The Call Put Me on Hold: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In some fictional societies, [[Everyone Is a Super|nearly everyone is born with some kind of power or special ability]].

 

* Maybe you're just a "late bloomer". Your powers will arrive in due time, better late than never. Even if your powers aren't what you and everyone else was expecting them to be, The Call will usually [[Best for Last|toss in a bonus for its tardiness]]: You'll usually wind up with something ''far'' more rare and/or powerful than the ordinary, run-of-the-mill powers everyone ''else'' has.

* Or, in the worst case scenario, you'll ... just have to [[An Aesop|learn to live with being "different"]], being handicapped compared to everyone else with nothing you can do about it. Note that there's a very strong chance that this Aesop will be [[Broken Aesop|broken]] if you actually turn out to be a late bloomer after all (see the first point), with the message ultimately being presented as "all good things come to those who wait" instead of "you don't have to be special, to be special".

 

 

Or, if all else fails and you just can't wait, you can always turn to [[The Dark Side]]... ([[Memetic Mutation|they have cookies]]).

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

 

** Naruto himself, before the series starts. He is considered a outcast and a loser by everyone, he has failed the graduation exam twice, and he cannot use the very basic "Clone Jutsu". And then the show/book starts...

* {{spoiler|Nami}} of ''[[Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo]]'' - she was overshadowed by {{spoiler|her many sisters}}, so when {{spoiler|Nerval}} offered her power she couldn't refuse.

* This arguably happens to Gohan in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' when he fights Cell. Goku calls Gohan out to fight Cell, but much to Gohan's lament he can't willfully protect everyone, that is [[Berserk Button|until...]]

* Toru of ''[[Iris Zero]]'' is a normal in a school where the majority of the people have vision related powers. His lack of powers is actually what has made him [[Awesomeness By Analysis]] [[Knight in Sour Armor]]

 

== Comic Books ==

 

* Inverted in an ''[[Ultimate Fantastic Four]]'' arc, where an alternate Ben Grimm puts himself on hold. The gist is that [[Time Travel]] creates an alternate timeline (the "Planet of the Capes") where an alien pill grants everyone on Earth super-powers... except for Ben Grimm, who decides not to take it because he's happy with himself just as he is. Various characters remark that he's the most well-adjusted person they know, which makes his current situation as the suicidally depressed Thing even ''more'' tragic. {{spoiler|In that timeline, the pill ends up killing everyone who had taken it, leaving Ben to apply some more time travel to clean up the pieces. For bonus angst, the way the situation's set up means that he accidentally causes himself to get eaten by the local [[Clock Roaches]] and then die hundreds of years ago in an ancient Mayan Temple}}. On the bright side, he '''does''' get a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] when the {{spoiler|Skrull}} leader comes to Earth with the ability to copy the power of any superhuman within a huge radius. However, {{spoiler|Ben points out that if the only human left on Earth has no powers, than neither does the Skrull leader. Ben then proceeds to kick the now powerless Skrull's ass. Epically}}.

 

== Fan Works ==

 

** Ironically, now that he's [[Nigh Invulnerable]] and tireless, he's not only able to easily cast the two spells he learned, but he can somehow boost them to do amazing things.

 

== Film ==

 

* The protagonist of ''[[Sky High]]'': the son of the two most famous heroes in the city and entirely powerless himself {{spoiler|until his powers activate and he learns he has the powers of ''both'' his parents}}.

* The protagonist of the Disney [[Made for TV Movie]] ''Up, Up, And Away'': the son of the two most famous heroes in the city and entirely powerless himself {{spoiler|and he stays that way for the duration}}.

== Literature ==

 

* Tavi in Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]'', in all of the senses above. In Alera, ''everyone'' has [[Elemental Powers]] due to spirits known as furies, which they normally bond with as children. Except Tavi, who's still stubbornly [[Badass Normal|normal]], which by Aleran standards is almost [[Handicapped Badass|a physical disability]]. He resigns himself to living as a [[Badass Normal]], but it turns out that {{spoiler|[[Family Relationship Switcheroo|his mom, Isana,]] deliberately stunted his powers to make him less of a target, since he's [[Secret Legacy|heir to the entire Aleran empire]]. As a result of his heritage, when they finally come in (15 years late) his powers are stronger than anyone else's... [[Unskilled but Strong|but he doesn't have anywhere near the skill to utilize them properly]] for years after due to his lack of practice}}.

** Neville Longbottom's family thought he was one until he was eight, when his grandfather pushed him out a window to see if it'd cause his powers to save him. Thankfully, they did.

** As well as the inversion: The muggle-born are witches and wizards from completely normal families.

* This is the whole point of Ordinary Boy. A town full of superpowered people, isolated so that they don't even know that other people in the world do NOT have powers, and he's... Ordinary.

