"So, do you think he's going to win?"

"Well, Negi-Bozu is a very fast learner, aru. He learned techniques that would take a month to master within three hours. Sheesh... what's wrong with this kid? (The world is really unfair).

-Mahou Sensei Negima

"Can you fly that thing?"

"Not yet."

-The Matrix

Congratulations! You just won the Superpower Lottery! You now have at your disposal super-strength, flight, super-speed, nigh invulnerability, fireballs, and heart. And Just In Time, too, because on the other side of the city (requiring you to fly really quickly, even through buildings if necessary), there's an emergency that can only be solved with fire and making animals do things.

There's a few problems, though: you've never thrown a fireball before in your life. Beyond that, you've never flown and you've never had to control the immense speed and strength that you have now. Or heart. But, don't you worry. Powers are programs, and so it follows that you are also programmed with the instruction manual on how to use them. Within seconds of being struck by lightning after being infused with radioactive nanomachines that alter your genetic structure, you're both physically and mentally ready to bathe supervillains in hellfire and plague them with assorted urban animals.

This is especially true of characters whose main ability is to copy other characters' skills. Whether or not they initially have trouble figuring out their own powers, they are almost universally capable of instantly figuring out how to use their stolen powers, typically to the same level of skill or effectiveness (or even a greater level!) as the character who had the power first. Shapeshifters (especially animal-based shapeshifters or with otherwise non-humanoid forms) get bonus points for intuitively being able to transform into various objects and intuitively control limbs and other moving parts that weren't there previously.

For some characters, this newfound knowledge doesn't always come instantly. At times, they'll remain blissfully unaware that they have powers, accidentally shooting laser beams out of their eyes when staring too hard or ripping doors off hinges when opening them too abruptly. The opposite end of the spectrum is severe Power Incontinence, where the character can't figure out how to turn off his telepathy or stop sending people flying with each exhale. Rarely will extensive training be needed to fix this; a Training Montage is enough. Give the new hero a day and he'll be ready to put his newfound powers to use. At most, a mentor will have to stop by to tell the new hero the activation phrase or show the hero how it's done a few times.

Often times, this is coupled with a time limit to become the greatest x in the world. In these cases, Training From Hell is sometimes used, but the character still emerges an expert — one of the greatest people to ever learn the craft — after only a month or so of work. Especially jarring when it's used to explain away gaining a skill most people take a lifetime to perfect. There's rarely even any hand waving to explain this away, the audience is just supposed to believe that the characters are that damn good.

Often a sign of a Mary Sue or Marty Stu.

Compare Possession Implies Mastery. Contrast How Do I Shot Web.

Examples:

