History Main / GoodProstheticEvilProsthetic

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': At the end of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand with his lightsaber, and Luke replaces it with a prosthetic with synthetic skin that looks nigh-indistinguishable from a real hand. It's only exposed as a cybernetic when it gets shot by blaster fire in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', and is a sign that despite everything Luke's keeping his humanity. By contrast, the prosthetic arm Anakin gets in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' after Count Dooku severs his real arm is brass and obviously robotic, the only thing concealing it being a thick leather gauntlet rather than any synth-skin. [[spoiler:This sets up his eventual fall to the Dark Side as Darth Vader, during which he loses the rest of his limbs and [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport is confined to a life-support armor.]]]]

** Gobber, who frequently serves as a comic relief character, has lost both an arm and a leg to the ''same'' dragon. He jokes about this sometimes.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' franchise, artificial limbs are a recurring element among the vikings of the Barbaric Archipelago. Due to a harsh environment, savage dragons and even savager vikings, loss of limb is rather commonplace. The protagonist of the series Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III loses his left leg after [[spoiler:defending his village from a tyrannical queen dragon the Red Death]]. Not only does his prosthetic leg match the prosthetic tail fin he built for Toothless (making them even), but it can be seen as a badge of honor for defending his people and wears it proudly. The EvilCounterpart to this can be seen in the antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' Drago Bludvist. He lost his arm at a young age seeing his whole village destroyed by dragons. He manages to hide the stump with a false arm, and is generally a bastard. RuleOfSymbolism takes this a step further, as while Hiccup is missing a leg and deals with dragons with a gentle hand, Drago is missing his arm and deals with dragons by crushing them beneath his heel (literally in Hookfang's case).

* {{Deuteragonist}} Imperator Furiosa in ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' possesses a make-shift DieselPunk left arm that she is more than capable of functioning without. This is in contrast to TheAntagonist Immortal Joe, a DarkLordOnLifeSupport kept alive through a breathing apparatus designed to look like a menacing skull mask that gives him VaderBreath.

** And then ther's Commissar Yarrick, a human with a prosthetic arm and PowerfulPincer... a prosthetic arm he ripped from the corpse of the ork who'd just chopped off his arm. He also has a human-made laser-shooting bionic eye, which he obtained after learning the ors thought he could kill with a glance.

** Doomfist, a mercenary/ terrorist whose primary weapon is the massive gauntlet that he wears over his right arm; both his arms are themselves quite intimidating prosthetics. Doomfist is one of the few confirmed antagonists in the game, and his gauntlet is twice as large as his left arm, decked out with spiked knuckles, and features a prominent set of horns on the shoulder.

* In the end of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand with his lightsaber, and Luke replaces it with a prosthetic. This can be compared to Anakin's replacement arm after it was severed by Count Dooku, [[spoiler:and later when ''all four'' of his limbs where replaced in his transformation into Darth Vader himself]].

Heroic-types usually try to make their arms and legs look similar to their original ones. If they could not put artificial skin of some kind on it, they at least try to make it look as unrobotic and nonthreatening as possible. Bad guys on the other hand try to make their robot arms and legs as bulky and and obvious as possible, showing it off to show that they will [=NOT=] be a victim again, not unlike how one would brandish a gun in their belt to intimidate. At times they could even see their ''non''-robotic components as a weakness, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul losing more and more of their humanity as they replace their bodies with soulless tech.]] And some really nasty types have artificial limbs with [[ArmCannon permanently-installed weaponry]].

