History Main / SensingYouAreOutmatched

** Gouki Shibukawa as part of his training gained an ability to see visions of barriers between him and superior opponnents, which should allow him to be "technically" invincible by being able to steer away from fighting someone better...if he wasn't such a BloodKnight he frequently ignores these warnings. They manifest as giant gate when he faces Jack Hanma in Annihilation Tournament. When he is later hunting for his old rival Yanagi, he sees increasingly more over the top visions, like a whole sea or a giant chasm, as he is getting closer, much to his confusion, since he knows Yanagi is not that strong. Once he arrives, he discovers Yanagi has already been defeated by [[WorldsStrongestMan Yujiroh Hanma]].

** Doring the fight between [[CoolVersusAwesome Picke the Caveman and ressurected Miyamoto Musashi]], Pickle flees after continous strugle makes him realize he won't be able to kill this man, which his instinc-driven mind communicated by halucinating Musashi [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes a giant wasp]].

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Invoked when [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0935.html Vaarsuvius simply informs Laurin how many spells s/he has remaining]], trusting that she'll be able to work out what this means about their respective power levels and remaining resources from that and what she's already seen V do. She does, and promptly [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere teleports away]].

This is the trope for when a fighter bows out of a battle he/she can't win, or at least knows that his/her enemy is much stronger than they look. Perhaps it's because he or she is WeakButSkilled, and has a [[AwesomenessByAnalysis keen enough eye to see why the other dude is much more powerful than they currently are]]. Or maybe their StatOVision lets them recognize that their enemy's PowerLevel is [[MemeticMutation over]] ''[[Anime/DragonBallZ 9,000]]!'' Whatever the case, they knows they can't win, or at least know that UnderestimatingBadassery is a very bad idea for those in love with tomorrow.

** Averting this is the entire point of continually suppressing one's mana, which spell-casters use gauge each other's magical strength (it's only one measure of it, but an easily visible one that typically corresponds with experience). Demons use mana to determine their own hierarchy and find it unthinkable to conceal it except for short-term stealth purposes, and as such are easily tricked into exposing themselves to stronger opponents if their mana appears much less.

* In ''Manga/FrierenBeyondJourneysEnd'', Stark is revered by his village for staring down a dragon and getting it to back off, when actually he was just too scared to move and has no idea why it left. Stark is really an incredibly powerful warrior and the dragon fled because it could sense his strength without him doing anything to indicate it and though he wasn't even aware of it himself.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

-->-- ''Wii U - Nintendo Treehouse: Live with Videogame/XenobladeChroniclesX''

This is the trope for when a fighter bows out of a battle he/she can't win, or at least knows that his/her enemy is much stronger than they look. Perhaps it's because he or she is WeakButSkilled, and has a [[AwesomenessByAnalysis keen enough eye to see why the other dude is much more powerful than they currently are]]. Or maybe his/her StatOVision lets him/her recognize that his/her enemy's PowerLevel is [[MemeticMutation Over]] [[Anime/DragonBallZ 9000!]] Whatever the case, he/she knows he/she can't win, or at least knows that UnderestimatingBadassery is a very bad idea for those in love with breathing.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': The MasterSwordsman Dark Cloud and her fellow sword-saint Pale Bolt once met a warrior named Yaun when they were hired to reinforce a garrison of twenty thousand that Yaun [[OneManArmy was single-handedly besieging and killing five thousand of every day]]. After a quick cursory glance at [[AtopAMountainOfCorpses Yaun's handiwork]], both swordsmen immediately sheathe their swords when Yaun asks them if they're here to fight him.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': The MasterSwordsman-in-training Dark Cloud and her fellow student Pale Bolt once met a warrior named Yaun, the Lion of the Dead Men, when they were hired to reinforce a garrison of twenty thousand that Yaun [[OneManArmy was single-handedly besieging and killing five thousand of every day]]. After a quick cursory glance at [[AtopAMountainOfCorpses Yaun's handiwork]], both swordsmen immediately sheathe their swords when Yaun asks them if they're here to fight him.

* In RealLife (and for any situation, not just sizing up an opponent) this is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. More specifically, that it means skilled people are both more able to recognise skill in others, tend to underestimate their own skill and often make the mistake of assuming others are equally skilled (less skilled people [[SmallNameBigEgo are the opposite]]).
* A story goes that a captured Japanese officer in WW2 realized just how badly Japan was screwed on seeing the Americans set up an airstrip in a few hours using bulldozers when the Japanese needed days of slave labor to do the same thing.

** When [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Head Captain]] [[OldSoldier Yamamoto]] faces off with Kyoraku and Ukitake, the sheer magnitude of his spiritual power causes Nanao to suffer a full-blown panic attack.

* In RealLife (and for any situation, not just sizing up an opponent) this is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. More specifically, that it means skilled people are both more able to recognise skill in others, tend to underestimate their own skill and often make the mistake of assuming others are equally skilled (less skilled people [[SmallNameBigEgo are the opposite)]].

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, the mutant Darwin has the ability to possess [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands whatever power is necessary to survive a given situation]]. In one instance, Darwin finds himself facing off with The ComicBook/IncredibleHulk [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk after the green giant had just returned from Sakaar]] and was angrier and stronger than ever before. Darwin's ability does indeed allow him to survive the encounter... [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere by immediately teleporting him several states away before the fight even starts]].

