History Main / OnlyICanMakeItGo

* DependingOnTheWriter, the Batmobile sometimes has anti-theft features specifically designed so that no one except Franchise/{{Batman}} can start it. An interesting incident happened during the tail end of ''[[ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} Knights End]]'': after [=AzBats=] drops into the river, Batman races to the Batmobile (which somehow followed them) and tries to get in. Jean-Paul changed the locks, but Bruce overrode them. He hops in, starts it up... and the Batmobile ''[[MadeOfExplodium explodes]]''. He survives and tells [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]] (Tim Drake) that he would have done the same thing for an anti-theft deterrent, but not with such lethal intent.

* In ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', Sōsuke is the first person to pilot the Arbalest, an experimental Arm Slave loaded with black box technology, and is later forced to become its designated pilot since the mech's quirky AI (named Al, with an "L") became calibrated to him and can't be reset because its creator committed suicide. This causes problems in ''The Second Raid'', since Al's eccentric nature (among other things) starts wearing on Sōsuke. It's later mentioned that Al simply won't ''let'' anyone else pilot the Arbalest; when Mithril tried, Al kept asking "Where's Sergeant Sagara?" and then shut down and refused to start back up when told that he wasn't around.

* In a non-automotive example, some televisions can be like this. If a person is used to the setup of one system, using someone else's can result in a lot of trial and error to watch something. Factor in DVD players or video game systems and things get further complicated. A simple (to explain) example is an entertainment center having half a dozen remotes, and only people who live in that house know which one is for the TV, which for the cable box, which for the sound system, which for the DVD player, and so on.

* In a non-automotive example, some televisions can be like this. If a person is used to the setup of one system, using someone else's can result in a lot of trial and error to watch something. Factor in DVD players or video game systems and things get further complicated.

** Steven and Leela have both managed to pilot it.

** [[AllThereInTheManual Backstory details]] note this as a failing of the Gelgoog in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. It was a technically-impressive machine for its time, capable of matching or even surpassing the original Gundam in several areas, but it was also designed with a lot of input from Zeon's ace pilots, which influenced everything from the aesthetics to the control arrangement. This meant that in the hands of an ace pilot, it could have matched the Gundam, but by the time they had enough of them to make a difference, there weren't a lot of aces left, just regular pilots who couldn't keep up with their fancy high-performance suits and who ended up getting steamrolled by Federation pilots in [=GMs=], lower-performance mass-produced copies of the Gundam.

* Simon is the only one who can pilot the [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Lagann]]. This seems to have more to do with the fact that he's the only one with a [[CoolKey core drill]], not counting [[spoiler:Lord Genome]], but in addition to the key, the Lagann is attuned to Simon because of his latent Spiral power. Other characters develop Spiral power over time, [[spoiler:and eventually get their own Lagann-type mechs in the end]], so it's likely that someone else could pilot it if Simon gave them the core drill. The one time he tries, Kamina rebuffs him because he recognizes that Simon is better suited to it.

* Simon is the only one who can pilot the [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Lagann]]. This seems to have more to do with the fact that he's the only one with a [[CoolKey core drill]], not counting [[spoiler:Lord Genome]], but in addition to the key, the Lagann is attuned to Simon because of his latent Spiral power. Other characters develop Spiral power over time, [[spoiler: and eventually get their own Lagann-type mechs in the end]], so it's likely that someone else could pilot it if Simon gave them the core drill. The one time he tries, Kamina rebuffs him because he recognizes that Simon is better suited to it.

** Explained as one of the problems with the [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]] by the time ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' rolls around. By the end of its service life, the Zeta Gundam was so customized and tailored to Kamille Bidan's specs that while Judau and later Roux are able to pilot it with some effort, they can only as much as its base specs allow. They can't access the biosensor to let it do the crazy things Kamille made it do in Zeta because only his mind could trigger it, even though Judau was an even stronger Newtype than Kamille and later on ''can'' make use of his own Double Zeta Gundam's biosensor.

