Neck Lift

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
No one gets hit with this trope like Gaston!

Strong people don't put others down. They lift them up.

—Darth Vader, Philanthropist

Sometimes a character needs to demonstrate his or her strength by making some poor schmuck feel helpless. The standard method of demonstrating Super Strength is to grab the victim by the neck with one hand and pick him up. If you want to maintain a slight atmosphere of plausibility, you can then slam him up against a wall. To be truly Badass, however, you should simply hold him in mid-air, using sheer force of personality to keep him from realizing that he can escape simply by tilting his head back. You may even decide to shake them a little bit.

Victims of this demoralization technique are typically helpless, unable to resist in any fashion despite the fact that the attacker has generally put them in a position to deliver a solid kick (or punch) to an assortment of vital targets. Of course, meanies with the strength to pull off this trick often have Nigh Invulnerability as well.

May or may not come directly before a Neck Snap—typically, though, a Neck Lift is a way to show that you're serious about this and won't take any bull. Can also be a You Fail Physics Forever, if a human-sized lifter doesn't even lean back to counterbalance the weight they're holding up.

For added effect there can be a shot, image, or description revealing just how high the attacker can lift the victim's feet from the ground.

Compare Standard Female Grab Area.

Related: Barrier-Busting Blow, Hoist Hero Over Head, High Altitude Interrogation, Minion Maracas, Vertical Kidnapping.

Examples of Neck Lift include:

