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{{trope}}
{{cleanup|The examples section is too long. If you find an example discussing only one of the powers listed here, move it to the examples section of that power's corresponding page, if it isn't there already.}}
[[File:Required Secondary Powers 1502.jpg|frame|link=League Of Super Redundant Heroes|"You’re only as strong as the surface you’re standing on."]]
{{quote|'''Invulnerability:''' Not much of a downside to this, as long as you're also invulnerable to things you might want to get a shot for. And your hair and fingernails aren't invulnerable. And you're not planning on getting into the piercing and tattooing scene. And your skin doesn't have the texture of cold bicycle tires as a result.
|'''Lore Sjöberg'''
Okay, so you've got [[Differently-Powered Individual|one of those people]] who's got a "[[Stock Super Powers|Special Power]]". But even if you supposedly only have the one ability, if you're going to actually ''use'' it for anything, [[Fridge Logic]] demands that you have myriad other passive powers in order to make it work the way it usually does. This is sometimes directly referred to and explained, and sometimes not.
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'''[[Super Strength]]'''
::''Read more at [[Super Strength/Analysis]]''
To use super strength effectively also requires the ability to strengthen objects by touching them (Unless the object is made of some advanced material, of course). Otherwise, holding up (for example) an airplane with one hand would simply result in a hand-shaped hole in the still-plummeting airplane. This was addressed in the second episode of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', as the characters discuss a scene from the original Christopher Reeve ''[[Superman]]'' movie:
{{quote|'''Sheldon''': Lois Lane is falling, accelerating at an initial rate of 32 feet per second per second... Superman swoops down to save her by reaching out two arms of steel... Miss Lane who is now traveling at approximately 120 miles an hour hits them and is [[Not the Fall That Kills You|immediately sliced into three equal pieces]]...Frankly, if he really loved her, he'd let her hit the pavement - it'd be a more merciful death.}}
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'''[[Healing Factor]]'''
::''Read more at [[Healing Factor/Analysis]]''
Any character with a healing factor presumably also requires superhuman pain tolerance, to avoid falling unconscious from the crippling pain and then waking up ten minutes later good as new. Still would be useful, but not so much in a combat situation (where being unconscious makes you useless at best, and makes you a liability or opens you up to a [[Coup De Grace]] at worst.)
More importantly, they'd burn up a lot of energy accelerating the healing process that fast, and so would need super-stamina and more efficient internal energy use than normal (or an [[No Conservation of Energy|alternate energy source]]) or their own power could kill them by draining their body's resources too fast.
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'''[[Super Speed]]'''
::''Read more at [[Super Speed/Analysis]]''
These characters are somehow immune to the effects of friction - specifically, the chafing that would naturally occur from using extremely rapid speed for extended periods of time, especially while wearing spandex. And they face a problem the other direction, of having too little friction. Feet coming down at superspeed would presumably have super impact, and push them off the ground and at least a few feet in the air. Even once that's explained, someone going at superspeed over the slightest hill, or up stairs, or just random dips in the ground, would lose contact with the ground, they would keep going in the 'same direction' as before, into the air.
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'''[[Flight]]'''
::''Read more at [[Flight/Analysis]]''
Other than those with obvious mechanical assistance (either [[Winged Humanoid|wings]] or rockets), flying characters possess the ability to propel themselves through no effort of their own. This might be due to some inherent [[Mind Over Matter|telekinetic]] ability, or perhaps it might be due to the ability to manipulate their own personal gravity. [[Winged Humanoid|Winged flyers]] don't have it much better; they need some way to offset the [[Square-Cube Law|mass and awkward shape]] of the human body, whether it be super-powerful wing muscles (and more importantly very large wing surface area, about that of a hang glider would do), a bird-like hollow bone structure (which would only save a few pounds for something with the body mass of a human - some engineering doesn't scale up well, as the ostrich can attest), or perhaps even a method of non-powered flight or levitation that is merely augmented by the wings (or some combination of the three).
'''[[Shapeshifting]]'''
::''Read more at [[Shapeshifting/Analysis]]''
Characters that shift into other objects also have the ability to ignore how said objects would ordinarily hurt people. For example, someone who could become living flame is also immune to being burned (either by their own flame or that of others). Someone who can turn into water often gains the ability to breathe in water (or has no need to breathe at all).
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'''[[Time Stands Still|Time Freezing]]'''
::''Read more at [[Time Stands Still/Analysis]]''
Those that stop time should be blinded. If time were stopped, everything else stops too, including light. And air, which would hold them in place because the air they displace when they move can't get out of the way. In fact, those that stop time should be frozen along with everything else by the mere nature of the ability.
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'''[[Time Travel]]'''
::''Read more at [[Time Travel/Analysis]]''
Most time-traveling heroes have the benefit of being immune to [[Temporal Paradox]] and the physical effects of [[The Time Traveller's Dilemma]]. Even if they do accidentally erase their own parents from history or create an even worse [[Crapsack World]] by [[Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act|killing Hitler only to have someone worse take over]], the hero will remain unchanged and still be capable of trying to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]].
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'''[[Deflector Shields|Force Fields]]'''
::''Read more at [[Deflector Shields/Analysis]]''
Force fields are often air-permeable, which not only allows people to speak and listen through the field, but it also allows oxygen to filter in through the force field and thus allow breathing. However when a force field is used to keep water out while underwater, the force field often appears to have the power to actually extract breathable oxygen from the water around it and remove carbon dioxide from within it.
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'''[[Invisibility]]'''
::''Read more at [[Invisibility/Analysis]]''
Applies not just to you, but to things you are carrying, or wearing. Any dirt on you becomes invisible, and either you get clothes made of some [[My Suit Is Also Super|suitable material]], or provide some [[Fan Service]]. Also, your light distortion fits that of your surroundings, and food remains invisible through the digestive process.
