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Finger-Poke of Doom: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:superman-finger-flick-of-doom_1818.jpg|link=Justice League (
{{quote|'''Vesper Lynd:''' If the only thing left of you was your smile and your little finger, you'd still be more of a man than anyone I've ever known.<br />
'''[[James Bond (
The best way to show the amazing power of a character? Simple, have them do something incredible without any effort at all. Give them the power to move mountains, even planets, and thus have them show this power by doing what the heroes (and the audience) would find amazing without even lifting a finger. Or better yet, ''just'' a finger.
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** The best example being where Nappa and Vegeta land on Earth, and, to cement their status as powerful enemies, Nappa blows up an entire city, by only lifting two fingers, and somewhat casually at that (an attack later monikered Giant Storm).
** There's also the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvDbXGV2sgk Punching Machine] in the [[Kill'Em All|Majin Buu Saga]], where the heroes show world-record-breaking strength, by ''casually jabbing'' the punch machine. Vegeta, who does not bother with this the first time around, shows ''why'' they had to do that. (Hint: You're trying ''not'' to break the machine.)
** Used to demonstrate the results of Son Goku's [[Training From Hell]] all the way back in ''[[
** Also used when Future Trunks first shows up, and challenges Goku to see how strong he is. As Trunks is swinging away with his sword, Goku effortlessly parries each strike with his index finger.
** Also, Future Trunks killing Frieza with his sword in about ten seconds, doing what Goku had spent about [[Arc Fatigue|fifty episodes]] trying to do, with zero effort.
** And then there's Frieza forming and unleashing an all-encompassing supernova that destroys Goku's father, Planet Vegeta, all Saiyans minus four (eight, if the ''[[
** In fact, Frieza, specially in his comparatively overwhelmingly strong first and final forms, does most of his business this way. The most striking one is when he points at Gohan, Vegeta kicks Gohan out of where he was standing, and next thing seen, is that the mountain that stood a long way behind Gohan had been replaced with a mushroom cloud. Then there's his signature Death Beam, a thin, needle-sharp laser fired from his index finger that can cut a nice neat hole straight through people, specifically Vegeta and Piccolo.
* Seras from ''[[Hellsing]]'' politely demonstrated the fact that she was a vampire to Pip Bernadette by poking and flicking him during their first meeting. Being a vampire in the ''Hellsing'' universe means you have [[Super Strength]], and being poked by a vampire as a mere human is quite damaging.
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** The Cipher Pol 9 agents literally have a Finger Poke of Doom in their ''Shigan'' technique, in which what looks like a harmless poke actually carries the strength of a gunshot.
** More recently and in the same vein, Emporio Ivankov has shown off his "Death Wink!" [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]?
* ''[[Project A-
* Satan from ''[[Shina Dark]]'' does this to the first Hero group that shows up. He stops the mages by feeding them in mid battle and proceeds to flick the swordsman in the middle of the forehead. Which of course sends said swordsman spiraling through the air.
* The [[Fan Nickname|White Devil]] training incident in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. It starts with Nanoha catching Subaru's [[Power Fist]] and Teana's [[Laser Blade]] [[Barehanded Blade Block|using one bare hand each]]. It ends with Nanoha using a single finger to cast {{spoiler|one of Teana's spells to knock her out with}} without the help of [[Magic Wand|Raising Heart]].
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* In ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka]]'', the manga, Onizuka flicks a massive guy ''across the room''. [[Badass|Then he proceeds to Arm-wrestle a hundred people in a row...]]
* In ''[[Tekken Chinmi]]'', there's a very weird symbiosis with [[Giving Someone the Pointer Finger]]: Ryukai's Spirit Attack allows him to control a person's body from a distance, just by pointing at them. Another example closer to this trope is when one of Chinmi's mentors teaches him how to focus his qi into his fingertips.
* ''[[Pokémon (
** Mewtwo. At the beginning of ''[[Pokémon:
** There's also the anime episode "A Marathon Rivalry", where Team Rocket is able to take down Ash's Staraptor by using mechanical hands hidden in the balloon's basket to poke it repeatedly and forcefully until Staraptor fainted.
** As early as the third episode, after Team Rocket defeats two of his Pokémon, Ash tries to attack the pair himself. After holding him [[At Arm's Length]], James beats him with a flick of his finger.
* ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'': Myotismon doesn't even need to poke. He can, among other things, block a head-on charge from a Digimon the same level as him and about five times his size by ''pointing at him''. Similarly, there is an instance where he repels multiple projectile-based attacks (which were launched from several Digimon simultaneously) just by ''blowing'' at them.
