History Main / HomemadeInventions

* ''VideoGame/DarkCloud 2''. ''You'' see a belt, a milk can, and a pipe. [[GadgeteerGenius Max]] sees an renewable energy pack for his personal mecha --which is also built out of a barrel (or a refrigerator,) piping, and traffic lights for eyes.

* Chief engineer Dave Howery is known for this in ''Script/AHDotComTheSeries'', a character trait first introduced in "Hey Hey We're the Monkeys" which soon became a defining one. Mainly he builds excessively advanced (and [[AIIsACrapshoot psychotic]]) robots to do the most mundane functions due to being BrilliantButLazy.

And, of course, the inventors [[ReedRichardsIsUseless won't try to use their unbelievable science-defying constructions to solve the problems of the world and help mankind or exploit them to gain fame and riches]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', Dave tries to fix a friend's microwave and ends up creating an interdimensional portal that causes his gaming group to be attacked by angels. (Guess what was wrong with the microwave? It was unplugged.)
** This ability also shows up when most [[MadScientist mad scientists]] first manifest. Helen Narbon created life - horrible, tentacled, man-eating lifeforms - from the food in an Italian restaurant's kitchen, plus some chemicals from their women's restroom.

* The inventions of Gyro Gearloose in the DonaldDuck comic books. This is especially intriguing in Creator/DonRosa's version of Duckburg which has a distinct timeline where all the adventures take place in the 1960s, but thanks to Gyro Gearloose, all modern technology (and indeed, technology yet to be) can be represented.

See also: BambooTechnology, MacGyvering. Compare GadgeteerGenius and DoomItYourself. Related to and may overlap with ImprovisedWeapon. For the fantasy equivalent, see ImprovisedGolems.

'''Obadiah Stane:''' Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With scraps!

->'''Marty:''' Are you telling me that you built a ''time machine''... out of a [=DeLorean=]?\\
'''Doc:''' The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car why not do it with some style?
-->-- ''Film/BackToTheFuture''

%%* The time machine in ''Film/{{Primer}}''.

* ''Monster Warriors'' is probably the worst offender. Not only Tabby can make laser weapons out of plastic bottles and a blender in a matter of seconds, but she is always able to find a huge pile of trash everywhere. Mainly because Luke's hobby is to collect it inside his house and car.

See also: BambooTechnology, MacGyvering. Compare GadgeteerGenius and DoomItYourself. Related to and may overlap with ImprovisedWeapon.

* HomemadeInventions are Donatello's brain and butter in the ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' cartoons. It grows to particularly ridiculous levels in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'', where he is able to build submarines, hovercraft, and [[DrillTank drill tanks]] with homemade materials and the occasional bit of salvaged alien technology.

* How the main characters make their living in ''Literature/EachLittleUniverse''. Some are more 'homemade' than others, such as the Bedsheet-Tablecloth-Whiteboard (really just a laminated sheet), and they've had varying degrees of financial success. Most of the items mentioned in the early story are PlayedForLaughs, although some of them do reappear much later. Notably, [[spoiler:the Enchi-Ladder, a throwaway {{pun}} from near the start of the story, comes in handy, while the Octobike - an insistently indefinite contraption first mentioned in the ''very first line'' of the novel and never taken seriously - comes back in a big way when it's needed.]]

* In ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'', Maurice's wood-chopping machine is made from various household items, including an old-fashioned wood stove, a teapot, a chair, and of course an axe.

* ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons'': The Memory Scanner, while the TimeMachine is just a jury-rigged family car.

** He''did'' create an interstellar spaceship, but not every story is Barks-Rosa canon...

-->'''Candance''' ([[RunningGag every single episode]]): MOM, Phineas and Ferb are making one of their dumb inventions again!!!

And, of course, the inventors [[ReedRichardsIsUseless won't try to use their unbelievable science-defying constructions to solve the problems of the world and help mankind or exploit them to gain fame and riches]]. [[JustifiedTrope Unless those inventions are commonplace anyway]].

** "Literature/WordProcessorOfTheGods": A man inherits a bodged-together word processor with RealityWarper powers, which his nephew constructed from several mismatched brands of computer components, wires from Radio Shack, the motor from an Erector Set and an old model-train transformer.

Of course, Homemade Inventions won't be perfect. Due to being built out of various mechanical parts, they will have a "cobbled together" look. (If this occurs in a film, you can bet the art department had a lot of fun with it.) Sometimes, they'll [[RubeGoldbergDevice work in a far more elaborate and convoluted manner]] than their purpose would seem to require; their power source may be as humble as [[HamsterWheelPower the family pet in an exercise wheel]]. Still, they will nearly always work and, when they don't, [[PhlebotinumBreakdown they'll fail spectacularly]]. These inventions will probably be created by the BunglingInventor, the WeekendInventor, TheProfessor or the TeenGenius. More than half the time, these inventors will [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup neglect to make sure that they know how to reconstruct their inventions]]. [[JustifiedTrope Unless those inventions are commonplace anyway]].

