History Main / EnmityWithAnObject

* In ''Film/OfficeSpace'', the main characters have a very antagonistic relationship with a fax/copy machine. They end up finishing it of in an abandoned field with a baseball bat.

** In the episode "Deep Space Homer," Homer has an intense hatred for an inanimate carbon rod that was named Employee of the Month instead of him. After he saves the space shuttle crew (from a mess he himself caused, of course) by bolting down a broken door, he's mad that the carbon rod he used to jam the door shut got the hero's welcome (including a TickerTapeParade) instead.

!Examples

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[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]

* Edward Elric in ''[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' really dislikes milk, because it is "an opaque, white liquid secreted by a cow". This is played as part of the [[RunningGag gag]] on Edward's diminutive stature, supposedly being the cause of it.
** In an interesting bit of trivia related to this, it seems that the creator, [[Creator/HiromuArakawa Hiromu Arakawa]], grew up on a dairy farm, plus her AuthorAvatar is a bespectacled cow.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* ComicBooks/LukeCage. Power Man vs. the coffee vending machine at police headquarters was a RunningGag. The soda machine in his office too; vending machines hated him.
* In the 1950s, the ComicBook/MartianManhunter spent several years tracking down the Diabolu Idol-Head, an ArtifactOfDoom that regularly spawned monsters he was forced to deal with. J'onn eventually destroyed the Idol-Head, which has yet to return.

[[AC:FanWorks]]
* A running joke in ''Fanfic/AVoiceAmongTheStrangers'', where Jessica at various points swears vengeance against a tree (after bashing her already injured shoulder into it), stones on the path (which she has to walk on in bare feet), a staircase (again due to her bare feet) and her own brain (after she gets a headache from trying to rationalise the world around her).

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In ''Battle Creek'' (aka ''The Big Brawl''), Jerry maintains a venomous relationship with the practice dummy.
* The dad from ''Film/AChristmasStory'' was "one of the most feared furnace fighters in Northern Indiana." He attacks the thing offscreen while swearing so loudly at it, the whole house can hear.
* In ''Film/OfficeSpace'', the main characters have a very antagonistic relationship with a fax/copy machine. They end up finishing it of in an abandoned field with a baseball bat.

[[AC:LetsPlay]]
* ''LetsPlay/{{Pewdiepie}}'' with barrels, and to a lesser extent statues.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* From ''If Chins Could Kill'', [[Creator/BruceCampbell Bruce Campbell's]] autobiography, "The Classic," Sam Raimi's 1973 Delta 88 Oldsmobile. Raimi in particular is convinced that Campbell is out to destroy it in jealousy.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* On ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Chief O'Brien hated the station's computer so much he called it his archenemy. Eventually an alien AI made a home in it that made it better disposed to him.

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. Calvin's bicycle is out to get him. Really.
** And his baseball ball tried to bite him. Did we mention the leaf pile which tried to eat him? Twice?
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' - Charlie Brown and the Kite-Eating Tree.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' - Garfield and RX-2, the talking scale.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* In ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', a [[CloudCuckooLander Malkavian character]] can have arguments with several inanimate objects. These include a TV (which argues via the newscaster) and a stop sign.
--> "You've made a powerful enemy today, sign."

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Durkon the dwarven cleric believes that ''trees'' are not trustworthy. Of course, given that this is a [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] parody, that might not be [[WhenTreesAttack entirely]] [[JustifiedTrope unjustified]].

[[AC:WebVideo]]
* In ''WebVideo/NarutoTheAbridgedSeries'', Sasuke's eternal rival is The Log. Sasuke even notes how he keeps mistaking logs for people, causing him to mess up his aim. All because he hates the Log.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. Odd vs. Vending Machine. Nicholas has struggled with it as well, and later, in "XANA Awakens", it was used by XANA to electrocute Jeremie.

-->Stewie: So they DO make bigger diapers! That deceitful woman told me I had to learn to use the toilet! Well fah on the toilet! It's made slaves of you all! I've seen it sitting in there, lazy, slothful porcelain layabout...feeding on other people's doo-doos while contributing nothing of its own to society! (runs to bathroom) You get a job!

-->''Well, well, well. If it isn't my old friend, Underage Drinking. So, we meet again. How are you, Underage Drinking? Besides ''illegal!''''

-->'''Table:''' Hey, wait! Think about what’s going on here. You punch me after you kick me? What do you think happened? You think I got up and walked in front of you? I’m a table, man!\\
'''Gumball''': Uh... oh yeah. Well, sorry. It’s pretty stupid to take it out on an object. It’s not like you did it on purpose.\\
''(Gumball sees skids marks in the carpet left by the table)''\\
'''Gumball''': What the--''why?''\\
'''Table:''' Uh... because – it’s because you’re always putting your feet on me!\\
''(Coffee Table leaps out of the window and runs off)''

[[AC:RealLife]]

* ComicBooks/LukeCage. Power Man vs. the coffee vending machine at police headquarters was a RunningGag.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Nightmare Hospital", Connie hates the abacus Mrs. Maheswaran pulls out to help figure out how long to ground Connie for bringing a sword into the house.

