History PlayingWith / MugglesDoItBetter

** In a situation where [[BroughtDownToNormal all things are totally equal]], one "Muggle" still defeats a Time Lord by being quicker on his feet, better at [[MacGyvering making do with what is lying around]], or just [[TalkToTheFist having a stronger right uppercut]].

** Miyagi can reduce people to PinkMist with a mere finger flick, yet the very instant a thief with nothing but his bare fists and sloppy haymakers tries mugging him, the thief manages to pulverize Miyagi without even realizing it.

** A wizard slaughters a company of Muggle infantry only to get blown up by a cruise missile
** For every powerful wizard who can cut through human armies or flatten cities singlehandedly, there are dozens if not hundreds of wizards with "minor talents" who would be hard-pressed to fight a single-armed human.

** There are certain areas where muggle tech is superior to the magical equivalent, but there are also areas where magic is superior.
** Muggles do it better because they have more speculative toys with which to play TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture -- humans in the modern age wouldn't be so fortunate.
** Miyagi, who's a master at his martial art of magically-enhanced DrunkenBoxing, couldn't hold his own against more conventional mixed martial arts; Karatekas, Boxers, Judokas, Amateur Wrestlers, and Muay Thai practicioners will easily beat him even in a fair fight.

** The rules of magic so go against conventional physics (WildMagic, aversion of MagicAIsMagicA, etc.) that the scientific method is as alien to the wizards as magic is to muggles. Systematic improvement of magic is thus impossible, limiting the ability of magic to advance.
** Immortal {{Smug Super}}s sneered at muggles for centuries, not realising until it's too late just how far the muggles have advanced.

** Magic is from a land that hasn't [[MedievalStasis advanced its magic, technology, or society in thousands of years]], and to their chagrin, the mages find out their traditional magic and honorable ways of fighting are horribly outmatched and outdated when facing modern humans.
** [[TheMagicGoesAway The Magic Has Been Going Away.]] Modern mages are far weaker than the ones of old, while muggle tech has been steadily improving.

** Magic is slow, spells have subsonic travel time even after you waste time saying the incantation, can be dodged or blocked, and all defensive spells are reactive while wizards have no SuperReflexes. This puts wizards at a huge disadvantage against muggles with firearms.
** Magic always needs organic matter in the loop. This makes mechanised industrial production like muggles have impossible, putting wizards at a logistical disadvantage.

** Muggle technology is either BoringButPractical or SimpleYetAwesome, and easier to acquire. Stealing, making, buying or learning to use a .45 (and then getting rid of it and finding a replacement if needed) is a simply better choice than going through the decades-long quest to get the InfinityPlusOneSword, if your goal is to kill just one guy.
** The muggle does it better because ''[[HumansAreSpecial they]]'' are BoringButPractical -- a mage is a PersonOfMassDestruction but they don't do the things that actually win wars like [[ForgetsToEat keeping track of being fed]], keep hold of the territories they conquer, keeping track of who is the actual enemy…

** Because they have life made by magic, magicians never needed to improve.

** Magic can do all kinds of things and at extents that leave [[UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton Newton]], [[UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein Einstein]], and all other muggle physicists rolling in their graves.

** Muggle technology looks superior until the mages pull out the really high-end powers.
** Muggles win ... only because wizard defectors tell on their own.
** Muggles are superior ... but theirs is SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology that would make the [[Series/DoctorWho Time Lords]] stop and stare, making it dubious how "muggle" they really are.

** Muggles start fighting the MonsterOfTheWeek with their technology, but they have little effect on it, so they need help from the wizards.

** Which the muggles then top.

** In a situation where [[BroughtDownToNormal all things are totally equal]], one "muggle" still defeats a Time Lord by being quicker on his feet, better at [[MacGyvering making do with what is lying around]]… or [[TalkToTheFist having a stronger right uppercut]].

** The monster dies from its injuries before the wizards arrive. It seems the Muggles were StrongerThanTheyLook.

** A butter knife wielded by a fragile old man destroys the greatest wizard ever to exist.
** The wizards all carry firearms, GPS devices, and smartphones in their knapsacks, knowing they can't compete in battle without them.
** A wizard who's been practicing blindness spells gets his mind blown when a muggle shows him a can of mace.

** Wizard popular culture aimed at children is mainly PowerFantasy about being a muggle.
** [[MuggleBornOfMages Two wizards have a nonmagical child.]] This child is put on the pedestal of TheChosenOne.
** [[MundaneObjectAmazement Mages worship Coca-Cola bottles]].

