History Main / GiantFootprintReveal

* The first episode of ''Anime/OnePunchMan'' has Saitama shopping when an enormous crash shakes the supermarket. When he walks out to investigate, he sees an enormous hole which is revealed in an overhead shot to be a giant human footprint.

* ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'': In ''Mickey and the Beanstalk'', as Mickey, Donald and Goofy make their way to Willy the Giant's castle, Goofy trips into one of his footprints while an oblivious Donald walks over him. Narrator Creator/EdgarBergen and friends take note of this.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', the first Sanctuary location is Giant Step, so named for the single enormous humanoid footprint left in the top of the mountain. The art style of the game makes it a little uncertain how big the footprint actually is, and it's the only one of its kind. Its presence is never explained, simply left as a RiddleForTheAges.

The UrExample of the trope is [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/881583.jpg this]] ''[[Magazine/Mad MAD Magazine]]'' cover

* ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'': In ''Mickey and the Beanstalk'', as Mickey, Donald and Goofy make their way to the Gian't castle, Goofy trips into one of his footprints while an oblivious Donald walks over him. Narrator Creator/EdgarBergen and friends take note of this.

* In the ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'' tie-in for ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', Impulse, Superboy, and Robin all argue about which of their predecessors was the best hero, with Superboy and Robin giving blatantly false accounts of their predecessors' involvement in ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman and ComicBook/ZeroHour. Unable to match these feats, Impulse instead tells the story of how his predecessor fought a giant "Millennium Chicken". Robin and Superboy declare that the story is obviously fake, but the last panel reveals that they're all sitting in a very large chicken footprint.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': This trope is reversed in the episode "Thanks for the Memory" when the crew find what they think is a series of giant footprints, but but it turns out to be marks in the spacedust where someone had kept on dropping a gravestone they were carrying which just left footprint shaped marks.

From the end of the excerpt:

* In ''Literature/RodAlbrightAlienAdventures'', Rod and his tagalong cousin find a new, oddly shaped "crater" in a field near his house. Rod, who's aware that aliens exist and visit Earth sometimes, finally realizes what it is, and is still [[CassandraTruth trying to convince]] his cousin that they're in danger when they're both kidnapped by a ''very'' LargeAndInCharge villain from Dimension X.

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-->'''Bergen:''' Perhaps mortal man has never before set foot on this strange land.
-->''(Goofy falls into the footprint)''
-->'''Charlie:''' Well, ''somebody'' did.
-->'''Mortimer:''' Oh, gosh! Who made them?
-->'''Charlie:''' Well, it wasn't Cinderella.

The unsuspecting heroes run into a huge crater in the ground and take it for a natural formation... until the [[OhCrap disturbing realization dawns]] that this is [[ThatsNoMoon actually merely the footprint]] of something ''really'' big. For the benefit of the audience, this moment usually comes in the form of a RevealShot or FlyawayShot through which the audience gets a better look at its colossal size.

* ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'': In ''Mickey and the Beanstalk'', as Mickey, Donald and Goofy make their way to the Gian't castle, Goofy trips into one of his footprints while an oblivious Donald walks over him.
-->'''Bergen:''' Perhaps mortal man has never before set foot on this strange land. Narrator Creator/EdgarBergen and friends take note of this.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', Littlefoot and his friends fall asleep in what turns out to be one of Sharptooth's footprints. This is made clear in the morning when Sharptooth appears and goes after the young dinos, placing his foot right on the print.

* In the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'', as Mickey, Donald and Goofy make their way to the giant's castle, they trip down into one of his footprints. Narrator Creator/EdgarBergen and his dummies Charlie [=McCarthy=] and Mortimer Snerd make a note of this.
-->'''Edgar:''' It seems man has never set foot in this place.\\
'''Charlie:''' Well, somebody did.\\
'''Mortimer:''' Oh, gosh! Who made them?\\
'''Charlie:''' Well, it wasn't Cinderella.

* In the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of ''Disney/FunAndFancyFree'', as Mickey, Donald and Goofy make their way to the giant's castle, they trip down into one of his footprints. Narrator Creator/EdgarBergen and his dummies Charlie [=McCarthy=] and Mortimer Snerd make a note of this.

* In ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'', the reborn god of light, Eothas, possesses a colossal statue and begins a trek across the surface and beneath the seas of Eora. The player follows in Eothas' wake as he leaves trail of destruction behind him, including colossal footprints many feet deep and big enough to leave permanent tracks on the world map.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'' has been hired to protect a village, and is using his helmet sensors to track the FluorescentFootprints of the raiders when he comes across the giant footprint of an Imperial walker. He's ''not'' happy given that the villagers neglected to inform him the raiders had such firepower at their disposal.

* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': In "Back to the Iceberg", After a giant dragon has attacked the dungeon:

* In the 1970s remake of ''Film/{{King Kong|1976}}'', one character falls into a large hole in the ground, which turns out to be a giant ape's footprint.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' during the dinosaurs special where TheTeam is transported back in time, the gang find themselves on an island where a lot of trees have been knocked over. Jake also slips into a large hole. Most of the gang assumes the trees were knocked over by a tornado, only for [[TokenNonHuman Ax]] to ask if a tornado had feet. When they try to explain to him what a tornado is, Ax points out that whatever knocked the trees over had feet and that Jake was in one of its footprints.

* In ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'' the reborn god of light, Eothas, possesses a colossal statue and begins a trek across the surface and beneath the seas of Eora. The player follows in Eothas' wake as he leaves trail of destruction behind him, including colossal footprints many feet deep and big enough to leave permanent tracks on the world map.

* An ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode ends with Momo squatting in a depression which turns out to be one of Appa's footprints on zoom out (though Momo already knew that).

Explorers of the IsleOfGiantHorrors are prone to finding one of these. Compare ThatsNoMoon, where what seems to be a natural landmark turns out to be something else, something dangerous. Also see GiantFootOfStomping and TrampledUnderfoot where we actually get to see the monster [[DeadlyEuphemism making an impression on the characters]].

Explorers of the IsleOfGiantHorrors are prone to finding one of these. Often overlaps with ThatsNoMoon, where what seems to be a natural landmark turns out to be something else, something dangerous. Compare GiantFootOfStomping and TrampledUnderfoot where we actually get to see the monster [[DeadlyEuphemism making an impression on the characters]].

* ''Fanfic.DungeonKeeperAmi'': In "Back to the Iceberg", After a giant dragon has attacked the dungeon:

[[quoteright:276:[[ComicBook/UncleScrooge https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gigabeagle_footprints_1.jpg]]]]

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

--> her armoured boots slipped on wet ice and almost sent her stumbling into an oddly-shaped pool of ice water.
--> ...
--> "That's one strange puddle," Jered commented as he peered into depression. "It almost looks like a four-fingered hand.
-->
--> "Not a hand." Cathy said, paling as she stepped over one of the cracks extending outward from the hole. "That's a ''footprint''."
-->
--> "What? That would mean that the owner's toes are longer than you are!"

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

** In ''Film/{{Godzilla 1998}}'', the footprint is so large and deep that at first the protagonist doesn't even realize that he's standing in the footprint.
* In the 1970s remake of ''[[Film/KingKong1976 King Kong]]'', one character falls into a large hole in the ground, which turns out to be a giant ape's footprint.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Referenced in [[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/content_page/10-2nd-gen-canon/1079-dorms-of-our-lives-season-4-part-2 Dorms of Our Lives, Season 4, part 2]]:
--> As for Hikaru Myoujin... ho-lee crap. Where most people had a social media footprint, hers was like that one movie with the giant monster where the scientists didn't even realize they were standing in the middle of the print until they zoomed out.

-->'''Edgar:''' It seems man has never set foot in this place.
-->'''Charlie:''' Well, somebody did.
-->'''Mortimer:''' Oh, gosh! Who made them?
-->'''Charlie:''' Well, it wasn't Cinderella.

* An ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode ends with Momo squatting in a depression which turns out to be one of Appa's footprints on zoom out. It's only the audience getting an aha moment as Momo knew this was his friend's imprint.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode ends with Momo squatting in a depression which turns out to be one of Appa's footprints on zoom out. It's only the audience getting an aha moment as Momo knew this was his friend's imprint.

* Parodied in the intro for ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', with Dipper excitedly pointing out a crater about half as long as he is to his sister and great uncle, only for the shot to pan out and show the three of them all standing inside another footprint about a hundred times the size.

-->'''Edgar:''' I seems man has never set foot in this place.

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Indexes: BiggerIsBetter, TheseTropesAreMadeForWalking, MistakenForIndex, SpeculativeFictionTropes

* The first episode of ''[[Anime/OnePunchMan One Punch Man]]'' has Saitama shopping when an enormous crash shakes the supermarket. When he walks out to investigate, he sees an enormous hole which is revealed in an overhead shot to be a giant human footprint.

* In Godzilla films, the mere sighting of a footprint-shaped crater by itself (i.e before Godzilla itself appears) is played for suspense and horror, especially for the in-universe characters.