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{{trope}}
[[File:ps156.gif|link=Problem Sleuth|
{{quote|""No! Think about it! You put ''something'' inside the cylinder of wormholes, turn them on for a fraction of a second, turn them off again... what have you got?"
''"...The world's most ludicrously advanced bread-slicer?"''
Ed grins the enthusiastic grin of the irretrievably insane."|[http://everything2.com/title/Ed%2520stories Ed stories]}}
Classically and simply, teleportation is done on an object basis. Distinct items are sent through in their entirety. However, it is more realistic, and easier to calculate, to just send through anything within a certain area, or use [[Cool Gate|a portal through which anything on one side is in one place and anything through is in another]].
However, these can lead to subversions of the classic teleportation concept: if only an area is teleported, it's possible for this area to not contain an object in its entirety. And if a portal that leads to one place [[Portal Slam|suddenly collapses or deactivates]], anything currently in the portal will need to be acted upon. One solution is to distinguish distinct objects and then handle where they stay or go on an individual basis. The most common result, however, is that only the portion of the object that was in the teleport area will teleport, while the rest stays put, resulting in a
The opposite of a [[Tele Frag]] (but no less deadly). See also [[Teleporter Accident]], for more general mishaps.
{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* An oddly ''harmless'' example comes from the Disovery Channel's ''Know More Than You Should'' series of advertisements. It starts with several scenes of the bottom half of a woman running blindly through a city bumping into things. Then it cuts to the top half of the same woman stuck in a home-made teleporter while her husband tries in vain to fix it.
{{quote|
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'', this is what happens to [[Mass Teleportation|Macross Island and a good amount of ''environment'' around it]]. The [[Teleporters and Transporters|Fold Engines]] on the Macross generate a [[Sphere of Destruction|spherical field]] around the ship, engulfing part of the island and neatly cutting it off the Earth. The other end of the Fold gate, on the orbit of Pluto, shows a perfect sphere of land, sea, air, clouds, ''and sunlight'', instants before dissipating.... which [[Space Is Cold|flash-freezes]] the teleported mass.
* In Bio-Booster Armor [[Guyver]], the Zoalord Yentsui, who can cut holes in space and close them at will, uses this as his main offensive tactic.
** Arguably happens every time Sho and Agito bioboost, as the Guyver armor crossing dimensions brings up a 'blast field' destroying everything within a certain radius of them. Whether this counts as
* A man in ''[[666 Satan]]'' has an O-Part that consists of two rings which can become portals between each other, and he can close the portal while something is going through to cut it apart (he does this to Jio's boomerang).
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Hatake Kakashi's [[Deadly Upgrade|Mangekyou]] [[Evil Eye|Sharingan]] puts up a barrier the contents of which are sucked into another dimension, and will just do this to whatever isn't all the way in. It's not as neat as most examples though, as it's more like whatever is ripped off by force.
** {{spoiler|Danzo}}'s "Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique" forms a [[Sphere of Destruction]] sealing anything within range inside the user's body,
* Gluttony's ''mouth'' does this to Envy's upper torso (accidentally) and [[Animated Armor|Alphonse's hand]] while attempting to "eat" Roy Mustang in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. {{spoiler|Since the upper torso contained the philosopher's stone, it was the part that regenerated inside Gluttony's stomach}}.
** This also happens to Frank Archer in the original anime who just happens to be standing on the border of the philosopher's stone's transmutation circle when it activates. He has a large part of his body, including half of his face, become part of the stone and [[Two-Faced|has it replaced with automail]].
* Two Contractors with different kinds of teleportation powers in ''[[Darker
* [[Bokurano|Coemushi]] does this when a character points a gun at him. He retaliates teleporting away the gun with the hand of the man still holding it.
* Vanilla Ice's stand Cream is capable of doing this in ''[[
* [[Inuyasha]]'s Meidou Zangetsu and, even more explicitly, his Cutting Meidou do this all the time. In the latter's case, even to things that are outright immune to the former.
