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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"It was an opponent Nanoha-chan wouldn't have had any problem protecting her allies from or defeating if she had been her usual self. But the strain of overexerting herself made Nanoha-chan less capable, and her body slowed down at a crucial moment. The result... was [[Game
|'''Shamal''', ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]]''}}
A type of fandom-based [[Author's Saving Throw]], this is the specific rationalization that a character suffering from [[The Worf Effect]] or a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] did so only because something (artificially) undermined their performance. The insinuation, of course, is that it probably wouldn't have happened this way under "normal" circumstances.
This is often used within fandom, and can be a satisfying answer for fans bothered by the outcome of the battle or use of the trope itself. As the 'flu' is generally pulled from something within the story, explicit or otherwise, it does not necessarily require a blatant [[Retcon]] or [[Canon
Whether or not a later matchup is provided becomes irrelevant. If enough ire is raised from using the Worf Effect, a later matchup may be specifically ''avoided'' to [[Dork Age|dodge any mention of it at all]]. On the other extreme, the response to the trope may be too loaded with [[Take That]] overtones not to come off as petty. In contrast, a well-written [[Evasive Fight Thread Episode]] often includes 'flu' logic in an effort to quell any complaints about the match-up. Essentially the "Power Seep" part of [[Power Creep, Power Seep]].
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This Flu is also often exploited by a nasty [[Big Bad Wannabe]] in order to have a shot to kill those powerful people, through luck mostly. Of course, defeating those who had flu doesn't mean you are that trope. With planning and exploiting this 'Flu', one can avoid being labeled of that trope.
A type of [[Drama
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', Ichigo's poor performance in his battles against Ulquiorra and Yammy, as well as his first battle against Grimmjow, is attributed to his difficulty suppressing his inner hollow. {{spoiler|When he does manage to control his inner hollow, he is still unable to defeat Grimmjow the second time, and loses to Ulquiorra the first time he fights him in Las Noches.}}
** In the Arrancar arc, Hitsugaya, Rangiku and Renji are losing to their Arrancar enemies, but then they get permission to release their [[Power Limiter
** Ichigo when confronted by the #5 Espada Nnoitra Jiruga gets easily owned, then gets bored and leaves the ass-whooping to his Fraccion, Tesla. It should be noted that Ichigo had a grueling battle against #6 Espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez (who also got owned by Nnoitra) in which he barely defeated him. This is shown when he took on Ulquiorra again, and was a match for him, until he had to release (Ulquiorra lost, but Ichigo doesn't consider his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] laying the smackdown on him a fair fight).
** The entire Bount Arc is this trope. Every Soul Reaper who comes to Earth can only use a fraction of their power, and Ichigo has to relearn Bankai for some silly reason. Even the Bount enemies don't reach full power until they travel to the Soul Society.
** In the Invasion Army arc, Ichigo's power was failing after {{spoiler|having used it all up fighting Aizen}}. So of course he was coming into this new dilemma already handicapped.
** In the Lost Substitute arc, it's revealed {{spoiler|that Ichigo's reiatsu was being surpressed by his substitute badge, explaining his poor performance in the Arrancar Invasion arc.}}
* In the anime ''[[Berserk]]'', Casca actually loses and needs rescuing from her first battle with Adon Corbowitz. While tending to her Guts notes blood between her thighs and comments to himself how it must be hard for a woman mercenary. The next time she and Adon meet, the beatdown goes the other way.
** It's also a [[Chekhov's Gun]], as she's seen being 'out of it' earlier. Furthermore, as in case the viewer doesn't get it, Adon says, when being beat down: "YOU HAD PMS!?"
* ''[[One Piece
** Earlier in the manga, Sanji was wounded by Pearl and nearly lost to Gin.
** In the Skypiea arc, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are unable to fight well against Wiper because they have not adapted to Skypiea's higher elevation and thinner atmosphere. Luffy manages to get over this by the time he fights the White Berets, and throughout the rest of the arc, there is no suggestion that the characters are fighting at anything less than their full potential.
** The Straw Hats exhaust themselves fighting the first Pacifista on the Sabaody Archipelago, making them easy pickings for Sentoumaru, Kizaru, Kuma and '''another''' Pacifista. To be fair, though, if they had that much trouble against an ordinary Pacifista, they had little chance against the original model with Devil Fruit powers or an Admiral. And with the possible exception of Luffy, they were all also recovering from the fight against Gecko Moria, his generals, Oz and the subsequent beatdown by Kuma. '''Especially''' Zoro.
** Kuma seems to be a fan of this trope, considering that he's beaten the Strawhats twice, and both times he confronted them right after they'd fought a major, exhausting battle.
** Luffy's somewhat underwhelming (Haki aside) showings during the Kuja and Marineford battles are at least partially attributed to having to deal with the Kizaru/Kuma/Sentoumaru/Pacifista gangstomp the day before in the previous case and nearly dying against Magellan and being kept running on sheer willpower and hormone doping in the latter case. Of course, a lot of it has to do with the fact that the major players are all Warlord of the Sea class, at least, but the Luffy at Marineford didn't seem to be operating at the same caliber as he did against the likes of Rob Lucci and Gecko Moria, and actually had to be doped ''again'' near the end of the battle.
** This was the primary reason Franky was struggling against Fukurou, despite having previously overpowered Blueno; As he was lacking in Cola, his attacks were decreased in effectiveness and power. Once he got his cola back...
