Hammerspace

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"From this bag here why I can pull most anything imag'nable
Like office desks and lava lights and Bert who is a cannibal."

Yakko Warner, Animaniacs

Hammerspace is the notional place that things come from when they are needed, and where they go back to when not. The term was fan coined (most likely by Ranma ½ fandom, specifically referring to Akane Tendo's hammer) as the place cartoon characters and anime/manga characters would store the overly-large hammers and assorted weaponry they had a propensity for hitting each other with, especially for comedic effect.

The actual location of hammerspace is very hard to determine. There seems to be a great deal of it behind people's backs and on the opposite side (from the camera, that is) of thin things like lampposts and slender trees. It also hides in people's coats, closets, Clown cars, large sacks, and occasionally down their pants.

Further research into the exact location of Hammerspace awaits solution of a few more basic questions. Such as: "What happens when you turn a Bag of Holding inside out?" and "Why is the inside of the TARDIS only that much larger than its exterior?"

It's also referred to as "hyperspace", but that term gets a little confused with the SF term related to Faster-Than-Light Travel (see Subspace or Hyperspace). Just to confuse things further, "subspace" is a word used in Transformers fandom for Hammerspace. It is called "katanaspace" in Highlander fandom, "back pockets" in the cartoon roleplaying game Toon, and referred to simply as "Elsewhere" in the Fantasy Kitchen Sink roleplaying game Exalted.

There are multiple versions, in order of size:

  1. Basic Hammerspace - This version contains only a few things, not because it is limited in capacity, but because that is all it is ever used for - for example a large weapon, or Optimus Prime's trailer. It is usually played for convenience, and most viewers give it a Hand Wave, although there is occasional lampshading.
  2. Game Hammerspace - Used frequently in games - many of your inventory items are much too large or too heavy to be carried normally, and this is where they are stored until they are used. Game Hammerspace may or may not be infinite, depending on whether your inventory has a limited number of items, but it still holds many things without spoiling the lining of your coat.
  3. Infinite Hammerspace - This version is played with a bent towards comedy. It can traditionally hold as much as the joke requires it to hold, may have multiple dimensions to its capacity (eg somebody looking in and finding one thing, closing the 'door' and looking in again to find something else), and often gets larger as the show goes on.

To take even more comedy out of what is already impossible, a character with established access to Infinite Hammerspace may, after packing it full of things, finally fill it up. With Basic Hammerspace, they are more likely to lose access to it for some reason and be unable to retrieve an item.

Sub Tropes include:

Physicists are still split over whether or not there is a Hammerspace-Hammertime continuum.


Examples of Hammerspace include:

Advertising

  • The GEICO gecko is apparently an expert at using hammerspace; he is shown to be able to hide a cell phone and wallet larger than his entire body on his person, confusing his boss. Further confusing the boss is that neither he nor the viewer sees the gecko produce the items. The cell phone was already on the table and the wallet is seen only after he turns back around after he talks to a waiter.
  • Cara Confused from the UK's Confused.com ads has been shown to pull various objects from her pocket, including a house! Many people have "confused" this for something dirtier, as the way every instance is animated seems very out of context.

Anime and Manga

  • Generally considered to be where Akane Tendo draws her Hyperspace Mallet from in Ranma ½. Mousse's fighting style revolves around this trope—he secretes impossibly large amounts of junk about his person and then whips various bits and pieces out to use as weapons as he needs it. This is played up in the anime, where Mousse has pulled out such weapons as: eight katanas (wielded 4 in either hand) at once in the first Non-Serial Movie, giant tops with razor-bladed edges, and a massive bomb bigger than he was (promptly lampshaded by Ranma, who pointed out there was no way Mousse could possibly have been hiding something that big). His favorite appears to be a swan-shaped training potty with which he smacks his opponents in the face.
    • Mousse even manages to hide weapons as a duck, producing them from under his wings instead of his sleeves. He's quite insistent during his introduction arc that there's nothing magical about his skill, though.
    • Then there are all the signs Genma uses to communicate with in panda form. In one of the OVAs, he actually uses them en masse to make a small boat! Many are legible, and an astute viewer will recognize signs dating all the way back to the first episode of the television series.
  • The Inventories from Tower of God create the illusion of this, but actually, they are just invisible.
  • Lum from the Urusei Yatsura anime starts using a large mallet on Ataru starting around episode #110, possibly to break up the monotony of electrocuting him.
  • When the author of Hellsing was asked where Anderson takes his bayonets from, he answered, "From the fourth dimension of course."
  • In Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Wing Zero drops into the sea with a beam saber after fighting Wufei in the atmosphere, having been picked up in space carrying no other weapons. When we next see Zero, the suit is hovering in the sky, aiming at the Presidential Shelter with its twin buster rifle.
    • The manga version tries to explain this by showing the rifle mounted on Zero's backpack in a few scenes; this doesn't line up with the anime, but it's still an explanation.
  • Pokémon has a few moments early on where Jessie, James, and Meowth seemingly produce weapons, pulled-from-nowhere Hammers, and other items to which they likely wouldn't have room for in their uniforms (which don't seem to have any visible pockets, except for James's pants). This, however, does not apply to Poké Balls, which have been shown on-screen to change size for storage in pockets or on belts.
    • One famous scene that is usually handwaved is the one in "The Island of Giant Pokemon" where Koffing and Ekans are chilling and having tea while Ash's Pokemon are beating up poor Meowth. Exactly where they got the tea-things, picnic basket, and blanket are never explained, nor is how they set it up, seeing as both are Pokemon with no arms or hands.
  • In the manga Cafe Kichijouji, during Jun's Berserk Button moment, he picks up a large rock to crush Maki with, who in turn shouts, "Where did you pull that natural boulder from?!"
  • In Dragon Ball, Bulma does this more than once to punish Roshi for his perverted antics. Lunch also does this in her evil mode, but with machineguns.
    • There's also the time where, after escaping from an abandoned pirate hideout, Bulma reaches into her bikini bottoms and pulls out an impossibly massive diamond. Take that as you will.
  • Doraemon's four-dimensional pocket. It's shown to be larger on the inside and can store all manner of things including a telephone booth twice as tall as Doraemon.
  • Akazukin Chacha had a small brooch during the final third of the series which could carry around things in it such as ice skating boots.
  • Sousuke of Full Metal Panic!! fame somehow manages to keep a huge arsenal on his person, much to the dismay of his classmates, teachers, and enemies. Kaname also has a paper fan she pulls out of hammerspace to punish Sousuke with when he goes too far.
    • In a Beach Episode Kaname even produces one while dressed in a skimpy white bikini.
    • Shown in one particular episode in which he is commanded to drop all of his weapons. It begins with just pistols, spare magazines and a few grenades, however after a quick time-lapse he ends up standing next to a massive pile of machineguns, rifles, and a rocket launcher.
  • Amy Rose in Sonic X has hammerspace for her Pico Pico hammer.
    • She procures it visibly after Sonic fails to return to Mobius with her. After launching a Hammer into the side of Eggman's airship's hull (he woke her up with a loudspeaker), he points out that she is unarmed. Close-up shot to the hand beside her thigh, and another Hammer appears in a puff of smoke. This happens six or seven more times, as each Hammer is launched into the airship's hull. Maybe she has Capsule Corp technology?
  • In Potemayo, Guchuko can carry an enormous amount of stuff in her pants. She once produces a pile of corn cobs that was taller than she was.
  • The GetBackers pull hammers and baseball bats out on each other from time to time. Ayamine Rando has also joked that Kazuki's bells have to be like this for him to be able to fit so much string in there... and it's the only possible explanation for where Juubei keeps his giant throwing needles, unless he stores them inside his body like Akabane does his scalpels...
  • Shana of Shakugan no Shana stores her flaming sword Nietono no Shana inside her cape. This is actually exactly what the cape is designed for, according to Alastor.
    • In the OVA, when Yuji accidentally switches bodies with Shana, Yuji and Shana put a large portion of what appears to be a junk yard of sorts into her coat.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler subverts this at least once with Sakuya's fan. True, it seemed to come out of nowhere, but afterwards she folds it up and sticks it into a pocket on the inside of her jacket.
  • The point of Trace Projection magecraft in Fate/stay night as used by Archer and later Shirou. When using this magecraft, Archer crafts and stores analyzed weapons inside of his Reality Marble, and summons the copies into the real world through his own body when needed. Similarly, Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm is a portal to hammerspace that he uses to summon his belongings—often at high speed.
  • Sanzo of Saiyuki keeps a fan somewhere on his person which apparently is meant only for beating the snot out of Goku and Gojyo when they get to noisy for Sanzo's liking.
  • Gokudera from Katekyo Hitman Reborn keeps an unlimited supply of dynamite, which he seems to pull out of various parts of his body. His Evil Counterpart Belphegor does the same with knives.
  • The One Piece manga recently[when?] showed off Blanmenco, the 6th division leader of the Whitebeard Pirates, whose Devil Fruit power seems to be pockets on his body out of which he can pull anything. To drive the point home, the item he pulls out in battle is a hammer bigger than himself.
    • Another example comes from a 20-second bit of filler in Impel Down. When first starting at the prison, Hannyabal is tricked to turn his back by a sexy female pirate named Olive, who then bashes him over the head with a giant hammer.
    • Garp somehow manages to take out a humongous iron ball that's larger than the very battleship he is standing on.
    • What, no glory for Pauly? Without the power of a Devil Fruit, he must have a lot of Hammer Space for the massive quantity of ropes he uses as weapons.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima is required to include this trope. Many cases are actually justified as being magical constructs, such as Asuna's sword. But of the rest...
    • Kaede's shurikens, which are over six feet from tip to tip! Her classmates (and other folks) often wonder where on Earth she was carrying the things.
    • Her pactio artifact is a cloak that contains a whole house in it and makes her invisible, being utterly pointless as she is already a master in that. But having a portable Clown Car Base does come in handy.
    • Mana reveals later on that she keeps an alternate dimension to store her ammo in. It makes for an awesome reload.
    • She also pulls a BFG from Victoria's Secret Compartment.
  • In GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class: while carrying a comb and a sewing set in her blazer is not surprising, but when Miyabi "Professor" Oomichi pulled out a bag of dye fixative from her blazer...

