Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,561
edits
Gadgeteer Genius: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
Superjerk29 (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| (22 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 12:
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]].
When the character is known for skill in electronics rather then mechanics he or she is a [[Techno Wizard]]. It is possible of course for the same character to be both or for a Gadgeteer and a Techno character to compliment each other on the same team.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* [[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!]]
* 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]]''.
Line 47 ⟶ 48:
* ''[[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.
* The [[Child Prodigy]] {{spoiler|Sieglinde Sullivan}} in the ''[[
==
* ''[[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.
Line 74 ⟶ 75:
* 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]]''.
▲== Fan Fic ==
* 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]]...
== [[Films]] ==▼
▲== Films ==
* 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.
Line 98 ⟶ 97:
* 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.
* 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.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* 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).
** In ''[[
* 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.
Line 120 ⟶ 118:
* 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.
* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story "Homo Sol" portrays Earthpeople as, by comparison with the Galaxy's other intelligent peoples, an entire species of these — specializing in weapons. One extraterrestrial describes how Earth's researchers rebuilt an alien geological sensor, used to detect ore deposits and '''not very effective''', as an absolutely deadly targeting sensor: "It will automatically lay a gun or projector on a completely invisible target in space, air, water — or rock, for that matter."
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
Line 157 ⟶ 156:
* 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.
== [[
* [[Ultimate Blacksmith | Vulcan/Hephaestus/Hephaistos]] in [[Classical Mythology]]. Of note are the trap-bed he made to catch Aphrodite cheating on him with Ares, the [[Mechanical Horse]]s he built to pull his chariot, the [[Robot Girl]] maids he built to serve him and sing for him, the gold and silver lions and dogs he built to protect the palace of Alkinoos, Eros' bow and arrows of love and hate, Hermes' winged sandals [[Captain Obvious | which allow him to fly]], Helios' chariot, and mechanical tripods which could walk to and from Mt. Olympus.
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same | The Dwarves]] in [[Norse Mythology]]. Of note regarding the things which they built are [[Animal Mecha | Gullinbursti]], a mechanical boar made of gold which could travel incredibly fast both over land and underground, Thor's hammer Mjöllnir, which could cause lightning to strike when thrown, and be shrunk down to a tiny size, Odin's spear Gungnir, which could strike any target it was thrown at, Tyr's ship Skidbladnir, which could be shrunk down to a tiny size, a wig for Thor's wife Sif which grew just like real hair, and, most intriguing and disturbing of all, the dwarf brothers [[Magnificent Bastard | Fjalar and Galar]] made magic wisdom-granting mead [[Squick | from a man's blood]].
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Urza and Mishra, the Brother Artificers of ''[[Magic: The
* From the first incarnation of the ''[[Old World of Darkness|
** 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.
Line 188 ⟶ 186:
* ''[[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.
== [[Toys]] ==
* ''[[Bionicle]]'': Nuparu, Avak, and Telluris
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* 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]].
** Cid Pollendina of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' was the first playable Cid, who refuses to let little things like [[Riding the Bomb|riding a nuke into an enemy vessel]] and an Avalanche of millions of tons of rock and magma stop him from fixing up your airship. He's also a [[Cool Old Guy]]
** ''[[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.
Line 255 ⟶ 252:
* 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.
== [[Web Comics]] ==▼
▲== Web Comics ==
* [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.
Line 269 ⟶ 265:
* 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.
* Dust Puppy in ''[[User Friendly]]'' wrote Erwin the Artificial Intelligence [https://web.archive.org/web/20170926215504/http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20001018 overnight, in Cobol], only [https://archive.is/20130705182146/http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19980125 53 days] after Dust Puppy himself [https://web.archive.org/web/20150101213339/http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19971203 was born].
* ''[[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''.
Line 276 ⟶ 272:
* ''[[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.
* ''[[Voodoo Walrus]]'' has a "house badger" by the name of Professor Kaboodles who has seemingly evolved in the background from being a simple pet badger to a full on goggle and lab coat wearing inventor. Though no one notices. Even when he's [https://web.archive.org/web/20140405133953/http://voodoowalrus.com/?p=1137 shooting lasers at floating pygmy cows.]
* 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.
== [[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 ==
Line 294 ⟶ 288:
* 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.
* Essay (hero), Gimble (neutral) and Triton (villain) are notable examples in the ''[[Academy of
* ''[[The League of STEAM]]'' boasts several, especially Crackitus Potts.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'':
** Phineas and Ferb.
Line 344 ⟶ 337:
* ''[[Tracey McBean]]''
* Philly Phil from ''[[Class of 3000]]''.
* Coop from ''[[Megas XLR]]'' tuned up a [[Humongous Mecha]] until it worked better than the original, even despite all the parts he keeps breaking on account of [[Genius Ditz|not being all that bright besides.]]
* The Mechanist from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''.
* Wheeljack, from ''[[Transformers]]''! How has he not been mentioned yet? He created the Aerialbots and the Dinobots, and while some of his inventions don't quite work out, in the, ah, explode-y sense.. his fuel pump is in the right place. I mean, he also invented lots of useful things! Like the Immobilizer, which worked great until it blew up, and the Negavator, which worked great until IT blew up, and that bomb they used one time, which was supposed to blow up, so it DEFINITELY worked great, and I think I'm starting to sense a trend here...
* Gretchen Grundler from ''[[Recess]]''
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
* 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.
* Draper Kauffman, the head of the Underwater Demolition Teams ([[World War II]] Seals effectively) was good at gadgets and had a number of skilled gadgeeteers in his crew. He was once a bomb tech during the Blitz, and latter planned the breeching of obstacles at Saipan.
* [[Knife Nut|Victorinox]] is a corporate gadgeeteer genius specializing in making one of Switzerland's [[Every Device Is a Swiss Army Knife|most famous products.]]
** Swiss in general are famous for gadgets. They make watches, after all, and though they did not actually invent the cuckoo clock they could have.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Stock Characters]]
[[Category:Make My Index Live]]
[[Category:Steampunk Index]]
[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
| |||