** Seriously, many of Zoro's battles had him at some sort of disadvantage or not at his full potential. In the battle with Cabaji, he was already injured from Buggy's earlier attack. When fighting Hachi, he was still recovering from his wounds from his fight with Mihawk and had a fever on top of that. He had difficulty with Mr 1 since Mr 1's body can become steel, something Zoro couldn't cut at the time. During the Davy Jones game, he wasn't able to use his swords due to the rules. He only had two swords with him during the fight against Ryuuma. And against Oz, he was still getting used to his new sword Shunsui. With Kuma, he had taken damage from Ryuuma and Oz over the night. With the Flying Fish Riders and with the Pacifista, he was hampered down from his injuries from Thriller Park, along with Luffy's pain that was transferred to him.
* One scene in Episode 52 of the ''[[Naruto
** In the manga, Naruto was still suffering from his [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Four-Tailed Form]]'s side effects. He was, at best, half power when he finally encountered Sasuke (even Orochimaru commented when they fought again, Naruto wasn't doing nearly as well before). Sakura, likewise was still suffering from the poisonous wound that she had gotten from the [[KN 4]]'s tail swipe. Only Yamato and Sai were at full strength.
** Before the [[Time Skip]], during the Chunnin exam tournament, Jiraiya notices the chakra-blocking seal that Orochimaru had placed over Naruto's Kyubi-containing belly-button seal, and realizes it prevented Naruto from channeling properly. Once he removed it, Naruto was able to instantly master the water-walking technique he had been struggling with before. And it might also explain Naruto's rather lackluster performance against
** Tsunade's first appearance has her using then-current [[Big Bad]] Orochimaru like a paddleball. The only reason Orochimaru did not bust out far more powerful moves for the fight was because had previously lost the use of his arms (and thus, most of his jutsus). Jiraiya was likewise disabled thanks to a drug Tsunade slipped into one of his drinks earlier on. Tsunade as well suffered some early damage due to her entirely psychological weakness to blood, making her use her trump card on a healing power. If the Sannin were at their top form during the fight the others there would've been useless and the battle would've dwarfed even the epic rumble that it was and likely not be quite as one-sided.
*** [[Missed Moment of Awesome]]... {{spoiler|Orochimaru breaking out his Yamata Form, Jiraiya's [[Super Mode|Sage Mode]], and Tsunade's Byakugo...god, that'd be one of the best fights ever.}}
** The Sound Four were all capable of holding off multiple ANBU agents in their first appearance, but all lost to genin later on. However, this (and the fact that the genin caught up to them in the first place) was at least partially because they had exhausted themselves when they ran into two Konoha jonin and had to activate their cursed seals just to get away.
** Sasuke outright admitted he was only capable of beating {{spoiler|Orochimaru}} because of the very sickly state he was in when he attacked him.
** Played with in Sasuke's battle with {{spoiler|Itachi. Not only is Itachi in terrible shape (basically, using the high level Sharingan techniques means [[Cast
*** To be fair, Sasuke did far better than Itachi even suspected he would. Breaking Tsukuyomi, equalling him in Taijutsu, faking out Amaterasu... only [[Power Armor|Susanoo]] Sasuke didn't have a contingency against since he had never seen, or even ''heard'' of it before. And that was the only part of the fight that Itachi let Sasuke win in.
** Pain versus Naruto could have been much more one sided with the odds heavily against Naruto had it not been for the fact that Pain was trying to capture Naruto, not kill him. It also didn't help that he'd just finished fighting and leveling a village, and his most powerful body had its powers disabled at the start of the fight.
** And Chapter 485 seems to be setting this up for the fight between {{spoiler|Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto has likely just been inflicted with a life-threatening poison just before he starts fighting Sasuke.}} In this case it's less
** And going back allllll the way, Naruto's crappy abilities with chakra control are implied to be due to the Kyuubi's chakra inside him. Once he started getting his jutsu under control, he was learning jounin level skills (albeit in a wasteful
* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'':
** Goku's heart virus thing while fighting Android 19 in This is actually taken to the extent of an [[Alternate Universe]], where without the aid of [[Future Badass|Trunks]], Goku died from the virus, [[Bad Future|and well...]] While Android 19 was indeed programed with the intent to counter Goku's fighting style, it was made clear he would ''never'' have stood a chance had Goku been at full health. Made clearer when, after defeating Goku, he gets cocky and [[Bullying a Dragon| tries to take on Vegeta]]. Seeing as Vegeta does ''not'' have any illness, uses a completely different fighting style, and has undergone ''three years'' of [[Training From Hell]] to prepare for this very day, it's [[Curb Stomp Battle| easy to predict how it goes for 19]].
** Also happens much earlier when the series when Goku is defeated by Yamcha because he is extremely hungry.
** Also happens when Goku loses to King Piccolo's minion Tambourine, but only because Goku was exhausted from fighting in the Tenckaichi Budokai. Tambourine is confident he can win again in the rematch, but things don't go so well for him.
* Lordgenome of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' {{spoiler|wasn't fighting anywhere close to his real potential during his fight with Simon, and he ''still'' would have won if he had not underestimated Simon's determination. A thousand years of boredom had dulled his edge considerably, as he proved during the final episode.}}
** Even more true considering {{spoiler|that according with his backstory revealed in the [[All There in the Manual|Parallel Works 8]], Lord Genome turns against his own comrades in the name of the Anti-Spiral effectively taking down a LEGION OF SPIRAL WARRIORS all by himself, it's more or less stated that Genome, at the time, have the power to defeat the anti-spirals and end the war if he knew what to do but he was convinced and scarred by the truth of the Spiral Nemesis.}}
* Similar to the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' example further down the page, ''[[
** Nanoha's overexerting herself resulted in her getting injured and almost crippled while on a mission, as Shamal points out in the above quote.
