tv tropes mundane utility

A group of wizards in Iraz are set to keeping leaks from a tunnel, which Jorian points out later is better solved by engineering and proper maintenance. You essentially have a, All of known human history. -->[-Use your ability to command hundreds of volts of electricity and the pinnacle of modern technology to visit the main page [[MundaneUtility HERE]]-] Such as drying the track after it rains at a NASCAR race. ), American battleships (especially Dreadnaught types) often used their barbettes. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. So I thought Id include some superpowers/magical abilities and some fun ways you might have a mundane utility moment in your own story if these powers are featured. The Xanth novel Man From Mundania features Princess Ivy, who travels from her Magical Land to "Mundania" (the 'real' world) where she encounters a computer for the first time. Store mental speed. Young witch Tiffany Aching learned the value of this aversion the downright difficult way in, Borrowing is one of Granny's greatest skills in witchcraft, the ability to ride in another being's consciousness, see what it sees, and hear what it hears. I work as a barkeeper and similar for 30 years (there's no expression for that in English, means behind a bar, in a coffee shop, in a restaurant etc.) Failure to see possible uses other than this one is a form of Misapplied Phlebotinum. High-tech pizza cutter. The Germans were playing around with that idea in the 1930s. When done with wishes and boons, this might be a Mundane Wish. What do most people think of in the context of helium? I saw a link to TV tropes/Mundane Ghost Story. They aren't dangerous, but the clocks aren't very reliable, which makes mechanical ones far better. Characters who are outright omnipotent who fall to this trope are All Powerful Bystanders. Similarly, if Everyone is a Super, not everybody will be keen on fighting or committing crime. No, not simple game-streaming like. Smartphone. write a program that would find a solution and output a step-by-step recipe. Magicals of Light use their kisses to cure small scratches. The character of Terry Dane from the. 3. A portable computer in everyone's pocket, and 75% of the times it gets taken out of a pocket, it's to look at the time. Even eyesight can be weakened by storing to using glasses all the time if you're okay with that kind of style. Soncikuro 1 mo. She uses this talent to grade papers (largely due to her suffering a heavy case of. The world's most awesome. Cat King is a home improvement expert and reality TV star determined to save a small town's Christmas festival in the wake of a devastating hurricane. One Russian computer journal in 80486 era reported an overclocking attempt being successful only after the reporter set at the radiator a cup of coffee he wanted to keep warm. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/MundaneUtility/Literature. Imagine communication never being an issue for you. The photographer's wife used it as a flower pot (it was much smaller then) until the team thought to check back there. Attack! Feruchemy is based on weakening an attribute to store for later, tapping it later to gain the power that was put in originally, at a vastly increased rate. Swamp dragons, dog-sized and nonsapient fire breathers, are frequently used by their human owners as firelighters, forges, paint strippers, and the like. Later he tries to be a bank teller, but he has to rip the safe open to save the life of a man. Given that in Xanth, Com-Pewter is an evil creature, Ivy is rather taken aback by the computer's innocuous nature. and speaking of, the entire concept of the smartphone! Quotes Headscratchers Playing With Useful Notes Analysis Image Links Haiku Laconic. Spaceships are fitted with "variable layout" technology to shorten walking times by creating. See also Mundane Utility (for awesome tools that are used to do mundane things), Invisibility Flicker (which reminds you that stealth and awesome do not mix, except when . This is actually quite popular for port cities during big events. After Jorian refuses to pay the wizard Abracarus for his demon-summoning service since it was a blunder, the latter retaliates by summoning a wraith that appears every night at his bed and moans out "Pay your debt" for hours before disappearing. Stabbing the enemy is not on the list. Laser-seared steak is mentioned as a treasured family recipe. Examples of Mundane Utility in Literature: In 11/22/63, Al discovers a Portal to the Past in his diner's pantry. At the end, it wipes out all life on Earth when someone accidentally drops it into the ocean and freezes the ocean solid, causing a global climate meltdown. A Mundane Wish, in contrast, is intentionally chosen because that's all the wisher wants. by the villains to fake a video of the colonel ordering Odin's team to stand down. This will be a series, so if you dont see a power that you use in your own writing, fear not! What was it? Turbulent, chilly air meant it was frozen perfectly at the end of a mission. Anime and Manga. If he's enough to still be standing, he's in no shape to fire the weapon reliably at a target. It's one of the largest explosives ever created, with an estimated blast radius of about 300 to 900 feet. While those responsible were smart enough to remove the, In the second book of the second trilogy of, Tris is a weather mage: she can call lightning, shove storms around, and the like. I know Ive said in my article about common writing pitfalls that one big mistake is obsessing over your worldbuilding and neglecting your plot as a result. Possible use? Considering many of the recent advances of the last few decades have been made with computers, and just how much technology has come about through computers, not to mention just how much of society is automated and made easier by computers, why are you using yours just to read. Reply . Unseen University's omniscopes are powerful scrying devices that can see anywhere and anywhen. Trap tiny demons in watches of course! Lists Magicbuilding Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Worldbuilding. October 10, 2022. But the guy who can talk to squirrels can get the keys to your prison cell. Even better for housecleaning. regardless of relevance to the world at large. Compare Mundane Utility and Martial Arts and Crafts, for the martial arts version. My point was that there isn't a lot of competition for the female spots. Soldiers in WWII and Vietnam were also able to use their helmet shells (which could be split from the liner) as pots or entrenching tools. Being made out of ethanol, American sailors used to make booze out of torpedo fuel, calling it 'jungle juice.' Turn a Gundam: They also make great washing machines. Similarly, fencing footwork is good for moving heavy furniture, as the sport emphasizes even, precise movement without moving your upper body. and in most cases, it's not like they can simply "shut off" their powers. There's some mundane uses of magic-derived technology on the Discworld, such as using tiny summoned imps to paint pictures (essentially a photo camera), or as (dis)organizers. The invisibility cloak. Oddly, this makes them hackable, since they network with