History Main / SoLastSeason

* For the first two seasons or so of ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'', Issei's [[PowerArmor Balance Breaker]] is considered a major trump card and only brought out at clutch moments with a major cost. Not long after that, it becomes his standard-issue battle form and the basis for later upgrades. Played with in that Boosted Gear Scale Mail was always supposed to be the bog-standard form of the powerup, Issei's just a rather mediocre Devil and needed various crutches to use it properly for a while.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'':

* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'':

* In a story sense the Master Sword ends up being this in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom''. Despite being effective against Calamity Ganon in the prequel ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', it is no match for Ganondorf and the Gloom, and ends up broken, along with Link [[BagOfSpillilng losing all the strength and upgrades he gained in the previous game]]. [[spoiler:The Master Sword eventully ends up ten-thousand years in the past, where a time displaced Zelda realizes in order for Link to have a chance, the sword not only needs to be restored, but infused with sacred power for the next thousands of years in order to withstand Ganondorf.]]

** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Boost Mark II is another two-stage upgrade, only appearing for a mere two episodes before being obsoleted by [=LaserBoost=]. This time the writers took care to make it a plot point that Boost Mark II on its own has crippling side effects despite its awesome costume and powers, with [=LaserBoost=] adding the necessary PowerCrutch to make it safe.

* ''TabletopGame/DuelMasters'' was guilty of this. To be fair, [[http://www.wizards.com/duelmasters/dm_autocard.asp?name=gatling_skyterror Gattling Skyterror]] or [[http://www.wizards.com/duelmasters/dm_autocard.asp?name=bolmeteus_steel_dragon Bolmeteus Steel Dragon]]?

** His SignatureMove, Getsuga Tensho, which Urahara says [[InformedAbility would have taken his arm off if he hadn't put up his shield]] and is used to completely blow away Byakuya's Shikai and makes a crater in the ground, turns from a FinishingMove to a [[BeamSpam spam move]] after the Soul Society Arc, often needing two of them sandwiching the opponent just to mildly injure him. This is even after the fact Zangetsu stated [[CallingYourAttacks knowing the name of the move]] would strengthen it.

** That said, in the 90s anime Sailor Mercury's [[FogofDoom Sabao Spray]] and Sailor Venus' [[WhipItGood Venus Love Me Chain]] are aversions that are used well into the anime's final season – the former for the tactical advantage that a covering mist provides, the latter as a useful prehensile rope.

* Rarely will the characters on ''Anime/YuGiOh'' series use their old cards once they get a new/"more powerful" deck, one exception being Manjyome, who uses cards from different themed decks every duel.

** There have been a few times that an old power-up was used, even when they have a new one. [[Anime/YuGiOhGX Flame Wingman]] kept getting played all the way to the final episodes, despite being completely overshadowed by Neos (though it doesn't get used as a finisher as much as it used to), [[Anime/YuGiOhZexal Astral]] once used Utopia Ray, even after getting Utopia Ray V when the situation was more suited to Ray, and [[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds Majestic Star Dragon]] is useful through its final appearance, though it does eventually get eclipsed by Shooting Star Dragon.
** A pretty textbook case of this happened in ''ZEXAL II''. Heraldry Crest and Heart-eartH Dragon were the ace cards of Tron and Doctor Faker, the BigBadEnsemble of the first half of the series, and both required a lot of work to bring down. About halfway through ''II'', Black Mist summons upgraded versions of both of them, along with his own ace, just to put up a challenge.
** Yugi generally avoided this during his run: even after he got all of the God Cards situations and rules generally kept them from making Dark Magician this trope.
** Notably, in the manga normal Yugi actually brings up this trope in-universe after beating Joey several times during their stay on the hospital after the Dungeon Dice Monster arc. At the end of the story, he basically become a living embodiment of this trope. In particular, the Ceremonial duel is a long string of this trope coming into play for both side, as it consists of Obelisk, the longest lasting of the God cards being destroyed in 2 turns and marks the first time an Egyptian God Card being destroyed in battle against a non-God card, Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl combination attack that beats Marik not being enough to destroy Silent Magician, and the Monster Reborn God card strategy that is abused against Dark Yugi by Marik and plays a pivotal role for Dark Yugi's victory the previous season failing to work at all. Conversely, Dark Yugi also manage to protect Dark Magician from Yugi's [[TheDreaded Gandora]]. To date, the ceremonial duel is the only time Gandora failed to destroy its target for the remainder of the series.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhSevens'' does this with an entire ''monster type'' with Maximum Monsters: after their introduction in the first season the Maximums were considered the most sought after cards in all of Rush Duels whose use signaled a duelist's threat being serious and only another Maximum, or extensive strategy, could counter one. However in the second series [[spoiler: Fusion Monsters]] were introduced, which vastly overshadowed them in both usage and effectivenes to the point that, in all but one case where a new Maximum Monster was debuted the cards were either quickly defeated after use or just used as regular (if powerful) monsters in a duelist's strategy.

