History Main / GeniusDitz

* {{Subverted|Trope}} with Vector from ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1''. He seems like an example because he's a very successful DiabolicalMastermind in spite of appearing like a goofy, nerdy wannabe with dumb inventions. He's the one who stole the Great Pyramid of Giza, and his defense systems make it almost impossible for [[VillainProtagonist Gru]] to get the best of him. However, [[spoiler: once it's revealed that his father is the head of the Bank of Evil, it becomes more likely his success is due to unlimited funding. Outside of relying on his defense systems, he's not very good at anything he tries on-screen]].

* Linguini from Disney/Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' is shown as gangly, clumsy, dorky, fluent in BuffySpeak, and utterly useless at cooking, ruining a soup so badly he caused himself to throw up upon tasting. Then he discovers that it's legal to wait tables on roller-skates, and becomes a Super Waiter.

Contrast with {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. Compare TooDumbToFool / BookDumb. Compare ''and'' contrast DitzyGenius, DumbMuscle, and DumbBlonde. May also be a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass. Some people engaging in ObfuscatingStupidity might pretend to be this trope rather than simply stupid. Can overlap with NerdsAreNaive if the genius character is also geeky/nerdy and their area of expertise relates to those interests.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
** Lemongrab is revealed to be [[MadScientist a highly competent yet still crazy inventor]] in [[HiddenDepths "You Made Me!"]] as he demonstrates surprising knowlege of how to build things that can non-lethally hurt and incapacitate people. His known inventions include an electrical torture chamber, and a "Sound Sword" powered by the frequency of his own screams, which fires sound blasts at people and KO's them. Until this specific area of know-how was revealed, fans just assumed that Lemongrab was [[TooDumbToLive a total idiot]] and completely inept in all areas of his life.
** Finn comes across as this sometimes, too. He's a goofy, somewhat foolish young teenager, but his strategies and imagination are utterly brilliant, and have saved countless lives.
* Despite his characteristic stupidity, Shake from ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' is surprisingly skilled at cooking Italian food, especially lasagna.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'':
** Sterling Archer is a boorish, egotistical jackass who is exceptionally bad at the "tradecraft" parts of spying... but not only is he remarkably good at the "action hero" parts, but he keeps dropping references to people like Alan Turing, Indira Gandhi, and Eugene V. Debs. He also has intimate knowledge of the U.S. government's various screw-ups[[note]]MK-Ultra and the Bay of Pigs[[/note]] and encyclopedic knowledge of aneurysms, alligators, and crocodiles, including every gator and croc related casualty, worldwide, in the past ''century''. WordOfGod is that Archer treated his school work the same way he treats spying; he'd be competent if he cared. [[LetsGetDangerous The few times Archer ''does'' actually care are even more terrifying for whoever he's going against;]] in one episode he all but admits that he's been half-assing until that point, [[PapaWolf and the current circumstances have him too invested to half-ass it this time]].
** Pam is terrible at her office job... and is an experienced underground bare-knuckle boxer and street-racer.
** Cyril should largely not be in the field (although by season thirteen he's leaps and bounds ahead of where he was prior to season nine and can actually hold his own sometimes) but he's a talented accountant, lawyer and tactician.
** Cheryl is violent, mentally unstable, TooKinkyToTorture, harbors a fanatical, semi-sexual obsession with fire, has zero impulse control, and occasionally forgets where she is or even the identities of people she's known for years, but she is a very talented singer, so much so that she becomes the top country music star in America during season five after she suffers a psychotic break and begins calling herself "Cherlene," only to completely forget the entire thing after she ends her career and starts calling herself Cheryl again -- she even laughs at Archer's insistence upon it having happened and blows him off.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has Sokka, who started out as a lovable, if chauvinistic, idiot with a tendency to be his own worse enemy. But as the show goes on, he's shows himself to be highly intelligent and becomes the resident "ideas guy" who comes up with solutions to the many problems the group runs into. By the end of the series, [[spoiler:he's put in charge of planning out the invasion of the Fire Nation capital and has helped create several inventions such as the submarine]].
* On ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'', Lube is [[TheDitz the dumbest]] of [[TerribleTrio The Greasers]], but is apparently a genius mechanic.
* Philly Phil from ''WesternAnimation/ClassOf3000'' has, at best, average intelligence. However, he can't be beat when it comes to building devices at the drop of a hat.
* Cleveland Jr. from ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' generally acts like a childish idiot, however he is skilled with math, science, and rapping. [[spoiler: It's because he's a secret agent that killed the true Cleveland Jr., he acted like an idiot to keep his true identity hidden.]] But it was probably a one-episode thing. In the beginning of "Terry Unmarried", Cleveland asks where the coffee pot is. Enter Junior, dressed in a Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}-[[Franchise/StarWars Boba Fett]]-esque power suit made of pots and pans, with a ''working gatling gun on the shoulder''! [[LampshadeHanging Cleveland then pulls out a notepad with two columns of tallies, Smart (being at 18, with the one he adds) and Stupid (at 20)]]. Then Donna storms in, yelling Junior's name:
-->'''Donna:''' Junior!\\
'''Cleveland, Jr.:''' [[TooDumbToLive Present!]]\\
'''Cleveland:''' And, stupid.
* Hoagie aka Numbuh 2 of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' has a great talent for building and flying planes, but is otherwise a bit of a doofus. In later seasons, he shows more competence, with the IdiotBall now passed to Numbuh 4 [[spoiler: who turns out to be this as well, since the DistantFinale showed that he graduated medical school...from ''Harvard''. This from a kid who can't even count to ''3''.]] His mother, Betty Gilligan, seems quite ditzy but is capable of using her son's 2x4 technology. His brother Tommy is also shown to be similar to him, having been able to do emergency ship repairs.
* Pfff from ''WesternAnimation/TheCrumpets'' is sleepy and lazy, but he is an outstanding guitar player. One of his younger sisters Ditzy is not very dumb like him, but she makes accidents in a couple of her prominent appearances, while having great understanding in philosophy and beliefs.
* Dan from ''WesternAnimation/DanVS'' is shown to be smarter than he looks, in certain respects, in "Dan vs. George Washington":
--> '''Elise:''' Can't we just drop him off somewhere and ''tell him'' it's Mount Vernon?
--> '''Chris:''' Dan has a very strange patchwork of knowledge. It's anybody's guess what he knows about any given topic. Watch: Dan? Who made Mt. Rushmore?
--> '''Dan:''' Gutzon Borglum. Then his son finished it. Why?
--> '''Chris:''' And what state is it in?
--> '''Dan:''' I DON'T KNOW! ECUADOR? WHAT'S WITH ALL THE QUESTIONS?!
--> '''Elise:''' So there IS a savant half.
