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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''I once flushed a sock down the toilet on accident. I wear my clothes backwards a lot. I have never yet figured out how much metal chicken can be shoved in the back on a car safely. The fields in which I am ruthlessly competent are very very few, and the ones in which I am inept are vast beyond measure.''
▲[[File:sequentual_art_genius_ditz2_9171.png|link=Sequential Art (Webcomic)|right]]
|[[Ursula Vernon]], [http://ursulav.livejournal.com/960056.html on why writing can't be that hard if she can do it.]}}
This character would be nothing more than [[The Ditz]], except they have one area of expertise in which ''no one'' can beat them. When that skill or talent is needed, they suddenly switch gears from airheadedness to hyper-competency. Sometimes they don't even know that they're doing it.
Such a character who is well respected may become a [[Bunny
{{examples}}
* ''[[
▲== Anime & Manga ==
** It should be noted that Koji is sent to America in ''[[
▲* ''[[Mazinger Z (Anime)|Mazinger Z]]'': Kouji Kabuto is mostly infamous by being an [[Idiot Hero]] (mainly due to the anime series, since in the original manga he was more careful, more tactful, and believe it or not, less sexist). But unlike many similar hot-heads, he is actually exceptionally bright when he allows himself to think things through. This is demonstrated both in the Mazinger Z series, when at least twice he had to completely disable mechanical beasts with hostages inside (one of them being Sayaka's disabled cousin, Yuri); and in the ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer (Anime)|UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' series, where he builds his flying saucer all by himself and later develops the Cyclone Beam. He is also an excellent shot (demonstrated in the ''[[Mazinkaiser (Anime)|Mazinkaiser VS Ankoku Daishogun movie]]'' when he shoots Archduke Gorgon in both his tiger head and human head with one shot).
* ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'': Mihoshi Kiramitsu from some of the various continuities. (Talent: Several, actually. Full eidetic memory, outrageous luck and the ability to get into places where she shouldn't -- or ''couldn't possibly''
▲** It should be noted that Koji is sent to America in ''[[Great Mazinger (Anime)|Great Mazinger]]'' to study, so he can become a scientist since {{spoiler|Kenzo, Koji's father}} mentions that he has the scientist blood of the Kabuto family inside him. So, it’s pretty much hereditary.
** It's lightly implied in many of the continuities that Mihoshi used to be a genius cop, but she got so overstressed that she had a mental
▲* ''[[Tenchi Muyo]]'': Mihoshi Kiramitsu from some of the various continuities. (Talent: Several, actually. Full eidetic memory, outrageous luck and the ability to get into places where she shouldn't -- or ''couldn't possibly'' -- be.) In the [[OVA]], however, she tends more toward [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|Bunny-Ears Lawyer]].
▲** It's lightly implied in many of the continuities that Mihoshi used to be a genius cop, but she got so overstressed that she had a mental breakdown -- thus becoming the way she is now and that the moments of hypercompetence are actually remnants of her former self.
*** [[Word of God]] also has it that {{spoiler|she's the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Washuu... As in the 8th-dimensional goddess, greatest scientist in the universe, Washuu. Part of her ridiculous luck/genius moments/otherworldly skill is some fraction of that sort-of-divine spark emerging within her.}}
** Seina Yamada, protagonist of the ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]!'' [[Spin-Off]] ''[[Tenchi Muyo! GXP]]: Galaxy Police Transporter'', is purported to be [[Blessed
*** The reason for this being that he constantly automatically attracted looting or downright murderous space-pirates, across galactic distances, regardless how much they tried to avoid him. Since space is far too vast for the Galaxy Police to efficiently monitor, they finally had a way to round up the criminals, whereas Seina had so much "bad luck" that he actually started to spend it all.
*** The bad luck also had a tendency to literally ''bleed'' onto other people. He isn't affected as much because he's used to it and, regardless of how bad his luck is, will only suffer injuries.
* Yurika Misumaru from ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]''. (Talent: Tactical/strategic genius.) However, she takes the "ditz" part to such an extreme that she really [[Idiot Ball|makes a great deal more tactical/strategic blunders than she does actually intelligent moves]].
** As a big fan of the series, I could write an entire treatise on how over-simplified the above statement is, but suffice it to say that aside from a few mistakes with ''[[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|major]]'' consequences, she really does act as a qualified captain. She ''is'' a ditz, [[Obfuscating Stupidity|but she also uses that to hide just how strategic she really is underneath]]. In fact, I'm fairly convinced that her romantic pursuit of Akito falls into the category of [[Batman Gambit]].
* Shima Katase from ''[[Stellvia of the Universe]]'', directed and produced by the same people as ''Nadesico''. (Talent: Genius programmer.) Granted, she is not as ditzy as Yurika...
* Mutsumi Otohime from ''[[Love Hina]]'' is a classic example. When studying for her exams, she aces the practice tests, but in the actual exam she fails because she forgot to write her name on the paper, or how she once fainted before the test started.She also notices things the other characters don’t even pick up on, such as {{spoiler|When the girls go to rescue Keitaro the island they where on was on the other side of the international date line she was the only one who knew and thus Keitaro’s exam was sent back in time for him to make it in to Tokyo U at last.}}She knew the others at the Hinata inn's names even though Keitaro and Naru didn't tell her{{spoiler|Tama did}}But she conscientiously kept that on the down low at first. Mutsumi is the only one that could instantly tell Su’s brother(cousin) was not the real Keitaro and vise versa...etc etc. Mutsumi becomes somewhat less ditzy but continues to affect ditziness in order to keep people around her guessing.(Talents:Super attentiveness, Genius levels of intelligence, sharp keen senses,good luck,calm and peaceful hearted rational.)
* Minako Aino/"Sailor Venus" from ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' may be a
** This troper thinks that Minako proved herself as a
* Most of the characters from ''[[Mahou Tsukaitai]]'' are
* Ed from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' is a genius hacker who otherwise has trouble even communicating in normal speech, and often seems prone to wander off chasing the most recent interesting thing that crossed her line of vision. In one episode it was revealed she is also good at chess, she is also quite dexterous.
* Yomiko and, to a greater degree, the Paper Sisters of ''[[
* Ryuichi Sakuma from ''[[Gravitation]]'' in his spare time is a hyperactive, pun-loving kid adult who makes the [[Keet]]-like Shuichi look subdued, but on stage proves why he became Japan's most famous singer. In the manga, though, he displays insight and quick thinking even when in "ditzy" mode, which makes him more of a [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]] in original canon.
* ''[[Bleach]]'': [[Action Girl]] Mashiro Kuna acts like an [[Adult Child]] and dresses up like a ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' [[Fan Girl]], but {{spoiler|she can keep her Hollow mask on for ''hours'' outside of battle. And was a Vice-Captain in the Gotei 13 before she became a Visored}}.
** Orihime, [[Cloudcuckoolander|scatter-brained]] [[Genki Girl]] and a straight 'A' student. (And, in the manga at least, a black belt in karate. The anime changes this to a yellow belt, which is the first rank above beginner)
* Gourry Gabriev of the ''[[The Slayers|Slayers]]'' series is a brilliantly talented swordsman who is otherwise about as sharp as a bag of wet sponges.
** In the books he's just [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] and finds great fun in irritating famously short-tempered Lina.
** Gourry's problem is often implied to be some rather skewed priorities more than anything else (though he obviously has some memory issues, too): the two most important things to him are fighting and [[Big Eater|food]], and if it doesn't have to do with one or the other he isn't likely to remember it. Thus, he might forget the names of some of his closest friends and frequent traveling companions, but he knows right away Lina's lying when she tries to convince him that he promised to give her his prized Sword of Light and forgot about it because there's no way he'd promise that in the first place. He is also shown to be surprisingly perceptive; if you pay close attention, he's usually the first to notice when something is amiss. Hence, he picked up on Xellos' true nature early on but didn't say anything because he thought it was too obvious.
