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{{trope}}
[[File:tap-on-the-head_tintin_870.png|link=Tintin
{{quote|''"Knocking people out... by hitting them on the head... that's movie stuff!"''|'''Mike Thorton''' (who has just been beaned with a lamp), ''[[Alpha Protocol]]''}}
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Another variant is instant knockout caused by shattering either a vase or lamp over someone's head or even just on their back.
See also [[Back Stab]], [[Choke Holds]], [[We Need a Distraction]], [[Stun Guns]], [[Pressure Point]], [[Instant Sedation]] and [[Blinded
----
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== Anime & Manga ==
* The "karate chop to the neck" is still used constantly in shonen anime, but even with its credibility can have some ridiculous effects, particularly in ''[[
** Used rather absurdly in ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'', although with nods to its dangerousness. Killua uses it to quickly advance through a tournament, but says he has to hold back to avoid killing his opponents. Chrollo uses one faster than the human eye can perceive in order to make it look like a girl fainted next to him. Someone watching a frame by frame video recording of it notes that it's surprising that he didn't chop her head off.
* In ''[[Inuyasha]]'', the "sharp shot to the solar plexus" move was once used by Miroku to subdue a peasant girl whom he was trying to move to safety.
* ''[[
* Used inconsistently in the ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2]]'' manga and anime. ''Not'' counting the comedy [[Hammerspace]] hammers, or the ubiquitous [[Megaton Punch]], there are many instances where these martial arts masters are knocked out with serious, deliberate blows to the head. Since these are people who have withstood the equivalent of exploding tank shells, mountains collapsing on top of them, and accumulative damage from prolonged duels, the ease with which they can be incapacitated with an elbow (or kick) to the skull is mind-boggling.
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Sasuke knocks Sakura out with a blow to the back of the head before leaving Konoha. When she got up, it was pretty much exactly like she just fell asleep.
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'''Tamahome''': (gets his face smacked into his food)<br />
'''Nuriko''': (smiles innocently) That's funny! I just meant to give you a little tap on the head! }}
* Subverted in ''[[Le Chevalier
* On December 18, year unknown, [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Kyon and the SOS Brigade]] finish a meeting and walk down the stairs. Everybody's at the bottom, and Kyon starts coming down. Somebody gives him a [[Tap
* Played ''[[Break the Cutie|very]]'' seriously in ''[[
* In ''[[Elfen Lied]]'', Nyu is a result of Lucy getting her helmet shot off by what looks to be an anti-materiel rifle, making that what constitutes as a tap on the head for a Diclonus.
* In ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'', Ashitaka uses the "stiff shot to the solar plexus" variant to knock out San and Lady Eboshi, thereby ending the fight between the two women.
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** Anime episode 43 has two examples. When a Soul Reaper is suspicious of Uryu and Orihime, another Soul Reaper knocks him out with a piece of wood to the back of the head. There's also a fairly ridiculous example where Orihime gets a chop to the neck by a guy that just wanted her to shut up.
* Paired up with [[Instant Sedation]] in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' as the "solar plexus" variation in a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|one-two punch]] of outdated knockout tropes. Almost immediately after {{spoiler|Princess Cordelia}} is put out via chloroform rag, {{spoiler|Alicia}} stumbles across the guilty party making off with her, earning a particularly vicious-looking fist in the gut and a [[Damsel in Distress|spot next to the former kidnapped party.]]
* ''[[
* In ''[[Gundam Wing]] Endless Waltz'', there's a scene where Heero, Duo, and Trowa (the later posing as a member of the enemy forces) are cornered in a room. Heero asks Duo, completely out of left field, to punch him. Duo complies, and his right hook is "rewarded" with a shot to the solar plexus ("W-why?" "One for one; we're even now."). The idea was to knock Duo out so he could affect his own escape later, while Heero pretended to be KO'd and made a break for it when the soldiers were distracted by talking to Trowa, who pretended he captured the pair.
* ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' has Kojuro hit Masamune in the shoulder/neck area with the blunt edge of his sword, knocking him out. It causes no lasting damage but another character calls him out on the risk.