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has BumblingDad Jack Fenton, who doesn't seem very smart, but is nevertheless a brilliant scientist who has invented just as much ghost-catching gadgetery as his wife; in the event that something he created doesn't immediately work, it's purely because of an ''easily'' correctable error he overlooked in his excitement. He's also a very competent fighter, as a very dismayed Vlad found out, and was a solid "B-" student during his school years.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', Brittany shows herself to be a tactical genius in a game of paintball. The cheerleading really seems to pay off in this episode. In another episode, when Daria is worried about her self image, it's actually ''Brittany'' who knows ''just'' the right thing to say.
* On ''WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines '', Klunk is just as inept as the other [[VillainProtagonist Vulture Squadron pilots]], but he's the go-to guy for inventions on how to stop Yankee Doodle Pigeon. Where Zilly fits this trope is that he is his TranslatorBuddy.
* Skeeter from ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' is a ditz in day-to-day interaction through and through, and he has a phobia of taking tests. When he ends up taking a standardized placement test ''without realizing it was a test'', he gets a ''perfect score'', and it's revealed that he's actually amazingly skilled in mechanics. This goes unmentioned for the rest of the Nickelodeon run, but it gets brought up now and then in the Disney run.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' and ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
** Launchpad. Despite being an incredibly incompetent sidekick, he built the Thunderquack (Dark's plane) all by himself and is apparently a brilliant mechanic. He's even better flying the thing! [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou Landing it, on the other hand]]...[[CaptainCrash Not so much]].
** His sister Loopy (who appears in "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E12TopDuck Top Duck]]") despite her initial ditzy qualities, is a pretty capable pilot and mechanic.
** Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck, with his super-human (er, duck) ability to count vs. extreme ditzy moments such as thinking Scrooge wanting his assets liquid meaning he should dump his money in a lake, probably also counts.
* Ed from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy''. A bit of a moron most of the time... but he has a near encyclopedic knowledge of B-grade horror and sci-fi movies, an unusual talent on the flute, he can effortlessly mimic the handwriting of others, some of the odd non-sequiturs he says are rather profound, and despite everything, he does have great spatial awarness ([[spoiler:highlighted in TheMovie, where he manages to stop Eddy's abusive brother by noticing he could remove the pin holding a hinge togeher to ensure he'd get knocked out by the door]]).
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** Chris is good at drawing... or at least used to be. They had an episode about and showed it a few other times, but then they apparently forgot about it. Chris also has a good knowledge about drugs, as shown in the episode where Lois and Peter get high before a talent show.
** Peter himself knows a lot about pop culture, Music/{{KISS}} in particular. He's also a skilled musician, able to sing and play trombone, and when he's drunk, he's a piano virtuoso with presumably no prior training.
* Elvis Cridlington from ''WesternAnimation/FiremanSam'' is pretty dimwitted, to the point where he finds mopping the floor difficult, but whenever there's an emergency, he proves himself to be as competent a fire-fighter as the rest of the team.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** Amy is usually known for being cute, ditzy, and occasionally, somewhat immodest, but she ''did'' make a scientific theory on the Earth's rotation and how it works, explaining an invention that can use electricity to polarize it from the Earth's core. [[spoiler:It was also part of the plot being that alien cats would take over and transfer Earth's rotation to their dying home planet.]] She is an engineering student, after all. As the fourth made-for-DVD movie showed, Amy is also an ace player with the mini-golf putter.
** Dr. Zoidberg is... an interesting take. He's an idiot no doubt, but it's more or less stated that he's an extremely good doctor for his ''own'' species, and possibly other StarfishAlien types, it's just that he's hired on in a job that only employs humanoid aliens, something he has no experience with (but pretends to so he doesn't seem like a loser). Furthermore, it's revealed that his doctorate is in art history.
** Fry is usually the IdiotHero and TheDitz but sometimes he does things ridiculously well to the point of brilliance (e.g. writing a symphony (once he got the hands to play it), driving the ship and shooting at a chasing car of robot mafia at the same time, re-arranging an entire galaxy with a gravitational array to write Leela a love message, and actually being a fairly competent cop).
* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', Broadway is initially portrayed as being generally less intelligent, or at least less erudite, than the other gargoyles. For one thing, he started off illiterate; for another, he seems more susceptible to pop culture influences; Hudson had both of these qualities, but he was ''also'' a canny veteran warrior. He's also the PluckyComicRelief BigEater. However, he matures rapidly through the series, unleashing the soul of a poet, and becoming a skilled detective as well. And, naturally, a fine chef.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
** Soos is [[TheKlutz rather clumsy]], [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny easily distracted]], and [[CloudCuckoolander prone to weird ideas and behaviors]], but he's a skilled handyman and equally prone to impressive bursts of insight.
--->'''Soos:''' My wisdom is both a blessing and a curse.
** Mabel's an [[GenkiGirl energetic]] Cloudcuckoolander who has trouble keeping her feet on the ground, but when she focuses, she's just as intelligent as her brother (being skilled at improvising a plan versus his careful planning) and has a number of artistic skills. For example, [[UnlimitedWardrobe all those colorful sweaters Mabel wears]] are knitted by her, and some of them have embedded technology, such as one with a light-bulb on it that actually lights up when pressed (as seen in "Into The Bunker").
** Old Man [=McGucket=] is an insane old coot who claims to be married to a raccoon, thinks there is someone else living in his mirror, and randomly shouts nonsense words and hillbilly slang. He can also whip together advanced battle robots, and potions to change people's voices. [[CerebusRetcon It turns out there's a reason for this.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'':
** At first glance, Kon Kujira seems like a typical BigFun FatIdiot, but he's often shown signs of being intelligent in his own unusual way. This is well demonstrated in the episode "Math of Kon", where Kon admits to have failed math in school for six years straight and isn't even sure how to count to 6 on his own fingers, but the rest of Grojband discovers that when they teach him math by presenting it through his drumming abilities, he becomes a super-genius at the subject able to rapidly solve complex equations.
