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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Now why didn't he do that before? Did he forget he can do that?"''
|'''Joel''' on [[Gamera]], ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''}}
{{quote|''"I wonder if that [[Daffy Duck|silly duck'll]] remember that he can fly."''
(''THUD!'')
''"Guess not."''
|[[Bugs Bunny]], ''The Million Hare''}}
When a character has the [[Idiot Ball]] slipped into their pocket while they weren't looking, causing them to forget to properly use their abilities, intelligence, or powers to stop a bad guy or get out of a situation, even though they may have used the ability in similar situations before (often many times). This happens often with [[superhero]]es and within the filler episode of [[
This is used quite a bit when characters have extremely useful or increasingly powerful abilities or equipment, and [[Quickly-Demoted Woman|some unfortunates]] tend to have this inflicted on them ''all the time'', turning a [[Genius Bruiser]] or [[Badass Bookworm]] into a garden-variety [[The Big Guy|Bruiser]] or [[Badass]]. Only some lines of technological jargon or displays of useless gadgetry will remind the reader that they have more brains than they normally use. Some might consider this a form of [[Informed Ability]], with the "ability" being genius-level intelligence.
[[Amnesia Danger]] is a variant of this trope, when it's justified using [[Easy Amnesia|convenient amnesia]]. The heroic version of [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?]], except while at least villains don't have to answer to their actions, heroes should be obligated to stop evil-doers or disasters as quickly and efficiently as possible.
See [[Fridge Logic]] for when it occurs to the viewers a little later what the character could've/should've easily done. See [[Remembered I Could Fly]] when it occurs to the character [[Just in Time]] what he should've done long before.
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Very often happens with information-gathering abilities. [[Plot-Sensitive Snooping Skills]] is a particular variant when it meets consistent [[Selective Obliviousness]].
As mentioned, this is a sister trope to [[Idiot Ball]], the distinction being that [[Idiot Ball]] is when a character does something stupid to further the [[Plot]], while with '''Forgot About His Powers''' the plot depends on a character ''failing'' to take an action they would normally take or that would make the most sense to solve the current crisis.
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}}▼
{{Forgetfulness Tropes}}
== Anime & Manga ==▼
▲{{examples}}
* Usagi often used her disguise pen in the first season of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' to get into areas where access was forbidden otherwise. In later seasons, it was completely forgotten... except for one odd season three episode when Minako borrowed Usagi's pen to act as an [[Identity Impersonator]] for Sailor Moon. Note that Minako actually had ''her own'' disguise compact in the ''Codename Wa Sailor V'' manga and in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga, although the fact that it was never shown in the anime may mean it simply doesn't exist in this continuity. Additionally, in the manga, both Usagi and Minako have devices (a mask and a compact respectively) that can reveal the disguised enemies' true forms; these conveniently get forgotten when it comes to fighting Witches 5 or the Dead Moon Circus, who ''do'' disguise themselves as normal people in areas that are ''known'' to have connection to the enemies...
** In the first episode we see that she has super hearing through the gems in her hair and we never get to see her use them again ... ever.
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* This happens countless times with Tsuzuki from ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]''. Even though he's supposed to be one of the most powerful [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|ancient Gods of Death]], he is rendered completely helpless when [[Stalker with a Crush|Muraki]] is around. He's not even able to throw a decent punch at the guy, and is made into a whining and crying wimp in his presence just for plot's sake. Example: Muraki is flying away on a helicopter, and Tsuzuki forgets that he can always summon or cast a spell that could blow the helicopter down. Stupid or... has a self destructive streak [[Death Seeker|TEN MILES HIGH.]]
* Along with [[Heroic Second Wind]], this is probably the ''#1'' reason anyone gets beaten in ''[[Bleach]]''. Bad guys fighting the main heroes, or the [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|Shinigami]], will usually get killed because they suddenly ''forget'' that with the several seconds of warning they receive from their screaming opponents, they could have just [[Flash Step]]ped out of the way. It gets just plain ridiculous in the anime version because all fights take several times longer. The only time this is seemingly avoided is when Soifon decides to stop wasting time [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] and just [[One Hit KO|Two hit KO]] her opponent with a [[Flash Step]] attack while he's doing his power up sequence.