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* Although "tap" is sort of a mild way of putting it, [[Asterix]], Obélix and company frequently employ this against Roman legionaries, bandits, and other foes.
** In ''Astérix and the Big Fight'', Obélix accidentally flattens Getafix the Druid with a menhir (causing the latter to develop temporary [[Identity Amnesia]]); he then describes it to others as "just a tap on the head".
* The Belgian comic book character [[Tintin
** In fact, in a joke section of a medical journal dealing with brain injuries it was once speculated that Tintin's perpetually youthful appearance was due to the repeated blows to the head damaging his pituitary gland and stunting his growth.
* [[Action Girl]] [[Yoko Tsuno]], the main character of Roger Leloup's comic book of the same name, is an Aikido expert who uses the "chop to the neck" movement (which is named ''yokomen'' in Aikido) regularly on her rivals. Yoko herself frequently faints after being chopped on the neck, her enemies all seem aware of Yoko's vunerability in this area, almost as if Yoko has something on her neck that says hit me here to make me faint.
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* In the film version of ''[[Johnny Mnemonic]]'', Ralfi is being held against the wall by Johnny. Johnny is then promptly cold-cocked in the back of the head by one of Ralfi's bodyguards, and collapses like a sack of potatoes. It is some consolation, however, that Ralfi is worried that it may have caused damage to his head {{spoiler|because the Yakuza thugs want Johnny's head intact}}.
* Subverted in ''[[The Gamers]]''; one of the PCs asks to be knocked out. Two characters hit him, to no avail. The third knocks him ''very'' much out, so much that he's killed. Obviously, the rules of their game don't allow for non-lethal damage.
* This has happened to [[James Bond (
** In ''[[
** In ''[[
** In ''[[
** In ''[[Live and Let Die (
** In ''[[
** '''''But''''' it is certain that most of the times Bond knocks someone out it is certain that he doesn't particularly care about his victims' well-beings. He just aims for silencing them ASAP.
* Multiple examples in ''[[Undercover Brother]]''
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** Sistah Girl and White She Devil knock out a large number of [[Mooks]] during the fight in the island fortress Communications Room.
* Happens every five minutes in ''[[Midnight Run]]''.
* In ''[[Conspiracy Theory (
* Averted in ''Miller'sCrossing'', in which Tom is kicked in the head and knocked unconscious, but when he wakes up he is informed that he wasn't out for more than a few seconds.
* ''[[The Princess Bride (
** The Dread Pirate Roberts knocks out Inigo with his swordhilt.
** Count Rugen knocks out Westley with his sword hilt as well.
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** Fezzik knocks out a Shrieking Eel and accidentally kills the albino with a clout on the skull.
* In ''[[Sneakers]]'', Buddy Wallace clocks Bishop several times with a handgun to the face. The later [[Choke Hold]] is comparatively merciful in contrast.
* ''[[The Avengers (1998
** Bailey knocks out Ministry agent Alice with a blow on the back of the head.
** Mrs. Peel's clone knocks Steed unconscious with one punch.
* ''[[Wild Wild West (
** Jim West knocks General "Bloodbath" McGrath unconscious with one punch. McGrath wakes up a few seconds later with no side effects.
** West knocks out a guard at the Sons of the South dance with a punch.
* In ''[[Fatal Instinct]]'', Laura Lincolnberry knocks out her ex-husband by hitting him on the head with a [[Frying Pan of Doom]].
* Happens twice in Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.
** When Jafar has the city guards kidnap Aladdin, one of the guards knocks Aladdin out with a truncheon-like device.
** During the fight between Aladdin and Snake!Jafar near the end of the movie, Abu hits Iago over the head with what looks like a dish cover, making his head ring like a gong and knocking him out.
* In ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', Roger is bopped over the head with a frying pan and dragged out of the way. {{spoiler|Later, Jessica reveals that she did it: she didn't want Roger to get hurt. In fairness, it's impossible to permanently injure a toon via this method.}}
* ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]''. Wang and Eddie take out some female guards with judo chops and karate kicks to the head, and Wang knocks out multiple Wing Kong guards with punches and kicks to the head. Amusingly, Jack Burton knocks himself out by shooting the ceiling and dropping masonry on his head.
