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To-do list:

  • Mundane Utility has been defined as involving the use of any special power being used for mundane tasks (such as, but not limited to, housework, and regardless of whether the special power is actually efficient or even useful for the tasks) instead of just superpowers, and expand to include the use of magical and/or high-tech objects for mundane tasks in addition to to special powers, as intended by the original TLP draft (with the draft giving the example of using a Humongous Mecha to make a pizza).

    Original post 
Note: OP by: Amonimus

Mundane Utility by the description is about using superpowers for daily tasks where they are unnecessary. While Tropes Are Flexible, I think most examples are stretching it to "something awesome used for personal convinience" too much.

Going by Mundane Utility Wick Check,

  • 15% suit the definition.
  • 16% is either about using a powerful artificat for convinience (Priceless Paperweight?) or using sci-fi techonology impractically (Utility Weapon, Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids, Misapplied Phlebotinum?)
  • 39% don't really sound like a "mundane use" at all, either the effect is still supernatural, or the effect could only be achived by supernatural means in context.
  • In 20% I couldn't tell becuase it references an ability without telling what it does, or General examples that don't say how are they applied.

Suggestion: Rename to something like Awesome Ability Normal Ulitlity and move unfit examples to mentioned tropes. Optinally, append the description to mention wizards and fantasy creatures using normally destructive spells as home appliances or along the lines. Using levitation magic to clean the room isn't "mundane", it'd be efficient and natural in such setting.

Wick check:

  1. Expand, rename, rewite completely
  2. Split

82 wicks automatically collected in 287 seconds. 94 examples.



     Correct: Awesome Superpower wastefully used for personal convinience (14) 
  1. Recap.TheLegendOfKorraS2E1RebelSpirit -> * Mundane Utility: Korra uses the Avatar State to win an air scooter race. Lampshaded by Tenzin that she cannot use it as a "booster rocket". She also later uses her waterbending powers to win a shooting competition.
  2. Characters.MissKobayashisDragonMaidKobayashiHousehold -> * Mundane Utility: She used her electric powers to charge Saikawa's cellphone and used her horns as poles for a clothes line in Kanna's Daily Life.
  3. Fanfic.ImperfectMetamorphosis -> * Mundane Utility: Alice is shocked at Mima using a pocket dimension as a vomit bucket for Marisa.
  4. Characters.SuperHeroTaisenOriginalRiders -> * Mundane Utility: She uses the Flight ring for pretty minor things like pulling out chairs and cheating at Crapps.
  5. YMMV.ShallWeDateNinjaShadow -> ** In Shintaro's route, his and Saori's would-be First Kiss is interrupted when they notice that Ukyo, Yuzuki and Kagura are peeping on them. The hilarity is amped up by the arrival of Asagi, who chastises the other three for spying on Saori and her boyfriend... only for Kagura to point out that he was using his shikigami to peep too, flustering the Hell out of him.
  6. Sandbox.SailorMoonGRRebirthOfThePlanetaryGuardians -> * Mundane Utility: At one point, Debido utilizes his ability to manipulate moisture in the air to provide ice cubes for his drink.
  7. VideoGame.PokemonCafeMix -> * Mundane Utility: Several Cafe Skills in this game are depicted as Pokemon using their moves to do cafe work, such as Squirtle using Water Gun to wash dishes, Bulbasaur using Razor Leaf to cut vegetables, Snorlax Body Slamming pizza dough flat, etc.
  8. Characters.HopeOfTheShieldHero -> * Mundane Utility: Naofumi uses his shields' absorption ability to clean up after giving Raphtalia a haircut, so he basically treats it as an infinite trash can.
  9. Fanfic.HorizonStarDriven -> * Mundane Utility: Sir Nighteye uses his Foresight Quirk to make sure Mirio takes a break - and also to catch a spoiler of the first minutes of the movie he's going to see.
  10. VideoGame.Bravium -> * Mundane Utility: The strips shows the Barbarian using his newfound powers over electricity to give himself a spiky, cooler moustache.
  11. Characters.XMenClanAkkaba -> * Mundane Utility: In one issue, Uriel uses his own wings as a reclining chair.
  12. Fanfic.OwlsAndSoulsWitchesAndResonance -> * Mundane Utility: Besides the combat applications, both Eda and Spirit use Soul Wavelength to allow themselves to dampen the effects of alcohol.
  13. TabletopGame.PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution -> * Mundane Utility: One piece of the book’s artwork depicts Rose levitating a beer to herself.
  14. Manga.RurouniKenshin -> * Mundane Utility: In an anime filler episode, the protagonist at one point finds himself attending a fancy dinner party, so he picks up a knife and performs the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu (Steak style) to cut up a steak.

     In-Spirit: Awesome Magic Item wastefully used for personal convinience (7) 
  1. WesternAnimation.UncleGrandpa -> * Mundane Utility: Among his office supplies tucked away in his belly bag is a flaming blue sword that he uses as a letter opener.
  2. Recap.DeathBattleS06E01AquamanVsNamor -> * Mundane Utility: Once the Trident of Poseidon's powers are established to include teleportation, Boomstick hijacks it for a free trip to Disney World... by using beer.
  3. Funny.SonicTheHedgehog22022 -> * At one point during his home-alone partying at the beginning, Sonic realizes he's out of snacks, so he uses one of his rings to pick up a pack of Oreos straight from a grocery store shelf and leave some money behind, which is observed by a dumbfounded customer.
  4. ChildOfTheStorm.TropesIToP -> * Mundane Utility: According to Fury, Steve has, in the past, unaware of the significance of being able to lift it, used Mjolnir as a doorstop.
  5. Series.LockeAndKey2020 -> * Mundane Utility: In "the Premiere", Body uses the Hercules Key & Belt to move a heavy piece of furniture, and Tyler uses the Matchstick Key to start a beach fire.
  6. Webcomic.MurphysLaw -> * Mundane Utility: using Unseen Servant to make dinner.
  7. TearJerker.FateStayNight -> * The game's prologue has a tearjerker moment, the nature of which only becomes clear after finishing Unlimited Blade Works. Rin's summoning goes awry, which is why she ends up with Archer rather than Saber, and as a side effect, her living room becomes a giant mess. The first order she gives Archer, the legendary hero whom she summoned to help her fight for no less a prize than the Holy Grail? "Clean up this mess." On the first go-round, it's a pure Funny Moment, but after learning that Archer long ago lost sight of the Despair Event Horizon due to being involved in an endless cycle of pointless violence, performing so mundane a task as housecleaning is probably the closest thing to heaven he can imagine himself attaining, the more so because he was quite domestic during his lifetime as Shirou, and he's helping one of the girls whom, as Shirou, he loved the most.

     In-Spirit: Awesome Gadget wastefully used for personal convinience (6) 
  1. Literature.TheLostMetal -> * Mundane Utility: Wayne muses that Coinshots make great bottle openers.
  2. Characters.MODOK2021 -> * Mundane Utility: He's a shapeshifting robot with limitless uses, but the family just uses him for the most mundane purposes, like a smoothie maker or a toaster. At one point M.O.D.O.K. includes him in an evil plan only to use him as a ladder to reach something in his house. Only, as Super-Adaptoid points out, M.O.D.O.K. can fly.
  3. Main.TimeMachine -> Having a time machine can (but not always) have the side effect of Reed Richards Is Useless - as a little Fridge Logic one can think of many ways to better use it than visiting your grandparents or paying your bills on time.
  4. Main.SoundtrackCoverCharacterJam -> * The official soundtrack for Grapple Force Rena depicts Rena using her grapple gauntlets to spin vinyls on a DJ booth, as seen here.
  5. ComicBook.Battle -> * Mundane Utility: Smith 70's Vickers machine gun is water cooled, so it's often used as a field expedient way to boil water for tea.
  6. Film.BatmanTheMovie -> * Mundane Utility: Rather than use the Polaris missiles as weapons or an extortion threat,note  the baddies let the Riddler shoot them off to skywrite riddles for Batman and Robin.

