Killer Rabbit: Difference between revisions

[[File:Rabbit Killer Small 5885.jpg|frame|[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|LOOK AT THE BONES!]]]]

 

 

It's small. It's fluffy. It's ''[[Ridiculously Cute Critter|adorable]]''. And if you get on its bad side, your death will be painful, but swift.

If it has a scary name, but not a scary demeanor, it's [[Deathbringer the Adorable]].

 

 

Contrast: [[Level Five Onix]]; [[Holy Hand Grenade]] (which is often the most effective way to deal with this).

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yfLD6E_5W8 The Chainsaw Ferret Massacre Mountain.]

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itlj1yM9l4 The Bud Ice Penguins.]

 

* In the manga of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', {{spoiler|Pride, the oldest and arguably strongest homunculus,}} has the physical appearance of a child.

** Wrath in the first anime.

* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'': Hayate buys Maria-san a cute little bunny as a present. She then sees the bunny in its TV show, where it declares, "I am Muffy! An assassin from hell! OK! Today, we'll happily cause chaos!"

* ''[[Kyo Kara Maoh!|Kyo Kara Maoh]]'''s tiny, yellow, and bred-by-humans [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|Bearbees]] (which are actually mud with magic on it) will turn into [[Gremlins|fierce, dark colored beasts]] that try to kill you if you get them wet. If they're not wet, hey, they're freaking adorable and cuddly. (Those are magical counterfeit bearbees. Real bearbees are cute, huggable, completely non-dangerous, endangered, and their dung makes high-quality paint.)

* ''[[Digimon]]''

** For a literal example, in ''Digimon Tamers'' Terriermon transforms into a trigger-happy rabbit.

* [[Gundam|Haro's]]. Those adorable little balls couldn't possibly harm anyone, right? Well, unless you try to mess with [[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam|Uso Evin.]] His haro will '''uppercut''' you, if you hadn't already frozen up due the machine gun noises it made. If ''that'' isn't enough it will use the '''Gundam''', ''by itself'', to destroy you.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''

** Negi himself. An extremely [[Adorably Precocious Child]], who can throw around [[Shock and Awe|spells]] which [[Person of Mass Destruction|annihilate armies]].

* A very early episode of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' featured adorable "chanela," rabbit-like long-haired creatures that are pastel-colored, smell wonderful, and are adorable as they come. Oh, and they're evil little monsters; THEY GOT FANGS!

* Rabbit like beasts feature in the final episode of Blood-C

* In ''Amagi Brilliant Park'', there's Moffle, who looks essentially the same as ''Full Metal Panic'''s Bonta-kun, and [[Berserk Button|does '''NOT''' like having people say he's an Expy]]. He's a mascot at the titular [[Amusement Park]]. He's also strong enough to deck a huge dragon with a single punch.

 

* In the Marvel Universe, a powerful hero is [[Squirrel Girl]], [[Petting Zoo People|a young woman]] with [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|the powers of squirrel-agility and control]]. [[Thanos]], [[Doctor Doom]], [[MODOK]], and [[Deadpool]], among others, have all (somehow) fallen to her. She is Marvel's [[Lethal Joke Character]]. Almost all of her victories are off-panel, and it's a bit of a running gag to jump back and forth over whether it was the real Doom and Thanos she defeated ([[Actually a Doombot|as robot duplicates and clones, respectively, are common retcons used to explain particularly embarrassing defeats by those villains]]).

* Also in a Marvel Vein, during ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' (specifically ''[[Runaways]]'' and ''[[Young Avengers]]'' crossover) when the Young Avengers arrive to find the Runaways lair, they meet [[Cute Bruiser|11 year old Molly Hayes]] outside. Due to a mix-up, Molly assumes they are bad guys and "hides under their car". Now by "hide under their car" we mean find a better place to lift the car and throw it at them. Yeah, they were not really expecting that. Well before, when [[Wolverine]] scared her at the front of a cathedral, the comic cuts from him starting to threaten her to shut her up... to him flying across the street outside.

* The ''[[Mouse Guard]]'' is a band of skilled warriors who are also, as the title indicates, mice. They've been seen taking down predators many times their size, from snakes to owls and even a ''bear,'' although that was only seen in ''Legends of the Guard.''

 

* The main villain of ''[[Toy Story (franchise)||Toy Story 3]]'' is {{spoiler|an adorable pink teddy bear ("And he smells like strawberries!").}}

* ''[[Watership Down]]''. [In]famous for its rabbit violence.

{{quote|"And Nag was dead before the big man blew him up! ''I'' killed Nag! Come and fight with ''me'', Nagaina!"}}

* The rabbit in the 2010 film ''[[The Illusionist (animation)|The Illusionist]]'' likes to bite people and snarls like a raving monster, though isn't as deadly and terrible as it believes it is.

* The [[Trope Namer|Rabbit of Caerbannog]] in ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]''. Ironically, Arthur and his knights are [[Cassandra Truth|warned repeatedly by Tim about the power of the rabbit]]. They don't listen, and he laments how no-one listens to him because "it's just a harmless little bunny!"

{{quote|"Look at the ''bones''!"}}

* ''[[Star Wars]]''' Ewoks. Yes, they're cute. Yes, they're fuzzy and huggable and all that. Yes, they're adorable miniature bears. Think about that one. Miniature ''[[Everything's Worse with Bears|bears]]''! With astonishing engineering skill for a neolithic materials base, extensive knowledge of sophisticated warfare, and a willingness to kill and eat other sapient beings. Think of them as armed, sapient, and highly sophisticated sociopathic bipedal giant koalas who regard you as potential food, and you'll start to understand exactly why the Ewoks qualify for this trope.

** Still don't believe us? Go read ''Apocalypse Endor'' (Star Wars Tales 14). {{spoiler|That's right -- Endor is [[The Empire]]'s [[The Vietnam War|'Nam]].}}

* The title character in the ''[[Leprechaun (film)|Leprechaun]]'' series.

* On the good ship ''[[Serenity]]'', who's the most dangerous crewman? Is it the wily and wary [[The Captain|captain Malcolm Reynolds]]? The calm, stoic, and deadly [[Lady of War|first mate Zoe]]? The [[The Big Guy|giant, burly Jayne]] with [[Wall of Weapons|enough weapons to outfit a revolution]]? Nope. Look behind them. Not at the [[Ace Pilot|pilot]], or the [[Good Shepherd|preacher]], though they're [[Let's Get Dangerous|deadly enough]] [[Badass Preacher|in their own right]]. Not at the [[Wrench Wench|mechanic]], and not the [[The Medic|doctor]] or [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold|the Companion]]. Yeah, ''There''. That teenage girl in the back, with the [[Messy Hair|unwashed hair]], [[Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette|pale skin]], glazed and distracted eyes, [[Cloudcuckoolander|who's mumbling something about hummingbirds]]? Her name is River. Get on her bad side, and ''[[Tranquil Fury|she]] [[Waif Fu|will]] [[Super Soldier|fucking]] [[Psychic Powers|end]] [[One-Man Army|you]].''

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzzUiEF86qA This Spanish student film] uses this trope quite deliberately with its genetically altered Death Rabbit.

 

== Literature ==

* The ''[[Sten]]'' series has Doc, an alien who resembles a cuddly koala bear. His species are in fact vicious predators which act cute to lure in prey; Doc is so bloodthirsty that he has to be fitted with a [[Restraining Bolt]] in order to interact with his teammates without killing them out of instinct.

* In ''[[The Hunger Games]]'', there are carnivorous squirrels, poisonous butterflies, killer monkeys, and much much more.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* An ''[[America's Funniest Home Videos]]'' episode features a rabbit fighting a snake. The rabbit kicks the snake's proverbial ass, forcing the reptile to retreat up a low-hanging tree, despite the rabbit attempting to yank the snake down for more.

* When Count Duckula asks a spaceman to take him to the most dangerous planet in the galaxy he gets to meet the Fluffy Bunnies of Planet Cute, who want everything to be sweet and pretty and cuddly, and get very mean when Duckula and co. persist in being grouchy and sour.

 

== Music ==

* "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjf2FKlZl9M Kitten Is Angry]" by [[Lemon Demon]]

* Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet near Mars, by [["Weird Al" Yankovic]].

 

== New Media ==

* Not physically dangerous, but the subjects of the website [https://web.archive.org/web/20131010082746/http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/ Disapproving Rabbits] can cause a severe feeling of inferiority. Especially [https://web.archive.org/web/20140725042110/http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/2008/03/mr-browny-brown.html this one].

 

 

== Radio ==

* In one episode of ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]'', cowboys Dusty and Lefty come across "The Free-Range Chicken", which they then engage, and nearly lose to, in a gunfight.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''

** The original "[https://web.archive.org/web/20030920170246/http://www.arduin.com/ Arduin Grimoire]", a very early third-party supplement, included among its bestiary a creature called the "killkitten". Resembling normal kittens, these beasts were actually cunning pack predators whose hollow claws could inject a paralytic poison. Their normal procedure was to set one of their number as [[Schmuck Bait|bait to attract a potential victim]] by acting like an injured kitten, while the remainder of the pack lurked, hidden, nearby. When the unsuspecting schmuck picked the "kitten" up, it would paralyze him with its venom, after which the rest of the pack would swarm and eat him.

** The Tibbit, a player race introduced in Dragon Magazine, are perfectly normal humanoids that happen to be able to take on housecat form at will. One of the illustrations on their section in the Dragon Compendium is man lying facedown in a pool of blood, with a metric ton of cutlery jutting from his back and a glowering kitty crouched on top of him.

** Kobolds, having low HP and a reputation for cowardice, are frequently slaughtered in the open by first-level parties. They're also known for their trap-designing prowess, meaning that a clever DM can make a trap-filled death maze that can frighten well-prepared parties. The most popular recount of this happening is "Tucker's Kobolds", named after a particularly nefarious DM.

** The giant shrew, a critter from Basic ''D&D'', looked like a normal-sized grayish rat, yet could do a pretty good [[Vorpal Bunny]] impression on low-level adventurers.

** Quite a few fey arguably qualify—the well-known nymph, for example, has one ability you don't hear about too often: if you happen to catch a sight of the nymph naked, she can force you to make a fortitude save or die on the spot. Other kinds of fey are more "harmlessly cute" than the nymph, but tend to have a wide range of powerful magical abilities. Very few fey are harmless. In fact plenty of them will do horrible things to you given the chance.

** (Bitter-Sweet) Chocolate Covered Anti-Matter Raisins.

** Europan Robotic Titanium Termites.

 

== Toys ==

* The Werebears toys were seemingly adorable teddy bears with reversible heads and paws that would reveal their "nasty" face when turned inside out.

 

== Video Games ==

* The SNES action-RPG ''The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang'' features rabbits that will suddenly open their large mouths filled with sharp teeth in order to latch onto the hero. They are called [[Late to the Punchline|Python Bunnies]].

* The [[Nintendo DS]] game ''[[The Dark Spire]]'' features Killer Rabbits. Ok, bunnies. Close enough. Subversion in that they are not only not that dangerous but are the ''least'' dangerous enemies on any floors they appear.

{{quote|'''Dwarf Fortress Wiki:''' [T]here is only one thing to do if you come across a river full of carp and you don't want your dwarves to die... Run. Run and never look back.

'''[[Word of God|Toady One]]:''' I think I made the fish too hardcore. }}

** Carp have stepped down from this position in favor of ''giant sponges'', which ''will'' kill your dwarves if they get close to it. Not bad for an animal who shouldn't be able to even move.

* The Chichifa from ''[[Starflight]] 2''. You never see a picture of them. But the Humna Humna trade buoy orbiting their homeworld describes them as "A race of highly prolific, small, furry creatures with long, upright ears and puffy tails. Extremely aggressive, they will swarm to any heat source and attack. Recommend caution."

* Baragon in the game ''[[Godzilla]]: Unleashed'' certainly applies... even if he is a giant dinosaur-thing. Sure, he's the smallest monster in the entire game, and he is [[Ugly Cute|adorable in an odd sort of way]], but he's more than able to take down his opponents including the '''biggest''' monster in the game, Biollante.

* [[Planescape: Torment]] has the Lim-lim. You can buy one on the market as a cute pet, and it doesn't do much. Then in a different area of town, you meet a circle of magicians that attempt to summon a wild one... and it promptly slaughters all of them. It's also pretty dangerous to ''you'' should you provoke it.

** From the same game, both Morte the floating skull and Nordom the four-armed cube thingy are much more dangerous than they seem.

* ''[[Maximo]] vs. Army of Zin'' has the Rarbite, an ordinary looking rabbit that, when attacked, [[This Was His True Form|transforms into a vicious demon]] that latches onto your ankle and gradually drains your health until removed.

* Any Yordle character in ''[[League of Legends]]'' would qualify for this trope, but easily the best example would have to be Teemo, a huggably adorable little chipmunk-like boy scout who will pump you full of poison darts and trap you in a minefield of toxic mushrooms. Bonus points for his Cottontail skin, making him even more of a literal killer rabbit.

* ''[[Fantasy Quest]]'' offers a giant bunny rabbit that proves surprisingly lethal. The sequel kicks it up a notch with a herd of carnivorous ''giraffes''.

* Another literal example: the rabbit-people in ''[[Utawarerumono]]'' seem peaceful and diplomatic, at least compared to all the [[Blood Knight]] nations around them. People wonder how they haven't been conquered yet. Then, when they get attacked, they show it's because {{spoiler|they still have [[Humongous Mecha]] from before the apocalypse.}}

 

== Web Animation ==

* The ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' short [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mHKHKR8x6A "Crab Battle!"], where Naked Snake gets his ass handed to him by a Kenyan Mangrove Crab.

* ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'' has several small animals that are for some reason vicious. Whistle, the man-eating puppy, a man-eating baby turtle, and a flock of man-eating ducks have all appeared. Plus, well, most of the cast.

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'':

** Bun-Bun. He once skeletonized a shark that had the misfortune of attacking him, and went on a holiday-massacring rampage as part of his vendetta against Santa Claus.

{{quote|"Kicking a kitten... A grown man punting a kitten who was looking the other way... It was the bravest thing I've ever seen."}}

* Kieri from ''[[Slightly Damned]]''. When she first meets Buwaro, she changes into a bunny and then chases him around Rhea's house with a steak knife. [http://www.sdamned.com/2006/04/04232006/ Link].

* Lepus, the awakened Fiendish rabbit from ''[http://www.dungeoncrawlinc.com/comic6.html Dungeon Crawl, inc.]'' As the page's title suggests, he was originally a homage to the original Killer Rabbit (before he became a full-fledged character).

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110321152906/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/index.php?comicID=478 Deadly venomous chipmunks] in ''[[Loserz]]''!

* Reynardine, in ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]''. He's apparently a cute little stuffed toy. He's actually a fearsome possessor demon that kills the body of whoever he takes over. He just happens to be stuck in Antimony's toy. For now. An illustrative [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=407 example].

* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'':

* Mr. Boodles, an average-looking cat from ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'', proved to be this in the November 18th update. He is also the pet of a vampire queen.

* ''[[Nature of Nature's Art]]'' is populated almost ''entirely'' by killer animals. Literally, they live to fight!

* [http://Girl-on-the-Moon.deviantart.com/art/Character-Sheet-Lars-134911277 Lars], Allie's pet Dalek in ''[[Search for the Truth]]''

* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20081227230353/http://ne.tsunami-art.com/view.aspx?Rec=3 Northern Edge]'', Fred perry's web original ''[[Gold Digger]]'' tie-in prominently features Wabbits. Cute little rabits with sharp weapons on their tails and mostly nasty personalities.

* ''[[Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic]]'' goblins created a funny [http://yafgc.net/?id=65 midget direwolf breed], Wargi. The little bastards are nastier than they appears. Their cuteness is [http://yafgc.net/?id=68 weaponized] too.

* ''[[Erfworld]]'s'' Transilvitoan bats are among the weakest units in the world (generally only useful as scouts). However, when boosted by the right leadership bonus (and with sheer weight of numbers), they become capable of taking on boosted dwagons.

* Swedish online RPG satire ''[[Rubicon survival guide]]'' use a [https://web.archive.org/web/20110110113130/http://www.rollspel.com/humor/handbok/rub7.htm killer hamster] to demonstrate the dangers of taking the rules too literally:

* The deadpan little Mynah Bird in [[Chuck Jones]]' ''Inki'' series. He can demolish anything up to and including a brontosaurus, but always offscreen.

