[[ElGoonishShive http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Squirrel_Genius.gif]]
[[caption-width:400: Squirrel Genius works in mysterious ways.]]
This character would be nothing more than TheDitz, except they have one area of expertise in which ''no one'' can beat them. When that skill or talent is needed, they suddenly switch gears from airheadedness to hypercompetency. Sometimes they don't even know that they're doing it.

Such a character who is well respected may become a [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny-Ears Lawyer]]. An extreme form may border on TheRainman. Genius Ditz is closely related to IdiotSavant. Contrast with CloudCuckoolander.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Mihoshi Kiramitsu from some of the various ''TenchiMuyo!'' continuities. (Talent: Several, actually. Full eidetic memory, outrageous luck and the ability to get into places where she shouldn't -- or ''couldn't possibly'' -- be.) In the {{OVA}}, however, she tends more toward [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny-Ears Lawyer]].
** It's lightly implied in many of the continuities that Mihoshi used to be a genius cop, but she got so overstressed that she had a mental breakdown -- thus becoming the way she is now and that the moments of hypercompetence are actually remnants of her former self.
**Seina Yamada, protagonist of the ''TenchiMuyo!'' [[SpinOff Spin-Off]] ''TenchiMuyo GXP: Galaxy Police Transporter'', is purported to be "blessed" with the worst luck in the universe. His bad luck, however, has a tendency to land him in a number of favorable circumstances and eventually lands him his own command with the Galaxy Police.
*** The blessing comes from his bad luck having a tendency to literally ''bleed'' onto other people. He isn't effected as much because he's used to it and, regardless of how bad his luck is, will only suffer injuries. People in the proximity, not so much.
* Yurika Misumaru from ''MartianSuccessorNadesico''. (Talent: Tactical/strategic genius.) However, she takes the "ditz" part to such an extreme that she really [[IdiotBall makes a great deal more tactical/strategic blunders than she does actually intelligent moves]].
** As a big fan of the series, I could write an entire treatise on how over-simplified the above statement is, but suffice it to say that aside from a few mistakes with ''[[RocksFallEveryoneDies major]]'' consequences, she really does act as a qualified captain. She ''is'' a ditz, but she also uses that to hide just how strategic she really is underneath. In fact, I'm fairly convinced that her romantic pursuit of Akito falls into the category of BatmanGambit.
* Shima Katase from ''StellviaOfTheUniverse'', directed and produced by the same people as ''Nadesico''. (Talent: Genius programmer.) Granted, she is not as ditzy as Yurika...
* Mutsumi Otohime from ''LoveHina'' is a classic example of the trope; when studying for her exams, she aces most of the practice tests, but in the actual exam she fails because she repeatedly forgets to write her name on the paper. Later in the manga version, Mutsumi becomes (somewhat) less ditzy but continues to affect ditziness in order to keep people around her guessing.
* Minako Aino/"Sailor Venus" from ''SailorMoon'' may be a GeniusDitz. (Talent: Combat.) However, her characterization varies depending on whether you're talking about the manga, the anime, [[PrettyGuardianSailorMoon the live-action adaptation]], the stage musicals, or the original ''Codename: Sailor V'' manga, which was a [[FunPersonified less serious]] precursor to ''Sailor Moon'' (and part of its manga continuity) with Minako as the main character.
* Most of the characters from ''MahouTsukaitai'' are {{Genius Ditz}}es of one type or another. The main character is useless at everything except her magic, which is superpowerful, and the white-haired girl is literally a complete ditz until she does magic, at which she's better than anyone else, except that she makes things spin when she affects them with magic.
* Ed from ''CowboyBebop'' is a genius hacker who otherwise has trouble even communicating in normal speech, and often seems prone to wander off chasing the most recent interesting thing that crossed her line of vision.
* Yomiko and, to a greater degree, the Paper Sisters of ''ReadOrDie'' fall into this category, generally acting as lazy, incompetent, and clumsy bibliophile PrettyFreeloaders... that is, until it's time to sharpen their index cards and head out in their true capacities as paper-wielding super-spies.
* Ryuichi Sakuma from ''{{Gravitation}}'' in his spare time is a hyperactive, pun-loving kid adult who makes the {{Keet}}-like Shuichi look subdued, but on stage proves why he became Japan's most famous singer. In the manga, though, he displays insight and quick thinking even when in "ditzy" mode, which makes him more of a BunnyEarsLawyer in original canon.
* Orihime from ''{{Bleach}}'', [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} scatter-brained]] GenkiGirl and a straight 'A' student. (And, in the manga at least, a black belt in karate. The anime changes this to a yellow belt, which is the first rank above beginner, [[InformedAbility which isn't without justification]])
** ActionGirl Mashiro Kuma acts like an AdultChild and dresses up like a ''KamenRider'' {{fangirl}}, but [[spoiler: she can keep her Hollow mask on for ''hours''. And was a lieutenant in the Gotei 13 before she became a Visored]].
* Gourry Gabriev of the ''[[TheSlayers Slayers]]'' series is a brilliantly talented swordsman who is otherwise about as sharp as a bag of wet sponges.
** In the books he's just ObfuscatingStupidity and finds great fun in irritating famously short-tempered Lina.
** This troper suggests that the anime version be looked at as a minmaxed low-Intelligence character with a smarter-than-usual player... with his occasional moments of noncombat competency explained by the player running out of patience with the stupid act.
** One thing to bear in mind is that he was able to figure out that Xellos was a mazoku before the rest of the main cast did, so...yeah.
* Inoue Miyako from ''{{Digimon Adventure 02}}'' is pretty handy with computers -- and for that matter, anything technological -- but tends to be a fiery GenkiGirl otherwise.
* Yurie from ''[[{{Kamichu}} Kamichu!]]'' arguably qualifies, since she's a [[MoeMoe clumsy, shy teenager]] who just [[AGodAmI happens to be a god]].
* Joshua Lundgren of ''GunXSword'' is one of the greatest mecha engineers in the world... and doesn't understand why women scream when a guy walks into the girl's bathroom.
