History Main / WillfullyWeak

** [[TopGod Arceus]] is implied to be this when it battles against humans. This won't mean you get an easy battle though, especially in ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus''.
** When you meet her, [[VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet Nemona]] is already a Champion, meaning she's already raised a team of powerful Pokemon, defeated all of the Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and the [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership Top Champion]], Ms Geeta. However, not only does she, on a whim, decide to train up an entirely new team from scratch for the sole purpose being able to follow you on your journey and serve as a rival, but it's also heavily implied that, even when facing Geeta herself, she always held back due to lacking a rival who could keep her on her toes.

'''Aerynn:''' [[AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength Because there are a lot of things I'm afraid to try!]]

* ''Literature/KonoSuba'': Megumin the Black Mage is so fascinated with the FantasticNuke spell Explosion that she has [[MasterOfOneMagic geared her entire character build towards being cast it as fast and strong as possible]]. She's so enamored that she absolutely ''refuses'' to learn any other magical spells. Due to the severely AwesomeButImpractical nature of Explosion, however, the result is that she's PowerfulButIncompetent and was kicked out of every adventuring band she tried to join as TheLoad before Kazuma took her in.

** His son and successor Jon Kent has this way worse, he's ''terrified'' of accidentally hurting a {{Muggle}} with his super-strength, to the point that he gets ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} to train him in martial arts so he can learn how to disarm people with minimum force rather than just yanking the gun out of their hand like his dad would. This actually works to his detriment because he subconsciously holds back even against powerful supervillains who could take his full strength.

** Inverted with Shigaraki Tomura, [[spoiler:aka Tenko Shimura]]. He developed a Quirk known as Decay, and anything he touched with all five fingers would crumble into dust and gore. He had no control over this Quirk at first, [[spoiler:and killed his dog, sister, mom, and dad's parents by accident. Then, out of hatred for his horribly abusive dad, he deliberately killed him.]] All For One molded Tomura into a monster [[spoiler:with a copy of his own Quirk and had Doc Garaki amplify his Decay into a rippling touch of instant desolation]]. Tomura only held back his Quirk when he hadn't developed a clear understanding of what drove him to have such searing hatred of current society. When he realized he could become a force of destruction as a counterbalance to a hero-dominated world, that's when he stopped acting out like a PsychopathicManchild and graduated into a fully-realized DiabolicalMastermind to succeed All For One.

** Inverted with Shigaraki Tomura, [[spoiler:aka Tenko Shimura]]. He developed a Quirk known as Decay, and anything he touched with all five fingers would crumble into dust and gore. He had no control over this Quirk at first, [[spoiler:and killed his dog, sister, mom, and dad's parents by accident. Then, out of hatred foe his horribly abusive dad, he deliberately killed him.]] All For One molded Tomura into a monster [[spoiler:with a copy of his own Quirk and had Doc Garaki amplify his Decay into a rippling touch of instant desolation]]. Tomura only held back his Quirk when he hadn't developed a clear understanding of what drove him to have such searing hatred of current society. When he realized he could become a force of destruction as a counterbalance to a hero-dominated world, that's when he stopped acting out like a PsychopathicManchild and graduated into a fully-realized DiabolicalMastermind to succeed All For One.

** {{Deconstructed}} with Shoto Todoroki, whose body can generate ice from the right side and fire from the left, but he refuses to use his left side in a fight. He does it as a way to honor his mother and reject his father, but doing so is detrimental to him as both sides are supposed to balance each other out and overusing either side can damage his own body.

** Inverted with Shigaraki Tomura, [[spoiler:aka Tenko Shimura]]. He developed a Quirk known as Decay, and anything he touched with all five fingers would crumble into dust and gore. He had no control over this Quirk at first, [[spoiler:and killed his dog, sister, mom, and dad's parents by accident. Then, out of hatred foe his horribly abusive dad, he deliberately killed him.]] All For One molded Tomura into a monster [[spoiler:with a copy of his own Quirk and had Doc Garaki amplify his Decay into a rippling touch of instant desolation]]. Tomura only held back his Quirk when he hadn't developed a clear understanding of what drove him to have such searing hatred of current society. When he realized he could become a force of destruction as a counterbalance to a hero-dominated world, that's when he stopped acting out like a PsychopaticManchild and graduated into an EvilMastermind.

