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• Zefram Cochrane from Star Trek: First Contact. Inventor of warp drive, but also a heavy drinker.
  • He was drinking to forget a major nuclear war he'd witnessed recently, and he cleaned up as soon as his invention became successful. Hardly counts.

Since this is a debated example, I'm putting it here for now.

As a note, in the novelization of the movie, Cochrane is specifically stated to have been born with a genetic fault that causes mental problems. At the time they didn't have genetic repair ability for it, so he got an implant. It ran out about a year after the war. After that, he swung between spells of intense activity and brilliance and crashing with massive depression and misery. The alcoholism was effectively attempted self-medicating. Crusher fixed the gene before the Enterprise left.

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• Arguably, Otacon in his first appearance in Metal Gear Solid. The man's brilliant with technology, but social interaction and judging the motives of other people are not his strong points.
  • This is played Up To Eleven in The Last Days Of Foxhound, where Otacon is brilliant but has the innocence and naivete of a child in a world where everyone else is a sociopath or a Manipulative Bastard. It doesn't end well. Mei Ling is similarly played like a engineering genius with the mind of a giggly teenage Genki Girl, but in her case it doesn't lead to anything but mild annoyance from the main characters

Since I'm not familiar with the series, could those who are tell if Otacon is an example or not, please?

Edited by 97.113.40.120 Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett

Cut this:

* Truth in Television: well, for these three anyhow - Rachel Uchitel, Bronagh Waugh and Claire Cooper (the last two are from Hollyoaks)

Because it's not a clear example. In what way do these three women qualify for this trope? And why is Uchitel listed with the other two?

mutsumi otohime in love hina who is ditzy but very smart!!!

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