Car Fu: Difference between revisions

[[File:empowered-carfu.jpg|link=Empowered|thumb|350px|We ''could'' make this picture more awesome, but we're really not sure ''how''.]]

 

 

 

Sometimes, the best weapon you could possibly use isn't the one you hold, it's the one you ride around in. Which kind of makes sense, considering that getting hit by at least a metric ton of metal moving at several kilometers per hour is bound to be painful.

{{examples}}

== Run'em down, Run'em over ==

* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'': Roberta, the [[Meido]]/[[The Terminator|Terminator]], who somehow manages to drive a car over the roofs of several buildings and land on the protagonists' car—and ''keep running after them''. [[Implacable Man|Implacable Woman]], indeed.

* In the last episode of ''[[Daimos]]'', Kazuya uses the truck form of the [[Super Robot Genre|Super Robot]] to smash his way through a hallway protected by laser guns in an attempt to reach the control room at the end.

* '''All over the place''' in ''[[Speed Racer]]''.

 

* ''[[Empowered]]'' plays with this one. After a not very successful attempt at the superpowered version in Volume 1 (see below), Emp later defeats a supervillain who's already flattened the other Superhomeys by running him down with a large SUV, at 110 km/h -- and noting that to be more effective than simply throwing a car. Sadly, the others are out cold and she gets no credit for the knockout. The author even refers to this trope on the back of the book jacket as 'Hummer Fu'.

* ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'': Coming back to save his mate, Cassidy rams his pick-up truck into the [[Badass Longcoat|Saint of Killers]] at full speed. [[Implacable Man|Who doesn't even flinch]].

* In their first fight,[[Paperinik New Adventures|Paperinik]] smashed his [[Cool Car|Pi-kar]] several times into [[Super Soldier|Trauma]].It barely [[Nigh Invulnerable|slowed him down]].

 

 

* Optimus Prime [[Foe-Tossing Charge|mowing down a line of Decepticons]] in his vehicle form in 1986's ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]''. Used again later when Hot Rod knocks around Galvatron a bit by switching into car mode and plowing into him.

** Was there even a single scene in that whole movie than ''didn't'' qualify as some sort of Vehicle Fu? There's even a scene in which two characters, vastly outnumbered and running low on ammo, decide that the best way to deal with their foes is with a ''demolition derby''. Car Fu [[Up to Eleven|turned up to eleven]] [[Hilarity Ensues|ensues]].

* Done by [[Humongous Mecha|Megamegamind]] in the ''[[Megamind]]: The Button of Doom'' short by loading cars into a wrist-mounted crossbow and firing them.

* Another villain example: ''[[Batman: Mask of the Phantasm]]'', when a mob boss tries to run over Phantasm in the opening scene. Not so much...

* ''The Little Rascals'': Not intentionally, but movie Spanky and Alfalfa end up running over a few shoppers at a strip mall during the go-cart race. The pedestrians end up fine, and one of them shouts, "You little rascals!" as they drive away.

* ''[[Live Free or Die Hard]]'' has two:

* ''[[Torque]]'' features a fair amount of motorcycle-fu during the [[Designated Girl Fight]] at the movie's climax.

 

* In [[Larry Niven]]'s short story "The Deadlier Weapon", a hitchhiker pulls a knife on the protagonist driver, who makes it very clear how badly outgunned any hitchhiker trying this stunt is. The Driver buckles his seatbelt, accelerates to over a hundred miles an hour, and tells the would-be car-jacker that he's going to ram the right side of the car (where the car-jacker is sitting) into the nearest underpass support pylon unless the guy tosses the knife out the window.

** Niven later wrote that a couple of people told him they'd done this in real life, and it worked.

** Harry's not the only one to do this, either; {{spoiler|Madrigal Raith attempts to kill Mouse by driving a car into him.}} Again, subverted in that it doesn't work too well; {{spoiler|Mouse turns out to be [[Only Mostly Dead]]}}].