Anime and Manga

  • Sesshomaru of Inuyasha does this several times.
  • In the Excel Saga anime's 25th episode, Lord Il Palazzo does this to two Ropponomatsus at once, one in either hand. Then he pops their heads off with a single squeeze.
  • A brainwashed Ginga does this to Subaru during their battle in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S. Subaru managed to escape and do an attempted counter, which earned her a one-handed slam into the ground.
  • Naruto
    • Before Sasuke goes off to Orochimaru, Naruto tries to stop him, and somewhere in the middle Sasuke lifts Naruto with just one hand. Despite having been badly beaten before being grabbed, Naruto was still able to force Sasuke's attack off target.
    • Pain's bodies did this to a few people during their attack on Konoha when trying to extract information from them on Naruto's whereabouts.
    • Kakuzu does this to Choji and Ino at the same time.
  • The super-strong tiger warrior Lime to Ryōga in Ranma ½. Particularly horrifying since Ryōga has considerable superhuman strength and is Made of Iron himself, but Lime even more so. It ends with Lime crushing Ryōga's throat and almost bringing him to the point of death. But when Ryōga's Shishi Hokodan fills him with "heavy" depression ki, he becomes too heavy for even Lime to lift.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima
    • A favorite move of Nagi (Negi's father), having done it against Fate during a Flash Back and when Albireo copied him in his match against Kaede during a tournament. Also a scene where the real Nagi used this on the last Mook Demon of an army he'd just torn through. He finished it in a Neck Snap.
    • Also, mercenary leader of the Black Hounds Alexander Zeystev (also known as Chiko-tan) did this to Nodoka while attempting to take her in; there was a tremendous bounty on her and her friend's capture (she became bait).
    • In a "heroic" and unarguably awesome example of this, Negi does this to Tsukuyomi in chapter 292, and judging by the look on Tsukuyomi's face, it seems Negi is dead serious and she knows it. Unusual for this trope, Tsukuyomi does try to slice off the arm doing the grabbing. It is less than effective.
    • Chapter 333. Lifemaker grabs Negi in a Neck Lift.
  • A slight variant of this shows up in the original Blood the Last Vampire short film—Saya has a habit of grabbing those that piss her off by the mouth.
  • Dragonball Z
    • Majin Buu does this to its master Babidi, to keep him from talking and using the spell to seal him again before killing him off. It's kind of subverted, though: Babidi is the size of a small dog, probably not much more than the weight of a sack of rice.
    • #20 does this to Yamcha in order to impale him with extreme prejudice.
  • In the Cowboy Bebop episode "Ballad of Fallen Angels", Vicious does this to Spike, while sporting one of his rare Slasher Smiles, just before sending him out a cathedral window.
  • Bleach
    • Grimmjow does this to Orihime after he rescues her from death at the hands of Loly and Menoly.
    • Ulquiorra also inflicts this on Ichigo while in his Segunda Etapa form, choking Ichigo with his tail before blowing a hole through his chest.
  • Sengoku Basara
    • Big Bad Nobunaga does this to the hero Date Masamune. Despite the fact that he is holding up a grown man with one hand, he makes it look painfully easy.
    • Happens to Masamune again in the second season and again by the Big Bad, though this time it looks a bit more convincing seeing as Hideyoshi is (at least) twice Masamune's size.
  • In a rare heroic example, Kato does this to two Red Shirts (at the same time!) in Gantz to show off the power of the Gantz suit and convince them to wear theirs, thus increasing their chances of survival (not that it helps). This may count as more of a variant in that he grabs them by their shirt collars rather than by their necks proper.
  • Hellsing: Alucard did this to Rip van Winkle in the 4th OVA.
  • In the 8th episode of Zero Seven Ghost Ayanami (in Mikage's body) does this to Teito.
  • D Gray Man
    • Tyki does this to Allen at one point before destroying his arm.
    • Although he's not a villain by any means, Allen angrily does this to a broker in the first Reverse novel.
  • In episode 15 of Bakemonogatari, the cat spirit possessing Hanekawa performs one on Araragi after cutting his throat, in an effort to solve the problem at hand by removing him from the equation.
  • Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru: During their fight in chapter 64 Kevin does this to Minoru.
  • In Silent Möbius, Kiddy greets detective Ralph Baumers this way the first few times they meet. They wind up going out later.
  • Hanaukyo Maid Tai La Vérité episode 11. Konoe's Onee-Sama does this to Yashima Sanae while fighting her and to Taro when he insists on trying to rescue Mariel.
  • Gunslinger Girl. Henrietta does this to a purse snatcher, who's rather surprised when he's lifted off his moped by a ten-year old girl half his size.
  • Mewtwo from Pokémon the First Movie actually did this to one of the captured trainers with his own mind.
  • In episode 20 of Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru Cadenza does this to Kuroto.
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Kyouko is very fond of doing this, especially to Homura. Justified in that she, as a Magical Girl, has superhuman strength and can thus effortlessly lift her.
  • Saint Seiya. Ohko does this to Shiryu at the climax of their fight. Subverted in that Shiryu takes the opportunity to strike Ohko's arm with his knee and break it.
  • In episode 9 of Black Butler II Sebastian does this to Hannah.
  • Shinji chokes and lifts Asuka up in End of Evangelion at one point.
  • Hunter X Hunter: In the 2011 anime remake Hisoka does this to Gon.
  • The first time Yamaki of Digimon Tamers really loses his composure, he does this to Henry while loudly blaming him for everything that's gone wrong. (For reference, Yamaki's an adult and Henry's ten years old.)
  • The villain in Plastic Little does this to main character Tita, although he's not trying to intimidate her (she's unconscious when he picks her up), but rather her friend Elysse. Despite recognizing that Tita was only unconscious, not seriously injured (he knows she wears high-quality body armor), he doesn't seem to notice that she still has her pistol, and is waking up....

Guizel: Three ... two ... one ...
Tita: ZERO! <Boom! Headshot!>

Comic Books

  • There is a Tumblr blog dedicated to this.
  • In comics parlance, this is also known as a Byrne Hold, named after artist John Byrne who was unusually fond of using it on comic covers.
  • X Wing Series: Wedge Antilles does a version of this to Sate Pestage, grabbing him with both hands by the front of his robes and slamming him against a wall. Pestage has referred to a nonhuman Rogue as "animal filth". Wedge snapped.

Wedge: Don't make me go Vader on you. Ibitsam was a pilot and a friend and she died to save your sorry hide.

