Big Ball of Violence

"Fight cloud alert! Fight cloud alert!"

— Lisa's alarm in The Loud House episode "Dream a Lily Dream"

When fighting, two (or more) animated or comic strip characters may vanish into a ball of smoke, from which the sounds of a really violent struggle emanate.

Hands, feet or other random objects may protrude momentarily, then be pulled back in.

This is used to indicate that the fight is so violent that:

• It kicks up a lot of dust.
• The animators felt it would be inappropriate to show to children.
• The animators could not possibly draw it without it looking stupid.
• The animators could not possibly draw it without completely blowing the animation budget.
• Rule of Funny dictates that some things are better left to the imagination.

During a really long fight, the Big Ball of Violence may start rolling around the area, sucking up any nearby bystanders or objects into the fight (not unlike other big stickyballs) — one of which is usually That Poor Cat. Sometimes a shoe flies out for comedic effect.

Sometimes a character escapes from the Big Ball of Violence, leaving the other participant to realize he's been beating up himself (or, if several characters had ganged up on the escapee, each other), or if a "reluctant" participant tries to sneak away and escape immediately gets dragged back into it. Or a character may be thrown out of the ball, angrily get up and jump back into the fray. In other cases, if a character witnesses a Second-Person Attack, and is easily overpowered, then the Big Ball Of Violence may mean the overpowered character is taking an ass-kicking.

Another common gag is to have the fight come to a sudden halt, usually at the demands of an authority figure, with the participants stuck in ridiculous poses mid-attack, such as trying to bite somebody in the leg, or about to use a lethal weapon they certainly didn't have going into it.

A rarely-used cloudless variant exists, with the fight being depicted as a literal Big Ball of Violence with various moments of the fight confined into a whirling, circular shape.

Take Our Word for It that Battle Discretion Shot serves a similar function. A Sub-Trope of Fight Unscene. It can also be a sub-trope of Nothing Is Funnier, if it is played for comedic effect. For instance, when the smoke clears, someone may be liable to be sporting Amusing Injuries.

Compare Thundering Herd.

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Example subpages:

• Western Animation

Other examples:

Advertising

• 17 seconds into this commercial for Calbee Potato Chips has the Calbee dog, their mascot, get into one with a puppy over a baseball.

Animation

• In Happy Heroes Season 2 episode 11, when some townsfolk get mad at Happy S. for causing trouble by magnifying their stuff, they attack him. The attack forms a big ball of dust with the heads, arms, etc. of the townsfolk sticking out.
• Lamput:
  • The episode "Carrot" has Fat Doc scour a patch of carrots on a farm to find Lamput. The farm's owner attacks Fat Doc for picking his carrots without permission, producing a cloud of smoke that obscures the two from sight.
  • In the episode "The Split", after too many issues catching Lamput cause the Docs to break their friendship, the two of them attack each other in a cloud of violence. Lamput finds it funny at first, but slowly grows concerned the longer it goes on.
• In Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Mighty Little Defenders episode 6, the dog tribe attacks Dao Yang, creating a big cloud of dust with their heads sticking out.
• Say Hi to Pencil!: In "Radish Picking", Red accidentally gets dirt all over Blue when he tries to dig the giant radish out of the ground. Blue throws some of this dirt back at him, prompting the two to attack each other. The outburst of violence produces a cloud of smoke that obscures the characters from sight.

