History AwesomeButImpractical / RealLife

** Or not. When people think mecha, they think mecha using infantry tactics. Mechas using [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull-down#Armoured_warfare tank tactics]] [[FridgeLogic technically have a cover advantage as they can switch between hull-down and turret-down at their convenience]] (in layman's terms, mechas can take cover by ''crouching down'') whereas tanks must choose a good vantage point first where they can quickly turret-down by going reverse; treads are the most vulnerable point of a tank since if it's shot, the tank is immobilized and is a sitting duck. Tank crews are taught to try and hide their treads; mechas could do the same with their legs. Tanks would still beat mechas on flat terrain by sniping their legs from long-range, however on hilly terrain where mechas can use the ridges as hard cover, the tanks would lose. It's so obvious [[{{Tropers/Amitakartok}} this troper]] is stumped how the militaries didn't realize it yet.

* Pretty much any modern technology when it was in its early stages. The ENIAC, arguably the first digital computer (YourMilageMayVary depending on your definition of a "computer"), took up an entire room. The first cell phone weighed 80 pounds (36 kg).

** Or not. When people think mecha, they think mecha using infantry tactics. Mechas using [[[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull-down#Armoured_warfare tank tactics]] technically have a cover advantage as they can switch between hull-down and turret-down at their convenience whereas tanks must choose a good vantage point first where they can quickly turret-down by going reverse; treads are the most vulnerable point of a tank since if it's shot, the tank is immobilized and is a sitting duck. Tank crews are taught to try and hide their treads; mechas could do the same with their legs. Tanks would still beat mechas on flat terrain by sniping their legs from long-range, however on hilly terrain where mechas can use the ridges as cover, the tanks would lose.

* Any form of [[HumongousMecha giant robot]] in general. The very fact that these mechs have legs makes them easy to disable: just break the legs and they're useless. If there are going to be any giant robot warmachines in the real world, they will have less vulnerable means of standing upright, like tank treads - as in the case of Guntank. For now.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde Concorde]]. Supersonic airliner which was totally cutting-edge at its time and many considered it to be the future of commercial flight. The problem was that it guzzled huge amounts of fuel and its aerodynamic body had very limited passenger space, which meant carrying small number of people at high cost, so no wonder Concordes went out of service by 2000's. And there are very few airports that serve as Concorde terminals; you'll only ever see a Concorde, let alone fly in one, if you're making a trans-Atlantic flight.

* Dream PCs, often with thousand's of dollars of processors, graphics cards, and liquid cooling system, and have the specs that could conquer any game currently on the market. They also can't play any game on the market because the games weren't designed to run with that much hardware.

* Dream PC's, often with thousand's of dollars of processors, graphics cards, and liquid cooling system, and have the specs that could conquer any game currently on the market. They also can't play any game on the market because the games weren't designed to run with that much hardware.

* The Bugatti Veyron: A thousand horse power monster with a W16 (yes, W) engine, that can exceed 250 miles per hour and still have a smooth comfortable quiet ride in a luxurious interior. They also cost a million pounds a pop and even at that price, Bugatti are making a loss on each one sold.

* Memorizing pi to a large number of decimal places. Just 42 digits is accurate enough to measure the circumference of the sun to within the width of ''a proton''.

** Not to mention, they add a lot to the cost. This troper's seen resealable aluminum ramune bottles (which are awesome and not impractical) which cost much less [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness per unit]] [[LampshadeHanging of volume]].

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29 Project Orion.]] What if I told you that we had the technology to explore the entire Solar System at a extremely good "bang for your buck"? With Project Orion, it may have been a reality. With Orion, we could have sent a ship to Pluto and have it return within a year. A single large-scale Orion could have potentially set up a permanent moon base. Even Interstellar travel would have been (theoretically) possible, at least using unmanned probes. So why would this ''awesome'' technology not be used. It's like this: it would run by ''riding the shockwave of precisely timed A-Bomb blasts''.

* Any form of [[HumongousMecha giant robot]] in general. The very fact that these mechs have legs makes them easy to disable: just break the legs and they're useless. If there are going to be any giant robot warmachines in the real world, they will have less vulnerable means of standing upright, like tank treads. For now.

* In basketball, dunking is very popular as a show-off, but it still does not score as many points as long-distance 3-point shots. Plus, missing a dunk is ''extremely'' embarrassing.

