History Main / FuelMeterOfPower

Usually said doom is averted before it ever comes to that, but not always — a character may have to employ HeroicWillpower to push through, learn to function when you're {{depower}}ed, or use their last bit of power to enact a DyingMomentOfAwesome.

Compare HourOfPower, which is limited in period but can always be reused or recharged, and CastFromLifespan, which uses a character's lifespan instead of some other sustaining power source (the two overlap in cases where lifespan is directly linked to their expression of this trope — say, a PowerArmor Spacesuit with limited battery life, or a PureMagicBeing that can't easily regain mana). Compare also PowerDegeneration, which often overlaps when ToxicPhlebotinum-type side effects set in or a character gets weaker as their batteries deplete. See also JustifiedExtraLives, which may employ this trope as part of its explanation.

* Miroku from ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}''. The "wind tunnel" in his hand is almost story-breakingly powerful (it's basically a ''personal black hole''), but will eventually grow powerful enough to consume him too ([[NoOntologicalInertia unless the demon who put it there is killed]]). It's constantly slowly expanding no matter what he does, but using it to inhale monsters accelerates the process. Injuries to that hand open it more, shaving off even more of his limited time.
* In ''Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughTime'', the main character discovers a device that allows time travel. Unbeknownst to her there was a limited number of uses, and she used them up on trivial and inconsequential things, leaving her out of uses when she really needed it to save a life. [[spoiler:Thankfully a DeusExMachina arrives with TheReveal.]]

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler:in the new universe created by Madoka in the final episode, magical girl power generally works like this. Instead of becoming a witch due to having your gem corrupted, when you run out of magical power, you simply fade away]].
* All superheroes in ''Manga/{{Gamma}}'' are powered by the Lambda energy in their bodies. Once it runs dry, they lose whatever powers they had.

* All Might of ''Franchise/MyHeroAcademia'' gave away the source of his powers to main character, Izuku at the start of the story. He still has a portion of its energy within him, but it's finite without the source. Each time he uses his strength, he burns up a bit more of his supply. By the end of the first third of the series, All Might is forced to use up the last of it in battle and is left [[BroughtDownToNormal permanently powerless]].

* ComicBook/{{Spawn}} had a necroplasm meter for some of his special powers. If he ever ran out of the stuff, he'd be sent back to Hell. He started with a limited supply, went through several recharges before eventually finding a way to remove the limitation.
* ComicBook/{{Hourman}} had exactly one hour of total time he could use to visit his father in an otherworldly realm.
* Nico Minoru's Staff of One in the Marvel series ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}''. The staff can cast any spell imaginable, but can't cast the same spell using the same incantation more than once. She found several ways to work around this restriction, but they became more difficult each time she tried.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* This is what makes Calvin's superpowers from the ''FanFic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' episode ''Super Calvin'' a DeadlyUpgrade. They are fueled from his energy, and the process of getting them deactivated is a gene that allows him to regain that energy. Use of his powers drains his reserves very quickly, and once it's gone, he can't get it back.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/GhostRider2007'', the previous Rider fades away after one last change.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' has invoked this ''twice'' with the ''[[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Mighty Morphin]]'' Green Ranger, then again with the ''[[Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue Lightspeed Rescue]]'' Titanium Ranger. In both cases, the Rangers originally had unlimited use of their power before the bad guys came and put a cap on it (and the Titanium Ranger was eventually able to remove his restriction).
** The Sentai that ''Series/{{Mighty Morphin|PowerRangers}}'' is based on ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' had the same thing with their green ranger, which was actually what [[RealLifeWritesThePlot forced it to be used]] in Franchise/PowerRangers due to stock footage constraints. Also notable Zyuranger's green ranger [[spoiler:is KilledOffForReal.]]
* In ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'', Zeronos must use up a Zeronos Card to [[HenshinHero transform]], and he has a very limited number of them. At one point, he actually does run out and is unable to assist Den-O with the MonsterOfTheWeek. Later, he receives red Zeronos Cards, which are still finite and offer more power at the cost of memories from his past.
* Steven Spielberg's ''Series/{{Taken}}'' did this with a young alien boy who eventually burned himself out using his powers.

* One of the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' books features as a key character a little girl who appears to have the talent to have [[GodModeSue all the talents, ever]]. Eventually the heroes notice a pattern, or specifically, a lack thereof; it turns out that the limitation (which every talent has) is that she can only use each talent once. After this, she gets much more conservative with it; before, she was kind of a [[BrattyHalfPint spoiled brat]] because if things didn't go the way she wanted, she'd just magic them into something more to her liking, and not even her parents could do anything about it.
** To clarify, she has every magic talent possible; but she can use similar talents for the same effect. For example, she could make clean drinking water by cleansing it, distilling it, reversing time to when it was clean, transmuting it, etc. In another book, ''The Dastard'', she finds out that the limitation is actually that each spell is on a years-long cooldown. Unfortunately, his talent allows him the ability of reversing a short period of time; and he caused her not to come to the realization. So far, she still doesn't know.
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:capes whose powers come from Eden/The Thinker's dead shards have a limited well of power to tap on, and some of such characters run out during the final battle]].

