History Main / CoconutSuperpowers

** This is also why so many early Pixar films deal with subjects that are easier to animate than [[UnintentionalUncannyValley humans with normal proportions, hair, and clothing]]. [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory1 Toys]] are supposed to look like plastic, [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife bugs]] and [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]] are cartoonish and shiny-skinned, the vast majority of [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc monsters]] (with one or two big exceptions; many articles of the time talked about the work gone into rendering Sully) are hairless and look completely unrealistic anyway. Even ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'' is steeped in a genre that basically goes hand-in-hand with exaggerated designs and tight spandex. It wasn't until their [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} eighth film]] that they felt comfortable doing an almost entirely human cast (with the only exceptions being covered in fur) wearing normal clothing and in a realistic urban setting for the entire film.

** There's a bit of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness at play as well. The Force in the original ''Star Wars'' was very different from what it later became. Jedi were more like the Bene Gesserit of ''[[Literature/{{Dune}}'', with a bunch of mental tricks to enhance their own performance and influence the minds of others, but with no overt power over the physical world. Even Darth Vader [[PsychicStrangle choking Admiral Motti]] was supposed to be a mental compulsion to stop breathing rather than physical strangulation. This is why people like Han Solo think the Force is 'simple tricks and nonsense'. It wasn't until ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' that things like telekinesis and physical enhancement started being added to the Jedi repertoire, making Han's statement seem more out of place with each installment.

* ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'': Being a web series, the creators had to work with a limited effects budget. Fortunately for them, the games most iconic enemy, the Elites, have invibility as a signature ability. As a result, they were able to create a very tense scene where the cadets had from an unseen Elite just by periodically knocking over various objects.

* Though most of the effects work in ''{{Series/One Piece|2023}}'' isn't much more frugal than the original manga and anime, one case where this does manifest is Zoro. In the manga, Zoro uses Three Sword Style in just about every fight, and usually continuously. In the live-action series, he uses it much more sparingly (usually only as a finishing move), and spends most of his fights doing standard DualWielding. In this case, it's less to save on effects and more because shooting a fight scene where one of your actors holds a prop katana in their mouth is rather difficult.

* Though most of the effects work in ''Series/OnePiece'' isn't much more frugal than the original manga and anime, one case where this does manifest is Zoro. In the manga, Zoro uses Three Sword Style in just about every fight, and usually continuously. In the live-action series, he uses it much more sparingly (usually only as a finishing move), and spends most of his fights doing standard DualWielding. In this case, it's less to save on effects and more because shooting a fight scene where one of your actors holds a prop katana in their mouth is rather difficult.

* A form of PlotDemandedManualMode, the character IS capable of any of the flashy special effects but due to external circumstances is forced to restrain themselves. This could be due to a PowerNullifier or KryptoniteFactor, though KryptoniteIsEverywhere becomes suspect. It could also be due to a CoverBlowingSuperpower in a BruceWayneHeldHostage scenario, they willing keep from ending everything quickly to avoid complicated discussions.

* A form of PlotMandatedManualMode, the character IS capable of any of the flashy special effects but due to external circumstances is forced to restrain themselves. This could be due to a PowerNullifier or KryptoniteFactor, though KryptoniteIsEverywhere becomes suspect. It could also be due to a CoverBlowingSuperpower in a BruceWayneHeldHostage scenario, they willing keep from ending everything quickly to avoid complicated discussions.

* Characters with SuperStrength rarely lift anything that the actor couldn't lift [[StyrofoamRocks even if it was made of foam rubber]]. For a long time, [[MindOverMatter telekinesis-wielders]] were even more susceptible (can't lift anything that can't be carried by piano wires), but CGI models have taken a lot of the edge off.

** There's a bit of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness at play as well. The Force in the original ''Star Wars'' was very different from what it later became. Jedi were more like the Bene Gesserit of ''Dune'', with a bunch of mental tricks to enhance their own performance and influence the minds of others, but with no overt power over the physical world. Even Darth Vader [[PsychicStrangle choking Admiral Motti]] was supposed to be a mental compulsion to stop breathing rather than physical strangulation. This is why people like Han Solo think the Force is 'simple tricks and nonsense'. It wasn't until ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' that things like telekinesis and physical enhancement started being added to the Jedi repertoire, making Han's statement seem more out of place with each installment.