** Corey is completely hopeless when it comes to writing song lyrics by himself and has a very weird thought process that is well exemplified by his OncePerEpisode {{Spoof Aesop}}s, but at the same time, he's shown to be extremely cunning to the point of being manipulative at times and is an extremely talented musician and singer who can come up with song lyrics almost instantaneously if he has the newest entry in Trina's diary in his hands.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', even though nothing has grown on Stinky Peterson's land for many years, he decides to try and grow a pumpkin to prove he's good at something, successfully growing a huge, prize-winning pumpkin in "Stinky's Pumpkin".
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'''s titular character is a scientific and engineering genius, repeatedly showing himself capable of building devices beyond even those of his own species, such as a nigh-invincible nanotech exoskeleton, a time machine, a device capable of turning house pets into civilization-destroying abominations, and a monster capable of extracting energy from devouring ''anything''. He's also more than capable of using the gullibility and general idiocy of humans to his own advantage in certain cases. Zim could probably have destroyed Earth in a day, had he not been utterly incapable of common sense -- his inventions and plans always [[BunglingInventor blow up in his own face]], usually [[HoistByHisOwnPetard through no-one else's fault but his own]].
* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' is socially inept and idiotic (with the later being played up more during seasons 2 and 3) but he is fairly competent at martial arts (at least in the first season) and he does have a rather impressive knowledge of things like Beef Jerky.
* {{Me|aningfulName}}lody from ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'' is an example whose talent is music.
* In the early episodes of ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'', June could be this. She was a whiz with technology, and had some inventions of her own....however aside from that, she was dumber than rocks. Please note that this was Season 1 only.
* Stumpy from ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'' is a complete idiot who sucks at almost everything, but he is a brilliant artist.
* Motor Ed from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' is widely regarded as the best mechanical and engineering genius in the United States, so much so that Drakken has to turn to him for help when creating a doomsday vehicle (they're revealed to be cousins, so perhaps eccentric genius runs in the family). He's also an extremely ditzy rocker archetype who cares more about his mullet and cruising on some hot wheels than anything else. His plans often involve using his genius skills for some almost moronically simple goal, like stealing a rocket that could easily destroy everything for miles simply to make a hotrod to cruise down the highway with.
* Luanne Platter from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' was generally a naive airhead but she was an incredibly gifted mechanic... or least she used to be.
** Dale was for the most part a conspiracy freak who didn't realize his wife was cheating on him. But not only is he a competent exterminator, but his research into conspiracies has actually helped him and his friends:
*** He was able to get a FOIA request form for John Redcorn processed within ''weeks'', and got Redcorn some land from the federal government.
*** He also has an intimate knowledge of government channels, and used this to force an ObstructiveBureaucrat into fixing an error on Hank's driver's license.
* [[RichBitch Brittany and Whittany Biskit]] from ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012''. They're not exactly all that bright in most respects (showcased by their use of BuffySpeak and LikeIsLikeAComma), and they're even ''offended'' at the idea of being called smart. But "[[Recap/LittlestPetShop2012S1E11BooksAndCovers Books & Covers]]" shows that the two of them are actually extremely good at math. [[spoiler:That is, only when they're working together. Brittany can solve algebra equations near effortlessly, but can't understand them unless they're put in terms of shopping and clothes, while Whittany doesn't actually know how to solve them, but can read into them well enough to put them in terms her sister can understand.]]
** From that same episode, the guest pet of the week, Scout, is damaging the Littlest Pet Shop's store property for reasons no one ever finds out. Vinnie, who gets basic common knowledge wrong and has problems paying attention to things, is the only one who can consistently outsmart Scout from causing any major trouble -- and the only one able to stop Scout at all.
* Lola Bunny is depicted this way in ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesRabbitsRun''. She may be a CloudCuckoolander and TalkativeLoon, but she knows what she's doing when it comes to creating perfumes.
* Ruby-Spears' ''WesternAnimation/{{Mega Man|RubySpears}}'' has Brain Bot, a genius robot [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots (who wears glasses, natch)]] who, while being a great mechanic, doesn't seem to have any concept of appropriateness; he tries to "repair" an already-working jet ''while it's airborne''.
* Coop, of ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'', is a bumbling idiot who creates half the problems the cast faces, is obsessed with video games (world champ) and eating (also world champ), and lives in his mom's basement. However, he's also a remarkable engineer, able to rebuild a giant robot from the future, and a skilled mech pilot on top of that. In fact, thanks to his modifications to that giant robot (including some of the more... [[ContextSensitiveButton confusing]] ones), he's now the only being in the universe that's ''able'' to pilot that particular one.
* The members of the band Dethklok in ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' are completely incompetent at anything not related to music, partying, or contract negotiation. On the latter subject, they can out-negotiate the devil. And even then, while they have those skills, they have none of the skills one would deem necessary to be good at those things. Skwisgaar, who writes the guitar lines and bass lines, and Toki, both of them the best guitarists alive, cannot read sheet music, and both Skwisgaar, Murderface & Toki do not know how to tune a guitar. Nathan, the guy that writes the lyrics, has lots of problem expressing himself, can barely read and seems to have a severely limited vocabulary when talking (but evidently, not when writing songs), in fact, he didn't speak before the age of 5. Lastly, despite their negotiation skills, they have no idea of the value of money or even how to manage it (most likely because [[Fiction500 they have so much of it that it doesn't really matter]]). Really, Dethklok's general level of competency [[RuleOfFunny depends entirely on what makes for the funniest scene.]]
* Pinky on ''WesternAnimation/MiraRoyalDetective'' is not the brightest person around, but she does know a lot about animals, particularly goats.
* Balk of the Flexers from ''WesternAnimation/{{Mixels}}''. True, he knocks a few screws loose and is the least intelligent from his tribe (which is made up of super-strong intellectuals), he's still pretty intelligent and has moments of brightness at times.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Pinkie Pie is a high grade {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, mostly concerned with throwing parties and baking, but possesses uncanny intuition and an absolutely perfect memory for details regarding her friends, to the point that she successfully reunited two long lost lovers with a glimpse at the right clues. She's also a talented musician, and with this skill was the only one who knew how to save Ponyville from a ravenous HordeOfAlienLocusts. She is also CrazyPrepared and may have amazing technological skills assuming she made her helicopter-thing (from "Gryphon the Brush-Off") and her Party Cannon herself. A blistering cognitive speed is evident from examination of what she gets through her head in a matter of seconds on some occasions.
