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I DUNNO SPIDEY LOL

"Up, Up and Away Web!"
Spider-Man, Spider-Man: The Movie

You got a New Super Power or two? Great! Can you use them? While the standard hero seems to instinctively know his or her way around every possible ability he or she can obtain throughout the story, some people have to flail and struggle, with everybody laughing at them.

Also applies when a character attempts to mimic or steal the abilities of a hero (like stealing their Empathic Weapon) and ultimately fails.

When he is successful, the newly acquired power is too unpredictable or costly in his opinion to use in the long run, since he may lack the time or experience to perfect it. It's doubly humiliating if he's defeated by the hero anyway. This is sometimes An Aesop that a hero's strength is his character, not his powers.

One would expect this to be a natural co-trope for a Puberty Superpower, which makes it strange that until recently this was rarely the case - most teen heroes seemed to know how their powers worked instinctively.

Nonetheless some are too stubborn to give them up, and may become a kind of Evil Counterpart.

The name comes from SomethingAwful's randomly renamed and incredibly nonsensical "FYAD" subforum, where it originated as a Spider-Man catchphrase quotable quote from somebody playing the Half Life mod 'Natural Selection' and trying to figure out the alien faction's special abilities. It got quickly transposed to Spidey because it's funnier when he says it. It has since spread wide across the Internet, as such things are wont to do.

Often follows up Powers In The First Episode.

Examples

    Anime and Manga 

    Comics 

    Films 

    Literature 

    Live Action TV 

    Tabletop Games 

    Video Games 

    Web Comics 

    Web Original 

    Western Animation