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The McCoy (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:leonardmccoy_5742.jpg|link=Star Trek: theThe Original Series|frame|Can't you see from my expression how inhuman this so-called "logic" is?!]]
 
 
{{quote| ''"By God, [[The Kirk|Jim]]! You can't seriously be considering this! [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|Screw the]] [[Alien Non-Interference Clause|Prime Directive]], [[No Time to Explain|there's no time for debate!]] We have to act now to [[Save the Princess|rescue the]] [[High Priestess|high priestess]]; [["Friend or Idol?" Decision|forget]] the [[MacGuffin]] and think about doing what's'' right!}}
 
{{quote| ''"What's that, [[The Spock|Spock]]? '[[Straw Vulcan|Logic]]?' If we listened to your cold reasoning, you'd have us look for that stupid [[Cosmic Keystone]] while innocent people suffer! [[Emotions vs. Stoicism|The greater good]]? Better in the long run? [[Always Chaotic Evil|The Klingons]] will kill us in five minutes if we go to rescue the high priestess unprepared? Dammit man, dare we call ourselves [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|human]] if we'' don't?! ''[[Insult Backfire|What do you mean 'Thank you?]]'''"}}
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== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]'', the brothers form a [[Freudian Trio]]: Alyosha as an idealistic [[The Kirk|Kirk]], Ivan as the cold, rational [[The Spock|Spock]], and Dmitri is the emotional [[The McCoy|McCoy]].
* Marianne Dashwood in ''[[Sense and Sensibility (Literaturenovel)|Sense and Sensibility]]'', in contrast to her sister [[The Spock|Elinor]]. Possibly the [[Trope Maker]], considering this is one of the first known intentional uses of it (Austen intended the sisters' [[Emotions Versus Stoicism]] to be a metaphor for [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]). Also notable as one of the few cases where [[The McCoy]] is wrong and has to learn to be more reserved, rather than the other way around.
* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books, Harry, Ron and Hermione start out as [[The Kirk]], [[The McCoy]] and [[The Spock]] respectively. Throughout the course of the novels, they all grow out of and beyond these labels, often switching around (Hermione's dedication to house-elf liberty is very McCoy-ish, for example) or not quite fitting any of them.
* Ned Land from ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]'' is an emotional harpooner who isn't excited about going around the world on the ''Nautilus'' and simply wants to return to civilization, in contrast to Aronnax's [[The Kirk|Kirk]] and Conseil's [[The Spock|Spock]].
* In the ''[[Star Trek]]'' novel ''[[Star Trek Vulcans Forge]]'' Rabin(an earlier friend of [[The Spock|Spock's]]) is like this, though more [[Beware the Nice Ones|friendly]] and less crotchety then ...Mmm...the real [[The McCoy|McCoy]].
* Anne Shirley in [[Anne of Green Gables]]
* Matteo in ''[[Someone Else's War (Literature)|Someone Elses War]]''.
 
