Story-Breaker Power: Difference between revisions

A question writers should ask themselves when deciding which (if any) Super Powers to give the protagonists is "Which and how strong a set of powers does a character need in order for this story to be entertaining?". The reason why is because many times characters begin or end up having powers that in the hands of a [[Mundane Utility|competent]] and [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|reasonably intelligent]] protagonist would allow them to [[Game Breaker|handily solve a plot]]. Plot complications, the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] and the [[Sliding Scale of Villain Threat]] would be incapable of dealing with this character... at least not without drastically changing the setting or the story's tone.

 

 

In order to challenge the protagonist the writers will have to [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|ramp up the villain's power]], [[How to Stop The Deus Ex Machina|find a way]] to otherwise [[Deus Exit Machina|remove or sideline]] them, [[De Power]] them or at least [[Power Limiter|reduce it]] to more reasonable levels, [[Bag of Spilling|take away their weapons]], or give them a [[Drama Preserving Handicap]] of some sort. Otherwise, the character will be [[Too Powerful to Live]]. On a bit of a tangent, there's a reason why this trope applies mostly to protagonists; we ''expect'' the [[Big Bad]] to have a nigh unbeatable edge and get beaten nonetheless, giving us a [[Underdogs Never Lose|typical underdog story]]. Though this isn't to say it's ''good'' for a villain to have a [[Story Breaker Power]], because they run the risk of becoming a [[Villain Sue]]. This is why most stories with such villains actually focus on stopping them from getting these powers.

The abilities most likely to be Story Breaker Powers without careful use are:

 

* Using magic in a series that commonly uses science (when it is presented as highly above science).

* [[Power Copying|Copying other people's powers]] when it doesn't have limits to [[All Your Powers Combined|how much it can copy]]

It's worth clarifying that yes, characters with these powers can and often do have engaging stories, great struggles, and otherwise captivate the audience. When that is the case though, it's because the writer balances the powers with Heart (no, not ''[[Flight Strength Heart|that]]'' [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway|Heart!]]) and challenges that the hero [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|can't hammer away at]]. What good is being a [[Flying Brick]] when a [[Smug Snake]] lawyer is out to sue them? Or [[Time Travel]] when time itself ''will'' kill a loved one from old age?

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Fans often describe Yuki from ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' as the strongest character ever made. Although this is probably an exaggeration, she does demonstrate [[Nigh Invulnerability]], [[Super Strength]], [[Super Speed]], and [[Reality Warper]] powers. Her crowning achievement would be {{spoiler|''hijacking Haruhi's full power'' to retroactively depower everyone and rewrite the universe to her liking}}. Her job is only to observe, however, so her overt actions are limited..

** Fugo was actually [[Put On a Bus]] for this very reason. His Stand Purple Haze produced a toxin that destroyed every living organism that came in contact with it. Araki eventually decided to bench him because it became too difficult to design fights with Fugo around.

*** It is not that Purple Haze was actually ''overpowered'' by the standard of this story. The entirety of Part 4, except the final fight, was built around the assumption that the protagonists could kick anyone's ass in close combat (Jotaro even {{spoiler|retained his [[Time Stands Still]] power after the final battle of Part 3}}), and they still were severely challenged. The Purple Haze was just boring - either you were in range and you instantly died, or you weren't, and so it was never really useful for solving the situation.

** The Snake of the Festival is the God of ''Creation'', and ''he'' seems to have no problems showing off: infinite power, immunity to flame, [[Prehensile Hair]], and a sword that {{spoiler|causes anyone who tries blocking it to sustain heavy injuries (Blutsager)}}. Plus the whole "Creator" bit.

