History Main / SimpleYetAwesome

[[caption-width-right:350:The Browning M2: in continuous service since 1921, with only one major modification to the design.]]

** In the 2012 animated series, he gets an equally effective and simple weapon, [[BladeOnAStick a naginata.]] Furthermore, the staff merely has a retractable blade, allowing the switch between the two easily (the same way Mikey's nunchunks have retractable blades to become kusarigara.)

** One of the most famous is the [[BladeOnAStick Halberd]] which has not only the high-speed long-range attack of spear classes ''and'' a DifficultButAwesome secondary swing attack possessing both spear-class range and a near full-circle spread, but also does axe class levels of damage, meaning a moderately upgraded Halberd can one-shot most minor mooks and immediately clear rooms full of them with enough distance. There's a reason you so commonly see specters wielding them for most of the game.

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': Fourarms is an alien form that grants Ben SuperStrength and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous 2 extra arms]]. Not very flashy, but his fighting capabilities more than makeup for it.
** There is also [[AttackofThe50FootWhatever Way Big]], who is one of the Omnitrix's most powerful aliens, surpassed only by Atomix and [[RealityWarper Alien]] [[AwesomeButImpractical X]].

* In ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'', the AAH assault rifle is regarded in the same light as the AK-47 in real life. It's a rifle model with a hundred years of history that's renowned for being inexpensive, easy-to-use, and reliable. While it's far from the strongest firearm available to a hunter, it's popular because of its cheapness, ability to fire semi-automatic and full-auto, and decent stopping power. Even first-class hunters have at least one in their arsenal and many have an AceCustom variant manufactured to their specifications. To some, an AAH rifle is essentially a GoodLuckCharm on top of doubling as an excellent EmergencyWeapon.

* If ''LightNovel/FateZero'' taught us something, is that Firearms are a great way to deal with Mages.

** One issue of ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman Strikes!'' had Batman defeating villain Black Mask by walking into his lair and... putting on a recording of Bruce Wayne offering his henchmen jobs, with real health insurance and legal representation. Without {{Mook}}s, there wasn't much that Black Mask could do.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' offers all types of fancy, super-menacing enchanted equipment derived from demons, angels, dragons and {{Eldritch Abomination}}s alike, with quite a few earning the "Great-" prefix in their categorization. Yet some most impressive and efficient-in-action weapons are completely ordinary ones. One of the most famous is the [[BladeOnAStick Halberd]] which has not only the high-speed long-range attack of spear classes ''and'' a DifficultButAwesome secondary swing attack possessing both spear-class range and a near full-circle spread, but also does axe class levels of damage, meaning a moderately upgraded Halberd can one-shot most minor mooks and immediately clear rooms full of them with enough distance. There's a reason you so commonly see specters wielding them for most of the game.

* The Sparta Kick from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'' is about as simple as you can get: kicking people or animals really, ''really'' hard so they go flying, or become completely unconscious. It is one of the first skills you can get, but it remains useful all throughout the game, costing only one adrenaline bar, having extremely low cooldown, and is a cheap and easy way to get some breathing room in crowded fights, or knocking down challenging foes for a few precious seconds. It's also all but vital to killing high HP enemies via sending them down long drops or into the sea to the maw of a waiting shark, especially early in the game. Few foes are immune to it, and even then, it's only to the knockback, it has long invincibility frames, and just looks and sounds awesome along with being really, ''really'' entertaining to use.

* In ''VideoGame/AlienShooter TD'' played straight with the S.W.A.T and Sniper units. The S.W.A.T is a guy with a shotgun that handles basic swarms well while the Sniper has high damage, fairly effective against armored units (especially if you have anti-material rifles) and incredible range. Nothing fancy, but very effective. This is averted with the Marine, a simple guy who handles the assault rifles and machine guns. In-game he's supposed to be an improved early hitter against armored enemies when the S.W.A.T's shotgun is ineffective against them. While his FMJ bullets do work better compared to shotgun pellets, the Marine fails against most enemies because of the low base damage on his weapons. And in this game, ammo costs so his rapid-fire attacks cost a small fortune over time for poor results and with only limited spaces for deploying units - he ends up taking spots for far better guys like the Light Energy trooper.

** Gnawed Leaf makes you completely invincible, but only if you stand perfectly still. This means if you have ''any'' orbital familiars that damage enemies on their own, or anything that can damage enemies without you moving, this basically synergizes into WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing. This tactic is so diabolically simple and effective the devs actually ''gave Hush regenerating health when weak specifically to counter this strategy'' because too many players were defeating their BonusBoss by just standing there like an asshole while Hush's health drained.

-->-- '''Antoine de Saint-Exupery'''

** There is an entire deck archetype based on this principle: [[PlayingWithFire Mono-Red Burn]]. The deck contains exactly 17 Mountains, 3 Mountain-like lands that can burn, and no less than 24 effective copies the same card - spend 1 red mana to deal 3 damage to your opponent. Remember Lightning Bolt up there? The main reason ''Magic'' even has the four-copy limit for an individual card was to keep people from playing what was dubbed "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The 40 Lightning Bolt Special]]" which is this trope taken to its logical conclusion.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Go}}'' Has two objectives. Control larger areas of the board and avoid having the other player capture your stones. Because these two goals are so contradictory of each other, strategies can be extremely varied and even psychological. The game is SeriousBusiness on the Orient, on a level similar to Football in Europe, and games can last for days with the loser vomiting blood simply by succumbing to stress.