* All of your defenses in the original ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' drain your power (and it drains slowly even if you don't use anything because of the light and fan in your room). Once it's gone, your room will [[DarknessEqualsDeath go dark]] and [[LightsOffSomebodyDies you'll probably be killed by Freddy]] unless [[InstantWinCondition the clock ticks over to 6 AM]].
** This also applies to your flashlight in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2''. Use it too much and you won't be able to look down the hall to see what's coming after you — and you have no way to defend yourself against Foxy, who can only be deterred by flashing your light at him.
* The Lightning in ''VideoGame/MediEvil'' can't be recharged in either game and is the only weapon with no way to restock. This was rectified in the PSP UpdatedRerelease the first game — now the Lightning is just ''prohibitively expensive'' to recharge.

* A meta example from ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'': Grenades deal a lot more damage than any of your other weapons, but you only start with 10. So it's a common strategy against bosses to use up all your grenades and apply MoreDakka without trying to dodge, as getting killed replenishes your grenades and ends the boss fight faster.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': In the first game, some unit abilities like the Mortar Team's Flare and the Huntress' Sentry were limited to one per unit, the expansion made it reusable after a long cooldown.
* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'''s Spider Mines were limited to 3 per Vulture bike, ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty's'' campaign has an upgrade that lets you buy more when the stock is used up.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' fangame ''VideoGame/GriefSyndrome'' uses this for its Soul Limit feature. Each character has a Soul Limit stat that slowly drains over the course of the game, though some of your Soul Limit can be burned to regenerate health and even bring yourself back from the dead. Once it reaches zero, that character is DeaderThanDead and unavailable for the rest of the game.

* In ''FanFic/RubyHaze'' the Phantom Ruby has a finite amount of power and [[SelfInsert John]] needs to pull energy from other sources to recharge it. Its not clear what would happen to it if it completely ran out of power, but John isn’t eager to find out. Especially since it’s fused into his hand.

* Miroku from ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}''. The "wind tunnel" in his hand is almost story-breakingly powerful (it's basically a ''personal black hole''), but it will eventually consume him regardless ([[NoOntologicalInertia unless the demon who put it there is killed]]), but using it to inhale monsters accelerates the process, and injuries to that hand shave off even more time.

* Miroku from ''Manga/InuYasha''. The "wind tunnel" in his hand is almost story-breakingly powerful (it's basically a ''personal black hole''), but it will eventually consume him regardless ([[NoOntologicalInertia unless the demon who put it there is killed]]), but using it to inhale monsters accelerates the process, and injuries to that hand shave off even more time.

* In the ''Film/GhostRider'' film, the previous Rider fades away after one last change.

Usually said doom is averted before it ever comes to that, but not always- a character may have to employ HeroicWillpower to push through, learn to function when you're {{depower}}ed, or use their last bit of power to enact a DyingMomentOfAwesome.

Compare HourOfPower, which is limited in period but can always be reused or recharged, and CastFromLifespan which uses a character's lifespan instead of some other sustaining power source (the two overlap in cases where lifespan is directly linked to their expression of this trope- say, a PowerArmor Spacesuit with limited battery life, or a PureMagicBeing that can't easily regain mana). Compare also PowerDegeneration, which often overlaps when ToxicPhlebotinum-type side effects set in or a character gets weaker as their batteries deplete. See also JustifiedExtraLives, which may employ this trope as part of its explanation.

* Miroku from ''Manga/InuYasha''. The "wind tunnel" in his hand is almost story-breakingly powerful (it's basically a ''personal black hole'') but it will eventually consume him regardless ([[NoOntologicalInertia unless the demon who put it there is killed]]), but using it to inhale monsters accelerates the process, and injuries to that hand shave off even more time.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:capes whose powers come from Eden/The Thinker's dead shards have a limited well of power to tap on, and some of such characters run out during the final battle.]]

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter'' has exactly this; the main character's draconic powers are limited by how long he can remain in his SuperMode state. When the meter is full, he dies. Game Over. No way to lower it, whatsoever. The game is designed with the expectation that you'll eventually overtax it and die -- then you can start over from the beginning, keeping much of your character advancement and items and unlocking new cutscenes that reveal more of the story. Repeat until you can clear the game without going over.

** This also applies to your flashlight in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2''. Use it too much and you won't be able to look down the hall to see what's coming after you- and you have no way to defend yourself against Foxy, who can only be deterred by flashing your light at him.
* The Lightning in ''VideoGame/MediEvil'' can't be recharged in either game and is the only weapon with no way to restock. This was rectified in the PSP UpdatedRerelease the first game- now the Lightning is just ''prohibitively expensive'' to recharge.

* A meta example from ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'': Grenades deal a lot more damage than any of your other weapons, but you only start with 10. So it's a common strategy against bosses to use up all your grenades and apply MoreDakka without trying to dodge, as getting killed replenishes your grenades and ends the bossfight faster.

* In ''Anime/{{Maburaho}}'', all magic users can only use their powers a limited number of times. If they use up all their spells, they die and their bodies crumble to ash.

* ComicBook/{{Spawn}} had a necroplasm meter for some of his special powers. If he ever ran out of the stuff, he'd be sent back to Hell.

* Nico Minoru's Staff of One in the Marvel series ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}''. The staff can cast any spell imaginable, but can't cast the same spell using the same incantation more than once.

* Spawn from ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'' had a necroplasm meter for some of his special powers. If he ever ran out of the stuff, he'd be sent back to Hell.

* This is what makes Calvin's superpowers from the ''FanFic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' episode ''Super Calvin'' a DeadlyUpgrade. They are fueled from his energy, and the process of getting them deactivated a gene that allows him to regain that energy. Use of his powers drains his reserves very quickly, and once it's gone, he can't get it back.