Tomokane: Are you always prepared for a trip or something?
'Professor: * Pulls out an oral care set*

  • Fushigi Yuugi gets bonus points for doing this in an environment reminiscent of Ancient China. Items include sunglasses, a rake and a bullhorn.
  • Sana from Kodomo no Omocha has a yellow and red rubber hammer she pulls out of no where to hit people, usually Akito. It varies in size, from one the size of her hand to one bigger then her body. Her mom has one too.
  • Hitagi Senjougahara from Bakemonogatari carries more office supplies in her schoolgirl uniform than one could fit in a reasonably-sized crate, and most of the supplies are awfully pointy, as well. It's probably best not to pry into where she keeps them, or she might demonstrate what they're used for.
  • In Fairy Tail the mage Erza Scarlet has a nifty example of this, she can actually pull multiple weapons and armor from some weird personal dimension. The various gear-sets generally have specific amplifier enchantments.
  • In Naruto, objects can be stored as kanji on special scrolls. The evil medic Kabuto keeps a collection of bodies (eww) on such a scroll, and Tenten's fighting style centers around producing stored weapons this way.
  • This seems to be where the helmet from Viral's mech Enki is kept in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
    • Alternately, Spiral Energy did it because it's cooler that way.
  • The fairies in A Little Snow Fairy Sugar carry tiny bags about one-fifth the size of the instruments they pull out of them.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series lampshades Yami Marik's ability to produce his Millennium Rod artifact out of the air through the explanation "Now I'm going to use my Millennium Rod, which I keep clenched between my buttocks, to send this duel to the Shadow Realm!"
  • Luna from Sailor Moon: All those transformation items, disguise pens and magic computers she produced from thin air. And Artemis in the Sailor V manga.
    • In early episodes, we see her do an aerial somersault and produce some in a flash of light. Hammerspace is probably the best explanation for where the Scouts keep their wands, Ami's computer, and Usagi's Pen and various wands and sceptres. Tux seems to produce roses as a power.
    • Actually, any transformation power could qualify—where do your normal clothes go when you're in a mystically-armored fuku?
  • Dankai from Yutori-chan is noted for the variety of things she keeps in her personal hammerspace. Items include the traditional Hyperspace Mallet, a motivational sign, a Paper Fan of Doom and a nail bat.
  • Lampshaded by Hadyeh, an Ax Crazy maid/bodyguard/retainer to a Middle-Eastern lady in Ladies versus Butlers!!.

Akiharu: Where did you pull that gigantic sword from in the first place?
Hadyeh: Please don't ask such embarrassing things.

  • Maka from Soul Eater occasionally pulls a book out of Hammerspace to hit people with.
    • A VERY large book.
    • Also, Shinigami-sama's hands.
  • Revy from Black Lagoon: Even while wearing a belly cut sleeveless top with extremely short denim hot pants, she still manages to pull spare magazines out during any one of her number of shootouts, and I'm pretty sure her pair of shoulder holsters don't have infinite pockets on the sides. Even when she's dressed more practical during the Yakuza story arc (skirt, winter hose, and a long sleeve winter shirt) the location of all her magazines remains a mystery.
  • Arumi from Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi often pulls a Paper Fan of Doom out of hammerspace in order to punish Sasshi.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!, season 0 (The Shadow Games). Yami Yuugi frequently pulls out random (or illegal, or in illegal amounts) objects that would be rather impractical to carry around:
    • Episode 1: he makes appear a rope of decent length and two decks of playing cards, as well as tape, and tapes one to the spire of a building in milliseconds.
    • In a later episode, he not only pulls out several bottles of chloroform, but a considerable amount of wire and some sort of pins, as well as strings the chloroform bottles from the ceiling and pins the wires to a clock in milliseconds.
    • Yami himself is stored in an ancient Egyptian artifact.
  • Sekirei: When Matsu confronts Musubi in the bath, wearing nothing but a towel, she pulls a bazooka out of nowhere. Minato even lampshades this.
  • Hime of Princess Resurrection has been known to use some interesting weapons, her signature being a chainsaw. Where she keeps that chainsaw when not in use is anybody's guess.
  • Even though Millie from Trigun is a tall woman, there's no way her "stungun" would fit beneath her skirt.
  • Most Puella Magi use magic to mass produce temporary weaponry just for the extravagance of it - Mami's rifles and Sayaka's swords, for example - but watching Akemi Homura magic hundred of bazookas and rocket launchers in and out of her sleeve (obscured by her buckler) is especially noteworthy in that these weapons are real.
  • At one point early in Rurouni Kenshin's Kyoto arc, the title character pulls an enormous parsnip out of his shirt (to test a knife's edge with), to dumbfounded expressions on his companions' faces.
  • In Yu Yu Hakusho, when rescuing Yukina, Kuwabara sports a "fighting headband of love" that materialized from his fighting spirit.
  • Crazy Prepared Yukari of Girls und Panzer can pull an awful lot of things, some of them quite bulky (folding spade, thermos, and lantern, for instance) out of what seems a close-fitting school uniform with no bulging pockets or any sort of backpack. Her friends Hana and Saori comment that she doesn't look as if she's carrying anything, until she whips out whatever's needed.
  • In Cardcaptor Sakura, Shaoran/Syaoran Li can summon his sword from a small tassel. By the "Clear Card" arc, he doesn't need the tassel any more.

Comic Books

  • Scott Pilgrim books, Ramona whips a huge hammer out of a relatively tiny purse. She explains this by saying it's a trans-dimensional purse.
  • The Awesome Slapstick has this as an actual power.
  • The Middleman's title character seems to have pockets that lead to Hammerspace. He spends several moments removing increasingly improbable weapons from his pockets in the first episode.
  • Flash's costume is hidden in his ring. They try to explain it away as some sort of advanced science, but it's all flash and no substance.
  • Try Batman, that guy's got everything in his utility belt! Not so much "everything", as it is "exactly what is required for the situation at hand".
  • Combat Colin, star of his own backup strip in the UK Action Force and Transformers comics, was known for his Combat Trousers (apparently presented to him by an alien), the pockets of which enabled him to produce any number of cumbersome weapons, up to and including a nuclear warhead.
  • A running gag in Peanuts is the incredible amount of space inside Snoopy's doghouse (although the reader only ever sees it from the outside). Reportedly, he can have huge parties in there. And he proudly displays his Van Gogh on one of the walls. There are at least two floors inside, as well—one strip depicts Snoopy listening to Linus and Charlie Brown negotiating a turn in a staircase while moving furniture.
    • At least one other comic series re-used the trick. Cubitus, star of his own Franco-Belgian comics by Dupa, also has a lavish palace inside his doghouse. In another story, he decides to move in his master's canopy bed. Friction ensues.
  • In The Mask, unlike the movie, while the wearer of the Mask can, if he/she/it decided to, pull an object from a pocket or inside their coat. Sometimes weapons can appear in the wearer's hand without them even realizing it. Sometimes they will actually kill people with a machine gun and then start wondering where it came from. Other times, it's explicitly shown that objects (weapons, usually) can in fact appear out of thin air in front of the person wearing the Mask. Even when objects are pulled out of pockets, most likely the object was not there before the wearer put their hands in there.
  • In Warren Ellis's Planetary, Elijah Snow discovers that the Four invaded an alternate universe, slaughtered everyone living there, and turned it into an armory. A cruel way to invent Hammerspace.
  • Marvel Comics character Devil-Slayer lives this trope; he has a magic "Shadow Cloak" that allows him to pull weapons of virtually any sort (mostly swords, axes and other Hawkman-approved implements of destruction, but has included modern firearms and high-tech ray-guns). In the same universe, Corsair (of The Starjammers) uses "phasing discs" built into his gloves to pull blasters from a dimensional pocket and Rom, Greatest of the Spaceknights, summons his Translator, Energy Analyser, and Disruptor from "subspace"and sends them back again in the blink of an eye, when he needs them.
  • Spider-Man villain Boomerang often exhibits this, Depending on the Writer; normally the boomerangs he uses are on his costume in plain sight (one on his cowl, two on his chest, two on his back, and two on each shin) but he often uses far more than nine in a story, often without even using the ones on the costume. Hammerspace is really the only possibility.
  • In Archie Comics, (particularly the older ones) whenever a character has just overcome something stressful or difficult, they will produce a handkerchief from nowhere and dab sweat from their forehead.
  • Done humorously in one issue of Marvel's Ultimate universe when a completely naked Hulk walks into a diner and asks for pancakes, then somehow produces a large handful of bills to prove that he can pay.
  • Where exactly does Clark Kent put his civilian clothes when he changes into Superman? Kind of hard to say...[1]

Fan Works

  • Mercury uses and abuses the Keeper's storage ability in Dungeon Keeper Ami to great effect. It can be used to construct complicated machinery and architecture, store spells for later deployment, catch falling minions and deposit them safely, and teleport.
  • Jaune's Inventory in the RWBY/The Gamer crossover The Games We Play is effectively an Infinite Hammerspace, with no sign of ever being anywhere close to filling up.
  • Thanks to Vista adding expanded space to various pockets and other spaces in her costume, as well as various holsters, slings and Utility Belts, Taylor "Maul" Hebert in the Worm Alternate Universe Fic Mauling Snarks carries around simply obscene quantities of equipment, including a massive machine gun and the simply huge sledgehammer from which she takes her name, almost all of which she appears to pull from thin air when she needs it.

Film

  • Tim Burton's Batman, in the final battle when The Joker pulls that gun out of his pants. The thing is longer than he's tall!
  • Ultraviolet, where the main character has these funny little bracelet things that store her weapons. There's a great scene where, after Violet loads these things with enough weaponry to supply the entire US military, she is scanned by a weapons-check program and it gives up counting the weapons she's carrying.

Computer voice: Number of weapons found...many.

  • The Matrix movies. While in the Matrix, Trinity is always dressed in skintight clothing with nowhere to hide a gun, but she can always pull out firearms when needed. But then again, they're inside the Matrix and as such have access to "magic."
    • At the beginning of The Matrix, while escaping from the Agents. After falling down some stairs, she pulls two pistols out of nowhere.
    • In The Matrix Reloaded, she pulls a pistol out of nothingness twice (to menace Persephone and while fighting the albino Rastafarian ghost identical twins), and draws two machine pistols out of hyperspace while fighting the Agent in the power control building.
  • Near the climax of The Monkees film Head, the band is confronted by a posse led by Lord High 'N Low, who's been after them for various reasons throughout the movie. In the half-second cutaway between Davy's shots, while the Monkees' would-be executioners are cocking their rifles, Davy produces a loaded, packed, & primed cannon and wipes out the whole posse. Peter lampshades it less than 5 seconds later.
  • As mentioned in the introduction, all the Immortals in Highlander have a personal Hammerspace where they keep their swords. It's not hard to believe that Immortals are issued pocket-sized interdimensional trap-doors upon waking up and discovering their immortality. Methos, in particular, managed to hide a particularly long broadsword (an "Ivanhoe" if you want to get picky) in his. And Silas didn't seem to wear coats at all, but managed to favor a battle-axe for his battles. He possibly kept it hidden in his sweater.
    • One notable instance has an immortal attacked while in a spa, and he pulls out a previously unseen sword despite wearing nothing but a towel.
  • Harpo Marx could and did keep anything and everything in his (admittedly large) clothes, including a complete silver tea set, fully fueled welding equipment, live animals, a steaming hot cup of coffee, and once a lighted candle—lighted at both ends. This only counts as Hammerspace from a viewer standpoint, however, because Harpo Marx actually did produce these items from his custom-made coat. It was a gag he developed for use live on stage.
    • Interestingly, the Looney Tunes characters (who often employ Hammerspace) were inspired by Harpo's gags, in the same way that Bugs Bunny is modeled on Groucho Marx (and just a dash of Clark Gable)
    • Similarly, the Marx Brothers tribute film Brain Donors features a similar scene with Harpo-analogue Jacques emptying his pockets for the police after being arrested, through several cutaways to pursue other subplots and back again, producing a huge pile of random objects and concluding with him pulling out a (rubber?) foot, looking surprised, looking down, and promptly falling over.
  • Mary Poppins's bag, which is shown to store potted plants and lamps, making it a Bag of Holding. One might say the same about Harpo Marx's coat, but that was played more for laughs: you wonder kind of clown carries a tea set around, less about how he does it. The way that Mary Poppins pulled tall items out of her bag, it's clear that the bag is larger inside than outside.
    • When the children look in the bag, they see it as empty.
  • In one scene of Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, a jeep pulls up by Jesus and a few atheists come out to beat up Jesus. As the scene goes on (and Jesus takes care of each successive wave of nonbelievers), more than thirty atheists end up coming out of that little jeep. Lampshaded when Jesus, on defeating the first wave, throws his hands in the air in an unmistakable "Are you joking?" gesture when the second comes into play.
  • In Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, all the crew members of Sinbad's ship have to empty their pockets of weapons onto a table before going into the royal palace. Cue Rat the Lookout spending about twenty minutes depositing a huge pile of swords, pistols, knives, etc., on top of a table despite wearing nothing but a loincloth and a bandanna.

