History Main / SpeedySnail

** Pokemon based on turtles and snails are generally on the slow side. However, most of them[[note]]Magcargo and all turtle Pokemon except the Turtwig line can do this.[[/note]] can use the move Shell Smash to [[ShedArmorGainSpeed sacrifice their defenses in exchange for a large boost to speed]] and attacking power.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': In "Slowwww Going", Robotnik invents a Subatomic Slowgo Beam weapon, which [[TimeStandsStill decelerates anything it hits to a sloth's pace]] for one hour. When the crystal that powers the weapon breaks, using the fragments instead causes it to accelerate whatever it hits to Sonic's speed instead. Tails discovers this by accident and uses it to speed up Rocket the sloth and his family, who help him rescue Sonic.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'' features, among the [[AnimalSuperheroes Superhero Funny Animals]] the turtle Fastback, who gained SuperSpeed through a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent, and his uncle The Terrific Whatzit, a LegacyCharacter who's this universe's version of the original Flash.

{{Subtrope}} to FasterThanTheyLook, limited to animals. A SubvertedTrope of AnimalStereotypes, as it plays with the audience's expectation of the animal being slow.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': Gwen must capture a duck. When she approaches it, it zooms away at top speed like the [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Roadrunner]]. Gwen notes that [[LampshadeHanging "Last time I checked, ducks waddled.]]

* At the end of ''Film/SongOfTheSouth'', Br'er Terrapin (a turtle) starts running on two legs.

** A few Pokémon are incredibly fast despite being based on slow animals. Starmie, which is a starfish, can fly around like shuriken. Accelgor, the third-fastest Pokémon in the series, is based on a slug. The Horsea family is depicted as being very fast, even though seahorses are among the slowest of all fish.

-->-- Discussion on a turtle moving at nine miles per hour just before the turtle starts running at 60 mph, ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''

[[folder:Anime]]
* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasChronicleOfTheMoonExploration'': Mozo, a snail/turtle-like alien, turns out to have SuperSpeed as one of his powers, outrunning the other characters with ease.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'': Invoked by the docs in "Zoom Oil"; a snail is the test subject for their speed potion, and it works, causing the snail to zoom into the distance and hit a radio tower.
* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': On rare occasions, Mr. Slowy is seen riding Granny Snail, a giant snail who is quite speedy for his species and makes for a very convenient form of transportation because of this. The plot of the first theatrical film, ''[[Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfTheSuperAdventure The Super Adventure]]'', is started when Granny Snail develops toxins in his body that make him as slow as a real-life snail.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'' features, among the [[AnimalSuperheroes Superhero Funny Animals]] the turtle Fastback, who gained SuperSpeed through a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent, and his uncle The Terrific Whatzit, a LegacyCharacter who's this universe's version of the original Flash.

-->'''Turtle:'' *zooms in* I'm a turtle. *zooms out*\\

* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': The Tiny messenger Gluckuk rides a racing snail.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'': The snail enemies in the first world Insectia are pretty slow. The snail enemies in the third world Splot resemble those in Insectia, except that they are very fast, three times as durable, and sport machine-guns within their shells. Furthermore, the first boss battle is a snail who becomes faster as it takes damage, and also has a HelicopterPack in its shell that allows it to fly with great speed while dropping bombs.

* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': Giant Shellies, Giant Tortoises and Ice Tortoises normally move slowly like snails/tortoises, but they attack by retracting into their shells, spinning, and then flying towards the player at very fast speeds, the latter two dealing ''massive'' amounts damage if they connect.

* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': Giant Shellies , Giant Tortoises and Ice Tortoises normally move slowly, but they attack by retracting into their shells, spinning, and then flying towards the player at very fast speeds, the latter two dealing ''massive'' amounts damage if they connect.

* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': Giant Tortoises and Ice Tortoises normally move slowly, but they attack by retracting into their shells, spinning, and then flying towards the player at very fast speeds, dealing a massive amount of contact damage if they connect.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'': {{Parodied|Trope}} in [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2013/ga130130.gif this strip]], with a turtle that zips around rapidly.

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': On rare occasions, Mr. Slowy is seen riding Granny Snail, a giant snail who is quite speedy for his species and makes for a very convenient form of transportation because of this. The plot of the first theatrical film, ''The Super Adventure'', is started when Granny Snail develops toxins in his body that make him as slow as a real-life snail.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': As part of the Isle of Armor DLC, the player has to catch up to and fight three slowpoke. True to their name slowpoke are among the slowest pokemon in the game, except these ones have been trained up to be exceptionally fast. This translates into needing bike speeds if not an ambush to catch up to them in the overworld and [[ActionInitiative always moving first]] in battle.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'': In real life, hedgehogs are not known for being particularly fast. Sonic practically made speed his one defining trait.

** Tirtouga, Carracosta and Turtonator, based on turtles, can use the move Shell Smash to [[ShedArmorGainSpeed drastically increase their speed at the cost of losing defense]].

** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': As part of the Isle of Armor DLC, the player has to catch up to and fight three slowpoke. True to their name slowpoke are among the slowest pokemon in the game, except these ones have been trained up to be exceptionally fast. This translates into needing bike speeds if not an ambush to catch up to them in the overworld and [[ActionInitiative always moving first]] in battle. Tirtouga, Carracosta and Turtonator, based on turtles, can use the move Shell Smash to drastically increase their speed at the cost of losing defense.

