Possession Implies Mastery: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"How do people in movies always know how to do this stuff without practice?"''
|'''[[Roger Ebert]]''' in a review for ''[[Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time]]''}}
A reasonably common fallacy based on the notion that the possession of a piece of technology, excluding things specifically described as a [[Black Box]], implies that the owner has a full understanding of its workings and mechanisms, the principles on which it operates, and can adapt and use those principles in other matters in a reliable way, and can even undermine them as necessary.
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This makes more sense when dealing with governments, mind you, who are both interested in and good at reverse-engineering; on the other hand, this presupposes that other cultures' governments are similar to that of the US.
This fallacy is often reinforced by [[Mr. Fixit]], who generally can adapt any piece of technology he gets his hands on to do whatever the plot calls
Compare [[Instant Expert]]. Contrast [[Cargo Cult]], [[Clarke's Third Law]], [[Scavenger World]] (where people forgot how to make a lot of things [[After the End]]), [[How Do I Shot Web?]] (the inverse of this trope with superpowers), [[You Shouldn't Know This Already]] (which stops gamers from using something they have before they learn how in-game), [[Low Culture, High Tech]] (where the this is not the case for a low tech culture using high tech gadgets), [[Black Box]] and [[Loyal Phlebotinum]].
Has nothing to do with [[Demonic Possession]] (although one might wonder how easy it is for demons to work out how to use their hosts' bodies...)
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* [[Averted Trope|Conspicuous by its absence]] in ''[[Macross]]'', where barely understood higher technology acts like it. Multiple plot points involve the protagonists being forced to use a foolhardy technique or maneuver and having it blow up in their faces. {{spoiler|The [[Cool Ship]] first takes off using alien antigravity generators, which proceed to tear through the hull and float off into the sky. The second attempt is done with ordinary engines. On the other hand, the crew then pulled off an extreme low altitude space fold jump to outmaneuver the Zentrandi, leaving them astonished that their enemy could do something they thought impossible. Simply, the inexperienced and desperate Macross crew [[Achievements in Ignorance|did not know that themselves and succeeded by pure luck]].}} This actually works somewhat in their favor since their enemies are kept continually off guard with each stunt, unable to decide if their completely unpredictable enemies are pathetic amateurs or half-crazed tactical geniuses
:On the third hand, the Zentraedi could ''operate'' all their technology, but when something ''broke'' (such as the big screen in Breetai's command deck), all they could do was clean up the mess and make do without (because they were kept deliberately ignorant of how to create or repair technology).
** This lack of understanding actually kicked off the plot. The crew of the Macross found out too late that the original owners of their ship had rigged it to fire its [[Wave Motion Gun|main cannon]] on the first Zentrandi ship that came in range, thus throwing humanity into a war with the aliens.
* Shirou of ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' develops {{spoiler|the ability to construct imitations of legendary swords out of seemingly nothing. This also somehow reconstructs the original users' skills at using said weapons}}, so possession in this case really does imply mastery, or at least proficiency.<br /><br />It is a plot point in UBW that {{spoiler|Gilgamesh and Shirou}}, as mere "owners" rather than "wielders" of their weapons, generally suck in comparison to other servants in direct combat because they don't have the mastery gained by focusing in one weapon. {{spoiler|Shirou actually points this out, and wins because Unlimited Blade Works provides him with an infinite amount of duplicates that are summoned faster than Gilgamesh pulls stuff out of his arsenal. He uses the duplicated proficiency and overload the duplicates to repel or destroy Gilgamesh's originals and forces the latter on the defensive.}}▼
* Shirou of ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' develops {{spoiler|the ability to construct imitations of legendary swords out of seemingly nothing. This also somehow reconstructs the original users' skills at using said weapons}}, so possession in this case really does imply mastery, or at least proficiency.
