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MacGyvering: Difference between revisions
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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]].
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== 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 [[MacGyvering]] and more of a case of scrounging for parts that he needed. The replacement Camera eye was probably dug out of a Tieran while a lot of the missing pieces of armor may attribute to him breaking them down for spare parts. This is less of a case of [[MacGyvering]] and more of a case of replacing a broken car tire with a sturdier but smaller tire.
* Yusei from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'', in episode 88, disarmed a high tech battle royal collar with a nail.
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'''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|'''Jay:''' He won the science fair in eighth grade by turning his mom's vibrator into a CD player usin' some chicken wire an' shit. Motherfucker's like [[MacGyver]]. No, motherfucker's better then [[MacGyver]]!}}
* This trope is invoked in ''[[Zack and Miri Make a Porno]]:'' "You give me a two popsicle sticks and a rubber band and I'll find a way to fuck it, like a filthy [[MacGyver]]!"
* 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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* 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 40000|41st millennium]]; in ''Death or Glory'', while escaping from a large mass of pursuing Orks, he takes shelter in an abandoned warehouse. Using AdMech-sanctioned cleaning fluids in a non-sanctioned way (apparently learned from pulling pranks back at the schola), he constructs a firebomb in a truck to go off in the Orks' faces when they follow it, and another bomb to blow up any Orks who burst in the building's back door. The second one is powerful enough to drop the warehouse roof.
* 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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* 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: The Original Series]]'' episode "Arena", Kirk manages to build a primitive ''cannon'' out of bamboo, sulfur, and other ingredients for gunpowder he tripped over while stranded on a uninhabited asteroid. Partly justified by the fact that the asteroid was set up by powerful aliens so the combatants could fashion their own weapons, but still, a ''cannon''... (The Chinese used similar mortars out of bamboo or ceramics centuries before Europeans made cannons out of metal.)
** Busted by Mythbusters in their [[MacGyver]] episode.
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{{quote|'''Spock''': I am endeavouring, ma'am, to construct a mnemonic memory circuit using stone knives and bearskins.}}
** [[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: The Next Generation]]'' episode "A Fistful of Datas". Worf, stranded in [[Phlebotinum Breakdown|an Old West simulation]], makes a forcefield out of telegraph parts and his communicator.
** 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."
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* 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 ''[[Cave Story]]'', a character makes a bomb out of charcoal, "jellyfish juice" and gum base.
* 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]].
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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 Cloud|Dark Chronicle]]'' has the protagonist, Max, who is able to come up with ideas and create things out off photos he takes: trash can, belt, pipe, streetlight, hospital skeleton, tree, iron maiden, etc. Also, there's even more bizarre case where he can synthesize element out of bread to upgrade his weapon.
* In ''[[Dead Space 2]]'' the protagonist, Isaac, builds a plasma cutter (the main weapon of the series) out of a flashlight and a surgical laser.
== [[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.
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* 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: Kids Next Door]]'': the KND's self-parodying [[Bamboo Technology]] equipment mostly consists of random objects, pieces of woood, and duct tape, fondly referred to as '2x4 Technology.'
* On ''[[Beast Wars]]'', [[The Smart Guy|Rhinox]] often had to improvise with whatever spare parts were available to build new useful tech. [[Lampshaded]] in "Chain of Command":
{{quote|"Make a device to extract physical molecular structure from an alien probe? Man, I gotta be a miracle worker."}}
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[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 [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 [[MacGyvering]], but also any sort of problem-solving in non-conventional ways, including amoral ones.
* In French, MacGyverish translates to ''[http://www.ginandtacos.com/?p=1069 débrouillard]''. [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.]]
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