All The Tropes

Nothing Up My Sleeve: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Nothing Up My Sleeve (view source)

Revision as of 09:14, 9 April 2014

167 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (categories and general cleanup)
m (Mass update links)
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:242px-Hsien-Ko_MvsC3-FTW_8758.png|link=Darkstalkers (Video Game)|frame|Let's see... [[The Legend ofLegendof Zelda CDiCDI Games|Bombs, lamp oil, rope]], statues, gongs, knives... Damn, maybe you should include 7Z compressor into that list?!]]
 
{{quote|''"I didn't think you was stupid, Mister Vimes. [...] [[I Know You Know I Know|I know]] a [[Genre Savvy|clever copper]] like you'd [[Subverted Trope|think I'd got two knives.]]"<br />
"Yeah, right," said Vimes. [...]<br />
"Mister Vimes? [...] [[Double Subverted|I got three knives]], Mister Vimes," said [[Knife Nut|Carcer]], bringing his arm up.''|''[[Discworld (Literature)/Night Watch|Night Watch]]'', '''[[Terry Pratchett]]'''}}
 
A character will have a weapon hidden in his sleeve. Occasionally extracted by a device attached to his arm that will eject the weapon into his hand when the situation calls for it - this can overlap with [[Blade Below the Shoulder]].
Line 23:
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Trigun]]'', Meryl had dozens of single-shot derringers hidden on the inside of her coat. Ditto for Millie's stun gun.
* Yomiko Readman from ''[[Read or Die (Anime)|Read or Die]]'' keeps [[Improbable Weapon User|pieces of paper]] up her sleeves.
** It's not so much that she has paper up her sleeves, her sleeves ''are'' paper.
* Not guns, but on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', Bandit Keith has a remote armature up his sleeve to feed him cards. Earlier appearances just had him pull the cards out from his wristbands.
* Fabiola Iglesias ('mini killer-maid') from ''Black Lagoon'' has two guns (MAG-7) hidden in her sleeves and EX 41 grenade launcher on her back.
* In the first episode of ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'', Rally had a derringer up her sleeve, which she gives away in a disarming sequence.
Line 33:
** Not to mention a duck laying explosive eggs. [[Foreshadowing]], anyone?
* Tooya from ''[[Ayashi no Ceres]]'' has a dagger embedded in his arm, which he can summon and use as he pleases. He says it never leaves him. {{spoiler|He had acquired it because he was the [[MacGuffin Girl|human form of Ceres' mana]], so it might have disappeared forever when he gave the mana to Aya.}}
* ''[[Panty and& Stocking Withwith Garterbelt (Anime)|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]'': In ''If the Angels Wore Swimsuits'', Scanty and Kneesocks both reveal their [[Time for Plan B]] weapon; their [[Monster of the Week]] [[Sealed Army in Aa Can]] equivalent of [[Instant AI, Just Add Water]].
 