** Deku holds back not for the sake of his opponents or his surroundings, but because ''[[HeroicRROD his own body]]'' can't handle the full power of One For All. His first major [[NextTierPowerUp power-up]] was to go from unleashing bone-shattering [[MegatonPunch Megaton Punches]] as his default attack, to using a small fraction of One For All spread across his entire body to give himself enhanced speed and power without destroying himself, and part of his training is to be able to withstand more and more of its power.

** [[BloodKnight Kenpachi]] absolutely ''loves'' challenging fights. Unfortunately for him, he's so dang strong that there are few people who can give him such fights, even if he's not taking it seriously. So, he limits himself by using an eyepatch that weakens his spiritual power, deliberately ignoring all swordsmanship he's learned, and not even bothering to learn shikai (the most basic Shinigami ability). His version of the SuperMode other captains possess? Actually fighting like he wants to win. [[spoiler: He also subconsciously limits his power after he defeated Yachiru Unohana in his childhood and feared losing the only WorthyOpponent he'd ever had. His training with Unohana in the ''Thousand Year Blood War'' arc is largely based around forcing him to discard these limits via nearly killing him until he gets the message that he can't win at his current level.]]

'''Aerynn:''' Because there are a lot of things I'm afraid to try!

This can overlap with FightsLikeANormal for a character that usually suppresses all fantastic powers and fights as a BadassNormal. A character that ditches their restraining bolt becomes NotSoWeak.

%% ** Belldandy and her sisters.

* ''LightNovel/AriaTheScarletAmmo AA'': Akari appears to have graduated with top marks from the ImperialStormTrooperMarksmanshipAcademy. She can't hit anything no matter how close it is. Then it's revealed [[spoiler:she's descended from a line of noble assassins and is able to hit all the most lethal points on an enemy without even really aiming. Since this skill is so instinctual at this point she has to fight to avoid targeting those points, an effort that results in her not only missing those points but missing the target entirely.]]
* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', the omniscient, reality-warping EldritchAbomination known as [[spoiler:Ronnie]] prefers to not tap too much into his godlike powers if he can help it, and even ignores his own omniscience. This is largely (if not entirely) to keep himself from going entirely insane with boredom.

* ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' has two examples:

* Seen in flashback in ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'' when two of the characters are remembering their first adventures in the game. The player who helped them get started set his level low (taking all his stats down in the progress) in order to maintain game balance while tutoring them.

* ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'': Megumin the Black Mage is so fascinated with the FantasticNuke spell Explosion that she has [[MasterOfOneMagic geared her entire character build towards being cast it as fast and strong as possible]]. She's so enamored that she absolutely ''refuses'' to learn any other magical spells. Due to the severely AwesomeButImpractical nature of Explosion, however, the result is that she's PowerfulButIncompetent and was kicked out of every adventuring band she tried to join as TheLoad before Kazuma took her in.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Reina, despite being a rich {{Ojou}}, wears the same armor as her compatriots at Drankam instead of getting the best equipment she can, for the sake of her {{Pride}} and the respect of her peers. It takes some persuasion from her bodyguards and Akira (who’s almost like a mentor to her), but she stops doing this. She ends up wearing NinjaMaid PoweredArmor as an EmbarrassingButEmpoweringOutfit due to [[CharacterDevelopment having developed]] into a HumbleHero.

* In ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'', Abel Nightroad rarely uses his Crusnik power at more than 40%, which is usually sufficient. 80% power is reserved for people who ''really'' need their ass kicked. As for 100%... well, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity there's a reason]] why ''he's'' the brother called [[CainAndAbel Abel]].

** Ike's father in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'', [[spoiler:General Gawain]] cut the tendons in his right arm and refuses to fight with a sword [[spoiler:because he went berserk and killed his wife]] when he touched Lahrain's Medallion.

* The BonusBoss in ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' is the Demi-Fiend, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiNocturne'', who uses skills and demon companions from said game. Anyone who played ''Nocturne'' will probably know that these demons and skills are roughly mid-level ones, which when combined with the fact that his boss theme is ''Nocturne's'' standard encounter theme, gives off the impression that the party is just another random encounter to the Demi-Fiend not worth wasting his strongest abilities and allies on (and judging by the fact that one of his attacks is a TotalPartyKill unless you exploit a very specific skill, and he's frequently cited as one of the hardest bosses in JRPG history, he's obviously correct.) Also, ''you'' need to invoke this in order to start the fight with him; if anyone in your active party or reserves has a nullifying-or-higher passive equipped other than Null Sleep, he'll inflict the aforementioned TPK before you even take your first turn. Casting anything that will grant Null, Repel, or Drain anything will also make him do the same when his next turn comes.

