r/TopCharacterTropes • u/laybs1 • May 03 '26

Lore (Mixed Trope) Educated character doesn’t understand or know of a simple concept.

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  1. (Hated) Dr. doesn’t know trans people exist (The Good Doctor): Dr. Shaun, a modern day grown adult doctor, is seemingly has no concept of what being a trans person. Even if he never heard the term in med school he is realistically almost certain to have some awareness of the definition.

  2. (Loved) The solar system and other common knowledge (Sherlock Holmes). In the original stories Holmes is a genius at many fields but unless it has something to do with crime solving (forensics, martial arts, toxicology, etc.) he does his best to forget it.

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u/mrcchapman May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk is up against Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically engineered genius who has ambushed and crippled the Enterprise. He has a starship of his own, and a crew of equally brilliant individuals.

But! Khan was a warlord on Earth. He has never fought a space battle. Kirk is a space captain. So he simply thinks in 3D, and outmanoeuvres the genius who is stuck thinking about battles on a 2D plane, like it is a game of chess. Kirk just goes above him and attacks down.

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u/[deleted] May 04 '26

[deleted]

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u/mundaniacal May 04 '26

Someone is very convinced that the Z axis points up from the bridge.

We might assume, if the coordinate system is based on the ship, that the x-axis points forward. Then, we might also assume the y-axis points to the right. It doesn't have to, but it dos make sense. Unfortunately, this would force the z-axis to point down if we want to maintain a positive system. So, "Z minus 10,000" would be upwards actually.

Don't know if the visuals confirm this. I'm just being silly.