** It helps that {{spoiler|Shirou}}, when recreating his weapons, copies the history of how they were made and ''how they were wielded'', giving him a level▼
▲
* This is the power of the Gandalfr Familiar, the position held by Saito, in ''[[Zero no Tsukaima]]''. If it's made for battle, he can use it. This is demonstrated when a shiny display sword given to him by Kirche completely fails in battle.▼
▲** It helps that
▲* This is the power of the Gandalfr Familiar, the position held by Saito, in ''[[
* Haru Glory's Ten Commandments sword in ''[[Rave Master]]''. It has ten forms, and Haru seems to know exactly what every form does the moment he needs it, such as bringing out {{spoiler|Runesave}} to save {{spoiler|Elie without having to kill her}}. This is however justified since the Rave of Knowledge explicitly provides this insight.
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', this is quite the opposite for pretty much anyone with spirit abilities. Especially captains, no matter how much of a genius they're stated to be. Which explains just why characters like Ichigo and Toushiro can keep getting pretty much curb-stomped, despite their power levels and genius. They have
** Kenpachi Zaraki is the best example of subverting this trope. He owns a zanpakuto... but to him, it's just a normal sword. He makes up for the lack of zanpakuto abilities with monstrous strength and spiritual pressure. Similarly, lesser shinigami have zanpakuto without abilities, but it's implied that for most shinigami, gaining the abilities simply comes with time and effort, leading to a increase in rank and power.
* A lot of characters in ''[[Code Geass]]'' seem to be able to pilot [[Mini-Mecha|Knightmare Frames]], despite having [[Falling Into the Cockpit|found themselves using them for the first time]]. Somewhat justified in that Suzaku mentioned having had some military-mandatory training on simulators in the first episode, Lelouch having used the Ganymede to make giant pizzas during previous school festivals, and Kallen having assumedly had some time to practice with that old Glascow. Still, a line from the [[Abridged Series]] is used as the page quote for [[Falling Into the Cockpit]]
* Heavily averted in ''[[Gantz]]''. The main protagonist (among others) are given special combat suits and weaponry, but they have literally no idea of how they work until they figure it out by trial-and-error.
* Usually averted in ''[[One Piece]]'' with the Devil Fruits, but not so much for Kaku and Kalifa. While being top-ranked assassins with all sorts of cool superpowers, they were given Devil Fruits to be even tougher. Only a few hours later do they appear having nearly complete mastery over their powers, with the exception of Kaku, who, while shifting forms, accidentally enters his animal form instead of his hybrid.
== Comic Books ==
* Subverted mercilessly in Marvel Comics' ''GLX-mas Special #1'', where the second Grasshopper is taking his first jumps in a brand-new super-suit. After foiling a villain, Grasshopper is approached with a dinner invitation by his unwitting sister. After denying her advances, he makes a heroic exit by engaging the suit's "Maximum Jump" ability, {{spoiler|which propels him into space, killing him instantly. Sidenote: to this day,{{when}} there have been three Grasshoppers in Marvel continuity, and not one have them have survived more than a single issue. The most recent one debuted and was killed in all of three panels.}}
* Played totally straight with the character Adept from ''[[Strikeforce: Morituri]]'', whose superpower was the ability to analyze and understand anything she touched. Since their primary opponents were a race of alien [[Planet Looters]] with scavenged technology, this was ''very'' useful.
* Averted for most of the [[Blue Beetle]] legacy. The first one, Dan Garett, got powers from it by saying a magic word (ultimately revealed to be misusing it, and the magic likely damaged its true function). Then Ted Kord came into possession of the scarab but never got it to work, instead borrowing its motif for his costume and gadgets. It was only the third owner, Jaime Reyes, who had it work as intended - but he still hasn't mastered it; the scarab activated because ''it'' chose to, and he still argues with it over what to do at times.
* ''[[Ultimate X-Men]]'' member Colossus lampshades this when Weapon X forces him to stop a train, pointing out that just because he's super strong doesn't mean he's strong enough to do this
** This being the Ultimate Universe, things aren't quite that simple though.
*** Which brings up the [[Fridge Logic]] of
* In a similar
== Fan Works ==▼
* Averted in ''[[With Strings Attached]]'' when John is handed a sword, but wields it rather inexpertly.▼
* Also averted in ''[[Drunkard's Walk]]'', where during his journeys Doug Sangnoir receives a [[Magic Staff]] and [[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension|Buckaroo Banzai's]] second-best [[Katanas Are Just Better|katana]], but needs to train extensively in order to use them with any proficiency.
