...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Cow Tools

486 statements
92 feature instances
51 referencing feature instances

Cow Tools	type	FeatureClass
Cow Tools	label	Cow Tools
Cow Tools	page	CowTools
Cow Tools	comment	In many exotic locations such as the Bazaar of the Bizarre, the Black Market, the Mad Scientist Laboratory, the Wizard's Cave, Darkest Africa, or The Future, there will be a lot of odd bits of mysterious... stuff... lying about. What is it? What does it do? Why is it there? Well, chances are it isn't anything. While some of it may be a genuine bit of Applied Phlebotinum put there as Foreshadowing, much of the time it's just Cow Tools: props or artwork that the designer of the scene threw in to add to the color or atmosphere of the place. This doesn't stop the fans from wildly speculating about them, though. The Other Wiki refers to these details-for-details'-sake objects as "greebles." Named for a notorious The Far Side cartoon, showing a bipedal cow standing at a bench on which are laid out a set of primitive-looking and only vaguely recognisable implements, captioned simply "Cow tools". Creator Gary Larson, in a compilation book with a section dedicated to the screw-ups and controversial cartoons from his career, said it was the one cartoon he'd gotten the most enquiries about — as people tried in vain to figure out what the hell they were for. (One letter wrote "What is the meaning of Cow Tools? What is the meaning of life?") In fact, Larson hadn't meant them to be anything, except strange. He got the idea from an anthropology class regarding animals using tools, and just wondered what it would be like if cows had tools.note He believes his biggest mistake was thinking this was funny, which it was for different reasons than what he intended — and he regretted making one of the objects look vaguely like a saw, thus implying the rest had real-world counterparts. On the other hand, the fact that there is No Such Thing as Bad Publicity no doubt attracted more readers to the strip and boosted Larson's circulation. Go figure. One thing about Cow Tools is that they can be useful for hiding a clever Chekhov's Gun among them. Everything else has no purpose in the story, except for that one thing... Cow Tools are similar to Noodle Implements in that they both invite speculation; the difference is that the former are inherently obscure and/or peculiar, whereas the latter are ordinary in and of themselves but have a mysterious and unexplained connection to some event.
Cow Tools	fetched	2023-07-22T14:14:17Z
Cow Tools	parsed	2023-07-22T14:14:17Z
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to AdventureGame: Not an Item - IGNORE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to AnalProbing: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to BagOfHolding: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to BuffySpeak: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to InUniverse: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to InsistentTerminology: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to LabcoatOfScienceAndMedicine: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to Lampshaded: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to MadeFromRealGirlScouts: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to NoBudget: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to PlayedStraight: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to ShowWithinAShow: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to SteamPunk: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to SubvertedTrope: Not an Item - CAT
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to SuperSargassoSea: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to UtilityBelt: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	processingComment	Dropped link to lampshadehanging: Not an Item - FEATURE
Cow Tools	isPartOf	DBTropes
Cow Tools / int_110d4471	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_110d4471	comment	In Predator, the Predator is injured by Mac during the More Dakka scene, and uses a variety of alien Cow Tools to patch the wound. According to the director, these are based on actual veterinary tools.
Cow Tools / int_110d4471	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_110d4471	featureConfidence	1.0
Predator	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_110d4471
Cow Tools / int_11859033	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_11859033	comment	At one point in Narbonic Dr. Madblood shows Dave his workbench of test-tubes full of colored liquids. He takes offense when Dave points out that, as a roboticist, he has absolutely no use for any sort of colored liquids.
Cow Tools / int_11859033	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_11859033	featureConfidence	1.0
Narbonic (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_11859033
Cow Tools / int_11b7db91	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_11b7db91	comment	Adventure Time: In Castle Lemongrab, Finn and Jake find a hallway connecting several small, identical rooms, each one holding nothing but a pedestal with a catcher's mitt on top. Storyboard artist Thomas Herpich said in his blog that these rooms were simply meant to be "weird and mysterious", but later was explained to be Lemongrab's disturbingly inept attempt at trying to understand normal society.
Cow Tools / int_11b7db91	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_11b7db91	featureConfidence	1.0
Adventure Time	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_11b7db91
Cow Tools / int_135d6dd0	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_135d6dd0	comment	The interior of the Seaview in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and its TV follow-up is full of random flashing lights, switches, screens, boxes, and wires that don't serve any apparent purpose. The lights are so prominent a character actually says "it's always Christmas on a submarine."
Cow Tools / int_135d6dd0	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_135d6dd0	featureConfidence	1.0
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_135d6dd0
Cow Tools / int_14f9297e	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_14f9297e	comment	The Far Side: Gary Larson drew a number of cartoons with objects that aren't supposed to have any apparent function: The trope namer is a cartoon in which a cow is standing by a table of oddly shaped implements, with the caption "Cow tools". The joke is simply that if cows had tools, they would be crude and strange, but many readers wanted to analyze the shapes of the things for a deeper message. In another strip, gangsters torturing a hostage bring out what they call "Mr. Thingy", which looks like a fishing rod attached to a bicycle horn with a carrot on the string. In "Edgar finds his purpose", a man digging around the couch finds a ball with springs coming off of it, including one with a duck's head attached.
Cow Tools / int_14f9297e	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_14f9297e	featureConfidence	1.0
The Far Side (Comic Strip)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_14f9297e
Cow Tools / int_15d17004	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_15d17004	comment	The cigarette-smoking machine showed up again in Guy Ritchie's Holmes films, which love making little references to previous versions.
Cow Tools / int_15d17004	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_15d17004	featureConfidence	1.0
Sherlock Holmes (2009)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_15d17004
Cow Tools / int_19d740d8	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_19d740d8	comment	Basil of Baker Street has a lot of these lying around his flat in The Great Mouse Detective. Most have a fairly easily discernible purpose, though — for example devices for producing cigarette ash and footprints for analysis. The cigarette-smoking machine showed up again in Guy Ritchie's Holmes films, which love making little references to previous versions.
Cow Tools / int_19d740d8	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_19d740d8	featureConfidence	1.0
The Great Mouse Detective	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_19d740d8
Cow Tools / int_1bf50b05	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_1bf50b05	comment	The film The Shape of Things to Come, fondly remembered by B-movie fans as "Blinky Blinky" due to the tons of weird machines with blinking lights in almost every scene.