* Once he gets a bit of a rein on his anger, ''[[Durarara]]'''s Shizuo Heiwajima starts responding to mildly annoying people by merely flicking them in the forehead (as opposed to his previous method of sending them flying over a city block). Of course, with Shizuo being [[World's Strongest Man|Shizuo]], this still feels to the victims like someone smacked them in the face with a baseball bat.
* ''[[Fate
* [[Psycho for Hire|Gauron]] of [[Full Metal Panic]] pulls this off in one of his most infamous scenes, telekinetically ripping apart a [[Humongous Mecha]] by 'firing' a [[Finger Gun]] at it.
* [[Eyeshield 21]] has Gaou, who raises a bruise on the opposing team's quarterback by managing to reach him with his little finger. The bruise is about two inches in diameter.
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== Comics -- Books ==
* This is [[Ultimate Spider
* Subverted nastily in ''[[Rising Stars]]'' when a bunch of the Specials are being apprehended by the ATF. One of specials points his finger ''meaning to do absolutely nothing'', except say "You can't do this!". Unfortunately, the ATF guys have been working themselves into a lather of panic on the way to the Specials' hideaway, so with a terrified scream of "He's POINTING! HE'S GONNA DO SOMETHING!", [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|they open fire and slaughter a bunch of the Specials.]] The deaths of so many Specials powers up the rest of them higher than they had been before and a massacre commences. [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Afterwords, the ATF tells news reporters that the flashes of gunfire are really sunspots.]]
* ''[[Watchmen (
* In one [[Marvel Universe]] fight between Thor and [[Iron Man]], it took five pages and about 20 seconds of in-universe time for the fight to be over. However, the Spit You to Death, similar to this trope, came when Iron Man flew straight at him with great speed, and Thor simply stuck out his hammer, not even flinching as Tony was deflected into some power lines.
* During the Mr. Fixit storyline, the Grey [[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|Hulk]] (almost as strong as green, as smart as Banner, and totally amoral) gave a human opponent "da Finger". A finger thump to the forhead knocking him out.
* In ''[[Fire Breather]]'', Duncan gets revenge on a bully by breaking his nose by flicking a ball away with his finger during phys ed.
* Also in the [[Marvel Universe]], Black Bolt is [[Blessed
* [[Spider-Man]] once defeated dimwitted villain The Walrus with a flick of his fingers. To be fair, Spidey was showing off in front of TV cameras because the Walrus had humiliated him earlier, sucker-punching him while he was helpless because of laughter, after hearing that:
{{quote| '''The Walrus:''' Yeah, well -- Don't underestimate ME, pal! For your information, I've got the proportionate speed, strength and agility of a WALRUS!}}
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** As he enters Jabba's palace, Luke waves his hand backwards and chokes two Gamorrean guards in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''.
** Yoda gets one too: In ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'', he enters Palpatine's throne room, and the two Imperial Guards move to stop him. Yoda casually ''waves his hand backwards'' and they are thrown against the wall hard enough to instantly knock them out.
* ''[[X-Men (
** At the beginning of ''X2'', Pyro winks in order to turn a zippo flame into something that can engulf a man's arm.
** Magneto often does that kind of things during the course of the three movies. Most notably when at one point he send police cars flying around by essentialy raising his hand.
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== Literature ==
* In one of the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' books, this is played with when a very powerful mage knows he could quiet a raging storm from the comfort of his chair with a few little hand motions, but opts to go the dramatic route, complete with flinging open the shutters and waving grandiosely, because he knows that the lesser mage watching him will be more impressed.
* The ''[[
* [[Vorkosigan Saga|Miles Vorkosigan]] demonstrates the power of a single finger to [[Super Soldier]] Taura, by having her use just one finger to turn up the temperature settings on Baron Ryoval's freezers, from deep freeze, to the "sterilize for cleaning" setting.
{{quote| '''Miles:''' And the lesson is, it's not how much force you use. It's where you apply it.}}
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== Live-Action TV ==
* In ''[[Kamen Rider 555]]'', villain Kitazaki is not only a badass fighter, but also has the ability to turn everything and everyone he touches into ash.
* Sylar from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is fond of this. At one point he stands right in the path of an armored truck, and flicks his fingers. It flips spectacularly end over end. Not to mention his preferred method of stealing powers: pointing his finger to slice their skull open with telekinesis.
* Elliott from ''[[
* Q from ''[[
** The Vulcan nerve pinch. To be fair, it looks easy when Spock does it, but Vulcans are ~3x as strong as humans.
* ''[[Happy Days]]'': What ''couldn't'' Fonzie do with a snap of his fingers?
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''Survival'', Sergeant Patterson is constantly banging on about his self-defence classes, and at one point calls after the Doctor: "One finger can be a deadly weapon!" Later on, the Doctor subdues him by tapping his forehead with, yes, one finger.