* The ending of ''[[Mai-HiME]]'' is made of these, complete with {{spoiler|[[Artificial Human|Miyu]] [[Ass Pull|pulling powers out of her ass]] until she cracks the barrier to Fuuka by essentially smashing it with a really big mallet, the resurrection of everyone who had died at that point up to and including the [[Big Bad]] of the first half of the series, Yuuichi [[Took a Level In Badass|taking a couple hundred levels in badass]], and finally ending with [[Batman Can Breathe in Space|HiME Can Breathe In Space]].}}

** One cannot forget the new protagonist of Force, Tohma. He starts out rather basic, for this series anyway, but then {{spoiler|he becomes fully infected and is turned into a [[Divide By Zero|Zero Divider]], [[Cursed With Awesome|a person who can cause everyone around him to fall unconscious and possibly die, doing so completely subconsciously.]].}}

* Accelerator of ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'' won the [[Superpower Lottery]] with the ability to change the vectors of anything, as in he's immune to nukes if he wants to be and could take out an entire army by himself if he didn't get tired while slaughtering everyone. {{spoiler|Then the story takes the time to illustrate that he's not a complete amoral psychopath so they can make him into a hero. Naturally, after getting a [[Morality Pet]] he makes an (anti-)[[Heroic Sacrifice]] that makes him far less brokenly powerful so [[Drama Preserving Handicap|he can be a hero fighting at a disadvantage.]] Later in the novels since vol.13 he has started to evolve his powers and vol.15 he had a power "awakening" killing the second Level 5 in the process giving him new levels of badass}}.

** Accelerator actually can't count anymore. His ability can be countered as shown by Amata Kihara. His power can even by disconnected and taken away from him. There are also a lot of characters stronger then him currently. His awakening could still count but that's another story.

* Given that he's literally referred to as a "real-life broken video game character" in canon, Jack Rakan of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' obviously counts. [[Charles Atlas Superpower|Through skill alone]] he tosses around skyscraper-sized swords with ease, copies physics-defying sword techniques with a glance, and destroys pocket dimensions by ''flexing'', explicitly defying the laws of magic with [[Boisterous Bruiser|sheer]] [[Crazy Awesome|awesomeness]].

** His rival and the protagonist's father, Thousand Master Nagi, is established to somehow be even ''worse'', though the effect is mitigated by his reliance on a cheatsheet to cast spells and his greatest feats [[Second Hand Storytelling|taking place off-camera]]. His "power"? Being invincible.

** [[Digimon Adventure|Angemon, and later HolyAngemon]], both seem to be on par with Digimon one level above their own. To recap: Patamon first evolved to Angemon in order to defeat Devimon (the first [[Big Bad]]), then didn't reach Adult-level again until halfway through the Vamdemon saga. When all of the Digimon evolved to their highest-level forms in order to face Vamdemon (Perfect for all 7 others), it was Angemon's attack that destroyed Phantomon, one of Vamdemon's most powerful subordinates at the Perfect level, and his attack had a debilitating effect on Vamdemon himself whereas no-one else could touch him until Angewomon came along. Angemon finally gets to evolve to Perfect just before the end of the show, and does the majority of the work in defeating Piemon, an Ultimate-level digimon that had already beaten the combined might of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon ''twice''.<br />On the other hand, perhaps to counteract, Angemon spent most of ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' getting [[The Worf Effect|Worfed]]. HolyAngemon only made two appearances : in the first he failed to defeat another broken Ultimate, BlackWarGreymon, only because the power source he used to evolve was destroyed, whereas the second was not particularly notable and he didn't do much.

** Specifically, HolyAngemon defeated Piemon with the ludicrously broken skill of ''opening a gate to a land of divine punishment, dragging him in and shutting the entrance''. Admittedly, this does suggest that Piemon was himself a story-breaker as he was too powerful to conventionally defeat and could only be stopped by way of an equally broken Digimon.

** In a more extreme version of this trope, in ''[[Digimon V-Tamer 01 (Manga)|Digimon V-Tamer 01]]'', Arkadimon is pretty much the most powerful Digimon period. For one thing, it can one-shot a Ultimate-level digimon ''as a freshly-hatched baby.'' Not just any Ultimate, but the above-mentioned Piemon.

