History Main / NinjaProp

** In a section where you are searching for pieces of a missing picture, one piece is hidden in the menu screen.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{Smile}} HD'', Pinkie Pie uses subtitles as an improvised weapon to whack at Fluttershy.

** The intro of ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3 Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' has him ''surfing'' on [[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright's]] "[[{{Catchphrase}} Objection!]]" speech bubble.

* In one episode of ''Anime/{{Slayers}}'', Lina sweatdrops, then grabs the sweatdrop and hits Gourry over the head with it.
* The sun and moon from ''Manga/SoulEater'' being oddly shaped and having faces initially seems like stylization, but in the manga, [[spoiler:the characters go to the moon, which is actually shaped like that (it even has nostril caves!) and turns out to be much smaller than the real-world moon and located in the upper atmosphere (assuming this world even has an atmosphere).]] This was actually shown earlier a couple times, but in an incredibly off-hand manner: the first time we see Maka's father trying to spend time with her [[TalkAboutTheWeather he mentions how the sun setting looks tired, then realizes it's a stupid thing to have a conversation about.]] Crona also comments on the sun sleeping in their MentalWorld.
* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', Nui Harime has this ability. Each character gets an introductory subtitle in massive red block characters, and Nui leans against hers as if it were an object. In a SplitScreen, she reaches across the divider to caress Satsuki's hair. In a later episode, Nui's subtitles cast shadows on the ground. A case of BewareTheSillyOnes, since her screwball antics make it immediately clear that she is a SpannerInTheWorks of Satsuki's plans.

* ''Anime/{{Gintama}}'' Episode 267: Since Odd Jobs Gin is frozen in time and any changes they make to reality [[RealityIsOutToLunch result in causality getting her ass raped by comedy]], Gin decides to deal with [[ItMakesSenseInContext Otae getting hit by a rocket arm]] by changing the SFX involved with a marker; first by making her "Ouch" into an "owie" and then by turning the SFX into a sentient being, "Ham-Chan". Naturally, this is lampshaded by Shinpachi, then Ham gets married to an amnesiac Otae (while Kyubei runs off with a crudely-drawn dick made out of the SFX spare parts from Ham attached to her crotch), then Otose shatters the nigh-indestructible rocket arm with her bare fist, and finally Ham saves the day just after the time travel batteries run out and freeze Odd Jobs Gin as well, as Ham is unaffected by the freeze.

* Used with some frequency in ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': the characters aren't above using panel lines and speech bubbles to improvise an attack strategy.

* In an Italian ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' comic, the scholars of ancient Babylon create a machine which amplifies a person's ability to think. This reaches a point where lightbulbs physically manifest above their heads when they have an idea. And then fall down to the ground.

* ''ComicBook/CinemaPurgatorio'':
** In ''The Picture Palace Mystery'', it's heavily implied that Mr. Crawley, the projectionist suspected of messing with the film reels in Aunt Millie's theater, is also responsible for the actual film messing up as well. When a centipede-like monster attacks the protagonists, it's always shown occupying the same spot as if it was a stray hair on a projector gate, and when the film starts to burn, the in-universe ground and anyone unlucky enough to be in the same spot dissolves with it.
** In ''It's a Breakable Life'', what at first appears to be an ObviousStuntDouble replacing [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife George Bailey]] in an action scene is immediately revealed to be George physically swapping out with another person for the stunt, with him unaware of the time between. After a series of increasingly dangerous accidents keeps swapping him out with more stuntmen, one pulls him aside to explain why he's protected from harm, while teaching him the dangers stuntmen face while filming. All George seems to take from this is that he can't die, and he immediately uses this ability to make a stuntman tank a gunshot for him while he rushes down Mr. Potter.

* A ''ComicStrip/TheWizardOfId'' strip has a guard in a tower with a Z over his head. The invaders report that the guard is asleep, and go to attack. Cut to the tower, where the guard is ''holding up a fake speech bubble with a Z on it.''

* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip, Jon sees Garfield asleep with a "Z" bubble over his head, and remarks that he feels safer when Garfield's asleep. The "Z" bubble then hits him in the head.
* OlderThanTheyThink: In a 1907 ''[[ComicStrip/LittleNemo Little Nemo in Slumberland]]'' comic strip, the hungry characters tear up the strip's title to eat the letters, which are apparently very nutritious.