* The pulp series ''The Spider'' featured this several times, at least once with a bus.

* The ''[[Zombie Survival Guide]]'' specifically subverts this trope—saying that it's a good way to ruin your car, spread virus-containing blood everywhere, and turns a fairly easy-to-see walking zombie into a much-harder-to-spot ''crawling zombie.''

** Although it does go on to say that larger vehicles like semis and armored trucks have some decent applications as mobile forts.

* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', there's a scene where the main character is trying to cross a road when a car suddenly drives off the road and heads straight at him, That's right - they swerved off a presumably 55 MPH road, drove on the grass, and leaned out of their window, jeering, ''just to hit a cat''.

 

* ''[[Top Gear]]'' does this once in a while and with almost every type of land vehicle you can imagine. Notable examples: "no contact" wacky races (minivans, motorhomes, city buses!) which turn into "full contact" before the end of the first lap; car football using small city cars and a giant inflatable ball; and extreme destruct testing (evaluating a car maker's durability claims by crashing said car into something).

** They also have a [http://www.youtube.com/user/TopGear channel on YouTube] (currently over 300 crunch-tastic uploads).

** Xander rescues Faith by taking out one of the Sisterhood of Jhe demons with the 57 Chevy Bel Air that he had borrowed from his uncle Rory.

* In ''[[Lost]]'', Hurley breaks into a hostage situation by driving over some of the Others using a Volkswagen Minibus.

* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' seems to like throwing in some Motorcycle Fu a lot lately.

** Martial arts battles atop unmodified (i.e.: not Battlizer weapon component) motorcycles began in earnest in ''Dino Thunder'', reaching their apex in ''Mystic Force'' where Nick's standard tactic when backed into a corner is to smash a motorcycle into Koragg's face. He does this with both his normal civilian bike and his Mystic Racer. Needless to say, "Bike to the Face" became one of the memes for THAT season...

* In the Monk episode "Mr. Monk's Other Brother", Jack Monk Jr. nearing the ending of the episode proceeded to run over the [[Murderer Of The Week]] with Natalie's car just before the latter could deliver the coup de grace. Bonus points with the earlier implication that he was going to leave them to die while he headed to Paraguay.

 

* ''[[BattleTech]]'': An interesting take on the concept, this is the premise from the popular lighter class mech urban tactic "Death-From-Above". Step 1: Realize your 40-ton mech can't go head to head with a 80-tonner. Step 2: Flee between skycrapers. Step 3: Jump-jet onto top of building, one that's taller than your opponent. Step 4: Wait until opponent is in jump range. Step 5: Gain as much altitude as possible before letting your "light" 35 tons of steel and armament come crashing down on top of your opponent. This is usually considered a last ditch tactic, as even a successful DFA is likely to cause some damage to the attacking unit.

** Not just light mechs, either. The [http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Highlander Highlander], a ''90 ton Assault class mech'', has jumpjets that allow it to DFA. Doing so is called the Highlander Burial, and can easily result in an instant kill by crushing the targeted mech's cockpit.

** ''Gorkamorka'' encourages this trope.

* The ''Feng Shui'' supplement "Golden Comeback", an invaluable addition to the game in general, has rules for not only fighting from vehicles, but fighting ''with'' vehicles. It has several driving schticks that can, amongst other things, give you a signature vehicle that can't be destroyed.

 

* A signature of the ''[[Command & Conquer]]'' series of video games is that vehicles can crush infantry by rolling over them. For many vehicles, it's actually their most efficient way to kill enemy infantry.

** Which can help make up for their [[Crippling Overspecialization]].

** Traffic Checks take this to another level: not only can you use your car as a weapon, you can use ''other'' cars as weapons.

* ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'': In a cutscene Dante used Lady's motorbike to beat monsters.

** Depending on how lucky you are, as Tommy still takes damage from inside the car. The car itself also takes damage, and a shot to the gas tank will end your mission fairly quickly. The use of a car is especially problematic in "A Great Deal!" when attempting to access the ground level.