** Another example would be the protagonist's very own partner, Zero. Not only does he boast enough raw strength and speed that he can match opponents a level above him (which is [[Drama Preserving Handicap|all he seems to fight]]), but when he reaches his Ultimate stage, he unlocks the Ulforce, a [[Healing Factor]] so strong that he can recover from [[One Hit KO|instant death attacks!]] Even [[Big Bad|Daemon]] had to negate it before he started whooping ass.

** Whitebeard {{spoiler|can cause tsunamis with his Earthquake causing devil fruit.}} No wonder he's been in the background so much.

** The Logia fruits as a whole have the potential to be this, as one characteristic that almost all of them share is the ability to allow their user to become the element on which they are based, albeit with the element's weaknesses (for example, Crocodile, the user of the Sand Sand fruit, cannot turn into sand if he is wet), thus rendering them virtually immune to physical attacks. While Blackbeard's Devil Fruit lacks that ability, it has the ability to cancel all other Devil Fruit powers if it hits the target.

* Hiko Seijuro XIII of ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' has been described by the author as a "Joker in the Card Deck", being the [[God Mode Sue]] of the series. The fact that the author realizes this is also the reason why he rarely appears.

** Shishio Makoto is so goddamn powerful that not even {{spoiler|the main character with his ultimate technique}} could beat him. The only reason he loses is because he {{spoiler|fought for so long that his body temperature went so high (he's incapable of sweating to cool off due to being covered in burns) that he ''burst into flames''.}}

* Lucy becomes this by the end of the ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' manga. Her vectors become so strong that she can {{spoiler|single-handedly combat an entire army with little apparent effort.}} Partially subverted in that {{spoiler|she was unable to sustain that level of power for long, and ignoring her limitations caused her to literally [[Too Powerful to Live|turn to mush]].}}

** Even ''before'' the feats of the 3rd OVA, the 2nd has Tenchi effortlessly not only escaping from inside the event horizon of a black hole, he did this not by moving faster than light or teleportation, but by ''sheer brute force'', as he ''destroyed the black hole in the process''.

* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' where [[Time Travel]] is as easy as getting yourself shot by a bazooka, the newest [[Big Bad]] Byakuran's ability to {{spoiler|sync with all his selves in different [[Alternate Universe|Alternate Universes]]}} will probably still count {{spoiler|at least in the other ''8 tetratrillion'' worlds where he successfully takes over}}. However, there appears to be certain as yet unspecified [[Power Limiter|repercussions]] to this ability.

** {{spoiler|Tobi's Six Paths appeared to be this, since they were the Edo Tensei zombies of the dead Jinchuriki that had their tailed beasts resealed in them and a Sharingan, Rinnegan combo to let Tobi combine their attacks and predict any attempts made to attack them, it was subverted when Killer Bee and Naruto managed to kick their asses with a bit of help from Kakashi and Guy.}}

*** All of these characters are outclassed by the Sage of the Six Paths. The original Ninja who created Ninjustu and Chakra, and whom hundreds of years ago saved the world by defeating the original 10-tailed beast and then sealed the beast inside his own body. His powers were vastly extensive, as the original owner of the Rinnegan he had all the powers associated with the Senju and the Uchiha and had full mastery of all those powers, things like warping realities and dropping meteors that would dwarf the size of the ones Pain and Madara made were easy feats for him. Notably on his '''death bed''' the Sage was still so powerful that he was able to accomplish the incredible feat of splitting the 10-tails' power into 9 separate beasts and to create the '''Earth's moon''' as a prison for the demon's dead body so no one could ever reach it and revive it. There is a reason why everyone is seeking the Sage's powers, if they had his power then no one could defeat them.

** Fortunately for the sake of the plot, {{spoiler|said personality [[All Powerful Bystander|doesn't really care about anything]] most of the time.}}

* [[Doraemon]] from Doraemon has a whole lot of stuff in his pocket. Until know there has been a count of 500+ different gadgets. Seems like Doraemon and Nobita are already used to have the idiotball with them so that they won't remember the wrong gadget at the wrong time (plotwise).

