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Playing Possum: Difference between revisions
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In the [[Real Life]], this is a ''war crime'' and has been since 1977. [[The Laws and Customs of War]] state that those soldiers that are ''hors de combat'' ("out of the fight") a category that includes prisoners, the severely wounded, the dead and ejecting aircrew—although not paratroopers -- [[Would Not Shoot a Civilian|are not]] [[Kick Them While They Are Down|to be attacked]]. Feigning that status is perfidy and highly illegal, since it would lead to the other side [[Coup De Grace|killing the genuinely wounded]] [[Leave No Survivors|on the spot]] (which is a war crime too) to make sure. Of course, fictionally (and [[Real Life|non-fictionally]]), you're often up against people who aren't signatories to the Geneva Conventions...
Although, playing dead in [[Real Life]] does have its quirks in specific situations. Such as when being confronted by certain animals, like [[Everything's Worse with Bears|bears]], who are hardwired to mostly take interest in prey that look alive and kicking. If you can pull it off long enough, the animal in question will most likely leave your body alone, giving you a chance to escape. Similarly, it is legal in war to pretend to be a corpse until the enemy soldiers leave or stop paying attention if you use the opportunity to retreat instead of ambush.<ref>The person who wrote this is not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.</ref>
Note that Playing Possum is a phrase inspired by the Virginia opossum, which famously feigns death and produces a rotting smell. Proper possums are not noted for employing this strategy. Unfortunately for the opossum, this response to danger is involuntary and often leaves it incapacitated in a [[Car Fu|dangerous situation]].
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== Anime and Manga ==
* Jotaro Kujo from ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' plays dead in order to draw his opponent, Dio Brando, within attacking range. As Jotaro currently has a bunch of knives in his body, he can't afford to take any more hits from Dio, so he waits until Dio is practically inches from him and then uses [[Guardian Entity|Star Platinum]] to deliver a skull-shattering punch.
* {{spoiler|[[Dual-Wielding|Deed]]}} attempts this during the finale of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikersS]]
* Hei from ''[[Darker than Black]]'' does this in the second episode, at which point we and some hapless goons learn both that his [[Badass Longcoat]] is bulletproof and that [[Combat Pragmatist|he doesn't really go in for that whole "fighting fair" thing]].
* [[Samurai Champloo]] : {{spoiler|Mugen against a Shaolin trained swordsman at the end of 'Lethal Lunacy'. After pretended to be weakened by his opponent's chi attack, he waits for the swordsman to come close to strike the [[Coup De Grace]], only for Mugen to kill him with a knife built into the opposite end of his sheath.}}
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Can be done in ''[[Unreal (Video Game)|Unreal]]'' and ''[[Unreal Tournament]]''. In the earlier editions of the game, it caused the player to rather obviously fall over very slowly without bending any joints, leading to a "hinges in the feet" type of effect. Later games corrected this with the use of a ragdoll engine, though it returns in ''[[Unreal Tournament 3|Unreal Tournament III]]''.
* Hunters' Feign Death move in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Like similar moves in other MMOs, it causes monsters to stop attacking the Hunter, thinking him dead, although it can fail.
** In the early days it was pretty effective in [[
** [[Truth in Television]], as it turns out, ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' saved the life of one kid. [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2007/12/boy-survives-mo/ report here]
* Similarly, you can do this in ''Tenchu: The Wrath Of Heaven/Return From Darkness'' (same game, different consoles).
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