Anime

Ranma (and to a lesser extent his Worthy Opponent Ryoga) can practically osmose an entirely new martial art or technique in the span of a week, mastering it so well that they can beat the rival of the week who may have spent a lifetime honing that skill in a Cooking Duel. Handwaved by saying both are masters of "Anything goes" martial arts, a school that focuses on ~~stealing~~ incorporating moves from other martial arts.
The titular character of Naruto frequently does this. Partially justified in one instance in that he gets a sped up training regimen by creating a thousand or so clones of himself, thereby training a thousand times faster. What's even more ridiculous is he does this shortly after returning from three years of training where all he learned was one technique that was only useful once and how to have strategies beyond his usually use of the Indy Ploy.
- He also tends to only learn them partially at first instead of full mastery: after he "learned" summoning he couldn't get anything bigger than a dog without using nine-tails chakra and when he learned the Rasengan he could initially only do it because he found his own method for forming it that requires two hands instead of one. He only gets past these limitations after the Time Skip.
Subverted in Robotech / Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. After Falling Into The Cockpit, the young hotshot pilot prodigy proceeds to fall over repeatedly and cause extensive property damage. A crash course by a pilot who's actually qualified in operating robots keeps him from bumping into things, but only after signing up for the army and undergoing combat training does he become competent.
- Similarly in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji gets browbeaten into the cockpit of Unit-01 and sent against the Monster of the Week... and promptly falls on his face before getting beaten like a red-haired stepchild until the 'mech' takes over.
- Somewhat subverted in Macross Frontier, where the main character gets punched in the face and kicked out of the hangar for wanting to repeat his no-training Falling Into The Cockpit experience when a mission alert goes up.
Ichigo, from Bleach, goes from rank novice to one of the strongest fighters in the universe, able to go toe-to-toe with shinigami captains and take out lieutenants without even using his sword, after two Training From Hell sessions which collectively comprise about twelve days.
- It's actually stated that this his ability to learn advanced concepts quickly, is one of his most important skills.
- However, most of this is not conscious. It's often a plot point that he has only a vague idea of what to do with this power, and while he can manage brilliantly when he's properly motivated (ie. has to save someone), otherwise his power fluctuates.
Like with many other tropes, Excel Saga parodies this when Excel's bowling training from Nabeshin is over in a matter of seconds, leaving Excel capable of scoring strikes while simultaneously knocking her opponents' balls out of their alleys. Lampshaded when Nabeshin notes there's nothing more he can teach her, whereupon Excel complains, "That wasn't even five seconds!"
Whenever the protagonist of Fate Stay Night uses projection to replicate a weapon, he will instantly gain all experience of battles the weapon itself has gone through, allowing him to wield it (or, depending on interpretation, for it to wield itself with his body following its lead) with ease as if he were a complete master.
- Projection itself. Not only is he an instant expert literally better than anyone at it in the entire world, he's even doing it in a form that should be more difficult. And he learns enough to project a perfect Noble Phantasm in less than two weeks. His projection is so good that some of it actually breaks the rules of magic and doesn't disappear, which is apparently almost one of the True Magics. Naturally, he's unconsciously cheating like crazy to do it but...
The Melancholy Of Suzumiya Haruhi has Yuki (she is an artificial human with supernatural powers). The main character Haruhi appears to be this at first ( thanks to being a god and having spent her entire childhood trying to be better and different) but it's clear that the instant expert abilities are mostly in her head (she is, however, clearly a expert at a surprising number of things).
- Like the guitar. Expert enough to pull off a Crowning Music Of Awesome in the same day that she first picks it up.
- Humorously enough, Yuki is shown to be inept at using computers... for about three days or so. A week later, and she's able to hack at beyond human limits.
Both subverted and played straight in Code Geass. All the characters who are said to be exceptional pilots are either career soldiers or rebels with experience from the School of Hard Knocks. Especially noticeable is the main character who, despite using a Humongous Robot as a Mundane Utility annually, is actually one of the worst pilots in the whole series, a fact which the show's creators seem proud of. Made especially ironic in that his late mother was a nigh-legendary pilot back when the Humongous Robots were still new.
- Played straight with the show's female lead, C.C.. One episode says that she's actively avoided learning how to pilot, but when she finally does, she's actually pretty good. May end up being justified in the upcoming second season, as she's the Really Seven Hundred Years Old Mysterious Waif ( with a psychic connection to the hero's afforementioned ace pilot mother) whose past has never fully been elaborated upon.
Averted in the Pokemon anime, played straight in the games. The anime shows Trainers actually practicing new attacks, complete with funny misfires, while in the games, the mon becomes an Instant Expert with a move simply by reaching the right level.
- Let's not forget the TMs and HMs, which are Instant Expert on-a-disk.
Kintaro Oe of Golden Boy can master complex skills overnight, through nothing more than insane determination.
Nanoha and Hayate of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Inu Yasha has learned how to execute the Wind Scar and Backlash Wave by instinctivly senseing where and when to strike, while in combat.
Averted in One Piece, where Devil Fruit users often have at least some difficulty figuring out what their powers are, and often take a great deal of time figuring out how to use them to full effect. After over ten years for Luffy and over twenty for Robin, the both of them are still learning new ways to utilize their abilities.
Saito from Zero no tsukaima gained this as his power of a familiar. He instantly understands how a given weapon works and how to use it, he also gains a considerable boost in speed, endurance and strength when using a weapon. There is just one condition that must be met, the weapon must have been created for combat. For example a sword that was created as a decoration won't trigger Saito's powers. Also it can be Any weapon, from a simple sword to a fighter plane or artillery cannon.

