History Main / SmartBall

** In "Anthology of Interest I", Fry is able to successfully identify the standard duty of a Vice President ([[VicePresidentWho casting tiebreaker votes in the Senate]]) to allow for the joke where Al Gore adds that it also includes protecting the space-time continuum. "Read the constitution!"

* The ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' episode "Sad Sack" has possibly the biggest crisis faced on the show: photos supposedly showing the locations of [=WMDs=] in Iraq are found in the Bluth Company computer network. While the country prepares for war, Michael angsts over whether or not to turn in his fugitive father. He brings the family's usually incompetent lawyer Barry to the meeting with the head prosecutor. At the meeting, Barry sees the pictures for the first time and solves the entire crisis by pointing out something nobody else noticed: [[spoiler:the pictures are actually a close-up of Tobias' privates.]]

* Subverted in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' when Patrick reacts to seeing snow for the first time with an eloquent burst of PurpleProse. When Spongebob compliments him, [[TrickDialogue Patrick admits he was just reading the back of a candy bar wrapper.]]

** In "Homer the Moe", builds a functional (if incomplete) talking robot that he later discards out of boredom.

Using the Smart Ball is [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not necessarily bad]]. While it ''can'' be an AssPull if TheDitz suddenly demonstrates [[YouDidntAsk a keen skill at molecular biology]], it's not much of a stretch to imagine the JerkJock also knows the results for every Super Bowl since 1966. If a character is tossed the Smart Ball enough times, they may even get CharacterDevelopment that makes the smarts permanent. And sometimes the character saying the gag being normally an idiot can add on another layer of humor.

* In ''Film/DaddyDayCare'', Marvin doesn't seem to know or care about anything in the world not related to ''Franchise/StarTrek'', but a social worker is surprised to find out he's knowledgeable about child psychology -- thanks to having read a book by [[NamesTheSame Benjamin Spock]], assuming it was about Mister Spock.

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': Mac, Dee, and Dennis play hot potato with the smart ball, taking turns being the reasonable one in different episodes.

* Caboose from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' occasionally has a good idea. There's also Donut, who, at one point, was able to correctly figure out the ridiculous string of events that led to the Red Team's jeep trying to kill Sarge. Of course, the rest of the team decided that this was a stupid theory. And there was the time Tucker managed to outwit Wyoming, a trained assassin. Half the cast is made up of idiots, so this is bound to happen a lot.

** Bart can also be subject to this, such as in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12ES17SimpsonSafari Simpson Safari]]" :

** Bart can also be subject to this, such as in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12ES17impsonSafari Simpson Safari]]" :

* In ''Franchise/DragonBall'', Goku is one the most aloof characters in the story due to his mountain kid origins (he was well into his 30s when he realized he never needed a haircut like everyone else did). So it can be very surprising when he's able to remember that, say, taking a near-death Piccolo to safety is a high priority so that his other half Kami can live so that the Dragon Balls don't turn to stone so that they can wish everyone who died back to life . That said, half of these instances are about a fight, which is Goku's great passion in life, so cases like intentionally pushing Nappa's buttons or drawing Frieza into a battle of attrition come off more naturally.

* ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'': In one episode, the MonsterOfTheWeek has the power to change from a demonic witch-creature into a [[TastesLikeDiabetes ludicrously adorable baby]] and charm people. When it attempts this in the middle of a fight with the Kyoryugers, [[IdiotHero Daigo]] just shoots it and points out that he ''saw'' it change, so of course it's not gonna work on him.

** Played straight in the episode "Squidtastic Voyage". [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick end up trapped inside Squidward via a ShrinkRay incident and need to remove the clarinet reed stuck in Squidward's esophagus. Patrick eloquently describes how they can use Squidward's own gastrointestinal release (in this case a giant burp) to remove the reed and free the duo. Both SpongeBob and Sandy are left speechless by this and Sandy ultimately agrees to it.

** Agasa catches this ball about three episodes into the series and promptly pockets it--going from what Conan himself described (to his face, no less) as "a self-proclaimed genius [who has] only invented junk" to the greatest GadgeteerGenius since [[Film/JamesBond Q Branch]], with no intervening development or explanation.

