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{{trope}}
We are witnessing a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. Maybe the [[Tora! Tora! Tora!|Imperial Japanese Navy has]] [[Pearl Harbor|caught the American giant sleeping]]. Perhaps [[
How do we show that it's not hopeless, or that the losing side isn't [[Redshirt Army|utterly incompetent]]? Give them some small victory to help counterbalance the stomping they're getting. A '''Curb Stomp Cushion''' is kind of like a [[Hope Spot]], except that it doesn't necessarily give the impression that the good guys are gonna ''win'', just that they're still capable of [[Taking You with Me|taking a few bad guys down with them.]] This can also serve to [[Foreshadowing|foreshadow]] that the until-now nigh-invincible enemies may not truly be as invincible as they seem.
If it is the villain at the losing end, this is likely to avoid [[Invincible Hero]] shades overcoming the winning hero. Possibly also combined with [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]].
{{examples|Examples: }}▼
== [[Anime]]
* In ''[[Holyland]]'', the {{spoiler|Masaki vs Yuu}} fight is clearly one-sided, but Yuu still manages to get in a few hits, including a solid kick that the other thinks might have cost a rib.
* The fans of [[Lady of War|Signum]], who has been curb-stomped recently{{when}} in ''[[
* In ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' when young pup Van and experienced knight Allen duel in their Humongous Mecha for the first time, everyone expects Allen to curb stomp Van, and he does. But as he's standing over Van, he's shocked to suddenly notice a gash in the side of his own mech.
* Really, pick just about any shounen manga in the past 30 years where a side-character has gone toe to toe with a [[Big Bad]] or [[The Rival]]. This trope will apply for every second or third fight before [[The Hero]] gets involved. [[Dragon Ball]] had it happen once or more per saga until the end, and more recent series like [[Naruto]] and [[Bleach]] have whole ''years'' of this stuff used to build up how insanely powerful the current villain is while still reminding readers that he can be beaten.
▲== Fan Fic ==
* ''[[Tamers Forever Series]]'': {{spoiler|Chaosgallantmon vs the Tamers}}and {{spoiler|Daemon vs the Tamers}}.
* ''[[Ponies Make War]]'': The Royals' [[All Your Base Are Belong to Us|attack]] on the [[La Résistance|Loyalists']] base—the Loyalists take losses, but for the most part they escape, and {{spoiler|Twilight Sparkle recovers from her [[Split Personality|Split Personalities]]}} in the process, so that's a bonus.
** The second Battle of Ponyville looks like one of these, as even though [[Physical God|Terra]] takes out Luna and wipes the floor with the Mane Six, they refuse to give up, and get in plenty of hits of their own. {{spoiler|It ends up as a subversion, as they actually manage to ''win'', thanks to reigniting the Elements of Harmony and stripping Terra's power.}}
* ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]'': The ponies successfully recapture Cloudsdale in chapter 14, defeating a griffin army group roughly twice their size. They've lost only eight fliers.
== [[Film]] ==▼
* Occurs in ''[[Godzilla]], Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack''. Baragon managed to catch Godzilla off-guard few times. However, it's all in vain since Godzilla still manages to roast him alive.
▲== Film ==
* Opening scene in ''[[
▲* Occurs in ''[[Godzilla]], Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack''. Baragon managed to catch Godzilla off-guard few times. However, it's all in vain since Godzilla still manages to roast him alive.
▲* Opening scene in ''[[The Terminator|Terminator 2]]'' shows many of the human forces being helplessly overrun and slaughtered by Skynet's machines. Then we see a mangled and helpless Terminator lying on the ground as a human trooper stands above it, taking aim to finish him off. Later in the same scene, we see a flying Hunter Killer get taken out with a rocket launcher.
* ''[[Tora! Tora! Tora!]]'': Amidst all the carnage the Japanese forces are wreaking on the surprised Americans, we do see a few bright spots for the Yanks. Two fighters manage to make it into the air and engage some of the attacking bombers. [[Truth in Television]], as seven American fighters on the island managed to get into the air during the attack to engage the enemy.
* ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'': Yes,
* ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)|Mission: Impossible]]: Fallout'': Hunley doesn't do any lasting damage to {{spoiler| Lark}}, but he ties the villain up longer than anyone can reasonably expect an aging bureaucrat against an elite assassin to last. The villain ends up {{spoiler| pulling a knife to stab him}} rather than waste any more time in hand-to-hand.
* ''[[Ip Man]]'':
** Most of Ip's foes in the first film don't pose any real threat to him, but General Miura nearly manages to get him with a [[Ring Out]].
** In the fourth film, Geddes knocks Master Wan out, but not before getting thrown a few times. This contrasts with the Marine's earlier easy annihilation of a roomful of admittedly already injured and tired lesser masters.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* In HG Wells' novel ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]]'' the human military is almost helpless against the invaders, but there are two small successes.