* In the infamous WebVideo ''Smile HD'', the main character uses subtitles as an improvised weapon to deliver a surprise attack to her opponent.

** In his own game, ''VideoGame/{{Deadpool}}'', he crosses a gorge by using his own thought bubbles as stepping stones.

* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}''

* ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxBeyondTimeAndSpace'' reveals in its final episode that the [[SoundEffectBleep bleeping out of swear words]] that's been happening throughout the season (and a few times in ''Save the World'') is happening in-universe in Hell's [[TakeThat FCC department]]. It then plays an important role later on - the duo need to figure out the name of one of the game's villains, but they can't hear it because it keeps getting bleeped out - so Sam [[spoiler:replaces Hell's list of swear words with a grocery list]]. Doing so also reveals that the game's HollywoodTourettes character was speaking in [[GoshDangItToHeck much milder language]] than the game initially implied, and that their health started to improve after the constant ringing in their ear stopped.

* ''Theatre/TheMysteryOfIrmaVep'' does this with its use of LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles, as two actors portray a total of seven characters in the play. [[spoiler:There are only five characters. Two of them are other characters in disguise.]]

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' has a Strong Bad Email entitled "Virus", in which a virus infects the entire website, resulting in RealityWarping. At one point Strong Bad is able to run right out of the flash video file, and into the black webpage background beyond (and the entire video moves when he tries to jump back in). Homestar also manages to pick up the text links beneath the video. In fact, both the background and links are ''part'' of the video (and in the case of the links, [[DevelopersForesight perfectly functional]]), and the video itself is larger than usual, to encompass the added area. But since these elements look exactly as they normally do, the effect is quite surprising. The chaos is finally stopped when Bubs shoots Strong Bad’s computer with a shotgun, which the virus corrupts into Homestar's disembodied leg.

** At one point in the final levels of ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'', Kirby encounters the game's first boss, Flowery Woods, a third time. However, he has Hypernova, and thus simply begins sucking Flowery Woods up, taking the boss' health bar in the process before inhaling Flowery Woods in its entirety. [[spoiler: He does this again at the end of the final boss fight. There are also the axes in the background of the Masked Dedede fight. One of them gets grabbed by his Revenge form in the second phase, and he promptly destroys the other immediately after.]]

** At one point in the final levels of ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'', Kirby encounters the game's first boss, Flowery Woods, a third time. However, he has Hypernova, and thus simply begins sucking Flowery Woods up, taking the boss' health bar in the process before inhaling Flowery Woods in its entirety. [[spoiler: He does this again at the end of the final boss fight.]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XhwQUqm_Hw&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive This]] ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch starts with the new kid at school watching the cheerleader and the BigManOnCampus enter via PowerWalk. Then a teacher clarifies that this is diegetic; they're walking through a magic hallway where everything is in slow motion.

Stage hands is where the trope gets its name. The classic outfit associated with {{Ninja}} (black, tight suit and a mask with a slit for the eyes) actually comes from stage hands in Japanese theater. They wore black so that the audience knew to ignore them. (The variety of stagehand in live performing arts who ''handle'' props and setpieces on, off, and around the stage in Western theatre are colloquially referred to as "stage ninjas" due to their all-black clothing and stealthy profession, so the term has fed back into itself.) Imagine the shock of the audience, then, when the non-entity setting the castle walls in place for scene 4 suddenly pulls out a dagger and ''kills'' one of the characters.

** In ''The Picture Palace Mystery'', it's heavily implied that Mr. Crawley, the projectionist suspected of messing with the film reels in Aunt Millie's theater, is also responsible for the actual film messing up as well. When a centipede-like monster attacks the protagonists, it's always shown occupying the same spot as if it was a stray hair on a projector gate, and when the film starts to burn, the in-universe ground and anyone unlucky to be in the same spot dissolves with it.