* A common {{Fanon}} view regarding Ranma Saotome, titular character of ''[=~Ranma ½~=]'', but it doesn't really match canon. While he doesn't seem to care that much about schoolwork, he is implied in both canons to do at least average, he has a wide amount of ecletic knowledge and can usually be counted on to know at least something helpful about just about anything, and is pretty much an expert at improvisation and tactical thinking. Pretty much everyone he knows is impressed at his skill at spotting weaknesses in an opponent's fighting style, revising techniques (or applications of techniques), and otherwise finding a way to come out on top. The one skill he does seem to lack in is social skills, but that is justifiable partially due to Ranma being a very private person (even his [[OfficialCouple "real" girlfriend]], [[{{Tsundere}} Akane Tendo]], doesn't know much about him or have any insight into his thoughts) and partially due to the {{Muggles}} he interacts with naturally being scared off. Between the [[GenderBender switching sexes with cold/hot water deal]], the dangerously indiscriminate [[SupernaturalMartialArts inhumanly skilled]] rivals, the almost-as-bad would-be love interests, the two {{Old Master}}s (one of whom is a DirtyOldMan who literally lives to grope girls and steal their underthings), and [[WeirdnessMagnet the general frickin' strangeness that seems to seek him out like flies chasing honey]], it's no wonder that they consider him one of the school freaks.
* Son Goku of ''DragonBall'' is so naive he didn't know the difference between boys and girls until he was 12, even miscounted his own age at one point. However, his brilliance is found in fighting, first and foremost. He learnt how to fire his own Kamehameha wave simply by watching Muten Roshi do it, despite the fact he took fifty years developing that move, not only took it as his signature move but created variations and enhancements of the move Roshi couldn't have possibly foreseen, proclaiming him to be a "genius". Also, learning the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Kaio-ken]] and the [[SpiritBomb Genki Dama]] not only took him less than nine months to learn, but even though with the former he's not supposed to multiply it by even beyond twice, [[TakeAThirdOption he found a way]] to push it to times twenty, and the latter he found a way to gather energy from nearby planets and collect it. He even discovered the weaknesses behind his own [[SuperMode Super Saiyan]] form just by using it once, [[TakeAThirdOption and find an effective way to use it]].
** What, no mention of Bulma?
* Athena from ''{{ARIA}}'' is regarded as a highly respectable ''undine'' and is even known as one of the three "Water Faeries" of [[CityOfCanals Neo Venezia]] -- which is also helped by her singing abilities. Still she is prone to extremely ditzy behavior, sometimes being spaced out so much that she comes dangerously close to being a {{cloudcuckoolander}}.
* Jirou Akutagawa from ''ThePrinceOfTennis.'' Sweet-tempered, child-like, kinda dense, a practically chronic HeavySleeper... and a regular at ''Hyoutei'' of all schools.
* Arguably, Mikuru Asahina from the anime (and manga and light novel series) ''TheMelancholyOfHaruhiSuzumiya'', who comes across as little more than an empty-headed little piece of eye-candy when introduced (see [[MoeMoe Moe]]) but who, it is implied, may actually be an accomplished time traveling special agent.
** [[ObfuscatingStupidity Her ditziness is probably a survival mechanism]]. You'd probably have trouble holding an intelligent conversation with someone from hundreds of years ago without blowing your cover, too.
** In the novels she states that parts of her mind have been artifically blocked to prevent her from revealing any significant information from the future time, which can seriously impair her communication abilities. She is also rather baffled why a simple trainee like her is given such important missions -- it probably has something do do with the fact that [[spoiler:one of her superiors is in fact her future self, even though she has no idea that this is the case.]] Still, she clearly isn't incompetent, just inexperienced.
* Miyako of ''HidamariSketch'' may look like a GenkiGirl with [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny ADHD]], commonly subjected to the DeadpanSnarking by Sae, but both her artistic and academic abilities are certainly levels above the other characters, with a ''heavy'' subversion for BookDumb. That said, her use of GratuitousEnglish is also quite terrible...
* Natsuhiko Taki from ''{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is an utter moron, plain and simple; He doesn't even know his ''times tables''. But if a question is asked in terms of American football, no matter how complicated, he'll always answer it correctly in seconds.
* In ''AxisPowersHetalia'', America lacks in [[YouFailGeographyForever geography]] and sometimes common sense, but he's good with technology like computers and aircrafts.
* Tamaki Suoh in ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' -- crazy idiot, but can play the piano better than anyone.
* Jack Rakan of ''MahouSenseiNegima'' acts like an idiot pretty much all the time... except when you fight him, at which point he becomes invincible. Rides the line between GeniusDitz and ''major'' ObfuscatingStupidity, as whether he's that competent at anything other than fighting is [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation up for debate.]]
* ''AzumangaDaioh'''s Osaka isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but don't challenge her to games involving marine biology or obscure kanji.
* Yui from ''[=~K-On!~=]'', especially after Azusa arrives. Best example: Yui doesn't know what a guitar tuner is; she's only able to tune her guitar because she has perfect pitch. Which gets even worse, because she doesn't know what perfect pitch is...
**Or what about that part in episode 4 where Yui [[spoiler:reproduces a song she only heard once]]? Even Mugi was stunned by that.
* Koga Haruka from the manga/anime ''{{H2}}''. She can be a bit silly at times but her true ditziness is only her clumsiness; she even carries bandages around because she keeps hurting herself.
* Kazuma Azuma from ''YakitateJapan'' is skilled in three things: Culinary arts, rice, and...math, for some reason.
* Yang Wenli from ''LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes''. While he's a fantastically brilliant military mind, he's fairly incompetent at anything that doesn't have to do with history and battlefield analysis. He's also very casual and awkward, especially in contrast to his WorthyOpponent, the elegant and composed Reinhard von Lohengramm.
** Except that Yang is a well respected military officier, and the few people who dout his abilities and insight are [[SmugSnake Smug Snakes]] and [[StrawHypocrite Straw Hypocrites]], so he his much more a BunnyEarsLawyer than a GeniusDitz, besides, Reinhart is almost as much a social misfit, he just learned to ''look'' coll while is funny LuminescentBlush scene shows just how insecure he is.
* Arguably, Misa Amane from ''DeathNote''. Boy crazy, [[AdultChild childish]], bubbly... and a ''very'' succesful IdolSinger, actress and model.
** And a devious, intelligent mass murderer. It took the world's best detective (assisted by forensics laboratories) to [[spoiler: track down the extremely unlikely evidence that revealed her identity as the Second Kira]]. In this regard, she only looks like a ditz next to [[TheChessmaster Light]], and because her obsession with him blinds her to the rest of the world.
