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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"With what?" Spencer asks. "Don't tell me you know how to make a bomb with a stick of chewing gum." Wow, the first ever MacGyver joke was actually in the first ever episode of ''MacGyver''. That's actually kind of impressive.''|'''[[
{{quote|''TONY STARK was able to build [[Powered Armour|this]] ''in a cave''... with ''a box of scraps!''|'''Obadiah Stane''', ''[[Iron Man (
A character saves the day by making a gadget out of [[It May Help You
The characters that do this may be [[Technical Pacifist
The [[Trope Namer]] and most famous practitioner of the art is Angus MacGyver, main character of [[MacGyver|the show that bore his surname]], who would create said gadgets at least [[Once an Episode]].
[http://dxsmac.macgyveronline.com/ Go here for a list of every MacGyver-ism.]
Note that the gadget has to be based on more science than simply, "Hey, I could kill someone with this random object." Look for those under [[Improvised Weapon]]. May involve [[Noodle Implements]].
Compare [[Homemade Inventions]]. Related to [[Duct Tape for Everything]]. See [[Locking MacGyver in
{{examples}}
== Anime ==
* Notable mention goes to Shirou Amada from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]: MS 08th Team''. His team uses highly limited production RX-79(G)s made from leftover high spec parts of the namesake RX-78 Gundam, so spare parts for repairs are limited. Unfortunately enough, his mobile suit gets turned into a heap of junk. Rather than using the spare parts, which weren't enough anyway, he uses parts from normal military things such as jeeps, helicopters, and tanks to rebuild his RX-79(G) into the EZ-8, which performs * BETTER* than the RX-79(G). I personally call the EZ-8 the "MacGyver Gundam"
** At the end of ''Gundam 00'' season 1, {{spoiler|Setsuna F Seiei disappears after his Gundam Exia is all but destroyed...and he reappears 4 years later having Badass repaired the Gundam by himself with scraps replacing armour, a large cape covering a missing arm and a glowing red eye on the missing side of its face}} earning it the [[Fan Nickname]] {{spoiler|Termin-Exia or Exia-Two-face}}
*** This is somewhat subverted in that it took 4 years for Setsuna to show himself and in this case, it was less of a case of
* Yusei from ''[[
* Shogetsu from [[Hatenkou Yuugi|Dazzle]] got a can of mackerel for lunch... but no can opener. So, with a few tools he got from the school's kitchen and science lab and the graphite from a pencil, he made a welding torch in the hopes that it would open the can. It did, but sadly, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090828175127/http://www.mangafox.com/manga/hatenkou_yuugi/v10/c000.1/52.html it also burned the mackerel.] Oh, and Rahzel and Fay both had can openers.
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* Subverted in ''[[Marvel Zombies]] vs. [[Ultimate Fantastic Four]]'', where zombie Mr. Fantastic convinces the soldiers guarding the Ultimate Frightful Four's cell that he's built a teleporter out of stuff lying around the cell and they promptly disappear. Turns out Zombie Invisble Woman had just made them all invisible so that the guards would open the cell to investigate, whereupon they were eaten.
* [[Lex Luthor]], on the other hand, ''has'' been known to build a teleporter out out of stuff lying around his cell. During his appearance in the short-lived ''The Joker'' comic, he improvised a jetpack out of a couple of bottles of pop and some paint flakes.
** Spectacular jailbreaks based on his
** One of his most elaborate escapes went as follows: First he waited for the warden to go on vacation; then he secretly sabotaged the printing press in the prison workshop. Next he offered to fix it - this is why he waited, he knew the temp warden would be less suspicious of him than the regular one. He then proceeded to turn the press into an ''armored tank'' that he used to smash his way out.
* Mocked, inevitably, in [[Mad Magazine|Mad's]] spoof of [[MacGyver]]. MacGyver remarks the [[Locking MacGyver in The Store Cupboard|the room the bad guys have locked him in]] has nothing he can use to escape, to which the woman with him points out that the room is full of explosives. He complains about the indignity of having to actually use explosives as explosives instead of improvising.▼
** By contrast, in one of his most ''ridiculous'' examples, he used sunlight, a shaving mirror, some aspirin and little else to build a ''time machine'' which he used to bring [[Classical Mythology/Characters|Hercules]] to the present day to break him out of jail. By aiming said gadget at an ''illustration'' of Hercules in a book.
