History Main / DramaPreservingHandicap

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' opened with the SGC (as depicted in ''Series/StargateSG1'') sending an expeditionary force to the Ancient city of Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy. The distance between the two galaxies means that it requires an exceptional amount of power to dial the eight-chevron address via Stargate (standard addresses are just seven and confined to one galaxy), and the SGC drained their only power source to establish the first wormhole. For the first season, the expedition was thus cut off from Earth and with only limited power in the city; the mid-season two-parter saw them forced to improvise a plan using lightning as a temporary power source so that the city's shields would be able to protect it during an intense storm. From the second season onwards, the expedition were able to discover new Zero Point Modules- the power source needed to power Atlantis- allowing them to dial Earth and maintain the city's shields when required, although they never have access to enough [=ZPMs=] to run the city at full power.
* In ''Series/StargateUniverse'', the main goal of the expedition was to find a way home after dialling the nine-chevron address that led them to the Ancient ship ''Destiny''. However, after drifting in space for millions of years, some of the ship's components have become worn down, with the result that while ''Destiny'' can refuel by literally channelling power from stars, its maximum charge capacity at present is only 40% of what it would have been capable of when the ship was new. While most ship functions operate at a normal level, such as life support and shields (albeit likely at a lesser efficiency than what they would have been capable of when the ship was totally new), this power supply is inadequate to dial a wormhole back to Earth via the Stargate, and attempts to dial the gate while the ship is charging have been dismissed as too dangerous due to the potential risk of an overload.

* One of the most famous examples, and one used against the Good Guys, occurs in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. In the Cell Saga, [[BigBad Cell]] has proven to be [[CurbstompBattle completely outmatched]] by [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Super Saiyan 2 Gohan]]. Then Gohan gets his arm broken by ''[[CameBackStrong Super]]'' Perfect Cell.
** Goku [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices]] himself to stop [[TakingYouWithMe Cell's suicide explosion]] from ending the series entirely, which [[CameBackStrong twofold gives Cell a power boost due to his Saiyan Cells]] and [[FromASingleCell ability to regenerate]], and [[PutOnABus gets Goku out of the way]].
** Upon his return, he [[HeroKiller immediately slays Trunks]] [[NoSneakAttacks while everyone is distracted]], removing him from the picture as well.
** Lastly, he [[NoSell No-Sold]] Vegeta's ''RoaringRampageOfRevenge'' against him ([[PapaWolf for Trunks' sake]]), responds with a [[MeteorMove strike strong enough to floor Vegeta instantly]] and almost kills him were it not for Gohan's ''DivingSave'', which leaves [[GameBreakingInjury Gohan weakened as well.]]
** The stage is then set for the ultimate ''Beam-O-War'' of all time, which would have been impossible to do otherwise as [[WorldsStrongestMan Gohan didn't need help at all]] until he was injured.
** This also happened at the start of the Androids Saga due to Goku's Heart Virus kicking in while he's fighting Android 19 and leaving him out of commission until Cell is about to absorb Android 17.
** Likewise, the Freeza Saga pulls this for both Goku and Captain Ginyu. With Goku's new level of strength after training in 100G, he is easily overpowering the Ginyu Force - and that's not taking into account that we also have Krillin, Gohan, and Vegeta healed up to full strength, plus a newly-resurrected Piccolo joining the mix not long after. Banded together, they could potentially give Freeza a serious run for his money despite his status as the dreaded. Thus, Ginyu steals Goku's body, it gets beat up while he's in control, and when Goku's mind returns to it he's sealed up in a healing tank while everyone else is dealing with Freeza, who transforms past their current limitations and eventually mops the floor with them. When Goku recovers, Vegeta's dead and the others are beaten and exhausted, setting the stage for a 1-on-1 Freeza fight. In turn, while Ginyu's in control of Goku's body to keep him from curbstomping everyone with Goku's powers the bodyswitch ends up weakening him, giving Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta a fighting chance.
* In the final mission of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'', since [[SuperSoldier Fate]] was now unrestrained by a PowerLimiter, Fate was forced to fight [[MadScientist Jail]] and two of his [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Numbers Cyborgs]] under heavy AntiMagic Field conditions to give them a better chance. [[spoiler:That, [[IAmNotLeftHanded and she was still holding back]] [[SuperMode her full strength]] since she was planning to catch up to Nanoha afterwards.]]
** This trope in general runs wild throughout ''[=StrikerS=]''. The stronger heroic characters spend nearly the entire season operating under power limiters, and with that in place, most of the fighting is done by the newbie Forwards. Nanoha, Fate, and Signum don't get into any serious fighting until the climax. Hayate in particular, who specializes in large bombardment magic that would be overkill in most fights, is under special limiters that can only be lifted by designated individuals, so she only gets to see action twice: once during a large-scale enemy action in the middle of the season, and again during the endgame when the villains have committed all their resources to an all-out-attack, both cases where her bombardment magic is needed to get the sheer number of MechaMooks under control.
** In [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials]] after the end of the main events of the second season, Nanoha and Fate suspect [[AntiVillain the Wolkenritter]] held back to avoid killing them, not wanting Hayate to be responsible for murder. The Wolkenritter also are forced to restrict their use of cartridges (which increase their magic power and enable them to use their more powerful moves) and magical energy in general (because they have to fill the book on a short timetable and keep energy in case the Bureau attacks them), which leads them to sometimes hold back or flee from the protagonists to conserve energy.
** ''Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce'' implied that [[spoiler:Signum]] may now suffer from this because, despite having risen up from her hospital bed, her body hasn't fully recovered yet [[spoiler:from the heavy injuries sustained during her fight with Cypha]]. It's also implied the possibility of her spinal injuries leaving permanent sequels but that's yet to be confirmed.

