In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, things are powered by awesome, so being awesome makes it practical by definition! Best seen early in the series when Simon tries to take the Boring, but Practical route to Combining Mecha and just climb up Kamina's Gurren with his Lagann. Kamina attacks him until he does it more awesomely. And it really does work better that way!
The Rasengan and Kage Bunshin/Shadow Clone Jutsu as part of Naruto Uzumaki's arsenal. So simple tricks...but so highly effective in battle. Even moreso when he uses his Super Modes.
In the same vein as Kimimaro, Nagato can't really move his legs but he can send six bodies that are strong enough to take on Konoha and win.
Minato's Rasengan was even more awesome (as well as more efficient) than Naruto's, if only because he could form it almost instantly and without having to use Shadow Clones. During his fight with Tobi, he was even able to initiate it right after reappearing from using the Flying Thunder God 2.0, just milliseconds before he slammed down on Tobi.
Susano'o when used by Madara Uchiha. When either Sasuke or Itachi use it, they are always limited to how much they can maintain it. Madara doesn't have to worry about it. Not only that, unlike Sasuke or Itachi's versions, his has legs and thus isn't limited by mobility. And his full, Perfect Susano'o form even sports a Badass Longcoat and is as big as a skyscraper!
Then it goes Up to Eleven by growing even larger into a giant samurai form. He then destroys two huge mountains and several smaller ones!
Madara doesn't stop at eleven, he cranks it up to twelve and equips his susano'o to Kurama, the ninetailed demon beast.
Bleach: Kenpachi Zaraki's entire schtick in battle is about this. He's the only captain in Soul Society who doesn't know the name of his zanpakuto, and thus can't achieve bankai or even shikai, meaning he can't use all those fancy tricks and abilities that his fellow captains can. But who needs fancy tricks when you're a fountain of raw, unlimited power, to the point that you need to use Power Limiters just to have a fair fight with anyone?
Ichigo was also like this before he started getting all those hollow abilities. His zanpakuto may not be able to turn into a multi-segmented sword with teeth, or millions of tiny razor-sharp blades, or a giant bug-thing that breathes poison gas, but not only does he have raw, unlimited power just like Kenpachi, but his bankai is just a simple, normal-sized sword...that's able to take all that power (most of which was just being wasted anyway) and focus it until he achieves Lightning Bruiser status.
Speaking of millions of tiny razor-sharp blades, Byakuya. Besides having mastered most forms of kido (such that he can use high end spells without having to use incantations) and flash steps, Senbonzakura, aka the Pink Petals of Death, is not only one of the most effective (and brutal) zanpakutos out there, but also one of the most versatile. Byakuya can manipulate the blades to form a multitude of purposes, such as forming a barrier against incoming attacks to surrounding his opponents in a sphere of petals or free flying swords or simply forming it around himself to initiate a final close range attack.
Misaka's Railgun from A Certain Magical Index. Not only does it look badass, but it has enough power to obliterate almost anything.
She is entirely outdone by the members of God´s Right Seat, however, specifically Fiamma of the Right, who´s "Holy Right" can do anything involving the right hand. Sounds stupid, right? Then wait until he summons a 40-kilometer long Flaming Sword, destroys a city in a single strike and summons Archangel Gabriel!
Plenty of Contractor powers from Darker Than Black are awesome on top of being incredibly lethal. A good example is November 11's ice powers, which can do anything from freezing his opponents, to creating ice shields, to creating really sharp projectiles. Another would be November's partner April, who can condense water vapor to do anything from creating a water bubble around her opponents head to making it rain(convenient considering who she is teamed with no?).
Fan Works
George's closet in With Strings Attached. A side effect of his shapeshifting ring is the ability to hold something and change into himself not holding it, thus storing it in “some unfathomable limbo” until he changes into himself holding it again. In practice it looks like he can simply will things into existence! And he can store huge amounts of stuff in there, too, so that the four are never burdened with supplies.
Jackie Chan's movies are famous for the wire-free stunts he pulls, frequently baffling his enemies with Roof Hopping and running across a pool. Among his most famous include clog dancing shoes (a very hard surface), using the added kicking range of stilts to his advantage and making a folding ladder into a credible weapon.
Crocodile Dundee: When a gang member tries to rob him and pulls out a switchblade, Dundee gets him to back off just by pulling out his own awesomely gruesome-looking hunting knife. "That's a knife!" indeed.
At the end of the film version of Starship Troopers, the marines are deployed with basically a railgun that has an explosive warhead attached. Or a plasma rifle, something like that. They win the war soon after.
Christmas from The Expendables, for all his flash, is still very lethally efficient.
Literature
Snow Crash's Y.T., a skateboard courier who carries packages in urban environments, has a device mounted on her skateboard to help her avoid splattering herself on glass walls at 40 mph. It emits a sonic blast that's compared to an airplane crashing into a tarp stretched over a stadium.
Skateboarding to a delivery wouldn't be practical without the additionally awesome magnetic grapple to steal tows from passing vehicles.
The Batman series had the Riddler once get the perfect burglary tool; a rare wax that is a powerful corrosive that can eat through thick steel or concrete within a few minutes, is practically silent in use and a pocketful is all you need, yet it is perfectly safe to handle until you expose it to direct flame.
In The Walking Dead, the redneck Daryl's primary weapon of choice is his crossbow. Having grown up hunting with it for food, he's an expert shot. Ammunition can be used repeatedly, and replaced fairly simply by simply taking branches and carving them into the right shape with a knife. It has all the lethality needed to bring down a walker and it fires without making any noise, meaning you can bring one down and not risk drawing dozens more when they hear you shooting.
Not quite a case of Truth in Television, since arrows for a crossbow or regular bow are harder to make than they look, mostly because of the need to be almost perfectly straight. As much as there's branches everywhere, ideal ones are harder to find. Even using pre-made goods, modern fletchers can still have trouble.
Tabletop Games
Battle Tech features a somewhat more literal example than most. In an era where new tech was being rapidly introduced (the 3050s), there existed an assault 'mech that was a paragon of old tech. Max armor, four powerful weapons, heat sinks to fire them repeatedly, electronic countermeasures to disable some new tech, and it was affordable for a 'mech. Its only real weakness was its sluggishness, but assault 'mechs were never meant to be quick. The name of this particularly machine? The Awesome. See for yourself!
Yu Gi Oh's Synchro Monsters can be seen like this. They are typically easy to summon, can be put into virtually any deck, have powerful effects, and are generally cool in design. Stardust Dragon in particular is so useful and easy to use, it is one of the most dominating cards in its metagame. In fact, most of the awesome cards (mostly Synchro) featured in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds are this, Shooting Star Dragon and Red Nova Dragon being the big examples. Xyz monsters in Yu Gi Oh Zexal take it to the next level, being even easier to summon, despite most of them become almost useless when out of Xyz materials.
