History WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway / WesternAnimation

* Superhero parodies may deliberately saddle their hero with a lame or useless power just for comedic effect. Meltman from ''WesternAnimation/ActionLeagueNOW'' had the utterly useless ability to melt himself; even ''he'' bemoaned its uselessness. In fact, the only time he's ever observed melting is during the intro, when he's clearly under a magnifying glass, suggesting he can't even melt himself as much as he can be willingly melted by ''others''. Or that his superpower is simply the fact that he's been melted.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'', the 80s series, also gives unicorns single-use magic - the most useless-seeming is Fizzy with her bubble powers. However, WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer was in full effect, and the ditzy, childlike pony was actually the ''best'' at figuring a way to make her power useful. However, the basic unicorn ability is ''teleportation.'' However, its usefulness is {{Nerf}}ed by the fact that you can only teleport through open space - even a ''net'' is too much. Teleportation is most useful in that series when cheating at hide-and-seek.

* ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRIvera'': El Cucharon's power to control spoons. Subverted when he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] and [[HeelFaceTurn uses them for good]].

** One episode features a number of mutants who gained their powers by being born and/or raised near an industrial site. Among the many varieties of mutant is an accountant born next to a banana plantation who can transform into a banana. That's it, he just turns into a banana. He isn't proud of it either.

** In "Doug's Hot Property", Doug is invited to join the league of superheroes that Man-O-Steel Man leads. His superpower? He has the rare first issue of "Man-O-Steel Man". [[YouKeepTellingYourselfThat That he bought fair and square.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}'':

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "[[[[Recap/FamilyGuyS3E21FamilyGuyViewerMailOne Family Guy Viewer Mail #1]]", the Griffin family all get superpowers. As the ButtMonkey of the series, Meg is saddled with being able to extend and retract her fingernails. When she scratches someone with her fingernails, it doesn't even draw blood.

* While the ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' franchise has quite a lot of characters ([[VoluntaryShapeshifting or forms]], in the hero's case) being shining examples of HeartIsAnAwesomePower, supervillain Nyancy-Chan from ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' is quite infamous in the fandom for being ridiculously weak. Her sole ability is to control felines, which ''could'' have been an actually useful ability in another setting. Unfortunately for her, she lives in the Ben 10 universe, where the hero has possibly the most overpowered MultiformBalance in fiction and takes on alien invaders on regular basis. [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman The only time she was allowed to be even close to a threat was when he accidentally turned into the single feline form of his arsenal]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1", the Griffin family all get superpowers. As the ButtMonkey of the series, Meg is saddled with being able to extend and retract her fingernails. When she scratches someone with her fingernails, it doesn't even draw blood.

** As explored in more depth in HeartIsAnAwesomePower, heart is potentially ''much'' more powerful than what Ma-Ti gets out of it. He was given the ring specifically because he would be too ethical to use most of its abilities (especially the mind control ones), and the minor ones he does use are indeed quite weak. A BadFuture shows a desperate adult Ma-Ti using the ring to influence someone to give to the poor; the younger Ma-Ti would never go even that far, shown by him turning down Zarm's Iron Fist of Heart in another episode. Note that this fist of heart is explicitly stated to be able to control the hearts of the ''world''.

** Wheeler actually ended up just as useless as Ma-Ti, the {{Trope Namer|s}} himself. On the surface, having a flamethrower available to use at will sounds like a fantastic power... until you realize that he's on an edutainment show that is very strictly monitored by [[MoralGuardians broadcast standards and practices]], and thus [[InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality he too was never allowed to use his power to its full extent]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoysDiabolical'': The episode [[Recap/TheBoysDiabolicalS1E02AnAnimatedShort "An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents"]] is about a group of teenagers whose parents had them injected with [[SuperSerum Compound V]] as infants, only for them to develop useless powers that caused their parents to abandon them. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin They decide to murder their parents as revenge.]]

** When Mao Mao and his sisters received the Legendary Golden Weapons, they got a spear that can pierce through anything, a scarf that allows the wearer to fly, a hat that doubles as a BagOfInfiniteHolding, bangles that can generate a forcefield and contact lenses that grant super vision. As for Mao Mao, he received a katana that can generate blinding light. As several people have pointed out to him, it's basically a glowstick.

* The 2015 revival of ''WesternAnimation/BobTheBuilder'' has Tread , a small off-road truck with a cable rope attached to him. One must wonder what purpose something like that has at a construction site.