History LightningBruiser / RealLife

** [[PantheraAwesome The five big cats.]] All of them are strong, tough and nimble apex predators, with notable distinctions between each of them. The Tigers[[note]]Panthera tigris[[/note]] are the largest and strongest cats alive today. Lions[[note]]Panthera leo[[/note]] are one of the few cats to life and to hunt in groups. The Jaguar[[note]]Panthera onca[[/note]] has the highest bite force of all cats while also being the overall second-fastest cat behind the [[FastestThingAlive Cheeta]]. Leopards[[note]]Panthera pardus[[/note]] are the second smallest of the big cats, but even they have still enough prowess to hunt young rhinoceros and are able to climb trees with such heavy carcasses. And the Snow Leopard[[note]]Panthera uncia, they are closer related to the Tigers despite their name and appearance[[/note]] is highly adapted to a life in the high altitudes of central-south asia.

** The crowning example of the concept was the latest fast battleship class to be ordered and built, the USN's ''Iowa'' class, whose defining characteristic is their ''33-knot'' top speed, the fastest of any battleship ever built. Their speed and exceptional anti-surface and anti-air armament allowed them to remain useful when slower battleships went into decline, as they were fast enough to keep up with a carrier fleet, and their 16-inch guns were ideal for shore bombardment- which led to their long lifespans, as it was very handy in any war to keep an Iowa or two around for when you had an enemy shore installation you didn't want to exist any more, but didn't want to waste missiles.[[note]]You can see all four ''Iowa''-class ships that were built, as they were all preserved as museums. ''Iowa'' is in Los Angeles, ''New Jersey'' is in Camden, New Jersey ([[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming right across the river from the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was built, and no doubt right next to where some of those who built her once lived]]), ''Missouri'' is at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (in large part for the [[BookEnds irony value]]: American involvement in the Pacific War began with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and ended with the signing of the Japanese surrender on the deck of the ''Missouri''), and ''Wisconsin'' is at Norfolk, Virginia.[[/note]]

** [[PantheraAwesome The five big cats.]] All of them are strong, tough and nimble apex predators, with notable distinctions between each of them. The Tigers[[note]]Panthera tigris[[/note]] is the largest and strongest cats alive today. Lions[[note]]Panthera leo[[/note]] are one of the few cats to life and to hunt in groups. The Jaguar[[note]]Panthera onca[[/note]] has the highest bite force of all cats while also being the overall second-fastest cat behind the [[FastestThingAlive Cheeta]]. Leopards[[note]]Panthera pardus[[/note]] are the second smallest of the big cats, but even they have still enough prowess to hunt young rhinoceros and are able to climb trees with such heavy carcasses. And the Snow Leopard[[note]]Panthera uncia, they are closer related to the Tigers despite their name and appearance[[/note]] is highly adapted to a life in the high altitudes of central-south asia.

** [[PantheraAwesome The five big cats.]] All of them are strong, tough and nimble apex predators, with notable distinctions between each of them. The Tiger is the largest and strongest cat alive today. Lions are one of the few cats to life and to hunt in groups. The Jaguar has the highest bite force of all cats while also being the overall second-fastest cat behind the [[FastestThingAlive Cheeta]]. Leopards are the second smallest of the big cats, but even they have still prowess to hunt young rhinoceros. And the Snow Leopard is highly adapted to a life in the high altitudes of central-south asia.

** [[PantheraAwesome The five big cats.]] All of them are strong, tough and nimble apex pradators, with notable distinctions between each of them. The Tiger is the largest and strongest cat alive today. Lions are one of the few cats to life and to hunt in groups. The Jaguar has the highest bite force of all cats while also being the overall second-fastest cat behind the [[FastestThingAlive Cheeta]]. Leopards are the second smallest of the big cats, but even they have still prowess to hunt young rhinoceros. And the Snow Leopard is highly adapted to a life in the high altitudes of central-south asia.

* [[PantheraAwesome Jaguars.]] Smaller than lions and tigers, they are stronger pound-for-pound, while being the third largest cats on Earth. As such, they have the strongest relative bite force, enough to crunch on skulls and turtle shells. Also, they can run at speeds up to 50 mph, which makes them the fastest of all the big cats[[note]]tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards and snow leopards[[/note]] and almost as fast the second fastest animal alive, the pronghorn. They can also jump up to 10 feet high and 20 feet far.

* [[PantheraAwesome Jaguars.]] While smaller than lions and tigers, they are stronger pound-for-pound, while being the third largest cats on Earth. As such, they have the strongest relative bite force, enough to crunch on skulls and turtle shells. Also, they can run at speeds of 50 to 65 mph and jump 10 feet high and 20 feet far.