     In-Spirit: Awesome Phlebotinum wastefully used for personal convinience (2) 
  1. NightmareFuel.Warhammer -> * Warpstone. A type of magical rock that can fall from the sky in meteors or be found underground. It is known and feared for its extreme danger, as even getting near to some is usually enough to cause people to start horrifically mutating. That's before one touches it, which makes things even worse. Getting the tiniest sliver in one's skin is usually enough to kill a human without strong divine intervention. Warpstone also has a great deal of magical power, so that lures foolish wizards and scholars to try obtaining the stuff. The Skaven rely entirely on Warpstone for practically anything in their civilization and have a higher resistance to it. They use it to make poison gas that will melt victims' internal organs and their eyes, and gunpowder that can send a bullet through solid plate armor. Clan Moulder use it to make their terrible monsters through direct application. Rich Skaven can get warpstone mixed into their armor or weapons, so that even hitting them or being hit by them gets the attacker a lethal dose. Skaven assassins liberally coat their weapons in it. Their Grey Priests will literally eat warpstone to gain an incredible boost in magical might for a short time. Skaven also use it for making lights and their money. Warpstone will kill Skaven eventually, but they don't care as long as their enemies get killed first.
  2. Literature.PrinceRoger -> * Mundane Utility: Killerpillar venom causes humans and Mardukans alike to die excruciating deaths, as their flesh dissolves and slides off their bones. Kostas uses it (in diluted form) to tenderize steak.

     Miuse: Not a mundane use / Subjective? (37) 
  1. Literature.DechanceChronicles -> * Mundane Utility: Using powerful sorcery to summon minor gods in order to win a gang war.
  2. VideoGame.QuantumConundrum -> * Mundane Utility: When the professor invented a freaking time-machine, he began using it to get futuristic clothing and to legally hunt tigers.
  3. FantasyGunControl.Literature -> ** During his time in the army Guiche was tasked with using magic to keep matchlocks dry in humid condition, and flying airships are armed with heavy cannons.
  4. Sandbox.SailorMoonGRRebirthOfThePlanetaryGuardians -> * Mundane Utility: Minako can leap across rooftops, jump to the second story of a building from a standing position, and more. So she uses such skills to never get caught during a game of tag.
  5. Recap.TheFlash2014S5E10TheFlashAndTheFurious -> * Mundane Utility: Caitlin uses her freezing powers to close Cisco's wounds.
  6. Characters.AccelWorldOtherBurstLinkers -> * Mundane Utility: His sword is potentially the strongest weapon in Brain Burst, but due to the one-shot nature of its attack he relies more on his own skills in combat, using its power only to attack the barrier that prevents players from entering or leaving the Imperial Palace.
  7. Film.TheProjectedMan -> * Mundane Utility: Steiner can use his hands like arc welders, burning/melting his way through doors, or just to destroy things.
  8. TeamFortress2.TropesHToP -> * Mundane Utility: Mad Milk and Jarate, in addition for use as a weapon of offense, can be used to put out friendlies who are on fire. Ditto the airblast.
  9. TeamFortress2.TropesHToP -> * Mundane Utility: The Medigun, as the Medic considers healing to be a side effect to whatever the hell he originally designed it for.
  10. Characters.BakuganBattlePlanetPartnerBakugan -> * Mundane Utility: His Tail Crusher attack is just him smashing his opponent with his tail.
  11. Characters.MobileSuitGundamSEEDAstray -> * Swiss-Army Weapon: Uses his own Tactical Arms in VS Astray. Which can switch between BFS, beam bow, sword arm, working pincer, and propulsion system.
  12. Characters.HopeOfTheShieldHero -> * Mundane Utility: His shields have various forms that can be used in such a way, like mining or storing money.
  13. Funny.SMG4TheWaluigiArc -> * Apparently, Wario went on a grand journey that took him to the deepest reaches of space to find... a therapist.
  14. Characters.ThirteenSentinelsAegisRim -> * Mundane Utility: When introduced, everyone quickly points out a model's civilian uses. As it turns out, the civilian uses are the intended ones; they're autonomous construction and terraforming equipment loaded with weaponry.
  15. VideoGame.LollipopChainsaw -> * Mundane Utility: One of the few video games to use a chainsaw to cut wood.
  16. VideoGame.TheTrappedTrilogy -> * Mundane Utility: Found two very old, probably valuable coins in your cell? Use one to unscrew a toilet lid and the other one to stop up a drain. (I assume it's an escape game, so not like there's any other use for them, also Example Is Uncertain)
  17. Characters.ArrowversePastCharacters -> * Abnormal Ammo: In "Outlaw Country," Turnbull uses his dwarf star alloy to make bullets that explode into blue flame on contact and can penetrate Nate's otherwise Immune to Bullets Chrome Champion form (sans explosion). Given that it's one of the rarest materials in existence, his waste of it in this manner also qualifies as Mundane Utility.
  18. Characters.TwoKinds -> * Mundane Utility: Makes particular use of his magic to help himself present as male, from wearing what is essentially a Bag of Holding as a bra to experimenting with an easily sustained illusion so he can go around barechested.
  19. TabletopGame.TheWitcherGameOfImagination -> * Ancestral Weapon: Self-sharpening swords cost quite a lot, but they also never wear out, so they are usually held by the same family for generations.
  20. CassandraTruth.FanWorks -> * In Make a Wish there's an entire magical family descended from the mythical Cassandra, all of whom have inherited the same curse. Instead of going mad as no one pays attention to their predictions, they use what they see to start profitable businesses, with a sideline of helping the good guys (like Harry Potter).
  21. Literature.FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem -> * Mundane Utility: Once it was discovered that the Augurey's cry predicts rain, some wizards started to keep them around as living weather forecasters. However, they can get really annoying during winter, when it rains constantly.
  22. Literature.FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem -> * Mundane Utility: Mooncalf dung is used as plant fertilizer. When it's harvested before sunrise and spread on magical plants, they grow much faster than normal and become extremely strong.
  23. Literature.FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem -> * Mundane Utility: The Clabbert has a large pimple on its head that flashes red when danger approaches. Wizards use it as an alarm to warn of approaching Muggles. However, as the book clarifies, the Ministry of Magic banned their use due to continued cases of Muggles asking why their neighbors were using holiday lights in July.
  24. Main.EnemyDetectingRadar -> ** Available as a spell effect in Morrowind and Oblivion, where it comes in a variety of types including "Detect Humanoid", "Detect Creature", and "Detect Undead". Using it (or applying it as an enchantment effect to an item) will cause the applicable enemy type to show up on the mini-map. Also available are "Detect Magic/Enchantment" and "Detect Key" (presumably the result of a mage losing his tower key once too often).
  25. Recap.YuGiOhVRAINSEp86WisdomOfTheDepraved -> * Mundane Utility: Blue Maiden can use her Power Gives You Wings to slow her descent once Lightning initiates his Divide and Conquer strategy.
  26. Characters.CodeGeassMainCharacters -> * Mundane Utility: Since her body doesn't change no matter how many calories she intakes, she prefers to pig out on pizza and other unhealthy foods.
  27. YMMV.EldenRing -> *** It's also accepted that, in a touching, but hilarious example of Mundane Utility, that one of the reasons Radahn learned Gravity Magic was so that he could still ride his loyal steed, despite the absolutely massive disproportionate difference in size between them.
  28. WesternAnimation.Onward -> * Fauns and Satyrs: In the trailer, there's a female faun painting a house wall, using her goat legs to leap and reach the high spots.
  29. Characters.DoctorWhoTheSilence -> * Mundane Utility: Their terrifying ability that any person who sees them forgets they saw them as soon as the person turns away? Turns out that they're confessional priests and the original purpose of the ability was a way of preserving the privacy of the confession.
  30. Recap.KamenRiderDoubleE33E34YsTragedy -> * Mundane Utility: When Saeko gets the first threatening letter, Dr Isaka burns it... as Weather Dopant.
  31. Characters.SpiderManPS4Heroes -> * Mundane Utility: In his own game, he uses his powers to discreetly access the transformer by crawling along the walls before recharging it with his electric powers.
  32. Characters.MetroCityRP -> * Mundane Utility: He uses his ability to make large amounts of robots and weaponry to sell lower-tech versions to the military for influence and cash.
  33. VisualNovel.AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth -> * Mundane Utility: In most cases, the Logic Chess segments are used to weasel info out of people who are being uncooperative by carefully guiding them to giving up information. In the final case, Edgeworth uses it to try to shake Sebastian Debeste out of his misery. Interestingly, despite being a more mundane use, it's actually the longest and most involved Logic Chess battle in the game.
  34. TabletopGame.PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution -> * Mundane Utility: You can use the Remote Manipulation ability to use keypads, pick locks, and basically do anything else that could be accomplished with hands. Enormously powerful, heat-proof, intangible hands, but still.
  35. Manga.RurouniKenshin -> * Mundane Utility: This trope is also subverted when he goes looking for the heir of a famous swordmaker: he uses one of the man's kitchen knives to slice up a daikon in the most awesome way possible, and then reveals that he was testing the blade.
  36. VideoGame.CultistSimulator -> ** Moth confuses. It's associated with shadows and chaos, and is good for sneaking by Watchers, stealing inconvenient evidence, and navigating dark forests (since it's also linked to The Wood). Nonsense ("buzzing in the brain") and shapeshifting ("shedding of skin") are also closely associated with it, as are haircuts (the closest a human can come to "shedding" rapidly, and there's also a symbolic link to the Hour of the same name). Moth cultists are strange tricksters who act in ways only they can understand.
  37. Main.Golem -> * Berserk: Golems are figures made out of mud. They look cute, but they're very resilient and will regenerate any damage done to them until the little clay figurine within them is destroyed. They're used by the witch, Flora, to safeguard her home as well as to carry out domestic chores.