** Naga and Martina are very inventive magic users who are crippled by being almost [[Cloudcuckoolander|too crazy]] [[Too Dumb to Live|to live]] and exist as lowly [[Goldfish Poop Gang]]. [[Unknown Rival|Naga]] developed several interesting spells, but is so self-absorbed she barely manages not to walk into walls. [[Plucky Comic Relief|Martina]] uses magic via worshipping of a Monster she admits she made up herself ''and it somehow works''
* Inoue Miyako from ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' is pretty handy with
** And speaking of Digimon, we have Kudou Taiki in ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]''. He not only seems, he IS an idiot. However, his strategic prowess is simply amazing, from distracting a foe by ''[[Calling Your Attacks|calling the wrong attack]]'', to resist the temptation to attack from the front like any other hot blooded hero would do and instead ''taking an enemy vessel and blow the unsuspecting others to smithereens''. AND HE'S TWELVE YEARS OLD.
* A common [[Fanon]] view regarding Ranma Saotome, titular character of ''[[Ranma
* Son Goku of ''[[
* Athena from ''[[
* Jirou Akutagawa from ''[[The Prince of Tennis]].'' Sweet-tempered, child-like, kinda dense, a practically chronic [[Heavy Sleeper]]... and a regular at ''Hyoutei'' of all schools.
* Arguably, Mikuru Asahina from the anime (and manga and light novel series) ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', who comes across as little more than an empty-headed little piece of eye-candy when introduced (see [[Moe Moe|Moe]]) but who, it is implied, may actually be an accomplished time traveling special agent.
** [[Obfuscating Stupidity|Her ditziness is probably a survival mechanism]]. You'd probably have trouble holding an intelligent conversation with someone from hundreds of years ago without blowing your cover, too.
** In the novels she states that parts of her mind have been artificially blocked to prevent her from revealing any significant information from the future time, which can seriously impair her communication abilities. She is also rather baffled why a simple trainee like her is given such important missions—it probably has something do do with the fact that {{spoiler|one of her superiors is in fact her future self, even though she has no idea that this is the case.}} Still, she clearly isn't incompetent, just inexperienced.
* Natsuhiko Taki from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' is an utter moron, plain and simple; He doesn't even know his ''times tables''. But if a question is asked in terms of American football, no matter how complicated, he'll always answer it correctly in seconds.
* In ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', America lacks in [[You Fail Geography Forever|geography]] and sometimes common sense, but he's good with technology like computers and aircrafts.
** Not to mention Italy - a total [[The Ditz|ditz]], completely [[Lovable Coward|useless in military]] - but excellent in the area of the arts.
* Tamaki Suoh in ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]''
** He also demonstrates amazing interpersonal insight from time to time, making his huge success as a host more than an [[Informed Ability]].
** He's also ranked second for his grade, right below Kyouya. And he apparently doesn't even study.
* Jack Rakan of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' acts like an idiot pretty much all the time... except when you fight him, at which point he becomes invincible. Rides the line between
** This may also be the case for Konoka, who generally acts like [[The Ditz]], even though it was established early on that [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v02/c007/14.html she's near the top of the class].<ref>She's sixth from the left</ref>
* ''[[
* Yui from ''[[K-On!]]'', especially after Azusa arrives. Best example: Yui doesn't know what a guitar tuner is; she's only able to tune her guitar because she has perfect pitch. Which gets even worse, because she doesn't know what perfect pitch is...
** Or what about that part in episode 4 where Yui {{spoiler|reproduces a song she only heard once}}? Even Mugi was stunned by that.
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* Koga Haruka from the manga/anime ''[[H 2]]''. She can be a bit silly at times but her true ditziness is only her clumsiness; she even carries bandages around because she keeps hurting herself.
* Kazuma Azuma from ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]'' is skilled in three things: Bread-making, rice, and...math, for some reason.
* Misa Amane from ''[[
** And a devious, intelligent mass murderer. It took the world's best detective (assisted by forensics laboratories) to {{spoiler|track down the extremely unlikely evidence that revealed her identity as the Second Kira}}. In this regard, she only looks like a ditz next to [[The Chessmaster|Light]], and because her obsession with him blinds her to the rest of the world.
*** Or perhaps that was simply due to having access to a Death Note. Sure, L discovered the existence of such a thing, but who would think that there'd actually be ''two'' at work in one setting? Not getting caught with a death note isn't much of an accomplishment, given it's a notebook that can magically give anybody a heart attack, and leaves no trace behind.
*** Well, L didn't really discover the Death Note at all, certainly not alone. Light was the one who set up the trail of bread crumbs for L to find it. Also, who was it that secured the evidence that Higuchi was Kira, thus aiding L in the procurement of the notebook? None other than the 'ditzy' Misa Amane. She's certainly more than just a pretty face, and her acting ability is only really surpassed by Light, who's so good at ''everything'' that he doesn't really count.
*** All things considered, L is the biggest Genius Ditz, as he was stated by the author of Death Note to be the most intelligent character in the series, and yet, he still lost. Though of course, while Light is certainly exceptional in just about everything, the "match" was never fair to begin with, especially considering that he got control of the idiosyncratic Rem, who was willing to die so that Misa's safety be assured. If it wasn't for Rem's affection for Misa, L might have pulled it off. And, if Light hadn't become arrogant (and thus made a few mistakes), Near should never have won, at the very least, in the manner that he did.
* The version of Professor Moriarty from ''[[Meitantei Holmes]]'' (US name ''[[Sherlock Hound]]'') is capable of devising brilliant criminal schemes and performing remarkable feats of engineering, but has trouble with common-sense issues like checking the pressure gauge on a steam press so it doesn't explode, ensuring that the river he's using for a [[Hostage for Macguffin]] exchange is actually deep enough to be any sort of obstacle, or not following a small child out onto an aircraft wing that's made out of paper and can't possibly support his weight.
* ''[[Irresponsible Captain Tylor]]'' causes ceaseless debate, in the series and amongst the fans, over whether his happy-go-lucky, lecherous, impulsive and often moronic antics are the real him and he's simply ''just that lucky'' (perhaps '''because''' [[The Fool|he's such a moron]]), or if he's a [[Magnificent Bastard]] who finds [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] to be the perfect disguise. Or he could be a mixture of both; genuinely smart at core, but also either somewhat crazed or just lacking in common sense, so he isn't faking his antics in the slightest.
** The [[Journey to
* Suzu in ''[[Nagasarete Airantou]]''. While [[You Fail Physics Forever|she doesn't know a thing about math]], she's very good at shogi (Japanese chess) and a first rate fighter.
{{quote|
'''Suzu''':[http://www.onemanga.com/Nagasarete_Airantou/38/08/ ...need...More...fingers...] }}
* Sheska from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* Patti in ''[[Soul Eater]]''. Has martial arts skills to outdo most of her class, and is so enthusiastically destructive at a firing range that Sid gives up trying to teach her anything. Puts this to good use when acting as Liz's meister. The series is ''full'' of this sort of [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|oddly]] talented character.
* Isumi [[Cloudcuckoolander|Saginomiya]] of ''[[
** During the Athens arc, she turned her [[No Sense of Direction]] into a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment, while also subverting the 'defeating any powerful demon' clause.
* [[One Piece|Tony Tony Chopper]] is an excellent doctor, and aside from being an anthropomorphic reindeer, would fit in at just about any hospital in the world. But if it doesn't have to do with medicine, he's extremely [[Tagalong Kid|childish]] and naive enough to believe Usopp's stories.
