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Badass in Distress: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:bman_9383.png|link=Batman:
<small>[[caption-width-right:249:You'll never believe who rescues him.<ref> [[This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman|Aquaman?]]</ref></small>
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[[The Lancer]] is often subject to this, because aside from being the most likely candidate for [[Badass|Badassery]], they're often hit with [[An Aesop]] about [[The Power of Friendship]]. Having butted heads with the hero once too often and [[Ineffectual Loner|stormed off to work on their own]], they fail spectacularly and have to be rescued by [[The Hero]], after which the Aesop has been taught and they can resume kicking ass.
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
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** Also {{spoiler|Maka Albarn}}, during the Envy and Sloth chapters of the same book.
* Kallen Stadtfeld from ''[[Code Geass]]'' was captured at one point in the second season and her time in captivity was used for some [[Character Development]]. But once she got out of captivity... she killed [[Psycho for Hire|Luciano Bradley]] and made it clear who the motherfucking [[Action Girl]] of the series is.
** Heck, even when she was a prisoner, she remained quite rebellious. [http://img4.gelbooru.com//images/303/bfb846d8031980aa03628950d7d804331ca8d635.gif Punching the fuck outta Suzaku] while wearing a [[Pimped
* Mewtwo in ''[[Pokémon Mewtwo Returns]].'' He spent the first movie being a total badass villain, and never actually being defeated. He has a few badass moments in the sequel, where he fends off Team Rocket. Even when he's captured {{spoiler|due to some Pokemon being held hostage}}, he never gives in, {{spoiler|resisting the pain of the device being used at him nearly at the expense of his life}}. Naturally, Ash and co. are there to save him using the [[Phlebotinum]] of the week. What does he do after being rescued? {{spoiler|He wipes the memory of at least 50 people simultaneously and moves part of a ''mountain'', evacuates his Pokemon telekinetically to various places, and then produces hot air balloons to get the Rocket Trio and Ash and his friends to their destinations}}. He handles the whole thing with a fair amount of angst as per his character, but no pleading, no crying, and no caving in.
* Meow from ''[[Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran]]'' may be a skilled fighter but she does get hit with the [[Distress Ball]] more than a few times, requiring Ran to come to her aid. Once Meow gets free, though, she joins Ran with beating up the bad guys.
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** The entire guild including such powerful guys as Makarov, Mirajane, and Gildarts, when they're sucked into Edolias and turned into an immobile magic source. Only the 3 Dragonslayers (who were immune to the teleportation spell) and Lucy (who was protected by her spirits) managed to stay free. Gray and Erza were later freed halfway through the arc, but the rest of the guild spent the entire arc helpless.
** During the same arc, [[Badass|Natsu]] and Wendy were captured by the king of Edolas and drained of their magic; having been unable to use it in Edolas, they couldn't use their powers to escape and had to be rescued by Lucy, Erza and Gray.
* Ran, Kazuha, Heiji and Kogoro (though in his case it's more like [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]) have caught quite the [[Distress Ball|Distress Balls]] in [[Detective Conan]].
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': The [[One
* [[Action Girl|Moka]] recently got hit with this in ''[[Rosario to Vampire]]''. That only applies to [[Split Personality|Inner Moka]], whereas Outer Moka is a [[Distressed Damsel]].
* Recently in ''[[Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple]]'', {{spoiler|[[Complete Monster|Silcardo]] decides to take [[Cute Bruiser|Miu]] as HIS new Disciple and as a result she got hit with the [[Distress Ball]] HARD. Not only that, but then she was [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] and pit against fighting Kenichi: Silcardo hoped to have Miu mentally broken via killing Kenichi, and thus complete a [[Face Heel Turn]].}} How does this end? {{spoiler|In failure: Kenichi gets to Miu in the end, she returns to her senses, and they take on their enemies together. It wasn't a complete failure though as Silcardo brought up successful traces of a [[Blood Knight]] on her.}}
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== Live-Action TV ==
* Mal, poster man of [[Big Damn Heroes]], has to get rescued from Niska in ''[[Firefly]]''. He was cracking jokes while getting metal pushed under his skin (not to mention all the dying and resuscitation)
** Inverted with River, who started off as a [[Distressed Damsel]] being protected by the rest of the crew. [[Waif Fu|We]] [[Axe Crazy|know]] [[Badass Adorable|how]] [[One
* Sam Carter from ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' is kidnapped in ''Desperate Measures''. She spends much of the episode trying to rescue herself (with escalating badassery), but is eventually saved by the rest of the team. This doesn't diminish her badassness one bit.
** O'Neill also gets his turn at this when he's captured by Ba'al and repeatedly tortured to death over the course of the episode. He continues to crack wise at Ba'al during the process, though he was clearly starting to run out of endurance near the end.
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** Sheppard in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' (as badass as O'Neill) also gets captured by his arch-nemesis Acastus Kolya and tortured by having a captive [[Our Vampires Are Different|Wraith]] continuously drain his life force. Eventually, Sheppard makes a deal with the Wraith, and they break out. The Wraith shows himself to be honorable by returning Sheppard's life force (and more). Also, this Wraith? It's Todd, himself a badass, so this trope works for him too.