Anime & Manga

• Alakazam the Great: Occurs when Filo Fester gets Alakazam, Quigley Broken Bottom, and Max Lulipopo to fight among themselves.
• Bakemonogatari: This shows up when Koyomi and Mayoi end up fighting with each other (which happens multiple times).
• Barefoot Gen: Shown once in the anime adaptation when Gen catches Ryuta stealing food from him and his mother Kimie, he tackles him outside the hut and a big dustball with stars and limbs coming out of it occurs, he decides to let him go because Ryuta's a child orphaned by the atomic bomb and he bears an uncanny resemblance to his dead little brother Shinji, he is adopted by them shortly afterwards.
• Cutey Honey: Used in episode 16 when Seiji and his father Danbei get into a fight with some Panther Claw Grunts.
• Damekko Doubutsu: Happens a few times, usually when Usahara beats up Uruno.
• Devil Man: Happens occasionally in the Lighter and Softer anime, one such example is when Miki's little brother Tare gets into a fight with a dog for taking his friend who had shrunk.
• Doraemon: One episode did this with a fight between a prehistoric cat and a prehistoric mouse (It Makes Sense in Context), and another did this with a fight between Doraemon and the action planner.
• Dragon Ball Z used this interestingly when Super Vegetto is fighting Super Buu. Buu, enraged at the fact that he is clearly outclassed, gets so angry he lets out an enormous cloud of steam, then laughs at Vegetto, mocking him for not being able to hit what he can't see. Unfortunately, Vegetto dives into the cloud and proceeds to brutally pummel him — the cloud of steam looking exactly like a regular Big Ball of Violence minus the little stars and spirals.
• Dr. STONE: Happens frequently between Yo and Magma. The first time is when Yo laughs at him for believing the world is flat.
• Fairy Tail used this for more comedic brawls rather than serious battles, particularly in guild hall brawl scenes.
• Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics: This happens twice in the episode "The Marriage of Mrs. Fox" after he seemingly confirms his suspicion of his wife cheating on him he attacks her, her nine tailed suitor, and his cat maid in a fit of rage, resulting in one of these, then after realizing she hadn't been cheating on him and he had driven her away, he attacks his devil conscience for giving him the idea in the first place.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers: This happens multiple times when France and England's fights turn physical.
• Jack and the Witch: Shows up when Jack is surrounded by Queen Auriana's harpies, they attack him and he fights them off resulting in one of these.
• Laid-Back Camp:
  • Chiaki, Aoi, and Nadeshiko have a very short-lived and dusty fight◊ while debating what Christmas gifts to get one another, after Aoi suggests that the high-grade meat she's bringing along can be considered her gift to the others.
  • In episode nine, Chiaki and Nadeshiko spar via Pop-Up Texting over what Rin should have for lunch when the latter stopped at a hot spring en route to the campsite, and in the aftermath, their avatars have Instant Bandages.
• My-Otome: One of the DVD omake contains a humorous example. Arika pulls Nina and Erstin into a giant pile of bath bubbles for a Big Ball of "Violence".
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: One of these forms between the (not-yet-named) Ala Alba when Chao gave them her family tree^note Basically, she's the descendant from the future of The Hero, meaning that she holds the ultimate spoiler regarding his future wife. In a (more or less) Harem Series filled with dozens of Love Interests, this makes her family tree the most powerful weapon yet thus instigating the party's first ever (purely in-fighting based) defeat.
• One Piece: Plenty of these are used for laughs. For example, Zoro gets a little offended at being called an idiot mossball.
• Perman: In the episode "Perman 3's a Real Witch", Perman and Booby attack the mysterious witch and kick up a cloud of smoke that has their heads popping out and moving around.
• Pokémon: The Series uses it every so often. An early example is in "Primape Goes Bananas" when Ash makes the grave mistake of ticking off a Mankey.
• Run with the Wind: In the anime adaptation, Musa is nagged by the others about the answer he from Hanako when he asked her who she has a crush on (presumably out of the Jo twins). He plays Secret-Keeper, however, and says it's between him and her. Annoyed by his silence, several of the guys proceed to beat him up in a comical dusty fight. For added hilarity, Nico-chan and King also end up throttling each other for no reason and Nira (the dog) at one point gets thrown into the mix too.
• Rurouni Kenshin uses this when Kaoru and Yahiko bicker.
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: Mentioned (and demonstrated) when discussing various things that have gone out of style or aren't seen as often anymore.
• Sherlock Hound: Happens occasionally, such as in episode 6 when Hound and Watson are attacked by a gang of thugs, they manage to slip out of the cloud and leave the thugs fighting each other.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX used this when monsters get destroyed, though the animation as a result is usually fairly decent, if lazy.

Comic Books

• Downplayed in the Asterix comics: fights between the villagers are common, usually involving fish as weapons (it's inevitable when someone comments on Unhygienix's fishes) and on one memorable occasion menhirs, and these take the form of a huge piled-up scrum of struggling bodies in a dust cloud. The difference is that instead of being hidden by the cloud the fight is fully detailed, with the villagers drawn kicking, punching, gouging and stomping. It is notable that Asterix himself never once gets involved in one of these (aside from one short story). Obelix wants to, but being permanently infused with the magic potion, nobody wants to fight him.
• An old issue of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) had Sonic involved in a stationary version of this with Geoffrey St. John the Aussie British skunk. It had the whole cloud of dust, poking out arms-and beneath it, Sonic and Geoffrey's feet, standing firmly on the ground, killing the illusion that anything's actually going on in there.
• In Supergirl story Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade it happens when the titular heroine conjures up several helpers to beat Mr. Mxyzptlk up.
• Frequently used in the British comic The Beano. For a long period the title panel of Dennis the Menace (UK) was a Big Ball of Violence.
• The German Club Nintendo comic "Mario in: Mariozilla" uses this trope in page 4 when Mario and Kamek fight.
• This◊ Super Mario Adventures panel explains everything.
• Superlópez: Every time the Supergroup start arguing among themselves.
• Shows up occasionally in Suske en Wiske comics, especially fights that involve Jerom taking on multiple opponents at once.
• Warrior Cats graphic novels:
  • In The Rise of Scourge, young Tiny/Scourge invents a story about him fighting a dog. His "story" is drawn in a very rough, sketched style, and the "fight" is drawn as a ball.
  • In Exile from ShadowClan, a deadly border fight between ShadowClan and WindClan is drawn this way.
• Used in the Brazilian comic Monica's Gang for when a fight occurs, mostly the Curb Stomp Battles Monica has with the boys. Random body parts such as heads, arms, etc. poke out of the ball in different places. Its teen spinoff manga is also notable for using this trope.

