History Main / TapOnTheHead

%%** The "sharp shot to the solar plexus" move was once used by Miroku to subdue a peasant girl whom he was trying to move to safety. However, the women of the village had also been possessed by a demon, which Miroku knew. Hitting them in that location was the only way to free them from the demonic possession.

** The Waterfall Village OVA. Sakura is put in charge of guarding the children while Naruto and Sasuke are off doing other things. A little while later, cue karate chop to the back of Sakura's neck and her being knocked out. Her attacker then let's out a scoff, saying he can't believe she's actually a ninja if she got caught off guard that easilly.

* ''Anime/AngelBeats!'': [[spoiler:When Iwasawa was alive]], her father smashed a bottle over her head when she was trying to stop one of his and her mother's fights. She was mostly alright until the next day, when she collapsed at work due to a cerebral contusion caused by the hit. When she woke up in the hospital, she couldn't use her voice, and died soon afterward.

* In ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', Ashitaka uses the "stiff shot to the solar plexus" variant to knock out San and Lady Eboshi, thereby ending the fight between the two women.

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer''. Yukon Cornelius drops a rock on the Bumble's head and [=KO=]'s him temporarily.

* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'': In "[[Recap/TheBookOfBobaFettS1E4TheGatheringStorm The Gathering Storm]]" a Trandoshan tries to stop the Wookie Krrsantan from [[CurbStompBattle beating the stuffing out of]] his fellow Trandoshan by hitting the enraged Wookie over the head with a bottle. It has no effect on the Wookie, who turns around to look at the Trandoshan who is standing there with a [[OhCrap horrified look]] on his face.

* ''Series/CloakAndDagger2018'': Played with. Tandy gets into a minor car crash; Tyrone tells her that she looks like she has a concussion and should go to the hospital, but she ignores him and drives off. She manages to get on a bus before falling unconscious. She ends up having a shared vision with Tyrone, who had gone to a Vodun priestess for unrelated reasons. The priestess gave Tyrone an herbal bath to open his mind to the spiritual, but mentioned that a concussion can do the same thing--she just doesn't use it for obvious reasons. In the end, Tandy is fine, but considering that the pair used their shared vision to magically heal each other, it's implied that her powers are the only reason there are no long-term effects.

* ''Series/{{Danger 5}}'' spoofed this with Tucker declaring he was going to knock out a sentry for an hour, adjusting an [[SuperWristGadget egg timer on his wrist]] for that amount of time, then judo chopping the sentry.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle "Full Circle"]], the Doctor himself gets this treatment -- keeping him from calming the alien child.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora "The Masque of Mandragora"]], when the Doctor realizes that Sarah Jane is being kidnapped and tries to intervene, one mook takes him out with a rock to his head.
** Played with in the Tenth Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern "The Idiot's Lantern"]]. The Doctor is knocked unconscious by a punch to the jaw, but he only remains so for a few seconds and quickly gets back up in pursuit of the people who punched him.

* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}''

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''

* In the ''Series/UFO1970'' episode "Ordeal", an alien punches Colonel Foster in the chin and he goes out like a light. It turned out to be {{justified|Trope}} because it occurs during an ItWasAllADream sequence.

[[folder:Pinball]]

* In several versions of the ''Hero'' game rules, attacks made by surprise on an out of combat charater do double stun. If hit locations are used, attacks to the head have the highest stun multiplier, followed by attacks to the (other) vitals.
* In the great pulp tradition, any combat in ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'', whether you're beating people up, stabbing them, or shooting them, can end in a knock out rather than death, and this is actually encouraged (for the GM, so the {{PC}}s don't all die before they can get stuffed in a deathtrap, and for the {{PC}}s so they can interrogate the Mooks they just clobbered).

* 1E ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''
** Supplement ''The Asylum and Other Tales'', adventure "The Asylum". Dr. Freygan could use his knowledge of human anatomy to perform a Franchise/StarTrek style neck pinch and knock out a victim. Because he was a proto-shoggoth, he could extend his arm out many feet to do so.
** The "Knockout Attack" rules allow something like this, with blunt attacks optionally allowing a Resistance roll (Damage vs. HP). If successful, the victim is knocked unconscious and takes 1/3 rolled damage. Assuming two average unarmed humans this amounts to a 10% chance...
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}''

* Averted in Franchise/TheWorldOfDarkness, where aiming for the head incurs a penalty to attack, but lets you do Lethal damage with weapons that otherwise do Bashing (stunning) damage. Hitting someone over the head could very well kill them.

* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'' has a rather abstracted combat system and two distinct methods of dealing non-lethal damage (The 'Scuffling' rules Core book, and the 'Bruises' system described in the 'Lords of Men' supplement). Neither method is especially likely to cause unconsciousness with a single blow, however, and both will leave the recipient with a 'residual' Medium Wound which imposes a -3 penalty to all rolls (and chance of worsening injury in response to strenuous activity) for at least the next 5-6 weeks of game time...
* Bard Games' generic supplement ''The Compleat Adventurer''. The Rogue and Spy {{Character Class}}es have the Waylay ability, which allows them to knock out an opponent by hitting them over the head with a blackjack, club or similar blunt instrument. The tactic can only be used with surprise or from behind. It results in double normal damage and the target being rendered unconscious for one minute for each HitPoint of damage done by the attack.
* This is how [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Ork Painboyz]] "anesthetize" their unfortunate patients, generally before they rip the teeth straight out of their jaws as a form of payment for the [[MeatGrinderSurgery "surgery"]] and preferably with a big mallet or other blunt instrument. The Ork patient survives the severe concussion due to their physiology making them ungodly durable, which is bad when the Painboy has a few new toys from the mekboyz to try out or if he wants to see what would happen if he stapled a Gretchen to an Ork's face for example.

-->-- '''Creator/PoulAnderson''', [[http://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/on-thud-and-blunder/ On Thud and Blunder]]