** The Japanese team often suffers from having to bench some of their best players due to injuries. In the Asian preliminaries, Genzo Wakabayashi is unable to use his hands to catch shots due to getting them injured in the Bundesliga, limitting him to barely be able to punch the ball away (adding to it that Ken Wakashimazu left the team over not been given the titular keeper spot). Then in the World Youth proper, Misaki is forced to sit out through most of the World Youth Cup due to getting his leg injured saving his little sister from being run over by a truck (though he recovers enough to play the last 30 minutes of the finals).
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Orihime has the power to reject physical events in a manner characters in-universe have speculated to be akin to time-space manipulation or completely rejecting the reality of the event having ever happened. The only thing controlling this power is her personality. If she doesn't believe she can do something, she can't. If she doesn't think of trying something because she's been raised or led to believe it's impossible, she doesn't even think to try it. Her kill-attack is also kept under control by her personality which is unsuited to battle in the way other characters are [[spoiler:until she takes a third option and incorporates the kill attack into her much more powerful defensive shield, making it a pretty powerful AttackReflector and marking her evolution from TheMedic to CombatMedic]]. In short, her state of mind is her major limit.

** Hinokami Kagura, the breathing style Tanjiro uses once he realizes his family's tradition, is in fact a fighting art shown to be extremely versatile and a battle changer. However, Tanjiro quickly learns that said breathing style is very taxing on his body and continuous usage of it will completely wear him off. If Tanjiro had unlimited access to Hinokami Kagura, demons would soon be not much of a threat to him. [[spoiler:It's no wonder since eventually it's revealed that Hinokami Kagura is no other than Sun Breathing, the original style which all others stem from]].
** Zenitsu's reluctance and self-deprecation are narrative handicaps in themselves since his proficiency with Thunder Breathing is quite good despite his own assertion of otherwise. Thus, Zenitsu early on the series must rely on his trance sleep mode to override his mental blocks and truly unleash his current potential. With his psychological issues out of the way, demons usually don't last more than a single attack of his. Also, it is noted the extreme muscle exertion Thunder Breathing inflicts on Zenitsu's legs quickly limit how much he can perform his most powerful techniques. If Zenitsu was a brave warrior with total confidence in his Thunder Breathing skills from the start and had unlimited usage of his arts, he would be unmatched for at least half of the series. [[spoiler:Not surprisingly, near the end of the series Zenitsu becomes quite impressive by completely forsaking his sleep trance during fights]].

* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
** Akane Tendo [[GameBreakingInjury injures her hand]] before fighting the [[GiantMook Dojo Destroyer]]. What should have been an easy battle for her (given the foe's fighting style) ends up putting her on the defensive, all to allow Ranma (who had run out on her earlier) to come back to help her and defeat the enemy in a single panel.
** Another deliberate instance (and lampshaded) is found in the [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics]] tournament. Normally, Ranma is far, far above Kodachi's league --but the rules of the sport state that contact without use of a tool is forbidden, and thus Ranma is restricted to the use of tools instead of his own style.
** This is true for most of the MartialArtsAndCrafts Ranma gets involved in. None of the bizarre martial arts practitioners have Ranmas level of skill (With the possible exception of the Martial Arts Tea masters, whom he never faces in a direct battle), as Ranma is capable of mastering the art fast enough to win the rematch, or sometimes the first match.
** Ranma's girl form sometimes counts, as Ranma is physically weaker as a girl. However it's usually also noted that he's faster that way too, and considering Ranma's specialty is speed, this doesn't come up unless he really needs that last extra bit of strength. His biggest problem in the girl form is usually shorter reach since as a girl his (her?) arms and legs are shorter.

* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'''s Gold Saint of the House of Virgo, Shaka, is already unbelievably powerful. But he's [[WillfullyWeak constantly handicapping himself by keeping his eyes closed]], to avoid going all-out on his enemies. The [[FiveManBand Bronze Saints]] are explicitly warned ''not'' to let Virgo Shaka open his eyes, for they will be doomed otherwise. [[spoiler:Naturally, Phoenix Ikki proves so resilient Shaka is forced to open his eyes and stop meditating, at which point he focuses ''all'' of his attention on swatting down the bothersome pest... and Ikki then manages to turn Shaka's own attacks against him in a TakingYouWithMe.]]