* ''[[Tintin (Comic Book)]]'' tends to resort to this after being kidnapped by the villain-of-the-week. Interestingly, while they're still ingenious a lot of his inventions are surprisingly plausible.▼
▲* Mocked, inevitably, in [[Mad Magazine|Mad's]] spoof of [[MacGyver]]. MacGyver remarks the [[Locking MacGyver in
▲* ''[[Tintin
* ''[[Batman]]'', of course, has pulled this off several times, usually on those rare instances where he is without his utility belt.
** Many members of his [[Rogues Gallery]] show this talent too, a result of the guards at Arkham being complete morons and letting them have access to things they shouldn't have. [[The Joker]] alone managed to escape by ''building a hot air balloon'' and there was one story where Dr. Arkham himself put him on janitorial duty, giving him access to the chemicals he needed to make his Venom. It's little wonder that Batman and the Arkham staff don't get along.
* [[Spider-Man]]'s enemy the Vulture once escaped Riker's Island by destroying the wall of his cell using a tractor beam made from a headset radio, using his expertise in the field of electromagnetics. Then, as the alarms were going off, he flew away with wings tinkered together from bedsheets, wooden rods, and duct tape; he knew they'd only last a few minutes, at most, but luckily for him the crooks he had hired to have a boat waiting were there.
* In ''[[
▲== [[Fan Fiction]] ==
▲* In ''[[My Stupid Reality (Fanfic)|My Stupid Reality]]'' [[Death Note (Manga)|Light]] modifies a cheap laptop to work better with pieces ripped out of L's refrigerator.
** [[Truth in Television|Somewhat grounded in reality,]] believe it or not; the heat-exchanger from a fridge would be powerful enough to counteract a hell of a lot of overclocking.
== [[Film]] ==
* [[Angelina Jolie]]'s rocket launcher in ''[[Salt]]'', built from a swivel chair and cleaning chemicals.
* The ''[[Star Trek]]'' example below is satirized (with so many other Star Trek tropes) in ''[[
* ''[[Iron Man (
* ''[[Half Baked]]'' had some fun with this:
{{quote|
'''MacGyver Friend:''' Hey, man, we're out of papers.
'''MacGyver Smoker:''' All right. Then get me a toilet paper roll, a corkscrew and some tin foil.
'''MacGyver Friend:''' We don't have a corkscrew.
'''MacGyver Smoker:''' All right. Then get me an avocado, an ice pick and my snorkel.
[Friend looks at him funny]
'''MacGyver Smoker:''' Trust me, bro. I've made bongs with less. Hurry up! }}
* [[Truth in Television]], according to the man's autobiography: in ''[[The Right Stuff]]'', Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier with the help of a sawed-off broom handle.
* ''[[Mallrats]]'': Silent Bob is said to have a knack for this kind of thing.
{{quote|
* This trope is invoked in ''[[Zack and Miri Make
* Common in the ''[[Tremors]]'' films and series, whenever they run out of ammo and need to improvise defenses against the latest Graboid life-cycle stage or [[Monster of the Week]].
* In ''[[Cast Away]]'', Chuck finds himself stranded on a remote island with several Fed Ex packages full of stuff that initially looks worthless in his current setting, like a taffeta party dress (used for a fishing net), a pair of ice skates (which make handy axeheads when tied to a stick) and lots of videocassettes (whose videotape innards can be woven into some handy rope).
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* In ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]],'' the character Violet uses her skills as an inventor to create gadgets off-the-cuff with available materials, often in dire situations.
* The characters in most [[Cormac McCarthy]] novels. Could be considered [[Author Appeal]].
* In ''Circumference of Darkness'', the main character is locked in a barn along with some friends. Using a broken tractor, some copper tubing, and some other random items, he builds a fully functional [[Awesome but Impractical|giant tesla coil]] inside the barn. This also leads to a [[You Have Failed Me...]] moment from the mooks responsible by their [[Genre Savvy]] boss.
