History Main / GiantRobotHandsSaveLives

* This happens several times in ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and its sequels (''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer''). A particularly awesome instance happens in episode 28 when Mazinger Z saves [[spoiler:[[TheProfessor Professor Yumi]]]] with a RocketPunch when he's falling down a cliff. In the Ota equivalent manga chapter, he's falling from a flying fortress, and [[{{Fembot}} Aphrodite A]] is the one who catches him. Another instance happens in the [[{{Crossover}} Nagai Heroes]] e-manga when [[Anime/MazingerZ Diana A]] saves [[Anime/GreatMazinger Jun]].
* ''Anime/JinkiExtend'', just about every other episode it seems.

* Roger and Schwarzwald fall into their giant robots' hands in ''Anime/TheBigO''.

* The ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise has a few examples of this:
** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', Amuro tried to catch Ramba Ral with his Gundam, after the latter jumped out of White Base. However, Ramba had pulled the pin on a grenade and was killed before he reached the hand, preferring to die in battle than live as a prisoner.
*** Inverted in Creator/YoshiyukiTomino's original novelization of ''Mobile Suit Gundam''. After killing her brother Gihren, Kycilia Zabi has Char take her into Zum City (Zeon's home colony) with his Rick Dom. She stands in its hand and announces that she's in charge...at which point Char tips his Dom's hand, which makes Kycilia splat against the ground below.
** Played straight by Shiro Amada in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam Gundam 08th MS Team]]'' when catching a falling Aina [[spoiler:after she had been shot]].
** It was later lampshaded in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' when [[TheCaptain Quattro]] comments on how skilled {{A|cePilot}}muro is to catch an antique plane with his suit's hands without killing the pilot.
** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'', Judau catches Ple-2 with the ZZ's hand after she is knocked off by the shockwave from an explosion. [[spoiler:Between the explosion's shockwave and hitting the ZZ's hand, she sustains bad injuries and dies in the next episode.]]
** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Gundam Unicorn]]'' has Banagher pulling this off with the Unicorn to catch Audrey as she free falls in the atmosphere. He is shown taking the time to match speeds with her before making any contact between the mech and Audrey, and he had plenty of time to do it given they were in the upper atmosphere.
** Wonderfully averted (again) in ''[[Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam Crossbone Gundam]]'' (Steel Seven). Bernadette has the chance to save a falling Tobia and Europa with the X1 like this, but thinks better of it. She then uses the X1's cape and mouth exhaust to save them with an impromptu hot air balloon.
** ''Anime/GundamReconguistaInG'' averts this in the first episode, where Raraiya is forcibly ejected from her Mobile Suit in the upper atmosphere. Dellensen makes sure to match her fall speed and carefully scoop her up with his Suit's hand, protecting her from bodily harm, but extended oxygen deprivation still causes brain damage and reduces her to a childlike state for much of the show.
* The protagonist of ''Anime/GenesisOfAquarion'' attempts this, but the person he catches gets incinerated by the blast that shortly follows the catch, so when the hand opens up again all there is is a smear of soot... and a HeroicBSOD.
* Averted in ''Anime/EurekaSeven''. Renton catches Eureka by matching her descent speed and pulling her into the cockpit. In another instance, Anemone's mech [[spoiler:which flew itself, in case you were wondering,]] catches both her and Dominic by moving under them and slowly leveling off to cushion their landing.

* ''Manga/{{MAR}}'': In an example that crosses over between this and SoftWater, Snow saves herself from a fall which the watching characters clearly expect her to go ''splat'' from, by calling on her giant snowman and landing safely in its hand.
* ''Anime/RahXephon'' also plays with the trope: rather than touch a person directly, the Xephon is capable of encasing them in a spherical energy field that hovers slightly above the mech's hand. Thus it is able to safely grab and carry people without causing them harm.
* In ''Anime/MonsterRancher'', the protagonists have a surveying technique in which {{Golem}} hurls [[{{Oculothorax}} Suezo]] high into the air. Occasionally Golem will get distracted and forget to catch Suezo, who then crashes into the ground. However, even when Golem succeeds in the catch, Suezo is still falling onto hands of stone that are maybe six feet above the ground. In one instance Golem ''pretends'' to forget and then [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou grabs Suezo's tail just before impact]].
* One episode of Anime/StarDriver has Takuto in his Tauburn saving [[spoiler:a comatose]] Sugata like this after he gets caught in the crossfire and his protective sphere (or whatever it's supposed to be) breaks.
* In episode 17 of the ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Super Robot Wars: OG: Divine Wars]]'', Rai rescues Princess Shine in this manner. He averts the usual illogicality of this trope by descending his Schutzwald at the same speed as she was.
** In the original OVA, Kyosuke saves Lamia from the ODE system via blasting it and ripping her out with Alteisen's fist. Notably Lamia is horrifically mangled in the attempt being ripped in half at the torso and losing one of her arms as well in addition to being pulled out right into the vacuum of space and the only reason this didn't kill her worse then the system would have is because Lamia is a W-Series.
* Justified in ''Anime/CometLucifer'': it's not the dense robot's hands that save them, but the antigravity power that it uses.
* Parodied and subverted in the final episode of ''Anime/CannonBusters'' season one: Casey tries to catch Philly the Kid in Betsy's hand, but he ends up splattering messily against it and dying. Since he's immortal, he just comes back to life a few seconds later anyway.