Cow Tools / int_1bf50b05	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_1bf50b05	featureConfidence	1.0
The Shape of Things to Come	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_1bf50b05
Cow Tools / int_1c5e55fc	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_1c5e55fc	comment	Watermelons also appear in the oddest places. A The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension homage?
Cow Tools / int_1c5e55fc	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_1c5e55fc	featureConfidence	1.0
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_1c5e55fc
Cow Tools / int_1e015a5d	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_1e015a5d	comment	In The Empire Strikes Back, during the evacuation of Cloud City, an extra can be seen in the background running with a large cylindrical device tucked under his arm, which became memetic when some fans recognized it as an unmodified, off-the-shelf ice cream machine. The original Expanded Universe named him Willrow Hood and claimed the device was a computer core filled with sensitive information on the Rebellion; Canon kept his name, but turned the thing into a portable safe called a camtono, referencing a viral video where an infant trying to say “ice cream” pronounces it “camtono”.
Cow Tools / int_1e015a5d	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_1e015a5d	featureConfidence	1.0
The Empire Strikes Back	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_1e015a5d
Cow Tools / int_2372359	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_2372359	comment	In The Belgariad, Belgarath's tower is full of odd gadgets that are implied to be instruments he's invented to help in his eclectic research over the course of seven millennia. For example, one of them was meant to help him discover why mountains exist, but he can't put into layman's terms exactly how it was supposed to do that. note And it was apparently inadequate to the task, because he admits he still doesn't know why mountains exist.
Cow Tools / int_2372359	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_2372359	featureConfidence	1.0
The Belgariad	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_2372359
Cow Tools / int_23b84765	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_23b84765	comment	In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Elrond is seen fiddling with a telescope... thing.
Cow Tools / int_23b84765	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_23b84765	featureConfidence	1.0
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_23b84765
Cow Tools / int_261c8d3f	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_261c8d3f	comment	The Simpsons In "Homer vs. Patty and Selma", Homer has a dream where he's rich and successful after inventing some kind of device. Both Homer and the viewers are left equally clueless as to what the device is or what it does.
Cow Tools / int_261c8d3f	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_261c8d3f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Simpsons	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_261c8d3f
Cow Tools / int_2abd5315	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_2abd5315	comment	The Whose Line Is It Anyway? game "Props": the performers are handed a Cow Tool, and they invent several possible uses for it.
Cow Tools / int_2abd5315	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_2abd5315	featureConfidence	1.0
Whose Line Is It Anyway?	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_2abd5315
Cow Tools / int_2c2a56e3	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_2c2a56e3	comment	In The Phantom Menace, several implements hanging on the wall of Anakin and his mother's home on Tatooine are actually NERF scoops spraypainted to resemble alien tools of some kind.
Cow Tools / int_2c2a56e3	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_2c2a56e3	featureConfidence	1.0
The Phantom Menace	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_2c2a56e3
Cow Tools / int_33728d94	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_33728d94	comment	Dragaera: During Vlad's first private conversation with Zerika, the Empress leads him along a very long, featureless corridor that doesn't connect to anything, it just loops around from the throne room to the throne room. The two of them surmise that it only exists because members of House Phoenix and House Tiassa find it easier to think about things as they're walking; for an Emperor or Empress from any other House, the corridor would be this trope.
Cow Tools / int_33728d94	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_33728d94	featureConfidence	1.0
Dragaera	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_33728d94
Cow Tools / int_33dd1d90	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_33dd1d90	comment	Half-Life 2: Dr. Kleiner's lab has a working mini-teleporter among the other seemingly random devices. Watermelons also appear in the oddest places. A The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension homage?
Cow Tools / int_33dd1d90	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_33dd1d90	featureConfidence	1.0
Half-Life 2 (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_33dd1d90
Cow Tools / int_3b34143f	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_3b34143f	comment	In Harry Potter: Voldemort hid a Horcrux in the Room of Requirement, where students and staff have been hiding random junk for centuries. When he hid it, a bunch of other random stuff was there, and it's speculated whether Voldemort thought that was created by magic, or whatever, because he claimed that he was the first to find it. Admittedly all of the room's other forms really do stock themselves by magic, so it wasn't that much of a leap. All the insanely weird stuff in the Department of Mysteries. Dumbledore's office has a variety of inventions, which he can use whenever, but which are beyond the realm of the audience's understanding. There's at least one that he uses in Harry's presence, and it's still up for grabs what the hell it was.
Cow Tools / int_3b34143f	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_3b34143f	featureConfidence	1.0
Harry Potter	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_3b34143f
Cow Tools / int_3f3abe9	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_3f3abe9	comment	Rick and Morty features plenty of these, but has a running gag about one in particular. The Plumbus: every home has one.
Cow Tools / int_3f3abe9	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_3f3abe9	featureConfidence	1.0
Rick and Morty	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_3f3abe9
Cow Tools / int_41d55d7a	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_41d55d7a	comment	Subverted in Total Recall (1990). Quaid takes an unfamiliar-looking handgun-like device from the suitcase he was given earlier. He looks at it, then puts it next to his pistol. A short time later, we find out that it's a device for removing tracking chips implanted in one's head.
Cow Tools / int_41d55d7a	featureApplicability	-0.3
Cow Tools / int_41d55d7a	featureConfidence	1.0
Total Recall (1990)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_41d55d7a
Cow Tools / int_41f9fd82	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_41f9fd82	comment	Bag Enders episode "A Shortcut to Whitby" features the "long bent thing with sort of a knob on the end" (inspired by a similar item on an episode of The Goon Show). The Fellowship lose it before they find out what it does, and the people who find it by the side of the road don't know either.
Cow Tools / int_41f9fd82	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_41f9fd82	featureConfidence	1.0
Bag Enders / Fan Fic	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_41f9fd82
Cow Tools / int_468bebb0	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_468bebb0	comment	The addition of Anoia, goddess of things that get stuck in drawers, to the Discworld pantheon has provided excuses for many kitchenware Cow Tools to have their inexplicable and/or useless presence in everyone's cupboards lampshaded.
