History Main / PowerCopying

* Po from ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' learns the Wuxi finger hold, and a technique to manipulate water droplets after watching them once. His master Shifu is a little bit jealous.

** Sylar and Peter Petrelli both are able to acquire new powers from other evolved humans. Peter just has to remember how that hero made him feel. Notably, Peter has an easier time getting new powers, [[HowDoIShotWeb he has trouble getting some powers to work]], and trouble [[PowerIncontinence getting other powers to turn off]]. Sylar for most of the time is a PowerParasite that kills people to steal their powers. Later, he learns how to gain abilities without removing a person's brain, obtaining Elle Bishop's power of electric manipulation by empathizing with her and convincing her to let go of her anger. Despite possessing this ability, he has returned to killing to obtain new powers..because StatusQuoIsGod.

* The power does not cooperate with them or refuses to work properly because they aren't TheChosenOne or otherwise the [[OnlyTheChoosenMayWield designated wielder]]. Alternatively, they may be the chosen one, but not matured enough, so the time is not yet right to harness it.

* The power does not cooperate with them or refuses to work properly because they aren't TheChosenOne or the designated wielder. Alternatively, they may be the chosen one, but not matured enough, so the time is not yet right to harness it.

Compare AllYourPowersCombined, AdaptiveAbility, TheAssimilator, and MaterialMimicry. This is a subtrope of MetaPower.

** Generally speaking, pretty much Goku's entire arsenal of techniques are derivatives or personal takes on techniques used by his friends and enemies over the years. The only unique moves he has come up with/used are the Kaio-Ken, the Spirit Bomb (both technically invented by King Kai, but Goku is the only person to have ever successfully use them), the Meteor Crash, and the NonSerialMovie /''GT'' exclusive Dragon Fist.

** Everyone can copy Krillin's Kienzan / Destructo Disc, apparently. And as an extra "kick in the stones" to Krillin, some of those people can use it to greater success.

** Also Dmitrii from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', who can copy ''Soma's'' magic souls by being hurt by them... However, it makes him a pathetically easy boss if you know what soul to use on him - he ''will'' copy that attack, no matter what it is, so making him use a weak and easily avoidable attack makes the battle a cakewalk. Later on, [[spoiler:it turns out that by having his soul absorbed by Soma, Dmitri was able to copy Soma's power of domination, at which point he becomes the game's GreaterScopeVillain]].

** This is how Ramza learns the Ultima spell in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', having to get hit first, with [[GuideDangIt very few opportunities to learn the spell because few enemies can cast it]]. You need to be a Squire when hit by it, and be careful not to be turned into a frog or charmed instead. [[spoiler:It's also theoretically possible, though extremely unlikely, for his sister Alma to learn Ultima in the same way from the FinalBoss.]] Likewise, summoners learn the hidden ultimate summon in this manner. There are some other spells that can work like this (the level 4 spells, most high end summons), but those can also be learned normally, which is generally less troublesome.

* Shirou of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is a rather IneptMage in most aspects, but he eventually discovers that [[spoiler:he excels in a special brand of Projection magic which allows him to create a slightly-degraded copy of any weapon of the "Sword" element he has seen, and use it with the same level of skill as the original wielder. It has a limitation that he cannot copy divine weapons like Ea or Excalibur. In the final route of the game, he goes beyond his limits to create a copy of Excalibur, but using it kills him]]. In the final route of the game, [[spoiler:True Assassin]] seems to exhibit a form of this, as well, gaining form and intelligence by eating the hearts/bodies of his opponents.

* The ''only way'' to learn new attacks in ''VideoGame/DigimonWorld'' for the PSX is to get hit by an attack your current Digimon can use. Additionally, you can also train their Brain stat with the Classroom, but that takes much longer and is less likely to happen.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' has the Drive Forms. Each form's fighting style is a reflection of the person from whom the form is derived:

* In ''VideoGame/FateExtra'' and ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', Servants with the Imperial Privilege ability can temporarily copy the skills of others. The only limitations are that they have to sincerely believe that they can perform it (Nero can't copy someone's cooking skills because she's never learned how to cook).

* ''VideoGame/DigimonWorld3:'' Ragnamon / Galactimon, the FinalBoss, will begin the final phase of its fight by copying the last technique used on it. Good time to break out the wimpiest technique possible.

[[/folder]]

* [[TeenGenius Bam]] in ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' can easily copy and apply both [[MagicByAnyOtherName Shinsu]] and physical techniques once he experiences them, even ones that should be far above his level. In some cases he can improve the techniques with ease, though sometimes, special skills require a lot of improvement to even reach the original user's level, as [[PintsizedPowerhouse Love]] notices. At one point, he masters a long list of martial arts by letting their practitioners beat him up. Another time, he has difficulty learning a powerful new Shinsu attack because his teacher is afraid that if he'll actually use it on Bam, he might kill him with it, so he has to actually just teach him. Then again, another time Bam is able to partly learn a difficult tehnique after just seeing it rather than being hit with it. Maybe being actually hit with the technique just makes it even easier.

* In ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'', Copycat can copy the appearance of another person ([[MorphicResonance except for their eyes]]), which also copies their abilities and languages. He only turns into pretty boys however, even if he thinks they're weak.

** All wizards can permanently learn another person's spell [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1947 just by observing it in action enough times]]. Since learned spells appear in their owner's spellbook as additional pages and are described in detail, wizards who keep up with their spellbooks can potentially use such spells at least as effectively as the original owners can if not more.

** Ben later gains the ability to turn into any alien the Omnitrix got a DNA sample from in the third season, allowing him to transform himself into slightly-altered versions of a small handful of that season's aliens. To date, each of these three forms are used exactly ''once'' in the original series, and the plot point is dropped for an entire series, until it's picked up again in ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]]'', except this time, Ben uses the acquired powers more often.

