History Main / GlassCannon

** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=130713 Force of Savagery]] is another extreme example. It has massive power but ''zero'' toughness so it automatically dies when it enters the battlefield unless its toughness is being passively boosted.

* TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering: Between the five colors, red is the one that most exhibits this trope. Most mono-red creatures tend to have very low toughness, but higher power. Since red is more about dealing as much damage to its opponent as quickly as possible, its creatures don't need to survive, just take a few cheap shots in.

* There are plenty of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' cards that have high power but low toughness. However, the card [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83719 Glass Golem]] seems to deliberately invoke this trope.
** Not to mention cards like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1133 Rocket Launcher]] and its later cleaned-up cousin [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=48215 Goblin Cannon]], which take the "cannon" part more literally.
** Also, a number of Illusion creatures are designed to hit hard, but die as soon as targeted by anything.

** A statistical LightningBruiser can also [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible become a practical Glass Cannon]] in a game where enemies keep attacking the player character and where MercyInvinvibility doesn't exist, making their defense and LifeMeter near-pointless.

Glass Cannons often overlap with the FragileSpeedster; characters of that type tend to put out high damage and dodge most incoming attacks, but go down quickly if they do get hit. Alternatively, the FragileSpeedster may be the only one able to dodge or may be more acrobatic while the Glass Cannon may be quick, but stuck on the ground. Also often overlaps with LongRangeFighter, using range to keep out of harm's way. The direct inverse of StoneWall, who takes it but can't dish it out. Compare and contrast MightyGlacier, who can dish out at the expense of speed rather than toughness, and LightningBruiser, who can do the same without sacrificing anything (or sacrificing a "secondary" characteristic, such as [[CloseRangeCombatant range]]). A statistical LightningBruiser can also [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible become a practical Glass Cannon]] in a game where enemies keep attacking the player character, making their defense and LifeMeter near-pointless. A vessel mounted with a WaveMotionGun may have some aspects of this immediately following its use, as the PowerLimiter of the weapon often is that it leaves the vessel defenseless for a time. See also: PVPBalanced and InstakillMook.

Glass Cannons often overlap with the FragileSpeedster; characters of that type tend to put out high damage and dodge most incoming attacks, but go down quickly if they do get hit. Alternatively, the FragileSpeedster may be the only one able to dodge or may be more acrobatic while the Glass Cannon may be quick, but stuck on the ground. Also often overlaps with LongRangeFighter, using range to keep out of harm's way. The direct inverse of StoneWall, who takes it but can't dish it out. Compare and contrast MightyGlacier, who can dish out at the expense of speed rather than toughness, and LightningBruiser, who can do the same without sacrificing anything (or sacrificing a "secondary" characteristic, such as [[CloseRangeCombatant range]]). A vessel mounted with a WaveMotionGun may have some aspects of this immediately following its use, as the PowerLimiter of the weapon often is that it leaves the vessel defenseless for a time. See also: PVPBalanced and InstakillMook.

* Harry and Luna in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13701065/3/Metagaming Metagaming?]]'' have diverse skills and are, respectively, an archmage and a high priestess whose abilities outstrip pretty much everyone who isn't a faction leader. However, they come from a world with so little magic that the two have functionally no magical resistance at all, so a Curse of Agony that would be rather painful for anyone else is more excruciating than the Cruciatusu Curse to Harry. Furthermore, their artificial bodies were indestructible on Westeros but now are merely fairly durable, with Onyxia dealing significant damage to Luna's ribs and spine with a single blow.

* Ran Cossack from ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' is an {{exaggerated|Trope}} version. His Cossack Buster is the most powerful weapon in the comic amongst the various robots, but [[OneHitPointWonder even a slight breeze can kill him]]. [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Death only annoys Ran, however]]; he has a BodyBackupDrive at home, complete with teleporter to return him to the place he was last alive.
* Chirrut in the ''Film/RogueOne'' adventure in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' turns out to be this. Pete applied his usual extreme MinMaxing to the character, making him formidable in combat, with a Dodge modifier so high that he was literally incapable of being hit by a direct attack... at the cost of having only 9 hit points, resulting in him [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1709.html dying]] the moment he was hit by an area of effect explosion.
* The titular Webcomic/DominicDeegan shares a handful of qualities with Creator/MarvelComics' telepaths, i.e. physically weak while mentally untouchable. He describes himself as his body being "frail and weak, but [his] mind is a fortress you have no hope of conquering."
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] with the titular ''Webcomic/KidRadd''. On the offensive side, his Mega Radd is technically only able to charge enough to deal 255 damage within his own game, but thanks to sloppy programming, there's actually no preset upper limit, meaning it's as powerful as the number of bits in the console he's on. When he's out on the internet, its power is effectively limitless, making him potentially strong enough to destroy the entire internet. On the defensive side, he can only take four hits before dying, but it doesn't matter what hits him. Getting hit with a nuclear bomb does the same amount of damage as having a {{Mook|s}} [[CollisionDamage walk into him.]]
* This is the case with [[spoiler:Gralo]], the BigBad of ''Webcomic/TheNightTheMagicDied''. While immensely powerful and capable of [[spoiler:causing a universe wide extinction on his own, he's]] only protected by [[spoiler:being able to [[ManaDrain eat any magic sent his way]] to a WalkingWasteland level]] and isn't exceptionally durable without it. Once that's bypassed, [[spoiler:he]] is easily wounded and [[spoiler:easily defeated by the Princesses]].
* Vaarsuvius from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' fits this trope. As with Black Mage, they fall pretty squarely in SquishyWizard territory.
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Torg is capable of killing just about anything when his CoolSword Chaz is powered up and [[PowerGlows starts glowing]]. While his sword is unbreakable and nearly unstoppable, however, Torg himself is as physically vulnerable as your average human being. It doesn't help that the sword's true potential can only be unleashed when it's [[PoweredByAForsakenChild fueled by the blood of the innocent]], a cost Torg is understandably reluctant to pay.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Suppression}}'', Charlie is a [[ShockAndAwe electricity-wielder]] who was kidnapped by the villains so that he could ''power their entire facility''. He can give off enough electricity to blow off [[BigBad Maxwell]]'s arm. He is also skinny as a rail and has neither armor nor the ability to take a hit.
* Coffinshaker from ''Webcomic/WhatsShakin'' is a fairly powerful fire mage, but without his reliance of fire, is mostly vulnerable to all other attacks.

* ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} can kill people with a (backwards) word (not that she ever has, she is a superhero). Only the stronger magical, divine, or cosmic beings in the DC universe can resist her powers. However, she isn't any more durable than most humans and can be taken down with a single well-placed punch. Overlaps with SquishyWizard. In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' it is even explicitly mentioned in the narration-bubble: She is the most powerful member of the team, ''if she can get the words out.'' Slade Wilson ([[Characters/BatmanDeathstroke Deathstroke the Terminator) pokes her in the stomach, so lightly that it does not even hurt that much, but once she begins to vomit from the damage to her liver she is out of the fight.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Two of the Heyday triplets display superhuman abilities, having SuperSpeed and being able to [[InASingleBound jump further than a normal human]], but they're both taken out much more easily than normal human Holliday Girls when the mob targets them.

* The same is true of ''Marvel Universe'' magic users like ComicBook/DoctorStrange, Characters/ScarletWitch, or [[Characters/YoungAvengersFoundingMembers Wiccan]]. They can do frightening things to time and space with little more than a gesture and some concentration, but they can also be rendered helpless by a TapOnTheHead, drugs, being overwhelmed by bodies, being distracted in mid-spell, or simply being BoundAndGagged.

* There are plenty of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' cards that have high power but low toughness. However, the card [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=83719 Glass Golem]] seems to deliberately invoke this trope.

* Between the five colors, red is the one that most exhibits this trope. Most mono-red creatures tend to have very low toughness, but higher power. Since red is more about dealing as much damage to its opponent as quickly as possible, its creatures don't need to survive, just take a few cheap shots in.

