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'''Inigo:''' Because I know something you don't know.<br />
'''Man in Black:''' And what is that?<br />
'''Inigo:''' [[Trope Namers|I am not left-handed!]] ''(switches the sword to his right hand and starts driving him back)''|''[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|The Princess Bride]]''}}
 
A [[Combat Tropes|Combat Trope]] in which one of the combatants reveals that (s)he's been holding back, but now decides it's time to take it up a notch.
 
The situation varies from example to example. A common example is for a character to fight with his non-dominant hand, as in the [[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|trope-naming example]], only to switch back to his dominant hand to gain an edge. Similar to this is pretending that he has a serious handicap, then deciding to stop the charade -- in other words, a seeming in-universe equivalent of an [[Unexplained Recovery]]. It can also go so far as a character revealing that he has always had a superpower [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower|which they now decide to exploit]], or a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] which they now [[Godzilla Threshold|have no option but to utilize]].
 
Of course, Villains can invoke this trope, as well.
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* [[Turns Red]]
 
See also: [[Training From Hell]], [[Restraining Bolt]], [[Power Limiter]], [[Willfully Weak]], [[Just Toying Withwith Them]] and [[Fake Weakness]].
 
'''May contain unmarked spoilers.'''
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** When Pain fights Naruto, he believes that Naruto has used sage mode long enough, and it will expire shortly. It does, but Naruto has got a couple more sage modes stocked up elsewhere. He also generates more sage mode ''during'' the battle, while Pain is busy lecturing him.
** {{spoiler|A, the Raikage, thinks he is still stronger than Bee when Bee challenges him to a Lariat strike. However, Bee reveals he has surpassed him, and completely overpowers him ''without'' his Hachibi Cloak}}.
* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]]'', the third season of the series, it's revealed that Nanoha, Fate and Hayate voluntarily put limiters on their powers in order to continue working together, officially because of the office politics of having too high a concentration of power in one unit, but actually to disguise the true power available to Section Six, the reactions when the villains found out just how well this worked were [[Oh Crap|priceless]]. [[Completely Missing the Point|On an entirely unrelated note]], Nanoha herself ''is'' left-handed.
* Likewise Alucard of ''[[Hellsing]]'' operates via a number of power limiters as per his service to Integra Hellsing. Depending on the power of vampire he's fighting, and as per her discretion, these limiters can be overridden to varying degrees.
* [http://www.tsunamichannel.com/index.php?date=2003-09-19&comic=ExCoKo As does] ''[[Tsunami Channel|Experimental Comic Kotone]]'', but [[Inverted Trope|inverted]] in that Konstantin ''is'' left-handed. This is actually a better ruse because 90% of the population is right-handed, no one would notice anything strange if a person was using their right hand.
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** Also used by Bui. When Hiei fought against him, Hiei found it annoyingly easy to fend off Bui's attacks... until Bui took off his power-limiting armor.
** Karasu pretends that his power is to make anything he touches explode. Kurama tries to counter by fighting at a distance. But Karasu reveals that his real power is to make invisible bombs that he can move with his mind. '''BOOM'''.
* In ''[[Black Cat (Mangamanga)|Black Cat]]'' Volume 2, Train Heartnet reveals that he is not '''''right''''' handed. As a matter of fact, he was originally left handed, learned to wield his pistol ambidextrously, and switches to his dominant hand to increase his fighting potential (i.e., speed and accuracy).
** A similar example is Maki in ''[[Hayate Cross Blade]]'', who had always held her sword in her right hand until it was severely injured by her opponent. Another character explains that she had not been fighting with her full power previously, because the manner in which she was gripping the sword was completely different.
* Similarly, in ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'', Ryoma plays his first match in canon with his right hand. He manages to upstage his opponent in this state, but eventually decides to reveal that he is not '''right''' handed, and completely crushes the terrified opponent. Ryoma is fond of confusing his opponents this way throughout the series.
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* In chapter six of ''[[Zombie Powder]]'', It is revealed that Gamma purposely handicaps himself when he fights against women and children. At the time, Gamma was fighting an old man with the appearance of a child, and when he realized this, he began to fight seriously. And beat the mickey out of his opponent.
