Gadgeteer Genius: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

 

A [[Wrench Wench]] is a slightly more realistic depiction. Expect her [[Battle Cry]] to be "''[[For Science!]]''"

When the Gadgeteer Genius's creations cannot be replicated by lesser minds see [[The Spark of Genius]]. When it's the results are [[Beyond the Impossible|impossible according to internal logic]] and [[Played for Laughs]], it's [[Impossible Genius]].

 

 

* [[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.

* Rin-Rin from ''[[Sister Princess]]'' can build custom laptop computers overnight for pocket change, complete with her own hand-written operating system. She's also built an [[Robot Girl|android duplicate of herself]], but the poor thing [[The Voiceless|can't speak]] and is still [[Dojikko|a bit klutzy]] at household chores.

* Li Kohran from ''[[Sakura Taisen]]''.

* Irina Woods, one of Arika's friends and roommates from ''[[Mai-Otome]]'', has taken a great interest in engineering. She even tried to build a giant house-cleaning machine to assist Arika with her punishment duty (which broke down almost immediately, but at least she tried).

* Nina Einstein from ''[[Code Geass]]''. She invented a {{spoiler|NUCLEAR WEAPON}} in the last episode of the first season using the contents of a High School science lab! Granted, it was only semi-functional and broke down before {{spoiler|detonation}}, but STILL. And not to mention, she later ''did'' build a functioning {{spoiler|bomb}}... with disastrous results.

** Tails is a better example.

* Shari of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', who by the age of 17, had already created the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Danger Room-like]] training grounds of Riot Force 6 and the [[Empathic Weapon|Intelligent Devices]] of the rookies.

* Hotaru of ''[[Gakuen Alice]]''. Her's is the invention Alice.

* Ursula Hartmann from ''[[Strike Witches]]'' combines this with [[Improbable Age]]. A 10-years old who is a rocketry expert.

* [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Kana/Kanna]] from ''[[NEEDLESS]]'' have this as her superpower.

* ''[[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.

*** Oh, but he has. He stopped the Adversary, an evil [[Physical God]] and banished it from the world. ''Twice.'' It's probably going to {{spoiler|resurface soon now that Forge is dead}}.

** Scalphunter, a member of the [[Complete Monster|Marauders]] that regularly clash with the X-Men has these technical abilities too, being able to reform mechanical components into anything he can think of. Given that he's a murderous [[Psycho for Hire]], he generally tends to create [[Big Freaking Gun|shotguns, grenade launchers, high-powered automatic rifles, and other lovely toys.]]

* Angie from the superhero comic ''[[PS238]]'' by Aaron Williams (author of ''Nodwick'') combines the ability to make just about ''anything'' out of old cars and other junk with having the mindset of the cast of ''Pimp My Ride''. Bling-bling and [[Explosive Overclocking]] tends to riddle whatever she ends up building, which is just the way she likes it.

** And of the male (and not quite as explosive) type, the school also hosts Zodon and Herschel Clay, who both have significant gadget construction and tinkering skills in addition to (or due to) being prime examples of, respectively, the [[Evil Genius]] and the [[Mr. Fixit]].

* In ''[[Astro City]]'', Beautie's origin is revealed: {{spoiler|she was built by a girl Gadgeteer Genius, the still more brilliant daughter of another Gadgeteer Genius. (Her father's reaction leads to Bad Things for both Beautie and the daughter.)}}

** Not to mention the Junkman, who uses stuff that's been thrown out to create his devices (as he considers himself cast off by society because of his age). Despite the self-imposed handicap, he is one of the few villains in Astro City who {{spoiler|actually win}}, as it is implied he {{spoiler|gets away from his trial}} with the recognition he craved and all the loot he stole.

* In [[Warren Ellis]]'s ''newuniversal'' (based on ''[[The New Universe]]''), this is the power provided by the Cipher [[Power Tattoo]]. Of the three known bearers, one was a prehistoric woman who invented electric lighting and energy weapons, but believed they were gifts from the gods; one was this world's version of [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]]; and the most recent is [[Humongous Mecha]] designer Dr Jennifer Swan.