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* Sakura Shishidou in ''[[Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo]]'' is a [[Child Prodigy|twelve year-old]] [[Gadgeteer Genius]] who more frequently speaks in sound effects than with actual sentences.
* Where ''is'' [[Naruto]] in all this?? he may be your usual [[Idiot Hero]] but when in battle, he shows his ingenious talent at formulating tactics.
** His mother, Kushina is also implied to be this as {{spoiler|she admitted that her Ninjutsu grades in the Academy sucked, but she is apparently talented and knowledgeable in the art of Fuuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques) as it is her clan's specialty and apparently taught ''Minato'' the Uzumaki-Fuuinjutsu style which played a huge part in him becoming a legend}}
* [[Saiyuki]] might have the most genuinely ditzy of any ditz who ever did ditz in [[Cool Teacher|Koumyou]] [[Eccentric Mentor|Sanzo]]. He acts at times exactly like a valley girl, sleeps through his classes when he's in training, uses slang words he is FAR too old for, seems to misunderstand questions and situations a lot... and is also the youngest Sanzo priest ever before [[Big Bad|Ukoku]] and [[The Hero|Genjo]] come along, was a mentor figure to both of them, and also the only person both of them actually acknowledge as worthy of respect, was so powerful they bequeathed him two sutras, something never before done, and generally is one of the biggest badasses in the series, albeit one who died before it started. Is in interesting case in that his Genius is not really divorced from his Ditziness, and a lot of his incites come from that aspect of himself. But thats because Minekura is a good writer.
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Deadpool]]'' probably counts as one. Sure, he's certifiably insane, completely unpredictable, constantly breaks the fourth wall and never ever ever stops talking -- ''ever''
** Suffice to say that Deadpool is ''really'' good at his job as a mercenary. He once detected seventeen weaknesses in [[X
* Several ''[[Donald Duck]]'' stories would have the titular duck discovering an previously unexpressed aptitude at some obscure field, like counting objects or instrument playing.
** He is also often shown to be quite a competent mechanic.
*** He has kept ''[[The Alleged Car|that car]]'' running for quite some time.
* [[Modesty Blaise (
* In ''[[Doom Patrol]]'', Flash Forward is [[The Smart Guy]] and a [[Deadpan Snarker]] who often shows a greater capacity for lateral or existential thought than his teammates. He's also a poor kid from rural Alabama who dropped out of school in the 7th grade.
* Miss Martian from the ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' comic has pulled some rather impressive stunts like disguising herself to infiltrate a underground super fight league to free a bunch of trapped superheroes and working with a resistance cell in ''Final Crisis''. She also threw a pie in
* Every once in a while [[Harley Quinn]] will remind you that she ''is'' a certified psychologist. Interestingly, she seems to have been ditzy even ''before'' [[Love Makes You Crazy|going insane]], though.
* Lockhart in ''[[Oh God Not Again (Fanfic)|Oh God Not Again]]'' is [[Alternate Character Interpretation|interpreted]] like this. While he's still incompetent as a teacher, Harry admits he's a genius when it comes to anything dealing with the media.▼
== Fan Works ==
▲* Lockhart in ''[[Oh God
* Similarly, Mirai Morisato from ''[[Undocumented Features]]''. Although she initially gives every impression of being nothing more than a fashion-obsessed airhead, as of the events of ''Code-Name Ultra'' it's clear that Mirai is a genius at public relations and managing media—to the point where her airhead persona may actually be little more than [[Obfuscating Stupidity]].
* [[The Teraverse]]'s version of [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Harmony Kendall]], who is a (retired) teenage actress turned multi-millionaire, and personifies the [[Dumb Blonde|blonde bombshell]] stereotype... ''except'' when discussing the history and mythology surrounding unicorns, when she suddenly adopts a more serious tone and speaks with the confidence, authority, and knowledge to rival most university professors. (And for which she has received honorary degrees.)
== Film ==
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* Ragetti in the ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' series is illiterate and lacking in common sense, but behind that wooden eye lies the brain of a philosopher, scholar, and man who knows the original Scandinavian pronunciation of "Krakan".
** He's also the one who {{spoiler|figures out how to free Calypso.}}
** Will was one of these in the first movie: though not a complete moron, he's pretty slow on the take and in ''way'' over his head. Until it's time for a sword fight, in which case, your <s> ass</s> [[Rhymes
* Elle Woods of ''[[Legally Blonde]]'' maintained a 4.0 GPA (albeit as a fashion major), frequently came up with rather "creative" events for her sorority, and got a 179 on her LSATs. And while still a law student, she literally wore [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|bunny ears]] to what she'd been told was a costume party. Her encyclopedic knowledge of hair care saved her first client from death. ([[Based on a True Story]] or something; the author of the original semi-autobiographical book admitted she picked Stanford Law School [the film relocated the story to Harvard] because it was ''close to her favorite national mall''.)
* Brick turns out to be one in ''Wake Up Ron Burgundy'' (a 'film' made from deleted scenes in ''[[Anchorman]]'').
{{quote|
'''[[The Ditz|Brick]]:''' Stand down, Corporal Burgundy. I'm running this show now. Affirmative, a-ffir-ma-tive? - Affirmative. I'll take point. Champ, right flank. Gator Dirty Teacup. We will fan out, to a cobra double-helix formation. If we encounter any hostiles, silent throat cuts only. On my... mark.
'''Ron Burgundy:''' Looks like the captain's back. }}
* Barbie in the third ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' movie, aside from being more of an [[Action Girl]] than you might expect, seems to have a bit of a knack for political science when the heroes confront the [[Big Bad]].
{{quote|
* Cleverly played with in the film ''[[
* The 2008 movie version of ''[[Get Smart (
* The [[Steve Martin]] reboot of ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' series portrays Inspector Clouseau as a clumsy [[
* Rebecca Bloomwood in the film version of ''[[Confessions of a Shopaholic]]'', who is genuinely ditzy but (to her own surprise) proves brilliant at explaining prudent finance to lay people through shopping analogies.
* [[Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure|Bill and Ted]] are so ditsy, they are in danger of failing a course in a class seemingly full of dimwitted students, but are naturally adept at figuring out the [[Retroactive Preparation|causal]] and [[Tricked
** And they also must have some vast philosophical bent, as [[The Power of Rock|their music eventually creates a utopian society]].
* In the post-credits scene in ''Women in Trouble'', Holly Rocket turns out to be pretty good at trigonometry. It's not a perfect example of this trope, since the question she answers is really just a pretty conventional high school math problem, but in the context, it works.
== Literature ==
* In [[Georgette Heyer]]'s novel ''Cotillion'', Freddy Standen is generally (if fondly) regarded as a complete idiot by most of his family. However, he has impeccable manners and his shrewd knowledge of social niceties make him extremely competent at dealing with the situations the heroine finds herself in. As she notes, Freddy may not have brains, but he does have ''address'', which is far more useful.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Fred Colon of
** Brutha from ''[[
** Stanley from ''[[
** Lofty of ''[[
** Also in ''Monstrous Regiment'', Lieutenant Blouse repeatedly shows himself to be a useless, incompetent officer who exasperates the experienced Sergeant Jackrum in every scene, yet astounds William De Worde by extrapolating the mechanics of the Clacks system without even seeing them up close.
** Mr. Tulip in ''[[
** Owlswick Jenkins in ''[[
** Leonard of Quirm shows flashes of this in his appearances. He's not so much "pure ditz" as he is absent minded and unbelievably naive, but he's also probably the most brilliant, and potentially dangerous, inventor on the Disc.