* Cribbins in ''Discworld/MakingMoney'' stole the spring-powered dentures from a man he'd killed. It's possible they were haunted by the ghost of their former owner, because the springs tend to malfunction at the worst times, and he has to gnash them back into position at the most awkward times. [[spoiler:He's eventually killed when the spirngs go off inside his mouth and into his brain.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' it is used repeatedly with Beavers friend, The Stump. Also it is implied that it can move somehow, it does it offscreen and is, more or less, an imaginative friend to all of the forest inhabitants. Dagget has a great rivalry with The Stump, especially in it's first appearance episode.

* * ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' - Garfield and RX-2, the talking scale.

* As any pet owner can attest, animals, and dogs in particular, hate loud appliances. Even the most mellow puppy goes nuts when a vacuum cleaner is turned on.

* The original ''Series/TwilightZone'' episode "A Thing About Machines" revolves around a man who hates all the machines around him. [[spoiler: In true ''Twilight Zone'' fashion, the feeling is mutual.]]

Inherently, a subtrope of UnknownRival (in that there's no way an inanimate object even know someone has a grudge on it). May be justified with a JobStealingRobot or VengefulVendingMachine. Sister trope of CargoEnvy where a person is envious on something that another, attractive person is showing some affection onto, which may or may not lead of said person having a rivalry with said object.

[[AC:{{Fan Works))]]

** In an interesting bit of trivia related to this, it seems that the creator, [[Creator/HiromuArakawa Hiromu Arakawa]], grew up on a dairy farm.

* Discussed in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The World": Gumball stubs his toe on a coffee table and prepares to hit in retribution. However, EverythingTalks in Elmore, so the coffee table is able to question his reasoning, asking him if he thought the table got up and walked in front of him. Gumball sees his point and apologizes... before noticing the skid marks on the rug that indicate the table actually ''did'' move itself into its path.
-->'''Gumball''': What the--''why?''\\

* In an advertisement for the Audi Quattro, a tow-truck driver in a snowy, mountainous region describes how he's towed every kind of car except the Quattro. When he speaks about the Quattro he uses phrases like "It haunts my dreams", and "Sometimes I think it it's mocking me". The commercial ends with him screaming "Quattro!!"

* As any pet owner can attest, animals, and dogs in particular, hate loud appliances. Even the most mellow puppy goes nuts when a vacuum cleaner is turned on.

[[quoteright:350:[[FullmetalAlchemist http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/98f80947c6dedacce022f26a7830f4ac.jpg]]]]

-->'''Gumball'': What the--''why?''\\

''(Coffee Table leaps out of the window and runs off).

** In the episode "Deep Space Homer," Homer has an intense hatred for an inanimate carbon rod that was named Employee of the Month instead of him. After he saves the space shuttle crew by bolting down a broken door, he's mad that the carbon rod he used to jam the door shut got the hero's welcome (including a TickerTapeParade) instead.

* In ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'', Durkon the dwarven cleric believes that ''trees'' are not trustworthy. Of course, given that this is a [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] parody, that might not be [[WhenTreesAttack entirely]] [[JustifiedTrope unjustified]].

** In the episode "Deep Space Homer," Homer has an intense hatred for an inanimate carbon rod that was named Employee of the Month instead of him. After he saves the space shuttle crew by bolting down a broken door, He's mad that the carbon rod he used to jam the door shut got the hero's welcome (including a TickerTapeParade) instead.

** Sideshow Bob and rakes, after the extended "rake tripping" scene from the "Cape Feare" episode. Bart even lampshades how Bob apparently equates that rivalry with the one between the two (mind you, Bart at that point got Bob sent to jail multiple times).
** In the episode "Deep Space Homer," Homer has an intense hatred for an inanimate carbon rods (or, possibly, all such rods).
** And there's the [[MemeticMutation meme-worthy]] picture of Abe with the headline "Old man yells at cloud."

* In episode 50 of ''FairyTail'', a misused potion cause Makarov to see alcohol as his rival, Ezra sees a pillar as hers, and at the end, Grey sees the horizon as his rival.

* In ''OfficeSpace'', the main characters have a very antagonistic relationship with a fax/copy machine. They end up finishing it of in an abandoned field with a baseball bat.

* From ''If Chins Could Kill'', [[BruceCampbell Bruce Campbell's]] autobiography, "The Classic," Sam Raimi's 1973 Delta 88 Oldsmobile. Raimi in particular is convinced that Campbell is out to destroy it in jealousy.

* The original ''TwilightZone'' episode "A Thing About Machines" revolves around a man who hates all the machines around him. [[spoiler: In true ''Twilight Zone'' fashion, the feeling is mutual.]]
* An episode of ''{{Seinfeld}}'' had George express anger towards a watch with "I hate you, you time piece from Hades!"
* The ''StarTrek'' episode "The Ultimate Computer" had Kirk worried about being replaced with an AI. His worries are laid to rest when it's revealed that the AI has no moral code.

* In ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'', Durkon the dwarven cleric believes that ''trees'' are not trustworthy. Of course, given that this is a [[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] parody, that might not be [[WhenTreesAttack entirely]] [[JustifiedTrope unjustified]].