** The Wolkenritter are less at an advantage over Nanoha and Fate's group because they have sworn [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|not to kill anyone]] [[Hero Antagonist|in their quest to save Hayate]]. Despite managing to fight off Signum until she retreats or outside forces interfere, Fate loses most of her sparring matches against Signum in the period after A's.
* Prior to his first battle with Mukuro, Hibari from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' literally had been injected with a flu, causing him to get [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomped]] despite being at least Mukuro's equal in fighting prowess.
* Ash's Grovyle from ''[[Pokémon (
** Ash's Pikachu gets a taste of this in the very first episode of the Unova saga. {{spoiler|An encounter with Zekrom, one of Unova's Legendaries,}} overloads Pikachu's electricity-storing capability and thus renders it unable to use Electric-type attacks. Ash finds this out the hard way when the 'Chu gets trounced in a battle with a trainer who had, mere minutes earlier, received his first Pokémon.
** "Charizard Chills" has the title Pokémon critically frozen after battle with a Poliwrath. His respect as well as loyalty for his trainer returned after Ash spent all night trying to thaw him out.
*** Later, he also suffers a wing injury during the battle against the Johto gym leader Faulkner, giving him a little bit of trouble against the leader's Pidgeot.
* ''[[Digimon Savers]]'': In one episode, one of Masaru's punches breaks SaberLeomon's tooth. This wouldn't be out of character for him except that an earlier attempt to punch SaberLeomon had significantly less effect, and prior to the second attempt SaberLeomon had just taken a [[Killed Off for Real|Gizumon blast]], severely weakening him to the point when an Ultimate level Digimon could blow him up.
* In the ''[[
* In ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'', Ichigo gets attacked by Kisshu in Episode 17 while she's sick, resulting in her being unable to defend herself and [[Mysterious Protector|the Blue Knight]] appearing for the first time to save her.
* [[Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation]] takes a long time to recover his tempering after a sentencing, so when a problem arises soon afterward, he's often unable to intervene immediately. As such, after the group defeats Face-Ripper Sophie, only for {{spoiler|Rio to reveal herself as a traitor and attack them}}, they spend much of the battle retreating, and must brew Muhyo a dangerous potion to help him get his tempering back before they can effectively fight back.
* In ''[[Tegami Bachi]]'', during the infiltration of Honey Waters, Niche drinks some of the poisonous water that is the village's namesake. It doesn't take effect immediately, but when the villagers pin down Lag and Connor, Niche is only able to defeat Lag's attackers before being paralyzed from the poison, resulting in her and Connor being captured and Lag barely escaping.
* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'': One of the reason Kenshin easily fell to Shishio {{spoiler|in the first part of their battle}} was because he had already gone through battles with Aoshi and [[The Dragon|Sojirou]]. Both opponents were considered near or at Kenshin's level, so it would be a miracle for him to even be able to stand up to Shishio. This trope extended to Kenshin's allies as well; Saitou, Sano and {{spoiler|Aoshi}} were unable to even hurt Shishio due to their previous injuries.
** Shishio is actually concerned about whether or not this is fair, but Kenshin reminds him that it counteracts his own handicap, his lack of sweat glands which eventually {{spoiler|set him on fire and burn him up from within}}. Shishio also plays with the trope, since it's implied that the extra heat energy his body produces makes him stronger somehow and he can literally kill someone by touching them long enough. Oddly enough, he doesn't use this as a weapon.
* ''[[Medaka Box]]'': [[Badass Normal|Zenkichi's]] victory against Munakata is slightly downplayed, as despite his abnormal desire to kill, {{spoiler|he was actually actively suppressing it}}.
* ''[[Soul Eater
* In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', when Athrun brought up how Shinn had defeated Kira, Kira admitted to being "distracted" because he was "unsure" if he should be fighting ZAFT or not.
* Inverted in ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' where Gon (the main character) barely beat Shizuku in a right handed arm wrestling match. Then when Shizuku goes back to her friends we learn that Shizuku is left handed.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In the big [[The DCU|DC]] vs [[Marvel Universe]] crossover, one fight that attracted particular opprobrium from fans was [[Lobo]]
▲* In the big [[The DCU|DC]] vs [[Marvel Universe]] crossover, one fight that attracted particular opprobrium from fans was [[Lobo]]--a character who can go toe-to-toe with [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] and at the time [[From a Single Cell|could regenerate from a single drop of blood]]--losing to [[Wolverine]] (who at the time didn't even have his adamantium skeleton, though his healing factor ''was'' significantly boosted as a result). This was explicitly down to [[Popularity Power]]--the results were voted on by fans--but the match-up was so uneven the writers had to have Wolverine's victory take place off-panel. A little while later Lobo mentioned that he'd actually been bribed by "some bald guy" (presumably Professor X) to take a dive in the fight.
* One of the more famous events in the history of the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] is the battle for leadership of the team between Cyclops and [[Storm]] - who at the time had no powers. Storm won by stealing Cyclops' [[Power Incontinence|visor]]. Without the control of the visor, any attempt to continue fighting would've run the risk of killing Storm (or any of the audience), so he gave up. Several years later, Cyclops' ex-wife Madelyne Pryor announced that she'd used her psychic powers to ''make'' Cyclops lose. This is a relatively easy [[Retcon]] since Cyclops spent much of the fight distracted by a major argument he and Madelyne had just been having, so to say he didn't exactly have his mind on the battle was very easy to change into a result of Madelyne's direct influence.
* Played in advance in the ''[[
** A better explanation happened in ''Superman vs [[Alien (
** And when Superman fought Muhammad Ali, the aliens behind the [[Let's You and Him Fight]] had made sure it was under red star radiation.
