History Main / MagicAIsMagicA

* ''Film/IronMan'': The first film established that the Iron Man suits only function while they have sufficient power, and Tony replaced the Mark 1 arc reactor with a more powerful one to power the Mark 2 and 3 Iron Man suits. Given that they were designed for sustained flight, they needed the extra power. When he has to use the proto reactor in his Mark 2 suit, he has notably less power. Each part of Mark 42 is implied to have its own reactor because it was made to come apart and move remotely. It's also an example of what happens when you push this trope too far: it's so complicated that it rarely works as well as it's supposed to.

* In ''Film/TheLastAirbender'', M. Night Shyamalan changed a significant aspect of Firebending so that it aligned better with the other bending arts. In the show, Firebenders could create their own fire, but for the movie, they are now required to have an external fire SOURCE to manipulate. [[ElementalBaggage As he said, Katara needed a bag of water and Toph needed to be touching the earth, so why don't firebenders need fire?]] In the series, Iroh explained this source was the bender's own body heat. In the film, it's suggested that creating your own fire is a skill lost over the ages, and that Iroh was one of the few who have mastered that element of firebending and subtly was teaching Zuko to do the same.

** The Original Trilogy depicted [[SentientCosmicForce the Force]] through the eyes of a character who is [[TheHerosJourney gradually learning how to use it]], so new powers and abilities can be introduced to the canon without breaking the system because there is so little definitive rules presented. When the Emperor breaks out [[ShockAndAwe lightning from his hands]] the best foreshadowing that is given is Yoda telling Luke not to underestimate the Emperor. The few definitive rules was the need for training and discipline to use the force and there is a [[TheDarkSide dark side to the Force]] that [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique promises great power]] but warns of PowerAtAPrice. Individual powers get different focus depending on the story, with some dependent on which alignment you are (ie [[HealingHands Force Healing]] and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Force Transcend]] for Jedi and [[ShockAndAwe Force Lightning]] for Sith).

* ''Manga/DrStone'' has a similar deconstruction: [[spoiler:Initially nobody knows what the "Stone Beam" that [[TakenForGranite petrified humanity]] is or where it came from, but during the Treasure Island arc, the heroes meet a villager whose people are terrorized by people who have a weapon that produces a smaller-scale version of the effect, and actually managed to escape the effects of the beam personally. Senku is excited by this because it proves that the "Stone Beam" is a scientific weapon, meaning it has rules and restrictions and therefore they can work out a way to defeat and potentially reverse it.]]

* In ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', one of the implied consistencies (enforced by Creator/MichaelBay) is that the robots don't do any of the "[[HammerSpace mass shifting]]" that has permeated all of the prior incarnations. The Robots have to fit inside their vehicle modes, no more and no less. This resulted in Optimus being a larger semi-truck model to allow for a bigger robot, while the largest robot in the first movie, the huge helicopter Blackout, has a hulking robot form. They figured that by keeping these things consistent, they could manage the (more difficult to accept) mass shifting of the [[MacGuffin All Spark]] because it was used as something special and not as a generic power of all the robots.

* ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'' has "magic" that is, essentially, [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology Sufficiently Advanced Science]]--- Magic is a natural ability to manipulate an exotic form of energy, can be used via technological means, and generally follows the known laws of physics (Conservation of mass and energy, for example, still apply).

* This is the fundamental narrative rule behind ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' from ''Stardust Crusaders'' and onward: [[FightingSpirit Stands]], wielded by heroes, villains, and neutral parties alike, can endow their users with superhuman abilities. However, all of them are bound by particular rules, each one is entirely self-consistent (albeit unique), and a more effective Stand must have a tradeoff or restriction of some sort, which adversaries can exploit once discovered and which bound their users to fight in particular ways. For instance, Josuke Higashikata's healing powers work at a distance, but only up to about two meters away from him, requiring him to stay on the front lines to be effective. There's also one hard limitation: [[AllDeathsFinal there is no way to raise the dead]].

* This is the fundamental narrative rule behind ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' from ''Stardust Crusaders'' and onward: [[FightingSpirit Stands]], wielded by heroes, villains, and neutral parties alike, can endow their users with superhuman abilities. However, all of them are bound by particular rules, each one is entirely self-consistent (albiet unique), and a more effective Stand must have a tradeoff or restriction of some sort, which adversaries can exploit once discovered and which bound their users to fight in particular ways. For instance, Josuke Higashikata's healing powers work at a distance, but only up to about two meters away from him, requiring him to stay on the front lines to be effective.