* The third issue of the ''ComicBook/{{Bionicle}}'' comics had Onua save Tahu from a fall this way. Possibly justified by the fact that ''both'' participants are MechanicalLifeforms.
* In the end of the third ''ComicBook/{{Amulet}}'' book, the heroes are caught by the giant mecha-house as they plummet from a cliff.

* Used in ''Fanfic/CardcaptorRad'', with both [[spoiler:Smokescreen and Sideways]]. In the former's case, the distance of the drop isn't mentioned, while in the latter's case there was a mediator that lessened the risk of going splat.

* ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'': Teenage Kyle Reese and his friend Star are thrown from a truck and plummet from a very high bridge. They are caught by a harvester, basically a giant terminator (with giant metal terminator hands), and dropped roughly into a transport. They seem to be uninjured.
* ''Film/ShinUltraman'': After she's hurled into the air during his battle with Zarab, Ultraman catches Hiroko Asami on her way down. Here though he not only is very careful to match and slow her fall first, but he uses both hands just to be sure.

* The first story arc of ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' ends with Sousuke carrying both Kaname and Kurz in the hands of his HumongousMecha, and at one point [[JuggleFu tossing Kaname into the air]] to free up the Arbalest's hand long enough to shoot down a pursuing enemy, then catching her more or less safely on her way down, all while the Arbalest is running full-tilt. Kaname is knocked out by the impact, but not otherwise appreciably injured.

* ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'': Shun Daimonji takes this role when he becomes the pilot of the Power Dizer unit, even saving a bus from ''falling off an unfinished highway'' with the use of his will and strength alone. Did we mention that he's only a football quarterback?
** However, in an aversion of the physics-breaking part of this trope, he ''is'' shown using the Dizer to catch falling objects-such as, say, Fourze himself- then spinning with the momentum and slowing them down as opposed to just a straight-up catch.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Sheldon Cooper deconstructs the physics of this sort of thing, which grosses out Penny and causes her to lament that the romance has been killed.

* ''VideoGame/BrokenAge'': In the game's ending, [[spoiler:Shay is [[DeusExMachina saved from falling to his death]] by Gary, a small robot companion that was operating his ship's robot arms.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' short "Infiltration", [[TheCracker Sombra]] saves herself from a fall during a chase in a Volskaya Industries factory by [[HollywoodHacking hacking a dormant mecha's arm]], causing it to curl up and break her fall. While she manages to graze it with her hand mid-fall (the contact being what allows her to hack it in the first place), she still falls down what appears to be a few storeys before it catches her, and yet she's no worse for wear.

* Happens a lot in the other ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' series as well. The only time it's justified is in the case of [[spoiler:Sari, as she's not technically human]] in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''.
** Happens a few times in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', but sometimes it was played semi-realistically. In "Plus One", Wheeljack catches a falling June and Fowler by catching them in his hands, diving into a roll the second they make contact, then transforming into his car form. When he lets them out, they seem shaken but fine.
** The [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots Rescue Bot]] Heatwave has saved a few individuals using this method. One case is justified because he saved a ''robo''- baby.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperGiantRobotBrothers'': Downplayed; in the first episode, Shiny accidentally causes a worker to fall off a rail and immediately catches them. Just seconds later, an ambulance arrives to take them away, implying they were greatly injured from landing on Shiny's hand.

* The ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise usually has the giant robot hand attacking you, but there are exceptions:

** In ''Sonic 2'' and ''Sonic & Knuckles'', Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all fall ''from orbit'', only to land on the wing of the Tornado while it's still moving. This also occurs at the end of ''VideoGame/SonicAdvance''.

