Mundane Utility / Web Original

• If it's large enough and got a thin, but strong waterproof case, you know someone will turn it into a boat. See the second picture.
• 5 Second Films gives us the "Death Ray From Space"; a Kill Sat used to puzzle a kitten.
• The Angry Video Game Nerd made clones of himself in a dream only so they could play A Nightmare on Elm Street (NES). He later lampshades this.
• This sketch from Carpe Clunes depicts a Public Service Announcement warning the viewer of psychics' tendency to ruin games of Pictionary.
• Corridor Digital's Sync series:
  • There's a secret agent who can jump into a realistic android body. He uses it for covert ops, and to help him propose to his girlfriend in a a humorous manner.
  • Episode 3 features a young Chinese woman from Hong Kong who is a spectacular hacker and programmer. She uses her talent to try and write an iPhone app. And then hijack the local air control in order to fly planes over the houses of the girls who teased her and tried to break her computer so they would look like crap on school photo day. To do so, she got up to mischief with every computer and iPhone with a certain game in a 25 mile radius. Including that of the aforementioned protagonist's agency. The episode ends with her being caught and dragged into a car by that agency.
• Counter Monkey: In one video, Spoony mentions an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game where he played a Wizard and created a Level 1 spell that permanently modified a woman's breasts and made his living as a traveling "plastic surgeon". After thinking about it for a while, the Game Master remarked "You are gonna be so rich..."
• Cracked:
  • John Cheese suggests in 4 Ways the New Season of 'Heroes' Can Avoid Sucking that the writers of Heroes make the 2014 volume less boring by showing characters "using their powers to do normal, everyday things like making coffee with telekinesis or removing snakes from their yard with that snake tornado spell."
  • Discussed in "What You'd Actually do with a Real Mech Suit?" DOB says to Cody that you couldn't use it to help people because the government & others would ask you for help constantly and Soren that if you use it selfishly and show off, the government will see you as a threat. He then concludes that the logical thing to do would be to use it privately for mundane things like opening beer bottles.
  • This Trope is at the core of an After Hours episode, where the question is which super-power would you want to have but you still have to be yourself living your own life (read: Not a super-hero). In essence stripping away which power has only mundane applications. The eventual winner is the ability to stop time.
• Everybody gets in on this at some point in Critical Role:
  • Vax uses his insanely high stealth score to prank Grog (by shaving his beard while he sleeps) and his sister (by filling her bed with chicken sorbet).
  • Vex uses her pet bear Trinket in combat, but also to threaten merchants while she haggles or give massages to the party members. Percy also uses Trinket as a coat rack at one point.
  • Keyleth does everything from druid-crafting flowers for everyone for a fancy party, to animating cutlery to dance and perform Be Our Guest, to turning into an Earth Elemental to try and win a cannonball contest.
  • Scanlan uses the suggestion spell to try and win an arm wrestling contest, and to get a Guest-Star Party Member to "check out Grog's bod". Not to mention his many creative uses of his - er - magical bodily waste.
  • Percy likes to solve his problems with explosions - for example, by crafting a sodium bomb to win the cannonball contest - and has previously entertained the idea of tinkering a waffle iron.
• Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues:
  • At one point, Finn uses his pre-cognition superpower to win a 'friendly' game of chess against fellow chess club member Ivan.
  • In the interim before finals, Jessica starts using her mind control power to get others to do everyday tasks for her, like cleaning her room or fetching groceries.
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog:
  • What does the Anti-Villain Mad Scientist title character want to use a freeze ray that stops time for? To help him get over his nervousness about talking to a cute girl.
  • In the prequel comics, Johnny Snow uses his ice beam to chill a six-pack of beer/soda.
• Ed, the man who subconsciously received his brain from the future, built a fleet of Humongous Mechas to save the world from invading aliens, and accidentally erased the Andromeda Galaxy by hacking the universe...puts a time machine to very unorthodox purposes.
• In The Fall of Doc Future, Flicker explains that one application of superspeed is market arbitrage. She balances global financial markets by buying low in one market and selling high in another, faster than computers could transmit transactions. (She also makes billions of dollars in the process and spites financiers who were rude to her.)
• Frequent in Glowfic in general - almost none of the characters think there's anything wrong with casual use of magic and some actively look for Mundane Utility ways to use it.
