Hard Work Hardly Works / Fan Works

• As they struggled to find people for the Prime Candidate Program, Jesse in AWE Arcadia Bay (Rogue_Demon) reasons that they are trying too hard and they should just "let it happen." This is based on experience, as she has been known to get lucky in the Oldest House and paranatural phenomena runs more on faith than deduction.
  Jesse: Sometimes, I feel like if the house, or the board, wants us to find something, we will find it. Maybe we just need new information that hasn't come up yet?
• This is discussed in Oh God, Not Again! when Draco points out that the Hufflepuff house never comes out ahead specifically because working hard is such an ingrained, defining trait of theirs. “What are they going to do? Do exactly what they're supposed to do MORE?"
• Gloriously averted in Naruto: Demon Path. Naruto ran away from Konoha at age 6 but met and joined Haku and Zabuza living like a missing nin for 6 years before going back. During his fight with Sasuke at The Valley Of The End, he owns Sasuke. When Sasuke angrily shouts his Sharingan should make him better, Naruto calls him out:
  Naruto: While you were sitting in class thinking of a quick fix to more power, I was busting my ass in real life-or-death situations. Seriously how long have you been a ninja? A few months? Try comparing that to my 6 years asshole!
  • Naruto even refuses to use this power of the Kyuubi. When Jiraiya wants to alter the seal to allow more of the Kyuubi's chakra leak through. Naruto refuses to do so. Basically, he acknowledges that he might have to use the Kyuubi, but he doesn't want to rely on it.
• Discussed in A Growing Affection. Lee gives Sakura a scenario for the Chunin Exams with Ninja A (Crippling Overspecialization Bare-Fisted Monk) and Ninja B (Jack of All Stats). As Lee explains, Ninja B could go through the entire tournament and beat many in the third round but can lose to Ninja A and Ninja A will become a Chunin.
• Very averted in No Chance for Fate. Ranma has to work hard to gain abilities and even then, he'd just have learned them but still needs experience to become better. The Senshi do get their magic for free but have no experience using it. They also are still essentially normal teenagers and need combat training to learn everything they need to survive in battle.
• Discussed in regards to Harry in Child of the Storm. While, unlike Hermione, he doesn't have a particularly good grasp of theory, and, indeed, doesn't have the mind she does (though he is far from an idiot), he has a level of raw power that was greater than hers even before it was revealed that his father was really Thor incarnated as James and an intuitive grasp for spellwork, particularly in favoured subjects, that means he grasps spells almost as quickly, or as quickly as (in some cases, even faster than) she does. It's not this, as such, but also his Quidditch skills and giving off the impression at being pretty good at whatever he turns his hand to, and, finally correcting her answer in Defence Against the Dark Arts, that upsets her.
• The Second Try: In "Raise", Asuka remembers what she could never catch up with Shinji in spite of working hard to become the best. She also realizes that it doesn’t bother her or upset her anymore.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide: During an argument with Shinji, Asuka throws in his face that he never had to work hard for being an Eva pilot, whereas that she trained hard for one entire decade to become the best, and everything that she got was getting her mind raped.
  "Do you want to know what your problem is?" she said, her voice rising shrilly. "You take what you have for granted, and you think it gives you the right to talk down to me. But you've never had to work for what you have, you just get in your Eva and it goes and you are the hero.
• Once More with Feeling: One reason Asuka is so frustrated with Shinji is that his synch rate is higher even though he's been training for much less time than she has. Of course, Shinji has a couple of advantages (being a time traveler and knowing some things he shouldn't) over her.
• The One I Love Is...: In chapter 9 Asuka complains that she worked hard for one decade to become the best pilot, and she was being beaten by a barely-trained rookie.
  Asuka: Of course I'm upset! How would you feel, Shinji, if you devoted your whole life to something and it didn't pay off? I've been training to be an Eva pilot for ten years. Ten years, Shinji! I should be the best! I worked at it, damn it! I worked hard for it! But instead, you, who's been piloting for less than a year, can beat me! And you're not even trying! What the hell was I doing, if I can get beaten by some jerk they grabbed off the street?!
• Frigid Future: According to Cooler, belief in this is what got Freeza killed. The universe moves forward so if not Goku, then someone would eventually become strong enough to defeat him. This is why Cooler regularly trains to increase his power.
• In the Triptych Continuum, a pony's magical strength is fixed from birth, and no amount of exercise, practice, or effort will ever improve it (nor will laziness or lack of use weaken the magic). This is a major factor in several characterizations.
  • The Continuum version of Trixie Lulamoon gets screwed over hard by this trope. Her talent provides her with a never-ending series of ideas for new spells, but does not necessarily guarantee that she has the power to actually cast those spells. Passages from her POV highlight how utterly soul-destroying it is to constantly be confronted by problems for which you know the perfect solution, but the vagaries of genetics mean that you will never ever actually be able to use that solution. This only got worse once she met Twilight Sparkle, who won the "blood lottery" and actually does have enough power to cast any spell Trixie could imagine.