* Almost always played straight in ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'', where anything from a gorilla fist to a lead fishing weight dropped from a great height can harmlessly render humans unconscious for a reasonable length of time, conveniently getting infested humans out of the way without the Animorphs having to kill them. When Tobias morphs Andalite for the first time, the Andalite whose shape he's taking, Ax, even teaches him how to perform a 'torf', or to hit human skulls with the ''flat'' of his [[BewareMyStingerTail tailblade]] to knock them out.
** In ''Megamorphs 1'', Rachel flies into a tree while in eagle morph and has EasyAmnesia when she wakes up. Presumably the humans don't generally get that. In book 20, Tobias flies into a closed window as a hawk and ''doesn't'' appear to go unconscious but he is uselessly loopy and talking about Clue for the rest of the scene.
** In ''Visser'', a [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerk]] in the head of a woman who was knocked out like this mentions swelling inside of the skull and having to wait until it subsides and her host wakes up in order to do anything.
** The opening of ''Megamorphs 3'' is the one time a blow to the head isn't harmless - a human-Controller that was smacked by a tiger has a partially crushed skull that doesn't allow the Yeerk to escape, but actually leaves him conscious and begging for help as his human host slowly dies.
* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'': Inverted with Odelia (her attackers thought she was dead, but she was just unconscious), justified with Keifer Porter hitting his wife, Princess Trini over the head with a blunt instrument -- he is known to be stupid, and ''intended'' to harm her, but he wouldn't have wanted to kill her, as there would have been dire consequences if he did that. As things were, he pulled a WoundedGazelleGambit, claiming that Trini "provoked him" to tie her to his bed and torture her, and got off without any punishment at all. Fortunately, he died in an explosion prior to the main plot. Trini seems to suffer no lasting brain damage.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', it is mentioned that some trainees in the Thieves' Guild cause serious injuries with their inability to knock a victim unconscious with a single blow. Likewise in ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', one character is about to knock a guard unconscious when TheIgor points out that blows to the head can be fatal and takes over, as Igors have extensive knowledge of human anatomy. So extensive, in fact, the Igor knows just how hard and where to hit to knock the guy out for ''exactly'' 20 minutes.
** Additionally in ''Literature/MenAtArms'' someone is accidentally killed by an attempt to knock them unconscious.
** Not seen, but referenced in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', when it's mentioned the rebel barricades have a doorway built into them, with all refugees coming through at just the right height for "a gentle Tap On the head if they turned out to be a soldier."
** Vimes in particular plays this trope quite straight. But, like Igor, he knows exactly where and how to strike -- at one point he stops his less-experienced younger self from delivering such a blow and does ''[[CouldSayItBut not]]'' teach other coppers how to do it right if they approach him privately. It's implied in that same book that the Agony Aunts (enforcers for the Guild of Seamstresses) are adept at this, and similar to the previously mentioned Igor, can put you out for a given period, provided you don't fall asleep.
** In ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', a briefly deranged Rincewind is used in an impromptu demonstration when a Thief's Guild apprentice tries and fails to knock him out. So the tutor steps out of the nearby alley to show him the ''right'' way ("Ow."), ''then'' what the trainee did ("Ow! Hahaha!" "So, can anyone spot the difference?"). It isn't until he regains his senses that he succumbs.
** In ''{{Literature/Maskerade}}'', someone tries to knock out Nanny Ogg with a bottle. Nanny sees stars, but since she has a bit of dwarfish in her ancestry, she recovers without passing out, and chases the attacker.
** In ''Literature/TheTruth'', Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip manage to thump Vetinari just hard enough to keep him [[ConvenientComa unconscious for the whole plot]] (after being specifically instructed not to kill him), and Drumknott so he [[EasyAmnesia can't clearly remember whatever he witnessed]].
** In ''Literature/SoulMusic'', we're told that TheSandman (who, like in other worlds, carried a sack of sand that he throws into children's eyes to make them fall asleep) doesn't need a large sack, because he doesn't take the sand out of it.
* ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'': Lampshaded in ''Dragon Blood''. Ward is worried about an unconscious ally, as "anything that's bad enough to knock someone out has a chance to kill them."
* Creator/StephenKing:
** In ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'', tragically averted. During the infamous prom night scene, one of the buckets of pig's blood falls out of the rafters and strikes [[spoiler: Tommy]] in the head. He's dead before Carrie even sets the gym on fire.
* Mentioned in the ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' novel ''First Lensman''. A thug of wide experience claims to be "an artist with the black jack". His boast is that he can knock out anyone within ten feet by throwing it, and can precisely time how long they stay unconscious.
* Creator/JohnCWright:
** Subverted in the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'' book ''Fugitives of Chaos''. Amelia is able to work out, from the fact that she is not suffering plausibly from a blow to the solar plexus, that magic is at work. Earlier, she tries hitting someone with a rock to escape custody. It doesn't work because: a) she was too squeamish to hit hard, b) a rock is ''not'' going to stop a PhysicalGod.
** In the ''Literature/CountToTheEschaton'' book ''Count to a Trillion'', Menelaus takes out two guards, but the third gets him with this.
* In one of Creator/AndrewVachss' ''Burke'' stories, Burke gives a bit of a CharacterFilibuster once about how hitting someone on the head does not always knock them out in real life, and how many would-be criminals have gotten into trouble that way.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** ''Literature/TheCurrentsOfSpace'': A character attempts to pull this off on a guard and accidentally kills the guard.
** "Literature/DoesABeeCare": When sneaking aboard the rocket, [[spoiler:Kane whacks someone on their head with his wrench]], with the knowledge that the person they've just hurt will wake up in five minutes without any injury or even noticing that they were unconscious. It is implied that PsychicPowers are in play to explain the lack of injury.
--->[[spoiler:Kane straightened and his vague eyes stared at the speaker. He lifted his wrench and]] brought it down on the speaker's head lightly. The man who was struck (and who had made no effort to ward off the blow) dropped, partly from the effect of the blow.\\
[[spoiler:Kane let him lie there, without concern]]. The man would not remain unconscious for long, but long enough to allow Kane to wriggle into the hole. When the man revived he would recall nothing [[spoiler:about Kane or]] about the fact of his own unconsciousness. There would simply be five minutes taken out of his life that he would never find and never miss.
* In Creator/AlistairMacLean's novel ''Film/IceStationZebra'', the doctor protagonist goes into detail about how it is impossible to predict the consequences of a head injury, i.e., the patient could wake up soon or never, then later on has someone else inflict a "ten minute tap" on a villain. However, the doctor also explains to that chap that his huge wrench would cause instant death when hitting a skull. The doctor pads the wrench with a thick layer of bandage to make it less lethal.
* Richard Henry Benson, ''Literature/TheAvenger'', is capable of doing this -- with [[ImprobableAimingSkills bullets]]! In "Literature/TheYellowHoard", he is distracted by smoke sufficiently that he missed his target by a millimeter, and the thug wakes up too early.