* “[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/6030382/ A Mingling of Magics: The Legacy of Merlin]]” reveals that the magic used in ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice'' is the modern version of the magic used in ''Series/Merlin2008''. As time went on, the magic of the Old Religion began to retreat from the world after the Golden Age of Camelot, so now most sorcerers require rings or other artefacts to channel their magic.

** The first movie puts rules on genie magic. They [[ThouShaltNotKill can't kill anyone]] or force someone to fall in love, and you can't wish for more wishes. Genie doesn't mention it at first, but also eventually adds that they can't use their magic to serve themselves. Genie adds the rule about him not bringing people back from the dead, but it is not so much of an absolute rule as something ''Genie'' doesn't want to do ([[CameBackWrong "It's not a pretty picture. I don't like doing it!!!"]]).

* In the ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}''/''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3376586/1/The-Ghost-Child-and-the-Ghostbusters The Ghost Child and the Ghostbusters]]", the anti-ghost technology of both groups is equally useful, but they recognise that the other has their own strengths and specialities, such as the Fentons being able to keep ghosts out of particular areas with the Ghost Shield while the Ghostbusters' Ghost Trap technology wouldn't be capable of keeping ghosts out in the same manner without putting the humans inside at risk.

* For all the magic and curses flying around in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' and ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'', it is made indisputably clear that the one rule of that multi-verse is that the dead don't come back. No matter what you pay, they stay dead. [[spoiler:Yoko's living dead situation caused all the Mind Screwy mess in the former series because this sort of thing isn't supposed to happen.]]

* Creator/BrandonSanderson's magic systems are regulated to the point of being almost ''science''. In one case, once the series was over and only about half the magic system was revealed, fans were able to ''correctly determine the rest of the system'', based on the science of the parts that had been revealed. Sanderson ''[[SandersonsFirstLaw owns]]'' this trope. You can find his essay on the subject [[https://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law here.]]

** To be able to morph into an animal/human/alien, you must first physically touch it in your natural form. This allows you to acquire its DNA, and then you just have to think about it to start morphing. Once you have acquired a creature, that DNA is a part of you and will not have to reacquire it. The exceptions to this are if you acquired the DNA in a timeline that then collapsed, known as a ''sario rip'', as this version of you never acquired the DNA in the first place, or if you are allergic to the creature's DNA, in which case you will eventually expel the DNA from your body and create a new version of that creature, a process known as ''hereth illint''.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': The rules of morphing are quite well defined, if slowly revealed, and usually quite consistent.
** To be able to morph into an animal/human/alien, you must first physically touch it in your natural form. This allows you to acquire its DNA. Once you do this, that DNA is a part of you and will not have to reacquire it. The exceptions to this are if you acquired the DNA in a timeline that then collapsed, known as a ''sario rip'', as this version of you never acquired the DNA in the first place; or if you are allergic to the creature's DNA, in which case you will eventually expel the DNA from your body and create a new version of that creature, a process known as ''hereth illint''.
** You can only morph into something from your natural state. If you want to change morphs, you must demorph from you current form and then remorph. This process is tiring, time consuming, and leaves you exposed. The exception to this if you acquired the aforementioned allergy, in which case you will randomly morph when you feel strong emotions, even from other morphs.
** Once you morph, you can stay in that form for two hours before you suffer ShapeshifterModeLock, known as "''nothlits.''" The only way out of this is either through the help of a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien or a natural metamorphosis, such as caterpillar to butterfly, which rests the clock to two hours.

** ShapeshiftingHealsWounds because it reboots your DNA, but doesn't work for genetic diseases or amnesia. ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing, unless its skintight.

* The rules of time travel were fairly consistent in ''Series/QuantumLeap'', insofar as Project Quantum Leap was concerned: Dr. Sam Beckett could travel in time, but only within the range of his natural lifetime (starting on his date of birth). He "leaps" into someone who already exists at that time, and he retains his physical form and abilities while everyone around him sees the image of the "leapee" (conversely, the leapee is kept at Project Quantum Leap because they look like Dr. Beckett). Children, animals and psychics [[GlamourFailure can see Sam's true form]]. The times this was broken were explained as extremely unlikely events:

