History Main / TheCallPutMeOnHold

* ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' starts out this way, sort of. Some [[OurDragonsAreDifferent breeds of dragons]] have breath weapons. Temeraire is identified as a breed that does not, and he is disappointed. At the end of the first book, [[spoiler: we learn that the dragon expert misidentified his breed, and, in an example of an almost literal DeusExMachina, Temeraire actually can generate something called the "divine wind", a sort of [[MakeMeWannaShout supercharged roar]] which shatters wood, eardrums, and at point-blank range even the ground.]]

* ''Series/Extraordinary2023'': In a world where most of the population gets powers by 18, Jen, at 25, is still powerless. She spends time trying to deal with this and with the powers of those around her.

** Similarly, the Creator/DisneyChannel movie ''Film/UpUpAndAway'', about the powerless middle child of a superpowered family. Even his baby sister has EyeBeams.

* In Jennifer Roberson's ''Chronicles of the Cheysuli'' series, every man in the Cheysuli tribe bonds with a ''[[BondCreatures lir]]'', a sentient animal companion that allows them to shapeshift. The protagonist of the fourth book, the half-Cheysuli Niall, is years older than the usual age for bonding and despairs of it ever happening. (Spoiler: it does.)

-->'''Lua:''' I'm just going to be standing there, looking lame and cheering you guys on like, 'Go guys! You can do it!'"

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Harry has his magic... or at least, as much magic as he does early on in ''Literature/PrisonerOfAzkaban''. And for the first forty chapters of the first book, that's it - and for the next twenty after that, his hereditary powers start to appear, but slowly, and usually when they do, [[PowerIncontinence they backfire spectacularly.]] This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that he's the demigod son of Thor (incarnated as James Potter) and cousin of ComicBook/JeanGrey, which means that he should/will be ''very'' powerful... ''and the bad guys (who are way out of his weight class) are very aware of this''. Which means that they want to take him out while they still can. Consequently, his go-to tactics in the first book are a) throwing out a spell or two and running like hell, b) talking very quickly and pretending it's a plan, c) a combination of the above. From chapter 60 onwards, they start developing much faster, to his and everyone else's relief.

->''"All of you guys can do this awesome Bending stuff like putting out forest fires and flying around and making other stuff fly around... I can't fly around, okay? I can't do '''anything.'''"''

"IJustWantToBeSpecial!", you say? Don't despair, young [[TheHero Hero]]! There is often a bright side to thinking you've been born devastatingly deprived....

* Maybe you're just a "late bloomer". Your powers will arrive in due time, better late than never. [[MagikarpPower It may involve extra training and persistence.]] Even if your powers aren't what you and everyone else was expecting them to be, the Call will usually [[BestForLast toss in a bonus for its tardiness]]: You'll usually wind up with something ''far'' more rare and/or powerful than the ordinary, run-of-the-mill powers everyone ''else'' has.

* Actually, you possess the key power or trait that will win the final battle, complete the quest, or whatever. This won't become obvious to everyone until the end though, although usually one of the characters such as the CloudCuckooLander or TheMentor will notice. Everyone else might have flashy powers that blow things up or the like, but perhaps as a result of that they simply cannot do the one crucial thing that has to be done. This can be AnAesop: [[{{Anvilicious}} Beware of falling anvils.]]

* The main character of ''Manga/BrokenBlade'', Rygart and his brother grew up without the ability to control quartz as all the other people in the world do. This power is basically the backbone of the technology in that world, so they're both left with manual farming as their main livelihood. For someone with a handicap that would mean he had no choice to walk through a desert on foot to answer a royal summons, Rygart lives with it pretty well. Because of this he's also the only one who can pilot an ancient golem.

* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', cyber-augmented brains are as common as cell-phones, so being unable to have one puts you at a serious disadvantage. One of the characters in a novel had to wait until his late teens to get one, but by then he's in military school due to the social problems he had growing up.

* Toru of ''Manga/IrisZero'' is a normal in a school where the majority of the people have vision related powers. His lack of powers is actually what has made him AwesomenessByAnalysis KnightInSourArmor.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Protagonist Izuku Midoriya lives in a world where EveryoneIsASuper and has some kind of superpower called [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Quirks]], but unfortunately for him, [[UnSorcerer he's one of the minority of people to not have any powers whatsoever]]. This changes when he meets the Number 1 Hero, [[SupermanSubstitute All Might]], and impresses him enough that he decides transfer his unique and powerful Quirk, [[SuperEmpowering One For All]], to Midoriya and train him to be his successor.

** Naruto himself, before the series starts. He is considered a outcast and a loser by everyone, he has the worst grades in the academy to the point of having failed the last two trimesters, and he cannot use the very basic "Clone Jutsu". And then the series starts...

