Agony of the Feet

""My toes, my toes!""

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time

Primarily an Animation Trope, but has been known to turn up in other places, Agony of the Feet is a trope particular to Amusing Injuries.

A character is minding his own business and someone (or himself) drops something heavy on his foot, or he's angry about something and kicks the source of his frustration a little too hard. Or she's angered a cute kid and the kid kicks her (in the shins/stomps on her foot). Or there's a misstep, resulting in a stubbed toe... you get the idea. A common live-action variant is a character buying shoes too small for their feet, either through foolish pride of refusing to admit that they have large feet or being too cheap to buy full price, insisting that their low-price leather shoes will extend with wear.

Whatever the situation, the result is the same. The character in question ends up hopping on one foot while clutching the other one, shouting in Angrish for a few seconds to indicate their pain.

Variants can occur with other body parts, but some part of the foot or leg is most common. For situations in which the knee itself is injured, see Kneecapping.

Not to be confused with the agony of defeat or "Agony of Defeet."

Anime & Manga

 * Keroro Gunsou
 * Giroro does this after being rendered clumsy by the loss of his trademark belt, which causes him to stub his toe on the door frame.
 * In a later episode, the platoon is inspired by Natsumi hitting her foot on the corner of a dresser, so they patent an army of dressers specially designed to hit peoples' feet as painfully as possible in order to distract all of Tokyo with pain, thus making them completely vulnerable to be conquered.
 * In Nichijou, Nano hits her toe in this manner, something the Professor (8 years old) solves by simply taking her toe off.
 * During an early episode of Pokémon, an annoyed Pikachu kicks a treadmill. The trope goes into full effect on the poor thing.
 * During his rematch with Brawly, Ash's strategy to deal with Brawly's Hariyama is to have Treecko attack its foot. Eventually, Hariyama tries to charge, but collapses in agony.
 * A non-humorous example in Black Cat, wherein Train, complete with exposition about sensitive nerves in the feet.
 * There's a strange version in Axis Powers Hetalia. America and England have been sent some supplies, and England finds some ice cream in the box. He offers it to America, who runs over to him to get it, slips on a banana peel, lands on his face... and breaks his foot. At least he got his ice cream.
 * Although there were a few times where this happened to Tubby in the Little Lulu comics, a special mention of this trope comes up in episode 2 of the Little Lulu anime;
 * Detective Conan: Conan has had to improvise a few times on things to kick, so he's also hurt his foot as a result.
 * Sailor Moon: On the very first episode of the anime, Usagi's brother Shingo comes home to find her banging on the front door after getting kicked out of the house again. He then proceeds to make fun of her on his way inside, and when she tries to "Sailor V Kick" him in retaliation, he slams the door shut, causing her to kick the door full force and make a very funny face.

Comic Books

 * A fairly common gag in Mortadelo Y Filemon. Generally, the guy's foot gets really swollen, too.
 * In the first Empowered book, a fat nerd who steals Emp's hypermembrane first tests his new "superpowers" by giving a high-kick to a concrete pillar. Unfortunately for him, the super-suit only works for Empowered, and lot of pain ensues.
 * In Asterix, Vercingetorix surrendered to Julius Caesar by dropping his weapons on Caesar's toes.
 * Gaston Lagaffe once tried to crack an especially hard nut (a Running Gag) by stepping on it... while wearing his usual soft shoes. Cue the "OULALALALA!!", and Fantasio laughing.
 * Happens in Buck Godot Zap Gun for Hire to the title character. [

Comic Strips
"Calvin's Dad: (stands on one leg, clutching his foot after dropping a heavy present on it) Slippin'-rippin'-dang-fang-rotten-zarg-barg-a-ding-dong!
 * Calvin and Hobbes has a strip where the title characters hear a crashing noise on Christmas Eve and assume it's Santa. They listen to see if they can hear what he's saying. Cut to the living room:

Calvin's Mom: Quiet dear! Calvin will hear you!"

