Mundane Solution: Difference between revisions
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* The ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' manga has a flashback showing the epic battle between Nagi (The Thousand Master) and Evangeline (an incredibly [[Little Miss Badass]] and vampire), who are two of the most powerful mages alive. After some suitably epic banter between the opponents, Nagi ends the battle before it even begins by catching Eva in a pit trap filled with onions and garlic. Game over.
** Super geniuses Chao and Hakase spent two years perfecting an AI to run her Cassiopeia because it's so complicated. Negi spent five seconds summoning two very low level magic spirits (minor prediction and minor dexterity or something) to time predictions then operate the dial for him. {{spoiler|To be fair, if Chao uses magic it causes her intense agony, Hakase was pretty clearly reading from a script for the Forced Recognition and Negi bragged that this kind of thing was his true specialty.}}
** Not to mention Chao's "secret weapon," which she didn't use in first place because she was afraid of the damage it could
* A powerful [[Playing with Fire|fire mage]] in ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'' is stopped by... a sprinkler system. At first, he scoffs at the lead for thinking that his fire summon could be put out with just a little water, and he's right about
** Pretty much every fight in the series ends up like this considering the bad guy has some power on the lines of warping reality by willpower alone, the ability to change vectors (as in, the guy is immune to any attack and can turn any force in any direction he contacts, including light or cause massive explosions and stuff) passively, actual [[Our Angels Are Different|angels]] or create giant rock monsters, and the hero... can cancel magic and stuff with his right hand, and that's it. So he punches them in the face. Hard enough to dent concrete, yes, but still.
* In Ash's first battle against Brock in ''[[Pokémon]]'', Pikachu goes up against a Onix, [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|which is immune to electrical attacks.]] He wins (sorta) by shooting lightning everywhere and accidentally starting a fire that sets off the sprinklers and douses Onix [[For Massive Damage]].
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* Most of the [[Elemental Powers|crafters]] in the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' have weaknesses like this. Firecrafters have [[Elemental Baggage]] at their command, and they're useless when <s>[[Fullmetal Alchemist|it's raining]]</s> they're soaked; [[Blow You Away|Windcrafters]] can be neutralized by burying them in dirt, [[Making a Splash|watercrafters]] are useless if dehydrated and surrounded by fire, and [[Dishing Out Dirt|earthcrafters]] can't do anything unless they're touching the ground. In addition, wind furies are damaged by salt, which is a problem if someone throws some at you when you're a mile up in the air. All of these get exploited at some point or another, whether in fights or to keep the crafters in question prisoner.
* In John Varley's ''[[Gaea Trilogy|Demon]]'', the war against Gaia gets a boost when they discover that zombies are destroyed by a witch's recipe for {{spoiler|love potion}}. It's hinted that Gaia, who by this time is batshit crazy and running the war as a game, built in this highly unlikely weakness as one of her private jokes and then forgot about it.
* A [[Dragaera
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Gandalf tries to open the gate to Moria for many hours with spells, etc., until he realizes to actually do exactly what the inscription on the gate reads, which is to say the elvish word for "friend". Once Gandalf utters the words, the gate starts to open. (In the film version, it's Frodo who comes up with the solution.)
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== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'', magic is indeed impressive given enough prep time, but mages taken by surprise tend to be in big trouble, being simple humans with none of the unique physical powers most other supernatural creatures have (vampires, werewolves, demons). That's why having a gun, sword or baseball bat with you always pays off.
* In [[D20 Modern]], there are classes of monsters that are tougher than the standard monster manual fare; to balance the fact that they are functionally invulnerable, they also have a table of unusual [[Weaksauce Weakness
== Mythology ==
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* ''[[Xkcd]]'' [http://xkcd.com/538/ tells us how to beat cryptography in the kneecap.]
** Also known as [[wikipedia:Rubber-hose cryptanalysis|rubber-hose cryptanalysis]]. For obvious reasons, this method is unfit for gathering court-admissible evidence.
* ''[[Bigger Than Cheeses]]'' mocked the difference between [[Hollywood Hacking|the way Hollywood stops hackers]], and [http://www.biggercheese.com/index.php?comic=332 the way] you ''should'' stop them.
* In ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', Gordito dealt with Victor, [[Most Definitely Not a Villain|an obvious villain claiming to be a plumber]], by hiring another plumber and firing Victor.
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