History Main / GrewASpine

* ''Manga/SevenSeeds'': Natsu Iwashimizu's character development revolves around this. She started off avoiding [[{{Hikkikomori}} participating in school]] a lot and was much too shy, slow and afraid of other people to do anything on her own, only following instructions or advice. But she has learned to do things on her own more and more, including standing up to people trying to put her down.
* ''Manga/AKB49RenaiKinshiJourei'': Hiroko opposed her FantasyForbiddingFather for the first time in her life after he demanded her to quit her aspirations as an IdolSinger and she refused, which led to her father estranging her and her gaining even more resolve than before to pursue her dreams.

** Mai "Ino" Inose's admiration towards Mikage means before she was named the president, she pretty much treats Mikage as her personal LivingEmotionalCrutch and doesn't do much really of her own. It took her a whole episode (Episode 7) that she decides to take steps that, in her words, to make herself more like an independent school club president, first by participating in the Earth Science Olympiad.

*** In the beginning she needs to be encouraged by Moe to approach [[ChildhoodFriends Mira]]. In the tenth episode, it's her turn to encourage the usually [[GenkiGirl energetic]] Mira do go to the summer camp without her. At this point, Mira noticed she becomes stronger.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': This is the conclusion of Zenitsu's character arc. He finally forces himself to grow out of his self-depreciating mental abyss, forsaking his sleep trance mode entirely, when the tragedy of his master's death strikes. He goes on to face the cause of said tragedy in the form of his former fellow disciple, Kaigaku, who now turned into a demon. Zenitsu faces Kaigaku head-on and kills him, the older disciple whom Zenitsu was previously completely submissive to out of a mix of respect and an inferiority complex. Despite their differences, however, Zenitsu still wanted to see him as a brother before everything went south.
* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': Main character Tohru Honda is such an AllLovingHero that she frequently puts other people's needs before her own, and has some trouble with asserting herself. As part of her character development, she learns to stand up for what she believes in (like breaking the Zodiac curse) and that it's alright to put her needs before others once in a while.

* ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'': In this story, Shinji kept being shy, quiet and non-confrontational like his canon self, but he resolved to learn to face his troubles, and he charged headlong into combat against whatever was threatening him and everyone.

* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': Due to being older, Shinji Ikari is less wimpy in this fic that his canon counterpart, but he is still somewhat of a wuss with no motivation or drive to live on. During pillow talk, [[FieryRedhead Asuka]] said to him that he could not keep that attitude when [[LivingEmotionalCrutch people like herself depended on him to live]]. And in fact, in the second story arc [[BrokenAce Asuka]] [[DespairEventHorizon went through a downward spiral]] and Shinji needed growing a spine to help her and save her from herself.
* ''Website/FamilyGuyFanon'': [[WellDoneSonGuy Peter]] grows one in terms of dealing with his {{Jerkass}} father Francis. While the events of "Holy Crap", an episode from the original show, still happens, he grows it in the second season's "[[https://familyguyfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Between_Sanity_and_Madness Between Sanity and Madness]]". In which he spends the whole episode toadying to his father, alongside his mother Thelma, and being an ExtremeDoormat to get even the slightest approval. And while he does hold it in, he eventually reaches his RageBreakingPoint after the two trying to drown him and Lois, leading him to finally have an upper hand against them for once. And this actually carries over to future episodes despite they apologies.

* In the ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'' fan comic ''Foob's Paradise'', Deanna is constantly running herself ragged with her job, cooking, cleaning and child rearing because Michael either spends his time writing or being an EntitledBastard, to the point where she's openly on the verge of a mental breakdown. After some advice from Mira, she starts calling out Michael for his complaining and bad attitude and buys a Crock-Pot and rice cooker and demands that Michael at least learn to cook. This and [[spoiler: a nightmare about him dying in the fire and his family not caring]] get Michael to be a better husband and father.

