Full Potential Upgrade

A character is powerful. So powerful that his current weapon just won't do the job.

Whether it's because he's so powerful that he breaks the weapons he uses, or a normal weapon simply won't allow him to fight to his full potential, the result is the same: That character must seek out a weapon capable of surviving his use.

Typically this will be a Named Weapons, often a magically enhanced blade of some kind or otherwise created out of some rare material. Almost as often this weapon will need to be crafted specifically for the character's use. The first use of this new weapon is almost always a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

This trope does not apply to when a weapon needs an upgrade to fight the Big Bad, but rather is specific to when a hero needs the upgrade to keep up with his own increases in power. Compare Evolving Weapon, which may either be a solution to this situation or prevent it from ever occurring. Contrast Amplifier Artifact, which empowers an ability beyond the character's capabilities.

Can sometimes follow an instance of So Last Season, when the original weapon or equipment is shown to be ineffective against the next stages of the Sorting Algorithm of Evil.

Not to be confused with Time to Unlock More True Potential.

Anime & Manga

 * A filler episode of One Piece shows Roronoa Zoro was plagued by this problem, with his second and third swords constantly breaking in battle, before getting his Named Weapons Yubashiri and Kitetsu III.
 * Yoshika encountered this in episode 8 of Strike Witches' second season. She began to have problems flying and there seemed to be nothing wrong with either her body or her Striker unit. The episode ends with the explanation that Yoshika's power had grown to the point her Striker unit couldn't handle what she was putting into it. Fortunately, a new Striker invented by her father was capable of handling her higher output and allowed her to fight better than ever.
 * Mio is possibly an inversion. Her powers were growing weaker, but she managed to upgrade to a Striker Unit that let her maximize what she still had.
 * Haru Glory of Rave Master inherited his Ten Commandments sword from Shiba when he became the second Rave Master. Towards the end of the series, we learn that, because the sword was created for Shiba's use, Shiba alone could wield it properly.
 * The RX 78-2 mobile suit from Mobile Suit Gundam had to be upgraded multiple times because Amuro was thinking and attempting to make it move faster than even the best Federation suit could handle. Most notably is the magnetic coating that was applied to the joints, reducing friction and increasing movement speed by roughly 33%.
 * Gundam0080 shows that the Federation was aware of Amuro's issues, and near the end had built him a customized Gundam (the RX-78-2NT "Alex") that would have been able to solidly keep up with his Newtype abilities. Unfortunately, it's destroyed before he gets it.
 * In Gundam Wing, Zechs Merquise obtains the mothballed Super Prototype Tallgeese because he hopes its insane performance can match the Gundams. In his early test flights, he suffers broken ribs and a heart attack from its murderous acceleration. About 3/4 of the way through the series, however, he finds that Tallgeese can't keep up with his own skills anymore, and self destructs it to distract OZ so he can steal Wing Gundam Zero (which he later trades with Heero for Gundam Epyon).
 * Gundam AGE has Zeheart Galette, whose X-Rounder abilities are so great that even the Zedas R cannot keep up with him. It's not until he gets both a mask that focuses his powers and a state-of-the-art prototype (the Zeydra) that he's able to fully bring out his abilities.
 * Goemon from Lupin III kept breaking his swords when he first developed his insane cut-through-anything technique, the Lupin III page makes mention of his Zantetsuken, so it's implied he did indeed get a better sword.
 * In Berserk, Guts needs to upgrade to the Dragon Slayer to fight Apostles without breaking his sword (which is only possible because he has the inhuman strength to cut through said enemies in the first place.)
 * In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, after Subaru, Shari upgraded her Intelligent Device to be able to handle her increased speed and power.
 * Also, after A's, the TSAB technicians were having enormous trouble creating a Device to handle Hayate's insane power output (she kept breaking all of them), so in the end she had to create one on her own.
 * In Ronin Warriors, when Ryo receives the Inferno Armor, he doesn't get the weapons to go with it. Instead, he has to use the twin katanas that come equipped with his normal Wildfire Armor, which can't handle the strain of Inferno Armor's special attack. After nearly destroying the Wildfire swords, a mini-arc is dedicated to finding the Swords of Fervor, which Ryo uses with the Inferno Armor. He does repair his original swords shortly after.
 * In Air Gear, the people that can perform godlike feats with their roller skates need constant repair for the wheeled equipment. So much that there is an arc about "Parts Wars", a coven of Wrench Wenchs, and Regalia: skates that work so well with a type of user that they share the same class of equipment as huge mechs and cybernetic prosthetics. People have risked their lives to get their hands on a regalia and more so to keep phenomenally skilled enemies from putting them on and reaching new levels of unlocked potential.
 * Zeke from Zoids: Chaotic Century has this as an ability; he can give a Full Potential Upgrade to a zoid to keep it from holding its pilot back when said pilot goes beyond the level that even an organoid-boosted zoid can handle.

Literature

 * Wands and Wizards in the Harry Potter universe have to be precisely matched up largely for this reason. Using another wizard's wand or a hand-me-down is far less effective than using one properly matched. An exception to this is a wand forcibly taken without the consent of their current owner, such as being Disarmed during a duel. As explained by wandmaker Ollivander, a captured wand will generally shift its allegiance.
 * A variant in The Inheritance Cycle. Eragon learned to fight with an unbreakable sword. As a result he has a bad habit of blocking attacks with the edge of the blade rather than the flat, which leads to him quickly ruining any normal weapon.

Live Action TV

 * Early in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the heroes' original weapons are broken, and all the replacements they have are too old to be of any use, so the heroes have to go on a quest to find a set of legendary weapons.
 * Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue inverts this: the Titanium morpheme is too powerful for regular humans. Not clear how Ryan was able to handle it.

Mythology

 * Cú Chullain's strength was such that any normal weapon shattered from the force of his swings. He had to get a Full Potential Upgrade for his chariot for similar reasons.

Video Games

 * In Custom Robo Arena, your first robo, the Ray mk II, supposedly gets worn out by your high mental energy (although this has no in-game effect, other than the fact that it is replaced by the Ray mk III). Also, Stark, the Old Master, has to use a special military Robo to fight at his full potential.
 * In Warcraft lore, Deathwing experienced this with his own body. The amount of power he wielded following the creation of the Demon Soul risked literally tearing him apart. He had the goblins under his command create and weld metal plates to his body to hold it together.
 * As of World of Warcaft: Cataclysm, he had to do it again by replacing his old adamantite plating with elementium, as shown in the expansion's cinematic.
 * Karura of Utawarerumono is so strong that she can tear enemies in half with her fingernails. She requested a weapon that always stays sharp and that can never break or bend. The resulting weapon is so big and heavy that it takes quite a few men to carry it. Karura just picks it up with one hand.
 * In some continuities, this applies to Sonic the Hedgehog. His shoes had to be created specially with power rings because he burns out the soles of regular shoes while running.