The Smart Guy: Difference between revisions

|''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''}}

 

 

Physically they are usually [[Shorter Means Smarter|short]] [[The Short Guy with Glasses|and wear glasses]]. They may even be [[Teen Genius|a]] [[Child Prodigy]]. The Smart Guy is sometimes written as mousey and withdrawn. If not antisocial, at least non-social, sliding into [[TV Genius]]. Can be expected to [[Smart People Play Chess|play a mean game of chess.]]

* In fantasy settings, he'll usually be [[Squishy Wizard|skilled at magic]], particularly of the offensive variety, in which case he serves as the team's [[An Adventurer Is You|"nuker"]]. His [[Weapon of Choice]] tends to be a [[Magic Wand]], a [[Simple Staff]], or [[Boom Stick|both in one package]]. Alternatively, he may prefer a [[Knife Nut|easily manageable dagger]]. Or, if magic is the de facto power of the age, the Smart Guy will probably use a sword or a gun.

* In a [[Superhero]] setting, or any one with superpowers that don't quite fall under magic, The Smart Guy is often a [[Badass Normal]] with [[Super Intelligence]], or has [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|relatively weak powers]] to offset their brilliance (and increasingly often will find [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|ways to utilise apparently useless powers to great effect]]). He could also achieve [[Psychic Powers]] after reaching [[Brain Critical Mass]]. Or conversely, they'll be the ones in the [[Powered Armor]] (in this case, if the armor lends enough muscle, they might be a [[Genius Bruiser]] or [[Badass Bookworm]] who doubles as [[The Big Guy]]).

 

His knowledge will allow him to [[Enemy Scan|find enemy weaknesses]] and to serve as [[Mr. Exposition]] in order to explain plot points to the less intelligent members of the band (and the audience).

 

{{examples}}

* [[The Archer|Rowen Hashiba]] is described by Dais to be the smartest and most cunning of the ''[[Ronin Warriors]]''. He probably got his smarts from his [[Mad Scientist]] father and is said to have a really high IQ.

* There are plenty of cases of smart women among the twelve [[Hi M Es]] of ''[[My-HiME]]'', but the standout is the [[Shrinking Violet]] computer genius Yukino Kikukawa. This is more or less reinforced by the fact that both her [[Empathic Weapon|Child]] and her [[Forgotten Superweapon|Element]] are only good for detection and spying.

* [[Jerkass Woobie|Zelgadis Graywords]] of the ''[[Slayers]]'' franchise is usually this alone or is also [[The Lancer]], depending on the adaptation. In addition to being book-smart and a strategist in battle, he also knows a good deal of scientific knowledge plausible for a fantasy setting, and can solve math problems and measure distances at near-breakneck speed.

* From ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', [[Talking Animal|Happy]] fills this role, usually as a [[Mr. Exposition]], though he also provides simple answers to complex questions. Sometimes he combines this with [[Team Pet]].

** Lucy pulls double duty as [[The Chick]] and The Smart Girl most of the time, especially once [[Tagalong Kid|Wendy]] started integrating into their [[Five-Man Band]] more often (and who also displays [[The Chick]] characteristics).

* Though a lot of people think he leads it, this is what Light's role is on {{spoiler|the Kira investigation taskforce}}, in the second half of ''[[Death Note]]''.

* Shin of ''[[Saint Beast]]'' is one of the physically weaker members of his [[Five-Man Band]] but is always carrying around a book and is the person to go to for information on the [[Monster of the Week]].

 

* [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Donatello]], he who does machines, pretty much defines this trope.

* Brainiac 5 fills this role in every version of the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes]]''.

* [[Iron Man]] and Hank Pym usually share this role in ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'', with slightly different fields. (one being the [[Gadgeteer Genius]] in the [[Powered Armor]], the other being a more [[Comic Book Science|comic booky scientist]] with his [[Minovsky Physics|Pym Particles]])

 

* ''[[Star Wars]]'': There's a reason C-3PO refers to RD-D2 as his counterpart: They split the usual Smart Guy duties between them, with R2 handling the practical side and 3PO handling the exposition side.

* The [[Superhero]] spoof film ''[[The Specials]]'' from 2000 includes a brainy gadgeteer member of the titular superteam whose ''nom de guerre'' is simply "Mr. Smart".

* Kevin Sandusky of ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' is the one who knows what is going on the most. He recognized the Heroin Processing plant, he can read the map, and {{spoiler|he's the only one of the actors who had actually read the script and the book.}}

 

* The Scarecrow from ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]''.

* Blackberry, of the initial refugee band in ''[[Watership Down]]''. An amusing variant in that his skillset is basically that of an engineer, except downsized to a rabbit POV; his bright idea—which becomes the key strategem in the climactic battle—is that things which float on water can thus be used as transport out of reach of land-based enemies. It's strongly hinted that Fiver, the small seer who doesn't fight, is second smartest.

* Kirsty and sometimes Yo-less from ''[[Johnny Maxwell Trilogy]]''.

