You Can Barely Stand: Difference between revisions
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Sure, a writer could give their [[The Chessmaster|master manipulator]] a [[Humongous Mecha]] or have your [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|amoral industrialist]] secretly be a [[Authority Equals Asskicking|martial arts master]], but there's also something satisfying in bringing the invincible hero down a few pegs. Many pegs. To the point where they're already a few moments from death when they meet; this has the effect of showing that the character isn't fearless simply due to having superior power, but superior ''character''-strength even when stripped of those abilities.
Either way, the hero will eventually get a [[Heroic Second Wind|dramatic burst]] and fight on despite his weakened state, and will usually defeat their foe by the slightest of margins. Only once they've won will they be allowed the luxury of [[Post Dramatic Stress Disorder|collapsing]]. For a truly [[Bittersweet Ending]], they might [[Heroic Sacrifice|never get up again]].
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* Early on in ''[[One Piece]]'', Zoro had to take on a clearly inferior swords''fish''man after having been nearly cut in half diagonally across the chest in a previous fight.
** Even earlier in the Manga, Zoro fights Buggy's [[The Dragon|first mate Cabaji]], a swordsman, after being stabbed through the side by one of Buggy's knives. Cabaji makes it a point to go after the wound repeatedly...and after repelling him, Zoro cuts the wound WIDER, just to prove he can beat Cabaji even with that handicap.
** Also
*** [[Department of Redundancy Department|Whereupon... wait, you said that part already.]]
* Every single fight in ''[[Bleach]]'', notably during the Soul Society Arc. Subverted twice in the Hueco Mundo arc when {{spoiler|Grimmjow encounters Ichigo barely able to stand, and has Orihime heal him; and Nnoitra beats the hell out of an already-almost-dead Ichigo.}}
** Lampshaded when Ichigo gets a nasty cut as usual during said
*** Every ''Bleach'' reader already knows that everything in ''Bleach'' depends entirely on [[Rule of Cool]]. Usually this means Ichigo takes a ton of injuries and then [[Shonen Upgrade|pulls something super crazy awesome]] out of nowhere and defeats his opponent. Then again, that's just about every shonen ever.
*** Uryu, on the other hand, has a technique that ''overcomes'' "structural impossibility" by turning his own body into what amounts to a telekinetically-controlled puppet. This allows him to keep fighting even after his body is paralyzed by a poison that shuts down all voluntary muscle movement.
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== Film ==
* In the film version of ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' Boromir gets up and keeps fighting after taking an arrow in the chest - ''twice''!
** In the book, Boromir is "[[Annoying Arrows|pierced by many]]" arrows, but kills more than 20
*** The film version makes up for its reduced number of arrows by making the arrows ''really big''.
** In the book, Frodo also defies all of the Nine Nazgul at the River, despite being severely weakened, stabbed, and almost completely under the Witch-king's power. (Unfortunately cut from the film-version).
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* In Robert A. Heinlein's short story ''The Long Watch'', the hero Lieutenant John Dahlquist barricades himself in an Interplanetary Patrol nuclear weapons bay on the Moon, while dying from the radiation dose he's getting from impromptu hammer-sabotage of a bunch of nuclear warheads sought by Colonel Towers, the leader of an attempted coup. It's sort of a ''You Can Barely Stand''-off.
* Vimes in ''[[Discworld/Thud|Thud]]'' fights off a small army of dwarfs while badly beaten from a fall, cold and wet, and highly disorientated. However this is (probably) because of {{spoiler|the Summoning Dark trying to control him}}. Where he ''really'' shows his [[Heroic Resolve]] is that, once he's run out of armed opponents, he ''stops''.
* [[The Dresden Files|Harry Dresden]]. In nearly every book. In ''Fool Moon'' he basically ''uses up his magic''
** Played with in ''Turn Coat'': While it's really obvious that he can barely stand (numerous bandages, about to fall over from lack of sleep, and what have you) and he's hopelessly outnumbered, none of the {{spoiler|other Wardens}} want to attack him because [[Shrouded in Myth|they've all heard about]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|the crazy crap he's pulled]] when he's running on nothing but sheer bloodymindedness.