  • Similarly, the Continuum iteration of Rarity has exactly average magical strength and is close friends with Twilight, who was born with almost unrivaled magical power. She mostly manages to keep her jealousy in check.
  • In the Anchor Foal II spinoff, this is a key part of the relationship between Fluttershy and Zephyr Breeze. Fluttershy was born with minimal magical strength, while Zephyr was born with extremely strong magic. Despite the fact that Zephyr is a Lazy Bum, incompetent at seemingly every aspect of life, and several years younger than Fluttershy, the single fact of his being born with powerful magic meant that a lot of ponies treated Zephyr as the responsible adult and put him in charge of Fluttershy.
• In Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku!, Katsuki Bakugou worked his ass off to overcome his debilitating childhood injuries, tearing his way through the U.A. Entrance Exam through his natural talent and effort. Unfortunately for him, his Childhood Friend, Izuku, happens to be Kryptonian. Because of this, he's constantly overshadowed by Izuku's constantly growing powers despite the latter's disproportionately smaller (but no less dedicated) amount of effort in training.
• Mizuki in Son of the Sannin seems to believe this trope, citing it as one of his main reasons to defect from Konoha and sell himself to Orochimaru. In a rather ironic twist, the one who defies the trope to hell and back is Lee himself, who fights one-on-one against Mizuki (the latter even using a Cursed Seal for a power boost), and still manages to win by pure physical endurance and willpower.
• Played With in Miraculous! Rewrite: Marinette works incredibly hard to break into the world of fashion design, and this ultimately pays off for her in "Queen Wasp" when Gabriel takes her on as an intern. However, this success also catches the eye of Audrey Bourgeois, and that causes her daughter Amber to have a massive breakdown over the idea that all of her efforts to please her mother might have been totally pointless.
• The MLP Loops:
  • Invoked for laughs. Ascending to alicorn requires a Beyond the Impossible feat directly related to a pony's special talent as well as a powerful artifact (the specific artifact can vary, just so long as it's powerful). Ascending again, however, is infinitely easier. At one point a bunch of loopers prank Celestia by pretending to ascend for ridiculously minor "feats" like eating a lot of muffins, wearing a crown, and choking on a paperclip. Celestia eventually gives up, declares that ascension no longer grants any special privileges, and mutters about how she was an alicorn before it was cool.
  • Likewise, after obtaining the Elements of Harmony the hard way, Bearers can pull them out at any time, which is often used to troll people.
    Trixie: Spike showed his Loyalty by growing to the size of a small whale! Chrysalis showed her Kindness by putting up with me! Zecora showed her Generosity by paying for the first round at the bar! Berry showed her Laughter by making up some really good puns for the names of her cocktails! And Gilda showed her Honesty by beating up a manticore!
    Nightmare Moon: Those are not virtuous acts!
    Trixie: I think you'll find everyone who knows me considers putting up with me for more than ten minutes to be an inherently virtuous act. Oh, by the way, the sixth element is Magic. Boom.
    [Nightmare Moon gets blasted by the Elements]
• Zig-Zagged in the Sleeper Hit AU. While Midoriya worked incredibly hard to pass U.A.'s Entrance Exam, his efforts prove pointless when Aizawa immediately expels him on Day 1 after rigging his assessment against him. He also struggles to find another Hero School willing to take him due to his Quirklessness. However, the Hamada Institute accepts him, and he's able to earn regard as the first Quirkless Pro Hero.
  • Shinsou also recognizes just how hard Midoriya worked, and uses this to Pull the Thread on Aizawa's claim of impartility, pointing out that the amount of training Midoriya did should have ensured that his physical scores edged out Hagakure's.
• Mostly averted in The Awakening of a Magus. Harry does get a dose of Instant Expert that puts him above any regular wizard, but using anything resembling his full potential requires lots of hard training.
• Averted in Ships Ahoy!. Oprah believes that Odd Squad agents hardly work to earn their "I beat this oddity today" bragging rights and eagerly revel in the perks they get as government employees, contrasting it with her own hard work that involves her plans to change the entire juice industry for the better and has her making an honest living even in spite of her hardships. What she's (initially) unaware of, however, is that Odd Squad agents work just as hard as she does at fighting oddness and making the world a better place for everyone, whether or not they're skilled at doing so and regardless of what hardships they face.
• Averted in The (Edit) War for Ash’s Freedom to not be Betrayed. At one point, a trio of hipsters with little battle experience challenge Ash (who's placed high in several leagues over the years) to a battle. The hipsters use Gengar, Scizor, and Starmie (Pokémon on the high end of Smogon's competitive tier list), while Ash ends up using his Unfezant (a statistically-weaker Pokémon, with Ash's in particular being infamous for its poor battle performance). The hipsters and Darkern Edgier immediately believe that this trope will be in effect; however, Ash ends up subjecting them to a Curb-Stomp Battle, proving that experience does matter.

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