Talk to the Fist: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

 

 

* In ''[[The Law of Ueki]]'' it's, obviously, Talk to the tree.

'''Dragon:''' Awful... I haven't... said... }}

** Worth noting that Ryoko isn't a real [[Combat Pragmatist|dirty fighter]] as she doesn't exactly think it's dirty to hit someone who's acting like an idiot for no reason (she'd already trounced one of Takasugi's other thugs, so as far as she was concerned, the fight had started already).

* Revy from ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' is fond of gunning down blowhards in the middle of their speeches, like [[Those Wacky Nazis|that giant Nazi]] with the specially designed Luger that only he could shoot from the Nazi arc in the first season.

** She also shot Rotton The Wizard mid-introduction (who was luckily wearing Kevlar), and during the Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise, ''drop-kicks'' the [[Yakuza]] gunman who tries to duel her.

* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', this is recalled as a common tactic of Gogeta (the Fusion Dance version of Goku/Vegeta).

** Pulled off much earlier by Goku when he first faces off with the Ginyu Force: Recoome is doing his "You have no chance" song and dance (the dance is literal), and just before he can finish and attack, Goku one-shots him with an elbow to the gut. He tells him, "I saw an opening that seemed to scream out, 'attack!'. So... I did."

** A little bit later, Recoome's teammate Jeice is talking trash at Goku and ends with "Make your move!" Goku socks him in the nose, and while he's still reeling and screaming in pain, Goku says "You ''said'' 'Make your move'. I thought that meant you were ready."

*** Parodied all to hell in the abridged series where Goku cuts Jeice off five times mid sentence and then a sixth in the following episode

** Chibi Trunks chides Buu for doing this to him while he and Goten are powering up, telling him that a sucker punch is a move that "only INEXPERIENCED fighters do."

* Happens at least once in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.

** This scene played out again in the final episode of ''GaoGaiGar FINAL'', during the battle between Gai and Palparepa. [[Big Bad]] picks himself up, pulls his face back together, and '''''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWTnKZ9U5Og WHAM!!]'''''

** Another funny moment is when Crocodile is talking to Luffy, and Luffy suddenly punches him. Crocodile is made of sand, so Luffy punches away part of his face, but his expression remains fixed.

** Of course, this only makes Croc ''angrier'', resulting in {{spoiler|Luffy's first defeat via hook to the stomach}}.

** It gets reversed on him.

'''Roy:''' Too slow. *KABOOOM!!* }}

* In ''[[Final Fantasy Unlimited]]'', Pist manages to repeatedly take advantage of the heroes' excessively long attack montages.

* Occurs during the Tasuki/Tamahome battle in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''.

'''Tamahome:''' ''(immediately hits him in the face with a nunchuck; punches; kicks; nunchucks again)'' }}

** Tasuki himself pulls off a Talk to the Fist moment later in the series, by hurling a sword at Nakago when he's mid-[[Evil Gloating|evil gloat]]. {{spoiler|He hits Soi instead, but it still has the effect of temporarily getting Nakago to shut up.}}

* ''Attempted'' by both the title character and Raikage in ''[[Naruto]]'', who both try to attack {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Tobi]]}} while he's trying to talk to Naruto himself/the people in the Kage summit, but the guy just [[Intangible Man|phases through it]] the second time, after which he [[Lampshade Hanging|calls the Raikage rude for interrupting him]].

** In the battle between Sakura and Sasori, Sakura, after being saved from Sasori's poison gas, angrily declares that she will defeat him and force him to tell her where to find Orochimaru (and thus, Sasuke). Sasori nonchalantly shoots some kunai at her, which Chiyo blocks with her puppets, saying that men should listen to women while they are talking.

* An amusing double instance of this in ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'' in the end. During his losing battle against Haman, Char questions her motives as he's more or less defeated. She remarks her answer will be killing him and she moves to do so. However, Char cuts ''her'' off when he opens fire with his vulcans on some open wiring in the ship hangar they're in. The resulting explosion blasts Haman's Qubeley away and Char can live to fight another day.

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]!'', mages usually need partners to protect them while chanting spells, as demonstrated [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v03/c017/12.html here].

** Of course, that goes entirely out the window when Negi decides he doesn't like relying on other people after that one fight.

