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Whenever you prepare for a story you don't want any plot point to come across as an Ass Pull. But depending on the needs of the story you don't want to spend more time than necessary to establish a vital skill a character may possess that will prove useful, such as an establishing scene that will be used as a Chekhov's Skill.
The solution? Establish the skill of the character through dialogue only. It isn't much, but it gets the job done in much the same way. Along the lines of fiction this inherently goes against the Show, Don't Tell mantra, but if done well it never comes across as an Informed Ability.
For example, before going on the adventure the Plucky Comic Relief apologizes for being late because he had to help his sister who locked herself out of their car. Later, when everyone is detained and bound by shackles, this guy gets a hairpin from The Chick and manages to free himself and the others. It was mentioned he had the talent, but it isn't until now that we see him use it. If we actually saw him unlocking his sisters car then it would be a Chekhov's Skill.
Compare Suddenly Always Knew That when a character suddenly reveals that they had the skills as they are using it, instead of any sort of foreshadowing.
Compare Pastimes Prove Personality, Let's Get Dangerous.
Examples
Fan Fiction
Film
Literature
- In Matthew Reilly's Ice Station, it's mentioned via a flashback that Schofield used to be a pilot before his significant eye trauma. This becomes important when the marines get an opportunity to fly out of the ice station.
- In Area 7, it's mentioned that Gant is training to be an officer. She later referrences her training manuals to take command in Schofield's absence.
- In The Hunger Games Peeta is a baker's son who iced cakes. His painting ability proves to be of use when camouflaging in the games and he also bakes for Katniss to try to win her over.
- The original Hardy Boys Young Adult novels personified this trope in the form of Chet Morton, the best friend of the eponymous duo. Most stories had him talk about or display his latest hobby, which would without doubt become important later. This was mostly dropped in the Hardy Boys Casefiles, a sequel series of sorts that started in the late 1980s.
Live Action Television
- Wendy Watson's painting, affinity for zombie movies, and love of first-person shooter video games all come in handy when she begins training as a Middleman.
- In Dead Like Me, Georgia Lass works part-time as a filing clerk in an temporary job agency, but we barely see her actual work there. You'll probably forget what her job was by the time of the episode where death takes a vacation and the Reapers use that day to file their reaps' data for the Celestial Bureaucracy, where her skills as a filing clerk and her keys to the office where she used to work prove very handy.
- The Power Rangers developed these quite a bit during the original run. The most blatant was the beginning of Turbo (a car themed season), when Tommy and Adam both suddenly became interested in cars and car maintenance.
- In CSI: Miami, the socially awkward Walter is immediately forthcoming with his knowledge on whatever non-mainstream activity or lifestyle is the focus of the episode. He even knows the lingo!
Role Playing Game
- The RPG Men In Black actually has this as a game mechanic. Every character has a typically useless skill. It is generally the job of the GM to work it into the story in a plot-relevant way, but by the end it can be difficult to even remember what your useless skill was to begin with.
Theater
- In The Foreigner, Charlie admits to his dismally boring, nerdy and useless job as a comic-book proofreader, specifically asking "who on Earth cares if there's one "K" or two in "Klaatu Barada Nikto?!" At the climax of the play this same Charlie puts on an alien possession act, screaming, of all things, "Klaatu! Barada! Nikto!" before pretending to violently dissolve one of the "Klan members" threatening him. The ensuing spectacle chases the real Klan away and saves the day.
Video Games
- Early on in Fate/Stay Night, Mitsuzuri attempts to get Shirou to rejoin the archery club, and it's mentioned that Shirou was very good at it. One of the Servants is of the class Archer...guess who he really is?
Web Original
- In Lego RPG The Movie, Henry mentions that he used to play hockey, and all the hits and blows he took made him a little slow. Not too long after, Galeno betrays him and Arich, and has them both pushed off the top of the closet. Henry was so used to hits that he was able to stay conscious after the fall, carry Arich, and set up a camp.
Western Animation
- Parodied in an episode of Dave The Barbarian. When Fang insults Dave's hobby of collecting little figurines, he outright says "Someday my love of decorative knick-knacks will come in handy!" Later on, it turns out that the Monster of the Week loves decorative knick-knacks; as Dave gladly supplies her, Fang glares and mutters "I hate you."
- One episode of Family Guy opens up with Peter and Joe discovering Quagmire has hung himself to enhance his pleasure of masturbation. Quagmire is rushed to the hospital and recovers and the the scene is never mentioned again. However, near the end of the episode, Quagmire confronts his sister's abusive boyfriend and winds up being nearly choked to death by him. Because Quagmire chokes himself regularly for a sexual thrill, he manages to pretend he was killed and proceeds to kill the attacker when the guy least suspects it.
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