* Several defeats and cases of [[Badass Decay]], of villains who were revealed to be members of The Intelligencia in [[Fall of the Hulks]] were explained to be staged for heroes as [[Kansas City Shuffle|distractions from their true schemes]].
* Early in his superhero career, [[Spider-Man]] is actually beaten and unmasked by Doctor Octopus in front of his friends and family. However, Peter's powers were on the fritz at the
** A borderline case occurs with the death of Gwen Stacy, as Spider-Man was suffering from an unspecified illness at the time. This tends to be omitted in almost all retellings of the story, however; given that Gwen's neck snapped [[Not the Fall That Kills You|due to the abrupt stop from Spidey's webbing]], [[Your Mileage May Vary|it's questionable]] whether the illness was a factor at all in her death.
* In the very first crossover between ''[[Superman]]'' and ''[[Spider-Man]]'', Spidey initially holds his own because [[Lex Luthor]] and Doc Ock had unknowingly (to him) sprayed a dusting of Kryptonite particles on him. But once those particles come off... well....
* In another meeting between the above two it was a blast of Red Sun Radiation. Spider-Man does well until the radiation fades just as Superman is about to use a full powered punch (this is the 1970's Superman.) He stops the punch and the blast of the punch knocks Spider-Man through several buildings.
* If the above two entries are referring to the first ''Superman vs Spider-Man'' tabloid, they're both wrong in the fine details. Spidey's ability to hurt Superman in their "meet-and-greet" battle was due to Luthor using a Red Sun Radiation beam on him, thereby at least partially negating Supes' invulnerability. Superman still had his full strength, though, so once he recovered from the shock of being knocked around by Spidey (who, let it be said, was almost as surprised as Superman when a blow sent the Man of Steel flying), he struck back, only to realise while his fist was in motion that if the punch landed, it would kill Spider-Man, so he pulls the
* Similarly, [[The Flash]], when in the [[Marvel Universe]] during the [[JLA-Avengers]] crossover, was unable to run as fast as he usually does (and, eventually, loses his Superspeed altogether) because 616 lacks the Speed Force. Otherwise he'd probably knock every Avenger not named Thor unconscious about .5 seconds into the required "Crossover Fight".
* [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|"It was just a Doombot."]] [[Retcon|Really!]].
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*** ...and then she beat him ''[[Running Gag|again!]]''
* In ''[[Knightfall]]'', Batman begins with an unspecified illness and the plotline is based around how he completely wears himself out by trying to capture all the inmates the [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] Bane has released from Arkham, positioning himself for the [[Curb Stomp Battle]] Bats will eventually receive.
* [[Doctor Strange]] lost to [[Incredible Hulk
** When Doctor Strange helped found the original [[The Defenders|Defenders]], his immune system apparently took a vacation. The writers admitted to brainstorming "how do we keep Doc from wrapping up the plot in one frame" almost every issue. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when Doc took a break from the Defenders to figure out why he was having so much trouble with his spells.
* Similar to the eternal Doombot excuse, Prometheus explained his embarrassing performances since his first, when he took on the entire [[Justice League of America]], by explaining that in the intervening time someone had stolen his gear and impersonated him.
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** The above was an odd case of this. Superman really was about as fast as Barry back when those issues were actually written, but Superman was powered down substantially in 1986 and, even if a lot of that power has returned he is not back to [[Silver Age]] power levels, so when those [[Silver Age]] stories became canon again, this explanation became necessary.
* [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] is said to only use about a fifth of his full strength when fighting humans, even insanely strong ones like the Hulk, out of fear of accidentally killing them. One of the few exceptions (he specifically noted he wasn't holding back) was when he fought [[Iron Man]] after ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'', and even after Iron Man's numerous upgrades in the past few years [[Curb Stomp Battle|Tony didn't last thirty seconds.]]
* When [[Supergirl]] first returned in 2004, she was shown outperforming [[Superman]] to the point where it was speculated that she might actually be more powerful. It turned out, this was meant to show that Superman [[World of Cardboard Speech|had been holding himself back]] all these years out of fear of causing death or destruction (which Supergirl in fact does in the early issues because she [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|doesn't know her own strength]].)
** So when the yellow-clad Weapons Master does fight the flu-ish Superman, this ironically makes Big Blue that much more dangerous. As he tries to explain to the bad people, he doesn't know if he can stop his punches from taking off heads.
** In one [[Bronze Age]] story, Superman starts having [[Does Not Know His Own Strength]] moments, and fears his powers are growing beyond his ability to control. In fact, the reverse is true: the [[Powers
* ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]''; the flashback history of the hero's dad. All sorts of horrific things end up happening to Daddy simply because his army buddy was too damned stupid to go get the flu treated.
* When Erik Larsen subjected the [[
* An issue of [[
* Hulk was on the receiving end of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] at the hands of Zeus. That wasn't because of this; rather, that battle was the flu to set up for the next story arch, which required the Hulk to be significantly weaker than his powerlevel at the time normally allowed.
* In ''[[Wolverine]]'' ''Origins'', Dog only attacks James (the future Wolverine) after James exhausted himself cage-fighting during the previous night. Dog had also slipped one of James' opponents a set of brass knuckles to make sure James would be injured even worse. And James ''still'' nearly kills Dog after Dog makes him remember that {{spoiler|Dog was the one who fired the shot that killed James' father.}}
* Rachel Grey aka Marvel Girl of the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] was the host of the Phoenix Force for a long while. Her relatively weaker power compared to her mother's stint as the Phoenix's host was due to Rachel actively suppressing the Phoenix's power. She mentioned at one point that she only allowed the Phoenix to use at most ''one percent'' of its power.