Let's not forget Five God Dragon (F.G.D.). It is summoned by fusing any five dragons. Any. Its ability is useless, but with 5000 attack points, it doesn't really need one. Now, as a fusion monster, that sounds like a challenge to summon, right? Wrong. Thanks to a handy Spell Card called Dragon's Mirror, which lets you fusion summon any Dragon by fusing dragons on your field or Graveyard pile. And Dragon's Mirror has no cost to activate. Draw it late in the game with plenty of dragons in your Graveyard and you can instantly summon a 5000 attack point monster. Not bad at all.
Which would be nice, except that it is incredibly slow and worthless in competitive play, especially since Dragons play the graveyard so hard. Five God Dragon is still quite powerful, simply due to Future Fusion's ability to let you take any five dragons out of your deck, and place them in your graveyard for immediate use. Plusif you're lucky, you may even get a free monster later.
On the topic of fusions, which tend to be impractical, the Elemental Heroes can avert this, thanks to the so-called Omni-Heroes. One E-Hero, or, in Absolute Zero's case, any Hero, and any monster of the appropriate attribute. Combining this with Super Polymerization, you can take any monster your opponent controls and get a very nice monster for your troubles.
In Magic: The Gathering, the game designers like powerful, tournament-dominating cards to be splashy, exciting, and fun to play, so it's common to see splashy, exciting, and fun cards intentionally pushed up in power level. Planeswalkers are a great example: not only do they have their own unique card type, but their characters are designed to be the face of the game, so the developers make sure to give them powerful abilities. Jace, the Mind Sculptor in particular quickly gained a dominating presence in multiple tournament formats.
While some of the bigger creatures are impractical due to their mana cost, others are worth it. Griselbrand has a hefty eight mana summoning cost (4 of which have to be black mana), but you get your manas' worth. 7/7, flying, lifelink, and the ability to trade 7 life for 7 cards (netting you signficant card advantage) which can be easily offset by the aforementioned lifelink.
The five Mythic Rare Titans cost 6 mana each to summon (4 generic, two of their respective color) and they are worth every single one. Each one is a hefty 6/6 bruiser with special abilities that fit their color perfectly. Frost Titan counters ever spell and ability thrown at it unless more mana is spent on them, and its very presence freezes its opponent's forces in their tracks. Grave Titan spreads death with a mere touch and births more undead with every step. Inferno Titan breathes fire to enhance its already formidable attack power and constantly bombards foes with even more flames. Primeval Titan tramples its enemies underfoot while invigorating the very land itself. Finally, Sun Titan always stands ready to defend its master while summoning aid from beyond the grave.
The Commander Format (also called EDH) is designed to make the more Awesome, but Impractical cards practical. Due to the larger deck and singleton format (one copy per card in each deck), and the higher life point count, this means that games are drawn out much longer than usual, allowing more mana-intensive cards to be played. This suddenly makes a lot of cards which have unreasonable costs suddenly seem practical, especially because many of them duplicate the effects of cheaper cards, which are now restricted to 1 copy in a 100 card deck. It also gives you a "Commander" which you have access to at any time during the game, allowing you to literally base a deck around a single creature, allowing a lot more creatures to be made playable.
In Warhammer 40000, the Tau tend to be this. They employ battlesuits, high-tech weapons, and similarly high-grade armor and equipment for even their most basic infantry. Each trooper has a tremendously powerful energy rifle (actually a stable plasma cannon, making the Tau one of only two races able to build such a weapon, along with the Eldar) and armor on par with the best available in the Imperial Guard (and to the hyper-elite Space Marines, for that matter), not to mention a helmet chock-full of useful tech. And when working with plasma weapons, they simply reduced the power output marginally and managed to make it perfectly safe to use while not compromising its ability to virtually nullify any form of infantry armor. Unfortunately, the only area their tech doesn't cover is close combat. That came back to bite them when...
... the Dark Eldar employed this trope with their Grotesques and Wracks, which are essentially just fleshy abominations created by the Haemonculi. In one incident, the Dark Eldar were temporarily allied with the Tau, predominantly using the Wracks/Grotesques to stand toe-to-toe with the Tyranids when the long-range Tau couldn't. It didn't work out for the tauwhen the Dark Eldar broke the alliance.
Speak of the devil, the Dark Eldar. Evil Is Cool was made for these guys, and they're a top-tier army too.
The Imperium is varyingly practical, but one weapon they employ that definitely fits this trope is the so-called Heavy Stubber, which is in fact a basically-unchanged M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun, designed all the way back in 1918. It's such a good gun that it compares favorably to many super-advanced weapons in stopping power, and is commonly slathered onto every Imperial Guard vehicle whereever there's enough room for ammunition and a gunner.
In Pathfinder and editions of Dungeons & Dragons before 4th, magic users. Let's use the Wizard and the Cleric as prototypes. Wizards got spectacularly flashy attack spells which could fill the air with flame and lightning, could shape change, teleport, turn an enemy into an ally, control a person's mind, turn party members invisible, and call forth illusions capable of fooling the enemy. Clerics could call down holy fire, restore sight to the blind, bring the dead back to life, and banish demons with a sternly worded wagging of their fingers. Both classes were a Game Breaker in most editions once they overtook the linear warriors. A poorly played wizard was still a terrifying damage dealer. A good player could run over a new GM with their powers. A great player sometimes had to intentionally Nerf themselves just to avoid ruining the game for everyone.
This isn't to say that warriors are bad. They can deal damage longer and more reliably than the spell-casters, run interference, and absorb attacks while the wizard sets up a finishing stroke. In short - Boring, but Practical.
The Grav Heavy Needler from GURPS: Ultra-Tech is probably the best single weapon in the game even superior to supposedly more advanced ones. Pierces armor like an anti-tank rocket, range like a cruise missile, accuracy like a sniper rifle, rate of fire like a minigun, magazine capacity like any entire squad of soldiers, about the size of an assault rifle.
In most tabletop games, the Knights units. They are fast, poweful and durable. Unfortunately, they are also expensive...
Professional Wrestling
This trope is featured all across the board in today's professional wrestling. Flashy moves are the norm in modern pro wrestling, especially in and around the cruiserweight division, but moves that are as devastating as they are cool to look at can be found across all styles and sizes. Generally the more agile the competitors, the more outlandish maneuvers you'll see to the point that they can be somewhat convoluted. As previously mentioned, the smaller weight divisions is where you'll see the most awe-inspiring and tricky techniques as their small sizes make them more acrobatic than the lumbering massive wrestlers of the heavyweight division.
Sheamus's Brogue Kick. Not only does it look devastating, it's quick, easy to use from almost anywhere, and would probably hurt every bit as much in real life as it looks like it would.