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'''[[Intangible Man|Intangibility]]'''
::''Read more at [[Intangible Man/Analysis]]''
You are immune to gravity or gain some kind of buoyancy, hence not plummeting through the ground. You also gain some self locomotion, so as not to worry about friction, (though many intangibles can float or [[Not Quite Flight|explicitly fly]]). You can still interact with air normally allowing you to breathe (if you need to breathe), hear and speak.
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Clearly, a lot of potential downsides to this one. The ability to selectively screen your input is an absolute necessity unless you want your hero to be called "Captain Migraine", "The Squinter" or "Curled-Up-In-The-Fetal-Position-On-The-Floor-Man," and let's not even go over issues with sensitivity in the nether regions. Likewise, being able to [[X-Ray Vision|see through things]] is only good if you can also see the ''outsides'' of them when necessary.
Heroes with this power also seem to automatically gain the skills needed to properly interpret the new sensory input. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150322235506/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/man-blind-for-40-years-tells-of-struggle-to-adapt-537009.html In reality] people tend to struggle when they suddenly gain a new sense, and it can take years to adjust to it.
'''[[Immortality]]/[[The Ageless|Agelessness]] in its various forms'''
::''Read more at [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]] and [[Immortality/Analysis]]''
As an immortal, you are in some way exempt from being tied to the normal mortal coil. You're either fully immortal, reincarnated immortal, or ageless but vulnerable. The latter type requires a lot of intelligence and careful planning if you don't want to be discovered. You should ideally have a lot of resources financially, and certain contacts, like people who can change your identity. Also it helps to be VERY mentally resilient, because [[We Are as Mayflies]] and so forth. There's an [[Age Without Youth|eternal life that does not include eternal youth]], leaving you in worse shape every year but knowing that your condition has nowhere to go but down.
'''[[Teleporters and Transporters|Teleportation]]'''
::''Read more at [[Teleporters and Transporters/Analysis]]''
Teleportation-users would need to have some way of extending their teleportation to their clothes and items if they do not wish to reach their destination naked. Clothes are one thing but dental fillings, bone pins, pacemakers, etc would be unpleasant to suddenly be without. Ignoring the ludicrousness of trying to extend quantum-scale barrier tunneling to the classical scale (assuming that's how matter teleportation works in your particular [[The Verse|'Verse]], or that the [[Real Life]] rules of quantum physics even apply at all), such motion usually needs large amounts of energy as well.
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'''[[Shock and Awe|Lightning]]'''
::''Read more at [[Shock and Awe/Analysis]]''
Electricity has a tendency to take not only the path of least resistance, but to a lesser degree all other possible paths as well. Hitting your target without inundating everything around it with current would require a great deal of setup, meticulous planning, prior knowledge of electrodynamics, and the resulting hours of linear algebra to ensure that all other available paths are sufficiently resistive enough not to cause collateral damage. Here's hoping you're ''really'' [[Good with Numbers]].
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'''[[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|Size Changing]]'''
::''Read more at [[Square-Cube Law]] and [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever/Analysis]]''
The ability to shift one's size would require the following abilities:
* Control over one's mass and density so that one does not blow away or sink into the earth (due to the shift in surface area and pressure).
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Momo from ''[[My Hero Academia]]'' quirk (super power) requires her to know the atomic structure of the objects she is making. If she wasn't a genius, she'd probably be able to only make rather simple substances. Even so she still needs to study. But it is easy to think about how much less useful her power would be in the hands of someone less smart (there are quirks that steal or copy other quirks). Momo can make painted ''wooden'' Russian nesting dolls!
* Pointed out by the author in the manga version of ''[[Ghost in the Shell]].'' He goes on to explain that this is why full-body prostheses, like those of Motoko Kusanagi (whose only remaining organic components are her [[Brain In a Jar|brain and nervous system]]), are preferable.
** To clarify, the manga points out that if someone were to get, for example, his arm replaced with a prosthetic, his biological body would still be subject to the strain of muscle fibers tearing where the arm is connected if they lift too much weight. Full-body prosthetics on the other hand, have theoretically limitless strength (since it's now all a matter of technology), enabling them to jump huge distances (like how [[The Incredible Hulk]] does) and survive the impact of the landing (albiet the ground will take damage.)
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*** Although, it is shown that somebody in Al's situation will feel it if you touch the blood seal. At one point in the anime, Lust scratches Al's blood seal and he seemed to be in pain.
** Alchemy outwardly seems to change objects from one state to another, but the process is basically breaking things down and rebuilding them, not outright changing them as-is. This is why Scar can only destroy things with his "alchemy": He does not know how to rebuild things once he "breaks them down".
* Brook from ''[[One Piece]]'' is basically ''made'' out of these. In life, he ate a fruit that allowed him to return to life once after he died, aside from this he only had the powers of a human. When he died, the ship he was on was in a dense fog and it took him a year for his soul to locate his body and revive. Because of the time, his body decomposed until all that was left was a skeleton with an afro ([[It Runs on Nonsensoleum|strong roots]]). Despite reviving being the main power of the fruit, it also provided him with everything he needed to survive in his body; he can move the bones without muscles, see without eyes, speak (''[[Super Drowning Skills|and drown]]'') without lungs, eat without a stomach, use a toilet without bowels ([[Running Gag|Luffy asked]]), etc.
** It turns out that all of his secondary powers are a result of a special energy given off by his soul. Post [[Time Skip]] he's learned to channel this energy for [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|all sorts of supernatural effects]], from [[Astral Projection]] to [[Mass Hypnosis]] to a ''[[An Ice Person|weaponized]]'' [[Ghostly Chill]].
** Luffy can bleed so much without dying because one of his secondary powers is a circulatory system that can make extra blood instantaneously to pump into his stretched out limbs. In fact, his rubberized organs, bones, and indeed every single vital part of his anatomy is the only reason he is able to withstand the stresses inherent in his Gear Second [[Super Mode]]. According to Rob Lucci, if anyone but Luffy were to use something like Gear Second, their heart would ''explode''.