** Probably the most blatant example of this is when Kenpachi fights Tousen. Tousen uses his bankai and then proceeds to lecture Kenpachi about his worldview/how his victory is assured because of his abilities/how his abilities work/etc. rather than finish the fight giving Kenpachi enough time to figure out a winning strategy. Now that sounds pretty standard and while dumb, isn't egregious, until you remember that Tousen's bankai [[What an Idiot!|removes all of Kenpachi's senses including sight and hearing, rendering him completely ignorant to the fact that he's getting a lecture in the first place, never mind hearing or comprehending it]].
** Orihime has a spectacular example in the Bount filler arc. One of the Bounts manages to control Rukia. [[Actual Pacifist|Orihime]] subsequently panics and spends a whole episode angsting, then eventually removes the control with her healing powers. The sad thing is that near the start of the show she had done almost exactly the same thing when Tatsuki was controlled by a hollow.
** There are several characters in the show that ''[[Invoked Trope|intentionally]]'' do this; usually it's because they either don't want any additional responsibility (for example, openly displaying that they released a Bankai would be basically a near-instant promotion) or because it doesn't fit their style (such as a pure-physical fighter having a Kido-based release, or a stealthy assassin's Bankai basically being a ''gigantic, tactical nuclear missile'').
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* Happens all the time in ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]''. The Team Rocket trio manages to capture Pikachu (and ONLY Pikachu) nearly once per episode, and Ash forgets half of the time that he has FIVE OTHER POKEMON that he could use to just blast Team Rocket's balloon halfway to Jupiter.
** The fact that they're ''never able to recognize them'' even when they're all wearing a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] is also an example of this. A talking Meowth and hair like Jessie's apparently is easy to forget.
** In ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions|Pokémon Zoroark Master of Illusions]]'', Ash forgets that he has arguably the strongest team he's ever had in a movie. Aside from one instance with Infernape in the beginning and Pikachu in general, he never uses any of them. The sheer raw power they packed would have made a huge difference against Kodai.
** In the third episode of the ''Best Wishes'' series, there is a scene with a group of Pokémon stranded on a disintegrating island in the middle of a lake of boiling water. Some of these Pokémon are Flying-types. They're birds that remember they can fly when they are persuaded to cross a bridge the heroes make so that they can get to safety and that then proceed to FLY AWAY.
** In the same episode, he almost orders Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on a grounded Sandile, who has Iris' Axew in its mouth. The only thing that stops him from going through with this plan is Iris reminding him that the attack would hurt Axew, not the fact that the Ground-type Sandile is outright immune to electricity. Sometimes, when actually remembers them, the kid forgets ''how'' to properly use his powers.
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* ''[[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.
** Lampshaded in an episode of ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League Unlimited]]'', since it's revealed that while the Flash can do all these things and more, he doesn't phase through things because it's fairly dangerous, and he can't approach his upper limits because the plot says it would kill him. Luthor, on the other hand, isn't so worried about it when his [[Freaky Friday Flip|mind ends up in Flash's body]].
** It becomes even more ridiculous given the fact that at one point the Flash was [[The Flash/Awesome|able to (within a small fraction of a second) save a city from nuclear annihilation by carrying its half a million person population to a hill miles away one person at a time.]] And yet Central City's banks still get robbed on his watch.
** In the 4 issue alternate universe DC tale, ''[[Kingdom Come]]'', The Flash does become an unstoppable one man war on crime, where he never slows down and has made Keystone City a crime-less utopia.
** To the point where he moves so fast, not only can he run through the air, he simultaneously exists in the physical and metaphysical planes.
* Most of the above points also apply to other speedsters in the DCU. Heck, to most comic book speedsters, period.
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** Superman has a particular aversion to dodging because if he ducks, whatever misses him will hit something else in the surrounding landscape. Since most supervillains only shoot things at Superman that they hope will actually damage him, that means Superman ''really doesn't want'' that kind of mega-firepower hitting anything else in the landscape.
* Marvel's Vision has occasionally fallen victim to similar attacks (though it's rarer). In one issue of ''What If?'', he was killed by a parasitic alien vine that grew into his bodily systems. A fan wrote in to ask what was up; the editors [[Ascended Fanon|eagerly latched onto his suggestion]] that "the plant in question isn't entirely tangible itself, and that's why the villain used it".