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}: The protagonists who have prosthetic replacements have limbs that are made with advanced Atlesian technology which function like their missing limbs and also incorporate their style of fighting to ensure they can still function as Huntsmen. General Ironwood uses clothing to completely hide the prosthetic part of his his body, even when it means wearing one hand gloved and one hand ungloved, and he only uses his prosthetic arm in battle against the Grimm where its great physical strength allows him to fight without weapons. [[spoiler:The Volume 3 finale sees both Yang and Cinder lose an arm which is replaced in Volume 4 by General Ironwood and Salem respectively. Yang chooses to paint her prosthetic in her signature colour scheme (yellow with black accents), incorporating it into her asymmetrical fashion style and therefore displaying it openly. Cinder hides her prosthetic behind an overlong sleeve which allows her to use her new arm as a surprise attack: her new limb is a Grimm arm which is capable of stretching well beyond its normal range. It also enables her to easily steal the power of other Maidens by absorbing it as her victim dies in agony.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}: The protagonists who have prosthetic replacements have limbs that are made with advanced Atlesian technology which function like their missing limbs and also incorporate their style of fighting to ensure they can still function as Huntsmen. General Ironwood uses clothing to completely hide the prosthetic part of his his body, even when it means wearing one hand gloved and one hand ungloved. [[spoiler:The Volume 3 finale sees both Yang and Cinder lose an arm which is replaced in Volume 4 by General Ironwood and Salem respectively. Yang chooses to paint her prosthetic in her signature colour scheme (yellow with black accents), incorporating it into her asymmetrical fashion style and therefore displaying it openly. Cinder hides her prosthetic behind an overlong sleeve which allows her to use her new arm as a surprise attack: her new limb is a Grimm arm which is capable of stretching well behind its normal range. It also enables her to easily steal the power of other Maidens by absorbing it as her victim dies in agony.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' franchise, artificial limbs are a recurring element among the vikings of the Barbaric Archipelago. Due to a harsh environment, savage dragons and even savager vikings, loss of limb is rather commonplace. The protagonist of the series Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III loses his left leg after [[spoiler:defending his village from a tyrannical queen dragon the Red Death]]. Not only does his prosthetic leg match the prosthetic tail fin he built for Toothless (making them even), but it can be seen as a badge of honor for defending his people and wears it proudly. The EvilCounterpart to this can be seen in the antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' Drago Bludvist. He lost his arm at a young age seeing his whole village destroyed by dragons. He manages to hide the stump with a false arm, and is generally a bastard. RuleOfSymbolism takes this a step further, as while Hiccup is missing a leg and deals with dragons with a gentle hand, Drago is missing his arm and deals with dragons by crushing them beneath his heel (literally in Hookfang's case).

* Played straight in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist series]]. Good guys like Edward and
Paninya have streamlined [[ArtificialLimbs automail]] small, concealable weapons, if any, and which mimics the proportions of normal human limbs to the point that it can pass for the real thing provided the character is wearing long sleeves/pants and gloves/shoes. Antagonists, such as [[spoiler:Frank Archer]] or the train bandit, have bulkier automail which is heavily weaponized and impossible to hide. The [[Manga/FullMetalAlchemist original manga and Brotherhood]] avert this by including heroic characters like [[spoiler:Lan-Fan]] and Buccaneer whose automail limbs are clearly built for combat.

Paninya have streamlined [[ArtificialLimbs automail]] small, concealable weapons, if any, and which mimics the proportions of normal human limbs to the point that it can pass for the real thing provided the character is wearing long sleeves/pants and gloves/shoes. Antagonists, such as [[spoler:Frank Archer]] or the train bandit, have bulkier automail which is heavily weaponized and impossible to hide. The [[Manga/FullMetalAlchemist original manga and Brotherhood]] avert this by including heroic characters like [[spoiler:Lan-Fan]] and Buccaneer whose automail limbs are clearly built for combat.

Paninya have streamlined [[CyberneticLimbs automail]] small, concealable weapons, if any, and which mimics the proportions of normal human limbs to the point that it can pass for the real thing provided the character is wearing long sleeves/pants and gloves/shoes. Antagonists, such as [[spoler:FrankArcher]] or the train bandit, have bulkier automail which is heavily weaponized and impossible to hide. The [[Manga/FullMetalAlchemist original manga and Brotherhood]] avert this by including heroic characters like [[spoiler:Lan-Fan]] and Buccaneer whose automail limbs are clearly built for combat.