Video Games
Fate/stay night: Not only does Gilgamesh´sGate of Babylon look awesome, it also allows him to bombard his enemies with a rain of ancient weapons like Gáe Bolg, Gram and Durandal. It also allows him access to any number of potions, such as an elixir of youth, and the world's best wine cellar.
Forza Motorsport 4 has turbochargers, which provide the biggest speed boost for the least added weight of the aspiration conversions.
Persona 4 has your teammates have a chance, at Social Link level 3, to perform follow-up attacks, assuming you knock down an enemy. Basic party member Yosuke gets your standard Critical Hit, but Chie uses the incredibly effective "Galactic Punt." Chie will target a random enemy, up to and including mid-bosses that aren't downed, and kick theminto the stratosphere, complete with A Twinkle in the Sky to signal the fact you just scored a one-hit kill. And yes, you do still get EXP and Yen from it.
And it still counts as knocking down the target, so you can follow up with an All-Out Attack if everyone else is knocked down, too.
Kanji's followup attack is worth a mention too, as it attacks every single enemy at once, and knocks down anything it comes into contact with.
Prototype has a ton of this. Most notable is probably hijacking helicopters. The easiest way to get onto one in order to steal it? Karate kick.
inFAMOUS is, unsurprisingly, similar to Prototype in this. The final move calls lightning from the skies to smite your foes, which is easily the most effective way to defeat normal enemies, and even the final boss takes good damage from it.
The sequel has Ice Launch, which not only looks awesome but launches you up a good two stories, allowing you to avoid climbing smaller buildings and only consuming a small amount of energy.
Counter Attacks and Stealth Kills in Assassin's Creed. Ridiculously badass looking? Check. The most reliable way of systematically depopulating the Holy Land/Renaissance Italy? Double check!
The Enrage plasmid not only uses less EVE than the Electro Bolt or Incinerate, but also allows you to watch enemies fight (and kill) each other. Not only does this save you ammo that you would often have to use with the other two plasmids, it also gives extra freedom to make research photos that also has the added benefit of bonuses for Multiple Subjects and Action Shots. Don't be surprised to find it not only taking permanent residence in your plasmid loadout, but being the second most used next to Electro Bolt (if not moreso).
Pokémon games have Surf, a move normally used on the world map. Unlike the other comparable moves (Flash, Fly, Dig, etc), Surf is actually worth using in battle as well, being on par with pure-combat moves like Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam, having the same base attack power, meaning only five less than the ultra-popular Earthquake's 100 base power.
The Pokémon Scizor is the embodiment of this trope. On the offensive side, it has a very respectable Attack stat, which is helped by an excellent selection of moves, some of which can be further boosted by Scizor's Technician ability. And while it's not the fastest 'Mon by a long shot, having Bullet Punch allows it to reliably land a hit against any opponent. On the defensive side, it has only slightly below average (Sp.) Defense, which is helped by its Bug/Steel typing being able to resist half of the things that could be thrown at it. That same typing also has the benefit of leaving him with only one weakness. Not bad for a metal-skinned praying mantis.
You'll find a lot of these Pokemon if you go to a competitive battling site and check out the Over Used section. Such as Lucario. Amazing attacking stats both physical and special, priority moves like Extremespeed, Bullet Punch and Vacuum Wave, steel typing for excellent resistances and Aura Sphere, a powerful special move which will always hit the opponent even if they decide to use Double Team or Sand Attack. It's a little bit fragile but it has decent enough speed, and it's a fighting Anubis with power to see the life force of any living creature.
Thunder was Awesome, but Impractical for 4 generations. 5th Generation however, introduced Galvantula, an electric/bug type whose ability raises Thunder's unimpressive accuracy to nearly match that of its weaker counterpart Thunderbolt.
Compound Eyes and No Guard both turn many Awesome, but Impractical moves into this. The former by boosting accuracy by 30% and the latter by insuring that every attack from either combatant hits.
The mighty Tidal Wave attack in Vanguard Bandits does so much damage most enemies blocking it from the front will take more damages then lesser hits to the rear. It's fairly accurate, and the costs for it are so reasonable that you can use it twice a round with little consequence.
Vikings in Star Craft II. VTOL capability, twin miniguns, and with careful work they can dominate much more expensive units like Carriers and Battlecruisers.
Also, good old Siege Tanks. Excellent against pretty much anything but air units, plus their transformation animation is always fun to watch.
The Bozar from Fallout 2. It's a machinegun that is accessible early, needs only medium skill in big guns and fires what is probably the most common ammo in the game. The consumption rate is still very high (as appropriate for a machinegun) though, but at least it's far easier to get more ammo for it than for the Vindicator.
In Fallout 3, you can hunt an entire town of slave owners dressed as Abraham Lincoln with Lincoln's Repeater. The kicker is that it can be repaired with Hunting Rifles which are plentiful, while dealing considerably more damage with very high accuracy. While it does use .44 Magnum ammo, they're quite easy to procure by the time you get the rifle.
Resident Evil 4: Leon can use Suplex Finisher, which, not only looks darned cool, is almost guaranteed one hit kill, and even stops Plaga monsters coming out of their necks.
Also from Resident Evil 4, the Red9. A red C96 Mauser converted to use 9mm rounds. Some players prefer the Blacktail for it's higher firing rate, but the Red9 deals better damage per shot, and still has a decent firing rate. It's also available much earlier and is cheaper, but the real deal-breaker is that fitting a stock to it can turn it into a mini-sniper rifle. It's considered by most players to be the best handgun in the game.
The Blacktail is the Red9's only rival. It aims, fires, and reloads faster, and has a significantly larger ammo capacity. It also takes up half of the limited space in Leon's limited inventory. Much easier for a newbie to use. Much more forgiving of newbie mistakes, such as shooting the weapon empty in the heat of combat.
Just Cause 2: There is, almost literally, no situation that cannot be solved with the grappling hook. You can flip over vehicles to cut short a chase, you can quickly jump onto any vehicle, you can easily climb skyscrapers, and combining it with the parachute provides a sweet form of transportation.
The best example is in an early mission: you have to escort a vehicle by standing on the roof. The tutorial provided expects you to use your grappling hook to jump to the other vehicles and take out their occupants (as opposed to blowing them up, which takes more ammo than you have), but there's not that stops you from attaching one end of the hook to the vehicle and the other the road. The car will keep driving for a bit, the flip over rather spectacularly. It technically doesn't take the car out of the chase, and the game still counts it as involved, but it's never coming back.
Final Fantasy XII: Quickenings eat up MP, but they a) pause the battle while they're being used, preventing enemies from acting, b) are capable of breaking the damage limit, letting them deal way more damage per MP used than any normal attack, c) is considered neither physical nor magical damage, thus ignoring any resistances the enemy has to either, d) can be chained together so the player can do 5-8 of them in a row, and e) look really damn cool.
