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 ==

** 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.}}

* In the second season of ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', Ferio has just saved Fuu from Princess Aska's forces (or, rather, she was playing along with his heroic rescue, as she was quite capable of escaping on her own) and they reach the open maw of the dragon-shaped Fahren ship. Ferio takes her in his arms, jumps! ...and lands on the back of a gigantic winged beast, which takes them away from the dragon.

** To be fair, he does see a body lying on the street. And it was dark.

** Also played with, in that this is pretty much planned out.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' (manga and ''Brotherhood'' anime), when Lin is carrying the wounded Lan Fan away from the homunculi, she says that she's just being a burden on him and that he'll be able to escape if he leaves her behind. When he tells her to stop talking like that, she takes out her knife and points it at herself...and then we change scenes. When it cuts back later in the episode, we discover that {{spoiler|she actually cut her own arm off and used it as bait to draw the homonculi away}}. Still rather disturbing, but better than the alternative.

* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'': Seiya and Saori Kido use one to escape from Shaina and Silver Saint Jamian, jumping off a cliff together rather than either fighting when in ''huge'' disadvantage or giving Saori to them. {{spoiler|While Seiya gets badly injured, they both live, and a while later their [[True Companions]] come to help them.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

** [[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".

 

== 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 the ''[[Even Stevens]]'' [[Made for TV Movie|Movie]], {{spoiler|this stunt was pulled by Louis in order to fool the television producer of the reality show they were on. Louis ended up rising up on a helicopter, that was hosted by a rival television reality show. Funny enough, the name of the rival show was named "Gotcha!"}}

** What makes this example simply bizarre is that he wound up {{spoiler|on a net hung from the ''bottom'' of a helicopter. There'd be no way he could've landed there without getting chopped by the rotary blades.}}

** It is also played with in ''[[The Rage in Placid Lake]]''. Placid is cornered on a rooftop by a group of thugs. The scene then cuts to him recovering in a hospital bed, leaving the audience to assume they assaulted him. The end of the movie reveals that he jumped.

* In the Leslie Nielsen film ''[[Spy Hard]]'', the main character escapes by jumping off a roof, only to appear again in a Harrier jump-jet, scaring off the pursuers. It is then revealed to be a prop being lifted by a helicopter for a billboard.

* Edmund pulls this with a griffin in the ''[[Narnia|Prince Caspian]]'' [[The Movie|movie]] and is very James Bond about it.

* 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}}.

* 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.

 

* 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.

* River Song has done this at least twice in Doctor Who

 

== Video Games ==

** Notable in that she summons Valefor in mid-air, AFTER she's actually jumped.

*** In addition to the insane height of the tower, [[Pimped-Out Dress|all those feathers sewn into her wedding dress]] slowed her descent considerably--[[Fridge Brilliance|she was falling incredibly slowly, even for artistic license]].

* Variation: the first boss battle in ''[[Metroid]] Prime 3: Corruption'' involves Samus and the boss falling down a shaft. If the boss is defeated before they hit the ground, Samus gets saved by a fellow Hunter who can use his ice powers to surf on ice he manifests below himself out of thin air.

* Played straight for the villain in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'' - Snake knocks Solidus off one of the Big Shell's bridges with a grenade, only to have Solidus rise back up on top of a Harrier jet.

** Shortly afterwards, Raiden shoots down the Harrier with a Stinger missile (because it's badass, I guess), which then spirals towards the water far below...only to be saved by being ''eaten'' by Metal Gear Ray. Worst injury suffered? Solidus loses an eye.

** In a later scene, most of the heroes are aboard Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd, on their way to stop the giant Subspace Cannon which has just appeared out of a warp portal. The ship flies at max speed straight for the cannon, even as it takes heavy laser fire and starts to break apart. Then the main cannon fires, and the Halberd is spit-roasted from stem to bow, breaks in half and explodes. Cut to a closeup on Ganondorf and Bowser, smirking triumphantly while standing on the bridge of the Subspace ship... only to have several heroes' smaller ships [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|fly out of the explosion, dodge all the incoming laser fire and set up a distraction for Kirby to finish the cannon off]]. Ganondorf and Bowser, apparently quite humbled, silently retreat into the portal as their ship collapses.

* Lampshaded in ''The Chronicles of [[Riddick]]: Assault on Dark Athena''. At the end of the game the [[Big Bad]] and Riddick have an [[Alas, Poor Villain]] moment, then she lets go of his hand and plummets out of sight down an elevator shaft. Riddick's little girl [[Morality Pet]] asks "will she be coming back?" to which Riddick replies "when I say goodbye, it's forever". Since it's very much a [[Killed Off for Real]] series, the most obvious conclusion is that she really is dead.

* ''[[Shadow Hearts]]: Covenant'' sees Rasputin doing this with the Sapientes Gladio airship. Yuri responds by becoming Amon and blowing the ship to pieces.

** [[Artistic License Physics|...maybe it was one of those ...convertible helicopters?]]

*** She ''does'' have a grappling gun, you know.

* 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.

 

 

== 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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