* Episode 23 of ''[[Star Driver]]''. Head A.K.A. {{spoiler|Tokio Tsunashi}} approaches Takuto, pretending to be a stranger, asking directions. Takuto doesn't even let him finish, and [http://i.imgur.com/a9l89.gif punches him right in the face]. {{spoiler|Just like he said he would when he found his father.}}

* Happens in Turn 13 of ''[[Code Geass]]'' R2, Cornelia and Bartley run into V.V. {{spoiler|Cornelia already knows about Geass, so she knifes V.V in the head as a precaution, cutting him off mid-sentence. Unfortunately, this is the part where Cornelia learns about immortals.}} And he just ''keeps talking''.

* From ''[[Fairy Tail]]''

** Natsu does this twice [http://www.mangareader.net/135-7147-11/fairy-tail/chapter-32.html here] and here:

 

* Rorsarch and Nite Owl try to do this to {{spoiler|Ozymandias}} in ''[[Watchmen]]''. It doesn't go very well.

* The famous "one punch" scene in ''[[Justice League of America|Justice League (International)]]'' #5.

''([[Batman]] knocks him out with one punch)'' }}

* ''[[Secret Six]]'': Deadshot ''loves'' this trope. It's pretty much a guarantee with him that if you take too long to say something, he'll lose interest and blow a hole in you.

* In an Ultimate comic, an obnoxious little prick (flanked by two huge thugs, of course) comes up to the Punisher in the Ryker's cafeteria and starts giving him shit about how he's being released ''[[Tempting Fate|that day]]'' and his cousin, a new up-and-coming crime boss, is going to give him a good position, while the Punisher is stuck here with the absolute minimum of comforts (they took away all of his silverware because he kept killing people with it). The little prick makes it clear that obviously, he and his kind have won, while the Punisher has only ruined his own life. Frank doesn't say a word. Instead, he flips his table over, uses it as a battering ram to pin all three of them against the wall, and ''beats the little bastard's head in '''with a tray.'''''

 

== Fan Works ==

 

 

== Films -- Animation ==

* In ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Mr. Incredible attempts to flatten Syndrome with a log while the other is recapping his life-story, but it doesn't quite work, and then gets [[Lampshade Hanging|fitted with a lampshade]]:

** He does get one in the end {{spoiler|as he is making an escape, claiming he'll kidnap Bob's son Jack-Jack someday, only to get a car thrown at him, resulting in him getting sucked into a jet turbine because of his cape.}}

"Enough talk. Let's fight. SHAKABOOIE!" }}

 

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* Anna in the film ''[[Van Helsing]]''. She takes advantage of the [[Large Ham]] qualities of her vampire opponent to attack.

'''Alan:''' Get lost, Dipshit. ''(starts shooting at his feet)'' }}

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[Sword of Truth|Confessor]]'', a military commander that's had Richard as a captive from the last book, sees Richard coming, and starts on a monologue about the things he's going to do to Richard, and is cut off (excuse the pun) mid-sentence.

** In ''Ghostmaker'', Gaunt punches Ortiz after his artillery had fired on a location where he knew the Ghosts were, killing hundreds of them. The [[We Have Reserves|superior who had actually ordered the attack]] intends to take advantage of this to court-martial and shoot Gaunt; unfortunately for him, Ortiz [[Drives Like Crazy|drives a tank into headquarters]] and files a report that [[Cut Himself Shaving|he had been injured by his guns' recoil]].

* A less combative example, but in [[Diane Duane]]'s [[Star Trek]] novel ''Spock's World'', a [[Giant Spider|Hamalki]] scientist bites a Vulcan professor in the middle of a debate. [[Aint No Rule]] that says she can't.

'''K's't'lk''': Fascinating. For someone whom on most levels of consideration doesn't exist, you scream with great enthusiasm. And I ''heard'' you, too. Better have that looked into. }}

* In a cantina on the [[Death Star]], two Alderaanian contractors are trying to make sense of [[Earthshattering Kaboom|what Tarkin just did to their homeworld]]. Enter a stormtrooper boasting that "the Rebel scum won't be giving us much trouble after Alderaan, hey?" Mock their grief, will you, motherkriffer! That contractor's fist can give your smug face trouble! And then the bouncer will evict you instead of him!

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', minor Goa'uld Toth begins his melodramatic doom monologue, but just when he starts to talk, Carter shoots him.

** Subverted, however, in ''Serenity'':

'''The Operative:''' I am, of course, wearing full body armor. I am not a ''moron''. }}

** There's also Mal punching [[Jerkass|Atherton Wing]] just as he is about to say something nasty about Inara. He really likes this trope.

