Gadgeteer Genius: Difference between revisions

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It doesn't matter if she's [[Teen Genius|13 years old]] or [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|13,000]], she's the greatest scientific genius in the universe and can prove it by building a 50,000-horsepower [[Humongous Mecha|battle robot]] out of [[Homemade Inventions|tin cans and an old transistor radio]]. Overnight. Sometimes her creations [[Explosive Instrumentation|fail]] with [[Stuff Blowing Up|entertaining explosions]], but they always work for at least a little while. In [[Anime]], the '''Gadgeteer Genius''' is usually female, and often still in grade school. In Western depictions the gadgeteer is usually male, and can be of any age.

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.

** 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.

* Flint Lockwood from ''[[Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]]''.

* 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.

* Cogs in ''[[The Grimnoir Chronicles]]'' books are exactly this. Unlike most other examples though, Cogs tend to be specialized.

* 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]] ==

* 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]] ==

* One of the [[Mascot]]s of [[Top Secret (magazine)|Top Secret]] is Prof. Dzemik,<ref>(his name is a rather complicated pun on a Polish celebrity)</ref> who originally was facetiously created as an expert who responded to the readers' technological questions, and also starred in the magazine's comics where he was usually a plot device who invented the time machine or exposited on a dimensional transporter that was the basis of a story's plot.

 

 

** 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.

** 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.

** And their options get even wilder if the Gizmo advantage is also taken. For a Gadgeteer character, that means that at a crucial moment, he or she can build exactly what they need on the spot. (Alternatively, it can also mean happening to have [[Crazy Prepared|just the right gadget]] in his or her pocket.)

* 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.

** The very first Cid appears in ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'', who offers taxi service with his airship to the heroes.

** ''[[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.

* Shinra from ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]'', although his entire race is exceptionally technologically advanced, the rest of the game world having been Luddites until shortly before the game's beginning.

* 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.]]

* 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).

* ''[[Solatorobo]]'' has Merveille, who is credited with single-handedly raising the bar for Kurvasz [[Mini-Mecha]] design. {{spoiler|She's also quite skilled in biology, [[Creating Life]] while barely old enough to be out of high school.}} The shopkeeper Suzette and Red's sister Chocolat are both [[Wrench Wench]]es.

* 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.

 

== [[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 ==

* This is a super-power in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. Some Gadgeteer Geniuses have only the power to make one very, very advanced device (Roland Jaffe created an iPod-sized battery that could store more electricity than a ten-foot-high pile of car batteries, and Peter Dansker, a technician for Lucent, built a truly sentient android over the course of a weekend), while others are able to toss out new technology as easily as they can breathe.

* 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.

* 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.

* Froggo from ''[[Histeria!]]'' was always asking for things because, as he put it, "You've got your inventions, and I've got mine."

* [[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.

* ''[[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]]