Jump to content

New Powers as the Plot Demands: Difference between revisions

New Powers as the Plot Demands (view source)

Revision as of 16:02, 8 April 2014

817 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (Dai-Guard moved page New Powers As the Plot Demands to New Powers as the Plot Demands: Lowercase prepositions)
m (Mass update links)
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Couldn't you have done that earlier?"''|'''Tristan''' (to Yvaine), ''[[Stardust (Filmfilm)|Stardust]]''}}
 
{{quote|''"Anytime a hero is somehow outpowered and/or outclassed by the villain, he will invariably release powers/new moves he never knew he could accomplish... but his old teacher did!"''|'''[http://www.cs.utah.edu/~duongsaa/more_htm/jk_100animeRules.htm The 100 Rules of Anime]''': ''#84 The Law of Dormant Powers''}}
Line 14:
Commonly used to bring a character [[Back From the Dead]].
 
Giving a character a [[Green Lantern Ring]] avoids this. Compare [[Magic Aa Is Magic A]], [[So Last Season]] and finally [[Strong Asas They Need to Be]].
 
[[Suddenly Always Knew That]] is the same type of retcon as this, but instead of "Neither did I", the character will explain that [[You Didn't Ask]].
 
If the plot was crafted to fit the powers (as opposed to the powers changing to meet the needs of the plot) you have a [[Plot Tailored to Thethe Party]] or [[This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman|a job for Aquaman]]. See also [[Adaptive Ability]], where your power is the acquisition of new powers/immunities. When the new ability is something overly narrow or silly, this often leads to [[Flight, Strength, Heart]], as was common in [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]].
 
