History Main / StrongFleshWeakSteel

* In ''Film/ExMachina'', the robot Ava is unable to [[spoiler:beat Nathan in a clean fight even when she gets the jump on him, with Nathan effortlessly smashing her arm off in one blow. It's only because Kyoko stabs him that Nathan doesn't completely destroy Ava. The video we see of Nathan's earlier AI experiments also shows one of the robots he created smashing her arms to nubs as she pounds on her cell door pleading to be let out. Justified in that they weren't built as fighting machines, their sole purpose being to serve as robot vessels for a TuringTest; that, and Nathan is shown to be a fitness enthusiast who is absolutely jacked.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'': Destroying an infantry squad using anti-'mech weapons can sometimes take ''longer'' than destroying another 'mech with them. This is because, per the rules of the game, a successful attack against an infantry squad kills a single soldier and only one soldier, with the assumption that the whole squad was taking cover and thus only one of them got turned into [[ChunkySalsaRule chunky salsa]] by [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill the 100 kg explosive shell you just shot at him]]. Weapons designed for AntiInfantry duty (machine guns and flamethrowers) ignore this rule and kill additional soldiers per hit, making them much more useful for infantry hunting (but usually too weak to meaningfully damage 'mech armour).

* Taken to absurd extreme in ''Wolfschanze'' - a rather poorly made WWII] FPS from the same makers of ''{{VideoGame/Mortyr}} [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/1999/07/28/ 2093-1944]]'' - in which you can take out a tank by ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDM7cu89Kas kicking it enough times]]''. One Polish magazine that reviewed it dubbed the game "a Creator/ChuckNorris simulator" after the fact.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'': Most of the enemies are robotic, and the characters don't usually use any weapons but their own bodies, so this is in full effect. Even in regards to story, the flesh-and-blood characters seem to be quite a bit more durable than robots.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'': Not as much of an example as Sonic, since there are less robotic enemies, but a GroundPound is usually enough to take out a robot.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', enemy Nanosuit soldiers can survive multiple rocket launcher shots to the face, whereas enemy helicopters and tanks explode after 2 or 3 rockets. The North Korean [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking General himself can shrug off several rocket launcher shots]] before dying (although you're not supposed to have a rocket launcher when you fight him).

* There's an ability ''named'' Strong Flesh Weak Steel in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II''. It lets a [[SuperSoldier Space Marine]] [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Force Commander]] stun vehicles for over 5 seconds. Though, while armed with a PowerFist, so it kinda works.

* As noted above, flesh has the benefit of a natural HealingFactor. While metal structures require regular maintenance or replacement, as small damages accumulate, a squishy can go its entire life just relying on the natural self-repair protocols (of course, the fact that such beings still die suggests that the ability has its limits, but good luck getting a bridge or assembly-line robot to recover from a cracked limb without extensive outside aide).

* As noted above, flesh has the benefit of a natural HealingFactor. While metal structures require regular maintenance or replacement, as small damages accumulate, a squishy can go it's entire life just relying on the natural self-repair protocols (of course, the fact that such beings still die suggests that the ability has its limits, but good luck getting a bridge or assembly-line robot to recover from a cracked limb without extensive outside aide).

* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' makes heavy use of this. In addition to being able to [[DieChairDie smash in iron drums]] with a simple punch from the very first game, the second game introduces robotic enemies (although they at least have a lot of hit points). The third game takes this even farther by introducing a lot more robotic enemies as well as a scene where you need to fight off a bulldozer! While the bulldozer [[AdvancingBossOfDoom cannot be defeated]], landing enough shots on it will force it to back off for a few seconds.

* In Noblemen: 1896 by Foursaken Media, vehicles have the highest level of armor so it's hard to scratch them with normal firearms. Additionally zeppelin and ship of the line type units have the highest health but land vehicles, while sturdy. a number of living units rival or exceed them. For example the heavily armoured Georgeson Tank has over 1800 health at Level 9 but the WarElephants has 7500 and it has no experience levels. So the tank is more difficult to hurt, but when it does take damage it'll go down earlier than the War Elephant.

* ''VideoGame/ThePunisher''. One of Ma Gnucci's sons is noted as wearing kevlar, so chest shots won't work. It still takes many shots to the head to bring him down.

* In the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series, a recurring gameplay motif is that shells damage tanks and buildings, while bullets damage infantry. This means that tanks will require multiple shots from their main gun to kill even a single infantryman and will likely kill him quicker by [[CarFu running him over]], while a machine-gun using hummer can kill its weight in infantry easily. Similarly, grenadiers or bazooka-using infantry counter tanks, but not regular foot soldiers. There are still some oddities about this, however.

* Always true to some extent in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' thanks to HitPoints, but it's particularly notable in 4th Edition. According to the DMG, a Large iron statue should have about 120 hit points, a total easily achievable by the time a character leaves Heroic levels, and lower than a Solo goblin. A statue that's actually fighting back (an Iron Golem), however, has HitPoints of almost 400.
** 3rd Edition attempted an aversion with Hardness scores. Inanimate objects had Hardness, which automatically reduced damage by that amount - so that iron statue might have Hardness 5, meaning the average blow from a sword or axe wouldn't scratch it. A golem might have so many more hit points than a statue of the same size because hit points function as an abstraction of health, PlotArmor, fatigue, and lots of little factors, more than they reflect just durability.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* ''Series/TheBoys2019'': In the first episode Queen Maeve jumps in front of the truck that was about to run someone over. She is completely unhurt, while the truck instantly has its engine crumble to pieces.
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