* Happens a lot in the other ''{{Franchise/Transformers}}'' series as well. The only time it's justified is in the case of [[spoiler:Sari, as she's not technically human]] in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''.

* The ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' movie, ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheSteelTroops'', have Zanda Claus, the Mechatopian Robot Army's HumongousMecha, revealing itself to be converted to the side of good as Doraemon and friends are getting overwhelmed by hostile robots, when a floating robot snatches Nobita into mid-air only for Zanda Claus to crush the robot in one hand and let Nobita harmlessly land on the other, carefully placing Nobita to ground level in his palm.
* It happened several times in ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and its sequels (''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer''). A particularly awesome instance happened in the episode 28 when Mazinger Z saved [[spoiler:[[TheProfessor Professor Yumi]]]] with a RocketPunch when he was falling down a cliff. In the Ota equivalent manga chapter, he was falling from a flying fortress and [[{{Fembot}} Aphrodite A]] was the one that caught him. Another instance happened in the [[{{Crossover}} Nagai Heroes]] e-manga, when [[Anime/MazingerZ Diana A]] saved [[Anime/GreatMazinger Jun]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperGiantRobotBrothers'': Downplayed; in the first episode, Shiny accidentally causes a worker to fall off a rail and immediately catches them. Just seconds later, an ambulance arrives to take them away.

* Not a robot hand, but in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', John Jameson turned Colonel Jupiter rescues a mother and her son from a burning building by catching them in his arms after they fall for ''several'' stories.

* WesternAnimation/SuperGiantRobotBrothers'': Downplayed; in the first episode, Shiny accidentally causes a worker to fall off a rail and immediately catches them. Just seconds later, an ambulance arrives to take them away.

* ''VideoGame/BrokenAge'': In the game's ending, [[spoiler:Shay is saved from falling to his death by Gary, a small robot companion that was operating his ship's robot arms.]]

** An interesting variant is in ''Film/TurboAPowerRangersMovie'', where the characters are already on the ground. The Turbo Megazord lowers its hand to allow the civilian Ranger assistants [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus Bulk and Skull]] to climb up...and then promptly locks its hand into a tight fist, presumably crushing the occupants to death. Obviously, they were fine later, but it was a bit jarring. "Oh, yeah, come on up, guys, let me give you a [[JustForPun hand]]...CRUNCH."

Note that this ''could'' work if the robot hand in question lightly grabbed the person around the waist with its fingers and followed them downw a ways, to gradually slow the person's fall if the robot is tall enough--but this is almost never the way it's portrayed.

* Justified in ''Fanfic/TheUnexpectedRookie'', as the Autobots are in the world of [[Franchise/{{Cars}} Cars]]. At the start of the fight, [[=McQueen=]] is about to go after Skywarp (who's threatening his friend) before he knows what he's dealing with. Jazz pins him to the ground first, keeping him out of danger so he can take on Skywarp himself, allowing [[=McQueen=]] to safely get his friends out. Also inverted, in that Jazz pinned [[=McQueen=]] down instead of catching him.

* Justified in ''Fanfic/TheUnexpectedRookie'', as the Autobots are in the world of [[Franchise/{{Cars}} Cars]]. At the start of the fight, McQueen is about to go after Skywarp (who's threatening his friend) before he knows what he's dealing with. Jazz pins him to the ground first, keeping him out of danger so he can take on Skywarp himself, allowing McQueen to safely get his friends out. Also inverted, in that Jazz pinned McQueen down instead of catching him.

* Justified in ''Fanfic/TheUnexpectedRookie'', as the Autobots are in the world of [[Franchise/{{Cars}} Cars]]. At the start of the fight, McQueen is about to go after Skywarp (who's threatening his friend) before he knows what he's dealing with. Jazz pins him to the ground first, then takes on Skywarp himself so McQueen can safely get his friends out.

** Happens a few times in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', but sometimes it was played semi-realistically. In "Plus One", Wheeljack catches a falling June and Fowler in his hands, then dives into a roll the second they make contact, then transforming into his car form. When he lets them out, they seem shaken but fine.

-->-- '''Jeremy''' (on ''Film/{{Transformers}}''), ''WebVideo/CinemaSins''

** ''Film/{{Transformers}}'':

** Done slightly more realistically in [[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon the third one]]. Bumblebee flips through the air and grabs Sam and Lennox, and then continues to flip through the air until he lands. Only then does he let them go.

Note that this ''could'' work if the robot hand in question moved downward a ways, to gradually slow the person's fall--but this is almost never the way it's portrayed.