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** In a much later episode, Happosai, ticked off at Ranma interfering with his [[Panty Thief|undie raids]], takes Kuno and offers him "Speed of Light elixir", which he claims will make him superfast. It turns him into a [[Lethal Joke Character]], even upgrading his [[Razor Wind]] attacks, but it's implicitly at least as much due to the [[Training From Hell]] Happosai put him through (running into ''occupied'' women's bathing areas, locker rooms, and other places where they were nude, while trying to evade their attacks and survive being beaten to a pulp). Said "elixir" is revealed to actually be tap water and [[Squick|the scrapings from under Happosai's fingernails]].
* Brutally and heartbreakingly subverted in the ''[[Vampire Princess Miyu]]'' episode "The Red Shoes". The titular shoes are given to Miyu's classmate Miho (a [[Shrinking Violet]] and aspiring [[Idol Singer]]) by her manager, and stated to magically make her an unparalleled singer. And they actually ''do just that''. {{spoiler|But they do so by sucking her [[Life Energy]], and worse yet, once Miyu has defeated the Shinma who gave them to poor Miho, they can never be removed again. Miyu has to bite her friend and exchange blood with her in order to save her life. When last seen, Miho is physically better, but she's confined in an hospital.}}
** This episode is in reference to a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, ''[http://hca.gilead.org.il/red_shoe.html The Red Shoes]'', which is a semi-common reference in Japanese culture. The titular shoes are cursed and force the wearer to continue dancing forever, and cannot be removed -- theremoved—the dancer only stops dancing once she has a friendly knight chop off her feet -- andfeet—and the shoes, with the rotting feet, go dancing off into the wilderness on their own.
* At the end of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' when the Crests are destroyed by the final [[Big Bad]], the kids need to figure out that the traits which powered their Digimon were part of them all along and they didn't need the Crests in the first place.
** Of course, this knowledge doesn't last too long, as they [[Fridge Logic|need a God's powers to strengthen their Digimon.]]
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{{quote|'''Ichigo''', later: [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"Amazing Armor of Justice" my ass! More like "Armor of Junk"!]]}}
** In all seriousness, Ichigo's Shinigami powers are a great example. After [[Aloof Big Brother|Kuchiki Byakuya]] removed his Rukia-given powers, it was revealed to him by {{spoiler|Zangetsu}} that he, in fact, already had powers of his own and didn't need Rukia's any more.
* Pretty much the most awesome example ever: in ''[[One Piece]]'', for the Luffy vs. Foxy duel, Usopp hands Luffy a ''[[Funny Afro|giant afro]]'' to give him strength...and then the entire crowd goes wild when he appears sporting it. And when he starts to show his [[Heroic Resolve]], it was apparently because "THE AFRO POWER MADE HIM GO BERSERK!". In short, the [[Magic Feather]] that ''everybody'' (except [[Only Sane Man|Nami]]) believed. Even more confusing is that he effectively won ''because'' of the afro {{spoiler|or rather the piece of glass that was hidden in it}}!
* In ''[[GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class]]'', innocent protagonist Kisaragi was conned into buying what she believed was "God's pencil" from an old lady at a stationary store. Using the pencil on her exams did help her get into the school, but that may have been more due to her practising like hell (enough to completely use up ''20'' of them) the day before. Either way she was still conned into buying old excess stock. Even after this fact is revealed, she still buys them, at least for sentimental value (since the granny died).
* The stuffed penguin used by Nodoka in ''[[Saki (manga)|Saki]]'' is obviously nothing but a psychological crutch to help her focus on her [[Mahjong]] playing.
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* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', the Sacred Water in Korin's Tower supposedly gives one super strength. But when Taopaipai goes for it, Korin reveals that it's just regular tap water, and it was just Goku's exertion in climbing the tower and fighting Korin for the jug that made him stronger. He purposefully gives Tao the jug without any hassle ''and'' gives him a dark Nimbus for the trip down so that he doesn't become any stronger.