* Deliberately invoked by Michael Weston for the cover identity "[[Louis Cypher|Louis]]" in ''[[Burn Notice]]''. Sure, it takes advance planning and careful timing, but when he blows stuff up with a finger snap, he goes from kook in a fancy suit to terrifying quasi-supernatural figure.
* In ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' episode "The Positive Negative Man", just a touch from the villain's finger can literally knock a person through a wall. {{spoiler|Of course, he's electrically charged.}}
* Played with in an episode of ''[[The Monkees]]'' when Peter seemingly knocks out the bad guys by "shooting" at them with his finger. They really just happened to pass out at the exact moment Peter did that (from a drugged drink), but because it's ''[[The Monkees]]'', it could have made perfect (non)sense even without the drink.
== Pro Wrestling ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] comes from one of the first [[WCW]] ''Nitro'' episodes of [[wikipedia:Fingerpoke of Doom|1999]], [[Kevin Nash]] -- former [[Hulk Hogan]] lackey, leader of the nWo Wolfpac, and current WCW Champion -- calls out the ([[Ten
** According to some, (and by "some" I mean Dave Meltzer), the whole thing was part of a backstage "work" between Hogan and Nash where Nash would bury Hogan to the other wrestlers (who, like the viewerbase, were seeing Hogan as a [[Creator's Pet]]) to get him credibility backstage for taking over as booker, and in return Nash would lay down for Hogan.
** At the time, WWF RAW was taped. Tony Schiavone – on orders from Eric Bischoff – exposed that [[Mick Foley]] was going to win the WWF Championship that night, on the assumption that knowing the results ahead of time would keep fans from tuning over to WWF. Instead, the fans flocked over to WWF RAW because they wanted see the popular Foley win the title. WCW's ratings never recovered. Following the Fingerpoke of Doom match, color commentators Bobby "the Brain" Heenan and Larry Zybysko – both of them heel-leaning announcers – seemed legitimately confused as to what they thought was supposed to have happened, all while Schiavone (the face of the group) never missed a beat in describing the chaos in the ring.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'', the Spina bloodline has access to Courtoise, a power that, at high levels, allows them to inflict damage just by insulting the target.
* While spontaneous magic in ''[[
* In ''[[Rifts]]'' cyborgs can have a small laser installed int their pinky that does 1 point of Mega damage. This is enough to kill anyone who isn't wearing armor, though admittedly, so is a stiff breeze in that game.
* In "[http://edenstudiosdiscussionboards.yuku.com/topic/4219/t/Heroes-and-Monsters-of-the-Millenium-1995-2005.html?page=1 Heroes and Monsters of the Milennium]", a [[Mega Crossover]] conversion set for the ''[[
* ''[[
** Somewhat hilariously animated in ''[[
* In ''[[Scion]]'', this effect is created by the Epic Strength knack "Making It Look Easy."
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[God Hand]]'' employs this trope with the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBbpDRSalR4 Poke of God], although you'll need to whittle an enemy's health to near nothing for it to work. Still, it can even make demons explode. Specifically, this move can ONLY be peformed on demons, WHEN they have only a sliver of life left, AND they are in dizzy status. So, technically, yes, any other move would kill them at this point too. On the other hand, the Poke of God is a guaranteed instant death attack and gives invulnerability frames like any other reaction command, so it's actually probably the best move to use IF you have somehow fulfilled the criteria for using it. The criteria for using it make the move generally [[Awesome but Impractical]], though.
* Subverted occasionally in ''[[
* ''[[Super Smash Bros]]'' has a few instances of this. Jigglypuff possesses an attack called "Rest", which at first appears to be [[Exactly What It Says
** Peach can pull up turnips to throw around at things. Most of these are about effective a weapon as one would expect turnips to be. Occasionally, however, she will pull up an extremely potent turnip, or yet more rarely, a Bob-omb or a Beam Sword.
** Luigi's taunt, one of the few damaging ones in the game, does exactly 1% damage, with him doing a slow, bashful kick to the ground that knocks someone a fixed distance into the air, regardless of damage. If using it on someone holding onto a ledge, however, it becomes a potent (if impractical) [[Meteor Move]]. If otherwise combined with his [[Limit Break|Final]] [[Minus World|Smash]], not only is the target helpless to react, but it will knock out just about anyone at very low percentages of damage.
* Each class in ''[[
** Another example in ''[[
* In the final battle of ''[[Persona 3]]'' the main character, {{spoiler|after being blasted repeatedly with the very essence of Death, heals himself with The Power of Friendship and raises his index finger to seal away the physical incarnation of the end of the world.}}
** Let's not forget ''[[Persona 4]]''. The main character {{spoiler|defeats Izanami-no-Okami}} by summoning Izanagi-no-Okami -- {{spoiler|her HUSBAND!}} How does he do this? After crushing his tarot card, he raises a single finger. When Izanagi-no-Okami appears, he simply points at {{spoiler|Izanami-no-Okami}}. [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Everything dies.]]
