History Main / CursedWithAwesome

* [[CursedWithAwesome/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** The Groosalugg was cursed with unmatched combat skill. As he recounts his life's story to Cordelia, he talks about how his human heritage in the demon world of Pylea got him banished to the Scum Pits of Ur, meaning for him to die. Unfortunately, his awesome combat skills prevent him from dying honorably, as he destroys every one of his opponents, making him The Groosalugg, or undefeated champion.
** Angel is cursed with a soul (see below).
** Doyle (and later Cordelia) gets visions from the PowersThatBe about people who need Angel's help. And when we say "visions" we mean "great splitting migraines with pictures."
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' psychics, particularly in Season 5, [[spoiler: when they start whining about how they are all "weapons" created by the Vorlons]].
** Their main issue is with the [[{{Muggles}} Mundanes]] hating them. According to the canon Psi-Corps trilogy, when the knowledge of telepaths first became public on Earth, it was followed by mass {{Witch Hunt}}s for anyone who even seemed like they may be a telepath. This is despite the Pope (you know, the head of the largest religion on the planet) telling people that he approves of telepaths. The only time shown in the book where he is heeded is when an Italian mob boss lets a telepath go after cheating in his casino, provided he uses his gift to help him.
** To be fair, there is a lot about being a telepath in Babylon 5 that sucks. In order to keep from hearing the stray thoughts that everyone around them is constantly "shouting", one has to keep one's mind occupied with nursery rhymes, multiplication tables, anything and everything to generate "white noise" inside your own head. Because anything else is an invasion of privacy. Strong emotions are more difficult to block, so if someone's passionately intent on murder, you're going to hear it. And if you're hired to monitor a deal between two people, and one of them is preoccupied with "rather erotic" thoughts, well...
* Openly addressed in the first episode of ''Series/BeingHumanUK''. "How noble of you to take on the curse of immortality so that your friends could wither and decay in hospitals and old people's homes..."
** Similarly, [=McNair=] sees lycanthropy as a blessing rather than curse: "When bones break, they repair stronger, when skin tears, it heals tougher."
** Although in both cases, vampirism and lycanthropy ''do'' seriously suck, especially if you aren't prepared for it.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Buffy, who is cursed to be a "hot chick with superpowers", as Faith once put it. The curse part is she has to use said superpowers to fight for her life every night, and the world's very existence every late spring. All evil is waiting for is for its [[EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce "one good day"]] to fall on one where they can end the world. And statistically, she's ancient -- most Slayers die the same year they're chosen. At fifteen.
** In the episode "Nightmares", Buffy is temporarily turned into a vampire... which gives her the strength she needs to defeat the MonsterOfTheWeek.
** Angel is a formerly ''very famously'' evil vampire cursed with a soul. Good in that he's immortal with superpowers, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent irresistible to young girls]], a shoe-in to be a HunterOfHisOwnKind and the [[Series/{{Angel}} titular star]] of his own VampireDetectiveSeries. Bad in that he has a ''century'' of memories in his head that make UsefulNotes/CharlesManson look like a kid playing dressup and said soul never lets him forget it.
** Dawn. While being a giant and centaurette were annoying to her, she at least acknowledged they had some good points. Being turned into a doll though... not so much.
* The Charmed Ones from ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' seem to fit this. For the first three series they don't half go on about being spectacularly powerful witches (especially Piper) and are all somewhat inclined towards giving up their powers if given the chance (especially Piper...) in fact, they only stop complaining about their abilities (to freeze time or move things with their mind/astrally project or see into the future/levitate) in order to use them to save the day from the [[MonsterOfTheWeek demon of the week]]. This may have more to do with the fact the writers set up the entire universe to ensure the sisters would never get to use their powers for anything besides demon-killing. Several episodes are centered around them trying to do something for themselves and [[PersonalGainHurts getting punished for it]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], the Master [[CameBackWrong Comes Back Wrong]] with superpowers including lighting-throwing and super-jumping after a sabotaged resurrection. It ''is'' CastFromLifespan, but his HorrorHunger can take care of that. Knowing the Master, he sees having a reason to kill more people as a bonus.
* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' has Echo, slave to the titular organization and all too aware that she and her fellow Actives are being exploited. This curse, however, comes with the ability to call on skills from any imprint she's ever received.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}:'' Normally, Jool's [[MakeMeWannaShout metal-melting scream]] falls into the [[BlessedWithSuck inversion]], as others routinely scare her or injure her specifically for that. But when someone hits on the bright idea of handcuffing her, she makes with the scream, and the cuffs are no more.
%% Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples: * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ame0-2cm3Xs "No Grandpa, not the shrinking cap!"]] from the SoBadItsGood ''Grandpa in My Pocket''.
* ''Series/GuardianTheLonelyAndGreatGod'': For his sins, Kim Shin is doomed to walk the Earth as a handsome rich guy with godlike powers. It has some bummer WhoWantsToLiveForever aspects, but ''still''.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' touches on this a lot.
** Chronologically, the first offender was Brian Davis, who wished he didn't have his powers. [[spoiler:He gets his wish when Sylar kills him.]] Most other characters are somewhat angsty about the consequences of their powers, but quickly learn to make use of them.
** But some cry about it throughout the entire series. Such as Claire Bennet: her ability is regeneration, and she cries about it nearly all throughout Season 1, mourning how she's the freakshow of the cheerleaders, despite the fact that nobody except for a very select few friends and family knows about her ability, nor is her ability all that apparent unless she severely wounds herself in plain sight. Then in Season 2, it gets even worse, because she cries that she can't go around showing her ability and how restrained she feels. Never mind the fact that the only way to show her ability to others is by injuring herself. Never mind the fact that all she has to do in order to avoid suspicion is lay off her masochistic tendencies. Then she realizes the possibility of the company finding her, because they'll run tests on her and stuff, poking and prodding her. She cries about this too, even though it seems that's all she wants to do to herself; if you find an episode with Claire in it in the first two seasons that doesn't involve a suicide attempt or self mutilation, you get a cookie. And then in Season 3, she [[FeelNoPain loses the ability to feel pain]], and cries about that because it apparently takes all the fun out of self-mutilation. At one point she mentions this to Elle, who is suffering horrific agony due to her PowerIncontinence, and is, needless to say, not pleased to hear it.
** Emma Coolidge in Volume Five, a deaf woman who develops the power to [[DisabilitySuperpower see sounds as multicolored lights]]. This not only looks pretty cool, but also makes her an InstantExpert at playing musical instruments. Her first reaction (after receiving independent verification that she's not hallucinating) is to demand that it be taken away and spend several episodes {{Wangst}}ing about it for no readily apparent reason.
* One episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' implies that the title character may be autistic, which allows him to focus intensely on his cases, at the expense of being a complete social incompetent and highly self-destructive (on the basis of an autistic boy he was treating deliberately meeting his gaze at the end of the episode, which he is stated to have never done before). Wilson outright states at the end of the episode House isn't -- he's [[DrJerk just an ass]].
* To some extent, David Banner of ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977''. Turning into a green raging behemoth whenever you get angry is pretty lousy, yes, but as played on the show it nearly always kicked in to save him or someone else from life-threatening danger. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that David has no memory of what he does as the Hulk, and no conscious control over when he'll change or what he'll do when he does, and the Hulk's insane SuperStrength means it could very easily kill people. If David could see the Hulk as the audience sees him, he'd be much more relaxed about the whole thing. As it is, put yourself in David's shoes, and you have every reason to be terrified of the uncontrollable giant green rage monster lurking inside you. (Yes, [[Series/SmallVille young Clark Kent]], that means you.)
* Becoming a zombie is usually treated as a FateWorseThanDeath, but in ''Series/IZombie'', zombies like the heroine [[PunnyName Olivia "Liv" Moore]] get a ''lot'' of benefits. Liv retains her personality and intelligence as long as she routinely gets to eat human brain matter,[[note]]failing to do this results in the zombie in question ''permanently'' degrading into a feral [[ShoutOut "Romero"]][[/note]] and also gain the ability to absorb the memories, skills and knowledge from the brains they eat. Liv is exceptionally resilient to injury; she can be shot and stabbed multiple times, she doesn't feel pain, she loses very little blood and the wounds eventually heal like they would for a normal person. On top of that, Liv has a "full-on zombie mode" where she gains SuperStrength, able to chase down cars and overpower men much larger than her. She also doesn't need to sleep, and her alcohol tolerance is greatly increased. Against all that, the downsides of being a zombie are your taste gets dulled so you can't enjoy normal food again, you look like someone who hasn't seen in the sun and got a tan in years, and [[TheWoobie it can potentially alienate you from your friends and your career]].
* Acknowledged in the promotional ads for ''Series/TheListener'', about a guy who can hear people's thoughts: he ''used'' to think his power was a curse, but he's figured out a way to save people with it.
* ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'': Lizzie, after trying to find something she is good at, is not very happy to find out she is a rhythmic gymnastics prodigy, calling it a "stupid talent" to have and does not enjoy taking part in a competition which she easily wins.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': [[spoiler:The Man in Black was thrown into the Island's source by Jacob, which stripped him from his body and turned him into the monster, which was said to be a fate worse than death, and he's trapped on the Island. However, he can shape-shift and impersonate dead people to manipulate others to do his bidding, is immortal and can't be killed by bullets or knives, and in his smoke monster form he can kill an entire group of people with ease]].
* ''Series/TheMiddleman'' has a character who was cursed with immortality as a punishment for kicking someone else out of a lifeboat on the Titanic. This rather backfired, because he thinks LivingForeverIsAwesome.
* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Rumpelstiltskin is cursed to be the most powerful sorcerer in the land and to have sparkly grey skin -- which he may or may not be able to conceal with magic. This also comes with a bent toward dark, murderous urges. That this ''is'' a curse is established in the Season 1 episode "Skin Deep", wherein [[spoiler:Belle almost ends it with True Love's Kiss]]. In a slight departure, while the show clearly wants us to see him as cursed, Rumpelstiltskin himself never complains about his powers, and is quite sensibly freaked out at the prospect of losing them and being at the mercy of the Evil Queen, not to mention [[spoiler:losing any chance of finding his son]]. The detrimental aspects are not emphasised as much, but the power of the Dark One is much like that of a djinn in that he has incredible power, but there is a magical item which grants the holder complete control over him (as well as the ability to take on the curse via YouKillItYouBoughtIt). As long as he has the dagger, he can't be killed or controlled, but the curse also makes you prone to evil and the magic always comes with some kind of cost. What the cost will actually be doesn't seem to be predictable.
* Subverted in ''Series/{{Reaper}}''. At first it seems like the devil owning Sam's soul looks like the best thing that's ever happened to him: he gets a cool job as a hunter of escaped souls, powers specially designed for each soul so he shouldn't have too much trouble with them, and the big guy's inside advice on how to get laid. However, the devil also occasionally screws with Sam's life just for the hell of it, and he can't say anything about it to the girl he really loves since it would jeopardize her ownership of her own soul.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': in one skit, a man is cursed to summon a sexy sax player named [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench Sergio]] who immediately invokes everyone around him to dance.
* ''Series/TheSentinel'''s Jim Ellison sometimes feels his super-senses are a curse; his first request of Blair is how to make them go away.
** There are a number of episodes when they ''are'' a detriment to him rather than a gift. There's the "zoning-out" problem, which nearly gets him run over by a truck in the pilot, when he focuses his vision too much on a flying frisbee. Also, after his ears get flushed out from all the wax build-up, his hearing is greatly enhanced, meaning he can't even focus at work thanks to all the tiny noises hitting him with the volume of a heavy metal concert. He's also extremely sensitive to pain, although Blair teaches him how to "dial it down" (specifically, using the "dial" imagery).
*** Funny thing is, it's never mentioned that the same super-sensitivity would also mean he would enjoy sex a ''lot'' more. Now imagine if two sentinels get it on...
*** Didn't that actually happen once? And with Jeri Ryan of all people...
* Clark Kent on ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', constantly whines and angsts about how terrible it is to be an alien "outsider" with such an awful secret. Yep, an outsider with: two unbelievably loving parents, some awesome best friends who are totally supportive when they eventually learn his secret (and one's a hottie that's totally in love with him to boot), an acceptable level of baseline popularity in school, gets to looks like Tom goddamn Welling so most chicks think he's hot-as... oh and the small matter of developing a [[ComboPlatterPowers wide array]] of earth-shattering superpowers that make him a virtually unkillable demigod. He's not even superficially distinguishable from a human. Yeah, boo-frikkety-hoo, Clark; cry me a river... If it weren't for [[KryptoniteFactor kryptonite]] it would be win-win-win.