Comic Strips

• Mickey Mouse had an early example in a strip from May 5, 1930 (notably the first strip to be written by Floyd Gottfredson). Mickey entered a room to free the captive Minnie, but was jumped by Pegleg Pete, Sylvester Shyster, and an unnamed third crook. As the Big Ball of Violence rolled around on the floor, Mickey neatly escaped from it, untied Minnie, and fled, leaving the bad guys to clobber one another until they got a clue.
• Heathcliff was always getting into fights like these.
• This is the preferred technique for depicting fights in the Argentinian cartoon Hijitus.
• Very common between Andy and Flo in Andy Capp.
• Frequently used with Beetle and Sarge and others in Beetle Bailey (see picture above). Also subverted once in the sense that Beetle was actually making it by himself, not fighting Sarge as it appeared. Another time, Killer and Beetle were making one, and Sarge told them to stop and that they should water the ground first so that fighting doesn't raise so much dust.
• A standard fight scene in Calvin and Hobbes when the duo come to blows (read: a lot) complete with Gosh Dang It to Heck! (and other more creative insults). This is sometimes lampshaded, subverted, and averted when Calvin returns home from school, but usually ends up with this because Hobbes learns fast. Miniature stars and planets typically surround the cloud.
• Sometimes happens in Garfield when Garfield fights with Odie or some other animal. There was a 1979 Sunday strip devoted to this trope where Garfield pinned Odie, Lyman and Jon against each other simply for his own amusement.
• This happens in some of the earlier For Better or for Worse when Michael and Elizabeth would get into fist fights as children.

Fan Works

• In the Public Works Projects arc in ''Animal Crossing Adventures'', this occurs during the four-way argument with Rosie, Bunnie, Margie and Katt. This only ends when Roll attempts to stop the fight, getting punched in the process.
• This Steven Universe fancomic has Amethyst getting beaten up by a Zerg Rush of Peridot's new Peribots this way.
• Anchor Foal II describes this as the Cake twins' favourite method of play:
  If the family was going around town, then the twins were generally spotted as a doubled rolling ground tumble: the dust cloud was optional, with radius based on how recently the streets had been cleaned.
• Touhou Galaxy: In Chapter 27 of Odyssey, the TF2 Mercenaries, Akame and Mercy get into one with Morton Koopa Jr which includes antics such as Engineer erecting a dispenser due to force of habit and Medic accidentally sawing Mercy's leg off! Akame lampshades this when she complains it's hard to see.
• Naru-Hina Chronicles Mini-sodes:
  • A Cat Fight between Sakura, Ino, and Tenten over which one among them is the hottest while wearing a swimsuit turns into this trope.
  • Naruto is a victim of this trope when he gets attacked by three pups.

Films — Animation

• In Aladdin, there is one shot during the song "One Jump Ahead" where all guards jump Aladdin at once, resulting in one of these. Aladdin and Abu aren't actually in it; they sneak off hidden under jars.
• The Rescuers: If Penny starts to get sophisticated about her violence, get into this with her.
• The rarely-seen Song of the South has this in the first animated scene, caused by Br'er Fox and then Br'er Bear when they pounce on Br'er Rabbit. A smaller ball (Br'er Rabbit) in it manages to sneak away from the melee as Br'er Bear reaches his big paw, clenched into a fist, out of the ball to try and punch the rabbit, but punching something else (presumably Br'er Fox).
• The 1987 made-for-tv animated film version of The Wind in the Willows features one some time after Toad was found by Badger after the former escaped the dungeon. When Toad was briefed about what happened to Toad Hall, he went into a big rant over it, prompting Badger to order Ratty and Mole to restrain him, resulting in the Big Ball of Violence.
• Animated Asterix movies used a screen-filling version of this for some big battles against the Romans, with armor, boots, legionnaires and sillier things (false teeth, boxer shorts) flying past the camera. Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods takes it even further when the dustcloud becomes mushroom-shaped after Obelix jumps in.
• Seen in Gay Purr-ee when Meowrice's henchcats gang up on Robespierre, Juane Tom then joins in on the fight to rescue him.
• Used a few times in Isle of Dogs for comedic effect, with dog heads and legs appearing out of the fight cloud at regular intervals.