Is one of the common traits of a [[Mary Sue]].
Line 29:
** This has extended to Sasuke's allies as well. Karin and Jugo reveal miraculous healing powers when Sasuke is wounded after their battle with Killer Bee, though they did not use these abilities when Sasuke was bedridden from injuries after fighting with Deidara.
** In Chapter 562, in order to get all the five kages to fight {{spoiler|a revived Uchiha Madara}}, we learned Genma's team are able to use a watered down version of Minato's Hiraishin and they quickly use it to transport the Mizukage.
* ''[[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]'' has two especially egregious examples of this trope, each used to finish off the [[Big Bad]] of a story arc. The first example occurs in Part 3: the villain Dio Brando is virtually unstoppable because his Stand {{spoiler|has the ability to stop time}}, so how do the heroes stop him? {{spoiler|Jotaro Kujo's Stand suddenly gains the power to stop time, which also lets him move in Dio's time stop, despite the fact that its only powers so far were [[Super Strength]] and [[Super Speed]]}}. Of course, this is explained {{spoiler|by saying that Jotaro's stand has always had a smaller version of Dio's time stop power, and what had been seen as a Super Speed attack (his trademark "''ORA ORA!''") was actually him stopping time and then punching his foes' faces repeatedly (Jotaro never realized himself what was really happening, because he managed to stop time just briefly, and so it all happened very quickly before time went back to its regular flowing). Also possibly justified in that Dio is using the body of Jotaro's grandfather and his Stand, The World, and may actually have come from Johnathon Joestar; thus it makes some sense that Jotaro's Stand would have similar powers.}} Part 5's was pretty bad, though: {{spoiler|Giorno Giovanna stabs himself with a Stand Arrow, evolving his Gold Experience into Gold Experience Requiem, and giving it the power to nullify any action an opponent takes.}} To be fair, it ''was'' shown beforehand that the Arrow could give Stands new powers, but come on! That power is just ''ridiculous''!
** Oh, it happens to the villains too. Part 4 had {{spoiler|Kira getting the ability to reset time back to the time a kid woke up in the morning so that he could find out who got killed trying to figure out who Kira was because the kid was under the effect of Kira's just gotten the night before power.}} Part 6 had {{spoiler|the main villain of that getting the power to alter the universe's gravity, causing time to accelerate to the universe's end so that he could reset time to the way he wants it to be.}}
*** Speaking of part 4, this is the whole schtick behind Koichi's Stand, Echoes. It starts out as an egg, which hatches when he needs it to, allowing him to {{spoiler|imprint sounds on a person, making it echo over and over in their heads.}} When that isn't enough, it evolves into a form that can {{spoiler|imprint words onto objects, granting the object the property of that word. For instance, making a solid, pointy rock become bouncy by imprinting "bounce" on it.}} And later on it evolves again to allow him to {{spoiler|increase gravity on a target to the point where it becomes helplessly pinned to the ground.}} Koichi's pretty much a Swiss Army Knife among Stand users.
**** At the beginning of Part 5, it's showed that Koichi is now able to summon the earlier versions of Echoes when he uses Echoes 2' flying power and greater range to look for Giorgio.
** Parts I and II only avoided this trope by making ripple powers a sort of [[Green Lantern Ring]].
* ''[[Yes! PrecurePretty Cure 5|Yes! Precure 5]]'''s Cure Aqua suddenly picked up the ability to turn her "Aqua Ribbon" baton into a sword. The reasoning behind this was that this allowed [[Rule of Cool|an awesome swordfight]]. The sword returned during [[The Movie]] for exactly the same reason.
* In ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'', the characters are frequently granted new karaoke songs ([[Magic Music|the weapon of choice in the series]]) whenever the ones in the previous episode didn't work. This becomes somewhat ridiculous, considering these upgrades are manifested by the goddess the protagonists are attempting to summon, and {{spoiler|when they actually summon her, all she does is tell them to sing...}}
** Oh yeah, and that [[Intimate Healing|amnesia kiss]]? Lucia gets that too. Randomly.
* In ''[[Persona 4 (Anime)|Persona 4: The Animation]]'', Yu tends to gain a new ability, such as Persona Change or Fusion, whenever a boss turns out to be too much to handle.
** This is justified in the fact that Yu is going through Social Links, resulting in new Personas. He summons Pyro Jack because he's befriended Yosuke, Ara Mitama because of Chie, etc.
** Teddie conveniently recalling that Kintoki-Douji can cast Energy Shower, which (just as conveniently) cures Enervation ("old" status).
Line 45:
*** The first example was given some [[Lampshade Hanging]], with Krillin asking "Where did you get such an ability from?!", and Goku replying he wasn't even sure that would work. It was also reused during the Android/Cell saga.
{{quote| ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged|"But how could you-?"]]''<br />
''[[Makes Just Asas Much Sense in Context|"Muffin Button."]]'' }}
*** As for the Ki sensing, it wasn't that Frieza and his minions couldn't do it, but they didn't know that it even could be done. Vegeta mentioned that after he found out it was possible, he easily taught himself the ability.
*** Almost exactly the same happened with Goten. He achieved the Super Saiyan level without knowing that it was a hard thing to do, but being 7-8 years old, he hasn't learnt how to fly by himself.
* Happens occasionally in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. Generally when a new batch of enemies appear the Sailors tend to get a power-up.
** More like happens at the end of every arc. After every attack has been thrown at the [[Big Bad]] to no effect, and all hope seems lost, [[Everything's Better Withwith Princesses|Princess Serenity]] comes out of nowhere with enough power to blast them away. Of course, had she actually used these powers back during the Silver Millennium, none of the events of the show would have had to happen in the first place...
*** Somewhat [[Lampshaded]] in the final episodes, where after throwing even Princess Serenity at Sailor Galaxia, still no effect. The last two episodes keep setting you up to believe that the ''next'' big mean laser blast or [[Power of Love|inspiring moment of compassion]] will finish her off only for Galaxia to laugh it off and smack the heroes around some more.
* ''[[Bleach (Manga)|Bleach]]'':
** Yammy is introduced as the 10th Espada. After the protagonist and his allies have defeated Espada #4-9, it's revealed that he's only the 10th Espada while in released form. When he does finally release his power, he morphs into the 0th Espada. He mocks his opponents with ''Who said the Espada were numbered 1-10?'', a question the fanbase tends to answer with "Arrancar #11, actually". That said, there are occasional hints prior to his reveal that he does have a more powerful form and that he's been eating souls to prepare for a power increase. However, no-one expected his resureccion to break the numerical ranking of the Espada (despite it already having been revealed Ulquiorra had a unique second resureccion form). It's also shown that his in-universe reputation for being so stupid he's incapable of using his power remains true right to the end of him: he may be the 0th Espada, but he is not capable of using that power as effectively as other Espada are able to do.
** {{spoiler|The Hougyoku appears to give Aizen new powers as the plot demands or, as Aizen describes it, "won't let him lose". He busts out no less that two new forms in the span of five chapters in response to supposedly fatal or wildly overpowered attacks. Then the Hougyoku inverts this trope by taking away his power as the plot demands.}}
Line 57:
** In the [[Filler|Invasion]] [[Anime|Arc]]. the villain's zanpakutou is this. [[Villain Sue|Kageroza's]] zanpakutou has the power to manipulate space/time. Then it's revealed to have the power to teleport and duplicate. Then it has the power to resurrect "dead" reigai. Then, when Ichigo is about to defeat the villain, his zanpakutou is revealed to have a cloning ability. The apparent damsel of the arc, [[Creator's Pet|Nozomi]] is supposed to be a modsoul who then manifests a zanpakutou. Her zanpakutou is then revealed to have the power to drain reiatsu. Then it's revealed to be able absorb the attacks of anything thrown at it, combine it with her own power and throw it back as a more powerful attack. Then it's revealed that Kageroza's and Nozomi's power are two halves of the same original zanpakutou and, when recombined, the zanpakutou gains all the powers in combination which suddenly results in the power to destroy the entirety of Soul Society with a single activation command. And, somehow, the original zanpakutou never had any of these abilities at all until the owner, fed up with being treated as weak, turned evil and decided to obtain more power by splitting himself in two and recombining himself (how this makes him more powerful and gives him powers he never previously possessed is never explained).
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'' has quite a few of these, both in manga and the anime -- most blatantly {{spoiler|in the last four episodes of the anime, where Black Star, Kid and Maka suddenly acquired [[Deus Ex Machina]]-like superpowers in that order after being beat to the floor by the villains.}}
* Many creatures in the ''[[Pokémon (Animeanime)|Pokémon]]'' anime would learn new attacks when the plot required it or evolved at just the right time.
* In ''[[Tsubasa|Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle]]'', this is effectively the main purpose of Mokona's 108 Secret Abilities power.
* ''[[Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro]]'': Neuro's 666 tools of the Demon World and 7 Tools of the Demon Emperor. That's 673 different powers he can pull out of thin air whenever he needs to.
* Kogarashi from ''[[Kamen no Maid Guy]]'' has a ''large'' [[Combo-Platter Powers|platter of various powers]], many of whom only show up once to advance the plot ([[Heroic Sociopath|and cause massive amounts of comedic havoc for everyone else in the vicinity]]) and are never touched on again. The sheer bizarreness of most of these powers -- like knowledge of every gourmet recipe in the universe and the ability to [[Brown Note|paralyze people with his voice]] -- makes most of them fall squarely under the [[Rule of Funny]].
* Ryoko of ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]!'' certainly falls into this category when she gets immobilized from the neck down and shoots a bunch of lasers from her ''hair''.
* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', Suzaku's "live" command, which initially took over his body and forced him to survive by any means, is almost completely repurposed in Turn 22. Now it makes Suzaku a better fighter without taking over his body or erasing his memories while it is active. The only way this makes if one [[From a Certain Point of View|changes what "live" is supposed to mean]] from 'run away from danger' to 'overcome it somehow' but even then it doesn't make much sense.
* In ''[[Transformers Victory]]'', Deathsaurus uses Transformer-eating insects to try and kill Star Saber. They turn out to be vulnerable to cold, and then Victory Leo decides to reveal he has a freeze power.
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'', the Millennium Items seem to have their standard powers, plus random other powers used in one or two situations, then forgotten for the rest of the show, even in situations where they would have been useful. For instance, in the manga Yugi holds his puzzle asking it to show him where Jounouchi is, and it does it.
** There's also the Millennium Ring, which near the end of the Pegasus arc showed the power to manifest the effect of Duel Monsters cards as real, allowing Bakura to use Chain Energy to bind Pegasus' goons and summon the Man-Eater Bug to attack him. This power is never brought up again.
** Duelists also very frequently win duels with brand new cards just revealed, and often these cards are A) highly situational to the point in any real deck they'd be dead weight, and B) never seen again after their one usage. On occasion the new card that is used is a real life card that they just didn't use in the show before (such as Skilled Dark Magician), other times the card is completely made up with powers verging on [[Game Breaker]] levels (such as ''the entire Orichalcos archetype''). This is somewhat justified though, as the show is [[Merchandise-Driven]] and thus they ''have'' to introduce new cards all the times.
** The Winged Dragon of Ra is clearly this, revealing a new secret ability ''every single time'' it gets played. A full list of its abilities: its ATK and DEF are equal to the ATK and DEF of the monsters tributed to summon it, you can pay all but 1 Life Point to increase its attack by the same amount, it can attack regardless of if any card effects would otherwise stop it from attacking, you can pay 1000 Life Points to destroy all monster on the opponent's field, and you can tribute other monsters to add their ATK to Ra's ATK. And that doesn't count the requirement one needs to have Ancient Egyptian heritage and has to recite an ancient chant in order to summon it, and the immunity to card effects it shares with the other god cards.
** Spoofed mercilessly ([[Affectionate Parody|along with everything else]]) in '[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: theThe Abridged Series]]''.
{{quote| "Conveniently, my Millennium Puzzle allows me to put souls back into their original bodies!".<br />
"I activate a spell that allows our monsters to trade places! Which would be completely useless in any other situation."<br />
"I have placed a part of my soul inside the Millennium Puzzle, because apparently I can do that."<br />
"Now I shall use Mega-Ultra Chicken's secret ability that I just this second made up to convert my Life Points into Attack Points, merging me with the beast itself!" }}
** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' has Trueman, who exhibits a new power in nearly every appearance, ranging from teleportation to cloning to possession to shapeshifting to ripping through the dimensional fabric to thought manipulation.
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]: Brotherhood'' where Ed, separated from Al and feeling rather desperate, tries to "CONVENIENTLY AWAKEN TELEPATHIC POWERS!" to contact him. It doesn't work.
** Ditto in the Manga.
Line 111:
 
== Card Games ==
* How the hell did we not mention [[Magic: theThe Gathering|Planeswalkers]]? Old walkers are able to do virtually anything according to the comics and novels, and Post-Mending walkers are capable of quite a bit (shown by them getting printed with new abilities). The players themselves are old walkers: literally capable of casting anything they have in their decks (provided certain limitations). But this is kinda the point of playing.
 
