A Glass in the Hand: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Seen It a Million Times|We've all seen this before]]. Perchance the character [[Does Not Know His Own Strength]]. Maybe he's entering a [[Heroic BSOD]]. Perhaps her [[Berserk Button]] has just been pushed. Whatever the reason, one thing is certain: that glass in their hand doesn't stand a chance.

 

A subtrope of [[Dramatic Shattering]]. [[Truth in Television]] under certain ([[Don't Try This At Home|painful]]) circumstances, but usually invokes the [[Soft Glass]] effect. Result of [[Rule of Drama]], or possibly [[Rule of Funny]], depending on the mood of the scene. Intersects with [[Knuckle-Cracking]]. Geometric opposite of [[Drop What You Are Doing]].

 

* In ''[[Death Note]]'', Light, acting as L, "advises" Near to escape from a situation Light himself created to trap him. While smirking. Near crushes the toy in his hand at Light's brazenness in barely even trying to hide his satisfaction.

* Non-glass example in ''[[Bleach]]''. When three of Barragan's Fraccion are defeated, he crushes one of the baubles on the sides of his makeshift throne, showing that he is quite pissed.

* Was also by Michelo Chariot in the first episode ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam|G Gundam]]'', although it was more form battle lust.

** Parodied in ''G Gundam the Abridged Series'' where he crushes the glass... and screams out in pain as we cut to the title.

* A JSSDF official in the first episode of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' snaps a pencil in two over astonishment that no conventional weaponry is working against Sachiel.

* Kanou shatters a glass after pouring over a jerk's head in ''[[Okane ga Nai]]'', as a clear indication that he is a [[Badass]].

* ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'': Tamaki does this with his cell phone in the second Kasanoda episode.

* In the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]'', manga, Teana does this with a paper cup when Subaru suggests that they can, through effort, shake off their reputation as the "airheaded pair," before [[Necktie Leash|grabbing her necktie]] and telling her it's her fault they have this reputation.

* In ''[[Noein]]'', Yuu crushes a paper cup when he notices Haruka is fawning over Karasu.

* ''[[Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman]]'' has a [[Running Gag]] where Riko (the Salmon Pink Shinesman) crushes paper cups of hot coffee when excited. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when someone asks her "Doesn't that hurt?"

* In ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', Makato Shishio crushes a ''katana'' with one hand, a momento returned to him by his AWOL [[Dragon]], symbolic of his relentless belief in [[Social Darwinism]]. The animated adaptation goes further and shows whatever remaining fragments in his hand afterwards was held so tightly that it ''vaporized''.

 

* A [[Treacherous Advisor]] type [http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5615/blz12.jpg does this] in the ''[[X-wing Rogue Squadron|X Wing Series]]'' after two Rogues refuse to turn on one of their own.

* In ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'', Rorschach makes another person do this as an interrogation method, crushing the glass in his hand to cause tremendous pain.

* [[Scott Pilgrim]] crushes the plastic booze cup in his hand when he first tries to talk to Ramona Flowers.

* The ''[[Batman]]'' arc "Prey" has Bruce Wayne break a glass when he hears Hugo Strange perfectly profile what might drive a man to become Batman on a news broadcast.

 

* Paul in ''[[With Strings Attached]]'' does this twice, once with a trash can lid and once with a stone cup. The first time, he is annoyed at John; the second time is inadvertent, and he douses himself with tea.

 

* ''[[The Incredibles]]'': Bob/Mr. Incredible is almost out the door to save a mugging victim when his boss threatens to fire him if he leaves. He lets go of the now crumpled doorknob.

* In ''[[The Black Cauldron]]'', the Horned King shatters the goblet in his hand when Taran refuses to show him how Hen Wen predicts the future.

* ''[[Cats Don't Dance]]'': Angry at Danny crashing her premiere, Darla squeezes a doll so hard the head pops out.

* Sutler in ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' shatters a glass of warm milk as he sees a comedy sketch mocking his inability to stop V on television.

** [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Including a line mocking his fondness for warm milk, no less.]]

* In ''[[Army of Darkness]]'', Ash crushes a pewter mug with his new gauntlet-hand.

{{quote|"[[Catch Phrase|Groovy]]!"}}

 

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''

** In one book, Dean crushes the glass in his hand after Harry kisses Ginny.

* In ''[[Lord Peter Wimsey|Five Red Herrings]]'', Peter is talking to a witness/suspect while playing with a tube of paint. When the witness innocently says something important to the case, Peter accidentally bursts the tube.