Cow Tools / int_468bebb0	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_468bebb0	featureConfidence	1.0
Discworld	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_468bebb0
Cow Tools / int_4b790c79	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_4b790c79	comment	Tony Stark's machine shop in Iron Man exemplifies this trope. At some points it seems like there's more stuff in there than you could possibly logically need to build a super suit, regardless of how complex that might be. Things like a pillar drill are necessary for any well-funded chronic tinkerer. Among the various tools and equipment is the prototype for Captain America's shield. Tony uses it to prop something else up.
Cow Tools / int_4b790c79	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_4b790c79	featureConfidence	1.0
Iron Man	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_4b790c79
Cow Tools / int_4bccdbe	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_4bccdbe	comment	Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent: What on earth is that device that Kelly constructs out of a lamp and some cutlery supposed to be? He carries all the way through the final hunt for the monster, and it serves no appreciable purpose whatsoever.
Cow Tools / int_4bccdbe	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_4bccdbe	featureConfidence	1.0
Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_4bccdbe
Cow Tools / int_52fa87a7	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_52fa87a7	comment	Played for horror in Eugenesis when the Autobots get a look inside the basement where the Quintessons were performing their experiments. They find all sorts of nightmarish Cow Tools that they can't even begin to comprehend, such as a suit of armor made out of people. They, quite understandably, give up on trying to figure out what the Quintessons were doing and just fill the place with cement.
Cow Tools / int_52fa87a7	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_52fa87a7	featureConfidence	1.0
Eugenesis	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_52fa87a7
Cow Tools / int_5916ae31	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_5916ae31	comment	Inspector Gadget (1999) has Tinkertoys, a dead fish, garden hose and many other strange things alongside traditional operating tools. The 'autopsy' sequence shows that Gadget is full of apparently useless and unrelated Cow Tools.
Cow Tools / int_5916ae31	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_5916ae31	featureConfidence	1.0
Inspector Gadget (1999)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_5916ae31
Cow Tools / int_5ad2b4e9	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_5ad2b4e9	comment	In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, during the flashback to the Joker's death, there's a shot of some innocent junk lying around (a toilet plunger, for example). Word of God says that Joker's tray was originally going to have bloody surgical instruments but the execs put their foot down. Ironically, since it's made quite clear they were still used to torture Robin, the use of cow tools made the implications even worse.
Cow Tools / int_5ad2b4e9	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_5ad2b4e9	featureConfidence	1.0
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_5ad2b4e9
Cow Tools / int_5ada53ed	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_5ada53ed	comment	Unexplained bits of tech are sometimes thrown in as a joke in Q's laboratory in James Bond films.
Cow Tools / int_5ada53ed	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_5ada53ed	featureConfidence	1.0
James Bond	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_5ada53ed
Cow Tools / int_5c897f4a	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_5c897f4a	comment	Schlock Mercenary famously has 'fiddly bits,' small balls on rods sticking out of things, on almost every piece of tech. Sometimes their function is obvious (sights on guns) or can be assumed (wifi access on computer pads?), but many are complete mysteries. They can appear on everything from hand-held devices and pieces of clothing, to entire starships with gigantic fiddly bits. They remain one of the author's favorite inventions.
Cow Tools / int_5c897f4a	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_5c897f4a	featureConfidence	1.0
Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_5c897f4a
Cow Tools / int_5fec5efd	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_5fec5efd	comment	Dr. Cal Meacham's lab in This Island Earth is full of random equipment.
Cow Tools / int_5fec5efd	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_5fec5efd	featureConfidence	1.0
This Island Earth	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_5fec5efd
Cow Tools / int_6053d9f9	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_6053d9f9	comment	Silent Hill does this to memorable extremes. Often the Cow Tools are nondescript everyday items, but it's where they are that makes them this. Why is there a wheelchair in an alleyway? Why is there only a single desk perfectly centered in an otherwise completely empty room? It's only there so the wheel can spin on its own the next time you pass it or to giggle in a child's voice as you approach it. This actually becomes an In-Universe example of Cow Tools since the town itself is implied to be sapient and out to make you suffer. That's right, Silent Hill itself is planting props to scare the hell out of those trapped inside it, and it's doing one hell of a good job.
Cow Tools / int_6053d9f9	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_6053d9f9	featureConfidence	1.0
Silent Hill (Franchise)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_6053d9f9
Cow Tools / int_60e46d26	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_60e46d26	comment	MAD has an article which broke down the budget of your average episode of ER. Amongst things like Gucci toe tags there were "beeping machines," "blinking machines," and "machines with accordion thingies inside that go 'schwoom schwoom.'"
Cow Tools / int_60e46d26	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_60e46d26	featureConfidence	1.0
MAD (Magazine)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_60e46d26
Cow Tools / int_6392a219	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_6392a219	comment	In The Mansion of E, the eponymous structure has numerous examples of these scattered about.
Cow Tools / int_6392a219	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_6392a219	featureConfidence	1.0
The Mansion of E (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_6392a219
Cow Tools / int_6806a8b9	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_6806a8b9	comment	"The Marvellous Toy" written by Tom Paxton and most famously performed by Peter, Paul and Mary is about a Cow Tool toy:
Cow Tools / int_6806a8b9	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_6806a8b9	featureConfidence	1.0
Peter, Paul and Mary (Music)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_6806a8b9
Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b3	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b3	comment	Fallout 3's Mothership Zeta. The shelves of the interior corridors of the alien spaceship from Fallout 3's final expansion are adorned with all varieties of Cow Tools.
Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b3	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b3	featureConfidence	1.0
Fallout 3 (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b3
Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b4	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b4	comment	Fallout 4 has a repeatable mission where the Brotherhood of Steel send you to collect some piece of technology from the Wasteland (the recovery and study of old technology being their creed.) The target item will be either a "flux sensor", "haptic drive", or "reflex capacitor", none of which have any in-game use, or description.
Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b4	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b4	featureConfidence	1.0
Fallout 4 (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_6c1d09b4
Cow Tools / int_70814599	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_70814599	comment	Sam's lab in Stargate SG-1 includes some things that are supposedly alien technology she's analyzing. Some of it has an obvious purpose, some of it is from previous episodes, but most of it is completely random. Turned around in one episode where an alien, who's lost his memory, is working on a TV show and one of his actual alien devices is being used as a Cow Tools prop in the show.
