History Main / TalentedButTrained

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]] is a once-in-a-generation [[PlayingWithFire firebending]] prodigy, but she also constantly trains and practices like crazy.

** Katsuki Bakugo is naturally talented at almost anything he does, be it his Quirk, hand-to-hand combat, cooking, or drumming. But the reason why Izuku admires him is that he takes these talents and hones them through constant hard work and practice. He even goes on to say that Bakugo's desire to become a hero is even stronger than Izuku's own.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Azula is a once-in-a-generation [[PlayingWithFire firebending]] prodigy, but she also constantly trains and practices like crazy.

** Most unicorns can only get good at magic that's related to their "special talent", but Twilight Sparkle's special talent is ''magic itself''. On top of that, she's one of the strongest unicorns in the world in terms of raw magical power, rivaling legendary wizards of history despite her young age. In order to realize her potential, Twilight spends a lot of time researching and practicing new spells. In particular, her teleporting gets more and more advanced throughout the series.
** Rainbow Dash is a naturally gifted flyer who broke speed records even as a filly. She dreams of joining the Wonderbolts (a team of stunt flyers akin to the RealLife Blue Angels), so she practices often to make sure she's good enough to qualify. (It paid off in "Newbie Dash".)

* ''Literature/ChivalryOfAFailedKnight'' has Stella Vermillion, who as a child was UnskilledButStrong with fire magic to the point of burning herself. Through intense training, she eventually mastered her magic as well as swordplay, allowing her to become a powerful A-ranked Blazer. However, she's frustrated that most people attribute her success solely to talent rather than hard work.

** It's often shown that [[KidHero Gohan]] has far greater natural potential than his legendary father, Goku, and sure enough he does briefly surpass his dad at the end of the Cell Arc. However, Gohan has a tendency to skip out on training -- Goku ''lives'' for challenging fights, and Gohan has nowhere near the same enthusiasm for it --, which winds up causing his power and fighting ability to drop considerably by the next arc and cause several other characters to surpass him in strength. It was noted in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' that, had Gohan continued to train consistently up to that point, he would have been undisputedly the strongest fighter in the universe. The events of ''Dragon Ball Z Resurrection F'' serves as a wake-up call to Gohan, causing him to start taking up training again, allowing him to become a powerful contender by the time of the Tournament of Power.

* Saitama of ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'' has incredible speed, flawless reflexes, and the ability to take out any foe with one punch, all while taking no damage to himself. Whenever a baffled enemy demands to know how he became so strong, he answers honestly: he worked himself to the bone every single day, training...even when he wanted to die due to exhaustion, he kept going without fail. No other character believes it's ''just'' the training, which was completely humanly possible, but the effort was still there.

* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'': Kirito is established to be a [[GodlikeGamer gaming prodigy]] with [[TheGift natural talent]] when it comes to [=FullDive=], but it really helps that he's had extensive experience to hone his skills with the sword, which he brings back with him to the real world thanks to muscle memory. If that wasn't enough, he's also received formal training from his kendo champion sister Suguha followed by training as an Integrity Knight from his time in the Underworld.
* In ''Manga/SailorMoon'' Minako Aino (Sailor Venus) is this twice over:
** While at the start of [[Manga/CodenameSailorV her solo series]] she relied on her innate physical talent and martial arts training she got at some point in her MysteriousPast, in the second half getting punched in the face by a delinquent while untransformed and being caught in [[ItMakesSenseInContext a youma's attempt at getting all of Tokyo fat]] got her back to training, and by the time of the main series she's [[TheJuggernaut almost unstoppable if the enemy is stupid enough to come close enough to get kicked]].
** Even before that she had been training... For volleyball, leading to her extreme physical prowess and great skills as a volleyball player.
* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'': Natsu Tanimoto (aka Hermit) cites the trope almost by name when he fights Shougo Kitsukawa (aka Berserker). While the latter [[UnskilledButStrong has no formal training but is extremely gifted at fighting]], the former claims that "Hard work will always trump over natural talent", while also adding that [[StrongAndSkilled he has the talent and puts the effort into honing it on top of it]].

* The titular character of ''Fanfic/HarryTano'' is a highly dangerous opponent both because of his natural magical and Force powers, but is StrongAndSkilled due to intense training with his adoptive mom, Ahsoka Tano, and sort-of {{Cool Uncle}}s Sirius and Remus, amongst others.

* In ''Literature/TheBlackMagicianTrilogy'', Sonea {{Invoke|dTrope}}s this: She has exceptionally powerful magical talent, but devotes herself to training and study in part to defy her aristocrat classmate's prejudice that she's an unsophisticated, UnskilledButStrong peasant. This is demonstrated in a WizardDuel that she wins with an extremely complex, technically challenging technique rather than overwhelm her opponent's defenses with raw force.
* Horace Altman of ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' is noted to have [[TheGift incredible natural ability as a swordsman]], to the point where he can pull off moves completely instinctively, but in the first books, is relatively inexperienced. Training from [[BadassTeacher Sir Rodney]], [[BowAndSwordInAccord Gilan]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes Shukin]], and years of combat practice against everyone from Gallican bandits to [[BigBad Morgarath]], turn him into a MasterSwordsman, one of, if not ''the'' best in the series.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', Granny Weatherwax is the best witch on the Discworld for this reason. Her sister became a fairy godmother and one of her cousins was Archchancellor of Unseen University so her family line clearly has magic in it, but the reason she's the best is that she wanted to be and worked for it, hard. It's implied by the author (and almost stated outright in the short story ''The Sea and Little Fishes'') that the difference between Granny and her best friend [[BrilliantButLazy Nanny Ogg]] is that while the latter had [[TheGift more inborn talent for magic]], the former worked a ''lot'' harder at cultivating both it and most other aspects of witchery (Nanny is the better midwife and people-person of the two).

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Azula is a once-in-a-generation [[PlayingWithFire firebending]] prodigy, but she also constantly trains and practices like crazy.