History Main / BecauseImGoodAtIt

* Nancy Botwin from ''{{Weeds}}'' is much the same in her career as a marijuana dealer.
** Or at least she thinks she is.

* ''BreakingBad'' has this as one of the motivations for Walt's actions why he keeps cooking meth.

* Mr. Nice from ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' is basically [[TheSimpsons Ned Flanders]], except he wound up becoming a master criminal because he is ''incredibly'' good at it.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Honor does what she does because she's "better at it than most other people" (almost direct quote from the book). Given as what she does is lead fleets into battle, and almost always wins, it might count. It's clear that she doesn't like it, just that she's very capable. She might not like the idea of killing hundreds of people on both sides in her actions, but even she admits at times that she enjoys the thrill of battle, especially if her target is [[CompleteMonster someone]] [[ItsPersonal who]] [[MoralEventHorizon deserves it]]. Her own husband calls thinks of her as the Handmaiden of Death.

* Fisk, in the ''KnightAndRogueSeries'' is a good-hearted fellow who got into the con business to try and support his sisters, and since he's such a natural at coming up with unbelievable bull on the spot, kept with it. Until he got saddled with Michael, that is, and even then he still gets away with plenty of well woven lies and card tricks.

** The plight of those who are natural soldiers versus the concept of peace is one of the oldest and most important themes in the series. Solid Snake is loath to admit it even under the most excruciating duress, but he loves battle, and while his enemies often seek the proliferation of worldwide conflict for the benefit of natural-born soldiers like himself, he has a selfless moral instinct which forces him to stop them at any cost. In a meta sense we as players participate in this contradiction by playing the games because we enjoy and even pay for simulated violence, yet portray characters who strive to prevent conflicts. The secondary plot line of the series follows the journey of his father, Big Boss, which sees him face the same quandary yet reach a completely different conclusion, choosing to fight because it's all he really has in his life and can't see any other alternative, nor does he think he needs a reason even as petty as following orders or wanting to stop the bad guys.

[[PlayerCharacter Niko Bellic]] of VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV fame tells his cousin Roman that, although he'd like to settle down and live a normal lifestyle, his only skills are criminal.

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[[folder: Film ]]

--> Neil [=McCauley=]: I do what I do best, I take scores. You do what you do best, try to stop guys like me.

[[folder: Literature ]]

** Or at least she thinks she is.

[[PlayerCharacter Niko Bellic]] of GrandTheftAutoIV fame tells his cousin Roman that, although he'd like to settle down and live a normal lifestyle, his only skills are criminal.

[[PlayerCharacter Niko]] [[IronWoobie Bellic]] of GrandTheftAutoIV fame tells his cousin [[ButtMonkey Roman]] that he's not trained to do anything else, and is fairly good at being a career criminal.

* Mr. Nice from ''TheBatmanAdventures'' is basically [[TheSimpsons Ned Flanders]], except he wound up becoming a master criminal because he is ''incredibly'' good at it.

* Famous dialogue between a cop and a big-time robber in ''Heat'':

::The plight of those who are natural soldiers versus the concept of peace is one of the oldest and most important themes in the series. Solid Snake is loath to admit it even under the most excruciating duress, but he loves battle, and while his enemies often seek the proliferation of worldwide conflict for the benefit of natural-born soldiers like himself, he has a selfless moral instinct which forces him to stop them at any cost. In a meta sense we as players participate in this contradiction by playing the games because we enjoy and even pay for simulated violence, yet portray characters who strive to prevent conflicts. The secondary plot line of the series follows the journey of his father, Big Boss, which sees him face the same quandary yet reach a completely different conclusion.

The plight of those who are natural soldiers versus the concept of peace is one of the oldest and most important themes in the series. Solid Snake is loath to admit it even under the most excruciating duress, but he loves battle, and while his enemies often seek the proliferation of worldwide conflict for the benefit of natural-born soldiers like himself, he has a selfless moral instinct which forces him to stop them at any cost. In a meta sense we as players participate in this contradiction by playing the games because we enjoy and even pay for simulated violence, yet portray characters who strive to prevent conflicts. The secondary plot line of the series follows the journey of his father, Big Boss, which sees him face the same quandary yet reach a completely different conclusion.