* More than usually justified when applied to the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', who is often portrayed as a dumbass despite the fact that he is a college graduate and a former military test pilot. (You don't want your geniuses flying experimental aircraft if you can avoid it, but neither do you want dumb grunts to destroy them!) Additional frequent justification: you can't spend all your time around Reed Richards and not pick up at least a few bits and pieces. It's occasionally been said that the difference between a good FF writer and a bad one is that the former realizes Ben is the smart one. Ben Grimm is at least smart enough that he can sometimes work as a mild example of a GeniusBruiser. A better example would be Johnny Storm, who's even MORE of a dumbass and has no higher learning backstory (he got his powers in high school). Yet on one occasion he was able to sum up a chain reaction streaming from unlocking unstable molecules and think of a way to contain the problem. Again, sharing living space with the smartest man in the world helps.
* Issue #4 of the ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' comic series finds the characters facing a door that gives them a variation of the unanswered riddle ("Why is a pegasus like a writing desk?") from ''Literature/AliceInWonderland''. The others are unable to come up with a solution, but resident GenkiGirl and {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinkie Pie answers it correctly stating that she can't answer the riddle.

* In ''Film/DeepRising'', a JerkAss who works for the cruise line spontaneously rattles off a theory as to the man-eating worms' origins, and [[ImprobableTaxonomySkills displays such expertise that you'd think designing computer networks for ships requires an advanced degree in marine invertebrate paleontology]]. He turns out to be totally wrong. The "creatures" ''aren't'' worms. In fact, they [[spoiler:aren't even individual creatures. They're the tentacles belonging to a monstrous octopus-like creature.]]

* ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'': Ben is able to realize the satellite photo of the Silver Surfer doesn't show a meteor by noting "The trail's all wrong. This thing's giving out its own energy." Justified in that, while Ben Grimm ''isn't'' as smart as Reed Richards or Victor Von Doom, he ''is'' an astronaut with all the education and training that would entail.
* Ripcord from ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' figuring out the transmitter was still on. Of course, anyone could've realized the only person who's messed with the transmitter since its deactivation was [=McCullen=]. Ripcord just figured it out faster.
* In ''Film/OldSchool'', the fraternity has to compete in a college bowl. One of the events is a debate with Frank versus another student, but the dean pits him against James Carville instead. Carville gives his remarks on the subject and Frank gives his counter argument. It ends up being so good, Carville can't think of a response. Hilariously, Frank follows up the debate with "What happened? I blacked out."

* In ''Film/DaddyDayCare'', Marvin doesn't seem to know or care about anything in the world not related to ''Franchise/StarTrek'', but a social worker is surprised to find out he's knowledgeable about child psychology - thanks to having read a book by [[NamesTheSame Benjamin Spock]], assuming it was about Mister Spock.

* The ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' leader Jake is ordinarily pretty smart, devising plans and delegating roles to the group as necessary. In book 46, ''The Deception,'' however, Jake has enough highly specific knowledge of a particular aircraft carrier to rattle off its construction date, what company built it, its full arsenal of weapons down to their model number, and which uniforms belong to which crews.
* In the third Literature/ArtemisFowl book, two of Spiro's [[StupidEvil nigh-brainless]] [[BumblingHenchmenDuo henchmen]] "cleverly" come up with the idea to use [[spoiler:the stolen Cube computer]] to take down a rival of Spiro's company. Spiro finds this sudden brain activity a bit suspicious, but he can't deny it's a good idea. [[spoiler:Of course, the henchmen were hypnotized into suggesting this, because it's [[TheChessmaster exactly what Artemis wanted Spiro to do]].]]

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}} the Third'': In [[Recap/BlackadderS3E6DuelAndDuality the final episode]], the three main characters are trying to come up with a plan to get the Prince Regent out of a duel he's sure to lose, when the plan comes up of Blackadder and the Prince switching places so that Blackadder can fight instead. When the Prince notes that it will never work, because "my portrait hangs on every wall", Baldrick - who thought to solve the problem of his mother's low roof by cutting off her head - offers up this gem:

** In this case, it's due to {{Flanderization}}. This was in season one, when it was not OutOfCharacter at ''all'' for O'Neill to have a head on his shoulders.

* ''Series/That70sShow'': Played for laughs in one episode when Kelso is able to instantly calculate how many people they can invite to a kegger and what they will need to charge per person.

