History Main / TaughtByExperience

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

** In the climax of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo is foiled when [[DecapitatedArmy their Droid Command Ship is destroyed, leaving their battle droids helpless]]. The Federation learns from this defeat; when another Command Ship is destroyed during ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', the now-upgraded battle droids pause for only a fraction of a second before switching to preprogrammed orders and continuing the fight.

* In some versions of ComicBook/GreenArrow's origin, he develops his incredible archery skills as a result of being stranded on a desert island and having to learn how to use a bow in order to survive.
* ComicBook/ThePunisher's archenemy Jigsaw as early as his second storyline is aware he's outgunned in a world of superheroes and thus tries to commit crimes that are out of the way and too low-level for most superheroes to notice. This is also why he and Rosalie Carbone don't partake in the trap to kill Castle that kicks off the events of ''ComicBook/ThePunisherSuicideRun'', as they're aware it'll blow up in the others' faces.
* ComicBook/SpiderMan relies on his spider powers, web-shooters, SpiderSense, and environment to combat his foes.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' is much the same. His first encounter with the Kingpin has Peter, who has super-human strength, failing to physically injure the much larger Wilson Fisk. So the next time they square off, Peter goes for a different attack -- call him fat. Repeatedly. He uses his enhanced agility and reflexes to dodge Fisk's attack, then webs him up and runs for it.
* Comicbook/{{X 23}} demonstrates in ''ComicBook/{{Wolverines}}'' that she's learned from what happened when Daken and Elixir tried to fight Siphon during ''The Logan Legacy''. The next time she has to deal with him she [[SuperheroPackingHeat packs a shotgun]].

** The skill level system itself is very vague. Having 10 points in Weapon Use means you can use your weapon, but you'll miss a lot, whereas having 100 points ([[{{Cap}} in the first game]], at least) means you'll rarely miss...but you'll ''still'' miss occasionally. Generally speaking, it's possible to complete the game with low skill levels (depending on the skill and the character, of course), but certainly not recommended. Getting that LastLousyPoint in a particular game can also be a frustrating experience since skills level up slower as they reach the [[{{Cap}} Level Cap]]. ''Quest For Glory 5'' completely subverts the skill system, however: as long as you're the right class, you can do anything in which you have skill. The numerical values mean very little.

** Harry Dresden's magical (and [[HandCannon mundane]]) arsenal changes between books from his observations of what works and what doesn't. After getting his left hand burnt into uselessness because his shield spell stops matter and kinetic energy but not heat, he devises a new shield that stops just about everything (including heat, light, electricity, most sorts of magic, etc.). After seeing Elaine's taser-chain trick in ''Literature/WhiteNight'', he comes up with his own version for when fire magic isn't such a good idea. Oh, and teaching his apprentice how to do magic gives him a LOT of ideas. There's also his upgraded 'knock people around' ring...

** In the beginning he had a single ring that stored up force and could unleash it in a single large blast of force. It turns out that having a 'free' sucker punch of force that can be unleashed immediately when magically exhausted is useful, so useful that Harry decided [[MoreDakka more is better]]. He started adding rings to each finger, then tripling the bands per ring. By Changes he has 3 bands of force on each finger, 30 times the power of his original ring. If something is proven to work you should double down on it!
** The advantage was demonstrated in ''Literature/SkinGame''. [[spoiler:Hannah]] is a powerful mage, who can work [[spoiler:fire]] magic much better then Harry. However, in combat, she turns out to be much weaker than Harry because despite raw magical talent, she doesn't know how to adjust her tactics on the fly, and she commits everything to offense without knowing how to defend herself. Harry clearly states that she isn't in his league as a fighter because she hasn't learned from fighting in real battles as he has.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': What ''really'' makes [[BigBad the Lich]] so dangerous is [[GeniusBruiser his uncanny intelligence and ability to learn from past failures]]. If you hinder or defeat him, you can be ''damn'' sure [[ItOnlyWorksOnce whatever method you used won’t work again]], as he’ll have accounted for it. Billy defeats him with a magic gauntlet? The first thing he does upon returning is destroy said gauntlet. His MorphicResonance gives away his disguises too often? [[spoiler:He hides it by ''[[GenuineHumanHide killing Billy and wearing his skin]]''.]] [[BenevolentGenie Prismo]] interferes with his plans and aids Finn and Jake? [[spoiler:He just [[OrcusOnHisThrone waits until he gets an opening]], then kills Prismo’s physical body so the heroes can’t go to him for help again.]] There’s no second chances with this guy. [[spoiler: Only the Blood of a Guardian and his good half Sweet Pea were able to take him down permanently.]]