Gamebooks
"That hasn't done your foot any good. Didn't you remember you were only wearing light little sandals? Deduct 3 from your current LIFE POINTS and limp a little."
 * In Grail Quest 4: Voyage of Terror, when Pip is given the option to pick a lock or kicking the door open, kicking is a bad choice:

Films -- Animation

 * Near the beginning of The Thief and the Cobbler, Zigzag does this after stepping on one of Tack's tacks. It's also
 * In Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket does it after kicking a billiard ball.
 * Lampshaded in Animalympics (1980). As the voiceover says "the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat", the last phrase comes out just as the polar bear carrying the torch through a desert starts hopping and blowing on his poor, sand-scorched feet.
 * A classic example is Starscream in Transformers: The Movie. As Autobot City transforms, he gets his foot stuck in a closing door. He has to blast it (and his foot) to get out, leading to the classic whine, "Owww, my foot!"
 * In My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Duper Super Sleuths, Tigger lifts a rock using super-strength that he's gained, but then drops it on his foot when the super-strength disappears. He manages to free his foot and then says that it's okay because it only hurts when he hops.... "Owie, owie, owie! Why am I hopping?"
 * On The Great Mouse Detective, Olivia stomps on Fidget's good foot, eliciting cries of, "Ow, my foot! My only foot!"
 * This also happened to Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid, after a pan falls onto his foot while he was chasing after Sebastian.
 * Patou the dog from Rock-a-Doodle actually bites the evil owl's foot in order to save Edmund (who was turned into a cat by the owl's magic) from being eaten.
 * In 9|Nine, 2 kicks the in a sort of "Ha-ha, take that!"/celebratory manner, and then hops around holding his foot.

Films -- Live-Action

 * A standard element of innumerable silent-era comedies, and classic sound-era comedies by the likes of Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, etc.
 * In the George of the Jungle movie, Ursula kicks Lyle in the shins to escape and he hops around for a bit before grabbing her again.
 * Happens multiple times to the thieves in the first two Home Alone movies.
 * Most notably is the first one where Marv, after having lost his shoes and his socks to Kevin's tar trap, steps on a nail while trying to enter the Mc Callister residence. He later mentions this as one of the ways to pay Kevin back for all the trouble that he's caused him and Harry.
 * In Spaceballs, Barf gets his foot crushed under a massive statue. When he removes his foot, not only does he hop about in pain, but his foot is comically flattened.
 * A blonde woman in Spy Hard gets her foot run over.
 * In the first Police Academy, the same thing happens. Cadet Copeland has his foot run over by cadet Hooks while waiting to take the driving test.
 * Somewhat used in Bedtime Stories, with the attack on Skeeter by the "Midget Brigade". His excuse? "That's for being tall!"
 * An interesting take on this occurs in Moon Child. During an attempt at an impressive leap-spin-thing in a fight, Sho does what anyone not really trained in martial arts would probably do, and lands awkwardly, hurting his foot in the process. Cue him quickly giving up the badass act and rubbing his ankle while whimpering in pain...
 * Used by the good guy in Kung Fu Hustle: he flattens the mooks' feet through their shoes with well-placed stomps, causing the Big Bad to comment about how he used to use the move in pre-school. And the move is used on the Big Bad himself later, proving that there's nothing wrong with the basics.
 * In the opening sequence of Inception, Mal shoots Arthur in the foot to torture him, since killing him will just wake him up.
 * This gag was also used in Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
 * In Game of Death, Bruce Lee is having a difficult time fighting Kareem Abdul Jabbar, until he suddenly stomps on his bare foot.
 * In Who Am I?, Jackie Chan loses his shoes in one scene. The mooks immediately capitalize by repeatedly stomping on his feet. Jackie eventually dons wooden clogs and returns the favor.
 * In The Spy Who Loved Me, Jaws drops a boulder on his foot. His grimace is priceless.
 * Mind Hunters: One of the female FBI agents smokes a cigarette, not knowing it has been laced with acid, several drops of which eat through her boot. She briefly stomps her foot in pain before realizing she has other problems.

