Trope supposed meaning: 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.
OR
"whenever blood type comes up in fiction, it's almost always because the blood type necessary for transfusion is very rare." According to the NHS[1]
rarest blood types are AB+, AB- (2% of population) and B- (3%).
Wick Check
correct
- 428: Shibuya Scramble: Subverted in that the reason Suzune hasn't had a heart transfer is cause she has Bombay blood and only a few dozen people in Japan even have it. It's the reason why Detective Tateno had been trying to kill Hitomi, trying to render her brain-dead enough. In the end, it's a friend of Suzune's who gives up his heart to her.
- The Rat Patrol: "The B Negative Raid". Moffitt has B negative blood, and when he's injured in the field, the Patrol are too far away from a hospital and unable to give blood themselves due to being incompatible. They end up raiding Dietrich's camp and kidnapping an American POW who has the same blood type.
- Batwoman 2019 S 1 E 13 Drink Me: Nocturna is AB+ (universal recipient), allowing her to steal blood from anyone. Alice is O- (universal donor) so when Mary (type B) needs a transfusion Alice needs to act as the donor rather than Kate (A+). — might be a stretch, but let's just go with it
- Chuck S 3 E 03 Chuck Vs The Angel De La Muerte: It turns out both General Goya and John Casey have this blood type. Guess who has to save whom with it? — a partial example, but if I'm reading this right the blood types are only mentioned because the transfusion is necessary
- The Gifted S2E13 "teMpted": Glow is wounded, and the only person that shares her specific brand of glowing blood is Marcos.
ambiguous "discusses blood type rarity"
- Steam Prison: The standard terminology isn't used thanks to the setting's pseudo-Victorian-era level of medical science, but early in the storyline there is some mention of Cyrus's blood being likely to react negatively to transfusions and the description given indicates that she is type O negative. This becomes plot-relevant on Adage's path, which reveals that Glissade arranged for her to be exiled to the Depths because he wants to make use of her blood, since the lack of antigens makes it ideal for transfusion.
- Highlander: The Animated Series: When Asklepios is injured and needs a blood transfusion, Valka convince Quentin and Ramirez to donated their blood, since an immortal's blood is universal.
- The Adventures of Superboy: 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. — while this does discuss rare blood type, it seems like misuse because Superman isn't human and thus there shouldn't be an assumption for him to have any human blood.
misuse
- Shadow Hearts: Covenant: One puzzle involves a door that opens only to people with AB blood type. Luckily, there's a device nearby that allows you to compare blood types of party members. Karin is A, and Lucia is B, for starters. The answer is Yuri is A, Joachim is O, and Gepetto is AB.
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Obscure enough that it might be a coincidence, but during "Dungeons and Dragons", Charlie mentions a one in 200 chance that John might have AB Negative blood (see the entry on the page for details). Who else has AB Negative blood? Ryan O'Reilly.
- It Ain't Half Hot, Mum: In the episode "It's a Wise Child", Rangi steals Williams and Parkins' medical records, and the Concert Party discover that Parkins has Type O blood while Williams has Type AB blood, meaning he cannot be Parkins' father. However, since this would remove Williams' reason to keep Parkins from being posted up the jungle, throwing the door open to the rest of them being likewise posted, they doctor Parkins' record to list his blood type as AB before Williams can see it. — blood type isn't just rare, but impossible to prove someone isn't someone else's child
- El corazón nunca se equivoca: Temo mentions that Ari has A- type and that he isn't a compatible donnor. Ubaldo, on the other hand, has a matching blood type. — not one of the 3 rarest
- Bobs Burgers S 11 E 4 Heartbreak Hotel Oween: Bob's blood type happens to be O-, the universal donor type, which is what Teddy and the phlebotomists use to guilt trip him into donating blood. — O- is the 3rd most common blood type and isn't rare.
- Teddy is literally type AB, though he never specifies whether he's AB+ or AB-. doesn't give details about if he's giving blood.
- Unlike many fictional examples, Bob and Teddy are the only characters confirmed to have a rare blood type. Linda's blood type is confirmed to be A+, while the Belcher kids' blood types depend on whether or not Linda is an O-carrier. If she is, they can be either A+, A-, O+, or O-; if she isn't, the kids must be either A+ or A-, although all of them will be O-carriers due to Bob being O-. just stating and speculating blood types.
- Blaine's World: Evan is O negative, a blood type frequently used in transfusions, and thus in short supply. Fortunately, so is Liv. Unfortunately, she's not willing to turn her brother into a zombie. — not a rare type and the example even says as much.
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S17 E23 "Heartfelt Passages": Downplayed. The episode indicates that Mike is B-negative (one of the rarer blood types) and Carisi is O-negative (not as rare but noteworthy for being the universal donor type), but it's a fairly minor element and has little impact on the rest of the story.
- Lost S 05 E 11 Whatever Happened Happened: Kate reveals she's a Universal Donor and volunteers to give young Ben some of her blood via transfusion. — universal donor = O- = not the rarest
ZCE
- One Life to Live: Tina and CJ, among others
- Charmed (1998): This is Piper's blood type
- All My Children: Greenlee/Jack, among others.
