Wax On, Wax Off: Difference between revisions

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* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', the Daycare Lady locks Gold into a cage full of dangerous looking Pokemon. Gold's Cyndaquil ends up evolving thanks to fighting them and Gold immediately shouts his thanks. Turns out the old lady was just too lazy to look after the Pokemon herself and was using Gold to give them some exercise.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', just to get to ''start'' Izumi's [[Training From Hell]] for ''alchemy'' you need to survive in the wilderness for a month with just a knife and to find out the meaning of "all is one, one is all". The thing is that by nearly dying you realize how you're just part of an endless cycle of life which can easily move on without you, and how alchemy is a miniature replication of such a cycle through a circle of your own body. This was training her teacher required her to do, shown in one volume's gaiden to {{spoiler|actually be a subversion: the guy she asked to be apprentice was ''the brother'' of the guy she wanted to learn alchemy from, and he thought she wanted hand-to-hand-combat training}}.

* Subverted in ''[[Medabots]]'', which had a chapter in which Ikki and Metabee did Dr. Aki's housework, and while Metabee told Ikki that they were, Ikki thought they were doing a [[Wax On Wax Off]] deal. Later on, when they fight... The good doctor tells them they were doing his chores and that it served no practical purpose.

* Subverted in ''[[Medabots]]'', which had a chapter in which Ikki and Metabee did Dr. Aki's housework, and while Metabee told Ikki that they were, Ikki thought they were doing a [[Wax On, Wax Off]] deal. Later on, when they fight... The good doctor tells them they were doing his chores and that it served no practical purpose.

* ''[[Ayanes High Kick (Anime)|Ayanes High Kick]]'': When Ayane accepts Kunimitsu's offer for training, he declares that the first step is for her to build the training ring, to help build her physical strength and stamina.

* A filler episode of [[One Piece]] uses a learn a craft variant. A young kid who had only worked as a dish washer on a Marine ship kitchen accidentally destroys the weekly (and almost legendary) curry lunch for the officers, and the head chef forces him to make a new batch on his own as punishment. With Sanji [[Stealth Mentor|providing some subtle clues of his own]], the kid learns that the observations made as a simple dish washer have given him the fundamental skills to cook the meal.

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'''The Sphinx''': I don't remember telling you to do that. }}

* The eponymous ursidae-member Po in ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'', who eats when he's upset, is taught kung fu by Master Shifu via eating dumplings with chopsticks; largely because Shifu discovers, quite by accident, that when Po is thinking about food, he's capable of feats that, when he's thinking about kung fu, he's not even aware exist.

* Parodied in the Karate Kid rip-off ''[[Showdown]]''. The martial artist master is making the hero clean toilets, and the hero is like "I get it, this is like [[Wax On Wax Off]], right?" The response? "No, this is toilet cleaning."

* Parodied in the Karate Kid rip-off ''[[Showdown]]''. The martial artist master is making the hero clean toilets, and the hero is like "I get it, this is like [[Wax On, Wax Off]], right?" The response? "No, this is toilet cleaning."

* Parodied and subverted in ''[[Surfs Up]]'', in which Big Z has Cody doing ridiculous training exercises to help him "learn how to surf". Cody finally figured out that Big Z was playing practical jokes on him, and learned that the ''real'' lesson was to '''''relax and just have fun'''''.

* Parodied and subverted in the Japanese movie ''[[Waterboys]]''. The boys high-school Synchro-Swim Team seeks help from a local Sea World Dolphin trainer. He makes them clean all the aquariums, under the quise of it being muscle training. {{spoiler|It works, but it's obvious that he was just using them and didn't think it would help}}. Later, he takes them to an arcade and gives them $50 to play Dance Dance Revolution, as a lesson in getting in sync. {{spoiler|Again, it's fake training and he drives off, singing happily that he's finally dumped them. However, he runs out of gas and returns to get his money back, thereby discovering that his false improvised training worked again.}}

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{{quote| '''Lobsang''': "I mean, I understand how it works. The master makes the pupil do all the menial jobs, and then it turns out the pupil is really learning things of great value ... And I don't think I'm learning ''anything'', really, except that people are pretty messy and inconsiderate.<br />

'''Lu-Tze''': "Not a bad lesson, all the same." }}

** Granny Weatherwax is also a major believer in [[Wax On Wax Off]], not just as training for young witches (such as Eskarina and Tiffany) but as a permanent part of a professional witch's repertoire.

** Granny Weatherwax is also a major believer in [[Wax On, Wax Off]], not just as training for young witches (such as Eskarina and Tiffany) but as a permanent part of a professional witch's repertoire.

* In David Eddings' ''[[Belgariad]]'' universe, the arch-wizard Belgarath learned the [[Functional Magic]] of 'The Will and The Word' from the reclusive [[Physical God]], Aldur, in this way. Aldur kept setting his young apprentice to various menial, pointless and increasingly strenuous tasks, culminating in him ordering the young Belgarath to move a boulder out of his way, since he couldn't be bothered to step around it...

** And of course, Belgarath used the same thing for Garion. When Garion moved the boulder, however, he tried ''lifting'' the thing. Newtonian physics still work, apparently. Garion found himself in a rather deep hole.

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[[Category:Skills and Training Tropes]]

[[Category:Wax On Wax Off]]

[[Category:Trope]]