* [[Batman: Arkham Asylum|"No, Bane... THIS TIME, I BREAK YOU!!!"]]

* In ''[[Star Wars Battlefront]]'' and its sequel, a player can ram ground troops with their vehicles, although this is usually ineffective as most ground vehicles are quite slow. However the swoop bikes can be used to kill an enemy by running them over, although careful timing you will need. The droid AAT, while moving slowly (especially in the first game, with no boost), is rather pointy and will take out clones pretty fast if you ram them.

** In addition, many players have discovered a tactic in that they can place mines on the front of their vehicles as they will detonate the moment they come into contact with an enemy unit. As a result, ram tactics can result in a spectacular, albeit suicidal if you don't jump out quick enough, victory.

** Sweeping up enemy infantry is particularly potent in levels like "Theed", which afford little room for troops to scatter.

* Eva rides a motorcycle up Ocelot's face the first time they meet on-screen in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]''. He somehow survives.

** [[Temporal Paradox|Time Paradox!]]

* In the game ''Total Overdose'' you can do a [[Bullet Time]]-style dive out of a car before it crashes into something, also if you jump out of the car just before an impact, no matter how soft this will be, the [[Molotov Truck|car]] [[Every Car Is a Pinto|will]] [[Made of Explodium|explode]].

* Used in ''KKND'' by certain vehicles, the robot faction in the sequel are immune to it.

* In the first [[Yakuza (video game)|''Yakuza'']], [[Psycho for Hire]] Goro Majima [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vJH8-_S1Ns literally crashes the party at the Shangri-La soapland with a truck].

{{quote|'''Majima:''' LET'S FUCK THIS SHIT UUUUUUP!!}}

 

* The machinima series ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' has a sequence where the Blue team inadvertently remote-controls the Red team's Warthog jeep, causing it to pin Sarge to a wall. The Reds later use the same vehicle in the penultimate episode of the ''Blood Gulch Chronicles'' to ram over an army of time-cloned Agent Wyomings.

** {{spoiler|The series makes its intro to CGI in ''Revelations'' by having Grif drive the Warthog ''straight through a wall''. He then barrels into Agent Washington with his ride.}}

 

 

* The ''[[Everyman HYBRID]]'' crew try to run down ''[[Humanoid Abomination|the Slender Man]]'' in "Ashen Waste". They get teleported back to their basement for their troubles.

* In the [[Whateley Universe]], Aquerna was once rescued from a (superpowered) bully by Skids, who spun out a snowmobile just right to smack the guy in the butt and launch him headfirst into a snowbank.

 

* In an episode of ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Hammerhead's unnamed chauffeur engages in some Car Fu against (especially) Silver Sable. Even earlier in the series, Hammerhead's car door is used to knock the Green Goblin off his glider.

* Subverted in ''[[Transformers Animated]]''. A mysterious car that was probably Blurr ramped off a highway bridge to crash into Blitzwing (a jet), but Blitzwing pulled up and just narrowly avoid crashing into him. It may be a [[Double Subversion]] considering the fact that pulling up made him ''crash into a building''.

** The earliest example of this trope in ''Code Lyoko'' occurs in Episode 4, "Log Book". XANA attempts to use a bus to blow up an oil refinery.

* Disney's ''[[Doug]]'': "Ow He hit me in the nose with a car! Why did he do that?" "Because he's pure evil."

* In ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'' Stitch throws a VW at someone.

 

* Suffice it to say that armoured fighting vehicle crews refer to infantry as "Crunchies" for a reason.

* During some engagements in [[World War II]], like the Battle of Kursk, Russian tank crews would sometimes ram German Tiger tanks. The hundred-ton pileup would disable both vehicles, but it was a worthwhile tradeoff as the Russians [[We Have Reserves|had a lot more tanks to spare]]—and the Tiger far outclassed the Russian T-34 in a head-to-head fight anyway.

