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10->'''Grace:''' I've got a very rare blood type. I'm AB positive.\
11'''Bruce:''' Well, I'm IB positive. I be positive they ain't touching me with no needle.
12-->-- ''Film/BruceAlmighty''
13
14Although most of the real world gets by quite peacefully with the more common blood types, in the world of entertainment only the rarest will do; [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail if a character's blood type is mentioned, you can bet that it's going to be rare and special]]. Blood in fiction really comes in only two types: universal donor (O-, rare) and special needs (common), so that blood banks are overtaxed whenever the plot requires. Because AB- is the rarest blood type (found in less than 1% of the population), cases of the latter will often give the character an AB- blood type.
15
16In reality, while doctors do ''prefer'' to match blood type exactly when possible (especially when doing organ transplants, to reduce the risk of rejection), in a life-or-death situation -- which is the only situation this trope would find worthwhile -- any compatible blood type will do. [[note]]In a sufficiently critical situation, such as when a patient is literally going through dozens or hundreds of units, even incompatible blood can be used, with compatible units reserved for the first few and last few transfusions; all the problems that would normally result from transfusing a type O patient with type A blood are negated when the patient's own blood is long gone and the type A blood is hemorrhaged out almost immediately. This is also how James Harrison became "The Man with the Golden Arms". [[/note]] When it comes to compatible matches, AB- blood is actually not that hard to match, because an AB- patient can receive transfusions of any Rh negative blood type (A-, B-, AB-, or O-), which are found in about 15% of the population. The most difficult type to match is actually O-, since the same factors that make O- the universal donor also mean that O- patients are only compatible with O- blood,[[note]]and O- being the universal donor can also reduce the availability of this type, given that it's the go-to for emergency situations where blood type is unknown and is also a fallback for all blood types when other compatible matches run out[[/note]] while every other blood type is compatible with at least itself and O-; however, O- blood is also not as rare as AB-, appearing in just under 7% of the population, so the chances of having some available or finding a donor are better.
17
18The situation of needing rare blood types ''is'' an actual problem that occasionally happens in medicine, but it's almost always related to blood types and factors that fall completely outside the normal blood type groupings (see the Real Life folder for examples).
19
20A subtrope of BloodTransfusionPlot. Not to be confused with DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch or PersonalityBloodTypes.
21
22----
23!!Examples:
24[[foldercontrol]]
25
26[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
27* In the '70s {{Shoujo}} horror/romance manga ''Akuma no Hanayome'' (''Bride of Deimos''), there's a story in the manga about the main character Minako's friend who was horribly disfigured in a car accident and Deimos [[DealWithTheDevil offered a deal]] to Minako, that he would fix her friend's face if she agreed to marry him. She refused, so instead, Deimos made a deal with the friend: He healed her face but in turn she would need AB-Negative blood of young girls to keep her face from rotting.
28* In ''Manga/BlackButler'', Ciel [[spoiler:and his twin brother]] has the rare "Sirius" blood type, which is pretty obviously a stand-in for the AB type. This becomes a plot point because [[spoiler:Ciel's resurrected brother needs a lot of blood to sustain his existence, and due to the rarity of his blood type, he has to traffic them from elsewhere.]]
29* One story in ''Manga/BlackJack'' features a rich businessman with a rare blood type. When he desperately needs a transfusion after an accident, he pays Black Jack a significant sum of money for help, and a construction worker is found who matches him. Several months later, the construction worker is himself injured. In order to help him, the businessman misses a vital plane flight and winds up losing his entire company. In the end, the best he can say is that at least he saved a life -- [[spoiler:until Black Jack gives him a check for most of the money he initially paid him]].
30* ''"Blood Sickness Of The White Sand Village"'', a story by Creator/JunjiIto deals with a very retired village where the inhabitants look pale and anemic. Among one of the things that the main character notices is that the medical records show that the majority of the villagers have AB type blood. [[spoiler: When he discovers that buried under the village is a system of veins, he takes a sample of the blood running through it, finding that it is also AB type, confirming his suspicions that the villagers' blood gets absorbed by the village itself]].
31* In ''Manga/CaseClosed'':
32** Conan's blood type is a major plot point during the ''Desperate Revival'' arc. Ran offers to donate blood to Conan, [[spoiler:after he is shot earlier in the arc, without stopping to check his blood type, implying she knows he is Shinichi]].
33** Eisuke Hondo is a universal donor. This is important because his sister, having donated blood to him, also had to be blood type O, meaning that she couldn't be Rena Mizunashi, who has blood type AB. [[spoiler:Except, as it turns out, she is; Eisuke's blood type changed to AB when she donated some bone marrow to him due to his leukemia]].
34** When Conan was still Shinichi, he solved a case of apparent robbery that turned out to be MurderSuicide because the murderer discovered his true blood type and realized that his younger son was the result of an affair.
35* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', as children, Vento of the Front and her brother were injured when an amusement park ride broke down. They both needed transfusions, but they both had Type-B RH negative. Since there were no donors on hand, Vento's brother [[HeroicSacrifice told the doctors to give his remaining blood to her]]. Afterwards, Vento blamed the doctors for failing to save her brother and developed a hatred of science.
36* In one chapter of ''Manga/FrankenFran'', students become obsessed with PersonalityBloodTypes to the point of establishing a caste system around it... which becomes a problem for [[WalkingTransplant living organ bank]] Adorea, who technically has ''all'' blood types, and whose dominant type fluctuates.
37-->'''Student:''' Circumstance dependent blood type?
38* Ryouhei Sumi in ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' once gets into an accident which caused some serious loss of blood in one filler episode. His blood type (AB) is not shown, but is mentioned to be very rare, as it is difficult enough to use transfusion in case of an emergency -- to the level that even though he got better, he gave up auto racing ''because'' of his blood type due to safety reasons.
39* One of Ban and Ginji's jobs in ''Anime/GetBackers'' is getting a dose of Bombay Blood for a sick girl named Yumiko. Too bad [[PsychoForHire Akabane]] is the one who has the handiest blood bags...
40* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', one Millennium vampire is shown identifying blood types by flavor like a wine connoisseur would identify a vintage. No vampires are shown suffering ill effects from drinking an incompatible blood type.
41* The Bombay blood type is used in a case of ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'' as a clue to discover the killer and the town's dark secret. [[spoiler: Despite being a rarity in Japan, at least 4 characters have this blood type]].
42* Parodied in ''Manga/MedakaBox'', where ''every'' character has type AB.
43* Though it's only mentioned in [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials]], the fact that Mashiro in ''Anime/MyHime'' has AB- blood in Japan, a country mostly without the negative RH factor, serves as an early clue that she's not quite what she appears to be. Plus she shares her blood type with Fumi, along with her birthday and voice actress.
44* Angels in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' must be identified on the computers as having [[TechnoBabble Blood Type BLUE]] before the [[HumongousMecha Evas]] can attack them. The fact that the majority of Angels are several stories tall and [[EnergyWeapon shoot lasers]] isn't enough of a giveaway.
45** WordOfGod is that "Blood pattern Blue!" is a shoutout to an old Japanese sci-fi B-movie, in which people who see UFO's have their blood turn blue (then get discriminated against). It's an in-joke. Moreover they don't actually call it "Blood type" in the sense of AB- or O+, but "Blood Wave-Pattern" which is made up technobabble.