** There's also Tom Thumb and Master Menace from Marvel's ''[[Squadron Supreme]]'' alternate universe.

* Gyro Gearloose can build literally anything. In one story he built a functional space rocket out of a couple of toasters and duct tape, overnight.

* Lewis, Mechanika's armourer in ''[[Lady Mechanika]]''.

* Al Jabr in ''[[Demon Knights]]''. It's [[The Dark Ages]] and he has a telescope and an electrified whip.

* Fantasio of ''[[Spirou and Fantasio]]'' was a talented inventor in the earlier volumes. [[Characterization Marches On|Later volumes ignored this attribute]] but his skills are alluded to in "Aventure en Australie", where he fixes a broken down train despite everyone in town insisting that it was beyond repair.

* Most recently [[Static (comics)|Static]] in the pages of ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]''. Previously, Static was just a very bright kid, but in Lobdell's Teen Titans, he's become a full blown [[Teen Genius]]: designing [[Batman|Red Robin's]] glider wings and creating a new costume from scratch for [[The Flash|Kid Flash]] that prevents his powers from vibrating him to nothing.

* 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.

* Anakin Skywalker of ''[[Star Wars]]'' fame built a [[Robot Buddy|protocol droid]] and a pod racer before the age of ten.

* ''[[The Specials]]'': Mr. Smart, smartest man in the world, inventor of such devices as a winged rocket-backpack and [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time|a machine that amplifies his sense of smell 3,000 times]].

* Ling Ling Fat (008) in Steven Chow's ''[[Forbidden City Cop]]'' is a genius inventor who uses his wits to protect the Emperor better than the kung-fu masters making up the rest of the Imperial Guard.

 

* 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.

* Abner Perry in ''At The Earth's Core'' by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]].

* Violet Baudelaire in ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''. This girl used a window shade and six roller skates to make an automatic rolling pin. When she was ''five''.

* The main character of [[The Chronicles of Professor Jack Baling]] is able to build a disintegrator gun out of parts from his microwave, flatscreen TV, laser pointer, refrigerator, and his wife’s hair dryer that plugs into any standard wall socket.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Micah from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is a ten-year-old boy whose mastery of machines allowed him to make his own circuitry for his computer. This is later explained to be {{spoiler|[[Technopath|his superpower]], control and knowledge}} of machines.

* Basically ''every'' Chief Engineer from ''[[Star Trek]]'' is an engineering genius: Scotty, Geordi La Forge, Miles O'Brien, B'Elanna Torres, "Trip" Tucker.

** Starfleet Engineers in general seem to have a reputation for this. In the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "Rocks and Shoals," a wounded Vorta says of a broken transmitter system, "It needs repair, but I'm willing to bet that you've brought one of those famed Starfleet engineers who can turn rocks into replicators." Further, in the [[Expanded Universe]] there's an entire novel series ''called'' "Starfleet Corps of Engineers."

** Presumably, the dry dock engineers are geniuses too, since they manage to survive and repair all the alien tech that all homecoming vessels seem to be infested with.

*** On [[Star Trek: The Original Series|the original series]], while Scotty did an impressive job [[MacGyvering]] and was a remakably fast and thorough [[Mr. Fixit]], plot-resolving ''new'' technology usually required a teamup with Spock, who was otherwise fairly consistently presented as a theoretician and IT man.

** Justified with the ''Enterprises'' because, as capital ships, their officers are the ''best of the best'' from an organisation spanning hundreds of planets, or in the case of ''Enterprise'', at least the whole of Earth.