Cow Tools / int_70814599	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_70814599	featureConfidence	1.0
Stargate SG-1	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_70814599
Cow Tools / int_7362e6cc	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_7362e6cc	comment	Dr. Orin Scrivello's rather painful-looking dentist's tools in Little Shop of Horrors certainly qualify for this. They made a reappearance in Dead Ringers as gynecological equipment designed by a gynecologist suffering a mental breakdown, before appearing in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) as the plastic surgeon's equipment, too. And were lampshaded with his forlorn "You see what I have to work with..." That was an Actor Allusion, as Jack Nicholson appeared in the original Little Shop.
Cow Tools / int_7362e6cc	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_7362e6cc	featureConfidence	1.0
Little Shop of Horrors	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_7362e6cc
Cow Tools / int_73d7930f	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_73d7930f	comment	One great example that was used as a recurring plot device is the self sealing stem bolts in several episodes of Deep Space Nine. It is pretty much a case of lampshading, as Jake and Nog try to make some money out of a wrong delivery that was about to land in the garbage, but only end up with more useless junk until they finally get their hands on a shipment of self sealing stem bolts. As Jake points out, neither of them has any idea what they are used for. Later on in the series the self sealing stem bolts make a few reappearances. Every single time, there seems to be someone who knows what they're for, but not any of the characters on screen.
Cow Tools / int_73d7930f	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_73d7930f	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_73d7930f
Cow Tools / int_78146d21	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_78146d21	comment	Tia Dalma's hut in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is stuffed full of voodoo-related Cow Tools. There's so many that two Chekhov's Guns among them (Barbossa's boots and Calypso's locket) are easily missed.
Cow Tools / int_78146d21	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_78146d21	featureConfidence	1.0
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_78146d21
Cow Tools / int_7950b30f	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_7950b30f	comment	Subverted with the Shelves of Honor on The Colbert Report. The shelves full of apparently random junk that line one wall of the set might be expected to be Cow Tools, but just about everything on there has some significance. See Wikiality's detailed analysis.
Cow Tools / int_7950b30f	featureApplicability	-0.3
Cow Tools / int_7950b30f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Colbert Report	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_7950b30f
Cow Tools / int_79620aaa	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_79620aaa	comment	Sandra and Woo's strip Coon Tools is a raccoon-related variant of the original cartoon. And either a subversion or an aversion, since it's quite clear what the tools are.
Cow Tools / int_79620aaa	featureApplicability	-1.0
Cow Tools / int_79620aaa	featureConfidence	1.0
Sandra and Woo (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_79620aaa
Cow Tools / int_7be30333	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_7be30333	comment	In ThunderCats (2011) Lion-O introduces new friend Cheetara to the shop of Jorma, his Friend in the Black Market. His shop is stuffed with oddball wares, including a Chekhov's Gun Black Box, and an arm from a race of Cute Machines introduced later.
Cow Tools / int_7be30333	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_7be30333	featureConfidence	1.0
ThunderCats (2011)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_7be30333
Cow Tools / int_7c6f5e19	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_7c6f5e19	comment	In The Red Green Show, junk-store owner Dalton Humphrey finds an odd looking device in his garage, and has to resist the male urge to keep it until he figures out what it's for.
Cow Tools / int_7c6f5e19	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_7c6f5e19	featureConfidence	1.0
The Red Green Show	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_7c6f5e19
Cow Tools / int_7c802b66	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_7c802b66	comment	The painful-looking information retrieval implements in Brazil are surely related.
Cow Tools / int_7c802b66	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_7c802b66	featureConfidence	1.0
Brazil	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_7c802b66
Cow Tools / int_7d271ad1	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_7d271ad1	comment	Merlin's cottage in Disney's The Sword in the Stone. It's full of little gizmos and gadgets Merlin is said to have acquired from the future. Some, like a globe, a model of the solar system, and vehicles like trains and biplanes, can be recognized. The rest are simply eye candy. (Or maybe they are from so far in the future our present hasn't caught up to them yet and we won't know what they do until it does.)
Cow Tools / int_7d271ad1	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_7d271ad1	featureConfidence	1.0
The Sword in the Stone	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_7d271ad1
Cow Tools / int_7fd403f8	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_7fd403f8	comment	In Galaxy Quest: When the crew is transported to the ship they are approached by uncloaked Thermians carrying bizarre instruments with no obvious purpose (except that Gwen's Thermian is carrying what looks to be a speculum). Once the Thermians realize they need to turn on their disguises the tools are never used or mentioned again. A deleted scene has the aliens showing the cast of the eponymous Show Within a Show around the ship. When the Spock Expy looks in quarters, he sees some bizarre machine that looks like some kind of shielded power core with tubes and stirrups. For bonus points, this also falls under Bizarre Alien Biology, as it's stated that it's supposed to be his fictional race's equivalent of a toilet.
Cow Tools / int_7fd403f8	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_7fd403f8	featureConfidence	1.0
Galaxy Quest	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_7fd403f8
Cow Tools / int_80d8708a	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_80d8708a	comment	Oddities in Numenera. They have no use for an adventurer (unless they're unusually clever), and often no discernible use at all, but they have superscientific properties that make them interesting to scholars and collectors
Cow Tools / int_80d8708a	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_80d8708a	featureConfidence	1.0
Numenera (Tabletop Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_80d8708a
Cow Tools / int_81692f99	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_81692f99	comment	Whenever a Star Trek crew member removes a panel from a wall, they're always filled with futuristic circuitry and other such phlebotinum. At one point, they were overused so much in episodes that set decorator Jim Mees had to politely remind the writing staff that he had to build each and every panel interior, and that they cost about $1000 each. They became known internally as "Mees panels".
Cow Tools / int_81692f99	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_81692f99	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek (Franchise)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_81692f99
Cow Tools / int_86c3beca	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_86c3beca	comment	Girl Genius, set in a world ruled by Mad Science, is, of course, full of these. Notable examples in Gil's Lab and the handy circus repair kit.
Cow Tools / int_86c3beca	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_86c3beca	featureConfidence	1.0
Girl Genius (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_86c3beca
Cow Tools / int_87b55b5d	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_87b55b5d	comment	The Onion has a video explaining to new moms how to buy the right Mom stick based on their tastes, needs, and budget.
Cow Tools / int_87b55b5d	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_87b55b5d	featureConfidence	1.0
The Onion (Website)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_87b55b5d
Cow Tools / int_8832bf9a	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_8832bf9a	comment	In Commander Kitty, quite a few of the tools that the Alpha Droids have assembled to remove CK's brain seem to fall into this category.