** Honor's first cruiser, the HMS ''Fearless'' was refitted with weapons that would allow it to kill far bigger ships. But the weapons' ridiculously short range and the lack of any decent defenses resulted in a single resounding success during the first fleet exercise, and getting 'destroyed' in every exercise thereafter once the opponents had realized the threat ''and'' decided to give some payback for the first success. Fortunately for them it worked again against an actual enemy who thought their defenses were spent and closed to point blank range to eliminate them.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' Harry mentions that wizards are like this; for all of the magical weight they can throw around, they still need all of their squishy internals to work (they can to some extent mitigate this with defensive enchantments, but those are more akin to a bulletproof vest in function). He also frequently complains that nearly all supernatural creatures are MadeOfIron at the least, cementing this trope.

** Honor's first cruiser, the HMS ''Fearless'' was refitted with weapons that would allow it to kill far bigger ships. But the weapons' short range and the lack of any decent defenses resulted in a single resounding success during the first fleet exercise, and getting 'destroyed' in every exercise thereafter once the opponents had realized the threat ''and'' decided to give some payback for the first success.

Glass Cannons often overlap with the FragileSpeedster; characters of that type tend to put out high damage and dodge most incoming attacks, but go down quickly if they do get hitalternatively, the FragileSpeedster may be the only one able to dodge or may be more acrobatic while the Glass Cannon may be quick, but stuck on the ground. Also often overlaps with LongRangeFighter, using range to keep out of harm's way. The direct inverse of StoneWall, who takes it but can't dish it out. Compare and contrast MightyGlacier, who can dish out at the expense of speed rather than toughness, and LightningBruiser, who can do the same without sacrificing anything (or sacrificing a "secondary" characteristic, such as [[CloseRangeCombatant range]]). A vessel mounted with a WaveMotionGun may have some aspects of this immediately following its use, as the PowerLimiter of the weapon often is that it leaves the vessel defenseless for a time. See also: PVPBalanced and InstakillMook.

* Ash's Pikachu in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' has powerful electric attacks, especially by the standards of its species. It can take out grass type Pokemon who can resist electric attacks and even the occasional ground type, who are supposed to be immune to electricity altogether. However, Pikachu is still a very frail Pokemon and is easily overpowered numerous times throughout the anime.

* ''Anime/Sk8theInfinity'': Cherry Blossom is one of the best and most agile skaters in S and possibly the most intelligent of all, but unlike other adults such as Joe, Shadow or Adam, Cherry has shown little skill and physical resistance [[spoiler:being quickly injured and rendered unconscious by the hit Adam gave him with his skateboard. Temporarily leaving him with an arm in a cast and a time in a wheelchair.]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/TheAttackOfTheAnnihilator'', the titular villain's energy blasts are powerful enough to bring buildings down, but physically he is still a regular human, for which a simple punch or kick can hurt him.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' member ComicBook/HumanTorch's flame powers give him high movement speed and an offensive edge. Unlike his allies, though, he typically lacks any way to use his powers to defend himself other than flying out of the way. This example [[DependingOnTheWriter changes based on who's scripting the book]] -- Johnny's also been shown to make himself bulletproof by melting the slugs before they hit; on other occasions, he's pulled the same thing on various flammable or meltable objects up to a bulldozer that was thrown at him by ''ComicBook/SheHulk''.
* The same is true of ''Marvel Universe'' magic users like ComicBook/DoctorStrange, ComicBook/ScarletWitch, or ComicBook/{{Wiccan}}. They can do frightening things to time and space with little more than a gesture and some concentration, but they can also be rendered helpless by a TapOnTheHead, drugs, being overwhelmed by bodies, being distracted in mid-spell, or simply being BoundAndGagged.

* The ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' villain [[ComicBook/DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] may have control of four powerful and deadly metal arms, but he's otherwise a normal, somewhat out of shape human. Once the super-strong Spidey gets past his formidable defenses, Doc Ock goes down pretty quickly. This ultimately led to his [[DeathIsCheap death]] as his body couldn't take the punishment various superhumans had dealt him any longer.

** Many telepaths, such as ComicBook/ProfessorX, have powerful PsychicPowers but [[SquishyWizard are extremely poor at defending themselves]], and aren't of much use against opponents immune to telepathy (like robots).
** ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}' EyeBeams are devastatingly powerful, but if anyone actually hits him he's just as vulnerable as any non-powered human. Well, any non-powered human in peak physical condition with iron willpower and light body armor, but still -- a lot of X-Men fight scenes start with Cyclops getting punched out or shot with regular bullets, because (from a writing perspective) otherwise he could settle the whole business with a look.
** ComicBook/{{Storm}} may have god-level power, but up close, while she's hard to hit, she's just as easily hurt as anyone else. Same with most of the other X-Men whose specialty is offensive power.
** ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} is an interesting case in that he has solar-powered SuperStrength but ''not'' the NighInvulnerability that usually comes with it, such as with fellow bruisers ComicBook/{{Colossus}} and ComicBook/{{Rogue}}. So he has a super-powered punch and can lift tons with ease, but can go down pretty quickly in a fight if he's not careful.
** ComicBook/XMan, Nate Grey, is an example early on in his career. He's more powerful than ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} (beating the AOA version nearly to death in one of his first serious fights), is ranked on a par with the Dark Phoenix for pure power, and equated with Franklin Richards, later squaring off with the likes of ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. However, he's still just human, physically speaking, which is unfortunate, since for much of his early series, he tends to lead with his fists and/or his chin, and his genetic degeneration means he has very little stamina. This leads the likes of Dark Beast, X-Cutioner, and other relatively low-level opponents who can get past the first shot posing a real threat to him early on. Unlike most, though, he trains up -- more stamina is just the start (there is a ''reason'' that Dark Beast is terrified of him) and ends up becoming effectively indestructible as a being of psychic energy.
** [[http://x-men.wikia.com/wiki/Prism Prism]], an on and off member of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain ComicBook/MisterSinister's Marauders, is ''literally'' made of glass. He can store light and energy (such as sunlight or Cyclops' optic blasts) and redirect it to devastating effect. But he is still made of ''freaking glass''. Jean Grey [[DeathIsCheap killed him once]] by throwing him into a wall (not even that hard).
* ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} can kill people with a (backwards) word (not that she ever has, she is a superhero). Only the stronger magical, divine, or cosmic beings in the DC universe can resist her powers. However, she isn't any more durable than most humans and can be taken down with a single well-placed punch. Overlaps with SquishyWizard. In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' it is even explicitly mentioned in the narration-bubble: She is the most powerful member of the team, ''if she can get the words out.'' Slade Wilson (ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} the Terminator) pokes her in the stomach, so lightly that it does not even hurt that much, but once she begins to vomit from the damage to her liver she is out of the fight.

** Most mortal magical practitioners -- and, indeed, powerful mutants -- as being this: they can deal out a lot of damage, even reshape the world in the case of high end examples like ComicBook/{{Magneto}}. However, as is repeatedly emphasised, if someone gets in close and knows what they're doing (or if they're disarmed), then they are in ''serious'' trouble.

* Roarke (implied to be ComicBook/{{Mephisto}}) of ''Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance'' compares himself to a flamethrower made of paper while explaining to Danny about his powers; he is unable to use his full power while in the human world because of his fragile human body. [[spoiler:Thus, he needs to possess Danny, the boy being his son and all.]]