* Lampshaded in the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Interference: Book 2'', with Sarah Jane Smith asking an alien how they can manage to knock people out [[HardHead without long-term effects]] so easily. (Since the alien in question was not very bright, no answer was actually obtained).
* This happens to Marlowe a lot in the ''Literature/PhilipMarlowe'' books. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Creator/KimNewman's unnamed CaptainErsatz in ''The Big Fish'', who mentions that he tried to join the military after Pearl Harbor, only to be rejected because he'd been hit on the head too often and had a tendency to black out.
* ''Literature/TheOtherworld'': In ''Broken'', Elena needs to sneak away from her assigned babysitter, so she hits him on the back of the head, arranges him comfortably on the bed, and takes off. Justified in that he's a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]], and she really doesn't need to worry about long term damage. Subverted in that [[spoiler:she didn't actually knock him out at all; once he realized what she was trying to do, he faked unconsciousness and then followed after her]].
* The main character of Creator/DaveDuncan's ''Literature/TheSeventhSword'' tries this on a guard in the first book. However, the person he hit ends up dying. It comes back to haunt him later, when he ends up on trial for various crimes, one of which is this "dishonorable" killing. (After some DivineIntervention makes it clear that the Goddess doesn't want the main character punished, the death is ruled an accident; after all, if he had wanted to kill the guard, he would have used his sword, not his fist.)
* In the ''Literature/ForgottenRealms'' novel ''Ghostwalker'' a knight knocks out a drunken rogue in a bar fight using a mace. Not a club, ''a flanged metal mace''.
* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Literature/{{Neuropath}}''. Tom Bible notes that it's not like in the movies, and that the guard he and Mia knocked out will need medical help quickly.
* The Vulcan Neck Pinch chapter of ''Literature/TheActionHerosHandbook'' outlines several of the knockout methods mentioned above and makes clear what the risks are.
* Jiaan in the ''Literature/FarsalaTrilogy''. It's somewhat {{subverted|Trope}} in that he mentions he might have a broken collarbone as well.
* Creator/DavidEddings:
** When they need to avoid their usual, lethal methods, the protagonists of ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' employ this trope frequently to render bad guys unconscious. It's usually played completely straight, except where HardHead is subverted by RuleOfFunny or the needs of the plot. On one memorable occasion, after Garion knocks out a Grolim (who has some useful information), Belgarath tells him to "use an axe or a club" the next time: Garion's fist had almost killed the guy.
** In ''Literature/TheElenium'', Ulath gets hit in the head with an axe while holding the wall during a siege. The blow leaves him bed-ridden and severely confused (he doesn't recognize his friends and can't even remember which continent he's on), and it's stated outright that if it hadn't been for his very good helmet, his head would have split like a melon. He does make a full recovery, but it isn't quick and it isn't pretty.
* Averted in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series when Kahlan is trying to decide the best way to make her way past a D'Haran guard. There is a long inner monologue about how a rap on the head is notoriously unreliable: the guard may come up screaming, several blows may be necessary to induce unconsciousness, and permanent damage may result. Additionally, this is one of her ''own'' guards, so she'd really rather avoid hitting him at all in the first place. Later on in the series, she shows a little girl she is held captive with her preferred way of silent subduing: A knife to the kidney. Where a blow to the head is unreliable and cutting the throat can be too messy and loud, a knife to the kidney puts the victim in so much pain that they can't even scream.
* ''Literature/{{Winnetou}}'': This is practically the SignatureMove of Karl May's AuthorAvatar Old Shatterhand/Kara ben Nemsi, ostensibly justified by a combination of nigh superhuman strength and a special trick he's discovered himself. It's rather convenient, too, because as a good (if sometimes, especially in the later works, a bit preachy) Christian the character doesn't actually like to shed human blood when he can at all avoid it.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when one of Harry's internal monologues mentions that someone must have done one of those adamantium upgrades on his skull.
** Also retroactively justified by the author, after it was pointed out to him that with all the blows Harry takes to the head, the concussions should have added up and left him brain damaged. So to justify this, and the WizardsLiveLonger trope also prevalent in the series, he had a doctor give exposition explaining that Harry, and all wizards, have better healing ability than {{muggle}}s. Any injury Harry takes will heal at a normal rate, but will heal ''completely'', to the point where previously broken bones eventually show no scarring, and a burned hand that a doctor advised he simply amputate is back to fully functioning after a few years. It's even mentioned in Changes that Harry's [[spoiler:broken spine]] might well heal on its own... in a matter of decades.
** Actually averted later on, when Harry considers knocking the possessed [[spoiler:Justine]] unconscious and decides against it on the reasoning that even if he could overpower her, anything that would knock her out could easily kill her too.