** In ''It's a Breakable Life'', what at first appears to be an ObviousStuntman replacing [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife George Bailey]] in an action scene is immediately revealed to be George physically swapping out with another person for the stunt, with him unaware of the time between. After a series of increasingly dangerous accidents keeps swapping him out with more stuntmen, one pulls him aside to explain why he's protected from harm, while teaching him the dangers stuntmen face while filming. All George seems to take from this is that he can't die, and he immediately uses this ability to make a stuntman tank a gunshot for him while he rushes down Mr. Potter.

** ''Videogame/MarvelPuzzleQuest'' has an attack whose description explicitly says Deadpool targets the health bar, which gets a bloody cut for the remainder of the battle. The game also has another character who exploits the fourth wall, Gwenpool, with an attack where [[https://x.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/a/00/57f2b33d97ae9.jpg she finds the dev console to manipulate the code]].
* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLand'': One level has a point where the K.O.N.G. letters you've collected earlier in the level descend on screen and form a bridge for you to cross.
* In ''Videogame/SyobonAction'', some clouds come to life and kill you if you happen to jump into them.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/MSPaintAdventures'' has had a lot of fun with this, especially in ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth''. Ace Dick beating an NPC to death with part of the user interface and Problem Sleuth attacking the final boss' healthbars directly both come to mind.
* To a lesser degree, it also happens in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''.
** Every character has a different strange InventoryManagementPuzzle called a sylladex; many shenanigans are had early on by people trying to get things out of their sylladex that they accidentally buried. But then we get to [[InexplicablyAwesome Gamzee]], who, rather than bothering with doing things the hard way, reaches up into the corner of the screen where the sylladex cards are displayed and just grabs it.
** Caliborn also annoyed everyone (readers included) when he began [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/007395/ beating the MSPA website with a crowbar]], causing it to fall apart. For bonus meta points, this particular crowbar had been much earlier identified in-story as an artifact which cancelled out temporal shenanigans, which the webcomic makes heavy use of.
** Early on, Dave once cut his naming bar in half.
** The "Prospit" and "Derse" text introducing those planets in act 6 are shot in two angles: one like the original front on angle that was used for the Beta Kids and Trolls; and another from the side that gives the letters depth, as if they are actually hovering next to their respective planet.
* ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' uses this frequently.

* In ''Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation'', the space, time, and fate-bending abilities of the Sidereal Exalted are represented by having them actively use the comic format against their enemies. In particular, Nemen Yi leaps between comic panels, abuses perspective to hit people at range with a melee attack (think "I crush your head", except it ''works''), and breaks off a piece of the gutter (the border between panels) to use it as a throwing weapon.
* In ''Webcomic/DaughterOfTheLilies'', a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Drath]] Echo infects someone's mind as an EnemyWithin and starts amplifying their insecurities. Thistle [[http://www.daughterofthelilies.com/dotl/507 destroys it]] by ripping the errant thoughts out of their speech bubble and stomping on them.

* In ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'', one of Guise's cards has him hitting Wager Master with the card's keyword bar. Given that Guise is a Expy of ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}, this is likely inspired by his hyper combo in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''. His cards also have aspects like high-fiving another player to gain an ability, and another lets you play an additional card if you throw your hands into the air and yell, "Woo!"\
* In the day's of its EarlyInstallmentWierdness, MagicTheGathering had the card [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=603 Chaos Orb]], and a couple of other cards like it. Normally, the cards themselves are treated as representations of what they depict. Not so with Chaos Orb, which you drop from over the table and it destroys whatever card it is physically touching.

There are certain things we're used to seeing in certain media: {{speech bubble}}s, [[ThoughtCaption captions]], and frames in comics, [[WireFu wires that make people "fly"]] in shows, status bars and inventories in video games, and stage hands that move {{Prop}}s and sets around in theater.

There are certain things we're used to seeing in certain media: {{speech bubble}}s, [[ThoughtCaption captions]], and frames in comics, [[WireFu wires that make people "fly"]] in shows, status bars and inventories in video games, and stage hands that move props and sets around in theater.

* In the teaser trailer for ''Series/CowboyBebop2021'', black bars are used to indicate SplitScreen; at one point Spike grabs one of the bars and uses it as a MartialArtsStaff to fight some mooks with.