46** Like many anime series, the blood types of the main characters are listed in the supplementary materials and fit the "blood type theory of personality" very accurately. Shinji is Type A and is thus weak and submissive (a majority of people in Japan are actually Type A). Asuka is the only Type O, and accordingly is a hothead (it does make sense that as she is from Germany and the only non-Japanese person on the show, she has an uncommon blood type for Japan). Misato is even wounded in one episode and they display that her specific blood type she's getting in a transfusion is "AO", although there is no functional difference between "AA" and "AO" because A is dominant.
47** ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' complicates this further: an onscreen graphic notes that Unit-01 is BLUE A* while Sachiel is BLUE 04, being the fourth Angel in this continuity. Shamshel and Ramiel keep this numbering too.
48* This is a significant plot point in ''Manga/OnePiece'', where Sanji is revealed to have a rare blood type, and Chopper runs out of spare blood for transfusions because Sanji keeps having [[LovableSexManiac incredible nose bleeds]], prompting a crisis when the Fishmen refuse to donate blood to a human because their law prevents them from doing so.
49** This gets played about with a bit more later in the same arc when Luffy is in dire need of a blood transfusion after fighting with Hody. No one else in the Straw Hats has the same blood type, but considering how small Luffy's crew is (and how one member [[DemBones doesn't even]] ''[[DemBones have]]'' [[DemBones blood]] and another one is a reindeer), this is fairly believable. There has been blood loss at least a few times with it being dealt with offscreen, so it's implied to be not particularly rare; the Straw Hats just didn't have another ready source on hand at that particular moment. Several fishmen nearby do have compatible blood, but are still hesitant to break the law. [[spoiler: Jinbe ends up donating his blood, since he's a pirate and therefore doesn't follow the law.]]
50** Also in the same arc, it's been said that Fisher Tiger died because humans refused to donate their blood for him while his no one from his crew shared the same blood type as him. [[spoiler:The truth, however, was that Tiger refused to accept human blood because of his deep hatred towards humans[[note]]because he was enslaved the Celestial Dragons and was just betrayed by the humans a moment ago[[/note]], and he told his crew not to tell anybody about his hatred in order to minimize the racism towards humans (because he was ashamed of his own racism).]]
51*** Oh yes, and in One Piece, the blood types seen have been X, F, S, XF, and S RH-. These seem to line up directly with A, B, O, AB, and O- in real life. RH negative of all blood types is '''very''' rare in Japan (less than 1% of the population), which would line up well with Sanji's S RH- being so rare.
52* In the opening chapter of ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', Kaneki and Rize note while on their date that they have the same rare blood type -- AB, which accounts for less than 10% of the Japanese population. Mere hours later, Kaneki [[EmergencyTransformation receives an organ transplant]] from Rize and is transformed into a HalfHumanHybrid. The CreepyTwins Kuro and Shiro are ''also'' AB, and [[spoiler: are also made into half-Ghouls using Rize's organs]].
53* In the first ''Manga/VampirePrincessMiyu'' OAV, [[spoiler: both Aiko and her parents]] are stated to have a "rare blood type." This turns out to be vital to the plot: [[spoiler: they're injured in an accident, there's no blood of their type in the hospital, and the fatally injured parents beg the treating doctor to [[HeroicSacrifice give their blood to Aiko]] so she will live. While Aiko does survive, [[DespairEventHorizon she gets so broken by the ordeal]] that she becomes a CreepyChild and makes a DealWithTheDevil with a vampire-like Shinma, kickstarting the plot of said OAV...]].
54* {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Manga/WastefulDaysOfHighSchoolGirls'' by Tanaka when she thinks about ways to get a boyfriend. [[OnlySaneMan Akane]] is quick to tell her that it won't work out because Tanaka's O-positive.
55* Bombay blood type appears in ''Manga/YakitateJapan'', used to show that [[spoiler:Pierrot Bolnez and the king of Monaco]] are related.
56[[/folder]]
57
58[[folder:Comic Books]]
59* ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' is identified as AB- in the story ''The Bird of Prey''. This is actually a plot point, as the sudden disappearance of five AB- blood donors is a clear warning that Diabolik is injured and needs blood (and, being a wanted criminal sentenced to death, going to the hospital would mean getting arrested, healed as required by the law and then executed). Ginko reacts by placing bugs on all the AB- blood donors, stopping Eva as she discovers it immediately, but it also causes a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment when he discovers why Eva kidnapped specifically AB- donors instead of compatible people: Diabolik had been victim of radiation poisoning that could be healed only with a ''full'' transfusion, requiring as much blood as five or six persons had, with Eva not being willing to take any risk. And, being unable to kidnap more people and take the standard donation doses, Eva ''exsanguinated the five donors she had kidnapped''.
60** A later story indirectly identifies Ginko as AB (unknown if positive or negative) when [[spoiler:he's shot and needs an emergency transfusion, and a disguised Diabolik volunteers]].
61* In the miniseries ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'': Blindspot, the only clue Clint has to Trick Shot's killer is his blood type being A+. This trope is subverted, as the blood type really doesn't help much. Clint even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] that's ''his'' blood type. Eventually, this comes back to help him at [[{{Foreshadowing}} the end,]] as [[spoiler: it is revealed the killer, his brother Barney, is a perfect genetic match for a stem cell transplant that can save him from permanent blindness]].
62* In ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', Brendan Finn is "O Guinness positive", which makes him a "universal recipient". No, it's not magic, he just drinks a lot.
63* In the infamous "I am Curious (Black)" ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comic, ComicBook/LoisLane turns black for a day (for a story on racism) and befriends a grassroots, er, community leader (it's never clarified what he is, he just stands on a soapbox, rants to a crowd, and later breaks up a drug deal), who hates him some crackers. When the man needs a blood transfusion, the doctor at the black hospital proclaims that the man is O-, but, horror of horrors, the hospital doesn't have enough money to carry ''all'' blood types! Luckily Lois, who has returned to her "white lady" status, is O-, and with the blood transfusion, they bridge the gap of racism.
64* In the ''ComicBook/YokoTsuno'' album ''La Frontière de la Vie'', the entire plot evolves from how a child has an exceedingly very rare blood.
65* In one ''ComicBook/{{Steel}}'' story, Steel's niece Natasha Irons is injured and in need of blood. It's stated that she has a rare blood type, and John Henry's is incompatible. This necessitates Natasha's father, who had been thought dead and was acting as a vigilante, to come to the hospital to save her life. Interestingly, in a later story, Natasha is able to provide an emergency blood transfusion to John Henry without issue, apparently meaning the incompatibility is only one-way.
66* ''ComicBook/MyVeryFirstVampireBloodDrive'' is about Bunny, a girl with "extra-rare type AB" blood who attends her college's annual blood drive, only to learn it's actually specifically for the local community of friendly vampires. Bunny freaks out, but is charmed by Velvet, a gorgeous, prince-like vampire girl who happens to have [[PlotAllergy a rare condition]] that makes it so she can ''only'' drink type AB blood. Sure enough, the two are paired up.
67[[/folder]]
68
69[[folder:Fan Works]]
70* In ''Fanfic/SevenDaysInSunnyJune, Part 1'', it's revealed that [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Sunset Shimmer]] has a rare blood type ([=A2B-negative=]), most commonly found in ungulates, primarily horses. In RealLife, it's present in 2% of the USA's population.