== [[Film]] ==▼
* It's ironic this trope is called Worf Had The Flu, considering how often it happens to the Starship ''Enterprise'' itself. For instance, in ''[[Star Trek II:
▲== Film ==
** This is also used to explain why a jury-rigged ''Enterprise'' in the following movie ''[[Star Trek III:
▲* It's ironic this trope is called Worf Had The Flu, considering how often it happens to the Starship ''Enterprise'' itself. For instance, in ''[[Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan (Film)|The Wrath of Khan]]'', the rather puny-looking ''Reliant'' sneak attacks the ''Enterprise'' and leaves the ship hobbling along for the rest of the movie, thus prolonging a confrontation that, under normal circumstances, would've resulted in the ''Enterprise'' mopping floors with the ''Reliant'' within about two minutes. Most of the crew being cadets didn't help, and Khan was [[Genre Savvy]] enough to have studied the Enterprise in detail.
** Later, the far more advanced ''Enterprise''-D almost gets blown out of space by an even clunkier Bird-Of-Prey in ''[[
▲** This is also used to explain why a jury-rigged ''Enterprise'' in the following movie ''[[Star Trek III the Search For Spock (Film)|The Search for Spock]]'' goes down with one hit from an old clunker Bird-Of-Prey.
▲** Later, the far more advanced ''Enterprise''-D almost gets blown out of space by an even clunkier Bird-Of-Prey in ''[[Star Trek Generations (Film)|Star Trek Generations]]'', thanks to the Duras sisters getting their hands on their shield frequency (which apparently lets them fire through it).
** In the same film, the ''Enterprise''-B was so new most of its equipment wouldn't be in until Tuesday, and was only being taken out for a spin for the sake of the news crews. Also, it turns out that Earth, the main planet of the Federation, had no other available ships, leaving the ''Enterprise'' as the only one in the sector, [[Ass Pull|because... uh, because... um...]]
* In ''[[Hellbound Hellraiser II]]'', many fans were disappointed to see Series villain Pinhead and his cronies taken out by the new Cenobite, Dr. Channard. Many have written off his easy defeat due to him being weakened and disoriented by learning he was once human, a notion supported by Hellbound screenwriter Peter Atkins.
* The ''[[Iron Man (
* ''[[Predators]]'' does this when {{spoiler|a predator from the old films faces a predator from this movie. The classic Predator has been tied up for a while and has poorly maintained equipment allowing for leeway when the new predator wins the fight, but even with this, he still puts up a hell of a fight.}}
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* In the fourth ''[[Riverworld]]'' novel ''The Magic Labyrinth'', master swordsmen Cyrano de Bergerac and [[Richard Burton (author)|Sir Richard Burton]] take time out of a running battle to fight a (rematch) duel. Both are itching to see who's better, but they're both weary from battle, both slightly wounded, and have both been drinking to boot, ''and'' they're on a rapidly sinking ship (they ''really'' wanted this rematch). In the end, Burton draws first blood, and offers to help Cyrano to his feet... only for Cyrano to be shot by one of Burton's companions, who had no idea the duel was a gentlemanly one. Burton later (and during the fight too) wonders what the fight would have been like had they both been at their peak condition.▼
▲== Literature ==
▲* In the fourth ''[[Riverworld]]'' novel ''The Magic Labyrinth'', master swordsmen Cyrano de Bergerac and Sir Richard Burton take time out of a running battle to fight a (rematch) duel. Both are itching to see who's better, but they're both weary from battle, both slightly wounded, and have both been drinking to boot, ''and'' they're on a rapidly sinking ship (they ''really'' wanted this rematch). In the end, Burton draws first blood, and offers to help Cyrano to his feet... only for Cyrano to be shot by one of Burton's companions, who had no idea the duel was a gentlemanly one. Burton later (and during the fight too) wonders what the fight would have been like had they both been at their peak condition.
* In ''[[Inheritance Cycle|Brisingr]]'', Paolini has made certain that Eragon has not had time to recuperate to his full strength since achieving his super-human power.
** A more straight example would be at the end of ''Eldest'', when {{spoiler|Murtagh defeats Eragon while the latter is exhausted from battle.}} However, this was subverted when Eragon {{spoiler|fought Murtagh for the second time. He was fully rested, at full power, and had thirteen elves assisting him, but still only managed to drive Murtagh off.}}
* In ''[[
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* The trope naming incident occurred in an episode of ''[[Star Trek:
* Episode six of ''[[Dollhouse]]'' features this canonically on ''both sides'': when Ballard and Echo fight, on the surface it seems like it might be an even match that could go either way. Echo with her programming is probably the better technical fighter, but Ballard is very big, built like a brick house, and so tough he can take out four gun-wielding thugs with a plank ''after'' he's been
* Spike's attempted rape of [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] in "Seeing Red" only got as far as it did because a run-of-the-mill vampire had got a lucky shot in earlier (as she was staking him, no less). Both injuries carry over into Buffy's fight with a superpowered Warren - even with super-strength and near-invulnerability, he can tell she's off her game.
* In ''[[Dai Sentai Goggle Five]]'', only going as far as episode 8, Goggle Blue gets [[A Day in
▲** In another instance, Hamilton stomping over Illyria happened only after she had been massively depowered, and it's probably telling that Hamilton didn't go anywhere near her until this had happened, and in fact when Wesley was studying her gave him a hint that led him to discover how to drain her powers. He even goes into an exaggerated [[Smug Snake]] routine to Illyria's face as he ponders why she can't beat him to a pulp.
▲* In ''[[Dai Sentai Goggle Five]]'', only going as far as episode 8, Goggle Blue gets [[A Day in The Limelight]] episode...where he got horribly owned solo by the [[Monster of the Week]] because they managed to wound his leg while protecting a woman. Skip ahead several episodes later and then, he's shown to be as good as he gets when he's on a solo fight. [[Papa Wolf|Especially when kids are involved.]]
