Hour of Power: Difference between revisions

Superpowers can be loosely broken down into those that [[Power Incontinence|are "on" all the time]] such as Superman's super-strength, and those that need to be activated in some way by the character such as Superman's heat vision.

 

 

There's usually no explanation of why the limit exists, or why it's so specific. If it's magically imposed, it's not a big problem, since magic only needs to be [[Magic A Is Magic A|internally consistent]]. It's a little more [[Egregious]] when the powers are granted by [[Applied Phlebotinum]], especially if [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|every other time limit has been broken]], or if it's clear that the creators [[Two of Your Earth Minutes|don't use "Earth" hours]]. [[Real Life]] technology doesn't tend to have fully predictable running times, but fictional technology, apparently, [[Exact Time to Failure|has it all the time]].

* The effects of [[One Piece|Chopper's]] Rumble Ball last for exactly three minutes. He can try it a second time if the fight lasts longer than that, but [[Power Incontinence|he loses control of his transformations if he tries]]. And if he goes for a third, well... [[Deadly Upgrade|things just get bad]].

** Luffy's Gear Third has a variation of this. While there's no set amount of time it lasts, when Luffy stops the technique, he changes into a chibi version of himself that's pretty much useless in combat; he stays this way for an amount of time equal to that he had just spent using Gear Third.

* [[Tekkaman Blade]] turns into a mindless, berserk killing machine if he remains in Tekkaman form for thirty minutes.

* In ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'', {{spoiler|Alto, actually [[Mission Control|Ryou]] in cat form,}} can only remain as a cat for fifteen minutes or get stuck like that forever.

* Oolong from ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' has shapeshifting powers that only work for five minutes before he changes to his default form. This is because he was kicked out of shapeshifting school before he could learn how to shift indefinitely

* In the ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' manga, Mewtwo could only fight for three minutes at a time after he was caught by Blaine, thanks to some trouble with his cloning involving some [[Applied Phlebotinum]] and Blaine's cells. Any longer risks Blaine's life and tires Mewtwo out considerably.

** Yellow has a good number of powers, including heightening her Pokemon's level to a frightening point when under [[Unstoppable Rage|emotional stress]]. Using these powers, however, eats at her stamina like nothing else, and when she uses them too much, she falls into a sleep that cannot be externally disrupted no matter how inopportune the following situation.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', {{spoiler|it's recently been revealed that [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Dan]][[Manipulative Bastard|zo]] has multiple stolen Sharingans [[Squick|embedded in]] [[Eyes Do Not Belong There|his left arm]]. Apparently, he can use a technique called "Izanagi" to [[Reality Warper|undo every death he suffers in his fight with Sasuke]]. Each of his eyes keeps Izanagi going for 60 seconds, and then closes forever. With about 10 extra eyes, he had a total of 10 minutes of Izanagi at the start of his fight.}} In the end {{spoiler|Sasuke won by using his (relatively weak) version of Tsukuyomi to warp Danzo's perception of time so he wouldn't realize he'd already use them all up until it's too late. It only threw Danzo's perception off by a fraction of a second, but that was enough}}.

*** {{spoiler|It hurts to admit this, but what makes it cool is Sasuke didn't even have to affect his perception of time. Battle is chaotic after all and keeping track of time is hard already, which is why Danzou kept checking his Izanagi Sharingans, he was using them as a shorthand for how much time he had left. What Sasuke did was use his illusion to make Danzo think that an eye that had already closed was still open. Something that could have been done by just about anyone with a halfway decent skill at genjutsu.}}

** [[Super Mode|Sage Mode]] uses up a lot of energy and can only be recharged by standing perfectly still, so it wears off quickly in battle. {{spoiler|Naruto gets around this restriction by using his shadow clones to recharge for him.}}

** The powerful mage Cendrillon automatically loses her powers at midnight or sunrise, similar to her namesake: Cinderella. {{spoiler|Unfortunately for her, she will also lose her powers if midnight or sunrise is simulated.}}

* Wild Tiger's [[Super Strength]] in ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' has a 5-minute time limit per activation, as does that of his partner, Barnaby. {{spoiler|Midway through the series his powers get stronger but shorter lasting, whittling down to four minutes by the series finale episode, and one minute by the [[Where Are They Now]] epilogue with it looking quite likely he'll lose them forever. Unless there's another season, of course.}}

** Although, he's still at risk if his [[Creepy Cool Crosses|limiter]] is ever broken.

* In [[Magical Idol Pastel Yumi]], the drawing Yumi brings to life only last for a short time.