* Neville Longbottom in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' novels can't seem to cast even the simplest spell without a critical fumble... until he discovers that he's crazy skilled at Herbology.
** And of course, those [[Took a Level
** Professor Sybill Trelawney is both this trope ''and'' its inverse: she is apparently utterly incompetent at Divination, her own field of study. However, upon occasion, she is capable of oracular predictions about the future, which, due to happening in a trance, she knows nothing about, and refuses to believe in when she is told what it was that she predicted. While her normal predictions are about as reliable as a take-out Chinese restaurant's fortune cookies, anything she says in her trances ''will'' come true.
*** At times Trelawny actually does see the future, even when not in a trance, but badly misinterprets it. Take 'Prisoner of Azkaban' when she sees "grims" all over the place when anywhere near Harry. The shape of a grim is that of a large black dog...She interprets all those dog shapes as grims when in fact they are {{spoiler|Sirius Black in his animagus form}}.
** Ron is [[Book Dumb]] but amazing at... [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|chess]]. At least he gets a [[Plot Tailored to
*** Fanfics often take this to [[The Chessmaster|the obvious conclusion]], making Ron a [[The Strategist|master strategist]].
* Freddy Arbuthnot from the ''[[Lord Peter Wimsey]]'' novels is a classic
** Lord Peter himself comes across as this, though that is explicitly stated to be a coping strategy for the post-traumatic stress he acquired in the Great War.
* Julia Larwood of Sarah Caudwell's ''[[Hilary Tamar]]'' mysteries is presented as a highly skilled tax barrister who, apart from regularly getting lost in the city she lives in, completely forgets to pay her own taxes.
* Enrique Borgos in [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Vorkosigan Saga|''A Civil Campaign'']]. Brilliant at biochemistry, but the man lacks knowledge of economics, social interaction, plumbing, personal hygiene, and can barely tie his own shoes.
* Dr. Stephen Maturin, from Patrick O'Brien's [[Aubrey-Maturin]] series of naval history novels. Although a well respected physician and natural philosopher, after having been at sea for nearly 20 years he can barely row a boat, and still doesn't understand basic nautical terminology.
* Georgette "Buffy" Messonier in Mira Grant's ''Feed'' is a dreamy space case who makes her living writing zombie romance and poetry, but her technological genius is eclipsed only by her
* Paul Dekker, from C.J.Cherryh's ''Heavy Time'' and ''Hellburner'' has basically no sense of time, routinely forgetting which year it is and vividly hallucinating past traumatic events. The other side of the coin is his ability to ''hyperfocus'' (concentrating very deeply, improving his reaction times) which allows him to fly space fighters moving at significant fractions of lightspeed.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[
* [[
== Live Action TV ==
* Cordelia in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is often vacuous, insensitive and viewed as an airhead by others but she was declared "a brain" by Xander after he saw her SAT scores, she got into numerous Ivy League Universities and she was in the top 10% of her year at school. Her insensitive comments often portray that she is a shrewd observer of human nature.
* In ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', the title character is a servant who has trouble cleaning his own room, let alone Arthur's, manages to trip over nearly anything you put in front of him, is a horrible liar (about the little things), gets things thrown at him all the time by the prince, doesn't respect royalty and gets put in the stocks all the time, can barely hold his liquor, rarely varies between the social extremes of over-affectionate and sarcastically aggressive, has a weird penchant for awkward situations... and also happens to be the most powerful, badass warlock the world has ever known.
* Herb Tarlek, the unlikable, tasteless ad salesman from ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'' was considered a stooge by his coworkers because of his abrasive personality and atrocious wardrobe. However when they "fixed" him in one episode by changing his look, it became apparent that the low rent clientele of such a low-rated radio station no longer felt welcomed by Herb's new "upscale" persona. As horrible as he was, he was perfect for the job he had.
* Ricky in the Canadian comedy series ''[[Trailer Park Boys]]'' is an absolute moron most of the time, but whenever he and best friend Julian are at risk of being arrested by the police, he suddenly becomes a tactical genius, able to generate fake evidence and alibis that get them off the hook 99% of the time. Nevertheless, almost every season ends with the pair being arrested and sent to jail.
** Ricky's also an expert when it comes to growing marijuana and converting it to hashish. He and Julian make an effective team when it comes to dealing
* In ''[[Boy Meets World]]'', after spending the first couple of seasons as [[Brilliant but Lazy]] Eric took over the role of [[Cloudcuckoolander]] with shades of
* Waldo of ''[[Family Matters]]''. After spending a couple seasons as [[The Ditz]] bordering on the [[Cloudcuckoolander]], he surprises everyone when he takes a home economics course and proves a natural genius as a chef. His mom is a lousy cook, so he had to fend for himself.
* Rom, from ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', appears to be a total idiot for much of the
* Fargo North, Decoder in ''[[The Electric Company]]'' is clumsy, egotistical, and obsessed with sandwiches. However, as his name implies, he is a great decoder... well, actually, sometimes he isn't even good at that. Sometimes he forgets where the period goes, for example (this is deliberately done so that the kids at home have a chance to figure it out themselves). Nevertheless, the rest of the characters always turn to him for all their decoding needs.
* Michael Scott, from the American version of ''[[The Office]]'' is childish, selfish, egotistical, deeply insecure and lonely, and an all around buffoon with no managerial skills whatsoever. He also demonstrates on occasion that he is a superb salesman who is roundly beloved by his clients, which is what got him promoted in the first place. (David Brent, his counterpart in the original UK series, lacks any such redeeming features).
** He also occasionally demonstrates a certain cunning streak, such as when he tricked Dwight (who had been gunning for his job) into thinking he had been promoted in order to tear it away from him in a manner which would ensure that he would never try such a thing again {{spoiler|and when he bluffed David Wallace into [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|buying out his worthless and bankrupt company by hiring back himself, Pam and Ryan]]}}.
* Carter from ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' is enthusiastic but generally oblivious and he tends to get teased for his
** Or Hitler impersonated. He's scarily good at impersonating angry German officers of various calibers, despite his puppy-esque normal demeanor.
* The (radio) newsreader in ''[[In The Red]]'' is invariably stoned and away with the
* Shawn Spencer of ''[[Psych]]'' tends to be immature and goofy and annoys the heck out of everyone he works with... but they put up with him because underneath all the psychic hoopla, his [[Hyper Awareness]] makes him a brilliant detective.
* Likewise, Adrian Monk of ''[[Monk]]'' is normally unable to function in society due to his severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and fear of just about everything. However, once he sets foot in a crime scene, he can almost instantly solve the crime with the smallest or most overlooked pieces of evidence.
** Monk's brother exhibits similar qualities: He has an extreme case of agoraphobia that prevents him from (nearly) ever leaving his house (as well as a related phobia that prevents him from entering the study of their father), but is evidently a highly skilled writer of technical manuals.
* Lord John Marbury from ''[[The West Wing]]'' is a specialist on India who is prone to great insight on the subject. Too bad that the rest of the time, he's a pompous airbag [[My Name Is Not Durwood|who can't even keep Leo's name straight]]. Then again, this may be more [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] (coupled with a mischievous desire to needle
* Joey from ''[[Friends]]'' is dim, shallow and a fairly bad actor, but he has an amazing talent to attract girls. It helps that he's blandly pretty and can be quite earnest. He also once memorized everything from an encyclopedia volume (the one with the words starting with "V") and he was the first one from the gang to deduce that Monica and Chandler are hooking up.
* Mr. Bean from ''[[Mr. Bean]]'' on some occasions but most of the time he comes across as just [[The Ditz]].