Kale: Time to go, Rat. Pack it up.
Rat: *still pulling out swords, then stuttering from all the stuff he pulled out* Aw, man...

  • Any doubt that the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation The Unnameable is really more of an understated horror comedy is finally dispelled after the film's climax, when the smart guy reaches beneath his thin jacket with one hand and pulls out an oversized book of spells nearly as large as his torso.
  • Anchorman: The four lead anchormen are walking through San Diego trying to find a suit store. However, that doesn't stop them from pulling iron knuckles, a club, and a HAND GRENADE amongst other things when they encounter a rival news team.

Ron: Brick, where'd you get a hand grenade?
Brick: I don't know.

  • The Goonies: Data looks pretty normal-sized through most of the movie, until a bad guy gets close and suddenly his jacket puffs out as he punches the guy in the face with a spring-loaded boxing glove on a mechanical arm. In the scenes where it is actually used you can tell that it would've been very noticeable had he been walking around the entire movie with that contraption under his jacket.
  • A Running Gag in Versus is that the weaselly yakuza seems to have an inexhaustible supply of pistols stuck into the back of his waistband. Whenever he loses a gun, he immediately pulls out another, larger one from the exact same spot.
  • In Hudson Hawk, one of the villains cuts open the cover of Da Vinci's codex to reveal that the book cover, which was approximately a quarter inch thick, contains a piece of the gold machine reflector which is about the size of a billiard ball.
  • In The Mask, Jim Carey has an infinite amount of space inside his pockets and an unknown, probably infinite number of things in them.
  • In the Bionicle movies, the Toa keep all their supplies, tools, etc. in hammerspace, but it's never made clear where they put them (the animation just shows the objects retracting "into" their solid backside). The novels at least give them the benefit of carrying satchels.
  • A subtle but cool version in Raising Arizona. As the Biker walks through Unpainted Arizona, a cigar appears in one hand, out of nowhere, and a match in his other, which he strikes on a wall to light the cigar.
  • In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Brent pulls a pair of giant ceremonial scissors from seemingly nowhere, but then stores them down the back of his pants after showing them off.
  • Resident Evil: Extinction. How many zombie prisoners can you fit into a small shipping crate?
  • Mallrats: Silent Bob produces several objects from inside his coat, up to and including a fully-inflated blow-up doll.
  • On Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket pulls out a pair of glasses that, while proportionate to his large head, are far too big for his back pocket.
  • In Top Secret!, Chocolate Mousse pulls a sledgehammer out of nowhere to pulverize a cricket.
  • DEBS. Presumably where Lucy Diamond was hiding those suction cups she used to climb up the wall of the DEBS house.
  • In Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, Scott frequently makes a hat materialize on his head when a girl comments that his hair is getting shaggy. Ramona also pulls a gigantic hammer out of her purse.
  • In Robert Rodriguez' Desperado, the bar scene being told by Steve Buschemi has El Mariachi pulling guns out of nowhere, at one point actually brushing his hair back, and producing a shotgun from behind his head.
  • In Tropic Thunder, Hammerspace is the least disturbing explanation for how Portnoy was able to pull a pistol out of his skimpy undies.
  • In Tangled, Rapunzel carries Flynn's satchel around for nearly a day in spite of the fact that she had nothing to carry it in, and she was with Flynn the entire time.
  • Hiccup, in How to Train Your Dragon, has a modest Hammerspace where he keeps a notebook that's too big for a pocket. Moreover, when he puts it away, he just shoves it under his vest in the general direction of his back and lets go.
  • Jason's backpack in Mystery Team. Somehow he can put together: A hobo outfit, a reporter outfit, THREE gentlemen disguises, THREE Letterman's jackets and A Mexican plumber costume. Duncan has this, to a lesser extent, fitting a slingshot, a "spy camera" and a book of Wacky Facts in his pockets.
  • Presumably where Richard finds the board to hit Tommy in the face with in Tommy Boy.
  • Spoofed in the New Zeland film "Undead", when a completely naked man pulls a couple of guns from nowhere.
  • In The Book of Eli, the protagonist's Bible is the book version of this. Seeing as Eli is a combination of Jesse Custer and Daredevil, the Bible he carries is in braille, but is the size of a standard Bible; seeing as one sentence written in braille takes up more than several paragraphs of normal print would, an entire Bible in braille would be the size of a large encyclopeia set.

Literature

  • Thor of Norse Mythology could make his hammer Mjolnir shrink to an incredibly tiny size, and be pulled out of seemingly nowhere, and is both the first user and namer of this trope. Another god owns a ship that he can fold up and stick in his pocket.
  • In the Young Wizards series, "temporospatial claudications" leading to small pockets of "otherspace" are frequently used for storage by the wizard characters. In execution, it works exactly like hammerspace, except with more Techno Babble. Or possibly Magi Babble; it's often hard to tell the difference with that series...
    • Not quite Hammerspace but very related, in one book there's the sentient white hole that burps up random highly-ordered objects. At one point, it manages a fully assembled jumbo jet—harking to a traditional creationist argument about a windstorm in a junkyard.
  • Invoked explicitly in Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy: Mages can "vanish" objects, presumably into their own personal Hammerspace, and call them back in when needed. The amount of Hammerspace you have directly correlates with how powerful you are.
  • Canon in Animorphs, where it is known as Z-Space and is used to enable both morphing and interstellar travel.
  • In M.A.R. Barker's Man of Gold, set in the world of Tékumel (which was originally created as an RPG) the hero, Harsan, learns to put things into another dimension, someplace he calls "around the corner", for safekeeping. There's one catch—if you leave something there very long, when you bring it back, it is cold enough to destroy flesh. If you put an item around the corner yourself, you can get it back by concentrating on it; or you can simply grope around and bring something back that someone else put there. But you won't know what it is until it materializes...
  • In Tom Holt's Grailblazers, a character has the hereditary ability to reach vaguely behind him, and always bring the hand back holding something weapon-like.
  • Sycophants in the Leven Thumps series have an unlimited "void" where they stow useful stuff. Pretty annoying, it's very hard to visualize what's going on when your read "Clover fished around in his void."
  • Discworld:
    • Dwarves have access to Hammerspace: in The Truth Gunilla Goodmountain's troop of dwarves are able to produce large weapons seemingly from nowhere.
    • Also, Conina in Sourcery is able to produce a seemingly endless arsenal of weapons — especially throwing knives — that she has secreted about her person, despite wearing just a simple white dress that wouldn't seem to have many hiding places. Since the retrieval of these items sometimes requires her to ask her male companions to turn away and is accompanied by a waft of perfume, we can assume that some of Conina's Hammerspace is in the form of a Victoria's Secret Compartment or its equivalent.
    • Rincewind's magical Luggage, in addition to being a sapient travel accessory with a hundred legs and a mean temper, also appears to have limitless interior. It has "eaten" more than a few enemies and has served as a hiding place for Rincewind and others when bad guys are around. It also carries clothes, especially Rincewind's underpants, which are always freshly laundered and neatly folded when he asks the Luggage for them. Definitely qualifies as a Bag of Holding, too.
    • Victor from Moving Pictures uses this trope to justify this trope, when he summons a horse and sword from nowhere by tapping into the ambient effects of Holy Wood magic. Film characters are always pulling weapons and equipment out of nowhere when needed, and film audiences accept it, hence it's fully within his power as the Discworld's top film star, provided he plays out such deeds in character.
    • The wizards of Discworld have a lot of artifacts that can access Hammerspace, including a cabinet which, if you can find the proper drawer, contains anything you can think of and quite a few things you probably couldn't. This includes their own clothes: "You could find anything in a wizard's pocket - peas, unreasonable things with legs, small experimental universes, anything..." Lords and Ladies
  • In The Guardians, Guardians and demons have "caches" to which they can vanish and retrieve items. Younger Guardians that grew up playing videogames actually call it a hammerspace.
  • In Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!, Jurgen's webbing and greatcoat seem to contain an infinite amount of ration bars, tanna, and various helpful objects like goggles.
  • In Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive series, Shardblades automatically go into Hammerspace when dropped or otherwise separated from their owner, unless he or she wills otherwise when releasing them. The owner can resummon the Blade at will. This is a necessary feature as they are both really huge and incredibly valuable. This feature ensures that you have to kill somebody to take the Blade against their will and seeing as said Blades are able to cut through all normal armour effortlessly, and kill anything in one hit to boot.....
  • In traditional Chinese folklore, many powerful people essentially had sleeves that could store everything. Being trapped in one was generally a sign that you were screwed.
  • In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hermione uses the magic Hammerspace spell (an 'Undetectable Extension Charm') to put a ton of books and other stuff into her beaded purse. Including a large picture frame, which is larger than the purse itself. Amazingly enough, it isn't heavy to her at all.
  • In the Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster, an anthro turtle wizard named Clothahump has drawers that pull out of his chest that he uses to store various spell components.
  • In the Deathstalker series, when Owen travels back to the mythical First Empire, he discovers that wealthy people of the time can buy bodies just like clothes. These bodies are stored away in subspace and be donned in a split second. You can have bodies for riot control, combat, courtly occasions, sex, etc.
  • In a Doctor Who Expanded Universe novel, the Doctor lands on a planet which follows cartoon rules and is inhabited Expys of many well-know cartoon characters. Towards the end the Doctor uses the rules of the world to produce a custard pie gun (an appropriate weapon for the Doctor) from Hammerspace to disable the bad guy.
  • Zed from The Sword of Truth series has a wizard's closet, though it is only mentioned once, early in the first book.

