Line #19 Main/MalfunctionMalady


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5	[[quoteright:270:[[Webcomic/TwinDragons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/malfunction_malady_td.png]]]]
6
7	Being sick is no fun for anyone. There's the fever, the aches and pains, the need to sleep, the runny nose (if it's a respiratory disease), and a plethora of other unpleasant symptoms to contend with.
8
9	For [[MagicAndPowers magical or powered]] characters in fiction, particularly in animation, the above can come along with a Malfunction Malady. Regular symptoms of the common cold or other condition may be compounded by PowerIncontinence, or a form of it. Powered characters who come down sick may find their powers firing off uncontrollably, sometimes with every sneeze and/or cough. Alternatively all of their powers might be ''replaced'' [[GooItUp with copious amounts of snot and mucus]].
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11	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.
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13	Worse yet, sometimes the effects are caused by something perfectly natural, like [[PubertySuperpower puberty]] or pregnancy.
14
15	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 [[FindTheCure get them over this disease]] and its dangerous side effects.
16
17	Use of this trope also tends to generate an AnnoyingPatient for any friend or family member nearby who isn't also sick or compromised by the sickness.
18
19	See also: PlotAllergy and HiccupHijinks. Not to be confused with ComputerVirusesAreComputerIllnesses.
20
21	----
22	!!Examples:
23
24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
27	* ''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 reversed it partially on purpose or only because of the cold.
28	* ''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.
29	* When the eponymous {{telepath\|y}} from ''Anime/KotouraSan'' comes down with a cold, it turns out that her ability to read people's minds is also blocked as a result. Notably, her boyfriend [[ChivalrousPervert Manabe]] finds out that he is able to fantasize about her as much as he likes without her knowing for once, but quickly comes to realize that [[TheGadfly it is no fun for him]] ''unless'' [[DirtyMindReading she can see and react to these thoughts]]. Once Kotoura recovers from her illness, her telepathy follows suit.
30	* Negi from ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' creates [[TheNudifier clothing-destroying]] gusts of wind when he {{sneeze\|OfDoom}}s.
31	* Apparently electric-type Franchise/{{Pokemon}} are prone to a flu-like illness caused by overcharging. They will also discharge electricity randomly, behave aggressively towards familiar people, and may even ''explode'' if the excess is not vented in time.
32	* A variation found in ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'': female mages suffer a severe loss in power when it's "that time of the month".
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* ''ComicBook/BenoitBrisefer'': Benoit Brisefer loses all his SuperStrength whenever he catches a cold.
37	* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': In ''ComicBook/TheFlash1959'' #226, Hal Jordan got food poisoning that caused weird things to happen whenever he tried to use his power ring.
38	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Having a cold or the flu can cause Spider-Man's "spider-sense" to go on the fritz.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Fan Works]]
42	* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen\|2013}}'' fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10164715/11/Childish "Childish"]] has a chapter where Elsa gets a cold and every time she sneezes she coats everything within several feet in snow. Later in the fanfic she and Anna have a pillow fight and this happens again when a feather tickles her nose.
43	* ''Fanfic/AGreenChristmas'': Blossom's ice breath becomes fire, which is dangerous when she sneezes.
44	* The fan-video WeirdCrossover between ''Franchise/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.
45	* This can happen to Bloodliners in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines''. For example, Jeanette sometimes accidentally uses Sweet Scent when she sneezes. And since [[FantasticRacism Bloodliners are heavily persecuted]], this can be very dangerous.
46	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/PoundAndPumpkinCakesAdventuresAndMisadventuresInPottyTraining'', Starlight Glimmer gets the "horn flu", a unicorn disease that makes the unicorn's magic unstable and accidentally turns the twins into deer.
47	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SandedDown'' and its sequel, ''Fanfic/ReflectionsInACloudySky'', Bruno and Camilo suffer seizures related to their Gifts as a side effect of being sick. Bruno's seizures consist of terrifying, but ultimately null visions, while Camilo is painfully forced through various shapeshifted forms.