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* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', Rolo the [[Tyke Bomb]] is a subversion because he doesn't stop time, he puts your brain ({{spoiler|and his own heart}}) on pause so you ''think'' he stopped time.
* This is referenced in ''[[Psycho Busters]]'' when lead Kakeru wonders whether [[Playing with Fire|Kaito]] ever gets burned by his own flames. He then answers himself saying "Nah! He must have the impervious-to-fire power!". Kakeru later sees Kaito turning down a coffee saying his tongue is sensitive to heat.
* Accelerator in ''[[
** In fact, it's mentioned that most powers, if not all, are based on this, revealing the reason why the ability users have to study extensively to be able to get more powerful.
** Some of the others are brought up in the ''[[
** Shizuri Mugino, the Meltdowner, can fire laser beams and create energy constructs like shields, but is not immune to them, leading to
* According the the backstory of ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'', [[Transforming Mecha]] are only possible, or at least practical, due to a revolutionary variable-friction magnetic coating on their joints that was first used by the original RX-78 series Gundams. This allows them to change in a snap. Without it, their joints would either be too rigid & their [[Transformation Sequence]] would take hours, or else their limbs & other moving parts would constantly be flopping around & falling out from under them.
* Similar to the above, the various signature [[Transforming Mecha]] of ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' and its sequels employ 'Energy Conversion Armor' which uses metals and technologies reverse engineered from the eponymous Macross itself (termed 'Overtechnology'). This armor can absorb energy and use that energy to reinforce it's own structural integrity. According to the various supplementary materials of the series, this is what the energy output of the Reaction Engines is used for when not being 100% committed to thrust. Thus when in Battroid (giant robot) mode, standing on the ground, with 0 thrust, 100% of the engine output is going towards telling the [[Square-Cube Law]] to take a hike.
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* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', the main downside of Negi's [[Shock and Awe|Raiten]] [[Elemental Shapeshifter|Taisou]] is that Negi ''doesn't'' have the required secondary powers, and must control himself through extremelly advanced wind magic, which, due to requiring him to previously "mark" the destination and makeing him unable to actually react to change course mid-air, make it very possible to counter it by just obstructing the way between Negi and his target. {{spoiler|Raiten Sousou, its upgraded version, provides the required secondary powers.}}
* Several of the heroes in ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]''. The strong, and/or fast ones (Kotetsu, Barnaby, Antonio) are durable enough to use those skills without injuring themselves. [[An Ice Person|Karina]] and [[Playing with Fire|Nathan]] are likely to have resistance to their own elements, and [[Shock and Awe|Pao-Lin]] explicitly states that a taser won't work on her. Possibly odd example in the case of Lunatic {{spoiler|who can create fire in his hands for use in his crossbow, but his flashback in episode 16 shows that once he's set light to something (or in that instance someone) his fire can still harm Lunatic himself, as his father quite deliberately burnt young Yuri's face.}}
* In ''[[High School DxD]]'', Issei's power is having Boosted Gear, a Sacred Gear that doubles his power every ten seconds to the point that he can kill ''any deity'' whatsoever. The drawback however is that his stamina also gets drained because his body cannot handle the stress of his Sacred Gear's power. This leads him to undergo [[Training
* It's eventually explained that the whole reason [[Squid Girl]] can pick up people and other heavy objects with her tentacles without losing her balance is that she can alter her weight with her bracelets, becoming heavy enough to anchor herself.
* At first one might think that the armors in Saint Seiya protect the users from the oponents attacks, in fact the armor's main function is to protect the user's body from his own powers since a normal human body isn't able to resist such ammounts of power, of course [[Fridge Logic]] kicks in most fights since more often than not the characters end up half-naked.
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* Brainiac Five of the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]] has a force field belt that (before [[Crisis on Infinite Earths]], at least) was explicitly noted to have the ability to automatically generate breathable air whenever creating a closed shield. Even before he invented the [[Batman Can Breathe in Space|transuits]], it was stated that he didn't need a conventional space suit for this reason.
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* A problem with regeneration was mentioned at least once in [[Fanfic]]:
{{quote|"We had learned the hard way- well, Steve had learned the hard way, by having it happen to him; Valerie and I had learned the easy way, also by having it happen to him- that while werewolf bodies heal wounds instantly, they don't always heal ''right''."}}
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** Johnny Storm (or rather, his clone—all of the Fantastic Four of 2099 are [[Cloning Blues|clones]] of the originals)) is at one point exposed to the Negative Zone's poisoned atmosphere through a leak in a labor frame suit he was wearing/driving. He ended up briefly coughing from it, but otherwise he sustained no long-term effects from it. When questioned about this later, he pointed out that as [[Wreathed in Flames|The Human Torch]] he tended to be surrounded by plasma flame, meaning that the very air he inhaled was superheated plasma. His lungs would have been scorched without the Required Secondary Power of enhanced lungs that could very efficiently filter out what he breathed. As a result, breathing toxic Negative Zone air was relatively a piece of cake, and he was shown doing so without a gas mask on at least one occasion.
** On the other end of the spectrum, the clone of Ben Grimm has the same rocklike epidermal layer as his predecessor—which he at one point described as "a full-body callus strong enough to withstand being hit by a missile." Unfortunately, his thick hide was still pierced on a few occasions, but the injuries were slow to heal, leaving deep craters and sensitive scar tissue in their wake.
** In Minsinoo's
* From [[Sleeping with the Girls]] vol II
** {{spoiler|[[Tenchi Muyo!|Washuu]]}} restores {{spoiler|[[Sailor Moon|Luna's]]}} ability to turn into human form. Later we learn {{spoiler|she}} also retained cat's muscle density, which makes {{spoiler|her}} really strong and agile but also uses proportionally more energy. So {{spoiler|she}} either has to [[Big Eater|eat a lot]] in human form or stay most of the time as a cat to save energy.
