Minor Injury Overreaction: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In dramatic settings, no matter how much punishment a villain takes all that seems to really get them [[Berserk Button|riled up]] is [[It's All About Me|deliberate albeit minor injury]], especially across their face. Extremely potent with [[It's All About Me|egotists]], this tends to send the [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] and [[The Fighting Narcissist]] into a foaming rage. Can also occur with characters who are [[Nigh Invulnerable]], where the overreaction is due to the fact that even inflicting a minor injury on the character is supposed to impossible; it might even be the first time that character has ''ever'' been injured.

 

== Anime ==

{{quote| '''[[Dragon Ball Abridged|Nappa:]]''' Aaaagh! No! My face! ''My precious modelling career''!}}

** Surprisingly averted with Broly, after Goku kicks him in the jaw hard enough to draw blood. Broly barely reacts, even ''smirking'', and licks off the wound. In fact, the one who overreacted was Goku.

* In the ''[[Record of Lodoss War]]'' [[OVA]], Ashram -- who has gone through an entire battle untouched due to his skills -- gets very angry when Parn manages to scratch his cheek with his sword.

* In the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Pierrot Le Fou", Tongpu is an [[Psychopathic Manchild|insane super soldier]] who's [[Immune to Bullets]]. When someone manages to injure him for what's probably the first time since he snapped, he's so shocked from experiencing pain that he breaks down crying. Because he has the mind of a child, he reacts like a child would.

** Let's not forget Bakura's infamous "Check his pulse!" line in the dub.

** Of course some times it's a psychological impact (Kaiba's disks were designed for that effect in the anime) and other times damage to life points rips part of your soul out.

** And other times the common hologram is so realistic that it ''can'' cause heart attacks(see Yugi's grandfather, who was hospitalized after losing a duel).

* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' has two notable characters like this -- the fat man, Mr. Heart, is almost invulnerable to most attacks, but the mere slight of his own blood changes him from genial and polite into a bloodthirsty psychopath. Juda, a Red Haired Pretty Boy, similarly goes berserk when his face gets some minor cuts.

* Schoen of ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' is an incredibly vain former model. She takes Ken trying to kill her in stride, right up until he scratches her cheek. She spends the rest of the series trying to kill him for it - though, since she was trying to do that anyway, Ken doesn't really notice the difference.

* Played humourously in ''[[Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge]]'', where Kyohei is the one whose face gets scratched but ''Sunako'' is the one who takes offense.

* [[Eagle Land|Merika]] from ''Afghanhis-tan'', a one volume manga based on the modern history of Afghanistan, went batshit on Afghanistan after a cat bit her hand. If you didn't notice, this was their depiction of 9/11.

* In ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' there's Yzak Joule, who takes HUGE issue with a big scar on his face given to him by Kira Yamato, during a battle in which shrapnel broke his visor. This in a setting where scar tissue can be easily fixed by cell regeneration technology, but he keeps it as memento of being harmed. {{spoiler|Subverted later, when he drops his grudge after getting some [[Character Development]] and gets it healed eventually.}} The injury though not life threatening was a ''very'' painful one.

* For a guy who has literally gone to Hell and back and has the scars to prove it, Guts from ''[[Berserk]]'' can't even stand being ''poked'' with [[Afraid of Needles|pointy edges]] (like the ink quill that Schrieke uses to etch the seals over his brand, [[Achey Scars|that burns like hell]] [[Allergic to Evil|whenever he's close to demons]] by the way) let alone being sewn up with needles after a huge battle. Not even when [[Love Interest|Casca]] is doing the sewing.

** From a not-very-nice character, Guts' adoptive father, Gambino, got extremely pissed off when little Guts managed to cut him across the cheek while he was training him as a child. Gambino reacted by ''slashing Guts across the bridge of his nose'' incapacitating the kid for quite awhile. [[Scars Are Forever|The resulting scar never healed.]]

== Comic Books ==

* Subverted in ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'': Johnny explodes regularly; when even slightly insulted he starts to scream and rant ([[Ax Crazy|and kill people]]) injuries don't interest him much.

* In the [[Silver Age]] [[Superman|Superboy]] storyline, Lex's resentment towards Superboy had been building for some time, but he didn't become Superboy's archnemesis until the accident that gave him his trademark baldness (which he blamed on Superboy). A later [[Retcon]] would give Lex better motivations.