     Miuse: Abused game oversight (7) 
  1. VideoGame.TotalAnnihilation -> * Mundane Utility: most of your Commander's D-Gun shots won't be directed at the enemy - rather, they'll be force-fired by you at the surrounding terrain to bulldoze it clear of wreckage, plants and general annoyances that prevent you from building there.
  2. TeamFortress2.TropesHToP -> * Mundane Utility: An unintended variant; Taunts are usually meant for mocking your enemies or for making a quick friend if it's a Taunt that can be interacted with, but they can also be used to peek your 3rd person camera around corners to check for threats without having to expose yourself.
  3. Characters.PaladinsSupport -> * Mundane Utility: Mal'Damba's ultimate is fantastic for disrupting team fights and crowd control, but one of the best uses of it would be right when his team is about to capture a point or deliver the payload, as there's nothing that can be done to stall the objective until it's finished, and by that point, it may be too late.
  4. TabletopGame.PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution -> * Mundane Utility: Temper, Temper, Temperature can be used to melt locks and metal doors, pop car tires, boil water, and the like.
  5. TabletopGame.PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution -> * Mundane Utility: Ignite can be used to light cigarettes and build campfires.
  6. VideoGame.InfernoMOO -> * Psychic Powers: And how. As your character gains in experience, you can take mutations that allow you to set people on fire with your mind (and occasionally get mental illnesses), teleport at will, fly around using their mind, project into the astral realm to scout (or rip a hole through it to be used for travel), generate electricity for combat and defibrillation of dead players (or charging your batteries)... the list goes on. Even characters that don't choose to specialize in these tend to pick up one or two useful ones.
  7. YMMV.PewDiePie -> * Author's Saving Throw: In response to the outcry from him cheating in Episode 20 of his Minecraft playthrough (to give himself potatoes), Felix apologized and promised that he wouldn't do so again for anything else, even when he was off-camera. To go even further, he decided to show the construction of Joergen's memorial in full to quell any further worries that he had been using cheats to build his other structures.

     ZCE: Don't know this power's potential (13) 
  1. Fanfic.OversaturatedWorld -> * Mind over Matter: A standard Unicorn Aspect power is telekinesis, usually used for Mundane Utility: Group Precipitation - Vice Squad:
    Glimmer [Goodwitch], toying with her martini’s olive in her telekinesis.
  2. Recap.DuckTales2017S3E12LetsGetDangerous -> * Mundane Utility: Taurus demonstrates the Ramrod by using it to make haggis for Scrooge.
  3. Characters.HighSchoolDXDIsseiHyoudou -> * Mundane Utility: How he acquired Dress Break in the first place was to peel vegetables at a distance.
  4. Characters.EarthTwentySevenTheTitans -> * Mundane Utility: Sometimes other Titans ask her to charge their phones.
  5. Fanfic.FatesCollide -> * Mundane Utility: When Gilgamesh destroys Mercury's prosthetic legs, Archer uses Tracing to make him new ones. He later uses it to repair the damage Chloe does to the von Einzbern mansion.
  6. Recap.LegendsOfTomorrowS4E16HeyWorld -> * Dramatic Wind: Zari uses her powers to invoke this effect for the airing of the Hey World commercial.
  7. Main.BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats -> ** They also sell insurance.
  8. Characters.SurvivalOfTheFittestMiniSupers -> * Mundane Utility: Her Gift is very convenient for her metalworking hobby.
  9. Characters.InfinityWars2018 -> * Mundane Utility: He can use his powers to make himself a sauna.
  10. VideoGame.QuantumConundrum -> * Mundane Utility:The nuclear Clothes Drier.
  11. Series.KamenRiderDouble -> * Ten Minutes in the Closet: Dango and Chizuru get locked in the RevolGarry together in episode 8. This seemed to be the non-romantic type; making up results in them spending the next few minutes of the episode street dancing rather than any hugging or kissing.
  12. Fanfic.TheSkystoneSword -> * Mundane Utility: Ilona's use of magic to open a letter in “A Wave of Clarity.”
  13. Funny.BaldursGateIII -> * In the Blighted Village, one sidequest has you stumble across a magic mirror. The protagonist can use it to fix their appearance, with the narrator lamenting, in a completely serious tone, that adventuring is killer on one's wardrobe. Alternately, if you try looking into it while controlling Astarion, being a vampire spawn, he won't see his reflection. Instead, you get this gem of a line:
    Lacking any evidence to the contrary, you assume you look amazing.