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{{quote|''~Now, I gotta say, I did a darn good job on him. Probably a good thing I didn't tell Shag and Varx that he only had about a forty percent chance of remaining stable after he came back together, with all the weird scalar/planar energy fields I had to design into him. They just don't have any idea what you have to go through to get a human-sized frame to be able to wield that kind of strength and still walk without creating giant holes or move his arm without blowing down everything in its direction. I still couldn't get it perfect, so he's always gonna make some chaos if he's not careful, but jeez, I was brilliant, converting most of that kinetic energy right back into raw Field energy before it even got past his skin.~''}}
* ''[[Harbinger]]'' mentions this in regards to [[Mass Effect|Shepard's]] [[Psychic Powers]] that allow him to move at [[Super Speed]]. His fists move extremely fast when he strikes someone in close quarters, hard enough to [[Punched Across the Room|crumple armor and throw people across the room]], but his arms also move so fast and with so much force that they'd break on impact. His armor and omnitool generates a dual-layer mass effect field (pun questionably intended), with the outer layer being a hardened kinetic barrier while the inner layer being a "cushion" that behaves like ballistic gel, absorbing the reaction to his punches.
* [[The Teraverse]] superheroine Sister Marie has an almost-total immunity to the effects of fire, heat, and smoke. It ''does'' usually come in handy for her, as she often associates with her local fire departments in the course of her heroism. She once got a large chunk of her habit scorched off and only had a 'mild sunburn' underneath, and in the same incident, discarded a self-contained breathing unit after discovering that she's immune to the effects of smoke inhalation. She also frequently handles things in the kitchen (such as cookie sheets or paper coffee cups) without protective insulation. Unfortunately, she actually can't tell how much hotter something is if it's above room temperature, and finds it necessary to ask someone else to check the water temperature when giving her infant godson a bath.
** The topic of Required Secondary Powers is discussed -- and invoked by name -- in a lecture Hermione Granger gives during the course of the Inter-School Tournament in [https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-33141-52/DianeCastle+Hermione+Granger+and+the+Swiss+Tournament.htm chapter 52] of another Teraverse story, ''[[Hermione Granger and the Swiss Tournament]]''
== Films -- Animated ==
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** Perhaps she's just using massive amounts of conditioner?
** Wait, doesn't her hair have healing powers?
== Films -- Live-Action ==
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** There is also the fact that Gabe seems to instinctively know how hard to hit, even though his strength and speed have been rapidly increasing for the past several months. Granted, his constant martial arts training could have something to do with this, but he seems to be genuinly surprised every time he does something superhuman.
* In ''[[Stardust (film)|Stardust]]'', Lamia puts a curse on Dishwater Sal so that Sal will be completely unable to see, hear, feel, smell, or otherwise perceive Yvaine. The curse does give Sal one benefit: when Yvaine tries to attack Sal, she is stopped by an invisible forcefield (to ensure Sal can't ''feel'' Yvaine).
== [[Literature]] ==
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** In the H. G. Wells short story ''The New Accelerator'', which features a [[Super Serum|super-speed serum]] (probably marking its first use in its modern form), not only predicts today's doping scandal by mentioning that the stuff could be used to cheat in fencing, but also has the characters suffering vertigo while the serum takes effect, not being able to run without beginning to burn up, leaving footsteps of burnt whatever-they-step-on wherever they walk, and in one instance being unable to keep objects perfectly still, so that a little dog goes flying across a field. While talking about the serum (which is when the cheating was brought up), the characters talk about the consequences of using the serum over long periods of time, namely accelerated aging and appetite. The only thing it misses is they should be walking like they're on the moon.
* The Required Secondary Powers necessary to use the magical gadgets of folklore and mythology are acknowledged in some of the Rincewind novels of the ''[[Discworld]]'' series. For instance, seven-league-boots exist, but using them requires extensive magical protection and preparation, since having one leg miles ahead of the other causes an awful [[Groin Attack|groin sprain]].
* Played straight in the [[BE Archive]] story ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120425070830/http://www.bearchive.com/~stories/stories/keepsautodoc.html Keeps The Autodoc Away]'', where a couple hack the eponymous AutoDoc to [[Be Careful What You Wish For|"cure" them of being out of shape]]. Al tells [[Literal Genie|the machine]] to, [[Biggus Dickus|among other things]], turn all his fat into a set of enormous, powerful muscles. Near the end, it is revealed, aside from his [[Gag Penis|seven-foot erection]] knocking him out from blood loss, that his enormous muscles had shattered almost every bone in his body. If it wasn't already obvious, this story [[Not Safe for Work|isn't exactly safe for work]].
* In the [[Midnighters]] series, one of the characters incredible leaping abilities in during the 'blue hour' translate to leParcour in normal time because of his innate sense of physics.
* In David Eddings's ''[[Belgariad]]'', when you use magic to move an object, the resulting force is the same as if you had physically touched the object - so you have to brace yourself with equal force, similar to tightening up your muscles, or some such. The main character learns this the hard way the first time he tries to move a giant stone, as he ends up buried up to his armpits in the ground (he tried to push it up instead of merely sideways).
** The protagonist's mentor scolds him and comments that if he HAD tried to push it sideways, he'd likely have been thrown across the continent by now.
* Something similar to ''Belgariad'' also holds for magic in ''[[Discworld]]''. A wizard who wants to move a large weight telekinetically needs to harness some secondary force to avoid being crushed by the mass he's lifting; e.g. in ''Light Fantastic'', a wizard levitates himself by dropping a weight off a roof and transferring the force to himself. This rule seems to be often ignored [[Rule of Cool|if it would get in the way of the story]], however.