* In the ''Literature/TimeScout'' book, ''Wagers of Sin'', Skeeter gets knocked out from behind and spends several days recovering, with nausea, dizziness, and continuing headaches.
* In ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', Professor Maxon is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head. Its only effect is to cause him to recover from being MadScientist -- that is, to take up WhatMeasureIsANonHuman.
* ''Literature/ZonesOfThought'': Completely averted in ''The Children of the Sky''. The blow that knocks out [[spoiler:Ravna]] is treated completely realistically, with various debilitating aftereffects until she gets advanced medical treatment.
* ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'': Frank and Joe Hardy have both been knocked out by getting hit in the head so often that, in real life, the two should be vegetables in permanent coma in the hospital.
* In the ''Literature/SpiralArm'' book ''The January Dancer'', [[spoiler:the Fudir]] uses this on [[spoiler:Hugh]] to evade him. He does think that it's a tricky business, but it's treated as if it were really harmless.
* During ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', the shapeshifter Hoole is struck on the head by [[spoiler:Karkas [[GrandTheftMe in Tash's body]]]]. However, it soon turns out that [[spoiler:he avoided harm and [[PlayAlongPrisoner faked unconsciousness so he could find out what was going on]]]]. In a later book, [[spoiler:an ExpendableClone of Hoole]] has a large rock slammed into his head and goes down, but the attacker isn't concerned about whether he's unconscious or dead.
* In ''Literature/VelveteenVs the Junior Super Patriots'', the Claw strikes down Velveteen with a head blow. Though it does only knock her down, rather than unconscious, so the lack of lasting harm is more plausible.
* In ''Literature/CatsEye1961'', Troy enforces the promise to for a MercyLead by using Rerne as a human shield, and puts him out with this when he reaches the vehicle.
* ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'': [[spoiler:Sebastian renders Isabelle unconscious in ''City of Glass'' with a hammer after he finishes with Max]].
* ''Literature/WorldOfTheFiveGods'': Averted in ''The Curse of Chalion''. When [[spoiler:Umegat]] is found unconscious by a blow to the skull everyone remotely familiar with head injuries treat it as a life-threatening emergency and when he awakens days later, he is revealed to have suffered serious brain damage.

* Played straight in ''Literature/MrBlank'' when the hero gets conked on the back of the head after witnessing an [[AlienAbduction alien abduction]].
* Nick Moss is knocked unconscious by the phantom biker Cacophony Jones near the end of ''Literature/CityOfDevils''. This is after Nick has done similar to another member of Cacophony's band, the Disasters, so it's decent payback. Also, Imogen Verity knocks out the other two earlier in the book. It's a bad day for head trauma in the Disasters.
* Averted with Mattes Tunstall in the ''Literature/BekaCooper'' trilogy, who is described by Beka in the third book as having suffered so many taps on the head in the past that if he got one more, he could very well die of it.
* ''Literature/TheColorOfDistance'': The sequel, ''Through Alien Eyes'', averts this. Kidnappers try to subdue Ukatonen with a blow to the head, and he suffers brain damage to the point where it's a CareerEndingInjury.

* In the ''Literature/ParadoxTrilogy'', Devi is knocked out this way in ''Honor's Knight''. It also turns out to be the main weakness of symbiont SuperSoldiers: a blow to the right area of their head will reliably knock them unconscious. However, due to their thick armor, it has to be a very strong impact, such as a gunshot. Symbionts have a powerful healing factor, so even with powerful blows there's little risk of permanent damage.
* Played for laughs in the first book of the ''Literature/AhrimanTrilogy''. Simon doesn't believe Zoe can knock him out with a single punch due to her small size. His narration cuts out mid-sentence.
* ''Literature/TheGreatMerlini'': In ''The Footprints on the Ceiling'', Ross gets thwacked on the head in the second chapter, has a headache for the rest of the chapter and ''claims'' in the last chapter to have suffered a concussion from the blow. There is no sign of a concussion anywhere in between those chapters (unless the headache counts). Two police officers later get head blows with not much to show for them. Averted when Colonel Watrous gets clubbed, though -- he needs his head bandaged and is still a bit shaky the next morning.
* Almost no episode of ''Literature/ButlerParker'' passed without several of these. Delivered by umbrella (the handle being filled with lead), bowler hat (steel-lined), horseshoe (in a lady's pompadour'), flower vase -- the opponents often using guns or coshes...
* In the ''Literature/ParkerPyneInvestigates'' adventure story spoof "The Case of the Discontented Soldier", a fake abduction being staged for the benefit of the title character involves him being genuinely rendered unconscious by an entirely authentic blow to the head. It doesn't seem to have occurred to his helpful abductors that he might end up with an unhelpful subdural haematoma (but fortunately, this being Christie, he doesn't).