* ''Fanfic/MarinetteDupainChengsSpitePlaylist: Remix'': After [[ForWantOfANail Marinette transfers to another school]], Adrien realizes that his efforts to handle the Lila situation nonconfrontationally hasn't handled anything at all, but simply handed the ManipulativeBitch free rein to keep hurting everyone. He resolves to start standing up to her more, but finds asserting himself to be easier said than done, leading to disaster when he [[NiceJobBreakingItHero bails on supporting Chloé after promising to help]], giving Lila a chance to [[MadeOutToBeAJerkass further tarnish Marinette's good name]]. This solidifies his position as TheAtoner and helps strengthen his resolve.
* {{Downplayed| Trope}} in ''Fanfic/NeonGenesisEvangelionGenocide''. Shinji is still pretty insecure and timid, but he makes an effort to become more assertive, since he knows he will let Asuka and his family down again unless he stops running away, mans up, and takes responsibility for his actions, and he even gradually succeeds in doing so. It is perhaps most obvious in his interactions with Asuka, especially after he gains a better understanding of her; he finds that while it just isn't in his nature to be confrontational with her (plus he knows that such an approach wouldn't be very likely to change her mind anyway), he can, often successfully, appeal to her better nature during an argument.

* The Giselle Interlude of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' features Joe, who is often picked on by the rest of his classmates, who are considered as a whole the "Golden Generation" of the Pokémon Tech trainer school, for being the least remarkable and wanting to try things out of the norm, but never actually retalliated. After Ash and Misty show up and [[CurbStompBattle utterly beat]] [[HumblePie and humiliate the students]], he chats with Ash for a bit, who advises him to follow his own path and not to take abuse from anyone. The next day, he decides to quit the school and begin his Pokémon journey on his own, even telling Giselle how he felt about the way she and the others treated him.

* ''Fanfic/ScarTissue'': The events of the Angel War and [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Instrumentality]] had removed any fragment of backbone that Shinji grew during the War, and he was wimpier than ever in the [[AfterTheEnd post-Impact world]]. However, throughout the fic Shinji forces to himself to regrow a spine to confront [[ItsAllMyFault his inner intense self-hatred]] and protect his surrogate family, as seen when [[spoiler:he saved [[LoveInterest Asuka]] after they got shot by a sniper]].

* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': A darker example. After being abandoned by his father, Shinji found a mentor who raised him and forced him to grow a spine. However his teacher was an amoral trickster, and Shinji grew into a trickster, violent, mostly uncaring asshole. [[AntiHero He STILL fights to protect humanity and he only targets people who are worse than him or has tried to make him harm]], and he still cares for other people (such as [[HeroesWantRedheads Asuka]], Rei and Misato. May Heaven help you if you hurt them), but he is a ManipulativeBastard and a {{Jerkass}}.

* ''Fanfic/WithConfidence'' begins with [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Izuku]] being hit with a Quirk which boosts his confidence significantly, leading to him laying into his teacher, classmates, principal and some heroes. [[spoiler:After it wears off, with some careful nudging from Inko, his confidence boost becomes permanent, and he will not tolerate shit from anyone as Hada Shiro found out the hard way.]]

* At the end of ''Film/TheHangover'', Stu finally stands up to his domineering, abusive and philandering girlfriend Melissa, even going so far as to dump her.

* Elliot in ''Film/{{Bedazzled|2000}}'' starts out afraid to ask the girl he likes out and keeps trying to be friends with his coworkers who don't really like him. By the end, thanks to the Devil's hijinks, he grows up, asks the girl out, gets rejected, takes it in stride, and decides he doesn't really want to hang out people who don't treat him well. It's heavily implied this was the Devil's plan all along.

* A Madea Christmas: Not only does [[NiceGuy Connor]] finally punches [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp Tanner]] in the face, but he also stands up to Lacey's [[ObnoxiousInLaws mother Eileen.]]

* Literature/PeterPaysTribute has the main character, Matt, and his counter-part Peter, both learn how to stand up to their father-figure.

* In one episode of ''Series/HeadOfTheClass'' Jawarhalal (an Indian student) is suddenly well known for agreeing with everyone about everything. Then the class goes to see Mr. Moore's off-off-off-Broadway post-[[{{Postmodernism}} post-Modern]] production of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. Everybody hates it except Jawarhalal, who defends it to everyone. They're so caught up in trying to prove him wrong that until the end of the episode they never ask him why he likes it and don't notice that he's disagreeing with them, counter to his personality.