* Tyler Marlocke from ''ComicBook/PS238'' -- no powers yet, but that doesn't mean his near-PhysicalGod parents aren't going to keep hoping, and strong arm him into the superhero school in the hopes he'll get TouchedByVorlons, or in some other ways awaken latent powers, while there. The teachers instead start training him as a BadassNormal under a Franchise/{{Batman}} CaptainErsatz.
* Inverted in an ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' arc, where an alternate Ben Grimm puts himself on hold. The gist is that TimeTravel creates an alternate timeline (the "Planet of the Capes") where an alien pill grants everyone on Earth super-powers... except for Ben Grimm, who decides not to take it because he's happy with himself just as he is. Various characters remark that he's the most well-adjusted person they know, which makes his current situation as the suicidally depressed Thing even ''more'' tragic. [[spoiler:In that timeline, the pill ends up killing everyone who had taken it, leaving Ben to apply some more time travel to clean up the pieces. For bonus angst, the way the situation's set up means that he accidentally causes himself to get eaten by the local ClockRoaches and then die hundreds of years ago in an ancient Mayan Temple]]. When the [[spoiler:Skrull]] leader comes to Earth with the ability to copy the power of any superhuman within a huge radius. However, [[spoiler: Ben points out that if the only human left on Earth has no powers, than neither does the Skrull leader. Ben then proceeds to kick the now powerless Skrull's ass. Epically]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' is about a family of people who inherit a magical "gift" that they receive on their fifth birthday, a gift that they then use to [[MundaneUtility help support their community]]. Except for Mirabel. Her ceremony ended with no gift, and she had to live with that little fact hanging over her for ten years. With that said, she still tries to help the community in her comparatively limited capacity. She also finds that the Gifts have "Achilles heel" problems, particularly for her sisters and her long-lost Uncle Bruno (whom we don't talk about).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' has an interesting example with Jack Jack, an infant child of a superhero family. The family seems to assume that he was born without powers, rather than consider that they had not developed yet... though in a deleted scene, Violet activates her powers as a baby, which suggest that powers are 'on' from birth instead of developing slowly.

* Joram of ''Literature/TheDarkswordTrilogy'' was born in a world where everyone has some innate magical skill, and he has absolutely none. He does a good job of hiding it for a while, and then hooks up with an outlaw group, discovers that his innate magical skill (and implicitly that of all other 'mundanes') is actually "technological affinity", and sets out to forge the Darksword, a weapon that consumes magic.

** Artemis Butler has it worse. He's also ''lutum informis'', but in his case he ''needs'' the toy maker in order to survive. Thankfully, it's not completely useless on him, but he still spends an annoying amount of time getting modified just to stay ahead of his various disorders.
* Jacinda's younger sister in ''Firelight''. They both come from a tribe of humanoids who can take on a dragon-like form and gain special powers at the beginning of adolescence (such as the ability to turn invisible, breath underwater, etc.) Jace gets the rarest and most prized ability: to breathe fire. Tamra doesn't even get the ability to turn into a dragon.

** Neville Longbottom's family thought he was one until he was eight, when his grandfather pushed him out a window to see if it'd cause his powers to save him. Thankfully, they did. In his grandfather's defense, he didn't ''purposely'' drop him out a window. He'd been dangling him out it to try and trigger a magical response, and was distracted.

* ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' starts out this way, sort of. Some [[OurDragonsAreDifferent breeds of dragons]] have breath weapons. Temeraire is identified as a breed which does not, and he is disappointed. At the end of the first book, [[spoiler: we learn that the dragon expert misidentified his breed, and, in an example of an almost literal DeusExMachina, Temeraire actually can generate something called the "divine wind", a sort of [[MakeMeWannaShout supercharged roar]] which shatters wood, eardrums, and at point-blank range even the ground.]]
* In ''Literature/VampireAcademy'', all young [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Moroi]] have elemental magic from birth, but in their adolescence they "specialize" when [[ElementalPowers one element of the four]] grows much stronger than the other three. Lissa, the protagonist's best friend, is gradually growing depressed because she still hasn't specialized at age sixteen, but we later learn that this is because [[spoiler:she has specialized in spirit, a forgotten fifth element few people have nowadays, which involves uber-powerful abilities like MindControl and [[BackFromTheDead raising people from the dead.]] Unfortunately for Lissa, side effects include [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity mental instability.]]]]

* In ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Odie]] has a massive inferiority complex due to this. [[spoiler: He turns out to be the BlackSheep of a clan of powerful wizards who flunked out of the academy]]. In practice, he falls into the catagory of late bloomer, and is [[GameplayAndStorySegregation actually a powerful ally]], albeit one who suffers from CutsceneIncompetence (implied to be largely due to said inferiority complex).
* Link in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', unlike all the other Kokiri, hasn't gotten his fairy yet. It later turns out this is because he [[spoiler: isn't a Kokiri at all]], and plays the BestForLast portion of the trope straight. Link also is worthy of wielding the Master Sword, but because he is too young and not strong enough to actually wield it, the sword puts Link in stasis and has to wait seven years to actually be able to use it on his quest. [[spoiler: Ganondorf expected this and uses the opportunity to take over Hyrule while Link is out of commission.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': [[BadassNormal Sokka]] was speaking the truth at the time of the page quote. A quarter or more of all people in his world ''are'', like him, without powers, but he is the [[BadassNormal only character among the main protagonists]] who isn't a bender and cannot become one. However, this only serves to distract the people around him from the simple fact that he is the only trained leader or warrior in the main group. His friends would be in deep trouble without his skills, and by the end of the series (actually, of that very episode!) he's packing a sword made of ThunderboltIron and has been trained by a MasterSwordsman. Although WordOfGod has it that like his sister, he actually ''did'' have Waterbending potential, but never realized it. Maybe something to do with calling bending "magic" all those years...

* ''LightNovel/KazeNoStigma'' gives us three of these, Kazuma Kannagi and Kureha Tsuwabaki both lack the powers of their clans (for different reasons) but gain different powers, while Misao Ōgami has her clan's powers, but weak, so she makes a DealWithTheDevil to make up for it.

->"''All of you guys can do this awesome Bending stuff like putting out forest fires and flying around and making other stuff fly around... I can't fly around, okay? I can't do '''anything.'''''"