* An inversion takes place in ''[[Mahou Sentai Magiranger]]'', where the Heavenly Saint Lunagel is defeated in battle by Wolzard partly because she went on her own, but mostly because he'd spent the past four episodes doing nothing but powering up.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==▼
▲== Professional Wrestling ==
* After coming to WWE, [[The Big Show]] was rather horribly misused, ending up as a lower midcarder holding the Hardcore Title. About this time, [[Brock Lesnar]] had pretty much obliterated his way to the World Title. Deciding to make Show the next challenger for the belt, WWE bookers just cooked something or other up about "don't wake the sleeping giant", basically saying that the reason Show had been so low on the cards was that he hadn't been trying very hard to do otherwise.
** May have been a [[Real Life]] dig at Paul Wight, who had been "fat-camped" down to farm territory OVW in the past for perceived shortfalls in dedication (and diet).
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Used as an excuse so many times, especially when it's a massive upset or a loss that is much more lopsided than anticipated. It may or may not involve home court/field/ice advantage and it frequently involves injury and/or fatigue.▼
* When your {{insert favorite team in {{insert sport here}} here}} loses a game.▼
* The New Zealand Rugby team was suffering from food poisoning at the final of the 1995 World Cup, to the point where they can be seen throwing up on the sidelines.▼
* A legend has Auburn University cadets greasing the rails before an opposing football team from Georgia Tech arrived, causing their train to slide past the station, and forcing the team to tire itself out walking back to the stadium. ▼
* Averted in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, to this day thought of as "The Flu Game". According to The Other Wiki, [[Michael Jordan]] woke up the day before the game nauseated and sweating profusely. He was diagnosed with food poisoning. He barely had the strength to get up out of bed, and the Bulls trainers told him there was no way he could play in Game 5. The Bulls would be at a distinct disadvantage without their leader, because the Jazz had just won two straight games to even the series, and whoever won Game 5 would be one win away from the championship. But he rose out of bed three hours before tip-off, determined to play. And after a listless first quarter in which the Jazz ran off to a 16-point lead, Michael led the team back to a 90-88 victory, finishing with 38 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block. And then his teammate Scottie Pippen [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|helped carry him off the court]].▼
* Nearly every losing sports team ever. It can't ''always'' be the referees' fault.▼
** In college football, a famous recent example would Colt McCoy at his last Rose Bowl Game. The momentum of the entire game reversed suddenly - all because McCoy got tackled by a nearly 400-pound man early in the game, taking him out of the game. It wasn't even an especially brutul hit, but the physics somehow left his arm with no sensation whatsoever. He didn't feel any pain and his arm hadn't suffered serious injury, but he couldn't feel the football contacting his palm and fingers and thus couldn't make accurate throws. Truly a bizarre moment in sports as a QB had never before been knocked out of an entire Super Bowl or BCS Title game before, much less on such an unusual injury.▼
** Two recent NBA examples: The Spurs in 2000 and the Celtics in 2009 were defending champions but late in the year lost their best player (Tim Duncan for the Spurs, Kevin Garnett for the Celtics) for the entire playoffs and suffered an early playoff exit to an otherwise inferior team.▼
** Oddly enough, at least in the US, defeats are always blamed on this while victories are credited to divine intervention. The reverse is almost never the case.▼
* This happens at the start of some ''[[Metroid]]'' sequels. Samus loses all of her equipment or has something happen, to justify the player having to collect what Samus had at the start of the game. Also, in ''[[Metroid Zero Mission]]'' there is a sequence at the end which embodies this trope. {{spoiler|Samus only has her emergency stun pistol and no equipment.}}
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Prototype (
* In ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]] Gaiden'', many people seems to come to term that Lamia Loveless was hit with this trope that she accidentally got hit by so many [[Distress Ball
* In ''[[
* The first Yellow Squadron member shot down in ''[[Ace Combat]] 4'', Yellow {{spoiler|Four}}, is revealed to have sortied with poorly-maintained engines.
** In ''Zero'' Gelb 2 mentions that his squad would often be sent from one mission to another without even any basic maintenance on their planes. The result is a slightly easier Ace fight.
* Given the power levels of many ''[[Touhou]]'' characters this trope is used by many fans to explain the defeat of certain characters, since everyone in Gensokyo is battling under the Spellcard system, and if they weren't [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum]], the fighting between magicians, time-stopper, ancient vampires, embodiments of death and afterlife, immortals, wielder of '''NUCLEAR POWER''', and assortments of gods would have wiped Gensokyo off the map. And Yukari would pretty much beat everyone.
* In ''[[Warriors Orochi]]'', this is how the Orochi beats the Tokugawa. They arrive and launched their attack on Edo castle just in time when [[Badass|Honda Tadakatsu]] is away scouting the area. Considering Tadakatsu is often considered ''[[Samurai Warriors]]''' [[Dynasty Warriors|Lu Bu]], the battle might have a different outcome if he is ever present.
* In ''[[Street Fighter]]'', [[Scary Black Man|Birdie]] uses this as the actual explanation for his loss against Ryu when they meet again in ''[[
* In ''[[
* Archer is possibly the most powerful character in ''[[Fate/stay
** '''''Fate'' route:''' At the start of the route Archer is [[Game
** '''''Unlimited Blade Works'' route:''' Archer spends most of his time trying to [[The Chessmaster|manipulate events]] rather than fighting (on the two occasions he ''does'' fight, his enemy runs away after one attack). After this, he is cut off from his source of mana and his power fades until he's only keeping his body together through sheer willpower.
