History Main / ItOnlyWorksOnce

* In ''[[LetsPlay/{{Dream}} Dream's]]'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgdSJdeGF_0 "3 Hunters Finale" video]] (the third of the 3 Hunters series), Dream sets up an escape route leading to an End Crystal he intends to use to blow up the hunters (as their gear is too good for him to win in a straight-up fight) -- and he succeeds. Two Manhunts later, in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tylNqtyj0gs "3 Hunters Grand Finale"]] video, Dream sets up an escape route leading to another End Crystal for the exact same purpose -- but the hunters, knowing to be on-guard, realize they're in a trap quickly. Bad also spots the End Crystal when he's out of range, and the hunters are able to avoid the trap.

** Typically, Dream only uses the various kinds of traps and trickery once. On the one hand, it's definitely more fun to see newer ways to outsmart the hunters, but on the other hand it's quite clear that some tricks just don't work twice.

* [[Characters/CodeGeassLelouchLamperouge Lelouch Lamperouge's]] mind control power in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' can force people to obey any command Lelouch gives them ... but only ''one'' command per person. After it's been used on someone once, it won't work on the same individual again. Eventually, Lelouch gets around this by issuing the command [[WishingForMoreWishes "obey all my commands".]]

** Likewise, it's revealed at the beginning of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' that Shenron, and the Earth's Dragon Balls by extension, cannot grant the same wish twice; for example, if a person who has been already been resurrected is killed again, the person in question will be KilledOffForReal. Porunga, and the Namekian Dragon Balls by extension, have no such limitation.

* Lelouch's mind control power in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' can force people to obey any command Lelouch gives them ... but only ''one'' command per person. After it's been used on someone once, it won't work on the same individual again. Eventually, Lelouch gets around this by issuing the command [[WishingForMoreWishes "obey all my commands".]]

* After Optimus Primal's death in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', the first few episodes of the second season see Rhinox manage to bring Primal back to life by using a recently-created rift into transwarp space and a blank stasis pod (essentially a Transformer body without its own soul) to bring Optimus back to life. The show itself explicitly states that the rift Rhinox is using will close soon and it was by relative chance that the Maximals found the blank pod when they did, and even then Rhinox experiences considerable strain and puts his own life at risk trying to retrieve Optimus's spark before the rift closes.

* ''ComicBook/{{Uber}}'': The series is an AlternateHistory story in which the Nazis developed super-powered soldiers, followed by the Allies, resulting in a superhuman arms race. Because the kinks of the process are still being worked out, and soldiers are constantly developing and refining new uses for their powers, there are many points in the book where a novel tactic is used to great effect. However, both sides are constantly searching for an advantage, and generally a counter-measure will be developed shortly thereafter.

* Done in ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch'' with the gremlins' [[WeakenedByTheLight lethal weakness to sunlight]], which ended up being pivotal to destroy Stripe [[Film/Gremlins1984 in the first movie]]. First, Brain Gremlin injected the Bat Gremlin with a shot of genetic sunblock to allow it to roam outside and inform the others when the sun had set[[note]]though why Brain Gremlin didn't use the sunblock on ''all'' the gremlins isn't addressed[[/note]]. Then, when the heroes concoct an elaborate scheme to get all the gremlins into the tower lobby and expose them all to the sun in one shot, [[CueTheRain it unfortunately starts to rain]], which not only blocks out the sun, but would mean the hoard [[ExplosiveBreeder would multiple like mad]] if they went out in it.

** In one of his ''Pyramid'' editiorials, Steven Marsh said that he'd tried giving his players awesome abilities that could only ever be used once, and [[TooAwesomeToUse they never got used at all]]. Partly because players were always thinking that if they used it now, they might need it later, until not using it became a habit, and partly because it's just so much cooler to be the guy who could ''at any moment'' unleash their Ultimate Power than it is to be the guy who did that three adventures ago.

** [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]] and [[MakeMyMonsterGrow Dynamaxing]] are the same as Z-Moves: extremely powerful, but only one Pokémon can use it per battle. And while Mega Evolution lasts until the user faints, Dynamaxing only lasts for three turns.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' features a purchasable item known as [[TimeStandsStill the "Stopwatch"]]. Most items in the game are [[StatSticks meant to permanently upgrade your stats]], and others are consumable items like [[MagicPotion potions]] and [[DefogOfWar vision wards]] for general utility, and the Stopwatch rests between both types -- it carries no stats on its own, but activating it puts its user in the "Stasis" effect, making themselves [[NighInvulnerability completely invulnerable]] for a few seconds while also making them unable to move or attack. Once it's used, the item becomes a "Broken Stopwatch" and can't be used normally for the rest of the game (not even purchasing new Stopwatches will help), so you better make the one use count. This can be somewhat mitigated if you're a mage as a Stopwatch/Broken Stopwatch [[ItemCrafting can be built into the more impressive Zhonya's Hourglass]], which provides better stats and puts the "Stasis" ability on a resettable cooldown, but like most items, [[SituationalSword how useful it is is very context-dependent]].

