History Main / CoconutSuperpowers

* In the adaptation of ''ComicBook/GenerationX'', Chamber (who expels hot plasma from his chest) was replaced with CanonForeigner Refrax (who melts things with his eyes), Husk (who can shed her skin and make new skin out of different materials) became Buff (a teenage girl with an Arnold Schwarzenegger physique; conveniently, her clothing hides all of this supposed muscle), and Mondo's power to take on the texture of materials through physical contact had no corresponding change in his body's appearance. Even [[Comicbook/MonetStCroix M]] no longer has the ability to fly.

* Parodied also in ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'', in "Tomb of Invisibo", featuring an invisible bad guy with a not-invisible staff. The announcer even let the watchers know that the following segment was made when low on budget. Then the villain's staff appeared suspended on a fishing line for a while. ("The following special effects are not scary, please pretend that they are"). After a few scenes of this, the announcer declares that the executives were shamed into raising the budget, and the invisibility is done "properly" from that point on.

** Comicbook/BlackBolt is made into an AdaptationalWimp. While he still has his trademark [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic scream]], his SuperStrength is greatly reduced (taking him down from being a FlyingBrick to a guy who gets overpowered by human police officers) and he cannot fly or fire electron blasts.
** Comicbook/{{Medusa|Marvel Comics}} still has PrehensileHair, but her head is forcibly shaved in the first episode, effectively leaving her powerless for the remainder of the series.

* ''Series/IronFist'' did not have the CGI budget necessary to properly depict Shou-Lao the Undying, the massive dragon Danny Rand defeated in his comic book origin story. Instead, the only glimpse of Shou-Lao the audience ever gets are a pair of red eyes glowing inside a shadowy cave, and his fight with Danny takes place entirely offscreen.

** Comicbook/{{Firestorm}} and Comicbook/{{Vixen}} are the hardest hit. Stein and Jax are almost always separated so they can't fuse into the expensive (and [[StoryBreakerPower overpowered]]) Firestorm. Meanwhile, Vixen pretty exclusively uses her ability to channel the power of ''any and all animals'' to punch things with gorilla strength. (Her case is worst when compared to [[WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}} the animated web series]], where her granddaughter, who has the same powers, switches from one animal ability to another in rapid succession throughout any battle.)

* An essay on Website/StardestroyerDotNet jokingly discusses the difference between how a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' battle scenario would play out in [[CurbStompBattle a fanboyish fantasy]], [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome a realistic outcome]], and an actual episode of ''Series/DeepSpaceNine.'' When dealing with one scenario (a pitched battle with a ground-based invasion, smaller craft dogfighting each other, Imperial walkers, and legions of troops), it notes that the "actual episode" solution would be to simply [[FightUnscene not show the battle at all]], since a huge battle scene would blow the budget to smithereens. Therefore, the episode plot would be rewritten to instead have the USS Defiant clear the way for the ground invasion by having it face off against an easier-to-model orbital weapons platform, and then toss in a throwaway line about Klingon transports handling the ground invasion (which isn't too far off from the actual episode "Tears of the Prophets").

* For the ''Series/{{Animorphs}}'' TV series, the producers decided to adapt a very imaginative [[Literature/{{Animorphs}} sci-fi book series]] into a live action series with the minimum budget of a half hour cable kids' show. As a result, the characters rarely used their VoluntaryShapeshifting abilities - even staying in their normal forms around the Yeerks, who they are supposed to be hiding their identities from. The aliens like Ax and Visser Three were also effected, as they spent nearly all of their screen time disguised as humans, even when there was no clear reason for them to do this, with the few appearances when they are in their andalite forms being for a few seconds.

* ComicBook/{{Storm}} and Comicbook/JeanGrey both used their powers far more cautiously in the 2000-2006 ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' trilogy than in their animated or comic versions. Prolonged flight and telekinesis are still very difficult to film. Not to mention beings made of living ice or metal. Iceman doesn't become a full-fledged X-Man until the [[Film/XMenTheLastStand third film]], likely just so he won't have to use his powers to their fullest, with ice slides, ice projectiles, and ice armor. (He does learn how to do the ice armor at the end of the third film. For about ten seconds.) Also, Comicbook/{{Colossus}} only takes on his metal form ''just'' as something is about to hit him or he needs to use his strength. Tellingly by the time of ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', CGI technology had advanced enough to show all the X-Men really cutting loose with their powers.