* [[Ciaphas Cain]] is not only a '''[[Fake Ultimate Hero|Hero of the Imperium!]]''' but apparently also the MacGyver of the [[Warhammer
* Also, the classic, [[Older Than Radio]] example called ''The Mysterious Island'', where a few people build a civilization on a remote island with nothing but two watches and a metallic dog collar.
* Ragnar Benson has written multiple books on how to make deadly weapons from stuff lying around the house. These are ''encrusted'' with warnings that doing so before the [[Day of the Jackboot]] will land you in prison, hospital, or the morgue.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Second only to the trope namer in fame would be ''[[
* The Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' does not carry a gun (though he has used them on occasion), and often cooks up homebrew supertech. In the episode "The Time Monster", he built a "time flow analogue" out of cups, spoons, a pie pan, and other objects found in a small house.
** In "Time Crash" the Tenth Doctor lampshades this based on the fact that the Fifth Doctor never used a sonic screwdriver. "Like, 'Hey, I'm the Doctor. I can save the universe with a kettle and some string. And look at me, I'm wearing a vegetable.'"
* Sam on ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' had MacGyver moments, but only when he used his brain to make a gadget to save the day. Thus, a successful MacGyverist is different from a hero who is simply smart.
* In the ''[[Star Trek:
** Busted by Mythbusters in their [[MacGyver]] episode.
*** One [[Expanded Universe]] novel mentioned that that episode was turned into a training exercise that was considered hellishly difficult, and that 90% of the people who tried Kirk's approach ended up blowing themselves up when the cannon misfired. Riker's solution was to use the makeshift cannon as a giant mine, and clubbed the Gorn with a rock while it was disoriented from the blast.
** And in ''The City at the Edge of Forever'' Mr. Spock builds a computer with 1930's technology, complete with a [[Rule of Cool|very cool but pointlessly energy-wasting]] Jacob's Ladder.
{{quote|
** [[Mr. Fixit|Scotty]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|gets a shuttle to run on the energy from phaser weapons]] in "The Galileo Seven."
** ''[[Star Trek]]'' does it again in the ''[[Star Trek:
** And again in the ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' two-part episode "Demons/Terra Prime", when Trip picks a futuretech lock using his zipper and belt buckle.
** In-universe, Starfleet officers (engineers in particular) have this reputation. It's even lampshaded by a captured enemy who mocks them for having "one of those famed Starfleet engineers who can turn rocks into replicators."
*** The enemy said it in more of a [[Worthy Opponent]] tone. That said, redunkulously awesome engineering/Macguyvering/bullshit-invoking skills are sort of the humans' [[Planet of Hats|hat]].
* ''[[
* Mike Westen of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' does this constantly, either preparing at home or in the field. He has [[Green Lantern Ring|particular expertise with cell phones]]. His friends Fiona and Sam has also demonstrated some competence in this area. The narration provided by Michael often explains that this is part of his training as a spy since it is assumed that operatives will rarely have access to actual 'spy gear' and will have to improvise from readily available items.
* In an episode of ''[[CSI]]'', Gil Grissom's crime lab kit was stolen while he was up in the middle of nowhere alone investigating a murder. Instead of filling out a form with the local police or request a new one from the lab in Vegas, he uses items he buys at a home maintenance supply shop as a makeshift kit.
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** And don't forget the one-shot Stargate in "Ascension", made out of (among other things) toaster parts.
** There's also a prank executed for the bloopers reel in "Solitudes," (planned by Amanda Tapping and episode director Martin Wood) where Carter and O'Neill are stranded in a glacier, and she laments that she's "stuck in a glacier with MacGyver" and he can't figure a way out for them.
{{quote|
* When ''[[The Wizard (TV series)|The Wizard]]'' does not have a high-tech toy handy, he can also macgyver one to save the day.
* Real life example: Alton Brown of ''[[Good Eats]]''. Basically, his credo of cooking is "the only single-purpose item in your kitchen should be the fire extinguisher".