** {{spoiler|Later on, he reveals that there really ''is'' a magic water in the tower. However, since it kills anyone who isn't a Determinator, Korin doesn't keep it on display.}}
* {{spoiler|[[Inuyasha|Meidou Zangetsuha]].}} Able to [[Master Swordsman|master]] any sword with a single swing or even without touching the blade, Sesshoumaru is finally stumped by {{spoiler|[[Healing Shiv|Tenseiga's]] [[Cruel and Unusual Death|Meidou Zangetsuha]] which requires a [[The Power of Love|compassionate heart]] to [[Power At a Price|master]] instead of skill.}} Upon mastering it, he learns he's actually {{spoiler|[[Magic Feather|not allowed to keep it which sets up the revelation]] that he's [[It Was with You All Along|possessed a sword of his very own all along,]] sleeping within his very soul waiting for the day when he was strong enough and compassionate enough to [[Take a Level In Badass|manifest]] it,}} a revelation that helps [[Fridge Brilliance|explain]] why he had such skill with a blade to begin with.
* The ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' episode "''True Blue Swablu''": Max tricks an injured Swablu into thinkings that the "magic powder" sprinkled on the Pokémon would help it to fly, except that the powder was actually just ''flour''. Later turns into hilarity when Ash and Pikachu start believing in the stuff!
* In the ''[[Sakura Wars]]'' OVA, Sakura Shingouji attempts to figure out the secret of her father's super special technique and refuses to join the special team she's been recruited to until she learns it. She goes through every possible way to read the scroll it's said to be on before realizing that there ''is'' no secret - everyone knows it and it is brought out in their own way.
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*** He also has major self-confidence issues and a variety of neuroses. He used to see a therapist. And this is [[Reality Warper|one of the most powerful humans in the universe]], folks...
* The Marvel UK character [[Captain Britain]] used a costume and staff which he believed was the source of his powers, but merely focused his innate powers (his daddy was from [[Another Dimension]], so powers kinda [[Superpowerful Genetics|run in the family]]). Later, he was able to do without.
* The [[Flash]] once managed to nick Mr. Element's gun, only to find it useless. The bemused Element explained that the gun only focused his powers -- itpowers—it wasn't the source of them. We've [[Retcon|recently learned]] that the Weather Wizard's powers are also innate, a fact which he himself didn't know (he thought his Weather Wand had the power-- andpower—and so did <s>his original</s> the last five decades worth of writers, apparently).
** Though, in Weather Wizard's case, it is at least implied that his power wasn't ''originally'' innate. Rather, repeated use of his Weather Wand caused him to internalize its power years ago. He never realized this because he actually ''did'' need the thing originally and therefore never tried to use the powers without it until more or less forced to.
* The first Morlun story in ''[[Spider-Man]]'' had Ezekiel, another man with spider-based powers, explain to Spidey that he didn't get his powers due to the fact that the spider that bit him was radioactive, but that the spider gave Peter superpowers magically and was nearly killed by the radiation in the process. This retcon has since been re-retconned away again.
* Large swathes of the [[DC Comics]] universe were [[Retcon|retconnedretcon]]ned with the [[Meta Origin|metagene]]. Basically, random chemical spills or a radiation zap or looking into the core of an alien warp engine -doesn't- give you superpowers. The metagene, present in most humans, instead does an Instant Evolution bit to save you from the dangers. In short, most people do get crispyfried when zapped with the experiemental magic ray.
* New ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain The Extremist was originally thought by our web-headed hero to get his powers from his fancy gun, but it's soon revealed that the power is innately in him and he just uses the gun to help him focus it.
** Similarly, loony supervillain Madcap uses a bubble gun that makes people lose all inhibitions...except the power is actually tied to his gaze, and he just uses the bubble gun as a distraction to get people to look at him.