== Comics ==
* ''[[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]]''. This is quite possibly the largest criticism laid at his feet: he started out faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and invulnerable to anything less than a bomb. Since then he's learned to fly, to blow like a hurricane, to survive nuclear explosions (though just barely), chill things with a puff of breath, shoot lasers from his eyes, and use [[X-Ray Vision]]. And that's just the powers that have lasted: during the [[Silver Age]], he gained a new power nearly every month (Super Ventriloquism was bad - being able to travel through time as easily as he could fly was worse). The super-breath, at least, is a logical extension of someone with the kind of lungs he must have... although, even so, he really shouldn't be able to do more than emit a single shock-wave of air; he may have a super-strong diaphragm but his lungs aren't any bigger than human lungs.
*** Actually, super-breath is probably the least hard to explain away; wind instrument players master a technique called "circular breathing" to produce a continuous tone through their instrument without running out of breath. If Kenny G can produce a continuous note for 45 minutes, Superman should be able to blow hard for a minute or so.
** Interestingly, a lot of this stems from various media adaptations, particularly the [[Superman Theatrical Cartoons]] shorts; originally the brothers Fleischer ''wanted'' to stick close to a relatively limited powerset, but animating him just "leaping" everywhere was time-consuming and expensive (even with their extravagant-for-the-time budget), so they asked DC "can we just make him fly?" DC said "Sure", he flew in the cartoons which introduced a ton of people to the character who then bought the comic and complained to DC, asking why Superman didn't fly like he did in the cartoon... and, well, we were off to the Super-races.
** Superman's [[Mirror Universe]] counterpart Ultraman actually has this as his superpower: exposure to Kryptonite, rather than harming him, causes him to develop new abilities.
*** And Red Kryptonite (occasionally, in some continuities) lets the "regular" Superman develop new abilities, albeit temporary ones.
** [[Two Words: Obvious Trope]]: [http://www.superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=679:superweaving&catid=36:stupor-powers-index&Itemid=38 Super Weaving.] Out of fairness, this is actually Van-Zee, Superman's lookalike from Kandor, and it's not really a unique power as much as "using Super Speed to weave really fast".
** In one strip, Lois is going blind and she wants to see a play based on herself before this happens. But the play is only a script, so Superman uses super-puppetry to make it appear that actors are performing on stage (Lois' vision is blurred so she doesn't notice). He also uses "super-memory" to learn the script, even though he could just ''read'' it given that he's offstage.
** Other silver age classic powers: super-hypnotism, super-kissing (don't ask, really), and super-mimicry.
Line 132:
** To sum it up, Superman only has 1 super power, the ability to pull any super power he wants out of his Super-ass.
** This didn't end with the Silver Age by the way. The modern Superman has been shown to use the psychic martial art of Torquasm-Vo which in one instance allowed him to ''alter reality''.
* [[Spider -Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'s archfoe [[Norman Osborn|The Green Goblin]] is able to come [[Back From the Dead]] (via [[Waking Up At the Morgue]]) thanks to a healing factor he wasn't even aware he retained. Then again, it's not surprising that he'd be unaware of a power he had to ''[[Die or Fly|die]]'' to use.
** Spider-Man also has in his rogue's gallery a villain called "The Answer", whose powers are ''defined'' as "whatever is necessary in the current situation".
*** The mutant Lifeguard has essentially the same power. She will develop whatever power ''will be'' necessary next to save lives. So, unconscious precognitive adaptation.
Line 155:
** The villain Nemesis Kid had the ability to temporarily gain whatever power he needed to fight any single opponent. This one was used just as badly; he was killed in hand-to-hand combat by Queen Projectra -- without her using her illusion powers -- the only given reason why his ability didn't provide him with invulnerability as well as immunity to illusions was being too ''intimidated'' to concentrate on activating his power. One would suppose he would gain invulnerability against physical attacks against any foe capable of throwing a punch... And no, he never fought Duplicate Boy.
*** Nemesis Kid's powers explicitly only worked on one power at a time. That's why Projectra was able to simply beat him to death: His power was occupied nullifying her illusions.
* The ''[[Doom Patrol (Comic Book)|Doom Patrol]]'' villain "The Quiz" had "every power you haven't thought of". Literally; to fight her, you had to start shouting power names so she couldn't use them.
** Gives you a bit of fridge logic as to why declaring 'the power to have every power I haven't thought of' wouldn't eliminate the power and render her powerless since she can't have any power you've thought of and her root power is told to you.
* Inverted in an arc of ''[[Exiles (Comic Book)|Exiles]]'' in which the team arrives on an [[Alternate Universe|Earth where the Skrulls have ruled since the 19th century]], and several of them are thrown into a gladiator arena to fight other superpowered beings. Mimic, a mutant with the power to copy and hold onto the abilities of up to five other mutants, strikingly showcases "all four" of his various powers as he fights his way to higher tiers of the arena, until he finally comes up against "The Champion", that universe's version of [[Captain America]]. The Skrulls are expecting an epic fight, when Mimic ends it in ten seconds by letting loose optic blasts he copied from the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'s Cyclops. The reader knows he has this power (if he's been paying attention), but the audience is shocked.
* While not powers, per se, [[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]] seems to always have that one thing in his utility belt that saves the day, despite there never being mention of it before. This was especially true in the [[Silver Age]], on [[Batman (TV series)|the TV Show]] (shark-repellent bat-spray), and on the [[Super FriendsSuperfriends]] ("You're a mouse? I'll put you in the bat belt mouse compartment!"). Fans have come to expect him to have all sorts of basic toys there (as well as a chunk of kryptonite in a lead-lined pouch because you can't be too careful), and the better writers either have him specifically preparing for a fight or have him [[MacGyver]] a solution out of things you would expect him to have.
** For the record, he actually ''does'' have a chunk of kryptonite. Superman gave it to Batman so he could use it to stop him if he ever went insane and became a threat.
*** The writers have also shown that Batman, down in the Batcave, has a set of dossier folders on every single hero and villain on the planet, with detailed plans on how to take down each and every one of them if he ever needed to. This even includes the really, really stupid villains for whom the plan ought to be "oh just kick his ass already."
Line 164:
** The movies have their share of oddly specific and convenient gadgets, too, such as:
*** The Bat-Stop-The-Guy-About-To-Drop-Kick-Me-Arm-Apparatus from the 1989 film.
*** The Bat-Ice-Skates and Bat-Heaters from ''[[Batman and Robin (Filmfilm)|Batman and Robin]].''
*** The Bat-Van-Cutter from ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|The Dark Knight.]]''
* Captain Everything from ''[[Normalman]]'' was the most powerful being on the planet Levram simply because he could defy all laws of physics, exhibiting a new power at every plot twist. Of course, this is just one of the ways in which he's a parody of Superman.
Line 189:
* A very '90s miniseries called ''The Psycho,'' by James Hudnall and Dan Brereton, is set in a world where people gain superpowers by taking [[Psycho Serum|various drugs.]] At one point the title character develops the ability to breathe water-- or maybe he had it from the start; after all, there's no way of knowing until someone's trapped you in a flooded room...
* The eponymous [[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]] has on at least three occasions demonstrated powers she had no idea her suit possessed: Clinging, surviving in space, and very possibly flight. She's not aware of the third.
* The female [[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|Green Lantern]] Arisia, a one-time fling of Hal Jordan's, was thought to have perished. She was found years later (somewhat randomly) on the planet Biot in a pod. We were then told that Arisia's species can go into a deep state of mental and physical hibernation while only ''appearing'' dead. All this was done so Geoff Johns could put Arisia into the ''Green Lantern Corp'' ongoing. Not the most elegant way of bringing someone back to life.
* Hawk and Dove. Holy crap, Hawk and Dove. Geoff Johns likes them so much that one of them will just have whatever powers they need for the plot to work. Army of unstoppable zombies? Well hey, Dove just happens to have an anti zombie laser inside her. Boyfriend dies? Dove can totally hear ghosts all of the sudden. Dove's in trouble? Hawk just happens to have the ability to sense when Dove's using her powers even though he's never had that power before. Sigh.
* NICOLE of the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' Archie comic series (and to a lesser extent, the ''[[Sonic theSat Hedgehog (TV)AM|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' animated series), a small handheld device with utilities ranging from a translator, laser device, a protective forcefield and a scanner that can devise info and history from almost any object or area. In later issues NICOLE was evolved into the powerstation for New Mobotropolis from which [[God Mode Sue|she can transport or materialize almost any entity to the heroes' convenience]], though at least by this point her multiple powers are becoming less of a surprise.
* Spoofed in ''[[Tomorrow Stories]]'' with Splash Brannigan. "He followed them into the painting! I didn't know four dimensional ink could do that!" "Well duh! It can probably do whatever story purposes require."
* In the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comic Book)|Buffy Season 8]] comics, this trope is done with a dark justification. Buffy suddenly get new powers, {{spoiler|which are caused by ritually sacrificed Slayers}}.
* ''Herbie The Fat Fury'' got various superpowers from eating lollipops. These powers could be literally anything, from invulnerability and super-strength to hypnotism, talking to animals, time travel, and knocking out uncooperative indian chiefs.
* The Molecule Man, a [[Fantastic Four]] villain can control molecules, so he can do just about anything, but he's not the brightest bulb in the shed and not completely evil, so he's often beaten before he can really use his imagination.
Line 200:
== [[Fanfic]] ==
* In [[Thirty Hs]], [[Harry Potter]] is given a wide variety of powers never had in canon, including groinsaws, the ability to punch astral vampires in half, the ability to summon holy fuck fire and meteors with his guitar fuck slayer, and the ability to see subatomic particles by squinting.
* [[Ultamite Nineball|ultamite nineball]]'s infamous fic "soulless shell" chronicles the adventures of [[God Mode Sue|Leif Melyamos]], who develops the ability to shoot [[Frickin' Laser Beams]], teleport at will, and outfight any opponent [[Waif Fu|at the age of about three]]. By the time he's eighteen, he can take on a bizarre [[One-Winged Angel]] form with horns and wings, and by the time the story comes to a [[No Ending|very abrupt stop]], has got hold of a sapient blood-drinking sword. Keep in mind this fic was put in the [[Redwall]] section, and said canon is supposed to have ''[[Demythtification|no magic whatsoever]]'' (bar the occasional prophecies and [[Instant Expert]] routines). This fic is in fact a prequel to another fic entitled "Blood omen", in which Leif's descendant Zain is an even better example, literally developing a new power with each fight scene.
* [[Legolas By Laura (Fanfic)|Legolas By Laura]] depicts Gandalf as being able to fight Sauron to a standstill and [[Call Onon Me|teleport Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin from the Shire to Mordor simply by wishing it]]. If he could do that, why did Tolkien need three books to get them there?
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3247454/14/The_Adventures_of_Kitty_Pryde The Adventures of Kitty Pryde] by Melodyrider(a series written as an ongoing companion comic to the [[Joss Whedon]] run on ''[[Astonishing X Men]]'') has this chapter where Kitty, Colossus and X-Factor take on a misguided future version of Kitty, who, while not having any new powers, was able to apply her powers in new ways that Kitty hadn't considered before, including phasing through dimensions, sending bioshocks of people who she phases through and [[Invisibility|phasing through light]].
* In a Bleach Fanfiction Wiki, [http://bleachfanfiction.wikia.com/wiki/Miharu_%22Mihara%22_Kurosaki Miharu Kurosaki's] Zanpakutou is quite possibly the embodiment of this trope, creating anything or having any given effect the wielder (or in this case, the creator of the character) imagines. It's command is even "Improvise".
* ''[[The Subspace EmissarysEmissary's Worlds Conquest (Fanfic)|The Subspace Emissarys Worlds Conquest]]'' has an interesting non-[[Ass Pull]] version. The main characters get new powers depending on what world they're in.
 
