History Main / ChekhovsHobby

* The RPG Film/MenInBlack actually has this as a game mechanic. Every character has a typically useless skill. It is generally the job of the GM to work it into the story in a plot-relevant way, but by the end, it can be difficult to even remember what your useless skill was to begin with.

* In ''Literature/TheSaintsMagicIsOverpowered'', protagonist Sei is transferred to another world and finds herself lost and without anything to do until she stumbles onto an herb garden being used for magical potion research. It's never shown beforehand but she mentions that she has extensive knowledge and experience using herbs on earth, for things like cooking, making cosmetics, and herbal medicine. Combined with her magic, she creates borderline miraculous products, like an eye-bag cream that accidentally corrects her vision, too.

* An ongoing RunningGag in ''WesternAnimation/BeCoolScoobyDoo'' has Daphne exhibiting a different quirk each episode. These quirks often relate to resolving a plot point later in the episode; a number of these "quirks" relate to Daphne's hobbies.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'':
** Several of thugs' talents are used in the rescue. Most notably the mime provides a great distraction for the guards.
** Rapunzel is seen passing the time by climbing up her own hair in the tower. As such, she's able to use it to swing herself and Flynn to safety when Maximus chases them.
** Rapunzel is also established to be an avid painter. She eventually discovers [[spoiler: she had subconsciously painted the Corona symbol onto her walls from a young age, confirming that she is the lost princess]].
* A variation on this is seen in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}''. When one first sees Bruno the dog, he is sleeping and dreaming of chasing Lucifer the cat, which Cinderella warns him against, lest he loses his nice warm bed. Near the end of the film, when Cinderella is locked in her chamber and the mice have the key to unlock her door but are stopped by Lucifer, she calls on her bird friends to retrieve Bruno, who chases off Lucifer for real, thus allowing the mice to bring Cinderella the key.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' TheMovie, Gerald is seen playing an arcade game where you drive a runaway bus. He gets a ''GAME OVER'' which prompts Arnold to question it considering "you play this game all the time." Comes into play later when, wouldn't you know it, Gerald is asked to drive a runaway bus.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieThePearlPrincess'', Fergis wants to be a botanist, and it's this interest that helps him save Scylla when she's poisoned.

* In TheMovie of ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'', [[spoiler:(North) Italy]] saves the world from an AlienInvasion by [[spoiler:doodling on their faces]]. He was previously established to be an artist.

* In ''FanFic/DirtySympathy'', Apollo starts humming a song from Threepenny Opera after hearing it from Klavier which is noted by Phoenix, who catches him doing it while working at the agency. When Phoenix hears Klavier's cover of the same song, he asks Apollo [[WhamLine "Just how long have you been madly in love with Prosecutor Gavin?"]], which turns [[WhamEpisode the tides of fic.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series, Guybrush often tries to impress people by telling them he can hold his breath for ten minutes. Although it's used as a joke - that he doesn't have any real talents or education - this talent turns out to be useful on multiple occasions in the series, like when Fester Shinetop tries to drown him in ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'' or when Guybrush goes treasure-diving in ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge''.

* Sybil Pandemik in ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' changes jobs more often than clothes, and it's pointed out that her on-screen resume is only a fraction of the whole. Later on, when a large team must be assembled to [[spoiler: enter Maxthulhu's body]], Sybil has so many varied skills that she fills a dozen different requirements. In the end, though, it turns out the only contribution she makes is by being pregnant.
* In ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'', Chris Redfield was noted as being in the Air Force before joining STARS. At the end of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'', Chris uses his piloting skills to pull off the [[OnceAnEpisode escape]] from Antarctica. [[spoiler: It becomes important in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' when he needs to pilot a plane in order to destroy a C-Virus missile]].
* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', Welkin's interest in animals and nature was used for several unconventional strategies throughout the war, such as finding a way to drive a tank through a river and assaulting a supply-base hidden in a thick forest. His friend Faldio, by contrast, was [[GoMadFromTheRevelation pushed over the slippery slope]] due to what his archaeology knowledge allowed him to discover in the Valkyria ruins.

* ''VideoGame/TheCatLady'' suffers from chronic depression that ended her career as a nurse. Toward the end of the game, she pulls an AwesomenessByAnalysis moment due to identifying a piece of medical equipment.

* In the Monkey Island series, Guybrush often tries to impress people by telling them he can hold his breath for ten minutes. Although it's used as a joke - that he doesn't have any real talents or education - this talent turns out to be useful on multiple occasions in the series.

* In ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'':

* A variation on this is seen in ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}''. When one first sees Bruno the dog, he is sleeping and dreaming of chasing Lucifer the cat, which Cinderella warns him against, lest he loses his nice warm bed. Near the end of the film, when Cinderella is locked in her chamber and the mice have the key to unlock her door but are stopped by Lucifer, she calls on her bird friends to retrieve Bruno, who chases off Lucifer for real, thus allowing the mice to bring Cinderella the key.