* For the first two ''Franchise/MassEffect'' games, [[HeroicWannabe Conrad Verner]] was as little more than an annoying, [[TheFool incompetent fool]] who never amounts to anything and is a bit of a pitiable ButtMonkey. Then, come ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', he gets [[ThrowTheDogABone thrown one hell of a bone]]. Exactly when you need it, it turns out he has a PHD, of all things, and did a dissertation on xenotechnology and dark energy integration, which helps with the construction of the Crucible.
* In ''VideoGame/TheBoogieMan'', Richard Grundler figured out the identity and mystery behind the titular character because of something Keith mentioned. [[spoiler:The Boogieman loves displaying his murders theatrically. The fact that this wasn't done with Brendon, the owner of the castle and first death to occur, made him realize that Brendon was the Boogie Man.]] The golden ending has him admit to not saying it out loud because he wasn't sure if Keith would take his amateur opinion seriously.
* In ''VideoGame/TheClueFinders The Incredible Toy Store Adventure'''s climax, Owen gets the Ball. The villain of the game is threatening his boss with the shrink ray that caused the plot when Owen gets the idea to use the "un-shrinker" the team had built that is currently small enough for him to use (he and Joni [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Laptrap]] getting shrunk and needing their teammates to rescue them from the top floor of the titular toy store formed the basic plot) and blasts the shrink ray with it until it's too big for the villain to hold.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series, there's always a male party member who serves as the resident ButtMonkey, a state that is usually his own fault. These boys very frequently get thrown the Ball as part of their HiddenDepths. [[VideoGame/Persona2 Eikichi]] works out how to abuse the ExactWords property of the rumour system in order to destroy an opponent's advantage, [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yosuke]] is the one who puts together the connection between the TV World and the murders based on very little evidence, and [[VideoGame/Persona5 Ryuji]] comes up with the initial plan to take down [[StarterVillain Kamoshida]] by identifying his victims in the Metaverse[[note]]Granted, the plan doesn't work. Ryuji is unable to use his cell phone's camera app in the Metaverse, and while he's smart enough to come up with a Plan B of memorizing their faces, none of them are willing to admit it in real life[[/note]].

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', Goofy has it at some points, like when he saw through Mulan's disguise while Sora and Donald couldn't. It's said in his journal entry for one of the games that he often notices stuff that others miss.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by the eponymous character of ''Webcomic/ItsWalky'' [[http://www.itswalky.com/d/20000521.html here.]]
* In ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'', noshing on brains gives zombies - even lab-created ones like Unity - [[http://skin-horse.com/2012/doing-now-is/ a mental boost.]] Although it's later revealed that this doesn't apply to all zombies - eating brains [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/i-thought-we/ makes KT "dumb and torpid"]].

* Caboose from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' occasionally has a good idea. There's also Donut, who, at one point, was able to correctly figure out the ridiculous string of events that led to the Red Team's jeep trying to kill Sarge. Of course, the rest of the team decided that this was a stupid theory. And there was the time Tucker managed to outwit Wyoming, a trained assassin. Half the cast is made up of idiots, so this is bound to happen a lot.

* ''Website/TheAgonyBooth'' references this trope (though not by name) during their review of Creator/RalphBakshi's ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings'' movie, when Sam (who was pretty much an annoying dumbass throughout the film) suddenly and inexplicably knows that he can find Frodo sailing down a nearby river.

* Bouncing Boy from the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperheroes'' cartoon suddenly reveals a master strategy to save an entire planet from storms a la TheChessmaster. Second Season, never mentioned again. Similarly, Shrinking Violet reveals a knowledge of advanced technology just in time for fixing LL's arm. Also never mentioned again.
* Subverted in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' when Patrick reacts to seeing snow for the first time with an eloquent burst of PurpleProse. When Spongebob compliments him, [[TrickDialogue Patrick admits he was just reading the back of a candy bar wrapper.]]
** Played straight in the episode "Porous Pockets". [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick come into some money, and the former starts spending left-and-right, eventually ending up broke. Patrick tries to advise [=SpongeBob=] not to do this.

