Instant Expert: Difference between revisions
→Video Games
(→Live Action TV: adding example) |
|||
| (7 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 84:
** Also, he did fly the first time he jumped off a cliff, but Varx noted that when he transformed him into a [[Winged Humanoid]], he made sure to give him the requisite instincts to be able to fly.
** Although when George [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shapeshifts]] he does gain all the instincts of the creature he becomes, it takes him a while to get used to the actual change. And [[The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body|sometimes he gets a little too expert]]....
* In the ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' fanfic The Golden Power, Link is revealed to have always had an instinctive knowledge of weaponry, allowing him to adapt and use any weapon he comes across. The fic calls such a person a "Blademaster".
* Mostly averted in the ''[[Worm]]'' fic ''[[Mauling Snarks]]'' -- virtually every "snark" Taylor "Maul" Hebert talks to has some aspect of their power which is unknown or unused by their human, and it becomes a regular practice for her to ask and pass that information on. However, the trope is certainly in play when Taylor and Panacea get their "snarks" crosslinked, and gain each other's powers in addition to their own.
== [[Film]] ==
Line 120 ⟶ 121:
** Eragon learning magic, considering that we are told that most Riders are years into their training before they are even ''told'' that they can do magic, although it is both acknowledged as exceptional in-universe, while also not being unheard of, just rare, since the normal method for training magic users involves forcing them to attempt physically impossible tasks, causing them to eventually unconsciously use magic to perform it. It's also notable that doing so leaves him ''unable to walk'' from exhaustion after the first time, and once the instinctual moment has passed, he was unable to so much as levitate a pebble until he learned to use it consciously, this being far closer to how magic users are generally trained.
* ''[[Memoirs of a Geisha]]'' revolves around this trope, deconstructing it at one point: The protagonist explains that, due to a wager made between her legal guardian and her teacher, she wasn't given much time to actually practice certain skills. Instead, she would visualize them constantly, study when her mind was most pliable and invented a plethora of mnemonic devices to help her, because there was absolutely no other way for her to achieve her goals and change her situation. She explains that while it ''looked'' to others like she was mastering her skills without ever practicing, in truth her mind was working on little else.
* Lord Hong of ''[[
* Subverted in [[Vernor Vinge]]'s novel ''Rainbows End'', where JITT (Just-in-Time Training) allows anyone to become an Instant Expert in anything, but {{spoiler|with the added complication of "JITT-stick," which essentially turns the character into a semi-permanent idiot savant in the area they received JITT in. JITT-stick plays a significant role in the novel's conclusion.}}
* Kellhus from ''[[Second Apocalypse]]'' does this a lot, but it is justified by him being a super-intelligent result of a breeding program. That's why he can do things like become fluent in a foreign language in a matter of ''days''.
Line 141 ⟶ 142:
{{quote|"It's very un-Jedi-like of me, but I want to break his record."}}
** He learns it after one day and four hours of study.
* [[Harry Potter]] is an instant expert at flying the first time he rides a broom [[
* In ''High Wizardry'', the third book of the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series, {{spoiler|Dairine has the entirety of magical knowledge downloaded into her mind, which, combined with the massive amount of raw power she has, allows her to single-handedly fight the [[Big Bad|Lone Power]] to a standstill. Then the [[Big Bad]] pulls an [[And Your Little Dog, Too]], giving her the motivation to instantly devise a massively complex spell which actually ''defeats'' the [[Big Bad]].}}
* When the refugees from a high-tech society end up living off the land in [[Orson Scott Card]]'s Homecoming series, they need to relearn things like making/using bows and arrows. So they go to their computer god and ask. Unfortunately, transferring thoughts from one mind to another is painfully impossible, so they end up receiving muscle memory instead, as that's just reflex rather than conscious thought.
Line 153 ⟶ 154:
** In Season 2 there's also Monica who is able to instantly learn how to do any physical skill or martial arts maneuver she's physically capable of simply by watching anyone else do it once, either live or via recorded media.