== Films -- Animation ==
* Lampshaded and played for laughs in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]?'', Roger Rabbit meta-explains his ability to escape his handcuffs easily, when he left them to help stabilize the table as Eddie Valiant was trying to saw them off.
{{quote| '''Eddie Valiant:''' You mean you could've taken your hand out of that cuff ''at any time''?!<br />
'''Roger Rabbit:''' NO! Not at any time -- only when it was ''[[Rule of Funny|funny]]''. }}
Line 215:
* The Heisei ''[[Gamera]]'' series deconstructed this trope completely. Gamera reveals in the second film to have a "[[Wave Motion Gun|Mana Cannon]]" that obliterates the enemy of that film. It is learned in the final film that using that attack drained the Earth of its health, and [[Gaia's Vengeance|releasing a hoard of Gyaos upon the planet]]. It is also learned that Gamera [[Friend to All Children|bonded with humans]] in order to gain the [[Green Lantern Ring|ability to mutate and get new powers]] such as the Mana Cannon and Flame Absorbing powers -- but the Mana Cannon cost him that connection to humanity as well! This causes him to ignore Property Damage as he hunts the Gyaos.
** [[Godzilla]] could be similar at times. The most famous examples would have to be his gravity-defying drop kick, and his sudden ability to ''fly'' at the end of one movie by curling up his body and firing his atomic breath backward so he shoots through the air like a rocket. Additionally, Godzilla randomly decided he had magnetic powers in the climactic battle of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
* In ''[[JasonFriday Goesthe to13th Hell(film)]]: The Final Friday'' Jason is ambushed by the FBI which leaves his body completely obliterated, forcing his heart to evolve into a small creature that can hypnotize and possess people.
* Once Neo realizes he's "The One" in ''[[The Matrix]]'', he can pretty much do anything, which is <s>exacerbated</s> played down in the sequels -- presumably the writers realised that having a [[Reality Warper]] who could kill the bad guys with a thought would kill any kind of dramatic tension. Of course, this leads to [[Fridge Logic|problems]] [[Boring Invincible Hero|of its own...]]
** This trope is also justified at different points in the films, as skills and knowledge the protaganists need can be uploaded directly into their brains.
Line 226:
** Kryptonians suddenly also have the ability to teleport/blink at will, and shoot kinetic beams from their hands in ''Superman II'' as well.
** Flying around the world backwards to reverse time, though some consider this a visual metaphor taken too literally. Superman ''could'' and did travel through time in the comics.
* Considering all of the above examples, it comes as a surprise that 1984's ''[[Supergirl (Filmfilm)|Supergirl]]'' completely averts this trope. Supergirl has all the powers she's supposed to have, but no "extras" are added.
* Horribly abused in ''Midnight Movie''. Try to escape through a window or door? The killer makes them impenetrable. Try to call for help? He disrupts phones. Try to get the attention of someone on the outside? He makes it so no one can see or hear you. All that, combined with him being [[Made of Iron]], being able to teleport, and being able to find people wherever they hide due to literally sensing fear and you've got one of the most unfair [[Slasher Film]] villains in history.
 