** ''Mr. Bean's Diary'' includes the character's school certificate on which, among others, the following marks are given:
{{quote|
Physics -- 65% -- Very encouraging. A boy died when co-operating with his lie-detector experiment, as you know, but nevertheless the exam results are excellent.
Geography -- 54% -- A surprisingly good result considering he only succeeded in finding the classroom twice this term.
Art -- 58% -- He draws well, but has difficulty with nudes (looking at them).
and finally:
Mathematics -- 94% -- An obnoxious, self-satisfied, self-centred, shabby, dribbling, bone-idle, toadying cow-put of a pupil; his most revolting quality being that he is quite, quite brilliant. }}
* Kramer on ''[[Seinfeld]]'' is a prime example of the character whose life is a complete shambles (no job, no source of income, no sense of stability or direction, and no clue how or if his situation is ever going to change) and who would seem to be a perfect male incarnation of [[The Ditz]] (as he doesn't really appear to be concerned about any of the above), were it not for the fact that, as at least one major character has remarked, his "...whole life is a fantasy camp. People should plunk down $2000 to live like him for a week. Sleep, do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbors and have sex without dating... ''that's'' a fantasy camp." He might also be considered an example of an [[Idiot Savant]].
** Not for nothing is he a [[Kavorka Man|trope namer]].
* In ''[[
** Jo Grant. She's a [[Plucky Girl]], skilled escapologist who once managed to dig her way out of her cell with a spoon. She's also [[The Ditz|thicker than a plank]].
*** She's also possibly the only character in the entire series (at least out of the John Pertwee era) to resist being hypnotised by [[The Master (trope)|The Master]] through ''sheer willpower'' alone.
**** To be fair, Jo can be said to have "matured" over the course of the series, starting off as this before gradually getting smarter.
** And Zoe Heriot, who was a whiz at
* Constable Turnbull of ''[[Due South]]'' is eccentric even compared to Fraser (the [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]] series lead), is easily flustered, [[Cloudcuckoolander|sometimes clearly isn't operating on the same wavelength as the rest of the cast]], and doesn't perform very impressively at his actual job most of the time, but shows skill at cooking, art, and country music trivia.
* Doug from ''[[Scrubs]]''. Bonus points because it's his inadequacy (in being a doctor) that makes him such a genius in the morgue at figuring out what killed patients.
** Don't forget The Todd, who's a great surgeon, but is well...
* Reese from ''[[Malcolm in
* Lulu from ''[[True Jackson,
* Kelly Bundy from ''[[Married...
** After several seasons of Flanderization where she became more and more stupid, there was a flashback showing Kelly as a bright, polite, bookish girl... Until Al slammed on the brakes and she hit her head on the back of the seat in front of her, and when asked if she was okay only responded with "Shiny, shiny shoes!" Cue [[Oh Crap]] look from the parents.
* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' has Buster, who in spite of being a [[My Beloved Smother|dependent]] man child, has a great deal of knowledge in several fields (although most of them are fairly useless), and proves to be highly adept after his army training.
* ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'' has London Tipton, and I (paraphrasingly) quote:
{{quote|
'''London:''' You just stink at chess.
'''Maddie:''' But ''I'm'' the smart one!
'''London:''' You're Maddie, the smart one who stinks at chess. }}
* Gem and Gemma from [[Power Rangers RPM]] act like 5-year-old psychopaths, but they're ''geniuses'' when it comes to advanced physics and technology.
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* Junior from [[My Wife and Kids]]. He's stupid, but he has proven himself to be smart when necessary, and he's a great cartoonist.
* Chumlee from ''[[Pawn Stars]]'' isn't allowed to handle any money in the store, is referred to as the "village idiot" and only has any useful knowledge in a few specific areas. Yet when it comes those areas, such as tennis shoes and pinball machines, he knows more than everyone else there.
* Pierce Hawthorne on ''[[
** Troy Barnes is slow on the uptake on most things, but he's a skilled plumber. This comes in very handy in the second season's paintball two-parter.
* Perceval on ''[[
* Fletcher from ''[[
* In ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'', Bertie is an [[
* In ''[[Survivor]]'''s 21st season, Nicaragua, contestant Jud [[Only Known
* [[Glee|Brittany Pierce]] may think the square root of four is rainbows, but put the girl on a dance floor and prepare to be blown away. (Also, she knows an unbelievable amount about feline diseases.)
== Music ==
* 2D of the [[
* A number of rock and pop musicians are very talented despite being unable to read music.
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** He's also oddly philosophical, assuring a worrying Sora that they would end up somewhere, even if {{spoiler|The End Of The World}} disappeared, at the end of the first game.
* Alan Probe, the star of ''[[Amateur Surgeon]]''. While he's an incredibly talented surgeon capable of performing complicated operations in mere minutes with the simplest of tools (like a ''pizza cutter'' and a ''stapler''), and eventually became globally famous and wealthy because of his tremendous skill (with feats such as operating on a [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Superman]] and somehow operating on a car that suddenly arrived from the past), the [[Distant Finale]] Christmas edition is quick to remind the player that he's still an utter moron.
** In the sequel, he quickly gets his bearings back despite being a senile 70-year old man. Truly the guy is the world's greatest [[Back
* ''[[City of Villains]]'' has [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Aeon]]. He ''would'' be a serious threat, [[Laughably Evil|if he weren't so scatter-brained]]. As it is, he usually ends up [[The Chew Toy|fouling up his own plots]]. Plus, he gave us the Mission Editor. You ''have'' to like him for that.
* Touka of ''[[Utawarerumono]]'' is apparently an incredibly competent fighter who can run rings around Oboro and Kouro. She's also a rather goofy airhead who's even denser than [[Selective Obliviousness|Hakuoro]] and a ''little'' too eager to be a bodyguard.
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** Also, by fairy standards, '''Cirno herself''' would probably count as very intelligent, though by the standards of everyone other than the aforementioned Utsuho, she's, well... she's '''THE''' ⑨
* Ellis, of ''[[Left 4 Dead 2]]'' fame. He acts like a borderline [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and never stops talking, but he's hinted to be the smartest Survivor. Ellis is most often the one to come up with the plan in Dead Center to use the stock car as their escape vehicle, then shows that he is familiar with this type of thing by mentioning that they don't fill up the tanks at car shows, so they need to find gas before they go. This is along with the same campaign, occasionally, Ellis will mention that when this whole thing started he had built an armored car, which he claimed was 99% zombie proof. (the other 1% tore it all to shit though.) While this may not make him the smartest, it does fit the trope.
* Coco Bandicoot of the ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' series went in a similar manner to Tails, albeit in an opposite evolution, being an advanced technowiz, but evolving into a ditzy [[Bratty Half
* Sandal, from ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'', bordering on savant. He barely talks (only saying "enchantment"), and mostly just stands around looking dopey, but he's a highly skilled enchanter. Also, at one point, he and his father get attacked. When you arrive on the scene, every mook around him is dead, and when you ask him what happened, he just says "Enchantment!".
** And again in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', during the Deep Roads expedition, Sandal's adoptive father notices he's missing and asks [[Player Character|Hawke]] to find him. Upon locating the boy, the party sees a bunch of dead [[Our Orcs Are Different|darkspawn]], including a ''[[Kill It
{{quote|
'''Sandal:''' NOT enchantment. }}
* Dekar from ''[[Lufia II]]'' and its remake ''Curse of the Sinistrals''. He claims to be the greatest warrior in the world, and may just be correct despite being a [[Badass Normal]] (in the original, anyway). But when a defeated villain promises to have a "special gift" in store for the next time they meet, Dekar asks for a new coat. When not being [[Crazy Awesome]] or crazy stupid ([[Achievements in Ignorance|or both]]), however, he can be surprisingly insightful about things such as relationships and the importance of backing up confidence with genuine strength.
