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| 3 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings! |
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| 6 | |
| 7 | ->''"See that girl with the silly pigtails? When she runs toward the ball there's just the slightest hesitation in her left foot. I'm willing to bet a childhood injury has weakened her. Keep serving the ball to her left and we'll destroy her and the rest of her team."'' |
| 8 | -->-- '''Azula''' shows how she can turn even a friendly game of volleyball into warfare, ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The CombatPragmatist uses any tools at their disposal. This means [[AttackItsWeakPoint going after any weak points]]. People have plenty of those built in, whether it be that [[GroinAttack oh so sensitive groin]], those [[GoForTheEye soft and squishy eyes]] that can be damaged so easily, especially if [[AHandfulForAnEye you have something to toss at them]], etc. And if the natural weaknesses that we all have aren't enough, some people get new ones. For example, have you noticed that your [[GiantMook enormous opponent]] over there is holding his arm kinda funny? Maybe if you punch him hard in the shoulder you'll make him scream like a tiny child and shorten the fight (so long as you get clear of him fast). |
| 11 | |
| 12 | All that said, it's not just the Pragmatist who does this. Sometimes it's more a move of desperation by someone who ''prefers'' to fight fair, but this is the only way out of a predicament. In any event, you can usually expect this to come up precisely once in a fight. After all, doing the same thing over and over is boring, no matter how effective it might be. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | You can also expect this to show up during ColdBloodedTorture. Why make a new wound when you can take advantage of one that already exists? Bonus points in that it lets the victim (and audience) cringe in anticipation as your weapon of choice inches closer to a spot that already hurts like the dickens. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | In video games, this is usually the implied in-universe justification for InjuredVulnerability gameplay mechanics. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | A SisterTrope to AttackItsWeakPoint, which it often overlaps with. Compare and contrast with tropes such as UntouchableUntilTagged, InjuredVulnerability, AchillesHeel, FlawExploitation, and SubsystemDamage. This may be a follow up to an attempt at CripplingTheCompetition. OrganDodge can operate as the inverse of this, as due to an old injury an attack at a specific spot [[FeelNoPain may no longer work]]. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | ---- |
| 21 | !!Examples: |
| 22 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 23 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 24 | * ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'': Hatanaka Kouhei threatens to do this to Chiharu Shiba after breaking his arm. Shiba responds by smashing his broken arm against a wall to show that he doesn't care about pain, then delivers a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown to Kouhei. |
| 25 | * ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Subverted in the manga. At the end of the fight between [[TheBigGuy Alex Louis Armstrong the Strong Arm Alchemist]], and [[TheBrute Sloth]], Armstrong is severely weakened by a dislocated shoulder, but Armstrong is able to catch what would be Sloth's finishing blow on his injured shoulder, which pops it back into place and puts him back into the fight. |
| 26 | * ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'': In ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', Domon dislocates his shoulder trying to save a boy who attempted to steal the God Gundam. Domon's next opponent in the Gundam Fight, Neo India's Chandra Sijiema, witnesses him getting injured as part of his "stalking the enemy before the fight to learn of any weaknesses or just murder them" deal. So when their battle comes, Chandra has his Cobra Gundam target the God Gundam's shoulder so that the Mobile Trace System will transfer the pain to Domon's already-injured shoulder. |
| 27 | * ''Franchise/OnePiece'': |
| 28 | ** In the earlier chapters, Zoro is fighting Cabaji of Buggy Pirates, where the latter always aims at the wound on the stomach that Buggy inflicted earlier on Zoro. Zoro, getting pissed off, decides to cut the wound ''[[MachoMasochism deeper]]'' just to prove that he'll win even with that big wound -- and he does. |
| 29 | ** When Kin'emon and the rest of the Akazaya Nine fight Kaido, they notice that, even in Kaido's dragon form, he still has an X-shaped scar on his chest that their master Oden caused two decades earlier. Knowing of Kaido's massive strength advantage, they decide to aim their strongest attacks at this scar at every opportunity, ultimately each imitating Oden's strike on the exact same spot. [[spoiler:This fails to even ''reopen'' the wound, disappointing the attackers [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction alongside Kaido himself]]. It does, however, buy Luffy and other enough time to join before Kaido can finish them off.]] |
| 30 | ** An unusual inversion occurs when Killer fights Basil Hawkins, the latter using a VoodooDoll that will transfer his wounds to Eustass Kid, Killer's captain. [[spoiler:Remembering his captain had [[AnArmAndALeg lost his left arm]], Killer attacks the same place on Hawkins' body. With no place to send the injury, [[DisabilityImmunity Kid is unharmed]] and Hawkins' injury sticks, leaving him weak enough for Killer to take his doll of Kid away.]] |
| 31 | * ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': When Saitou first encounters Sanosuke, Saitou first wounds Sano's shoulder and then, when [[WreckedWeapon the sword breaks]] due to the strength of Saitou's thrust, attacks Sano's wound in order to incapacitate him. It's later subverted in a sparring match between the two when they become quasi-allies, as Sano realizes after the match that Saitou actually deliberately avoided hitting the wound, and despite that, Saitou was still too much for Sano to handle. This proves to Sano that he is not ready for the battles he is about to face. |