Final Fantasy VIII has Zell's Limit Break, Duel. Quickly alternating between Punch Rush and Booya not only looks cool, but with good junctions the combo can potentially dish out the highest possible amount of damage in one turn.
Final Fantasy XIII's combat system has quite a few of these, but one of the best has to be Launch, which sends staggered enemies flying about fifty feet into the air. It works on most enemies (and even some bosses), can effectively stunlock anything that's been staggered, and, best of all, it's a passive Commando ability that you'll probably open up early on.
Final Fantasy IV has Bahamut. You can get him the moment you hit the moon, clever use of Reflect and he'll defeat himself with his own Mega Flare, does damage that rivals Meteor to all enemies, casts faster, and costs less MP . Once you get Bahamut there's little reason for Rydia to cast anything besides it unless there's only one enemy in which case Flare is more efficient...except Rydia doesn't learn Flare for another ten or so levels after you're capable of just getting Bahamut. He's not as effective in the DS version though where his MP cost matches Meteor's and the Reflect strategy no longer works.
The Shockwave biotic power from Mass Effect 2, at least on lower difficulties. It shatters enemy formations, instakills Husks, and has a tremendous range. And it looks amazing.
The Vanguard's Charge+Nova combo in the third game. Charge catapults you into an enemy formation and recharges your shields, Nova converts your shields into a powerful explosion. Do the math. Can be Difficult, But Awesome at higher difficulties as your enemies do a lot of damage and you're now in the middle of a bunch of enemies with no barriers.
Your secret party member Legion is this. Although he starts as a Glass Cannon, once he gets his M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle and his loyalty power Geth Shield Boost, he becomes an extremely powerful squadmate with arguably the most powerful non-heavy weapon in the game, access to assault rifles, and a wide variety of tech powers similar to Tali. He's also a frickin Geth, and has a lot of unique and interesting dialog.
Biotic explosions become this Mass Effect 3 after their status as mostly Awesome, but Impractical in the second game. Now that shielded enemies can be affected by a number of lasting biotic powers, and Warp is not the only power that can detonate other biotic powers, all three biotic classes can see a lot more biotic explosions and to great effect. The cool special effects of the biotic powers are just icing on the cake.
The Javelin, a Geth sniper rifle that fires a thin stream of electrically charged ferrofluid. 25% more damage than the Widow, even more accurate, and it can shoot through thin barriers without the damage penalty associated with the armor-piercing ammo mod. The only problem is a brief delay between when the trigger is pulled and when it fires, but that's easily compensated for by a skilled player.
With the armor-piercing mod and barrel, any round fired by the Javelin will cut through nearly six metres of obstacles.
The Graal Spike Thrower, a Krogan shotgun that has modest weight and ammo capacity,(for a shotgun), high power, a cool name, the ability to bleed enemies dry on the battlefiled, and it works great in combination with the Biotic Charge. When fully upgraded, it does the most damage of any weapon in the game, tied with the M-300 Claymore, but it's only half as heavy as the aforementioned M-300.
The Scorpion, a Salarian heavy pistol that shoots proximity mines. Low ammo, but one or two direct hits are virtually guaranteed to kill enemies on foot.
The Phaeston, a massive Turian assault rifle with 50-shot ammo capacity, insanely good accuracy on full-auto, reasonable weight, and high damage against all defenses. There's really no reason you'd ever need another gun if you've got this one.
The M-358 Talon, a revolver that shoots heavy-gauge shotgun slugs. Short-ranged, but will kill pretty much anyone who gets anywhere near the user in one shot.
The Chakram Launcher is an assault rifle with good damage, great accuracy, and the ability to stagger enemies, puncture Guardian shields, or deliver a Charged Attack. It also fires glowing, razor-sharp discs that explode.
And last, but certainly not least, the Geth Spitfire and Executioner pistol. The Geth Spitfire weighs more than any other weapon in the game, but makes up for that with shield-damaging capabilities and up to 400 rounds per clip with nearly 800 in reserve. On the other hand, the Executioner can work like a M-300 Claymore with a third of the weight if playing as a melee based character, or a devastating Sniper Pistol that lives up to its title of "Executioner" when a pistol scope is attached.
In Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning The Meteor Spell slows down time makes it rain little balls of fire then drops a flaming ball of rock on enemies for ridiculous fire damage yet has decent mana cost and moderate cooldown time. Oh and it can be used for sneak attacks.
The Alchemist's Ember Lightning. Visually awesome and shoots through walls.
The Vanquisher's Explosive Shot. BOOM!
Impactors from Sword of the Stars have a range matched only by missiles and deal excellent damage to boot. If the enemy gets them before you, expect to lose a lot of your ships before you manage to build up enough with the necessary anti-kinetic Deflector Shields.
EX Combos in Baten Kaitos Origins often take two or three turns to assemble, during which your characters are usually just taking hits. That being said, they're also the best way of dealing out tremendous damage, and in the later parts of the game, it's more efficient to spend five turns assembling one advanced combo than it is to just attack wildly and hope for the best. It doesn't hurt that lots of them look awesome.
The Thu'um in Skyrim. Being able to warp reality by shouting at it is definitely cool, and all of the Shouts are useful. And one of the most useful and entertaining Shouts is the very first one you get.
Daggers are actually very practical in addition to being super cool. Sneaking up on enemies becomes very easy as you progress in that skill, and with the right perk you can get a 15X damage bonus using a sneak attack. They also have the highest attack speed in the game, and can be used with a shield in combat. You often one-hit kill enemies if you get the drop on them, which is accompanied by awesome kill animations. You can avoid combat with some of the most powerful enemies in the game, like leveled mages, and even dragons.
Long range sniping with Bows or Crossbows: if you sneak, your attacks do double damage (triple with a perk), and high level bows (and the dwarven crossbow) pack a sufficient punch to drop anything short of a dragon or dungeon boss with one shot. And if you'd like to be able to drop bosses with a single shot, that's why there is poison and potions of increasing archery damage. Besides, it's really fun to drop an enemy from the distance of a football field with one shot, and really satisfying to make it through entire dungeons untouched because you can kill everything before it can even dream of getting close enough to hurt you back.
Dawnguard makes them even better by adding the ability to fletch arrows. In the original game, you got arrows by looting enemies, looting chests, buying them in stores, and pickpocketing them from guards. Thus, the sheer rarity of the arrows with the best damage rating meant that they were saved for bosses. But now in Dawnguard, all you need to fletch is wood (which is, essentially free and unlimited) and a single ingot of the appropriate metal (plus a Daedra Heart in the case of Daedric Arrows), which will make 24 arrows per. That dragonbone arrows are both the most powerful in the game and significantly easier to make than Daedric, plus available on the Light Armor side of the smithing tree (you know, the one preferred by stealth and distance fighters) is almost unfair to the enemies.