** The Navy Admirals are feared far and wide for being [[PersonOfMassDestruction people of mass destruction]] and some of the strongest characters in the entire story. However, as part of the World Government, the World Nobles have ultimate authority over them and the Marines are forced to do their bidding. Thus, [[spoiler:when the Revolutionary Army attacked the Holy Land Mary Geoise and both Fujitora and Ryokugyu were mobilized to defeat them, they were unable to fight at full strength against Karasu and Morley respectively with Fujitora being told off for trying to call down a meteorite and Ryokugyu even being threatened with death if so much as one World Noble ended up getting killed. [[WorfHadTheFlu Ultimately, this handicap proved so severe that not only was Sabo able to successfully sneak past them, but that the Revolutionary Army Commanders were ultimately able to successfully accomplish their objectives and escape, much to the frustration of Akainu.]]]]
* Arcueid from ''{{VisualNovel/Tsukihime}}'' suffered from a particularly acute version of this--in the very first scene she appears in, she gets [[spoiler:sliced into 17 pieces]]. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal She did recover]], but she's weakened enough that she needs [[spoiler:her "killer"]]'s help to fight.
* At one point in ''{{Manga/Gokusen}}'', ActionGirl and BadassTeacher Komiko catches a nasty cold. Then she makes it worse by single-handedly beating up a CLASS of delinquents (her own, incidentally). So when a repeat antagonist (whom she has swept the floor with twice already) suddenly pops up, she essentially collapses from the fever halfway through the battle.
* Roy Mustang is one of the most powerful protagonists of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', easily able to defeat Envy in single combat. However, due to his fire-related powers, he's useless when wet, and coincidentally the first fight against Scar is during a rainy day. Later, an injury from his fight with Lust starts acting up just in time to prevent him from helping against Gluttony. [[spoiler:Even worse, at some point, he goes ''blind'', and thus he cannot use his fire powers. Riza, his FriendlySniper bodyguard (and who had barely survived to having her throat slit in the same incident that left Roy blind) solves this via using her uncanny accuracy and sharp eyes to direct Roy's attacks for him, telling him where to aim.]]
** Wrath is nearly unbeatable thanks to his CombatClairvoyance, but he's otherwise just a BadassNormal without the Homunculi's usual HealingFactor advantages. As well, he's physically in his 60s and out of his prime, plus he has a public identity as [[spoiler:the country's leader King Bradley]] and is frequently busy with other matters. Even so, he's easily one of the best fighters in the entire series; [[spoiler:in the final battle, after a sneak attack leaves him half-dead, Bradley can still fight Scar to a standstill. And even then, Wrath would've outright WON if not for a near-literal DeusExMachina (sunlight reflecting off a sword into his eye) distracting him for a moment, and still [[DyingMomentofAwesome nearly killed Scar by stabbing him using his broken sword held with his TEETH]].]]
** Envy's shape-shifting could have become a StoryBreakerPower in the more cloak-and-dagger portions of the plot, of which there are many. Good thing Envy doesn't pay much attention to detail...or have much control over [[HairTriggerTemper its temper]] or [[KickTheDog its desire to punt puppies]].
** Between his massive strength (he's physically stronger than any other Homunculus) and blistering speed, Sloth is an extremely dangerous LightningBruiser. It's quite likely that he could crush any of the main characters he encounters with very little trouble... if it weren't for the fact that his speed makes it hard for him to ''aim'' (while he could learn to improve this, [[LazyBum that's too much work]]), and the fact that his laziness ensures that he won't put up much of a fight unless he has no choice.
** Hohenheim is limited by ethics. [[spoiler:At the outset, he was ''exactly as powerful as Father'', if what the latter said about how he had split the souls evenly between them was accurate, but actually using that power would have required using the tormented souls of his destroyed civilization [[PoweredByAForsakenChild as an energy source]]. After taking ''centuries'' to get to know ''every single one'' of his souls, he's even ''more'' powerful because they're all working in concert, but by then, Father has increased his own power.]]
** Greed has the Ultimate Shield power that makes him completely invulernable, but since it makes him look like a monster his vanity means he only covers as much of his body with it as he thinks he'll need. [[spoiler:It gets him killed fighting Wrath, as between Greed underestimating him and Wrath's speed, Greed doesn't start armoring up until it's too late. Notably, the one time his second host, Ling, has full control of Greed's powers he immediately deploys the Shield over his entire body and uses his invincibility to great effect.]]
* Goku from ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'' could beat nearly every enemy they have to fight if he took off his power limiter; however, this also results in him attacking anything that moves. Hakkai too is very powerful without his limiters but can't remove them often thanks to the minus wave, and at least partly not wanting to.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Joey would have actually beaten Dark Marik if not for the fact it was a Shadow Duel that made him pass out from the pain.
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Because Sanosuke would {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} almost any opponent not at Kenshin or Saitou's level with his new technique, it manages to put immense strain on his hand so he has trouble facing foes weaker than he's been fighting.
* Everyone in ''Manga/SoulEater'' has this. Black Star has his horrible showboating which prevents him from being a good assassin. Death the Kid has his symmetry fetish. Stein has his insanity. Free, who is an immortal werewolf with the eye of the most powerful witch alive manages to stop himself in his first appearance, plus purposefully getting himself locked up in prison for 200 years. Shinigami is tied to one spot.... The list is endless...
* Kazuya, arguably the main protagonist of ''Manga/{{Freezing}}'' has the unique ability to use talents like a [[BarrierWarrior Limiter]] without... well, limitations, including dispelling other Limiter's Freezing abilities and applying his own, which... well, freezes anyone in place. Unlike every other Limiter, he does not need to be linked to a Pandora in order to use his abilities. Moreover, his power is considered significantly stronger than any other Limiter shown thus far, overpowering top-ranked and multiple limiters at any time. This should allow him to settle any problem in an instant, but he constantly seems to forget his powers even exist, to the point it drastically affects the storyline. And that's when he's around or left conscious during a fight.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'':
** Yusuke is at a disadvantage against Kazemaru and Rando because he already used up his Reigun (which, at the time, he could use only once per day) on his previous opponent in the tournament.
** Later in the Dark Tournament arc, Hiei busts out the Dragon of the Darkness Flame attack on the first enemy he fights. While it looks awesome, not only is it [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill total overkill]], but the attack burns up his right arm, leaving him unable to use his arm (and that move) again until the finale of the arc.
* In ''Manga/MuhyoAndRoji'', the group runs into trouble against Face-Ripper Sophie [[spoiler:and [[TheMole Rio]] almost immediately afterward]], because Muhyo, the executor of the group and the one able to sentence spirits, is low on tempering from the previous sentencings.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'': Natsu's SuperMode, Dragon Force enables him to be powerful enough to face and defeat [[spoiler:Jellal, a Wizard Saint]] and [[spoiler:Zero, Brain's SuperPoweredEvilSide and Master of Oracion Seis]], along with being able to match, though not defeat [[spoiler:Mard Geer, DragonInChief of [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Tartaros]] in his own [[OneWingedAngel Etherious Form]]]] in terms of power. Since that easily makes him one of the strongest characters in the series, the plot makes him unable to activate it without outside forces [[spoiler:or at least until his father Igneel [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan unseals himself]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext from within him]], but even then only when sufficiently enraged]].

* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'':
** The titular Index wears a nun's habit called the Walking Church, which is as strong as an actual church, meaning she can't be harmed by anything short of heavy artillery. One of the very first things that happens is Touma accidentally destroys it to prove the powers of his AntiMagic hand.
** Accelerator. Originally introduced as a villain, when he began a long, slow HeelFaceTurn and became a protagonist, he suffered severe brain damage, crippling him. He now has a transmitter device that allows him to connect to a giant telepathic network in order to function like a normal human being, and he can only use his [[StoryBreakerPower utterly broken powers]] for a few minutes at a time. And, they can be deactivated if the enemy has a simple radio jamming device. The brainpower of ''9,970'' (9,969 Sisters plus Last Order) ''people'' only gives him the computing power to perform at ''half'' his previous level. And he can still [[spoiler:stop the earth's rotation for a few minutes]].
* Li Xingke of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is as smart as the Protagonist Lelouch, and as capable a warrior as the Antagonist Suzaku, which means he can both play XanatosSpeedChess on the battlefield, and do the heavy lifting himself, which means no margin for error due to miscommunication or incompetency of allies. He's also almost entirely collected and has it together much more than either of them who both have their share of mental issues. By all rights, he should utterly crush Lelouch in battle and nearly does. His flaw? He has an [[IncurableCoughOfDeath unspecified terminal illness]] that regularly disables him with great pain and BloodFromTheMouth. And it usually kicks in during combat, leaving him vulnerable. As a result, he's generally less effective than either of them. Without it, he'd be the most dangerous and competent character on the show. And he's still the only one to come out of the final battle with his Knightmare intact and himself unwounded.
* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', as a result of fighting the Female Titan, [[spoiler:Levi]]'s ankle gets twisted, thus subsequently getting taken out of action for awhile. As a result, the other characters cannot rely on the latter during [[spoiler:the Wall Rose Titan crisis]] or when [[spoiler:Eren is kidnapped by Bertolt and Reiner]]. Happens AGAIN after chapter 125 when it is revealed that he lost his [[spoiler:right eye and two fingers from the thunder spear explosion]]; this incident keeps not only him and Hanji out of the battle that takes place right before [[spoiler:Eren starts the rumbling]], but hinders him from being as OP as he has normally been shown to be in the final fight against [[spoiler:Eren]].
* In ''Manga/GreenWorldz'', the badass Iwatobi owned the first round fight with the female human hybrid until his health took an unexpected decline in the midst of the fight, and remained helpless for a while.
* Yuzu and Serena from ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' have LivingMacGuffin status but are both skilled enough to hold off most would-be kidnappers on their own. Naturally Serena gets [[spoiler:hit with nerve gas]] rendering her immobile so that several other characters can rush around protecting her for a few episodes. Likewise, Yuzu keeps losing her duel disk throughout the Synchro arc so that other characters can rush to help her (although in one case her rescuer arms her so they can fight together) or so that she'll be more easily kidnapped.
* Used for much of the series in ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' to conceal the fact that the titular Gundam [[spoiler:is the most powerful weapon of war ever built by humanity]]. Initially, the machine is in poor condition after being buried in a mountain face for a few millennia, and Loran is an inexperienced pilot working from an unintuitive user manual. When he does gain enough skill, he's handed a pair of nuclear warheads and hides them in the chest compartments, forcing him to take a backseat in battles until he can get rid of them. He finally manages to do this on the trip to the Moon, and it's there that everyone learns just what the hell he's been piloting this whole time.
* ''Anime/KanColle'': In episode 7, Kaga is clearly the better carrier compared to Zuikaku, so naturally she suffers some damage just before a vital mission. And to make matters worse, they're out of instant-repair buckets, so like Akagi, she has to wait until repairs are complete. As a result, Shoukaku, Zuikaku's sister carrier, is assigned to the mission instead. Though they're fairly competent, they're not as good as Carrier Group One.