== Film ==
* A little known UK movie called ''[[Morons from Outer Space]]'' plays with this trope, as the aliens who crash-land on Earth are assumed to be a higher order of intelligence. In point of fact, they are the interstellar equivalent of ignorant tourists who rented a camper and ended up running off the road in the wrong town.
* The heroes of the film ''[[Spaced Invaders]]'' are the most incompetent members of their race.
* In the ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' film, {{spoiler|Obadiah Stane}} pilots powered armor (that wasn't even made by him) for the first time and is immediately able to go toe to toe with Iron Man, who spent several ([[Amusing Injuries|hilarious]]) weeks practicing with his suit. Justified as {{spoiler|[[Foil|Stane]]}} planed to sell his [[Mini-Mecha]] [[Evil Knockoff]] on the black market, so he just crammed it with computer
{{quote|'''Iron Man''': [[Are These Wires Important?|THIS looks important! * R-r-rip!*
* In ''[[Pathfinder]]'', the hero grew up with a Viking sword, but his only practice with it appears to be occasionally swinging it around, alone, in forest clearings. When the Vikings show up again, he proves to be a skilled swordfighter.
** It's actually a partial aversion. When he's swinging his sword in the forest, it's a [[Training Montage]]. It's vaguely implied that he practices for a long time. At the beginning of the scene he holds the sword wrong and swings it awkwardly. By the end of the scene he's holding it correctly and swinging it much more skillfully.
* Averted in ''[[District 9]]'' when Wikus gets into a suit of power armor and is shown stumbling around awkwardly. His good aim with alien handguns is shown via the sophisticated HUD to be a function of the suit being highly automated and taking high-level orders via a semi-biological link. In fact, its implied that if he actually knew how to use the thing, he would have been able to tear through the mercenaries like tissue paper; the ''auto-pilot'' curbstomps an entire gang in about ten seconds.
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* In ''[[Star Wars]] Episode I: [[The Phantom Menace]]'', Anakin Skywalder assumes that because Qui-Gon Jinn has a lightsaber, he must be a Jedi. When Qui-Gon jokingly retorts that he could have alternatively killed a Jedi and snatched the lightsaber, Anakin claims that no one would ever be able to kill a Jedi.
* Averted in ''[[Terminator]]'' when Kyle Reese talks about how the resistance captured the time portal device to send him back to the 1980s. The consulting psychiatrist for the police asks him how it works and gets shut down with "I didn't build the fucking thing!!"
▲== Fan Works ==
▲* Averted in ''[[With Strings Attached]]'' when John is handed a sword, but wields it rather inexpertly.
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* Averted in the ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' novels where Admiral Shannon Foraker is quite frank about how even when they capture Mantie technology they can't actually use it because they don't have the same tech base or miniaturisation technology, but that it's still worthwhile because it gives them ideas on how to do it, and how to develop countermeasures.
* Subverted in ''[[Stephen King|The Tommyknockers]]''. The titular entities have no clue HOW their stuff works, but somehow managed to figure out how to make it.
* Inverted in ''[[Harry Potter and
** Averted in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' as a whole. Just because you have a broomstick/wand/crystal ball/whatever doesn't mean you can ''use'' it without going to school first.
* Averted in ''[[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]]'', where Nathaniel gains possession of an extremely powerful magical artifact and tries to use it against his enemy. Bartimaeus notes that there's no chance of him being able to master it on his first try, but stops when he succeeds in generating a massive surge of magical energy. Then he loses control and the backlash knocks him unconscious.
** In the final book demons possessing people run into this problem, having very little idea how to actually work their new bodies. At one point the immensely powerful demon Nouda is seen being helped to his feet by a lesser demon who's had a body longer, after he fell over and started twitching.
* This is the primary ability of Berserker from [[Fate/Zero]]. Anything that is remotely a weapon he corrupts it in his mana, turning it into a magic weapon of devastating power.
* The Gateway books involve a lot of this. The Titular station contains many ships, each with an FTL drive and a navigation system that works by pushing a few buttons. Unfortunately, nobody quite knows how the ships work or how to navigate them. Humans explore the galaxy with them by pushing the buttons in different combination and seeing where the ships goes. Hope you brought enough supplies to survive the trip there and back(not that you know how long the trip is going to be). Some ships just don't come back.
