Insufferable Genius: Difference between revisions

May overlap with [[Brilliant but Lazy]]. May join in a [[Battle of Wits]], if anyone is in the right league. Compare [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]], [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]], [[Too Clever By Half]], [[Upper Class Wit]], [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]], [[The Proud Elite]]. Contrast with characters that ''do'' get their [[An Aesop|Aesop]], who may [[Pride Before a Fall|fall quickly]] or be [[Break the Haughty|slowly broken]]. Also contrast with a [[Gentleman and A Scholar]], whose intelligence does ''not'' prevent him being gracious, friendly, and polite. And contrast [[Small Name, Big Ego]], who thinks they're this trope, but is just plain insufferable.

 

{{examples}}

 

 

* Washu from ''[[Tenchi Muyo! (Anime)|Tenchi Muyo]]'' and ''[[Tenchi Universe]]''. Claims to be 'the greatest scientist in the Universe' and really is. She even invented tiny robot mascots to proclaim her greatness whenever she needs an ego-boost. Also insists on being called 'Little Washu' and being treated with all the indulgence due to a child, despite the fact that she is over 10,000 years old and virtually omnipotent, capable of suspending the laws of physics or even destroying the Universe if she so pleases.

** Keigo Atobe is quite like that, being a mix of [[The White Prince]] with [[Magnificent Bastard]] ''and'' [[Large Ham]]. And what makes it worse is that he's the biggest [[Draco in Leather Pants]] within [[Portmanteau Series Nickname|Tenipuri]] fandom.

* Saya Takagi from [[Highschool of the Dead]]. Her tendancy to insult everyone around her, whine, and use her friends as meatshields hasn't made her very [[The Scrappy|popular with fans.]]

** The anime only character, Rebecca as well.

* Takamura Mamoru from ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]''. He has an ego of the size of a planet and believes himself to be strongest man in the history of men. Well, it's just that this may very well be true, since he is the strongest boxer in the entire manga. His daily [[Jerkass]] habits contain bullying Aoki and Kimura and rubbing the fact that they're... not the best boxers... in their faces.

** WHO DID YOU JUST CALL A TINY BRAT WHO'S SO SMALL YOU NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE HIM!?!

* ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'' gave us Lloyd, an [[Insufferable Genius]] [[Mad Scientist]] who is something of a [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]].

== Live Action TV ==

 

{{quote| '''Dayna:''' Don't you ever get bored of being right?<br />

'''Avon:''' Just with the rest of you being wrong. }}

** A visiting surgeon named Russell Vaughn in the episode "Our Dear Leaders" is also this. Having traveled the world and done many amazing things, Russell is a skilled surgeon and a cultured individual. He also comes off as a remarkable douche, constantly interjecting with stories of his travels and even condescendingly offering to let Turk, Sacred Hearts' Head of Surgery and a highly competent doctor in his own right, help out with a tricky surgery as 'a feather in [his] cap.'

* Gareth Blackstock, star of ''[[Chef (TV)|Chef]]!'', was a classic example of this, although he would occasionally bestow compliments as well. "Everton, let me explain things to you. In the world of cooking, I am Einstein. Lucinda is Isaac Newton. And you are a mud-dwelling unicellular bit of jelly with a predilection for consuming its own excrement."

{{quote| '''Rose (to Sarah Jane)''': With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at, like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go "What?" and he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt?}}

** Eleven does this more humorously than some of the others:

** While the Doctor is usually rather nicer than your usual [[Insufferable Genius]], One and Six pretty much live this trope. Especially Six. Three and Four weren't exactly shy about telling people how clever they were in the most abrasive way possible either.

** This is one of the Doctor's qualities that [[Deconstruction|backfire]] on him in the episode "Midnight." Ten (an arrogant Doctor in several ways) is characteristically flippant about assuming authority over the humans in his company, responding to the comment "Oh, like you're so special" with "As it happens, yes I am," and even after belatedly realizing that they aren't feeling it and trying to backtrack, he loses patience and snaps that he just knows what to do "because [he's] clever." This almost ends up being the death of him, as he becomes the focus of their [[Witch Hunt]] mentality.