** If attempting something like this without such an exchange, they have to use their own mental skills to do so, with a related physical cost... avoidance of which is described as (paraphrased) "preventing your brain being flicked out your ears". One example is in ''[[
*** The math for this infuriated the senior staff to no end in ''[[
** Not to mention Eskarina demonstrated teleportation without an "anchor". Part of the ''Discworld'' narrative causality is things can be possible as long as you aren't told they aren't.
* Directly stated in the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series of novels with the beautiful (and [[Winged Humanoid|winged]]) character of Peregrine. When a boyfriend tells her he hates mutated "Jokers", she explains to him that she is one. After all, her wings are large deformities that are not the source of her [[Flight|flying ability]], she does that psychically.
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* Thanks to [[Brandon Sanderson|Brandon Sanderson's]] rather [[Functional Magic|scientific approach]] to [[Magic A Is Magic A|magic systems]] lots of his powers show the problems of missing Required Secondary Powers. For instance in the [[Mistborn]] trilogy, tineyes have heigtened hearing and sight, but can be very vulnerable to bright lights and loud noises while burning. Steelpushing and Ironpulling are not run-of-the-mill telekinesis, but are based around force, mass, and their interaction through Newton's Third Law. The Kandra are a race of shape shifters with a [[Healing Factor]] who can't actually be killed by wounding them, but wounds are still incredibly painful and regeneration takes time.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The [[Syfy]] show ''[[Alphas]]'' is built on this trope. The title characters are shown as a drastic mutation in the human genome, but their bodies and minds have to adjust dramatically to accommodate their powers. You can read electromagnetic signals? Great, but that means you brain is now mostly a data processor, eating up the neurons used for emotional neural paths, making you severely autistic.
* ''[[No Ordinary Family]]'' includes a few examples of imperfect powers. In one episode, Jim tries to stop a moving car, but his super strength and invulnerability are not enough to overcome a car's inertia. This results in him getting run over repeatedly. Stephanie is depicted as consuming huge amounts of food to fuel her super-speed. She also trips and tumbles for hundreds of meters when she tries reading a text message while super-running. There's also a bit of lampshading going on, with Stephenie's assistant spouting the number of laws of physics that are being broken (why doesn't the friction burn off her clothes? Shouldn't the sand destroy her corneas at that speed?).
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* Possible subversion in ''[[Smallville]]'': in a cliffhanger where Clark loses his powers near the end, a doctor must save his life by injecting him with a substance via syringe. Clark's parents (unaware that he has lost his powers) are terrified that the doctor will discover their son's secret, as they expect him to be invulnerable to needles in much the same way that he is invulnerable to bullets. However, the needle goes in fine, because of the loss of his powers.
** The [[Monster of the Week]] is occasionally [[Hoist by His Own Petard|done in by their own powers]]. For example: a guy who was [[Playing with Fire]] died when he tried to blast Clark, but the flames spread to him and burned him to death.
* The ''lack'' of said required abilities - specifically, the ability to filter input from [[Super Senses]] - is a crippling problem for ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'s'' [[The Woobie|River Tam]]. Since she cannot filter incoming stimuli due to her [[The Empath|empathic]] abilities, being in contact with the minds of other people is debilitating, and when others suffer sudden physical trauma it can render her catatonic.
* In something of an aversion of the pyrokinetic version, ''[[Charmed]]'' has offered any number of witches, demons and warlocks who are completely vulnerable to their own fire-based powers, most notably {{spoiler|Christy, who is burned to death by her own flame-throwing ability when she tries to use it against her telekinetic sister Billie.}}
* The [[Doctor Who|Time Lords]] must have spent millenia perfecting all the biological processes necessary with the act of a body undergoing DNA rewriting at the most basic cellular-level across every organ from bone to hair. And it happens in roughly a minute, and doesn't kill the person undergoing it.
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* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', Terminators don't need to breathe; that also means they can't take air into their lungs to float like humans can, and sink in deep water. Terminators that need to infiltrate human society also cannot weigh much more than humans, which is especially important for ones that have to pretend to be lightweight, small human women, like Cameron. That also makes them very easy for other Terminators to pick up and throw around and reduces their physical strength, meaning a Terminator like Cameron can't win a straight slugging match. A Terminator's mechanical nature means that it cannot heal physical damage like a human can and must keep a stockpile of parts to repair itself, and damage to its neural chip means that it cannot repair damage to its programming ''at all''.
* ''[[Painkiller Jane]]'' [[Averted Trope|averts]] the [[Healing Factor]] version: Jane can heal herself, but has no super tolerance for pain and has to endure every minute of the pain associated with the injury she receives.
== [[Music]] ==
* The song "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120621053545/http://www.lyricstime.com/jim-s-big-ego-the-ballad-of-barry-allen-lyrics.html The Ballad of Barry Allen]" by ''Jim's Big Ego'' goes into some detail of the loneliness it would impart to be living at super speed compared to the rest of the world.
{{quote|And I'm there before you notice
I'll be gone before you see me
Do you think you can imagine anything so lonely?}}
== [[Myth and Legend]] ==
* The hero Ural in Bashkir legend definitely has both [[Super Strength]] and the requisite anchoring power. He managed to lift a great big stone (in the challenge to win a [[Princess]] and a [[Hellish Horse|demon-blooded winged steed]]... devised by said stallion himself), but his brother who tried before him hadn't these secondary powers and ended up buried waist-deep. Before this, a great bull buried himself knee-deep in a futile attempt to lift Ural while he was holding the bull's horns.
* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: This trope shows up in [[Classical Mythology]] with Midas. Wishing that what one touches turns to gold certainly can have some [[Power Incontinence|horrible downsides]] (and [[Fridge Logic|economic consequences]]). The man lacked such necessary powers as "not turning food and water and people into gold." He didn't turn air into gold, though, nor the contents already in his digestive tract, so he survived just long enough to learn his lesson and beg for a wish reversal.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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* In ''[[Scion]]'', the most basic power available from any given Purview is usually the required secondary power needed for the rest of the powers to either work as intended or work as intended without killing the user. For example, the first dot in Fire and Frost makes the user immune to heat and cold, the first dot in Water lets the user breathe underwater, the first dot in Sky makes the user immune to falling damage, and the first dot in Death lets the user see and interact with ghosts.