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** Normally, Sakura has the [[Cherry Tapping]] version this as her taunt: depending on the game, it may or may not be able to defeat her opponent, but it's able to damage them regardless. It's best used during Custom Combos, where it can actually hit the enemy multiple times. However, EX 3 extends this move into an actual Finger Poke of Doom, costing 3 super levels and causing her to leisurely skip towards the opponent and point and laugh at them... causing them to be blasted across the screen and lose most of their health if it connects, in addition to it being unblockable.
** Chun-Li's taunt, her bowing and extending her hand, if performed in ''X-Men vs Street Fighter'' and if her hand touches her opponent, sends them ''flying'' across the screen. Very little damage is done, less than with a jab, but it's still over the top.
* In ''[[
** [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright]] has a very potent finger poke when in Turnabout mode, but what else would you expect from a character known for [[Giving Someone the Pointer Finger]]?
{{quote| '''Phoenix:''' ''Contradiction! That's illegal! See you in court!''}}
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** Tonberry shows up -- and acts in this fashion -- in every ''Final Fantasy'' since at least ''5''. In ''7'', the sound effect for the poke is '''"DOINK"'''.
*** Errr, yeah, it pokes you - with a KNIFE.
* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic Battle]]'', there are certain [[Powers
* K' and Kula from ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' series have an attack where they stick out one finger and then clench a fist, the good ol' Bruce Lee One Inch. If it connects, it can throw the opponent so hard they [[Painting the Fourth Wall|bounce off the far edge of the screen]] (depending on what the opponent was doing when they got hit).
* In ''Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style'', Inspectah Deck makes [[Your Head Asplode|his opponent's head asplode]] by touching it as a [[Fatality]].
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* In ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'', mages in the party can only perform actions once every few turns until their CT/Mana/etc return. You can eventually allocate skill points to a technique called "wait reaction" which allows them a weak attack until they recharge. The attack is from a puny bird (or mini-dragon for the wizards). No enemy can withstand the attack of this bird. It doesn't do much damage, but it is unblockable, causes the enemy to flinch, and leaves them wide open for every warrior in the group to unleash a world of pain. Even the bipedal zombie dragon warrior who can block almost all physical attacks unless you actively attempt to break it will not block it.
* Happens in ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', with the final phase of the first boss trying to do this to Asura. Said boss is [[Cosmic Horror|bigger than planet Earth]], and his finger is the size of Tennessee. {{spoiler|[[The Juggernaut|It]] [[Moment of Awesome|fails]].}}
** Happens again in a flashback where Asura has sent one of the elephant Gohma flying towards Augus: he just smirks and flicks it away with his finger with his arms crossed, reducing it to [[A Twinkle in
* In the ''[[Doom]]'' games, lower enemies can sometimes be gibbed with melee attacks, even without the Berserk item.
* In the first ''[[Halo]]'', simply being tapped by a vehicle at any speed caused instant death.
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== Web Comics ==
* ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]'': In Akaelae, after Darius beat up a wolf twice his size, [http://cyantian.net/akaelae/2007/09/14/09142007/ Kela pokes him in the back] rendering him motionless. And then forgets to un-paralyze him.
* ''[[The Order of the Stick
** And then there is V and his/her ''Bugsby's Flicking Finger'' spell. (Followed up by ''Bugsby's Expressive Single Digit''.)
* In ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'', renegade Deathknight Secret apparently does have an affinity for the Water Dragon Style martial art, as illustrated by the gory results of her [http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0336.html poking a pig carcass] with her finger.
* For Calamitus of ''[[Rusty and Co
{{quote| '''Calamitus:''' Well, that's the good thing about magic. [...] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|It's handy.]]}}
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* In one episode of ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'', an alien villain is an expert at "Galvarin galactic digit fighting", which is thumb-wrestling raised to the level of a martial art.
* In the animated adaption of ''[[Dilbert]]'', Dilbert attended a security guard training class, and was about to learn how to harm someone with only a thumb. He find this hard to believe, but then his teacher convinces that it is possible, when he accidently hurt himself with his thumb.
* ''[[Batman:
** The transformed totem characters fling each other across the horizon with casual pokes. Hell, Batman (Man-Bat?) disintegrates a huge mystic boat with a lazy tap.
** In the "The Power of Shazam!", this happens twice. After stealing Captain Marvel's power, a villain shows off by knocking Batman to the ground with a flick of his fingers. When the villain loses his power soon after, Captain Marvel does the same trick.
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