Gadgeteer Genius: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* [[Dragonball Z|Bulma]] will single-handly perfect time-travel, launch the space exploration industry, and artificially produce energy comparable to a small celestial body if it will help [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|Goku or Vegeta]]. Gotta love that girl.

* Washuu from ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' In the original OVA she actually isn't much of a gadgeteer—most of her time was spent in doing research so complex that the viewers were rarely let in what she was doing. The later TV series increased her gadget-building role considerably.

* ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai]]''. Ikuyo Suzuki, head maid of the Technology department. Among her inventions are a [[Weather Control Machine]], an amphibious giant robot in the shape of a brontosaurus and a vehicle capable of [[Teleportation]].

* For a [[Jidai Geki]] series, ''[[Ayakashi Ayashi]]'' has one hell of an example - Masurao, a member of the 'People of the Craft', proves capable of whipping up devices in feudal japan that would be considered revolutionary TODAY - including a fully-functional handgun made from paper. His [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], however, comes when he is pursued by the heroes through a construction-site, grabs some random pieces of wood and some tools without slowing, and craft them into an attack-robot to sic on his pursuers. Without ever stopping.

 

* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'s'' Forge has the ability to intuitively determine how anything works, and by this point, after years of exposure to all manner of gadgetry, is able to whip up any manner of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] you can possibly imagine. We're talking ''[[Star Wars]]'' level.

** He is also a [[Magical Native American|shaman]]. This fact isn't brought up so much, because combining the two aptitudes leads to questions of why he has not whooped most of evil's ass by now.

* Ted Kord as the [[Blue Beetle]] is ''the'' defining example of a gadgeteer genius superhero. He invented all of his gear himself, a lot of which was reverse-engineered alien technology (you think HTML code is tough?), up to and including a ''beetle shaped flying ship.'' [[Green Lantern|Guy Gardener]] has even said that Ted was smarter than ''[[Batman]]''.

 

* Calvin is [[Character Exaggeration|exaggerated]] into this in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]''. Among his inventions include the [[Do-Anything Robot|MTM]], [[Incredible Shrinking Man|Mega Shrinker]] [[Trope 2000|5000]], [[Time Stands Still|Time Stopper]], [[Trapped in TV Land|Movie Transporter]]...

 

* Doc Brown, ''slightly'' crazy inventor and engineering genius from the three ''[[Back to The Future]]'' movies. Built a time machine in the form of a Delorean car. Then a ''second'' even more stylish time machine which combined a 19th century steam locomotive with antigravity and cold fusion technology from the future.

** He turned a ''regular'' steam train into a ''time traveling'' steam train with nothing that didn't exist before the 1800s, except for a hover-board.

* The title character of ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension]]'' invented the Jet Car, a surgical technique to implant a microphone in the human skull so people can give orders to their own brain, and (with Professor Hikita) the Oscillation Overthruster. And that's just what was mentioned in the movie - it's implied that he's done much more.

 

* Tinker in [[Wen Spencer]]'s ''Tinker'' novels.

* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novels by Terry Pratchett, a recurring character is the befuddled genius inventor Leonard of Quirm (an obvious parody of real-world Renaissance Italian inventor and painter Leonardo da Vinci).

* The ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series features quite a few gadgeteer characters, such as Jetman, but in a subversion, the gadgets they make don't actually work. Some of them actually have no means of operating. The gadgets are just tokens that serve as a crutch for their powers.

* Foaly from ''[[Artemis Fowl]]''. He is stated to be the reason the People are still ahead of humans.

* ''[[Traveller]]'': The Terran Confederation is this in ''Intersteller Wars''. When they first meet the Vilani they are thousands of years behind. However they surpass them in less then two hundred years.

 

* ''[[Bionicle]]'': Nuparu, Avak, and Telluris

 

* The Lombaxes from ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' are [[Planet of Hats|an entire race]] of Gadgeteer Geniuses. Ratchet himself was able to build a functioning space ship out of <s>[[Memetic Mutation|A BOX OF SCRAPS!]]</s> spare parts <s>[[Iron Man|IN A CAVE!]]</s> on Veldin simply by following Gadgetron's voice prompts (not to mention the list of his wacky inventions that Clank rattled off), and the Lombax Secret is in fact {{spoiler|an inter-dimensional portal device.}} According to the Smuggler, Lombaxes can't leave ''any'' invention the way they found it and are forever tinkering.

 

* [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ Agatha Heterodyne] of ''[[Girl Genius]]'', and the other Sparks ([[Mad Scientist]]s). An example of [[Schizo-Tech]] because Sparks are able to screw with the laws of physics. Examples include electrical lightning moats, cloning pods, [[Death Ray]]s, giant airships, autonomous robots and Frankenstein monsters in a world that is otherwise at the tech-level of the 19th century. (That's her in the page image. Yes, that is a coffee maker. No, [[Gone Horribly Right|you don't want any coffee from it.]])

** Yes you do! If you haven't seen Vanamonde von Mekkhan's [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070625 description of this coffee ], you will find the need to find the Foglios and have them tell you how they came to our universe so we can go there and get some. The only downside is you'll never be able to fully enjoy other cups of coffee again.

* Thomas the Cat from ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'', as seen [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/03/16/ here] and [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/09/30/ here].

** Not to mention Annarchy, especially in the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness games where she upgrades your weapons and builds a {{spoiler|[[Humongous Mecha]] to defeat a [[Physical God]]}}. Also meets the female and school-age requirements.

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'''s Riff has built several robots, a device for opening gates to other dimensions, the Omnitaser Supreme, and a staple remover ''with a 100 feet range''.

* A more specific version, but ''[[Megatokyo]]'''s Largo can build a computer out of almost anything, including ''cereal boxes''.

* ''[[Dr. Nonami]]'' stars a young female scientist who invents a variety of machines to fight evil.

* Doc and Roger from ''[[The Whiteboard]]'' tend towards this, triply so (at the very least) if alcohol is involved. Notable inventions include a fusion-powered paintball gun capable of firing through time, and a micro air compressor which runs on ''nitroglycerine'' as petrol isn't powerful enough.

* Walter from ''[[Dubious Company]]'', regularly upgrades the ships he steals with complex [[Magitek]], and is the go-to-guy for [[Techno Babble]]. His first on panel instance of this is in the shipwrecked arc, where he built a fully-furnished house in the course of an afternoon ''without'' tools. It was also a [[Visual Gag]] about his [[Winged Humanoid|animal instincts]].

* [[The Big Guy|Equius Zahaak]] from ''[[Homestuck]]'' uses his mechanical skills to build [[Artificial Limbs|new body parts]] for his wounded allies. He also builds robots for various personal uses.

* Wolfgang von Kempelen (Kempelen Farkas) was a real life example from the 18th century, known for creating, among other things, a speaking machine and a chess playing 'automaton'. The later required an operator sitting inside and controlling the puppet through an elaborate mechanism, and using several other mechanisms to conceal himself when the machine is opened up, creating the illusion that the whole structure is fully mechanical.

* Wu Yulu is a 46-year old farmer from a rural area of China near Beijing. While he has very little in the way of formal education, he has over the past thirty years built over 26 robots to do everything from light cigarettes, to scale walls, to drive rickshaws, building them out of scrap metal. In true [[Mad Scientist]] tradition, he nearly drove his wife to divorce, plunged them both into tremendous debt, destroyed his home and scalded his face with acid. All ''[[For Science!]]''! Or at least his crazy hobby.

 

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[[Category:Stock Characters]]

[[Category:Make My Index Live]]

[[Category:Steampunk Index]]

[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]