Cow Tools / int_8832bf9a	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_8832bf9a	featureConfidence	1.0
Commander Kitty / Web Comic	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_8832bf9a
Cow Tools / int_9a7088bc	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_9a7088bc	comment	Many of the tubes, conduits, and access panels of the dressing the original Star Trek sets were labeled with the cryptic acronym GNDN to remind the stage crew that this or that prop machinery was merely for show and that it "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing". One great example that was used as a recurring plot device is the self sealing stem bolts in several episodes of Deep Space Nine. It is pretty much a case of lampshading, as Jake and Nog try to make some money out of a wrong delivery that was about to land in the garbage, but only end up with more useless junk until they finally get their hands on a shipment of self sealing stem bolts. As Jake points out, neither of them has any idea what they are used for. Later on in the series the self sealing stem bolts make a few reappearances. Every single time, there seems to be someone who knows what they're for, but not any of the characters on screen. For the Star Trek mess hall, the set dressers went out to various shops and bought a bunch of unusual salt and pepper shakers. However, they were all considered too confusing for the viewer and normal looking ones were used. They got put to good use however, as they were put in the Sick Bay as futuristic medical devices. Whenever a Star Trek crew member removes a panel from a wall, they're always filled with futuristic circuitry and other such phlebotinum. At one point, they were overused so much in episodes that set decorator Jim Mees had to politely remind the writing staff that he had to build each and every panel interior, and that they cost about $1000 each. They became known internally as "Mees panels". This was lampshaded decades later in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" when the crew travelled back in time to the Star Trek TOS era. Miles O'Brien, the station's resident Techno Wizard, can't make heads or tails of the circuitry behind the Mees panel (keep in mind this is the same guy that can very adeptly Techno Babble his way through solving just about anything). When he encounters a real Enterprise engineer and screws up his "repair work," Dr. Bashir has to bail him out by claiming O'Brien is suffering from work-related stress and ushering him off to sickbay. One version◊ of B'Elanna's uniform had a front pocket with a row of Cow Tools poking out, as befits her role as Chief Engineer.
Cow Tools / int_9a7088bc	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_9a7088bc	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek: The Original Series	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_9a7088bc
Cow Tools / int_9f89a5f0	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_9f89a5f0	comment	Many tech-y places in Pokémon games will have machines and computers with various descriptions. Sometimes justified in the earlier games where the player characters look younger and might just not know. Rarely, an important gadget or message will be hidden in one.
Cow Tools / int_9f89a5f0	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_9f89a5f0	featureConfidence	1.0
PokÃ©mon (Franchise)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_9f89a5f0
Cow Tools / int_a2c37f38	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_a2c37f38	comment	Sigil in Planescape: Torment is jam-packed with odd-looking buildings, twisted sculptures, and bizarre devices that you have no idea what they're for. You can click on them to get a description. Many of them will then say "You have no idea what this is for." On the other hand, there is a shop filled with bizarrely-described items, almost all of which turn out to be crucial plot tokens. (Just not the baby oil made from real babies.)
Cow Tools / int_a2c37f38	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_a2c37f38	featureConfidence	1.0
Planescape: Torment (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_a2c37f38
Cow Tools / int_a3362850	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_a3362850	comment	Parodies like Twisted Toyfare Theatre have a ball with this. "Help me lift this giant piece of Kirby-esque machinery!"
Cow Tools / int_a3362850	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_a3362850	featureConfidence	1.0
Twisted Toyfare Theatre (Comic Strip)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_a3362850
Cow Tools / int_a4420d22	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_a4420d22	comment	The Venture Bros. pokes fun at the idea when Billy has to face... The Nozzle, during his recruitment to OSI. It comes out, calibrates, and then just goes without so much as even touching him.
Cow Tools / int_a4420d22	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_a4420d22	featureConfidence	1.0
The Venture Bros.	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_a4420d22
Cow Tools / int_a5f98cbf	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_a5f98cbf	comment	Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. "This is the machine that goes 'Ping'. It tells us that your baby is still alive." Somehow, it does so without being hooked up to the expectant mother. Likewise from the same scene, The Most Expensive Machine in the Hospital, whose purpose is apparently...to be The Most Expensive Machine in the Hospital.
Cow Tools / int_a5f98cbf	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_a5f98cbf	featureConfidence	1.0
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_a5f98cbf
Cow Tools / int_a8a64abf	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_a8a64abf	comment	The Geneforge series is littered with Shop Fodder generically described as "Shaper Equipment" and exotic looking props, some of which can be interacted with a "that's not important" Hand Wave. Presumably the characters know what they are; whether the player is ever informed draws the line between Cow Tools and MacGuffin.
Cow Tools / int_a8a64abf	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_a8a64abf	featureConfidence	1.0
Geneforge (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_a8a64abf
Cow Tools / int_aa5b7cc2	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_aa5b7cc2	comment	In Oglaf, the Mistress' torture implements in a pair of comics.
Cow Tools / int_aa5b7cc2	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_aa5b7cc2	featureConfidence	1.0
Oglaf (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_aa5b7cc2
Cow Tools / int_af6243fe	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_af6243fe	comment	As logical in Thirty Hs, there are machines that do literally nothing but hum softly and blink. Like everything else, they are never again mentioned beyond that line.
Cow Tools / int_af6243fe	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_af6243fe	featureConfidence	1.0
ThirtyHs	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_af6243fe
Cow Tools / int_afd530db	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_afd530db	comment	In King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! there is a strange astronomical-looking device outside Crispin's house, which is one of the first things in the game that you're likely to see. It serves no purpose whatsoever, and your annoying sidekick warns you not to touch it.
Cow Tools / int_afd530db	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_afd530db	featureConfidence	1.0
King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_afd530db
Cow Tools / int_b24f49ab	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_b24f49ab	comment	Some of the 2015 technology in Back to the Future Part II is deliberately left unexplained. For example, we never find out what "lithium mode" is when Marty Sr activates it upon returning home.
Cow Tools / int_b24f49ab	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_b24f49ab	featureConfidence	1.0
Back to the Future Part II	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_b24f49ab
Cow Tools / int_b3bf8ec0	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_b3bf8ec0	comment	In Prague Race Sela's shop is chock full of strange things, some of which can be identified like suits of armor and masks and some of which can't even by those trying to sell them.
