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People love things that [[Rule of Cool|look cool and flashy]]. Unfortunately, you frequently end up with [[Awesome but Impractical|flashy-looking things that don't actually work very well]]. On the flip side, you get [[Boring but Practical|things that work well, but aren't particularly interesting or impressive]]. Can't there be a happy medium?
Well yes, there can. Combining the best aspects of [[Awesome but Impractical]] and [[Boring but Practical]] is
Compare [[Simple Yet Awesome]], which is less impressive to see but just as awesome anyway.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Blood
▲* ''[[Blood Plus]]'': Solomon's [[Blade Below the Shoulder]]. Simple, refined, and [[Absurdly Sharp Blade|capable of cutting through practically anything]].
* In ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', things are ''powered'' by awesome, so being awesome makes it practical by definition! Best seen early in the series when Simon tries to take the [[Boring but Practical]] route to [[Combining Mecha]] and just climb up Kamina's Gurren with his Lagann. Kamina ''attacks'' him until he does it more awesomely. And it really does work better that way!
* The [[Sphere of Destruction|Rasengan]] and Kage Bunshin/Shadow Clone Jutsu as part of [[Naruto]] Uzumaki's arsenal. So simple tricks...but so highly effective in battle. Even moreso when he uses his [[Super Mode]]{s}.
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* ''[[Bleach]]'': Kenpachi Zaraki's entire schtick in battle is about this. He's the only captain in Soul Society who doesn't know the name of his zanpakuto, and thus can't achieve bankai or even shikai, meaning he can't use all those fancy tricks and abilities that his fellow captains can. But who needs fancy tricks when you're a fountain of raw, unlimited power, to the point that you need to use [[Power Limiters]] just to have a fair fight with anyone?
** Ichigo was also like this {{spoiler|before he started getting all those hollow abilities.}} His zanpakuto may not be able to turn into a multi-segmented sword with teeth, or millions of tiny razor-sharp blades, or a giant bug-thing that breathes poison gas, but not only does he have raw, unlimited power just like Kenpachi, but his bankai is just a simple, normal-sized sword...that's able to take all that power (most of which was just being wasted anyway) and focus it until he achieves [[Lightning Bruiser]] status.
** Speaking
* ''[[Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle]]'': To Lisesharte, the best Drag-Rides ([[Mini-Mecha]] shaped like dragons) are this trope. She uses [[This Is a Drill|drills]] as an example. {{spoiler|Later on she pulls off a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment using one.}}
== Fan Works ==
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== Literature ==
* ''[[Snow Crash]]'''s Y.T., a skateboard courier who carries packages in urban environments, has a device mounted on her skateboard to help her avoid splattering herself on glass walls at 40
** Skateboarding to a delivery wouldn't be practical without the additionally awesome magnetic grapple to steal tows from passing vehicles.
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* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'''s Synchro Monsters can be seen like this. They are typically easy to summon, can be put into virtually any deck, have powerful effects, and are generally cool in design. [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Stardust_Dragon Stardust Dragon] in particular is so useful and easy to use, it is one of the most dominating cards in its metagame. In fact, most of the awesome cards (mostly Synchro) featured in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds]]'' are this, [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Shooting_Star_Dragon Shooting Star Dragon] and [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Nova_Dragon Red Nova Dragon] being the big examples. Xyz monsters in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal|Yu-Gi-Oh Ze Xal]]'' take it to the next level, being even easier to summon, despite most of them become almost useless when out of Xyz materials.
* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', the game designers like powerful, tournament-dominating cards to be splashy, exciting, and fun to play, so it's common to see splashy, exciting, and fun cards intentionally pushed up in power level. Planeswalkers are a great example: not only do they have their own unique card type, but their characters are designed to be the face of the game, so the developers make sure to give them powerful abilities. [http://magiccards.info/wwk/en/31.html Jace, the Mind Sculptor] in particular quickly gained a dominating presence in multiple tournament formats.
* In ''[[Warhammer
** ...the Dark Eldar employed this trope with their Grotesques and Wracks, which are essentially just fleshy abominations created by the Haemonculi. In one incident, the Dark Eldar were temporarily allied with the Tau, predominantly using the Wracks/Grotesques to stand toe-to-toe with the Tyranids when the long-range Tau couldn't. [[Curb Stomp Battle|It didn't work out for the tau]] [[Fate Worse Than Death|when the Dark Eldar broke the alliance.]]
* In [[Pathfinder]] and editions of [[Dungeons
== Professional Wrestling ==
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* ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]]'' is, [[Dueling Games|unsurprisingly]], similar to ''Prototype'' in this. The final move ''calls lightning from the skies to smite your foes'', which is easily the most effective way to defeat normal enemies, and even the final boss takes good damage from it.
** The sequel has Ice Launch, which not only looks awesome but launches you up a good two storeys, allowing you to avoid climbing smaller buildings and only consuming a small amount of energy.
* [[Counter Attack
* ''[[
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' games have Surf, a move normally used on the world map. Unlike the other comparable moves (Flash, Fly, Dig, etc), Surf is actually worth using in battle as well, being on par with pure-combat moves like Earthquake, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam.
* The mighty Tidal Wave attack in ''[[Vanguard Bandits]]''. It does so much damage most enemies blocking it from the front will take more damages then lesser hits to the rear. It's fairly accurate, and the costs for it are so reasonable that you can use it twice a round with little consequence.
* Vikings in ''[[
** What, no [[Tank Goodness|Siege Tank?]] Excellent in offense AND defense, plus their transformation animation is always fun to watch.
