History Main / FirstTimeFeeling

See also SenseFreak and SensoryOverload. The opposite of SenseLossSadness, though stories using the latter sometimes end with a scene featuring this trope, which is also the case for stories dealing with TragicIntangibility.

* In ''ComicBook/SupremePower'', a Marvel takeoff of the DC Universe, Hyperion, (the local SupermanSubstitute) feels pain for the first time while fighting Doc Spectrum (their version of ComicBook/GreenLantern). Hyperion, whose senses and biology render him immune or unable to be stimulated by almost anything on Earth, appears thrilled by this and immediately demands that Spectrum do it again. Spectrum is [[OhCrap understandably weirded out]] by this and promptly runs away from the fight.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27552703/chapters/74788854#workskin Hysterical]]'': Aizawa erasing Izuku's Quirk causes him to become capable of feeling pain for the first time in a decade. As Izuku currently has four broken limbs, he immediately collapses in agony, screaming at the top of his lungs. Once Aizawa reflexively turns off his Quirk, Izuku describes the sensation as a major rush before deciding he doesn't like it.

* In ''Fanfic/TheWeaverOption'', Necrons lost all sense of pain millions of years ago as a result of their bio-transference. When Taylor strikes Phaeron Djosakhat with an Anathema-powered blow, the resulting psychic wound causes him to feel pain again. This proves debilitating as the Phaeron cannot focus on anything except the pain he is feeling until it is far too late to save the battle.

* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/TheTalesOfAlvinMaker'' series, a large violent man named Mike Fink was tattooed shortly after his birth with a hex that made him invincible. After the hex is broken, he is completely incapacitated by the pain from a single blow, as he has never felt pain before.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks "Evolution of the Daleks"]], Dalek Sec becomes a human-Dalek hybrid and gets to experience life outside his travel machine. He specifically notes that he's the first of his kind in millennia to feel physical pain.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'' had one supervillain mook who claimed to have both impenetrable skin and claws that could cut through anything. Halo used her light-hook to drive his claws into his own shoulder and he [[http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1331 fainted]] at the sight of his own blood.
* ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'': Lee is a clone soldier who was designed not to feel pain. When an opposing faction captured and recruited him, they gave him some SuperSoldier implants that fixed that feature; he spent the day inflicting pain on himself and testing his new HealingFactor.
[[/folder]]

* Another "pain" example in ''WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot'', when Rusty is upgraded with alien technology that allows him to actually feel things instead of just detecting them. But the next time he enters battle and takes damage, he starts to say "No pain receptor--" then cries out in agony. He becomes terrified of getting hurt until he finds a way to rid himself of the alien tech.
* According to WordOfGod, the reason why [[spoiler:Eddy's Brother]] in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' went down when [[spoiler:[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Ed caused his front door to slam into him]]]] is because that he had spent his entire life dishing pain out but never experiencing it himself. As such, he felt greater pain than one normally would in that situation.

* Shows up in ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' when [=XJ9=], annoyed at her inability to physically feel, reinstalls some old nerve receptors, the pain setting of which makes her unable to fight Himcules, a VillainOfTheWeek who literally draws strength from hurting people. The problem gets solved when the setting gets changed from "pain" to "tickle," and [[WeaksauceWeakness Jenny laughs at him until his strength drains]].

* According to WordOfGod, the reason [[spoiler:Eddy's Brother]] in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' went down when [[spoiler:[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Ed caused his front door to slam into him]]]] is because that he had spent his entire life dishing pain out but never experiencing it himself. As such, he felt greater pain than one normally would in that situation.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "One If By Clam, Two If By Sea", Peter and his friends get what amounts to a LastMinuteReprieve from their {{frameup}} minutes before Steve Bellows (the SerialKiller put away years ago by the force Joe was on) gets to make good on his threat to kill them in retribution. Left to his own devices, he cuts his arm to see how it feels. Realizing the pain, he happens on the [[HeelRealization revelation]] that he really does deserve to be locked up.
* On one of the [[WhatIf "Tales of Interest"]] episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Bender is turned human and is so overwhelmed by taste that he starts overeating and soon becomes morbidly obese.
** Another episode lampshades this (and gender stereotypes) when an alien accidentally [[GenderBender sex-changes]] the entire crew, plus some passengers and Hermes's wife. At one point the female Hermes turns to her now-husband and mentions "Did you know there's more than two emotions!?"