* The Dark Lord Chuckles the Silly Piggy in ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]'', who is a cute little piggy and a dark lord of evil.

** Played rather straight when Pud'n [[Be Careful What You Wish For|wishes]] for a cute bunny that will love him forever... and it immediately reveals itself to be a [[Ax Crazy|psychotic]], [[Love Makes You Evil|murderous]] nightmare.

** Also, the Happy Huggy Stuffy Bears, adorable stuffed bears that were {{spoiler|created by Eris to sow chaos in the world by hypnotizing their owners to do their bidding. Eris' scheme is undone when one angers Mandy by saying that she'll be only the ''second'' most powerful in the world, at which point Mandy orders Grim to decapitate all of them.}}

* In ''[[The Twisted Whiskers Show]]'', a kitten named Cutie Snoot, although cute and sweet, she causes trouble for a dog named Goosers to earn the affection of her master.

* ''[[Sidekicks]]'' has [[Fricking Laser Beams|Laser]] Rabbits.

 

== Real Life ==

* Chimpanzees. Most funny and human among the whole lot of [[Everything's Better with Monkeys|funny monkeys]], right? In reality they are insanely strong (a 70 kg male can lift up to 300 kg; less surprising when you take a look at [http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/3024567966_4ffe563ebd.jpg those muscles]) and ''very'' dangerous when pissed off. Some have killed adult people and even kidnapped and eaten human babies. Intra-species murder, wars between bands, and even cannibalism aren't unknown in them either. And yet people still think worse of the comparatively [[Gentle Giant|harmless gorilla]]...

* Pigs are generally thought of as ugly, fat, listless, and generally harmless creatures... unless you are a pig farmer. Editor has been told that a farmer being trampled (and subsequently ''eaten'') is not unheard-of.

* Squirrels are cute, nervous, and fuzzy. Harmless, right? Or are they [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4489792.stm arboreal piranhas]?

* The [[wikipedia:Conus|Cone Snail]]. Many people pick them up because they're pretty... and get a deadly neurotoxic harpoon stuck right into them! Due to the speed at which the snail fires the harpoon, they are actually the ''fastest snails on earth''.

* Moles. That's right, the blinky/blind, fuzzy, [[The Wind in the Willows|shy-but-friendly]] little guys. These guys may be cute, but they are vicious little blighters: they are predators capable of hunting underground, and burrowing their own tunnels to do so, and are incredibly territorial. Oh, and cannibalistic- put two moles together for any length of time and you end up with one fat mole.

* Do not go to pet a dingo. They might look like Labrador Retrievers, but they're [[Big Badass Wolf|very much not domesticated]], so for the love of god and for the love of your future children, do NOT pet it!

* Inverted with the Horseshoe Crab. They have dangerous-looking spikes on their tails and bodies and tails that look like stingray tails, but they're harmless and can't really hurt you.

* The mantis shrimp is a small, often colorful little critter that lives in coral dens and mostly keeps to itself. To eat it's dinner of molluscs and crustaceans though, the mantis shrimp doesn't bother with prying them open: it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ahuZEvWH8 BLASTS] them open with it's clublike arms, which strike with the acceleration of a .22 BULLET. The force generated per area is so powerful that the mantis shrimp can [[wikipedia:Mantis shrimp|COMPLETELY MISS it's target and STILL do damage]] by force alone. Captive mantis shrimp have been known to crack or shatter aquarium glass with a single blow.

* An awful lot of tropical reef fishes and invertebrates, including the drop-dead gorgeous ones popular for saltwater aquaria, are deadly poisonous, and even the nonvenomous species may sport razor-sharp spines for protection. Heck, even the ''coral'' can cut you to ribbons if the current makes you bump into it.

* Shrikes are small, cute songbirds that kill mice and lizards by [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|impaling them on thorns]], then use the neatly strung-up corpses as a larder.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:More Than Meets the Eye]]

[[Category:Rule of Cute]]

[[Category:Tiny Tropes]]

[[Category:Video Game Characters]]