** Chimpanzees are also an example. While not as strong as gorillas, being smaller makes them much more able to move through tight spaces and they're also incredibly muscular and able to take a beating. Unlike Gorillas, who [[GentleGorilla are rarely violent and won't attack unless provoked,]] Chimpanzees are much more [[ManiacMonkeys volatile]] and can often kill chimpanzees and other people [[DisproportionateRetribution for incredibly minor slights.]]

** Chimpanzees are also an example. While not as strong as gorillas, being smaller makes them much more able to move through tight spaces and they're also incredibly muscular and able to take a beating. Unlike Gorillas, who [[GentleGorilla are rarely violent and won't attack unless provoked,]] Chimpanzees are much more [[ManiacMonkeys volatile]] and can often kill chimpanzees and other people for incredibly minor slights.

** Chimpanzees are also an example. While not as strong as gorillas, being smaller makes them much more able to move through tight spaces and they're also incredibly muscular and able to take a beating. Unlike Gorillas, who [[GentleGorilla are rarely violent and won't attack unless provoked,]] Chimpanzees are much more violatile and can often kill chimpanzees and other people for incredibly minor slights.

* Azdarchid pterosaurs. Around ten meters of wingspan and circa five meters tall if standing normally. Some species had ''heads three meters long'', twice as long as that of a ''T. rex.'' And they could take off from a standstill and then fly at about 80 kilometers per hour sustainably or 173 kilometers per hour in a short 1 to 2-minute burst.

* The A-10 Thunderbolt II (better known as the "Warthog") doesn't seem like an example at first. Compared to most other fixed-wing military jets, particularly an attack craft of its size, it's incredibly slow and heavily armoured, making it a MightyGlacier by comparison. However, it's really not meant to fight other airplanes anyway. It's a very dedicated ground attack craft, and in that regard, few other aircraft can match both its speed and firepower, and none come close in durability thanks to its titanium armour. It has the [[GatlingGood Avenger rotary cannon]] and a mildly psychotic number of under-wing armaments, making it more like a beefed-up and extremely fast attack chopper. Where ground units can normally react appropriately to attack choppers, the Warthog gives them next to no time to hide or ready AA before it actually starts shredding shit up, because it's a jet-engine-powered ground attack plane. This is why Warthogs are very much TheDreaded to the various factions that have had to fight them. You can't run from them, you can't fight them, and you can't hide from them because they can blow through pretty much everything. Even if you hit it and take chunks out, it doesn't care if you blow half a wing off and take out an engine, it'll still make it home.

* [[PantheraAwesome Jaguars.]] While smaller than lions and tigers, they are in fact stronger pound-for-pound, while being the third largest cats on Earth. As such, they have the strongest relative bite force, enough to crunch on skulls and turtle shells. Also, they can run at speeds of 50 to 65 mph and jump 10 feet high and 20 feet far.

* Cranked UpToEleven with the Bugatti Veyron; not only does it weigh almost two tons (1900 kg), it has over ''one thousand'' horsepower, it does 0-60 in 2.4 seconds, and has a top speed of 250 mph (400 km/h). If it ever crashed into another car at full speed, it would blow right through... then promptly flip over when the spoiler gets torn off.

* The [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks American]] M1 Abrams tank can--with the governor removed--travel at up to 60 miles per hour on paved roads and can accelerate from 0 to 20 mph in 7 seconds. Very few tanks can claim to be better protected than the Abrams. Whether or not it's the best tank in the world is a matter of debate, but its gas turbine engine makes it among the fastest, albeit at the cost of high fuel consumption that's [[UpToEleven massive even by MBT standards]]. The only Western tanks that could possibly exceed the raw performance of an unmodified Abrams are the [[UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades French]] [[FragileSpeedster Leclerc]] (which bests the Abrams' figure for acceleration by one whole second while having better off-road performance) and the [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht German]] [[GlassCannon Leopard 2]], which isn't nearly as well-protected as the other two tanks.[[note]]Or at least it originally wasn't. The hull remains less protected than other Western [=MBTs=]s, but starting with the Leopard [=2A5=] model it has a turret that's ''completely immune'' to APFSDS ammunition, no matter how high velocity and no matter how hard and dense the penetrator rod is. The unique design of its wedge-shaped spaced armor on the turret means that an exceptionally long penetrator rod would be needed for it to even be physically possible to penetrate into the crew compartment. No tank gun yet exists that's capable of firing a rod that long, though the [[{{BFG}} 152mm]] being considered as an upgrade option for the Russian T-14 Armata might be able to. Thus a Leopard 2A5 or later in a hull-down position and its turret pointed toward the enemy is effectively invincible against any current tank. (But not so much against top-attack missiles.)[[/note]] However, the Abrams trades its combination of armour, weapons and speed for a relatively high fuel consumption of 0.6 miles per gallon (five gallons of gas for every three miles) and high maintenance requirements.[[note]]In fairness, the Abrams' low efficiency is itself dictated by cost concerns: the US military (except the Navy, which doesn't really do armoured vehicles) decided some time ago that managing multiple different kinds of fuel for different engines was for chumps, and declared that to the extent possible, everything would run on a single fuel--[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP-8 JP-8]], a kerosene-derived jet fuel (very similar to what's used in most commercial jet airliners). This has had significant effects on the engines of terrestrial vehicles, mostly for the worse fuel economy-wise, not to mention causing non-armoured vehicles to have [[MadeOfExplodium some minor survivability problems]].[[/note]] As for the aforementioned Leclerc tank, it is the most expensive tank design in history, with current production cost of 27 million USD per unit, roughly ''three times as much'' as the [=M1A2=] Abrams. You can't get away from CompetitiveBalance in [[RealLife the real world]], it seems.