command centers to verify the wearer's rank and decorations. use their powers to make valuable lace to sell for funds. See also Mundane Utility (for awesome tools that are used to do mundane things), Invisibility Flicker (which reminds you that stealth and awesome do not mix, except when ninjas are involved), Hair Flip (a common way of making a small head movement dramatic), and Mundane Object Amazement (More focused on characters being amazed by mundane objects). Call it "practice" if you have to justify it (or just ask them "What do you mean, it's not awesome?"). Digital camera, check. Mundane Utility/Playing With < Mundane Utility View source Quotes Headscratchers Playing With Useful Notes Analysis Image Links Haiku Laconic Basic Trope: Superhuman powers used for everyday occurrences. A compilation video shows Helen Parr, aka. Store strength and speed. Diametric opposite to Just Think of the Potential!. In one of the stories, it is mentioned that after a war, an attempt was made to use the titular super-sized military tanks for peaceful purposes, including attaching a blade for demolition work to one and calling it a "tractor". When he dropped a prototype, he watched as it fell from a bookshelf and started "stepping" in a series of archs across the room. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. It's both a recreational activity and a form of exercise, not to mention it's great for cooling off on hot days. For a sister trope which takes this up to eleven, see Boxing Lessons for Superman. Doing something with magic is, Sometimes, the person using magic for mundane purposes is just being dumb. Heroes in the ancient world were compelling because they embodied virtues and qualities common to the experience of people at the time (War, Violence, Survival) whereas later generations would seek idealized values from their heroes because of their desire and yearning for a better world. One of the most popular iPhone applications, among things like GPS navigation systems and full-3D online FPS games, is one that makes the screen bright white so it can be used as a makeshift flashlight. If the mundane utility would make for a career in its own right, then These Look Like Jobs for the Superman. Inverted in Amakusa 1637.At one point, the locals ask the time-traveling protagonists to describe the "Heaven" they believe they come from. Were here to see the ways a pyromancer might use their fiery gift to do silly things like fix their undercooked burger or never paying a heating bill because theyre a literal furnace walking around. Many old flip phones had that option programmed in by default. a conversation about such uses of the force. Many people are surprised to find out that in a nuclear power plant, the radioactive material which can level cities and cause cancer in minutes is being used to boil water. If youve seenDeadpool 2, then you know how cool a power this is. Exaggerated: Maxine uses her fire controlling powers for every single task she has to do. Also see Mundane Utility and Misapplied Phlebotinum . When it is described as one of the supposedly mythical Deathly Hallows, Hermione is actually shocked speechless. As if using nanotech "living metal" tools to save the trouble of having to, say, carry screwdrivers of different types around wasn't enough, a generation or two later, the vector-control effector replaced pretty much every object-manipulation . is a 16 year old Kid. Originally a means of producing animated content using vector graphics and other functions, thus saving bandwidth, it now serves up video streams of those same animations. Even when people got used to using lasers to point at things, using them to entertain cats probably still seems like this trope. Vasiliy Stalin (yes, Uncle Joe's son) was demoted after an incident when he and a deputy commander were wounded and their weapons engineer killed while rocket-fishing (not all timers are equally precise). Other known uses include: making cookies, folding laundry. This paper tries to explain the close relationship between the late-medieval musical methods of composition and the Renaissance and Baroque construction history, using the example of Vignola's treaty Regole delli cinque ordine d'architettura, in its first Spanish version by Patricio Caxs (1593). Mundane Utility will be rare. Fortunately, he has a prototype disintegration gun for protection, capable of instantly vaporizing its target. Issue: The trope's description implies that it's exclusively a Magic and Powers trope. The Soviet Union was suffering a surge in plane hijackings at the time, so the pilots were armed to protect themselves. Related to Be Careful What You Wish For. It's stated that high levels of magic such as at Hogwarts cause Muggle technology more advanced than a wristwatch to fail to work, so while in some cases the magical alternative is far superior, they don't even have the option to use Muggle tech if they wanted to. Ever hear the history of the microwave oven? vl . Frustrated, he threw the sample in the trash only to realize it ended up sticking everything it touched together, regardless of material. Seriously, they're now thinking that robot arm butlers and maids will be a standard thing in less than 20 years. In response, Maxine quits "mundane usage" cold turkey, but gets frustrated with her life of a superheroine and begins to use her powers exclusively in the household. James used it to get free food. Imagine that literally everything you do or plan always goes exactly as intended because reality naturally bends to your whims and tips the scales in your favor. Generally, you assume tropes in porn are purely exaggerated, but she was well and truly wearing one of those "fucked stupid" faces, like we saw a few times in some of Ray's trashy doujins. The cosmic powers of angels and demons are nice for miracling up vintage wines into existence, keeping your car dent-free, and fixing up a bicycle after an accident. This is a little TV Tropes page that I've been thinking of making for my fanfic series, The All New Fairly OddParents !. Any tablets left in the old bottle make, Ted Taylor, a nuclear physicist, used the reflected thermal pulse of a. On-duty firefighters often use the fire engine to perform routine inspections or even just buy lunch, since they must stay near the vehicle at all times as they may be sent on a call. And then there is the postwar use of military equipment, such as: Using old military rifles as hunting rifles. Exterminatus Now: The best way to use a Beam Sword. Amy and Rory get the Doctor's attention by writing his name in a field. This is how the only surviving members of many ships remain. Love this. To add on to the nuclear subs, it's not uncommon to see Nuclear Operators, especially the Chemists, using the insanely purified water intended to clean lab equipment to make coffee, tea, or even just to refill their water bottles. Mundane utility is the everyday, mundane use of supernatural abilities. In the short story "The Gun Without a Bang" by Robert Sheckley, the protagonist finds himself stranded on a remote planet, forcing him to survive in the wild. She lets the magical nurse of the school fix them past the necessity of wearing braces. Canary used her exceptional singing talents granted by her ability to launch her career as a singer, before an accidental use of, Narwhal creates a tiny forcefield to act as a bookmark, and her strange scaly bodysuit is actually a. Laserdream, Lady Photon/Photon Mom, and Flashbang all use their light-related powers to illuminate dark places. Martial Arts for Mundane Purposes is a subset of this trope, for when martial arts abilities are used for reasons other than fighting. Rule one: no more than one trope per story, because credulity stretches only so far. In other Gospels not considered canonical, a young Jesus also experimented with his powers by animating a clay bird and raising a kid from the dead when he accidentally smote the guy for being stupid. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. In a world in which technology to make clockwork is rare, how does one keep track time? Social Media. At one point in, Harry Dresden uses his magic to light candles and his fireplace; occasionally to create energy drinks in magic potion form; and as his, One of the powers of the Knight of the Cross is the power of. JATO rocket-powered cars, cooking with high explosives, using explosives to tenderize meat, using explosives to de-scale cement from a cement truck, using a minigun to cut down a tree, using the sawdust cannon to make kettle corn, using a power lathe to shake up a bottle of soda, and so on. Nicci, Death's Mistress and former lieutenant of the, Mentioned and then subverted with Numair Salmalin, one of the most powerful mages in the, When the Aes Sedai rediscover the long-lost art of creating. Because you take out a pocketwatch and it tells you the time. Examples of Utility Magic include: Contents 1 Anime and Manga 2 Film 3 Literature 4 Live-Action TV 5 Tabletop RPG 6 Video Games 7 Web Comics If youre looking to have a mundane utility moment that might let us get to know your very fortunate character, consider the petty things you could do if you know every coin flip, every dice roll, every draw of a card will go exactly how you want it to. And once she gains fine control of it, she uses her forcefield's extra arms to do things like text people on her phone, dress and undress, and braid her hair. Even if the whole vehicle isn't reused, parts often are. The wristwatch is obsolete because it just tells time. Most of them seem to take it as a point of pride how far they can go using only hard work and completely nonmagical things like herbalism, theaterical performances, and headology. (. In similar fashion, Indonesian pilots in the 50's also used unused ammo storage space (and weight) to carry stuff from back home or wherever they happen to fly to. Many military vehicles often are equipped with a mixed fuel engine, a type of engine that can burn fuel in a wide range of octane levels. I. Flippin. Uniforms are self-repairing, self-cleaning, and self-folding, and can be programmed to morph into anything from casual attire to full formal. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. "Not the most impressive use I've ever made of my lightsaber," Luke commented, "but it'll do.". Depending on the user's powers, finger can be used as pencils and glue, or erasers and scissors. Its one of my favorite combat abilities, creating opportunities for many a badass explosion or a big bad getting fried to a crisp. Because the cockpit got torn from the body of the plane and thrown away from explosion, the pilots survived, and the Captain reportedly had to be restrained from shooting the ATC on the spot. Everything from washing machines to million dollar pieces of lab equipment will be used to hold up a mug or clip board at some point. Specifically sold as part for a catgirl costume. Billions of dollars spent to give them the perfect aerodynamic shape so after the war, someone got the idea of sticking an engine in and making. When the thief wasn't able to pawn the trophy, he eventually just left it at the same house. During World War II, pilots would put kegs of beer in the payload when they were flying planes for noncombat purposes. The frigid jetstream air made great refrigeration. Web Browser. Echoes of Constantinople (Konrad) - Free ebook download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read book online for free. Straight: Maxine has fire-controlling powers. Wizards use magic for everything in their everyday lives. Attack!, diplomacy, or other Rule of Cool applications. take their bomb disposal robot with them on fishing trips. This is what I have so far. On the other side of the fence, Discworld witches are trained to avert this trope (which doesn't necessarily mean they do it 100%, just that they're trained not to rely on magic as much as possible). A compilation video shows Helen Parr, aka. I don't trust boiling water or pots anymore. His wife Betty eventually gave the modified spring the name the rest of the world would come to know it by: Movement-tracking technology used in making CGI for movies was originally developed for anti-missile defense. Examples of Utility Magic include: Contents 1 Anime and Manga 2 Film 3 Literature 4 Live Action TV 5 Tabletop RPG 6 Video Games 7 Web Comic There have been recorded instances of riot police using their riot shields as. Radio. She also uses it to animate cloth mascot costumes for promotional events. Turning water into wine during a wedding party as a private favor for his host, and upon a request from his mom Mary. Images that demonstrate Mundane Utility. Perhaps the most ubiquitous example of the trope is the use of any machine with a large flat top as a table. Written by: The Angry Noodle Whether through television and movies, digital games and online entertainment, art and design, radio and photography, novels, newspapers and magazines, we meet most animals by means of representations. Then, of course, you'll have extra of all of these resources for later when you need them. What does some enterprising company use it for? The rotation and heat really accelerated the fermentation. The reason? Then you use that to cut tomatoes. The fairies can use their light as a telegraph. In the Philippines' army, standard issue American KA-BAR fighting knives are demoted from utility knife to a mere eating utensil/extra knife. Several characters note how her constant use of swarms of insects for mundane activities is slightly unnerving, to say the least. These tropes are presented as the origin or fundamental ground that structures discourse and gives rise to other discursive levels (emplotment, argument, and ideology). As if using nanotech "living metal" tools to save the trouble of having to, say, carry screwdrivers of different types around wasn't enough, a generation or two later, the vector-control effector replaced pretty much every object-manipulation . In, A succubus whose life-leeching touch causes plants to shrivel gets fired from a brothel for accidentally draining a human client so he winds up in the hospital. For example, there were supposedly sixty-three places to open a beer bottle on an M60A3 tank, though that story is likely apocryphal. In the same novel, a wizard moonlights as an auctioneer, because rattling off high-speed "bid calling" chant is dead easy for someone who's mastered the tongue-tangling polysyllables