Post-Victory Collapse: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

A character, despite long odds [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|does something awesomely cool]]. Either a [[Heroic Second Wind]], or a [[To the Pain]] that gets the bad guy to leave or give up without a fight, or maybe he jumps into the fray and beats [[The Dragon]] down with his bare hands.

 

 

[[Truth in Television]], to an extent: Adrenaline and other stress hormones can enable people to go for a long time, despite injuries, only to collapse once the danger is passed and the stress wears off.

 

* ''[[Naruto]]'' collapses after hitting Kabuto in the stomach with a Rasengan. Unfortunately for him, Kabuto is not actually unconscious even though he was smashed into a boulder, which ''shattered.''

* ''[[Dragon Ball]]:

* [[Doctor Strange]] more often than not after a major magical feat, with effects ranging from 'minor dizzy spell' to 'full blackout.' Ruefully [[Lampshade]]d once: "I never used to collapse... Now, it seems it's all I do..."

 

* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]]'', this happens to Harry in chapter 6, when he and Professor McGonagall have a showdown.

* In ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]'', Fluttershy defeats Night Raven. Despite being very exhausted and feeling immense pain, Fluttershy doesn't collapse, but remains semi-conscious. She passes out after Firefly congratulates her.

 

* The ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|Lord of the Rings]]''—or the films, at least—have Sam and Frodo, er, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|chilling on a big rock]] after they destroy the One Ring.

* In the Gary Cooper movie ''[[Meet John Doe]]'', romantic interest Ann convinces the title character not to commit suicide. Once he is safe, she promptly faints in his arms.

* ''Napoleon''. The eponymous Napoleon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=-mH6yH_Nc0s#t=452s collapses] after rescuing a wild dog pup from a desert flash flood.

 

* ''[[Harry Potter]]'', all the time.

** The final face-off at the end of book one culminates with the agony in his head reaching such high levels that he loses his sight and all rational function before falling into a three-day coma.

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. Harry Dresden, most of the time. Especially at the end of ''Dead Beat'', when Murphy gets back from vacation to find him bedridden and on an IV, and as such he does not get chewed out for trashing her house. But then, he wouldn't have been able to move ''at all'' {{spoiler|from Cassius's torture session on if Lash hadn't ''taught him'' how to block the pain.}}

* Vimes in ''[[Discworld]]'' novels is exceptionally fond of this.

** [[Never Mess with Granny|Granny Weatherwax]] gets a similar event once. She had to [[Barehanded Blade Block|catch the villain's sword with her bare palm]] to make him surrender - and afterwards there wasn't any cut. However, ''a long time after'', when she had finally travelled back through half a continent to her home (and prepared bandages and water), she allows the cut to finally happen.

* I think there's an example in ''[[Everworld]]'' #7...can't recall much except that it's during a Hetwan-Olympus battle, and April babbles something incoherent before falling over.

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s "Gods of the North", [[Conan the Barbarian]] suffers a touch of this after the fight.

{{quote|''The Cimmerian stood upright, trailing his sword, a sudden sick weariness assailing him. The glare of the sun on the snow cut his eyes like a knife and the sky seemed shrunken and strangely apart. He turned away from the trampled expanse where yellow-bearded warriors lay locked with red-haired slayers in the embrace of death. A few steps he took, and the glare of the snow fields was suddenly dimmed. A rushing wave of blindness engulfed him and he sank down into the snow, supporting himself on one mailed arm, seeking to shake the blindness out of his eyes as a lion might shake his mane.''}}

** Meridoc and Eowyn collapse, after defeating the Witch King.

** Sam collapses, after stabbing and driving off Shelob.

* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[Freckles]]'', Freckles fights Wessner and then argues with McLean about finishing his round, before he collapses.

 

* In the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Out of Gas," Mal gets shot in the stomach, and then proceeds to run off his attackers, stumble to the infirmary, shoot himself in the heart with a tube of liquid adrenaline, stumble up into the engine room, repair the ship's core, and then stumble all the way to the bridge to activate the recall beacon to bring the rest of the crew back....and collapses, after showing just how hardcore he ''really'' is.

** And the fact that he collapses JUST short of reaching the recall button does nothing to diminish his badassery in that episode. However, it may not fit this trope, as he passes out before completing the task, not after.

** In the same episode, Crichton has to rescue Rygel from a gang of kidnappers while wearing a [[Arm Cannon|gauntlet weapon]] that doses him with a [[Fantastic Drug|powerful stimulant]]: under the influence of this drug, he runs several miles in the space of a few minutes, fights off two enemy soldiers, and duels their leader to a standstill before the already-overused gauntlet finally runs out of juice. He manages to convince them that Rygel isn't worth keeping, and then carries Rygel back all the way through the jungle to the campsite... then, he finally collapses. For good measure, Crichton is not seen in the epilogue of the episode, being presumably fast asleep.

 

* In ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', during the Second War for Armageddon, Commissar Yarrick loses an arm in combat with the Ork Warlord Ugulhard, but still manages to cut off the xenos's head. He does not 'allow himself the luxury of passing out' until the Orks are finally driven from Hades Hive. Oh, and he now uses the Ork's [[Power Fist|Power Klaw]] as a prosthetic arm. And this was just the first assault on the hive.

** A number of stories about Space Marine Standard bearers like Ancient Helveticus of the Ultramarines, feature them standing in the midst of an enemy assault, holding their banner high despite grievous wounds, and only ''after'' the battle has been won allowing themselves the luxury of dying.

* In ''[[And Shine Heaven Now]]'', Timothy [http://hellsing.comicgenesis.com/d/20080413.html keels over] after a particularly dramatic battle.

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** The worst case was when he would pass out just before ''every commercial break''...in the middle of the final battle with the Highbreed.

* In the ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'' episode "Scarecrow," the titular [[Cosmic Horror]] had injured Niko severely, then crashed into her sickroom. She tried to fight him off, only for a royally-pissed Goose to bust in and start fighting the thing. The thing managed to stun Goose and was about to kill him when Niko recovered enough to distract him and let off a few rounds from her BFG. As soon as the Scarecrow ran off, she passed out cold from the strain.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

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