 
Line 43:
== Film ==
* During the killing spree that marks the climax of ''[[Taxi Driver]]'', Travis Bickle uses a small-caliber pistol hidden up his sleeve, which is drawn using a special rig that he made himself. He empties the weapon into the face of one of the men he kills.
* Victor Rosta, the [[Big Bad]] of the [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] film ''[[Red Heat (Film)|Red Heat]]'' uses a derringer hidden in his sleeve, also shot into his hand via a special rig.
* John Preston from ''[[Equilibrium]]'' is the ''master'' of this trope--not only does he sneak a pair of fully-automatic pistols through a polygraph test this way, but he keeps a pair of reloading devices in his sleeves and the ammo to feed them.
* In the Reverend's CMOA in the film ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' He says to the protagonist "Oh, fuck off grasshopper!" and shoots him with [[Guns Akimbo|a pair of derringers]] he had up his sleeves.
Line 54:
* ''[[Undercover Brother]]''. During his final fight with the title character, Mr. Feather extended a wicked looking clawed blade from each sleeve.
* In ''[[Dark Knight Trilogy|The Dark Knight]]'', Batman had a weapon ''on'' his sleeves. The armor spikes look decorative, but could launch off and imbed into enemies.
* In the first ''[[Underworld (Filmfilm)|Underworld]]'' film, the werewolf Lucian has a retractable, mechanical blade concealed up his sleeve, used several times during the movie.
* In ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' Benedict has a knife up his sleeve and he loves - ahem! - whipping it out.
* Commodus of ''[[Gladiator (Filmfilm)|Gladiator]]'' pulls a knife from the armor around his elbow in the final duel.
* The protagonist of ''[[Kill Bill]]'' keeps a straight razor in her boot.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Return Of The King]]''. In a deleted scene, Wormtongue kills Saruman with a knife hidden up his sleeve. The knife has a curved blade to fit against the curve of the forearm for better concealment, as weapons weren't supposed to be carried in King Theoden's hall.
Line 62:
* ''The Soldier'' (1982). The [[Renegade Russian]] has a sawn-off shotgun up his sleeve with a wire attached to the trigger, so it fires when he raises his hands in surrender when confronted by a police officer.
* In ''[[The Adventures of Ford Fairlane]]'', Andrew Dice Clay keeps a nickeled S&W Model 38 up his sleeve in a spring-loaded gamblers' rig. Naturally it never works right 'til that one time...
* In the [[Guy Ritchie]] version of ''[[Sherlock Holmes (Filmfilm)|Sherlock Holmes]]'', {{spoiler|Professor Moriarty}} has a small gun up his sleeve, that flips up and out with a certain arm movement. Also a few minutes before Irene Adler had used a club that dropped out of her sleeve to knock out a mugger.
* In ''[[Maverick (Filmfilm)|Maverick]]'', one card player was caught cheating with card attached to a sleeve device. Later, {{spoiler|just after the titular character won the poker champion, Angel who wouldn't admit defeat, thrusts his gun out of his sleeve not until Marshal Cooper made out his first draw.}}
* In ''[[Smokin Aces]]'', torture-expert and [[Psycho for Hire]] Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) utilizies a long stiletto hidden in his sleeve that is activated with a special device.
 
Line 70:
* Mara Jade in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' novels. One of her signature weapons is a tiny blaster pistol hidden in her sleeve.
* Inigo Skimmer from ''[[Discworld|The Fifth Elephant]]''; among his hidden arsenal is a dagger shaped to fit the shape of the edge of his hand (so he can remove people's heads with nothing more than a karate chop) which emerges from his sleeve when he shrugs his shoulders in a certain way. Vimes first realises that the clerk is more than he seems because he feels the <s>palm dagger</s> ''armor'' under his sleeve when he grabs his arm.
** [[Double Subverted]] in [[Discworld (Literature)/Night Watch|Night Watch]]; Vimes knows [[Knife Nut|Carcer]] always has a backup knife, and relieves him of it. But-
{{quote| Mr Vimes? [[Oh Crap|I got]] ''[[Oh Crap|three]]'' [[Oh Crap|knives]], Mr Vimes...}}
** In the Discworld universe,the 'nothing up my sleeves' gesture is the traditional sign that the following spell will be performed the old fashioned way, with magic. It has also been likened to [[Dramatic Gun Cock|something less...friendly.]]
Line 82:
* In ''[[The Stand]]'', Dayna has a knife holder she wears on her arm (covered by long sleeves), hoping she can gain access to Flagg. Problem is that when she does get within reach of him, he has somehow managed to swap her knife for a banana.
* In Harry Harrison's ''Deathworld Trilogy'' every Pyrran, including little children, wears a gun on the forearm, with powered, automatic extension for instant fire. They never take them off. Ever.
* In the [[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]] novel ''Field of Dishonor'' Andrew LaFollet kept a small pulser up his left sleeve.
 