  • Superman does this fairly rarely, but when he does, you know that shit just got real and the boy scout is out for the moment.
  • This cover of Angel and the Ape #4, in which Gorilla Grodd does it to Dumb Bunny.
  • Shortly after being introduced as leader of the Mutant Liberation Front in New Mutants #87, Stryfe does it to MLF member Wildside as punishment for incompetence, as seen here.

Fan Works

  • Early on in his fight with Chridion, the main character of Christian Humber Reloaded charges him while underestimating his strength, only to get picked up by his neck and slammed into a tree.
  • In episode 4 of Final Stand of Death, Spur does this to Zatar, after he got too close for her comfort. Zatar had also made Redd uncomfortable.

Film

  • Beauty and the Beast: As seen above, the Beast holds Gaston over the edge of the roof after defeating him. Notable in that the laws of physics were maintained because the Beast holds onto a grotesque to stay balanced.
  • Quasimodo does this to Captain Phoebus by his collar in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. After calming down a bit, he looked vaguely surprised to see that he'd done this, and was kind enough to let the captain back down on the ground.
  • In Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, the evil android Zygon does this twice (with one hand, no less!), first to strangle Orin's first Love Interest, then later to Orin himself (though this time, his victim escapes). In a subversion of this trope, though, kicking Zygon in the groin wouldn't have done much good anyway, since he's a fricking robot.
  • In Mulan, Shan Yu does this to an Imperial Red Shirt. Quite intimidating in this case because Shan Yu holds his sword to the poor sap's throat at the same time.
  • The Incredibles
    • Mr. Incredible loses his temper and does this to his obnoxious boss [dead link] at the insurance company, then throws him through several walls.
    • He does it again with Mirage [dead link]. He's taken a few lessons from the bad guys, apparently.
  • Emperor Zurg neck-lifts "Buzz 2" in Toy Story 2. It helps that they're both made of light-weight plastic.
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Judge Doom does it to Roger when he captures him in the bar.
  • The Viking captain actually does this to his first mate after he refuses the first mate's warning that the Leviathan is about to destroy their ship during their search for Atlantis in a deleted opening for Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
  • In Daredevil, Kingpin does this to a guard implied to have squealed.
  • Predator
    • The title villain grabs Dutch by the neck, picks him up and examines him closely before administering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
    • The Predator from the sequel does this to a female police officer—lifting her to just the right height for it to realize she is pregnant. He lets her live.
  • In Give My Regards to Broad Street, Big Bob does this to Paul's roadie. (Paul has left by then, but we see it.)
  • Darth Vader does this to the Princess's ship captain in the beginning of Star Wars (episode IV), following it through by crushing the guy's windpipe and killing him, quickly establishing that he is not someone you want to mess with. He also has a much more famous long ranged Force-assisted version which appears to use even less effort and is in-universe referred to in such diverse terms as Force Choke and Virtual Garrote.

Darth Vader: Where are those transmissions you intercepted? WHAT have you DONE with those plans?

  • An agent picks up Trinity by the neck in The Matrix Reloaded. In contrast to the usual way this trope is played, she continues to fight and kicks him repeatedly until she then gets slammed down onto the floor.
  • In the live-action Street Fighter movie, Bison neck-lifts Dhalsim (but doesn't kill him, since he's still needed alive) after Dhalsim makes the mistake of openly questioning Bison's sanity (which happens to be Bison's Berserk Button).
  • The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Justified in both cases because they're Red Lectroids, not humans.
    • John Whorfin does this to the attendant at his mental facility, followed by a Neck Snap.
    • John Bigbooté to the Secretary of Defense by grabbing his necktie (Necktie Lift?).
  • Nero's Dragon Ayel does this to Kirk in Star Trek. Kirk uses this as an opportunity to take Ayel's weapon and do him in. (Justified, as Vulcans and Romulans are much stronger than humans.)
  • In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Blaster does it to Max after Max tries to ignore Master's order for him to disarm the truck's booby-trap. And holds him there while Master chews him out and repeats the demand. When Max fails to be impressed, Master decides to have the town's electricity supply choked instead. EMBARGO ON!
  • Constantine. The demonic half-breed Balthazar does it to Constantine after he bursts into Balthazar's office.
  • Tank Girl. The title character does it to Jet Girl twice inside a tank after Jet Girl saves her life.
  • Terminator 3 has the T-850 doing this to John Connor to convince him not to give up when the cops arrive at the cemetery.
  • Jonathan gets this treatment by the title vampire (Leslie Nielsen) in Dracula: Dead and Loving It, but he counters with an eye poke.
  • V in V for Vendetta does this to Creedy at the end of his final battle, strangling him. Played slightly more realistically than most examples, though, because even with his great strength he needs both hands, and leans against a gate to keep his balance.

