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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"[[Super Speed|I'll kick your butt in fast-forward!]] ''(runs at El Toro, who moves one step to the right and lets Ratso [[Bullfight Boss|slam into a wall]])'' Gotta work on the brakes."''
|'''Ratso''', ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]''}}
So there's this character who can go fast. Really fast. So fast in fact, that they couldn't quite stop in time. It may be because they're going a lot faster than they usually go. It may be because the speed is due to a recent upgrade. It may be because the character only knows how to go fast but never bothered to learn how to brake.
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Whatever the reason, the results are the same. Spectators wincing in empathy as the speedster crashes or suffers something just as painful.
When a character [[Invoked Trope|invokes]]
Often a subtrope of [[Required Secondary Powers]], see that trope for other examples of superpowers being trumped by
▲Often a subtrope of [[Required Secondary Powers]], see that trope for other examples of superpowers being trumped by physics -- Including the other obvious [[Super Speed]] [[Required Secondary Powers]]: The ability to react fast enough to control yourself in super speed, the toughness required to keep your feet from turning into bloody stumps at 250+ MPH, skin that can survive a wind chill in the negative hundreds, etc etc.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* During their B-Rank promotion test in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', Teana piggy-backed on Subaru while the latter roller-bladed to the finish line at full speed. Teana then asked the dreaded question on how they were supposed to stop. Cue looks of horror as they headed straight to a barricade. {{spoiler|They escape almost unharmed thanks to their examiners/instructors' intervention but fail the test.}}
** An earlier occurrence of this same example takes place in ''[[Ranma
* The first episode of ''[[Moldiver]]'' had a rather prolonged scene with the main character running at supersonic speeds, tripping, and skidding along the ground for long enough to more or less destroy an entire race track. Come to think of it, this was pretty much the #2 go-to gag of the series behind crossdressing.
* Happens to Clare in ''[[Claymore]]'' after Awakening her legs. In the anime she slows herself down by [[Blade Brake|stabbing her sword into the ground]], while in the manga she gains control by Awakening her arms as well.
* Captain Kuro of ''[[One Piece]]'' is an interesting case while using his [[Flash Step|Shakushi]] attack. He seems to be perfectly capable of stopping himself whenever he wants (though we never see it because Luffy always manages to stop him first), but the attack makes Kuro too fast to see where he's going or who he's attacking, so he's basically "Too Fast ''To Know When'' To Stop".
* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', Tsuna suffers from this right off the bat when his gloves [[Took a Level
* In the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' manga, {{spoiler|Sloth}} is very easy to set traps for: you just get out of the way when he charges [[Flash Step|ludicrously fast]], and he'll run straight into whatever was behind you. Just make sure you're not in-between or you won't exist any longer.
* Used in one battle of [[Mahou Sensei Negima]]. Takahata Takamichi explains that the weakness of the series' version of the [[Flash Step]] is that once you enter it, you can't stop until you reach your destination, and proving it by tripping Negi as the kid tries to [[Flash Step]] past him.
** Also stated to be a big weakness of the "Raiten Taisou" lightning-form Negi comes up with in the Magical World: yeah, he can move at the speed of lightning, but his perceptions aren't enhanced, so he can't react quickly enough to change direction mid-flight, making him an easy target for someone skilled enough to guess where he's going. {{spoiler|Then Negi reveals "Raiten Taisou 2", which corrects this problem.}}
* In [[Darker
== Comic Books ==▼
▲== [[Comic Books]] ==
* A ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' strip had Calvin roller-skating down a hill and not knowing how to stop. Of course, taking that suggestion from Hobbes about steering into a gravel driveway wasn't all that helpful.
** [[Calvin and Hobbes]] did this sort of thing ''all the time''
*** On [http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/04/17 one occasion], the cart ride would have been a perfect metaphor for their [[Contemplate Our Navels|conversation about life]]... but they don't quite realise it.
* [[The Flash]] has been known to use this in order to defeat rival speedsters. He also falls prey to it himself whenever it's time for him to job for someone who should have no realistic way of beating him, despite his [[Super Reflexes]].
** Worth noting: running into a wall isn't a problem for the Flash, [[Depending
* Mina Mongoose of the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (
== [[Fan
* Paul in ''[[
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲* Paul in ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]''. He calls it “cannonballing.” Don't stand in his way when he does it. He will [[Nigh Invulnerable|bounce up unhurt]]. You, on the other hand....
* In the second ''[[The Mighty Ducks (
* In ''[[
▲== Film ==
▲* In the second ''[[The Mighty Ducks (Film)|The Mighty Ducks]]'' film, a speed skater was introduced into the team. He was extremely fast and actually quite agile and maneuverable, but he had one slight problem... which was shown when he "stopped" by hitting the boards with a splat.
▲* In ''[[Spaceballs (Film)|Spaceballs]]'', Dark Helmet orders that his ship be put to "Ludicrous Speed" to capture the fleeing heroes. However it proves to be too fast and they overtake them. Helmet then orders his right hand man to stop the ship, ignoring all warnings that they need to slow down first. The result is that he gets thrown Helmet first into a computer console.