** The second Hourman Rick Tyler also had the ability to spend an hour in a timeless dimension with his father. This eventually ended when {{spoiler|Rick was mortally wounded, and all the time was used up to save his life. The android eventually gave his life in [[Zero Hour]] instead of Rex Tyler, enabling father and son to return home.}}

** Android Hourman also had an Hour of Power, which gave him access to all sorts of cool time-manipulation abilities (just about the only thing he ''couldn't'' do was make his Power Hour last longer than 60 minutes.)

** That wasn't a [[Retcon]], the Guardians deliberately changed how the rings worked. At one point when Hal Jordan traveled forward in time, his ring still worked the old way (it became a plot point when he and Kyle switched rings because Kyle's didn't have a time limit)

* The [[Doom Patrol]]'s Negative Man could separate his energy form from his body for 60 seconds at a time. He had to act fast; If he didn't return to his body in time, he would die.

* In one [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] story, his power had been halved, and a villain was beating the living daylights out of him. As a test, Odin granted Thor his full power for ''thirty seconds''. Thor won. ([[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Do not screw with someone whose titles include "god", no matter what they are the god of. If they're the god of something like "thunder" or "storms", don't even think it.]])

** Originally, if Thor lost contact with his hammer for more than 60 seconds, he would change back to his human form. This limitation has since been removed, although it made a comeback when Eric Masterson, otherwise a normal human, became a replacement Thor by taking up the hammer.

** It was later [[Retcon|revealed]] that the limits to her powers were ''psychological'', not physical. After she was "reset" and her trauma-induced mental blocks restored, she could call up any previous power or memory she had absorbed at will, as well as be able to touch someone without draining them. That said, the 1:60 ratio was rarely outright stated to begin with, and it's very possible that later writers ever heard of it, so it's more likely just a non-definite exponential ratio.

* J2 of ''[[Marvel Comics 2]]'' has a time limit on his transformed state that gradually gets shorter as his body matures and becomes better at using his powers.

 

== [[Film]] ==

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Ultraman]]'' popularized this trope for live-action Japanese superheroes. His [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] makes the atmosphere harmful to him, but - depending on the iteration - he stores solar energy for ''three minutes'', often marked with a "color timer" on his chest that goes from blue to blinking red as this runs out. Just about the right amount of time for an easily-budgeted [[Monster of the Week]] fight sequence in a 24 minute show...

** ...And then you have Ultra Seven, who doesn't seem to have this limit.

* There's the 70's superhero [[Kaiketsu Zubat]], who explodes if he wears the Zubat suit for more than 5 minutes. Justified in-show as being a [[Super Prototype]], finished by the guy himself even though it's out of his field.

* The Makai Knights of ''[[Garo]]'' have exactly 99.9 seconds to fight in their armored forms before it runs out. They ''can'' choose to exceed the time limit if they want, but the results are... [[Super-Powered Evil Side|not pleasant]].

* Silver Ranger/Megasilver from ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]''/''[[Denji Sentai Megaranger]]'' had a transformation time limit of 2.5 minutes.

** And then got over it when the bad guys tried to exploit this. With lots and lots of research.

* At the Whateley Academy in the [[Whateley Universe]], Dash has super-speed, super-strength, and [[Nigh Invulnerability]]. But it looks like he only has it for a matter of minutes, and can't call it up without a lot of effort ahead of time.

** [[Word of God]] finally explained it: Dash is some kind of Energizer and can focus to make his body stronger and tougher and faster, but it only holds up for ten minutes or so, and it takes about that long for him to power up. After, he needs hours before he can do it again.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]

[[Category:Sublime Rhyme]]

[[Category:Power]]