History Main / TheWorkhorse

* Being a LongRunner, the original UC ''{{Franchise/Gundam}}'' series has a few examples. The mass-produced Federation Mobile Suit Jegan, first introduced in ''Anime/CharsCounterattack'' is still in service in ''Anime/GundamF91'' three decades later, though this has more to do with the fact that there were few major conflicts in the intervening years. The real winner, though, is the Salamis class space battleship, which debuted in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' and turns up in nearly every sequel and spinoff since, right up to ''Anime/VictoryGundam'', taking place ''74 years later''.

* The humble Linksys WRT54G router, with its unassuming blue exterior and familiar double-antenna design, is the wireless-router answer to this trope. It's cheap, reliable, so ubiquitous that answers to troubleshooting questions are easy to find, and has a dedicated homebrew community that supports it with custom firmware that gives it features usually only found on much newer and more expensive routers long after Linksys has more or less moved on.

* Franchise/StarWars
** The Imperial-class Star Destroyer was introduced two decades before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and served for decades after. A more advanced variant, the Imperial II-class, even saw service in the Second Galactic Civil War, forty years after its introduction during the First Galactic Civil War.
** In the Rebel (later New Republic) starfighter corps, the Y-Wing was seen as this, in contrast to the newer, faster, shinier X-Wing. X-Wings were generally held to be superior fighters and fighter-bombers (although they couldn't hold a candle to Y-Wings in the dedicated bomber role thanks to the latter's heavier maximum payload), but there were never enough of them to go around.

* The German Type VII U-boat was the workhorse of the Kriegsmarine U-boat Force. Out of 1171 submarines, 770 were Type [=VIIs=] and the most common class was the Type VIIC, of which 568 were built (the workhorse of the workhorse). A few captured boats remained in service for years after, with one, U-573, being used in the Spanish Navy until 1970.

* The M2 Browning .50 cal machine gun was designed in the 1920s, and is still being used as the M2 HBAR (Heavy Barrel) in the U.S. Armed Forces, almost 100 (!) years after it was first introduced, and there are still no plans for a replacement. Well, there ''were'' plans-but they failed.

* The American automotive industry, while phasing out individual cars and sometimes entire brands, often continues to use parts originally designed decades prior. The AMC I6 engine was first produced in 1964 and outlived the company that made it, its final application being the Jeep Wrangler in 2006 (in itself a workhorse, being visually unchanged for decades). However, the old parts are often [[EnhancedArchaicWeapon modified beyond their original design]], such as the aforementioned engine being upgraded to use fuel injection rather than a carburetor.

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]
* Warhammer 40K Universe is filled with long-service vehicles and tech. Some maintenance is required, but most gear used by the Imperium of Man dates back decades if not thousands of years. These can range anywhere from regular bolter firearms to power fists, imperial star ships and Dreadnought chassis, which in turn house some of the oldest living members of the Space Marine chapters.
** Probably the crowning example is the Rhino transport, a converted ''tractor'' (really) that serves the Space Marines not just as an AwesomePersonnelCarrier, but as [[TankGoodness a tank]] (as the Predator) and an artillery platform (the Razorback), and is also used by the [[AmazonBrigade Adepta Sororitas]] (including in flamethrower and anti-tank heat gun configurations). It's even used by the Adeptus Arbites (Imperial police) as a riot vehicle. Like most of the other Imperial examples, it's a Standard Template Construct, which means automated factories on thousands of worlds produced them during humanity's golden age, and while the factories have fallen out of repair, enough of them retained their blueprint data that [=STCs=] are ubiquitous.
** Crossing over with RealLife is the heavy stubber, a weapon manufactured by the billion which is just an M2 Browning.
* There are numerous examples of this in {{Traveller}}. Probably the most iconic is the ''Beowulf'' class Free Trader.
* ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'' has many [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] models which have seen service for [[ForeverWar centuries of warfare]] (and sometimes, the [[AncestralWeapon individual mechs have seen centuries of combat]]). The [[MightyGlacier Atlas]] is one of the [[SkeleBot9000 most recognizable mechs]], and has seen continued use and upgrades for almost four hundred years. On the other handa, most of the modernized workhorses are only externally similar to their originals; an original production [=AS7-D=] Atlas (2755), for example, shares very few internal components with the more modern [=AS7-K=] Atlas (3050), which carries a completely different fusion reactor design and weapons (dropping the short-ranged Autocannon in favor of a long-ranged [[MagneticWeapon Gauss Rifle]], for example), though it does share the same combat roles - [[FrontlineGeneral frontline command]] and [[TheDreaded intimidation]]. And that four hundred year service history? That's pretty unimpressive compared to a few other mechs like the Banshee or Wasp, which have both been in continual use (and in the case of the Wasp, continual production) for close to 700 years.
** The ''Torrent'' bomber is of note for being in use for close to ''a thousand years''; designed by the United States in 2093, operated on the front lines of the various Great Houses until the 22nd century, and used by militias until [[SpacePlane Aerospace Fighters]] began to show up in the 24th century, where it then became a warbird used by civilians in firefighting operations. After the Word of Blake Jihad in 3067, the Capellan Confederation began to bring the planes back into active service.

