History Main / GoodProstheticEvilProsthetic

** The Volume 3 finale sees both Yang and Cinder lose an arm which is replaced in Volume 4 by General Ironwood and Salem respectively. Yang chooses to paint her prosthetic in her signature colour scheme (yellow with black accents), incorporating it into her asymmetrical fashion style and therefore displaying it openly. Cinder hides her prosthetic behind an overlong sleeve which allows her to use her new arm as a surprise attack: her new limb is a Grimm arm that is capable of stretching well beyond its normal range. It also enables her to easily steal the power of other Maidens, absorbing it as her victim dies in agony.

Heroic types usually try to make their arms and legs look similar to their original ones. If they could not put artificial skin of some kind on it, they at least try to make it look as unrobotic and nonthreatening as possible. Bad guys on the other hand try to make their robot arms and legs as bulky and obvious as possible, showing it off to show that they will [=NOT=] be a victim again, not unlike how one would brandish a gun in their belt to intimidate. At times they could even see their ''non''-robotic components as a weakness, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul losing more and more of their humanity as they replace their bodies with soulless tech]]. Some really nasty types have artificial limbs with [[ArmCannon permanently-installed weaponry]].

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[[caption-width-right:350:Top: LifeOrLimbDecision.\\
Bottom: CyberneticsEatYourSoul.]]

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* Played straight in the original ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003''. Good guys like Edward and Paninya have streamlined [[ArtificialLimbs automail]] which mimics the proportions of normal human limbs to the point that it can pass for the real thing provided the character is wearing long sleeves/pants and gloves/shoes. Antagonists, such as [[spoiler:Frank Archer]] or the train bandit, have bulkier automail which is heavily weaponized and impossible to hide. The [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist original manga and Brotherhood]] avert this by including heroic characters like [[spoiler:Lan-Fan]] and Buccaneer whose automail limbs are clearly built for combat.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' franchise, artificial limbs are a recurring element among the vikings of the Barbaric Archipelago. Due to a harsh environment, savage dragons, and even more savage vikings, loss of limb is rather commonplace.

** The EvilCounterpart to this can be seen in the antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' Drago Bludvist. He lost his arm at a young age seeing his whole village destroyed by dragons. He manages to hide the stump with a false arm and is generally a bastard.

* [=UrTih=] the Alchemist and his skeksis counterpart [=SkekTek=] the Scientist from ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' both possess prosthetic arms and legs. [=UrTih=] wields a right arm and leg carved from wood, while [=SkekTek=] had robotic prosthetics. [[spoiler:Because the two were once a single entity, they both probably lost their limbs [[{{Synchronization}} at the same time]]. What's even more disturbing, it is mentioned that [=SkekTek=] ''did it to himself'' out of a mix of scientific curiosity and sadomasochism, with [=UrTih=] just sitting there taking it [[FridgeHorror as his limbs fell off bleeding without rhyme or reason]].]]
* [[{{Deuteragonist}} Imperator Furiosa]] in ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' possesses a make-shift DieselPunk left arm that she is more than capable of functioning without. This is in contrast to TheAntagonist Immortan Joe, a DarkLordOnLifeSupport kept alive through a breathing apparatus designed to look like a menacing skull mask that gives him VaderBreath.
* ''Film/InspectorGadget1999'': Gadget has an entire cybernetic body stuffed with all manner of bells and whistles, yet it's otherwise indistinguishable from the human form. Meanwhile, Claw is mostly human but has replaced his left hand with a [[StealthPun sinister]], ferocious-looking, stainless-steel [[HookHand pincer]] that's as much a weapon as an appendage. While Claw has more realistic-looking prosthetic hands that he wears in public before being outed as a criminal, he still favors the pincer, and in the [[Film/InspectorGadget2 sequel]], he wears it exclusively.

