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alt title(s): Smart Girl; Smart Guy 
Beep beep bo boop.
Aang: The question is, how are we gonna stop that thing? Sokka: Why are you all looking at me? Aang: You're The Idea Guy. Sokka: So I'm the only one who can ever come up with a plan? That's a lot of pressure. — Avatar The Last Airbender
The Smart Guy is the guy in a Five Man Band whose focus is on intellectual pursuits. This is the team member who will always be prepared, sometimes Crazy Prepared. They will be at the computer doing Rapid Fire Typing. Expect some fancy talk and Techno Babble from this character. Because their role is about ideas, plans, and being Mission Control, they often leave the action stuff to The Hero, The Lancer and The Big Guy.
Physically they are usually short and wear glasses. They may even be a child. The Smart Guy is sometimes written as mousey and withdrawn. If not antisocial, at least non-social, sliding into TV Genius. Can be expected to play a mean game of chess.
Sometimes the Smart Guy is more street savvy then they appear. If this is the case it usually makes The Smart Guy physically as well as mentally capable. This can be done by making the Smart Guy and The Big Guy one and the same, effectively defying the two stereotypes to the utmost extreme. (See Genius Bruiser.) Then there is the path of the Badass Bookworm. They remain firmly planted as the Smart Guy, but are just as ready to fight as everyone else. The results are often impressive, and usually have the advantage of surprise. Who expects the little guy with glasses to be an asskicker?
In rare cases, the Smart Guy may also be a Boisterous Bruiser.
Powers and skills common to the smart guy include:
- In modern or sci-fi settings, The Smart Guy often has great skill with technology and engineering, in order to build and repair devices for the band. The Gadgeteer Genius, Mad Scientist, and The Professor will often fill this role. If they're the protagonist, they'll be a Science Hero. In such cases, The Smart Guy will rarely have good tactical skills, and may lack in common sense as well. Quite often they're an alien, cyborg or robot.
- In settings where guns are rare, he might be one of those few who uses one, considering a lack of combat skill.
- In fantasy settings, he'll usually be skilled at magic, particularly of the offensive variety, in which case he serves as the team's "nuker". His Weapon Of Choice tends to be a Magic Wand, a Simple Staff, or both in one package. Alternatively, he may prefer a easily manageable dagger. Or, if magic is the de facto power of the age, the Smart Guy will probably use a sword or a gun.
- If the team's Lancer is not the sneaky type, sneaking will typically fall to The Smart Guy. This type of smart guy will rely on stealth, guile, and cunning plans to trip up his enemies. He may also be a bit more Lancerish than others of his kind.
- In a Superhero setting, or any one with superpowers that don't quite fall under magic, The Smart Guy is often a Badass Normal, or has relatively weak powers to offset their brilliance. (and increasingly often will find ways to utilise apparently useless powers to great effect)
His knowledge will allow him to find enemy weaknesses and to serve as Mr Exposition in order to explain plot points to the less intelligent members of the band (and the audience).
The Smart Guy archetype is often unfairly vilified in shows where Dumb Is Good. Other times, he's not so much the Smart Guy as the Smartass Guy. The Smartass Guy will occur in a team with a Big Smart Guy. The team doesn't need another brainy guy so much, and since Big Smart Guys tend to be Gentle Giants, adding a Deadpan Snarker just seems natural. Appropriately, The Smartass Guy will probably be the "sneaky Lancer" type mentioned above.
In recent years, as casts have become more gender-balanced, The Smart Guy is the one most likely to swap genders. Since the character type is outwardly sexless and non-masculine, turning him into The Smart Girl is not that big a stretch. Mousey, shy and withdrawn work equally well on female characters, and can sometimes be appealing (see Hot Librarian and Nerds Are Sexy). When used in this way, she's usually much less girly than The Chick (see Wrench Wench). In a fantasy setting, she's often the Black Magician Girl, or sometimes the Staff Chick.
If there's a Robot Buddy on the team, he's usually The Smart Guy.
Not to be confused with the series Smart Guy.
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Examples
Anime and Manga
- Rowen Hashiba is described by Dais to be the smartest and most cunning of the Ronin Warriors. He probably got his smarts from his Mad Scientist father and is said to have a really high IQ.
- Taranee Cook in WITCH is archetypical of this trope.
- Yue of Mahou Sensei Negima, a Nakama regular and Teen Genius.
- Subverted in Suzumiya Haruhi, where Yuki Nagato is designated by Haruhi as The Smart Girl. The real smart guy is actually Koizumi.