** There is a LensmanArmsRace between muggle technology and magic.
** A third faction puts magic and technology together to form {{Magitek}}, which is orders of magnitude superior to either individually.

** Muggles are rendered [[NoSell immune to the wizard's]] [[PsychoElectro Thunderbolt spell]] due to the rubber in the soles of their shoes, and his Ice spells due to the Goretex parkas they happen to be wearing; things that didn't exist when the wizard was in power. [[MagicAIsMagicA Since he can't learn Fire or Earth spells,]] a muggle wearing these can just walk up and beat him insensate. However, a Fire/Earth wizard presents different challenges, necessitating [[HazmatSuit fireproof clothing]] and a ranged weapon to take down.

** Magic and muggle technology are about even; neither is substantially better or worse than the other.
** Magic is always superior to anything muggles can do. If you take a fighter and a mage, the latter will, sooner or later, inevitably [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards prevail in terms of power (especially with experience)]], while the former will [[CantCatchUp struggle and most likely fail to keep up even with the mage, let alone overpowering them]].
** [[MagicAIsMagicA The rules of the universe]] explicitly say that [[MagicMustDefeatMagic magic is impossible to defeat by means that are not magic]], and there is no side-stepping that. The GeneralRipper ordering a barrage of nuclear warheads on the Voldemort wanna-be [[TheWorfBarrage is only asking for most expensive Fourth of July show in human history]].

** It's a RevengeFic of the "I Want to Blow Away [[Literature/HarryPotter Voldemort]][=/=][[Manga/MyHeroAcademia All For One]][=/=][[Anime/DragonBallSuper Beerus]][=/=][[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Hawk Moth]][=/=][[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Zod]][=/=][[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Amon]][=/=]Whatever with MoreDakka" type.

* '''Invoked''': There is an AncientConspiracy that keeps the wizarding world on a MedievalStasis, and thus provides an avenue to keep the more vile wizards from getting too full of themselves.
* '''Exploited''':
** A wizard challenges another wizard to a duel, only [[CombatPragmatist to pull out a Colt and fill their opponent with lead]].
** After a kingdom's wizards are all wiped out by the opposing kingdom's ''far'' more powerful mages, the king hires Muggle mercenaries to destroy the opposing kingdom.

** Wizards keep researching and create spells that offer industrial efficiency so that they can keep up with or exceed muggles.
** Wizards keep themselves informed of advancements in muggle technology and improve their spells to remain relevant, e.g., invisibility spells that also work on machines and guard against infrared or radar detection.
** Wizards have at least one spell that will ''never'' be replicated by human technology in any way, shape or form (or will never work as well, in a best-case scenario). Humans may be able to create FasterThanLightTravel, but wizards can teleport from one galaxy to another ''in a split second'', with none of the regular "bad things" that come from moving that fast. Muggles start killing wizards? Good luck trying to chase them to Andromeda!
** Muggle firepower lets them win against a demon's greater physical strength and regeneration, if that's what the demon relies on. Unfortunately, demon infantry clad in kevlar and armed with [[{{BFG}} combat rifles that would qualify as crew-served heavy machine guns in human hands]] are another matter...
** The prophecy that magic will save the world has no loopholes to abuse through muggle technology of any kind. Sorry, but when it says that "[[NoManOfWomanBorn no weapon forged by man can destroy this evil]]", 3D-printed guns designed by the 950th generation of [=NovelAI=] still counts. It's magic or nothing.
* '''Discussed''': "I thought those mages we're fighting would be a lot more impressive." "But they ''are''. Their spells regularly break the laws of physics as we know them." "Then why are we winning?" "Because you can't mass-produce mages, but you ''can'' mass-produce rifles."

** Wizards decide to [[CombatPragmatist fight smart, not hard]]. If they can't outdo muggles in a straight fight, they'll just use guerrilla warfare to avoid fair fights or esoteric means such as {{mind control}} to set themselves up as TheManBehindTheMan to muggle society.

** In the drama ''Troper Magic'', the focus is on a household that has both muggles and wizards in it. Although they don't fight, one side character has recently come back from war. The stories he tells imply that wizards held their own, but the muggles got a higher body count.
** The Dark Wizard Evulz wants to start TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar. When the president of the magical world is told this, she simply says, "He's forgotten why we hide."