** Admittedly, his whining becomes ''slightly'' more justified in later seasons as some people he loves die or move away, his would-be {{O|neTruePairing}}TP starts getting really screwy, and increasingly more dangerous and determined adversaries are pitted against him. '''Still''', you wish you could just tell him that a few years down the track he'll get the hot chick, be the universally beloved protector of the planet, hang out with a bunch of super buddies etc... SO JUST PUT A SOCK IN IT!
** He does have the problem of potentially losing control of his strength at a bad time, [[ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex like during sex]], but he later gets a handle on this, making the lesson here "Stop whining and practice controlling your strength so it won't be an issue."
* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', the Jaffa have been genetically engineered so that they must receive a larval Goa'uld symbiote once they reach puberty as part of a rite of passage. The symbiote gives each Jaffa a HealingFactor and immunity to disease, but the symbiote essentially replaces their immune system, so any Jaffa subsequently deprived of a symbiote will die in a matter of hours after enduring great pain. SG-1's Jaffa member, Teal'c, hates how he is reliant on the symbiote even when fighting against the Goa'uld as the ones who have enslaved his people for so long, until [[spoiler:the SGC are able to find an alternative in the form of tretonin, a drug that was briefly used by a human world as a health boost but can be adapted to replace the Jaffa's need for a symbiote]].
* In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Teyla is understandably freaked out at first when she learns her telepathic abilities stem from the fact she's part Wraith. However, being a no-nonsense ActionGirl, she quickly comes to terms with her background and quickly sets out trying to figure how she can use it against the Wraith.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' The android Data is stronger than a Klingon, smarter than a Vulcan, doesn't need sleep or food or drink, can survive in open space or on any planet, [[EverythingIsOnline can interface with anything that moves]] and doesn't have to worry about fear, sadness, hatred, or any other negative emotions, even if he's constantly the victim of racism. But, poor guy, all he wants is to be more human. And even in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', when he finally retrieves his emotion chip from his AxCrazy brother, Lore, and it interferes with half of his regular operations, and makes him, frankly, a tool, he is still happy to hear [=LaForge=] say he's acting more human -- in response to Data's chickening out and leaving [=LaForge=] in the hands of Dr. Soran and the Klingons. Averted in the [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact next film]], Data gets enough control over his emotion function to turn it off when it gets in the way. Lampshaded by Q in one episode, where he points out a great many species spend millennia trying to be as close as they possibly can get to what Data is by default, as a way of pointing out how absurd his desire to be human is.
** Star Trek tends to go in for this trope a lot. Odo in Deep Space 9 and Seven of Nine in Voyager are other examples of characters with cool abilities and immunities who go through lots of angst over the fact that they aren't the same as everyone else.
** Seven of Nine is perhaps an interesting [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]. Initially, she just wants to be a Borg again, since it's almost all she's ever known (she was assimilated as a young child). As the series progresses, she learns she can't go back, but doesn't entirely want to give up the positive things she's learned from the Borg (strive for efficiency and perfection). While she does set out to learn about and understand the positive aspects of humanity, she uses her differences in the best ways she can.
* In the ''Series/StickStickly'' TV special ''Stuck'', Stick discovers several advantages to having an ice skate stuck to his foot, such as being able to cut out coupons, slice giant marshmallows, and slice potatoes.
* Scott [=McCall=] from ''Series/TeenWolf''. He doesn't see the awesomeness of lycanthropy when Derek Hale says the bite is a gift, arguing that being turned into a werewolf has made his life much more difficult and now he has to hide it from everyone around him. Justified at first by a SuperpoweredEvilSide, but now he has full control and seems to have grown out of the angst. His best friend, Stiles Stilinski, rejects the bite later as well because of a similar reasoning and states that he's perfectly happy being a normal human.
* Although Captain Jack Harkness from ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' doesn't spend a lot of time bemoaning the fact that he can't die, he has clearly found the drawbacks to it, and there is a fair amount of subtext. He also has to [[spoiler:watch almost all his friends, his lover, and at least one member of his family die]], then step up and fix everything anyway. He's sort of expected to be emotionless -- not cold, just unable to be emotionally hurt or depressed. This, ironically, has got to be depressing.
%%* Stefan, Damon, Bonnie, Elena and all other supernatural beings on ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' who possess special superhuman powers or abilities.
* The Russian mini-series ''Wolf Messing: Seeing through time'', based on the (possibly fictionalized) memoirs of a RealLife psychic of that name, portray Messing's abilities alternatively as a gift and as a curse. It's all fun when he uses them on stage to read people's thoughts or [[CharmPerson make them do something]]. The pilot starts with Messing being asked a trivial question during a performance (which hockey team will win the championship), and he ends up getting a vision so disturbing (one of the hockey teams will die in a plane crash) that he cuts the performance short and immediately calls the Kremlin. He also gets horrible visions about the two World Wars before they happen. When a character later remarks about how great it would be to see bad things coming and change them, Messing points out that the bad things he sees are too grand to change by him alone. Even the plane crash still happens, despite him warning Stalin about it. Strangely, he is unable to foresee his own people being exterminated by the Nazis. He is also once asked to find a dead girl's body based on a photograph, and he visibly breaks down after touching the picture and revealing the location. When the cops ask if he'd like to help them full-time, he opts to be in the circus instead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Point buy based systems tend to allow your character to gain extra points to buy powers if you take disadvantages. Some of the more munchkin-prone players enjoy picking "drawbacks" that may lack a certain sting. "Berserker" may turn you into a rage-driven killing machine that causes you to attempt to destroy anything that crosses your line of sight... which is half the definition of adventurer in the first place. (The other half is taking their stuff afterwards.)
** Starts to lean a little more toward the "cursed" side of the equation if the character in question loses his ability to discern [[FriendOrFoe friend from foe]] in their rage-frenzy and winds up attacking their own allies. The players of such characters can still side-step any resulting angst over such occurrences by opting to play their characters with personalities that [[AxCrazy simply don't care whom they happen to be slaughtering]], but such players may soon find their "allies" [[UnfriendlyFire having a bit of trouble discerning friend from foe in their own fashion...]]
** Another common one is to be a WeirdnessMagnet (in fact, ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' is the {{Trope Namer|s}}). Weird, exciting things get to happen to you all the time -- what's the downside? That's why you're playing an RPG!
* Some players have turned some 'cursed' items to their advantage, embracing this trope. The greatest example was the classic D&D Sword -1 Cursed, a ClingyMacGuffin which would, no matter what you did to get rid of it, would reappear in your hand when combat began. Many did not see a disadvantage of dealing with a -1 penalty for a weapon which was always available. This would eventually make an appearance in one of the ''TableTopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' novels in the hands of a villain.
** This is parodied in ''TabletopGame/NinjaBurger'', where the cursed item card has no drawback, and means the "cursed" item can now never be stolen or destroyed.
** Another cursed sword (which makes an appearance in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'') actually gets a bonus to hit and damage to encourage people to use it. When practicing with it, there's no problem. When anyone attacks you, it causes you to go berserk and kill anyone in the vicinity, only calming down some time after all attackers are dead or have fled. In theory, this is a curse because of the risk of hurting your allies, but in practice, there are ways around this, and it may very well be your best available weapon if you're going the OneManArmy route. Similarly, the 3.5 DMG goes so far as to list a sword that enrages the user as being boon or bane, depending on the wielder's own views. [[http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/cursedItems.htm#swordBerserking Seen here.]]
** A Necklace of Strangulation chokes to death anyone who puts it on. It sounds like a horrible item to find. No one says you have to wear it. No one says you can't, say, bribe an enemy with it. Oops. There are many similarly wicked items enterprising players can abuse.
** The Shield of Arrow Attraction gives the wielder resistance to damage from missile weapons (meaning they take half damage) but also automatically causes all missile attacks made against targets within 10 feet of the wielder to attack the wielder instead. A bit of a problem if you have a friend who's trying to shoot the orc you're in melee with, but very very useful if you want to protect the SquishyWizard in the party from being turned into a pincushion by your enemies.
** Another classic example is the Bag of Devouring, a cursed BagOfHolding that tries to swallow anyone who reaches inside it. Many players are quick to see the potential in a portable garbage disposal. The general consensus is that any player who can't find a use for a "cursed" item isn't trying hard enough.
** Which is why the DM Guide warns the DungeonMaster to never assume that players will "automatically" discard cursed items on realizing their status. It even gives an example -- Dust of Sneezing and Choking, which does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, can do it to either the owner... or those orcs over there that just had it thrown over their heads. (The item is only "cursed" because it looks almost identical to Dust of Disappearance, which makes you invisible, and tracks as such when identifying it.)
** In the rules for randomly generating cursed items, one possible curse means the item does the opposite of what it's meant to do. The [[LampshadeHanging books themselves mention that this isn't necessarily a bad thing]], as a wand of "healing" that instead hurts people could be useful as a weapon.
* The Accursed (subtle!) and Wounded Angel arcs in ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'' provide a mixture of neat benefits and unpleasant drawbacks. Wounded Angel relies upon developing physical and mental injuries of various kinds, then gaining powers based on those, while caging something horrible that gets let out if you run out of Divine Health Levels; Leonardo de Montreal, the Wounded Angel pregen, has powers like ripping out his heart to make himself a being of heartless perfection in the dark (it doesn't work in the light because his heart may or may not be fueling the replacement sun -- it's complicated), and holds in that space a nightmare known as the Red World. Accursed, meanwhile, involves becoming imbued with the PowerOfTheVoid until you can erase things from reality, but at the same time reality itself is prone to some kind of backlash against you...
** The tumblr arc [[http://jennamoran.tumblr.com/post/136905972668/indomitable-1-of-2 Indomitable]] literally spells out its Curse as something that ''would be'' a more legitimate Curse except that it doesn't seem to have any actual drawbacks for you (and there's even a power that lets you inflict the drawbacks on other people).
--->'''Jenna Moran:''' You're like one of those vampires whose "dark curse" boils down to being immortal and awesome. Or maybe you've got a demon inside you, granting you all kinds of special abilities. It definitely ''feels'' very Curse-like but the violins informed people play for you will be pretty small.
* The "curse" of lycanthropy in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', 3.5 Ed., once the afflicted player character succeeds on a Wisdom check of moderate difficulty. See [[http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/lycanthrope.htm here]].