  • Stella uses squares to conjure clothes as soon as she's out of the hospital. She does not ever buy clothes again. She then gets herself an awesome magical motorcycle to ride around on.
  • Daeva are summonable - daeva characters use this fact to arrange instant transportation from place to place.
  • Pearl wants to bake at the same time as hugging Shell. She wishes herself telekinesis.
• Inglip, being incorporeal, signs for packages by possessing the delivery boy◊.
• Zigzagged with Linkara. He uses his magic to turn his toys (which include phasers, morphers, and sonic screwdrivers) into the real things purely for fun, uses his spaceship to threaten other online reviewers, and even uses his battlizer to burn a bad comic. However, their secondary use is as weapons against whatever villain invaded his universe.
• In one LoadingReadyRun short, two men are running an exceptionally efficient moving service. How do they do it? Well, as Graham's character insists repeatedly, they certainly DON'T have a functioning teleporter. And this definitely isn't the only practical application they could think of. They do, however, have the stable wormhole conduit to the Argon mines of Thelios V that would be necessary to power a functioning teleporter. They use it to dump garbage (they have a permit).
• When the girls in Magical Girl Policy power down, all the sweat, cuts and dirt from the battle disappears from their bodies. That includes things that happen before the battle. So some of them just transform every morning to skip their daily shower and shaving their legs.
• In Meet the Cores 2, the Fact Core visits the all-knowing Omnisphere. When the Omnisphere offers to use his infinite knowledge to answer a question for him, the Fact Core merely asks where the nearest exit is located. The Omnisphere is not impressed.
• In Object Shows, a Game Show Host can usually harness the powers of Teleportation, Creation and Resurrection for no reason, basically being a Reality Warper in their own right, but only ever use it for their competition show. These respective abilities allow the host and contestants to teleport to challenge locations instantly without wasting time on vehicle transport, create sets, props and housing accommodations and revive contestants so they can continue competing in life-threatening challenges without consequence.
• This article from The Onion about the head of NASA borrowing the space shuttle to get home faster.
• On Orkinet, a Sister of Battle mentioned using an inferno pistol - a very rare weapon capable of melting TANKS - to flash-cook a fish.
• Outside Xbox: In one stream, when asked to choose a superpower by a Buzzfeed quiz, Ellen chooses shapeshifting. The first benefit she thinks of? It would let her save money on props for their Dungeons & Dragons campaign, where she represents her druid character's wild shape ability by putting on furry gloves and hats and so on.
• Matthew Bounds from Phaeton is using his power all... of... the... time... and most of the other characters don't even notice it, which is probably why things turn bad when he is Brought Down to Normal. And he is not the only one to use his powers for mundane situations.
• In Red vs. Blue, members of the Blue Team have used the scopes of their sniper rifles as binoculars to spy upon the Reds from a distance. Also, in the later seasons, Tucker's sword also counts. It is debatable as to whether or not it was primarily created to be a sword or a key. Quoth Caboose: "Or maybe it's a key all the time, and it when you stick it in people, it unlocks their death." Season 13 reveals that it was originally a key, as confirmed by the alien AI Caboose finds.
• RWBY:
  • During the festival, Cinder joins her subordinates in the stands to watch the tournament. When she finds an unpopped kernel in Mercury's bucket of popcorn, she uses her Semblance to cook it directly in her hand.
  • Ruby's weapon has a very sharp hook for stabbing during battle; in Volume 2, Ruby uses it to hold up turkey so that her dog will have to jump up to grab it.
• In RWBY Chibi, it's not uncommon at all to see the heroes and heroines use their Semblance and/or their weaponry for mundane things: jump rope, makeshift toy UFO, ice sculpting, cheating in a race, aborted attempt at playing arcade games, roasting marshmallows...
  Ruby (loading Zwei's medicine into her sniper rifle): One shot, one pill.
• SCP Foundation:
  • Some examples include SCP-500, pills that can cure anything, being stolen to "cure a hangover"; a young woman who can see and manipulate locations depicted in pictures asked to "punch or stab people over the internet"; and a young man who receives visions about various objects (usually other SCPs) asked to locate lost wallets and keys. When such abuses are found out, the personnel involved are at least reprimanded, if not terminated.
  • There are the SCPs who only have mundane utility (a pizza box that makes your favorite pizza & never runs out) and the ones that just look like have mundane utility but can have interesting applications. There is also a fully functional cold fusion power source, which can be replicated, but for unknown reasons only function when used to power paper towel dispencers.