* In an 80s ''[[Daredevil]]'' story, DD's mentor Stick reveals that the radiation that gave Matt Murdock his superhumanly acute senses (and also blinded him) had a temporary effect--buteffect—but that temporary boost taught Murdock to use his normal human senses to their full potential. (Alas, the blindness wasn't temporary. Sorry!)
* ''[[Sleepwalker]]'''s [[Friendly Enemy]] Spectra's rainbow-like energy powers were originally assumed to come from the synthetic diamond she wielded. She later reveals that her body has actually ''absorbed'' the powers of the diamond, and she only uses the crystal to help her focus her powers.
* Minor [[Marvel Universe]] hero Blue Shield originally needed a micro-circuitry belt to power his super-strength, stamina, and force field projection powers. Eventually the belt altered his genetic structure so he no longer required it.
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* In the over-the-top [[Blaxploitation]]''/''[[Martial Arts Movie|martial arts]] parody film ''[[The Last Dragon]]'', the "magic amulet" that Bruce Leroy's [[Trickster Mentor]] gave him when he began his "great quest" turns out to be a belt buckle.
** It's more than that, when Leroy discovers that {{spoiler|the master Sum Dum Goy doesn't even ''exist,'' and that The Master he's been searching for is Leroy himself.}}
* Jack Putter (played by Martin Short) in the film ''[[Innerspace]]'' believes that Tuck Pendleton (who has been [[Fantastic Voyage|shrunk and is inside Putter's body]] -- long—long story) can increase the power of his muscles during a confrontation with an evil henchman. He can't, but that doesn't stop Jack kicking his ass.
* Slight variation in the film ''[[Hitch]]'', where the title character eventually comes to realize that he himself is a Magic Feather- he gave clients advice on how to woo their dream girls, and his success rate is very high, but ultimately his advice didn't matter and the ladies all fell for the guys because of things they did naturally, in some cases completely contrary to Hitch's advice. All Hitch really gave them was the confidence to make the first move by believing that with Hitch's help, they actually had a chance.
* ''[[Pootie Tang]]'': {{spoiler|Pootie's magical belt is eventually revealed to be a completely non-magical item purchased from a Piggly Wiggly for 95 cents.}}
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* In the ''[[Goosebumps]]'' book ''The Blob That Ate Everything'', Zackie thought that his reality altering powers came from a magical typewriter, only to find when he couldn't get the typewriter to work was actually within himself.
* In the book ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'', Dorothy's friends possess the qualities that they seek, but insist on getting a Magic Feather from the Wizard anyway.
** The [[The Wizard of Oz (film)|film version]] provides a variation in that the Wizard instead gives Dorothy's friends various symbols of what they've achieved--aachieved—a diploma that signifies the Scarecrow getting his brain, a ticking heart watch that reflects the Tin Man's kindness, and a war medal that testifies to the Cowardly Lion's courage.
** And of course, Dorothy had the slippers to get home the ENTIRE time.
* In ''You can do it Desmond Dragon'', an educational children's book about an asthmatic young dragon, Desmond is given a 'magic' satchel to wear during a smoke-blowing contest. Of course, when he opens it after the contest it just holds a note saying he could do it all along if he believed in himself. And used his inhalers...
* The Lenses used by the ''[[Lensman]]'' are usually your average [[Applied Phlebotinum]], but for the more advanced characters (Kimball Kinnison and his children, among others) they become little more than a [[Magic Feather]].
** They seem to have some function beyond that, as the children know they have the power innately, but they actually [u]create[/u] Lenses at one point to help them in particularly high-powered work.
* In ''[[Captain Underpants]] and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman'', even though Captain Underpants' powers came from [[Super Serum|alien super power juice]] ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]), he's convinced they come from cottony soft underpants. When [[Captain Underpants]] is depowered by spray-on starch, the boys have to come up with a magical feather, so they [[Retcon]] a powerful crystal he swallowed as a child on his home planet (even though [[Captain Underpants]] is actually the boys' principal).
