History Main / MalfunctionMalady

[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/TwinDragons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/malfunction_malady_td.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/TwinDragons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/malfunction_malady_td.png]]]]

* In ''{{Transformers}}: WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', [[TheStarscream Tarantulas]] infects [[GeniusBruiser Rhinox]] with a virus that makes him hiccup destructive bolts of electricity in the first season episode, "The Low Road." The episode plays pretty straight to the trope, with the other Maximals alternately nursing their new AnnoyingPatient and running on a FetchQuest for the antivirus.

* A variation found in ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': female mages suffer a severe loss in power when it's "that time of the month".

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' had an episode like this.

* This happened in a Season 1 episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10''. [[AngryGuardDog Wildmutt]] was effectively blind[[note]]Wildmutt's vision is [[TheNoseKnows based around smell]] so by having his "nose" filled with mucus, he couldn't "see"[[/note]], [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Fourarms]] broke out in smelly hives in each of his armpits and sneezed buckets of mucus, and [[PlayingWithFire Heatblast]] became AnIcePerson. Interestingly, when Ben had a cold in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', this didn’t cause too much of a problem for his transformations, only as much as being disoriented or Diamondhead just sneezing diamonds, or Humungosaur sneezing huge amounts of snot.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* In the short film ''WesternAnimation/FrozenFever'', [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Elsa]] wakes up with a cold. Little snowman creatures called Snowgies appear every time she sneezes and the more Elsa sneezes, more Snowgies appear.
[[/folder]]

* The fan-video WeirdCrossover between ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'', ''WesternAnimation/DocMcStuffins'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82j_8I9Yi7k The Incredibles Get Sick]]'', has the Incredibles all coughing, sneezing, and (with the exception of Violet) sleeping a lot but with no fevers, and it affects all of their powers: Mr Incredible and Dash have lost theirs, Elastigirl's are out-of-control, Violet can't make force-fields and she can go invisible but can't turn visible again, and Jack-Jack is stuck as a demon. Some unknown electricity-like substance cures them.

* ''Literature/LilithsBrood'': Aaor's depression overwhelms their {{Biomanipulation}} powers, [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting regressing them]] to more and more biologically simple forms over several weeks. They're narrowly rescued from dissolving forever into non-sentient single-celled organisms.

* This happened in a Season 1 episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10''. [[AngryGuardDog Wildmutt]] was effectively blind[[note]]Wildmutt's vision is [[TheNoseKnows based around smell]] so by having his "nose" filled with mucus, he couldn't "see"[[/note]], [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Fourarms]] broke out in smelly hives in each of his armpits and sneezed buckets of mucus, and [[PlayingWithFire Heatblast]] became AnIcePerson. Interestingly, when Ben had a cold in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', this didn’t cause too much of a problem for his transformations, except for just being disoriented or Diamondhead just sneezing diamonds.

* This happened in a Season 1 episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10''. [[AngryGuardDog Wildmutt]] was effectively blind[[note]]Wildmutt's vision is [[TheNoseKnows based around smell]] so by having his "nose" filled with mucus, he couldn't "see"[[/note]], [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Fourarms]] broke out in smelly hives in each of his armpits and sneezed buckets of mucus, and [[PlayingWithFire Heatblast]] became AnIcePerson.

* Katara the waterbender gets sick like any ordinary person, but airbender [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Aang's]] sneezes launch him ten feet into the air; [[ImpliedTrope though that may]] [[AmbiguousSituation be Aang being playful]].
* This happened in a Season 1 episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''. [[AngryGuardDog Wildmutt]] was effectively blind[[note]]Wildmutt's vision is [[TheNoseKnows based around smell]] so by having his "nose" filled with mucus, he couldn't "see"[[/note]], [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Fourarms]] broke out in smelly hives in each of his armpits and sneezed buckets of mucus, and [[PlayingWithFire Heatblast]] became AnIcePerson.

* ''Literature/LilithsBrood'': Aaor's depression overwhelms his {{Biomanipulation}} powers, [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting regressing him]] to more and more biologically simple forms over several weeks. He's narrowly rescued from dissolving forever into non-sentient single-celled organisms.

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', Elayne Trakand becomes pregnant, and the Aiel Wise Ones inform her that she will occasionally be unable to channel.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'': One "Abby's Flying Fairy School" skit had Mrs. Sparklenose the preschool teacher turning her students into first [[BewitchedAmphibians frogs]], then [[CluckingFunny chickens]], then [[AnthropomorphicFood cheese]] whenever she sneezed, due to her dust allergy. To turn back, the students had to say, "Gezundenschniffle".