* [[Dilbert|Scott Adams]] discusses this in relation to [[UFOs]] in his book, ''The Dilbert Future''. He points out that "just because you see a person driving a car, that doesn't mean that they invented the automobile," so we can't assume that an alien piloting an advanced spaceship is a genius. He goes on to speculate that the aliens that [[Alien Abduction|abduct people]] are actually [[The Greys]]' equivalent of rednecks, and that [[Anal Probing]] is their equivalent of cow tipping.
* Amusingly averted with Bertie in ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'':
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** Partially justified at the beginning of [[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]] in that all of the characters have been training to carry on their family legacies. However it is averted slightly in the second episode. Ryuuonosuke knows ''about'' the [[Combining Mecha|Samurai Gattai]] but doesn't actually know what it does or how its done and winds up getting everyone to stack themselves up in a totem pole like formation.
* Averted in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Attack of the Cybermen", in which the Cybermen plan to use a time machine to change history. The Doctor cannot understand why the Cybermen would do something so catastrophic, since it would be just as damaging for them as for everyone else; it falls to another character to point out that the Cybermen's timeship is ''stolen'', not built, and that they do not understand its principles.
** Averted in the first few years of ''Doctor Who'' with the TARDIS. Part of Sydney Newman's original character brief was that he did not know how to steer his stolen timeship; however, in execution, it was a combination of "the Doctor didn't know how" and "the ship was already old"
* Modern ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' series tend to have a character just ''know'' how to use their Rider powers within seconds of obtaining the [[Transformation Trinket]] - including how to use the Trinket in the first place.
** Depends on the series. There are subversions here and there although certain ones like Kabuto, Faiz and Kiva play it straight.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* [[Dungeons
** 4th edition plays it straight: any adventurer who spends five minutes studying a magic item will automatically know everything useful about it.
** Weapons were first just allowed by class lists, but obvious issues led to simple solution in AD&D -- penalties for non-proficient use. A character can grab any weapon, but this won't do much good without a proficiency in it, which for a non-warrior class may or may not be learnable at all.
** In third edition, you could get the "Skillful Enchantment" on any weapons. After being so enchanted, anyone can pick up the weapon and use it at least as well as they can their normal weapons or better in the case of character classes that least emphasized combat (so it eliminates the non-proficiency penalty and sets your attack bonus up to the middle progression if it wasn't already at that level.)
* GURPS has similar, highly amusing tables for meddling with stuff you don't understand. Including modifiers for poking it with a stick.
** GURPS also has skill-defaulting rules such that a character with a sufficiently high dexterity can pick up just about any wield it with surprising proficiency -- and then jump several levels of skill if they bother to put a token amount of time into actually learning how to use it properly.
* The Imperium of Man in ''[[Warhammer
** The Orks would seem like a straight play of the trope, as the "Mechboyz" know tech on a genetic level, including captured enemy hardware. Looking deeper, all Ork tech runs on the psychic gestalt generated by Ork belief in the fact that the tech will work, to the point where a human opening up an Ork gun may find simply a load of junk parts in a shoddy casing.
* This is an unfortunate fact of life for ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game players; duelists looking for a quick and cheap (figuratively, though ''definitely'' not literally) victory will "netdeck", or go online and copy a tournament-winning deck card-for-card. The theory is that playing a tourney-winning card will give them the ability to win more, and assuming they'll be able to pull off all of the best combos and strategies associated with that deck as the original player has. This should not work in reality, but somehow it ''does'', because within the (relatively) simple ruleset of a card game, the idea of being able to reverse engineer the winning strategy for ''using'' the deck just from looking at its parts makes a bit more sense.
* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', due to the ever-changing meta-game, don't expect to win a large tournament with a netdeck. By the time you master it, really good players will have analyzed the famous "winning deck", found how to beat it, and played the cards that stop it on its track. If you made the same analysis, you may have modified your deck accordingly in order to reduce its vulnerability to those decks. If you just netdecked in hope of a cheap win and thought your opponents will behave exactly as your friends at the local FNM... You're facing troubles.
