton which he must never, ''ever'' push. ([[SchmuckBait He does, of course.]]) |
| 178 | ** Another Looney Tunes example appears in the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny short "WesternAnimation/HareLift", which features a massive new plane with this kind of control panel. |
| 179 | * Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' when Sonic sabotages Robotnik's oil drilling operation, though he takes out the drilling probes with their emergency destruct button first. ("I wonder what'll happen if I punch ''all'' these buttons? Only one way to find out!") He proceeds to do just that while singing a slight remix of the song he sang earlier in the episode, thus causing the drilling platform's destruction. |
| 180 | * ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' had an episode where Orson and the chicks imagine they're in a spaceship. When they get in trouble they ask Orson which of the countless unlabeled buttons will save them, to which he replies the spaceship is imaginary and to just pick one. |
| 181 | * Parodied during an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', while Shake pokes around the button-laden ship of the Plutonians. |
| 182 | -->'''Ogelthorpe:''' Quit pushing the buttons!\ |
| 183 | '''Shake:''' This whole ship's a bunch of buttons! |
| 184 | * The Ghostbuggy in ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters'' is supposed to have these, but [[OffModel its layout is never totally consistent]]. |
| 185 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' started with Stan having to show a new CIA-powered armor, which is a killing machine that can perform delicate tasks such as defusing a bomb or adjusting a pearl necklace. When Stan is perplexed with what to do, the camera pulls back three times to show ''all'' the buttons in the control console. It ends about as well as you'd expect. |
| 186 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Olaf]]'s SupervillainLair has control boards full of buttons. [[spoiler: In Episode 104, [[TheDitz Stumpy]] has no idea how to operate anything, so he presses all the buttons. This releases Kaeloo, Quack Quack, and Mr. Cat, who had been trapped, but he presses the BigRedButton to destroy the lair too.]] |
| 187 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': The episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" has [=SpongeBob=] "borrowing" Mermaid Man's belt and using its ShrinkRay on everything. When he uses it on Squidward to prevent him from phoning Mermaid Man about it, Squidward demands that [=SpongeBob=] turn him back to normal, but [=SpongeBob=] has difficulty trying to figure out how to put the ray in reverse. The camera zooms in on the belt showing it to be covered in several dozen buttons, levers, monitors, meters, dials, etc. |
| 188 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' spoofed the design of the Platform/Nintendo64's controller with Grim trying to use one that had about 15 buttons, 6 lights, 3 control sticks, 2 steering wheels, and 4 handles with a gun trigger in one. |
| 189 | * The Creator/TexAvery cartoon "WesternAnimation/TVOfTomorrow" shows a television set with dozens of dials and knobs. The set of the future is then shown with only one knob, but a closeup shows that knob covered with dozens of tinier knobs. |
| 190 | [[/folder]] |
| 191 | |
| 192 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 193 | * The [[UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} Space Shuttle]]. The "glass cockpit", added later in the Orbiters' lives, added additional visual screens while reducing the number of buttons by a few dozen or so. |
| 194 | * Many recent [=MIDI=] controllers have arrays of buttons, keys, and knobs that are completely programmable and thus unlabelled. |
| 195 | ** [[http://monome.org Monome]] units are only ranks of up to 256 light-up buttons. |
| 196 | ** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WQU-Lrm3D8 Station MIDI Controller]] is just lights, knobs, and buttons. |
| 197 | * What analog audio mixing consoles lack in buttons they make up in knobs. A mid-size console with parametric EQ can have well over one thousand knobs. |
| 198 | * Professional-grade electronics feature a myriad of buttons and switches placed in every available space while consumer-grade electronics are much simpler and rely on options accessed through a menu. Aside from the fact that professionals need more features, they also need to be able to quickly adjust settings on the fly and it's faster to simply flick a switch or press a button through feel instead of fiddling through menu options. |
| 199 | * Concorde, the world-famous supersonic airliner. While the pilot controls aren't too different from the usual "Gauges EVERYWHERE" affair for a 1970s plane, behind the copilot there is an engineering station completely covered in buttons, switches, and gauges to monitor and control the jet engines. |
| 200 | * Mozilla Firefox is arguably the virtual equivalent: go to about:config, click through the cutesy warning if need be, and let your mind boggle at the sheer number of options. Made even better by the fact that a number of settings [[GuideDangIt aren't even there by default]]; luckily, [[http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries there's a manual]]. |