** The entire show covers a little under one year, yet Aang learned three other bending practices, Sokka became a passable swordsman, Zuko increases his firebending, and Katara has become a virtual waterbending goddess. Sozin's comet gives them added incentive. On another note, this is the reason Toph learned metalbending -- because she ''really'' wanted to get out of a metal box.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' movie ''[[TheMovie Mask of the Phantasm]]'' had Bruce perform his first night as a vigilante in black clothes and a ski mask, yelling out police commands. He had all the training and gadgetry but didn't really understand Batman's foundation of fear and intimidation. This is what leads him to being the poster child of CrazyPrepared. This aspect of the movie was an homage to ''Batman: Year One'', which used essentially the same thing.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' sees Bruce Wayne's then-protege Terry go through a long process to learn how to properly be Batman. Early on he is dependent on [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman his batsuit]] to survive; later episodes see him learning from the constant hazards to the point that he's perfectly capable without it and even wins a fight against the suit when it gets taken over by a hostile AI at one point.
* ''Franchise/Ben10'' never had any formal [[SpacePolice Plumber]] training; everything he learned, he learned on the field. This works to his advantage in the ''Ultimate Alien'' episode "Basic Training", where Ben, Gwen, and Kevin had to attend and pass the Plumber's Academy, and his years of experience caused him to pass fairly easily and quickly. ''Omniverse'' references this by giving him a new partner who is [[ByTheBookCop all training, but has no experience in the field]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Probably ''the'' reason why Dewey is so adventurous and outgoing. If he doesn't learn from experience firsthand, then it's missed learning opportunities in his eyes.

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' had Superman learn to adapt to various situations, such as getting a suit that was proof against kryptonite ''and'' skin contact for when that was necessary, or come back at an electric-powered villain coated in rubber.

* The basis of ''Creator/{{Chaosium}}'' RPG games, there are no experience points. Instead when you use a skill, there is a chance you may learn something depending on your intelligence roll, if you succeed then your skill improves. There's also the possibility you may learn the wrong lesson from experience and your skill actually takes a hit as you develop poor habits or whatnot.

* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'': At the start of the film, Edgin and Holga escape from prison by grabbing Jarnathan -- [[BirdFolk an aarakocra]] -- and performing a SuperWindowJump with him, forcing him to catch their fall unless he wants to go splat as well. [[spoiler:Forge attempts this exact same maneuver at the end of the film, but discovers that the Absolution Council decided to have the window bricked shut by smacking face-first into the new wall.]]

* ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'': Goblin Slayer has five years worth of experience as an adventurer at the start of the series. Has has already encountered numerous types of goblins, has studied their behavior, strengths and weaknesses, and he knows numerous ways how to deal with them effectively. The prequel series ''Year One'' shows the readers how he acquired the experience, knowledge and skills that we know he's already got in the present. For example, when he tells the guild's adventurers that he won't be able to take on hundreds of goblins in an open field in the present series, we get to see him almost dying dealing with a significant smaller number of goblins in an open field in the prequel series.

** Jack Rakan. His general attitude tends to make people think that he's just naturally strong and talented, and has never had to really work for his wins. Nothing could be further from the truth: he was an ordinary boy who was in near-constant combat for over forty years. Negi realizes there's really not a whole lot that could catch Jack off-guard; since the guy has seen every trick in the book.

** Darth Vader is also an example. We see Anakin falling into a '[[GeoEffects I have the high ground]]' trap by Obi-Wan, which led to insta [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport Life Support]] and ArtificialLimbs. Come '' Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Luke gets the high ground on Darth Vader to try and finish him quickly, but an OlderAndWiser Vader simply destroys the platform, robbing Luke of his advantage.

* Franchise/SpiderMan relies on his spider powers, web-shooters, SpiderSense, and environment to combat his foes.

** This trope is specifically the reason why Tejada [[spoiler:and Tarkan]] are selected to be part of the torch-and-bury operation against Alan Jonah's paramilitary's {{artificial zombie}}s. Tejada has accumulated extensive experience beating back the zombies, [[spoiler:while Tarkan]] has past experience combating Jonah himself.

* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': How does Chopper know how to throw scalpels so well? No, Kureha didn't teach him; he just examined all his memories of ''her'' throwing things at ''him'', and replicating her technique.

* ''Film/JurassicWorld'': It's made clear that Masrani learned from Hammond and [=InGen=]'s mistakes -- the park only has staff who are completely loyal to Masrani (avoiding spies like Nedry), a larger pool of staff is kept on hands at all times (to avoid one person having control over everything, again a problem with Nedry), and park security not only has plenty of equipment to work with (including multiple vehicles), but also packs ''lethal'' weapons, just in case they end up with a creature like The Big One who cannot be controlled. [[spoiler:Their problems stem from the fact that the one person who they ''had'' to take on from the original park having a change in allegiances, and his creation being a BioweaponBeast explicitly meant to be incredibly smart and able to endure military-grade weapons]].

* In the backstory of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2565609/156/Odd-Ideas Dungeons and Drow]]'', Literature/HarryPotter is one of several apprentice wizards sent off to fight in a war and the only one to return (the rest having died or fled). He easily kills the Guildmaster and the five wizards with him once he does return as all of them were rich and/or nobility so never went to war and learned all the dirty tricks and unusual spells wizards in the army learn. Of course, it helps that the Guildmaster apparently bought his position rather than earning it.
* In the ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' x ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/{{Hunter|UnwelcomeStorm}}'', Taylor comes to learn to defeat Father Gascoigne this way. She learned how he moved, shot, and struck, dying and respawning several times until she finally killed him.
* Many ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' stories have one or more characters be well versed in various ancient languages and melee weaponry (such as Xander in ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-7497-7/Nycorson+Teal+c+s+Wish.htm Teal'c's Wish]]'') by virtue of all the time spent poring over ancient texts for information and fighting demons respectively.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11813522/1/Fates-of-Ice-and-Fire Fates of Ice and Fire]]'', even though Prince Oberyn Martell has never met Arya Stark before, he quickly sees through her magical disguise and warns his companion to wash her hands after she touched Arya's ball in case it was poisoned. He explains that he's faced assassins from the House of Black and White in the past, so he's familiar with some of their tricks.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11962940/1/ A Brighter Dark]]'', [[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Corrin]] basically forced this on herself by purposefully putting herself into situations where she would have to fight for her life. As a result, she's much more powerful from the start than she is in the original game, being able to so far out-duel everyone she's had to go against besides her older brother, mainly because he was Taught By Much More Experience.
* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': How does Chopper know how to throw scalpels so well? No, Kureha didn't teach him; he just examined all his memories of ''her'' throwing things at ''him'', and replicating her technique.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11577216/4/A-Horse-For-the-Force A Horse for the Force]]'' sees Ranma teaching Jedi how to fight by fighting them. Shaak Ti, who spars with him the most, is shown to be considerably more skilled than other knights despite being new to the rank. Her [[CombatClairvoyance Force Sense]] in particular is far more honed due to her need to keep up with the much faster Ranma. Lastly, sparring against Ranma tends to teach [[CombatPragmatist Combat Pragmatism]] such as when Shaak Ti sparred with fellow knight Kit Fisto and won by punching him in the face then hitting his wrist to steal his lightsaber. As a result of both the spars and her adventures with Ranma, Shaak Ti is acknowledged as a Jedi Master after being a Knight for slightly over a year.
* Ash in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11803928/13/Challenger Challenger]]'' beats the top ten students at a Pokemon prep school because his knowledge and skill come from dozens of pokemon battles against other trainers, including Gym Leaders who know how to counter their own weaknesses. By contrast, the knowledge and skill of the students come from reading books and battle simulators, which leads to many of them being unable to deal with unorthodox tactics or even ''dodging'' attacks.