V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bullet-proof.

  • Young Frankenstein. The Monster does this to the police officer who was tormenting him with lit matches.
  • The Heroic Trio has the Big Bad doing this to two of the girls at the same time.
  • The creature from Jeepers Creepers does a Neck Lift to the crazy cat lady from behind, and walks forward with its victim held in front of itself like a shield, still gasping out a death-rattle.
  • Judge Dredd. The ABC robot does it to Judge Hershey. Rico threatens to have the robot break her neck and rip her arms and legs off, but eventually orders it to let her go.
  • The Shadow: The title character does this to Farley Claymore after tricking him into running out of bullets and driving him insane.
  • In Bulletproof Monk, Strucker becomes young and superhumanly strong after reading the Scroll and then holds Kar by the neck off the roof. Kar proceeds to punch him in the head and then catches himself by his toes.
  • Done by the Big Bad in The Tuxedo to Jimmy and Del, simultaneously. Justified, as he is wearing the titular suit (it's basically Powered Armor).
  • Legend. Done by Darkness to Jack, but by grabbing his face.
  • Dracula does this to Renfield in Dracula: Dead and Loving It.
  • Big Trouble in Little China. Thunder does this to Wang Chi when Wang and Jack attack him.
  • Done by the ancient and powerful vampire antagonist from both versions of Fright Night on anyone who happens to inconvenience him, the hero included.
  • There's a really badly done version in Men in Black II, where villainess Serleena grabs and lifts the pizza shop owner (actually an undercover alien guarding the Light of Sartha) by the chin. Then again, the fact that he turns out to be a hollow skin animated by alien energy might explain that...
  • In The Avengers, Loki does this to Tony Stark (and chucks him out a 50th story skyscraper window) in a fit of pique after Loki's attempt to brainwash him fails spectacularly.

Literature

  • Bud White does this to a prisoner in the "Bloody Christmas" part of L.A. Confidential. In a subversion, he does get kicked in the balls.
  • In Ender's Game, when Ender is in a life or death fight, he lets himself get into a hold like this, then feints towards a Groin Attack before headbutting his oppressor. The headbutt kills the guy.
  • In the Warhammer 40,000 novel Dark Adeptus, the Chaos Marine Urkrathos does this to Rear Admiral Horstgeld, and explicitly encircles the victim's neck with his massive armoured fingers. Duke Venalitor from Hammer of Daemons also does this to Alaric, though it's not mentioned if he encircles Alaric's neck.
  • Captain Plugg in the Redwall book Triss regularly picks up his minions by the neck and beats their heads together. Since he's a fox and most of his crew are rats and weasels, he's likely to be significantly bigger and stronger than they are, so it's not as unlikely as usual with this trope that he could easily do this.
    • Cluny the Scourge does the same to his own minions when they displease him, and even though he is the same species as them, it is explicitly stated that he is much bigger and stronger than the average rat.
    • At the end of Martin the Warror, Martin's love interest, Rose, is effortlessly lifted and fatally slammed against a wall by the Big Bad. Again justified in that the lifter is a stoat and the liftee is a mouse.
    • Heroic example, in that badgers are occasionally known to do this when they get into fights with their enemies. At least in this example, the vast difference in size and strength is fully justified.
  • In War of the Spider Queen the half-demon Blood Knight does this to a dark elf prisoner. Justified in that he is eight feet tall and insanely strong and she is barely five feet tall.

