Grievous Harm with a Body: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"This weapon's a man, man!"''|''[[Phantom Brave]]''}}

{{quote|''Now you can counter multiple twats at once. So now you can beat Attacker A into submission with Attacker B.''|''[[Zero Punctuation]]'' review on ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]''.}}

[[When All You Have Is a Hammer]], everything begins to look like a nail. And when all you have is a group of enemies... Taking the [[Improvised Weapon]] trope to heart, hard-pressed combatants will use not just anything, but any'''body''' around as weapons.

Two common variants exist. In the first, regular individuals may choose to use a body part as a club, the source of that body part depending heavily on the setting:

* Neutral: Certain specific locations, like morgues or battlefields, will inevitably be littered with limbs, making it easy to locate one.

The [[Fastball Special]] is a [[Sub-Trope]] of this (being 1.) ranged, and 2.) voluntary), as is [[Shamu Fu]]. For the un-improvised version see [[Equippable Ally]]. Compare [[Metronomic Mook Massacre]].

* In ''[[Rosario to+ Vampire]],'' {{spoiler|Tsukune}} picked up one Outcast monster by the skull and used him for a vicarious drop-kick against his friend.

* In ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple|History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi]]'', one of the masters fought off an island full of heavily-equipped opposing forces by [https://web.archive.org/web/20130616225510/http://www.batoto.net/read/_/8511/historys-strongest-disciple-kenichi_ch251_by_nerieru-scans/13 using them as giant shurikens]. Arguably also a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|CMOA]].

* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]]'', Shiro Amada rips off his own Gundam's disabled arm and uses it as a club.

*** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny|Gundam SEED Destiny]]'' [[Homage|homagedhomage]]d this in Shinn's battle with the Freedom Gundam; when the Impulse gets decapitated, he ejects the torso module at the Freedom, gets a replacement, and then shoots the damaged one with his beam rifle.

{{quote| "Did you just beat him with your own arm? That is hardcore! Seriously, kill me right now, that is the coolest thing that I will ''ever'' see!"}}

* In ''[[To Love LOVE-Ru]]'', while trapped in a haunted house and confronted with the prospect of [[Naughty Tentacles]], an adrenaline and fear-fueled Haruna picks up Rito and tosses him into the monster.

* The Phoenix Emperor Saffron, Ranma's final enemy in ''[[Ranma ½|Ranma One Half]]'', could [[Healing Factor|regenerate from any injury]] by means of his own flame (being frozen solid prevented this, though.) Therefore, he had no trouble whatsoever ripping off [[Winged Humanoid|his own wings]], setting them ablaze, and hurling them at his enemies as [[Precision-Guided Boomerang|deadly flaming boomerangs]].

* In ''[[Guyver]]'', Akito as Gigantic Dark looses a leg when fighting a pair of Zoalords. Later on he remotely controls the severed limb to fly through the air and smack into one of his opponents before reattaching it.

* The climax of the ''[[Baccano!]]'' [[Light Novels]] ''Drugs and Dominoes:'' After getting his arm blown off by a high gauge revolver point blank, Luck Gandor picks up his own shattered limb and tears {{spoiler|Gustavo}}'s throat apart with it's jagged, broken bones -- Afterbones—After which he calmly reattaches the severed arm ([[Good Thing You Can Heal|good thing for that immortality, huh?]]), gives a pithy [[Bond One-Liner]], checks to see if the resident [[The Ingenue|Ingenue]] is alright...[[Post Dramatic Stress Disorder|and then promptly passes out from the pain]].

* In ''[[Hayate Cross× Blade]]'', when Hayate is knocked out by a drug, Ayana uses her body as a 'human sword' in their duel against two other girls. ''She actually wins this way too.'' {{spoiler|She uses this to defeat Ensuu as well.}}

* In the [[Traintop Battle]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]'', [[Cute Bruiser|Subaru]] starts her attack by smashing the first [[Mecha-Mooks|Gadget Drone]] she comes across then chucking its damaged frame at a second Gadget Drone.