* Myojin pulls this in ''[[The Law of Ueki]]''. Ueki thinks he's figured out how to beat him, then he reveals that unlike every other power user, he was given two special powers instead of just one.
* Characters on ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]] Z'', whether hero or villain tend to do this very frequently.
** During the second Goku/Tien Shinhan match of Dragonball, both are about evenly matched until Goku stops and asks if he can take some of his clothes off. Tien obliges (it's apparently rather hot outside), and thinks nothing of it until Goku's undershirt lands on the floor with a heavy-sounding thud. Cue the weighted-clothing revelation and [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/dragon_ball/v15/c009/last.html Tien's subsequent humiliation].
** Having reluctantly [[Strange Bedfellows|teamed up]] with Goku to stop Raditz, Piccolo gets ready for the fight by taking off his cape, revealing that it's actually weighted training gear. Goku gets a kick out of this -- and takes off ''his'' weighted clothing.
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** The tendency to fight this way gives Goku and Pan serious trouble against Haze Shenron. Pan has no problem kicking around this pathetically weak opponent but it turns out that his pollution aura has been sapping their strength, thereby giving him the upper hand. After escaping his area of influence and regaining their strength the pair are able to return and easily destroy him with an energy blast. They should have just done that in the first place.
* Kenshiro tends to do this quite frequently to a worthy opponent in ''[[Fist of the North Star]]''.
* In ''[[Gintama (Manga)|Gintama]]'', Kagura pulls this on {{spoiler|Abuto}}. They seemed a pretty equal match, until he has her pinned to the floor and helpless, but it turns out she {{spoiler|wasn't fighting with her full power; she then goes full-on Yato on him and proceeds to give him a thorough thrashing}}.
** Not a conscious reveal so much as a Superpower Evil Side triggered in response to Shinpachi almost being killed by Abuto. Shinpachi actually has to stop Kagura from killing Abuto, knowing that in her right mind she wouldn't want to.
* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', Tieria is in control of Gundam Virtue, which is capable of transforming into the ridiculously powerful, androgynously-beautiful Gundam Nadleeh.
** Debateable -- Nadleeh is less capable of inflicting damage than Virtue and only slightly more manouverable; while it has the power to completely shut down certain opponents, it is ''less'' powerful than Virtue against all other foes.
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Ds5D's]]'' Psychic duelist Akiza (Aki Izayoi in the original) has a hair braid that supposedly suppresses her powers (which is basically to make Duel Monsters and magic real); however, this may just be a [[Magic Feather]].
* Ryuho of ''[[ScryedS-Cry-ed]]'', when, pressed by Kazuma, he reveals that his Alter, Zetsui, has a level of power previously unknown even to his closest allies.
** It seems to be more of a justified [[Power Limiter|power limiter]] as their energy is drained a lot faster when using it. Also his allies knew about it, but it was stated that it had not used for the last two years.
* Gou from [[Getter Robo|Getter Robo Go]] handicaps himself during a shot put event by only using his right hand. When he uses his left hand, he can throw the weight like a baseball.
* Used almost literally in ''[[Mr. Fullswing]]'', where ace pitcher Inukai claims to have been a softball player for most of his time in middle school and throws underhanded pitches with his right hand... until the final batter of the tryout game comes up, and he switches to his natural left handed, baseball pitching style.
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{{quote| '''Sloth''': "{{spoiler|I am the fastest Homunculus.}}"}}
** In an extra chapter in the manga "The Military Festival" <s> Ed and Mustang battle it out</s> Mustang shoots flames at Ed as Ed runs around dodging. Ed suckers Mustang close enough to rip off the transmutation circle on his glove when Mustang reveals that his left hand (which was in his pocket the whole time) also has a transmuting glove on it. So it's more like I Am Not Right Handed. Later in the manga during Mustang's fight with {{spoiler|Envy}} it tuns out to not be a gag when we see Mustang consistently using his left hand for pinpoint burning and his right hand for big explosions.
* Parodied in ''[[Baka to Test Toto Shoukanjuu]]'', when Akihisa goes up against Miho Satou, an A class student, Akihisa declares himself to be left-handed, but winds up losing anyway, because it's a fight determined by ''test scores''.
