History WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway / AnimeAndManga

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': While many of the Clow Cards do have formidable abilities, it's hard to see things like "The Sweet" (can turn objects into edible sweets or make other foods taste sweeter), "The Cloud" (can create thick clouds all over the sky), "The Glow" (can create tiny orbs of light), "The Flower" (can create flowers), "The Bubbles" (can create a mass of soap bubbles) and "The Change" (is able to swap the minds and bodies of two people) be used for anything devastating in battle or stealth. "The Song" is also, in essence, a music recorder.

** Kelly Funk and his Jake Jake no Mi is one that will always come up when a topic discussing the worst Devil Fruits pops up. The fruit only has three abilities; to allow the user to turn into a jacket, take control of anyone who wears them and has access to their abilities, and can change size to accommodate them. However, Kelly hasn't shown the ability to force people to wear him which implies he needs someone willing. The nature of this fruit means that it is functionally useless on its own and it needs someone stronger than the user to be used effectively. Even by One Piece standards, this fruit is so limited to what the imagination can do with it that Oda created the Funk brothers specifically for this fruit to be of any modicum of use. To make things worse for it, in the Whole Cake Island arc there's another fruit called the Gocha Gocha no Mi which has similar abilities in merging but it isn't restricted to two people.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Mami Tomoe's original ability was to conjure yellow ribbons which lack serious firepower against Witches.

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': While many of the Clow Cards do have formidable abilities, it's hard to see things like "The Sweet" (can turn objects into edible sweets or make other foods taste sweeter), "The Cloud" (can create thick clouds all over the sky), "The Glow" (can create tiny orbs of light), "The Flower" (can summon flowers), "The Bubbles" (can create a mass of soap bubbles) and "The Change" (is able to swap the minds and bodies of two people) be used for anything devastating in battle or stealth. "The Song" is also, in essence, a music recorder.

* ''Manga/MagicalGirlSite'': Many readers cheered when Nana killed her, only to groan in annoyance when Alice undid her death.

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': While many of the Clow Cards do have formidable abilities, it's hard to see things like "The Sweet" (can turn objects into edible sweets or make other foods taste sweeter), "The Cloud" (can create thick clouds all over the sky), "The Glow" (can create tiny orbs of light), "The Flower" (can summon flowers) and "The Bubbles" (can create a mass of soap bubbles) be used for anything devastating in battle or stealth. "The Song" is also, in essence, a music recorder.

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': While many of the Clow Cards do have formidable abilities, it's hard to see things like "The Sweet" (can turn objects into edible sweets or make other foods taste sweeter), "The Cloud" (can create thick clouds all over the sky), "The Glow" (can create tiny orbs of light) and "The Flower" (can summon flowers) be used for anything devastating in battle or stealth. "The Song" is also, in essence, a music recorder.

** On paper, The Move sounds like an extremely useful card, given that it has the ability to teleport things from one place to another. However, it can only move one object at a time, it can't move heavy objects, it can't move objects any bigger than a book or pencil, and it can only move non-living items. Given all these limitations, the card is essentially useless.
** The Through allows the user to pass through walls, but if they're too thick, then the user runs the risk of being stuck forever.

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': While many of the Clow Cards do have formidable abilities, it's hard to see things like "The Sweet," "The Cloud," and "The Glow" be used for anything devastating in battle or stealth. "The Song" is also, in essence, a music recorder.

* Itzhak of Anime/DarkerThanBlack has the very specific power of being able to absorb the Observation Ghosts of Dolls. This makes him very difficult to track and let's him control the Dolls' minds (plus he has a very mild remuneration of just having to write poetry), but in a world full of people shooting lightning and melting peoples' internal organs with their eyes, it's not especially impressive.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'': Cody/Iori's parter Digimon got hit with this to a degree. In 02, every other main character's Champion-level Digimon had multiple attacks, including projectiles and the ability to fly. Ankylomon was a bulky, slow moving dinosaur who never used projectile attacks, couldn't fly, and had to be rescued by Stingmon in its debut episode. The show seemed to be aware on this disadvantage, as several episodes in the final arc featured Cody using the earlier armor forms, Digmon and Submarimon, since the former could fly, carry Cody on his back while flying, cause fissues in the ground, and shoot projectiles, while Submarimon was a submarine that floated above land (complete with cockpit) and could shoot torpedoes. His next stage, Shakkoumon (which, as a fusion creature, he shared with T.K./Takeru) was more versatile, but still had notable limitations. He could absorb energy attacks to prevent anyone taking a hit and could shoot projectiles and eyelasers, but was also a large, bulky, slow-moving creature with stubby arms and legs. Like Ankylomon, he also failed to win the fight he took part in in his debut episode. The other two fusion monsters on the team however, were faster moving and could use melee attacks in addition to projectiles.