** The books actually lampshade and handwave it with Epic Attributes, which allow supernatural and divine beings to be super-strong, super-fast, super-resilient etc. [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|Due to the way the Scion universe works]], and due to the fact that all supernatural beings are bound by Fate, which represents (to a point) the collective subconscious of humanity, beings with Epic Attributes physically act not like they scientifically should, but how ''the common person'' thinks they should. The common person doesn't know that it's impossible to lift a bus without breaking it no matter how strong you are- so a demigod with Epic Strength can do that.
* Part of the reason ''[[Warhammer
** This is a debatable point. It is true that Space Marines need to be modified in order to use their power armor, but unlike some settings, there is power armor available for normal humans. It's difficult to say whether Space Marines are modified to use their equipment or their equipment is specced for the modifications made to Space Marines. Almost every piece of equipment they use has a variant that can be used by normal humans.
** It can be argued that the augmentation is a required *tertiary* power, since without both the natural strength boost in conjunction with the power-armor's strength boost, they would be unable to carry and fire the unreasonably large guns they are issued. Man-portable Las-cannons and Multi-meltas, weapons that weigh 40+ kilos and are usually crew served or vehicle mounted weapons are carried around by Marines and fired from the shoulder.
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* In ''[[Shadowrun]]'' super-strength cybernetic replacement limbs are specifically noted ''not'' to have these—a recipient trying to lift a car is in danger of ripping his prosthetic limbs off instead.
* In ''[[Rifts]]'' there's a class known as the Titan Juicer, chemically-enhanced humans who are much larger and stronger than is otherwise possible for a human. The class specifically mentions that the bones are made stronger so as to handle the increased weight and strength. Their punches are also so powerful they have to wear special gloves so that they don't break their hands when they take a swing at something.
* [[Dungeons
== [[Toys]] ==
* ''[[Bionicle]]'': Matoran actually have Required Secondary Powers, but have a minuscule amount of [[Elemental Powers]]. Of course, when they do become Toa, they will have the necessary secondary power for their element.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' in general. A lot of them must have pocket dimensions inside them to hold all that water/rock/webbing/snow/acid/etc. And, of course, there's the logistics behind fire and electric Pokemon not hurting themselves...
* ''[[Super Mario Brothers|Mario]]'', when properly empowered, can throw fireballs (and [[New Super Mario Bros. Wii|ice balls]]) and not be burned/frostbitten by them, but is harmed by other fire sources.
** He also spends most of ''[[New Super Mario Bros.]]'' kicking Conservation Of Mass in the nads.
* The times in which a power ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' acquires is noticeably different from its source (Top Spin & Charge Kick), it's because he doesn't have wheels on his feet and must adapt the move. Further, he must have a built-in [[Star Trek|replicator]] to construct the ammo for those weapons that are physical in nature (such as the [[Game Breaker|Metal Blade]] or Needle Cannon).
** This is also the case with ''[[Mega Man X]]'' and Axl. They can't fully replicate the weapons as used by the bosses and adapt them as well. Although in X's case, once he gets the hardware upgrade for his [[Arm Cannon|X-buster]], he can charge the special weapons up and do things that the bosses couldn't do themselves.
** Similarly, while [[Mega Man Zero|Zero]] can [[Mega Manning|mimic bosses attacks after he beats them,]] he often doesn't have their weapons or range to go with it.
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' immunity to G-forces are a no-brainer, but he's also managed to fall from space at least twice without any significant injury. He can not only breathe at supersonic speeds, but also, again, in the total vacuum of space. [[Fridge Logic|Can't breathe underwater]], though, because... huh?
*** A random thought: In the 2D games, Sonic must have always had the subconscious ability to push himself downwards, so that he didn't go flying off every hill. The jump dash he gets in the 3D games is simply him learning to consciously use that ability in any horizontal direction.
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* ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' lampshades this when the [[Space Pirates]] try to reverse engineer Samus Aran's powers. They manage to clone her basic weaponry but abandoned the Morph Ball research due to... let's just say "unknotting a pretzel" and move on.<ref>"Science Team is attempting to reverse-engineer Samus Aran's arsenal, based off of data acquired from her assaults on our forces. Progress is slow, but steady. Command would dearly enjoy turning Aran's weapons against her. We believe we can implement Beam weapon prototypes in three cycles. Aran's Power Suit technology remains a mystery, especially the curious Morph Ball function. All attempts at duplicating it have ended in disaster: four test subjects were horribly broken and twisted when they engaged our Morph Ball prototypes. Science Team wisely decided to move on afterward."</ref>
** Certain depictions, ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', the e-manga, and ''Prime'' for example, solve the problem of how Samus jumps with all that armor on by showing that she has jump-jet assistance.
** Rolling around in the Morph Ball also requires Samus to be immune to motion sickness, not to mention impact trauma when she lands, boosts into walls or is hit by enemies. Some depictions solve this by showing the interior of the Morph Ball as a ball of energy, implying it converts Samus to energy, but that raises many issues of its own.
** Recurring series villain Ridley is a [[Giant Flyer]], with all the logic problems that implies. ''Prime'' mitigated it somewhat by giving him forcefield wings, which would essentially be massless, aside from the physical parts by which they are generated.
* In ''[[Quake (series)|Quake]]'', the Ring of Shadows power-up makes your character invisible, but lacks the appropriate secondary power. End result? You appear to others as a pair of small floating eyes.
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** In the diary concerning the Telekinesis plasmid, Dr. Suchong mentions that it can't be used to do a [[Bullet Catch]] - not because of the plasmid's deficiency, mind, but the user's reaction time.