** [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{Mysterio}}]] in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' has full control of his [[spoiler:AttackDrones disguised as Elementals, whose holographic projections are capable of warping their senses as well as pelting them to death with bullets]], which makes him incredibly deadly when out of reach. However, [[spoiler:Beck]] himself has the resilience of an ordinary human to the point that, when Peter manages to close the distance and find him, he goes down rather easily without putting up much of a fight.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' has most of the Inhumans, at least the ones relevant to the series. Most of them only gain one power, and while that power tends to be ''very'' useful, they generally lack anything else to protect them. In particular, the series' lead ComicBook/DaisyJohnson has a power that is comparable to the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk in terms of damage she can dish out, but excessive use of it can injure her and beyond that she's a rather short woman who, while exceptionally combat trained and more resilient than most, can still be overpowered and outmatched by stronger combatants or numbers. As a result of this, the Inhumans that avoid this status, such as Hive and Lash (who both have a ''very'' wide array of powers that include super-fast healing factors and/or invulnerability), are treated as pants-shittingly terrifying as a result, while Joey, whose power to control matter makes him both bullet proof (bullets just melt) ''and'' useful in combat situations, is a StoryBreakerPower who got PutOnABus to avoid him being able to solve most problems.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider''

* In an episode of ''Series/LoisAndClark'', ComicBook/LexLuthor creates a boxer that he believes can take on Franchise/{{Superman}}. The boxer delivers a flurry of punches that stagger Superman. For a moment it looks like Superman is actually on the ropes, but then he simply flicks the boxer in the forehead and knocks him out.

* Many a college basketball star player wound up falling short once in the Usefulnotes/NationalBasketballAssociation as their bodies just couldn't stay healthy. The Portland Trail Blazers had two big cases in Brandon Roy, who was Rookie of the Year yet only lasted five seasons before his knees forced a retirement at the age of 27, and Greg Oden, who missed what would be his rookie season recovering from a surgery and would then only play 82 games across two seasons before again a whole season on the injury list that made him be waived (and to make it worse, the guy picked right after him, Kevin Durant, would become a superstar).

%% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1403240658027678500
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new IP thread.

* Megumin from ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'' was built around this concept, and then some. She can (and ''feels a need'' to) nuke an area once per day, but doing so drains her to the point where she is too exhausted to even ''move'' for a while. Likewise, that [[HavingABlast Explosion]] spell is the alpha and the omega of her spell selection.
* Accelerator from ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' is a strange example of this. Normally he's [[NighInvulnerability Nigh-Invulnerable]] thanks to his ability to redirect all vectors within a certain radius of him (if he has an oxygen tank, a ''nuke'' wouldn't faze him). He's also incredibly powerful to the point of being able to ''casually break a continent'' if sufficiently pissed. However, once that fancy ability of his is bypassed, he's nothing more than a scrawny teenager waiting to be pummeled.

** The [[MechaExpansionPack GN Arms]] from the first season too. Lockon absolutely owned everyone with it until Ali incapacitated him with a single well-aimed shot at his beam cannon. Then it turned out the Gundam piloting the exoskeleton is tougher than the actual exoskeleton! Another example of this trope is the Gadessa: its main weapon is a WaveMotionGun with ridiculous range... and not much armor. It still has a backup weapon and a beam saber but its defensive capabilities are nowhere near those of the others, as Lockon took it out in the final battle [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome with a point-blank burst from his Gundam's sidearm after]] PlayingPossum [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown to lure it close]].

** Diavolo's Stand in part 5, King Crimson, is one of (if not THE) most powerful Stands in terms of raw striking power, with an A rank in Power and Speed. However, it has an E rank in terms of durability. This is why Diavolo tries to end his fights with a single strike, as he can't survive an extended assault.

* ''Franchise/XMen'':
** Many telepaths, such as ComicBook/ProfessorX, have powerful PsychicPowers but [[SquishyWizard are extremely poor at defending themselves]], and aren't of much use against opponents immune to telepathy (like robots).
** ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}' EyeBeams are devastatingly powerful, but if anyone actually hits him he's just as vulnerable as any non-powered human. Well, any non-powered human in peak physical condition with iron willpower and light body armor, but still -- a lot of X-Men fight scenes start with Cyclops getting punched out or shot with regular bullets, because (from a writing perspective) otherwise he could settle the whole business with a look.
** ComicBook/{{Storm}} may have god-level power, but up close, while she's hard to hit, she's just as easily hurt as anyone else. Same with most of the other X-Men whose specialty is offensive power.
** ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} is an interesting case in that he has solar-powered SuperStrength but ''not'' the NighInvulnerability that usually comes with it, such as with fellow bruisers ComicBook/{{Colossus}} and ComicBook/{{Rogue}}. So he has a super-powered punch and can lift tons with ease, but can go down pretty quickly in a fight if he's not careful.
** ComicBook/XMan, Nate Grey, is an example early on in his career. He's more powerful than ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} (beating the AOA version nearly to death in one of his first serious fights), is ranked on a par with the Dark Phoenix for pure power, and equated with Franklin Richards, later squaring off with the likes of ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. However, he's still just human, physically speaking, which is unfortunate, since for much of his early series, he tends to lead with his fists and/or his chin, and his genetic degeneration means he has very little stamina. This leads the likes of Dark Beast, X-Cutioner, and other relatively low-level opponents who can get past the first shot posing a real threat to him early on. Unlike most, though, he trains up -- more stamina is just the start (there is a ''reason'' that Dark Beast is terrified of him) and ends up becoming effectively indestructible as a being of psychic energy.
** [[http://x-men.wikia.com/wiki/Prism Prism]], an on and off member of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain ComicBook/MisterSinister's Marauders, is ''literally'' made of glass. He can store light and energy (such as sunlight or Cyclops' optic blasts) and redirect it to devastating effect. But he is still made of ''freaking glass''. Jean Grey [[DeathIsCheap killed him once]] by throwing him into a wall (not even that hard).

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' member ComicBook/HumanTorch's flame powers give him high movement speed and an offensive edge. Unlike his allies, though, he typically lacks any way to use his powers to defend himself other than flying out of the way. This example [[DependingOnTheWriter changes based on who's scripting the book]] -- Johnny's also been shown to make himself bulletproof by melting the slugs before they hit; on other occasions, he's pulled the same thing on various flammable or meltable objects up to a bulldozer that was thrown at him by ''ComicBook/SheHulk''.
* ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} can kill people with a (backwards) word (not that she ever has, she is a superhero). Only the stronger magical, divine, or cosmic beings in the DC universe can resist her powers. However, she isn't any more durable than most humans and can be taken down with a single well-placed punch. Overlaps with SquishyWizard. In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' it is even explicitly mentioned in the narration-bubble: She is the most powerful member of the team, ''if she can get the words out.'' Slade Wilson (ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} the Terminator) pokes her in the stomach, so lightly that it does not even hurt that much, but once she begins to vomit from the damage to her liver she is out of the fight.
%% * Sizzle from the third ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' continuity is practically a literal cannon, needing a steady power source (ammo) to feed her energy projection abilities. The awkwardness in having to both provide power and cover to Sizzle while watching your own back is the reason she was sent to the Legion Auxiliary along with her StoneWall friend Turtle.
* Emp's hypermembrane suit from ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}''. Amazing SuperStrength, flight, energy beams, who knows how many other powers...and the durability of wet tissue paper. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Good thing it can repair itself.]]
* The ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' villain [[ComicBook/DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] may have control of four powerful and deadly metal arms, but he's otherwise a normal, somewhat out of shape human. Once the super-strong Spidey gets past his formidable defenses, Doc Ock goes down pretty quickly. This ultimately led to his [[DeathIsCheap death]] as his body couldn't take the punishment various superhumans had dealt him any longer.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Uber}}'', the Nazi "blitzmensch" superhumans have EyeBeams powerful enough to demolish towns and sink warships at ten-kilometer ranges, but their bodies are as fragile as a normal human's, allowing the stronger "panzermensch" to rip them apart at close range.
* ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'': Todd Ingram, Ramona's third ex, is even more powerful than [[BigBad Gideon]] due to his immense psychic powers, yet after [[spoiler:being depowered by the Vegan Police]] he goes down to a single headbutt from Scott.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' villain Superwoman can use powers of various alien races, including Kryptonians: super-strength, flight, eye-beams... Nonetheless, in ''ComicBook/WhoIsSuperwoman'' she proves to be a total pushover when it comes to a physical brawl, being easily beaten by ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} when Kara gets serious (and angry).
* ''ComicBook/OmegaTheUnknown'': Unlike his original incarnation, the 2007 Omega's only superpower lies in his ability to fire energy beams. Otherwise, he's just as vulnerable to regular injury and exhaustion as anyone else.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/TheAttackOfTheAnnihilator'', the titular villain's energy blasts are powerful enough to bring buildings down, but physically he is still a regular human, for which a simple punch or kick can hurt him.