** And then there's Commissar Yarrick, a human with a proportionally [[PowerPincers massive Orkish prosthetic arm]]... a prosthetic arm he ripped from the corpse of the Ork who'd just chopped off his own arm. He also has a human-made laser-shooting bionic eye, which he obtained after learning the Orks thought he could kill with a glance.
* This trope is present InUniverse in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': Obvious cybernetic limbs, especially if they're not covered in appropriate clothing, tend to be viewed with suspicion (or at least as ''gauche'') in polite company and reduce your social skill rolls because people think you're up to no good. Lifelike-looking cybernetic limbs (designed to look like a natural limb for the wearer) do not suffer this penalty, but are more expensive and have less internal space for useful (and illegal) modifications. Depending on the character's role in the CaperCrew, subtle cybernetics may be the way to go.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' is chock full of examples played straight and otherwise. Of the characters with confirmed prosthetic limbs, we have:
** Doomfist, a [=mercenary/terrorist=] whose primary weapon is the massive gauntlet that he wears over his right arm; both his arms are themselves quite intimidating prosthetics. Doomfist is one of the few confirmed antagonists in the game, and his gauntlet is twice as large as his left arm, decked out with spiked knuckles, and features a prominent set of horns on the shoulder.
** Genji, a former yakuza and current CyberNinja under the employ of Overwatch whose injuries were so severe that 3/4 of his limbs and most of his torso had to be rebuilt with cybernetic prostheses. Genji is a rogue operator, but ultimately he strives to atone for his past actions. While undoubtedly mechanical looking, his body maintains basic humanoid proportions. Notably, in the Uprising comic (and the skin which was unlockable in the event) his cybernetic parts are RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver, much more angular, and expose a lot more wiring and bare skin. It's made clear that at the time he was still working for [[MoleInCharge Blackwatch]], and had yet to find the peace he has in the present.

* The members of Team Star Fox in the ''Franchise/StarFox'' series all possess identical metal prosthetics to better endure the G-force their line of work entails [[note]]Though this was just a gaff thought up by the developers justifying the design choice to give them [[HumanlikeFootAnatomy human-like legs]], the g-force explanation disproved by various fans of the series[[/note]]. In contrast, many of the bad guys possess artificial body parts varying in variety. Andross survives his battle in ''VideoGame/StarFox1'' and reappears with a false eye in ''VideoGame/StarFox2''. General Scales from ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' possesses a primitive two-hooked false hand. Fox's rival Wolf O'Donnell has worn an eye patch through most of the series, upgrading to a technological false eye by ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault''.
* ''Videogame/BlazBlue'': Played with by the hero, Ragna the Bloodedge. The man isn't all that heroic at first, merely going against TheEmpire because one higher-up in its army pissed him off (that, and his master Jubei and benefactor of sorts Rachel guided him). He's got an artificial arm as he lost the original one to his brother back when they were still children. The new arm he gets, called Azure Grimoire, is nasty: it's permanently black-colored, has a few red veins running on it, and it gives him the power to [[SoulEating steal people's souls]]. Oh, and [[spoiler:the Azure Grimoire is made from the corpse of an EldritchAbomination that destroyed civilization almost a century ago]]. Due to the events of the games (especially comes the third game), however, he slowly and surely becomes a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who finds a new purpose in life. His prosthetic doesn't change any, though.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'': High Commander Ravus Nox Fleuret of the Niflheim Empire has had his left arm replaced by a metallic prosthetic that looks like the gauntlet of a TinTyrant's armour suit. ''[[Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV Kingsglaive]]'' and ''[[DownloadableContent Episode Ignis]]'' reveal that [[spoiler:he was present during the false-treaty betrayal in Insomnia. When King Regis was killed, Ravus picked up the [[McGuffin Ring of the Lucii]] and slipped it onto his finger, believing that he was [[TheChosenOne the one destined to cleanse the Starscourge]]. The Ring, carrying the souls of past Kings of Lucis, deemed him unworthy of Lucian power and [[BodyHorror incinerated his arm]].]]