* Becomes a long set up BrickJoke in ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}.'' Spider cloaks himself in source gas (a substance that records sounds like a microphone because reasons) before his first interview with the Smiler in order to catch his campaign in a lie. The second time he goes in, The Smiler's wise to the trick, and disables ALL of Spider's recording equipment. At the end of the comic, Spider pulls the trick a ''third'' time, and this time it works, because Spider's "been showy" with guns, and the Smiler only had him searched for ''weapons.''

* {{Creator/Marvel|Comics}} villain [[Characters/MarvelComicsUltron Ultron]] tends to come back whenever he's destroyed, now with immunity to whatever wrecked him the last time.

* The ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' "Dark Ages" story arc featured the Innocent Gun, a powerful mystic superweapon that was left behind by alien {{Precursors}} to be used to protect humanity from a vaguely unspecified future threat, and was crafted so that it could only be used once. Unfortunately, TheLancer [[NiceJobBreakingItHero ended up using it]] against another BigBad, tearing a hole in reality and [[ThreadOfProphecySevered leaving the gun unavailable for future use]].
* DC villain Calculator had an ability he'd use after each of his losses to a hero to "turn defeat into victory". He'd hit a button on his costume, which would render him immune to the powers of the hero who had just beaten him. Unfortunately, the DCU has an inexhaustible supply of heroes, so it never did him much good.
* The original 40s [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] once fought a character that could cast any spell -- once. He also had one, and only one, weakness. Their fights consisted of the two of them flipping through notebooks that listed everything they had tried so far, trying to come up with strategies.
* The reason why ComicBook/{{Diabolik}} and [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist inspector Ginko]] [[NeverRecycleYourSchemes don't bother reusing plans and gadgets]]: the next time the police will have figured out how to counter Diabolik's tricks, and Diabolik will know how to get around the counter, as shown by Diabolik's [[LatexPerfection perfect masks]] (one of the rare tricks he does reuse: the police checks faces multiple times if they even suspect he's around, and sometimes Diabolik can pass through the checks if the circumstances are right). [[SubvertedTrope However this is valid only if the opponent knows what happened, as otherwise they can't figure a way out of it]].
* ComicBook/DoctorStrange once was turned into a vampire by Dracula, who boasted that since Dracula rules over all vampires, Strange was unable to attack him. Indeed, try as he might, Strange could no longer call upon his usual sources for spells: Aggamotto, Cyttorak, Watoomb, etc. In desperation, and with effort that nearly killed him, Strange called out the name of God.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' villain Traitor was originally a warrior named Devos Ungol who was fitted with a high-tech suit of armour that drew power from the energy of dying stars. What made Traitor particularly dangerous was that even if an opponent was able to damage his armor, such an attack would only be effective once, as his armor adapts to ensure that any successful attack won't work again. After Traitor defeated Abin Sur's predecessor as a Green Lantern over a century ago, he was initially trapped on Earth in a weakened condition as the close proximity of the sun prevented him from gaining more power, but after he escaped during ''ComicBook/FinalNight'' he was swiftly restored to full power, [[spoiler:forcing Kyle Rayner to hit him with an internal EMP and then bury him at the core of a dead planet so that he couldn't "reboot" from that attack]].
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': A 2003 storyline in focused on Bruce Banner learning that he was suffering from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which would leave him forced to remain the Hulk once his body became so badly afflicted by the disease that he couldn't continue as Banner, until he eventually received a cure from the Leader. However, this cure was only possible with gene sequences taken from the corpse of Brian Banner (Bruce's long-dead father) and inserted into the Hulk's genetic structure by Scott Lang under the direction of Reed Richards, these new genes being integrated into Banner's physiology during the energy surge when the Hulk returned to Banner, making it clear that this cure would ''only'' work for Banner
* In one of the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' try-out issues, one of the would-be Legionnaires was a woman called X-Bomb Betty, who had the power to "create an explosion of 150 million megatons". When they asked her to demonstrate this she got a panicked look and said, "But ... but I can only do it ''once''!"
* The ComicBook/MartianManhunter once beat Despero with his innate Martian power to make someone believe that they're experiencing their most fervent desire. He'd [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands never mentioned this power before]] and would never use it again, because, he explained, using it was so stressful that any one Martian could only do it once in their life. (Focusing on the pathos of his decision to use a power that his culture considered the ultimate gift to give a loved one to defeat a rampaging villain helped gloss over the AssPull.)
* In ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures''' fourteenth issue, a shadow creature can only be destroyed by a weapon created specifically for the job; the heroes, however, didn't have enough time to manufacture more than two charges for the weapon. As Paperinik puts it: "Be careful where you aim, you won't get a third shot."
* This trope is used as an actual story element in ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}''. Nico Minoru's weapon, the Staff of One, can cast any spell whatsoever but then can never cast it again. (Attempting to repeat a spell results in random effects.) It essentially serves as a leash to her [[SwissArmySuperpower otherwise godlike powers]]. However, it turns out that she can only use each specific spell with ''[[SemanticSuperpower a specific code word]]'' once; in a team-up with the ComicBook/YoungAvengers, she was able to cast the same spell repeatedly by running through [[Characters/YoungAvengersTitleTeam The Vision]]'s language banks, while on another occasion she was able to 'reuse' a 'Freeze' spell by instructing her enemies to freeze at a specific temperature.

