History Main / SoLastSeason

** Even training methods experience this. Goku and Krillin initially train with Master Roshi, and are as a result made so powerful that very few people in the tournament can even stand up to them, to the point Master Roshi himself has to step up in disguise to keep them from easily winning [[SmugSuper and getting too full of themselves]]. Later on, Goku trains with Master Korin which allows him to surpass Mercenary Tao, while Krillin and Yamcha train with Master Roshi. Despite training for even longer and more intensely than Goku did at the time, both Korin's training and Goku's own in the interim still far surpass either of them. This continues on for a quite a while, with Goku getting better training from Kami, then King Kai, then the Gravity Chamber, and so on; while everybody elseuses the training method Goku was using last time and ending up trailing far behind him. Only the Gravity Chamber really remains in use as an effective training method throughout the franchise, and the amount of Gravity it can generate simply increases.

Compare CostumeEvolution, TheWorfBarrage, UniquenessDecay, ItOnlyWorksOnce, KungFuProofMook. Contrast BagOfSpilling. Compare and contrast BackToBaseForm. When applied to a PostScriptSeason, results in PlotLeveling.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', Po uses DangerousForbiddenTechnique the Wuxi Finger Hold to finish off [[BigBad Tai Lung]]. [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3 Two movies later]], he attempts to use it again on [[TheAssimilator Kai the Collector]]...who literally [[NoSell laughs it off]]. Subverted, however, in that [[spoiler: Po still finds a way to make use of the Wuxi Finger Hold by using it on ''himself'' while grappling Kai, pulling a TakingYouWithMe that sends them both to the Spirit Realm]].

* Used in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', in which Indy is pitted against two swordsmen in a reprise of the iconic scene from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''. This time, Indy doesn't have his gun, and laughs sheepishly. Considering that ''Temple Of Doom'' is supposed to be a prequel, though, this is rather odd. Unless [[FridgeLogic being attacked by swordsman and using a gun to dispose of them is something that happens to Indy all the time]].

** ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' started with the Gundam Mk II, which was fielding some new technology but was otherwise identical to the original Gundam in terms of specs. After seven years of mobile suit development, the Mk II was above the standard grunt suits but not as dominant against the AceCustom suits being fielded. The title Zeta Gundam started the MidSeasonUpgrade tradition, but the first of a new generation of designs.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' played with this. Despite starting up immediately after ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', the Gundam Mk. II and the Hyakku Shiki are still decent machines. It's just that their pilots suck.
*** Averted in ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam''. The Crossbone Vanguard is confronted by an army of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 Gundam F-91s]]. Despite being 10 years old and lacking many of the features that Seabook made popular, the suits gave the Crossbone X-1 a run for its money with an AceCustom almost matching it blow for blow.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' places a focus on the mook enemies, since the Gundams are [[OneManArmy so overpowered]] they're always at a massive disadvantage but do marginally better with each new model. First it's the 15-year-old Leos, then they move on to the just-developed Tauruses, and finally to computer-operated Virgos. Despite maybe one or two episodes of the Gundam pilots struggling against the new mooks, they'll have managed to turn them into canon fodder pretty quickly. The poor anonymous nobodies can never catch a break, can they?
*** Averted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'' with the Freedom Gundam (the protagonist's 2nd unit from the original ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]''), which is still many times more powerful than the newer mobile suits created between shows because its special nuclear-powered engine was declared illegal, and newer ones were built without it. It is eventually destroyed, but only due to ZAFT going all out and sending an entire fleet to destroy it.