** Snails is incredibly empty-headed and quite easily one of the least intelligent characters on the show, with his lack of common sense getting him and other ponies in trouble more than once, from him and his buddy Snips somehow getting themselves firmly stuck together with a wad of gum to them deciding it was a good idea to bring a hill-sized [[BearsAreBadNews Ursa]] to town for the stage magician they had been fawning over to fight. He’s also something of a prodigy with his magic, being the first (and for quite a while the only) unicorn foal shown using magic, and having extremely skillful control over his telekinesis. His stupidity is also great enough to allow him to reach a Zen-like state of inner peace and freedom from stress, because he never thinks about anything. At all.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Hooty usually comes across as a complete moron, but he has a knowledge of demons that rivals King's.
* Gumpers from ''WesternAnimation/PetAlien'' is usually pure DumbMuscle, but he's great at coming up with solutions whenever Dinko's inventions go awry. He also knows how to play the accordion and can use a computer with minimal difficulty.
* A popular AlternativeCharacterInterpretation for ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' is that Pinky is this. WordOfGod even pointed out that the theme song [[ExactWords never says ''which'' one is the genius and which one is insane...]]
* Niblet from ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'' enjoys playing with dirt clods and has an imaginary steak friend in his stomach. He is also the best on the team at masquerading as a human and has a near-genius level of emotional intelligence.
* ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** Bubbles is a complete Ditz but is able to communicate with most small animals, is just as good in battle as her sisters and in one episode where Buttercup and Blossom can't get rid of the MonsterOfTheWeek, it's Bubbles who figures out what to do. [[spoiler: She asks it politely to leave. And it does.]] In "Him Riddle-Diddle", one of the riddles Him gives the girls is to simply solve a standardized test and have a combined score of 100. Both Blossom and Buttercup only manage to score 35 combined. And then Him shows Bubbles' test, in which she marked the circles to form a flower. [[spoiler: She gets ''1075 points''.]]
** The Mayor of Townsville, its a wonder how he got the title, but he seems to a math wiz when he solves the last riddle Him gives the girls.
* T.J. Detweiler from ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' is a genius when it comes to coming up with his latest schemes...but everywhere else, he's a ditz.
* Stimpy from ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' is a complete idiot almost entirely lacking in common sense and logic, and often comes across as a drooling moron. However, he spends a great deal of time in the show tinkering around in a laboratory, creating various scientific inventions which work surprisingly well (though, being created by Stimpy, they're usually not very practical, to say the least.) Stimpy has been shown to perform experiments on brains, and performed brain surgery on Ren, successfully replacing Ren's brain with a telephone so he and Ren could play together (something "smart Ren" would never do on his own accord.) For someone whose alter ego is named "Doctor Stupid," Stimpy can be quite the scientist. He's also smart enough to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking brush his teeth]], while Ren usually forgets to.
* Professor Moshimo of ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotboy}}'', great at robotics and most other scientific pursuits, proceeds to give a 10-year-old a robot the military would kill for. To make matters worse the robot itself has the intelligence of a child.
* Played with in various ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' story arcs, as Bullwinkle, generally a dimwit, frequently demonstrates unusual talents for the sake of a specific story. For example, he was called in as an expert on boxtops to crack down on a boxtop counterfeiting ring, his bunion could forecast the weather, he could tame lions with a harmonica rigged from a comb and some tissue-paper, he could remember everything he ever ate in his lifetime (including a secret formula for a silent explosive [[ItMakesSenseInContext that happened to have been written on a banana]]), and possessed a skill for making shiskabobs that bordered on expert swordsmanship!
* In ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom'', [[ConjoinedTwins conjoined brothers]] Frank and Len are great guitar players, songwriters, and overall musicians. However, they are both known for being oblivious and generally unintelligent.
* Freddy from ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' in some incarnations, particularly ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated''. Completely clueless about everything except for traps, particularly of the {{Rube Goldberg|Device}} variety.
* A great deal of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' falls into this category.
** Homer himself, despite being famous for his bumbling ways, is capable of almost oddly remarkable talents when the episode calls on it, and is consistently shown to have a professional standard ability with the piano. Homer has been seen speaking Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and [[SuddenlyFluentInGibberish penguin]]. He also seemed to be well on his way to understanding Hindi while eavesdropping on an argument in that language.[[note]]The episode ''HOMЯ'' revealed that a crayon lodged in his brain is what's keeping it from functioning at full capacity all the time, and with it removed, Homer became hypercompetent. The crayon was reinserted into his brain at the end of the episode because StatusQuoIsGod, but presumably sometimes, those synapses that were blocked by the crayon can still light up if he puts his mind to it.[[/note]]
** Bart is even more noteworthy, as he's sometimes depicted as being not too bright...yet he's been shown to be a remarkably gifted linguist, learning the French language by mere observance and more than couple times acquiring at least competent grasp of an entire language in record time. He can just as quickly unlearn however. Bart also creeps into the BookDumb category with this quality. Bart also mastered Spanish on short notice for a family trip. That their destination was Brazil made the feat only slightly less impressive. Throughout the series, Bart has also been seen speaking Japanese and Cantonese. He also seems to have at least some proficiency with Latin. Bart may have inherited this from Homer.
** Ralph Wiggum. One episode had him playing a very talented George Washington in the school play. Or that he's a good Machiavellian politician, somehow uniting the Democrats and the Republicans in Springfield's presidential election by staying politically independent, and drove some effective campaign to get the majority of Springfield's votes.
** "The Boys of Bummer" revealed that Lenny is an author of mystery novels that are praised by ''Creator/StephenKing.''
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** Randy Marsh is a brilliant scientist (a geologist to be exact), but otherwise a complete idiot.