71* The ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'' has a variation with chakra. In order to share chakra with someone else, you need to have compatibility with said person. Naruto is revealed early on to be able to mold his chakra to adapt to his receiver, which he uses during his training sessions with Hinata. [[spoiler: Later it becomes useful when Gaara gets kidnapped by Akatsuki, and they need to perform a chakra transfer on him to save his life.]]
72* In one of the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fics by ''Creator/AAPessimal'', it is mentioned that vampires can get indigestion if they drink from more than one person in a night. Years later, after blood groups were discovered, it was theorized that this was caused by incompatible blood types mixing in their digestive system.
73* ''Fanfic/FracturedSunlight'': Sunlight has type ''K'' blood. That's a horse blood type, which provides more evidence proving that she's a transformed pony.
74* ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'': Since nopony knows for certain whether alicorns can take blood from regular ponies (and it is known that ponies of one tribe cannot receive blood from another), the Royal Physicians have been taking blood from the Princesses at regular intervals and keeping it under stasis, to be transfused ''back'' in an emergency. They do the same for Tish, since nopony knows whether foreign blood introduced into her body would be incorporated into her self-transformation magic.
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
78* The plot of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndMisterFreezeSubZero'' involves Mr. Freeze kidnapping Barbara Gordon because she shares the AB- blood type with his wife. Barbara even brings up that he could use any negative blood for a blood transfusion, but it turns out that [[OrganTheft he needs more than just her blood]]. TruthInTelevision in that organ transplants are ideally done between people of the same blood type to reduce the risk of rejection, and Mr. Freeze is obsessive enough over getting his wife back that he'd try to be as exact as possible.
79* In ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6,'' Baymax literally says "His blood type is AB Negative" to reveal that he scanned the man in the mask.
80[[/folder]]
81
82[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
83* In ''Film/{{Andhadhun}}'', Dr. Swami says that it has been difficult to find a liver transplant for the Sheikh's daughter since her blood type is B negative.
84* In the film ''Film/BloodWork'' (based on a Creator/MichaelConnelly novel), the FBI hero needs a heart transplant, but he has a rare blood type. So the serial killer bad guy, who likes it when the hero chases him, kills someone with that same blood type so the hero can get a matching heart.
85* ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' sees Creator/JenniferAniston proudly declare herself to be AB+, a "very rare blood type." [[ChekhovsGun This comes into play later in the film]], when [[spoiler: Bruce apparently has this type as well, as {{God}} sends him some of hers when he gets hit by a truck and needs a donation. It's some pretty awful research failure if you wanted to put any drama into it since in reality, Bruce could receive blood from anybody]]. (In an [[HilariousOuttakes outtake]], she declares herself to be AB ''negative'', derailing the joke.)
86* Played straight in the South Indian "sandalwood" film ''Doctor Krishna''. The eponymous protagonist ex and her new husband are victims of a road accident. While Dr. Krishna's ex only has minor lacerations, her husband is in critical condition and needs AB Negative blood. Dr. Krishna is type AB- and agrees to donate. He doesn't realize that his patient needs ''three liters'' of blood just to survive. The transfusion comes dangerously close to killing him.
87* In ''Film/{{Earthquake}}'', a first responder at an aid station can be overheard pleading for an emergency shipment of AB- blood on a CB radio.
88* ''Film/GetTheGringo'': Javi has Bombay Type blood (the [[NoNameGiven Mother]] calls it [[{{Malaproper}} "Bambi Blood"]]) and killed the [[NoNameGiven Kid's]] father for his liver when he needed a transplant and he was the only compatible donor that Javi could find. He also keeps the Kid alive since he has the same blood type as his father and Javi knows that he is going to need another liver…
89* ''Film/TheGreatestShowOnEarth'', winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1952, involves a train wreck with a victim that needs a blood transfusion. Guess what his blood type is? (As mentioned in the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' example elsewhere on this page, it was thought in the 1950's that the more blood the patient lost, the more important it was for the donor to be an exact match to the receiver. However, if no exact match could be found, the doctors would have accepted a less ideal match if the alternative was the patient's death. That is not how it's portrayed here, though. The donor has to be AB-, or nothing!)
90* A major plot point of ''Film/JohnQ'' was that the title character's son was a rare blood type and needs a heart transplant. Meanwhile, a woman dies in a car wreck of the same blood type, and they eventually use her heart.
91* Max is captured in the opening of ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' but as he's a universal donor (specifically O-) he's kept alive as a living blood bank for the War Boys, who are dying of radiation poisoning. This means he's taken along when the War Boys pursue Furiosa, thereafter becoming part of events. Eventually, he uses his own blood to save Furiosa's life.
92* Drives the plot in ''Film/MadeInAmerica''. The daughter learns her blood group in a biology class at school. She happens to know the blood group of her mother and her dead father and realizes that she can't be her father's daughter. Whoopi Goldberg admits that in fact she wasn't pregnant when her partner died and used a sperm donor and pretended (even to herself) that it was her partner's child.
93* ''Film/SevenPounds'': Emily Poza, a woman with a potentially fatal heart condition, has an unspecified rare blood type, rare enough that a doctor places the odds of finding a compatible heart for a transplant at no more than five percent.
94* The abducted victims in ''Film/TheXFilesIWantToBelieve'' all had AB- blood. [[spoiler: It turns out that this is because the kidnapper is trying to perform a full-body transplant]].
95[[/folder]]
96
97[[folder:Literature]]
98* A key plot point in Creator/JamesHerbert's [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] AlternateHistory '''48'' is that only those with AB- blood have immunity to ThePlague that wiped out most of the population.
99%%* Also theorized in ''Literature/AnnoDracula''.
100* Invoked in a short story, ''Blood Money'' by Timothy O'Keefe, where a man with "a rare blood type" learns that his donation is being used by a vampire who can only digest that blood type.
101* ''Literature/TheBronzeHorseman'' by Paullina Simons. After Major Belov is severely wounded during a river assault, his wife Tatiana, a nurse in the Red Army, saves his life by donating her own blood. Belov is told it's lucky she's a universal donor. Belov can only think with irony "[[TheHeart Of course she is]]."
102* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', thanks to ScienceMarchesOn. When the book was written, the concept of blood transfusions was radical, cutting-edge science and the possibility of an allergic reaction to someone else's blood wasn't known. Thus, Lucy can get transfusions from four different men without anyone worrying about blood type compatibility. Since she's in the process of becoming a vampire, blood types may be irrelevant to her in a very easy retcon. Another easy FanWank is to claim that Lucy is AB+ (one of the rarest types), the "universal recipient."
103* In ''Literature/DraculaChaChaCha'' by Creator/KimNewman, the vampire [[Series/HancocksHalfHour Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock]] boasts that he can only ''drink'' AB-.
104* Creator/FredSaberhagen's PerspectiveFlip ''Literature/TheDraculaTape'' makes use of this; while his Dracula did drink from Lucy, it was the blood transfusion that was killing her.
105* ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' uses this trope correctly when the main characters have to give an emergency blood transfusion to Galahad. April volunteers because she's O-, the universal donor.