* The ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comic ''Chronicles'' treats Action Masters as this, particularly the main one Banzai-Tron. The process of becoming one shuts down their transformation ability, but it also vastly increases their strength, speed, and agility by infusing them with far greater vitality--and as Banzai-Tron was already a master of martial arts, he's able to take down a half-dozen Autobots by himself in seconds, including killing the famously doughty Ironhide. However, that increased vitality also means they feel double the level of pain, meaning that Prime is able to stun him simply by using the tires in his chest to give him a severe case of road rash, before ripping off his arm.

* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'': The ultimate example is Professor Charles Xavier, whose considerable telepathic powers are generally taken UpToEleven by allowing him to take control of minds halfway across the world, [[spoiler:potentially commit ''genocide'', and even transfer his consciousness to his comatose twin brother]]. He can't take any more punishment than any other human, though, and he's paralyzed from the waist down and restricted to a wheelchair.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** Professor X is the second-most powerful mutant [[spoiler:(third after Jean Grey accesses her Phoenix Force)]], and the story even makes a point about how a "god" is incomplete without his psychic ability ("To be everywhere, to be ''everyone''"). But because his telepathy is ineffective against Apocalypse's PsychicBlockDefense, Charles is ''totally'' defenseless; he's no more physically resilient than any other human, and as a paraplegic, he can't even ''try'' to run away from his captor.
*** Quicksilver's SuperSpeed, which normally gives him a huge advantage over his foes in combat (Apocalypse is flying through the air when Peter is punching him),[[note]]in physics, Mass x Acceleration = Force, so Quicksilver's ability generates SuperStrength in a fight situation[[/note]] is nullified after [[spoiler:Apocalypse traps his foot into the ground and breaks his leg]]. In the vicious hands of the god-like mutant, Maximoff is as fragile as a toy.
* Metro in ''Film/RealSteel'' would be a Glass Cannon, as he beat down Atom badly but got taken out by one hit.

* In ''Film/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', [[spoiler:the flashback to the DL-6 incident shows that young Edgeworth was able to bite Yanni Yogi hard enough to distract the baliff from hitting his father, and later threw a gun at him hard enough to knock the guy out. When Yogi shoves him hard enough to be knocked against a wall though, Edgeworth collapses almost immediately]]. Given that he's a kid, it's pretty justified.
* In ''Film/PacificRim'', the Japanese Jaeger, Coyote Tango, has huge retractable cannons mounted on its shoulders, but is apparently the most lightly armored of the Jaegers.

* In ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'', Megaguirus is so fast she can FlashStep circles around Godzilla, and is strong enough to knock Godzilla down and even lift him into the air and throw him. Her main strategy involves confusing him with her high speed and painful wing frequencies, giving her the opening to fly past and strike Godzilla repeatedly and pick him up. Once Godzilla manages to catch Megaguirus's stinger in his mouth and bite it off, she's completely defenseless, and goes down to a single shot of his Atomic Breath.
* In ''Film/TheMightyDucks'' trilogy, the titular team provides an athletic example. They use lots of ConfusionFu on offense, but their defense is rather lacking. This is pointed out in the third movie by Coach Orion, who teaches them how to play "two-way" hockey.
--> '''Orion:''' I've seen your tapes. I know you can score goals; I just don't know if you can stop them.
* Roarke (implied to be ComicBook/{{Mephisto}}) of ''Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance'' compares himself to a flamethrower made of paper while explaining to Danny about his powers; he is unable to use his full power while in the human world because of his fragile human body. [[spoiler:Thus, he needs to possess Danny, the boy being his son and all.]]
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:''
** Scarlet Witch has immensely powerful telekinesis, but she has to concentrate on whatever she wants to affect and seems to take a short time to ramp up to full strength. This makes her nearly unbeatable if she can focus on a single opponent (notably in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' [[spoiler:where she completely overpowers Thanos one-on-one]]), but much more vulnerable against unexpected attacks and any hit that does get through disrupts her current focus (such as in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' [[spoiler:where during a mission she accidentally destroys an office building]]).
** [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{Mysterio}}]] in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' has full control of his [[spoiler:AttackDrones disguised as Elementals, whose holographic projections are capable of warping their senses as well as pelting them to death with bullets]], which makes him incredibly deadly when out of reach. However, [[spoiler:Beck]] himself has the resilience of an ordinary human to the point that, when Peter manages to close the distance and find him, he goes down rather easily without putting up much of a fight.
* ''Film/MadMax1'': A psychological application of the trope in the form of the Nightrider. While most of the pursuit has him in total control of both the situation and his faculties, taunting the MFP relentlessly over the radio, one near-miss with Max reduces him to a blubbering, insecure, terrified wreck.
* Ghostface in the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' movies, unlike most iconic SlasherMovie killers, is not an ImplacableMan who can NoSell any attack the heroes can come up with. Under the mask in each film is an ordinary man or woman without any supernatural abilities, armed with only a knife, who the heroes can easily push around if they get the chance. However, unlike the lumbering [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] or [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]], Ghostface is fast and regularly runs after his or her targets, and one stab from that very large knife is usually enough to debilitate a victim and allow Ghostface to go for the kill.

* Malika in ''Literature/AnOutcastInAnotherWorld'' is an exceptionally strong spellcaster for her age, but she hasn’t bothered boosting her HP or Stamina very much.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' Harry mentions that wizards are like this; for all of the magical weight they can throw around, they still need all of their squishy internals to work (they can to some extent mitigate this with defensive enchantments, but those are more akin to a bulletproof vest in function). He also frequently complains that nearly all supernatural creatures are MadeOfIron at the least, cementing this trope

* In the ''Literature/{{Bolo}}'' books, there are Enemy units that are just counter-grav platforms mounting [[WaveMotionGun Hellbores.]] They can be easily swatted by said supertanks, but can be a problem if allowed to attack. They aren't OneHitKill-capable, but the numbers are always on their side.

* Deathpoint in ''Literature/TheReckonersTrilogy'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin can kill almost anyone just by pointing at them]] but lacks a "prime invincibility", meaning that he can be killed just as easily as anybody else.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Despite being quick-thinking, agile, and a good shot with a bow and arrow, years of being underfed really limits how much stress Katniss's body can take.
* Deliberately invoked in the ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' series. When the USE attacks Denmark with ironclad warships more advanced than anything else at the time, Prince Ulrik counters by building a fleet of longboats armed with spar torpedoes. Being little more than large rowboats, they're easily gunned down by the USE navy, but they can be built sufficient numbers to [[ZergRush swarm the larger battleships]], and, if they get close enough, it only takes one good torpedo hit to disable an ironclad.
* Jade in ''Literature/{{Fallocaust}}'' is one of, if not the most powerful character in a [[WorldofBadass series full of them.]] However, he lacks the pure muscle of some of his brothers, and several characters manage to incapacitate him by virtue of getting a lucky hit in.

* ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'': Anasurimbor Inrilatas is half Dunyain by birth, inheriting his LightningBruiser father's strength, speed and intellect. However, when he attacks a fellow Dunyain descendant, Maithanet, he gets his face crushed in, causing Maithanet to sneer that he had "his mother's bones."