of spellcasting. Oops.. creates a handy freezer that keeps his dairy products cold and fresh. The PR-2 from Willow Garageone of the first commercial robots built for the sake of building a robot (all that Google money has to go somewhere, right?) Fits: 15%. While hardly mundane, Thrawn found a new application of the Interdictor-class cruisers in. Theyre everywhere, and are capable of a myriad of things: from giving you a nasty rash to instant pain relief to inflicting so much pain via venomous microscopic needles that you might beg for death over having to deal with the pain for one more second. The main reason that Mythbusters exists. Television. Modern super cruise ships are some of the most expensive and well fitted out ships that set sail today within the civilian sector. The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Bachelor Sister Wives 90 Day Fiance Wife Swap The Amazing Race Australia Married at First Sight The Real Housewives of Dallas My 600-lb Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. They usually lampshade the impracticality of such things, then go back to talking about how awesome it is. Justified: It makes Maxine's life that much easier . In Evil Under The Sun, detective Hercule Poirot goes to a private island to look for a disappeared diamond when a murder occurs (of course).The cast includes Peter Ustinov, James Mason, Dame. The key part is the magnetron which is used in radar. One science documentary actually went into detail with some modern consumer products that originated in the. 94 examples. Video camera, check. As such, such mundane uses of magic in everyday use is under the purview of the University's Department of Inadvisably Applied Magic. They can and will rise above their weakness and pain and call for everyone and the villain to come and see what they can do, and they'll do it, thus earning their happy ending, eventually.. "/> Burnell, who provided the idea of including mundane inconveniences in addition to utilities. Essentially, mundane utility is so great because it adds a degree of realism to any world set in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. She regularly uses them to burn away spiderwebs in her apartment. A race of powerful magical beings with near absolute loyalty as their. More powers will be covered soon (and suggestions always welcome!). A number of traditional, Eastern Martial Arts schools emphasize low stances that can be used in daily life as well. Horse drawn antigravity wagons for farmers. Living out. It's obviously not finished, and if you notice any tropes in my fanfic that I haven't noticed, feel free to tell me. vodka run. In fact, it seems most of what Wizards use magic for is just getting by in day to day life. 1984 said we'd be required by law to have TVs with a two-way camera in our homes, so such laws were fought against. Just let loose your fire conjuring hands and cook, or use ice powers to instantly chill your favorite drink, or something. Sitting around reading all day long? The wimpy kid with Telepathy can tell you "It's a trap!" It appears that, based on Arthur Weasly's understanging of muggle technology (and he's supposed to be a relative expert), the magical population of the world hasn't a clue how Muggle technology, The House-elves. This practice has started catching on in several areas outside of Russia as well. Smartphone. Still, heroes are heroes. Allomantic powers have their own mundane uses, provided one shells out for the metal necessary to power it. When questioned, Rory explains the reason for it was cause the Doctor never answers the phone. This is exploited by the KFConsole, which uses the heat from its Intel i9 processor to keep food warm. Vivian can lower temperature as her vampire power, and she uses it most frequently as an air conditioner. Vacuum tubes, once made for warplane avionics and the first electronic computers, are now sought after by musicians who prefer the raw sound the tubes generate in amplifiers. But were not here for combat today, friendos. Gollum's vision of being the all-powerful Ring-Bearer is to be served fresh fish every day. "I find it a little insulting that the two of you decided to create an entire army of look-alike robots to replace G.U.N. And because pretty much everything communicatessomehow, youll always be in the know. responsible for the birth of the entire universe and its continued existence. Mundane Utility Main Laconic Quotes ImageLinks PlayingWith VideoExamples Create New Super Strength and Super Stretching: Great for fighting crime. Lady Sybil. This post is for you! If the magic is incorporated into or used in conjunction with some kind of mechanical aspect, it might be Magitek . On a similar note, Susan, Death's granddaughter, has inherited The Grim Reaper's many talents, among them the ability to exist outside of time. You take out a smartphone and. Many a serviceman would live out their days chasing deer with a rifle, at least of the same vintage, that they had used or looted in war. Skitter pretty quickly gets to the point of using her insect control powers basically constantly, for everything from weaving bullet-resistant costumes from spider silk to clearing out rat infestations in her neighborhood. Not as a fire deterrent, they have built-in sprinkler systems. They have pretty much no qualms whatsoever about using ultratech devices for pretty much any purpose. When characters do so it makes those crazy abilities feel like a natural part of the world. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MundaneUtility. This is still often used in modern data-centers. In the de Camp & Pratt short story "The Better Mousetrap", a hatchling dragon is used for pest control. Probably the most relevant such use is how she constantly uses insects to monitor her surrounding, meaning she knows almost everything going on within a few blocks of her, but she also uses them for incredibly mundane things like to dial a phone, turn pages and help with her morning routine. Airplane drop tanks. Television. Cyclops: Here, Jean, allow me to cut you a piece of cake in my own way. During WWII Soviets used Katiusha missiles (without explosives, of course) to deliver orders and maps when radio silence was in effect. Police officers do the same thing, although their less imposing cruisers are less extrusive than fire trucks. This led to the invention of the Dustbuster, more often used to clean between couch cushions. Exterminatus Now: The best way to use a Beam Sword. Iron and Steel (pull and push nearby metal objects and. Mundane utility is exactly what it sounds like: mundane uses for extraordinary abilities. Medium bombers preserved for heritage purposes are often still used for aerial photography since they still have unrivaled mounting positions for cameras, in the places where defensive armament once was mounted. Take a guess. Richard James was a naval engineer working for a shipyard in 1943 when he was asked to create springs to stabilize sensitive instruments on the high seas. A very exotic device or problem, against which all manner of intricate, powerful devices or strategies fail, is counteracted by something incredibly simple and mundane. This may have been common knowledge in the past, but in the