And, of course, the inventors [[ReedRichardsIsUseless won't try to use their unbelievable science-defying constructions to solve the problems of the world and help mankind or exploit them to gain fame and riches]].

Of course, Homemade Inventions won't be perfect. Due to being built out of various mechanical parts, they will have a "cobbled together" look. (If this occurs in a film, you can bet the art department had a lot of fun with it.) Sometimes, they'll [[RubeGoldbergDevice work in a far more elaborate and convoluted manner]] than their purpose would seem to require; their power source may be as humble as [[HamsterWheelPower the family pet in an exercise wheel]]. Still, they will nearly always work and, when they don't, [[PhlebotinumBreakdown they'll fail spectacularly]]. These inventions will probably be created by the BunglingInventor, the WeekendInventor, TheProfessor or the TeenGenius. More than half the time, these inventors will [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup neglect to make sure that they know how to reconstruct their inventions]].

And, of course, the inventors [[ReedRichardsIsUseless won't try to exploit their unbelievable science-defying constructions to gain fame and riches]].

->'''Marty''': Are you telling me that you built a ''time machine''... out of a [=DeLorean=]?\\
'''Doc''': The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car why not do it with some style?

!!Examples

* ''Series/TheATeam'' lived and breathed this trope.

---> "Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at 30 paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."
** Depending on the incarnation, the Doctor has taken this to an art form, most notably the Third, Fourth, Seventh, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors. Turned UpToEleven with the Ninth/Tenth Doctor's and the Eleventh Doctor's first console rooms.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

* The Junkman, from ''Comicbook/AstroCity'', has this as his theme. After being forced to retire, he decided to show the world the foolishness of throwing things away. He robs a bank with toy soldiers made into miniature robots, an Etch-a-Sketch repurposed as a fluoroscope, and other equally recycled equipment.
* In the early days of ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'', the title character regularly built strange-looking inventions with (occasionally) even stranger purposes, such as a trash compactor that can pack two tons of garbage into the volume of an ordinary brick or talking robot dog.

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

* In ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', Wayne invents a '''ShrinkRay''' in his attic. It takes massive providence to get it working, but still, shrink ray. Averted in the sequel, though: his achievement has gotten him work at a [[MegaCorp massive tech conglomerate]] and he continues to improve the device there.

%%* The time machine in ''Film/{{Primer}}''.
* The jetcar in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension''. We actually see a mechanic working on it in Buckaroo's garage.
* The spaceship from ''Film/{{Explorers}}'', which was built from a Tilt-a-Whirl and an Apple [=IIc=].
* Some of the equipment in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' is supposed to have this feel. The boys certainly didn't have much of an operating budget.

%%* ''Film/WeirdScience''

* ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'': Caractacus' works exhibit this, such as his automated breakfast maker.
* ''Film/TheAstronautFarmer'' builds a spacecraft on his farm, though he orders parts that aren't on hand, like fuel and a rocket.
* The Good Robot Usses from ''Film/BillAndTedsBogusJourney''. Despite being made out of random items from a hardware store, their quality can be justified as they were made by the smartest being in the universe.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''

* ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure'' has Pee-Wee's breakfast machine.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* The YA novel series ''[[Literature/MadScientistsClub Mad Scientists' Club]]'' features a group of inventors, whose inventions get as ridiculous as a remote-controlled flying saucer convincing enough to fool the entire town.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

--> "Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at 30 paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."

--->''Now keep in mind Joel can't control\\

* Most of the modifications done to the cars on ''Series/TopGear'' are done in a standard garage by the presenters (with a little help). Top marks have to be awarded when they attempted to create their own space-shuttle Reliant Robin, even if the task of assembling the rocket motors themselves had to be outsourced... to a tiny engineering firm that was only a small step up from HalfADozenGuysInABasement, and thus probably count as a straight example themselves.
* On ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'', MadScientist Quinn is constantly inventing something new--things she calls "Quinnventions." However, [[RunningGag none of them ever turn out the way she wants to]]. In one instance, [[EpicFail she almost blew up the school]]!