* Waffle from ''WesternAnimation/{{Catscratch}}'' has about as much common sense as your average brick, but throughout the course of the show, he constantly defines words such as "imprinting", "fulcrum", and "caldera" the other characters, to the point of stopping the action dead just to launch into a spelling bee-esque delivery.
* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': Stella and Aisha's ability to enter Realix and stop Darkar in the season 2 finale hinges on solving a puzzle of color cards. Stella solves it, and it's justified differently depending on which version you're watching:

* Done [[RuleOfFunny for laughs]] in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' when Him tells the girls he has the Professor in "the place where it's boiling and freezing at the same time". The girls rack their brains trying to figure it out only for [[CloudCuckooLander the Mayor]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment to appear out of nowhere]] and claim that converting the boiling and freezing points of water into geographical coordinates points to a Townsville street. "Or maybe there's an ice cream truck on fire".
* Happens fairly often in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', due to many characters being a GeniusDitz to some degree. Hank is one of the more consistently stupid characters, but occasionally pulls out a bit of obscure knowledge that the adults can't even fathom where he would have picked it up. [[{{Jerkass}} Dermott]] also surprisingly once gave some very competent advice on relationships to the brothers, prompting amazement from them, as he usually doesn't know ''anything''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', in "High Heeled Ed", towards the end of the episode, Ed makes a comment along the lines of "Spending an extended period of time in the presence of females can be mentally disorienting and physically confusing." After Double-D and Eddy stop for a second to register this, Ed then proceeds to shout "HUG ME!" for no particular reason. In short, he grabbed the Smart Ball and held it for all of 2 seconds before smashing it on the ground.
** Edd guessed that it may have been because he was pantless at the time.
** In another episode, Ed pulled of a subversion of this of sorts. He figured out Eddy's brother's complicated treasure map like it was nothing (the map was supposed to be superimposed over Eddy's face at a certain angle). When Edd was baffled and asked him how he did it, (essentially) said it was because he and Eddy's brother were [[InsaneTrollLogic both brothers]].
** He also takes hold of it again at the end of TheMovie, and [[Awesome/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow at the best possible time, too]].
** In a more BizarroEpisode than usual, an odd apparently mystical boomerang causes anyone who touches it to change into another personality for as long as they hold it, which in Ed's case causes him to gain genius level intellect.
* WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget has rightly earned his reputation as an imbecile many times over, but even he was perfectly capable of holding the Smart Ball if the plot required it. And not just in the "MAD Trap" episode, either-there are multiple instances throughout the show where Gadget saves himself and/or Penny and Brain quite deliberately... and that's not counting the times when his bumbling make him a SpannerInTheWorks and enable Penny and Brain to save the day.
* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''
** Brain is astonished that Pinky correctly identifies a Bunsen burner by name. Subverted when he explains that it's for burning bunsens.
** Another time, Pinky responds to "Are you pondering what I'm pondering" with "When am I ever pondering what you're pondering?" and explaining that the odds that he was this time weren't very high. Which, it turns out, ''was what Brain was pondering this time." However, when he says "And do you know what ''else'' I'm pondering?" Pinky's response is something considerably more Pinky-ish.
** Both {{Fanon}} and WordOfGod are fond of pointing out that though the opening song claims "One is a genius, the other's insane", it doesn't actually specify which is which- Brain, after all, is a megalomaniac bent on world domination who constantly fails in his overly elaborate and frequently ridiculous schemes, so he is neither sane nor necessarily as smart as he believes himself to be; Pinky, meanwhile, is often the one who accidentally ruins the plan, but between his periodic holding of the Smart Ball and the possibility that Brain is the insane one, perhaps Pinky utilises ObfuscatingStupidity and his "accidents" are intentional, calculated screw-ups designed to save the world from a madman without losing his best and only friend.
*** According to WordOfGod Pinky is the insane one, he just has flashes of common sense on occasion.
* How's this for weird: In a HalloweenEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Numbuh Four holds both the IdiotBall ''and'' the Smart Ball ''in the same episode''. First, after Stickybeard steals his candy bag (which holds only one butterscotch), he breaks onto the pirate's ship, steals it back, and runs off not realizing until he gets away that he just ignored an entire treasure trove of candy while looking for that one butterscotch. However, his Smart Ball moment more than makes up for this. [[spoiler: First, Numbuh Four decoys the pirates with a bag that seems to be loaded with candy (but in actuality, is loaded with bricks) just waiting for Stickybeard to try and steal it from him. By the time Stickybeard and his pirates realize that the heavy bag they planned on dragging back to their ship did NOT have any candy at all, Numbuh Four ''steals the whole ship''.]]