* A large number of ''[[Wild Cards]]'' characters require a "psychological focus" to use their powers, most notably The Great And Powerful Turtle's armored Shells, to the point where he eventually becomes so cripplingly dependent on them that he loses his powers entirely when outside them.
* In Eva Ibbotson's book ''Which Witch'', there's an interesting variant and in the end even subversion: Belladonna is a white witch, so good, kind and beautiful that she borders on a [[Parody Sue]], but longs to be a black witch and do evil deeds -- partlydeeds—partly because that means the other witches might accept her as one of their own, and partly because she's in love with a dark wizard. However, she's utterly incapable of doing even the slightest dark magic, until she meets a young, orphaned boy with a pet earthworm that both of them think are magical. As long as the boy and his earthworm are present, Belladonna is capable of doing black magic stronger than anyone else. When the worm, unknowingly to Belladonna, disappears, she still manages to perform black magic -- butmagic—but instead of the normal "all you needed was confidence" story, it turns out that while the earthworm ''is'' a completely normal, unmagical earthworn, the ''boy'' is without knowing it a powerful dark wizard, and it was ''his'' presence that gave Belladonna the dark powers, not the worm's.
* In ''[[The Lost World (novel)|The Lost World]]'' by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] the white explorers encounter a Native American tribe menaced by ape people. The Native Americans ask the explorers to use their modern weaponry to help fight the ape people. The explorers agree, but when the actual battle comes around they barely get to fire a shot. The extra confidence their presence gave the Native Americans allowed them to defeat the ape people on their own. Since there were [[Mighty Whitey|only actually three explorers]] with guns that was [[Unfortunate Implications|probably for the best]].
* In 'The Valor of Cappen Varra' by [[Poul Anderson]] the eponymous hero is able to face down a troll because he has a charm that negates magic and so renders him immune to her super strength. At the end he is told that trolls are just naturally very strong so the charm was worthless
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** In ''[[Discworld/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'' Magrat finds the ancient armor of Queen Ynci the Short-Tempered, and believes that her spirit is with her and gives her an extra capacity for violence and determination. As it turns out, Ynci was completely made up, and her armor had been made a few decades ago to give the royal house a little more color.
* In [[Incarnations of Immortality|On A Pale Horse]], while fighting [[Satan]], [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] realizes that he doesn't actually need his scythe and cloak to use his powers, reasoning that if that had been true, Satan would have attacked him earlier while he was off duty.
* Subverted in ''[[Mistborn]]'', where the [[Magic Feather]] given to Yeden's army by Kelsier (a promise that his mistborn abilities could be channeled into others) {{spoiler|leads Yeden to send out his still unprepared army prematurely out on a raid because of overconfidence, killing them all}}. Kelseir gets a serious [[What the Hell, Hero?]] by his entire crew for his efforts.
** * Played pretty much straight by [[The Way of Kings]], though: Shallan tracks down Jasnah with intent to steal her [[Amulet of Concentrated Awesome|Soulcaster]] and replace it with a nonfunctional duplica, which she does. Then she has to figure out how to use it... which eventually, she also does. Through the whole book, Jasnah never notices the swap, totally confusing Shallan. At the end, she realizes that Jasnah's original was ''also'' a fake, that Jasnah used so people wouldn't learn that she can Soulcast without a focus. Which means ''Shallan'' figured out how to Soulcast without a focus, too.
* [[Book of the New Sun|The Claw of the Conciliator]].
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== Live Action TV ==
* Unsurprisingly for the series, ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' has an example in "Samurai".
* On ''[[MASH|M* A* S* H]]'', Hawk and B.J. give placebos to a shy, nebbish soldier, telling him they're Confidence Pills. They also give the same pills to Klinger, telling him they're a new drug that will help keep him cool -- latercool—later, during a boiling hot day, he walks around in a fur coat, warning everyone else that they would freeze to death.
** More seriously, when the camp runs out of morphine, they pass the pills off as painkillers via psychology, telling the current batch of wounded soldiers they can only have one each of these "super-powerful" new wonder drugs. The scene is subverted on a somber note as the doctors discuss the results, noting that it didn't work for everyone.
