Forgot About His Powers: Difference between revisions

 

Compare [[Reed Richards Is Useless]], where a character with superhuman abilities or ridiculously advanced technology reserves it for equally advanced problems and never applies it to mundane difficulties.

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Blue Gender]]'' is one giant Wallbanger for many viewers because of this. Humanity knows The Blue can't swim or fly very well. (Hello there, aircraft carriers!) Humanity controls at least one giant orbiting space station. ([[Colony Drop]]!) Humanity also has literal Blue-detecting radar. And nukes. Does humanity use any of these advantages to fight the Blue? Nope! They'd rather take the Blue on in catastrophically designed, weaponless mechs.

 

* Nearly any situation should be easily solvable by [[The Flash]], [[Super Speed|since he can move hundreds and hundreds of times faster than anything else on earth.]] Yet he constantly forgets to use the full potential of his superpowers until it's time to end the story. Abilities the Flash consistently forgets he has: running faster than light, speed stealing, infinite mass punch, etc.

** ... and it gets worse. On one occasion the villains have destroyed a bridge. The Flash runs to a university, teaches himself civil engineering, rushes back to the site of the collapsing bridge, scavenges for parts and builds an entire new bridge to replace the old one, all in the blink of an eye. This trope is the only reason anyone is able to beat him.

* In ''[[Marvel Zombies]]'', the zombies are attacking Doctor Doom's castle and the Scarlet Witch is infected by the Punisher. Gee, Scarlet Witch, did it never occur to you you could just teleport him and the other zombies away like you did with Ash earlier? Or teleport Enchantress away earlier so Dazzler wouldn't be infected? It is also never explained why Doom didn't just kill Enchantress in the beginning {{spoiler|like he did later}}.

* [[Green Lantern]]s [[Green Lantern Ring|have been variously shown as being able to warp time, move faster than light, contain supernovas, fight toe to toe with Superman, alter their own DNA, read minds, find subatomic aliens]]... Scratch that, if it's a superpower of any sort any given GL has used it at least twice. Now here's the thing. There are creatures other than Gods that bother them. Funny huh? It's somewhat justified in their case as their power require willpower and concentration to make anything happen. A GL who is having a bad day, is unfocused or demoralized will be less effective and the GL's are essentially human without their rings (or at least the human ones are.) Plus, their rings require a periodic recharge and anything yellow or anyone whose fast enough or crafty enough to remove a ring is a threat. Still, the idiot plot is somewhat less excusable in the case of veterans like Hal Jordan (or really, any of the Earth based GL's these days) as he is both experienced, and extremely strong willed.

* Speaking of the [[Doctor Strange|Sorcerer Supreme]], he is repeatedly in situations where his virtually unlimited mystic abilities could resolve the plot, or at least make it much simpler. Alas, the good Doctor's imagination is often limited to that of those who write him.

 

== Fan Works ==

'''Spike''': Why didn't you just use your magic to float the food down to the animals?

'''Trixie''': ''([[Head Desk|slams her head into the side of the tub]])'' }}

 

== Films ==

* Used in a subtle and clever way in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Small Favor''. Harry has a small arsenal of magical tools on him (staff, shield bracelet, force rings, blasting rod, and various other odds-and-ends), and he has a wide range of spells he can draw from (bursts of flame, blasts of force, lighting bolts, wind, etc). Therefore, unless the reader is paying very close attention, they'll miss something important: Throughout the novel, Harry uses most of his gear and most of his spells, but {{spoiler|he doesn't use either fire magic or his blasting rod beyond the initial brawl in the first chapter}}. It isn't until later on that the reason becomes apparent: {{spoiler|Mab, queen of the Winter Court, took his blasting rod and put a lock in Harry's mind that kept him from using fire magic, so that the fire-based Summer Court couldn't track him down and kill him.}}

 

* Hiro Nakamura of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is one of the most powerful characters in the series with the ability to stop time and teleport; he's just too much of a dork to think of using it when he needs to defend himself. This was even given a nod in the series when his friend, Ando, deliberately antagonized a group of peeved gamblers, assuming Hiro would use his power to put them all down. Hiro, not comprehending the situation, was almost immediately KO'ed by a punch to the face.