106* Creator/RobertAHeinlein himself was AB+, and a member of the National Rare Blood Club (which he mentions in an appendix to ''I Will Fear No Evil''). To this day, sci-fi conventions sponsor [[http://www.heinleinsociety.org/blooddrives/index.html Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drives.]]
107** AB- figures in the plot ''Literature/IWillFearNoEvil'', which involves the protagonist's brain being transplanted into a new body. Part of the plot setup is the rarity of the AB- blood type; the protagonist is shocked when his body donor was actually someone he knew well.
108** Also discussed, when protagonist Johann tells a friend that [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe none of his putative children were actually his biological offspring]]. How is he sure? All three were type O, which a type AB parent is extremely unlikely (to completely unable) to produce. He still loved his kids anyway.
109%%* Is a plot point in a Literature/NancyDrew file.
110* ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'': In ''An Echo In The Bone'', one character, Ian, has it suggested that his wife's miscarriage was due to issues with their respective Rh blood types. (The ability to manage TimeTravel intact is treated like a matter of genetics or blood type as well.)
111* Dana from the ''Literature/PilgrennonsChildren'' series has a rare blood type, which her biological mother Jananin Blake shares, allowing Jananin to donate blood after Dana is found to be anemic [[spoiler:from a forcible blood draw]] in ''The Emerald Forge''.
112* In the Joe Gunther novel ''Literature/ScentOfEvil'', the fact that the person who left saliva on a cigarette left at the scene of a murder is is type AB, along with the brand of the cigarette, winds up implicating a member of the police force because it's such a rare type. The fact that the man is a secreter is also specifically called out as a bit of good luck since it allows them to identify his blood type through his saliva. The book was written in 1992, and actual DNA testing is not mentioned, but given how new the technology was at the time and the series being set in Vermont using an ABO system was much faster.
113* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'': In ''Literature/BreakingDawn'' the Cullens keep a refrigerator full of blood in their house. Naturally it's the very rare O-.
114[[/folder]]
115
116[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
117* Nyko of ''Series/The100'' has Rh-null blood, one of the rarest blood types in the world. This proves a problem when they can't find a match for him when he's dying from a wound.
118* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy'': In "The Road to Hell", Superboy gets severely injured, then gets sent to an alternate universe that is a utopia and Lex Luthor reformed and became a doctor. Lex treats him but says he needs a blood transfusion. Since Superboy isn't human, the only available donor is that universe's adult Superman, who of course agrees to help.
119* Comes up ''twice'' on ''Series/TheATeam''. The first time, B.A. needs a blood transfusion, of this type. The only other member of the team with this blood type is Murdock. The second time, Murdock needs a transfusion. Guess.
120* ''Series/AllMyChildren'':
121** Rare blood types always uncover parentage secrets on soap operas. ''Series/AllMyChildren'' used it to reveal that Jack was Greenlee's father, though the rare blood type was never named.
122** ''All My Children'' even inverted the trope--when Dimitri learned that his presumed daughter Madeline was O-, he realized that she couldn't be his daughter because her ''common'' blood type was not possible, given his rare one.
123* Much worse than just rare, ''Series/OneLifeToLive'' back in the 80s had Tina find her lost son because they both had [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Blood Type G]].
124* In "Anslo Garrick" (Part 1) of ''Series/TheBlacklist'', it is revealed that both Red and Ressler share the same blood type (B-), which came in handy since Red needs to give Ressler an immediate blood transfusion to help him recover after having been shot in the leg.
125* On ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', Piper has AB negative blood as does Andy. This is shown in the episode "The Wendigo". The Wendigo also attacks people with the AB negative blood type.
126-->'''Piper:''' Yeah, I'm fine. If I pass out and I need a transfusion, I'm AB negative. It's very rare. It could be a problem.\
127'''Andy:''' Uh, I was just thinking how I'm probably not the best cop to be on this stakeout with, seeing as how I'm, uh, AB negative.\
128'''Andy:''' Maybe. I've just gone over the coroner's reports from Chicago, New Orleans, and now local. It turns out all the victims were AB negative.
129* A third season episode of ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' features Casey [[spoiler:having to donate his AB- blood to save the life of a man he'd been trying to kill off and on for years (well, Chuck 'stole' it, but whatever)]].
130* In a variant on ''Series/{{CSI}}'', a power outage shuts down the lab's equipment, and the investigators must resort to old-school ABO typing of blood evidence. Greg remarks that he's got clumping in his Type O sample; this is an error, as Type O is distinguished as such by its ''failure'' to clump when exposed to anti-A or anti-B serum. (It could've been O-positive and clumped in anti-Rh serum, but Rh-typing wasn't otherwise mentioned.) Unless he was also doing a reverse type, where O does clump with A Cells and B Cells
131* In ''Series/ElCorazonNuncaSeEquivoca'', Temo mentions that his and Ari's blood types are incompatible since Ari has A negative blood.
132* One episode of ''Series/DadsArmy'' was based around Pike being called up to join the regular army. The platoon can't get him out of it, so they hold a fish and chip supper to say goodbye to him - after which Pike announces that he was excused from joining the army because he has a very rare blood type, but didn't want to tell anyone until after the fish and chips.
133* On ''Series/DarkAngel'', Max, all of the other X5s, and most likely other transgenics as well, are specifically genetically programmed to have O- blood, so they could swap blood (and organs) on the battlefield. Also, the show makes the goof of a blood transfusion for Logan being difficult to find because he's AB-. Fortunately, universal donor Max was handy.
134* In ''Series/{{Degrassi|TheNextGeneration}}'', Holly J. only learns that she is adopted after discovering that she is type B, while both her parents are AB. She says--incorrectly--that children tend to have the same blood type as their parents, and Revelations Ensue. In fact, there is absolutely nothing unlikely about two AB parents having a B child. Even if the script had been reversed--an AB child with B parents--it might only have implied that her ''father'' wasn’t who she thought.
135* In ''Series/DesperateHousewives'', one of the characters began to suspect that another was their father because they both had AB- blood. Never mind that blood types don't actually work like this in real life (it's something to do with which factors you have and how they add together, he was far more likely to be A or B, and then positive simply because more people are positive and the positive genes are dominant, which is also why Rhesus negative women are more likely to have birth complications). It's also how [[spoiler: Gabrielle ultimately learns that Juanita was SwitchedAtBirth, which Carlos had tried to keep a secret from her]].
136* The title character of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' has AB- as his blood type. It's shown in flashback that [[spoiler: Dexter's foster father contacted Dexter's biological father when Dexter was injured and needed a blood transfusion, which falls into the ArtisticLicenseBiology trope since in reality, Dexter could have had ''any'' negative blood type given to him and been fine]].
137* ''Series/DueSouth'' [[InvertedTrope inverts it]] in one episode, when an over-eager FBI agent excitedly declares that they now know the suspect's blood type. Fraser points out that the suspect's blood type is shared by a significant portion of the population of Chicago (in a city that large, there are likely tens if not hundreds of thousands of people with any blood type you care to name in the area, no matter how rare it is proportionately).
138* In the ''Series/EverDecreasingCircles'' episode "A Strange Woman", Paul (Peter Egan) is taken away in a police car in the middle of the night. The following day, he explains that he is a registered blood donor and has a rare (yet unspecified) blood type and had to be rushed to the hospital to donate to an accident victim. His neighbour and self-perceived rival Martin (Richard Briers) promptly registers as a blood donor and is disappointed to learn that he has Type O blood.
139* ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' plays with this in the episode Trajectory. Jesse needs an emergency blood transfusion but she has the blood type PZ-negative. Justified as she is not from this earth, she's from a different dimension, Earth-2. Luckily her father is a match.
140* In ''Series/ForeverKnight'', they actually not only [[ShownTheirWork get the blood type info right]], saying Schanke, who is AB+, "can take anything but motor oil," while O- can only receive O-, it's involved in a plot point, too. [[spoiler:The killer's mother had died from hepatitis contracted from a blood transfusion, which slipped through the screening process; he was taking out only O- donors who could have been the source]].
141* ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'': When George's father Manny needs a kidney transplant, George's half-brother George II volunteers to donate one of his. However, despite being AB- like his father, they are not a complete match and thus George II cannot donate a kidney. The other George shares his father's blood type and after much pleading, agrees to donate one of his kidneys. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Manny died shortly before the operation.]]
142* ''Series/GoodTimes'' featured a rare blood type, U-, to facilitate a WhosOnFirst joke: "I have a very rare blood type, U Negative." "You positive?" "No, U Negative." And so forth.
143* ''Series/GossipGirl'': Dan and Rufus Humphrey are both AB+. [[spoiler:Georgina's and Dan's "son" Milo is 0-]].
144** In season five it turns out Chuck Bass has a super-duper rare blood type (never specified which one) that means the only people in the whole wide world who could possibly give him blood are blood relatives. [[spoiler:Which is how he ends up finding out his father is not quite as dead as we thought he was]].
145* The ''Series/HancocksHalfHour'' episode "The Blood Donor" is an iconic piece of British comedy. The Hancock character is nervous about giving blood at first but changes his mind when he discovers that his blood is AB- (although at one point the doctor tells him he is rhesus ''positive'', causing him to remark "Rhesus? They're monkeys, aren't they?"). This is really TruthInTelevision given that the Rh factor is indeed named after the Rhesus monkey in which it was first discovered. On returning home he pesters the hospital to make sure his blood is given to "the right sort of person", but then [[spoiler:he injures himself, is rushed back to hospital and is given a transfusion of the blood he has just donated. HereWeGoAgain]].
146* ''Series/{{House}}'' both lampshades the first and subverts the second. The subversion is something we expect from a medical show, while the lampshading comes later.
147** Two examples come from season 4 episode 8, “You Don’t Want To Know”.
148*** First, the team realizes that their patient got significantly worse after getting a blood transfusion of type AB blood. Worried that the blood transfusion might have carried some disease, they initially want to do a blood culture, but House refuses to allow them to do so, as waiting for the results would take too long. He instead tells them to give ''him'' a blood transfusion to prove there’s nothing wrong with the transfusion, as House himself is also coincidentally type AB.
149*** Later, House solves the case based on the patient's blood type (and a conversation with Wilson): [[spoiler:the patient had blood type A, but due to his condition, his body was producing the wrong antibodies, causing the blood type test to give an incorrect result. As such, when he was given a blood transfusion, it was the wrong type. Nobody ever thought to ASK him what his blood type even was to begin with. Then again, the fact that doctors do not ask patients their blood type is TruthInTelevision. Many people don't know, some think they know but are wrong, and very few people know that more than the ABO/Rh factors even exist. And that's assuming the patient is conscious and coherent. It's easier just to do a spot test across the board, and those tests are usually correct; false results as in the episode are rare.]]
150** In another episode, they play the trope straight. A woman in need of a liver transplant is apparently disadvantaged by having AB- blood. In fact, blood type would be the least of her worries.
151* This is how Tommy discovers [[spoiler:that he's adopted]] in ''Series/HeroesReborn''. [[spoiler:He's AB while his mother Anne is O negative, making their relationship biologically impossible. Anne has wanted to tell him about his true parentage, but doesn't out of fear that Tommy would be captured because Tommy is an evolved human]].
152* BSM Williams in ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'' has Type AB blood. In the episode "It's a Wise Child", this provides the Concert Party with evidence that, contrary to what Williams suspects, he is not Gunner Parkins' father, as Parkins has Type O blood.
153* ''Series/{{iZombie}}'' has a slightly justified example in the first season finale when [[spoiler: Evan is caught in an explosion at Meat Cute]]. He has O Negative blood, which can only receive itself in transfusions, and the hospital is in short supply (TruthInTelevision, as O Negative is the universal donor and is used quite often). Since he needs a transfusion immediately, the only option available at the moment is [[spoiler: his sister, Liv. She refuses, however, because she's also a zombie and doesn't want to infect him]].
154* Zig-zagged in ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'':
155** On the subversion side, Benson and Stabler are both A-positive, the second most common blood type. Unusually for any version of this trope, said blood types have zero plot relevance; it's mentioned in a casual conversation and is just the setup for a FriendshipMoment ("I'd give you a kidney." "Not if I gave you mine first.").
156** On the played-straight side, Mike Dodds is B-negative, the second rarest blood type after AB-negative (and actually harder to match due to compatibility factors), and Sonny Carisi is O-negative, allowing the latter to donate blood to the former. In an unusually nuanced version of this trope, the issue is not that they can't find compatible blood anywhere, but that the hospital is running through its immediate stock and they're still waiting on a car from the central blood bank to bring more, so they're just buying time until the added supply gets there. Also downplayed in that it's not in any way a major part of the story; the relevant discussion occupies about a minute of the episode, and is really just there as part of showing the detectives rallying to support their injured colleague.
157** A plot-relevant example occurs in one episode where they realize that a victim isn't who she says she is because of her blood type; the the person she's claiming to be is the child of two parents with type A blood, but the victim has type B, which would be biologically impossible if she was in fact their child.[[note]]The doctor actually asserts that her mother could not have given birth to a child with that blood type, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology but that's actually incorrect]] -- a type A mother could have a type B child if she has the genotype AO and the father has a B gene.[[/note]] A full DNA test subsequently confirms that her identity was faked.
158* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' features a scene in which Jack needs A- blood for Boone. He sends Charlie out to find some among the survivors, but few of them even know their own type to begin with. Failing to find a match, Jack reveals himself to be O- (universal donor) and performs the transfusion using his own blood.
159** Season 5 reveals that Kate is actually universal donor when she volunteers to donate blood to [[spoiler: a young Ben Linus]].
160* In ''Series/MajorCrimes'', during their investigation, the team discovers that the father that was missing had AB type blood, [[spoiler: which means he couldn't have fathered his type O daughter]].
161* ''Series/{{MASH}}'':
162** In the episode "Life Time", Hawkeye and company are racing against the clock to save a soldier who of course has AB-, luckily Winchester has "that elusive type." In this case, the use is accurate and believable for the time period: [[ScienceMarchesOn in the '50s]], it was thought that the more blood the patient had lost, the more important it was to provide the exact blood type, and it's only stated that AB- blood would be ''best'' for him, not that he can't have any other type. Additionally, the doctors had already used up the last of the blood they had in stock (matching type and otherwise), so given that they needed to find a donor to take blood from regardless, they might as well try to find a perfect match.
163** [[Recap/MashS1E11GermWarfare An early episode]] has a North Korean patient with AB- needing a transfusion, and the only one in the entire camp with the same blood type is Frank. When the patient shows signs of hepatitis, Hawkeye and Trapper must keep him away from Hot Lips until his test results are in.