* Noel Vermillion's character arc in ''Franchise/BlazBlue''. In the early games, she spends a lot of time doubting her own opinions and neglecting to speak up for herself, even when she has an official mandate to do so, leading to her being pressed down a lot by her BadBoss Jin. In the later half of the series she steadily develops more confidence, becoming a lot more self-accepting and secure, and fights for herself so much that in ''Central Fiction'' she tells [[spoiler: Susano'o, a PhysicalGod]] not to underestimate her.

** Lloyd in ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' was bullied constantly and would hide in a trash can on the school roof. This changed when Ninten meets him and the two form a friendship. From then on, Lloyd grew braver despite lacking in physical strength, to the point where [[spoiler:he saves Ninten and Ana from a giant robot with a tank]].
** Lucas in ''VideoGame/Mother3'' started out as a timid contrast to his energetic twin brother Claus. Adding to his troubles is [[spoiler:his mother Hinawa's death]], but he starts to show signs of bravery by commanding a family of Dragos to scare off the Pigmasks, and grows stronger once he learns PK Love.

* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'': After Piro spends most of the comic just going with the flow and muttering about how much his life sucks, he helps Kimiko with a really bad situation she got herself into, and she snaps at him for it, even accusing him of just doing it to get laid. He quietly says he didn't deserve that, and leaves without another word. Both the fandom and the characters were impressed.

* ''WebComic/PrincessPrincess'': Sadie, due to her kind, shy nature, is cowed easily by her older sister at first. By the end she's learned to stand up against her (with Amira at her side).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'': Mina, Trina's best friend takes a ''lot'' of abuse for her, including changing her name so that they match. But in the GrandFinale, when Trina abandons both her and the heroes to die so that she can be with her unrequited crush, Mina ''loses it'' and gives Trina a long overdue demand for her to give her best friend some proper respect.

** [[Characters/RickAndMortyMortySmith Morty Smith]] has been forced to man up often due to the horrible events of his adventures with Rick. By the fifth season two-episode finale, he still suffers from being in Rick's shadow, but he's really gained a lot of skill and confidence.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'': Peter Parker would often [[NiceGuy politely put up]] with Anna Watson's [[IrrationalHatred condescending dislike]] for him. But when Mary Jane got kidnapped and she accusses him for being the cause of her niece's disappearance, Peter rightfully got angry with her. Later on, when Mary Jane returned safe and sound, [[PettheDog Aunt Anna hugged Peter]], showing that she may even [[TookALevelInKindness start to respect him]] after all these years.

** Likewise, [[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]] himself was usually submissive towards Cartman and did what Cartman wanted out of fear of him. However it would be revealed in a [[WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovidTheReturnOfCovid revised timeline]], that Butters had cut ties with Cartman in his adulthood and has told his friend not to waste time feeling bad for Cartman being a CrazyHomelessPerson, while cussing back at him when Cartman tries flipping him off.
** Liane Cartman ''finally'' stands up to her son Eric in "The Streaming Wars." After he royally screws them over by making her quit her job, they end up living in a old hot dog stand. Liane finally snaps, and makes a promise to herself to never give in to Cartman’s demands ever again. She displays this through the whole special, by refusing to give in to Cartman’s latest ridiculous scheme, getting her a boob job to seduce a rich guys to taking them in. When Cartman continues to try and manipulate her into doing it, Liane refuses to listen to his insane demands, and when he decides to get the implants himself, Liane calls his bluff. But when he actually goes through with it, she is just disappointed at the stupidity Eric displays and just walks away to buy groceries, leaving him with his giant fake knockers, while he begins to rant that she’ll have to give in at some point.

** In ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', Shinji both grows a spine and becomes more badass during the battle against Zeruel. Sadly, [[spoiler:the repercussions of Shinji actually growing a spine for once include humanity being reduced to a fraction of that it used to be.]]