** Sylar's main power is the ability to "understand how things work," which goes towards explaining how he's able to rapidly master all his stolen abilities. And even he has to take a few days to iron out the kinks in particularly cumbersome abilities, such as superhearing (high pitched noises become a [[Weaksauce Weakness]]) or shapeshifting (involuntary shapeshifting due to major psychological issues).
* The 1980s show ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'' is a funny aversion to this trope.
* Lana Lang in ''[[Smallville]]'' learned kung fu in three days. She also learned how to successfully run her own coffee shop instantly and while still in high school. The big issue with her was that she kept knowing how to do things someone in her situation ''would not know'' in order to keep her plot-relevant. The coffee shop was to explain why she kept getting involved in things-the whole school hung out there, Clark included. The kung-fu and so called "military training" were becuase the writers had finally listened to all the [[Damsel in Distress]] complaints about her character. The second she needed to know something, it was known so they could say she was still relevant (when she was well past that very quickly).
* Subverted in ''[[Firefly]]''. Malcolm has to learn to duel with swords overnight. In the actual duel, he seems to be doing well at first, but his opponent is only playing with him. He does win the duel, but with [[Combat Pragmatist|combat pragmatism]] rather than fencing skill.
Line 250 ⟶ 251:
** It gets even better with the Beast who can only acquire some technologies by capturing an enemy ship in possession of said tech; once the unit is captured, it must be brought into a hangar and disassembled before the tech is even available for research. What makes it an aversion? The Beast is a [[The Virus|technoorganic]] [[You Will Be Assimilated|subversion]] [[Body Horror|entity]] that otherwise plays this trope straight by growing upgrades in the field and presumably sharing instructions among their selves.
* [[Dynasty Warriors]]: Online has each weapon contain the move-set of a character. The trope comes into play that one can copy that weapon's moveset from the original holder the moment they touch it, so they could go from welding a spike ball as big as them to knock enemies 50 feet in the air to using a fan with such grace they glide through enemies. While they do have practice it's very optional, but it is fun to do so you might not avoid it all together. The only real change his first charge attack in the combo and the 6th, but those vary from individual weapon to individual weapon, so two flutes might have a slightly different combo.
* Downplayed a little in ''[[Shantae|Shantae: Half Genie Hero]]'' when you play the game in Ninja Mode from the DLC. The heroine barely knows what a Ninja is at first, having bought the outfit (and an instruction scroll) via mail order catalog, because she figured “Ninjas are cool”. Still, she’s able to pick up on some traditional Ninja techniques right away, like throwing shuriken and climbing walls. She learns other techniques like Sabotage and Shadow-Movement by defeating enemies and advancing through the game.
* In the ''[[Pokémon]]'' games, a Pokémon needs no training or even practice to use a learned move - once a Charmander grows to the level needed to use Flamethrower, it can use it as well as any other Charmander. This could probably be explained away as instinct, but TMs and HMs are a different story. These are short instructional videos in DVD form that the Pokemon can watch in order to learn a move - instantly, from at least the player's point of view. While it's understandable that the aforementioned Charmander can learn Flamethrower quickly this way (as Flamethrower is a move it can learn on its own eventually) it's odd that it's just as easy for, say, a Golem or Machop (who can ''only'' learn Flamethrower via TM) to do so just as easily.
** Downplayed, however with remembering moves it has forgotten. In the earlier games, a trainer needed to take a Pokémon to a Move Relearned NPC (and pay with a special item, which is different for each game) in order to do this. However, doing so was made incredibly easy in the [[Nintendo Switch|Switch]] games, where the trainer could have a Pokémon relearn an old move simply by opening the menu and choosing the move.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
Line 297 ⟶ 300:
* ''[[Miraculous Ladybug]]'': No training, instruction, or practice is required for using a kwami. Each recipient is able to master the powers that come with it in seconds.
** Downplayed in one episode where a mix-up results in Marinette and Adrian swapping kwamis. Each has a lot of trouble adjusting to the others' powers, although this could simply be attributed to having grown accustomed to their usual kwamis.
* If the opening intro of ''[[Dungeons
== [[Real Life]] ==
Line 303 ⟶ 306:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:This Index Happened Offscreen]]
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:
| |||