* The [[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Book)|Legion of Super-Heroes]] were given a device they called the Miracle Machine by a race of [[Neglectful Precursors]]. Its power? Nothing less than [[Reality Warper|turning your thoughts into reality]]. It's usually relegated to the their trophy room, because [[Drunk With Power|power corrupts]], and it would be a shame if they saved a few billion lives while getting corrupted... or something. A later author wrote a plot specifically to remove the literal [[Deus Ex Machina]] from the plot forever (and make Matter Eater Lad [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway|useful]] in the process).

** And as of ''[[Final Crisis]]'', Superman has one of these things. That he built himself, meaning he knows how to build them. What do you wanna bet he never uses it again?

* Morpheus, the title character of ''[[The Sandman (Comic Book)|The Sandman]]'', is more powerful than most gods and only cosmic level beings like Lucifer are a real threat to him. Even if he should die, a new aspect of Dream would arise in his place who may or may not be very happy with the fellow who slew his predecessor.

** Morpheus is an interesting case. As one of The Endless, he's almost omnipotent within his own domain (dreams). On the other hand, he is weighed down with the rules and duties of his office, which renders him more impotent than many of his own dream creations. He is only able to use his full power in directly protecting the Dreaming (which does not necessarily mean protecting himself), and only while in the heart of the dreaming. He is imprisoned by a human wizard, brought to near-death by Dr. Destiny, a witch at one point prevents him from crossing a ritual circle made of chalk and goat's blood, and in many other ways threatened or hindered during the course of the comic. In the end, {{spoiler|The Furies -- minor mythological creatures from Greek Mythology -- kill him because the act of spilling family blood has rendered him a lawful quarry for their wrath.}}

** And he's also [[Mind Over Matter|telekinetic]], with an enormous range. Thus, unless you magically hide yourself from him, he will ''fuck you up''—and the plot along with you. As Jeft discovered to his sorrow.

** Notably, {{spoiler|Brox}} figured out how dangerous Ringo could be, and arranged to have the entire [[Ghost City]] of Ehndris covered with a hiding spell that also caused Ringo great pain when he tried to look in there.

** First, the Royal Death Note lets the user bypass the rule that they must know their target's face and full name. The whole plot of ''Death Note'' - Light's hunt for L's name - becomes pointless, since Dark can simply write "L" and kill him. Except...

** There is also a Life Note, which allows anyone, no matter how they died, to be brought back instantly. The Death Notes are essentially worthless. Except...

* In ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' by [[Stephen King]], one of the side characters in the last book {{spoiler|has the power to materialize anything, including inter-dimensional portals, out of thin air when he draws them on a paper. Guess what happens when he draws something/someone already there, and then ''erases'' it.}}

* [[Larry Niven]] once wrote of this problem, which he encountered when he introduced the General Products Hull to his ''[[Known Space]]'' stories. The hull couldn't be damaged by anything except gravity {{spoiler|or antimatter}}. Introducing this into the universe could potentially ruin a lot of stories and he ended up setting most of his Known Space stories before the hull was invented.

** The [[Super Weapon|Platinum Flute]] is an even bigger case. Just possessing the flute puts an Adept on par with Mach. In the hands of a master musician (like Stile or Clef), it can invoke magic powerful enough to destroy the planet.

* ''[[The King Killer Chronicle]]'' contain a [[Nested Story]] that depicts a hero known as Taborlin the Great. Why was he so great? He knew the true name of everything and could command it accordingly, for example, after being trapped in a tower, he told the stone to break, allowing him to command the wind to carry him to the ground.

* [[Kamen Rider Kabuto]]'s [[Up to Eleven|Hyper]] [[Super Speed|Clock Up]] allows him to move faster than light, and travel through time and alternate dimensions. On top of Kabuto being [[The Ace]]. However, [[Power Incontinence|he does not appear to have full control over its more powerful functions]], it will sometimes send him to random places of its own accord, his most powerful attack cannot be used while it is active, and some of his enemies have [[Time Stands Still|powers which can counter it]].