     ZCE: Doesn't explain the use (6) 
  1. Literature.TheBandsOfMourning -> MeLaan: Eyes, sensory apparatus, and an emergency canteen.
  2. WesternAnimation.StormHawks -> * Mundane Utility: There are many crystals which are used for simple, everyday tasks.
  3. Characters.TheGeniusOfSappheiros -> * Mundane Utility: In the expansion prologue, Biotopos requests for snacks in the bar, and then telling the workers to not bother preparing them as Matsuba can cut them up right away. Matsuba isn't quite happy about it.
  4. Characters.DurararaMainCharacters -> * Mundane Utility: Turns out that control over darkness and shadow is surprisingly versatile — though Shinra put his foot down at letting her use it for cooking.
  5. Anime.DigimonFusion ->
  6. Characters.IDontWantThisKindOfHero -> * Mundane Utility: He's a master of this.

     Non-examples (2) 
  1. PlayingWith.PlayingWithFire -> ** Blaze uses his ability to control fire for trivial purposes.
  2. PlayingWith.GodivaHair -> ** Alice's hair always conceals her front, even when she's moving around a lot or hanging upside-down. As it turns out, her hair is firmly stuck to her breasts, which Alice finds to make a pretty good (if painful) harness for her hobby of zip lining.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 17th 2023 at 6:49:59 AM

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#1: Feb 18th 2023 at 2:35:25 AM

To-do list:

  • Mundane Utility has been defined as involving the use of any special power being used for mundane tasks (such as, but not limited to, housework, and regardless of whether the special power is actually efficient or even useful for the tasks) instead of just superpowers, and expand to include the use of magical and/or high-tech objects for mundane tasks in addition to to special powers, as intended by the original TLP draft (with the draft giving the example of using a Humongous Mecha to make a pizza).

    Original post 
Note: OP by: Amonimus

Mundane Utility by the description is about using superpowers for daily tasks where they are unnecessary. While Tropes Are Flexible, I think most examples are stretching it to "something awesome used for personal convinience" too much.

Going by Mundane Utility Wick Check,

  • 15% suit the definition.
  • 16% is either about using a powerful artificat for convinience (Priceless Paperweight?) or using sci-fi techonology impractically (Utility Weapon, Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids, Misapplied Phlebotinum?)
  • 39% don't really sound like a "mundane use" at all, either the effect is still supernatural, or the effect could only be achived by supernatural means in context.
  • In 20% I couldn't tell becuase it references an ability without telling what it does, or General examples that don't say how are they applied.

Suggestion: Rename to something like Awesome Ability Normal Ulitlity and move unfit examples to mentioned tropes. Optinally, append the description to mention wizards and fantasy creatures using normally destructive spells as home appliances or along the lines. Using levitation magic to clean the room isn't "mundane", it'd be efficient and natural in such setting.

Wick check:

  1. Expand, rename, rewite completely
  2. Split

82 wicks automatically collected in 287 seconds. 94 examples.



     Correct: Awesome Superpower wastefully used for personal convinience (14) 
  1. Recap.TheLegendOfKorraS2E1RebelSpirit -> * Mundane Utility: Korra uses the Avatar State to win an air scooter race. Lampshaded by Tenzin that she cannot use it as a "booster rocket". She also later uses her waterbending powers to win a shooting competition.
  2. Characters.MissKobayashisDragonMaidKobayashiHousehold -> * Mundane Utility: She used her electric powers to charge Saikawa's cellphone and used her horns as poles for a clothes line in Kanna's Daily Life.
  3. Fanfic.ImperfectMetamorphosis -> * Mundane Utility: Alice is shocked at Mima using a pocket dimension as a vomit bucket for Marisa.
  4. Characters.SuperHeroTaisenOriginalRiders -> * Mundane Utility: She uses the Flight ring for pretty minor things like pulling out chairs and cheating at Crapps.
  5. YMMV.ShallWeDateNinjaShadow -> ** In Shintaro's route, his and Saori's would-be First Kiss is interrupted when they notice that Ukyo, Yuzuki and Kagura are peeping on them. The hilarity is amped up by the arrival of Asagi, who chastises the other three for spying on Saori and her boyfriend... only for Kagura to point out that he was using his shikigami to peep too, flustering the Hell out of him.
  6. Sandbox.SailorMoonGRRebirthOfThePlanetaryGuardians -> * Mundane Utility: At one point, Debido utilizes his ability to manipulate moisture in the air to provide ice cubes for his drink.
  7. VideoGame.PokemonCafeMix -> * Mundane Utility: Several Cafe Skills in this game are depicted as Pokemon using their moves to do cafe work, such as Squirtle using Water Gun to wash dishes, Bulbasaur using Razor Leaf to cut vegetables, Snorlax Body Slamming pizza dough flat, etc.
  8. Characters.HopeOfTheShieldHero -> * Mundane Utility: Naofumi uses his shields' absorption ability to clean up after giving Raphtalia a haircut, so he basically treats it as an infinite trash can.
  9. Fanfic.HorizonStarDriven -> * Mundane Utility: Sir Nighteye uses his Foresight Quirk to make sure Mirio takes a break - and also to catch a spoiler of the first minutes of the movie he's going to see.
  10. VideoGame.Bravium -> * Mundane Utility: The strips shows the Barbarian using his newfound powers over electricity to give himself a spiky, cooler moustache.
  11. Characters.XMenClanAkkaba -> * Mundane Utility: In one issue, Uriel uses his own wings as a reclining chair.
  12. Fanfic.OwlsAndSoulsWitchesAndResonance -> * Mundane Utility: Besides the combat applications, both Eda and Spirit use Soul Wavelength to allow themselves to dampen the effects of alcohol.
  13. TabletopGame.PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution -> * Mundane Utility: One piece of the book’s artwork depicts Rose levitating a beer to herself.
  14. Manga.RurouniKenshin -> * Mundane Utility: In an anime filler episode, the protagonist at one point finds himself attending a fancy dinner party, so he picks up a knife and performs the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu (Steak style) to cut up a steak.

     In-Spirit: Awesome Magic Item wastefully used for personal convinience (7) 
  1. WesternAnimation.UncleGrandpa -> * Mundane Utility: Among his office supplies tucked away in his belly bag is a flaming blue sword that he uses as a letter opener.
  2. Recap.DeathBattleS06E01AquamanVsNamor -> * Mundane Utility: Once the Trident of Poseidon's powers are established to include teleportation, Boomstick hijacks it for a free trip to Disney World... by using beer.
  3. Funny.SonicTheHedgehog22022 -> * At one point during his home-alone partying at the beginning, Sonic realizes he's out of snacks, so he uses one of his rings to pick up a pack of Oreos straight from a grocery store shelf and leave some money behind, which is observed by a dumbfounded customer.
  4. ChildOfTheStorm.TropesIToP -> * Mundane Utility: According to Fury, Steve has, in the past, unaware of the significance of being able to lift it, used Mjolnir as a doorstop.
  5. Series.LockeAndKey2020 -> * Mundane Utility: In "the Premiere", Body uses the Hercules Key & Belt to move a heavy piece of furniture, and Tyler uses the Matchstick Key to start a beach fire.
  6. Webcomic.MurphysLaw -> * Mundane Utility: using Unseen Servant to make dinner.
  7. TearJerker.FateStayNight -> * The game's prologue has a tearjerker moment, the nature of which only becomes clear after finishing Unlimited Blade Works. Rin's summoning goes awry, which is why she ends up with Archer rather than Saber, and as a side effect, her living room becomes a giant mess. The first order she gives Archer, the legendary hero whom she summoned to help her fight for no less a prize than the Holy Grail? "Clean up this mess." On the first go-round, it's a pure Funny Moment, but after learning that Archer long ago lost sight of the Despair Event Horizon due to being involved in an endless cycle of pointless violence, performing so mundane a task as housecleaning is probably the closest thing to heaven he can imagine himself attaining, the more so because he was quite domestic during his lifetime as Shirou, and he's helping one of the girls whom, as Shirou, he loved the most.