* Fleonell in ''Manga/TheDarkQueenAndIStrikeBack'' has two: her power has been taken by the Holy Sword and she can only temporarily regain it by touching the Holy Sword's wielder; and she can only use her powerful Arcana techniques three times a day. Considering that her Arcana can do things like wipe out thousands of soldiers in a single blast or reshape a city, that second handicap is very much necessary to ensure she doesn't win the war by herself.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Shota Aizawa has the power to erase other people’s powers with his gaze, as long as he makes eye contact and doesn’t blink. He would have been a big help against Shigaraki’s decay quirk, and that’s why Shigaraki tried to blind him in the Paranormal Liberation War arc. He only lost one eye, and we aren’t told if the other was damaged, but still, his quirk is very shaky and he’s much less effective. This allowed for a more dramatic and risky tag team with Monoma, who can copy quirks for a limited time, and though this helped the heroes, it has made stopping Shigaraki in the Final Battle arc that more difficult since Monoma couldn’t last as long.

*** In the opening scene, the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] is dealt a severe beating by [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]]. [[spoiler:This somehow prevents Bruce Banner from being able to transform into the Hulk for the rest of the film, meaning he's unable to help out during the initial fight between the heroes and the Black Order in New York, needing to use the Hulkbuster armor (which was built to fight Hulk and is therefore equally as strong) for the final battle in Wakanda (and the confrontation with the scarred Thanos in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'').]]
*** ComicBook/TheVision, one of the most powerful and versatile Avengers, is stabbed from behind shortly after he makes his first appearance in the film. The damage to his body prevents him from using his trademark {{Intangibility}} and greatly decreases his physical capabilities for the remainder of the film. [[spoiler:When Thanos finally confronts him in the finale, Vision is easily killed without putting up much of a fight.]]

* At various points in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', the most powerful mutants are incapacitated or kept from using their powers to full extent, thus allowing the plot to advance. This includes Xavier losing his mental powers due to the effects of the drug which allows him to walk, Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} dazed by flashbacks of being tortured by Stryker and allowing Magneto and Mystique to escape, Characters/{{Ma|rvelComicsMagneto}}gneto kept in a prison of concrete and plastic, etc.
** Each entry in the ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' film series [[DeusExitMachina sidelines]] [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor Xavier]], whose full faculties would solve every plot in moments.
*** In [[Film/XMen1 the first]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsMystique Mystique]] poisons Cerebro, putting him in a coma.

*** In ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', while he's not directly handicapped, Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}}'s presence and the anti-telepathy helmet serve the same purpose.

** There's also the tendency to physically brawl instead of [[JustShootThem just shooting them]] - the Andalites have ranged weapons but love to fight with their [[BewareMyStingerTail bladed tails]]. The Yeerks chose to infest Hork-Bajir because as big bladed LizardFolk Hork-Bajir seemed like a physical match to Andalites. The Yeerks do still ''have'' laser guns (Dracon beams) which always present an added level of danger, but that's almost always a secondary tactic. Conveniently, Hork-Bajir are challenging to fight as powerful Earth animals but can be killed by them.

* In the premier episode of ''Series/{{Inhumans}}'', [[Characters/{{Inhumans}} Medusa]] is captured and forcibly shaved by Maximus, which prevents her from using her trademark PrehensileHair for most of the series. Similarly, [[Characters/{{Inhumans}} Karnak]] suffers a head injury early on, which prevents him from using his power to predict the future.

*** ''Saṃsāra of Genesis and Terminus, Yugakshetra'': [[BigBad Arjuna]] [[ManySpiritsInsideOfOne Over]] [[TopGod Gods]] handicaps himself ''twice'' before the final fight against him. First, his refusal to accept that he's a warrior at heart rather than a perfect God stops him using his full power. Second, a revived [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Karna's]] ReasonYouSuckSpeech badly shakes his self-image and since he's typically as strong as he thinks he is, his powers take another nosedive in response, allowing an empowered Karna and Chaldea to beat him.
*** ''Ancestral Ocean Of The Great Gods, Atlantis: Achilles has already been shot in his heel when he debuts as an ally, sealing his invulnerability and crippling him to 30% of his usual speed. Despite this, he's [[BroughtDownToBadass still a powerhouse]] and one of the Neo-Argonauts' best fighters. Meanwhile, the ThresholdGuardian for Olympus' entrance, Lostbelt Poseidon, had one of his cores stolen by Francis Drake, which has driven him mad [[spoiler:in addition to the brainwashing Zeus slapped him with after crushing Poseidon and the other Olympians in the Olympiamachia, which was actually just him for the Authority Faction vs everyone else for the Co-Existence Faction]], severely gimping his combat strength and reducing him to trying to ram things [[SanityHasAdvantages instead of]] destroying them at a distance, allowing Chaldea to infiltrate him to destroy his other cores.

