History Main / BrilliantButLazy

* Professor Ryoto from ''WildLife''. One of their best veternarians, but spends a lot of his time slacking off and reading manga, while tricking poor Tesshou into doing his work.

*** And then, [[spoiler: Shunsui releases his ''shikai''. And wins. Both are lazy, but Shuisui ended up being more brilliant.]]

** Maya also shows herself to be a gifted medium, frequently able to channel her sister in seconds whereas normally a ritual is needed. She's also easily able to channel [[spoiler: Dahlia Hawthorne, a person she's never seen before which is a big prerequisite for chanelling someone that even Pearl needs while scared out of her wits, cold, tired and very hungry.]] However, she tends to shirk her training for various reasons and solve murders with Poenix instead.

* In the visual novel ''Crescendo'', Ryo (the main character) certainly qualifies. He's calculated the exact number of days he needs to attend school and tests he needs to pass in order to graduate, and passes the entrance exams for a prestigious university simply becuase it's in walking distance of his house.

** Unless a lot of UK geniuses wind up dead in high school, it can't be much of an added level.

*** Or maybe you're just a bully who's sore that the school system took away all your targets.

* [[KimPossible Shego]] is all over this trope. The one time she actually applied herself she took over the world, but for the most part would rather be on the beach, filing her gloves (don't ask) or lazing about reading 'villains' magazine than actually working.

* Professor Ryoto from WildLife. One of their best veternarians, but spends a lot of his time slacking off and reading manga, while tricking poor Tesshou into doing his work.
* ''SonicTheHedgehog'' is often portrayed this way, particularly in [[SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie the OVA]]--he doesn't even lift a finger to save an old man from his malfunctioning aircraft, instead allowing an irate Tails to try and take care of it. It's not until it's apparent that the both of them are in grave danger that he does anything to help them. Of course, since he has SuperSpeed, he can afford to wait until the last minute.

** In ''[[NarutoShippuden Shippuden]]'', after some CharacterDevelopment triggered by [[spoiler:Asuma's death]], he becomes more of a BadassBookworm, regarded as one of the best candidates for ''Hokage''. Because of this, [[spoiler: he single-handedly takes down [[AxeCrazy Hidan]], a member of Akatsuki.]]
** Not to mention that he was the ''only'' one Konoha participant in the Chunin Exams that actually got promoted. The rest of the Konoha 11 (except for Naruto and Sasuke) eventually caught up to him due to his laziness and lack of ambition. Even ''then'', he still can command even Jonin, the level above him, on missions.

* Also, ''[[MahouSenseiNegima Negima]]'''s Yue Ayase (she already has a similar position on the Pantheon). She's TheSmartGuy MrExposition who only fails in class because she's too depressed to study. When she [[spoiler:entered WizardingSchool and]] found a class she's interested in, she went from a complete novice to being the most capable student in the entire school ''within one month''.

* Kotomi Ichinose from ''{{Clannad}}'' never shows up for class, but still remains at the top of the [[strike:class]] [[strike:school]] ''country's national rankings''. Though arguably, she isn't lazy, because she skips to do research [[spoiler:on topics far far above what any normal university would ever teach and that nobody has ever really understood except her parents]].

* Shunsui Kyoraku in ''{{Bleach}}'' is definitely one of these, preferring to get drunk on sake and veg out under the sun over battling, despite being one of the strongest captains in Soul Society (oh please, who ''isn't'' the strongest captain in Soul Society?). When ordered to fight and/or kill the intruders, he asks Chad to come drink with him so he won't have to make the effort (And because he [[MartialPacifist didn't want to hurt him unless he had no other choice]]). Coyote Starrk has the personality for this as well, offering to pretend to fight [[spoiler:in the middle of the very-probably-maybe climactic battle]], and being the most powerful Arrancar probably qualifies him for the brilliant bit. Fittingly, [[spoiler:the very-probably-maybe climactic battle]] pits the two against each other.

*** However she's not uncaring or self centered and when Arrancars attack she's right by her Captain without his having to ask.