** What about the time that Hiro and his friend have to find out what's in a safe, finally get it open, only to have the document stolen by a woman with super-speed powers? Hiro then spends several episodes trying to chase her so they can get the document back and see what it says. It never occurred to Hiro that he could have gone back yesterday and opened the safe and read the document before the thief stole it. He then could have replaced the document if he didn't want to cause a paradox or even replaced the document with a fake if he were really smart. This is also immediately after Hiro spent some time idly making time pass forward and backwards just to see a clocks hands move. So the speedster is so fast that, even when time is "stopped" she moves at normal speed. What about when time is rewinding?

** In any scene where there is a man-to-man on the ship/station, they could put the transporter to work, simply beaming the enemies into the brig or even just erasing their patterns without bothering to reconstitute them.

** Another ''Deep Space Nine'' example, in the second season finale (which introduced the Dominion formally, with the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta), a Vorta is able to use a powerful psychic telekinetic attack in combat and to escape from a holding cell. No mention of these abilities are ever made again, let alone actually used by a Vorta, even in situations where it could have been a huge advantage for them.

** Cloaking technology is a major source of tension, particularly between the Federation and the Romulon and Klingon Empires, who both use it extensively. The fact that the Federation could potentially counter the utility of cloaking devices by simply recruiting more members of [[Psychic Powers|telepathic]] races such as [[A Day in the Limelight|Betazoids]] into Starfleet seems to have somehow escaped their thought processes entirely.

* In ''[[Fringe]]'' an episode pertaining to a [[Bad Future|flash forward]] tries to portray Olivia Dunham as [[Future Badass|having mastered her abilities]] by showing off her telekinesis. Dunham, a generally already battle hardened cop with lightning reflexes and an inexplicable penchant for headshots (before any brainwashing) is confronted by Walternate, brandishing a gun, and is promptly shot in the face after [[Idiot Ball|failing to react]].

* The railroad ending options of ''[[Fallout 3]]'' have this trope in spades. {{spoiler|No matter what, someone has to die from radiation poisoning, either the player or an innocent secondary character. This is despite the fact that the player has three optional companions who are immune to radiation damage -- Fawkes (good players only), Charon (any player alignment), and Sergeant RL-3 (Neutral alignment). To add insult to injury, by this point in the game most players will have collected both a very high rad resistance through perks and a huge number of anti-radiation chems, and could probably stay in the chamber for weeks if necessary.}}

** ''Broken Steel'' changes the fate of the both the player character ''and'' Paladin Lyons to being [[Not Quite Dead]], no matter who went in and pressed the button. Also it allows you to send in one of your radiation-immune companions to activate the purifier instead.

** Though to reiterate, the fact that 4 of your companions should enter for you is explained away by it being "your destiny" or it not "being in their contract".

* In ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice both have methods of detecting when someone is lying. Phoenix only ever uses his outside of court, and Apollo only ever uses his inside court. Even then, they only show up in certain circumstances, not every single time someone lies.

* At one point in ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', the characters are disarmed and rendered helpless. Ayla can still fight with her fists, but Robo forgets about his inbuilt lasers, and the rest of the party forgets how to use MAGIC until they're rearmed.

** An almost identical occurrence happens in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]''. The party gets disarmed, and only Zell, who is a fist-fighter, can go and retrieve the other members' equipment, never mind the godlike power their GFs can unleash...

** He tried it against Saber at the beginning of the game. It didn't work because her Luck stat was too high. (Considering that, the only ones his skill would work against are Archer, Rider, {{spoiler|True Assassin}} and {{spoiler|Dark Saber}}.) And he clearly beat Archer in UBW with the stronger version of it but didn't finish him.

** {{spoiler|Gilgamesh}} is of course the king of this trope, but it's justified due to his ''massive'' [[Pride]]: He just never considers anyone 'worthy' of going all out on.

* How many times can the dragon [[Spyro the Dragon]] ''forget he can breathe flames'' at the start of a new game in his series?

* ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' plays with this one in places throughout the game, but the most glaringly obvious and stupid one is when [[Action Girl|Alicia]] comes to [[The Hero|Welkin]], distraught and nearly in tears over {{spoiler|her Valkyria powers and the huge responsibility that's been dumped on her}}, seeking his help. Welkin, despite being a genius and in love with her, chooses this moment to casually ignore Alicia, and she runs off fighting tears because obviously if Welkin doesn't sympathize with her problems, she's just whining. The only reason he does this is to set the next major scene, when Alicia {{spoiler|tries to kill herself because Welkin wouldn't acknowledge her pain and he rushes in for the last-second [[Cooldown Hug]].}}

* ''[[Daikatana]]'': "You can't attack me, this is the same sword from two different parts of time and will destroy the universe!" "Damn, if only I had some other weapons on me..."