- An alternate way of thinking about this is that Yuki is Haruhi's Smart Guy, but Kyon's Lancer/Big Guy. Similarly, Koizumi is Haruhi's Big Guy, but Kyon's smart guy.
- Kurama in Yu Yu Hakusho rarely fights hand-to-hand and never wins through brute strength; he always has to take his time to devise a strategy to beat his opponent. (This is Lampshaded several times and gets him in trouble more than once.)
- After Fate replaces him as The Lancer in the second season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Yuuno was handed this role, which meant that he spent most of his time in the background doing research on the Artifact Of Doom and telling the other characters what useful information he gathered from the Infinity Library.
- Teana fills this role in the third season, being recruited into Riot Force 6 for her skills as a tactician, a role that she eventually lives up to in spades.
- In several of the Sonic continuities (bar the animated SATam series), Tails usually plays this role.
- Christopher Thorndyke plays this role in the Sonic X series after his six year age up this caused a bit of conflict amongst fans, and Tails becomes more of a Captain for the crew (albeit one who is not always listened to, but he is trying to organize Amy Rose, Knuckles and Sonic) and a mechanic.
- Among The Allied Forces, Francis Bonnefoy aka France takes up this role. He's one really atypical Smart Guy, though, often thinking with the smaller head rather than the big one. But when he does use the latter rather than the former, he can be quite the Manipulative Bastard.
- Chobits' Minoru Kokubunji.
- Ussop from One Piece fills this role for the Strawhat Pirates.
- It is arguable that Nami is the smart guy and Ussop is the chick due to both of them being smart (in different areas), but Ussop edges her out due to being slightly more useful in battle.
- Ishida in Bleach. Also doubles as one of Ichigo's Lancers.
- Qute surprisingly to all those who've known him for a short time, Gokudera from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Why surprisingly? Because the guy is the essence of a bad boy, smoking at the age of 14, ready to beat up a teacher if his boss say so, etc., while getting 100 on his tests all the time. Not to mention his C.A.I system and making up his own alphabet in class out of boredom... Rarely acts like one though.
- Taiboubou of Houshin Engi is also The Smart Guy
- Many Magical Girl teams have one of these.
- Shikamaru from Naruto is certainly the series' smart guy in the sense that he has a brilliant strategic brain and improbably high IQ and a talent for utilising humiliatingly complex and cruel Xanatos Gambit's.
- When he's not around Kakashi usually fills this role.
Comics
Films
- R2-D2 in Star Wars. He also neglects to bother anyone else with his plans, especially, god forbid, C-3PO, because there's no way anyone could be smart enough to be his backup.
- The Super Hero spoof film The Specials from 2000 includes a brainy gadgeteer member of the titular superteam whose nom de guerre is simply "Mr. Smart".
- This Troper once watched a disaster film, where our brave fireman/policeman/whoever and a bunch of other people were trapped in a collapsed tunnel, or something — you get the trade. When the gang, on their way out, stumbles upon a puddle with live wire in it, it is the stereotypical nerdy Nerd who, thanks to his nerdy intellectual pursuits, saves them with improvised Faraday cage. As groups of survivors in such films are often given personality traits roughly amounting to Five Man Band, this guy can be described in terms of the lot's Smart Guy.
Literature
- The scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.
- Blackberry, of the initial refugee band in Watership Down. An amusing variant in that his skillset is basically that of an engineer, except downsized to a rabbit POV; his bright idea — which becomes the key strategem in the climactic battle — is that things which float on water can thus be used as transport out of reach of land-based enemies.
- It's strongly hinted that Fiver, the small seer who doesn't fight, is second smartest.
- Deconstructed in the Warhammer 40000: Eisenhorn novel trilogy, where the savant Ueber Aemos is the walking databank he is because of a "meme-virus" that makes him compulsively pursue knowledge, culminating in memorising the Malus Codicum.
- Kirsty and sometimes Yo-less from Johnny Maxwell Trilogy.
- Hermione in Harry Potter.
- The Dumbledore lampshades that since he's regarded as this, his mistakes are that much greater when he screws up (which isn't very often, but massively sucks when he does). He also admits he subverts this trope a lot, because a lot of his genius (in regards to the plot) is actually a bunch of lucky guesses (read Half Blood Prince for full details).
- WHY has no one mentioned Artemis Fowl yet? He's pretty much made of this trope.
- Sostratos in Over The Wine Dark Sea by Turtledove. He reads Thucydides and Herodatus for fun, always keeps the records of the ships cargo well and is curious about Philosophy, Science, Local Customs, and, generally everything. He also always fights with his cousin The Captain who is a certifiable Jerk Jock.
