Power Limiter: Difference between revisions

 

== Anime & Manga ==

** The new recruits have power limiters of their own; after getting their devices, they have a four-stage limiter set on them, which restricts how much power and what abilities they can use. One stage typically gets removed just before every major battle, so they can more easily get accustomed to their devices.

** In the aftermath of ''StrikerS'' Lutecia and Agito are also given limiters, reducing them to mage rank D for the duration of their probation.

* The Evangelions have these in [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] in the form of their armor, which doesn't serve to protect the Eva and its pilot as much as it serves to {{spoiler|limit the Evangelions' power and allow humans to control the Eva}}. If an Eva {{spoiler|goes ''really'' berserk, it can actually break the armor from the inside, but this requires a strength of mind that pretty much exceeds any human's ability, and if the human pilot becomes so synchronised with the Eva that this can happen (this requires the human to have a ''400%'' synch ratio), that pilot's probably not coming back}}.

** Unit-02 in [[Rebuild of Evangelion]] is shown to not only possess armor, but actual limiters implanted into its back which release once {{spoiler|Mari unlocks the Eva's berserker mode}}.

** Belldandy isn't more powerful than Urd. It's directly stated by Belldandy that Urd is more powerful than her, and Belldandy [[Can Not Tell a Lie]]. It's just that as a Goddess First Class she's able to ''access'' far more of her power than Urd. When Urd took the exam for promotion to First Class, we got a glimpse of her true power. Which overwhelmed Peorth, a Goddess First Class who's supposed to be a close match to Belldandy in power.

* Alucard from ''[[Hellsing]]'' uses the "Control Art Restriction System", which divides his powers into levels. Considering how ridiculously overpowered he is, enemies tend not to be [[Blood Knight|worthy enough]] to have him unlock any levels. When he reaches Level Zero, <s>''run''</s> kill yourself.

** Fortunately, he can't go full-power on his own accord - full release requires approval from Integra Hellsing. Mostly.

** Also of note, his state of dress also indicates what power level he is at.

** To be fair, while asleep and without her bracers she throws a pillow to silence her alarm clock and nothing gets broken.

* Weights in clothing are a popular method to use for this in [[Shonen]] manga and anime series.

*** Most notably in ''Dragonball Z'', Broly of the movies wears a technological device created by his father designed to keep him from using too much of his power and going berserk. It causes the "Super Saiyan" trademark gold hair to take on a turquoise hue instead. By the time he becomes angry enough, his power overloads the device and he achieves his maximum power, growing almost three times his normal size in muscle mass yet sacrificing none of his speed. It becomes quite obvious why his father was so adamant about keeping him under control...

*** Freeza has an interesting variation: his transformations. His final and most powerful form is his natural state: all of his weaker forms are deliberately designed to keep his power in check. It's obvious why: when he finally does go all-out against Goku, he starts strong, almost evenly matched, but quickly burns out and loses power at a drastic rate.

** There's also {{spoiler|Tsukune's Holy Lock, which keeps Moka's blood in his veins from turning him into a mindless massacre machine.}}

** And {{spoiler|Moka's older half-sister Kahlua, who wears a pair of cross earrings. Removing the right earring [[One-Winged Angel|transforms her right arm into razor-sharp wings]]. It remains to be seen what removing the other earring would do.}}

* Kyo of ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' has a power limiter in the form of a bracelet; if it comes off he transforms into his monstrous "true form."

* Abel Nightroad in ''[[Trinity Blood]]'' is the only [[Our Vampires Are Different|Crusnik]] who can release his powers in three stages (40%, 80%, and 100%). These restrictions are self-imposed, following a [[My God, What Have I Done?]] moment long before the series' begin.

* [[Keroro Gunsou|Sergeant Keroro]] wears a power limiter during the monsoon season to prevent him from turning into "Keroro From [[Noodle Incident|Back Then]]". (Although I've only seen it in Volume 9 of the manga)

* The titular character from ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]'' wears a black glove to keep his [[Red Right Hand|Oni Hand]] hidden away, and so it looks and functions as a regular human hand. When the glove comes off, the hand becomes monstrous in size and appearance, but he still keeps limits on his power with his own spiritual abilities and the help of his mentor's spirit.

* Yuki Nagato from ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' requests permission from her boss to use her powers, and later adds a second layer of restriction in the form of Kyon.

* The mail-order [[Powered Armor|Power Suit]] that Gosunkugi buys in ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2]]''. All things considered, it's extremely powerful tech: it can withstand Ranma's full-power punches without even a dent (and injuring Ranma's knuckles in return,) provides its wearer the speed to deliver [[Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs]] on par with Ranma, and, naturally, also provides [[Super Strength]]. What prevents misuse and abuse by any common crook? Three basic rules: a) it's unbelievably ''heavy'', so once assembled, it effectively locks into place and the user cannot budge one inch until his rival is in range, at which point [[Chained Heat|it automatically latches onto them with a retractable handcuff]] and powers up; b) once latched onto the rival, the armor will deactivate and fall apart by itself as soon as the user successfully strikes the enemy; and c) the user has a time limit to accomplish this, otherwise the armor will self-destruct.

** Cable's [[Psychic Powers]] would be Phoenix-class if a portion of his power wasn't constantly occupied holding back the techno-organic virus that threatens to consume him. As such, he typically uses [[BFG|BFGs]] and does the occasional nowhere-near-Phoenix-class telekinetic feat.

* Similar to Jean Grey, in the post-[[Cosmic Retcon|Zero Hour]] ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes]]'', blocks were put on the higher levels of Saturn Girl's telepathy when she was a child. When the blocks came off years later, she started using her powers without realizing it.

