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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Ever since I was a kid, I'd have this dream where somebody would find out what I could do. It starts off with lots of ice cream and balloons, and ends in a small white room where little bits are cut out of me until there's nothing left to cut."''
|'''Ned''', ''[[Pushing Daisies]]''}}
A standard justification for any unusual character to maintain a [[Masquerade]], because [[The Government]] is Evil and [[Science Is Bad]] and if [[Government Conspiracy|the authorities]] got their hands on them, they'd [[Pounds Are Animal Prisons|stick them in a concrete box]] and [[Playing
▲{{quote|''"Ever since I was a kid, I'd have this dream where somebody would find out what I could do. It starts off with lots of ice cream and balloons, and ends in a small white room where little bits are cut out of me until there's nothing left to cut."''|'''Ned''', ''[[Pushing Daisies]]''}}
Scientists will usually be portrayed as [[For Science!|too obsessed to care]] for anyone or anything who might be used to further our knowledge of the universe or make a cool new weapon, caring only about the fame or payment they'll receive from their higher-ups. Only one bad scientist is quite enough to spoil your day, but in [[Darker and Edgier|settings that use this trope]] the ''majority'' of encountered research workers are likely to be like this.
▲A standard justification for any unusual character to maintain a [[Masquerade]], because [[The Government]] is Evil and [[Science Is Bad]] and if [[Government Conspiracy|the authorities]] got their hands on them, they'd [[Pounds Are Animal Prisons|stick them in a concrete box]] and [[Playing With Syringes|perform all sorts of cruel experiments]] to find out what makes them and/or their special powers tick, either [[What Measure Is a Non Human|destroying their quality of life, or killing them outright]] in hopes of getting [[Captured Super Entity|all sorts of goodies.]]
The oddest part of this trope is that the danger may ''never even materialize within the story''
▲Scientists will usually be portrayed as [[For Science|too obsessed to care]] for anyone or anything who might be used to further our knowledge of the universe or make a cool new weapon, caring only about the fame or payment they'll receive from their higher-ups. Only one bad scientist is quite enough to spoil your day, but in [[Darker and Edgier|settings that use this trope]] the ''majority'' of encountered research workers are likely to be like this.
▲The oddest part of this trope is that the danger may ''never even materialize within the story'' -- but it will '''never be questioned''' by anyone concerned.
Frequently, this trope is present due to the character's [[Inhumanable Alien Rights]]...
Sadly, there is some [[Truth in Television]] here (there is a long and dark history of [
This trope also happily ignores the fact that when you only have ''one'' specimen, it is a good idea to take good care of it because once it stops working it is hard to figure out how it used to. Of course, this is cold comfort to said specimen - it just means the torture will be of a greater duration, and would still result in them being locked away somewhere.
May be one of the reasons why [[Humans Are
Possibly fated to become a [[Discredited Trope]], at least in the literal pass-me-the-scalpel sense, as sonography, MRIs, and other imaging techniques have made hands-on vivisection unnecessary for the internal examination of research subjects, given sufficient funding and resources. Depending on who exactly might be after you and why, however, you may still want to be very careful not to get discovered and/or captured just the same. A lot of stories involve characters who don't want to be locked up for the rest of their lives with tests being performed on them.
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Compare [[Alien Autopsy]], in which the fantastic creature being studied is usually dead when human scientists find it in the first place, which would make such an up close and personal study sound ''significantly'' less unethical.
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
* Agito, the short-tempered fire fairy from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', can only remember being confined in a lab, which had left her almost completely broken, physically and mentally. According to her, she was only days away from death by exhaustion before being rescued.
* ''[[Midori no Hibi]]'' manifests the danger in the form of a [[Mad Scientist]] who, of course, wants to dissect Midori [[For Science!]].
* A variant is Alphonse Elric from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]].'' Mustang advises Al not to continue with the State Alchemy exam because there is often a physical examination involved, at which point they would discover his armor is empty and cart him off to a laboratory for study. However, Al doesn't have a masquerade; people who don't know the truth simply assume he likes armor/feels safe inside it.
** Later on in the anime, at least, it's implied that most people know he's a living suit of armor, but since the government already knows how to create those [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|nobody really gives a damn]]. At the time of the exam, Colonel Mustang wasn't ''quite'' high enough in the chain of command to realize this.
* ''[[
** Which, given the series' [[Humans Are
* Dr. K-ko's antagonist status in ''[[Magical Pokaan]]'' comes from her intent to fool around with the girls in a lab.