164** The episode "Your Hit Parade" in Season 6 features an AB- patient during a period of heavy casualties. Hawkeye asks for 4 units during surgery, Klinger informs them they only had 2 to start with and both were used during the first batch of wounded. They mention collecting the patient's blood during surgery to filter and give back to him, then spend the rest of the episode trying to find more. The unavailability of any donors is partly justified by the heavy casualties and the other medical units being forced to bug out, but it is implied there are only 2 other people available to donate in Asia with the correct blood type; not once does anyone suggest using a different blood type, even as an emergency measure. (It also creates a possible ContinuitySnarl with "Life Time" because there's apparently no one in the unit who can donate AB negative blood, but Winchester is already in the unit; even if there's a reason he can't donate at that time, you would expect it to at least be mentioned. A further snarl comes with the episode [[Recap/MashS7E20Cave C*A*V*E]], in which Klinger, Mulcahy, and Winchester are all stated to have the same blood type - and Klinger's had already been stated as B+.)
165* [[Recap/MonkS2E16MrMonkGoesToJail The season-two finale]] of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' featured a victim whose blood group was "AB-negative with a D- antigen -- the rarest blood type in the world!" In fact, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology no such blood type exists]]. [[note]]Although it is possible for certain blood subtypes to show up this way on a test, the one doing the testing should have recognized an impossible result and retested.[[/note]] This turned out to be why he was murdered -- he was a death row inmate about to be executed, with his kidneys earmarked for a dying billionaire. A prison employee had a grudge against the billionaire and couldn't let that happen, so the prisoner's last meal was poisoned, destroying his organs in a way that lethal injection would not.
166* On ''Series/Moonlight2007'', Beth Turner has "AO-" blood, which is especially tasty to vampires. While technically a real blood group, AO is just a rather pedantic way of giving one of the two genetic possibilities for type A blood.
167* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' toys with this concept in the episode "Tour de Murdoch", which takes place in early 1901, ''just'' as ABO blood types were codified among the scientific community. The VictimOfTheWeek -- an athlete who died of complications from blood aggulation -- was found to have been injected with the blood of his teammates (essentially [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_doping blood doping]] decades before it received mainstream attention), sending the characters on the search for athletes with "the bad kind of blood." As the investigation narrows down, they inadvertently discover the AB blood type (beating the rest of the scientific community in real life by almost a decade), explaining why one combination of blood is lethal while others were not. [[EntertaininglyWrong Murdoch hypothetically names it "Type C".]]
168* ''Series/MyBabysittersAVampire'': Vampires pose a nurses for a blood drive and the team investigate. Eventually Ethan is captured by the vampire nurses who claim he has H-deficient type blood, the rarest blood type. They agree to only take his blood.
169* ''Series/NeverTheTwain'': Oliver tries to get out of donating blood to his rival Simon by claiming his blood type is 'Z'. (He's...not a doctor.)
170* ''Series/{{Oz}}''. When a prison guard is stabbed in the eyes and needs a blood transfusion, the only donor immediately available is inmate Ryan O'Reilly, who makes it a condition of his helping that his mentally-ill brother be moved into Em City with him.
171* In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', Shaw is AB+, which allows her to accept blood from anyone. She takes advantage of this in one episode after being wounded by taking a Russian mobster prisoner and stealing his blood for a transfusion.
172* ''Series/{{Preacher|2016}}'': Tulip has AB- blood. Not surprisingly, Cassidy does not have a blood pack from among his dozen or so that matches. Apparently having little to no medical knowledge, neither he nor Jesse consider the option of using A-, B- or O-.
173* ''Series/ThePretender'': Jarod and Kyle both had AB- blood, along with a young boy from one episode who was in dire need of a heart transplant. Guess where that went.
174* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' actually did the research in an episode. When a man needed O negative donations, Lassiter had the needed blood type. But it's also played straight when Lassiter's O-neg blood is referred to as such a rare blood type that donors are extremely difficult to find.
175* In the last season of ''Series/QueerAsFolkUS'', after the bombing in Babylon, Michael has been seriously hurt and taken to the hospital. The ER doctor says he needs a blood transfusion, but he's AB negative and they are short on his type. Brian answers he's O negative, universal donor and wants them to take his blood. But they won't take it because he's gay and they are considered too high of a risk for HIV. Brian then goes berserk, but Ben tells him he couldn't give his blood anyway because he had cancer. This is a reference to the [[http://gaylife.about.com/od/stdsgeneralhealth/a/blooddonation.htm Ban On Blood Donations From Gay Men]] in the USA implemented in 1985, and despite what the show says the policy isn't as set-in-stone as many media outlets make it seem. Doctors at hospitals are desperate for any compatible blood type in a pinch, and in real life, they more than likely wouldn't turn Brian away if he were on the scene. It's only at blood drives that they screen for gay men. It was all just a convenient excuse for a blatantly [[RuleOfDrama dramatic]] take on a real gay issue.
176* ''Series/TheRatPatrol'' has "The B Negative Raid", which goes farther than most to justify the trope. Moffitt, who has a B-negative blood type, gets hurt and needs a transfusion. However, they're stuck in the desert far from any blood bank, whole blood transfusion requires the same blood type, and none of them are a match. They decide to raid a nearby German camp to steal a soldier with the same blood type.
177* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
178** In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E10JourneyToBabel Journey to Babel]]", Ambassador Sarek requires open heart surgery which is hampered by his T- blood, noted as being rare, even for a Vulcan. Luckily, another person on board also had T- blood -- Sarek's son, Spock, and that had to be filtered because of Spocks [[HalfHumanHybrid human heritage]]. Since Vulcans have copper-based rather than Humans' iron-based blood, it's realistic that it would use a different blood type system.
179** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E7TheEnemy The Enemy]]", a Romulan that gets brought up to the ''Enterprise''-D has a unique blood type that only one person on the ship has - Worf. Unfortunantly, Klingons and Romulans hate each other's guts and Worf refuses to give blood and the Romulan doesn't want it. Picard realizes that they need to save the Romulan to try and prevent an incident with the Romulans, but he isn't willing to force Worf to give blood. Ultimately, the Romulan passes away. [[note]]This episode actually makes zero sense whatsoever, as Romulans are an off-shoot of Vulcans, and have copper-based blood, which would be totally incompatible for donations from species with iron-based blood such as Klingons or Humans.[[/note]]
180* Blood types were the source of a goof in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. Through freeze-frame pausing, you can check the dog tags of John Winchester and his son Dean. John had AB blood, while his son Dean had O-, which would normally be impossible.
181* Bay in ''Series/SwitchedAtBirth'' has AB blood, though she doesn't mention her Rh factor. This is a clue to her parentage, since both her parents are type A. (Type AB requires inheriting an A from one parent and a B from the other. A child of two type As can only be type A or type O.)
182* In ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'', they mentioned that Sarah had O- blood but John had AB- blood; this would mean that she couldn't possibly be his mother, barring vanishingly rare situations like mutation or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hh_antigen_system Bombay blood type.]][[note]]For the record, type O is recessive, and Sarah is therefore by necessity homozygous for O. John could be AO (type A) or BO (type B), but type AB is not possible.[[/note]] Sarah being unable to give blood to the AB- Derek Reese despite being a universal donor is correct due to compatibility for plasma being reversed compared to blood cells -- someone with type O is the least useful donor because their plasma could contain antibodies against non-O blood types.