** Cartman can come up with crazy villainous schemes and speak Spanish and German fluently, yet is otherwise dimwitted and clueless.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** Spongebob falls into this category, as he is generally stupid and naive, but he is excellent at making Krabby Patties, doing math, and art. He was once able to calculate the number of hours left in a week, in his head, in less than five seconds.
** Patrick, too. In at least one boating episode, he was shown to be perfectly accurate behind the wheel, as he could give perfect instructions to Spongebob simply via a large telescope, sometimes while barely paying attention, and in another episode, he even GOT a boating license despite not knowing everything there is to know about boats. In "Squidtastic Voyage", he also manages to come up with a plan to refuel their submarine before ''[[TheSmartGuy Sandy]]''.
--->'''Sandy:''' If you can make a big enough burp-\\
'''Patrick:''' We can filter the [=CO2=] through our ballast tanks, refire the engines, and ride the shockwave out of here.\\
'''Sandy (dumbfounded):''' ....He's right.
** Patrick also showed this on [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] commentary during a CBS-produced Nickelodeon simulcast of the Denver Broncos–Los Angeles Rams game on Christmas Day 2022.[[note]]The actor who voices him, Creator/BillFagerbakke, played [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball college football]].[[/note]] After Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, who had severely regressed in 2022 from his previous elite-level performances with the Seattle Seahawks, threw an interception, Patrick remarked [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl4f0yNcWrI "That's not what he wanted to cook!"]], both referencing the "Let Russ Cook" meme and skewering Wilson's regression.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Star Butterfly is this full tilt: she is an impulsive GenkiGirl BloodKnight who rarely thinks things through and is extremely undisciplined in her magic to the point where she can't perform the simplest spells. However, her wisdom and intelligence stats on her trading card are both in the double digits, and the magic she can perform is actually quite high-level with the more advanced techniques she performs being learnt or created on the fly. Her natural affinity for magic makes her one of the strongest queens in the history of Mewni, matched only by Eclipsa. After some CharacterDevelopment, she becomes more level-headed and sensible when the situation demands it.
* Wildcat of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin''. Genius at repairs: once fixed a phone smashed with a metal bucket in ten seconds. Knows enough about flying to handle the Sea Duck (although he [[CaptainCrash lacks basic directional skills]] and can't match some of the more skilled pilots, especially [[AcePilot Baloo]]). Otherwise [[ManChild downright childlike]]. WordOfGod claims Baloo and Rebecca were meant to foil each other in this regard. Baloo is extremely BookDumb and slovenly, but also streetwise and resourceful due to his adventuring (as well as being a grade A AcePilot). In contrast Rebecca is well educated and has profound business ethics, but due to her pampered lifestyle is somewhat naive and inept to the outside world. Depending on what the scenario fit, either character would play TheDitz while another would act as the StraightMan.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'' has Beast Boy. Normally the PluckyComicRelief, in the penultimate episode, [[spoiler:he rallies the four remaining Titans and gets pretty close to taking down the Brotherhood of Evil, before they get caught. But of course, then Cyborg, Starfire and Raven, among others, pop out of the woodwork when it was thought they were frozen like the rest. Beast Boy continues acting as leader until Robin is unfrozen, however]].
* Sewer Urchin from ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' is ineffectual, annoying, and smelly, but when The Tick and Arthur need his help to do crimefighting in the sewers, he proves to be the "apotheosis of cool".
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'':
** Bulkhead is revealed to be Cybertron's foremost space bridge expert. Professor Sumdac and his fellow Autobots refuse to believe it, assuming that Blurr (and Megatron) got his intel wrong. In addition, Bulkhead is apparently a pretty good artist.
** Sumdac himself probably qualifies. He's a master roboticist (even if he cribbed most of his best stuff from reverse-engineering Megatron), but he occasionally forgets to do important things like eat, sleep, or make sure there's a legal record of his daughter's existence.
* ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy'': Dudley Puppy is a complete idiot... until it comes time for him to fight villains as a secret agent, where he shows surprising cunning and planning ability. His competence at this is the reason why he's made a secret agent to begin with.
* Tristepin/Sadlygrove from ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' is generally an idiot who swings around a big sword. However, he possesses an amazing knowledge about dungeoneering, as shown in Season 2 where [[spoiler: he and the team enter the Dragon-Pig's dungeon, and as his friends turn into pigs, he braves every trap of the dungeon on his own AND protecting the three pigs]].
* ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'': Wallace. He's pretty clueless, but he's also an inventor of machines, which, except for regularly going spectacularly awry, seem to work pretty well. In his introductory short, he manages to make a working moon rocket out of items found around the house. The book ''Cheese Lover's Yearbook'' introduced a number of non-filmed gadgets of his, such as the Recyc-O-Matic. The fact that when said out loud this includes "Psycho" is significant, because after he put arms and wheels on it, it proceeded to run amok, recycling building fronts and people's clothes before crashing into a brass band.
-->''The tuba player has not been seen since.''
* Nigel in ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys'' is the host of a nature documentary series who has an encyclopedic knowledge of animals and is an experienced pilot, but he's a rather oblivious father and husband who often excitedly chases after dangerous animals.
* ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'' has Forge, a mutant with the power to invent and repair anything technological. As opposed to his persona in the comics -- a combination of GadgeteerGenius and MagicalNativeAmerican -- Forge in the TV show is a bumbling, neurotic teenager, useless in the field, with the temperament of an overworked, distracted mechanic, whose sole job on the team seems to be "keep the Blackbird in the air." And "Fix Cerebro." And [[OverlyLongGag "Fix the Danger Room." And "Fix the Danger Room after Wolverine has a temper tantrum in it."]] Strangely, he always gets mocked and scolded for not being useful in combat, despite not being on the team to fight and being the actual reason their entire technology works.
* Wally from ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'' is the biggest goof-off and most prone to stick his foot in his mouth, but he's ''also'' a scientific genius who purposely gave himself superpowers with a chemistry set. In "Homefront," he's captured along with most of the rest of the Team, but is able to walk Robin and Artemis through making an [=EMP=] that they needed to defeat their android captors.
[[/folder]]

* ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'': Mashiro Shiina is an extremely talented artist, but utterly lacking in common sense or [[NoSocialSkills social skills]]. Sorata is assigned to be her caretaker, since she can't take care of herself.

* Artemis in ''Fanfic/InkyFuture'' is introduced as seemingly being not all that smart, and she doesn't consider hersef to be smart. However, it turns out she has better grades than her dorm-mates, it's just that she needs dedicated study sessions with her friends, and that she has ''severe'' issues with her attention span, which also causes her to not be aware of her surroundings as much as she should be in ink battles. Iris resolves to help her develop mental discipline, using her experience as an Octarian soldier.

Contrast with {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. Compare TooDumbToFool / BookDumb. Compare ''and'' Contrast DitzyGenius, DumbMuscle, and DumbBlonde. May also be a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass. Some people engaging in ObfuscatingStupidity might pretend to be this trope rather than simply stupid. Can overlap with NerdsAreNaive if the genius character is also geeky/nerdy and their area of expertise relates to those interests.

* ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'': Halkara is a competent businesswoman who owns a large energy-drink business, but she's an impulsive klutz at everything else.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Prolonged exposure to [[GreenRocks Australium]] can not only lead to TestosteronePoisoning of muscle growth, [[GirlsWithMoustaches women growing facial hair]], and men growing chest hair in the shape of a country or state connected to them, but also increases intelligence while lowering common sense leading to this trope. [[TheEngineer The Engineer’s]] grandfather Radigan Conagher was once tasked by the U.S. government to work with it which eventually increased his intelligence to the point of being able to create a fully functional prosthetic limb but also lead him to decide to saw off his own hand to use it. Australia’s population as a result of working with the material has made it the most advanced technological nation, but it also uses the technology for the most ridiculous of reasons and decides their king based upon kangaroo boxing.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Johnny Silverhand can appear as either this trope or DitzyGenius depending upon what he is doing when a person first meets him. On the genius side of the trope, one only needs to talk to him to know that he is well-read in a variety of topics including art history, political theory, cryptography, and computer science. On TheDitz side, however, he is someone who full embraces the destructive nature of the SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll lifestyle without fear and then ups it by joining a [[BombThrowingAnarchists terrorist group]]. In addition, he is seemingly incapable of interacting with the world without insults or violence, destroys long-term relationships for short-term gratification, and hates corporations so much that he allows [[GreaterScopeVillain Saburo Arasaka]] to punch in the nose if it results in him getting a bruised knuckle. In short, he is the epitome of an EruditeStoner who speaks in a SophisticatedAsHell manner, is impulsive, and has a short attention span as well as a shorter temper.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':