| 32 | * ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'': Subverted. The one-eyed Bontenmaru claims that so many people have tried to attack his eyepatch that he might actually be better at parrying from that side. |
| 33 | * ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'': [[spoiler:Touka Bergatt]]'s assassins target [[spoiler:his brother Tariga]]'s injured shoulder when trying to kill him. They themselves had injured his shoulder previously to divert suspicion from the family before [[spoiler:Touka]] decided he needed to be killed outright. |
| 34 | * In ''Manga/SpaceAdventureCobra'', this is not an improvisation but an actual well-thought tactic. During the Rugball arc, Cobra obtains the medical files of the OpposingSportsTeam, positing that Rugball being such a BloodSport, long-time practitioners naturally have some old injuries that aren't fully healed even by futuristic medical science. Thus he makes his teammates learn the specific weak spots of every opponent; it doesn't ensure victory against the champion team, but it definitely gives the underdogs an edge. |
| 35 | [[/folder]] |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 38 | * ''ComicBook/CombatKellyAndHisDeadlyDozen'': When Kelly refuses to throw his fight against the Nazi champion, the Nazis rough him up and [[CripplingTheCompetition break his ribs]], giving their boxer an easy target to aim for during the bout. |
| 39 | * ''Franchise/TheDCU'': |
| 40 | ** ''ComicBook/BruceWayneFugitive'': In ''Gotham Knights'' #31, Batman uses this as a BadassBoast, calling out each of his opponents by name and listing the injuries each have that make them vulnerable: knee injury from playing football, bad shoulder from copping a piece of shrapnel, and so on. (Of the last one, he observes: "Perfect medical record. '''So far.'''") |
| 41 | ** ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'': Several Justice League reservists are getting their asses kicked by Deathstroke, until ComicBook/GreenArrow jabs Deathstroke in his previously-wounded eye with an arrow, which throws him off and allows the Leaguers to pile onto him. |
| 42 | * In the first volume of ''ComicBook/TheGoodAsian'', Edison Hark suffered a bad wound from a hatchet in his shoulder the first time he tangled with [[ProfessionalKiller Hui Long]]. Near the start of the second volume, he gets into a fight and reopens the wound, and immediately thinks that he needs to end the fight before his opponent can notice the heavy bleeding and take advantage. As soon as he has finished thinking that, the guy he's fighting notices and promptly jabs a finger right into the wound. |
| 43 | * ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'': During the final battle with Onslaught the Hulk manages to crack Onslaught's armor, which up until then was impervious, allowing him, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four to enter Onslaught's non-corporeal form in order to defeat him/it. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 47 | * ''Fanfic/FateHaremAntics'': Archer/Francis Drake kicks Gunner/Oda Nobunaga in a torso wound during a BladeLock to make her stagger back. |
| 48 | * ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633756 For the Want of a Nail]]'' brings two examples: |
| 49 | ** ''Fanfic/MastermindStrategistForHire'': Izuku [[spoiler:kills All Might during the USJ attack]] with two stabs to his old injury. |
| 50 | ** ''Fanfic/DekuIThinkHesSomePro'': During their fight against All Might in the Final Exam, Izuku aims to shoot him directly in his injury, whilst Bakugou, on Izuku's advice, aims for his left side (where his injury is located). |
| 51 | * ''Fanfic/TheMountainAndTheWolf'': When Jon Snow gets in a fight with [[TheBerserker a Norscan berserker]], he sees the Norscan's arm has been injured recently and badly healed (it was broken by the Wolf during the attack on Euron's ship a few weeks earlier) and chops it off. Unfortunately, it barely slows the berserker down, and the fight only ends once Jon manages to decapitate him. |
| 52 | * In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23586655 Snapped Wrist, Broken Lies]]'', Ladybug repeatedly stops an akumatized Lila by grabbing her broken wrist (which Marinette had accidentally broken earlier in the fic). |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 56 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'': Batman, ever the CombatPragmatist, strikes the Mutant leader’s bandaged nose three times during the fight, the last strike being a vicious headbutt that disorients him long enough to deliver the finishing brutal beat down. |
| 57 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'': At one point in the Optimus Prime vs. Megatron duel, Megatron wounds Optimus by throwing a sharp piece of debris and then slashing him with a LaserBlade. Much later, when Megatron appears defeated, he spots a fallen blaster and shoots Optimus multiple times in his earlier wound. This ultimately proves fatal for Prime. |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 61 | * ''Film/Aquaman2018'': When Black Manta's father dies fighting Aquaman, literally caused by him attacking a leaving Arthur and getting himself crushed by debris, he vows to plunge his father's knife into him. Problem is that Aquaman's superhuman durability means no human weapon can meaningfully hurt him. Manta's solution is to use Atlantean weapons to cut Arthur's skin and stab the wound, a tactic that does take a lot of fight out of the superhero. |
| 62 | * ''Film/BetYourLife'': During their fight in the lift bridge control room, Joseph kicks Sonny in his bad knee: the result of his CareerEndingInjury. |
| 63 | * At the climax of ''Film/BlackRain'', the villainous [[{{Yakuza}} Sato]] had been forced to commit {{Yubitsume}} just before the final chase, but despite having recently lost a finger, he is more than a match for Detective Nick Conklin in a fist fight and is happily beating the stuffing out of Nick. However, once Nick manages to aggravate the injury, he turns the fight around and quickly has Sato dazed and then beaten into submission. |