* ''Manga/Cyborg009'''s [[TheSmurfettePrinciple female member, Francoise aka 003]] had non-offensive, surveillance-oriented powers (though she could still use a laser gun). Her powers actually help a lot whenever the team needs to gather information, but it has no use in direct combat.

* The ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' filler villain Koga's power is to control the Zanpakuto of other {{Shinigami}}. Now, this in itself is an [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower incredibly powerful ability]]. The problem is that Koga is a {{Shinigami}} himself, and is part of a larger {{Shinigami}} military force. Therefore, his ability would only be useful against his allies, and when fighting [[TheHeartless Hollows]], he would be forced to rely solely on [[FunctionalMagic Kido]] and his own [[ImplausibleFencingPowers basic swordsmanship skills]]. On the flip side, this power came in very handy when he took part in a Shinigami civil war and later decided to [[FallenHero rebel against the Shinigami himself]]. Why the Soul Society didn't recognize his utility and put him in one of its several special groups that suppress internal dissent (his rebellion is but one of many) is never explained.

** Kin'emon has the ability to disguise himself or anyone else any way that he chooses. Thus far, this has only been seen by materializing clothes from nothing, that will vanish when removed, meaning that his power has no clear combat potential. Good thing Kinemon is a bad-ass {{Samurai}} that can use [[PlayingWithFire fire attacks,]] so he doesn't need a Devil Fruit power to be effective in battle.

*** Highway To Hell is an oddball AttackReflector, which reflects the injuries the user inflicts to themselves onto another. Note that this doesn't actually stop the injury, it just means someone else gets it as well. It doesn't have any form of regeneration or protection, and it doesn't even reflect non-self-inflicted injuries--effectively, all that it does is make it so that you can [[TakingYouWithMe take someone else with you]] if you kill yourself. White Snake managed to eke some usefulness out of the thing by giving it to someone who was suicidal but didn't want to die alone, but it still doesn't rise above MonsterOfTheWeek level.

* This is the premise of ''LightNovel/ModernMagicMadeSimple'': Koyomi can use a spell to make washbasins fall from the sky. She is very good at this one spell, and she does have some serious potential since creating items from nothing isn't beginner material, but this the ''only'' thing she can do. Any spell she tries to use, either complicated or simple, will inexplicably turn into a washbasin summoning spell. [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Then she realizes that she can also turn ''enemy'' spells into washbasin summoning spells]], making her a PowerNullifier.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', there were many, many magic spells... from the earth-shattering Giga Slave, to the Ferious Breed, the spell that ''summons pigeons''. But Lina did find a use for the pigeon-summoning spell twice: first time, to break a hole in a pocket universe, second time, to knock off Pocota, who is not much larger than a pigeon.

* In ''LightNovel/UnlimitedFafnir'', Yuu is able to manifest a handgun from anti-matter. But according to several of the girls, they wonder how useful that is against a gigantic dragon. He later sees what kind of powers the girls have compared to what he summoned such as his sister with an EnergyBow.