* The Bozar from ''[[Fallout 2]]''. It's a minigun that is accessible early, needs only medium skill in big guns and fires what is probably the most common ammo in the game. The consumption rate is still very high (as appropriate for a minigun) though, but at least it's far easier to get more ammo for it than for the Vindicator.
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* For players of ''[[X (video game)|X3]]: Terran Conflict'' and ''Albion Prelude'' with a good supply train for munitions, M7M Missile Frigates can single-handedly level sectors with [[Macross Missile Massacre]].
* Most of the magic in ''[[Dark Souls]]'' is really cool, and almost all of the spells are lifesavers in the right situations. Iron Flesh in particular turns you into a slow but durable [[Chrome Champion]] that can tank just about anything the game throws at you.
* The Glaive in ''[[Dark Sector]]''. Awesome to look at, awesome to use, and almost always useful. Small wonder the normally [[
* ''[[Vanquish]]'' turned this trope into a video game. Everything Sam Gideon is capable of doing in battle looks frickin' sweet but also serves a greater purpose ([[Bullet Time|AR Mode]] attaches target identifiers to all available targets so you can pick them apart while you're still slowed down, boosting is like doing a rock and roll power slide but at 50
* The Medi-Gun in [[Team Fortress 2]]. [[The Medic]] is absolutely the rock of the team, supplying everyone with heals. This is accomplished by a real sweet backpack hooked up to a gun that shoots people with [[Power Glows|glowing tendrils of light]]. The Uber-Charge only makes it more awesome; for seven seconds both the medic and his patient are glowing, invulnerable metallic demons of death.
* Many ultimate abilities of [[League of Legends]] champions fall under this, particularly those belonging to [[Death or Glory Attack|burst damage based]] characters once you get their cooldowns sufficiently lowered. Special note goes to [[Light'Em Up|Lux's]] [[Wave Motion Gun|Finales Funkeln]]: Good damage, once of the longer ranges in the game, and can be used as frequently as every 24 seconds, with the right gear.
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* Martial arts. Each discipline is designed to incapacitate someone as efficiently as possible, and, as evidenced by televised boxing, MMA tournaments, et cetera, many people find them entertaining to watch.
* Fire. Largely considered to be the most destructive primal force. Use it to [[Mundane Utility|cook a tasty meal]], make weapons, or even [[Kill It with Fire|as a weapon itself]].
* 3D Printers. Allow you to make virtually anything on demand easily from a variety of materials.
* Nuclear Weaponry. Since their first and last deployments in World War II, they've become essentially a signal that a nation is now an advanced power, possessing the wealth, the infrastructure, and the knowledge base to create them. Largely due to their existence, disputes between the great power, though still, sadly, involving bloodshed, have become notably less violent and smaller scale. Like it or not, they're the only weapons ever created that really are effective deterrents, and a nuclear blast is most certainly an awe-inspiring event.
**It helps that firing nukes precludes plundering the target.
* The F-35 Lightning II (a.k.a. the Joint Strike Fighter) is intended to be this in comparison to contemporary fighter jets. In particular, it has a much lower price tag than the F-22 Raptor, has stealth coatings that don't need to be reapplied after every flight (F-117 Nighthawk), and the Marines' version features VTOL that doesn't allow exhaust to get sucked into the intakes (Harrier).
** Sadly (for Americans anyway), the F-35 is turning into [[Awesome but Impractical]]. Much lower price? Not anymore (F-22 unit cost per plane $150 million, F-35 now at $122M to $184M). The stealth was in 2006 downgraded from "very low observable" to "low observable". In November 2011, a Pentagon study team identified 13 areas of concern that remained to be addressed in the F-35.
** The F-22 itself went from
* [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks|Sharks.]] Though there are a large variety of shark species [[A Worldwide Punomenon|floating around]] today, sharks are one of only a handful of species whose basic form has remained unchanged since prehistoric times, others including crocodiles and alligators. Sharks are no smarter, no stronger, no faster, and yet no less deadly than they were before humans' earliest ancestors showed up, and what this means is that all that time there was ''no need for them to improve.''
** And on land, wolverines. These things aren't much bigger than a medium-size
* The USAF's A-10 Thunderbolt. A truly awe inspiring machine that fulfills its function very well.
* One of the reasons powerful people used to like resplendent clothes in the past even more then now was just for the heck of it of course(and in principle there is nothing wrong with that though in the wrong context it is rubbing it in a little to much to the less lucky). Another reason was of course to advertise their importance. A third reason though was that one of the best ways to keep your treasure from being pilfered in your absence was to wear it. Of course then you have to worry about it being pilfered while you wear it. But if you are that rich either you were already trained to fight or have a trustworthy enforcer with you.
* The B-52 bomber. Originally intended to deliver nuclear weapons it has of course fortunately not been used for that purpose. However it has remained in service for decades because its tremendous payload and endurance allows it to be a surprisingly good area-effect tactical bomber. That is it essentially fires an airborne artillery barrage. In later times miniaturisation and advancements in computers have allowed greater subtlety, for the payload is more useful then ever when each round is a smart weapon.
* [http://www.parahawking.com/index.php/about Parahawking]: paragliding with trained birds of prey "in an effort to advance the interaction between man and bird, and to provide a unique opportunity to interact with birds of prey in their own environment". As in, the falconer flies on a paraglider, while the bird scouts ahead for thermals. This pastime was invented by Scott Mason — somewhat surprisingly, in 2001, after the niche was before everyone's eyes for decades (less surprisingly, in Nepal).
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Rule of Cool]]
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