| 201 | * Have a look at a UsefulNotes/FormulaOne [[http://i.imgur.com/zaGim.jpg steering wheel]]. |
| 202 | * Or better yet, the control panel of a [[http://englishrussia.com/2011/03/19/nuclear-power-plant-machine-halls/ Nuclear Power Plant.]] |
| 203 | * The modern "glass cockpit" design trend, sort of an intermediary between this trope and outright touchscreens, condenses big panels full of mechanical controls and gauges into multi-mode computer displays and "soft buttons" which take on a variety of functions depending on which mode a given display is in at the moment. However, while a glass cockpit might ''duplicate'' critical functions, it cannot safely ''replace'' them, since the glass cockpit hardware requires electrical power and sensor integration which the old-fashioned mechanical instruments do not, and there are many kinds of emergency that can disable the former but not the latter. |
| 204 | * QWERTY keyboards, by comparison with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard chorded keyboard]] design which was once expected to supplant it. They're usually labelled, but there are blank keyboards and keycap sets available, for the benefit of touch-typists in training or people who already touch-type quite well and just want to fancy up their rig. |
| 205 | ** {{Exaggerated|Trope}} with the IBM 1397000 122-key (aka the IBM PS/2 Host Connected) keyboard[[http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/ibm_1397000.html]]. It's intended for use with a conversion set that makes an IBM PS/2 microcomputer into a mainframe terminal emulator, and thus supplies a wide variety of keys that a micro doesn't need but a mainframe terminal does. |
| 206 | ** [[SerialEscalation If that still isn't enough buttons for you]], [=SteelSeries=] has the Apex- a keyboard for gamers with a whopping '''138''' keys[[https://steelseries.com/gaming-keyboards/apex-350]], aping the layout of the 1397000 and then some. And that's just the US English version. The Japanese version has three extra keys for language specifics (kanji/latin, hiragana/katakana, and kanji conversion toggle), bringing the number of keys up to a mind-boggling '''141'''. |
| 207 | ** Before the IBM 1397000, there was the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-cadet_keyboard MIT Space-cadet keyboard]], used with special terminals called LISP machines at MIT. Although it had only exactly 100 keys (contemporary personal computers from the time had much fewer keys), it was also ''chorded'', meaning occasionally you'll need to push several other keys alongside the letter key. There was even a joke RFC to add a set of foot pedals to the keyboard since the designers constantly complained that there were not enough modifier keys. |
| 208 | ** The [[http://gaming.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-gaming-k95-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-white-led-cherry-mx-red Corsair K95]] backlit gaming keyboard is no slouch. While it features only 18 programmable (and [[ExaggeratedTrope combinable]]) macro keys compared to the Apex's 26 squeezed partly over the function keys - they're all fully sized and located on their own left partition of the keyboard. Across [[SerialEscalation three preset modes switchable on the fly]], bringing the macro count up to '''54''', 18 at a time, not including '''(122^122)*3 theoretical combinations.''' On most keyboards, inputting large blocks of keys at once is impossible and indeed [[AwesomeButImpractical quite impractical]]. Still, almost all buttons on the K95, save for media/volume control and keyboard settings, are ''full-sized mechanical keys'' with your choice of Cherry MX switches. All 122 mechanical keys can be rolled over at once and register ''122 valid inputs'', compared to the Apex's puny limit of 6 simultaneous keypresses, imposed by a less expensive design that economizes on part count at the cost of capability. It's also [[KineticClicking loud, like a keyboard should be.]] If that isn't enough, Corsair offers a [[http://gaming.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-gaming-k95-rgb-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-cherry-mx-red 16 Million RGB Color Per-Key Backlit Model]] for ~$200, capable of all manner of effects and animations. |
| 209 | ** And then there are gaming mice with up to 20 buttons. They're mostly only used by MMORPG and RTS fans who can actually put all those extra macro keys to good use for quick-casting spells, rapidly locating and issuing orders to lots of dispersed units while using the other hand only for screen scrolling. |
| 210 | * Not technically physical buttons, but Platform/{{UNIX}} command line programs often have dozens of optional flags that may or may not combine, leading to a feeling of this trope. The UNIX philosophy is that simple, smaller programs with a single main function interact via I/O to form a larger operating system, but in practice, it's often much more straightforward from the developer's perspective to add functionality to an existing program than to write a whole new one just to do something that's only slightly different, so existing programs grow flags, often in astonishing profusion. All the possible input flags for a program are typically outlined on the ''[[AllThereInTheManual man]]'' page - [[MindScrew if you can understand]] the [[ViewersAreGeniuses developers' own documentation]]. Most non-geeks just stick to Windows GUI and call it a day. |