*** Or perhaps that was simply due to [[spoiler: having access to a Death Note. Sure, L discovered the existence of such a thing, but who would think that there'd actually be ''two'' at work in one setting? Finding evidence of Death Note use is not exactly the easiest thing ever, forensics laboratories or not.]]
* The version of Professor Moriarty from ''MeitanteiHolmes'' (US name ''SherlockHound'') is capable of devising brilliant criminal schemes and performing remarkable feats of engineering, but has trouble with common-sense issues like checking the pressure gauge on a steam press so it doesn't explode, ensuring that the river he's using for a HostageForMacguffin exchange is actually deep enough to be any sort of obstacle, or not following a small child out onto an aircraft wing that's made out of paper and can't possibly support his weight.
* IrresponsibleCaptainTylor causes ceaseless debate, in the series and amongst the fans, over whether his happy-go-lucky, lecherous, impulsive and often moronic antics are the real him and he's simply ''just that lucky'' (perhaps '''because''' [[TheFool he's such a moron]]), or if he's a MagnificentBastard who finds ObfuscatingStupidity to be the perfect disguise. Or he could be a mixture of both; genuinely smart at core, but also either somewhat crazed or just lacking in common sense, so he isn't faking his antics in the slightest.
* Suzu in NagasareteAirantou. While [[YouFailPhysicsForever she doesn't know a thing about math]], she's very good at shogi (japanese chess) and a first rate fighter.
-->'''Ikuto''':...what's the total? Ahaha, you can do something as easy as this, right?
-->'''Suzu''':[[http://www.onemanga.com/Nagasarete_Airantou/38/08/ ...need...More...fingers...]]
*Sciezka/Sheska from ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' is clumsy, daydreams, and can copy a book word for word for weeks or even months after she has read it. Just give her the book title/description, it can be anything with words, including records. This is how she lands the job recreating all the character files burned in the Central Library while being overseen by Hughes. She can also remember all the facts in said books as well at the drop of a hat!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''{{Deadpool}}'' probably counts as one. Sure, he's certifiably insane, completely unpredictable, constantly breaks the fourth wall and never ever ever stops talking -- ''ever'' -- but when it comes to fighting, shooting, stabbing and generally causing mayhem, he's one of the best in the whole Marvel Universe.
* Several ''DonaldDuck'' stories would have the titular duck discovering an previously inexpressed aptitude at some obscure field, like counting objects or instrument playing.
** He is also often shown to be quite a competent mechanic.
***He has kept ''[[TheAllegedCar that car]]'' running for quite some time.
* ModestyBlaise's lover Dr Pennyfeather, a bungling but surprisingly efficient doctor.
* In ''DoomPatrol'', Flash Forward is TheSmartGuy and a DeadpanSnarker who often shows a greater capacity for lateral or existential thought than his teammates. He's also a poor kid from rural Alabama who dropped out of school in the 7th grade.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Rocket Man''. The titular character is a complete moron with anything that isn't related to aeronautics or astronautics. He's also pretty good at holding his breath.
* Ragetti in the ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' series is illiterate and lacking in common sense, but behind that wooden eye lies the brain of a philosopher, scholar, and man who knows the original Scandinavian pronunciation of "Krakan".
** He's also the one who [[spoiler: figures out how to free Calypso.]]
** Will was one of these in the first movie: though not a complete moron, he's pretty slow on the take and in ''way'' over his head. Until it's time for a sword fight, in which case, your ass is grass.
* Elle Woods of ''LegallyBlonde'' maintained a 4.0 GPA (albeit as a fashion major), frequently came up with rather "creative" events for her sorority, and got a 179 on her [=LSATs=]. And while still a law student, she literally wore [[BunnyEarsLawyer bunny ears]] to what she'd been told was a costume party. Her encyclopedic knowledge of hair care saved her first client from death. (BasedOnATrueStory or something; the author of the original semi-autobiographical book admitted she picked Stanford Law School [the film relocated the story to Harvard] because it was ''close to her favorite national mall''.)
* Cleverly played with in the film ''Fool's Gold'' with the character of [[UpperClassTwit dim heiress]] Gemma. The female lead has been (impatiently) coaching Gemma she is smarter than she acts, so when Gemma has a sudden brainwave as the heroes return to their yacht the audience naturally expects some amazing insight that will find the treasure they have been searching for while confirming Gemma is more than just an airhead. Actually it turns out to be that Gemma has only just realized that the name of her father's ship ('The Precious Gem') is, get this, similar to ''her'' name.
* The 2008 movie version of ''GetSmart'' casts Maxwell Smart as something like this in that; whilst he's notably clumsy and overconfident as a field agent, his abilities as an intelligence analyst are remarked upon by many characters as being the finest in the agency. They also come in useful in the field; [[spoiler:his in-depth understanding of and empathy with a PunchClockVillain enables Smart to give him some relationship advice -- in return, the henchman spares Max and 99 and later tips Max off about a bomb in Los Angeles]]. Smart is also presented as being both surprisingly cunning and resourceful and a crack-shot, proving his usefulness to Agent 99.
* The Steve Martin reboot of ''ThePinkPanther'' series portrays Inspector Clouseau as a clumsy TedBaxter type prone to brilliant strokes of inspiration.
* Rebecca Woodward in the film version of ''Confessions of a Shopaholic'', who is genuinely ditzy but (to her own surprise) proves brilliant at explaining prudent finance to lay people through shopping analogies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In GeorgetteHeyer's novel ''Cotillion'', Freddy Standen is generally (if fondly) regarded as a complete idiot by most of his family. However, he has impeccable manners and his shrewd knowledge of social niceties make him extremely competent at dealing with the situations the heroine finds herself in. As she notes, Freddy may not have brains, but he does have ''address'', which is far more useful.
* Fred Colon of [[{{Discworld}} the Ankh-Morpork City Watch]], a long-time copper (who is in fact at the age he should have retired but has decided he doesn't want to) who is not very intelligent, but has peerless instincts as a Watchman.
** Brutha from ''[[{{Discworld}} Small Gods]]'' can't read or write, but has a perfect memory.
** Stanley from ''[[{{Discworld}} Going Postal]]'' appears to be {{raised by wolves}} (by peas, actually) but has a fanatical devotion to pins, and later, post stamps.