▲== Literature ==
▲* In HG Wells' novel ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' the human military is almost helpless against the invaders, but there are two small successes.
▲** An artillery crew takes down a tripod but is incinerated afterward.
** The torpedo ram HMS Thunder Child destroys two tripods and possibly a third before being destroyed itself. The crew's [[Heroic Sacrifice]] allows a fleet of small ships carrying refugees to escape.
* In the opening scenes of the [[Worldwar]] series, human troops get annihilated all over the world by the alien invaders. Then a plucky German Panzer squad ambush an alien tank column. In exchange for losing the last 4 tanks the main character is in command of, they kill a single enemy personnel carrier and a single enemy tank by exploiting the aliens poor tactics. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|This is considered the most successful action against them of any kind, of the entire human-alien war so far.]] Obviously as the story goes on [[It Gets Better]] for the humans.
** Such as the use of inventive tactics such as the Russian dog bombs.
** Or even the low tech weaponry of the Humans working out for better, like when the Germans attack a grounded spaceship. The Lizards 'laugh' off the attack as they launch their anti-missile missiles... only to realise they're shells from [[
== Live Action TV ==▼
* Several battle scenes in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' have this element. Most notably, the Season 2 episode ''The Long, Twilight Struggle'' features a fleet of ships being ambushed by a large Shadow fleet. Amidst the ships getting cut apart left and right, we do see two of the ships concentrating their fire to wound a single Shadow [[Fan Nickname|Battlecrab]] - the first time we ever see one of these ships damaged in battle.▼
** The Earth-Minbari war was a generally one-sided stomping of humanity, with a single human victory being the destruction of the Minbari flagship the Black Star in a minefield. Naturally, [[The Hero|Sheridan]] was the one behind it.▼
* Implied in the [[Miniseries]] of the ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' remake. Boomer mentions that the only ships being effective at all in combat against the Cylons are obsolescent or overdue for refits, which of course indicates that somewhere amidst all that carnage, at least a few Colonial warriors were getting their own punches in.▼
▲* Several battle scenes in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' have this element. Most notably, the Season 2 episode
▲** The Earth-Minbari war was a generally one-sided stomping of humanity, with a single human victory being the destruction of the Minbari flagship the Black Star in a minefield. Naturally, [[The Hero|Sheridan]] was the one behind it... and the sore losers never let him forget it.
▲* Implied in the [[Miniseries]] of [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the ''
* ''Mr. Sunshine'', the 2018 Netflix K-drama, is a series full of this. From history, it is a [[Foregone Conclusion]] that Joseon will lose its sovereignty to Japan and remain occupied for decades afterwards. [[La Résistance]] can, however, kill a few soldiers, [[Smug Snake]]s and [[The Quisling|Quislings]] and prevent the invaders from having it easy.
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', Palaven is taking a heavy beating, but the description of the war includes how the Reapers actually lost a few ships in the opening.
** While the Codex initially refers to the Fall of Khar'shan and the Fall of {{spoiler|Earth}} for the first two fronts in the Reaper War, once Shepard visits the Turian home system, the Codex is updated with a third entry: The ''Battle'' of Palaven.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* [[Bugs Bunny]] often outsmarted his foes with sheer ease. Every now and again, however, his antagonist would have a brief moment of wit or [[Genre Savvy]]
* During Wendy's brawl against Cartman in the climax of the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Breast Cancer Show Ever", Cartman manages to get a few good hits in against Wendy, but still ends up with what he deserves.
== [[Truth In Television]] ==▼
* [[World War II]]:
▲== Truth In Television ==
** The
*** The Allied forces just got [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb
** The Germans didn't have it all their way in Europe; upon being told that he'd been hit by British tanks during a more vulnerable moment during the German attack, which turned out to be two British tank brigades, the German general initially believed he'd been hit by ''five divisions''.
** As mentioned in the example for ''[[Tora! Tora! Tora!]]'', the Pearl Harbor raids had a few examples of this, be it AA gunners successfully shooting down attacking planes, or the seven Army Air Corps planes making it up into the air to engage the enemy. It wasn't enough to make a difference, but at least they tried.
*** A bigger victory for the Americans was actually a case of good luck
** The American defense of Wake Atoll. The Japanese hit it later on the same day as the Pearl Harbor attack. That is, they ''began'' hitting it then; it took another two weeks for the IJN to overwhelm a single battalion of US Marines and a Marine fighter squadron—even though most of the fighter planes were already destroyed in the first attack. The first attempt was led by one brand-new light cruiser and featured two older cruisers, six destroyers, and several transports. The second assault included ''two fleet carriers and six heavy cruisers'' as well as more destroyers and transports, with orders to take Wake ''no matter what the cost''. When taking the island back at the end of the war, a USN officer stated that, "It was here the Marines showed us how."
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