Films — Live-Action

• Harold Lloyd's The Kid Brother and Kung Fu Hustle are a couple of live-action films with fights that vanish into a cloud of dust.
• In Red Dog, this is how the fights between the titular dog and his rival, Red Cat are depicted.
• During the wedding in Tom & Jerry (2021), Tom and Jerry (and the groom's dog) get into a massive chase that not only ruins the ceremony but results in an big tornado of violence in the hotel lobby^note  Despite the film's poor reception by audiences, many state that this was one of the film's best moments.

Literature

• In The Bartimaeus Trilogy there is a rare serious example with Faquarl. He is a deadly djinni with a penchant for cutlery, and is an incredibly fast and effective shapeshifter. Close combat with him is always described by Bartimaeus from a distance, and as a whirl of violence with an occassional severed limb flying out.
• Though it's an illustrated novel, Captain Underpants features something similar to this, lampshading how easy it made the pages to draw.
• In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley end up in one of these fighting over one of Harry's letters from Hogwarts, in which all three of them got hit a lot by Dudley's Smeltings stick.
• Cradle Series: A surprisingly realistic example shows up in Ghostwater: when a sea serpent and a giant turtle scrap it up near the ocean floor, a cloud of suspended mud quickly rises to obscure the action. At one point, Orthos (the turtle) gets thrown out of the cloud; he rights himself and charges back in.

Live-Action TV

• An alternate (and rare live-action) version occurs at 3:04 of this collection of MTV promotional shorts. It lacks the dust cloud, but is clearly the same concept.
• Frequently appear in the background animations of Bob Hale reports in Horrible Histories.
• The early seasons of Grange Hill briefly featured one of these in the comic book-style opening titles.

Pinballs

• In Monster Bash, the lane to the Mosh Pit is an elongated Big Ball of Violence.

