History Main / WondertwinPowers

* In ''{{Spyro}} 2: Ripto's Rage/Gateway to Glimmer'', in Scorch, the exiting cutscene shows siblings (twins? They don't say) Handel and Greta surrounded by armed soldiers in a castle. As the bad guys approach, Handel and Greta slowly move their hands together and when they join hands, their eyes turn red and they cast some sort of spell that knocks their enemies off the castle.

** As of Black and White, these abilities are no longer exclusive, Plus/Plus and Minus/Minus pairs still boost and can potentially be used to greater effect with the new Triple and Rotational battles. This is still a problem though, as none of the 3 new users are very good, and are fairly redundant with each other.
* In ''[[BackyardSports Backyard Baseball]]'', Ashley and Sidney Webber play much better when they are on the same team. They become the best pitchers in the game.
* ''{{Suikoden}}'' plays this with characters with look-alikes. Each pair can perform combinations when they're in the same team. ''SuikodenV'' has [[TheHero the Prince]] and Roy. ''[[SuikodenTierkreis Tierkreis]]'' has Marica and Another Marica.

* ''KillroyAndTina'' has the two main characters share super powers as long as they're within five kilometers of each other. They also suffer from {{Synchronization}}; if one dies, both die. This was actually done as ''punishment'', as a type of RestrainingBolt to keep an evil alien overlord tethered to an ordinary teenage girl, and therefore out of trouble. [[spoiler: Although it was also part of a scheme involving a StableTimeLoop, because the superhero who arranged this was actually a future version of Tina.]]

* Played with in ''{{Irredeemable}}'': twins Scylla and Charybdis initially only had powers when they were in close proximity to each other but it was later revealed to be untrue. Charybdis was the one with powers and Scylla was only ever borrowing from him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DrakPack'' by HannaBarbera, the three main characters can only shift from their human to their monstrous [[CursedWithAwesome (and super-powered)]] forms by touching each other... [[ByThePowerOfGrayskull and shouting]] "[[TotallyRadical Whacko!]]"

* Reversed in ''{{Hancock}}'', where once a pair of superheroes (a man and a woman) that were made for each other are united, they start losing their powers, so they can live [[IJustWantToBeNormal normal lives.]]

* On ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'', the Kids Next Door Code Module is protected by a dual key system that requires two operatives to give their authorization codes to access it.

* Más y Menos from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' were {{Fragile Speedster}}s whose powers depended on physical contact with each other (usually by pressing their palms together) or holding an electrical conductor between them. They themselves are arguably derived from the Tornado Twins of Creator/DCComics (who did not have this limitation).

* Rant and Rave of the ''MutantsAndMasterminds'' Freedom City supplement, are a brother/sister pair with sonic and visual distortion powers respectively, but can deploy a disintegration attack when physically touching.
* One ''DragonMagazine'' article introduced the Dvati, a race in which each individual member is actually a pair of twins who share a soul, to ''DungeonsAndDragons''. They have to act in unison to cast any spell.

* In ''Mindstar Rising'' (the sci-fi mystery novel by PeterFHamilton) the psi-boosted protagonist and his pre-cognitive partner are successfully ambushed when twin psychics are used to create a null-zone where their powers won't work.

* One of the earliest examples (from the 1940s) of this was DCComics' superhero duo ''TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite'', who had to touch their rings together (they had "positive" and "negative" charges) in order to activate their powers (superstrength and energy projection.)

* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' originally played with this trope by suggesting while Chibi-Usa's powers are mostly useless, using them with Usagi's similar ones results in something powerful. In the fourth season, this was taken further when they couldn't even transform or deliver a finishing attack without being together. Many fans cite this as a detriment to Usagi's role as the show's star, but also a plot device to handwave Chibi-Usa's increased screentime pushing out the main cast. Unlike ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'' and ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'', the noticeable age difference in the two made for some acrobatics to make sure the two [[MustHaveLotsOfFreeTime just happened to be together at the time]].

* In early "Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration" episodes, the phaser pistols could only work when activated by touching a pair of them together. Once someone noticed that this meant any solitary character was basically doomed, the feature was quietly dropped.

* In the young adult fantasy series ''Literature/TWitches'' main characters Camryn and Alex are powerful twin witches separated at birth whose powers become super-strong when they work together.

** In ''[[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]]'' and ''[[Anime/DigimonFrontier Frontier]]'' it seems they do this by killing each other and absorbing the loser's data. Even those seasons, though, have civilian Digimon of high levels, such as a Mega-level ''shopkeeper'' and ''old Jewish couple.'' (Well, the Jewish-ness may be limited to the English dub...)

* ''MiracleGirls'' fits the name so well that it might have been the trope namer. Mikage and Tomomi are identical twins (albeit with different hairstyles), who need to be in physical contact to teleport.
* The original versions of ''PrettyCure'' have individual powers of agility and strength, although nearly all of their magical attacks depended on contact with each other. It wasn't until ''YesPrecure5'' that the {{Magical Girl}}s could even transform by themselves.

* ''SailorMoon'' originally played with this trope by suggesting while Chibi-Usa's powers are mostly useless, using them with Usagi's similar ones results in something powerful. In the fourth season, this was taken further when they couldn't even transform or deliver a finishing attack without being together. Many fans cite this as a detriment to Usagi's role as the show's star, but also a plot device to handwave Chibi-Usa's increased screentime pushing out the main cast. Unlike ''FutariWaPrettyCure'' and ''FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'', the noticeable age difference in the two made for some acrobatics to make sure the two [[MustHaveLotsOfFreeTime just happened to be together at the time]].