*** ''Golden Sea of Trees Travelogue, Nahui Mictlān'': Both [[spoiler: [[AmnesiacDissonance U-Olga]] [[ArcHero Marie]] and [[CosmicKeystone Lostbelt]] [[EldritchAbomination ORT]] suffer the same handicap to keep the chapter from ending near-instantly. U-Olga winds up having her heart torn out by [[WildCard Tezcatlipoca]] after being knocked unconscious during the ActionPrologue, leaving her with amnesia and a pathetic 4% of her original power left over when she [[HeelFaceTurn joins Chaldea]] as a GuestStarPartyMember, while ORT itself has already had its primary power core torn out by [[TragicVillain Camazotz]] in the distant past and repurposed into an ArtificialSun for the Lostbelt, meaning that when reawakened by Daybit and Tezcatlipoca in the present it's running on the dregs the assimilated Tree of Emptiness can cough up for it and Chaldea's primary objective (aside from defeating it) is to stop it ''removing'' the handicap by getting its core back.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', Eda Clawthorne is generally billed as [[TheArchmage one of the most powerful witches in the world]] and [[MasterOfAll the only one to master every form of magic]]. Pretty much every time she's operating at full power, she can defeat just about any common enemy and resolve the plot in ten seconds. However, she also happens to be suffering from a curse that cuts her power significantly when it kicks in and [[spoiler:risks turning her into a mindless monster permanently]], which can only be held off with an elixir that exists in limited supply and grows less effective regularly. Consequently, many episodes in the first season that need her held in check have her suffer a relapse, run out of elixir, or have the elixir not work. [[spoiler:Her having the curse restricted in the first season finale coincided with her losing access to her magic.]]

* By the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'', the three main heroes have slain many powerful monsters, and nothing they face in this season is any more powerful than previous villains ([[spoiler:except for Death]]). To preserve the drama, Trevor and Sypha can't instantly annihilate their enemies because they're exhausted after six weeks of constantly fighting monsters, and Alucard is in poor shape after DrowningHisSorrows.

*** ''Ancestral Ocean Of The Great Gods, Atlantis:
*** Achilles has already been shot in his heel when he debuts as an ally, sealing his invulnerability and crippling him to 30% of his usual speed. Despite this, he's [[BroughtDownToBadass still a powerhouse]] and one of the Neo-Argonauts' best fighters.
*** The ThresholdGuardian for Olympus' entrance, Lostbelt Poseidon, had one of his cores stolen by Francis Drake, which has driven him mad [[spoiler:in addition to the brainwashing Zeus slapped him with after crushing Poseidon and the other Olympians in the Olympiamachia, which was actually just him for the Authority Faction vs everyone else for the Co-Existence Faction]], severely gimping his combat strength and reducing him to trying to ram things [[SanityHasAdvantages instead of]] destroying them at a distance, allowing Chaldea to infiltrate him to destroy his other cores.

*** Achilles has already been shot in his heel when he debuts as an ally, sealing his invulnerability and crippling him to 30% of his usual speed. Despite this, he's still a powerhouse and one of the Neo-Argonauts' best fighters.
*** Lostbelt Poseidon had one of his cores stolen by Francis Drake, which has driven him mad [[spoiler:in addition to the brainwashing Zeus slapped him with after crushing Poseidon and the other Olympians in the Olympiamachia, which was actually just him for the Authority Faction vs everyone else for the Co-Existence Faction]], severely gimping his combat strength and reducing him to trying to ram things instead of destroying them at a distance, allowing Chaldea to infiltrate him to destroy his other cores.]]

** Angels in general as of the end of season 8. After Metatron cast his spell, every angel was expelled from Heaven and their wings burned off. While it did result in "thousands" (according to Naomi) of angels walking the Earth, they lost a number of their higher-level powers: teleportation, time travel, and reality warping.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', initially, it's in both sides' best interest to keep the war a secret. The Yeerks prefer a strategy of infiltration, then suddenly seizing control of the planet, in order to minimize both Yeerk casualties and the deaths of thousands of potential host bodies. The Animorphs, on the other hand, prefer the war also remain a secret, for tactical reasons: the Yeerks have much more advanced technology and would certainly win any open engagement where they were free to use all of their weapons (a bunch of animals can't do much good against Yeerk capital ships destroying cities from orbit). Also, the primary reason the Yeerks want Earth is because of the large population, and a war would reduce the value. On the other hand, there are so many damn humans compared to Yeerks (6 billion versus a couple hundred thousand) that open warfare might even hurt the Yeerks despite their serious technology because humanity could and probably would ZergRush any terrestrial fortifications, at least enough to turn the campaign into a PyrrhicVictory that the Andalites could take advantage of.
** There have been several books where the central plan the Animorphs had was to reveal the existence of the Yeerks to the world in such an obvious way that even the most skeptical had to admit they were there and let the human military bring the Yeerks down, but [[StatusQuoIsGod in every case their plan to do so either fails and/or backfires horribly so that the secret war can continue.]]

*** In the opening scene, the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] is dealt a severe beating by [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]]. [[spoiler:This somehow prevents Bruce Banner from being able to transform into the Hulk for the rest of the film, meaning he's unable to help out during the initial fight between the heroes and the Black Order in New York, needing to use the Hulkbuster armor (which was built to fight Hulk and is therefore equally as strong) for the final battle in Wakanda (and the confrontation with the scarred Thanos in ''Film/AvengersEndgame).]]

*** In the opening scene, the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] is dealt a severe beating by [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]]. [[spoiler:This somehow prevents Bruce Banner from being able to transform into the Hulk for the rest of the film, meaning he's unable to help out during the initial fight between the heroes and the Black Order in New York.]]

** Similarly, Ash's insistence on dropping his whole team (aside from Pikachu) with Oak at the beginning of each new series and starting from scratch keeps him from using his League-level Pokémon to steamroll most of the new region.

* VideoGame/MentalOmega: In the campaigns, the Paradox Engine's built-in Chronosphere cannot teleport enemies. Considering how powerful this Chronosphere is shown to be, regular teleporting in whole battalions and even ''buildings'' to the frontlines, it'd be a complete StoryBreakerPower for the Allies if they could Chronoshift enemy forces to death before the fight even starts.