** Spidey once came across Stilt-Man wreaking havoc. He was disappointed, as the villain had designed a mask to keep Characters/{{Daredevil|MattMurdock}} from hitting him in the face with his stick. Spidey just webs him to a lamppost.

* The series ''ComicBook/{{Uber}}'' is an AlternateHistory story in which the Nazis developed super-powered soldiers, followed by the Allies, resulting in a superhuman arms race. Because the kinks of the process are still being worked out, and soldiers are constantly developing and refining new uses for their powers, there are many points in the book where a novel tactic is used to great effect. However, both sides are constantly searching for an advantage, and generally a counter-measure will be developed shortly thereafter.

* In an issue of ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' [[Characters/MarvelComicsRogue Rogue]] absorbed [[Characters/MarvelComicsNightcrawler Nightcrawler]]'s powers and defeated Nimrod, the mutant-killing robot from the future, by teleporting a chunk of his body away. The next time the X-Men fought Nimrod, Nightcrawler simply tried the same trick again, only to discover that Nimrod had adapted himself so that not only did it not work but the attempt messed Nightcrawler up quite badly.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': During their fight against the Sangtee Empire the rebels use the trick of leaving one of their ships floating disabled with breaches in the hull near a shipping lane, with the crew inside playing dead in spacesuits to take advantage of the empire's salvaging practices in order to get the jump on them. The next time the empire sees a damaged and disabled rebel ship they instead destroy it from afar. The rebels were using the ship as a different kind of trap this time and were able to hack the empire's ships after the destruction of the abandoned ship alerted them to their whereabouts.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In Season 7, Sam and Dean eventually acquire a VillainBeatingArtifact that can be used to kill an otherwise [[NighInvulnerability Nigh-Invulnerable]] Leviathan, but it can only be used once. They decide to target their leader Dick Roman, hoping that [[KeystoneArmy his army will collapse without him]]. [[spoiler:When the weapon is finally used, it sucks both Dean and Castiel along with Roman into the monster afterlife.]]

* Done in ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch'' with the gremlins' [[WeakenedByTheLight lethal weakness to sunlight]], which ended up being pivotal to destroy Stripe [[Film/Gremlins1984 in the first movie]]. First, Brain Gremlin injected the Bat Gremlin with a shot of genetic sunblock to allow it to roam outside and inform the others when the sun had set[[note]]though why Brain Gremlin didn't use the sunblock on ''all'' the gremlins isn't addressed[[/note]]. Then, when the heroes concoct an elaborate scheme to get all the gremlins into the tower lobby and expose them all to the sun in one shot, [[CueTheRain it unfortunately starts to rain]], which not only blocks out the sun, but would mean the hoard [[ExplosivBreeder would multiple like mad]] if they went out in it.

** Natsu disorients Cobra by [[MakeMeWannaShout screaming really loud]] to [[SensoryOverload overload]] his sensitive ears. During a rematch, Natsu tries this again, but Cobra reveals that he's learned how to absorb sound waves to power his own sonic attack.

* In Creator/JohnVarley's novel ''Literature/Millennium1983'', once a time traveler visits a time, that specific time period from arrival there to return to your own time can never be accessed again.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': In the episode "Bullet Points", a rival cartel attempts to hijack a Los Pollos Hermanos truck (which is hiding shipments of high-quality meth), but Gus anticipated this by having Gus hide in the cargo box. The hijackers attempted to prepare this possibility by first raking the cargo box with bullets, but Mike lies low enough to avoid all but a slight nick to the ear, and then shoots and kills the would-be robbers when they think it's safe to enter. The episode "Cornered" has the same thing, with two guards sitting in the Los Pollos Hermanos truck cargo in case it gets robbed, but this time the hijackers simply lock the doors and reroute the truck's exhaust into the cargo box to asphyxiate them ([[ArtisticLicenseCars although this wouldn't work in reality, for a number of reasons]]).