* In ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace]]'', [[Ax Crazy]] Jonathan is knocked out in this manner by the police, and the trope itself is brilliantly [[Lampshaded]] by the [[Genre Savvy]] protagonist, Mortimer.
{{quote| '''Mortimer:''' (watching the fight). "Oh, don't do that. It never works." (Jonathan collapses) "What do you know? it worked!"}}
* In ''[[From Dusk
* ''[[Star Trek Generations]]''. While in the Amargosa Observatory, Dr. Soren knocks out Geordi LaForge with a punch to the face.
* ''[[Rudolph the Red
* This is not done once, but twice to Captain Jack Sparrow in ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: Curse of the Black Pearl'' - First, humiliatingly by Will Turner's drunken blacksmith and then by Turner himself while spying on his mutinous crew in Isla de Muerta after Will figures out that Jack wishes to use him as "leverage" to get his ship back.
** During the Black Pearl's attack on Port Royal, Turner himself gets knocked out during his fight with the undead pirates and wakes up dazed the next morning.
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*** Two with punches to the face.
*** One by slamming a door in his face.
* ''[[Flash Gordon (
* ''[[Beverly Hills Cop]]''. One of Maitland's [[Mooks]] knocks out Axel Foley with a blow to the head before Mikey is killed.
* A [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Men
* In ''[[
** She takes out a [[Mook]] with a burning log to the back of the head during the bar fight in Nepal.
** In Cairo she's pursued into a building by a [[Mook]] and knocks him out (off camera) with a frying pan.
** While Indy is fighting the Nazis around the flying wing, she KO's the pilot with the plane's wheel chocks.
** Indy knocks out two Nazi guards with the "punch to the jaw" technique to [[Mugged for Disguise|steal their uniforms]] so he can perform [[Dressing
*** In the second of these, there are two clearly audible blows after Dr. Jones hauls the guard over the pile of boxes, so it's "Taps".
* ''[[Red Cliff]]'' - Shangxiang displays her excellent knowledge of pressure points by knocking out an uppity official's horse when he snarks about a woman being on the battlefield; later, when being introduced to Liu Bei, she expresses her unhappiness about being presented as a possible marriage prospect by doing the same on him. (Cue looks of [[Oh Crap]] on Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu's faces as they realize what she's up to, but are too late to do anything...)
* ''[[
* Subverted in ''High Risk'' (1981) when the heroes encounter a servant while sneaking into the drug lord's mansion. The servant just clutches his head and screams, alerting the guards.
* Disney's ''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]''. Two of the German commandos are knocked unconscious by the animated suits of armor: one by a punch and one by a literal "boot to the head" - a swung iron boot, that is.
* In Howard Hawkes' ''[[El Dorado]]'', John Wayne is taken prisoner when the Dragon sneaks up behind Mississippi and "give me a headache."
* ''[[Cowboys and Aliens (
* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[In Bruges]]''. Ray uses the neck chop variant, while high on cocaine, on a dwarf.
* ''[[I'm Gonna Git You Sucka]]''.
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** Several Red Lectroids knock out humans with punches to the head near the Black Lectroid thermopod.
** While John Parker is infiltrating Buckaroo's estate, one of Buckaroo's Blue Blaze Irregulars takes him out by hitting him on the back of the head.
* In ''[[Harry Potter (
* ''[[Judge Dredd (
* Subverted in ''[[Funny Farm]]''. When one of the locals gets a fishing hook stuck on his face, Andy wants to knock him out so he can easily take out the hook. After several blows, the man is not knocked out, just pissed off, and one of his friends wonders if Andy is just beating him up.
* ''[[Indiana Jones and
** After he enters Castle Brunwald, Indy knocks the butler unconscious with a punch to the face.
** Averted when Indy's father tries to knock out Indy by breaking a vase over his head. Indy stays conscious and is annoyed with his dad.
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*** A German soldier is knocked out when a periscope handle hits him on the back of the head.
