History Main / OnlyFleshIsSafe

* Parodied in [[Recap/FuturamaS1E5FearOfABotPlanet one episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' with this line from a robot in a ShowWithinAShow: "Incredible. The human was impervious to our most powerful magnetic field, yet he was destroyed by a harmless pointed stick."

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** ComicBook/{{Firestorm}}'s matter-altering power has no effect on living organisms.

* In the ''StarWars'' videogame ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'':

** Faultline can split apart any object she touches by tracing lines on it with her fingers, in effect creating her own [[ShatterpointTap Shatterpoints]]. It doesn't affect living organic material, be it flesh, leaves or wood.
** Many other ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' characters share that limitation such as Vista, who can only [[SpaceMaster bend space]] unoccupied by biological life and Rune, whose telekinesis only works on inanimate objects. This is because of the Manton effect,
** Weld, whose superpower has given him "living metal" skin, is in a unique position in this case. His metal flesh counts as "organic" for powers that do not affect living things, but it also counts as non-living metal for powers that ''do''. This renders him immune to a number of otherwise extremely dangerous powers.

From a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] point of view, its often a means of avoiding having a StoryBreakerPower or squick.

* ''TabletopGame/Shadowrun'': In ''Shadowrun Street Grimoire 5th Edition'', the Decoy spell is a variant of the Chaos spell that only influences non-living sensor devices.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Ebony Maw's telekinesis only worked on inanimate objects and on himself.

** The 1986 remake with Jeff Goldblum had him phrase it as that the teleporter (at first) could only safely transport "inanimate objects". When he tried to dematerialize and then rematerialize live test animals, they literally turned ''inside out''. He subsequently attempted a simpler test, just teleporting a cooked steak - ''dead'' flesh - but even that came out the other end tasting awful. The reason for this was pretty simple, though: transmitting a pound of chemically simple objects like iron or water is easy, but a biological organism is ''drastically'' more complex than that. He later fixed this by refining the teleporter computer's programming.

*** A little bit of the latter was seen even in the original 1984 movie: resistance member Kyle Reese couldn't bring any plasma weapons with him from the future, but he's an experienced guerrilla soldiers who ''already knows'' how to make pipe-bombs from household chemicals in the right combinations.

** Various spinoffs in the overall ''Terminator'' franchise have played around with this, from comics to books, and most notably in the ''Sarah Connor Chronicles'' TV show. In various iterations, the human resistance sends people back in time who either have future plasma-weapons surgically implanted in them for later retrieval. A better tactic in later installments was to simply send humans back in time with ''knowledge'' of how to build futuristic weapons from contemporary components (either by swallowing a microfilm briefly, or just sending back a trained engineer who memorized how to do it).

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Ebony Maw's telekinesis only worked on inanimate objects and on himself.

* The time travel technology in ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' destroys inorganic matter, which prevents the traveler from bringing any future tech and is also why they happen to be NakedOnArrival. There is some leeway in covering inorganic matter with living organic tissue, which is how the titular Terminators came to be.

* ''Film/TheFly1958'': The teleportation device only worked on non-living things -- until the protagonist [[GoneHorriblyRight made a breakthrough]].

* Matter powers from ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', which only directly affect non-living matter.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Ryouga's Breaking Point attack can [[ShatterpointTap shatter rigid material like rocks]] with a FingerpokeOfDoom, but does nothing to people. The real point of training the technique was to [[TrainingFromHell build endurance]] by subjecting himself to the shrapnel created by pulverizing rocks in such a way.

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}''

** Many other ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' characters share that limitation such as Vista, who can only [[SpaceMaster bend space]] unoccupied by biological life and Rune, whose telekinesis only works on inanimate objects. This is because of the Manton effect, which is theorized to be a psychological block that prevents some capes from using offensive powers directly on living targets, and later revealed to be [[spoiler:the shards keeping their host parahumans from accidentally harming themselves with their powers. Also, it encourages innovative uses of powers by said hosts]]. As a result, capes with offensive powers that ''don't'' fall under the Manton effect tend to be ''extremely'' dangerous to fight.