| 64 | * The climax of ''Film/DDay'' has Gelda shooting Ivan in the leg before deciding to take him on in a fistfight. The subsequent battle has Gelda occasionally kicking Ivan's leg wound to further cripple him. |
| 65 | * In the martial arts movie, ''Film/DelightfulForest'', the hero, Wu Song, having killed all his enemies, faces his last opponent, Chang the "Door God", while suffering an injury from having a sword shoved through his left shoulder in the process. In the subsequent duel, Chang repeatedly grabs, tears, and maims Wu Song's left shoulder, making him bleed. |
| 66 | * ''Film/DirtyHarry'': Harry tortures Scorpio by pressing his boot into a knife wound he received (from Harry) within the past hour. [[TortureAlwaysWorks It's enough to make him give up his hostage's location]], but also gets him released due to Harry's [[PoliceBrutality illegal conduct.]] |
| 67 | * {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork''. The fight is more or less over, but Snake took an arrow above the knee and the Duke of New York has his minions hold Plissken down for questioning. The Duke forces the arrow in deeper when Snake refuses to talk. |
| 68 | * ''Film/EveryLastOneOfThem'': When Bobby sasses him, Nichols grabs his broken nose and squeezes. Later, Hunter employs a JackBauerInterrogationTechnique by tying him to a wall and kneeling on the gunshot wound in his abdomen until he talks. |
| 69 | * ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': When Godzilla has Kong pinned by a foot on his chest, Kong tries taking a shot at the axe wound he made in Godzilla's leg earlier. It definitely hurts Godzilla, but he retaliates by stomping even harder on Kong's chest to take the fight out of him. |
| 70 | * ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': At the beginning, the Guardians are fighting a beast that has a hide too thick for their weapons to harm. Then Peter spots a small cut on its neck and has Gamora attack it with her sword, opening a large gash down to its belly. |
| 71 | * ''Film/HanselAndGretelWitchHunters'': During the climactic brawl, Hansel delivers several punches to Muriel's gut wound that he had caused with his gun at the start of the fight as he tries to hang her with a chain. |
| 72 | * Early in ''Film/HighRisk'', the DarkActionGirl henchwoman Fai suffers a gunshot to her shoulder while killing an undercover cop. She spends the whole movie posing as a hotel worker until revealing her true nature near the end, trying to shoot one of the good guys, but Joyce managed to subdue Fai by grabbing her shoulder precisely on the spot where she's hit by a bullet. |
| 73 | * ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'': To kill Smaug the dragon, Bard has to shoot a Black Arrow into a gap in Smaug's underbelly that is missing a scale. In the book, this is a random flaw as Smaug has protected himself with metal treasure embedded in his scales but missed a spot. As in the movie, it's caused by an arrow wound that Smaug sustained during the destruction of the Dale a century prior. |
| 74 | * ''Franchise/IndianaJones: Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''. During the sequence where Indiana Jones hijacks the truck carrying the Ark, one German soldier shoots him in the left arm and shortly afterwards a different soldier repeatedly punches him in the wounded shoulder. |
| 75 | * A ways into ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', Aldo finds it a wee bit too convenient that they just happened to get attacked by the Nazis in the bar their [[TheMole Mole]] specifically wanted them to meet in, and [[FakeDefector suspects she might be playing them]]. When she protests, pointing out she was shot in the ensuing firefight to insist she's innocent, Aldo responds by [[{{Squick}} calmly inserting his finger into her bullet wound]] to [[ColdBloodedTorture pressure her into being honest]]. |
| 76 | * ''Film/IpMan4'': When Geddes notices Ip Man's left arm is injured, he kicks it several times and later tries to break it. |
| 77 | * ''Film/JamesBond'': Bond receives a shoulder injury during ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''. Later, the villain Renard gets a BondOneLiner to torture Bond: "I knew you couldn't ''shoulder'' the responsibility". This makes Bond realize that [[spoiler:Renard was working for Elektra, who told him about Bond's injury]]. |
| 78 | * ''Film/JupiterAscending'': In the climactic action sequence, Jupiter shoots Balem in the leg. Later, when she tries to climb the structure as the whole refinery collapses, Balem catches up to her and pins her down, to which she presses her thumb on the injury she caused earlier, gaining the upper hand against him in the process. |
| 79 | * ''Film/{{The Karate Kid|1984}}'': During the All-Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, Kreese [[OrderedToCheat orders]] [[TokenGoodTeammate Bobby Brown]] to deliberately injure Daniel's leg in order to knock him out of the tournament. Bobby reluctantly does so and gets himself disqualified. When Daniel is able to participate in the final match after all due to Mr. Miyagi's HealingHands, Kreese then orders Johnny to target Daniel's injured leg. Johnny had been ignoring Daniel's injury to this point, and although he's clearly reluctant to follow Kreese's advice, he does start attacking Daniel's leg and nearly wins the match by doing so. |
| 80 | -->'''John Kreese:''' Sweep the leg.\ |
| 81 | ''[Johnny Lawrence [[EvenEvilHasStandards makes a confused/horrified face]]]''\ |
| 82 | '''John Kreese:''' You have a problem with that?\ |
| 83 | '''Johnny Lawrence:''' ''[reluctantly]'' ...no, Sensei.\ |
| 84 | '''John Kreese:''' No mercy. |
| 85 | * ''Film/LethalWeapon'': |
| 86 | ** During [[Film/LethalWeapon1987 the first film]], When Murtagh is tortured in the first movie, not only is he beaten until he's a bloody mess, but salt is literally rubbed into the bullet hole in his shoulder. |
| 87 | ** In the final fight of [[Film/LethalWeapon4 the fourth film]], Creator/JetLi's character dislocates Riggs's shoulder and then repeatedly punches Riggs right in that same shoulder. |