* [[ComicBook/LegionMarvelComics David Haller]] from ''Series/Legion2017'' is possibly the most powerful mutant ''ever'', with immensely strong [[MindOverMatter telekinesistic]], {{telepath|y}}ic, and RealityWarper abilities. However, he’s as vulnerable to physical damage as a regular human being is.
* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Jem'Hadar Fighters are able to deal heavy damage, at least early on, with only a few bursts of their phased polaron beams, but a few phaser cannon shots or a single torpedo are enough to either cripple or destroy them. This is deliberate on part of the Dominion, with the Fighters being cheap but deadly throwaway ships with minimal and expendable crew, and no features that aren't essential to combat.

* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'':
** Lou from ''Series/ChoushinseiFlashman''. An ActionGirl functioning as the secondary muscle of the team, Lou [[KickChick relies on kick attacks more often]] as a possible way to conserve her physical strength due to even her strongest and punch based attacks easily exhausting herself in battle.
** Luka Millfy from ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' is not only the strongest fighter on her team, she's also the most evasive due to her lower physique and choosing to only focus on melee combat, leaving her open to attack.
** Ian Yorkland from ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' has a preference in long-range combat with no defense, relying heavily on evasion and strong & quick fighting style until Ramirez forces him to consider his defensive options.

** Deep Six's 2019 version consists of an ''enormous'' vertical spinning bar that alone takes up over half of the robot's weight. The rest of the robot exists mainly to allow that bar to spin and move about. As a result, of its three matches fought that year, two of them ended in it eliminating itself from the fight by recoil--on its first hit.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has the Centauri warships. Their firepower is high enough that they usually destroy their targets with one or two shots, and their rate of fire is high enough that a single Centauri battlecruiser overwhelmed the station's [[ShootTheBullet Interceptors]] faster than multiple [=EarthForce=] warships would be able to in other occasions, but once you manage to hit them they go down quickly.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' has most of the Inhumans, at least the ones relevant to the series. Most of them only gain one power, and while that power tends to be ''very'' useful, they generally lack anything else to protect them. In particular, the series' lead ComicBook/DaisyJohnson has a power that is comparable to the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk in terms of damage she can dish out, but excessive use of it can injure her and beyond that she's a rather short woman who, while exceptionally combat trained and more resilient than most, can still be overpowered and outmatched by stronger combatants or numbers. As a result of this, the Inhumans that avoid this status, such as Hive and Lash (who both have a ''very'' wide array of powers that include super-fast healing factors and/or invulnerability), are treated as pants-shittingly terrifying as a result, while Joey, whose power to control matter makes him both bullet proof (bullets just melt) ''and'' useful in combat situations, is a StoryBreakerPower who got PutOnABus to avoid him being able to solve most problems.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider''
** [[Series/KamenRiderKuuga Kuuga's]] Pegasus Form grants Kuuga [[SuperSenses enhanced senses]] at the cost of overlording his brain if he uses it too much. This form grants him the Pegasus Bowgun, which shoots out a powerful air of arrow, but needs to be reloaded. It has the weakest defense out of Kuuga's base five forms.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'': Garren's base Ace Form is specific tailored for its gunslinger-oriented design and with Rouze Cards combos, Sakuya can attack much harder and defeat Undead with little difficulty from its strong attacks. However, its defense is the worst out of the four riders, and needs to constantly be on the offensive at close and long range. Tachibana's health in the beginning also attributes to his form's weak defense in the beginning.
** [[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kiva's]] Bassaha Form can one shot opponents with its Bassaha Magum, has sharp vision for firing accuracy, is good for aquatic combat, and can [[MakingASplash create water]] on dry land. However, its physically weaker than Kiva's [[JackofAllStats base]], [[MightyGlacier Dogga]], and [[FragileSpeedster Garulu]] forms and Kiva has a tough time tanking attacks or tiring out while in Bassaha Form.
** In ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'', Ryugen's main Budou Arms is stats wise nearly identical to Gaim's Orange Arms, but has little armor and defense. To compensate for its lack of close combat, Ryugen can overpower his opponents with its long range abilities and strong Dragon blasts.
** [[Series/KamenRiderDrive Drive's]] Type Deadheat is much stonger than his three main basic forms in all categories but is risky to use from going berserk and damages Shinnosuke physical if he battles in it for too long due to exposure from the Dead Zone.
** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': Kamen Rider Snipe has more speed than [[MightyGlacier Kamen Rider Brave]] and is stronger physically than [[JackOfAllStats Kamen Rider Ex-Aid]], but has lower defenses than both due to the being the basis of the shooting game genre. He has more offensive potential due to his ranged weapons but also has moves that can hurt himself and cause collateral damage if he's not careful.
* In ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', the two Deep Stand-off Attack Ship classes: ''Righteous Fist of Heaven'' and ''Siege Perilous''. Both are, essentially, artillery ships. They are armed significantly better than a ''Glorious Heritage''-class cruiser like ''Andromeda Ascendant'', but they lack any fighters and their defenses have been reduced to make room for more offensive missile tubes. They are to appear on the battlefield, launch a MacrossMissileMassacre (60 missile tubes on the ''Fist'' and 180 on the ''Siege''), and then disappear back into slipstream before the enemy has a chance to retaliate. There were hundreds of ''Righteous Fist of Heaven''-class ships in the Commonwealth SpaceNavy, but they were in the process of replacing them with the newer ''Siege Perilous'' class when the Nietzscheans rebelled. Only three of the latter were completed (''Balance of Judgment'' and ''Wrath of Achilles''), and one was destroyed in drydock. 300 years later, the restored Commonwealth built an upgraded version and named it ''Resolution of Hector''.

* [[SquishyWizard Taako]] from ''Podcast/TheAdventureZone'' is an insanely powerful wizard, capable of casting giant fireballs and missiles of pure magical energy, and has on one occasion dealt 160 damage with ''one hit.'' He also has pathetically weak armor and low max-HP, meaning he can get knocked out of the fight with just a few solid hits, and needs healing most often out of all of his teammates.