* Pictured above, in the climax of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' Season 1 finale, Anne learns to stand up to her longtime friend Sasha and calls her out for her overly controlling behavior. [[spoiler:This scenario gets repeated in the series finale between Andrias and the Core, complete with [[MeaningfulEcho the same lines Sasha and Anne used]].]]

** In "Putting Your Hoof Down", [[ShrinkingViolet Fluttershy]] does this after assertive training under the minotaur Iron Will. [[TookALevelInJerkass She takes it a little too far]] [[ALessonLearnedTooWell for a while, though]]. Most episodes after keep her assertiveness higher, though it depends on the writer.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Escaping Expulsion", Amity learns to resist the abusive demands of her mother Odalia and finally call her out for it. Initiated by [[RuleOfSymbolism breaking the necklace they used to telepathically communicate]], as a symbol she's no longer under her control.

* In the climax of the Season 3 finale of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' [[spoiler:Adora stands up to her childhood friend Catra, and calls her out for her toxic, hurtful, and selfish behavior after the latter attempts to destroy all of reality]].

** Likewise, Butters himself was usually submissive towards Cartman and did what Cartman wanted out of fear of him. However it would be revealed in a [[WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovidTheReturnOfCovid revised timeline]], that Butters had cut ties with Cartman in his adulthood and has told his friend not to waste time feeling bad for Cartman being a CrazyHomelessPerson, while cussing back at him when Cartman tries flipping him off.

It might be caused by PostSupportRegret, as Bob has only been spineless with a ToxicFriendInfluence who he believed to be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, only to be betrayed by his friend and shown the AwfulTruth, leading to a BrokenPedestal which motivates him to finally stand up to his BigBadFriend.

* George [=McFly=] punches out Biff Tannen after seeing Lorraine threatened by him in ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. From this point on, he no longer allows Biff to bully him.

* ''Manga/BlackClover'':

-->'''George''': Excuse me. ''[shoves the creep to the floor and takes back his girl]''

** In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'', Jonathan Joestar is constantly beaten up and humiliated by Dio Brando, but he's too timid to stand up to him. Then Dio [[ForcefulKiss steals]] the SacredFirstKiss of Jonathan's LoveInterest, Erina Pendleton, and attacks her for immediately washing her mouth out with muddy puddle water. For Jonathon, this is the final straw: He personally confronts Dio at the Joestar family mansion to avenge Erina's honor and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats him so brutally that Dio actually bursts into tears]].

* ''Fanfic/FamilyGuyFanon'': [[WellDoneSonGuy Peter]] grows one in terms of dealing with his {{Jerkass}} father Francis. While the events of "Holy Crap", an episode from the original show, still happens, he grows it in the second season's "[[https://familyguyfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Between_Sanity_and_Madness Between Sanity and Madness]]". In which he spends the whole episode toadying to his father, alongside his mother Thelma, and being an ExtremeDoormat to get even the slightest approval. And while he does hold it in, he eventually reaches his RageBreakingPoint after the two trying to drown him and Lois, leading him to finally have an upper hand against them for once. And this actually carries over to future episodes despite they apologies.

** Grey begins as a sweet, demure girl who mostly uses her magic for healing. After meeting Asta, she's inspired to become stronger. By the time of the Royal Knights Tournament, she's learned Attack spells and become much more confident and headstrong, giving orders in battle which even pleasantly surprises Asta.

This trope is frequently seen in ComingOfAgeStory. Some starting points for this trope is the ExtremeDoormat or ShrinkingViolet, but the character might just be inexperienced and unsure of themselves. After all, this is all part of growing up. CallingTheOldManOut is a specific subtrope. May coincide with TookALevelInBadass, TheDogBitesBack, ChallengingTheBully or SuddenPrincipledStand. Has nothing to do with the evolution of vertebrate animals.

** In ''Literature/ShardsOfHonor'', this is combined with SuddenPrincipledStand when Sergeant Bothari refuses to rape [[spoiler:Cordelia]] as per Admiral Vorrutyer's orders.