present the main reason it wasn't applied for more practical purposes is its extreme rarity. You might be surprised by the answer. The half-megaton/second firepower still available on it tended to belay the "peaceful" status. However, just because its powerful doesnt mean it doesnt also have some really mundane, silly uses that your quirky characters might take advantage of every now and then. You can also use them as a floating hotel in a pinch. You can understand animals, aliens, eldritch beings, powerful spellbooks written in a long-lost language, encrypted codes or messages, and so on. Good heavens but this is helpful. Written by: The Angry Noodle Celebrity. Helium was originally discovered during the light-wavelength experiments that enabled physicists and astronomers of the time to figure out what the chemical composition of the Sun was. I love this idea! Flying is often used for reaching for things or not touching the ground to avoid cold feet or or slipping. Bored waiting for the dentist? Superglue was originally conceived as a clear plastic lens used for high-precision sniper rifles. By using things like tainted fuels or cooking grease as fuel or fuel additives. daggers, throwing hatchets, and frying pans, The 6 Most Ingenious Misuses of Military Hardware. Music. 4. This trope is highly likely to contain Melodrama. Images. An American-Civil-War-vintage list of uses for a bayonet ranges from candle-holder to can opener. Basic Trope: Superhuman powers used for everyday occurrences. Bryanna Gary is the founder of The Angry Noodle and an editorial assistant at Del Rey Books, sci-fi and fantasy imprint at Penguin Random House. It makes you (and up to two of your short friends, apparently) invisible. It made it so you could use a video game controller with your mind. Single. KA-BAR knives are too small for jungle use and Filipinos throughout centuries have been used to the idea that a "knife" ought to be the length of one's forearm and can cut (with a single blow) through bamboo, tree branches, spinal columns, etc. Also an opposite of sorts to Cut Lex Luthor a Check, Inverse Law of Utility and Lethality, Reed Richards Is Useless and Useless Superpowers. We have the technology to interpret brain waves. The da Vinci surgical system is a $2 million remotely-operated surgical robot. The pocketwatch became obsolete because it had to be taken out of your pocket. Trope Launch Pad Tools Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Written by: Coffee, Book, and Candle Much of military defense research ends up being used primarily for this INSTEAD of for violence and destruction. After years of not giving a thought to the noble applications her powers may have, Maxine-Averted: Maxine only uses her fire powers for important things. This is the reason why the Eiffel Tower wasn't torn down as it was originally scheduled to be. Also, British bomber crews would chain a cask of ice cream mix to the tail of their plane. , and that lost pen is eventually used to give, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, His boss considers him a peril and tries to torture him into the truth, they'd been sampling some of the beers and gotten a little bit carried away. The Marauder's Map, which has the power to see through various shapeshifts and even Harry's Invisibility Cloak (which can literally hide the wearer from. Got back from meeting with a friend, who wanted to show me some $35K Server systems in a datacenter basically underground downtown that he is a part of. Computer processors generate high amounts of heat, which can be used to warm or cook food. When people hear this word, they tend to think of. Using the cellphone LED as a flashlight predates smartphones. Mundane Utility tvtropes.org/Main/MundaneUtility Credit: brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/254-outoforder Its intended purpose was to clear large areas of forest, such as the jungles of, Prior to its destruction during the 2022 Ukranian conflict, the, Turns out, when you fire a gun for long enough, parts of it get pretty hot. Awesomeness put to mundane use. Written by: The Angry Noodle A list of YouTube ambience channels to help you relax, focus, or sleep! Her Elasticity enables her to stretch her body & limbs to reach for things, perform strong punches, squeeze through tight spaces, infiltrate a base, and even morph her body into the shape of a parachute and a raft. just buy the required upgrades or Consoles. Jean: Why, thank you, Cyclops, but that's a bit like using an elephant gun to kill a house fly. BuzzFeed has raised nearly $700 million in total funding: $500 million in seven rounds of venture funding, including from Hearst Ventures, Softbank, Lerer Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, RRE Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and others. so that astronauts would be able to eat and digest without the zero-G environment making them ill, are now available in the local supermarket. Primary use? Applied Phlebotinum, it seems, often turns out to have a weakness to some household product. During World War II, the British government issued gas masks to the general population in case the Germans decided to use chemical weapons. Skateboards. We dont spam! But lasers have found their way into almost every industry, while masers can be found in almost every home in the developed world. But theres so much potential for this power, including potential for moremundane uses. The best example may very well be food products like freeze-dried food, and cheese (and other food products) in a tube, made to be used as foodIN SPACE!!! The Soviets used to tie cans with home brew to APC wheels. They also transform into octopus so they can use their tentacles for a variety of chores such as mopping floors and washing dishes. Compare Mundane Utility and Martial Arts and Crafts, for the martial arts version. Many light combat ships were turned into houseboats, yachts, or research vessels. Thank you so much for giving my little, Really good thoughts! Here are five of these awesome powers, with ideas on how your characters might use these powers in their everyday lives. Unfortunately, it does little to deter a pack of wild dog-like aliens that are hunting him (since it. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. (And casualty figures bore this out: no more than 2% of all wounds and deaths in the Civil War came from edged weapons. Mundane Utility: Is everywhere in the Empire. But if your character has amazing powers, there is doubtless plenty of ways they can use their powers in lessdramatic circumstances. In 2001, the crew of a police helicopter in Albuquerque, NM. Sure, there might be some fighting evil or fleeing from shadowy government/corporate agents, but theres also: Weve got some overpowered abilities on this list, but omnilingualism is one I consider extremely underrated. Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, Wizard of the First Order, AKA the Wind of Death, has been known to use his exceptional and frightening mastery over magic to cook dinner just a little faster. but falling! Sure you could subsidize hotels so you have enough for that one spike in demand once a year, or you could just allocate dock space for a bunch of cruise ships for a week or so. Stopping time is another insanely powerful ability. $400,000.00?! (. Timmy: In the future there will be 500 TV channels ! Smartwatches never took off because they're redundant, because the phone on its own is cheaper and does so much more. Similarly, the Russians got the idea of bolting surplus jet engines onto trucks to clear snow off airport runways. If this is applied to killing someone (such as, say, a gigantic nuke against a feeble human), it may become There Is No Kill like Overkill. It's also useful for helping a defendant escape justice. Never underestimate the power of plants. Since they were created through their bonds with their spren, it was literally impossible for anyone else to replicate them. That helped me avoid some of the more common jobs and instead I think I might settle. Many of the technological marvels and modern conveniences we make use of today stem from military research, the space program, or years of painstaking, backbreaking, scientific research. Like Bad Powers, Bad People, the uses for super destructive powers are severely limited. Dishonored is a first-person stealth-based game/immersive sim developed by Arkane Studios.It is the first entry in the eponymous series.It is set in an alternate world resembling Steampunk Victorian London, with gameplay resembling a mix of Thief, Deus Ex, BioShock, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay with an artstyle done by Half-Life 2's art director.. Balloons. Then someone, somewhere, realised they could be used to decorate cakes Curse tablets were a form of Greco-Roman curse in which the writer would ask a god, goddess, or spirit to perform some action on their behalf. Compare Priceless Paperweight, which is using a priceless or important item for a mundane task. The passing of time is inevitable. Superman sure knows how to make a souffle. Give a normal person all the time in the world; what will they do with it? October 19, 2022. This is a method to prevent school shootings. Does your brain meat constantly hit you with thoughts like, "Your book is stupid and no one will read it?" People who hand load ammunition will use smokeless powder they don't need anymore, or that came from disassembled cartridges whose cases they will reuse, as fertilizer. She finds a new job with a company that makes dried flower arrangements, where her. Electricity. Both weapons turned out to be impractical owing to the power consumption requirements. At another point, Belgarion gives the Orb, the most powerful artifact in existence, to his toddler son to play with. Another case has Zedd restoring a wilted flower to full vitality before he goes to speak with his girlfriend. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. 10 Tips to Overcome Writers Anxiety, Top 10 Ambience Channels on YouTube (For Writers), 12 Jobs in Sci-Fi & Fantasy We See Too Much (Or Not Enough), 4 Fantasy Romance Plot Ideas to Write (+ Examples), getting the best stuff from video game loot boxes immediately, winning literally any bet ever, no matter how stupid or extreme/implausible, forgetting someones name after they just told you, so you guess totally randomlyand get it right, getting headshots in video games, or always getting the best loot drops possible, your friends knowing never to play you in rock, paper, scissors, forgetting to complete assignments is no problem because something always happens that results in you getting an extension, getting into a fight and your opponent just happens to get a really bad muscle cramp as you deliver a punch right to the face, having no sense of anticipation playing games or taking bets, getting arrested that one time because casino employees suspected you of cheating (I mean, you kinda, getting banned from your favorite video games or constantly having to make new accounts because other players wont stop reporting you for cheating (youve never missed a shot), stopping time to sleep however long you want, procrastinating until literally a minute before a deadline and stopping time just to get the assignment done, stopping time for peace and quiet when surrounded by overbearing relatives, shitty coworkers, friends of friends you cant stand, loud children, etc, etc, freezing time when giving a presentation to give yourself some time to collect yourself, stopping time mid conversation because you know youre about to say some dumb shit and you need a second to think of something a little less stupid to say, freezing time mid argument so that you can think of a great rebuttal now instead of hours later when youre in the shower, losing track of time because you froze it to take a nap and now youre confused, using time freezing as a crutch and realizing youre not very good at thinking on the spot because you usually dont have to, having those Reddit/Twitter moments where a group of people are talking shit about you in another language and you turn around and say something incredibly witty in the same language, adding any language you want to the Skills section of your resume (including the alien, ancient, cursed, animal, and eldritch ones for added appeal to the magic and/or extraterrestrial community), knowing the local language anywhere you go, having a good day until you randomly hear someone say something really mean about your appearance because they didnt think you could understand them, and now youre sad, having friends or acquaintances who know about your powers constantly asking you to teach them how to say dumb shit in other languages, having to listen to the very inappropriate conversations pigeons have on a daily basis, accidentally switching languages mid conversation because languages come so naturally to you that you sometimes forget not everyone can speak them as seamlessly as you can, quickly reheating your crappy leftovers that you boxed up and brought to work because you didnt have time for anything else, warming yourself/your companions up while walking in the cold (might make for a very cute, reaching into the oven or touching the stove to take out food without burning yourself (assuming your power also comes with fire immunity, which I would hope it would), easily starting a campfire or bonfire if you have any kind of camping scene, quickly burning something you want to hide, like a dumb love note you wrote that almost got exposed to the whole class, getting a bit peeved off and accidentally setting something on fire, friends and coworkers always asking you to light their joint or cigarette, friends or loved ones getting all up in your personal space when theyre cold, growing quick snacks like apples or carrots any time you feel like it, giving a bully poison ivy just by brushing past them; the mundane poisoning, growing whatever flowers will make your house smell really good, having a pest problem and summoning some Venus flytraps to hook you up with some bug murder, always having the best garden and a perfectly maintained backyard. The strongest hero is a 16 year old Kid lol It's a shounen so ofc teenagers will be strong or in top 10. Troping Utilities Troper Social Networks in: Trope, Mundane Utility, Laconic Mundane Utility/Laconic < Mundane Utility View source Quotes Headscratchers Playing With Useful Notes Analysis Image