Action Prologue: Difference between revisions
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A form of [[The Teaser]], often [[In Medias Res]]. Also known as a [[Bond Opening Sequence]], since [[James Bond]] uses it so much. Not to be confused with [[Action-Hogging Opening]], which is where the out-of-plot opening sequence rather than the first part of the plot proper is unusually intense.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* ''[[Witch Hunter Robin]]'' starts off with a mission by the ultra-tech team of super-powered witch-hunters, and the rest of the first episode is introducing their little circle to the audience. And the title character isn't even fully introduced until the second episode!
* The prologue of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has a battle in space the likes of which don't happen until the final of the four arcs - {{spoiler|and, in fact, the exact battle shown never actually happens}}.
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* The anime of ''[[D.N.Angel]]'' opens on a fight between Dark and Krad that apparently happened in the past, before cutting to the high school [[Shojo]] romance opening of the manga.
* ''[[Venus Versus Virus]]'''s [[Pragmatic Adaptation|anime version]] has this. Guns, check. Shooting stuff with said gun? Check. [[Eyepatch of Power|Eyepatch wearing]] [[Elegant Gothic Lolita|Gothic lolita girl]] [[The Gunslinger|wielding the gun]]? Check. Creepy girl with [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red eyes]]? Check. Then we cut to the [[Ear Worm]] of an opening. In the manga however, the intro is mellow, and shows how Sumire became the way she is.
* ''[[Berserk]]'' is a extreme example: it starts with a two and 2/3 volumes of story to establish the setting and then has a ''twelve'' volume flashback before reaching the point of time when it started. The anime follows suit with its first episode (basically a shortened version of the first episode without Puck), which is given no explanation as to how it happened, given that the anime ended at a point where the story could have only gotten there based on action taken by [[
* Not exactly ''action'', but ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'''s anime adaptation opens with watching a half-obscured silhouette beating someone to death with a blunt instrument... And then the OP starts playing...
** Which is based on how the game begins with a narration going along with a the sound of something hitting something else.
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== Fan
* ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' combines this with [[In Medias Res]].
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* The ''[[Star Trek]]'' films tend to do this. It was especially notable in the first one, where the prologue turns out to be the most action-oriented part of the whole movie.
* ''[[Hancock]]'' opens up with a gun battle on the L.A. Freeway, with the eponymous hero arriving to "save" the day.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]: The Fellowship of the Ring'' starts with the Battle of the Last Alliance not only because it was establishing the backstory, but because [[Peter Jackson]] felt that the movie needed an epic battle scene with armies at both sides, not just the Fellowship vs. dozens of Orcs.
* ''[[Predator]] 2'' starts off with a 'Predator-eye' view of a pitched gun battle between the LAPD and a street gang. This battle is interrupted when the Predator kills and 'cleans' the surviving gangsters.
* The [[Film of the Book]] of ''[[Narnia|The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe]]'' starts in WWII London, where German fighter pilots are conducting an air raid.
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* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' begins with our antiheroine and Jeanne in their flashback garb fighting angels on the face of a falling clock. It might be a clever symbol for a compressed backstory narration, but it's hard to tell when the actual game is so trippy. Despite the game's reputation for putting some of the most spectacular fights in cutscenes, it's fully playable, with no control guidance for first-time players, but also no way to lose. Then, there's a whole prologue chapter, filled with control tutorials and some minor exposition. Then there's an expository cutscene and an Indy-style travel montage. ''Then'' the opening tiles play as 'netta struts off the train in Vigrid.
* ''[[Chrono Cross]]'' begins with an action/tutorial dream sequence which mimics/foreshadows an extended gameplay sequence from a (much) later dungeon.
*
** ''Uncharted: Drake's Fortune'' opens with Nate and Elana unearthing Sir Francis' journal in the middle of the ocean, when suddenly, pirates attack and the player has to defend the boat.
** Nate wakes up, wounded, his clothes covered with blood, in a wrecked train, the train ''dangling over the edge of a mountain!'' He has to climb to safety (which despite the terrifying scene, is easy to do). This scene is, incidentally, a [[How We Got Here]] scene, as once the player gets Nate on solid ground, the plot shifts to many days earlier, part with the train resuming halfway through the game.
** ''Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception'' opens with a bar brawl in an English pub populated by [[Mooks]], after a deal goes bad. It's a great excuse to teach the player the new unarmed combat system.
* [[Guild Wars]] Nightfall throws the character into a corsair battle for its first quests and mission, before the "training" sequences more common in other MMO's (and other guild Wars chapters)
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* ''[[Vindictus]]'' begins with a siege on a bell tower against a giant spider. The Oracle, Tieve, wants to talk to the spider and find out why it's so frightened, so a group of soldiers, including you, are assigned to escort her to the top. Everyone is promptly ambushed by Gnolls after the leader of the soldiers finds a Fomorian Emblem, and everyone except you and Tieve are wounded or killed. The game then gives you control of your character and walks you through the combat system as you kill your way through the Gnolls and escort Tieve to the top of the tower, where you have to fight the spider as ballista spears rain down on the roof.
* ''[[Shadow Complex]]'' begins with a man in a city with [[A Taste of Power|about half of the full set of equipment]] for a shootout with some troops and a helicopter. He is then killed, and the action switches to the actual player character, where the real ''[[Metroidvania]]'' part begins.
* Done extremely well on the [[The Lord of the Rings]] video games, as the prologues are there not just to state how the fight elements are there, but also to tell most of the backstory and certain background elements.
* The prologue of ''[[The Reconstruction]]'' thrusts you into a dangerous, action-packed mission of boarding and fighting your way through an enemy ship. This is done with only a cursory introduction to the characters, and it's not really clear what's going on until the end of the prologue.
* The DS and PS1 versions of ''[[Dragon Quest IV]]'' add a prologue chapter in which you play as the hero for a short while as you look around for Eliza.
* [[Dark Souls]] introduction cutscene has this, featuring Gwyn, Nito and the Witch of Izalith taking on the dragons.
* ''[[Xenoblade]] Chronicles'' begins in the middle of the war against the Mechon, where you play as Dunban in the battle that would make him a legend among the peoples of Bionis.
== Webcomics ==
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* ''Pibgorn'''s arcs start this way, but they're so confusing they're pretty much [[Mind Screw]] prologues. For example, the latest arc began with a [[Rapunzel Hair]]ed Pibgorn messing around with dewdrops in a meadow, with the panels interrupted by a giant rack-focused number 8 on a plain white background out of nowhere. It then switched to short-haired Pibgorn and Drucilla talking on a glacier (Rapunzel-Hair Pib is a flashback). Pib suddenly fainted then attacked Drucilla who fought back, and then the giant 8 explodes in a shower of Photoshop brushes.
* ''[[Remus]]'' begins with a [[Right-Wing Militia Fanatic]] [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|flying a plane into the White House]], [[It Got Worse|continues by showing the United States descending into a second Civil War,]] and then caps off the prologue with [[R-Rated Opening|a glimpse of said war]] through the eyes of the comic's resident [[Knife Nut]]. It then jumps 17 years forward, where the plot begins.
* The first chapter of ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' opens with the heroes in the midst of a battle with a mob of goblins, but then there's a pause as [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall| they are upgraded to 3.5 Edition]]; the first arc involves them adjusting to it, not easy seeing as it happened in the middle of their mission.
== Web Originals ==
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[[Category:Scenes]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:The Teaser]]
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