* Inverted, as much as this trope can be, in ''ShamanKing''. Yoh is Brilliant but Lazy, sure. However he wants to be the Shaman King (Who essentially gains the powers of God), explicitly so he can relax and do nothing for the rest of his life. He essentially is willing to work his ass off so that he will eventually never have to do anything again.
* Yang Wen-li from ''LegendOfGalacticHeroes''. Like most main characters of this trope, after a {{Heroic BSOD}} event, he stops [[CharacterDevelopment being lazy]] which always means oh-oh for his enemies.
* [[CodeGeass Lelouch Lamperouge]] cultivates a public image of this as an alternative to being a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob; however, it's true in regards to "everyday life" (IE, everything not relating to fighting TheEmpire), as he could easily score straight A's and move on to a successful corporate career if he weren't so tied up in revenge. Not to mention [[ChickMagnet score a few girls on the side]].
* [[KindaichiCaseFiles Hajime Kindaichi]] is this in the academic sense. Still, it's pointed out to him that the most shining example of his intelligence (solving [[LockedRoomMystery locked room murders]]) isn't exactly the kind of thing that'll get him into a good school. He's basically lazy about everything EXCEPT a good murder mystery. When one of those comes along, he's incredibly dedicated.

* Tomo of ''AzumangaDaioh'' shows signs of intelligence, but clearly doesn't put it to any use, academic or mundane. The only sign of her intelligence is the high marks she gets when she actually does study. Her 100% in the health test (beating out [[ChildProdigy Chiyo]]) highlights this best, but another example is her getting into the same school Yomi did.

* Sgt. Major Kururu of ''{{Keroro Gunso}}''/''Sgt. Frog'' doesn't do anything unless he explicitly wants to do it. Even to the detriment of his team.

* Hirasawa Yui from K-On! mostly obeys this trope. One time she is so busy practicing her guitar that she doesn't study for an exam and fails it which requires her to take a make up exam. Her fellow band members (mostly Mio) help her study for the make up exam. She ends up getting 100% - better than any of them. On the other hand, it seems like to learn one thing she has to forget something else.
* [[TheSlayers Luna Inverse]] is TheChosenOne, an all-powerful Cipheed Knight blessed with the power of the Elder God of the Slayers universe and the only person in the entire series who can put the fear of God into her [[HeroicSociopath psychotic]] little sister. She could singlehandedly lay waste to the entire Makozu race and still have time for afternoon tea- if she felt like it. Instead, she's content working as a part-time waitress and forcing Lina to do all the monster-slaying work through sheer force of fear.

* Shiro, the central character in {{Oishinbo}} is brilliant but lazy and likes to hang out with the homeless guys.

* Kyon was this trope in [[FanFic/{{Ptitle0028gzjm}} Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]. Then his mother issued an ultimatum to get him to pull up his grades. Soon, readers see him topping the class, and he becomes nearly as good as Haruhi, resident reality-warper, in school.

* {{Glen Cook}}'s Fantasy Noir series {{Garrett PI}} features the Dead Man, who is usually capable of solving whatever problem or mystery Garrett brings him but usually has to be bribed or forced into it because he's incredibly lazy. (Think Nero Wolfe's telepathic corpse.) He kind of has an excuse -- what with being, y'know, ''dead'' -- but Garrett learns during the series that the Dead Man was about as energetic when he was alive.

* Ignatius J. Reilly from ''AConfederacyOfDunces.''
** More like Lazy But Lazy; for all his references to classical literature, it's fairly clear he doesn't understand most of it.

* That's how [[HarryPotter James Potter and Sirius Black]] as students were described by Minerva [=McGonagall=] and others.

* Dave Lister from {{Red Dwarf}} certainly qualifies. Despite failing his exams, he managed to get into Art College (and dropped out after 97 minutes). He is able to rebuild Kryten (twice), form a cunning scheme to defeat a time-travelling simulant that is capable of erasing people from history, display a knack for Esperanto (Well, better than Rimmer anyway) and form philosophical opinions on a variety of themes.

** Not true. This troper learned advanced math at a ridiculously young age with virtually NO effort at all, a feat which an average person would need to work HOURS a day in order to accomplish (and even then they probably couldn't do it). The above point of view is hurtful both to people who try genuinely hard and still can't make it (because they think it's their fault) and to people who excel with minimal effort (because they aren't given the chance to use their talent and end up becoming this trope).
** It depends, as nobody can really know what their full potential will be without trying in the first place. A lot of the time, effort alone isn't enough, but perhaps the person just needs a push in the right direction. This troper has been drawing (illustrating) for years before seeking help from professionals, who pointed out several flaws and gave some good advice on how to improve. There are cases where artists just keep drawing the same crap over and over, thinking they're already doing their best before someone or something put them on the right track, discovering the creativity and skill they never thought they had.