** General Ironwood uses clothing to completely hide the prosthetic right half of his body, even when it means wearing one hand gloved and one hand ungloved, and he only uses his prosthetic arm in battle against the Grimm where its great physical strength allows him to fight without weapons. [[spoiler: His turn as a villain sees him gaining a new prosthetic to replace his injured left arm. This one is notably less refined and human than the right one, black metal with exposed mechanisms. While he continues wearing a glove on the right hand, he rolls up the sleeve on the new left arm and frequently uses it to commit acts of violence]].

* In ''Webcomic/KiwiBlitz'', villain Gear has a chainsaw-like object as her left arm. So far, she is generally unsympathetic. Good guys [[spoiler:Steffi and Reed both have prosthetic limbs, but they mostly serve as non-weapons and they lost their body parts trying to save others.]]

** Yuri loses all four of her limbs and takes the opportunity to become fully {{transhuman}}. She upgrades her prosthetics multiple times during the comic. As she lets bloodlust and post-traumatic stress take over, her prosthetics become increasingly inhuman--for example, giving herself the body of a giant spider or mantis. Near the end, she crosses the BishonenLine, and her most powerful form looks human again.

* The members of Team Star Fox in the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' all possess identical metal prosthetics to better endure the G-force their line of work entails [[note]]Though this was just a gaff thought up by the developers justifying the design choice to give them [[HumanlikeFootAnatomy human-like legs]], the g-force explanation disproved by various fans of the series[[/note]]. In contrast, many of the bad guys possess artificial body parts varying in variety. Andross survives his battle in ''VideoGame/StarFox1'' and reappears with a false eye in ''VideoGame/StarFox2''. General Scales from ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' possesses a primitive two-hooked false hand. Fox's rival Wolf O'Donnell has worn an eye patch through most of the series, upgrading to a technological false eye by ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault''.

* Cyberware is ubiquitous in the universe of ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077''. While many people in Night City have some form of cyberware, those who have visibly gone whole hog with it, such as members of Maelstrom and Arasaka's Adam Smasher, are viewed in-verse as Cyberpsychos, and cyborgs who go on rampages tend to have MaxTac, the police division charged with dealing with cyberpsychos, called in to deal with them. While V can get cybered to the gills in-game, most of their enhancements tend toward subtle and largely internal cyberware.

-->''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV [[DownloadableContent Episode Ignis]]''

[-[[caption-width-right:350:Top: LifeOrLimbDecision.\\
Bottom: CyberneticsEatYourSoul.]]-]

[-[[caption-width-right:350:Top: LifeOrLimbDecision. Bottom: CyberneticsEatYourSoul.]]-]

* ''Film/InspectorGadget'': Gadget has an entire cybernetic body stuffed with all manner of bells and whistles, yet it's otherwise indistinguishable from the human form. Meanwhile, Claw is mostly human but has replaced his left hand with a [[StealthPun sinister]], ferocious-looking, stainless-steel pincer that's as much a weapon as an appendage. While Claw has more realistic-looking prosthetic hands that he wore in public before he was outed as a criminal, he still favored the pincer and in the [[Film/InspectorGadget2 sequel]], he wears it exclusively.

* [[{{Cyborg}} Augmentations]] in the ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' series run the gamut from barely noticeable to [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul barely human]], but the good guys tend towards the subtle. For example, Adam Jensen of ''[[VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution Human Revolution]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided Mankind Divided]]'' has all four of his limbs replaced, but his BadassLongcoat is custom-tailored to conceal his augments and allow them to operate without taking it off. His co-worker and pilot, [[AcePilot Faridah Malik,]] only has neural augmentations and looks entirely normal on the outside. You may never even realize she's an augment unless it comes up in conversation (like if you [[NoSell try to use the CASIE mod on her]]) or [[spoiler: you find her corpse on a harvester's scrap table if you fail to save her.]] [[TheDragon Jaron Namir]], on the other hand, has full-body augmentations that make him look [[EvilIsVisceral like a cadaver with no skin below the neck.]]
** In the first game, JC even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this trope when confronting Walton Simons, a fellow nano-Aug who got the ugly end of the stick:
--->'''Simons''': You take another step forward, and here I am again, [[MirrorBoss like your own reflection repeated in a hall of mirrors.]]
--->'''JC:''' [[DeadpanSnarker That makes me one ugly son of a bitch.]] How'd my face get marked up by bio-electrics?