| 88 | * ''Film/MonsterParty'': When Jeremy and Cameron attack Iris in the kitchen, she slices Jeremy's cheek open with a kitchen knife. When he grabs her arm, she jabs her fingers into the cut, forcing him to let go. Later, Milo goes a step further; digging his fingers into the cut and ripping off a chunk of Jeremy's cheek. |
| 89 | * ''Film/MoonriseKingdom'': Suzy stabs one of the Khaki Scouts with lefty scissors. Later on in the film, the Khaki Scouts pull a HeelFaceTurn and try to help Suzy and Sam elope -- except for the guy she stabbed, who betrays them and initiates a chase. To incapacitate him, Sam punches him in his open wounds. |
| 90 | * ''Film/NeverBackDown'': During their fight in the film's climax, Ryan hits Jake's ribs which had been injured in a prior fight with a different opponent. |
| 91 | * ''Film/PacificRim'': While fighting Leatherback, Gipsy Danger gets around the monster's armor by blowing a hole in its armpit, then sticks its arm cannon in the wound and blasts deep into the Kaiju's chest cavity. |
| 92 | * ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'': ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes''. During the battle between Caesar and Koba for control over the ape colony, Caesar repeatedly targets the gash in Koba's side that he had gained at the start of the fight. |
| 93 | * ''Film/RobRoy'': Before the climactic DuelToTheDeath, Archie takes note of Rob's rib injury, a wound Rob suffered when escaping from captivity not long before. As a result, Archie makes sure to aim several slashes at Rob's torso during the SwordFight, and to force Rob to exert himself and breathe heavily by making him chase after Archie, who employs HitAndRunTactics throughout the bout. This leaves Rob in serious pain and winded before long. |
| 94 | * ''Film/RomeoMustDie'' ends with a BattleAmongstTheFlames between Han and the main villain, where Han had his palms badly incinerated by the fire. The villain took advantage of this by purposely grabbing Han's hands and ripping out chunks of skin and flesh, and taunting him "Gimme some skin, come on!" |
| 95 | * ''Film/SawIII'': Amanda's fight with Detective Matthews pretty much ends when she kicks his broken foot (which he purposely crushed to avoid being shackled in [[Film/SawII the last movie]]) causing it to break even further. |
| 96 | * ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' offers an inversion: in the final battle between Mal and the Operative, the Operative tries to disable Mal by attacking a pressure point that would normally cause temporary paralysis - only for Mal to reveal that he previously took some shrapnel there during the war, so the pressure point doesn't work. |
| 97 | * The infamous ending of ''Film/ASerbianFilm'', where Milos the protagonist [[FullFrontalAssault (who's in the nude)]] fights his last opponent, the overweight FatBastard Rasa, somehow still standing despite being shot twice in the stomach because of {{Kevlard}}. Rasa tries to strangle Milos in a last-ditch move, but Milos managed to turn the battle by repeatedly punching the spot on Rasa's belly where he shot at a few seconds earlier, successfully knocking Rasa off his feet. [[spoiler:Death by ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath skull-fucking]]'' ensues]]. |
| 98 | * ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'': |
| 99 | ** ''Film/SherlockCaseOfEvil'': During their fight in the Underground tunnel, Moriarty kicks Holmes in the shoulder he has just been shot in. |
| 100 | ** ''Film/{{Sherlock Holmes|2009}}'' (2009): |
| 101 | *** Holmes uses his SherlockScan to tell that one of Blackwood's guards has a floating liver[[note]] a liver that moves across the abdomen and can cause pain. [[/note]] and an injured knee. Holmes punches him hard in the liver and dislocates his knee to take him down in seconds. |
| 102 | *** In the hypothetical fight played out in the minds of Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty at the climax of ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', [[spoiler: Moriarty wins due to his ruthless exploitation of Holmes' existing shoulder injury. Realizing there is no way he can win, Holmes surprises Moriarty by [[TakingYouWithMe grabbing him and jumping over the balcony]].]] |
| 103 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 104 | ** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': During his brawl with General Grievous, Obi-Wan pulls apart some of the armor surrounding the cyborg's abdomen, exposing his organs. Shortly thereafter, he fires multiple blaster shots into this exposed region, causing a chain reaction that burns Grievous alive from inside his own casing. |
| 105 | ** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': Self-administered. Kylo Ren, during his lightsaber fights against Finn and Rey at the climax, repeatedly punches himself in the spot where Chewbacca had shot him with his bowcaster. No canon reason has been given, although one popular fan theory suggests that he was using the pain as a way to tap into additional dark side power. |
| 106 | * ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'': When fighting Billy at the end, Sidney gouges her fingers into the wound that she gave him when she stabbed him with an umbrella earlier. |
| 107 | * ''Film/TangoAndCash'': while storming Perret's warehouse, Cash takes a bullet in his arm that exits clean. During a fistfight with Requin minutes later, Requin gouges the wound with his thumb and makes Cash scream in pain. |
| 108 | * ''Film/{{Transit}}'': While interrogating Nate in the swamp, Marek grinds his heel into the bullet wound in Nate's leg. Later, during their fight in the cabin, Marek hits Nate's injured leg with a [[ChainPain length of chain]]. |
| 109 | * ''Film/{{Triangle}}'': When Jess is being strangled by the wounded Victor, she manages to break his grip by jamming her finger into the hole at the back of his skull. |
| 110 | [[/folder]] |
| 111 | |
| 112 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 113 | * ''Literature/CiaphasCain'': |
| 114 | ** ''Caves of Ice'': When the ork gargant is going through the facility wall, Cain notices a relatively small hole in its armor from a previous attack, and orders all heavy weapons to fire at it, successfully disabling it by exploding an ammo dump inside. |