* In ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', Aion gets badly beaten by Duke Daffau when {{spoiler|Daffau attacks Aion's base, Eden}}. For a moment, it looks like Aion's beaten within an inch of his life--until he reveals that he was holding back the entire time and proceeds start a trap that weakens Daffau and his troops, while activating a secret property in his sword that allows him to [[Good Thing You Can Heal|heal incredibly quickly]].
* In one of the Early rounds of the [[Do D]] tournament of [[Historys Strongest Disciple Kenichi]], Takeda claims he can handle an opponent by himself. Cue him getting whupped. He then states loudly that he's going to have to take this seriously, whereupon he takes off his shirt, revealing that he was wearing a full body spring retainer thing. This being a tournament where people have been known to die, everyone, including the announcer, declares him insane.
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** Also Shichika in the final episode, once he {{spoiler|doesn't need to worry about breaking the Deviant Swords or getting hurt any more, unleashes his full power on the new wielders and effortlessly curb-stomps them.}}
* Alice L. Malvin of ''[[Pumpkin Scissors]]'' pulls this bit in the final duel of the series when she switches hands mid-fight.
* ''[[Star Driver]]'' episode 3 features a mecha sword fight. At first, Takuto's opponent is kicking his ass...until {{spoiler|he pulls out [[Dual-Wielding|a second sword]]}}. Eventually, we learn that Takuto has been doing this ''the entire time''. What looks like [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands]] is actually nothing of the sort. He's been trained to be a Driver pretty much since birth, and knew nearly everything his mech was capable of. Since he needed every advantage he could get, he fought his opponents using the minimum amount of skill and abilities, and whenever they reached the point where he was in trouble, he revealed [[I Am Not Left-Handed|his next trick]].
** And then comes another [[I Am Not Left-Handed]] moment after the fight itself: {{spoiler|"How does it feel to use a cybercasket despite having a mark?"}}
* In combat Lind of ''[[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|Ah My Goddess]]'' wields a massive Lochaber axe against opponents. One such opponent, believing it to be her only method of attack due to not utilizing any other power, shattered it in an attempt to cripple her. A bystander snidely commented that the axe was Lind's way of being polite; commence massive kicking of bad guy butt.
** She also pulled this on Hild in an earlier arc. The latter thought that she couldn't fight since she no longer had her angel, Lind ( {{spoiler|and Keiichi's}}) reply can be summed up as {{spoiler|[[I Am Not Left-Handed|I Am Not Single Angeled]].}}
* In chapter 240 of ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', Ultear reveals {{spoiler|that she can use Ice Maker Magic like her mother Ur}} when Gray finds a way to counter her Time Arc magic.
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== Film ==
* The trope name and the page quote come from ''[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|The Princess Bride]]''. Inigo Montoya is so good that he fights with his left hand just to keep things somewhat challenging, but when faced with the Man in Black, he realises he's being outmatched, and switches the sword back to his right hand to gain the upper hand again. {{spoiler|Too bad the Man in Black was ''also'' fighting with his off-hand, presumably for the same reason.}}
* There is an old live action kung fu movie which uses this Trope. One villain, who has chicken in his fake mustache and calls the hero a cur, initially wields a gigantic Cloud-esque sword. Eventually, this weapon tires him, and he pulls the hilt of the weapon out of the blade, revealing a tiny blade attached to the removed hilt which he uses much more effectively.
* ''[[Zatoichi]]'' (the 2003 film) subverts this: {{spoiler|as he is killing the last two Yakuza members, Zatōichi opens his eyes and the Yakuza boss assumed he could really see. In the very last scene of the movie, he trips over a rock and a voice over says "Even with my eyes open, I still can't see a thing."}}
* Subverted in the ''[[Rocky (Filmfilm)|Rocky]]'' series. Neither Rocky nor [[Sylvester Stallone|Stallone]] are left-handed, but throughout the movies he fights south-paw by preference. In fact, a substantial part of his training for the rematch against Apollo Creed in ''Rocky II'' centered on Rocky learning to fight right-handed, and switching to using his left at a crucial point in the fight to devastating effect. Rocky "is not left-handed", but unlike these other examples he is a distinctly superior fighter when favoring his off-hand.