[[folder:Web Comics]]

Heroic-types usually try to make their arms and legs look similar to their original ones. If they could not put artificial skin of some kind on it, they at least try to make it look as unrobotic and nonthreatening as possible. Bad guys on the other hand try to make their robot arms and legs as bulky and obvious as possible, showing it off to show that they will [=NOT=] be a victim again, not unlike how one would brandish a gun in their belt to intimidate. At times they could even see their ''non''-robotic components as a weakness, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul losing more and more of their humanity as they replace their bodies with soulless tech]]. Some really nasty types have artificial limbs with [[ArmCannon permanently-installed weaponry]].

CharacterAlignment may also depend on ''how'' they lost their limbs in the first place. They could have [[HeroicSacrifice lost their legs saving a child from a drunk-driven truck]], [[EyeScream losing their eye]] [[LaserGuidedKarma trying to rob some old lady]] or something as simple as [[TooDumbToLive losing a finger or five in the garbage disposal]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' franchise, artificial limbs are a recurring element among the vikings of the Barbaric Archipelago. Due to a harsh environment, savage dragons and even savager vikings, loss of limb is rather commonplace.

** The EvilCounterpart to this can be seen in the antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' Drago Bludvist. He lost his arm at a young age seeing his whole village destroyed by dragons. He manages to hide the stump with a false arm, and is generally a bastard.

* [=UrTih=] the Alchemist and his skeksis counterpart [=SkekTek=] the Scientist from ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' both possess prosthetic arms and legs. [=UrTih=] wields a right arm and leg carved from wood, while [=SkekTek=] had robotic prosthetics. [[spoiler:Because the two were once a single entity, they both probably lost their limbs [[{{Synchronization}} at the same time]]. What's even more disturbing, it is mentioned that [=SkekTek=] ''did it to himself'' out of mix of scientific curiosity and sadomasochism, with [=UrTih=] just sitting there taking it [[FridgeHorror as his limbs fell off bleeding without rhyme or reason]].]]

* ''Film/InspectorGadget'': Gadget has an entire cybernetic body stuffed with all manner of bells and whistles, yet it's otherwise indistinguishable from the human form. Meanwhile, Claw is mostly human, but has replaced his left hand with a [[StealthPun sinister]], ferocious-looking, stainless-steel pincer that's as much a weapon as an appendage. While Claw has more realistic looking prosthetic hands that he wore in public before he was outted as a criminal, he still favored the pincer and in the [[Film/InspectorGadget2 sequel]], he wears it exclusively.

--> '''Simons''': You take another step forward, and here I am again, [[MirrorBoss like your own reflection repeated in a hall of mirrors.]]
--> '''JC:''' [[DeadpanSnarker That makes me one ugly son of a bitch.]] How'd my face get marked up by bio-electrics?
* Each Lokomo in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' requires an automatic wheelchair to move. The only exeception is Bryne, a rogue Lokomo who has a mechanical left arm equipped with a set of WolverineClaws. He can use it for hand-to-hand combat or launch it like a grappling hook.

** Genji, a former yakuza and current CyberNinja under the employ of Overwatch whose injuries were so severe that 3/4 of his limbs and most of his torso had to be rebuilt with cybernetic prostheses. Genji is a rogue operator, but ultimately he strives to atone for his past actions. While undoubtedly mechanical looking, his body maintains basic humanoid proportions. Notably, in the Uprising comic (and the skin which was unlockable in the event) his cybernetic parts are RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver, much more angular and expose a lot more wiring and bare skin. It's made clear that at the time he was still working for [[MoleInCharge Blackwatch]], and had yet to find the peace he has in the present.