** This depends on the player and character, for whom in some cases lycanthropy could ruin the character's access to powers or destroy the player's interest in the character by making him evil. However, many players enjoy playing this sort of brutal character and would not see it as a drawback at all. A player who is playing TheHero, however, would probably see almost no drawback to becoming a werebear. "Let's see; super strength, super toughness, and I remain LawfulGood?"
** {{Exaggerated|Trope}} and toned down in the 5th Edition. Regarding werebears, they are still the good werebeasts, but the Monster Manual states that there are some evil ones. On the other hand, lycanthropes now have complete immunity to nonmagical weapons that aren't silver, and they have this regardless of what form they are in. This means that even a good-aligned character could still put the "curse" to good use as long as they take the right precautions on the night of the full moon.
** All editions of ''TableTopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'', and Paizo in ''TableTopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', put the bite back in lycanthrope, where it is not Cursed with Awesome, or BlessedWithSuck. It's downright horrific. The GM is practically encouraged to have you one day wake up naked, covered in blood, with a horde of angry peasants brandishing pitchforks and an order of paladins hunting you down. The player does not control his character during his transformed states and has no idea what he did while changed.
** D&D 4e has the ability for player characters of level 11 or higher to transform into a lich, provided they have the money to cast the ritual. Oh, truly this is a horrible curse... which bestows the caster with almost doubled hit points, powerful regeneration, immunity to disease and poison, a significant bonus to all defences, and the ability to reconstruct yourself from a phylactery if killed. And there's no gradual drift towards evil in the gameplay mechanics, either. Why shouldn't the [=PCs=] try this again?
** Of course, it does enthrall the player to [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Orcus]]. That's a significant downside for some. Besides, there's a far less amoral alternative, with [[GoodCounterpart Archliches]]; you need to be more powerful than a normal lich (level 20 and above, it's an [[PrestigeClass epic destiny]]), but thanks to mixing in some LifeEnergy into the deal, you're fully alive ''and'' immortal, not to mention you have a nice aura that hurts anything you hate, alive or undead.
** Conditional [=CwA=], but for a transgender person, the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity (under rules as written) would be exactly this sort of thing.
** Up to 3rd Edition, a drow was turned into a drider (a centaur-like creature that was the upper-body of a drow and a giant black widow spider from the waist down) by their dark goddess Lolth as a punishment for failing a RiteOfPassage. Exactly why Lolth would turn one of her subjects into a likeness of herself and make them stronger in the process (letting them keep their divine spellcasting ability too if they happened to be clerics) ''did'' seem a little strange, and in the 4th edition, this was changed via {{retcon}}, making driders a privileged caste bestowed on drow as a reward. In 5th edition, however, this was changed back, playing this trope straight again.
*** Well, there ''is'' the [[PainfulTransformation agonizing transformation]], plus your mind gets wiped in the process. It's not exactly ''fun''.
*** For a while, the idea was that driders got "stuck" -- that is, they got powerful new abilities, but since they were now monsters they couldn't get class levels, so while vastly more powerful than the overwhelming majority of drow they weren't ''quite'' as powerful as the most powerful drow (Drow society pushing being TheSocialDarwinist, this was a valid reason for Driders to be looked down at). The problem came in when edition changes made it possible for driders to gain class levels [[TheArtifact without changing the drider/drow relationship in settings that had been around before 3E]]...
* Given that the world of ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has the Immaculate Order, an entire religion devoted to demonizing the Celestial Exalted, it's entirely possible for a Solar or Lunar with Immaculate sympathies to view having become an incredibly powerful demigod as a curse. (Terrestrials are venerated by the Order, and Sidereals a) have been forgotten by most of Creation, including the Order, and b) are recruited, trained, and disabused of any inaccurate notions about Exaltation and the world in general within days of the Second Breath.)
** Sidereals have to deal with Arcane Fate... a unique astrological phenomenon that causes any being not Sidereal or in the employment of the Bureau of Destiny to gradually forget that they exist. While this is a grand boon to their ability to operate as covert agents (especially since they can 'invent' cover identities that are unaffected by Arcane Fate), it likewise means that if they don't watch their step, critical allies and loved ones will forget they ever existed.
* Accepting a Geist into your head in ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'' means having a near-demonic old ghost bound to you for the rest of your life and having to put up with seeing ghosts. On the other hand, you get all sorts of cool necromantic powers and, most importantly, if you hadn't accepted the "curse"? You'd be plain old dead. So, naturally, Sin-Eaters tend to see themselves as this InUniverse. Hell, the game's {{Tagline}} is "A Storytelling game about Second Chances." It's by far the most optimistic game in the setting ([[CrapsackWorld though admittedly, that's a pretty low bar.]])
* Some of the "curses" in ''TabletopGame/PalladiumFantasy'' give the character bonuses. For example, Glowing Red Eyes gives you a bonus to intimidation, and Frog Legs allow you to jump great distances.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has the Oracle class, divine spellcasters who gain a curse in exchange for their magical abilities. The good news is, the curses themselves come with benefits, which get more powerful as you level. It's not unheard of for characters to take a single level in oracle specifically to get a curse or even two. This was averted in the second edition, where the curse is tied directly to the nature of the oracle's abilities instead of being a separate feature (restricting characters from shopping around for a curse that hinders their build little), and has only drawbacks.
* Speaking of ''TableTopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'', each domain -- a subsection of the plane -- is ruled, at least in part, by a darklord, an incredibly evil individual, though [[TragicHero not always an unsympathetic one]]. They get all sorts of shiny powers out of the deal, but it also earns them a curse -- which, in and of itself, is personally tailored to the person so that, it wouldn't be so bad for anyone else, but the darklord's personality makes it so that it becomes unberable.
* The demon lord Baphomet, who was supposedly either a human or an animal (presumably a bull, given his minotaur links) "cursed" to be a super-powerful demon lord ruling an entire layer of the Abyss and building his own monsters.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Talisman}}'': Getting cursed by the Poltergeist to only move one space per turn instead of a random d6 roll can have a lot of benefits. It allows you to hop on and off a beneficial space and get the rewards every other turn.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** If you're ''really'' lucky, you'll end up like this. Example: The closest thing to retirement a SpaceMarine might ever get is having their mangled, mortally wounded body put on life support and encased in a Dreadnought, a [[HumongousMecha heavily armed walking tank]], for ''thousands of years''. Getting to blow shit up from beyond the grave, and sleeping the rest of the time, seems pretty cool.
** There's one tale [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]] tell of a warband that ventured into [[NegativeSpaceWedgie the Eye of Terror]], ending up on a [[DeathWorld demon world]] where they were all slaughtered... only to be raised again every morning to keep fighting, for the Blood God. [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Orks consider this]] ''[[BloodKnight heaven]]''.
** The Eldar have an unusual version of this. In order to keep their emotions under control they dedicate themselves to a single career (called a Path), mastering that before leaving it behind and moving onto something else. However occasionally an Eldar will become "stuck" on a particular path and be unable to switch. The downside is that when this happens they risk losing control of themselves, the upside is they become VERY, VERY good at it. In particular Eldar who have become stuck on the path of either the Warrior or the Witch (called Exarchs and Farseers) are the leaders of Eldar society.
** Psykers in general in the setting. While it ranges from people being able to control their power to ones who would just implode and take half the city with him, most of them have some pretty awesome powers. Alpha-class human psykers are said to be able to destroy titans, HumongousMecha that would make a Gundam look tiny in comparison, by crushing it with their minds. The aforementioned Farseers are able to see into the future and manipulate the strains of fate, but are otherwise cursed to crystallize slowly over time, becoming one with their own craftworlds.
** On the other end of the spectrum, Necrons also suffer from a case of this. They're more or less immortal (it's hinted that not a single Necron has ever permanently died, only to be reduced to atoms then teleported to a nearby tomb for repairs), possess strength on par with Space Marines or more, and have guns that strip you one molecule at a time to your bare bones. Necron Lords are even hinted to have sentience, and are able to command legions of his brethren. The cursed part? You're an antithesis to all living beings in the known universe and bar the select individuals (Lords) many Necrons no longer have sentience.
** The Primarch Ferrus Manus killed a silver dragon in a lava flow and the dragon's metallic skin fused to his arms, covering them with living metal. With his iron hands he could forge weaponry by working the metal with his 'bare' hands and never needed gauntlets in battle, since his hands were already invulnerable. His Space Marines, the Iron Hands legion, have developed a habit of intentionally replacing parts of themselves with cybernetic augmentations in homage to him. However, Ferrus didn't like his metal arms, precisely ''because'' they were so useful. In his opinion, he is being made weaker by depending on them and had decided that after the wars were over he would strip the metal off his arms, reassert his own strength and curb his legion's reliance on machine parts. Sadly, he was killed in battle before that could happen and the Iron Hands have gone on trying to fix their "weakness of the flesh".
** The Obliterators embody BodyHorror by being a perfect mix of man, demon and machine. It begins with contracting the Obliterator virus, melding with your firearm, generating ammunition for your firearm, developing the ability to absorb other firearms and finally becoming a full-fledged Obliterator. The awesome part is how Obliterators are WalkingArmory incarnate, with BottomlessMagazines and the capability to produce and wield any weapon for any situation.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'': Some {{Chaos|IsEvil}} {{muta|nts}}tions have entirely positive effects, like a HealingFactor or an ability score boost, and might even leave no [[RedRightHand outward sign]] at all. However, even beneficial mutations [[TorchesAndPitchforks mark the mutant for death]] in polite society and draw them that much closer to [[YourSoulIsMine being consumed by Chaos]], so few would ever hope for one.
* Some cards in ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' have effects that ''look'' bad, but can be abused with certain combos. The poster child of this trope, however, is probably [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Mist_Valley_Falcon Mist Valley Falcon]]. He can be summoned at no cost, and has a whopping 2000 ATK, which is as high as it gets without drawbacks. The "cursed" part? He can't use that high ATK score without returning one of your cards to your hand. The "awesome" part? Try equipping [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Big_Bang_Shot Big Bang Shot]] to one of your ''opponent's'' monsters before attacking. Yes, you get a powerful attack, ''and'' you get to kill one of your opponent's monsters DeaderThanDead! He can also return a [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Fiendish_Chain Fiendish Chain]] that you want to use again. That's ''saving a card''. The best part? His effect can be used to trigger [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Divine_Wind_of_Mist_Valley Divine Wind of Mist Valley]], allowing you to summon something like resident GameBreaker [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Reborn_Tengu Reborn Tengu]].
** An even more notorious example is [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Order Imperial Order]], the only continuous spell negation trap in the game. Its intended downside is that it has a maintenance cost that you have to pay 700 life points during each of your standby phases or it's destroyed. This, however, wound up giving the person using it the option to cancel its effect before their turn really starts, allowing them to play their spell cards when they want to after denying the opponent the chance to play theirs. As spell cards are an important resource to the game (especially in spell based decks), this card gave a massive strategic advantage to the person playing it, resulting in the card being banned initially. Eventually it was given an errata that makes the cost mandatory, thus downplaying the awesome part.
** Yet another example is [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Painful_Choice Painful Choice]]: You choose five cards from your deck and your opponent picks one of them. The card your opponents chooses goes to your hand and the rest go to the graveyard. Early in Yu-Gi-Oh!'s infancy this was clearly a large cost, as those four cards were lost to you barring a few ways of retrieving them from the graveyard; fewer of which were reliably consistent. But as the game evolved, more and more cards have been printed that ''rely'' on them being dumped in the graveyard to activate, subverting this card's major downside into a huge benefit to stack your graveyard. Not only has this card been banned ever since, but the last time it's been printed in English-speaking countries was back in ''2008'', having only been reprinted a total of ''once'' in any one of those locations.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''. Yes, it's so hard to be one of the richest, most attractive, most intelligent men in the world with fighting abilities rivaling most Special Forces, and hi-tech gizmos that NASA would need a decade to reverse-engineer. The [[Creator/TimBurton Burton]][=/=][[Creator/JoelSchumacher Schumacher]] movies actually have characters calling out Bruce Wayne on this. [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy The Nolan movies]], however, examine how physically and mentally taxing it is to live a double-life as Batman.
* Jason Bourne in ''Film/TheBourneSeries'' has had mad assassin training and can read every map, drive every vehicle, speak every language, fire every weapon, can enter anywhere and [[ImprovisedWeapon kill anyone with anything]]. All that for the little price of his personal memory, however. He also has to dodge a lot of assassins.
* In the German film ''Film/BoxhagenerPlatz'', the [[CoolOldLady cool granny]] protagonist has already survived five husbands. [[spoiler: And number six and seven follow the course.]]
* At the end of ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', we get to see what happened to all the bad kids. Violet is let off the easiest, and is pleased to find that she's much more flexible after becoming a blueberry and then getting juiced. Only her mother is bothered that she's still blue.
* In ''Film/DraculaUntold'', Vlad's abilities after he becomes a vampire are extremely powerful, being able to curbstomp entire armies in a single battle, but comes at the price of him having blood thirst and being an abomination in the sight of God and man, causing his allies to turn against him.
* In ''Film/{{The Fly|1986}}'', Seth Brundle finds that becoming a diseased mutant does have its benefits, including wall-crawling, superhuman strength, corrosive spit and an enhanced libido.
* ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'': All of the immortals have perpetual youth and are nearly indestructible. They enjoy the benefits of many lifetimes worth of experiences, wealth and knowledge. However, they can never have children and must [[WhoWantsToLiveForever watch everyone they love grow old and die]]. There's also the whole problem of living your life worrying about other immortals trying to kill you.
* In ''Film/TheLastWitchHunter'', the Witch Queen "curses" Kaulder with immortality in attempt to exploit WhoWantsToLiveForever, but it only turns him into the world's best witch hunter. [[spoiler:Justified later, as it turns out she used him as "storage" for her immortality, it being necessary to bring her back to life fully.]]