Live-Action TV

  • The Hammerspace nature of the Doctor's pockets on Doctor Who is well-established.
    • In the spin-off novel The Dying Days, after being pushed out of a plane in flight he survives by using the contents of his pockets to improvise a parachute.
    • At a crucial moment "The Runaway Bride", the Doctor produces a remote control to stop the robots that are attacking them. "Guess what I've got, Donna? Pockets!" he says, and when Donna says that the remote control wouldn't fit, he adds, "They're bigger on the inside." So is the TARDIS, of course.
    • A regular feature of the classic series was the Doctor being captured and hauled before some malevolent middle-management Mook, who would inevitably order him to "Turn out your pockets." One of the novels even refers to them being a "pocket dimension".
    • Captain Jack is able to pull a concealed gun despite having his clothes disintegrated off his body just a moment before. He does imply that it's best not to ask exactly where he pulled it from.
  • The Canadian comedy series The Red Green Show used Hammerspace in the Adventures with Bill sequences where Bill would often pull impossibly large items out of his overalls. Some examples include oars and a ten-foot ladder.
  • All That - Baggin' Saggin' Barry has whatever you need at any given time in his oversized pants, up to and including Abraham Lincoln.
  • On a 12th season episode of the British automobile Magazine Show Top Gear, presenter Jeremy Clarkson seems to pull a hammer out of nowhere in order to demonstrate how sturdy the body of a Soviet-built Lada is.
  • An episode of WWE saw Triple H, known for carrying around a sledgehammer to clobber his foes with, facing off with Randy Orton holding a sledgehammer. Orton suggested they both drop their weapons and just go at it like men. Triple H agreed, both men ditched the hammers they were carrying, and then, after stepping into the ring and removing his jacket, HHH pulled another full-sized sledgehammer out from behind his back and proceeded to chase Orton away. Now, yes, obviously in real life, the second hammer was concealed behind his back the entire time, held by a special rig, but the fact that someone managed to (in Kayfabe) use Hammerspace on a live television program was impressive.
    • Beneath the ring could somewhat count as everything including a kitchen sink has been pulled out from under the ring. Within kayfabe, the character Hornswogle even lives under the ring.
    • Apparently, so do a bunch of similarly sized people. At first, it was just a joke by JBL, but then after being sued by Hornswogle, DX has to go under the ring and not only find a full sized courtroom, but a building! So yes, in kayfabe, under the ring is officially Hammerspace.
    • It's just a TARDIS. Vince is clearly just The Master.
  • Stephen Colbert's C-shaped desk is only ever shown from the front, which allows a ridiculous amount of junk to be pulled out of hidden cupboards as the plot calls for it. Notable items include a phone, a fax machine, his gun Sweetness, the Big Red Button, a pitchfork, a suitcase, John Oliver, at least two skulls, a variety of Prescott Pharmaceuticals products, Rahm Emanuel's severed finger, a secret prison (now closed), a pyramid (incomplete), a green room housing Michel J. Fox, a giant washing machine, a Foot Locker, a Starbucks, and another Starbucks. This in turn has given substantial credibility to the theory that Colbert is a Time Lord.
    • Lampshaded when Jon Stewart dropped by with an edifying videotape. "Let me just pop this into the part of my desk that plays VHS tapes..."
    • In the 2008 presidential primaries season, Mr Colbert interviewed the candidate Dennis Kucinich, who pulled an amazing amount of stuff out of his suit, including a full teacup.
  • Freshman sidekick Jerry Steiner on Parker Lewis Can't Lose had a trench coat with this property. Also, everything stored within was held in place by Velcro.
  • Constantly happening in Blakes Seven due to the tight-leather outfits of the heroes. In one episode Dayna uses a small robot bomb on wheels, despite not teleporting down with any form of bag or container to hold it.
  • In Skins, this is the only place Emily can possibly be hiding the Distraction Cake. In order to defuse an awkward situation at a party, she says "Hey, look what I made!" - and produces, from seemingly nowhere, a two-foot wide chocolate gateau.
  • Lampshaded in a NBC promo for Chuck where Sarah pulls out hidden weapons.
  • Power Rangers does this sometimes. Rangers are eternally calling the name of a weapon, and then the scene will them change to them raising it as if they had it all along. Explicit teleportation of weapons happens just often enough to make it the logical explanation. And then there are the occasional cases where a character goes gets an item, is then not seen with the item, but does the "jump-cut to them raising it to use" trick. Apparently, you have to procure an item in real space to be able to retrieve it from your personal hammerspace.
  • In one episode of Bones, Brennan—dressed up as Wonder Woman for a mandatory costume party—suddenly has her (big) gun drawn while she and Booth enter a building where a hostage is being tortured. Booth's response is "Where'd you even find a place to hide that?" to her apparent use of Hammerspace.
  • The Scooby Gang from Buffy the Vampire Slayer spent six years without any of them owning a cell phone, a piece of technology that would have made their lives both easier and considerably safer. They finally got cell phones in Season 7, but many of Buffy's outfits involved pants and skirts without pockets. As a result, there's at least one occasion when Buffy reaches out of frame and her hand reappears with her phone in it, but the wider shot shows that there's really no logical place for it to have come from.
  • Kamen Rider does it, most prominently in the seasons where the Riders' powers are tech-based. Two stand-out examples:
    • Kamen Rider IXA's Transformation Trinket is a knuckle device that docks into the belt, but for all intents and purposes the knuckle is the only part that matters. On several occasions, the knuckle is stolen, which allows whoever stole it to become IXA, with the belt just being on their waist with no explanation (as opposed to Kiva's, which does have a special effect for appearing around his waist).
    • Kamen Rider Double's trinket is similarly two-part, consisting of a belt and memory sticks-like devices that allow form changes. The two individuals who become Double each hold onto three of the six Memories, but when they transform, all six end up with Double who pulls them out of thin air to change forms. Kamen Rider OOO, which has even more transformation trinkets (coin-like objects) than Double, subverts this by the main characters needing to have the many Medals carried around in large containers or by a second party to switch them in and out (for Core Medals) or to resupply (for Cell Medals).
    • Kamen Rider Fourze is a very straight example, as the main character will have a total of 40 switches by series end to allow for different weapons and forms, and already pulls them completely out of thin air when in a fight.
      • Mission Control actually carries a briefcase which can hold up to 10 Switches at a time. However, when he first transformed into his Super Mode, the same case managed to release ALL the Switches, so it's still played straight. As for the Modules that are produced by the Switches themselves, it was mentioned that they are actually a manifestation of Cosmic Energy.
    • In multiple series (including Double and Kamen Rider Den-O), the Riders de-transform simply by unbuckling their belts...which subsequently disappear along with the rest of the costume. And yet the belts and all associated items reappear in the heroes' hands whenever they need to change.
  • Kramer's apartment on Seinfeld
  • Often invoked to explain where Immortals produce their swords from in Highlander. There's a running fanwank about 'swordspace' in their longcoats or other clothing.
  • The first episode of Wednesday features the anti-heroine performing a dramatic cello solo on the balcony of her dorm room; when she finishes, Enid walks onto the balcony, wondering - among other things - how Wednesday managed to bring such an instrument to the dorm in her luggage.

Music

Tabletop Games

  • Toon is already mentioned above, with its 'Back Pocket'.
  • Dungeons & Dragons has the Portable Hole and the Bag of Holding. Along with Heward's Handy Haversack, a backpack version of the Bag Of Holding
    • Sadly, with the advent of 4e, the Portable Hole is no longer any form of Hammerspace, it's simply a portable hole. You apply it to a surface, and it makes a hole in it. You take it off, the hole goes away. You can't store anything in them any more.
  • Old "Deeppockets" spell allows this trick for a day or so, using one's garb. All these things are safe only until someone tries to stuff them into each other, though.
  • Teenagers From Outer Space being an Animesque comedy game, has Hypedimensonal Hammers, Hyperspace Handbags, interdimensional car trunks, Popcorn Grenades (a softball sized device that creates a mountain a mile high of popcorn), and other bigger inside-than-out storage ideas.
  • As mentioned above, Exalted has an extradimensional space known as "Elsewhere." There are several Charms that allow the Exalted to store their armor or weapons in Elsewhere and recall them at a moment's notice. A comic in one sourcebook has a mad inventor invent a device that will take him to Elsewhere, so that he can steal everyone's unguarded valuables... only to find out when he gets there that he can't move.
    • And later appeared as a background gag in Keychain of Creation when Marena was explaining Elsewhere to Secret. The title of that page was even "Check Oadenol's Codex", which was the sourcebook mentioned above.
  • The roleplaying game Tales from the Floating Vagabond has the Trenchcoat Schtick, which operates in the same way for small and medium items, but only if someone says something along the lines of "Oh, if only we had [insert name of small- or medium-sized item here]!"
  • Warhammer 40,000 even manages to make this trope horrible with the Obliterators. Chaos Marines (most likely former Techmarines) are infected with a virus from the Warp, which already has Really Bad Idea written all over it. As a result they are not only permanently fused to their armour and weapons, but can spontaneously spawn any weapon they desire and an infinite ammunition supply for the weapon, including-but-not-limited-to the ammunition-devouring Assault Cannon and the massive Lascannon. The entire experience is noted as being exceptionally painful.
  • One of the Maid Powers in the Animesque Maid RPG is Weapon From Nowhere, which does Exactly What It Says on the Tin: it lets your maid PC make surprise attacks by pulling her Weapon of Choice out of nowhere.
  • In Nomine supplement Superiors I: War & Honor. The Archangel Laurence's Servitors have an Attunement called "Scabbard" that can hold an unlimited number of personal weapons.

Theatre

  • In Shakespeare's Othello, during the eponymous character's final scene, he pulls out weapon after weapon, as if from hammerspace.

Video Games

  • Many third person games do this -- Grand Theft Auto, Zelda, etc. Any game in which the character has an extensive inventory.
    • Chibi-Robo pokes a little fun with this, actually having characters occasionally comment on his ability to store objects larger than himself (he's only a few inches tall and about the shape of a bolt) in his body and then retrieve them later as needed. Somewhat ironic, though, is that although he's not limited in the number of different items he can carry, there is a limit to the quantity of each item.
  • Link from the The Legend of Zelda games has gotten quite a lot of debate going about just where he puts all those swords, bigger swords, bows and arrows, slingshots, pointy sticks, nuts, boomerangs, bombs, chickens, extra clothes, fairies, instruments, fishing poles, masks, metal boots, and most importantly to this topic, hammers. In his hat maybe?
    • Almost Every Zelda game arsenal includes a "heavy"-type weapon...usually a hammer. Except for in Twilight Princess, when he carries a ridiculously enormous ball and chain which slows him down considerably while he's carrying it in his arms, but somehow has no effect once he's put it back into hammerspace. He also gets a pair of heavy Iron Boots, which allow him to walk on the bottom of the water.
      • Hand Waved in Twilight Princess by Midna storing them magically. If she can pick up a giant slab of rock and store it for later use, she can store a ball and chain, and heavy boots.
    • From The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time onward, his typical animation for pulling something from the inventory is reaching behind him. If he's wearing a shield, it looks like he's reaching underneath it, but once his shield is gone, he simply reaches behind him and the object appears in his hand.
    • He can produce bombs bigger than his head by simply raising his hands in the air; in the Nintendo 64 games, he either never even bothered to reach back and grab one, or it was done so fast you didn't even notice. He can hold, unencumbered, up to 50 of those things... somewhere.
    • Apparently he keeps them in very limited extra-dimensional "bomb bags," which only bombs can fit into and which activate and teleport their contents into his hands whenever he raises them above his head. You don't want to be standing next to this guy in a crowd doing "the wave!"
    • And this isn't restricted to Link. In The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask, the Mask Salesman pulls a pipe organ out of thin air to teach you the Song of Healing.
      • The fanfic Free as the Wind handwaves this by repeatedly referring to the Links' magic pouches, which they keep under their shields. It's the most logical explanation a human being can come up with, sadly.
    • Another common fan theory: just as the Triforce of Power grants nigh invulnerability to the holder, and the Triforce of Wisdom grants increased magical aptitude, the Triforce of Courage, along with instant proficiency with any weapon the holder touches, also grants access to a pocket dimension where the Links in the Chain keep all their stuff. Still doesn't explain the Links who never wielded the Triforce of Courage...
  • Several fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series use this. Peach in particular has a parasol, a tennis racket, a frying pan, a golf club, teacups, and TOAD, that all come out of nowhere.
    • Peach somehow manages to turn the entire stage into her own personal hammerspace as she pulls humongous radishes out of anything she can stand on, including ice and ultra-thin floating platforms.
    • Snake manages to produce a range of rocket launchers, grenades, trip mines, and a mini-helicopter Surveillance CYPHER from absolutely nowhere. In an Easter Egg CODEC conversation with Otacon, Otacon points this out. When Snake mentions Link's ability to carry inventory (and how he thinks it would weigh him down), the conversation ends on something to the effect of:

Otacon: Uh... I wouldn't be talking if I were you
Snake: Oh? And why's that?
Otacon: I don't know. You tell me, "Mr. Utility Belt".

