Possession Implies Mastery: Difference between revisions

 

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...)

 

== 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 something they thought impossible. Simply, the inexperienced and desperate Macross crew 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.

** 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. {{spoiler|more to the point, the low altitude space fold jump mentioned above ended up bringing an ''entire island'' (with over 5000 civilians) along for the ride, out to around the orbit of Pluto (they had intended to jump behind the moon). Better yet, the fold space generator (that they had used to make the jump) literally vanished into thin air during the jump.}}

* 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.

*** Which brings up the [[Fridge Logic]] of {{spoiler|how Colossus still had his strength after weeks of captivity. But then, that will happen with a story about a drug made out of Wolverine.}}

* In a similar vain, a recent story looking back on the early days of [[Superman]]'s career shows that the man of steel knows he's strong and invulnerable but doesn't know how strong and invulnerable he is. He briefly panics when his lungs fill with lava while submerged.

 

== Film ==

* 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 assistance—and after Stark yanks out a few wires, he not only [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|can't hit a human-sized target at six meters]] with [[More Dakka|automatic weapons]] and [[Stuff Blowing Up|missiles]], but has to ''open the cockpit to see.''

* 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!!"

 

 

** 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.

* The Imperium of Man in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' are pretty much the same. More than a fair proportion of their military equipment relies on technology long since lost. Tech-Priests pray to the machines to convince them to fix themselves, while doing rituals they believe appease the machine spirit rather than realizing they're the ones fixing it.

** 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 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]].

 

== Video Games ==

* 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.

* 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?"