| 115 | ** ''The Last Ditch'': A tervigon is hit with two anti-tank missiles and Cain immediately orders the troopers with him to target the wound. Justified in that nothing the troopers were carrying could have punched through the tervigon's armor before the missiles opened it up for them. Overlaps with UntouchableUntilTagged. |
| 116 | * ''Literature/{{Headhunters}}'': In the final battle, [[spoiler:Roger Brown shoots Clas Greve in his badly-damaged groin]]. |
| 117 | * ''Literature/MobyDick'': At one point, the crew of the ''Pequod'' hunt down an old and sickly whale, and [[{{Jerkass}} Flask]] insists on lancing it in an abscess, which proves to be an agonizing death stroke. Another iron harpoon and a stone one are both found embedded in the flesh nearby, indicating that an earlier whaling crew and (Ishmael speculates) a Northwest Indian had both tried the same attack. |
| 118 | [[/folder]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 121 | * ''Series/{{Angel}}'': In one episode, Wesley, Fred, and Gunn get into a fight with Skip, an extremely strong demon with a near-impenetrable exoskeleton. He pretty much [[CurbStompBattle wipes the floor with them]] until Wesley manages to shoot him in the spot where Angel broke a spike off the side of his head in an earlier fight. It turns out that Skip's impenetrable exoskeleton is no longer impenetrable at the site of the injury, allowing the bullet to penetrate Skip's brain and kill him. |
| 122 | * ''Series/AgentX'': John Case engages Volker in a fistfight during a terrorist attack in Paris. During the fight, Volker takes advantage of Case's gunshot wound near the stomach by punching it a few times to give him the advantage. |
| 123 | * ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'': One episode has Javier Esposito extract information from an injured criminal by sticking the hot barrel of a gun in the hole that the gun just made in the man's shoulder. |
| 124 | * ''Series/CobraKai'': |
| 125 | ** Much like in ''Film/{{The Karate Kid|1984}}'', the first season features a member of the Cobra Kai dojo injuring his opponent in the tournament semi-finals, and in the finals, another student from the dojo takes advantage of it by attacking the injury. The key difference here is that, unlike Johnny and Bobby in the movie, neither was OrderedToCheat. Hawk attacks Robby Keene from behind purely due to frustration that he's losing and happens to separate Robby's shoulder. Then in the finals, Miguel focuses on the shoulder due to a combination of [[CombatPragmatist combat pragmatism]] and wanting to cause Robby pain because he thinks that Robby is a [[LoveTriangle romantic rival]] for Samantha. Johnny Lawrence, who remembers being put in that position by [[EvilMentor Kreese]], and who is also Robby's father, [[EveryoneHasStandards is appalled by the actions of both of his students]], and harshly reprimands Miguel and Hawk afterwards. Miguel slowly weans himself off the thug mentality during season 2 and never succumbs to the mindset of Kreese, Hawk goes all-in, [[spoiler:at least until the very end of season 3]]. |
| 126 | ** In the season 3 finale, Kyler goes after Miguel seeking payback for the cafeteria fight in season 1, and repeatedly targets Miguel's still-recovering spine. |
| 127 | * ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In the [[Recap/CSINYS09E15 second part]] of the Vegas/NY crossover, while in the interrogation room, Mac tries to get one of Christine's kidnappers to reveal her whereabouts by squeezing the man's arm where he had just been shot right before being apprehended. Unfortunately, the guy's awfully stoic and all Mac accomplishes (at this point) is to soak the man's bandage with blood and to get himself cussed at. |
| 128 | * When [[RenegadeSplinterFaction an extremist OPA faction]] tries to take over Tycho station in the second season of ''Series/TheExpanse'', the leader of the rogue faction shoots [[NumberTwo Camina Drummer]] in [[AgonizingStomachWound the gut]] as part of an attempt to make either her or her boss Fred Johnson give them critical weapons and supplies. When they still won't comply, he puts pressure on her torso to torture her, making her scream in agony. When the plot is foiled, Drummer stops in the middle of being helped to medical bay to grab a gun and summarily execute the guy who did it by shooting him in the head. And then she makes a point of walking off on her own without help to get medical care. |
| 129 | * In the ''Series/Forever2014'' episode "The Frustrating Thing About Psychopaths," the killer has stabbed Henry through his chest with a long antique knife, and the handle is protruding from Henry's back. While struggling, the killer swings Henry around so that the knife hilt is pushed sideways by the edge of a door frame. Then, Henry and the killer tumble down a flight of stairs, landing with a sickening crunch. After a few moments, the killer gets up again, but Henry is unable to move. The killer comments that it looks like Henry's back is broken, then places his boot on Henry's shoulders and grinds down with significant weight. Henry emits an agonized groan, and even that cuts off as the injury is aggravated, leaving Henry unable to move anything but his eyes. |
| 130 | * ''Series/{{Friends}}'': When Ross agrees to play Rugby with his British girlfriend Emily's pals, he proceeds to get the stuffing beat out of him. Refusing to back out of the game for fear of losing face, Emily begins telling him what old injuries her friends have that he can exploit -- including one on Ross's own team. |
| 131 | * ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': In the second season, Alfred escapes being pinned by Tabitha by attacking her arm, wounded a few episodes previously in a gunfight. |
| 132 | * ''Series/{{Journey to the West|1996}}'' has the Long Armed Ape, who's TheAssimilator and have absorbed the powers of his various victims, one of them being the sacred elephant, Ting-di. However, by doing so he inherits Ting-di's sole weakness, a scar from the sole of his foot, his only weakness. [[spoiler:Sun Wukong emerged victorious by tunneling underground, and shoving his golden staff into said injury, which kills the Long Armed Ape mere ''minutes'' later]]. |