Cow Tools / int_b3bf8ec0	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_b3bf8ec0	featureConfidence	1.0
Prague Race (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_b3bf8ec0
Cow Tools / int_bac8c243	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_bac8c243	comment	Parodied in The Mask when Doyle and another cop are frisking an under-arrest Stanley Ipkiss (in his Mask persona) while an increasingly exasperated Lieutenant Kellaway looks on. The cops name each item they pull from Ipkiss's (surprisingly deep) pockets - and then Doyle pulls from the left pocket the commonly seen squeeze toy for stressed people of a clown whose eyes, nose and ears bug out when it's squeezed. Doyle - who isn't the brightest bulb in the Edge City police department - looks at it blankly for two seconds and then says "I don't know."
Cow Tools / int_bac8c243	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_bac8c243	featureConfidence	1.0
The Mask	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_bac8c243
Cow Tools / int_bb3fde3d	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_bb3fde3d	comment	Danny Phantom where a couple of Jack Fenton's invented ghost weaponry are so oddly shaped or out of place that one wonders what the blinding hell they do exactly. His wife pointed out a similar reason in one episode.
Cow Tools / int_bb3fde3d	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_bb3fde3d	featureConfidence	1.0
Danny Phantom	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_bb3fde3d
Cow Tools / int_bcf04dc4	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_bcf04dc4	comment	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984) had the "Thing Your Aunt Gave You that You Don't Know What it Is." It can be a Game-Breaker if you figure out that it CAN do something. It's more-or-less a Bag of Holding that Arthur Dent can't permanently lose (no matter how extreme or ludicrous a calamity he narrowly escapes without it) nor deliberately rid himself of.
Cow Tools / int_bcf04dc4	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_bcf04dc4	featureConfidence	1.0
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984) (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_bcf04dc4
Cow Tools / int_c2bfec7c	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_c2bfec7c	comment	Taken to Landscape size level in Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, as part of its Ghibli Hills Scenery Porn. Surrounding the kingdom of Ding Dong Dell are several rock spires reaching the cloud ceiling sporting a ''sky island'' on top, but beyond giving Roland a reason to realise that, nope, this isn't Kansas any longer (or DC for the matter), they remain inaccessible throughout the game.
Cow Tools / int_c2bfec7c	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_c2bfec7c	featureConfidence	1.0
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_c2bfec7c
Cow Tools / int_c43df4d8	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_c43df4d8	comment	Doctor Who: The TARDIS has always had way more buttons, knobs, levers, and random knickknacks than they ever actually use or have any kind of meaning for, but in recent years, the main console has gone so far as to include illogically placed bits and pieces of just about every kind of household object imaginable, including for instance most of a typewriter with no ribbon or paper. The Adventure Game series had the interesting but unenviable task of actually explaining what everything on the TARDIS console does. They should get a medal. The Doctor has occasionally given some of the things on the console nicknames similar to the "Timey-Wimey Detector". Since the 2012 Christmas special, the console room (particularly the console itself) has returned to a more minimalistic and more clearly arranged design, generally less random/convoluted/whimsical than the previous one.◊ It's also a lot closer to the similarly austere designs of the console room from the classic era of the show. Although in 2018 the Cow Tools started coming back. But at least we know that one of them dispenses Custard Creams. Discussed in the DVD commentary for the serial "The Caves of Androzani", when a man gets his head shoved in between two parts of a futuristic machine thing which immediately starts glowing. The serial's director notes that "we don't know what it does, but it's killing him". "Dalek": "Broken. Broken. Hair dryer..." One has to wonder what the others would have done if they'd been working (Cow Weapons?). Not to mention the other contents of Henry van Statten's alien museum. Subverted in "The Family of Blood". John Smith (the Doctor as an ordinary human) enters the Family's spaceship and clumsily struggles with some seemingly meaningless controls. The Family considers him a harmless buffoon. The subversion is that the Doctor had already been restored to his old self, and he was setting the ship to self-destruct. "Blink": "Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at 30 paces. Whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow." In "The Day of the Doctor", the War Doctor carries the Moment to a barn in the desert; apparently once an agricultural area before it dried up, as when he enters the barn we see derelict farming equipment of an unfamiliar design strewn about.
Cow Tools / int_c43df4d8	featureApplicability	-0.3
Cow Tools / int_c43df4d8	featureConfidence	1.0
Doctor Who	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_c43df4d8
Cow Tools / int_c4778e4b	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_c4778e4b	comment	Mythbusters has the real special effects studio M-5 as their base of operations, with all sorts of equipment that comes in handy for testing myths. The shop itself is constantly cluttered with devices, tools and a wall of cubby shelves with interesting labels that are more or less accurate ("Raw Meat" is one in particular that we hope is less). At one point trying to do a scale test, they needed an action figure and after a minute Jamie produced one from one of the cubbies. At other points devices from past and upcoming episodes can be seen in the background. Props from other films the studio has worked on are also around. The "Raw Meat" label is actually one of a few that the producers insisted be put around to make the space more ... cow tooly. Other labels include "Putrid Pork" and "Fresh Fish". Invoked in one episode. While testing the myth of shooting the gun out of a person's hand, Adam builds a target that is a flat metal object shaped like a gun with a big wide target on the front. While showing it off to the viewer, he comments that he imagines archaeologists digging it up in a thousand years and wondering just what the hell its purpose was.
Cow Tools / int_c4778e4b	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_c4778e4b	featureConfidence	1.0
MythBusters	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_c4778e4b
Cow Tools / int_c5d05a73	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_c5d05a73	comment	"The Machine" by Lemon Demon (better known as Neil Cicierega), is all about a man building the titular machine, which, as the chorus tells us, "doesn't do anything". which is, apparently, the whole point of it.
Cow Tools / int_c5d05a73	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_c5d05a73	featureConfidence	1.0
Lemon Demon (Music)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_c5d05a73
Cow Tools / int_c73e62a5	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_c73e62a5	comment	Subverted in Gran Torino. Walt's garage is filled with hundreds of tools, and Thao points to several of them at random and challenges Walt to name them. Walt knows what each one is called and what it's used for.