* In the early episodes of ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', this is part of the reason (along with imprisonment and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|potential traffic accidents]]) why the alien frogs are not allowed to go out on their own, at least before they develop their [[Mobile Suit Human
* In the ''[[Excel Saga (
* Between this and {{spoiler|[[And I Must Scream|drowning at the bottom of the Hudson River for half a century]]}}, Eve Genoard of ''[[Baccano
** She needn't worry though, because {{spoiler|it turns out her brother wasn't there -- the Lemures fished him out to use as a bargaining chip}}.
* ''[[Tsukihime]]'': {{spoiler|In her backstory, Ciel}} was subjected to a ''very'' thorough "examination" after [[The Church]] discovered her bizarre ability to automatically, completely regenerate from any injury. No matter what they did, she just wouldn't die, but that didn't stop them from trying over and over again. In her route in the game, she attempts to kill Shiki {{spoiler|after he is possessed by Roa}} to keep him from suffering the same fate.
** It's not that [[The Church]] wanted to know how she regenerates, they just wanted her to stay dead. They are keen on the idea that if something died it should stay dead.
*** Let's hope they never get their hands on [[Fate/stay
* In ''[[Utawarerumono]]'', {{spoiler|Hakurou}} takes his [[Petting Zoo People|Petting Zoo Person]] girlfriend and runs, not wanting this to happen to her. {{spoiler|[[Squick|He]]}} {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|fails]].}}
* ''[[Durarara!!]]'' has an interesting variation on this: instead of capturing [[Headless Horseman|Celty]] and performing a forced vivisection, a doctor approaches the supernatural entity in question and ''asks her'' if she would be willing to undergo such a procedure in exchange for a permanent place to
** She then lives and falls in love with one of the scientists who did the work, and it's implied that she even works for the organization {{spoiler|even after she learns they're holding her head}}.
* Tessla in the ''[[Trigun]]'' manga didn't have a chance to run away. Her life and death make up Vash and Knives' [[Dark and Troubled Past|tragic]] [[Backstory]].
* Subverted and justified in [[Digimon Tamers]]: the local Men In Black's leader Yamaki has an all-consuming hatred for Digimon, and really ''would'' cut them up. At one point, he sadistically destroys a Digimon on-screen over the mon's pleas for mercy. Takato worries about this for Guilmon and at one point imagines the army brutally gunning down his dinosaur buddy. {{spoiler|Yamaki eventually sees the error of his ways, at which point the Tamers stop caring about keeping their Digimon hidden.}}
* Dr Ni has expressed his interest in research of the slightly odd characteristics of the youkai-ness of most of the sanzo party in ''[[Saiyuki]]'' given who this is I think it'd be safe to assume this research wouldn't be pleasant
* ''[[Darker
* In ''[[Witchblade (
* Referenced in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', when the [[Church Militant|Magdalan Order]] approaches [[Blessed
* Averted: When [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Special Agent Axel Hughes]] finds out that Joey is the [[Kid With the Remote Control]] for ''[[Heroman]]'', Joey asks him what's going to happen to him. "The U.S. Government is going to lock you away and do experiments on you for the rest of your life." Upon the look of horror on Joey's face, Axel laughs and tells him, that ''no''; a friendly alliance is more beneficial for everyone. "You really thought we were going to do that?"
* [[Mad Scientist|Mayuri Kurotsuchi]] in ''[[Bleach]]'' wants to cut up and experiment on anybody who demonstrates abilities he's unfamiliar with.
* In ''[[Nichijou]]'', miss Nakamura wishes to do this to the robotic Nano, so she can take credit for inventing her. If Nakamura weren't so inept at her repeated attempts to kidnap Nano, this would be quite dark for such an upbeat show.
* [[Ax Crazy|Misaka]] [[Dark Action Girl|WORST]] from ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[
* A different example has [[Deadpool]] supporting character Montgomery at the mercy of a corporation that keeps him hooked up to machines, the better to utilize his precognition to their advantage.
* In ''[[G.I. Joe]] vs. the [[Transformers]]'', the Joes are ordered to do this to [[Kid Appeal Character|Bumblebee]] and Wheeljack by their superiors, who [[What Measure Is a Non
* This was the motivation behind mutated child Batwing's rampage in ''[[Untold Tales of Spider Man]]''. When Spider-Man discovers him and promises to get him help, he freaks out completely because, as he put it, "Not going... get cut up by scientists... like mom said!"