*** Lampshaded in the 2009 movie: Scotty is just a little too smart for his own good, having beamed "Admiral Archer's prize beagle" across the galaxy for a bet. To allow him time to wait for it to arrive, he's sent to the Starfleet equivalent of a [[Reassigned to Antarctica|remote Alaskan radar station]]. Apparently, Porthos was going to re-materialize at the very end of the film, but it was cut for time, [[What Could Have Been|alas]].

* Seamus Zelazny Harper from the spaceship ''[[Andromeda]]'' is both an engineering genius (which by later seasons extends itself even to human cloning) and also a hyperactive archetypal [[Mr. Fixit]] and tinkerer.

*** The most impressive part? He put the teleportation thing in by ''accident''. He was just trying to connect to the alien communications network. ''The day after meeting the aliens for the first time''.

* Supposedly, the Professor from ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'', though just how good he is remains something of a mystery as he can't patch a hole in a boat.

* Scholar Mek of ''[[Spellbinder]]'' began the second series by designing and building a transdimensional boat... when he was supposed to be making a set of musical jewels for the [[Royal Brat|Dragon Lord.]]

* As noted above, Artemus Gordon on ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]'' cobbled together all sort of useful gadgets for his partner James West to use.

* Claudia Donovan from ''[[Warehouse 13]]''. H.G. Wells is a villanous version of the tropes.

* Siroc from ''[[Young Blades]]'' is known for his ([[Anachronism Stew|frequently anachronistic]]) inventions, including a submarine, a machine gun, a metal detector, a bomb concealed in a hollowed-out watermelon, and a machine that generates static electricity by turning a wheel of artificial feet wearing socks so that they rub against a static-generating material.

* Fred on ''[[Angel]]'' fits this, especially with her improvised flying blade of beheading in season 3 "Fredless".

 

== [[Magazines]] ==

 

 

** The Sons of Ether from ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' are [[Mad Scientist]] in the purest sense, with oft-retro aesthetics ranging from [[Raygun Gothic]] to Victorian-esque Steampunk. The Virtual Adepts were technomantic computer hackers with Urban rebel [[Cyberpunk]] flair, doing in the real world what Neo did in [[The Matrix]]. And of course there was the ''Technocracy'', which had lots of gadgeteer genius engineers of their own, especially among the Iteration X; the difference being that the Technocracy encouraged a mass-producible, utilitarian type of gadgeteering, while the Sons of Ether used idiosyncratic gadgets that may or may not work for others, and the Adepts fell somewhere in between.

** One tribe of werewolves, the Glasswalkers, in ''Werewolf: the Apocalypse'' had adapted to modern times and learned to use their spirit magic to talk to the spirits of machinery and urban landscapes.

*** Nockers are also capable of ''scaring'' a piece of machinery into working temporarily by ''cussing'' at it.

* In the second incarnation of [[New World of Darkness|the World of Darkness]]:

** And then there's the fanline ''[[Genius: The Transgression]]'', where most of the player characters are these, capable of making inventions that bend the laws of physics to the breaking point. Powerful Geniuses are easily the most effective at gadgeteering, whipping up an entire fleet of spaceships is possible.

* The Mad Scientists in ''[[Deadlands]]'' are similar to the {{spoiler|Wild Cards}} series example above; the devices they make barely {{spoiler|work on their own, if at all}}. The power behind their science-breaking steampunkness is {{spoiler|evil spirits the characters are unwittingly channeling}}. Well, not Hellstromme, he knows exactly what he's doing.

* ''[[GURPS]]'' has two levels of this. Gageteers can build things that break the laws of physics if they have lots of funding. Quick Gageteers can do the same thing in half the time with rubberbands and cheese.

* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' the Skavens clan Skyre is a group of giant rats numbering hundreds of thousands if not millions of Gadgeteer Geniuses. The engineers of the empire follows this trope quite good as well. The dwarfs might at first appear like this but their constructions aren't that improbable and most are old engines based on experience and new inventions are rare.

