Wonder Twin Powers: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:Wonder Twin Powers Activate 5653.jpg|link=Superfriends|frame|Form of ... [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|a bucket of water!]]]]
 
 
''Wonder Twin powers: activate!''
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Presumably, their in-built weakness is being ineffective unless they're together. [[Most Common Superpower|Not truly related to a certain kind of "Wonder Twins."]] See also [[Synchronization]], [[Sibling Team]] and [[Bash Brothers]]. Contrast with [[All Your Powers Combined]].
 
 
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{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
 
* [[Miracle Girls]] fits the name so well that it might have been the trope namer. Mikage and Tomomi are identical twins (albeit with different hairstyles), who need to be in physical contact to teleport.
* The original versions of ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' have individual powers of agility and strength, although nearly all of their magical attacks depended on contact with each other. It wasn't until ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5|Yes! Precure 5]]'' that the [[Magical Girl]]s could even transform by themselves.
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* Campachino and Brindo from a ''[[One Piece]]'' filler arc. They use an ability called Combination Play, in which they [[Selective Magnetism|magnetically attract and repel each other]] and say that they can do it because of their "[[Power of Love|brotherly love]]".
* ''[[Hime Chen! Otogi Chikku Idol Lilpri]]'' the 3 girls must be together to transform into Lilpri, this forces them to get along.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
 
* Aurora and Northstar of ''[[Alpha Flight]]'' have [[Flight]] and [[Super Speed]] individually, but can emit bursts of light and heat when touching.
** This was later inverted when Aurora had her powers modified so she could use her light powers without touching her brother. Afterward, touching caused them both to lose their powers for a while.
* After being stripped of his [[Green Lantern]] status, all-around troublemaker Guy Gardner got his hands on the yellow power ring once worn by the Lanterns' arch-nemesis, [[Sinestro]], and found that it came with a significant drawback: It drew power from other power rings, so to keep it fully charged, he had to periodically seek out and fight other Green Lanterns. Given that Guy is and was the biggest [[Jerkass]] in [[The DCU]] and lovin' every minute of it, this wasn't a huge problem. (At present,{{when}} Sinestro's ring and others like it no longer suffer this drawback, instead drawing power from their own power source like the Lanterns'.)
* In [[Marvel Comics]], Andreas and Andrea von Strucker, the Fenris twins, have to be touching to fire energy bolts. Following Andrea's death, {{spoiler|Andreas became the new Swordsman, activating his powers by wielding a sword with her skin covering the hilt}}.
** When {{spoiler|Andrea was resurrected (it didn't last), Andreas flayed the skin off his arm to give to her.}} Because they're [[Creepy Twins|creepy]].
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== Film ==
 
* Reversed in ''[[Hancock]]'', where once a pair of superheroes (a man and a woman) that were made for each other are united, they start losing their powers, so they can live [[I Just Want to Be Normal|normal lives.]]
* The ''[[Double Dragon]]'' movie had this as the only way the two halves of the [[MacGuffin|Dragon Medallion]] could be used without corrupting the user with its power, with Billy using one half and Jimmy using the second.
 
== Literature ==
 
* In [[Dragonlance]], the only way to enter the Portal to the Abyss where Takhisis lives is to have both an evil mage and a good cleric activate it. Raistlin {{spoiler|takes advantage of a cleric, Crysania and uses her for protection throughout the Abyss. Then, while she is dying, he abandons her, kills the pantheon of Krynn, and ascends to godhood. Caramon ends up going back in time to warn him about the after-effects, though.}}
* In ''Mindstar Rising"'' (the sci-fi mystery novel by Peter F. Hamilton) the psi-boosted protagonist and his pre-cognitive partner are successfully ambushed when twin psychics are used to create a null-zone where their powers won't work.
* In ''Son of [[Spellsinger]]'', Jon-Tom's son and Mudge's kids have to perform together as a band to gain the full benefits of spellsinging magic. They're a trio, not a duo, but same idea.
* In ''[[Xanth]]'', after awhile, it's discovered that some groups thought to lack magic talents, such as [[Muggles|Mundanes]], goblins and harpies, can sometimes have shared talents that can only be invoked when they're in contact with the person who shares their talent. However, none of these guys are twins. Some examples are [[Hybrid Monster|Gloha Goblin-Harpy]]'s parents and a pair of Mundanes who have two different syndromes making one unusually short and the other unusually tall.
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* The [[wikipedia:Morgan Llywelyn|Morgan Llywelyn]] / Michael Scott novel ''Silverhand'' features a brother/sister villain team dubbed "The Duet", who are able to summon a [[World-Wrecking Wave]]. For added [[Squick]] value, in order to do this they [[Twincest|have sex]].
 
