History Main / OrganDodge

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': Uniocs are a {{Cyclops}}-like species whose "head" is pretty much a giant eyeball mounted on top of the neck; the brain is kept in the pelvic cradle. Since many humans and members of other species with head-mounted brains don't ''know'' this, they will often go for a headshot out of instinct, which - as Ebbirnoth demonstrates after getting sniped during the Credomar debacle - certainly isn't ''fun'', because total blindness and tremendous pain usually aren't, but is very unlikely to be lethal. A later storyline has the fact that multiple Uniocs were shot in the head, rather than pelvis, used as evidence that the attacker(s) weren't all that familiar with the species.

-->-- '''Malcolm Reynolds''', ''Film/{{Serenity}}''

* During the Unification War, Mal Reynolds of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' had a certain cluster of nerves moved due to getting torn up by a piece of shrapnel. As a result, during the Big Damn Movie ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', the nerve strike that the Operative uses to paralyze people and set them up for being killed with his sword has far less of an effect that expected (Mal does noticeably freeze up, but it doesn't last long at all and he's able to move after just a few seconds while the Operative takes his time going back for his sword confident he has the fight well in hand).

* The Doctor suddenly revealing he has a "respiratory bypass system" as an explanation for him surviving strangulation in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars Pyramids of Mars]]".

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': Uniocs are a {{Cyclops}}-like species whose "head" is pretty much a giant eyeball mounted on top of the neck; the brain is kept in the pelvic cradle. Since many humans and members of other species with head-mounted brains don't ''know'' this, they will often go for a headshot out of instinct, which - as Ebbirnoth can attest after getting sniped during the Credomar debacle - certainly isn't ''fun'', because total blindness and tremendous pain usually aren't, but is very unlikely to be lethal.

* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', all Titans have a strong HealingFactor allowing them to recover from any damage and regenerate damaged tissue; so long as it's not directed at the back of their napes, and this is a shared weakness for Titan-Shifters; whose bodies are actually contained in this region. [[spoiler:During the fight at Shiganshina; the Scout Corps. manage to corner Reiner Braun, The Armored Titan and deploy their Thunder Spears to shatter his armor [[YourHeadAsplode and destroy most of Reiners' actual head]]. The trope comes into play when its' discovered that before the explosion did him in, Reiner actually shifted ''his entire conscious mind'' throughout his Titan body before laying on his back in order for the damage to heal.]]

* Before the events of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', Sousuke had thought Gauron dead after shooting him in the head, only for him to show up and hijack his flight during the first story arc. It turned out that Gauron had been injured there before, and had a metal plate in his skull from the treatment of that earlier injury that stopped the bullet.

* ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'''s Shiki does this with her arm.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' has a couple of these due to Mr. Spock's half-Vulcan ancestry.
** "A Private Little War". Spock is shot but survives because his heart is where his liver would be if he were fully human.
** "Operation: Annihilate!". Spock is hit with a brilliant light and is apparently blinded. Later it's revealed that he has an extra eyelid that protected him and made the effect only temporary.

* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Locke survives being [[spoiler:gut-shot by Ben]] because he donated his kidney. Though the Island's healing powers and [[spoiler:Taller Ghost Walt]] may have been involved.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': The team realise that the sniper that are chasing in the "Final Shot" episode is not a run of the mill spree shooter because his victims were hit by kill shots directly to the head, base of neck, and heart. The only reason that the sixth victim survived the mass shooting was because he had dextrocardia. But it is ultimately averted since the bullet still tore through major arteries and the doctors couldn't save him.

* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': In at least one of his fight's [[StockShonenHero Kazuki]] he gets stabbed in the heart, only for it not to do anything as his heart had already been destroyed and replaced with a [[MineralMacGuffin Kakugane]] that can transform into the {{Magitek}} weapon that he was holding in his hand at the time.

* Ani Toguro of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' could rearrange the organs in his body at will, theoretically making it impossible to strike a fatal blow to him. Kuwabara just finds a way to hit every single point on his body simultaneously. [[spoiler:That is enough to stun Toguro, yet still winds up being nonfatal. However this backfires on Toguro in the next arc as Kurama feeds him to a demonic tree.]]

* Sylar from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' can avoid mortal harm by using his shapeshifting powers to move his organs around. When he gains a healing factor this makes him even more invulnerable than others because he can move around the one spot in all healers' brains that would make death permanent.

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', the most painful way to kill Jaffa is to aim for the symbiote pouch in their abdomen, which both kills the symbiote and causes a serious gut injury... unless said Jaffa uses tretonin, a drug that obviates the need for a symbiote. Thus in "Lost City", Bra'tac survives being stabbed in his pouch by TheMole. Mind you, being stabbed in the gut is still pretty bad, but the fact that the symbiotic wasn’t killed let’s him keep going a bit longer. Using tretonin instead of a symbiote also renders Jaffa immune to a Tok'ra-developed chemical weapon that targets Goa'uld symbiotes (the dying symbiote unfortunately produces a toxin that also kills the host).

Where a character gets stabbed or shot -- usually in the kidney -- and it should be fatal. Only it isn't, because they donated that kidney. Or they have [[BizarreHumanBiology dextrocardia]]. Or that limb was actually [[ArtificialLimbs prosthetic]]. Or they only '''look''' human when [[HumanOutsideAlienInside their insides are decidedly not]]. Or they're a MasterOfYourDomain who can ''literally'' move their organs around. Hell, even if they're not humanoid, the placement of certain organs (e.g. brain and heart) is practically universal among real-life non-microscopic animals that possess, so [[BizarreAlienBiology an alien having their brain in their foot rather than their head]] would be completely unexpected, to the misfortune of anyone who tries to [[BoomHeadshot kill them by headshot]].

** Similarly, in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', [[spoiler: Ocelot attempts to jab a finger into Naked Snake's eye during a close-quarters fight... which was one that Ocelot already shot out by accident earlier in the story. Snake just gives him a smug grin for a second before continuing the fight.]]