 
== Literature ==
* Parodied in [[Michael Chabon (Creator)|Michael Chabon]]'s ''[[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Literature)|The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay]]'', in which our heroes create a comic strip character, The Escapist, just before the start of World War II. He begins as a detective-escapologist character. By the later years of the war, he's pulling tanks apart with his bare hands.
* Happens to nearly every plot-relevant magician in Raymond E. Feist's ''[[Riftwar]]'' series at some point or other. The meta main character, Pug, seems to experience as much of his development by being forced into new powers by circumstance as by study and learning. Nakor also exhibits this frequently later in the series, though it's implied that he has known his new 'tricks' for a long time and simply did not choose to use them for whatever reason.
* [[Anita Blake]] is the best example of this ever, having morphed from a simple animator/necromancer in the book series to... frankly, this editor lost track of them all a long time ago. But in pretty much every big confrontation, she gets a new Power of the Month.
Line 239:
* In the second book of the ''[[Night Watch]]'' series, we are introduced to a character called "the Mirror", who is capable of becoming more powerful and acquiring complex magical abilities in order to match whatever situation he is facing at the time. It is justified due to the fact that a Mirror is formed from the magical Twilight for the specific purpose of redressing imbalances in the power structure of the magical Others, and once that goal is accomplished, it ceases to exist.
** Magic, generally speaking, is pretty free-form in ''[[Night Watch]]'' anyway -- it works by making "signs" in the Twilight, and an exhaustive list of those signs is never given. The only Others held to have limited scope in their powers are the low-level Dark Others like vampires and werewolves -- everyone else just has ''aptitudes'' for a particular kind of magic (healing, shapeshifting etc.) or is considered to be a generalist.
* The resolution of the [[Telzey Amberdon]] story "Resident Witch", by [[James H. Schmitz]], relies on Telzey's psychic powers including the ability to [[Body Surf]], despite no previous indication that she could do this.
* Richard Rahl from ''[[The Sword of Truth]]'' falls victim to this trope fairly regularly. Understandable, since he's also subjected to [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now]] at least once a book.
* The whole Flock in the fourth ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' book, and Angel throughout the series. ''All'' of the flock get this throughout the series, it was just not until the fourth book that Patterson threw up his hands and decided that they were uncontrollably mutating which would cause them to develop random, unplanned powers.
** Also more of a case of New Powers Because The Writer Feels Like It, as very few (if any) of them are ever actually used for anything useful.
* Daniel in ''The Dangerous Days of Daniel X'' by [[James Patterson]]. Almost every chapter he gets a new power. He can create people from thin air, control animals, turn into animals, create different scenes(like turn a messy room into a clean room), has an internal iPod, and is incredibly intelligent. And this is just the first book.
* Dwarves in ''[[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|Artemis Fowl]]'' get a new ability every book. They can tunnel by eating through earth, [[Fartillery|fire a devastating barrage of digested rocks/mud/whatever they just dug through]], propel themselves underwater and ignore the bends because of intestinal bacteria, have saliva that works as a healing balm, can cling to walls if dehydrated, have glow-in-the-dark spit, which can also solidify to trap enemies, have prehensile beards/antennae (very handy lockpicks/emergency automatic surgical needles). I would not be surprised if they were revealed to have chameleon skin or ejectable teeth in later books.
** Though if you [[Fridge Brilliance|think about it]] every power makes sense given their overall nature. Their nature as a [[Fartillery]] unit was established well in the first book as a side-effect of their digging ability, the jet propulsion is really just an extension of that... the bacteria in the stomach are [[Required Secondary Powers|practically necessary]] to explain why they don't suffer problems from all the oxygen in aerated soil and the pore thing makes sense from the given explanation; to leech water out of the surroundings if they're stuck far from water.
** In ''The Atlantis Complex'', they can now expel 1/3 of their body weight out of their rears as a sort of jet-assisted escape. It's stated that this is a natural reaction to life-or-death situations.
* ''[[Elric of Melnibone]]'' picks up powers as required from his historical [[Deal Withwith the Devil|bargains with demons]]. It's also worth noting that Elric's powers and allies aren't necessarily ''reliable'' -- just powerful.
* The ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' books are guilty of this when in the 2001 book ''The Skies of Pern'', the characters suddenly discover the [[Foreshadow|foreshadowed]] power of telekinesis when the book's protagonist's dragon buddy gets attacked by giant cats (and {{spoiler|when they discover that by getting rid of the Red Star and Thread, it opens up Pern for bombardment by meteors}}).
* The Ohmsfords, main characters in some of Terry Brooks' ''[[Shannara]]'' books, run on this. Fair enough, their power is [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|actually called]] "The Wishsong", but it means the plot follows a hundred iterations of "Boy he's screwed," ... "but ''suddenly'' the song asserts itself and does whatever he needs!"
* In ''[[The House of Night]]'' series, Zoey has this. {{spoiler|And later, Stevie Rae and Aphrodite get it as well.}}
* [[Molly Moon]] picks up a new power for each book. She starts out semi-plausible in the first book by learning how to hypnotize people, but from this basis power she begins learning other, increasingly exaggerated, powers: In the second, she learns how to stop time. In the third, she learns how to ''travel through'' time. In the fourth, the new power is mind-reading, and in the fifth, it's ''shapechanging.''
* In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], Luke Skywalker goes through this [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Luke_Skywalker#Force_powers to a certain degree]. After several books, it became known in-universe that he is ludicrously powerful and can learn pretty much any Force-based skill [[Instant Expert|very quickly]]. Many of these skills never come up again, or only when that same author writes him again.
** ''[[Star Wars (Franchise)/Allegiance|Allegiance]]'' has the spirit of Obi-Wan guiding Luke through discovering the unlock code for the room he's locked in.
** ''Rebel Force'': Luke is captured by someone who's developed a particularly nasty form of brainwashing, involving destroying someone's past and personality to make way for a new, loyal one. He escapes shackles by persuading them to stretch wide enough to let him pull his hands through but is put through the procedure anyway. To all appearances and instrumentation Luke is brainwashed, but thanks to the Force he is in fact completely unaffected. This power also keeps his morale up during the process.
** In ''[[Splinter of the Minds Eye]]'', proximity to the [[Amplifier Artifact|Force-boosting Kaiburr Crystal]] lets Luke [[Backup From Otherworld|channel Obi-Wan Kenobi to help him fight Darth Vader]], come [[Back From the Dead]], and heal Leia from the brink of death. Alas for him, the crystal only gave him such a power boost when in that particular temple on that particular planet.
** [[Marvel Star Wars (Comic Book)|Marvel Star Wars]] has some.
*** In ''The Empire Strikes'', Luke ends up [[Adventures in Coma Land|in a coma]] and is captured... and later his body fights free of restraints that should have held him when awake, finds his confiscated equipment, and fights off everyone who tries to stop him. While he was in a coma. He came out of the coma completely ignorant of what had transpired.
*** In ''Saber Clash'' while fighting Orman Tagge, a man who had had years more experience in the art of the lightsaber, Luke was initially at a severe disadvantage and almost died... but the Force then let him make a comeback that had him fighting without art or polish but with such skill and control that he was able to cut off Tagge's cyber-vision goggles, leaving him unhurt but a quivering, shocked wreck.
Line 263:
** In ''[[Shadows of the Empire]]'', during a round of hand-to-hand combat against an [[Expy]] of a [[Terminator]], he discovers that he can use superspeed.
** In ''[[The Truce At Bakura]]'', he can talk to the parasitic lungworms infesting his body, which will soon kill him, and persuade them to stop chewing on his tissues and crawl out of his mouth.
** In ''[[Luke Skywalker and Thethe Shadows of Mindor]]'', Luke is able to absorb blaster bolts without harm, communicate with meltmassif creatures that do not understand the concept of organic life, 'feed' said creatures so that they are forever free of the [[Big Bad]]'s control, and in a very trippy mind-battle, when the [[Big Bad]] becomes a black hole and swallows him, he becomes a white fountain.
** ''[[The Courtship of Princess Leia]]'' has him casually root through Isolder's memories while the other mentions his past, and when they're falling he manages to slow the falls down.
** [[The Thrawn Trilogy]], and [[Timothy Zahn]]'s work in general, gives him the ability to read someone's presence like a second face, picking up on emotional states and knowing if someone's had an idea, the ability to enhance his senses, plus a kind of short-term [[Photographic Memory]] - he can rewind his short-term memories, within an hour or so, and recall with perfect accuracy things he wasn't paying attention to before. There is mention of him learning this from Yoda, at least.
Line 298:
** Chloe didn't develop super-intelligence so much as {{spoiler|she gained it when Brainiac took up roost in her mind.}}
*** So she was a great journalist who was able to work at Daily Planet at 17, then a meteor freak who could heal and even resurrect people, then Brainiac attacks her and, let's see, her healing powers are spent restoring her own brain but she develops super intelligence that earns her his secret identity, Watchtower, and now that she lost that her comeback turned her up into a master of [[Guns Akimbo]].
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' puts some interesting spins on this one:
** Several characters demonstrate the ability to acquire new powers from other powered people. Peter Petrelli copies them, Dad Petrelli takes them, and Sylar rips them out of their heads (killing them, and he gets to use Peter's copying power later).
** In general, the whole series operates this trope at a higher level. If the writers need a new power, they don't give it to an existing character, but introduce a new character with the desired ability. One of the benefits of [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] is nobody much notices a few more or less.
Line 339:
** Buying "Omni-Gadgets" allowed the player to create one use, nebulously defined gadgets. Upon pulling it out, he declared what the gadget's power was, used it, and it was 'burned out', simulating the ability to pull out "Bat Shark Repellant" by declaring the gadget was Animal Control, for example.
** Later modifications to the rule set included "Omni-Scholar" (pull a specific area of expertise out of your... utility belt), and other New Powers as the Plot Demands type abilities.
* ''[[Changeling: The Lost (Tabletop Game)|Changeling: the Lost]]'' includes the Goblin Vow merit, which basically combines this with [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]], allowing the person to make impromptu deals with various abstract things to gain new (temporary) powers in exchange for either doing something, or refraining from something. Breaking the deal is [[Disproportionate Retribution|ill-advised]].
* This is one of the tropes that ''Badass'' is built on. Buying new powers just requires a flimsy exposition sequence between action scenes (a journey of self discovery about being a dinosaur the whole time, a training montage of you learning kung fu, whatever). Or if you've got "Little do you know I am actually a ROBOT!", you can buy new powers in the middle of fight scenes just by declaring that you were secretly a robot (or a ninja, or a mad scientist, or a shark, or whatever) the whole time.
* Following the Batman example under 'Comics', ''[[GURPS]] Supers'' has an advantage for gadgeteer-type superheroes which allows the ill-defined contents of their utility packs to contain just the thing necessary to escape from mortal danger.
Line 352:
 