* [[The Igor|Sheegor]] from ''[[
* [[Mario
* Chaz of ''[[Phantasy Star]] IV''. Pretty much anything technical needs to be explained to him and he's absolutely hopeless when it comes to grasping how Algo's technology works, but when it comes to people and emotions, he's quicker on the draw than anyone else in the group. His ability to draw parallels and understand the situations of others is actually a major plot point later on.
* Levi the Slasher in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
* Makoto Nanaya of ''[[
* ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' reveals that Conrad Verner, a recurring character who tries to emulate Shepard without success and will get himself killed stupidly if dealt with in an incorrect fashion actually has a doctorate in xenoscience and wrote a dissertation on dark energy.
* In ''[[Hatoful Boyfriend]]'', [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Oko San is significantly less mentally developed than the other birds, talks only in 'coo's and is looked upon with disdain as a 'throwback' to before birds were [[Uplifted Animal|uplifted]]. He is also a brilliant athlete and can run faster than he can fly - faster than a human, a species evolved for running.
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* Largo from ''[[Megatokyo]]'' is a pretty good example. He has, at best, [[Cloudcuckoolander|a tenuous hold on reality]], but he's a genius when it comes to assembling and programming computers.
** Ping also qualifies, being an incredibly complex artificial intelligence system, combat droid and medical diagnosis unit that has been programmed to be a dizzy [[Shallow Love Interest]]. The other characters continue to express surprise when she suddenly displays detailed knowledge of her internal make up, no matter how often it happens.
* Fighter in ''[[
** Fighter was a genius for a few comics but then {{spoiler|[[Stupid Evil|Black Mage]] stabbed him in the head}}. He actually managed to store his genius persona in a part of his brain, unfortunately he stored it next to the part that knows everything about swords. The problem being that he really, really, ''really'' likes swords.
* Similarly, Mega Man in ''[[Bob and George]]'' is an idiot most of the time, but when he's fighting a Robot Master (or even ''thinks'' he is), he comes up with effective winning strategies. This can be explained in that his functions are 1. defeat the robot master and 2. be an idiot, so he always does the second except when he can't since he has to do the first.
* Captain Kaff Tagon of ''[[
** His idiocy later has been toned down
** Likewise, for him the problem of Sorlie is [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-03-19 immediately obvious], though they don't work together, leading to [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-03-23 this] dialogue:
* Scarlett from ''[[Sequential Art (Webcomic)|Sequential Art]]'' is a ditz who has the amazing capability to build [[Death Ray|Death Rays]]. She's also easily distracted by watching the washing machine spin round and round and round, and anything shiny. She is part squirrel after all. Turns out {{spoiler|she gets less ditzy and more genius when she's near her "sisters" Amber, Jade, and Violet -- she used to be a part of "Think Tank" [[Hive Mind]].}}▼
{{quote|'''Sorlie''': ...Tagon reads me like a book.
* Celia from ''[[Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]''. She's come up with plans to unite the Azure City resistance, saved Haley from murderous rogues twice using only words and quick thinking, and even managed to win a complicated legal process while still a student {{spoiler|well, it was rigged anyway, but none of the lawyers knew that and the opposition was nervous about her skill}}, but [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0529.html demonstrates] that she lacks some ''very'' basic knowledge about humans here. (It's a good thing {{spoiler|she didn't try anything exotic with Roy on their date}}...) Of course, [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0579.html Haley lampshades this.]▼
'''Landon''': You're positing the existence of a Captain Tagon who reads books.}}
▲* Scarlett from ''[[Sequential Art (
▲* Celia from ''[[The Order of the Stick
** For that matter, Elan, who is so [[Genre Savvy]] that he could probably recite the entire rest of the comic's plot if he focused hard enough on it. Of course he can't, as Intelligence was most probably his dump stat...
** The Monster in the Dark is obviously as dumb as toast. Except that [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0700.html here], it instantly sees that she's working with only half a ritual.
*** Well, the Monster isn't so much ''dumb'' as "lets other people do all his thinking for him because it's easier". He's also quite possibly a child by the standards of his species, but we can't know that for sure until we find out ''what'' that species is (he could just be an [[Adult Child]]).
* Several RPG-based comics seem to use a combination of Fighter and Gourry as a template: Hero of ''[http://www.rpgworldcomic.com/ RPG World]'' and Karn of ''[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/ Adventurers!]'' come to mind.
* Mei Ling is portrayed this way in ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''.
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* ''[[The Law of Purple]]'': Lynnah comes off as this at first, though she proves to have a much more developed personality later on. Her genius ability to is be a [[Badass Normal]] [[Action Girl]]. A more recently-introduced minor character, Kitty, seems to fit the trope much better, though she does get annoyed when {{spoiler|her coworkers at NASA don't always take her seriously}} as a result.
* Molly in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' is tremendously knowledgeable on a vast array of subjects. She's just less than a year old and has very little common sense. Combine this naivete with being a [[Gadgeteer Genius]] and wacky hijinks ensue.
* Yatta-ta in ''[[The Challenges of Zona]]'' came off as a [[
* Torg in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' keeps sliding between Genius and Ditz. [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/091215 Lampshaded here.]
* Raven from ''[[Questionable Content]]'' seems to be written for this trope. She may be an absolute social ditz, but she's [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=963 all too manipulative at times], [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=764 knows applied calculus] and is going ''for a [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1509 doctorate] in [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1510 physics].''
* Grace, starring in ''[[
* Sasha from ''[[
** Daisy might also
* Sam Starfall from ''[[
** Also a master [[Indy Ploy|improviser]] - Got the Mayor to say "This is a direct order. Hit me with a pie." in the presence of no less than 4 [[A Is]], then on a later scam got one of the said [[A Is]] off scot-free by [[Playing Possum]] in their arms.
* Gordon Frohman, the literally [[Too Dumb to Live]] main character of ''[[Concerned]]'', once built a fully functional, biomechanical [[Humongous Mecha|Strider]] out of spare parts, solely because he missed the dystopia of [[Crapsack World|City 17.]]
* ''[[Homestuck]]'': [[The Hero|John Egbert]]. In the beginning he was always goofing off, pulling pranks and acting like a kid, but he used his knowledge of programming and data structure to figure out [[Item Crafting|the alchemization system]] very quickly, and at this point is easily [[Physical God|the strongest]] of the protagonists... though he came into that status unintentionally and pretty much by accident. Similarly, his sister Jade Harley is a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Strange Girl]]... who happens to have a working knowledge of robotics and nuclear technology, is successful at selectively cloning and breeding frogs to create a perfect god-frog in less than 24 hours, and is the one who both formulated and is about to execute the plan to save both the kids and the trolls from their impending doom.
** Jade has likely since passed John as strongest character, now being a combination of {{spoiler|an entity with deep knowledge of the game world, an omnipotent dog, and and a God with powers over space itself.}}
* Gawaine in ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' seems to be the classic [[Dumb Muscle|Dumb Warrior]] in the Fairytale Arc, but in the Space Arc, he's the ship's engineer ... and ''still'' often comes across as a Dumb Warrior. According to Fairytale!Arthur "Gawaine's not stupid. He just hasn't any retention for what's outside his field of interest." This is engineering in the Space Arc, the roll of arms in the Fairytale Arc, and computer science in the Contemporary Arc.