* In ''[[https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28404-153/DianeCastle%2BXendra.htm Xendra]]'', pouring over ancient tomes allows Willow to test out of so many language classes at UCLA (including ones they don't even teach) that after her first year of college she already has a bachelor's degree in languages and linguistics. Likewise, Xander tests out of three different language classes and his day job at a construction company gives him a leg up on his business and management classes.
** Earlier in the story, Xander tries throwing a chakram at Angelus, who catches it easily. Xander later makes a chakram that has the blade on the inside then starts inscribing all his chakrams with crosses so any vampire that catches them will regret it.
* Harry Potter in ''Fanfic/TheHavocSideOfTheForce'' notes that ''everyone'' he does a job for tries to screw him over the first time. As a result, he's taken to setting up precautions to prevent and/or counteract such attempts. Though even before he grew wise to such tricks [[GoodIsNotSoft Harry made sure no one was stupid enough to try it a second time]].
* All of Hari's associates in ''Fanfic/ItachiIsThatABaby'' have learned to dread Hari referring to anything as "Interesting" as anything he finds interesting tends to be of the "May you live in interesting times" variety.
* In ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', [[PeggySue Ash retains all of his memories after being sent back in time]], and he's able to put his knowledge to good use to re-train his Pokémon.
* Jaune in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12854072/1/The-ProfessionARC The ProfessionARC]]'' learned how to be a Huntsman from an experienced Huntsman rather than in a combat school. As a result, he knows many tricks of the trade his fellow students at Beacon don't, such as the preferred tactics of Grimm packs (not to mention the difference between a pack of Grimm and a group). Notably, students still in training tend to look down on him for not attending an official school, whereas experienced Huntsman understand Jaune is more skilled than most students and doesn't have to be looked after as much. On the other hand, Jaune is shown to struggle with history as it neither helped him survive in the wild nor kill Grimm, and as such wasn't included in his education. He also has trouble fighting human opponents due to his focus on Grimm.
* Blake in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12574905/28/In-the-Kingdom-s-Service In the Kingdom's Service]]'' learned how to sneak around and hide while part of the White Fang and, unlike the VSS and ASF, had no fancy tech to help her. As a result, she's considerably stealthier and more observant than Ciel, who relies too much on her gadgets, both spotting and hiding from Ciel along with spotting the invisible person following Ciel.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10917821/13/The-questionable-burdens-of-leadership-of-a-troll-Emperor The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor]]'', Naruto and Xanna let their new subjects settle wherever they wished within their empire, resulting in most creating new towns of people from the same planet. They later spend years trying to break multiple factions of their ingrained misogyny and misandry before finally finding a solution. Centuries later when (peacefully) taking over Earth, Naruto and Xanna have learned from their biggest mistake last time and don't send people from the same culture all to the same region of their empire.

* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'': Alicorns combine this with a HiveMind, meaning that any trick Littlepip uses [[ItOnlyWorksOnce Only Works Once]]. Even if she kills them, the others remember what happened and are prepared for it. Ultimately, [[spoiler:after she kills both their Goddess and their employer, they give up trying to fight her. While they still hate Littlepip, they have officially reached the point where the most logical course of action is staying out of her way]].
* In ''Fanfic/ViridianTheGreenGuide'', Izuku is able to do first-aid on a cashier who got severe electrical burns in a Villain attack because Izuku had to treat his own burns from [[HavingABlast Bakugo]] beating him up in the past.
* In ''Girl Genius'' story ''Fanfic/RaisedByJagers'', Agatha did her best to help with the Jaeger medical treatments growing up, but she didn't know what she was doing and had no teacher. Mamma Gkika couldn't teach her much, since she wasn't a doctor or a Spark. When she gets to TPU and has real medical classes, she discovers startling gaps in her knowledge and realizes that the only reason she never killed anyone was that Jaegers are NighInvulnerable.
* ''Fanfic/VowOfTheKing'': A good deal of Ichigo's training, whether it's from Nemu, Tessai, or Eien-ō, consists of fighting them until he learns how to fight properly.
* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': Jade uses her experience in defeating villains in her world to come up with a solid plan to defeat Elyon, the Guardians, and the Rebellion by destroying their reputation with the people.

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainStarFinder'': Luna knows how to dodge every prank that Luan uses against her due to being her roommate. This is shown when she dodges a water balloon being tossed at her when she enters their bedroom, [[KickTheSonOfABitch making it hit Lola]] instead.

* VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog is able to defeat [[EldritchAbomination Perfect Chaos]] in his base form during ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'', while he had to go [[SuperMode Super Sonic]] to beat him back in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. He even cites this as a strength of his in ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' after managing to put up a decent fight against Infinite, whose EstablishingCharacterMoment was [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping Sonic]] and nearly killing him.

** Actually, this is common to all main-line ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' games. It wasn't until Bethesda branched out and started developing ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games that they started using ExperiencePoints for character progression.