* [[Kamen Rider Double]] has the villanous rider Eternal who can [[Game Breaker|make all gaia memories that were not crested before his stop working]](Gaia memories are the source of power in this series for villains and heroes alike he can also [[All Your Powers Combined|use all T2 Gaia memories for several powerful attacks]])

** The Doctor could just evacuate everyone on the doomed space ship that's getting sucked into the sun, sucked into a black hole, crashed into meteors a la the Titanic, etc, in the TARDIS, if it didn't always (in)conveniently get blasted away into space and out of useful range for the episode. (You'd also think that, given how clever he is plus 900 or so years of adventuring, he would have tried to develop an app or setting for his sonic screwdriver that would just turn off Cybermen and Dalek armour, but apparently that would break the drama too much.)

 

 

** Reimu Hakurei possesses literal [[Plot Armor]], her status as Gensoukyou's [[Barrier Maiden]] ensuring that she can never be killed as it would cause Gensoukyou to experience [[Critical Existence Failure]]. Furthermore, her [[Lethal Harmless Powers|Fantasy Heaven]] ability temporarily causes her to "fly away from reality" and become ''completely invincible'', and [[Word of God]] is that if she didn't implement a time limit she would be unstoppable. She has lost battles though, as fighting in Gensoukyou is largely a game and pushing the "I win" button all the time would be boring.

** [[Cute Ghost Girl|Yuyuko Saigyouji]] has the power to kill ''anything'' (except, of course, the above-mentioned two unkillable characters) just by thinking about it. However, gaining this ability is the reason she was [[Driven to Suicide]] in the first place and is thus highly reluctant to use it (except against aforementioned Mokou, who considered it rather rude).

** Eirin Yagokoro, as former Brain of the Moon and a super genius, basically has the superpower of making [[Artifact of Doom|Artifacts Of Doom]]. Aside from the aforementioned Hourai Elixier, her plot in ''Imperishable Night'' was to hide outer space from the Earth. [[Bigger On the Inside|She did this by hiding Earth in a pot.]] [[Recursive Reality|In a pot she kept on the Earth. She made a fake moon and sky to stick to the inside of the pot, too, so people wouldn't notice they were suddenly in a world that could fit into the hand of a person standing on the world that was in the pot they were holding in their hand.]]

** Kogasa Tatara's power to surprise people would seem to be [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway|the exact opposite of this trope]], except that after she managed to {{spoiler|surprise ''the player'' by re-appearing as an Extra Stage midboss, with the required massive power boost}}, she could potentially do anything she wanted if it was simultaneously surprising enough.

** Then there's Archer. He has an infinite stockpile of super powered weapons and is an [[Instant Expert]] at using all of them. Still, there are some incredibly vague limits on how many and how powerful the weapons he can draw out are, so whenever you discuss him you get power level arguments all over the place (varying from "always has a magic sword at hand" to "has the combined powers and skills of every weapon that ever existed and anyone who ever wielded them"). It doesn't help that he is subjected to [[Worf Had the Flu]] in ''every fight which isn't cut short''. Even the fans hate discussing his power level.

** Speaking of ''[[Fate Zero]]'', there's the matter of Rider. His Reality Marble, Ionioi Hetairoi, summons his [[Badass Army|entire army]] from when he was alive; all of which happen to be Servants. {{spoiler|The only thing that could annihilate his Reality Marble was Gilgamesh's own Noble Phantasm.}}

** To be fair, it's entirely possible that the animation of the spell in question is an abstract interpretation of the kind of hurt he's inflicting on your party, or simply an illusion.

*** That's almost certainly the effect. Sephiroth, like his mother Jenova, specializes in Mind Rape techniques and psychological attrition. Supernova is basically a attack in another plane of existence (The character's mind, most likely) designed to break the will of his enemies. It's more or less described as such in Dissidia, though that's not technically canon.

* This trope is the reason [[Shape Shifter|Makeshift]] of ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' didn't survive his debut episode. The creators felt his ability would be too powerful, so, he went [[Why Am I Ticking|boom.]]

* ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]'' [[Reality Warper|Raven can bring a movie to life subconsciously.]] If it weren't for being afraid of her powers going out of control she'd end every episode on five minutes. She does this once against Cardiak.

 

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