* The ''[[Planetary]]/[[Justice League of America|JLA]]'' crossover oneshot is set in an alternate reality where the Planetary organization controls the advancement of science and technology the world over. By the time of the story, they've ''already'' cut up [[The Flash|Barry Allen]] and Ray Palmer (the Atom) in order to create super-fast couriers and shrinking technology for ''Fantastic Voyage''-style medical procedures.
* [[Nikolai Dante]] refuses to report back to the the Makarov Dynasty after the Romanov Dynasty Weapon Crest fuses with his body for fear that the Makarovs would cut him up to learn how to design a similar Weapon Crest for themselves.
* ''[[
* ''[[Superman
== Fan
* In the ''[[Homestuck]]'' fanfic ''[http://archiveofourown.org/works/139056
{{quote|
* In ''[[
** Also, Jeft refers to extremely powerful psionics as suffering this fate while Shag is yelling at him for apparently inducing psionic powers in Ringo.
* In ''[[Emergence]]'', Sam, Cliff and the other students who find and help the members of Team RWBY explicitly worry about government agents doing this to the girls -- unnecessarily, as it turns out.
* In [[Alternate Universe Fic|AU]] [[Real Person Fic]], [http://fav.me/dd7ow55 "Case of the Missing Technology"], a [[Mad Scientist]] kidnaps random celebrities for something like this, including [[Unwilling Roboticisation]]. {{Spoiler|[[Spice Girls|Melanie C]] fells victim to this.}}
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* Partially subverted in ''[[
* Averted in ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]''. {{spoiler|Both humans and aliens always planned to return everyone unharmed at the end, except for volunteers who agree to be taken to the aliens' planet.}}
* Played straight in ''[[Starman (
{{quote|
* In ''[[Phenomenon]]'' the government is almost totally upfront about wanting to do this to George. Because George's mind is [[
** [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Neuroscience KILLS!!!]]
** {{spoiler|At least they're willing to take no for an answer, unlike many of the other examples on this page.}}
** {{spoiler|Not really. When he says 'no', they have him declared insane and get a court order to perform the surgery. By claiming it's a treatment, they create a plausible legal excuse for vivisection.}}
* [[Transformers Film Series|Transformers:]] They're actually ''shown'' experimenting on Bumblebee.
** And by experimenting we mean basically torturing him.
* In ''[[The Incredible Hulk (
* In ''[[Planet of the Apes|Beneath the Planet of the Apes]]'', Cornelius warns the fugitive astronaut Brent against speaking if captured by the apes-- "If they catch you speaking, they will dissect you. And they will kill you. In that order."
* Notably averted in ''[[Escape to Witch Mountain]]'' and ''Return From Witch Mountain'', which revolved around the [[Human Alien]] kids being more in danger of exploitation by greedy individuals than dissection by [[The Men in Black]]. However, it's played straight in the 2008 ''[[Race to Witch Mountain]]''.
* In ''[[Splash]]'', an "internal examination" was the next thing on the to-do list of mermaid Madison's scientist captor.
* ''[[Repo!
** [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* Seems to be subverted in ''[[District 9]]'' so
** However, this is ''exactly'' the reason that Wikus goes on the run, {{spoiler|since they actually ''were'' about to vivisect him (unanesthetised and fully aware, no less!) when he managed to get free and escape.}}
* And lest we forget, "disassemble" is practically an [[Arc Words|arc word]] in ''[[
** Except that NOVA had little interest in Number-5's sentience; they saw it as a bug that needed fixing at best and a potential threat to innocent civilians at worst. At no point in either movie does any organization have any deliberate intention of doing any unpleasant experimentation on him.
* A kid-friendly version appears in the Swedish children's movie "Pirret" (approximately "That Bubbly Feeling"). The movie is about a little girl who can fly when she's particularly happy and has "that bubbly feeling". Her mother asks the family physician if there's anything wrong with the girl, and the girl is whisked off to the hospital where a ''very'' unsympathetic doctor tries to find out what makes her fly. No actual cutting up, just MRI scans and stuff. Of course, since the doctor is constantly scaring her, she doesn't get "that bubbly feeling" in the doctor's presence, and in the end she's released.
