Worst use of Deus Ex Machina you've ever seen

Soviet Heavy

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The worst has got to be from Killzone 3's ending.
You are facing down an entire armada with only a few stolen starfighters, then out of nowhere Rico yells "Fire the Nuke!"

What nuke? I didn't see one on the ship when we started. But we suddenly have a nuke, which manages to not only blow up an entire goddamn fleet, but irradiate an ENTIRE planet too.

And then the credits roll. Seriously, it's about as abrupt as the ending of Kane and Lynch 2.
 

Pappytech

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Jun 7, 2011
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Foxblade618 said:
Tuesday Night Fever said:


Hand down the shark-repellant Batspray!
OK, you almost win. But you made me think about something from the same movie - "Thank goodness for that dolphin who sacrificed himself to save us from that torpedo" -paraphrased
I'm fairly certain Batman's utility belt contains a pocket dimension, considering all the gadgets he magically pulls out of it.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Right as they encounter The Terrible Black Beast of Aaaaaaaugh (or whatever it was), and get chased in an animated sequence, and they're all about to die, they manage to JUST get off the screen while the beast is BARELY onscreen when the animator had the heart attack that killed him. Basically, they escaped by not being drawn at the same time as the monster, so it dissolved, and they got away back into the real world and continued on.

I'll forgive it, though, as it was absolutely hilarious.

GAWRSH. DRATTED. NIN-JAS.
 

DaHero

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Foxblade618 said:
Tuesday Night Fever said:


Hand down the shark-repellant Batspray!
OK, you almost win. But you made me think about something from the same movie - "Thank goodness for that dolphin who sacrificed himself to save us from that torpedo" -paraphrased
I think it was a porpoise but I get your point, that's closer than anything.
 

Moc

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dyre said:
Macbeth.

Oracle: "You really only have to worry about dying when the forest moves from here to there, and no man born of a mother's womb can kill you."
Macbeth: "Oh lol, looks like I'll have no probl---"
Scout: "Sir, the enemy army is moving the forest by cutting down branches to use as cover (wtf)!"
Macbeth: "Oh, shit. Well, at least no man born of a mother---"
Macduff: "Ohey Macbeth, did I ever tell you I was born from a C-section?"
Macbeth: "FFFffffffffffffffff---"
*head chopped off*
I think you got a point there, but would you say that the drama would be better if Macbeth would win the final battle? I for one think it is funny that Macbeth is running around like "LOLOLOL no one could kill me" and then someone he hated the whole story appears and tells him:"You think you are invincible? Well I know your weakness! I am your weakness!"
 

Azaraxzealot

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RabbidKuriboh said:
i direct you to every last turn in every episode of yugioh ever
if that's not a win in this thread then i don't know what is.

but i'd like to point out Dragon Age as well.

it's never explained WHY they can do what they do and WHY they are the only ones who can do it, but for some reason they just so happen to? wow. :p
 

Kahunaburger

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dyre said:
Macbeth.

Oracle: "You really only have to worry about dying when the forest moves from here to there, and no man born of a mother's womb can kill you."
Macbeth: "Oh lol, looks like I'll have no probl---"
Scout: "Sir, the enemy army is moving the forest by cutting down branches to use as cover (wtf)!"
Macbeth: "Oh, shit. Well, at least no man born of a mother---"
Macduff: "Ohey Macbeth, did I ever tell you I was born from a C-section?"
Macbeth: "FFFffffffffffffffff---"
*head chopped off*
That's more of a prophecy twist [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ProphecyTwist] than a Deus ex Machina.
 

Waaghpowa

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Apr 13, 2010
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What about Sensu beans from Dragon Ball Z? What makes them capable of healing any wound and restore energy? I honestly don't know if it's been mentioned at any point.
 

Mr. Omega

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Jul 1, 2010
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The Hougyoku (I think that's how it's spelled...) from Bleach. At first, it had a simple purpose. By the final fight, it literally became a Deus Ex Machina generator. Aizen put a long explanation as to what it could do, but here's the summary: "It does whatever the fuck I want it to do."
 

Moc

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RabbidKuriboh said:
i direct you to every last turn in every episode of yugioh ever
In my opinion this became worse during "YuGiOh GX" or what it was called: First the protagonist drops to 100 hitpoints, then he draws "Pot of Greed" which he uses to draw two cards which he could fuse or combo with another card he already had on his hand. Then he bashes his opponent into pieces from like 2800 Hitpoints.
I once had a theory about the card "Pot of Greed": When you have 100 Hitpoints you have a higher chance to draw this card because of the heart of cards
 

OrenjiJusu

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Pappytech said:
Foxblade618 said:
Tuesday Night Fever said:
OK, you almost win. But you made me think about something from the same movie - "Thank goodness for that dolphin who sacrificed himself to save us from that torpedo" -paraphrased
I'm fairly certain Batman's utility belt contains a pocket dimension, considering all the gadgets he magically pulls out of it.
Nah hes just managed to get a hold of several Bags of Holding and gaffa taped them to his belt.

Azaraxzealot said:
RabbidKuriboh said:
i direct you to every last turn in every episode of yugioh ever
if that's not a win in this thread then i don't know what is.

but i'd like to point out Dragon Age as well.

it's never explained WHY they can do what they do and WHY they are the only ones who can do it, but for some reason they just so happen to? wow. :p
Actually it is, They drank from the blood of an arch-demon, gaining a slim measure of power just from that, and the whole "Only you can save the world!" thing is because of the arch-demons ability to put its soul into other darkspawn when it dies, because a warden is technically a darkspawn through the joining, it goes into them and then it kinda dies. along with the warden.
 

Krunkcity3000

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The last 10min of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen; Hands Down. End of Thread. Deus ex Machina pun FULLY intended and the irony will make ur head explode.