** Lofty of ''[[{{Discworld}} Monstrous Regiment]]'' silently shuns everything and everyone except one longtime friend, right up until there is a pressing need to have something [[{{PyroManiac}} burnt, blown up, or otherwise combusted]].
** Mr. Tulip in ''[[{{Discworld}} The Truth]]'' is a [[DumbMuscle hulking bruiser]] who could probably be outsmarted by Detritus on a warm day. He's so dumb, in fact, that his efforts to cultivate a drug habit have resulted in him snorting baking soda, washing powder, powdered chalk, etc. and never knowing the difference. He doesn't even swear properly; he just drops an "-ing" three times in the average sentence, and it's not a euphemism for anything. Show the man a work of art, however, and you'll suddenly have a giant, slurry-mouthed, red-nostriled ''expert'' on your hands.
* At the SuperHeroSchool Whateley Academy in the WhateleyUniverse, one of the teachers in the Magical Arts department is Circe. No, not some superpowered woman using the codename "Circe". ''The'' Circe, who's thousands of years old. She's a brilliant mage with what seems like amazing precognitive and postcognitive powers... which, after thousands of years of this, make her wander around talking about stuff that has nothing to do with what's going on currently. "I told them not to leave the Book Depository unprotected, but..."
** A better example might be Solange, who is stupid enough to constantly get herself into jams that even her money can't buy her out of. But she's got a real flair for finding ways of using her mutant powers, even when the mutant power she's using is one she stole from someone else.
* Neville Longbottom in the ''HarryPotter'' novels can't seem to cast even the simplest spell without a critical fumble... until he discovers that he's crazy skilled at Herbology.
** And of course, those [[TookALevelInBadass badass levels he took]] around the 5th book helped a bit.
** Professor Sybill Trelawney is both this trope ''and'' its inverse: she is apparently utterly incompetent at Divination, her own field of study. However, upon occasion, she is capable of oracular predictions about the future, which, due to happening in a trance, she knows nothing about, and refuses to believe in when she is told what it was that she predicted.
** Ron is BookDumb but amazing at... [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway chess]]. At least he gets an EigenPlot for it.
* Freddy Arbuthnot from the ''LordPeterWimsey'' novels is a classic GeniusDitz, whose talent is finance.
** Lord Peter himself comes across as this, though that is explicitly stated to be a coping strategy for the post-traumatic stress he acquired in the Great War.
* Julia Larwood of Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar mysteries is presented as a highly skilled tax barrister who, apart from regularly getting lost in the city she lives in, completely forgets to pay her own taxes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Ricky in the Canadian comedy series ''TrailerParkBoys'' is an absolute moron most of the time, but whenever he and best friend Julian are at risk of being arrested by the police, he suddenly becomes a tactical genius, able to generate fake evidence and alibis that get them off the hook 99% of the time. Nevertheless, almost every season ends with the pair being arrested and sent to jail.
** Ricky's also an expert when it comes to growing marijuana and converting it to hashish. He and Julian make an effective team when it comes to dealing drugs -- Julian handles the business side of the operation, while Ricky grows and harvests the dope crop.
* In ''BoyMeetsWorld'', after spending the first couple of seasons as BrilliantButLazy Eric took over the role of CloudCuckooLander with shades of GeniusDitz, FunPersonified, and TheWoobie.
* Waldo of ''FamilyMatters''. After spending a couple seasons as TheDitz bordering on the CloudCuckoolander, he surprises everyone when he takes a home economics course and proves a natural genius as a chef. His mom is a lousy cook, so he had to fend for himself.
* Rom, from ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', appears to be a total idiot for much of the time -- until he reveals a hidden, and borderline savant-like, talent for engineering. His son Nog also proves himself to both have his uncle's business acumen and a knack for engineering as well.
* Fargo North, Decoder in ''TheElectricCompany'' is clumsy, egotistical, and obsessed with sandwiches. However, as his name implies, he is a great decoder... well, actually, sometimes he isn't even good at that. Sometimes he forgets where the period goes, for example (this is deliberately done so that the kids at home have a chance to figure it out themselves). Nevertheless, the rest of the characters always turn to him for all their decoding needs.
* Michael Scott, from the American version of ''TheOffice'' is childish, selfish, egotistical, deeply insecure and lonely, and an all around buffoon with no managerial skills whatsoever. He also demonstrates on occasion that he is a superb salesman who is roundly beloved by his clients, which is what got him promoted in the first place. (David Brent, his counterpart in the original UK series, lacks any such redeeming features).
* Carter from ''HogansHeroes'' is enthusiastic but generally oblivious and he tends to get teased for his cluelessness -- until they need something blown up.
* The (radio) newsreader in ''In The Red'' is invariably stoned and away with the fairies -- right up to the second she goes on air, when she suddenly turns completely sane and professional.
* Shawn Spencer of ''{{Psych}}'' tends to be immature and goofy and annoys the heck out of everyone he works with... but they put up with him because underneath all the psychic hoopla, his HyperAwareness makes him a brilliant detective.
* Likewise, Adrian Monk of ''{{Monk}}'' is normally unable to function in society due to his severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and fear of just about everything. However, once he sets foot in a crime scene, he can almost instantly solve the crime with the smallest or most overlooked pieces of evidence.
** May be [[TruthInTelevision Truth in Television]] to an extent. This troper's husband has OCD and is spookily good at finding things that are lost, for example. And finding bugs in programs. (Unfortunately the beneficial elements of OCD are what make it so hard to get rid of for good.)
** Monk's brother exhibits similar qualities: He has an extreme case of agoraphobia that prevents him from (nearly) ever leaving his house (as well as a related phobia that prevents him from entering the study of their father), but is evidently a highly skilled writer of technical manuals.
* London Tipton, of ''TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', may be this when it comes to chess. However, since ''ThisTroper'' has only ever seen her play Maddie, it may be Maddie's incompetence.
** However in another episode she is able to alter a nurse's uniform into a ballroom dancing costume in a matter of minutes.
* Lord John Marbury from ''TheWestWing'' is a specialist on India who is prone to great insight on the subject. Too bad that the rest of the time, he's a pompous airbag [[MyNameIsNotDurwood who can't even keep Leo's name straight]]. Then again, this may be more ObfuscatingStupidity (coupled with a mischievous desire to needle Leo -- he also frequently claims to have mistaken Leo for the White House butler) than anything that belongs on this page. His persona does seem to radically shift when he gets serious, including getting people's names right, making it seem at least partly a strategy.