Video Games

• Given an Asian Cleaver Fever variation in Bug Fables. The mantis chef Kut in the Golden Settlement slices and finishes up his dishes behind such a cloud. It also doubles as Obscured Special Effects, as the initial ingredients can be switched out with the finished meal behind the smoke.
• The Sims:
  • Whenever two Sims get annoyed enough to attack each other, it erupts into a Big Ball of Violence, complete with the usual cartoon shticks of the smoke cloud, random limbs sticking out, characters trying to crawl out and being pulled back in, etc. The sequels has the fighters periodically pop-out and either have the two slap around each other, headlocking an opponent, or doing the "lemme at 'em" gesture before being jumped from behind.
  • In the "Unleashed" Expansion for The Sims, a pet dog can get into a similar dustup with a raccoon, complete with raccoon falling out and performing "put up ya dukes" sparring moves before jumping back in.
  • The "Pets" expansion for The Sims 2 allows two dogs (and less frequently, cats) to fight if they hate each other enough. After the dust clears, one dog (or cat) is lying on the floor looking sorry for itself and the other looks distinctly smug.
  • The Sims 3 also has a "Pets" expansion, and the cats added in this pack can go hunting for various vermin. When they find one, they'll get into a scrap lasting several seconds, during which they'll be tossed into the air several times. Even if their target is a mere spider.
  • If you use cheats to remove the actual cloud, you can see that the Sims are both just mangled together in a ball.
  • The Sims 4 Vampire expansion pack has different variations based on the participants. Two vampires, either in a friendly sparring match or an angry duel, will be partially obscured by a black mist. But if a human picks a fight, the brawl will be obscured by a slightly larger dust cloud, the color of which is easily influenced by the surrounding lights, and symbols will fly out of it.
  • In MySims, one of the "Be Mean" actions is to leap on the target Sim, initiating a Big Ball of Violence.
  • Fistfights become these in The Sims Medieval, but swordfights don't because the player can control the Sim in a swordfight.
• SimAnt featured this whenever two ants got into a fight. If Silly Mode was engaged, the ants would engage in Trash Talk while doing so.
• In SimCity Societies, when either a Police Officer/Security Guard arrests a criminal, a Secret Police officer arrests a performer, a Sentinel makes a traveller work, or when a Vigilante chases someone away.
• In Final Fantasy XIV, this is how the showdown between Zo Ga and Gi Gu at the end of the Kobold beast tribe quest series begins, complete with cartoon-like sound effects. However, after one insult too many gets directed at Gi Gu (from his lover, no less, though she was only trying to help), he steps up his game and puts Zo Ga down.
• Persona 3 and Persona 4 give you the option to perform an "all out attack" when all enemies are knocked down. This results in all characters charging, forming a Big Ball of Violence, doing a lot of damage to their foes. Strangely, when fighting a foe with too much HP to be killed outright by this, they end up going flying from the ball and charging back in, implying that they're being beaten as badly as they're beating... but in the end, only the enemy ends up suffering damage. Though this is likely Rule of Funny; after all, the game certainly isn't using this for censorship reasons...
  • Heck, in Persona 4, if the all-out attack is lethal to an enemy, the cloud of dust will take on the shape of a skull. This is carried over to Persona 3 Portable. In Persona 5, a close-up shot of the initiating character is shown over the victory screen instead.
  • In Persona 4: Arena, this appears if a character connects with an "All-Out Attack" move and the target can be sent flying high into the air or into a wall.
• In the Nintendo DS game Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, all battles except bosses are depicted as Big Balls of Violence. Other characters and enemies can be dragged in by the player as fights go on.
• Arresting a suspect in the 1992 version of Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego is similar, except the violence takes place below the screen, denoted by wacky stock sound effects and props tossed up into the viewing area.
• Happens to the hapless King Dedede in Kirby's Epic Yarn when the impostor Waddle Dees capture him and tie him up.
• The opening of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has Mario and Goombella escaping a Big Ball of Violence involving Lord Crump and an army of X-Nauts. By the time Crump realizes what happened, they're long gone.
• Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam:
  • Bowser and Bowser get into this after their first meeting. Naturally, this is because they both annoy each other.
  • In the battles with Roy and Wendy, if one of Roy's attacks is successfully countered, the giant boulder he throws will fall backwards and land on Wendy's head, causing her to trap him in one.
• In Mario Party 5, the victim of a Ukiki capsule gets attacked by a Ukiki forming a big cloud of dust, during which all his capsules are sent flying.
• In Miitopia, Miis can get into a fight when their relationship is getting shaky, resulting in this trope. They always end up dragging an enemy into his quarrel and after the dust settles, we see the enemy got the worst part of the violence (though the Miis also sustain some minor damage).
• Happens in the intro of The Legendary Starfy when Starfy gives a beating to the Terrible Trio when they try to abduct Bunston. And when the Terrible Trio returns to Pufftop in search for him, this fate befalls to them once again at the hands of Starly.
• In Sam & Max Hit the Road, Sam and Max get into a Big Ball of Violence fight with Conroy Bumpus's bodyguard at Gator Golf. This rapidly results in Max being turned into a Big Ball of Golf.
• A variation appears as Voldo's Critical Finish in SoulCalibur IV. Only instead of dust, it's fire and the sheer speed at which he's spinning that obscures the violence. But, the simple fact that you're in there somewhere with Voldo should be enough.