* One of the worst examples has to be the ''Series/{{Animorphs}}'' TV series. The producers decided to make it live action (a rather odd decision, given that the target audience was well within the AnimationAgeGhetto), so they ended up having to adapt a very imaginative sci-fi book series with the budget of a half hour cable kids' show. As a result, the characters rarely used their VoluntaryShapeshifting abilities - even stupidly spending an inordinate amount of time in their normal forms around the Yeerks (whom, by the way, they are supposed to be hiding their identities from). Ax, on the other hand, spent nearly all of his screen time disguised as a human, even when there was no clear reason for him to do this.
** There was one especially blatant instance from the show. After capturing the team using a '''net''', Visser Three walks up and tells them "How foolish of you to come in human form!" - ''While in human form himself.''
*** In another episode, Visser Three spends all of his screentime in human form while on the ''Yeerk mother ship''.
** The kicker is that K. A. Applegate originally designed the Andalites as RubberForeheadAliens to make it easier on a potential television adaption. [[ExecutiveMeddling When publishers complained about how generic they were]], Applegate turned them into [[StarfishAliens blue centaurs with scorpion tails and four eyes]] that would be fiendishly difficult to produce onscreen; thus, they only appear as (''extremely'' crappy) animatronic puppets for about five seconds at a time.

** Comicbook/{{Starfire}} is changed so that she only gains her iconic comic appearance (flaming hair, golden-orange skin and glowing green eyes) when she's actively using her starbolt powers. Conveniently, this means that she looks exactly like a normal human woman for the majority of each episode's runtime (with some episodes not having her transform ''at all''), saving the show from having to constantly spend money on costly CGI or makeup effects. She also lacks her trademark ability to fly.

** Thanks to the limited casting and special effects budget (as well as contract and scheduling stuff), none of Film/{{The Avengers|2012}} (other than Nick Fury) ever show up, despite being referenced ''constantly''. The show was sharply criticized for the RedSkiesCrossover with ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', which despite [[TrailersAlwaysLie TV spots to the contrary]], had almost nothing to do with the movie. Fans and viewers were expecting to see Coulson and the gang fighting off Dark Elves and CGI beasts; what they got was Coulson and the gang cleaning up some rubble and making a dumb joke about how superheroes never pick up after themselves.

* An essay on Website/StardestroyerDotNet jokingly discusses the difference between how a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' battle scenario would play out in [[CurbStompBattle a fanboyish fantasy]], [[RealityEnsues a realistic outcome]], and an actual episode of ''Series/DeepSpaceNine.'' When dealing with one scenario (a pitched battle with a ground-based invasion, smaller craft dogfighting each other, Imperial walkers, and legions of troops), it notes that the "actual episode" solution would be to simply [[FightUnscene not show the battle at all]], since a huge battle scene would blow the budget to smithereens. Therefore, the episode plot would be rewritten to instead have the USS Defiant clear the way for the ground invasion by having it face off against an easier-to-model orbital weapons platform, and then toss in a throwaway line about Klingon transports handling the ground invasion (which isn't too far off from the actual episode "Tears of the Prophets").

** The kicker is that K. A. Applegate originally designed the Andalites as RubberForeheadAliens to make it easier on a potential television adaption. [[ExecutiveMeddling When publishers complained about how generic they were]], Applegate turned them into [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot blue centaurs with scorpion tails and four eyes]] that would be fiendishly difficult to produce onscreen; thus, they only appear as (''extremely'' crappy) animatronic puppets for about five seconds at a time.

** There's a bit of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness at play as well. The Force in the original Star Wars was very different from what it later became. Jedi were more like the Bene Gesserit of Dune, with a bunch of mental tricks to enhance their own performance and influence the minds of others, but with no overt power over the physical world. Even Darth Vader choking Admiral Motti was supposed to be a mental compulsion to stop breathing rather than physical strangulation. This is why people like Han Solo think the Force is 'simple tricks and nonsense'. It wasn't until Empire that things like telekinesis and physical enhancement started being added to the Jedi repertoire, making Han's statement seem more out of place with each installment.

** [[Film/{{Carrie 1976}} The 1976 film]] - Carrie in the prom massacre mainly uses her powers to close the doors on their own and control the fire hose. [[spoiler: Miss Collins's death]] by falling basketball board was probably the riskiest stunt in the film. The book notably has the whole town get destroyed in Carrie's rampage, but they didn't have the budget for that, and so she only destroys the school. They ironically did plan to have a more action-packed ending than the book - having the White house buried in a fall of boulders - but the machine that would have helped with that malfunctioned and so they had to just burn the house down instead.

** Rita doesn't use her powers to [[SizeShifter turn gigantic]] like she does in the comics, and instead mostly sticks to stretching her limbs.
** Unlike in the comics, where he's essentially "naked," Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} usually wears a tracksuit or hoodies in the show. This means that it's not unusual for his face and hands to be the only robotic parts of his body that are visible to the audience, presumably saving time and money for the makeup and costuming departments.

