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Why Flawed Abilities Are More Interesting

PintIsHere

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A protagonist's abilities are often most interesting not at their peak, but around the 30% mark, when they're still flawed. Simply, this is because imperfect abilities often offer richer storytelling potential than fully mastered ones. Let's take a look and see what I mean by this.

Thank you for watching!

▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 - Introduction
1:36 - What Makes Them More Interesting?
4:24 - Imperfect Transformations
7:50 - Imperfect Abilities
11:38 - Conclusion

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20 Comments

@pintschannel Creator 1 year ago Pinned

Thanks for watching!

New video is out, check it out! https://youtu.be/UqTJ1qV4_sY

@madambutterfly1997 1 year ago

This should extend to the antagonist as well because there are several antagonists who have abilities that should have limitations and weaknesses

@Nyzahnewton 1 year ago

Bonus points if the flawed abilities reflect the story’s theme. In my novel’s universe the power system is rooted in each character’s core personality, so traits like self doubt have a major impact on how much of their ability they can actually summon

@Sareza. 1 year ago (edited)

Flawed abilities just make stories way more engaging. When a character’s power has limits, like Sunny (Shadow Slave) not being able to lie, it forces the writer to get creative. Not just about flexing with overpowered moves, it is more about how they work around the flaw. That kind of tension builds better character moments and smarter plot twists. Perfect powers solve problems, flawed ones create them, and that’s where the real story lives.

@nova_zar 1 year ago

This is why 10yo Ben 10 is my GOAT.
The prototype Omnitrix had so many flaws and he always had to manage through the flaws with wits to win, and when he first unlocked master control we saw his BEST combat display in the series. This is unlike UAF and Omniverse where he has better versions of the Omnitrix but he usually fumbles his fights due to plot induced stupidity (or else he would be too OP).

@stevetherush1193 1 year ago

I agree with you to an extent. But, I arrive at a different conclusion:

Abilities are just one tool of the story...towards the end, the character decisions, tying up the themes, and plot resolutions are much more important to the story.

By that time, growth should be near complete, and the character should be mostly "predictable" in their abilities so that we concentrate on the satisfaction, not introducing another mountain to climb.

@trevhart2124 1 year ago

2 things
1: Kaioken is more of a technique than a transformation, seeing as how anyone can learn it. Everything else said about it, I completely agree

2: I understand your grips with the Chakra cloak from a powerscaling perspective, but from a storytelling perspective, it's great. He had to fight Kurama for his share for it at first, and if you ask me, that is a hell of a trade-off. Imagine constantly having to go inside yourself to scrap with the guy capable of destroying a village every time you needed to burrow his power.

Either that, or give into the rage that not only risks killing you but having the guy come out of his cage.

But the Golden Chakra cloak given when Kurama and Naruto see eye to eye, perfect harmony. No drawbacks or caveats because they took their 1st step to becoming one, as well as true comrades. It's great

I still understand not liking the lack of consequences for it, but you know. Storytelling ain't only about the magic system and its balancing. (Though, it would've helped if Naruto ended there)

@IN-tm8mw 1 year ago (edited)

I get the point you're making, but I think we need to draw a sharper line between “flawed” abilities and “limited by design.” Not every ability with constraints is flawed—some were never meant to be perfect, even when mastered. The real issue isn’t mastery—it’s perfection. Abilities that have no weaknesses, no costs, no situational variance, and can adapt to any threat without consequence. What’s often overlooked is attack properties—why one move works in one situation and fails in another. That kind of tactical design is what creates tension, forces ingenuity, and makes battles feel alive. Perfect abilities flatten that out. They work on everything, in every scenario, and stop fights from being about strategy. That’s why fights in series like Frieren: Beyond Journey's End feel richer. Younger fans might think its imagination-based magic is “new,” but for those of us who grew up with systems that weren’t just cooldown-based superpowers in a game based world, this is a return to form. PS: many fans of the show World Trigger understand this too. Its the difference between the Kamehameha Wave and the the special beam cannon.