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' never gets into the "nuts and bolts" of how one learns alchemy or gets it to work, but we are shown through repeated example that it requires a great deal of research, practice and the use of [[GeometricMagic inscribed runes or circles]] to make it happen. There is also the constantly repeated rule of ''EquivalentExchange,'' that for the alchemist to create something, they must destroy something of equal value (in practice, this means just having the necessary raw materials at hand -- the act of construction itself doesn't seem to "cost" anything, since alchemy uses geothermal energy). In fact, the author's notes at the beginning of the manga emphasize that the series was originally intended to showcase a B-movie style version of real-life alchemy, without so much emphasis on the actual science behind it. In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'', though, it's revealed that [[spoiler:''[[HumanResources human souls]]'' from our world, especially the influx of souls from World War One]] are the cost being paid to perform alchemy. [[{{PhilosophersStone}} Philosopher's Stones]] seem to break this, acting as an infinite energy source, but in the manga/''Brotherhood'' it's revealed quite early on they're [[spoiler: compressed human souls]] and they eventually run out like a battery.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' never gets into the "nuts and bolts" of how one learns alchemy or gets it to work, but we are shown through repeated example that it requires a great deal of research, practice and the use of [[GeometricMagic inscribed runes or circles]] to make it happen. There is also the constantly repeated rule of ''EquivalentExchange,'' that for the alchemist to create something, he or she must destroy something of equal value (in practice, this means just having the necessary raw materials at hand -- the act of construction itself doesn't seem to "cost" anything, since alchemy uses geothermal energy). In fact, the author's notes at the beginning of the manga emphasize that the series was originally intended to showcase a B-movie style version of real-life alchemy, without so much emphasis on the actual science behind it. In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'', though, it's revealed that [[spoiler:''[[HumanResources human souls]]'' from our world, especially the influx of souls from World War One]] are the cost being paid to perform alchemy. [[{{PhilosophersStone}} Philosopher's Stones]] seem to break this, acting as an infinite energy source, but in the manga/''Brotherhood'' it's revealed quite early on they're [[spoiler: compressed human souls]] and they eventually run out like a battery.

** There is an exception to the "No Resurrection" rule, and it's a long story why and how it can be achieved. When the Primordials surrendered to the Exalted hosts, they forewent their ability to rewind time and undo death in Creation. Said Primordials were then imprisoned/became Hell. In Hell, they can do whatever they want, as long as the aforementioned term is not violated. In practice, now-Yozi Primordials can undo the causality of something that happened within the last 5 days in Hell. This means that if your significant other died in Hell, you can surrender his or her thread of Fate to the Yozis, and if the Yozis see something to be gained from undoing the demise of the deceased, then a resurrection is in order. [[CameBackWrong Considering who the Yozis are, it's an almost-certainty that the person will no longer be the same as who he or she was...]]

* In ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'', wizards can do virtually anything, but every spell they case must be formed by combining and constructing a Latin sentence consisting of one of five "techniques" (the verbs, all with the subject "I") and one of ten "forms" (the direct objects). For example, throwing bolts of flame would be "Creo Ignem" ("I create fire"), while making someone forget something would be a "Perdo Mentem" spell ("I destroy the mind"). Every wizard has varying levels of ability with each form and technique which determine how powerful of an effect they can generate (someone with a high score in Creo is good at making things in general; someone with a high score in Mentem is good at working with people's minds in general; someone with high scores in both Creo and Mentem would be extremely good at putting thoughts in other people's heads). Each edition of the game also has a few hard-and-fast rules beyond the verb/object format, such as it being impossible to raise the dead or travel back in time, although whether those things are literally impossible or simply unknown or forbidden to members of the Order of Hermes (the organization player character magi are assumed to belong to) is generally unclear (by design).

** ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'' had a well-mapped magical system. There were multiple tiers with 10 words each, but said words could be combined in any which way by a character wanted to do different things. The fact that the main heroes were breaking the tier system by the end of the season gave a feeling of "they're more powerful than any magicians in history" instead of ruining suspension of disbelief, because the usage still remained consistent within the tier breaking.

* Magic in ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'' has multiple competing systems, all of which are internally coherent, but none of which can entirely explain any of the others. It's also stated that trying to learn two different systems of magic has a tendency to [[GoMadFromTheRevelation send the practitioner insane]]. Most of the major characters are trained in Trimegistan theory, which uses [[FormulaicMagic Spell Formulas]]. It's crowning principle is stated as "Usurpation is the essence of Sorcery", and most of its major works are characterised as taking apart Creation, which is the work of the Gods, and putting it back together how the practitioner wants it to be. Did we mention that Trimegistan theory was developed by [[TheEmpire The Dread Empire of Praes]] based on the original works of the [[BigBad Dead King]]?

** ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' First Edition is almost exactly like its parent 3.5 when it comes to Arcane and Divine magic, with only a few minor differences. It lacks official support for the other systems, however[[note]]except for psionics, Paizo would have to write around copyright, and with psionics they basically went "We want to take it in a bit different direction, and anyway those people over at Dreamscarred have already done a brilliant conversion of 3.5 psionics to Pathfinder"[[/note]], but also adds the Psychic magic type, which is similar but not identical in theme to psionics (as an example, psychic magic is heavier on the magic ultimately coming from interaction between the mage and other things, even things like concepts, while psionics leans more towards psionic effects coming from the wielder's mind and self), and uses the standard VancianMagic as the base.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' uses four types of magic, but they all interact in a unified system. Divine and Arcane are back. They are joined by Primal, similar to Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition, and Occult magic. Each of these traditions of magic affects the world differently; Arcane magic can do the broadest range of things, but is bad at manipulating the soul or healing, Divine magic appeals to powers from beyond the world, Occult magic can deal with the esoteric and strange, and Primal magic is the magic of nature and the natural world. Wizards are the prototypical Arcane magic user, Clerics Divine, Druids Primal, Bards Occult, and many other classes are actually variable. Sorcerers, for example, get their tradition based on their bloodline. A Fey-blooded Sorcerer casts Primal spells, while a Demon-blooded one casts Divine magic.

* The Rules of Magic (or how it works) are seldom explained in Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' -- the lore and magical words are well outside the ken of the hobbits. Even people who ought to know (such as Elrond) express some ambivalence on the potential effects of, say, destroying the Ring. Still, this doesn't stop fans from getting into debates about whether the Nazgûl wore their Rings or if Sauron had them on his person.
** It also seems that what is considered magic by, say, Hobbits, isn't always thought of as such by, say, Elves, which makes explanations difficult and/or unnecessary. This is because, as Galadriel points out, the word for "magic" used by the hobbits covers what to the elves are two distinct concepts, both elvish "art" and "sorcery" which is the term for the works of Sauron and the Ringwraiths. Of course, even in Sindarin the term for "sorcery" is just the prefix for "dark" or "black" (mor-) thrown on the word for art, lore, or knowledge (''gul'', thus sorcery or "the black arts," is ''morgul'' as in Minas Morgul and the morgul blade.)
--->"Are these magic cloaks?" asked Pippin, looking at them with wonder.\\
"I do not know what you mean by that," answered the leader of the Elves. "They are fair garments, and the web is good, for it was made in this land. They are elvish robes certainly, if that is what you mean". ("Farewell to Lórien", ''The Fellowship of the Ring''.)
** Additionally, as is made more clear in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', elves simply don't think of what they can do as "magical". It's just a natural ability to them, like carpentry is to a human being -- as far as the elves are concerned, they're just better at making things than weakling humans. Basically, an elven sailor could get so good at sailing that he could make his ship fly. Likewise, the "wizards" (''istari'') like Gandalf aren't stock fantasy wizards so much as a group of minor gods (the same kind of being as Sauron and the Balrogs).
** A point is made in ''The Silmarillion'' that many great works that might be considered magical can only be accomplished once. The great trees Telperion and Laurelin created by Yavanna could only be created once. The Silmarils created by Fëanor could only be created once. One may presume the One Ring created by Sauron could also only have been created once and it would make sense that reason for this is as given that he put his own power into the ring thus diminishing it in himself. In this respect, the act of using one's 'magic' to create a great artifact appears to forever diminish the creator of the artifact.

* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' trilogy established three things about how their TimeMachine works: you need to be moving at least 88 MPH, you need 1.21 gigawatts of energy, and the [[AppliedPhlebotinum Flux Capacitor]] makes TimeTravel possible. The lack of the proper energy source to create 1.21 gigawatts is what drives the story of the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first movie]] and after a visit to the future Doc Brown installed "Mr. Fusion" that eliminated the dilemma by being able to use anything to create that energy. In the [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII third movie]] a lack of proper octane gasoline fuel for the engine to get them up to speed is a different issue (they even made sure to specify that Mr. Fusion doesn't apply to the internal combustion engine). Some fans also noticed that the lightning strike in the [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII second movie]] that shot Doc into the old West happened while the Delorean was mostly stationary, filmmakers clarified that the car ''rotated'' at 88 MPH which is seen with the fire trail after it happened.