Live-Action TV

  • Seen repeatedly in Heroes:
    • Jessica Sanders grabs her father by the throat, picks him up and slams him against a wardrobe. Particularly ridiculous example (at least before the slam,) since, regardless of strength, she will be considerably lighter than him.
    • Angela sees Knox holding up Claire, and tearing her head off, in one of her dreams.
    • Sylar picks up Jackie Wilcox by the neck before murdering her in Season One and again with Ando in Isaac's Loft, which turns into a telekinetic Neck Lift when Sylar gets distracted and stops in place while walking forward and carrying Ando by the neck. In the volume 3 finale, he does this to Claire.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation
    • Data does this to Picard in the episode "Power Play".
    • Also done for The Worf Effect in "The Dauphin".
    • Data also does it to a rogue Borg before crushing its neck. Why? He got angry.
  • Mr. Colt does it to Sarah in Chuck. Casey also likes to use this on Chuck occasionally. He also did it to a traitorous old mentor once... although he followed it up by crushing his throat.
    • Casey really makes a habit of it, as he does this numerous times throughout the series aside from the aforementioned instance with the old mentor.
  • Lennier does this to Marcus in an episode of Babylon 5. Minbari are stronger than humans.
  • Repeatedly on Smallville. You're not an evil Kryptonian unless you pull off this stunt.
  • A common trick in The Sarah Connor Chronicles, though most of the time this is usually followed by the Terminator in question crushing its victim's neck.
    • Cameron does this to Marty to emphatically tell him he must not call home.

Cameron: (lifting Marty up by his collar) If you call your mother, that man knows where to find you. Then he'll kill her. He'll kill you.
Sarah Connor: (clearing her throat) Cameron...
Cameron: (still holding Marty up) Would you like a bed-time story?

    • Creepily done by Cromartie to an actor whose face he just copied, before smashing the guy's face against the mirror.
  • Done twice in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once to Jason by Goldar, and once to a Brainwashed and Crazy Tommy by Jason. Unfortunately, the censors have cracked down on such things and it's been a long time.
  • Elliot does this to J.D. in one Season 4 Scrubs episode. Evidently, she gets VERY strong when she's mad...
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • Buffy accidentally does this to Cordelia in the first episode of when Cordelia startles her, thus helping to cement Buffy's (total lack of) social standing at her new high school.
    • Also in the first episode, the Master does this to Darla deliberately.
    • Vamp Willow also does it to Percy in "Doppelgangland".
  • Done several times by vampires/demons on Angel, and once, in a season 2 episode, by a telekinetic named Bethany.
  • In addition to the Buffy examples above, this trope appears to be a favorite in every single vampire show ever. Confusingly, it's often used in what appears to be an attempt to choke the (un)life out of another vampire.
    • Sometimes a justified trope when the one doing the lifting is just using it to intimidate and/or silence the other vampire. Even the undead need to be able to move air through their throats to talk...
      • A lot of vampire media seems to forget that, actually. Such as in the season 1 finale of Buffy, where Angel says (using his lungs to push air out of his mouth) he can't perform CPR because he doesn't breathe. If anything, a vampire should be BETTER at CPR given their enhanced strength and the fact that any air they push out should have more oxygen than a regular persons (since the vamp didn't use any).
    • In Moonlight, Mick St. John frequently follows this up with a Neck Snap. (Is it any wonder that Benjamin Talbot is investigating him?)
    • In a particularly notable example on Forever Knight, Nick does this to the perp of the week, suspending him out of an Nth story window.
  • In the Stargate Atlantis season 3 opener, "No Man's Land", Major Lorne discovers the hard way that the Wraith-to-human retrovirus doesn't work on females when a Wraith Queen catch him in a Neck Lift. She's killed before she can feed on him, though.
  • Bernard and Fran do this to Manny in Black Books, in the episode where Manny's parents come to visit.
  • In an episode of The X-Files, a shapeshifting alien pretending to be Mulder does this to Scully.