** A close second would be of a similar deed done by [[wikipedia:Shawn Nelson|Shawn Nelson]], who rampaged in San Diego with a stolen ''M60 Patton main battle tank''.

* For the [[Ramming Always Works]] version of this trope, when facing a roadblock made of vehicles it's recommended you aim your car at the boot of the vehicle (not the heavy engine compartment) and push through at ''slow'' speed.

* Bumper cars, anyone?

* Demolition Derby. Take a bunch of rednecks who have modified the hell out of some old junkers, and put them in a pit where they intentionally ram one another. Last car running is the winner.

* A rare female mass murderer, Priscilla Joyce Ford sped down several sidewalks in Reno, Nevada, killing seven and maiming over twenty. During interrogation, she boasted about her desire to kill at least seventy-five.

* Similarly, in 1973 [[wikipedia:Olga Hepnarová|Olga Hepnarová]] borrowed a truck and deliberately ran it into people waiting at a tram-stop, killing eight; she became the last woman to be executed in the former Czechoslovakia.

 

== Superpowered Car Fu variant ==

* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]''

** Dio Brando effortlessly throws two cars at Jotaro in their climactic battle. Jotaro later counters with Tower Fu.

* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' Sniper has [[Improbable Aiming Skills]] and can mark opponents so objects hone in on them. Yusuke isn't worried as he is able to avoid rocks and knives. [[Oh Crap|Then he sees a truck heading for him]].

 

* Classic ''[[Superman]]'' stuff. The classic image of Superman smashing a green car into someone, as well as the [[Infinite Crisis]] repeat of Superman from Earth-2 beating down regular Superman with a similar-looking green car.

** [[Superman]] tries to pull this with a ship on The Parasite in one ''JLA'' comic.

** Later in his own series, he employs jeep-fu on three dark elves and a troll.

* ''[[Empowered]]'': In Volume 1, the title... heroine(?) tries lifting a car to lay a smackdown on a [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|monster]], but ends up: a) accidentally ripping the bumper off first, b) spraining a muscle in her back, c) not fazing the monster any, and d) causing lots of colateral damage. And naturally, the owners of the car weren't too pleased to find out what happened. Probably one of the few instances where this was addressed.

 

* Tossing around motorcycles is basically Loz's way of fighting in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: [[The Movie|Advent Children]]''.

* ''[[The Incredibles]]'': Mr. Incredible takes out Syndrome by throwing his convertible at him.

* In the movie ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'', Stitch whacks one of the villains with a Volkswagen while quipping, "Blue punchbuggy! No punch back!"

* Another hand-held version: ''[[The One (film)|The One]]'', with ''motorcycles''. [[Jet Li]]'s villain character picks up two motorcycles, one in each hand, and smashes them together with a poor cop between them.

* ''[[Fantastic Four (film)|Fantastic Four]]'': The Thing chucks a car at Dr. Doom.

{{quote|'''Car owner:''' The clutch sticks!

'''Thing:''' It's not gonna be a problem. ''(toss)'' }}

** In a deleted scene {{spoiler|from the same fight, Stane has Tony on the ropes until Rhodey drives into him with Tony's earlier heavily-featured Audi, knocking him over ''into a hydrogen-fueled bus, which then explodes''.}}

* In the 2008 ''[[The Incredible Hulk (film)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' film, the Hulk turns a police car into a pair of boxing gloves to pound the Abomination into submission.

** This is taken from the video game that actually came out well before the movie, as seen below.

* The end of ''[[The Adventures of Baron Munchausen]]'': [[World's Strongest Man|Albrecht]] drags an entire fleet of sunken derelicts out of the ocean by their anchors, swings them around in the air, and ''flattens an army'' with them.