* Segues. The self propelled vehicle, AND the lead-ins to jokes.

** Before the modern age of decent folding knives, butterfly knives were damn handy for folks like roofers who needed full-sized blades but couldn't necessarily spare the extra hand.
** With practice, a balisong can be opened (with one hand) in a quarter of the time it takes to open an ordinary pocket knife. It is therefore classified as a switchblade, which is why it's illegal in some states.
*** And a ''good'' balisong isn't quite as prone to wear and tear. Those cheap $10-20 knives they sell at flea markets and on Amazon? Yes, those won't hold up in the long run, and will require maintenance (If the cheap handles don't shatter). A $100+ balisong made by a genuine craftsman that's built to last, however, those will last a really long time. Though, of course, then it's the price that makes them impractical for someone who just wants one for everyday use, as a swiss army knife or an entry level leatherman (No, not [[{{Leatherman}} THAT]] kind!) won't cost as much.
*** Amusingly, the impractical elaborate flipping and spinning is used by the Blue Spy in the ''TeamFortress2'' "Meet the Spy" video, clearly to show off. When the Red Spy intends to actually ''use'' the knife, he opens it with a simple flip of the wrist.
**** Simple flip of the wrist? He does a thumb roll. Go get yourself a balisong and see if you can pull that off without the knife flying off into oblivion, or more likely your wall/best friend.
** Well, in case you're convinced that a balisong could actually be practical, what about the [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/b6e6/ [=Butterfly Pen=]]]? It's essentially the same thing as the knife, but the only useful bit, the knife part itself, is replaced with a pen. (And it's a kinda sucky pen, too.)
** You think a balisong is useless? Try doing tricks with [[http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq291/bigyellowbike/IMG_2647.jpg?t=1236652768 a Balisword.]]

*** Actually, very little of that is true. Lower profile tires actually have ''better'' lateral grip, due to the shorter, stiffer sidewalls ([[http://auto.howstuffworks.com/tire2.htm source]] Scroll down to aspect ratio), and overall traction tends to be at least comperable to higher profile tires (traction has a letter grade, at least in the states, and most low profile tires I've seen have had A or AA traction ratings). And overall the combined tire/rim size for lower profile tires tends to be about the same (auto manufacturers aren't idiots, after all). Their main drawbacks are a slightly lower treadwear rating, and a harsher ride
** For that matter, legitimately {{Cool Car}}s as well. Yes, they look awesome and are exciting to drive at high speeds in. Unfortunately, you can only drive so fast on public roads and highways before you get pulled over by cops or become a serious hazard to others and yourself, and there's also the reduced fuel efficiency and safety you get in exchange for performance. Unless you live near a racetrack or a highway with no speed limits (such as the German autobahn) it's a bit difficult to utilize the full potential of a sports car.

* Humanity. Nature (or God, take your pick) invents a creature that is intelligent, capable of mastering the majority of biological and physical threats against it, and may, in a few years' time, be able to detect life ''on other planets, light years away''. And what happens when you try to implement this life form? We spend most of our time killing each other, ruining our planet, and using up [[TooAwesomeToUse non-replenishable resources]] like we've got a spare planet lying around somewhere.
** Although when oil (and people are ''always'' talking about oil when the use the term "non-renewable resource") runs out (as it has been going to do every year since it was first turned from well-ruining brown sludge into black gold) it's more likely that we will find something to replace it rather than decide to renounce civilization and collapse into the Dark Ages for the hell of it. The thing is that a 30-year government funded boondoggle designed to stop us from "destroying the planet" or dealing with those pesky Arabs aside, there is ''no reason'' to develop an alternative to oil at the present time. Count on necessity and human ingenuity rather than pessimism and nihilism.
*** As a side note, people said 40 years ago: "Oil is going to run out in 20 years".
*** As said in the comment above oil has being going to run out ever year since we first turned it into something valuable (originally that was kerosene). Even John Rockefeller feared that oil would run out in his lifetime and has board suggested Standard Oil should exit the oil industry. But we always seem to find more. It doesn't matter though: when we do eventually run out we'll simply find something to replace it, but it makes no economic sense to do that 100 years ahead of schedule.
*** Well, not to derail too much, but it should be noted that Oil is becoming more and more AwesomeButImpractical due to the increasing difficulty in finding and extracting new sources (That's the real reason oil is getting more expensive, not some pseudo-conspiracy of colluding cartels). This IS the right time to find new sources of energy as it would simply be impractical to wait until the oil is actually GONE before having our strategy ready. Yes, we'll burn through all the economically viable oil regardless, but the more research and development we put in now on alternatives, the less expensive and desperate our alternatives will be when the time comes to give up on oil.
** Technically we could survive in space indefinitely using only proven technology. It's just that it would be AwesomeButImpractical to do so. Also, aren't those [[{{HumansAreBastards}} evil]] and [[{{HumansAreWarriors}} violent]] tendencies you mentioned [[{{YMMV}} part of what makes us so cool]]?