Live Action TV
- McKay on Stargate Atlantis is probably the most egregious example on modern TV; often, the other characters will just sit around and threaten him until he comes up with a plan.
- Samantha Carter is more Badass Bookworm than just The Smart Guy; Zelenka is McKay's much more reserved and polite second in command. The remaining scientists tend to fit a different trope, in no small part as they are not members of the Five Man Band.
- Early seasons of Doctor Who had the Doctor as The Smart Guy, with a male companion as the Action Guy and a female companion as the Distressed Damsel. He is still the smart guy, although since the Seventies he is always a combination of several archetypes.
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer had Giles, and Angel had Wesley. Watchers are pretty much Smart Guy incarnate. Angel also had Fred, a mixture of the Smart Guy and The Chick. In addition, Anya could be considered a Smart Guy when talking about demonic matters (with which she has personal experience), although less so in most other matters (such as "how to conduct myself in human society").
- Willow was also very smart, as well as magical. Giles was better educated but functioned more as their mentor, whereas Willow was clever/good with computers.
- As the only crewmember on Firefly with any formal education, fugitive doctor Simon Tam fits this role to a T. This is most apparent in Ariel, in which he plans the most lucrative heist the crew has ever pulled. Unfortunately, Simon's budding career as an a criminal mastermind was cut short by the show's untimely cancellation, but presumably he would have gone on to plan many other lucrative ventures, especially as the crew warmed to him, and he lost his snobbish, intellectual veneer.
- I rather hope he didn't become an "up and coming criminal mastermind" in some ways. He was an outlaw not by inclination but because the Alliance said so. He probably did prefer to be a doctor and keep his hands clean (metaphorically speaking) and regarded the Ariel operation as an exception. In fact when Mal wanted to take River along at the beginning of Serenity, I think he was not just afraid of putting River in danger but of making her a thief. Nonetheless he did show talent as the Strategist that could have proved useful and also could have provided some interesting conflicts both with himself and with the other crewmembers.
- In any case, Simon never seemed snobbish to me. He seemed stiff, and uncomfortable in the new environment but he wasn't disdainful toward the others. He was snobbish toward Jayne but Jayne was a very easy person to be snobby toward, even discounting the fact that he was a bully, a traitor, and far more snobbish about Simon's supposed lack of masculinity then Simon was about Jayne's very real lack of refinement. Not to mention insulting Simon's disturbed sister which is not a thing to get on his good side.
- Simon's sister, River, also showed a talent for coming up with well-thought out plans, when she's not communing with cows, waxing poetic about exsanguination, threatening to kill people with her brain, rewriting the Bible, or generally living up to her reputation as the patron saint of cloudcuckoolanders, that is.
- Harris of the Chosen Men Sharpe is a former teacher who joined the army to escape debts. He speaks at least three languages and is the one who usually quotes philosophers or is found reading.
- Sayid Jarrah from Lost is an expert in communications technology. In his time on the Island, he has built several radios and fixed a computer.
- Physicist Daniel Faraday also counts, besides his amnesia and moments where he isn't much clear while explaining.
- Hardison is the computer hacker geek of Leverage's Three-Men-and-Two-Women Band, and pinchhits as the Deadpan Snarker when needed.
- Star Trek The Next Generation's Data. Given that he's an android, with a super computer in his head, he can usually come up with solutions that would be at best impractical if they didn't have an android on the crew.
- Charlie Eppes in Numbers.
- James May on Top Gear, whose interest in detail and facts borders on obsession and alternately amuses and bores his non-scholarly co-presenters.
Video Games
- In Kingdom Hearts, Donald is The Smart Guy of the team, being the Disney Court's royal magician, and good at his craft. However, he doubles as the bad kind of team Lancer as well, because of how self-centered, small-minded, and short-tempered he is; he's always trying to get his way, and doesn't consider the consequences of his bullish behavior. All of the wisdom is instead found in Goofy, The Big Guy of the team, making him something of a Genius Bruiser. This pretty solidly seems a case of Dumb Is Good. Actually, considering how many evil scientists there are in the series, it could seen as a double-whammy of Dumb Is Good and Science Is Bad. Even good-guy inventor Cid can't escape the fact that his gummi ships couldn't be built without breaking off material from the shells that protect each world from Darkness.
- Jeff in Earthbound is also archetypical of this trope.
- With regard to fantasy settings, he partially subverts this trope, in that he is the only party member who doesn't use magic.
- Jennifer in the first Disgaea game, Hanako in the second, Raspberyl in the third.