This is the trope for when a fighter bows out of a battle he/she can't win, or at least knows that his enemy is much stronger than they look. Perhaps it's because he or she is WeakButSkilled, and has a [[AwesomenessByAnalysis keen enough eye to see why the other dude is so powerful]]. Or maybe his StatOVision lets him recognize that his enemy's PowerLevel is [[MemeticMutation Over]] [[Anime/DragonBallZ 9000!]] Whatever the case, he knows he can't win, or at least knows that UnderestimatingBadassery is a bad idea for those in love with breathing.

This is the trope for when a fighter bows out of a battle he can't win, or at least knows that his enemy is much stronger than they look. Perhaps it's because he or she is WeakButSkilled, and has a [[AwesomenessByAnalysis keen enough eye to see why the other dude is so powerful]]. Or maybe his StatOVision lets him recognize that his enemy's PowerLevel is [[MemeticMutation Over]] [[Anime/DragonBallZ 9000!]] Whatever the case, he knows he can't win, or at least knows that UnderestimatingBadassery is a bad idea for those in love with breathing.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. This dude is smart enough to realize that his opponent is not someone to be trifled with and wisely decided to stay on guard. %%The Result? Well what did you expect? It's Evangeline.

* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Suzaku, with his Geass to live no matter what, senses that an opponent who seems to be easy, has his Geass screaming in his head to run. Turns out the opponent had [[spoiler:a Geass of his own, that let him see a few seconds into the future, and was able to deflect any attack against him.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** The series follows the same trend as ''Manga/DragonBall'' by having characters gauge each other based on sensing the others spiritual pressure. If someone has an OhCrap reaction, it's usually a good indication that they're out of their league.
** When [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Head Captain]] [[OldSoldier Yamamoto]] faces off with Kyoraku and Ukitake, the sheer magnitude of his spiritual power causes Nanao to suffer a full-blown panic attack.
** Defied during the final battle between Ichigo and Ulquiorra. The fourth Espada takes his power level through the roof to [[KneelBeforeZod demoralize]] Ichigo, but the hero already knew going in that Ulquiorra was way stronger than him and decided it didn't matter because there was too much riding on the battle for him to back down.
** Inverted in the case of Kisuke and Isshin facing Sosuke Aizen, and being utterly unable to sense his power. The fact that they can't sense it even though the guy's obviously strong is an indication that he is WAY out of their league, no matter how much energy they manage to release. Only someone who could sense it would have the potential to match him. This later gets turned around on Aizen when he can't sense Ichigo's power despite Ichigo clearly displaying his own abilities and suffers a VillainousBreakdown when he realizes what that means for him.
* ''Manga/FairyTail''. In the S-Class Exam, [[PersonOfMassDestruction Gildarts]] unleashes his [[BattleAura full power]] in order to [[AnAesop teach]] [[TheDeterminator Natsu]] to do this. Natsu briefly tries to charge Gildarts but is quickly forced to admit defeat.

* In ''Fanfic/FantasyOfUtterRidiculousness'', Yuuka unleashing her ''[[VideoGame/TouhouGensokyoLotusLandStory Lotus Land Story]]'' attack patterns are what convinces Megas's crew to finish their tasks ''another'' day when things had settled down. Yuuka doesn't let them leave, however, and after she presses Coop's BerserkButton he decides to finish the fight anyway.

* ''Fanfic/MoreThanEnemies'': Danzo tries to score brownie points to his beloved sensei, Tobirama Senju, by "suggesting" he fights against his supposed student, [[spoiler: Río]], in order to prevent Tobirama's revived self to slaughter the rest of the Konoha nin. Though Danzo's subordinate is a very resourceful and skillful kunoichi herself, she knows she's no match for the Second Hokage. Therefore, she [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this trope and flees. Unfortunately, Tobirama chases after her and she has to resource to every unexpected and/or dirty trick under her sleeve just to avoid dying, never mind actually landing a blow on him.

* In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', [[MasterSwordsman Count Dooku]] challenges [[BigGood Yoda]] to a lightsaber duel after [[CurbStompBattle wiping the floor with]] Obi-Wan and Anakin, in that order. He holds his own but decides to flee when he's unable to defeat his old master.

* In ''Series/{{Justified}}'' Rayland is a CowboyCop and FearlessFool who tends to take risks and succeed because he is more skilled and determined than his opponents. However, when he tries to intimidate Limehouse into giving him information, he ends up in an armed standoff with Limehouse's men. Rayland realizes that Limehouse is one of the few criminals in the area who are not only unafraid to kill a U.S. Marshall but are also capable of making the Marshall's body disappear without a trace. Realizing that he cannot bully or bluff Limehousem, he instead appeals to Limehouse's honor so they can end the standoff peacefully. It is one of the few times on the show that Rayland is really scared for his life.

--> '''Michael:''' [[OhCrap Ohh, damn.]]

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': In the Fate Route, [[AdultChild Fujimura Taiga]] challenges [[LadyOfWar Saber]] to a Kendo duel. Despite her ditz tendencies, Taiga is a MasterSwordsman. Unfortunately for her, Saber is [[spoiler: [[GenderFlip King Arthur]]]], so she disarms Taiga with ease. Taiga is skilled enough to see the difference in strength. [[BlatantLies She takes it well.]]