* Ziva and Tony manage to [[MacGyver]] a means of getting a cell phone signal from inside a metal shipping container, using Ziva's necklace and bits of DVD cases in ''[[NCIS]]''.
** Lampshaded in another episode. When a woman
* In an episode of ''[[Chuck]]'', Casey handcuffs Chuck to a counter in a frozen yogurt shop (long story). After failing to get the [[Action Girl]] to come free him, he freezes the chain with some kind of nefarious yogurt device and breaks it in two. His quip afterwards was something along the lines of "all those years of watching MacGyver finally paid off."
* The [[
** No, saying three out of four does not do it justice. {{spoiler|1=In true MacGyver fashion, they managed to escape the first part of the obstacle course, then had to use items found at a campsite to signal for pick up by the helicopter. The original plan was that they would build a [[Improvised Weapon|Potato Gun]], instead, they built a kite out of the same materials, plus [[Chekhov's Gun|the rope they were tied up with at the beginning of the segment]].}}
** The one task they failed was because they lacked the scientific knowledge to develop a roll of film. The apparatus they set up would have worked had Adam been able to remember one key aspect of the process.
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* The British series ''[[Scrapheap Challenge]]'', known as ''[[Junkyard Wars]]'' in the US, had two teams compete to MacGyver together some sort of machine from parts found in the junkyard each episode.
* The USA series ''[[Royal Pains]]'' features the lead doctor utilizing "A bottle of vodka, a sharp knife, a plastic sandwich bag, a BIC pen, and some duct tape" to save the life of a hemophilliac who was bleeding internally. The girl helping him remarked [[Lampshade Hanging|"What are you, MacGyver?"]]
* The Professor on ''[[
** Except a boat.
*** It was even Lampshaded in Gary Larson's ''[[The Far Side]]''!
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* In ''[[Person of Interest]]'' Finch makes a WiFi antenna using a Pringles can.
* In one episode of ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' Artie releases himself from handcuffs by making an electromagnet out of a hotel iron so he can get his toolbag. [[Lampshaded]] with "I was doing this [[While You Were in Diapers|when MacGyver was still trapped in his crib]]!"
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons
* In ''[[
* ''[[Warhammer
** Ork players have been known to construct vehicles using strategies ranging from "leftovers from other vehicles" to "grab all the spare parts, put them in a box, pour in glue, and stick wheels on whatever comes out".
** Although it's not like non-Ork players don't get in on the action either. Because of [[Crack is Cheaper|the price]] of the hobby, any 40k player (or indeed, wargamer) worth their salt will have a [[Name's the Same|bitz box]] wether they are Orks, Humans, Eldar, whatever. It is the most efficient way to go about doing things and anyone who has played for a long time will have closets full of hoarded spare parts that they can cobble together into just about anything.
* Played for laughs in an early ''[[
* In the ''[[Magic:
* In [[Traveller]]: ''Sword Worlds'' it is considered a sign of Sword Worlder manhood to be able to do this on at least an amateur level and so machines come from the factory built with stress on user-friendliness and good owners manuels.
**In a side note at the beginning, a Sword Worlder soldier comes home from war to see that his wife had almost finished fixing the house all by herself after it had been blasted to bits.
== Theater ==
* This one's [[Older Than They Think]]: ''[[Hamlet]]'' features the title character forging a letter that will result in the execution of his [[Poisonous Friend
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Alone in
* The main character in the ''[[Tex Murphy]]'' games is all about this. It's necessary to advance past dozens of puzzles throughout the games.
* Another video game example would be any of the ''[[Monkey Island]]'' games where Guybrush Threepwood has to use all manner of wacky items to save the day {{spoiler|One is in ''Curse of Monkey Island'', where you have to pour cooking oil on a guy's back so he'll get sun burnt and you can then peel off the skin on his back which just happens to have a map tattooed on to it}}.
* In ''[[Fallout]] 3'', you can do things like make a gauntlet out of a monster's arm and a medical brace, make a nail-launching rifle out of a steam gauge assembly and a pressure cooker, or make a ''[[Flaming Sword]]'' out of ''motorcycle parts and a lawnmower blade''.