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', Steve Rogers learns that the Super Serum he was given has sped up his metabolism to the point where he NeverGetsDrunk, which is inconvenient as he's trying to [[DrowningMySorrows drown his sorrows]] after Bucky was seemingly killed. He gets over it in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' where it's shown that it means he's able to drink Thor's highly potent Asgardian mead without any ill effects.
* ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'':
** The 1999 version of ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}''. Okay, Imhotep got eaten alive by scarabs and had to slumber for a few thousand years, but once released he became an immortal, invincible badass. And, the people who cursed him, and their descendants, were then forced to spend those thousands of years guarding his tomb, waging war on anyone who tried to open it, to prevent the badass from coming out. They thought the Egyptian afterlife was too good for him, but really, it would have been much easier to [[JustShootHim just kill him]]. The protagonists even directly state [[StatingTheSimpleSolution "cursing people just seems to make them stronger, why not just kill them?"]]
** In ''Film/TheMummyReturns'', the Scorpion King is cursed to serve the god Anubis for eternity. And as part of this curse, he becomes a humanoid scorpion, only killable by a certain weapon, and 5000 years later is set to revive and conquer the world unless stopped.
** This was averted in ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor''. The Emperor already ''had'' superpowers while he was alive, the curse just turned him into [[OurLichesAreDifferent a terracotta corpse]].
* ''Film/MyPetMonster'': Max hates the fact that he periodically turns into a monster with Super Strength. His sister, however, is convinced that it is the coolest thing ever.
* The premise for ''Film/{{Phenomenon}}''. Creator/JohnTravolta's character gains extraordinary mental powers as well as telekinesis [[spoiler:all caused by a brain cancer that activates normally dormant regions of the brain]]. His first big problem is finding out ''why'' he got this power -- since it scares the locals, it makes his personal life harder than it used to be (he's from a small town). Once he finds out, he takes it much better -- [[spoiler:yes, he takes a brain cancer that kills him in less than two years, and the inconveniences that go with treating such a cancer, much more peacefully than ostracism]].
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'': Being cursed with an immortal life of eternal hunger and thirst (among other things) legitimately sucks for the crew of the ''Black Pearl''; but they sure do make the most of immortality.
** ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'': [[spoiler:Will Turner]] in the finale, although Jack Sparrow views it more as BlessedWithSuck due to the absence of port... er, making port.
* The main character from ''Film/ShallowHal'' is hypnotized to see a person's inner self. This means that every woman worth hitting on also looks like a supermodel.
* In ''Film/TheSuicideTheory'', Percival desperately wants to die, but keeps surviving his numerous suicide attempts, going so far has to hire a hit man, Steve, to off him (he survives three further attempts by Steve to fulfill that contract). Steve tries to convince Percival that as he is essentially invincible, he can do whatever he wants without any lasting consequences at all, but Percival isn't convinced, and his many attempt to die leave him looking increasingly chewed up throughout the movie.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* The Literature/{{Worm}} ''Fanfic/{{Atonement}}'' has Ruin. Her power can do some incredible damage and one use is enough to end most battles -- but if she makes any sound ''outside'' of combat, she'll inadvertently kill everyone around her.
* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BuildYourWingsOnTheWayDown'', Ed is burdened by knowing the dark side of alchemy. But he now knows the ins and outs of alchemy and can do feats thought to be impossible by regular alchemists. [[spoiler: He knows how to directly bargain with the Gate and what are the set prices and transactions for EquivalentExchange.]]
* In ''Fanfic/ACharmedLife'' Light angsts a bit over L and his father's assertion that Kira is cursed but later decides that if he is "cursed" than he couldn't have asked for a nicer curse to have.
* The ''Series/{{CSI}}''/''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' crossover fic ''Death by Chocolate'' shows how Violet Beaureguard benefited from the incident of the blueberry pie gum from the film section below -- she became a contortionist of such skill that she became a star of Cirque de Soleil. [[spoiler: Her mother wasn't too happy about it, though...]]
* A repeated theme in ''Fanfic/DiariesOfAMadman''. Particularly so with Discord, but Nav, Celestia, and Luna also stand out.
* TheWisePrince protagonist in ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6072033/1/Dragon_Age_The_Crown_of_Thorns Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns]]'' feels this way and even outright explains it when he [[spoiler:and his elder brother Trian, who dies in Canon but is only presumed dead in this case, make peace with each other ]]after the dwarven noble returns to Orzammar [[spoiler:incognito, while the female human noble plays the leader]]. Having been clever enough to [[spoiler:totally manipulate Bhelen and his lackeys by faking Trian's death and getting himself framed for it deliberately]], he admits that he [[spoiler:believes he would make a great king but his cleverness would rub off on all the conniving politicians and actually cause them to become even more subtle in their backhanded dealing, meaning that he'd upgrade the game of bloody politics ]]that he wants to see shattered. Add to that the [[spoiler:fact that history would cause people to assume that only brilliant leaders like him can do any good, which goes against how he wants to see some luminosity in Orzammar as a whole]]. He argues that [[spoiler:Trian ]]can break the game because [[spoiler:he's capable of ObfuscatingStupidity so he can kickstart a chain reaction that would, in the long run, lead to a higher way of thinking]]. So, he feels he'd [[spoiler:make a bad king in the current situation because he'd be too god at it]]. The answer [[spoiler:Trian ]]gave? [[spoiler:"That... is just so incredibly stupid!" ]]And this is all before a king is decided upon.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10369035/1/The-Fire-Bird-Act-I The Fire Bird Act I]]'' Fleur Delacour feels this way about her flawless Veela beauty and allure and male humans' resultant inability to see her for her inner qualities. Actually a fairly common problem for Veela in Harry Potter fanfics; given an innate and nearly irresistible allure, veela find it almost impossible to find a partner that wants them for who they are rather than what they are.
* In ''Fanfic/HellsisterTrilogy'', it happens to Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}}. More powers than she can keep track of, to the point that she is able to time-travel by just flying fast enough. Yet still she feels those powers mean she can't lead a normal life, and they work as a magnet for every would-be cosmic conquerer/eldritch abomination looking for a pick or heroes needing to be saved from said cosmic conqueror/eldritch abomination.
-->Mentally, she kicked herself. All this incredible power, she thought. The ability to fly faster than light, to exist in the vacuum of space, to pierce the time barrier and reappear whenever she wanted to, and most of the time she took that for granted. No wonder that so often, life was stupid, dull, and boring to her.\\
No wonder that she'd never really managed to fully give her heart, or her body, to anyone yet. How many potential mates could understand the power and needs of a Kryptonian?
* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfics ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11989539/1/Hakkōna Hakkōna]]'' and ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12023508/1/Kaitō-Kokoro Kaitō Kokoro]]'': Obake are creatures that can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift]] into just about anything. Unfortunately, their powers made them feared by humans and [[GottaKillThemAll massacred as a result]] with [[spoiler:Kiku as the only survivor]].
-->Obake. A subcategory of Yōkai, supernatural creatures of Japanese Shinto myth. Obake are beings that can take on any shape, from an inanimate household object to the most ravenous of beasts. However, despite that, Obake can be of various species, possessing various base forms; cat, dog, monkey, even human are just some of them. Obake have generally lived in peace, respecting all those around them. Secluding themselves from people, they are one with nature, in perfect harmony with it and each other as they live through existences which aren't limited by the passing of time. Everything was perfect until that fateful day...
* Most loopers, especially anchors, in ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'' view the loops as this. Sure, time is on repeat for who knows how long and sometimes, you are the only one who knows what is going on, but on the plus side, you can never permanently die, you get to visit new worlds and learn new skills, have unlimited chances to fix any mistakes you made, and you tend to end up with your friends and family.
* In ''Fanfic/TheInstituteSaga'', [[Characters/MarvelComicsRogue Rogue]]'s powers mean that she cannot touch anyone who isn't a Kryptonian, until she finally gets a special bracelet.
* This is lampshaded and then kicked in the balls in ''Fanfic/{{Luminosity}}'' with this exchange.
-->'''Edward:''' No, Bella, any of us would rather be human--\\
'''Bella:''' What? Okay, Alice said that the three day initiation process or whatever it is is "not fun". I could buy that it is sufficiently not fun that you wish it hadn't happened to you, don't think it was worth it. It'd be a little hard to believe, but not impossible. But why in the world would you want to go ''back'' once you've already been through that part? I don't know how old the rest of you are, but you realize Alice would be dead by now, right? Humans generally don't live to be a hundred years old. Whatever it is she misses about being human, ''she wouldn't have it anymore anyway''.
* In the One-Shot ''Fanfic/TheNewRecruit'', Matt Garretty (along with his friends Steve and Andrew) received incredible powers during the events of [[Film/{{Chronicle}} his film]]. He can generate shields to protect himself from most attacks, can telekinetically move most objects, and can fly. However, those same powers led to Steve's death and Andrew's FaceHeelTurn (which destroyed part of Seattle and exposed their powers). Matt, by the time Coulson finds him, has this opinion about his powers due to his trauma.
* ''Fanfic/PrinceCharming'' combines this trope with BlessedWithSuck. Prince Adrien was blessed at birth with the gift of charm...which means that anyone who interacts with him is brainwashed into his devoted slave within minutes. He eventually summons the spirit of Misfortune to ''curse himself'' in hopes that Misfortune's curse can undo his blessing. While it works (albeit with a few side effects), the curse is still a curse. Which is a problem, since true love's kiss will break a curse...
* An interesting example occurs in the ''Fanfic/ProjectDarkJade'' fic ''Fanfic/ShadowsAwakening'', [[WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures Jade]] [[FreakyIsCool actually]] ''[[IJustWantToBeSpecial likes]]'' her new powers, and is only trying to remove them because of her EnemyWithin[=/=]SuperpoweredEvilSide the Queen, who is slowly corrupting her.
* Referred to by name in ''Fanfic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'', when one of the characters comments that while people could live just fine without the super-powerful, chainsaw-wielding and fruit smoothie making Evas, the current situation of invading giant monsters more or less forces governments to keep them around to survive.
* In ''FanFic/ShowaAndVampire'', Shinichi and some of his friends are some of the most powerful beings on the planet, each have a pool of beautiful and loyal girlfriends, are the most popular kids in school, are either rich or best friends with someone who's rich... and none of it would've happened without the powers they feel so cursed with having.
* In ''Fanfic/SixesAndSevens'', which incorproates elements of the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]], original comics, and ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', Abraham Van Helsing is given the Mask of Death in Latveria to heal from a vampire attack. Victoria explains that it was retrieved from atop Mount Wundagore by past generations along with other items, but was the only item considered safe enough to actually use in comparison to the other dark magic artifacts. The actual effects let the wearer heal from injuries and gain super strength, but if they ever leave the shadow of Mount Wundagore their blood will boil until they die.
* In ''Fanfic/StallionOfTheLine'', Ranma still has his Jusenkyō curse after reincarnating as Luffy. However, Urd forgot to include the water-attracting portion of it. So while Ranma still changes gender with water, he can now stay either gender for several days at a time, something he uses to build a reputation as a female bounty hunter while still acting as a male pirate.
* ''Fanfic/Strikers89'' has Merlin. She can't fly Strikers like a normal witch, but she can generate shields, guide missiles, and power up the gun of the plane she's in. She can also talk to machines.
* The [[spoiler:Chronodata]] in ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7623289/1/ Transcendence: Digital Curse]]'' stops [[spoiler:Agumon]] from digivolving, but causes his natural form to grow much stronger. After having it for a certain amount of time, it allows him to evolve anyway, and into a form more powerful than any of his other evolutions. The only downside is that the change is his biology means he is capable of permanently dying in the digital world as well as the real one, and even then its power has saved him multiple times.
* ''Fanfic/{{White Sheep|RWBY}}'': After losing her arm, Jaune [[spoiler: gives Yang a Grimm arm, complete with a sentient creature. Despite being horrified at first, Yang manages to use it to be unstoppable in combat]].
* [[FreakinessShame Wingfic]] (in which a character grows wings, {{wangst}}s about it and gets [[HurtComfortFic reassured]] by their partner) ''invariably'' causes AngstDissonance because most readers think that having wings would be [[RuleOfCool incredibly cool]].
* ''Fanfic/YoungJusticeDarknessFalls'' has Cyborg, who does NOT like his mechanized body, even though he is now a one-man army capable of using Apokolips weaponry.
* In the ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheLongEventide,'' Brandywine has her rare ability to [[{{Necromancy}} summon "echoes" of once-living creatures]] outright referred to as a curse. Downplayed, as while it's a very overwhelming and dangerous power to wield, she's still willing to makes use of it to get around her [[WeakenedByTheLight sunlight weakness]] while taking precautions to not be consumed by it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "Lucky Girl," Hummingbird II discovers that her gods-granted powers are tainted with a curse that will eventually turn her into a real bird. She rejects an offer to be cured by having her powers removed, choosing instead to deal with her fate with the help of her [[HonoraryUncle Honorary Aunts]].
