Breaking the Bonds: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Q:''' Did Londo's men weaken the chains after all, or was G'Kar just really determined?<br />

'''A:''' That was one determined Narn.|JMS talking to fans about ''[[Babylon 5]]''.}}

If it turns out that the prisoner could have busted out any time, he's a [[Play-Along Prisoner]]. If he ''already has'', and is only pretending to be still restrained, he's [[Slipped the Ropes]].

 

{{examples}}

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS'', where Fate cuts through her bonds only to have [[Big Bad|Jail]] entangle her with new energy threads.

** In a much more serious, straight application of the trope, Akane ''ripped through'' the pantyhose binding her arms and wrists with sheer brute force (no mean feat, since she was wrapped up in so much pantyhose it was several inches thick, and her wrists were tied behind her back in a similar fashion.)

** Akane is rather effective at this. When captured by [[Cloudcuckoolander|Principal Kuno]] and suspended high above the ground in a [[Crucified Hero Shot]] (with brooms in lieu of a cross,) she easily snapped in half the broomstick binding her arms and used the rope to swing-kick the Principal.

'''Akane:''' Hon'.<br />

[[Unsound Effect|Chain breakage.]] }}

* No [[Unstoppable Rage]] or [[Heroic Resolve]], but the androids in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' do this with handcuffs to scare the cops.

* [[Rurouni Kenshin]] broke out of hypnosis-induced paralysis on one occasion, and his most awesome [[He's Back]] moment is predicated by him snapping the chains he's bound around his sword. (Long story.)

** Heck, even [[The Lancer|Sano]] and [[Distressed Damsel|Kaoru]] managed the "breaking out of hypnosis-induced paralysis" part.

** Sanosuke also exploded the front of his prison cell when he got annoyed at someone. Yes, exploded it. [[Badass|With his fist.]]

 

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** And it was a [[Shout-Out]] to his most iconic [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] image.

* [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] displays amazing powers of "chest expansion" [http://www.superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=36%3Astupor-powers-index&id=744%3Ahe-didnt-count-on-my-power-of-chest-expansion&Itemid=38 here].

 

== Fan Works ==

{{quote| “Youse broke the ''neut cuffs?!''” the cop shouted, his voice jumping an octave on the last two words. “Youse broke the neut cuffs!” }}

 

 

== [[Film]] - Animated ==

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* [[King Kong]], folks.

* ''[[Forrest Gump]]'': Three words: [[One-Liner, Name. One-Liner.|"Run, Forrest, run!"]]

* ''[[The Boondock Saints]]'' features a variant on this trope: When Connor is handcuffed to the toilet by a Russian mobster bent on putting a bullet in his brother, he rips the toilet right out of the floor, carries it up to the fire escape, and then drops it right on the head of the mobster, killing him instantly.

'''Harry''': [hold his hands up] I picked them. }}

** This scene is more hilarious when you realize Harry has been pumped full of [[Truth Serum]]. And that despite having just ''told'' everyone in the room what he was going to do, he still succeeds in doing exactly that.

* Marv in ''[[Film/Sin City|Sin City]]'' does this. Angry prostitutes think he killed Goldie, so they tied him up and are interrogating him. He calmly explains that he's trying to find Goldie's killer. Once they understand, he calmly busts out of the ropes, much to the chagrin of the bondage expert.

** The reason he LET THEM slap him around rather than escape a while ago? They wouldn't just let him leave, and he [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]].

* Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in ''[[Total Recall]]'' breaks through metal shackles... twice.

* In the movie ''[[Innocent Blood]]'', Marie has her lover handcuff her so he'll feel safe while making love to her. Afterward she casually breaks the cuffs, showing that he wasn't really that safe. Justified in that she's actually a vampire.

* The [[Brainwashed]] Jason and Kimberly in the ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'' movie.

* Parodied/subverted in ''[[Pineapple Express]]''. After the heroes tie Red to a wheelchair with duct tape (and doing a very sloppy job of it), he tries to do this and fails.

* In ''[[Kull The Conqueror]]'', the bad guys taunt Kull and claim that his bonds are unbreakable, so he simply pulls so hard that the railing that he is tied to breaks.

* In a [[Dream Sequence]] in ''[[The Return of Hanuman]]'', Maruti is tied by chains looking at food while his mother doesn't allow him to eat. Being so hungry, Maruti breaks the chains.

{{quote| '''Stanley Spadowski''': MY MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!}}

* [[Federico Fellini]]'s strongman protagonist in ''La Strada'' does this for his grand finale.

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', Finrod Felagund breaks his bonds, then kills a werewolf bare-handed (though he does die as well.)

* In ''[[American Tabloid]]'' and ''[[The Cold Six Thousand]]'', Big Pete Bondurant does this whenever he is arrested. It's treated as a parlor trick to impress whatever cops arrested him rather than a feat of determination and strength. [[Badass|Of course, the fact that Bondurant is able to do this so casually only makes this more impressive]].

{{quote| "You have the gall," Qorn stormed, "to stand here in the center of Qornt Hall--uninvited, at that--and in chains--"<br />

"Oh, these," Retief said. He tensed his arms; the soft aluminum links stretched, broke. He shook the light metal free. "We diplomats like to go along with colorful local customs...." }}

* In [[Harrison Bergeron]] when Harrison tears off his handicaps, straps "guaranteed to support 5000 pounds"

* In ''Creatures of Light and Darkness'' by [[Roger Zelazny]], the hero is [[Strapped to An Operating Table]] with his powers deactivated. He manages to break one hand free--which is enough to freak out the villains--before help arrives.

* In ''[[Codex Alera]]'', Kitai shatters a chair she is tied to.

