History Main / WeakerInTheRealWorld

* This applies to most protagonists in the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series. In metaphysical environments like the [[VideoGame/Persona3 Dark Hour]], [[VideoGame/Persona4 TV World]] or [[VideoGame/Persona5 Metaverse]] they have access to a powerful type of GuardianEntity, but in mundane reality it takes a lot of focus and experience to manifest a persona. Most don’t realize it’s possible at all.

* Within a dream, Yuko from ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor'' can [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower conjure into being]] anything her imagination can come up with--unfortunately, with her being a bit of an airhead with an extremely sheltered upbringing (somewhat justified for being an IllGirl most of her life), her imagination has trouble coming up with very much. Her [[MorphWeapon Whatever Staff]], already capable of defying the laws of nature in the real world, is practically a RealityWarper when she brings it into the dream world. Screw entropy, screw probability, screw thermodynamics, screw logic, if Yuko ''thinks'' it'll work, ''it'll work''--the only catch being that doing the impossible in a dream is incredibly taxing on her very limited magical power and it quickly runs out; doing such things in reality is completely beyond her capacity. [[spoiler: For now.]]

* Ashley Guthrie, one of the 'slashers' in ''ComicBook/HackSlash'', retreated into the {{Dream Land}}s when he was murdered on earth. In the dream realm, he is almost omnipotent. When forced back into the real world, he is almost powerless (and bound into the form of the teddy bear that was used to smother him).

** And when Neo and the body possessed by Smith fight in the real world, there are no fancy martial arts, no gravity defying jumps or displays of SuperStrength that both showed in the Matrix, just a pair of guys awkwardly grappling and trying to slam each other into walls or grab anything that can be used as a weapon.

* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'':

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Back To The Sewers]]'', while in the digital domain of the internet, the Cyber Shredder could do [[IncrediblyLamePun virtually]] anything due to be made of data, much like Viral, whose body he had taken over. Upon crossing into the real world, he lost most of these abilities due to being matter now. Nevertheless, he was still dangerous due to his naturally fighting abilities along with being able to interface with computers.

* This applies to most protagonists in the [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]] series. In metaphysical environments like the [[VideoGame/Persona3 Dark Hour]], [[VideoGame/Persona4 TV World]] or [[VideoGame/Persona5 Metaverse]] they have access to a powerful type of GuardianEntity, but in mundane reality it takes a lot of focus and experience to manifest a persona. Most don’t realize it’s possible at all.

* This trope actually applies to the '''humans''' in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Bill Cipher usually interacted with the world through the mindscape, [[DreamWeaver which he has endless influence over]], but people can fight him back by controlling their own dreams. Upon entering the real world, Bill's powers evolve to full-fledged [[RealityWarper reality warping]] levels, while others are no more powerful than normal. [[spoiler:Despite his newfound ultimate power, however, he cannot leave the magical boundaries of the titular town.]]

-->''That's the door to Earth. Go through there, you'll be wherever you need to be. You won't have any other powers though. You wanna get around, you're just gonna have to take a bus or something.''

* In ''Discworld/TheWeeFreeMen'', the Grim Hounds are instantly incapacitated when they cross over from the fairy realm to reality, because [[RealityEnsues their razor teeth start cutting the insides of their own mouths.]]
* ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'' has the Summoning Dark, an entity of vengeance capable of crossing a million dimensions in the blink of an eye, but unable to cross a room. It possesses people to do its work, although HeroicWillpower is able to keep it trapped.

* Within a dream, Yuko from ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor'' can [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower conjure into being]] anything her imagination can come up with--unfortunately, with her being a bit of an airhead with an extremely sheltered upbringing(somewhat justified for being an IllGirl most of her life), her imagination has trouble coming up with very much. Her [[MorphWeapon Whatever Staff]], already capable of defying the laws of nature in the real world, is practically a RealityWarper when she brings it into the dream world. Screw entropy, screw probability, screw thermodynamics, screw logic, if Yuko ''thinks'' it'll work, ''it'll work''--the only catch being that doing the impossible in a dream is incredibly taxing on her very limited magical power and it quickly runs out; doing such things in reality is completely beyond her capacity. [[spoiler: For now.]]

* PlayedForDrama on the protagonist's side in the fifth Yo-Kai Watch movie. The animated yokai world is being turned into the real world by a mysterious force. The yokai find in this new reality that their powers are weaker. Jibanyan's RapidFireFisticuffs become a much more realistic speed and end up underwhelming.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', Darkwing and Morgana tangle with Nodoff, the king of dreams. In DreamLand, Nodoff is a nearly omnipotent {{Dream Weav|er}}ing {{Trickster}} who can reshape the world or give himself new powers and abilities with a thought. However, when Darkwing [[HoistByHisOwnPetard blasts him with his own]] [[TheSandman sleep sand]], Nodoff is transported to the real world, where he is basically just a short [[GripingAboutGremlins gremlin]] with no powers.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' has the Dream Beavers, nearly invincible when inside the book, but reduced to cute [[EverythingsBetterWithPlushies plushies]] when they're forced into the real world.

