History Main / PowerLimiter

* The U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights acts as one for the American Government. Despite [[CommonKnowledge popular belief]], the Constitution does not "grant" people rights such as Freedom of Speech, but rather asserts the rights as naturally belonging to the people by virtue of their existence (i.e. "God-given"), and explicitly restricts the ability of lawmakers to interfere with them. The distinctive wording is a big part of why it takes such enormous, coordinated, overwhelming effort (2/3 of Congress and ''3/4'' of states) to add or repeal Constitutional Amendments (so that, unlike actual laws, they can't simply be arbitrated into or out of existence by whichever party happens to hold majority at the time).

* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul :Re'', this is the key difference between normal [[HalfHumanHybrid One-Eyed Ghouls]] and the Quinx. While the methods to create them are essentially the same, the Quinx have a system installed to limit their powers (and therefore, how close to being a true half-Ghoul they are). The Frame System consists of five layers of Quinque Steel, encasing the transplanted organ to limit how much it changes the host's biology. Removing each layer increases the potential power output by 20%, but increases risk of losing control or becoming a true half-Ghoul.

*** Ironically, this ultimately ends up to still be the case. In 'Revival of F', Piccolo removes his and throws it to some Frieza Soldiers, who despite having vastly increased their power by this point, can't even hold up his ''hat'', revealing the weight has been ''drastically'' increased.

* Jafar is defeated in the first ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' movie by the limits of being a genie. "PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS... itty-bitty living space."
* Queen Elsa from ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' has near-constant [[PowerIncontinence lack of control over her powers]], causing her to freeze everything she touches and accidentally create snow and/or ice whenever she moves her hands too quickly. To counteract this, she wears [[ConspicuousGloves gloves]]. It's shown to work... unless she's particularly distressed, for example when her parents die, she's shown to have coated a large area around her in ice, despite the gloves. Since Elsa's powers activate due to strong emotions, it's very likely that her gloves work [[MagicFeather like a placebo]]; she thinks that the gloves might help her, which calms her down and prevents her ice powers from activating.

* What kicks off the plot in ''Escape from the Hokage's Hat''. During the Sasuke retrieval mission, Naruto managed to win his fight against Sasuke but almost died. He aimed for Sasuke's wing which took Sasuke down but threw the aim off the Chidori from his heart to most of his right side and his whole right arm while Naruto was suffering from charka exhaustion to boost. While in surgery Tsunade finds multiple limiters on Naruto ranging from intelligence dampening to massively suppressing his hormones and libido and his motor functions. The reason she isn't on Jiraiya's (resident seal master) case for not notifying her of the seals is because they were [[BloodMagic blood seals]] made from Naruto's own blood so they wouldn't be seen by a regular medical scan. While Jiraiya says removing them would give him a major permanent boost (the seals held a large chunk of Naruto's power), there is a downside to it due to the seals being so ingrained into Naruto's body. Naruto would generally have the motor functions of a 5 month year old, Kage level reserves with zero control and a brain that's just started working at normal capacity.

* ''FanFic/EscapeFromTheMoon'': Doa has one on her thaumatics, preventing her from using more than a minimal amount.

* In the ''FanFic/PokeWars'' series it is revealed that [[spoiler:Pokémon ''and'' humans]] possess natural power limiters that keep their attacks to a non-lethal level and reduce their bloodlust and aggressiveness. The series revolves around what happens after those limiters are suddenly released and [[spoiler:the Pokémon are psychically commanded to kill all humans]].

* Late in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' season two, we learn that the heroes function as these to the powers of their kwami. When circumstances conspire to force Plagg to take action on his own, a [[FingerPokeOfDoom single tap of his finger]] [[MonumentalDamage topples the Eiffel Tower]] and unleashes a spreading pattern of cracks across Paris. Truly, [[CallingYourAttacks Cataclysm]] is an {{Understatement}}.

* In [[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy Mistborn]] Vin's [[spoiler: earring acts like this since it's really a Hemalurgic spike that blocks her from absorbing the mist and becoming Preservation. If you're fighting her and she loses that earring somehow, get ready to have your ass handed to you on a tray.]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series, a Wizard's natural instinct is to build a magic tower, and then obliterate every other wizard standing (it's noted that the plural of "wizard" used to be "war"). The [[WizardingSchool Unseen University]] with its associated lifestyle of multiple rich meals a day, bureaucracy, and general work-avoidance, acts as a Power Limiter helping keep those instincts in check, and when the system is temporarily upended in ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'', things go ''very bad, very fast''.

* Deathwing from ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' ''Cataclysm'' has massive elementium plates welded onto his body to keep his own power from tearing him apart. He's still noticably "leaking" power despite them, and is in constant agony.

