Helicopter Blender: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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{{quote|''"[[Ludicrous Gibs|PHHPPPBBB]]"''|The sound effect when '''[[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff|Sweet Bro]]''' is on the receiving end of this trope}}
The hero is being chased by some [[Mook
The helicopter first comes to a low altitude, and you may think the baddies would just open fire en masse and rain hot lead all over the place because, hey, there's only so many bullets a hero can dodge. But no, that'd be too easy.
Instead, the helicopter first hovers right above ground, then tilts forward at a very steep angle. It then proceeds to slowly move forward, its rotor becoming a deadly, razor-sharp weapon that slices and dices everything it touches. All sorts of objects, people, even vehicles are thrown aside and shredded to pieces by the
The hero seems doomed, but at the last moment he always finds a way out (bonus points if it involves jumping over the helicopter).
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* Before the helicopter takes off, or after it has landed, a person can be pushed into the spinning rotors.
Trying this in real life, is, of course, very, ''very'' ill-advised. Helicopter blades are quite
[[Transforming Mecha]] with a helicopter as a secondary mode (and [[Combining Mecha]] with a helicopter as a component) often have these as a weapon, but it can be assumed that ''their'' blades are specifically designed with said use in mind.
Subtrope of [[Deadly Rotary Fan]]. Compare [[Turbine Blender]].
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==
* A character is gorily shredded by an out of control helicopter in ''[[Final Destination]]: Spring Break''.
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'' has this (and is indeed the [[Trope Codifier]]). Everybody's favorite secret agent [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] finds himself in a large square on a motorbike, with a helicopter leaning forward and trying to blend him (and his female companion). It fails, as they manage to slide under it and motor away, but cuts up plenty of material while trying. The chopper does crash in the end - not due to physics exacting its revenge, but because a heavy rope gets thrown in the blades, tangling them and causing it to lose lift and crash. Because the blades can shred metal, but rope, that's ''tough''!
** Later averted in ''[[
* Done in ''[[Fantastic Four (film)|Fantastic Four]]: Rise of the Silver Surfer''. The Silver Surfer flies above the place where Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman are having their wedding, disrupting the controls of a nearby press helicopter. It careens wildly and crashes right on the place where the ceremony is being held. As it's skidding, its rotor blades hit the ground and start throwing chairs and other assorted objects in the air. The chopper is then stopped rather unceremoniously by The Thing, who proceeds to rip its tail off. It's a bit less unrealistic, as the helicopter is not deliberately used as a weapon, but the rotor really should have broken up and/or flipped the helicopter over...
** That one scene being unrealistic was the least of that movie's problems...
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* ''[[Underworld Evolution]]'' has the third variant of this trope: a military helicopter is hit and takes a dive down a hole in the ground. The rotor shatters upon hitting said hole's walls, which also keep the helicopter in position, nose-down, after it stops moving. Despite the crash, the impacts, the physical damage and the fact that nobody's at the controls, the engines keep working and the transmission is miraculously still intact. This causes the stumps of the blades to keep rotating, and they promptly blend the [[Big Bad]] as the heroine pushes him into them.
** This seems slightly less unlikely after seeing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwSsnEdteQ8 this]. Still, surely a permanent vertical position would make things a lot harder, if nothing else for fuel reasons...
* The flying saucers ("Velocipods") that Syndrome's minions used in ''[[The Incredibles]]'' were apparently designed with this trope in mind. The craft fly by means of a spinning metal
* Near the end of the first ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)||Mission Impossible]]'' film, a baddie flies a helicopter into a train tunnel (specifically the one used by the TGV train for crossing the english channel) and attempts this on the protagonist. The rotors even bounce off the walls with no ill effects (only some pretty sparks).
** Additionally, the writers don't take any thought to the aerodynamics of the passing train, which would leave a VERY low-pressure area immediately behind it, which would make maneuvering the helicopter EXTREMELY difficult as it neared the
*** they also forgot to take into account that the train in question (the TGV) has an average speed of 300
*** Especially since, upon seeing the helicopter madness unfolding, the train operator at the rear told his counterpart up front to "Accelerate, accelerate!"
*** Although the aforementioned low-pressure area would likely create a "drafting" effect, speeding up the helicopter beyond what it would normally be able to do.
* In the generic [[Bruce Willis
* Played realistically in [[John Woo]]'s ''[[Broken Arrow (1996 film)|Broken Arrow]]''. A helicopter strapped to a flatbed traincar is preparing for takeoff when a mook is knocked up into the path of the rotor blades, resulting in only a large gash in his chest as he is flung thirty or so feet. Notably, this happens while the helicopter is still grounded, so there are no flight issues. Played ''un''realistically in the same movie, when a ''flying'' helicopter decides to kill some other mooks by ramming them with the main rotors. The guy that gets hit is thrown from the train while the chopper isn't inconvenienced in the slightest.
* Although it violated several other laws of physics, ''[[The Italian Job]]'' remake averted this trope. The pilot didn't threaten the main character with his rotorblade, and when he tried to block his mini with his tail-rotor, the mini won.
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* [[Matthew Reilly]] uses variants of this trope. A mook in ''Scarecrow'' tried to drop Mother onto a helicopter while she was hanging out of the side of a skyscraper, but fell through himself. In ''Temple'' and ''Area 7'', the rotors of a helicopter on the ground are used as an improvised weapon.
