History Main / LikeADuckTakesToWater

** Othilia Winter was a journalist in the 1870s, and saw no reason to abandon her career just because she was thrown into the future. She generally prefers to dress in the 1870s-style, occasionally makes some archaic word choices and hasn't really understood modern reporting standards, but there is nothing about her that indicates that she is a time-traveler rather than an eccentric with a taste for sensationalism.

* Waldo Butters from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' lacks any major talent in magical abilities in a world of gods, angels, demons, necromancers, TheFairFolk, and a whole slew of other things in the FantasyKitchenSink. However, his analytical mind and understanding of proper theory is beyond the hero Harry Dresden, who is a very powerful and dangerous wizard. So, with the right aide in magical theory and proper battery he goes from one trying to deny magic exists despite being attacked by a necromancer who revived his coworker as a zombie, to a [[{{Muggle}} curious coroner]] who studied Harry for some biological answers to making some minor Magitek, to [[spoiler:dressing light Batman to fight evil when Harry was out of commission]], to becoming a [[spoiler:[[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Jewish]] [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi]] [[ChurchMilitant Knight]] [[ThePaladin of the]] [[EmpoweredBadassNormal frikking]] [[DivineIntervention Cross]]]] complete with [[spoiler:a holy blade in the form of a lightsaber]].

** Navn has managed to found and run both a fashion brand and a drug empire, in spite of having lived as a hunter-gatherer until his twenties. He lives in a mansion in a gated community and is HapilyMarried to an up-time woman.

** Othilia Winter was a journalist in the 1870s, and saw no reason to abandon her career just because she was thrown into the future. She generally prefers to dress in the 1870s-style, but there is nothing about her that indicates that she is a time-traveler rather than an eccentric.

* Alfhildr of ''{{Series/Beforeigners}}'' has done a fantastic job of assimilating from 11th century to 21st century life. You'd almost think she grew up with smartphones and Google.

-->-- '''Keyrock, The Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer''', ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''

-->'''Guy''': You see, now I possess the one Darwinian advantage that humans have over other animals: the ability to B.S. my way through anything!
-->'''Mulder''': You wouldn't happen to be, uh, B.S-ing me right now about all this, would you?
-->'''Guy''': I don't know...maybe? I don't understand half the things I'm telling you.

-->'''Marcy:''' I just role-played like your typical artificer/rogue and the next thing I know, boom! I'm the chief ranger of the Newtopian Knight Guard!

* Zigzagged in the Battle City arc in ''Anime/YuGiOh''; most contestants adapt to the new rules very quickly, but Jonouchi has some trouble, making a mistake in his duel with Espa Robo. He catches on quickly after that.

* John Crichton, star of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has his season-or-so of being a regular FishOutOfWater. However, after that season ends, the series sees John pull stuff that not even the EvilPlan-wielding villains had ever once considered- with the possible exception of [[MagnificentBastard Scorpius]]. And, boy, was he just getting ''started...'' Heavily justified as though every other race is [[PunyEarthlings stronger, faster, tougher, and/or smarter]], Crichton has three little aces up his sleeve; first, he's the only man in the Uncharted Territories who is ''not'' from a PlanetOfHats, making him both familiar with most of those Hats and fairly skilled at facilitating communication between different ones; second, he simply [[TheDeterminator doesn't know when he's been beaten]]; and third, he is completely and totally '''[[CrazyAwesome batshit insane]].''' By the end of the series, Crichton is willing to strap a nuclear weapon to his hip and stroll right into TheEmpire's most secure facility and blackmail them as part of a rescue mission - '''''[[CrazyEnoughToWork and it works!]]'''''

->'''Marcy:''' I just role-played like your typical artificer/rogue and the next thing I know, boom! I'm the chief ranger of the Newtopian Knight Guard!

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': While Sasha started off in a worse scenario than Anne when both became TrappedInAnotherWorld, having been imprisoned in an army encampment rather than simply lost in the wilderness, her [[ManipulativeBastard skills as a master manipulator]] and [[IKnowMaddenKombat fighter]] have her as the second-in-command of the valley's toad army within a month's time.

