History Main / PowerLimiter

** Both K9999 and Nameless have this too. Nameless's in particular is tied to his backstory, as it contains the essence of his deceased lover Isolde, who has similar abilites to Kula Diamond (being born from the same project) and is used to mediate Nameless's flame powers.
** Rugal Bernstein and Krizalid have first forms wherein they wear a tuxedo for Rugal or a huge coat for Kriz. Once they come off...well, [[SNKBoss don't say we didn't warn you]]. Rugal's tux is probably worn by Rugal for laughs, where as Kriz's coat is unexplained but could be this. Rugal flings his off, and Krizalid burns his, BTW.

** The Coven system functions as one of these. When a Witch joins a Coven, all magic not related to that Coven's particular focus is locked off forever. As demonstrated by Eda and The Emperor's Coven, those without it are insanely powerful. A few students from Hexside break this rule by studying two Covens at once, while Luz, a human who uses glyph magic, studies everything. It was later revealed that Emperor Belos issued the system because he hates WildMagic and exposure to such would harm him.
** Speaking of Luz, she can't do any type of magic modern day witches use because she's not magically empowered due to being human; instead she uses glyph magic, which was a practice used in the old days. This stops working when she's in the human world.

** Shinigami aren't allowed to release their Zanpakuto into either Shikai or Bankai without permission. This applies to both Soul Society and the living world. The damage they can wreak is too much to contemplate without power limiters. As a result, they also have a further limit on their power. To protect humans in the living world, Shinigami of Captain and Vice-captain ranks have to wear a limiter that reduces their power by 80% in the form of a tattoo of their division's symbolic flower. They again can't release this without express permission.

* Weights in clothing are a popular method to use for this in Shōnen manga and anime series.

** Most notably in ''Dragon Ball Z'', Broly of the movies wears a technological device created by his father designed to keep him from using too much of his power and going berserk. It causes the "Super Saiyan" trademark gold hair to take on a turquoise hue instead. By the time he becomes angry enough, his power overloads the device and he achieves his maximum power, growing almost triple his normal size in muscle mass yet sacrificing none of his speed. It becomes quite obvious why his father was so adamant about keeping him under control...

** Rock Lee from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has one of the more famous examples of this when fighting Gaara. His master (Guy) gives him permission to take his leg weights off, so he hops up onto a statue and tosses them down. Those watching note that it's pointless, as shedding a few dozen pounds wouldn't make nearly enough of a difference to let him overcome Gaara. The weights then land with a thunderous, ground-cracking, crater-forming slam, showing just how ludicrously heavy they were. Lee, who was already one of the fastest fighters present, is now capable of moving fast enough that the other's can't even track him, even passing Gaara's automatic sand defense, allowing Lee to become the first person to actually land a direct hit on him.
** Bui, an enemy from the Dark Tournament arc of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', wears heavy armor over every inch of his body and wields a gigantic axe. Everyone thinks this is to protect him from attack, but it turns out that the armor was actually a Power Limiter, and once it's removed, he shows off an impenetrable BattleAura that lets him defeat Hiei's WaveMotionGun, the Dragon of the Darkness Flame/Kokuryuha.
*** Similarly enough, Hiei himself wears 2 limiters. His headband suppresses his Jagan's demon energy, while the bandages suppress the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, with ''very'' good reason; without said limit, Hiei's demon energy was so powerful, if his aura were to clash with Bui's, the resulting reaction was said by Kurama to be powerful enough to destroy the entire stadium.
*** It was revealed in the Dark Tournament arc that Yusuke was given "spirit cuffs" by Genkai because his constant effort to overcome it would buff up his spirit energy.
** In what is probably a ShoutOut to Rock Lee, [=MegaMan=] and [=ProtoMan=] both have 'limiter programs' that are essentially giant weights that they drop off in their last battle in the bonus chapter of the final ''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'' manga. [[spoiler:The battle ends in a tie.]]
** In ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'', wrist/leg weights are used in a regular basis during training to develop more focus and leg strength. [[MasterOfDisguise Masaharu Niou]] from Rikkaidai also uses additional wristbands to tap his own potential, and utterly ''refuses'' to take them off.
*** [[spoiler:It turns out that ''this'' is what Shiraishi's bandages cover. Underneath them he wears a heavy arm band; when it's removed, the speed of his left arm sky-rockets.]]
** ''Manga/MedakaBox'' has Unzen Myouga, little sister of head Enforcer Unzen Myouri, who fights using [[EpicFlail six 30kg ball-and-chains]]; when she removes them she becomes incredibly agile. This example is [[ShoutOut explicitly compared]] to Goku's weighted clothing, both by Myouga and her opponent.
* Back to ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Karasu (on the same team as Bui, his skill is HavingABlast) normally wears a mask. The mask is this trope because it keeps him from having full access to his mouth, keeping a DangerousForbiddenTechnique locked up.
* Kakashi from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' keeps his eye patch for most fights, because without his EyepatchOfPower his power is always on and will cost him all his energy too quickly. He also has a limit on his [[spoiler: Mangekyō Sharingan (which punch unavoidable holes into reality taking body parts of his enemies apart)]] - twice in one fight! That power could end any threat real quick if not for the 3 limits... the [[spoiler: holes in reality]] take a long while to get started, 2 weeks of recovering in bed for doing them, and not being able to train this dangerous power means he can't aim [[spoiler: holes in reality]] well... yet.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has several examples. Shinigami aren't allowed to release their Zanpakuto into either Shikai or Bankai without permission. This applies to both Soul Society and the living world. The damage they can wreak is too much to contemplate without power limiters. As a result, they also have a further limit on their power. To protect humans in the living world, Shinigami of Captain and Vice-captain ranks have to wear a limiter that reduces their power by 80% in the form of a tattoo of their division's symbolic flower. They again can't release this without express permission.