** In ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'', the Riders face the insanely powerful Weather Dopant, who keeps having the upper hand on them, until they gained new forms, capable of defeating the villain.

** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' has his Shining Hopper power up get knocked into obscurity by the appearence of Kamen Rider Thouser, causing it to never be used again save for a single fight near the end of the show. This ends up stinging a whole lot more due to how [[spoiler:it needed the sacrifice of Izu's surrogate big brother to complete its data, making it seem like a SenselessSacrifice]]. The same holds true for the Assault Trigger, which acts as a booster to Shining Hopper, which gets ditched immediately once Aruto is given Metal Cluster Hopper.

Compare CostumeEvolution, TheWorfBarrage, UniquenessDecay, ItOnlyWorksOnce, KungFuProofMook. Contrast BagOfSpilling. Compare and contrast BackToBaseForm. When applied to a PostScriptSeason, results in PlotLeveling.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar:'' Spider-Man's high-tech suit, which helped him out a lot in previous films, ends up proving less than helpful when Spidey ends up on the side of a spaceship and finding it difficult to breathe as they leave the atmosphere, culminating when he reflexively pulls off the suit's mask. Tony Stark saves him by deploying the Iron Spider suit, which not only has a life support system but also a ton of {{nanomachine|s}}-based functions, and Spidey uses this suit throughout the rest of the film.

* At the end of ''Film/IronMan2'', [[spoiler: Tony tries to use the "aimbot" that had taken out the Gulmira Ten Rings terrorists against Ivan Vanko's exposed head, complete with HUD showing the lock-ons, only for Vanko to re-equip his helmet and negate it]].

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': At the start of UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}, all Kryptonite on Earth was turned to iron in''ComicBook/KryptoniteNevermore''. A bad guy gloated about how he has something which could kill Superman--Kryptonite. Superman promptly took the piece from him and ''ate it''.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', Po uses DangerousForbiddenTechnique the Wuxi Finger Hold to finish off [[BigBad Tai Lung]]. [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3 Two movies later]], he attempts to use it again on [[TheAssimilator Kai the Collector]]...who literally [[NoSell laughs it off]]. Subverted, however, in that [[spoiler: Po still finds a way to make use of the Wuxi Finger Hold by using it on ''himself'' while grappling Kai, pulling a TakingYouWithMe that sends them both to the Spirit Realm.]]

** In what is perhaps an invocation, Ip doesn't try the [[BuffySpeak pin-enemy-and-beatdown-like-training-dummy thing]] he used to finish General Miura on [[spoiler: the Twister]] even though it would be a clear juxtaposition with [[spoiler: Twister's NoHoldsBarredBeatdown-to-death of Master Hung.]]

* Shows up in multiple ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series in the same vein as the below mentioned Super Sentai. Most of the time a new villain appears that happens to be much too strong for the Kamen Riders' current arsenal, so they'll need to get a new SuperMode. In some seasons the rider even stops using his basic form, knowing it will be useless. It's made egregiously so if the Rider in question begins their show with a DebutQueue of base forms, as you can be guarenteed that three quarters of them will never see the light of day after Christmas.

