History Main / BoringButPractical

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': The MasterSwordsman Meti eventually realized that {{Charles Atlas Superpower}}s and flash were redundant, and that the essence of any fight comes down to Cutting Down Your Opponent. She then made this the centre of her entire style, training in nothing but Cutting things. As it turns out, in a universe running on EnlightenmentSuperpowers, coming to understand the essence of Cutting made Meti tremendously powerful. According to the author, she'd be able to school any member of the cast [[PosthumousCharacter if she hadn't been long dead]], and her apprentice Maya at one point Cuts a building in half (and [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the borders of the comic itself]]) using nothing but a sword hilt.

** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTophBeifong Toph Beifong]], the world's self-proclaimed greatest Earthbender (not without merit). Due to being blind, she constantly has to sense the earth around her to navigate. Sounds boring, right? Despite earthbenders (including her) being capable for far more flashier bending feats, Toph can use seismic sensing in order to foil sneak attacks, detect lies (provided her opponent isn't a sociopath), as well as it being the foundation for metal-bending, ''a skill thought impossible for millennia''. In fact, [[spoiler:in the GrandFinale, Aang foils Ozai's last-ditch attemptt to kill him only via seismic sense.]]
** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSokka Sokka]], the resident TeamNormal. Despite all his teammates being master benders, when Sokka temporarily leaves the group to train swordsmanship, they learn that Sokka is an expert in reading maps, and without him, they can't go anywhere. Once Sokka masters his sword to an acceptable level, the Gaang is overjoyed to see him again.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', [[HarmlessVillain Ludo]]'s only magical attack after obtaining his wand is a powerful green blast. It doesn't do anything magical but remains destructive and dangerous. Later, he learns a proper magic spell, but only the one -- and it's Levitato, an extremely basic spell that lifts things off the ground. In contrast with Star's huge and flashy spells, however, Ludo gets very creative and skilled with that one spell, [[NotSoHarmlessVillain allowing him to become a much bigger threat with that alone]].

--->''Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.''

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': The T-800 doesn't have any fancy gimmicks. It's not a shapeshifting BlobMonster like the [[Film/TerminatorIIJudgmentDay T-1000]], doesn't have any onboard weapons like the [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines T-X]], has no nanomachines like the [[Film/TerminatorGenisys T-3000]], cannot split itself in two like the [[Film/TerminatorDarkFate Rev-9]], [[HughMann it's terrible at acting human]], cannot self-repair, and it's not as nimble or agile as any of its descendants. But [[StoneWall it's tough]]. Like, ''[[ImplacableMan borderline-unstoppable]]'' tough. And has proven throughout the series to be by far the most successful machine, even pitted against models much more lethal and advanced than it.

** One non-stand ability for example is Kars'. Compared to the other Pillar Men, his ability is the most normal. Popping a blade out of your arm is a lot less flashy than twisting your arms so fast that they make a tornado, or sticking your blood vessels into people to pump your boiling blood into them. However, Kars' Light Mode is capable of cutting through just about anything, and even Joseph admits that he can't think of any way to get past his blades.

* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': This is the reason why the Clone Saga happens: sure, [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]] isn't as powerful or recognizable as [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]] and the [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner Hulk]], but considering every single attempt at replicating Cap has been an utter, epic, ''horrifying'' failure, the Ultimate Universe's version of the Hulk is an uncontrollable malevolently sentient weapon of mass destruction that is one of these aforementioned failures, and Spidey's powers are a pretty adaptable jack-of-all-trades package that soldiers and intelligence operatives can find useful in most scenarios they will encounter, then it's just better to go for that. [[spoiler:Turns out that the man behind the cloning project is [[[[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Otto Octavius]] and the reason he did it was just for the sake of screwing with Peter, but it's never said whether or not the actual pitch was just a bluff.]]

** Ichigo, who in a world where Shikais and Bankais give elemental abilities to weapons, turn them into entirely different weapons, summon giant poison baby familiars, has a Shikai that simply fires off [[SwordBeam sword beams]] of varying levels of power and a Bankai that takes his already considerable physical strength and speed and amps them up.

* When Gwen is asked how she will use the $100,000 cash prize of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'''s first season, she says she will use it to go traveling and then to a university to study art history. [[TheHost Chris]] is unimpressed, and pronounces her plan "really sweet. [[LampshadeHanging Boring, but sweet.]]"

* Near the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' Zuko rages at Iroh over the latter's training focusing on basic firebending. Later, we see that Zuko's mastery of the most basic part of firebending, control of one's breathing, gives him a resilience to cold that other firebenders can't match, to the point that he is able to resist the effects of a specially designed anti-firebending prison cell and even ''survive swimming through ice channels at the North Pole.''

** Iroh, the short pudgy elderly jolly uncle who pushed Zuko to focus on basic firebending and breath control, is one of the most powerful firebenders on the planet. So much so that it's outright stated he is the only one, next to the Avatar himself, who could (probably, in his own words) ''defeat [[BigBad Fire Lord Ozai]]''. He teaches the boring stuff because it is ''practical''.
** Toph, the world's self-proclaimed greatest Earthbender (not without merit). Due to being blind, she constantly has to sense the earth around her to navigate. Sounds boring, right? Despite earthbenders (including her) being capable for far more flashier bending feats, Toph can use seismic sensing in order to foil sneak attacks, detect lies (provided her opponent isn't a sociopath), as well as it being the foundation for metal-bending, ''a skill thought impossible for millennia''. In fact, [[spoiler:in the GrandFinale, Aang foils Ozai's last-ditch attemptt to kill him only via seismic sense.]]
** Sokka, the resident TeamNormal. Despite all his teammates being master benders, when Sokka temporarily leaves the group to train swordsmanship, they learn that Sokka is an expert in reading maps, and without him, they can't go anywhere. Once Sokka masters his sword to an acceptable level, the Gaang is overjoyed to see him again.