Even better, Auriel's bow. It's the bow of a freakin' god, does more damage than even dragonbone bows (and with sunblessed arrows, it does extra damage to the undead), and has the ability to turn the sun into a Kill Sat. And the arrows needed to maximize it's power? All you need to do is take elven arrows to a certain NPC, and with the aforementioned fletching abilities...
Meridia's Daedric arifact, Dawnbreaker, is a Cool Sword that's very useful if you're skilled with one-handed weapons and are plundering a dungeon filled with undead foes like Draugr, or Vampires. It not only inflicts some decent fire damage on whatever it hits, but when you kill an undead foe with it, there's a likely chance you'll get to unleash a badass explosion of blue fire, and any nearby undead that isn't killed by the explosion you'll find will flee from you and not fight back the slightest, this counts for ALL undead including the immensely powerful Draugr Deathlords, allowing you to turn the tables on the guys who can take out huge chucks of your health with their Ebony weapons.
Dawnguard adds new perks for Werewolves that make them Practical as well as Awesome. One perk allows the Werewolf Totem of Brotherhood Howl to summon a pair of powerful spirit werewolves.
The Master-level destruction spells have very long cast times and are magicka-intensive, but Lightning Storm is a freaking giant lightning ray-o'-doom that can be used to take down dragons midflight when they can't attack you back, and coupled with the Become Ethereal Shout, Fire Storm is a huge explosion that can kill groups of enemies attacking you at once.
Plus, Lightning Storm looks similar to a Kamehameha.
Dragonbone Weapons, also from the Dawnguard update. Crafted from the corpses of fallen dragons (that you killed) and have the highest base stats in the game (others match it but none surpasses it), and they're enchantable.
The Dawnguard expansion added the ability to transform into a vampire lord, which is either this or Awesomebut Impractical depending on who you ask. While it does have some downsides (forced 3rd person perspective, inability to interact with most things, only a few effects from specific gear carrying over) the increased health, magicka and stamina, area of effect health drain, waterwalking, and low-cooldown-very-useful abilities more then makes up for it.
The Djinn and summon system of Golden Sun is very friendly to people that like fighting in style. Unleashing Djinn does remove their stat bonuses, but it gives you a powerful cost-free effect (whether just a really strong attack, healing/protecting/boosting the whole party, or something else) that then feeds into summons, which a) Look awesome, b) Do tons of damage, c) Raise the summoning character's power so their psyenergy does more damage, and d) mean you get your Djinn back in a turn or two if the summon didn't already end the battle. Of course, since Golden Sun encourages a lot of customization, an entirely different awesome but practical battle method is to conserve your djinn and acquire gear that will help release the devastatingly powerful Critical Hit attached to each weapon, filling any offensive or defensive gaps with psyenergy.
The Trident of Ankohl in the second game, because the equipment system treats it as a usable accessory rather than a weapon, allowing any character to use it on top of everything else. Its intended purpose is dealing with Poseidon and his forcefield, but it also grants the user 20 Mercury resistance and a Jupiter attack based on the attack stat rather than the Jupiter power stat, completely for free. And it's the only "usable accessory" that doesn't have a chance of breaking upon use, so it's not Too Awesome to Use.
Alice Madness Returns has the Teapot Cannon, the Noob Tube of Wonderland. Infinite ammo, no friendly splash damage, and more shots between cooldowns after upgrading. Whether or not you use your handheld ad-hoc artillery at 1 feet or 50 away from your target is simply up to personal preference.
For players of X3: Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude with a good supply train for munitions, M7M Missile Frigates can single-handedly level sectors with Macross Missile Massacre.
The Typhoon Missile fits the bill very nicely. It is a missile that splits into eight warheads which do 30 megajoules of damage each (30MJ x 8 = 240MJ worth of damage, which practically spells doom to any fighter that isn't the Teladi Falcon Sentinel), and its stats are so balanced that it can be used against any ship except for M5s. While it is an M6-grade missile, the larger capital ships are able to carry it in bulk and can turn into really imposing threats to any ship. Cue Macross Missile Massacre; even Xenon and Kha'ak capital ships won't stand a chance against the Typhoon when launched in large salvos and from long range. What's more, there are working factories available for it and the factories themselves can be purchased at any shipyard. The only weaknesses of this missile are the aforementioned inability to catch up to M5 craft because of its below average speed of 195m/s, and that it cannot lock on to new targets once its original one is destroyed, otherwise the Typhoon would turn into a Game Breaker.
Most of the magic in Dark Souls is really cool, and almost all of the spells are lifesavers in the right situations. Iron Flesh in particular turns you into a slow but durable Chrome Champion that can tank just about anything the game throws at you.
The Glaive in darkSector. Awesome to look at, awesome to use, and almost always useful. Small wonder the normally wangsty protagonist stops complaining so much about his transformation after he gets it.
Vanquish turned this trope into a video game. Everything Sam Gideon is capable of doing in battle looks frickin' sweet but also serves a greater purpose (AR Mode attaches target identifiers to all available targets so you can pick them apart while you're still slowed down, boosting is like doing a rock and roll power slide but at 50 mph in the heat of battle, the list goes on).
The Medi-Gun in Team Fortress 2. The Medic is absolutely the rock of the team, supplying everyone with heals. This is accomplished by a real sweet backpack hooked up to a gun that shoots people with glowing tendrils of light. The Uber-Charge only makes it more awesome; for seven seconds both the medic and his patient are glowing, invulnerable metallic demons of death.
Many ultimate abilities of League of Legends champions fall under this, particularly those belonging to burst damage based characters once you get their cooldowns sufficiently lowered. Special note goes to Lux'sFinales Funkeln: Good damage, once of the longer ranges in the game, and can be used as frequently as every 24 seconds, with the right gear.
Most of the weapon-mods in Borderlands fall into this category. Electric guns laugh in the face of shields and can very briefly stun enemies; fire guns do a good burst and damage over time; acid guns do less damage over time than fire but also lower armor value so the target takes more damage; and finally explosive guns do fairly good damage with an area of effect. And then there's the named shotgun that shoots missiles an entire magazine at a time, which are two rare mods stuffed into one weapon. About the only reason you'd ever pick up a non-elemental weapon over an elemental one is if it's got disproportionately high damage or you just haven't found an elemental of that type of weapon yet.
In the first The Godfather the automatic weapon wasn't much good unupgraded. In the sequel, however, the increased focused on mobility makes methodical headshotting with handguns hard to pull off, turning the automatic weapon into this. Large ammo capacity, More Dakka and better accuracy than the first game's version, what's not to like?
The Autocannon Heavy Weapon from Warhammer 40000 Space Marine. 400-round capacity, hits like a gorilla, and has an automatic fire rate. They actually have to take it away from you so you don't break the game.
The Storm Bolter (a double-barreled machine gun firing miniaturized RPG's) has a RoF*
Rate of Fire
twice that of your regular bolter, and only slightly less firepower. it's main drawbacks are inacuracy and ammo consumption, but firing in short bursts negates this somewhat.