** That's exactly what it's for. Governmentally-enforced, no less.

* During the recent Christopher Kent storyline in Superman, Superman had him wear a watch much of the time that emitted red sunlight to keep him normal as he hadn't learned to control his powers yet. He could take it off any time he wanted but kept it on most of the time out of respect for Superman.

 

== Film ==

 

 

 

== Video Games ==

* Potemkin in ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' wears a restraint system designed to keep him under control during the years he was a slave; it had a bomb wired into it. He worked so hard to overcome it that he gained incredible muscle mass. Even now, having gained freedom, he still wears it to keep his strength in check. In his [[Finishing Move|Instant Kill]], he briefly removes it, and then kills the opponent with one punch.

** As well, Sol Badguy, from the same series, wears a pseudo-magical headband which suppresses his true nature as a [[Super Prototype]] Gear, a race of magical living weapons of mass destruction, and allows him to retain his sanity. However, this comes at a cost of somewhere in the vicinity of 90% of his power. Given his already amazing battle skill, and his ability to destroy commander-level Gears with minimal effort, his true potental can be rather frightening to consider.

** Still, [[Big Bad|That Man]] seems to casually fight him after Sol removes his limiter. Even at the end of the battle, barely any damage was done to That Man. Makes one wonder how powerful That Man really is.

** Limiters are used in a lot of ways, not just to ensure that surfacers and Solarians can't attain their full power. {{spoiler|Fei also gets a Limiter that keeps his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] under control, with a system that allows him to release his Id powers in a controlled fashion. It breaks later.}}

* K' in ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' is forced to wear a special gauntlet, lest his flame control powers run wild. Normally, flame-users in KOF have perfect control, but since K' got his powers through an imperfect process, he has no control over them.

** Both K9999 and Nameless have this too. It simplied that Nameless's glvoe is the reincarnation of his long dead lover or something.

* ''[[Street Fighter]] 3'''s Oro willingly wears one of his arms in a sling while fighting as to use both would run the risk of killing his opponent due to his sheer power. During one of his [[Limit Break|Super Arts]], however, he removes the arm and beats the crap out of the opponent.

* In ''[[Starcraft]]'', the Terran Ghosts go through brutal training to suppress their innate abilities and allow their superiors to keep better control over them. It can be reversed, though; Infested Kerrigan raids a Terran ship to find out how to do it, unlocking the Psionic Storm attack.

* Used ''twice on the same character'' in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]''. A piece of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] is used to bring Jade down 30 levels so he wouldn't be spectacularly overleveled for most of the game. Later, through a sidequest or two, you learn that Jade's eyes are where his ability to use fonic artes is most concentrated, and his glasses prevent all the fonic energy from going out of control and destroying him and whatever he happens to be standing by. ([[The Glasses Come Off|The glasses do come off]] for the final battle against the [[Big Bad]], however...)

* In ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'', pretty much every [[Super Robot]] used by the Shadow-Mirrors is able to deactivate its power limiter by reciting a code word or phrase, i.e. "Code: Kirin". This is never used as a plot point, however, just an implied powerup during the characters' strongest attacks.

* Star Ocean's 2 final boss Indalecio used his daughter Filia as a limiter on his power. If, after reaching the final level of Fienal, the player decides to trek all the way back to Central City, do a private action and encounter Filia again, Indalecio will find her and kill her, removing his limiter. With limiter off, he's almost unstoppable.

* In [[God of War]] 3, Hercules starts out as a [[Mighty Glacier]], but when Kratos pulls off his armor and weapons, he becomes much faster, turning into a [[Lightning Bruiser]].

* In [[Strange Journey]], [[Bonus Boss|Alilat]] served as one of these. While now Metatron can siphon a bit of his power back, it means now [[That One Boss|Demiurge]]'s power lines just got unclogged...

* Deathwing from ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' ''Cataclysm'' has massive elementium plates welded onto his body to keep his own power from tearing him apart. He's still noticably "leaking" power despite them, and is in constant agony.

** When the final battle comes, you tear off the plates to defeat him {{spoiler|only for his body to transform into an [[Eldritch Abomination]] capable of single-handedly killing any of the other Aspects and ending the world in a minute flat}}.

 

 

== Webcomics ==

* Kili's [[Power Tattoo|tattoos]] in ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'' limit her shaman powers and protect her from [[I See Dead People|insanity through dead people]]. Note that she's still the best shaman in the world, and her tattoos would ''[[Power Nullifier|completely negate]]'' the powers of a normal shaman.

* Black Mage from [[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]] has a huge amount of untapped potential power that is indicated to be enough to bring about at least ''one'' of the X-clases on the [[Apocalypse How]] scale. How does the universe stop this [[Omnicidal Maniac]] from destroying all reality? His physical body limits the amount of power he can access. As a result, after [[Oh Crap|he died the first time]] ([[Even Evil Has Standards|and a large hoard of terrified demons]] and the ''[[Pragmatic Villainy|villains of the comic]]'' stuck him [[Person of Mass Destruction|back into his physical form]]), the universe has been very careful to make sure he doesn't die.

* Kin in [[Goblins]], as part of her enslavement to [[Complete Monster|Dellyn]], has been fitted with a magical leash that supresses her magic abilities and prevents her from harming anyone else if the leash is being held.

 

== Western Animation ==

* [[Re Boot|Hexadecimal's]] mask is this, though you wouldn't know it until it comes off. It prevents her nearly unlimited power from overloading her body and exploding.