Boring but Practical

"Tim-Tom: We leave the gas on... They go in their sleep, all quiet-like -- Kevin: Aw, I wanted to hear 'em scream! Tim-Tom: It's not as much fun, but it will look more like an accident."

- The Venture Brothers

Everyone loves flashy magic, BFGs, and big, thundering tanks. However, the more interesting something is, the more likely it falls victim to the rule of Awesome but Impractical: You can't use it often enough, it costs too much, or it just takes too much effort to get it. You could even have Cool but Inefficient, where it just looks awesome, but that is about it.

Therefore, we have things that are much more "boring" and normal, but these things often contribute more to your success in the long term than the visually more impressive things.

In video games and tabletop games, the Jack of All Stats can often be this trope; they may lack the coolest, or strongest moves, but are fairly good at most attributes, and lack the glaring weaknesses of other character types.

May border on Game Breaker. Compare Awesome Yet Practical. Contrast Awesome but Impractical, Cool but Inefficient.


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