*** Golden Sea of Trees Travelogue, Nahui Mictlān: Both [[spoiler: [[AmnesiacDissonance U-Olga]] [[ArcHero Marie]] and [[CosmicKeystone Lostbelt]] [[EldritchAbomination ORT]] suffer the same handicap to keep the chapter from ending near-instantly. U-Olga winds up having her heart torn out by [[WildCard Tezcatlipoca]] after being knocked unconscious during the ActionPrologue, leaving her with amnesia and a pathetic 4% of her original power left over when she [[HeelFaceTurn joins Chaldea]] as a GuestStarPartyMember, while ORT itself has already had its primary power core torn out by [[TragicVillain Camazotz]] in the distant past and repurposed into an ArtificialSun for the Lostbelt, meaning that when reawakened by Daybit and Tezcatlipoca in the present it's running on fumes and Chaldea's primary objective (aside from defeating it) is to stop it getting the core ''back''.]]

* "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13163441/1/The-Not-So-Average-Girl The Not-So-Average Girl]]" expands on the limitations of Peter Petrelli (''Series/{{Heroes}}'') and his ability to copy the powers of others. More specifically, while he can imitate the power of anyone he meets and copy it by recalling how they made him feel when out of their company, Peter can only exactly copy that power when he is in their presence; when he is away from the source of that power, he can only imitate the copied power at half the strength of its original owner, and he will never be stronger than the other superpowered person on his own.

*** ''Interstellar Mountainous City, Olympus'': [[PhysicalGod Lostbelt]] [[DeusEstMachina Zeus]], like Arjuna before him, is under two handicaps by the time he finally fights Chaldea, because he's so [[AllYourPowersCombined disgustingly powerful]] that he'd easily fry them otherwise. The deaths of all of the other Olympians prior to his boos fight have forced him to run all of Olympus' functions by himself, taking up a whopping '''90%''' of his powers to do so, while [[TopGod Romulus]]=[[GodIsGood Quirinus]] uses his own Authority to strip Zeus of his HomeFieldAdvantage power up by declaring Olympus to be a seat of ''Roman'' power and divinity rather than a Greek one.

*** ''Fae Round Table Domain, Avalon le Fae'': The ClimaxBoss [[CurseMaster Cernunnos]] is revived as an undead corpse with no consciousness or soul left in him, allowing [[TheArchmage Merlin]] to rewind time uninterrupted by a living Cernunnos' Divine Authority once Chaldea realises they can't win the first time, giving them another chance to prepare. By the time he's actually fought, [[TheChosenOne Artoria Caster]] has successfully completed Excalibur's forging and corrected the sins of the original [[PrecursorVillain Six Fae]], appeasing the undead Cernunnos' wrath and weakening his curses enough to make the fight manageable.
*** Golden Sea of Trees Travelogue, Nahui Mictlān: Both [[spoiler: [[AmnesiacDissonance U-Olga]] [[ArcHero Marie]] and [[Lostbelt BigBad]] [[EldritchAbomination ORT]] suffer the same handicap to keep the chapter from ending near-instantly. U-Olga winds up having her heart torn out by [[WildCard Tezcatlipoca]] after being knocked unconscious during the ActionPrologue, leaving her with amnesia and a pathetic 4% of her original power left over when she [[HeelFaceTurn joins Chaldea]] as a GuestStarPartyMember, while ORT itself has already had its primary power core torn out by [[TragicVillain Camazotz]] in the distant past and repurposed into an ArtificialSun for the Lostbelt, meaning that when reawakened by Daybit and Tezcatlipoca in the present it's running on fumes and Chaldea's primary objective (aside from defeating it) is to stop it getting the core ''back''.]]

*** ''Saṃsāra of Genesis and Terminus, Yugakshetra'': [[BigBad Arjuna]] [[ManySpiritsInsideOfOne Over]] [[TopGod Gods]] handicaps himself ''twice'' before the final fight against him. First, his refusal to accept that he's a warrior at heart rather than a perfect God stops him using his full power. Second, a revived [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Karna's]] ReasonYouSuckSpeech badly shakes his self-image and since he's typically as strong as he things he is, his powers take another nosedive in response, allowing an empowered Karna and Chaldea to beat him.

* ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'': Jean Grey had resurrected [[Characters/XMenTheOriginalTeam Angel]] a short time ago, after the battle with [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]]. She can't do this again and bring back anyone, because she has lost the Phoenix powers.

