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Traumatic Toggle: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
If you received a super power or [[Easy Amnesia]] -- or [[Body Swap|changed bodies with someone else]] -- due to a [[Freak Lab Accident]], [[Lightning Can Do Anything|lightning bolt]], [[Tap on the Head|blow to the head]], or other traumatic event, experiencing the ''exact same trauma'' a second time will take it away or undo it, just like flipping a switch. Note that for this trope it has to be the ''exact same trauma,'' reinflicted a second time -- if there's any kind of [[Reverse the Polarity|polarity reversal]] involved with the second exposure, that's [[Now Do It Again Backwards]].▼
▲If you received a super power or [[Easy Amnesia]] -- or [[Body Swap|changed bodies with someone else]] -- due to a [[Freak Lab Accident]], [[Lightning Can Do Anything|lightning bolt]], blow to the head, or other traumatic event, experiencing the ''exact same trauma'' a second time will take it away or undo it, just like flipping a switch. Note that for this trope it has to be the ''exact same trauma,'' reinflicted a second time -- if there's any kind of [[Reverse the Polarity|polarity reversal]] involved with the second exposure, that's [[Now Do It Again Backwards]].
This is of course utter nonsense. Brain damage, for instance, does not appear on odd-numbered blows and disappear with even-numbered ones, [[It Got Worse|it just gets worse]]. But that doesn't stop some hack writers from using a frying pan as a cast-iron light switch for amnesia or [[Personality Swap]]s.
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More and more frequently, plots play on the ''automatic expectation'' that a Traumatic Toggle will always work, especially when that belief is held by the other characters in a story.
A subtrope of the [[Reset Button]]. Compare [[Now Do It Again Backwards]].
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== Film - Live-Action ==
* In the 1982 [[Scott Baio]] vehicle ''[[Zapped!]]'', Baio's character gains [[Telekinesis]] from a lab accident; at the end of the film he suffers another similar accident, which apparently removes the powers -- or so everyone assumes.
* Happened in ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097253/ Déjà vu]'' (1989) with a hitman... who accidentally had his head bumped and forgot everything, so when he was reminded of his cover identity, he thought he really ''is'' a "professor of
{{quote|'''Johnny Pollack''': Punch me one more time.}}
* Subverted in the [[Mel Gibson]] movie ''[[What Women Want]]''. After he tries to reenact the freak accident that gave him mind reading powers, nothing happens.
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]'' episode "The Practical Joker": After the Enterprise passes through an energy field, the ship's computer starts pulling jokes on the crew. The computer is returned to normal when the Enterprise passes through the cloud again.
{{reflist}}
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