*** An Israeli F-15 once lost a wing in a mid-air collision and safely made it back to base. The two engines (along with the lifting body design of the fuselage) are strong enough to fly it like a rocket, without the need of full lift from the wings.

** The cape buffalo in Africa. Yes, it looks like a big dumb cow. Yes, it's big and heavy. Yes, it's a herbivore. And yes, it will run you down and gore you with its horns. That is not an exaggeration: these creatures are known as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Black Death]] by big game hunters, and they kill, on average, 200 people per year, more than many of the predators out there (yes, that's right, they kill more people per year than a freakin' lion does). Only the crocodile is similarly dangerous to humans among African big game. If hunted, or injured, it will ambush its pursuers and kill them in retaliation. Unlike the Asian buffalo, they have never been domesticated. It can run as fast as 35 miles per hour... so unless you're in a car, if it decides to chase you, it will catch you.

* The Porsche Cayenne. When it was announced, Porsche enthusiasts reacted with horror at the idea of a storied sports car manufacturer like Porsche building something as mundane as an SUV. Once it hit the market, it quickly proved itself to be much more than a typical soccer mom-mobile. The top-of-the-line model at introduction, the Turbo, had a zero-to-60 time of 5.3 seconds, which is pretty wild for a vehicle with a gross weight of almost 7,000 pounds. The Cayenne has gotten even more powerful over the years, with a 2021 Cayenne S E-Hybrid capable of going from zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds.

** The crowning example of the concept was the latest fast battleship class to be ordered and built, the USN's ''Iowa'' class, whose defining characteristic is their ''33-knot'' top speed, the fastest of any battleship evere built. Their speed and exceptional anti-surface and anti-air armament allowed them to remain useful when slower battleships went into decline, as they were fast enough to keep up with a carrier fleet, and their 16-inch guns were ideal for shore bombardment- which led to their long lifespans, as it was very handy in any war to keep an Iowa or two around for when you had an enemy shore installation you didn't want to exist any more, but didn't want to waste missiles.[[note]]You can see all four ''Iowa''-class ships that were built, as they were all preserved as museums. ''Iowa'' is in Los Angeles, ''New Jersey'' is in Camden, New Jersey ([[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming right across the river from the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was built, and no doubt right next to where some of those who built her once lived]]), ''Missouri'' is at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (in large part for the [[BookEnds irony value]]: American involvement in the Pacific War began with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and ended with the signing of the Japanese surrender on the deck of the ''Missouri''), and ''Wisconsin'' is at Norfolk, Virginia.[[/note]]

* In the battles of the two World Wars, the concept of the "fast battleship" emerged. Essentially a battleship-tier warship that had speed comparable to a cruiser, without undue compromise to protection and armament, they merged the strengths of the battleship and the battlecruiser while discarding the weaknesses of both types. One of the most triumphant (and the last) examples of this concept was the US Navy's ''Iowa''-class battleships. After carrier power was proven in World War 2, the days of big gun battleships started to come to a close, and the ''Iowa''-class was one of the last.[[note]]You can see all four ''Iowa''-class ships that were built, as they were all preserved as museums. ''Iowa'' is in Los Angeles, ''New Jersey'' is in Camden, New Jersey ([[HeartwarmingMoments right across the river from the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was built, and no doubt right next to where some of those who built her once lived]]), ''Missouri'' is at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (in large part for the irony value: American involvement in the Pacific War began with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and ended with the signing of the Japanese surrender on the deck of the ''Missouri''), and ''Wisconsin'' is at Norfolk, Virginia.[[/note]]