** And make Da Red Ones Go Fasta!

* The D20 supers game ''[[Godlike]]'' likewise has gadgeteers turn out to actually have nonsensical gadgets that only work because their "inventors" believe they do, most likely as a way to prevent a [[Reed Richards Is Useless]] situation.

* ''[[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

 

* If a character in any ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' game is called Cid, two things are almost certain: 1. He's a Gadgeteer Genius and 2: His specialty will be [[Cool Airship|Airships]], for example:

** Never seen, but Cid of the Lufaine in ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'' (at least all it's remakes) was the inventor of the first airship.

** ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'' gives us Cid Haze, skilled enough to convert a [[Cool Ship]] into a [[Cool Airship]].

** ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'''s Cid Previa builds airships, surprise surprise, and makes Crystal Power Enhancing... [[Buffy-Speak|Thingies.]]

** Cid Del Norte Marquez from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' oddly enough doesn't work with Airships, but is no less of a Gadgeteer Genius seeing as he invented [[Magitek]] and designs [[Powered Armor]], weapons, and even pseudo-genetic engineering.

** Cid Highwind of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' fame is probably the most well known on this list. He does the same in the [[Kingdom Hearts]] games, except he doesn't fight. [[No Smoking|or smoke]](he gets a toothpick). [[Bowdlerise|Or swear.]]

** Cid Kramer of ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' put up part of the money used to rebuild the mass people mover that would eventually become Balamb Garden {{spoiler|(The rest comes from [[The Mafia]], which causes problems later on)}}, which functions as the party's primary mode of transportation early in the story, and negotiates with a city of engineers to help actually create it to his specifications.

** ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'''s Cid. He builds airships and he's loud and boisterous. He doesn't really bring anything new to the table.

*** His daughter, [[Genki Girl|Rikku]] counts as well with her "Mix" [[Limit Break|Overdrive]].

* Max from ''[[Dark Cloud]] 2'' can make items out of pretty much anything he sees. He just needs to [[First-Person Snapshooter|capture photos]] for inspiration.

* Lash from ''[[Advance Wars]]'', who combines this trope with being an [[Enfante Terrible]], much to the protagonists' dismay.

* The Vances from ''[[Half Life]] 2''. Eli built a [[Robot Buddy|robotic dog]] for his daughter, Alyx. Over the years, she upgraded Dog into a super-strong, semi-sentient [[Lightning Bruiser]].

* Tron Bonne and Roll from ''[[Mega Man Legends]]''.

** Ciel from ''[[Mega Man Zero]]''. And the two above examples seem like amateurs compared to her. Her accomplishments? Creating a perfect replica of X (Cain certainly couldn't, partially why mavericks exist), she created an energy system to solve the energy crisis that is not only effective but just beautiful (take a look at the reactor of the Guardian airship from ZX!), and she made Biometals to match Master Albert's, but also added the dual Mega-Merge feature. And she created Copy-X when she was ''nine years old''. Don't believe me? Read the [[All There in the Manual|MegaManZero Complete Works.]]

** He also built himself a robotic hand to replace his missing right hand. [[Mad Scientist|A hand that he cut off so he could replace it with a robotic hand.]]

* This trope is the defining characteristic of Gnomes in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Gnomish tinkerers are famous for inventing just about anything, including (but not limited to) helicopters, robots, guns, and even some mechanized melee weapons. Players can take the "Engineering" profession, which allows them to embody this trope. The profession even allows the player to create [[Mad Scientist]] style goggles.

* Another gnome from a completely different universe/game (and a definite case of [[Our Gnomes Are Weirder]]), Jan Jansen from ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate 2]]'' starts the game with a crossbow (including bolts), gloves, boots, and goggles of his own design, most of which give him a big bonus to his thieving skills. Originally, he would have invented more gadgets as the game went on, but this was sadly [[Dummied Out|scrapped due to lack of development time]].

* Grubb from ''[[Septerra Core]]''. He built several robots of different types out of rubbish thrown down from Terra 1.

* Purge from ''[[Space Channel 5]]'' Part 2.