 
== Live Action TV ==
* Ezra from ''[[The Magnificent Seven (TV series)|The Magnificent Seven]]'' TV series had one of these.
* Jim West in the ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]'' TV series often had a Derringer up his sleeve, which he sometimes used as a [[Grappling Hook Pistol]].
* Angel used to keep stakes in his sleeves on ''[[Angel]]''. Wesley gets a collapsible sword that comes out of his sleeves during his darker period in Season 4 (this is parodied during the episode where they all revert to a teenage state of mind), but he pulls a grappling hook out of there at the end of the season. The device is not seen again until his [[Hope Spot]] in the final episode.
** The potential problems of this were lampshaded in an episode where the cast lost their memories and Wesley started accidentally activating all sorts of weapons that came flying out of his sleeves.
Line 93:
* The ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "The Devil You Know" has returning [[Big Bad]] Apophis kill two Jaffa guards with a blade that appears out of his sleeve, although it stays fixed on his wrist rather than falling into his hand.
** In a much later episode, [[Fan Nickname|RepliCarter]] kills Lord Yu with a blade that comes out of her ... okay, ''hand'', technically.
* In ''[[Justified (TV series)|Justified]]'' Quarles has a spring loaded sleeve gun mechanism strapped to his arm. He likes to tell people that he is unarmed and to demonstrate this by raising his hands up as he approaches them. As his left arm reaches face level, he activates the mechanism which propels a small gun into his hand. He then shoots his victim in the forehead from close range.
 
 
Line 102:
== Video Games ==
* Anonym, a sinister nun from the fighting game ''[[Akatsuki Blitzkampf]]'', fights with revolvers that fall from her sleeves in her opening animation.
* Hsien Ko from ''[[Darkstalkers (Video Game)|Darkstalkers]]'', asides from having giant claw guantlets, can produce from her billowing sleeves bombs, knives, weights, flails, statues...
* Governor Tekagi from ''[[Freelancer]]'' kills {{spoiler|Ozu}} with a blade hidden on his sleeve.
* From ''[[Guilty Gear]]'', we have Baiken, who uses a whole assortment of gizmos hidden in her sleeve along with her katana.
** Justified in that [[Handicapped Badass|there's no arm in the sleeve]], leaving more room for concealed weapons.
* Billy Lee Black of ''[[Xenogears (Video Game)|Xenogears]]'' He hides a long arm up each of his sleeves of his ''habit'' (and keeps a shotgun under it, too).
* The Commandos have knuckle plate vibro-blades as a melee weapon in ''Star Wars: Republic Commando''.
* A wrist blade is Altair's main weapon in ''Assassin's Creed.''
Line 120:
== Western Animation ==
* Bat Lash had a small gun hidden up his sleeve in ''[[Justice League]] Unlimited'' that came into play after his cheating at poker was revealed.
* On at least one occasion in ''[[The Batman (Animation)|The Batman]]'' Joker had empty hands, but big baggy straitjacket sleeves covering his hands. Arms up, sleeves flap down, and presto! He has razor-sharp playing cards in his hands!
** The Joker has a tendency to do this, in fact- he keeps a knife up his sleeve (with hidden ejecting mechanism) in ''The Killing Joke.''
** He also hides a stiletto during his confrontation with Batman in ''[[Return of the Joker]]''. He even uses the threat of one to feint, making Batman think it's in his right sleeve when it's really in his left.
Line 128:
** [[Knife Nut|Mai]], who uses both throwing knives and stiletto-launchers hidden under her sleeves.
** The Dai Lee also hid weapons in their sleeves, including what seemed to be stone handcuffs on long chains.
* An episode of ''[[Super FriendsSuperfriends]]'' did a variation on this with their version of Mr. Mxyzptlk: One of the heroes asks, rhetorically "I wonder what Mxyzptlk has up his sleeve this time.." Cut to Mxyzptlk, who is eavesdropping: "What do I have up my sleeve?" Pushes the sleeve back, leaving his glove [[Nightmare Fuel|floating unsupported]] in midair. "Why, ''nothing'' of course!" Cue [[Evil Laugh]].
* In an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', a saloon produces derringers, some from their sleeves, and proceed to blast each other. No one is injured because the tiny derringers are weak. ''Powerful'' weak!
 
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/926962"