== Web Original ==
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* Keiji Tanaka of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' is firmly established to be an utter moron within moments of his entry into V3. However, he has an almost unparalleled skill handling a sword (due to years of practice), to the point where he comes close to defeating an axe-wielding opponent with a broken sabre whilst {{spoiler|bleeding to death.}}
* The new series version of [[Cloudcuckoolander|Sir Schmoopy]], in ''[[Unforgotten Realms]]''. In particular, he is a strategic (and loophole-finding) genius, who has, for example, figured out a way to survive ''blowing himself into a billion pieces''. On purpose.
* [[
** He's also pulled a fast one on Strong Bad at least once, and recited Coulomb's law ''correctly'' when asked what 2+2 was. [[Rule of Funny|He then said 2+2 was 22.]]
** The [[Show Within a Show]] ''[[
* Nappa from [[
* At the [[Super
** A better example might be Solange, who is stupid enough to constantly get herself into jams that even her money can't buy her out of. But she's got a real flair for finding ways of using her mutant powers, even when the mutant power she's using is one she stole from someone else.
* [[
== Western Animation ==
* Stimpy from ''[[
* Hoagie aka Numbuh 2 of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' has a great talent for building and flying planes, but is otherwise a bit of a doofus. In later seasons, he shows more competence, with the [[Idiot Ball]] now passed to Numbuh 4.
* [[Meaningful Name|Melody]] from ''[[Josie and
* In one episode of ''[[Daria]]'', Brittany shows herself to be a tactical genius in a game of paintball.
** She's actually not really that stupid, but [[Obfuscating Stupidity|acts it]] to fit in. She knows a lot about cheerleading and happens to be a little more streetsmart than booksmart.
** From the same vein, Stacey from the Fashion Club. The members of the fashion club look almost completely ditzy with Sandi being all their brains. However, when Sandi and Quinn temporarily quit the fashion club, Stacey steps up and is the only one willing to actually ''do'' anything with the club, but is frustrated by [[Cloudcuckoolander|Tiffany]] and the lack of members otherwise. During "Is it Fall yet?" the tutor mentions that Stacey isn't as dumb as she thinks she is. Honestly, Stacey just has some problems with self-esteem.
* ''[[Invader Zim]]'''s titular character is a scientific and engineering genius, repeatedly showing himself capable of building devices beyond even those of his own species, such as a nigh-invincible nanotech exoskeleton, a time machine, a device capable of turning house pets into civilization-destroying abominations, and a monster capable of extracting energy from devouring ''anything''. Zim could probably have destroyed Earth in a day, had he not been utterly incapable of common
* The members of the band Dethklok in ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' are completely incompetent at anything not related to music, partying, or contract negotiation.
** On the later subject, they can out-negotiate the devil.
** And even then, while they have those skills, they have none of the skills one would deem necessary to be good at those things. Skwisgaar, who writes the guitar lines and bass lines, and Toki, both of them the best guitarists alive, cannot read sheet music, and both Skwisgaar, Murderface & Toki do not know how to tune a guitar. Nathan, the guy that writes the lyrics, has lots of problem expressing himself, can barely read and seems to have a severely limited vocabulary when talking (but evidently, not when writing songs), in fact, he didn't speak before the age of 5. Lastly, despite their negotiation skills, they have no idea of the value of money or even how to manage it.
*** Really, Dethklok's general level of competency [[Rule of Funny|depends entirely on what makes for the funniest scene.]]
* [[The Runt At the End|Dopey]] of Disney's ''[[Snow White and
* In Disney's ''[[Gargoyles]]'', Broadway is initially portrayed as being generally less intelligent, or at least less erudite, than the other gargoyles. For one thing, he started off illiterate; for another, he seems more susceptible to pop culture influences; Hudson had both of these qualities, but he was ''also'' a canny veteran warrior. He's also the [[Comic Relief]] [[Big Eater]]. However, he matures rapidly through the series, unleashing the soul of a poet, and becoming a skilled detective as well. And, naturally, a fine chef.
* Mr. Ping in ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' would in most senses be only [[The Ditz]]
** I was under the impression is was Mahjong, the skill being an inherited ability.
* In ''[[Futurama]]'', Professor Farnsworth is a babbling old fool most of the time, but he is unmatched in the field of creating doomsday weapons. He never really uses them, though, except to ''save'' the Earth.
{{quote|
** Amy is usually known for being cute, ditzy, and occasionally, somewhat immodest, but she ''did'' make a scientific theory on the Earth's rotation and how it works, explaining an invention that can use electricity to polarize it from the Earth's core. {{spoiler|It was also part of the plot being that alien cats would take over and transfer Earth's rotation to their dying home planet.}}
*** As the fourth made-for-DVD movie showed, Amy is also an ace player with the mini-golf putter.
* ''[[
** Patrick, too. In at least one boating episode, he was shown to be perfectly accurate behind the wheel, as he could give perfect instructions to Spongebob simply via a large telescope, sometimes while barely paying attention.
* {{spoiler|[[Gentle Giant|Bulkhead]]}} of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' is revealed to be Cybertron's foremost space bridge expert. Professor Sumdac and his fellow Autobots refuse to believe it, assuming that Blurr (and Megatron) got his intel wrong.
** In addition, Bulkhead is apparently a pretty good artist.
** Sumdac himself probably qualifies. He's a master roboticist (even if he cribbed most of his best stuff from reverse-engineering Megatron), but he occasionally forgets to do important things like eat, sleep or make sure there's a legal record of his daughter's existence.
* Wallace from ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' is a good
** The book ''Cheese Lover's Yearbook'' introduced a number of non-filmed gadgets of his, such as the Recyc-O-Matic. The fact that when said out loud this includes "Psycho" is significant, because after he put arms and wheels on it, it proceeded to run amok, recycling building fronts and people's clothes before crashing into a brass band.
{{quote|
* Chris from ''[[Family Guy]]'' is good at drawing... or at least used to be. They had an episode about and showed it a few other times, but then they apparently forgot about it.
** Peter himself knows a lot about pop culture, KISS in particular.
Line 345 ⟶ 349:
** Chris also has a good knowledge about drugs, as shown in the episode where Lois and Peter get high before a talent show.
*** No one beats Lois when it comes to drugs. She computed the street value of uncut Nicaraguan cocaine in her head.
* On ''[[
* ''[[Teen Titans (
* Linguini from Disney/Pixar's ''[[Ratatouille]]'' is shown as gangly, clumsy, dorky, fluent in [[Buffy-Speak]], and utterly useless at cooking, ruining a soup so badly he caused himself to throw up upon tasting. Then he discovers that it's legal to wait orders on rollerskates, and becomes little short of a Super Waiter.
{{quote|
* ''[[Wolverine and
** Strangely he always gets mocked and scolded for not being useful in combat, despite not being on the team to fight and being the actual reason their entire technology works.
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' has [[Bumbling Dad]] Jack Fenton, who doesn't seem very smart, but invented probably half of the Fenton gadgets. He's also a very competent fighter, as a very dismayed Vlad found out.
** He's also stated to have had solid "B-"s during his school years.
* Ruby-Spears' ''[[Mega Man (
* Coop, of ''[[Megas XLR]]'', is a bumbling idiot who creates half the problems the cast faces, is obsessed with video games (world champ) and eating (also world champ), and lives in his mom's basement. However, he's also a remarkable engineer, able to rebuild a robot from the future, and a skilled pilot, able to pilot said robot, even with its...[[Context Sensitive Button|odder]]... modifications.
* A great deal of the cast of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' falls into this category. Homer himself, despite being famous for his bumbling ways, is capable of almost oddly remarkable talents when the episode calls on it, and is consistently shown to have a professional standard ability with the piano. Bart is even more noteworthy, as he's sometimes depicted as being not too bright...yet he's been shown to be a remarkably gifted linguist, learning the French language by mere observance and more than couple times acquiring at least competent grasp of an entire language in record time. He can just as quickly unlearn however. Bart also creeps into the [[Book Dumb]] category with this quality.