* In the panned sequel, ''[[Starship Troopers]]: Hero of The Federation'', former [[Jerkass]] Lieutenant Pavlov Dill uses these exact words when he finds the finds that the rest of the soldiers (all infected by mind-control Control Bugs) have infected Gen. Shepherd with the Arachnids' plan being to send him back to the Federation so he can infect other Federation Leaders and take over the world. His threats are cut short when another infected soldier slowly walks behind him and slits his throat, making it [[Redemption Equals Death]]:
** Pavlov: "You bastards... you are all under arrest for murder, sedition, for treason against the Federation. Oh! Your going to pay... because we're not going to kill you... oh no... you see, we got special places for things like you... where they cut you up, but they keep you alive when they cut you up... so they can see what makes you tick, and they what makes you sick! And I will be there, oh yeah! I'm going to be there when they see ACK!" (threat cut short by infected soldier cutting his throat).
** Arachnid dissection and vivisection [[Funny Background Event|occur in the first film]] as well- particularly pay attention to the captured brain bug in the epilogue.
* [[Jack Frost (1998
* In ''[[The Man Who Fell to Earth]]'', this issue comes up when {{spoiler|Thomas (an alien) is captured by the U.S. government and experimented upon for ''years'', no matter how much he begs. Oh, the prison is a nice hotel suite, he never wants for food, etc. and he even has a final tryst with his Earth mistress...but his imprisonment seals the fate of his dying race back home, and he is finally released a broken, stranded soul}}.
* In ''[[Gremlins]] 2'', one of the cloned scientists tells Gizmo they'll "just have to cut you open" for their tests.
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* This is why Cris from the short story (and [[The Movie]]) ''Next'' never stays in one place too long.
** In the case of the movie, however, the threat wasn't scientific experimentation but rather the possibility that the FBI would imprison Cris for life and force him to use his predictions to their advantage. {{spoiler|He willingly goes with them in the end to prevent a nuclear attack that would kill his love interest.}}
* [[Stephen King]] writes of ''The Shop'', a government organization which does paranormal researches, into a lot of his stories. Charlie from ''Firestarter'' was on the run from them because of their desire to use Charlie as a weapon. This is mainly because her powers were entirely due to their [[Playing
* Used in the [[Maximum Ride]] series, where the main characters are running away from one of these types of labs.
* Similarly to the ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' example, the first humans to encounter the aliens in ''Pandora's Star'' by Peter F. Hamilton are dissected. The sequence, told ''from the alien's point of view'', is pure horror even with death being (usually) a minor inconvenience in the Commonwealth.
* In one of the [[Halo]] novels this is the reason given by Doctor Halsey for why the data on how Sargent Johnson survived contact with the Flood can never be told to anyone (even the good Sargent himself, who would likely turn himself in). Ironically, she tells this to the Master Chief . . . who later crushes the data crystal containing aforementioned information.
* The backstory in ''[[
* The reason that Nancy, heroine of [[Lois Duncan]]'s ''[[
* In China Mieville's ''Perdido Street Station'', Isaac visits the garuda [[Petting Zoo People|(eagle people)]] ghetto and tries to bribe some of them to come to his lab so he can study them. The garuda leader loudly informs his flock that "they'll take your wings away, kill you dead!" even though Isaac protests that's not his plan.
* Invoked in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''The Star Beast'' by John's ancestor when he acquires a native pet {{spoiler|(or rather, inadvertently kidnaps a native princess)}} while exploring an alien planet.
* Flinx of the ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' series was [[Designer Babies|genetically manipulated]] by the [[Evilutionary Biologist|Meliorare Society]] as part of their secret program to produce [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|supermen]]. When their [[Body Horror|more spectacular failures]] came to light, they were outlawed and hunted down along with all their experimental subjects. Those that could be "made normal" were corrected; those that could not were destroyed. Despite being superficially normal, Flinx is possessed of strong [[Psychic Powers]], which alone would be enough to get him put in a fishbowl and studied for the rest of his life, but that plus his affiliation with the Meliorares means he is exceedingly careful to reveal his talents only to people he absolutely trusts. Even then, he runs afoul of this trope on several occasions, most specifically in ''Flinx in Flux'', where not just one but two separate antagonists join the
* [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''[[Next (Crichton novel)|Next]]'' revolves around the then ''[[Real Life]]'' legal precedents that could be [[Loophole Abuse|interpreted]] as this.