* Unlike other mages in ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'', Callum learns magic primarily from copying what he sees from others or observing magic in action. The only exception is learning the Sky Arcanum, and this is because thus far he's shown to be the only human in the world capable of doing so.

* Twilight Sparkle of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is capable of this. While most unicorns are capable of a little magic that helps them in their special talent, Twilight's talent IS magic so this allows her to easily copy spells used by other unicorns. She only need be exposed to it a couple times at most in order to pull off a fairly accurate facsimile.

** Downplayed in that throughout the series Sasuke only used the ability to imperfectly copy one of Rock Lee's moves, Kakashi only used moves that he copied from anonymous fighters before the series began, and no other Uchiha has been seen copying moves at all. That said, the Sharingan is a near StoryBreakerPower for other reasons down the line.

* The version of [=AMAZO=] from ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' is a master of this. By the end, he's got [[WingedHumanoid wings]] and a [[DropTheHammer mace]], reflecting bracers, a Green Lantern Ring, SuperSpeed and EyeBeams. The only way to stop him was to ''give'' him another power: {{telepathy}}, so that he could learn that he was being manipulated by a bad guy. [[VictoryIsBoring He eventually got bored with his "opponents"]], and decided [[BlackAndWhiteMorality their conflicts]] were now [[AboveGoodAndEvil beneath]] him (as the android doesn't just copy powers, ''[[AdaptiveAbility it evolves]]''), and headed off into space in search of meaning. When it returned, Amazo was basically a [[PhysicalGod God]]. [[spoiler: Lex Luthor later wanted to make himself an android body to gain Godhood using the same blueprints as Amazo.]]

** This in an inherent ability in Empaths and Telepaths. Powers in this show [[MagicAIsMagicA governed by emotions]], so anyone with the power to duplicate emotions is also capable of duplicating the powers of other magical beings within range. An experienced Empath/Telepath [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower is incredibly dangerous]] because they can turn their opponents' more destructive powers back on them.

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsTaskmaster Taskmaster]], of Creator/MarvelComics, possesses photographic reflexes. He can do anything after seeing it performed once, with exactly as much skill as the person he watched had in the task. Up to and including [[http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3841/751/1600/AgentX05-Taskmaster.jpg Chow Yun-Fat]]. However, he gains the ability to use it, not their powers. Meaning he can do the same flips as Spider-Man, but he'll never be able to leap off a sheer wall. However, he can watch a scene in fast-forward and perform it at double-speed for a (very) limited time. Even more so, he uses his ability of reflecting an enemy's moves to predict what they would do next. Which got him absolutely nothing when Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}} kicked his ass with [[ConfusionFu the power of dance and randomness.]] Another weakness is that he has reached his brain's limits on what he can remember--as he memorizes actions and techniques, other memories become corrupted, diffused, or lost, so he suffers from a scattered variant of amnesia.

** In ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'', the eponymous hero possesses the ability to transform into one of his nine predecessors ([[Series/KamenRiderKuuga Kuuga]], [[Series/KamenRiderAgito Agito]], [[Series/KamenRiderRyuki Ryuki]], [[Series/KamenRider555 Faiz]], [[Series/KamenRiderBlade Blade]], [[Series/KamenRiderHibiki Hibiki]], [[Series/KamenRiderKabuto Kabuto]], [[Series/KamenRiderDenO Den-O]], and [[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kiva]]), gaining all the abilities and equipment that comes with them. ''His'' limitation is that he can't gain the other Riders' powers until he [[AnAesop understands them]]. He retains his own TransformationTrinket belt, since his powers operate by using a [[CardBattleGame card reader in the buckle]]. In one of his movies, he demonstrates the power to turn into the original Series/KamenRider, implying that he has access to the Showa Riders' powers too. When he returns in ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'', Decade has gained the powers of the next ten Heisei Riders as well as some upgrades to how efficiently he can use their powers.

** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' offers a villainous example in the form of the Leo Zodiarts, who can change into any of the other 11 Horoscope Zodiarts by using their Astro Switches.

** Blackbeard was revealed as being able to do this when he [[spoiler:took the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit from the recently deceased Whitebeard]]. How he does it is unknown so far. He has a Devil Fruit power that allows him to absorb things, but the dialogue implies that it may have something to do with having a unique body structure. This became a more literal example of Mega Manning later on, as it was revealed that he can [[spoiler:take the Devil Fruit powers of anyone that he's killed using an unknown method. He has been shown to be able to give these abilities to other people, such as taking Absalom's Clear-Clear Fruit after killing him and giving it to Shiryu.]]

* This is Arfoire's signature ability in the ''Franchise/{{Neptunia}}'' series. She can copy, tweak, and combine any power that's used on her, or that she manages to steal from the original wielder. This includes [[PhysicalGod CPUs']] [[SuperMode Hard Drive Divinity]].

** Tenshinhan uses the Kamehameha against Master Roshi at the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament after seeing Yamcha use it against him, stating explicitly that he can learns an attack after seeing it once. Although we only see him copy the Kamehameha and the After Image.

** In the original game, the Mannekin Pis copies effects from your neighbours' Wonders.

* Every major Superhero RPG ''ever''. ''DC Heroes'' (the eighties/nineties version from Mayfair Games) had both Mimic, which copied powers, and Power Drain, which gave them to the user while removing them from the target. ''Champions'' characters with this ability were and still are most typically built with a Power Pool (a point reserve to be assigned to actual powers at appropriate times) with appropriate special effects and limitations. ''Marvel Super Heroes'' had relevant powers in its various editions and sourcebooks...the list goes on.