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.

* 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]].

* 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.

** 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.

* 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.]]

* 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 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.

[[Category:Steampunk Index]]

[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]