* The first ''Flash'' movie has the titular protagonist find out he has super-speed in a rather unexpected way: he starts chasing after a bus, then overtakes it, and soon enough he's hurtling through the city, unable to stop. He only stops when he hits the sea, and the water finally kills his momentum.
== [[Literature]] ==
* The Ambiguous Puzuma of ''[[Discworld]]'' is the fastest animal on the Disc, achieving near light-speed (which isn't too hard, given the low speed of light on the Disc). While they can never be seen, their remains are occasionally found on cliffs and large rocks. These show a black-and-white checked coat and a thin, flat shape.
** Discworld also has Seven League Boots, which don't lengthen your legs as you move. They barely got it off the student tester in time, and [[Groin Attack|he still wears a special brace around the crotchal area]].
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* One of the Drizzt books had him facing a drow warrior with enchanted bracers that made his arms move impossibly fast. Unfortunately, he'd apparently never really learned to fight with them, so his footwork and other positioning suffered, and his arms moved too fast for him to stop a move he'd started. Drizzt killed him and took the bracers...and after figuring out that even with his training he couldn't overcome the drawbacks, lamenting that a warrior wins with his feet, not his hands. [[Take a Third Option|So he put them around his ankles.]]
== [[Live
* ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'' had the hero able to fly but he couldn't figure out how to land.
* The first season episode of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' with Nathan landing outside a diner and skidding painfully to a halt.
* ''[[Top Gear]]'' cheap car challenges sometimes involve driving to a given speed and then trying to brake within a certain range. While the obstacle at the end of the lane is sometimes daunting (e.g. a river full of crocodiles), as of Season 13 only James May has failed to stop in time, destroying his own piano as a result.
** This was also the cause of Black Stig's "death" after he attempted to reach 100
* There was an episode of [[Smallville]] where Clark's powers started going haywire. When his mother calls him in for lunch, he tries to get back in the house, only to find himself at Lake Tahoe. When he tries to run back, he only makes it to Colorado Springs before his powers shut off, forcing him to take the bus home.
* In an episode of ''[[The Flash (TV 1990)||The Flash]]'' series, a scientist is trying to create a super-speedster, but his test subjects burn up when they accelerate, indicating that not only do they lack the speed-resistant cells of the Flash, but the subjects can't slow down either, as only an idiot keeps running if they are overheating. He solves the problem by cloning the Flash.
** The Flash himself had this problem in the pilot episode. He takes off at a dash, panics and puts on the brakes, and finds himself
* In an episode of ''[[Lois and Clark]]'', Clark was able to pull this off against a nemesis who had just stolen his superpowers by taunting her. Justified in that it was the very first time she ever used her newly
== Video Games ==▼
▲== [[Video Games]] ==
* Some old DOS games are affected, since the character moves lightning fast on modern systems (because they don't use real-time delays). Of course, enemies feel that it's normal speed, and adapt instantly.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]''. Scrolls of Icarian Flight, which allow you to jump extremely long distances, but forebears granting you the Feather Fall status effect. Splat. It's actually possible to survive the landing, but it's really a matter of luck.
** Though use of these scrolls does allow one to [[Sequence Breaking|sequence break]] through the main quest, completing it in ''less than fifteen minutes'', rather than several days.
** Abusing alchemy can lead to this trope as well. If your speed is too high, a single button press will move you until you meet a wall. That won't kill you. But if there is anything like a ramp ahead, it will get you flying, so you have to be ready for the fall.
** The game also includes the [[Sprint Shoes|Boots of Blinding Speed]]. While wearing them you move incredibly fast... but you also can't see anything. Apparently quite a few previous bearers of these boots ended up on the wrong side of a cliff.
* In ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'', [[Star Fox (
** Pikachu, Squirtle, Sonic, Luigi, and Wario's moves in question don't prevent them from using their other moves for recovery afterward, but nonetheless, can send a careless player flying off a cliff.
** Wario plays the trope extremely straight if you use the bike while he's transformed into Wario-Man, as it moves about four times as fast, and can go flying off the side of the screen before you can jump off or turn if you're on a small level.
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** It's even more funny with the passenger mounts if one is a Paladin, Druid, Engineer, Mage, or Priest. Jump off a cliff with a passenger, dismount and bubble/slow fall/levitate/parachute cloak/flight form.
* Averted in ''[[City of Heroes]]'', where those who take the Superspeed power are able to start, stop, and turn on a dime.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Touhou|Subterranean Animism]]'', ReimuC's ability is to move ''really'' fast whenever you aren't focused or shooting. [[Bullet Hell|Owing to the genre it's in however]], the ability to move fast tends to send you into a bullet because you move too much.
* In any game where a "speed up" or "(insert character name here) moves faster" cheat is discovered and used via a Gameshark, Action Replay or some other cheat device, the result is [[Exactly What It Says
** ''[[
** ''[[
*** Subverted with the "race down the mountain" track, where the last checkpoint is lined up perfectly with the second-to-last and the finish line. You can pull off an extreme [[Dukes of Hazzard]] moment, using one of light trucks (complete with Dixie horn!).