* Joey from ''{{Friends}}'' is dim, shallow and a fairly bad actor, but he has an amazing talent to attract girls. It helps that he's blandly pretty and can be quite earnest.
* Mr. Bean from ''MrBean'' on some occasions but most of the time he comes across as just TheDitz.
** ''Mr. Bean's Diary'' includes the character's school certificate on which, among others, the following marks are given:
--> Chemistry -- 53% -- He is inventive. As a result, form. SB is lucky to be alive.
--> Physics -- 65% -- Very encouraging. A boy died when co-operating with his lie-detector experiment, as you know, but nevertheless the exam results are excellent.
--> Geography -- 54% -- A surprisingly good result considering he only succeded in finding the classroom twice this term.
--> Art -- 58% -- He draws well, but has difficulty with nudes (looking at them).
--> and finally:
--> Mathematics -- 94% -- An obnoxious, self-satisfied, self-centred, shabby, dribbling, bone-idle, toadying cow-put of a pupil; his most revolting quality being that he is quite, quite brilliant.
* Kramer on ''{{Seinfeld}}'' is a prime example of the character whose life is a complete shambles (no job, no source of income, no sense of stability or direction, and no clue how or if his situation is ever going to change) and who would seem to be a perfect male incarnation of TheDitz (as he doesn't really appear to be concerned about any of the above), were it not for the fact that, as at least one major character has remarked, his "...whole life is a fantasy camp. People should plunk down $2000 to live like him for a week. Sleep, do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbors and have sex without dating... ''that's'' a fantasy camp." He might also be considered an example of an IdiotSavant.
** Not for nothing is he a [[KavorkaMan trope namer]].
* ''[[ThirdRockFromTheSun 3rd Rock from the Sun]]'': while most if not all of the "Solomon family" members come across as partially or completely socially inept, this is in actuality because they are aliens living on Earth "undercover", and despite lacking a fundamental understanding of social interaction are in reality thousands or perhaps even millions of years more advanced than the humans around them.
** The exception would be Harry Solomon, played by French Stewart, who seems to be genuinely mentally challenged but is at the same time irresistibly attractive to human females and who repeatedly finds himself involved in intimate relationships without even having been trying (granted, this would probably be more of an unconscious talent than a skill were it not for the fact that Harry himself has commented -- with pride -- on his own promiscuity). Like Kramer from ''Seinfeld'' (see above), Harry might also be classified as an IdiotSavant.
* Then there's [[DoctorWho Donna Noble]]. One Word: Supertemp.
* [[{{Supernatural}} Dean Winchester]] can turn a broken Walkman into a fully functional electromagnetic frequency (EMF) meter. He rebuilt his incredibly rare [[CoolCar 1967 Chevy]] [[CompanionCube Impala]] after she was annihilated when a semi ran into her in the Season 1 finale. What can his book-smart, Stanford-educated, younger brother Sam do? Hotwire a car and drive it (and Dean can probably do that better than him).
* Constable Turnbull of ''DueSouth'' is eccentric even compared to Fraser (the BunnyEarsLawyer series lead), is easily flustered, [[CloudCuckoolander sometimes clearly isn't operating on the same wavelength as the rest of the cast]], and doesn't perform very impressively at his actual job most of the time, but shows skill at cooking, art, and country music trivia.
* Doug from ''{{Scrubs}}''. Bonus points because it's his inadequacy (in being a doctor) that makes him such a genius in the morgue at figuring out what killed patients.
** And there's also JD, who's a great doctor, but otherwise a complete idiot.
* Reese from ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'' is almost TooDumbToLive, but an amazing cook. His brother Dewey is much less of an idiot, but his exceptional musical talent still stands out.
* Moss from ''TheITCrowd''. He's great at computers, he's got a great memory... and yet, he's rather seriously lacking in common sense.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Goombella from ''PaperMario: The Thousand Year Door'' talks like a Valley Girl, and seems to be every bit the cutesy airhead this would imply... but she also has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the game world and its inhabitants, further aided by a [[BookOfShadows book that has facts on every enemy you face, no matter how obscure.]]
* Both Zell Dincht and Selphie Tilmitt come across as being not quite the brightest bulbs, or at least having very short attention spans, but the two of them turn out to be the most technologically savvy characters in the player's party and the designated pilots of the CoolShip (after the party runs off with it courtesy of Selphie sitting down at the controls: "It just kind of took off!").
** ''FinalFantasyX'''s Rikku, often clumsy (More so in X-2), can mix items to create deadly weapons. [[ThePickpocket And she's a talent thief]].
** This is almost assuredly obfuscating stupidity, sense she's also a skilled mechanic and expresses pretty deep insight into matters on several occasions. Her brother, named oddly 'Brother', is a better example, as he's a total social inept, can barely speak the common language on the planet (granted, he didn't even know it til two years ago, but he's the only bilingual member of his people to have speaking problems), and oftentimes he just misses the point entirely, but he nearly singlehandedly excavated and repaired the airship he's letting you tool around in in the second game.
* Kang the Mad from ''JadeEmpire'' is brilliant when it comes to making things fly and explode. In is his own words, "The things he flies tend to survive! The things he explodes... not so much." Go to him for anything else, and he's pretty well useless.
* Guybrush Threepwood from the ''MonkeyIsland'' series has a fair share of wit and an uncanny ability to craft incredibly convoluted and improbable solutions to almost any problem he is faced with. He's also so ditzy he regularly makes other characters wonder how he can function in everyday life.
** He can also hold his breath for ten minutes. [[spoiler:Which happens to come in handy on many occasions, given the man is a ''pirate''.]]
* This troper would like to nominate Andy from ''{{Advance Wars}},'' the only mechanical genius who doesn't know that there's more than one continent! Or what an airport is, apparently.
** It's more that, for the sake of the tutorial, they superglued an [[IdiotBall idiot ball]] to him. Unfortunately, perhaps they forgot to take it off him again for the rest of the game.
* In ''KingdomHearts,'' Goofy takes this role. He tends to be one of the more observant of the group, albeit speaking as if it's entirely obvious to everyone else. For example, he's the only one that picks up that Mulan is female at first.
