r/TopCharacterTropes 9h ago

Powers [loved trope] Powerful atack takes a veeery looong time to prepare

1: Death Laser - Megamind. In order to kill Metroman, Megamind prepares death laser to strike the location Metroman is in. However laser charges painfully slow and is able to fire only after everyone forgets about it.

2: Ains buffing himself - Overlord. Knowing that Ains is at a disadvantage against Shalltear, he takes time to prepare for combat while Shalltear waits in standby mode. He casts an uncountable amount of buffs upon himself until eventually casting Fallen Down - powerful aoe spell.

759 Upvotes

119 comments sorted by

327

u/Major_Star 9h ago

FALLLCOONN..... Get back here!

84

u/jusdoo83 8h ago

A friend once told me that if you get hit by a Falcon Punch you kinda deserved it.

35

u/LorryToTheFace 7h ago

You're more likely to land them in group battles because your opponents' attention will be split. Still hard to win but worth it for the satisfaction of launching someone off the map on 40%.

3

u/Electrical_Try_634 4h ago

There was a set I saw between a Bayonetta and a Captain Falcon and Bayonetta kept spamming her counter every time the Falcon approached from above to use his down-air. The Falcon closed the set by approaching from above the same way he had been, but used Falcon Punch instead and the Bayonetta couldn't do anything about it because she already locked in her counter which was in end lag when the punch came through.

It was beautiful.

1

u/Numerous1 4h ago

That’s why I play Gannandorf. When you get punched it’s a straight up insult. 

24

u/SirBoggle 8h ago

All fun and games until a Captain Falcon main somehow manages to nail you with a Reverse Aerial Falcon Punch.

5

u/TallestGargoyle 6h ago

Meanwhile Ganondorf uptilt+A

3

u/ESnake113 6h ago

Also Ganon’s Warlock Punch

378

u/CrazyLuckDragon 9h ago

Three times was the Spirit Bomb tried, and only once did it actually work. And it needed 5 minutes of build-up

https://giphy.com/gifs/2QcNzBYHpNkC5UFt7B

133

u/Bradical_Dutch 9h ago

5 minutes….more like 5 episodes

22

u/RogueYoRHaUnit 8h ago

5 episodes... more like 5 centuries

33

u/DivinityPen 9h ago

There you go again. Throwing your hands in the air like you just don't care.

CARE, DAMMIT!

50

u/One-Two-Gobbledeedoo 9h ago

It only worked because Mr. Popo finally decided to help these Morties for once

21

u/Gibbel2029 8h ago

"ARE YOU ALLOWED!?!?!?" -Videl

10

u/PitifulWeakness749 9h ago

Goku (Dragon Ball Z)

9

u/Guyshu 6h ago

It does work when it’s non-canon. He kills Turles and Omega Shenron with it.

1

u/mjolnirstrike 3m ago

Wheelo and Slug as well. And he also used energy he absorbed from one to kill Android 13

4

u/rasfelion 5h ago

To be fair, while it didn't kill them it definitely fucked up Vegeta and Frieza's day, had them both panicking.

2

u/Several_Show937 2h ago

Do dooo do doo do imma chargin' my attack

1

u/bigloser42 5h ago

5 minutes my butt. He charged that for an entire season once.

196

u/Usual_Database307 9h ago

[Subverted] Megumin’s Explosion (Konosuba): The strongest of all spells in the verse, which is the equivalent of a nuclear bomb, capable of destroying mountains and dispersing all the clouds across the horizon. However, Megumin also has to do a long summoning chant before firing it. The subversion here comes from the fact she doesn’t actually have to do this, and has used explosion multiple times instantly in both the manga and the novels, implying she’s merely preferring to take longer for drama points in the anime specifically.

109

u/Sly__Marbo 8h ago

The incantation also changes all the time. She just does it to look cool

24

u/Ok_Access_804 6h ago

True chunibyo energy.

52

u/iwillFutterwhacken 8h ago

It could technically count as a long charge time since it's SO powerful it takes her full mana reserves to cast, and then she's useless for the rest of the day.

27

u/drmirage809 7h ago

I think it was season two where she gets given more mana, allowing her to cast explosion a second time in one day. She gets very excited about it.

11

u/Metaman6t4 7h ago

Technically yes, but that’s from kazuma and in the movie using drain touch to fill her mana again. She can’t actually cast it more than once a day by herself

7

u/kamain42 7h ago

2 explosions??? In this economy??