This is a staple of MacGyvering, the devices they make work because they ''have'' to. The CrazyPrepared person is either this way because of past experience, or because they want to avoid the bruises associated with it. And this is implied with a person who has SeenItAll -- they have experienced it personally.

** However Touma goes through so many life-threatening situations that he outright gains a sense of precognition within fights which allows him to effectively parry anything he needs to with Imagine Breaker or dodge anything that it can't. He does briefly consider getting actual fight training but ultimately decides against it, feeling that part of what makes him special and separates him from the many, MANY incredible forces in the Indexverse, is that he has no actual training.

* Many ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' stories have one or more characters be well versed in various ancient languages and melee weaponry (such as Xander in ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-7497-7/Nycorson+Teal+c+s+Wish.htm Teal'c's Wish]]'') by virtue of all the time spent pouring over ancient texts for information and fighting demons respectively.

** ''Film/BatmanBegins'' uses this entirely as its main story. Bruce went through the training, and when he came to form the mantle of "Batman", it was from picking up his mistakes. After getting a military combat suit, he found that he needed something to soften a fall, which leads to the glider-cape. After getting gassed by the Scarecrow, even though he was now inoculated against the effects, he was fully aware of what Crane was going to do. As Alfred used as a CallBack quote from Bruce's father, "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

'''Loki:''' I consider experience, experience.

** Harry Dresden's magical (and [[HandCannon mundane]]) arsenal changes between books from his observations of what works and what doesn't. After getting his left hand burnt into uselessness because his shield spell stops matter and kinetic energy but not heat, he devises a new shield that stops just about everything (including heat, light, electricity, most sorts of magic, etc). After seeing Elaine's taser-chain trick in ''Literature/WhiteNight'', he comes up with his own version for when fire magic isn't such a good idea. Oh, and teaching his apprentice how to do magic gives him a LOT of ideas. There's also his upgraded 'knock people around' ring...

* On an episode of the Creator/FoodNetwork's Celebrity Chef Cook-Off, this combined with BoringButPractical to be key to winning the Elimination Challenge involving grilled cheese sandwiches. Having stated that he makes such sandwiches for his kids all the time, Joey Fatone's no-frills entry (with only a pickle and tomato slices making a smiley face) trumped two other entries made with a lot of extra bits each. One didn't properly melt the cheese and the other was highly greasy. Guess which one came out on top?

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Kingsguard candidate Ser Criston Cole has the advantage that he fought as a foot soldier against the Dornish incursions, and was knighted for his excellence there. He is the only candidate to be a seasoned warrior, both before presenting himself to princess Rhaenyra and before his investiture as a knight.

* When making a unit in ''TabletopGame/BrikWars'', you have to find out what does and doesn't work. Your unit may have a FatalFlaw that you didn't think about until someone exploits it (ie having a creature that can replicate itself every turn at the cost of defense, then getting set on fire and dying in the first round). It takes several games to really know how to utilize your Cost of Production points.

* A case of a boss who does this in-game: Mr Freeze in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' seems at first like a typical "impervious unless attacked in a certain way, but never learns to cover that weakness" sort of boss. Turns out he isn't; each sneaky trick Batman can use on him [[ItOnlyWorksOnce will only work once]] because he will alter his attack pattern to cover that particular weakness, forcing the player to do the same: [[CreepyMonotone "I can adapt my strategies, Batman. Can you?"]]

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Warden had to learn how to be a Grey Warden by themselfs. Riordan (a more experienced Grey Warden) actually lampshaded this.

* ''Film/ManOfSteel'': Since he lacks the formal training all Kryptonian soldiers undergo since birth, Franchise/{{Superman}} had to rely on his own life experiences in how to control his powers. Even Jor-El said the only way to know how strong he had become was to keep pushing his limits. Zod might mock his FarmBoy upbringing, but in the end, Superman manages to be a credible threat to Zod’s forces and save Earth. What he lacks in formal training, he makes up with adaptability.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash doesn't get ''anything'' right in the first story arc (Indigo league), often getting his badges after losing the first gym battle and having to help out the gym in some fashion later on. As the series progresses, he gradually gets sharper and more creative with his methods, both in training and battling his Pokémon ("Use [[ShockAndAwe Pikachu]]" and "If that doesn't work, use [[MoreDakka more Pikachu]]" won't solve [[ElementalRockPaperScissors all]] [[FragileSpeedster of]] [[HotBlooded his]] [[IdiotHero problems]]).