** He's also oddly philosophical, assuring a worrying Sora that they would end up somewhere, even if [[spoiler: The End Of The World]] disappeared, at the end of the first game.
* Alan Probe, the star of ''Amateur Surgeon''. While he's an incredibly talented surgeon capable of performing complicated operations in mere minutes with the simplest of tools (like a ''pizza cutter'' and a ''stapler''), and eventually became globally famous and wealthy because of his tremendous skill (with feats such as operating on a CaptainErsatz of Superman and somehow operating on a car that suddenly arrived from the past), the DistantFinale Christmas edition is quick to remind the player that he's still an utter moron.
* ''[[CityOfHeroes City of Villains]]'' has [[MadScientist Dr. Aeon]]. He ''would'' be a serious threat, [[LaughablyEvil if he weren't so scatter-brained]]. As it is, he usually ends up [[TheChewToy fouling up his own plots]]. Plus, he gave us the Mission Editor. You ''have'' to like him for that.
* Touka of ''{{Utawarerumono}}'' is apparently an incredibly competent fighter who can run rings around Oboro and Kouro. She's also a rather goofy airhead who's even denser than [[SelectiveObliviousness Hakuoro]] and a ''little'' too eager to be a bodyguard.
* Arcueid of ''{{Tsukihime}},'' even if nobody realizes until Shiki gets involved with her. [[RaisedByWolves She has no social skills due to her upbringing]] and Ciel is even astonished that she can actually speak. Apart from her [[PersonOfMassDestruction super strength, Marble Phantasm]] and knowledge of the occult she's a CloudCuckoolander with no life experience. Actual intelligence is pretty difficult to pin down because of how, well, ''[[ShapedLikeItself ditzy]]'' she is. If she's not killing vampires, she's somewhere between a hyperactive six-year-old and someone a year or three older than Shiki.
* ''FireEmblem'' has Mia, an extreme GenkiGirl who's so oblivious that she sincerely believes that a sickly [[StaffChick Staff Dude]] is destined to be her rival and challenges him to duels on the spot. However, she's very talented with a sword, both in gameplay and in story, as [[spoiler:she's allowed to stay with the hero's personal team permanently after the end of the story, and was one of the few teammates to be directly praised by him in the sequel.]]
** Well, there is a scene when she asks Ike to go all-out against her because she thinks this is a good training regimen: when Ike fights seriously, he slaughters armies [[spoiler: and kills gods]], but for Mia, this is just the kind of extra challenge she needs to [[BadassNormal stay in shape]].
* Tess from ''JakAndDaxter'' seems like a typical DumbBlonde... until you need a {{BFG}}. Then she'll whip out her newest model, [[TechnoBabble regalling you with all its cool features]].
* Utsuho Reuiji of the ''{{Touhou}}'' games fits this trope, especially in the fighting game ''Touhou Hisoutensoku''. She's a literal birdbrain (a hell raven) who seems to forget what she was thinking after a few seconds and acts like a total airhead, yet she seems to have a vast knowledge of nuclear physics. She's been doing an excellent job of keeping the nuclear reactor that the Moriya shrine has set up from exploding, at least.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The ferret, Mr Socks, from ''[[http://www.commanderkitty.com/index.php?strip_id=10 Commander Kitty]]'' is the ship's engineer. "He may talk like a babbling boob, but he's a scientific genius."
* Largo from ''{{Megatokyo}}'' is a pretty good example. He has, at best, [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} a tenuous hold on reality]], but he's a genius when it comes to assembling and programming computers.
** Ping also qualifies, being an incredibly complex artificial intelligence system, combat droid and medical diagnosis unit that has been programmed to be a dizzy ShallowLoveInterest. The other characters continue to express surprise when she suddenly displays detailed knowledge of her internal make up, no matter how often it happens.
* Fighter in [[EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]] often displays a childish stupidity of sorts as well as immense naivety. However he is at times capable of making comments and having thoughts that suggest a higher intellect than one would believe. And as his name suggests, he's a master of armed combat, capable of safely wielding ludicrous numbers of swords at once, including the normally impossible to wield swordchucks.
** Fighter was a genius for a few comics but then [[spoiler: [[BatshitInsane Black Mage]] stabbed him in the head]]. He actually managed to store his genius persona in a part of his brain, unfortunately he stored it next to the part that knows everything about swords. The problem being that he really, really, ''really'' likes swords.
* Similarly, Mega Man in ''BobAndGeorge'' is an idiot most of the time, but when he's fighting a Robot Master (or even ''thinks'' he is), he comes up with effective winning strategies. This can be explained in that his functions are 1. defeat the robot master and 2. be an idiot, so he always does the second except when he can't since he has to do the first.
* Captain Kaff Tagon of ''SchlockMercenary'' is a complete idiot regarding most things, misunderstanding matters social and scientific, and letting his greed get the better of him on numerous occasions. However, when it regards matters of the military or combat, he's ''at least'' highly competent, and perhaps a minor genius. The extensive differences between his aptitudes led to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20050528.html this]] memorable strip.
* Scarlett from ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' is a ditz who has the amazing capability to build {{Death Ray}}s. She's also easily distracted by watching the washing machine spin round and round and round, and anything shiny. She is part squirrel after all. Turns out [[spoiler: she gets less ditzy and more genius when she's near her "sisters" Amber, Jade, and Violet.]]
* Celia from ''OrderOfTheStick''. She's come up with plans to unite the Azure City resistance, saved Haley from murderous rogues twice using only words and quick thinking, and even managed to win a complicated legal process while still a student [[spoiler:well, it was rigged anyway, but none of the lawyers knew that and the opposition was nervous about her skill]], but [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0529.html demonstrates that she lacks some ''very'' basic knowledge about humans here]]. (It's a good thing [[spoiler:she didn't try anything exotic with Roy on their date]]...) Of course, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0579.html Haley lampshades this.]]
** For that matter, Elan, who is so GenreSavvy that he could probably recite the entire rest of the comic's plot if he focused hard enough on it. Of course he can't, as Intelligence was most probably his dump stat...
* Several RPG-based comics seem to use a combination of Fighter and Gourry as a template: Hero of ''[[http://www.rpgworldcomic.com/ RPG World]]'' and Karn of ''[[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/ Adventurers!]]'' come to mind.
* Mei Ling is portrayed this way in ''TheLastDaysOfFoxhound''.