** An ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]]'' comic had [[The Vision]], along with [[The Mighty Thor]] and [[Iron Man]], taken out by ''knockout gas''. Hmm, a [[Physical God]] who can control winds, an unbreathing android, and a guy in a sealed combat suit? No problem. The criminal masterminds who took them out so easily?... Well, [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/trogs1.htm you've got to see this one for yourself].
* ''The Essential [[Silver Surfer]]'' is ''full'' of this. When he meets a scientist who invents a device that might let him leave Earth but needs money to make it, the Surfer decides to ''get a job''. He can't (because [[Undead Tax Exemption|he doesn't have a Social Security number, he's not in the union,]] and he's funny-looking) so almost robs a bank in desperation, forgetting ''he can manipulate matter'' and could just make the scientist's gear for him. He spends about eight comics looking for someone who won't hate him for being "a silver-skinned freak" before he remembers that the [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]] were quite friendly... need I go on?
* 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.
* The chronic and widespread amnesia over the Iron Queen's [[Magitek]] is one of the main causes of the [[Idiot Plot]] that is The Iron Dominion Saga of ''[[
* 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.
** This
== Fan Works ==
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'''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 ==
* The Mobile Infantry in ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'' have rifles that come with underbarrel shotguns and nuclear rocket launchers, yet they seem to rely almost entirely on their rifles' regular firing mode—even when faced with instances where such weapons would be most effective, such as close combat with the Bugs or when facing a horde of thousands of bunched-together aliens charging their fixed positions.
* In ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]'', Gaston has a reputation of an expert marksman. In his [[Villain Song]], he demonstrates his skill by twirling his blunderbuss and shooting it three times in rapid succession, and in an earlier scene, proves he can use it with pinpoint accuracy while hunting birds. Oddly, for some reason he doesn't bring it for the [[Final Battle]], opting to use a bow and arrow while confronting Beast. Naturally, it doesn't end well for him.
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Return of the King]]'', Gandalf rescues Faramir and his retreating troops by using his staff to shine a bright light at the Nazgûl, which scares them away. One might wonder how come he doesn't do that every other time the Nazgûl are around...
** Commented by several cast members on the audio commentary. [[Ian McKellen]] mentions bringing the trope up to [[Peter Jackson]], who shrugged and told him he used up all the batteries when he saved Faramir, and the shops in Minas Tirith were all out.
** This is probably the reason why, in the extended edition, Peter Jackson had the Witch-king destroy Gandalf's staff shortly afterwards; something that could not have happened in the book.
** This happens in the book, as well. The narrator's explanation implies that this was essentially a battle of wills, and the Nazgûl backed down because it wasn't the time yet to challenge Gandalf in all out battle—their leader wasn't present and they didn't have an army behind them, and their quarry wasn't that significant at this point. Basically, Gandalf intimidated them to leave, but they could have chosen to resist if they had a good enough reason. It's possible to speculate that this beam of light had approximately the same strength as a stream of running water, which the Nazgûl also fear, but can overcome if they really must.
*** And by "this happens in the book as well" it means the face-off happened but nothing as egregious as Gandalf's staff exploding.
* In ''[[The Neverending Story (film)|The Neverending Story]] 2'' Bastian has to save Fantasia with the help of the Auryn, which can grant him any wish he wants. He never thinks to wish for weapons, or an army, or even that [[Deus Ex Machina|Fantasia just be saved]]. Instead he wishes for things like a can of spray paint and individual steps to climb a huge cliff. And he only has a limited number of wishes before running out of memories (each wish removes a memory).
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels retroactively introduce this trope to the original trilogy by establishing that R2-D2 has the ability to fly and torch his opponents, something he never does in the original trilogy even though it would have been useful to do so.
** [[Word of God]] has it that R2's rocket boosters broke at some point in the intervening years, and Industrial Automaton (the company that makes R2 units) no longer manufactures that part.
* Everyone who isn't a part of the Fire Nation suffers from this in ''[[The Last Airbender]]''. Unlike [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|the series]], Firebenders (who aren't masters) need an available source of fire in order to bend it. This is all well and good, except none of the other characters ever ''put them out!'' Taken to truly ridiculous extremes when several Firebenders are literally bending from a single source they could not conceivably protect.
