History Main / WeekendInventor

''Weekend Inventor'' may refer to:

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1661991649023110300 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]
In fiction land, inventions are mind-bogglingly ''easy'' to make. This fellow is not a BunglingInventor, TheProfessor or a TeenGenius. He might have a degree in Art History. However, he has managed to build some item of technology the entire industry could not replicate, probably [[HomemadeInventions in his garage]] using the knowledge he got from flipping burgers at [=McDonald's=]. Mostly [[ReedRichardsIsUseless he uses it for some mundane reason like fighting crime or making breakfast]], or he just has it lying around so it can be given to the main character.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker invented a fluid that can be used as a stretchy rope and that hardens into a unbreakable barrier, in ''high school''. There's been various explanations for this over the years. Some versions just have him as a budding super-genius on the same level as [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] or [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], but some authors ignore this because it clashes with his "everyman" portrayal. One divisive explanation is that he gained instinctive knowledge of the composition of web fluid as part of his spider powers. Some continuities forgo this trope altogether and say that his father invented it.But they give weak excuses as to why he doesn't market it .
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': From time to time Superman's powers include super-intelligence. The original Superman claimed to have made his suit himself from a fabric he invented. You know, the suit that stays on him when he flies through the sun. Imagine the commercial and military applications for ''that.''
* In ''ComicBook/ExMachina'', Mitchell Hundred got a full blueprint for a ''jetpack'' from the aether in a dream, presumably as a side effect from his machine-talking powers. He also built a machine to nullify his own powers, some laser guns, taser gloves, a multi-sensor helmet, and maybe some other cool stuff we haven't seen yet. Justified, since his superpower involves [[{{Technopath}} communicating with technology]].
* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim Drake made himself a high speed skateboard after his dad sold his car, was the first Bat incorporate a separate computer in their costume instead of relying solely on the distant batcomputer, figured out how to run electricity through his cape to make it cling to whatever it was touching it and designed his TelescopingStaff to include an {{EMP}} emitter. While Tim is generally considered a TeenGenius he made several of these inventions in his bedroom at boarding school without attracting any attention.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* ''Fanfic/HarryIsADragonAndThatsOK'': [[Franchise/HarryPotter Ron Weasley]], with the help of his friends, constructs a full-on {{Magitek}} prototype of a spaceship, [[spoiler: that actually succeeds in circling the globe]], all in his later school years. In his defense, it is a WizardingSchool.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Norman the shopkeeper from the ''Brentford'' trilogy by Creator/RobertRankin. His illuminated cowboy costume was less successful, as a static build-up caused it to collect sawdust and it (predictably) suffered a catastrophic short when someone tried washing it off with a soda siphon. Successful projects include a van fuelled by the driver's anger, and teleporting the Pyramid of Cheops into Brentford football ground. His inventions are invariable built from Meccano.
* ''Literature/RamaII'': The complicated robots Richard Wakefield makes should take more than his free time, but he is not a roboticist by trade.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]
* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'': In ("[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfSupermanS5E13WhateverGoesUp Whatever Goes Up]]"), ComicBook/JimmyOlsen invents an Anti-Gravity solution. In another episode, Perry White discovers a way to extract Uranium from seawater.
* On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', when he lost his job, Sheldon, a theoretical physicist, somehow managed to [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist genetically engineer glow-in-the-dark goldfish]] in under a month.
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': Lampshaded and derided in an episode. A CEO steals a valuable invention that an employee had created on his own over the course of years and years of working on it at home in every free moment he had. The CorruptCorporateExecutive mocks him that any claim he tries to make in a civil suit will sound like this trope (at least by the time the corporate lawyers are through with him).
%% * ''Series/DragonsDen'' includes a LOT of these, often explaining why they need money.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Roleplay ]]

* ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder'': The second game has the alchemiter, which allows the players to combine together various items to make new and cool exciting items, such as the obsidian tipped terror and ellorium autobow.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''VideoGame/WarioMasterOfDisguise'', the [[VideoGame/{{Wario}} title character]] invents a helmet that allows him to [[IntrepidFictioneer warp into his television]] in his back room, and it takes him hardly any time to do so.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Nick of ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'' has the [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder Inventor's Gene]], justifying the trope, as does his uncle, Otto Wisebottom.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', Barney invents a flying machine. In later episodes, Fred manages to create various concoctions out of his garage, including a shrinking potion and an invisibility formula... all this using Stone Age technology!
* Mr. Turner on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' makes several homemade (and dangerous) items in his garage.
* WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb are pre-teen Summer Inventors.
* ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'': Downplayed with Wallace, as in the later installments he's explicitly using his inventions in several seemingly rather short-lived small businesses (that said inventions [[BunglingInventor have a tendency to malfunction spectacularly]] might have something to do with this), but he doesn't seem to have very much formal training and the early shorts were [[WhatExactlyIsHisJob rather vague about what he did for a living.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* A significant proportion of the code in most open source software is written by self-taught hobbyists working in their spare time. Considering that a lot of code needs basic math and that there are plenty of tutorials online, many of them for free, it's understandable.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker invented a fluid that can be used as a stretchy rope and that hardens into a unbreakable barrier, in ''high school''. There's been various explanations for this over the years. Some versions just have him as a budding super-genius on the same level as [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] or [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], but some authors ignore this because it clashes with his "everyman" portrayal. One divisive explanation is that he gained instinctive knowledge of the composition of web fluid as part of his spider powers. Some continuities forgo this trope altogether and say that his father invented it.But they give weak excuses as to why he doesn't market it