* On ''Series/TopGearUK'', the hosts often praise hot hatches because they are practical for daily use and offer more than enough performance for a bit of fun on the track. Plus, they are affordable to purchase and maintain so a minor nick or dent isn't too much cause for concern. In one review, Chris Harris said he'd pick a Ford Focus over a Lamborghini because the Lambo is a beautiful piece of engineering, [[AwesomeYetImpractical too uncomfortable to use as a daily driver and so expensive to buy and maintain that he'd be terrified of getting even the slightest scratch]].

** One of the most important things they're trying to do in the show is to keep Bad Things from getting on Earth through the Stargate. The primary way they do this? By fitting a big metal gate one centimeter in front of the portal, causing anyone who opens a portal to them unexpectedly and walks through without transmitting a security code gets teleported straight into a solid metal wall. Squish.

* According to an alien prince in ''[[Series/{{Babylon5}} Babylon 5]]'', the human built Starfury Fighter is more interesting than more advanced alien craft due to it's [[CombatPragmatist no frills, effective brutality]].

** There is also [[AttackofThe50FootWhatever Way Big]], who is one of the Omnitrix's most powerful aliens, surpassed only by [[ILoveNuclearPower Atomix]] and [[RealityWarper Alien]] [[AwesomeButImpractical X]].

** There is also [[AttackofThe50FootWhatever Way Big]], who is one of the Omnitrix's most powerful aliens, surpassed only by [[ILoveNuclearPowet Atomix]] and [[RealityWarper Alien]] [[AwesomeButImpractical X]].

* WesternAnimation/Ben10: Fourarms is an alien form that grants Ben SuperStrength and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous 2 extra arms]]. Not very flashy, but his fighting capabilities more than makeup for it.
** There is also [[AttackofThe50FootWhatever Way Big]], who is one of the Omnitrix's most powerful aliens, surpassed only by Atomix and [[RealityWarper Alien]] [[AwesomeButImpractical X]]).

** Basic stat boosts. There are a LOT of {{Disk One Nuke}}s and {{Game Breaker}}s in this game, so not getting these on a run and instead just getting basic stat raises can seem unimpressive, but if you manage to get Isaac's Tears and Damage stats high enough and you won't ''need'' the fancy stuff. Just being able to hurl tears that are either powerful enough to {{One Hit|KO}} enemies or that [[MoreDakka fire so quickly they can't get close]] will clear rooms with the same efficacity as game-breaking combos.

You don't necessarily need extensive programming to have fun with this engine; plenty of [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom-II-format]] levels are available on "Doom World" and they are star-rated so it is easy to find [[SturgeonsLaw quality content]]. If you love hordes of monsters to battle, there are maps with enough of them to put [[VideoGame/SeriousSam Serious Sam]] to shame.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': The first episode about Clay is centered around this trope. He completes the obstacle course faster than his teammates by turning around and taking the objective directly behind him -- since the course is arranged in a circle, he sees no reason to go through the traps to reach the goal. Later he beats Jack Spicer in a showdown involving catching a bird -- Jack gets beaten and bruised chasing it, while Clay fills his hat with seeds from nearby sunflowers to get the bird to come to him.
* Similar to the comics example above, Batman is able to take down another incarnation of the Injustice League by donating to a public television station ([[spoiler:said donation was made in the name of the Ultrahumanite, a big fan of the station's opera shows]]).
* WesternAnimation/Ben10 has Fourarms, an alien form that grants Ben SuperStrength and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous 2 extra arms]]. Not very flashy, but his fighting capabilities more than makeup for it.

* A group of unnamed farmers manage to kill a large chunk of Striga's platoon of vampires in ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania}}'' just by lighting their tents on fire during the day.

*** The campaign-only Avenger is mutually exclusive from the more offensive Dark Templar or anti-detection Blood Hunter, but the Avenger's special ability is simple but very economical: Upon death, they automatically teleport back to your Dark Shrine (be sure to build one or they'll die), and are restored to full health. Be sure to let the teleport cool down before placing your Avengers in danger and they can be rescued from death indefinitely, saving significant resources. Albeit, for experienced players, Avengers veer into LowTierLetdown as the Nerazim Dark Templar has higher contribution with their Shadow Fury, letting them slice through five Zerglings quickly (at 35 damage per swipe), or use that damage against tougher targets to quickly bring them down to size. Alternatively, Bloodhunters can lock down single priority targets with a stasis effect that also disable detection, ''preventing'' them from dying anyway and letting them raze bases unimpeded as a squad if you take care to sweep the area for detectors.

*** The campaign-only Avenger is mutually exclusive from the more offensive Dark Templar or anti-detection Blood Hunter, but the Avenger's special ability is simple but very economical: Upon death, they automatically teleport back to your Dark Shrine (be sure to build one or they'll die), and are restored to full health. Be sure to let the teleport cool down before placing your Avengers in danger and they can be rescued from death indefinitely, saving significant resources.

* ''Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlsTwasTheFightBeforeChristmas'': As the girls race Princess Morbucks to Santa's workshop, Princess laser-carves a huge ice chunk from the side of a mountain - in the shape of her own face, no less - and hurls it at the girls, crashing them to the ground. While she thinks this gives her the lead, she is swiftly taken down (literally and figuratively):
-->'''Princess''': How did you like my "stocking stuffer"?
-->''[Immediately gets hit in the face with a snowball, which brings her crashing to the ground]''
-->'''Buttercup''': "Stuff" that! [To Blossom and Bubbles] I can't believe that worked.

* The first episode about Clay from ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' is centered around this trope. He completes the obstacle course faster than his teammates by turning around and taking the objective directly behind him -- since the course is arranged in a circle, he sees no reason to go through the traps to reach the goal. Later he beats Jack Spicer in a showdown involving catching a bird -- Jack gets beaten and bruised chasing it, while Clay fills his hat with seeds from nearby sunflowers to get the bird to come to him.