Knuckle-Cracking: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.''|'''Indira Gandhi''', Prime Minister of India}}

[[Knuckle-Cracking]] happens when a character cracks his or her knuckles to show that he or she is ready to deal out a whuppin' or tackle a challenge. Frequently used as an intimidation tactic in fights, this is a particularly effective way of showing that [[The Stoic]] is bothered enough by someone to actually get serious. Cracking knuckles may also be sign that a character is ready to get to work on a particularly arduous task, especially one that requires a lot of muscle.

 

 

It might be useful to know that the sound released has nothing to do with the bones themselves, but rather with the joints between the bones<ref>The popping sound is thought to be trapped bubbles of gas being released, amongst other theories</ref>, and that you're not actually damaging the joints or bones ''significantly'' by doing this, and does not increase the chance of having arthritis - contrary to an old piece of "advice". What it does is provide increased looseness and flexibility of a joint temporarily following a crack, at the cost of a slight cumulative reduction in the joint's strength - crack your knuckles and you get a weaker grip.

* In ''[[Real Bout High School]]'', Midori gets cracking when she gets [[The Cracker|cracking]].

* ''[[Naruto]]'' does it all the time. Repeatedly on the same hand, making the same cracking noise as he does it five times in succession.

* Lina Inverse of ''[[Slayers]]'' does it too, on occasion. (''"Did you say flatchested?"'')

* [[Inuyasha|Inu-Yasha]] does it with his hand open while showing off his claws.

* Scar of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' cracks the joints in his right hand dramatically when he's about to use the [[Power Tattoo]] located on his right arm.

* Dr. Stein from ''[[Soul Eater]]'' cracks the joints in his neck at one point. This is tension leaving his body as he stops holding back his insanity.

* ''[[Keroro Gunso]]''. This is practically Natsumi Hinata's go to move. When you hear cracking knuckles, a certain green house guest is fixing to get a beating.

* ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]'' uses it as a parody of/homage to (it's hard to tell which with Stephen Chow) Bruce Lee, when the Landlady menaces Brother Sum with knuckle-cracking to warn him away from Pig Sty Alley.

* ''[[My Demon Lover]]'', a film where Nick from ''[[Family Ties]]'' turns into [[The Devil]] whenever he gets an erection, has the, er... "hero" going nuts over a misplaced pack of Fritos followed by some gut-wrenching knuckle cracking.

* In ''[[Snatch]]'', Brad Pitt's character stretches and cracks his knuckles after being sucker punched at the start of a fight early in the movie. Unsurprisingly, he wins. It's worth noting that as he stretches and cracks up his opponent ''continues to pound him'' seven ways 'til Sunday. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|And then Pitt checks his clock with one punch]].

* Random Task in the first ''[[Austin Powers]]'' movie does this. Largely as a parody of Odd Job from [[James Bond|Goldfinger]], the ultimate [[The Stoic|Stoic]].

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'' has Asakura/Ouja and US counterpart ''[[Kamen Rider Dragon Knight]]'' has JTC/Strike (but ''not'' {{spoiler|Price, the second, non-sociopathic Strike}}) do a neck-crack before going in to inflict some suffering.

* The henshin devices in ''[[Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger]]'' require the users to perform knuckle-cracking movements to activate.

* In ''[[Breath of Fire]] 3'', Bunyan cracks his knuckles after catching your team robbing his house red-handed.

** Marshall and Forest Law, also, had some knuckle and wrist cracking and are complete [[Bruce Lee Clone|Bruce Lee Clones]].

* Jill and Wesker do this in ''[[Resident Evil]] 5'' at the beginning of your fight with them assuming you don't shoot them first.

** Not Jill. She stands like some soldier at the ready while Wesker cracks up, then hisses in some wildbeast pose in the second fight.

* The character select screen in ''[[Warhammer Online]]'' has the Chaos Chosen flex his fingers and clench his fist in a soundless example of the trope, but the Orc Choppa simply grabs his own head and noisily cracks his neck.

* Tokugawa Ieyasu from ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' dramatically cracks his knuckles before his Basara attack, appropriate since he's a fist fighter. Kuroda Kanbe also cracks his neck during his taunt, complaining that he "needs a break".

* [[Duke Nukem]] cracks his knuckles at the beginning of every level in [[Duke Nukem 3D]].

 

 

== Web Original ==

 

 

* Of all people, [[Richie Rich]]'s mother had this as a habit.

* Occasionally played for comedy, with a piano player about to attempt a difficult piece. For example, [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] in ''Rhapsody Rabbit''.

* Would you believe that Optimus mimes the knuckle-cracking move in episode 41 of ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'' (or 42, if you follow ''Galaxy Force'')?

* Another example of "character who has no bones and is therefore invincible but shows being invincible by cracking his neck despite having no bones after being beaten up" is in ''[[Ultimate Avengers]] 2'', when the alien Nazi shapeshifter (who is kind of a colony of slugs) does this after falling from a great height.

* Same thing happened to Bart Simpson of ''[[The Simpsons]]''.

{{quote| '''Bart:''' Ow, my bones are so brittle! But I always drink plenty of--... ''(looks at carton)'' Malk?}}