History Main / MundaneSolution

Compare LogicalWeakness, where the weakness isn't necessarily obvious or mundane but makes perfect sense with a little thought, and CuttingTheKnot. Contrast with MundaneUtility, where something exotic is used to solve something mundane, and WeaksauceWeakness, where a no less powerful individual gets strange weaknesses or power. Many things that are BoringButPractical are usually (though not always) one of these. Related to MugglesDoItBetter. See {{Combat Pragmatis|t}}m for when this concept is applied to fighting. For when this kind of idea backfires, see SimpleSolutionWontWork.

** Even the bosses aren't immune. The monster Muffet only fights you because she's been duped into thinking you're an enemy to spiders. However if you bought something from the Spider Bake Sale in the ruins you can use it during the fight, showing her you helped the spiders out, and making her ''instantly'' realize you're not an enemy.

* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Ann learns a KnowledgeBroker she's looking for is currently at a night club, her first attempt to enter is denied by a {{Bouncer}} for not having the proper DressCode. After which, she heads to a nearby clothing shop to be outfitted with a LittleBlackDress to gain entry.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': When Rick is poised to destroy the Galactic Federation, Summer and Morty propose grand-scale operations like arming their nukes or sabotaging their transportation systems. Rick's solution? Use his stolen high-level access to make the Federation's centralized currency completely worthless, completely crashing their economy.
** Rick also sometimes subverts this. In the show's second episode, he creates an ''Film/{{Inception}}''-inspired device that allows him and Morty to enter people's dreams so they can manipulate Morty's math teacher into giving him better grades. Morty asks why Rick, a universally-recognized genius, couldn't simply tutor Morty so he understood the material better. Rick ignores him and goes ahead with his dream-walking plan.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E27HouseGuest House Guest]]", there's a massive geode containing a storm that has cracked and has begun radiating energy. The solution? Seal the crack with [[DuctTapeForEverything duct tape]].

* In the pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'', the turtles get separated from Splinter via a cave-in. They can't see or hear their sensei, and have no way of knowing if he's alright. Leo starts to ask Donnie if there's any way to quickly move the rocks...only for Don to simply call Splinter's cell phone. When he picks up, they know he's fine.

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': In the episode "Flying Mind", the Decepticon's ship ''Nemesis'' (actually Deception [[AllThereInTheManual Trypticon]]) has awoken and is attacking everything that moves with stasis-lock beams (which put the Decepticons and every Autobot except Ratchet into stasis-lock). When Ratchet is trying to figure out what's going on, the kids suggest hailing the ''Nemesis''...basically giving Megatron a phone call. While Ratchet objects, he quickly realizes that this is the most reasonable solution and does so, leading to them learning that Trypticon's awake.

** In “Halloween on Spooner Street”, while trick-or-treating, Stewie gets his candy stolen by a group of teenagers, so Stewie plans to get the candy back by threatening them with a bazooka from the roof of their shed, but one of the teenagers simply throw a rock at him, causing him to trip and misfire the missile to a Godzilla-like creature from afar. So once he’s pinned down by the teens he then resorts to one last option, calling his mommy.[[SmashCut Later the moms of the two discuss about this incident,]] and the teen’s mom apologizes to Lois, and gives back Stewie’s candy.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS14E3GuyRobot Guy, Robot]]", Stewie builds a hyperintelligent robot friend who [[AIIsACrapshoot turns into a]] {{Jerkass}} and builds two robots of his own, and the three of them then enslave and torment Stewie. When he and Brian try to get rid of them, Stewie warns Brian that the robots are constantly evolving and won't be easy to defeat, only to see that Brian [[NoWaterproofingInTheFuture just sprayed them with a hose to short them out]].

** At one point in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony the second part of the pilot]], Twilight is desperately searching her library for a book on the Elements of Harmony. [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinkie Pie]] finds it in seconds. How?

* Yusuke of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' is able to beat a demon using Botan as a HumanShield by simply telling her to simply raise her arms, which made her slip out of the jacket the demon was holding her by and giving Yusuke an opening.

* ''Fanfic/JediOfTheBoilingIsles'': Unlike in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', where Luz pretends to be an Abomination to help out Willow with the [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Abomination Track]] as part of a ZanyScheme, Luz's idea to help out her new friend in the fic involves... talking to Principal Bump and showing him that Willow is far more suited for the [[GreenThumb Plant Track]].

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13914962/3/Jedi-of-the-Boling-Isles Jedi of the Boiling Isles]]'': Unlike in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', where Luz pretends to be an Abomination to help out Willow with the [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Abomination Track]] as part of a ZanyScheme, Luz's idea to help out her new friend in the fic involves... talking to Principal Bump and showing him that Willow is far more suited for the [[GreenThumb Plant Track]].

* In one tie-in to ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'', Xadhoom fights an Evronian cyborg SuperSoldier who's capable of absorbing all energy and redirecting it, making him invulnerable to most attacks. When he rebelled against the Empire, they simply switched him off with a remote control they had built for just that purpose and dumped him on a prison planet, telling him that if he didn't play nice they'd turn him of again.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13820635/4/914 914-I]]'': SCP-096 kills anyone who looks at its face. Izuku solves the problem by giving him a mask.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11689576/1/Raptor Raptor]]'' Harry Potter keeps Voldemort from stealing the Philosopher's Stone by telling the Head Girl that the Weasley twins plan to let Fluffy out for some exercise. While the teachers refused to believe someone was going to steal the Stone, they easily believed the twins might pull a prank involving a cerberus and laid in wait for them.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Sight}}'', Ukitake has been suffering from his illness for centuries with nothing from Soul Society able to cure it. With some medical knowledge, Ichigo is able to narrow down Ukitake's illness to being either pneumonia, tuberculosis or lung cancer and recommends that he get some modern medical treatment at the Kurosaki clinic.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In "Downfall", Blake gathers a citizen army to oppose Adam and the White Fang's plan to wipe out Haven Academy. Her father organizes training for the citizens, who don't necessarily know how to fight, for the two weeks of their journey to Haven. However, when they confront Adam at Haven, the Menagerie citizens don't have to do very much beyond make a symbolic stand against Adam and his men. The reason why is because Blake's mother turns up with the Mistral police force, surrounding the villains with an army of airships containing armed and properly trained law enforcers. It's the arrival of the police force, not the Menagerie citizens, that forces the villains to abandon Haven and flee.