* In the Flying Frog game ''Touch of Evil,'' the schoolteacher only has three hit points and no healing factor. However, loading her inventory up with books adds two additional fight dice per book. Collecting all the books on the board gives her three hit points...and up to ''twenty-two'' dice's worth of damage. By the game's mechanics, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu that's theoretically enough to one-shot Cthulhu.]]
* The Eldar and Dark Eldar of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' often overlap this with FragileSpeedster.
** The Dark Eldar are more of Glass Cannons than the Eldar, given the amount of firepower that squads of Dark Eldar can pump out for a relatively low cost and the eschewing of even what little armor their cousins use.
*** Harlequins are even more of a glass hammer/cannon than other Eldar. Absolutely unparalleled in hand-to-hand combat, they can rip right through a unit of Assault Terminators like tissue paper; but one good round of shooting from a basic Marine squad and they're splattered all over the landscape.
** The SpaceMarine Thunderfire cannon. In fact, ''all'' artillery pieces were like this prior to 6th edition. As an artillery piece, anything shooting at it has a 50/50 chance of hitting either it or the Techmarine manning it. Hitting the Tech is not a huge issue, with a 2+ armor save, but if the cannon itself is hit, either a penetrating hit or glancing hit will completely destroy it (until 6th edition, when artillery guns were given a very strong Toughness value of 7 and two "wound points"). But it has a range of 60', and puts out four explosive shells per turn.
** And Tau Fire Warriors, who are no tougher than Guard Stormtroopers and suck in close combat. However, they're armed with a gun that will punch through Stormtrooper armor, the Stormtrooper wearing the armor, and keep going out the back.
*** Speaking of Stormtroopers, their hellguns can punch right through SpaceMarine armor. Too bad for the shorter than normal range.
** The Tau's Vespid allies overlap this with FragileSpeedster. They have a gun that can blast clean through Space Marine armor from 18" away, and can move reasonably quickly, but even with T4 and a 4+ armor save, they still go down like chumps to even a brief encounter with heavy bolter fire.
** Ork Boyz: they have a massive amount of attacks for a rank-and-file trooper (three attacks per Boy, four on the charge), and... paper thin armor. Kinda balanced out by their ridiculously low point cost, but when they get showered by bolter fire, expect a lot of Boyz to drop.
** Daemons also deserve a mention -- most of them pack a punch, but die like flies against standard Imperial weaponry because their [[RealityWarper "armor"]] is intentionally designed to be fickle. They have a 33% chance of surviving ''anti-starship weapons'', but a 67% chance of dying to a single small-arms round to the face.
** The Imperial Guard Hellhound. Most Imperial Guard vehicles are MightyGlacier, but the Hellhound, for all the flamethrowers it mounts, can go up with a mild hit due to the tanks being hit.
** The ''TabletopGame/RogueTrader'' rulebook specifically describes Raider-class spacecraft as "glass cannons, able to throw out heavy fire but unable to take it in return".
** Eldar and Dark Eldar spacecraft in ''TabletopGame/BattlefleetGothic'' have wimpy armor, no shields, ridiculously powerful engines, and some of the nastiest guns possible.
** Most walkers, due to them having medium to light armor all around, as opposed to the incredibly tough front armor and weaker side and back armors of conventional tanks. The Penitent Engine and Ork Killa Kans in particular have it bad, as their armor is no better than the lightest transports in the game (the Penitent Engine is an open topped vehicle too). The only aversion so far is the Soul Grinder, which has near land-raider levels of armor while packing very effective guns and devastating melee capability (its only real weakness is everything else in the army tends to suck).
** Imperial and Renegade Knights are devastating weapon platforms capable of wielding rapid-fire battle cannons and [[MoreDakka massive gatling guns]] simultaneously. However, they only have an armour value of about 13 and their ion shield can only protect one facing at a time. On top of this, the absolute cheapest Knight is about 325pts and only has six hull points, about twice that of the much tinier Space Marine Dreadnought; the kitted-out ones can close in on 500 points, still with only six hull.
** The Chaos Forgefiend with three ectoplasma cannons is capable of tearing through heavily armoured elite forces in seconds -- its blasts can disintegrate entire squads of Grey Knight Terminators. However, those same cannons are prone to overheating and damaging its hull, which is comparatively fragile at 3 Hull Points for a 200 point unit.

** In the same vein, the dinky ''[=UrbanMech=]'' mounts an AC/10, but has only 6 tons of armor--appreciable for its size of 30 tons, but still not very much. However, any light mech ''will'' be cored if Urbie hits it, and more than one Urbie makes things get very dangerous in a hurry unless you outrange them. Plus they're such ''cute'' little things!

** There are a few vehicles like this, such as the ''Hetzer'' Wheeled Assault Gun, effectively a rehash of a ''World War II'' design, and the tiny 5-ton ''Savannah Master'' -- the fact that it was deliberately designed to take on enemy Battlemechs has to count for ''something.'' Neither design has much armor, but both have a lot of firepower for their size. The ''Savannah Master'' has the firepower and speed to equal to a 'Mech four times its size, but can be destroyed by a single laser hit from its own gun. Meanwhile, the ''Hetzer'' is larger and slower, but mounts a huge, dangerous [[{{BFG}} 200 millimeter autocannon]] in its hull that has a chance to bring down even the mightiest of 'Mechs with a single hit--without giving it more than a token amount of armor to cover its fragile, boxy hull.

** The ''Hellbringer'' (''[[ReportingName Loki]]'') Omni is another fine example of a machine that will slaughter most enemies in its weight class and down if they get too close, but will crumple and burn if anything with a decent gun looks at it funny. Its configurations focus on massed long range hitting power, with things like particle cannons, Gauss rifles, and autocannons coming into play. The primary variant is a highly accurate killing machine with enough firepower on it to literally slag four tons of armor in a single salvo and even includes various equipment upgrades like ECM or anti missile defenses. At 65 tons and with only 8 tons of armor, though, while it is slightly better protected than the aforementioned ''Hunchback [=IIc=]'', it'll have an extremely bad day if a sufficiently armed 'Mech draws a bead on it. It's so light on armor that it actually can't even absorb an AC/20 shot dead center--something that more than a few 15-tons-lighter 'Mechs ''can'' do.

** The ''Hollander'' is a classic example, being sluggish, lightly armored, and inherently fragile--it weighs 35 tons, carries a mere 4 tons of armor, and one side of its torso is packed full of volatile, explosive capacitors. It's so fragile that a large laser hit to any body part is enough to seriously threaten its continued existence. However, those same capacitors power a 15-ton [[MagneticWeapons Gauss rifle]], which packs enough kinetic energy to bore a hole straight through smaller 'Mechs or smash a ton of armor off bigger ones, and SnipingTheCockpit is a OneHitKill on any 'Mech.

** There's a variant of the ''Shadow Hawk'' that adds a second short range missile launcher, a second medium laser, and two more heat sinks to its chassis. This changes the ''Shadow Hawk'' from a mediocre MasterOfNone into a respectable barrage vehicle at short range--it can leap into battle and unload all its weapons without too much stress on the heat gauge. The problem is that it buys this firepower in armor, reducing it to an anemic 4.5 tons of armor, less that some 'Mechs half its size... and it still carries four tons of highly volatile missile and autocannon ammunition in its chest, so one unlucky hit could lead to a lot of StuffBlowingUp.

* Between the five colors, red is the one that most exhibits this trope. Most mono-red creatures tend to have very low toughness, but higher power. Since red is more about dealing as much damage to its opponent as quickly as possible, its creatures don't need to survive, just take a few cheap shots in.
* [[HandsomeLech Carefree Hedonist]] characters in ''TabletopGame/BlissStage'' start out with 7 instead of 6 relationships, most of which have very high Intimacy [[RelationshipValues and form very powerful psychic weapons]]. Only TWO of those relationships have enough Trust for the weapons they manifest as to survive a critical failure.
* ''TableTopGame/YuGiOh'':
** This was the standard design philosophy for an ace card roughly until [[StoneWall Stardust Dragon]] showed up: a card with 2800 ATK or more, with an effect that lets it kill even more monsters and do even more damage than its ATK score would suggest, and no protection or negation abilities whatsoever. The most infamous examples should probably be the Chaos monsters, which can easily knock off half your opponent's LP in a single turn on their own, but fold like a wet paper bag to a garden-variety Bottomless Trap Hole or Sakuretsu Armor. To this day, many older archetypes, such as [=HEROes=], Batterymen, Ancient Gears, and Cyber Dragons, fit into the mold of "[[RocketTagGameplay can kill an opponent in one turn, will probably lose if they fail to do so.]]"
** As of 2020, this role falls to Gren Maju da Eiza--its effect lets it obtain a truly ludicrous ATK value of 400 for every banished card, which is particularly impressive for a level 3 monster with no summoning conditions. However, Gren Maju has no protective effects of any kind, which means that it can be killed easily the moment the opponent takes their turn. Most Gren Maju decks are all about removing enough of the opponent's defenses for Gren Maju to take a swing, which will probably kill the opponent in one hit.
** There are various cards, like Goblin Attack Force, Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei, Spear Dragon, and Mad Archfiend that have incredibly high ATK, but zero DEF and move into defense position when it is time for your opponent to strike.
** Clear Vice Dragon has double the ATK of the monster it's attacking. When it's not attacking, it has 0 ATK.
** Similarly, Metalmorph gives the equipped card a massive attack boost, but only while attacking.
** Dragon Master Knight has a titanic ATK stat and an effect that makes it stronger, but it has no defenses whatsoever from card effects.
** Berserk Dragon has 3500 ATK and 0 DEF, which would already qualify it for this trope. However, it goes the extra mile, with an insanely strong offensive effect (can attack all cards your opponent controls) and a tendency to fold quickly if it doesn't knock out the opponent in one shot, due to growing weaker every turn it's on the field.
** When Armityle the Chaos Phantasm is attacking, it has 10,000 ATK; the highest fixed number in the entire game, and twice as high as the highest-ATK monster in the game. When it's not attacking, it has ''zero'' -- and on top of that, it can't be destroyed by battle, meaning the opponent can keep attacking it over and over as if they were hitting you directly.
** Many monsters have effects that increase their ATK but not their DEF -- Tyranno Infinity, for instance, gains 1000 ATK for every banished Dinosaur, meaning it can go up to flatly ridiculous values, but its DEF is always 0. For the most part, this doesn't actually impact survivability as much as you'd think, as monsters only use DEF while in Defense Mode.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer Fantasy|Roleplay}}'' has a few. Night Goblin Fanatics follow it the best -- they deal the same damage as a giant catapult but are even easier to kill than a normal goblin and have a chance of killing themselves. There are, however, many others.
%% ** All varieties of [[OurElvesAreDifferent elves]] have most of their units as Glass Cannons.
** Wood Elves are similar to 40K's Eldar, being both this and {{Fragile Speedster}}s. They have little to no armor but can give out a lot of hurt with possibly the best core units compared to their prices.
** High Elves have very few units with toughness higher than 3, but they make up for it with ''Speed of Asuryan'', gaining attack bonuses if their Initiative score is higher... and at 5 initiative on most of them, it usually is. This rule also ignores striking order penalties for weapons, so they can wield [[{{BFS}} whopping weapons]] willy-nilly at no penalty.
* ''TabletopGame/StarFleetBattles'' has:
** Fast Patrol Ships (formerly known as Pseudo-Fighters). They can carry devastating armament, but their shields are paper-thin. The rules even refer to them as "eggshells armed with sledgehammers." [=PFs=] with Warp Booster Packs gain extra warp-engine power, which they can [[TimTaylorTechnology pump into their weapons for an even bigger punch]], but are even ''more'' vulnerable to enemy fire.
* This is the modus operandi of the Norse team in ''TabletopGame/BloodBowl''. Catchers/Runners get Dauntless to take down opponents far above their own weight class and Blitzers/Berserkers are ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. However, every single human team member starts with an Armor Value of 7...the same as a regular goblin. This makes AttackAttackAttack actually a viable strategy for them since they absolutely need to maintain the initiative. If the momentum shifts against them the entire team quickly turns into messy stains on the astrogranite...