** The entirety of Australia, along with anyone else sufficiently exposed to [[GreenRocks Australium]]. In addition to causing [[TestosteronePoisoning muscle and hair growth]], it causes extremely high intelligence while simulataneously greatly reducing common sense. This resulted in Australia become an extremely high tech nation, but generally using that technology for only the most ridiculous things.

* Pretty much Sheldon in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. Has absolutely no social skills, but is a brilliant scientist.

* ''VideoGame/HarryPotterHogwartsMystery'': Despite what the creators and/or writers insist, Barnaby Lee is definitely this trope especially when one compares his O.W.L. test scores to Hermione Granger’s scores. While the audience doesn’t actually get to see what specific scores he got, it is shown that he did manage to pass all ten as he went on take all of them at the N.E.W.T. level. A particular impressive note is that he managed to continue Potions with Professor Snape as it is a known fact to both the students audience that he does not take any students who do not earn an “Outstanding” which is the highest grade. Outside of his academic courses, he is noted to be the strongest duellist of his year by his peers as he was able to take on two opponents at once, shown to be an accomplished broomstick flyer when he alluded the detection from the staff at Hogwarts in his fourth year, shown to have some skill as a Healer when he performs the healing spell Episkey, knowledgeable about various Dark Charms from jinxes like the Knockback Jinx to curses like the Full Body-Bind Curse as well as the Ear-Shrivelling Curse, and acknowledged as a good singer by none other than the famous singer Celestina Warbeck herself.

* Elle Woods of ''Film/LegallyBlonde'' maintained a 4.0 GPA (albeit as a fashion major), frequently came up with rather "creative" events for her sorority, and got a 179 (out of a possible 180) on her UsefulNotes/LawSchoolAdmissionTest LSATs]]. And while still a law student, she literally wore {{Bunny Ears|Lawyer}} to what she'd been told was a costume party. Her encyclopedic knowledge of hair care saved her first client from death. (BasedOnATrueStory or something; the author of the original semi-autobiographical book admitted she picked Stanford Law School [the film relocated the story to Harvard] because it was ''close to her favorite national mall''.) No matter what your major is, you still have to take math, science, history and English classes unless you are at a tech school or attending either Amherst or Brown. Smart and shallow are not mutually exclusive.

