Deus Exit Machina: Difference between revisions

** In the Land of Waves Arc, Naruto oversleeps, then arrives late to the battle against Zabuza and Haku because he has to save Inari and Tsunami from Gato's thugs. He defeated the goons in about 5 seconds.

** Jiraiya was busy flirting with a woman while Itachi and Kisame appeared to capture Naruto. He returns just in time to scare away those two.

* In ''[[Slayers]]'', the ridiculously powerful Xellos always seems to disappear at the most inconvenient times...or, even worse, is deliberately unhelpful. This is initially justified by his apparently flighty and unreliable personality, and later even more justified by the revelation that {{spoiler|he is actually a very loyal and reliable agent...''to the other side''. Likewise he can only be as helpful as he wishes as long as he doesn't arouse suspicion.}}

** That and Xellos just really enjoys dicking people around.

** Buffy runs away from her friends and mother after having to kill her lover. They manage to hold down the fort, though not nearly as well without Buffy. Some spend an entire summer wishing she was back or actively trying to find her.

** In Season Eight, during the first arc, evil witch Amy traps Buffy in a nightmare while she attacks the Scooby Gang's new castle HQ with an army of zombies. {{spoiler|They are saved by [[Deus Ex Machina|Willow]]. However, this was Amy's plan; she is able to capture Willow for her boyfriend, who wanted revenge on Dark Willow almost killing him, and also to lure Buffy into the grasp of the [[General Ripper]] hunting her. However, Amy's plan backfires when Buffy is able to use what in the dream Amy trapped her in to defeat Amy}}.

*** That one may have an in-universe explanation; {{spoiler|Giles}} was the one giving Buffy the stuff that took her powers away, and for the Cruciamentum to work, Buffy had to do it alone without another slayer to help her. [[Fridge Logic]] would suggest that it was {{spoiler|him}} who sent Faith away in the first place, probably on a wild-goose chase, and just didn't tell Buffy. It still counts as this trope, but the Council needed Faith out of the way just as much as the writers did.

* Rare [[Sixth Ranger|Sixth Rangers]] in ''[[Power Rangers]]'' who don't suffer depowering courtesy of [[Good Is Dumb]] get saddled with this instead, with the exception of the even-rarer [[Ineffectual Loner]] Ranger. This is usually the case with team additions who start out evil; once they turn good, excuses are made for them not to be on the field of battle rather than run the risk of suffering [[Badass Decay]]. These excuses can go as far as half-season absences while they're off researching enemy motives, to as little as being so constantly late they couldn't hold a proper job if they ever tried to get one.