History Main / AnvilOnHead

* ''StayTooned'' has a few that nudge towards Looney Toons as much as possible, given the obvious references. There's even a fun shooting gallery-style minigame which has a crossbow with either plunger darts, bombs, or anvils that you can fire at the passing characters.

* Dr. Meinheimer gets this several times in TheNakedGun 2½. Actually includes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D19nGdtF-Xk a real anvil]].

* The 16-ton weight version occurs in ''VideoGame/DarkCastle'', should you take the wrong key in the dungeon.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}'', a mage named X is obsessed with researching a spell which would teleport an anvil above somebody's head.

* TexAvery's MGM shorts often had these as well. In ''BadLuckBlackie'', for instance, an anvil is but one of a series of hilariously improbable objects that fall on an unfortunate dog from above throughout the cartoon: flowerpots, a cash register, a piano, a safe, various large and heavy modes of transportation, and...[[KitchenSinkIncluded well, you know]].

* There was a ''WesternAnimation/{{Taz-Mania}}'' episode where they research the optimal heaviness of an x-ton weight by dropping several weights on Bush Rats and gauging the reaction of the audience. The audience is silent for the 5, 10, and even 15.99999999 ton weights (though they "briefly crack smiles, and then fall into a deep depression".), but laugh hysterically when the 16 ton weight drops.

* ''{{Minecraft}}'' has craftable anvils that are mostly used to repair enchanted weapons and tools. As an homage to this trope, anvils can also be used in AwesomeButImpractical traps to crush enemies, dealing damage roughly proportional to the distance the anvil falls.

* {{Webcomic}} example: ''StickmanAndCube'' has been known to drop quite a few weights on characters. Some of them weigh "infinity tonnes" and others weigh "''N'' tonnes". At one point, a dropped weight was so heavy it smashed through the bottom of Panel 3 into Panel 6. It must have pretty cheap panels.

* ''[[Webcomic/EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]]'' once had Black Mage get the entire continent of Australia dropped on him

* More recent Warner Bros. works such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' introduced an entire ficticious country full of them called "Anvilania". In one episode, ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' parodied the song ''Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head'' replacing "Raindrops" with (what else?) anvils, and in another, they had a [[ThreeShorts mini-episode]] of anvils falling on Plucky Duck's head, scored to the ''[[Theatre/IlTrovatore Anvil Chorus]]''. In the sequence, Plucky demands to know [[WhoWritesThisCrap who wrote it]], and when the scene cuts to [[AuthorAppeal a giggling]] [[AnimateInanimateObject anvil]] doing it, Plucky yells, "Rewrite!". After it was over, the audience loved it and demanded more. Plucky, enjoying the spotlight, agrees to do more. Unfortunately for him, the next sequence consisted of Plucky being blasted repeatedly by cannons, scored to the ''[[Creator/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky 1812 Overture]]''.

** There's also the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' episode "Baloney and Kids" a parody of Series/BarneyAndFriends in which they ended up singing a song about anvils while dropping them on the eponymous Baloney. It was the extremely rare case where they actually asked the question "where do the anvils come from"?

* ''Literally'' done with anvils in [[TwoWorldsII ''Two Worlds II'']]: the game uses numerous schools of magic, which allow for the creation of hundreds of spells. Among those is a spell that drops tons of iron anvils on the enemies. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vjt4QpJSBIs#t=13s Demonstrated in this Youtube clip.]]

** In ''DuckAmuck'', Daffy Duck is falling with a parachute when the cruel animator erases it and replaces it with an anvil. Daffy is then seen pounding with a hammer on the anvil, which the animator proceeds to replace with a bomb.

* CGI/Live-Action combination show ''AceLightning'' has a [[BigGuy villain]] by the ''name'' of Anvil. Who is basically a giant, mutant rhino, ''with'' an actual anvil in place of one hand. He's usually brought ointo play when they want to bash the characters about a bit and not much else. It's almost a LampshadeHanging, when you think about it...

* In ''VideoGame/FantasyZone'', the "Heavy Bomb" is a falling 16-ton weight.

* Occurs, out of nowhere, in ''DragMeToHell''.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has a GroundhogDayLoop where each day a Dean dies a different death. The beginning of the day always starts the same way, and when he and Sam go outside, one of the things they see is movers trying to get a desk into a building from the ground floor. At the end of one Tuesday, out of nowhere it drops on our hero and [[BlackComedy kills him.]] Turns out the movers had spent the rest of the day trying to get it in the window.

* Turns out there's actually a Live Action example. ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has a GroundhogDayLoop where each day a Dean dies a different death. The beginning of the day always starts the same way, and when he and Sam go outside, one of the things they see is movers trying to get a desk into a building from the ground floor. At the end of one Tuesday, out of nowhere it drops on our hero and [[BlackComedy kills him.]] Turns out the movers had spent the rest of the day trying to get it in the window.

In some cases, especially if full-body crushing is desired, an ''n''-ton weight may be substituted for the anvil. This is a metal weight shaped like a pyramid with the top cut off, a ring at the top for attaching a rope, and the exact weight (usually 1, 10, or 16 tons) painted in white on the front. The 16-ton weight was favored by ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. In cartoons, if the toon is driven completely out of sight, often a CranialEruption will shove the weight out of the way. Or, if the cartoon is very zany, the victim might have either [[WingdingEyes the "NO SALE" eyes]], or the CirclingBirdies.

In some cases, especially if full-body crushing is desired, an ''n''-ton weight may be substituted for the anvil. This is a metal weight shaped like a pyramid with the top cut off, a ring at the top for attaching a rope, and the exact weight (usually 1, 10, or 16 tons) painted in white on the front. The 16-ton weight was favored by ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. In cartoons, if the toon is driven completely out of sight, often a CranialEruption will shove the weight out of the way. Or, if the cartoon is very zany, the victim might have either [[WingdingEyes the "NO SALE" eyes]], or the Circling Birdies.

* The internet flash 'toon ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' favors the "Heavy Lourde", a weight of indeterminate mass. Oddly (for a cartoon), we're initially led to believe that Homsar was ''killed'' in this manner, but it is later revealed that he was merely hospitalized.

* Roy Rooster of ''USAcres'' has safes (complete with [[IllogicalSafe safe illogic]]) and weights dropped on him in the almost-literally {{Anvilicious}} Buddy Bears show within a show.

* This troper remembers a ''{{Taz-Mania}}'' episode where they research the optimal heaviness of an x-ton weight by dropping several weights on Bush Rats and gauging the reaction of the audience. The audience is silent for the 5, 10, and even 15.99999999 ton weights (though they "briefly crack smiles, and then fall into a deep depression".), but laughs hysterically when the 16 ton weight drops.

* CGI/Life Action combination show ''AceLightning'' has a [[BigGuy villain]] by the ''name'' of Anvil. Who is basically a giant, mutant rhino, ''with'' an actual anvil in place of one hand. He's usually brought ointo play when they want to bash the characters about a bit and not much else. It's almost a LampshadeHanging, when you think about it...

** Another episode had Chief Wiggum believing a giant rat was infesting Springfield Mall. He then set a trap to make an anvil fall on said rat. Another plan was releasing a puma (or some other dangerous feline, I don't remember), which fell into the trap. Wiggum then released another one.

* Happened twice on ''KaBlam!''. They probably didn't want to do it too often, or it'd look like Nick was trying to make their own ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''

* ''LazyTown'' - literally. Robbie attempts to knock Sportacus out by putting a small anvil on one side of a seesaw and catapulting it at him, but misjudges it. HilarityEnsues.