Efficient Displacement: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Any cartoon character running towards a solid body at sufficient speed will pass through and leave a hole exactly the same shape as they are, including clothing, fur and whiskers. May be combined with [[There Was a Door]] and be [[Rule of Funny|played for comedy]]. If the character is large enough, it can become a [[Roofless Renovation]]. Can also be horizontal if falling from a great height.

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* The Kool-Aid Man loves to crash through walls, and every time he does he leaves a big him-sized imprint. Comedian Dane Cook states that this is in no way "cool", and wonders how the kids from the commercials can drink from his giant juice bowl when debris might have fallen in.

* [http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3368728050_c7dd2e5226_o.jpg This ad.]

* There is a Priceline commercial where William Shatner creates a Shatner-shaped hole in a wall.

* [http://imgur.com/pIurC This billboard.]

 

** Once, after falling from a bridge across two mountaintops, Ranma, Ryôga, Mousse and Genma fell to solid ground so hard as to press it into holes shaped as themselves.

** Also happened to Kinnosuke after falling off a helicopter and refusing to pay for the parachute that would have saved him.

* In Powerpuff Girls Z, after Princess Morbucks wiped the girls using her new hair, they crashed through the wall, leaving Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles shaped hole in the building.

* In the live-action movie of ''[[City Hunter]]'', one guy falls from a high place onto the cruise ship deck, leaving a perfect man-shaped hole.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Done a number of times in [[Don Rosa]]'s ''Uncle Scrooge'' stories "The Black Knight" and "The Black Knight Glorps Again", thanks to Arpin Lusene's suit of universal-solvent-coated armor.

 

* In ''[[Wallace and Gromit]] in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'', the eponymous monster leaves a Were-Rabbit-shaped hole in the church window during its first rampage. What's odd is that this outline doesn't match the silhouette of the Were-Rabbit when we finally see it.

* The film ''[[Ice Age]]'' does this [[Rule of Three|thrice]] with a wall of ice, first with Sid the sloth going through and leaving his outline, then Diego the saber-tooth tiger, then Manfred the mammoth, resulting in a progressively bigger hole each time.

* In ''[[Cars]]'', Lightning McQueen leaves a himself-shaped hole in the smoke when he leaps over the wreckage in the first race.

* Happens in ''[[Puss in Boots (animation)|Puss in Boots]]'', when he crashes into a crate after swinging from a building.

* In ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', Roger [[Window Pain|smashes through the window]] of his boss's office, leaving a Roger-shaped hole in the blinds and the glass behind them.

* Chevy Chase does this at the end of ''[[Nothing but Trouble]]'' when the villains reveal on TV they know exactly where he lives.

* In ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'', Robin crashes his motorcycle through a museum door, leaving a hole in the shape of the Robin [http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Batman___Robin_1997.aspx?Page=2 logo].

* In the [[Bruce Lee]] film ''Fists of Fury''/''The Big Boss'', Bruce's character at one point punches a [[Mook]] through a wall, leaving a man-shaped outline. Bruce Lee fought against this decision but was ignored by the director.

* The "Buddha's Palm" technique seen in ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]'' slams an opponent into the ground and leaves a ''massive'' hand-shaped crater.

* In ''[[Bad Taste]]'', Derek (played by director [[Peter Jackson]]) cuts a self-shaped hole in the wall with a [[Chainsaw Good|chainsaw]].

* Happens in ''[[Leprechaun (film)|Leprechaun]]'' when Lep fails to hold on his [[Outside Ride]] and crashes through a fence.

* Bond nearly does this towards the beginning of ''[[Casino Royale]]'', though he just smashes messily through drywall, rather than leaving a nice, neat hole.

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s novel, ''[[Sixth Column (novel)|Sixth Column]]'', revolutionaries use their [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to spook the [[The Empire|occupying]] army by carving precisely man-shaped holes in the walls of the prison cells they escape from.

* Tom Holt once [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this, by stating that a robot "left a robot-shaped hole, like in a cartoon".

* In ''[[Posleen War Series|Gust Front]]'', Lt Rogers is said to leave a "vaguely human-shaped hole" in a building he deliberately ran straight through, at the battle in Washington, DC, when stopping to turn would have put the troops he was leading at a tactical disadvantage. As part of an [[Powered Armor|ACS]] unit, the building was the clear loser of the event.

* In ''[[Animorphs]]'' book #25, ''The Extreme'', the Animorphs (as Polar Bears) are being chased by Venber at the Arctic Yeerk base. Marco stops quickly and a Venber misses him, slamming through a steel door and making a vague Venber-shaped hole in it. Marco even calls it a "Bugs-Bunny-runs-through-the-door kind of hole."

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** UKGameshows.com usually follows up any mention of ''[http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Hole_in_the_Wall Hole in the Wall]'' (the game's UK variant) with a picture of [[Looney Tunes|Wile E. Coyote pondering a Roadrunner-shaped hole]].

* Referenced in an episode of ''[[Friends]]'':

'''Chandler:''' Well, I would've been happy, because I would've been able to spend the rest of my life with the woman that I love. Or, you would've seen a Chandler-shaped hole in that door. }}

* Referenced in ''[[The West Wing]]'':

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', there actually is a Christmas-Tree-shaped hole in the wall after the Christmas Tree attacks in "The Christmas Invasion". Possibly justified in that the "tree" is actually a spinning metal grinder disguised as a tree.

* Referenced in an episode of ''[[The Daily Show]]'', in a segment dealing with the ahead of schedule establishment of the new Iraqi government. "The first official act of the new government was fixing the [Paul] Bremer-shaped hole in the wall."