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', there are several stances in the series, to always build up tension throughout battles the titular slayers are part of:
** Hinokami Kagura, the breathing style Tanjiro uses once he realizes his family's tradition is in fact a fighting art, it is shown to be extremely versatile and a battle changer. However, Tanjiro quickly learns that said breathing style is very taxing on his body, and continuous usage of it will completely wear him off; if Tanjiro had unlimited access to Hinokami Kagura, demons would soon be not much of a threat to him. [[spoiler:It's no wonder, since eventually it's revealed that Hinokami Kagura is no other than Sun Breathing, the original style which all others stem from]].
** Zenitsu's reluctance and self-deprecation are narrative handicaps in itself, since his proficiency with Thunder Breathing is quite good despite his own assertion of otherwise. Thus, Zenitsu early on the series must rely on his trance sleep mode to override his mental blocks and truly unleash his current potential; with his psychological issues out of the way, demons usually don't last more than a single attack of his. Also it is noted the extreme muscle exertion Thunder Breathing inflict on Zenitsu's legs quickly place a limit to how much he can perform his most powerful techniques. If Zenitsu was a brave warrior with total confidence in his Thunder Breathing skills from the start, and had unlimited usage of his arts, he would be unmatched for at least half of the series. [[spoiler:To no surprise, near the end of the series Zenitsu becomes quite impressive by completely forsaking his sleep trance during fights]].
** The Demon Slayer Mark is the visual cue for a slayer who has tapped into a state where their already superhuman might is amplified further: more strength, more speed, more power to fight better against the Upper Rank demons. However that power takes a heavy toll on the slayers, which translates into a time limit; as soon as it passes, the Mark fade away. With more experience the slayers actually start to leave their Marks permanently etched on their bodies, but [[spoiler:that is also an omen, as revealed later on that growing stronger with the Mark is the sign that a slayer is approaching death, possibly even before the observed 25-years-old deadline]].
** At the end of the series [[spoiler:Muzan gave all of his remaining blood to Tanjiro in hopes of creating a superior successor, more powerful than he ever was. However, Tanjiro still went through the process of adaptation a newly born demon goes through before becoming fully acquainted with their powers, although he was going through it in an extremely accelerated pace. Tanjiro was growing stronger by the second, but he never grew powerful and sapient ''enough'' to completely decimate the already fatigued remaining slayer corps before he was turned back into a human. If Tanjiro had become more powerful than Muzan and grew awareness from the get-go, he would have certainly killed everyone on sight instantly, become the superior successor Muzan desired, and ended the series on an absolute tragedy]].

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Shota Aizawa has the power to erase other people’s powers with his gaze, as long as he makes eye contact and doesn’t blink. He would have been a big help against Shigaraki’s decay quirk, but he lost an eye during the Paranormal Liberation War arc and his quirk is very shaky. This allowed for a more dramatic and risky tag team with Monoma, who can copy quirks for a limited time, and though this helped the heroes, it has made stopping Shigaraki in the Final Battle arc that more difficult since Monoma couldn’t last as long.

*** In [[Film/XMen1 the first]], Characters/{{Mystique}} poisons Cerebro, putting him in a coma.

* ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger'': Given that nothing short of a PhysicalGod would be capable of stopping a fully-powered [[Characters/JauneArcLordOfHungerDarthNihilus Darth Nihilus]], various limitations are placed on him to keep him from steamrolling all of Remnant. While inside his mask, Nihilus's spirit is severely weakened and only has a fraction of his original power. Also, NewBodyOldAbilities does ''not'' apply to him and he can only possess the bodies of Force-sensitives; explaining why Nihilus can't simply take over the body of the first random schmuck he comes across. Even when he does find a host who fits those requirements, they also need to be a WillingChanneler for it to work. [[spoiler:The moment Darth Nihilus takes over Jaune's body, he immediately doles out an epic CurbStompBattle to anyone foolish enough to take him on and he shrugs off everything the heroes throw at him.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', many a climax has had the heroes trying to escape from or outrun some kind of messy situation that, if they just used Rick's portal gun--an InterdimensionalTravelDevice--would be easily solved or avoided. Sometimes it's justified when the portal gun is directly shown to have been left behind by mistake or not be working for some reason, but more often, nobody seems to think of it or bring it up, and there's no indication that Rick even has it on him, even though it's one of his most important and well-guarded inventions. It got to the point where Rick just straight-up ''lies'' to Morty in "Get Schwifty" and claims there wasn't enough power to simply teleport to another dimension when Morty brings it up... which makes the situation worse when Rick carelessly uses it to get extra food and Morty calls him out on it before taking it himself. Not that it would help much in that situation, considering they were dealing with omnipotent reality show hosts who were completely impervious to ''nuclear missiles'' and "eliminated" their contestants by ''blowing their planes up with death rays''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', many a climax has had the heroes trying to escape from or outrun some kind of messy situation that, if they just used Rick's portal gun--an InterdimensionalTravelDevice--would be easily solved or avoided. Sometimes it's justified when the portal gun is directly shown to have been left behind by mistake or not be working for some reason, but more often, nobody seems to think of it or bring it up, and there's no indication that Rick even has it on him, even though it's one of his most important and well-guarded inventions. It got to the point where Rick just straight-up ''lies'' to Morty in [[RickAndMortyS2E5GetSchwifty "Get Schwifty"]] and claims there wasn't enough power to simply teleport to another dimension when Morty brings it up... which makes the situation worse when Rick carelessly uses it to get extra food and Morty calls him out on it before taking it himself. Not that it would help much in that situation, considering they were dealing with omnipotent reality show hosts who were completely impervious to ''nuclear missiles'' and "eliminated" their contestants by ''blowing their planes up with death rays''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', many a climax has had the heroes trying to escape from or outrun some kind of messy situation that, if they just used Rick's portal gun--an InterdimensionalTravelDevice--would be easily solved or avoided. Sometimes it's justified when the portal gun is directly shown to have been left behind by mistake or not be working for some reason, but more often, nobody seems to think of it or bring it up, and there's no indication that Rick even has it on him, even though it's one of his most important and well-guarded inventions.