And let's not forget all the other awesome but practical weapons in that game. Like the lascannon, a giant anti-tank laser cannon that's used as a sniper rifle. or the heavy bolter, a giant machine gun firing similar ammunition as the storm bolter attached to a huge ammo backpack. Or the plasma gun, which has no ammunition, but builds up heat that needs to be vented; in the hands of a skilled player, it gives incredible flexibility. And, of course, the humble bolter, the standard weapon, which, when upgraded with its aiming module and kraken bolts, becomes extremely accurate and incredibly deadly.
In Half-Life 2 there's the gravity gun, which allows you to pick up objects, including heavy things that you can throw at enemies, and move aside obstacles. At the end of the game it becomes supercharged and is the only weapon you can use - and the only one you'll ever need. There's also Dog's "ball," which is really a disarmed homing mine with its tracking system intact. If you keep it when you go into Ravenholm, you can use the gravity gun to one-shot headcrabs or zombies with it. It also has the side benefit of drawing enemies toward it after you throw it, keeping their attacks off as you pick it up to throw it again. Doing so is also the best way for gaining the Zombie Chopper achievement which necessitates using only the gravity gun for the duration of the Ravenholm chapter.
Every combat mechanic in the Batman: Arkham games looks amazing, will get you amazing results, but takes a lot of skill to perfect. So do the gadgets. There are achievements that encourage you to get the mechanics down to look as cool, but be as hard to pull off, as possible.
Some of the secondary fire features of weapons in Perfect Dark. The ones that come to mind are the semi-auto magazine fed grenade launcher of the Super Dragon and all of the Maian weaponry.
The Mega Man series is filled with flashy weapons that don't do much, and besides being used as boss weaknesses, the regular Mega Buster seems better in most cases. The exceptions to this are pretty awesome though— Mega Man 2's Metal Blade which is cheap, shoots in all directions and ridiculously damaging to the point where it can take out most Robot Masters needs no introduction.
How about the Yammar Option in Mega Man X6? It summons 3 dragonflies that shield you, but unlike other shield type weapons, they can rapidly fire shots that can wreck nearby enemies. Like all other shield weapons, the dragonflies will cause damage to enemies, but they will eventually get destroyed. However, not only does the charged version spread shots across the screen in random directions, the dragonflies become invincible for a short time. This makes it good against certain bosses even if it's not their weakness weapon.
From the same game, also comes the Metal Anchor. Normally, it's a pretty damaging but slow moving attack, but when it's charged unleashes a torrent of metal Storm Eagles (really!) in an insanely flashy fashion...and also destroys pretty much everything it its way. None of these weapons consume particularly large amounts of energy. But in a game as Nintendo Hard as X6, you'll need everything you can get your hands on.
Storm Eagle's Storm Shooter in Megaman X1. Gotten from an easy boss, on an easy level with cool music, its a ridiculously large and fast gun that doesn't use up too much ammo when fired, but rips most of the game's enemies to shreds. Because of its size and speed, its also stupidly easy to hit with, as well as having great range.
In Touhou you have Marisa's Mini Hakkero, the device that lets her fire her famous Master Spark. Considering the middle is a furnace, it also is a source of heat and can cook food.
The original Ratchet & Clank has the Tesla Claw. It's a mechanical crab claw that shoots lightning. With decent range, solid damage output, homing capability, and a healthy supply of cheap ammo, it's an extremely useful weapon that virtually renders the Blaster obsolete. The Gold version is both more awesome and more practical — in addition to a gold body and green lightning, it has a hefty damage boost and the ability to chain to an additional target. There are very few situations in the game where the Gold Tesla Claw is not a devastatingly effective weapon. Sadly, it loses much of the "practical" in the sequel — although it has an even larger ammo capacity, it can't be upgraded and there's a lot more firefights beyond the Tesla Claw's maximum range.
The Battle For Middle Earth II: The good factions have the ability summon Tom Bombadil, he's a special Hero Unit that can only be summoned by support power. He only fights for a short time, but he is powerful and can send units flying with a single blow, he's basically a mini-Souron for the good guy's, and best of all he is accessible as a tier two ability which is easy to obtain.
In X Com UFO Defense, the Heavy Plasma is this: holds 35 rounds per clip, has extremely high base accuracy, auto-fire, and does the most damage short of explosives. It's also easily recoverable from aliens, as their second most commonly held weapon, and has plentiful ammo as a result.
The Will power Assassin'sRush in Fable II is an extremely useful spell. Unlike other Will powers, it is basically a useful power from the start, since even at its most basic level it is capable of subverting an enemy's defense without going into a lengthy flourish attack, or giving yourself some breathing room in a difficult fight. It also lets you slow down time and zip from target-to-target like an anime Ninja.
In Tales of Maj'Eyal, corruptors (the [[Evil Sorcerer]] class) gain the powerful "Fearscape" ability. It allows you to literally summon a piece of hell and transport you and the target there. If you're prepared, the hellfires will heal instead of hurt you, while the enemy usually doesn't have such luck. So, free healing, free damage and forced 1v1 (in a game where you are usually vastly outnumbered).
In Kingdom Hearts II, Limits are often derided by players as being Awesome, but Impractical because while they are very flashy and cool-looking, they have a high MP cost and not always reliable damage. However, players who do the Bonus Boss fights (especially at low levels or aiming for no damage) swear by them, because of the little detail of Sora being completely invulnerable while executing a Limit meaning that they're a good way to not be crushed by some of said bonus boss's absurdly dangerous moves.
In MapleStory, Marksmen possess a skill called snipe which is considered their ultimate. On normal mobs its an instant kill. On bosses it deals intense damage, ignores a portion of the target's defense, and all hits will be critical. To balance it, it has a cooldown of 20 seconds and costs 340 mana points at level one. At master level 30, it hits 720% damage six times, ignores almost half a monster's defense, costs 20 mana points to use, and has a cool down of 5 seconds. Once you hit 195, after hyper skills, you can use this skill as a normal spammable attack with no nerfs and remove the cooldown.In fact, this skill gets even stronger hitting ten times for 510% damage per hit with hyper skills boosts applied. which is stronger than the new hyper skill ultimate itself. For comparison, most other map clearing/ultimates at master level have a cooldown of 20-30 seconds, and deal between 1500-2000% which is scratch damage in comparison considering its easier to hit the damage cap with these skills.
Western Animation
Clover of Totally Spies! once says of the act of blasting down doors: "Subtle? No. Effective? Yes!"
Real Life
Martial arts. Each discipline is designed to incapacitate someone as efficiently as possible, and, as evidenced by televised boxing, MMA tournaments, et cetera, many people find them entertaining to watch.
Thank you, Bruce Lee, you couldn't make it look boring if you tried.