* Imperial Japan does this to [[Differently Powered Individuals|Actives]] with unusual powers they capture in ''[[The Grimnoir Chronicles]]''. Being the 1930s, they don't have access to less invasive/harmful methods of study, and being 1930s Imperial Japan they don't really care about the test subjects (one secondary character {{spoiler|and future wife of one of the main characters}} had to escape from this despite being Japanese and having [[Playing With Fire|a relatively common power]]). Several of their agents openly threaten such a fate.
== Live-Action TV ==
* This is pretty much the reason the Diffy family in [[Phil of the Future]] try to hide the fact that they come from the year 2121.
* In ''[[Pushing Daisies]],'' this is why Ned doesn't want anybody to know that he can bring people [[Back
** Besides which, if anybody found out how his powers worked, he'd be arrested for murder (probably third degree) for reviving Chuck when he knew that it would result in an [[Equivalent Exchange|innocent person dying.]]
* In a less extreme example, the main character of ''[[Kyle XY]]'' keeps his abilities a secret because he wants to live a normal life, rather than spending all his days being tested by scientists.
* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', HRG tells Claire that this is what the company would do to her if they found her, presumably in order to test her regenerative properties.
** In other words, it'd be [[Good Thing You Can Heal|no different from her day-to-day life]], and at least it'd be [[For Science!]] rather than for kicks as is usually the case with the poster child for masochistic self-mutilation.
** Also, while not exactly cut up, Elle was treated to some rather unpleasant tests to figure out how powerful she was as part of her [[Backstory]].
* In the pilot episode of ''[[
** Subverted in the later TV movie, where it's shown that Alf's doing all right after turning himself in, when he is not shooting his mouth off at least.
* In an episode of ''[[
** Ironically, when the crew actually does arrive on Earth, they're all treated as honored dignitaries and celebrities. Moya arrived at Earth several weeks before Crichton did (Note that Crichton's father and several other humans were already aboard when Crichton steps out) so the aliens actually managed to do fine by themselves.
* In ''[[Babylon
** Much later in the series, Bester offers to help Lyta Alexander find employment by providing fake Psi Corps credentials... in return for her body. After she's done using it, of course, and the contract would be void if she died of anything other than natural causes.
** In the episode when Talia got her upgrade, Bester and his partner were trying to apprehend Jason Ironheart for just this purpose. When they finally do find him he's become so powerful that he accidentally kills one of them and then turns into a god.
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** This was somewhat subverted in regards to her parents. When they discovered her powers in the same episode (due to her confessing after said parents were left for dead in the exploding plant as well), they were quite understandably offended by Alex's belief that they would turn her in.
* At the beginning of ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'', Kira suggests they go to the authorities about their new superpowers and the [[Mooks]] that attacked them. [[Hollywood Nerd]] Ethan argues that in movies, people with powers tend to end up in a lab with wires in their head, and [[Jerk Jock]] Conner agrees that even ''he'''s [[Genre Savvy]] about that part.
* ''[[Star Trek:
** Which brings up some nasty [[Fridge Logic]] about the fact that Data had already been admitted to Starfleet Academy, been granted a commission and rank as an officer, and even decorated with medals for valor in the line of duty; none of which would or could apply to a piece of property rather than a legal recognized individual. The scientist's argument is essentially just "ignore that stuff because it would be cool if I could figure out how to make lots of new androids that we can treat like disposable slaves".
* Clark's secret is kept for this reason in ''[[Smallville]]'' and it's also mentioned in [[Lois and Clark]]. How would they [[Nigh Invulnerability|cut him up?]] [[Kryptonite Is Everywhere|Kryptonite knives, of course.]]
** In a ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' episode, Lois travels to an [[Alternate Universe]] where Clark never became Superman due to his adoptive parents dying when he was little. His fiancée keeps berating him using this trope as a warning whenever he covertly uses his powers to save people. This world has also [[Crapsack World|gone to hell]] after the arrival of Tempus, who gets himself elected President and removes all gun regulations. Cue the chaos. Fortunately, Lois fixes the situation by making Clark a suit identical to her Clark's.
* The aliens of ''[[3rd Rock
* In the first season of ''[[Roswell]]'', the FBI is pursuing the aliens, presumably to do sinister experiments on them. In the episode ''The White Room'', {{spoiler|Max is captured, and narrowly escapes dissection after being tortured. Though Pierce, the head of the Special Unit, was after information, not scientific knowledge.}}
* What Wolfram & Hart want to do with Connor in ''[[Angel]]''. Given that the main thing that separates him from the many people with superpowers in the world is that he's a focus of prophecy (presumably ones that will be defunct if they kill him) it seems a bit of a waste.