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Half-Life 2 (Video Game)|Half-Life 2]]: Episode 1'', the Vortigaunts go from electric powers to stealing the essence of Xen creatures to rescuing Gordon outwitting the G-Man himself.
* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2,'' the protagonist finds herself in dire straits as she is put into a cell full of poisonous gas. Just as all hope seems lost, Kreia contacts you telepathically, and quickly teaches you the Jedi art of [[Monkey Island|Guybrush]]-caliber breath-holding.
* This happens to Seere in ''[[Drakengard]]'' as part of a ludicrous [[Hand Wave]] that was necessary because [[The World Is Always Doomed|they were all doomed]], and the ending couldn't be "[[Kill'Em All|Everyone was eaten]]."
* In ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum (Video Game)|Batman Arkham Asylum]]'', the titular Caped Crusader already has his entire arsenal of weapons on the island - he just doesn't bother to activate or get most of them until the plot requires it. For instance, Batman always had the components for the Ultra Batclaw (the upgraded three-shot version of the weapon), but he doesn't bother to upgrade it until he needs to; {{spoiler|when Poison Ivy's vines destroy portions Arkham Batcave while he's inside it, it becomes the only way to leave}}. He also has the Cryptographical Sequencer on him from the beginning of the game - but it only works once he gets Warden Sharp's passcodes.
** The sequel, ''[[Batman: Arkham City (Video Game)|Batman Arkham City]]'', lampshades Batman's apparent habit of going into danger unprepared.
{{quote| Alfred: I see you've requested another equipment drop, sir. Have you considered a larger belt?<br />
Batman: Tried it. The extra weight slowed me down. }}
* To keep the four [[Spider-Man|Spider-Men's]] abilities consistent in ''[[Spider -Man: Shattered Dimensions]]'', [[Marvel 2099|Spider-Man 2099]] gets spider-sense, while Spidey Noir gets improved web-shooting abilities; the changes are [[Lampshaded]] by the characters.
** Spider-Man Noir also ''loses'' the revolver he used in the comics, most likely to avoid [[Moral Guardians]] complaining about kids playing [[Superhero Packing Heat|a hero with a gun]].
* May come up in [[Persona 3]] depending on your dialogue choices. {{spoiler|Assuming the protagonist wasn't just hitting buttons randomly (which you can fess up to), or using her women's intuition (which you can ALSO confess to), how DID he/she know which switch controlled the breaks to the train car? Lampshaded in the manga, which revealed the Male MC had a hidden love for trains.}}
* Literally in ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]''. Barring three which aren't plot-important, that you get by levelling up, the game basically hands you a new power at the exact time you reach an obstacle that can only be overcome with that particular power. After the first couple of times, they don't even bother giving you some kind of training course to justify it; they just hand you the merit badge and let you get on with it.
 