*** He let him finish the speech. Barely.

** There's also this bit of dialogue from the pilot, where Mal decks Simon for hitting his [[Berserk Button]] about the Alliance in general:

'''Jayne:''' [[Genre Savvy|Saw that comin'.]] }}

'''Flashheart:''' What a ''poof!'' }}

** In the Tenth Doctor episode "The Idiot's Lantern", the Doctor is punched out mid-sentence:

** Rory gives the Doctor one in ''The Big Bang''.

* In the [[Series Finale]] of ''[[Angel]]'', after {{spoiler|Wesley is mortally wounded by Vail, Illyria walks in and they have a touching scene. Vail recovers consciousness from Wesley's last-ditch attack, and sees Wesley die in the arms of Illyria, who has shifted into her human guise. Thinking she's just another human, Vail mocks Wesley's "meaningless death"...only to have Illyria morph back into her [[Physical God|God-King form]] and punch right through his face.}}

* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', a demon in the musical episode gets it while singing. Worth a laugh.

* Ben, [[Manipulative Bastard]] of ''[[Lost]]'', gets one from Sawyer in season four when he is trying to play on the latter's emotions by talking about how Kate decided to stay with Jack instead of going with him. Probably not the smartest idea since Ben was tied up and being held captive at the time.

* ''[[Dexter]]'': While Dexter is washing dishes, Paul gives him a long-winded, menacing speech. He warns him that he loves his children, he's their father, and he won't let Rita or anyone else get in his wa--''Wham!'' Upside the head with a frying pan.

 

 

== Pro Wrestling ==

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** The fourth edition sphinx gains combat bonuses if you do this, or can't answer its riddle.

* The [[Exalted|Infernal Exalted]] have an ability that allows them to regain Willpower when they do this. (In a slight subversion, most Infernals are villains, though they don't have to be.)

 

== Theater ==

* In [[Starship]] by [[Team Starkid]] Taz goads Commander Up into punching her to toughen him up. When he doesn't she punches him instead.

 

== Video Games ==

* Used beautifully in one segment of ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]''. The player can find themselves in a very annoying minigame featuring a lute contest between the player and an arrogant bard. The bard, Cain, insults the player at virtually every opportunity and the minigame is no thrill either. At the very tail end of the contest, win or lose, Cain insults the player one last time. Upon which, the character is given a new interaction choice in the dialogue menu: "Set Cain on fire and steal his lute." Even if you're playing a goody-two-shoes character, you can't resist that.

** And many choose not to interrupt him, because Mankar Camaron's speeches are a genuine work of art as far as megalomaniacal ranting goes. Then again, they only went and hired ''Terence Stamp'' to do the voice, so what else could we expect?

** Turn the difficulty down to minimum and spell yourself up to 100% Chameleon and you can kill him with one shot, which makes the interruption that much more satisfying.

* When gigantic pansy villian who doesn't even fight you Lucien in ''[[Fable II]]'' goes into his long-winded speech, you have the option of shooting him in the face to permanently shut him up at any time. Take too long and Reaver does it instead.

* A lot of this happens in-game in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series when an enemy is [[Calling Your Attacks|calling his/her attacks]]. For example, the only way to stop [[Bonus Boss|Sephiroth's]] [[HP to One]] attack is to bash him over the head while he's trying to invoke "Descend Heartless Angel". ''Chain of Memories'' even gives you a way to quickly interrupt ''any'' attack, complete with its own tutorial (though your attacks are subject to the same mechanic, as well).

'''X:''' ''(fires)'' }}

* Entertaining in-game example: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OOCBSvG5yo&NR=1 This video] of the ''[[X-Men]]'' arcade game.

* In ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', [[Smug Snake|Ramon Salazar]] goes off onto another smarmy monologue on how he's going to kill Leon with another clever trap. Leon, who by this point is thoroughly fed up with Salazar's bullshit, shuts him up with [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|a knife to the hand.]]

* ''[[River City Ransom]] Ex'' is one of those games where you can sock the enemy in the head mid-speech and your allies won't stand for it.

'''Prism Red:''' ... Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about that! }}

** Unfortunately, this turns out to be a dumb thing to do, as Red summons his hired help and [[That One Level|it all turns into crap.]]

* ''[[Bushido Blade]]'' begins almost every fight with your opponent talking for a short bit before the fight starts proper. It's entirely possible to cut them down before they finish, however this is considered a dishonorable act and will disqualify you from achieving the best possible ending if you ever do it.

* In ''[[Crisis Core]]: [[Final Fantasy VII]]'', most attacks and spells have a starting time. Against smaller foes, it's possible to interrupt this, but beware that they don't do it '''to you, Zack!'''