• Bubsy becomes one of these for a few seconds whenever he defeats an enemy by jumping on them.
• The skill Scuffle in SaGa Frontier has your character toss the enemy off screen and a Big Ball of Violence occurs... side-screen.
• The first Zoo Tycoon game had a Big Ball of Violence whenever an animal killed another.
• Browser-based MMORPG Travians actually uses this at one point. Rather amazing, especially since animation is very limited — and it works well given the graphical style is already on that level.
• The Super Robot Wars Advance original mech Soulgain has an ultimate move named Code: Kirin, which in its Super Robot Wars: Original Generation appearances or the PSP remake had that mecha throw a lot of Kamehame Hadokens to create a mountain of dusts... then the mecha will enter the dust and temporarily turn it into a Big Ball of Violence, then throw the enemy out... for more violence.
• One of Felicia's super attacks in Darkstalkers has her call in some friends who jump on the opponent and unleash one of these on the poor soul. It was ported over as her level 3 Hyper Combo in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
• In Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories‎, this is one of the potential animations for a four-person Combination Attack.
• Crash Twinsanity has this as a gameplay feature, during moments when Cortex just gets too pissed off at Crash and the two end up as this. The player then has to roll them like a hamster ball through the upcoming obstacle course. If the ball is left still, an Idle Animation will play of one of the two characters getting the upper hand, including one where Cortex... spanks Crash.
• Taokaka, a character from the game BlazBlue, has a special attack where she pins down her opponent, brandishes her claws, and then proceeds to rip and tear at them in a most violent manner. Of course, you don't get to see all of it— after about a second, it's behind a Big Ball of Violence, complete with Taokaka herself popping out and going back in here and there, and the "(|||ﾟ Дﾟ)" bubble from the character being torn apart on the side of the screen as well.
• This happens in the very old game Alley Cat if the dog catches you. The ball of violence rolls off the screen and you, being the cat, subsequently lose a life.
• In the SNES game based on the movie Cool World, there's a Big Ball of Violence that moves slowly back and forth across one part of a nightclub. Get too close and it'll drag you in, resulting in the loss of a life.
• The Zappa Boys of Clayfighter feature this as a supermove, complete with the leader yelling "Get 'em!"
• In the Japan only SNES game Asameshimae Nyanko whenever there is a battle the game turns into an arena where both players' cats leap at each other and start a Big Ball of Violence, which, after a few seconds, reveals the winner standing over the loser.
• Several instances in the Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards could lead to Larry getting caught up in one of these, most notably running into a mugger in a dark alley.
  • What's hilarious about the scene is that the mugger apparently bails out of the dust-up after a while, leaving Larry to carry on the Big Ball of Violence... by himself? It's clearly not a bug, due to both how long it lasts and the fact that the gag returns in both remakes. This actually counts as Yet Another Stupid Death, as Larry somehow manages to kill himself in the process after the mugger leaves.
  • Other Sierra games use this trope whenever you die from a beating such as a wolf in King's Quest I and a mugger in Police Quest 2: The Vengeance.
• In Dokapon Kingdom, fights that last more than a day are marked by a Big Ball of Violence, and the player can't move to another space until the fight is finished (and in this game, fights will go on as long as they have to). Other players can interrupt the fight and decide to attack the player, or step in and take out that player's bounty.
• In Wonderland Online, other people in fights look like this as you wander past them. Of course, there is the option to watch more closely or join in.
• Breath of Fire III: The Disembowel ability/spell. The performer flies at its target and a Big Ball of Violence is seen with stock sound effects, regardless of whether or not any damage is actually done (the spell doesn't always work; if it does it sets HP to 1, if it doesn't, it does nothing).
• For the Frog the Bell Tolls uses a RPG-like element in combat which are automated using these effects for the animation. It also appears in the Prince of Sablé's Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros..
• Used a few times in Zack & Wiki during cutscenes and deaths.
• Donald Duck: Goin' Qu@ckers had this as Donald's Mercy Invincibility.
• Pac-Man becomes embroiled in a Big Ball of Violence in Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures several times, either when he is confronted by an angry farmer, an angry alley cat or various other hazards attack him.
• Street Fighter IV: Rufus's second Ultra Combo seems to be one - the cloud isn't completely obscuring, but the other elements match. Rufus himself is rather ball-shaped as well.
• Skullgirls: One of Peacock's attacks is an air grab that's a pretty classic version of the Big Ball of Violence— dust, flying limbs and all. It can be seen on this video at the 0:40 mark. "Big Ball of Violence" even happens to be the name of the move!
  • The animators had a little bit of fun with this move: After this move is pulled off, you can see for a moment that Peacock has punched herself in the face with a brass knuckle. For the record, she's also holding a "Bang!" Flag Gun in the other hand.
• In one of the endings to a One Piece game, Luffy and Ace fight for the last piece of meat using one of these. It's even funnier when you see Luffy reach out of it to grab his hat.