* In Creator/MatthewReilly's ''Ice Station'', it's mentioned via a flashback that Schofield used to be a pilot before his [[EyeScream significant eye trauma]]. This becomes important when the marines get an opportunity to fly out of the ice station.

The solution? Establish the skill of the character through dialogue only. It isn't much, but it gets the job done in much the same way. Along the lines of fiction this inherently goes against the ShowDontTell mantra, but if [[TropesAreTools done well]] it never comes across as an InformedAbility (after all, you do eventually see the evidence of their skill -- it's just [[ThisIndexWillBeImportantLater delayed]]).

For example, before going on the adventure the PluckyComicRelief apologizes for being late because he had to help his sister who locked herself out of their car. Later, when everyone is detained and bound by shackles, this guy gets a hairpin from TheChick and manages to free himself and the others. It was mentioned he had the talent, but it isn't until now that we see him use it. If we actually saw him unlocking his sisters car then it would be a ChekhovsSkill.

* Marcille from ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon''. Early chapters have her offer to heal and revive people, but is always turned down in favor of just waiting for an actual healer to do the job, and she mentions knowing how to create golems. As the party makes it deeper into the dungeon she begins actively healing, and golem creation is revealed to be forbidden magic [[spoiler: hinting at the [[BloodMagic dark nature]] of her knowledge.]]

* In the 2005 film of ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicRoundabout'', when the gang stops in a cave for camp for the night, Ermintrude thinks that people would flock for an open-air Verdi festival and even does some opera singing to accommodate that. However, her high note is so loud that it causes icicles to fall and almost impale Brian, but one gigantic icicle crushes Dougal's bag of gobstoppers. Towards the climax, when Zeebad tries to zap Dylan, but he zaps Ermintrude's tail, causing her to scream in pain, resulting a crack on the frozen carousel to form, giving Dougal an idea on how to free the children who are trapped in there. Dougal tells Ermintrude to sing; she does so and when she reaches the high note, most of the ice on the frozen carousel breaks apart.

* It was established in the first ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movie that Mikaela had a criminal record for helping her dad steal cars. In the climax she demonstrated the knowledge of how to hot wire a tow truck when Bumblebee was injured. Interestingly enough, this turns into a ChekhovsSkill in the sequel, where she has to hotwire another vehicle in a hurry.
* In an early scene in ''Film/LethalWeapon2'', Riggs bets another cop that he can escape from a straightjacket in under five minutes. After he wins the bet, he explains that the reason he can do that is because of an accident years ago where he dislocated his shoulder, enabling him to dislocate it purposely to slip out of such a restraint. This talent naturally comes in ''very'' useful much later when his life depends on escaping from a straightjacket, when the villain tries to drown him while restraining him with one.
* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'' they made mention that the President was a fighter pilot during the Gulf War. In the climax he decided against reason and took control of an aircraft in their LastStand. "I'm a pilot. I belong up in the air."

* In ''Film/MorningGlory'', Creator/HarrisonFord's character demonstrates the correct method of cooking a fritatta, something he's perfected after many years. When he sets up an improptu cooking segment in a last-ditch effort to keep his producer from jumping ship, he's of course frying up the perfect fritatta.

* While in the cooler, Hilts tells Ives that he rode motorcycles a lot at county fairs in ''Film/TheGreatEscape.'' This dialogue sets up the movies most famous action scenes.

* ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' establishes that Norman Bates is an amateur taxidermist--there are stuffed birds in the hotel office. Then at the end, we meet Mother.

** In ''Area 7'', it's mentioned that Gant is training to be an officer. She later referrences her training manuals to take command in Schofield's absence.

* In ''Literature/TheNexusSeries'', Rangan was a neuroscientist who moonlighted as a DJ before the plot kicked off. The neuroscientist bit is important throughout — it's in large part *why* the plot kicked off. His [=DJing=] ability is totally irrelevant until the climax of the trilogy, when he uses it to [[spoiler:simultaneously calm down three hundred congressmen who have just been dosed with Nexus and are in the initial psychedelic stage of its effects.]]
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' the final part of the book has a PlotTailoredToTheParty where each member of the trio helps pass a challenge based on a hobby of theirs. Harry is a good Quidditch Seeker, which allows him to spot the right key flying in the air. Ron is an expert chess player who is able to captain them through a living chess game. Hermione is an avid reader, and thus knows how to solve a logic puzzle that identifies a set of poison.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* In ''Series/DeadLikeMe'', Georgia Lass works part-time as a filing clerk in an temporary job agency, but we barely see her actual work there. You'll probably forget what her job was by the time of the episode where death takes a vacation and the Reapers use that day to file their reaps' data for the CelestialBureaucracy, where her skills as a filing clerk and her keys to the office where she used to work prove very handy.
* The Franchise/PowerRangers developed these quite a bit during the original run. The most blatant was the beginning of ''[[Series/PowerRangersTurbo Turbo]]'' (a car themed season), when Tommy and Adam both suddenly became interested in cars and car maintenance.

