Basic Trope: A character’s extreme stupidity is shown by their ridiculously low IQ.
- Straight: Bob, The Fool of the group, has an IQ of 5.
- Exaggerated: Bob has an IQ of 0.0000000000001.
- Downplayed: Bob has an IQ of 40 - attainable in real life, but very rare (approximately 1 in 31,574 people have it).
- Justified:
- Bob suffers from a severe intellectual disability.
- Bob has a severe brain injury.
- Bob comes from a long, long lineage of other idiots.
- Bob is part of a species who are known to be unbelievably dim.
- The IQ scale has been recalibrated as to make this score possible.
- Inverted: Improbably High I.Q.
- Subverted:
- Alice claims Bob’s IQ is 5; however, an IQ test later reveals that his IQ is actually only a bit below normal.
- Bob has an IQ of 12 by the standards of the year 9875.
- Bob's IQ of 5 is ranged IQ note , not absolute IQ.
- Four-year-old Bobby's IQ of '5' needs to be adjusted for age.
- Double Subverted:
- However, the test was rigged to spare Bob’s feelings. His IQ really is 5.
- Which gives him a current day IQ of 17.
- The adjustment isn't that extreme.
- Parodied:
- Bob’s head shrinks to match the size of his tiny brain.
- Bob gets a lower IQ score than a rock in a test.
- Bob has an IQ of negative infinity, and is dumber than inanimate objects.
- Bob's IQ is low enough for him to realize how obscenely low it is.
- Zig Zagged: Bob's IQ varies wildly depending on what IQ test was used and whether he was Obfuscating Stupidity or cheating.
- Averted: Nobody has an IQ that is extreme in any regard.
- Enforced: “Okay, the execs told us we need Bob to be shown as extremely stupid… let’s just slap a tiny IQ on him and call it a day."
- Lampshaded: “A 5 IQ? That’s ridiculous - does anyone even have that?"
- Invoked: Bob tells everyone his IQ is much lower than it is, so that everyone will underestimate him.note
- Exploited: Alice takes advantage of Bob's godawful cognitive ability and intuition to have him do sketchy things for her.
- Defied: Alice speculates out loud to Bob that he must have an IQ of 5. Bob replies that he has never been tested and does not want to know.
- Discussed: “An IQ of 5? That seems kind of improbable - after all, extremely few people even reach 40."
- Conversed: “Why’d this author give Bob such a low IQ? I mean, we get it, he’s dumb. You don’t have to rub it in."
- Implied: The result of Bob’s IQ test is never shown, but it did leave the tester in shock.
- Deconstructed:
- Bob is not only unable to work, but he has to have a caretaker supervising him 24/7.
- Bob dies as a result of doing something downright suicidal.
- Bob actually suffers the effects of a critically low IQ and is unable to perform even the most basic of physical tasks.
- Played For Laughs: Bob has an IQ of 5. His dog manages to score 10 points, and turns away in disgust.
- Played For Drama: Bob suffers from a severe intellectual disability, and the work follows his struggle to live something resembling a normal life.
Back to Improbably Low I.Q.