* In ''[[Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen]]'', Zeus gets his arm cut off by Hades. When he sees [[Mazinger Z]] use a [[Rocket Punch]] later in the episode, he's so impressed that he picks up his own severed arm and ''throws it'' while shouting "ROCKETTO PAAAANCH!!"

* [[Healing Factor|Deneve]] in ''[[Claymore]]'' "blocks" extremely fast growing parasitic spikes with one arm. After seeing the first breath of her new attachments, she rips off her arm and impales the originator of said spikes' forehead with it. Not that that inconveniences either of them for more than a second. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090910074823/http://www.onemanga.com/Claymore/95/08/ This chapter probably has the highest but per second count in the series].

* In an early case of ''[[Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro]]'', two officers are arguing in the middle of an investigation. What does Neuro do to shut them up? Use [[Butt Monkey|Yako]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20090227232956/http://www.onemanga.com/Majin_Tantei_Nougami_Neuro/27/07/ as a club] and whack them both. Also used as one of his standard attacks in [[Jump Ultimate Stars]].

** Even in non-virtual situations, the characters have no problems using each other as weapons. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090901120856/http://www.onemanga.com/Gintama/114/18/ Show 'em] [https://web.archive.org/web/20100403172019/http://www.onemanga.com/Gintama/114/19/ Kagura].

* In one episode of ''[[Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Haré+Guu|Hare+Guu]]'', Hare gets pressed into service as a projectile in an [[Escalating War|escalating game of dodgeball]] between Gupta and Guu. A relatively less violent cases of the trope, since Hare is both intact and conscious, but he is understandably dismayed.

* A [[Wartime Cartoon|WWII-era]] ''Cat-Man'' featured the eponymous hero [https://web.archive.org/web/20080925092603/http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=35%3Apropaganda-index&id=869%3Amore-cat-man&option=com_content&Itemid=24 beating up a German soldier with a Japanese one].

* In the [[Cult Classic]] comic book series ''[[Hitman (Comic Book)|Hitman]]'', [[Etrigan]] uses the corpse of a dead mob boss to beat up an alien parasite who interrupted the funeral.

{{quote| '''Emma''': You can't just throw people at all your problems, dear.}}

{{quote| '''Spider-Man''': ''[waking up]'' "...what happened?"<br />

* [[Deadpool]] once threw Alani aka [[X-Men/Characters/Other Teams|Loa]] at a bunch of [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]] zombie Acolytes. [[Grievous Harm with a Body]] is a lot more effective if said body has the power to dissolve matter on contact.

* This technique is employed by Thorn Harvestar in the first volume of ''[[Bone]]'', where she uses Fone Bone to head-butt an oncoming rat creature. Naturally, Fone is not amused by her actions.

* In Jet Li's ''My Father Is A Hero'' (also known as ''Letter To Daddy''), there's a scene where his character and his character's young son are surrounded on all sides by enemies. The young son is a martial arts champion in his own right and there's rope on hand, so Jet ties the rope around the kid's waist and proceeds to ''throw'' the kid at his enemies, whereupon the boy kicks at least half of them in the face running horizontally around their massed ranks.

{{quote| '''Slim ''[flatly]'':''' [[Deadpan Snarker|Swish swish. Twang twang.]]}}

* ''[[The Matrix|The Matrix Reloaded]]'' - After Neo breaks free from the [[Send in the Clones|Smiths]]' [[Dog PileDogpile of Doom]], he grabs one of them, swings him around and throws him at a bunch of other Smiths, scattering them like bowling pins.

{{quote| '''Bystander''': What seems to be your boggle?<br />

'''Phoenix''': My boggle? Oh, brother. [beat] Hold on... how much do you weigh?<br />

* ''[[Discworld]]'' example, ''[[Discworld/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'':

{{quote| "I saw Jason Ogg hit three elves with the first thing he could lay hands on." <br />

"Another elf?" <br />

** In ''[[Discworld/Jingo|Jingo]]'', Reg Shoe gets his arm cut off while fighting Klatchians. Being a zombie, he's not much bothered by this and uses his severed arm as a club. And then he's puzzled when the enemy runs away screaming. Vimes muses they're not used to his form of [[Incredibly Lame Pun|unarmed combat]].