48	* 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.
49	* The ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'' has Rhynorn's Flu, a unicorn disease that in addition to normal flu symptoms causes field scattering. Whenever a unicorn with Rhynorn's tries to use magic, their field will scatter sparks of magical energy everywhere. If the field is being used for standard telekinesis, these sparks will randomly accelerate anything they hit, while the fallout from true spells can be even worse.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Films — Animation]]
53	* 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.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Films - Live Action]]
57	* [[PlayedForDrama Not played for laughs]] in the slightest in ''{{Film/Logan}}'', where Xavier's degenerative brain disease results in him having seizures where his telepathy 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.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Literature]]
61	* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', Rachel suffered this after scanning an animal she was apparently "allergic" to. This caused her to randomly assume her various animal forms and only ended with her expelling the new shape by [[{{Squick}} vomiting up an entire alligator]].
62	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', The Librarian at Unseen University catches a cold and turns into something new every time he sneezes, thanks to his "morphic field" being weakened by his original transformation from a human into an orangutan.
63	* 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.
64	* It's commonly believed in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' universe that female mages can't cast spells while pregnant. [[SubvertedTrope The brother of a very powerful sorceress pointed out that he knew several people who put this to the test and didn't live to admit that they were wrong.]]
65	* ''Literature/LilithsBrood'': Aaor's depression overwhelms their {{Biomanipulation}} powers, [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting regressing them]] to more and more biologically simple forms over several weeks. They come very close to a TerminalTransformation into non-sentient single-celled organisms before they're rescued and treated.
66	* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', Elayne Trakand becomes pregnant, and the Aiel Wise Ones inform her that she will occasionally be unable to [[MagicByAnyOtherName channel the One Power]].
67	* In the ''Literature/WildCards'' novels, Peregrine is shocked to discover that she loses her ability to fly while she is pregnant.
68	* ''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.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
72	* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': The immune system deficiency created by the promicin inhibitor causes the abilities of the affected 4400s to stop working. In "Lockdown", Shawn is unable to heal a blind woman named Olivia Cohen. In "The Fifth Page", Maia tells him that she can't use her ability to see the future to find a solution. In the same episode, Alana is unable to distinguish between the real world and the world that she created for herself and Tom in "Life Interrupted".
73	* ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'': The same thing happened with the witches and warlocks in Samantha Stevens' family. It happened to Samantha, Serena, and Aunt Clara on separate occasions. There was also an episode where Sam's snarky mother Endora lost her powers because [[spoiler: she was allergic to dodos and Tabitha conjured one up.]]
74	* ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'':
75	** Witch pregnancy seems to result in a lot of unusual and uncontrolled magic effects, though this is explained more as the magical fetus messing with things than the mom's magic going haywire as a result of pregnancy.
76	** In "[[Recap/CharmedS5E12CentennialCharmed Centennial Charmed]]", Paige gets a cold and accidentally teleports whenever she sneezes.
77	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The TARDIS is prone to this, from giving its passengers a battery of incomprehensible warnings in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E3TheEdgeOfDestruction The Edge of Destruction]]" to suffering from Huon particle-induced indigestion in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride The Runaway Bride]]".
78	* ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'': Jeannie coming down with a cold would cause "blink" effects and random things showing up that Tony had to get rid of.
79	* ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'': Evie's cold initially manifests itself by having her sneeze gouts of flame at inopportune moments. By the time the cold spreads to the other three mermaids, the sneezes change to blasts of freezing wind.
80	* ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'': When Jambi the Genie comes down with "Meka-Leka-Hi-Meka-Hiney-Itis" (read: genie burnout), his powers don't work ''at all'', and the magic rings that emanate from his turban come out slightly wibbly.
81	* ''Series/{{Rentaghost}}'': Nadia Popov would teleport whenever she sneezed. As she suffered from allergies, this tended to happen quite a lot.