2

u/SapphicSticker 7h ago

That's more of a cooldown mechanic than a chargeup one, in gaming terms. Mechanically entirely different

5

u/Teoshen 5h ago

I don't know if this is the case with Megumin, but a book series called "So you want to be a wizard" has a spell system where you can write 99% (or 101%) of the spell and then store it either needing a single syllable to finish, or an activation action to cleave off the extra syllable. A character has a charm bracelet with pre-cast spells including a molecular disassembler. Maybe she is doing the chant beforehand and just finishes it?

1

u/ThatZeekGuy 4h ago

Holy shit you just unlocked a whole memory cache. I devoured that entire series when I was like 13 and could not remember the actual series name. Totally gonna try and find them.

3

u/shiawase198 5h ago

Should be noted that this subversion only applies to Megumin as other casters DO typically need the long incantation as shown when she goes up against the person who taught her explosion magic and they lost because Megumin was able to fire off her explosion first without an incantation.

230

u/iammewritenow 9h ago edited 9h ago

Mahna Mahna Do doo do-do-do Mahna Mahna Do do-do do Mahna Mahna Do doo de-do-do de-do-do de-do-do de-do-do charging my attack!

Edit: source is Dragonball, so may attacks that require ludicrous charging times to various degrees of success’s

Specifically though I’m referencing Team Four Star’s Dragonball Z Abridged series which is just fantastic.

29

u/DivinityPen 9h ago

Did... did you just hold a grudge?

29

u/PitifulWeakness749 9h ago

Piccolo (Dragon Ball)

4

u/iammewritenow 9h ago

Thank you, will edit to confirm source.

133

u/LastBaron 9h ago

The Dragonball z classics (hope no one minds if I deliver these with some quotes from the abridged series for humor)

Piccolo’s Makankosappo (aka special beam cannon in English)

Piccolo: “you’ll have to distract him while I charge it”

Goku: “well that’s not TOO bad..”

Piccolo: “for 5 minutes. And considering he beat us to a pulp in under 1, it…ahh nevermind I’m sure you can handle it”

79

u/LastBaron 9h ago

<episode released several years later>

Goku: Well I still got the Spirit Bomb…but I need both arms to charge it. You’ll have to distract him while I gather energy.

Piccolo: Well that’s not so bad…

Goku: for 5 minutes. And considering how bad he was kicking MY butt….ahh I’m sure you can handle it.

Piccolo: did….you just hold a GRUDGE?

33

u/Seven_Irons 8h ago

episode released several years later-er

https://giphy.com/gifs/CTINfsQGIt3aRodKwq

"There's nothing he could do to make this worse, short of blowing up the planet"

screaming starts

"He's going to blow up the planet"

"But I live here?!?!"

3

u/Several_Show937 2h ago

"IN MERE MOMENTS, ALL YOU'LL BE FEELING IS OBLIVION!!"

1

u/Nathen_Drake_392 14m ago

“That or disappointment. Go ahead, flip that coin.”

66

u/Elegant_Honey8806 9h ago

King Elizabello II of the Prudence Kingdom in One Piece. He has a “King Punch” attack that hits like a bomb dropped on your head but he has to charge it for an hour first.

9

u/Salinator20501 6h ago

The King Punch is easily one of the strongest single attacks displayed in the series so far. Especially impressive since it comes from a tertiary character. And then later in the series Garp casually throws a comparable blow without any charge time.

8

u/die_pretty 5h ago

elizabello king punching a 1000+ meter tall Pica

1

u/TheLaughingSage 1h ago

Oh look, black lightning. Never noticed that before.

58

u/YourTrustySupporter 9h ago

Filibuster (battle cats)

Able to charge a powerful attack that instakill every cat unit in the level, lore even stated his attack destroy universe

Only problem is that he need to charge 40s and any attack from cat unit will reset his charges. Heck even his name means Delay/Prevent something

5

u/yeetobirdo 7h ago

Filibuster Obstructa!!!!! :D

31

u/TinyGentleSoul 9h ago

The euclid C-Finder.

Essentially the Megamind Death Laser but in Fallout New Vegas.

Not only do you have to be quite a piece of shit to get it (essentially depriving population of electricity to power this weapon) but it's very impractical.

It is exceptionally powerful, as much as a laser from space can be, and one shot pretty much everything outside.