*** Highlighted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'''s second season as to why [[spoiler:Nena Trinity died]]. While almost everybody that survived the first season was bestowed new Gundams, improved GN-X machines, or new prototypes, she was the only character that was stuck having to use her outdated machine, the Throne Drei. [[spoiler:This ultimately was used in sealing her fate, but in Nena Trinity's defense, she couldn't get a new one as she was more concerned with actually surviving for four years, and she ''almost'' got a new mecha, the Arche Drei. Unfortunately for her, she didn't get it in time.]]
*** Downplayed in the case of Celestial Being. Despite building state of the art Gundams that are usually a step or two ahead of everyone else, they make sure all of their old units are constantly upgraded just in case they're needed, which is shown to be the case at various times. Notably the final battle has Setuna and Ribbons facing off in the upgraded Exia and 0 Gundam after their main suits are rendered inoperable. In part this is due to Celestial Being losing access to much of their funding and resources post season 1, causing them to keep their older units in play.
*** A similar downplayed version also happens in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE''. Despite the AGE-1 Flat (the AGE-1 Normal without the super computer to build awesome equipment) being decades old in the second arc, it still holds its own quite well. It's only in the third arc where it needs to be upgraded.
*** Mikazuki upgrades to the Gundam Barbatos Lupus in the second season of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'', and after seeing Mika push the boundaries of the existing Barbatos' they made a more refined customization catering to his fighting style. With Mika discovering the Gundam's LimitBreak in the first season finale, while also recognizing [[PowerAtAPrice the physical toll it takes on him]], the only way to actually challenge him involves revealing why the limit break exists, [[spoiler:AI-driven Mobile Armors with beam weapons and reaction times]] well outside the standard technology of the setting. This results in the most intense fight of the series.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': At the start of UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}, all Kryptonite on Earth was turned to iron in ''ComicBook/KryptoniteNevermore''. A bad guy gloated about how he had something that could kill Superman--Kryptonite. Superman promptly took the piece from him and ''ate it''.

** In the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', Tenshinhan's ability to fly is treated as a big deal when he breaks it out during the 22nd World Martial Arts Competition. Prior to this, only NotQuiteFlight was considered possible, and extended air travel was otherwise only done via the Flying Nimbus or normal aircraft. Part of the impact comes from the fact that the tournament rules include a ring-out as one of the main ways to lose a match, so Ten's flight ability makes him all the more formidable for Goku to face. However, every martial artist character introduced after this arc is given the ability to fly by default, to the point Gohan ends up teaching BadassNormal Videl how to early in the last arc.

** Weighted clothing, which first appears near the end of ''Dragon Ball'' as an effective means of showing IAmNotLeftHanded, all but disappears by the Cell Saga. The idea of training in weighted clothing was replaced by training in artificial gravity chambers. Vegeta, for example, likes to train in ''500 times Earth's gravity'', which adds far more weight to him than any amount of clothing could. Although, Piccolo still trains with weighted clothes and takes them off when he's serious. Also, in ''Super'', one of Whis' training sessions for Goku and Vegeta involved sumo-like suits that Vegeta described as far more heavy than the gravity chamber's highest setting... and when thrown on the ground, they easily sink ''at least'' a dozen feet into the ground.

** Like the [[spoiler: Kaio-Ken]], Goku and Vegeta zigzag this. After ascending to godhood, they perfect their basic Super Saiyan forms and no longer need Super Saiyan 2 or 3. They can also merge their Super Saiyan forms with their god powers, creating a Super Saiyan Blue, which is basically a more powerful and stable version of Super Saiyan God. However, their Super Saiyan Blue forms still tend to get overpowered which forces them to use higher transformation forms to compensate.

** Subverted with the Flying Nimbus. Even though they can fly at breakneck speeds and don't really need it anymore, Goku and his family continue to use it.
** Interestingly, the Kamehameha only gets stronger as the show goes on despite being the first energy technique used. It gets stronger as Goku's Ki rises, and although eventually it gets so high he's able to just toss raw energy around without needing to perform the specific focus and release technique, doing it anyway still creates a stronger blast than if he didn't, and it's still a lot faster than even more powerful techniques like the Spirit Bomb, letting it remain as Goku's go-to energy attack. The same goes for other attacks like the Destructo Disk, Special Beam Cannon and the Neo Tri-Beam as, while they're not one-hit murderers, they can be used to clear the room of mooks or keep an enemy on their toes. The Destructo Disk is a special exception because there is nothing in canon that it can't cut through, so it remains useful even into ''Dragon Ball Super'', with its only detriment being Krillin's insistence on [[CallingYourAttacks loudly announcing to his target that he's about to use it]], even when [[WithCatlikeTread he's trying to surprise them with it]].
** One of the first things to go are the special melee attacks used at the very beginning of the series like Goku's Rock-Paper-Scissors or Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist. While effective when it was all they had, they're quickly made obsolete by even the basic ki attacks and are quickly forgotten about. This is best shown when Yamcha trains to improve the Wolf Fang Fist for the second tournament and the upgraded version fails in its very first and only use. Past around the midpoint of ''Dragon Ball'', they are flat out never used again, not even for an occasional comeback like obsolete ki attacks.
** Even training methods experience this. Goku and Krillin initially train with Master Roshi, and are as a result made so powerful that very few people in the tournament can even stand up to them, to the point Master Roshi himself has to step up in disguise to keep them from easily winning [[SmugSuper and getting too full of themselves]]. Later on, Goku trains with Master Korin which allows him to surpass Mercenary Tao, while Krillin and Yamcha train with Master Roshi. Despite training for even longer and more intensely than Goku did at the time, both Korin's training and his own in the interim still far surpass either of them. This continues on for a quite a while, with Goku getting better training from Kami, then King Kai, then the Gravity Chamber, and so on; while everybody else ends up using the training method Goku was using last time and ending up trailing far behind him. Only the Gravity Chamber really remains in use as an effective training method throughout the franchise, and the amount of Gravity it can generate simply increases.