** The Fire Nation imprisonment of the Eath-benders. In the show it was completely justified as they were on a metallic platform in the middle of the ocean. In the movie, they're at a mine. As in, surrounded by dirt and rocks. And they outnumber their Fire Nation guards by a minimum of a dozen to one. The very weak "their spirits are broken" excuse is washed away by a speech that boils down to "You're Earth-benders. You're completely surrounded by dirt and rocks. DO SOMETHING." They effectively imprisoned a bunch of soldiers, made them use their loaded guns to dig holes, and the soldiers never thought to shoot.
== Literature ==
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* 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?
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** 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.
** The variable effectiveness of phasers is a common plot hole in ''[[Star Trek]]'', especially the later series. In the ''[[Star Trek: The
** 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]].
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== Video Games ==
* 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.
** Phoenix's Magatama lets the holder see "when a person they are talking too is locking something in their heart". Someone can lie yet said person could not consider the lie too be of emotional value too them, so they don't have said lie in their heart. Thus no locks would appear. Plus it's implied very strongly that in order for the magatama to pick up a lie, Phoenix must directly ask that person the question they are lying too. So someone can lie casually and it won't pick it up. Phoenix has too directly ask that person a question (such as "Are you the person who killed Ms. Victim?") in order for the magatama to pick up if the witness is lying or not. Also Pearls tells Phoenix that his Magatama only works "When he's going up one on one with someone". So it won't work in court because Phoenix is up against the prosecution as well as the witness. In terms of Apollo Bracelet, once again it's NOT a lie detector (I get a little annoyed when people call the magatama and bracelet lie detectors). It's something that lets Apollo know when a witness is acting nervous, so sometimes a someone will lie yet they won't cause his bracelet too react because they are not having a habit play up. Plus I'm sure the bracelet, while not used properly outside trials, does react sometimes too witnesses nervousness; such as when Apollo try talking to Machi, a foreigner, only for him too give up when he gets no reaction; {{spoiler|His bracelet reacts when he talks to Trucy about how he does not speak English. Hinting too Apollo that maybe he does understand what they are saying}}.
* 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...
* Lancer in ''[[Fate/stay night
** 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]].}}
* In ''[[God of War
* The [[Silver Surfer (video game)|''Silver Surfer''
* ''[[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.
* Admit it, ''you'' have done this, probably more than once, if you play modern video games. Think about it. How many times has your character been killed because of an enemy or obstacle you could have gotten past with an item that was in your inventory? This phenomenon was analyzed by [[Ben Croshaw]] (in his "Yahtzee" pseudonym) while reviewing ''[[Mercenaries|Mercenaries 2]]:
{{quote|'''Yahtzee:''' There's an insidious thought that frequently goes through the minds of gamers [...] that goes, "But I might need it later" — the niggling little doubt that prevents you from using all your most powerful insurance policies in case there's some kind of no-claims bonus at the end of it all. So we have scenarios where you're sitting on a nuclear stockpile to shame North Korea and are throwing peas at a giant robot crab on the off-chance that there might be a bigger giant robot crab just around the corner.}}
▲== [[Web Comics]] ==
* 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.
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' with ether sight
* ''[[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''.
{{quote|'''Bugs:''' I wonder if Daffy will remember that he can fly." ''(crash)'' "Nope, I guess not.
'''Madden:''' That's a good observation by Bugs. Why isn't Daffy using his God-given abilities? }}
** Similarly, in ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]'', Daffy feels he's helpless and wishes that Duck Dodgers was there to save the day. Then he remembers that ''he'''s Duck Dodgers.
* To move the [[Idiot Plot]] of a typical episode of ''[[The Fairly
** Also lampshaded in "Nectar of the Odds": Timmy unsuccessfully tries to make his lemonade taste better using cheese, taco sauce, peas, and chocolate laxatives. While Timmy goes to the bathroom (after trying the laxatives), Wanda wonders why he doesn't just ''wish'' for sweeter lemonade.
** In Timmy's defense, every single attempt he ever made at simply wishing the plot of the week to be magically resolved was always blocked by some arcane and obscure magic rule that would forbid magic from undoing his previous stupid wish. "Not Using Magic to Break True Love" came up a lot in this regard. By this point, Timmy may simply be assuming that wishing things back to normal will bring up the freaking rulebook, so he's saving himself the aggravation and solving things the hard way from the start.