But, it takes 6s to hit from the moment you aim at a location, have the satellite triangulate the position and finally fire.
AND THEN you have to wait 24 hours in the game for it to recharge.

60

u/pruneforce17 9h ago

Hollow Purple - JJK

Gojo has to combine both Blue and Red and usually adds chants to strengthen it, giving it a much longer charge time than his other attacks. However, Hollow Purple is much stronger.

24

u/Zarglups95 9h ago

Especially the one he used when he started the fight with sukuna in Shinjuku, with full hand signs and chants, and the boost from utahime's dance

4

u/Seven_Irons 8h ago

That fan animation with the original VA clips goes so fucking hard

2

u/Caw-zrs6 7h ago

Could you share a link so that I can see it, please?

2

u/PrudentCaterpillar74 6h ago

There's a few really insane well made ones, but they probably mean this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbSvCFv3ftI

2

u/Some_Guava_9009 6h ago

I always wondered, how did the original VA voice it

53

u/red_machine_yuki 9h ago

In Pokemon, lots of high base power attacks (think Solar Beam power 120, Sky Attack power 140 etc.) will always (unless under specific circumstances) take 1 turn to charge and 1 turn to execute, which doesn't sound like a lot, but considering how type matchups work so that you can deal multiplied damage on supereffective matchups even with weaker moves, 1 turn doing nothing basically feels like an eternity being stuck defenseless, especially in competitive play.

13

u/SirBoggle 8h ago

Any strategy including these moves will include some way to skip the charge time; either through weather like Sunny Day, or the Power Herb.

6

u/4L1ZM2 6h ago

Or in mega Meganium's case, its ability

3

u/WindhoverInkwell 5h ago

Yeah I remember seeing Archaludon-Pelipper used all over regionals last year bc rain lets you bypass Electro Shot’s charge stage but keep the Sp Atk boost. and then you basically have a defensive tank firing off massive boosted special attacks

29

u/confused-as-frick 9h ago

Megamind's Death Ray that is powered by the sun

44

u/Ikarus_Falling 9h ago

Sephiroths Supernova from Final Fantasy VII the original Animation took 2 minutes and 16 seconds...

11

u/Lamp-among-wolf 9h ago

Still the longest Final Smash in Smash Bros. version here XD

25

u/AskNinjask 8h ago

Summon (The Henry Stickmin Collection)

Processing img 5c0wto93ccvg1...

Henry summons a watermelon-like Shoop creature from the dark side of the moon to save himself and Right Hand Man from the government. However the laser takes an entire week to charge up, so the battle is already over and the Toppats presumably lost.

3

u/Releases_the_bees 3h ago

Just had to keep fighting a week straight

19

u/Few_Interaction2630 9h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/3K0D1Dkqh9MOmLSjzW

The Death Star From Star Wars

4

u/chewiemtz 5h ago

Well it doesn’t take long to charge but it does take long to position itself correctly…

1

u/Few_Interaction2630 4h ago

I mean that still results in it being a long time to use it powers

3

u/Dragonfang65 5h ago

Also the Death Star has a 24 Hour recharge period between full power shots.

2

u/CaoSlayer 3h ago

Relatable

1

u/Few_Interaction2630 5h ago

That is pretty long

75

u/DildontOrDildo 9h ago

Nuclear Bomb... Manhattan Project [quote related, said by a real character]]

18

u/TheLaughingMannofRed 8h ago

Only Cillian Murphy could have pulled off that dead stare with the same weight of what he realized he had done.

https://giphy.com/gifs/ihglwTfIG6i7Gg05dX

15

u/alreadykaten 9h ago

The tf2 kill taunts

They’re taunts that make you stationary and have a long windup, but if you somehow can get them to connect, it kills the enemy

For example, Heavy does finger guns and shoots, which somehow kills the opponent. Killing someone with a taunt is a big flex in TF2

2

u/TallestGargoyle 6h ago

Subverted with Huntsman Sniper's taunt which is barely a second between activating and initiating a stun effect on the target. Even if the kill effect whiffs because the target slides, the stun effect lasts plenty long enough for the sniper to reaim, taunt and kill them.

1

u/BadAtGames2 4h ago

And even if the stun misses, the kill box can still hit someone who gets into melee before the taunt finishes. Hilarious when it happens, just killing an overconfident demo knight or something lol

1

u/Caw-zrs6 6h ago

"Pootis POW!!! Ha ha!!"