* From ''[[Mass Effect]]'', in what can be viewed as both a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] '''and''' [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Funny]], the player has the option to end a news interview with an irritating reporter by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5ccaXFrOcM outright decking her]. In ''[[Mass Effect 2]],'' you run into the same character again. If your [[Old Save Bonus|original choice wasn't to punch her,]] but you ''do'' punch her this time, Shepard will remark, "[[Continuity Nod|I should've done that the first time we met.]]" You get one last round against her in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', only she [[I Know Kung Fu|dodges your swing at the last second]], either leaving you to be knocked on your butt, or, if you're quick enough, follow up with a headbutt.

** Some of the interrupts from ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' are an even better example.

** In one case, a Krogan Warlord engages in a long speech about how the Krogan are going to {{spoiler|take over the galaxy}}; you're given the ability to cut him short by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvwSMjF0EjE shooting the explosive tank below him, burning him alive.]

** In another, when an irritating krogan warlord named Uvenk is trash-talking Grunt and Shepard in front of Clan Urdnot's Shaman, Shepard can ''headbutt Uvenk in the face'', which staggers him. Uvenk looks pretty surprised and angered at this, while the Shaman laughs his head off at Shepard's audacity (and then compliments Shepard for having such an understanding of krogan mindsets).

** Another one is during Miranda's loyalty mission; as a mercenary commander proceeds to describe how his men are prepared to gun them all down on the spot. You're given the option of having Shepard [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|grab the commander and turn him around in a chokehold and break his neck, then proceed to shoot an explosive tank hanging from a crane, dropping and exploding behind two other mercenaries.]] One flies towards the camera and bounces off the crate another mercenary was using for cover. [[Oh Crap|His expression]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tubo_XgtGlE says it all.]

** The best example is during the mission to find Thane, where you come across a particularly uncooperative mercenary. The Renegade interrupt has you [[Badass|shove him out the window that he's in front of.]] [[Destination Defenestration|In a skyscraper.]]

'''Shepard:''' [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|How about "goodbye?"]] }}

** In [[Mass Effect 3]], there's a renegade interrupt where you gut-punch a quarian admiral and kick him off of your ship as he's trying to justify his actions, because he fired on the geth Dreadnought you and Tali, a fellow admiral, were still on at the time.

* During the [[Sky Pirate]] arc of the second ''[[The Legend of Spyro]]'' game, the [[Big Bad]] of the arc are a couple annoying parrots named Scratch and Sniff who are the brains behind the "captain" of the pirates, the massive, but extremely stupid, Skabb. Sniff ''really'' likes throwing around trash talk and [[Bullying the Dragon]]. This gets so annoying that it even annoys ''Sparx''. {{spoiler|After Skabb falls to his [[Disney Villain Death]], Sniff continues to insult Spyro. Sparx has enough and in a personal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], shuts Sniff up by knocking him out cold with a punch to the face.}}

** [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] against Augus where Asura tries this but Augus doesn't budge an inch.

** [[Subverted Trope|Also subverted]] against Kalrow, who turns out to be just a hologram.

* At the end of [[X-COM]], the alien brain you need to kill in order to stop the invasion attempts to plead its case. A soldier interrupts it by blowing it apart with a plasma gun.

* In ''[[Grotesque Tactics]] 2'', the protagonist and a villain start arguing over who will win if they start to fight. They keep going. It turns into an [[Overly Long Gag]] before one of the hero's allies announces "Oh for the..." and the game goes to combat turns with her acting first. She can then teleport past the protagonist to attack the villain in the back.

 

== Web Animation ==

* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]: Reconstruction'' Agent Washington interrupts South Dakota with a pistol round.

'''Church:''' Dude, you guys are some cold motherfuckers. }}

* In Egoraptor's "[[Awesome Series (Web Animation)|Awesome Chaotix]]", a bored Sonic starts off the video, "Man, Mobius sure is boring around he--*cue fist to the face from Knuckles*". Knuckles does it to Espio as well.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Darth Maul gets one in ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' when he tries to talk to Qui-Gon, who responds:

** Subverted: {{spoiler|They really should have listened; he was on their side, and didn't want to fight.}}

* Used in the backstory of ''[[Darken]]''. Just as Leon is delivering his "Good will always triumph" speech to Gort, he gets a knife in the back courtesy of Casper.

'''Raven:''' The lives of my students are more important. Besides which I ''did'' warn you... }}

* ''[[A Girl and Her Fed]]'' has [http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.620.html the Fed employ this to good effect].