** [[AllThereInTheManual Backstory details]] note this as a failing of the Gelgoog in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. It was a technically-impressive machine for its time, capable of matching or even surpassing the original Gundam in several areas, but it was also designed with a lot of input from Zeon's ace pilots, which influenced everything from the aesthetics to the control arrangement. This meant that in the hands of an ace pilot, it could have matched the Gundam, but by the time they had enough of them to make a difference, there weren't a lot of aces left, just regular pilots who couldn't keep up with their fancy high-performance suits and who ended up getting steamrolled by Federation pilots in bog-standard mass-produced [=GMs=].
* In ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'', the titular mecha could only be piloted by Guy. Originally, anyway. It's likely any G-Stone-powered being could use it, it's just that they only had two and Guy was the only one old and big enough to do so properly. Gaofaigar from ''FINAL'', on the other hand, is fueled by his specific Evoluder powers (Mikoto has them too, but they're different from his), meaning he really is the only one who can use it.

** Played very literally in the time between the second and third game. Joker and EDI (the second Normandy's AI) collude to give the impression that EDI is only a Virtual Intelligence that will respond only to Joker.
* In ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', Kang says the same for the [[GlobalAirship Marvelous Dragonfly.]]
** Both of those expand the trope from just being about clunkers in the hands of someone used to their quirks, to extremely sophisticated devices in the hands of a specialist.
*** And in Kang's case he spends literally every hour of the day making modifications to the Dragonfly (he doesn't sleep). The controls probably change completely from flight to flight.

* Explained as one of the problems with the [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]] by the time ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' rolls around. By the end of its service life, the Zeta Gundam was so customized and tailored to Kamille Bidan's specs that while Judau and later Roux are able to pilot it with some effort, they can only as much as it's base specs allow. They can't access the biosensor to let it do the crazy things Kamille made it do in Zeta because only his mind could trigger it, even though Judau was an even stronger Newtype than Kamille and later on ''can'' make use of his own Double Zeta Gundam's biosensor.

* In ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'', the titular mecha could only be piloted by Guy. Originally, anyway.
** It's likely any G stone powered being could use it. It's just that Guy was one of only two around and the other was kid that was too young to use it properly. Gaofaigar on the other hand was fueled by his Evoluder powers which were unique to him (Mikoto's were different) which meant only he could use it.
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Lelouch's second season mecha the Shinkirou features a scattering energy cannon and the strongest BeehiveBarrier in existence. However, it takes an exceptionally smart and quick-thinking pilot in order to draw out their full potential; in the hands of anyone but Lelouch, it's still high tech but not nearly as powerful.

* When [[spoiler:Mr Gilbreth]] dies at the end of Literature/CheaperByTheDozen the family sells the car for scraps, seeing how he was the only one able to start it.

* In [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Shadows of the Empire]], the ''Millennium Falcon'' is described as this, with Han Solo and Chewbacca having over-customized the freighter to the point where even Lando (who had heavily customized it himself before ownership changed hands) can't do proper maintenance on it because the circuitry is such a mess. Interestingly, it fits ''both'' sides of the trope; it's [[TheAllegedCar The Alleged Spaceship]] to [[WhatAPieceOfJunk look at it]], but [[AceCustom one of the best ships in the galaxy]] with Han Solo flying it.

-->Your brakes aren't ower-savage, vitnary.''

-->well.... you did, Siegfried.

** Severing the owner's hand seems to work too but if they've given at least one prior command to the ship it still requires their voice to get the ship to even scan the hand (or at least a very good imitation of their voice.)

** The [[OurOrksAreDifferent Orks]] have a latent psychic field that allows their vehicles to function in bizarre ways because [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve they believe they can]] ([[FunetikAksent Red wunz go fasta]], planes keep flying until the pilot is informed they ran out of fuel a while ago, etc). So when a non-Ork uses one, it tends not to work. DependingOnTheWriter, this may be [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] or [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]]:
*** Sometimes this is presented as total ItRunsOnNonsensoleum, such as a Codex entry where some Imperial techpriests opened up a gun they had actually seen an Ork fire and found it was an empty shell full of a few broken parts and some ''loose'' bullets rattling around at the bottom.