• There is a game on the Apple Appstore called Samurai vs Zombies Defense. The last skill you unlock is called Troop Trample, and its this weaponized. Once activated, a dust cloud flies out of your base at absurd speed headed to the enemie's gate, with various weapons sticking out of it. Anything it runs over is outright instakilled, or the trample disappears if it runs out of power. The discription implies that there is an angry mob of at least 10 people in there.
• In Puzzle Clubhouse Episode 1 you must block attacking lawn gnomes and steer them into fights with one another. Each kerfuffle is a Bag Ball of Violence obscured by clouds of plaster dust.
• This happens in the "footbrawl" game Pigskin when players tackle each other for the ball. The more teammates join the confusion, the more likely their team will gain possession of the ball. This also happens when two opposing players run into each other when one of them has picked up one of the many weapons littering the field, only instead of losing control of the ball, the player without a weapon winds up dead.
• Mamizou's Last Word in the fourth Touhou Project fighting game, Touhou Shinkirou ~ Hopeless Masquerade, includes this, complete with cartoony sound effects.
• One of Peter's abilities in Family Guy Video Game! is this.
• In Pokémon X and Y, the Fairy-type move Play Rough results in this.
• In the online building game Roblox, players can purchase a weapon called the Kittypult from the game's catalog. This weapon shoots squealing cats from a catapult, and if a cat hits a player, this occurs between the cat and the player for a short time.
• When you finally catch Mario in Super Tanooki Skin 2D, he and the tanooki do this briefly.
• In Sid & Al's Incredible Toons, Sid and Al get into one of these when they meet. However, the outcome is always Al scarfing down Sid. Al will also attack balls of yarn in similar style, turning them into instant sweaters.
• The warrior spell Brawl in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has minions enter into one of these in the center of the play area.
• This happens in both Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (at the end of School Mode) and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair when Usami and Monokuma fight each other. Among the objects that fly out of the cloud are a screw, an ice cream cone, a rice ball and a pair of white briefs.
• In Kingdom Hearts χ, when playing Union Cross multiplayer, any active battle you're not currently a part of will display as this until you join it, assuming you ever do.
• In Moonlighter whenever you catch a thief trying to steal from your shop one of these ensues, ending with you regaining your item and the thief booking it out.
• In Grow ver.2 (or Grow Jungle), a cylinder creature and a cone creature will get into one if they see each others will end up in a knot bag.
• In the DOS game Capture the Flag, when one of your team members attempts to capture an opponent, they get into a Big Ball of Violence for a few seconds before it vanishes, revealing one participant in a Victory Pose and the other defeated.
• In Art of Fighting 2, Ryo and Robert both get into one with each other in the former's ending.
• Played for Laughs in Marco & the Galaxy Dragon, where a swordfight between Haqua and Gargouille quickly devolves into one of these. Then Haqua notices that Marco is escaping, and promptly detaches her own head, which flies after Marco while her body continues to fight Gargouille. When Gargouille realizes what happened, she detaches her head as well, and the two disembodied heads proceed to chase each other around while their headless bodies keep fighting in the background.
• My "Dear" Boss: If boss gets in a fight with a demonstrant, an ex-employee, or a construction worker, the game displays it as a dust cloud.
• Used a few times in Them's Fightin' Herds:
  • During Pixel Lobby mode, uninvolved players see matches in progress as cartoony clouds with stars flying out.
  • The panther's grab animation is them leaping at and clawing the player, with the attack obscured by a cartoonish cloud.
  • Pom's grab move has her dog companion leaping at and attacking her opponent, obscured by a cloud, after which she pulls him off.
• In General Chaos, two opposing soldiers can pull each other into one of these by getting close. If both soldiers are still standing when the ball clears, a controlled close combat fight ensues.
• In Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds, Field Bosses and World Bosses are high-level bosses with massive amounts of HP that are intended to be battled in large groups of players at specific times of day. As such, most fights with these tend to end up as this because there are a massive number of players present, each unloading all of the attacks they have available in rapid succession. You can, however, set an option to display only your own party members, which greatly improves performance.
• In the Delicious Last Course DLC for Cuphead, this happens on the third stage of "Moonshine Mob". A large anteater uses his tongue to suck up the Old-Fashioned Copper ant police and some of his Cigar Chomper fly goons. He then spits them out and they travel across the screen like a pinball in a big dust cloud as they brawl against each other. Various heads and hands peak out of the ball.
• Pizza Tower:
  • In the first hub area of the game, Gustavo is seen being chased by a large rat named Brick. By the second hub world, the two are seen locked in one of these, though by hub three the two seem to have worked out their issues and become friends.
  • During Peppino's fight with The Noise, once Peppino depletes the latter's health bar the two will get into one of these, splitting apart at the center after bouncing between the walls.
• Octopath Traveler II: The animation for the ultimate thief skill Aeber's Reckoning now involves a mess of Sword Lines and dust as your thief rips through all enemies with their speed.
• Multi Versus:
  • In the game's official trailer, the characters are fighting their battles when Bugs Bunny crashes into them with a rocket, causing a Big Ball of Violence to break out. In addition, some of the roster fighting in a ball is the loading screen splash art, and a piece of promotional art in general.