Literature

 * Happens in all seven Harry Potter books to all three main characters.
 * Three examples for each character: in the sixth book, Harry kicks a wall out of frustration and hops; in book three, Ron steps on Hermione's foot; and in book seven, Ron accidentally nudges a piece of white-hot cursed metal with his foot (long story). Justified to an extent -- their robes makes it rather easy to stomp someone's foot without it being noticed, so it's the main way they get each other to shut up. In Order of the Phoenix, when Ron starts to make a blunder while they're out in public, Harry actually mentally laments that they're in Muggle clothes and thus it would be too noticeable to stomp on his foot.
 * Discworld: One of Adora Belle Dearheart's favorite tactics against people who make sexist remarks, or try to stop her from smoking her ever-present cigarettes. It helps that she wears stiletto heels. Though she suffers the effects of this trope herself as well when she decides to spike the foot of a City Watch officer who's literally made of rock.
 * Michael tries to break a thick wooden rod he's been chained to in the Knight and Rogue Series by kicking it over and over. While this works in the long run, during one particular moment of panic he slams his foot into it so hard that he thinks he's broken his own bones for a minute.
 * In the Transformers Shattered Glass story "Blitzwing Bop", a shopkeeper gets annoyed at Soundwave for accidentally chasing off his star attraction, and kicks him in the ankle in anger. Seeing as how, well, Soundwave is a giant solid metal robot and all, it hurts the shopkeeper's foot a lot more than it hurts Soundwave. (Though Soundwave does consider it "Most bogus!")
 * Septimus Heap: It is mentioned that Spit Fyre likes to do that with people, so that Jenna cautions Wolf Boy against getting too near when they're fetching the dragon.
 * In the Junie B. Jones book Junie B., First Grader: One Man Band, Junie B. accidentally breaks her toe when she kicks her mother's watering can that has a picture of a cow. Her sore toe became important afterwards.
 * In Dragonsong, Menolly gets caught out during Threadfall and runs not only the soles of her boots off, but the skin off the bottoms of her feet before a dragon and rider spot and rescue her. In a later book (set years later), she comments to another character that her feet are still quite sensitive.

Live-Action TV

 * Variation occurred on The Brady Bunch with Marcia's "Oh, my nose!" moment that replayed over and over in Flash Back.
 * Doctor Who
 * The new series has the Doctor kick his precious TARDIS. He promptly sits down in the command chair to massage his foot.
 * Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor seems especially prone to this trope.
 * Friends
 * Ross once kicked a lamppost in a sarcastic gesture. Apparently he got more pain than he was planning on.
 * Friends also has an extreme variation of this trope in "The One with Monica's Boots", where Monica bought an extremely painful pair of boots.
 * Monica's foot is stung by a jellyfish in "The One with the Jellyfish".
 * In the The IT Crowd, a Japanese businessman accidentally jumps on Jen's foot, causing her to clutch her foot and hop, and many swearing gags.
 * In the Modern Family episode "Disneyland", Gloria stubbornly refuses to admit she's in pain walking around the park all day in high heels.
 * In the NCIS episode "Boxed In", Tony and Ziva are imprisoned in a container by terrorists. When they try to convince the NCIS agents to surrender, one gets too close, thinking he's protected by the only slightly ajar metal door. But Ziva can see the tip of his shoe, and as the terrorist asks "Your answer?", Ziva whispers "Here it is..." and shots him in the foot.
 * In the Sports Night episode "Intellectual Property", a scene opens with Casey walking to his office with a limp. We learn that he kicked a fire hydrant on the way back from lunch when Dan told him Dana was going on vacation to Vermont with Gordon. Casey spends the whole scene whining about his broken ankle (it's only bruised, if that).
 * In an episode of Sledge Hammer, the title detective drops a bowling ball on his partner's foot, causing her to clutch it and hop around.
 * In an episode of Titus, Amy kicks the title character in the groin, then drops to the ground clutching her foot in pain, at which point Titus knocks on his groin, indicating he's wearing a cup, and says, "Rookie!"

Video Games
"Console: You kick the computer. Your foot hurts."
 * Biggafoot in Banjo-Tooie.
 * Characters in Soul Calibur II react this way after being attacked in the foot.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles in Time
 * If you run over spikes (while riding your jetboard!), your character does the Foot Pain Hop while saying "My toes! My toes!".
 * Can also happen if they're hit by one of the ground flame attacks in the game, which also causes their foot to be set on fire.
 * One boss in the game attempts to do this by throwing honest to goodness lobsters at you. He's comically vulnerable to Hoist by His Own Petard.
 * Mario and Luigi in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
 * This also happens in the Paper Mario series when you attempt to jump on a spiked enemy without the Spike Shield badge.
 * In Knights of the Old Republic, the player encounters a computer console which only outputs in an ancient language. The proper way to deal with it is to talk to it until it understands your language, but one option is to simply kick the computer. Doing so only gives you this:

"Shepard: (levelling his or her gun at Conrad) Let me make this perfectly clear... (brings the gun down and shoots Conrad in the foot) Shepard: This is not acceptable."
 * When knocking off the manhole cover over King Hippo's belly in the Wii Punch Out game, it lands on his foot, causing him to hop up and down while holding it.
 * The "foot stomp" is an actual move that can be pulled off in Sonic the Hedgehog The Fighters.
 * Sometimes, if you take too long but still manage to get to a person's destination in Crazy Taxi, they'll kick your taxi then hold their wounded foot.
 * The first boss of Maximo is fought by stabbing his foot, then (once he starts jumping) the other foot. Once he falls over, you hit him in the head.
 * During the boss fight against Zant in The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, at one point he becomes a giant, and in order to defeat him, you must swing the iron ball and chain into his foot. As he hops around holding his foot in pain, he shrinks back down to regular size, which is when you attack him.
 * Happens to the minions in Overlord quite often, but only when setting down an Object on the waypoint to the tower.
 * Done to K.Rool in Donkey Kong 64, courtesy of a shrunken Tiny Kong shooting his toes with a feather crossbow.
 * Appears in Battle Chess when a pawn captures an enemy pawn. The former stomps the butt of his spear on the latter's foot, and after he hops around for a few seconds, gets stabbed through the visor.
 * In Mass Effect 2, a Renegade Shepard during the bar scene with Conrad Verner can shoot him in the foot.

"Narrator: Gangrene is such a terrible way to go!"
 * Spot Goes to Hollywood: After Spot is done carving the Sega logo at the start of the game, he twirls his hammer in his hand, only to accidentally drop it right on his foot.
 * In Gruntz, this trope is said word for word as a random quote when your Gruntz steps on Spikez.
 * This is one of the ways to die in Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! This involves Larry dropping a dumbbell on his foot.

Web Comics

 * Happens in a strip of Freefall, to an unfortunate commuter.
 * Happens in a strip of Everyday Heroes to Iron Jane, but she had it coming for attacking Mr. Mighty from behind. He was more offended than hurt, and in the long run they end up married.
 * Happens in a strip of Girl Genius to Agatha (along with subtitled Symbol Swearing) after being attacked by a pair of her little clanks turning against their mistress.
 * Happens in a strip of Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic to Gruumsh. You'd think very few would be crazy enough to try this on a god, but Jone Half-Orc certainly is.
 * Happens in a page of the Mulberry comic "Artifacting", as Jack steps on the sharp object that substituted for an Indiana Jones-style Paramount logo.
 * Happens in a page of Think Before You Think, when Julia and the employee at the armor store drop a lead helmet on her foot.
 * Meat Shield
 * Becky Sourbottom, following a Be Quiet Nudge (or rather, Stomp) from Dhur.
 * Karma than catches up Dhur when he tries to kick a giants' (and giant) door open.
 * Adventurers: Why telepathy is preferable to whispering in the dark.
 * When Donald of Dark Legacy Comics stubs his toe, it inspires the yell: "And dollars at star number!"
 * Happens in The Packrat's August 2005 strip. Packrat accidentally dropped a 220-pound Yamaha CS80 on his feet.

Web Original
"James: AHHHHHHHHHH!!! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck!"
 * The Atari 5200 episode in The Angry Video Game Nerd has James picking up an old TV. The cord for the plug gets caught in the radiator valve and as soon as he pulls it away from the window...

Western Animation
"Caveman: CAT! (hops around, clutching his foot) Narrator: "Cat" was caveman-talk for "Darn it!""
 * Hanna-Barbera is rife with them.
 * Every segment of The Banana Splits has one. "Danger Island", "Arabian Knights", "Three Musketeers"...
 * The Flintstones: After Barney accidentally drops a bowling ball on Fred's foot, he ends up varying the pain shout to "Yabba-dabba-di-yi-yi-yi-ee-hee!" and inadvertently creates a new dance craze among Bedrock teenagers.
 * The Great Grape Ape also became an accidental rock star, after stubbing his toe in the episode "A Grape Is Born".
 * A giantess drops a club on her foot and hops in an episode of American Dragon Jake Long.
 * Parodied in Family Guy, with an Overly Long Gag involving Peter hissing in pain. Multiple times.
 * Garfield's Nine Lives -- Cave Cat runs into the Caveman's ankle at high speed:


 * In one Season 4 episode of Jackie Chan Adventures, Hak Foo tries to use a jumping attack on Jackie, whose head is fortunately protected by a cow skull with very sharp horns. The result? "CRYING PUPPY FEET! CRYING PUPPY FEET!"
 * This was done frequently in Looney Tunes.
 * In A Feather in his Hare, an Indian reaches into Bugs Bunny's hole and Bugs hands him a mouse trap, causing it to snap on his finger and inducing great pain; as he's running by trying to shake it off, Bugs places two more mousetraps, causing him to step on one, then the other, and to scream even louder.
 * The gremlin in Falling Hare twice smashes Bugs Bunny's foot.
 * An entire episode of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack was focused on this where Flapjack and Knuckles fall asleep in a barrel only to wake up with their feet horribly burned by the sun.
 * My Life as a Teenage Robot: Sheldon kicks the Silver Shell and ends up hopping around his garage.
 * In the premiere of The Secret Saturdays, Zak whacks Argost in the ankle with his weapon, resulting in the hopping and moaning.
 * This was a Running Gag in the Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Store Wars." Bloo kicks several people in the shin before running away and calling them a "rip-off artist." He later suffers this fate from Coco at the end of the episode.
 * The Simpsons, more than once, and with more body parts than just the foot. Which is actually a plot point in the first Sideshow Bob episode.
 * Darkwing Duck runs on Amusing Injuries, but one particular mention goes out to Gizmo Duck landing from the top of a hospital straight onto Megavolt's foot. It crushed the sidewalk.
 * In one of the Peanuts TV specials, Snoopy taps a baseball bat on his foot, and as he's not wearing cleats, it hurts him quite a bit.
 * Happens with great regularity on Tom and Jerry. In one memorable instance, Tom is about to hit Jerry with a hammer when Jerry offers him a much bigger mallet. As Tom takes the mallet, Jerry picks up the first hammer and whacks Tom's foot with it. Cue Stock Scream from Tom.
 * On Justice League Unlimited not even superheroines are safe from kids, as Stargirl found out when she was in Japan and attended a Supergirl convention. After she complained about the attention Kara was getting, a chubby little Fan Girl goes over and kicks her in she shins for insulting the better-known heroine.
 * In the predecessor series, Justice League, Darkseid begins to stomp Superman's head into the ground. To counter this, Supes uses his eyebeams, through Darkseid's foot.
 * Wakfu
 * A good one in season 1 episode 22: Sadlygrove is suffering from heat stroke in the desert, and is convinced the ruin he's stumbling toward is just another mirage. So he gives a good kick to its stone wall -- barefoot. Cue the one-legged dance.
 * Shortly happens to Yugo in season 2 episode 1, from a gerbil's bite.
 * In season 2 episode 5, gets bitten in the leg by.
 * Ruel gets his foot stomped by his grandmother in season 2 episode 7.
 * Ben 10
 * The protagonist's first transformation into a fire-based alien results in his cousin, Gwen, not recognizing him and spraying him with a fire extinguisher. The best response Ben can come up with after years of abuse from his cousin is to set her shoe on fire.
 * Happens again to Gwen when a transformed Ben runs into her leg while attempting to flee from the Forever Knights.
 * In "D.W. Blows the Whistle" on Arthur, Arthur is astounded to hear about D.W. being a hero for having stopped a little kid from crossing the street without looking both ways first. "D.W., a hero?" he questions and then he drops a wrench he was holding onto his foot and starts hopping up and down.
 * Codename: Kids Next Door makes use of this gag in Knightbrace's debut episode, "OPERATION: T.E.E.T.H." Numbuh Three accidentally shines her teeth in Numbuh Four's face. Numbuh Four previously got his mouth saddled with humongous braces, so he falls over and drops his giant braces set on Numbuh One's foot. Numbuh One reacts predictably.
 * Total Drama Island
 * This gag is used in the very first episode, when Eva arrives on the island she drops her bag of dumbbells onto Cody's feet.
 * Set up but then surprisingly averted in the Action special. Non-Action Snarker Noah kicks a bulky television set, but instead of the expected result the television is flung off screen and Noah remains uninjured.
 * Pretty much a Once Per Episode occurrence in the Deputy Dawg cartoons.
 * Happened in the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "If It Smells Like an Ed". Ed is carrying a block from a sidewalk, and when he stops to get a handkerchief out of his pocket for Jimmy he drops it on his feet. He's motionless for about 5 seconds, but right before it cuts to a commercial it shows him walking on his hands with his feet bandaged.
 * Played for Laughs in Phineas and Ferb: Doofenshmirtz has concocted an Evil Plan to get revenge on an ice cream man who ran over his foot the previous day, resulting in him having to wear a cast. In the ensuing fight with Perry The Platypus, he injured the other foot, causing him to hop up and down holding his foot, only to have to switch which foot he was holding because the act of hopping caused his already injured foot to hurt again. Of course, once he started doing this, his newly injured foot started to hurt because he was hopping on it, and so on and so forth.
 * Tummi Gummi also fell victim to this trope in the Adventures of the Gummi Bears episode "Someday My Prints Will Come". He blames the machine that he found for causing all the trouble then kicks it, causing him to hop around in pain while holding his foot.
 * Taken to an extreme on Archer; while fleeing the KGB in Russia, Archer loses his shoes and has to go barefoot, and ends up stepping in broken glass. Then he gets new shoes, loses them again, and steps in more broken glass. He spends the whole chase screaming in pain with every step.
 * In one episode of The Powerpuff Girls, the title heroines are turned into giants by Mojo Jojo. While trying to catch him, Buttercup steps on a power line, reacting predictably.
 * In "Franklin and the Pinecone Pass" on Franklin and Friends, Franklin gets so frustrated and upset that Bear wants to play Rabbit's new game (Pinecone Pass) instead of playing with him that he kicks a rock, hard. (Too bad he doesn't wear the shoes described in the books' traditional opening.) He hops up and down, clutching his foot, and a just-arriving Beaver reminds him that it's balls that are good for kicking, not rocks.
 * In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko, while attempting a Heel Face Turn, accidentally burns Toph's feet when she approaches him at his campsite. This not only causes her great pain, but also hinders her ability to "see" with her feet.
 * In an episode of Rugrats, while at the park, Chuckie steals Angelica's shoes. Angelina angrily tries to chase him, but steps on some thorny weeds and hurts her feet. She then puts on Chuckie's shoes and continues the chase.