** It depends, as nobody can really know what their full potential will be without trying in the first place. A lot of the time, effort alone isn't enough, but perhaps the person just needs a push in the right direction. This troper has been drawing (illustrating) for years before seeking help from professionals, who pointed out several flaws and gave some good advice on how to improve. There are cases where artists just keep drawing the same crap over and over, thinking they're already doing their best before someone or something put them on the right track.

*** Not if you got Gifted and Skilled together. Seven extra stat points, extra skill points, and all at the cost of one less perk (when you consider that by Fallout 2 some of the perks are actually buying 1 extra stat point...). Widely regarded as the best combination in the game.

* Kyon was this trope in [[{{Ptitle0028gzjm}} Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]. Then his mother issued an ultimatum to get him to pull up his grades. Soon, readers see him topping the class, and he becomes nearly as good as Haruhi, resident reality-warper, in school.

* Ryner Lute of ''Legend of the Legendary Heroes'' is the most skilled mage in his kingdom, is probably talented at combat with his lightning-fast reflexes, and backs it all up with a [[MegaManning special ability called Alpha Stigma]]. But he'd rather nap all the time, and even when he fights, puts in as little effort as he can get away with (though lazy Ryner can still compete with other mages at their best). [[spoiler:He chooses to be passive because when he overuses his powers, he risks being possessed by an OmnicidalManiac SuperpoweredEvilSide]].

->'''Ible''' (adj.)
--> Clever but lazy.
-->''[[DouglasAdams The Deeper Meaning of Liff]]''