* The Coven system of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' functions as one of these. When a Witch joins a Coven, all magic not related to that Coven's particular focus is locked off forever. As demonstrated by Eda and The Emperor's Coven, those without it are insanely powerful. A few students from Hexside break this rule by studying two Covens at once, while Luz, a human who uses glyph magic, studies everything. It was later revealed that Emperor Belos issued the system because he hates WildMagic and exposure to such would harm him.

** When the final battle comes, you tear off the plates to defeat him [[spoiler: only for his body to transform into an EldritchAbomination capable of single-handedly killing any of the other Aspects and ending the world in a minute flat]].

** Type: Null's mask is designed to keep its powers and speed in check. When it evolves into Silvally, the mask is destroyed and it trades a bit of its base Defense stat for a higher Speed stat.

** Type: Null's mask is designed to keep its powers and speed in check. When it evolves into Silvally, the mask is destroyed.

* The Coven system of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' functions as one of these. When a Witch joins a Coven, all magic not related to that Coven's particular focus is locked off forever. As demonstrated by Eda and The Emperor's Coven, those without it are insanely powerful.

* ''Manga/FantasyBishoujoJunikuOjisanTo'': Following his SuperGenderBender, Tachibana spends most of his time wearing a CoolCrown that limits the effect of his SoBeautifulItsACurse looks so people won't fall madly in lust with him on sight. The crown acts like a PerceptionFilter, but it is not perfect. Tachibana's power will still kick in on anyone focused on him intently enough.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has several examples. Shinigami aren't allowed to release their swords into either shikai or bankai without permission. This applies to both Soul Society and the living world. The damage they can wreak is too much to contemplate without power limiters. As a result, they also have a further limit on their power. To protect humans in the living world, shinigami of captain and vice-captain ranks have to wear a limiter that reduces their power by 80% in the form of a tattoo of their division's symbolic flower. They again can't release this without express permission.

