History Main / FakeArmDisarm

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/automail_break.png]]]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', when Darth Vader [[IShallTauntYou goads Luke into revealing himself]] in the Emperor's throne room, he is unprepared for the [[UnstoppableRage sheer ferocity]] of Luke's assault and loses his hand for his trouble. Luke is left staring at the burnt wires and metal of the cowering Vader's wrist and,[[NotSoDifferentRemark recalling his own prosthetic hand]], realise that [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim his rage is pushing him down the same path Vader took]].

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Joey accidentally throws the prosthetic leg of a woman he is dating into a fireplace when he thinks it is a log.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'': Bucky, aka the Winter Soldier, attempts to rip Iron Man's arc reactor out using his metal arm. Unfortunately for him, Iron Man fires a beam out of said reactor that promptly disintegrates said arm.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', when Darth Vader [[IShallTauntYou goads Luke into revealing himself]] in the Emperor's throne room, he is unprepared for the [[UnstoppableRage sheer ferocity]] of Luke's assault and loses his hand for his trouble. Luke is left staring at the burnt wires and metal of the cowering Vader's wrist and, recalling [[NotSoDifferent his own prosthetic hand]], realise that [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim his rage is pushing him down the same path Vader took]].

* Happens a couple times to Joeseph Joestar in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders''. His prosthetic hand gets destroyed in the fight against the Empress stand, then sliced off at the start of the High Priestess fight.

* Inverted in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', as Guts' metal arm is far hardier than his flesh-and-blood one, and [[MadeOfIron neither takes any lasting damage]] (on one occasion his real arm is pierced by the monstered-out Rosine's needle-like rostrum, but is stopped by his metal arm).
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Edward’s automail arm is destroyed or heavily damaged on five separate occasions. It is destroyed by Scar; it malfunctions while Ed fights Lust and Envy due to a missing screw from Winry’s rushed repairs; it is damaged and used as bait during his fight with Lan Fan; it is unable to function in the North due to the cold; and it is destroyed by Father [[spoiler:after which he gets his real arm back.]] It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to his tendency to parry attacks (and only parry attacks) with that arm, since it's so much more durable than his flesh-and-blood one. To say nothing of it being more replaceable, as Ed well knows. Losing his automail arm is an annoying inconvenience, but losing his flesh-and-blood arm would put him out of action for a year or more (as was the case when he lost his other arm and had to get it replaced with a prosthetic before the start of the story).

* In the ''[[VideoGame/TouhouProject Oriental and Sacred Place]]'' manga, Kasen tries to touch one of Reimu's Yin-Yang Orbs with her bandaged arm. Merely touching its surface destroyed her fake arm, revealing there's nothing beneath the bandages but black mist.

This character has ArtificialLimbs, ElectronicEyes or other prostheses, and while he doesn't have to be a full {{Cyborg}} — the rest of him can just be squishy human flesh — what he does have is far stronger, more durable and just plain better than his former body part. There's only one problem: it keeps getting wrecked. Enemies shoot like there's a bullseye on it, falling rocks gravitate towards it and it falls off at the drop of a hat like the character is some SteamPunk leper. Meanwhile, his natural appendages never suffer more than flesh wounds, despite being made of far less hardy stuff.

On the other hand, the character can also [[InvokedTrope Invoke]] the trope in order to protect his less replaceable limbs by [[OutfitDecoy leaving the prosthesis behind as a decoy]] while he escapes. May also come in handy during a LifeOrLimbDecision.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Edward’s automail arm is destroyed or heavily damaged on five separate occasions. It is destroyed by Scar; it malfunctions while Ed fights Lust and Envy due to a missing screw from Winry’s rushed repairs; it is damaged and used as bait during his fight with Lan Fan; it is unable to function in the North due to the cold; and it is destroyed by Father [[spoiler:after which he gets his real arm back.]] It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to his tendency to parry attacks (and only parry attacks) with that arm, since it's so much more durable than his flesh-and-blood one. To say nothing of it being more replaceable, as Ed well knows. Losing his auotmail arm is an annoying inconvenience, but losing his flesh-and-blood arm would put him out of action for a year or more (as was the case when he lost his other arm and had to get it replaced with a prosthetic before the start of the story).

* Happens in part one of ''Literature/KaraNoKyoukai'': Shiki's arm is mutilated by the poltergeist but is revealed to be a prosthetic made by Touko. Because of the story's AnachronicOrder, we learn how she got the prosthetic in later installments.

* In the ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Oriental and Sacred Place]]'' manga, Kasen tries to touch one of Reimu's Yin-Yang Orbs with her bandaged arm. Merely touching its surface destroyed her fake arm, revealing there's nothing beneath the bandages but black mist.

* In the first ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'' movie, Shiki's left arm gets possessed and she ends up cutting it off, revealing it to be artificial. In the [[AnachronicOrder third movie]] we see how she got it.

This character has ArtificialLimbs, ElectronicEyes or other prostheses, and while he doesn't have to be a full {{Cyborg}} -- the rest of him can just be squishy human flesh -- what he does have is far stronger, more durable and just plain better than his former body part. There's only one problem: it keeps getting wrecked. Enemies shoot like there's a bullseye on it, falling rocks gravitate towards it and it falls off at the drop of a hat like the character is some SteamPunk leper. Meanwhile, his natural appendages never suffer more than flesh wounds, despite being made of far less hardy stuff.

[[folder:Film]]
* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in ''Film/IRobot'', where [[spoiler:Spooner’s]] robotic arm doesn’t get hurt aside from superficial damage to its artificial “flesh,” which is easier to replace than biological skin grafts would have been. However TheReveal of it being robotic is used for InUniverse DramaticIrony.
* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. Furiosa's mechanical arm gets forcibly yanked off a couple of times, and she's in visible pain as a result.