* In ''Manga/Brave10'', it turns out [[spoiler:the [[HairDecorations Kushimitama]] isn't the source of Isanami's PowerOfTheVoid: it's keeping it at bay.]]

* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'' there's actually an item named [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Limiter.]] Once you get 20,000 kills with it equipped, it can become an Adept.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': [[spoiler:[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]] implies that Steven's human body limits his abilities to some degree, as "Pink Steven" is shown shattering solid stone and disorienting White Diamond with a [[MakeMeWannaShout power scream]], deflecting a coordinated assault from the Diamond Authority and possessed Crystal Gems with his shield, and knocking them all down with a shockwave.]]
** [[spoiler: If ''[[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie The Movie]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture Future]]'' are any indication, the only thing that is truly limiting Steven is not his human body, but the fact that he is still in the process of discovering his true potential.]]
** Confirmed by WordOfGod that [[spoiler: not only is Steven's human side not limiting his powers, but because of his ability to grow (unlike the immortal but static Gems), Steven's powers are growing along with him.]]

** ''Anime/FatePrototype'', ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' and ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' shows that this applies to the offensive Noble Phantasms of King Arthur, in any iteration. Both Excalibur and Rhongomyniad have thirteen seals with conditions for their release having been set by the knights of the round table ([[https://typemoon.fandom.com/wiki/Restraints_of_the_Round_Table See here for a full list]]). This corresponds to said weapon displaying greater power the more seals are released and, in Rhongomyniad's case, half are required to even be able to evoke its true name.

* ''JourneyToChaos'': The entire guild lobby was outfitted with runes that suppress [[spoiler: Mia's hammerspace ability]] so she can control it instead of turning into a blackhole.

* Shadow's golden-yellow armbands are revealed to be these in ''Anime/{{SonicX}}'', with the standard caveat of exhausting his stamina at a higher rate. Notably this functionality is anime-only and has never appeared in any of the main Sonic games.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'': The gold rings on Shadow's wrists act as a limiter, but he's only ever removed them [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 once]]. When Mephiles surrounds Shadow by [[DoppelgangerAttack duplicating himself several hundred times]], Shadow removes the rings from his wrists and proceeds to curbstomp the entire clone army. He immediately puts them back on afterward. They get more use in ''Anime/SonicX'' and the [[Comicbook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic]]; in the former, they're his go-to DesperationAttack, and in the latter, he removes them to fight [[PhysicalGod Enerjak]].

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar 3'', Hercules starts out as a MightyGlacier, but when Kratos pulls off his armor and weapons, he becomes much faster, turning into a LightningBruiser.

* Late in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' season two, we learn that the heroes function as these to the powers of their kwami. When [[BruceWayneHeldHostage circumstances]] conspire to force Plagg to take action on his own, a [[FingerPokeOfDoom single tap of his finger]] [[MonumentalDamage topples the Eiffel Tower]] and unleashes a spreading pattern of cracks across Paris. Truly, [[CallingYourAttacks Cataclysm]] is an {{Understatement}}.

** Rock Lee from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. He jumps on top of a structure and takes off his leg weights, prompting those watching to remark on the futility of casting them off since shedding a few dozen pounds wouldn't a difference. Lee then tosses them aside, where they land with a thunderous ground-cracking slam and forming small craters while he takes off, showing that he his leg weights were ludicrously heavy. He becomes so fast Gaara's automatic sand defense can't keep up and he can attack him directly.

* The U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights acts as one for the American Government. Despite [[CommonKnowledge popular belief]], the Constitution does not "grant" people rights such as Freedom of Speech, but rather asserts the rights as being a natural consequence of the people's existence, and explicitly restricts the ability of lawmakers to interfere with them. The distinctive wording is a big part of why it takes such enormous, coordinated, overwhelming effort (2/3 of Congress and ''3/4'' of states) to add or repeal Constitutional Amendments (so that, unlike actual laws, they can't simply be arbitrated into or out of existence by whichever party happens to hold majority at the time).

* When a top of the line [[CentralProcessingUnit CPU]] or [[UsefulNotes/GraphicsProcessingUnit GPU]] comes back defective, often times the manufacturer puts the settings lower by default or disables sections of the chip that aren't working and sells it as a cheaper model. Some people have found ways to "unlock" unused portions of the chip for more performance. The most famous case of this was with AMD's tri-core processors, which were quad-cores with a defective core. Unfortunately this is a rare thing now, as the section will be completely neutered of its communications. [[note]]This is to prevent people from buying cheaper units and unlocking the defective parts, then reselling them as higher-end models[[/note]]

** Majin Buu has his good half, Fat Buu. At the expense of use of a large portion of his power, fat Buu provides Super Buu with some much needed sanity and the idea of self-preservation.