* ''[[Misfile]]'' combines this with [[Groin Attack]]. [http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=1543 Ow!!]

* In ''[[Cucumber Quest]]'', Tomato tries to threaten Almond, bragging that [[Would Hit a Girl|he has no qualms about hitting girls]] and so on. Almond isn't impressed, and [http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/?webcomic_post=page-46 interrupts his speech with her sword].

 

 

== Web Original ==

** He also employed it to Linkara, when the latter reviewed ''Wolverine: Adamantium Rage'' and went on a punching rampage due to the game's [[Nintendo Hard|obscene difficulty]].

* Attempted in ''[[Sailor Nothing]]''. The villain in question [[Subverted Trope|simply snuffs out the attack with a gesture before it's invoked]] and bemusedly asks the heroes to be a little more civil since he hasn't even ''begun'' with his [[Evil Gloating]] yet. {{spoiler|As it turns out, the villain ''needs'' said gloating in order to intentionally fire up the heroes enough [[Death Seeker|so they would be able to defeat him]].}}

* [[Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do In An RPG]] gets in on this too.

* Played with in ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]''. Played most straight by Goku against the Ginyu force, where he downs Recoome during his posing, smashes Jeice in the face repeatedly, and downs Burter while he's having a touching discussion of friendship with Jeice.

** Also played with in two flashbacks. In the first, Zarbon is remembering Frieza ordering him to get to work, only to be blasted in mid-air by Vegeta. In the second, Jeice is trying to recall advice on what to do when being repeatedly smashed in the face, only for another punch to break off the Captain's words.

 

 

* Happened to ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' in the episode where he fought in [[Gladiator Games]] against his will. As it happens, this was immediately after his opponent rattled off a long train of smack talk that Jack was trying to counter in turn.

* Used by Zatanna in "This Little Piggy" episode of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', against the Sorceress Circe:

** Mainly because every action is punctuated by cuts to all the other Mooks (who are in various stages of dismemberment) screaming in horror.

* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', Bumblebee tries to attack Starscream when monologuing to Megatron. Starscream effortlessly takes Bumblebee down. '''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!!]]'''

* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'': Terry McGinnis starts his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] by interrupting the Joker's lecture on what the ''real'' Batman would do with an elbow twist. Also: "[[Finishing Move|Ha. Ha.]]"

** Notably, Terry manages to ''irritate'' ''[[The Joker]]'' by ''making fun of him''. Sort of a verbal punch.

* Here's this delightful little gem from the ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode "Wild Cards":

'''Superman:''' ''(headbutts him, sending him flying)'' I heard ''that'' before. }}

* ''[[Kids Next Door]]'': With Numbuh 4, it's a case of Talk to the ''Dodgeball''.

* ''[[The Life and Times of Juniper Lee]]'': Juniper Lee once conked a would-be monologuing villain with a rock in a [[Batman Cold Open]].

* A truly epic moment for ''[[Kim Possible]]''. [[Arch Enemy|Drakken]] is basically taunting her about her need to worry over the high school prom, finding the perfect date, and [[No Guy Wants an Amazon|would any guy want to even date an]] [[Action Girl]] like her? Kim's response?

* In ''[[Family Guy]]'', an infamous [[Overly Long Gag]] has Stewie needle Brian at length, twice in one episode, in a voice irritatingly rising in pitch with every sentence, about the novel he's never finished writing. In a later episode, Stewie starts doing this again, but this time Brian punches him out almost immediately.

'''Batman:''' (''Batman delivers a single punch to CK's stomach'') "'''''Quiet!'''''" }}

* In the "Night Owl" episode of ''[[Regular Show]]'', {{spoiler|the title character freezes Mordecai, Rigby, Muscle Man, and High-Five Ghost for several hundred years to make himself famious. When the guys manage to make it back to the present and accidentally ruin his plan before he caught them with it, the Night Owl starts chewing them out for it. Muscle Man walks up, grabs him by the shirt and knocks him out cold in the middle of his rant.}}

 

 

* Ex-Apollo Astronaut Buzz Aldrin was once harangued by a conspiracy theorist who vehemently argued that the moon landing was a hoax, in front of his stepdaughter. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU His response was to interrupt the conspiracy theorist with a punch to the face.] A judge let Aldrin off, ruling that the conspiracy theorist was practically assaulting Aldrin, and Aldrin had every right to make him Talk to the Fist.

* [[Ray Bradbury]], apparently:

 

 

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{{reflist}}

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]

[[Category:Evil Gloating]]