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': The plot of "No Nose Knows." Since he [[TheNoseless has no nose]], Patrick has no sense of smell and wants to experience it, so he undergoes [[MagicPlasticSurgery plastic surgery]] to get one. He initially enjoys it... but things go downhill when he's overwhelmed by bad smells.

* ''Fanfic/AllAssortedAnimorphsAUs'': In "What if Marco was Deaf?", Marco hears for the first time when starts morphing. The first time he hears his mother's voice, it's on the Mother Ship while he's a gorilla — but it's Visser One talking through her.

%% * This effect is a major plot point in ''Literature/TheGiver''.

* ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'': Lee is a clone who was designed not to feel pain when he later obtained some SuperSoldier implants that fixed that feature he spent the day inflicting pain on himself and testing his new HealingFactor.

* Another "pain" example in ''WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot'', when Rusty is upgraded with alien technology that allows him to actually feel things instead of just detecting them. But the next time he enters battle and takes damage, he starts to say [[CatchPhrase "No pain receptor--"]] then cries out in agony. He becomes terrified of getting hurt until he finds a way to rid himself of the alien tech.

* In ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', Kyon discovers that EmotionlessGirl Yuki Nagato [[spoiler: set the whole plot in motion by developing emotions and, unable to deal with them, stole Haruhi's powers and remade the world]]. Kyon even reflects that the fact that she was designed without emotions made her reaction to developing them that much greater.

* Asagami Fujino of ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' has [[FeelNoPain no sense of pain]] thanks to being medicated since she was a small child to seal her psychic powers. She first gets it back in fits after she's hit with a baseball bat by a group of thugs who had just raped her, and proceeds to [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge kill all but one of them]] because the pain makes her feel both more alive and murderous.

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', the psychological damage of his betrayal and branding as a rapist causes Naofumi to lose his sense of taste. After Raphtalia manages to pull him back from the brink, he's shocked and delighted to finally be able to taste again.
* In ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'', the Adventurers are miserable after the translation in part because everything they try to eat has the consistency and flavor of soggy crackers. When a stand opens selling food that actually tastes like something, people burst into tears while devouring their meals.

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] example: After being kept in a small tower all her life, Rapunzel from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' is initially exhilarated by the feeling of grass on her bare feet, the scent of dirt, and other sensations that most of us would take for granted.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''. When Data's emotion chip is first installed, he experiences emotions more strongly than the humans around him. Eventually, the chip overloads and his emotions become so intense that he collapses.

* When Q is temporarily BroughtDownToNormal in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. He finds falling asleep terrifying, gets stabbed with a fork by Guinan, discovers he "can stub my toe with the best of them", and...
-->'''Q:''' ''(while discussing a plan to push a moon back into orbit)'' This is incredible.\\

'''Q:''' I think I just hurt my back. I'm feeling pain...I don't like it. Uh, what's the right thing to say, 'ow'?
* In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', the Doctor's program is hidden in Seven, and he's overwhelmed by the taste of cheesecake.

** Aximili is an Andalite, an alien species with no sense of smell or taste (they have no mouths, and eat by absorbing nutrients through their hooves). When he first morphs into a human, his reaction to eating human food is excessively enthusiastic. He remains something of a food junkie through the series, and ''cigarette butts'' become one of his favorite snacks.

There is some TruthInTelevision, as recent studies have shown that formerly blind people who have their sight restored are often unable to process what they see for a long time, and will prefer to continue relying on their senses they used while blind.

* In the third season of ''Series/ReGenesis'', a treatment undergone by high functioning autistic Bob Melnikov to save his eyesight has the unexpected side effect of increasing his empathic abilities well past neurotypical levels to the point where he's almost TheEmpath. The emotions are so overwhelming that at one point he freaks out and has a breakdown while walking down the street.

-->'''Captain Hammer''': I'm in pain... I think this is what pain feels like! Oh mama! Someone maternal!

* ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'': One arc features the release of an extremely dangerous former Doctor, a sociopath who immediately double-crosses the team. Unfortunately for him, when he takes back the Doctor's powers it comes with a big helping of empathy with everyone he's ever hurt, reducing him to a crying wreck and unceremoniously eye-beamed into oblivion.