     In-Spirit: Awesome Gadget wastefully used for personal convinience (6) 
  1. Literature.TheLostMetal -> * Mundane Utility: Wayne muses that Coinshots make great bottle openers.
  2. Characters.MODOK2021 -> * Mundane Utility: He's a shapeshifting robot with limitless uses, but the family just uses him for the most mundane purposes, like a smoothie maker or a toaster. At one point M.O.D.O.K. includes him in an evil plan only to use him as a ladder to reach something in his house. Only, as Super-Adaptoid points out, M.O.D.O.K. can fly.
  3. Main.TimeMachine -> Having a time machine can (but not always) have the side effect of Reed Richards Is Useless - as a little Fridge Logic one can think of many ways to better use it than visiting your grandparents or paying your bills on time.
  4. Main.SoundtrackCoverCharacterJam -> * The official soundtrack for Grapple Force Rena depicts Rena using her grapple gauntlets to spin vinyls on a DJ booth, as seen here.
  5. ComicBook.Battle -> * Mundane Utility: Smith 70's Vickers machine gun is water cooled, so it's often used as a field expedient way to boil water for tea.
  6. Film.BatmanTheMovie -> * Mundane Utility: Rather than use the Polaris missiles as weapons or an extortion threat,note  the baddies let the Riddler shoot them off to skywrite riddles for Batman and Robin.

     In-Spirit: Awesome Phlebotinum wastefully used for personal convinience (2) 
  1. NightmareFuel.Warhammer -> * Warpstone. A type of magical rock that can fall from the sky in meteors or be found underground. It is known and feared for its extreme danger, as even getting near to some is usually enough to cause people to start horrifically mutating. That's before one touches it, which makes things even worse. Getting the tiniest sliver in one's skin is usually enough to kill a human without strong divine intervention. Warpstone also has a great deal of magical power, so that lures foolish wizards and scholars to try obtaining the stuff. The Skaven rely entirely on Warpstone for practically anything in their civilization and have a higher resistance to it. They use it to make poison gas that will melt victims' internal organs and their eyes, and gunpowder that can send a bullet through solid plate armor. Clan Moulder use it to make their terrible monsters through direct application. Rich Skaven can get warpstone mixed into their armor or weapons, so that even hitting them or being hit by them gets the attacker a lethal dose. Skaven assassins liberally coat their weapons in it. Their Grey Priests will literally eat warpstone to gain an incredible boost in magical might for a short time. Skaven also use it for making lights and their money. Warpstone will kill Skaven eventually, but they don't care as long as their enemies get killed first.
  2. Literature.PrinceRoger -> * Mundane Utility: Killerpillar venom causes humans and Mardukans alike to die excruciating deaths, as their flesh dissolves and slides off their bones. Kostas uses it (in diluted form) to tenderize steak.

     Miuse: Not a mundane use / Subjective? (37) 
  1. Literature.DechanceChronicles -> * Mundane Utility: Using powerful sorcery to summon minor gods in order to win a gang war.
  2. VideoGame.QuantumConundrum -> * Mundane Utility: When the professor invented a freaking time-machine, he began using it to get futuristic clothing and to legally hunt tigers.
  3. FantasyGunControl.Literature -> ** During his time in the army Guiche was tasked with using magic to keep matchlocks dry in humid condition, and flying airships are armed with heavy cannons.
  4. Sandbox.SailorMoonGRRebirthOfThePlanetaryGuardians -> * Mundane Utility: Minako can leap across rooftops, jump to the second story of a building from a standing position, and more. So she uses such skills to never get caught during a game of tag.
  5. Recap.TheFlash2014S5E10TheFlashAndTheFurious -> * Mundane Utility: Caitlin uses her freezing powers to close Cisco's wounds.
  6. Characters.AccelWorldOtherBurstLinkers -> * Mundane Utility: His sword is potentially the strongest weapon in Brain Burst, but due to the one-shot nature of its attack he relies more on his own skills in combat, using its power only to attack the barrier that prevents players from entering or leaving the Imperial Palace.
  7. Film.TheProjectedMan -> * Mundane Utility: Steiner can use his hands like arc welders, burning/melting his way through doors, or just to destroy things.
  8. TeamFortress2.TropesHToP -> * Mundane Utility: Mad Milk and Jarate, in addition for use as a weapon of offense, can be used to put out friendlies who are on fire. Ditto the airblast.
  9. TeamFortress2.TropesHToP -> * Mundane Utility: The Medigun, as the Medic considers healing to be a side effect to whatever the hell he originally designed it for.
  10. Characters.BakuganBattlePlanetPartnerBakugan -> * Mundane Utility: His Tail Crusher attack is just him smashing his opponent with his tail.
  11. Characters.MobileSuitGundamSEEDAstray -> * Swiss-Army Weapon: Uses his own Tactical Arms in VS Astray. Which can switch between BFS, beam bow, sword arm, working pincer, and propulsion system.
  12. Characters.HopeOfTheShieldHero -> * Mundane Utility: His shields have various forms that can be used in such a way, like mining or storing money.
  13. Funny.SMG4TheWaluigiArc -> * Apparently, Wario went on a grand journey that took him to the deepest reaches of space to find... a therapist.
  14. Characters.ThirteenSentinelsAegisRim -> * Mundane Utility: When introduced, everyone quickly points out a model's civilian uses. As it turns out, the civilian uses are the intended ones; they're autonomous construction and terraforming equipment loaded with weaponry.
  15. VideoGame.LollipopChainsaw -> * Mundane Utility: One of the few video games to use a chainsaw to cut wood.
  16. VideoGame.TheTrappedTrilogy -> * Mundane Utility: Found two very old, probably valuable coins in your cell? Use one to unscrew a toilet lid and the other one to stop up a drain. (I assume it's an escape game, so not like there's any other use for them, also Example Is Uncertain)
  17. Characters.ArrowversePastCharacters -> * Abnormal Ammo: In "Outlaw Country," Turnbull uses his dwarf star alloy to make bullets that explode into blue flame on contact and can penetrate Nate's otherwise Immune to Bullets Chrome Champion form (sans explosion). Given that it's one of the rarest materials in existence, his waste of it in this manner also qualifies as Mundane Utility.
  18. Characters.TwoKinds -> * Mundane Utility: Makes particular use of his magic to help himself present as male, from wearing what is essentially a Bag of Holding as a bra to experimenting with an easily sustained illusion so he can go around barechested.
  19. TabletopGame.TheWitcherGameOfImagination -> * Ancestral Weapon: Self-sharpening swords cost quite a lot, but they also never wear out, so they are usually held by the same family for generations.
  20. CassandraTruth.FanWorks -> * In Make a Wish there's an entire magical family descended from the mythical Cassandra, all of whom have inherited the same curse. Instead of going mad as no one pays attention to their predictions, they use what they see to start profitable businesses, with a sideline of helping the good guys (like Harry Potter).
  21. Literature.FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem -> * Mundane Utility: Once it was discovered that the Augurey's cry predicts rain, some wizards started to keep them around as living weather forecasters. However, they can get really annoying during winter, when it rains constantly.
  22. Literature.FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem -> * Mundane Utility: Mooncalf dung is used as plant fertilizer. When it's harvested before sunrise and spread on magical plants, they grow much faster than normal and become extremely strong.
  23. Literature.FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem -> * Mundane Utility: The Clabbert has a large pimple on its head that flashes red when danger approaches. Wizards use it as an alarm to warn of approaching Muggles. However, as the book clarifies, the Ministry of Magic banned their use due to continued cases of Muggles asking why their neighbors were using holiday lights in July.
  24. Main.EnemyDetectingRadar -> ** Available as a spell effect in Morrowind and Oblivion, where it comes in a variety of types including "Detect Humanoid", "Detect Creature", and "Detect Undead". Using it (or applying it as an enchantment effect to an item) will cause the applicable enemy type to show up on the mini-map. Also available are "Detect Magic/Enchantment" and "Detect Key" (presumably the result of a mage losing his tower key once too often).
  25. Recap.YuGiOhVRAINSEp86WisdomOfTheDepraved -> * Mundane Utility: Blue Maiden can use her Power Gives You Wings to slow her descent once Lightning initiates his Divide and Conquer strategy.
  26. Characters.CodeGeassMainCharacters -> * Mundane Utility: Since her body doesn't change no matter how many calories she intakes, she prefers to pig out on pizza and other unhealthy foods.
  27. YMMV.EldenRing -> *** It's also accepted that, in a touching, but hilarious example of Mundane Utility, that one of the reasons Radahn learned Gravity Magic was so that he could still ride his loyal steed, despite the absolutely massive disproportionate difference in size between them.
  28. WesternAnimation.Onward -> * Fauns and Satyrs: In the trailer, there's a female faun painting a house wall, using her goat legs to leap and reach the high spots.
  29. Characters.DoctorWhoTheSilence -> * Mundane Utility: Their terrifying ability that any person who sees them forgets they saw them as soon as the person turns away? Turns out that they're confessional priests and the original purpose of the ability was a way of preserving the privacy of the confession.
  30. Recap.KamenRiderDoubleE33E34YsTragedy -> * Mundane Utility: When Saeko gets the first threatening letter, Dr Isaka burns it... as Weather Dopant.
  31. Characters.SpiderManPS4Heroes -> * Mundane Utility: In his own game, he uses his powers to discreetly access the transformer by crawling along the walls before recharging it with his electric powers.
  32. Characters.MetroCityRP -> * Mundane Utility: He uses his ability to make large amounts of robots and weaponry to sell lower-tech versions to the military for influence and cash.
  33. VisualNovel.AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth -> * Mundane Utility: In most cases, the Logic Chess segments are used to weasel info out of people who are being uncooperative by carefully guiding them to giving up information. In the final case, Edgeworth uses it to try to shake Sebastian Debeste out of his misery. Interestingly, despite being a more mundane use, it's actually the longest and most involved Logic Chess battle in the game.
  34. TabletopGame.PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution -> * Mundane Utility: You can use the Remote Manipulation ability to use keypads, pick locks, and basically do anything else that could be accomplished with hands. Enormously powerful, heat-proof, intangible hands, but still.
  35. Manga.RurouniKenshin -> * Mundane Utility: This trope is also subverted when he goes looking for the heir of a famous swordmaker: he uses one of the man's kitchen knives to slice up a daikon in the most awesome way possible, and then reveals that he was testing the blade.
  36. VideoGame.CultistSimulator -> ** Moth confuses. It's associated with shadows and chaos, and is good for sneaking by Watchers, stealing inconvenient evidence, and navigating dark forests (since it's also linked to The Wood). Nonsense ("buzzing in the brain") and shapeshifting ("shedding of skin") are also closely associated with it, as are haircuts (the closest a human can come to "shedding" rapidly, and there's also a symbolic link to the Hour of the same name). Moth cultists are strange tricksters who act in ways only they can understand.
  37. Main.Golem -> * Berserk: Golems are figures made out of mud. They look cute, but they're very resilient and will regenerate any damage done to them until the little clay figurine within them is destroyed. They're used by the witch, Flora, to safeguard her home as well as to carry out domestic chores.