* ''Series/Loki2021'', which spins off from ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', does this to the [[ArtifactOfDoom Infinity Stones]]. For the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse's first ten years, the Stones were the most powerful objects in the universe, and possessing all six (and the [[PhlebotinumHandlingEquipment Infinity Gauntlet]]) could give someone enough power to [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar kill half the universe with a]] BadassFingerSnap, or even [[spoiler:possibly erase the universe entirely to build a new one.]] As ''Loki'', along with other post-''Endgame'' projects, branches out into TheMultiverse, the Infinity Stones are considered so far beneath the [[TimePolice Time Variance Authority]] that their bureaucrats use confiscated copies of the Stones as '''[[PricelessPaperweight paperweights]]''' [[note]]This is consistent with the depictions of the Infinity Gems seen in the comics, in which they are inert outside of their universe. Still, the TVA being able to confiscate so many copies shows that they're not to be trifled with[[/note]].
* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': season 1 introduces the [[KryptoniteFactor Judas Bullets]], the ''one'' thing capable of bypassing Luke's [[ImmuneToBullets bulletproof skin]]. A single of these bullets was enough to lethally wound him, to the point they needed a painful acid bath just to remove it. Right in the first episode of season 2, a villain does the obvious thing and shoots him with one once again... only to find out the aforementioned acid bath actually ''reinforced'' Cage's skin further, thus making him immune even to Judas Bullets.

* In ''Series/Supergirl2015'' episode "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S3E8CrisisOnEarthXPart1 Crisis on Earth-X Part 1]]", [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]]'s first scene has her give a CurbStompBattle to a Dominator, one of the villains of the previous four-way crossover, even calling it "so last year."

* The power bomb has been considered an outdated move ever since the retirement of its creator, Wrestling/LouThesz. A kneeling, sit down, sit out, falling, turning, sideswipe, running, double, triple, turnbuckle, popup or whatever other variation you can think of is just fine but a regular old gut kick-grab-lift-drop power bomb is rare even with a NameOfPower and usually restricted to use by only [[PrejudicedForPecs exceptionally large wrestlers]].

* The infamous ''Wrestling/{{WCW}} Halloween Havoc'' match between Wrestling/HulkHogan and Wrestling/UltimateWarrior turned {{fireballs}} into a {{discredited trope}} in pro wrestling. Several attempts to bring them back have been made, such as Wrestling/{{Raven}} in Wrestling/{{TNA}} and Homicide in Wrestling/RingOfHonor getting [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike the idea]] to throw them in the dark, but nothing has managed to stick except maybe Mesias in Latin America and the Caribbean. And even then, he helped to further kill fireballs in the USA when his use of them put Wrestling/WrestlingSocietyX off [[ScrewedByTheNetwork of television]].

** Likewise the first few weapons in ''[=BioShock=]'' - given strength upgrades your handy wrench is useful all the way through (especially for stealth kills) and the revolver remains an effective weapon - and a cheap and effective way to set off enviromental kills.
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''

* The third ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' had a singleplayer campaign in which you conquered a worldmap via individual skirmish battles, where advancing to the next era could only be done on the world map. Your AI opponents put a very low priority on advancing to the next era, however. Against units of one era higher, the old units could still compete in sufficient numbers. Against two era's higher, they barely served as speedbumps. At that point in the game, there was no longer a need to build a base and set up your CommandAndConquerEconomy: Your starting units could wipe out the enemy army and base easily. At the end of a game, your were fighting with sci-fi units that the medival peasants that your opponents fielded ought to worship rather than futilely try to fight.

** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002'' manages to avert this trope for most of the game, until you get the R.Y.N.O, at which point all the other weapons become obsolete. The sequels also work to avert this: though later weapons are inherently more powerful then earlier ones, this can be counterbalanced by the earlier weapons accumulating more experience and upgrades that boost their usefulness. Of course, this doesn't apply to the NewGamePlus {{Game Breaker}}s.

*** This is generally a good thing, since the gear high end from the last expansion tends to come from content with a heavy time investment, having better gear avivlable through the storyline puts everyone back on the same playing feild, preventing new players from feeling like they CantCatchUp

** Certain items manage to outlive their purported quality due to being exceptionally well balanced, having no worthy replacement, or having an unique on-use effect. The so called Legendary weapons are purposely designed to last for the remainder of the expansion, as each is notoriously difficult to obtain and frequently involves a lengthy questline combined with running raid instances many times over. However, they often scale too well - for example, the spellcaster staff Dragonwrath had a chance of instantly doubling any harmful spell cast by the wielder. As this spell fully scales with all the caster's attributes, Dragonwrath would probably remain the single best weapon of all time if it wasn't eventually toned down.