* Played relatively straight in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', with Hiro, who believes he needs a particular sword to recover his abilities. Of course, it turns out (and the viewing public finds out long before Hiro does) he never lost his abilities in the first place.
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** Which might be a subversion, as B12 might actually help with sea-sickness. But it was meant as a placebo.
* The TV show, ''[[Smart Guy]]'', had TJ giving his idiot friend, Mo, sugar pills to make him smarter. When he found out that it was a placebo, Mo got his own sugar pills to continue replicating the effect.
** When TJ [[Crossover|crossed over]] to ''[[Sister, Sister]]'', he enticed a high-strung Tia with his super-secret technique to get a 1600 on her SAT's...if she'd take him to Chuck E. Ch--erCh—er, [[Suck E. Cheese's|Buck E. Duck]]. Turns out she just needed to relax.
* Inverted in ''[[News Radio]]'', which showed Matthew being given a homemade "Smart Drink" by Joe and becoming super intelligent. Smatthew (for "Smart Matthew") later begins to lose his intelligence, but upon being urged to consume more of Joe's smart drink, concluded the drink was a placebo and only worked because stupid Matthew was so dumb he believed it would. He loses his newfound intelligence permanently.
* Parodied hilariously in the live action version of ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'', when the The Tick walks up to a stranger, hands him a hub cap and tells him "Remember, it was not a magic hub cap. The magic was within you all along."
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* ''[[Flight of the Conchords]]'' did this with hair gel which supposedly made the boys look cool. When the hair gel is all used up, they can't bear to even leave the house, and Murray, their manager, tells them that the gel didn't make them cool, it just gave them the confidence to show everyone how cool they really were. Inspired by his words, they go to perform their gig sans gel, only for the entire crowd to walk away once they start playing. Murray concedes that yes, it really was the hair gel that made them cool.
* In the episode of the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' "Mudd's Women", three women are supposedly given a "Venus drug" which made them irresistibly beautiful, but it revealed at the end that they didn't need the drug to make themselves beautiful - it was self-confidence all along.
** The on-screen moral being: apparently self-confidence can [[Broken Aesop|give you an actual makeover]] -- complete—complete with makeup and a new hairdo!
* In the big crossover between ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' and ''[[The Suite Life On Deck]]'', Hannah's anklet acts like this. It's a keepsake of her mothers, and when she loses it everything goes wrong until Robbie Ray tells her that her mother is always with her, regardless of the anklet.
* This was [[Discussed Trope|brought up]] by Ruby in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' {{spoiler|when she tells Sam that his powers are not the result of the demon blood he'd been drinking, but they'd just been a tool to addict him and alienate him from the people who [[What the Hell, Hero?|told him hanging out with Ruby was a bad idea]].}}
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* Many cures for stage fright or other performance-related issues (and probably for a few...erm...performance-related issues too) as well as artistic remedies: things that get the creative juices flowing (and probably a few...erm...No, no that's not right).
* Some parents do this with little kids to get them to master simple skills. They never seem to think about what the child will learn if he fails even ''with'' the maguffin.
** In most of the instances above and the ones I'm aware of happening in real life, [[Magic Feather|Magic Feathers]] are used for something that the child is either already talented at but lacks the confidence to actually achieve or that the child is capable of doing/learning but is blocked from doing by something like lack of confidence, laziness or similar. So the above comment would only apply if the child wasn't at all capable of the skill in question and I highly doubt that parents would use this in a situation where it wouldn't work.
* There are loads of hiccup cures of the "drink from the wrong side of the cup", "hold your breath and take 7 sips of water" variety that are all just tricks to make you control your breathing.
* There was a psychology experiment where people were given three coloured buttons and asked to figure out what pattern made a light come on. In fact the 'pattern' was just press the blue button then press it again five seconds later (doesn't matter what you do in between). People found some very complicated ways of filling those five seconds.
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