** Numbuh Four has another two Smart Ball moments in ''Operation: P.O.O.L.''. First, he manages to figure out that his teammates were replaced by evil BizarroUniverse counterparts, just from the fact that Negative Numbuh 3 had a mean look in her eyes that [[GenkiGirl Numbuh 3]] would never have. After beating them all up, he goes to the Negative world and confronts his own counterpart, an EvilGenius. Negative Numbuh 4 lampshades the "evil opposite" gimmick by pointing out that Numbuh 4 was stupid to come since now he's completely surrounded by guards, only for Numbuh 4 [[spoiler: to point out that if they're opposites, then that means that Negative 4 must be a coward, since Numbuh 4 just conquered his own fear of swimming to come, while Negative 4 brought bodyguards with full intent on letting them handle things instead of fighting Positive Numbuh 4 himself. The revelation causes Negative 4's tyrannical reign to fall apart as everyone stops being afraid of him and decides they want to stop being evil and just act like normal kids.]]
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', Billy, Mandy, and Nergal Jr are training for a track meet. Junior is doing excellent (having demonic powers helps) but Billy isn't doing so great. Then Billy remembers that Junior can shapeshift, and asks if he can turn himself into anything. When Junior says yes, Billy suggests he turn into a pair of pants so that the two can win the hundred yard dash together. Prompting this response from Mandy:
-->'''Mandy:''' Billy, that has got to be the dumbest idea... ''(Pause)'' Actually, Billy, that has got to be the ''smartest'' idea you've ever had.
-->'''Billy:''' I know, that's why I wanna do it.
* Harley Quinn occasionally baffles friends and foe alike in the various Batman cartoons and comics with displays of intelligence. At which point they either remember or Harley reminds them that [[JustifiedTrope she holds a doctorate in psychology]]. DependingOnTheWriter, she is either naturally carefree or just likes ''playing'' the role of PerkyFemaleMinion.
* In ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'', Odd is usually regarded as not being very bright. However, in one episode in the last season, where a mission to destroy one of XANA's Replikas took him and Yumi's virtual forms to the International Space Station, he actually got the Smart Ball ''twice'' in the same episode. First, when Jeremie warned them that they had to make the computer's destruction look like an accident (because the Station was too well-known and suspected sabotage would be a headache they did not need) Odd suggested breaking a pipe to cause water damage. His second good idea came when XANA attacked them using flying, spiked orbs that he was using the Station's equipment to build; he got rid of them by opening a hatch door, causing the orbs to be blown out of the station.
* In ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'' Beast Man is usually the DumbMuscle of Skeletor's crew, but he gets a pretty good idea in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002''. He figures that because Man-E-Faces is part beast when he assumes his super-strong monster form, he should be able to control him using his animal-controlling abilities. And it actually works for a few minutes. (This is the only time Evil-Lynn gives ''anyone'', much less Beast-Man, a genuine compliment.) This drives Manny into a HeroicBSOD, where he's too afraid to assume his monster form again. [[spoiler:However, this ultimately backfires on Beast Man at the end when he tries it a second time, as Manny [[HeroicWillpower overcomes the effect]], and beats the crud out of him ''and'' the rest of Skeletor's goons.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Crash", Beast Boy turns himself into an amoeba to accompany Gizmo [[FantasticVoyagePlot into Cyborg's body]] to destroy a computer virus. When they see the virus, however, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Gizmo chickens out and runs in terror]], leaving Beast Boy at the giant abomination's mercy. Then he realizes that, since he's an amoeba, he can "multiply" using mitosis, creating an army of duplicates of himself that overwhelm the virus and enable Cyborg's anti-viral system to kick in. (In the final scene of the episode, Robin and even Raven compliment Beast Boy on the smart move. Beast Boy replies by saying, "I may not be smart enough to do everything, but I'm dumb enough to try ''anything''!")
* PlayedForLaughs on ''WesternAnimation/DanVs,'' when [[ActionGirlfriend Elise]] asks if they can just trick [[RevengeBeforeReason Dan]] about [[ItMakesSenseInContext his plan to desecrate Mount Vernon]]:
-->'''[[ExtremeDoormat Chris]]:''' Dan has a very strange patchwork of knowledge. It's anybody's guess as to what he knows about any given topic. Watch. ''(louder)'' Hey, Dan, who sculpted Mount Rushmore?
-->'''Dan:''' Gutzon Borglum. Then his son finished it. Why?
-->'''Chris:''' And what state is it in?
-->'''Dan:''' I don't know! [[GlobalIgnorance Ecuador or something]]! What's with all the questions?!
-->'''Elise:''' So there is a savant half.
* In ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim,'' [[MinionWithAnFInEvil GIR]] will occasionally point out something wrong with Zim's logic, most particularly in "Walk for Your Life," when Zim somehow doesn't realize that his plan to make a slowly expanding explosion go off FASTER in order to get rid of it might be a bad idea. In "Plague of Babies" he also points out that Zim is too concerned about being seen by an apparently normal baby, but doesn't worry about [[HeroAntagonist Dib]], who actively tries to foil his plans.