* Played with by Rose's Sword in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': It's a weapon specifically designed to never damage a [[RubberForeheadAliens Gem's]] [[HeartDrive stone]], which is their closest ''equivalent'' of human flesh, being the only part of them that can suffer permanent damage. It'll cut through a gem's [[SelfConstructedBeing constructed hard-light body]] with ease and, though not commented on, we're left to assume it would slice through ''human'' flesh just fine (it once cut insect-like alien, though not lethally). It should be noted this isn't simply a case of being not sharp or hard enough to do the job, but is physically ''incapable'' of shattering a Gem. [[spoiler:It was able to poof Pink Diamond, who, being a Diamond, was NighInvulnerable and capable of tanking attacks that would outright shatter other Gems.]]

* Web serial ''Literature/{{Worm}}''
** Faultline can split apart any object she touches by tracing lines on it with her fingers, in effect creating her own [[ShatterpointTap Shatterpoints]]. It doesn't affect living organic material, be it flesh, leaves or wood.
** Many other ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' characters share that limitation such as Vista, who can only [[SpaceMaster bend space]] unoccupied by biological life and Rune, whose telekinesis only works on inanimate objects. This is because of the Manton effect, which is theorized to be a psychological block that prevents some capes from using offensive powers directly on living targets, and later revealed to be [[spoiler:the shards keeping their host parahumans from accidentally harming themselves with their powers. Also, it encourages innovative uses of powers by said hosts]]. As a result, capes with offensive powers that ''don't'' fall under the Manton effect tend to be ''extremely'' dangerous to fight.
** Weld, whose superpower has given him "living metal" skin, is in a unique position in this case. His metal flesh counts as "organic" for powers that do not affect living things, but it also counts as non-living metal for powers that ''do''. This renders him immune to a number of otherwise extremely dangerous powers.

* Played with by Rose's Sword in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': It's a weapon specifically designed to never damage a [[RubberForeheadAliens Gem's]] [[HeartDrive stone]], which is their closest ''equivalent'' of human flesh, being the only part of them that can suffer permanent damage. It'll cut through a gem's [[SelfConstructedBeing constructed hard-light body]] with ease and, though not commented on, we're left to assume it would slice through ''human'' flesh just fine. It should be noted this isn't simply a case of being not sharp or hard enough to do the job, but is physically ''incapable'' of shattering a Gem. [[spoiler:It was able to poof Pink Diamond, who, being a Diamond, was NighInvulnerable and capable of tanking attacks that would outright shatter other Gems.]]

Can be considered a SuperTrope of TheNudifier but includes all the less prurient examples. Contrast with NeutronBomb (which destroys organic matter ''only''), AsLethalAsItNeedsToBe and CouldHaveBeenMessy (both of which are extradiegetically brought on by poor editing and age restrictions respectively.) Contrast with {{Biomancy}} which is its precise polar opposite.

* Played with by Rose's Sword in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': It's a weapon specifically design to never damage a [[RubberForeheadAliens Gem's]] [[HeartDrive stone]], which is their the closest ''equivalent'' of flesh, being the only part of them that suffers permanent damage. It'll cut through a gem's [[SelfConstructedBeing constructed body]] with ease and, though not commented on, we're left to assume it would slice through ''human'' flesh just fine. It should be noted this isn't simply a case of being not sharp or hard enough to do the job, but is physically ''incapable'' of shattering a Gem. [[spoiler:It was able to poof Pink Diamond, who, being a Diamond, was NighInvulnerable and capable of tanking attacks that would outright shatter other Gems.]]

** ''ComicBooks/XMen'' villain Avalanche originally had the power to create seismic effects that shattered buildings but did nothing to living organic matter. At some point, he lost that particular weakness.

* Played with by Rose's Sword in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': It's a weapon specifically design to never damage a [[RubberForeheadAliens Gem's]] [[HeartDrive stone]], which is their the closest ''equivalent'' of flesh, being the only part of them that suffers permanent damage. It'll cut through a gem's [[SelfConstructedBeing constructed body]] with ease and, though not commented on, we're left to assume it would slice through ''human'' flesh just fine.

From a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] point of view , its often a means of avoiding having a StoryBreakerPower or squick.

* Allen's sword from ''Manga/DGrayMan'' is capable of cutting [[TheHeartless akuma]] to pieces with ease, but is not meant to harm humans. Unfortunately for Allen, him [[spoiler: being the vessel of the 14th Noah means he reacts in pain to being impaled on it with an akuma after he recalled his sword]].