* In Creator/JohnChristopher's novel ''Literature/YearOfTheComet'', the two protagonists twice get dosed with KnockoutGas and carted off to new locations. Upon meeting a band of threatening Mooks late in the novel, one of the two groans (paraphrased) "Not more knockout gas." [[TemptingFate Nope]]. Wham. They wake up on another continent without any side effects. In fact, they suffer more from the gassings than getting clubbed.
* Zig-zagged in Molly Tanzer's ''Literature/CreaturesOfWillAndTemper'', a novel riffing on Dorian Grey with added female protagonists and demons. Heroine Evadne is kidnapped by someone she thought was a friend. When escaping, she decides to be merciful and knock him out with her sword's pommel instead of running him through. However, she later discovers to her horror that [[AccidentalMurder it wasn't as merciful as she thought]].
* Averted in the Creator/RaymondFJones story ''Literature/TheYearWhenStardustFell'': the teenaged protagonist gets clubbed unconscious after stumbling across a robbery in progress, and spends weeks recovering.
* Humorous examples appear regularly in the works of Creator/PGWodehouse. In particular, in every ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' novel in which he appears, would-be dictator Roderick Spode gets clonked in the head with ''something,'' a cosh, a painting, [[ProducePelting produce]], a china basin. Sometimes he shrugs it right off, other times he's unconscious or weakened for a period before staging a full recovery.
* In the ''Literature/{{Underdogs}}'' novel ''Acceleration'', Rubinstein smashes the butt of a rifle into Mark's chin, knocking him out for several minutes.

* ''Literature/OneHundredCupboards'':
** This happens regularly to Monmouth -- four or five times in two books, [[HardHead never with any long-term effects]]. Partially justified in that none of the characters doing the tapping particularly care whether they cause serious damage or not, and the first time the blow breaks skin and knocks him over but not unconscious.
** Henrietta is on the receiving end of this as well, with the ''hilt of a sword''. She's fine. For some reason, however, when Zeke receives the exact same blow, he winds up with a serious concussion.
* ''Literature/{{Dragonvarld}}'': Ven and Bellona are both knocked senseless on different occasions, with no ill effect from it afterward.
* Used a fair amount in ''Literature/TheExpanse'' which otherwise takes great pains to [[ShownTheirWork portray a more grounded view of medicine and biology]].

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/{{Curveball}}'', Agent Grant is able to take down over a dozen bank robbers by using his [[TeleportSpam super]] [[MesACrowd powers]] to get behind them, then either [[StaticStunGun using a cattle prod as a tazer]] or hitting them in the head. He later mentions that he wouldn't have brought the cattle prod if he knew that hitting them would be so effective.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "Ocean of Fear", Jake gets trapped at the bottom of an ocean trench, and Finn dons a wetsuit and whacks himself on the head with a wrench before putting on his helmet. This is all in order to knock himself unconscious and sink to the bottom of the ocean without being overwhelmed by his fear of the sea, and it works too!
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Subverted in "Stan's Night Out". Several people are hit on the head with bottles; they collapse, but don't lose consciousness, and they need to be taken to a hospital.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Sokka knocks someone out by hitting him with his boomerang.
** Similarly, Zuko (while masquerading as the Blue Spirit) gets knocked out for what seems to be several hours when he gets shot in the forehead by an arrow, protected only by his mask.

** "The Menace of Dr. Millennium". A caveman knocks out the title hero from behind with a stone club.
** "The Chameleon". The title villain knocks out Birdman with a blow of his tail while shapechanged into a dinosaur.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': Elisa is thrown by Macbeth into a wall where she hits her head an is unconscious throughout the day until sunset.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Discussed in "Fight Fighters." Stan's advice to Dipper regarding a bully is to hit him on the top of the head, calling it "nature's snooze button."
* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' TOS episodes:
** "Mystery of the Lizard Men". The title opponents are knocked out as follows: Race Bannon (1 punch, 1 judo chop), Jonny (1 by air vent grill, 1 by swinging pulley, 2 by oar, 1 by facemask).
** "Werewolf of the Timberland". White Feather hits Blackie over the head with a club and puts him down.
** "The Fraudulent Volcano". Hadji takes out a guard with a swung lantern and Race drops a guard using an elbow to the solar plexus.
** "The Dreadful Doll". Race nails Korbai with a plank and Alverjo brains Harden with a scuba tank.
** "Monster in the Monastery". Hadji thwacks one yeti with a club and crowns another with a crate, Jonny takes out two yetis with thrown pots and a yeti puts himself to sleep with a thrown rock.
** "The Devil's Tower". Race knocks out a sleepy caveman with his own club.
* In "Alive", the second-to-final episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Volcana knocks out Taala with a chop to the neck.
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': Even WesternAnimation/BugsBunny suffers from this on occasion; in ''WesternAnimation/BallotBoxBunny'' Yosemite Sam speaks LOUD and uses a [[CarryABigStick large stick]], while in ''WesternAnimation/BullyForBugs'', Toro the bull bops an overconfident Bugs with a hoof.
* [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E16SonicRainboom In an episode of]] ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Rarity ends up falling from Cloudsdale. Her flailing knocks out some would-be rescuers, but the KO blows are ''jaw shots'', not blows over the head.
** The "no ill effects" part of this trope happens to Rainbow Dash in the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E16ReadItAndWeep Read It and Weep]]". After she crashes in the {{Cold Opening}}, we next see her waking up in a hospital bed with her wing in a cast and a band-aid on her head. To clarify: she was unconscious long enough to be taken to the hospital, ex-rayed, bandaged, dressed in a hospital gown and put to bed. Yet she suffers no brain damage whatsoever, and once she wakes up her broken wing is treated as the main injury, with her head injury completely ignored.
* This happens quite a bit in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', particularly to Homer, despite his characteristic [[HardHead hardheadedness]]. Also, in "Duffless", Homer repeatedly attempts to knock a defiant and drunk Barney out (to the point of ''repeatedly slamming his head in the car door'') to get his keys and thereby prevent him from driving while intoxicated. He fails, and an annoyed and somewhat hurt Barney hands Homer the keys to get him to stop.