| 211 | ** Two words: '''Gentoo Linux'''. Two more words: '''USE Flags'''. Every single package, every program down to the ''kernel'', is compiled from source, tailored to your ''exact, explicit'' hardware and software specifications set beforehand. The next step in customization would be Linux from Scratch or creating your own personal forks of programs. [[EveryoneHasStandards Most people, even Linux geeks]], [[AwesomeButImpractical see no need for this, or indeed for compiling everything from source Gentoo-style.]] Gentoo is used mostly for servers with a very specific hardware configuration, for a very small gain in performance to add up over longtime 24/7 operation. Desktop "ricers" and hobbyists tend to veer more toward the precompiled binaries of Arch Linux. |
| 212 | * Creator/{{Sony}}'s first range of Google TV-powered smart [=TVs=] and boxes from 2010 to 2012 used...[[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c7/4b/45/c74b45a0375a2aef43b9769199033397.jpg this monstrosity]]; it even had shoulder buttons akin to Sony's [[Platform/PlayStation3 [=DualShock=] 3]]. Fortunately, their next Google TV remote had the good sense to [[https://demo.idg.com.au/idgns/images/d622eda797-sony_internet_player_3.jpg keep the keyboard on the other side of the remote]]; [[https://demo.idg.com.au/idgns/images/c96f1db382-sony_internet_player_2.jpg the top of this version had way fewer buttons]], though it had a massive trackpad too (yay?). |
| 213 | * Pilots of the famous A-10 Warthog (that would be the American [[strike:attack plane]] [[GatlingGood giant rotary cannon]] with a plane wrapped around it) are expected to not only be able to use the ''many'' buttons, knobs, and switches in the cockpit (the design predates the glass-cockpit concept), but they are expected to be able to do so blindfolded during training in case they have a problem while flying at night. |
| 214 | ** The [=A-10A=] has a relatively simple stick and throttle alongside a very analog Stores Management System (the panel that controls everything mounted under the wings and fuselage), but the later [=A-10C=] variant, while similar on the outside, modernizes the cockpit inside to the point of adding an up-front controls panel for inputting data, two Multi-Function Displays on each side, replaces the analog Stores Management System with a digital one accessed through said [=MFDs=] and control panel, and most of all, overhauls the relatively simplistic flight stick and throttle to a modern Hands-On Throttle And Stick design (itself summed up as this trope) with the old B-8 grip replaced with one akin to the [=F-16C=]. The [=A-10C=] HOTAS implementation allows the pilot to manage the plane's weapons, countermeasures, and even the new support for targeting pods without having to let go of the controls but adds a steep enough learning curve that conversion training is required. |
| 215 | *** Oh, and if you're a simulator fan who goes between ''Falcon 4.0 BMS'' and ''Digital Combat Simulator'' a lot with a Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar or Warthog controller to match, [[DamnYouMuscleMemory don't expect the stick bindings to match up just because they look similar.]] |
| 216 | * Analog or virtual-analog synthesizers. Even more so, modular synthesizers. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that [[TheSixties 1960s]] and [[TheSeventies 1970s]] tech level required one controller for each parameter, and that today this actually makes synths ''easier'' to tweak than more modern ones which require sifting through dozens of menus with either one knob for everything or none at all. |
| 217 | * The [[http://www.synthmaster.de/ekodrum.htm EKO Computerhythm]], the first programmable drum machine. Speaking of stuff used by Music/JeanMichelJarre, the [[http://www.jarrography.free.fr/details_equipement_audio.php?id_equip=31 Geiss Digisequencer]]. Then again, how much more straightforward can sequence programming be than a hardware piano roll? |
| 218 | * Modern roller coasters, such as [[http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/great_adventure_114.jpg El Toro]], [[http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/ttd4.jpg Top Thrill Dragster]], and [[http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/great_adventure_052.jpg Kingda Ka]] have lots of buttons, but most of them are only used for maintenance. |
| 219 | * In general, almost any complex piece of equipment, which needs to support detailed user control in real time, will either start out honoring this trope or grow into it over time. |
| 220 | * Surprisingly subverted by some modern spacecraft. Behold, the mighty [[https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/30/21275753/nasa-spacex-astronauts-fly-crew-dragon-touchscreen-controls tablet-fu of SpaceX Dragon 2]]. |
| 221 | [[/folder]] |
| 222 |
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