* Both played straight and subverted in ''Film/LastActionHero''. When both ActionHero Detective Jack Slater and ProfessionalKiller Benedict escape the FilmWithinAFilm and reach [[KidHero Danny's]] "real world" they both have to get used to the fact that RealityEnsues and the real world is very different from the over-the-top action movie universe they've inhabited. Jack is somewhat dismayed to learn that a lot of his tried and true techniques don't work; in real life [[EveryCarIsAPinto cars don't explode when you shoot them in a random spot]], and trying to [[SoftGlass punch out a glass window]] hurts like hell and is likely to injure you. Benedict, on the other hand, is ''delighted'' to learn that some of the tropes that work against the bad guy in movie world, such as InstantEmergencyResponse, don't happen in the real world and ApatheticCitizens in a rundown part of town don't care when you kill somebody for no reason. If anything, Benedict has the advantage over Jack in the real world due to his superior intelligence and ruthlessness, a fact which Benedict gleefully boasts about in their final confrontation.

** Smith, a powerful rogue computer program, could only interact with the real world by possessing the body of someone that he had taken over in the Matrix, and he notes that real human bodies are really weak.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', Darkwing and Morgana tangle with Nodoff, the king of dreams. In DreamLand, Nodoff is a nearly omnipotent {{Dream Weav|er}}ing {{Trickster}} who can reshape the world to give himself new powers and abilities with a thought. However, when Darkwing [[HoistByHisOwnPetard blasts him with his own]] [[TheSandman sleep sand]], Nodoff ends up getting transported to the real world when he falls asleep, where he is basically just a short [[GripingAboutGremlins gremlin]] with no powers.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Back To The Sewers'', while in the digital domain of the internet, the Cyber Shredder could do [[IncrediblyLamePun virtually]] anything due to be made of data, much like Viral, whose body he had taken over. Upon crossing into the real world, he lost most of these abilities due to being matter now. Nevertheless, he was still dangerous due to his naturally fighting abilities along with being able to interface with computers.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesBackToTheSewers'', while in the digital domain of the internet, the Cyber Shredder could do [[IncrediblyLamePun virtually]] anything due to be made of data, much like Viral, whose body he had taken over. Upon crossing into the real world, he lost most of these abilities due to being matter now. Nevertheless, he was still dangerous due to his naturally fighting abilities along with being able to interface with computers.

An extremely literal case of RealityEnsues. If the creature relies mostly on its powers and is naturally physically weak, its UnskilledButStrong. If the creature is still able to cause trouble even without its god-like abilities, that's BroughtDownToBadass.

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' with Bill Cipher: He usually interacted with the world through the mindscape, [[DreamWeaver which he has endless influence over]], but people can fight him back by controlling their own dreams. Upon entering the real world, his powers evolve to full-fledged [[RealityWarper reality warping]] levels, while others are no more powerful than normal. [[spoiler:Despite his newfound ultimate power, however, he cannot leave the magical boundaries of the titular town.]]

* Averted ''hard'' in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' with Bill Cipher. Originally interacting with the world through the mindscape, which he has endless influence over, upon entering the real world, his powers evolve to full-fledged [[RealityWarper reality warping]] levels. [[spoiler:Despite his newfound ultimate power, however, he cannot leave the magical boundaries of the titular town]].

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', Darkwing and Morgana tangle with Nodoff, the king of dreams. In DreamLand, Nodoff is a nearly omnipotent RealityWarping {{Trickster}} who can reshape the world to give himself new powers and abilities with a thought. However, when Darkwing [[HoistByHisOwnPetard blasts him with his own]] [[TheSandman sleep sand]], Nodoff ends up getting transported to the real world when he falls asleep, where he is basically just a short [[GripingAboutGremlins gremlin]] with no powers.

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* Both played straight and subverted in ''Film/LastActionHero''. When both ActionHero Detective Jack Slater and ProfessionalKiller Benedict escape the FilmWithinAFilm and reach [[KidHero Danny's]] "real world" they both have to get used to the fact that RealityEnsues and the real world is very different from the over the top action movie universe they've inhabited. Jack is somewhat dismayed to learn that a lot of his tried and true techniques don't work; in real life [[EveryCarIsAPinto cars don't explode when you shoot them in a random spot]], and trying to [[SoftGlass punch out a glass window]] hurts like hell and is likely to injure you. Benedict, on the other hand, is ''delighted'' to learn that some of the tropes that work against the bad guy in movie world, such as InstantEmergencyResponse, don't happen in the real world and ApatheticCitizens in a run down part of town don't care when you kill somebody for no reason. If anything, Benedict has the advantage over Jack in the real world due to his superior intelligence and ruthlessness, a fact which Benedict gleefully boasts about in their final confrontation.

** Smith, a powerful rogue computer program, could only interact with the real world by possessing the body of someone that had he taken over in the Matrix, and he notes that real human bodies are really weak.

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[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', Darkwing and Morgana tangle with Nodoff, the king of dreams. In DreamLand, Nodoff is a nearly omnipotent RealityWarping {{Trickster}} who can reshape the world to give himself new powers and abilities with a thought. However, when Darkwing [[HoistByHisOwnPetard blasts him with his own]] [[TheSandman sleep sand]], Nodoff ends up getting transported to the real world when he falls asleep, where he is basically just a short [[GripingAboutGremlins gremlin]] with no powers.

[[AC: Fan Fiction]]

In {{Dream Land}}s and {{Spirit World}}s, there is often an EldritchAbomination who is able to harness the limitless power that exists there. An omnipotent RealityWarper who can fully utilize the concept YourMindMakesItReal. Sadly, the bane of many of these creatures is that this power only exists in their native world. Ergo, if they try something like [[WhenDimensionsCollide invading reality]] hoping to use their near infinite power to TakeOverTheWorld, they'll usually find that their power didn't make the trip with them.