Air Vent Passageway: Difference between revisions
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* Justified in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', as Schlock is a carbosilicate amorph—he can squeeze through air vents no matter ''how'' small they are—well, except for his eyes (standard [[Sphere Eyes]]) and his plasgun ([[Hand Cannon|big]]).
* Justified in ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', as the Enigmaron fortress that Antimony infiltrates is a [[Hard Light|simulation]].
* Used in this ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100621015015/http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2007/11/secret-weapon Help Desk]'' comic, the reasoning behind such large vents is questioned and explained as [[Contractual Genre Blindness]] in [https://web.archive.org/web/20100621015143/http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2007/11/bureaucracy-evil the next strip].
* Subverted in ''[[Casey and Andy]]'': Casey sneaks in through the airvents, but is met by [[Enemy Mime|the Mime Assassin]] inside the air vents, as the villain had been expecting the plan.
** Of course, the ''C&A'' villain Lord Milligan follows the Path of the Villain as a religion and deliberately follows every cliche. Including having giant air ducts.
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** Used again in [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=001217 this] strip. Also [[Justified Trope]], since it's done by Rudolph the Reindeer, who has picked up all the tricks Santa uses for shimmying up and down chimneys.
* Averted in ''[[Dead Winter]]''. Lou's plan for getting into the store for supplies involves this method, but Monday objects on the grounds that he won't fit. Apparently he's tried before.
* [[Lampshaded]] by the [[Deadpan Snarker]] in the improvisational comic ''[[The Omega Key]]'' on [http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Omega_Key/index.php?p=229585 this page]{{Dead link}}, where he finds it suspiciously convenient that he (a ''6'10"'' man) can fit in an air duct. (He was right, as the destination turned out to be a trap.)
* In ''[[Drowtales]]'', the air vents are too small for an adult Drow. But for a child...
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', Noah uses air vents in the process of hunting a magical creature and the trope is discussed in the commentary.
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** Depending on the animal, they can still be very loud as claws or nails make a racket running on metal.
* During and around [[The Dung Ages]], a popular way to infiltrate a stronghold was to climb through the privy chute. This had varying outcomes; either they made it, and incidentally killed Edmund II by puncturing his arse, or they got stuck and died in there, or they suffocated and ''then'' died in there. After such sieges, those chutes had to cleaned elaborately and swept through because of all the stuck-up cadavers.
* This was attempted in 1994 by Cleveland Indians pitcher Jason Grimsley to try to switch out teammate Albert Belle's corked bat before the umpire could find out he was cheating. Going through 10 feet of ducts and a false ceiling, he might have even gotten away with it if he hadn't replaced it with [https://web.archive.org/web/20120928214958/http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/7338 an autographed bat].
* Averted in real life: [[wikipedia:Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility|Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities]], a.k.a. SCIFs, where top-secret intelligence information is handled in the United States have a list of regulations on construction of air vents, including grates to prevent entry and deliberate metal disconnects to avoid sound transfer.
* Successfully done by serial killer Ted Bundy. While in prison awaiting trial on one of many murders he was suspected in, he climbed through the roof of his cell (he had dieted and lost enough weight to make this possible), crawled across the floorboards into the adjoining warden's apartment (the warden and his wife were out at a New Year's Eve party), and simply walked out of the apartment into freedom. He was caught several weeks later, but not before adding several more victims to his list.
* When Kingsley Ofosu and 8 other Ghanians stowed away on a Europe-bound cargo ship, he escaped from the ship's murderous crew (the other stowaways were not so lucky), by shimmying up one of these.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090608115035/http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/jail-27519-film-crew.html Quantay Adams] managed to escape from a jail by going into the subceiling ''and'' out through a vent. It was harder than it sounds; after getting a hacksaw blade to get through the ceiling, he had to both time the guards, evade the cameras-including the one ''in his cell''-and get to his accomplice outside. His grand total of freedom? ''Seven hours.''
* On a G4 special one of the famed Bioware doctors mentioned how as a child his teacher locked him in the closet for misbehaving, he climbed from the closet into the drop ceiling ''[[Breakfast Club]]'' style. After crawling back into his classroom he positioned himself over where the teacher was standing and dropped a lugie on them.
* Attempted unsuccessfully by Jamie Minor. She tried sneaking into her workplace by the air ducts but got trapped.
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