** "Space Sargasso". Jace knocks out the pirate One Eye with a wrench.
** "The Time Machine". Tarko the 12th Century Viking hits Jace over the head with a shield and renders him unconscious.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': "The Nasty Patty" featured a health inspector getting knocked out in various ways over the course of the episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E9CloakOfDarkness "Cloak of Darkness"]], Commander Gree gets into a GunStruggle with TheMole, which he wins by punching him out. Then, two seconds later, the [[DirtyCoward prisoner]] knocks out Gree (who'd had his helmet knocked off earlier in the fight) from behind with a [[PistolWhipping butt-stroke]] from a blaster rifle. (A butt-stroke is a hit with the back end of a rifle. Not what you think.)
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Steven gets knocked unconscious several times without long-term consequences, but this turns out just to be because being a HalfHumanHybrid gives him some amount of SuperToughness. Regular humans are shown to lack such durability: [[spoiler:Lars being slammed against a stone pillar from the force of an explosion, then falling a good height, kills him instantly.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' lampshades this phenomenon as well:
-->'''Dragoon:''' What is this, an episode of Series/GilligansIsland? Everybody gets hit once and they are instantly unconscious?\\

** Claire Redfield is whacked on the head by a rifle stock from an umbrella security guard at the begining of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' and knocked unconscious. Though after the flashback of her running through the Umbrella facility, she wakes up just fine when the island is attacked.

* Almost always played straight in ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'', where anything from a gorilla fist to a lead fishing weight dropped from a great height can harmlessly render humans unconscious for a reasonable length of time. When Tobias morphs Andalite for the first time, the Andalite whose shape he's taking, Ax, even teacher him how to perform a 'torf', or to hit human skulls with the ''flat'' of his [[BewareMyStingerTail tailblade]] to knock them out rather than kill them.

%%* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei knocks out her mother by striking her forehead.

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': Mei knocks her colleague Mai unconscious with a karate chop when the latter starts pummeling Rentarou's chest with her fists.

** The "sharp shot to the solar plexus" move was once used by Miroku to subdue a peasant girl whom he was trying to move to safety. However, the women of the village had also been possessed by a demon, which Miroku knew. Hitting them in that location was the only way to free them from the demonic possession.

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Boss used the "low blow to the solar plexus" variant with [[spoiler:Kouji]] to try to avoid he [[spoiler:fought against the Mykene Warrior Monsters in the last episode.]] Maybe it was used in a more realistic way than usual, though, since when [[spoiler:Kouji]] regained consciousness a while after, he seemed being in pain.
* ''Anime/PanzerWorldGalient'' used the "karate chop to the neck" variant in episode 5. [[TheDragon Hy]] struck Lord Protz in the side of the throat, and the blow was strong enough to slam Protz on a nearby railing.

* On December 18, year unknown, [[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya Kyon and the SOS Brigade]] finish a meeting and walk down the stairs. Everybody's at the bottom, and Kyon starts coming down. Somebody gives him a Tap On the head. He rolls down the stairs painfully and falls in a coma for 3 days. Turns out in an alternate universe ([[ItMakesSenseInContext don't ask]]), Kyon got stabbed in the abdomen and his friends from the original universe come and save him and to restore time and... You know what, it'll all make sense in ''Vanishment''.

** Anime episode 34. Ichigo has just been healed by Hanataro after a fight with Renji Abarai. Ignoring Hanatoro's warning not to move or he'll re-open his wounds, Ichigo is walking away when he's suddenly punched in the face and knocked unconscious by Ganju Shiba so he'll have to rest.