* During the climax scene of ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'', Sveta briefly forgets she's an Adept and [[Lampshade Hanging|has to be prompted to use her powers]] by Tyrell.

 

* From the ''[[Ciem Webcomic Series]]'': Candi figures out the ''first time'' that pregnancy is her greatest weakness. Unable to control herself around Donte, she stock up on condoms...that she [[Forgotten Phlebotinum|conveniently forgets she has]]. If it didn't make her feel even worse, she could consider [[A Date with Rosie Palms|an alternative]] to dealing with her out-of-control appetite, since she already knows how. Instead, she continues to put all her loved ones in danger, and [[Making Love in All the Wrong Places|not always in the safety of her house]]. [[All Women Are Lustful|Getting the urge]] seems to [[The Dark Side Will Make You Forget|rob her of the ability]] to be mindful of her powers, not to mention what their greatest weakness is.

* ''[[Magick Chicks]]''. Of all the time and misadventures we have seen or heard of, Faith used her [[Aura Vision]]... grand total of 1 ''(one)'' time. Yes, she ''is'' an [[Smug Super|arrogant overpowered moron]], but it's not like she otherwise didn't use any abilities other than that touch-ranged telepathic charm helping to drag new bodies into her bed.

* ''ARG!'' "[http://iamarg.com/2012/07/23/deepspacenine/ Deep Space Nine]" comic shows "how to solve 50% of the problems in [[Star Trek]]".

 

* In ''Pooh's Adventures'', if Pooh has ''anyone'' with superpowers, expect them to forget about those when the time is right.

* [http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=7174 Here]'s a rant from [[Peter Watts]] on how both themselves and everyone else in ''[[X-Men]]'' universe (spoiler warning) periodically forgets that hey, those guys and gals have ''powers'', for the sake of a [[Space Whale Aesop]], contriving Yet Another [[Idiot Plot]].

 

* When's the last time [[Daffy Duck]] flew under his own power?

** This was lampshaded in the short ''The Million Hare'', as [[Bugs Bunny]] witnesses Daffy plunging off a cliff, which was recycled so John Madden could make the same observation in ''Big Game XXIX''.

* This seems to be a staple of ''[[Drawn Together]]'', especially in regards to Captain Hero, who takes this to [[The Ditz]] levels. More often than not though, he is just [[Sociopathic Hero]].

* In the ''Mighty Hercules'' cartoon series of the 1960's, Hercules had a magic ring that would endow him "with the strength of ten ordinary men" (according to his theme song). Along with invulnerability and superhuman reflexes. In each episode, Hercules would go to fight the episode's monster and get the snot beaten out of him. And then he would remember he has the ring.

** The Winx get backed off a cliff in the Omega Dimension in season three. No explanation is given for why they don't use their wings.

** There's also an episode in the first season (towards the end) where the girls go to Domino/Sparx. At the end of the first part (it's a two-part episode), Bloom, who's currently powerless, is about to fall into a chasm. Stella was transformed at this time and could've easily flown over and grabbed Bloom, yet she didn't!

** To be fair, the only Jedi we've seen lift a spaceship is Yoda. Who was a) the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and one of the three most powerful Force-users alive b) doing so only with lengthy concentration and in a non-combat situation and c) doing it to a very small spaceship (specifically, an X-wing fighter).

* Some of ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' sequels have this problem, neglecting the fact that Petrie can fly.

* The 70s ''[[The Fantastic Four (animation)|The Fantastic Four]]'' series had [[Magneto]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5-JVvCrGC8 unable to use his magnetic powers against a (fake wooden) gun]. He suddenly concludes that his powers are gone. This is stupid enough itself, but he fails to use them even after being told it was a trick and the cops are arresting him. ''Cops with real guns, handcuffs and police cars.''

** This happens basically anytime the plot requires her to be threatened by some impending doom. It is occasionally justified by her being under a great deal or stress at the time, such as a later example where she is blocked by a simple locked gate.

** In Twilight's case its actually a known character trait; she does amazingly well with prepared situations and responses but ''sucks'' at improvising, and sucks doubly hard at improvising under fire.

** The danger room instance isn't an example, it's a case of her not being able to sustain her intangibility for long enough.

** Wolwerine suffers from this as he is constantly surprised by people sneaking up on him even through he can smell people from distance.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]

[[Category:The Plot Demanded This Index]]

[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]