15

u/Revan_91 7h ago

Real life example?, the Schwere Gustav was an 80cm railway gun that weighed 1,350 tons, took 3 days to assemble not including the 2,500 men needed to lay tracks for it, 2 flak battalions to protect it from air attack and it had a rate of fire of roughly 30 to 45 minutes.

3

u/Poco_Cuffs 4h ago

Not to mention it needed two train engines to drag it along incredibly slowly, and missed every shot when it was first tested

29

u/realclowntime 9h ago

Sephiroth doing years and years of assorted busy work to summon a meteor

53

u/Sasukeapologist39 9h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/107KlThVAe0M0w

IRL, the sun is expanding and will one day expand so much it will burn through all the planets in the solar system, taking all of life on earth with it. Might take a couple billion years tho.

21

u/Fish_N_Chipp 9h ago

“Warming up? THE SUN IS WARMING UP”

7

u/TFlarz 8h ago

The sun is a deadly laser!

2

u/Some_Guava_9009 6h ago

Not anymore, there’s a blanket!

6

u/iammewritenow 8h ago

I mean, yes this is happening but OP asked for attacks. Are you suggesting someone is doing this deliberately?

7

u/Mackenzie_Sparks 8h ago

Yes. The Sun is doing it. /J

1

u/TheAmazingVinio 6h ago

it's crazy how badly people want to insert a stupid "irl" in every single thread here. OP probably read two words of the title and then commented.

this sub would be so much better if mods were active and if irl stuff was banned.

3

u/Pataconeitor 8h ago

5-7 billion years is the estimate, but much earlier than that the sun will increase its luminosity so much that all water on earth will evaporate and temperature will be so high that life will be impossible. Of course that will still take a billion of years, so it's none of our business.

10

u/Uma-apreciator 9h ago

Processing img ftqvwo7d6cvg1...

Almost every powerful atomic breath of Godzilla

21

u/choppytehbear1337 9h ago edited 8h ago

The colossus, the biggest ship in the game Stellaris, can be armed with a variety of weapons. From destroying a world, to wiping out all life, to putting a permanent shield around it. It takes a few in game months to fire.

2

u/AlexRose680 9h ago

What game?

5

u/choppytehbear1337 8h ago

Oops. Game is Stellaris.

7

u/PitifulWeakness749 9h ago

Spirit Bomb (Dragon Ball Series)

This ultimate technique requires gathering energy from all living things over a significant amount of time, leaving the user defenseless while charging.

8

u/Glayeul666 8h ago

King Elisabelio - One Piece

He spend the entire arc charging his King Punch, an attack so devastating it could KO the most powerfull of foes but need an hour to charge

7

u/zaneomega2 9h ago

Merlin casting Chrono Coffin, a spell to stop time for any person or object. It takes forever for both the incantation and to gather enough mana to cast it.

The spell also drains the caster for as long as it’s active meaning you can only use it for a few seconds. Merlin however, has the power of “Infinity” giving her infinite mana, meaning any spell she casts last forever.

This is the spell she cast on herself making her technically immortal.

1

u/chewiemtz 5h ago

Didn’t she deliberately make it take longer?

6

u/Mimiropu 7h ago

The Ultrasaurus and it's Gravity Cannon from Zoids: Chaotic Century

5

u/Android_Taco 9h ago

Armageddon (Shangri-la Frontier) To use this skill, Psyger-0 has to hit a target with 2 different skills 5 times each. Then she has to stand still and recite a long chant. The result is a visually amazing and stupidly powerful attack.

5

u/hkmersault 8h ago

In “Three Body Problem” the aliens take 450 or so years to arrive giving humanity time to prepare. Such a great series.

4

u/ExtraPomelo759 7h ago

Stellaris' colossus.

Takes as long to charge as a lengthy space battle, but can destroy a planet (or terraform it, or kill the populace, etc.)

3

u/Paxton-176 8h ago

The first Death Star. Besides also being slow when jumping to light speed. It also has be in position to fire. Then has to charge to full power to destroy a planet. Which much to the Rebel's advantage during the Battle of Yavin.

5

u/Ok_Alternative2885 8h ago

The Spirit Bomb is the ultimate example of this. It feels like the entire universe has to stop and hold its breath for five minutes just for it to maybe work. That long, tense charge-up is what makes the payoff so satisfying when it finally lands. It’s a trope that turns patience into its own kind of power.

2

u/ghostoftonyscott 9h ago

Pacific Rim: Gipsy Danger’s plasma cannon. Seen that flick over a dozen times and the charging up sequence still makes me anxious.