* Being a LongRunner, the original UC ''Franchise/Gundam'' series has a few examples. The mass-produced Federation Mobile Suit Jegan, first introduced in ''Anime/CharsCounterattack'' is still in service in ''Anime/GundamF91'' three decades later, though this has more to do with the fact that there were few major conflicts in the intervening years. The real winner, though, is the Salamis class space battleship, which debuted in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' and turns up in nearly every sequel and spinoff since, right up to ''Anime/VictoryGundam'', taking place ''74 years later''.

* ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'' has many [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] models which have seen service for [[ForeverWar centuries of warfare]] (and sometimes, the [[AncestralWeapon individual mechs have seen centuries of combat]]). The [[MightyGlacier Atlas]] is one of the [[SkeleBot9000 most recognizable mechs]], and has seen continued use and upgrades for almost four hundred years. On the other handa, most of the modernized workhorses are only externally similar to their originals; an original production [=AS7-D=] Atlas (2755), for example, shares very few internal components with the more modern [=AS7-K=] Atlas (3050), which carries a completely different fusion reactor design and weapons (dropping the short-ranged Autocannon in favor of a long-ranged [[MagneticWeapon Gauss Rifle]], for example), though it does share the same combat roles - [[FrontlineGeneral frontline command]] and [[TheDreaded intimidation]].

* The M2 Browning .50 cal machine gun was designed in the 1920s, and is still being used as the M2 HBAR (Heavy Barrel) in the U.S. Armed Forces, almost 100 (!) years after it was first introduced, and there are still no plans for a replacement. Well, there ''were'' plans-but they failed.

** The ''Torrent'' bomber is of note for being in use for close to ''a thousand years''; designed by the United States, operated on the front lines of the various Great Houses until the 22nd century, and used by militias until [[SpacePlane Aerospace Fighters]] began to show up in the 24th century, where it then became a warbird used by civilians in firefighting operations. After the Word of Blake Jihad, the Capellan Confederation began to bring the planes back into active service.

** The ''Torrent'' bomber is of note for being in use for close to ''a thousand years''; designed by the United States, operated on the front lines of the various Great Houses until the [[=22nd=] century, and used by militias until [[SpacePlane Aerospace Fighters]] began to show up in the 24th century, where it then became a warbird used by civilians in firefighting operations. After the Word of Blake Jihad, the Capellan Confederation began to bring the planes back into active service.

* ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'' has many [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] models which have seen service for [[ForeverWar centuries of warfare]] (and sometimes, the [[AncestralWeapon individual mechs have seen centuries of combat]]). The [[MightyGlacier Atlas]] is one of the [[SkeleBot9000 most recognizable mechs]], and has seen continued use and upgrades for almost four hundred years. On the other handa, most of the modernized workhorses are only externally similar to their originals; an original production [=AS7-D=] Atlas (2755), for example, shares very few internal components with the more modern [=AS7-K=] Atlas (3050), which carries a completely different fusion reactor design and weapons (dropping the short-ranged Autocannon in favor of a long-ranged [[MagneticWeapon Gauss Rifle]], for example), though it does share the same combat roles - [[FrontlineGeneral frontline command]] and [[TheDreaded intimidation]].

* The [=TX1=] Repeater in ''PlanetSide 2'' has been the standard issue pistol in the [[TheEmpire Terran Republic]] military for over 300 years - despite its small size, it has surprising stopping power due to its 3-shot burst (which is effectively fully automatic with a quick finger) and large magazine. Newer derivatives like the [=TX2=] Emperor (200 years old, semi-automatic) and [=TS2=] Inquisitor (New, semi-automatic, huge magazine) have failed to eclipse the Repeater's popularity.

* The M2 Browning .50 cal machine gun has been designed in the 1920s and is still being used as the M2 HBAR (Heavy Barrel) in the U.S. Armed Forces, almost 100 (!) years after it was first introduced, and there are still no plans for a replacement.

A Workhorse is a type of vehicle, weapon or other type of equipment, that is so reliable or cost-effective that it's kept in service for decades, outlasting other more flashy and advanced types. While the Workhorse might receive some modifications and upgrades during its lifetime, it is never as advanced as its newer cousins.

* ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'' has many [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] models which have seen service for [[ForeverWar centuries of warfare]] (and sometimes, the [[AncestralWeapon individual mechs have seen centuries of combat]]). The [[MightyGlacier Atlas]] is one of the [[SkeleBot9000 most recognizable mechs]], and has seen continued use and upgrades for almost four hundred years. On the other handa, most of the modernized workhorses are only externally similar to their originals; an original production [=AS7-D=] Atlas (2755), for example, shares very few internal components with the more modern [=AS7-7=] Atlas (3050), which carries a completely different fusion reactor design and weapons (dropping the short-ranged Autocannon in favor of a long-ranged [[MagneticWeapon Gauss Rifle]], for example).

* ''Videogame/EYEDivineCybermancy'' has the Rotten Mound and KA93 assault rifles, both of which are centuries old (dating back to the [[LostTechnology Dark Ages]]) and extremely simple, but are used heavily by all factions due to their heavy stopping power, low cost, and high accuracy. In-game, they're some of the most common weapons used by enemies, and the preferred weapons for many players due to their versatility.

* The AK-47, the most popular assault rifle of all time, has been around since 1949 and is still in use with several dozen countries. Around 75 million AK-47s have been built.

* The B-52 Stratofortress was introduced as one of the first bombers made by the United State following WorldWarII, entering service in 1952. Not only is it in service today, it's expected to stay in service (with upgrades) into the 2040s.

[[AC: Tabletop Games]]