* The 300cc and above cheat codes in ''[[
* Similar to the above comment about cheat devices, games with speed power-ups can result in this problem if you collect too many. The ''[[Gradius]]'' games are a prime example - in fact, later games in the series and spin-offs include a Speed Down power-up that is not a [[Poison Mushroom]], particularly if the random power-up has thrown speed boosts at you too many times (or you foolishly activated it too many times).
* In Zone races in ''[[
* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank Going Commando]]'', you can't stop or steer at all for the first couple of seconds after you activate the [[Sprint Shoes|Charge Boots]], making it easy to fly off a cliff it there's one anywhere nearby. [[Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal|Later]] [[Ratchet: Deadlocked|games]] had you regain control sooner, but there's still a risk.
* In the [[Konami]] [[Shoot'Em Up]] ''[[
* A ''[[Minecraft]]'' glitch can create this. About a minute into this video. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiL2S9b1lBc&feature=related\]
* In ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[Micro Machines]]'' series has a few stages using high speed buggies and sport cars. Considering the speed and the top-view camera, they turn some stages into [[That One Level]] since it's too late to stop and take at turn when you realize there's a corner or a pitfall up ahead.
* Speaking of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', it's actually possible to go fast enough that you could fall into a [[Bottomless Pits]] without realizing it right away. This gets even worse in the [[Sega Genesis]] games and ''[[Sonic Advance Trilogy]]'' when the camera often can't keep up.<ref>This even triggers a [[Game Breaking Bug]] in [[Sonic the Hedgehog (
* In ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver
* Due to the small planet size in ''[[Spore]]'''s Galactic Adventures expansion, it is completely possible to go fast enough to send your captain into sustained orbit with a high enough elevation and clever use of [[Springs Springs Everywhere|jump pads]]. Several player-made levels use even this as a game mechanic.
* Quick Man in ''[[Mega Man (
== Web Comics ==▼
▲== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'', when Quentyn first puts on his new boots...
* In ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'', Dot Dash is normally in full control ... unless something [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=88846 knocks her off balance].
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In an episode of ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* There was one episode of ''[[
▲* In an episode of [[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]] an out-of-shape Billy wants to pass the President's Fitness Challenge and convinces Nergal Jr. to become a pair of pants that make him run super fast. Nergal Jr. gets stuck in that form and Billy can't stop running, [[Tethercat Principle|with the implication he runs for all eternity.]]
* Similarly happened in ''[[Jimmy Neutron
▲* There was one episode of ''[[Dexters Laboratory]]'' where Dexter tried to give himself various superpowers but ended up with unintended side effects. When he gave himself super speed, he could run around the world in an instant, but when he tried to stop he ended up skidding all the way around the world again.
▲* Similarly happened in ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]: Boy Genius'', Jimmy made himself some frictionless shoes which gave him [[Super Speed]] to compete in school races. He ended up not winning because Cindy tricked him at the last second, and then tried to use the speed to play pranks. But the frictionless shoes proved impossible to stop once running for long, and when he tried to get rid of them he [[Can't Get Away With Nuthin'|ended becoming a piece of glowing purple goo on the floor]].
** Someone [[Did Not Do the Research|failed physics forever]], since friction is what generates traction to begin with. Frictionless shoes would make it impossible for him to travel, he would either run in place or slip and fall with the first step.
*** This is [[Handwaved]] by Jimmy saying that the shoes were propulsive, ''and'' frictionless, which only makes sense on paper.
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* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': Kim uses a pair of shoes that can move at hyperspeed to fight the Bebe robots, but when she's done and she tries to go to her school dance, she keeps overshooting. [[Fridge Logic|Of course, her perceptions were supposed to be sped up to match her speed]]
* Parodied in the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back", as a bureaucrat on an ultra-slow scooter can't stop from rolling into a [[Cardboard Boxes|stack of boxes]] and jostling them slightly.
* There's an episode of ''[[Teen Titans (
** In most cases, he's perfectly capable of stopping on a dime. This was mostly just him panicking because [[Implacable Man|nothing he's doing is even slowing Madam Rouge down]], [[Offscreen Teleportation|and for some reason,]] she's perfectly able to keep up with a person who has ridiculous [[Super Speed]].
* In the finale of the Project Cadmus arc of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', [[The Flash]] has to runs so fast {{spoiler|to defeat Luthor/Braniac merger}} that he ''warps out of reality for a moment''. When Hawkgirl pulls him back, he comments that he may never run so fast again, lest he disappears for good.
** In the first season of ''[[Justice League]]'', [[The Flash]] was held back a lot by being tripped or clotheslined by objects that he had no excuse for not seeing coming or reacting to.
* In the cartoon of ''[[Young Justice (
* This seems to happen a lot with Rainbow Dash from ''[[My Little Pony:
== Real Life ==▼
▲== [[Real Life]] ==
* The [[Discworld]]'s Puzuma example was probably based on the old urban legend (False, but still funny) about a car mounted with JATO-rockets embedded in a cliff-face somewhere in Arizona.
* This is the cause of many car accidents!
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[[Category:Power At a Price]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
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