* [[Doctor Doom]] was ''going'' to be a case of this at one stage of development, the 'horrible disfigurement' that led him to wear a mask at all times truly being a tiny scar. Doom saw it as worse than it was due to his ego; the slightest marring of his perfect features mean this face was [[Ruined FOREVER]]. However, there was nothing they could do about the many people who recoiled in horror from the times his face was shown, typically saying they'd heard it was bad but ''this'' was much ''worse,'' so nothing came of it.

 

== Fan Works ==

 

 

* ''[[How to Train Your Dragon]]'': Tuffnut reacts this way to a very small dragon biting his nose.

{{quote| "Oh, I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!"}}

 

 

== Film -- Live Action ==

* In more ways than one, this Trope is a driving force behind the events of ''[[Death Becomes Her]]''. Helen Sharp's childhood "friend" Madeline Ashton is always ruining Helen's serious relationships by stealing her boyfriends, {{spoiler|including Helen's fiance near the film's beginning}}, even though Madeline herself has no feelings for them. This prompts Helen to {{spoiler|hatch an elaborate plot to KILL Madeline, a goal she is still pursuing obsessively fourteen years later}}. As extreme as THAT may seem, it somehow manages to pale in comparison to Madeline's amazingly petty motive for repeatedly hurting Helen (arguably ruining her life multiple times) in the first place: {{spoiler|Helen thought Madeline was cheap, and by all indications merely in the sense of not being classy... BACK WHEN THEY WERE SCHOOLGIRLS!!!}}

* ''[[The Blues Brothers]]'': "They broke my watch!"

* In the B-Movie "[[The Horror of Party Beach]]", the lead female Elaine, SCRATCHES HER LEG ON A ROCK, and begins moaning loudly in pain. Well, she moans, anyway; she doesn't moan like she's in pain.

* ''[[Dodgeball]]'': "Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!"

* During the raid on Mathilda's home in ''[[The Professional]],'' Mathilda's father manages to shoot [[Psycho for Hire|Norman Stansfield]] in the shoulder. Stansfield is pretty subdued about this until he has the time to notice the damage done to his suit, whereupon he follows the injured suspect through the apartment, shooting him in the back. He does this until he's out of ammunition... and then ''starts to reload so he can continue shooting the guy's corpse.''

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Gordon Korman]]'s ''The Zucchini Warriors'', one of the [[Macdonald Hall]] football players (who has ironically given himself the nickname The Beast) gets a bruised elbow. He then insists that it's actually a compound fracture and walks around with his arm in a sling for nine weeks.

* In [[Robert Munch]]'s children's book ''Zoom!'', the main character's older brother pricks himself with a fork, causing a small amount of blood to come out, and everyone freaks out and takes him to the hospital. [[Played for Laughs]], of course.

* In ''[[Chuck]]'', the title character is dodging bullets on a regular basis, and actually sees many people get shot, but when pretending to be a doctor and kidnapped by the bad guys, he is accidentally cut in the hand with a scalpel and immediately freaks out and starts babbling about how he gets woozy at the sight of blood. Needless to say, the baddie is not amused. At least, not until they both inhale an almost lethal amount of Nitris Oxide, and start laughing about how they're both about to die. This is sort of reversed when Chuck ends up hurting his leg when a windowsill closes on it. He tells everyone that it is only sprained, but later learns that it is actually a hairline fracture. He openly objects to having it treated at first, and later expresses unhappiness at having to wear a cast.

* The short-lived sketch show ''Fridays'' had a sketch in which guest star [[William Shatner]] played a man at a disco who overreacted to minor pain. When his dance partner (played by cast member Brandis Kemp) accidentally steps on his foot, Shatner's character reacts so violently that he tosses Kemp onto the ground and accidentally exposes her butt [[Thong of Shielding|clad only in thong underwear]] (when the episode that had that sketch reran, the shot of Kemp on the ground with her thong exposed was cut).

* Deliberately invoked by Klinger in the ''[[MASH]]'' episode "It Happened One Night." Klinger is accidentally shot by a nervous private who isn't used to night sentry duty. The resulting superficial graze wound prompts Hawkeye to say, "Could you at least bleed?" while examining him. Since Klinger is constantly trying to get discharged from the Army, he acts like he's just received a mortal wound and starts swooning all over the place and describing visions of his deceased relatives. Naturally, nobody buys it.

 

* A lot of the finishers are essentially sold to the crowd by doing this. The Stone Cold Stunner is a notable example (as is the hilarious way The Rock always flopped across the ring after receiving one).

* Almost anytime someone uses a grapple in pro wrestling, it's this. Grapples are usually applied lightly without using too much pressure, while the other wrestler screams and writhes as if it's agonizing. It's done for the [[Kayfabe]].

