The Call Put Me on Hold: Difference between revisions

 

* 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".

 

== 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}}.

 

== 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}}.

* 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}}.

* Lampshaded in [[Peter S. Beagle]]'s ''[[The Last Unicorn (novel)|The Last Unicorn]]'': Schmendrick's master Nikos becomes convinced that Schmendrick's total incompetence at magic is the result of an incredible power within him, and therefore makes him immortal so that he can live long enough to sort it out. {{spoiler|Nikos was right.}}

** 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.

* No. 1 of ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' was fairly old for his age, so to speak; he should have "Warped" and transformed from an imp into a full-fledged demon some time ago, but could neither build up the desire nor the requisite slime to do so. It turned out it was because {{spoiler|he was a warlock, and warlocks never warp}}. It didn't help that bloodlust just wasn't in No. 1's nature, either. Imps usually warp into demons when they get really worked up about the idea of ripping something (usually humans) apart, so No. 1 being a naturally gentle spirit made this difficult.

* Happens to Gypsum LaZelle in ''[[A Fistful of Sky]]'' by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Everyone in her family inherits powers from an early age, but she's made it to age 20 without getting any. When she finally does, it's the power of [[Blessed with Suck|having to curse people. Frequently. Or else she dies.]]