82	* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' used it at least twice. One was when Sabrina caught spellfluenza, which is a 24-hour sickness that causes one's powers to be transferred to the nearest person when one sneezes. Assuming they are the nearest person again during the next sneeze, the powers come back. Surprisingly, the person who got her powers was Ms. Quick. The other was when Hilda caught punitis, a disease in which everything she said resulted in a bad VisualPun occurring (for example, when she asked for some ice cream, a screaming disembodied eye appeared in the freezer).
83	* ''Series/TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'': Alex got bubble hiccups, sneezed herself into a puddle, and lost control of her electricity. Exposure to several chemicals in other episodes reacted with the [[SuperSerum GC-161]] and made her sick in ways like: parts of her body randomly morphing into water, out of control aggression, and static electricity.
84	* ''Series/SesameStreet'': One "Abby's Flying Fairy School" skit had Mrs. Sparklenose the preschool teacher turning her students into first [[BewitchedAmphibians frogs]], then chickens, then [[AnthropomorphicFood cheese]] whenever she sneezed, due to her dust allergy. To turn back, the students had to say, "Gezundenschniffle".
85	* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': In "[[Recap/SmallvilleS06E02Sneeze Sneeze]]", Clark Kent discovers his SuperBreath when he [[SickEpisode catches a cold]], sneezes, and blows the barn door off its hinges and across the entire county, almost decapitating Lois. Much of the episode is spent trying to come up with believable reasons why the barn door appeared in the middle of nowhere and it ends up inspiring Lois to become a reporter.
86	* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In "Fascination", Ambassador Troi (who has {{telepathy}}) has a disease called "Zanthi fever" that basically makes her emotions spread to other people. And, since this is [[ReallyGetsAround Ambassador Troi]] we're talking about, said emotion was lust.
87	* ''Series/{{Star Trek\|The Original Series}},'' "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E10PlatosStepchildren Plato's Stepchildren]]": One of the Platonians (or whatever they were called) was sick, and since they had [[MindOverMatter telekinetic powers]], that made furniture fly around as if there was a hurricane. Dr. [=McCoy=] cured him, and they showed their gratitude by forcing the Starfleet officers to star in a [[KissingUnderTheInfluence sadistic puppet show]].
88	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Spock's father showed up with a rare Vulcan brain disease that transmits his repressed emotions to other people, resulting in much of the Enterprise crew fighting all the time.
89	* ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'':
90	** When Raven becomes ill with the flu, she reads people's minds.
91	** She also has a mushroom allergy. In one episode, this just caused her to comically swell up at an inopportune time. In another, it gave her random, incomprehensible visions, such as her father and brother dressed up as sailors and digging for gold on the moon.
92	* ''Series/TheWorstWitch'': For a few episodes, Beatrice was teleporting (and occasionally teleporting other people) whenever she sneezed and she was sneezing because [[spoiler: she was allergic to cats.]] Eventually, this was cured.
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
96	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Aberrant}}'', the Yin/Yang enhancement enables a nova with Mega-Appearance to switch between male and female forms. If the nova gets pregnant (a rare event), this enhancement will shut down at a certain point in the pregnancy, locking the nova in female form.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Webcomics]]
100	* ''Webcomic/KarinDou4koma'': When allergy season hits, Tamaryu — a dragon — sneezes ''fire''.
101	* ''Webcomic/SuperheroGirl'' has a GenreSavvy roommate who expects the Malfunction Malady in [[http://superherogirladventures.blogspot.com/2011/11/superhero-girl-88.html this comic]].
102	* Ditto the eponymous Romero twins from ''Webcomic/TwinDragons''. Kai catching a cold merits staying home from school, with a bottle of water to put out the hankerchiefs he ignites when he sneezes.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Web Original]]
106	* In ''Toys/MonsterHigh'', Frankie is shown to inadvertently release electricity when she sneezes. And Abbey releases a burst of frosty air that can freeze things with her sneezes. But topping them both is Operetta, whose voice can reach supersonic levels, meaning supersonic sneezes. One sneeze from her shatters several windows and sends a few unlucky students flying out the door.