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** Or that he's a good Machiavellian politician, somehow uniting the Democrats and the Republicans in Springfield's presidental election by staying politically independent, and drove some effective campage to get the majority of Springfield's votes.
** Considering Bart had been in France for quite some time with no one speaking English to him, it's not all that surprising he learned it. The easiest, best, and quickest way to learn a language is to be completely immersed in it.
*** Bart also mastered Spanish on short notice for a family trip. That their destination was [[Critical Research Failure|Brazil]] made the feat only slightly less impressive.
*** Throughout the series, Bart has also been seen speaking Japanese and Cantonese. He also seems to have at least some proficiency with Latin.
*** Bart may have inherited this from Homer, who has been seen speaking Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and [[Beyond the Impossible|penguin]]. He also seemed to be well on his way to understanding Hindi while eavesdropping on an argument in that language.
** "The Boys Of Bummer" revealed that Lenny is an author of mystery novels that a praised by ''[[Stephen King]].''
* Sewer Urchin from ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' is ineffectual, annoying, and smelly, but when The Tick and Arthur need his help to do crimefighting in the sewers, he proves to be the "apotheosis of cool".
* Wally from ''[[Young Justice (
{{quote|
** He's probably more of a [[Ditzy Genius]] in general,
* Philly Phil from ''[[Class of 3000]]'' has, at best, average intelligence. However, he can't be beat when it comes to building devices at the drop of a hat.
* Skeeter from ''[[Doug]]'' is a ditz in day-to-day interaction through and through, and he has a phobia of taking tests. When he ends up taking a standardized placement test ''without realizing it was a test'', he gets a ''perfect score'', and it's revealed that he's actually amazingly skilled in mechanics. This goes unmentioned for the rest of the Nickelodeon run, but it gets brought up now and then in the Disney run.
* Played with in various ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' story arcs, as Bullwinkle, generally a dimwit, frequently demonstrates unusual talents for the sake of a specific story. For example, he was called in as an expert on boxtops to crack down on a boxtop counterfeiting ring, his bunion could forecast the weather, he could tame lions with a harmonica rigged from a comb and some tissue-paper, he could remember everything he ever ate in his lifetime (including a secret formula for a silent explosive [[It Makes Sense in Context|that happened to have been written on a banana]]), and possessed a skill for making shiskabobs that bordered on expert swordsmanship!
* Wildcat of ''[[
** [[Word of God]] claims Baloo and Rebecca were meant to foil each other in this regard. Baloo is extremely [[Book Dumb]] and slovenly, but also streetwise and resourceful due to his adventuring (as well as being a grade A [[Ace Pilot]]). In contrast Rebecca is well educated and has profound business ethics, but due to her pampered lifestyle is somewhat naive and inept to the outside world. Depending on what the scenario fit, either character would play [[The Ditz]] while another would act as [[The Straight Man]].
* Professor Moshimo of ''[[Robotboy]]'', great at robotics and most other scientific pursuits, proceeds to give a ten-year-old a robot the military would kill for. To make matters worse the robot itself has the intelligence of a child.
* Launchpad from ''[[
** He's even better flying the thing! [[Not the Fall That Kills You|LANDING it, on the other hand...]]
* Cleveland Jr. from ''[[The Cleveland Show]]'' generally acts like a childish idiot, however he is skilled with math, science, and rapping.
* Luanne Platter from ''[[King of the Hill]]'' was generally a naive airhead but she was an incredibly gifted mechanic... or least she used to be.
* In the early episodes of ''[[
* Freddy from ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' in some incarnations, particularly ''[[Scooby Doo Mystery Inc]]''. Completely clueless about everything except for traps, particularly of the [[Rube Goldberg Device|Rube Goldberg]] variety.
* Ed from ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]''. A bit of a moron most of the time...but a near encyclopedic knowledge of B-grade horror and sci fi movies, an unusual talent on the flute, some of the odd non-sequiters he says are rather profound {{spoiler|and he saves Eddy from his abusive brother not by beating him up, but by pulling the pin holding a hinge together, causing the door to slam on Eddy's brother's head, knocking him out}}.
* [[Tuff Puppy|Dudley Puppy]] is a complete idiot... until it comes time for him to fight villains as a secret agent, where he shows surprising cunning and planning ability.
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has Sokka, who is often portrayed as the lovable idiot, has a lot of awkward moments, and gets caught in a lot of bad situations. But, he's also shown himself to be highly intelligent. He's the "ideas guy", he's the one who comes up with solutions to the many problems the group runs into. {{spoiler|He plans out the invasion of the fire nation, and even helps invent some submarines}}
* ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'': In "Prodigous Clamus" it is revealed that Clam - who is either [[The Ditz]] or a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] depending on the episode - is both an artistic genius (able to create an exact copy of the Mona Lisa in 30 seconds) and a musical genius (able to play an entire symphony by blowing across the top of a bottle).
* ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' is socially inept and idiotic(with the later being played up more during seaons 2 and 3) but he is fairly competent at martial arts(at least in the first season) and he does have a rather impressive knowledge of things like Beef Jerky.
* Pinkie Pie in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** She's also an incredibly talented musician, and with this skill, was the only one who knew how to save Ponyville from a ravenous swarm of insects.
* T.J. Detweiler from ''[[Recess]]'' is a genius when it comes to coming up with his latest schemes...but everywhere else, he's a ditz.
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* High functioning autistic savants such as Kim Peek and Daniel Tammet while significantly lacking in social skills and maturity are geniuses. Daniel managed to learn <s>fluent</s>stilted but comprehensible Icelandic in under a week and Kim Peek would be able to answer virtually any question pertaining to historical dates, statistics or any obscure trivia.
** Kim Peek didn't actually have autism, but rather, an unnamed developmental disability due to brain damage.
* Hikari Oe, son of the novelist Kenzaburo Oe, is developmentally disabled and autistic, and the inspiration behind his father's prizewinning novel A Personal Matter. He is also a very talented musician who expresses himself through music imitating bird calls.
* [[Kanye West]] is a talented producer and musician in the studio. Outside of the studio, he is so lacking in common sense and basic social graces one gets the impression that he's not all there and-
** [[Interrupting Meme|Yo article]]! Imma really happy for you and [[Memetic Mutation|Imma let you finish]], but [[Kanye West]] has some of the [[Kanye West
* In the antiques trade, someone who instinctively recognises a genuine antique without any training is a "divvy", probably short for "diviner". Divvies are stereotyped as not very bright (because they often don't actually ''know'' anything about antiques, beyond "Yes, that's valuable"), which had led to the term entering general British slang for a stupid person, with or without
* Truth in television as many people do find that while they are incredibly sharp in one aspect of their lives they may be incredibly incompetent in the other. Like the Maths genius who cannot make people listen to him or the eloquent actor who has failing grades.
* [[Britney Spears]] during her glory years. Offstage and during interviews she seems a bit flaky, but when she gets onstage she's a great dancer and performer (or used to be) and one of the most successful pop stars ever.
* In neuropsychology, this trope is called an ''uneven cognitive profile'', especially in the context of developmental disorders. While some neurotypical people have remarkably "uneven cognitive profiles" (see above), certain developmental conditions like [[autism]] greatly increase the probability of this, and also tend to lead to uncommon combinations of strengths and weaknesses that will baffle most people.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Madness Tropes]]
[[Category:More Than Meets the Eye]]
[[Category:Stock Characters]]
[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Genius Ditz]]
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