* The Initiative on ''[[Buffy]]'' did this with demons to create [[Super Soldiers]]. It [[Gone Horribly Wrong|went horribly wrong]], of course.
** Riley also seemed to think this is what would happen to him if the Initiative gets hold of him again, even though they're presumably known where he is the whole time. Of course, the real reason they're trying to bring him in is to remove his modifications, which are causing severe mental and physical breakdown, so he's not exactly being rational.
* In an unusual twist, the Tam family in ''[[
* Sort of the catalyst for the whole series in [[
{{quote|
'''Lister''': Well, [[With Due Respect|with respect]], sir, what's in it for the cat? }}
* This trope is why Rose didn't call a doctor for the Doctor in "[[Doctor Who
** Quite justifiable, considering what happened to the Doctor the last time a medical "professional" got a hold of him, during the TV Movie. "Wow, this man has two hearts! Let's ignore that bullet wound that's killing him and poke his other heart with our scalpels and see what happens!"
*** That one was actually an honest mistake on their part (they misinterpreted their readings as him being a human with some kind of bizarre heart problem and tried to 'fix' it.)
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** And then Torchwood get their hands on him. {{spoiler|And promptly avert things; the squad with trained guns ''lower'' them and applaud, and while he's captive he's told he'd be kept comfortable, and is in no way actually restricted. The Doctor proceeds to ... act civilised (aside from breaking a window to make a point).}}
** This happens to a human captured by Silurians in ''The Hungry Earth''. Alive, and without anesthetics.
** When short-lived companion Adam has future technology installed ''in his head'' in an attempt to set up a [[Timeline
* ''[[The Daily Show]]'' spoofs this with a John Oliver story about two politicians who decided to campaign together while running against each other to send a message of civility. John concludes that in the world were to learn of their existence, "they would be poked and prodded until there was nothing left." The story ends on an homage to ''[[
* H20: Just Add Water mermaids fears this will happened to them if their secret is known.
* Henry from ''[[Sanctuary]]'' is captured by [[Nebulous Evil Organisation|the Cabal]], who attempt to turn him into a werewolf permanently, kill him and study
* In the UK ''[[Being Human (
* In ''[[The Suite Life On Deck]]'', Zack invokes this trope after convincing Woody that a rat bite has mutated him.
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* This is the fear of para-psychics in [[Cthulhu Tech]] - completely justified since the government of their [[Bad Future]] doesn't even keep the fact that they sometimes do this a secret.
** Considering how dangerous uncontrolled para-psychics are, the general public doesn't have a problem with this either.
* In ''[[
* And then there's ''[[Promethean: The
== Theater ==
* In ''[[Bat Boy:
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* In ''[[City of Heroes]],'' Crey Industries does this so often, it's a pretty legitimate fear for the meta-humans in that universe.
** At least according to the backstory, Crey never actually tries to do it to the player. The most they ever do is attempt to ruin your public image for getting too close to their CEO's big dark secret.
* Resident doctor slash nuttybar Shiro in ''[[Siren (
* In ''[[Prototype (
* "For Science!" is why Marquis DeSinge wants to capture the pox-infected Guybrush Threepwood (who has gained a prodigious [[Healing Factor]]) in ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]''.
* In one of the bad endings of [[H
* In the ''[[X-COM]]'' series, it's the standard procedure when dealing with captive aliens.
** Only dead ones, though. Live ones are interrogated then disposed of.
*** Of course, you can dissect the corpse ''after'' the interrogation...
* Toyed with in ''[[Harvest Moon]] DS.'' Local [[Mad Scientist]] Daryl has been chasing the strange creature Mukumuku for ''years'' in an attempt to figure out how it works, and given the long and fantastic family history of genetic experimentation he brags of, it seems [[It Runs in The Family]]. So when chance favors him, and he happens upon an injured [[Our Mermaids Are Different|mermaid girl?]] He takes her home to his basement, and... [[Morality Pet|diligently cares for her until she recovers.]] And if you befriend said mermaid, she ''openly chastises you'' for daring to think Daryl would experiment on her.
* The resident [[Mad Scientist
* In [[
* [[
== Webcomics ==
* ''[[
** However, Agatha once [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060524 acknowledges] that it's sometimes better than some alternatives.
* This is why Roland has to keep Sadachbia's presence on the down-low in ''[[Not So Distant]]'', since Sadachbia is a large alien, who'd probably look great cut up on a table to Earth scientists.
