Basic Trope: Awakening one's latent abilities through a traumatic event.
- Straight: Aquatic Alice awakens her powers when she nearly drowns.
- Exaggerated:
- Dread Drake manifests his powers after dying.
- Alternately, you gain more powers as you suffer more. You are the most powerful person on the planet and have suffered the most to gain it.
- Downplayed:
- Temporal Thomas gets his power's development accelerated going through a traumatic experience.
- Ballistics Bob gains his ability following a particularly annoying event.
- Justified:
- Powers are only given out to those with trauma to ensure maximum chaos.
- Powers are awoken through strong emotional experiences in general, just so happens trauma is the easiest route.
- Powers are psychoactive in nature, thus without strong motivation, a Neo-Human wouldn't even notice they have any.
- The Neo-Human's unique abilities are fueled by trauma, thus without any of their own to kickstart it they can't use their powers.
- Inverted:
- Traumatic event suppresses one's powers.
- Joyous experiences triggers one's abilities.
- Awakening one's powers causes trauma.
- Subverted: Creation Carol seems to have undergone trauma given all her creations are horrifying, except she's really just a Nightmare Fetishist.
- Double Subverted: ...Yet it isn't until she's mentally assaulted that she's able to craft mental constructs.
- Parodied: Alice, breaking a nail, looks on with utter horror- Before clutching at her head screaming in terror, causing all the water in the area to gravitate around her... And fix her nail.
- Zig Zagged: Trauma is just one possible triggering for powers to awaken.
- Averted: Superpowers are not awakened by trauma, even with a Dark and Troubled Past.
- Enforced: "We need to make this Darker and Edgier, so let's have it all superpowers are awakened by trauma!"
- Lampshaded:"Ooh, you have superpowers? Abusive Parents? Friend died in your arms? Wait wait, 'special evil' maybe?"
- Invoked: Thomas, uncertain after failing so many times, decides to inflict trauma on himself to forcibly awaken his abilities.
- Exploited:
- Emperor Evulz, wanting more research specimen, becomes a supervillain in order to produce new subjects from the trauma his actions would cause.
- Emperor Evulz specifically approaches newly awakened Neo-Humans because of their emotional instability and uncertainty following the process.
- Defied: The Powers That Be refuse to allow Traumatic Superpower Awakening as the standard, believing that would imbalance things.
- Discussed:"What is with so many heroes and villains being so gloomy?""Maybe they suffered traumatic experiences in their past? If their powers awakened traumatically then that would make a fair deal treat their powers very darkly as well."
- Conversed:"Geez, why are people trying to be all dark and edgy with superpower origins anyway?""Well infinite possibilities inevitably happening for one, but it does give a greater sense of importance & dire about the powers themselves if obtained traumatically."
- Implied: Bob is uncomfortable explaining why his abilities ended up manifesting.
- Deconstructed: Though they may gain powers, the trauma they endure isn't solved in doing so. Thus, as emotionally disturbed people with superpowers, they're either selfish, petty, or outright villainous with their newfound abilities.
- Reconstructed: Though unlocking powers doesn't cure their trauma, they can receive mental help and keep their powers. Thus, only those refusing to get over their issues turn to villainy.
- Played For Laughs: Alice, snubbed of the Little Black Dress she wanted, ends up awakening her powers as she throws a hissy fit about how it totally does not look good on Beth.
- Played For Drama: Carol, having been emotionally unstable enough to gain her powers, quickly abuses her powers in order to get revenge on her aggressors.
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