* In "AudioPlay/TheFurtherAdventuresOfNickDanger", Nick gets hit on the head by [[spoiler:Nancy/Betty Jo]]. As he slowly fades into unconsciousness, he begins to hear voices, one of which is the announcer saying, "we'll be back to Nick Danger after these commercial messages".

* ''ComicBook/BlackDynamite'': A rather comical example. Black Dynamite is knocked out by being hit in the head with a badminton shuttlecock. That being said, it's shown that Jack Purcell's shuttlecocks can hit with incredible force.

* Comic books RUN on this trope, especially the "punch to the jaw" version, which virtually every superhero uses as a standard method of dealing with mooks. One wonders if the general insanity of Gotham City criminals might be Batman's own fault, from dishing out so many concussions to formerly-ordinary thugs.

* Sunshine [=KOs=] Raven with a bottle at the end of the first issue of ''[[ComicBook/PrincelessRavenThePiratePrincess Princeless - Raven: The Pirate Princess]]''.

* In ''Fanfic/ThePortal'', Blizzard does this to Alex shortly after the latter's arrival in the Dragon Realms.

* In ''Fanfic/AllMixedUp'', after anagramming Mariana Mag, Otto slips out of her grip, hits his head on the platform he's standing on, and gets knocked out. He wakes up a couple minutes later to Carlos calling his name, although the agent is unable to speak due to Mariana having used her [[TheParalyzer stun gun]] on him and paralyzing the right side of his body earlier during their fight.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin2011'' naturally plays this straight to the point of exuberance.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei knocks out her mother by striking her forehead.

* Mostly averted in ''Film/SixtyEightKill''. Although Liza is able to knock out Violet with a qick blow from a knife hilt, this is the only example of an unproblematic head blow in the film. Chip attempts PistolWhipping Liza only for her to be not knocked out immediately, but pass out several minutes later, and suffer a concussion. Chip's attempt to knock out the motel owner by hitting him the head with a phone only stuns him. And Chip suffers realistic consequences from being hit in the head [[GolfClubbing with a golf club]] by Amy.

* Subverted in the Chris Farley comedy ''Film/AlmostHeroes''. Chris Farley's character Bartholomew Hunt attempts to hit his companion Leslie Edwards, played by Matthew Perry, with a rock in order to knock him unconscious (for Leslie's own good; ItMakesSenseInContext), but only causes considerable pain. He then picks up a comically-large rock that would almost certainly crush Leslie's head in and is about to try again before Leslie stops him.

* In ''Film/DickTracyMeetsGruesome'', Gruesome knocks out several characters, including Pat, using a karate chop to the back of the neck.

* In ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'', sick of Richie's psychotic behavior when the family whom they've held hostage's van hits a bump, Seth uses this opportunity to punch him out.

* Happens every five minutes in ''Film/MidnightRun''.

* Creator/HenryFonda's character in ''Film/TheOxBowIncident'' picks a fight and gets a whiskey bottle over his head which knocks him unconscious.

* This happens to Marlowe a lot in the ''Literature/PhilipMarlowe'' books. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Creator/KimNewman's unnamed CaptainErsatz.

* Half the {{cliffhanger}}s in the FilmSerial ''Film/KingOfTheRocketMen'' involved our hero being knocked out as a bomb is about to explode or he's falling to his death, only to recover seconds later and escape (the audience of course doesn't know this until the next exciting episode). You'd think that full-faced metal helmet he wears would protect him more.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS7E4 Sins of Commission]]", one hit with a skillet to the back of the head knocks out David, but he's fine with no damage one scene later.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': The trope is used in the episode "The Skeleton in the Closet". Miss Brooks desperately tries to prevent a blackmailer, "Charlie", from revealing an embarassing incident in her life to Mr. Conklin. Gym teacher Gene Talbot knocks out Charlie using a gym bag holding a barbell. Later, Mr. Waddley, the school publicist, and Mr. Conklin himself get knocked out with a tap on the head.

* Happens twice in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}''.
** When Jafar has the city guards kidnap Aladdin, one of the guards knocks Aladdin out with a truncheon-like device.
** During the fight between Aladdin and Snake!Jafar near the end of the movie, Abu hits Iago over the head with what looks like a dish cover, making his head ring like a gong and knocking him out.
* In his {{show within a show}}, the eponymous hero from Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' disables a {{Mook}} with a karate chop to the neck. When he tries it outside the show, however, he [[spoiler:turns out to be so weak that the guy isn't even aware that he's being attacked]].