Line #21 Main/ElongatingArmGag


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/TomAndJerry https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/extendable_arms.jpg]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Recap/DoctorWho60thASWildBlueYonder My arm's too long.]]'']]
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8	A gag very common in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, involving the use of ToonPhysics. Somehow, one character always has a fist which can stretch across the entire room. Or the entire country. Or the entire universe. No matter the length, it's a quick gag where a character extends their arm(s) to grab or hit something far away. There are similar gags with extendable legs and the like, but arms are the most common.
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10	Compare EyePop. ''Usually'' doesn't overlap with CreepilyLongArms, which are a permanent biological feature.
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12	If you're looking for the trope where a character has this as an actual ability, see ExtendableArms and/or RubberMan.
13	----
14	!!Examples:
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16	[[folder:Advertising]]
17	* There is a Japanese Advertising/McDonaldland ad where Birdie the Early Bird is trying to get Ronald [=McDonald=] to wake up, Ronald being such a stubborn sleeper that he stretches his arm to ''turn the sun back into the moon'' as if he were flicking a light switch.
18	[[/folder]]
19
20	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
21	* ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'': The person who serves food at Tamagotchi School's cafeteria does so by stretching his arms out to the students receiving their lunches.
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23
24	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
25	* In ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf: Mighty Little Defenders'' episode 1, Wolffy's arm extends to a cartoonish length when he finds General Wolf's briefcase and runs off to find him so that he can return the briefcase to him.
26	* In ''Animation/MotuPatlu'', characters' arms will occasionally stretch to cartoonish lengths to grab stuff. For example, in "Super Duper Man", Dr. Jhatka's arm stretches when he grabs the patient whose teeth he was taking care of.
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28
29	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
30	%%* ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife'': Terry Jones in the [[SurrealHumor "Find the Fish"]] scene.
31	* On ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'', the pirates try to torture Gonzo by stretching him in the rack. Instead of begging for mercy, [[TooKinkyToTorture Gonzo enjoys it]], even bragging that he's now tall enough to play in the NBA. Afterwards, Gonzo is seen showing off his now elongated limbs, which Bunsen then fixes by pulling him out until he rolls like a window shade.
32	* Fully embracing ToonPhysics, Michael Jordan stretches his arm to score the winning slam dunk in ''Film/SpaceJam''.
33	* Played for horror in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984''. When Freddy first confronts Tina in the nightmare that ultimately leads to her death, as he walks toward her he stretches his arms out to the width of the alley they're in.
34	* ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheHams'': There's a gag where a midget guard at the prison for mentally insane criminals directs Agent Fostar to a file on Dr. Animal Cannibal Pizza lying on top of a very tall cabinet. Fostar, who's about 6 feet tall, can't reach it, then the guard groans and extends his arm so he can easily grab it for him.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:LiveActionTelevision]]
38	* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'':
39	** In the Creator/JohnCleese episode, Gonzo catches a cannonball with his bare hand, causing his arm to be stretched out. He goes to John to have it fixed, but John misunderstands what Gonzo wants and ends up stretching his other arm to match, along with both legs.
40	** In the Creator/DomDeLuise episode, Dom plays an astronaut exploring the planet Koozebane and tries to grab one of the aliens, a Merdlidop, hiding in a crater. The Merdlidop grabs him by the wrist and pulls it out another crater some distance away before letting go, the recoil knocking down Dom.
41	* ''Series/TheMuppetsMayhem'': The Electric Mayhem get high on [[GRatedDrug expired marshmallows]] during a camping trip. When Moog (the only one not high) tries to help [[ExtendableArms Dr. Teeth]] stand up, Teeth's long arms just stretch out instead.
42	-->'''Moog:''' Are they supposed to do that?
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Web Animation]]
46	* One of the Powered by the Cheat cartoons on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' has Strong Bad and the Cheat stretching their arms far above the earth to high five in outer space.
47	* Music/TheLivingTombstone: In the music video for "My Ordinary Life", the giraffe stretches her neck to pull down a tall tree to stop the police car chasing them, with a scene dedicated to showing her neck zig-zagging all over the place. Her neck then retracts back to her body, before her head pops back onscreen to give a wink to the camera.
48	* ''WebAnimation/{{Eddsworld}}'': A joke in "Spares" has the four main characters' clones reaching into Edd's fridge to grab every single can of Cola in there...from the living room.
49	* ''WebVideo/WWESlamCity'': Happens in several episodes with an accompanying "STRETCH MOVE!!!" whenever a wrestler performs an arm stretch.
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51
52	[[folder:Webcomics]]
53	* ''Webcomic/LearningWithMangaFGO:'' Sometimes, Gudako or Gudao's arm may stretch out, particularly when they're groping someone.