* ''[[Harry Potter]]'':

** Also, Remus Lupin is this to the Marauders

* Sostratos in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''Hellenic Traders'' series. He reads Thucydides and Herodotus for fun, always keeps the records of the ships cargo well and is curious about everything. He also [[Vitriolic Best Buds|fights with his cousin]] [[The Captain]], who's [[Dumb Is Good|the]] [[The Kirk|opposite.]].

* In both [[The Winds of War and War and Remembrance|''The Winds of War'' and ''War and Remembrance'']], none of the main heroes is dumb (after all they have to deal with advanced naval equipment just to start with). But Leslie Slote is the one that looks like a stereotypical nerd, being a skinny guy with glasses as well as a Rhodes scholar and a diplomat who evolves into a spy, and then (for despair at the possibility of rescuing his ex-girlfriend) becoming an OSS commando -- making him something of a [[Badass Bookworm]].

 

* Lizzie Sutton from ''[[Lincoln Heights]]'' falls under [[The Smart Girl]] version

* McKay on ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' is probably the most egregious example on modern TV; often, the other characters will just sit around and threaten him until he comes up with a plan.

* On ''[[The A-Team]]'', Face filled this role as the [[The Scrounger|scrounging]] [[Con Man]] who always had a financial scheme up his sleeve. There are episodes where he [[Nerdgasm|geeks out]] over the intricacies of his latest con, and he was shown to be great with doing math in his head quickly. Ironically, Face was also the team's [[Handsome Lech|handsome]] [[Casanova|womanizer]].

* [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Billy Cranston]] was the first ''[[Power Rangers]]'' smart guy, and it's hard to find one since who's embodied the trope as much as him.

* Everyone on ''[[The West Wing]]'' was smart, but Toby was the only one who's intellect was regularly shown to rival the President's.

 

* In [[Classical Mythology]], Athena is this among the Olympians. Hermes sometimes fill this role in a trickster-ish sort of way.

* The [[The Bible|Biblical prophet]] Daniel (aka Belteshazzar)]] was a brilliant scholar and a top-notch administrator.

 

* The [[Dishing Out Dirt|Toa of Earth]] (such as [[Genius Bruiser|Onua]] or [[Gadgeteer Genius|Nuparu]]) tend to fill this role on their respective Toa teams in ''[[Bionicle]]''.

 

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', [[Donald Duck]] is The Smart Guy of the team, being the Disney Court's royal magician, and good at his craft. However, he doubles as the bad kind of team [[The Lancer|Lancer]] as well, because of how self-centered, small-minded, and short-tempered he is; he's always trying to get his way, and doesn't consider the consequences of his bullish behavior. All of the wisdom is instead found in Goofy, [[The Big Guy]] of the team, making him something of a [[Genius Bruiser]]. This pretty solidly seems a case of [[Dumb Is Good]]. Actually, considering how many evil scientists there are in the series, it could seen as a double-whammy of [[Dumb Is Good]] and [[Science Is Bad]]. Even good-guy inventor Cid can't escape the fact that his gummi ships couldn't be built without breaking off material from the shells that protect each world from Darkness. Goofy's also the only one of the trio that knows how to properly use a computer (Sora only barely knew how to type and Donald had no idea) as well as caught on to Mulan's true nature.

* Jade from ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]''

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' gives us Hope Estheim, the youngest of the cast but with the highest magic stat.

 

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', some of the Sparks are even identified by the Jagers as "da schmot guy".

* Hod, god of darkness and winter, is The Smart Guy to the Norse kids in ''[[Brat Halla]]'', although he is a [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] as well.

* Riff from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is both The Smart Guy and [[The Lancer]], being a [[Mad Scientist]] with a [[Tim Taylor Technology|penchant for]] [[More Dakka|destruction]].

* Tedd of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]''.

** This also occurs on the [[Anti-Villain|Imperial side]], with [[The Dragon|Izor]] shifting the responsibility to [[Hypercompetent Sidekick|Gary]] once he becomes a prominent character.

 

* While not part of a [[Five-Man Band]], computer programmer Raimi definitely fulfills this function in ''[[Broken Saints]]''.

 

* On the group Team Kimba in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'', Phase is probably the smart one, even if Chaka seems to be best at coming up with ideas in the middle of a fight. Phase is over-educated for a freshman in high school, is most likely to use the big words, and is a smart aleck too. The [[Smart Guy]] they go to for gadgets is Bugs, who is a [[Hot Scientist]].

* While not intelligent to a superlative degree, Chip from the web fiction serial ''[[Dimension Heroes]]'' proves on several occasions that his reservoir of book knowledge can prove beneficial in making it out of various tight spots the heroes get into.

 

* Lisa Simpson in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. Marge as well, in a few cases, but she is just a bit too oblivious to what constitutes as normal human behavior to do any discrediting.

* Velma Dinkley in ''[[Scooby Doo]]''.