** River Song. She appears to know as much as the Doctor due to {{spoiler|being his wife in ''his'' future}} and acts suitably insufferable a fair share of the time, but isn't one to sit about with her mouth open when things get hairy.

{{quote| '''The Doctor:''' Terraforming, biospheres, nanotech steel construction. This is brilliant. Do you know, with equipment like this, you could -- ooh, I don't know -- move to another planet or something.<br />

'''Luke Rattigan:''' If only that was possible.<br />

** Tsukasa Kadoya from ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' is a milder [[Expy]] of Tendou, his [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]] tendencies appearing earlier and more obviously. This even gets a lampshade in the ''Kabuto'' story arc where Tsukasa easily befriends the alternate Souji's sister and her grandmother complains about his bad attitude, saying that Souji was like that before he grew up.

* Seven of Nine from ''[[Star Trek Voyager]]'', being a former Borg drone, has definite Insufferable Genius tendencies. She does back up her superior attitude by saving the crew's collective ass a little more frequently than she almost destroys them all, which is more than can be said for a surprising number of her crew mates.

** There is also Julian Bashir from ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'', with many of his fellow crew finding him unbearably smug in early seasons: boasting about beating Vulcans in tennis matches, curing planetary plagues, and almost being valedictorian, though this is usually done humorously. In a later season, this is not quite as hilarious, when it is discovered he {{spoiler|is illegally genetically engineered and has in fact been holding back}}.

** There's also Q, who in addition to being Godlike has an IQ in the quadruple digit range. At the start of the series, he's also beyond insufferable, planning on wiping out "Less advanced" species and examining humans like they're simple toys. He gets less insufferable in later appearences though, partly from time with Captain Picard and partly from his species (who are apparently not appreciative of his behavior) briefly stripping him of his powers.

'''Zack''': If he’s in the stratosphere, I’m in the ionosphere. }}

* Rico of ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' skipped three grade levels, has an eidetic memory, can do complex equations in his head, and is a [[Jerkass]] who believes anyone less intelligent than he (read: everyone) is his to manipulate.

** I wouldn't call him arrogant, though. In fact, in the pilot, someone asks him if he is a genius and he's kind of reluctant to say yes. He's just a bit over-eager to share information with people at the most inappropriate of times.

** Prentiss does threaten to kill him once over his genius. He solved a 3D puzzle she had been working on for days (and declared impossible) in about three seconds.

* Even though ''[[Mr. Brain (TV)|Mr. Brain]]'s'' quirky, yet brilliant neuroscientist Tsukumo Ryusuke usually solves the crimes long before anybody else, he is still considered insufferable by many of his superiors.

* ''[[Combat Hospital (TV)|Combat Hospital]]'' has Rebecca starting out as one of these, but slowly getting [[Character Development]] over the course of the first season to mature out of it.

* Malcolm from ''[[Malcolm in The Middle]]'', which overlaps with his petulance and selfishness. He even [[Lampshades]] it in a couple of episodes.

* ''[[Leverage (TV)|Leverage]]'': Hardison, Nate, and Sterling all have traits of this. [[Evil Genius|Chaos]], Hardison's [[Evil Counterpart]] is a full-on example, respecting absolutely no one but himself.

* Tom from ''[[Echo Chamber (Web Video)|Echo Chamber]]'' shows shades of this.

* Cassidy Cain in [[Grandmaster of Theft]]. Among her friends, her insufferable qualities are kept to a minimum aside from teasing and general genius used to help others. [[I Shall Taunt You|However, against her enemies, she goes all out.]]

* [[Chuggaaconroy]] is a rather mild (and likely unintentional) version of this, in regards to how to properly raise a team of Pokemon and use them in battle, if his LP of ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (Video Game)|Pokemon Emerald]]'' is anything to go by.

 

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]