* In ''ComicBook/TheBooksOfMagic'', Molly grows a garden (a "real garden", as in, "tomato orchard", not "pleasure garden") while in Faerie, and Titania gets miffed about this for no good reason, so she puts an enchantment on the garden. When Molly eats one of the fruits, she gets cursed and is constantly on fire without burning. Molly is pissed, of course, but she puts the curse to good use by burning everything that stands in her way on her march to the Titania's palace.
* As an {{Expy}} of Ben Grimm, [[ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew Pig-Iron]] was transformed into a hulking steel monster. While he gained NighInvulnerability and SuperStrength, it also makes it utterly impossible for him to have a SecretIdentity or live any kind of normal, non-superheroic life. It also resulted in [[spoiler: his death from drowning, as unlike the other heroes he couldn't possibly swim. He would be resurrected by Creator/GrantMorrison to be a background character in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'']].
* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'':
** Deadpool was [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment cursed by Loki to have Tom Cruise's face]] until his father forgave him. Deadpool was not happy at all. Remember Deadpool is ''ugly''![[labelnote:*]]For the curious, Deadpool ''was'' happy to have an attractive face for about an hour, but eventually he became melancholic because while he had ''a'' face that people wouldn't run screaming from, it wasn't ''his'' face. He eventually came to view it as just another form of ugliness.[[/labelnote]]
** Deadpool gets this again, in a sort of subversion. In Deadpool #64, [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] [[spoiler:curses him with immortality]]. Where's the curse in that? Well, they both love Death, so Deadpool would actually be pretty happy being killable. Torn between Cursed With Awesome and BlessedWithSuck -- the curse only won out because that was Thanos's original intention.
* ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'s suit usually is more BlessedWithSuck, but the fact it supercharges her orgasms? Gee, what a burden.
* Thunderfoot, a homage to the character of ''Literature/WatershipDown'', is cursed in the Vertigo comic book series ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' by a dark magician hare to change into a horrendous, disgusting form -- that of a ''human'' -- until he gets the love of a pretty doe (female hare). Actually, Thunderfoot is the most awesome lad the readers may have seen. Ever. But his attempts to woo lady hares are constantly thwarted by their fearful cries of "MONSTER! Monster!"
* Characters/TheThing in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour''. Super-strong & nigh invulnerable. Sure he's not the best looking guy around, but despite this he's had several women attracted to him, Alicia Masters, Thundra, the second Miss Marvel, heck even Tigra seemed interested in him. Boo-hoo, poor Ben.
** Although, this is pretty heavily subverted now. Ben doesn't hate his looks and is actually quite happy to be the "Ever-lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing", as it's brought him great success and many new friends.
** The most irrational thing he complained about was how he thought the first of these women would flee him if she were not blind. Dude, she has a pretty good idea that you are not normal-looking because your skin feels more like an ''animate pile of rocks'' than anything outwardly human.
** In fact, Alicia played a very big factor in him as a character early on. He doubted that she would fall for "plain old Ben" because she hadn't met him before he became the Thing, and tried ''very'' hard to resist his desire to become human again.
*** The Thing goes back and forth on the issue usually presenting himself as someone who has adjusted to the condition and enjoys the benefits, but sometimes something happens to remind him that not everybody accepts him.
** The big issue comes from the fact that he inadvertently causes damage to structures around him. Buildings would have to be well-reinforced to support him and he probably wouldn't be able to take stairs or elevators. His fingers are too big and powerful to use normal, everyday things like telephones or cups, and everything in the Baxter Building had to be Thing-proofed just so he'd be able to live there. In terms of living his day-to-day life he's essentially handicapped.
** The Ultimate Universe version of the Thing has his condition played for full angst value but this is a younger version of the character. Aside from looking like a monster, he laments that he can't even figure out how to kill himself because he's too tough.
* ''ComicBook/{{Green Lantern|1941}}'': Locksley Smith, introduced in ''ComicBook/ComicCavalcade'', can open any lock, and has used it to save children trapped in safes. The fact that he cannot help but open any lock he's within a foot of no matter how foolhardy it is and how much he doesn't want to is a pretty big downside, but while it has mostly ruined his ability to hold a job it's also saved his life and others.
* ''ComicBook/HalloweenMan'': The eponymous hero of Drew Edwards' indie comic is a pretty good example; though Solomon Hitch's "origin story" disfigured half his face and left him with a skeletal hand, he gains superhuman strength and agility, virtual immortality, and even vague psychic powers. In addition, his wealthy, attractive, and brilliant girlfriend Lucy and demigod best friend Ron (son of Dionysus) accept him without hesitation, even if many of the other, more "mainstream" heroes of Solar City do not. Subverted to an extent, as Halloween Man is still one of the undead and needs to gruesomely consume fresh organs from other monsters to maintain himself (rather than reverting to eating humans). It is also hinted that in at least some future time lines he flips to the dark side anyway, becoming a [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] type slasher.
* ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'':
** Johann Krauss and his wife died during the Chengdou disaster; fortunately he was in the "Astral Plane" at the time. Now he's an effectively immortal cloud of mist, as long as he can find an empty "body" to inhabit. [[Film/Hellboy2004 The 2004 movie]] shows him pondering the difference between him and clockwork ImplacableMan [[ThoseWackyNazis Kroenen]].
** Abe Sapien [[spoiler:was a human scientist who, while exploring an undersea ruin in the 1800s, became {{touched by|Vorlons}} an EldritchAbomination after finding a mysterious "egg" that turned him into a fishman]]. Subverted in that he doesn't feel cursed. Usually.
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'':
** For most folks who gain powers via Gamma radiation like the Hulk, the Abomination, and General Ross, [[BlessedWithSuck it's the opposite Trope]], but there are exceptions:
** ComicBook/SheHulk started out as Bruce Banner's mousy cousin Jennifer Walters who transformed after being given a blood transfusion from Dr. Banner. She went from a shy, rather nebbish girl into... well, She-Hulk. Eventually, writers realized there weren't any real ''downsides'' to it, and she hasn't complained about the situation in ''years.'' (The trick is that, as the name implies, they were trying to make a DistaffCounterpart to the Hulk -- but while Bruce Banner turns into a horrific, mindless force of destruction [[DependingOnTheWriter most of the time]], Jennifer turns into a friendly, vivacious Amazon who is still mentally herself, just [[AmazonianBeauty tall, busty, and jacked]]. Hard to see any downsides in that, especially since she didn't like who she used to be all that much to ''begin'' with.)
** Lampshaded as early as the late-80s, when at the end of an issue, Mister Fantastic sadly informs Jennifer that due to a burst of radiation she absorbed, she is now permanently stuck in her She-Hulk form. A couple of beat panels later she replies, "So, what's the ''bad'' news?"
** Jen isn't the only one to benefit from gamma radiation. The Hulk's enemy the Leader was once [[FromNobodyToNightmare nothing more than a janitor]] until an accident involving gamma radiation turned him into a super-genius with PsychicPowers. (He considered the green skin and [[MyBrainIsBig enlarged, mutated cranium]] a ''very'' small price to pay.)
** Doc Samson transformed himself using stored energy siphoned from the Hulk in an attempt to turn the Hulk back into Bruce Banner permanently. Considering that it changed him from a somewhat nebbishy scientist into someone with the physique of a Greek god, the fact that it also made his hair longer and ''green'' was unplanned, but overall he admits it's still a good deal for him.
** Indeed, one theory about gamma radiation is that it transforms the victim into a physical embodiment of deeply repressed emotions. While the Hulk embodies the hidden rage that Bruce felt towards his abusive father, She-Hulk is a liberated, daring side of Jennifer that she had never been able to show before. Abomination is an unlovable bastard because Emil Blonsky is an unlovable bastard (or believes he is). Doc Sampson always wanted to be a paragon-style superhero, so that's what he turned into.
** The She-Hulk question is interestingly played with in ''Comicbook/TheAvengersJasonAaron'', when Jen's Hulk form becomes more like Bruce's. That's worse, right? Well, it turns out she ''prefers'' not having to fight in a highly sexualised form that means she has to make the jokes before the bad guys do, and it's a relief to drop being the funny, upbeat one and just get mad and smash things.
* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast1992'': Those trapped in the Dark World are cursed to become beasts without artifacts or heroic willpower. Roam, however, takes advantage of being able to become an eagle.
* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfTheChaosGod'': Solego, though trapped within a crystal, has the power to possess any living or mechanical thing that comes in direct contact with the crystal.
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': Thor's foe the Flame believes he is horrendously ugly in addition to having superstrength, fire control abilities, indestructible armour and a {{BFS}}. Of course, he is horrendously ugly by fire demon standards which makes him extremely handsome by human (or Asgardian) standards, but the Flame refuses to believe this.
* [[ComicBook/ROMSpaceknight ROM and the other Spaceknights]] constantly bewail the loss of their humanity, even though they can still think, talk, feel, and do pretty well everything else humans can, while also having supercool cyborg armor, the ability to fly, virtual immortality, and, of course, survive attack by the Dire Wraiths.
** Not being able to get ''out'' of their armor probably sucks pretty hard. For one thing, you couldn't have sex. Actually, do there really have to be any other reasons?
** They also turned out to be ''right'' to bemoan their loss of humanity. A second generation of Space Knights was created which were more extremely transformed (and more powerful), and they all went AxCrazy and destroyed the rest of their race and the parts removed from all the Space Knights, preventing anyone from ever transforming them back.
* Played with in ''ComicBook/{{Sillage}}''. You would think that in a setting where everyone but the protagonist has psychic powers, to the point that she was not recognized as a person at first, might be a bad thing. Turns out it means she's an excellent spy/special agent, because she cannot be psychically detected like everyone else.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** Peter Parker is a genius, incredibly powerful (at least compared to us muggles), a successful photographer -- who even published a book of Spider-Man photos -- and a college student. Despite his poverty, he is able to provide for himself -- including crime-fighting gadgets like web-shooters, webbing and costumes -- his aged aunt and his supermodel wife. Remember? He bagged a chick so hot she should be using dorks like him as a paperweight. Not to mention [[Characters/SpiderManLoveInterests Gwen Stacy, Betty Brant, Liz Allen]], the Characters/{{Black Cat|MarvelComics}}, [[Characters/SpiderManLoveInterests Deb Whitman]]...
** This is ultimately deconstructed during the ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' saga. [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]], having hijacked'd Peter's body, uses it to be a superior Spidey. However, when the [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Green Goblin]] opts to bring everything down around his ears, he comes to realize that Peter purposely stops himself from using his Awesome because of things like this.
** ''ComicBook/SpiderManNoir'': When Peter got bitten by the mystic spiders, he hallucinated that a spider god would give him "The Curse Of Power". Considering how the Spider-Man powers have affected other Spider-Man, this isn't actually that far off.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] [[BatmanGambit endangers a space flight]], forcing Superman to fly too close to the sun in the process of rescuing them. The damage to his body [[YourDaysAreNumbered leaves him with one year to live]]. On the upside, it boosts his powers and intelligence, and renders him immune to kryptonite, which helps him deal with all his final year's problems.
** In ''ComicBook/AMindSwitchInTime'', ComicBook/{{Superboy}} is not happy to learn his future self will be a famed newscaster since Pa and Ma always said he should keep himself out of the public eye. Still, going to greater lengths to protect your secret identity seems a small price to pay for becoming a renowned journalist.
** In ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}} complains that her incredible powers have been an endless source of problems for her since she crash-landed on Earth. Yes, she has soared through the galaxy and tanked energy blasts. She has also been forced into battle after battle, manipulated, used, abused and treated as a tool or a ticking bomb by pretty much everyone.
--->'''Supergirl:''' This strength, this power-- It's been like a curse.
** ''ComicBook/LegendsOfTheDeadEarth'': In ''Superman'' Annual #8, the League of Supermen is made up of men and women who are empowered with just one of Superman's many Kryptonian abilities. Unfortunately, they can't shut them off. Shield is completely numb, See-Through has to wear lead shades to block his x-ray vision, Flyboy needs to be tethered when not consciously moving towards something, Pounder has to be fed like a baby, and Heat needs to let off excess heat energy every fifteen minutes or his insides burn up.
* Ironically enough, the literally Death-loving Thanos receives the immortality curse in ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'', and he goes ''completely omnicidally insane'' as a result.
* In the comic ''ComicBook/{{Timespirits}}'', Our Heroes encounter a dinosaur-descended space pirate who has supernatural luck. She can never fail to do ''anything'' she tries. And when Our Heroes offer to remove the "Curse of Success" she jumps at the chance. Because, as she puts it, "I am so incredibly ''bored''!". So she gets her luck extracted and has the ordinary chance of success and failure of anyone else -- which she considers a blessing.