Gold. While it might not be the sturdiest material, its unique chemical properties and immunity to most types of corrosion make its alloys ideal for delicate components such as circuitry and medical appliances.That, and it's shiny!
How about silver? It's equally shiny, valuable and has the best energy conductivity of any metal on Earth.
Water. You, me and every living thing on this planet needs it and is largely filled with it. It begins as Boring, but Practical. It looks pretty when still and calm. Feels good to the touch unless it's boiling, at which point you use it for cooking and disinfecting food. You can generate electricity with it. It wears down mountains and cuts through continents. You can propel vehicles with it and with enough pressure it can slice through concrete. It is one of the few substances on the planet that can exist as a liquid, solid and a vapor and probably the only one that can transition between the three. It is also one of the more powerful industrial solvents... It's probably easier to list what water can't do.
Knightly armour. Far from being ponderous, overly heavy and cumbersome, it is actually very practical, mobile and its weight is well distributed so it doesn't tire its wearer. It makes one nigh invulnerable against any bladed or edged weapons. And it looks cool!
Two-handed sword, both Eastern and Western varieties.
3D Printers. Allow you to make virtually anything on demand easily from a variety of materials.
Nuclear Weaponry. Since their first and last deployments in World War II, they've become essentially a signal that a nation is now an advanced power, possessing the wealth, the infrastructure, and the knowledge base to create them. Largely due to their existence, disputes between the great powers, though still, sadly, involving bloodshed, have become notably less violent and smaller scale. Like it or not, they're the only weapons ever created that really are effective deterrents, and a nuclear blast is most certainly an awe-inspiring event.
Battleship. Declared obsolete already before WWI, they served well in the end of the 20th century. They could survive almost anything (including nuclear blasts) and deliver tremendous amounts of ordnance upon the enemy, and sinking them was more a question of a lucky shot or number of attackers than anything else. Yes, they were dinosaurs - not the image of dinosaurs we had thirty or forty years ago, but the image we have today: big, swift, lethal and strong.
This was arguably true until World War II, in which Battleships became obsolete as a means of sinking enemy ships, replaced by carrier-based aircraft, submarines, and eventually missiles launched from cruisers. This means that ship-to-ship combat, as seen in battles like Salamis, Actium, Lepanto, Trafalgar, or even Jutland, where combatants faced each other within visual range, was now out of date.
Aerodynamic vehicles in general (cars, bikes, planes, boats,...). Not only do they have attractive curves, those curves also serve to reduce air friction on the vehicles as well.
The F-35 Lightning II (aka the Joint Strike Fighter) is intended to be this in comparison to contemporary fighter jets. In particular, it has a much lower price tag than the F-22 Raptor, has stealth coatings that don't need to be reapplied after every flight (F-117 Nighthawk), and the Marines' version features VTOL that doesn't allow exhaust to get sucked into the intakes (Harrier).
Sadly (for Americans anyway), the F-35 is turning into Awesome, but Impractical. Much lower price? Not anymore (F-22 unit cost per plane $150 million, F-35 now at $122M to $184M). The stealth was in 2006 downgraded from "very low observable" to "low observable". In November 2011, a Pentagon study team identified 13 areas of concern that remained to be addressed in the F-35.
The F-22 itself went from Awesome Yet Practical to Awesome, but Impractical, as the entire fleet has been grounded multiple times for suspected oxygen system problems. The F-22 has the highest accident rate of any USAF fighter aircraft in service. Even so, it's still a solid design.
Stepping back a generation, the F-16. A Jack of All Stats capable of accepting just about any role from fighter to attack aircraft to bomber. It's also highly maneuverable and supersonic.
Then there's the F/A-18E Super Hornet. Just take the original Jack of All Stats Hornet (already a successful design), revamp its airframe, upgrade its engines and avionics with some of the best tech available, give it a reduced radar signature (such that it's said to be the "stealthiest non-stealth fighter") and then design it so that it can be easily upgraded with newer tech and avionics as the years go by. Oh yeah, and give it an ordinance carry capacity of well over 17,000 lbs. In short, as "plain" as the Super Hornet may be compared to the F-22, F-35 and PAK-FA (not to mention the "Super Flanker" line), it's actually a very awesome design that's somewhat under-appreciated in an era dominated by stealth technology.
And to rub more salt into the wound, the nations that are considering pulling out of the troubled F-35 program have shown increased interest in adopting the Super Hornet instead.
Sharks. Though there are a large variety of shark species floating around today, sharks are one of only a handful of species whose basic form has remained unchanged since prehistoric times, others including crocodiles and alligators. Sharks are no smarter, no stronger, no faster, and yet no less deadly than they were before humans' earliest ancestors showed up, and what this means is that all that time there was no need for them to improve.
Orcas might just beat them though, 5 ton GeniusLightning Bruisers, that can come up with the most insane, complicated ploys for getting food since human farms, weigh 5 tons, and just to make them awesomer, swim at 30 miles per hour on average. They manage to still be Adorable.
And on land, wolverines. These things aren't much bigger than a medium-size dog — they'd come up to a man's knee fully grown — but they can and do take down moose.
In the air, it's raptors. Few things are more majestic than seeing a falcon, hawk or eagle in flight. But they are also precision strike masters, capable of taking out a target the size of a mouse in a grassy field from a hundred feet up. Two that take the cake are the golden eagle and the peregrine falcon. The falcon is capable of snatching other birds out of the air at speeds recorded at an excess of 240 miles an hour. Golden eagles meanwhile use dive bombing tactics to take out huge prey far beyond the scope of any other modern predatory bird, like deer and goats. One was even reported snatching the cub of a brown bear.
The AR-15 gun family. The AR is highly adaptable, light, mobile, and accurate for a weapon at its price point. Most guns can beat the AR in some thing, but very few can beat it at everything. Would be Boring, but Practical, but it's more complicated and flashy than examples which really belong there.
Also the CZ-550 family of rifles. At first sight, just another Mauser 98 clone - but in practice they have two improvements over the classic Mauser design: first, they perform just as well, but cheaper, second, they are infinitely adaptable. Counting the factory made versions, they range from the simplest version with basic wood design through luxurious walnut stocks, longer or shorter barrels, full stock or half stock, from .243 caliber to gigantic .500 African calibers, and gunsmiths over the world can easily modify them for .577 to .600Overkill calibers - whatever you want, wherever you need something to fire, CZ has something to do the job.
The USAF's A-10 Thunderbolt II. A truly awe-inspiring machine that fulfills its function very well.
To follow up, the A-10 was designed expressly to serve as a durable close air support platform. It carries a specially-designed rotary cannon which is deliberately positioned asymmetrically, because that way the actual firing barrel can be kept on the centerline of the craft and not cause control problems. It's also incredibly heavily armored all over - durable doesn't even begin to describe it. This is essentially happens when a Mighty Glacier is supplied with More Dakka.