* ''[[Dark Forces Saga]] II: Jedi Knight'', there is a little of aversion of this in play when using the force speed and force jump powers. Using either at its highest setting causes a little damage to the player upon running into something or landing on a surface equal or lower than the one from which he or she jumped. If a player tweaks the powers outside the game (which is quite easy), force speed can easily mean death when running into stair steps at top speed, and force jump can be a great way to get higher, but the fall back down is a killer. The sequels apparently address this by increasing the distance characters can fall without taking damage as a side feature of their increasing Force Jump skill.
* ''[[Deus Ex:
** The use of cybernetic implants in general is also explored. In real life, cybernetics that are married to biological tissue face issues of immune system rejection and the buildup of glial tissue that results in the device not working. As a result, anyone in the setting who uses augmentations must take regular doses of the drug Neuropozyne or their own bodies will reject their augs. The fact that Adam Jensen doesn't have this rejection issue is an important plot point; he is {{spoiler|the "Patient X" that Megan Reed was referencing as having the genetic ability to allow cheap and sustainable augmentations available for all of humanity}}, and the breakthrough was what triggered the {{spoiler|Illuminati's attack on Sarif Industries because of fears that human augmentation would go out of their control.}}
* The water breathing potion in ''[[Terraria]]'' makes it so that you drown in the air while it has it's effect. However, if you wear a fish bowl on your head, you can go in and out of water just fine.
* A lot of the flavor text in ''[[
** Viking pilots must be able to bend quickly or the machine will crush them during the air to ground transformation sequence, and most pilots die because of this during their first battle.
** Ghosts can read the minds of others, but can't block other ghosts from reading their thoughts.
** Almost all the Dominion's forces have been "neural resocialized" (read, brain washed) so they are suicidally complacent (most of the army is former criminals).
** The Hydralisk has several thousand mores muscles in it's large head than the entire human body. Each is needed to fire their spikes. which can pierce future tank armor.
* As well as being armed with a portal gun, Chell in ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' is fitted with a pair of legs springs that [[Not the Fall That Kills You|allow her to survive falls from any height]]. According to the commentary, the developers added these because playtesters complained about the lack of realism. Even though the leg springs couldn't possibly account for all the issues with survivng falls, the complaints stopped.
* In ''[[Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars]]'' the flamethrower-using Black Hand aren't immune to hostile fire attacks.
* Discussed in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' with regard to biotics, who can manipulate mass effect fields to lift, throw, warp, or block things. This is done because they have nodes of element zero in their bodies that are activated by electricity from the nervous system and produce mass effect fields. The asari are the only species that can naturally do this on any significant scale - all other species must have implants to strengthen and control their powers, allowing their biotics to actually become useful, as most species' bodies can't generate electrical fields like that. There's also the problem of energy, as using biotics uses a significant amount of it. Because of this, biotics have a significantly higher required calorie intake than ordinary people (half again as many calories are allotted to biotic soldiers as compared to regular ones, for example) and often have to stop to eat and rest after extended use of their powers.
* ''[[Guild Wars 2]]'' features the springer, a mount with the special ability to make impressively high jumps. In order to be practical, it also has a high tolerance to fall damage that allows it to fall from lethally dangerous heights without suffering damage.
* Averted in ''[[Hatoful Boyfriend]]'' with {{spoiler|Anghel Higure}}, who has the ability of emit potent hallucinogenic pheromones with neurotransmitter properties but lacks himself the immunity to those. To most people he just looks like a ''[[I Just Want to Be Special|Chuunibyou]]'' who spends too much of his time in a fantasy world of his invention, but people who hang with him long enough can be dragged into his fantasy world via hallucination, and it's implied that his condition make him increasingly difficult to snap out of his delusions.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', the superpower of flight is bestowed by an organic jetpack that [[Charles Atlas Superpower|grows from overly-developed abdominal muscles]]. It's spelled out that fueling the organic jetpack requires a methane-rich diet, and that the power of flight does ''not'' grant immunity from the thin air of higher altitudes—those with the organic jetpack are invariably [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|driven insane]] by the oxygen deprivation.
** A fight with an opponent with a laser eye {{spoiler|a cyborg Frans Rayner}} ended very quickly once the beam was fired and missed, leaving {{spoiler|Frans}} too weak to fight. Why? The good Doctor noted that the eye had no outside power source, and was never used earlier in the fight, meaning it burns up a ''lot'' of calories.
* ''[[Magellan]]'' - The level of secondary superpowers varies. One of the staff members has to wear an exoskeleton because she has super-strength but not super-durability. One of the early superheros, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120613174153/http://magellanverse.com/?p=141 The Streaker] suffers [[Clothing Damage]] when using his super-speed and resolves the problem by not wearing clothing. On the other hand, most of those with super-powers do sport Required Secondary Powers. Or maybe those who don't have them [[Superpower Meltdown|eliminate themselves]].
** Since most characters we see are superheros, or superheroes in training, perhaps those without the required secondary powers just didn't get past the strict selection process.
** There is also a kind of magic water that allows blades to cut superhuman skin and hair, without superheroes wouldn't be able to shave.
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* ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]'' discusses this, when T-Rex designes a game much like [[Super Mario Bros.]], except that the player character can't shoot fireballs from his hands without burning them.
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' Roy dons a belt of gender changing and becomes a bald girl, because if a "magic item doesn't specifically say it grows hair, it probably doesn't."
== [[Web Original]] ==
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* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', it was generally assumed that all characters had these as a matter of course. Exceptions tended to make for interesting side-stories. For example, Silly Putty was a [[Rubber Man]], but he lacked the power to actually control his extended body when stretched; as a result, he had to be manually shaped by other people. The Shield was [[Nigh Invulnerable]], but wasn't anchored (or superhumanly strong), and as a result was regularly knocked ass-over-teakettle when he was hit with any significant force.
* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', it's explained that the Freelancers' AI granted them the Required Secondary Powers needed for individual armor abilities. When Griff tried out the [[Super Speed]] armor ability without an AI, everything, including his mental processes and metabolism, was sped up, and he ran [[Crowning Moment of Funny|straight into a wall]] because he had no way of knowing when to slow down.
** This is actually averted in the [[Public Service Announcement|PSA]] [http://roosterteeth.com/archive/?id=1637 Upgrading]{{Dead link}}, when Caboose gets his armor stuck in invisibility mode.
{{quote|
'''Church''': Don't worry Caboose, I'm sure when [[Halo: Reach|the game]] comes out there'll be a way to shut it off.
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'''Sarge''': Sleep? When that game comes out, I won't sleep for a week!
'''Church''': Yeah, no, it's not that, it's just that he's having trouble sleeping because he can see through his eyelids now.
'''Sarge''': Oh. That's creepy.}}
* In ''[[Trinton Chronicles]]'' it would seem like everyone who has an ability that might normally kill them has an unmentioned secondary power.
** Best example of this is Dan who controls time, in order to move at hyper speeds when emulating [[Super Speed]] he would need a way to extract air with out burning his lungs and in order to see when he slows time to a crawl he would need a way to speed light up to his eyes while still perceiving slowed time.
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** Of course, Superman wasn't actively trying to use his powers there. He has shown anchoring powers before and since, so it's probably something he has to consciously make happen, and Batman caught him by surprise (Superman's so used to people shooting him, the thought that an unpowered human would use a martial arts throw against him probably never even occurred to him).
*** Of course, [[Crazy Prepared|Batman already knew that.]] That's why he did that instead of punching him in the face with Kyrptonite right off the bat.
* Played for laughs in the ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' episode "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130328190533/http://www.cartoonlair.com/dexters-laboratory/2x28-old-flame-dont-be-a-hero-my-favorite-martian-video_fb6ac0d71.html Don't Be A Hero]" where Dexter tries to give himself various superpowers. He gets all of the powers but none of the Required Secondary Powers. It doesn't work out too well. Another episode had Dexter running late for school (he only had 30 seconds before the bus would show up), so he sped himself up 60-fold (giving himself 30 minutes). This lead to him having to move ''very slowly'' to avoid friction burns (even having to re-do his homework after accidentally setting it on fire), having to grab water droplets from the showerhead due to how slowly they were going, and numerous other subversions.
** Timmy Turner does the same thing in ''[[The Fairly
* Averted in ''[[Gargoyles]]'', as the eponymous beasts, despite having wings, don't have any of the Required Secondary Powers necessary to enable flight, and thus [[Not Quite Flight|can't actually fly]] (they simply glide). However, Dr. Sevarius notes since the amount of energy the species uses would require eating the equivalent of three cows a day, he theorizes that their daytime stone forms may be used to absorb solar radiation for the necessary energy. However, this has not been proven, especially since the Gargoyles have gone into their stone states indoors and in dark areas without seeming to be lethargic.
** [[Word of God]] has said that missing a day's worth of solar radiation for a Gargoyle is equivalent to skipping a meal. They'll have less energy, but it won't be very noticeable.
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** This is actually supported in an episode where {{spoiler|Apple Bloom}} made a potion that made her keep getting cutie marks. She was able to use all the skills like a master, with ranged from speaking French to taming lions to using a hulo hoop like a helicopter.
** This is actually explained quite handily by Twilight Sparkle. She says that all unicorns have a little magic that help them with whatever special talent they have, despite not being especially talented in magic. For instance, in Twilight's case, her special talent ''is'' magic, essentially giving her endless possibilities in using it.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[We Can Rebuild Him|Cybernetics]] will only reach full viability when they can be tied into the human nervous system. Replacement sensory organs are obvious, but a cybernetic limb will not have the same fluidity and grace of a natural limb until the brain can ''treat it'' like one. Some method of translating between electrochemical and digital transmission is needed.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131119225510/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/31/60minutes/main4560940.shtml They're getting there.]
** Correspondingly, many attempts at power-multiplying exoskeletons have resulted in broken bones and strained muscles when the exoskeleton multiples the force and speed too far. There have been some recent{{when}} successes as designers learn to work around this.
*** At the other end of the scale, there's a robotic arm which has been made deliberately ''weak''. The fact that it is too weak to hurt anybody is a selling point.
** An issue of ''[[National Geographic]]'' included a story about a teacher who lost her arm in a car accident, and now has a highly-advanced prostetic replacement.
* Poisonous creatures (such as monarch butterflies) sometimes form an immunity against their own poison.
** Venomous creatures mostly aren't immune to their own venom though, so must isolate it from the rest of their body kind of like the same way we have hydrocholoric acid in our stomach (with a very complicated "support" system to neutralize it) but aren't by any means acid-proof.
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*** As medical science will attest, the human stomach is in a constant state of ''digesting itself'', the inner lining of the stomach reforming itself faster than the stomach acids can digest it. Stomach ulcers are what happens when the acid ''wins.''
** Scorpions are immune to the venom of their own species, and often their entire genus.
* The human body has a limit on the severity of the G-forces it can withstand before going into blackouts, physical injury and eventually death. Until this physiological limitation can be overcome, having a [[Cool Plane]] that is agile enough to have a turning radius small enough as to be literally turning on a dime is worthless as no pilot would survive using its full potential. One possibility is to make it a UCAV, but if the military-industrial complex has any [[Genre Savvy|Genre Savviness]] about [[
** Or just have the best of both and make it remote-piloted like the [[wikipedia:MQ-9 Reaper|Reaper UAV]].
*** And even if the vehicle is unmanned, if the UAV was too agile, the pilot's reaction couldn't keep up.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Power At a Price]]
[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:Power]]
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