* Elle Woods of ''Film/LegallyBlonde'' maintained a 4.0 GPA (albeit as a fashion major), frequently came up with rather "creative" events for her sorority, and got a 179 on her [=LSATs=]. And while still a law student, she literally wore {{Bunny Ears|Lawyer}} to what she'd been told was a costume party. Her encyclopedic knowledge of hair care saved her first client from death. (BasedOnATrueStory or something; the author of the original semi-autobiographical book admitted she picked Stanford Law School [the film relocated the story to Harvard] because it was ''close to her favorite national mall''.) No matter what your major is, you still have to take math, science, history and English classes unless you are at a tech school or attending either Amherst or Brown. Smart and shallow are not mutually exclusive.

* The eponymous protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Dropsy}}''. He's a NonIronicClown who [[TheGrotesque looks like]] a MonsterClown and was falsely accused of starting the fire that burned down his circus five years ago. He has an AmbiguousDisorder that leaves him mute, childishly trusting, and unable to understand why people don't immediately want to hug him. He's also, like any AdventureGame protagonist, incredibly good at solving problems and getting into places he shouldn't be, including [[spoiler:breaking into a pharmaceutical company's lab to steal an experimental treatment for his father]].

* Bigmac in the ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy'' is mostly portrayed as a bit of an idiot, a well-meaning soul who's trapped in the life of a skinhead car thief, and is not only too clueless to get out of this, but actually too clueless to be any good at it either. The sort of guy who wears swastikas but doesn't understand what they mean. He's also ''very'' GoodWithNumbers, although he's still failing maths class because he can't show his working -- it's just obvious to him what the answers are.

* Bigmac in the ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy'' is mostly portrayed as a bit of an idiot, a well-meaning soul who's trapped in the life of a skinhead car thief, and is not only too clueless to get out of this, but actually too clueless to be any good at it either. The sort of guy who wears swastikas but doesn't understand what they mean. He's also ''very'' good at mathematics, although he's still failing maths class because he can't show his working -- it's just obvious to him what the answers are.

* Likewise, Adrian Monk of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' is normally unable to function in society due to his severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and fear of just about everything. However, once he sets foot in a crime scene, he can almost instantly solve the crime with the smallest or most overlooked pieces of evidence.
** Monk's brother exhibits similar qualities: He has an extreme case of agoraphobia that prevents him from (nearly) ever leaving his house (as well as a related phobia that prevents him from entering the study of their father), but is evidently a highly skilled writer of technical manuals.

* {{Subverted|Trope}} with Vector from ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe''. He seems like an example because he's a very successful DiabolicalMastermind in spite of appearing like a goofy, nerdy wannabe with dumb inventions. He's the one who stole the Great Pyramid of Giza, and his defense systems make it almost impossible for [[VillainProtagonist Gru]] to get the best of him. However, [[spoiler: once it's revealed that his father is the head of the Bank of Evil, it becomes more likely his success is due to unlimited funding. Outside of relying on his defense systems, he's not very good at anything he tries on-screen]].

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' series:

* ''Franchise/YuushaDeAru'': Sonoko from ''LightNovel/WashioSumiIsAHero'' and ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero'' seems like a sleepy CloudCuckooLander but she's also very smart. She's even able to learn while half-asleep. Fu has her help study for her high school entrance exams, despite both being a year younger and having just skipped two grades ahead, because she's smarter than the tutors.

* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "The Beginning Rimmer" is unable to come up with a strategy to defeat the simulants and cat suggests the memory of his father and desire to win his fathers approval is preventing Rimmer from being able to come up with a strategy

* [[MonkeyKingLite Son Goku]] of ''Manga/DragonBall'' is so naive he didn't know the difference between boys and girls until he was 12, and even miscounted his own age at one point. And the whole, he talks like a hick and often proves him to be overly trusting. Part of this can be {{justified|Trope}} taking into account that he grew up very far from civilization, with only his adoptive grandfather to raise him in the wilderness, and then he had to live by himself when his grandfather died. However, his brilliance is found in fighting, first and foremost. He learned how to fire his own Kamehameha wave simply by watching Muten Roshi do it (despite the fact it took Roshi fifty years to develop it), then not only took it as his signature move but created variations and enhancements of the move Roshi couldn't have possibly foreseen, proclaiming him to be a "genius". Also, learning the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Kaio-ken]] and the [[CombinedEnergyAttack Spirit Bomb]] not only took him less than nine months to learn, but even though with the former he's not supposed to multiply it by even beyond twice, [[TakeAThirdOption he found a way]] to push it to times twenty, and with the latter he found a way to gather energy from nearby planets and collect it. He even discovered the weaknesses behind his own [[SuperMode Super Saiyan]] form just by using it once, [[TakeAThirdOption and found an effective way to use it]]. Not to mention that he learned the After Image technique after seeing it only once and even tricked his master with it. He also used the Solar Flare successfully against its own creator after seeing it used only twice. He also so savvy in battle that he often outsmarts fighters who are much more intelligent than him. Besides fighting, he also seems to be highly skilled at farming by the time of ''Manga/DragonBallSuper'', especially when it means getting his hands dirty rather than using tools and equipment. He's also gotten a lot smarter on how to play with people's personalities to get what he wants, to the point Bulma asks when he became so manipulative.