== Comic Books ==
* This is the power of the [[Marvel Comics]] mutant Blink. She (well, an [[Alternate Universe]] version of her) later refines this into actual full-body teleportation. The AU version is quite capable of slicing up what she teleports too, but the mainstream [[Marvel Universe]] version could ''only'' do that because of her [[How Do I Shot Web?|limited of control of her powers]].
* Another Marvel mutant, Locus (this one a villain) likes to do this, or at least threatens to do it a lot (not sure if she's ever done so "onscreen").
* In Marvel's [[Age of Apocalypse]] storyline {{spoiler|the alternate-reality version of Nightcrawler teleports a villain's head off}}.
* The original scene for [[Booster Gold]]'s death in [[
* [[X-Men]] villain Fitzroy {{spoiler|met his end this way, as he tried to head through one of his portals [[A God Am I|to merge with time itself]]. He got halfway in, but a shot from Bishop distracted him long enough that the other half didn't before it closed.}}
* This is how Manhunter killed {{spoiler|her supervillain father}}.
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* {{spoiler|Superman}} kills {{spoiler|Mr. Mxyzptlk}} with the {{spoiler|Phantom Zone projector}} like this in [[Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]. Normally the {{spoiler|Phantom Zone projector}} ''can't'' do this, but it was a special case since at the same time, {{spoiler|Mr. Mxyzptlk}} panics and tries to teleport away himself, so that half of him ends up in his own dimension and half in {{spoiler|the Phantom Zone}}.
* Doctor Finitevus references this in Sonic Universe series when a character jumps at him, only to be redirected by a portal created by Doctor Finitevus. While that character is going through, Doctor Finitevus "wonders" what would happen if the portal were closed while someone were in it.
== Fan Works ==
* Happens twice in the ''[[Worm]]'' [[Alternate Universe Fic]] ''[[A Darker Path]]''. Both times Taylor "Atropos" Hebert is escaping through a teleport portal from a horde of enemies -- Nilbog's creations in one case, the Machine Army in another -- and both times three inches of claw is sliced off something that got a little through the portal right behind her.
== Film ==
* The time travel machine in the ''[[Terminator]]'' franchise creates a perfectly spherical bubble for the traveler, cutting out any matter that happens to be in the way of the destination.
* Time travel in the movie ''[[Timeline]]'' causes an odd variation. It's described as being, essentially, a fax machine in 3D. Send a person through enough times and the copy distorts. This results in one unfortunate traveler not only being dumped in the desert, but his organs/veins/bones/etc. being joined together about a
* When they activate the magic key in [[Masters of the Universe (film)|Masters of the Universe]], a good portion of earth gets teleported into the throne room. Along with a car and a part of the adjacent wall.
* The ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' film had this happen to Ra's [[The Dragon|Dragon]] when his head is inside the ring teleporter, but the rest of his body isn't.
* This happens to the Tall Man in ''[[Phantasm III Lord of the Dead]]'', but he's still able to [[Helping Hands|lend a hand]] afterwards.
* One of Thanos's minions gets his hand cut off when Doctor Strange closes a portal in ''[[Avengers: Infinity War]]''.
== Literature ==
* This is referred to as "splinching" in ''[[Harry Potter]]'', and it is caused by a lack of concentration on the entire object to be <s>teleported</s> apparated (most often, oneself). Luckily, magic healing is easily available most of the time.
** However, a particularly bad splinch could cause you to bleed to death.
* [[Forgotten Realms]] novel ''[http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Elfshadow Elfshadow]'' shows a strike team trying to jump through opened portal while mage tries to move it into more defended location to prevent such attacks. By the end of the spell, one of attackers was about halfway through.
* In ''[[Con Sentiency]]'', temporary portals are main transportation method, so these accidents happen, especially in hasty action (''Whipping Star'').