Comic Books

Taskmaster, in the Marvel Universe, can instantly learn how to do any physical skill or martial arts maneuver his body is physiologically capable of surviving simply by watching anyone else do it once, either live or via recorded media. Handwaved away by explicitly giving him the superpower of "photographic reflexes", or the ability to instantly learn by watching. His most recent mini-series also gave him the more conventional form of photographic memory in addition to his superpower, further enhancing his rapid learning abilities. He also has Awesomeness By Analysis in that he understands what he learns so thoroughly that he can teach other people how to do it.
- The whole thing worked against him, however, when he tried to use it on Dead Pool, who is just too unpredictable. He even started dancing partway through the fight with Task Master, just because.
Similarly, Prometheus, a supervillain of the DC Universe, has a helmet with some fancy technology where he can just pop in a disc with whatever skill or knowledge he needs. This can range from the blueprints for a space station to the skills of the top thirty martial artists in the world—with which he handily defeated Batman.
- Once. The rematch was far more humiliating... and that was while it still was a hand-to-hand fight, before Prometheus pulled a gun and then Batman triggered the logic bomb he'd hidden in Prometheus' helmet software: he replaces Prometheus's nervous and muscular systems with the physical characteristics of one man: Stephen Hawking. So awesome.
Reed Richards has done this a few times. In one instance taking a piece of heretofore unknown alien tech that transmitted information by smell and rigging a device that translated it. Into a video. In ten minutes.
A character from The Tick comics, Oedipus Ashley Stevens, is a bored rich girl who becomes one of the world's greatest ninjas... after training for "nearly two weeks!"

Film

The enslaved humans from Battlefield Earth. Despite never having worked with any technology at all, they quickly become expert pilots, due to a "teaching machine" which beams information straight into the user's brain.
Lampooned mercilessly in the "We Need A Montage" sequenced of the film Team America: World Police, where the protagonist Gary goes from being a talented actor to a talented actor capable of performing at Special Forces levels with any or all weapons and his bare hands... in about ten minutes of real time. But hey, he had a really cool montage sequence, complete with 80s-style power ballad, so why not?
- This was not even the first time Parker and Stone used this gag. The exact same song was previously used to accompany a montage of Stan learning to ski in the South Park episode "Asspen".
Lampshaded a bit in The Matrix, where all humans spend most of their lives plugged into a computer network through which they receive simulated experiences anyway — through the magic of Applied Phlebotinum, it's a trivial matter to have a full training regimen for anything from martial arts to piloting written directly into your brain in a matter of seconds. Whether this carries over to the real world is up in the air.
- This troper assumed it did at least to a partial extent, since Neo used martial arts techniques to fight a man in the real world who wanted to kill him because he was possessed by Smith.
Many characters in various Star Wars media. This is usually justified by explaining that the reason they're so good is due to their Force-sensitivity. One example that comes to mind is 9 year old Anakin Skywalker winning his freedom in a podrace despite having never won before (or even reached the finish line before) and that's not even taking into account the fact that humans normally can't even SURVIVE podraces.
- Anakin really isn't an example, at least in that instance. He may not have won a podrace before (or even finished), but it's mentioned that he has been in quite a few of them, and is a gifted pilot, and in the last race he's driving a pod that he designed himself instead of Watto's. It's not like he just dropped into the seat for the first time.
  - He might not be an Instant Expert at the time of the movie, but the mere fact that he didn't die the first time he tried to race a pod indicates some level of instant expertise.
- Luke becomes a Jedi in either a few days or a few hours (depending on how long you figure it took the Millenium Falcon to reach Bespin sans hyperdrive). Those few hours/days of training are enough that he can hold his on against Vader rather competently (he does lose, but he still puts up a rather valiant effort) and he's fully capable of using powers like force jump. By Return Of The Jedi, Luke, who's otherwise spent most of his time looking for Han rather than training (though the Expanded Universe may beg to differ while failing to explain why he never bothers to revisit Yoda for more Jedi Crash Course during those years), is now a full-blown Jedi, being able to employ mind tricks and numerous other Jedi powers with little efforts. He's also a far better swordsman, being able to defeat Vader this time.
Madison from the movie Splash was able to learn English in a single afternoon simply by watching TV. Granted, she's a mermaid with magical powers, but this does seem a bit of a Handwave.
The protagonists of Zombie Apocalypse movies seem to become Instant Expert at any weapon they pick up. But that may just be adapting as a survival mechanism.
- In the case of the Russo movies, sometimes the Zombie Infectee has this same trait while they still have their humanity and intelligence.
- And then there's Shaun Of The Dead, where Shawn shows amazing head-bashing ability with a cricket bat, but he's absolutely atrocious with a rifle.
  - "Amazing head-bashing ability"? Is it really that hard to hit a slow, shuffling, stupid creature in the head with a blunt object?
  - Yes. Yes it is.
In the film Meteor Man, anyone with meteor powers can temporarily absorb all the information in a book just by touching it. Apparently, they can also apply it, considering that at one point the protagonist acquires martial arts skills from touching a book on the subject. And immediately afterward? Runway modeling.
The Last Samurai has this aspect in spades, though it's not apparent until you think about it a little. Tom Cruise's character, Nathan Algren, is built up as a quick study at linguistics in particular and war generally. However, in the course of one winter — a miserable three months — that he stays with a villageful of samurai, he picks up fluent Japanese and manages to master both the katana and unarmed combat. The level of his mastery — again, after only three months — is such that he's able to fight to a draw a samurai who's been practicing the art for a lifetime ... and later, tops it off by taking on six toughs unarmed and comes out of it with two swords and not one drop of his own blood spilled. Not exactly Instant Expert, but about as "realistic" as Hollywood gets.
- Algren is established as an experienced cavalry officer, though, and he's pretty handy with his saber from what we see in the first major battle against the rebels. This Troper can buy that he already had most of the skills, he just needed training in the particular handling of a katana. And it's also made clear that he's recovering from being a self-loathing alcoholic, so it's more like climbing back to his previous (unseen, but implied) level of Badass.
- Agreed...before his samurai training, he killed many Japanese warriors, some while he was wounded and prone.
In Push Nick has been telekenetic all his life, but sucks as the film opens. He couldn't even levitate a notebook. Yet he just suddenly starts kicking ass as soon as he confronts Carter and Victor.