* [[TheSlayers Luna Inverse]] is TheChosenOne, nd all-powerful Cipheed Knight blessed with the power of the Elder God of the Slayers universe and the only person in the entire series who can put the fear of God into her [[HeroicSociopath psychotic]] little sister. She could singlehandedly lay waste to the entire Makozu race and still have time for afternoon tea- if she felt like it. Instead, she's content working as a part-time waitress and forcing Lina to do all the monster-slaying work through sheer force of fear.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* Shawn from ''{{Psych}}'' is a gifted observer, he passed the detective's exam at age 15 for fun. He can't join the police force due to a car theft as a teen, and honestly wouldn't bother if he could. Instead, he took up a random string of jobs purely for their entertainment value. He opened his own "psychic" detective agency and is on contract with the Santa Barbara police department after solving a series of crimes from television reports. He's a PhonyPsychic because after solving all those crimes with his own criminal background he needed an explanation to avoid being convicted as an accomplice. PhonyPsychic also happens to pay well, and allow him to be a lazy detective. He is still something of a slacker, but when motivated, will work hard.
* Season eight of ''{{Scrubs}}'' has the intern Ed, who tries to be Brilliant But Lazy, but fails to maintain the proper balance. Cox eventually fires him for not keeping up.
* {{House}}, [[GoodIsNotNice House,]] [[DrJerk House]]. It's a given that he will become involved eventually, but the other characters often have to talk him into it while he's busy playing video games or watching his soap operas. Especially applies to his clinic duty, since that doesn't usually have the promise of intellectual stimulation.
* Eric from ''BoyMeetsWorld'' is said to be this several times by Mr. Feeny. It's true that as time goes on he becomes a CloudCuckooLander with shades of FunPersonified but he also maintains good marks in college despite a late start and is amazingly adept at reading people and is an excellent judge of character.
* Lois shows elements of this on ''{{Smallville}}'' -- she skipped out on classes in High School and then dropped out of college but is shown to be extremely capable when motivated as a political campaign manager, a Senator's chief of staff and a journalist.
*[[DoctorWho The Doctor]] exhibits this in most of his plans with the end result quite simple and easy. At least mentally. Physically he runs everywhere.
** And in "The Waters Of Mars" he wasn't even particularly keen on having to do that, asking why they couldn't have had bikes.
** Heck, pretty much every adventure he gets involved in results largely because he's happy enough to just bumble aimlessly through the universe and see where he ends up; he just happens to keep ending up right in the middle of trouble.
** Likewise a good number of his companions, e.g. Rose and Donna from the new series, have menial jobs and normal lives and never seem anything out of the ordinary. However, when they travel with the Doctor, they're forced to become barver, bold, quick thinking and rely on their atrophied but innate intelligence.
* Detective Steve Billings from ''TheShield''; brilliant police officer who at some point in his career, stopped giving a damn and went on auto-pilot while counting down to retirement. Loathed because of his laziness, his brilliance has saved him from being fired.
* Jim Halpert from the US version of ''TheOffice'' is lazy and unmotivated. But when his job is on the line or when he wants to buckle down and work, he's among the most competent workers there.
**[-'''Pam:''' The thing about Jim, is when he's excited about something, like the Office Olympics, he gets really into it and he does a really great job. But the problem with Jim is that he works here, so that hardly ever happens.-]
* Oz in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', the highest-scoring person on the [=SATs=] ever to fail to graduate, because he didn't show up for final exams, and then skipped summer school. He'd much rather work on perfecting playing the E-flat, diminished ninth chord on his guitar.
* Adrian {{Monk}}'s brother Ambrose isn't so much this as Brilliant But Hopelessly Socially Crippled.
* Ned from ''[=~Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide~=]'' is labeled as a "smart but lazy student" by some of the school staff.
* [[AscendedFanboy Eli Wallace]] from ''StargateUniverse'' qualifies as this according to both [[AllThereInTheManual his backstory]] and flashbacks we've seen of him at home. It's probably the main reason he dropped out of MIT.
* [[{{StargateAtlantis}} Colonel Sheppard]], when he isn't being a ColonelBadass, is this. When Ronon accuses him of being a coward during a fight, Sheppard retorts that no, he's just lazy.
* Onslow in ''KeepingUpAppearances'' is a working-class FatBastard who mostly just stays home and watches telly. He is also an [[ThePhilosopher armchair philosopher]] more than capable of understanding graduate-level texts.
* Dave Lister from {{Red Dwarf}} certainly qualifies. Despite failing his exams, he managed to get into Art College (and dropped out after 97 minutes). He is able to rebuild Kryten (twice), form a cunning scheme to defeat a time-travelling simulant that is capable of erasing people from history, display a knack for Esperanto (Well, better than Rimmer anyway) and form philosophical opinions on a variety of themes.
** That Lister has brains but has never used them is the primary reason he was sentenced to being erased from existence by The Inquisitor (the above time-travelling simulant). Lister's response to claims he had wasted his talents? "So?"
*** Getting into art college wasn't ''in spite'' of failing his exams, it was a TakeThat:
-->"How'd you get into Art College?"
-->"Same was as everyone else-I failed my exams and they snapped me up."
* JonathanCreek, in a way -- with his smarts, lateral thinking and skills, he could easily have been a great magician or a great detective if he'd put the effort in, but prefers the semi-anonymous life of a backstage assistant who dabbles in investigation.
** He isn't just a back-stage assistant, he's the guy who comes up with new tricks and is well compensated for it. He lacks the showmanship and charisma to be the star himself. He's also repeatedly shown to be rather shy and it's established a few times that the kind of routine evidence gathering and pavement pounding that makes up the majority of police work bores him. Finally, it's somewhat canon that Creek's genius is intuitive and therefore, not entirely reliable.
* Kimoto Mami in ''{{Boss}}''. She prefers to take a taxi to a walk of a few seconds. Also constantly armed with a pillow.
* Jess on ''GilmoreGirls''. He's actually quite intelligent with a passion for literature and very handy, having practically raised himself due to [[ParentalAbandonment his mother being rather delinquent in the parenting department.]] He maintains a JerkassFacade while in Stars Hollow as no one aside from Rory had real expectations for him, so he skips school to work instead before failing due to low attendance and leaving town to sort his issues out. He eventually resurfaces in Rory's life as a SelfMadeMan who works and runs an independent publishing house/art gallery.
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** Maya also shows herself to be a gifted medium, frequently able to channel her sister in seconds whereas nomrally a ritual is needed. She's also easily able to channel [[spoiler: Dahlia Hawthorne, a person she's never seen before which is a big prerequisite for chanelling someone that even Pearl needs while scared out of her wits, cold, tired and very hungry.]] However, she tends to shirk her training for various reasons and solve murders with Poenix instead.

** Elite Trainers like the LEague Champions nad Elite Four members can come off as this. They claim to spend their time training, but whenever evil organizations or ancient, legendary Pokemon threaten the world, the just loaf around and wait for your pre-teen gifted amateur character to deal with it.