* In ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'', every Magical Girl is given one special skill at random. Some get strong powers such as [[HealingFactor regeneration]] or [[MakeMeWannaShout sound manipulation]]. Others are far less lucky.
** Nemurin has the ability to enter dreams, and is practically a god in the land of dreams. Unfortunately for her, she needs to be helping people in order to earn Magical Candies, and candies earned in dreams don't carry over to the real world. The most she can do is comfort people in their dreams and give them advice.
** Ruler can give a command to anyone that must be followed, which should be a powerful ability. However, it comes with so many requirements (she must stand still, call the opponent by name, point her scepter at them, be within 5 meters of her target, and has to be understood) that it's difficult to use it practically.
** Pechka can transform anything into delicious food after touching it for 5 minutes. The 5 minute factor makes it nearly useless in a fight, and she's trapped in a game world where she has to do a lot of fighting. At least everyone appreciates her food.
** Detec Bell can create faces on buildings, allowing her to talk to them. It comes in handy for her job where she's a detective, but in the game world none of the buildings are willing to give her any information, making it rather useless.
** Rionetta can control puppets in a humanoid shape, which is powerful under specific circumstances, but hard to use when she's trapped in a game world where most of her enemies are creatures that don't qualify as puppets. [[spoiler:Subverted as she can also control dead people with her power, something she doesn't want to advertise.]]
** Prism Cherry can change what is reflected in mirrors. She can create entire scenes and environments in them. Cute, but rather useless since it doesn't change anything in reality. She frequently lambasts how bad her ability is. [[spoiler:It takes her awhile to realize that it is actually the manipulation of reflected light, which is a little more useful, though still not particularly powerful.]]
** Kafuria can see who dies earliest. The person who will die next has a floating skull above their head that only she can see. It doesn't tell her when or how they will die, just that they're next. She can interfere and change their fate, but without knowing the details she can't do much. She is friends with other Magical Girls with useless powers: Negino (generate the smell of green onions), Kokuri-chan (move a single coin at the speed of a fast-walking human), and Auro (maintain a perfect afro).
** Premium Sachiko can [[DealWithTheDevil create contracts with others]] when they write on her dress. These work by [[WindsOfDestinyChange fueling all of a person's luck into one event]] (getting whatever they signed the contract for), but the catch is that that is quite literally ''all'' the luck they will ''ever'' have, so anyone who does sign the contract will become [[BornUnlucky totally and utterly unlucky]] immediately after they get what they want, i.e. you win the lottery and then immediately get hit by a meteor. [[BadPowersGoodPeople Sachiko doesn't like to use her powers at all because she doesn't want to hurt anyone]], but even if she ''did'' want to use it against people, she can't force anyone to make a contract. [[spoiler: This power ''does'' end up defeating the BigBad, who thought she could trick the contract by having someone she'd enthralled sign it... but because the thrall considered the BigBad her absolute best friend, her new DoomMagnet status ensured that the BigBad was also hit by the bad luck and suffered an UndignifiedDeath.]]

* ''Manga/Cyborg009'''s [[TheChick female member, Francoise aka 003]] had non-offensive, surveillance-oriented powers (though she could still use a laser gun). Her powers actually help a lot whenever the team needs to gather information, but it has no use in direct combat.

* ''LightNovel/BanishedFromTheHerosParty'': While Gideon is a natural-born soldier, he, at least from his point of view, thinks he is sub-par compared to the more accomplished members of the Hero party. [[SubvertedTrope However]], he did not take into account that he was the most capable and vital of the group, having being looking after them, cook for them, handled information gathering etc. This is how Ares drove Gideon away. This comes to bite him and his party as Ruti is too depressed to be any threat against the Demon Lord and the party had to work much harder without Gideon.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'': Cody/Iori's parter Digimon got hit with this to a degree. In 02, every other main character's Champion-level Digimon had multiple attacks, including projectiles and the ability to fly. Ancylomon was a bulky, slow moving dinosaur who never used projectile attacks, couldn't fly, and had to be rescued by Stingmon in its debut episode. The show seemed to be aware on this disadvantage, as several episodes in the final arc featured Cody using the earlier armor forms, Digmon and Submarimon, since the former could fly, carry Cody on his back while flying, cause fissues in the ground, and shoot projectiles, while Submarimon was a submarine that float above land (complete with cockpit) that could shoot torpedoes. His next stage, Shakkoumon (which, as a fusion creature, he shared with T.K./Takeru) was more versatile, but still had notable limitations. He could absorb energy attacks to prevent anyone taking a hit and could shoot projectiles and eyelasers, but was also a large, bulky, slow-moving creature with stubby arms and legs. Like Ancylomon, he also failed to the win the fight he took part in in his debut episode. The other two fusion monsters on the team however, were faster moving and could use melee attacks in addition to projectiles.

** In the third season, Sailor Chibi-Moon assumed the "useless member" role; as a Senshi-in-training her "Pink Sugar Heart Attack" was shown to be so weak and pointless that it mostly only annoyed the villain (it also occasionally just didn't do anything period, and on at least one occasion backfired on her). She got ''[[PowerupLetdown demoted even further]]'' in the fourth season, replacing that attack with one that summons the pegasus Helios to power up Sailor Moon for her final attack - in other words, she had no powers of her own, reduced to merely being able to call someone else to empower yet someone else. It was later revealed that she ''could'' still do her Pink Sugar Heart Attack with the bell for summoning Helios... for all the good that attack ever does.

** The main character is a similar case to some members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, such as Fire Lad or Polar Lad, below. His (newly-acquired) power is not useless at all, being a ridiculous level of SuperStrength. However, as he has zero control over it, every time he uses it he [[AwesomeButImpractical lets off an extremely powerful attack that breaks the limb that uses it]]. As time goes by he finds ways to use it more effectively.