** '''''Heaven's Feel'' route:''' Archer is wounded by Saber as in the Fate route, then is forced to fight in poor conditions and exposed to attacks which ignore his usual defences.
** Lancer gets this too in the ''Fate'' route. His only accomplishments were fighting Archer to a standstill and attempting an instant-kill attack on Saber which failed...until you realise that this was ''before'' Archer was injured, Lancer was ordered to scout his enemies rather than defeat them, and {{spoiler|it took the most powerful Servant in the story to kill him}}. He is notably more [[Badass]] in the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route.
** Then there's Rider having a limited mana supply and not wanting to obey her Master's commands until the ''Heaven's Feel'' route, and {{spoiler|Gilgamesh}} refusing to wear his armour against someone he viewed as an inferior opponent... really, this could be applied to most characters in the game at some point.
** In all routes, Saber starts out being improperly summoned by someone who can barely use magic, so she has an incomplete connection to his mana and therefore has to recharge herself very often with large amounts of sleep and food, even if she uses only a little bit of her power. This is exacerbated by the fact that she took a cursed, slow-healing stab close to the heart soon after being summoned. It also doesn't help that, due to worries that Shirou's lack of mage skill would leave him open to mind magics, she doesn't let him know her true identity and holds off on using her Noble Phantasm even more than any other Servant. And of course, her Master being unwilling to risk her life if he can avoid it and being unwilling to fight as ruthlessly as possible is a pretty hefty handicap for a Servant of the Grail War as well, even though she herself isn't really all that much more ruthless than he is (especially compared to all the non Rin and {{spoiler|Good Sakura}} Masters). The other Servants aren't pushovers by any stretch of the word, but as the two times she got a competent mage as a master showed, there is a REASON she's considered the strongest class.
** ''The'' [[Fate/stay
* Arcuied is operating far below her normal power in ''[[Tsukihime]]'', as she is still recovering from Shiki slicing her into pieces, and has to devote almost all her strength to suppressing her bloodlust. This is probably a good thing for the sake of the plot, though, as with access to her full abilities, she has [[Story
* During the [[Duel to
* Zeus pulls this on Kratos in ''[[God of War (
** The statue's outstretched hand slamming into Kratos while his back was turned didn't do him any favors either.
* In ''[[
** {{spoiler|Thane}}, however, get's the last laugh, as Kai's main mission was to assasinate someone else, which had failed because, as {{spoiler|Thane puts it, "he let a terminally ill drell stop him from completing his mark"}}
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In one ''[[
* In ''[[
** Durkon rationalises that the rain that prohibited the team from working effectively the first time they battled Miko was a divine sign that they weren't going to win this one. However, she did beat them a second time without the rain slowing the party down. Or he could've been trying to justify why he surrendered the first time and only healed the second time.
** Roy's comment, [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0251.html "Stupid railroad plot,"] lampshades this nicely.
* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Franz Scortchmaw, the Great Dragon of Mechanicsburg ("…you may have seen him on the town's arms"), the First And Most Dread of Dragons, was mostly sleeping for the last few decades. He was more than capable of defeating inferior monsters and vehicles of the invading forces, but when he met another dragon, it quickly became a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. When the other guy was about to finish him off, Agatha have remembered some things about Heterodyne designs, figured there's nothing to lose, and shot him with [[Lightning Gun|Gil's lightning stick]]. It turns out she guessed right, so after that it was a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] again, but this time with Franz beating up the invader.
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
▲== Web Original ==
* A version of this occurs in "Have Yourself a Monkey Little Christmas" in the [[Whateley Universe]]. Chaka is put in significant danger during a fight because she'd just had her ''hips broken and reset''! This is also a [[Chekhov's Gun]], as the need was stated around her first appearance! {{spoiler|She does in fact win the fight, thanks to Chou's healing abilities.}}
** Yet again, Fey's infamous fight against Mule is revealed to include a good bit of Flu. Fey fought her in an arena where she couldn't draw upon her powers. In fact, she was put in there ''specifically because'' the administration heard her say "But I can't do a fight in there! The Ley Lines are so tangled that I'll hardly be able to do anything!" Furthermore, her foe can absorb her magical abilities. What follows is a rather fun run-and-gun.
* In the second-to-last episode of ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'': ''Revelation'', it's revealed that Tex is destined to always fail at the last moment, because {{spoiler|she's based on the memory of the Director's lost love who died in combat, and the trauma of her death is an integral part of how the Director remembers her.}} This explains how, throughout the series, Tex always managed to get captured, killed, or knocked-out at a critical moment despite being the strongest character in the series.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* [[Word of God]] has this as something that came into play during the formation of the Book One ''[[
▲== Western Animation ==
** Similarly, Zuko is similarly handicapped by being unable to use any of his Firebending in his fight-to-a-draw against Jet in season Two. Doing so would have exposed his identity, especially after an earlier incident in the season where he'd shown his firebending in a fight to defend a town and was then [[What the Hell, Townspeople?|immediately thrown out of said town]], causing him to hold back with Jet.▼
▲* [[Word of God]] has this as something that came into play during the formation of the Book One ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' finale: Giving Zuko injuries from both his ship exploding, and some sort of cold-based sickness from his near drowning experience in icy water (not to mention powering up Katara with what is noted to be an ''especially'' water-bending-favoring full moon), made it much more likely for Zuko to initially struggle to victory against her (winning once the sun comes out), then losing his rematch under the light of the full moon. Furthermore, when the sun does rise, Zuko one-hit-KO's Katara. During the third round, it was night again, they were in a freakin' snow storm (plenty of water to bend) and Zuko was half-frozen to death. The next time Zuko and Katara had a real fight he more than holds his own against her.