* Momo from ''[[Breath of Fire]] III''.

* Bill from ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', who invented the storage system, as well as his colleagues who helped him. In the [[Pokémon Special|manga]], he also invented the Vs. Seeker.

* Carl, your chief engineer in ''[[Mechwarrior]] 4'' has a reputation as one. The saying goes "Give Carl a hundred tons of steel wool and he'll knit you an Atlas overnight."

* Professor E. Gadd from the ''[[Super Mario]]'' series. Also, Shy Guys, who count as Gadgeteer Genius [[Mooks]]. Luigi also becomes this as Mr. L.

* The whole Bui bui species from ''[[Loco Roco]]'' series. To lesser extent, Mui mui too.

* The Gadgeteer is an actual class in ''[[Wizardry]] 8'', and it's just as powerful as you'd expect. Thankfully the rarity of components means that you can't really have more than one in the party, which keeps the game from becoming unbalanced.

* Gadgeteering exists as a power set in the MMORPG ''[[Champions Online]]''. One of the abilities being an 'Experimental Ray' which has a chance for various effects, including turning the target into a teddy bear.

* The Gadgeteer is also the name of a class in ''[[Twilight Heroes]]'' - they make many of the gadgets and devices that they use in combat.

* Puck of [[Vanguard Bandits]] is capable of repairing the strongest and oldest [[A Mech by Any Other Name|ATACs]] in record time and can keep them in working order with the smallest of resources. {{spoiler|1=Taken to extreme levels as he proves he is fully capable of making an ATAC even stronger than the one legends portrayed as strongest using only scrape parts of a broken machine and a weaker power source.}}

* [[Unwritten Legends]] has two classes based on gadgeteering, making the characters either this or at least the [[Genius Ditz]]

* ''[[Eagle Eye Mysteries]]'': [[Word of God]] says that Jennifer Eagle's character was created specifically for her to be this. In-game, she built the Eagle Eye Detective Agency's TRAVIS hand-held computer, and is rather picky about who gets to wield it (only Eagle Eye members have the privilege).

* 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.

 

* Kat from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' builds an antigravity generator out of a thermos and coat hangers for the school [[Science Fair]]. She didn't see this as anything special, and built it simply in order to allowe her protein synthesis experiment to work properly. Much to her chagrin, nobody cared very much about proteins, but were fascinated by her anti-grav machine. Later, she converts it into a personal aircraft.

* Scarlett from ''[[Sequential Art (webcomic)|Sequential Art]]'' is either this, or an [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Idiot Savant]]. Several strips indicate that she'd be an engineering genius were it not for her [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|crippling case of ADD]].

** It later turned out she is actually one-fourth of a [[Wetware CPU|biocomputer]] [[Hive Mind|gestalt]], she is a lot more competent when she's with her "sisters"

* 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''.

* The titular pair from ''[[Casey and Andy]]''?

* ''[[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.

 

== [[Web Animation]] ==

* Sudoku from ''[[Banana-nana-Ninja!]]'' has built a [[Transformation Ray]] and a [[Swiss Army Weapon]] (the Omni-Functional Kitchen Gadget, an '''all'''-purpose kitchen tool that can transform into a [[Humongous Mecha]]).

 

== Web Original ==

* The various gadgeteers (follows the laws of physics) and devisors (considers them more of a guideline) of the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' have this as their mutant talent. Ironically, [[Word of God]] has canonically stated that even ''they'' can't actually make a giant robot that works. Not that this keeps the relevant perpetual school project nicknamed "Tiny Tim" from having its own [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] during the Halloween battle...

* Makes-Things, Techno-Dann, in ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]''. Technically, anyone who works for the Department of Sufficiently Advanced Technology can qualify.

* The [[Podcast]] [[Critical Hit (podcast)|Critical Hit]] has two: the PC Randus du Thane, played by Brian, and the NPC Thony.

