Basic Trope: An outfit is extremely powerful, but it is embarrassing to wear.
- Straight:
- Alice is a Magical Girl whose magical girl outfit is a skimpy bikini, which embarrasses her to no end.
- Bob wears magical clothes that makes him Nigh-Invulnerable and grant him Super-Speed but said clothes are a ballerina outfit, which Bob really hates.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is a magical girl with multiple transformation stages whose outfits become more skimpier the more powerful she becomes, with her last transformation having her be invincible but flat out naked.
- Alice is a Physical God in her magical girl state, but her "outfit" consists of nothing more than pasties to cover her nipples and a tiny thong, and her powers only work if she's wearing nothing else.
- Downplayed: Alice is a Magical Girl Otaku who thinks her outfit looks cool and has a decent number of fans who also think so, but the general consensus is that it looks really ridiculous.
- Justified:
- The being that gave Alice her magical girl outfit has different ideas of modesty than Alice.
- The person who made Alice's outfit was a pervert.
- Alice's outfit is made out a special fabric that is very rare, meaning that it doesn't cover much skin because there isn't enough to cover everything.
- The universe Bob lives in works on RPG Mechanics, meaning that the power of an outfit is based on its inherit stats, and the ballerina outfit has an extremely high DEF stat.
- Bob's clothes were originally made for an actual ballet dancer and he wears it solely due to the magical benefits.
- Inverted:
- Alice is forced to wear a Pimped-Out Dress that removes her powers while it is on.
- Bob has a set of badass-looking armor that, unbeknownst to him, is cursed so that it's wearer becomes Pathetically Weak.
- Subverted: Alice's outfit was actually torn, and when she gets it repaired it is just as powerful but not immodest.
- Parodied:
- Alice's Magical Girl outfit is literally just a pair of bra and panties, and she has to look around while battling monsters because she doesn't want to get arrested for public indecency.
- A superhero universe has its laws of physics cause someone to become stronger the more ridiculous their costume looks. Thus the strongest heroes are those who walk around in things like their underwear, diapers, or mascot costumes, while the ones who wear badass costumes like ninja gear, hoods, and cyborg armor are Joke Characters.
- Averted:
- The outfits are powerful without being embarrassing.
- The outfits are embarrassing without being powerful.
- Lampshaded: "Why does my super suit look like I'ma stripper?"
- Discussed: "If I had to choose between potentially having public indecency charges and not having superpowers, I'd choose the latter."
- Zig-zagged: Alice's Magical Girl outfit is only skimpy-looking because of her age; when she lends her Transformation Trinket to younger people, it looks modest.
- Defied: Alice decides to tailor the armor so that she doesn't violate public indecency laws.
- Played for Laughs: Black Comedy: Alice is a white Magical Girl who is frequently Mistaken for Racist because her magical girl costume resembles a KKK hood.
- Played for Drama:
- Alice is a religious Magical Girl whose outfit is against her faith's ideas of modesty, and she feels like she's sinning while wearing it despite the fact that it allows her to save lives.
- Alice is a Romani who wields a magical outfit made by the Nazis, and said outfit includes a Swastika, which is traumatizing for her.
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