** Used vicariously by Corporal Carrot in ''[[Discworld/Men At Arms|Men Atat Arms]]'' to avert a potential riot between a parade of trolls (marching in one direction) and a parade of dwarves (marching in the other direction). When Carrot perceives that the bickering of Lance-Constable Cuddy (a dwarf) and Lance-Constable Detritus (a troll) is doing nothing to ease tensions between the two groups of marchers, he orders, "Lance-Constable Detritus, salute!" Detritus salutes. His hand is full of Cuddy. They're both wearing helmets. Mutual unconsciousness ensues. With their incitement thus removed, Carrot (using his "krisma") berates the other trolls and dwarves for being silly chaps who ought to be ashamed of themselves for wanting to riot and cause mass bloodshed and destruction.

** Lampshaded in ''[[Discworld/Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'' when Moist overhears a group of would-be bar brawlers carefully choreographing their upcoming melee.

{{quote| "We have an Igor standing by, so if your arm gets taken off do pick it up and hit the other bugger with it, it gets a laugh and twenty points."}}

** The clown martial art of "''sloshi''", [[All There in the Manual|as discussed in supplemental material]] like the ''Discworld Companion'', provides training as an [[Improbable Weapon User]] for all kinds of unlikely armaments -- bucketsarmaments—buckets, ladders, balloons, pies -- includingpies—including (cooperative) fellow clowns.

* There was a [[Shel Silverstein]] poem (I looked for it, promise), in which a bunch of pen-drawn people were being chosen for football positions. Each was drawn burly and compact, with the exception of one tiny little player, who became the designated "ball".

* In [[The Oregon Files]] book Corsair, the protagonist finds himself facing a bad guy on top of a speeding box car. His solution? Tear off his own [[Artificial Limbs|prosthetic leg,]] use it like a war mace to beat the man within an inch of his life, then finish him off with the leg's [[Arm Cannon|built in high-caliber pistol,]] sending the man sailing over the side and into a ravine.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* When [[Chuck]] and Casey were tied back-to-back in two chairs, Casey just lifted Chuck up and swung him around to kick baddies in the face.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' often has this to justify a [[Villain Exit Stage Left]] -- in—in short, to explain why Buffy doesn't pursue a vampire, it's because he threw the victim he was about to feed on into Buffy, knocking her down.

* In battle royals and the [[Royal Rumble]], one way to eliminate two opponents at the same time is by throwing one into the other near the ropes so the momentum takes them both over the top.

* The third edition of ''[[Rune QuestRuneQuest]]'' actually has rules for damage to a large creature used as a club by a larger creature, "Such as when a giant picks up an elephant and uses it to swat pesky adventurers."

* In [[Dungeons and& Dragons|D&D 4th Edition]], there is a magic item called Giant's Gloves. These improve your character's ability to grab an enemy, normally not very useful, but the Gloves add an extra bit of bite to this action - You can throw your grappled target at another enemy within a certain number of spaces, dealing a fair amount of damage to both of them and knocking at least one of them down.

* [[Warhammer Fantasy]] has the famous Giants, who, as part of their randomized moveset, can grab an opposing creature and either fling it into it's own unit or into a nearby unit. Needless to say the creature, and some of his comrades, do not survive this.

* ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' allows its protagonists to pick up enemies and throw them at others.

* In ''[[MediEvil (1998 video game)|Medievil]]'', it is possible for our [[Dem Bones|skeletal]] hero, Sir Daniel, to use his arm as a weapon.

*** Likewise, this is by far the most fun way to use Jean Grey's telekinesis in the ''[[X -Men Legends]]'' series.

* In ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', The Scout got the spy's disembodied arm as a [http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Unarmed_Combat weapon.] [[Hilarious in Hindsight|Funnily enough]], this was a while after a cut line from "Meet the Sandvich" where the Scout is hit with ''his own'' dismembered arm by the Heavy.