* In the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series, gateways cause Portal Cuts when they open as well as when they close. This comes into play as a weapon in the "Deathgate" weave, in which gateways are sent zooming through the battlefield, rapidly opening and closing. It should be noted, however, that the chief purpose of Deathgates is not
** One character particularly adept with Gateways [[Mundane Utility|uses tiny ones as very small knives]], to make perfectly clean cuts in his leatherworking.
* [[The Cross Time Engineer]] series employs
* In Terry Bisson's ''Numbers Don't Lie'', {{spoiler|a lunar rover is cut in half when it stays part-way through the portal too long}}.
*
* In the [[Robert A. Heinlein]] short story "By His Bootstraps", the time gate has an unusual form of this. The edge of the portal has no physical solidity, so if an object won't fit through the gate, the part that fits through the time gate does so, while the rest of it just keeps on moving in its original space-time and gets left behind. The result is something like being sheared with an infinitely sharp knife. {{spoiler|Fortunately, nothing more important than a printing of ''[[
* In [[Philip Jose Farmer]]'s ''[[World of Tiers]]'' novels, one kind of interdimensional teleport trap used this method to dismember intruders.
* In [[Dan Simmons]]' [[Hyperion|The Fall of Hyperion]], a [[Portal Network]] links hundreds of worlds. At the end of the book, {{spoiler|the network was shut off without warning, and thousands of people simultaneously die in this manner.}}
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** This happened to a few nearby objects in ''Pebble in the Sky'' when Joseph Schwartz was suddenly transported into the far-future, as well.
* In [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s [[Heralds of Valdemar|Owl trilogy]], the protagonist Darian loses his parents to [[Wild Magic]]. Years later, he tracks down their campsite and finds a nearly-perfect granite sphere, with the buried bones of a foot pressed against it. Using the bones, he finds that the magic swapped his parents' campsite with a mountainside to the far north, with his father's foot outside the area of effect.
* In [[Aleksandr Zarevin]]'s ''Lonely Gods of the Universe'', the protagonist invents a device that allows him to open a portal to anywhere at any time. He uses it to go see his long-dead mentor and set off yet another in a series of [[Stable Time Loop
* In ''The Tomorrow War'' setting by Alexander Zorich the volume moved by
* The climax of the novel ''The Prestige'' by Christopher Priest features a version of this: {{spoiler|Borden turns off Tesla's copy/teleportation machine in the middle of its cycle while Angier's in it. This splits Angier's total body mass between the two locations. One ends up being a sort of ghost who can push through walls and the other simply deteriorates through a series of unnatural afflictions before dying some months later.}}
* This happens to the landscape as a side effect of the Ring of Fire event in [[1632]].
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* In ''[[Shadow Ops]]'', protagonist Britton discovers that this is one of the deadlier applications of his inherent gate magic. The gates he can create instantly slice through any material when opening or closing, and Britton puts it to devastating use once he learns how to rapidly open and close them.
== Live
* One episode of ''[[Eureka]]'' has spheres of matter being transported through time.
* The eponymous Stargates in the [[Stargate Verse]] usually avert this, thanks to some [[Techno Babble]] about the [[Cool Gate
** It should be noted that the person who suffered the aforementioned partial decapitation [[Fridge Brilliance|was being held in that position by someone else, who wasn't in the gate at all, which probably prevented his whole body from being pulled through.]]
** This also happens with the ring transporters: what's inside gets transported and what's outside isn't, so if a certain [[Colonel Badass]] holds you down and brings the rings down on your neck...
{{quote|
** Alluded to in the ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode "Thirty-Eight Minutes" wherein the team's [[Cool Ship|jumper]] is stuck halfway through a Stargate, as their engine pods wouldn't retract. McKay shuts the hatch to the forward section, and explains why:
{{quote|
'''Ford''': Will it hold?
