My Defense Need Not Protect Me Forever: Difference between revisions

For the hero reveals that he didn't need his defensive measures to cover him forever; he just needed the given time to set up what was needed to defeat the villain.

{{examples}}

== [[Card Games]] ==

== [[Film]] ==

* This gradually becomes the strategy of the entire British army in ''[[Waterloo]]''. Hold off the French army just long enough for their Prussian allies to join them and then overwhelm the French. Despite the fact that the French look set to gradually wear out the English, it finally works.

* Pretty much a staple in any [[Star Trek]] film: The Enterprise's shields will be as useless as wet tissue, and yet the crew still finds a way to come out on top (Heat-seeking torpedoes, self destruct mechanisms, turning the enemy's own weapons against them...)

* In ''[[Real Steel]]'', [[Lightning Bruiser|Atom]] can take ''a lot'' more damage than an average fighting bot thanks to him being built specifically for sparring, but even his endurance is taxed during his prize fight with Zeus, whose fights never last more than 1 round. When Zeus once again starts pounding Atom relentlessly, Charlie just does his best to keep Atom's vital areas covered from the worst of it without hitting back. Eventually, just as Atom's endurance is about to give out, {{spoiler|Zeus drains most of his batteries}}, allowing Atom to take the initiative. Rope-a-dope, Rockem-Sockem-Robots style.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Most defend or hold-the-line missions in [[RTS]] is this, seeing as the usual result is either a counterattack or a straight-up victory.

** Several timed missions in that series and in ''[[Starcraft]]'' involve stalling until help arrives or a devastating attack can be prepared.

*** However, in one of the early missions, if you build up enough defenses, they really can protect you forever.

* A strategy sometimes used in [[RPG|RPGs]], where certain powerful abilities need time to charge and others protect you for a limited period of time. By combining them, one can protect oneself from harm while charging the powerful attack that will defeat the enemy swiftly and surely. Alternately, the shield protects against a single attack, and then breaks. You can use it against a once-off instant death spell or similar lethal attack. A final method is to get hurt by a weak attack, then (ab)use the resulting [[Mercy Invincibility]] to walk through attacks or obstacles that would otherwise have killed you. Once passed, they have no chance to hurt you again.

** Many speedrunners save their protective measures for such occasions, where speed is more important than killing all the enemies.

* ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' has a villainous version of this with {{spoiler|Alexei, who was somehow still entering commands into a blastia while fighting you.}}

* Most Tank-type characters in [[City of Heroes]] have a power that gives them a lot of bonuses and power, but only for a few minutes, after which you'll be drained of endurance and/or other abilities. The reasoning is this very trope: You need those extra defenses just for a minute or so, after that it won't matter.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In ''[[Justice League]]'', Kalibak was fighting Batman and used this line, but Batman revealed that he was just stalling for Superman. When Supes arrived, he [[Punched Across the Room|punched Kalibak across the block]] and said, "For what it's worth, I don't think you could have taken Batman either."

* The plot of an episode of ''[[Gargoyles]]''. Hudson and Goliath are facing an [[Ax Crazy]], laser canon-wielding Demona, and big guy Goliath has been taken down. [[Badass Grandpa|Hudson]] protects Goliath, and Demona doesn't catch up to them until dawn; at which point all three turn to stone, and Demona has to face a fresh Goliath when the sun goes down.

== [[Real Life]] ==