** Also, by combining a leaf blower with a vacuum cleaner, you can build a cannon that launches anything you put in, from tin cans to teddy bears. or a [http://pt.xfire.com/video/42dbe/ toaster]{{Dead link}}
* In [[Fallout: New Vegas]], when faced with a broken world item (fuse box, food processor...), you can either: go hunt for parts or use a high repair skill to fix it. Special mention for the food processor at Camp Mac Carran, which you can fix with a repair skill of 80 by using a paper clip, a swiss army knife and other stuff.
** Even that example is outdone by the Jury Rigging perk, which enables you to, among other things: repair a [[Power Fist]] with [[Joke Item|boxing gloves]], repair an [[Techno Babble|Inversal Proton Axe]] with a pool cue, and fix an [[Techno Babble|Atomic Tri-Calence Radii Accentuator]] with a pair of sunglasses.
* The Infocom game ''[[
* "Gadgeteer" class in ''[[
* This is Doc Hawkins' trick in ''[[MDK]] 2''. "[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|I've created]] ''[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|toast]]''! Delicious!"
* This is the superpower that fans have inferred Nitori of ''[[Touhou]]'' to have. She lives in a [[Medieval Stasis]] world, but has access to books from the real world, and is nevertheless capable of producing working machines of the modern age (or even better than modern equipment, as with her stealth suit) without access to an industrial base, education system, or any kind of energy source (until the end of the tenth game, at least). Western fans even directly state MacGyver to be her personal hero/romantic fantasy.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'' you can make some gadgets out of random items you find. For example: duct tape and a steel tube can be used to make a barrel extender for your rifle, which increases its range (though it's prone to get fired ''off'' since it's only held on with duct tape), or combining a game system, an x-ray tube, and a couple other things to make an x-ray scanner (reports of massive doses of x-ray radiation when in use are "unconfirmed").
* Parodied in ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]]: Love For Sail''. When you try to combine random objects, the announcers says something along the lines of, "Larry, sometimes you try to mix two things together, but what do you always get? An ass".
* [[Built With Lego|Any]] [[Lego Adaptation Game]].
* ''[[
* Fotbar Laboratory in ''[[Choro Q]] HG 4'' allows you to make powerful parts out of spoon, wrist strap, piece of cloth, paper bag, and others. The strongest chassis of the game is happened to be made of eraser.
* [[Professor Layton]] has a habit of this:
** At the end of ''[[Professor Layton and
** That's nothing - in ''[[Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva]]'', {{spoiler|Layton manages to produce a functioning helicopter out of a bunch of odds and ends in a shack on a deserted island. As above, it carries three people. And somehow works.}}
** Not to be outdone, ''[[Professor Layton and
* In ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'', Chuck can make a weapon out of every last thing he finds. These range from simple (Nails + Baseball Bat = Baseball Bat With Nails Through It) to creative (Knifes + Boxing Gloves = [[Wolverine Claws]]) to really weird (Chainsaws + Paddle = Double Ended Polearm With Chainsaws at both ends) to just plain crazy (Gas Can + Super Soaker = ''Flamethrower.'')
** Actually, that last one is pretty realistic
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* Most of the challenges in ''Return to Mysterious Island'' and its sequel are this trope.
* Technologist in ''[[Arcanum]]'' can assemble explosives, chemicals, guns and various mechanical devices from random junk. This includes a device which can ''resurrect dead'' and is made from a capacitor, snake venom and three different herbs.
* ''[[Dark
* In ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In one ''[[8-Bit Theater
* Agatha in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080104 has her moments].
** Othar wrote in his log about [http://twitter.com/Othar/status/1317066710 some] [http://twitter.com/Othar/status/1376637973 hardware] he built after being marooned.
* A parody on ''[[Ansem Retort]]'': Zexion made a new heart for Riku out of bendy straws and a Hot Pocket.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100302081715/http://www.faans.com/index.php?p=1966 These] [https://web.archive.org/web/20100618114642/http://faans.com/index.php?p=1967 two] pages of ''[[Fans]]'' demonstrate MacGyvering in the field. Rico even uses the word MacGyvered to describe what happened.