* A classic example from ''[[Quigley Down Under]]'':
{{quote| '''Marston:''' I seem to remember you're not too familiar with Colonel Colt's revolver, so this will be your first lesson.<br />
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('''Quigley''' shoots Marston and his two henchmen before they can react.)<br />
'''Quigley:''' I said I never had much use for one. [[You Didn't Ask|Never said I didn't know how to use it.]] }}
* The movie ''[[I, Robot (Filmfilm)|I Robot]]'' features a fight between Will Smith's character, Del Spooner, and an NS-5 robot that's actually trying to kill him (as opposed to the fight with Sonny, earlier in the movie). Spooner hits the robot with a metal pipe once or twice, which the robot shrugs off, and it acquires possession of the weapon. After successfully dodging the robot's first swing, the robot's second and third swings are blocked by Spooner's left arm - and on the second impact, {{spoiler|we see part of the inside of the arm exposed, revealing that Spooner's left arm is, in fact, mechanical. (Which - when the robot looks surprised, or as surprised as a robot can be - he acknowledges with an almost-apologetic "Yeah.") He connects with a hard punch and a leg sweep using that arm, and tries to punch the robot while it's on the ground - only to miss, and have his fist go ''through'' the asphalt.}}
** Doesn't really count as it was revealed earlier. And isn't a previously unknown ass-pull.
*** The scar marking {{spoiler|the attach point}} had been visible previously, and Spooner had been seen doing arm exercises, but the audience is not explicitly shown that his arm was {{spoiler|mechanical (and not merely that he had been injured previously and was continuing some physical therapy)}} until the referenced scene.
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* In ''[[Beerfest]]'', the heroes pretend to be more drunk than they really are to trick the Germans into making a steep bet. Todd, however, really ''is'' that drunk, having been forced to use his "drunken recall" earlier.
* In ''[[A League of Their Own]]'', the "ugly" girl, Marla Hooch, has a moment like this during her batting demonstration for Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz). After several good hits, Marla's father says, "Okay, Marla, now hit lefty," which causes all the guys in the field to groan in anticipation. She had been batting right-handed, but was a switch-hitting natural left-hander.
* A variation of this takes place in ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]''. Gruber has John McClane at his mercy, unarmed and shirtless, with no obvious place to hide a gun. As the camera pans behind McClane, we see that he had taped a gun to his back.
* The final battle in ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'' between Mal and the Operative. {{spoiler|Mal's been hit in a nerve cluster with a move intended to cause paralysis, the Operative goes into his "This is a good death" speech, Mal proceeds to notify him that that cluster was surgically moved after he was hit by shrapnel in that area during the war.}} Cue ass-kicking.
** The same thing happens in a ''[[Heroes]]'' episode, when [[The Hunter|Danko]] finally decides to end his "partnership" with [[Social Darwinist|Sylar]] and stabs him in the back of the head into his [[Achilles Heel]], only for Sylar to get up seconds later and reveal to the shocked Danko that he moved the spot using his [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shapeshifting]] ability.
* In ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron: Legacy]]'', {{spoiler|Sam fights his way to where his [[MacGuffin|father's identity disc]] is being held. He gets cornered by [[The Dragon|Rinzler]] escorting a [[Badass in Distress|captive Quorra]], who had previously trounced Sam using [[Dual-Wielding|dual]] [[Deadly Disc|disc weapons]]. Rinzler doesn't account for the fact that Sam has two disks on his person now too when he and Sam square off. The surprise second disk careening at his head, combined with [[Action Girl|Quorra]] using that as a distraction to kickbox him (as her hands were bound), is too much for even Rinzler, and he's left hanging... literally.}}
* In ''[[Uncommon Valor]]'', Scott has finally had enough of the much larger Sailor and says he thinks he can teach "an undisciplined brawler" like Sailor a lesson. The huge, lumbering Sailor rushes Scott a few times only to be knocked on his butt by Scott's martial arts skills. Tiring of this, Sailor says to Scott, "Usin' that Oriental martial bullshit on me's gonna get real expensive," assumes a real fighting stance, and uses his own kung fu skill, which turns out to be superior to Scott's, to treat Scott to "the whole can of whoop-ass."
