Too Clever by Half: Difference between revisions

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== Literature ==

* ''The [[Vorkosigan Saga]]''': The titular Miles Vorkosigan, as illustrated by the following quote from ''Mirror Dance''

{{quote| "My game plan all my life has been to demand acceptance of this," a vague wave down the length, or shortness, of his body, "because I was a smart-ass little bastard who could think rings around the opposition, and prove it time after time."}}

{{quote|"My game plan all my life has been to demand acceptance of this," a vague wave down the length, or shortness, of his body, "because I was a smart-ass little bastard who could think rings around the opposition, and prove it time after time."}}

* ''[[Discworld]]'':

** Moist von Lipwig of ''[[Discworld/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'' and ''[[Discworld/Making Money|Making Money]]'' is a con man turned government official, who runs his government offices as though they were successively more complex con games. Which of course, in a very real sense, they sort of are.

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* Dr. Nicholas Rush in ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' is, quite possibly, even more arrogant than McKay. At the very least, he loves to put other scientists down. At the same time, he sees [[Teen Genius|Eli]] as a protégé of sorts and isn't as hard on him as on others. In fact, on at least one occasion, he told another crewmember that Eli is actually smarter than him.

* Doctor Gregory [[House (TV series)|House]]. Hell, [http://www.housemd-guide.com/characters/house.php his choice of role model and reason for becoming a doctor] (a [[wikipedia:Buraku|burakumin]] medical genius working as a janitor in a Japanese hospital) was almost explicitly one of these, although without the implied arrogance.

{{quote| ''This guy, he knew that he wasn't accepted by the staff, he didn't even try. He didn't dress well. He didn't pretend to be one of them. The people that ran that place, they didn't think that he had anything they wanted. Except when they needed him. Because he was '''right'''. Which meant that nothing else mattered. And they had to listen to him.''}}

{{quote|''This guy, he knew that he wasn't accepted by the staff, he didn't even try. He didn't dress well. He didn't pretend to be one of them. The people that ran that place, they didn't think that he had anything they wanted. Except when they needed him. Because he was '''right'''. Which meant that nothing else mattered. And they had to listen to him.''}}

* Sheldon Cooper from ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' is a brilliant theoretical physicist. He's also [[Insufferable Genius|insufferably arrogant]] and ignorant of basic social interaction. At least once the other characters acknowledged that if he wasn't Leonard's roommate they wouldn't hang out with him.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': The Doctor has a tendency to drift in and out of this trope, possibly more so in his third incarnation. The Tenth Doctor is especially given to telling people how clever he is.

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*** Later on, we find that {{spoiler|her/his "Familicide" spell killed even people who merely had black dragon blood in them, or anyone related to them, such as their parents. [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0843.html People whose only crime, as V puts it, was "falling in love with a mysterious scarlet-tressed stranger".] Cue [[Heroic BSOD]].}}

** Roy as well, at times:

{{quote| '''Oracle:''' Yes, you've certainly managed to cunningly outsmart yourself at the very least.}}

{{quote|'''Oracle:''' Yes, you've certainly managed to cunningly outsmart yourself at the very least.}}

** Also Nale. He may be smarter than Elan, but he's definitely not as smart as he thinks he is. For example, Nale had his [[Horny Devils Succubus]] femme fatale disguise herself and send the party on a dangerous quest to recover star metal. He assumed that the star metal would have been recovered as "everyone" has known about its existence for a great deal of time. However, it hasn't been recovered, and after it is found the only result is Roy, an enemy of Nale's, having the star metal used to forge an [[Infinity+1 Sword]].

* Suspiria, [[Insufferable Genius]] mage prodigy from ''[[Flipside]]''. She really is a phenomenally powerful mage, but given her youth, she lacks both the experience and stamina of other mages of her rank, making her a much less formidable opponent than she should be. This has bitten her in the ass twice, in-story (the first with tragic consequences, the second costing her the other main characters' good will and respect and any sympathy the former granted her).

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* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'''s Wile E. Coyote, especially when pitted against Bugs Bunny, where he acquires a voice with which to proclaim himself a "Super-genius".

* Lisa Simpson, ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''.

{{quote| '''Marge:''' Now you know what we mean when we say you're too smart for your own good?}}

{{quote|'''Marge:''' Now you know what we mean when we say you're too smart for your own good?}}

* In ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'', Teenage Tony Stark has many of the problems of his other incarnations (keeping secrets from his friends, arrogantly fiddling with technology he really shouldn't be and some outright hypocrisy) with the problems of a super genius who's been home-schooled all his life and suffering from the loss of his only parent. For example, he creates a really good computer virus that devours data like a swarm of digital locusts but {{spoiler|unfortunately merges with a swarm of nano-machines to become the ''very'' hungry Technovore monster}}. When Tony screws up he screws up phenomenally.

* The title character of ''[[Invader Zim]]'' is an [[Evil Genius]], smarter than all the other invaders, but his [[Insufferable Genius|massive ego]] and faulty programming prevent him from taking over Earth.