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Sphere of Power

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"Behold my powers! I am the strongest Pokémon in the world."
So, your Player Character just got an Invincibility Power-Up, your anime hero unlocked a Super Mode, or your essay is due in an hour and you drink a Red Bull. How do you represent the sudden increase in power? With circles and spheres.

It can be in the form of a debris cloud that envelops the character, a Chunky Updraft that circles the character like electrons around an atom, a full-body halo that radiates from him, a barrier of any stripe, a cyclone spiraling upwards, or maybe Instant Runes following the character around like a celestial spotlight. Point is, it's got circles and therefore it must be powerful.

This is possibly because a circle (in 2D) and sphere (in 3D) are the shapes any equally distributed outward pressure will form.

Not to be confused with the Sphere of Destruction, although the two often do overlap, or the alternate magic system Sourcebook Spheres of Power, though you could build one with those rules. Compare Orbiting Particle Shield.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • In Brave10, the form Isanami's Defence Mechanism Superpower takes is a growing black energy sphere emanating from her.
  • Dragon Ball Z:
    • It combines this with Sphere of Destruction when Cell attains his Perfect form, rendering himself temporarily invulnerable and taking out a chunk of countryside to boot.
    • Also, Android #17's barrier of ki forms a perfect sphere around him.
    • Frieza is surrounded by one of as part of his own final transformation; in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai games, the entire process is abbreviated into him calling it up, then cracking out of it like an eggshell.
    • Broly often creates these to survive indefinitely in environments with no air, such as the depths of space or deep in molten lava. He also regularly forms forcefields during combat.
  • Shows up in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple whenever the Seikuken is activated.
  • Hayate's ascension as the Queen of the Night Sky in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, which was marked by her being surrounded by a sphere of white light.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi's Ku Fe emits one in a really intense arm wrestle.
  • Mew and Mewtwo in Pokémon: The First Movie, with Mewtwo himself being the page image above.
  • When pissed off, the Phoenix King Saffron from Ranma ½ begins radiating a sphere of blinding-white heat which he then uses to build up his ultimate technique.
  • Souls in Soul Eater usually take a spherical form. Some characters can see the souls of living beings, and depending on the strength of that being the soul can be anything from a tennis ball sized sphere in the chest area (normal people) to a sphere around the creature and the entire city it's in (the Shinigami).
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann twists this trope with Spiral Power, which is depicted with small spirals that appear from the aura.

    Films — Animation 
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:
    • In Rainbow Rocks, for the final battle, the ultimate move of the Rainbooms singing in unison generates a rising rainbow beam made of the Magic of Friendship, which coalesces into a multicolored sphere of twirling energies. And then a huge pair of glowing wings emerge from it, prelude to the summoning of a giant Winged Unicorn made of light.
    • In Friendship Games, two Transformation Sequences involve glowing spheres of magic. Twilight reacts by struggling against it and screams for help, while Sunset willingly embraces it.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Kamen Rider:
    • Several Kamen Riders get a sphere effect. And these spheres are crazy impenetrable, repelling any charging monster or its weaponfire.
    • The Kamen Rider Dragon Knight transformation effect looks a great deal like the page image. The sphere forms, the circle (actually two in one) appears at waist level, and they slowly flip, suiting the Rider as they pass over. When the circles have gone 180° and are one again, the effect ends. A monster or rival Rider unfortunate enough to be too close when the henshin field bursts forth from the belt will be thrown backwards.

    Tabletop Games 

    Video Games 
  • Azure Striker Gunvolt uses a flashfield to attack, which is basically a sphere of electricity. It's strikingly similar to the shields of Mega Man, which is fitting since it's a Spiritual Successor of the series.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • The spellcasting effect in Final Fantasy VII looks like this.
    • This is taken to its logical extreme in Final Fantasy X in which the entire levelling system is based around spheres.
  • In Kingdom Hearts II, whenever a character levels up they are briefly surrounded by a sphere.
    • The Aero spell, typically an air-elemental offensive spell in Final Fantasy, is instead a spherical shield in Kingdom Hearts.
    • Reflect/Barrier/Dark Barrier projects a spherical Beehive Barrier whenever he guards.
    • Xemnas's ultimate attack in the first game's Final Mix involves forming one and strafing Team Sora with energy beams. It's reused for his Limit Break in days. In Dream Drop Distance, this is Ansem / Xehanort's latest trick with his Guardian.
  • Mega Man:
    • Mega Man X's Rolling Shield, when charged up, projects a sphere of pressure around him, protecting him from harm.
    • For that matter, the classic Mega Man Mega Man (Classic) uses the Reverse Shrapnel variety for his shields: Leaf Shield, Jewel Shield, Skull Shield, Junk Shield (which can also be fired outwards,) Crystal Shield...
  • The Art of the Invincible Fire Wheel in the NES Ninja Gaiden games, which is a set of three fireballs that orbit Ryu's body for a short amount of time.
  • Ōkami has this appear several times.
    • The Saotomi orbs which circle princess Fuse and later you, the Vengeance Slips which protect you from attack, the Godhood barriers, the Bead weapons which circle Amaterasu's neck and the various enemies with orbiting stone heads/skulls.
    • And of course, Yami, the God of Evil is what seems to be a gray fish in a spherical fishbowl with a Humongous Mecha outer shell. The latter comes from being the creator of Technology.
  • Pokémon: The titular creatures emerge from a sphere when they Mega Evolve.
  • In Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal using Shield Charger or Tesla Barrier will surround ratchet with a glowing spherical shield which renders him essentially invincible until it dissipates (besides Bottomless Pits, lava or the like) and in Tesla Barrier's case it also delivers a considerable shock to anything foolish getting nearby.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Tails's super form features four superpowerful Flickies (magical birds) that encircle him and constantly rotate around him, destroying anything that comes near him.
    • In Sonic Adventure, Super Sonic gets one in the true final level.
    • As of Sonic Heroes, a Sphere of Power is now the only indication of Tails or Knuckles being in super form.
  • Super Metroid:
    • Power Bombs do this with an ever-expanding explosion.
    • Each beam upgrade has a Special Attack that creates this effect around Samus.
    • The Crystal Flash also creates this effect, but with a healing ability rather than destructive one.
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl:
  • Two notable examples from the Tales Series series are Sync's Harrowing Gale and Tison's Infernal Lord Mystic Artes.

    Web Original 
  • Phaeton has several abilities that use this effect.

    Western Animation 

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