** Stands in general were meant to avert this, according to Araki. He was aware of having invoked this with Straizo, felt he had done all he could do with Hamon, and (especially after Kars ends his Part by becoming the series' first example of StoryBreakerPower) didn't want to make Part 3's villains one-up the Pillar Men in terms of raw power. Enemy Stand users tend to be [[PuzzleBoss puzzle bosses]] that the heroes (usually) beat through developing their problem-solving skills, not through becoming more powerful or gaining new abilities, though that's not to say they still don't happen, such as in Part 3 [[spoiler:with Jotaro learning during the climax of the fight with DIO that Star Platinum can not only move briefly in the frozen time, but also stop time itself just like The World]], or Part 5 [[spoiler:where Giorno stabs Golden Experience with the Stand Arrow to power it up against Diavolo's King Crimson]]. As a Part continues, its Stand fights tend to have more at stake and require more creativity, but the Stands are usually so different that the same winning strategy is never repeated.

** Bulbasaur was one of Ash's most used Pokémon, and managed to defeat many mons which would have an advantage over him. When Ash battles a Chikorita (Bulbasaur's [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver successor]] as a Grass starter) with him... he gets promptly beaten. Chikorita also manages to hold up against [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Charizard]], which not only is fully evolved but has a tremendous advantage in the ElementalRockPaperScissors. That is not to say Bulbasaur did not have later badass moments, of course, nor Charizard, just that Chikorita, later Bayleaf, is a tough cookie.

** Mamodo spells seem to have tiers of power associated with them and as the series progresses and contenders are eliminated from the battle to be king the strength of a spell needed to damage an enemy increases. Zatch's ''Zaker'' spell defeats many enemies in the first few arcs but by the time of the Millenium Mamodo is largely useless as an attack. This is then averted in the Faudo arc, where Zatch receives a power-up and all of his spells become more effective.

** Pacifistas were practically unstoppable before the Time Skip, with it taking the entirety of the main cast everything they had just to bring down one, and only the strongest characters in the series yet to be shown faring much better. After the Time Skip, however, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji each demonstrate the ability to ''one-shot'' them. Justified in that the original Pacifistas (being cyborgs, cannot become stronger unless if modified) they faced were outdated, and new, more powerful versions existed.

* A similar occurrence took place in the third ''Film/TheMightyDucks'' film. Their new coach went as far as to comment on how their "their little duck tricks" (the knuckle-puck, the flying V, etc.) won't work anymore. It's especially sad considering how cherished these "little tricks" were for the trilogy's legacy. Strangely, this lesson was learned immediately following a game in which the Ducks' tricks DID work -- giving them an absurd offensive output (nine goals in a hockey game?) -- until the other team caught on and rendered them ineffective, then took advantage of the Ducks' lackluster defense to score nine goals themselves, ending the game in a tie. So their new coach was fully justified in telling them they can't rely on the tricks.