* The ''Zealous'' in ''[[TabletopGame/FleetsThePleiadConflict Fleets: The Pleiad Conflict]]'' has only six health and can't support many consorts, but it not only has eight strength, but its special ability allows it to attack twice, for a whopping ''sixteen'' strength attack.
* Many of the aircraft carriers in ''TabletopGame/VictoryInThePacific'' are this, with low armor factors and airstrike with a bonus die-roll modifier representing the highly-trained pilots, but most notable is the Japanese carrier ''Hiryu'', the sole fleet carrier with an armor factor of only 1.
* ''TabletopGame/LegendSystem'': The Sage and Shaman classes. Courtesy of their numerous and powerful spell-like abilities, Sages can put out a lot of pain from both close-up and at a distance, on top of their considerable crowd-control and support options, but a poor BAB combined with NoSelfBuffs means they're rather fragile if an enemy actually manages to get through the onslaught. Shamans, meanwhile, can inflict staggeringly high single-target damage via their Imbue Spell ability, but suffer from many of the same durability problems as the Sage. ''Legend'' being what it is, both of these classes can become less squishy (or ''more'' in exchange for more power) via multiclassing.
* ''TabletopGame/StarWarsBattlefront'': Han Solo is a glass cannon. He carries his most powerful pistol in the galaxy the DL-44 Blaster Pistol. He can overpower his enemies in great distances. He has three outstanding output abilities: 1) Rapid Fire: A long range ability to let him rapidly fire repeatedly without over heating against group of enemies. 2) Lucky Shot: A long ranged charge up blaster so powerful it can break Darth Vader lightsaber blocks and it can lock on soldiers and vehicles. It can lock and take out a group of Imperial starfighters in a single shot. 3) Shoulder Charge: A short-ranged ability let Han Solo to lower his shoulder into his enemy to apply damage. It only works in line of sight. Han Solo defense is terrible. His hit points will drop faster than you can say "Oh S***!" He can't handle in a melee. He is doomed if surrounded by a group of Imperial soldiers and Galactic Heroes. The only way to avoid short melee is activate shoulder charge for a great escape.
* ''TabletopGame/Wizard101'': Storm wizards in wizard 101 has tremendous single and area of effect attack spells. But their hp and defense is terribly low.
* In ''TabletopGame/XWingMiniatures'', the TIE Phantom has a ''massive'' four-die main attack, the ''only'' ship in its size class with such a statistic, and can take the potent Crew and System upgrades. On the other hand, when uncloaked, it is no more durable than a humble Z-95 that costs considerably less. The dominant Phantom build, when Phantoms are run at all, is specced around getting to a high Pilot skill, taking an upgrade that lets you cloak after attacking, and praying that you get initiative so you can get that precious +2 Agility to make you die slightly slower.

** Absolute Zero and Nightmist are actually very effective tanks...if they can get their key equipment out and keep it out. If they can't, then their playstyles, which rely around punching themselves in the face in various ways, will end very, very badly for them.

* In TabletopGame/{{Chess}}, the Knight fulfills this role in an interesting way. Every chess piece is a OneHitPointWonder, but Knights have a unique move that allows them to capture pieces without fear of threat and hop over normally-reliable defenses. It's the only piece in the game that can threaten a Queen without being taken in return. However, that unique move [[CripplingOverspecialization happens to be the Knight's only style of movement]] -- meaning if another piece aside from another Knight threatens it, the Knight has no way to fight back aside from fleeing.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Diplomacy}}'', Austria and Germany are considered high-risk/high-reward countries to play due to their central location on the board: Germany can be attacked by five out of six rivals in the first year, and Austria is statistically the most likely country to be eliminated in tournament play. However, if Germany is able to form a good alliance (especially with either England or France) and Austria is able to weather the storm and scramble for the Balkans early on, they can become strong contenders for an outright victory. Russia also qualifies for Glass Cannon status due to its size (it starts with one more unit than other players) and tendency to be feast-or-famine in tournament play (it wins outright at a fair clip but is also the second-most likely country eliminated).
* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'': The Court of Storms has access to a number of Charms that can enhance a Princess's attacks or let her make a CounterAttack when harmed in various ways, but at the cost of disabling any defensive Charms she may possess. In addition, some of Storms' best attack Charms are CastFromHitPoints, and Storms' Invocation and Practical Magic mean that a Princess of Storms actually gets more powerful when seriously injured.

** [[spoiler:Manfred von Karma]] masterminded what was more-or-less a perfect crime, but is unable to keep emotionally composed when faced with failures or unexpected events- no matter how small. Hence the homicidal temper tantrums that get him jailed. [[spoiler:Presumably, after years of relying on falsified evidence to win cases, he forgot how to win ''real'' arguments.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{XRS}}'': Despite its vaunted capabilities, the XRS is extremely vulnerable when its energy shields are down.
* Coffinshaker from ''Webcomic/WhatsShakin'' is a fairly powerful fire mage, but without his reliance of fire, is mostly vulnerable to all other attacks.

* Vaarsuvius from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' fits this trope. As with Black Mage, they fall pretty squarely in SquishyWizard territory.
%% * In the webcomic ''Caaats'', [[http://www.caaats.com/wp-content/gallery/strips/caaats19.jpg this scene.]]