 

* The Nosferatu from ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' are known for using their [[Super Strength]] to wield and throw ridiculous objects as weapons. Because of this their clanbook contains rules for wielding such things as gates, cars and 40-tons trucks (just don't bother with the last one unless you don't have a choice, okay?). The most ironic part of this is that the game has no rules for actual Car Fu. If you crash a 40-tons truck into a werewolf at 120 km/h, the gamemaster just has to make up what happens.

** The latter problem lead to a fully outfitted system for Car Fu in the ''nWoD'', including statistics for vehicles, damage based on speed and weight of both "participants", and examples of when Car Fu is a really bad idea (using a small compact to try to ram a Death Raging Werewolf, for example).

 

* Captain Falcon's [[Limit Break|Final Smash]], the ''Blue Falcon'' in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Brawl''.

** Also Wario's motorcycle. After he's done running fighters over with it, any character can pick it up and throw it.

* The ''[[Transformers]]: The Game'' game deals with a fair amount of car-throwing.

** Does it count as car throwing if [[Transforming Mecha|it's in robot mode when you throw it?]]

* [[The Juggernaut|The Tank]] from ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' can utilize Car Fu by PUNCHING the vehicle in question towards the unfortunate Survivor that has attracted its ire. Being struck by a car soaring through the air is an instant incapacitation on any difficulty level. The Tank can also throw enormous chunks of masonry as well as cars.

** Tank + car + alleyway = "survivor bowling"

* In ''[[Crackdown]]'', not only can you run gangsters down with your vehicle, but by bulking up your strength, you can progressively throw a car door, a car, and a semi at enemies. There's an achievement gained for killing gangsters with a giant bronze globe, a la Atlas.

* A [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|Giant Monster]] wielding a car on a girder as a giant [[Drop the Hammer|hammer]] in ''[[City of Heroes]]''? [[Incredibly Lame Pun|You bet]] [http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Jurassik Jurassik]! Sadly, [[Player Character]]s don't get to wield cars of their own. (That's one of the few things ''[[Champions Online]]'' has on 'em.)

* In ''[[Wild ARMs 4]]'', a member of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] is a demon who has complete mastery over space and can thus teleport [[Tank Goodness|tanks]] above your characters and [[Death From Above|drop it on their heads]].

* In the original ''Command & Conquer'', you were able to run over Nod Attack Cycles with GDI Medium Tanks.

* ''[[Wangan Midnight]] Maximum Tune'' is infamous for this when players start playing dirty (i.e. ramming other players off, or punting traffic cars around), while it's the staple gameplay in the lesser known ''Wangan Midnight R''.

 

 

* ''[[Antihero for Hire]]'':

{{quote|'''Baron Diamond:''' [http://www.antiheroforhire.com/d/20041231.html Johnny says you win a car!]}}

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'': Substitute a motorcycle for a car, and you get [https://web.archive.org/web/20090901203924/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=27&issue=15 this].

* ''[[Panthera]]'''s Leo and Pardus use their earth- and air-powers to throw a car at {{spoiler|Oosterhuis}}. It is glorious.

 

* [[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog|"Captain Hammer... threw a car at my head."]]

 

* Villains will frequently use cars as weapons in ''[[Justice League]]''. In one episode, Lobo took this to the extreme by ''burying'' Kalibak under a veritable mountain of cars. He's about to add another to the pile, when Hawkgirl admonishes him with "He's beaten. Put the car down!" Lobo mutters, "I was gonna..." and throws the car into a building. Also, one time Superman smacked around Captain Marvel with a bus... and when that wasn't enough, resorted to ''Bank Vault'' Fu.

** Heroes use them, too. The Big Seven came to fight Luthor/Braniac in a Javelin, one of the JL's shuttles for earth-to-Watchtower transport. When they're starting to lose, Wonder Woman wields it just as one would its namesake.

** An example of being used not as weapons but in combat, Optimus Prime uses two Autobots in their car modes as rollerskates so their rubber tires will ground out Shrapnel's lightning blasts.

 

* A variant of Car-fu happened in China when a guy used his bicycle to knock down two muggers on a motor scooter.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Improvised Index]]