History RequiredSecondaryPowers / LiveACtionTV

* The Creator/{{Syfy}} show ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' is built on this trope, or more precisely showing what happens when you don't have them. The title characters are shown as a drastic mutation in the human genome, but their bodies and minds have to adjust dramatically to accommodate their powers. You can read electromagnetic signals? Great, but that means you brain is now mostly a data processor, eating up the neurons used for emotional neural paths, making you severely autistic. One girl has enhanced senses. She's a neat freak because she ''can see bacteria'', CantHaveSexEver because it would overload her sense of touch/taste, and when she supercharges one of them, all other senses shut down because her brain can't handle the information. Bill can trigger his Flight-or-Fight response to become super strong, but has a HairTriggerTemper and usinghis powers is bad for his heart. Cornell Scipio has a PlayingWithFire-esque power, but only his hands are fireproof. The rest of his body can be burned, same as anyone else. Stanton Parrish is immortal, but he suffers TheFogOfAges effect because his brain isn't built to hold 200+ years worth of memories at one time. He counters this by using an Alpha who can store and retrieve the memories of others at will. Said Alpha also suffers from a lack of RequiredSecondaryPowers: He has no way to distinguish between the memories he has in storage and his ''actual'' memories, making him something of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.

* The Creator/{{Syfy}} show ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' is built on this trope, or more precisely showing what happens when you don't have them. The title characters are shown as a drastic mutation in the human genome, but their bodies and minds have to adjust dramatically to accommodate their powers. You can read electromagnetic signals? Great, but that means you brain is now mostly a data processor, eating up the neurons used for emotional neural paths, making you severely autistic. One girl has enhanced senses. She's a neat freak because she ''can see bacteria'', CantHaveSexEver because it would overload her sense of touch/taste, and when she supercharges one of them, all other senses shut down because her brain can't handle the information. Bill can trigger his Flight-or-Fight response to become super strong, but has a HairTriggerTemper and using his powers is bad for his heart. Cornell Scipio has a PlayingWithFire-esque power, but only his hands are fireproof. The rest of his body can be burned, same as anyone else. Stanton Parrish is immortal, but he suffers TheFogOfAges effect because his brain isn't built to hold 200+ years worth of memories at one time. He counters this by using an Alpha who can store and retrieve the memories of others at will. Said Alpha also suffers from a lack of RequiredSecondaryPowers: He has no way to distinguish between the memories he has in storage and his ''actual'' memories, making him something of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.

** He was also cold due to much of the heat passing around him. Somehow, however, he was able to freeze a bomb in the second episode but doesn't turn into a HumanPopsicle every time he goes invisible.

* The SyFy show ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' is built on this trope, or more precisely showing what happens when you don't have them. The title characters are shown as a drastic mutation in the human genome, but their bodies and minds have to adjust dramatically to accommodate their powers. You can read electromagnetic signals? Great, but that means you brain is now mostly a data processor, eating up the neurons used for emotional neural paths, making you severely autistic. One girl has enhanced senses. She's a neat freak because she ''can see bacteria'', CantHaveSexEver because it would overload her sense of touch/taste, and when she supercharges one of them, all other senses shut down because her brain can't handle the information. Bill can trigger his Flight-or-Fight response to become super strong, but has a HairTriggerTemper and using his powers is bad for his heart. Cornell Scipio has a PlayingWithFire-esque power, but only his hands are fireproof. The rest of his body can be burned, same as anyone else. Stanton Parrish is immortal, but he suffers TheFogOfAges effect because his brain isn't built to hold 200+ years worth of memories at one time. He counters this by using an Alpha who can store and retrieve the memories of others at will. Said Alpha also suffers from a lack of RequiredSecondaryPowers: He has no way to distinguish between the memories he has in storage and his ''actual'' memories, making him something of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.

* On SciFiChannel's ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'' series, the "Quicksilver" coating warped/blocked out all visible light, but converted ultraviolet passing through it into wavelengths that Darien could see. When invisible, Darien can still see, just in black and white. Not only that, he can see ''other'' invisible people and vice-versa. Occasionally, he would only cover his eyes in the Quicksilver rather than going entirely invisible for the effect. And to [[CoconutSuperpowers save money on effects]].

*** "Still not [[RedHeadedHero ginger]]!"

* In ''Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles'', Terminators don't need to breathe; that also means they can't take air into their lungs to float like humans can, and sink in deep water. Terminators that need to infiltrate human society also cannot weigh much more than humans, which is especially important for ones that have to pretend to be lightweight, small human women, like Cameron. That also makes them very easy for other Terminators to pick up and throw around and reduces their physical strength, meaning a Terminator like Cameron can't win a straight slugging match. A Terminator's mechanical nature means that it cannot heal physical damage like a human can and must keep a stockpile of parts to repair itself, and damage to its neural chip means that it cannot repair damage to its programming ''at all''.
* Series/PainkillerJane [[AvertedTrope averts]] the HealingFactor version (and is also a NonIndicativeName): Jane can heal herself, but has no super tolerance for pain and has to endure every minute of the pain associated with the injury she receives. However, she does become more resistant to pain and is able to avoid showing the pain, which she does when she's trying to convince a Neuro that he is being HoistByHisOwnPetard (she shoots her hand and shows it to him as the damage is repaired without any reaction on her face).