* Vegeta gets hit with this in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' after Trunks stands up to him for the first time.
-->'''Vegeta:''' Huh. This is a new feeling: Pride in someone else. ''[[{{Beat}} *beat*]]'' Unfortunately it's overshadowed by all this '''UNYIELDING RAGE!'''
* In ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia'', Izuku was born a Moon Child who could not produce an Aura or a Semblance. He instantly starts sobbing TearsOfJoy when he produces an Aura for the first time after receiving One For All, as it means that his long-impossible dream of becoming a Huntsman can finally become a reality. Many of the early chapters of the story cover his reactions to living with his new Aura, like his giddiness over realizing that he's totally unharmed after falling flat on his face, his excitement over how fast and strong he feels now, and his appreciation for how his Aura keeps him from getting gutted by Beowolves.

* Shows up in ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' when [=XJ9=], annoyed at her inability to physically feel, reinstalls some old nerve receptors, the pain setting of which makes her unable to fight Himcules, a VillainOfTheWeek who literally draws strength from hurting people. The problem gets solved when the setting gets changed from "pain" to "tickle," and [[WeaksauceWeakness Jenny laughs at him until his strength drains]].

* According to WordOfGod, the reason [[spoiler:Eddy's Brother]] in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' went down when [[spoiler:[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Ed caused his front door to slam into him]]]] is because that he had spent his entire life dishing pain out but never experiencing it himself. As such, he felt greater pain than one normally would in that situation.

In real life, people will sometimes lose or are born without a certain sense. Fiction will take this a step further, giving characters [[TheSpock little to]] [[EmotionlessGirl no emotions]] whatsoever. Regardless of what exactly they cannot feel if such a character suddenly gains whatever sense or emotion they were missing, they are often overwhelmed by it. Depending on the feeling, the character can experience incredible pain, confusion, an InUniverseCatharsis, or even GoMadFromTheRevelation.

Contrast with IsThisWhatAngerFeelsLike, where a character experiences a certain emotion that they usually don't and NotSoStoic, where a seemingly serious person was actually just bottling their emotions up. Can overlap with WhatIsThisFeeling and WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': While he didn't gain new new senses, Peter Parker has to deal with SensoryOverload when he gets his current ones expanded and nearly goes insane before figuring out how to rein in his supersenses.

** Aximili is an Andalite, an alien species with no sense of smell or taste (they have no mouths, and eat by absorbing nutrient through their hooves). When he first morphs into a human, his reaction to eating human food is excessively enthusiastic. He remains something of a food junkie through the series, and ''cigarette butts'' become one of his favorite snacks.

* In ''[[Literature/ArtemisFowl Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox]]'', villain Damon Kronski was born unable smell anything. So when Holly restores his sense in a particularly foul-smelling Souk, he is left writhing on the floor, clawing at his nose.

* It's not that the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Kantri]] of ''Literature/TalesOfKolmar'' don't have a sense of touch, but their impressively thick hides and clumsy clawed hands do insulate them quite a bit from the world to the point that when one becomes human he's shocked and astounded by how much he can feel on his new skin, right down to slight puffs of air moving across his hands. Three months later he still stops "a hundred times a day" to marvel in the sensation.

* In ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', Gob and Tony Wonder discover that they aren't so different, and as a result they both experience a feeling of genuine friendship for the first time in their lives. But since they never have felt this before, they assume that their feelings are romantic in nature.

See also SenseFreak and SensoryOverload. The opposite of SenseLossSadness.

* In ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', Gob and Tony Wonder discover that they are NotSoDifferent, and as a result they both experience a feeling of genuine friendship for the first time in their lives. But since they never have felt this before, they assume that their feelings are romantic in nature.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "One If By Clam, Two If By Sea", Peter and his friends get what amounts to a LastMinuteReprieve from their {{frameup}} minutes before Steve Bellows, the SerialKiller put away years ago by the force Joe was on, gets to make good on his threat to kill them in retribution. Left to his own devices, he cuts his arm to see how it feels. Realizing the pain, he happens on the revelation that he really does deserve to be locked up.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': In "Nothing To Sneeze At", Bev Bighead accidentally gets plastic surgery that gives her a nose. She's delighted to enjoy smell for the first time, but she's also horrified to discover that her husband Ed has a terrible B.O. problem.

** The Taxxons suffer from HorrorHunger that makes them eat anything that looks dead or helpless (including, but not limited to, their enemies, their allies, fellow Taxxons, [[{{Autocannibalism}} the half of a bisected Taxxon that doesn't have a mouth at the end...]]), a hunger so strong even the Yeerk controlling the Taxxon's brain is powerless to stop (and as it turns out, are sentient enough to desperately want the hunger to ''end''). In the epilogue, it's revealed that many of them have gone through voluntary ModeLock as huge snakes like boas and pythons, animals who don't only need to eat a few big meals.