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' space criminal Fructose Riboflavin has a knack for building alien [[Applied Phlebotinum|supertech]] out of odds and ends. Useful, since he spends so much of his life as a perpetual fugitive.
* Rick in [[Blur the Lines]] makes a fleshlight out of an empty can and some ground chuck (meat). [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912233323/http://www.blur-the-lines.com/?p=45
* Parodied numerous times in [[Real Life Comics]] - among other things, Tony has made a [http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/000302.html quantum space-time teleportation device] and a [http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/021017.html trans-dimensional portal device] out of random materials lying around.
* One instance of possible Mac Gyvering is found in the webcomic [[Ctrl
* Subverted in [http://www.housepetscomic.com/2012/03/19/the-optimal-solution/ this] strip of ''[[Housepets]]''.
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* In one of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' gags, Homer makes a powerful bomb out of a can of soda pop and a packet of pop rocks.
** The episode where [[Richard Dean Anderson]] starts [[Actor Allusion|doing this in]] [[This Is Reality|real life]], such as making "MacGyver-burgers" out of Slim Jims and rubber bands. Also contains this quote:
{{quote|
** In "Black Widower," Patty, Selma and Sideshow Bob watch an episode of ''MacGyver'', which concludes with this exchange:
{{quote|
"Don't thank me. Thank the moon's gravitational pull." }}
* Subverted in ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]'', where Dave makes a megaphone out of " a squirrel, a string, and a megaphone.", and was simply a squirrel tied to a megaphone.
{{quote|
* Grampy from the old ''[[Betty Boop]]'' cartoons usually did this. A prominent example comes from the 1937 cartoon "Christmas Comes But Once a Year", wherein Grampy MacGuyvers together several Christmas toys for a group of downtrodden orphans, using nothing more than common household items.
* Jenny 10 from ''[[Dex Hamilton Alien Entomologist]]'': "Last week I made a hadron collider from a broken hairdryer and a box of paperclips..."
* Played with on ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]''. Being fugitives on the run, it's a given. Duke manages to diffuse a bomb with a wad of chewing gum, but Roadblock's attempts to jury-rig an engine-cable for the truck don't go as smoothly.
* Both subverted and played straight in ''[[Codename
* On ''[[
{{quote|
** And it worked, too!
* ''[[My Little Pony]]'': In "The Return Of Tambelon", the ponies are able to break out of Grogan's dungeon by using their gruel ration and Fizzy's bubble-making magic to turn a crack in the ceiling into a gaping hole that they can escape through.
* ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'': In "James and the Coaches", James' rough riding causes the brake pipe on one of his coaches to rupture, bringing the train to a standstill. The crew covers the hole with newspaper and pressures a reluctant passenger to hand over his leather bootlaces to seal it up. It works.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20081012164430/http://www.dcr.net/~stickmak/Stories/Masks.htm Masks]'', there's a superpower that allows people to do this.
* According to [http://trollscience.com/ Troll Science,] it seems there is nothing a Troll cannot achive using only flashlights, magnets, and a complete disregard of the laws of physics. exibt A is this charming little [https://web.archive.org/web/20130516091420/http://trollscience.com/troll/view/8 wagon.]
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Brazil and Portugal are two nations whose whole philosophy is based on improvisation, and this is taught in schools. They even [http://www.cracked.com/article_17251_p2.html have a word for it]: ''desenrascanço''.
** That term is probably exclusive to Portugal. In Brazil, the improv way of life is usually called "Jeitinho Brasileiro", or "Brazilian (Little) Way", which is not limited to
* In French, MacGyverish translates to ''[http://www.ginandtacos.com/?p=1069 débrouillard]''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131104064319/http://www.lesdebrouillards.qc.ca/ And we've got a magazine teaching the virtues of ''la débrouillardise'' to little Quebecers everywhere.] Be afraid, be very afraid... [[Canada, Eh?|Or not, as the case may be.]]