** When Ichigo first encounters the true form of [[PetalPower Senbonzakura]], [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Senkei]], he realises that being [[DeathInAllDirections surrounded on all sides]] by thousands of swords puts him in a very bad position. Byakuya [[FlechetteStorm guesses what he's thinking]] and tells him not to be concerned. Apparently Byakuya once made a [[PillarsOfMoralCharacter vow]] to only ever use Senkei on someone he intended to kill [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy with his own two hands]]. As a result, he can't maximize the [[StormOfBlades potential]] of his bankai's [[DeathByAThousandCuts thousands of swords]] because he can only wield the blades [[HonorBeforeReason one or two at a time]] from the palms of his hands. [[spoiler: As of the Thousand Year Blood War arc, Byakuya can now easily call upon every single sword of Senkei to strike down his opponent. It's only been seen once (as Bleach ended), but we can assume he would go back to limiting his power after the Quincies are defeated.]]
** Ikkaku possesses bankai but keeps it secret, since if people knew about it he'd be pressured to become captain of his own squad, when he'd rather stay in his current one. Even when he finally enters bankai, he doesn't power straight into its full form the way the others do. He first has to re-engage the fight with the active, but weakly powered, bankai until he makes a first cut. Only then does it "awaken". Once the dragon crest on the highest blade turns fully red, Ikkaku finally is able to wield his weapon at full strength.

** When Yumichika releases his sword it rather uselessly splits from one to four blades. Then it's revealed this is a fake shikai and he is hiding his sword's true abilities. He deliberately calls his sword by [[EmbarrassingNickname a nickname it hates]] to piss it off and make it refuse to help him. When he calls it by its [[SayIt proper name]], it releases its true form: a snaking mass of unbreakable flower vines that [[EnergyAbsorption drains]] an opponent to death. His fake shikai gives him no abilities, forcing him to fight with [[{{Determinator}} only base skill and resolve]]. However, his real shikai is so powerful that he's achieved a [[CurbStompBattle single-strike victory]] every time he's used it. The reason he won't use it is the same reason Ikkaku won't use his bankai: he wants to stay in his squad (the same squad as Ikkaku, even). Squad 11 consists entirely of {{Blood Knight}}s who value only physical strength and think kido is for pussies. As Yumichika's real shikai is a kido-type it would get him kicked out of the squad. Or at least he thinks it would; at the very least it could get him ostracized.

*** His [[spoiler:substitute badge]] actually decreases the power he can draw out thanks to [[spoiler:Soul Society remembering the last time a bankai wielding substitute ran around freely.]]
*** In the Thousand Year Blood War arc he learns that Old Man Zangetsu has been a limiter all along. He represents Ichigo's Quincy powers [[spoiler: and is supposed to kill him if he uses any other form of ability, but doesn't want to. Instead, he fakes Soul Reaper powers and limits Ichigo's real ones, which interferes with his abilities and causes instability in his power.]] On the other hand, it's not all bad: [[spoiler:since as a Quincy it means he can use defensive abilities like Blut, which actually saved him a few times.]]

** As well, Sol Badguy, from the same series, wears a pseudo-magical headband which suppresses his true nature as a SuperPrototype of a gear Gear, a race of magical living weapons of mass destruction, and allows him to retain his sanity. However, this comes at a cost of somewhere in the vicinity of 90% of his power. Given his already amazing battle skill, and his ability to destroy commander-level Gears with minimal effort, his true potential can be rather frightening to consider.

* The newest version of Steel (a member of the ComicBook/{{Justice Society|OfAmerica}} not to be confused with John Henry Irons) wears a solid metal skin with no joints in order to resist his strength enough for him to function. It has draw backs like not being able to feel pretty much anything.

* [[IAmNotLeftHanded Releasing a previously unmentioned power limiter]] can provide a last minute save against a particularly powerful BigBad. If done badly, the device becomes a plot device the author [[AssPull pulled out of their ass]]. A reader expects [[{{Foreshadowing}} clues]] that the limit was in place before the character says they're going to release it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'', Shulk ponders early on that the there must be a reason why the Monado can't cut people and faced Mechon. Later it turns out [[spoiler: the Monado's is "in shackles" in it's current form. Once Zanza unlocks it into the Monado II, those restrictions no longer apply. And it turns out that even that form is still limiting it's power when the Monado III is revealed.]]