Newspaper Comics

  • Once happened in What's New with Phil and Dixie to a game-company flack, who'd interrupted yet another attempt by the hosts to address the topic of Sex in D&D. One panel shows him being subjected to this trope; the next reveals that it's Dixie, rather than Phil, who's doing it.

Professional Wrestling

  • The Chokeslam (lifting your opponent by their neck then slamming them to the mat) used by big, powerful wrestlers such as The Undertaker, Kane, and The Big Show. The way the chokeslam actually works is (like most pro wrestling moves) with the person on the receiving end doing a good bit of the work; they jump. They're also very rarely held in the air for any amount of time, just long enough to get them to the highest point before bringing them down. Typically the wrestler delivering the move will lift with the other hand on the victim's hip, unless he's doing it to two guys at the same time.
  • Some moves start with a two-handed chokelift, too.

Video Games

  • Spidey grabs mooks like this in Spider-Man 2: The Video Game. From there on, he can do a variety of things to the helpless dude.
  • Super Smash Bros.
    • One of Ganondorf's special moves in Super Smash Bros Brawl is a superpowered version of the chokeslam mentioned above. Only he grabs and lifts his victim by their face instead. Ouch.
    • He also did this to Tetra and later Link (although he hauled Link up by the arm) in The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker. Of course, considering that Tetra and Link are both children and Ganon is about twice the size of most adult characters in the game, it's not so far-fetched.
  • General Scales sure loves doing this in Star Fox Adventures.
  • Big Bad Sarevok does this in the intro movie of the first Baldurs Gate. He then bashes the unfortunate victim through a grate, breaks his neck, and tosses him off a high building.
  • Saren does this to Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 1. And is treated to a human specialty, a punch to the face.
    • In Mass Effect 3, letting the quarians exterminate the geth means Legion will do this to Shepard. The result? A knife in the back from Tali.
      • Note that both of these examples are justified; the first is performed by a cyborg (who is also noticeably bigger and heavier than Shepard,) and the latter by a robot, so they would both have the necessary strength to do this.
  • In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Zelgius does this to Valtome when he speaks ill of Sephiran, and threatens to go one step further if he continues.
  • In The Force Unleashed, Galen lifts a human captain into the air with the force, in an obvious Shout-Out to the moment aboard the Tantive IV. Except the captain squeals, and Galen does a Neck Snap on him.
  • Wesker does this several times in Resident Evil 5.
  • Some enemies in Iji can do that before electrocuting their victims. It's a One-Hit Kill for anyone other than Iji herself. That includes Dan, so choose carefully where you put your Trapmine!
  • Prototype
    • This is how Alex Mercer holds his victims. Hilariously, some of the NPC comments while being held include reminders that their foot is now level with your crotch. Sadly, they don't follow through on this.
    • The final boss turns the tables and does this to Mercer, before launching him across an aircraft carrier and revealing his true form.
  • With the popularity of professional wrestling, this makes its way into many Fighting Games too. Especially if one character is just really strong.
    • Kuma from the Tekken games is happy to chokeslam you if you he can get to your side, but King (the actual wrestler) has to settle for more mundane manoeuvre.
    • Seth in Street Fighter IV uses this as a grab.
    • Also in The King of Fighters it is utilized by countless characters. Rugal, Goenitz, Magaki, both Zeros and Saiki to name a few. Taken Up to Eleven by Ryuji Yamazaki, as seen here(from the 2.25 mark). To be fair, he always starts the Drill with a chokehold. What madness comes after that though...
    • A subset of this may be from Soul Calibur's Cervantes, who if memory serves has done this with his twin swords.
  • Heat of Digital Devil Saga does this at least once. Between that and punching down stone walls (!) it is clear the game likes to remind you he dumps most of his attribute points into strength.
  • Another World has the protagonist Lester being lifted into the air by the neck (or the collar) by one of the titular world's evil aliens. His only way out of the predicament is to kick the alien in the nuts then shoot him when it lets go.
  • Ripa Moramee (the earlier, larger, meaner Arbiter) seems to be fond of doing this in Halo Wars.
  • The OVA included in Maverick Hunter X has Sigma do this twice (sorta). The first time, he lifts Zero by the head, though Zero also has a hold on Sigma's other arm. The second time, Sigma does a pure neck lift to X.
  • A reoccurring element in Legacy of Kain games. In the original Blood Omen, Kain does this to a servant during a cut scene. In Soul Reaver 2, Kain does this to Raziel during the opening cinematic. In Blood Omen 2, this is one of Kain's standard moves, and from the neck lift he can do a neck snap, smash their face in with the hilt of his weapon, administer a Groin Attack with a blunt or hacking weapon, impale the target with a piercing weapon, or throw the target about thirty feet. It returns in Defiance, only this time he's doing it with his mind.
  • Tales (series)
    • Strongest attack of the summon Efreet in Tales of Symphonia during the fight against him to test your worthiness, where he'll grab one member of the party in his fist, lift them up and concentrate fiery explosions on said character.
      • And let's not forget the cutscene in Palmacosta that introduces us to the Desian Lord Magnius. While the Desians are making a display of an execution, an innocent bystander makes the mistake of leaving out his title—complete with Neck Snap.

Palmacosta Man: Oh no, it's Magnius from the Palmacosta Ranch!
Magnius: That's LORD Magnius, vermin!

  • Barbatos Goetia uses one of these for his Death Abyss arte and at the start of his "No Items Ever!" mystic arte. He follows up with an explosion on the victim for the former, and throws them into the ground for the latter, prior to delivering more abuse.

Web Animation

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation

  • In Transformers Animated, Blackarachnia does this to Optimus Prime after downloading Bulkhead's strength.

Starscream: (to Bumblebee) YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!

  • General Grievous does this in his introductory scene in Star Wars: Clone Wars with his cybernetic leg before slamming the victim through the ground.
  • Transformers: Beast Wars: In the second season opener, this is how Rhinox establishes to Dinobot that he's in no mood for any argument about who's in charge right now.
  • Danny Phantom, the show, seems to like this one. Danny Phantom, the character, is understandably less fond. Throughout most of the show, this trope is almost literally Once Per Episode. It's only subverted by the fact that a Neck Lift is a lot less effective if the person being grabbed can shoot lasers out of their eyes or occasionally freeze the attacker solid. Still don't work on Vlad, though.
  • Looney Tunes short Big Top Bunny. Bruno the bear does it to Bugs Bunny so Bugs will let Bruno do the 1,000-foot-high dive first.

Real Life

  • Some small mammals will go limp if you do this from behind, grasping them by the loose skin there, as it taps into their infantile reflexes from being carried by their mothers. It's the safest way to carry an uncooperative rabbit, for one. Don't carry grown cats by their necks alone, though; they can get hurt that way.
    • And if that warning alone isn't enough to heed the advice, picking up a grown cat by the neck also doesn't tend to make them go limp, either, and you can also get hurt that way. Typically gorgeous Ragdolls are very likely an exception; but then, Ragdolls usually go limp when you pick them up anyway.
  • Not bare-handed, but a catchpole-assisted Neck Lift is one way for animal-control workers to restrain aggressive cats without being clawed to ribbons. Not recommended for more than a few seconds, due to the risk of strangulation or neck injury, but often unavoidable if the cat must be retrieved from a confined and/or precarious space that humans can't enter.
  • Leopards often hold their kills by the neck when they lift them to drag them up a tree.
  • U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was a wrestler in his younger days. When he moved to Salem, Illinois in 1831, an local named Jack Armstrong challenged him to a match as a sort of initiation. Lincoln was said to have "grabbed the bully by the neck, held him at arm's length, and shook him like a little boy." After the fight, the two became lifelong friends.
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