* The main characters of the ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series seem to be pretty competent at fighting even though they're actually humans. They can even beat legendaries despite the fact that they're at their ''first evolutionary stage'' most of the time.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Pikmin}}'', Olimar becomes a pikmin-chucking badass pretty quickly for a humble space freighter.
* The PlayerCharacter of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' takes quite well to Jedi training for a junior Republic Navy crewman. [[spoiler:Of course, the TomatoSurprise subverts this by revealing they were once the BigBad Darth Revan]].

* Java, the unfrozen caveman butler, of Simon Stagg in ''ComicBook/{{Metamorpho}}''. Subverted in ''Comicbook/TheTerrifics'', which reveals that he hates the modern world and feels entirely out of place in it -- it's just nobody ever asked him.

* The PlayerCharacter of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' takes quite well to Jedi training for a junior Republic Navy crewman. Of course, the TomatoSurprise subverts this by having them [[spoiler: a member of the sith]].

* The Falcone's crime history in ''WesternAnimation/FuggetAboutIt'' start with their ancestor Giuseppe, a cobbler, mistakenly thought to have killed the don. He adapt to the life of crime and violence fast because making shoes for peoplegave him a lot of pent up aggression.

** Fry makes several comments throughout the series about how he fits in ''better'' in the future. While he's still a naive delivery boy, he is much ''happier'' with his now futuristic life. [[spoiler: He eventually is the most important person in the universe. [[TheChosenOne For more than]] [[Heartwarming/{{Futurama}} one reason.]]]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' version of Bubba the Cave Duck quickly adapts to 20th century Duckburg. Parodied with the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2015'' version, who even more quickly starts skateboarding around [=McDuck=] Manor in sunglasses while Huey protests that this is totally contrary to everything known about prehistoric duck.

* In ''Creator/IainBanks'' ''Literature/{{Matter}}'' the heroine becomes an agent of Special Circumstances, a combination of 007 and Navy Seals, in the very advanced Culture, despite having been raised in a society that is approximately 1500 AD our time.

* In ''Creator/IainBanks'' ''Literature/Matter'' the heroine becomes an agent of Special Circumstances, a combination of 007 and Navy Seals, in the very advanced Culture, despite having been raised in a society that is approximately 1500 AD our time.

* Java, the unfrozen caveman butler, of Simon Stagg in ''ComicBook/{{Metamorpho}}''.

* In the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series by Jasper Fforde, someone figured out how to clone Neanderthals. It turns out they are a bit different from homo sapiens, most importantly, they are unable to lie. This leads to a literal caveman lawyer, a neanderthal who figured out how to deceive others by not saying the whole truth. As everyone knows his kind is unable to lie, he promptly became a successful lawyer.

** Played with in regards to Lapis Lazuli, who has [[MakingASplash hydrokinetic powers]] that's only limited by the volume of water she has access to. Proximity to Earth's ocean makes her a PersonOfMassDestruction, and the show just so happens to [[BenevolentArchitecture take place in a coastal town]]. Meanwhile, the Gem Homeworld lacks water, so she's pretty powerless there--[[HiveCasteSystem her kind]] is specifically ''meant'' to travel other worlds and assist in HostileTerraforming. The irony comes in the fact that Lapis doesn't really care about this power and absolutely hates the planet Earth, initially wanting to leave Earth for Homeworld ([[PowerfulAndHelpless which was one thing she couldn't do]] without Steven's help). When Lapis is eventually forced out of Homeworld's Empire, with Earth the only inhabited place to live, she's very much a FishOutOfWater when it comes to adjusting emotionally.

* ''Film/ErIstWiederDa'' has Hitler miraculously returning from the dead in 2015. [[FishOutOfTemporalWater At first he is disoriented]], and the movie plays his foibles for comedy. After his initial shock, however, he slowly comes to realize that the current political situation is not too different from the one in the 1930s and discovers new mass-media inventions such as the Internet, [[MoodWhiplash and the story begin to take a much darker turn]].