    • There's also Mario's cape, DK's bongo's, Kirby's sword, hammer, and any weapon based powers he picks up, Olimar's Pikmins, King Dedede's army of Waddle Dees, Doos and Gordos. But the ultimate example has to be Wario who can pull out a motorcycle. And then eat it. And then pull out another. Rinse and repeat.
    • "Mr. Game & Watch": Every single one of his attacks has him pulling out something, except for his Final Smash and one of his taunts.
  • In Kingdom of Loathing certain adventures involve the character "using an item he didn't know he had; and no longer has after" to either solve a problem or ward off an attack.
    • The message you get when you summon a Boba Fettucini in combat: "pew pew pew!" <name> shouts excitedly, drawing a laser pistol from some spiritual dimension of necessity. "kill kill kill! pew pew pew!".
  • In the Disgaea series, one of Rozalin's signature moves involves reaching into her rather large gown, whipping out a minigun and shoot down enemies.
  • In Halo: CE and its sequel Halo 2, whenever the player has two weapons, only one weapon will appear on the character (in this case in his hands) while the other weapon does not seem to be anywhere on the player, as the player's armor does not seem to have any visible pockets or straps for weapons. In Halo 3, both weapons appear on the player, one in the player's hands and the other either on his back or on his thigh. This can be used to the enemy's advantage as it makes you easily identifiable as a bigger threat if you carry a big weapon (for example, fittingly, the Gravity Hammer).
  • The first three generations of Pokémon games originally gave the main characters backpacks that hold a finite amount of items, with excess items having to be deposited in the main character's PC storage box (which itself may qualify). Pokémon Diamond and Pearl abandoned this by giving the heroes backpacks with infinite storage space, even though their backpacks don't look any bigger than the ones previous characters had. Though all of them can somehow hold things as large as bicycles. The bicycle thing is handwaved in later games by describing the bikes in question as being collapsible. (Even if this were the case, one would be hard-pressed to fit anything else into a pack of that size once the bike was in there.) In the games, items are found in Poké Balls. Some people take this as an explanation for the Bag's large storage space and how item storage works.
  • The Sonic the Hedgehog series uses this often, most notably for Amy's hammer.
    • In Sonic Unleashed, Exposition Fairy Chip is able to produce endless amounts of chocolate, each bar bigger than he is, out of thin air. Furthermore, he offers one to everyone he meets.
    • Lampshaded in Sonic Generations when Classic Tails asks where Classic Sonic puts all the rings, to which Modern Tails cannot answer, having not asked himself.
  • Zone of the Enders handwaves this trope by means of suggesting that 'metatron', a principle material in the series, can expand, contract, and generates pockets of spacetime called Vector Traps more or less at the user's will. This makes it a convenient place to store a vast array of weaponry, which you accumulate throughout both games.
  • The unique element abilities of many, many Chrono Cross characters thrive on this trope.
  • In Day of the Tentacle, when Doctor Fred walks out of one door, then minutes later after Bernard solves a puzzle appears out of a different door when the only way to get from one door to the other is to pass through the room Bernard has been in the whole time, he asks "How did you get over there?" without receiving a response. This was a sort of Lampshade Hanging on how older adventure games often wouldn't keep track of where NPCs were continuously, but have them just appear in response to events and not be able to be found otherwise.
    • Similarly, the player characters in Day of the Tentacle show off their dimensional pockets on numerous occasions. Particularly Bernard, who pulls a crowbar out of his pants pocket a few times, and stores away a considerable length of hanging rope by giving it a yank and holding his pocket open while the entire thing just falls in.
  • The Space Quest series of adventure games has various jokes about all the inventory being carried around. One particular favourite example is near the beginning of Space Quest 3 when the in-game text reads "You take the 40 foot ladder and put it in your pocket. Ouch."
    • Gary Owens betted Roger couldn't fit a plank in His pocket during SQVI
    • In SQII "You take the plunger with you, boy these adventure game hero's know how to pack"
  • The King's Quest series (produced by Sierra, like Space Quest) Lampshaded the character's unlimited inventory in the official hint books by including the question "Where does my character keep all that stuff?" The answer: "The same place Superman keeps his street clothes when he flies."
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: when CJ and Ryder go out to steal ammunition from various sources, CJ notes that the truck they're driving appeared from nowhere and the fact that it wasn't on Ryder's 'curb when it showed up. Ryder tells him to chill. He says his homies brought it over during the previous scene and that CJ didn't notice because Ryder's homies are like ninjas.
  • Used in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, when talking to a fisherman whose pipe was constantly being shifted from his mouth to his hand while he gestured. At one point of the conversation, he ends up with a pipe in both mouth and hand, and one of the possible lines at this point is "Hey, where did that second pipe come from?" If chosen, the fisherman quickly reverts to his default sprite, looks around shiftily, and replies "What pipe?"
  • All point'n'click adventure games had this to an extent or another, because of the technical limitations of the medium preventing these games from having the hundreds of thousands of sprites necessary to represent your character holding any combination of inventory items you can have. So it's usually treated humorously instead.
    • In Simon the Sorcerer, Simon puts everything he picks up in his pointy hat, including a ladder.
    • A particularly humorous Lampshade is hung in Space Quest VI: The Spinal Frontier, when Roger attempts to pick up an optional (and useless) 2x4 piece of wood. The Lemony Narrator bets that you can't fit it in your pants, then goes on to theorize that they are truly bottomless after you prove him wrong.
      • Also lampshaded in Space Quest III: "You take the ladder and jam it in your pocket. Ouch!"
      • Space Quest V also makes mention about how all the items you carry do nothing to aid the unimpressive bulge in your pants.
    • In Leisure Suit Larry 2, Larry wonders how he's going to pick up a glass which stands half his height and is full of liquid besides. The game then says, "Ah, shucks! This isn't real life... just an incredible simulation!" and lets him stuff it into his pocket "along with everything else." The scene in which he shoves the vessel into his leisure suit jacket is even animated.
    • In the Discworld games, where Rincewind can only carry two items whereas the Luggage (being a Bag of Holding) can carry an unlimited amount.
  • Parodied in the bow stringing animation in RuneScape, where you are seen pulling a bow out of your pants, stringing it, then putting it back.
  • In all of the Crash Bandicoot games that have the Bazooka. This cannon, that is larger than Crash himself, is kept in his back pocket.
  • Most games where you can put away your weapon have this. Also, sometimes the weapon is longer than the character.
    • A specific example of this is in Silent Hill 2, where James can at one point pick up a massive "Great Knife" which is about as large as he is tall. He can only barely move while dragging the giant thing behind him, and actually swinging it is a painfully long process - put it away in your inventory, though, and he can run around happily as normal.
  • Used in Zork: Grand Inquisitor, when in the middle of the eventure, AFGNCAAP pulls out a huge vacuum cleaner. Dungeon Master Dalboz remarks "Just where were you keeping that?"
  • In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, this, and the use of hammerspace in general, is Lampshaded when Goombella wonders where enemies like Hammer Bros and Lakitus keep their endless supply of projectiles.
  • In a truly fantastic Phoenix Wright scene, Matt Engarde manages to pull a glass of cognac from Hammerspace while in prison just for the purposes of swirling it evilly.
    • Less awesome but still notable is Maxamillion Galactica's ability to throw a bunch of cards from his apparently bare hand. While this is reasonable given that he's a magician, after the sixth or seventh time you wonder exactly how he got all of them up his sleeve.
    • Trucy from Apollo Justice is also a magician, and we are told in the second case that she has been known to pull a tyre out of her underwear.
  • The Bound Weapon spells in The Elder Scrolls boil down to pulling an Infinity+1 Sword from Hammerspace.
    • In Oblivion, you can have an infinite number of items on your person and it won't show unless you equip them. A bit of a Bag of Holding example, except without the bag. (Each item does have a weight, and you can't walk with more than X pounds in your Hammerspace, but you can still hold it.)
  • Planescape: Torment:
    • The Nameless One, is a hulking brute of a man; he has twenty inventory slots that can fit sledgehammers, human skulls, books, and other sundry items. He manages to lug around his massive arsenal of knives, Eldritch Tomes, spare arms and so on despite wearing nothing more than a loincloth and animal-bone belt.
    • Morte, a supporting character, has the same twenty slots as the Nameless One has. He's a floating human skull. Hammerspace is the only reasonable excuse.
    • The scantily clad Annah, not-quite-so-scantily clad Fall-From-Grace, the Modron Nordom (living cube on stilts for the heathen masses), and Ignus who is on FIRE, yet still manages to store scrolls.
  • In zOMG, the Kokeshi Dolls are small animated toys that wander around Zen Gardens, apparently unarmed. But if you make one of them angry they proceed to pull an giant bladed fan from nowhere, then they throw it at you. Then they pull another one out of thin air and repeat the process.
  • When threatened the pimps (dressed like pimps) from True Crime takes out a small gun, and the hookers (dressed like hookers) takes out large rifles...
    • Similarly in Total Overdose, when confronting a mobster in a jacuzzi with two bikini-molls, they all draw assault rifles.
  • The Keyblade from Kingdom Hearts, as one of its inherent abilities, can truly be summoned out of thin air (or out of someone else's hands) whenever its wielder needs it. According to Word of God, later installments even added an effect for each time Sora drew his keyblade from Hammerspace. Other weapons in the series like Riku's Soul Eater, which technically IS a Keyblade, also seem to operate on this principle.
    • In Birth By Sleep, the three protagonists have entire suits of armor in hammerspace. These are summoned by a sharp rap on their shoulder guards, and apparently replace the character's normal clothing. Terra's armor in particular shows a very nice view from behind, especially compared with his usual hakama (massive pleated Japanese pants). The Organization's weapons can be summoned like this, too.
    • Every character that sees combat is to some level a magician, and that teleportation is really common in the series.
  • The Pandora Directive, like most adventure games, ignores this most of the time, with items you click on going into inventory magically. At one point you do this with a 15-foot bamboo pole and are carrying it around in some unknown manner. However, parts of the game are full motion video, and the designers decided to have a little bit of fun, so when you need to use the pole, you are treated to the video of Tex Murphy absurdly pulling a 15-foot pole out from under his trenchcoat and then using it.
  • Resident Evil 2. Mobile hammerspace. Excess inventory is stored in various identical crates around the game world. No attempt is made to explain how putting an item in a box in a cop office allows it to show up in the sewage substation office. The "stash" in Diablo II functions in much the same way. In the case of multiplayer mode, this results in two or more characters accessing different inventories from the same box.
    • Found in Resident Evil 4, for any weapon wielding zombie. If you shoot their weapon out of their hand, they will pull out another one, no matter how many times you do it. Interesting case with Leon's attaché case. The case actually has limited space and has to be upgraded to carry more stuff. However, the case is never visible during gameplay (and you still run into a rocket launcher along the way).
  • Justified or hand-waved in a scene in Tales of the Abyss wherein Jade pulls his spear out of nowhere to ward off a surprise attack. Luke asks him where the spear came from, and he replies that he uses magic to keep it in his arm.
  • Yukari Yakumo, from the Touhou series, possesses/has access to a literal Hammerspace in the form of the her "gaps", tears in reality which she uses to travel and store/transport any item she desires, most notably several grave stones, enemy projectiles, traffic signs, and a train.
    • While Sakuya Izayoi is far less proficient, she uses her ability to mess with space-time to manifest her own Hammerspace pocket in which to store her ludicrous amount of knives, also using her power to stop time to retrieve them. (Some fans have stated that it's the same knife, being in multiple places at the same time.)
    • Suika Ibuki's treasured magical gourd, which never gets empty of sake. It's sometimes speculated what would happen if someone ever managed to set fire to its inside. This was explained in one of the official manga about the 3 fairies: Her gourd is soaked in the extract of a newt-like creature that produces an incredible amount of sake from a little bit of water.
  • Tomb Raider certainly fell under this. OK, so Lara can hold her signature pistols in her hip holsters and she carries her two handed weapon by attaching it to her backpack, but whenever you switch out weapons, like the Uzis or the Shotgun, the weapons occupying the space before it just magically vanish to make room for the new weapons drawn. One could argue that her backpack carries everything, but it seems silly how Lara can stuff 6+ guns with extra bullets, medi-packs, and flares in that tiny backpack.
    • Furthermore, Lara's hammerspace is such that any items collected in the games merely have to be placed in the general proximity of her backpack to be stored - not once do we see her actually place something inside her bag. This is referenced in the film, where keen-eyed viewers will see Angelina Jolie do the same thing with a piece of the triangle.
  • In the game Battle for Wesnoth Hammerspace is invoked frequently, and this is indeed acknowledged by the developers.
  • In The Pink Panther: Passport to Peril, a number of things can be carried by the Panther in pockets that he just opens in his skin/suit, and that can hold everything from a bag of chips to a fishing rod, a katana, a cup of coffee (still hot) and a live, termite-stuffed anteater.
    • It get's even more extreme in the sequel, The Pink Panther: Hocus Pocus Pink, in which he is able to put a complete Mammoth in his pocket (although he does require the help of a clown to do so).
  • Mega Man protagonists can hold and pull out a suspicious number of tanks and other miscellaneous items considering they're all in spandex, with no pockets to speak of.
    • They also regularly shoot objects from their Mega Busters that are larger than could possibly fit through the aperture, including sawblades, bombs, and a boxing glove (?). Justified in that proper scale would be too hard to see.
    • Rush and Eddie could be considered mobile Hammerspace, in that they can fit objects that shouldn't, by rights, fit inside their bodies.
  • Lampshaded in the second Ratchet and Clank. The commentator for arena battles occasionally questions where Ratchet is carrying his weapons.
  • In Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Ino Yamanaka's ultimate attack includes her taking out poisoned bouquets from behind her. Where she gets them is questionable, she doesn't have back pockets.