* Scrooge [=McDuck=] embodies this trope in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017''. In the pilot, he plots a course with a submarine that will avoid any threats even if it's not the most direct route and deduces a way to deal with Atlantean deathtraps that is simple and safe, as opposed to the reckless Dewey who changes the route of the sub to a quick but dangerous one, and blunders ''through'' the traps.

** Hank Hill embodies this trope. One specific moment is in the episode "Naked Ambition," when his friends end up in an asylum after a series of misunderstandings. Dale's attempt to get Boomhauer out by swapping clothes with a patient gets him mistaken for one instead, and Boomhauer's later escape plan by hiding in the laundry fails because Bill ratted it out. They rely on Hank, who simply ''talks'' to the staff and sorts things out. Not as flashy as a movie-like escape scene, but it got the job done.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' we have Twilight Sparkle and Rarity with their flashy unicorn magic, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash with the ability to fly, and Pinkie Pie with her ToonPhysics and borderline RealityWarping. Then we have Applejack who just has her lasso, raw physical power, and a nice hat, and gets the job done all the same and is every bit as badass as the others. (Also see the Food and Drink folder in the Real Life section; she gets a lot of mileage out of her signature fruit, too.)

** Evil-wise, there's King Sombra. He's a FlatCharacter in a RoguesGallery filled with EvilIsHammy-types. The "Practical" part is that he's NoNonsenseNemesis who averts the VillainBall by setting multiple traps and failsafes. It's not flashy or hammy, but it incapacitated the one person who managed to get through them all.
** Starlight Glimmer, before her HeelFaceTurn. The only spell she had aside from basic unicorn magic was one that robs a pony of their cutie mark. Not as flashy as shapeshifting, reality warping, or the flashy ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' battle with Lord Tirek. But it has the nasty effect of [[PowerNullifier power nullifying]]. In a world where ''everything'' is routed in magic, this renders anyone hit with that spell entirely helpless. Combined with Glimmer's mind games and brainwashing (the mundane non-magic kind), it got her closer to [[NearVillainVictory complete and utter victory]] than any other villain has gotten.
** Cozy Glow has no magic powers whatsoever: she's just an [[TheChessmaster intelligent manipulator]] who knows how to use tools provided to her. Cozy Glow twists what she learned at the School of Friendship, taking advantage of other characters' faults and lapses in judgment, and knowing exactly how these characters were going to behave to execute her plans. She came close to a [[NearVillainVictory decisive victory]], all while utilizing ThePowerOfFriendship against the heroes. She even points out the effectiveness of this mentality to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, pointing out that the reason they've gotten their butts handed to them by a weaker MonsterOfTheWeek ''many'' times throughout the show is that they take their immense power for granted and end up being AwesomeButImpractical.

** Rick's plan to topple the [[TheEmpire galactic federation]] is rather mundane yet effective. Does he set their nukes to target each other? Does he reprogram their portals to disintegrate their space fleets? Nope. [[spoiler:He simply reduces the value of their currency to zero.]]
** Discussed in 'Pickle Rick', when Rick finally winds up at the therapist's office and she plainly tells him that the key to actual self-improvement and fixing his issues is, quite plainly, work -- work that he'd find too tedious and boring to actually commit to, but would honestly be the best way forward. She ends her session by remarking that Rick is simply someone who'd rather get himself killed than be bored.
** Played in 'The Acid Trap', which has Rick creating the titular trap as a gag to fake his death in case of enemies coming after him. When Morty calls it as stupid and uninteresting (by Rick Sanchez standards, at least), [[DisproportionateRetribution Rick manipulates things so Morty will be forced to use the acid trap to avoid getting killed]] by a very huge bunch of angry people and worship it (kisses and all) before climbing on.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': Despite his vast empire and armies of robots and bounty hunters, Aku has no issue with these kind of tactics.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Given what a notoriously manipulative sociopath Eric Cartman is, most people don't realize that the best way to handle Cartman is simply to ignore him. Given that Cartman is a massive AttentionWhore, he can't stand the fact people can ignore him, especially since he can't manipulate them into doing what he wants yet is unable to do anything about it. Case in point, when all of the boys decide to ignore Cartman, which drives Cartman insane to the point where he thinks he's a ghost, and Heidi deciding to ignore Cartman's threats of committing suicide when she breaks up with him for the final time and Cartman is unable to actually kill himself. In ''Streaming Wars'', even his mother decides to ignore Cartman's attempts to manipulate her into getting breast implants, where Cartman ends up getting them instead. At the end of the "Post-Covid" duology, during the new future, everyone decides to ignore Cartman after cutting ties with him where Cartman would wind up becoming a friendless, homeless, and miserable alcoholic who has done nothing but scream insults at people just to get even the slightest bit of attention, and when Stan and Kyle express sympathy at his situation, Butters has to convince them to continue ignoring him, only bothering to cuss back at him before leaving him to rot in his miserable existence.

** Iroh, the short pudgy elderly jolly uncle who pushed Zuko to focus on basic firebending and breath control, is one of the most powerful firebenders on the planet. So much so that it's outright stated he is the only one, next to the Avatar himself, who could ''defeat [[BigBad Fire Lord Ozai]]''. He teaches the boring stuff because it is ''practical''.

* BoringButPractical/Literature