** In a plot revolving around [[TheMagicComesBack magic finally being returned to mankind]] after a [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]] was fated to destroy the demon that required it be sealed in the first place. It turns out after the wizards tried hard to teach him magic he still hadn't learned. During the climax, rather than pulling out some unknown power that never was shown before, TheChosenOne simply picks up a gun and mows the demon down, ending it.
** The war shows that muggles and wizards have a lot to learn and gain from each other: Wizards learn to admire the low-hassle, mass-produced power of technology, while Muggles are highly impressed by the [[RealityWarper reality-breaking power]] of magic, and wonder if magic can be used to bolster their technology. After the war comes to an end, the {{Magitek}} industry explodes, bringing with it both new advantages and new issues.
* '''Played for Laughs''': Muggles can upstage ''anything'' the wizard does. To the point where, after he teleports for the first time, the news later shows that muggles have invented a teleporter by accident but they will be on the market in a week.

** The wizard is the only one who can truly [[GaiasVengeance renew nature]] after what muggles have done to it, but after being shown up time after time he refuses to, claiming that, since the nonmagical people can clearly do better than he can, they should just do it themselves despite this being the one thing they can't do.
** The ''Harry Potter'' knock-off's anti-racism VerySpecialEpisode has TheTeamNormal (who has been [[ButtMonkey treated like shit]] throughout the series so far because, hey, [[FantasticRacism muggle]]) [[ThrowTheDogABone saving the day]] because advanced knowledge of the laws of thermodynamics (such as the concept of "{{plasma|Cannon}}") is something the MonsterOfTheWeek can't defend against.
** The episode of ''Alice and Bob: The Series'' revolves around the mystery of how Potter, the greatest warrior mage who ever lived, could be killed by a random junkie with a switchblade. At least half of the mess of the plot occurs because nobody in either the heroic or villainous sides of the cast is willing to accept that someone so pusillanimous [[InsultToRocks even by Muggle standards]] was able to get so lucky [[ImproperlyParanoid and keep looking for a mastermind who does not exist]].
** In a Shonen battle drama with a mostly-mage cast, Rocky the BadassNormal has a sub-plot where he tries his damnedest to not be left behind and has the fear that [[CantCatchUp he will]], and [[BloodierAndGorier the bloodiest fights of the series]] as he takes on the MonsterOfTheWeek with his bare knuckles, improvised weapons, and brains.
* '''Played for Horror''': The ''Harry Potter'' knock-off's [[WhamEpisode Wham]] -slash- VerySpecialEpisode involves TheTeamNormal [[WhosLaughingNow finally snapping]] and going on a killing spree, [[ThePlotReaper massacring most]] of the once-apparently-invincible super-mages in the cast [[MultipleGunshotDeath with copious amounts of gunfire]].

** Muggles are rendered [[NoSell immune to the wizard's]] [[PsychoElectro Thunderbolt spell]] due to the rubber in the soles of their shoes, and his Ice spells due to the Gortex parkas they happen to be wearing; things that didn't exist when the wizard was in power. [[MagicAIsMagicA Since he can't learn Fire or Earth spells,]] a muggle wearing these can just walk up and beat him insensate. However, a Fire/Earth wizard presents different challenges, necessitating [[HazmatSuit fireproof clothing]] and a ranged weapon to take down.

* '''Exploited''': A wizard challenges another wizard to a duel, only [[CombatPragmatist to pull out a Colt and fill their opponent with lead]].

** In a Shonen battle drama with a mostly-mage cast, the BadassNormal has a sub-plot where he tries his damnedest to not be left behind and has the fear that [[CantCatchUp he will]], and [[BloodierAndGorier the bloodiest fights of the series]] as he takes on the MonsterOfTheWeek with his bare knuckles, improvised weapons, and brains.

** Miyagi, who's a master at his martial art of DrunkenBoxing, couldn't hold his own against more conventional mixed martial arts; Karatekas, Boxers, Judokas, Amateur Wrestlers, and Muay Thai practicioners will easily beat him even in a fair fight.

** Miyagi the elven master of SupernaturalMartialArts is shanked to death by a random thief with a switchblade.

** A wizard slaughters a company of Muggle infantry only to get blown up by a cruise missile.

* '''Straight''': A perfectly ordinary rocket launcher blows up the 10,000-year-old demon.

** It's a RevengeFic of the "I Want to Blow Away Voldemort with MoreDakka" type.