 
== Live-Action TV ==
* The [[Trope Namer|trope is named for]] [[The Medic|Doctor Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy]]. He not only stressed humanism, [[Strawman Emotional|he was all but dominated by his emotions]], to the point that he seemed to find ''no'' value in logic whatsoever, even in situations where it would fit... um, logically. There are many ''[[Star Trek TOS|Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episodes wherein, had they listened to [[The McCoy|the Doctor]] instead of Spock, the ''[[Cool Starship|Enterprise]]'' would be a cloud of space dust. In fairness, that came with his position and area of responsibility, as well as his Hippocratic oath, and is why he was in charge of running the medical division and not the ship; but he often served as [[The Kirk|Kirk's]] [[The Conscience|conscience]].
** There's a clear ideological bent this way in Starfleet medical school in general -- an inclination to take "first do no harm" as far as the [[Alien Non-Interference Clause|Prime Directive]] allows it; this may be because subsequent series are a [[Generation Xerox]] of the first. (Starfleet members from [[Deep South|the American South]] are also frequently like this.) Examples include [[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|Dr. Crusher]], who quite often would ignore rational ordeals and run into the battleground to try and save someone, and the more obnoxious Dr. Pulaski, [[The McCoy|McCoy's]] [[Distaff Counterpart]]. They definitely take an oath like the Hippocratic one, perhaps a modern modification of the oath like [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html this one], or perhaps something unique to the Federation.
*** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' had Kira Nerys, while Odo was usually the more logical one.
*** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' used [[The Captain|Captain Janeway]] in this role, while Tuvok and Chakotay would ''try'' to balance ''her'' out with logic.
**** Tom Paris also had his McCoy moments.
*** ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' had "Trip" Tucker (engineer).
* ''[[Firefly]]'': [[Genki Girl|Kaylee]] often was the one who was more about the right thing, like not abandoning [[Child Soldier|River]] and [[The Medic|Simon]].
** [[The Medic|Simon]] is a [[The Spock|Spock]] in most cases, but he turns into a [[The McCoy|McCoy]] about [[Big Brother Instinct|anything involving his sister]]. He gave up his career for her, after all.
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* Ironically, Jack McCoy of ''[[Law and Order]]'' is not [[The McCoy]] for the show. That role is typically filled by the female A.D.A. Except when Angie Harmon played that role as a conservative Republican, so they made the new D.A. a female college professor, and made ''her'' [[The McCoy]]. Of course, some can take it too far: Serena Southerlyn was too much [[The McCoy]], which resulted in her being fired. This also led to an example of [[Suddenly Sexuality]].
* Sheldon, from ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', insists that since he's [[The Spock|Spock]] and Leonard is [[The Kirk|Kirk]] then Leonard's girlfriend Stephanie must be [[The McCoy|McCoy]].
* Wilson from ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' is a prime example of this [[Trope]]. He is a stark contrast to House himself, who doesn't give a damn about anyone. In the words of his snarky counterpart, "You love everybody. That's your pathology.".
* Sam is very much [[The McCoy]] of the ''[[I CarlyICarly]]'' [[Freudian Trio]], right up to her constant arguing with [[The Spock]] of the trio, Freddie, and being swayed by [[The Kirk]] of the trio, Carly.
* Delenn in [[Babylon Five5]] is definitely a [[The McCoy|McCoy]] with her romantic and mystical outlook and her often spectacular displays of [[Honor Before Reason]]. B5 doesn't really have [[The Spock]] to balance her. Sheridan is a [[The Kirk|Kirk]] and Franklin, who is [[The Spock]] or something close, doesn't interact with Delenn enough to balance her. As B5 is something of a [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment|romanticist]] work, that is reasonable.
* [[Power Rangers]]. In general, all the colors are this, although Reds tend to be the most McCoy-ish. (Cole, Casey, and Conner all get special mentions, though really any rookie Red counts.)
* Zhaan, Chiana, and to a lesser degree Jool served as [[The McCoy|McCoys]] most often on [[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]. John did as well sometimes (especially in the first season), although he became more [[The Kirk]] as the series went along. Aeryn and D'Argo were usually Kirks, but on occasion they delved into McCoy territory, usually when it came to their loved ones (John, Pilot, and to a certain extent her mother for Aeryn, Jothee and Chiana for D'Argo).
* "Doc" Soto in [[Alcatraz (TV series)|Alcatraz]] seems to be slipping into this role in opposition to Hauser's [[The Spock|Spock]].
 
 
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* Tidus practically embodies this [[Trope]] in [[Final Fantasy X]], frequently throwing all respect for the alien culture he finds himself washed up in to the winds in order to do what he perceives as the right thing, particularly when it involves stopping people from dying.
* The titular character from [[Sonic the Hedgehog]], in contrast to [[The Kirk|Tails]] and [[The Spock|Knuckles]].
* [[The Hero|Lloyd Irving]] in [[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]] has spades of this. While [[The Chick|Colette]] is [[The Chosen One|The Chosen]] and works hard to bring about the regeneration of the world through a set quest procedure {{spoiler|until it turns out to not be the case at all with Cruxis}}, Lloyd doesn't follow tradition and urges others, in his own [[Idiot Hero|short-sighted viewpoints]], from [[Fantastic Racism|half-elves discriminated]] to Exspheres {{spoiler|and [[Powered Byby a Forsaken Child|what they're used for]],}} to make their own decisions and accept/help each other along the way.
 
 
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** Mostly Elan, as Durkon usually takes a more passive role. And has more common sense. Durkon is the [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|party Scotsman]], though...
** Miko Miyazaki was also sometimes like this, although she mostly expressed her concern by [[Knight Templar|slicing the cause of the problem to ribbons]].
* Conrad from [[Hanna Is Not a BoysBoy's Name]] is not a very [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|humanitarian/sentimentalist]] example, but he is the only part of the main triad (himself, [[The Kirk|Hanna]] and [[The Spock|Zombie]]) that is freaked out by the general supernatural weirdness of the comic. He's pretty much a staple [[Only Sane Man]] who questions everyone else's logic and peculiar calmness in the face of things that should scare the crap out of normal people like him.
* Arcturus Winrock from [[Suicide for Hire]] pulled a HUGE McCoy on Hunter when he killed a cancer patient.
* In [[Harkovast]] Scatterpod plays [[The McCoy]] to Quinn-Tain's Spock over the morality of Quinn-Tain killing [http://www.drunkduck.com/Harkovast/index.php?p=719524 BrightLeaf].
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== Western Animation ==
* Katara from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. She once detained the group for three days to help a village who lived on a polluted river, even destroying the factory that polluted it.
** This being significant because they are on the way to save the world from [[A Nazi Byby Any Other Name|what is basically Fantasy Nazi Germany]], before [[Fantastic Nuke|Sozin's Comet arrives]] and gives the entire enemy nation [[Time Limit Boss|unstoppable and overwhelming powerups.]] So stopping for any reason is really endangering the entire planet.
* Sam in ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. She forces Vegan meals and steals frogs from being dissected in her school, displays her disguise on a [[Beauty Contest]] to bring individuality to the girls, and other humanitarian beliefs she has up her sleeves. When she's not doing that, then she makes sure Danny is going the right path.
* Mikey Blumberg from ''[[Recess]]''
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