* [=UrTih=] the Alchemist and his skeksis counterpart [=SkekTek=] the Scientist from ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' both possess prosthetic arms and legs. [=UrTih=] wields a right arm and leg carved from wood, while [=SkekTek=] had robotic prosthetics. [[spoiler:Because the two were once a single entity, they both probably lost their limbs [[{{Synchronization}} at the same time]]. What's even more disturbing, it is mentioned that [=SkekTek=] ''did it too himself'' out of mix of scientific curiosity and sadomasochism, with [=UrTih=] just sitting their taking it [[FridgeHorror as his limbs fell off bleeding without rhyme or reason]].]]

* In ''Webcomic/KiwiBlitz'', villain Gear has a chainsaw like object as her left arm. So far, she is generally unsympathetic. Good guys [[spoiler:Steffi and Gear both have prosthetic limbs, but they mostly serve as non-weapons and they lost their body parts trying to save others.]]

[[folder: Film - Animated]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' franchise, artificial limbs are a recurring element among the vikings of the Barbaric Archipelago. Due to a harsh environment, savage dragons and even savager vikings, loss of limb is rather common place. The protagonist of the series Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III loses his left leg after [[spoiler:defending his village from a tyrannical queen dragon the Red Death]]. Not only does his prosthetic leg match the prosthetic tail fin he built for Toothless (making them even), but it can be seen as a badge of honor for defending his people and wears it proudly. The EvilCounterpart to this can be seen in the antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' Drago Bludvist. He lost his arm at a young age seeing his whole village destroyed by dragons. He manages to hide stump with a false arm, and is generally a bastard. RuleOfSymbolism takes this a step further, as while Hiccup is missing a leg and deals with dragons with a gentle hand, Drago is missing his arm and deals with dragons by crushing them beneath his heel (literally in Hookfang's case).

[[folder: Film - Live-Action]]
* In the end of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand with his lightsaber, and Luke replaces it with a prosthetic. This can be compared to Anakin's replacement arm after it was severed by Count Dooku, [[spoiler: and later when ''all four'' of his limbs where replaced in his transformation into Darth Vader himself]].

[[folder:WebComic]]
* In ''Webcomic/KiwiBlitz'', villain Gear has a chainsaw like object as her left arm. So far, she is generally unsympathetic. Good guys [[spoiler:Steffi and Gear both have prosthetic limbs, but they mostly serve as non-weapons and they lost their body parts trying to save others.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Spacetrawler}}'', Yuri loses all four of her limbs and takes the opportunity to become fully {{transhuman}}. She upgrades her prosthetics multiple times during the comic. As she lets bloodlust and post-traumatic stress take over, her prosthetics become increasingly inhuman--for example, giving herself the body of a giant spider or mantis. Near the end, she crosses the BishonenLine, and her most powerful form looks human again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

Character Alignment may also depend on ''how'' they lost their limbs in the first place. They could have [[HeroicSacrifice lost their legs saving a child from a drunk-driven truck]], [[EyeScream losing their eye]] [[LaserGuidedKarma trying to rob some old lady]] or something as simple as [[TooDumbToLive losing a finger or five in the garbage disposal]].

** Doomfist, a mercenary/ terrorist whose primary weapon is the massive gauntlet that takes the place of his right arm. Doomfist is one of the few confirmed antagonists in the game, and his gauntlet is twice as large as his left arm, decked out with spiked knuckles, and features a prominent set of horns on the shoulder.
** Genji, a former yakuza and current CyberNinja under the employ of Overwatch whose injuries were so severe that 3/4 of his limbs and most of his torso had to be rebuilt with cybernetic prostheses. Genji is a rogue operator, but ultimately he strives to atone for his past actions. While undoubtedly mechanical looking, his body maintains basic humanoid proportions.