Air Vent Passageway: Difference between revisions

[[File:ventilation shaft.jpg|frame|Why this trope [[Reality Ensues|doesn't work]] in [[Real Life]].]]

 

 

It's the only move on the part of a villain that's stupider than [[Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard]] (or any room with [[Bedsheet Ladder|a bed]]). When heroes find themselves trapped in a room with all doors and windows locked, the quickest exit is always through the ventilation duct. Air vents also work excellently in reverse for breaking ''in'' and infiltrating a facility, as well. Covers require little or no effort to remove, openings are always within reach, they're always able to support the weight of a person even though they were only designed to carry ''air'', they are wide enough in diameter to allow an adult to pass through, there are no internal obstacles like bracing or blowers (except for the occasional menacing giant fan blocking the branching corridors), they are free of normal sheet metal's dangerously sharp edges, they are totally soundproof, and there's never a lack of light or chance of getting lost unless the plot calls for it.

 

{{examples}}

* [[Justified Trope]] in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': shrimpy Edward is the only character who can fit in the air vents, and even for him it's a tight fit.

** Which leads to further comedy as Ed has a complex for being [[The Napoleon]].

* In "Turnabout Prophecy" of the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' manga, this is averted. The ventilation pipes themselves are too small to crawl in, but it is possible to crawl in the area where the pipes are.

* Amusingly [[Downplayed Trope]] by [[Meganekko|Jody Hayward]] in [[El Cazador de la Bruja]]. She uses the vents to sneak into [[Big Bad|Rosen]][[The Chessmaster|berg's]] office only to find that her hips are slightly too large to fit through them.

 

* An example of a villain using this trope is found in Marvel's 1990s series ''[[Sleepwalker]]'', when [[Serial Killer]] Jeremy Roscoe, after freeing himself from his restraints, climbs into the ducts to escape the prison hospital where he was being held. Probably not as bad as some of the other examples, since by that time the alarms were already activated and Roscoe's only concern was getting out by the fastest route possible.

* ''[[Spider-Man]]'' does this every now and again. In an interesting variation, however, he usually does it when he's breaking ''into'' a place, rather than trying to escape.

** In the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' game for the Playstation, Spider-Man has to escape from an underwater base using the air ducts... ''which are big enough for him to web-swing through''. Talk about shoddy design....

* Subverted in ''[[Y: The Last Man]]'' when Agent 355 and Yorick are breaking into a hotel in Sydney (surrounded by barbed wire and armed security due to the increase in drug-related crime after the plague).

{{quote|'''Agent 355:''' You said we'd be able to use the air conditioning vents. They're six inches by four inches.

'''Yorick:''' Yeah, well, I overestimated the amount of... air this place might need... }}

* Reed Richards of the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' does this now and again as well. Justified in that his powers are to stretch his body to any length, and width.

* [[Batman|Scarecrow]] escaped out of Arkham Asylum this way. Justified in that this villain has always been a skinny britches. And it's [[Cardboard Prison|Arkham Asylum]].

== Fan Works ==

* This is the method that Draco uses to get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts in ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]''.

** It's often a good idea to clean out ventilation systems to increase air-flow efficiency, reduce allergens, and stop a significant layer of dust accumulating on everything in the building every night. Particularly in warehouses with the giant ventilation systems that someone could actually crawl through.

*** Or there might simply be enough traffic in the ventilation system of the average villain lair to prevent dust gathering... Let's face it, those bases usually last a month or three, and see twenty-odd people getting around by air vents in that timeframe.

* A [[Troper Critical Mass|necessary reference to]] ''[[Nobody Dies]]'': Terrifying!Rei's favorite method of [[Stealth Hi Bye]] is to drop out of <s>NERV's</s> ''any'' ventilation system. ''He~eeey.'' [[Oh Crap]]. Running now.

* ''[[Astral Journey: It's Complicated]]'' has [[Spice Girls|Melanie]] escaping with this method after being sectioned under the '''Mental Health Act''', ''twice'': Once through the ducts in Emma's hospital room, which seems to work until... she does something stupid. The second attempt comes in the form of the laundry chute, only to end up with a broken leg and neck.

 

== Films -- Animation ==

{{quote|"I saw a film where there was an alien crawling around inside a spaceship's air ducts and it could come out wherever it liked," said Johnny reproachfully.

"Doubtless it had a map," said the Captain. }}

{{quote|"He was really ''upset'' when we fished him out!"}}

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''{{/Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos Fugitives Of Chaos}}'', Vanity finds an accessible air vent. On the other hand, she has an ability to find secret passageways that weren't there before she looked.

* Used in the last two books of [[Timothy Zahn]]'s ''[[Dragonback]]'' series; the (less-than-subtle) justification is that large air vents are actually standard design in capital ships, so that in the event of a hull breach emergency air supplies can be funneled to the compromised areas in large amounts, buying the occupants time to reach emergency air masks and so on.

** Although humans can't fit through them as it is so I'd almost call it a lampshading.

** Hogwarts Castle has got to have the most gigantic pipes ever seen... particularly for being built by wizards.

*** My impression was that only one pipe was built that way—a basilisk, such as Slytherin's monster, can't get through a normal drain pipe to get to Myrtle's bathroom, hence the bigger one under the sinks. The other pipes would be normal.

* The air duct was used to get Robin Hood out of a Norman castle in the TV series ''[[The New Adventures of Robin Hood]]''. The series was a bit on a ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' and ''[[Xena]]'' level of authenticity but (sadly) not meant as a spoof.

* The old ''[[Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea]]'' series was rife with this trope, especially in the later seasons, when it seemed every third episode had a villain or Monster of the Week or regular character evading a villain or MotW getting into the ventilation system at some point. Played straight for the most part, although somewhat subverted in that the ducts themselves were quite roomy, and the vents were about a yard square or more in size, hinged like a door with a latch that anything brighter than a rock could operate, allowing convenient access.

* Lampshaded on ''[[Leverage]]'': "Looks like Parker's going to have to climb through the air duct again..." Somewhat justified in that Parker is a) a master thief with an extensive knowledge of building layouts, and b) petite.

** Played with in one season three episode, when Parker encounters difficulties trying to do this as there are lasers blocking her path. Why it wouldn't be cheaper to simply make the ducts too small to crawl through is never addressed.

* In a ''[[Dilbert]]'' strip, Alice tells naive intern Asok "You must climb through the Jeffries tubes to reach the furnace before it fries us all!" He gets stuck half-way in, but that was her plan: "Today, Asok learns that life is not like ''[[Star Trek]]''."

** With Asok's lower body handing out of the vent, Alice puts up a sign that reads "Spank the Intern $.50"

 

 

* In ''[[Drowtales]]'', the air vents are too small for an adult Drow. But for a child...

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', Noah uses air vents in the process of hunting a magical creature and the trope is discussed in the commentary.

* ''[[Nerf Now]]'' on [http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/735 air ducts in games vs. reality]. No inescapable death trap is complete without one!

** And again in "[http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/1475 Quack Ex: Duck Revolution]":

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Insecurity System]]

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]

[[Category:Escape Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Tropes Examined by the Mythbusters]]