** The Tau have a more mundane variation: battlesuits are genetically coded to their pilot, and one Imperial commando attempting a GundamJack was fried by its security system.

* Many highly modified and custom-built cars require specialist knowledge usually only possessed by the owner to be driven without blowing something up or in some cases just to start the engine. Most highly tuned cars will have an array of additional gauges on the dashboard displaying everything from boost and oil pressures to air fuel ratios, if these go too high or too low then a mechanical failure is more or less guaranteed. vehicles with race ignitions will often require a series of switches to be flipped in a certain order rather than just turning a key.

If the vehicle can only be used by a certain person by design of the vehicle [[{{Technobabble}} (biometrics, pilot compatibility, etc.)]], see OnlyTheChosenMayPilot.

** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'', Kira is initially the only person on the Alliance's side able to pilot a mobile suit because, as a Coordinator, he has much greater multitasking abilities than a normal human, and mobile suits are too complex to operate without those. Later, Kira is told to place a lock on the Strike's systems that only he can open when they dock at an Alliance base. The reasons for this are due to the Alliance in general being [[FantasticRacism heavily racist against Coordinators]], and because the asteroid base that the ''Archangel'' is taking refuge in, ''Artemis'', belongs to the ''Eurasian'' Federation, which are somewhat at odds with the Atlantic Federation that built the Archangel and all 5 G-Weapon mobile suits, and thus having that lock there gives Kira a bargaining chip to protect himself.

* The [[OurOrksAreDifferent Orks]] of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' have a latent psychic field that allows their vehicles to function in bizarre ways because [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve they believe they can]] ([[FunetikAksent Red wunz go fasta]], planes keep flying until the pilot is informed they ran out of fuel a while ago, etc). So when a non-Ork uses one, it tends not to work. DependingOnTheWriter, this may be [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] or [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]]:
** Sometimes this is presented as total ItRunsOnNonsensoleum, such as a Codex entry where some Imperial techpriests opened up a gun they had actually seen an Ork fire and found it was an empty shell full of a few broken parts and some ''loose'' bullets rattling around at the bottom.
** Elsewhere it's presented as Orks actually having an inbuilt propensity to build primitive but genuinely workable technology, and the psychic effect just smoothing things out a bit. For example, Literature/CiaphasCain ('''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!''') at one point had a sizeable fleet of commandeered ork vehicles for his ragtag refugee army. The techpriest he had along was fascinated by them, as they ''seemingly'' shouldn't have worked at all, but most still did work with neither her help nor that of a nearby Ork.
** In the ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'' SpinOff ''TabletopGame/OnlyWar'', Ork weapons can be found and looted on the battlefield, but the rule text makes them explicitly less effective (becoming ReliablyUnreliableGuns) when used by non-Orks.

* Simon is the only one who can pilot the [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Lagann]].
** This seems to have more to do with the fact that he's the only one with a [[CoolKey core drill]], not counting [[spoiler:Lord Genome]], and they might not be interchangeable anyway.
** In addition to the key, the Lagann is attuned to Simon because of his latent Spiral power. Other characters develop Spiral power over time, [[spoiler: and eventually get their own Lagann-type mechs in the end]], so it's likely that someone else could pilot it if Simon gave them the core drill. The one time he tries, Kamina rebuffs him because he recognizes that Simon is better suited to it.

* Many highly modified and custom-built cars require specialist knowledge usually only possessed by the owner to be driven without blowing something up or in some cases just to start the engine. Most highly tuned cars will have an array of additional gauges on the dashboard displaying everything from boost and oil pressures to air fuel ratios, if these go too high or too low then a mechanical failure is more or less guarenteed. vehicles with race ignitions will often require a series of switches to be flipped in a certain order rather than just turning a key.