Real Life
Steel-toed footwear isn't the end-all and be-all of foot protection either. If you're working in a factory that deals with heavy objects that are moved by hand (like brake drums) expect the required footwear to not only include a steel toe, but also a steel shank which runs from the ankle to the toe on top of the boot (over the laces). That's called a metatarsal guard. Advanced models are hinged at the ankle and go all the way up to the knee, in order to armor your shin. (The latter also worn in industrial pressure cleaning applications, where the pressures used are ten times greater than those found in home pressure washers. This is because at this pressure level, the water can slice effortlessly through flesh and is only barely slowed down by leather: steel armor is required.)
 * L Sprague De Camp, writing an educational book titled Energy and Power, discussed the difference between the potential energy of a one-pound weight sitting on a three-foot-high table and the kinetic energy if the weight falls off the table, and then added, "You will understand this if the weight falls on your toe."
 * Footwear with steel toecaps, along with ski boots, is available in a number of styles. While marketed as a preventative measure for industrial accidents, a well-fitted pair are handy for averting this trope. Contrary to popular belief, which was busted by Myth Busters, steel toecaps ARE good deals because, well, any impact sufficient to bend the steel toecap that hard is a no-win situation for your foot to begin with. With the toecap, the cap bends and your foot is cut. Without it, your foot is mashed flat. Either way, you've had it. The toecap is there, however, to protect against lesser impacts. An industrial-rated toecap must be able to deflect, at least, a force equaling 75 pounds dropped from waist height or nearly a ton applied slowly. Outside of an industrial environment, most people are unlikely to exceed these numbers -- meaning that steel toecaps will do just fine.
 * Injury from a vehicle running over your foot can be avoided with two factors: the tyre is under-inflated, and the ground below is loose gravel that spreads the weight. Just don't pull it out till the vehicle's gone.
 * Kicking the instep is sometimes taught as a self-defense move.
 * For a similar effect, step on pieces of LEGO barefoot.
 * Or a Barbie doll's shoe. Yes, still barefoot.
 * Or if you're a Tabletop Gamer, a D4. They're called "Caltrops" for a reason.
 * Or if you really want to go over the top drop a bowling ball on someone's foot, ten pounds or more will send them to the hospital.
 * Any food in the upper freezer that is precariously perched on a bunch of other items can and will fall out of it right on your toes; bonus points if it's the Thanksgiving turkey.
 * Guess why most two-compartment fridges/freezers made in the last 4 decades have the freezer in the lower half.
 * And be careful when you handle hardback Harry Potter books. The third book is especially painful when it hits your toes sharp end first.
 * Those tiny screws that mysteriously vanished the last time you took something apart and reassembled it? They'll just as mysteriously reappear pointy side up when you're walking barefoot in the dark.
 * His Excellency Don Felipe, the 13-year-old (at the time) grandson of King Juan Carlos I of Spain and fifth in line to the Spanish throne, accidentally shot himself in the foot in April 2012, to the amusement of the Spanish and world press.
 * If you don't want to personally experience Truth in Television, never believe a shoe salesman who tells you that tight leather shoes will extend with wear. A shoe one size too small will always be one size too small. That's why they make many shoe sizes.