* The [[DropTheHammer Goldion Crusher]] in ''GaoGaiGar FINAL'' requires the authorization of the GGG (from the key held by Chief Taiga) and the UN (the key held by Swan White). Plugging them both into a pair of circular consoles causes the consoles to form the kanji for "victory". There's also [[FusionDance Symmetrical Docking]]; an issue in the early series was deploying [=HyoRyu=] and [=EnRyu=], as the combiner [=ChoRyuJin=] was the only one who could operate the Eraser Head missile.
* Viola and Cesario from ''KiddyGrade''. Cesario's ability, "Driver", does nothing by itself, while Viola's power, "Calamity", can manipulate matter at the atomic level, but requires "Driver" as its energy source. (Tweedledee and Tweedledum also have an ability (Windstorm) that they can coordinate with each other, and in the last episode of season 1, [[spoiler:Eclair acts as a power source for Lumiere's Puppet ability]].
* Time travelers in ''NatsuNoArashi!'' depend on being close to each other to jump through time. As Arashi points out on her second trip, without someone else, she has no way to return to the present.
* Also reversed in ''{{Cyborg 009}}''. PsychoElectro 0010 turns out to be a pair of twins (+ and -) who ''die'' when forced to come into contact.
* The protagonists Black and White and the Dusk and Dawn brothers in ''{{TEKKONKINKREET}}''. Although its more of a spiritual connection than anything else.
* Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shuichirou in ''ThePrinceOfTennis'' are Seishun Gakuen's "Golden Pair" and later on in the series are able to perform [[spoiler:Synchronization, letting them move as one and basically becoming an unstoppable badass doubles team.]]
* Masao and Kazuo Tachibana in ''CaptainTsubasa'' with their Skylab combinations and Triangle Shoot. In the series, they are almost useless if they're not playing together.
* In ''TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer'', Yuki and Subaru have to hold hands to use their Strongest Spear and Strongest Shield powers.
* The twins from ''HeroicAge'' were two of the strongest human telekinetics but they could only use their powers when together, though not necessarily in contact. [[spoiler:Whether the limitation still existed after the departure of the Silver Tribe or due to force of habit they still joined hands to use their powers even after receiving a massive power boost.]]
* Campachino and Brindo from a ''OnePiece'' filler arc. They use an ability called Combination Play, in which they [[SelectiveMagnetism magnetically attract and repel each other]] and say that they can do it because of their "[[PowerOfLove brotherly love]]".
* ''HimeChenOtogiChikkuIdolLilpri'' the 3 girls must be together to transform into Lilpri, this forces them to get along.
* Rika and Satoko's finishing move in the MagicalGirl OVA episode of ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''.

* Rant and Rave of the ''MutantsAndMasterminds'' Freedom City supplement, are a brother/sister pair with sonic and visual distortion powers respectively, but can deploy a distintegration attack when physically touching.

* At least one version of the alien 'Blood Brothers' required them to be near each other in order to keep up their massive strength. IronMan once beat them by getting {{Daredevil}} to lure one away, so their individual strength dropped.

* Masao and Kazuo Tachibana in ''CaptainTsubasa'' with their Skylab combinations and Triangle Shoot. Plays even straighter in VideoGame adaptions where they must be together to be any useful.

* Maya and Alejandro Herrera from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' are playing with this trope - Maya's deadly poison emission is countered and neutralized by Alejandro's power, making them sort of like the Wonder Twins stuck on "Form of Mass Murder!" "Shape of {{Retcon}}!"

** Actually the only Planeteer who is ''absolutely'' necessary to form Captain Planet is Ma-Ti. There was an episode (the name escapes me but it does exist) where Linka and Wheeler were abducted by aliens that collected endangered species to house in a sanctuary on their home planet. The remaining Planeteers were still able to create Captain Planet (admittedly he couldn't fly but they did manage to create him).

* Shotaro Hidari and Phillip from ''KamenRiderDouble'' have to transform at the same time to form the titular Rider. The psychic connection powers of their TransformationTrinket let them easily do this even from across town, but if Phillip is unconscious, being chased, or just has something better to do, then Shotaro is screwed.

[[quoteright:236:[[SuperFriends http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wonder_Twin_Powers_Activate_5653.jpg]]]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* The {{Trope Namer}}s are the ShapeShifting WonderTwins Zan and Jayna from ''[[{{Superfriends}} The All-New Superfriends Hour]]''. When they [[HandshakeSubstitute bumped fists]] to activate their powers, Zan could change into various forms of water/ice, while Jayna could transform into animals.
** Sadly the writers were either unable or forbidden to come up with [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway actual, useful applications for their powers]]. Their counterparts from the Superfriends comics of the time were much better with their powers.
* Más y Menos from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' were {{Fragile Speedster}}s whose powers depended on physical contact with each other (usually by pressing their palms together) or holding an electrical conductor between them. They themselves are arguably derived from the Tornado Twins of DCComics (who did not have this limitation).
** Watch Thunder and Lightning make it rain. You know. Literally. However, each is individually powered as well.
* Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy of ''SpongebobSquarepants'' are a parody of this, with them yelling "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Unite!" before activating their powers.

'''Examples:'''

* Aurora and Northstar of ''AlphaFlight'' have {{Flight}} and SuperSpeed individually, but can emit bursts of light and heat when touching.

** The biggest proof of this is Gatomon: since she didn't get to meet her partner early enough, she had to survive all by herself. As a result she evolved naturally, and her Adult form is her standard form, meaning she doesn't need her partner's power to keep it that way. However, going beyond it does require her partner's help. Later seasons would have partners of all stages.