** Otacon is even worse, spending the entirety of the comic thinking the nuclear equipped walking death-mobile he's building is actually a ''missile defense system.'' All the while laughing at GIFs of Penguins falling into water, believing everything his {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}} boss tells him, trying to rationalize the need for making a ''stealth missile'' for his pet project, playing with action figures on the job, and misplacing his instruction manual for the aforementioned Death-Mobile.
*** This Troper always assumed that Otacon wasn't stupid, but so damn innocent that he couldn't comprehend that people could be that horrible. I mean come on, he thinks the president wouldn't risk the lives of so many people over some remains and money, and that the 'surprise' at the end of the project will be something nice. Even Wolf comments on the fact that if the whole world would be like him, it would be a beautiful place. Beautiful and ''stupid'', but beautiful nonetheless.
* Jim from ''DarthsAndDroids'' acts like an idiot most of the time in his portrayal of Qui-Gon. As it turns out, he's taking a Ph.D. in Geophysics, and simply acts stupid because he roleplays in his downtime and "He likes to turn his brain off."
* Jo Starr from ''{{Cheer}}'' is a CloudcuckooLander who talks to squirrels. She's also an absolute genius when it comes to analyzing motives and relationships.
* ''The Law of Purple'': Lynnah comes off as this at first, though she proves to have a much more developed personality later on. Her genius ability to is be a BadAssNormal ActionGirl. A more recently-introduced minor character, Kitty, seems to fit the trope much better, though she does get annoyed when [[spoiler: her coworkers at NASA don't always take her seriously]] as a result.
* Molly in ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' is tremendously knowledgeable on a vast array of subjects. She's just less than a year old and has very little common sense. Combine this naivete with being a GadgeteerGenius and wacky hijinks ensue.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Keiji Tanaka of ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' is firmly established to be an utter moron within moments of his entry into V3. However, he has an almost unparalleled skill handling a sword (due to years of practice), to the point where he comes close to defeating an axe-wielding opponent with a broken sabre whilst [[spoiler: bleeding to death.]]
* The new series version of [[CloudCuckoolander Sir Schmoopy]], in ''Unforgotten Realms''. In particular, he is a strategic (and loophole-finding) genius, who has, for example, figured out a way to survive ''blowing himself into a billion pieces''. On purpose.
* HomestarRunner is a bit of a CloudCuckooLander, refers to the star on his trademark shirt as "a pointy duck" and his supreme honesty makes him somewhat naive, but he is the star (no pun intended) athlete on Coach Z's team.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Hoagie aka Numbuh 2 of ''Codename: KidsNextDoor'' has a great talent for building and flying planes, but is otherwise a bit of a doofus. In later seasons, he shows more competence, with the IdiotBall now passed to Numbuh 4.
* [[MeaningfulName Melody]] from ''JosieAndThePussyCats'' is a GeniusDitz whose talent is music.
* In one episode of ''{{Daria}}'', Brittany shows herself to be a tactical genius in a game of paintball.
** She's actually not really that stupid, but [[ObfuscatingStupidity acts it]] to fit in.
* ''InvaderZim'''s titular character is a scientific and engineering genius, repeatedly showing himself capable of building devices beyond even those of his own species, such as a nigh-invincible nanotech exoskeleton, a time machine, a device capable of turning house pets into civilization-destroying abominations, and a monster capable of extracting energy from devouring ''anything''. Zim could probably have destroyed Earth in a day, had he not been utterly incapable of common sense -- his inventions always [[BunglingInventor blow up in his own face]], usually [[HoistByHisOwnPetard through no-one else's fault but his own]]. He's also more than capable of using the gullibility and general idiocy of humans to his own advantage in certain cases.
* The members of the band Dethklok in ''{{Metalocalypse}}'' are completely incompetent at anything not related to music, partying, or contract negotiation.
** On the later subject, they can out-negociate the devil.
** And even then, while they have those skills, they have none of the skills one would deem necessary to be good at those things. Skwisgaar, who writes the guitar lines and bass lines, and Toki, both of them the best guitarists alive, cannot read sheet music, and both Skwisgaar, Murderface & Toki do not know how to tune a guitar. Nathan, the guy that writes the lyrics, has lots of problem expressing himself, can barely read and seems to have a severely limited vocabulary when talking (but evidently, not when writing songs), in fact, he didn't speak before the age of 5. Lastly, despite their negotiation skills, they have no idea of the value of money or even how to manage it.
*** Really, Dethklok's general level of competency [[RuleOfFunny depends entirely on what makes for the funniest scene.]]
* [[TheRuntAtTheEnd Dopey]] of Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''. Disney didn't want him to be a ''complete'' idiot, so they let him do some fancy footwork during the dance sequence.
* In Disney's ''{{Gargoyles}}'', Broadway is initially portrayed as being generally less intelligent, or at least less erudite, than the other gargoyles. For one thing, he started off illiterate; for another, he seems more susceptible to pop culture influences; Hudson had both of these qualities, but he was ''also'' a canny veteran warrior. He's also the ComicRelief BigEater. However, he matures rapidly through the series, unleashing the soul of a poet, and becoming a skilled detective as well. And, naturally, a fine chef.
* Mr. Ping in ''KungFuPanda'' would in most senses be only TheDitz -- as WordOfGod puts it, "he's got a tiny little head, and there's nothing in it except noodles. And love for Po." However, not only is his knowledge of noodles and cooking in general something he is obviously very skilled at, since he teaches Po everything he knows and the Furious Five (almost) unanimously declare the panda's cooking sensational, but the end credits reveal he has another hidden talent: to judge by Shifu's horrified expression, Mr. Ping is apparently a stellar player of Chinese checkers (or perhaps Go, this editor isn't familiar enough with either game to tell).
* In ''{{Futurama}}'', Professor Farnsworth is a babbling old fool most of the time, but he is unmatched in the field of creating doomsday weapons.
--> '''Farnsworth:''' I suppose I could part with one and still be feared.
* Arguably, ''{{Spongebob Squarepants}}'' could fall into this category, as he is generally stupid and naive, but he is excellent at making Krabby Patties.
** And math surprisingly. He was once able to calculate the number of hours left in a week, in his head, in less than five seconds.
*** Patrick is also arguably a genius at '''being''' a ditz. On several occasions, he has been proclaimed a master in nothing[=/=]master in weird.