* Subverted in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' when Patrick reacts to seeing snow for the first time with an eloquent burst of PurpleProse. When Spongebob compliments him, Patrick admits he was just reading the back of a candy bar wrapper.

* In ''Franchise/DragonBall'', Goku is one the most aloof characters in the story due to his mountain kid origins (he was well into his 30s when he realized he never needed a haircut like everyone else did). So it can be very surprising when he's able to remember that, say, taking a near-death Piccolo to safety is a high priority so that his other half Kami can live so that the Dragon Balls don't turn to stone so that they can wish everyone who died back to life (which is what's happening in the page quote). That said, half of these instances are about a fight, which is Goku's great passion in life, so cases like intentionally pushing Nappa's buttons or drawing Frieza into a battle of attrition come off more naturally.

* Issue #4 of the ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' comic series finds the characters facing a door that gives them a variation of the unanswered riddle ("Why is a pegasus like a writing desk?") from ''Literature/AliceInWonderland''. The others are unable to come up with a solution, but resident GenkiGirl and {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinkie Pie answers it correctly stating that she can't answer the riddle.
* Obelix in ''Comicbook/{{Asterix}}'' is TheFool, not bright, socially clueless, inattentive and usually displays what intelligence he possesses in the form of SimpleMindedWisdom rather than strategic thinking, but in ''Asterix and the Normans'' he's shown to be capable of logically tracking down Cacofonix (who has gone to the city convinced that he can become a pop star despite [[DreamCrushingHandicap having the most horrible singing voice imaginable]]), finding him, and convincing him that it is a terrible idea and that he needs to go back home without hurting his feelings.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* In [[Fanfic/Gensokyo20XX Gensokyo 20XXV]], we get this with Chen, when they are lost in the forest and the other children, save Reimu and Sakuya, are growing agitated when one of the former claiming to see something, who notes that Reimu is near-blind, mentally ill, and a heavy sleeper and couldn't have seen anything, not outside of dream or delirium, based on those factors.

* In ''WebVideo/ScreenRantPitchMeetings'', a screenwriter generally pitches a script full of plot holes, poorly thought-out story elements and other problems to a producer who either doesn't notice the flaws or doesn't care. At times, one or both of them will get smarter, usually when it's funny. For example, in the ''Film/JohnWick'' pitch meeting, the Producer, after hearing that [[TheDreaded John]] is known as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga Baba Yaga]]," does a little research and finds that it's the name of a deformed old woman, not merely a name for the boogeyman. Considering that the Producer usually lets more glaring problems pass with barely any comment, it's surprising that he thought to look up the namesake for John's nickname.

* Homestar Runner from ''[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner the show of the same name]]'' is, by default, dim. However, his intelligence is known to shoot up for the sake of RuleOfFunny. He once correctly stated Coulomb's law (although he was asked what 2+2 is), he is capable of speaking Spanish to some extent, he is the only one in Free Country to see through Bubs' disguise as the Thnikkaman, and he managed to trick Strong Bad into saying something stupid. Also, whenever he is in a scene with even bigger {{CloudCuckoolander}}s, he often could not help but look like the OnlySaneMan by comparison.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': Agasa catches this ball about three episodes into the series and promptly pockets it--going from what Conan himself described (to his face, no less) as "a self-proclaimed genius [who has] only invented junk" to the greatest GadgeteerGenius since [[Film/JamesBond Q Branch]], with no intervening development or explanation.