* A variation occurs in ''[[The Quick and Thethe Dead]]''. {{spoiler|Ace Hanlon, the big bloater, claims to have two good shooting hands. In his match against Herod, first it turns out that [[Because I'm Jonesy|at least some]] [[Miles Gloriosus|(probably all) of his war stories were fake]], and Herod proceeds to shoot Ace in his right hand. Herod offers to take the next shot with his left hand, because unlike Ace, Herod really can aim well with both hands. Naturally, this story doesn't end well for Ace.}}
* In ''[[Back to The Future]]'' part 3, a gun salesman is trying to teach Marty how to shoot, to demonstrate the Colt Peacemaker, and laughs at Marty's terrible shot. However, turns out Marty is not left handed, he switches to his good hand...
 
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* Iorek Byrnison pulls one of these in his fight against Iofur Raknison during ''[[His Dark Materials|The Golden Compass]]'' by pretending his left arm is too badly hurt to be used in the fight.
* Daniel in ''The Dangerous Days of Daniel X'' by [[James Patterson]]. It's not that he discovers a new power, but more like he discovers a new combination of attacks to defeat the villain.
* ''Cats Have No Lord'' by Will Shetterly deliberately echoes the ''[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|The Princess Bride]]'' trope, up until the "I'm not left-handed either," which is not true, but a ruse to distract the opponent so that sand can be thrown in his eyes.
* Happens literally in the second installment of the Toldi Trilogy, written by János Arany. The titular hero participates in a tournament for the sake of fighting, but is not interested in claiming the prize (marrying the daughter of the host), so he agrees with a left-handed knight (who is in love with the girl in question) to impersonate him. During the final duel, he almost gives himself away when he switches hands, because he can't handle his opponent while holding the sword in his left hand. The trope is inverted when he's eventually challenged by the same left handed knight he impersonated, over a matter of honor and Toldi is unable to get an edge over him, because he's not used to fighting left handed opponents. He eventually defeats his rival using his left hand.
* Brian Daley's ''The Starfollowers of Coramonde'' has a character named Brodur who uses his right hand in fencing while setting up a hustle bet, and insults his opponent by saying, more or less, "I could beat you, even left-handed." Brodur '''is''' left-handed, and once the bet is for '''big''' money, he shows it.
* In the fifth ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant (Literature)|Skulduggery Pleasant]]'' book (''Mortal Coil''), Skulduggery and China corner an expert swordsman by the name of Burgundy Dalrymple and ask him to surrender. He appears to be thoroughly beaten and remarks on how the heroes seem to have bested him when he suddenly swaps his sword to his left hand and proclaims, "I am not right handed!"
* The Royal Manticoran Navy of the ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]]'' series required their newly-built pod-laying Superdreadnoughts to do this in the run up to their all-out offensive, in order to conceal the existence of the ship type and their revolutionary abilities from the enemy. The result was SD(P)'s performing at a fraction of their capability...and still annihilating enemy squadrons all by themselves.
** ''War Of Honor'' [[Deconstructed Trope|shows what happens]] when you reveal this too early: The Manticorans are forced back onto their heels by the Havenites unexpectedly pulling this, thanks to Admiral Shannon Foraker being a very busy girl during the Cease Fire. They reveal some devastatingly powerful new superweapons, but they are not ready to deploy them to the entire fleet yet. Realizing this, the Havenites send what is, at that point, the largest battle fleet in history in an all-or-nothing bid to crush the Manticoran homeworlds' defenses and force a surrender. {{spoiler|They fail, but not before over a million people on both side die in the battle.}}
** This was also policy later when they found themselves in skirmishes against the Solarian League, to run the starship impeller drives at lower acceleration and fire from ranges that would only need two drives of their Multi-Drive Missiles rather than the range offered by the full three. This was, in significant part, to prevent the much larger Solarian League from realizing how badly outmatched they were in case the Manticorans couldn't prevent an all out war.
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== Live Action TV ==
* The very first episode of ''[[Power Rangers]]'' had Zordon tell them that they should never use their [[Humongous Mecha|Zords]], except after attempting all lesser attacks, as some kind of code of honor. This is also a [[Hand Wave]] of the [[Forgotten Superweapon]] phenomenon.