** Subverted in ''Changes'', {{spoiler|where the traditional early book injury is his back being broken, leaving him completely unable to fight or even move his legs. He accepts [[Deal with the Devil|Mab's offer to be the Winter Night]], and for once goes into the fight not just fresh but stronger than he was when the book started.}}
** The [[The Dresden Files (game)|RPG rulebook]] lampshades it. Harry asks why all the pictures of him show him beat to crap. Billy says it's because they're pictures of him on the case, and when he's on a case he's usually beat to crap. A little later on, Harry singles out one picture from a case file where he's not all beat
* Old literary example: In ''[[Ivanhoe]],'' the title character Wilfred of Ivanhoe meets Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert as challenger in a trial by combat despite barely being able to maintain his seat in the saddle due to severe wounds from a tournament earlier. {{spoiler|Then Bois-Guilbert has a stroke and falls dead despite not even being touched by Ivanhoe's lance. This is of course taken as a sign from God.}}
* In ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Half-blood Prince'', {{spoiler|Death-eaters are able to attack Hogwarts only because Dumbledore is severely weakened-- likewise he is also able to be killed by Snape for this reason}}
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{{quote|'''[[Monster of the Week|Sunday]]:''' What about breaking your arm, (''grabs at Buffy's left arm'') how'd that feel.<br />
''[[The Hero|Buffy]]:'' Let me answer that with a head butt. (''she does and sends Sunday staggering'') And for the record, the arm is ''hurt,'' (''punches Sunday, sending her flying'') not broken. }}
* When Shaw has taken over the Buy More and has chained Sarah to a thick bar at the base of the Nerd Herd desk, Sarah tells Shaw that Chuck won't show up to save her because
* Booth on [[Bones]], in "Two Bodies In The Lab", after he's injured by the fridge bomb. He leaves the hospital against medical advice and makes Hodgins take him to where he realizes Brennan is being held. He can barely stay on his feet, but manages to stop the corrupt FBI agent and save Brennan. After which, he has to go back to the hospital.
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** ''Modern Warfare 2'''s climax has you falling off a few hundred foot high waterfall after shooting down the [[Big Bad|Big Bad's]] helicopter. You recover, limping and badly injured, just in time for a hand-to-hand CQC fight with the Big Bad who is in much better condition following the crash.
* The final mission in ''Project Snowblind'' disables all the cool nanotech powers your character spent the game building up... but you're still left with standard FPS character [[Made of Iron]] durability, and there aren't many enemies in the last level anyway.
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'': {{spoiler|after dealing with a bad heart/rebellious nanomachines, crawling through a hallway full of microwave radiation, and barely surviving a final assault by a bunch of mini-bots, Snake is captured by Liquid Ocelot, who challenges him to one last fight to the death. To ensure that it will be a fair match, Liquid injects Snake with some awesome drug, then, as they [[Cutscene Power to the Max]], they continue to inject themselves with more and more of the drug, until despite their advanced ages, they are able to fight as if they were in their prime. This ''quickly'' devolves, however, to a
* Amusingly used in ''[[Disgaea]]''. A villain springs one of Larharl's weaknesses, forcing you to go into a fight with his stats halved. That weakness? {{spoiler|''Giant breasts''.}}
* Inverted in ''[[Golden Sun]]''. 4 teenagers face the powerful villain Saturos in Mercury Lighthouse. Normally they would be no match for him, but the Mercury (Water) [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|energy]] drastically weakens Saturos's Mars (Fire) [[Psychic Powers|Psynergy]] and gives [[The Medic|Mia]], who is a Mercury Adept, Psy Point regeneration. Still a somewhat challenging boss fight.
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