Action Survivor: Difference between revisions

* Light of foot rather than big and tough (think [[Deadly Dodging]] vs. [[Made of Iron]])

* Generally, he'll suck at fighting and need rescuing, choose flight, or win just by sheer luck and the skin of his teeth.

* "What the fuck is this!" reaction to action, which doesn't stop them from...

* Being amazingly good at [[Indy Ploy|improvising]] and just plain '''surviving''' the movie's action, hence the trope name.

* Nijima of ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple|Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple]]'' has no martial arts training but manages to be the only one who escape Berserker. Also he has excellent information gathering skills.

* Saji Crossroad in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]''

* Saiga of ''[[Speed Grapher]]'' had become a credentialed [[Action Survivor]] by the beginning of the series, as a veteran war photographer. After he becomes [[Badass Abnormal]] he still exhibits every other feature of the trope.

* {{spoiler|Myung Fan Lone}} from ''[[Macross Plus]]''. Here we have a person whose life has been almost 100% CRAP ever since years ago, completely helpless as {{spoiler|[[Mailer Daemon]] Sharon Apple has staged everything to give Isamu the thrill of death}}... and suddenly something snaps inside of {{spoiler|her}}. The next scenes have {{spoiler|her}} escaping from {{spoiler|her}} prison and using {{spoiler|her}} smarts and quick thinking to stop {{spoiler|Sharon}}.

 

 

* Sam Flynn in ''[[Tron: Legacy]]''. He's not [[Lightning Bruiser|wicked agile]] like [[The Dragon|Rinzler]]. He's not [[Nigh Invulnerability|nearly invincible]] like [[Big Bad|Clu]]. He's not a [[Physical God|demiurge]] like his father.

{{quote|'''Sam Flynn''': I'm a User... [[Indy Ploy|I'll improvise.]]}}

* Joan Wilder in ''[[Romancing the Stone]]'' is a classic case. Starting out as a romance novelist who barely leaves her dowdy apartment, she ventures off to aid her sister and becomes . . . a romance novelist who lives her plot lines.

* The eponymous ''[[Mystery Team]]''.

* ''[[Deception Point]]'' - Rachel Sexton, Michael Tolland and Corky Marlinson, a data analyst and two civilian scientists find themselves on the run from military black ops assassins.

* Pretty much every one of [[Tom Holt]]'s heroes, but especially Paul Carpenter from the J.W. Wells trilogy {{spoiler|halfway through book two, he turns out to be [[The Chosen One]]}} - it doesn't really help at all.

* Robin Goodfellow from the ''[[Cal Leandros]]'' series. Though loyal to Cal and Niko, he would rather not go into battle if not required. And centuries of running from the angry fathers of his girlfriends... and boyfriends... has made him very fleet of foot.

* [[The Pendragon Adventure|Bobby Pendragon]] fits this trope to a T until he [[Took a Level In Badass|takes a level in Badass]].

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' - A fair number of The Doctor's many companions can be characterised as Action Survivors, normal folk catapulted into the Doctor's dangerous life.

** It caused Rose, Jackie, Martha, Mickey and Captain Jack (who was a combo of [[Cowardly Lion]] and [[Lover Not a Fighter]] when he met the Doctor), to take ''serious'' [[Took a Level in Badass|levels in Badass]]. Captain Jack is an Immortal [[Action Hero]], like a James Bond for the 51st century, Martha and Mickey are freelance Alien hunters and Rose and Jackie were last seen wielding a [[BFG]] each.

** This also goes for most members of Torchwood, particularly Gwen and Tosh (Owen mainly [[Took a Level in Jerkass]], but when you know his back story, he goes to extreme [[Jerkass Woobie]] territory, and he is pretty badass). Both are at first shell shocked at the sight of gunfire. Then they...learn to cope with it.

* ''[[Smallville]]'' gave their version of [[Lex Luthor]] this as an actual "superpower" caused by his exposure to kryptonite when he was younger.

* [[Final Fantasy X|Tidus]] prior to coming to Spira never wielded a sword in his life, [[Instant Expert|but he picks up on it very quickly]] and is able to cultivate a highly effective fighting style based on the [[Lightning Bruiser|high speed]] he has from his career of as a professional Blitzball player.

** It's inferred that he might have received training from his father beforehand since it was a 'gift from Jecht.'

* [[Alan Wake]] is a horror writer who spends most of the game dressed in a tweed jacket, possesses relatively unimpressive athletic abilities, and is better suited to run from his enemies than to stand and fight. That said, he manages to pull through thanks to his wits, his [[Genre Savvy]] nature (thanks to being a writer), and his superior survival instincts.

* The City Elf Warden in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' has limited weapons training, no combat experience, and has never seen a darkspawn before. He/she picks it up rather quickly.

* Fiona in ''[[Haunting Ground]]'', an 18-year old art student who wakes up in a castle after a car accident that claimed both her parents. Despite having [[Canine Companion|Hewie]] and [[Mysterious Informant|Lorenzo]] to aid her in her escape and numerous weapons scattered throughout, there are times when she has to use her wits to get out of sticky situations (pushing a bookshelf atop of [[And Call Him George|Debilitas]] and {{spoiler|crushing him with a chandelier}}, and tossing a jar of sulfuric acid at either [[Creepy Housekeeper|Daniella]] or [[Stalker with a Crush|Riccardo]].

* ''[[Resident Evil]]'' occasionally dips into this trope. The most obvious examples come from the ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak|Outbreak]]'' subseries, which star perfectly average citizens of Raccoon City. Claire Redfield during the events of ''[[Resident Evil 2|2]]'' counts, since she's merely a college student with some general self-defense training from her brother Chris at that point.

* The Player is this in ''[[Dark Souls]]'' compared to other characters from action games. You'll grow more powerful over time, but combat revolves around being defensive, and blocking and dodging rather than just annihilating opponents.

 

* The titular character of ''[[Chapel]]'' is one of the rare female versions of this trope. She's a drug dealer who rarely wins, but usually, of course, survives. So far.

* The Pelvanida scientists from the first ''[[Darwin's Soldiers|Darwins Soldiers]]'' RP proved themselves to be this trope just by surviving. After that, they turned more into [[Action Hero|action heroes]].

* The main cast from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' with the possible exception of Sarge. Sure, they're technically soldiers, but half of them shouldn't be anywhere near a battle with their lousy excuse for combat skills, and they're regularly up against individuals who eat squads of real soldiers twice their size for breakfast. Yet, they keep surviving. Mostly.

* The protagonists of [[Sevenshot Kid]] fit this thanks to surviving multiple encounters with the supernatural.