* In the visual novel ''Crescendo'', Ryo (the main character) certainly qualifies. He's calculated the exact number of days he needs to attend school and tests he needs to pass in order to graduate, and passes the entrance exams for a prestigous university simply becuase it's in walking distance of his house.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* ''{{Exalted}}''[==]'s Eye and Seven Despairs is a villainous example. He is implied to be the most brilliant and devious of the Deathlords, who are already the most devious {{Big Bad}}s in the setting. His base, Cold House, is simultaneously part of the Labyrinth at the depths of the Underworld, while existing in Creation -- a feat that nobody else can even understand, let alone emulate. He uses this brilliance and the world-conquering power invested in him by long-dead Primordial super-deities... to torment three specific people for offenses they committed in their past lives, which they don't even remember or know about. He has accomplished exactly nothing else--well, he did also invent an infectious and terrible zombie plague, but more or less forgot about it once a chance at overly-convoluted revenge against people who have no idea what's going on presented itself--and only halfheartedly stirs himself when his Neverborn masters force him to. As a result, he's viewed as lower in respect amongst the Deathlords than the one that was ''almost fed to Oblivion'' for her screw-ups.

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* Riff from ''SluggyFreelance''. Partially it's the tendency to invent totally insane devices that carry a higher probability of demonic possession than you would like but that boy would be a lot further in life if he just put more effort into coming up with more of his awesome inventions.
* Reuben from WoodsForTheTrees.
* [[BigBad Xykon]] from ''TheOrderOfTheStick'' is something of a villainous version- despite being a highly competent and rather intelligent villain, he's literally too lazy and self-absorbed to do much himself, leaving the detail work and day-to-day running of his empire to [[HypercompetentSidekick Redcloak]] while he acts like a buffoonish borderline-{{Cloudcuckoolander}}. [[BerserkButton Seriously interfere with his plans or challenge his rep, however,]] and Xykon will [[NotSoHarmless show you exactly why]] [[CompleteMonster he's one of the most dangerous villains in the comic]].
* Kevyn of ''SchlockMercenary'' mentions in an argument with Elf that the only reason he doesn't have any sort of diploma was because he mastered the course material in each of his class in a few weeks and then dropped out due to boredom.
* This is stated outright to be the reason behind Jim's behavior in ''DarthsAndDroids'': Roleplaying is his downtime. When he games, he likes to turn his brain ''off''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]
* Dexter Grif of ''RedVsBlue'' may just be this according to Church, being the only member of the Red Team that the OnlySaneMan is willing to take seriously as well as usually forced to play CommanderContrarian to Sarge, who's plan focuses entirely on ways to get Grif killed. In one of the MultipleEndings where the characters are forced into combat against each other, Grif actually does pretty well, taking out a tank and killing Tucker.
** Lopez easily notices the flaws in everything the soldiers do but doing nothing to help them. Considering what they put Lopez through it might be more passive aggression rather than outright laziness.
* Chet in The Escapist's new series "Game Dogs". According to his employee dossier, he's known for two things: his lacking work ethic and the attendant reprimands for tardiness and missed deadlines, and the unparalleled brilliance of his work and problem solving when he does produce something. As only the pilot has actually been aired, it remains to be seen whether or not this will turn out to be an InformedAbility.
* [[MarySue Ebony Dark'ness]] [[OverlyLongName Dementia]] [[EmoKid Raven Way]] of MyImmortal. Supposedly the only one who can defeat Voldemort (and easily out-matches him in Chapter 9), but would rather shop at Hot Topic and have sex with anything that moves instead.
[[/folder]]

** {{Glen Cook}}'s Fantasy Noir series {{Garrett PI}} features the Dead Man, who is usually capable of solving whatever problem or mystery Garrett brings him but usually has to be bribed or forced into it because he's incredibly lazy. (Think Nero Wolfe's telepathic corpse.) Also, he's dead. Garrett learns during the series that the Dead Man was about as energetic when he was alive.

** Dumbledore is like this. He's the greatest wizard of all time. He fought two of the greatest dark wizards of all time (Grindewald and Voldemort) to draws. He's got all the makings of a great Minister of Magic: he's smart, powerful, influential, people love him, and he's genuinely good. But he doesn't want to deal with all of the responsibilities of holding the highest magical office, instead staying at the post of Hogwarts headmaster, where, besides the occasional hiring or firing, he mostly sits in a figure head position, and can watch as the young witches and wizards turn into adults before his eyes.

Subtrope of JerkWithAHeartOfGold, and often a form of ObfuscatingStupidity. Can be associated with BookDumb.