** Unlike in the comics, where he's essentially "naked," Cyborg usually wears tracksuits or hoodies in the show. This means that it's not unusual for his face and hands to be the only robotic parts of his body that are visible to the audience, presumably saving time and money for the makeup and costuming departments.

* In a non-powers case of this, ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' ends up losing his guns and ammo in time for the final battle in ''Film/Deadpool2016''. By some accounts, this is because the film had a pretty low budget, enough that a big gunfight at the end would blow it.

* The ''Film/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' pilot movie does this for a lot of the characters, but ''especially'' Comicbook/GreenLantern. In the comics, his [[RingOfPower Power Ring]] is capable of conjuring up anything he can imagine, while in the film, he conveniently sticks to creating easy-to-render items like chainsaws and umbrellas. Yes. Umbrellas. These are expressed by having the actor hold something and then it being given a green glow effect.

* ComicBook/{{Storm|MarvelComics}} and Comicbook/JeanGrey both used their powers far more cautiously in the 2000-2006 ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' trilogy than in their animated or comic versions. Prolonged flight and telekinesis are still very difficult to film. Not to mention beings made of living ice or metal. Iceman doesn't become a full-fledged X-Man until the [[Film/XMenTheLastStand third film]], likely just so he won't have to use his powers to their fullest, with ice slides, ice projectiles, and ice armor. (He does learn how to do the ice armor at the end of the third film, but it's only shown for about ten seconds.) Also, Comicbook/{{Colossus}} only takes on his metal form ''just'' as something is about to hit him or he needs to use his strength. Tellingly by the time of ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' and ''Film/Deadpool2016'', CGI technology had advanced enough to show all the X-Men really cutting loose with their powers.
* In a non-powers case of this, ''Film/Deadpool2016'' ends up losing his guns and ammo in time for the final battle. By some accounts, this is because the film had a pretty low budget, enough that a big gunfight at the end would blow it.

* In ''Series/Supergirl2015,'' Kara takes to the skies frequently but Martian shapeshifting gets the coconut treatment. You'll never see the Comicbook/MartianManhunter use his shapeshifting powers to the same extent he does in comics or animation, taking on forms like dinosaurs and giant snakes and such. Instead, he's strictly a FlyingBrick in combat, with shapeshifting used exclusively to allow him to spend most of his time looking like his actor (even in scenes with only people who know who he is.) At one point, he and Supergirl are helping some renegade White Martians who want to overthrow their genocidal kin. ''Kara is the only non-Martian present'' and yet everyone takes on human forms because... reasons. The biggest instance of this is probably in a scene where Dreamer is helping Jonn figure out some of his family baggage by letting him revist an old memory of his childhood on Mars and everyone there looks like human children. He even rightfully points out that they didn't use human forms on Mars so that couldn't be accurate and Dreamer's justification is that her brain is projecting the dream and she doesn't know what a Martian child looks like so that's the best her subconsious can do.

Coconut Superpowers are for the most part only averted successfully in fully 2D-animated shows. It's often not a concern in films, as they usually have larger budgets (though it can still happen; some actions are still hard to animate).

** Elasti-Woman doesn't use her powers to [[SizeShifter turn gigantic]] like she does in the comics, and instead mostly sticks to stretching her limbs. [[spoiler: She finally manages to morph into her giant form in the Season 3 finale, but it remains to be seen how frequently she'll utilize this transformation going forward.]]

** Black Bolt is made into an AdaptationalWimp. While he still has his trademark [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic scream]], his SuperStrength is greatly reduced (taking him down from being a FlyingBrick to a guy who gets overpowered by human police officers) and he cannot fly or fire electron blasts.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The animated equivalent of Coconut Superpowers is something difficult and expensive to animate, such as an accurate depiction of people playing musical instruments. One of the main criticisms against ''Manga/KOn'' is not only that it's about a high school rock band who avoid practicing as much as possible, but even when they do play, most of the time the camera cuts away just as they begin and cuts back when they finish. This is especially {{JustForFun/egregious}} because ''K-ON!'' is produced by Creator/KyotoAnimation, who had previously animated an astonishingly good scene of a rock band performance in ''[[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. There's a rumor that the animators got so bored/exhausted animating the latter that they don't want to animate any more band scenes, but that just presents the question of why they would then do a series about a band.
[[/folder]]

* Both of Arnie's ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian'' films contain wizard characters of immense power, who are nonetheless rather non-flashy.