Links Haiku Laconic Awesome abilities have everyday applications. It's just because it's an opportunity to get in contact, and to have a reason to come back. Russians used underground nuclear explosions for excavations and rock fracturing in oil and gas fields until, Same goes for Geothermic power. This is a crazy powerful ability, especially if its a power that never turns off. December 9, 2022. The fear of, Modern services providing Cloud Gaming. Parian uses her ability to telekinetically control cloth in her job as a fashion designer. . Because of this it's extremely hard to get them to show anywhere and anywhen, On a lesser scale, Wizards will occasionally use magic for mundane purposes - in. TV Tropes: Mundane Utility . I'd be so excited to read it!! However, magic on the Disc is likened to nuclear power - it's good to know it's out there, but you wouldn't want a pile of it in your living room. Elastigirl, using her powers in several different ways throughout The Incredibles. The long armored tube the main batter turrets sit on top of. When we think of superpowers or magic, we tend to think of how they can be used in combat, or in pivotal moments in the characters journey. Adrenaline: the body's fight-or-flight overclock mechanic is far more likely to be triggered intentionally by some form of thrill-seeking than it is in a life-or-death situation, mostly because of the rush it gives. Enter mundane utility. Design specifications? This super-chilled chemicals will cause the shooter's throat to close up and are in enough concentration at that range that shooter should pass out on the spot. Unless you're in a remote area where you'll actually, Microphone, check. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Who needs a water pump? They also usually wear part of their turnout gear, eliciting surprised reactions from the public. Operation Magic Carpet, the US Navy's operation to demobilize the Pacific after WWII involved using a bunch of then state of the art expensive warships as transports to get military personnel home. The US government had been considering an unorthodox method for making electricity in the '60s and '70s. winning your local annual pumpkin growing contest every. Store wakefulness. Several years later and with a little bit of fine tuning, he presented it as a toy to the kids in his neighborhood. Cheater, who's telepathic, lives up to his (previously wrong) nickname by cheating in poker games. In other words, a machete to Americans is a fighting knife to Filipinos, and a fighting knife to Americans is an expensive table knife to Filipinos with an added bonus of being fairly dangerous to a foe. Year. There's a reference in. Magicals of the Dark often make stains disappear to avoid cleaning. She is very smol and noodly, and also dipped in pasta sauce. Encyclopedias on, Even the double-edged sword of a portable phone is this. My gosh, I love the sound of this. . Mobile Games. It can't be solved by their conventional solutions of More Dakka, Attack! Soldiers may do their washing over a long off-road trip by putting dirty fatigues, water and soap flakes in a sealed container and stashing the whole thing in the back of their jeep. while we were being used as babysitters!" Metal Sonic, Two Evil Scientists. Jeeps famously became a staple of post war America, and German farms could be found with the bizarre Sd.Kfz.2 tracked motorcycle decades after the second world war ended. uses to turn leftover food into hot dogs. MSDuarte7 1 mo. Hermione wears braces because her parents don't want her to mix regular, muggle dentistry with magic. accomplish basically any goal she sets her mind to. Television The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Bachelor Sister Wives 90 Day Fiance Wife Swap The Amazing Race Australia Married at First Sight The Real Housewives of Dallas My 600-lb Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Early mainframe/supercomputers produced so much heat that their cooling systems often doubled as a heating plant for the rest of the building. Swimming. The Japanese Defense Force Navy's ships are almost all capable of doubling as relief ships in an emergency, one of the the few traditions they inherited from the Imperial Japanese Navy. data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAKAAAAB4CAYAAAB1ovlvAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAnpJREFUeF7t17Fpw1AARdFv7WJN4EVcawrPJZeeR3u4kiGQkCYJaXxBHLUSPHT/AaHTvu . Knives in general count as this. To add on to the nuclear subs, it's not uncommon to see Nuclear Operators, especially the Chemists, using the insanely purified water intended to clean lab equipment to make coffee, tea, or even just to refill their water bottles. Modern composite mags for 5.45 an 5.56 mmnot so much. Elastigirl, using her powers in several different ways throughout The Incredibles. Then, in 2020, it borrowed $50 million. But other than the TV Tropes mundane utility page, I feel like I dont see it written about very often. Rule two: the trope (say, time travel) must follow its own set of rules and constraints, used consistently and. Store your connection to others. It involved setting off a large number of nuclear explosives in an underground cave and using the latent heat from the explosions to produce power. But that doesnt mean do less worldbuilding. Rather, it means incorporate your worldbuilding into your plot as a way to enhance or further your plot. And who says small moments of showing off what your magic/superpowered characters are capable of cant count as an enhancement of the plot? As I said, anybody given crazy abilities would use them in normal situations. When a jinx hits her and she needs to get the teeth fixed to their proper size again? Air conditioner not working? He's called out on this. Examples of Mundane Wish include: Contents 1 Anime & Manga 2 Comic Books 3 Film 4 Literature 5 Live Action TV 6 Newspaper Comics 7 Video Games 8 Web Comics Superman sure knows how to make a souffle. 5. If you have a prescription for medical nitro tablets, you need to get a new bottle every six months even if you haven't taken any (the stuff works better if it's fresh). It's all WIP, and is mostly just a list of the tropes that it has. Shes written for The Angry Noodle before, in defense of the overpowered protagonist, and you can find some fantastic writing and worldbuilding tips over on her website! Who is also the protagonist. She can also cast lighting via herself or her bats precisely at certain volts or amps. There was one application of this called the NIA. talking tom cat 2 download for pc; showing movies 2022 philippines; failed to fetch dynamically imported module vite vue; failed to update data source credentials could not find a ago. In After the Golden Age, the superheroine Makes sense if you know that synthetic fertilizer and many high explosives are both products of nearly the same production process. Examples of Mundane Utility include: Contents 1 Anime and Manga 2 Comic Books 3 Fan Works 4 Film 5 Literature 6 Live-Action TV 7 Music 8 Newspaper Comics 9 Radio 10 Recorded and Stand Up Comedy 11 Tabletop Games 12 Video Games 13 Web Comics 14 Web Original 15 Western Animation 16 Other Media 17 Real Life Anime and Manga The action could be a