** Junkrat, an Australian scavenger and international criminal. In keeping with his chaotic nature, his prosthetic arm and leg appear to be cobbled together out of scrap metal and discarded parts. His peg-leg also forces him to walk with a distinctive limp.
** Torbjorn, a brilliant but jaded engineer who worked for Overwatch. His left arm appears to have been replaced by a set of Power Pincers, and his right eye is covered by a mechanical looking eye patch.

* The members of Team Star Fox in the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' all possess identical metal prosthetics to to better endure the G-force their line of work entails [[note]]Though this was just a gaff thought up by the developers justifying the design choice to give them [[HumanlikeFootAnatomy human-like legs]], the g-force explanation disproved by various fans of the series[[/note]]. In contrast, many of the bad guys possess artificial body parts varying in variety. Andross survives his battle in ''VideoGame/StarFox1'' and reappears with a false eye in ''VideoGame/StarFox2''. General Scales from ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' possesses a primitive two-hooked false hand. Fox's rival Wolf O'Donnell has worn an eye patch through most of the series, ungrading to a technological false eye by ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault''.

** The Volume 3 finale sees both Yang and Cinder lose an arm which is replaced in Volume 4 by General Ironwood and Salem respectively. Yang chooses to paint her prosthetic in her signature colour scheme (yellow with black accents), incorporating it into her asymmetrical fashion style and therefore displaying it openly. Cinder hides her prosthetic behind an overlong sleeve which allows her to use her new arm as a surprise attack: her new limb is a Grimm arm which is capable of stretching well beyond its normal range. It also enables her to easily steal the power of other Maidens, absorbing it as her victim dies in agony.

** CoolOldLady Maria has goggle-like prosthetics, giving her a quirky and comical appearance. They turn out to be incredibly significant, as she was blinded in her youth [[spoiler: by one of Salem's assassins]], but retains the knowledge to begin mentoring Ruby in the use of her powers.

* In ''Webcomic/KiwiBlitz'', villain Gear has a chainsaw like object as her left arm. So far, she is generally unsympathetic. Good guys [[spoiler:Steffi and Reed both have prosthetic limbs, but they mostly serve as non-weapons and they lost their body parts trying to save others.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' provides an example with Della Duck and Black Heron. [[spoiler:Della ended up losing her leg in a rocket crash on the Moon; replacing it with a prosthetic made from scrapped parts. She is an eccentric from being away from Earth for ten years; but is ultimately good-hearted. Heron, however; is an Agent of F.O.W.L. who lost one of her arms in a fire during a mission with Beakley, replacing it with a mechanical one when she's next seen.]]

** And then there's Commissar Yarrick, a human with a prosthetic arm and PowerfulPincer... a prosthetic arm he ripped from the corpse of the Ork who'd just chopped off his arm. He also has a human-made laser-shooting bionic eye, which he obtained after learning the Orks thought he could kill with a glance.

* Played straight in the original ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' from 2003. Good guys like Edward and Paninya have streamlined [[ArtificialLimbs automail]] which mimics the proportions of normal human limbs to the point that it can pass for the real thing provided the character is wearing long sleeves/pants and gloves/shoes. Antagonists, such as [[spoiler:Frank Archer]] or the train bandit, have bulkier automail which is heavily weaponized and impossible to hide. The [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist original manga and Brotherhood]] avert this by including heroic characters like [[spoiler:Lan-Fan]] and Buccaneer whose automail limbs are clearly built for combat.

** [=McCree=], a former teenage arms dealer and gang member who was taken in by the titular organization. His bulky (but proportionally sized) mechanical hand and forearm are decorated with a prominent skull, hearkening back to his criminal past.

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fmaarms2_6.png]]]]