History Main / TheLawOfDiminishingDefensiveEffort

*** Orochimaru also plays it entirely straight when [[spoiler:he fights Naruto in the 4-Tailed Transformation. He makes very little effort to actually dodge attacks, though he does use a technique which allows him to create a "new" body in order to avoid certain attacks' effects after they've connected. It isn't until Kyuubi!Naruto uses the [[BreathWeapon 4 Tails]] [[WaveMotionGun Menacing Ball]] that he puts forth a ''serious '' effort to defend himself, commenting on how it could kill even him in one shot. Said "serious effort" being to summon the ''Triple'' Rashomon Gate in the blast's path; a pair of his EliteMooks had previously described a ''single'' Rashomon Gate as the "ultimate defense". All three gates were were destroyed, but the blast was slowed enough for Orochimaru to avoid destruction.]]

** Averted with Reinforce (Eins), who isn't averse to using external barriers to stop her opponents' attacks. It makes things all the more [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Awesome]] when [[spoiler: Nanoha pierces her barrier, fires an Excelion Buster point-blank at her... and she isn't hurt at all.]]

** During Fate and Signum's first battle, Signum calmly put a barrier around her and just stood there with her eyes closed as Fate launched [[MacrossMissileMassacre Photon Lancer]]. The energy missiles just bounced off of her. Later in the battle, when Fate charged at Signum with her axe, Signum actively dodged it. In the next episode, it's revealed that Fate had managed to wound her then.

** Also, Nnoitra Jiruga fits it pretty well, especially the corollary during his fight with Kenpachi. He doesn't actually dodge any of Kenpachi's attacks until Kenpachi aims for the head, giving Kenpachi the proof he needs that Nnoitra's [[MadeOfIron hierro]] ''isn't'' actually invincible.

Compare PunchPunchPunchUhOh. See also GoodThingYouCanHeal. A NotSoInvincibleAfterAll moment usually occurs when said character bumps into the thing that poses a genuine threat.

** Indeed as this counter-strategy is the entire point of the rope-a-dope defense (and similar ones) where you let someone tire themselves out from attacking. And then while they're exhausted, you unload on ''them''. The problem is that if your opponent knows what he's doing, and is fighting aggressively enough, you won't be able defend against all of his blows. Attacking may be more exhausting than defending, but a well preformed attack will usually still break through via proper use of feigns, sheer speed, and the fact that once you take just one good hit, your reaction time goes to hell, making it harder to keep on defending. This is why defense in a close combat situation is usually a temporary measure used to launch a counterattack from rather than anything you want to keep on doing for an extended period.

Frequently seen in [[ImplacableMan Implacable]] superheroes/villains and [[BigBad Big Bads]] trying to make an impression.

** Played with by Cell who (despite Vegeta's warnings) stands still to take a Final Flash. As he is about to be struck, he cries out in surprise, and moves aside, but his arm is blown off. Vegeta, seeing the damage he's done, is very pleased with himself[spoiler] - until Cell reveals that it was all a ruse, regenerates the arm, and proceeds to beat the snot out of Vegeta[/spoiler].

** Played with by Cell who (despite Vegeta's warnings) stands still to take a Final Flash. As he is about to be struck, he cries out in surprise, and moves aside, but his arm is blown off. Vegeta, seeing the damage he's done, is very pleased with himself - until Cell reveals that it was all a ruse, regenerates the arm, and beats the snot out of Vegeta.

** This actually backfires on Cell who, after taking the typical stand-there-and-take-it defense, realizes at the last second that Vegeta's Final Flash might just kill him (hence the "Oh crap!" face, and even famously saying "oh shit!" in the German dub). He avoids taking it head-on but is quite surprised and upset when Vegeta manages to blow off his arm. However, after he gets over his (genuine) shock, he quickly grows it back.

* Played with is ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'' where late-game boss [[spoiler: Asha, in his rematch]] doesn't bother to dodge shotgun or autogun rounds, believing them to be beneath him. [[spoiler: He doesn't count of Iji surviving as long as he does, constantly chipping down his health until his pride gets him killed.]]

*** This actually backfires on Cell who, after taking the typical stand-there-and-take-it defense, realizes at the last second that Vegeta's Final Flash might actually kill him (hence the "Oh crap!" face, and even famously saying "oh shit!" in the German dub). He avoids taking it head-on but is quite surprised and upset when Vegeta manages to blow off his arm. However, after he gets over his (genuine) shock, he quickly grows it back.

*** This actually backfires on Cell who, after taking the typical stand-there-and-take-it defense, is quite surprised and upset when Vegeta manages to blow off his arm. However, after he gets over his (genuine) shock, he quickly grows it back.
**** He did move to the side at the last minute, though. By the way he's standing, you can tell it was aimed at the center of his chest.
***** It still fits though, since he was fully expecting to do this but at the last second realized it would kill him (hence the "Oh crap!" face, and even famously saying "oh shit!" in the German dub) and dodged it the best he could.

* In ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', during Fate and Signum's first battle, Signum calmly put a barrier around her and just stood there with her eyes closed as Fate launched [[MacrossMissileMassacre Photon Lancer]]. The energy missiles just bounced off of her. Later in the battle, when Fate charged at Signum with her axe, Signum actively dodged it. In the next episode, it's revealed that Fate had managed to wound her then.

*** However, Harbinger is the first and most powerful of the Reapers. Sovereign/Nazara was much smaller and weaker (it was only a scout sent to lay dormant and send the invasion signal when ready). It still took a whole fleet to bring down and only when its defenses were dropped by the death of Zombie!Saren.

** To be fair, she was very disadvantaged at the time.[[spoiler: In the Dresden Files, magic is a force present in everything, which magic users draw upon. The mooks had laid a trap for Ivy which prevented her from drawing upon outside magic, forcing her to make extremely efficient use of what little power she had within her own body. Despite this, she managed to hold off seven enemies, any one of whom would have been a challenging opponent for the protagonist.]]

** Both of these come up as plot points later as Crocodile (a sand Logia) and Enel (self appointed god of Skypeia and lightning Logia user) Don't bother to dodge luffy's punches they get smacked in the face as Luffy has coated his hands in water or his own blood (crocodile) or is made of rubber and is insulated from electricity (Enel). From this point on both fights are over pretty quickly as neither is as used to conventional hand to hand combat as Luffy. Likewise Luffy makes little to no effort to block punches so when Sentoumaru shows up and uses hand to hand combat on him Luffy is freaked out that he's being hurt by these attacks

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* {{Superman}} in, well, just about anything he shows up in. This was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the [[{{Diniverse}} DCAU]] by Batman, who realized that Superman is so powerful he probably doesn't need to fight strategically most of the time.

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* In ''BandOfBrothers'', the more time soldiers spend trying desperately not to die, the more likely they are to get killed, while those who simply focus on completing their mission tend to do rather better. As in the case of Lt., later Captain Speirs, who runs through occupied Foy to link up with another company assaulting Foy from the other direction, then runs back through in order to lead his own men into the now-coordinated attack.

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* ''[[{{KamenRiderWizard}} Kamen Rider Wizard]]'' usually prefaces getting the tar beaten out of him by switching to [[MightyGlacier Land Style]] and chain-casting Defend.

* ''Very'' common in the ''Manga/DragonBall'' franchise, whether between one of the ridiculously powerful main characters and an ordinary human, or by a villain to show how far above the hero they are. As early as the second episode of ''DBZ'', Raditz makes light of Piccolo's power, stands there and allows himself to be blasted, and when the smoke clears...