**** Untrue; he is skilled in the field of [[PerfectlyCromulentWord wumbology]].
** Spongebob likes this trope; Mr. Krabs is generally capable of pulling off scams as well as elaborate plans but lacks social skills. Plankton is a MadScientist who is unable to actually plan for success, or beyond five minutes. Squidward is probably the only character who ''isn't'' good at anything.
*** And yet Squidward wouldn't count because he's possibly the only sane and smart fish in all of Bikini Bottoms, meaning that he's not a ditz.
* [[spoiler:[[GentleGiant Bulkhead]]]] of ''TransformersAnimated'' is revealed to be Cybertron's foremost space bridge expert. Professor Sumdac and his fellow Autobots refuse to believe it, assuming that Blurr (and Megatron) got his intel wrong.
** In addition, Bulkhead is apparently a pretty good artist.
** Sumdac himself probably qualifies. He's a master roboticist (even if he cribbed most of his best stuff from reverse-engineering Megatron), but he occasionally forgets to do important things like eat, sleep or make sure there's a legal record of his daughter's existence.
* Wallace from ''WallaceAndGromit'' is a good example -- he's pretty clueless, but he's also an inventor, which, except for [[strike: a few mechanical defaults]] [[strike: defects]] regularly going spectacularly awry, seem to work pretty well.
** The book ''Cheese Lover's Yearbook'' introduced a number of non-filmed gadgets of his, such as the Recyc-O-Matic. The fact that when said out loud this includes "Psycho" is significant, because after he put arms and wheels on it, it proceeded to run amok, recycling building fronts and people's clothes before crashing into a brass band.
-->''The tuba player has not been seen since.''
* Chris from ''FamilyGuy'' is good at drawing... or at least used to be. They had an episode about and showed it a few other times, but then they apparently forgot about it.
** Peter himself knows a lot about pop culture, KISS in particular.
** Chris also has a good knowledge about drugs, as shown in the episode where Lois and Peter get high before a talent show.
*** No one beats Lois when it comes to drugs. She computed the street value of uncut Paraguayan cocaine in her head.
* On ''CatDog'', Lube is [[RalphWiggum the dumbest]] of [[TerribleTrio The Greasers]], but is apparently a genius mechanic.
* Linguini from Disney/Pixar's ''{{Ratatouille}}'' is shown as gangly, clumsy, dorky, fluent in BuffySpeak, and utterly useless at cooking, ruining a soup so badly he caused himself to throw up upon tasting. Then he discovers that it's legal to wait orders on rollerskates, and becomes little short of a Super Waiter.
--> Linguini: *zoom*
* ''WolverineAndTheXMen'' has Forge, a mutant with the power to invent and repair anything technological. As opposed to his persona in the comics -- a combination of GadgeteerGenius and MagicalNativeAmerican -- Forge in the TV show is a bumbling, neurotic teenager, useless in the field, with the temperament of an overworked, distracted mechanic, whose sole job on the team seems to be "keep the Blackbird in the air." And "Fix Cerebro." And [[OverlyLongGag "Fix the Danger Room." And "Fix the Danger Room after Wolverine has a temper tantrum in it."]]
** Strangly he always gets mocked and scolded for not being useful in combat, despite not being on the team to fight and being the actual reason their entire technology works.
* ''DannyPhantom'' has BumblingDad Jack Fenton, who doesn't seem very smart, but invented probably half of the Fenton gadgets. He's also a very competent fighter, as a very dismayed Vlad found out.
** He's also stated to have had solid "B-"s during his school years.
* ''ChipAndDaleRescueRangers'' team member Gadget Hackwrench is a GadgeteerGenius who constructs incredible technology [[BambooTechnology out of junk]], but she can be pretty scattered.
* [[{{MegaMan}} Ruby-Spears Megaman]] has Brain Bot, a genius robot [[{{RidiculouslyHumanRobots}} (who wears glasses, natch)]] who, while being a great mechanic, doesn't seem to have any concept of appropriateness; he tries to "repair" an already-working jet ''while it's airborne''.
* Coop, of ''MegasXLR'', is a bumbling idiot who creates half the problems the cast faces, is obsessed with video games (world champ) and eating (also world champ), and lives in his mom's basement. However, he's also a remarkable engineer, able to rebuild a robot from the future, and a skilled pilot, able to pilot said robot, even with its...[[ContextSensitiveButton odder]]... modifications.
* A great deal of the cast of ''TheSimpsons'' falls into this category. Homer himself, despite being famous for his bumbling ways, is capable of almost oddly remarkable talents when the episode calls on it. Bart is even more noteworthy, as he's sometimes depicted as being not too bright...yet he's been shown to be a remarkably gifted linguist, learning the French language by mere observance and more than couple times aquiring at least competent grasp of an entire language in record time. He can just as quickly unlearn however. Bart also creeps into the [[BookDumb book dumb]] category with this quality.
* Sewer Urchin from ''TheTick'' is ineffectual, annoying, and smelly, but when The Tick and Arthur need his help to do crimefighting in the sewers, he proves to be the "apotheosis of cool".
* Philly Phil from ''Class of 3000'' has, at best, average intelligence. However, he can't be beat when it comes to building devices at the drop of a hat.
* Skeeter from ''{{Doug}}'' is a ditz in day-to-day interaction through and through, and he has a phobia of taking tests. When he ends up taking a standardized placement test ''without realizing it was a test'', he gets a ''perfect score'', and it's revealed that he's actually amazingly skilled in mechanics. This goes unmentioned for the rest of the Nickelodeon run, but it gets brought up now and then in the Disney run.
* Played with in various ''RockyAndBullwinkle'' story arcs, as Bullwinkle, generally a dimwit, frequently demonstrates unusual talents for the sake of a specific story. For example, he was called in as an expert on boxtops to crack down on a boxtop countefeiting ring, his bunion could forcast the weather, he could tame lions with a harmonica rigged from a comb and some tissue-paper, he could remember everything he ever ate in his lifetime (including a secret formula for a silent explosive), and possessed a skill for making shiskabobs that bordered on expert swordsmanship!
* Wildcat of ''TaleSpin''. Genius at repairs: once fixed a phone smashed with a hammer in ten seconds. Knows enough about flying to handle the Sea Duck (although he can't match some of the more skilled pilots, especially Baloo). Otherwise downright childlike.
[[/folder]]

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