Science. Even the most scientifically disinclined person will still marvel at the discoveries of the universe. Dinosaurs, the stars, whatever, few are those who couldn't be enraptured by some aspect of our natural world discovered by science. I really hope I don't have to justify the practical part of science.
The British in World War II had the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, an easily-maintained, reliable, and unbelievably versatile design. Fighter plane need an engine? Use a Merlin. A bomber? Get two. Heavy bomber? Get more! There were even modifications for it for use with ground and sea vehicles. As you can imagine, this streamlined British production and repair greatly and was a godsend in terms of logistics. It was also famously used outside Britain in the American-designed P-51, turning a good fighter plane into a great fighter plane. The Germansused a similar design philosophy with Daimler-Benz DB600 series of aircraft engines.
Gin and tonic originated from British people who lived in India protecting themselves against malaria (the high amount of quinine in traditional tonic water can protect against and treat malaria) by putting gin into the bitter tonic water to improve the taste. So you have a drink that tastes nice, protects against a very dangerous disease, and can get you drunk. Not that being drunk is always cool.
Two slices of bread, with any filling you desire. Just about anything can go in a sandwich, and it creates a healthy, portable, no-silverware-needed snack or meal that can be eaten at any time of the day, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Indeed, sandwiches have fed countless people, young and old, rich and poor, the world over for decades. And, with a little creativity, you can create some veryinteresting and tasty fillings. Suddenly your humble sandwich isn't so boring now, is it?
Like grilled cheese sandwiches? Try the indoor grill. Probably the most famous of them all is George Foreman's Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine line. Fits on top of the stove without getting in the way of other cookware. You just have to plug it in, let it heat up, and then cook your stuff. Best of all, no fire and next to no grease — which makes it perfect for more challenging creations.
Pizza. Bread base, sauce, toppings, whatever you can dream up (just ask the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). There are also dessert pizzas, often with a cookie base. Allergic to wheat or gluten, or lactose intolerant? Can't handle chocolate? No problem, there's something out there for you, too. Really, what's not to love about it?
Many real life pistols are made to look sleek while delivering maximum damage for the caliber. From the Beretta 92 FS 9mm to the Colt 1911 .45 to the S&W .44 magnum, you will see the same models used in many different movies and TV shows, as well as in real life military forces and police, for good reason. The shiny versions are plated.
Firearm finishes both enhance the beauty of the arm, while lending enhanced protection against the elements. Blued steel, for instance, is a type of controlled oxidization that helps prevent rust from forming, while platings such as nickel or chrome provide even more protection against corrosion.
World War II era British tanks were equipped with on-board water boiling vessels, which could be accessed from inside the crew compartment. Practical in that it gives you a way to disinfect water and cook boil-in-the-bag rations without leaving your tank or starting a fire, awesome because it means you always have access to a Spot of Tea. You don't get any more British than that. Oh, and you want proof of how useful this little addition is? Pretty much every British tank since World War II, up to the present day Challenger 2, has had one of these water boilers.
More or less every armored vehicle in the British arsenal has a water cooker. They sure do love their tea.
Then there were Hobart's Funnies, a whole line of specialized British tanks for a whole variety of jobs you face while in the field.
Speaking of the British military in the Second World War, the de Havilland Mosquito. A British multi-role aircraft constructed entirely of wood and canvas, it was originally designed as a fast bomber, but it was found that it also made a decent fighter aircraft, recon aircraft, transport, maritime strike aircraft. Because it was made of wood, glue and canvas, literally any carpenter or wood-worker in the land could make parts for it in a pinch, and it was quicker to repair than the better known British main-stays, the Spitfire and the Hurricane. As for combat capabilities, it carried more weapons than the average fighter, was faster, and explosive rounds just punched clean through the canvas without exploding. And not only that, because it was made of wood and canvas, it's radar signature was relatively small, technically making it the first ever stealth aircraft. In short, the Royal Air Force had access to lots of wooden, stealthy, ultra-versatile Lightning Bruisers. If that doesn't qualify as this trope, I'm not sure what will.
Reichmarschall Goering: "In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that?"
Similarly, the Vickers Wellington. Because of a ridiculously strong geodesic construction, it could take ridiculous amounts of damage and still fly home. Just look.◊ On top of that, it was a capable and quick medium bomber.
For an American example see the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Initially designed as a daytime air superiority fighter it turned out to perform just as well as a ground support aircraft, light precision bomber as well as countless other roles. And with the addition of an upgraded radar suite (either internally or externally) it can also operate at night and bad weather meaning it is now an all-weather, all-purpose aircraft.
In fact, looking at the examples, it could be said that a lot of historical British military weapons are this. Tanks armed with flamethrowers, the world's first practical breech-loading rifle, bombs that destroyed infrastructure by causing earthquakes, cloaking technology, Congreve rocket artillery, a skimming bomb for destroying dams... the list goes on.
The Tallboy bomb developed by the British in WWII was a bunker buster bomb so large that it didn't even need to directly hit the target to destroy it. The shockwave it caused was powerful enough to create miniature earthquakes that would destroy or render useless anything that avoided the blast. The Tallboy was used to successfully destroy or disable countless heavily fortified German facilities, as well as sink the Tirpitz. It caused more damage during the war than any of the Awesome, but Impractical superweapons the Nazis could develop.
The M1 Garand was the first truly semi-automatic rifle to be used as standard issue, and in WWII it gave American soldiers a serious advantage over Axis forces, who were still using bolt-action rifles at the time. General Patton even attributed the Allies' victory in WWII to the Garand, calling it "the greatest implement of battle ever devised." The Garand's success would go on to fuel the development of more semi-automatic and automatic rifles.
The Eurofighter Typhoon, despite all its delays and politicking, is shaping up to be this. Despite being (comparatively) less "modern" than 5th generation "stealthy" fighters, can turn and burn with the best of them, being one of the most maneuverable aircraft in the world. Even beyond visual range, it compensates for its own (comparative) lack of stealth with fearsome radar capabilities and long-range missiles - Eurofighters returning from the Red Flag Alaska exercises of 2012 were spotted with several F-22 Raptor kill marks painted on their sides.note The Eurofighters were slicked off as much as possible to allow it to reach parity with the F-22 in terms of maneuvering performance.
The M2 Browning .50 caliber heavy machine gun, or the "Ma Deuce" is one of the oldest and versatile guns ever used in the US military. The combination of its reliability, accuracy, and sheer stopping power has had it been put on literally every American military vehicle from Jeeps and P-51s to Humvees and Abrams and has even been used as a sniper rifle at one point. Despite having been designed shortly after WWI, its basic design has remained unchanged and is still the US military's primary infantry heavy weapon system.
Bill Gates: "Well, Steve, you steal all the credit for work that other people do. Did your fat beard Wozniak write these raps for you too?"
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