* In the teaser trailer for ''Series/CowboyBebop2021'', black bars are used to indicate SplitScreen; at one point Spike grabs one of the bars and uses it as a SimpleStaff to fight some mooks with.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'', there are two albums featuring a similar gag, where the village's bard is sweeping ''musical notes'' with a broom as if they were dust.
* Occasionally happened during Creator/JohnByrne's run on ''ComicBook/SheHulk''. Perhaps the most surreal example is Jennifer foiling a villain's attempt to leave her and some civilians {{trapped in TV land}} by remembering that she's really in a comic book, ripping a (notional) hole into the page, and escaping alongside her charges across a two-page ad spread back to their "real" world.

** In the arc where some powers (using her brother as proxy) try to get Gwen back into her own world, the narrative conspires to lead her back into the Marvel universe including showing her the "strings" (thought captions, title, the end / to be continued... text whatnot) making them real and even lets her interact even with stuff like borders and such if she can correctly guess where there. Once she returns to the main Marvel universe, she's also shown the ability to hide behind panels. Gwen even decides to use this ability to leave the panels in her advantage: along with, for instance, leaving a prison by going back to a previous page, she pushes villains out of the panels and into the BlankWhiteVoid that is the gutter space.

** Similar to the preceding, one strip showed Snoopy sleeping on an empty music staff as Schroeder prepares to practice. Schroeder strikes a powerful opening chord which sends Snoopy flying.

** Another Z joke: Peppermint Patty sleeping through math class and having a Z math nightmare. √Z finally wakes her.

* Similar to the Creator/TexAvery example below, during one of the obligatory episode-ending [[TheChase Chase Scenes]] of ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'', a stray hair is seen trembling on the left side of the screen. That is, until Creator/BennyHill suddenly calls for a stop to the chase, and then grasps said hair before tossing it away.

* Similarly, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has a horribly surreal moment after the characters leave reality: the first thing you see when you get back to your feet is a save point, which ''multiplies'' as you step on it. Doesn't do anything else, it's just MindScrew.

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' had Space Invader expies who wouldn't attack your toad directly, but instead fly up to the HUD and literally steal blocks from their life meter.

** An [[SurrealHorror astoundingly creepy]] example: At the game's start YouWakeUpInARoom that's mostly dark and hear strange vaguely-philosophical rambling, and you're left to assume it was the PlayerCharacter's internal narration. Once you get a flashlight and go back to the room, shining a light on the darkened corner shows it was actually coming from an in-world source -- [[spoiler:specifically, a [[MindScrew bloody paper bag]].]]

** One of the dungeons of the game contains a myriad of shapeshifting monsters, two of which disguise themselves as a emoticon bubble and a save point. [[spoiler:The very act of saving also becomes an important plot point, as it's revealed that Flowey also possessed the ability to save, before you arrived on the scene and your ability to save overrode his. Once he goes OneWingedAngel, he takes advantage of his power by crashing the game. Then, when you reopen the game, he ''literally smashes through'' your save file so he can make you watch him kill you over and over again, and abusing SaveScumming during the actual battle (meanwhile the "Fight" and "Act" menu buttons now become physical objects that the player has to move over and interact with to use.]]
** The already clever [[spoiler:Sans, the FinalBoss of the Genocide route]] also takes advantage of this. [[spoiler:Since your menu icon is the same icon as the heart that represents your player's Soul (basically your hitbox during the BulletHell segments,) he takes the opportunity to start attacking your cursor in-between rounds, which has the same effect as getting attacked normally. His "ultimate attack" also takes advantage of the turn-based nature of the game's combat, as he simply refuses to end his turn in the hopes that the player will give up and quit. The player then has to take advantage of this trope themselves by ''dragging'' the square field their soul resides in during combat over to the fight button and selecting it to finish him off.]]
** At one point Mettaton traps the player in a room full of bombs disguised as all kinds of innocuous objects (such as a movie script, a glass of water, a basketball and a dog). As he lists off all the objects that are actually bombs he ends with "Even my words are-" before the text suddenly falls out of his text box and explodes.

** The traditional way of fighting King Dedede is to wait for him to pound the ground with either his hammer or his body, making star-shaped CirclingBirdies, and then have Kirby suck up those stars and spit them out. Later games keep these star projectiles, but have them generated by basically every attack.

* ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', by the same creator as ''[=Ever17=]'', recycles this trick. The player only sees Sigma's real face in flashbacks and never hears his voice, hiding his true present-day identity from the player and from himself.
* Again by the same author, ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' has this, but only in the original Nintendo DS version of the game, as it's unable to be replicated by anything else. [[spoiler:The top screen, where character sprites and dialogue are, represents the present, and the bottom screen, where the narrative is, represents the past. The game is Akane watching the present from the past to save herself from a situation she can't handle herself, and when you get to where she's stuck at in the present, you flip the DS upside down so that you can solve the puzzle in the present so she can see the answer in the past]].
* Unlike the other two entries in the series, ''VisualNovel/MuvLuvAlternative'' has only one route, and it's with a character that wasn't in ''Unlimited''. There's a good reason for it, though it's not revealed until very late in.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' has a Strong Bad Email entitled "Virus", in which a virus infects the entire website, resulting in RealityWarping. At one point Strong Bad is able to run right out of the flash video file, and into the black webpage background beyond (and the entire video moves when he tries to jump back in). Homestar also manages to pick up the text links beneath the video. In fact, both the background and links are ''part'' of the video (and in the case of the links, [[DevelopersForesight perfectly functional]]), and the video itself is larger than usual, to encompass the added area. But since these elements look exactly as they normally do, the effect is quite surprising. Eventually, the chaos is finally stopped when Bubs shoots Strong Bad’s computer with a shotgun.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' '''loves''' this trope.
** The best example would probably be the diamond from the cast page, which [[ImpossibleThief Haley Starshine steals]] ''from herself'' in order to pay for a spell in the main comic.

* Happens occasionally in ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'':
** Like when James noticed that the icon in his speechbubble was out of date and climbed up a panel (using the panel border for support) to fix it.
** But the best example to date is the vine border that appeared first around panels that were dreams/flashbacks until one page it just broke a panel and attacked somebody. Later they were revealed to be the tendrils of the Shadow Child, so the kid is so to speak a prop ninja.

* Gleefully used in ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic''[='s=] [[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS7E19 Top 11 Best]] ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episodes. To begin with, Creator/DanteBasco as Zuko [[FrameBreak punches down the Critic out of the video player]] and into the Website/YouTube comments section below. The Nostalgia Critic fights back by grabbing negative comments and throwing them at the firebender, in a {{literal|Metaphor}} FlameWar. And when low on ammunition, he yells "Creator/JossWhedon is overrated!" to make more appear. Then Dante seizes one to throw back at the Critic, who warns him that he's about to hit the yellow advertising line of the video. Of course, the Critic takes advantage of the commercial break to get away. Finally, still on the [=YouTube=] webpage, the Critic hides [[StandInPortrait in front of his own image on the picture]] for his ''Film/TheLastAirbender'' [[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS6E15 review]].

** In episode "Marge Be Not Proud" Homer is looking at a family portrait where Bart holds up an "I Stink" dialogue balloon behind him:

** A scene where Marge wakes up with a hangover seemingly has the sound of Homer's footsteps magnified to represent Marge's HangoverSensitivity. Then the camera moves down to show his footsteps literally are that loud because he's wearing ski shoes.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XhwQUqm_Hw&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive This]] ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch starts with the new kid at school watching TheCheerleader and the BigManOnCampus enter via PowerWalk. Then a teacher clarifies that this is diegetic; they're walking through a magic hallway where everything is in slow motion.

* In ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'', one of Guise's cards has him hitting Wager Master with the card's keyword bar. Given that Guise is a Expy of ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}, this is likely inspired by his hyper combo in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''. His cards also have aspects like high-fiving another player to gain an ability, and another lets you play an additional card if you throw your hands into the air and yell, "Woo!"

* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', Nui Harime has this ability. Each character gets an introductory subtitle in massive red block characters, and Nui leans against hers as if it were an object. In a SplitScreen, she reaches across the divider to caress Satsuki's hair. In a later episode, Nui's subtitles cast shadows on the ground. A case of BewareTheSillyOnes, since her screwball antics make it immediately clear that she is a SpannerInTheWorks of Satsuki's pans.