107	%%* [[Franchise/StreetFighter "Hello, Ryu !"]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1CklEefRFM "Heddo, Ken!"]]
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Western Animation]]
111	* Genie in ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' also caught a cold that caused random objects to appear every time he sneezed, with the objects becoming more dangerous as the disease progressed.
112	%%* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' had an episode like this.
113	%%Zero-context example
114
115	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Katara the waterbender gets sick like any ordinary person, but airbender Aang's sneezes launch him ten feet into the air; [[ImpliedTrope though that may]] [[AmbiguousSituation be Aang being playful]].
116	* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': In a Season 1 episode, Ben gets a cold, which affects his alien forms in different ways. [[SenseImpairedMonster Wildmutt]] was effectively blind, since his vision is [[TheNoseKnows based around smell]] and he couldn't "see" with his nose plugged up, [[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.
117	* In one episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/CareBearsAdventuresInCareALot Adventures in Care-a-Lot]]'', Funshine got a case of Bubbles, which made him cough up bubbles every time he hiccuped and start floating away.
118	** Somewhat similar to the above example, in the [[YouMeanXmas Great Giving Day]] episode of ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsWelcomeToCareALot'', Tenderheart learns how to teleport to help Great Giving Bear deliver gifts. However, Tenderheart ends up getting the hiccups, which cause him to disappear and reappear in random places.
119	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
120	** In an episode, Cosmo's Phygigly Gland (which controls a fairy's transforming powers) starts acting up, necessitating a transplant from Cosmo's EvilTwin Anti-Cosmo.
121	** A much earlier episode had Cosmo catching the "Fairy Flu", which caused him to randomly lose control over his powers every time he sneezes (one sneeze summons a merry-go-round, another transports the house to the moon, etc.). For [[RuleOfFunny some reason]], feeding him lots of sauerkraut cured him.
122	* It's either an inversion of this trope or CursedWithAwesome, but every time Glitter the sidekick fairy sneezes in ''WesternAnimation/KiddVideo'', she temporarily gains super strength.
123	* ''WesternAnimation/MegaManFullyCharged''
124	** In ''Flower Power'', Mega Man develops an allergy and involuntarily switches forms while sneezing. [[RuleOfFunny It also causes him to speak in rhyme.]]
125	** When Mega Man replicates an enemy's powers, he also absorbs some of their personality. External factors sometimes cause him to switch to that personality and start unwittingly using those powers, even when not transformed.
126	* ''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 front hooves, covers Fluttershy in ice, and makes Applejack fly and Rainbow Dash speak in sounds.
127	* ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'': In one episode, Sabrina catches a disease called "Witch-[[SomethingItis itis]]", which makes her magic unstable and eventually causes giant germs to appear.
128	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
129	** When Beast Boy got a cold, every sneeze caused [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting involuntary morphing]].
130	** When Starfire went through Tamaranian puberty, she developed a number of strange and unattractive features before returning to normal and having the ability to fire starbolts [[EyeBeams out her eyes]].
131	** Starfire's allergy to metallic chromium also causes her to sneeze rather explosively.
132	** Cyborg got a computer virus. It affected his perception and personality such that he became obsessed with Waffles, and perceived everything as food. Including inappropriate and dangerous things.
133	* In ''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. The plan ultimately turns on the Predacons when Rhinox gets sick of being an AnnoyingPatient and decides to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_8gH6UG6qbw#t=230s inflict himself on them]]... much to Megatron's misfortune.
134	* Underbite is a recurring villain from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' who gets stronger when he eats metal. Unfortunately, once, that metal was part of a [[PortalNetwork space bridge]]. He spent the episode randomly teleporting [[ContinuityCavalcade to past locations]] every time he hiccuped.
135	* It is used as a gag in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' that when Kurt has a cold, he will teleport every time he sneezes.
136	* Yin in ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'' comes down with the Woo Foo Flu, which causes inanimate objects to come to life. She is the AnnoyingPatient for her brother Yang. Until he comes down with it, and put Yo in the position of caretaker to the sick sibs.
137	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MalfunctionMalady