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Intimidation Demonstration: Difference between revisions
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When someone wants to show off how skilled they are with a weapon, martial arts, acrobatics, or just plain strength, they will do some sort of flashy movement to display their skills, such as juggling knives, twirling a sword, swinging their [[Fighting with Chucks|nunchucks]], [[Pec Flex|flexing their pecs]], bending a metal pipe, or kicking and punching while doing flips. This is very common in fighting games and martial arts movies, as characters will want to appear [[Badass]] by doing some [[Rule of Cool|unnecessary cool moves]] before they fight.
Can apply to twirling around firearms, but not ''that'' [[Gun Twirling|type of twirling]]. Just don't confuse intimidation with a [[Dramatic Gun Cock]].
Another variant is simply a demonstration of firepower and/or military capability. In [[Real Life]], this is a common diplomatic
A favorite move of [[Bruce Lee Clone
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In the ''[[Full Metal Panic Fumoffu]]'' episode, ''"Summer Illusion of Steel"'', Sameshima the cook runs up to Sōsuke with a knife in each hand, and starts twirling them around. He then switches over to rapidly slicing them through the air while stating his reputation as "Sammy the Slasher". It pays homage to ''[[Indiana Jones]]'', though, as {{spoiler|Sōsuke just shoots him.}}
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* ''[[The Big O]]'' episode "The Greatest Villain". Before Beck fights Roger Smith he does some fancy maneuvers with a giant boomerang-like weapon his megadeus created.
* One of the early ''[[Spirou and Fantasio]]'' stories has the Marsupilami meet a gorilla, who starts engaging in threatening behavior (chestbeating, ripping trees out of the ground...). Subverted, however, in that it is quickly too tired to actually fight, and the Marsupilami goes by unharmed.▼
▲== Comic Book ==
▲* One of the early [[Spirou and Fantasio]] stories has the Marsupilami meet a gorilla, who starts engaging in threatening behavior (chestbeating, ripping trees out of the ground...). Subverted, however, in that it is quickly too tired to actually fight, and the Marsupilami goes by unharmed.
== Film ==
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** The famous scene in ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' where Indiana faces the [[Master Swordsman]] has the swordsman demonstrating just how skilled he is by throwing his scimitar from one hand to the other, and then spinning it in his hands.
** There was a similar scene in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]'' where Indy faced off against two swordsmen. They did some brief sword spinning as well, as you can see [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBNyUrPupq8 here].
* In ''[[Kin-dza-dza!]]'' an etsilop to whom a character forgot to say "Koo!" used [[Ray Gun|his weapon]] to perform a [[Diagonal Cut]] on a faraway sand tower just to make a point.
* Various times in ''[[Kung Pow]]'', such as the "[[Instant Chucks|gopher-chucks]]" scene where [[The Chosen One]] is scaring off his opponents by twirling his gopher-chucks, much like someone would show off normal nunchucks.
* The ''[[Matrix]]'' series
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** During his fight with Mr. Feather, the title character demonstrates his skill with nunchucks.
** Likewise, Mr. Feather deploys his [[Blade Below the Shoulder|hand claws]] in a flashy manner.
* In ''[[The Wild Life]]'' 12-year-old Jim intimidates some would-be
* ''[[Wild Wild West (film)|Wild Wild West]]'': During Jim West's battles with several of Dr. Loveless' [[Mooks]] inside the giant spider robot, one of his opponents does some fancy martial arts moves and says "I learned that
== Literature ==
* Subverted in the novel ''[[The Anubis Gates]]'', when the protagonist attempts to crush a metal mug to intimidate some men at a bar, and finds it's too sturdy to crush.
* ''[[The Hunger Games]]'': One of the nuances of the training room is whether or not you show off your deadliest skill. The Careers (volunteers for the Games) like to let the other tributes know what they can do as a sort of boast.
* This leads to in-universe [[Values Dissonance]] in ''[[The Dark Elf Trilogy]]''. To dark elves, demonstrating one's superiority with a weapon to someone else, while leaving them completely unharmed, is an indicator that you [[If I Wanted You Dead...|have no intention of harming them]] and in fact wish to ally with them. When Drizzt tries this on a human, the response is one of fear.