== Live -Action TV ==
 
* Maya and Alejandro Herrera from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' are playing with this trope - Maya's deadly poison emission is countered and neutralized by Alejandro's power, making them sort of like the Wonder Twins stuck on "Form of Mass Murder!" "Shape of [[Retcon]]!"
* Shotaro Hidari and Phillip from ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'' have to transform at the same time to form the titular Rider. The psychic connection powers of their [[Transformation Trinket]] let them easily do this even from across town, but if Phillip is unconscious, being chased, or just has something better to do, then Shotaro is screwed.
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* [[Smallville]] had some [[Creepy Twins]] (though adults) who could generate [[Barrier Warrior|force fields]] when their hands touched.
** The ''actual'' Wonder Twins have since turned up. Complete with "Powers, activate!"
 
== Multiple Media ==
 
* The Skakdi race fom ''[[Bionicle]]'' have been granted [[Elemental Powers]], but they can only be used in tandem. This is a safety measure—since the Skakdi are [[Exclusively Evil]] but all hate each other. The prospect of having to work together is sometimes enough to keep them from tapping into the elements. Unfortunately, they also won the [[Superpower Lottery]], so being unwilling to use elemental powers is hardly a hindrance to them.
 
== Tabletop Games ==
 
* Rant and Rave of the ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' Freedom City supplement, are a brother/sister pair with sonic and visual distortion powers respectively, but can deploy a distintegration attack when physically touching.
* One Dragon Magazine article introduced the Dvati, a race in which each individual member is actually a pair of twins who share a soul, to [[Dungeons and Dragons]]. They have to act in unison to cast any spell.
 
== Video Games Toys ==
* The Skakdi race fomfrom ''[[Bionicle]]'' have been granted [[Elemental Powers]], but they can only be used in tandem. This is a safety measure—since the Skakdi are [[Exclusively Evil]] but all hate each other. The prospect of having to work together is sometimes enough to keep them from tapping into the elements. Unfortunately, they also won the [[Superpower Lottery]], so being unwilling to use elemental powers is hardly a hindrance to them.
 
== MultipleVideo MediaGames ==
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'':
** In ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', Palom and Porom have the ability to cast spells together in order to produce miniature versions of two of the most powerful abilities in the game: Megaflare, Bahamut's ability, and Meteor, the ultimate Black Magic. However, these abilities were toned down in power significantly. Ironically, their high MP cost to both twins and long casting time made them very inefficient, such that given the twins' fast learning rate, they both become '''more''' powerful individually than together if you take time to level them up.
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* Suikoden plays this with characters with look-alikes. Each pair can perform combinations when they're in the same team. ''[[Suikoden V]]'' has [[The Hero|the Prince]] and Roy. ''[[Suikoden Tierkreis|Tierkreis]]'' has Marica and Another Marica.
 
== WebcomicsWeb Comics ==
* In the ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' book "[[Start of Darkness]]", it is revealed that {{spoiler|the power of the Snarl gates can only be harnessed by a cleric and wizard working together. Though some people, such as Tsukiko, are both.}}
 
* In the ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' book "[[Start of Darkness]]", it is revealed that {{spoiler|the power of the Snarl gates can only be harnessed by a cleric and wizard working together. Though some people, such as Tsukiko, are both.}}
* ''Killroy & Tina'' has the two main characters share super powers as long as they're within five kilometers of each other. They also suffer from [[Synchronization]]; if one dies, both die.
* Dimitri and Alina Tokamak of [[Dresden Codak]] have superpowers activated by contact based around physics.
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== Web Original ==
 
* In the [[Whateley Universe]], the supervillains The Twin Terrors get stronger as they get closer together, with energy powers when they are next to each other. At a distance, they seem to be ordinary Exemplars. Next to each other, they outpowered Lancer.
** Phobos and Deimos, the Fury Twins, have a fear aura. The closer together they get, the worse it grows. When they get too close, they can accidentally merge into a two-headed monstrosity with a fear aura so powerful [[Reality Warper|it warps reality around them]]. They hate it.
 
== Western Animation ==
 
* The [[Trope Namer]]s are the [[Shapeshifting]] [[Wonder Twins]] Zan and Jayna from ''[[Superfriends|The All-New Superfriends Hour]]''. When they [[Handshake Substitute|bumped fists]] to activate their powers, Zan could change into various forms of water/ice, while Jayna could transform into animals.
** Sadly the writers were either unable or forbidden to come up with [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|actual, useful applications for their powers]]. Their counterparts from the Superfriends comics of the time were much better with their powers.
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== Real Life ==
 
* Related to this is the real-life "dual key" system for nuclear weapons- American nuclear weapons require two people (at least) to launch them.
** This is basically a more extreme version of the ubiquitous safety trigger, in which two buttons must be depressed simultaneously in order to activate something dangerous, such as a taser or circular saw.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Wonder Twin Powers{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:Wonder Twin Powers]]