  • Lampshaded by Valve on one of their fake websites for Team Fortress 2 which offers, among other ridiculous services: "Lower total loadout weight by providing your staff with Hammerspace? Technology (patent pending) to keep supplies and tactical items out of the way, yet still within reach."
    • The Engineer's Sentry Gun proves a most curious example. It starts off the size of a toolbox, expands and builds itself, can be upgraded two more levels beyond its first form (with two of any other weapon, be it massive minigun or puny pistol), and holds more than its visible share of ammo. On command, the sentry gun can reduce itself to the size of same toolbox. The toolbox itself comes from Hammerspace, while the subsequent levels of compaction are probably best explained as "Wrenchspace".
  • Taokaka from BlazBlue can store multiple items within the sleeves of her coat, including (but not limited to) her trademark metal blades, a bowling ball, fish bones, a different set of serrated blades, apple cores, baseballs, books, a Kaka clan child (the throwing of which earns you a Trophy/Achievement) and dinner set among other things.
    • Noel Vermillion is no exception to this rule, given the way she summons Arcus Diabolus: Bolverk, as well as her Zero-Guns, Fenrir and Thor, which both disappear after use.
    • The DLC character Platinum the Trinity is a shining example of this. Her Drive attack allows her to summon a variety of items, such as a frying pan, a paper fan, a 16 ton hammer, a giant kitty, bombs, missiles, and a bat.
  • The referee during the speed slice event in Wii Sports Resort. He pulls a bunch of random items out of nowhere (and all of them are huge) for you to slice, such as bread, sushi, candles, screens, bamboo, watermelons, oranges, diamonds, cakes, eggs, and the electronic timers used for power cruise event.
  • Jess from Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis has a handbag, frequently Lampshaded, from which she can pull anything, of any size, of any dimensions, at any given time. Including other characters. And yet, I bet she still can't find a tampon when she needs one.
  • The Hammer Brothers from the Super Mario Bros. series.
  • In City of Heroes, every weapon, whether on a hero or villain, is stored in hammerspace. The animation of pulling it out involves the character reaching behind his back and the weapon materializing out of thin air. This can range from a pair of knives (reasonable) to a war mace almost as tall as (or taller than) the player
    • And those few characters who do have a weapon visible will inexplicably draw a second, identical weapon from Hammerspace.
  • In Left 4 Dead The Tank is capable of pulling a sizable chunk of concrete out of the ground, regardless of where he is, such as a metal walkway.
  • In Left 4 Dead 2 players can now replace pistols with melee weapons such as bats and swords and chainsaws. The downside is you lose your pistol sidearms. Yet if you get incapacitated, you somehow manage to whip out a pistol to blast the infected with whilst on the floor.
  • Some of the Mortal Kombat characters have weapons that they don't always carry, including Shao Kahn's hammer and Kitana's fans, as well as every fighter in most of the 3D games.
  • In Fallout 3, the Pip-Boy must come with some sort of pre-war super-storage compartment because the thousands of bullets, half a dozen outfits, sack of drugs, The Terrible Shotgun and all those holotapes must be on the Lone Wanderer's person somewhere.
  • World of Warcraft gives characters lots of bags to store stuff in, but the question of how, physically, a person would lug around entire sets of armor, dozens of weapons, hundreds of potions, etc., remains unanswered. An attempt at justifying this was actually made for pets and mounts, whose inventory items are supposedly devices used to summon them rather than the creatures themselves; otherwise you'd be carrying around a half dozen horses (or kodos!) in your pack in addition to all those weapons. Also interesting is the graphical display of weapons, which do actually appear on the character's back or belt, but when swapped (say, for a wand or ranged weapon) vanish back into hammerspace. Occasionally the flavor text for particularly incongruous items will refer to this, including some large boulders which the player has to collect an entire set of which say, "Probably best not to think about how you're carrying several of these."
  • In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, we have no idea where Bowser's Goomba, Koopa, and Bob-omb minions hang out, he just hoists a huge ball of them right before he uses special attacks in battle. A huge ball of minions, bigger than he is. Presumably they always travel with him in the same way that a large party of characters in an RPG only shows up as one character on the world map.
  • Eternal Sonata has the typical Hammerspace for weapons, but no one knows where Beat's camera comes from. He just turns around, rummages through the air, and...poof! There it is!
  • MadWorld's central character Jack has what appears to be a telescopic chainsaw attached to his bionic right forearm. Where the blade (and more importantly, the chain) of said saw goes to whenever it retracts is unclear. Rule of Cool clearly applies.
  • Toontown Online has the Gag Pouch, which soon becomes the Gag Backpack. The Gag Pouch holds 20 gags, and will soon upgrade to 50 gags once you get the Gag Backpack. What's funny is that you never actually see it. You're just told how much stuff is inside of it, and it gets even funnier when you store life-sized trains and opera singers inside of it.
  • Much like the Kingdom Hearts example above, everyone in Dissidia Final Fantasy can produce their weapon of choice from thin air at any time, complete with a flash of light when it appears. This gets a little ridiculous when you play as Bartz, who constantly summons and dismisses the other characters' weapons as he fights. The sole exception seems to be Firion, who is explicitly shown to be carrying his sword, axe, bow, daggers, etc. on his person at all times.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • In every Final Fantasy title before Final Fantasy VII, playable characters are never shown wielding their weapons, and they only appear when using the "Attack" command. This might be fine for daggers or even swords if you pretend the sprite has a sheath too small or blurry for human eyes to see, but where exactly do they hide a 5-foot-staff?
    • Edgar's "Tools" in Final Fantasy VI.
    • Any Final Fantasy title with the "Throw" command.
    • Any Final Fantasy title that has no limits on how many items you can hold. Even if each character is holding 33 of everything, that's still a whole lot of everything.
  • More recent[when?] Final Fantasy games that make no provision whatsoever for where the heroes put their weapons outside of battle.
    • Especially curious is Cloud's buster sword, which sometimes appears on his back, even on the field. A vast majority of the time, it's just pulled out of Hammerspace though. There's also no provision for how it actually stays on his back.
    • In some cutscenes of Final Fantasy VIII, Squall reaches behind his hip and takes out his sword from out of nowhere. It is implied from the animation that he's drawing the weapon from a sheath, but there's no sheath on either the character model in-game or in the actual CGI cutscenes. Squall also has a Gunblade Trumpet Case he is never seen using.
    • Final Fantasy X:
    • It was one of the later titles that brought back visible shields in the form of bracers and guards. These are presumably snugly tucked away in Hammerspace once the battle ends.
    • If the characters swap weapons during battle, they seem to literally do this - they just reach off to one side a little, the old weapon disappears, and the new one appears. Makes as much sense as anything given the number of weapons you can end up carrying by the end of the game.
    • Final Fantasy XI:
    • It does this with all ranged weapons. Players reach behind their backs and a gun, crossbow, or boomerang materializes. Even longbows, which can be half the size of the player avatar, are not visible unless they are currently in use. Humorously, while the ranged weapon is in use, melee weapons disappear.
    • There's also no explanation as to how players can carry something as large as a bookcase in their immediate inventory other than "Moogle Magic."
    • Noctis of Final Fantasy Versus XIII is sustained by this trope. Thus far, his only known power other than teleportation is pulling an armory out of Hammerspace, making him the series' first Hammerspacemancer. It's also the first time in the Final Fantasy series that this trope has been Justified.
  • Joshua of The World Ends With You can drop an Ice Cream truck on you, seemingly from out of nowhere, by dialing a number on his cellphone.
  • In Bayonetta, the main character pulls a massive chainsaw from the hammer space behind her to do a punishing move on the flying stingray-like enemies.
  • Somewhat justified in Mass Effect - thanks to omni-gel and omni-tools, mods for weapons can be constructed on the battlefield and installed with minimal difficulty. This doesn't account for larger items like weapons and armour. Mass Effect 2 dealt with the problem by removing the inventory altogether.
    • A very minor, almost unnoticeable example in the second game: no class other than Soldier actually carries the pistol visibly on their person. It is drawn from the same place as the SMG (the left hip), but the weapon there is always the SMG, and if you are wielding the SMG, the pistol is not seen.
    • The first game averts this by showing every character with their four guns (sniper rifle, shotgun, assault rifle, and pistol) carried in various places, despite the fact that nobody except Ashley (and sometimes Shepard) can use more than two of them effectively. Not completely, though. When you change your inventory, the new guns/armor appear out of Hammerspace to replace the old.
  • Justified in Borderlands - the player is pulling things out of a subspace compartment. The tech involved also explains why you're limited to specific number of items (which varies, depending on how many Backpack SD Us you've acquired) rather than weight.
  • Metal Gear Solid and the sequels tend to do this. Weapons and items just appear from midair when equipped; including assault rifles and missile launchers.
  • The character Malin from King of Fighters series takes out a hammer which its size is larger than herself out of nowhere for her leader desperation move. God knows where and how she is able to pull that off. Same goes for Oswald and his seemingly infinite deck of cards on him.
  • Dragon Quest series mostly avoid this. Most games' battle systems are first person view and each character only carry 12 items including your equipment. Since VI and the remakes, you have a bag that stores limitless items and equipment outside of battle. Your wagon and ship probably helps when traveling across continents with your inventory.
  • Prototype is sort of this in almost every way about Alex. Groundspikes and its devastator version that would require several Mercers worth of biomass. Possibly averted in that the devastator relies on excess biomass stored in Alex.
  • Minecraft's grid inventory allows the player to carry (and swim with!) up to 2304 cubic meters of stone, or 44'470 metric tons of gold, which equals 1.7 times the weight of the Titanic.
    • Even more if you consider the fact that chests can store just as much as the inventory. You can tear down a mountain and carry half of it with you, then stash the other half in a chest that takes up less than a cubic meter of space.
    • Taken Up to Eleven with the Ender Chest. Any item that is placed in one of these chests can appear in another Ender Chest no matter how far away the chests are or they're in completely different dimensions! On top of this, even if every Ender Chest placed in the world is destroyed, the items will still be in the hammerspace of the chest once you make a new Ender Chest.
  • Deus Ex is a first person game, but it has mirrors, so you can watch yourself pulling knives, rifles, or even rocket launchers out of your sleeve. Also, the rocket launcher is so big that you can barely move when wielding it (without training). Good thing you keep it in hammerspace.
  • Also "Animal Crossing" series, yes you are limited to 15 items in your inventory, but the doesn't explain how the you are able to stuff 15 pieces of large furniture in your pocket.
  • The Sims store various devices in Hammerspace, among them mops, screwdrivers, money and hand puppets.
  • The Sims 3 takes this above and beyond with the inventory system carrying everything from seeds to guitars to whole cars.
  • In Psychonauts, you can fit a stop sign, a dowsing rod, a gun, a plunger, a radio helmet, and several jarred brains inside a backpack roughly the size of your own torso.
  • The Dark Forces Saga makes plenty of use of hammerspace, but it's particularly blatant in Jedi Academy when the player character has to place demo charges - three large barrels of explosives appear out of nowhere. And there are always multiple charges to set...
  • Dark Souls has an unlimited inventory even without the Bottomless Box. Also, the only weapons that can be seen are the ones you currently have equipped, with the changes in equipment occurring out of thin air.
  • Maple Story uses this heavily as any given character can store numerous items away. Inventory space is limited to a number of given slots, broken down by category - equips, use items, etc items, "setup"(often limited to chairs and holiday decorations) and Cash Shop items. However, multiple copies of the same item can stack into one slot (with the exception of the equips - even identical copies of the same gear count as separate items) menaing that it's possible to have 100 potions or 1000 arrows in one slot. Extra slots are often added during job advances and additional slots can be purchased in the Cash Shop. Provided a player is willing to spend the money, they can expand storage so much that it may be impossible to reasonably fill it.
  • The MOTHER series almost subverts this. It IS used, but each character has a limited inventory space of 16 items, regardless of the item's size (an ATM card takes up as much room as a baseball bat). This limit includes items that each character has equipped. After accounting for a weapon, two pieces of armor and one protective item, your inventory per character is reduced to only 12 free spaces and certain items have to be carried throughout the game by at leats one character. Using healing magic over potions is common in this game.
  • Nethack has the plain old Bag of Holding for hoicking stuff around, but large boxes and chests are this trope; they can hold infinite amounts of anything (troll corpses fit in quite nicely, one of the best ways to get rid of the damn things; they'll even fit dragon and giant corpses). About the only things you can't put in a chest are yourself, pets (although Schroedinger's Cat can start off in one) and the genuine Amulet of Yendor.
  • Handwaved in Star Trek Elite Force with miniaturized Transporters.
  • APB Reloaded, especially the Criminals; each one carries a primary weapon, secondary weapon, 2 grenades, a handcuff key, brass knuckles, a slim jim, a crowbar, , a spraycan, bombs, a camera, a netbook, a supply crate, a gas can, a battering ram... Plus, the ability to carry 50 small objects (packages, harddrives, cellphones, etc). Enforcers have similar equipment, minus the gas can, bombs, and crowbars, but include a snub nose and handcuffs (for arresting), and paint sprayer.
  • Xenosaga characters have access to armored fighting suits (which double as small spaceships) called AGWS which they can summon at any point during a battle, completely out of nowhere. Two of the main female characters, Shion and KOS-MOS, use weapons in battle which are larger than they are and which they summon through some sort of dimensional folding process. (KOS-MOS is a battle android who looks like a teenaged girl: her weapons are inside her and fold out for use.)
  • From the Wii version of Punch Out, when Soda Popinski is hurt, he will pull out a bottle of soda and attempt to regain health with it. Also, when he's knocked down, he uses another to get up, something he can do 5 times before being KOed the 6th time. Seeing as he, being a boxer, is only wearing shorts, Hammerspace is the only explanation as to where he stores it.