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Shirogane getting a cold causes the GenderBender curse he put on Matsuri to {{partial|Transformation}}ly reverse for a moment. Notably, Shirogane ''couldn't'' undo the curse fully even though he wanted to, and it's not explained if he could have reverse it partially on purpose or only because of the cold.

* Negi from ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' creates gusts of wind when he {{sneeze|OfDoom}}s. Said Wind seeks out and strikes [[ClothingDamage girls' clothing]] like a heat-seeking missile.

* This happened in a first season episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''. [[AngryGuardDog Wildmutt]] was effectively blind[[note]]Wildmutt's vision is [[TheNoseKnows based around smell]] so by having his "nose" filled with mucus, he couldn't "see"[[/note]], [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Fourarms]] broke out in smelly hives in each of his armpits and sneezed buckets of mucus, and [[PlayingWithFire Heatblast]] became AnIcePerson.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': The short "Ail-icorn" reveals that hay fever can render [[WingedUnicorn Alicorns]]' magic unstable. While experiencing hay fever, Twilight accidentally puts wheels on Rarity's frontt hooves, covers Fluttershy in ice, and makes Applejack fly and Rainbow Dash speak in sounds.

* This happened in a first season episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''. [[AngryGuardDog Wildmutt]] was effectively blind[[note]]Wildmutt's vision is [[TheNoseKnows based around smell]] so by having his "nose" filled with mucus, he couldn't "see"[[/note]], [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Fourarms]] was more disgusting and clumsier, and [[PlayingWithFire Heatblast]] became AnIcePerson.

* Not played for laughs in the slightest in ''{{Film/Logan}}'', where Xavier's degenerative brain disease results in him having seizures where his telekinesis paralyzes everyone in a very wide area (and even killed most of the X-Men the first time it happened), forcing him to live in an abandoned silo with Logan and Caliban.

Worse, when they attempt to use their powers intentionally, the result is a MagicMisfire - the effect they wanted affects the wrong target, inflicts a bizarre effect on some innocent bystander, fizzles, doesn't happen at all, or comes out completely random. Naturally, HilarityEnsues.

If this wasn't all bad enough, there is almost never an easy cure. Usually the hapless victim of the malady wonking their powers has to wait it out, or their friends and teammates have to go on a FetchQuest for some strange, arcane, rare or mysterious item (perhaps a FlowerFromTheMountaintop) to get them over this disease and its dangerous side effects.

* ''Anime/EsperMami'' has the eponymous teenager's telekinetic powers disassemble items when she sneezes -- thankfully she is lifting a truck, not a person, when she discovers this. Her teleportation also gets wonky when she's drunk.

* The entire plot of ''Literature/TheExploitsOfEbenezum'' (and further sequels Literature/TheWanderingsOfWuntvor) by Craig Shaw Gardner revolves around this. Ebenezum, a talented hedge wizard, accidentally summons a demon and is somehow cursed by the Netherhells while sending him back. This causes him to develop an "allergy" to magic, interrupting every one of his spells with a thunderous sneeze. At first this is thought to be the work of said demon, but later even he proves unable to reverse it. So his bumbling apprentice Wuntvor has to help him get from one place to another looking for a cure. In case it wasn't obvious, this is a quite funny modern fantasy parody.

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' Elayne Trakand becomes pregnant, and the Aiel Wise Ones inform her that she will occasionally be unable to channel.

* ''Literature/YoungWizards'': In ''So You Want To Be A Wizard?'', Nita and Kit unintentionally transport [[SomeCallMeTim Fred]] the sentient white hole to them. White holes emit stuff - usually energy. Most of his mass and energy is stored in a [[{{Hammerspace}} temporal-spatial pocket]] so that he can travel at all, and the act of traveling has made him a bit woozy - it gives him a bad case of the hiccups. When he hiccups, he emits stuff. And by stuff... good luck trying to explain the Learjet that just appeared in the middle of the field.

* ''Webcomic/KarinDou4koma'': When allergy season hits, Tamaryu -- a dragon -- sneezes ''fire''.

* In ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'', Hal Jordan once got food poisoning that caused weird things to happen whenever he tried to use his power ring.
* ComicBook/BenoitBrisefer loses all his SuperStrength whenever he catches a cold.

* The ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' fanfic [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/158726 "SWIMMING WITH SHARKS"]] points out the potential for such with [[BlindSeer Terezi]]'s abilities. She normally perceives the world synaesthetically, via smell and taste... But in the fanfic, she gets a cold, effectively making her blind and entirely debilitated.

* In the short film "WesternAnimation/FrozenFever", [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Elsa]] wakes up with a cold. Little snowman creatures called Snowgies appear every time she sneezes and the more Elsa sneezes, more Snowgies appear.

** When Beast Boy got a cold, every sneeze caused involuntary morphing.