Genius Bruiser/Playing With

• Main
• Image Links
• Laconic
• Playing With
• Quotes
• All Subpages
• Create New

Basic Trope: A character who looks like The Big Guy reveals himself to be exceptionally intelligent as well.

• Straight: Pike wears armor, fights skilfully with a polearm, and is taller than The Hero, but prefers to read philosophy and learn about science off the battlefield.
• Exaggerated: Pike is a twenty foot tall stone Golem and the nation's leading expert in microbiology.
• Justified:
  • Pike's family was determined to raise him a scholar, and he probably would've been The Smart Guy had he not inherited his gladiator great-grandfather's height and build.
  • Pike was born seeming naturally ultra-masculine: Tall, muscled, very strong, possibly other traits that suggest more rash and impulsiveness, such as visible veins. Deciding to break people's first assumption, Pike becomes very scholarly, but still makes good use of his natural advantage by becoming a very strong combatant.
• Inverted:
  • Pike looks like your typical smart guy, but under all that scrawniness, he's quite the muscle
  • Alternatively: Pike has his talents, but he's neither very smart nor particularly strong.
• Subverted: Once the gang realizes Pike is a Know-Nothing Know-It-All, they regard him as Dumb Muscle.
• Double Subverted: Until Pike's field of expertise is needed and his intelligence saves the day.
• Parodied:
  • Pike is an eight foot tall wall of muscle as well as an expert in several fields including ballet, wine tasting, and interior decorating.
  • Pike is an Absent-Minded Professor who Does Not Know His Own Strength. Needless to say, his attempts at a Small Hadron Collider turn out poorly.
• Deconstructed: Pike spends so much time training his mind and body that he has no friends and is too busy to really aid the heroes or affect the plot.
• Reconstructed: Until he realizes that not using his talents to help others is as good, builds an Impossibly Cool Weapon, and joins the True Companions.
• Zig Zagged: Pike's level of intelligence is portrayed inconsistently Depending on the Writer. In some episodes, he can fix a downed spaceship in a Cave. WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS. In others, he punches down doors because he can't figure out the handle.
• Averted:
  • Dumb Muscle
  • Wimp with brains.
• Enforced: "We need a Smart Guy and a Big Guy, but we only want four team members, instead of dropping one, let's put the two together!"
• Lampshaded:
  • A doctor's license can be seen in Pike's training area.
  • Pike wears a lab coat to the gym.
• Invoked: Naturally big and tough, Pike never had to exercise much to stay in shape, so he decided to hit the books so he'd have brains and brawn going for him.
• Defied: Pike realizes his immense strength and stature can be intimidating to many, so he downplays his physique and emphasizes his intelligence whenever people need his help.
• Discussed: Pike: "I hit him in the liver because I noted his jaundiced sclera."
• Conversed: "Pike's pretty smart for a giant wall of muscle..."

---

Now that we know you're a Smart Guy too, use your brains and brawn to go Back to Genius Bruiser.