Literature

Eragon in The Inheritance Trilogy goes from never having used a sword before to being one of the greatest swordsmen who ever lived (or maybe not, considering how many times he's gotten his butt whooped by supposedly lesser swordmen), after a month of practice. He similarly goes from totally illiterate to being fully literate in a month.
Memoirs Of A Geisha revolves around this trope, deconstructing it at one point: The protagonist explains that, due to a wager made between her legal guardian and her teacher, she wasn't given much time to actually practice certain skills. Instead, she would visualize them constantly, study when her mind was most pliable and invented a plethora of mnemonic devices to help her, because there was absolutely no other way for her to achieve her goals and change her situation. She explains that while it looked to others like she was mastering her skills without ever practicing, in truth her mind was working on little else.
Lord Hong of Interesting Times regularly masters in a matter of weeks disciplines that require other human beings a lifetime of study. Everyone else's problem is that they just don't focus.
Subverted in Vernor Vinge's novel Rainbows End, where JITT (Just-in-Time Training) allows anyone to become an Instant Expert in anything, but with the added complication of "JITT-stick", which essentially turns the character into a semi-permanent idiot savant in the area they received JITT in. JITT-stick plays a significant role in the novel's conclusion.
Kellhus from Second Apocalypse does this a lot, but it is justified by him being a super-intelligent result of a breeding program. That's why he can do things like become fluent in a foreign language in a matter of days.
In the second Sword Of Truth book, the protagonist learns the "dance with death" using the titular blade. The sword apparently stores all the sword fighting skills of anyone who's ever wielded it, and Richard is able to download the knowledge into himself, to the point where he can slaughter garrisons of trained soldiers even without the magic blade.
- Subverted somewhat in his role as a War Wizard, in that he never really learns how to control it.
  - How did you do that new and incredible thing? I just felt it inside of me.
Becoming an instant expert in more or less anything that takes their fancy is one of the advantages of the transhuman Luculenti in John Meaney's To Hold Infinity. Many taught themselves to paint or dance at the level of the masters of those arts on Earth... as hobbies, taking them perhaps a month or two of practise alongside their normal day jobs.
Another science fiction story invoking this trope is Galactic Odyssey by Keith Laumer, in which the protagonist is put to work sorting indistinguishable glorm-bulbs ... which turns out to give him the ability to learn essentially anything with a single run-through.