* An episode of ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' that plays with the [[Robin Hood]] legend plays with this:
{{quote| {{smallcaps|Sir Guy:}} I am the best swordsman in Nottingham.<br />
{{smallcaps| (Picard as) Robin:}} I am not ''from'' Nottingham! }}
* In ''[[Entourage]]'', Ari attempts to trick a studio executive into betting Vince into a movie during a golf game - he purposefully loses the first nine holes before making the bet, and then his game miraculously improves. The exec accuses Ari of trying to trick him - then reveals that he plays much better left-handed, and goes on to defeat Ari.
* [[Angel (TV)|Angel]] does this on a regular basis, usually revealing that he's a vampire about halfway through the fight. Vampires, for example, do not breathe, which Angel noted way back in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' when a character needed mouth-to-mouth.
{{quote| "Right now I'm crushing your windpipe."<br />
"Guess what I'm doing now? Not using my windpipe." }}
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''''Buck' Compton''': [switches hands] George, what would I do without George Luz? }}
* In an episode of the [[Mad TV]] recurring skit "Average Asian", a man challenges said Asian to a game of ping pong. After losing, the Asian says "Let me put the paddle in my OTHER hand" needless to say, "He's an expert Asian! When it comes to ping pong!"
* ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'': [[Old Master|Master]] [[Badass Grandpa|Bra'tac]]: "You are mistaken... I no longer carry a symbiote." It helps that he has a vague resemblance to Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya).
* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'': Joxer pulls this, in an almost word-for-word sendup of the famous scene from ''[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|The Princess Bride]]'', while fighting under a spell cast by Aphrodite that turns him from [[The Scrappy]] to [[The Lancer]] at the ring of a bell.
** This was also an homage/send-up of a similar scene from [[Danny Kaye]]'s ''[[The Court Jester]]'', where Kaye goes from stumblebum to master swordsman with the sound of a finger-snap while fighting Basil Rathbone.
* [[The New Adventures Of Zorro]]. "I am the greatest swordsman in Baja California!" "Unfortunately, you are in Alta California."
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* ''[[Command and Conquer]]'': "That was left-handed!"
** Subverted by [[Command and Conquer Red Alert|Boris.]] He seems to legitimately be left-handed, given from how he holds his rifle. It also appears to be a left-handed variant (given where the ejection port is).
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' Regal Bryant fights only using kicks, keeping his hands shackled. {{spoiler|Late in the game, you find out firsthand that when he fought using his hands, he was as or more powerful then, than the team is currently, and that was without the Exspheres that allow them to be powerful.}}
* Joshua of ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'' at first appears to be a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] who fights with a psychic cell phone. He can't jump, and his ground combos only deal damage after the last button is pressed (Shiki and Beat can deal damage with every press). However, when Joshua and Neku are confronted by a Taboo Noise, and all hope seems lost, Joshua suddenly reveals [[Power Floats|he can levitate]] and proceeds to vaporize the Noise with a [[Fan Nickname|Jesus Beam]]. {{spoiler|He later goes all the way up to [[A God Am I]] when he reveals that he is Shibuya's Composer, [[The Man Behind the Man]].}}
* ''[[Lufia II Rise of the Sinistrals]]'': After the first boss fight with Gades, if you manage to defeat him, he toasts your party anyway in a cutscene.
* ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'': Slash, one of Magus' [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|generals]], is as famed as a legendary swordsman as his comrades are for their control over magic. When confronted, he puts up a respectable fight, but something just seems to be missing... until halfway through, when he acknowledges the team's prowess and takes his sword off the wall. Uh-oh.
{{quote| '''Slash:''' You're more powerful than I thought! I better use all of my strength as well. ''[pulls sword off of wall]'' And you, without Cyrus... ''[unsheathes sword in slashing motion]'' '''You've no hope!'''}}
** Some gamers still have a soft spot for his old battle cry. "Yes, indeed!" heralded ''pain''.
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* ''[[Ace Combat]] X: Skies of Deception'' has the mission Time Limit, where an unstable neutralising agent forces Gryphus One to fly slowly and with reduced maneuvering. Two Leasath pilots proceed to trash talk about how he's not what [[Shrouded in Myth|the rumours make him out to be]] and stalk him in this near-defenceless state. When Gryphus One finally gets to discard the neutralising agent and dogfight properly, the two are taken aback by his real prowess and don't last long.