Cow Tools / int_c73e62a5	featureApplicability	-0.3
Cow Tools / int_c73e62a5	featureConfidence	1.0
Gran Torino	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_c73e62a5
Cow Tools / int_cc9ba740	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_cc9ba740	comment	The Glider PRO CD "SpacePods" even has one room titled "Function Unknown." Most of the supposedly alien furniture is really ordinary furniture objects that have been bizarrely arranged or graphically glitched.
Cow Tools / int_cc9ba740	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_cc9ba740	featureConfidence	1.0
Glider (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_cc9ba740
Cow Tools / int_cd16f279	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_cd16f279	comment	In All's Fine that Ends Okay, Kiku is sent a mysterious object which does absolutely nothing but turn Hercules and Sadiq - and only them - invisible. After that arc is resolved, it doesn't really do anything else, and no one actually figures out what it is or how it works.
Cow Tools / int_cd16f279	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_cd16f279	featureConfidence	1.0
The Hearth Series (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_cd16f279
Cow Tools / int_d14c3aa1	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_d14c3aa1	comment	In Ghostbusters (1984), Venkman enters Dana's flat operating a strange device with a long tube and a rubber bulb that appears to pump air through the tube. When she asks what it does, he replies vaguely "It's... technical. One of our little toys." The commentary reveals that Bill Murray was given a selection of Cow Tools to choose from, and thought that one was the funniest. It's actually a device for detecting noxious gasses in the air, used by sewer workers.
Cow Tools / int_d14c3aa1	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_d14c3aa1	featureConfidence	1.0
Ghostbusters (1984)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_d14c3aa1
Cow Tools / int_d54b59cc	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_d54b59cc	comment	The three seashells from Demolition Man. Much like the Far Side cartoon, it confused audiences into wondering how this futuristic toilet paper (three scallop shells lined up on a bathroom counter) was supposed to work. Many fan theories exist, including one by Sandra Bullock, who was still getting questions about it twenty years later.
Cow Tools / int_d54b59cc	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_d54b59cc	featureConfidence	1.0
Demolition Man	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_d54b59cc
Cow Tools / int_d78e771e	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_d78e771e	comment	Subverted in the Niven and Pournelle work The Mote in God's Eye when the Moties present the humans with a room filled with what appear to be Cow Tools but are not. The tool room is actually an "IQ" test of sorts. The humans are expected to determine the flaw in each tool which renders it useless. Naturally the person who figures this out is the ship's engineer.
Cow Tools / int_d78e771e	featureApplicability	-0.3
Cow Tools / int_d78e771e	featureConfidence	1.0
The Mote in God's Eye	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_d78e771e
Cow Tools / int_d7c4626a	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_d7c4626a	comment	The Sandman (1989): Lying between every Call-Back and Call-Forward in Dream's storage areas is two or more utterly useless, but fantastical looking thingiemajjigs.
Cow Tools / int_d7c4626a	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_d7c4626a	featureConfidence	1.0
The Sandman (1989) (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_d7c4626a
Cow Tools / int_da73d677	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_da73d677	comment	The magic shops in the Quest for Glory games play with this constantly. For instance: In Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire, Keapon Laffin's shop holds a scale model of the USS Enterprise, a rotary fan, xray specs (useful for one scene and only one scene).
Cow Tools / int_da73d677	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_da73d677	featureConfidence	1.0
Quest for Glory (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_da73d677
Cow Tools / int_dbb68ab6	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_dbb68ab6	comment	The Chronicles of Narnia: In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we see some stuff like this in Coriakin's lair. The most prominent example is the Bearded Glass, which is... well... a mirror with a beard attached. When someone passes, their reflected face looks like that of a bearded weirdo jumping out of the shadows. It may serve some purpose, or Coriakin may have simply put it there to prank what few visitors he gets. Even C. S. Lewis said he didn't know what it's for.
Cow Tools / int_dbb68ab6	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_dbb68ab6	featureConfidence	1.0
The Chronicles of Narnia	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_dbb68ab6
Cow Tools / int_e5da0fa0	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_e5da0fa0	comment	The Myst series and its sequels has plenty of these. Most of the time you can puzzle out the various tools that Atrus and Gehn have lying around, but many of the other things are a mystery. On the other hand, sometimes a seemingly-innocuous doodad will prove to be a vital clue. The most prominent example in the first game is the assortment of odd little gadgets and other personal effects that can be found in Sirrus and Achenar's bedrooms: Nothing in there is used solving any puzzles other than a Plot Coupon or two and the rooms initially appear to be a classic case of Empty Room Psych, but if you're paying attention you can learn quite a bit about their personalities, none of it particularly flattering. This is the key to solving the final puzzle and Driving Question of the whole game: Which of the sons of Atrus should you trust? The answer, as it turns out, is "neither of them".
Cow Tools / int_e5da0fa0	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_e5da0fa0	featureConfidence	1.0
Myst (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_e5da0fa0
Cow Tools / int_e5de447c	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_e5de447c	comment	The alien bases in the X-COM games are stuffed with these. Seizing said bases (or sufficiently equipped alien craft) even nets you research angles revolving around the insidious uses of the devices, (useless as they may be to humans). Heck, some of them are even literal Cow Tools (either for use on cows, or made out of cows).
Cow Tools / int_e5de447c	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_e5de447c	featureConfidence	1.0
X-COM (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_e5de447c
Cow Tools / int_eb3f3551	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_eb3f3551	comment	Parodied in Mass Effect: Andromeda. Ryder and Liam explore an abandoned Kett lab and, not knowing what any of the equipment is, decide to just call everything inside a "Weird Alien Machine" for the time being. Amusingly subverted when they fiddle with one Weird Alien Machine and it turns out to be a simple generator, to Ryder's exasperation.
Cow Tools / int_eb3f3551	featureApplicability	-0.3
Cow Tools / int_eb3f3551	featureConfidence	1.0
Mass Effect: Andromeda (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_eb3f3551
Cow Tools / int_eef6621b	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_eef6621b	comment	Event Horizon had a medic named CJ, who was carrying a vast array of not-very-useful tools on his vest. His actor initially wanted the character to wear the items to aid in character design, but quickly found them cumbersome and irritating. No medic or paramedic would want such a strange rig; there are much more elegant solutions to keeping your gear handy and much more important gear to have within immediate reach.