[[folder: Pinball ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Junkers in ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}: [[AfterTheEnd HellOnEarth]]'' cheat by asking tech spirits to make their cobbled-together inventions work.
* Gnoblar scrappers in ''Warhammer'' tend to build things out of old rubbish and whatever they've scavenged, such as scraplauncher catapults. Ork Mekboyz in ''Warhammer 40,000'' take this to truly extreme levels, cobbling together anything from a chainsword to a building-sized gargant out of scrap metal and interesting shiny things.
* The Military Engineer and Improviser classes in ''TabletopGame/StarWarsSagaEdition'' allow you to take this trope to ridiculous extremes, which can include cobbling together a fully functional blaster cannon using nothing more than some scrap metal and a few bits of wire you happen to be carrying, in less than six seconds.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''VideoGame/HeartOfDarkness'', featuring Andy the kid genius. Among his inventions are a cobbled-together interdimensional vessel, a plasma-gun and a control-helmet made from a colander.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' allows you to collect various "schematics" for weapons, which you can then build from the junk that clutters the environment. The results resemble this trope. Good examples include the shishkebab (basically a lawnmower rotor blade connected to the petrol tank of a motorbike to form a [[KillItWithFire flaming sword]]), the Rock-It-Launcher, which is built from a vacuum cleaner (amongst other things) and can fire pretty much anything you find lying around, a rifle that shoots railroad spikes, a landmine (made out of a lunchbox, a cherry bomb, a sensor, and a few bottle caps) that's about five time stronger than ordinary landmines and has roughly the same firepower of a mini nuke as well as, of course, the Nuka-Cola Grenade that's made with turpentine, Abraxo cleaner and the radioactive variant of Nuka-Cola in a tin can. When thrown, it explodes in a giant blue fireball, with lingering radioactive damage afterward. There's also the series-wide pipe gun weapons, which are cobbled together out of various scavenged piping, lumber, bolts and springs.
* ''VideoGame/DarkCloud 2''. ''You'' see a belt, a milk can, and a pipe. [[GadgeteerGenius Max]] sees an renewable energy pack for his personal mecha --which is also built out of a barrel (or a refrigerator,) piping, and traffic lights for eyes.
* In ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'' you could make a barrel extender out of a tube, glue and duct-tape (never mind it's not rifled and somehow the perfect caliber no matter what weapon you put it on). You could also make a rod-and-spring attachment, and build a fully functional X-Ray scanner out of a Lame Boy, a Fumble Pack, wires, chewing gum, and an X-ray lamp. Worked on AA batteries.
* That is the way most technology in ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' works. Half of the parts used in making technology items can be found in a garbage bin. Some others must be bought, though. And all of the recipes can be assembled in a complete wilderness without access to any thing like a workshop.

* One playable character in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak'' can assemble a stun rod from a car battery and a metal pipe. Of course, since there's a ZombieApocalypse going on, improvisation is key.

* ''[[VideoGame/NancyDrew The Haunted Carousel]]'' features Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine, a riddle-spouting robot built from an old oven, bicycle parts, and the trumpet off a gramophone.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'': Some of the weapons have this about them. The grenade launcher, for instance, looks like a wooden gunstock with part of a stovepipe, some wires, and a 9-volt battery attached. You can even craft these at U-Invent machines, provided you've picked up enough leftover parts along the way.

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Tedd in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' built [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-08-23 a belt]] that could transform the wearer into a cat-person, [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?arcid=72 tweaked a Wii Fit balance board]] so it could measure the weight distribution of someone as they transformed and built a series of devices that can [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-11-23 transform]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-06-20 the]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-10-23 wearer]] under certain conditions out of [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-11-23 toy gadget watches]].

[[folder: Web Original ]]
* Just about all of the devisers and gadgeteers in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse start out like this, since no one knows they have a superpower until they've built a robot out of old junk from their basement, or whatever. The deviser Knick-Knack still builds stuff that looks like this, including a capture bubble that looks like a lava lamp, and a laser hidden in a Franchise/HarryPotter souvenir wand.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* [[WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius Jimmy Neutron]] does this all the time.

* Buckwheat often built these in Creator/HannaBarbera's version of ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleRascals''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In a Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer made a time machine out of his ''toaster. By accident.''
** The season ten episode "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" [[note]]The episode where Homer becomes a UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison-esque inventor after hearing on the radio that the life expectancy of males is somewhere in the 70s, and Homer realizes that he's at the halfway point of his life and he hasn't done anything that would be considered memorable after his death[[/note]] was all about Homer creating homemade (and really dangerous and/or useless) inventions, such as the makeup gun and the "Everything's OK" alarm.

* Even the animated version of Gyro Gearlose in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' would build all sorts of stuff as cheaply as possible. Possibly justified since his employer was such a cheapskate.
* HomemadeInventions are Donatello's brain and butter in the ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' cartoons. It grows to particularly ridiculous levels in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'', where he is able to build submarines, hovercraft, and [[DrillTank drill tanks]] with homemade materials and the occasional bit of salvaged alien technology.

* Timmy's Dad on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' makes several of these. Most of them [[StuffBlowingUp blow up]]. It hurts him when his family tries to use real technology, though not as much as his inventions hurt them.
** Once, after ''successfully'' assembling a personal computer out of a typewriter and a television:
--> "Wow, I'm a genius! I'm gonna go make ice cream out of birdseed and gum!"

* Anything built by Gadget Hackwrench on ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers''.
* Huey of ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' created the Black Power Fist, basically a taser built into a glove, at home. Justified in that he did not invent it but found instructions on the Internet, and that it was specifically designed to be built from cheap and readily-available materials. Still impressive given his age and lack of any previously-mentioned mechanical background.
* Fred [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Flintstone]] occasionally delved into this. They work...just as well as one would expect[[note]]Including his wife Wilma...[[/note]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]