Web Animation

• Happy Tree Friends: In "Sea What I Found", a big ball forms when a bunch of sea creatures beat up Russell for using them as tools to make a boat.
• Homestar Runner:
  • Near the end of "The Reddest Radish", a big ball o' violence breaks out over the stolen radish, with Homestar and Pom Pom on one side and Strong Bad, Strong Mad, and The Cheat on the other.
  • Subverted in "In Search of the Yello Dello", when the Tic-Tac-Toe-like represented people (An O playing one and multiple X's playing the others) get into one after the O represented person runs next to the X's, causing the the O and X's disappear after the dust clears.
  • In the Strong Bad Email "myths and legends" when constellations of the Strong Badia flag's snake, the guy with the big knife, a hand giving the "OK" symbol, a board with nails in it, General Tso's chicken, a fish with an afro, and a marathon runner sporting a Union Jack singlet get into one while they are fighting.
  • The 20th anniversary special "Homestar Runner Goes For the Gold" had a smaller version of this happen when The Sneak cripples Mr. Bland.
• Episode Four of Hunter: The Parenting has multiple balls of violence between Big D and Remold Blacklaw.
• Manga Soprano: In this story, a cloud of dust covered up the fistfight between Haru and Rie after their first encounter in years.
• Refreshing Stories: At the end of "When I came home early from my business trip, I found my wife cheating on me in the back yard shed," Minako and Asatani, impoverished and worn-out by the stress of paying damages to Hiroshi, bicker over the former getting fired from every job shortly after being hired until they fight in one of these.
• In the third episode of RWBY, as Ruby is making a genuine effort to befriend Blake, her older sister Yang scoops her up in an embarrassing hug. Ruby retaliates, leading to a ball of violence which ends when Weiss comes to complain about the noise. At the time, Ruby is holding one of Yang's feet who's trying to keep her balance.
• RWBY Chibi: The season 3 episode "Mortal Frenimies" sees three of these involving Qrow and Winter, with the latter initiating all three.
• Zero Punctuation:
  • According to Yahtzee, gameplay in Super Smash Bros. (and sequels) tend to devolve into this trope.
  • He felt the same way about Final Fantasy XV

Webcomics

• Happens several times in Le avventure del grande Darth Vader, typically when the characters discover a spammer or an idiot among them.
• Batman: Wayne Family Adventures: In the second episode, one erupts as the siblings (Jason, Tim, Cassandra, Damien, and Duke) fight each other for the last cookie.
• Carry On: Kathy and Sandy fighting over a bottle of meds.
• A strip created by DeviantArt user DoubleLeggy had this happen in this strip when Leggy beats up Ark after going into a mood swing.
• El Goonish Shive: Tedd gets into one when the bubbles from the Bubble Pipe he's using come to life and attack him.
• Mr. Mighty and Matt O'Morph create one of these during their practice bout in Everyday Heroes.
• How Not To Run A Comic has its fair share of big balls of violence (starting with the very first illustrated page, plus a few in "How not to do an action scene")... "How not to start a comic #48" shows one helpfully labeled "Violence!"
• Huckleberry: When Huckleberry fights Mechaworm, it creates a cloud of dust with impact stars and fists flying out.
• Lari The ninja and Rocko Sasquatch get into one in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!
  Sorbet: Can't even see them through all the Beetle Bailey dust!
• A Touhou Project fancomic titled Life of Maid will sometimes have two characters get into one with eachother, complete with Cross-Popping Veins appearing on the quarreling characters. A very silly example was when Remilia and Flandre got into one over the television — the fight went on for two pages.
• Fight scenes in Penny Blackfeather tend to look like this.
• When the owl people fight in Realm of Owls, they might turn into a dust ball of fists and faces.
• This seems to be one of the standard ways to fight in The Redacverse, featured in background and foreground fights. It's usually played for laughs.
• Rusty and Co.: A violent brawl involving Princess, Stabs, Anti-Madeline and Mimic against Tarta over the Belt of Genre Changing produces a big cloud of dust toward the end of Level 10.
• Sluggy Freelance: In the strip for February 25 1999, there is a ball of violence going on in the background of the later panels as Bun-bun beats up a bunch of zombies.
• With claws and fangs bared, Doc from The Whiteboard gets into a fight with another shopper over the last of an item on sale. Nobody outshops Doc on Black Friday.

Web Videos

• During the Wheel of Fortune miniarc in Vaguely Recalling JoJo, Jotaro suspects that one of La Squadra di Esecuzione is the driver of the car Kakyoin knocked off the road earlier and tries beating them up, which resulted with this happening between them and Jotaro's group. The ones not in the brawl are Kakyoin and the Runaway Girl. Joseph apologizes to Risotto Nero for his group's hotheaded behavior and Risotto forgives him. Risotto mentions that the other La Squadra di Esecuzione members are like that, too.
• Roy's brawls with Oswald Sherzikien's brainwashed cartoon army near the end of Journey of the Cartoon Man take this form.

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