  • SCP-294, a coffee machine that can give you cups of any liquid, including someone's blood. The Foundation keep it in the break room and allow people to use it to get beverages in order to save money on drinks. Hey, they've gotta cut some costs too. Just remember that it doesn't understand euphemisms or slang, and order "a cup of coffee", not "a cup of Joe".
  • During the testing of SCP-662, there's a sudden streak of test logs that consist of the anomalous butler doing mundane household chores for the overseeing researcher. This ends with a member of O5 issuing a reprimand for misuse of the SCP.
  • SCP-739 flips the molecular chirality of anything locked in it. One researcher pointed out that using this on sugar results in a pretty good low-calorie sweetener.
  • Using the Biblical Cain as a backup database probably qualifies.
  • One man managed to become the only person in human history to successfully invoke and summon Nergal, the Mesopotamian god of the Sun, to reach down and smite his enemies with an endless fury, costing him his soul in endless torment in the depths of the suns furnace for all eternity to do it. He got Nergal to smite his neighbor so he wouldn't annoy him anymore.
  • One landlord's apartment building manifested a portal to Another Dimension populated by intelligent slug-people. He established contact, rented the apartments to the slugs (who didn't mind the sub-par living conditions), and collected rent in precious materials that he didn't disclose as taxable income.
  • A proto-Sarkist fisherman in Russia casually uses fleshcrafting to remove microplastics from his catch.
  • A Hungarian Proto-Sarkist group partners with the Manna Charitable Foundation, using their fleshcrafting to provide a near-limitless supply of donor organs to communities in need, and an American doctor learned the techniques involved so she could administer life-saving and otherwise impossible medical operations in third-world countries.
  • There is an SCP ruler that changes the length of anything it measures to exactly 12 inches. It's kept in storage with highly restricted access due to a male Foundation researcher using it in an inappropriate manner.
  • SCP-2973-JP is a man who can split disposable chopsticks perfectly every time — but the Foundation discovered that he achieves this through incredibly powerful Reality Warper powers that he doesn't seem to be aware of.
• Shiny Objects Videos: In "Psychic Powers", Curly gains immense psychic powers unmatched by anyone on earth. He uses them to correct Nathan's grammar.
• One of the characters in Sibylline Sounds is Sage, who is a naga with empathetic abilties and Hypnotic Eyes. He works as a therapist. Being a giant snake also makes him good at giving hugs.
• Mad Scientist Dr. Insano from The Spoony Experiment once used his genius, knowledge, and crazy gadgets to fix a broken Atari Jaguar system (although, being the Jaguar, it didn't last).
• Abounds in Tales of MU.
  Mackenzie:Who even came up with the idea of using a living death potion for birth control?
  Roger:Alchemists, I guess. They had to find a bigger market for it than adventurers, vampire slayers, and zombie hunters...
• In TFS at the Table, Eloy is established early on as being unable to hold his liquor. When Lott Fineday offers him a drink that he doesn't want to refuse, he casts Suggestion on himself to resist its effects. It works... until he takes damage later in the video, which breaks his spellcasting focus and makes it all catch up to him at once.
• Denied in multiple entries of Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do in an RPG:
  7. Not allowed to use psychic powers to do the dishes.
  500. My superhero will not spend points to fly just because he's too lazy to walk.
  544. I will not cast Gate to bind an infernal creature of power to my bidding and make him mow the lawn.
  566. When confronted with a haunted house with bleeding walls, no converting it into a self supporting blood bank.
  850. Doesn't matter how practical, we aren't reanimating the dead dragon and having him haul that horde back for us.
  1041. Doesn't matter if I'm just using to spot weld, force lightning still gets me a dark side point.
  1142. I will not use the mage’s Staff of Wizardry in lieu of a pool cue.
  1194. I will not go to FTL just to avoid the red lights.
  1329. The M203 is not for long range bocce ball.
  1416. The guy with the meltagun doesn't automatically have to carry the popcorn.
  1620. I will not use the druid's chakram to play frisbee with his dire wolf.
  1621. No using the Reduce spell to only to buy a child's ticket at the movies.
  1697. Can't use the Decanter of Endless Water for water skiing, the Jacuzzi, or a wet tabard contest.
  1717. The spell Summon Vacuum Elemental is not for household chores.
  1897. Assist Other actions helps in combat, not with crossword puzzles.
  1948. Having an electrotech in the party doesn't mean I get to leave my phone charger at home.
  2031. Even if the kids love it, the Cone of Cold spell is not for making toboggan rides possible in August.
  2150. The cryokinetic's default job is not to protect the cooler.
  2230. Even if we were told to use all of it, can't use the extra explosives for public displays of affection to my girlfriend.