** {{spoiler|This even applies in the [[Grand Finale]]. Although Zuko had gained insights into Firebending long lost to his people and was more emotionally centered than he had been in his life, it is likely that Azula's [[Villainous Breakdown|near-total psychological collapse]] was the only reason he was winning their [[Final Battle]]... [[Batman Gambit|and even at the end his attempt to out-think her]] nearly got him killed. To be fair, Zuko was originally supposed to fight Azula helped by Katara, and changed his mind at the last moment after noticing that Azula wasn't at 100%.}}▼
▲** Similarly, Zuko is similarly handicapped by being unable to use any of his Firebending in his fight-to-a-draw against Jet in season Two. Doing so would have exposed his identity, especially after an earlier incident in the season where he'd shown his firebending in a fight to defend a town and was then [[What the Hell Townspeople|immediately thrown out of said town]], causing him to hold back with Jet.
▲** {{spoiler|This even applies in the [[Grand Finale]]. Although Zuko had gained insights into Firebending long lost to his people and was more emotionally centered than he had been in his life, it is likely that Azula's [[Villainous Breakdown|near-total psychological collapse]] was the only reason he was winning their [[Final Battle]]...[[Batman Gambit|and even at the end his attempt to out-think her]] nearly got him killed. To be fair, Zuko was originally supposed to fight Azula helped by Katara, and changed his mind at the last moment after noticing that Azula wasn't at 100%.}}
* In ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', Dermot "[[Blatant Lies|claims]]" the only reason Dean beat him up in a [[Wimp Fight]] was because he was sick at the time. Did I mention throughout that entire episode Dermot "claimed" that his hands were registered as lethal weapons.
* ''[[Kung Fu Panda
* Happens in the second [[Season Finale]] ''[[My Little Pony:
** It's also noteworthy that Chrysalis' plan was ''not'' to fight Celestia head-to-head ''at all'' — the only reason she was doing so is because she'd gotten exposed as an impostor halfway through the wedding and was backed into a corner by an angry Princess who had been officiating at the ceremony.
** Season 4's finale provides even more context on this and another explanation. Judging by the size of the craters left behind in the struggle between Alicorn Twilight and Tirek,<ref>As in, 'you could have fit the entire town of Ponyville into one of those holes and had room enough left over for Canterlot Castle.'</ref> if Celestia had unleashed her full offense during this episode she'd have killed everypony else in the room. She not only had to face an opponent temporarily juiced-up on almost-alicorn levels of power, she had to do it with one hoof behind her back ''and'' struggling to keep the collateral splash of the battle from harming the completely unprotected civilians standing less than twenty feet away. In light of all that, its amazing Celestia managed even the showing she did.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
* The suggestion is often made that the French lost the battle of Waterloo only because Napoleon was ill with piles (or some other complaint).
** Maybe, although some people think the flanking manoeuvre by the Prussians played a big role as well.
** There's a [[Voltaire]] short story called ''Lord Chesterfield's Ears'' that's based on this sort of idea.
** The Battle of Borodino, the turning point toward a Russian repulsion of Napoleon's invasion, was lost (according to some historians) because "Napoleon had a cold." [[War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy]] says of this that that means "the adjutant who forgot to give Napoleon his waterproof boots [two days earlier] was the savior of Russia."
▲* Used as an excuse so many times, especially when it's a massive upset or a loss that is much more lopsided than anticipated. It may or may not involve home court/field/ice advantage and it frequently involves injury and/or fatigue.
▲* The New Zealand Rugby team was suffering from food poisoning at the final of the 1995 World Cup, to the point where they can be seen throwing up on the sidelines.
▲* A legend has Auburn University cadets greasing the rails before an opposing football team from Georgia Tech arrived, causing their train to slide past the station, and forcing the team to tire itself out walking back to the stadium.
▲* Averted in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, to this day thought of as "The Flu Game". According to The Other Wiki, [[Michael Jordan]] woke up the day before the game nauseated and sweating profusely. He was diagnosed with food poisoning. He barely had the strength to get up out of bed, and the Bulls trainers told him there was no way he could play in Game 5. The Bulls would be at a distinct disadvantage without their leader, because the Jazz had just won two straight games to even the series, and whoever won Game 5 would be one win away from the championship. But he rose out of bed three hours before tip-off, determined to play. And after a listless first quarter in which the Jazz ran off to a 16-point lead, Michael led the team back to a 90-88 victory, finishing with 38 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block. And then his teammate Scottie Pippen [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|helped carry him off the court]].
▲* Nearly every losing sports team ever. It can't ''always'' be the referees' fault.
▲** In college football, a famous recent example would Colt McCoy at his last Rose Bowl Game. The momentum of the entire game reversed suddenly - all because McCoy got tackled by a nearly 400-pound man early in the game, taking him out of the game. It wasn't even an especially brutul hit, but the physics somehow left his arm with no sensation whatsoever. He didn't feel any pain and his arm hadn't suffered serious injury, but he couldn't feel the football contacting his palm and fingers and thus couldn't make accurate throws. Truly a bizarre moment in sports as a QB had never before been knocked out of an entire Super Bowl or BCS Title game before, much less on such an unusual injury.
▲** Two recent NBA examples: The Spurs in 2000 and the Celtics in 2009 were defending champions but late in the year lost their best player (Tim Duncan for the Spurs, Kevin Garnett for the Celtics) for the entire playoffs and suffered an early playoff exit to an otherwise inferior team.
▲** Oddly enough, at least in the US, defeats are always blamed on this while victories are credited to divine intervention. The reverse is almost never the case.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fight Scene]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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