@Hensley_Jb 1 year ago

Deku with that 8% full cowl was peak. Favorite parts of the series

@e10gold 1 year ago

Would like to throw in Lemillion here as an honorable mention. Not only is his power difficult to master, but the drawbacks are insane: can’t see, can’t breathe, can’t hear while using. And while permeation is op in a way, there’s some serious flaws. First, he can’t interact with others without turning off the quirk, so he’s vulnerable when trying to move or protect someone, seen best with Eri. And second, he might be practically invincible, yet his actual attacks are really just normal punches with some momentum. Against durable enemies like Shigaraki he’s at best just an annoyance, so it forces him to get creative like blocking his sight or ig putting his cheeks up as a distraction. Overall it’s kinda the exact power described here- weakness: protecting others, limitation: only normal punches for offense, drawback: no senses while it’s active

@nafg115 1 year ago

Sage mode flaw: You have to farm for natural chakra, something really hard.

KSM flaw: getting to it is hard enough and you risk permanently losing control of kurama while trying to master it.

@rickastleymg 1 year ago

Remember even at end of the anime Deku never went 100% he only went 45% OFA and Gear shift + Fajin helps him to mimic the power of 100% OFA.

@JustARegularOtaku 1 year ago

JJK construction cursed technique is in theory busted, but costs so much cursed energy it’s unusable, especially for the character who possesses it, Mai Zenin who has barely enough cursed energy to to use compared to a normal sorcerer

Using a revolver to trick opponents into thinking you have 0 ammo’s when you out, and when they put their guard down, surprise them with a 7th she just constructed on the spot

I swear it would’ve worked on Maki if she wasn’t just simply strong and fast enough to catch Mai’s bullet at point blank range

@Shinx510 1 year ago (edited)

Something I really liked in Black Clover was how Asta spends a lot of time with his Anti-Magic having a ton of shortcomings. Even though it's obviously a strong power, he had to work extremely hard and/or need help from his squad mates to make Anti-Magic effective against the majority of early enemies.

Edit: List of things early BC Asta would get cooked against 1v1:
- Anyone with ranged spells
- Anyone with similar physical stats
- Anyone with with multidirectional spells
- Anyone with AOE spells
- Anyone who can cast multiple spells at once

80% of the magic knights / villains we see can do 1 of these 5 and steam roll early Asta, and it's good to see him systematically fix these shortcomings.

@r.connor9280 1 year ago

Reverse Power Fantasy
The hero cheats to get a huge number of abilities at the start of the story, but the cheats are single use and so the MC has to balance solving problems with ease versus needing that power for later or possibly spending enormous effort learning an ability legitimately so as to keep it around permanently

@SuPeRtOaSt-x6m 1 year ago

Yuji's Divergent Fist is my favorite example of these types of powers, purely cuz of the symbolism behind it. Divergent Fist is the perfect representation of Yuji's humanity due to it being born of an imperfection in his CE control and cuz he kinda sucks at being a sorcerer. It's perfect for the character clinging to his humanity tighter than anyone else, especially considering he didn't scrap it entirely after gaining better control over his CE.

@juicyjuustar121 1 year ago

I think the thing is that a lot of flawed abilities are kind of required to eventually shed their flaws. Its not the case for all of them of course, but with Izuku's One For All for example, it would be weird if he DIDNT eventually get past the bone-breaking thing. All-Might wasnt breaking his bones with every attack, and he was always going 100%, so it goes without saying that Izuku would eventually be able to fight without injuring himself

That being said I do agree that flaws make the ability itself more interesting, I just think that overcoming those flaws can be cathartic and can come packaged in with great character development, just at the cost of potentially making fights a little less interesting

@blazedj 1 year ago

9:12 Normally, I’d defend Deku, but this was definitely him at his stupidest or he had as severe a case of tunnel vision as he does later on. He’s literally told to be more creative in using his quirk and not risk rendering himself useless by doing things like he does in the tournament by Aizawa. What he does during the race and the cavalry match are creative, and he even manages to do really well despite being unable to use his quirk the way he may have wanted to. What I realized is that we could’ve had the Deku from later on in the season at this point if he’d have gotten as creative in trying to get the hang of his quirk. Instead of actually experimenting and trying to see what he could manage with it properly, anytime we’d see him training, it was simple strength based stuff, like lifting weights. This is why he had to resort to such acts of desperation in his match against Todoroki. The best he could come up with was to try and overpower him with brawn, not brains. Whereas, Bakugo not only had ample power to contend with Todoroki, he also had a strategy already planned to use against him if he used the same fire attack he had in his match with Deku.

@Abrokenhandgun 1 year ago

I hope I’m not too late 🗣️🗣️ 1:38

@kaminaye 1 year ago (edited)

Love the topic: this is why Darker Than Black is one of my favourite animes of all time.

Every ability has such a unique and potential taxing drawback.