* In the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' story ''The Adventure of the Speckled Band'', Dr. Roylott, an ill-tempered and violent man followed his stepdaughter to 221 B Baker Street (where she had gone to consult Holmes about the death of her sister) to warn Holmes off by bending an iron bar in order to intimidate Holmes. Undaunted, Holmes simply bent the bar back into place after the man had left.
* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story [[wikipedia:Victory Unintentional|"Victory Unintentional."]] Three robots visit the planet Jupiter and see the Jovians' plans for war against the human race. The Jovians attempt to demonstrate their superiority but the robots casually brush all it aside (sticking a hand in a vat of molten steel for example). Then the Jovians sue for friendly relations with the humans. The robots leave bemused. The lead robot finally realizes that they never explained that they were robots
* In ''[[
== Live-Action
* In the ''[[30 Rock]]'' episode ''Idiots Are People Two!'', a ninja attempts to intimidate [[Kelsey Grammer]] by performing several flips, kicks, and punches.
* ''[[Bones]]'': Brennan does it while explaining to Booth in anthropological terms in the episode "The Maggots in the Meathead" while surrounded by Guidos. She picked it up while watching a "[[Reality Show|documentary]]" on TV.
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Brennan: This posturing is called "throwing the crab," it will intimidate him into compliance.
''(Peppy looks at her, puzzled and amused)'' }}
* ''[[Happy Days]]'': Fonzie is about to fight a fencing duel with a visiting French character. Frenchie uses his epee to cut the gym's climbing rope. Fonzie counters by swiping at a nearby banner; Frenchie is amused by Fonzie's failure, until Fonz snaps
▲== Tabletop RPG ==
** 2nd Edition had a Non-Weapon Proficiency (non-core, but present in multiple settings and options) called "[Display] Weapon Prowess". If the user has an opportunity to show off and demonstrated his weapon skills successfully, it causes opponents to make a morale check - those successfully intimidated try to avoid fighting the character or will fight more cautiously (with attack penalty), depending on the circumstances. Since it's a performance skill much like juggling, it doesn't have impact on anything else, and [[What the Fu Are You Doing?|does not affect higher-level characters]].
▲* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''
* In the ''[[Champions|Hero Game System]]'' this is covered with the "Presence Attack" mechanic. (You get bonuses if you do it really well).
* ''Starblazer Adventures'', based on the 1980's British science fiction [[Comic Book]]. The Demoralizing Stance stunt allowed you to intimidate opponents by demonstrating your fighting techniques.
== Video Games ==
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* Parodied in the Gold/Silver era ''[[Pokémon]]'' games. One gym leader tries to intimidate you when you challenge them by throwing and smashing a rock, only for the [[Player Character]] ([[Silent Protagonist|based on what said gym leader says]]) to point out that has nothing to do with how good he is at Pokemon battles.
* In ''[[Soul Calibur]]'', each character is focused on for a few seconds before a round starts. While many characters simply taunt or toss their hair, some, such as Taki, Kilik, Hwang and [[Fighting with Chucks|Maxi]] will use that brief moment to take out their weapon and twirl it about while letting out a [[Kiai]].
* A rare instance where this trope is used to ''end'' a fight rather than start one. In ''[[
== Web Animation ==
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* ''[[Dead Fantasy]] Part I''. When Hitomi first appears she does some martial arts moves to impress her opponents.
* Parodied with the "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y95H2vvnjcs Martial Arts Vs. Modern Arts]" .gif animation. The martial artist uses this trope to try to intimidate the other guy... who promptly takes out a gun and shoots him in the head.
== Western Animation ==
* In the [[Daffy Duck]] short ''Muscle Tussle'', Daffy's girlfriend is wooed by a beach hunk. Daffy takes some strength tonic in order to match up with the new guy. The new guy demonstrates his strength to Daffy; Daffy tries to match him but the results are less than stellar.
* ''[[Popeye (comic strip)|Popeye]]'': Popeye has various ways he shows off just how strong he is; virtually every time he eats spinach, he flexes his now-humongous biceps.
== Real Life ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Rule of Cool]]
[[Category:Fight Scene]]
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[[Category:Sublime Rhyme]]
[[Category:Badass]]
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