Basic Trope: A character is frozen solid and subsequently thawed with no serious adverse health effects.
- Straight: Bob is frozen by the Big Bad's freeze ray, but thaws some time later and is fine.
- Exaggerated:
- Downplayed: Bob gets frozen by the Big Bad's freeze ray. Though he then suffers from severe frostbite, it's a wonder he didn't die after such prolonged exposure to ice.
- Justified: Bob has undergone special conditioning and chemical treatments to prepare for being frozen solid.
- Bob is an alien species which developed this ability as a survival adaptation for extremely cold winters.
- Bob is an android who doesn't experience hypothermia or frostbite, and doesn't need to breathe.
- Inverted:
- Bob is frozen solid but reverts into a messy pile of viscera when thawed.
- Kill It with Ice
- Being frozen solid is an instant kill.
- Subverted:
- Bob is frozen solid, but scientists can't figure out a way to thaw him safely, so they leave him frozen.
- Or alternately when Bob gets encased in ice, he freezes to death.
- Bob gets thawed after quite a while, and when he's thawed, he came out fine without any differences, only to die fairly young because of his shortened lifespan that was the result in staying frozen all this time.
- Double Subverted:
- The scientists discover a miraculous new thawing technique that allows Bob to thaw safely.
- Even though Bob is dead, he somehow gets revived or resurrected anyway.
- Parodied:
- Being frozen solid becomes a popular carnival attraction, where people line up for miles to feel the sensation of being frozen and then thawed.
- Everyone talks about the horrible dangers of being frozen and thawed, but the only consequence anyone ever faces is catching a cold.
- Zig Zagged: Bob is frozen solid, but shatters into numerous pieces when being thawed. The scientists take all the thawed pieces, reassemble them, freeze the reassembled pieces, and re-thaw Bob as a complete person.
- Averted:
- The freeze ray misses Bob, so he never gets frozen.
- Bob suffers from hypothermia, or maybe worse, while frozen.
- Enforced: The story's plot requires a character to survive 300+ years into the future, so cryogenics are the only feasible plot device.
- Lampshaded: "No worries Bob, after you're frozen we will just thaw you and you'll be perfectly fine!"
- Invoked: Bob is a scientist experimenting with the effects of freezing on the human body.
- Exploited:
- Knowing that his freeze ray is harmless, the BigBad freezes himself to lengthen his life.
- Alternatively, after shooting Bob with the freeze ray, the Big Bad commands his minions to throw him into an acid pit before he can thaw.
- Defied: After freezing Bob, the Big Bad gets a sledgehammer and shatters him into tiny pieces.
- Discussed: "Wow Bob, I would have expected the thawing to have gone...differently."
- Conversed: "Wait, so Bob's human body, which encounters frost bite from being exposed to anything just below 32 degrees, is completely unharmed by a subzero freeze ray?"
- Deconstructed: Bob appears normal after being thawed, but soon is beset by numerous health problems from having all his organs frozen for a sustained period of time.
- Reconstructed: Doctors discover miraculous new drugs that allow Bob to make a full recovery.
- Played For Laughs: Bob gets thawed a few thousand years in the future, and wondering what the heck happened to him and where he is/what time it is.
Back to Harmless Freezing, and don't ask Bob how he still hasn't suffered any medical problems yet!