'''McKay''': Like a screen door on a submarine. I just prefer hypoxia to explosive decompression. It's a, it's a personal thing. }}
** Also alluded to in ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' when one of the main characters (Eli Wallace) sticks his hand in the portal to hold it open for just long enough for the rest of the group to get through. From the look on his face and his hesitance to perform the act, he's clearly aware of what might happen if the safety feature does not work as intended. Jack O'Neill did the same thing at least once in ''Stargate SG-1''.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* An issue of [[Dungeons
* In the ''[[Magic: The
▲* An issue of [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeon? Dragon? magazine]] with Shadow-powered artifacts relates how this happened to the thief who previously owned them. He'd crafted a bodysuit out of Shadow-matter, and used it to slip in and out of treasuries all over the various kingdoms. One King set up lots of lights, leaving only a single shadowed area large enough for him to step through, with several guards at the ready. When said Thief popped out, the guards cut off his hands and head, causing the rest of him to fall back into the Plane of Shadows. The artifacts were basically the hood and gloves of his suit.
* A common tactic in earlier editions of ''[[Dungeons
▲* In the ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'' novel of the "Invasion" set, the ''Weatherlight'' manages to cut an attacking Phyrexian warship in half using this tactic. Notably, rather than doing something as simple as cutting the juice, they blew up one of the Phyrexian ships maintaining the portal, taking out the whole mess with one volley. (And trapping them on the wrong side of the portal, but that's exactly where they need to be.)
▲* A common tactic in earlier editions of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' was to use the [[Game Breaker|Dimensional Door]] spell in this manner until it was nerfed in 3E. Essentially it allowed a relatively low level spell to cut almost anything in half vertically...
** In 4e the Warlock gets an ability that causes physical damage to an enemy while it teleports them, presumably via this method.
* In ''[[Traveller]]'', the only means of traveling faster than light is with a jump drive, a device that surrounds a starship with a "jump bubble"
* Very specifically averted in ''[[Planescape]]'' with Sigil's numerous interdemensional portals, it's made explicit that if a portal closes when somebody is walking through it they just get shunted to one side or the other depending on how far through the portal they were when it closed.
* This seems to be how [https://yugipedia.com/wiki/D.D._Warrior_Lady D.D. Warrior Lady] lost her left arm, as the scene on [https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Karma_Cut Karma Cut] shows this happening the first time she (as [https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Warrior_Lady_of_the_Wasteland Warrior Lady of the Wasteland]) was pulled into the Different Dimension.
== Toys ==
* In LEGO's ''[[Bionicle]]'' storyline, portals made by a Mask of Dimensional Gates close after a person enters them. An alternate "[[The Empire|Empress]]" version of Toa Tuyet, attempting to escape her dimension where [[La Résistance]] was closing in on her, tried to be number two. She was sliced in half and died instantly.
== Video Games ==
* One possible ending for the Gallonigher levels in ''[[Colony Wars]]'' is for this to happen to a Navy Titan as you close the warp hole.
* The space simulator ''[[Free Space]]'' essentially ends with this: {{spoiler|[[Reactor Boss|the Lucifer's]] last reactor is destroyed just as it emerges out of hyperspace near Earth. As a result, only the first half of the ship passes the portal's event horizon before it collapses. This also provides for some unforeseen consequences in the sequel.}}
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* In one end of ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'' the [[Cosmic Horror]] Ulyaoth [[Curb Stomp Battle|fights]] Chattur'gah using these.
* Specifically [[Averted Trope|averted]] in ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]''. According to the [[Word of God|developer commentary]], they wanted players to feel safe when standing in portals, so they made sure that if a portal ever closed while the player, or an object, was inside of it, said player or object would be pushed or teleported out of the portal unharmed.
** Actually, you
** This actually happens, on purpose, to objects attached to a surface you create a portal on, such as cameras ("vital testing apparatus destroyed") or steps on a bar ladder. Although game-engine
* In ''[[Starlancer]]'', destroying an enemy cruiser in this manner is a bonus objective in one mission. You have to watch your timing to accomplish it, though.