* One of the latter episodes of ''[[Dai Sentai Goggle Five]]'' puts [[The Chick|Miki Momozono/Goggle Pink]] into this situation when she's trapped inside a book, tied up and the book containing her is about to be burned. She broke from her bonds on her own, then gets put into a cage, but finally destroyed the source of the book's illusion source, destroying the book and getting out on her own. To some, that episode became quite the fan favorite (for a show at the age) and her [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Willow toward the end of season 3, when she's starting to get her witchiness on. She's captured by [[Big Bad|the Mayor's]] people. She lures a vampire into attacking her so she can kill him. With a ''pencil''. She risks her life further when she goes after the Mayor's dark books and learns what the gang needs to know about [[One
** Other lesser example's include "Helpless" and "Halloween," although the circumstances are extenuating: In Helpless, Buffy is de-powered by the Watcher's Council is forced to play the helpless victim; she's rescued from a vampire mook by Giles in the end. Of course Buffy is still Buffy and holds her own against the deadlier foe. In Halloween, Buffy is transformed into an 18th century damsel and needs constant rescuing and reassurance, but it's not ''really'' Buffy who's helpless.
** There was also the time Faith and "Angelus" captured her. Had Angel actually been Angelus, she would have been five kinds of fucked. [[Foe Yay|Quite]] [[Les Yay|literally.]]
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* Toon Link has a history of this. He may be very badass, but if he acts without thinking or gets hit by a surprise-attack, he's quite easy to take down. Ganondorf gets him almost killed twice in the game {{spoiler|[[Little Miss Badass|Tetra]] saved him both times.}} and later, in ''[[The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass]]'', he loses his sword and gets caught by {{spoiler|Bellum's tentacles.}} Surprisingly, {{spoiler|Linebeck}} saves him.
* Played straight AND subverted in the storyline for ''[[Super Smash Bros]] Brawl'': Multiple times, characters are defeated and captured, ( {{spoiler|including more than two dozen of them at one point}}) and proceed to kick ass after being freed. Subverted in that {{spoiler|the Master Hand was Tabuu's prisoner, but when it attacks Tabuu after being freed, Tabuu defeats and possibly kills the Master Hand effortlessly}}.
* ''[[Fate Stay Night]]''. Saber in the [[Road Cone|Unlimited Blade Works route]] got her contract removed by Caster and was caught, and [[Go
* ''[[Super Princess Peach (Video Game)|Super Princess Peach]]'' is this trope turned into a game. The premise is after all is for the local, daily [[Distressed Damsel]] Princess Peach to save the day, saving the local, daily hero Mario, now turned [[Distressed Dude]]. It only lasts for one game.
** In ''[[Super Mario 64 (Video Game)|Super Mario 64]]'' DS, Mario actually starts out kidnapped by Bowser (along with Luigi and Wario). You start off as Yoshi, who was [[Late to The Party]].
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* Can happen to the player character in ''[[Dragon Age]]''. You don't ''have'' to wait around to be rescued, but some of the funniest cutscenes in the game occur if you do.
** Of course, the more stubborn, proud or simply skilled players will likely never go to that point unless they intentionally lose to [[That One Boss]].
* In ''[[Splinter Cell]] Conviction'', [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?|Victor]] [[Fire
* Zero from ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]]'' is captured by Vile in the first of the fortress levels, and X has to fight the latter to set him free. {{spoiler|It's still a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]], and Zero had to break out of his electric cage to pull a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save X again.}}
* In [[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2 the player character at one point gets captured and put on Goto's yacht, requiring the rest of the team to go and save him/her.
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* Many of the more recent animated ''[[Scooby Doo (Animation)|Scooby Doo]]'' features have upgraded Daphne from the standard [[Distressed Damsel]] of the original and earlier works, following the first live-action movie's portrayal by [[Sarah Michelle Gellar]] of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' fame.
* In ''[[Jonny Quest the Real Adventures (Animation)|Jonny Quest the Real Adventures]]'', [[Memetic Badass]] Race Bannon does wind up captured or otherwise in trouble quite a few times. This is because the creative team meant to empower the kids a bit more [[Tagalong Kid|than they were in]] classic ''[[Jonny Quest (Animation)|Jonny Quest]]''.
* Twilight Sparkle from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' is the main cast's [[Badass Bookworm]] who is also one of the most powerful magic users in the show, but in ''The Stare Master'', she was [[Taken for Granite|turned to stone]] by a [[Feathered Fiend|cockatrice]] which left [[Shrinking Violet|Fluttershy]] to protect the kids she was babysitting and save Twilight.
** Princess Celestia is essentially this in both the series pilot and the Season 2 finale. She's generally acknowledged to be the [[Big Good]] of the series, but is defeated readily enough by Nightmare Moon (implied) and {{spoiler|the queen of the changelings}} (shown on screen), respectively, leaving it to Twilight and friends to deal with the threat. (Not counting Discord here as he's less a personal threat and more a global disaster with a sick sense of humor; everypony is ''equally'' helpless against him until the [[Plot Coupon|plot coupons]] finally come together at the end of "The Return of Harmony".)
* In the first episode of ''[[Young Justice (Animation)|Young Justice]]'', all three of the main heroes at the time (Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin) get captured by Cadmus; it takes Robin approximately two minutes to break them out, [[Determinator|while getting shocked the entire time]].
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