* Though she's a little confused about it on their first encounter with the FBI, this is later a thing Aylee in ''[[
* In ''[[Dela The Hooda]]'', the extradimensional fox hybrid Dela is warned against contacting Earth authorities because rumor has it that they dissect aliens. This potential problem is later resolved when the [[The Men in Black|Men In Plaid]] (the Canadian division of the Men in Black, [[Canada, Eh?|who wears plaid suits because the Canadian government can't afford fancy, black Italian suits]]) has a talk with her and decides let her go free.
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' this trope is the reason Jean hasn't published any research papers about her [[Cute Monster Girl]] synthetic daughter, Molly. As depicted [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20071110.html here.]
* The talking raccoon, Woo, of ''[[
* When [[Vexxarr]] is first captured, the lab geeks started running tests on Minionbot, mostly consisting of finding out that none of their tools can affect his casing. They get as far as hammers before Minionbot gets mad.
{{quote|
* Parodied in ''[[
* This is the objective of The Coroner in ''[[Sidekick Girl]]''. He's already killed one superhero by vivisection that we know of. The one he's most interested in (And has already captured once) is the title character, whose [[Healing Factor]] means that he can dissect her infinitely without her dying, allowing him more time to figure out how her powers work.
== Web Originals ==
* Largely averted or subverted by the ''[[
* Phase doesn't believe that this is a prevalent problem in the [[Whateley Universe]]. Even after his own family lets a [[Mad Scientist]] trank him and slap him on an operating table. Part of the backstory of [[The Verse]] is that {{spoiler|Phase is wrong about this. Really wrong.}}
* In the backstory to ''[[
* Averted twice in ''[[The Salvation War]]'': once, the National Security Advisor attempts to get a succubus so that he can vivisect her, but George W. Bush prevents
* Invoked in at least a few [[Chakona Space]] stories.
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** Which makes sense, as there is no usual scientific data that could be gained from it that couldn't also be gained by, you know, just ''asking'' Susan and Mary, since they gave him all of those abilities.
** In one episode, the Network Executives are shown to scare even the axe-crazy Repto-Slicer.
* In a very meta episode of ''[[Transformers]]'' (1980's) several of the characters wind up on a planet inhabited by [[You Fail Biology Forever|giant humanoids, to whom the Autobots are the size of]] [[Merchandise
* Blackarachnia {{spoiler|left the Autobots}} in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' because she was afraid this would happen to her after she became technoorganic. Given the xenophobic nature of the High Command, she might not be too far off the mark.
* Used, as one would expect, as one of the justifications for the ''[[
* As with the ''Gargoyles'' example, the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' take this trope to heart. Given that the first thing government agent Bishop did when he captured them was to take their genetic material and try to dissect them, their fears are more than simple paranoia.
* Justified in ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', where his ghost-obsessed parents aren't getting ethics approval for their research and have explicitly said they'd like to dissect or kill any ghost they find "molecule by molecule". However, it's odd that Danny was so certain they'd do the same to their own child, a ''half''-ghost.
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* The [[Mad Scientist]] in the Mickey Mouse short [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywukfQqKX-g ''The Mad Doctor"] actually ''sings a song'' about how he's a master at cutting bodies up and grafting parts to each other. He's first introduced as having planned to cut Pluto's freaking head off and graft it onto a chicken's body, just to see what sort of noise it would make. And he nearly cuts Mickey's stomach open with a HUGE buzz saw.
** Specifically, the [[Mad Scientist]] wants to graft Pluto's head onto a hen's body and then breed the result with a normal rooster to see if whatever hatches from the egg will cackle, crow, or bark. Talk about [[You Fail Biology Forever]]...
* Notably averted in [[Superman:
* What [[Hero Antagonist|Dib]] wants to do to [[Villain Protagonist|Zim]] on ''[[Invader Zim]].'' Unlike most of these examples, this is [[Black and Grey Morality|not entirely unjustified]], especially since we see Zim [[Moral Myopia|doing experiments on humans himself]].
* The main reason Roger in ''[[
* Referenced and averted in ''[[Hop]]''. Fred says that this would happen to E.B. if he just went around talking in public. This is immediately followed by E.B. complaining to their waitress about his order, and her [[No Big Deal|acting as if this is perfectly normal]].
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[[Category:Medical Horror]]
[[Category:They Would Cut You Up]]
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