** Jonathan in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' can't use the Vampire Killer properly; therefore it's one of the worst weapons to use throughout the game, even outclassed by the very first short sword you pick up. However, there is an optional BonusBoss where you can upgrade it, and it becomes one of the best weapons in the game from then on. Annoyingly, many of the mobility upgrades do this. You get the ability to jump on your partner's shoulder, then the better double jump like half an hour later[[note]]While theoretically the two abilities can be used together to effectively give the player a triple jump, there's little use for it in this game[[/note]]. And then you get the super jump after the owl morph which allows you to fly, making the owl obsolete after like three uses[[note]]While the super jump ability is exclusive to Jonathan and the owl form to Charlotte, it's often simpler to switch to Jonathan and use the super jump (which can be used at any time) than to equip the owl spell as Charlotte--at the point where you have both, the only real use for the owl morph is to move through tight spaces[[/note]].

* In Volume 7, Chapter 3 of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', Team RWBY and JNR obtain brand new ''everything'' to symbolize their ascension to full-fledged Huntsmen and Huntresses, donning new outfits, new haircuts and upgrading their weaponry to be much stronger and effective.

*** Downplayed in the case of Celestial Being. Despite building state of the art Gundams that are usually a step or two ahead of everyone else, they make sure all of their old units are constantly upgraded just in case they're needed, which is shown to be the case at various times.
*** A similar downplayed version also happens in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE''. Despite the AGE-1 Flat (The AGE-1 Normal without the super computer to build awesome equipment) being years old in the second arc, it still holds its own quite well. It's only in the third arc where it needs to be upgraded.

** ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' plays with the trope. The starter plane is functional but unspectacular. It's only at the start of the 5th mission that you're handed two complete junkers, including the [[JokeCharacter Fishbed]]. This is thematic, as it coincides with [[PlayerCharacter Trigger's]] reassignment to Spare Squadron when he would be working with surplus crap, but the player is [[GameplayAndStorySegregation free to ignore this]].

'''Ulquiorra:''' ''([[CasualDangerDialog patting dust off]] his sleeve [[TheStoic nonchalantly]])'' Hmph. [[GoodIsBoring Yes, it would appear it was.]]

* The submachine gun proved its battlefield worth in the 1940s during World War II, becoming the main fully-automatic small arm of almost every major country's military[[note]]Japan being a major exception; of all the significant Allied or Axis powers, the Japanese military seemed to always have a chronic shortage of automatic firearms[[/note]]. From the 1950s through the early 2000s, even as assault rifles like the AK-47 and M16 displaced its role in the military, the SMG continued to be '''the''' gold standard weapon for counter-terrorists the world over and was a staple issue for many special forces units as well. Standout examples include such legendary weapons like the Heckler & Koch [=MP5=] and the Uzi, the craze in the 1990s for personal defense weapons like the FN P90 and HK [=MP7=], and less well-known but still effective guns like the Smith & Wesson M76, the French MAT-49, and the Walther MPL. However, beginning in the mid-2000s, the SMG's & PDW's time in the spotlight began to fade as CT units and special forces groups moved toward compact assault rifles instead. A combination of the spread of global terrorism, close-in urban combat, advances in gun & ammo manufacturing, and further research into rifle cartridge ballistics have increased the popularity of carbines capable of firing much more powerful intermediate rifle cartridges like 5.56x45mm, 7.62x39mm, and .300 Blackout as opposed to submachine guns that are chambered for pistol calibers like 9mm and .45 ACP. In the American civilian firearms market, civilian-legal [=SMGs=][[labelnote:*]]Referring to submachine gun reproductions/modifications that are capable of semi-auto fire only and with a minimum 16" barrel to avoid violating federal firearms laws[[/labelnote]] have mostly been replaced by "pistol-caliber carbines" which are essentially rifles chambered in pistol calibers: this can largely be attributed to the resurgence of the 9mm cartridge, and more importantly, the massive increase in popularity of the AR-15 platform which can be easily converted to fire said cartridge in an easily controllable and customizable package.
** With all the above, it is quite notable that the U.S. Army in April 2019 selected a submachine gun for its inventory: [[http://soldiersystems.net/2019/04/01/us-army-selects-bt-for-sub-compact-weapon/ the Brügger & Thomet APC9K]]. This marks the first time it will have an SMG since the World War II-era M3 Grease Gun was retired in the early 2000s. It still illustrates how far the SMG has fallen from grace: once being a reliable go-to weapon for intense frontline combat fighting alongside riflemen and armored cavalry, but now only good for close bodyguard duty. The fact that the Army is placing [[https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=e001bfaf6f293d0401029cd8052312ec&tab=core&_cview=0 a tiny order of only 350 guns]] (with a provision for an extra 1,000) further proves the point.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiaAndMe'': The elves in Centopia run into this problem in both the second and third seasons, since their enemies in that season (besides Gargona from Season 1) aren't dark elves, meaning both water and the trumptus is ineffective against them. Both seasons also have the elves end up weaponzing Phuddle's failed attempts at cooking in order to fight off the villains, using a super spicy soup in the second season against Rixel and his dino-dragon, and a pink sticky substance that was supposed to be lemonade to fight off Dax and his bug men.