     Miuse: Abused game oversight (7) 
  1. VideoGame.TotalAnnihilation -> * Mundane Utility: most of your Commander's D-Gun shots won't be directed at the enemy - rather, they'll be force-fired by you at the surrounding terrain to bulldoze it clear of wreckage, plants and general annoyances that prevent you from building there.
  2. TeamFortress2.TropesHToP -> * Mundane Utility: An unintended variant; Taunts are usually meant for mocking your enemies or for making a quick friend if it's a Taunt that can be interacted with, but they can also be used to peek your 3rd person camera around corners to check for threats without having to expose yourself.
  3. Characters.PaladinsSupport -> * Mundane Utility: Mal'Damba's ultimate is fantastic for disrupting team fights and crowd control, but one of the best uses of it would be right when his team is about to capture a point or deliver the payload, as there's nothing that can be done to stall the objective until it's finished, and by that point, it may be too late.
  4. TabletopGame.PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution -> * Mundane Utility: Temper, Temper, Temperature can be used to melt locks and metal doors, pop car tires, boil water, and the like.
  5. TabletopGame.PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution -> * Mundane Utility: Ignite can be used to light cigarettes and build campfires.
  6. VideoGame.InfernoMOO -> * Psychic Powers: And how. As your character gains in experience, you can take mutations that allow you to set people on fire with your mind (and occasionally get mental illnesses), teleport at will, fly around using their mind, project into the astral realm to scout (or rip a hole through it to be used for travel), generate electricity for combat and defibrillation of dead players (or charging your batteries)... the list goes on. Even characters that don't choose to specialize in these tend to pick up one or two useful ones.
  7. YMMV.PewDiePie -> * Author's Saving Throw: In response to the outcry from him cheating in Episode 20 of his Minecraft playthrough (to give himself potatoes), Felix apologized and promised that he wouldn't do so again for anything else, even when he was off-camera. To go even further, he decided to show the construction of Joergen's memorial in full to quell any further worries that he had been using cheats to build his other structures.

     ZCE: Don't know this power's potential (13) 
  1. Fanfic.OversaturatedWorld -> * Mind over Matter: A standard Unicorn Aspect power is telekinesis, usually used for Mundane Utility: Group Precipitation - Vice Squad:
    Glimmer [Goodwitch], toying with her martini’s olive in her telekinesis.
  2. Recap.DuckTales2017S3E12LetsGetDangerous -> * Mundane Utility: Taurus demonstrates the Ramrod by using it to make haggis for Scrooge.
  3. Characters.HighSchoolDXDIsseiHyoudou -> * Mundane Utility: How he acquired Dress Break in the first place was to peel vegetables at a distance.
  4. Characters.EarthTwentySevenTheTitans -> * Mundane Utility: Sometimes other Titans ask her to charge their phones.
  5. Fanfic.FatesCollide -> * Mundane Utility: When Gilgamesh destroys Mercury's prosthetic legs, Archer uses Tracing to make him new ones. He later uses it to repair the damage Chloe does to the von Einzbern mansion.
  6. Recap.LegendsOfTomorrowS4E16HeyWorld -> * Dramatic Wind: Zari uses her powers to invoke this effect for the airing of the Hey World commercial.
  7. Main.BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats -> ** They also sell insurance.
  8. Characters.SurvivalOfTheFittestMiniSupers -> * Mundane Utility: Her Gift is very convenient for her metalworking hobby.
  9. Characters.InfinityWars2018 -> * Mundane Utility: He can use his powers to make himself a sauna.
  10. VideoGame.QuantumConundrum -> * Mundane Utility:The nuclear Clothes Drier.
  11. Series.KamenRiderDouble -> * Ten Minutes in the Closet: Dango and Chizuru get locked in the RevolGarry together in episode 8. This seemed to be the non-romantic type; making up results in them spending the next few minutes of the episode street dancing rather than any hugging or kissing.
  12. Fanfic.TheSkystoneSword -> * Mundane Utility: Ilona's use of magic to open a letter in “A Wave of Clarity.”
  13. Funny.BaldursGateIII -> * In the Blighted Village, one sidequest has you stumble across a magic mirror. The protagonist can use it to fix their appearance, with the narrator lamenting, in a completely serious tone, that adventuring is killer on one's wardrobe. Alternately, if you try looking into it while controlling Astarion, being a vampire spawn, he won't see his reflection. Instead, you get this gem of a line:
    Lacking any evidence to the contrary, you assume you look amazing.