A boy dies. Talks to the Robot father, son and holy ghost about gayness only to be resurrected by robots to then resurrect dead Optimus with angel dust from a tube sock. But still not enough, a gay version of Jetfire literally rips his heart out to make Optimus Prime a Prime(I guess?!) Optimus now has a jetpack and kills everyone with P.O.K.E. 2.0 and the credits roll.
 

Moc

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Krunkcity3000 said:
The last 10min of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen; Hands Down. End of Thread. Deus ex Machina pun FULLY intended and the irony will make ur head explode.

A boy dies. Talks to the Robot father, son and holy ghost about gayness only to be resurrected by robots to then resurrect dead Optimus with angel dust from a tube sock. But still not enough, a gay version of Jetfire literally rips his heart out to make Optimus Prime a Prime(I guess?!) Optimus now has a jetpack and kills everyone with P.O.K.E. 2.0 and the credits roll.
Na, thats just shitty writing and not DXM
 

Krunkcity3000

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Moc said:
Krunkcity3000 said:
The last 10min of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen; Hands Down. End of Thread. Deus ex Machina pun FULLY intended and the irony will make ur head explode.

A boy dies. Talks to the Robot father, son and holy ghost about gayness only to be resurrected by robots to then resurrect dead Optimus with angel dust from a tube sock. But still not enough, a gay version of Jetfire literally rips his heart out to make Optimus Prime a Prime(I guess?!) Optimus now has a jetpack and kills everyone with P.O.K.E. 2.0 and the credits roll.
Na, thats just shitty writing and not DXM



I disagree, it is both.
 

LoFr3Eq

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Moc said:
RabbidKuriboh said:
i direct you to every last turn in every episode of yugioh ever
In my opinion this became worse during "YuGiOh GX" or what it was called: First the protagonist drops to 100 hitpoints, then he draws "Pot of Greed" which he uses to draw two cards which he could fuse or combo with another card he already had on his hand. Then he bashes his opponent into pieces from like 2800 Hitpoints.
I once had a theory about the card "Pot of Greed": When you have 100 Hitpoints you have a higher chance to draw this card because of the heart of cards
Whenever my brothers and I would watch Yugioh, whenever someone played Pot of Greed, we would all chant together "It's combo time!" and this was through series 1 onwards, seriously, dumb card is dumb.
 

auronvi

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CM156 said:
Pappytech said:
How did Squall survive the shard of ice to the chest in FFVIII?
Some think he didn't [http://squallsdead.com/]
Thank you for this, it is a really good interpretation of the events of the game and compells me to replay it for the third time and see if I believe that's what happened.

This reminds me of an arguement that I would have at my lunch table all the time in high school. In Final Fantasy VII, is Cloud just a clone of Sephiroth? That theory has been since debunked with all the new FFVII fluff but at the time it was a good argument if you just used the game for reference. I supported Cloud in not being a clone and was right in the end... HAHA!

OT: Dragon Ball Z is the worst at this. Everyone has a new special move hidden that ends up saving the day.

I think its a sign of good writing when you can make something happen that surprises you but then you think back to either earlier in the series or movie and remember them subtly mentioning that this is possible.

An example I can take right now is in the Cell Saga for DBZ. Gohan defeats Cell with a Kamehameha that is powered not only by his own strength but also from his Father who just recently died. Maybe if something similar happened in a past episode or they mentioned that the bond between a Father and Son could make you a stronger fighter but no, Super Father-Son Kamehameha is born.
 

Yellow Journalist

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Out of the above examples, none of the ones I'm familiar with are true dei ex machina. Yeah, that's right, I declined the Latin noun correctly. Or at least attempted to, it's been a long time since I took Latin. If that strikes you as pretentious, probably don't read the rest of this post.

The OP correctly defines a deus ex machina as a "plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.)"

The HL2 gravity gun surviving disintegration and becoming superpowered doesn't fit as a deus ex machina. Yeah, it takes on new and unexpected powers, but we've been told that the gravity gun was exceptional and revolutionary. And metanarratively, we know the GG is central to the narrative and mechanics because Valve is basically saying "physics OMG LOL" the whole time, and teaching us how to use it in myriad situations and against myriad enemies.

The action movie cliche of a hero succeeding because he's angered by the death of a loved one doesn't qualify either. It's certainly implausible, sappy, and narratively weak - but it's not a deus ex machina. The character and his/her relationship to the hero appeared beforehand, as did the villain's malevolent/murderous tendencies. A "twist", or a new plot development, is not immediately a deus ex machina, even if it feels unearned.

Same goes for James Bond's gadgets - they're introduced well before they're used, and we're made familiar with their properties. It's certainly contrived that the precise situations where these gadgets are most useful emerge so conveniently, but not every contrivance is a deus ex machina.

So what is a deus ex machina? The best example I can think of is the end of Saving Private Ryan. As a wounded Tom Hanks is ineffectually shooting at an advancing tank with his pistol, it explodes. For one dumb half-second, we wonder if a bullet found some ***** in the armor, igniting the tank's ammunition or fuel supply by some freak ricochet. And then a P-51 Mustang soars through the smoke and flame. A jubilant soldier calls the planes "angels on our shoulders."

As dei ex machina go, this actually works pretty damn well. At no point during the final battle were we told that the soldiers could expect relief or air support - we actually get the opposite message. But throughout the movie, Spielberg has told us that war is chaos and randomness. In the opening Omaha Beach scene, whole PT boats get slaughtered before the soldiers even make landfall. One of those men could have been the best soldier in the entire war, but it didn't matter. Sometimes you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But sometimes, you get lucky. So Spielberg pulls it off.
 

icame

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The end of Kotor 2 where the ship comes out of nowhere from the belly of the planet to rescue the protagonist. -.-