Brilliant but Lazy/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character who usually can't be bothered to even move turns out to be hyper-competent when the chips are down.

  • Straight: Bob would rather sit on the couch than do any work - but when he works, he works better than anyone else.
  • Exaggerated: Bob sleeps 23 hours a day and solves Taylor Series in the hour he's awake.
  • Justified: Bob never had to work hard to learn anything in his life - why should he start working hard now?
    • Bob can get the job done so quickly, he has a lot of free time in between his jobs.
  • Inverted: Bob is of below-average intelligence, but makes up for it by being incredibly hardworking and determined.
  • Subverted:
    • Bob decides to shake off the laziness during a particularly hellish mission.
    • Alternately, Bob wants to succeed at whatever it is he does, but the requirements of The Masquerade, his Secret Identity or even just other commitments in his life take time away from his work and he ends up looking like this trope.
  • Double Subverted: But gets over it.
  • Parodied: Bob literally sleeps all day, but when the other characters need him, he wakes up only long enough to mumble the correct plan of action.
  • Deconstructed:
    • Bob's incredible laziness essentially sticks him in a dead-end position. He may be brilliant, but the higher-ups want someone who's dependable.
    • Bob used to be a hard worker...but constantly underappreciated and overworked, he eventually Stopped Caring.
  • Reconstructed: Realizing that hard work is valued by society, Bob works his ass off... to get into a position where he can safely get away with being lazy again, as a Professional Slacker
  • Zig Zagged: Bob shakes off the laziness during a hellish mission, but gets over it. But even after he "gets over it", he's still less lazy than he was in the past.
  • Averted: Bob is merely The Smart Guy.
  • Enforced: "We've got this genius character, but we don't want the audience to think he's some sort of egghead elitist. So let's just show that he doesn't care about intellect by making him The Slacker."
  • Lampshaded: "If you were awake more often, you might be of better use to this team!"
  • Invoked: "If I just lounge around and make the occasional intelligent insight, everyone will leave me alone."
  • Defied: There's a tough problem to fix. Bob's superiors, knowing his track record, go straight to him - much to his chagrin.
  • Discussed: "Your son is brilliant, but lazy. He can make good grades if he just applies himself."
  • Conversed: "So...the guy that sleeps all day is a brilliant engineer?"

Wake up and head back to Brilliant but Lazy.

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