* [[Old Master|Oro]] from the [[Street Fighter]] series keeps his arm binded in his gi sleeve [[Badass|so he doesn't accidentally kill his opponents.]]
* Shadow's story in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'' seems to be setting up a [[Bolivian Army Ending]], with Team Shadow surrounded by an evil army of magic clones. Then Shadow removes the [[Power Limiter]] rings on his gloves, and proceeds to wipe the floor with them.
** Which is an idea that was first implemented in ''[[Sonic X (Anime)|Sonic X]]'' where he removes the ring to better use the Chaos Emerald's powers, though weakening him in the process. This is noted mainly during the final battle of the ''[[Sonic Adventure 2 (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure 2]]'' [[Story Arc]] of the show when he goes [[Super Mode]] with Sonic and stops the ARK from falling on Earth by removing the rings again to give him enough juice.
* Ragna the Bloodedge from ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' holds great power in the Azure Grimoire {{spoiler|copy/fake}} that makes up his right arm, but refuses to use it for much of the game. When he does, stuff starts hitting the fan ''very'' quickly.
* [[Zeno Clash]]'s second [[Handicapped Badass|Hunter]] battle begins with the titular boss keeping one hand behind his back as he fights you. Whittle his health down enough and he brings both arms into play - ''[[Hopeless Boss Fight|and beats the living hell out of you.]]''
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== Webcomics ==
* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' parodies it [http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2005-09-28 as well].
* In ''[[Dragon Mango (Webcomic)|Dragon Mango]]'', the elf Eclair wears a heavy iron armor breastplate. Iron usually causes them massive pain; Eclair turns out to be wearing it purely for the weight and pain handicaps.
* In ''[[Juathuur]]'', Rowasu {{spoiler|considers his sword a ''handicap''. Notice that two opponents tried to disarm him.}} More specifically, {{spoiler|once the sword is no longer in his hand, ''the hand itself'' becomes a weapon}}.
* ''[[Bob and George (Webcomic)|Bob and George]]'' [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/050227c (Non alternate) Mynd tries it.]
* In ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'' pulled by [[Magnificent Bastard|Tarvek]]. First Violetta notices that he indeed ''[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091125 was]'' paying attention at the martial arts training. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110425 Later]...
{{quote| '''Tarvek''': I'm sorry, Violetta -- as my days of needing the family to [[Underestimating Badassery|underestimate me]] appears to be ''over''--I will no longer require your assistance in [[Butt Monkey|this particular charade]]. }}
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' has a training example, in sparring between Parley (who is a ''good'' fencer) [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=957 and S13]. They dance a little, then Parley [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=960 tells to stop holding back]... to a robot going [[Le Parkour|extreme parkour]] merely [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=636 to move around quickly]. She also chose a much heavier blade. The next round [[Killed Mid-Sentence|ends pretty much before it starts]] and even when she's ready it doesn't take long. Of course, then Parley uses her talents fully, and [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=962 she isn't constrained] by the sword's inertia much when blinking around.
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (Webcomicwebcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'', [http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04i-04.html Ricardo tells the princess it would have been over much more quickly if he had use of his right hand -- though, unusually, he doesn't show it, because his right arm's in a sling.]
 
 
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*** All this talking about holding back comes to proof when Superman fights Darkseid in the series finale. After getting beat down, Superman turns the tables and lets loose on Darkseid, knowing that he won't be killed right off, and easily kicks Darkseid's ass, sending him flying through several buildings to the other side of the city and then bashing him back down to the ground.
**** This is because his is a [[World of Cardboard Speech|World of Cardboard]].
* General Grievous at the end of ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]''. You thought he was tough with two arms? Well, now he has four.
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': Marge Simpson, of all people, invokes this trope literally in the recent Vancouver Olympics episode. Her arm is sprained in the second-last match, and is about to give up. {{spoiler|Then, Homer notices her skill with her other arm, which Marge remembers is actually her dominant one}}.
 
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