- Vitali in Soul Nomad and the World Eaters. Lobo in the Demon Path.
- Tails fills his usual role in Sonic Chronicles, but is joined and assisted by Dr Eggman!
- Persona 4 has a few possible. Early in the game, the Lancer Yosuke doubles as this, as the only guy with any plausible investigative theories. Yukiko might also qualify. Later in the game, Yosuke relinquishes this post for Ms. Exposition Naoto.
- The Engineer, Medic, and Spy of Team Fortress Two all fit the role. The first is a relatively goodhearted Gadgeteer Genius, the second is a crazy Mad Scientist, and the third is a haughty Magnificent Bastard. All utilize technology, and they neatly encapsulate all traditional Smart Guy skills — machines, support, and subterfuge.
- Siblings Welkin and Isara Gunther from Valkyria Chronicles usually fill out the role of being smart for Squad 7. Coincidentally, they're both in the tank.
- Positron, a signature character in City of Heroes (and Author Avatar of the current lead developer, Matt Miller) is a mutant who built a suit of Powered Armor to amplify his radiation abilities, which after the Rikti War became his seal to prevent him from exploding. Citadel also may count, being a Ridiculously Human Robot.
- Two words: Dmitri Petrovich.
- In the Five Man Band of the Resistance Group in The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess, history enthusiast Shad is the official Smart Guy.
Web Comics
Web Animation
Web Original
- On the group Team Kimba in the Whateley Universe, Phase is probably the smart one, even if Chaka seems to be best at coming up with ideas in the middle of a fight. Phase is over-educated for a freshman in high school, is most likely to use the big words, and is a smart aleck too. The Smart Guy they go to for gadgets is Bugs, who is a Hot Scientist.
- While not intelligent to a superlative degree, Chip from the web fiction serial Dimension Heroes proves on several occasions that his reservoir of book knowledge can prove beneficial in making it out of various tight spots the heroes get into.
Western Animation
- Lisa Simpson in The Simpsons. Marge as well, in a few cases, but she is just a bit too oblivious to what constitutes as normal human behavior to do any discrediting.
- As implied by the page quote, Sokka of Avatar The Last Airbender. He set out with the goal of being the Big Guy and Deadpan Snarker, but for various reason never really succeeded (and Toph later filled both roles herself). By the third season, however, he could arguably qualify as a Badass Bookworm, though he's a strategist and innovator rather than an academic.
- Sokka's role at as the smart guy often creates dissonance with his other role on the show, as the comic relief Butt Monkey.
- Code Lyoko has Jérémie Belpois, the team's Non Action Guy. He is also The Captain and team leader, as well as the only one who knows how to properly use the Supercomputer.
- In Transformers: Beast Wars, Dinobot The Lancer was a Proud Warrior Race Guy with little respect for trickery. Rhinox The Big Guy was a Genius Bruiser who dealt with equipment as a Mr Fixit. Rattrap The Smart Guy was more skilled in the realm of infiltration, sabotage and underhanded tactics. In fact, you could break the three of them down into a triangle of hybrids: Dinobot = Lancer/Big Guy; Rhinox = Big Guy/Smart Guy; Rattrap = Smart Guy/Lancer.
- Walden from Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! fills this role on the show. As the theme song says, "he knows about science and books and art."
- Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys has a unique example: Dr. Splitz/Splitzy suffers from a Split Personality disorder, and both of them are very intelligent and innovative in their own right. Dr. Splitz is a textbook example — he is the ship's engineer and sometime medic, and has the true heart of a scientist. Splitzy is a Genius Ditz who is extremely skilled in mechanics and acts as translator for Dr.Splitz's Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness. Working together in combat, they make a Bad Ass Bookworm.
- Tanya of The Mighty Ducks is the resident Gadgeteer Genius and overall tech expert, although she's no weakling on the battlefield or the hockey rink. She tends to stutter and lisp a bit, since her brain is moving faster than she can speak.
- Sam Dullard of Rocket Power is a huge computer whiz and uses that knowledge to help the others improve their sports skills every once in a while. He has also skipped a grade.
- Batman in Justice League is, as in the comics, a mix of this and The Lancer. J'onn J'onzz is a purer example.
- Numbuh Two in Codename Kids Next Door varies between Ted Baxter, Ace Pilot and Crouching Moron Hidden Badass. He's generally the most technically skilled of the team though.
- Tako, the unofficial leader of the Sushi Pack, is the one usually called on to think of a plan to defeat the bad guys, and even has a standard "thinking routine". He also offers explanations of more complicated terms that come up in the show.
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