Minion Maracas

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"Wocketawocketawocketa" is exactly the sound minions make when you shake them like this.


"WHAT KIND OF STUPID NAME IS SHAKEN-UNFAIRLY??"
Complains-of-Names, Goblins

A close relative of Neck Lift, the Minion Maracas occurs when somebody who would not otherwise be expected to raise somebody else off the ground, does so under the influence of a strong emotion, either positive or negative, and shakes them in mid-air to mark their point. Typically this rather freaks out whoever is subjected to it since it can only be ascribed to sheer willpower.

Examples of Minion Maracas include:

Anime and Manga

  • In K-On!‍'‍s Beach Episode, Ritsu shows Mio some pictures at the end... one of which happens to be rather embarrassing to Mio. Cue this trope, with Mio demanding that Ritsu delete the photos.

Comic Books

  • In the Tintin album Destination Moon, an enraged Professor Calculus lifts a security guard easily twice his size and suspends him off a coat rack.
  • Asterix
    • Obelix briefly but cheerfully takes to this technique in Asterix the Gladiator:

Obelix: Look, I shake them instead of punching them! They last longer this way!

    • He also uses this as an interrogation technique on a Gaul who sold Asterix to the Romans, in Asterix and the Banquet.
    • Toward the end of Obelix and Co., Julius Caesar angrily shakes Caius Preposterus harder and harder while explaining him that his schemes have nearly ruined Rome and that he now needs to clean his own mess.

Fan Works

Film

  • Happens repeatedly to Pain and Panic in Disney's Hercules.

Literature

  • In the Discworld novel Guards! Guards!, after finding out that Sybil is in danger, Vimes picks up the Librarian and shakes him, asking him where they took her. The Librarian helpfully points him in the right direction, while quietly musing about the strong emotions it would take for a man to pick up and shake a 300 lb orangutan without even realising.
  • At one point Captain Plugg of the Redwall book Triss picks up two crewbeasts who've done something stupid and actually bangs their heads together.
    • In the original Redwall book, Cluny the Scourge does the same to two of his lieutenants whose foraging expedition failed pretty miserably. Slightly unusual for this trope, in that Cluny is explicitly shown to be considerably larger and stronger than his subordinates, so the feat of strength is not so surprising.
  • In The Hobbit, Thorin Oakenshield picks up Bilbo Baggins and "shakes him like a rabbit" when he learns that the Hobbit has stolen the Arkenstone and given it to the men and elves besieging the mountain. At least, Gandalf manages to convince Thorin to not throw Bilbo down the wall.

Video Games

Web Comics

Western Animation