** Comicbook/{{Cyborg}}'s mechanical body is often covered up by tracksuits or hoodies, meaning his face and hands are usually the only robotic parts of his body that are visible to the audience.

** Arthur's power and status as a king is limited by the film's minuscule budget; he travels with a small retinue, we only see his castle in a brief musical number, he only calls upon his army at the very end of the film, and so on. This is written into the film's plot itself, as it's made abundantly clear that few people really respect Arthur's claim as king and they mostly just see him as a bossy weirdo with nice clothing.

Despite the silly connotations, though, it can often spark [[SerendipityWritesThePlot very interesting workarounds]], as it often forces the creators to play things subtle or save the powers for a big moment. [[TropesAreTools Truly inventive uses of this trope]] can captivate the audience as well as any SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome, and ''certainly'' more than SpecialEffectFailure; the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief has a lot more flexibility than one would take for granted.

** Jedi have harnessed the Force that binds the universe together, but their powers are still limited by what was cheap and easy in the 1970s and 1980s, such as making actors repeat things, speaking in voice-over to each other, and "sensing" things. More budget-heavy feats like moving objects and jumping were still pretty affordable. All of this makes the Emperor's Force lightning that much more of a shock when he breaks it out in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.

* ComicBook/{{Storm}} and Comicbook/JeanGrey both used their powers far more cautiously in the 2000-2006 ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' trilogy than in their animated or comic versions. Prolonged flight and telekinesis are still very difficult to film. Not to mention beings made of living ice or metal. Iceman doesn't become a full-fledged X-Man until the [[Film/XMenTheLastStand third film]], likely just so he won't have to use his powers to their fullest, with ice slides, ice projectiles, and ice armor. (He does learn how to do the ice armor at the end of the third film. For about ten seconds.) Also, Comicbook/{{Colossus}} only takes on his metal form ''just'' as something is about to hit him or he needs to use his strength.

** The BigBad of the seventh season can take the form of anyone that has died and its true form is only seen a couple of times. Quite lucky that Buffy herself has died twice in the show's continuity, which means that Sarah Michelle Gellar could easily double up and appear as the First when they didn't want to stretch the budget by bringing back old cast members for every episode. Likewise since Spike is technically dead as a vampire, James Marsters could likewise play the First more than once too.
* The first three seasons of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' had numerous stunts involving Prue's telekinesis, but budget cuts lead to her replacement Paige having the ability to remotely teleport objects instead, which turns out to be more efficient given that it's easier to add a few CGI effects than to set up and insure stunts that involve flying through the air. Chris, introduced in the sixth season, also had telekinesis, but rarely used it. Billie, in season eight, ALSO had telekinesis, but rarely threw demons into walls the way Prue did.

** This is also why Phoebe lost her levitation power, as the harness and insurance for the stunts ended up being too costly.

** The Doctor's few special powers are things that can be conveyed easily with solid acting and some basic camera tricks (even live camera tricks, if necessary) — SuperIntelligence, a kind of HyperAwareness-like sense that allows him to know if he can change the outcome of an event or not, and some limited telepathy, hypnosis and EmotionControl PsychicPowers that he only uses once in a blue moon, which are usually conveyed by him grabbing someone else's head and looking into their eyes intensely. His most expensive ability is his regeneration ability, which has been achieved in various ways over the show's history such as a malfunctioning visual mixing desk, mixing together shots of actors' faces or CGI. He's also a HumanAlien, with his inhumanness generally conveyed by picking [[UncannyValley slightly otherworldly-looking]] actors who play him with lots of eccentric little CharacterTics.

* {{Teleportation}} shows up very frequently, because the plain effect of StealthyTeleportation is as simple as doing a cut, and if the writers want to get {{Flashy|Teleportation}}, they just need a light effect or fade-in while the object or person appears.

* In the adaptation of ''ComicBook/GenerationX'', Chamber (who expels hot plasma from his chest) was replaced with CanonForeigner Refrax (who melts things with his eyes), Husk (who can shed her skin and make new skin out of different materials) became Buff (a teenage girl with an Arnold Schwarzenegger physique), and Mondo's power to take on the texture of materials through physical contact had no corresponding change in his body's appearance.

* ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' has this in the "Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit" sketch, where Angel Summoner's powers are depicted as him raising his arms and staff while half the screen is covered in a glow effect. The angels he summons are never actually shown onscreen, unless you count the invisible angels he uses to try to make BMX Bandit feel useful. Each time he uses his powers, [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome they just cut to the end,]] with all the criminals having been easily captured. Of course, thee fact that Angel Summoner easily winning the day is a ForegoneConclusion to the point that the audience doesn't need to see it is a big part of the joke.