 

== Video Games ==

* The primary tactic involved in fighting ''[[Punch Out|Super Punch-Out!!]]'' opponent Narcis Prince is first hitting him in the face, which enrages him and causes him to use a series of attacks that can be easily countered.

* The vain antagonist Vega from the ''[[Street Fighter]]'' series is so afraid of this happening to him that he wears a protective mask in the ring (the mask is shown shattered in his loss scenes). This becomes a plot point in ''Street Fighter The Animated Movie'' where the only thing that really saves Chun-Li is a good set of injuries to Vega's face that send him into a [[Berserk Button|berserker rage]] she can counter.

* In the introductory video to ''[[Sid Meiers Pirates]] Live the Life'', the evil captain's slapping of the main character is what sets off mutiny. Of course, it's previously established that he's a complete bastard to his crew, so that was probably a Last Straw moment as much as anything else.

* Subverted with Kuja in ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]''. When {{spoiler|Queen Brahne}} summons Bahamut to blow him to atoms, Kuja simply steps protectively in front of his dragon and takes [[No One Could Survive That|the full blast]]. He is smirkingly uninjured, until a trickle of blood runs down his forehead, causing him to react in shock for a moment... then immediately sing the praises of the powerful summon monster.

* In ''[[Starcraft II]]'', one of the Battlecruiser unit's off-screen, "I'm-under-fire"-voice alerts is "Abandon ship!", regardless of whether it is under attack by an enemy fleet of capital ships or a single, puny marine. Especially hilarious seeing as how the Battlecruiser is the Terran paramount of military power.

* Dwarves in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' will stay bedridden for years over broken toes or bruised fingers. This leads many players to design their hospitals to include magma-powered euthanasia devices.

* In [[Wild Arms 2|Wild Arms: Second Ignition]], after you fight Judecca in his Devil Spire, he notes that he's bleeding and [[Driven to Suicide|shoots himself]].

 

* ''Starcross'd Destiny'' has Juno warning the cops not to scratch or dent her Shelby Daytona, or else...

* Hannelore from ''[[Questionable Content]]'' once [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1207 ran down Main Street screaming terror because of a small cut on her head]. [[Justified Trope]], since she suffers from [[Super OCD]]. Blood is awful to wash off.

* [[Three Word Phrase]]: [http://threewordphrase.com/deathzone.htm Chapped lips while mountain climbing?] [[Cut the Safety Rope|Something must be done!]]

 

* Captain Hammer from ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'' has a massive freak out and runs away screaming for his mother after suffering what appeared to be a fairly minor injury. [[Justified Trope|Justified]], since it is apparently the first time in his life that he's ever actually felt pain.

* In ''[[Awesome Series|PokeAwesome - Just a Pokemon Battle]]'', [[Pokémon|Ash's Pikachu]] is hit by a Solar Beam, causing him to hurt his knee. Half of the short is just Pikachu cussing out his opponent and Ash in his anger. This happening after [[Hypocritical Humor|whaling on a Venusaur with his "Thunder Smash."]]

* ''[[What the Fuck Is Wrong With You|"You shot me in the dick!"]]'' (It was a Nerf dart.)

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* Spoofed in ''[[Drawn Together]]'' when Xandir, while trying to escape from a [[Terminator]] spoof, sprains his ankle, acting as if it were life threatening (despite the fact that over the course of the show Xandir has suffered some of the worst injuries to any of the main characters).

** Subverted in the episode "Orphan Hero", when Captain Hero during his childhood montage, falls off of his bike and scrapes his leg. When he reveals his scrape, it turns out that a large section of his leg is missing, [[Major Injury Underreaction|but his mother treat it as a minor injury anyway]].

* ''[[Hulk vs. Wolverine]]'' has Deadpool trying to stop Hulk by sticking a grenade in Hulk's mouth. This naturally fails, Hulk being [[Nigh Invulnerable]] and having a [[Healing Factor]], and makes him angrier than before. This is a minor injury because earlier Hulk was stabbed and slashed by Wolverine in several vital areas, and actually screamed in pain, despite the [[Healing Factor]]. The overreaction is justified because, well it's the friggin' ''[[Unstoppable Rage|Hulk]]''.

* An episode of ''[[Nightmare Ned]]'' revealed that Ned panicked every time he lost one of his baby teeth, despite his parents' reassurances.

{{quote| '''Eddy:''' ''(after the kids ambush them for quarters)'' Double D! Tell me you saved some! Tell me we're okay!! <br />

'''Edd:''' Eddy! It was ''horrible'' Eddy! LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO MY SHIRT!! }}