     ZCE: Doesn't explain the use (6) 
  1. Literature.TheBandsOfMourning -> MeLaan: Eyes, sensory apparatus, and an emergency canteen.
  2. WesternAnimation.StormHawks -> * Mundane Utility: There are many crystals which are used for simple, everyday tasks.
  3. Characters.TheGeniusOfSappheiros -> * Mundane Utility: In the expansion prologue, Biotopos requests for snacks in the bar, and then telling the workers to not bother preparing them as Matsuba can cut them up right away. Matsuba isn't quite happy about it.
  4. Characters.DurararaMainCharacters -> * Mundane Utility: Turns out that control over darkness and shadow is surprisingly versatile — though Shinra put his foot down at letting her use it for cooking.
  5. Anime.DigimonFusion ->
  6. Characters.IDontWantThisKindOfHero -> * Mundane Utility: He's a master of this.

     Non-examples (2) 
  1. PlayingWith.PlayingWithFire -> ** Blaze uses his ability to control fire for trivial purposes.
  2. PlayingWith.GodivaHair -> ** Alice's hair always conceals her front, even when she's moving around a lot or hanging upside-down. As it turns out, her hair is firmly stuck to her breasts, which Alice finds to make a pretty good (if painful) harness for her hobby of zip lining.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 17th 2023 at 6:49:59 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#2: Feb 18th 2023 at 2:38:25 AM

Paging ~Amonimus to the thread. Anyway, I'm in favor of renaming, but I think it might be worth expanding the scope a bit more to include the examples under the "in spirit" folders in the wick check in addition to the examples that are already correct. (I don't know if that would make this a supertrope to the tropes listed in the opening post, but it would at least be a sister trope.) This isn't a case where we can close after expanding, though, since we wouldn't be including all misuse, so renaming wouldn't hurt if we expand this to include magic or high-tech items in addition to superpowers.

I'd prefer replacing "Normal" with "Mundane" in the suggested name, making it Awesome Ability Mundane Utility (which would mean expanding the current name to better indicate what it is that's being used in a mundane way), but maybe replacing "Utility" with "Usage" would work as well.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 18th 2023 at 4:42:24 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
MorganWick (Elder Troper)
#3: Feb 18th 2023 at 3:38:46 AM

I think we should see how much of the "in spirit" misuse falls under the other tropes before determining whether and how much of an expansion is warranted.

On the other hand, the original YKTTW suggests the trope was never intended to be limited to superpowers, and the original description looks a lot like the one we have now but talks about anime characters where the current description talks about superheroes. So it's possible "expansion" would just mean tweaking the description, though the other misuse is significant enough that it's not like this thread wasn't warranted.

Edited by MorganWick on Feb 18th 2023 at 3:44:18 AM

BlackMage43 Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
#4: Feb 18th 2023 at 5:31:15 AM

Using levitation magic to clean the room isn't "mundane", it'd be efficient and natural in such setting.

I don't think efficiency is a factor in this trope, the idea is that the task of cleaning itself is considered mundane. I feel examples similar to that would still fall on Mundane Utility (or whatever we rename it).

As for similar tropes that OP didn't mention that could be related:

Not the Intended Use can cover the videogame mechanic examples.

Utility Magic can cover examples of powers that are explicitly made to help with 'mundane' tasks.

Cut Lex Luthor a Check for when a villain uses their cool ability/technology to commit mundane crimes rather than profiting from them via legal means.

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#5: Feb 18th 2023 at 6:23:57 AM

[up][up]Oh, great, another case of an old trope with a new TRS thread revealing a case of Trope Decay. I retract what I said about possibly expanding to cover the "in-spirit" examples, at least pending further discussion, but I guess we could at least define this as applying to the use of special powers in general (including, but not limited to, supwerpowers) to do mundane tasks, regardless of how we handle the "in-spirit" examples.

[up]I agree that whether the use of special abilities for mundane tasks is efficient or even effective is irrelevant, and what matters is that the character is using their powers that way (or at least trying) at all.

Edit: Whoops, accidentally said "relevant" in the second paragraph when I meant to say "irrelevant". I'm still worn out from being sick (but at least I've improved since last week), plus I didn't get much sleep, so I goofed and accidentally said the opposite of what I meant. Fixed that.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 18th 2023 at 8:28:31 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season
#6: Feb 18th 2023 at 6:59:30 AM

I thought Priceless Paperweight involved characters being unaware of the artifact's value/power?

I'd like to apologize for all this.
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#7: Feb 18th 2023 at 2:36:40 PM

[up][up][up]Yeah , it's not about efficiency but about using a supernatural, fantastic, or highly advanced ability/power/equipment to do something that is common and feasible to do in this day and age without those things. It included more than just superpowers because advanced enough techonology that doesn't exist in our current reality is effectively the same as magic. Cleaning can be done without magic, just grab a bucket and a mop. Using magic or a proton accelerator for cleaning is a mundane application of that.

I'm looking through the "Misuse:Not a mundane use" folder and I feel like examples, 2, 3, 4, 12, possibly 18, possibly 21-23, 27, 29, and 37 are actually correct interpretations of the trope.

Edited by amathieu13 on Feb 18th 2023 at 5:45:11 AM

selkies Professional Wick Checker Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Star-crossed
Professional Wick Checker
#8: Feb 18th 2023 at 3:59:41 PM

Maybe Amonimus viewed these examples as not daily tasks? I also think they're correct or possibly correct and the misuse isn't excessive.

Maybe expand and rename for now?

Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#9: Feb 18th 2023 at 4:10:38 PM

This was good enough for me at the time, but it could use another look.

  • During his time in the army Guiche was tasked with using magic to keep matchlocks dry in humid condition, and flying airships are armed with heavy cannons.
  • Minako can leap across rooftops, jump to the second story of a building from a standing position, and more. So she uses such skills to never get caught during a game of tag.
  • Golems are figures made out of mud. They look cute, but they're very resilient and will regenerate any damage done to them until the little clay figurine within them is destroyed. They're used by the witch, Flora, to safeguard her home as well as to carry out domestic chores.
Sure, it's probably correct.

-

When the professor invented a freaking time-machine, he began using it to get futuristic clothing and to legally hunt tigers.
You can't get futuristic clothing by other means, so it doesn't sound mundane to me.