** The problem they were having with the Extermis component (the newest among many attempts to recreate the [[CaptainAmerica Super Serum]]) was that while it gave large amounts of strength, it also had the minor side effect to cause users to ''explode'' when angry.

* Partially averted in the made for TV movie ''Stan Lee's Lightspeed'', in which the titular [[SuperSpeed speedster]] ([[AmbiguousSyntax Lightspeed, not]] StanLee) gets windburn if he uses his powers without a special protective suit (which, by the way, he purchased at an ordinary sporting goods store) and quickly depletes all of his energy if he doesn't regularly take special nutrition supplements. Also, his base of operations for the duration of the film is the hospital room where he's still recovering from mild radiation poisoning as a result of [[ILoveNuclearPower his origin]].

* Possible subversion in ''{{Smallville}}'': in a cliffhanger where Clark loses his powers near the end, a doctor must save his life by injecting him with a substance via syringe. Clark's parents (unaware that he has lost his powers) are terrified that the doctor will discover their son's secret, as they expect him to be invulnerable to needles in much the same way that he is invulnerable to bullets. However, the needle goes in fine, because of the loss of his powers.

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': A king manages to trap death, meaning no one can die. Which sounds great, unless you're in horrible pain from a terminal injury or illness. Hades asks our heroines to save death in order to save mankind from eternal suffering.

* Both the UK BeingHuman and the USA/Canada BeingHumanRemake feature werewolves who transform from human to wolf at the full moon. While conservation of mass seems to be ignored, the werewolves do not get the benefit of pain resistance in transformation, as it has been pointed out multiple times that the transformation involves each of the body's organs failing as it transitions from man to beast. A 39-year-old werewolf in the remake seems to be well into his sixties on account of having a heart attack once a month since he was 14. The only thing saving the werewolves is the secondary healing factor, dependent on the ''natural'' transformation; [[spoiler:should a werewolf somehow start the transformation outside of the full moon, he will not survive the organ failure, which George discovers in the UK version]].

* ''NoOrdinaryFamily'' includes a few examples of imperfect powers. In one episode, Jim tries to stop a moving car, but his super strength and invulnerability are not enough to overcome a car's momentum. This results in him getting run over repeatedly. Stephanie is depicted as consuming huge amounts of food to fuel her super-speed. She also trips and tumbles for hundreds of meters when she tries reading a text message while super-running. There's also a bit of [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] going on, with Stephanie's assistant spouting the number of laws of physics that are being broken (Why doesn't the friction burn off her clothes? Shouldn't the sand destroy her corneas at that speed? How is she compensating for the wind shear?).

** The problem they were having with the Extermis component (the newest among many attempts to recreate the [[CaptainAmerica Super Serum]]) was that while it gave large amounts of strength, it also had the minor side effect to cause users to ''explode'' when angry.

* One episode of ''{{Series/Eureka}}'' dealt with a serum giving the user SuperSpeed, but like the DarkerThanBlack example above, the Required Secondary Power of withstanding friction only applied to air. The results were quite gruesome. They also had HyperactiveMetabolism, which helps Carter [[GenreSavvy figure out who the users were]].

* One episode of ''{{Eureka}}'' dealt with a serum giving the user SuperSpeed, but like the DarkerThanBlack example above, the Required Secondary Power of withstanding friction only applied to air. The results were quite gruesome. They also had HyperactiveMetabolism, which helps Carter [[GenreSavvy figure out who the users were]].

* The ''lack'' of said required abilities - specifically, the ability to filter input from SuperSenses - is a crippling problem for ''{{Firefly}}'s'' [[TheWoobie River Tam]]. Since she cannot filter incoming stimuli due to her [[TheEmpath empathic]] abilities, being in contact with the minds of other people is debilitating, and when others suffer sudden physical trauma it can render her catatonic.

*** Several other secondary powers (both mentioned above and not) are explained by the fact that his healing isn't so much restoring damaged tissue as it is reverting it. He is a "fixed point in time"-however if this is explained as something like hitting the refresh button every so often, then how is able to retain memory?

** The problem with SuperSenses causing a person's brain to occasionally overload and filter out all other sensory input is also present in the 90s show ''Series/TheSentinel'', although Jim doesn't appear to have the other problems she has. This is one of the purposes of Blair Sandburg, who keeps Jim from doing things like walking out onto a busy street while looking at a flying frisbee. Another episode has Jim undergo a physical, resulting in the doctor cleaning out the huge wax build-up in his ears. Because of that, Jim can't concentrate at work, since he hears every tiny sound like it's a jackhammer next to his ear. Blair solves the problem by giving him white noise earbuds. His super-vision also gives Jim ImprobableAimingSkills with a standard-issue police [=9mm=].

* Series/PainkillerJane [[AvertedTrope averts]] the HealingFactor version (and is also a NonIndicativeName): Jane can heal herself, but has no super tolerance for pain and has to endure every minute of the pain associated with the injury she receives.

** Jack is the only mortal on the planet (mortality was reversed for everyone). So when he suddenly gets sick on the plane to the US, he assumes it's because he doesn't have any immunities due to his former immortality (although he should, at least, have immunities from when he was mortal). It turns out to be poison.