*** Another soldier is rendered unconscious when Marcus Brody hits him over the head with an object.
* ''[[
* In [[Jean Claude Van Damme]] film ''[[Cyborg (
== Literature ==
* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novels:
** In ''[[Discworld
** Additionally in ''[[Discworld
** Not seen, but referenced in ''[[Discworld
** Vimes in particular plays this trope quite straight.
** In ''[[Discworld
* In Stephen King's [[IT]], staff of the Juniper Hill mental institution use rolls of quarters as improvised saps in order to subdue (and, in some cases, simply abuse) recalcitrant patients. One patient is said to have suffered severe brain damage as a result of such treatment and is barely functional as a result.
* Mentioned in the novel ''[[Lensman|First Lensman]]''. A thug of wide experience claims to be "an artist with the black jack". His boast is that he can knock out anyone within ten feet by throwing it, and can precisely time how long they stay unconscious.
* Subverted in [[
** Earlier, she tries hitting someone with a rock to escape custody. It doesn't work because: a) she was too squeamish to hit hard, b) a rock is ''not'' going to stop a [[Physical God]].
* ''[[Burke]]'' gives a bit of a [[Character Filibuster]] once about how hitting someone on the head does not always knock them out in real life, and how many would-be criminals have gotten into trouble that way.
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* In the [[Forgotten Realms]] novel ''Ghostwalker'' a knight knocks out a drunken rogue in a bar fight using a mace. Not a club, ''a flanged metal mace''.
* [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in ''[[Neuropath]]''. Tom Bible notes that it's not like in the movies, and that the guard he and Mia knocked out will need medical help quickly.
* The Vulcan Neck Pinch chapter of [[The Action
* Jiaan in the [[Farsala Trilogy]]. It's somewhat [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] in that he mentions he might have a broken collarbone as well.
* When they need to avoid their usual, lethal methods, the protagonists of ''[[The Belgariad]]'' employ this trope frequently to render bad guys unconscious. It's usually played completely straight, except where [[Hard Head]] is subverted by [[Rule of Funny]] or the needs of the plot.
** On one memorable occasion, after Garion knocks out a Grolim (who has some useful information), Belgarath tells him to "use an axe or a club" the next time: Garion's fist had almost killed the guy.
* Averted in the [[Sword of Truth]] series, when Kahlan is trying to decide the best way to make her way past a D'Haran guard. There is a long inner monologue about how a rap on the head is notoriously unreliable: the guard may come up screaming, several blows may be necessary to induce unconsciousness, and permanent damage may result. Additionally, this is one of her ''own'' guards, so she'd really rather avoid hitting him at all in the first place. Later on in the series, she shows a little girl she is held captive with her preferred way of silent subduing: A knife to the kidney. Where a blow to the head is unreliable and cutting the throat can be too messy and loud, a knife to the kidney puts the victim in so much pain that they can't even scream.
* This is practically the [[Signature Move]] of [[Winnetou
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in [[The Dresden Files]] when one of Harry's internal monolgues mentions that someone must have done one of those adamantium upgrades on his skull.
* Averted in Martin Caidin's ''Cyborg'' novels. Considerably violent than [[The Six Million Dollar Man|the TV series they inspired]], due to Steve Austin's bionic arm being described as a bludgeon, and strong hits to the head or chops to the neck are instantly fatal to the recipient. In fact he does this so often (sometimes cold-bloodedly to disabled enemies) that fans of the TV series are prone to go into [[What the Hell,Hero?]] mode when reading them.
* In ''Death at the President's Lodging'' by [[Michael Innes]], the detective investigating the aforesaid mystery is knocked out by a blow to the head. One of the suspects, an author of detective novels, says that he'd never have done it, because he knows how dangerous such a blow could be.
* In the [[
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Hermetic Millenium
* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[
* Completely averted in [[Vernor Vinge]]'s ''[[
* [[The Hardy Boys]]: Frank & Joe Hardy have both been knocked out by getting hit in the head so often that, in real life, the two should be vegetables in permanent coma in the hospital.
* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Lost]]'' has used this a few times, though the preferred method of knocking someone unconscious is [[Pistol-Whipping]]. In "Hearts and Minds," Locke hits Boone to knock him out, ties him up, and sends him on a [[Vision Quest]] by "treating" the wound with a hallucinogen.
** More realistic effects of a [[Tap
** The series is actually quite guilty of this, as characters would be knocked out with a tap every other episode but only when it would fit the plot. All the fighting scenes feature much harder blows then those who render them unconscious. Almost every major character took a beating at some point with a lot of hits on the head but we rarely see one fainting.
* In the ''[[MacGyver]]'' episode "Last Stand", Mac is holding some piece of equipment that he's supposedly going to use to fix up a plane so the bad guys can escape. When asked by his guard what the item is, he replies "Lateral... cranial... impact... enhancer", and smacks the guard across the head with it.
** This happens all the time in [[MacGyver]], what with his no-guns policy. The likelihood of knocking a bad guy out with a single blow is inversely proportional to his position on the bad guy ladder.
* Legendary subversion: in the first season of ''[[Star Trek:
** Spock repeatedly used the nerve pinch in subsequent episodes. In one of them ("Mudd's Planet"), the pinch failed because he was using it on an android.
** "Obsession". Ensign Garrovick tries to knock out Captain Kirk with a karate chop so [[More Expendable Than You|he can be the one]] to lure the vampire cloud to the antimatter bomb.
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** A truer subversion is seen in the episode "Mirror, Mirror," in which mirror!Spock is knocked out this way and Dr. McCoy declares that he'll die without immediate treatment. It may have averted the trope too far, though, considering the deadly object was a skull so fragile that it completely shattered after hitting Spock. It's difficult to imagine it would even knock him out in the first place.
*** That or the skull was so hard that it took a ''lot'' of blunt force to break it.
* Subverted in an episode of ''[[
* Dramatically subverted in an episode of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Warren's ex-girlfriend, Katrina, is escaping the Trio's lair after their mind-whammy wore off and plans to tell the police about their rape attempt. Warren clocks her on the head with a bottle, trying to knock her out - and she dies.
** That was a more or less one time occurrence though. Every other instance of somebody being beaten over the head (mostly Giles), they're simply knocked and wake up fine in a bit.
*** Although Giles getting hit on the head becomes a running joke, there's at least one instance where he gets hospitalized because of it.
** The jaw-punch version occurs in "Prophecy Girl", the final episode of season 1. Buffy and Giles disagree on which of them will go to fight the Master. Buffy settles the matter by punching Giles in the jaw, putting him to sleep just long enough for her to be off on the mission. Later Giles is seen nursing a bruise, but it seems no dental attention was required.
* Later played mostly straight in ''[[
* Happens to the hero more or less [[Once an Episode]] in ''[[The Rockford Files]]''.
* Happens to the title character more or less [[Once an Episode]] in ''Mannix''.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' uses it so much - for both comic and dramatic effect - that the show's Wiki [http://heroeswiki.com/One_punch_knockout has a page dedicated to it]. Once, Claude saved New York (at least for the moment) with this trope and a good right hook.
* The karate chop to the neck variant is one of the three ways people tend to be non-fatally incapacitated in the 60s spy series ''[[The Man
* Subverted in ''[[NCIS]]'', when McGee sees a witness to a murder get attacked from across the street. He heads over to her apartment, only to find her door open. While he's seeing if she's alive, the assailant pops out of one of the rooms-which McGee didn't check-and smacks him over the head with a lamp. Despite getting hit hard enough for the lamp to break, McGee is still clear enough to unholster his gun and take a few shots at the fleeing perp, missing by inches.
** Another painful subversion was when it was determined a man confessing to the murder of his fellow marine had actually [[Pistol Whip|Pistol Whipped]] him so he'd stop screaming after being wounded on a battlefield. The blow had cracked the skull and killed the man, his best friend, and the guilt had eaten at him for years.
* In ''[[Buck Rogers]] in the 25th Century'', Buck could take out a whole swarm of Draconian guards with a single sidekick. They fell like a stack of dominoes.