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** '''All''' of ''Superfriends'' was made of this trope. It was parodied openly in a sketch on ''[[The State]]'', Superman orders the other heroes to basically cleanup duty and then says "I'll stop the missiles... ''all by myself!''" And then grabs his crotch with a smug look on his face.
* In ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', Raven is easily the most overpowered of the five, which is made glaringly obvious in season 4 (though one could [[Fan Wank]] this as her emotional state boosting her powers for the duration, given what was happening). As such, PIS is the only way to keep the entire team necessary. Raven often conveniently forgets that she can fly, teleport, and become intangible in situations where those powers would be highly useful. She also rarely uses her telekinesis to restrain opponents or hurl them away from the scene of a battle, rather than just tossing debris at them. She's done it before, to both allies and enemies, so it's not an issue of being unable. There's only one episode where she concentrates and simply ''cuts'' the baddie's armour with her power. ''One''.
** It's especially jarring in that several times she's proven to be much more powerful than the entire Green Lantern Corp put together. Let's see some one-off-powers: she slices her way though a horde of robots, she can toss bad guys around with dark energy talons (not even directly controlling them; taking the having to put her soul into the object argument out of the equation), can become completely intangible for long periods of time and still use her powers, removed a bad guy from his gear and armor, mentally scarred Dr. Light, and at one point, arguably, becomes a [[Reality Warper]]. She essentially spends the entire series forgetting about her powers. After the watching the [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] she gives Slade in The Prophesy it's hard to watch her hold back/forget her powers so much.
** She states she has to "put a bit of herself" in everything she moves or uses her powers on while her powers are active. It's possible it's harder to do this on living things, especially hostile living things in the middle of a battle, then it is to do it to inanimate objects.
* No matter how many missions the characters in ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' go on, they always seem to forget that, first and foremost, while on Lyoko one cannot die from lasers and swords, they can only be devirtualized. They will also forget their most important abilities at the worst times. For example, Aelita could use her Creativity power to create terrain barriers around herself, but even in dangerous situations where she has enough time, she quite often forgets that she can do this. She is the most obvious offender, but the others are often guilty as well.
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* 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.
* Cheetara from
* Apparently Bloom forgot about her healing powers in the 24th episode of the fourth season of ''[[Winx Club]]'',
** 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!
* ''[[Star Wars: The
** 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).
* Parodied
* In one episode of ''[[Spider-Man: The
* 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.''
* ''[[My Little Pony:
** 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.
* This happens to a number of characters in ''[[X-Men:
** 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.
* ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'':
** Skeletor suffers from this a lot in both versions of the series. One big example was Faker. In the episode "The Shaping Staff" he somehow creates Faker out of thin air, Faker being a fully sapient duplicate of He-Man. One has to wonder why he never considered using such magic to create a whole army of evil clones if it was that easy to do so.
** In the 2002 series, the Snake Men retake Snake Mountain in all of five minutes, with Snake-Face using his powers to turn Skeletor's henchmen into stone with his gaze. However, when the Snake Men storm Greyskull later, Snake-Face, for some unfathomable reason, delays using this lethal ability until he goes up against He-Man, choosing to fight Mekanek with [[Good Old Fisticuffs]]. Say what? To drive home the point on how absurd this was, the comic book adaptation changed it, and he ''did'' use his gaze on Mek; fortunately, in this case, when [[Hoist by His Own Petard|his gaze was reflected back]] on him by He-Man and he got a taste of his own medicine, [[No Ontological Inertia|the effect on his victims wore off.]]
* In one episode of ''[[Sonic X]]'' where the setting is a jungle, Eggman tells Decoe and Becoe to go look for something to eat; both are reluctant to do so, as they’re afraid of the wildlife, and ask why Bokkun can’t do it. Eggman has to remind them that ''they'', unlike Bokkun and himself, are robots (as in, made of metal), and predators would not attack anything that is obviously inedible.
* This is lampooned in one episode of ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]''. With Dojo has been striken by madness that strikes him every 600 years, he swallows the monks, Jack, and Wuya. Eventually, the monks find the two villains in Dojo's cavernous stomach, Jack being close to panic. Jack asks Wuya why she, being a spirit, can't just fly out; Wuya thinks about it, says "Good point", and does so... leaving Jack behind, much to his regret.
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[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]
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[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]
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