History Main / MacGyvering

* In French, [=MacGyverish=] translates to ''[[http://www.ginandtacos.com/?p=1069 débrouillard]]''. [[http://www.lesdebrouillards.qc.ca/ And we've got a magazine teaching the virtues of ''la débrouillardise'' to little Quebecers everywhere.]] Be afraid, be very afraid... [[CanadaEh Or not, as the case may be.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': Spectacular jailbreaks based on his [=MacGyvering=] skills were a huge part of pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|OnInfiniteEarths}} MadScientist Lex Luthor's character. In his appearance in the short-lived ''The Joker'' comic, he improvises a jetpack out of a couple of bottles of pop and some paint flakes. another story has him consider that it has reached the point where his guards won't allow him to have ''anything'' other than a pad of paper and a pen. He knows perfectly well how to turn to the ink, metal, plastic, wood pulp, and glue into a high explosive to blast his way out... but he would never ''do'' that, because then they wouldn't let him have a pen and paper anymore.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} has pulled this off several times, usually on those rare instances where he is without his utility belt.
** Likewise, ComicBook/TheJoker has demonstrated enough chemistry skill to create assorted neurotoxins, explosives and slippery agents from the contents of a janitor's closet.

* ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'', on the other hand, ''has'' been known to build a teleporter out out of stuff lying around his cell. During his appearance in the short-lived ''The Joker'' comic, he improvised a jetpack out of a couple of bottles of pop and some paint flakes.
** Spectacular jailbreaks based on his [=MacGyvering=] skills were a huge part of pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} MadScientist Luthor's character. One story has him consider that it has reached the point where his guards won't allow him to have ''anything'' other than a pad of paper and a pen. He knows perfectly well how to turn to the ink, metal, plastic, wood pulp, and glue into a high explosive to blast his way out... but he would never ''do'' that, because then they wouldn't let him have a pen and paper any more.
* Mocked, inevitably, in Magazine/{{MAD}}'s spoof of ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}''. [=MacGyver=] remarks the [[LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard the room the bad guys have locked him in]] has nothing he can use to escape, to which the woman with him points out that the room is full of explosives. He complains about the indignity of having to actually use explosives as explosives instead of improvising.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan's'' enemy the Vulture once escaped Riker's Island by destroying the wall of his cell using a tractor beam made from a headset radio, using his expertise in the field of electromagnetics. Then, as the alarms were going off, he flew from away with wings tinkered together from bedsheets, wooden rods, and duct tape; he knew they'd only last a few minutes, at most, but luckily for him the crooks he had hired to have a boat waiting were there.

* Subverted in the "Frightful" arc of ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'', where zombie Mr. Fantastic convinces the soldiers guarding the Frightful Four's cell that he's built a teleporter out of stuff lying around the cell and they promptly disappear. Turns out Zombie Invisible Woman had just made them all invisible so that the guards would open the cell to investigate, whereupon they were eaten.

* In the hands of orthopedic surgeon Angus Wallace, a coathanger, knife and fork became surgical tools and [[HealItWithBooze five-star brandy became disinfectant]] when the airplane's first-aid kit proved inadequate to treat a woman for tension pneumothorax. Using duct tape or plastic bags to temporarily seal a sucking chest wound is actually a fairly standard Macguyvering technique for administering first-aid to a sucking chest wound in the absence of proper materials. Likewise, using the outer casing of a pen as tubing for an improvised tracheotomy. Many first-aid training courses emphasize the usefulness of improvized solutions, provided you know what you're trying to accomplish. This might include things like using the victim's clothing to improvize pressure bandages, slings, or even litters. For the aforementioned sucking chest wound, soldiers are sometimes advised to consider using the plastic packaging that many components of their first aid kits are packaged in.

* [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/finding-the-path-worm-au.321619/ Finding The Path]] Taylor does a LOT of improvising, due to the fact that she holds the Path to Victory. Common household items -- such as a stress ball, a permanent marker, and a tissue box -- in her hands make her capable of taking out [[spoiler: the Wards, the Undersiders, Amy, and Glory girl]] ''all at once''.

** The inter-island network was supposed to be completed in time for the Apollo 11 Moon landing in July 1969, but it got delayed. As a stop-gap, outside broadcast vans were strategically placed to relay the signal between the islands to ensure everyone got to see the event at the same time. And getting the footage across New Zealand was the easy part - getting it ''into'' the country was another story. With no international satellite link, the NZBC ended up sending the Royal New Zealand Air Force to Sydney to pick up the film of the moon landing from Creator/TheABC and then rush it on an English Electric Canberra to Wellington.

* In the hands of orthopedic surgeon Angus Wallace, a coathanger, knife and fork became surgical tools and [[HealItWithBooze five-star brandy became disinfectant]] when the airplane's first-aid kit proved inadequate to treat a woman for tension pneumothorax.
** Using duct tape or plastic bags to temporarily seal a sucking chest wound is actually a fairly standard Macguyvering technique for administering first-aid to a sucking chest wound in the absence of proper materials. Likewise, using the outer casing of a pen as tubing for an improvised tracheotomy.
** Many first-aid training courses emphasize the usefulness of improvized solutions, provided you know what you're trying to accomplish. This might include things like using the victim's clothing to improvize pressure bandages, slings, or even litters. For the aforementioned sucking chest wound, soldiers are sometimes advised to consider using the plastic packaging that many components of their first aid kits are packaged in.

** The inter-island network was supposed to be completed in time for the Apollo 11 Moon landing in July 1969, but it got delayed. As a stop-gap, outside broadcast vans were strategically placed to relay the signal between the islands to ensure everyone got to see the event at the same time.
*** Getting the footage across New Zealand was the easy part - getting it ''into'' the country was another story. With no international satellite link, the NZBC ended up sending the Royal New Zealand Air Force to Sydney to pick up the film of the moon landing from Creator/TheABC and then rush it on an English Electric Canberra to Wellington.

** Often called Number 8 Wire here in New Zealand (after the amount of jury-rigging done with the stuff).

* {{Defied|Trope}} by Beckett in the ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "Last Call". Before exploring a hidden passageway under a bar, Castle rigs up a torch by placing a roll of toilet paper in the cup of a plunger and soaking the paper with liquor.