Tail Slap: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
There is a reason most vertebrates have tails. They can propel you through the water, free up your other limbs for multitasking, are great for balancing, can bait predator and prey alike, are good for showing your intentions and they can swat flies. Why stop there? If it works on a small pest, why not a larger one? You may not have the thumbs necessary for cracking a whip or swinging a chain, but
[[Prehensile Tail]]s can be flexible enough to hit things, but not all of them are powerful enough to be effective deterrents. For added power, some tails have a weapon attached
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' has Goku, Korin and Freeza do this
* The Nine-tailed Fox's tails in ''[[Naruto]]'' are incredibly strong, sharp, and hot; they can devastate ''mountains'' and raise tsunamis, as well as pierce human flesh and leave chakra behind, which repeatedly burns and heals the affected area.
* Meroune Lorelei from ''[[Daily Life with Monster Girl]]'' is a mermaid, and so her tail packs a similar musculature and strength to a human's legs.
==
* The Lizard likes to do this in ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' stories.
**
== [[Film]] ==
* [[Godzilla]] will sometimes attack this way in his movies.
* Littlefoot's mother in ''[[The Land Before Time]]'';
* The
* At the end of ''[[Dinosaur]]'', Aladar and Neera use their tails to attack the Carnotaurus.
* In ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'', Master Viper's fighting style is based primarily around this
* The
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Raptor Red]]'' by Robert T. Bakker uses
* In the ''[[Redwall]]'' series, the otters frequently use their tails as a weapon; the strongest and most skilled can knock an enemy unconscious with a single slap from their tail.
== [[Live
* In ''[[Dinosaurs]]''
==
* The tail is something most people forget about when depicting the Behemoth, except for those who think it was a dinosaur. Most sources depict it as an hippopotamus or a bull, animals most definitely not known for powerful tails.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'':
*
== [[Video
* ''[[Pokémon]]'':
* ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'': Minccino and Cinccino's [[Signature Move]] is the [[Trope Namer]]. They usually use their tails to sweep away dust, but at a high enough level can use it offensively in combat. In addition, the moves Slam, Iron Tail <ref>which involves the tail becoming encased in ''[[Extra Ore Dinary|metal]]</ref>'', and Aqua Tail are this trope.▼
** Tail Whip is a subversion, where the user wags their tail cutely to lower an opponent's Defense.
** Tauros has whip-like tails that it uses to psyche itself up by swatting itself.
** The [[Extra Ore Dinary|Steel-type]] Iron Tail, introduced in ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'', and [[Making a Splash|Water-type]] Aqua Tail, introduced in ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'', count as this.
▲** ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]''
* Tails from ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' can defeat most enemies with a simple swipe of his tails.
* This primarily how [[Gex]] fights.
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* In ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'', the campaign unit Merman Brawlers can use their fish tails to hit and stun their enemies, slowing them. Also, the downloadable setting "Era of Magic" has the lizardfolk's [[Dragon Rider|Chaos Riders]], who can use their Chaos Wyverns to perform a "tail sweep" at the enemies.
* In ''[[BlazBlue]]'', Makoto (a [[Little Bit Beastly|squirrel girl]]) does this in some of her grab attacks.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' has the raccoon suit's tail as well as the P-Wing and tanuki suit. In ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]'', this is extended to a lot of things.
* In ''[[La-Mulana]]'', the boss Tiamat can whip out her massive tail to do a lot of damage to Lemeza.
* Crocodile-like enemies in ''[[EarthBound]]'' can "swing their tail very hard" as an attack.
* Bullsquids from ''[[Half Life]]'' possess a surprisingly powerful spinning tail-smack finisher which often reduces a victim to [[Ludicrous Gibs]].
== [[Web Animation]] ==
* In ''The Dolan Life Mysteries'' episode, “[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzrg2tGVO9k&t=115s If Knees Were Backwards, What Would Chairs Look Like?]”, Dolan is slapped by Hellbent, Shima, and Melissa after he mocks tails.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* [[Gary the Rat]]'s tail is strong enough to knock a man out a building with a flick.
* Grimlock from ''[[Transformers]]'' when not in
*
** Katz uses his
* Whiplash in the original ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe|He-Man]]'' line. He gets clubbed the 2002 run.▼
** Courage and Eustace use this against each other after they are turned into kangaroo monsters.
▲* Whiplash in the original ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe|He-Man]]'' line.
* The white whale from ''Moby Dick''.{{context}}
▲* Katz uses his extra limb for an advantage during a handball game in ''Courage The Cowardly Dog''.
*
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Dolphins
* Some sharks can cut a man in half with a swipe of their tails.{{fact}}
* Most lizards, crocodilians and similar
* Dinosaurs in the Diplodocus family of sauropods had long tails that apparently seem to have been whip like. Possibly other sauropods as well, they all had long, muscular tails.
* As mentioned in the description, cattle make use of their tails to swat flies, as it can reach everywhere their head and legs do not, and has multiple ends they have trouble avoiding. They give the same treatment to farm hands they don't like.
*
{{reflist}}
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