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55
56	[[folder:Web Original]]
57	* When WebVideo/SomeJerkWithACamera shows up to co-review ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice'' with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, the Critic responds by quietly pushing Jerk into another room with an elongating arm.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Western Animation]]
61	* ''Franchise/TomAndJerry'':
62	** The shorts "Busy Buddies" and "Tot Watchers" feature a gag where the babysitter stretches her arm across the room to clutch the phone and is then pulled towards it via Newton's second law, as pictured above.
63	** In "Down Beat Bear", an escaped circus bear is raiding the fridge, so Tom reaches for the phone to call the authorities. Not only does he extend his arm, he also curves it over the door frame so the bear doesn't see it.
64	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMysteries'' had Daphne restrain a fleeing Shaggy by extending her arms from offscreen.
65	* ''WesternAnimation/TheMrMenShow'': There are multiple gags where a character temporarily grows their arm to reach something from far away. Unlike Mr. Tickle, the characters don't have it as an actual ability and it's merely used as a joke.
66	* Lucky in the ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries'' episode "Chow About That?" extends his arm off-screen to grab Cadpig. This does not occur in any other episodes.
67	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In Episode 4, Mr. Cat manages to reach all the way across a very long table and tap Quack Quack, who is sitting on the other side, on the shoulder.
68	* ''WesternAnimation/TheCrumpets'': In "Taxidermama", Ms. [=McBrisk=] extends her arm to grab a hose offscreen before she intentionally damages a lawnmower by spraying it.
69	* In ''WesternAnimation/AVeryBlueBeard'', when Bluebeard proposes to his first wife and offers her the keys of his castle, his arms stretch out further and further towards her for about twelve seconds. Later, when he proposes to his third wife, he holds his arms upwards (the lady is a winged fairy) and they also stretch for about six seconds.
70	* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': In "Bearly Enough Time", Johnny attempts to escape from [[BearsAreBadNews Kronos]] by [[ItMakesSenseInContext distracting him with a [=VCR=] clock]], then running out of his cave. Kronos, instead of running after him, stretches out an arm, which grabs Johnny right after he exits the cave mouth.
71	* WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy: In "Run Ed Run", the Eds are trying to catch up to a bus while riding a land-based windsurfer. In an act of desperation, Eddy starts biting his own arm to stretch it, after which he uses it like a lasso to grab onto the bus' back door.
72	* In at least one occasion on ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'', Dastardly has stretched his arm to abnormal lengths to hit Muttley for snickering at him.
73	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''
74	** In "WesternAnimation/BabyBottleneck", WesternAnimation/PorkyPig pulls on WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck's leg trying to get him to sit on an egg. It stretches out like taffy, and Daffy tries to gather it before he's chased by Porky, leading him to walk lopsided. He finally pulls the leg back to normal by pulling on a hair on his head.
75	** In "Thumb Fun", Porky and Daffy are on a car when a cop signals them to pull over. Daffy insists that the "long arm of the law" will never catch up with them. Then the cop's arm grabs them by the collar from offscreen, followed by a ''long'' pan down the arm.
76	* WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons
77	** In "WesternAnimation/WhoKilledWho", first the cop stretches his leg to a door on the other end of a spacious hall; then when the killer has him at gun point and tells him to "reach for the ceiling", the cop stretches his arms all the way to the ceiling, three stories up.
78	** In "Lonesome Lenny", Screwy Squirrel escapes the titular Lenny by running out of his house to the woods. Lenny then sticks his arm down a hole on the ground, and the camera follows all the way to where Screwy is, wherein Lenny's hand emerges from another hole and pulls him all the way back.
79	** In "WesternAnimation/TVOfTomorrow", a man watching TV won't move to have dinner, so his wife drags him to the dinner table. His head remains in place while his neck stretches out; he only retracts his neck to have a bite of food, then stretches it back out to the living room.
80	* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndScrappyDoo''': When Shaggy falls off a mast in, Scrappy reaches down to keep him from falling, stretching out his arm in the process.
81	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Frankendoodle", when a pencil falls to the bottom of the sea, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick are startled by it and hide behind a rock. When [=SpongeBob=] goes to investigate, the next shot is of his hand sticking out from offscreen to poke the pencil. The camera pulls back to reveal that [=SpongeBob=] has stretched out his arm from their hiding place, several yards away.
82	* A common occurrence on ''WesternAnimation/ZigAndSharko''. For instance, in "Sharko and His Folks", Marina nonchalantly stretches her arm out to push Zig and Bernie off a waterfall, complete with mechanical whirring noises.
83	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ElongatingArmGag