** This is rather misleading though, as very often well-known decks do win tournaments, and the fact that an exact composition does or doesn't win doesn't even necessarily mean it was the correct build of the deck - having a slightly off deck can be more than compensated for by being a better player.
* Parodied in ''[[Paranoia]]'', where players are often ordered to test out new experimental equipment in the field, and report back on the results. Unfortunately, because the equipment is always well above their security clearance level, they cannot be told how it works, or even how to operate it. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* Explicitly a rule in ''[[Champions|The Hero System]]''. If you purchase an item (or special ability) with character points, you are automatically assumed to know how to use it. If you do not use character points (for example in a fantasy game, buying a sword with gold pieces) you need a requisite weapon familiarity skill.
* In
== Video Games ==
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* In ''[[Homeworld]] 2'', a Marine Frigate is able to dock with an enemy ship and deploy commandos to take it over from the inside. After a successful hijacking however, the commandos are apparently able to fight with their new ship just as effectively as the previous crew without first having to familiarize themselves with how to operate it.
* While previously this trope was averted in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' with everyone's weapon skill starting out at one, in patch 4.0.1 weapons skills and training were done away with - now your character automatically fits this trope, so long as they can equip the weapon. This was because weapon skill added nothing whatsoever to the game, and simply resulted in higher level people who acquired a new type of weapon having to spend a lot of time hacking away pathetically at equally pathetic creatures while grinding their weapon skill up through 400-odd skill points before they could fight real enemies again (death knights, starting at level 55 and initially untrained in several of their common weapons, were particularly troubled by this).
* ''[[Call of Duty]] 2'' plays with this trope. On one hand, your character doesn't seem to have any trouble using captured German weapons, but that's no surprise given the point-and-click nature of most guns. On the other hand, Private Macgregor's attempts at driving a captured German armored car was...[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLqbk7WWdOw well, see for yourself starting around 4:15.]
* Particularly egregious in [[Nazi Zombies]], where everyone instantly knows how to use the new Wonder Weapon introduced in each map to electrocute zombies, shrink them, turn them back into humans, suck them into a miniature black hole, etc. Especially in the Call Of The Dead map, where the player characters are ''actors''.
* In ''[[Master of Orion]] 2'' any ships captured by boarding can be used as one's own, but scrapping them gives a chance to learn any unknown technologies they use.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* Both played straight and averted in the [[Whateley Universe]], depending on the type of power. Most Energizers can just blast away with their powers with no training. Telekinetic bricks seem to know how to use their power instinctively, even if they don't know some of their weaknesses or how to control their strength without lots of practice. Wizards usually need lots of classwork to learn spells and focus. Then there's Phase, who nearly died several times while struggling to learn to use his powers, and is still figuring things out months after getting his powers.
== Western Animation ==
* Wade can understand anything given 10 seconds to scan it with the ''[[Kim Possible]]'' Kimmunicator.
* The same thing that happened to ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'' above happened to Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]''.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Gargoyles]]'': Lexington builds a motorcycle. Brooklyn asks why this is such an arduous task for him, given that he has ridden one before, and Lexington responds, "You've ridden a horse before; could you build one from spare parts?"
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Admiral Zhao deduces that Zuko is the Blue Spirit, a thief who uses dual swords, after seeing that Zuko had two swords hanging in his quarters. Zuko does protest that they're just decorations, and he has no idea how to use them, but of course he's lying.
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* In ''[[Bump in the Night]]'', Molly applies to become a doctor and assumes that just because she has all the instructions and equipment necessary for the average doctor, she has instantly become a doctor. It gets worse when {{spoiler|Bumpy eats the pages from the manuals and replaces them with gardening and home repair manuals.}}
* Averted in Ben10. The series repeatedly shows that Ben only has the vaguest idea of what the [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum|Omnitrix]] is capable of.
* ''[[Futurama]]'' has "Bender, owner of disguise".
* In ''[[Transformers Prime]]'', only Ratchet has any idea on how the eponymous [[Mechanical Lifeforms]] work, him being the equivalent of a medic. When Jack asks how come Arcee doesn't know how to build a motorcycle despite being one, she asks bluntly, "You're human, Jack, can you build me a small intestine?"
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