| 133 | * ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'' eventually reveals that the [[TheBrute Rook Fangire]] had suffered a GameBreakingInjury back in 1986 when Kamen Rider [=IXA=], operated by Megumi Aso, managed to damage the left shoulder by first tricking Rook into using [[FlawedPrototype IXA]] to cause his left shoulder to be damaged, then attacking that spot with the [[FinishingMove Broken Fang]]. In 2008, the perfected [=IXA=], this time operated by Megumi's daughter Yuri, eventually managed to kill Rook for good by striking that same shoulder with the [[DiagonalCut IXA Judgement]]. |
| 134 | * ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': In "The Stork Job", Parker gets a group of children past the human trafficker keeping them prisoner by attacking him where she had previously stabbed him with a fork. |
| 135 | * ''Series/NecessaryRoughness'': Towards the end, Terrance King is facing his former teammates for the first time since defecting to a new team. Enraged by his defection, one of them deliberately attacks his previously injured shoulder, tearing it and effectively ending his football career. |
| 136 | * ''Series/{{Quantico}}'': Vernon James of the High-Value Interrogation Group authorizes the brutal torture of FBI Special Agent Ryan Booth by having his gunshot wound punched several times in addition to the risk of being infected in order to get Alex Parrish to talk about the possibility of another bomb in New York. When the rest of the FBI finds out about this, they're pissed off. |
| 137 | * ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' |
| 138 | ** In "The Devil's Share", when an injured Fusco is taking on [[DirtyCop Simmons]] the HR cop has the upper hand until Fusco jams his thumb into the bullet wound Simmons got from Detective Carter. |
| 139 | --->'''Fusco:''' Carter got you good, huh? |
| 140 | ** On two occasions ("Aletheia" and "YHWH"), one of our heroes is being held prisoner and the Machine sends a PublicSecretMessage that one of their guards has a bum knee, which they then hit to take them down easily. |
| 141 | * ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': In "[[Recap/StargateAtlantisS05E14TheProdigal The Prodigal]]", after being disarmed by Michael, Sheppard is having trouble in a fistfight against the super-strong hybrid. Sheppard manages to regain the advantage, though, by hitting the bullet wound he'd inflicted on Michael shortly before. |
| 142 | * ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'': In "Survivors", Kara has trouble taking on an Draaga until Mon-El tells her he has an old leg injury |
| 143 | * ''Franchise/SuperSentai'': In ''Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman'' the giant OneWingedAngel form of the villain Radiguet at first glance seems to be NighInvulnerable to the attacks of the Jetman's mecha. However, a chance hit on his lower back revealed that he had a weak spot, a stab wound that Radiguet sustained earlier while human size, with the wound not only not having healed, but grown in proportion when Radiguet became his giant monster form. With great difficulty, the Jetman defeat and kill Radiguet by having the Jet Garuda grab a hold of him long enough for Jet Icarus to impale him in the wound with the Birdonic Saber. |
| 144 | * ''Franchise/UltraSeries'': This is sometimes done by Ultras who tend to be more of a CombatPragmatist. |
| 145 | ** ''Series/UltramanEighty'' had Ultraman 80 fighting Zatan Silver, a powerful Cyborg monster whose body is layered with impenetrable armour. After repeatedly kicking the monster's side, Ultraman 80 managed to break away part of its armour, revealing Zatan Silver's internal circuitry, at which point 80 decides to unleash a freezing mist into the monster's damaged surface, damaging its circuits enough to eventually destroy it. |
| 146 | ** ''Series/UltramanTiga'': An episode had Tiga fighting the nigh-invulnerable Juggernaut kaiju, Fire Golza. After the monster shrugged off most of Tiga's attacks, Tiga decides to launch a concentrated, energized punch into Fire Golza's chest cavity, finally, ''finally'' penetrating the monster's thick hide. Tiga was then able to turn the battle around to his favour by repeatedly attacking the wounded spot and finally firing his [[FinishingMove Zeppelion Ray]] into Fire Golza's chest wound. |
| 147 | ** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': The BigBad is Alien Empera, who is invincible and easily delivers one CurbStompBattle to every single one of the good guys of the series... until Ultraman Hikari, Mebius' mentor, manage to land a lucky slash in Empera's side re-opening an old injury (inflicted by Father of Ultra with Ultimate Blade). In the final confrontation, Ultraman Mebius (in his SuperMode) and Zoffy can finally defeat Empera when they unleash their attacks on the now-visible injury on Empera's side. |
| 148 | ** ''Film/MegaMonsterBattleUltraGalaxyLegends'': The aforementioned Father of Ultra confronts [[FallenHero Ultraman Belial]], and has the upper hand for most of their fight, until Belial attacks his scars he got from fighting the aforementioned Alien Empera, turning the tide in the fight into his favor. |
| 149 | ** ''Series/UltramanX'': Greeza, the BigBad who is also TheAssimilator and can absorb all attacks into its body, is finally wounded when Ultraman X, in a last-ditch attack, manages to stab Greeza's core, finally exposing its vulnerability. A few more attacks on Greeza's now-vulnerable core is what finally took down the monster for good. |
| 150 | ** ''Series/UltramanOrb'': In the second episode, Orb fights the Demon Beast of Earth, Grand King, which deflects all of Orb's attacks single-handedly until Orb manages to deflect Grand King's energy beam back into itself, opening a hole in the otherwise indestructible monster's torso. Orb then focuses his Spherion Ray into the monster's exposed interior which eventually destroys the monster. |