Live Action TV

In Heroes there was Charlie (and now Sylar through power theft) who could not only remember everything she read but could also properly apply it as well.
- In Season 2 there's also Monica who, like Taskmaster above, is able to instantly learn how to do any physical skill or martial arts maneuver she's physically capable of simply by watching anyone else do it once, either live or via recorded media.
- Sylar's main power is the ability to "understand how things work", which goes towards explaining how he's able to rapidly master all his stolen abilities. And even he has to take a few days to iron out the kinks in particularly cumbersome abilities, such as superhearing (high pitched noises become a Weaksauce Weakness) or shapeshifting (involuntary shapeshifting due to major psychological issues).
Lana Lang in Smalville learned Kung Fu in three days...
- She also learned how to successfully run her own coffee shop instantly and while still in high school. Fuck you, Lana.
Subverted in Firefly. Malcolm has to learn to duel with swords overnight. In the actual duel, he starts mocking his opponent. Inara: "He actually thinks he's doing well".
- He does manage to win the fight, however, once he decides to stop trying to "fence" and just kick the guy's ass.
  - Yes, but that's because he's using a skill he already mastered over a period of years (at great personal cost): no-holds-barred brawling. He still sucks at fighting a swordsman using a sword. Now, throwing jagged pointy things, punching people, stuff like that? that's another story.
Buffy. Xander kept his millitary knowledge for years after the Halloween incident where everyone became their costume. Very useful to the Scooby Gang, which makes this troper wonder if Ethan had good motives behind his crazy spell. And how many seven year olds dressed up like G.I.Joe and spent the next several years knowing how to assemble an AK-47 in the dark?
Dollhouse 'Nuff Said.
This trope is pretty much what makes the titular character of Kyle XY so special.
The whole schtick of 'The Pretender'': with a little learning time, Pretenders such as Jarod could master any role from janitor to astronaut.

Video Games

In Deus Ex, the player is allowed to train JC's various skills by using skill points gained at various points in the game. However, all that is needed to gain/upgrade a skill is the appropriate amount of skill points, and they can be learned at any time with immediate effect.
- At least some justification in that JC already took extensive training in those skills at the UNATCO academy. And that in normal gameplay, he's practicing those skills all the time.
Celes from Final Fantasy VI is somehow able to not only pick up the ability to learn opera, but is also able to memorize an entire musical score in the space of an afternoon. She does it well enough to be a convincing facsimile of the famous opera singer she resembles, to boot. But damned if singing her Leitmotif isn't nifty.
Dante from Devil May Cry seems to be able to use a new type of weapon just by picking it up, as well as gaining new moves just by paying for them. Some cases, however, can be partially Justified as an extension of normal abilities, like the bat-conjuring electric guitar/scythe Nevan, and the move-acquisition is handwaved by the existence of the Time God, who grants "the power of the ancient magic clans".
- Vergil can do it too, so it's hand waved as just being something that Sparda's family is capable of doing. Nero, on the other hand, never gains different weapons from those he starts with- he simply gains new techniques.
- Also note that, except for the weapons they start out with (and presumably have trained with for years), all of their Devil Arms are living weapons that have acknowledged them as their master. The weapons themselves could be contributing to their skills.
An explicit power of Mega Man, Bass, X, and sometimes Protoman, in their games. Falls under Powers As Programs.
- Here's hoping you don't play X5 first, though. From that point on, all powers are explicitly gained from the opponent's DNA. Nevermind the fact that all opponents are Extremely Advanced Robots. Since when to robots have DNA, extremely advanced or otherwise?
- All Navis in the Battle Network series, in which powers really are programs.
Link displays this to the degree that fans argue that it might be a side-effect of the Triforce of Courage. No matter how odd a new item is, he instantly acquires the knowledge how to use them when he picks them up, despite the fact that he usually starts the games living a fairly normal life. It's more believable in Twilight Princess, where he had Epona for a while and had a mentor teaching him a thing or two. Then again, the game also had some of the weirdest items in the series such as the Spinner (an apparently magical cog that can be used to ride on rails).
- However, it is questionable if this is because of the Triforce: In Wind Waker, where he starts out without the Triforce of courage (he get's it near the end of the game), Orca gives him his very first sword-lesson ever, because he reached the age of twelve - and comments on how amazingly good he already is for a beginner.
In many MMORPGs, learning a new spell or ability is usually just a matter of shelling out the appropriate amount of cash. World Of Warcraft averts it with weapon skills, which need to be trained to be effective (although any effect from equipping a weapon other than being able to whack things with it are instantly available when you learn the skill. Depending on the item, this can vary from improving spells to being able to open a portal to a specific location).
- There is a Hand Wave in City Of Heroes, in that you gain immediate benefits from levelling (increased HP), but in order to get new skills, you have to visit a trainer.
In Knights Of The Old Republic, the main character picks up Jedi proficiency with a lightsaber and Force powers in a matter of weeks, where most Jedi apprentices take years.
- In this case, almost entirely justified. The main character actually was a Jedi for years, then had his memories wiped as part of a brainwashing program. So the training really only had to reconnect the main character with their former powers.
Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist from MIT, came to work one day, and the place swarmed with aliens. Ever since he picked up a crowbar, he started kicking unfathomable amounts of ass, including use of every weapon he ever finds without even the slightest hint of natural inaccuracy. This is the guy who can hold and use a rocket launcher with both hands while climbing a ladder.
- Well, Gordon -is- supposed to be one smart guy. Charles Atlas Superpower?
- This is even lampshaded in one of Dr. Breen's broadcasts, chewing out the Combine Overwatch for their inability to capture or kill Gordon despite his lack of weapons or tactical training.
Vagrant Story gives us Ashley Riot. Physically, he's an unstoppable powerhouse who gradually "remembers" techniques he once knew, and can use every weapon he finds. With the proper equipment, he can smith his own armor and weapons, even though some of the metals are explicitly described as not being found outside of Lea Monde. But the real kicker is that he can learn magic just by reading a tome. And after killing a Lich, Ashley learns to teleport by its spirit speaking to him. There is some implication that The Dark is awakening latent talents within Ashley, but that doesn't change the fact that Agent Riot has a steep learning curve.
In Prototype, Alex Mercer gains the knowledge of those he devours, leading to an almost instant (and expert) knowledge of how to use firearms, operate helicopters, etc.

