Afraid of Needles: Difference between revisions

For some reason, the [[Fatal Flaw]] of many a [[Badass]] is fear of hypodermic needles and antiseptics. [[Never Bring a Knife to A Fist Fight|Not knives]], [[BFG|not absurdly large guns]], not even ''[[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|Snakes!]]'' There's just something deliciously ironic about a [[Big Damn Heroes]] who routinely gets [[Minor Injury Overreaction|cut up]] with [[BFS|huge knives]], [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|beat to]] [[One-Hit-Point Wonder|within an inch of his life and without giving up]], becoming squirmy and panicky when his [[Love Interests|lady friend]] comes over with a simple syringe and [[After-Action Patchup|sanitary cotton to clean his wounds]]. It seems most any non-battle pain can cripple this dude. It's certainly a "clever" way to bring a [[Badass Longcoat]] into a less [[Marty Stu]]-ish territory, and is a very humanizing flaw to have. In extreme cases, expect fainting -- even if the needle isn't going into ''him!''

* ''[[Rose of Versailles]]'': Oscar -- a woman who regularly gets into bar fights, duels, etc., and who towards the end happily {{spoiler|storms the Bastille whilst suffering from terminal tuberculosis}} - bursts into floods of tears after ''scratching her hand on a broken violin string''.

* A creepy example is ''[[Cowboy Bebop]] 's'' Pierrot Le Fou, an insanely violent assassin who is impervious to guns - and yet, when he gets hit with a small knife, he starts bawling his eyes out. This event reveals his [[Psychopathic Manchild|true nature]]. The stab was bad enough to fully justify his collapsing and screaming. Flailing around and calling for mommy, not so much.<br /><br />His suit deflected bullets flying at him before they could even touch him, which probably meant he doesn't feel any pain from them at all. The knife actually penetrated the force field, which meant it really did hurt, and was possibly the first instance of pain he's felt since his 'conditioning'. More of a fear of pain, then a fear of needles.

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'': In one episode, Ranma crash-lands in front of the Cat Cafe after another [[Megaton Punch|trip to sub-orbit]], and a kindly wandering salesman, who had originally intended to sell to the Amazons (currently out on business) tends to his scrapes with disinfectant. This leads to the [[Made of Iron]] martial artist hissing and wincing in pain, leading to the page quote. Somewhat disconcerting, given the sort of abuse Ranma has stoically endured in the series--and while he has complained at medical treatment before, that's been due to the treatment itself being painful (Tofu brutally snapping Ranma's joints back into place and proper rotation, being burned with the counter-moxibustion, etc).