 

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', G'Kar breaks out of his bonds when paraded before Emperor Cartagia. The conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor had arranged for him to be given weak chains, so that he can break them and create a distraction at the right time. Then the chains are replaced with strong ones, and he breaks them anyway.

** [[The Caligula|Cartagia]] [[Tempting Fate|actually mentioned]] that the chains were "unbreakable". [[Determinator|Not that that's going to stop G'kar]], mind you.

** Peter breaks out of his bonds using [[Super Strength]] in "A Clear And Present Danger"

* Captain Jack Harkness does this {{spoiler|after he's been captured by the Master}} in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode ''Last of the Time Lords.''

** Rather funny in that, in spite of his heroic efforts, he is immediately [[Immortality|shot dead]]. Considering that it's been a year since the viewer last saw him, and that there's no particular reason for his suddenly bursting his bonds, one can imagine it's happened to him a few times already.

** Not a hero, but this is the first thing the Dalek in ''Dalek'' does after tricking Rose into touching it.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]''. Leoben breaks his cuffs and gets the drop on Kara Thrace simply to show he can during his interrogation. Cylon prisoners after this episode are always excessively chained and restraint-collared.

* ''[[Cops]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQTXawaAKNA "I can break these cuffs!" "You can't break those cuffs."] {{spoiler|He doesn't.}}

* An episode of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' has Michael doing this with handcuffs. They had been [[Xanatos Gambit|specifically rigged to allow this]], though.

 

== [[Music]] ==

 

 

== [[Music Videos]] ==

 

 

== Religion and Mythology ==

* In a Greek legend told by Aristoxenos (4th century BCE), Pythias was convicted of conspiring against the tyrant. Damon volunteered to take Pythias's place so that Pythias could make arrangements for his family before his execution. Pythias made the arrangements and hurried back so that Damon would not be executed. Bandits captured him and left him tied to a tree. Pythias frees himself by [[Breaking the Bonds]] and arrives just in time to prevent Damon 's execution. (The tyrant was so impressed by the [[Power of Friendship]] that he pardoned Pythias.)

* Fenrir from [[Norse Mythology]] did this with every chain the Aesir used on him, except for the ribbon Gleipnir. It looked like any other ribbon, but was made from impossible things--the sound of a cat's footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish, and the saliva of a bird. Therefore, it was unbreakable.

* In one myth about [[Hercules]], Hercules traveled to Egypt, where the Pharaoh captured him and was going to sacrifice him to the Egyptian gods. However, Hercules broke the chains binding him to the altar, scared the Pharaoh into hiding, and escaped.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' also has rules for characters of a sufficient strength breaking through their bonds automatically. At higher values of strength (or weak bonds), it can even happen as a free action, effortlessly.

* ''[[Hero System]]'' defines handcuffs and other restraints with the Entangle power, which has "use my Strength to break free" built into it.

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', near the end, when Solid Snake breaks out of his handcuffs to chase after Metal Gear Ray - specifically stated by Hideo to symbolize him 'breaking free of his genetic heritage'. In story, it's justified that a one-in-a-million bullet hit them.

* Done by Chris of all people in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic X]]'' who somehow manages to free himself of his restraints in the first series finale. It was probably a [[The Power of Love|Power of Love thing]].

* Ryu bites clean through his bonds in ''[[Breath of Fire]] 3''. Probably [[Justified Trope|justified]], since he is a [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragon]]...

* In ''[[Quest for Glory II]]'', a fighter character will eventually be invited to join the Eternal Order of Fighters after an initiation test that involves being completely unarmed and chained to a wall and told to break free in ten seconds. It is entirely possible to fail if the character's strength stat is too low, which will result in the character being bitch-slapped with a big-ass sword and thrown out.

* In ''[[Geneforge]] 4'', the player character is sent into Shaper Monarch's dungeons to rescue Khryk, a [[Old Master|senior Shaper]]. The rescue is entirely unneeded, since Khryk could have broken himself free at any time, but chose to remain in captivity to learn Monarch's weaknesses and pass them on to you.

* In the last bit of the opening cutscene for a new game in ''[[Jak 2 Renegade]]'', the title character displays his new [[Unobtanium|Dark Eco]] powers by changing his skin and hair colour to white ([[Evil Eye|and eyes to entirely black]]) and snapping his metal wrist restraints like daisy chains.

* Even [[Noodle People]] like [[Mickey Mouse]] can [[Muscles Are Meaningless|muster the strength]] for this, as shown in ''[[Epic Mickey]]''

 

 

== Webcomics ==

* We don't see how Tip escapes from his bonds in the ''[[Skin Horse]]'' storyline "Dead Dogs"; all he says is "Please, like I've never been chained to a bed before."

* In ''[[The Specialists]]'', when Question Mark offers to take them off as a gesture of good will, [http://thespecialistscomic.com/page-41/ Hartmann demonstrates] that he was the [[Play-Along Prisoner]].

 

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* [[Supergirl]] breaks her bonds in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OWjNpXR8m4 this fan video].

 

* ''[[Thundarr the Barbarian]]'' [[Opening Narration]]: "But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice!" He was apparently forced into [[Gladiator Games|gladiatorial sports]] until he broke free of his chains and devoted his life to battling sorcerers.

* Parodied in an early episode of ''[[The Tick]]''. The Tick initially had the power to swell his muscles to twice their size by flexing (this was quickly forgotten). In the first encounter against Chairface Chip'nDale, the Tick attempted to use this to break free of his ropes, but had to stop because he would have killed Arthur and American Maid in the process. Instead he saved the day with his "Good Dental Hygiene".

** When he's captured by ''Wily'', on the other hand, he's only able to loosen an arm. (Presumably, Wily has the foresight to use special manacles.)