* Jamie Madrox, a.k.a. Multiple Man of ''ComicBook/XFactor'', has to wear one sometimes. His mutant power is MesACrowd, making copies of himself. The problem is PowerIncontinence. The duplicates are triggered by physical impact, like getting punched or stamping his foot. Sometimes, though, his power is so sensitive that just a casual bump would make one appear, so he usually has to wear soft armor so that he can make duplicates voluntarily but not by accident.

* ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'':

* Moka's rosary in ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' serves to keep her power in check [[spoiler:among other things]]. It can only be removed by [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Tsukune]] in times of extreme need.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'''s Heaven's Feel scenario has Shirou [[spoiler: losing an arm and having Archer's arm (and Magic Circuits) grafted on (supposed to be impossible, [[MyFutureSelfAndMe but...]])]], which would kill him if he used it much at all, thus forcing him to utilize a magical shroud to block it off. HF also reveals that [[spoiler:Rider]] has been under a power limiter the whole time as well. If not for the limiter, the ability they block might accidentally kill everyone around her. With it off, she gains increased abilities as well.
** [[spoiler:Rider's Self-Sealing Dark Temple]] functions similarly to Shiki's glasses in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}''. In fact, [[LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners Touko]] also creates a pair of glasses for [[spoiler:Rider]] for everyday purposes.
** ''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 weapons displaying exponentially greater power the more seals are released and, in Rhongomyniad's case, half are required to even be able to evoke its true name.

See also RestrainingBolt, WeaksauceWeakness, CoverBlowingSuperpower, ShedArmorGainSpeed, IAmNotLeftHanded, ContainmentClothing and HoldingBackThePhlebotinum.

* Used by the goddesses in ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' in the form of jewelry. Releasing them without permission is a big no-no, but Kami seems to be a bit flexible about this depending on situation and especially the personality of the goddess; Urd is often the ButtMonkey of this compared to her more foward-thinking but much more ([[InformedAbility dangerously]]) powerful sister Belldandy. When Urd's mother Hild comes to Earth for a visit, she admits her excessive amount of gaudy jewelry (a total of ''twenty'' pieces, each one a separate power limiter comparable to the ''one'' that Belldandy wears) is mostly to keep her ''arrival'' from leaving their home a smoking crater. In fact, if Hild were to remove ''all'' her limiters while on Earth, she'd be a danger to the planet simply by ''existing''.
** Belldandy isn't more powerful than Urd. It's directly stated by Belldandy that Urd is more powerful than her, and Belldandy CannotTellALie. It's just that as a Goddess First Class she's able to ''access'' far more of her power than Urd. When Urd took the exam for promotion to First Class, we got a glimpse of her true power. Which overwhelmed Peorth, a Goddess First Class who's supposed to be a close match to Belldandy in power.
** Shortly after Urd arrives, she explains to Keiichi that she needs to 'upload his DNA to the computers' since he's bonded with Belldandy. [[spoiler:(She just thought the reason Keiichi needed some 'tutoring' and that was why he hadn't slept with Belldandy yet.]] When Belldandy interrupts this, she explains that Urd's lying, among other things, are why Urd is a goddess second-class. She says nothing about Urd being ''less'' powerful then her.

* One ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode revolves around Gunn helping Gwen Raiden, a ClassyCatBurglar with [[ShockAndAwe electric superpowers]] to steal a device capable of acting as a Power Limiter for her. She wanted it because without it she instantly killed anyone who she had skin contact with, [[CantHaveSexEver to her inconvenience]]. When they obtained it, she celebrated by losing her virginity with him.

* Several real life training methods involve limiting ones power. While most people will think of weighted clothes (vest, ankles, gloves), there is also running underwater, sled dragging, or even practicing certain things at night when your eyes are not as useful. Real-life weighted clothing is much lighter than that used by many superhuman characters in fiction, because not only would weight in the hundreds of pounds require clothing too bulky to move around in, it would be too heavy for the human body to handle. CharlesAtlasSuperpower doesn't exist in reality, so there's limits to how much even the strongest humans can carry without causing serious damage to their bones, muscles and ligaments.

** UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} uses them at Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway, where they are used to bunch up the field and reduce speeds to prevent cars from going airborne in a wreck (a side effect of this is the likeliness of a large multi-car pileup known as a 'Big One'). This means that incidentally, the restrictor plate races tend to have more lead changes than non-plate races (since drivers have to draft instead of rely on shifting gears), but have larger wrecks.

** Really fancy cars have speed limiting "valet keys" such as the Bugatti Veyron, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, it's meant to restrict the car's speed and power when having a valet park drive them which, given the fact the aforementioned Veyron has over 1000 brake-horsepower and tops out somewhere past 250 miles and hour, is a good thing to use when having someone park the car for you.

** Often times there's a rev limiter to prevent redlining or the ECU has imposed limits so it doesn't let you use the full potential of a car... until you unlock it. We could say this is the original jailbreaking/rooting.
* Many modern cars these days are also receiving power limiters related to other aspects of performance, notably traction control, which does {{exactly what it says on the tin}}. These will either limit power by restricting the throttle when it detects traction giving, or may apply the brakes automatically on select wheels. Others have a limp mode where if the ECU detects a potentially major engine problem it will ''severely'' restrict engine performance to protect it and put on the Service Engine light. In some manual transmission cars you can induce this behavior by putting the car into too low a gear for your speed and releasing the clutch, forcing the engine to an RPM beyond its redline limiter, which happened on ''Series/TopGearUK''. DontTryThisAtHome, if you don't know what you're doing you '''''really will''''' destroy your engine. Watching an engine rod shoot through the hood is ''not a pleasant sight''.

* The [[TankGoodness M1A1 Abrams MBT]] has a "rev limiter" since its jet engine ''doesn't have a max speed'' and the thing will catastrophically fail. That is very bad.

** Alpha limiters are commonly found on modern fighter planes, which restrict the rate at which a plane can pitch. Why? Because if you didn't have them they'd pitch so fast that the air flow will no longer be passing through the wings, but rather ''against'' the wings and control surfaces, resulting in a stall. Incidentally this performance characteristic is what enables Pugachev's Cobra and the Kulbit, but can be dangerous in any plane without thrust vectoring, as they lose virtually all control during a stall. It can also lead to undesirable situations, such as if a pilot wants a maximum performance turn to avoid an enemy attack, he may accidentally turn too fast, resulting in a loss of control, and likely a swift death by enemy fire.
** More common are soft power limiters on engine thrust, which go all the way back to UsefulNotes/WorldWar2. Pilots are often restricted with how much power they are permitted to draw from their engines during normal operating, and can only call upon maximum power (sometimes called Wartime Emergency Power) in an emergency, such as being engaged by enemy forces. This is because using the engine at full power results in significantly more maintenance when the plane lands, so don't try to do this just because you think no one's looking, the maintenance crew will figure it out pretty quick when you land, and even if they don't, you have to break a physical wire seal on the throttle to access it anyhow, and if you don't have a ''damn'' good reason for it expect a ''very'' thorough chewing out ''at the very least''.

** And they use the Le Mans start (drivers start outside of their cars at one side of the road, cars at the other side, when flagman waves the green, the drivers run across the track to their cars, hop in, and get them started; this formation was used from the first running in 1924 to 1969). A classic, almost ''regal'' starting formation used to start ''lawnmower'' races. Nothing else needs to be said.
* When a top of the line [[UsefulNotes/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]]

** Graphics cards from AMD come with different official BIOS/firmware configurations. The default one tries to keeps the card a reasonable temperature and noise levels when running something. The "uber" versions just let the GPU run as fast as it wants within thermal tolerances (i.e., not frying itself).
** Cooling systems themselves can be thought as power limiters. Since the only way to increase performance of a part once its in the consumer's hands is overclocking, you can only overclock as much as the cooling system can keep the chip cool (among other factors, but this is the biggest one).
* 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 or the right to bear arms, but rather asserts the rights as naturally belonging to the people by virtue of their existence (i.e. "God-given"), and protects those rights by explicitly restricting 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).