* A mild variant of this—the narrator crumpling a photograph in his hand when startled by a noise, then reflexively stuffing it in his pocket—sets up [[The Reveal]] in Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model".

* In the [[Liaden Universe]] book ''Conflict of Honors'', Shan does this when he thinks {{spoiler|Priscilla}} might be dead.

 

* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' has the Cat say of Rimmer: "You can tell he's tense by the way he scrunches up cups and throws them in the bin, and I'm not talking Styrofoam, I'm talking enamel." Of course, he is a [[Hard Light]] hologram.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''

* Spoofed in ''[[Garth Marenghi's Darkplace]]'', when Thornton Reed crushes a paper cup in his hand... despite the fact that the shot immediately before showed him holding a shovel.

* Happens exactly so to Oliver Queen in an episode of ''[[Smallville]]''. This is, of course, not the first nor the last time in the show's history a character breaks something because they don't know their own strength or how to control it. Another notable example is glass-breaking girl Maddie who can control glass with her mind.

* In ''[[The Outer Limits]]'', a man is electrocuted while holding a beer bottle, which he proceeds to crush in his hand.

* In the ''[[Knight Rider]]'' episode "Knight of the Juggernaut", Philip Nordstrom breaks a drinking glass in his hand. Justified, in that the hand in question is cybernetic and therefore super-strong.

* Phil from ''[[Modern Family]]'' is tasered while holding a mint-condition baseball card. He continues to seize, crushing it more and more while going through a descending list of collectible quality levels from "mint condition" to "trash".

 

* In ''[[Streets of Rage]] 3'', if you get the ending as a result of you fighting Shiva as the final boss, you see Mr. X staring at a monitor showing him defeated with the heroes standing triumphantly over him. He promptly crushes the glass of wine in his left hand.

* ''[[Castlevania]]''

*** Same in ''[[Dawn of Sorrow]]'', when you fight Soma in Julius Mode.

** Elsewhere, in ''[[Portrait of Ruin]]'', Brauner gets angry enough before his boss fight that he presses his cane into the ground until it snaps.

 

** In the first game, when you break through {{spoiler|Dee Vaquez's}} alibis, {{spoiler|she crushes her pipette between her fingers.}}

 

* Happened on ''[[Boy Meets Boy]]''. Mik being stronger than he thinks plus distraction = broken glass.

* ''[[Walkyverse]]'': A frustrated Galasso demands something to crush. [[Jerkass|Mike]] gives him a glass. We never see the results, but it probably wasn't pretty, given the frantic cry for paper towels and a first aid kit in the very next panel.

* Poor Equius, one of the trolls in ''[[Homestuck]]'', suffers from the [[Does Not Know His Own Strength]] version of this every time he tries to have a glass of milk... or a glass of anything, really.

* Forget a glass. Shelly of ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' crushes a [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/squish-it/ stainless steel frothing cup] when Tina makes her angry.

* Zintiel does this in ''[[Flaky Pastry]]''.

{{quote|'''[[Alt Text]]:''' Hey, what did that orange ever do to you?!}}

 

* Whenever something needs juicing, squeezing or mashing on ''[[Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time]]'', it stands a fair chance of getting crushed to death in one hand.

 

* Spoofed in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', where Mr. Burns in incapable of crushing a paper cup without Smither's aid.

* Used in an episode of ''[[Code Lyoko]]''. Yumi is in the middle of threatening Sissi when her cup (made of plastic or something otherwise hard to break, but not glass) shatters. Yumi's hand is mildly cut (but no blood) and Sissi wisely backs down. Somewhat subverted in that Yumi ''wasn't'' actually responsible for breaking the cup; XANA has been testing sonic vibrations to eventually knock down the school. Yumi is as surprised as Sissi when the cup breaking occurs.

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'': SpongeBob does this in "Can You Spare a Dime", when he starts getting sick of Squidward's demands and laziness. Being a cartoon sponge, the broken glass is never touched on after it happens.

 

* During the making of [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]]' epic "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", band member Steve Hackett was reportedly so tense that he succeeded in this, severing a tendon in his thumb in the process.

* One of the challenges in designing prosthetic hands and grippers is avoiding this trope. It's funny when your manipulator's force feedback sensors fail and you squish a glass. It would be less funny if you were shaking someone's hand at the time.

[[Category:Drama Tropes]]

[[Category:Hand Tropes]]