* Joram of the ''[[The Darksword Trilogy|Darksword]]'' trilogy was born in a world where everyone has some innate magical skill, and he has absolutely none. He does a good job of hiding it for a while, and then hooks up with an outlaw group, discovers that his innate magical skill (and implicitly that of all other 'mundanes') is actually "technological affinity", and sets out to forge the Darksword, a weapon that consumes magic.

* In British author Kit Whitfield's debut novel ''Bareback'' (''Benighted'' in the US, for obvious reasons) around 99% of the world's population are werewolves. The remaining 1% are "normal" humans, derided as "cripples" and "barebacks" by everyone else, and are tasked with rounding up stray wolves on full moon nights.

* Aerin (from ''[[The Hero and The Crown]]'') was born to the royal family of Damar, known for its heriditary magical abilities, but hers do not awaken until much later after her peers' do. Naturally, her gift is much more potent than theirs.

* In the world of Richelle Mead's [[Vampire Academy]], all young [[Our Vampires Are Different|Moroi]] have elemental magic since birth, but in their adolescence they "specialize" when [[Elemental Powers|one element of the four]] grows much stronger than the other three. Lissa, the protagonist's best friend, is gradually growing depressed because she still hasn't specialized at sixteen, but we later learn that this is because {{spoiler|she has specialized in spirit, a forgotten fifth element few people have nowadays, which involves uber-powerful abilities like [[Mind Control]] and [[Back From the Dead|raising people from the dead]]. Unfortunately for Lissa, side effects include [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|mental instability]]}}.

* [[Temeraire]] starts out this way, sort of. Some [[Our Dragons Are Different|breeds of dragons]] have breath weapons. Temeraire is identified as a breed which does not, and he is disappointed. At the end of the first book, {{spoiler|we learn that the dragon expert misidentified his breed, and in an example of almost literal [[Deus Ex Machina]] Temeraire actually can generate something called the "divine wind", a sort of [[Make Me Wanna Shout|supercharged roar]] which shatters wood, eardrums, and at point blank range even the earth}}.

* ''Stolen Voices'', by Ellen Dee Davidson, has a protagonist like this. She'd reached the age of maturity for her dystopian society without developing a Talent (a superpower and/or activity she was supernaturally good at; for example, flying or being a [[Friend to All Living Things]]), but her synesthesia turned out to be a [[Chekhov's Gun]]. Midway through the book, the possibility's discussed that she has little bits and pieces of Talents because of the peculiar behaviour of a piece of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] in her presence, but {{spoiler|she actually has some sort of [[Functional Magic]] based on controlling sound}}.

** Artemis Butler has it worse. He's also ''lutum informis'', but in his case he ''needs'' the toy maker in order to survive. Thankfully, its not completely useless on him, but he still spends an annoying amount of time getting modified just to stay ahead of his various disorders.

* In [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' novels, the Call comes in the form of a beautiful white horse(-like magical being). The not-Called or not-yet-Called deal with it in various ways. Princess Elspeth, who needs a Call in order to be the rightful Heir, spends her time lurking around the pasture... just in case.

** Later, when {{spoiler|the potentials are close to abandoning Buffy, his speech turns them from it. However, after he loses an eye in battle, they do abandon her. It's revealed his humanity is what's been keeping this volatile group together.}}

** In the final battle against Glorificus, he knocks her down by blindsiding her with a ''wrecking ball.''

 

== Tabletop Games ==

== Video Games ==

 

* In ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'', [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Odie]] has a massive inferiority complex due to this. {{spoiler|He turns out to be the [[Black Sheep]] of a clan of powerful wizards who flunked out of the academy}}. In practice, he falls into the catagory of late bloomer, and is [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|actually a powerful ally]], albeit one who suffers from [[Cutscene Incompetence]] (implied to be largely due to said inferiority complex).

 

== Webcomics ==

 

* In ''[[Static Shock]]'', Virgil has superpowers while his friend Richie doesn't. In season three, Richie also develops superpowers as a delayed reaction to the initial exposure to [[Applied Phlebotinum|Bang Gas]] and repeated exposure to Virgil. Lampshaded:

* [[Badass Normal|Sokka]] was speaking the truth at the time of the page quote. {{spoiler|[[Took a Level In Badass|He got better]]}}. A quarter or more of all people in his world ''are'' without powers like him, but he is the [[Badass Normal|only one among the main protagonists]]. He isn't a bender and cannot become one. However, this only serves to distract the people around him from the simple fact that he is the only trained leader or warrior in the main group. His friends would be in deep trouble without his skills, and by the end of the series he's packing a sword made of [[Thunderbolt Iron]] and is trained by a [[Master Swordsman]]. Although [[Word of God]] has it that like his sister, he actually ''did'' have Waterbending potential, but never realised it.

** Sokka tends to forget it at times, but his quick thinking and improvised plans are essential to making it through a lot of episodes, such as tricking the master firebenders into opening the fire-locked door that required ''four'' benders to open when only one was willing to help the avatar.

** Not to mention a generous helping of [[Aesop Amnesia]] making them forget the "take things slowly" lesson they've been served several times by now.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Call to Adventure]]