** Speaking of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars,'' we see the Maximals in the earliest scenes of the first episode in ''very'' close-up shots so they wouldn't have to have full pre-Earth designs that would only be seen for minutes.

** Unlike in the comics, where he's essentially "naked," ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} usually wears tracksuits or hoodies in the show. This means that it's not unusual for his face and hands to be the only robotic parts of his body that are visible to the audience, presumably saving time and money for the makeup and costuming departments.

* The oldest ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' film, made in 1900 and called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmffCrlgY-c Sherlock Holmes Baffled]]'', one minute long and originally made for the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutoscope mutoscope]], features a teleporting thief who simply disappears and reappears. It's notable for being an early use of teleportation special effects. In this case the effect wasn't achieved by cutting, but by using an a technique that had been invented only four years before and what was the first ever [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_effect motion picture effect]]: Physically stopping the camera recording, having the actor playing the thief leave or reenter the set while the actor playing Holmes froze in place for a moment, then having the camera start recording again and the actor(s) start moving again.

* In ''Series/Supergirl2015,'' Kara takes to the skies frequently but Martian shapeshifting gets the coconut treatment. You'll never see the Comicbook/MartianManhunter use his shapeshifting powers to the same extent he does in comics or animation, taking on forms like dinosaurs and giant snakes and such. Instead, he's strictly a FlyingBrick in combat, with shapeshifting used exclusively to allow him to spend most of his time looking like his actor (even in scenes with only people who know who he is.) At one point, he and Supergirl are helping some renegade White Martians who want to overthrow their genocidal kin. ''Kara is the only non-Martian present'' and yet everyone takes on human forms because... reasons.

* Parodied in a ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' DVD Extra, with a horribly low-budget [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe animated show]] in which most superpower use is just off-screen. Made even funnier in the commentary on the DVD, which is made by Frozone and Mr. Incredible themselves. Frozone is less than impressed. That cartoon was a parody of ''WesternAnimation/ClutchCargo'', a series from the late 1950s which also used SynchroVox.

** This is also why so many early Pixar films deal with subjects that are easier to animate than [[UnintentionalUncannyValley humans with normal proportions, hair, and clothing]]. [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory1 Toys]] are supposed to look like plastic, [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife bugs]] and [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]] are cartoonish and shiny-skinned, the vast majority of [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc monsters]] (with one or two big exceptions; many articles of the time talked about the work gone into rendering Sully) are hairless and look completely unrealistic anyway. Even ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' is steeped in a genre that basically goes hand-in-hand with exaggerated designs and tight spandex. It wasn't until their [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} eighth film]] that they felt comfortable doing an almost entirely human cast (with the only exceptions being covered in fur) wearing normal clothing and in a realistic urban setting for the entire film.

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}''

* ''Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}}'' did not have the CGI budget necessary to properly depict Shou-Lao the Undying, the massive dragon Danny Rand defeated in his comic book origin story. Instead, the only glimpse of Shou-Lao the audience ever gets are a pair of red eyes glowing inside a shadowy cave, and his fight with Danny takes place entirely offscreen.

* ''Series/JessicaJones'' changes the titular heroine's ability to fly to [[InASingleBound powerful jumps]], which she compares to "guided falling." Even then, this ability doesn't get a ton of play, saving money on the rigging and CGI that would be required to depict prolonged flight.

* The animated equivalent of Coconut Superpowers is something difficult and expensive to animate, such as an accurate depiction of people playing musical instruments. One of the main criticisms against ''Manga/KOn'' is not only that it's about a high school rock band who avoid practicing as much as possible, but even when they do play, most of the time the camera cuts away just as they begin and cuts back when they finish. This is especially {{JustForFun/egregious}} because ''K-ON!'' is produced by Creator/KyotoAnimation, who had previously animated an astonishingly good scene of a rock band performance in ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. There's a rumor that the animators got so bored/exhausted animating the latter that they don't want to animate any more band scenes, but that just presents the question of why they would then do a series about a band.