* A staple villain type in ''[[Super Stories]]'', usually with their own, restricted specialty. Veldron is a whiz at electronic circuitry, Clockwork is brilliant with medium-scale engineering such as, well, clockwork, and Devnull is a programming and hacking genius.

* There's also the ''[[Masks]]'' universe, where this is one of the mutant powers, besides for instance Bricks (really tough and strong) and Flyers.

* In the web novels ''[[Trinton Chronicles]]'' there are two characters who fit this, one is Robert who took actual schooling on robotics and the other is Brandon who's super power actually allows him to understand machines.

 

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'':

** Phineas and Ferb.

** Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Despite being a normally [[Harmless Villain]], he is capable of building -inators that are as impressive as the inventions of the title characters.

* ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]'' is only a kid, but he has already surpassed any known scientist in capablity. Each episode focuses on one of his invention although his inventions usually fall pray to [[Flowers for Algernon Syndrome]].

* Gadget Hackwrench from ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]''.

* ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' has two. Adrian Toomes is the inventor of the Magnetic Air Transport System, a suit of [[Flight]]-capable [[Powered Armor]] that he uses as the [[Super Villain]] Vulture to antagonize Norman Osborn for stealing his designs. Chameleon's henchman Mason (aka, the Tinkerer) is responsible for developing all the [[Shoe Phone]] technology the Chameleon needs for his work as a [[Master of Disguise]].

* Widget from ''[[Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!]]''.

* Professor Utonium from ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' creates things like a supersuit or a giant robot or a car that can turn into a giant robot.

** [[Captain Obvious|...or superpowered kindergarteners.]]

* Jérémie from ''[[Code Lyoko]]''. His gadgeteering occurs more in the virtual world, however, as he is the primary programmer and the one who is most adept at using the Supercomputer. However, it is a confirmed fact that he can build robots, participating in a robot competition in Season 1. He also created an EMP bomb in episode "Ultimatum," which has efficiently stunned a XANAfied person at this occasion.

** [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Unfortunately that EMP bomb in "Ultimatum" also fried Ulrich's cell phone, preventing the news that Yumi and Odd were alive and rescued from getting back to Jeremie]]. Ah well; easy come easy go I guess.

** On the villainous side, Motor Ed is a mechanical genius. [[Verbal Tic|Seriously!]]

** In his "bad boy" mode, Ron Stoppable is this. It's even latent in his "good" mode, when he builds a weapon (at Drakken's insistence) [[MacGyvering|IN A LAIR, from A BOX OF SCRAPS]]!

* The Geek from ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' fits the original mold perfectly, as a young genius girl who built a gigantic robot Max in her underground lair.

* Rattrap in ''[[Beast Machines]]'' was stripped of all weapons upon being reformatted, so compensated by developing all sorts of handy devices to stop the Vehicons.

* [[Scooby Doo|Velma Dinkley]] produces a number of remarkably sophisticated pieces of equipment in her spare time in ''What's New, Scooby-Doo?'' In the same series, Fred also makes [[Sarcasm Mode|a few minor modifications]] to the Mystery Machine, such as equipping it to transform into a submarine at the press of a button.

* Similar to Fred's modification of the Mystery Machine, Alan of ''[[The Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan]]'' programmed the iconic Chan Van to be able to transform into just about anything. Even a dynamite truck.

* ''[[Tracey McBean]]''

* Philly Phil from ''[[Class of 3000]]''.

* The Mechanist from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''.

* Gretchen Grundler from ''[[Recess]]''

 

* The book ''The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind'' is about a real-life example of this. William Kamkwamba, a fourteen-year-old Malawian boy, was forced to drop out of school because his family could no longer afford the tuition. Using some books from a foreign-aid funded library and parts from a scrapyard, he constructed a fully functional windmill to run appliances in his family's home, largely creating the design from scratch.

* 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.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Stock Characters]]

[[Category:Make My Index Live]]

[[Category:Steampunk Index]]

[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]