-

  • His shields have various forms that can be used in such a way, like mining or storing money.
  • Once it was discovered that the Augurey's cry predicts rain, some wizards started to keep them around as living weather forecasters. However, they can get really annoying during winter, when it rains constantly.
  • Mooncalf dung is used as plant fertilizer. When it's harvested before sunrise and spread on magical plants, they grow much faster than normal and become extremely strong.
  • The Clabbert has a large pimple on its head that flashes red when danger approaches. Wizards use it as an alarm to warn of approaching Muggles. However, as the book clarifies, the Ministry of Magic banned their use due to continued cases of Muggles asking why their neighbors were using holiday lights in July.
Magical tool, magical use.

-

  • It's also accepted that, in a touching, but hilarious example of Mundane Utility, that one of the reasons Radahn learned Gravity Magic was so that he could still ride his loyal steed, despite the absolutely massive disproportionate difference in size between them.
Sounds like it's impossible to do without magic.

-

  • Their terrifying ability that any person who sees them forgets they saw them as soon as the person turns away? Turns out that they're confessional priests and the original purpose of the ability was a way of preserving the privacy of the confession.
I can't see an intentional memory wipe as mundane.

Edited by Amonimus on Feb 18th 2023 at 3:15:41 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#10: Feb 18th 2023 at 4:43:41 PM

...Crap, I guess when I said "yes" to the wick check I wasn't reading it hard enough. I will take full responsibility for this if this goes nowhere.

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Feb 18th 2023 at 7:44:47 AM

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#11: Feb 18th 2023 at 5:44:52 PM

[up][up] I'm not saying my read is correct, but I'll share my thinking because I think it'll be useful in the eventual editing of the description (either for expansion or to be more descriptive of what the actual trope is).

  1. When the professor invented a freaking time-machine, he began using it to get futuristic clothing and to legally hunt tigers.
    1. Idk the context, but I didn't read it as the clothes themselves are special, they just come from the future. In otherwords, the professor just went clothes shopping.
  2. His shields have various forms that can be used in such a way, like mining or storing money.
    1. Mining and storing money aren't magical in of themselves. You can use a drill or pickax for the former and a safe for the latter.
  3. the Fantastic Beasts Trio: Similar logic as the one above. Weather forecasting, plant growing, and an alarm are things we can do today without magic / super high tech. That could be an overly reductive understanding of the trope/these examples though, which is where the "possibly" came in.

Putting the nitty-gritty aside for a moment though, even with these moves to the wick check there's still enough misuse to warrant doing something with this, but again I think it just needs a rewrite and wick cleaning.

We can also add Swords to Plowshares to the list of tropes that are either Sub Tropes, Sister Tropes, or simply related to this one.

Edited by amathieu13 on Feb 18th 2023 at 8:47:15 AM

themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#12: Feb 18th 2023 at 5:56:48 PM

[up] Wait, "rewrite", as in the description needs to be rewritten, or did you mean to say "rename"?

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GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#13: Feb 18th 2023 at 8:08:52 PM

[up][up][up]I don't think this'll be a thread that goes nowhere. Renaming and rewriting the description to clarify the part about using special powers this way will at least be on the table once it's time to vote. It's whether to have the definition include things other than special powers (such as items that are magic or high-tech) that requires more discussion; I suppose if we don't figure that one out, we could stick to whether to rewrite to focus on special powers and whether the name needs to be changed.

Worst case scenario, this will be like the Black Sheep thread and discussion regarding the definition will go past the three-day mark, but will still get hashed out and voted on in the end.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 19th 2023 at 2:07:27 PM

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amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
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#15: Feb 19th 2023 at 12:38:17 AM

[tup]to renaming (I don't feel the name is very clear) and rewriting/tweaking the description (I agree that it could be clearer that this exclusively involves special powers).

themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
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#16: Feb 19th 2023 at 5:09:59 AM

[up][up] and [up][up][up] Got it.

FWIW I support the proposed rewrite of the description. Not yet supporting a rename—I think some more discussion is needed first.

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Feb 19th 2023 at 8:11:07 AM

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GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#17: Feb 19th 2023 at 5:27:13 AM

I do agree that a rewrite is more important than a rename in this case, per what was previously said about the trope experiencing Trope Decay over the years and that hindering the description's clarity.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 19th 2023 at 7:27:34 AM

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Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
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GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#19: Feb 21st 2023 at 4:00:29 PM

I went ahead and made a crowner, and I decided to go ahead and see whether to include objects in addition to powers due to the original draft not being limited to powers (it gives using a Humongous Mecha to make a pizza as an example), or whether to just limit it to special powers (including, but not limited to, superpowers), and also whether to rename.

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#20: Feb 22nd 2023 at 1:20:22 AM

I'm glad the "expand to non-superpowers" option is winning - I don't think the source of whatever magic exists in the setting is as important to the trope as using it casually for boring or frivolous things.

  • It's also accepted that, in a touching, but hilarious example of Mundane Utility, that one of the reasons Radahn learned Gravity Magic was so that he could still ride his loyal steed, despite the absolutely massive disproportionate difference in size between them.

Sounds like it's impossible to do without magic.

Radahn learned to ride a horse well before he learned magic. Gravity magic just let him keep riding Leonard after Radahn (also magically) got enormous and Leonard (not magically) got old. It's exactly as endearingly petty as using time travel to find where you misplaced your favourite childhood toy.

(I'd compare it to valid-marked examples like using the Avatar State to cheat at a scooter race - I'm not sure there's a mundane equivalent of that, either.)

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#21: Feb 22nd 2023 at 4:58:18 AM

[up]On that note

"Their terrifying ability that any person who sees them forgets they saw them as soon as the person turns away? Turns out that they're confessional priests and the original purpose of the ability was a way of preserving the privacy of the confession."
I can't see an intentional memory wipe as mundane.

For this one, it's not the memory wipe that's mundane it's the intended purpose of the memory wipe, i.e. there are plenty of ways priests maintain the privacy of confessions without using magic, namely confessional booths. Though I do think this is definitely a grey area and we should nail down the scope of the trope in the eventual rewrite

Edited by amathieu13 on Feb 22nd 2023 at 7:59:15 AM

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#22: Feb 22nd 2023 at 6:12:34 AM

[up][up]Plus, the rename option lacking consensus means less wick cleanup will be needed. Granted, we'll still need to clean some of them since some of the misuse the wick check picked up will still be misuse if the consensus remains in favor of reversing the Trope Decay, which would be similar to how we still had to do some wick cleanup when Actually Pretty Funny and I Ate WHAT?! were expanded.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 22nd 2023 at 8:13:10 AM

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themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
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#24: Feb 24th 2023 at 8:03:19 AM

Remember to Holler because Gaston is taking a break.

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#25: Feb 24th 2023 at 8:05:26 AM

Yes, as I said before, if you want a crowner to be made or hooked in general, it's best to holler because we can't be expected to keep track of threads that need crowners.

Anyways, calling crowner in favor of:

  • Define as involving the use of any special power being used for mundane tasks (such as, but not limited to, housework, and regardless of whether the special power is actually efficient or even useful for the tasks) instead of just superpowers, and expand to include the use of magical and/or high-tech objects for mundane tasks in addition to to special powers, as intended by the original TLP draft (with the draft giving the example of using a Humongous Mecha to make a pizza)

Macron's notes

Trope Repair Shop: Mundane Utility
21st Feb '23 3:51:32 PM

Crown Description:

Mundane Utility has experienced Trope Decay. The current description says it's for the use of superpowers for mundane tasks, while the original YKTTW draft suggests that it wasn't supposed to be limited that way, and could involve high-tech or magic objects instead of special powers. What should be done with Mundane Utility's definition, and should it be renamed?

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