* In ''[[
* In the lore for ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' this happens every time you close a portal on something baring one exception; that being a titian can hold off the force of the portal closing.
** Actually, Titans can't even survive this. The physical form of [[Big Bad|Sargeras]] was destroyed during ''[[The War of the Ancients]]'', a whopping ''ten-thousand years'' before the setting of the series. He's been a spirit ever since, though on at least one occasion manifested an Avatar on Azeroth as part of his plans.
* And though not directly confirmed as adhering to the trope, [[
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'', Noob Saibot uses this as his second fatality.
* In ''[[Another World (video game)|Another World]]'', This happens to Lester's lab in the intro. The particle experiment goes awry, taking Lester and a sphere of space around him to a distant planet. This leaves exposed piping and missing wall and floor in his lab.
== Web Comics ==
* This is what happens if you unplug a window while halfway through it in ''[[Problem Sleuth]]''. It is the method of attack used to slay {{spoiler|Flthulu}}.
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' Riff tried to use this to pull off the [[Saw a Woman In Half]] trick. There were a [
** It also cuts [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20040824 chains].
* In ''[[Hitmen for Destiny]]'', an otherwise apparently invulnerable assassin is killed by portal-cutting his lower body off. His dead upper body shows up at several points later on, apparently still invulnerable as it shows no signs of decay.
* Averted in ''[[Fite!]]'', where it's [http://home.comcast.net/~x8099/thomasblue/fite5to8.html#13 a] [http://home.comcast.net/~x8099/thomasblue/fite5to8.html#14 slam] rather than a cut.
*
* In ''[[Erfworld]]'', Jack uses this to screw with a bunch of spellcasters; he's looking through the portal when suddenly it fizzles out, decapitating him instantly. Two panels later he drops the illusion spell to show both he and the portal are perfectly fine.
* Mentioned in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-02-03 here], where a new teleportation device is first tested on Schlock, who can survive dismemberment since he is an amorphous blob of carbosilicate.
== Web Original ==
* This is how {{spoiler|Bahamut}} is defeated in ''[[Dead Fantasy]]''.
* Occurs in ''[[Shinji and
* Happens to {{spoiler|Tagino}} once in [[Metafictionized Phlebotinum Poisoning]].
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]'' has an odd example. In "Brain Drain," an unstable transmatter gate nicknamed "Old Chompy" apparently has a tendency to not only short out, but to randomly switch destinations, sending Brainiac 5's [[Losing Your Head|head to one planet and his body to another]].
* After hastily trying to get a teleporter to work, Dr. Venture in ''[[The Venture Bros]]'' ends up teleporting his body into various places, including an arm that appeared outside of a prison miles away. The body parts still function as if they were attached, as evident when Venture observes that when one of his nipples feels cold, they both shrivel ([[Too Much Information|which Brock really didn't want to hear about]]).
* This happens in ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[Johnny Test]]'', Bling Bling Boy's teleporter delivers him without one of his legs, causing him to fall over. This is only because that teleporter isn't quite perfected yet however; he explains to Johnny that the teleporter has done this before, and sure enough, the leg reappears a few seconds later.
* In [[Spider-Man: The
* A [[Running Gag]] with the Picture Teleporter in the "Picture This!" episode of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. In their first demonstration of the device, Phineas and Ferb teleport an apple off of Buford's head, taking off a bit of his hair with it and giving him an impromptu buzzcut. When they teleport Ferb's skateboard back from their grandparents's place, they accidentally take their grandfather's feet with it. [[Amusing Injuries|It's played for laughs, though,]] so there's no blood, and the boys immediately send the feet back... backwards.
* Implied to have happened in a ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' clip, in which a magician pulls a rabbit's decapitated head out of a hat. To judge by his reaction, he'd been expecting a whole rabbit.
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Teleportation Tropes]]
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