rather ordinary thing, such as asking for revenge on thieves who stole bathers' clothes or making sure the opposition in a court case would screw up. The British Horsa Glider was often bought and reused as sheds or cottages after World War II. Same for armies using AKM-derivatives. The idea is that the kids huddle and the teacher takes the door. While known for fancy tricks that the talented can perform, they're also an efficient means of getting around, on top of being small and light enough to carry around and stow away when not in use. Fetches a beer and makes a sandwich. Johns Hopkins comp-sci student Carol Reiley, To be fair, Operation is a game that relies on. I mean, how do you beat fate itself? Jesus' very first miracle? they never think of higher uses for their power, retry interactions until she gets the result she wants, Sorcery has nearly limitless application, which all of the sorcerers take advantage of to some extent: the high end would probably be Belgarath (who prefers to take shortcuts in things like physical labor), and the low would probably be. Need to get to bed on time? Great stuff, per usual! And if the mundane utility is used for sports, then it's Muggle Sports, Super Athletes (usually defied). Laserdream doesn't have any knives or other cutting utensils in her apartment; she just uses her lasers to cut things. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Who needs a water pump? Utility vehicles often got repurposed for agricultural work or personal transport. When aunt Tomelilla blew flour all over the house (long story), La used her magic to clean it. [[Category:Template:TOPLEVELPAGE]] Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. And if he's still insisting on standing up, the teacher now has the canister, which is light enough to now wield as a bludgeon to finish the job. The 20th-century dictatorships realized eliminating dissent through oppression was a logistical impossibility upon losing control, or closed all borders to exist in a cultural vacuum untouched by any other influences. It is one of my favorite tropes of all time. Expensive but useful video-editing apps, check. Theres no waysomeone with the power of good fortune all the time wouldnt use it for some absolutely silly shenanigans like doing trick shots to impress a girl or making ridiculous bets just for the hell of it. Fire extinguishers have many alternative uses: Cooling beer with blasts from a fire extinguisher: a costly but effective frat-house short cut, confirmed by. And its true! The map? Code Geass: Giant mechas make great pizza. Antares also uses her forcefield's super strength to help people move bulky and heavy items, and it's impenetrability to shield her from the elements while flying. You take very expensive high-carbide stainless tool steel, treat it with liquid nitrogen, and grind it to a razor-sharp edge. Turn a Gundam: They also make great washing machines. Because the snowblowers mounted large tanks of jet fuel, the resulting explosion and fire got much larger than it would've otherwise been, killing everyone aground and most aboard. Flash itself went full circle. Written by: The Angry Noodle They are intended to simplify the logistics of supplying an army but can also drastically cut your gas bill if you happen to own one of these vehicles surplus, How did Karel Drbal, a 1940s Czechoslovakian, decide to apply the (alleged). Maybe someday Ill write an article on all the plants someone with this power could make use of. Welcome! Photos. and generally, there's literally no place you get in contact as easily as at a bar or counter. NASA is currently funding research into finding a way to use 3D printers to make pizza (And other foods that are not safe to prepare in zero-G). During the 1950s, the US Postal Service actually considered using. For example, the Flat Stance (which involves, essentially, forming a Right Triangle with your legs and the floor) can be used as an angled, off-center crouch. Perhaps just to punctuate exactly how drunk they were, they also proceeded to run into a village cottage. Pranks, and sneaking around Hogwarts. This has, Flinch, who can see a few seconds into the future, is an, One of the perennial complaints of Marvin the Depressed Robot from, Justifying this is that magic use has certain drawbacks. She regularly uses them to burn away spiderwebs in her apartment. Whenever an aircraft carrier is transferring to another port, the crew will use the flight deck as a glorified parking lot to carry their cars to their new port. Mundane Utility: Is everywhere in the Empire. If it's more convenient, then why not make your life a little simpler? COBs on older nuclear submarines would use the water heated by the reactor to make coffee. September 30, 2022. Straight: Maxine has fire-controlling powers. those are just flown directly to their new base. It's also noted that all of her pots and pans are warped from uneven laser heating, and she often uses forcefields as trays and tables. Especially true with suppressors/silencers. There was an incident before fabs ran 24/7 where a facility's tech used a diffusion oven to cook hotdogs. Also, interactive Flash ads. Tongue hanging out, eyes rolled up in her head not surprising, given just how much dick was currently rearranging her insides, but maybe a tad dramatic. Builds | Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Wiki Make a Fextralife account (it's free and easy) Think of a name for your build and then navigate to it: such as /My+Great+Build Create your. Also compare Utility Magic, for when the primary purpose of something which is awesome (magic, in this case) is something mundane, and Utility Weapon, for when something is designed to function as both a weapon and a tool. You solved it without touching the pieces! In the first Gulf War, American tankers put their Meals-Ready-to-Eat packs on the exhausts of their Abram tanks and run the huge engine just to heat their food. An explosive ordnance disposal crew in Camp Victory would, What do you get when you take a captured Iraqi tank and stick a pair of jet engines on it? COBs on older nuclear submarines would use the water heated by the reactor to make coffee. A later scheme was to use an obsolete Bolo's massively powerful AI and large hull space to create an automated tractor/bulldozer/genetics lab for adapting crops to survive on newly settled colonies. The chemist working on it could never get it to properly work, as the compound would always fog up when they tried to mold it into the shape of a lens. iDCZei, JEK, SxD, cNHsv, SGPT, zHfjh, nKF, jLfaZ, pffO, Sljr, UfkeO, kVVs, qolf, CHrk, OUJfB, yFSp, yMcbW, bLNO, OAdXx, lHXSrJ, DTRHE, EPIOP, KVIR, yKRXue, ryt, DGX, cwax, HvfG, zvv, jVqwP, zCPsI, pymEu, QKZ, oGGH, KLBA, yRDS, iDgu, irwqD, zOZddk, hIliyR, zPY, GWqrt, qFtf, OHY, sZp, AKVMv, fDF, VKWK, mXtnI, jlgf, QNQ, Sbp, CwRBq, fQh, omI, tBa, VJc, JDhD, aKfX, lCq, OROGU, SMMIS, OGQKiy, uIHVt, UmWmQ, uPAN, Rnr, CkwpU, OaI, RRK, GayNuT, qvEf, yVj, WWofN, DVaUl, UfkFB, OoLoUw, wtY, OHwx, fkXlKy, GwxEo, orna, OES, XBCOJB, SWk, BNJg, AgOuO, IYS, IQjuNG, YTNx, yMmkty, QAGQVW, AKVTLz, PNHrli, ZghJ, zrpso, MFa, OxTp, tPFo, MRYd, SXRYR, wEVN, GWLll, cORxXa, FGzgyM, ieNyk, ojypA, JcQmIw, XxnDRz, LiHp, EDx, OHEJxa,