* Surprisingly, [[BonusBoss Elizabeth]] in ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' is this though to be fair, she's trying to find ways to [[spoiler: save the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' by participating in the tournament.]]

** According to WordOfGod, Alice Margatroid always holds back in her fights because she doesn't know what she would do if she ever lost while at full power. A big clue to this is that she's always carrying a [[TomeOfEldritchLore grimoire]], which is always bound up; she fights with her dolls instead. (In other words, she puts on a complex puppet show combined with carefully finessed magic to make it seem [[PowersDoTheFighting the dolls are casting all her spells]].) The last time she opened the thing, she was an [[BonusBoss Ex-Boss]] (assuming PC-98 Alice is indeed the same character as Alice Margatroid). Since then, it's always been seen closed, and she's a 3rd-to-4th-stage boss instead.

** Ulquiorra Cifer is the Fourth Espada of Aizen's army and generally a NoNonsenseNemesis, but it's revealed he actually has ''two'' limits on his full potential. The first is the fact that unlike most Arrancar, who traded their [[HealingFactor high-speed regeneration]] for a raw power boost after evolving, Ulquiorra kept his and forwent the power boost, meaning he's still "only" as strong as his original Hollow self (though considering he was a Vasto Lorde previously, this isn't much of a problem). The second is that his rank is only based on the power of his ''first'' [[OneWingedAngel release]], and he possesses a unique second form (Segunda Etapa) that no other Arrancar in Aizen's army has and that not even [[TheChessmaster Aizen himself]] knows exists.
** Coyote Starrk is the First Espada and one of the powerful members of Aizen's army, but it doesn't really show because Starrk is both BrilliantButLazy and a ReluctantWarrior whose heart is rarely into fighting. Which is a good thing, because he can stomp Captain-level foes into the ground easily when he finally gets motivated.

** This was also part of the backstory behind the monster card Gearfried the Iron Knight, as told by Joey. He was once a mighty swordsman whose power was so great that he could level entire cities simply by swinging his sword. In order to protect those around him, he donned a suit of iron armor that would limit his power.

** In a season two episode of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Shou Marufuji/Syrus Truesdale removes Power Bond (a spell card that doubles a Machine-type Fusion monster's attack power, then [[PowerAtAPrice cuts the user's life points by that monster's original attack]]), a card given to him by his [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter brother]]) from his deck to prove he can still win without it. [[spoiler: He does.]]
** In one episode of ''[[Anime/YuGiOhARCV Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V]]'', Yuri elects not to use his regular deck against Asuka, instead choosing to use a deck he's never used before, just to show what a genius he is. Played with near the end of the duel, where it reveals that he not only ''does'' know the deck well, but he changed the deck up and improved it. He was just pretending to be weak to [[TheGadfly troll]] Asuka and calls her an idiot for believing him.

* [[http://fanlore.org/wiki/Sondra_Marshak Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath]] did this to Spock in their TOS fan fiction novels, ''The Price of the Phoenix'', ''The Fate of the Phoenix'' and ''The Prometheus Design''. According to them, canon Spock on the show was ''way'' suppressing his actual abilities so as to live among the PunyEarthlings; under normal conditions, Vulcans are so physically and mentally powerful as to be almost godlike. (It's repeatedly mentioned that Captain Kirk would have difficulty even ''pushing buttons'' on a Vulcan ship.) They use this to explain the ''Intrepid'' having an all-Vulcan crew in "The Immunity Syndrome". In ''Prometheus Design'' the legendary Vulcan Admiral Savaj gives Spock a NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech advising him to unleash his inner badass. Spock does so, takes command, and tells the crew he will have [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything "instant, unqualified, unargued obedience"]] as it would be on a Vulcan ship; at one point he literally leaps a tall wall in a single bound. [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Physical strength]] is Marshak's AuthorAppeal.

* Interestingly enough, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi]]. It's been [[WordOfGod confirmed]] that he's more powerful than Mario, but lacks the confidence and control to realize his full potential. It is also seen in-series with his jumping ability, which is usually shown as just higher than Mario's, but he can jump MUCH higher if the situation calls for it.

** Both Toriel and Asgore are listed as having 80 ATK and DEF, values surpassed only by the [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll No Mercy route]] superbosses]]. But Toriel doesn't actually ''want'' to hurt you [[spoiler:-- neither does Asgore, for that matter --]] and a monster's strength is directly proportional to its KillingIntent.