 
Line 369:
** Aside from the involuntary nature of her shape-shifting, she's also hampered by the time it takes to adapt. She could enter a cocoon and mutate a new form to counter the current threat, but emerge only months after said threat has been dealt with, leaving her in a body she has no idea how to operate or maintain.
* [[Wonderella]] totally gets like a spillion powers when tied up.
* The Monster in the Darkness from ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]''. The author has stated that he is a pre-existing monster, but we'll have to wait and see how well his abilities synch up with what he is.
** To be fair, his powers were pretty much just reminders that he's really, really strong, just presented in different ways. [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0661.html Until]...
** It's been suggested that he has [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/wish.htm Wish] as a spell-like ability. And Wish can do practically ''anything''.
* ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' has a magic system seemingly specifically designed to work this way. Any "Awakened" character can just suddenly develop any power the plot needs, any time it's convenient for the writer.
* ''[[Axe Cop (Webcomic)|Axe Cop]]'', having sprung from the imagination of a young child during playtime with his much older brother, tends to have characters randomly gaining powers left and right. Sometimes its explained, and sometimes it's "the secret technique no one knows" or something one of the characters "always had". The adult drawing the strip and crafting it into structure plays such moments for all the laughs they're worth. This truly meets its apex when Axe Cop gains the ability to fly ''by asking his creator to make give it to him.''
* In ''[[Sonichu]]'', [[Author Avatar]] Christian Chandler displays this trope in increasingly absurd ways, up to and including spontaneously bringing his [[Distaff Counterpart|twin sister]] to life through the combination of a [[It Makes Sense in Context|a torch made from Pixelblocks and an ancient Cherokee ritual]].
 