Web Original

Parodied and played straight in this strip from The Order Of The Stick.
Played straight with annoying regularity in Survival Of The Fittest. Many characters pick up their weapons and seem to immediately know everything about it, despite there being absolutely no (or only a tenuous) reason for their knowledge. Although instructions are provided this still does not fully justify this trope's presence. On the other hand, there are, admittedly, some characters who would have the knowhow due to prior experiences.

Western Animation

Kim Possible. Nuff said.
- Say that to the poor car...
- And the poor kitchen.
  - But besides that...
  Ron: Since when do you know how to fly a spacecraft?
  Kim: Oh, I watched him on the way up. No big.
Katara from Avatar The Last Airbender masters the art of Waterbending without explanation in three weeks, an act that normally takes a lifetime. On a lesser note, Aang as well, but he's supposed to.
- Sokka also inexplicably learns to use the sword in a matter of a days. Not even Training From Hell would be able to give normal people any passable sword skills in that manner of time — and Sokka seems to spend just as much time doing calligraphy and feng shui as actual sword practice during said days.
  - It is implied that the training was two days long. But,one of the two days was revolved around blacksmithing. So,Sokka mastered the sword in one day.
  - His master actually said that Sokka isn't all that good with the sword. What factored into what impressed Piandao were skills that Sokka was already shown to have, and the sword increased his survivability a bit.
- They had been training their skills casually since before they met Aang. Sokka was already proficient with his boomerang, club, spear (though it got broken right away), and machete at the start of the show.
In Danny Phantom, Danny masters his ice power to a tee through extensive training in the same episode when he first received them.
- It was explicitly stated that Danny's 'Ghost Sense', which he had since the beginning of the series, is actually these ice powers escaping in small amounts, so he's actually had ice powers since day 1, he just never knew it.
Toyed with in Megas XLR. The main character, Coop, is (usually) an expert at piloting his enormous mecha, Megas. However, this is only because he had specifically modified it to control just like the video games he'd been playing his whole life. When Kiva (an experienced pilot who was designated to pilot Megas before Coop modified it) attempted to pilot it, she could barely get it to go in the right direction.
- Where Coop gained the know-how to modify hyperadvanced alien technology on the other hand...