Suicidal Gotcha: Difference between revisions

 

One of the most effective attempts at [[Try and Follow]]. A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[No Escape but Down]].

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== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[My-HiME]]'': After main characters have started dying, Mai performs this trope to punctuate her attempt to tell Yuuichi to stay away from her. {{spoiler|Shortly afterward, she summons Kagutsuchi and flies away.}}

** Aoi does this in ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' when confronted by an angry mob of displaced Windbloom refugees, [[Better to Die Than Be Killed|deciding to sacrifice herself rather than reveal the whereabouts of Princess Mashiro]] ({{spoiler|who is hiding among them}}). {{spoiler|She just barely survives.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* Has happened too many times to count in scenes involving [[Superman]]. Villains are getting increasingly exasperated by the Man of Steel's tendency to show up just after Clark Kent is tossed off a roof.

** [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] has done this several times as well. One [[Anti-Villain]], the Prowler, was sufficiently shaken up by the apparent demise that he panicked until Spidey let him know that Parker was "saved".

* In the ''[[Tintin]]'' book ''[[Tintin/Recap/The Red Sea Sharks|The Red Sea Sharks]]'', recurring [[Big Bad]] Rastapopulous has been caught as the master of the [[Evil Plan]] which involved [[Moral Event Horizon|literal slave-trading]], and the navy is closing on his superyacht. He goes out in a launch, supposedly to give himself up, but it suddenly sinks. The heroes and the world media think that he is dead, but he has in fact escaped in [[Escape Pod|a mini-submarine hidden in the launch]].

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Back to The Future Part II]]'', Biff has Marty cornered on the roof of the hotel and is stunned when Marty calmly steps off the roof. A few seconds later, he floats back into view, standing on top of the flying DeLorean.

* The Monk in ''Bulletproof Monk'' initially evades the [[Big Bad]] that way... but then, as the title suggests, he ''is'' bulletproof, so a fall off a cliff wouldn't necessarily kill him.

* In a variant of the trope, the audience is the one fooled in ''[[The Tale of Despereaux]]'' {{spoiler|where the titular mouse apparently falls off a tower window ledge to his death while the Narrator notes he didn't live [[Happily Ever After]]. However, while out of sight for a split-second, he stretches his enormous ears to go into Dumbo mode, and he reappears for the final image of the film, confidentially gliding away to his next adventure; the narrator meant that the mouse is too busy to have a pat ending like that. }}

* It's rather subtle but in T3, after it becomes clear {{spoiler|they have failed to avert judgement day}} and having rigged the Crystal Peak mountain to explode, Kate Brewester suggests "we could just let it blow" which Connor seems to acquisce to, only for them to change their minds (making this a Gotcha) {{spoiler|when the radio starts receiving a calls from defense forces, turning Connor into the effective leader of the resistance}}.

* The title character in [[Tongan Ninja]] does this to escape from [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Gun Man]]. He jumps over the edge of a rooftop and grabs hold of the ledge. To sell the ruse he even lets out a rapidly-decreasing-in-volume scream, followed by a squishing noise, which Gun Man falls for.

* Used in ''[[Dracula]]''. Cornered on a cliff edge [[Dracula|the vampire]] escapes by jumping backwards and turning into a bat halfway down.

 

== Literature ==

* In the short story ''[[The Most Dangerous Game]]'', the main character jumps of a cliff into rocky ocean when cornered. The villain assumes that [[No One Could Survive That]], and heads back to his castle only to find the hero waiting to jump him.

 

* Subverted in the series three finale of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' {{spoiler|in which a cornered Sheridan takes a plunge off a cliff and ''dies''. ([[Unexplained Recovery|He gets better]], thanks to the help of a [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|very old alien).]]}}

* Played almost exactly as in the description in the first non-pilot episode of ''[[Firefly]]'', with the Serenity coming up behind our cornered heroes as they come out of a bad-looking barfight. Semi-subverted as the Wash (piloting) couldn't really save them from the raging mob - he just scared them into thinking he could.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'', with the heroes escaping on an airship.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', with an airship again serving as the means of escape.

* In [[Trauma Team]], Gabriel Cunningham pulls this when confronted by Ian Holden late in the game, by stepping back off the roof of the hospital and grabbing onto a helicopter's ladder. How he wasn't sliced to ribbons by the propeller is anyone's guess.

 

{{quote|'''Xykon:''' Point three: [[Oh Crap|Meteor Swarm.]]}}

 

== Western Animation ==

* The pre-series [[Pilot]] of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Aang jumps off a ledge to use the [[Die or Fly]] method to trigger the Avatar State, a move that would be ''a very bad idea'' during the actual series.

** A variation of this can be found in the third season. Zuko and Azula are fighting on a blimp when they both fall off. Zuko is then caught mid-air by Katara and the rest of the group on Appa, and he watches as his sister continues to fall without anyone to catch her. {{spoiler|She then uses her exceptional firebending skills to rocket to the safety of a nearby cliff, much to Zuko's disappointment.}}

 

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