Web Animation

  • Dead Fantasy Part II. Yuna reaches into her clothing and pulls out two ether bottles to revive an exhausted Tifa. They're so large that there's no way they could have fit in her clothing normally.
  • RWBY: Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie appear to keep their respective weapons in hammerspace—Ren in fact is shown "disappearing" his gunblades when gearing up for the Beacon Academy initiation.
    • In S1E14, Cardin Winchester apparently kept a large cardboard box of "rapier wasps" in hammerspace, because it's not seen until he reaches behind his back to bring it out.

Web Comics

  • In The Intrepid Girlbot, there's a "typical showdown" between hammerspace-capable robotic pets. No hammers shown, but they're armored too much for a hammer to do anything, anyway.
  • In this Comic you expected the boy to draw out a proposal ring, which would at least kinda make sense, but then he draws out a present bigger then his head...
  • In Flying Man and Friends, Mr. Stinky is able to produce (among other things) a gun out of nowhere, despite not wearing clothes or having a place to store anything.
  • In Narbonic, a hammer suddenly appears, and is met with the stock question and answer.
    • Also, Dave's cigarettes come from hammerspace. At one point before Dave didn't start smoking, Helen realized she was turning into Dave when a cigarette popped.
  • In Sluggy Freelance, despite wearing no clothes whatsoever, Bun-bun is always able to produce his switchblade at a moment's notice.
    • Gwynn likes to keep a baseball bat in impossibly small places like a cookie jar or her purse in case she needs to beat up Torg or Riff for being stupid.
    • Also Bun-bun's gun. Lampshaded when he was talking to Oasis (the gymnastic assassin).

Bun-bun: You know what, toots? You keep throwing your knives and stars at me, and I just gotta ask. (Pulls a gun out of nowhere.) Where do you keep all your weapons hidden?

  • This Dominic Deegan strip, brought to you by the Rule of Cool.
  • Although this example might be better described as Hyperspace Mallet, it deserves a spot here, if for no other reason than it formerly provided the trope image. El Goonish Shive has this comic where the Hyperspace Mallet is pulled out of Hammerspace, and this one where a scientist explains where the mallet came from.
    • Let us not forget that Susan has ability to turn realspace into her own personal Hammerspace thanks to magic powers.
  • In a couple more recent pages of Grim Tales from Down Below, Hammerspace has played a major role in the appearance of objects such as: An iron engraved with "STFU" on the side, a kettle with the word "FAG" on it in a similar vein, a ball gag, a cherry, a knife, a spontaneously changing outfit, and a paint ball gun. It's not as kinky as it sounds.
  • In Ozy and Millie, Ozy goes out in a cold snap before his winter coat comes in—the result is that it comes in all at once, leaving him extremely fluffy. Millie takes advantage of this to hide things in him, up to and including a piano.
  • Used frequently and by name by the weapon-happy Petra of Okashina Okashi (Strange Candy). She allows the other characters to store things there, mostly clothes, but she seems to be the only one of them who can access it.
  • Apparently plot-relevant in this Flipside strip.
  • Used by Carrie in Everyday Heroes, where she apparently hides her hammer in her ginormous head of Prehensile Hair.
    • And subverted here, where young superhero Summer explains that girls with super-strength aren't allowed to use hammers, since they might cause actual damage instead of comic damage. Instead, she has an alternate weapon: a flyswatter, which she uses to swat the offending young man on his fly.
  • Often used in Girly where Winter pulls out giant dildos and bazookas out of nothing, while Otra pulls out spaceships and her own armor with accommodating sword just like that. And one of their adversaries use the Hammerspace against them while referencing to this very trope. While using a hammer.
  • Half the equipment owned by The Order of the Stick (especially V's familiar) just appears out of nowhere. In the case of the familiar, this was to represent the way actual DnD players tend to forget their familiars even exist; on the other hand, Elan producing the Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity leaves far more questions.
  • This Daisy Owl comic lampshades it. "I am kind of alarmed at how quickly you just produced that pie."
  • In Brat Halla, Sif produces a war god's giant club from her purse when she thinks another woman is flirting with her unrequited crush.
  • Eddie from Emergency Exit makes good use of hammerspace on a regular basis.
  • Lampshaded with hilarity in this strip of DM of the Rings. "You don't have a backpack. What you have there is an invisible leather TARDIS."
  • Adventurers! lampshaded this (along with a similar trope) once or twice. The above quote was given after one of Eternion's lackeys pulled a sword from behind his back that his taller then him.

Eternion: This planet makes storage a snap.

  • Living With Insanity presents Hammertime.
  • In Roses and Thorns, scientist Joseph Umbra renamed hammerspace as "Umbral Science", after gaining a monopoly on the technology used to access it.
  • Once used with a literal hammer by Sheila in Kid Radd
  • Exterminatus Now brainstorms about it.
  • The Mansion of E features the Hammerspace Company who deals in extra-dimensional storage.
  • Doctor McNinja makes frequent use of a large grappling hook, but it is never seen on his person except when he throws it. The same applies for Sean when a grappling hook pops out of his hand (in the crapsack future, where he's become a "technomage" with a power glove.)

Web Original

  • In the Tales of MU, the nymph Amarath has a habit of putting unneeded items Away.
  • Played for Laughs in this edition of Ask Dr. Steel.
  • In the New York Magician series, Michel is able to pull a magical flintlock pistol out of the air by raising his arm like he's hailing a cab.
  • The Legend of Neil (a Legend of Zelda parody) inverts this then lampshades it. For the first few episodes Neil awkwardly carries everything (including bomb, bow, sword, shield, and the raft) until a secret Moblin teaches him how to use hammerspace.
  • Played Straight in Metafictionized Phlebotinum Poisoning, where Arthur explains that the angels get 'P.L.O.T. hole' lockers, which are just regular storage units, but with mini-portals attached. Also explains how he drew his sword out of nowhere. Tagino gets one in chapter seven, too.
  • Lampshaded in Four Swords Misadventures episode 7 when Green reacts with confusion when a drunken Red manages to use a hookshot on Dark Link after being inadvertantly woken up by him (he earlier passed out), with Blue asking Green "how should [Blue] know [where Red got the Hookshot]?" after Green asked him.
  • Parodied in one episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series: Melvin draws the previously invisible Millennium Rod from behind his back, saying:

"I will now use the Millennium Rod, which I keep clenched between my buttocks, to send this duel to the shadow realm!"