* In the mid 90s, when Kyle Rayner became Franchise/GreenLantern, villains would regularly attempt to exploit the ring's legendary vulnerability to yellow, only to find that his ring had no such flaw.
* ''ComicBook/Nova2007:'' In issue 2, Nova returns to Earth for a day, and is attacked by Diamondhead, formerly his main bad guy. However, Rich has taken several levels in badass, so the fight doesn't last very long, and ends with Diamondhead being dumped in bags for the police.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': At the start of UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}, all Kryptonite on Earth was turned to iron in ''ComicBook/KryptoniteNevermore''. A bad guy gloated about how he has something which could kill Superman--Kryptonite. Superman promptly took the piece from him and ''ate it''.

* The Designer's backstory in the ''Comicbook/BatmanJamesTynionIV'' storyline "His Dark Designs". Many years ago, the Designer was the archenemy of a detective named Cassander Baker. He would come up with a scheme, Baker would defeat him, he would come up with another scheme that Baker couldn't stop the same way, Baker would defeat him in a new way, and so on. And then he created a scheme, and instead of acting on it, he asked himself what Baker would do. Then he came up with a new scheme building on that, and asked the same question, and so on, for a whole year. And by the time he emerged, everything Baker knew was So ''Twenty'' Seasons Ago.

** Bulbasaur was one of Ash's most used Pokémon, and managed to defeat many mons which would have an advantage over him. When Ash battles a Chikorita (Bulbasaur's [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver successor]] as a Grass starter) with him... he gets promptly beaten. Chikorita also manages to hold up against [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Charizard]], which not only is fully evolved but has a tremendous advantage in the ElementalRockPaperScissors. That is not to say Bulbasaur did not have later badass moments, of course.

** Pikachu's signature move routinely changes every few years for this reason. It was once Thundershock but then it became Volt Tackle. Volt Tackle was replaced with Electro Ball and then a few years later that was replaced with Electroweb.
** Mega Evolution gets this treatment in ''Sun & Moon'', with the exception of Brock's Mega Steelix; Misty's Mega Gyarados, Gozu's Mega Aggron, and Ilima's Mega Kangaskhan all suffer TheWorfEffect against Ash's Pikachu, Kukui's Incineroar, and Guzma's Scizor. The former two being defeated with Z-Moves, the new power-up of the generation, and the latter with a simple strategy.

* Early on ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', one single Lower Moon of the Twelve Kizuki is a serious threat to Tanjiro and his friends; not so much to the higher ranking Hashira slayers, but still. Later, comes the Infinity Castle arc, where the nameless fodder demons are said to be enhanced into being as powerful as any Lower Moon was; said fodder were being [[CurbStompBattle effortlessly stomped on]] and [[ConservationOfNinjutsu in droves]], by every main character at that point.

* ''WesternAnimation.IronManArmoredAdventures'': In the opening of season 2, the Mark I armor is destroyed in a fight against Whiplash thanks to upgrades Mr. Fixx, now working for Justin Hammer, made for him to be better to prepared to fight Iron Man. Luckily, Tony survived and built the Mark II armor to replace it.

*** The same series also played it straight: When Kira was forced to sortie in the Strike Rouge, a suit nearly identical to his *1st* unit, he nearly gets his ass kicked by a group of top-of-the-line *Grunt* Suits.

** In the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', Tenshinhan's ability to fly is treated as a big deal when he breaks it out during the 22nd World Martial Arts Competition. Prior to this, only NotQuiteFlight was considered possible. Part of the impact comes from the fact that the tournament rules include a ring-out as one of the main ways to lose a match, so Ten's flight ability makes him all the more formidable for Goku to face. However, every martial artist character introduced after this arc is given the ability to fly by default.

** The rebooted canon Broly written by Creator/AkiraToriyama in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' completely subverts in not only the Super Saiyan transformation, but also the power of the Oozaru form. First, Broly as a result of his mutant biology, can use the power of the Oozaru in his human form which makes him stronger than Super Saiyan God Goku and Vegeta, while his Super Saiyan form is stronger than their Blue form and that is before he goes Full Power/"Legendary".

