diff --git a/code/__DEFINES/vv.dm b/code/__DEFINES/vv.dm
index 7770c63d1d0..32e18e5d146 100644
--- a/code/__DEFINES/vv.dm
+++ b/code/__DEFINES/vv.dm
@@ -159,3 +159,8 @@
 #define VV_HK_TO_OUTFIT_EDITOR "outfit_editor"
 
 #define VV_HK_WEAKREF_RESOLVE "weakref_resolve"
+
+// Flags for debug_variable() that do little things to what we end up rendering
+
+/// ALWAYS render a reduced list, useful for fuckoff big datums that need to be condensed for the sake of client load
+#define VV_ALWAYS_CONTRACT_LIST (1<<0)
diff --git a/code/controllers/globals.dm b/code/controllers/globals.dm
index dd9b41aacc3..72b00c7d868 100644
--- a/code/controllers/globals.dm
+++ b/code/controllers/globals.dm
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ GLOBAL_REAL(GLOB, /datum/controller/global_vars)
 		return FALSE
 	return ..()
 
+/datum/controller/global_vars/vv_get_var(var_name)
+	switch(var_name)
+		if (NAMEOF(src, vars))
+			return debug_variable(var_name, list(), 0, src)
+	return debug_variable(var_name, vars[var_name], 0, src, display_flags = VV_ALWAYS_CONTRACT_LIST)
+
 /datum/controller/global_vars/Initialize()
 	gvars_datum_init_order = list()
 	gvars_datum_protected_varlist = list(NAMEOF(src, gvars_datum_protected_varlist) = TRUE)
diff --git a/code/modules/admin/view_variables/debug_variables.dm b/code/modules/admin/view_variables/debug_variables.dm
index f92d5de5365..24ee0032a33 100644
--- a/code/modules/admin/view_variables/debug_variables.dm
+++ b/code/modules/admin/view_variables/debug_variables.dm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #define VV_HTML_ENCODE(thing) ( sanitize ? html_encode(thing) : thing )
 /// Get displayed variable in VV variable list
-/proc/debug_variable(name, value, level, datum/D, sanitize = TRUE) //if D is a list, name will be index, and value will be assoc value.
+/proc/debug_variable(name, value, level, datum/D, sanitize = TRUE, display_flags = NONE) //if D is a list, name will be index, and value will be assoc value.
 	var/header
 	if(D)
 		if(islist(D))
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
 		var/list/L = value
 		var/list/items = list()
 
-		if (L.len > 0 && !(name == "underlays" || name == "overlays" || L.len > (IS_NORMAL_LIST(L) ? VV_NORMAL_LIST_NO_EXPAND_THRESHOLD : VV_SPECIAL_LIST_NO_EXPAND_THRESHOLD)))
+		if (!(display_flags & VV_ALWAYS_CONTRACT_LIST) && L.len > 0 && !(name == "underlays" || name == "overlays" || L.len > (IS_NORMAL_LIST(L) ? VV_NORMAL_LIST_NO_EXPAND_THRESHOLD : VV_SPECIAL_LIST_NO_EXPAND_THRESHOLD)))
 			for (var/i in 1 to L.len)
 				var/key = L[i]
 				var/val