Cow Tools / int_eef6621b	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_eef6621b	featureConfidence	1.0
Event Horizon	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_eef6621b
Cow Tools / int_f186f924	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_f186f924	comment	Inverted in Horizon Zero Dawn: There are plenty of artifacts from the Before Times that can be found throughout the game, that are all readily identifiable to the player but not so much to the characters. For example, a corkscrew is identified as a toothpick, a keyring with keys as a set of chimes and a pacemaker as a necklace.
Cow Tools / int_f186f924	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_f186f924	featureConfidence	1.0
Horizon Zero Dawn (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_f186f924
Cow Tools / int_f2db392d	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_f2db392d	comment	A bit of recurring environmental set dressing in Prey (2017) is a desk-sized machine of unclear purpose called a “reployer”, usually found in office spaces. Reading people’s emails reveals not even they know what it does or how to use it. This is a meta-example: the thing was repeatedly almost cut from the game specifically because none of the devs knew what to do with it either. Eventually they left it in after deciding to make its inexplicability an in-universe Running Gag.
Cow Tools / int_f2db392d	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_f2db392d	featureConfidence	1.0
Prey (2017) (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_f2db392d
Cow Tools / int_f3c58c73	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_f3c58c73	comment	Toyed with in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow. The Pawn Shop has dozens of bizarre items on the shelves that you can look at but not buy. If you look at them, the narration will identify things like "whale tongue climbing gear" and a "bridge repair kit". The joke is that these are all things which would have been immensely useful in earlier games but are completely useless in this one.
Cow Tools / int_f3c58c73	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_f3c58c73	featureConfidence	1.0
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow (Video Game)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_f3c58c73
Cow Tools / int_f458bbcc	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_f458bbcc	comment	Used as a gag in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Even Dumbledore doesn't know what most of the nicknacks in his office actually do, since every previous Headmaster added their own pieces; the ones he has figured out are just pointless things like counting the, er, "sneezes" of French Witches (he refuses to explain how he figured that out). At one point he cheerfully tells Harry that Minerva is never going to figure out what his own contribution does.
Cow Tools / int_f458bbcc	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_f458bbcc	featureConfidence	1.0
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality / Fan Fic	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_f458bbcc
Cow Tools / int_f74b5f80	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_f74b5f80	comment	In Babylon 5, maintenance extras regularly walk around pointing vaguely cleaner-like or metal-detector-like gadgets at the floor. In A View From The Gallery two of them even speculate on what they are for. A lot of the Medlab equipment counts as well. Of note is a sort of metal collar that goes around a patient's torso, while lighted panels on the top flash in sequence (except for one episode where one of the lights appeared to have burnt out and no one fixed it). Word of God is that the guy brought in to advise on the medical aspects of the show had some pet theory involving light being used to heal people in the future.
Cow Tools / int_f74b5f80	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_f74b5f80	featureConfidence	1.0
Babylon 5	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_f74b5f80
Cow Tools / int_f7d8fd70	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_f7d8fd70	comment	As mentioned above, in The Goon Show episode "The International Christmas Pudding", Seagoon's collection of vital equipment included a "long bent thing with a sort of lump on the end." The episode "Wings over Dagenham" also had a throwaway gag about "Long twisted things with holes in the end" being used as currency.
Cow Tools / int_f7d8fd70	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_f7d8fd70	featureConfidence	1.0
The Goon Show (Radio)	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_f7d8fd70
Cow Tools / int_fc0e7530	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_fc0e7530	comment	Dexter's Laboratory is the king of this trope, featuring an enormous variety of technological inventions in Dexter's lab that are never explained and their use is never revealed. Many times, Dexter will be seen working on a particular gizmo (almost always by simply tweaking it with a wrench) that very, very rarely has any importance in the plot. Lampshaded by one commercial for the show, that showed a loop of Dexter using his wrench on said gizmo for several seconds before the narrator says "Y'know, eventually, he's got to overtighten that thing."
Cow Tools / int_fc0e7530	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_fc0e7530	featureConfidence	1.0
Dexter's Laboratory	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_fc0e7530
Cow Tools / int_fcadd053	type	Cow Tools
Cow Tools / int_fcadd053	comment	In The Official Book of King's Quest, the hints section for the first game notes that the rusted pump and axe outside the woodcutter's cottage were "put there by evil animators trying to drive you crazy figuring out what to do with them". In King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! there is a strange astronomical-looking device outside Crispin's house, which is one of the first things in the game that you're likely to see. It serves no purpose whatsoever, and your annoying sidekick warns you not to touch it. Toyed with in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow. The Pawn Shop has dozens of bizarre items on the shelves that you can look at but not buy. If you look at them, the narration will identify things like "whale tongue climbing gear" and a "bridge repair kit". The joke is that these are all things which would have been immensely useful in earlier games but are completely useless in this one.
Cow Tools / int_fcadd053	featureApplicability	1.0
Cow Tools / int_fcadd053	featureConfidence	1.0
King's Quest	hasFeature	Cow Tools / int_fcadd053

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Cow Tools	processingCategory2	Spectacle
Cow Tools	processingCategory2	This Might Be an Index
The Far Side (Comic Strip) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality / Fan Fic / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
A Storm of Chaos: A Doctor Whooves Adventure (Fanfic) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Hearth Series (Fanfic) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Thirty Hs (Fanfic) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Worm-in-Waiting (Fanfic) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Airplane II: The Sequel / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Brazil / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
CJ7 / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Dead Ringers / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Death Race 2000 / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Galaxy Quest / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Predator / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Screamers / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Sleepy Hollow (1999) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Empire Strikes Back / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Mask / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Phantom Menace / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Shape of Things to Come / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
GrailQuest / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 17 (1955) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Rendezvous with Rama / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Mote in God's Eye / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Port of Peril / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
The Science of Discworld / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
This Used To Be About Dungeons / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
RayGunGothic	seeAlso	Cow Tools
TweetMeHarder	seeAlso	Cow Tools
Peter, Paul and Mary (Music) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
MythBusters / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Sleep No More (Theatre) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Armed & Delirious (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Encased (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Encased RPG (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
I. M. Meen (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Kerbal Space Program (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Pikmin (2001) (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
X-COM (Video Game) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Steins;Gate (Visual Novel) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
WTL Network (Web Animation) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Narbonic (Webcomic) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Our World (Webcomic) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Prague Race (Webcomic) / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker / int_c76ab3f5	type	Cow Tools

Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.