* This certainly happens to ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'''s Dr. Manhattan. Being the only person with god-like powers in the entire known universe is a plus. But he lost his humanity, not really caring about anything but science. On the other hand, he doesn't care.
* Zig Zagged with [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] in ''ComicBook/WerewolfByNight''. At their creation, werewolves weren't "cursed" but merely given a useful ability; it later became a curse when the way to control those abilities got lost over time. So when Jack becomes a werewolf on his eighteenth birthday, it really is a curse: forced to [[PainfulTransformation painfully transform]] [[WeirdMoon three times a month]] with no control. But when he finally ''does'' learn how to control it, he starts to enjoy the abilities it gives him, being able to use his werewolf form to do good. Unfortunately, the curse seems to have a way of striking back. You can transform any time you want? Your uncontrolled werewolf form during the full moons will become stronger and more violent. You're happy you won't have to change ''at all'' anymore, not even during the full moon? You'll lose the ability, and from now on you'll be forced to [[spoiler:have visions of hell]] when you transform.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'':
** While not common the occasional Amazon takes issue with the fact that due to being superpowered and immortal and living on an island with no men/where men don't receive the same, they cannot have children and if straight cannot find a lover of their choice who isn't going to just die on them of old age. The most notable is Persephone from ''WesternAnimation/WonderWoman2009'', who ended up betraying the Amazons and turning evil in order to be with Ares.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Due to the oaths the Amazons have taken in the Golden Age none but their champion can have a life outside Paradise Island, and even leaving for brief periods is questionable. This trade-off for immortality and super-strength does not bother most of them but seeing Diana's life drives Dalma to remove her bracelets (unleashing her full Amazonian strength) and flee to America to become a boxer. Aphrodite orders Dalma dragged to Reformation Island and locked in an [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul Aphrodite Girdle]].
* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
** Subverted with the ComicBook/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}}. Those who are bestowed with the power of Cyttorak through his crimson gem are also compelled to do evil, regardless of their previous nature. However, Cain Marko is a natural sociopath, and doesn't need much prodding. When Cain tried to [[HeelFaceTurn turn over a new leaf]] and joined the X-Men, Cyttorak was very unhappy with this development. Thus, [[RedemptionDemotion Cain's power was greatly reduced]] and he was pushed into returning to a life of evil to regain the lost power.
** In its early history, the X-Men themselves tended to have [[BeautyEqualsGoodness attractive heroes]] who felt awkward about their powers, while [[AmbitionIsEvil villains who reveled in their powers]] were ugly. This trend was reduced with the introduction of the Morlocks, who were bizarre but kind, plus the general escalating public fear of mutants ''because'' [[TheyLookLikeUsNow they could look just like anyone else]].
** ''Film/XMen1'' in many ways reflected this; the heroes were all extremely gorgeous people with cool powers played by people like Creator/HughJackman, Creator/HalleBerry and Creator/JamesMarsden, whilst the bad guys -- with the notable exception of Creator/IanMcKellen -- were all freaks. The later movies began to balance this out a bit more with the inclusion of characters such as [[Characters/MarvelComicsNightcrawler Nightcrawler]]. Other X-Men films, such as ''[[Film/XMenFirstClass First Class]]'' imply a number of evil mutants become evil ''because'' they're ugly; visible mutations make them bigger targets for prejudice, which in turn [[ThenLetMeBeEvil makes them more cynical and bitter toward humans]].
** Also, some of the mutants who've wished to be cured over the years (and over the adaptations) have been mutants who looked human and didn't suffer from any lack of control.
** The X-man Beak became an interesting, fairly literal example. At first, he was simply BlessedWithSuck since his only mutant power was looking like a giant plucked chicken. Then the ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}''' boss [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien The Timebroker]] decides to draft Beak onto the team, and forcibly yank him away from his home reality. Why? Because Beak will supposedly save TheMultiverse some day. Essentially, the Timebroker just decided to hand Beak [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility a great responsibility]] while Beak [[HomeSweetHome just wanted his life back]], literally cursing him with awesomeness. Of course, the Timebroker turned out to be right when [[spoiler: Beak found a way to defeat Hyperion]].
** This point's been lampooned in Toyfare's ''ComicStrip/TwistedToyfareTheatre'', with a villain exclaiming "rich teenagers with superpowers? Yeah, I WISH I had your problems!"
** Inverted after M-Day which de-powered almost all the mutants. There is, for example, a home dedicated to helping mutants adjust to life without powers. One resident is a former telekinetic who used to use his powers for construction work.
** During the ''WebVideo/CinemaSins'' video of ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', Jeremy finally has had enough of Characters/{{Mystique}} claiming humans wouldn't find her attractive in her [[ShapeshifterDefaultForm normal form]]: a nude, busty blue ActionGirl. He retorts it would be almost ''impossible'' for a straight man ''not'' to be turned on by her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* [[ExtraDigits Polydactyly]], in cases when people actually have normal functional sixth fingers. [[https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325388 Studies have shown that polydactyls can do certain tasks better than those with five fingers, and develop extra brain functions]].
* Famed Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges wrote powerfully on the benefits of blindness, asserting that he could now "see" the truths of the world more clearly.
* Autistic savants[[note]]Note that both words are important. Just being autistic does not make one a savant.[[/note]]: They generally have superb mathematical abilities, despite being autistic. However, it's ''extremely'' rare. Savants can also be gifted with artistic, musical, linguistic talent, etc., but they tend to ''only'' be [[CripplingOverspecialization skilled in that area and absolutely nothing else]]. It can get oddly specific, too; a savant might be able to draw a horse perfectly, but can't even draw a cloud in the background. There's also the fact that savants can be academically brilliant but have little to no social skills.
* [[CantHoldHisLiquor Having low alcohol tolerance]]. While it can suck to experience the symptoms of drinking too much faster than others, people with it are less likely to spend too much money on drinking, develop health issues, and become alcoholics thanks to the caution required to live with it.
* It has been said that Creator/HowardHughes would not have performed any of his accomplishments if he was not driven by his UsefulNotes/ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder. The same has been said with [[Series/DealOrNoDeal Howie Mandel]].
* John Paul Jones of Music/LedZeppelin, since he [[StuckInTheirShadow never achieved anywhere near the fame]] of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, or even John Bonham, he was free to enjoy the rock and roll lifestyle and actually explore the many places they visited on tour because no one would recognize him on the street, while the rest of the band couldn't leave their hotel rooms without being swarmed by fans.
* With neurosyphilis, a recurrence of syphilis when latent ''Treponema'' bacteria start attacking the brain, it causes euphoria in its victims. They become more sexually active, happier, and more passionate. Because syphilis isn't very common anymore, this usually happens in old people. Now, you can imagine how being old and suddenly regaining your sex drive is unusual. A substory of ''Series/{{House}}'' was inspired by this. That, in turn, was inspired by a real case study done by Oliver Sacks, which he wrote about in ''The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat''. This 89 year old woman had been a prostitute in turn of the century Greece and contracted syphilis when she was 20. Since there was no treatment at the time, the spirochetes became latent and only affected her 70 years later. She started feeling horny for the first time in years, and sleeping with younger men. Her fellow prostitutes had nicknamed it "Cupid's Disease" (brothels should know a thing or two about [=STDs=]). Sure enough, when they tested her CSF, it was positive for neurosyphilis. And just like in ''House'', the old woman wasn't sure if she wanted it treated. But she didn't have to worry. Her brain had been permanently "damaged," so the spirochaetes could be killed without reversing the mild disinhibition. In House's words, she was "cursed to feel happy".
* In the late 1940s Harry Corbett used to play the piano in a band. Then he started going deaf (he was eventually cured by an operation). He took up conjuring instead, and before long he started using a teddy bear [[HandPuppet glove puppet]] as his assistant -- and [[Series/TheSootyShow the rest]] [[LongRunners is history]].
* More neurological awesome-curses: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschwind_syndrome Geschwind syndrome]] occurs in some people with temporal lobe epilepsy and possibly other temporal lobe abnormalities. It consists of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypergraphia hypergraphia]] (A compulsion to write or draw incessantly), a tendency to have heightened emotional and mental life and decreased sexual interest, and an inclination towards spirituality. Sure, seizures aren't fun, but the rest of it? Many writers would give anything to spend more time in that mindstate, especially the hypergraphia. Low sex drive is not much of a problem, you only lack the "urge" to mate like 99% of the rest of the population, but you can appreciate sex physically as much as everyone else... You are also much less likely to do stupid things (although, low sex drive can be a symptom of another problem such as depression or a hormone imbalance. It would be wise to double-check.)
* The religious hierarchy of Egypt was so angry at King Tut's father for trying to switch to a monotheistic system that they did their best to [[UnPerson completely erase any history that his son ever ruled]]. They were so successful that the tomb was only robbed twice months after the burial, the first of which stole limited items and the second of which the robbers were caught and the items returned. Which is why it was full of treasure when Carter discovered it, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero causing King Tut to be the best-known pharaoh of all time]].
* {{Narcissist}}s. They are much more confident, ambitious and sure of themselves than ordinary people, giving them a greater chance of success. On the other side, their relationships and self-control can become really serious issues, with a chance they end up putting themselves or others in danger.
* UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} is a vast country with extremely cold winters, two factors which drive up transport and living costs, and generally cause life in Russia to be an even greater pain. However, during the UsefulNotes/{{World|WarI}} [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Wars]], the vastness of Russia and the coldness of her winters played merry hell with the invaders' logistics -- they were far more dependent on railways and, unlike the Russians, they didn't have enough horses to keep their troops fed and supplied properly over the massive distances involved.
** Not just during the World Wars. People with eyes on Russia like the Teutonic Knights and Napoleon Bonaparte also got caught up in the winters, to the point that it was almost expected for a Russian Army to used a Scorched-Earth strategy - wherein they'd evacuate and then raze all the villages in the invaders' path [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill to keep them hungry and exposed to the elements]]. Napoleon's failed invasion is considered (one of) his greatest failure(s). The Nazis also suffered this, and Hitler expected them to keep on going and not retreat. It's not for nothing that Russia's winter is sometimes nicknamed "General Frost" or "General Winter."
** Same applies to Finland. But also skiing or snowmobiling through the snowy wilderness in winter is far faster than walking or hiking through them in the summer, and the extremely difficult road conditions in the winter makes Finns skillful car and motorcycle drivers. ''If you wanna win, get a Finn'' is an old adage in motor sports. Many car manufacturers do their development work in Finland due to the Finnish winter and road conditions in wintertime.
*** Russian Lada had (and has still) an excellent reputation as a reliable winter car in Finland. While [[TheAllegedCar generally not liked]], it was [[BoringButPractical respected]]. It can be said Lada itself was cursed with awesome -- the properties which made it a good winter car made it awful to drive in other seasons.
* Suspension with pay. You don't need to (in fact you can't) go to work, but you still get paid. Along the same vein, suspension from school: most kids hate school anyway, so you're going to "[[{{Unishment}} punish]]" them with a couple of days off? Great! The only ways for it to truly feel like a punishment is if their parents are strict enough to make sure it's not a vacation for them, the student feels ashamed of what they did, or cares deeply about their permanent record. Some schools have gone to "in-school suspension" (basically all-day detention) to counteract this, but this also fails because students aren't really forced to work. For those that do take the time to work, they're able to do so at their own pace since they're not at the mercy of period bells.
* Shows with a small or NoBudget. Yeah, you may not get the best special effects or SceneryPorn of a better funded show, but by the same tokens, the writers realize this, and you oftentimes can get a show that's better written and better produced. The producers of ''Series/{{Supernatural}},'' the old series of ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Series/BeingHumanUK'' have all mentioned working on somewhat small budgets (especially for a sci-fi series) forced them to get creative and put more effort into quality instead of spectacle.
