Disability Immunity: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This is a subtrope of [[Disability Superpower]] where, rather than a character's disability giving them an actual power, it instead renders them immune to some sort of attack, trap, or ploy that would otherwise be effective against them.

See also: [[Disability Superpower]] (for when this grants other abilities to compensate), [[Too Kinky to Torture]], [[Too Dumb to Fool]], [[Insanity Immunity]] (which fall under the "frame of mind" variation), and [[Kryptonite Factor]] (for the opposite; someone being ''more'' vulnerable to something to balance out their power). See also [[One Curse Limit]], when being affected by one thing prevents immunity to being affected by ''anything'' else. [[The Hard Hat]] is when a steel plate left in the skull from surgery makes someone immune to [[Mind Rape]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[Bleach]]'', {{spoiler|Aizen's}} shikai only affects those who see it. Being blind, Tosen is immune to it, as well. {{spoiler|He is, however, already on Aizen's side.}}

* In ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', Shiryu blinds himself to fight Algol's [[Taken for Granite]] powers. This even enables him later on to avoid being fooled by Gemini's illusion of an empty suit of armor, preventing Seiya from striking the illusion (Hyoga was not so lucky), and actually sensing the temple exit where Seiya would only see a suit of armor and a wall behind it. Bonus points for the [[Big Bad]] pointing out that he should have known Shiryu would be immune, though it doesn't matter. Cue [[Evil Laugh]].

** Later on, the nigh-invincible God Warrior Siegfried was beset by the hypnotic flute of Siren Sorento. He gouged out his own eardrums...but it was revealed that Sorento's music [[Subverted Trope|pierced the victim's brain directly, and it was impossible for Siegfried to defend himself from it]].

* ''[[One Piece]]''. Usopp is unaffected by Perona's negative hollow because he already has self-esteem issues.

* On one episode of ''[[Inuyasha]]'', they travel along with a miko that doesn't have real powers, later when they encounter a monster with a high Spiritual Energy Level, they all are affected by its pressure, everyone except the powerless miko.

* There was a bizarre issue of ''[[Blackhawk]]'' back in the '60s or '70s in which the villain had incapacitated five members of the Squadron, one by one, with weapons that attacked a different sense each time. Blinding, deafening, a ghastly odor that left the poor guy unable to smell anything ''else'', something the victim described as tasting like "chewing on a dynamo," and a numbing drug that wiped out the man's sense of touch. But then, the next time he faced them, [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|the previous attack had immunized one team member against each of his new attacks]], and like a relay race, they passed on the necessary tools and [[Determinator|got ever closer, until they'd defeated him]].

 

* ''[[Signs]]'' - [[Mel Gibson]]'s son has asthma, and an asthma attack prevented him from breathing in the aliens' poisonous fumes.

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' - Po is [[The Chosen One]] not just because [[Time to Unlock More True Potential|he has a LOT of potential]], but because he is [[Big Fun|just too fat]] to be affected by Tai Lung's [[Pressure Point]] attacks.

** Only bald Luthor and blind Mia can pull off [http://www.unintentionallypretentious.com/index.asp?c=94 these costumes]

** In one [[Halloween Episode]], she's also immune to the effects of the Necronomicon.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* In ''[[Gargoyles]]'', Demona's spell to [[Turned to Stone|turn everyone in Manhattan to stone]] only affected people who both saw and heard her cast it. Jeffrey Robbins, a [[Blind Black Guy]], heard her spell on TV but was immune.

* One episode of the ''[[Mega Man (animation)|Mega Man]]'' animated series featured a deaf little girl who was immune to Dr. Wily's sonic form of mind control.

** And in [[The Movie]], Grim is the only one who can claim the [[MacGuffin]] that makes people face their greatest fears, because his greatest fear is having to spend time with Billy and Mandy, which he already has to do anyway.

** Similarly, Homer was immune to a cult's brainwashing because his attention span was so short that he didn't pay attention to it for long enough to work. (After struggling with this for a while, they then manage to brainwash him by singing the theme to the old '60s ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' TV show with the word "Leader" in place of the word "Batman".)

* In one episode of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', the Monarch tries to kill Dr. Venture by [[Journey to the Center of the Mind|going inside his mind]] and unleashing waves of sanity-breaking mental trauma upon him. But, as Dr. Venture explains, he's ''already'' so miserable that nothing the Monarch does can even phase him.

** Another episode had a small bitter man use a machine that lets out a "Curtain of Cruelty" to blanket the entire area of Nowhere and turn all inhabitants cruel so he can be elected mayor. Eustace, already a cruel man to begin with, is completely unfazed by the curtain (in fact he's so cruel that not even Courage's tampering of the machine to create the "Curtain of Kindness" affected him either).

* An episode of ''[[Skunk Fu!]]'' had Baboon use a potion on the monkey ninjas to make them invisible the only one who could see them was the token dumbass Ox, after the others realize this they stop thinking and they can also see them.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Disability Superpower]]

[[Category:Disability Tropes]]

[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]