* Mozo, a snail / turtle-like alien from ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasChronicleOfTheMoonExploration'', turns out to have SuperSpeed as one of his powers, outrunning the other characters with ease.

* In ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' Vol. 1 #161, the story "The Case of the Curious Costume" begins with Barry heading for his wedding with Iris West, with Iris taking measures to ensure that he arrives on time. However, Barry witnesses the bizarre sight of a turtle outracing the speeding cars. He investigates, and discovers that the turtle comes from a dimension where everyone and everything is super fast. Unfortunately, the dimension is also an example of YearInsideHourOutside, and the time spent there meant Barry ends up being late for his wedding.
* To some extent the ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''. Despite being anthropomorphic turtles, their characterization has much more emphasis on the Teenage and Ninja aspects. They're so good at StealthHiBye they could give Batman a run for his money.

* {{Parodied|Trope}} in [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2013/ga130130.gif this strip]] from ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'', with a turtle.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' has sloths be as frustratingly slow as they are in real life, to the point they're used to satirize [[ObstructiveBureaucrat state bureaucrats]]. One such sloth is even known as [[IronicName Flash]]. Come the movie's epilogue and we find out it's not so ironic: [[DrivesLikeCrazy he's a speed demon when given a car]].
* The turtle character in ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' is named "Speed". And he is quick, but only when swimming in water.
* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Turbo}}'' is a snail who becomes really fast after an accident with a race car.

* The movie version of ''Theatre/ByeByeBirdie'' has a subplot (nowhere to be found in the original show) involving a sped-up turtle.

* In ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio'' the Blue Fairy has a snail-maid, who moves really slowly for most of the scenes she's in. But when she has to deliver Pinocchio's money to her sick mistress, she suddenly runs "like a lizard under the summer sun".
* ''Rhyme Stew'' by Creator/RoaldDahl has a retelling of ''[[Literature/AesopsFables The Tortoise and The Hare]]'', in which the tortoise plans to beat the hare in the race by having a car engine hidden inside his shell.
* As in the film adaptation, the Tiny messenger Gluckuk in ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'' rides a racing snail.

* One comic strip for ''Manhua/OldMasterQ'' have Master Q watching a guy taking his pet tortoise on a walk on a leash, and after Master Q made a snarky comment on how slow the tortoise is, the tortoise suddenly starts speeding. Master Q responds by taking his pet ''snail'' for a walk, who turns out to be much faster. (Nope, the manhwa doesn't really make any sense)

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'' has the Snails on Speed (-2 to Run Away).
[[/folder]]

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Bug}} Bug!]]'': The snail enemies in the first world Insectia are pretty slow. The snail enemies in the third world Splot resemble those in Insectia, except that they are very fast, three times as durable, and sport machine-guns within their shells. Furthermore, the first boss battle is a snail who becomes faster as it takes damage, and also has a HelicopterPack in its shell that allows it to fly with great speed while dropping bombs.
* In ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', one of the [[MiniBoss mid-bosses]] is the Rolling Turtle. Contrary to all expectations, he's one of the [[LightningBruiser fastest-moving]] and [[ThatOneBoss most difficult]] enemies in the entire game.
* In the ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' series, if the turtle-like regular Koopa Troopa is playable, they're usually a [[FragileSpeedster Speedy]] type.
* Crystal Snail in ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'', being a snail, is listed with the lowest speed stat of all the Maverick bosses. This is a complete lie - not only does he rocket around with the boosters in his shell, if you knock his shell off (with Magnet Mine) he'll run around quickly and erratically, trying to get it back.

* A few Franchise/{{Pokemon}} are incredibly fast despite being based on slow animals. Starmie, which is a starfish, can fly around like shuriken. Accelgor, the third fastest Pokemon in the series, is based on a slug. The Horsea family is depicted as being very fast, even though seahorses are among the slowest of all fish.
** As part of the Isle of Armor DLC for ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' the player has to catch up to and fight three slowpoke. True to their name slowpoke are among the slowest pokemon in the game, except these ones have been trained up to be exceptionally fast. This translates into needing bike speeds if not an ambush to catch up to them in the overworld and [[ActionInitiative always moving first]] in battle.
* In real life, hedgehogs are not known for being particularly fast. ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' practically made speed his one defining trait.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', Deedee finds a baby turtle which she thinks is a baby bird. After an accident, Dexter implements cybernetics into Birdy, granting it superspeed that makes it fast enough to fight a falcon.
* In ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', the Rabbit Talisman, which grants super speed, was originally found embedded in the shell of a tortoise.
* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/TheKwickyKoalaShow'' is a koala, and normally moves rather slowly. Kwicky Koala, however, can move at eye-blink speed when attacked by Wilford Wolf.
* Cecil Turtle from ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' boasted that his shell was very aerodynamic in races, and in one short he has an engine inside his shell.
* Tank the Tortoise from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is normally as slow as most tortoises. However, in order to keep up with his owner, Rainbow Dash, he was given a magic-powered helicopter-like device, so he can fly around.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', Gwen must capture a duck. When she approaches it, it zooms away at top speed like the [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Roadrunner]]. Gwen notes, [[LampshadeHanging "Last time I checked, ducks waddled.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' series, if the [[TurtlePower turtle-like]] regular Koopa Troopa is playable, they're usually a [[FragileSpeedster Speedy]] type.

* Moving at 35 mph, the fastest moving reptile is the leatherback sea turtle. [[GracefulInTheirElement In the water, of course]].

'''Deedee:''' He's not a turtle. He's a birdie.