  2238. The Returning ability on magical weapons doesn't let me make a fortune at pawn shops.
  2249. Even if I take the Total Recall trait, I can't remember all quarter million crew on my ship by their first name.
  2469. The AV-9 is for air support, not beer runs.
• In Viva La Dirt League's video about a Death Knight doing side quest, the knight uses necromancy to pull out weeds.
• In We Are All Pokémon Trainers:
  • The Adamant Orb in this continuity grants time control powers on top of its canon abilities of powering up and summoning Dialga. What does Tagg tend to most often use it for? Getting a full night's sleep in only a few minutes by exploiting its Year Inside, Hour Outside time dilation effect.
  • The usage of the Hammerspace backpacks as tents and sleeping bags due to their infinite volume.
• Welcome to Night Vale: The city council is developing a neutron star underneath Night Vale, which according to Cecil could produce enough electricity for the entire world. The council plans to use it to power the lights to the school's football field.
• Identifying and cultivating Mundane Utilities is one of the primary missions of Whateley Academy, because few people are actually cut out to become superheroes (or villains.)
  • Some of the characters have used their powers to dry off after a shower (Phase and Chaka both), dry her hair (Fey), shave her legs (Verdant), unpack suitcases (Bugs), keep her clothes clean (Pristine), have Snowball Fights (a lot of Poe cottage), mop floors and fold laundry (Chaka), paint a room (Plastic Girl), move furniture, shop, and on and on.
  • Jade's main trick is to split off independent telekinetic extra 'copies' of herself by 'charging' them into objects; when the charge runs out, the copy re-merges with her and both sets of memories integrate. So what does she quite naturally do? Attend two sets of classes at once and use the same trick to study/do homework/clean her room that much faster. Also, be able to go to the smelly parts of the sewers without danger (Copies can't smell!), work a neat costume, be able to keep an eye out for bullies, not need to use anesthetic...Jade is the MISTRESS of Mundane Utility! (Which often leads to ACTUAL utility!)
  • Phase has cultivated a lot of relationships through his ability to spot patentable mundane utilities for the various wacky devices his fellow students are constantly inventing and then playing honest broker on their behalf. This in part to Cut Lex Luthor a Check, and in part to ensure that important advances get to market, but he also expects to make them rich in the process (and make himself even richer).
  • Shine, a devisor who can build stills and fermentation systems capable of producing seemingly finely aged whiskey in a few weeks, was recruited by a distillery right out of Appalachia and was already selling his equipment (which only he could build, being Devises) for millions, at the age of fourteen. Then he went to Whateley Academy to improve on his skills...
  • One of the Winter session Special Session courses is entitled 'Finding the Job Only You Can Do', for students with unique or hard to utilize powers. Among those suggested (for Tennyo) are in-place satellite repair and replacing nuclear fuel rods without special equipment; most of the other ideas are a good deal more prosaic, but still useful.
  • It is mentioned that there are Gadgeteer Geniuses and even Devisors who specialize in cuisine. The superhero team Freelancers employ one in their clubhouse.
  • One of the previous students, an Underdog codenamed Molefinger, turned his seemingly useless ability to instantly dig holes into lucrative deals with several construction firms and city utilities, to the point that the unions made him only take jobs that would have taken more work than would be affordable otherwise - for six-figure contracts.
• The Treaded Path of the Rohomajeshi from The Worldbuild Project find a lot of mundane uses for channelling spirits.
• In Meta Runner, video games are Serious Business, to the point that Artificial Limbs were invented for the sole purpose of letting people play better.
• Welcome Back, Potter:
  • Jarry has learned to use his magic to telekinetically change the channels on his TV.
  • Jarry and Don make a living selling magic potions and other such artifacts to con muggles, whether it means selling potions as drugs or making prank paraphernalia out of an invisibility cloak. Stacey isn't amused.

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