History Main / WorfHadTheFlu

* Spike's attempted rape of {{Buffy}} in ''Seeing Red'' only got as far as it did because Buffy had been hurt in an earlier fight with Warren. Which is kind of a mutual BadAssDecay of both Spike and Buffy with how seriously and equally they usually pulverized each other, but that's another story...

* In the anime ''{{Berserk}}'', Caska actually loses and needs rescuing from her first battle with a major enemy. While tending to her another mercenary notes blood between her thighs and comments to himself how it must be hard for a woman mercenary. The next time they meet the beatdown goes the other way.

** And on that note, in another YMMV example, some claim if the assassinations (any of them) had gone off without a hitch, the war WOULD have ending sooner... [[ExecutiveMeddling by Germany kicking the shit out of everyone else.]] And when you get right down to it on ''that'' point, it would also be decided by whose pet projects [[DoomsdayDevice won]] or [[AwesomeButImpractical lost.]] They had a ludicrous amount of both.
*** Certainly not if any of the assassination attempts during the war had succeeded. Germany was fighting a long, losing battle on multiple fronts, plus their war economy was badly outmatched by that of the United States and the Soviet Union. A successful assassination would have at least allowed Germany to surrender and not suffer the humiliation of Allied occupation and the destruction of its infrastructure as a result. To put it more bluntly: neither Germany nor Japan had the slightest chance of actually winning, but they lost their chance to surrender gracefully due to mismanagement, and became puppet states as a result.
**** Germany and Japan were in a perfect position to win, until they started invading random superpowers like the USSR and the USA. Even after Hitler's frankly insane attack on Russia they would still have been in good shape if Japan had gone for the Siberian oil fields instead of Pacific ones. The reason the Japanese attacked the US was because they didn't think they had the will to fight back. Which was... a [[{{Understatement}} bad]] [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant move]]. There was no way Germany and Japan could defeat Great Britain, the USSR, and the USA all at once, at least not without some tech edge. If they had managed to develop the Ural Bomber or the A-Bomb it might have been different.
***** The oil-fields were well out of Japan's reach, but if they had declared war on Russia it would at least have stopped Stalin bringing too many troops home, and possibly would have allowed the Germans enough time to actually win.
***** All this talk about how Japan should have invaded the Soviet Union ignored two facts: that they would have little to gain from it, and that the Japanese High Command was for a moment was in debate on whether they should follow the suggestion from the Army (invade Russia) or the Navy (invade South East Asia), until a crushing defeat against a soviet force at Khalkin Gol sealed the deal.
***** Sadly this whole argument has gone on far too long and we've all lost.

* The new ''Film/{{Predators}}'' film does this when [[spoiler:a predator from the old films faces a predator from this movie. The classic Predator has been tied up for a while and has poorly maintenanced equipment allowing for leeway when the new predator wins the fight.]]

* The new ''Film/Predators'' film does this when [[spoiler:a predator from the old films faces a predator from this movie. The classic Predator has been tied up for a while and has poorly maintenanced equipment allowing for leeway when the new predator wins the fight.]]

* When {{Supergirl}} first returned in 2004, she was shown outperforming {{Superman}} to the point where it was speculated that she might actually be more powerful. It turned out, this was meant to show that Superman [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech had been holding himself back]] all these years out of fear of causing death or destruction (which Supergirl in fact does in the early issues because she doesn't know her own strength.)

** It's also a Chekov's Gun, as she's seen being 'out of it' earlier. Furthermore, as in case the viewer doesn't get it, the major enemy says, when being beat down: "YOU HAD PMS!?"

* A version of this occurs in "Have Yourself a Monkey Little Christmas" in the WhateleyUniverse. Chaka is put in significant danger during a fight because she'd just had her ''hips broken and reset''! This is also a ChekovsGun, as the need was stated around her first appearance! [[spoiler: She does in fact win the fight, thanks to Chou's healing abilities.]]

** Hamilton stomping over Illyria happened only after she had been massively depowered. It's probably telling that Hamilton didn't set foot in the building until after she had lost most of her powers. Hamilton himself is quite the SmugSnake about this approach.

** Hamilton stomping over Illyria happened only after she had been massively depowered. It's probably telling that Hamilton didn't set foot in the building until after she had lost most of her powers.

** Ash's Pikachu gets a taste of this in the very first episode of the Isshu saga. [[spoiler:An encounter with Zekrom, one of Isshu's Legendaries,]] overloads Pikachu's electricity-storing capability and thus renders it unable to use Electric-type attacks. Ash finds this out the hard way when the 'Chu gets trounced in a battle with a trainer who had, mere minutes earlier, received his first Pokémon.

* Spike's attempted rape of {{Buffy}} in ''Seeing Red'' only got as far as it did because Buffy had been hurt in an earlier fight with Warren.

* In ''StreetFighter'' [[{{ScaryBlackMan}} Birdie]] uses this as the actual explanation for his loss against Ryu when they meet again in Street Fighter Alpha, it also explains why he was white in the first game.