Vacuum Mouth

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Basically Super Breath in reverse, a character takes a deep breath in order to draw various objects in along with the air, water, or whatever other substance they happen to be in.

Ends up being rather unrealistic in most cases due to the sheer lung capacity that would be required to keep it going for long, let alone produce the strength of the suction that would be needed in order to draw in anything other then very nearby lightweight objects.

Often sees use from a lazy Big Eater or Extreme Omnivore to conveniently suck the food before them into their mouth without having to lift a finger. It's also sometimes used by predators for the purpose of devouring prey too elusive for them to catch physically.

In animation, this may be accompanied by the sound of a vacuum cleaner and/or have the character's mouth take the shape of a vacuum nozzle for added humor.

Because of the indiscriminate nature of this ability, explosives and other inedible objects can potentially cause problems for its users.

Compare Breath Weapon, Weapons That Suck, and Tractor Beam.


Examples of Vacuum Mouth include:

Film

Literature

  • In Far Rainbow, the Charybdis are truck-like machines that "suck up" thermal energy, specifically the energy of the Waves. Their "funnels" are repeatedly compared to the mouth of the mythological monster they were named after.

Newspaper Comics

  • Garfield did this in a comic. It entailed him sucking his food up because he didn't want to get out of bed.

Real Life

  • The Nurse Shark will invariably suck up any prey that it finds on the ocean floor.
  • Several aquatic or amphibious animals such as fish and turtles catch prey this way. By opening their mouth very quickly they create a vacuum that sucks water in, along with any small fishes.

Video Games

  • Kirby is a prime example of this trope, in both the video games and the anime.
    • King Dedede has this power as well.
  • This is one of Pandora's attacks in Kid Icarus Uprising. One of the monsters has this as its attack too.
  • In Wario World, Wario can use a variant of this to gather coins more quickly.
    • The Dual Dragons also utilize this. While they can't suck Wario up directly, they can suck up the numerous Glue Globes that are released prior to it occurring, which Wario can get stuck to.
  • One of the primary feeding/attack methods used by the Gobul in Monster Hunter Tri.
  • Bowser unexpectedly gaining this ability is responsible for much of the events in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, subjecting the bros. and numerous Mushroom Kingdom citizens to a Fantastic Voyage after he accidentally sucks them up. Gameplay wise, he can use this ability to suck up small or flying enemies that he can't deal with in order to let Mario and Luigi to handle them.
  • The various worm monsters in Final Fantasy X use this as a counterattack to swallow a party member after they suffer enough abuse. There's also Geosgaeno, who uses the aquatic variation.
    • The Sandworm boss in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles also does this, but only for the purpose of drawing you closer so it can body slam you. It presents a prime opportunity to get some free hits in on it, due to how sluggish the latter attack is.
  • In Kingdom Hearts, Ursula uses this in second fight against her to draw you close for a biting attack.
    • In Kingdom Hearts 3D, the Jestabocky dream eater and its relative use this as an annoying and very painful attack when fought as enemies. They also use it for their Link Attack when with Sora as allies.

Web Comics

  • Ace Dick, Fiesta Ace Dick, and Mobster Kingpin all do this in Problem Sleuth.

Western Animation

  • In Yellow Submarine there's a character literally called the Vacuum Monster. It eats up everything, including itself.
  • Patrick did this in three episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants. First in the episode "Grandma's Kisses", when he sucks up a bunch of cookies offered by Spongebob's grandma, the second time in the episode "Club Spongebob" when he sucks up a sandwich that was on a table, and the third time in the episode "Pat No Pay" when he sucks up a whole bunch of Krabby Patties that were stacked on top of each other.
  • This is also akin to cartoon anteaters and aardvarks, such as in The Ant and the Aardvark, where the eponymous Aardvark will use his mouth to suck up the ant, complete with the sound of a vacuum cleaner.
  • The A Pup Named Scooby-Doo episode "The Sludge Monster From The Earth's Core" had Scooby use this technique with popcorn.
  • Mr. Bogus also did this in one episode.
  • On the Donald Duck cartoon "Donald's Cousin Gus", Gus takes a straw and sucks up a line of peas across the dinner table. Donald takes a straw of his own and tries to suck up the last pea, and the two engage in a tug-of-war until Gus traps the pea in a teapot.
  • In the Tom and Jerry short "Jerry and Jumbo", a baby elephant Jerry is hiding sucks up peanuts with his trunk from across the room.
  • One Strong Bad Email from Homestar Runner had the King of Town consume an entire mound of salt (even the shakers) this way.