* ''[[
* ''[[Doctor Who]]''. The Third Doctor used 'Venusian Aikido' to immobilise someone, which seemed to involve John Pertwee jabbing two fingers into someone's chest and shouting "Hai!"
** This is a preferred technique of classic Doctor Who baddies; a nondescript karate chop to the shoulder which had a 50/50 chance of knocking people out or killing them outright.
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* Subversion: In one first-season ''[[Sledge Hammer]]!'' episode, Sledge jumps a Mook from behind, and hits him over the head with the butt of his gun. The Mook's reaction is to cry "Owww," but not to go down. Sledge tries again, with similar results. After several attempts, he is unable to knock the mook out by hitting him on the head. Alan Spencer, creator of ''[[Sledge Hammer]]!'', in his voice-over commentary for the episode, states that this was the entire purpose of the scene -- to take the Mickey out of this trope.
* Subverted and parodied in one episode of ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'', in which [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All|Colonel Crittendon]] claims to know an instantly-lethal form of martial arts known as "Killer Judo". He sneaks up on a guard and delievers a chop to the back of the neck... [[No Sell|which has no effect whatsoever.]]
* In ''[[
* Mostly averted in ''[[Burn Notice]]'', where mooks are heroes alike are usually shown as being stunned and in serious pain rather as a result of hand-to-hand scuffles, and are rarely KO'd by fisticuffs.
* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]''. During the Blancmange sketch the scientist knocks out his female assistant with a blow on the head.
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* In ''[[Firefly]],'' Mal delivers one to {{spoiler|Jayne}} with a wrench.
** He's only out for a couple seconds, though; and "unconscious" wasn't the specific intent, just a bonus.
* Data in [[Star Trek:
** ''That's'' where it is!? The shot is an extreme close-up, so [[I Thought It Meant|I thought it was]] [[Accidental Innuendo|his inner thigh...]]
** Picard has been known to dole out a few back-of-the-head hits...but he tends to receive them more than he gives them.
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* On ''[[Republic of Doyle]]'' Jake gets hit on the head so much every epeisode that he should be dead or suffering massive brain damage. In one episode he got hit in the back of the head by a crowbar and later by a wine bottle.
* Averted in the original ''[[I Spy]]'' television series. In one episode Alexander Scott (Bill Cosby) attacks a guard with several karate chops to the neck and goes out of his way to explain to the person he'd just rescued that the guard was now dead.
* 1960's ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' series episodes.
** "King Tut's Coup". While Tut and his henchmen are stealing a sarcophagus, one of the henchmen knocks out a security guard with a single blow on the back of the head with a club.
** "The Unkindest Tut Of All". While Batgirl is confronting King Tut, his henchwoman Shirley sneaks up behind her and knocks her out by hitting her on the back of the head with a vase.
** "Deep Freeze". When Mr. Freeze sends his henchman Frosty up to the roof to fix the TV antenna, Batman knocks Frosty out by hitting him on the top of his head.
** "That Darn Catwoman". The title character's [[Mooks]] take out Pat Pending and his valet with blackjacks.
* Angels on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' can do this by literally just touching the target.
* In ''[[Dollhouse]]'', Topher Brink uses the jaw-punch version to prevent Bennet Halverson {{spoiler|from killing Echo}}.
* ''[[
* Subverted on an episode of ''[[The Lone Ranger]]'', where the Ranger knocks out Butch Cavendish with a punch to the jaw, but realizes he's faking when he examines him. He uses it as a way to set a trap and doesn't tell the guys with him Cavendish is faking until later, when they're away from him.
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== Music ==
* In [[
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*** However, in Halo ODST, the Rookie is unconscious for a whole six hours (by the impact of a very high altitude low opening crash) and then happily runs around New Mombassa. Perhaps his inability to speak is in fact resultant brain damage.
**** Or one mother of a headache brought on by a concussion.
* ''[[
** Trivia: Ionstorm Austin, the makers of Deus Ex, employed some of the Looking Glass Studios staff (who made ''[[Thief]]'') when Looking Glass folded.