** Good Indie titles are the Video Game version.
** Adversity forces creativity. The original ending of ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' (driving into a Nevada nuclear test range) was judged too expensive by the studio, so they wrote in the lightning strike at the clock tower instead. Many many classic movies had similar situations, where a unique solution to a budget issue became the most memorable part of the film.
* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' writers [[https://www.indiewire.com/2018/06/marvel-cinematic-universe-writers-advice-fixing-dc-extended-universe-1201975780/ have credited this]] to the success of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Since Marvel Studios didn't have access to its top-tier superheroes like Spider-Man or the X-Men when the franchise began in 2008, they had to work with B-list heroes, which gave the studio more creative freedom in reimagining and altering the characters without having to live up to pre-existing expectations by the public. Furthermore, the lesser-known reputation of these heroes forced the writers to focus more on making the characters relatable instead of relying just on brand name recognition.
** This has also been the case with the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse to a lesser extent - the more successful films in the franchise like ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'', ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'', and ''Film/{{Shazam|2019}}'' were based on lesser-known properties that didn't need to live up to prior adaptations, unlike ''Film/ManOfSteel'' or ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. In addition, prior superhero movies with female leads such as ''{{Film/Catwoman|2004}}'' and ''Film/{{Elektra}}'' were infamously bad, to the point where the people who made ''Wonder Woman'' were largely forced to make the film break out of the GirlShowGhetto. For similar reasons, the public perception of Aquaman was largely [[AudienceColoringAdaptation tarnished]] by his portrayal in ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'', so the makers of his film also knew they at least had to clear a bar.
* Certain types of synesthesia. Most people who have it describe it as a sixth sense that allows them to memorize things like formulas and phone numbers better than the average person as well; some who perceive sounds as colors have composed music by literally looking at it without the aid of sheet music. The downside? You're basically constantly hallucinating and describing your experiences to someone who isn't familiar with your particular manifestation of synesthesia makes you sound [[CloudCuckooLander like you just transferred in from Wonderland.]] Of course, there's also the fact that it cannot be controlled. What if, for example you meet someone who you think might be the love of your life, but merely speaking or hearing their name literally puts a bad taste in your mouth?
* Waardenburg Syndrome, which usually causes deafness or hearing loss. But many people with the mutation also have the most [[WhatBeautifulEyes stunning, gorgeous blue eyes]] that are humanly possible. [[http://i.imgur.com/hAZKq5c.jpg]]
* Most if not all neurological disorders that give one the ability to feel euphoria without having to work for it. Something that usually takes the average person drugs to achieve.
* Some people get very neurotic about being late to anything, even by a few minutes, and thus often insist on coming very early. They can be a pain to hang out with, and suffer from anxiety often, but it's better than being chronically late for everything.
* Some people with bipolar disorder refuse to take medication for their condition, preferring the roller-coaster to a blandly-unpleasant existence of mild sedation and other drug side-effects.
* Super tasters. They have too many taste buds and as a result, they cannot enjoy delicious foods. But this forces them to [[IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou actually enjoy healthy foods]]. YMMV though, since certain healthy foods can be overbearing while less healthy ones with less complex flavors will be preferred.
* Single people. While a relationship can be a good thing for a person, it can also be bad. Very, very bad. So while single people may feel lonely at times (and may even be ridiculed by others!) they have more freedom, less worry/drama, more focus on goals, no worries about fidelity/exclusivity/trust, etc. relative to people in romantic relationships. All this can apply to virgins as well: there can be no surer protection against [=STDs=] and unwanted pregnancies than not having sex!
* Married people. Sure, you give up a lot of autonomy when you tie the knot, and there's the specter of AwfulWeddedLife lurking around the corner. But for those who can endure the tough parts, you've got a permanent friend, companion, support, confidante, assistant, sex partner, and more. Plus, there's plenty of evidence that married couples tend to be more prosperous economically than two otherwise-equivalent singles.
* Some people require a lot of stimulation to orgasm, or simply can't climax at all. This can make it difficult if not impossible to use masturbation to 'blow off steam' and relax, and it can also foster feelings of inadequacy in one's partners -- who may feel they are 'to blame' for you not climaxing. But on the plus side you may well be able to work up to a very, ''very'' high plateau of sexual pleasure -- the kind most might only be able to reach for a moment before climaxing. And then stay there. In some cases, for ''hours''. Cursed with awesome indeed.
* Human biology states that wisdom teeth should grow in, something which evolved as they served as a replacement for teeth lost throughout life. Today some people have a hereditary condition that prevents this from occurring. This is technically a genetic defect, however in the era of modern dental hygiene where wisdom teeth are not necessary and most people have them removed via difficult and uncomfortable surgery, it only works to one's benefit.
* Working weekends. While any shift that requires this does not seem desirable, it has a large advantage that most don't realize unless they've done it: If your days off are normal business days, this means you have days off when everything is open and you can get errands done far easier and at less of an inconvenience to your normal schedule. It also allows one to go shopping at stores that are open 7 days but are far busier on weekends and beat the crowds. You can actually get far more done on your days off.
** The same with working the night shift or early morning. Many radio hosts, for example, only work when doing their show, and then spend the rest the day doing whatever they want.
*** Some private schools require you to work on Saturdays, but because of this, the days off you normally would have are added to your holidays. For instance, in UK schools that do this you would get nine weeks summer holiday instead of six, plus extra weeks at Christmas and Easter too. You get a great feeling of vindication when people from other schools have to go back to school when you have several more weeks of holiday left. That's not to say it's not frustrating to lose your full weekend though.
** Many computer programmers prefer working the night shift because it offers fewer distractions.
** If where you work is a non-trivial commute from home, working at night and on weekends can have the benefit of not having to deal with the horrendous rush hour traffic.
* Some guy on Website/{{Twitter}} tried to threaten women with the "curse" of not dating them. Which led to this hilarious five-act play by Creator/JohnScalzi: [[http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/09/25/an-anti-feminist-walks-into-a-bar-a-play-in-five-acts/]]
* There are quite a few people with high metabolisms that wish they could actually pack on the pounds. This is despite them being able to eat as much as they want without gaining any weight, and svelte people being generally considered quite attractive (to the point where there's many a model who's little more than skin and bones).
* Poets/Writers/artists who've had horrible lives. In return of a lifetime of suffering (losing their parents very early, starvation, disease, etc.), they write far better works than ones whose lives were happier. A good example is Attila József, a young Hungarian poet whose father abandoned the family when he was three years old and mother died nine years later, ended up in the psychiatric ward, and died when he was crushed by a train. Still he wrote beautiful and amazing poems that were even melodized by some punk bands. Though some of them only get their appreciation they deserve after they die.
* UsefulNotes/{{Amtrak}} does not run any high speed lines outside the Northeast Corridor due to its [[NoBudget lackluster federal funding]], forcing it to take winding routes through mountainous terrain -- giving train-riders among the best views you can get on any trip in the world. Few railroads in the world offer so much "the journey is the destination" as Amtrak does. However, it can also become BlessedWithSuck as Congress does not see tourism and sightseeing as something the federal government should spend money on.[[note]]Never mind all that tourism and sightseeing does wonders for local economies, or that Congress can always somehow find money for highways, airports, and cruise ship terminals.[[/note]]
* This turned out to be the case with Secretariat, considered (at least by North Americans) the greatest [[UsefulNotes/HorseRacing racehorse]] of all time. After his death an autopsy revealed that his heart was freakishly much larger than your average horse, with absolutely no signs of disease. Almost certainly the result of a genetic mutation, this enlarged heart's ability to pump much more blood was the primary reason for his speed ''and'' stamina.[[note]]Most notably an epic [[CurbStompBattle 31-length win]] in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, the longest of the US Triple Crown races at 1 1/2 miles (~2400 m) and often the one where Triple Crown dreams go to die.[[/note]]
* Some people with Kallman Syndrome as told in [[http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1852-6-awful-ways-life-changes-when-you-never-go-through-puberty.html this Cracked article]]. When the male recipients are too late to be treated, their semen can be infertile and are subjects for their kids' look. Yet the male recipients will not go bald much later than normal men, treated or not. And hey, if they are treated they still have their youth for some time and their voice wouldn't crack.
* Small-name creators may not be making enough from what they produce for entertainment for it to be their main job, but they generally enjoy better relations with their fans (due to not being flooded with constant fan messages), are more likely to [[DoingItForTheArt do what they do out of passion]] rather than just to make money, and don't have to deal with the [[CelebrityIsOverrated downsides of being super-famous]] such as constant public scrutiny.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_insensitivity_syndrome Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome]] is a condition where a woman is born effectively genetically male on the inside, yet still developed female genitalia and hormones. It leaves any recipient lacking reproductive organs and completely infertile. However the way it affects body development means that women with it [[https://jenapincott.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/when-the-perfect-woman-is-genetically-male/ often end up absolutely gorgeous.]]
* Underachieving students in school, who have to struggle and work hard to get marks. Once they're out of school and likely pursuing a career that doesn't require a high level of academic prowess, they're likely to find themselves excelling purely on the work ethic they developed.
* People in small or obscure cities may lose out when it comes to things to do around town or participating in big-name events (such as concerts of popular musicians) that are only held in bigger cities that people actually care about, but one of their perks is that where they live is less likely to be flooded by tourists who crowd places or disrespect the local culture.
* Having an eidetic memory, sure it's of great use when you're revisiting or remembering the most important things. However, you are going to be stuck with bad, cringey or even traumatic memories as well. An eidetic memory works both ways.
* Heterochromia can be either this ''or'' BlessedWithSuck. Most people think it looks cool, and it usually doesn't have any side effects. In some cases though (depending on the cause) it can cause vision problems or be indicative of another health issue.
* Music/RobbieWilliams is quite possibly the most famous solo male pop singer alive, having sold 75 million records since leaving Music/TakeThatBand in 1997, but the price of his fame is that [[AmericansHateTingle he has never been successful in the United States]], having only a few minor hits in the US despite being a juggernaut everywhere else. But rather than seeing this as a career frustration, Williams takes advantage of it by making his home in the US -- Los Angeles specifically -- since it's the only place in the world where he can live anonymously and give his family a normal life.
* The late Creator/JohnnyHallyday was in much the same situation as Williams, but for a different reason -- he sang almost exclusively in French, with only a small handful of English-language songs. He was a megastar in France and most if not all of the rest of the French cultural sphere, but unknown in the US. Which is why he spent much of the last 15–20 years of his life in Los Angeles, getting into some English-language acting in those years.
* ADHD and ADD helps with some things in life, but unless the circumstances are already in your favour they may not be of any use.
** To compensate for the short attention span, many ADHD individuals develop the ability to SherlockScan -- but this also makes it harder to focus on any one thing, since they cannot filter out the very details they use to scan everything.
** Hyperfocus diverts all brain power on a single thing, which allows for faster learning... but cannot be triggered at will, usually only happens if the subject is already interesting, you'll be less aware of your surroundings/needs and can be a massive time sink. For example, one may come up with an idea for a project at 4pm, starts doing it and realizes at 4am they haven't eaten anything for the last 14 hours, they've been postponing a bathroom break for 3 hours and have screwed up their schedule.
* Mild cases of light sensitivity can very easily become this. You see more clearly in the dark than most others, at the cost of having to wear sunglasses when you go out in daylight, which many people do regardless.
* Hyperacusis is a ''very'' rare hearing disorder that makes a person's ear(s) extremely hypersensitive. As a result, they perceive sounds as being much louder than they really are. According to some hyperacusis sufferers, it is downright ''debilitating'' at times; even the quietest sounds (such as a fan blowing, or a heater) can be quite irritating, while sounds that actually ARE quite loud (such as a dog barking) are ''painful.'' However, they usually also admit that there are times where they are grateful to have it; extremely good hearing can be very helpful and important in some situations.
* Some insomniacs learn to adapt to not being able to get a full 8 hours of sleep, becoming "Sleepless Elites" -- people who can function just fine with half the amount of sleep.
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[[quoteright:350:[[Comicbook/TheSavageSheHulk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5d23b3d3_5b3e_4997_945f_e2296f589362.jpeg]]]]

* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': Those trapped in the Dark World are cursed to become beasts without artifacts or heroic willpower. Roam, however, takes advantage of being able to become an eagle.

* In ''Animation/HappyHeroes 3: The Stones'', a helmeted individual deprives the monsters of their abilities; Cute Monster thinks this is good because she can stay cute for however long she wants (since her transformed version is an ugly monster). When the monsters are given their powers back after Big M. asks for them to be returned in exchange for telling the helmeted stranger where the Power Stone is, you can see Cute Monster trying to get away from the ball of energy that contains her powers.

[[caption-width-right:350:Oh no! She's ''cursed'' to turn into a super-hot, [[MostCommonSuperpower busty]] green [[SuperStrength superstrong amazon]]! Wait...]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Oh no! She's ''cursed'' to turn into a [[MostCommonSuperpower busty]] green [[SuperStrength superstrong amazon]]! Wait...]]

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/15139940/chapters/35107208 Prince Charming]]'' combines this trope with BlessedWithSuck. Prince Adrien was blessed at birth with the gift of charm...which means that anyone who interacts with him is brainwashed into his devoted slave within minutes. He eventually summons the spirit of Misfortune to ''curse himself'' in hopes that Misfortune's curse can undo his blessing. While it works (albeit with a few side effects), the curse is still a curse. Which is a problem, since true love's kiss will break a curse...

[[caption-width-right:330:Oh no! She's ''cursed'' to turn into a [[MostCommonSuperpower busty]] green [[SuperStrength superstrong amazon]]! Wait...]]

[[quoteright:330:[[Comicbook/TheSavageSheHulk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shehulk9.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:330:[[Comicbook/SheHulk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shehulk9.jpg]]]]

* ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'' features Rider of Red, AKA Achilles, who is "cursed" with the Curse of Immortality, which makes him invincible to any damage from people who have a lower Divine ranking than he does. [[StoryBreakerPower This is as ridiculous as it sounds.]]

* A number of characters on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' have this.
** Sheldon is by far the most brilliant and was a ChildProdigy. This, however, alienated him from his family and classmates and, as such, stunted his emotional development to the point where he has difficulty recognizing basic emotions in others. He's also stated that his eidetic memory causes him to not enjoy much of life because of the lack of challenge.
** Leonard was driven strongly by academic parents to succeed and became world-renowned as an experimental physicist. But he also was denied basic comfort and affection by his family and has great difficulty relating to women.
** Raj was brought up in great wealth surrounded by intense poverty. This privileged upbringing (probably caused by being surrounded by YesMan servants) causes him to not know how to act around people who aren't required to like him. The selective mutism around women probably came from somewhere in the same area once he had to get girls without his money.
** Howard's lack of relationship with his father and overbearing mother cause him to act out. He is by far the most outgoing and talkative of the main four but is often unaware of how much he is disliked. He also excelled in school in order to impress and bring pride to his mother. This costs him the ability to take care of his own life and he expects his mother (and later Bernadette) to [[ManChild take care of him]].

* It has been said that Creator/HowardHughes would not have performed any of his accomplishments if he was not driven by his SuperOCD. The same has been said with [[Series/DealOrNoDeal Howie Mandel]].

* Meilin Lee's situation in ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' goes from BlessedWithSuck to this over the course of the movie. See, her ancestor Sun Yee was given a gift by the gods - the ability to shapeshift into a giant red panda. She used this power to protect her village during wartime, and she passed the gift on to all of her female descendants. But over time, each generation found it more and more difficult to control the transformations, and the family started to view it as a curse instead of a blessing. When Mei inherits it, she's initially horrified. But with the support of her friends and the kids at school, she begins to see the benefits of her ability, and eventually masters complete control over it. In the end, Mei is able to reclaim Sun Yee's blessing as the gift it was always intended to be.

** This has also been the case with the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse to a lesser extent - ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'', ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'', and ''Film/{{Shazam|2019}}'' were based on lesser-known properties that didn't need to live up to prior adaptations, unlike ''Film/ManOfSteel'' or ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. In addition, prior superhero movies with female leads such as ''{{Film/Catwoman|2004}}'' and ''{{Film/Elektra|2005}}'' were infamously bad, to the point where the people who made ''Wonder Woman'' were largely forced to make the film break out of the GirlShowGhetto. For similar reasons, the public perception of Aquaman was largely [[AudienceColoringAdaptation tarnished]] by his portrayal in ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'', so the makers of his film knew what kind of bar they had to clear.

* More neurological awesome-curses: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschwind_syndrome Geschwind syndrome]] occurs in some people with temporal lobe epilepsy and possibly other temporal lobe abnormalities. It consists of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypergraphia hypergraphia]], a tendency to have heightened emotional and mental life and decreased sexual interest, and an inclination towards spirituality. Sure, seizures aren't fun, but the rest of it? Many writers would give anything to spend more time in that mindstate, especially the hypergraphia. Low sex drive is not much of a problem, you only lack the "urge" to mate like 99% of the rest of the population, but you can appreciate sex physically as much as everyone else... You are also much less likely to do stupid things (although, low sex drive can be a symptom of another problem such as depression or a hormone imbalance. It would be wise to double-check.)

* John Paul Jones of Music/LedZeppelin, since he [[StuckInTheirShadow never achieved anywhere near the fame]] of Jimmy Paige, Robert Plant, or even John Bonham, he was free to enjoy the rock and roll lifestyle and actually explore the many places they visited on tour because no one would recognize him on the street, while the rest of the band couldn't leave their hotel rooms without being swarmed by fans.

* The one-off comic [[https://i.imgur.com/Zr62U6s.jpeg "Oh My God!"]] has the witch curse the princess "so no man ever loves you again!" She's quite thrilled. [[spoiler: The witch is more her type anyway.]]