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] with the titular ''Webcomic/KidRadd''. On the offensive side, his Mega Radd is technically only able to charge enough to deal 255 damage within his own game, but thanks to sloppy programming, there's actually no preset upper limit, meaning it's as powerful as the number of bits in the console he's on. When he's out on the internet, its power is effectively limitless, making him potentially strong enough to destroy the entire internet. On the defensive side, he can only take four hits before dying, but it doesn't matter what hits him. Getting hit with a nuclear bomb does the same amount of damage as having a {{Mook|s}} [[CollisionDamage walk into him.]]
* This is the case with [[spoiler:Gralo]], the BigBad of ''Webcomic/TheNightTheMagicDied''. While immensely powerful and capable of [[spoiler:causing a universe wide extinction on his own, he's]] only protected by [[spoiler:being able to [[ManaDrain eat any magic sent his way]] to a WalkingWasteland level]] and isn't exceptionally durable without it. Once that's bypassed, [[spoiler:he]] is easily wounded and [[spoiler:easily defeated by the Princesses]].
* Ran Cossack from ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' is an {{exaggerated|Trope}} version. His Cossack Buster is the most powerful weapon in the comic amongst the various robots, but [[OneHitPointWonder even a slight breeze can kill him]]. [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Death only annoys Ran, however]]; he has a BodyBackupDrive at home, complete with teleporter to return him to the place he was last alive.
* Chirrut in the ''Film/RogueOne'' adventure in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' turns out to be this. Pete applied his usual extreme MinMaxing to the character, making him formidable in combat, with a Dodge modifier so high that he was literally incapable of being hit by a direct attack... at the cost of having only 9 hit points, resulting in him [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1709.html dying]] the moment he was hit by an area of effect explosion.

* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': [='VRcade'=] shows that Evil Balloon is far stronger than he looks...but also as fragile as he looks.
* ''WebVideo/LeftPOORDead'': The zombies are clearly dangerous, but never seem to manage to do any damage and are felled by even a gentle push.

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'':
** Soundwave can easily take on multiple Autobots at the same time with ThePowerOfRock, has a massive number of various gadgets, and can control machines, but he's made of Earth machines mashed together, which means that even Sari's little hand-blast can put a hole in his shoulder, and when he is forced into melee combat, he is smashed apart in single blows. This contrasts with normal Decepticons, which are both figuratively and literally MadeOfIron.
** Swindle. As a result of his arms dealing he has some of the most impressive weapons in the universe, but is the only Decepticon in the whole show that Bumblebee's stingers have ever been effective against.

** Ironically enough, Toph Beifong, [[BoisterousBruiser of all people]], outs herself as this in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Although presented as one of toughest characters (if not ''the'' toughest) in the over-arching Avatar-Korra narrative (even from the point that she first appears as a young child), when [[NeverMessWithGranny a very elderly Toph participates in the mission]] to [[BigDamnHeroes free the Beifongs being held captive by Kuvira]], she only engages in the prolonged battle at one point: at the very end, she sends a [[MegatonPunch massive earth-bending attack]] that knocks the entirety of Kuvira's force (which was so large that [[BadassFamily all the rest of the Beifongs combined]] were struggling against it) momentarily out of commission. But if there is any question as to why she didn't engage in the fighting sooner, she dispels it in the next scene: she's [[FeelingTheirAge too old for this $#%&]]--"My fighting days are over. Don't tell Korra, but my back is killing me now!"

* In the classic WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck short "Canvas Back Duck", Donald ends up in a boxing match against [[NonIndicativeName Pee-Wee Pete]], and is only saved from a merciless pummeling when he accidentally discovers Pete has a (literal) glass jaw.
* The assassin Curare from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' seems this way. She's a deadly combatant with a sword, incredibly fast and agile, and very hard to lay a glove on, but when Batman actually manages to do so, it seems to hurt her badly.
* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': The Red Lion is stated and shown to be a FragileSpeedster but it also has a [[PlayingWithFire heat]] [[BreathWeapon beam]] that can melt starships and a back-mounted WaveMotionTuningFork that can destroy whole sections of a massive space station.

* The Swedish UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar era [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather_cannon Leather Cannon]]. It was basically a copper barrel wrapped on stout leather, like cow hide. The idea was to make the cannon light enough to be [[FragileSpeedster mobile]] and easily carried, which it was. It weighed 40 kg (90 lb) and could easily be carried by two men. Unfortunately it also was prone on over-heating--leather is a good heat insulator--and tended to burst if three or more shots were shot in succession without letting the barrel cool down a bit. Purely as a weapon it was a failure, but as a concept it revolutionized the role of the field artillery.

** High Elves have very few units with toughness higher than 3, but they make up for it with ''Speed of Asuryan'', gaining attack bonuses if their Initiative score is higher... and at 5 initiative on most of them, it usually is. This rule also ignores striking order penalties for weapons, so they can wield [[{{BFS}} whopping weapons]] [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal willy-nilly]] at no penalty.

** [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{Mysterio}}]] in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' has full control of his [[spoiler:AttackDrones disguised as Elementals whose holographic projections are capable of warping their senses as well as pelting them to death with bullets]] which makes him incredibly deadly when out of reach, but [[spoiler:Beck]] himself has the resilience of an ordinary human to the point that when Peter managed to close the distance and find him, he goes down rather easily without putting up much of a fight.

* The same is true of Marvel magic users like ComicBook/DoctorStrange, ComicBook/ScarletWitch, or ComicBook/{{Wiccan}}. They can do frightening things to time and space with little more than a gesture and some concentration, but they can also be rendered helpless by a TapOnTheHead, drugs, being overwhelmed by bodies, being distracted in mid-spell, or simply being BoundAndGagged.

* ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} of Franchise/TheDCU can kill people with a (backwards) word (not that she ever has, she is a superhero). Only the stronger magical, divine, or cosmic beings in the DC universe can resist her powers. However, she isn't any more durable than most humans and can be taken down with a single well-placed punch. Overlaps with SquishyWizard. In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' it is even explicitly mentioned in the narration-bubble: She is the most powerful member of the team, ''if she can get the words out.'' Slade Wilson (ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} the Terminator) pokes her in the stomach, so lightly that it does not even hurt that much, but once she begins to vomit from the damage to her liver she is out of the fight.

* Lightning Bolt is one of these in ''[[Fanfic/AceCombatTheEquestrianWar Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]''. She is the only pony of the main heroines to have a powerful special attack (Shining Spark), but she is prone to being injured during prolonged battles.

Glass Cannons often overlap with the FragileSpeedster; characters of that type tend to put out high damage and dodge most incoming attacks, but go down quickly if they do get hit. Also often overlaps with LongRangeFighter, using range to keep out of harm's way. The direct inverse of StoneWall, who takes it but can't dish it out. Compare and contrast MightyGlacier, who can dish out at the expense of speed rather than toughness, and LightningBruiser, who can do the same without sacrificing anything (or sacrificing a "secondary" characteristic, such as range). A vessel mounted with a WaveMotionGun may have some aspects of this immediately following its use, as the PowerLimiter of the weapon often is that it leaves the vessel defenseless for a time. See also: PVPBalanced and InstakillMook.

[[/folder]]

** Out of all the 23 Johnny Walker's fights in his record, only ''five'' went past round one. He either completely destroys his opponent or gets destroyed in the first round.

** [[Characters/{{Runaways}} Nico Minoru]] has extremely powerful magic abilities, but is also a typical SquishyWizard (and a ''skinny'' one at that; it was once implied that she had an eating disorder.) On the other hand, since her magic is fueled by her blood loss, the constant danger means that she never runs out of power for her spells.
** Klara has powerful [[GreenThumb plant-controlling powers]], but she is also a 12-year-old girl with no enhanced physical attributes.

** ComicBook/NicoMinoru has extremely powerful magic abilities, but is also a typical SquishyWizard (and a ''skinny'' one at that; it was once implied that she had an eating disorder.) On the other hand, since her magic is fueled by her blood loss, the constant danger means that she never runs out of power for her spells.

* Fairies and tiny elves in ''Webcomic/FairyDust'' are quite deadly, but can be crushed by a larger humanoid's hand in a mere swat.