Line 380:
* Quite a few of the people in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' are vulnerable to this, Fey and Jade. Chou is something like this, except hers is more Power Creep, Power Seep. A lampshade is hung in Call the Thunder 6.
** Jade is an exception. All she can do is "possess" objects using "spirit-selves". After a radiation accident, she can regenerate. However, within the "possessing objects" thing, she has a variety of applications of her power. Her power is closer to a [[Green Lantern Ring]] in that respect.
** But these kids have had their powers less than a year, and they went to [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]] to learn to use them. So most of their powers are [[Chekhov's Gun]] (Phase has done this a couple times) and [[Chekhov's Skill]] (Chaka) and [[Training From Hell]] (everyone in Ito's aikido classes) and [[Took a Level In Badass]] (Jade and Lancer, at different times). Still, some of Tennyo's powers are definitely [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands]]. I mean, the reality warping that ripped open a hole in space-time? Come on!
* This sort of thing was curbed and curbed hard in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. While the ''[[Hero System]]'' [[Experience Point|experience point rules]] were being used, there were rather strict guidelines regarding what [[New Super Powers]] could be purchased, depending on the character's base concept. If a power didn't fit the concept, then the power was simply not allowed. Period.
** Characters who used a [[Green Lantern Ring]] or a [[Swiss Army Weapon]] were often granted more leeway with this than other characters, but even then the players in question had to justify their taking certain of the odder, more "out there" powers.
** The only character who was really allowed to get away with this was the [[Complete Monster|Blood Red King]], but he was a different kettle of fish altogether.
* ''[[Italian Spiderman]]'' has this in spades. He can teleport, outrun motorbikes, make chickens lay eggs (or cigarette packets), control spiders, summon penguins, fly, and his mustache can be detached and used as an exploding projectile.
* [[Robert Brockway]] of ''[[Cracked]]'' points out how pieces of [[Phlebotinum]] in a [[Science Fiction]] story gain [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands]], making technology [[Clarke's Third Law|hard for the viewer to tell from magic]]. This is one of the [http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-realizations-that-will-ruin-science-fiction-you/ 4 Realizations That Will Ruin Science Fiction for You].
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Inspector Gadget]]''. "Go, go, Gadget <Fill in the Blank>!"
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' partially has this, in that the powers frequently appear As The Plot Demands, but are logical extensions of the characters' abilities. Katara learns to heal with Waterbending after being burned, Toph invents Metalbending (supposed to be impossible) because she is trapped in a metal box, and Aang {{spoiler|<s>finds a way</s> is taught to ''Spiritbend'' to take away Phoenix King Ozai's Firebending abilities without killing him.}}
** In the case of metalbending, another character mentions that metal "is just purified earth" (that is, metalbending is only impossible because it hasn't yet been tried by a bender of sufficient skill and power). Toph isn't actually there for that speech, but they do try to illustrate that she's realizing roughly the same thing of her own accord.
* A frequent element used in ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' where the main hero will often get new powers that'll ultimately help him in the end, one of the most blatant being his [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|ghostly wail]] and [[Elemental Powers|ice ability]].
Line 397:
** Played for laughs once. The [[Batman Cold Open]] [[Monster of the Week]] fired an energy beam at Danny, and he generated a reflective shield instinctively. Once the beam rebounded, he remarked:
{{quote| Danny: Awesome! ...Now, how did I do that?}}
* On ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'', Raven can do pretty much whatever she wants depending on the situation. She mainly relies on [[Flight]] and [[Mind Over Matter|telekinesis]], but has demonstrated the ability to use clairvoyance, [[Time Stands Still|stop time]], [[Intangible Man|pass through walls]], see brief [[Seers|glimpses of the future]], create monsters and [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|change her appearance to a monster]] to "persuade" a villain to help them, [[Villain Teleportation|among]] [[Demonic Possession|other]] nasty [[Mind Rape|things]]. This may be partially justified, because her powers are [[Functional Magic|magic-based]], and she's the daughter of an all-powerful [[Satan|demon]] [[God of Evil|lord]].
** As a villainous example, Brother Blood fits as well (in fact, his powers seem remarkably similar to Raven's, apart from the [[Mind Control]]). Also overlaps with [[Power Creep, Power Seep]], as he goes from a psychic with a [[Compelling Voice]] (in his first appearance) to a near-god who can take all the Titans at once effortlessly and is only stopped by [[Deus Ex Machina]] (the season finale).
*** Ironically {{spoiler|he would be defeated by Cyborg's own new plot-based power, which was to magically leech parts from Blood until Cyborg regenerated all of his mechanical components, conveniently rendering Blood incapacitated. He even lampshades this at the end, where Beastboy remarks now Cyborg is part magical, with Cyborg retorting that it was just a one-time thing. Oh and the power was said to be of love and friendship}}.
* ''[[Thunder CatsThundercats]]'' loved this. Cheetara's psychic powers, Tygra's illusion abilities, almost anything the sword of omens did. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
* While ''[[Birdman And The Galaxy Trio|The Galaxy Trio]]'' had consistent enough powers for Gravity Girl (play with gravity, usually by making things fly) and Meteor Man (grow parts of body, super strength follows), Vapor Man seemed able to do just about anything by attaching "-vapor" to the end. This included, but was not limited to: combustible vapor, freezing vapor, storm vapor (read: lightning), explosion vapor, and steam.
* Artha and Beau from ''[[Dragon Booster]]'' display this a ''lot''. It is explained that Beau has many hidden powers that would manifest themselves with training and experience. This, however, does not explain why the majority of these powers only appear for one episode and then vanish for the rest of the series. Especially jarring in the case of Artha and Beau {{spoiler|fusing together at the climax of one episode}}, as the theme of combining abilities was ''central to the series.''
Line 406:
** His inspiration, the Silver Surfer, is known for doing the exact same thing. Power Cosmic is more or less a ticket to do this.
* When ''[[Pirates of Dark Water]]'' was a miniseries, Tula was just a talented thief. When it got picked up as a series, she quickly gained heretofore unknown (even to her) powers of "ecomancy", effectively making her the heart kid from Captain Planet, but more with plants.
* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force (Animation)|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'': The Omnitrix's ability to repair genetic damage, first seen in "Max Out".
** For that matter, the Omnitrix [[Suddenly Voiced|talking]], from the same ep.
** The adding of new aliens in the original series almost always worked this way (except for the monster aliens), with their powers just happening to be useful towards the [[Monster of the Week]]. It would sometimes be done in different ways such as someone with greater knowledge of the Omnitrix unlocking a specific function or just random unlocking from playing around with it
** Same for Ben himself. The writers decide to give him photographic memory so that he can remember some runes that the [[Big Bad]] had activated.
* Averted on ''[[Generator Rex (Animation)|Generator Rex]]''. Rex is limited to six weapons (jetpack, giant metallic hands, cannon, sword, giant metallic boots, and hover-cycle): he isn't able to use anymore than those.
** So far, the series isn't even one season old. And Rex has already been shown suddenly [[Everything's Better Withwith Spinning|altering his sword and fist]] to make them hit harder.
** Rex also has other powers on top of his nanite weapons; he can heal other [[EV Os]] by shutting down/absorbing their nanites and he can control machines.
** Except that he had those abilities in the first place. He has, thus far, never gained any new powers.
** As of the season one finale, Rex has {{spoiler|at least one new construct he can make- a kind of cable or whip- and it's implied he has several other new ones he hasn't used yet}}. This is, however, the result of a specific bit of phlebotinum that is unlikely to have the same effect again.
* Cathy from ''[[Monster Buster Club (Animation)|Monster Buster Club]]'' has so many wacky alien powers, it'd be easier to list the ones she ''doesn't'' have. She has a stretchy Mr. Fantastic body, can levitate and perform telekinesis, can glow in the dark at will, spins her forearm around like a drill... and many, many more, all conveniently described on the spot as something Rhapsodians (like her) can all do.
* On ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', Batman uses [[Spirit World|astral projection]] in one episode -- an ability he's never even been hinted at having before, or has used since.
** And which is just a bit out of character, seeing that Batman is supposed to be a [[Badass Normal]], not a psychic.
*** He did explain it, and since it is something he learned from Monks, it makes sense. A black belt in everything is hardly normal. And given that this version is a spiritual brother to the campy 60's series, this may be an [[Invoked Trope]].
* ''[[Robotboy]]'' does this. When the title character "super-activates", it's as though his circuitry starts running on phlebotnium instead of electricity.
* The writers of ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'' admitted that they liked doing this when writing for alien species. Kif's abilities to climb walls and shed his skin were some examples of it.
** Bender seems to gain a piece of hardware whenever the plot requires, or if the writers need some sort of joke. [[Hammerspace|They all seem to]] [[Telescoping Robot|come from his chest]].
** Although not a superhero, in one episode Steven Hawking breaks up an argument by suddenly shooting lasers out of his eyes.
{{quote| '''Hawking:''' I didn't know I could do that.}}
* An episode of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls (Animation)|The Powerpuff Girls]]'' centers around Blossom discovering that she has ice breath ability, conveniently in time to stop a flaming asteroid from crushing the city. In what might be a deconstruction, she actually notices that her new power is ostracizing her from her sisters and doesn't ''want'' to use it to stop the asteroid. She later uses the ice breath in later episodes, although not really more than her other powers.
* In ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (Animation)|The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest]]'', Hadji conveniently discovered his "latent" telekinetic abilities in the second season (along with a good many other revamps).
* ''[[Total Drama Island (Animation)|Total Drama Island]]'': Harold basically runs on this trope, he's a geeky Napoleon Dynamite [[Expy]] most of the time, but whenever a random (and usually incredibly odd) skill is required for a challenge he suddenly becomes useful again.
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'': "Dude, no one tells me anything!" While 21 doesn't quite develop new powers, it seems that he's informed of the costume's latest capability the second it becomes necessary.
** When you consider who his boss is, this might make sense. The Monarch is the type of guy to go on about how their costumes will "strike fear into the hearts of those who oppose us" without thinking to tell them what they actually ''do.''
* Roger from ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'' is one of the best examples of this trope you can find, to the point where even ''Roger'' is surprised to find out he has certain powers.
{{quote| '''Roger (after Stan set him on fire):''' How did you know I was fireproof, I didn't even know! ... You did know, right?}}
* ''[[Transformers]]'' does this on occasion. In the [[Transformers Generation One1|the original series]] Optimus Prime revealed he could mentally control pieces of his body after being disassembled by Megatron. Ironhide sprayed a huge variety of liquids from his sprayer-hand, from glues to liquid nitrogen to firefighting foam to oil to paint, and each liquid would be just what was needed for the situation. ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' had Blackarachnia show off telekinesis after becoming a Transmetal 2 (for one quick scene and never again), and there were so many instances of New Weapons As The Plot Demands (in one episode Cheetor pulls a massive missile launcher ''bigger than he is'' out of nowhere, fires it once (missing his target and accidentally hitting Optimus), drops it and forgets about it. The various Japanese ''Transformers'' series are even worse about it.
* Near the end of the first season of ''[[WITCH (Animationanimation)|WITCH]]'', Will spontaneously uses the ability to have the Heart of Candracar duplicate itself to fool the bad guys. She never uses this again.
** In the second season, all five girls develop secondary powers seemingly out of nowhere--Hay Lin can become invisible (often something related with the element of air), Taranee can read minds, Cornelia gains telekinesis, Irma gets mind control (though this was first demonstrated early in season 1), and Will can talk to electronic appliances. Will also discovers her real element, thanks to Nerissa, and instead of going with 'the Heart' and 'Rebirth', she can use 'Quintessence'. They also, at the very end of the second season, reach their 'zenith' forms, where they each become pure manifestations of their element. The drawback of this is they very nearly lose their minds in doing so.
*** Justified somewhat as it's mentioned that, until then, most of the energy for their powers was going into keeping the Veil up. Once it came down, they all got stronger powers.
* Pinkie Pie's [[Spider Sense|'prediction']] ability in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', despite being common knowledge to everyone who had prior knowledge of her in the show, had never been evident before the episode "Feeling Pinkie Keen", and has seen little screentime afterwards. It almost seems like she only had it to provide that episode's Aesop in teaching [[Straw Vulcan|Twilight Sparkle]] to not adhere so rigidly to logic and to what can be explained.
* The [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[Beetlejuice (Animationanimation)|Beetlejuice]]'' is an unusual variant in that Beetlejuice displays all kinds of weird powers, but since the show is a comedy rather than a "good vs. evil" show, it's typically done through [[Rule of Funny]] more than anything else.
** His power is basically explained as "If he says it, than it happens, no matter how metaphorical or out and out silly the expression was." This was actually used against him in an episode where his [[Rogues Gallery]] tricked him into saying "I'm coming apart at the seams."
 
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/900275"
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.
More information