Watch Where You're Going

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Ouch.


A character (or group of characters) are either running from something very bad (like a large boulder or a very angry and relentless enemy), or chasing after someone. They are totally focused on this act, so much that they don't notice someone coming from the other direction doing the exact same thing, and as a result they run right into each other, usually being knocked unconscious in the process and often resulting in seeing stars or birds or planets in their field of vision. In some cases, they'll be knocked off their feet, hover in the air for a few seconds, and then fall to the ground. In some cases, they might see the other coming at the last moment, but momentum makes it impossible to stop in time, so there's nothing they can do but watch the other barrel towards him/her.

This is a humor trope from old Looney Tunes cartoons, with the being-chased version often being employed by the hero to get enemies to defeat themselves.

See also Crash Into Hello, for a version with romantic undertones (and Suggestive Collision for the more lurid version), and Watch Out for That Tree for a comedic variation with just one person and a stationary object. Punched Across the Room might be a more violent variation.

Examples of Watch Where You're Going include:

Anime and Manga

Fan Works

  • Done deliberately in Isekai by Moonlight by Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter, to help convince Kunzite that they aren't getting along.

Film

  • This takes place in Clue, with multiple characters crashing into each other when coming down the stairs to investigate some screaming they heard.
  • In Home Alone 3, one of the spies chasing the remote control car jumps a hedge the same time another spy jumps from the other side. Their heads collide.

Pro Wrestling

  • Happens often in Pro Wrestling, whenever Double Clothelines are attempted, or both contestants go for a Flying Crossbody attack.

Video Games

  • In the Classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Arcade Game arcade game, whenever your'e fighting Rocksteady and Bebop at the same time, you can pull this off by waiting for them both to charge, and then jump at the last second. It does at least a bit of damage and leaves them both stunned for a while, leaving you a chance to get in a few free hits.
    • The same thing happened in the cartoon, when the newly-mutated Rocksteady and Bebop tried to attack the Turtles for the first time.
  • Street Fighter IV has the Rival battle for Sakura and Ibuki. You don't see the collision, but you hear it, and when they are both shown later, they'rr both on their butts.

Web Animation

Western Animation