** In the ''Deus Ex: Human Revolution'' [[Tap
* ''[[Splinter Cell]]''. From ''Chaos Theory'' onward, Sam commonly uses the sleeper hold. He also uses punches to the back of the head and palm-strikes to the solar plexus.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Avalon Code]]'' ends Chapter 3 with Anwar using the "solar plexus" variant on your character. Heath uses the same variant at the end of Chapter 5 to keep you from getting the book out of a hijacked Valdo's hands.
* The ''[[Shadowrun]] Genesis'' game uses the "solar plexus blow" variant as a distraction in which your character will stealthily pull it off then claim they had a heart attack to sneak into corporations as flavor text. This always works regardless of the unarmed combat and social capabilities of the main character.
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* How [[Twilight Princess|Link]] was rendered unconcious, so the Bulblins could take Ilia. It's never explained ''why'' they do this though.
* ''[[Quest for Glory V]]'' introduces the blackjack as a Thieves-only item which lets them perform non-fatal sneak attacks.
* Played straight in ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' and ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]''. Almost averted when Batman uses a blood-choke to silent take-down enemies, which as stated previously does have a low risk of permanent damage -- but his opponents stay out for a very long time. His other method of 'knocking out' thugs involves no-holds-barred beat-downs where he snaps bones and most certainly gives severe concussions.
* In ''[[Ghost Trick]]'', the Guardian of the Park receives one {{spoiler|from a falling football}}. This is a particularly [[TV Tropes Drinking Game|egregio]]-- er, [[Subverted Trope|extreme]] example, as going by the [[Time Travel|time said tap occurs]], he was left unconscious for ''five hours''.
* Apparently averted in the [[Resident Evil 1|first Resident Evil game]], of all things. {{spoiler|One ending variation has [[The Big Guy|Barry Burton]] sneak up behind an unsuspecting [[Big Bad|Wesker]] and whack him on the back of the head with his magnum. This would have to kill Wesker for him to be able to transform into his undead, G-Virus self, present in the rest of the series.}}
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== Webcomics ==
* [[Lampshade Hanging]] in [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-08-14 this] ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[Narbonic]]''. Mell clonks Titus Misanthropie with the butt of her gun... and he yells "Ow!" He then proceeds to give her advice:
{{quote| '''Titus:''' Miss, you want to strike closer to the base of the skull. What is this, your first cold-cocking?<br />
'''Mell:''' Usually I just kill.<br />
'''Helen:''' Sorry, Titus. She's an intern. }}
* This becomes a running gag during a ''[[Dan and
* Done [[Reality Ensues|realistically]] in [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=207 this] [[VG Cats]] strip. Yes kids, ''that'' is what you are going for when hitting someone hard on the head.
* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Oggie cures Lars' panic attack with a brick to the head. Of course, Og is a Jager and they are superhumanly tough, so by his lights this might be an acceptable form of discipline.
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{{quote| '''Dragoon:''' What is this, an episode of ~Gilligan's Island~? Everybody gets hit once and they are instantly unconscious?<br />
'''Red Mantle:''' Good one. Six bucks says he has [[Easy Amnesia|amnesia]] when he wakes up. }}
* One episode of ''[[
* In the ''[[Star Wars:
* Subverted in the ''[[
* ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' TOS episodes:
** "Mystery of the Lizard Men". The title opponents are knocked out as follows: Race Bannon (1 punch, 1 judo chop), Jonny (1 by air vent grill, 1 by swinging pulley, 2 by oar, 1 by facemask).
Line 361:
** "Monster in the Monastery". Hadji to a yeti with a club, Jonny to two yetis with thrown pots, Hadji to a yeti with a crate and a yeti to ''himself'' with a thrown rock.
** "The Devil's Tower". Race knocks out a sleepy caveman with his own club.
* In his [[Show Within a Show]], ''[[
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Sokka knocks someone out by hitting him with his boomerang.
** Similarly, Zuko (while masquerading as the Blue Spirit) gets knocked out for what seems to be several hours when he gets shot in the forehead by an arrow, protected only by his mask.
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