History Main / MidSeasonUpgrade

** The last 2 episodes of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury's first season/cour has the Gundam Aerial being repaired and upgraded into Gundam Aerial Rebuild. With the story continuing on second season/cour, it's a sure thing that Aerial will either receive more upgrades or it will be replaced by a successor unit instead (and if that's the case, said successor will receive its own upgrades too).

*** Marida gets this twice, as after she stops piloting the Banshee, she goes back to her old Kyshatria- Which has then been upgraded into the Kyshatria Besserung/Reparied, replacing the damaged funnel pods and leg with fuel pods and a [[GatlingGood beam Gatling]], and also adding a [[AnAxeToGrind beam axe]] for good measure.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' downplays it considerably compared to other Gundam shows, Mikazuki goes through 6 different Barbatos forms throughout the entirety of Season 1 and another two versions for Season 2, but they are all the same basic machine with different armor and weapons packages. It's original deployment was very bare bones, adopting shoulder armor from its first defeated Graze for its second major encounter, and otherwise constantly being refitted and modified after every battle. The Barbatos Lupus in season two is a more thorough upgrade using corporate resources to make it tuned to become a true AceCustom catering to Mikazuki's combat style. Barbatos Lupus Rex is one final upgrade after Barbatos Lupus was severely damaged [[spoiler: in the fight against the Mobile Armor Hashmal. It uses the tail blade mechanism from the Mobile Armor to become truly one of a kind even for Gundams]].

** Some systems can recieve quiet upgrades. The most notables are the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, the former getting better chips to allow for better handling of graphics and the former for better battery life.

* The tradition of upgrades returns for ''Anime/GundamBuildDivers'', though this is a slow going, really.
** Riku is the first. After his Gundam 00 Diver Ace is totally wrecked in an actual Gunpla Duel against the Astray No-Name, he rebuilds it into the 00 Sky, which uses parts from other Gundams such as the Destiny Gundam.

** Yukki, after going through some needed CharacterDevelopment, replaces the GM III Beam Master with the Jegan Blast Master, a heavy ordnance variation of the RGM-89 Jegan which includes various heavy beam weapons up to and including twin Satellite Cannons.
** Ogre replaces the Ogre GN-X with the GP-Ratsu, a heavily modified [=GP-02A=] "Physallis" with a GN Drive and wired-mounted arms.
** Emilia and Karuna both replace their Clanche Customs with customized Impulse Gundams, the Impulse Arc and Impulse Lancier.
* And it keeps going with ''Anime/GundamBuildDiversReRise''.
** Hiroto upgrades the Core Gundam into the Core Gundam II, giving it flight capabilities.
** Kazami, concluding his heavily needed CharacterDevelopment, replaces the Justice Knight with the much powerful Aegis Knight, going in reverse in units (The Justice Knight was based off of the Infinite Justice, the Aegis Knight based off of the Aegis.)

** The tradition of upgrades returns for ''Anime/GundamBuildDivers'', though this is a slow going, really.
*** Riku is the first. After his Gundam 00 Diver Ace is totally wrecked in an actual Gunpla Duel against the Astray No-Name, he rebuilds it into the 00 Sky, which uses parts from other Gundams such as the Destiny Gundam.
*** Ayame, [[spoiler:once she performs her HeelFaceTurn and fully joins Force Build Divers]], modifies her RX-Zeromaru, giving it a new paint job, a taller build and some new weaponry.
*** Yukki, after going through some needed CharacterDevelopment, replaces the GM III Beam Master with the Jegan Blast Master, a heavy ordnance variation of the RGM-89 Jegan which includes various heavy beam weapons up to and including twin Satellite Cannons.
*** Ogre replaces the Ogre GN-X with the GP-Ratsu, a heavily modified [=GP-02A=] "Physallis" with a GN Drive and wired-mounted arms.
*** Emilia and Karuna both replace their Clanche Customs with customized Impulse Gundams, the Impulse Arc and Impulse Lancier.
** And it keeps going with ''Anime/GundamBuildDiversReRise''.
*** Hiroto upgrades the Core Gundam into the Core Gundam II, giving it flight capabilities.
*** Kazami, concluding his heavily needed CharacterDevelopment, replaces the Justice Knight with the much powerful Aegis Knight, going in reverse in units (The Justice Knight was based off of the Infinite Justice, the Aegis Knight based off of the Aegis.)

** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Gundam Unicorn]]'' doesn't have the upgrade ''at all'', something that hasn't happened since the first series. While the titular mobile suit does get stronger, it's either through a MechaExpansionPack in the form of a ridiculous amount of heavy ordinance and two massive boosters, or pilot Banagher upgrading its SuperMode by [[TookALevelInBadass coming into his Newtype powers.]] The Unicorn itself is exactly the same mecha from beginning to end.

** Because ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' was [[CutAndPasteTranslation utilizing multiple Sentai shows]], the new weapons and mecha were functional mostly for running out of footage of the previous mecha. In a form of LuckyTranslation, the similarities in mecha designs between Zyuranger and Dairanger made for a near seemless evolution between the dinozords and the thunderzords.