** The previous three points means that any competent enemy can avoid a Thor projectile by simply moving slightly.
*** Except that it would have the same energy release as a small tactical nuke. It's not a case of stepping to the side or crossing the street, it's a case of evacuating a city in less than quarter of an hour.
*** Except when the enemies are in a bunker of sorts. Then they are totally fucked.
*** Not necessarily. Project Thor was designed to be a bunker buster as well. The tungsten rods burrow into the ground and tear up the earth around it. That's what causes the damage, as opposed to an explosion, it's a seismic burst. The kind of damage we're talking here probably wouldn't be averted by an underground bunker.

** Ultimately, a practical use was found: cable layer. It was the only ship of its time capable of holding an entire transatlantic telegraph cable.

** Subverted, in theory, that you can run a virtual machine with virtualized hardware that is compatible with the games you want to run. The in theory bit is because you'd kill a bunch of your resources running a game on a computer ''already on top'' of your existing computer, it would take a bit of [[BoringButPractical playing around with the settings,]] and it defeats the point of just firing up your old computer and playing your games on there until they come out games that require buying a new computer. So even the fix is AwesomeYetImpractical.

** Boeing designed a more practical supersonic plane, but it was ultimately scrapped when it became clear that any customers would fly it in economy/subsonic mode, utterly defeating the point. Parts of it were ultimately folded into the 787 program, so it wasn't a complete write off.

* The inventions of Nikola Tesla.
** Not [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphase_system all]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_motor of them]]

** The GunsAkimbo style. Sure, [[RuleOfCool you look badass pulling it off]], but having a gun in either hand makes aiming impossible, not to mention reloading.

* Browsing and editing articles in TVTropes...[[AwfulTruth yeah, I said it]]. While YourMileageMayVary, there's a reason why people say TVTropesWillRuinYourLife.

* Fully automatic pistols, like the Glock 18 or Ingram MAC series. (The Beretta 93R is limited to three-round bursts, which is ''slightly'' more practical.) They are all sorts of badass, except that everything after the first round is not likely to be on the paper at more than a couple of yards, and they take a great deal of proficiency to master; you may as well just get really good with a standard pistol. At a cyclic rate of 1200+ RPM, your pistol-sized magazine is going to disappear in less than a second.
** Most machine pistols are designed for suppressive fire, IE: a bunch of lead that makes your opponents keep their heads down while you maneuver tactically. For that purpose on an individual level (if you are in a squad, you have a machine-gunner/sub-machine-gunner to do that for you), machine pistols work quite well.
** Do note though that fully automatic pistols are different weapons than machine pistols. Machine pistols are more or less similar to [=SMGs=]. Fully automatic pistols are handguns that fire at automatic rates.
* For that matter, cartridges themselves can qualify for many reasons. Some are too rare. Some are too expensive. Some have been supplanted by newer, better cartridges. Some are just not intended for anything smaller than an elephant. But probably the most annoying case is when Counter-Strike players go out and buy Desert Eagles because they're cool. For most people and most circumstances, the 50AE is a definite instance of Awesome (comparable to .44 Magnum, yet not intended for a revolver) but Impractical (bulky, small magazine size, overkill).
** It's generally agreed among gun enthusiasts that, for self-defense and law enforcement purposes, anything more powerful than a .357 Magnum is essentially [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill overkill]] if you're not built like an {{action hero}}.
** Speaking of guns: the GunsAkimbo style. Sure, [[RuleOfCool you look badass pulling it off]], but having a gun in either hand makes aiming impossible, not to mention reloading.