  • In the Whateley Universe, there's a character codenamed Mobius who makes utility belts with pouches that are about ten times bigger in each direction than they are on the outside. Phase has one that looks like it couldn't hold a postage stamp. He carries everything up to a touch Taser and throwing knives in it.
  • Characters in Lego Pirate Misadventures routinely pull guns, and in one case, a spear, out of nowhere.
  • In Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, after the eponymous character spends time walking around monologuing, he suddenly spins around and dramatically pulls out from under his lab coat a giant Death Ray that was quite clearly not actually under there before that point due to the way the coat hangs.[2]
  • In this Conroy Cat short where Conroy pulls out several items throughout the cartoon that will help him from stop falling.
  • Invoked by Daniel in "On The Couch", who hides large weapons in convenient places in Curly's house.
  • 80's Dan pulls random stuff out of his jacket.

Western Animation

Monty: Do you always carry a glass cutter around with ya?
Gadget: No, only when I wanna cut glass.

  • Considering Dora the Explorer is formatted in a style reminiscent to a point-and-click adventure computer game, the fact that Backpack is able to carry more than it can logically hold is a possible Homage to this trope. Its Spin-Off, Go, Diego, Go! also does this with its own inventory character, Rescue Pack.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • In episode "Fear of a Krabby Patty," a frantic, delusional SpongeBob gives Plankton just enough time to squeak out, "Hey where'd you get that piano?" Just before, well, you know.
    • Plankton did one of these himself in his debut, "Plankton!", offering SpongeBob a golden spatula in an attempt to get a Krabby Patty from him. "I've been keeping it in my...secret compartment. SHING! Sparkle-sparkle."
    • In "FUN" where he learned FUN from SpongeBob. He managed to hide the Krabby Patty in his pocket. How does he even have a pocket, let alone hide something bigger than himself.
  • Danny Phantom:
    • No matter how many times Tucker's PDA gets destroyed during the plot, he always has another one ready next time. In the 3rd episode, Sam asks him, "How many of those things do you have?"
    • Then there is the Fenton Thermos. Sure, sometimes Sam or Tucker will arrive on the scene just as Danny decides he needs one, and the animators may feel adventurous enough to show him carrying it on his back, but on most occasions this thing comes out of nowhere. It is unclear how many Fenton Thermoses the Fenton family actually owns. Considering the Fentons have a weapons vault, I think it's fair to assume that they have mass produced the Fenton Thermos. They are Crazy Prepared for ghosts, after all.
    • A strange variation of this happens with Danny's alter ego. In one episode, Danny walks out his front door with his backpack on and transforms into his ghost half to fly to school. The backpack just disappears (until he turns back into his human half, that is).
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • To complete his Sherlock Holmes routine in the Clear My Name episode, Sokka pulls a bubble pipe out of Hammerspace. Katara asks him, "Where did you get that?" A pretty valid question, as the show's sense of realism normally doesn't allow for cartoonish things of that nature.
    • Toph did something similar in "Bitter Work", pulling Aang's staff out from behind her back. A staff that's notably taller than her.
  • Sam & Max:

Sam: Hey, where do you keep that gun?
Max: None of your damn business, Sam.

    • Also a Running Gag from the original comic and throughout the adventure games.
  • Wreck-Gar in Transformers Animated has his trash bin, that functions as both Hammerspace and a "Pit of No Return". He can take many useful (and more useless) items from it, and things that are put in it seem to just disappear. Swindle's chest compartment does the same thing, except it canonically links to a hammerspace.
    • In Transformers parlance, hammerspace is known as subspace and is used for a number of things, including weapons storage and a place to shunt mass when transforming into something tiny (for instance, when Megatron becomes a gun). And yes, this is also where Prime's trailer goes. And long before being largely canonised as subspace, this mysterious dimension was actually known to many fans as "Trailerland".
    • Some continuities from different writers (mostly the comics) have been attempted to justify it with actual talk of mass shifting technology, but in the end it is just A Wizard Did It. The Transformers films did everything it could to avoid this, with appropriate vehicle modes to accomodate robot modes (with debate about Frenzy's head turning into a cell phone). In fact the All Spark as being capable of this was presented as a very unique and special thing it can do.
    • Cliffjumper in particular is known for his habit of pulling BFG's from nowhere.
  • In the cartoon series Popples, hammerspace is at their beck and call when they reach into the pouches on their backs, especially when the Rule of Funny is applied.
  • In Count Duckula, Nanny was able to produce any item from inside her sling.
  • Felix the Cat and his bag of tricks.
  • Duckman: When Cornfed reminds Duckman that everyone in town is working only a half-day (due to a civil defence drill that our antihero didn't hear about), Duckman says, "Ohhh, it's one of those days," and throws on—pulled out of nowhere and in a fraction of a second—an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jew's black hat, coat, and sidelocks. (Cornfed's response, just for the record: "Duckman, this isn't one of those days where you have to pretend you're Jewish.")
  • Abu the monkey from Aladdin has hammerspace inside his vest; he can hold any amount of stolen money, jewelry, fruit and the genie's lamp inside it.
  • During the second season of X-Men, after having lost his ultimate telepathic powers, Professor Xavier is able to produce weapons instantaneously in order to save Magneto, including a boomerang, and a spear!
  • Batman the Brave And The Bold: The Joker pulled a bazooka out of his pants.
  • Done countless times in Ed, Edd n Eddy, with examples being Kevin pulling out a bike from his pants in "See No Ed", Rolf pulling out a giant hammer out to hammer Double-D into the ground in "Momma's Little Ed" and in "A Fistfull of Ed" with Eddy pulling out hotdogs and eating them (the kids even start asking themselves where Eddy got all those hotdogs in the first place).
  • Curly's Funny Afro in The Harlem Globetrotters.
  • The Simpsons
    • Marge's hair appears to contain hammerspace, as she has retrieved various items from it. On one occasion whilst swaying from side to side doing exercises, each change in direction dropped a larger item out of her hair.
    • Krusty's small car can also transport several clowns, each wearing oversize footwear.
  • Phineas and Ferb, "The Chronicles of Meap", lampshades it when Candace calls out adorable alien Meap on "where he keeps all those pictures" he uses to communicate.

Doofenshirtz: You know, I find that in this particular reality, I can pull anything out from behind my back.

    • Similarly, Perry's hat simply appears and vanishes most of the time.
    • Many times, Agent P (Perry the Platypus when on duty) is able to retrieve items by reaching behind his back.
  • Referenced on Animaniacs during a Pirates of Penzance spoof (full text under "I Am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual").
  • Lampshaded in an episode of Timon and Pumbaa, where the title characters fall off a cliff and pull increasingly ludicrously large items—pianos, elephants, cruise ships—from behind their backs ("You never know what might happen to be just behind our backs!") while Rummage Failing for a parachute.
  • The characters in Shirt Tales were capable of pulling random items out from under their shirts until something useful popped up.
  • Courage the Cowardly Dog revels in this. At least five times in a single episode, characters will pull oversized items (giant mallets, giant masks, even loose change the size of frisbees) out of their pockets or from behind their backs. In fact, every cartoon Jon Dilworth has made does this.
  • The characters in the Men in Black Animated Adaptation series sometimes pulled some ridiculously large weapons from under their suit-coats. In one episode an MIB not only drew a large weapon for himself, but then pulled out another to toss to an unarmed comrade.
  • In Kiwi, the bird pulls out an actual hammer, plus nails, from seemingly nowhere.
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes makes frequent use of this, with one instance of Hammerspace Hair.
  • Shag from Road Rovers seems to have access to hammerspace inside his immense coat of fur. Colleen was even able to sneak into one of Parvo's bases hiding in his fur.
  • The Penguins of Madagascar, the Nickelodeon television show. Rico has a Stomach of Holding. Semi-normal when he barfs up a playing card, but very disturbing when he barfs up a stick of dynamite. And there have been times when he has, with ceremony, choked up items larger than himself.
  • In Futurama, Bender seems to posess a form of Hammerspace inside his chest cavity. It can usually hold any amount of stolen loot, and has occasionally held small children, and Fry. However, its limitations start to show when it comes to carrying around the stolen loot of a castle...

Bender: For the first time in my life, I feel like I've stolen enough...

    • Rico and Bender are both voiced by John Dimaggio, and both are morally deficient psychopaths with a form of stomach-space.
  • The Legend of Zelda cartoon answers the Link question in Video Games by giving him a Pouch of Holding.
  • In Dungeons And Dragons, Presto can pull all sorts of items out of his magic hat.
  • Lampshaded in Drawn Together when Wooldoor says he keeps things in his fanny so he can "pull them out for comedic effect".
  • Agent Six from Generator Rex keeps fold-out katanas in his sleeves. He also periodically produces throwing knives seemingly from thin air, but at least those are pocket-sized.
  • Gorga (the pet alien dog) from Zula Patrol has a Hammerspace up its nose! Or is that its mouth?
  • On The Hub's Pound Puppies, the dogs present new adoptees with collars as a parting gift, and quite often, they do so away from the pound itself. The team could be pulling them out of their fur, however, all of them have presented collars. Only two of the five members are shaggy enough to possibly hide a collar in their fur out of view, with only one of the five not having a visible collar of his own.
  • Inspector Gadget and Gadget Boy and Heather, Gadget's hats always has the right tool (even when it's the wrong tool) for the job. The hammerspace is cranked Up to Eleven often when all of his gadgets deploy at the same time.
  • Like Inspecor Gadget, Hanna-Barbera's Captain Caveman has a near-limitless number of objects and creatures he can pull from his body-length body hair.
  • The Joker from The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest has him pull a big, freaking dragon-sculpted statue of Kyptonite concealed from behind his slender back.
  • Likewise, Harley Quinn, as the Decoy Damsel demonstrates hammerspace by whipping out the comically oversized mallet to whallop an unsuspecting Robin in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
  • Taz-Mania used many of the tropes from the Looney Tunes shorts, so Hammerspace was well and truly in effect. In "A Flea for Me", for example, the flea pulls a complete oil well out from under his coat.
  • In Littlest Pet Shop, Viv the singing rabbit keeps her backup band inside her top hat.
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe; Orko's hat contains a compartment where he can store almost anything (like food, tools, and books), complete with a third arm to help do so. Unfortunately, he seems to store a lot of junk there too, and often has a hard time finding what he needs.
  • In Futurama, Bender has a compartment in his chest where he always seems to have whatever he needs for the current situation: beer, the keys to his apartment, a "gay-dar" detector, a tube of "Bend-Gay", and much more. Fry was able to fit in there more than once.
  • In the original Pac-Man cartoon, Inky seems able to store almost anything in his pockets. However, like the case with Orko, he seems to have a lot of junk in there too; for example, in one episode Clyde tells him they need a fishing pole, and Inky pulls out a fish bowl and then a fish casserole before finding the fishing pole.
  1. During the Silver Age of Comic Books he compressed them super-small and stashed them in a hidden pocket in his cape, but Post-Crisis no consistent explanation has been offered.
  2. Confirmed in the commentary, where they note that they filmed the scene in two parts, "pre-gun" and "post-gun".