[[folder: Role Playing Game]]
* The RPG Film/MenInBlack actually has this as a game mechanic. Every character has a typically useless skill. It is generally the job of the GM to work it into the story in a plot-relevant way, but by the end it can be difficult to even remember what your useless skill was to begin with.

[[folder:{{Theatre}}]]
* In ''Theatre/TheForeigner'', Charlie admits to his dismally boring, nerdy and useless job as a comic-book proofreader, specifically asking "who on Earth cares if there's one "K" or two in "KlaatuBaradaNikto?!" [[spoiler: At the climax of the play this same Charlie puts on an alien possession act, screaming, of all things, "Klaatu! Barada! Nikto!" before pretending to violently dissolve one of the "Klan members" threatening him. The ensuing spectacle chases the real Klan away and saves the day. ]]

* In ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'', Chris Redfield was noted as being in the Air Force before joining STARS. At the end of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'', Chris uses his piloting skills to pull of the [[OnceAnEpisode escape]] from Antarctica. [[spoiler: It becomes important in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', when he needs to pilot a plane in order to destroy a C-Virus missile]].
* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', Welkin's interest in animals and nature was used for several unconventional strategies throughout the war, such as finding a way to drive a tank through a river and assaulting a supply-base hidden in a thick forest. His friend Faldio by contrast was [[GoMadFromTheRevelation pushed over the slippery slope]] due to what his archaeology knowledge allowed him to discover in the valkyria ruins.

* ''VideoGame/TheCatLady'' suffers from chronic depression that ended her career as a nurse. Toward the end of the game she pulls an AwesomenessByAnalysis moment due to identifying a piece of medical equipment.

[[folder:{{Web Animation}}]]

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[folder: WebOriginal]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' opens up with Peter and Joe discovering Quagmire has hung himself to enhance his pleasure of masturbation. Quagmire is rushed to the hospital and recovers and the the scene is never mentioned again. However, near the end of the episode, Quagmire confronts his sister's abusive boyfriend and winds up being nearly choked to death by him. Because Quagmire chokes himself regularly for a sexual thrill, he manages to pretend he was killed and proceeds to kill the attacker when the guy least suspects it.

* In the 2005 film of ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicRoundabout'', when the gang stop in a cave for camp for the night, Ermintrude thinks that people would flock for an open-air Verdi festival and even does some opera singing to accommodate that. However, her high note was so loud that it causes icicles to fall and almost impale Brian, but one gigantic icicle crushes Dougal's bag of gobstoppers. Towards the climax, when Zeebad tries to zap Dylan, but he zaps Ermintrude's tail, causing her to scream in pain, resulting a crack on the frozen carousel to form, giving Dougal an idea on how to free the children who are trapped in there. Dougal tells Ermintrude to sing; she does so and when she reaches the high note, most of the ice on the frozen carousel breaks apart.

* In TheMovie of ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia, [[spoiler:(North) Italy]] saves the world from an AlienInvasion by [[spoiler:doodling on their faces]]. He was previously established to be an artist.

* The PowerRangers developed these quite a bit during the original run. The most blatant was the beginning of Turbo (a car themed season), when Tommy and Adam both suddenly became interested in cars and car maintenance.

* According to the supplementary materials in ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'', Elsa is a lover of geometry (and a line from "Let It Go" refers to 'frozen fractals'). This explains how she was able to construct an entire palace out of ice - and it's seen being created in a series of geometric shapes.

* ''Manga/BlackButler'':In his first appearance, it's mentioned that Aleister Chamber has a doctor's license. Turns out he's part of the Aurora Society, which [[ChekhovsBoomerang becomes important in two separate instances.]]

* ''Manga/BlackButler'':
** We’re informed that Ciel keeps a hidden gun on him at all times early on in the manga, but since Sebastian does all of the fighting it’s easy for readers to forget this. Eventually, he gets to shoot someone.
** It gets mentioned in Madame Red’s memories that her sister has asthma. Turns out, Ciel has the same condition.
** In his first appearance, it's mentioned that Aleister Chamber has a doctor's license. Turns out he's part of the Aurora Society, which [[ChekhovsBoomerang becomes important in two separate instances.]]

* Several examples in ''Manga/BlackButler''.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian''. When Fang insults Dave's hobby of collecting little figurines, he outright '''says''' "Someday my love of decorative knick-knacks will come in handy!" Later on, it turns out that the MonsterOfTheWeek loves decorative knick-knacks; as Dave gladly supplies her, Fang glares and mutters "I hate you."