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker invented a fluid that can be used as a stretchy rope and that hardens into a unbreakable barrier, in ''high school''. There's been various explanations for this over the years. Some versions just have him as a budding super-genius on the same level as [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] or [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], but some authors ignore this because it clashes with his "everyman" portrayal. One divisive explanation is that he gained instinctive knowledge of the composition of web fluid as part of his spider powers. Some continuities forgo this trope altogether and say that his father invented it.

* [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]] invented a fluid that can be used as a stretchy rope and that hardens into a unbreakable barrier, in ''high school''. There's been various explanations for this over the years. Some versions just have him as a budding super-genius on the same level as [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] or [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], but some authors ignore this because it clashes with his "everyman" portrayal. One divisive explanation is that he gained instinctive knowledge of the composition of web fluid as part of his spider powers. Some continuities forgo this trope altogether and say that his father invented it.
* The original Franchise/{{Superman}} claimed to have made his suit himself from a fabric he invented. You know, the suit that stays on him when he flies through the sun. Imagine the commercial and military applications for ''that.''
** From time to time Superman's powers include super-intelligence. It's usually ignored because making him the most powerful ''and'' smartest person on Earth makes it really hard to write stories about him.
** In one episode of ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' ("[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfSupermanS5E13WhateverGoesUp Whatever Goes Up]]"), Comicbook/JimmyOlsen invented an Anti-Gravity solution. In another, Perry White discovers a way to extract Uranium from seawater.
* In ''Comicbook/ExMachina'', Mitchell Hundred got a full blueprint for a ''jetpack'' from the aether in a dream, presumably as a side effect from his machine-talking powers. He also built a machine to nullify his own powers, some laser guns, taser gloves, a multi-sensor helmet, and maybe some other cool stuff we haven't seen yet. Justified, since his superpower involves [[{{Technopath}} communicating with technology]].
* [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]] made himself a high speed skateboard after his dad sold his car, was the first Bat incorporate a separate computer in their costume instead of relying solely on the distant batcomputer, figured out how to run electricity through his cape to make it cling to whatever it was touching it and designed his TelescopingStaff to include an {{EMP}} emitter. While Tim is generally considered a TeenGenius he made several of these inventions in his bedroom at boarding school without attracting any attention.

[[folder: Fanfiction ]]

* Norman the shopkeeper from the ''Brentford'' trilogy by Robert Rankin. His illuminated cowboy costume was less successful, as a static build-up caused it to collect sawdust and it (predictably) suffered a catastrophic short when someone tried washing it off with a soda siphon.
** Successful projects include a van fuelled by the driver's anger, and teleporting the Pyramid of Cheops into Brentford football ground. His inventions are invariable built from Meccano.
* The complicated robots [[Literature/RamaII Richard Wakefield]] makes should take more than his free time, but he is not a roboticist by trade.

* Lampshaded and derided in an episode of [[Series/{{Leverage}} Leverage]]. A CEO steals a valuable invention that an employee had created on his own over the course of years and years of working on it at home in every free moment he had. The CorruptCorporateExecutive mocks him that any claim he tries to make in a civil suit will sound like this trope (at least by the time the corporate lawyers are through with him).

* A significant proportion of the code in most open source software is written by self-taught hobbyists working in their spare time.

* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', Barney invents a flying machine. In later episodes, Fred manages to create various concoctions out of his garage, including a shrinking potion, a super glue and an invisibility formula. And all this using Stone Age technology!
** The super glue one doesn't count as he just used a bunch of random ingredients which included a commercial super glue

* [[Series/DragonsDen]] includes a LOT of these, often explaining why they need money.

* DragonsDen includes a LOT of these.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]] invented a fluid that can be used as a stretchy rope and that hardens into a unbreakable barrier, in ''high school''. There's been various explanations for this over the years. Some versions just have him as a budding super-genius on the same level as [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] or [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], but some authors ignore this because it clashes with his "everyman" portrayal. One divisive explanation is that he gained instinctive knowledge of the composition of web fluid as part of his spider powers. Some continuities forgo this trope altogether and say that his father invented it.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]

[[AC:{{Roleplay}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

* The complicated robots [[Literature/RamaII Richard Wakefield] makes should take more than his free time, but he is not a roboticist by trade.

* The complicated robots [[RamaII Richard Wakefield] makes should take more than his free time, but he is not a roboticist by trade.