Basic Trope: A minor injury puts a character in major danger.
- Straight:
- Bob gets a scratch from a weapon and almost dies.
- Alice gets a scratch from a claw that leaves a blood trail which gets her caught.
- A Humongous Mecha gets a glancing blow that ultimately causes fluid to leak into the vital systems.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob gets a scratch from a weapon. Only one microscopic spot was injured, but he keels over immediately.
- A Humongous Mecha gets a glancing blow to an insignificant system, which ultimately spirals into such drastic damage that it causes the mecha to explode and destroy every other mecha on the battlefield.
- Downplayed:
- Bob gets a scratch from a weapon and gets a cold.
- Alice gets a scratch from a claw that makes it harder than usual for her to evade capture.
- A Humongous Mecha gets a glancing blow that hampers it enough for someone to land a lethal blow.
- Justified:
- The wound became infected.
- The weapon was poisoned with a bunch of diseases.
- The weapon was imbued with a curse that instantly kills anyone who's wounded by it.
- The scratch injured Bob's very fragile weak spot.
- The wound became infected.
- Inverted:
- Bob receives drastic injuries that he shrugs off as if they were Just a Flesh Wound.
- Alice gets a scratch from a claw, and she escapes even more easily than usual.
- Bob or Alice receives a glancing blow from a Healing Shiv and are instantly restored to full health.
- Subverted:
- Bob gets a scratch from a weapon. The camera lingers on it, seemingly implying it will be a horrible wound. Bob goes merrily on his way and nothing happens.
- Alice gets a scratch from a claw that leaves a blood trail...but the creature gets distracted by something else.
- Double Subverted:
- ...But it turns out the weapon was covered in infectious spores that have a very long incubation period.
- ...But it turns out that Alice's blood trail suggested she was heading for a particular spot. The tracker pretended to get distracted, when it was really trying to cut her off at the pass.
- Zig Zagged: Bob gets cut on his tendon. While it only causes minor mobility issues, unlike several injuries that initially seemed more serious, he never fully recovers.
- Parodied: Bob takes bullets, long drops, and fire with little more than an "ouch," but the moment he gets a paper cut, he starts bleeding profusely.
- Lampshaded:Bob: I thought, "it's just a scratch, no problem." Boy, was I wrong.
- Invoked:
- Emperor Evulz coats all his weapons in poison so that even enemies that get away will be killed.
- The creature intentionally wounds Alice enough to draw blood so it can wear her down.
- Exploited: Dr. Robert uses the fear of infections to sell his antibiotic ointment.
- Discussed: "It's so crazy. Bob can take on anything, yet this seemingly innocuous cut may do him in."
- Conversed: "Yeah, this guy in the movie thinks it's a flesh wound, but no flesh wound gets that much attention from the camera. Something's gonna go horribly wrong."
You'd better get that Deadly Scratch taken care of back at the main page.
