Worf Had the Flu: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

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 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.

 

{{examples}}

 

* 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.}}

** 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.

* In ''[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]'' the effect that causes the two universes to merge also evens out the power levels of the characters. Or else Liu Kang fighting Superman hand-to-hand would just be silly.

* Archer is possibly the most powerful character in ''[[Fate Stay Night]]'', but he is handicapped somehow in almost every fight he takes part in.

** '''''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.

** 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.

* During the [[Duel to The Death]] between {{spoiler|Cairne Bloodhoof and Garrosh Hellscream}} in the ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' novel ''[[The Shattering Prelude to Cataclysm]]'', {{spoiler|Cairne}} gets some good hits in on {{spoiler|Garrosh}}, but after taking a hit from his opponents weapon, which unbeknownst to either of them, was poisoned, slows down long enough to take a fatal hit to the neck.

* Zeus pulls this on Kratos in ''[[God of War (Video Game)|God of War]] 2'' by tricking him into using a magic sword to defeat a giant statue at the start of the game. However Kratos had to deplete all his energy in doing so making him easy pickings for Zeus to kill him. As the end of the game shows though, Kratos at full power is more then a match for Zeus.

[[Category:Fight Scene]]

[[Category:Worf Had The Flu]]