* At the start of UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}, all Kryptonite on Earth was turned to iron in ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' story ''ComicBook/KryptoniteNevermore''. A bad guy gloated about how he has something which could kill Superman--Kryptonite. Superman promptly took the piece from him and ''ate it''.

* Exploited in ''[[Film/HomeAlone Home Alone 2: Lost In New York]]''. When Kevin booby-traps the renovation-in-progress house of his relatives, he specifically avoids using the ''exact'' same tricks he did in the first film, but a couple of times he does use setups that at least partly rely on the Bandits' remembering what he did in the previous film, so that Kevin can [[KansasCityShuffle turn that expectation against them]].

* Shows up in multiple ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series in the same vein as the below mentioned Super Sentai. Most of the time a new villain appears that happens to be much too strong for the Kamen Riders' current arsenal, so they'll need to get a new SuperMode. In some seasons the rider even stops using his basic form, knowing it will be useless.

* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': season 1 introduces the [[KryptoniteFactor Judas Bullets]], the ''one'' capable of bypassing Luke's [[ImmuneToBullets bulletproof skin]]. A single of these bullets was enough to lethally wound him, to the point they needed a painful acid bath just to remove it. Right in the first episode of season 2, a villain does the obvious thing and shoots him with one once again... only to find out the aforementioned acid bath actually ''reinforced'' Cage's skin further, thus making him immune even to Judas Bullets.

*** Highlighted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'''s second season as to why Nena Trinity died. While almost everybody that survived the first season was bestowed new Gundams, improved GN-X machines, or new prototypes, she was the only character that was stuck having to use her outdated machine, the Throne Drei. [[spoiler:This ultimately was used in sealing her fate, but in Nena Trinity's defense, she couldn't get a new one as she was more concerned with actually surviving for four years, and she ''almost'' got a new mecha, the Arche Drei. Unfortunately for her, she didn't get it in time.]]

* And don't forget the Wiki/TVTropes Pantheon...

* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'', the Squid Sisters, Callie and Marie, are a popular IdolSinger duo among the Inklings. In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon 2}}'', however, two years had passed in-universe, and a new idol duo mamed "Off the Hook" (consisting of Pearl and Marina) have taken their place, complete with the same privileges the Squid Sisters once had.
-->'''Marie:''' ''(when her introduction fails to get a response from Agent 4)'' You've never heard of me? For eel?
** Oddly enough, this is not a case of effectiveness decay. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the Squid Sisters Stories]], months after the Callie vs. Marie Splatfest, the Squid Sisters gained even greater fame as the biggest stars in Inkling society. However, after they released their first solo recordings, they began following separate paths: Marie was involved in solo concerts, music show appearances and a career in theater, so they had little quality time together, but their relationship still seemed to be intact when they did. Unfortunately, Callie disappears and, after finding that DJ Octavio broke out of his prison and with Cap'n Cuttlefish missing, Marie moves to Inkopolis Square, taking a break from her career and going into hiding. [[spoiler:Callie disappearing was NOT a coincidence as she was kidnapped and brainwashed by DJ Octavio; and even "Off the Hook" celebrated the reunion of Callie and Marie, saying that "Being the best is too easy without competition" and "It takes two to make the one and only Squid Sisters".]]

* ''Manga/MegaManNTWarrior2001'': Despite the dramatic [=MegaMan=] Hub Style vs. Bass Hub Style fight, [[SuperMode Hub Style]] is quickly brushed aside by opponents who use Dark Power, which negates it. Outside of a single CallBack where the style change is used to force [=MegaMan=]'s way into the world of the Darkloids, it's never brought up again.