** Even training methods experience this. Goku and Krillin initally train with Master Roshi, and are as a result made so powerful that very few people in the tournament can even stand up to them, to the point Master Roshi himself has to step up in disguise to keep them from easily winning. Later on, Goku trains with Master Korin which allows him to surpass Mercenary Tao, while Krillin and Yamcha train with Master Roshi. Despite training for even longer and more intensely than Goku did at the time, both Korin's training and his own in the interim still far surpass either of them. This continues on for a quite a while, with Goku getting better training from Kami, then King Kai, then the Gravity Chamber, and so on; while everybody else ends up using the training method Goku was using last time and ending up trailing far behind him. Only the Gravity Chamber really remains in use as an effective training method throughout the franchise, and the amount of Gravity it can generate simply increases.

** Averted when the [=StealthGao=] II is introduced: the space-capable replacement for [=StealthGao=] also upgrades his Broken Magnum to Broken Phantom and the Protect Shade to Protect Wall. Both are shown to be ridiculously more powerful then the original versions (able to pierce armor and in one case ''punch a moon to bits''). Regardless, [=GaoGaiGar=] still uses the original [=StealthGao=] when not in space, until FINAL, which gives a two-fold explanation for why this is - for one, [=StealthGao=] II actually makes GGG's attacks ''too'' powerful (Guy expresses shock when Repli-Mamoru summons it in the middle of a city, because of how much collateral damage it could cause, and he only uses it on Earth for the final battle of the original series where he needs as much power as possible). Even without that issue, there's also the use of physical Phantom Rings to boost [=GaoGaiGar=]'s abilities, which makes Broken Phantom take much longer to execute, and can also be destroyed to render them unusable (as happens in said final battle). [=GaoFighGar=] upgrades to using non-physical Program Rings that boost its abilities without affecting the time taken to actually use them.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' is an anomaly in that there was only one Gundam throughout, but was built on a versatile weapons platform. As the villains upgrade their arsenal to try and match the Gundam, it was always ready to deploy new weapons and tactics with each battle, preventing any one tactic from being the go-to.

*** A similar downplayed version also happens in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE''. Despite the AGE-1 Flat (The AGE-1 Normal without the super computer to build awesome equipment) being decades old in the second arc, it still holds its own quite well. It's only in the third arc where it needs to be upgraded.
*** Mikazuki upgrades to the Gundam Barbatos Lupus in the second season of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'', after seeing Mika push the boundaries of the existing Barbatos' they made a more refined customization catering to his fighting style. With Mika discovering the Gundam's LimitBreak in the first season finale, while also recognizing [[PowerAtAPrice the physical toll it takes on him]], the only way to actually challenge him involves revealing why the LimitBreak exists, [[spoiler: AI-driven Mobile Armors with beam weapons and reaction times]] well outside the standard technology of the setting. This results in the most intense fight of the series.

** The Super Saiyan transformation itself goes from [[TheChosenOne legendary and exclusive]] to being [[UniquenessDecay shared by a handful of individuals at once]], and nearly all of them have access to ascended stages beyond the standard grade. By the time ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' rolls around, there's only two living characters with Saiyan blood that haven't learned to transform into a Super Saiyan: Pan and Bra, and both are infants. The original page quote references how late in the series Vegeta's young son Trunks is merely struggling a bit in the Gravity Room with him, and just suddenly decides to go Super Saiyan to run around more easily, shocking his father. Vegeta then becomes irritated when he learns that Goten, Goku's youngest son, can ''also'' transform. ''Super'' later justifies the lack of uniqueness when Cabba, a Saiyan from Universe 6, is teaching Caulifla how to transform into a Super Saiyan by revealing that [[spoiler:transforming into a Super Saiyan isn't some odd requirement of having a pure heart and righteous rage, but by condensing all of your ki into a spot on your back where the heart and lungs are.]] This may only apply to the more evolved Universe 6 Saiyans, however. And how useful the Super Saiyan transformation is tends to vary depending on the person using it, which causes this trope to be played straight, subverted or zigzagged all together. Still, it's notable when in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' Frieza, who once feared the prophecy of the Super Saiyan to the point of enacting his Saiyan genocide, was ''disappointed'' when he learned Broly initially doesn't have the transformation.

Compare CostumeEvolution, TheWorfBarrage, UniquenessDecay, ItOnlyWorksOnce, KungFuProofMook. Contrast BagOfSpilling. Compare and contrast BackToBaseForm. When applied to a PostScriptSeason, results in PlotLeveling. Compare ProbabilityPileup, when unlocking a power up makes it easier to be unlocked again or by others.