* In ''[[Film/TheDarkKnight]]'' Batman is still using his suit from ''Film/BatmanBegins'' at the beginning of the film, but after a suit malfunction during an encounter with Scarecrow, Bruce asks Lucius Fox for a more flexible suit that allows him more mobility, such as turning his head.

* A rare, mythological version exists. In Arthurian legend, Myth/KingArthur pulled the Clarent (a.k.a. the Sword on the Stone) successfully to become king of England. Said sword got destroyed in battle, but he was able to receive the better and the more famous Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake.

[[folder:Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder:Live Action Television]]

[[folder:Video Games ]]

[[folder:Western Animation ]]

* A rare Children's example is WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends' colleague Henry The Green Engine. In the famous Flying Kipper episode he crashes and is rebuilt from a cartoonishly designed locomotive into a Black Five; a locomotive design that is historically the best mixed traffic locomotive ever built. This move by the Rev. Awdry was due to his original illustrator not knowing much about steam engine designs.

* A very unintentional one happens in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Numberjacks}} episode "Three Things Good": Three has gone out on a few missions with Five and Six prior to this episode, and she was due to go out with Four during this episode, but the launcher breaks and she's on her own. This may have been enough to convince Four, Five and Six to let her go out on her own in later episodes.

[[folder:Others ]]

*** He goes UpToEleven in ''Film/IronMan3''. Building new suits became his coping mechanism to deal with the PTSD of his near-death experience in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', reaching ''42'' suits. He found comfort in tinkering around his workshop, but the problem became a lack of proper testing and faulty mechanics.

Despite the name this does not exclusively come "mid season," but may be introduced in the beginning of the second season, at the beginning of the second movie, or after a HardWorkMontage the new toy is ready for a movies climactic battle.

** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' has Tony using the Mark IV armor from the end of the second movie, but is forced to use a mostly untested Mark VII for the climax. SHIELD gives ComicBook/CaptainAmerica a new, modern uniform to replace his World War II outfit.

In a series dealing with mecha (or CoolShip / CoolCar), typically anime, it's common for the important machines to be upgraded with a MechaExpansionPack with a MeaningfulRename or replaced with a brand new version about halfway through the storyline. The original is either damaged, destroyed, served as the base skeleton of the new model or retired entirely because of [[LensmanArmsRace the escalating technology of the conflict]].

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Film]]

[[folder: Live Action Television]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Others ]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' takes its sweet time with upgrading its main heroes. Jaune is the first in Volume 4, who gets a new set of armor and upgrades Crocea Mors to be able to turn into a zweihander. In Volume 7, ''everyone'' gets upgrades as [[spoiler:they are now officially Huntsmen and Huntresses]]. Crocea Mors's shield is upgraded further to add a DeflectorShield function, magnetically attach to his armor and act as a glider; Ren's [=StormFlower=] now can double as chain whips ''a la'' [[Franchise/GodOfWar Kratos' famed weapons]]; Ruby's Crescent Rose's scythe head now pivots for new angles of attack; Weiss' Myrtnaster can now shoot without using glyphs; and Yang's Ember Celica now adds in sticky bombs. So far, we have yet to see what the upgraded Gambol Shroud and Magnhild can do.

* A frequent occurrence in ''Franchise/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', first with Nanoha and Fate adopting the cartridge system in ''A's''. It's usually accompanied by a new TransformationSequence for the characters as well. In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' the devices had limiters and were actually capable of doing things like the dagger mode of Cross Mirage as early as the time the Forwards had received them. The only sort of upgrade that happens to them is Mach Caliber being tweaked to better support Subaru.

->'''Nadi:''' ''"Ugh, we just got Barbatos Lupus up and running, it's already in this sorry state. I wish you would show more restraint with your gear. So, how did Lupus do out there?"''\\
'''Mikazuki:''' ''"Lupus?"''\\
'''Nadi:''' ''"You know good and well that's the new name Teiwaz's chief mechanic gave it."''\\
'''Mikazuki:''' ''"Barbatos is the Barbatos. The repairs were good."''\\
'''Nadi:''' ''"You never change..."''

** While not a full-fledged replacement, the ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' having its "limiter" removed, which gives it even more ways to destroy things and activate its deadliest weapon: The Moonlight Butterfly.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': [[Anime/TransformersArmada The]] [[Anime/TransformersEnergon Unicron]] [[Anime/TransformersCybertron Trilogy]] was built on this trope.
** In ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' [[spoiler: Smokescreen]] is killed messily, but Red Alert makes a new body for him. Later a number of the cast members supposedly get "upgrades", but they're mostly repaints.
** The QuirkyMinibossSquad of Tidal Wave (later Mirage), Cyclonus (later Snowcat) and Demolishor (who is...still Demolishor) get new bodies in''Anime/TransformersEnergon''. The repaint issue shows up again.
** Overhaul gets upgraded to the lion Leobreaker in ''Anime/TransformersCybertron''. Red Alert, Hot Shot, and Scattorshot are given new bodies when they become the Cybertron Defense Team.