* Despite the realistic nature of the show (and the rest of the episode's failure to leave anything except a realistic hole), when ''[[Warehouse 13]]'''s Claudia crashes into a copy of the B&B within the warehouse, Pete mentions that he sees a "Claudia-shaped" hole in the roof.

* Averted in [[Supernatural (TV series)|Castiel and Uriel's fight]]. While it starts with Cas punching Uriel through a wall, the hole he makes is roughly circular, not Uriel-shaped.

 

== Music Videos ==

* Check out minute 2:12 of Ray Steven's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNmcB50NALQ Sitting Up with the Dead]" video.

He said, "Don't worry son, it will have in a minute!"'' }}

* In [[Michael Jackson]]'s "Smooth Criminal" (''[[Moonwalker]]'' version), Michael shoots a gangster and [[Blown Across the Room|blows him across the room]] and through a brick wall, leaving a man-shaped hole.

 

 

== Puppet Shows ==

* In an episode of ''[[Sesame Street]]'', after Cookie Monster has a nightmare about cookies, Ernie shows him a plate of cookies. When he sees the plate he runs screaming out of the bedroom, leaving his outline in the door.

* In ''[[The Muppets (film)|The Muppets]]'', Walter is asked to perform alongside the Muppets at the big fund-raising telethon. However, he has an attack of stage fright right before he's due to go on and runs through a brick wall, leaving his outline in it.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

 

== Theme Parks ==

 

== Video Games ==

* At the end of ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' when Guntilda falls off her tower, she leaves a precisely witch-shaped hole in the ground (hat included, of course) before a boulder falls on her. Oddly enough, the ''boulder'' leaves no imprint whatsoever. If you look at the hole in the sequel, Banjo Tooie, its still precisely Grunty-shaped.

* Happens to the billboard at the end of the intro videos of ''[[Rock Band]] 1'' and ''2''.

* Appears in ''[[Shining Force II]]'' during an early cutscene where Jaha is knocked through the wall of the ship.

* Some of the doors in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening|The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening]]'' have a man-shaped enterance, and when entered, flip around, preventing you from entering in the other way.

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'': Even when [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=123578 just starting high school], Jane was badass.

* ''[[Adventure Dennis]]'' has a fatal version.

 

== Web Original ==

* Referenced in The Nostalgia Critic's Top 11 Drug PSA's, when the critic mentions what he thought would happen after a PSA where a woman dives into an empty swimming pool.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Seen in various ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' shorts.

** On two separate occasions, Bugs has used a glass cutter to cut a him-shaped hole in a glass to escape it. Oddly enough, both instances involved [[Jack and the Beanstalk|Giants]].

** [[Bugs Bunny]] shorts.

*** In ''Homeless Hare'', a construction foreman falls through the floors of the building he's working on. One of the holes he leaves is [[Say Your Prayers|knelt in prayer]].

* This now happens to Homer Simpson in the opening titles of [[The Simpsons]] (he's run over by Marge's car in the driveway and thrown through a wall).

* In one episode of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' Rainbow Dash does this to a tree, with her EYEBALLS.

** Similarly, Bulkhead leaves a Bulkhead-shaped hole in the wall when Sari tells him she book an art exhibit for him. Of course, Bulkhead isn't that oblong a shape.

* Junkman from the CGI short ''[[The Incredible Crash Dummies]]'':

'''Dr Zub:''' As a matter of fact, Spin, that's precisely what happened. ''(shows door with Junkman-shaped hole in it)'' }}

* In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', the front door is shaped like Master Shake (clearly a remodel based on the condition of the walls around the frame). Probably because he's an egotistic jackass who had their door replaced (at someone else's expense) to suit his oddly shaped physique.

* In ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', Sonic and Tails do this to the sail of a pirate ship upon landing from a time-traveling attempt. Not long after, the force of a nearby cannonball impact launches Robotnik through the same sail, creating his own imprint next to those of the protagonists. And a little while later, a robot pirate is knocked off a mast and leaves a body-shaped hole in the deck (though when he bursts back up through to grab Tails, he makes a starburst-shaped hole instead).

* Happens in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' with Kid Flash. While being chased by Madame Rouge, Kid Flash spins rapidly in a circle and digs through a building to escape. Each wall has a Kid Flash-shaped hole in it. Note that since he's spinning, he should have left a round hole, like a drill-bit, but [[Rule of Funny|that wouldn't be as funny]].

* An episode of ''[[Chowder]]'' has a monster created from a dish throw Shnitzel into the ground leaving a Shnitzel-shaped hole. Later on when he quits, Shnitzel literally walks through the door without opening it leaving another hole.

* ''[[Total Drama Island]]''

* Used on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', with a twist. After it's over, Jimmy gets out of the Beezy shaped hole, and vice-versa.

* In an episode of ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', Elmyra Duff crashes through the wall, leaving an Elmyra-shaped hole.

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'':

** In "Leave the Busting to Us", when the kids are testing the water slide Phineas and Ferb built, at one point the raft flies through a waterfall, leaving a Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella-shaped hole.

* In Totally Spies episode Ski Trip, when Alex's skiboard would'nt slow down, then ran through the tree, then she holds the branch, when the branch broke, she falls into the snow leaving her silhouette.

* In ''[[Dan Vs.]].'' Chris and Elise decide to buy a painting to cover their noodle incident Dan-shaped hole in their living room wall since they have grown tired of looking at it.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]