** Ekaterin in ''Literature/{{Komarr}}'' and ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', though it is probably better to say that she found and nurtured the spine, rather than grew it.

* Nate from ''Series/TedLasso'' starts out as a lowly kit manager who's bullied by the players and barely noticed by the management, but Ted notices his skills at strategy and encourages him to come out of his shell, eventually promoting him to junior coach. However, unlike most examples, this goes in a more negative direction; throughout Season 2, Nate gradually becomes [[TookALevelInJerkass meaner]] and [[ItsAllAboutMe more self-centered]] as he gains more confidence.

* In the biopic film ''Film/{{Lincoln}}'', The sheepish Congressman George Yeaman gets bulled into voting in favor of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. When it finally comes time to vote in the House, Yeaman meekly states "my vote ties us", and the clerk asks him to speak up. Suddenly, vertebrae align, and he ''owns'' his vote as he exclaims in a [[SuddenlyShouting sudden change of vocal volume]]; "I said Aye, Mr. MacPherson, [[BigYes AAAAAAYE!]]" to the jubilation of the proponents and calls of "Traitor!" from the opponents he was marginally with before. After it's all done and the amendment passes, he is seen joining in the revelry in the House chambers, singing "Battle Cry of Freedom" with the rest.

* ''[[Fanfic/GodsAngelsAndKings Hail To The King]]'': ''Series/ZoneFighter'' helps Shinji to grow one through the history. Shinji is still quiet and calm, but he becomes more confident and assertive.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' has a villain-to-villain example: "Ah, my wayward pet, Garithos. I see you've grown a spine since we last met." Technically the mind control spell the dreadlords put on Garithos was broken but evidently, he lacked the HeroicWillpower to defend himself against it in the first place.
* In the ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]] "Gangstas in Space", The Boss's co-star in the titular film is a girl named Jenny who starts off as an [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]] feeling powerless in the face of the {{Jerkass}} PrimaDonnaDirector repeatedly lambasting her for breaking character and not following his directions to a T, [[SelectiveEnforcement while ignoring The Boss doing the same]]. She gets more resentful as the storyline progresses, notably killing two of the five girls hired to replace her before [[KarmicDeath straight-up murdering the director using the modified VTOL that you pilot in the third mission]].
* In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'', the otherwise usually cowardly Galactic Rangers appear during the second phase of the fight against [[BigBad Dr. Nefarious]] to help Ratchet destroy his minions.

* Sophie Grundler from ''VideoGame/TheSandman2014''. She's been a StepfordSmiler for years, trying to put on a brave face and seem okay because she didn't want to cause any trouble to her father, who's busy working and trying to raise her after his wife's death. Her tendency to bottle everything up, as well as pretending to not stand up to her [[WeUsedToBeFriends once-friend-turned-bully]] Regan, caused her insomnia and led to the game's events. In the good ending ''Don't Stay Up Late At Night'', Sophie grows herself a spine and chooses to openly talk about her feelings now, as well as when things bother her; this includes giving a good round of [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech The Reason You Suck Speeches]].
* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', this is Makoto's main CharacterDevelopment arc - he starts off as a very shy guy lacking in self-esteem, but over time grows much more confident in himself. This is especially obvious when it comes to [[AbhorrentAdmirer Izumi]], who reacted ''very badly'' when Makoto quit modelling and became a scarily obsessive {{Yandere}} towards him. At first Makoto simply tries to run away from him, but as the year goes on he becomes assertive enough to tell Izumi exactly how he feels and force him to change his behaviour. And just to really hammer in the point, 'Makoto' in Japanese [[MeaningfulName means 'courage'.]]
* Noel Vermillion's character arc in ''Franchise/BlazBlue''. In the early games, she spends a lot of time doubting her own opinions and neglecting to speak up for herself, even when she has an official mandate to do so, leading to her being pressed down a lot by her BadBoss Jin. In the later half of the series she steadily develops more confidence, becoming a lot more self-accepting and secure, and fights for herself so much that in ''Central Fiction'' she tells [[spoiler: Susano'o, a PhysicalGod]] not to underestimate her.