* In ''[[Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime|Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime]]'', the player can use their Elasto Blast ability to pick up items or enemies. They can then either throw them at other enemies, or throw them onto a mine cart that takes them back to the hub.

* In ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'', you can grab various objects and use them as a bludgeoning device, including your enemies.

*** More traditional examples of the trope would be the Season's Hesitance and Grudge Basher magichange attacks present in ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'' and the remake of ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]'', the former having a humanoid character improvise and use their Cockatrice partner as a blunt weapon after it turns out to be a much slower flier then expected, the latter having the humanoid smack their Bone Dragon assistant into the opposition after it helps them.

* In the Roguelike game ''[[Nethack]]'', the cockatrice and chickatrice monsters cause instant petrification on direct contact, whether they are alive or dead, so a common tactic for a character with a pair of gloves is to pick up the corpse of a cockatrice while wearing gloves and use it to bash other monsters, which effectively insta-kills them unless they happen to be immune to petrification.

*** But if you do a circuitous roundabout of commands (or just a single command, in the episodes) to play with the super gravity gun in the rest of the game... [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|*maniacal laughter* ]]

** ''[[BioshockBioShock (series)]]'', with the telekinesis plasmid.

* In ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'', one of King Dedede's special moves involves him chucking various [[Mooks]] at his opponent.

** It's possible to chop off a man's arm in front of his wife, take the arm, throw it at him so hard he flies into his wife, sending her careening into their child, who hits a wall and turns into a pile of goo. For some [[Nightmare Fuel|horrors]], replace 'arm' with the man's head. Or entrails.

* There's a club in ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldurs Gate]] II'' that is made from the leg of its creator. Apparently after his family was killed by zombies he cut if off and enchanted it. It deals extra damage to the undead, possibly less to do with the enchantment than because he was just that pissed.

** Zombies sometimes tore off their own arm in an attempt to attack the party.

* The [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] ''Day of Reckoning'' [[Professional Wrestling]] games for the [[Nintendo GamecubeGameCube]] let you do this as well. Nothing like a Giant Swing to give you a metre or two of clear space all around.

* In ''[[De CapDecap Attack]]'', one of Chuck's power-ups is a skull that he can throw at enemies.

* ''[[Spelunky]]''. [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|Distressed Damsels]] can take [[Made of Iron|a remarkable beating]], and make surprisingly good throwing weapons.

** "Surprisingly useful" meaning that it's a one-hit kill on most run-of-the-mill [[Mooks]]. Unfortunately (for the player), it's too slow to use for much more than that.

* One of [[Catgirl|Taokaka]]'s attacks in ''[[Blaz BlueBlazBlue]]'' is throwing fish at her enemy. Occasionally she throws a Kaka clan kitten instead.

** One can also disorient said enemies, and climb on top of them, basically using them as a bulldozer to demolish lesser mooks.

* ''[[Blood RayneBloodRayne]] 2'' features a series of 'killing puzzles' where you use the bodies of enemies to break things, complete electrical circuits, and open doors. You can also knock enemies into other enemies to disable them.

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', Sora has the Reaction Command "Wild Dance" where he snatches up a Water Form (basically a clone of Demyx made of water), and uses it to pummel the other Water Forms. There are similar reaction commands that are used throughout the game, but they each require a certain type of villain to be used as the "body". A few Limit techniques also qualify.

* In the remake of ''[[Splatterhouse]]'' Rick can pick up severed limbs and heads to use as weapons. {{spoiler|In the final chapter part of his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] involves ripping Dr West's arm and use it to club the [[Mad Scientist]].}} Also, if an enemy cuts Rick's arm off, it slowly grows back, so he can then pick up his ''own'' severed limb and use it as a weapon - doing so for the first time gets you an achievement.

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' ''Cataclysm,'' some ogres in the Deadmines instance use their kobold miners as weapons.

* In the ''[[Final Fight]]'' series you can throw enemies into each other. This is a good way of dealing with multiple foes since they don't obey [[Mook Chivalry]].

* In ''[[Dark Souls]]'' there are enemies called [http://i.imgur.com/9fsYV.jpg Infested Ghouls], some of which attack you with corpses.