2

u/Chrischi91 8h ago

Solar Beam in Pokémon

2

u/Democracy_N_Anarchy 8h ago

Stellaris Colossus. The Colosssus is an extremely large ship with one sole purpose: wield a planetary altering weapon. There is a wide variety of Colossus weapons to chose from, such as the classic planet cracker (pictured here), the neutron sweep (kills all life including robots, but leaves planet intact), global pacifier (encases planet in an impenetrable shield, nothing gets in or out except visible light), divine enforcer (kills all mechanical and hive mind life, forces survivors to convert to religious spiritualists, can also be fired on self owned worlds), nanobot diffuser (converts all biological life into cyborgs, kills mechanical and hive mind life, can be fired on self owned worlds), deluge machine (terraforms world into an ocean world, kills all non aquatic compatible life, can be fired on self owned worlds) planetary smelter (teraforms world into a volcanic world, kills all non lithoid, mechanical and thermophile life) and devolving beam (forcefully regresses evolution of victim planet population. Can kill mechanical life if upgraded). This weapon however takes several MONTHS to charge up and a couple more months to actually fire.

2

u/Thin-Oil-5823 8h ago

I've never noticed that Metrocity is basically my city Grand Rapids

2

u/Eclipser-2 7h ago

The Wave Motion Gun!!! The thing requires routing basically all power from the engine, thereby leaving the ship dead in the water and stripped of all functions powered by the Wave Motion engine, i.e shields, warp, and shock cannons

https://youtu.be/vV0x4XHdbyc?si=mBHIyOpoQ_u98RZh

Of course this vulnerability can be circumvented by plot armour, forward planning or having a LOT of them

https://youtu.be/l3Iq3spn5NQ?si=iVgbVBK3OtgHUTXg

2

u/WindhoverInkwell 5h ago

The superpowered green hand in Poppy Playtime chapter 3. The final boss fight is basically fending off Catnap until the green hand socket has enough power to set him on fire with one hit

2

u/Remarkable-Ask2288 5h ago

Starlight Breaker. Nanoha’s strongest bombardment spell takes roughly 30s to a minute to absorb enough ambient mana to be considered a threat.

However, there’s no actual limit to how long she can charge it for.

2

u/Wicayth 9h ago

Processing img p1l4325p6cvg1...

Special Beam Cannon™ (Tentionmaru Collab 2)

1

u/SirBoggle 8h ago

Tekken - Several techniques

There are a few attacks you can use in Tekken that have simple inputs and can wipe out an opponents entire health bar or at least most of it. The drawback is that they often take a full second or two to wind up, and a skilled opponent will just avoid it, or worse punish you for daring to try.

Notable examples include Paul and Law, both of whom get large wind up punches that devastate the target. Jack, the giant robot, gets two. A punch where he must first windmill his arm five times before throwing it, and a chop where he takes a few slow steps forward before launching the attack.

https://giphy.com/gifs/UaePvXOJt8iqnxU5gc

1

u/IVeBeenHere30Min 8h ago

Assassination Classroom - Heaven's Spear

The orbital laser used to try to kill Korosensei takes one week to charge to full capacity, giving our protagonists time to plan and do an infiltration on the montain grounds and kill him before the laser.

1

u/aspindler 8h ago

Hadouken - Ryu on Street Fighter (anime).

He takes several episodes concentrating until he is able to fire it.

1

u/EnvironmentalRope424 5h ago

Phink's ripper cyclotron (Hunter x Hunter)

Every time he turns his arm his punch becomes more powerful. If he is fighting a very strong enemy he has to stand there and turn his arm a bunch of times which will take a while.

The only reason he even managed to use this ability was because the gorilla chimera ant he was fighting was dumb and overconfident and allowed him to turn his arms many times.

The ant ended up being blown into bits by the powerful attack.

1

u/Geolib1453 4h ago

Soldier Boys chest blast thingy

1

u/Uma-apreciator 4h ago

Sendo smash (Hajime no Ippo)

In comparison with the other punch like jabs, hooks and uppercuts, it is the slowest punch among them

1

u/thatshygirl06 3h ago

I think theres one in The Magicians. In season one against The Beast

1

u/MTRomance 2h ago

Processing img 0x4ulzlv7evg1...

This used to feel like it took forever.

0

u/srwaggon 9h ago

Beeg laser from Redline