183* ''Series/{{Trace}}'': After being poisoned with psychotropic drug, Danilov needs blood transfusion in "Insanity" to keep him sane. The biggest problem is that he has Type AB negative blood. Selivanov was not able to find enough AB- blood in the blood bank. Thankfully, Kholodov has AB- blood type, so the transfusion becomes possible.
184* ''Series/TrueBlood''. The (sorta) title drink has each blood type as a separate flavor, and vampires have preferences on their favorite. Newbie vamp Jessica drinks a cocktail of several different types to get used to the taste.
185** Vampires on the show also express preference for different "flavors" of real blood; Jessica orders room service in a hotel and a young man at the door introduces himself as "male, straight, B positive." Later, Erik offers another vampire "a human, AB negative, very rare."
186* ''Series/TwinPeaks'': In the first episode of the second season, the blood of the killer [[spoiler:later revealed to be Leland]] is said to be "a rare type, AB Negative".
187* In ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', Robbie is about to have surgery, but needs O- blood. Tori is the only one of their friends who has this blood type but is about to star in a play. After Tori donates a pint of blood, the doctors end up losing it, and after donating another pint, Robbie ends up dropping it on the floor, forcing her to donate a third pint. Tori then becomes weak and disoriented during the play.
188* ''Series/TheWindsors'' parodies this beyond the bounds of reality, with Camilla seeing an opportunity for good publicity in offering a kidney to a dying little girl with the rare blood type "AB BA AB negative", which just happens to be Camilla's, too. Apparently, Prince Edward also has it, as he's the one who actually [[ItMakesSenseInContext ends up selling his kidney to the girl for £80]].
189* In the present-day scene at the end of one episode of ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'' (which took place in a hospital waiting room), a doctor comes out and asks if anyone present has a certain blood type, as they're running low and there's a kid with that blood type who needs immediate surgery. The person who Indy had been telling part of his life story to over the course of the episode volunteers to donate.
190[[/folder]]
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192[[folder:Music]]
193* The song "0 rhesus negativ" by German singer Udo Lindenberg involves the singer meeting a vampire but being spared because the vampire can't stand that blood type.
194[[/folder]]
195
196[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
197* One of the annotations in ''TabletopGame/TheDraculaDossier'' (specifically in ''Dracula Unredacted'') suggests that the first stage of vampiric transformation changes the proto-vamp's blood type to AB+ (universal recipient), meaning Lucy could have survived those transfusions if they'd been able to keep Dracula away from her.
198[[/folder]]
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200[[folder:Theatre]]
201* In the middle school musical ''{{Dracula}}, Baby'' Dracula offers to do anything in his power to help Lucy. He is asked if he's type B (Lucy's type) or O - the universal donor. He replies that he's type AB - the universal receiver.
202[[/folder]]
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204[[folder:Video Games]]
205* In ''VideoGame/DeadIsland'' all four of the virus-immune survivors have O negative blood. This is presumably not a coincidence, although it is never really explored.
206* ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'' reveals Rise Kujikawa has type AB blood. The inverse side of this trope is also Lampshaded, as the groups note the strangeness of neither the Persona 3 or 4 cast having any girl with type A blood, the most common type in Japan.
207* Both Futaba Sakura and Goro Akechi in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' are AB-, which is especially notable as RH- is so rare in Japan that most works don't even list positive/negative distinction in blood types. It's very fitting for Futaba, as her Persona is a UFO (based on the works of Creator/HPLovecraft at that) and she's a very eccentric {{Hikikomori}}. For Akechi, [[spoiler:it may be an allusion to how he was born and raised as [[BastardAngst an outcast]] due to his parentage.]]
208* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' Albert Wesker and by extension his son Jake possess a rare blood type that grants immunity to TheVirus. Jake is willing to share his blood to save the world... for a price. [[spoiler:[[CharacterDevelopment He gets a lot better]] and ultimately drops his price as low as a single tank of gas for his motorcycle]].
209* ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'' has a door in one dungeon that will only open if a person with AB blood tries to open it; this was done by its builder to ensure her apprentice, the party member Lucia, wouldn't get into things she shouldn't. Only one member of your party can open it, leading to a brief puzzle to determine which of your party members is AB. Oddly enough, it isn't Yuri (type A) or Karin (also type A), the main characters -- it's [[spoiler:Gepetto. Joachim is type O and Lucia is type B. It's also [[{{Foreshadowing}} not a coincidence that Yuri and Karin have the same blood type]]]].
210* In ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', [[spoiler:Lily's rare blood type is the reason why when she suffered kidney failure, Saejima located her biological father and did whatever it took for him to donate one of his to her]].
211* In ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'', it's mentioned that the Doom Slayer is AB Positive, though the only significance this has is to confirm that he's a human.
212[[/folder]]
213
214[[folder:Visual Novels]]
215* Toko in ''VisualNovel/KaraNoShoujo'' is of the Bombay blood group [[spoiler:which means that she can't get a blood transfusion after getting hit by a truck]].
216* ''VisualNovel/SteamPrison'' doesn't use the standard terminology, as it takes place in a SteamPunk setting with an appropriately pseudo-Victorian-era level of medical science, but early in the storyline there is some mention of heroine Cyrus's blood being likely to react negatively to transfusions and the description given indicates that she is type O negative. This fact becomes plot-relevant on Adage's path, in which [[spoiler:Glissade]] wants to harvest her blood in his quest to revive [[FrankensteinsMonster his "daughter" Priscilla]].
217[[/folder]]
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219[[folder:Webcomics]]
220* In ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'', Jim, playing Qui-Gon, has his character's blood type written on his character sheet. It's O-, making him a universal donor, however he ''actually'' wanted AB+ to make the character more capable of receiving medical treatment, but didn't know that there was a difference and the type he picked would only be useful if he just needed blood plasma. [[{{Munchkin}} Pete]] is the one that brings the difference to his attention, and points out that that universal ''recipient'' would be preferable for the reasons Jim was going for, but Qui-Gon being a universal donor ends up being useful when he needs to give Anakin a blood transfusion.
221* Feral from ''Webcomic/StrongFemaleProtagonist'' takes the universal donor version of this trope [[ExaggeratedTrope farther than usual]] in addition to her strong HealingFactor superpower. Any of her blood or organs are perfectly compatible with anybody they are transplanted to, and she volunteers to provide as much as possible of them. The downside is that she is immune to drugs such as painkillers and anesthesia, and has to endure being constantly chopped open in the process all by herself.
222* Sandra from ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'' is AB-. The trope is played with heavily, as Larisa [[http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2016/09/19/0822-the-divine-comedy-page-20/ discovers this by stealing her medical records]] because [[spoiler: she has been told by the Devil that Sandra is destined to die the following day if Larisa does not prevent it]]. Larisa remarks that it's "good to know", but it ends up not mattering whatsoever.
223[[/folder]]
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225[[folder:Western Animation]]
226* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "[[Recap/BobsBurgersS11E4HeartbreakHotelOween Heartbreak Hotel Oween]]," we learn that Bob is O-, the universal donor, which makes his blood very attractive to people holding a blood drive. The problem is, Bob is very squeamish when it comes to blood.
227* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' has a government agency capture [[DamselInDistress Muriel]] to [[PokeThePoodle forcefully grow her hair out and then shave it to make wigs]], because she was one of the three or so people on the planet (who they hadn't already captured) with the blood type "ABXYZ."
228* In ''WesternAnimation/HighlanderTheAnimatedSeries'', it is mentioned in one episode that all Immortals are universal blood donors (O-). This is used in that episode as an explanation as to why Quentin's blood can save a wounded mortal's life, then never gets mentioned again.
229* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' sees Peggy bragging to neighbour Minh about how she has blood of type AB- and giving this trope its name.
230-->'''Mihn:''' I'm type O. Universal donor.\
231'''Peggy:''' Oh, yeah? Well, I have the rarest blood of all; AB Negative! Liquid Gold!
232* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
233** In the second season episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E22BloodFeud Blood Feud]]", Mr. Burns needs an OO- (double-O negative) transplant, and Bart is the only person in town with the same blood type. He uses it as a bargaining chip.
234** Homer is also stated as being "N negative", [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MNS_antigen_system which does exist.]]
235* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', it is revealed that Kyle and Cartman are the only two people in town with AB- blood... leading to some problems when Kyle needs a kidney transplant and Cartman won't let him have it.
236* In the ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' episode "A Pint of Life", a young boy is injured in an accident. He needs a transfusion, but his blood type is so rare that the only possible donor they can think of is his father. Since his father is currently exploring the Amazon Rainforest, the Super Friends have to retrieve him.
237* In the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' episode "Image", a young boy named Garfield Logan is caught in an explosion and is badly injured. Dying from his injuries, he needed a transfusion of type O blood to live, of which the isolated farm's supplies were just destroyed. Nobody on site has type O blood, except [[spoiler: Miss Martian, who can shapeshift her body to the cellular level. The [[SuperhumanTransfusion transfusion]] will later give the character shapeshifting powers and he reappears in season 2 as Beast Boy.]]
238[[/folder]]
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240[[folder:Real Life]]
241* While it doesn't rise to the level that examples of the trope generally make it out to be, Rh-negative blood types ''are'' comparatively harder to find compatible matches for because only about15% of the population is Rh-negative and most people with Rh-negative blood types (with the exception being, ironically, AB-) are limited to only a subset of that due to ABO compatibility. O- patients are the most limited as they can only receive blood from the approximately 7% of the population that is also O-, and B- is only slightly above that since those patients can only receive O- or B- and the latter appears in less than 2% of the population (A- is moderately less so because it's not as rare, appearing in about 6% of the population, so between A- and O- donors, those patients are compatible with blood from about 13% of the population, and AB- patients, despite technically having the rarest blood type, are actually the easiest of all the negative types to match as they are compatible with any Rh- donor).[[note]]Rh-positive types are much easier because not only are all of them far more common than their Rh-negative counterparts -- even AB+, which is still fairly rare, is over three times as common as AB- --, but the most common of them all is O+, which is compatible with all Rh+ types.[[/note]] None of this is likely to be a problem as long as a hospital is dealing with a relatively well-stocked blood bank -- this is probably the biggest difference between real life and the trope's use in fiction, which would make you think that all hospitals perpetually run short of rare blood types --, but it does come into play in places where shortages are more common (often hospitals in less developed countries and/or more isolated areas), or if a hospital has an unexpected run on the blood bank that depletes their supply, such as in the case of a high-casualty disaster.
242** There are also areas of the world in which almost everyone is Rh positive, so that Rh-negative blood is correspondingly rare.
243* There are actually more blood types than the usual ABO+-, although most of them are incredibly rare. Because of this, just knowing a patient's type is helpful, but not enough; wherever possible, a blood bank will "crossmatch" blood, testing the patient's blood against the specific unit of blood they plan to give them.
244* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hh_antigen_system Bombay Type blood]] is an extremely rare blood type that cannot accept any ABO-normal blood. Genetically they may have any of the normal ABO types, but they test as type O due to a lack of H antigen, which is present in ABO-normal people (type O only has H; in A, B, and AB, the H acts as an anchor for the additional antigens). They will have a hemolytic reaction if given O negative (which is otherwise considered the universal donor for blood) and must be given Bombay (Oh) blood. For this reason, when a blood bank receives a Bombay donation, they never discard it as they do with other blood types after a certain period or expiration date. It's named after the city in which it was discovered, and people who have it are mostly concentrated in that region of India (even there, they're a minority), and practically nowhere else in the world.
245* Patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus ([=SLE=]) sometimes become intolerant of their own ABO/Rh blood type, as their overly-picky immune systems launch attacks against even their own blood cells. A perfect cross-match is essential before such patients receive a transfusion, and the blood itself must be infused slowly and at body temperature to minimize any risk of reaction.
246* The Rh-null phenotype comes around when a person has no Rh antigens in their bloodstream. [[note]]The term "Rh-negative" refers to the lack of Rh antigen D, the most clinically significant; Rh-null means 99% or more of the known Rh antigens are not present. [[/note]] Because of this, people who hold this blood type are the universal donors for the Rh system, but can only receive blood from other Rh-null people -- something that may prove difficult because it's ''extremely'' rare. First reported in 1961, there are currently [[http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/the-most-precious-blood-on-earth/381911/ less than 50]] known people with this blood type around the world.
247* Scientists are continually discovering new blood group antigens so rare that they may only be present in ''one family'' (or so common that they're only ''absent'' in one family). Typically, these antigens are only discovered when a daughter or daughter-in-law of one of said families finds herself unable to carry a child to term, and the doctors pin the cause on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemolytic_disease_of_the_newborn HDFN]] caused by an antibody or lack thereof that no one has ever seen before, such that either a person's blood reacts to anything but a family member's blood or blood from that family will be reacted to by the blood of anyone who is not a family member[[note]]if possible, if the antigen in question is a variant of a known antigen, genetic testing will also be done to confirm that this is a completely new variant[[/note]]. In the case of families missing an antigen that basically everyone else on Earth possesses, a family member who develops an antibody to said antigen will literally only be able to receive blood from a close relative.
248* While not as difficult as matching extremely rare blood types, blood transfusions to infants present an additional challenge because infants cannot receive blood from donors who have antibodies for CMV,[[note]]a common virus that is harmless to adults, but dangerous to babies[[/note]] which it's estimated that 85% of people will have by the time they turn 40. This extra layer means that finding suitable blood for transfusion in these cases often isn't easy, even moreso if the infant also has an uncommon blood type (and especially if that uncommon blood type only has a few compatible matches).
249* In something of an inversion, 150 people around the world have been found to have an antibody that actually ''prevents'' the immune system from attacking foreign blood types, something that gained a bit of media attention due to the famous case of James Harrison, "The Man with the Golden Arms"; it's still not entirely clear what causes this antibody to develop, but it's believed that Harrison's case specifically was caused by him receiving incompatible blood during a surgery (he needed a large amount of blood and the rural hospital didn't have enough of the right type in stock) and his immune system's reaction to said blood. Plasma from donors with this antibody is used in the manufacture of a treatment to prevent HDFN in Rh-positive children of Rh-negative mothers (which is by far the most common cause of the disorder).
250[[/folder]]

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