* ''[[Charby the Vampirate]]'': Don't say "unhand me" to the [httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20190927195655/https://www.drunkducktheduckwebcomics.com/Charby_the_Vampirate/4784475/ cute lil' demon girl]...

* ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' has the [[Kamehame Hadoken|Fighterdoken]].

* ''[[Girly]]'': Otra uses Winter to [https://web.archive.org/web/20140325022949/http://girlyyy.com/go/510 beat off vore fetishists].

* Gamespy's webcomic ''[[Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth|Flintlockes Guide to Azeroth]]'' has Bloodrose. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100704124324/http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlockes-guide-to-azeroth/episode-16-fast-times-in-arathi-basin/705778p1.html You do not mess with her.]

* ''[[Dead Winter]]'' has Fight using Flight as an improvised ball-and-chain [http://deadwinter.cc/page/strip/053.jpg here.]{{Dead link}}

* ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures|Dan and Mabs Furry Adventures]]'' shows us this can even be part of [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_1065.php sibling disputes] just as well they can [[Healing Factor|heal...]]

{{quote| '''Dan:''' So you see, you can beat an alligator to death with another alligator but it's probably not worth the investment.}}

* Done in [http://www.goblinscomic.com/08092010/ this] ''[[Goblins]]'' strip as a way for a lizardman to get around his conviction that you don't fight things you can't eat. After all, if it's one of the [[Mecha Mook|Mecha Mooks]]s doing the actual impact, it's really that mook that's fighting his friends instead, right?

* Occasionally used in ''[[Bob and George]]''. Since Ran can almost instantly respawn after death, leaving behind a corpse, he has been used in everything from explosive [[Fastball Special|Fastball Specials]]s to beating out fires with his own body. The phrase "Ran-bombs" has been thrown around on multiple occasions.

* In ''[[Impure Blood]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130608195127/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter001/ib004.html Roan tears off] a [[Blade Below the Shoulder]] and uses it on the [[Cyborg]] himself.

* ''[[Xkcdxkcd]]'' fandom [http://www.xkcdb.com/?6349 reminds]: a body with excessive piercings cangive inflictit moredamage damagebonus.

{{quote| '''Church:''' Poor Jimmy was the last one to go. Tex walked up to him, pulled Jimmy's skull right out of his head, and beat him to death with it.<br />

'''Tucker:''' Wait a second... how do you beat someone to death with their own skull? That doesn't seem physically possible.<br />

'''Church:''' That's ''exactly'' what Jimmy kept screaming!<br />

* In ''[[Pay Me, Bug!]]'', [[Starfish Alien|Ktk]] can do this with ''[[Dual-Wielding|three bodies at the same time]]''.

** Alfred used the same threat on Kain.

* A ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' episode had a [[James Bond]] spoof where the super-spy Agent Tag was unconscious for the majority of the story, forcing Jackie to drag him around everywhere. One mook tried to intimidate Chan with his nunchuck skills, and Jackie replies by swinging around the dead weight Agent Tag like a nunchuck. [[Rule of Funny|It was quite comical.]]

* In an episode of ''[[Futurama]]'', Zoidberg cuts off Fry's arm in a fight to the death. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Fry starts beating Zoidberg over the head with it.]]

{{quote| '''Ed:''' <whack> Who's there? <whack> Who's there? <whack> Who's there?}}

* In the ''[[Tuff Puppy]]'' episode "Doom-mates", Dudley uses Kitty as a stick to whack Keswick and the Chief whom he thought were the Chameleon.

{{quote| '''Announcer:''' He's got him in a half nelson. Now a full nelson. Oh! And now he's actually beating him with Bobby Nelson!}}

** In the ''Treehouse of Horror XV" segment "Four Beheadings and a Funeral", as Homer flees the opium den he throws people to slow his pursuers. Moe tells him to obey the sign, "No Tossing Addicts".

* This troper heard something on the news about a woman using a three-year-old as a weapon.{{verify}} Thankfully, nobody died.

[[Category:Improvised Index{{PAGENAME}}]]