Mundane Utility: Difference between revisions

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUH2frxHfpc This comic/animatic] based on ''[[The Owl House]]''; Amity builds an abomination-powered [[Magitech]] [[Kill Sat]] in order to bake pies.

* The protagonist of ''[[Isekai by Moonlight]]'' uses his forcefields — that can stand up to attacks from most of Sailor Moon's foes — to move furniture in chapter 4.

 

== [[Film]] ==

**** However, Susan's classes do take quite interesting, Disc-travelling unscheduled field trips during her lessons.

** There's some mundane uses of magic-derived technology on the Discworld, such as using tiny summoned imps to paint pictures (essentially a photo camera), or as (dis)organizers. However, magic on the Disc is likened to nuclear power – it's good to know it's out there, but you wouldn't want a pile of it in your living room.

** Unseen University's omniscopes are powerful scrying devices that can see anywhere and anywhen. Because of this it's extremely hard to get them to show anywhere and anywhen ''in particular'', so they usually show the blackness of empty space (that being what most of the universe consists of). The wizards mostly use them as shaving mirrors.

** Swamp dragons, dog-sized and non-sentient fire breathers, are frequently used by their human owners as firelighters, forges, paint strippers, and the like. Lady Sybil, ''the'' expert on the species, firmly objects to such practices, and dislikes when her husband lights his cigars with dragon hatchlings, although {{spoiler|she unhesitatingly instructs him on how to use Raja as a weapon [[Mama Bear|in defense of their child]]}}.

** On the other side of the fence, Discworld witches are trained to avert this trope (which doesn't necessarily mean they do it 100%, just that they're trained not to rely on magic as much as possible). Most of them seem to take it as a point of pride how far they can go using only hard work and completely nonmagical things like herbalism and headology.

{{quote|'''Nanny''': But only when there ain't no alternative.

'''Mrs Googol''': Sure. When there ain't no alternative.

** [[Justified Trope]] in that, if Arthur Weasley is any example, the magical population of the world hasn't a clue how Muggle technology ''works''. If the wizarding world ever gets hit with an [[Anti-Magic]] Field or something, they'd die of starvation surrounded by filth.

** The House-elves. A race of powerful magical beings with near absolute loyalty as their ''Hat'', whose magic isn't bound by the same rules as human wizardry, and what do most wizards and witches use them for? ''Chores''. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] by the [[Fantastic Racism|condescending attitude]] most wizards and witches have concerning House Elves. A few wizards do make clever use of their House elves though: {{spoiler|Crouch Sr. entrusted Winky with the ''very'' important task of keeping his son hidden (and fired her for nearly letting him escape), Regulus Black told Kreacher to destroy Voldemort's locket Horcrux, though even Kreacher's powers weren't enough to break it, and Harry put Kreacher's talents to good use for espionage in ''Half-blood Prince'' and for capturing a thief in ''Deathly Hallows''}}.

* ''[[Bloodsucking Fiends]]'': Upon concluding that Vampire saliva acts as a healing agent (primarily to keep those tell-tale neck wounds from being noticed), Tommy tries to convince his [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire]] girlfriend Jody to fix his cuticles and get rid of a blister on his toe. Jody is not amused.

* In the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' novel "How Much For Just The Planet" our heroes encounter a baking dish made out of dilithium (a valuable type of crystal that is one target for both sides of the Federation/Klingon Cold War currently in effect). To make it even better, the slab of dilithium is engraved with writing from the local [[Precursors]], combining two kinds of Mundane Utility. The locals argue that if dilithium can regulate a matter-antimatter reaction a few hours in the oven isn't going to hurt it.

* In [[Stephen King]]'s novel, ''[[The Tommyknockers]]'', an alien spacecraft is discovered, and it makes the people near it technical geniuses. The main character uses her new abilities to power up her water heater by creating a small sun in it, making a tractor that can fly, and a typewriter that can read thoughts.

* [[H. Beam Piper]]'s ''Uller Uprising'' features a project to use A-bombs for volcano mining. [[Justified Trope|Justified]], because by the point in the future Piper's novels are set in, people have access to weapons like [[Stuff Blowing Up|the Bethe-cycle bomb]], which ''creates a miniature sun 2000 miles across'' at its point of detonation (which has ''no'' mundane utility, because it's kind of hard to find a mundane use for a 2000-mile-across fusion fireball lasting several hours).

* [[Sword of Truth|Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander]], Wizard of the First Order, AKA the Wind of Death, has been known to use his exceptional and frightening mastery over magic to cook dinner just a little faster.

** A necessary function, as he is a [[Big Eater]].

** Another case has Zedd restoring a wilted flower to full vitality before he goes to speak with his girlfriend.

** Also of note, Nicci, Death's Mistress and former lieutenant of the [[God of Evil|Keeper of the Underworld]], applies [[Black Magic|Subtractive Magic]] to tasks such as healing and changing the color of clothes. Zedd [[lampshade]]s this, but considering his own example, he doesn't have much room to talk.

* In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] novel ''[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Yoda:_Dark_Rendezvous Yoda: Dark Rendezvous]'' has [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Wookieepedia:Quote_of_the_Day/2_July_2007 a conversation about such uses of the force] (But of course using the force for such things [[Comes Great Responsibility|leads to the darkside]])

** [[Vibroweapon|Vibroblades]] are awesome weapons that can cut and slice through most armors. Sure enough, they are used for day-to-day cutting of non-warfare-related items all the time, and scaled-down versions exist that aren't even supposed to be used for fighting at all. And yeah, lightsabers get used for similar purposes too every now and then, as well as torches.

* One of the perennial complaints of Marvin the Paranoid Android from ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' is that he has a brain the size of a planet, yet is assigned only simple household tasks that wouldn't challenge a lobotomized goldfish's intellect.

* ''[[Good Omens]]'': The divine / infernal powers are nice for miracling up vintage wines into existence and keeping your car dent-free.

** To the surprise of both the Wine, and the Car, apparently.

* According to [[The Bible]], Jesus' very first miracle? Turning water into wine during a wedding party as a private favor for his host, and upon a request from his mom Mary. ([[Sacred Hospitality]] is [[Serious Business]].)

** In other Gospels not considered canonical, a young Jesus also experimented with his powers by animating a clay bird and raising a kid from the dead when he accidentally smited the guy for being a moron.

** [[Fridge Brilliance]] when you consider that the Rings of Power grant your deepest desire. So for the Elves, they preserve the beauty of their realms, for the Dwarves they bring wealth, for Men they prolong life. And what do Hobbits most desire? ''Not to be noticed by the Big Folk.''

* The boys in ''[[Krabat]]'' may and do use magic for their daily work and even just for pranks.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* The world of ''[[Gene Roddenberry]]'s [[Andromeda]]'' includes such wonders as [[Nanomachines]] and they're available to pretty much everyone. How does maverick captain Beka Valentine use hers? [[Hair Colors|Instant hair dye.]] {{spoiler|And blackmail.}}

** When asked by a kid if he ever used his ability to sneak into women's locker rooms, Darien refuses to answer. In the pilot, he was caught spying on a soldier and a nurse getting it on and gets a black eye for that.

* All the time in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'':