| 151 | * ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': Glenn and Nicholas's fight in the climax of Season 5 starts with [[DirtyCoward the latter]] luring the former out into the woods and shooting him in the shoulder. When Glenn ambushes him later and turns the confrontation into a fistfight, Nicholas gets the upper hand over the fiercer fighter by grabbing onto Glenn's wounded shoulder. Fortunately, Nicholas also runs off when some zombies show up, and Glenn (after [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome fighting off the zombies offscreen]]) catches up to him and ambushes Nicholas a second time, without giving him an opportunity to pull the same trick again. |
| 152 | [[/folder]] |
| 153 | |
| 154 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 155 | * Wrestling/{{UWF}}: Discussed during an interview with Wrestling/ChrisAdams shortly before he and Wrestling/TerryTaylor break up. Adams tells their opponents from a recent match that everyone knew Taylor's leg was injured, so they should have focused on his leg rather than the general brawling style that they had used. Taylor gets upset with this. |
| 156 | * It's a common {{Heel}} tactic to go right for a taped-up injury or for a part someone's had problems with in the past. |
| 157 | * This tactic is one of the most basic forms of WrestlingPsychology out there. If early in a match one of the wrestlers seem to be selling an injury, you can make a solid bet that their opponent exploiting that fact will play into a major spot or the finish. This is especially true for wrestlers who use submission moves as their finisher. Wrestling/RicFlair would attack the knee to set up the figure four, [[Wrestling/BretHart Bret]] and [[Wrestling/OwenHart Owen]] Hart focused on the legs and back for the sharpshooter. |
| 158 | * One time in 2008, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels hit Wrestling/ChrisJericho with his finisher, Sweet Chin Music, a kick to the chin, then Jericho immediately had to face Wrestling/{{Umaga}} in a match. Umaga spent most of the match hitting and grabbing Jericho's chin, making him scream in agony. Jericho won the match but walked to the back clutching his chin. |
| 159 | * Invoked in the infamous 2022 Wrestling/HellInACell match between Wrestling/CodyRhodes and Wrestling/SethRollins. Just a day before the match, Rhodes had suffered a legitimate and severe tear of his right pec the day before, [[{{Determinator}} but chose to continue with the match as planned despite the considerable pain]]. Rollins made the most out of it during the match by targeting it as often as possible, with the fact Cody's shoulder was visibly purple and looking like the result of a zombie bite made it both conveniently easier to see and horrifying to witness. |
| 160 | [[/folder]] |
| 161 | |
| 162 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 163 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': This is the in-game explanation for Knight Commander Pask's increased ballistic ability: he looks for weak spots like repair seams and aims for them, even on alien tanks. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 167 | * ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': Mata Nui defeats Tuma by striking at a back injury Tuma suffered before their battle, which supplementary materials reveal that it was from a Baterra attack. |
| 168 | [[/folder]] |
| 169 | |
| 170 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 171 | * ''VideoGame/AlteredBeast2005'': In the FinalBoss fight, Luke is caught in the boss' big hands until his comrade/rival Brad slashes at the boss with his weretiger claws, leaving a huge gash that serves as the boss' weak point for the later part of the fight. |
| 172 | * ''VideoGame/{{Deponia}}'': towards the end of the third game, [[spoiler:one of the two remaining Rufus clones has a gunshot wound. As the clone you play during this scene disagrees about pushing the switch of a car, you have to punch him in this wound in order to proceed. It's a case of ApologeticAttacker, but still very painful for the wounded clone.]] |
| 173 | * ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'' pulls a plot-based one. When battling Demon General Bloodis, a stray shot from Seraphina hits him in the ribs, forcing the nigh-unbeatable general to retreat after a follow-up strike from Killia. When it's revealed that Bloodis is actually Goldion, Killia's mentor and father to the BigBad, Void Dark, they decide to free him from his brainwashing with Killia and Zeroken performing a Double Avidya Holy Water. The first step in the plan is, after another lengthy battle, hitting his rib wound again to keep him from retreating long enough for the plan to go off. |
| 174 | * ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': This is recommended in Adventure mode, as even bruises are cumulative enough that repeated attacks upon the same spot will cause compounding damage. With enough repeated hits, the limb or body segment can be sliced, shattered, or even outright pulped into uselessness, which compounded with the pain and bleeding will likely win you the fight. As the [[FantasticFightingStyle Kisat Dur]] manual says: |
| 175 | -->''An ineffective strike dissuades novice practitioners. This need not be so. Focusing on an area of attack has compounding effect. Muscle and bone are imperfect and enough impact will cause them to yield.'' |
| 176 | * ''VideoGame/GodOfWar3'': During his spectacular battle with [[spoiler:Cronos]], Kratos has to slash a pimple on the big fella's arm, rip off his usured fingernail and hit a wound opened by an [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot undead cyclops]]. |
| 177 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendaryStarfy'': King Ping's weak spot for the first half of his boss fight is a bandaged lump on his belly. |
| 178 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': When Ganondorf turns into his beast form, the scar from when he ripped the Sages' sword from his body is not only still there but much bigger. But as it's on his underside, you have to toss him aside first. Link also finishes off Ganondorf in his human form by impaling him in that same wound. |