* The helicopter death scene in ''[[Underworld Evolution]] is [[Parodied Trope|heavily parodied]] in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]: Night of the Whiteout''. {{spoiler|The Mystery Wanderer}} kills Mauvio...with a ''[[Comedic Sociopathy|lawn mower]]''.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Snow Crash]]'', a weapons specialist develops an unmanned drone nicknamed the Whirlwind Reaper. The name is perfectly descriptive.
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** Not so strange if you remember this is the show that featured almost no on-screen deaths despite enormous amounts of gunfights and explosions. It is however a little difficult to justify anyone being only mildly bruised and with a slight layer of dirt on them after a blender encounter.
* ''[[Torchwood: Miracle Day]]'': In the first episode, the Torchwood team narrowly avoids getting blended by the rotor of a helicopter that they just shot down.
* ''[[Motive]]'': In "We'll Always Have Homicide", the [[Victim of the Week]] is attempting to escape from his killer when he runs into the rear rotor of a helicopter.
== Videogame ==
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City]]'' introduced helicopters to the series as a vehicle you could drive, and this trope came as part of the package. It's difficult to pull off in a full-sized rig, but it will kill whoever you manage to hit. Somehow, the ''RC'' helicopter can do this, too, which is actually vitally important in the story mission where you use it (it's the only way to take out the armed guards). You know you're living in [[Vice City]] when even kids' toys [[My Little Panzer|double as a lethal weapon]].
** One of the missions in ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' ends with ''both'' versions of this trope: a police helicopter tilts forward, threatening to slice up the protagonists' vehicle, and a police officer on the hood of said vehicle ends up minced in the process.
** In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', helicopter blending is the most popular (if not the only) pastime in online multiplayer. In "Chopper vs. Chopper" mode of ''The Lost And Damned'' add-on, this is one of the best ways to kill your opponent.
* In "Urban Chaos: Riot Response": after you shoot some hostage-taking psycho he will [[Railing Kill|fall off the edge of the building]] and get cut to pieces by the T-Zero helicopter much to the annoyance of the pilot ("Damn it Mason, I only just got it cleaned!")
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* In the Wolverine Origins game, Wolvie's status quo for taking down a helicopter is to pounce on its windshield, punch through it, pull out the pilot, and stuff his head up into the blades.
* You can do this in (at least the DS version) of the ''[[Transformers]]'' game of the movie when using a helicopter form, but it only really works on random vehicles driving around, and only damages them a little bit.
** In the [[
* Inverted with Yoshimitsu from ''[[Tekken]]'' and ''[[Soul Calibur]]'': He's a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|cyborg ninja]] who has a spinning hand and a [[Laser Blade|Laser Katana]]. In this case, the primary use is combat, flying is just an [[Mundane Utility|added benefit]].
* ''[[Metal Slug]] 3'' lets you choose a jet or a helicopter as your starting vehicle in its final mission. If you choose the helicopter, you can fly under the soldiers parachuting down, and slice them dead with the rotor.
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* In ''[[Achewood]]'', two of the characters argue if helicopter blades either cleanly slice peoples' heads off or causes skull-shattering blunt trauma.
* The thirty-eighth ''[[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff]]'' plays this for laughs in a [[Crosses the Line Twice]] sense, playing up the [[Gorn]] to incredible heights.
* ''[[Goodbye Kitty (webcomic)|Goodbye Kitty]]'' does it twice - the first time she [http://gbk-sayonara.thecomicseries.com/comics/17 ejects] into the rotor, the second time tries a [http://gbk-sayonara.thecomicseries.com/comics/64/ bicycle jump] over one.
== Web Originals ==
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== Western Animation ==
* Many ''[[Transformers]]'' with helicopter alternate modes can do this, in part because their rotors usually become a sword or blade weapon, and partly because they ''are'' the copter and can thus maneuver correctly without falling.
* The first episode of ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' has the band telling their current helicopter chef that all their previous helicopter chefs have died in freak accidents. Cue an unsettling grinding sound as the chopper goes off-balance and the chef freaks
** [[Ear Worm|"SEWN! BACK! TOGETHER WRONG!"]]
** This is ''Dethklok's'' personal transport chopper we're talking about. Whatever ungodly strong material the rotor is made from, it's probably designed to do this kind of thing.
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== Real Life ==
* Parachutists getting killed by rotor blades is unfortunately [[Truth in Television]].
* Very sadly [[Truth in Television]] in the case of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' movie - Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed rather horribly by a helicopter being used in filming that spun out of control and struck them, due to the director's insistence that the helicopter pilot fly lower and lower, and the fact that he worked the pilot past the point of exhaustion, completely ignoring film industry safety regulations.
* Boris Sagal, director of ''[[The Omega Man]]'' and Katey Sagal's father died in a similar way; he was nearly decapitated when he walked into the tail rotor blades of a helicopter during the filming of the miniseries ''World War III''.
* Vietnam-era Huey helicopters had unusually tough rotor blades. Pilots, when called to extract troops from clearings which hadn't been cleared quite well enough, would sometimes use this to their advantages, and essentially chop their way down low enough through the tree branches (though not trunks; bamboo are fair game though) - it's not blending people, but it's still awesome.
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[[Category:Chase Scene]]
[[Category:Tropes On a Plane]]
[[Category:Helicopter Blender]]▼
[[Category:Everything's Better with Spinning]]
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