* ''MetalGearSolid'': At the climax, [[spoiler: Grey Fox]] laments that fighting was and is his only talent in life, but has some reconciliation in that he never sold out his beliefs and fought for a cause he felt was unworthy. This is a deliberate, non-callous comparison to Solid Snake at this point in the series, who is an even more gifted warrior yet has always blindly followed orders without philosophy.\\
\\
The plight of those who are natural soldiers versus the concept of peace is one of the oldest and most important themes in the series. Solid Snake is loath to admit it even under the most excruciating duress, but he loves battle, and while his enemies often seek the proliferation of worldwide conflict for the benefit of natural-born soldiers like himself, he has a selfless moral instinct which forces him to stop them at any cost. The secondary plot line of the series follows the journey of his father, Big Boss, which sees him face the same quandary yet reach a completely different conclusion.

* ''ThankYouForSmoking'': Nick Naylor is a lobbyist for tobacco companies and invokes the trope by name in the movie (and the book?). He even associates with similar lobbyists (NRA and the alcohol lobbies) and discusses strategies and a viewer can tell that these people take pride in their work (at one point they're deeply insulted when Nick declares that only he would be hunted down by vigilantes for what he does).

* In ''[[TheGodfather The Godfather Returns]]'', the {{interquel}} to ''TheGodfather'', Vito Corleone is suggested as following this trope. During a flashback history lesson, the book discusses Vito's early days as Don. While his children were still growing up, Vito used his Genco Olive Oil delivery trucks to deliver alcohol during Prohibition, amongst other things. As Prohibition came to an end, Sonny and Fredo had joined "the family business".\\

--> Neil McCauley: I do what I do best, I take scores. You do what you do best, try to stop guys like me.

--> Neil McCauley: Neither do I.

--> Neil McCauley: Neither do I.

* ''DoctorWho'', "City of Death." [[NotSoDifferent The Fourth Doctor and Professor Kerensky debate the ethics of messing with time]], and the Doctor replies, "Well, I'm a professional; I know what I'm doing." Then again, the Time Lords ''are'' professional time-travelers who make sure that the timeline doesn't get too screwed-up.

Neil McCauley: I do what I do best, I take scores. You do what you do best, try to stop guys like me.
...
Vincent Hanna: I don't know how to do anything else.
Neil McCauley: Neither do I.
Vincent Hanna: I don't much want to either.
Neil McCauley: Neither do I.

* Raymond E Feist's ''[[TheRiftwarCycle Riftwar Cycle]]'' describes [[LoveableRogue Jimmy the Hand]] thus:

- Or at least she thinks she is.

* Fisk, in the ''KnightAndRogueSeries'' is a good hearted felow who got into the con buisness to try and support his sisters, and since he's such a natural at coming up with unbelievable bull on the spot, kept with it. Until he got saddled with Michael, that is, and even then he still gets away with plenty of well woven lies and card tricks.

* [[LatinLover Zevran]] from ''DragonAge'' notes that even if he wanted to be anything other than an assassin, [[HeroicSociopath which]] [[AntiHero he]] [[AffablyEvil doesn't]], he has been doing this work all his life and doesn't know how to do anything else. Well, nothing else that wouldn't get him arrested for performing in public.

* In [[{{Ptitlewo6dni8e}} Dorothy L. Sayers]]' ''[[LordPeterWimsey Gaudy Night]]'', Harriet Vane discusses how she continued to write murder mysteries after being tried and acquitted for murder; she says that anyone with feeling would rather scrub floors, but it happens that she would scrub floors very badly and writes mysteries very well.

* Fisk, in the ''KnightAndRogueSeries'' is a good hearted felow who got into the con buisness to try and support his sisters, and since he's such a natural at coming up with unbelievable bull on the spot, kept with it. Until he got saddled with Michael, that is, and even then he still gets out plent of well woven lies and card tricks.

* [[LatinLover Zevran]] from ''DragonAge'' notes that even if he wanted to be anything other than an assassin, [[HeroicSociopath which]] [[AntiHero he]] [[AffablyEvil doesn't]], he has been doing this work all his life and doesn't know how to do anything else. Well, [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean nothing else that wouldn't get him arrested for performing in public.]]

* ''MetalGearSolid'': At the climax, [[spoiler: Grey Fox]] laments that fighting was and is his only talent in life, but has some reconciliation in that he never sold out his beliefs and fought for a cause he felt was worthy. This is a deliberate, non-callous comparison to Solid Snake at this point in the series, who is an even more gifted warrior yet has always blindly followed orders without philosophy.\\

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