| 179 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'': The Clutch Claw mechanic introduced in ''Iceborne'' allows players to grapple onto a monster and "wound" the grappled body part. The wound will take increased damage and won't deflect blows, even if the body part is normally hard enough to do so. |
| 180 | * ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'': Body parts have individual hit points and the more injured a body part is, the more pain it causes. Cumulative injuries can easily destroy a body part (and everything connected to it). Additionally, scars reduce a body part's hit point maximum making those body parts easier to destroy. |
| 181 | * ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'': Most bosses have their weak point indicated by an X-shaped scar with a SicklyGreenGlow. |
| 182 | * ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent'' (Version One): Attempting to grab Carson Moss in the bonus mission will cause him to manage to resist Fisher by sheer strength until Sam knees him in his knee that was injured from playing football in high school. This causes Moss to fall from the pain and gives Sam an opening [[NeckSnap to snap his neck]]. |
| 183 | * ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'': During the Galdon boss battle, after Fox gets EatenAlive and makes Galdon spit him up by attacking the Spellstone in his stomach, Galdon gets a slit on his throat. Whenever his wound opens wide when he starts breathing in for his fire breath attack it can be blasted with fire from Fox's staff. |
| 184 | * ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonFour'': In episode three, [[PlayerCharacter Clementine]] stabs [[spoiler:[[TheCorrupter Lily]] in the leg with a knife during their struggle]], and kicks the handle while it's still embedded in her thigh. |
| 185 | * ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'': When Aidan sees Damien shortly after the start of the game, Aidan immediately takes a cheap shot at the brace on Damien's leg. Sure enough, Damien is dropped to the ground in pain. |
| 186 | * ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'': Geralt has the option of attacking Dijkstra's injured leg, which he had previously caused in [[Literature/TheWitcher the books]]. |
| 187 | * ''VideoGame/TheWolfAmongUs'': |
| 188 | ** In Bigby's fight with Gren, during the first episode, Bigby focuses some of his attacks on Gren's [[Literature/{{Beowulf}} previously injured right arm]]. |
| 189 | ** During the fight at the JerseyDevil's pawn shop in episode 4, Jersey claws at the bandaged part of Bigby's arm. |
| 190 | [[/folder]] |
| 191 | |
| 192 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 193 | * ''WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated'': In the climax of "The Future", [[AsianFoxSpirit Mystery]] and [[PlantPerson Shiromori]] go at each other, injuring them both. When Vivi realizes just ''how'' Mystery injured her -- tearing off part of her back, exposing her heart -- she pulls herself up and [[spoiler:goes in swinging, separating Shiromori from her heart; without it, she falls apart and dies]]. |
| 194 | [[/folder]] |
| 195 | |
| 196 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 197 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Zola keeps striking at the stab wound she gave Higgs earlier in their fight as the fight progresses and he catches back up to her in a different room. |
| 198 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': |
| 199 | ** Ephsephin gets his cheek cut while fighting Duane. When he attacks Sette days later she slashes him across the same poorly healing cheek and then bites it when he tries swinging her by her tail. |
| 200 | ** Toma's arm is injured when a ceiling collapses on him in the tunnels of Ethelmik. When he's captured later Hetr tortures him by continuing to injure it, leaving it as a compound fracture with the bone sticking visibly out of his arm. |
| 201 | [[/folder]] |
| 202 | |
| 203 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 204 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Azula utilizes this tactic when planning her strategy for a friendly game of volleyball. She recognizes from the way a member of the other team moves that the girl must have suffered an injury in the past, and looks to exploit it. See the page quote. |
| 205 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': During his fight with Wonder Woman in "Another Shore", Devil Ray squeezes the shoulder where he shot her with a poison stringer earlier in the episode. It doesn't do much to slow her down, but she does let out a very pained-sounding scream. |
| 206 | * ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'': In season 3, Megabyte holds Matrix at his mercy and is about to stab his wrist blades in his face. Matrix then savagely punches Megabyte's wounds the virus has received earlier, causing him to lose his grip on Matrix. |
| 207 | * ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': In the final season, [[AscendedExtra Netossa]] is revealed to be a CrazyPrepared [[TheStrategist strategist]] with plans for how to defeat most members of the Princess Alliance, which comes in handy since at that point in time [[spoiler:most of them have been implanted with a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashing chip]] from [[BigBad Horde Prime]]]]. Her plan for defeating Spinerella is to take advantage of an old ankle injury by repeatedly attacking it until Spinerella's ankle gives way under the assault. Combined with [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight the emotional pleas]] that Netossa makes throughout the fight, it works. |
| 208 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS5E1Revival Revival]]", Obi-Wan resorts to this after being cornered by both Darth Maul and Savage Opress at the same time. Jedi master Adi Gallia attacks a weak point on one of Savage Opress' knees, seeking to dislocate it. Savage [[NoSell no-sells]] the attack, apparently, and Master Gallia is killed. Seeing that Savage's knee was already injured, Obi-Wan continually kicks at it during the gaps in their offensive until Savage's knee breaks and Obi-Wan then cuts off his arm, allowing Obi-Wan to retreat as Maul tends to his brother. |
| 209 | [[/folder]] |
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