* ''Film/SpyHard'': BigBad General Rancor has two robotic limbs with various weapons. During the climactic battle with Dick Steele, he looses both and is forced to flee from Steele.

* In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', when Darth Vader [[IShallTauntYou goads Luke into revealing himself]] in the Emperor's throne room, he is unprepared for the [[UnstoppableRage sheer ferocity]] of Luke's assault and loses his hand for his trouble. Luke is left staring at the burnt wires and metal of the cowering Vader's wrist and, recalling [[NotSoDifferent his own prosthetic hand]], realise that [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim his rage is pushing him down the same path Vader took]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/RoughnecksStarshipTroopersChronicles'', Lt. Raczak’s prosthetic arm is torn off several times and is once dipped in acid.
* In ''Disney/TreasurePlanet'', Jim stabs and impairs Silver’s mechanical leg. Silver is next seen using his mechanical arm as a crutch, in a nod to the 1950 version of ''Film/{{Treasure Island|1950}}''.

** In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', when [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Anakin fights with Dooku in a dining room on Naboo as Palpatine looks on]], at one point, Dooku sends several pieces of silverware and cutlery flying at him with the force. Two forks end up lodged in his mechanical hand, which he promptly removes with an audible electrical sound.
* In the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "WesternAnimation/BunnyHugged", The Crusher offers Bugs a handshake after the match. Despite the audience's warnings, Bugs shakes his hand back, only for the Crusher to grab the arm and bite it. Bugs being one step ahead, he actually gave Crusher a dynamite stick with a glove, which blows up in his face.
* In the WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse short "Mickey's Rival", Mortimer Mouse shakes hands with Mickey with a fake hand as a prank. It comes off in Mickey's hand, and for additional humiliation, the hand is spring loaded, punching him in the face.

[[folder:Wrestling]]
* One-legged wrestler Zack Gowen made his Wrestling/{{WWE}} debut as a fan whom a {{Heel}} wrestler pulled into the ring and tried to give a leglock: Gowen's leg came off!
[[/folder]]

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Edward’s arm is destroyed or heavily damaged on five separate occasions. It is destroyed by Scar; it malfunctions while Ed fights Lust and Envy due to a missing screw from Winry’s rushed repairs; it is damaged and used as bait during his fight with Lan Fan; it is unable to function in the North due to the cold; and it is destroyed by Father [[spoiler:after which he gets his real arm back.]] It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to his tendency to parry attacks (and only parry attacks) with that arm, since it's so much more durable than his flesh-and-blood one. To say nothing of it being more replaceable, as Ed well knows. Losing his auotmail arm is an annoying inconvenience, but losing his flesh-and-blood arm would put him out of action for a year or more (as was the case when he lost his other arm and had to get it replaced with a prosthetic before the start of the story).

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_automail_wrecked_5920.png]]]]

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Edward’s arm is destroyed or heavily damaged on five separate occasions. It is destroyed by Scar; it malfunctions while Ed fights Lust and Envy due to a missing screw from Winry’s rushed repairs; it is damaged and used as bait during his fight with Lan Fan; it is unable to function in the North due to the cold; and it is destroyed by Father [[spoiler:after which he gets his real arm back.]] It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to his tendency to parry attacks (and only parry attacks) with that arm, since it's so much more durable than his flesh-and-blood one. To say nothing of it being more replaceable, as Ed well knows. Losing his auotmail arm is an annoying inconvenience, but losing his flesh-and-blood arm would've put him out of action for a year or more (as was the case when he lost his other arm and had to get it replaced with a prosthetic at the start of the story).

* In ''WesternAnimation/RoughnecksStarshipTroopersChronicles'' Lt. Raczak's prosthetic arm was torn off several times and once got dipped in acid.

* Happens a couple times to Joeseph Joestar in ''JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders''. His prosthetic hand gets destroyed in the fight against the Empress stand, then sliced off at the start of the High Priestess fight.

This character has ArtificialLimbs, an ElectronicEye or other prostheses, and while he doesn't have to be a full {{Cyborg}} -- the rest of him can just be squishy human flesh -- what he does have is far stronger, more durable and just plain better than his former body part. There's only one problem: it keeps getting wrecked. Enemies shoot like there's a bullseye on it, falling rocks gravitate towards it and it falls off at the drop of a hat like the character is some SteamPunk leper. Meanwhile, his natural appendages never suffer more than flesh wounds, despite being made of far less hardy stuff.

This character has an ArtificialLimb, ElectronicEye or other prosthesis, and while he doesn't have to be a full {{Cyborg}} -- the rest of him can just be squishy human flesh -- what he does have is far stronger, more durable and just plain better than his former body part. There's only one problem: it keeps getting wrecked. Enemies shoot like there's a bullseye on it, falling rocks gravitate towards it and it falls off at the drop of a hat like the character is some SteamPunk leper. Meanwhile, his natural appendages never suffer more than flesh wounds, despite being made of far less hardy stuff.

Frequently [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as realistic prostheses are usually weaker than the body parts they replace and detachable, making them easy to lose. Also, the strength of an ArtificialLimb could make a character be more reckless with it, as dumber ones might not realize that if they tried lifting something really heavy with said fake arm without reinforcing practically every other part of the body the prosthetic would be ripped out. And a [[ArmCannon weaponized]] [[BladeBelowTheShoulder prosthesis]] would be an obvious target for enemies.

May follow an IWillTearYourArmsOff threat. Compare to the bloodier AnArmAndALeg. For a list of tropes that are prone to these, see [[ArtificialLimb Artificial Limbs]] and AnatomyArsenal.