** French call that ''système D''. A convenient way to do things without any annoying organisation.
* In a similar vein, the Egyptians have a [[National Stereotypes|stereotype]] about themselves that they can always find a way to make what they need. As it turns out, this might be true of Arabs in general, judging by the jury-rigged weapons systems of Hamas and Hezbollah in the [[Useful Notes/Arab-Israeli Conflict|Arab Israeli Conflict]], and of the Libyan rebels in [[
* The Israelis during the time of the British Mandate were themselves pretty good at that sort of thing.
* Cracked did an article on the subject, [http://www.cracked.com/article_16151_5-most-amazing-real-life-macgyver-moments.html here.]
* The website [
* I know it's on the Cracked list, but it deserves its own line. The Apollo 13 astronauts found themselves with square air scrubbers and round air scrubber holes. The solution they cooked up was made out of a plastic bag, a hose, a sock, and, of course, some [[Duct Tape for Everything|Duct Tape]].
** Although, in fairness, they did call [[Mission Control|for backup]].
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* During the [[American Civil War]], the South was strapped for cash and couldn't stand a protracted naval blockade, especially with the North's greater resources for building ironcalds. Considering that the South's main resource was cotton, they strapped bales onto the decks of merchant ships and used them to absorb enemy fire. Thus, the [[wikipedia:Cotton-clad|Cotton-clad]] was born.
* Americans are known for coming up with crazy ideas that just happen to work like using human hair to soak up oil. At the Battle of Midway, the carrier ''Yorktown'' had been redeployed after improvised repairs were rushed after taking heavy damage at Coral Sea. The ''Yorktown'' was bombed by Zeroes, but the Damage Control units not only kept her afloat, but got her back up to speed, to the point that when the Japanese bombed her again, they thought they had sunk two carriers, rather than hitting the ''Yorktown'' twice. She did sink, but not before turning the tide of the battle by means of improvised repairs and sheer endurance.
** In [[The War
* In the wake of the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, basically everyone and their uncle came up with an idea to either A) get the oil from the water, B) fix the gushing oil pipe or C) clean the oil off the poor helpless animals. Almost all these ideas (well, maybe not the "stop the gushing pipe" one) usually involved simple materials that could be found in either the average home, the average High School, or the average supermarket. And most of them either ''worked'' or ''would have worked'', although not on a Gulf-wide scale.
* The phrases "Yankee ingenuity" and "Kiwi ingenuity" refer to the tendencies of early colonists in, respectively, [[Hollywood New England|New England]] and [[
** Often called Number 8 Wire here in New Zealand (after the amount of jury-rigging done with the stuff).
* Nuclear physicist Ted Taylor, while waiting out a delay during a nuclear weapons test, found a parabolic mirror. He placed this outside the observation bunker and used wire to fix a Pall Mall at the mirror's focal point. When the bomb went off, the mirror focused the heat flash on the cigarette, and Ted Taylor became [[Badass|the first person to light a cigarette with an atomic bomb]].
* The British Home Guard was left to fall back upon its own resources in the early days, as priority had to be given to re-equipping the regular Army. Their most deadly anti-tank weapon was a sort of self-igniting [[Molotov Cocktail]], so one especially enterprising Home Guard officer designed and built a mortar from a length of old drainpipe and some black powder to launch one of these further than it could be thrown.
* Averted probably more times than not in Real Life. Many an ER attending and trauma surgeon has put away some retirement money from homemade [[MacGyver]] devices. The tragedy is that most lay people can scrounge together just enough information, skill, and resources to build something that gets themselves really, really hurt. What professionals have is not only the ability to build devices, but do so safely with a low margin of error. As Adam and Jamie would say, don't try this at home. They're what you call professionals.
* Medieval siege work was often a contest in MacGyvering. Invaders blow a breach in your wall? No problem, get some spare cobblestones, hire some beggars to plug up the breach with a mound and while you are waiting have [[Redshirt Army|some unfortunate redshirts]] stand in the breach and keep the bad guys away.
* Draper Kaufman, EOD expert and founder of the Underwater Demolition Teams(World War 2 Seals)was in many ways a real MacGyver. He was also a subversion as he whenever he could used well prepared equipment. The way he used it was often ingenious but he didn't just make bombs out of toothpaste or whatever.
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[[Category:Drama Tropes]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
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